Cat returning to Florida home; mileage user fee; comic gagged
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Odd and interesting news from the Midwest.
- By CHUCK RUPNOW Leader-Telegram
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — A movie about the heroics of Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious objector during World War II, will soon hit theaters.
Mark Gamroth of Eau Claire personally knows the value of Doss' efforts, the Leader-Telegram (http://bit.ly/2eVMGZe ) reported.
Gamroth's grandfather Henry "Hank" Gamroth of Independence was one of the 75 soldiers an unarmed Doss amazingly saved on one day in May 1945.
But it wasn't until recently that Mark Gamroth put together an account from his grandfather and an advertisement for "Hacksaw Ridge," which is scheduled to hit theaters Friday, Nov. 4.
"I was like 18 or 19 when he told me the story, somewhere in the early 1990s at his place," Gamroth recalled Tuesday when asked about his grandfather, a former Independence police chief who died at age 75.
"You know, at that time and at that age, it was one of those things for me; you know, in one ear and out the other.
"But (one) Saturday as I was watching the Badgers game on TV, a trailer came over about that movie," he continued. "As I watched it, it hit me that it was the same thing that my grandfather told me, about when he was rescued on Okinawa (island) in World War II."
Gamroth searched through bins of memorabilia, locating a VHS tape from a 1959 "This is Your Life" show about Doss, and a decades-old newspaper article about Henry Gamroth in which he relates his encounter with Doss.
"My grandfather was a huge part of my life when I was growing up. He was funny and humble," Gamroth said. "I had a couple of sleepless nights since (that) Saturday out of true excitement."
Henry Gamroth received several military citations for his war efforts and served 26 years on the Independence police force.
"I look at this movie as a tribute to Doss, as well as my grandfather and others who served," Gamroth said. "I just get goose bumps when thinking about it all."
Doss, of Virginia, was working in a shipyard and wanted to serve in other capacities during the war, but his religious beliefs did not allow him to hold or fire a weapon, according to various accounts.
Classified as a conscientious objector, one who opposes serving in the armed forces and/?or bearing arms because of moral or religious principles, Doss eventually served with the U.S. Army's Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.
Reports indicate he was repeatedly ridiculed by military personnel for his beliefs, but that mind-set drastically changed in spring 1945.
Doss' brave and selfless actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty." He was the first conscientious objector to receive the prestigious honor.
According to various accounts: The 1st Battalion used cargo nets to scale a jagged, 400-foot-high escarpment, where it came under heavy enemy attack, suffering numerous deaths and injuries. Doss, then 26, reportedly saved 75 wounded comrades in a matter of hours by removing them from the area. He also is credited with risking his life many other times amid enemy fire to treat the wounded and escort them to safety.
One reported instance, Gamroth believes, involves his grandfather.
Henry Gamroth was struck in a leg by fire and fell about 25 feet off a cliff. Doss, a private first class, crawled to Gamroth, rendered aid and removed him from the area.
"The whole story is almost so unbelievable; a shocker," Mark Gamroth said. "I started to think about what Doss did, and without what he does, maybe my grandfather isn't around, and then the rest of the family isn't here.
"And think of all those others he saved and their families; what Doss did impacted them as well," he added. "It's all so amazing. I can't wait to see the movie."
Henry Gamroth, in the La Crosse Tribune article decades ago, said about Doss: "I can't figure that guy out. The lead was flying. He was bending over and treating the wounded."
Doss, according to one account, lost his pocket Bible during a skirmish, but because of the appreciation and respect he earned from his comrades, they diligently searched until finding it and returning it to him.
Doss died in 2006 at age 87. He was wounded three times in the war and was diagnosed with tuberculosis shortly before leaving the Army in 1946. He underwent medical treatment for five years for illness and injuries.
Mark Gamroth recalls his grandfather making a call to Doss and speaking to Doss' wife because Doss had severe hearing issues.
"I know they were trying to work something out to meet," Gamroth said. "They never did. That was too bad."
Gamroth says he may try to reach Doss family members out of respect for his grandfather and Doss.
"If not for that one time my grandfather talked about Doss, I wouldn't have known about what had happened. He was pretty quiet about all that went on with the war," Gamroth said, adding that his grandfather once left after watching only 15 minutes of a war movie because of how it dredged up undesirable memories for his grandfather.
"I wonder how many other families there are out there who don't know how Doss impacted their lives, largely because those who served didn't talk about what they went through," Gamroth said.
Henry Gamroth has two daughters, Patty Bagniewski of Holmen and Bonnie Klimek of Arcadia.
"When I saw that movie trailer, it got my adrenaline going, and I called my aunt Patty, but it didn't ring a bell too much with her," Gamroth said. "That's when I went to my albums and found the news clipping. I'm so glad I did."
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Information from: Leader-Telegram, http://www.leadertelegram.com/
An AP Member Exchange shared by the Leader-Telegram.
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COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — A herd of 20 goats is been grazing on invasive plants at Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park for a week or two, kicking off Washington County's efforts to use a nonchemical approach to a buckthorn infestation.
Jake Langeslag, who owns Faribault-based goat Dispatch, and herd manager Jarett Spitzack released the goats on the north end of the park Monday, according to the Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/2f0wwy3).
Langeslag, who started his company over four years ago, said he was initially surprised how well they ate the plants. He has increased his goat count from six to 120, tackling up to 50 projects a year.
The goats work as a group to lower branches and eat the plant's leaves, reducing the strength of the plant and later killing it. When the goats are full, they congregate in the sun to digest and rehydrate before continuing their work. Goats eat 3 percent to 5 percent of their body weight daily.
"The nice thing about goats is that we don't have to worry about rain, weather conditions, wind and all that type of stuff," said the county's natural resource coordinator Dan MacSwain.
The practice isn't new to the region.
Goats were used to eat buckthorn at Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount in 2013. The next year, they chomped on goldenrod at Pilot Knob hill, a historic site in Mendota Heights.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, buckthorn is a shrub that can reach 25 feet, and sprouts its leaves earlier than native plants in the spring, making it difficult for native plants to receive enough light and water.
If county parks officials see that the goats improve the buckthorn infestation, they may consider using the service long-term. MacSwain said the county will also continue using hand tools and some chemicals to fight the infestation.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com
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HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A judge seeking to get around an age limit is challenging another judge for a seat on the Livingston County District Court.
Carol Sue Reader has two years left in her term. But she'll be 71 by then and won't be eligible to run for re-election, under the Michigan Constitution.
So Reader is challenging fellow District Court Judge L. Suzanne Geddis in the Nov. 8 election. If Reader wins, she'll get a fresh six-year term.
Geddis says Reader really has nothing to lose because Reader will remain a judge even if she loses. But if Geddis loses, her job is over. Geddis says it seems "greedy."
The judges have appeared together during the final weeks of the campaign season, sparring over temperament and other issues.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Some new developments are swirling around wind energy in Ohio after a yearslong lull.
The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2e1mrzQ ) that a trade group cites several projects under construction in the state including a major one involving the online retailer Amazon, although state policies have hindered wind energy development.
"There are some unique challenges that we have now in Ohio that get in the way of deployment," said Andrew Gohn, eastern region director for state policy for the American Wind Energy Association.
The group says Ohio ranks 25th among states with 444 megawatts of wind energy. A megawatt is 1 million watts of power.
There's been one new wind farm operation this year, a small 1.5-megawatt facility in Wyandot County. Most of Ohio's current wind energy comes from two large projects near the Indiana border that date back to 2011-2012.
But the group says a total 207 megawatts in projects are under construction, led by the Paulding County 100-megawatt wind farm being developed by Amazon and the wind energy company EDP Renewables. It's expected to be completed next year.
Ohio legislation in 2014 added to uncertainty about federal tax incentives and electricity market changes to slow development.
The state measures increased minimum distance between a wind turbine and nearby structures and put a two-year freeze on state standards requiring electricity companies to buy certain amounts renewable energy.
"We have zoning that attempts to protect property rights of people who live in the country," said Tom Stacy, an energy consultant who supported the state legislation.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 10-year-old house cat who apparently roamed the streets of Wichita since escaping her cat carrier in June will soon be heading back to Florida to be reunited with her family.
The cat, named Ninja, got away when the family stopped at a Wichita hotel on June 9 on the way to Colorado. Renee and Brett Farmer of Sarasota, Florida, said they searched as long as they could before leaving Wichita. They kept in contact with Wichita shelters but had come to believe they likely would not see Ninja again.
Kelly Schuhs, who feeds feral cats in downtown Wichita, saw a new face in July and suspected the cat was tame.
"Feral cats don't meow, they don't want love or to be picked up," Schuhs said. "When I get new cats that are tame, you have to assume they are strays or sometimes people have dumped them. I thought somebody must have dumped her."
Then last weekend, Friends of Felines did a Trap, Neuter and Return of a feral cat colony in Wichita, and Ninja was among the 40 cats captured. She was checked for a microchip, which led to the Farmers' phone number, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/2dQahtA).
She was treated for fleas and a superficial wound to her neck before being given a clean bill of health on Wednesday. That will allow the cat to be flown from Wichita to Tampa, Florida, and a reunion with the Farmers sometime in the next two weeks.
"We want our sweetie pie as soon as possible," Brett Farmer said.
The Farmer family got the call about Ninja Sunday afternoon.
Cheryl Taskinen, president of Friends of Felines, said it's unusual for such stories to have happy endings.
"It is also so rare when you have one from so far out of town," she said.
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana University study says legislators looking to address transportation funding challenges by charging drivers a fee for the number of miles they drive could face strong opposition.
Federal and state governments currently use money generated by a tax on fuel to build and repair roads. But that source of revenue has become insufficient, partly because of an increase in fuel-efficient vehicles on the road.
