Evanston celebrates its first Lantern Floating Ceremony. Candles were used at the one-night festival to celebrate and memorialize life, said organizer Melissa Raman Molitor. “We thought this would be a really great opportunity to bring the community together to honor our losses over the past two years,” she said. More than 100 people attended lantern-making workshops and then set the small lights sailing on to the Arrington Lagoon near Lake Michigan. The event concluded Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. (Photo by Richard Cahan)
As I write this column, the heroic citizens, soldiers and leaders of Ukraine continue to hold the line against an unceasing onslaught from Russia. Secretaries Blinken and Austin have just visited Kyiv after a secret 12-hour train ride from the Polish border. Entire cities lie in ruins. Millions of people have been displaced. One member of U.S. Embassy Kyiv’s local staff has tragically been killed in combat.
A new U.S. ambassador has finally been named to replace Masha Yovanovitch in Kyiv, nearly three years after her forced departure. In Bridget A. Brink, we are fortunate that President Biden has chosen a talented, experienced pro for this exceedingly difficult job, which should not have been left vacant for so long—as so many of our other ambassadorial posts and other key positions have been.
Filling the ambassadorship in Kyiv is important for both practical and symbolic reasons. Our country and our Service are faced with a fundamental challenge from a rogue, hostile, unpredictable Russia that remains the world’s largest country, with the world’s largest nuclear weapons stockpile, and is one of the world’s major producers of oil, gas and other natural resources. There will be time to debate what went wrong and what, if anything, we could have done differently that might have prevented this state of affairs. This is not the time for that.
This is the time for equipping the Foreign Service to fully engage. We cannot keep trying to do more with less. We cannot keep a diplomatic presence in nearly every country without the staffing and funding to support it, and we can’t claim or reclaim a major leadership role unless we are prepared to pay for it and work for it—and to fill all of our senior leadership positions promptly. We can’t continue to ask FS and LE staff and their families to step up, only to then bog them down with myopic bureaucratic contortions.
The “peace dividend” following the end of the Cold War may or may not have been a chimera; but in any event, it is now history. Faced with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s continuing challenge to us and our allies around the globe, we don’t have the luxury of debating the case for increased U.S. engagement. Nor can we continue to value military engagement over diplomatic engagement in so many circumstances.
That’s where the Foreign Service comes in. The U.S. Foreign Service is the first line of defense for U.S. security, prosperity and fundamental values. The United States must support the hard work of diplomacy and development that can prevent conflict, death and suffering.
To those colleagues who may have wondered in recent years what exactly we are working for and why our role as America’s diplomats is still important, I say this: Democracy, human rights, individual freedom and the rule of law are under siege around the world, and U.S. security and economic interests are under threat. We must lead the charge to defend them. We must defend the global rules-based system that our country has played a pivotal role in creating and maintaining since 1945, and that has served the U.S. and the world so well.
Our colleagues across the Foreign Service are ready to take on this challenge, to take necessary risks and accept hardships. They are right to ask for greater resources, increased staffing and a commitment to fundamental reforms that the Service so desperately needs. We can’t take on 2022’s challenges with 1991’s budgets and wishful, triumphalist thinking, nor with antiquated rules and policies that date to the 1970s or earlier.
AFSA will do its part on Capitol Hill, with the administration and with the American people. We are a small organization representing a small (in Washington terms) constituency, so we will continue to partner with like-minded organizations and groups to make the case for the seriousness of this moment and the need to meet its challenges.
This may not be the 2022 we hoped for, but we have to do everything possible to ensure that we head into 2023 with a strong and well-staffed Foreign Service on the ground around the world, particularly in the most challenging and pivotal places.
Ambassador Eric Rubin is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.
Carol A. Cates, MSN, MBA, RN, is the chief nursing officer at Odessa Regional Medical Center. You can reach your via e-mail at [email protected]
By Carol A. Cates, MSN, MBA, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Odessa Regional Medical Center
Today is Memorial Day and before I talk about anything else, I want to say “Thank You” to those who are currently serving or have served in our Armed Forces. There are no words to express how grateful I am that you serve our country in such an amazingly selfless way. More than that, though, because it is Memorial Day, I wanted to thank the families of those that gave their lives for this country. Memorial Day exists to remember the extraordinary people who gave their lives for this country and so we can honor their families who have lost so much. A Thank you is not even close to adequate for what those people who sacrificed so much have given, but they are the only words I have. Thank You!
