Did You Hear About ..

HAMLIN, WV -- The Hamlin City Council voted unanimously Monday to fire J.D. Scites, 20, after State Police arrested him on Friday and charged him with two counts of third-degree sexual assault. He is accused of having sex with two girls ages 14 and 15. Scites was a Hamlin police officer. State Police are still investigating whether Scites was in a personal vehicle or a city-owned cruiser and whether he was on duty at the time of either alleged incident.

HUNTINGTON CANYON, UT -- Dangerous conditions that forced rescuers to halt attempts to reach six trapped miners will prevent crews from reaching the men for at least a week, a mining executive said.

BROOKLYN, NY -- The National Weather Service confirmed at 5:12 p.m. that a tornado touched down in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn this morning. The tornado was classified as a 2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which goes from 0 to 5. An EF2 tornado consists of winds of 111 to 135 miles per hour.

CHARLESTON, WV -- A Kanawha County prosecutor filed a motion today asking that four charges of sexual abuse against former Capital High School teacher, Tyrone Keith Persinger, be dismissed. A jury found Tyrone Keith Persinger not guilty in March on two charges of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. But the jury was deadlocked on the remaining four charges, and a mistrial was declared. Assistant Prosecutor Don Morris said he spoke with the teenage victims -- all former Capital High students -- and their families, and none wanted to proceed with another emotional trial.

Priorities, Anyone?

• Federal Highway Administration data from 2006 shows that 24.5 percent of the nation's bridges longer than 20 feet were categorized as "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete." According to the Department of Transportation, West Virginia has 6,343 bridges; 32% of those are over 100 feet long.
• In its most recent report card on the nation's infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation's bridges a grade of "C" and said that in 2003 27.1 percent of them were deficient. The report also said bringing all the nation's bridges up to snuff would cost $188 billion over the next two decades.
• The Iraq war and reconstruction effort has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $300 billion.
• The State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad's Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior but never authorized by the U.S. U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million for weapons such as armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that can't be accounted for.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Yesterday, my friend Chuck would have been 49.

Someday, remind me to tell ya about the time

he put fireworks off at our house ...

LOLOLOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

OK, so there's no more "technically" about it;

I'm officially 40 until about this time next year.

Beats the heck out of the alternative.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

If you are one, if you have one, if you've ever been one,

Happy Father's Day!

If everybody was blessed with dads as great as mine,

the world would be a much better place.

More Random Thoughts ...

School's out!

It's 76 degrees in Charleston at 6:04 a.m. Be on your best behavior - tempers tend to flare when brains start to fry.

A GED & a little know-how will get you a $13/hour mechanic's job in Ohio.

When all else fails ...

we'll talk about the moon ...

I see the moon,
The moon sees me
God bless the moon,
And God bless me.

MEMORIAL DAY

RUN FOR THE WALL

Mission Statement: To promote healing among all veterans and their families and friends, to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action (POW/MIA), and to honor the memory of those Killed in Action (KIA) from all wars

ROLLING THUNDER

Mission Statement: The major function of Rolling Thunder®, Inc. is to publicize POW-MIA issues: To educate the public that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all previous wars and to help correct the past and to protect future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war-missing in action.

Happy Mothers Day!!

Call your mom.

Send her flowers.

Tell her you love her. Often.

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning ...

Spring. A time of rebirth. Renewal. Reflection. Seasons come and seasons go. The world goes 'round and 'round, oblivious to the trials, triumphs and tragedies of those who inhabit it.

Today's one of those days lonely people dread and busy people covet. Not much going on, beautiful blue sky, the smell of clean in the air. One of those days that totally blindsides you with memories of days gone by.

Somewhere, there's a life ending and another beginning. A heart breaking and another giving itself up to the glories of new love. Somewhere, a soul seeking peace is finding it.

Somewhere, there's a festering cesspool of sewage sucking evil, waiting for you to go see the new Simpsons movie so the scene of Bart's cartoon, 10-year-old full frontal nudity can burn your eyes out and damn your soul to eternal hellfire.