Meth postcards, toxic turf; school bans 'boys and girls'
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Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four years ago photographer Andrew George approached the medical director of a Los Angeles hospital with an unusual request: He wanted to meet and take photographs of people about to die.
There was nothing macabre about the request, George says. He simply wanted to learn of and reflect the wisdom these people had gained in the hope that others could discover how to lead better, more fulfilling lives.
"I wanted to make a project about the universal challenge that we all have to address, and that is dying," George said as he sat in a gallery in Los Angeles' Museum of Tolerance, where his photo exhibition, "Right, Before I Die," opened this week.
"I thought if I could make a project about exceptional people who had overcome the fears that we all grapple with in life. Then it occurred to me that I could really only get that from dealing with a dying population."
On the exhibition walls around him are 20 framed photos of dying people, each accompanied by some of the words they spoke as they described their hopes, dreams, happy moments and regrets while he photographed them.
A commonality he found was that few seemed to fear death any longer. Not that any were in a hurry for it to come either. Many, although appearing frail and noting they were in much pain, still looked forward to just greeting the day.
One subject, identified only as Irene, is quoted as saying: "It's a beautiful day. I'm watching the leaves sway back and forth in the wind, and I'm happy that I get to be alive to watch that."
A few had regrets, although they no longer dwelled on them.
"My wife wasn't the greatest love of my life. A Japanese girl was back in the '40s," a man named Jack is quoted as saying.
The pair were teenagers when she was sent to a relocation camp during World War II. And although they planned to marry, they lost touch. "Thought about her the other day because I had a Japanese nurse. I hadn't thought about her in years," said Jack, who is photographed connected to an oxygen tube.
Of the people George photographed, only Nelly Gutierrez — who has diabetes, liver failure, heart trouble and other ailments — is still alive. The 63-year-old says she hangs on through pain and grueling treatments because she wants to see her family. That, and she likes to sing karaoke on the days she isn't too exhausted by dialysis.
She saw the white light of death once, she recalled, adding she believed it was heaven. But she argued with God that she wasn't ready to go because her kids still needed her.
"And then I woke up," she says with a smile as she checks out her photo.
Coincidentally, the LA exhibition opened just days after a San Diego woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease threw a farewell party for friends, then ended her life through assisted suicide.
Dr. Ira Byock, founder of the Providence Institute for Human Caring, which is underwriting the exhibition, declines to offer an opinion on assisted suicide other than to say he's happy to see the debate about it over in California, where it is now legal.
Now, the author of "Dying Well" says, medical professionals can concentrate on making a person's final days as fulfilling as possible rather than arguing about how those days should end.
When he set out to find people to photograph, George said, he was turned down repeatedly by hospital administrators who told him the same thing: "This is taboo. We don't talk about death."
He found an exception in Dr. Marwa Kilani, medical director of palliative care at Los Angeles' Providence Holy Cross Hospital. She had heard so many interesting life stories from people during their final days, she told him, that she agreed it was important to share them with others who could learn from them and learn of the dignity people continue to possess even in their dying days.
"Right, Before I Die," opened last year at Belgium's Musea Brugge, moving on to San Francisco's Grace Cathedral earlier this year. Future venues are being considered after it leaves the Museum of Tolerance at the end of September.
"We're not an art museum, but there was something that resonated with me very much with the subject and the important themes of our museum," said Liebe Geft, director of the facility dedicated to peace, tolerance and a remembrance of the horrors of the Holocaust.
"It reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit, of the precious gift of life," she said of the exhibition. "And it begs all kinds of questions about what it means to be alive, what is the purpose in being here, how can I be the best person that I can be."
- By KATY MOELLER Idaho Statesman
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Two gashes on the top of her head were stapled. Deep wounds on her forehead and face were stitched. Her left eye was temporarily paralyzed by nerve damage, and the iris settled into an awkward and constant gaze from the lower right corner of the socket.
Doris "Dori" Garner, who was encased in neck and full upper-body braces for months while her broken bones healed, recalls her horror when she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror, reported the Idaho Statesman (http://bit.ly/2boV9TQ).
"I looked like Frankenstein's bride," said Garner, a tiny 47-year-old woman who had a 2,500-pound bull land on top of her in a car-livestock collision last November on U.S. 95 in Adams County. "It was scary to look at myself."
The injuries that she and her husband, William "Jack" Garner, now 54, suffered weren't just cosmetic. The Nampa newlyweds — married just two months before the crash — suffered life-threatening head trauma and other critical injuries.
It was not until after she was released from the hospital a month later that Dori Garner heard the full story about the tragic aftermath of the crash: The bull's owner, Jack Yantis, had been shot to death by county deputies at the crash scene. State and federal prosecutors announced in late July that they found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to pursue criminal charges.
The Garners' broken bodies have healed over the past 9 1/2 months, though they do have lingering physical and emotional pain. They have worked hard to regain their health and resume favorite hobbies, including dancing in the living room.
Jack Garner does not want to speak publicly, but Dori Garner told the Idaho Statesman that she plans to become an outspoken advocate for changing Idaho's open range laws, which allow livestock to roam freely, even in areas with high-speed traffic on state and federal highways.
"I can't let what happened to Mr. Yantis stop me from standing up for what I believe is right," she said. "I have to speak out about the dangers of open range. If ranchers take offense, I can't help that. Laws need to be changed and added to keep travelers safer."
In Idaho's open-range areas, longstanding tradition, eventually written into law, absolves livestock owners from liability when a driver hits livestock. As the law stands, the Garners could be liable not only for their injuries and damage to their vehicle, but for the replacement of the bull.
The Idaho Transportation Department crash report estimated the animal's value at $4,000, though breeding bulls typically sell for $5,000 to $10,000, according to Treasure Valley Livestock Auction. The Garners have not heard from the Yantis family or anyone representing them.
LIFE-CHANGING NIGHT
The collision happened about 6:45 p.m. Nov. 1, right in front of the Yantis ranch along the highway north of Council.
That night, the Garners were traveling back to Nampa from Dori's childhood hometown of LaCrosse, Washington. It is a 5 1/2- to six-hour drive, and they opted to take a route they don't normally take — U.S. 95 — so they could stop to see Dori's son in Lewiston.
Dori and Jack were both previously married to other people. They have eight children, ages 16 to 26, between them. The couple tied the knot in LaCrosse last September.
Jack was at the wheel of their 1994 Subaru Legacy wagon when it collided with the bull. Dori does not remember anything that occurred during the hour leading up to the crash.
"The last thing I remember was stopping at a rest area outside of Riggins," she said.
The conditions that night were dry and clear, according to the ITD crash report. It was dark. There are no street lights in the area.
The Garners were traveling downhill on a straightaway before the collision, the crash report says, but Jack Garner told his wife that he believes a curve impeded his view of the bull.
He saw the black Gelbvieh standing in the southbound lane of the two-lane highway a split-second before hitting it. The bull hit the center front bumper, the crash report shows. It flattened the hood and smashed into the windshield and roof.
When Jack came to, he was not sure if Dori was alive. He was in an ambulance when he heard her screaming about pain in her foot. Strangely, that was one of the few parts of her body where doctors could find no injury.
The couple feels lucky they were not riding in their two-seat Mazda Miata. That was largely because they were traveling with their dog, a Bichon Frise-Maltese mix named Chloe. Riding in a kennel in the back of the Subaru, the year-old pup was unharmed.
Dori and Jack suffered bleeding concussions. An air ambulance took them to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
Dori Garner's other injuries included a broken bone in her neck and two in her back. Surgery was deemed too risky, so she had to wear a neck brace and stay as still as possible while her bones healed over three months. The upper-body brace came off only when she was lying flat on the bed. Jack was treated for a dislocated clavicle, or collar bone.
"He was in as much pain as I was with my broken bones," said Dori, who had to be extricated from the crushed Subaru. Jack collapsed outside the car as he tried to walk around to the other side to help her.
"He's very emotional when he talks about it, and he doesn't like to talk about it," Dori Garner said. "The emotions of that night are still very strong, and they're still very painful for him."
The Garners have tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and more to come. They were insured, though Dori Garner said a subsequent change in Jack's employment status as a respiratory therapist left them unable to afford insurance for a month before he returned to full-time status.
This is not the way they envisioned beginning their lives together, but they say they have become closer through it all.
Dori Garner expects to have two more surgeries. One would help improve the alignment of the eye affected by nerve damage; she has regained the ability to move that eye, though it has double vision, and she wears corrective glasses so she can drive.
Jack was able to get back to work as a respiratory therapist in February, but Dori lost her job as a family assistant — a nanny with extra responsibilities — and will be looking for a new job soon.
ADVOCATING LAW CHANGE
The couple is grateful to those who helped at the crash scene, from the paramedics to the deputies who were investigated in Jack Yantis' death.
"I want to go back there and thank people," Dori Garner said. "They saved our lives and took care of us. I've been so busy concentrating on my recovery that I haven't got that far yet."
She also expresses sympathy for Yantis' wife, Donna.
Dori Garner said she is close to being ready to go out and talk to lawmakers about changing open-range laws. She grew up in cattle country and knows that it is not possible to keep livestock in fences.
Idaho Transportation Department data show there were 300 crashes involving domestic animals, including livestock, across Idaho in 2014. Two crashes were fatal, including one in which an Emmett woman struck a horse on Idaho 16. That occurred in an area that is closed range.
