Off the I-15

The movie Speed Racer is full of high speeds and high speed crashes. Race cars twisting and turning around the fanciful tracks of the half-animated world that is Speed’s often collide, disintegrate or fall off cliffs. Each time, however, a glowing ball bounces from the wreck, carrying the driver to safety.

Unfortunately, real cars, the ones that drive Interstate 15 and Interstate 40, do not have these bouncy balls of safety. And even though the drivers are not pushing Speed Racer speeds — one car in the movie claimed to go 800 km per hour, nearly 500 miles per hour — or perfecting Speed Racer maneuvers — like weaving between sharp metal spikes YIKES! — the climb up Mountain Pass or an early morning blitz between Ludlow and Newberry Springs can be treacherous.

And unfortunately this week, we have all read how treacherous. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, four traffic fatalities in four days on three different roads. Each one is different and there is no way to establish a trend or rhyme or reason to the deaths.

Seatbelts might have made a difference in two of the deaths. Like the death of Brenda Wood early on Monday morning. Her niece left this comment on www.desertdispatch.com:

I have waited days to hear the details about my aunt Brenda wood’s death. I wish I couldve known in advance that she was going to be involved in this accident, maybe to try and stop it for ever happening again. It wasnt like her to forget her seatbelt, but she was really excited about her vegas trip for mothers day. She was like a mother to me. And I have not yet excepted that she is never comming back. Im never going anywhere without my seatbelt again. May you RIP Brenda Wood.

Of course, in the two fatal crashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, seatbelts did not seem to cure all. The recent deaths on roads surrounding Barstow, and all the ones still to come, underscore only one point: Those are dangerous roads out there.

So until Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Volvo or Honda comes out with Speed Racer-type safety technology and we can all bounce away from wrecks unscathed, drive safe.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

This one might even come as a shock to my parents.

I actually thought it was an April Fools joke when I came into the office on Tuesday morning to learn the police department had called in the explosive experts from Fort Irwin to examine a potato gun. True, the concept of a spud gun may be foreign to most, but for me and a couple of friends confined to the back roads and farm pastures of Ada, Michigan, it was a good time on a weekend night.

I did not see the gun confiscated by the police on Tuesday but I imagine it looked similar to the contraption my friends and I used to launch entire potatoes hundreds of yards with just a few squirts from a hair spray can, essentially a long plastic tube with some sort of ignition device at one end. I won’t go into detail about how to make a potato gun — as noted in the article, it is illegal to possess one in California.

My childhood pursuits were short-lived. Only on a few nights did my friends and I sneak onto the high school football field to conduct distance and accuracy tests. We could easily shoot the spud the length of the field but could never hit the broad side of barn, which I believe we tried once. Other nights we drove around the back roads launching spuds into farmers fields and stirring up quite a ruckus among the cows and llamas. Llama farming was really taking off in Ada during that time, don’t ask me why.

We never hit anything, to our knowledge, and spent most of our time figuring out which brand of hair spray acted as a better propellant. We singed a few eyebrows and burnt a few fingertips and then moved on with our teenage lives.

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

By now some of you may have noticed a new byline popping up in the pages of the Desert Dispatch, attached to reports of machete-wielding home invaders, scrap metal thieves and other tales of crime and punishment. That name, Abby Sewell, belongs to me. I joined the paper on March 5 as Barstow’s new cops and courts reporter.

For those of you who were wondering — no, Aaron Aupperlee has not left the paper or fled the state. He’s still alive and well and working at the Desert Dispatch. In this age of newspaper layoffs, the Dispatch was able to hire another reporter to join the small Barstow office so that Aaron can concentrate on editing.

I came to Barstow from Oregon, where I was working as a general assignment reporter at a twice-weekly paper called the Molalla Pioneer. The biggest story in Molalla centered around an ongoing legal battle over a pet deer. Before that, I lived in Portland, where I went to college and then worked odd jobs and tried to make it as a freelance writer for a couple of years before deciding to pursue a full time career as a reporter.

I had never laid eyes on Barstow before I arrived in town three weeks ago, but I’m no stranger to the desert. I grew up in Tucson, before fleeing to the greener pastures of Oregon. I liked living in Oregon — nice people, beautiful scenery, good coffee. But I also missed the desert. Nine months of rain every year starts to get to you after a while. So, when I started looking for a reporting job at a daily paper, I looked to the Southwest.

Coming from a newspaper job where I reported on pretty much everything outside of sports, the cops and court beat appealed to me. There’s always action, you get a picture of human nature at its best and worst, and people can’t complain to a crime reporter, “Why do you always write about the bad things?”

In my first couple of weeks on the job, I have found Barstow to be full of nice people and weird and interesting news. When I’m not on the job, there are plenty of hiking spots within an easy drive and Las Vegas just two hours away. What more could a reporter ask for?

— Abby Sewell

THIS JUST IN … UNO WON!

A beagle has won the Westminster Kennel club show for the first time in the dog show’s history. Uno, a three-year-old beagle, was named Best in Show Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, according to the Associated Press. 

So a beagle made history. Well, mine just makes a mess.  

Uno, a beagle, won the hound category at the Westminster Kennel Club Show last night and could win Best in Show later tonight (actually, in about 24 minutes. If I’m still writing then, I’ll update you). It’s the first time that a beagle has won its breed competition and the first time since 1939 that a Beagle has even advanced to the final seven.     

So why has one of the country’s most popular dogs, according to the Associated Press, never taken home the bacon (Best in Show)? Well, I believe I can shed a little light on this one.     

Don’t get me wrong here, I love my roommate’s beagle, Bailee, but she is a terror. Bailee prefers toilet paper, couch cushions, shoes and chairs to the toys she leaves around the house. She is always wound up (I credit that to sleeping all day while the house is empty) and just decided a month or so ago to bark at everyone who comes through the door.    

She’s the cutest thing in the world, and certainly at my house, when she’s watching TV with you, sleeping curled up between your legs or chasing after a ball in the backyard, but when she’s nipping at your fork as you try to eat dinner or standing on the table when you come home lapping up a beer she just knocked over, you can understand why the beagle has not faired well at the most prestigious dog show.     

With that said, Bailee is young, and I hope she grows out of it to be just like Uno.
   
Isn’t she cute?    

The Best in Show competition will also bit editor against editor at the Desert Dispatch. Uno of course represents Bailee, my dog, and an Australian shepherd who won the herding category represents Scott Shackford’s dog Zander. Though Zander is only part Aussie.     

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor 

Sorry Democrats vying for my vote in California. I screwed up.

When I registered to vote in California, I decided to check the “decline to state” box hoping it would shield me from partisan pigeon-holing and attacks on my objectivity as a reporter.

So today, when I went to vote, I went as a non-partisan, decline to state voter, and like many Californians, didn’t vote for any candidates when I could have.

Declined to state voters were supposed to be able to vote for Democrat or American Independent Party candidates in Tuesday’s primary. But when I got my ballot, there were no names, just propositions. I asked a poll worker if I had the right one, and I did, the poll worker thought.

I trusted the poll worker and voted. Come to find out later, poll workers across California were ill-trained and mis-informed about how to deal with voters like me.

But Hillary and Barack, don’t get all bent out of shape over this one. I was going to vote for Edwards anyway!

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

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

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

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