Lost Lake Tribune June 9, 2010
Lost Lake Tribune
June 9, 2010
BP Oil Spill Continues
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Driftwood and seashells glazed with rust-colored tar lined the surf along the Gulf Coast's once-pristine white sand beaches Saturday, the crude from a busted oil well deep underwater showing up in greater quantities and farther east.
A cap placed over the gusher was collecting some of the oil, which had stained beaches with a waxy mess of tar balls and created unusual orange foam in the surf.
In Gulf Shores, Ala., wooden boardwalks leading to beachfront hotels were spotted with oil from beachgoers' feet, and some condominiums were providing solvents for guests smeared with the brown goo. At Pensacola Beach, the retreating high tide left an orange stain in its wake.
Erin Tamber moved to the beach area after surviving Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where she had lived for 30 years. "I feel like I've gone from owning a piece of paradise to owning a toxic waste dump," she declared.
President Obama pledged Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address to fight the spill with the people of the Gulf Coast. His words for oil giant BP PLC were stern: "We will make sure they pay every single dime owed to the people along the Gulf coast."
Six weeks after an April 20 oil rig explosion killed 11 workers, BP has failed to significantly stem the worst spill in U.S. history. The government's point man for the crisis, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said at a news briefing Saturday that the cap collected about 252,000 gallons of oil Friday, its first full day of use.
The device, resembling an upside-down funnel, was lowered over the blown-out well a mile beneath the sea to try to capture most of the oil and direct it to a ship on the surface. BP officials are trying to strike a delicate balance by capturing as much oil as possible without creating too much pressure or allowing the build-up of ice-like hydrates, which form when water and natural gas combine under high pressures and low temperatures.
Hydrates foiled an earlier containment box because the slushy mixture clogged pipes and threatened to make the massive box float away.
The trick for BP is achieving the right balance of pressure so oil will come to the surface without spewing out of a rubber seal between the cap and a sheared-off riser pipe. Allen compared the process to trying to stop the flow of water from a garden hose with a finger. "You don't want to put your finger down too quickly, or let it off too quickly," he said.
The goal is to gradually raise the amount of the oil being captured, Allen said. The device's daily capacity is 630,000 gallons, and officials estimate oil is gushing out at a rate of about a half-million to a million gallons a day.
The well has leaked 22 million to 47 million gallons since the crisis began, according to government estimates. The widening scope of the disaster deepened the anger and despair just as Obama arrived for his third visit to the stricken Gulf Coast.
On Obama's trip to the Grand Isle on the Louisiana coast, his motorcade passed a building adorned with his portrait reminiscent of posters of him during his presidential campaign. Instead of "hope" or "change," the words "what now?" were on his forehead.
The oil has reached the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It has turned marshlands into death zones for wildlife and stained beaches rust and crimson. Some said it brought to mind the plagues and punishments of the Bible. "In Revelations it says the water will turn to blood," said P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish. "That's what it looks like out here — like the Gulf is bleeding. This is going to choke the life out of everything." He added: "It makes me want to cry."
As the operation went on at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the effect of the BP spill was increasingly evident.
Swimmers at Pensacola Beach rushed out of the water after wading into the mess, while other beachgoers were seen taking pictures. Health officials said that people should stay away from the mess but that swallowing a little oil-tainted water or getting slimed by a tar ball is no reason for alarm. On Saturday morning at a public beach in Gulf Shores, a long line of brown globs marked the high water line from overnight at the public beach.
"This is disgusting," said Macon Srygley, of McCalla, Ala. "I hate it for BP, but this has to be a lesson for anyone drilling in the ocean. We've got all this technology, but are we not smart enough to realize we can end ourselves with it?"
Over 500 birds have been found dead from Texas to Florida since the start of the oil leak, according to a federal tally released Friday. The exact cause of death was not immediately known for all the birds, although more than three dozen were visibly oiled. Authorities said 235 sea turtles and 30 mammals have also been found dead.
Thad Allen planned to meet later Saturday with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who has criticized Coast Guard decisions to send boom from Alabama to Louisiana and said he will consider closing beaches if the oil becomes a health threat. Oil hit Alabama before the boom could be returned, angering Riley and raising questions about Coast Guard management. "It's like a battle; you have to move your resources," Allen said in an interview. "You don't always get it back in time, but you do your best."
