Miracle marriage; creative rock stacker; killing of gorilla defended
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Odd and interesting news from the Midwest.
- By ALEXA ALTHOFF Williston Herald
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FORT BUFORD, N.D. (AP) — The long histories of the Buffalo Soldiers and Masonic Lodges intersected on Saturday. A towering equine monument made in Bozeman, Montana, by artist Jim Dolan was dedicated to those who have served as Buffalo Soldiers.
What brings these two entities together, the Masons and the Buffalo Soldiers, is common ground. Quite literally.
The site at Fort Buford is owned by the Grand Lodge Foundation. On this location, two Masonic Lodges were once utilized. The Buffalo Soldier Units, which were made up of black soldiers, began their residence at Fort Buford in 1891, and the Eureka Lodge No. 135 was chartered in that same year. At that point in time, the two Masonic lodges located at Fort Buford where segregated by race. Although it remains a purely fraternal order, lodges are no longer segregated by race.
This mirrors the 9th Cavalry very closely. The 9th Cavalry was dubbed 'The Buffalo Soldiers' and continued to be racially segregated during World War II.
The tie between the Masons and the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Buford is rooted back in the 1890s but extends to present day. Charles Snargrass is a prime example of this. Snargrass, a 93-year-old veteran of the 9th Cavalry and Grand Secretary of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge in Minnesota, was present and participated in the ceremony on Saturday.
Snargrass served in the Cavalry during World War II and could identify the historical accuracies which the artist of the monument portrayed.
"It's very impressive," Snargrass said . "It's unbelievable that his imagination went that far. He got all the details. With the halter around his neck and the reins. We didn't tie the horses by the reigns. We used the rope that was around their neck. That's what we would tie them around the posts with."
He could see the connection between the Masons and the Buffalo Soldiers easily. Not only by being the living, breathing, example of this, he felt that history was the tie that binds.
"When this lodge (Eureka Lodge) was first chartered in North Dakota, the Buffalo Soldiers delivered them their first charter," Snargrass said. "That person from the 9th Cavalry was the first Grand Master that this lodge had. It gives it a lot of background and a lot of heritage."
The Monument itself was designed and built by Bozeman artist Jim Dolan and named 'Our Work Is Done'. Masked in a white canvas sheet until the unveiling, it stood at an impressive height.
The statue is an athletic looking horse with all the trappings of a Cavalry soldier. It took Dolan 6 months to complete his work, the Williston Herald reported (http://bit.ly/1RFPIMF ).
"I pretty much worked straight through," Dolan said. "I finished on Monday, and we brought it here on Tuesday."
Dolan also found a connection to the history of the Buffalo Soldiers within his own lineage. "My great uncle was in the Calvary and rode with General Pershing," Dolan recounted. "As I understand it, he was the one of was in charge of the Buffalo Soldiers. It was kind of fun to have a connection with the Buffalo Soldiers through family."
According to Jim Salvoija, Past Grand Master for North Dakota and state historian for the Masons, the statue was bought and paid for by a singular individual.
"We had a benefactor that came into the picture and actually supplied the monument," Salvoija said. "It's an undisclosed source. It's an individual that wasn't a Mason but now is. He became so involved in the history and the real story of what it is."
From as far away as Missouri, Minneapolis, and Minot, Masons came from across the country to witness the dedication. The connection to the state of Missouri is that the Eureka Lodge was chartered by what is now known as the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Missouri. Ed Johnson is a Past Grand Master Mason who made the hike from the 'Show-Me State'. He wasn't sure what the Eureka Lodge would have looked like back in the day, or if there ever was an actual structure.
"They probably did meet someplace," Johnson said.
The location has been narrowed down to a spot near the river. The monument even has a clever homage to the location with the head of the horse tilted toward the Southeast where the Eureka Lodge may have been.
But the symbolism didn't end with the horse. The entire ceremony was rife with Masonic ritual and dogma interlaced with raw military tradition. Even the decadent trappings of Grand Master Masons made the fashions of top military brass look like an exercise in utilitarianism.
The explanation of the multi-century custom of cornerstones by the Masons gave way to outlining why oil, wheat, and wine were important symbols in a Masonic dedication ceremony.
But when exactly does a mass of metal become a hallowed edifice according to Masonic tradition? The answer is once a good bit of symbolic oil is poured on the ground and a man with the title of 'Grand Master' turns to the four directions of the compass and proclaims it so.
The rain at least held itself off long enough to allow for a short photo opportunity with Snargrass and senior members of the fraternal order. But the mass of phones, iPads, and cameras promptly returned to their hidden resting places once the clouds opened with their own full salute to the situation. T-shirts were handed out, and everyone sought cover at the Masonic Site. Only the metal horse was left standing rider-less and alone in the rain.
"The crowd was wonderful and I was in awe to see all this done," Snargrass said. "I'm glad that I lived this far."
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Information from: Williston Herald, http://www.willistonherald.com
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura says he won't run for president.
