Posts from — March 2009

It’s that time of year. Spring arrives at 6:44AM CDT this morning. You can watch it come at Archæoastronomy.

The air is already filled with pollen and the live oaks are starting to drop last year’s leaves.

In the Pensacola News Journal we read: Pensacola attorney suspended

— Elizabeth Aileen Broome, 1004 E. Jackson Street, Pensacola, suspended effective immediately, following a Jan. 15 court order. (Admitted to practice: 1988) In December 2008, Broome was found guilty of 13 felony counts of grand theft. She took legal fees but failed to provide the legal services for which she was retained. Broome was sentenced to six months incarceration and 10 years probation. She was also ordered to pay restitution to her former clients in the amount of more than $68,000. (Case No. SC09-62)

Suspended‽ Thirteen felonies and her license is suspended‽ What do you have to do to get disbarred in this state?

The Local Puppy Trainer informs us: Ex-city marshal hopes to return

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS – Ray “Buddy” Burgess, a former city marshal who retired under ethics complaints and criminal charges for falsifying documents, is trying to reclaim the office that has been vacant since Mike Adkinson became Walton County sheriff in January.

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Susie Madrak caught some comments by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on the failing newspapers. He talks about giving “newspapers more leeway to merge or combine operations” to help them out.

Dude, you missed the lesson.

The media moguls say they need to consolidate to reduce costs and regain profitability. What they leave out is the fact that their biggest increase in costs is the debt they took on to consolidate. They borrowed so much money to consolidate profitable newspapers, that they can’t afford to make their payments.

The product of newspapers is news, and local news is their niche market. You can get national and international news from all kinds of outlets, but the local newspaper reporters are the only source for local stories. No one buys the local to read wire service stories; they want to know about what’s happening locally. When you cut the local reporting to “save money”, you are eliminating the reason people buy the paper. No one makes it a point to stop by a Starbucks for a cup of regular coffee; they stop because they want the unique drinks that Starbucks offers. Local papers have to have local news, and that’s what the corporate managements have been cutting, which is why the papers are dying. If a newspaper lacks a unique voice and product, it will fail.

So far today these teams have ended the pain, and the dogs can finally get warm:

4 Mitch Seavey (21)
5 Cim Smyth (37)
6 Dallas Seavey (62)
7 Aaron Burmeister (56)
8 Jessie Royer (17)

The last two teams, Alan Peck (32)^R and Timothy Hunt (64)^R are on the trail between Eagle Island and Kaltag.

The enforced rest and better weather have lead to some very high speed runs today.

You probably have a better credit rating than your bank.

The finishers as of midnight CDT:

1 Lance Mackey (47) 03/18 11:38:46 AKDT
– 15 dogs 9 days 21 hrs 38 min 46 secs 4.76 mph

2 Sebastian Schnuelle (34) 03/18 19:05:04 AKDT
– 13 dogs 10 days 5 hrs 5 mins 4 secs 4.61 mph

3 John Baker (44) 03/18 20:18:51 AKDT
– 9 dogs 10 days 6 hrs 18 mins 51 secs 4.59 mph

The winds dropped to 10 mph and the temperature rose, so everyone started moving.

Current Standings:

4 Aaron Burmeister (56)
5 Mitch Seavey (21)
6 Cim Smyth (37)
7 Dallas Seavey (62)
8 Jessie Royer (17)
9 Ramey Smyth (16)
10 Hans Gatt (25)
11 Sonny Lindner (42)
12 Jeff King (41)
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Update: via IditaBlog I clocked Lance Mackey (47) under the arch at Nome at 2:39PM CDT.  It would have been sooner, but he stopped on the ice just outside of town to give all the dogs a good rubbing and scratching.

1 Lance Mackey (47) – left Safety at 11:48AM CDT, 22 miles from the finish.
2 Sebastian Schnuelle (34) – left White Mountain at 11:56AM CDT.
3 John Baker (44) – left White Mountain at 12:24PM CDT.

4 Aaron Burmeister (56) – arrived at White Mountain at 1:26PM CDT [8-hour mandatory stop].
5 Mitch Seavey (21) – arrived at White Mountain at 1:30PM CDT [8-hour mandatory stop].

6 Dallas Seavey (62) – left Elim at 6:19AM CDT.
7 Cim Smyth (37) – left Elim at 7:03AM CDT.
8 Jessie Royer (17) – left Elim at 7:38AM CDT.
9 Ramey Smyth (16) – left Elim at 7:40AM CDT.

10 Ed Iten (4) – arrived at Elim at 11:29AM CDT.

Jeff Holt (68), whose dog, Victor,died earlier in the race, has scratched outside of Grayling.

The ADN has a piece on musher Lou Packer (43): Ordeal leaves musher grieving. Dr. Packer had two dogs, Dizzy and Grasshopper, die in the ordeal outside of Iditarod.

