Top 4-6: Abominable barracks, sleeping giant, campaigning candidate
By Barbara Lyon
Editor
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 4:53 PM CST
Top 10 stories of 2008
1. Fire claims lives of three Stout students
2. Cedar Falls closes; Downsville Elementary is spared
3. Fuel prices hit all-time high
4. Menomonie man blows whistle on squalid Army barracks
5. Man kills monster bear
6. Obama campaigns in Eau Claire
7. Colfax observes 50th anniversary of devastating tornado
8. Assemblyman arrested for drunken driving
9. Company A set to return to Iraq in 2009
10. Debit card fraud sweeps county
Condition of son’s barracks prompts father to action
As far as Ed Frawley of Menomonie is concerned, his son’s barracks at Ft. Bragg, N.C. are nothing to ‘brag’ about.
When Sgt. Jeff Frawley, 22, returned stateside from a 15-month deployment in the mountains of Afghanistan on April 13, 2008, the elder Frawley was on hand to welcome his son home.
He and other parents were sent to the day room of the barracks in which their soldiers would be quartered. Looking around at the poor condition of the room prompted Ed to tour the rest of the building.
What he discovered was peeling lead paint, open drains leaking sewer gas, missing and molding ceiling tiles and rusting bathroom fixtures. The more he looked, the madder he got.
Deciding something needed to be done, Ed put together and narrated a video featuring both the still photos he took of the Ft. Bragg barracks and those Jeff sent to him from Afghanistan — and posted them to his website (http://leerburg.com/ barracks) and on YouTube (www.youtube. com/watch?v=46vYFZFU1Dew&feature-bz302).
The reaction, much to Ed’s astonishment, was almost instantaneous.
“The only thing I hoped to get out of this videotape was to get a couple of Congressmen to call Ft. Bragg and say fix this problem,” he said.
Instead, an interview on WEAU-Channel 13 set off a veritable firestorm of media attention from outlets such as KARE-11 News, CNN, and even radio shows from New York City and Seattle.
Jeff reported that a Congressional delegation came to have lunch with him and three other soldiers from his platoon. While a visibly upset Major General David Rodriguez did a walk-through of the barracks, Ed was fielding a call from Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody.
In the end, Ed’s actions resulted in a comprehensive review of the conditions of all the Army’s barracks and either the demolition or upgrade of many of them.
Farmer garners unexpected trophy
Neil Schlough was combining a field of corn one November evening when the machine came to an abrupt halt. At 7 p.m. on Nov. 26, all the Boyceville farmer knew was that he had hit something big.
According to his wife, Phyllis, the outside snout of the combine was driven into the neck and shoulder of what turned out to be a hibernating bear, estimated to weigh at least 700 pounds. Apparently, the animal, a male, had dug a hole about a foot deep and pulled in debris from the surrounding corn stalks in on top of himself.
“At first, he [Neil] thought one of our dairy steers ... had gotten out, went in the cornfield, ate too much corn and died,” Phyllis said.
By the lights of the skidsteer used to haul the bear out of the field, it was obvious that the animals was considerably larger than Neil’s original 300-pound estimate. Measuring 7 feet, the bear field dressed out at 618 pounds.
It has not yet been determined whether the animal will break any records since the skull has to be dried for 60 days before it can be scored. The couple plan to have the bear, dubbed “Hercules,” full-body mounted by Tom Persons of TP Taxidermy.
Persons estimated the bear’s age at between 15 and 20 years old.
Presidential hopeful campaigns in Eau Claire
The temperatures didn’t matter. On a cold February Saturday, more than 2,000 people stood in line outside University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Zorn Arena for the opportunity to hear Democratic Party presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama.
Delivering his standard stump speech promoting “change we can believe in,” Obama told the crowd, “When I make my speeches, I want you to feel like we can get this done.”
Bob Salt of Menomonie was among those who witnessed the event.
“It was electrifying to have that many people come together to be a part of it, to know that here in western Wisconsin there are so many people who are on board with this thing that it helps you to move outside of your own sense of individuality — and to feel like you’re part of something absolutely amazing,” said Salt, a professor at University of Wisconsin-Stout
Fellow Menomonie resident, Lynne Hausman, was also taken with the breadth of Obama’s speech.
“He covered everything from global warming veterans to health care and education to overpaid CEOs — you name it, he covered it,” she said. “He kept saying that these things can happen, that we’ve had this attitude of ‘we can’t do this, we can’t do that,’ that we have to be realistic and live in the real world. He said, ‘No, we don’t. We’re going to make the world change.’”
Obama brought his message of change to Eau Claire for a second time on the Sunday before he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination in August — and the day after he announced Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate.
At the Rod and Gun Park, the Illinois senator addressed a crowd of about 300 invited guests, including campaign volunteers, local Democrats and middle-class families.
Less than three months later, Sen. Russ Feingold’s prediction came true: “In a few weeks, I’ll be calling you Mr. President, and I’m going to look forward to this.”
Barbara Lyon can be reached at editor@dunnconnect.com. |
Archives