The university's School of Public and Environmental Affairs took a look at the popularity of mileage user fees as nearly half the states in the U.S. consider them, The Herald-Times (http://bit.ly/2e5mNJ7) reported.
The study of more than 2,000 Americans found that not only do opponents of mileage user fees outnumber supporters by a ratio of four to one, but they also are more likely to take action to prevent the fees from being implemented.
"It's safe to conclude the intensity of the opposition is quite high," said IU associate professor Denvil Duncan, lead author of the study.
The survey included questions about increasing income taxes, tolls and increasing sales taxes to address the transportation funding. All measures were disliked, Duncan said.
The federal government is pulling in about $30 billion from gas taxes annually, but engineers have estimated that the total cost of repairs to roads and bridges will exceed, $200 billion, he said.
Indiana and 22 other states are currently considering mileage user fees.
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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com
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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP) — An Air Force laboratory is studying football players and other athletes from Ohio State University in research intended to benefit the players and help researchers understand demands on special forces teams in action.
More than 100 wrestlers along with men's and women's lacrosse players will join the research roster that already includes Buckeye football players, The Dayton Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/2f9srM4).
Josh Hagen, a researcher with the 711th Human Performance Wing, said the goal of the study is to develop a sports science strategy for all of OSU's athletic teams.
This involves tracking biometric data that can be used to develop training workloads and recovery plans.
"It makes you more cognizant of the things you can do," said Joe Burger, a 22-year-old senior linebacker. "You can definitely tell a difference and seeing a difference makes you a believer."
According to Hagen, the information is also useful to understand the demands placed on special operations forces when conducting missions.
The research agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory and OSU is not a financial deal. The two entities only exchange knowledge.
"There's no other school that has a relationship like this," said Doug Calland, OSU's associate athletic director for sport performance. "It's really been unbelievably helpful to know because we're going to go hard just like the military does. They train hard and we're training hard, and we need to make sure that we're doing that in the right way."
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Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
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HILLSBORO, Ohio (AP) — The judge who will preside at the trial of the mayor of a small Ohio city who's also a veteran standup comedian has expanded on her gag order in the case.
Retired Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Ann Cosgrove recently filed an eight-page order after earlier warning against case participants' pretrial commentaries on the upcoming trial of Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings. She said that includes on social media.
The Times-Gazette newspaper of Hillsboro reported there had been Facebook comments questioning aspects of the case.
Hastings was indicted in July on four felony counts, including election falsification and theft in office. A jury trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 7 before Cosgrove, who was appointed after a local judge recused himself.
The second-term Republican mayor says he's done nothing wrong, other than try to lead the city without the consent of the "established political structure."
Cosgrove's order bars anyone associated with the case from commenting to the news media or on social media.
"The court is concerned with the effect which extra-jurisdictional statements or comments may have on the proceedings, and the potential to disrupt the processes by which a fair trial may be preserved," Cosgrove wrote.
Among examples of barred comments are those expressing "any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant and/or anyone else charged in connection with the alleged events underlying this matter."
A large pool of some 100 people is planned for efforts to seat a jury in the southwest Ohio community.
The election falsification charge concerns Hastings' residency in the city of 6,000 residents, where he has a downtown apartment besides a farm outside of town. Other charges stem from a $500 city fee refund for a building he owned and the alleged use of city trash bins for private debris disposal.
The newspaper reported that potential witnesses include Hastings' administrative assistants, city officials and other local officials and police.
- By DAVID PITT Associated Press
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa Supreme Court justices who helped legalize gay marriage in the state seven years ago will face voters on Nov. 8 for the first time since the ruling, but they are refusing to campaign for their jobs because they argue the courts should remain above politics.
The justices up for retention votes in next week's election are taking the same approach as three judges who appeared to pay a price for their stands when voters in 2010 removed them from office after a costly campaign waged by gay marriage opponents.
The judges now on the ballot have said little about the vote, but two of those removed from the court told The Associated Press they don't regret their choice not to campaign even though they knew opponents were organizing a high-profile effort to oust them.
"I think it's dangerous when politics are injected into the courts and I think that is what happened in 2010," former Chief Justice Marsha Ternus said. "If voters vote on judges or justices based on their views of issues rather than what the law requires, what they're telling judges to do is to ignore the law when popular opinion wants them to do so. Then, we're not a country based on the rule of law and that's a dangerous path to go down."
Ternus, along with justices Michael Streit and David Baker, failed to receive the majority vote needed to remain in office for another eight years. Each of them received less than 45 percent, marking the first time Supreme Court justices were removed from office by voters since the retention system was established in 1962.
The three justices in 2009 had joined in a unanimous 7-0 ruling that found a ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution, making Iowa the third state to legalize the practice. At the time, 29 states had constitutional bans on gay marriage and the issue remained highly contentious throughout the country.
Like Ternus, Baker said he didn't regret not campaigning.
"If you're going to do that you have to go out and solicit funds and, whether you do or you don't, the perception is that you owe somebody," Baker said. "I'm still of the belief that politics and judges are a bad mix."
Gay rights opponents led by Christian conservative Bob Vander Plaats raised $1 million in their successful campaign against the justices in 2010.
Gay rights opponents led again by Vander Plaats failed to remove Justice David Wiggins when he was up for a vote in 2012. Wiggins, who joined in the gay marriage decision, received more than 54 percent of the vote and remains on the bench.
In the upcoming election, Chief Justice Mark Cady and Justices Daryl Hecht and Brent Appel will be on the ballot. None has campaigned, but Cady released a letter last week that stated, "I believe campaigns for judicial office only open the door of a court system to the influence of politics and money. This door must never swing open."
There hasn't been a high-profile effort to remove justices this year. That's likely in part due to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year affirming that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, a decision that seemed to vindicate the Iowa ruling.
"I think obviously the nation has become more comfortable with the concept," Baker said. "It certainly has been made clear from a constitutional basis ours is the correct decision."
Vander Plaats declined to comment through a spokesman, but he wrote an Oct. 21 column in The Des Moines Register that encouraged Iowans to vote "no" on the justices whose opinion he said served to "foist homosexual marriage upon our state."
His organization's political action committee has donated money to a group called Common Sense PAC, which has placed yard signs around the state asking voters to reject the three justices.
Des Moines attorney Guy Cook, the past president of the Iowa State Bar Association and an advocate of judicial independence, has worked with a bar association committee since 2012 on behalf of judges who feel they can't campaign. The goal is to educate voters on why Iowans amended the state constitution decades ago to create a new system for hiring judges.
"It was designed to get higher quality judges on the bench based on merit and to remove the influence of politics and not have judges issue rulings in return for votes," he said.
- By LEAH BULETTI The Free Press of Mankato
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MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — The little stone house on the hill survived by neglect.
In the recent years of its 159-year-old life, the Civil War-era home has survived a fire and a demolition order, The Free Press of Mankato (http://bit.ly/2e0KeTF ) reported. Thought to be the oldest stone house in Mankato, it was unoccupied for years and condemned by the city in 2011.
Caleb Wunderlich, who learned masonry from North Mankato preservationist Tom Hagen, is now about mid-way through restoring the home. Wunderlich purchased it at a county tax forfeiture auction in April 2015 for $6,800 and received a $50,000 forgivable loan from the city for restoration.
Built in 1857 by Joseph Schaus, the 1,107-square-foot home stood sentry while the city of Mankato sprung up, while the riverboats steamed in and while the scaffolding used to hang 38 Dakota Indians was erected.
"It was ghastly," Hagen said of the house's condition before restoration. They spent about six months clearing out "truckloads" of debris.
Wunderlich has completed the structural stabilization of the house and has rebuilt two walls almost entirely with reused materials. So much is reused that some wall framing inside even came from kneelers in the former St. Peter and Paul's Catholic Church.
Last week, city officials and members of the Heritage Preservation Commission toured the home for the first time as a group since Wunderlich took over.
Katherine Hughes, a historian who has researched the house's history, said she was pleased with the restoration work and stressed how difficult life was for Schaus.
"Living here would just be a real treat," she said.
Schaus, who likely built the house so far from the river because he worked at the nearby Catholic church, labored in his free time under threat of Indian attack and without running water, hot showers or even cement, Wunderlich said.
The house is held together by dirt and has 22-inch-thick walls. The lack of cement made rebuilding the collapsed northern wall easier, Wunderlich said. Such reuse of construction materials would be unlikely with today's cheaper and faster construction methods, he said.
"This wall collapsed and if it collapses again, they'd be able to reuse every stone here and rebuild it," he said. "It's like a big jigsaw puzzle."
Wunderlich also acquired historically matching windows with 1870s glass from the East Coast.
On the back side of the house, Wunderlich took down a plywood addition and reused the plywood in the kitchen. He also had to rebuild a wall on the back of the house because an addition in the 1990s destabilized it.
With insulation expected to be in place soon, Wunderlich said he hopes to spend the winter on inside work, including flooring and plasterboard. Next year, he plans to work on the roof, brick laying and storm windows.
The house has three layers of flooring. Maple was layered on pine, which was placed on ash planks likely made on the first saw mill in Mankato. Wunderlich will install stone flooring and radiant heat.
The downstairs, where one stone wall is visible inside, will have a kitchen and half bath, while the upstairs will have a full bath and two bedrooms.
The upstairs is roomier than it looks from the street. And it certainly won't be as crowded as the 1950s when it was home to 18 members of the Allen family, including 14 children who packed into bunk beds and cots upstairs "like sardines in a can," Wunderlich said.
Wunderlich has a few years left on the restoration and said he hopes to acquire a rental license to ensure a family takes care of the home.
"I hope it becomes a house again," Wunderlich said. "I'd like to have some say that this house is preserved and cherished. This is a charming little house. It's intimate and it's alive."