Also, because it is Memorial Day, and the unofficial start of summer, I wanted to talk about food safety during summer events. I am very much hoping that this year the COVID risk in our community will remain low and we get to go back to the big get togethers with family and friends during the summer holidays and vacations. With those summer get togethers, however, please remember to practice food safety. Food poisoning is common, unfortunately. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every year approximately 48 million people, or 1 in 6 Americans get sick from food poisoning, also known as food-borne illness, each year. 128,000 of those people are sickened enough to require hospitalization, and 3,000 of those people die. Anyone can get food poisoning, but some people are more vulnerable. Those most vulnerable to food poisoning are adults over 65, children under 5, people who have weakened immune systems, and pregnant women. People who are vulnerable to food poisoning should not eat undercooked or raw food from animals (meat, or eggs), raw or lightly cooked sprouts, unpasteurized milk and juices, or soft cheeses made from unpasteurized milk.
There are 4 basic steps to avoiding food poisoning, not just in the summer months, but all year long. Those are clean, separate, cook, and chill. Clean means to wash your hands and work surfaces before, during, and after preparing food. Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from ready-to-eat foods. Use separate cutting boards and utensils for those items. Keep raw meat away from other foods in your shopping cart and refrigerator. Cook food to the right internal temperature to kill harmful bacteria and use a food safe thermometer to check temperatures. The CDC has a list of recommended minimum temperatures for most common foods, including microwave and reheated meals on their website at tinyurl.com/c485r7wn. Chill foods within 2 hours of cooking or within 1 hour if exposed to temperatures above 90 degrees, and keep your refrigerator at 40 degrees or below.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the federal organization that monitors for safety and quality in farmed products (meat, produce, eggs, etc.), recently did several test kitchens where they watched food safety practices in volunteers. 56% of those people didn’t attempt to wash their hands before, during, or after meal preparation. Another 45% of people didn’t verify their foods were cooked to a safe temperature by using a food thermometer. Failure to separate foods was also a big problem, with 32% of participants not isolating food, cutting boards, or utensils. Make sure you account for this as you cook and eat outdoors by having hand sanitizer available when there isn’t a space to wash hands with soap and water, pay particular attention to making sure foods are kept separated, and use a food thermometer on grilled foods to make sure they are done to the correct temperature.
The biggest problem reason for food poisoning in the summer food that does not get chilled properly. The germs that cause food poisoning love warm temperatures and reproduce rapidly in the summer heat. Remember food must be refrigerated or chilled on ice to a temperature of 40 degrees or less within 1 hour of cooking or serving if it is exposed to any temperature above 90 degrees.
I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day, stay safe and please say “Thank You” to those wonderful people who serve our country in the Armed Forces, past or present, and thank their families as well.
RICHMOND HILL, Ga. (WTOC) - For many the playing of Taps is a fixture at Memorial Day ceremonies.
But for some the song can be difficult to hear.
“I have a hard time coming to these things. The playing of Taps always gets to me because it brings me back to that day,” Teresa Timmons, Gold Star said.
And on this Memorial Day Teresa Timmons is remembering her husband Chief Warrant Officer Lowell K Timmons Jr or as she called him, “Butch”.
He died during a training mission in Arizona after his plane collided midair with a civilian aircraft.
“It’s just honoring him. It’s important for me to participate in this to honor all the veterans, including Butch,” Timmons said. Timmons was one of many who came to Richmond Hill’s annual Memorial Day ceremony to remember the lives of those who died in the line of duty.
The city hosted several speakers all sharing stories of those who have fallen but promising to keep their memory alive.
“All of the freedoms that we enjoy in this country, they weren’t free. They were paid for. They were paid for by the sacrifices and the service of our veterans and they were paid for by the ultimate sacrifice of many,” Rep. Buddy Carter said,
City officials and military personnel laid a wreath in remembrance at the Richmond Hill veterans monument. Which is where the city also unveiled 46 new bricks etched with the names of those who have served including Timmons’ late husband. “I have to say that the day when the accident happened…this community embraced us…they took care of us,” Timmons said.
And for the speakers who are currently serving they made this promise to the families of those who have lost loved ones.
“Although the passage of time may not have completely healed your feelings of bereavement and sorrow, one thing remains certain, we shall never forget their sacrifice,” Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony Jennings, Guest Speaker said.
Coming together to remember the fallen on Memorial Day.
