The animal shelter is seeking a new location in DeSoto County. Commissioner Adam Cummings wants the county to hire Roger Baltz as the permanent county administrator rather than conducting an expensive search. Baltz has been serving as interim administrator after the previous administrator resigned. Cummings believes Baltz is ideally suited for the role based on his experience and character. The commissioners will vote on whether to extend Baltz's contract or conduct an outside search at their meeting on Tuesday.
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
•C All 2008 5 26
1. Animal shelter seeks DeSoto location OUR TOWN
PAGE 1
CharlotteSun
MISSION TO MARS LANDS INDIANAPOLIS 500
AND WEEKLY
HERALD
Phoenix Lander touches down on Martian soil; NASA DIXON DRINKS THE MILK
New Zealander wins iconic American race. SPORTS
preparing to conduct experiments. FRONT PAGE 2 PAGE 1
AN EDITION OF THE SUN
VOL. 116 NO. 147 AMERICA’S BEST COMMUNITY DAILY M O N D A Y M AY 2 6 , 2 0 0 8 www.sun-herald.com 50 cents
This Memorial Day,
veterans and their
families predict how Iraq,
Cummings:
Afghanistan conflicts will
be remembered
County should
hire Roger Baltz
By JOHN HAUGHEY commissioner, Cummings
STAFF WRITER said he has interviewed
Charlotte County Com- candidates for nine admin-
missioners Tuesday will istrator or executive direc-
decide whether to launch a tor positions with the
nationwide search for a county, the Peace
new county administrator River/Manasota Regional
or hire the candidate most Water Authority, the
feel is ideally suited — Southwest Florida Regional
Interim County Administra- Planning Council and other
tor Roger Baltz. entities.
“When you got the right “The most difficult part is
man in front you, use him,” getting a handle on the
Commissioner Adam character of the person,” he
Cummings said. said.
Baltz, an assistant county That’s not an unknown
administrator, was named quality with Baltz, Cum-
interim administrator April mings said.
8, after Bruce Loucks “We have worked with
resigned. Roger Baltz for years and we
Commissioners gave know he has the right stuff,”
Baltz a 60-day contract with he said.
a $13,860 raise, bringing his Cummings said it would
annual salary to about be “unfair” to invite other
$140,000. candidates in a “pointless”
Although they can extend and expensive executive
the contract, Cummings search.
and several fellow commis- Commissioner Tricia
sioners want to resolve the Duffy has suggested
matter in Tuesday’s meet- conducting a free candidate
ing, which begins at 9 a.m. search through the Florida
in commission chambers at City and County Manage-
the County Administration ment Association.
SUN PHOTO BY PAM STAIK, pstaik@sun-herald.com Center, 18500 Murdock You can e-mail
Circle. John Haughey at
Carl Gause, 62, of Arcadia, says the U.S. has no other choice but to stay the course in Iraq. In his 14 years as a jhaughey@sun-herald.com.
Sun staff writers Jason Witz, Pam Staik, Ed Scott and Steve Smith interviewed area veterans
and their families and asked them how the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will be
remembered by veterans in 10 or 20 years. Here are their responses. Mahoney honors
Becky Hall and Vietnam veteran Carl Gause
have experienced war in two dramatically different ways.
veterans and
Their experiences will color how they recollect the ongoing
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hall will always remember the Middle East conflict
active personnel
as the most tragic event of her life. By PAMELA STAIK tion briefings.
STAFF WRITER After leaving
“It was the war that took my son’s innocence,” she
said. “It took his childhood, and it took his life.” Paying homage to India,
Eric Hall wasn’t the same when he returned from veterans and active service Mahoney will
Afghanistan in 2004. He could no longer remember personnel was a priority meet with
simple things and his behavior had become erratic. for U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney President
The 24-year-old U.S. Marine was deployed to Iraq Sunday. Pervez
in 2005. His tour ended several months later when “I can tell you that on MAHONEY Musharraf in
Sun File photo a roadside bomb severely wounded his leg. this Memorial Day, Ameri- Islamabad,
Doctors repaired the bone and muscle, but Hall ca has a lot to be proud Pakistan.
Becky Hall says the war of,” Mahoney, D-Palm Despite his various
in Iraq took her son Eric’s never recovered mentally.
Hall, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress Beach Gardens, said stops, the most inspira-
innocence and life. Eric Hall,
disorder, disappeared in February following a war during a media conference tional for him was at
a veteran of Afghanistan and
Iraq, returned home with flashback. He was found inside a drainage pipe near call while in New Delhi. Landstuhl Regional
post-traumatic stress disorder his aunt’s Harbour Heights home March 9. “The veterans should be Medical Center in Ger-
and went missing from his “I still cry every day,” Becky Hall said. very, very proud because many, where Mahoney met
Charlotte County home. He was Gause, 62, of Arcadia, served for 20 years in the their legacy is being with staff members and
found dead days later. United States Army, beginning in 1963. carried on by this genera- wounded soldiers.