BP CEO Tony Hayward assured investors that the company had "considerable firepower" to cope with the severe costs. Hayward and other senior BP executives struck a penitent note in their first comprehensive update to shareholders since the explosion, promising to meet its obligations related to the spill. Information gained from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/04/anger-grows-bp-disaster-reaches-florida-panhandles-beaches-bp-pins-hopes-cap/
Tornadoes Rip into Lower Midwestern States
MILLBURY, Ohio - A tornado unleashed a "war zone" of destruction in northwest Ohio, destroying dozens of homes and an emergency services building as a line of storms killed at least seven people and briefly threatened the Northeast on Sunday.
Storms collapsed a movie-theater roof in Illinois and ripped siding off a building at a Michigan nuclear plant, forcing a shutdown. But most of the worst was reserved for a 100-yard-wide, 7-mile-long strip southeast of Toledo now littered with wrecked vehicles, splintered wood and family possessions. The tornado ripped the roof and back wall off Lake High School's gymnasium at about 11 p.m. Saturday, several hours before the graduation ceremony was supposed to begin. The school board president said one of the victims was the father of the class valedictorian.
Two buses were tossed on their sides and another was thrown about 50 yards, landing on its top near the high school's football field. More than 10 hours later, its right turn signal was still blinking.
Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer flew over the damaged area and said at least 50 homes were destroyed and another 50 severely damaged, as well as six commercial buildings. The storm fell over an area of farm fields and light industry, narrowly missing the heavily populated suburbs on the southern edge of Toledo. "It's a war zone," Hummer said. "It's pretty disheartening."
Hummer said Sunday afternoon all buildings had been searched and everyone was accounted for. Rescuers were searching a wooded area and a field near the worst-hit portion of town as a precaution.
The tornado turned a township police and emergency medical services building into a mishmash of 2-by-4 framing and pink insulation. Hummer was talking to a police dispatcher by phone when the storm hit. "She started saying, 'The building is shaking,' and then another dispatcher came on and said, 'The roof just blew off," he said.
The storm ripped off most of the building's back half and wrapped part of the metal roof around a tree. At least six police vehicles — half the township's fleet — were destroyed, and one car was tossed into the spot where the building once stood. The storm knocked out emergency services for a short time, and all the emergency dispatchers and 911 operators had to be moved to a nearby town. "When the people who are supposed to help you are victims of the storm, it does take you a minute to catch your breath," Hummer said.
Those killed included a person outside the police department and a motorist, Hummer said. He said a young child and two other victims were from nearby Millbury, a bedroom community of roughly 1,200 about 10 miles southeast of Toledo. Hummer said two other people died at hospitals but he did not have details.
One of the victims was the father of Lake High School's valedictorian, said Tim Krugh, president of the school district's board. Krugh said the school has rescheduled graduation for Tuesday evening at a Toledo community college. Neighbors said the house of the valedictorian's family was destroyed, and all that was left was a basement filled with water. More than 30 people in the Toledo area were hospitalized.
In southeastern Michigan, severe storms and high winds ripped siding off a building at the Fermi 2 nuclear plant, causing it to shut down automatically, said Dan Smith, the public information officer for Monroe County. Investigators inspected the nuclear plant on the shore of Lake Erie on Sunday, and the plant was expected to go back into operation, Smith said.
About 14,000 people were without power but it wasn't clear whether that was directly related to the nuclear plant's shutdown or because of damage to power lines in the area, said Gregory Williams, director of emergency management for Monroe County.
Eleven people with minor injuries were taken to hospitals from Dundee, Mich., where a tornado touched down with winds of about 130 mph.
Tornadoes also were reported in Illinois. More than a dozen people were injured in Dwight, where about 40 mobile homes and 10 other homes were destroyed, Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said. The roof of a movie theater collapsed in Elmwood, Ill., about 30 miles west of Peoria. State Trooper Dustin Pierce said 150 to 200 people had been inside, but they had been evacuated to the basement and no one was hurt.
The storms left a trail of damaged homes in northern Indiana and two tornadoes were reported, but no one was injured. In eastern Iowa, buildings were damaged and one person was hurt when a tornado touched down in Maquoketa. A cold front colliding with warm unstable air produced the storms that struck Saturday night.
The day after the Toledo-area tornado hit, residents were searching fields looking for anything salvageable. The storm destroyed Ronald Johns' house and barn and flung his cast-iron bath tub into a wheat field, but his wife managed to find a wristwatch, still working, amid the scattered bits of their rural home near Millbury.
On Saturday night, Johns looked out the window and couldn't even see the barn directly across the road. The chimney fell through the first floor as soon as the retired couple made it to the basement, pinning Johns with bricks until his wife, Jan, managed to free him. Ronald Johns, 74, said they were lucky. "We didn't get down there five seconds too fast," he said.
