115-year-old tortoise returned; first 'low-cost' Teslas delivered; help for ranchers
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Odd and interesting news from around the West.
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — More than a year has passed since Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski was appointed two personal bodyguards in wake of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
The Deseret News (http://bit.ly/2vU3QQy ) reported Friday some City Council members think it may be time to evaluate the cost of the security detail and whether it's necessary.
Documents the Deseret News obtained through a public records request state since its inception in June 2016, Biskupski's security team has cost roughly $163,000, including the salaries of two full-time officers of $58,811 and $66,185, overtime costs of $24,400, and travel reimbursements of $13,663.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown says he "absolutely" believes Biskupski's security is necessary.
Biskupski has made national headlines for being Salt Lake City's first openly gay mayor.
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas police say they arrested four suspects in a burglary at a marijuana dispensary after an officer fired a shotgun toward the men without hitting anyone.
Police say a private security firm called early Saturday morning to report a video feed showed men were breaking through walls with crowbars at the Blackjack Collective dispensary and taking things to a car waiting in the parking lot.
Officers arrived and saw three men running away. They yelled for them to stop, but they kept going. An officer armed with a shotgun fired one round toward a man with a crowbar, but missed.
Three men were arrested after a chase and a fourth was later spotted in a car and arrested.
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ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A 115-year-old desert tortoise that disappeared from its garden at a New Mexico senior living community was returned.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2w9xGQb ) the tortoise, Diablo, was returned Friday to Manzano del Sol Village. He had ventured to the backyard of a nearby home after a family bought the shell-wearing wanderer from some kids at a local park.
Millie Tjeltweed, who owns Diablo, says she doesn't know the circumstances of the tortoise's disappearance.
Tjeltweed says the family that purchased Diablo called the senior living community after seeing a news report on the tortoise's disappearance. Tjeltweed and some administrators from the facility went over to the home, and Tjeltweed was able to verify that it was her pet of 35 years.
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Helena man's desire to help ranchers affected by wildfires in eastern Montana turned into a large relief effort that included donations of tons of hay and veterinary medicine.
Dustin Maier said his effort began with a Facebook post on Tuesday to see if anyone wanted to donate hay for the ranchers affected by the a wildfire.
"I just decided I have a one-ton truck and don't mind working," Maier told The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/2tMGyKT ). "From there it really exploded, and the community just jumped together."
On Friday, he set out from Helena in a caravan of at least seven pickups and three semis loaded with more than 100 tons of hay, fencing supplies and other items destined for the Winnett area.
Maier, a journeyman lineman and photographer from Helena, said that hay came in from all over the Helena area. The caravan planned to stop in Lewistown to pick up more hay rounds on the way, and he said a separate crew was bringing bales from Avon.
One ranch family planned to send out a truck to perform veterinary services and donate animal medications if needed, Maier said.
So many people jumped in to help the effort that he couldn't name them all, Maier said.
Hay was in high demand for ranchers whose animals have been displaced from the scorched grazing grounds burned by the fires that burned about 421 square miles (1,090 kilometers).
Maier said that he was just a guy with a truck who wanted to help. The rest of the effort ballooned as more and more people chipped in with donations.
"It's just cool to see that Montana can take care of itself," he said.
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Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A California man who conned investors out of some $8 million by claiming they'd earn money by helping care for a terminally ill heiress has been sentenced to federal prison.
The San Jose Mercury News (http://bayareane.ws/2hc0IfF ) says 76-year-old Laurence Miles got a nine-year sentence Wednesday in a San Jose courtroom.
Authorities say the British expatriate told victims he was trustee for the estate of a terminally ill heiress named Shirley. Miles claimed Shirley would inherit billions if she survived through a probate proceeding and the investors would receive $1,000 for every dollar they contributed to her care.
But there was no heiress. Prosecutors say Miles and four others spent the money on themselves.
Miles pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. His co-defendants await sentencing.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lois Laurel Hawes, the only daughter of famed comedian Stan Laurel, has died. She was 89.
A family statement says Hawes died late Friday night at a Los Angeles hospital after a long illness.
She was Laurel's daughter by his first wife, Lois Neilson, and the comedian's last surviving child.