Ventura had said earlier that he was considering a possible presidential campaign. But in a statement posted Thursday to his "Off the Grid" website, he says he "unequivocally" will not run.
The 64-year-old Ventura says he'd love to debate Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but he knows he'd win, and he doesn't want the job of president.
Ventura says he issued the statement to end speculation that he would get into the race.
On Sunday, the Libertarian Party nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as its presidential candidate. Ventura's statement was issued before that, but it says he'd probably give his support to Johnson if the party nominated him.
Ventura's announcement was first reported by the Star Tribune.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Clinton's first name.
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PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit judge who sent three siblings to juvenile detention for refusing to meet with their estranged father faces a disciplinary hearing that could put her job in jeopardy.
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission says the actions of Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca have eroded the public's confidence in the judiciary. A hearing in front of a former judge starts Tuesday.
Gorcyca presided over a custody dispute involving the parents of three children. Last July, she found the siblings in contempt and sent them to juvenile detention for refusing to have lunch with their dad. After widespread publicity, the kids were released after two weeks.
Gorcyca is accused of misconduct and subsequently giving false explanations. She denies it. About 200 Detroit-area lawyers have signed a letter supporting Gorcyca.
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MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A man was arrested in Minot for allegedly squatting in a home while the owners were away.
KMOT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1OY2juJ ) that friends of the homeowners were checking on the house recently when they noticed a basement window broken out. They found belongings inside the home indicating that someone had been staying there.
Neighbors alerted police when the trespasser returned, and officers arrested a 42-year-old man.
Authorities say the man had been living in the house without permission, and also had been driving a pickup truck stolen from a local dealership.
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Information from: KFYR-TV, http://www.kfyrtv.com/
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A woman was in custody after authorities say she set another woman on fire.
St. Paul police say they got a call Monday that a woman had burns on her upper torso after flammable liquid was thrown on her and ignited.
Sgt. Mike Ernster says the victim was taken to a hospital and her injuries did not appear to be life threatening.
Authorities were still investigating what led to the alleged assault.
- By STEPHEN LEE Capital Journal
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FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Tony Jones and Orville White Eyes are doing what many might long to do: drop everything and take off on a cross-country road trip.
These two cowboys are planning on doing it horseback and aiming for what they describe as the national center for the west ends of eastbound horses.
"They have so many horses' (behinds) in Washington, we thought we'd show them some real ones," chortled Jones as he showed a visitor a couple of the mounts he and White Eyes plan to ride from the Missouri to the Potomac.
Jones, 54, grew up in Fort Pierre.
"All that I've really ever done in my life is ride," Jones said. "So I figured I could do that."
White Eyes, 44, grew up in Eagle Butte and Gettysburg and is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe headquartered in Eagle Butte.
They don't have much, in resources for such a big trip or in exact plans.
"But we've both done a lot of long rides, spent a few nights under the sky," White Eyes said.
They do have a higher purpose than just riding.
They are calling it "The Quest for Constitution in honor of Vets: A 1,500 mile journey from Fort Pierre, South Dakota, to Washington, D.C."
"The purpose of this two-man journey on horseback is to raise awareness for all the vets who served this country," the men say in a news release. "And fought for our constitution. Which is slowly being stripped away. We're here to reunite America as a whole and to bring awareness to the people that we still have rights."
They won't have any support vehicles trailing them with hot food, beds and a roof over their heads every night.
Instead they are going to pack one horse each to lead behind their mount.
"I'd take off today with just a bedroll behind my saddle," Jones told the Capital Journal (http://bit.ly/1U7W7lD ).
On a recent Wednesday, out at Joe Thorne's ranch northeast of Pierre, they had JT, an ordinary looking roan, and a younger, leggy thoroughbred bay with an odd white birthmark on his left shoulder. His name?
Jones smiles, at a loss, since the horse, not long off the race track, isn't thoroughly trained for trail riding yet and might need a couple days of packing to cool down and still was nameless.
"I guess we'll call him Spot," Jones said.
The two men still are picking out a couple of spare horses, to carry packs and share the riding.
Neither man was in the military but they have family members who were.
"My grandfather was in World War II," Jones said. "He was in Patton's Third Army."
They have Google mapped possible routes but don't have an itinerary, exactly.
"We'll stay off the beaten path," White Eyes said.
Their rough plan is to leave from Fort Pierre on Sunday, leave South Dakota in its southeast corner then cross Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia to get to Washington.
They will cross bridges when they come to them.
With a tent, grain, fishing gear, saw and hatchet, freeze-dried food and a solar charger for their phones and an abundance of hope in the hospitality of strangers on the way, White Eyes and Jones are confident they can do it.
"I've been a cowboy all my life," White Eyes said. "We know how to shoe horses, know how to doctor them and sew 'em up if need be."
"That's the main thing, is caring for the horses," Jones said, saying the pace of the trip will depend on the mounts.