"I know there's always a possibility that an animal is going to find a way out, or push down a fence. That happens," Garner said.
She wants to do away with open range close to highways and high-speed traffic, and/or to lower speed limits in those areas, "to minimize the risk of someone getting injured or losing their life."
"I feel like (livestock in the roadway) should not be a common thing," she said. "It should be a rarity."
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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com
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SEATTLE (AP) — The city of Seattle has received over 70 reports of businesses not complying with its new all-gender restroom ordinance since officials began enforcing it in March.
The reports have been made by 33 people, some of whom made multiple reports. No businesses have been fined, but letters have been sent advising owners to change their signs and to provide evidence they did so, The Seattle Times reported (http://goo.gl/V3Osyh ).
Passed in 2015 by the Seattle City Council and Mayor Ed Murray, the ordinance prohibits gender-specific, single-occupant restrooms in city facilities and public establishments such as bars, restaurants, stadiums, chain stores and hotels.
Those establishments must also provide signs specifying that their single-occupant restrooms are meant to be used by people of all genders.
The goal, according to the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, is to improve restroom access for transgender individuals and people who consider themselves neither exclusively male nor female.
Seattle trans-rights activist Danni Askini, executive director of the Gender Justice League, said the ordinance has had a positive effect on transgender and gender-nonconforming people in feeling safe. She said her organization hasn't had any recent reports of people harassed while trying to use restrooms.
The office's enforcement for now is complaint-based and the civil-rights office tries to help business comply with the ordinance, according to Mike Chin, an enforcement manager.
The civil-rights office had received 73 reports, as of last week, and had resolved 57. Three of those were resolved before advisory letters were sent, 42 after sending advisory letters and six through the violation process. Six reports had been dismissed for lacking jurisdiction or information.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
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LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A hawk species under federal protection is nesting at New Mexico State University for a fourth year in a row, reigniting concern about safety for the public and the birds.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/2bvMIcn) that Swainson's hawks have returned as students begin a new semester this week.
NMSU business management professor David Boje recently obtained a grant to buy 40 umbrellas that have been placed in containers in the vicinity of the nest.
Spray-painted signs advise people walking through the area to use an umbrella and then return it to a receptacle.
Officials say 13 people have recently reported being injured by swooping hawks.
Experts say the hawks could remain for as long as another month before migrating to Argentina for the winter.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
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LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Court records indicate a former Laramie law enforcement officer accused of killing a University of Wyoming student in 1985 was linked to the case more than three decades later through DNA analysis.
Authorities say 67-year-old Fredrick Lamb of Laramie was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder and arson. Details on whether he has a lawyer were not available.
Laramie police say Lamb was arrested in connection with the 1985 slaying of 22-year-old Shelli Wiley.
According to the Laramie Boomerang (http://tinyurl.com/j6v6twg ), Lamb told police at the time that he heard a female voice around 5 a.m., thought there might be a fight but didn't see anything.
Lamb worked as an officer with the Laramie Police Department and the Albany County Sheriff's Office, but not at the time of Wiley's death.
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Information from: Laramie Boomerang, http://www.laramieboomerang.com
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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Dozens of prairie dogs in northern Arizona are being relocated to make way for a 10,000-square-foot shooting range.
Elise and Rob Wilson plan to build a giant indoor range on their property in Timberline just west of U.S. Highway 89.
Elise Wilson, a self-professed animal lover, tells the Arizona Daily Sun (http://bit.ly/2bA6u3O) that she wanted to avoid killing the prairie dogs that live on the land.
The couple has been working with Flagstaff nonprofit Habitat Harmony for the past few weeks to safely capture and relocate them. According to the group, there is evidence that up to 125 prairie dogs live in burrows on the Wilsons' land.
The animals will be moving to Petrified Forest National Park.
Arizona Game and Fish and Coconino County are offering support for the move.
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Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/
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ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — An Albuquerque elementary school is taking a new transgender bathroom policy further, instructing teachers to no longer address students as "boys and girls."
KOB-TV reported (http://bit.ly/2bEXkDh) Friday that teachers at Carlos Rey Elementary received a written directive from the assistant principal this month that they eliminate gender in classrooms.
Albuquerque Public Schools says the assistant principal's instructions are a mistaken case of overreach.
District officials say their transgender policy does not prohibit referring to students as boys and girls.
They plan to address the issue with the school.
The district has previously said it will abide by a federal order allowing transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
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Information from: KOB-TV, http://www.kob.com
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Park City police are investigating a virtual kidnapping, a scam they say is on the rise.
Police Capt. Phil Kirk tells KSL-TV (http://bit.ly/2b7JF64) of Salt Lake City that a family received calls Aug. 12 from people claiming to have kidnapped their 15-year-old son.
Kirk says the callers knew information about the teen that led them to believe the threat was real.
The callers threatened to harm the boy unless they received a ransom.
Kirk says police located the teen and determined no kidnapping had taken place.
Investigators say these kinds of calls have been happening elsewhere and recent immigrants are typically the targets.
Kirk says this family moved to Utah from Mexico only two weeks ago.
Kirk advises to use caution on social media, where scammers likely get personal information.
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Information from: KSL-TV, http://www.ksl.com/
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PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix woman is accused of leaving her baby in a stroller outside in the sweltering heat and then passing out from drinking.
According to court documents filed this week, 25-year-old Antoinette Gail Little-Nashio was arrested for child neglect but also has outstanding arrest warrants in Phoenix and Apache Junction.
Police say Little-Nashio went to a friend's apartment Sunday to drink and then left her 1-year-old boy in a stroller in a courtyard.
She allegedly returned to the apartment and passed out.
A neighbor called 911 after seeing Little-Nashio hadn't returned for the infant.
Police say Little-Nashio had a blood alcohol level of 0.389 and was arrested.
The infant is in the custody of the Department of Child Safety.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police say two men were shot and killed by security guards when they tried to rob a strip club in the San Fernando Valley.
Capt. Paul Vernon tells KABC-TV that the guards confronted the gunmen when they stormed into Xposed Gentleman's Club in Canoga Park early Saturday.
Vernon says both suspects were shot and died at the scene.
The Los Angeles Times reports the guards were injured and hospitalized in stable condition.
Guns were recovered from both suspects.
Vernon says based on their tattoos police believe the gunmen were gang members.
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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State officials will resume efforts to kill the remaining members of a wolf pack in northeastern Washington after finding two calf carcasses and an injured calf.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday a wolf attacked the injured calf and it's probable that wolves killed two others.
Since mid-July, officials have confirmed that wolves have killed or injured six cattle and probably five others.
WDFW Director Jim Unsworth authorized staff to remove the Profanity Peak wolf pack to prevent additional attacks on cattle in the rangelands between Republic and Kettle Falls.
State wildlife officials shot two pack members Aug. 5, but ended efforts after two weeks passed without finding more evidence of wolf predation on cattle.
Officials say removing the entire pack may prove challenging because of rugged, timbered landscape.
Earlier this summer, WDFW determined the pack had at least 11 members.
- By DEBBIE CAFAZZO The News Tribune
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TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Their son is gone.
Luke Beardemphl, a standout Tacoma soccer player during his years at Stadium High School, died last year at 24, following a seven-year battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
But Luke's parents, Mike and Stephanie Beardemphl, now worry about the kids who will come after him, running, rolling and diving into the more than 11,000 artificial turf soccer fields around the country — including at more than a dozen schools in the Tacoma School District — just as their goalkeeper son did.
Most of those synthetic turf fields are cushioned with a material called crumb rubber, made from ground-up used tires. The tiny pellets are loosely distributed as infill between artificial blades of grass woven into a carpet-like base. Modern turf fields are the successors to the original 1960s-era AstroTurf. Athletes who play on today's fields that use crumb rubber infill are familiar with the "little black dots" that are kicked up during a game or practice, reported The News Tribune (http://bit.ly/2aV2IjX).
Families such as the Beardemphls have added their voices to a growing chorus of concern about whether the rubber specks that stick to skin, hair and clothing, and that get in players' eyes, mouths and open wounds, contain toxic substances that contribute to cancer in young athletes.
"To me it's obvious," said Stephanie Beardemphl. "There is a problem, and there needs to be more action by the government."
Her husband Mike compares crumb rubber to materials like asbestos or the pesticide DDT — both thought to be useful products until their dangers were discovered.
Turf industry: No studies prove cancer link
Synthetic turf and crumb rubber became popular with schools and parks throughout the country during the 1990s, and recycling used tires was billed as positive for the environment.
Groundskeepers liked that it didn't need water, fertilizer or herbicides, never needed mowing and could withstand year-round use — even in the soggy Northwest.
The Atlanta-based industry group known as the Synthetic Turf Council maintains that crumb rubber has been well-studied for decades in the United States and Europe and that dozens of studies have failed to prove a link between crumb rubber infill on sports fields and cancer.
They point to studies such as one from Connecticut in 2010 that found playing on synthetic turf fields containing crumb rubber did not elevate health risks. However, the Connecticut researchers also noted that their study was limited to measuring chemicals from five artificial turf fields, and did not explore the potential risks of ingestion or skin exposure. They called for more study.
Other studies have been conducted in New York, New Jersey and by federal agencies. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: "Limited studies have not shown an elevated health risk from playing on fields with tire crumb, but the existing studies do not comprehensively evaluate the concerns about health risks from exposure to tire crumb."