Laurel and his partner, Oliver Hardy, had decades of success. They wore trademark bowler hats and Laurel played the dim-witted sidekick to the pompous Hardy.
They made more than 100 films but Laurel retired after Hardy died in 1957.
Laurel died in 1965.
His daughter made uncredited appearances in several of their productions.
She was married to "Gone With the Wind" actor Rand Brooks and later to actor Tony Hawes.
She's survived by a daughter, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
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DAYTON, Wash. (AP) — A proposed $184 million pulp mill in southeast Washington plans to take straw, a waste product from wheat and alfalfa farms, and convert it into pulp for paper and packaging products.
Columbia Pulp says construction is expected to begin in August after the company secured financing for the manufacturing facility in Dayton.
The mill is unusual in that it will convert straw from wheat and alfalfa — rather than trees — to make paper and other products. The straw will come from wheat and alfalfa farmers in the surrounding area.
Company officials say converting straw that is typically burned as waste will reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as the demand for trees in pulp production.
A state agency helped facilitate a tax-exempt loan that will allow the project to obtain lower interest rates. The Washington Economic Development Finance Authority says no state money or taxpayer dollars are being used.
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KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — A 26-year-old Klamath Falls woman has pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her boyfriend.
The Herald and News in Klamath Falls reports (http://bit.ly/2uM2SWb) that Sheyanna Lisa Ray pleaded guilty Friday in Klamath County Circuit Court to murder and abuse of a corpse.
Ray told Judge Roxanne Osborne that she was fighting with 50-year-old David Lowell White in their home late last year when she awoke to find White standing over her with a cord in his hand.
She said White was going to choke her, but she got a cord and choked him instead. She said she cut up White's body and tried to burn it.
White's body was found Nov. 12, and Ray was arrested in Redding, California, the next day.
Ray faces up to life in prison at her Aug. 14 sentencing.
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Information from: Herald and News, http://www.heraldandnews.com
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SUMNER, Wash. (AP) — Police say two 19-year-old men responsible for shooting up Sumner City Hall have been arrested.
The News Tribune reports that the men were arrested Thursday night. Police say they aren't sure what prompted the shooting, which took place at about 1 a.m. Tuesday.
One shot went through the rear window of a parked patrol car. Three shots hit the back of City Hall and damaged a metal emergency exit door, brick and siding. No injuries were reported.
One of the men arrested pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in May for shooting his twin brother in the buttocks.
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LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The chancellor of New Mexico State University got so tired of looking at weeds on campus he decided to remove them himself.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (https://goo.gl/e2tNVf) the university's grounds crew took Chancellor Garrey Carruthers on his offer this week to take out a tractor and a disk to cut some weeds. He told the university's grounds crew that if they didn't have time to cut those weeds he'd do the job.
University spokeswoman Justin Bannister says Carruthers hopped into a John Deere tractor and spent almost an hour cutting weeds in the field to the west of the Las Cruces Convention Center.
The former New Mexico governor tweeted he was having "great fun" and could "do this all day."
His family owns a farm in northwest New Mexico.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
- By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
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FREMONT, Calif. (AP) — Tesla Inc. has finally made its long-promised affordable electric car. But it could take years to get it to all the people who want to buy it.
Tesla delivered the Model 3 small car to its first 30 customers — all employees — at a company party Friday night. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will build the cars as fast as it can, but acknowledged that supply issues and other complexities will make it tough to reach his goal of making 500,000 cars next year. Fourteen-year-old Tesla has never made more than 100,000 cars in a year.
"We're going to go through at least six months of manufacturing hell," Musk told reporters Friday at Tesla's Fremont factory. "It's going to be quite a challenge to build this car."
With its $35,000 starting price — half the cost of Tesla's previous models — and range of up to 310 miles (498 km), the Model 3 could bring hundreds of thousands of customers into the automaker's fold, taking it from a niche luxury brand to the mainstream.
Musk said around 500,000 people worldwide have already put down a $1,000 deposit to reserve a Model 3. People ordering a car now likely won't get it until late 2018. Cars will go first to employees and customers on the West Coast; overseas deliveries start late next year, and right-hand drive versions come in 2019.
