Posts from — February 2009

Today the puppy trainer reports: Morris home after arrest; chief deputy on leave

…Chief Deputy Mike Coup was placed on paid leave Saturday. But interim Sheriff Ed Spooner said Coup’s leave wasn’t imposed for suspicion.

Here’s the thing: everyone assumes that Charlie was in Las Vegas on vacation, although he didn’t tell anyone he was going. Among the people he didn’t tell was his number 2, Mike Coup. Coup was down in Orlando, and one of them is expected to be in the county to make decisions. There was a shoot-out involving the Sheriff’s Department and the top of the pyramid was gone from the county.

Spooner isn’t saying Coup did anything wrong, but I doubt he wants to be second guessed while the Feds are traipsing through the Sheriff’s office.

A small note for those thinking of going into crime: banks are required to report cash transactions of $10K or more, but they actually report smaller transactions if they see a pattern. You can check with Eliot Spitzer and Rush Limbaugh about this little quirk. [Note that this doesn’t apply to Wall Street-types who can, of course cash as many checks as they want for $9,999.99 with no paperwork being generated.]

It’s over. Iris Wood Sutton (9) takes the Red Lantern after 13 days 23 hours and 17 minutes. She came in at 10:41AM, 28 minutes after Becca Moore (22). She was the 18^th musher to finish from a starting field of 29.

You can get Race Stats here.

Actually, according to Steve Bates, you won’t be able to communicate using Haloscan comments for about 24 hours.

The Pensacola Beach Blogger really wants to rub it in just because because the FBI and IRS decided to arrest Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris while he was on vacation in Las Vegas.

The “Good Ol’ Boys” are shocked to think that Charlie might have had his hand in the cookie jar, along with his administrative director, Teresa Adams.

Here’s a hint: The county and the state are scrambling to cover budget shortfalls because of the GOPression, and the position of Sheriff doesn’t actually pay all that much [it’s not like he’s a football couch or someone important]. How in hell can he afford a vacation in Las Vegas [that no one actually knew he was taking, but, then, he doesn’t spend a lot of time in the county]?

Now we are going to have to have a special election that we can’t afford. Of course, unlike Charlie, we should assume he is innocent until he is convicted of something.

Wayne Hall (28) made it in early this morning, the last musher with a payday. William Pinkham (17) came in two hours later.

Becca Moore (22) and Iris Wood Sutton (9) are on the trail to Two Rivers and the 8 hour mandatory rest stop. They are the last two teams in the race.

Yuka Honda (24), the Japanese school teacher, scratched at the Mile 101, another victim of Eagle Summit. She spent nearly 32 hours on the trail from Central to Mile 101 getting over the mountain. She made an attempt to climb Rosebud, but had to turn around.

You can get Race Updates here.

From Australian Broadcasting: Crews fight 4 major blazes as temperatures rise.

The rising temperatures and winds are fueling the fires. The crews are working to contain the fires until conditions improve later today, but that improvement will come with shifting winds and possible dry lightning setting new fires.

Rain, and a lot of it, is the only real cure, and no one realistically sees that happening anytime soon.

No Trust

What are you doing?

[Editor: This young tuxedo female eyes me warily because I don’t have food in my hand. If I had the familiar container instead of a camera, she would be under foot. {It’s only the inside cats that blink.}]

Friday Ark

Quest winner, Sebastian Schnuelle, listened to AC-DC for the 6 hours between Two Rivers and Fairbanks.

A major sponsor of the Jamaican musher, Newton Marshall, is Jimmy Buffett [Parrothead, Gulf & Western, Margaritaville].

Gerry Willomitzer, Iditarod musher and color commentator for the official Quest site is a major league Deep Purple fan.

But the best is the reporter for the Yukon News who has been covering the Quest, Genesee Keevil, who plays the stand-up bass with Sasquatch Prom Date, a local band.

Boy, the way people are bashing the GOP response to the not State of the Union speech is just vicious. They are picking on everything.

