29 May 2004

Anita Wills; "Free Persons of Color"



I highly recommend this read, Anita knows her stuff!
--ryan


"Free Persons of Color"

G.W. Bush in the Field of Screams



Although it shouldn't surprise me in the least, the cultural insensitivity and arrogance of the Bush Administration is simply astounding. No wonder that the United States is the object of ridicule and embarrassment for the rest of the educated and enlightened world...

--ryan




Suzan Harjo: Bush in the field of screams


The White House’s choice of Carlisle Barracks as the venue for the President’s May 24 speech is no doubt as complex and it is intriguing. No one would have guessed from either the content or coverage that the American Indian history of the place had any bearing on the subject, which was "a free and self-governing Iraq" and "a humane, well-supervised prison system."

On the surface, it was a logical choice to deliver the address at Carlisle Barracks, the site of the U.S. Army War College, where the nation’s military leaders have studied war since the 1950s.

It made political sense, too, being in that part of Pennsylvania - a state rich in electoral votes - where George W. Bush and the war are still popular.

The President predicted that the rise of a free Iraq "would be a decisive blow to terrorism at the heart of its power, and a victory for the security of America and the civilized world."

The message just beneath the surface and all around its edges was "civilization." That’s where the location of the speech comes in.
Carlisle Barracks, from 1879 to 1918, was the site of the first federal Indian boarding school. Thousands of children of famous Indian leaders were taken there as hostage students, in order to keep their families down on the reservations. Many never made it back home.
My mother’s grandfather, Thunderbird (Richard Davis), and his sister Elsie Davis were among the first Cheyennes at Carlisle. They were taken hostage because their father was Chief Bull Bear, who was also a Dog Men Society leader. The War Department wanted to make sure that he did not "roam off the reservation" or resume the life of a "hostile."

At the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1893, Elsie Davis died of "consumption" according to the school paper, and Thunderbird became a model student.

Headstones and remains of Elsie and some few other children who died in the school’s early years were relocated to the present small cemetery. The original grave yard and the remains of other children who died at Carlisle were plowed under for a sports field and grandstand.  

Both the school and town of Carlisle are big on sports. As recently as 2002, the town was the summer training camp of the Washington professional football team with the name most Native people despise.
The Carlisle Indian School was a "well-supervised prison system" that was rarely "humane." The motto of its founder, Captain Richard H. Pratt, was "kill the Indian, save the man." This meant that the Indians would become "civilized" - read, deculturalized - or else.
The Carlisle kids were forced to speak English only, practice Christianity and work for no or low wages. Indian slave labor in 1887 built the very building where the President read his speech about Iraq. It’s a gymnasium which was named after Carlisle alum Jim Thorpe, the great Sac and Fox athlete who won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics.  

But, no one would ever guess that. Bush did not acknowledge Thorpe or Carlisle or the Indian "civilization" policy the U.S. adopted when extermination wasn’t working.

One person tried to alert reporters and producers about the connections between U.S. policies in Iraq and at Carlisle, and the irony.
Barbara C. Landis, author of the Carlisle Indian School Research Web pages, e-mailed the television networks and National Public Radio, asking, "Does anybody in the Bush administration realize he will be speaking in a venue that was designed and implemented to become the benchmark of the assimilation of American Indians?"

In her May 23 e-mail, Landis pointed out that the War College is "smack dab in the middle of the old school grounds ... I wonder at the lack of foresight in presenting a major foreign policy speech designed to spin the failed policy of this administration - in a venue that for many Americans, represents the failed assimilationist policies of a century ago."

Only ABC’s Nightline responded, said Landis, but just to thank her for the information. There was "absolutely no reference to Carlisle … on any news shows I watched ... The gym was disguised to look like a blue velvet-draped presidential sealed room, which is what it became. The audience was hand-picked to represent cheerleaders for Bush’s policies."

Perhaps White House staffers intended for Iraqis to slowly uncover the harsh history of the Carlisle cradle of U.S. "civilization" policy. Perhaps some wanted to send a message that bad beginnings can produce good results, such as Thorpe and other extraordinary Native people (the ones who lived through it, that is), and that Native nations today are self-governing.

It is possible that the White House intended to send these cautionary notes and optimist messages. It is also possible that no one in the White House - which is not known for subtlety - was told anything about where they were.

