Tropical Storm Lee forms off US Gulf

By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY - Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A large storm system churning in the Gulf Of Mexico grew Friday into Tropical Storm Lee, beginning a holiday weekend-long assault that could bring up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain in some spots from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

The storm was expected to make landfall on the central Louisiana coast late Saturday and turn east toward 

New Orleans, where it would provide the biggest test of rebuilt levees since Hurricane Gustav struck during the Labor Day holiday in 2008.

Governors in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as the mayor of New Orleans, declared states of emergency. 

Officials in several coastal Louisiana communities called for voluntary evacuations.

Residents who have survived killer hurricanes such as Katrina in 2005 didn't expect Lee to live up to that legacy.

"It's a lot of rain. It's nothing, nothing to Katrina," said Malcolm James, 59, a federal investigator in New Orleans who lost his home after levees broke during Katrina in August 2005 and had to be airlifted by helicopter.

"This is mild," he said. "Things could be worse."

Lee comes less than a week after Hurricane Irene killed more than 40 people along the East Coast and knocked out power to millions. It was too soon to tell if Hurricane Katia, out in the Atlantic, could endanger the U.S.

By Friday evening, the outer bands of Lee, the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, already began dumping rain over southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and Alabama.

The storm's biggest impact, so far, has been in the Gulf of Mexico oil fields. About half the Gulf's normal daily oil production has been cut as rigs were evacuated, though oil prices were down sharply Friday on sour economic news.

Federal authorities said 169 of the 617 staffed production platforms have been evacuated, along with 16 of the 62 drilling rigs. That's reduced daily production by about 666,000 barrels of oil and 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas.

Tropical storm warning flags were flying from Mississippi to Texas and flash flood warnings extended along the Alabama coast into the Florida Panhandle. Lee had winds of 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour — minimal tropical storm strength.

The National Hurricane Center said the center of Lee was about 185 miles (295 km) southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River on Friday and moving north at just 2 mph (4 kph). Its center was expected to make landfall in Louisiana over the weekend.

Forecasters say that Lee's maximum sustained winds have increased to 45 mph (75 kph), from 40 mph (65 kph), and could increase further.

In New Orleans' central business district, Friday seemed a typical day. Employees at big-box home improvement stores said residents weren't rushing in to stock up on supplies.

Merchants, however, worried the storm would dampen the Southern Decadence festival, an annual gay lifestyle fixture that rings cash registers on Labor Day weekend. Ann Sonnier, shift manager of Jester's bar, said receipts were disappointing so far.

"People are probably scared to death to come here after Katrina," she said.

White House: Five Nascar drivers decline President Obama's invitation

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Many people would jump at the chance to be honored by the President of the United States at the White House, regardless of their political views. But that might not be the case for a handful of NASCAR drivers. 
On Wednesday, President Obama will honor NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and the other 11 Chase drivers from last year in a white house ceremony. But about half of the 2010 playoff contenders will not be there.

According to NASCAR, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart will not be attending the White House visit.  They say it's due to "schedule conflicts."

But many are speculating that their motives are political in nature.

Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth will all attend.

Honor fellow World War II survivors while they're still alive

WRLTHD Headline News

Article by: AUDREY McAVOY , Associated Press

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - A Marine who fought in the Battle of Okinawa urged Americans on Friday to honor those who served in World War II now, while veterans from that conflict are still alive.

E. Bruce Heilman, speaking at a ceremony marking the 66th year since the end of the war, noted fewer than 2 million of the 16 million men and women who served in the war are alive. They are dying at a rate of 30,000 per month, he said.

Some 20 World War II veterans boarded the now decommissioned battleship, the Missouri — the same battleship where Japanese signed surrender documents formally ending the war — to participate in this year's ceremony in Pearl Harbor.

Heilman, who is a spokesman for the Greatest Generations Foundation, predicted not many would be able to come back in a decade's time.

"Most of those remaining, including those in the front row, will have passed on, so that few, if any, will be present for the ceremony of the 76th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. Those of us still here will be of age 95 to 101," Heilman said. "Therefore the importance of remembering now the sacrifices and acts of heroism representative of their service cannot be overstated."