They will try to average 15 to 20 miles a day. "That's a slow walk," White Eyes said. "Some days it might be 30 miles."
They are figuring it will take 100 days, maybe more.
"We'll probably auction off the horses and tack on the White House lawn when we get there," White Eyes said, not entirely serious about the White House lawn part.
"I've been diagnosed with melanoma cancer," White Eyes said. "I want to get something done before it takes my life."
Jones said he's tired of all the talk about doing something for his country and seeing elected officials not doing what they were elected to do.
"If you're not willing to do something, you got no right to talk about it all the time," he said. "So I can do this."
This ride with an old-fashioned pace will let him and White Eyes talk to veterans and others along the way, Jones said.
"So we can get a feel for what America still is. If it still is."
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Information from: Pierre Capital Journal, http://www.capjournal.com
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Conservation agents say the $203 penalty that a Missouri man paid for killing a protected black bear isn't much of a deterrent, but state lawmakers haven't had much of an appetite for giving wildlife penalties more teeth.
Chris Keown, 40, of House Springs, shot the bear with a muzzle-loading rifle around May 2 in a heavily wooded area near his home southwest of St. Louis, authorities said. He pleaded guilty to a citation from a conservation agent and paid the fine and fees, the Springfield News-Leader reported (http://sgfnow.co/1sEvazt ).
"I'm not going to disrespect the court or the General Assembly," said Larry Yamnitz, protection division chief with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "But that's the way it's set up in Missouri. The agents do their job, delivering the facts."
A bill filed in the recent legislative session by Rep. Linda Black, a Park Hills Republican, would have required poachers to make hefty restitution payments. The proposed additional fine for someone who illegally kills an elk or black bear would have been $3,500.
The measure was never brought up for a vote, with House Agriculture Policy Chairman Jay Houghton citing a lack of support for it among some committee members.
Earlier this month, Brandon Butler, executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, used the incident to call for stronger penalties against poachers.
"To dissuade poachers from stealing our fish and wildlife resources, Missouri must adopt significantly stronger penalties for poaching," he said.
Keown is a convicted felon who has had previous run-ins with game officials, Yamnitz said. He wasn't charged with illegally possessing a firearm because antique muzzle loaders aren't classified as firearms under federal law.
By pleading guilty to the citation, Keown could not also be prosecuted criminally, Yamnitz said.
Keown's son persuaded him to talk with game officials about killing the bear, he said.
"We recovered the head and hide, which had been dumped in a creek, and we found the bear's meat and paws in somebody's refrigerator," Yamnitz said. "Our agents did their job."
Keown was cited for pursuing, taking, killing, possessing or disposing of wildlife, a misdemeanor. If he would have fought the ticket, he could have faced fines up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
He also can get his gun back.
"We don't have a criminal forfeiture law for property involved in wildlife cases," Yamnitz said.
The News-Leader was unable to reach Keown for a comment. Keown does not have a listed home telephone number and could not be reached Monday by The Associated Press.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
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BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in southeast Iowa say a 17-year-old driver has minor injuries after crashing his car into a pond at a private golf club.
The Des Moines County Sheriff's Office says the teen was speeding early Monday in Burlington and lost control of his vehicle at a curve. The car slid sideways, entered Flint Hills Golf Course and eventually went into a pond on the eighth hole.
Authorities say the teen, the lone occupant, returned to land before his vehicle was fully submerged into the water. He was charged with operating while intoxicated and failure to maintain control of a vehicle. He was released to a parent.
- By PAULA SCHLEIS Akron Beacon Journal
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AKRON, Ohio (AP) — It's not a Zen or ch'i thing, Ed Cote insisted.
Not art. Not therapy. Not even especially a skill, he will tell you.
He said this as he hoisted a 40-pound rock, tipped it lengthwise, and nestled a pointy end into a dimple on a partially buried bolder.
When he let go, the rock almost appeared to be hovering in place, like an elephant doing a single-toed handstand.
Then he looked around his feet for another rock, determined to add yet another layer to an already-improbable balance.
"I'm not looking at what's possible. I start by thinking what's impossible, and work backward," Cote laughed. "Then I'm like, 'Holy crap, I can't believe that stood up.'?"
Spend a little time with the 55-year-old and you'll find there is, after all, a profound experience associated with rock stacking: It's a form of human communication.
It's the reason he took his hobby from his South Akron front yard to public parks, festivals, art walks and community gardens. He loves to share his passion, loves to see the surprise on faces of strangers, loves to encourage skeptics to give it a try.
So if you spot him squatting over a pile of rubble in the creek bed of some local park, don't be afraid to ask for a lesson.
Some teenage boys at Brecksville Reservation did that this spring, and Cote was tickled when they returned the next day with their "girlfriends" and proceeded to spend three hours stacking on the rocky shores of Chippewa Creek.
Cote pointed with pride at some 2-foot-high columns of flat, squared rocks— a style clearly not his own.
"Very impressive," he nodded approvingly. "They caught on really fast and turned it into their own thing."