Truck driver Carl Gooden, 54, said he, his wife and his adult son were sitting on the porch when they heard a roar and ran for the bathroom. Wind tore off most of the home's roof and ripped open the north side of house. In the front yard, a sliver of aluminum siding from a neighbor's barn was wrapped around a teetering telephone pole.
Gooden said his family lost two garages and five vehicles. The front yard was littered with decades of memories. "My heart sinks," Gooden said. "I worked a lifetime for all this."
But he wasn't about to go in to retrieve items such as his wife's jewelry or his NASCAR collectibles. His home was knocked 5 feet off its foundation and basement washer and dryer were all that was holding it up. "It's not worth dying for," he said. Information Gained from http://www.startribune.com/nation/95720444.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU
Ty Green also contributed to this article
Eight Days in the Life of the Courtney Family
Kyle and Gloria had a very interesting end to May and a very exciting start to June. On May 30, Kyle took his 7 1/2 months pregnant wife to the emergency room. She had high blood pressure and he knew that she needed to have medical care given her situation.
Gloria’s blood pressure stayed high through the first part of the week. Her health was serious enough that the doctors decided to induce her on Thursday June 3. Gloria was delivered of her newborn daughter at 12:32 PM. Just ten minutes before the time that Kyle had predicted for the birth. Grace Marie Courtney was born 5 pounds 7 ounces and 18 inches long. She will in NICU through this week.
On Saturday, Kyle went to visit his favorite firstborn daughter, and Grace whined and fussed at him just like her mother does, according to Kyle. Monday, June 7, Gloria was released from the hospital. The Courtney family will be totally united sometime next week. Gloria’s sister and mom are in Alabama with the Courtney to help out with this transition. Congratulations to mother, father, and daughter!
Coaching Great John Wooden Still Claimed by Small Indiana City
STATE PRIDE: John Wooden was honored to be from Martinsville and a Purdue graduate. He was national player of the year in 1932.
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. -- Elmer Reynolds had hoped to visit his longtime friend John Wooden last week in Los Angeles, but Wooden's family told him they didn't think the legendary coach could handle visitors because of his declining health.
Reynolds realized the depth of those words Friday night when he learned Wooden had died in Los Angeles at the age of 99.
Reynolds remembered fondly his final times spent with the former Martinsville High School and Purdue standout in November 2005 when Wooden made his final trek to his former place of residence.
Sitting in a wheelchair at the Morgan County Veterans Memorial Park five years ago, Wooden stared at the plaque honoring those who served on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin in World War II and appreciated his good fortune.
Wooden was supposed to be a gunner on the USS Franklin but because of appendicitis surgery he was replaced shortly before he was to board the ship. "What I need my friends in Martinsville to know is that except by the grace of God that John Wooden would have died in the Pacific on that day in 1945," Wooden told Reynolds in 2004. "I'll never be able to thank God enough for the way those circumstances turned out."
Reynolds stayed close to Wooden's family through the final days of Wooden's life. Reynolds said he learned the Wooden family will allow him to take the legendary's coach's library from Los Angeles and turn it into a museum in downtown Martinsville. "What I learned the most from coach Wooden was how much he appreciated the love of learning," Reynolds said. "Nothing was more important to him than helping young people learn in all aspects of their life."
Reynolds said what he admired most about Wooden in the final years of his life was his humility. "He just had a gentleness, a humility and a genuine care for humanity that is difficult to describe," Reynolds said. "It was just so obvious his care for young people that he hoped to leave behind in his words or his actions."
Bette Nunn, a longtime Martinsville resident, said that Wooden was the real deal. "Everything you heard about coach Wooden was exactly the way he was," Nunn said. "There were so many people who knew him better than I did, but unfortunately they died before he did. He was a lifetime great representative of Martinsville."
Reynolds remembers something Wooden told him a few years ago. "He said even though he had been away from Indiana for [many] years that he always considered himself a Hoosier, and always felt that a part of his soul would always remain in Martinsville."
Information Gained from http://www.indystar.com/article/20100605/SPORTS11/6050380/Martinsville-proudly-claims-Wooden-as-its-own, please check out indystar.com for extensive information on the greatest coach in sports history.
Ken Griffey Jr. retiring at age 40
SEATTLE -- Ken Griffey Jr. arrived in baseball a fresh-faced teenager with a radiant smile, a carefree attitude and unlimited potential. He spent 22 seasons becoming lauded as the greatest player of his generation.