Wunderlich said restoration isn't "genius work," but rather a process of continual improvement.
"A trained eye could see that my stone work gets better the higher it goes," he said. "Practice makes the master."
Hagen praised his young apprentice for taking on the daunting project. The last owner of the home, Richard Dickie, wound up homeless after a 2007 fire made the house uninhabitable and his contractor abandoned the repair project. Another of Hagen's students considered taking it on but declined after learning that the city wouldn't issue a rental license because of density limits, Hagen said.
Becky Wessman, a Mankato attorney, brought a lawsuit over the rental density issue, which essentially kept the house from demolition because it was tied up in litigation, Hagen said. A state appeals court in 2011 upheld a district court's ruling that sided with the city.
"What (Wunderlich) has essentially done is given up two years of his life to save this house for the city," Hagen said.
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Information from: The Free Press, http://www.mankatofreepress.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by The Free Press of Mankato.
- By BRETT BOESE Post-Bulletin
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ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — Ailing and alone, Denise Krivach lay at Mayo Clinic thinking the worst — until a ball of fur bounded up onto her bed in what's being described as a life-changing moment.
The 60-year-old, a former Abbott Northwestern physician, was in the early stages of building her dream home in the Montana mountains when she awoke in 2014 and was non-functional, the Post-Bulletin (http://bit.ly/2e0E3Px ) reported. She rejected the initial diagnosis of early onset dementia to seek clarification at Mayo in Rochester.
After months of testing, Mayo specialists finally confirmed autoimmune encephalitis. In short, her immune system was attacking her brain.
Her dreams dashed, Krivach underwent surgery and found herself lying in the hospital to face an uncertain future.
Then Alta, a 4-year-old golden retriever, spent 45 minutes cuddling with her as part of Mayo's growing Caring Canines program. The connection between the two was immediate and has continued to this day.
"It was love at first sight," Krivach said. "It made such a difference in my recovery. Even after they were gone, I could go back to that happy place. I never felt like I was quite alone."
The Caring Canines program was started in 2004 after operating for years informally. A 13-pound miniature pinscher named Dr. Jack was among the best-known of the privately owned service dogs that were brought in to provide emotional support. Dr. Jack, owned by Marcia Fritzmeier, of Rochester, was a facility-based service dog trained to work with patients in their recovery, as guided by doctors and nursing staff.
Dr. Jack's retirement in 2013 (he has since died) closely coincided with Mayo's hiring of Jessica Smidt as healing enhancement therapy coordinator. Smidt, a former vet tech, has embraced the pooch program with gusto, expanding it from six to 30 dogs over the past two-plus years.
The 30 therapy dogs and their handlers spend a couple hours each week connecting with patients throughout the hospital. The expanded roster allowed Smidt's team to report more than 11,000 patient interactions in 2015, totaling more than 2,100 hours of volunteer time.
Alta was trained as a service dog and is Smidt's own pet. She recognized the instant connection between Denise and her golden retriever — but a connection like that, she says, is not all that unusual.
"I would say almost daily Alta and I run into someone in the hospital . and they say, 'This is exactly what I needed,'" Smidt said. "Sometimes there are even tears."
Still, few encounters have been as impactful as Alta with Krivach.
The former physician says that Caring Canines has "given me my life back." She's back on her feet and in a much better state of mind, and she credits Alta for her recovery.
Krivach has also purchased a home in southwest Rochester, eschewing her Montana dream to live in the Med City. Single and childless, she says she has always preferred solitude, but her experience with Alta has made her reconsider that preference, too.
She's in the early stages of seeking out her own canine companion. Naturally, Alta has been placed on a pedestal as the "gold standard." Because of that connection, Smidt is taking the unusual step of assisting Denise find a live-in service dog.
The closest facility that offers trained service dogs is in the Twin Cities. Until her own companion is found, Krivach has offered to walk Alta.
"She steals the show," Krivach said of Alta. "That's really what patients need sometimes, a distraction from their own pain and misery.
"Sometimes being ill, you get too focused on being ill. You don't want that to be who you become. When Alta comes around, you can't help but perk up."
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Information from: Post-Bulletin, http://www.postbulletin.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by the Post-Bulletin.
- By EMILY WENGER Muscatine Journal
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MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Parrot Rescue is looking forward to some changes made possible by a $50,000 grant, which will increase the functionality of the building where 63 birds currently reside.
The Muscatine Journal (http://bit.ly/2esHvDj ) reports that the DJ & T Foundation awarded the grant to the parrot rescue. The foundation was established by TV celebrity Bob Barker, and provides assistance to animal welfare organizations.
Mike Hutchison, the owner of Iowa Parrot Rescue located at 2479 Golden Ave., began the rescue 19 years ago, and built the current building in 2008. A large part of the grant funding, Hutchison said, will go to putting solar cells on the roof of the rescue to generate electricity.
Hutchison said the building is already very energy efficient, with three sides surrounded by earth, and one side with enough windows to absorb heat from the sun in the winter.
"When we designed this building we wanted to go as green as we could," he said.
He had solar power in mind, even when he built the building.
"The solar has always been something that I wanted, when I designed this building, I designed the slope of the roof so that it would be efficient for solar if we could ever afford to put it in there," Hutchison said.
Hutchison said the solar power will cut down on, and possibly eliminate one of the facility's largest bills, electricity, as well as increasing how environmentally friendly the facility is.
"Protecting the environment in general protects the birds," he said.
The flight area is a utility-welded wire fence-enclosed area connected to the building for the birds to spend time outside, and will also be getting some work. The top of the flight area will need to be re-covered.
"An effect of Iowa weather," Hutchison said.
On one side of the large room where many birds are free from their cages, spending time with each other or calling to Hutchison to express their hunger, is a small room where many new birds spend their time before being integrated into the main room, which will also receive renovations.
Currently, a Red-lored Amazon named Higgins is spending time in the quarantine room, because he has spent around 20 years without being around other parrots. The room will allow him to become used to being near them and their chatter.
Hutchison said the quarantine room can be used for a transitional space, to house a bird or group of birds that may not be healthy, or to provide a safe space for a bird that needs to be treated.
"There are many times that I wouldn't be able to take a bird if I didn't have the quarantine area," he said.
The back wall of the quarantine room will be covered, the medical room will be updated, and some cages throughout the building will be replaced, Hutchison said.
Because the shelter is funded through donations and grants, and volunteers help care for the birds, donations and grants are necessary to keep the rescue up and running.
"This could not happen without all the support we get," he said.
Air conditioning will also be added, which Hutchison said is not necessarily needed for the birds, but the volunteers will have much less difficulty working in the warm building during the summer.
The $50,000 grant, Hutchison said, will make a difference for the facility, and allow him to care for the birds in a building with much needed updates.
"It means that a lot of things that I've either been doing without, like the air conditioning, or doing on a shoestring, like shelves made out of scrap lumber, can get done right," Hutchison said.
Hutchison has taken in birds from drug raids, birds who have been smuggled, one who was a victim of Hurricane Katrina, birds who have been loved by families who can no longer keep them, and many more who were in need of a safe place to land. No drop-off or adoption fees are charged.
Adopting a parrot is a long-term commitment, as one bird at the shelter currently is documented to be more than 60 years old. While Hutchison said he hopes to find the birds homes, the care and attention they require cannot be taken lightly.
To volunteer, donate or for more information, visit www.iowaparrotrescue.org. With projects ahead, Hutchison said helpful hands will be welcome.
"I can always use more people," he said.
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Information from: Muscatine Journal, http://www.muscatinejournal.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by the Muscatine Journal.
- By Danielle Ferguson Argus Leader
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The sound of a gunshot crackled through miles of soon-to-be combined land, bringing one pheasant to the ground in a single plop.
Carol Bothe and her crew spent the opening day of pheasant season pushing through fields, waiting for the perfect shot.
Bothe, of Brandon, is part of a growing female segment of small game hunting license holders.
The number of women obtaining pheasant hunting licenses in South Dakota has almost doubled in the last 10 years, reflecting a shift in culture and the success of hunting education programs, the Argus Leader (http://argusne.ws/2eJVSn8 ) reported.
"In my generation, women stayed in the kitchen; men did the hunting," said Maggie Lindsey, education services coordinator with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. "Now it's way more acceptable for women to go out and hunt. The fathers or whoever is doing the hunting in the family aren't just taking their sons; they're taking their daughters."
In 2015, one in 10 residential hunting licenses was purchased by women. That's twice what it was a decade ago. The overall numbers in 2015, including out-of-state hunters, women represented about one in 15, also doubled from the previous decade. More women are traveling to the state to hunt. Just over 1,000 women came from out of state to hunt in 2005. That number jumped to almost 4,000 in 2015.
Lindsey, an instructor with Game, Fish and Park's program Becoming an Outdoor Woman, has a mixture of women in their 20s to women in their 50s take the class. The older women are often heard saying, "my dad would take my brother but he wouldn't take me," Lindsey said. Where younger women are often coming out because they're curious or want to learn to shoot a gun and end up loving the sport of hunting, she said.
Keith Wintersteen started a Women's Hunting 101 class with Game, Fish and Parks three years ago with the idea of getting people in the 18 to 30-year-old range interested in hunting. He teaches the class the basics of hunting: how to handle a gun safely and accurately, where to hunt, what to do with the kill and what to wear and how to act.
"My sense is women are no longer going to put up with, 'It's a guy thing,'" Wintersteen said. "No it's not; it's for anybody who wants to be outside."
Jason Kool with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, said women make up a segment of license holders helping support the overall sales of small game hunting licenses.
"Women are certainly keeping pheasant hunting alive," Kool said.