In February, the federal government announced a new study that will try to probe more deeply.
Industry representatives say they welcome examination of their product.
"We have consistently said that we support all additional research," a turf council statement reads. "At the same time, we strongly reaffirm that the existing studies clearly show that artificial turf fields and playgrounds with crumb rubber are safe and have no link to any health issues."
The turf council points out that the same kind of recycled rubber used on synthetic turf fields is used to make a variety of other products, including sneakers and garden hoses.
But those kinds of reassurances don't satisfy critics.
Amy's list
Concerns about the safety of crumb rubber first took root in Washington state.
In 2009, University of Washington soccer coach Amy Griffin was thinking about two soccer goalkeepers she knew who had been diagnosed with lymphoma. One of the players mentioned the ubiquitous "little black dots," wondered what was in them and whether they might have something to do with her illness.
Griffin didn't think much about it at first.
"I thought I would find out and be able to tell parents, 'We're all good. No need for concern,'" Griffin said.
After doing some reading, she discovered her players were running around on fields made in part from used tires.
Griffin, a graduate of Federal Way's Decatur High School, played club soccer as a teen, college soccer at the University of Central Florida and then landed a spot as goalkeeper on the U.S. National Team. She was part of the team that won the first Women's World Cup in 1991.
She came to the UW several years later. During her early years there, Griffin said, she didn't know any young people with cancer. But that began to change over time. She often went along when Husky soccer players went on goodwill visits to kids at Seattle Children's hospital.
One year, she visited four young soccer players with cancer. Three were goalkeepers.
"I kept asking people, 'Don't you think this is weird?'" Griffin recalled. "I kept bumping into more and more people."
She decided to make a list, starting with perhaps 13 or 14 cancer patients, "mostly people I knew personally or had met at Children's."
On a yellow legal pad, she recorded their names, their diagnosis and contact information. Griffin's optimism began to fade, and — remembering the comment from her ill player about the little black dots — she started raising questions about the safety of crumb rubber.
After she raised those questions during an NBC News broadcast in 2014, ill soccer players and families from around the country began getting in touch with her to relate their stories.
"I had no idea it was going to grow that big," Griffin said. "It became like a second job, with people reaching out to me."
The list outgrew Griffin's legal pad. Someone helped her create a website to collect the information.
Griffin's list grew to contain 220 athletes — soccer players, football players, lacrosse, field hockey and baseball players. About 55 are from Washington state, including Luke Beardemphl.
Griffin freely acknowledges her collection of names is anecdotal, rather than scientific. Still, the list has drawn the attention of the state Department of Health.
State officials are working with the UW's School of Public Health to review the list and compare it to the state's cancer registry, which includes information on all cancer cases reported in the state.
They want to know whether there's an increased rate of cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia among soccer players — especially goalkeepers.
"We are looking at this as an investigation," said Cathy Wasserman, a state epidemiologist. "We want to see if soccer players get cancer more frequently than the general population."
Griffin notes that a disproportionate number of the athletes with cancer on her list are soccer goalkeepers. That raises even more questions, she said.
"There are only one or two on a team of 20," she said.
Why goalkeepers? Griffin's theory is that they spend more time diving into the playing surface and the crumb rubber than players in field positions.
"We get it in our eyes, in our open wounds," she said. "It smells like a tire factory. I can smell it when I'm down there."
Wasserman notes that some cancers affect young people more than others. Hodgkin disease, for example, is most common in two age groups: adolescents and young adults, and adults in their 50s.
The Health Department hopes to have its statistical analysis completed by the end of the year. And officials say they are continuing to monitor other research.
Lauren Jenks, director of the Health Department's Office for Environmental Public Health Sciences, said state health officials have reviewed the studies done on crumb rubber.
"We concluded, looking at the information that's available, that people are not getting exposed to toxic chemicals while they are playing on the fields," she said, adding that some substances found in crumb rubber are present in the air.
The hypothesis that young soccer players are being affected by toxic substances from synthetic turf fields is one among many, Wasserman said. Players who get cancer could have other factors in common, such as genetics or other environmental factors. Those need to be explored in more in-depth studies, she said.
Tacoma sticks with crumb rubber, for now
Tacoma Public Schools is spending nearly $2 million this summer to build synthetic turf fields at schools under construction and to refurbish older fields that have reached their expected 10-year life cycle.
Artificial turf fields at Lincoln and Mount Tahoma high schools underwent routine replacement this summer. Stewart Middle School and Wainwright Intermediate School — both under construction this summer — will have new synthetic turf fields when they open. Tacoma's five comprehensive high schools have artificial turf fields, as do several middle schools and a few elementary schools.
All use crumb rubber infill.
In March, when the School Board was asked to approve expenditures for the summer projects, board member Scott Heinze raised questions about the safety of artificial turf and crumb rubber.
He called Amy Griffin's information-gathering "compelling," and said he thinks of it often when his child asks to play on the new turf at his local elementary school.
Steve Murakami, the school district's chief operating officer, told board members the best information available was that crumb rubber doesn't pose a significant health risk. He said his department checked with the state health department and others. He said the school district will monitor information that comes out of the new studies.
"As we get more information or future research, if there is a causal link or any scientific data showing a correlation between crumb rubber and public health risks, we will look at adjusting our process and changing up our cycles," Murakami said.
He told board members that installing alternative infill, like the kind made from plant material or rubber left over from sneaker manufacturing, can cost three to four times as much as crumb rubber. It's difficult to obtain actual cost estimates for the material. Both installers and the industry representatives say that each job is unique and carries unique expenses.
"I appreciate the due diligence," Heinze said. "But I don't want us to be on the wrong side 10 years down the road."
He said that if it costs more to keep kids healthy, "that's money well invested."
Other communities have already made the investment or are thinking about it.
South Kitsap High School debuted its $1.5 million Kitsap Bank Stadium in September 2015. The synthetic turf field, installed by Texas-based Hellas Construction, uses an infill made from a blend of ground coconut husks, cork and rice hulls.
First developed in Italy in 2004, the infill offers an added bonus of lower field temperatures. Hellas says its product requires occasional watering, but uses 90 percent less water than natural grass.
The Eatonville School District promised voters during its most recent bond request that it would avoid crumb rubber and use plant-based alternatives to rebuild its high school football stadium. The measure was defeated in an April election. So for now, Eatonville's stadium remains natural grass.
In Seattle, the parks department launched a pilot project to replace one of its crumb rubber fields with a new infill product that uses a combination of cork and sand.
Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien was about to install a crumb rubber field in 2014, but changed course after the school principal saw the NBC News report featuring Griffin. The school opted for the ground sneaker infill.
Another option uses acrylic coating to encapsulate the crumb rubber. That's what went in this summer at an auxiliary field at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.
In 2015, Edmonds placed a temporary moratorium on installing new crumb rubber fields.
In this year's session of the Legislature, state Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, and others sponsored legislation that would require artificial turf companies to demonstrate to the Department of Ecology that their product is safe.
On older crumb rubber fields, operators of the facility would have to post signs warning of possible hazards and advising users on ways to minimize exposure.
A committee held a hearing on the bill, but it never came to a full House vote.
New studies begin
With so many questions about crumb rubber being raised — including from members of Congress — the federal government this year began an effort to answer them.
The study involves the EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The purpose of the multiagency work is to fill in data gaps, catalog what substances are found in crumb rubber and identify ways in which people might be exposed to it.
By the end of this year, the agencies are scheduled to release a draft report that describes their findings and outlines additional research needs.
In California, environmental health officials are evaluating the health effects of crumb rubber in a major new study.
It aims to identify and quantify the chemicals that might be released from crumb rubber, as well as in the artificial grass blades that have come under fire in the past as possible sources of lead contamination.
In addition to natural rubber, says the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, crumb rubber contains synthetic polymers, carbon black, metals and additives, some of which are known to pose human health risks.
Carbon black, produced by the incomplete burning of petroleum products, is classified as a possible carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent. Producers of the material note that the evidence comes mainly from animal rather than human studies.
Other avenues to be explored by California researchers:
? Synthetic turf fields heat up in the sun, and elevated temperatures might alter the amount and types of chemicals released.
? Dust and vapors generated from crumb rubber can be inhaled, and crumb rubber particles can be ingested.
? Exposure also might occur through contact with eyes, skin or through scrapes acquired during athletic play.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is assisting in the three-year California study, scheduled to conclude in 2018.
The Synthetic Turf Council says it welcomes the new research efforts and hopes the new studies will "settle this matter once and for all, put parents' minds at ease, and validate past and recent due diligence by public officials."
Doctors often can't pinpoint the precise cause of cancer in an individual, but suspect a combination of genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors that are not always well understood.
Dr. Archie Bleyer, a longtime researcher in the field of childhood and adolescent cancer and a clinical research professor at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, posted a letter to the public about the crumb rubber controversy in June.
He noted that certain types of cancer in adults can be caused by cumulative exposure over many years to cancer-causing agents such as tobacco, asbestos and other factors.
But in children and adolescents, he wrote, "research has been unable to identify environmental exposures that might explain more than a small fraction of observed cases."
Instead, he added, researchers conclude that "virtually all cancer in the young is a mistake of nature."
Bleyer says it's understandable that families whose children have cancer want something to blame. But, he adds, "the notion that synthetic turf fields cause cancer in the young is another example of the need to attribute blame."