Even as his career declined through injuries and age, Griffey left the game on his own terms and still held in the highest of regards and one of the greats in baseball history.
Now relegated to part-time duty and with little pop left in that perfect swing, Griffey unexpectedly decided Wednesday to retire after 22 mostly brilliant seasons.
The Kid that once saved baseball in the Pacific Northwest with his backward hat, giddy teenage smile and unrivaled talent, had become a shell of the player who dominated the 1990s.
The 40-year-old Griffey wasn't at Safeco Field on Wednesday. He simply released a statement through the Seattle Mariners - the franchise he helped saved in the 90s and returned to for the conclusion of his career - that he was done playing.
Griffey said goodbye before Seattle played the Minnesota Twins after 13 All-Star appearances, 630 homers - fifth on the career list - and 1,836 RBIs. He's an almost certain first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field and nobody in the Mariners front office has asked me to retire, I told the Mariners when I met with them prior to the 2009 season and was invited back that I will never allow myself to become a distraction," Griffey said. "I feel that without enough occasional starts to be sharper coming off the bench, my continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction to my teammates and their success as a team is what the ultimate goal should be," he said.
Griffey was already headed to his family in Florida by late Wednesday night. His Safeco Field locker was completely cleaned out after Seattle's 2-1 victory in 10 innings over the Twins. There won't be a farewell tour for Griffey.
He called Mariners' team president Chuck Armstrong and said he was done playing. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu pulled his players together before the start of batting practice to inform them of Griffey's decision. "To play with him is a treasure I will keep deep in my heart," Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki said through an interpreter. "I have played 19 years in professional baseball and I can say he was one of my best teammates and my best friend."
A star from the time he was the overall No. 1 pick in the 1987 draft, Griffey also played with his hometown Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. He hit .284 with 1,836 RBIs.
But his greatest seasons, by far, came in Seattle. Griffey played in 1,685 games with the Mariners and hit .292 with 417 homers, most coming in the homer-friendly Kingdome, and 1,216 RBIs. He won the AL MVP in 1997 and practically saved a franchise that was in danger of relocating when he first came up.
Griffey returned to the Mariners in 2009 and almost single-handedly transformed what had been a fractured, bickering clubhouse with his leadership, energy and constant pranks.
Griffey signed a one-year deal last November for one more season in Seattle after he was carried off the field by his teammates after the final game of 2009. He hit .214 last season with 19 homers as a part-time DH. He was limited by a swollen left knee that required an operation in the offseason.
But the bat never came alive in 2010. Griffey was hitting only .184 with no homers and seven RBIs and recently went a week without playing. There was a report earlier this season - which Griffey implied was incorrect - that he'd fallen asleep in the clubhouse during a game.
The swing that hit as many as 56 homers in a season had lost its punch and Griffey seemed to understand his time was coming to a close.
Even though Griffey wasn't in his prime, his teammates relished the chance to be with him. "It's like winning the lottery of baseball," Seattle's Chone Figgins said. "You get to play with one of the greatest." Information Gained from http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_bba_mariners_griffey_retiring.html
Editorial
I trust this issue of the Lost Lake Tribune finds you celebrating and defending freedom on the homeland. As you and I defend freedom here, over 180,000 men and women are defending freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are rotting out terrorists and killing them before the terrorists can reach our borders. Every day these men and women give of themselves by sacrificing family time and steady jobs to fight for the continuation of one of the greatest nations of all time.
Some give their lives in the battle and others die along the way. Others lose the possibility of a richer lifestyle because of lost limbs and other life-changing injuries. All soldiers give something away that will never be retained. When soldiers come back to the US, life does not necessarily get easier. Many have a hard time repatriating. Thousands of veterans are homeless. link Many commit suicide whether homeless or not.
This topic certainly hits home for my family. My own great uncle, Milo Fugate, gave his life at Normandy, 66 years ago. link My grandfathers, Earl Fugate and Harry Young also fought for this nation. Earl Fugate fought in WWII in southern France and Italy including the battle of Anzio. Harry Young served in Hawaii during the start of the cold war. At least two of my dad’s brothers served in Vietnam. My cousin, Brian was in a submarine for several months. I am sure that every reader of this paper can list many friends and family who have given all for the freedoms we possess today. We should be thankful for the veterans that have given their lives and for the ones who survived. Thank a veteran today. If you can, give to a charity for veterans. Always be willing to help veterans that you know personally. Never forget what they have done for you.