Heilman, who is now the chancellor of the University of Richmond, joined the Marines at age 17. He was sent to Okinawa, where one of the bloodiest battles of the war was fought from April to June 1945, and served during the postwar occupation of Japan.

Some 300 people — including active duty sailors, Marines, airmen and soldiers — joined the veterans at the ceremony aboard the Missouri's teak deck.

The USS Missouri was anchored in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, when Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Army Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu came aboard to sign the documents. Several Allied leaders, including Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester Nimitz, were also present at the time.

The vessel, the last battleship ever built by the United States, is now a museum called the Battleship Missouri Memorial. It has been moored in Pearl Harbor for the past decade, overlooking the spot where the USS Arizona sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Michigan man killed by grizzly in Yellowstone

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park rangers are trying to capture a grizzly they say killed a hiker from Michigan last week, the second fatal bear attack this summer at the famed park, authorities said Monday.

The body of John Wallace, 59, was discovered Friday along a trail near an area of the park known for its high population of bears. An autopsy concluded he died from injuries in a bear attack.

"We know of no witnesses" to the attack, park superintendent Dan Wenk said. "We think we provide visitors with pretty good knowledge and techniques to keep them safe in the backcountry. Unfortunately, in this case it didn't happen that way."

Rangers set traps and plan to kill the animal if they can establish through DNA analysis that it was the one that attacked Wallace, Wenk said.

Wenk said park officials do not believe the bear was involved in the other mauling this summer several miles away from where Wallace's body was discovered. In July, a female bear with cubs killed a hiker from California. Officials did not kill the sow grizzly because they concluded it was defending its cubs.

In the latest case, there were no sign of cubs in the area where Wallace was killed.

Wallace, of Chassell, Mich., was apparently traveling alone and had pitched a tent in a developed campground sometime Wednesday, park officials said.

Authorities said Wallace likely was killed Wednesday or Thursday during a hiked along the Mary Mountain Trail. He was about five miles from the nearest trailhead and authorities said he was not carrying bear spray — mace-like canisters of pepper spray that can be used to defend against bear attacks.

Investigators found a snack bar in his closed backpack, but authorities said it did not appear the grizzly tried to get at the food.

Rangers also found grizzly tracks and scat, or bear droppings, near Wallace's body. The body was discovered in an area of the park that rangers close from March to June because it is considered "high-density" grizzly country.

In the case of Wallace's death, Wenk said there was too little information to know if it was a defensive attack or not. As a result he said the bear would be killed if it can be positively identified as the culprit.

"We're going to err on the safe side of caution since we'll never really know the circumstances in this case," he said.

Two trails and a section of the Hayden Valley west of Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road have been closed to hikers. Park officials asked hikers elsewhere in the park to stay on the trails, to hike in groups of three or more and carry bear spray.

Wallace's death was the fourth in the greater Yellowstone area since June 2010.

Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said there are "a lot of bears" in the area where Wallace was killed. He said only a portion of the animals have had prior DNA testing.

Yellowstone and surrounding areas are home at least 600 grizzlies. Once rare to behold, grizzlies have become an almost routine cause of curious tourists lining up at Yellowstone's roadsides at the height of summer season.

In June 2010, a grizzly just released after being trapped and tranquilized for study killed an Illinois man hiking outside Yellowstone's east gate. Last July, a grizzly killed a Michigan man and injured two others in a nighttime campground rampage near Cooke City, Mont., northeast of the park.

Despite the killings, Wenk said dangerous encounters remain rare between grizzlies and the more than 3 million people who visit the park each year. The July killing was the first inside the park first since 1986.

"We've averaged one encounter that has caused injuries a year for the past 25 years," Wenk said. "The record speaks for itself."

Nathan Osmond release's new single, "The Tailgate Song"

WRLTHD Music News

August 26, 2011 - Nashville, TN - Question: What do Tailgating and Country music have in common? Answer: Nathan Osmond. Already hitting number one this year on the Independent Country charts and number eight on the major Country charts with his single "SWEET," Pretty World Records is proud to release what they feel is another solid Country hit, "The Tailgate Song."