He says limiting physical activity of young people because of fears over playing fields would cause greater harm to their health.
Why wait?
The UW's Griffin would like to see crumb rubber disappear, replaced by natural grass fields or artificial turf with organic materials. She notes that some public bodies are waiting until the new studies are complete to make that decision.
"I'm like, 'Why wait for the study?'" she said.
Her Husky players compete on a grass field at home, but their practice field is artificial turf with crumb rubber. She tells her goalkeepers to wear long pants and long sleeves. In an hour's practice, she says, "it's crazy how many times they hit the ground."
Kelly Bendixen has been a soccer coach at the University of Puget Sound for 26 years. He also teaches a summer goalkeeping "academy" for young players who want to up their game. Players hoping to attract the eye of college coaches play on multiple teams, practically year-round, practicing longer than even pro players, Bendixen said.
Luke Beardemphl was one of his former academy students. And over the past decade or so, he's watched eight others be diagnosed with cancer. Of the nine, eight were goalkeepers.
"I didn't get into this sport to go to funerals," Bendixen said. "I got into it to help kids and enhance lives."
He says he's not against synthetic turf.
"Can you just give us the information? Does it or does it not cause cancer?" he asks.
Luke Beardemphl's parents still wear the yellow "Lukestrong" plastic bracelets his family and friends embraced as a symbol of his seven-year battle with the disease. That battle included three transplants — one bone marrow and two stem cell transplants — as well as so many rounds of chemotherapy that the family lost count.
Stephanie, Mike and Luke's two younger siblings kept watch as the boy they knew as a powerful athlete grew weaker and weaker over time. But Luke never lost heart, his mother said.
On and off the field, Mike Beardemphl added, "Luke was a driven kid. Never once did he complain about anything."
His illness, diagnosed shortly after graduation from Stadium High, forced him to give up a soccer scholarship to a college in Hawaii.
But he powered through treatments and enrolled for a semester at Whitworth University in Spokane, then at Highline Community College, where he was able to return briefly to the beloved sport that had possessed him since he was 10.
"Even though living (with cancer) was hard," Stephanie Beardemphl said, "he lived, and he lived hard."
For her, the numbers of sick and dying athletes point to something more than a coincidence. She wants action on the issue of crumb rubber "sooner rather than later."
Her husband believes public agencies should start using alternatives to crumb rubber now.
"The way I look at these fields — yes, they're a great product," he said. "It will take incredible scientific proof before you can get them out of here."
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Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com
- By ERIN UDALL Coloradoan
- Updated
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — At first sight, Frodo looks like any other dog.
Trotting around the backyard of his new Loveland home, the 2-year-old, Korean-jindo mix seems carefree, innocent. But by the time of our first meeting, I had already learned of his near-adoption, great escape and the 11 days he spent wandering a south Fort Collins natural area in July.
Then, stepping gingerly out of her hiding space into a sunny patch beside Frodo, I saw Peggy — the reason he'd come back.
They look like normal dogs, but "getting an animal that was never bred to be a companion animal, it's all completely different," said Michelle Cline, the evaluation and enrichment coordinator at the Larimer Humane Society, where Frodo and Peggy were brought — alongside eight other dogs — after being rescued from deplorable conditions at a South Korean dog-meat farm this spring.
Peggy and Frodo were among five dogs from the meat farm that ended up staying at the Larimer Humane Society, while the rest were transferred to other Colorado shelters, reported the Coloradoan (http://noconow.co/2aBS9Hb).
"Peggy was very much catatonic, shut down, extremely fearful," Cline said, adding that humane society employees had to carry the 2-year-old chocolate lab mix outside to get sunshine or go to the bathroom.
"That's how absolutely terrified she was."
Frodo, on the other hand, was a live wire.
"Instead of shutting down and avoiding us, he would begin to panic," Cline said. "Anytime we would go to leash him, he would go into this flight or fight response."
While they seemed like two very different dogs, Cline said, they remained close during their time at Larimer Humane Society. For a while, they were housed together, then paired together in the property's play yard, where they showed unexpected playful behaviors.
Since Frodo progressed faster than Peggy, he was the first of the two to be adopted on July 7.
Cline was eating lunch when she heard a commotion that day. While being loaded into his new owner's car, Frodo had panicked, slipped out of his collar and slip lead leash, and took off running.
Cline ran out of the building and said she came within inches of him before he spotted her and bolted in the other direction, running across E. Trilby Road and into a nearby mobile home park.
Shelter workers, including all but one Animal Protection & Control (APC) officer on duty, ended up searching the area and canvassing the nearby Prairie Dog Meadow Natural Area for four hours that day.
They even took Peggy along with them, who was "the only thing we had in our arsenal" to get Frodo back, Cline said.
"Poor Peggy," Cline laughed, recalling the two of them trudging through waist-high grasses. "She was amazing."
But Frodo had gone too far and, while Cline said they knew he was probably somewhere in the natural area, the grass was too high for shelter workers to see.
Eleven days passed before Cline looked up from her lunch on July 18 to yet another commotion. An APC officer had spotted Frodo outside of the Humane Society and Cline heard someone yell the phrase "bait dog." Running through the shelter, she found Peggy and leashed her up.
"We knew that the second he saw Peggy, we'd have him," Cline said.
This time, it worked.
Walking through the waist-tall grasses again with Peggy, Cline said she heard a co-worker talking to Frodo, whom he'd found nestled in a little den under some cattails. But Frodo got spooked again and ran out of the cattails, where he came face to face with Peggy and Cline.
"I said, 'Frodo, do you want to come say hi to Peggy?'" Cline recalls. "And he turns and looks at us and starts licking Peggy on the face."
"Peggy was the only reason we got that dog back," she added. "It was just so overwhelming to see."
After the ordeal, both dogs were returned to the Humane Society and shelter employees made a decision.
"With such difficult dogs to adopt out, it makes sense to not adopt two," Cline said.
"But we basically decided that they needed to go together," she added, saying that while it's not a common situation, adopting Peggy and Frodo out together would mean that they'd be happier and, therefore, easier to introduce into a new home.
With several prospective owners, the shelter screened people who came in to look at Frodo and Peggy. Then, Ron Averill and his wife Renae, of Loveland, stopped by.
"Her face when she saw them, you could see it in her eyes that she was ready for these dogs," Cline said.
Standing on his porch, Ron Averill overlooked his backyard where Frodo was frolicking and Peggy was slowly coming out from the shade.
The couple's last dog had died two years ago and they were ready for a new one when they went to the Humane Society in July and saw Frodo and Peggy.
The dogs have now been with the Averills for two weeks and are slowly getting used to their new surroundings. They're quicker to come around people, love being tossed dog biscuits and, with a little coaxing, will come up and sniff Ron Averill's hand.
Peggy's also getting more comfortable in her yard and has started walking onto the porch. Neither of them is ready to go inside the home just yet, Ron Averill said.
It'll take time, which they have plenty of.
"They're each other's friend," he added. "That's all they've ever known."
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, http://www.coloradoan.com
- Updated
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A parolee is suspected of mailing inmates postcards soaked with methamphetamine.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports (http://bit.ly/2b8GnCx) he refused a random drug test related to his parole and was arrested at his residence.
A probable cause affidavit says a search uncovered handguns, meth, and postcards similar to those that were found to be laced with the drug at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The affidavit says a test determined there was meth on one of the cards and that two children were in the residence.
Other items found include a list of inmate names and grams of meth.
The man is suspected of charges including reckless endangerment.
A judge set bail at $200,000.
Detectives say drug sales funded a gang and promoted its control of the prison drug trade.
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Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, http://www.yakimaherald.com
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Lead concerns at Portland Public Schools have officials warning against eating produce from campus gardens.
KGW-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2bqKjML) an email sent Friday to families and staff said the district met with the Oregon Health Authority and received a recommendation against consuming the food.
Health officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Water tests show elevated lead levels at 99 percent of Portland public schools.
District spokeswoman Courtney Westling said the produce may have been grown with water containing elevated lead levels and is potentially unsafe.
Almost 2,000 screenings of students and staff at Portland schools found 15 cases of lead above the action level set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Information from: KGW-TV, http://www.kgw.com/
- The Associated Press
- Updated
A Tucson woman accused of killing a federally protected Gila monster and bragging about it online will get a year's probation.
Sarah Elisabeth Crabtree received the sentence Thursday after pleading guilty to taking wildlife without a license and possession of restricted wildlife.
She will also have to pay a $400 fine, attend counseling and a hunter's education class.
A Pima County judge said Crabtree could go to jail for 100 days if she fails to complete the requirements.
She initially faced five citations.
Crabtree posted photos of the dead lizard with a screwdriver through its head on her Facebook page in March.
Federal protection makes catching or killing the Gila monster illegal in Arizona.
Crabtree, who received online death threats, said she was trying to protect her children.
- Updated
KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) — A Kingman police dog that became overwhelmed by the heat while searching for lost hikers has died.
Kingman police say Amigo died Saturday morning at a veterinary critical care facility in Las Vegas.
According to authorities, the K9 officer assisted searchers Wednesday after two injured hikers became stuck on the top of a mountain range by White Cliffs.
The hikers were found and taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
Police say Amigo showed signs of heat exhaustion and was immediately transported to a local veterinary clinic.
Despite showing signs of improvement, police say Amigo suffered a sudden medical trauma and succumbed to his injuries.
The 3-year-old Belgian Malinois had been with the department for one year.