June 9, 2010
BP Oil Spill Continues
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Driftwood and seashells glazed with rust-colored tar lined the surf along the Gulf Coast's once-pristine white sand beaches Saturday, the crude from a busted oil well deep underwater showing up in greater quantities and farther east.
A cap placed over the gusher was collecting some of the oil, which had stained beaches with a waxy mess of tar balls and created unusual orange foam in the surf.
In Gulf Shores, Ala., wooden boardwalks leading to beachfront hotels were spotted with oil from beachgoers' feet, and some condominiums were providing solvents for guests smeared with the brown goo. At Pensacola Beach, the retreating high tide left an orange stain in its wake.
Erin Tamber moved to the beach area after surviving Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where she had lived for 30 years. "I feel like I've gone from owning a piece of paradise to owning a toxic waste dump," she declared.
President Obama pledged Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address to fight the spill with the people of the Gulf Coast. His words for oil giant BP PLC were stern: "We will make sure they pay every single dime owed to the people along the Gulf coast."
Six weeks after an April 20 oil rig explosion killed 11 workers, BP has failed to significantly stem the worst spill in U.S. history. The government's point man for the crisis, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said at a news briefing Saturday that the cap collected about 252,000 gallons of oil Friday, its first full day of use.
The device, resembling an upside-down funnel, was lowered over the blown-out well a mile beneath the sea to try to capture most of the oil and direct it to a ship on the surface. BP officials are trying to strike a delicate balance by capturing as much oil as possible without creating too much pressure or allowing the build-up of ice-like hydrates, which form when water and natural gas combine under high pressures and low temperatures.
Hydrates foiled an earlier containment box because the slushy mixture clogged pipes and threatened to make the massive box float away.
The trick for BP is achieving the right balance of pressure so oil will come to the surface without spewing out of a rubber seal between the cap and a sheared-off riser pipe. Allen compared the process to trying to stop the flow of water from a garden hose with a finger. "You don't want to put your finger down too quickly, or let it off too quickly," he said.
The goal is to gradually raise the amount of the oil being captured, Allen said. The device's daily capacity is 630,000 gallons, and officials estimate oil is gushing out at a rate of about a half-million to a million gallons a day.
The well has leaked 22 million to 47 million gallons since the crisis began, according to government estimates. The widening scope of the disaster deepened the anger and despair just as Obama arrived for his third visit to the stricken Gulf Coast.
On Obama's trip to the Grand Isle on the Louisiana coast, his motorcade passed a building adorned with his portrait reminiscent of posters of him during his presidential campaign. Instead of "hope" or "change," the words "what now?" were on his forehead.
The oil has reached the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It has turned marshlands into death zones for wildlife and stained beaches rust and crimson. Some said it brought to mind the plagues and punishments of the Bible. "In Revelations it says the water will turn to blood," said P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish. "That's what it looks like out here — like the Gulf is bleeding. This is going to choke the life out of everything." He added: "It makes me want to cry."
As the operation went on at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the effect of the BP spill was increasingly evident.
Swimmers at Pensacola Beach rushed out of the water after wading into the mess, while other beachgoers were seen taking pictures. Health officials said that people should stay away from the mess but that swallowing a little oil-tainted water or getting slimed by a tar ball is no reason for alarm. On Saturday morning at a public beach in Gulf Shores, a long line of brown globs marked the high water line from overnight at the public beach.
"This is disgusting," said Macon Srygley, of McCalla, Ala. "I hate it for BP, but this has to be a lesson for anyone drilling in the ocean. We've got all this technology, but are we not smart enough to realize we can end ourselves with it?"
Over 500 birds have been found dead from Texas to Florida since the start of the oil leak, according to a federal tally released Friday. The exact cause of death was not immediately known for all the birds, although more than three dozen were visibly oiled. Authorities said 235 sea turtles and 30 mammals have also been found dead.
Thad Allen planned to meet later Saturday with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who has criticized Coast Guard decisions to send boom from Alabama to Louisiana and said he will consider closing beaches if the oil becomes a health threat. Oil hit Alabama before the boom could be returned, angering Riley and raising questions about Coast Guard management. "It's like a battle; you have to move your resources," Allen said in an interview. "You don't always get it back in time, but you do your best."