He retired in 1983 with the rank of special forces tion of the military.” Mahoney reported that
master sergeant. The call came during morale was high.
Considering the things he saw in his life and his Mahoney’s weekend trip, “As we went from room
experiences in the military, Gause said the war in Iraq which took him to a to room and talked to the
will probably be looked upon as a necessary evil. hospital in Germany, as soldiers, these men and
“We didn’t want to go,” he said, “but we needed to.” well as Kabul, Afghanistan, women, it’s inspirational,”
where he attended Drug
REFLECTIONS | P6 Enforcement Administra- MAHONEY | P7
China aftershock
AP PHOTO
Chinese walk on a
collapsed bridge
destroys 71,000 homes following the May 12
earthquake at
Xiaoyutong near
Pengzhou town,
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN explosives to unblock a debris- southwest China's
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER clogged river threatening to flood Sichuan Province
CHENGDU, China — A powerful homeless quake survivors. Sunday. One of the
aftershock destroyed tens of thou- The fresh devastation came after a most powerful
sands of homes in central China on magnitude 6.0 aftershock — among the aftershocks to hit
Sunday, killing two people and most powerful recorded since the initial quake-ravaged
straining recovery efforts from the May 12 quake, according to the U.S. central China
country’s worst earthquake in three Geological Survey. The China National damaged thousands
decades. More than 480 others were Seismic Network said the aftershock of homes, killing one
injured. person and injuring
Meanwhile, soldiers rushed with CHINA | P7 dozens more Sunday.
INDEX| FRONT: State 2 | Nation 2,5,8,9 | World 5,9,10 | Health 13 | Weather 14 | TV Grid 13,14 | OUR TOWN: Police Beat 3 | Obituaries 5 | Abby 17 | Crossword 16
Daily Edition 50¢ High Low
MAKE A WISH CHARLIE SAYS ...
Grillin’ and chillin’ are great, but just
89 66
Sunny and less humid
A teen cancer survivor from North Port and her
family go to Hawaii.
OUR TOWN
PAGE 1
remember those who sacrificed so you
could have the opportunity.
7 05252 00025 8 Send suggestions to charliesays@sun-herald.com
2. Front Page 2 D/E/N/C www.sun-herald.com STATE/NATIONAL NEWS The Sun /Monday, May 26, 2008
| STATE
Lotto jackpot
Phoenix spacecraft makes soft landing on Mars
grows to $41M PASADENA, Calif. (AP) study whether the ice ever
— A NASA spacecraft melted at some point in
TALLAHASSEE — The plunged into the atmos- Mars’ history when the
jackpot in the Florida phere of Mars and suc- planet had a warmer
Lotto game has grown to cessfully landed in the Red r. environment than the
at least $41 million after Planet’s northern polar current harsh, cold one it
no one matched the six region on Sunday, where it currently has.
winning numbers in the will begin 90 days of Scientists do not expect
latest drawing, lottery digging in the permafrost to find water in its liquid
officials said Sunday. to look for evidence of the form at the Phoenix
A total of 63 tickets building blocks of life. landing site because it’s
matched five numbers to Cheers swept through too frigid. But they say that
win $6,563 each; 3,802 mission control at NASA’s if raw ingredients of life
tickets matched four Jet Propulsion Laboratory exist anywhere on the
numbers for $88 each; and when the touchdown planet, they likely would
79,080 tickets matched signal from the Phoenix be preserved in the ice.
three numbers for $6 each. Mars Lander was detected Phoenix, however,
The winning Florida after a nailbiting descent. cannot detect signs of
Lotto numbers selected Engineers and scientists alien life that may exist
Saturday: 19-30-36-41- hugged and high-fived one now or once existed.
44-52. another. The only other time
“In my dreams it NASA searched for
Amber Alert couldn’t have gone as chemical signs of life was
girl found ‘OK’ perfectly as it went,” AP PHOTO during the Viking mis-
project manager Barry This undated photo released by NASA made available from the European Space Agency sions. Neither lander
BELLEVILLE, Ill. — The
Goldstein said. “It went shows an artist’s rendering of NASA’s Marian lander “Phoenix,” which landed on the Red found conclusive evidence
father of an Illinois girl
right down the middle.” Planet Sunday night. of life.
