12 Aug 2024

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally crashes down 28% from last year

by | posted in: News | 0

STURGIS, S.D. —  As the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally drew to a close on Sunday, law enforcement in South Dakota reported three fatalities and 47 injuries as a result of rally-related crashes in Western South Dakota.

Over the course of the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the South Dakota Highway Patrol releases daily information on crashes and crime in and around the city of Sturgis.

Known as the Rally Tally, the daily release includes information on investigations conducted only by the South Dakota Highway Patrol, and does not include statistics compiled by other organizations, including the Sturgis Police Department and various county sheriff’s offices in the area.

Six injured in two Saturday motorcycle crashes

The South Dakota Highway Patrol responded to just two injury crashes on Saturday.

The first crash occurred shortly before 3:45 p.m., when a 2022 Honda Odyssey was traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 16, just to the south of Rapid City. When the Honda slowed for vehicles attempting to turn near a curve in the road, it was approached from behind by two Harley Davidson motorcycles.

One Harley Davidson lost control of their bike while attempting to avoid striking the Honda minivan, causing the motorcycle to overturn, separating the driver. The loose bike struck the minivan from behind. The other Harley Davidson driver lost control of the bike and overturned.

Both motorcyclists were wearing helmets and sustained minor injuries. The driver of the Honda was unharmed.

The second crash happened just before 5:30 p.m. near the intersection of Norris Peak Road and Hat Mountain Drive, about four miles east of the Pactola Reservoir.

In that crash, a 2008 Victory Vision and a 2004 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide were traveling opposite directions on Norris Peak Road when the Harley Davidson failed to negotiate a curve. The ElectraGlide entered the opposite lane, striking the Victory Vision.

Both drivers and passengers on both motorcycles sustained serious, non-life threatening injuries.

Crash numbers down 28% compared to the 2023 Rally

The South Dakota Highway Patrol responded to fewer crashes during this year’s rally.

Troopers this year handled 54 non-injury crashes, 35 injury crashes and three fatal crashes over the course of the annual gathering, a 28% decrease from the 127 crashes handled last year.

Those 92 crashes resulted in the deaths of three people and injury of 47 more along roads throughout western South Dakota. This year’s numbers fell in line with the number of crashes handled by troopers during the 2022 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Despite the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally beginning on Friday, Aug. 5, the South Dakota Highway Patrol’s Rally Tally doesn’t consider crashes that occurred before 6 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Ahead of that date, five people were killed in five separate crashes in western South Dakota.

Highway Patrol seized $71K in cash

When troopers aren’t busy handling crash scenes, they’re also conducting traffic stops and investigating crimes.

During this year’s rally, the South Dakota Highway Patrol seized $71,504 in cash that could be used as evidence in criminal proceedings. That’s a nearly 3,500% increase from the $2,005 seized during last year’s rally.

Though the specific reason for the seizures is unclear, South Dakota law allows law enforcement officers to seize property, including cash, if the officer has probable cause to believe the seized property is directly or indirectly dangerous to public health or safety or if the property is believed to have been used or intended to be used in the commission of a crime.

DUI, drug arrests climb

Authorities made more arrests for driving under the influence and drug possession or use this year.

Troopers reported making 155 arrests for driving under the influence, 134 of which came from within Sturgis. The number of DUI arrests made this year was 29% more than the 120 arrests made last year.

Drug arrests also climbed, with authorities making 281 misdemeanor drug arrests and 163 felony drug arrests, roughly 11% more year-over-year.

The 2023 rally saw drug arrests climb by roughly 60% compared to 2022, making this year the second-straight increase.

Fewer citations, more warnings issued

Though it’s not an indication of the South Dakota Highway Patrol becoming more lenient, troopers were more likely to hand out a warning to motorists in western South Dakota than a ticket.

Troopers issued 1,455 traffic citations and 4,445 written warnings during this year’s rally. That’s 20 fewer citations and 149 more warnings compared to last year’s numbers.