The Model 3 has long been part of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla's plans. In 2006, Musk said Tesla would eventually build "affordably priced family cars" after establishing itself with high-end vehicles like the Model S, which starts at $69,500. This is the first time many Tesla workers will be able to afford a Tesla.
"It was never our goal to make expensive cars. We wanted to make a car everyone could buy," Musk said. "If you're trying to make a difference in the world, you also need to make cars people can afford."
For the base price, customers will get a Model 3 with 220 miles (322 km) of range. But the price can rapidly increase from there. Black is the only standard color, for example; any other color is $1,000 extra. A fully loaded Model 3 with 310 miles of range and Tesla's full semi-autonomous Autopilot system costs a hefty $59,500.
That could be a stretch for some buyers, especially since there are limits on the $7,500 U.S. tax credit for electric cars. Once an automaker sells 200,000 electric cars in the U.S., the credit phases out. Tesla has already sold more than 126,000 vehicles since 2008, according to estimates by WardsAuto, so not everyone who buys a Model 3 will be eligible.
Potential customers also could lose faith if Tesla doesn't meet its aggressive production schedule, or if the cars have quality problems that strain Tesla's small service network. The compact Model 3 may not entice a global market that's increasingly shifting to SUVs, including all-electric SUVs from Audi and others going on sale soon.
"There are more reasons to think that it won't be successful than it will," says Karl Brauer, the executive publisher for Cox Automotive, which owns Autotrader and other car buying sites.
But Musk says Tesla worked hard to make the Model 3 simpler and cheaper to make than Tesla's previous vehicles. It has one dashboard screen, not two. It doesn't have the fancy door handles that caused problems on the Model S, or the gull-wing doors of the Model X SUV. It's made primarily of steel, not aluminum. It has no instrument panel; the speed limit and other information normally there can be found on the center screen. It doesn't even have a key fob; drivers can open and lock the car with a smartphone or a key card.
Tesla's fans are confident. Robin Santucci was one of the first in line to order a Model 3 at the Santa Monica, California, Tesla store in March 2016. He still doesn't know when he'll get a car or exactly what it will look like, but he's already installed charging equipment in his garage.
"I believe in the vision Tesla has," said Santucci, who works in digital advertising.
Sam Abuelsamid, a senior researcher with Navigant Research, said even if it doesn't meet its ambitious targets, Tesla has done more than anyone to promote electric vehicles.
"A decade ago they were a little more than golf carts. Now all of a sudden, EVs are real, practical vehicles that can be used for anything," he said.
- By PATRICK FANCHER Corvallis Gazette-Times
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ALSEA, Ore. (AP) — A love for flamenco guitar brought John Shelton and Susan Farretta together during college in the mid-1960s.
It was only the beginning for Shelton-Farretta Guitars.
"John was always looking for a better guitar, so we started building a better guitar," says Farretta, Shelton's wife of 46 years.
Shelton and Farretta of Alsea are master luthiers who have built custom flamenco and classical guitars as a team for the past 40 years.
"I grew up in the Philippines, where the guitar is almost the national instrument," Farretta said.
Shelton, who grew up in Portland, got an early introduction to woodworking, including basic cabinetry.
At Portland State University (then known as Portland State College), Shelton became fascinated with flamenco guitar.
"About my freshman year at college I took up the guitar and started playing. I taught myself for years," Shelton said.
A good friend of his, who also played guitar, helped him build his first guitar in 1967.
"We just sat down and built a couple of guitars together," Shelton said. "Of course, being a woodworker, it just came natural."
Shelton and Farretta met at the University of Portland, where she was enrolled.
"He was playing flamenco, and I was very interested in flamenco dance, and that was kind of the impetus when we finally got together," Farretta said.
Shelton taught Farretta what he knew about building guitars, and she was as devoted as he was. They got married in 1971.
Shelton played flamenco guitar professionally for more than 40 years, and also taught students. The flamenco guitars were popular early on.
"He always had a student waiting for the next one to take, because it was all limber, wonderful and easy to play," Farretta said.
The couple performed and toured with several different companies and groups in addition to building guitars.
"We were always building. It was a very busy life," Farretta said.
They also built classical guitars for friends in Portland, until they met a famous customer with a special request.
