Off the I-15

If you’ve got a dog, then the dog has probably had a Milk-Bone once or twice.

The popular doggie snack is turning 100 years old — that’s 700 in dog years.

To celebrate, the company is looking for its next spokesdog. Dog owners can submit photos of them and their pets at http://www.milkbone.com/ for a chance at doggie stardom and $100,000. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is $700,000 in dog money.

Milk-Bone started in 1908 out of a bakery on the Lower East Side of New York City. The F. H. Bennett Biscuit Company made the original Maltoid, a bone-shaped treat made from minerals, meat products, and milk, according to Wikipedia. The name was later changed to Milk-Bone because of all the milk in the dog biscuit.

As part of the celebration, the company poured $1 million into its Canine Heroes program. The program donates police dogs and fits service dogs with disabled people.

If you want to share your pet with the community, jump on www.desertdispatch.com and register for our new self-publishing tools. Then you can upload photos, post comments, participate in forums or start a blog.

No really, he did, and the stranded motorist was me.

I’ve been having car problems this week. I thought it was the alternator, the fuel pump, the fuel filter. Now it’s just broken, sitting in my driveway. But this morning, it was broken sitting at the intersection of L Street and West Main Street causing a little traffic backup.

Thankfully, Det. Gary Hart from the Barstow station of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department happened to pull up next to me and noticed my distress. Hart parked behind me to ward off any unsuspecting drivers and then pushed me from the intersection to a nearby parking lot.

When I finally got a set wheels under me and made it to the sheriff’s station to check the logs, I noticed a press release waiting for me:

“On 013008 at about 0900 hrs Det. Hart was traveling on Main St. near L Street when he observed a white male adult stopped in a black 4 door vehicle with the hazard lamps activated. Upon contact with the male subject he claimed that he was with the “press” and could block traffic if he wanted to. It was apparent to Det. Hart that the motorist was simply distraught and embarrassed about the current disabled status of his vehicle and to save self respect opted to state that we was with a newspaper, which was unsuccessful.

Det. Hart calmed the almost hysterical male and had him get back into his vehicle and pushed this car from the roadway into a parking lot a short distance away.

The motorist was not cited for impeding traffic. The identity of the male subject is not being disclosed due to possible embarrassment it may cause his employer and loyal readers.”

That motorist, of course is me.

Thanks Det. Hart for giving me a push there.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

Apparently he doesn’t want to make a big deal (or no deal) out of it, but Fort Irwin’s own Brig. Gen. Dana JH Pittard was on spotted on NBC’s “Deal or No Deal.”

The commanding general at Fort Irwin presented the show’s contestant, Shequila Farrelly with a National Training Center coin, given out as a symbol of excellence. Pittard said he wanted to thank Shequila, whose husband is a soldier at Fort Hood and bound of Afghanistan, for her role as a military family.

“The sacrifice, the selfless service of all our soldiers is so important,” Pittard said on the show, “but just as important is the sacrifice and the service of our family members just like you Shequila.”

In a post-show interview, Shequila, who also got to meet Ellen DeGeneres and walk away with $36,000 — not a bad deal — said she was honored to have Pittard on the show with her.

“For him to show up and give this to me was incredible,” she said. “That Shequila was presented this coin was amazing.”

Watch Pittard in this post-show interview clip from www.nbc.com. Pittard comes on with about one minute and 36 seconds left to go in the clip.

Pittard on “Deal or No Deal”

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

NOT REALLY.
I have more faith in my former state’s voters than to select a computer as the front-runner in the Republic race for president.
But on a day when voters are going to the polls in one of the country’s most economically depressed state to help select a candidate from one party, and candidates from another party debate on the eve of a Nevada caucus, Apple wins. At least on CNN.com.
About half an hour before polls closed in Michigan, news that Apple had unveil a new ultraslim way hi-tech laptop computer topped CNN.com’s most popular story. The primaries in Michigan, second place.
This does not mean that Apple’s latest MacBook Air, no relation to Michael Jordan, is more important than selecting the leader of the United States. Nor does it mean that Steve Job’s announcement of the fraction of an inch thick laptop without a CD-drive and movie rentals on iTunes is more exciting that the Michigan primary. (Trying to figure out where all the democratic delegates went and half the republican ones went is truly a mystery to me.)
But maybe it does.
Still the question remains, if the vote for president came down to the PC guy vs. the Mac guy, who would you vote for?

Aaron Aupperlee | City editor

Look no further.

OK, this is for all of incurable geography enthusiasts out there who read Friday’s article “Contest challenges students’ knowledge of geography” in the print version of the Desert Dispatch. Yes, we know it may seem mean not to put the answers in the paper. Yeah, you have to boot up the computer and find your way to the blog, but it seemed appropriate to make you have to search for the answers to geography questions used in Barstow Junior High School’s geography bee.
So here they are, curious reader, the answers to the questions you seek:

Albany and New York City are major ports on which river — the Hudson or the Potomac?
Answer) The Hudson

Which waterway serves as a shortcut for most ships traveling from New York to Los Angeles — The Panama Canal or the Inside Passage?
Answer) The Panama Canal

Name the country in North Africa that is the most populous in the Arab world.
Answer) Egypt

Name the city on Lake Michigan that is the site of the world’s largest commodities exchange.
Answer) Chicago

And, yes, how’s this for irony, I almost got lost on the way to cover the geography bee today at BJHS. Good thing, a coworker helped me with directions.