Sandra Comer, 45, of Rapid City, learned how to hunt last year. She joined Wintersteen's Hunting 101 class so she could learn the sport to pass along to her son.
She was most nervous about the act of actually shooting the gun and killing a living thing, aspects Wintersteen said the classmates are usually the most fearful of.
A patient coach and a lot of practice at the range helped Comer move past her fears. Now, she says she itches to get back outside.
"I just love it," Comer said. "Now I can't wait for hunting season to begin."
Having an all-female class removes some of the stresses of learning the sport, Comer said.
Lindsey agreed, saying women often take the sport as another outdoor hobby to do with a group.
"A lot of women make (hunting) a bit more social," Lindsey said. "They really need that social support. Many won't go (hunting) alone."
That's not the only difference between male and female hunters. Wintersteen said he notices women tend to be more cautious when pulling the trigger, making sure they know they have a kill before they shoot.
"When they pull the trigger, something is going to hit the ground," Wintersteen.
Heather Johnson, who right now lives in Colorado, but regularly travels to South Dakota for work, hunted big game when she was younger, but dropped the sport when she went to college. She got back into hunting about six years ago when she met Lindsey, who at the time was her neighbor.
"I love the connection with the outdoors," Johnson said.
When Johnson hunted growing up, she was usually the only girl in the fields, she said. She attributes the increase to females participating in part to increased education.
"People are starting to teach more and more about nature and parents are starting to see it isn't just a boy's sport. Young women are feeling more empowered," Johnson said.
Johnson plans to return to South Dakota again this year to hunt pheasants.
Julie Sasker, president of Outdoor Women of South Dakota, said introducing women to other outdoor activities can lead them to a passion in hunting. She joined Outdoor Women of South Dakota eight years ago, when the organization was geared more toward hiking and kayaking, looking for women to go hunting with. She found more women who were looking for the same thing, and now has booming all-women's classes that fill up quickly after registrations open.
Another common question female hunters have is what to wear on the hunt, Sasker said. More companies are providing hunting apparel for women, making it a bit more comfortable to get out there, she said.
She and Kool collaborate on how to provide more opportunities for women who want to learn more. Now, she said, Outdoor Women of South Dakota provides more advanced classes for those who took Becoming an Outdoor Woman.
"I thoroughly believe that there is a place in the outdoors for women," Sasker said. "Even though it is a male dominated world, there's still a place for us out there."
The future looks bright, Lindsey said, especially when women have daughters to whom they want to pass along the tradition.
"I think more and more women will get involved," she said. "Our women's programs are hugely popular and they fill up right away. We always have a demand for more, so that tells me that there's a population that's hungry to learn this. They want to do this."
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
An AP Exchange shared by the Argus Leader
- By MADELINE BUCKLEY Indianapolis Star
- Updated
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With urgency, Pat Holman knocked on yet another door on a recent summer afternoon, searching for family members of a person who died in a traffic crash.
Holman was joined by an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer, she said, following what seemed like tiny bread crumbs across the city. They had an address and phone number that belonged to the decedent, but no relatives lived there. Neighbors shrugged and shared what they knew, which led to more doors.
But each new door they knocked on, Holman said, seemed to just lead to another one.
Then, after nearly three hours, they finally knocked on the right door. Holman sat down with the man's family members and told them of his death. She was there to listen to them, and to offer a consoling presence.
As a chaplain, she's part of an IMPD team tasked with this important work. In some cases, like this one, relatives are hard to find. Aided by police officers, she searches for them with the difficult thought in the back of her mind that someone is dead, and no one knows.
"You can't just say, 'I haven't found anybody. I give up. I'm going home,' " said Holman, 63.
For Holman, it's also personal. About 15 years ago, her niece found out her father had died by watching the news. It was impersonal and painful. It compounded the grief.
?These days, she said, it feels like she is racing against not only the news media, but social media to deliver notification to family members in a personal way. Often, people will hear about deaths and post on Facebook. She pushes herself to work fast and doggedly to find family members before the news spreads in other ways.
Holman also ministers to police officers and family members of victims of homicide, suicide, infant deaths and other unexplained deaths.
With criminal homicides in Indianapolis up by more than 10 percent since last year, there are many doors to knock on, and many loved ones who are hurting.
In other cases, though, Holman is called out to scenes of fresh violence that are chaos. Family and friends are screaming and crying. People might be angry. Neighbors flock outside to watch police unspool yellow crime scene tape.
Holman's job is to find family members and console them.
"I try to be the peace that's in the midst of chaos," she said.
Setting a foundation for others
Holman was a police officer for 32 years — and was retired for three years — before she stepped into her role as chaplain in June.
She became a police officer in 1979. She didn't set out to break barriers and climb the ranks, though she did. Holman in 2002 rose to be the first African-American female captain at the Indianapolis Police Department.
Her beginning goals were simple, though. Growing up on the city's west side, she admired a police officer who worked with kids at a neighborhood community center. She was one of them. So Holman decided she wanted to be a police officer to work with children.
She laughs today about how it's the one job she hasn't done. Though she has worked with children and young people throughout her career, it was never a specific role she had. She served as a patrol officer, worked in the investigations division, and even spent time on the force's mounted patrol.
Holman worked with young female officers to study for promotional exams, if that was their goal. She encouraged them in their careers. She found herself in the position of paving a path for women behind her.
"Because I was hired in 1979, there were not a whole lot of African-American females doing what I was doing," Holman said. "I think there was a responsibility for me to lay a foundation for others."
She retired in 2013 and seemed to be heading into a quiet new phase of her life. But she said in her heart, she felt called to minister.
In the chaplain's office, there are about 10 volunteer chaplains. Holman is the only staff member. A friend approached her when the former staff chaplain left the office. She prayed on the decision and spoke with friends. Should she trade in serene retirement for midnight telephone calls?
It's an undeniably grim job. She's called out at all hours, sometimes in the middle of the night, to listen and minister to people in their darkest moments.
Some friends and family struggled to understand why she would want to take a job in her later years that involved keeping her phone near her headboard, with the ringer set to loud.
But she wanted to help people. For about 20 years as a police officer, she volunteered for a police support team to offer peer support for fellow officers who have suffered through a traumatic incident. In some ways, she had already been doing chaplain work for decades.
IMPD Sgt. Jo Ann Moore was counseled by Holman in her worst hours. Moore's son David Moore, also an IMPD officer, was shot and killed in 2011 during a routine traffic stop. Holman was Jo Ann Moore's mentor and training instructor first at the police academy and later at the city's police department.
"It's the worst moment in your entire life as a mother to lose your son. To have someone who understands grief is just tremendous to lean on," Moore said, speaking of her longtime friend. "If I needed something, she was there."
'Never just a number'
This year, murders in the city are showing signs of surging past the record-breaking numbers of 2015. The city is not alone in this, as murders jumped across the country last year.
IMPD officers responded to 118 criminal homicides as of Oct. 12. In the same time period last year, police had investigated 106.
IMPD Chief Troy Riggs told members of the media at a recent meeting that the No. 1 reason for this year's killings is fights and arguments, highlighting social problems at the root of some of the deaths. The No. 2 reason for the killings, he said, is drugs.
But none of that concerns Holman.
The whys, the hows, the root causes do not factor into her ministry. Answers to those questions matter to the victims. They matter to a city trying to work on solutions.
For her, though, the focus is the people. Their pain.
"I don't judge. I don't try to ask what happened," Holman said. "It's not important."
When she first arrives on scene, she takes direction from the officer in charge. She then looks for family members who need help. Some want to be consoled, and some don't.
As a police sergeant, Moore said Holman's presence as a chaplain at crime scenes allows officers to stay detached. They can focus on the evidence collection, and the job at hand.
"Police officers deal with death. We see it unfortunately every day," Moore said. "Grief is very personal, very individualistic. That's where the chaplain's office steps in."
Overall, Holman said she tries to offer a peaceful and calming presence. She tries to simply listen.
As the numbers of slayings rack up in the city, reported by the media in a churn of statistics, she sees the individual faces. She sees the family left behind.
"It's never just a number," she said. "Every homicide is a person.
"That's the thing about death ... You may have one person who died, but the number of people that person has touched can be unlimited."
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Source: Indianapolis Star, http://indy.st/2dCIqSA
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
This is an Indiana Exchange story shared by the Indianapolis Star.
- Updated
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — When a group of Western Nebraska parents learned their kids' day care center would close at the end of January, they decided to try and open their own replacement facility.
The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2e2bFJK ) that it's not yet clear whether parents will have the new day care ready when Calvary Lutheran's facility closes.
Calvary Director Becky Jo Wylie says the recent minimum wage increase was a factor in the closing.
Stu Kissick says he and a group of other parents formed the nonprofit Twin Cities Early Child Care Center and started raising money when they learned of the closing.
An anonymous donor gave the group a building and may contribute to renovations. Kissick says he hopes the community will support the effort to build a quality day care center.
"We have enough parks. Businesses are doing OK," Kissick said. "This is one of those businesses that could use a hand up."
The fundraising got off to a good start with one person donating $3,000 and another offering to spend between $7,000 and $10,000 to buy appliances and chairs for the new facility. But more will be needed. Kissick said the group needs $17,500 just to have architectural drawings done for renovations.
"We are relying on someone else to cover renovations and operating expenses. If they can't bear it, we're on the street," Kissick said. "What we're providing to the community as a nonprofit is essential to the community. It's essential to the workforce."
The plan is to have Calvary's staff and most of the children who attend there shift over to the new facility. But state regulators will have to approve it once the center is ready.
A thorough inspection will be required before the facility can open, said Dianne Kvasnicka with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
"We realize the impact that this has on parents in the community," Kvasnicka said. "We're in the business of licensing folks — and we want to make sure that's done as efficiently as possible. We need to ensure full compliance of regulations."