Renowned classical guitarist Manuel López Ramos came to Portland to perform a concert and was interested in meeting Shelton to see if he could repair a double body guitar that he had bought in Mexico City.
As Farretta recalled, Shelton told him, "I can't repair it, but give me some time, and we'll design a double body that won't fail."
In 1981, Shelton designed and built the guitar for López Ramos.
From there Shelton-Farretta began building double body classical and flamenco guitars, including two more for Ramos.
A double body guitar is essentially a guitar with a shell over the back and sides. The shell is attached to the guitar at the neck, the end block and along the sides. But the shell and the guitar back do not touch.
This shields the player's body from contacting the back of the guitar, so it can resonate freely. According to their website, this gives the guitar an unusual "presence." The site says, "These guitars are very difficult to build and use as much wood as two traditional guitars."
Farretta said there may be Spanish guitar makers who design double bodies, but they don't know anyone else who makes them.
Shelton and Farretta worked out of four different small shops in downtown Portland before they relocated to Alsea in 2005, where they have a machine shop and an assembly room next to their home.
They build double classic, double flamenco, classic and flamenco guitars, ranging in price from $3,000 to $4,600. They use cedar, spruce, cypress and various kinds of rosewood, depending on the type of guitar.
"We used to go out and get the wood ourselves. Now I'm 75 and can't do it anymore," Shelton said.
Either one of them can perform all of the tasks involved in guitar building, Shelton said. As a lifetime woodworker, he prefers to do all of the sawing and work in the machine shop and has all of the measurements memorized.
Farretta opts to do the bindings, linings and fine fitting for the guitars.
Shelton and Farretta consider themselves semiretired, so they don't build as many guitars as they used to.
"We used to make 20 a year. Now we're down to six or seven," Shelton said.
"We now work two or two and a half hours a day, because if you work longer than that you start making mistakes, and we can't have mistakes," Shelton said.
They still get orders from national and international buyers.
"We've sold everywhere from Yemen to Hong Kong," he said.
Shelton calls building guitars a labor of love.
"I don't make a lot of money with it, but it's fun," he said.
Two years ago, Shelton and Farretta made a new acquaintance in the guitar world, which will lead to another new guitar they will build.
They met Berto Boyd, a flamenco guitarist, composer and artistic director of the Corvallis Guitar Society. Carson Willie, a student of Boyd's, passed along a request for Boyd to play guitar at a funeral service for Margaret Sparrow, who owned a Shelton-Farretta guitar.
Shelton and Farretta showed him Sparrow's guitar before he was set to play. They built her the guitar in 1990.
"They pulled this guitar from the case, and it was like the Holy Grail," Boyd said.
He ended up playing that guitar, instead of the one he brought.
"It was one of the most profound musical experiences that I've had," Boyd said.
Afterwards, her family gave the guitar to Willie, who lent it to Boyd to perform "The Spanish Guitar: From the Streets to the Concert Stage" in April 2016 at the Majestic Theatre. The two worked out a deal, and he eventually gave the guitar to Boyd.
"Luthiers like this in Oregon making this level of guitar is extremely rare," Boyd said.
Shelton-Farretta also custom-built a guitar for Boyd, which he used last month to perform at the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival.
After the concert, Boyd realized he needed a new classical guitar. Shelton and Farretta are set to build a guitar for him that may be the first of its kind, he said.
"They're going to make a double top, double body classical guitar for me. This is cutting-edge," Boyd said.
The double top guitar is two tops sandwiched together. In between them is a honeycomb type of material called Nomex, which makes the guitar more stiff and creates more projection, Boyd said.
The luthiers have seen what a new style of guitar can do for their business.
Farretta said, "This is the Manuel López Ramos of the new Shelton-Farretta age. This is a whole new development, and it's revolutionary."
Four of Boyd's students also own Shelton-Farretta Guitars.
The couple has noticed an increase in interest for their guitars since meeting Boyd.
"We were still selling, but not quite as fast," Shelton said. People interested in buying a Shelton-Farretta guitar should expect to wait at least a year, he said.
Boyd is determined to buy one of every Shelton-Farretta guitar they make.
"I've owned some very high-end instruments from Spain, but there is something about their guitars that really speaks to me that I love," Boyd said.