Brecksville is one of his favorite spots. He'll go there after a full day of work— he washes dishes at an Akron restaurant after losing his job as a medical courier when the company went out of business last fall —and spend three hours playing near the ford on Chippewa Creek Drive.
It's not unusual for small crowds to gather around him on weekends.
"People thank me for stacking in their park, and that's the ultimate compliment," he said.
Recently, a motorist who spotted Cote stopped his car, jumped out and shook Cote's hand before speeding off. The man said very little but didn't need to. The rocks did the talking, creating a quick connection between the two men and leaving behind a warm memory.
Cote (pronounced co-TAY) started stacking rocks before he knew it was a "thing," he said.
He'd collected some pieces from the razing of Leggett Elementary School six years ago to decorate his front yard and found himself "feeling creative."
It wasn't until after he created some stacks that his wife Googled it and found a whole community of rock stackers who took their hobby very seriously. He even joined a group of them in Flagstaff, Arizona, for their "Back West Celebration of Stone Balancing."
But it's not serious business for Cote.
Sometimes when people ask if his stacks are "glued," he'll kick them over to prove they're not.
"People look at me like I just set the Mona Lisa on fire," he chuckled. "It's just a pile of rocks."
Cote also stacks rock beneath the Everett Road Covered Bridge in Peninsula, and occasionally finds a worthy spot in one of the Summit County Metro Parks. If he's not interrupting hikers or picnickers, he'll pull a radio out of his backpack. Good chance he'll be barefoot.
"If it's nice and sunny out, I'm out playing somewhere," he said.
Cote has been asked to give more formal lessons in rock stacking, and may soon join the lineup of classes offered by the Peninsula Art Academy.
"If you can physically pick up a rock, you can do it," he said.
But people still need convincing.
On a recent day in Brecksville, walking companions Candice Vlcek and Amy Diamond of Parma made sure their hour-long trek through the park took them past the rock stacks they'd spotted earlier.
To their delight, the rock stacker himself had made an appearance. They watched as Cote added to half a dozen creations he'd made the previous day.
"That's amazing," Vlcek said.
"It's defying gravity," Diamond said, pointing to one precarious perch. "I can't wrap my mind around how that's staying there."
Cote smiled and offered his standard reply: "It's just a pile of rocks."
But as the women finished their visit and headed to their car, it was clear the rocks had yet again done their job.
"That's why I do it. I just love the interaction," he said.
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Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com
- By DANIELLE GUERRA The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle
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ROSCOE, Ill. (AP) — Sixteen months ago, Ethan Menges' family members gathered around his hospital bed, as a life-support machine chugged and beeped in the background.
The mood could not have been any different from that at the May 14 gathering at First Congregational Community Church in Roscoe, where a piano played the Bridal March as French doors were flung open revealing Jordan Mathieu, Menges' bride, at their wedding ceremony.
"A year and a half ago, the doctors were wanting us to plan his funeral," Brittney Menges, Ethan's sister, said with tears welling in her eyes. "Now, we're at his wedding."
Menges, the 2010 Genoa-Kingston High School valedictorian and four-sport athlete, collapsed Jan. 22, 2015, while leaving a Chicago Bulls game and was taken to nearby Rush Hospital, where doctors treated a flu-like virus that developed into walking pneumonia that infected his lungs and spread to his bloodstream.
Mathieu and family members stayed by Menges' side as he worked his way through a rocky recovery, which included doctors amputating all of his limbs because of poor circulation.
Menges' final hospital stay was at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he completed a month of intense physical rehab and training on using his prostheses. It was in his room at RIC where he proposed to Jordan and she accepted. They set an ambitious wedding date for May 14, five months to the day Menges left RIC.
"It's weird because for the majority of our relationship, this past year and a half, two years, was in a hospital setting, not the typical things you do going out on dates, going to movies, hanging out with families, it was bedside," Menges said before the start of the wedding ceremony. "That means more than the world to me, because I know she'll always be there, she's been there through that, I'd have to really screw something up."
The wedding ceremony included personal touches, such as Ethan entering the chapel to Darth Vader's theme song, "The Imperial March." Pastor Lisa Abb helped the couple tie the knot, and during the ring ceremony, Jordan placed Ethan's ring on a necklace around his neck as he beamed with pride.
The couple walked back down the aisle arm-in-arm after the pastor pronounced them husband and wife, something Menges' father Ron Menges admitted was difficult to imagine from his hospital bed.
"It's great to still have him with me. I mean, it's just a beautiful moment today, this time last year, I didn't think I'd have my son and now I have a daughter-in-law," Ron Menges said after the ceremony. "... What they've gone through already is more than what anybody would ever go through in their life, and they've gone through it even before they actually tied the knot. So, I mean, when they say through sick and health, you can't get any sicker than what Ethan was."
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Source: The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle, http://bit.ly/25jHymN
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Information from: The Daily Chronicle, http://www.daily-chronicle.com
This is an Illinois Exchange story shared by The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle.
