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A witness told police that a Lutheran bishop accused of driving drunk when he struck and killed a runner in Sun Prairie on Sundaynever braked after the crash and appeared to be trying to flee the scene, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.

Bishop Bruce Burnside, 59, was formally charged with three felonies: homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, hit and run resulting in death and homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle. Burnside also was charged with misdemeanor hit and run after police say he also hit a vehicle.

Burnside stood mute at his first court appearance Wednesday, and the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to any misdemeanor counts, according to online court records.

According to the complaint, Burnside had a preliminary breath test reading of 0.128 percent blood-alcohol content, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. Wisconsin’s legal limit for driving is 0.08 percent.

Burnside was arrested after he allegedly struck and killed Maureen Mengelt, 52, a married mother of three and an avid runner. Mengelt was a former teacher and Madison police officer who became a full-time mother after the birth of a daughter almost 20 years ago.

Mengelt was running along a blacktop path where it crosses the bottom of a Highway 151 off-ramp when she was struck.

After allegedly hitting Mengelt, Burnside drove to a nearby convenience store, where police had first contact with him in his vehicle. Burnside initially denied to police he’d been drinking, the complaint said. He told the first officer on the scene he was running late for a church ceremony.

“I was looking at my radio and adjusting,” Burnside told police. “I just want to know if the woman is OK.”

A witness told police Burnside’s sport utility vehicle jumped a median and hit a lamp post before striking Mengelt. Burnside’s SUV had “heavy front-end damage,” its back window was smashed and its roof was partially collapsed, the complaint said.

Bail was set at $150,000 cash if Burnside wanted to leave jail Wednesday, and he remained in custody. On Thursday, it reverts to a signature bond with no cash down so Burnside can comply with a condition of his bail, which is to enter an in-patient alcohol treatment facility.

Burnside is bishop of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He oversees 145 congregations in a 13-county area.

A spokesman for the synod said Wednesday that it had no comment and would issue a statement Thursday. A phone message left for Burnside’s defense attorney was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Church officials have said Burnside was on his way to an afternoon ceremony at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Sun Prairie when the crash happened.

The post Lutheran Bishop Drunk Driving Hits And Kills Runner appeared first on Global Good Group.

“They like the air to move, they like it about 72 degrees,” says Smith. “Nothing crazy here or anything, it’s all simple.”

Smith says he is hoping to get four ounces of marijuana from each plant, which he uses for medicinal purposes. His Granite Falls grow room is legal in Washington, but not in Alaska, where card-carrying medical marijuana users are allowed to possess one ounce and grow up to six plants as long as no more than three of the plants are flowering.

Though Smith lives in Washington, he has strong ties to the medical marijuana climate in Alaska — his Anchorage business, The Healing Center Medical Clinic, has helped hundreds of Alaskans obtain a medical marijuana card since it opened in early 2012.

“There was a need. We had done some research and made calls and people really needed to see us. They were having a hard time finding a doctor up there that understood that medical marijuana does help,” Smith said.

The monthly clinic gives pre-screened patients a chance to sit down with a physician who is able to provide a recommendation for medical cannabis, if that patient has a qualifying condition like chronic pain or cancer. Smith says most of his clients are men in their fifties and sixties.

“They’re out there. There’s people from all walks of life dong everything with medical marijuana cards,” says Smith. “It’s about patients. It’s not about pushing drugs on people, it’s about the choice to use a natural plant for their pain remedy, if they so choose.”
Besides being a medical cannabis advocate, he is also in favor of decriminalizing marijuana in Alaska altogether. It is an issue one national group, is pushing for too. The Marijuana Policy Project is targeting Alaska as a 2014 ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana, on the heels of successful voter-driven legalization in Washington and Colorado.

“It came sort of from the bottom up. And I guess I would expect the same thing to happen here, if at all, to come from some initiative,” said Sen. Hollis French (D-Anchorage).

Marijuana was re-criminalized under Alaska law in 2006, even though opponents argued the bill that did so was a violation of privacy rights guaranteed by Alaska’s constitution.