found in Florida with a 49-
Among Phoenix’s first Phoenix avoided the
year-old man says he’s heat shield and backshell, chutes and cushioned air Like a tourist in a foreign doom of its sister space-
tasks were to check its
been told she’s OK and will and firing thrusters to slow bags to bounce to the country, the lander initially craft, the Mars Polar
power supply and the
be home in a few days. to a 5 mph touchdown. surface. will take in the sights
health of its science Lander, which in 1999
Husien Ahmad’s daugh- The radio signal confirm- Phoenix’s landing is a during its first week on the crashed into the south
instruments, and unfurl its
ter disappeared from ing the landing came at relief for NASA since Mars Red Planet. It will talk with pole after prematurely
solar panels after the dust
Belleville East High School 4:53 p.m. PDT. has a reputation of ground controllers
settled. Mission managers cutting off its engines. The
on Tuesday. A school “Touchdown detected!! swallowing spacecraft. through three Mars
said there would be a two- Polar Lander loss, along
surveillance camera We’re on the surface of More than half of all orbiters, which will relay
hour blackout period as with the earlier loss of an
caught images of 15-year- Mars and there is celebra- nations’ attempts to land data and images.
Phoenix conducted the orbiter the same year,
old Roza Ahmad being tion in Mission Control!!” on Mars have failed. Phoenix is equipped
checks while out of view forced NASA to overhaul
picked up in the school JPL engineer Brent Phoenix’s target landing with an 8-foot-long arm
from Earth. its Mars exploration
parking lot by a man. Shockley blogged from site was 30-mile-wide capable of digging trench- program.
Phoenix plunged into
Authorities in Florida inside mission control. shallow valley in the high es in the soil to get to ice
the Martian atmosphere at Phoenix, named after
arrested Heriberto Torres It’s the first successful northern latitudes similar that is believed to be
more than 12,000 mph the mythical bird that is
Rodriguez on Friday, soft landing on Mars since in location to Earth’s buried inches to a foot
after a 10-month, 422 reborn from its ashes,
saying a tip led them to a the twin Viking landers Greenland or northern deep. Then it will analyze
million-mile voyage inherited hardware from a
residential address in touched down in 1976. Alaska. The site was the dirt and ice samples
through space. lander mission that was
Opa-Locka, Fla., where NASA’s twin rovers, which chosen because images for traces of organic
It performed a choreo- scrapped after the back-
the girl was found. successfully landed on from space spied evidence compounds, the chemical to-back Mars losses, and
graphed dance that
The father says FBI Mars four years ago, used of a reservoir of frozen building blocks of life.
included unfurling its carries similar instruments
agents have seized his a combination of para- water close to the surface. The lander also will
parachute, shedding its that flew on Polar Lander.
daughter’s personal
computer. He says his
daughter is now with
police, and he’s told she’s
well. “People tell me she’s
OK,” he says.
Clearwater eyes sewage for drinking water
Authorities earlier had CLEARWATER (AP) — While the permitting water for crops and residents. The county the treated water to the
said the girl met Clearwater residents process alone takes lawns for decades. But, plans to double the aquifer, said Robert
Rodriguez in Puerto Rico could someday be about five years, the most recognizing the differ- plants capacity next year. Fahey, the city’s utilities
about a year ago. drinking treated sewage. difficult part of the ence between giving To turn sewage into engineering manager.
City officials are change could be con- treated wastewater to drinking water, lightly Each well could cost as
looking to meet the ever- vincing residents that it’s plants and giving it to treated wastewater is much as $1 million.
Body of missing increasing demand for safe. So at a public people, city officials have processed through a Not everyone is sold on
swimmer found drinking water with meeting in the next few engineers looking at microfilter to remove any the change. Critics claim
PANAMA CITY BEACH, purified wastewater. months, Clearwater’s city other areas that have solids or bacteria. The the process is too vulner-
— Authorities have found They say recycling manager and mayor plan already started using the water is treated again to able to human error, and
the body of a swimmer wastewater would take to drink water from a relatively new technolo- remove any viruses, drugs dangerous contaminants
who went missing in pressure off the aquifer, community that is gy. or contaminants. Ultra- could pass through the
Panama City Beach, but cut the amount of already using purified In California, Orange violet light and hydrogen filtration process.
are searching for another sewage running into wastewater. County has become one peroxide are used to Thomas W. Reese, a St.
missing swimmer. local waters and eventu- “We’re going to have to of the first places in the remove anything else. The Petersburg attorney who
Bay County Sheriff’s ally trim water bills. drink a glass to demon- country to treat sewage water is then pumped specializes in environ-
Office spokesman Sgt. Clearwater’s plan is to strate the credibility to to a level fit for human into the ground, and it mental law and water
Robbie Newsome says treat the sewage, and our discussions,” City consumption. The takes about six months to issues, cited a 1998
21-year-old Pierre E. then pipe it into the Manager Bill Horne told county opened the reach residents. report from the nonprofit
Allen of Water Valley, ground to recharge the the St. Petersburg Times. world’s largest water- Clearwater has the group National Research
Miss., was spotted by a aquifer. That’s where Recycling wastewater is purification project in equipment to upgrade Council that said recy-
helicopter Sunday most communities in nothing new in Florida. January. It’s a $500- wastewater to drinking cling wastewater should
morning about 100 yards the state get their Many communities have million plant that serves water but needs at least be a last option.
off shore in 15 feet of drinking water. been using reclaimed about a half-million four injection wells to get
water. He was close to the
location where he was
last seen Saturday
afternoon. Real-life inspiration for NEED CASH?