This toe-tapping, true to Country roots, sports-nut anthem was written by Grammy award winning songwriters, Gary Baker ("I Swear", "I'm Already There"), Frank Myers ("I Swear", "My Front Porch Looking In") and Matt Johnson. It tells the story of Billy, a straight-laced accountant who seems to be living a double life. He has his daily, boring routine at the office, but come Saturdays around September, "he's not the guy you remember." He seems to be the biggest super fan of all! Osmond will be shooting the music video on September 3rd in Carthage, TN, just outside Nashville with director Matt Houser who is credited for helping to shoot Rascal Flatts & Natash Bettingfield's latest video, "Easy." When asked about the video Osmond said, "I am thrilled to have Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer as the official sponsor of the video and am looking forward to working with the city of Carthage, TN." The video will feature cheerleaders, rednecks, hottie referees, marching bands, football players, face-painted-super-fans and Billy the straight-laced accountant who is the life of the tailgate party.

Osmond recorded the song at the infamous NoiseBlock Music Group studios in Florence, AL. Gary Baker, who also produced the song, brought in Nashville's top musicians to play on Osmond's track. The song is hitting radio stations around the globe and is available to radio stations for download at: www.AirPlayaccess.com.  For more information, go to www.NathanOsmond.com or contact Nathan Osmond's manager, LeeAnn Lallone (L&L Management) in Nashville, TN. (615) 310-0718 or leelallone@comcast.net and Tom Roach (812)827-4003 toroach@insightbb.co

For more information visit:

nathanosmond.blogspot.com/

nathanosmond.com/

toroach@insightbb.com

Gibson Guitar raided by feds!

By ERIC FELTEN
The Commercial Appeal/Zuma Press

Agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pore through the workshop at the Gibson Guitar factory on Wednesday morning.

Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.

It isn't the first time that agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service have come knocking at the storied maker of such iconic instruments as the Les Paul electric guitar, the J-160E acoustic-electric John Lennon played, and essential jazz-boxes such as Charlie Christian's ES-150. In 2009 the Feds seized several guitars and pallets of wood from a Gibson factory, and both sides have been wrangling over the goods in a case with the delightful name "United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms."

The question in the first raid seemed to be whether Gibson had been buying illegally harvested hardwoods from protected forests, such as the Madagascar ebony that makes for such lovely fretboards. And if Gibson did knowingly import illegally harvested ebony from Madagascar, that wouldn't be a negligible offense. Peter Lowry, ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden, calls the Madagascar wood trade the "equivalent of Africa's blood diamonds." But with the new raid, the government seems to be questioning whether some wood sourced from India met every regulatory jot and tittle.

It isn't just Gibson that is sweating. Musicians who play vintage guitars and other instruments made of environmentally protected materials are worried the authorities may be coming for them next.

If you are the lucky owner of a 1920s Martin guitar, it may well be made, in part, of Brazilian rosewood. Cross an international border with an instrument made of that now-restricted wood, and you better have correct and complete documentation proving the age of the instrument. Otherwise, you could lose it to a zealous customs agent—not to mention face fines and prosecution.

John Thomas, a law professor at Quinnipiac University and a blues and ragtime guitarist, says "there's a lot of anxiety, and it's well justified." Once upon a time, he would have taken one of his vintage guitars on his travels. Now, "I don't go out of the country with a wooden guitar."

The tangled intersection of international laws is enforced through a thicket of paperwork. Recent revisions to 1900's Lacey Act require that anyone crossing the U.S. border declare every bit of flora or fauna being brought into the country. One is under "strict liability" to fill out the paperwork—and without any mistakes.