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Information from: Gazette-Times, http://www.gtconnect.com
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — More than a year has passed since Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski was appointed two personal bodyguards in wake of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
The Deseret News (http://bit.ly/2vU3QQy ) reported Friday some City Council members think it may be time to evaluate the cost of the security detail and whether it's necessary.
Documents the Deseret News obtained through a public records request state since its inception in June 2016, Biskupski's security team has cost roughly $163,000, including the salaries of two full-time officers of $58,811 and $66,185, overtime costs of $24,400, and travel reimbursements of $13,663.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown says he "absolutely" believes Biskupski's security is necessary.
Biskupski has made national headlines for being Salt Lake City's first openly gay mayor.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas police say they arrested four suspects in a burglary at a marijuana dispensary after an officer fired a shotgun toward the men without hitting anyone.
Police say a private security firm called early Saturday morning to report a video feed showed men were breaking through walls with crowbars at the Blackjack Collective dispensary and taking things to a car waiting in the parking lot.
Officers arrived and saw three men running away. They yelled for them to stop, but they kept going. An officer armed with a shotgun fired one round toward a man with a crowbar, but missed.
Three men were arrested after a chase and a fourth was later spotted in a car and arrested.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A 115-year-old desert tortoise that disappeared from its garden at a New Mexico senior living community was returned.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2w9xGQb ) the tortoise, Diablo, was returned Friday to Manzano del Sol Village. He had ventured to the backyard of a nearby home after a family bought the shell-wearing wanderer from some kids at a local park.
Millie Tjeltweed, who owns Diablo, says she doesn't know the circumstances of the tortoise's disappearance.
Tjeltweed says the family that purchased Diablo called the senior living community after seeing a news report on the tortoise's disappearance. Tjeltweed and some administrators from the facility went over to the home, and Tjeltweed was able to verify that it was her pet of 35 years.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Helena man's desire to help ranchers affected by wildfires in eastern Montana turned into a large relief effort that included donations of tons of hay and veterinary medicine.
Dustin Maier said his effort began with a Facebook post on Tuesday to see if anyone wanted to donate hay for the ranchers affected by the a wildfire.
"I just decided I have a one-ton truck and don't mind working," Maier told The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/2tMGyKT ). "From there it really exploded, and the community just jumped together."
On Friday, he set out from Helena in a caravan of at least seven pickups and three semis loaded with more than 100 tons of hay, fencing supplies and other items destined for the Winnett area.
Maier, a journeyman lineman and photographer from Helena, said that hay came in from all over the Helena area. The caravan planned to stop in Lewistown to pick up more hay rounds on the way, and he said a separate crew was bringing bales from Avon.
One ranch family planned to send out a truck to perform veterinary services and donate animal medications if needed, Maier said.
So many people jumped in to help the effort that he couldn't name them all, Maier said.
Hay was in high demand for ranchers whose animals have been displaced from the scorched grazing grounds burned by the fires that burned about 421 square miles (1,090 kilometers).
Maier said that he was just a guy with a truck who wanted to help. The rest of the effort ballooned as more and more people chipped in with donations.
"It's just cool to see that Montana can take care of itself," he said.
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Information from: The Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A California man who conned investors out of some $8 million by claiming they'd earn money by helping care for a terminally ill heiress has been sentenced to federal prison.
The San Jose Mercury News (http://bayareane.ws/2hc0IfF ) says 76-year-old Laurence Miles got a nine-year sentence Wednesday in a San Jose courtroom.
Authorities say the British expatriate told victims he was trustee for the estate of a terminally ill heiress named Shirley. Miles claimed Shirley would inherit billions if she survived through a probate proceeding and the investors would receive $1,000 for every dollar they contributed to her care.
But there was no heiress. Prosecutors say Miles and four others spent the money on themselves.
Miles pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. His co-defendants await sentencing.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lois Laurel Hawes, the only daughter of famed comedian Stan Laurel, has died. She was 89.
A family statement says Hawes died late Friday night at a Los Angeles hospital after a long illness.
She was Laurel's daughter by his first wife, Lois Neilson, and the comedian's last surviving child.