Lance Mackey (47) has been resting during the 8-hour mandatory stop in White Mountain since 9:05PM CDT. He can have lunch in Nome, if he wants to.

Sebastian Schnuelle (34) and John Baker (44) left Elim a little after 4PM, so they could be in Nome Wednesday night.

The traffic for Thursday is not going to be much heavier.

Jessie Royer (17) must have a leader that enjoys sticking her/his head out the window of airplanes because she has been tearing up the trail while everyone else is burrowing. She roared in Koyuk at near 9½ mph, and left with a two hour stop.

ADN says that the Wednesday weather will be as bad as Iditarod racers face another day of brutal wind.

There have been a bit over a half dozen teams that have leapt up the rankings. They obviously have dogs that don’t mind the wind.

As Josh Rogers at Iditablog points out, even seasoned veterans like Jeff King (41) and Hans Gatt (25) can’t move when the dogs don’t want to go.

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So the Local Puppy Trainer reports on an actual successful conclusion to a criminal matter: Eglin shooting: ‘You don’t know what the potential was’

The manhunt for Willard began after a 3 a.m. car chase and shooting in Fort Walton Beach – where Nicholson said Willard took off in pursuit of a 29-year-old man, Jason Ward, who dropped off Willard’s wife near the family’s home.

Willard came out and chased away Ward in his car – then shot him as the chase reached the Northwest Florida Fairgrounds.
…

There was little information on what may have set off Willard.

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The Official site finally posted on Kim Darst (52) and Blake Matray (9). They are alright, but have decided to scratch, and are being escorted to Shageluk.

Lou Packer’s wife had been following him on the GPS tracker and noticed he had been going at less that 1 mph for an extended period, and she called race officials.

Lance Mackey arrived in Elim at 7:20AM CDT and Sebastian Schnuelle left Koyuk at 8:48AM CDT. It looks like the real race is for second at this point.

Lance Mackey (47) left Koyuk just before midnight CDT, 3 hours after Sebastian Schnuelle (34) arrived, and is hitting the trail with 9 hours of rest. Lance described the trip to Koyuk in the wind as one of the toughest runs he has ever made.

Laura Daugereau (45) scratched at Grayling. No definitive word as to why, but I would think that the 50° temperature drop and the wind chill played a part for the Port Gamble, Washington musher.

Hugh Neff (55) has dropped several places getting treatment for severe frostbite on his face. The run up the coast is directly into the wind with a resulting windchill below -50°. These conditions really require heated goggles.

Don’t miss the earlier “Terrible News” post on the situation of the last three teams in the race [Lou Packer (43)^R, Blake Matray (9)^R, and Kim Darst (52)^R] on the trail from Iditarod. They didn’t say why they didn’t spot a problem using the GPS units they require every sled to have in the race.

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Éireann go Brách!

Well everyone agrees that he died on March 17^th, but the year is subject to debate. This is his feast day on the Catholic calendar. Enjoy as you are wont.

Wikipedia has more on Saint Patrick’s Day, if you need more.

From the Iditarod site a press release

Earlier today (at approximately 2pm Alaska Time) Iditarod Race officials deployed an Iditarod Air Force (IAF) aircraft to check on the whereabouts of Iditarod Rookies Lou Packer (bib #43), Kim Darst (bib #52) and Blake Matray (bib #9). All three mushers were overdue on their run to Shaguluk. Packer was located approximately 22 miles past Iditarod. He signaled that has was in distress. The (IAF) pilot landed and found that two of Packer’s 15 dogs were deceased. A plane load of dogs were immediately flown out and a second flight is underway to airlift Packer and the remainder of the team.

A group of local residents from Shagaluk are on the trail to assess and assist Darst and Matray.

A necropsy will be conducted by a board certified pathologist to make every attempt to determine the cause of death of the two dogs.

Lou Packer is a doctor from Wasillia who was featured on NPR that I mentioned below the fold on my Day 8 post.

This group had been running together, so I have to wonder if they became dispersed in the blowing snow. They are all rookies.  Correction: Lou Packer left at around 2PM local on the 15^th, while Kim Darst and Blake Matray left together about 12 hours later.

The guys at Danger Room have a picture of the new AF Special Ops Osprey with the beach just east of Destin in the background.

The over-abundance of condos are mostly vacant, and available cheap for a quick sale from those companies that are not in receivership or foreclosure. Destin was once a nice place to go for seafood, but you can’t see the Gulf anymore, unless you are in one of the condo towers.

In a bit of serendipity I saw an Osprey flying overhead as I walked over to my Mother’s at about 6PM. It would be on it’s way from Hurlburt to the ranges on Eglin. It didn’t crash while I was watching it, which is pretty good for an Osprey.