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12 Aug 2024

A Rough Road to the Christmas Mountains

by | posted in: Adventure | 0

Dawn was spreading like a giant egg yolk on the horizon when we reached the gate. It was 16 miles from State Highway 118 to the office where visitors pick up the key, past the Bad Rabbit Café, then a bit farther on unpaved roads to the Christmas Mountains property. The key was attached to a long piece of wood, like the restroom key at old gas stations.

My friend drove the white rented Jeep through, and I locked the gate behind us. For four hours, we’d have the Christmas Mountains, a small range on the northern boundary of Big Bend National Park, near Terlingua, to ourselves. The locked gate enforced the one-group-at-a-time rule: The 3.5-mile road is only a few feet wider than a car and bends back on itself like a coiling snake. There’s no place to turn around until you get to the 5,728-foot summit. A broken-down vehicle would back up traffic until help arrived, and, in the beautiful emptiness of the Big Bend, that could be a long time.

The switchbacks along the single-lane road to the top of the Christmas Mountains take more than an hour to ascend.

It’s been more than 30 years since the Richard King Mellon Foundation and The Conservation Fund donated the Christmas Mountains property—9,269 acres of former ranchland—to the state for public recreation purposes. Only in the last few years have the mountains’ current owners and stewards, the Texas State University System and the Texas Land Conservancy, been able to increase access for researchers to study the biology, geology, and cultural history of the property. Rare plants, abandoned mercury mines, Lipan Apache-related sites, and 500 million years of geologic history are just part of what attracts researchers.

But Big Bend-loving Texans are lucky that these mountains in Brewster County have remained in public hands at all. Ex-Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson tried to sell the arid, remote property to private owners in 2007 and again in 2010 because, he said, maintaining the land was too expensive, the conservation covenants on it were too restrictive, and it was too hemmed in by surrounding private property. Some 3,000 people emailed Patterson objecting to the proposed sale. Mellon Foundation officials said if the sale went through, the state should never again expect donations from their coffers. Even some of the commissioner’s fellow Republicans found his efforts repugnant.

Following the outcry, the state General Land Office announced in 2011 that the property had instead been transferred to the Texas State University System (comprising Texas State, Sam Houston State, Sul Ross State, Lamar, and several other institutions) to use as an outdoor classroom and preserve. But it took another decade for the Legislature to appropriate the $11.2 million needed to build a field research station at the base of the mountains, just outside the preserve. Engineering work has now started on that station. The Texas Land Conservancy is charged with monitoring the preserve’s habitat and wildlife.

Since 2013, scientists have been meeting for symposia in West Texas to share research about the property. BotanistDavid Lemke organizes the events, which include trips up into the mountains. He’s been working for years on a survey of local vegetation, including “an interesting little milkweed vine” that’s only been found at one site in Mexico and one other site in Texas. 

For about a decade now, researchers and other visitors have been able to access the Christmas Mountains with help from a key group of private property owners. At the 200,000-acre Terlingua Ranch resort, subdivided into small-acreage plots, the Terlingua Ranch Lodge oversees access to the summit road. There is no fee, but visitors must reserve a time slot and register at the resort office. With only two slots per day, resort manager John Sellers said, it’s wise to call ahead of time, especially around holidays. Vehicles must be four-wheel or all-wheel drive with high clearance. Hiking, biking, and horseback riding are also allowed.

For those with a tolerance for heights, boulders, and skinny roads, the drive to the summit is worth the effort. In our case, we left Alpine at 6 a.m. to be at the gate by 8. In the flat approach through Terlingua Ranch’s scattered homesites, the rising sun backlit an adjacent peak and glinted off the window panes of a mobile home.

West Corazon Peak’s slender summit is one of the striking views along the Christmas Mountains summit road.

On the summit road, our top speed was just a couple of miles per hour, the Jeep moving like a large bear beneath us, one paw at a time over the boulders. The first vista, of West Corazon Peak’s slender cone and tilted strata of rock, like a geologic quilt, left me feeling off-balance. At the top, beyond a rock cairn, the view opened to the south across the vastness of Big Bend National Park to the Chisos Mountains, Santa Elena Canyon, and Mexico. 