BP CEO Tony Hayward assured investors that the company had "considerable firepower" to cope with the severe costs. Hayward and other senior BP executives struck a penitent note in their first comprehensive update to shareholders since the explosion, promising to meet its obligations related to the spill. Information gained from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/04/anger-grows-bp-disaster-reaches-florida-panhandles-beaches-bp-pins-hopes-cap/
Tornadoes Rip into Lower Midwestern States
MILLBURY, Ohio - A tornado unleashed a "war zone" of destruction in northwest Ohio, destroying dozens of homes and an emergency services building as a line of storms killed at least seven people and briefly threatened the Northeast on Sunday.
Storms collapsed a movie-theater roof in Illinois and ripped siding off a building at a Michigan nuclear plant, forcing a shutdown. But most of the worst was reserved for a 100-yard-wide, 7-mile-long strip southeast of Toledo now littered with wrecked vehicles, splintered wood and family possessions. The tornado ripped the roof and back wall off Lake High School's gymnasium at about 11 p.m. Saturday, several hours before the graduation ceremony was supposed to begin. The school board president said one of the victims was the father of the class valedictorian.
Two buses were tossed on their sides and another was thrown about 50 yards, landing on its top near the high school's football field. More than 10 hours later, its right turn signal was still blinking.
Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer flew over the damaged area and said at least 50 homes were destroyed and another 50 severely damaged, as well as six commercial buildings. The storm fell over an area of farm fields and light industry, narrowly missing the heavily populated suburbs on the southern edge of Toledo. "It's a war zone," Hummer said. "It's pretty disheartening."
Hummer said Sunday afternoon all buildings had been searched and everyone was accounted for. Rescuers were searching a wooded area and a field near the worst-hit portion of town as a precaution.
The tornado turned a township police and emergency medical services building into a mishmash of 2-by-4 framing and pink insulation. Hummer was talking to a police dispatcher by phone when the storm hit. "She started saying, 'The building is shaking,' and then another dispatcher came on and said, 'The roof just blew off," he said.
The storm ripped off most of the building's back half and wrapped part of the metal roof around a tree. At least six police vehicles — half the township's fleet — were destroyed, and one car was tossed into the spot where the building once stood. The storm knocked out emergency services for a short time, and all the emergency dispatchers and 911 operators had to be moved to a nearby town. "When the people who are supposed to help you are victims of the storm, it does take you a minute to catch your breath," Hummer said.
Those killed included a person outside the police department and a motorist, Hummer said. He said a young child and two other victims were from nearby Millbury, a bedroom community of roughly 1,200 about 10 miles southeast of Toledo. Hummer said two other people died at hospitals but he did not have details.
One of the victims was the father of Lake High School's valedictorian, said Tim Krugh, president of the school district's board. Krugh said the school has rescheduled graduation for Tuesday evening at a Toledo community college. Neighbors said the house of the valedictorian's family was destroyed, and all that was left was a basement filled with water. More than 30 people in the Toledo area were hospitalized.
In southeastern Michigan, severe storms and high winds ripped siding off a building at the Fermi 2 nuclear plant, causing it to shut down automatically, said Dan Smith, the public information officer for Monroe County. Investigators inspected the nuclear plant on the shore of Lake Erie on Sunday, and the plant was expected to go back into operation, Smith said.
About 14,000 people were without power but it wasn't clear whether that was directly related to the nuclear plant's shutdown or because of damage to power lines in the area, said Gregory Williams, director of emergency management for Monroe County.
Eleven people with minor injuries were taken to hospitals from Dundee, Mich., where a tornado touched down with winds of about 130 mph.
Tornadoes also were reported in Illinois. More than a dozen people were injured in Dwight, where about 40 mobile homes and 10 other homes were destroyed, Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said. The roof of a movie theater collapsed in Elmwood, Ill., about 30 miles west of Peoria. State Trooper Dustin Pierce said 150 to 200 people had been inside, but they had been evacuated to the basement and no one was hurt.
The storms left a trail of damaged homes in northern Indiana and two tornadoes were reported, but no one was injured. In eastern Iowa, buildings were damaged and one person was hurt when a tornado touched down in Maquoketa. A cold front colliding with warm unstable air produced the storms that struck Saturday night.
The day after the Toledo-area tornado hit, residents were searching fields looking for anything salvageable. The storm destroyed Ronald Johns' house and barn and flung his cast-iron bath tub into a wheat field, but his wife managed to find a wristwatch, still working, amid the scattered bits of their rural home near Millbury.
On Saturday night, Johns looked out the window and couldn't even see the barn directly across the road. The chimney fell through the first floor as soon as the retired couple made it to the basement, pinning Johns with bricks until his wife, Jan, managed to free him. Ronald Johns, 74, said they were lucky. "We didn't get down there five seconds too fast," he said.