- By ALEXA ALTHOFF Williston Herald
FORT BUFORD, N.D. (AP) — The long histories of the Buffalo Soldiers and Masonic Lodges intersected on Saturday. A towering equine monument made in Bozeman, Montana, by artist Jim Dolan was dedicated to those who have served as Buffalo Soldiers.
What brings these two entities together, the Masons and the Buffalo Soldiers, is common ground. Quite literally.
The site at Fort Buford is owned by the Grand Lodge Foundation. On this location, two Masonic Lodges were once utilized. The Buffalo Soldier Units, which were made up of black soldiers, began their residence at Fort Buford in 1891, and the Eureka Lodge No. 135 was chartered in that same year. At that point in time, the two Masonic lodges located at Fort Buford where segregated by race. Although it remains a purely fraternal order, lodges are no longer segregated by race.
This mirrors the 9th Cavalry very closely. The 9th Cavalry was dubbed 'The Buffalo Soldiers' and continued to be racially segregated during World War II.
The tie between the Masons and the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Buford is rooted back in the 1890s but extends to present day. Charles Snargrass is a prime example of this. Snargrass, a 93-year-old veteran of the 9th Cavalry and Grand Secretary of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge in Minnesota, was present and participated in the ceremony on Saturday.
Snargrass served in the Cavalry during World War II and could identify the historical accuracies which the artist of the monument portrayed.
"It's very impressive," Snargrass said . "It's unbelievable that his imagination went that far. He got all the details. With the halter around his neck and the reins. We didn't tie the horses by the reigns. We used the rope that was around their neck. That's what we would tie them around the posts with."
He could see the connection between the Masons and the Buffalo Soldiers easily. Not only by being the living, breathing, example of this, he felt that history was the tie that binds.
"When this lodge (Eureka Lodge) was first chartered in North Dakota, the Buffalo Soldiers delivered them their first charter," Snargrass said. "That person from the 9th Cavalry was the first Grand Master that this lodge had. It gives it a lot of background and a lot of heritage."
The Monument itself was designed and built by Bozeman artist Jim Dolan and named 'Our Work Is Done'. Masked in a white canvas sheet until the unveiling, it stood at an impressive height.
The statue is an athletic looking horse with all the trappings of a Cavalry soldier. It took Dolan 6 months to complete his work, the Williston Herald reported (http://bit.ly/1RFPIMF ).
"I pretty much worked straight through," Dolan said. "I finished on Monday, and we brought it here on Tuesday."
Dolan also found a connection to the history of the Buffalo Soldiers within his own lineage. "My great uncle was in the Calvary and rode with General Pershing," Dolan recounted. "As I understand it, he was the one of was in charge of the Buffalo Soldiers. It was kind of fun to have a connection with the Buffalo Soldiers through family."
According to Jim Salvoija, Past Grand Master for North Dakota and state historian for the Masons, the statue was bought and paid for by a singular individual.
"We had a benefactor that came into the picture and actually supplied the monument," Salvoija said. "It's an undisclosed source. It's an individual that wasn't a Mason but now is. He became so involved in the history and the real story of what it is."
From as far away as Missouri, Minneapolis, and Minot, Masons came from across the country to witness the dedication. The connection to the state of Missouri is that the Eureka Lodge was chartered by what is now known as the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Missouri. Ed Johnson is a Past Grand Master Mason who made the hike from the 'Show-Me State'. He wasn't sure what the Eureka Lodge would have looked like back in the day, or if there ever was an actual structure.
"They probably did meet someplace," Johnson said.
The location has been narrowed down to a spot near the river. The monument even has a clever homage to the location with the head of the horse tilted toward the Southeast where the Eureka Lodge may have been.
But the symbolism didn't end with the horse. The entire ceremony was rife with Masonic ritual and dogma interlaced with raw military tradition. Even the decadent trappings of Grand Master Masons made the fashions of top military brass look like an exercise in utilitarianism.
The explanation of the multi-century custom of cornerstones by the Masons gave way to outlining why oil, wheat, and wine were important symbols in a Masonic dedication ceremony.
But when exactly does a mass of metal become a hallowed edifice according to Masonic tradition? The answer is once a good bit of symbolic oil is poured on the ground and a man with the title of 'Grand Master' turns to the four directions of the compass and proclaims it so.
The rain at least held itself off long enough to allow for a short photo opportunity with Snargrass and senior members of the fraternal order. But the mass of phones, iPads, and cameras promptly returned to their hidden resting places once the clouds opened with their own full salute to the situation. T-shirts were handed out, and everyone sought cover at the Masonic Site. Only the metal horse was left standing rider-less and alone in the rain.
"The crowd was wonderful and I was in awe to see all this done," Snargrass said. "I'm glad that I lived this far."
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Information from: Williston Herald, http://www.willistonherald.com
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura says he won't run for president.