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‘I have a hard time coming to these things’, City of Richmond Hill held a Memorial Day remembrance ceremony - WTOC
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To mark Memorial Day, John Fuller (right), whose brother James E. “Skinner” Fuller was killed in the Vietnam War, joins the family of Matthew Charles Hays Freeman, who was killed in Afghanistan. Freeman’s family—stepmother Paula Hays (from left), father Mark Hays and half-brother Harrison Hays—worked for 13 years to get Freeman listed on the plaque honoring Evanston’s fallen soldiers. The delay was caused because Freeman lived much of his childhood outside Evanston. Freeman’s name was added three weeks ago. For John Fuller: “The day means a great deal.” He attends the ceremony every year. (Photo by Richard Cahan)
It's not just some Kardashian getting publicity over a luxury Maybach Metris that's raising the profile of the perennially uncool minivan; there's a little something happening out there in the marketplace.
The Toyota Sienna, currently the bestselling minivan in the U.S., more than doubled its sales in 2021 compared to 2020. Minivans from other automakers are popular as well, as the Wall Street Journalnoted this week.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. Despite an increase in attention, only 5 percent of car shoppers considered buying a minivan last quarter, according to KBB. The good news? It used to be 4 percent.
Automotive trends cycle in and out, and what's completely uncool now might fetch big bucks on Bring a Trailer next decade. Many try, but nobody can entirely predict the features and styles that will get people's attention. When minivans hit the U.S. in the early 1980s, they quickly catapulted themselves to the top of the contender list for families. Their reign as family haulers was ended by the SUV/CUV onslaught that followed, but we're seeing signs that a return to popularity might be brewing.
That's what the Wall Street Journal is tracking, anyway, pointing to a new generation of drivers who see the boxy minivan as an excellent compromise between utility and against-the-grain style. It's extreme to suggest that minivans could be ready for a return to serious popularity, but nevertheless, something real is happening with minivans.
The biggest-selling minivan in the U.S. in 2021 was the Toyota Sienna (pictured at top), which sold 107,990 units last year. That's more than twice as many as the 42,885 Siennas Toyota sold in 2020 (which, granted, was a strange year for auto sales) and ahead of the Honda Odyssey (below right) at 76,125. Toyota seems to relish the Sienna's new role as what it calls the “trend-setting Sienna,” highlighting the ways the hybrid-only minivan is ready for outdoor activities with a 1500-watt inverter, a roof rack, and an available hitch to tow up to 3500 pounds.
Kia
Michael SimariCar and Driver
Minivans from other automakers are doing well, too. Edmunds.com found that prices for three-year-old Dodge Grand Caravans were up 64 percent last quarter, compared to the beginning of 2021. And the Kia Carnival (left above)—which the automaker consistently refers to as a multipurpose vehicle, or MPV, instead of a minivan—sold almost 25,000 units last year, despite production challenges. The previous Kia minivan, the Sedona, sold 13,190 units in 2020.
Despite these increases in minivan popularity, don't expect them to overtake SUVs any time soon. According to the Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch consumer perception survey for the first quarter of 2022, it remains true that minivan shoppers make up only a small portion of car shoppers. While 66 percent of non-luxury-vehicle shoppers considered an SUV and 35 percent looked into pickup trucks in the first three months of this year, only five percent considered a minivan. The good news? That's an increase from the 4 percent who shopped for a minivan at the end of 2021. So, progress.
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(CNN)Bill Clinton was in the White House, Tony Blair was in his second year as UK prime minister and The Backstreet Boys were on top of the UK pop charts with "I Want It That Way."
The year 1999 was also when two-time European Cup winner Nottingham Forest last played in the English Premier League.
On Sunday, this sleeping giant whose somnambulant 23-year wander through English football's lower tiers that has been at turns arduous and almost comically humiliating, finally hauled itself back into the Premier League.
Roared on by 40,000 imploring fans at London's cavernous Wembley Stadium, the former European champion beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 to complete the most unlikely of comebacks, turning the club's worst start to a season in 108 years into an implausible promotion.
To anyone over the age of 40, Forest is a name associated with one man -- the great Brian Clough, who famously guided it to promotion, an improbable English top-flight league win, and then back-to- back European Cups between 1978 and 1980.
The club was a regular challenger for honors throughout the 1980s and early 90s, but was relegated from the Premier League in 1993, its inaugural season.