Whatever subsurface message was intended, the history and lessons of Carlisle and "civilization" are there for all the world to learn. A decade before the end of the official Indian "civilization" policy, Indian people were made U.S. citizens, on June 2, 1924.

After 80 years under the Indian Citizenship Act, Native peoples remain the most economically impoverished segment of American society, with all the attendant problems of poverty, notwithstanding significant gains made through gaming. And, Indian nations are subjected to threats that Indian gaming will be outlawed unless greater amounts of revenue are turned over to the federal, state and local governments.
Native people have yet to attain full voting rights and there are organized anti-Indian groups that advocate abolishing treaties and other legal Indian rights and authorities. Despite repatriation laws, Native American graves and sacred objects continue to be robbed and desecrated.

Native people are the only people in the U.S. who do not have full religious freedom rights and cannot defend threatened sacred places in the American justice system. And Native peoples alone are targeted, mascotted and humiliated in sports nationwide.

This is the status of Native America after eight decades of citizenship and more than a century of "civilization." For us, these are serious matters of sovereignty and human rights. These also are family matters.
We know what the White House says it intends to do to free Iraq. The question at home is what will the White House do to help Native Americans transition to freedom?



Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Indian Country Today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote of the Week



""Humility is probably the most difficult
virtue to realize."

--Thomas Yellowtail, CROW


Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

28 May 2004

Chase That Golden Thunder!



I saw this on CNN today and thought it was too cool!
--ryan


An Unusual Batboy


"When he’s not at the ballpark, the Trenton Thunder’s bat boy brings in the newspaper, runs around the backyard and chills with the family cat in front of the television.
     For every home game, he arrives at Waterfront Park in the morning and often stays until midnight. He collects bats and delivers bottled water to the umpires. To entertain fans, he catches Frisbees between innings..."

27 May 2004

A New Kind of Couch Potato



You've got to see this to believe it!
--ryan


The Bicycle Forest

26 May 2004

Apache Tribe Rejects Funds, Upset with UA



When will they learn?
--ryan


Arizona Tribe rejects funds, upset with UA Telescope


By Natasha Bhuyan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, April 30, 2004
Print this

An Apache tribe has declined money offered by the UA in an attempt to show the UA its disapproval of the Mount Graham telescopes.

Last month, the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council rejected the "Northern Tribes Initiative" proposed by the UA, the University of Minnesota and the University of Virginia, which are the university's Mount Graham Observatory partners.

UA law professors Robert Williams and Robert Hershey-Lear, and Indian Law Clinic Coordinator Don Nichols presented the initiative, which offered the San Carlos Tribe $120,000 for developmental programs such as educational outreach, agricultural improvement, summer camps and a cultural advisory process.

"With respect to San Carlos, we had negotiated with the tribal chairwoman's office on a number of initiatives in the areas of education, self-government, and community and economic development," Williams said.

But Sandra Rambler, stenographer and translator for the council, said the issues go beyond the initiative. The tribe rejected the proposal because it did not want funding coming from Mount Graham-related sources, she said.

"We looked at it as bribery program," said Rambler of the $120,000 proposal. "This (the observatory) was a $330 million project, so why should we settle for bread crumbs?"

Williams said the initiative was part of mediation efforts between the UA and Apache tribes, who regard the mountain as a sacred site.

For nearly two decades, the controversial Mount Graham telescopes have met opposition from tribes and environmental groups across the country.

Mount Graham, called "Big Seated Mountain," is holy land to the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache tribes that reside nearby.

In 1992, 200 students protested the telescopes because the mountain is home to the red squirrel, an endangered species.

The mountain has more ecological zones than any mountain in the United States, according to the Mount Graham Coalition Web site.

Dwight Metzger, part of the Mount Graham Coalition, said UA has a "deceitful" history regarding the telescopes.

"I just can't believe the arrogance of these people. First, they are imposing the telescopes. Now, they have to impose their programs on the Apaches," Metzger said.

Councilman Myron Moses said if not for the telescopes on Mount Graham, the UA would have no interest in the mountain or the Apache people.

At the council meeting last month, Ola Cassadore-Davis, Apache elder and chairwoman of the Apache Survival Coalition, said she believed the UA was offering cash in exchange for the Apache religion and culture.