Laurel and his partner, Oliver Hardy, had decades of success. They wore trademark bowler hats and Laurel played the dim-witted sidekick to the pompous Hardy.
They made more than 100 films but Laurel retired after Hardy died in 1957.
Laurel died in 1965.
His daughter made uncredited appearances in several of their productions.
She was married to "Gone With the Wind" actor Rand Brooks and later to actor Tony Hawes.
She's survived by a daughter, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
DAYTON, Wash. (AP) — A proposed $184 million pulp mill in southeast Washington plans to take straw, a waste product from wheat and alfalfa farms, and convert it into pulp for paper and packaging products.
Columbia Pulp says construction is expected to begin in August after the company secured financing for the manufacturing facility in Dayton.
The mill is unusual in that it will convert straw from wheat and alfalfa — rather than trees — to make paper and other products. The straw will come from wheat and alfalfa farmers in the surrounding area.
Company officials say converting straw that is typically burned as waste will reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as the demand for trees in pulp production.
A state agency helped facilitate a tax-exempt loan that will allow the project to obtain lower interest rates. The Washington Economic Development Finance Authority says no state money or taxpayer dollars are being used.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — A 26-year-old Klamath Falls woman has pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her boyfriend.
The Herald and News in Klamath Falls reports (http://bit.ly/2uM2SWb) that Sheyanna Lisa Ray pleaded guilty Friday in Klamath County Circuit Court to murder and abuse of a corpse.
Ray told Judge Roxanne Osborne that she was fighting with 50-year-old David Lowell White in their home late last year when she awoke to find White standing over her with a cord in his hand.
She said White was going to choke her, but she got a cord and choked him instead. She said she cut up White's body and tried to burn it.
White's body was found Nov. 12, and Ray was arrested in Redding, California, the next day.
Ray faces up to life in prison at her Aug. 14 sentencing.
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Information from: Herald and News, http://www.heraldandnews.com
SUMNER, Wash. (AP) — Police say two 19-year-old men responsible for shooting up Sumner City Hall have been arrested.
The News Tribune reports that the men were arrested Thursday night. Police say they aren't sure what prompted the shooting, which took place at about 1 a.m. Tuesday.
One shot went through the rear window of a parked patrol car. Three shots hit the back of City Hall and damaged a metal emergency exit door, brick and siding. No injuries were reported.
One of the men arrested pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in May for shooting his twin brother in the buttocks.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The chancellor of New Mexico State University got so tired of looking at weeds on campus he decided to remove them himself.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (https://goo.gl/e2tNVf) the university's grounds crew took Chancellor Garrey Carruthers on his offer this week to take out a tractor and a disk to cut some weeds. He told the university's grounds crew that if they didn't have time to cut those weeds he'd do the job.
University spokeswoman Justin Bannister says Carruthers hopped into a John Deere tractor and spent almost an hour cutting weeds in the field to the west of the Las Cruces Convention Center.
The former New Mexico governor tweeted he was having "great fun" and could "do this all day."
His family owns a farm in northwest New Mexico.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
- By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
FREMONT, Calif. (AP) — Tesla Inc. has finally made its long-promised affordable electric car. But it could take years to get it to all the people who want to buy it.
Tesla delivered the Model 3 small car to its first 30 customers — all employees — at a company party Friday night. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will build the cars as fast as it can, but acknowledged that supply issues and other complexities will make it tough to reach his goal of making 500,000 cars next year. Fourteen-year-old Tesla has never made more than 100,000 cars in a year.
"We're going to go through at least six months of manufacturing hell," Musk told reporters Friday at Tesla's Fremont factory. "It's going to be quite a challenge to build this car."
With its $35,000 starting price — half the cost of Tesla's previous models — and range of up to 310 miles (498 km), the Model 3 could bring hundreds of thousands of customers into the automaker's fold, taking it from a niche luxury brand to the mainstream.
Musk said around 500,000 people worldwide have already put down a $1,000 deposit to reserve a Model 3. People ordering a car now likely won't get it until late 2018. Cars will go first to employees and customers on the West Coast; overseas deliveries start late next year, and right-hand drive versions come in 2019.
The Model 3 has long been part of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla's plans. In 2006, Musk said Tesla would eventually build "affordably priced family cars" after establishing itself with high-end vehicles like the Model S, which starts at $69,500. This is the first time many Tesla workers will be able to afford a Tesla.