Jason Smith
Staff writer

I received a call from Korea today.

A soldier stationed in Korea was about to reenlist in the Army when his reenlistment officer suggested he reconsider. The officer told him to check out a story online at www.desertdispatch.com about bonuses being frozen, saying it could might make the soldier consider delaying his re-up. The soldier said he was planning on using his reenlistment bonus, about $17,000 to finance a home and pay down some bills, but after learning about the freeze on bonuses for the beginning of the year, he paused.

He was referring to Saturday’s Desert Dispatch story Enlistment, reenlistment bonuses frozen across military.

The soldier, after reading the story, called my to ask one question: How long would he have to wait to reenlist before getting his bonus?

Unfortunately, I did not, and still do not, have an exact answer. The Congress will return on Jan. 15 and will most likely consider the 2008 Defense Authorization Act, vetoed by President George Bush at the end of 2007, early in the new year. Bush vetoed the bill due to concerns over language that would expose the Iraqi government to expensive lawsuits seeking damages from the Saddam Hussein era.

The bill, however, determines military policy for the new year and funds the war in Iraq. It also secured a 3.5 percent pay raise for officers and authorized the enlistment and reenlistment bonuses for 2008. How long it will take for Congress to agree on a bill that the president also approves, I am not even going to try to venture a guess.

Sorry I could not be more assistance, soldier, but please continue reading the Desert Dispatch over there in Korea.

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

Caucus fever hit the newsroom at the Desert Dispatch on Thursday just as it was hitting interested horserace watchers across the country. And even though no one from the newsroom is hopping a red-eye to farm house in Boone, Iowa to caucus with the rest of Iowains tonight, we did conduct a very informal poll about how the candidates will fair in tonight’s caucus.

The newsroom thought former republican governor Mike Huckabee would fare the best out of GOP candidates tonight. On the Democrat side, Illinois Senator Barack Obama edged out New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

Here’s a breakdown of who we think will come out of Iowa ahead of the rest. How do you think the results will shake out?

— Aaron Aupperlee | Staff writer

David Heldreth, sports writer
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama
2) Hillary Clinton
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) Mitt Romney
3) John McCain

Jason Smith, staff writer
Democrats:
1) Hillary Clinton
2) Barack Obama
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) Mitt Romney
3) John McCain

JoAnne Dutcher, page designer
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama
2) John Edwards
3) Hillary Clinton

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) Mitt Romney
3) Rudy Giuliani

Matthew Peters, sports editor
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama
2) Hillary Clinton
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) John McCain
2) Rudy Giuliani
3) Fred Thompson

Aaron Aupperlee, city editor
Democrats:
1) Hillary Clinton
2) Barack Obama
3) Bill Richardson

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) John McCain
3) Ron Paul

Scott Shackford, editor in chief
Democrats:
1) Barack Obama (In a squeaker, he adds)
2) Hillary Clinton
3) John Edwards

Republicans:
1) Mike Huckabee
2) John McCain
3) Mitt Romney

It’s 2008, really, it’s 2008. Excited yet?

I always consider Jan. 2 to be the first real day of the new year. New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, just doesn’t count for me. It’s a day when most of the country is either recovering from the late night before, watching college football or doing both. It’s not a holiday steeped with history like Columbus Day, or one filled with tradition like Thanksgiving. It’s just a day to be completely lazy. One day to rest before you face the daunting task of trying not to screw up the next year.

For that matter, I love new year’s resolutions. I am historically bad at them — I still don’t make my bed, still overweight and still bite my nails, all resolutions of years past — but I like the idea of them and hence, make a lot. I sow my new years resolutions like the haphazard gardener. I throw a bunch out there at the beginning of the year and wait a few months to see which ones take root. And, I keep most of my resolutions private. There’s no use advertising a goal that even I don’t think I’ll keep. So you won’t see a list of my — it now numbers at least 10 — resolutions. But here are two I feel confident to share.

1) Do more of this, blogging.
When we first got the blogs on www.desertdispatch.com, there was a lot of excitement and the newsroom took to updating the “Off the I-15” blog with gusto. Then we all got busy and the blog moved to the back burner where it simmered until we scraped a minute or so out of our day to blog. Well, no more.

2) Limit fast food consumption to once a week.
Not sure if many people know where the Desert Dispatch office is, but you can literally stand in the parking lot and look out over the skyline and have your pick of deliciously unhealthy lunchtime options. I spent the last year sampling them all. So fast food regulars and employees on East Main Street, keep me honest on this one. If you see me in Del Taco on a Monday and then see me sneak in the again on a Friday, just remind me that there are seven days in a week.

There’s a peak of what I’ve got planned for Aaron Aupperlee 2008. What about you? Get your resolutions out in cyber-space and ask all us to help keep you on track in the new year.

— Aaron Aupperlee | city editor