"Something like giving us a little ice cream to quiet us down," Davis said.

Williams said he understands the tribe wants to exercise sovereignty on Mount Graham, and he was not surprised the council rejected the proposal that took a year and a half to create.

The UA will now have to work with the tribal council to try to find other sources of funding, Williams said.

Williams also pointed out that the existing outreach programs for the San Carlos tribes will continue, despite the council's decision regarding the Northern Tribes Initiative.

One such project is done each summer, when the UA hires six Apache students to work at Mount Graham. But Rambler said that can be seen as a payoff for having the telescopes.

"They hire students to clean up the telescopes," she said. "To me, that is not an educational experience."

Williams said the UA will continue to work on strengthening outreach and implementing the proposed projects without the Mount Graham-related funds.

"Essentially, we are going to go back to tribal council; they have clarified they wanted to be part of the political process," Williams said. "We are looking at the requests they made and are trying to respond to their concerns."

Rambler, who lives near Mount Graham, said she sees the telescope daily and is reminded of how the UA wronged her people.

"The traditional people are very spiritual people and they believe in making a wrong a right," she said. "We would like a public apology from the UA (saying), 'We are sorry for desecrating your land. Can you find it in your heart to forgive us?' But that (apology) will never happen."

YAMASEE CEMETERY TO BE SAVED!



This is a very exciting development in what looked to be a tragic situation.
--ryan
News4Jax.com - News - St. Augustine Seeks Preservation For Mission Burial Site


POSTED: 4:53 PM EDT May 19, 2004
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- After uncovering an unmarked, 18th-century burial site during a routine excavation, local officials are now seeking a way to preserve the privately owned property.

City archaeologist Carl Halbirt made the discovery in February during a dig at the site of a new development in St. Augustine, located at the center of a residential area on Tremerton Street.

The burial site has been identified as belonging to the 18th century Native American mission settlement known as Nuestra Senora de Roasario de la Punta. In a news release from the city, the site was described as possibly "one of the most significant and sensitive finds in modern times."

Though historians knew the general location of the La Punta community, the mission church's exact location was previously unknown.

The state's chief archeologist, Dr. David Dickel, was notified of the site and has assisted in maintaining the strict protocols required. After consulting with Florida's Department of Historic Resources, it was determined that the site must be preserved.

City staff has met with owner Michael Johnigean, of Empire Development Group, about the possibility of securing ownership of the site for the public to ensure its preservation.

Purchasing the property outright may be prohibitive because of its value, but the city may exchange the site for another piece of property it currently owns. This option would require City Commission approval.

Such an exchange would make it possible for the city to reinter any remains already uncovered, cease further excavation, and restore the site as a park with markers identifying its significance.

Most remains already excavated have been identified as Native American, though non-Native American populations are also represented.

La Punta was one of several Native American mission communities that circled the colonial, walled city of St. Augustine in the 18th century. They were home to the displaced and dwindling indigenous population and were an integral part of the city's defenses.

U.S. Apology to Indians Considered



I, for one, will be watching this piece of legislation very closely. We'll see how far along this gets in the process. In my opinion, we need to be talking about some reparations (BTW: what ever happened to the promised "40 acres and a mule"?).

--ryan


U.S. apology to Indians considered

Bill 'acknowledges years of official depredations'

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

By ANDREW MOLLISON
COX NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- An official apology for the way the United States and its citizens have mistreated American Indians and the country's other indigenous people is starting to move through Congress.

"I know there's potential for this being controversial," said the apology's author, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. He recalled the barrage of vitriolic phone calls a few years ago that blocked a similar attempt by former Rep. Tony Hall, D-Ohio, to obtain an official apology to the descendants of former slaves.

"But the circumstances are different," he said. "With the maturity of the sovereign tribes being acknowledged, the opening this fall (on Washington's Mall) of the museum recognizing the contribution of Native Americans, this is a moment that could be used, not to heal all old wounds, but to start building a new relationship..."

25 May 2004

War is not just in Iraq



This is an interesting issue, especially so considering that one of the reasons we were told war was necessary with Iraq was Hussein's treatment of minority groups. The United States government continues to wage war against the First Nations of Turtle Island (North American for any wasicuns who may be reading this). The government claims to promote and guarantee religious freedom, but this seems to only apply if you happen to be Christian. The Original People, Cultures, Religions and Languages of Turtle Island continue to be eradicated with every increasing zeal and efficiency by the great machines of the United States government.