Clough departed, and although Forest briefly returned to the top flight under his successor, Frank Clark, its stay was short-lived, and the club was relegated again in 1999.
Joy is unconfined among Nottingham Forest's fans after the club's promotion to the Premier League.
It's a promotion that's been 23 years in the making.
Painful lows
Forest's generation-long absence from footballing aristocracy had begun to take on an air of hopeless permanence. Two lost Championship playoff semi-finals, to Sheffield United in 2003, and Swansea City in 2011, had been honorable highs amid deep and painful lows.
Surrendering a 3-1 lead with eight minutes left of its 2007 League One playoff semifinal against Yeovil Town, to lose 5-4 in extra time, is a memory that still haunts every Forest fan.
Clough managed Forest for 18 years -- in the subsequent 29 years, the club have had no fewer than 35 different men at the helm. Ownership too has been turbulent, the club changing hands four times in the post-Clough era.
Current owner Evangelos Marinakis, a shipping magnate who also owns Greek champion Olympiacos, took over in 2017 and promised promotion within five years.
Nottingham Forest players Joe Worrall and Lewis Grabban celebrate during the club's victory parade.
As recently as January of this year, that looked highly unlikely. Forest had managed only one point from its opening five games, which led to the departure of manager Chris Hughton.
New manager Steve Cooper took the reins in September with the club sitting bottom of the division.
The 42-year-old Welshman, the son of a referee and on the losing side of two previous playoff semifinals, has seemingly transformed every aspect of this once-famous club, leading them on a relentless rise up the table.
This season also included FA Cup victories over Arsenal and Leicester City, and a scare for Liverpool, who escaped a pulsating City Ground with a narrow 1-0 quarterfinal win.
Even Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was struck by the noise at Forest's venerable stadium.
"It was a massive atmosphere, a massive event. It felt like a European night to be honest. I know it's a while ago that Nottingham had them, but the crowd is prepared," said Klopp.
Winning the Championship playoff final is estimated to be worth $215 million to the victorious club.
'Mess things up'
Forest fans were certainly craving success, but they have also learned to expect the worst.
"I've been so emotional these past two weeks," Forest fan Malcolm Cox told CNN Sport before Sunday's game.
"We've been so close before and always messed it up. But this season has just felt different, everything about it. The fans, the togetherness, the sense of something special brewing. I haven't seen the City Ground rocking like it has been this season before -- even the glory days were not like this, something has just fundamentally changed."
Given their club's historic propensity to 'mess things up,' Forest fans on their way to the game were understandably nervous.
Matthew Beardsley was carrying his five-year-old son, Percie, draped in a Forest scarf, on his shoulders.
"Along with the birth of my son I'd say these are the two most important days of my life," he said.
"Who are we?" Beardsley asked his son, "Red army!" came the shout back.
Estimates put the bounty for victory in the Championship playoff final at close to $215 million.
The potentially transformative effect of such riches on the winners is clear, but the stakes were particularly high for a Forest side assembled with five loan players, including Manchester United's James Garner, as well as at least two of its own homegrown young stars -- Joe Worrall and Brennan Johnson -- whose performances have drawn attention from clubs with deeper pockets.
Had they failed to win on Sunday, retaining any of their big names would have been hard.
Cooper understood just how much pressure had been lifted from the shoulders of the entire club.
'We've been desperate for something like this and I've felt it in the last eight or nine months," Cooper told reporters.
"I'm really proud of everybody connected with the club. It isn't about individual success. It's about the club ... it's a magical football club and we've just reminded the world of that."
Before being appointed Forest manager, Steve Cooper (center) was a Liverpool youth coach and Swansea City manager. He also guided England's Under-17 team to victory in the Under-17 World Cup in 2017.
'I Just Can't Get Enough'
Sunday's playoff final was decided by an own goal -- Huddersfield's Levi Colwill lashing the ball into his own net under pressure from another of Forest's homegrown young stars, Ryan Yates.
The second half saw two convincing penalty shouts from Huddersfield controversially dismissed by referee Jon Moss, the first with the intervention of VAR. Forest held on and in Wembley's vast curving stands, the red clad hordes erupted, bouncing to the sound of the club's recently adopted anthem, Depeche Mode's "I Just Can't Get Enough."
Worrall, who captained the team on Sunday, hailed Cooper's impact.
"He's given us that little bit of belief," he told Sky TV's pitchside reporters. "It's like a whipped dog, you treat any dog with kindness and they become a nice dog, if you mistreat one then they're aggressive.