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Information from: Star-Herald, http://www.starherald.com
- By CHUCK RUPNOW Leader-Telegram
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — A movie about the heroics of Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious objector during World War II, will soon hit theaters.
Mark Gamroth of Eau Claire personally knows the value of Doss' efforts, the Leader-Telegram (http://bit.ly/2eVMGZe ) reported.
Gamroth's grandfather Henry "Hank" Gamroth of Independence was one of the 75 soldiers an unarmed Doss amazingly saved on one day in May 1945.
But it wasn't until recently that Mark Gamroth put together an account from his grandfather and an advertisement for "Hacksaw Ridge," which is scheduled to hit theaters Friday, Nov. 4.
"I was like 18 or 19 when he told me the story, somewhere in the early 1990s at his place," Gamroth recalled Tuesday when asked about his grandfather, a former Independence police chief who died at age 75.
"You know, at that time and at that age, it was one of those things for me; you know, in one ear and out the other.
"But (one) Saturday as I was watching the Badgers game on TV, a trailer came over about that movie," he continued. "As I watched it, it hit me that it was the same thing that my grandfather told me, about when he was rescued on Okinawa (island) in World War II."
Gamroth searched through bins of memorabilia, locating a VHS tape from a 1959 "This is Your Life" show about Doss, and a decades-old newspaper article about Henry Gamroth in which he relates his encounter with Doss.
"My grandfather was a huge part of my life when I was growing up. He was funny and humble," Gamroth said. "I had a couple of sleepless nights since (that) Saturday out of true excitement."
Henry Gamroth received several military citations for his war efforts and served 26 years on the Independence police force.
"I look at this movie as a tribute to Doss, as well as my grandfather and others who served," Gamroth said. "I just get goose bumps when thinking about it all."
Doss, of Virginia, was working in a shipyard and wanted to serve in other capacities during the war, but his religious beliefs did not allow him to hold or fire a weapon, according to various accounts.
Classified as a conscientious objector, one who opposes serving in the armed forces and/?or bearing arms because of moral or religious principles, Doss eventually served with the U.S. Army's Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.
Reports indicate he was repeatedly ridiculed by military personnel for his beliefs, but that mind-set drastically changed in spring 1945.
Doss' brave and selfless actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty." He was the first conscientious objector to receive the prestigious honor.
According to various accounts: The 1st Battalion used cargo nets to scale a jagged, 400-foot-high escarpment, where it came under heavy enemy attack, suffering numerous deaths and injuries. Doss, then 26, reportedly saved 75 wounded comrades in a matter of hours by removing them from the area. He also is credited with risking his life many other times amid enemy fire to treat the wounded and escort them to safety.
One reported instance, Gamroth believes, involves his grandfather.
Henry Gamroth was struck in a leg by fire and fell about 25 feet off a cliff. Doss, a private first class, crawled to Gamroth, rendered aid and removed him from the area.
"The whole story is almost so unbelievable; a shocker," Mark Gamroth said. "I started to think about what Doss did, and without what he does, maybe my grandfather isn't around, and then the rest of the family isn't here.
"And think of all those others he saved and their families; what Doss did impacted them as well," he added. "It's all so amazing. I can't wait to see the movie."
Henry Gamroth, in the La Crosse Tribune article decades ago, said about Doss: "I can't figure that guy out. The lead was flying. He was bending over and treating the wounded."
Doss, according to one account, lost his pocket Bible during a skirmish, but because of the appreciation and respect he earned from his comrades, they diligently searched until finding it and returning it to him.
Doss died in 2006 at age 87. He was wounded three times in the war and was diagnosed with tuberculosis shortly before leaving the Army in 1946. He underwent medical treatment for five years for illness and injuries.
Mark Gamroth recalls his grandfather making a call to Doss and speaking to Doss' wife because Doss had severe hearing issues.
"I know they were trying to work something out to meet," Gamroth said. "They never did. That was too bad."
Gamroth says he may try to reach Doss family members out of respect for his grandfather and Doss.
"If not for that one time my grandfather talked about Doss, I wouldn't have known about what had happened. He was pretty quiet about all that went on with the war," Gamroth said, adding that his grandfather once left after watching only 15 minutes of a war movie because of how it dredged up undesirable memories for his grandfather.
"I wonder how many other families there are out there who don't know how Doss impacted their lives, largely because those who served didn't talk about what they went through," Gamroth said.
Henry Gamroth has two daughters, Patty Bagniewski of Holmen and Bonnie Klimek of Arcadia.
"When I saw that movie trailer, it got my adrenaline going, and I called my aunt Patty, but it didn't ring a bell too much with her," Gamroth said. "That's when I went to my albums and found the news clipping. I'm so glad I did."
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Information from: Leader-Telegram, http://www.leadertelegram.com/
An AP Member Exchange shared by the Leader-Telegram.
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — A herd of 20 goats is been grazing on invasive plants at Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park for a week or two, kicking off Washington County's efforts to use a nonchemical approach to a buckthorn infestation.
Jake Langeslag, who owns Faribault-based goat Dispatch, and herd manager Jarett Spitzack released the goats on the north end of the park Monday, according to the Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/2f0wwy3).
Langeslag, who started his company over four years ago, said he was initially surprised how well they ate the plants. He has increased his goat count from six to 120, tackling up to 50 projects a year.
The goats work as a group to lower branches and eat the plant's leaves, reducing the strength of the plant and later killing it. When the goats are full, they congregate in the sun to digest and rehydrate before continuing their work. Goats eat 3 percent to 5 percent of their body weight daily.
"The nice thing about goats is that we don't have to worry about rain, weather conditions, wind and all that type of stuff," said the county's natural resource coordinator Dan MacSwain.
The practice isn't new to the region.
Goats were used to eat buckthorn at Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount in 2013. The next year, they chomped on goldenrod at Pilot Knob hill, a historic site in Mendota Heights.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, buckthorn is a shrub that can reach 25 feet, and sprouts its leaves earlier than native plants in the spring, making it difficult for native plants to receive enough light and water.
If county parks officials see that the goats improve the buckthorn infestation, they may consider using the service long-term. MacSwain said the county will also continue using hand tools and some chemicals to fight the infestation.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com
HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A judge seeking to get around an age limit is challenging another judge for a seat on the Livingston County District Court.
Carol Sue Reader has two years left in her term. But she'll be 71 by then and won't be eligible to run for re-election, under the Michigan Constitution.
So Reader is challenging fellow District Court Judge L. Suzanne Geddis in the Nov. 8 election. If Reader wins, she'll get a fresh six-year term.
Geddis says Reader really has nothing to lose because Reader will remain a judge even if she loses. But if Geddis loses, her job is over. Geddis says it seems "greedy."
The judges have appeared together during the final weeks of the campaign season, sparring over temperament and other issues.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Some new developments are swirling around wind energy in Ohio after a yearslong lull.
The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2e1mrzQ ) that a trade group cites several projects under construction in the state including a major one involving the online retailer Amazon, although state policies have hindered wind energy development.
"There are some unique challenges that we have now in Ohio that get in the way of deployment," said Andrew Gohn, eastern region director for state policy for the American Wind Energy Association.
The group says Ohio ranks 25th among states with 444 megawatts of wind energy. A megawatt is 1 million watts of power.
There's been one new wind farm operation this year, a small 1.5-megawatt facility in Wyandot County. Most of Ohio's current wind energy comes from two large projects near the Indiana border that date back to 2011-2012.
But the group says a total 207 megawatts in projects are under construction, led by the Paulding County 100-megawatt wind farm being developed by Amazon and the wind energy company EDP Renewables. It's expected to be completed next year.
Ohio legislation in 2014 added to uncertainty about federal tax incentives and electricity market changes to slow development.
The state measures increased minimum distance between a wind turbine and nearby structures and put a two-year freeze on state standards requiring electricity companies to buy certain amounts renewable energy.
"We have zoning that attempts to protect property rights of people who live in the country," said Tom Stacy, an energy consultant who supported the state legislation.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 10-year-old house cat who apparently roamed the streets of Wichita since escaping her cat carrier in June will soon be heading back to Florida to be reunited with her family.
The cat, named Ninja, got away when the family stopped at a Wichita hotel on June 9 on the way to Colorado. Renee and Brett Farmer of Sarasota, Florida, said they searched as long as they could before leaving Wichita. They kept in contact with Wichita shelters but had come to believe they likely would not see Ninja again.
Kelly Schuhs, who feeds feral cats in downtown Wichita, saw a new face in July and suspected the cat was tame.
"Feral cats don't meow, they don't want love or to be picked up," Schuhs said. "When I get new cats that are tame, you have to assume they are strays or sometimes people have dumped them. I thought somebody must have dumped her."
Then last weekend, Friends of Felines did a Trap, Neuter and Return of a feral cat colony in Wichita, and Ninja was among the 40 cats captured. She was checked for a microchip, which led to the Farmers' phone number, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/2dQahtA).
She was treated for fleas and a superficial wound to her neck before being given a clean bill of health on Wednesday. That will allow the cat to be flown from Wichita to Tampa, Florida, and a reunion with the Farmers sometime in the next two weeks.
"We want our sweetie pie as soon as possible," Brett Farmer said.
The Farmer family got the call about Ninja Sunday afternoon.
Cheryl Taskinen, president of Friends of Felines, said it's unusual for such stories to have happy endings.
"It is also so rare when you have one from so far out of town," she said.
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana University study says legislators looking to address transportation funding challenges by charging drivers a fee for the number of miles they drive could face strong opposition.
Federal and state governments currently use money generated by a tax on fuel to build and repair roads. But that source of revenue has become insufficient, partly because of an increase in fuel-efficient vehicles on the road.