That's perhaps one reason why G.W. cannot call the Israeli government to task for their attempts to ethnically cleanse the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: he's quite guilty of the same crimes here on Turtle Island!

--ryan


ICT [2004/05/20] Western Shoshone: War is not just in Iraq

Posted: May 20, 2004 - 3:30pm EST
by: Brenda Norrell / Southwest Staff Reporter / Indian Country Today
CRESCENT VALLEY, Nev. - United States Congressmen are mirroring the same deceptive tactics in Western Shoshone territory as in Iraq, said Western Shoshone as legislation was pushed to compensate tribal members for Aboriginal land in an effort to seize it and open it up for mining, energy and nuclear corporations.
While Western Shoshone maintain their Aboriginal land claim secured by the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863, their sacred Yucca Mountain is being gutted for nuclear dumping, their horses and cattle seized to make way for geothermal industries and the earth mutilated for gold extraction.
"If the war on terrorism is about protecting this country, then why is our own government trying to take away our homelands?" said Mary McCloud, Western Shoshone elder.
"Our Indian children are over in Iraq supposedly fighting for their country. And yet our Nevada Congressional leaders through the Western Shoshone Distribution Act are trying to take away the Western Shoshone homeland.
"What are our Shoshone kids going to come back to? What are they fighting for?" McCloud said.
Current legislation before the United States Congress, the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill, H.R. 884/S. 618, is described by tribal members as an attempt to strip away U.S. treaty obligations and their connections to their homeland with a one time payment of cents per acre.
"Under the guise of bi-partisanship, Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Jim Gibbons are once again gearing up to force this one time payment on the Western Shoshone people for 24 million acres of land at approximately 15 cents an acre," said Julie Fishel of the Western Shoshone Defense Project.
Reid is Democrat and Gibbons is Republican.
Fishel said the push for passage of the distribution bill is being made at the same time that Gibbons is sponsoring other legislation, H.R. 2869 and H.R. 2772, which would open Shoshone lands to privatization by multinational mining companies and massive geothermal energy development, with no provision for Western Shoshone interests or concerns.
Simultaneously, the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste repository is being pushed forward, regardless of whistleblowers exposing inherent dangers.
Western Shoshone elders are the victims of the schemes to seize the land. During May, Robert Healy Sr., Mary Dann and Carrie Dann received federal notices of intent to impound their livestock.
Carrie Dann said it is domestic terrorism designed to steal the dignity of the people. "Economically we were a self-sustaining people. With these recent actions stealing our livelihood we are now facing economic starvation designed to remove us from our lands. To me, that is terrorism. Domestic terrorism. This behavior is designed to steal our dignity, our honor and to make us feel that we are less than or lower than human - we are treated like animals. We are being dehumanized."
Dann said the distribution bill is an unconstitutional, unjust and unwanted payment. "As Western Shoshone, we have been fighting for many years to simply remain who we are - Western Shoshone. The earth is our mother and land provides us with life, like the water and the air. To take this land from us will be to lead us into a spiritual death.
The distribution bill could come up for a vote in the U.S. House in May or June. The fear of many Western Shoshone people and the majority of Councils is that money is being used by Congress to silence Western Shoshone concerns over U.S. violations of the Treaty of Ruby Valley.
By treaty, Western Shoshone maintain their ancestral land base - where they still live and pray - approximately 24 million acres of land, most of which the U.S. classifies as "public" lands.
Steven Newcomb, Shawnee/Lenape co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, said neither Congressman Gibbons nor Senator Reid wants to address Western Shoshone land rights based on the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley.
"After personally researching the Indian Claims Commission records in the Western Shoshone case, I could not find one shred of historical documentation to support the ‘finding’ that Western Shoshone lands described in the Ruby Valley Treaty were ever ‘taken’ by ‘gradual encroachment,’" Newcomb said.
In order to force the people off the land, the Department of Interior has conducted armed roundups of Western Shoshone livestock for the past two years. Western Shoshone say the beneficiaries of this theft of Aboriginal Shoshone lands are the mining, energy and nuclear industries.
Western Shoshone land encompasses the world’s third largest production of gold, cited in 1999 as the number one investment opportunity for mineral extraction companies. In the past 40 years, $26 billion dollars in gold has been extracted from Western Shoshone aboriginal lands defined by treaty.
Open pit cyanide leach mining for gold is destroying the water and air, said Carrie Dann. Multinational gold companies Kennecott, Placer Dome, Barrick and Newmont and others, take the water out of the water table at a rate of 30 to 70 thousand gallons of water per minute.
One Nevada politician described these lands as the next "Saudi Arabia" of geothermal energy production.
If that wasn’t enough abuse, the U.S. has selected the land for nuclear dumping at Yucca Mountain, the proposed site of the nation’s nuclear waste repository and the Nevada Test Site. The Bush administration has referenced possible renewed nuclear weapons testing.
Although one excuse for the war in Iraq was the violation of human rights, Western Shoshone point out that the United States government abuses its indigenous peoples at home.
Last year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found that with regard to the Western Shoshone, the U.S. is currently in violation of rights to property, due process and equality under the law. In the fall of 2003, a federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of Western Shoshone in the U.S. District Court in Washington. (Western Shoshone, et al. v. U.S. Case No. 03-CV-2009).
It has been a long fight for Western Shoshone elders, and in the eyes of the world, they are winners.
McCloud said, "The elders before us stood up for life and their understanding of the treaty and this elder and others still stand for the treaty and life."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article can be found at http://www.indiancountry.com/?1085081562