"It was never our goal to make expensive cars. We wanted to make a car everyone could buy," Musk said. "If you're trying to make a difference in the world, you also need to make cars people can afford."
For the base price, customers will get a Model 3 with 220 miles (322 km) of range. But the price can rapidly increase from there. Black is the only standard color, for example; any other color is $1,000 extra. A fully loaded Model 3 with 310 miles of range and Tesla's full semi-autonomous Autopilot system costs a hefty $59,500.
That could be a stretch for some buyers, especially since there are limits on the $7,500 U.S. tax credit for electric cars. Once an automaker sells 200,000 electric cars in the U.S., the credit phases out. Tesla has already sold more than 126,000 vehicles since 2008, according to estimates by WardsAuto, so not everyone who buys a Model 3 will be eligible.
Potential customers also could lose faith if Tesla doesn't meet its aggressive production schedule, or if the cars have quality problems that strain Tesla's small service network. The compact Model 3 may not entice a global market that's increasingly shifting to SUVs, including all-electric SUVs from Audi and others going on sale soon.
"There are more reasons to think that it won't be successful than it will," says Karl Brauer, the executive publisher for Cox Automotive, which owns Autotrader and other car buying sites.
But Musk says Tesla worked hard to make the Model 3 simpler and cheaper to make than Tesla's previous vehicles. It has one dashboard screen, not two. It doesn't have the fancy door handles that caused problems on the Model S, or the gull-wing doors of the Model X SUV. It's made primarily of steel, not aluminum. It has no instrument panel; the speed limit and other information normally there can be found on the center screen. It doesn't even have a key fob; drivers can open and lock the car with a smartphone or a key card.
Tesla's fans are confident. Robin Santucci was one of the first in line to order a Model 3 at the Santa Monica, California, Tesla store in March 2016. He still doesn't know when he'll get a car or exactly what it will look like, but he's already installed charging equipment in his garage.
"I believe in the vision Tesla has," said Santucci, who works in digital advertising.
Sam Abuelsamid, a senior researcher with Navigant Research, said even if it doesn't meet its ambitious targets, Tesla has done more than anyone to promote electric vehicles.
"A decade ago they were a little more than golf carts. Now all of a sudden, EVs are real, practical vehicles that can be used for anything," he said.
- By PATRICK FANCHER Corvallis Gazette-Times
ALSEA, Ore. (AP) — A love for flamenco guitar brought John Shelton and Susan Farretta together during college in the mid-1960s.
It was only the beginning for Shelton-Farretta Guitars.
"John was always looking for a better guitar, so we started building a better guitar," says Farretta, Shelton's wife of 46 years.
Shelton and Farretta of Alsea are master luthiers who have built custom flamenco and classical guitars as a team for the past 40 years.
"I grew up in the Philippines, where the guitar is almost the national instrument," Farretta said.
Shelton, who grew up in Portland, got an early introduction to woodworking, including basic cabinetry.
At Portland State University (then known as Portland State College), Shelton became fascinated with flamenco guitar.
"About my freshman year at college I took up the guitar and started playing. I taught myself for years," Shelton said.
A good friend of his, who also played guitar, helped him build his first guitar in 1967.
"We just sat down and built a couple of guitars together," Shelton said. "Of course, being a woodworker, it just came natural."
Shelton and Farretta met at the University of Portland, where she was enrolled.
"He was playing flamenco, and I was very interested in flamenco dance, and that was kind of the impetus when we finally got together," Farretta said.
Shelton taught Farretta what he knew about building guitars, and she was as devoted as he was. They got married in 1971.
Shelton played flamenco guitar professionally for more than 40 years, and also taught students. The flamenco guitars were popular early on.
"He always had a student waiting for the next one to take, because it was all limber, wonderful and easy to play," Farretta said.
The couple performed and toured with several different companies and groups in addition to building guitars.
"We were always building. It was a very busy life," Farretta said.
They also built classical guitars for friends in Portland, until they met a famous customer with a special request.
Renowned classical guitarist Manuel López Ramos came to Portland to perform a concert and was interested in meeting Shelton to see if he could repair a double body guitar that he had bought in Mexico City.