He was certified in narcotics detection, tracking and handler protection.
- By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four years ago photographer Andrew George approached the medical director of a Los Angeles hospital with an unusual request: He wanted to meet and take photographs of people about to die.
There was nothing macabre about the request, George says. He simply wanted to learn of and reflect the wisdom these people had gained in the hope that others could discover how to lead better, more fulfilling lives.
"I wanted to make a project about the universal challenge that we all have to address, and that is dying," George said as he sat in a gallery in Los Angeles' Museum of Tolerance, where his photo exhibition, "Right, Before I Die," opened this week.
"I thought if I could make a project about exceptional people who had overcome the fears that we all grapple with in life. Then it occurred to me that I could really only get that from dealing with a dying population."
On the exhibition walls around him are 20 framed photos of dying people, each accompanied by some of the words they spoke as they described their hopes, dreams, happy moments and regrets while he photographed them.
A commonality he found was that few seemed to fear death any longer. Not that any were in a hurry for it to come either. Many, although appearing frail and noting they were in much pain, still looked forward to just greeting the day.
One subject, identified only as Irene, is quoted as saying: "It's a beautiful day. I'm watching the leaves sway back and forth in the wind, and I'm happy that I get to be alive to watch that."
A few had regrets, although they no longer dwelled on them.
"My wife wasn't the greatest love of my life. A Japanese girl was back in the '40s," a man named Jack is quoted as saying.
The pair were teenagers when she was sent to a relocation camp during World War II. And although they planned to marry, they lost touch. "Thought about her the other day because I had a Japanese nurse. I hadn't thought about her in years," said Jack, who is photographed connected to an oxygen tube.
Of the people George photographed, only Nelly Gutierrez — who has diabetes, liver failure, heart trouble and other ailments — is still alive. The 63-year-old says she hangs on through pain and grueling treatments because she wants to see her family. That, and she likes to sing karaoke on the days she isn't too exhausted by dialysis.
She saw the white light of death once, she recalled, adding she believed it was heaven. But she argued with God that she wasn't ready to go because her kids still needed her.
"And then I woke up," she says with a smile as she checks out her photo.
Coincidentally, the LA exhibition opened just days after a San Diego woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease threw a farewell party for friends, then ended her life through assisted suicide.
Dr. Ira Byock, founder of the Providence Institute for Human Caring, which is underwriting the exhibition, declines to offer an opinion on assisted suicide other than to say he's happy to see the debate about it over in California, where it is now legal.
Now, the author of "Dying Well" says, medical professionals can concentrate on making a person's final days as fulfilling as possible rather than arguing about how those days should end.
When he set out to find people to photograph, George said, he was turned down repeatedly by hospital administrators who told him the same thing: "This is taboo. We don't talk about death."
He found an exception in Dr. Marwa Kilani, medical director of palliative care at Los Angeles' Providence Holy Cross Hospital. She had heard so many interesting life stories from people during their final days, she told him, that she agreed it was important to share them with others who could learn from them and learn of the dignity people continue to possess even in their dying days.
"Right, Before I Die," opened last year at Belgium's Musea Brugge, moving on to San Francisco's Grace Cathedral earlier this year. Future venues are being considered after it leaves the Museum of Tolerance at the end of September.
"We're not an art museum, but there was something that resonated with me very much with the subject and the important themes of our museum," said Liebe Geft, director of the facility dedicated to peace, tolerance and a remembrance of the horrors of the Holocaust.
"It reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit, of the precious gift of life," she said of the exhibition. "And it begs all kinds of questions about what it means to be alive, what is the purpose in being here, how can I be the best person that I can be."
- By KATY MOELLER Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Two gashes on the top of her head were stapled. Deep wounds on her forehead and face were stitched. Her left eye was temporarily paralyzed by nerve damage, and the iris settled into an awkward and constant gaze from the lower right corner of the socket.
Doris "Dori" Garner, who was encased in neck and full upper-body braces for months while her broken bones healed, recalls her horror when she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror, reported the Idaho Statesman (http://bit.ly/2boV9TQ).
"I looked like Frankenstein's bride," said Garner, a tiny 47-year-old woman who had a 2,500-pound bull land on top of her in a car-livestock collision last November on U.S. 95 in Adams County. "It was scary to look at myself."
The injuries that she and her husband, William "Jack" Garner, now 54, suffered weren't just cosmetic. The Nampa newlyweds — married just two months before the crash — suffered life-threatening head trauma and other critical injuries.
It was not until after she was released from the hospital a month later that Dori Garner heard the full story about the tragic aftermath of the crash: The bull's owner, Jack Yantis, had been shot to death by county deputies at the crash scene. State and federal prosecutors announced in late July that they found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to pursue criminal charges.
The Garners' broken bodies have healed over the past 9 1/2 months, though they do have lingering physical and emotional pain. They have worked hard to regain their health and resume favorite hobbies, including dancing in the living room.
Jack Garner does not want to speak publicly, but Dori Garner told the Idaho Statesman that she plans to become an outspoken advocate for changing Idaho's open range laws, which allow livestock to roam freely, even in areas with high-speed traffic on state and federal highways.
"I can't let what happened to Mr. Yantis stop me from standing up for what I believe is right," she said. "I have to speak out about the dangers of open range. If ranchers take offense, I can't help that. Laws need to be changed and added to keep travelers safer."
In Idaho's open-range areas, longstanding tradition, eventually written into law, absolves livestock owners from liability when a driver hits livestock. As the law stands, the Garners could be liable not only for their injuries and damage to their vehicle, but for the replacement of the bull.
The Idaho Transportation Department crash report estimated the animal's value at $4,000, though breeding bulls typically sell for $5,000 to $10,000, according to Treasure Valley Livestock Auction. The Garners have not heard from the Yantis family or anyone representing them.
LIFE-CHANGING NIGHT
The collision happened about 6:45 p.m. Nov. 1, right in front of the Yantis ranch along the highway north of Council.
That night, the Garners were traveling back to Nampa from Dori's childhood hometown of LaCrosse, Washington. It is a 5 1/2- to six-hour drive, and they opted to take a route they don't normally take — U.S. 95 — so they could stop to see Dori's son in Lewiston.
Dori and Jack were both previously married to other people. They have eight children, ages 16 to 26, between them. The couple tied the knot in LaCrosse last September.
Jack was at the wheel of their 1994 Subaru Legacy wagon when it collided with the bull. Dori does not remember anything that occurred during the hour leading up to the crash.
"The last thing I remember was stopping at a rest area outside of Riggins," she said.
The conditions that night were dry and clear, according to the ITD crash report. It was dark. There are no street lights in the area.
The Garners were traveling downhill on a straightaway before the collision, the crash report says, but Jack Garner told his wife that he believes a curve impeded his view of the bull.
He saw the black Gelbvieh standing in the southbound lane of the two-lane highway a split-second before hitting it. The bull hit the center front bumper, the crash report shows. It flattened the hood and smashed into the windshield and roof.
When Jack came to, he was not sure if Dori was alive. He was in an ambulance when he heard her screaming about pain in her foot. Strangely, that was one of the few parts of her body where doctors could find no injury.
The couple feels lucky they were not riding in their two-seat Mazda Miata. That was largely because they were traveling with their dog, a Bichon Frise-Maltese mix named Chloe. Riding in a kennel in the back of the Subaru, the year-old pup was unharmed.
Dori and Jack suffered bleeding concussions. An air ambulance took them to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
Dori Garner's other injuries included a broken bone in her neck and two in her back. Surgery was deemed too risky, so she had to wear a neck brace and stay as still as possible while her bones healed over three months. The upper-body brace came off only when she was lying flat on the bed. Jack was treated for a dislocated clavicle, or collar bone.
"He was in as much pain as I was with my broken bones," said Dori, who had to be extricated from the crushed Subaru. Jack collapsed outside the car as he tried to walk around to the other side to help her.
"He's very emotional when he talks about it, and he doesn't like to talk about it," Dori Garner said. "The emotions of that night are still very strong, and they're still very painful for him."
The Garners have tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and more to come. They were insured, though Dori Garner said a subsequent change in Jack's employment status as a respiratory therapist left them unable to afford insurance for a month before he returned to full-time status.
This is not the way they envisioned beginning their lives together, but they say they have become closer through it all.
Dori Garner expects to have two more surgeries. One would help improve the alignment of the eye affected by nerve damage; she has regained the ability to move that eye, though it has double vision, and she wears corrective glasses so she can drive.
Jack was able to get back to work as a respiratory therapist in February, but Dori lost her job as a family assistant — a nanny with extra responsibilities — and will be looking for a new job soon.
ADVOCATING LAW CHANGE
The couple is grateful to those who helped at the crash scene, from the paramedics to the deputies who were investigated in Jack Yantis' death.
"I want to go back there and thank people," Dori Garner said. "They saved our lives and took care of us. I've been so busy concentrating on my recovery that I haven't got that far yet."
She also expresses sympathy for Yantis' wife, Donna.
Dori Garner said she is close to being ready to go out and talk to lawmakers about changing open-range laws. She grew up in cattle country and knows that it is not possible to keep livestock in fences.
Idaho Transportation Department data show there were 300 crashes involving domestic animals, including livestock, across Idaho in 2014. Two crashes were fatal, including one in which an Emmett woman struck a horse on Idaho 16. That occurred in an area that is closed range.