The university's School of Public and Environmental Affairs took a look at the popularity of mileage user fees as nearly half the states in the U.S. consider them, The Herald-Times (http://bit.ly/2e5mNJ7) reported.
The study of more than 2,000 Americans found that not only do opponents of mileage user fees outnumber supporters by a ratio of four to one, but they also are more likely to take action to prevent the fees from being implemented.
"It's safe to conclude the intensity of the opposition is quite high," said IU associate professor Denvil Duncan, lead author of the study.
The survey included questions about increasing income taxes, tolls and increasing sales taxes to address the transportation funding. All measures were disliked, Duncan said.
The federal government is pulling in about $30 billion from gas taxes annually, but engineers have estimated that the total cost of repairs to roads and bridges will exceed, $200 billion, he said.
Indiana and 22 other states are currently considering mileage user fees.
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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AP) — An Air Force laboratory is studying football players and other athletes from Ohio State University in research intended to benefit the players and help researchers understand demands on special forces teams in action.
More than 100 wrestlers along with men's and women's lacrosse players will join the research roster that already includes Buckeye football players, The Dayton Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/2f9srM4).
Josh Hagen, a researcher with the 711th Human Performance Wing, said the goal of the study is to develop a sports science strategy for all of OSU's athletic teams.
This involves tracking biometric data that can be used to develop training workloads and recovery plans.
"It makes you more cognizant of the things you can do," said Joe Burger, a 22-year-old senior linebacker. "You can definitely tell a difference and seeing a difference makes you a believer."
According to Hagen, the information is also useful to understand the demands placed on special operations forces when conducting missions.
The research agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory and OSU is not a financial deal. The two entities only exchange knowledge.
"There's no other school that has a relationship like this," said Doug Calland, OSU's associate athletic director for sport performance. "It's really been unbelievably helpful to know because we're going to go hard just like the military does. They train hard and we're training hard, and we need to make sure that we're doing that in the right way."
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Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
HILLSBORO, Ohio (AP) — The judge who will preside at the trial of the mayor of a small Ohio city who's also a veteran standup comedian has expanded on her gag order in the case.
Retired Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Ann Cosgrove recently filed an eight-page order after earlier warning against case participants' pretrial commentaries on the upcoming trial of Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings. She said that includes on social media.
The Times-Gazette newspaper of Hillsboro reported there had been Facebook comments questioning aspects of the case.
Hastings was indicted in July on four felony counts, including election falsification and theft in office. A jury trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 7 before Cosgrove, who was appointed after a local judge recused himself.
The second-term Republican mayor says he's done nothing wrong, other than try to lead the city without the consent of the "established political structure."
Cosgrove's order bars anyone associated with the case from commenting to the news media or on social media.
"The court is concerned with the effect which extra-jurisdictional statements or comments may have on the proceedings, and the potential to disrupt the processes by which a fair trial may be preserved," Cosgrove wrote.
Among examples of barred comments are those expressing "any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant and/or anyone else charged in connection with the alleged events underlying this matter."
A large pool of some 100 people is planned for efforts to seat a jury in the southwest Ohio community.
The election falsification charge concerns Hastings' residency in the city of 6,000 residents, where he has a downtown apartment besides a farm outside of town. Other charges stem from a $500 city fee refund for a building he owned and the alleged use of city trash bins for private debris disposal.
The newspaper reported that potential witnesses include Hastings' administrative assistants, city officials and other local officials and police.
- By DAVID PITT Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa Supreme Court justices who helped legalize gay marriage in the state seven years ago will face voters on Nov. 8 for the first time since the ruling, but they are refusing to campaign for their jobs because they argue the courts should remain above politics.
The justices up for retention votes in next week's election are taking the same approach as three judges who appeared to pay a price for their stands when voters in 2010 removed them from office after a costly campaign waged by gay marriage opponents.
The judges now on the ballot have said little about the vote, but two of those removed from the court told The Associated Press they don't regret their choice not to campaign even though they knew opponents were organizing a high-profile effort to oust them.
"I think it's dangerous when politics are injected into the courts and I think that is what happened in 2010," former Chief Justice Marsha Ternus said. "If voters vote on judges or justices based on their views of issues rather than what the law requires, what they're telling judges to do is to ignore the law when popular opinion wants them to do so. Then, we're not a country based on the rule of law and that's a dangerous path to go down."
Ternus, along with justices Michael Streit and David Baker, failed to receive the majority vote needed to remain in office for another eight years. Each of them received less than 45 percent, marking the first time Supreme Court justices were removed from office by voters since the retention system was established in 1962.
The three justices in 2009 had joined in a unanimous 7-0 ruling that found a ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution, making Iowa the third state to legalize the practice. At the time, 29 states had constitutional bans on gay marriage and the issue remained highly contentious throughout the country.
Like Ternus, Baker said he didn't regret not campaigning.
"If you're going to do that you have to go out and solicit funds and, whether you do or you don't, the perception is that you owe somebody," Baker said. "I'm still of the belief that politics and judges are a bad mix."
Gay rights opponents led by Christian conservative Bob Vander Plaats raised $1 million in their successful campaign against the justices in 2010.
Gay rights opponents led again by Vander Plaats failed to remove Justice David Wiggins when he was up for a vote in 2012. Wiggins, who joined in the gay marriage decision, received more than 54 percent of the vote and remains on the bench.
In the upcoming election, Chief Justice Mark Cady and Justices Daryl Hecht and Brent Appel will be on the ballot. None has campaigned, but Cady released a letter last week that stated, "I believe campaigns for judicial office only open the door of a court system to the influence of politics and money. This door must never swing open."
There hasn't been a high-profile effort to remove justices this year. That's likely in part due to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year affirming that state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, a decision that seemed to vindicate the Iowa ruling.
"I think obviously the nation has become more comfortable with the concept," Baker said. "It certainly has been made clear from a constitutional basis ours is the correct decision."
Vander Plaats declined to comment through a spokesman, but he wrote an Oct. 21 column in The Des Moines Register that encouraged Iowans to vote "no" on the justices whose opinion he said served to "foist homosexual marriage upon our state."
His organization's political action committee has donated money to a group called Common Sense PAC, which has placed yard signs around the state asking voters to reject the three justices.
Des Moines attorney Guy Cook, the past president of the Iowa State Bar Association and an advocate of judicial independence, has worked with a bar association committee since 2012 on behalf of judges who feel they can't campaign. The goal is to educate voters on why Iowans amended the state constitution decades ago to create a new system for hiring judges.
"It was designed to get higher quality judges on the bench based on merit and to remove the influence of politics and not have judges issue rulings in return for votes," he said.
- By LEAH BULETTI The Free Press of Mankato
MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — The little stone house on the hill survived by neglect.
In the recent years of its 159-year-old life, the Civil War-era home has survived a fire and a demolition order, The Free Press of Mankato (http://bit.ly/2e0KeTF ) reported. Thought to be the oldest stone house in Mankato, it was unoccupied for years and condemned by the city in 2011.
Caleb Wunderlich, who learned masonry from North Mankato preservationist Tom Hagen, is now about mid-way through restoring the home. Wunderlich purchased it at a county tax forfeiture auction in April 2015 for $6,800 and received a $50,000 forgivable loan from the city for restoration.
Built in 1857 by Joseph Schaus, the 1,107-square-foot home stood sentry while the city of Mankato sprung up, while the riverboats steamed in and while the scaffolding used to hang 38 Dakota Indians was erected.
"It was ghastly," Hagen said of the house's condition before restoration. They spent about six months clearing out "truckloads" of debris.
Wunderlich has completed the structural stabilization of the house and has rebuilt two walls almost entirely with reused materials. So much is reused that some wall framing inside even came from kneelers in the former St. Peter and Paul's Catholic Church.
Last week, city officials and members of the Heritage Preservation Commission toured the home for the first time as a group since Wunderlich took over.
Katherine Hughes, a historian who has researched the house's history, said she was pleased with the restoration work and stressed how difficult life was for Schaus.
"Living here would just be a real treat," she said.
Schaus, who likely built the house so far from the river because he worked at the nearby Catholic church, labored in his free time under threat of Indian attack and without running water, hot showers or even cement, Wunderlich said.
The house is held together by dirt and has 22-inch-thick walls. The lack of cement made rebuilding the collapsed northern wall easier, Wunderlich said. Such reuse of construction materials would be unlikely with today's cheaper and faster construction methods, he said.
"This wall collapsed and if it collapses again, they'd be able to reuse every stone here and rebuild it," he said. "It's like a big jigsaw puzzle."
Wunderlich also acquired historically matching windows with 1870s glass from the East Coast.
On the back side of the house, Wunderlich took down a plywood addition and reused the plywood in the kitchen. He also had to rebuild a wall on the back of the house because an addition in the 1990s destabilized it.
With insulation expected to be in place soon, Wunderlich said he hopes to spend the winter on inside work, including flooring and plasterboard. Next year, he plans to work on the roof, brick laying and storm windows.
The house has three layers of flooring. Maple was layered on pine, which was placed on ash planks likely made on the first saw mill in Mankato. Wunderlich will install stone flooring and radiant heat.
The downstairs, where one stone wall is visible inside, will have a kitchen and half bath, while the upstairs will have a full bath and two bedrooms.
The upstairs is roomier than it looks from the street. And it certainly won't be as crowded as the 1950s when it was home to 18 members of the Allen family, including 14 children who packed into bunk beds and cots upstairs "like sardines in a can," Wunderlich said.
Wunderlich has a few years left on the restoration and said he hopes to acquire a rental license to ensure a family takes care of the home.
"I hope it becomes a house again," Wunderlich said. "I'd like to have some say that this house is preserved and cherished. This is a charming little house. It's intimate and it's alive."