A hundred years ago, per Sellers, this land housed mercury mines that alongside others nearby produced 80 percent of the world’s quicksilver. Thousands of years before that, sophisticated trade routes established by Indigenous peoples stretched from here as far away as Guatemala. Today, the land’s present stewards say they’re planning to invite writers, photographers, and painters to share the Christmas Mountains with the world.

12 Aug 2024

Morning Report pets featured in July: 19 cats, 7 dogs, 1 rabbit.

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In our Morning Report newsletter in August, we featured 19 cats, seven dogs and one rabbit. We also remembered four pets who have passed away.

“Thanks for sharing all of the pet pictures!” a contributor wrote. “They’re my favorite part of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Morning Report.”

If you want to read more, here are the pets we featured in the newsletter in June.

Friday, July 26

“This is sweet Lolly,” Peggy writes. “She’s our neighbor but loves running over to our house and when she stays with us she settles right in to watch for squirrels and hang out on the patio.”

Lolly

Thursday, July 25

“This is our gang: Miss Nilla, Skitbit, and BC (boy cat) — shown here waiting for their supper,” write Kathie and Marc of Linwood, Minn. “All three were found lost/abandoned outside as kittens — provided to us by the Cat Distribution System. Miss Nilla and BC are about 15 and Skitbit is nine.They tolerate each other; sometimes you may catch a couple of them actually sleeping next to each other but they pretty much do their own thing. Over the last 48 years, we have always had at least one cat (usually more) but BC is the first boy cat we ever had; it just happened that way.”

Miss Nilla, Skitbit and BC (Boy Cat).

Wednesday, July 24

“Here is Archie,” Angela writes. “He adopted us 11 years ago. He’s spunky and always instigating a wrestling match with his brother, Link. He is quite a mama’s boy!”

As for Link, who is pictured in the background …

“He lives to show his big belly,” Angela tells us. “He hates exercise but loves to walk in the backyard.”

Archie and Link

Tuesday, July 23

“Meet Oreo, our 12-year-old Yorkie-poo,” writes Stephanie of Minneapolis. “Whenever we go on vacation, we look for a toy for Oreo related to our destination. Usually the toy gets an unimpressed sniff and then it goes into the toy box where it is ignored. On our winter trip to Texas this year, we brought home Juanita the Javelina and finally it seems we brought her a good souvenir. She sleeps behind me while I work and I often find her and Juanita spooning, going head to head and even holding paws. Love seeing the cute dogs and cats in my email each weekday. Thanks!”

Juanita and Oreo.

Monday, July 22 (Memorial)

“Bismarck, our rescue cat, was 16 when he left us this summer,” writes Mary of St. Anthony Park. “He was independent, feisty and demanding. His favorite perch was in the bay window so that he could survey his domain properly. He loved the Man of the House and nobody else. The rest of us were staff. But we all loved him.”

Bismarck

Friday, July 19

“Chloe is all set for the yearly pontoon boat parade,” write Oren and Carol. “She is wearing her favorite party dress and Hawaiian lei. Party on Chloe!!”

Chloe

Thursday, July 18

“Painted in Photoshop,” wrote Jean in an email. “This is years before AI!”

We asked Jean more about her muse.

“Bentley,” a Photoshop “painting” by Jean Moore.

“This sweet cat’s name was Bentley, a rescue cat I adopted about 15 years ago,” she replied. “I took (TOO) many pictures of my cats through the years and decided to ‘paint’ this one.”

Beautiful!

Here are photos of her current cats, a brother and sister who answer mostly to “Kittens”!

Jean calls this photo, “Guarding the Peaches”:

“Guarding the Peaches” by Jean Moore.

This one, our favorite, is “Guarding the Cookbooks”:

“Guarding the Cookbooks” by Jean Moore.

Wednesday, July 17

“A friend of mine referred me to your email/column that you do in the Pioneer Press,” Justin writes. “So, Meet Ajax (AKA Chubbs)! He is a 13-year-old sassy Pug/Pitbull mix who knows that he is too cool for his own good. I mean, look at him! He never misses his dinner time and makes sure his dads never miss it either.