Ventura had said earlier that he was considering a possible presidential campaign. But in a statement posted Thursday to his "Off the Grid" website, he says he "unequivocally" will not run.
The 64-year-old Ventura says he'd love to debate Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but he knows he'd win, and he doesn't want the job of president.
Ventura says he issued the statement to end speculation that he would get into the race.
On Sunday, the Libertarian Party nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as its presidential candidate. Ventura's statement was issued before that, but it says he'd probably give his support to Johnson if the party nominated him.
Ventura's announcement was first reported by the Star Tribune.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Clinton's first name.
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit judge who sent three siblings to juvenile detention for refusing to meet with their estranged father faces a disciplinary hearing that could put her job in jeopardy.
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission says the actions of Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca have eroded the public's confidence in the judiciary. A hearing in front of a former judge starts Tuesday.
Gorcyca presided over a custody dispute involving the parents of three children. Last July, she found the siblings in contempt and sent them to juvenile detention for refusing to have lunch with their dad. After widespread publicity, the kids were released after two weeks.
Gorcyca is accused of misconduct and subsequently giving false explanations. She denies it. About 200 Detroit-area lawyers have signed a letter supporting Gorcyca.
MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A man was arrested in Minot for allegedly squatting in a home while the owners were away.
KMOT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1OY2juJ ) that friends of the homeowners were checking on the house recently when they noticed a basement window broken out. They found belongings inside the home indicating that someone had been staying there.
Neighbors alerted police when the trespasser returned, and officers arrested a 42-year-old man.
Authorities say the man had been living in the house without permission, and also had been driving a pickup truck stolen from a local dealership.
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Information from: KFYR-TV, http://www.kfyrtv.com/
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A woman was in custody after authorities say she set another woman on fire.
St. Paul police say they got a call Monday that a woman had burns on her upper torso after flammable liquid was thrown on her and ignited.
Sgt. Mike Ernster says the victim was taken to a hospital and her injuries did not appear to be life threatening.
Authorities were still investigating what led to the alleged assault.
- By STEPHEN LEE Capital Journal
FORT PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Tony Jones and Orville White Eyes are doing what many might long to do: drop everything and take off on a cross-country road trip.
These two cowboys are planning on doing it horseback and aiming for what they describe as the national center for the west ends of eastbound horses.
"They have so many horses' (behinds) in Washington, we thought we'd show them some real ones," chortled Jones as he showed a visitor a couple of the mounts he and White Eyes plan to ride from the Missouri to the Potomac.
Jones, 54, grew up in Fort Pierre.
"All that I've really ever done in my life is ride," Jones said. "So I figured I could do that."
White Eyes, 44, grew up in Eagle Butte and Gettysburg and is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe headquartered in Eagle Butte.
They don't have much, in resources for such a big trip or in exact plans.
"But we've both done a lot of long rides, spent a few nights under the sky," White Eyes said.
They do have a higher purpose than just riding.
They are calling it "The Quest for Constitution in honor of Vets: A 1,500 mile journey from Fort Pierre, South Dakota, to Washington, D.C."
"The purpose of this two-man journey on horseback is to raise awareness for all the vets who served this country," the men say in a news release. "And fought for our constitution. Which is slowly being stripped away. We're here to reunite America as a whole and to bring awareness to the people that we still have rights."
They won't have any support vehicles trailing them with hot food, beds and a roof over their heads every night.
Instead they are going to pack one horse each to lead behind their mount.
"I'd take off today with just a bedroll behind my saddle," Jones told the Capital Journal (http://bit.ly/1U7W7lD ).
On a recent Wednesday, out at Joe Thorne's ranch northeast of Pierre, they had JT, an ordinary looking roan, and a younger, leggy thoroughbred bay with an odd white birthmark on his left shoulder. His name?
Jones smiles, at a loss, since the horse, not long off the race track, isn't thoroughly trained for trail riding yet and might need a couple days of packing to cool down and still was nameless.
"I guess we'll call him Spot," Jones said.
The two men still are picking out a couple of spare horses, to carry packs and share the riding.
Neither man was in the military but they have family members who were.
"My grandfather was in World War II," Jones said. "He was in Patton's Third Army."
They have Google mapped possible routes but don't have an itinerary, exactly.
"We'll stay off the beaten path," White Eyes said.
Their rough plan is to leave from Fort Pierre on Sunday, leave South Dakota in its southeast corner then cross Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia to get to Washington.
They will cross bridges when they come to them.
With a tent, grain, fishing gear, saw and hatchet, freeze-dried food and a solar charger for their phones and an abundance of hope in the hospitality of strangers on the way, White Eyes and Jones are confident they can do it.
"I've been a cowboy all my life," White Eyes said. "We know how to shoe horses, know how to doctor them and sew 'em up if need be."
"That's the main thing, is caring for the horses," Jones said, saying the pace of the trip will depend on the mounts.
They will try to average 15 to 20 miles a day. "That's a slow walk," White Eyes said. "Some days it might be 30 miles."