23 May 2004

Quote of the Week



“Indulge not thyself in the passion of anger; it is whetting a sword to wound thine own breast, or murder thy friend.” – Akhenaton

21 May 2004

See Lance Ride!



Nike: See Lance Ride


Trains, geese, Hell's Angels and buffalo too. Go Lance Go!
Just 43 shopping days left until "Le Grand Depart"...

--ryan

Iraq or Vietnam?



This letter to the editor of the Louisville Courier-Journalsays it all:


"War like Vietnam . . .
How much more like Vietnam does this war need to get before the Bush administration realizes its mistakes? Forty-five innocent guests at a wedding reception were killed Wednesday when a U.S. helicopter attacked. Twenty-five of them were women and children. One of those children was decapitated.

In Vietnam, villages were burned and hundreds of innocent people were killed in similar incidents. Ho Chi Minh said of that war, 'If we have to fight, we shall fight. You will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be you who will tire of it.' How many people need to die before President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove tire of it?


ROBIN JONES

Louisville 40207 "

We can only hope that those in charge will listen to the People...
--ryan


Fund for Lisanne Pohl



A relief fund has been established to help pay for the expenses of Lisanne Pohl, the student from Germany who was severely injured in the crash that killed Stacy King. Make out your checks to the Lisanne Pohl Fund and send to:


Ms. Michel
West Jessamine High School
2101 Wilmore Road
Nicholasville, KY 40356


Bike Lexington 2004



Bike Lexington 2004

Join us to promote bicycling and bicycle safety at Bike Lexington 2004 on Saturday, May 22. Registration is a Phoenix Park from 8-9:30 AM. The ride begins at 9:30. Helmets are required!
--ryan


Bicyclers will have the streets to themselves for rally

Brian Collins, 1941-2004



It's indeed a sad day in the Bluegrass...
--ryan


WKYT 27 NEWSFIRST & WYMT Mountain News - Well-Known Meteorologist Brian Collins Passes Away







------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted on Fri, May. 21, 2004

Longtime TV Weatherman Dies


LEXINGTON, Ky. - Longtime television weatherman Brian Collins died of complications from lung cancer Thursday at his home. He was 62.

Collins had been diagnosed with lung cancer about a month ago and with diabetes about a month before that.

He spent 20 years as an Air Force air traffic controller before moving to Lexington in 1981, where he worked for WLEX-TV. His contract was not renewed in 1992, partly because he was not a meteorologist at the time. Collins then joined the staff of WKYT-TV.

Collins studied meteorology at Mississippi State University and eventually moved up to chief meteorologist at WKYT a couple of years ago. He left the station in January, at least partly because of his health.

WKYT news anchor Bill Bryant recalled how he, another anchor and Collins sang old country songs together before doing the morning news show. "Just what a wonderful, warm, funny human being Brian was," he said.