"We've been a mistreated team, and he's come in and he's given us that hope, given us that belief. He killed us with kindness."
For the fans, all that mattered was that their long wait was over.
"This is payback from all those awful nights -- losing to Woking and Yeovil -- and thinking that the story would never have a happy ending," said Cox as he walked amid the ecstatic throng of fans away from Wembley.
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Nottingham Forest: Two-time European Cup winners banish nightmares to end 23-year Premier League exile - CNN
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South Carolina begins regular early voting across the state for the first time Tuesday.
Legislators passed and the governor signed into law a bill allowing anyone to cast a ballot without an excuse for the two weeks before Election Day in the same way they would by going to the polls.
South Carolina's primaries are June 14 and early voting is available every day except Sundays. The procedure to vote is just the same as on Election Day.
Counties are required to have at least one polling place open. Some smaller counties like Bamberg, Chester, Hampton and Williamsburg counties will have multiple locations, while some larger counties like Aiken, Charleston, Greenville, Lexington and York only have one site at the county election office. A list of sites is on the South Carolina Election Commission's website.
County officials said early voting does give them flexibility to get more workers or voting machines to a site if it gets busy, which is something impossible to do on Election Day.
Absentee voting is still allowed for people over the age of 65, with mobility issues or illnesses, but those ballots must be cast by mail.
After their shock failure to qualify for the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Italy return to the scene of their EURO 2020 triumph when they face Argentina at Wembley Stadium in the Finalissima.
One of their heroes of that win over England in the final, Giorgio Chiellini, will play the final match of his Azzurri career in the one-off game played over 90 minutes.
There will be no extra time and the match will go straight to penalties if the scores are level at full time, which will be a relief to both sets of players following the end of their domestic seasons.
Argentina earned their place in the Finalissima by winning the Copa America for the first time since 1993, handing their captain, Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi, his first major trophy with his country.
Juventus captain Chiellini will make an emotional 117th and final appearance for Italy at the heart of their defence.
Italy's side is likely to look familiar to fans who watched their EURO 2020 campaign but look out for a couple of newcomers: 23-year-old Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca has been linked with Premier League clubs Arsenal and West Ham, and winger Nicolo Zaniolo, who is a year younger than Scamacca, impressed on Roma's way to UEFA Europa Conference League glory.
Italy's 3-2 win in Turkey on March 29 was their first in four matches, so it is perhaps unsurprising that Argentina are favourites.
Fans of Roberto Mancini's side are still reeling from their last-gasp defeat to North Macedonia in their World Cup qualifying playoff semi-final five days before that victory.
NEW YORK — Airline travelers are not only facing sticker shock this Memorial Day weekend, the kickoff to the summer travel season. They’re also dealing with a pileup of flight cancellations.
More than 1,200 flights were canceled as of 2 p.m EST Saturday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. That followed more than 2,300 cancellations on Friday.
Delta Air Lines suffered the most among U.S. airlines, with more than 240 flights, or 9% of its operations, eliminated on Saturday. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, where Delta is based and has its largest hub, was heavily affected by the travel delays. On Saturday, 5% of the flights there were cancelled, while 7% were delayed.
Delta noted in an email to The Associated Press that Saturday’s cancellations were due to bad weather and “air traffic control actions,” noting it’s trying to cancel flights at least 24 hours in advance this Memorial Day weekend.
Delta announced on its website on Thursday that from July 1 to Aug. 7, it would reduce service by about 100 daily departures, primarily in parts of the U.S. and Latin America that Delta frequently serves.
“More than any time in our history, the various factors currently impacting our operation — weather and air traffic control, vendor staffing, increased COVID case rates contributing to higher-than-planned unscheduled absences in some work groups — are resulting in an operation that isn’t consistently up to the standards Delta has set for the industry in recent years,” said Delta’s Chief Customer Experience Officer Allison Ausband in a post.
Airlines and tourist destinations are anticipating monster crowds this summer as travel restrictions ease and pandemic fatigue overcomes lingering fear of contracting COVID-19 during travel.
Many forecasters believe the number of travelers will match or even surpass levels in the good-old, pre-pandemic days. However, airlines have thousands fewer employees than they did in 2019, and that has at times contributed to widespread flight cancellations.
People who are only now booking travel for the summer are experiencing the sticker shock.