They are figuring it will take 100 days, maybe more.
"We'll probably auction off the horses and tack on the White House lawn when we get there," White Eyes said, not entirely serious about the White House lawn part.
"I've been diagnosed with melanoma cancer," White Eyes said. "I want to get something done before it takes my life."
Jones said he's tired of all the talk about doing something for his country and seeing elected officials not doing what they were elected to do.
"If you're not willing to do something, you got no right to talk about it all the time," he said. "So I can do this."
This ride with an old-fashioned pace will let him and White Eyes talk to veterans and others along the way, Jones said.
"So we can get a feel for what America still is. If it still is."
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Information from: Pierre Capital Journal, http://www.capjournal.com
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Conservation agents say the $203 penalty that a Missouri man paid for killing a protected black bear isn't much of a deterrent, but state lawmakers haven't had much of an appetite for giving wildlife penalties more teeth.
Chris Keown, 40, of House Springs, shot the bear with a muzzle-loading rifle around May 2 in a heavily wooded area near his home southwest of St. Louis, authorities said. He pleaded guilty to a citation from a conservation agent and paid the fine and fees, the Springfield News-Leader reported (http://sgfnow.co/1sEvazt ).
"I'm not going to disrespect the court or the General Assembly," said Larry Yamnitz, protection division chief with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "But that's the way it's set up in Missouri. The agents do their job, delivering the facts."
A bill filed in the recent legislative session by Rep. Linda Black, a Park Hills Republican, would have required poachers to make hefty restitution payments. The proposed additional fine for someone who illegally kills an elk or black bear would have been $3,500.
The measure was never brought up for a vote, with House Agriculture Policy Chairman Jay Houghton citing a lack of support for it among some committee members.
Earlier this month, Brandon Butler, executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, used the incident to call for stronger penalties against poachers.
"To dissuade poachers from stealing our fish and wildlife resources, Missouri must adopt significantly stronger penalties for poaching," he said.
Keown is a convicted felon who has had previous run-ins with game officials, Yamnitz said. He wasn't charged with illegally possessing a firearm because antique muzzle loaders aren't classified as firearms under federal law.
By pleading guilty to the citation, Keown could not also be prosecuted criminally, Yamnitz said.
Keown's son persuaded him to talk with game officials about killing the bear, he said.
"We recovered the head and hide, which had been dumped in a creek, and we found the bear's meat and paws in somebody's refrigerator," Yamnitz said. "Our agents did their job."
Keown was cited for pursuing, taking, killing, possessing or disposing of wildlife, a misdemeanor. If he would have fought the ticket, he could have faced fines up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
He also can get his gun back.
"We don't have a criminal forfeiture law for property involved in wildlife cases," Yamnitz said.
The News-Leader was unable to reach Keown for a comment. Keown does not have a listed home telephone number and could not be reached Monday by The Associated Press.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in southeast Iowa say a 17-year-old driver has minor injuries after crashing his car into a pond at a private golf club.
The Des Moines County Sheriff's Office says the teen was speeding early Monday in Burlington and lost control of his vehicle at a curve. The car slid sideways, entered Flint Hills Golf Course and eventually went into a pond on the eighth hole.
Authorities say the teen, the lone occupant, returned to land before his vehicle was fully submerged into the water. He was charged with operating while intoxicated and failure to maintain control of a vehicle. He was released to a parent.
- By PAULA SCHLEIS Akron Beacon Journal
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — It's not a Zen or ch'i thing, Ed Cote insisted.
Not art. Not therapy. Not even especially a skill, he will tell you.
He said this as he hoisted a 40-pound rock, tipped it lengthwise, and nestled a pointy end into a dimple on a partially buried bolder.
When he let go, the rock almost appeared to be hovering in place, like an elephant doing a single-toed handstand.
Then he looked around his feet for another rock, determined to add yet another layer to an already-improbable balance.
"I'm not looking at what's possible. I start by thinking what's impossible, and work backward," Cote laughed. "Then I'm like, 'Holy crap, I can't believe that stood up.'?"
Spend a little time with the 55-year-old and you'll find there is, after all, a profound experience associated with rock stacking: It's a form of human communication.
It's the reason he took his hobby from his South Akron front yard to public parks, festivals, art walks and community gardens. He loves to share his passion, loves to see the surprise on faces of strangers, loves to encourage skeptics to give it a try.
So if you spot him squatting over a pile of rubble in the creek bed of some local park, don't be afraid to ask for a lesson.
Some teenage boys at Brecksville Reservation did that this spring, and Cote was tickled when they returned the next day with their "girlfriends" and proceeded to spend three hours stacking on the rocky shores of Chippewa Creek.
Cote pointed with pride at some 2-foot-high columns of flat, squared rocks— a style clearly not his own.
"Very impressive," he nodded approvingly. "They caught on really fast and turned it into their own thing."