Sell your items in the Classifieds.
Miami officer shot
MIAMI — A Miami-
‘Family Circus’ mom dies Call (941) 206-1200
Dade County Police PHOENIX (AP) — The Australia. She was a
officer is recovering after Thelma Keane, the Associated native Australian work-
authorities say he was inspiration for the Press from ing as an accounting HARDEE/DESOTO ENGLEWOOD
shot in a gunbattle trying Mommy character in his home secretary, and Bil CIRCULATION CIRCULATION
to catch as many as three the long-running in Paradise worked next to her as a Customer Service Customer Service
burglary suspects. “Family Circus” comic Valley on promotional artist for 863-494-2434 941-681-3000
Police say the 27-year- created by her husband, Sunday. the U.S. Army. Fax: 863-494-3533 Fax: 941-681-3008
old officer, who has not Bil Keane, has died. She KEANE “When the “I had this desk info@sun-herald.com
been identified, was was 82. cartoon alongside the most
airlifted to Jackson She died Friday of first appeared, she beautiful Australian 18- Classified Classified
Memorial Hospital’s Alzheimer’s disease, the looked so much like year-old girl with long 863-494-2434 941-475-2200
Ryder Trauma Center on family said. Mommy that if she was brown hair,” Bil Keane Fax: 863-494-3533 Fax: 941-485-3036
Sunday. His condition is “Family Circus,” which in the supermarket said. “And I got up
unknown. Keane began drawing in pushing her cart enough nerve to ask her
Police say officers were 1960, depicts the good- around, people would for a date.” NORTH PORT CHARLOTTE
responding to a burglary humored life of two come up to her and say, The two married in CIRCULATION CIRCULATION
call at the North Miami- parents and their four ‘Aren’t you the Mommy 1948 and moved to Bil Customer Service Customer Service
Dade home around 1 children. It is now in ’Family Circus?’ and Keane’s hometown of
featured in about 1,500 she would admit it.” Philadelphia. They had 941-429-3000 941-206-1300
p.m. As they searched for Fax: 941-423-2318 Fax: 941-629-2085
the suspects, gunfire newspapers. Bil and Thelma “Thel” five children and moved info@sun-herald.com info@sun-herald.com
erupted. “She was the inspira- Keane met during World to the Phoenix suburb
tion for all of my suc- War II in the war bond of Paradise Valley in Punta Gorda Herald office
Classified ads 941-205-1000
cess,” Bil Keane, 85, told office in Brisbane, 1958.
— From wire reports 941-429-3000
Port Charlotte Town Center
mall kiosk
President..........................................Derek Dunn-Rankin....................941-206-1001 Display Advertising 941-206-1700
Sun Newspapers i
J? Publisher..........................................David Dunn-Rankin ....................941-206-1003
Li Editor ...............................................Chris Porter.................................941-206-1134
Managing Editor...............................John Hackworth..........................941-206-1147
North Port
Charlotte
Englewood
941-429-3000
941-206-1214
941-681-3000 Classified
MEMBER of the Audit Bureau of Circulation DeSoto/Hardee Sun Editor..............Laura Schmid.............................863-494-0300 DeSoto 863-494-2434
DeSoto General Manager ................Joe Gallimore..............................863-494-0300 941-206-1200
Hardee 863-494-2434
Charlotte Sun Editor ........................Lorraine Schneeberger ...............941-206-1168 Fax: 941-629-7740
Pulitzer Prize finalist 2005
National & Regional Advertisers
North Port Sun Editor.......................Elaine Allen-Emrich.....................941-429-3003 classified@sun-herald.com
941-206-1270
North Port General Manager............Steve Sachkar ............................941-429-3003 ads@sun-herald.com
Winner of 93 National and State Awards in 2005 Englewood Sun Editor......................Christy Arnold .............................941-681-3000
Englewood General Manager...........Lang Capasso ............................941-681-3000
The SUN (USPS 743170) is published daily at Sun Coast Media Group, Inc., 23170 Harborview Road, Port Charlotte, FL 33980-2100. Periodicals postage paid at Punta Gorda, FL. Postmaster: Please send address changes to the SUN, 23170 Harborview Road, Port Charlotte, Florida 33980-2100.
4. Front Page 4 D/E/N/C www.sun-herald.com The Sun /Monday, May 26, 2008
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