As a television personality, Collins often was called upon to be the master of ceremonies at pageants and the grand marshal of parades. He had been an emcee at spelling bees. He had even played Santa Claus, posing for pictures with people's pets at the Lexington Humane Society. He frequently visited schools to give talks to children.

Collins is survived by his wife, Cathleen Collins; a son, David Scott Jones of Austin, Texas; a stepson, Adam Hamilton of Lexington; a stepdaughter, Katie Schottelkotte of Lexington; and a sister, Patricia Collins of Florida.

Arrangements were pending at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home on Harrodsburg Road.

---

Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------

17 May 2004

This Week's STUFF



MUSIC:Afro Celt Sound System: "Pod"

BOOK: Michael Connelly: "The Poet"

VIDEO: "Girl With A Pearl Earring"

TELEVISION: BBC America: "Without Prejudice", OLNTV: "The Lance Chronicles"

PEN: Rötring: Skynn (Fountain Pen) with Private Reserve "Lake Placid Blue" (Thanks for the Ink, Dan!)

BEER: Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic)

There's my STUFF, tell me about yours.
--ryan


Massachusetts Recognises Gay Marriages



At least one of our country's State Supreme Courts has some degree of enlightenment. Hopefully, the rest of the country will soon follow, even Mississippi (who finally officially legalized interacial marriage in 1999, by 1 vote). Congratulations to ALL newlyweds EVERYWHERE!


BBC NEWS: US State Recognises Gay Marriages

--ryan

Quote of the Week



"Why must I feel like that
Why must I chase the cat..."
~~George Clinton


Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

13 May 2004

Quote of the Week



"A Warrior is challenged to assume responsibility, practice humility, and display the power of giving, and then center his or her life around a core of spirituality. I challenge today's youth to live like a warrior."
~Billy Mills~


Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

12 May 2004

Stacy Rena Williams King (1977-2004)



NICHOLASVILLE - Stacy Rena Williams King, 26, wife of Steven King, of Allison Circle, Nicholasville, died Sat., May 8, 2004.


She was the former Vice President of the Bluegrass Whitewater Association and a member of the Bluegrass Cycling Club. She was an exchange student in Germany in 1995-96 from Todd Co. High School and spoke German.


Born in Russellville, KY on August 22, 1977, she was the daughter of Hank and Betty Thomas Williams. Additional survivors include a sister Brandi Williams and a brother, Shawn Williams. Services will be 2 pm Fri. at the Pea Ridge House of Prayer in Elkton, KY, with Rev. Louis Bradberry. Visitation will be from 5-9pm Wed. at Betts & West Funeral Home and from 5-9 pm Thurs. at Pea Ridge House of Prayer.


Guestbook at Legacy.com
Published in the Lexington Herald-Leader on 5/11/2004.








Cyclist Had Great Passion for Hobby, Life


DETAILS OF JESSAMINE ACCIDENT HAVEN'T BEEN RELEASED


By Ryan Alessi


HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER




As an avid bicyclist and kayaker with a brownbelt in judo, Stacy King was no stranger to risk.
Yet what was supposed to be a casual, scenic bike ride on a bright afternoon turned fatal.
King, 26, was killed Saturday while riding on Union Mill Road in Jessamine County. She was struck by a car, driven by Mark A. Usher, 20, of Lexington.


Details of the accident have not been released. The Jessamine County Sheriff's office is investigating, but Sheriff Joe Walker could not be reached yesterday. No charges have been filed.


King had been biking with Lisanne Pohl, 17, a foreign exchange student from Germany who was staying with King and her husband, Steven, at their Nicholasville home
Pohl, who also was struck by the car, is recovering at University of Kentucky Hospital, Steven King said. Both of Pohl's knees were shattered, and she sustained several other broken bones, King said.


Steven King, 31, said biking was an instant bond between his wife and Pohl, who only recently moved in with them.


"She was so excited about having a partner to ride with," he said, noting that he was not much of a biker. "Stacy already made a list of things she wanted to do with her for the rest of her time here. Stacy was trying to cram in enough fun."


She even had begun keeping a scrapbook for Pohl with pictures and ticket stubs, he said.
That, he said, was "quintessential Stacy."