Brecksville is one of his favorite spots. He'll go there after a full day of work— he washes dishes at an Akron restaurant after losing his job as a medical courier when the company went out of business last fall —and spend three hours playing near the ford on Chippewa Creek Drive.
It's not unusual for small crowds to gather around him on weekends.
"People thank me for stacking in their park, and that's the ultimate compliment," he said.
Recently, a motorist who spotted Cote stopped his car, jumped out and shook Cote's hand before speeding off. The man said very little but didn't need to. The rocks did the talking, creating a quick connection between the two men and leaving behind a warm memory.
Cote (pronounced co-TAY) started stacking rocks before he knew it was a "thing," he said.
He'd collected some pieces from the razing of Leggett Elementary School six years ago to decorate his front yard and found himself "feeling creative."
It wasn't until after he created some stacks that his wife Googled it and found a whole community of rock stackers who took their hobby very seriously. He even joined a group of them in Flagstaff, Arizona, for their "Back West Celebration of Stone Balancing."
But it's not serious business for Cote.
Sometimes when people ask if his stacks are "glued," he'll kick them over to prove they're not.
"People look at me like I just set the Mona Lisa on fire," he chuckled. "It's just a pile of rocks."
Cote also stacks rock beneath the Everett Road Covered Bridge in Peninsula, and occasionally finds a worthy spot in one of the Summit County Metro Parks. If he's not interrupting hikers or picnickers, he'll pull a radio out of his backpack. Good chance he'll be barefoot.
"If it's nice and sunny out, I'm out playing somewhere," he said.
Cote has been asked to give more formal lessons in rock stacking, and may soon join the lineup of classes offered by the Peninsula Art Academy.
"If you can physically pick up a rock, you can do it," he said.
But people still need convincing.
On a recent day in Brecksville, walking companions Candice Vlcek and Amy Diamond of Parma made sure their hour-long trek through the park took them past the rock stacks they'd spotted earlier.
To their delight, the rock stacker himself had made an appearance. They watched as Cote added to half a dozen creations he'd made the previous day.
"That's amazing," Vlcek said.
"It's defying gravity," Diamond said, pointing to one precarious perch. "I can't wrap my mind around how that's staying there."
Cote smiled and offered his standard reply: "It's just a pile of rocks."
But as the women finished their visit and headed to their car, it was clear the rocks had yet again done their job.
"That's why I do it. I just love the interaction," he said.
___
Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com
- By DANIELLE GUERRA The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle
ROSCOE, Ill. (AP) — Sixteen months ago, Ethan Menges' family members gathered around his hospital bed, as a life-support machine chugged and beeped in the background.
The mood could not have been any different from that at the May 14 gathering at First Congregational Community Church in Roscoe, where a piano played the Bridal March as French doors were flung open revealing Jordan Mathieu, Menges' bride, at their wedding ceremony.
"A year and a half ago, the doctors were wanting us to plan his funeral," Brittney Menges, Ethan's sister, said with tears welling in her eyes. "Now, we're at his wedding."
Menges, the 2010 Genoa-Kingston High School valedictorian and four-sport athlete, collapsed Jan. 22, 2015, while leaving a Chicago Bulls game and was taken to nearby Rush Hospital, where doctors treated a flu-like virus that developed into walking pneumonia that infected his lungs and spread to his bloodstream.
Mathieu and family members stayed by Menges' side as he worked his way through a rocky recovery, which included doctors amputating all of his limbs because of poor circulation.
Menges' final hospital stay was at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, where he completed a month of intense physical rehab and training on using his prostheses. It was in his room at RIC where he proposed to Jordan and she accepted. They set an ambitious wedding date for May 14, five months to the day Menges left RIC.
"It's weird because for the majority of our relationship, this past year and a half, two years, was in a hospital setting, not the typical things you do going out on dates, going to movies, hanging out with families, it was bedside," Menges said before the start of the wedding ceremony. "That means more than the world to me, because I know she'll always be there, she's been there through that, I'd have to really screw something up."
The wedding ceremony included personal touches, such as Ethan entering the chapel to Darth Vader's theme song, "The Imperial March." Pastor Lisa Abb helped the couple tie the knot, and during the ring ceremony, Jordan placed Ethan's ring on a necklace around his neck as he beamed with pride.
The couple walked back down the aisle arm-in-arm after the pastor pronounced them husband and wife, something Menges' father Ron Menges admitted was difficult to imagine from his hospital bed.
"It's great to still have him with me. I mean, it's just a beautiful moment today, this time last year, I didn't think I'd have my son and now I have a daughter-in-law," Ron Menges said after the ceremony. "... What they've gone through already is more than what anybody would ever go through in their life, and they've gone through it even before they actually tied the knot. So, I mean, when they say through sick and health, you can't get any sicker than what Ethan was."
___
Source: The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle, http://bit.ly/25jHymN
___
Information from: The Daily Chronicle, http://www.daily-chronicle.com
This is an Illinois Exchange story shared by The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle.
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