Wunderlich said restoration isn't "genius work," but rather a process of continual improvement.
"A trained eye could see that my stone work gets better the higher it goes," he said. "Practice makes the master."
Hagen praised his young apprentice for taking on the daunting project. The last owner of the home, Richard Dickie, wound up homeless after a 2007 fire made the house uninhabitable and his contractor abandoned the repair project. Another of Hagen's students considered taking it on but declined after learning that the city wouldn't issue a rental license because of density limits, Hagen said.
Becky Wessman, a Mankato attorney, brought a lawsuit over the rental density issue, which essentially kept the house from demolition because it was tied up in litigation, Hagen said. A state appeals court in 2011 upheld a district court's ruling that sided with the city.
"What (Wunderlich) has essentially done is given up two years of his life to save this house for the city," Hagen said.
___
Information from: The Free Press, http://www.mankatofreepress.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by The Free Press of Mankato.
- By BRETT BOESE Post-Bulletin
ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — Ailing and alone, Denise Krivach lay at Mayo Clinic thinking the worst — until a ball of fur bounded up onto her bed in what's being described as a life-changing moment.
The 60-year-old, a former Abbott Northwestern physician, was in the early stages of building her dream home in the Montana mountains when she awoke in 2014 and was non-functional, the Post-Bulletin (http://bit.ly/2e0E3Px ) reported. She rejected the initial diagnosis of early onset dementia to seek clarification at Mayo in Rochester.
After months of testing, Mayo specialists finally confirmed autoimmune encephalitis. In short, her immune system was attacking her brain.
Her dreams dashed, Krivach underwent surgery and found herself lying in the hospital to face an uncertain future.
Then Alta, a 4-year-old golden retriever, spent 45 minutes cuddling with her as part of Mayo's growing Caring Canines program. The connection between the two was immediate and has continued to this day.
"It was love at first sight," Krivach said. "It made such a difference in my recovery. Even after they were gone, I could go back to that happy place. I never felt like I was quite alone."
The Caring Canines program was started in 2004 after operating for years informally. A 13-pound miniature pinscher named Dr. Jack was among the best-known of the privately owned service dogs that were brought in to provide emotional support. Dr. Jack, owned by Marcia Fritzmeier, of Rochester, was a facility-based service dog trained to work with patients in their recovery, as guided by doctors and nursing staff.
Dr. Jack's retirement in 2013 (he has since died) closely coincided with Mayo's hiring of Jessica Smidt as healing enhancement therapy coordinator. Smidt, a former vet tech, has embraced the pooch program with gusto, expanding it from six to 30 dogs over the past two-plus years.
The 30 therapy dogs and their handlers spend a couple hours each week connecting with patients throughout the hospital. The expanded roster allowed Smidt's team to report more than 11,000 patient interactions in 2015, totaling more than 2,100 hours of volunteer time.
Alta was trained as a service dog and is Smidt's own pet. She recognized the instant connection between Denise and her golden retriever — but a connection like that, she says, is not all that unusual.
"I would say almost daily Alta and I run into someone in the hospital . and they say, 'This is exactly what I needed,'" Smidt said. "Sometimes there are even tears."
Still, few encounters have been as impactful as Alta with Krivach.
The former physician says that Caring Canines has "given me my life back." She's back on her feet and in a much better state of mind, and she credits Alta for her recovery.
Krivach has also purchased a home in southwest Rochester, eschewing her Montana dream to live in the Med City. Single and childless, she says she has always preferred solitude, but her experience with Alta has made her reconsider that preference, too.
She's in the early stages of seeking out her own canine companion. Naturally, Alta has been placed on a pedestal as the "gold standard." Because of that connection, Smidt is taking the unusual step of assisting Denise find a live-in service dog.
The closest facility that offers trained service dogs is in the Twin Cities. Until her own companion is found, Krivach has offered to walk Alta.
"She steals the show," Krivach said of Alta. "That's really what patients need sometimes, a distraction from their own pain and misery.
"Sometimes being ill, you get too focused on being ill. You don't want that to be who you become. When Alta comes around, you can't help but perk up."
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Information from: Post-Bulletin, http://www.postbulletin.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by the Post-Bulletin.
- By EMILY WENGER Muscatine Journal
MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Parrot Rescue is looking forward to some changes made possible by a $50,000 grant, which will increase the functionality of the building where 63 birds currently reside.
The Muscatine Journal (http://bit.ly/2esHvDj ) reports that the DJ & T Foundation awarded the grant to the parrot rescue. The foundation was established by TV celebrity Bob Barker, and provides assistance to animal welfare organizations.
Mike Hutchison, the owner of Iowa Parrot Rescue located at 2479 Golden Ave., began the rescue 19 years ago, and built the current building in 2008. A large part of the grant funding, Hutchison said, will go to putting solar cells on the roof of the rescue to generate electricity.
Hutchison said the building is already very energy efficient, with three sides surrounded by earth, and one side with enough windows to absorb heat from the sun in the winter.
"When we designed this building we wanted to go as green as we could," he said.
He had solar power in mind, even when he built the building.
"The solar has always been something that I wanted, when I designed this building, I designed the slope of the roof so that it would be efficient for solar if we could ever afford to put it in there," Hutchison said.
Hutchison said the solar power will cut down on, and possibly eliminate one of the facility's largest bills, electricity, as well as increasing how environmentally friendly the facility is.
"Protecting the environment in general protects the birds," he said.
The flight area is a utility-welded wire fence-enclosed area connected to the building for the birds to spend time outside, and will also be getting some work. The top of the flight area will need to be re-covered.
"An effect of Iowa weather," Hutchison said.
On one side of the large room where many birds are free from their cages, spending time with each other or calling to Hutchison to express their hunger, is a small room where many new birds spend their time before being integrated into the main room, which will also receive renovations.
Currently, a Red-lored Amazon named Higgins is spending time in the quarantine room, because he has spent around 20 years without being around other parrots. The room will allow him to become used to being near them and their chatter.
Hutchison said the quarantine room can be used for a transitional space, to house a bird or group of birds that may not be healthy, or to provide a safe space for a bird that needs to be treated.
"There are many times that I wouldn't be able to take a bird if I didn't have the quarantine area," he said.
The back wall of the quarantine room will be covered, the medical room will be updated, and some cages throughout the building will be replaced, Hutchison said.
Because the shelter is funded through donations and grants, and volunteers help care for the birds, donations and grants are necessary to keep the rescue up and running.
"This could not happen without all the support we get," he said.
Air conditioning will also be added, which Hutchison said is not necessarily needed for the birds, but the volunteers will have much less difficulty working in the warm building during the summer.
The $50,000 grant, Hutchison said, will make a difference for the facility, and allow him to care for the birds in a building with much needed updates.
"It means that a lot of things that I've either been doing without, like the air conditioning, or doing on a shoestring, like shelves made out of scrap lumber, can get done right," Hutchison said.
Hutchison has taken in birds from drug raids, birds who have been smuggled, one who was a victim of Hurricane Katrina, birds who have been loved by families who can no longer keep them, and many more who were in need of a safe place to land. No drop-off or adoption fees are charged.
Adopting a parrot is a long-term commitment, as one bird at the shelter currently is documented to be more than 60 years old. While Hutchison said he hopes to find the birds homes, the care and attention they require cannot be taken lightly.
To volunteer, donate or for more information, visit www.iowaparrotrescue.org. With projects ahead, Hutchison said helpful hands will be welcome.
"I can always use more people," he said.
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Information from: Muscatine Journal, http://www.muscatinejournal.com
An AP Member Exchange shared by the Muscatine Journal.
- By Danielle Ferguson Argus Leader
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The sound of a gunshot crackled through miles of soon-to-be combined land, bringing one pheasant to the ground in a single plop.
Carol Bothe and her crew spent the opening day of pheasant season pushing through fields, waiting for the perfect shot.
Bothe, of Brandon, is part of a growing female segment of small game hunting license holders.
The number of women obtaining pheasant hunting licenses in South Dakota has almost doubled in the last 10 years, reflecting a shift in culture and the success of hunting education programs, the Argus Leader (http://argusne.ws/2eJVSn8 ) reported.
"In my generation, women stayed in the kitchen; men did the hunting," said Maggie Lindsey, education services coordinator with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. "Now it's way more acceptable for women to go out and hunt. The fathers or whoever is doing the hunting in the family aren't just taking their sons; they're taking their daughters."
In 2015, one in 10 residential hunting licenses was purchased by women. That's twice what it was a decade ago. The overall numbers in 2015, including out-of-state hunters, women represented about one in 15, also doubled from the previous decade. More women are traveling to the state to hunt. Just over 1,000 women came from out of state to hunt in 2005. That number jumped to almost 4,000 in 2015.
Lindsey, an instructor with Game, Fish and Park's program Becoming an Outdoor Woman, has a mixture of women in their 20s to women in their 50s take the class. The older women are often heard saying, "my dad would take my brother but he wouldn't take me," Lindsey said. Where younger women are often coming out because they're curious or want to learn to shoot a gun and end up loving the sport of hunting, she said.
Keith Wintersteen started a Women's Hunting 101 class with Game, Fish and Parks three years ago with the idea of getting people in the 18 to 30-year-old range interested in hunting. He teaches the class the basics of hunting: how to handle a gun safely and accurately, where to hunt, what to do with the kill and what to wear and how to act.
"My sense is women are no longer going to put up with, 'It's a guy thing,'" Wintersteen said. "No it's not; it's for anybody who wants to be outside."
Jason Kool with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, said women make up a segment of license holders helping support the overall sales of small game hunting licenses.
"Women are certainly keeping pheasant hunting alive," Kool said.
Sandra Comer, 45, of Rapid City, learned how to hunt last year. She joined Wintersteen's Hunting 101 class so she could learn the sport to pass along to her son.