Truck driver Carl Gooden, 54, said he, his wife and his adult son were sitting on the porch when they heard a roar and ran for the bathroom. Wind tore off most of the home's roof and ripped open the north side of house. In the front yard, a sliver of aluminum siding from a neighbor's barn was wrapped around a teetering telephone pole.
Gooden said his family lost two garages and five vehicles. The front yard was littered with decades of memories. "My heart sinks," Gooden said. "I worked a lifetime for all this."
But he wasn't about to go in to retrieve items such as his wife's jewelry or his NASCAR collectibles. His home was knocked 5 feet off its foundation and basement washer and dryer were all that was holding it up. "It's not worth dying for," he said. Information Gained from http://www.startribune.com/nation/95720444.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU
Ty Green also contributed to this article
Eight Days in the Life of the Courtney Family
Kyle and Gloria had a very interesting end to May and a very exciting start to June. On May 30, Kyle took his 7 1/2 months pregnant wife to the emergency room. She had high blood pressure and he knew that she needed to have medical care given her situation.
Gloria’s blood pressure stayed high through the first part of the week. Her health was serious enough that the doctors decided to induce her on Thursday June 3. Gloria was delivered of her newborn daughter at 12:32 PM. Just ten minutes before the time that Kyle had predicted for the birth. Grace Marie Courtney was born 5 pounds 7 ounces and 18 inches long. She will in NICU through this week.
On Saturday, Kyle went to visit his favorite firstborn daughter, and Grace whined and fussed at him just like her mother does, according to Kyle. Monday, June 7, Gloria was released from the hospital. The Courtney family will be totally united sometime next week. Gloria’s sister and mom are in Alabama with the Courtney to help out with this transition. Congratulations to mother, father, and daughter!
Coaching Great John Wooden Still Claimed by Small Indiana City
STATE PRIDE: John Wooden was honored to be from Martinsville and a Purdue graduate. He was national player of the year in 1932.
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. -- Elmer Reynolds had hoped to visit his longtime friend John Wooden last week in Los Angeles, but Wooden's family told him they didn't think the legendary coach could handle visitors because of his declining health.
Reynolds realized the depth of those words Friday night when he learned Wooden had died in Los Angeles at the age of 99.
Reynolds remembered fondly his final times spent with the former Martinsville High School and Purdue standout in November 2005 when Wooden made his final trek to his former place of residence.
Sitting in a wheelchair at the Morgan County Veterans Memorial Park five years ago, Wooden stared at the plaque honoring those who served on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin in World War II and appreciated his good fortune.
Wooden was supposed to be a gunner on the USS Franklin but because of appendicitis surgery he was replaced shortly before he was to board the ship. "What I need my friends in Martinsville to know is that except by the grace of God that John Wooden would have died in the Pacific on that day in 1945," Wooden told Reynolds in 2004. "I'll never be able to thank God enough for the way those circumstances turned out."
Reynolds stayed close to Wooden's family through the final days of Wooden's life. Reynolds said he learned the Wooden family will allow him to take the legendary's coach's library from Los Angeles and turn it into a museum in downtown Martinsville. "What I learned the most from coach Wooden was how much he appreciated the love of learning," Reynolds said. "Nothing was more important to him than helping young people learn in all aspects of their life."
Reynolds said what he admired most about Wooden in the final years of his life was his humility. "He just had a gentleness, a humility and a genuine care for humanity that is difficult to describe," Reynolds said. "It was just so obvious his care for young people that he hoped to leave behind in his words or his actions."
Bette Nunn, a longtime Martinsville resident, said that Wooden was the real deal. "Everything you heard about coach Wooden was exactly the way he was," Nunn said. "There were so many people who knew him better than I did, but unfortunately they died before he did. He was a lifetime great representative of Martinsville."
Reynolds remembers something Wooden told him a few years ago. "He said even though he had been away from Indiana for [many] years that he always considered himself a Hoosier, and always felt that a part of his soul would always remain in Martinsville."
Information Gained from http://www.indystar.com/article/20100605/SPORTS11/6050380/Martinsville-proudly-claims-Wooden-as-its-own, please check out indystar.com for extensive information on the greatest coach in sports history.
Ken Griffey Jr. retiring at age 40
SEATTLE -- Ken Griffey Jr. arrived in baseball a fresh-faced teenager with a radiant smile, a carefree attitude and unlimited potential. He spent 22 seasons becoming lauded as the greatest player of his generation.
