 Scripps Howard News Service July 14, 2005
Officer Doug Sonerholm clocked the man at 78 mph in a 45-mph zone near the Wasilla Senior Center, Police Chief Don Savage said. Sonerholm was headed the other direction, toward Wasilla. He turned on his emergency lights and siren, made a U-turn and tried to catch up with the 1991 Ford Explorer, Savage said. But the driver appeared to speed up. The chief reviewed a videotape of the incident taken from the officer's car. "Within 15 seconds of (Sonerholm) turning the lights on, you can see the dust, and the guy launches into the air," he said. The Explorer left the road, went airborne and flipped over, according to a press release. A Labrador retriever in the car also died. - Anchorage Daily News X...X...X CINCINNATI - As he stood in a courthouse hallway, 16-year-old Markeith Howard joked with friends and posed for pictures, his arms around other smiling teen boys. Just feet away, 14-year-old Tamika Grace watched - without a smile or jokes - from the wheelchair she has needed since the bullet Howard fired into her neck paralyzed her. Grace took some solace in knowing the next time Howard poses for pictures, it will be for the Ohio prison system at the start of a 10-year sentence he received Tuesday from Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker. "I hope I will be able to walk again," Grace said through tears after she was rolled in her wheelchair to the judge's bench. "This is the worst thing that happened to me. I can't do the things that I used to." Howard admitted in a guilty plea he made in June to shooting Grace and threatening to shoot another woman. "Her crime and the reason she is sitting in a wheelchair is she wanted to get her sweater and go home from a party and (Howard) totally lost his cool," assistant prosecutor David Prem said. - Cincinnati Post X...X...X For the first time in 34 years, bovine tuberculosis has been found in Minnesota cattle. As animal health officials prepare to kill the exposed herd of 1,000 beef cattle in northwestern Minnesota, farmers are on edge. If more infected herds are found, Minnesota could lose its status as TB-free, meaning big economic consequences for beef and dairy farmers who want to sell cattle out of state. Officials are tracing the cattle that have left Roger Skime's farm near Wannaska in Roseau County for other Midwest farms. "Dairy animals and beef animals that would be sold outside of Minnesota certainly will have to be tested if we lose our TB-free status," Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said. "Those farmers will feel the pinch." Skime said the tuberculosis has been confirmed in 21 head that he sacrificed for testing. "As painful as it is, you've got to support that decision to make sure that Minnesota is an accredited state," Skime said. "Now that they found my herd infected, they're doing the right thing by investigating other possible contacts." - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune Publish A Letter on SitNews Read Letters/Opinions Submit A Letter to the Editor
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