"I know there's always a possibility that an animal is going to find a way out, or push down a fence. That happens," Garner said.
She wants to do away with open range close to highways and high-speed traffic, and/or to lower speed limits in those areas, "to minimize the risk of someone getting injured or losing their life."
"I feel like (livestock in the roadway) should not be a common thing," she said. "It should be a rarity."
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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com
SEATTLE (AP) — The city of Seattle has received over 70 reports of businesses not complying with its new all-gender restroom ordinance since officials began enforcing it in March.
The reports have been made by 33 people, some of whom made multiple reports. No businesses have been fined, but letters have been sent advising owners to change their signs and to provide evidence they did so, The Seattle Times reported (http://goo.gl/V3Osyh ).
Passed in 2015 by the Seattle City Council and Mayor Ed Murray, the ordinance prohibits gender-specific, single-occupant restrooms in city facilities and public establishments such as bars, restaurants, stadiums, chain stores and hotels.
Those establishments must also provide signs specifying that their single-occupant restrooms are meant to be used by people of all genders.
The goal, according to the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, is to improve restroom access for transgender individuals and people who consider themselves neither exclusively male nor female.
Seattle trans-rights activist Danni Askini, executive director of the Gender Justice League, said the ordinance has had a positive effect on transgender and gender-nonconforming people in feeling safe. She said her organization hasn't had any recent reports of people harassed while trying to use restrooms.
The office's enforcement for now is complaint-based and the civil-rights office tries to help business comply with the ordinance, according to Mike Chin, an enforcement manager.
The civil-rights office had received 73 reports, as of last week, and had resolved 57. Three of those were resolved before advisory letters were sent, 42 after sending advisory letters and six through the violation process. Six reports had been dismissed for lacking jurisdiction or information.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A hawk species under federal protection is nesting at New Mexico State University for a fourth year in a row, reigniting concern about safety for the public and the birds.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/2bvMIcn) that Swainson's hawks have returned as students begin a new semester this week.
NMSU business management professor David Boje recently obtained a grant to buy 40 umbrellas that have been placed in containers in the vicinity of the nest.
Spray-painted signs advise people walking through the area to use an umbrella and then return it to a receptacle.
Officials say 13 people have recently reported being injured by swooping hawks.
Experts say the hawks could remain for as long as another month before migrating to Argentina for the winter.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Court records indicate a former Laramie law enforcement officer accused of killing a University of Wyoming student in 1985 was linked to the case more than three decades later through DNA analysis.
Authorities say 67-year-old Fredrick Lamb of Laramie was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder and arson. Details on whether he has a lawyer were not available.
Laramie police say Lamb was arrested in connection with the 1985 slaying of 22-year-old Shelli Wiley.
According to the Laramie Boomerang (http://tinyurl.com/j6v6twg ), Lamb told police at the time that he heard a female voice around 5 a.m., thought there might be a fight but didn't see anything.
Lamb worked as an officer with the Laramie Police Department and the Albany County Sheriff's Office, but not at the time of Wiley's death.
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Information from: Laramie Boomerang, http://www.laramieboomerang.com
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Dozens of prairie dogs in northern Arizona are being relocated to make way for a 10,000-square-foot shooting range.
Elise and Rob Wilson plan to build a giant indoor range on their property in Timberline just west of U.S. Highway 89.
Elise Wilson, a self-professed animal lover, tells the Arizona Daily Sun (http://bit.ly/2bA6u3O) that she wanted to avoid killing the prairie dogs that live on the land.
The couple has been working with Flagstaff nonprofit Habitat Harmony for the past few weeks to safely capture and relocate them. According to the group, there is evidence that up to 125 prairie dogs live in burrows on the Wilsons' land.
The animals will be moving to Petrified Forest National Park.
Arizona Game and Fish and Coconino County are offering support for the move.
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Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com/
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — An Albuquerque elementary school is taking a new transgender bathroom policy further, instructing teachers to no longer address students as "boys and girls."
KOB-TV reported (http://bit.ly/2bEXkDh) Friday that teachers at Carlos Rey Elementary received a written directive from the assistant principal this month that they eliminate gender in classrooms.
Albuquerque Public Schools says the assistant principal's instructions are a mistaken case of overreach.
District officials say their transgender policy does not prohibit referring to students as boys and girls.
They plan to address the issue with the school.
The district has previously said it will abide by a federal order allowing transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
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Information from: KOB-TV, http://www.kob.com
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Park City police are investigating a virtual kidnapping, a scam they say is on the rise.
Police Capt. Phil Kirk tells KSL-TV (http://bit.ly/2b7JF64) of Salt Lake City that a family received calls Aug. 12 from people claiming to have kidnapped their 15-year-old son.
Kirk says the callers knew information about the teen that led them to believe the threat was real.
The callers threatened to harm the boy unless they received a ransom.
Kirk says police located the teen and determined no kidnapping had taken place.
Investigators say these kinds of calls have been happening elsewhere and recent immigrants are typically the targets.
Kirk says this family moved to Utah from Mexico only two weeks ago.
Kirk advises to use caution on social media, where scammers likely get personal information.
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Information from: KSL-TV, http://www.ksl.com/
PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix woman is accused of leaving her baby in a stroller outside in the sweltering heat and then passing out from drinking.
According to court documents filed this week, 25-year-old Antoinette Gail Little-Nashio was arrested for child neglect but also has outstanding arrest warrants in Phoenix and Apache Junction.
Police say Little-Nashio went to a friend's apartment Sunday to drink and then left her 1-year-old boy in a stroller in a courtyard.
She allegedly returned to the apartment and passed out.
A neighbor called 911 after seeing Little-Nashio hadn't returned for the infant.
Police say Little-Nashio had a blood alcohol level of 0.389 and was arrested.
The infant is in the custody of the Department of Child Safety.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police say two men were shot and killed by security guards when they tried to rob a strip club in the San Fernando Valley.
Capt. Paul Vernon tells KABC-TV that the guards confronted the gunmen when they stormed into Xposed Gentleman's Club in Canoga Park early Saturday.
Vernon says both suspects were shot and died at the scene.
The Los Angeles Times reports the guards were injured and hospitalized in stable condition.
Guns were recovered from both suspects.
Vernon says based on their tattoos police believe the gunmen were gang members.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State officials will resume efforts to kill the remaining members of a wolf pack in northeastern Washington after finding two calf carcasses and an injured calf.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday a wolf attacked the injured calf and it's probable that wolves killed two others.
Since mid-July, officials have confirmed that wolves have killed or injured six cattle and probably five others.
WDFW Director Jim Unsworth authorized staff to remove the Profanity Peak wolf pack to prevent additional attacks on cattle in the rangelands between Republic and Kettle Falls.
State wildlife officials shot two pack members Aug. 5, but ended efforts after two weeks passed without finding more evidence of wolf predation on cattle.
Officials say removing the entire pack may prove challenging because of rugged, timbered landscape.
Earlier this summer, WDFW determined the pack had at least 11 members.
- By DEBBIE CAFAZZO The News Tribune
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Their son is gone.
Luke Beardemphl, a standout Tacoma soccer player during his years at Stadium High School, died last year at 24, following a seven-year battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
But Luke's parents, Mike and Stephanie Beardemphl, now worry about the kids who will come after him, running, rolling and diving into the more than 11,000 artificial turf soccer fields around the country — including at more than a dozen schools in the Tacoma School District — just as their goalkeeper son did.
Most of those synthetic turf fields are cushioned with a material called crumb rubber, made from ground-up used tires. The tiny pellets are loosely distributed as infill between artificial blades of grass woven into a carpet-like base. Modern turf fields are the successors to the original 1960s-era AstroTurf. Athletes who play on today's fields that use crumb rubber infill are familiar with the "little black dots" that are kicked up during a game or practice, reported The News Tribune (http://bit.ly/2aV2IjX).
Families such as the Beardemphls have added their voices to a growing chorus of concern about whether the rubber specks that stick to skin, hair and clothing, and that get in players' eyes, mouths and open wounds, contain toxic substances that contribute to cancer in young athletes.
"To me it's obvious," said Stephanie Beardemphl. "There is a problem, and there needs to be more action by the government."
Her husband Mike compares crumb rubber to materials like asbestos or the pesticide DDT — both thought to be useful products until their dangers were discovered.
Turf industry: No studies prove cancer link
Synthetic turf and crumb rubber became popular with schools and parks throughout the country during the 1990s, and recycling used tires was billed as positive for the environment.
Groundskeepers liked that it didn't need water, fertilizer or herbicides, never needed mowing and could withstand year-round use — even in the soggy Northwest.
The Atlanta-based industry group known as the Synthetic Turf Council maintains that crumb rubber has been well-studied for decades in the United States and Europe and that dozens of studies have failed to prove a link between crumb rubber infill on sports fields and cancer.
They point to studies such as one from Connecticut in 2010 that found playing on synthetic turf fields containing crumb rubber did not elevate health risks. However, the Connecticut researchers also noted that their study was limited to measuring chemicals from five artificial turf fields, and did not explore the potential risks of ingestion or skin exposure. They called for more study.
Other studies have been conducted in New York, New Jersey and by federal agencies. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: "Limited studies have not shown an elevated health risk from playing on fields with tire crumb, but the existing studies do not comprehensively evaluate the concerns about health risks from exposure to tire crumb."
In February, the federal government announced a new study that will try to probe more deeply.