Domestic airline fares for summer are averaging more than $400 for a round trip, 24% higher than this time in 2019, before the pandemic, and a robust 45% higher than a year ago, according to travel-data firm Hopper.
Story Time in the Park, an APS Title I Family Engagement initiative, was created to get books into the hands of kids to prevent summer learning loss.
Certified teachers host read-aloud sessions for children and their families at a number of summer lunch meal sites in the city and county.
Families leave each Story Time in the Park session with a copy of the book that was read and shared along with an activity sheet/lesson plan of strategies and supports for reading at home. The aim is to support families so they can guide their children toward reading proficiency and a life-long joy of reading.
Through modeling and teaching, caring adults learn about the reading process, strategies for reading aloud, and questioning techniques for reading comprehension. Young children who have access to books in the home, and who are read aloud regularly, have the best chance of becoming successful readers.
Story Time in the Park 2022
June 6-July 14
Monday-Thursday
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (times may vary by location)
Lunch will be served Monday-Friday (no Story Time in the Park on Fridays)
Craig will return to the Movement Festival at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. He stopped by CultureShift to give us his top five Detroit techno tracks of all time.
Listen: Carl Craig on his top five Detroit techno tracks of all time.
1. “Beyond the Dance” by Derrick May
2. “Knights of the Jaguar” by DJ Rolando
3. “Never Grow Old (Re-Plant)” by Floorplan
4. “Clear” by Cybotron
“Cybotron was making some of the first electro records that turned into Detroit techno because of Juan Atkins,” Craig says. “‘Clear’ is the track that you can still hear today. Missy Elliot did a sample version of it some years back, so you can hear it not only in cars but also in the club.”
5. “Good Life” by Inner City
“[‘Good Life’ is] the most popular Detroit techno track in existence,” says Craig. “It’s a track that when I first heard it, I didn’t believe what I was hearing. I had already known Kevin [Saunderson] for a little bit by that time so it was amazing to know the person who was making this track that made everybody on the Boblo boat go crazy.”
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Amanda LeClaire is Host of CultureShift and is a founding producer of both of WDET's locally-produced daily shows. She's been involved in radio and the arts in Detroit for over a decade.
A fourth-grade student who survived Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, says the gunman told the children: "It's time to die."
The survivor, who spoke with CBS affiliate KENS-TV, said he was in a room that shared a door with the classroom where the gunman first barricaded himself in during the shooting. It was at that point, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CBS News, that he "started shooting children and teachers that were inside."
"He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, 'It's time to die,'" the boy told KENS-TV reporter Henry Ramos. His parents did not want him identified or on camera, but the boy wanted to share what happened.
When he and the other students in the adjoining classroom heard shots being fired, the boy said that he told his friends to hide. He and four others hid under a table that was covered in a tablecloth.
"I was hiding hard," the boy said. "And I was telling my friend not to talk because he is going to hear us."
Soon after, police arrived at the scene. An officer told the kids to "Yell if you need help," the boy recalled.
"One of the persons in my class said 'help.' The guy overheard and he came in and shot her," he said. "The cop barged into that classroom. The guy shot at the cop. And the cops started shooting."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said three officers were injured during the shooting, but that all are in good condition.
When the gunfire stopped, the fourth-grader said he left his hiding spot, alongside his friend. He said he knew it was safe to do so because he saw the officer's armor and shield. And while it was the officers who stopped the massacre, the boy said it was the teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles, who saved his and other kids' lives.
"They were nice teachers," he said. "They were in front of my classmates to help. To save them."
That sentiment was shared by the fourth grade teacher Irma Garcia's nephew, John Martinez. Garcia had four children.
"She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom," Martinez tweeted. "Irma Garcia is her name and she died a hero."
Mireles, 44, was also a fourth grade teacher who had been an educator for 17 years. In a Twitter post, daughter Adalynn wrote that her mom "selflessly jumped in front of her students to save their lives."
"My beautiful mom, thank you for the funniest memories. Thank you for the best times of my life. Thank you for being my best friend," she said. "...You are so known by many now and I'm so happy that people know your name that beautiful face of yours and they know what a hero looks like."
The nonstop Class IV stretch of the Swan River that runs into downtown Bigfork is known as the Wild Mile and is the setting for the 47th rendition of the Bigfork Whitewater Festival over Memorial Day Weekend.
The three-day festival will feature races for kayaks, rafts, and stand-up paddleboards, as well as a multitude of musicians providing live music for spectators.