Ajax

“I adopted him when he was two and has been living the life since then. I’ve never met a dog with such personality and character as Ajax, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. He loves to bathe in the sun and take long naps. He is the goodest boy!”

Tuesday, July 16

“My dad says I’m three today and I’m very happy with my life,” wrote Emmy (with a little help from John) in an email to the Morning Report on Wednesday, July 3. “Still, sometimes I look out the window and wonder what it would be like to be a bird.”

Happy Birthday, Emmy!

Monday, July 15 (Memorial)

Oliver

“We said goodbye to our grandcat, Oliver, in June,” wrote Deb of Onalaska, Wis. “He was a 12-year-old Cornish Rex who had some serious health issues before he crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He is missed by his human family, as well as Sparkle the poodle and Lumi the Cornish Rex.”

Friday, July 12

“Good morning,” John writes.”I never thought I would be sending this kind of email to the media. Here are some picks of our recently adopted kittens, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln. We kept the names the rescue organization gave them. They love laying in the sun, snuggling in their kitty bed, exploring the nooks and crannies of their new house, and sleeping in the she-she’s swinging chair. They also love getting the zoomies and incessant playing instead of bedtime. While the aren’t our beloved Dachshund, Winston, they have quickly stolen our hearts. When I proposed to my wife, the one stipulation was that she could get kittens. Well, here we are, and it must be true love because I was not a cat person beforehand.”

James Madison and Abraham Lincoln

Thursday, July 11

“I wanted to share with you a photo of our cat, Sasha,” Allyson writes. “She’s 9 years young and her favorite places to hang out are at home and in the car. Sasha is a curious soul who likes to explore her surroundings providing her two humans are close by — then she’s game for any adventure!”

Sasha

Wednesday, July 10

“Previously, you featured Eurwyn and Freyja, both who have since passed, as well as my ‘grande dame’ Calico, Genbu,” writes Allison of Moorhead, Minn. “While no pet is ever replaced, the Cat Distribution Society of the Universe decided to place these two with me after I lost Eurwyn and Freyja in quick succession.

Isis and Halldor

“Continuing the alphabet of cats*: Halldór, the silver, 4-year-old part-Maine Coon, was acquired in January 2023. He is goofy and extremely dog-like.

Halldór

“Isis, the tiny ginger, is also four and the peacekeeper in the house.  A former barn cat found with six (!) fat kittens near Grand Forks, N.D., last October, she joined us in November 2023 once her kittens were weaned and homed.

Isis

“As you can see, these two get along swimmingly (Genbu is thrilled to have Isis distracting Halldór)!”

Halldor and Isis

In her asterisk, Allison explains the alphabet of cats:

“My first cats, once I was on my own after college, were Ångstrom and Bunsen,” she writes. “Then came Clarice, followed by Dumas, then Eurwyn and Freyja. Throughout these first six, I only had two at a time, but somehow ended up with an orphaned 5-week-old kitten, Genbu as a third.”

Tuesday, July 9

“There’s nothing better than cuddling with Raven and Maeve and seeing them calm,” Peggy writes. “But when it’s dinner time the excited jumping begins!”

Maeve

Monday, July 8 (Memorial)

“Our friend’s son’s bunny, named ‘Curdis’ (’cause his coloring looked like a cheese curd!) died suddenly last week,” Joyce wrote on June 21. “How he loved to eat carrots … ”

Curdis

Wednesday, July 3

“This is Nixie, celebrating her Adoption Day on June 11,” Jeanne writes. “I wasn’t able to find a card for that. Nixie seems fine with a birthday card as she nestles in her well-padded box. We got her from Feline Rescue because I wanted a Halloween cat. She’s a BIG fan of looking out of windows, maybe because she was in a cage and couldn’t easily get to a window.

Nixie

“She’s an older cat now and sleeps a lot when she’s not watching squirrels, birds, dogs and people. What a good life.