It's not enough to know that the body of your old guitar is made of spruce and maple: What's the bridge made of? If it's ebony, do you have the paperwork to show when and where that wood was harvested and when and where it was made into a bridge? Is the nut holding the strings at the guitar's headstock bone, or could it be ivory? "Even if you have no knowledge—despite Herculean efforts to obtain it—that some piece of your guitar, no matter how small, was obtained illegally, you lose your guitar forever," Prof. Thomas has written. "Oh, and you'll be fined $250 for that false (or missing) information in your Lacey Act Import Declaration."

Consider the recent experience of Pascal Vieillard, whose Atlanta-area company, A-440 Pianos, imported several antique Bösendorfers. Mr. Vieillard asked officials at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species how to fill out the correct paperwork—which simply encouraged them to alert U.S. Customs to give his shipment added scrutiny.

There was never any question that the instruments were old enough to have grandfathered ivory keys. But Mr. Vieillard didn't have his paperwork straight when two-dozen federal agents came calling.

Facing criminal charges that might have put him in prison for years, Mr. Vieillard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act, and was handed a $17,500 fine and three years probation.

Given the risks, why don't musicians just settle for the safety of carbon fiber? Some do—when concert pianist Jeffrey Sharkey moved to England two decades ago, he had Steinway replace the ivories on his piano with plastic.

Still, musicians cling to the old materials. Last year, Dick Boak, director of artist relations for C.F. Martin & Co., complained to Mother Nature News about the difficulty of getting elite guitarists to switch to instruments made from sustainable materials. "Surprisingly, musicians, who represent some of the most savvy, ecologically minded people around, are resistant to anything about changing the tone of their guitars," he said.

You could mark that up to hypocrisy—artsy do-gooders only too eager to tell others what kind of light bulbs they have to buy won't make sacrifices when it comes to their own passions. Then again, maybe it isn't hypocrisy to recognize that art makes claims significant enough to compete with environmentalists' agendas.

Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson, 35, and his beloved and loyal dog Hawkeye

By CHRISTINA NG
Aug. 25, 2011

They say that a dog is a man's best friend, and for Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson, 35, and his beloved and loyal dog Hawkeye, not even death could break this powerful bond.

At Tumilson's funeral in Rockford on Aug. 19, his beloved canine lay at the foot of the casket throughout the ceremony. Tumilson's cousin Lisa Pembleton took the heart-wrenching photo of the devoted dog, known to Tumilson's family and friends as his "son."

"I took this picture and that was my view throughout the entire funeral. I couldn't NOT take a picture," Pembleton said. "It took several attempts since every time I wasn't crying and could focus on taking it, there was a SEAL at the microphone and I didn't want to take a picture with them for security and respect reasons. Our family is devastated to say the least."

Petty Officer Tumilson, from Rockford, Iowa, was one of 22 Navy SEALS who died when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by Afghan insurgents, claiming the lives of 30 Americans.
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More than 50 SEALs were in attendance at the funeral. Though the funeral was taped, most of it was only audio so as not to disclose the identity of the SEALs.

"From a young age, J.T. wanted nothing more than to be a SEAL," said an attendee, possibly a SEAL, in a speech at the funeral. "I didn't realize the depth of his desire until I stepped into his bedroom at his parent's house for the first time. His room was a shrine … pictures, paintings, books and videos all related to being a Navy SEAL."

Tumilson joined the Navy in 1995 and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Defense Meritorious Service Medal, in addition to numerous medals he won throughout his service. He is survived by a large family, including his parents, two sisters and many extended relatives.

"Even though you were the baby of the family, I want you to know how much I looked up to you," said one of his sisters, speaking through tears at the funeral. "You always showed so much strength, courage, determination and selfless love."

In a statement, Tumilson's family said that he "died living his dream as a Navy SEAL."

"Jon was a Navy SEAL and he was proud to die this way—for his country and for the people he loved so much," his family wrote. "We respect the nature of their jobs and the need to protect these men and women so they can continue to serve our nation; therefore, we will not provide details of Jon's military service."

Hawkeye is being cared for by a friend of Tumilson's.

Tumilson's family has started a memorial fund and contributions can be made to Frogman 238 Memorial Fund, First Security Bank and Trust, 201 West Main Ave., Rockford, IA 50468.