“This is one of my favorite times of the year,” festival organizer David Meyers said. “We get friends and professionals from around the nation get to come and kayak this river I’ve been kayaking my whole life.”
Strategically scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend when the Swan River is traditionally at peak runoff, the river has been below average this week, according to streamflow data by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), but that could be boosted by anticipated rain over the weekend. According to festival organizers, high-flow years make races fun and fast, while lower water levels make the courses more technical.
The weekend will kick off with a women’s professional race training clinic on Friday, part of the festival’s continued goal of increasing women’s participation in whitewater events. For the first time last year festival organizers awarded equal prize money for both men and women.
“There’s definitely been a bigger presence the last couple of years of female whitewater boaters. It’s a growing craze and we’re hoping to make it grow even more,” said Meyers. “We’re stoked to continue facilitating that by offering things like the equal prize money and the training clinic.”
In years past Meyers said fewer than 10 women participated across the various events, but that number effectively doubled last year, making up close to 20 of the roughly 100 racers.
Kayaking events for the weekend include slalom and giant slalom on both the upper and lower sections of the Wild Mile with 15 to 20 gates, along with a downriver race without gates. This year two new divisions have been added to the kayaking races — under 18, and 45 and older — with a separate set of prizes.
There will also be standup paddleboard races in Bigfork Bay with beginner, intermediate and advanced course options delineated by distance, and whitewater rafting races for four-person teams.
A kayaker competes in the Expert Slalom event during the 44th annual Bigfork Whitewater Festival on a foamy section of the Swan River known as the “Wild Mile” on May 25, 2019. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon
Nearly 50 years ago the Bigfork Whitewater Festival began as an unofficial event where kayakers showed up to the run the Wild Mile, which was previously known as the Mad Mile, before stopping by the Garden Bar. Bar owners told the kayakers to return the next year for free pizza and beer, and the springtime event evolved into the Bigfork Whitewater Festival throughout the years.
The festival was on the pro circuit until 1999 when a scheduling conflict forced it off the ticket, but it’s still part of the Western Whitewater Championship Series and attracts local and international pro kayakers who stop in Bigfork on their way to pro circuit competitions.
This year Meyers is expecting a decent contingent of international racers after last year’s pandemic restrictions limited their ability to travel.
“The top five to 10 kayakers will be some of the best on the racing circuit,” Meyers said. “Plus we raised the prize purse, so even for a dirtbag kayaker it’s a lot of money that makes it worth showing up for.”
To boost the festival’s community appeal, several musical acts including Brent Jameson Duo, Michelle Rivers and Hannah King, Pedacter Project and Luke Dowler will be prefroming along the Swan River Nature Trail as well as throughout downtown Bigfork. There will also be a free concert by Missoula band Mudslide Charley on Friday evening, and a fundraiser for local first responders.
Meyers also said the festival will be offering bluetooth headphones that work over a mile radius, allowing spectators to hear commentators no matter where they are on the course.
“This race is so unique because most kayaking events are out in the middle of nowhere,” Meyers said. “We have a river trail that runs next to the course so spectators can be right there. Having a few hundred people on the banks screaming at you makes a great atmosphere for a first-time racer and a seasoned pro.”
“Many hands make light work,” they say, and as the countdown to Commencement hits its final hours, the handiwork of the Facility Services grounds crew — a team bolstered by the addition of student helpers during Short Term — is seen everywhere on campus.
Like in front of Coram Library, where springtime color now encircles the base of the Class of 1932 Sundial thanks to two newly planted annuals, white euphorbia and vibrant red calibrachoa.
Charlotte Collins, a senior from Woolwich, Maine, helped Jeremy Lavertu, the horticulture lead for Grounds and Maintenance, plant the flowers. In a couple days, Collins will be able to see how they’re doing: She and her classmates walk right by the sundial as they take their seats at Commencement, on Sunday, May 29, and they’ll recess past it afterward.
Jeremy Lavertu and landscape assistant Charlotte Collins ’22 of Woolwich, Maine, are heads down as they plant white euphorbia and red calibrachoa around the base of the Class of 1932 Sundial on May 12, 2022. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Among the student workers, it’s a point of pride, says Collins, to help make the campus look great for everyone. For the seniors on the crew, which numbers about a dozen, “I think it feels wonderful to make the campus look beautiful for our own Commencement.”