“She has an interesting way to let me know that she wants to cuddle on my lap: She stands sideways, reaches out with her left leg to snag my shirt and gently plops over. It’s so cute. I wonder how she learned to do that.

“Thanks for sharing all of the pet pictures! They’re my favorite part of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Morning Report.”

Tuesday, July 2

“While ‘Up Nord’ visiting my cousin in February, we got to see her beautiful cat, Chunky,” Joyce writes. “Here he is, just waiting to play some more!”

Chunky

Monday, July 1

“Once again, we are coming up on 7/2, Fritz Mondale’s Gotcha Day, ” Eileen writes. “This will be his third.

“We were a dog short in our family after Ruby passed at 15-1/2 in 2020. We finally found Fritz at Clark County Humane Society in Neillsville, Wis.

Fritz Mondale

“He had been given to two little 8- and 10-year-old Amish boys who had until his first birthday to turn him into a working farm dog. But the poor pup was kicked in the head by a cow, leaving him with a Harry Potter scar over his right eye, and a fear of cows.

“On his first birthday he was taken to the pound, because who needs a working dog terrified of farm animals?”

Fortunately, Eileen and her family live in the suburbs. Not many — any? — cows there, but …

“We live in Roseville, and one morning went out to walk about 5:45 a.m., ” she writes. “Walked out the gate and there, about 15 feet from us, was a deer. Fritz suddenly leaned against me and froze. To him, it was a big, funny-looking cow. He’s also afraid of the grunty pig toy because of the farm animal sounds it makes.

“Don’t worry, Fritz, your doggie and kitty siblings will protect you!”

Fritz Mondale and friend.

Hope you have a great Gotcha Day, Fritz!

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12 Aug 2024

Today in History: August 12, Charlottesville car attack

by | posted in: Society | 0

Today is Monday, Aug. 12, the 225th day of 2024. There are 141 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 12, 2017, a driver sped into a crowd of people peacefully protesting a white nationalist rally in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring more than a dozen others. (The attacker, James Alex Fields, was sentenced to life in prison on 29 federal hate crime charges, and life plus 419 years on state charges.)

Also on this date:

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, with whom he had clashed over Reconstruction policies. (Johnson was acquitted by the Senate.)

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Today in History: August 9, U.S. bombs Nagasaki

In 1898, fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end.

In 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indianapolis 500, first opened.

In 1944, during World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.

In 1953, the Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

In 1960, the first balloon communications satellite — the Echo 1 — was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral.

In 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150, at a press conference in New York.

In 1985, the world’s worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Airlines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people. Four passengers survived.

In 1990, fossil collector Sue Hendrickson found one of the largest and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex skeletons ever discovered; nicknamed “Sue” after Hendrickson, the skeleton is now on display at Chicago’s Field Museum.

In 1994, in baseball’s eighth work stoppage since 1972, players went on strike rather than allow team owners to limit their salaries.

In 2000, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea.

In 2013, James “Whitey” Bulger, the feared Boston mob boss who became one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives, was convicted in a string of 11 killings and dozens of other gangland crimes, many of them committed while he was said to be an FBI informant. (Bulger was sentenced to life; he was fatally beaten at a West Virginia prison in 2018, hours after being transferred from a facility in Florida.)

In 2022, Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.

Today’s Birthdays:

Investor and philanthropist George Soros is 94.
Actor George Hamilton is 85.
Singer-musician Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 75.
Singer Kid Creole (Kid Creole and the Coconuts) is 74.
Film director Chen Kaige is 72.
Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny is 70.
Actor Bruce Greenwood is 68.
Basketball Hall of Famer Lynette Woodard is 65.
Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 61.
Actor Peter Krause (KROW’-zuh) is 59.
Tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras is 53.
Actor-comedian Michael Ian Black is 53.
Actor Yvette Nicole Brown is 53.
Actor Casey Affleck is 49.
Boxer Tyson Fury is 36.
Actor Lakeith Stanfield is 33.
NBA All-Star Khris Middleton is 33.
Actor Cara Delevingne (DEHL’-eh-veen) is 32.
Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas is 26.