She was most nervous about the act of actually shooting the gun and killing a living thing, aspects Wintersteen said the classmates are usually the most fearful of.
A patient coach and a lot of practice at the range helped Comer move past her fears. Now, she says she itches to get back outside.
"I just love it," Comer said. "Now I can't wait for hunting season to begin."
Having an all-female class removes some of the stresses of learning the sport, Comer said.
Lindsey agreed, saying women often take the sport as another outdoor hobby to do with a group.
"A lot of women make (hunting) a bit more social," Lindsey said. "They really need that social support. Many won't go (hunting) alone."
That's not the only difference between male and female hunters. Wintersteen said he notices women tend to be more cautious when pulling the trigger, making sure they know they have a kill before they shoot.
"When they pull the trigger, something is going to hit the ground," Wintersteen.
Heather Johnson, who right now lives in Colorado, but regularly travels to South Dakota for work, hunted big game when she was younger, but dropped the sport when she went to college. She got back into hunting about six years ago when she met Lindsey, who at the time was her neighbor.
"I love the connection with the outdoors," Johnson said.
When Johnson hunted growing up, she was usually the only girl in the fields, she said. She attributes the increase to females participating in part to increased education.
"People are starting to teach more and more about nature and parents are starting to see it isn't just a boy's sport. Young women are feeling more empowered," Johnson said.
Johnson plans to return to South Dakota again this year to hunt pheasants.
Julie Sasker, president of Outdoor Women of South Dakota, said introducing women to other outdoor activities can lead them to a passion in hunting. She joined Outdoor Women of South Dakota eight years ago, when the organization was geared more toward hiking and kayaking, looking for women to go hunting with. She found more women who were looking for the same thing, and now has booming all-women's classes that fill up quickly after registrations open.
Another common question female hunters have is what to wear on the hunt, Sasker said. More companies are providing hunting apparel for women, making it a bit more comfortable to get out there, she said.
She and Kool collaborate on how to provide more opportunities for women who want to learn more. Now, she said, Outdoor Women of South Dakota provides more advanced classes for those who took Becoming an Outdoor Woman.
"I thoroughly believe that there is a place in the outdoors for women," Sasker said. "Even though it is a male dominated world, there's still a place for us out there."
The future looks bright, Lindsey said, especially when women have daughters to whom they want to pass along the tradition.
"I think more and more women will get involved," she said. "Our women's programs are hugely popular and they fill up right away. We always have a demand for more, so that tells me that there's a population that's hungry to learn this. They want to do this."
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
An AP Exchange shared by the Argus Leader
- By MADELINE BUCKLEY Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With urgency, Pat Holman knocked on yet another door on a recent summer afternoon, searching for family members of a person who died in a traffic crash.
Holman was joined by an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer, she said, following what seemed like tiny bread crumbs across the city. They had an address and phone number that belonged to the decedent, but no relatives lived there. Neighbors shrugged and shared what they knew, which led to more doors.
But each new door they knocked on, Holman said, seemed to just lead to another one.
Then, after nearly three hours, they finally knocked on the right door. Holman sat down with the man's family members and told them of his death. She was there to listen to them, and to offer a consoling presence.
As a chaplain, she's part of an IMPD team tasked with this important work. In some cases, like this one, relatives are hard to find. Aided by police officers, she searches for them with the difficult thought in the back of her mind that someone is dead, and no one knows.
"You can't just say, 'I haven't found anybody. I give up. I'm going home,' " said Holman, 63.
For Holman, it's also personal. About 15 years ago, her niece found out her father had died by watching the news. It was impersonal and painful. It compounded the grief.
?These days, she said, it feels like she is racing against not only the news media, but social media to deliver notification to family members in a personal way. Often, people will hear about deaths and post on Facebook. She pushes herself to work fast and doggedly to find family members before the news spreads in other ways.
Holman also ministers to police officers and family members of victims of homicide, suicide, infant deaths and other unexplained deaths.
With criminal homicides in Indianapolis up by more than 10 percent since last year, there are many doors to knock on, and many loved ones who are hurting.
In other cases, though, Holman is called out to scenes of fresh violence that are chaos. Family and friends are screaming and crying. People might be angry. Neighbors flock outside to watch police unspool yellow crime scene tape.
Holman's job is to find family members and console them.
"I try to be the peace that's in the midst of chaos," she said.
Setting a foundation for others
Holman was a police officer for 32 years — and was retired for three years — before she stepped into her role as chaplain in June.
She became a police officer in 1979. She didn't set out to break barriers and climb the ranks, though she did. Holman in 2002 rose to be the first African-American female captain at the Indianapolis Police Department.
Her beginning goals were simple, though. Growing up on the city's west side, she admired a police officer who worked with kids at a neighborhood community center. She was one of them. So Holman decided she wanted to be a police officer to work with children.
She laughs today about how it's the one job she hasn't done. Though she has worked with children and young people throughout her career, it was never a specific role she had. She served as a patrol officer, worked in the investigations division, and even spent time on the force's mounted patrol.
Holman worked with young female officers to study for promotional exams, if that was their goal. She encouraged them in their careers. She found herself in the position of paving a path for women behind her.
"Because I was hired in 1979, there were not a whole lot of African-American females doing what I was doing," Holman said. "I think there was a responsibility for me to lay a foundation for others."
She retired in 2013 and seemed to be heading into a quiet new phase of her life. But she said in her heart, she felt called to minister.
In the chaplain's office, there are about 10 volunteer chaplains. Holman is the only staff member. A friend approached her when the former staff chaplain left the office. She prayed on the decision and spoke with friends. Should she trade in serene retirement for midnight telephone calls?
It's an undeniably grim job. She's called out at all hours, sometimes in the middle of the night, to listen and minister to people in their darkest moments.
Some friends and family struggled to understand why she would want to take a job in her later years that involved keeping her phone near her headboard, with the ringer set to loud.
But she wanted to help people. For about 20 years as a police officer, she volunteered for a police support team to offer peer support for fellow officers who have suffered through a traumatic incident. In some ways, she had already been doing chaplain work for decades.
IMPD Sgt. Jo Ann Moore was counseled by Holman in her worst hours. Moore's son David Moore, also an IMPD officer, was shot and killed in 2011 during a routine traffic stop. Holman was Jo Ann Moore's mentor and training instructor first at the police academy and later at the city's police department.
"It's the worst moment in your entire life as a mother to lose your son. To have someone who understands grief is just tremendous to lean on," Moore said, speaking of her longtime friend. "If I needed something, she was there."
'Never just a number'
This year, murders in the city are showing signs of surging past the record-breaking numbers of 2015. The city is not alone in this, as murders jumped across the country last year.
IMPD officers responded to 118 criminal homicides as of Oct. 12. In the same time period last year, police had investigated 106.
IMPD Chief Troy Riggs told members of the media at a recent meeting that the No. 1 reason for this year's killings is fights and arguments, highlighting social problems at the root of some of the deaths. The No. 2 reason for the killings, he said, is drugs.
But none of that concerns Holman.
The whys, the hows, the root causes do not factor into her ministry. Answers to those questions matter to the victims. They matter to a city trying to work on solutions.
For her, though, the focus is the people. Their pain.
"I don't judge. I don't try to ask what happened," Holman said. "It's not important."
When she first arrives on scene, she takes direction from the officer in charge. She then looks for family members who need help. Some want to be consoled, and some don't.
As a police sergeant, Moore said Holman's presence as a chaplain at crime scenes allows officers to stay detached. They can focus on the evidence collection, and the job at hand.
"Police officers deal with death. We see it unfortunately every day," Moore said. "Grief is very personal, very individualistic. That's where the chaplain's office steps in."
Overall, Holman said she tries to offer a peaceful and calming presence. She tries to simply listen.
As the numbers of slayings rack up in the city, reported by the media in a churn of statistics, she sees the individual faces. She sees the family left behind.
"It's never just a number," she said. "Every homicide is a person.
"That's the thing about death ... You may have one person who died, but the number of people that person has touched can be unlimited."
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Source: Indianapolis Star, http://indy.st/2dCIqSA
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
This is an Indiana Exchange story shared by the Indianapolis Star.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — When a group of Western Nebraska parents learned their kids' day care center would close at the end of January, they decided to try and open their own replacement facility.
The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2e2bFJK ) that it's not yet clear whether parents will have the new day care ready when Calvary Lutheran's facility closes.
Calvary Director Becky Jo Wylie says the recent minimum wage increase was a factor in the closing.
Stu Kissick says he and a group of other parents formed the nonprofit Twin Cities Early Child Care Center and started raising money when they learned of the closing.
An anonymous donor gave the group a building and may contribute to renovations. Kissick says he hopes the community will support the effort to build a quality day care center.
"We have enough parks. Businesses are doing OK," Kissick said. "This is one of those businesses that could use a hand up."
The fundraising got off to a good start with one person donating $3,000 and another offering to spend between $7,000 and $10,000 to buy appliances and chairs for the new facility. But more will be needed. Kissick said the group needs $17,500 just to have architectural drawings done for renovations.
"We are relying on someone else to cover renovations and operating expenses. If they can't bear it, we're on the street," Kissick said. "What we're providing to the community as a nonprofit is essential to the community. It's essential to the workforce."
The plan is to have Calvary's staff and most of the children who attend there shift over to the new facility. But state regulators will have to approve it once the center is ready.
A thorough inspection will be required before the facility can open, said Dianne Kvasnicka with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
"We realize the impact that this has on parents in the community," Kvasnicka said. "We're in the business of licensing folks — and we want to make sure that's done as efficiently as possible. We need to ensure full compliance of regulations."
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Information from: Star-Herald, http://www.starherald.com
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