She and Lavertu have planted hundreds of flowers all over campus. The new flowers weren’t snapped up at the local big box store, but grown from seedling plugs by the grounds crew and their student workers in a campus greenhouse located a few paces from Cutten Maintenance Center.
Step into the greenhouse, and you’re greeted with green as far as can be seen, splashes of bright floral colors everywhere thanks to the assortment of petunias, begonias, German ivy, calibrachoa, cleome, and angelonia.
The begonias are Collins’ favorites: She likes their dark green leaves and deep pink blossoms.
Student landscape assistant Taylor Alexander ’22 of Bethesda, Md., and Jeremy Lavertu, horticulture lead for Grounds and Maintenance, go over the work at hand in the college greenhouse on May 16, 2022, as they prepare to distribute and plant annuals around campus. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
While winter does wipe away the previous seasons’ annuals, it doesn’t take away Lavertu’s memory of what goes where. He worked with Bill Bergevin, who oversaw campus greenery for years before his retirement in 2018, and paid attention to locations of all the traditional spring plantings.
Transplanting the flowers is a whole process: the flats of plants have to be loaded onto a golf cart trailer and taken to the chosen spot. This day it’s the sundial. Other high-visibility spots include pathways taken by Admission tours. Lavertu likes the idea that visitors will see the blooms. “They make people happy.”
Grounds & Maintenance Lead – Horticulture Focus Jeremy Lavertu and Grounds and Maintenance Worker Jon-Michael Foley (both of Facility Services) work with three student landscape assistants in the college’s greenhouse behind Cutten Maintenance Center. They’re preparing plants for campus distribution. Students are Charlotte Collins ’22 (frog t-shirt with flowers behind ear) of Woolwich, Maine, Clay Hundertmark ’22 (gray t-shirt) of Portsmouth, N.H., and Taylor Alexander ’22 (tank top) from Bethesda, Md.
Before putting their 40-plus flowers in the ground, Lavertu and Collins talk about the ratio of red to white. Once the pattern is decided, they dig holes and place the plants. They take turns sprinkling tiny light brown pellets, about the size of peppercorns, from a plastic shaker, then give the flowers a good soaking.
The fertilizer is Osmocote, says Lavertu, a brand of slow-release fertilizer that releases nutrients gradually over six months. “It’s slow,” he says, “but it’ll do its magic eventually.” The nutrient prills are activated by water, and then they release their nutrients in reaction to changes in temperature. This makes the fertilizer very beneficial during the hotter summer months, says Lavertu.
Charlotte Collins ’22 hands Jeremy Lavertu a canister of fertilizer as they finish the planting annuals around the Class of 1932 Sundial on May 12, 2022. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Once the sundial is surrounded by a riot of red and white, Lavertu brings out a tub of black mulch, and he and Collins spread it out. “Mulch makes everything prettier,” she says. “Some people don’t like the smell, but honestly I love it.”
Collins grew up on a family-run organic farm in Woolwich, which provides a community supported agriculture garden, or CSA. “We had about 25 families coming in every weekend to pick up vegetables, and we had sheep and chickens, too.”
She misses the farm, but most of all, she misses the sheep, and more specifically, lambing season.
Charlotte Collins ’22, with a sprig of lily of the valley behind the ear, in the campus greenhouse on May 16, 2022. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Lambing season is in April, “around the same time you’d be getting your chicks from the tractor store,” says Charlotte Collins. “And it was right around my birthday, so it was always exciting. I’d try to get up earlier than all my sisters, so I could be the first one out to the barn to see if there was a new lamb. Sometimes the lamb would have squeezed under the fence into the pasture, to be with its momma, and then I’d get to ‘rescue’ it,” she says, laughing. “It’d be all wet and covered in placenta and all sorts of gross stuff, but it was so fun.”
So Collins is not afraid to get her hands dirty — in fact, she relishes it. “Growing up, weeding was the worst punishment. But now that I’m an adult, I could honestly spend hours doing just that. My dad laughed at me and told me, ‘I told you so!’” She smiles. “Really, the best feeling is dirt between your toes and fingers.”
At this point, she glances at Lavertu, recalling what he taught her, and what his own college teachers taught him: Dirt gets on your hands and clothes, while soil is rich with nutrients and decomposing organic matter.
“Soil, not dirt,” she says.
Collins and Lavertu share a laugh as they plant annuals around the Class of 1932 Sundial on May 12, 2022. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
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