They didn’t like the opening. He just sort of appeared. Did they consider that he might have been supervising his security detail pulling drunks out of the Capitol Lake? I mean you have to expect that sort of thing when you do this on Mardi Gras in Louisiana. Give the guy a break. Not running for President is very time consuming and the Governor’s Mansion is a big place. Did they consider that he might have gotten lost looking for the Rotunda? He is newly elected and hasn’t spent much time in the building.

They didn’t like his tone, saying he sounded like he was taking to four-year-olds. What part of conservative Republican governor of Louisiana don’t they understand? He has to talk to the base of the party while he is not running for President, and a skilled speaker adjusts to his/her audience. Compared to the State of the Union Speeches delivered by the Shrubbery, Bobby was pushing the intellectual envelop, i.e he knew how to pronounce all the words. Rush Limbaugh liked it, so “Mission Accomplished”.

Update: I forgot to insert “bless his heart” every time I referred to Governor Jindal.

The last teams left Central this morning.

Crossing the finish line were race rookies: Norman Casavant (29), Mark Sleightholme (1), Colleen Robertia (6), and Newton Marshall (7). Sleightholme of Britain was running a team that belongs to Sebastian Schnuelle. while Marshall of Jamaica was running a Hans Gatt team.

Jason Mackey (25) was down to 7 dogs and just couldn’t catch a break, so he scratched at Central. Russ Bybee (11) held on until Mile 101, but then pulled the plug. The Eagle Summit has been brutal this year.

You can get Race Updates here.

I wrote about these whackos, My Idiot Neighbors, back in November and they are still at it.

The mighty metropolis of Valparaiso [population: 6400] led by their intrepid mayor, Bruce Arnold, has decided to sue the Air Force over the plan to spend tens of millions of dollars locally to create the training site for the new F-35 fighter.

Mayor Arnold, apparently upset that the Air Force hasn’t provided the Valparaiso city commission with the complete classified documents on the F-35 program, or some such foolishness, scheduled a vote when he knew that opponents to his plan wouldn’t be available.

Things have gotten so absurd that even the local libertarian puppy trainer [Northwest Florida Daily News] has started a letter writing campaign: Valparaiso steps over the line.

Here is reality: the Air Force should just use eminent domain and buy out the town. It will be quicker, and cheaper than messing around in court. The people in Valparaiso say they are worried about property values. well they have dropped like a rock without the F-35. The entire town should be available cheap. and the Air Force can use it for base housing, or as a noise buffer zone.

In the county, Mayor Arnold is about as popular as small pox [no offense to infectious diseases].

About an hour after the leaders, Jon Little (18) crossed the finish line. More that 9 hours later Martin Buser (8) and Michelle Phillips (26) showed up followed by William Kleedehn (12), Brent Sass (13), and Dan Kaduce (14) rounding out the night. Warren Palfrey (19), a Métis from Yellowknife arrived this morning. While Martin Buser is the official first rookie, Palfrey is a true rookie to long distance mushing, lacking Buser’s years on the Iditarod.

Everyone is beyond Circle and headed Southwest.

Update: Kyla Boivin (2) had to scratch today.  Her team just couldn’t climb Eagle Summit.  She was in the money at 14 when she scratched.

You can get Race Updates here.

Australian Broadcasting lays out the problem: Vic firefighters prepare for the worst

Victorian firefighters are working to prepare for bad weather conditions on Friday as they battle major blazes across the state.

Crews are working on seven fires, including a 300-hectare blaze at Upwey in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, where the awareness message has been downgraded.

Later in the article fire Strike team leader Craig Hepburn explains what they expect:

“[We are] just preparing it for the bad weather they’re expecting on Friday, with the wind going back to the north, and the temperatures predicted to be 38 at the moment.

“The winds are going to strike up, so this southern side will be the problem area Friday.”

Temperatures around 100°F and high winds. There have been flooding rains next door in New South Wales, but not in Victoria. The problem still exists, but hopefully there are more resources available to deal with it.

Sebastian Schnuelle (20) with Hugh Neff (23) second.

The official time in was 10:44, with an official elapsed time of 9 days 23 hours and 20 minutes, a new record.