Industry representatives say they welcome examination of their product.
"We have consistently said that we support all additional research," a turf council statement reads. "At the same time, we strongly reaffirm that the existing studies clearly show that artificial turf fields and playgrounds with crumb rubber are safe and have no link to any health issues."
The turf council points out that the same kind of recycled rubber used on synthetic turf fields is used to make a variety of other products, including sneakers and garden hoses.
But those kinds of reassurances don't satisfy critics.
Amy's list
Concerns about the safety of crumb rubber first took root in Washington state.
In 2009, University of Washington soccer coach Amy Griffin was thinking about two soccer goalkeepers she knew who had been diagnosed with lymphoma. One of the players mentioned the ubiquitous "little black dots," wondered what was in them and whether they might have something to do with her illness.
Griffin didn't think much about it at first.
"I thought I would find out and be able to tell parents, 'We're all good. No need for concern,'" Griffin said.
After doing some reading, she discovered her players were running around on fields made in part from used tires.
Griffin, a graduate of Federal Way's Decatur High School, played club soccer as a teen, college soccer at the University of Central Florida and then landed a spot as goalkeeper on the U.S. National Team. She was part of the team that won the first Women's World Cup in 1991.
She came to the UW several years later. During her early years there, Griffin said, she didn't know any young people with cancer. But that began to change over time. She often went along when Husky soccer players went on goodwill visits to kids at Seattle Children's hospital.
One year, she visited four young soccer players with cancer. Three were goalkeepers.
"I kept asking people, 'Don't you think this is weird?'" Griffin recalled. "I kept bumping into more and more people."
She decided to make a list, starting with perhaps 13 or 14 cancer patients, "mostly people I knew personally or had met at Children's."
On a yellow legal pad, she recorded their names, their diagnosis and contact information. Griffin's optimism began to fade, and — remembering the comment from her ill player about the little black dots — she started raising questions about the safety of crumb rubber.
After she raised those questions during an NBC News broadcast in 2014, ill soccer players and families from around the country began getting in touch with her to relate their stories.
"I had no idea it was going to grow that big," Griffin said. "It became like a second job, with people reaching out to me."
The list outgrew Griffin's legal pad. Someone helped her create a website to collect the information.
Griffin's list grew to contain 220 athletes — soccer players, football players, lacrosse, field hockey and baseball players. About 55 are from Washington state, including Luke Beardemphl.
Griffin freely acknowledges her collection of names is anecdotal, rather than scientific. Still, the list has drawn the attention of the state Department of Health.
State officials are working with the UW's School of Public Health to review the list and compare it to the state's cancer registry, which includes information on all cancer cases reported in the state.
They want to know whether there's an increased rate of cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia among soccer players — especially goalkeepers.
"We are looking at this as an investigation," said Cathy Wasserman, a state epidemiologist. "We want to see if soccer players get cancer more frequently than the general population."
Griffin notes that a disproportionate number of the athletes with cancer on her list are soccer goalkeepers. That raises even more questions, she said.
"There are only one or two on a team of 20," she said.
Why goalkeepers? Griffin's theory is that they spend more time diving into the playing surface and the crumb rubber than players in field positions.
"We get it in our eyes, in our open wounds," she said. "It smells like a tire factory. I can smell it when I'm down there."
Wasserman notes that some cancers affect young people more than others. Hodgkin disease, for example, is most common in two age groups: adolescents and young adults, and adults in their 50s.
The Health Department hopes to have its statistical analysis completed by the end of the year. And officials say they are continuing to monitor other research.
Lauren Jenks, director of the Health Department's Office for Environmental Public Health Sciences, said state health officials have reviewed the studies done on crumb rubber.
"We concluded, looking at the information that's available, that people are not getting exposed to toxic chemicals while they are playing on the fields," she said, adding that some substances found in crumb rubber are present in the air.
The hypothesis that young soccer players are being affected by toxic substances from synthetic turf fields is one among many, Wasserman said. Players who get cancer could have other factors in common, such as genetics or other environmental factors. Those need to be explored in more in-depth studies, she said.
Tacoma sticks with crumb rubber, for now
Tacoma Public Schools is spending nearly $2 million this summer to build synthetic turf fields at schools under construction and to refurbish older fields that have reached their expected 10-year life cycle.
Artificial turf fields at Lincoln and Mount Tahoma high schools underwent routine replacement this summer. Stewart Middle School and Wainwright Intermediate School — both under construction this summer — will have new synthetic turf fields when they open. Tacoma's five comprehensive high schools have artificial turf fields, as do several middle schools and a few elementary schools.
All use crumb rubber infill.
In March, when the School Board was asked to approve expenditures for the summer projects, board member Scott Heinze raised questions about the safety of artificial turf and crumb rubber.
He called Amy Griffin's information-gathering "compelling," and said he thinks of it often when his child asks to play on the new turf at his local elementary school.
Steve Murakami, the school district's chief operating officer, told board members the best information available was that crumb rubber doesn't pose a significant health risk. He said his department checked with the state health department and others. He said the school district will monitor information that comes out of the new studies.
"As we get more information or future research, if there is a causal link or any scientific data showing a correlation between crumb rubber and public health risks, we will look at adjusting our process and changing up our cycles," Murakami said.
He told board members that installing alternative infill, like the kind made from plant material or rubber left over from sneaker manufacturing, can cost three to four times as much as crumb rubber. It's difficult to obtain actual cost estimates for the material. Both installers and the industry representatives say that each job is unique and carries unique expenses.
"I appreciate the due diligence," Heinze said. "But I don't want us to be on the wrong side 10 years down the road."
He said that if it costs more to keep kids healthy, "that's money well invested."
Other communities have already made the investment or are thinking about it.
South Kitsap High School debuted its $1.5 million Kitsap Bank Stadium in September 2015. The synthetic turf field, installed by Texas-based Hellas Construction, uses an infill made from a blend of ground coconut husks, cork and rice hulls.
First developed in Italy in 2004, the infill offers an added bonus of lower field temperatures. Hellas says its product requires occasional watering, but uses 90 percent less water than natural grass.
The Eatonville School District promised voters during its most recent bond request that it would avoid crumb rubber and use plant-based alternatives to rebuild its high school football stadium. The measure was defeated in an April election. So for now, Eatonville's stadium remains natural grass.
In Seattle, the parks department launched a pilot project to replace one of its crumb rubber fields with a new infill product that uses a combination of cork and sand.
Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien was about to install a crumb rubber field in 2014, but changed course after the school principal saw the NBC News report featuring Griffin. The school opted for the ground sneaker infill.
Another option uses acrylic coating to encapsulate the crumb rubber. That's what went in this summer at an auxiliary field at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.
In 2015, Edmonds placed a temporary moratorium on installing new crumb rubber fields.
In this year's session of the Legislature, state Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, and others sponsored legislation that would require artificial turf companies to demonstrate to the Department of Ecology that their product is safe.
On older crumb rubber fields, operators of the facility would have to post signs warning of possible hazards and advising users on ways to minimize exposure.
A committee held a hearing on the bill, but it never came to a full House vote.
New studies begin
With so many questions about crumb rubber being raised — including from members of Congress — the federal government this year began an effort to answer them.
The study involves the EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The purpose of the multiagency work is to fill in data gaps, catalog what substances are found in crumb rubber and identify ways in which people might be exposed to it.
By the end of this year, the agencies are scheduled to release a draft report that describes their findings and outlines additional research needs.
In California, environmental health officials are evaluating the health effects of crumb rubber in a major new study.
It aims to identify and quantify the chemicals that might be released from crumb rubber, as well as in the artificial grass blades that have come under fire in the past as possible sources of lead contamination.
In addition to natural rubber, says the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, crumb rubber contains synthetic polymers, carbon black, metals and additives, some of which are known to pose human health risks.
Carbon black, produced by the incomplete burning of petroleum products, is classified as a possible carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent. Producers of the material note that the evidence comes mainly from animal rather than human studies.
Other avenues to be explored by California researchers:
? Synthetic turf fields heat up in the sun, and elevated temperatures might alter the amount and types of chemicals released.
? Dust and vapors generated from crumb rubber can be inhaled, and crumb rubber particles can be ingested.
? Exposure also might occur through contact with eyes, skin or through scrapes acquired during athletic play.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is assisting in the three-year California study, scheduled to conclude in 2018.
The Synthetic Turf Council says it welcomes the new research efforts and hopes the new studies will "settle this matter once and for all, put parents' minds at ease, and validate past and recent due diligence by public officials."
Doctors often can't pinpoint the precise cause of cancer in an individual, but suspect a combination of genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors that are not always well understood.
Dr. Archie Bleyer, a longtime researcher in the field of childhood and adolescent cancer and a clinical research professor at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, posted a letter to the public about the crumb rubber controversy in June.
He noted that certain types of cancer in adults can be caused by cumulative exposure over many years to cancer-causing agents such as tobacco, asbestos and other factors.
But in children and adolescents, he wrote, "research has been unable to identify environmental exposures that might explain more than a small fraction of observed cases."
Instead, he added, researchers conclude that "virtually all cancer in the young is a mistake of nature."
Bleyer says it's understandable that families whose children have cancer want something to blame. But, he adds, "the notion that synthetic turf fields cause cancer in the young is another example of the need to attribute blame."
He says limiting physical activity of young people because of fears over playing fields would cause greater harm to their health.