Even as his career declined through injuries and age, Griffey left the game on his own terms and still held in the highest of regards and one of the greats in baseball history.
Now relegated to part-time duty and with little pop left in that perfect swing, Griffey unexpectedly decided Wednesday to retire after 22 mostly brilliant seasons.
The Kid that once saved baseball in the Pacific Northwest with his backward hat, giddy teenage smile and unrivaled talent, had become a shell of the player who dominated the 1990s.
The 40-year-old Griffey wasn't at Safeco Field on Wednesday. He simply released a statement through the Seattle Mariners - the franchise he helped saved in the 90s and returned to for the conclusion of his career - that he was done playing.
Griffey said goodbye before Seattle played the Minnesota Twins after 13 All-Star appearances, 630 homers - fifth on the career list - and 1,836 RBIs. He's an almost certain first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field and nobody in the Mariners front office has asked me to retire, I told the Mariners when I met with them prior to the 2009 season and was invited back that I will never allow myself to become a distraction," Griffey said. "I feel that without enough occasional starts to be sharper coming off the bench, my continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction to my teammates and their success as a team is what the ultimate goal should be," he said.
Griffey was already headed to his family in Florida by late Wednesday night. His Safeco Field locker was completely cleaned out after Seattle's 2-1 victory in 10 innings over the Twins. There won't be a farewell tour for Griffey.
He called Mariners' team president Chuck Armstrong and said he was done playing. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu pulled his players together before the start of batting practice to inform them of Griffey's decision. "To play with him is a treasure I will keep deep in my heart," Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki said through an interpreter. "I have played 19 years in professional baseball and I can say he was one of my best teammates and my best friend."
A star from the time he was the overall No. 1 pick in the 1987 draft, Griffey also played with his hometown Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. He hit .284 with 1,836 RBIs.
But his greatest seasons, by far, came in Seattle. Griffey played in 1,685 games with the Mariners and hit .292 with 417 homers, most coming in the homer-friendly Kingdome, and 1,216 RBIs. He won the AL MVP in 1997 and practically saved a franchise that was in danger of relocating when he first came up.
Griffey returned to the Mariners in 2009 and almost single-handedly transformed what had been a fractured, bickering clubhouse with his leadership, energy and constant pranks.
Griffey signed a one-year deal last November for one more season in Seattle after he was carried off the field by his teammates after the final game of 2009. He hit .214 last season with 19 homers as a part-time DH. He was limited by a swollen left knee that required an operation in the offseason.
But the bat never came alive in 2010. Griffey was hitting only .184 with no homers and seven RBIs and recently went a week without playing. There was a report earlier this season - which Griffey implied was incorrect - that he'd fallen asleep in the clubhouse during a game.
The swing that hit as many as 56 homers in a season had lost its punch and Griffey seemed to understand his time was coming to a close.
Even though Griffey wasn't in his prime, his teammates relished the chance to be with him. "It's like winning the lottery of baseball," Seattle's Chone Figgins said. "You get to play with one of the greatest." Information Gained from http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_bba_mariners_griffey_retiring.html
Editorial
I trust this issue of the Lost Lake Tribune finds you celebrating and defending freedom on the homeland. As you and I defend freedom here, over 180,000 men and women are defending freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are rotting out terrorists and killing them before the terrorists can reach our borders. Every day these men and women give of themselves by sacrificing family time and steady jobs to fight for the continuation of one of the greatest nations of all time.
Some give their lives in the battle and others die along the way. Others lose the possibility of a richer lifestyle because of lost limbs and other life-changing injuries. All soldiers give something away that will never be retained. When soldiers come back to the US, life does not necessarily get easier. Many have a hard time repatriating. Thousands of veterans are homeless. link Many commit suicide whether homeless or not.
This topic certainly hits home for my family. My own great uncle, Milo Fugate, gave his life at Normandy, 66 years ago. link My grandfathers, Earl Fugate and Harry Young also fought for this nation. Earl Fugate fought in WWII in southern France and Italy including the battle of Anzio. Harry Young served in Hawaii during the start of the cold war. At least two of my dad’s brothers served in Vietnam. My cousin, Brian was in a submarine for several months. I am sure that every reader of this paper can list many friends and family who have given all for the freedoms we possess today. We should be thankful for the veterans that have given their lives and for the ones who survived. Thank a veteran today. If you can, give to a charity for veterans. Always be willing to help veterans that you know personally. Never forget what they have done for you.
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