“We’ve always been a little different because of that privacy clause, because of Alaskans sort of jealously guarding that right to privacy. But I think we’re not a state that condones marijuana usage either. There’s a tension between those two,” says French.
Recently, there hasn’t been a real push to repeal the 2006 law from any group in the state, but Smith hopes that changes.
“If it was on the ballot six months from now and people in the State of Alaska knew that they could legalize marijuana for their own personal use, I believe they would wholeheartedly,” Smith said.

The post Medical Marijuana Debate In Alaska appeared first on Global Good Group.

The Damage

Images of displaced, frightened people huddling in flooded streets are still fresh in most of our minds, as our hearts went out to those stuck in the dome for an extended amount of time. As the roof partially ripped off, and water entered various avenues of the structure, causing significant damage. Luckily, no one was hurt by the damage, and the structure remained in-tact. A new roof was certainly necessary, however the brunt of the damage to the dome came as a result of the thousands of people residing in an area that wasn’t built or equipped to house them.

Remediation

When tragedy strikes, whether at the hand of nature or humanity, it’s often very difficult to know where to start. Luckily for us, there are third party remediation companies like Sevenson Environmental and the Texas-based company, J & J Maintenance, contracted to clean up the Superdome. When they began working on the Superdome, the conditions were so unbearable that the clean up crew could only stand to be inside of it for a half an hour at a time, according to the BBC.
The remediation of garbage, human waste and damage took months to clean up and remove, and it was debated whether or not the whole thing should be torn down and rebuilt, which would have potentially furthered the environmental impact of the situation.

The Outcome

Instead of tearing the whole thing down, the re-vamped Superdome now stands as a beacon of progress and success for the city of New Orleans. With a total cost of $336 Million, the Superdome remediation and remodel cost significantly less than the Cowboys Stadium ($1.6 billion) and the MetLife Stadium $1.6 billion). “What visitors will see in the Superdome is major, transformational change,” SMG Senior Vice President Doug Thornton remarked.
Doug Thornton also talked about the strategic vision to recreate the building into an ultra-modern stadium to accomplish numerous objectives. Those include re-igniting a major economic engine, securing the Saints long-term, and returning an icon to the New Orleans skyline. This year, when you join millions other Americans to partake in Superbowl Sunday, remember the triumph behind the Astroturf.

The post Super Green, Super Good: The Superdome's Triumph appeared first on Global Good Group.

The Gaza crisis has continued to grow worse as the Israeli military and militants trade fire. Following the killing of Hamas’s military chief, there seems to be no sign of stopping in the near future.

Israel hit 200 sites overnight, including the Prime Minister Ismail Haniya’s office. Gaza combated by firing dozens of rockets into Israel, including one at the city of Tel Aviv, which was intercepted. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal plans to hold talks with leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey on Sunday in efforts to stop the battles. The talks will take place in Cairo, which is also hosting an emergency meeting of the Arab League.

Since Israel killed the Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari on Wednesay, at least 40 Palenstanians and three Israelis have died. Troops have been gathered near the borders to prepare for invasion if the Israeli government should give command told an Israeli military spokeswoman to BBC. She stated that it did not see any distinction between the miltary and political wings of Hamas and that anything connected with the militant group was considered a legitimate target.

An Israel air force spokesman stated that it had destroyed at least 90% of long-ranged rockets in Gaza. Medium and short ranged rockets recieved a severe amount of damage along with infranstructures. However, hundreds of short-range missiles still remain, said the spokesman. Although there has been much damage, some 60 rockets were reported to have been fired into Israel on Saturday. Some building were damaged in the attack, and four soldiers suffering minor injuries. One rocket also hit an apartment building in the Israeli port city of Ashdod where several were wounded.

Israeli has put 75,000 reservist on stand by, along with the 16,000 called up recently. There has been no decision on sending troops but are in considerations if the rocket fires do not stop. The Israeli Defense Forces released figures on Sunday stating that 492 rockets have been fired over the past three days. And another 245 had been intercepted by Iron Dome.

Explosions have been set to aim fro the Hamas’s cabinet building and the house of the Hamas leader in Jabaliya, north of Gaza city. Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said 200 targets had been hit overnight. Hamas has confirmed that Mr. Meshall will meet the Emir of Qatar, Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi and Turkey’s Presidetn recep TAyyip Erdogan in Cairo on Saturday night to discuss how a ceasefire can be achieved.

Shanika Simmons

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