Why wait?
The UW's Griffin would like to see crumb rubber disappear, replaced by natural grass fields or artificial turf with organic materials. She notes that some public bodies are waiting until the new studies are complete to make that decision.
"I'm like, 'Why wait for the study?'" she said.
Her Husky players compete on a grass field at home, but their practice field is artificial turf with crumb rubber. She tells her goalkeepers to wear long pants and long sleeves. In an hour's practice, she says, "it's crazy how many times they hit the ground."
Kelly Bendixen has been a soccer coach at the University of Puget Sound for 26 years. He also teaches a summer goalkeeping "academy" for young players who want to up their game. Players hoping to attract the eye of college coaches play on multiple teams, practically year-round, practicing longer than even pro players, Bendixen said.
Luke Beardemphl was one of his former academy students. And over the past decade or so, he's watched eight others be diagnosed with cancer. Of the nine, eight were goalkeepers.
"I didn't get into this sport to go to funerals," Bendixen said. "I got into it to help kids and enhance lives."
He says he's not against synthetic turf.
"Can you just give us the information? Does it or does it not cause cancer?" he asks.
Luke Beardemphl's parents still wear the yellow "Lukestrong" plastic bracelets his family and friends embraced as a symbol of his seven-year battle with the disease. That battle included three transplants — one bone marrow and two stem cell transplants — as well as so many rounds of chemotherapy that the family lost count.
Stephanie, Mike and Luke's two younger siblings kept watch as the boy they knew as a powerful athlete grew weaker and weaker over time. But Luke never lost heart, his mother said.
On and off the field, Mike Beardemphl added, "Luke was a driven kid. Never once did he complain about anything."
His illness, diagnosed shortly after graduation from Stadium High, forced him to give up a soccer scholarship to a college in Hawaii.
But he powered through treatments and enrolled for a semester at Whitworth University in Spokane, then at Highline Community College, where he was able to return briefly to the beloved sport that had possessed him since he was 10.
"Even though living (with cancer) was hard," Stephanie Beardemphl said, "he lived, and he lived hard."
For her, the numbers of sick and dying athletes point to something more than a coincidence. She wants action on the issue of crumb rubber "sooner rather than later."
Her husband believes public agencies should start using alternatives to crumb rubber now.
"The way I look at these fields — yes, they're a great product," he said. "It will take incredible scientific proof before you can get them out of here."
___
Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com
- By ERIN UDALL Coloradoan
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — At first sight, Frodo looks like any other dog.
Trotting around the backyard of his new Loveland home, the 2-year-old, Korean-jindo mix seems carefree, innocent. But by the time of our first meeting, I had already learned of his near-adoption, great escape and the 11 days he spent wandering a south Fort Collins natural area in July.
Then, stepping gingerly out of her hiding space into a sunny patch beside Frodo, I saw Peggy — the reason he'd come back.
They look like normal dogs, but "getting an animal that was never bred to be a companion animal, it's all completely different," said Michelle Cline, the evaluation and enrichment coordinator at the Larimer Humane Society, where Frodo and Peggy were brought — alongside eight other dogs — after being rescued from deplorable conditions at a South Korean dog-meat farm this spring.
Peggy and Frodo were among five dogs from the meat farm that ended up staying at the Larimer Humane Society, while the rest were transferred to other Colorado shelters, reported the Coloradoan (http://noconow.co/2aBS9Hb).
"Peggy was very much catatonic, shut down, extremely fearful," Cline said, adding that humane society employees had to carry the 2-year-old chocolate lab mix outside to get sunshine or go to the bathroom.
"That's how absolutely terrified she was."
Frodo, on the other hand, was a live wire.
"Instead of shutting down and avoiding us, he would begin to panic," Cline said. "Anytime we would go to leash him, he would go into this flight or fight response."
While they seemed like two very different dogs, Cline said, they remained close during their time at Larimer Humane Society. For a while, they were housed together, then paired together in the property's play yard, where they showed unexpected playful behaviors.
Since Frodo progressed faster than Peggy, he was the first of the two to be adopted on July 7.
Cline was eating lunch when she heard a commotion that day. While being loaded into his new owner's car, Frodo had panicked, slipped out of his collar and slip lead leash, and took off running.
Cline ran out of the building and said she came within inches of him before he spotted her and bolted in the other direction, running across E. Trilby Road and into a nearby mobile home park.
Shelter workers, including all but one Animal Protection & Control (APC) officer on duty, ended up searching the area and canvassing the nearby Prairie Dog Meadow Natural Area for four hours that day.
They even took Peggy along with them, who was "the only thing we had in our arsenal" to get Frodo back, Cline said.
"Poor Peggy," Cline laughed, recalling the two of them trudging through waist-high grasses. "She was amazing."
But Frodo had gone too far and, while Cline said they knew he was probably somewhere in the natural area, the grass was too high for shelter workers to see.
Eleven days passed before Cline looked up from her lunch on July 18 to yet another commotion. An APC officer had spotted Frodo outside of the Humane Society and Cline heard someone yell the phrase "bait dog." Running through the shelter, she found Peggy and leashed her up.
"We knew that the second he saw Peggy, we'd have him," Cline said.
This time, it worked.
Walking through the waist-tall grasses again with Peggy, Cline said she heard a co-worker talking to Frodo, whom he'd found nestled in a little den under some cattails. But Frodo got spooked again and ran out of the cattails, where he came face to face with Peggy and Cline.
"I said, 'Frodo, do you want to come say hi to Peggy?'" Cline recalls. "And he turns and looks at us and starts licking Peggy on the face."
"Peggy was the only reason we got that dog back," she added. "It was just so overwhelming to see."
After the ordeal, both dogs were returned to the Humane Society and shelter employees made a decision.
"With such difficult dogs to adopt out, it makes sense to not adopt two," Cline said.
"But we basically decided that they needed to go together," she added, saying that while it's not a common situation, adopting Peggy and Frodo out together would mean that they'd be happier and, therefore, easier to introduce into a new home.
With several prospective owners, the shelter screened people who came in to look at Frodo and Peggy. Then, Ron Averill and his wife Renae, of Loveland, stopped by.
"Her face when she saw them, you could see it in her eyes that she was ready for these dogs," Cline said.
Standing on his porch, Ron Averill overlooked his backyard where Frodo was frolicking and Peggy was slowly coming out from the shade.
The couple's last dog had died two years ago and they were ready for a new one when they went to the Humane Society in July and saw Frodo and Peggy.
The dogs have now been with the Averills for two weeks and are slowly getting used to their new surroundings. They're quicker to come around people, love being tossed dog biscuits and, with a little coaxing, will come up and sniff Ron Averill's hand.
Peggy's also getting more comfortable in her yard and has started walking onto the porch. Neither of them is ready to go inside the home just yet, Ron Averill said.
It'll take time, which they have plenty of.
"They're each other's friend," he added. "That's all they've ever known."
___
Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, http://www.coloradoan.com
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A parolee is suspected of mailing inmates postcards soaked with methamphetamine.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports (http://bit.ly/2b8GnCx) he refused a random drug test related to his parole and was arrested at his residence.
A probable cause affidavit says a search uncovered handguns, meth, and postcards similar to those that were found to be laced with the drug at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The affidavit says a test determined there was meth on one of the cards and that two children were in the residence.
Other items found include a list of inmate names and grams of meth.
The man is suspected of charges including reckless endangerment.
A judge set bail at $200,000.
Detectives say drug sales funded a gang and promoted its control of the prison drug trade.
___
Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, http://www.yakimaherald.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Lead concerns at Portland Public Schools have officials warning against eating produce from campus gardens.
KGW-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2bqKjML) an email sent Friday to families and staff said the district met with the Oregon Health Authority and received a recommendation against consuming the food.
Health officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Water tests show elevated lead levels at 99 percent of Portland public schools.
District spokeswoman Courtney Westling said the produce may have been grown with water containing elevated lead levels and is potentially unsafe.
Almost 2,000 screenings of students and staff at Portland schools found 15 cases of lead above the action level set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
___
Information from: KGW-TV, http://www.kgw.com/
- The Associated Press
A Tucson woman accused of killing a federally protected Gila monster and bragging about it online will get a year's probation.
Sarah Elisabeth Crabtree received the sentence Thursday after pleading guilty to taking wildlife without a license and possession of restricted wildlife.
She will also have to pay a $400 fine, attend counseling and a hunter's education class.
A Pima County judge said Crabtree could go to jail for 100 days if she fails to complete the requirements.
She initially faced five citations.
Crabtree posted photos of the dead lizard with a screwdriver through its head on her Facebook page in March.
Federal protection makes catching or killing the Gila monster illegal in Arizona.
Crabtree, who received online death threats, said she was trying to protect her children.
KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) — A Kingman police dog that became overwhelmed by the heat while searching for lost hikers has died.
Kingman police say Amigo died Saturday morning at a veterinary critical care facility in Las Vegas.
According to authorities, the K9 officer assisted searchers Wednesday after two injured hikers became stuck on the top of a mountain range by White Cliffs.
The hikers were found and taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
Police say Amigo showed signs of heat exhaustion and was immediately transported to a local veterinary clinic.
Despite showing signs of improvement, police say Amigo suffered a sudden medical trauma and succumbed to his injuries.
The 3-year-old Belgian Malinois had been with the department for one year.
He was certified in narcotics detection, tracking and handler protection.
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