For instance, not long after the Kings -- who would have celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on Tuesday -- moved into their Nicholasville home in the fall of 2001, Stacy King wrote Christmas cards to nearly everyone in the neighborhood.


She had always been active. In high school, she traveled to Germany as an exchange student.
At Cumberland College in the mid-1990s, her hobby was judo.
After she graduated, she began whitewater kayaking in the rivers of Kentucky and Tennessee and served as an officer of a local kayaking club.


And lately, biking had been her passion. Last year, she commuted on her bike to her job at IBM in Lexington for several weeks.


"She did love it," Steven King said. "She just grabbed life by the horns."
In July, she planned to go biking on the trails of Breckinridge, Colo., with her 17-year-old sister Brandi and Kirsti Tittle, 25, a friend from Germany. Both also have been living with the Kings.
Tom and Bonnie Walters of Lexington, who met King last year at a Bluegrass Cycling Club picnic, had organized the Colorado trip.


It would have been King's first trip west.


Bonnie Walters said they just clicked with King from the beginning.


"She was a delightful person with a vivacious smile that would win your heart," she said. "She's just one of those people who, when you meet her, you feel like you had known her all your life."
Steven King said while details have not been finalized, services for Stacy King will be held in Lexington as well as her hometown of Elkton in Todd County.


------------------------------------------------------------------------


Once again, we are reminded of how very dangerous our sport is and can be.
Godspeed Stacy...
--ryan




Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

07 May 2004

Department of Homeland Propaganda?



Is It 1934 or 2004?

As I sit here typing away I know it's 2004 and I live in the United States.
So why does it feel like Germany 1934? Who turned the clock back?

In the last month we find Sinclair Broadcasting attempting to derail an ABC "Nightline" broadcast it finds "un-American" because of its "anti-war statement." Since when is paying proper honour and homage to our brave war dead "un-American"?

We have Department of Defense brass trying to persuade CBS to bury a story revealing abuse of Iraqi detainees by members of the 800th Military Police Brigade (Uniontown NY), in violation of both international law and and the Geneva Convention.

We have heard from both the Oval Office and the Pentagon in their steadfast refusal to permit the public acknowledgement and recognition of our war dead.

This is America 2004, but recent events which have occured during the watch of G.W. remind me an awful lot of what was standard operations during the Third Reich. The German people never received an accurate accounting of the war Hitler waged with his European neighbors. They were lied to about why the war was started, they were lied to about the casualties and nobody ever bothered to tell them what the costs were.
Sound familiar?

German's were told by their government that the Reichswehrmacht was the best equiped, most technologically advanced army in the world. They were never told that vehicles were insuch short supply that horses were used to haul artillery during many campaigns. G.W. is spending more than 5 billion dollars a month in Iraq, and yet American soldiers get killed almost every day because they don't have armored vehicles to patrol with.
The SUV parked in your driveway provides about as much ballistic protection as a basic Army Humvee. Where the hell is the money going?

There was also a general, undefined xenophobic paranoia cultivated within German society by the Reich. This was a tool they used, quite effectively, to hammer home any diffectives and edicts they wished, including many which restricted and curtailed the civil rights and liberties of German citizens. Remember, the Patriot Act?

Germans were encouraged to and, in fact told, it was their duty as loyal
citizens to report the movements and activities of their neighbors, co-workers, friends and even family members to Reich officals and even to the Gestapo. Anyone who failed to conform, questioned authority or spoke their mind became a suspect, and therefore a target for further investigation. Remember, the Patriot Act?

During the current term the Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security. If he gets another term will we have a Department of Homeland Propaganda? And who will we be a war with next? And what further lies will be told?

Santayana taught us, "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it"

When you go to the poll to vote this November, you should ask yourself a question: Which direction do you want America to go? Left or Right are no longer the issue. Do you want America to go Forward into our bright Future, or continue going back into somebody else's dark Past?



As always, I welcome your comments
--ryan


Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

05 May 2004

The Republicans Were Right!



This is from my brother David:

Republicans warned us what would happen if Gore was elected in 2000.

1. We would go to war.

2. The national debt would soar.

3. The US economy would plummet.

4. The stock market would plunge.

5. Unemployment would be rampant.

6. The US dollar would quickly decline in value.

7. We would have a huge budget deficit.

They were right. Gore won and all those things happened.
:)

Something to think about, init?
--ryan