As Farretta recalled, Shelton told him, "I can't repair it, but give me some time, and we'll design a double body that won't fail."
In 1981, Shelton designed and built the guitar for López Ramos.
From there Shelton-Farretta began building double body classical and flamenco guitars, including two more for Ramos.
A double body guitar is essentially a guitar with a shell over the back and sides. The shell is attached to the guitar at the neck, the end block and along the sides. But the shell and the guitar back do not touch.
This shields the player's body from contacting the back of the guitar, so it can resonate freely. According to their website, this gives the guitar an unusual "presence." The site says, "These guitars are very difficult to build and use as much wood as two traditional guitars."
Farretta said there may be Spanish guitar makers who design double bodies, but they don't know anyone else who makes them.
Shelton and Farretta worked out of four different small shops in downtown Portland before they relocated to Alsea in 2005, where they have a machine shop and an assembly room next to their home.
They build double classic, double flamenco, classic and flamenco guitars, ranging in price from $3,000 to $4,600. They use cedar, spruce, cypress and various kinds of rosewood, depending on the type of guitar.
"We used to go out and get the wood ourselves. Now I'm 75 and can't do it anymore," Shelton said.
Either one of them can perform all of the tasks involved in guitar building, Shelton said. As a lifetime woodworker, he prefers to do all of the sawing and work in the machine shop and has all of the measurements memorized.
Farretta opts to do the bindings, linings and fine fitting for the guitars.
Shelton and Farretta consider themselves semiretired, so they don't build as many guitars as they used to.
"We used to make 20 a year. Now we're down to six or seven," Shelton said.
"We now work two or two and a half hours a day, because if you work longer than that you start making mistakes, and we can't have mistakes," Shelton said.
They still get orders from national and international buyers.
"We've sold everywhere from Yemen to Hong Kong," he said.
Shelton calls building guitars a labor of love.
"I don't make a lot of money with it, but it's fun," he said.
Two years ago, Shelton and Farretta made a new acquaintance in the guitar world, which will lead to another new guitar they will build.
They met Berto Boyd, a flamenco guitarist, composer and artistic director of the Corvallis Guitar Society. Carson Willie, a student of Boyd's, passed along a request for Boyd to play guitar at a funeral service for Margaret Sparrow, who owned a Shelton-Farretta guitar.
Shelton and Farretta showed him Sparrow's guitar before he was set to play. They built her the guitar in 1990.
"They pulled this guitar from the case, and it was like the Holy Grail," Boyd said.
He ended up playing that guitar, instead of the one he brought.
"It was one of the most profound musical experiences that I've had," Boyd said.
Afterwards, her family gave the guitar to Willie, who lent it to Boyd to perform "The Spanish Guitar: From the Streets to the Concert Stage" in April 2016 at the Majestic Theatre. The two worked out a deal, and he eventually gave the guitar to Boyd.
"Luthiers like this in Oregon making this level of guitar is extremely rare," Boyd said.
Shelton-Farretta also custom-built a guitar for Boyd, which he used last month to perform at the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival.
After the concert, Boyd realized he needed a new classical guitar. Shelton and Farretta are set to build a guitar for him that may be the first of its kind, he said.
"They're going to make a double top, double body classical guitar for me. This is cutting-edge," Boyd said.
The double top guitar is two tops sandwiched together. In between them is a honeycomb type of material called Nomex, which makes the guitar more stiff and creates more projection, Boyd said.
The luthiers have seen what a new style of guitar can do for their business.
Farretta said, "This is the Manuel López Ramos of the new Shelton-Farretta age. This is a whole new development, and it's revolutionary."
Four of Boyd's students also own Shelton-Farretta Guitars.
The couple has noticed an increase in interest for their guitars since meeting Boyd.
"We were still selling, but not quite as fast," Shelton said. People interested in buying a Shelton-Farretta guitar should expect to wait at least a year, he said.
Boyd is determined to buy one of every Shelton-Farretta guitar they make.
"I've owned some very high-end instruments from Spain, but there is something about their guitars that really speaks to me that I love," Boyd said.
___
Information from: Gazette-Times, http://www.gtconnect.com
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