Catching up with old stories

There are several stories that I have brought up that had updates today so I will have a little to say about a lot.

First the emus, police have arrested an Elmwood Park man for releasing the emus in the forest preserve. 43 year old Isidoro Lujano-Gonzales was cited by the Cook County Forest Preserve police for abandoning the birds in the Skokie Lagoons. Officials say that Lujano-Gonzales released the birds after being told that he couldn't keep them in his back yard. He intended to shoot them at the lagoon and let the coyotes that live there eat the carcasses.

Mt. St. Helens is still erupting. On Saturday, the volcano had the most severe earthquake since it started erupting in October. A 3.2 magnitude quake (which actually, could just barely be felt) and a 2.6 and 2.8 happened today. This is nothing unusual in lave dome growth and a full series of tests were going to be done today including repairing communications systems on the volcano.

Chai Vang, the Hmong hunter that allegedly killed six hunters and wounding two others without provocation was today charged with six counts of first-degree homicide by use of a dangerous weapon and two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the November 21st shooting rampage. Most of the victims was shot in the back and only one was armed. There is no doubt that Mr. Vang shot eight people, the question is whether he was provoked. He has argued that several racial epithets were thrown at him, he was threatened, and the one person that had a gun shot first. I'm not buying it.

I'm not sure why this made the news because I'm sure it's been around for awhile. There is a law in Provo, Utah that prohibits pet owners from having a cat and a dog in the same household. Owners are allowed to have two cats or two dogs but not a cat and a dog. Unless somemeone was worried about inter-species breeding (which is absolutely ridiculous) I can't see a point and even if they are, I can't see a point.

Godzilla, who is celebrating his fiftieth birthday this year, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday. Godzilla met hundreds of fans for the ceremony along with representatives of Toho Co., who produced all of his films, outside Grauman's Chinese Theater. The star was awarded prior to the premiere of his latest film, "Godzilla Final Wars".

A Seattle man was killed on Sunday after a Lava Lamp, which he had had on a stove to warm up, exploded. A piece of glass from the lamp pierced his heart. Philip Quinn, 24, was found dead in his bedroom. Glass shards were found around the stove and embedded in the walls. Its thought that he was standing in front of the stove when the lamp exploded and stumbled into his bedroom and died.

Hardee's has started a multi-million dollar ad campaign for their Monster ThickBurger. Two weeks after they started selling this they seem to be having great word of mouth. I'm sure it's a macho thing. Guy's have to have the biggest and best. Chris Squires, a St. Petersburg Times reporter, joked that travelers should go a little light on the airlines and have a stick of butter, which only has 800 calories and 88 grams of fat, instead. The Monster ThickBurger has 1420 calories and 107 grams of fat.

November ended just short of the record deadliest month. 133 Americans were killed, which brought the total for the war to 1254. The month of April was the deadliest month and it is the month that I will be documenting tonight. The folowwing 135 soldiers were killed in April 2004.

April 1: PFC Dustin M. Sekula

April 2: PFC William R. Strange

April 3: PFC Geoffrey S. Morris

April 4: Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, Spc. Ahmed Akil "Mel" Cason, Spc. Stephen D. "Dusty" Hiller, Sgt. Yihiyh L. Chen, Sgt. Michael W. Mitchell, PFC John D. Amos II, Spc. Philip G. Rogers, Lcpl. Aric J. Barr, Spc. Robert R. Arsiaga, Spc. Israel Garza, Cpl. Forest Joseph Jostes, Spc. Casey Sheehan

April 5: Spc. Scott Quentin Larson Jr., Cpl. Jesse L. Thiry, PFC Moises A. Langhorst, Lcpl. Shane Lee Goldman, Lcpl. Matthew K. Serio, PFC Christopher Ramos, PFC Deryk L. Hallal, Sgt. David M. McKeever

April 6: PFC Christopher R. Cobb, PFC Ryan M. Jerabek, Lcpl. Travis J. Layfield, Lcpl. Kyle D. Crowley, Lcpl. Anthony P. Roberts, Lcpl. Marcus M. Cherry, PFC Benjamin R. Carman, PO3 Fernando A. Mendes-Aceves, PFC Christopher D. Mabry, Sgt. Lee Duane Todacheene, Ssgt. Allen K. Walker, Ssgt. Gerardo Moreno

April 7: 2nd Lt. John Thomas "J. T." Wroblewski, Ssgt. George S. Rentschler, Spc. Tyanna S. Felder, SFC William W. Labadie Jr., SFC Marvin Lee Miller, Capt. Brent L. Morel

April 8: Lcpl. Levi T. Angel, Spc. Isaac Michael Nieves, Ssgt. William M. Harrel, Lcpl. Michael B. Wafford, Cpl. Nicholas J. Dieruf, Lcpl. Christopher B. Wasser, Lcpl. Philip E. Frank, 1st Lt. Joshua M. Palmer

April 9: Sgt. Felix M. Delgreco, PFC Gregory R. Goodrich, Spc. Jonathan Roy Kephart, Cpl. Matthew E. Matula, Lcpl. Elias Torrez III, Cpl. Michael Raymond Speer, Ssgt. Don Steven McMahan, Spc. Peter G. Enos, Ssgt. Toby W. Mallet, Spc. Michelle M. Witmer, Spc. Alan Jeffrey "A.J." Vandayburg, PFC Eric A. Ayon, PFC Chance R. Phelps, Ssgt. Raymond Edison Jones Jr., Sgt. Elmer C. Krause

April 10: Airman 1st Class Antoine J. Holt, Lcpl. John T. Sims Jr., Sgt. William C. Eckhart, Spc. Adolf C. Carballo

April 11: CWO Lawrence S. Colton, 1st Lt. Oscar Jimenez, PFC George D. Torres, Spc. Justin W. Johnson, PFC Nathan P. Brown, Sgt. Maj. Michael Boyd Stack, CWO Wesley C. Fortenberry, Cpl. Daniel R. Amaya, Lcpl. Torrey L. Gray

April 12: Lcpl. Robert Paul Zurheide Jr., Lcpl. Brad S. Shuder

April 13: Ssgt. Victor A. Rosaleslomeli, Pvt. Noah L. Boye, Cpl. Kevin T. Kolm

April 14: Spc. Frank K. Rivers Jr., Spc. Richard K. Trevithick, Sgt. Christopher Ramirez

April 15: Ssgt. Jimmy J. Arooyave

April 16: Sgt. Brian M. Wood

April 17: Spc. Michael A. McGlothin, 1st Lt. Robert L. Henderson II, PFC Clayton Welch Henson, Sgt. Jonathan N. Hartman, Lcpl. Michael J. Smith Jr., Lcpl. Ruben Valdez Jr., Lcpl. Gary F. Van Leuven, Cpl. Christopher A. Gibson, Ssgt. Edward W. Carman, Spc. Marvin A. Camposiles, Spc. Dennis B. Morgan, Capt. Richard J. Gannon II

April 20: Spc. Christopher D. Gelineau, 1st Sgt. Bradley C. Fox, PFC Leroy Harris-Kelly

April 22: Cpl. Jason L. Dunham

April 23: PFC Shawn C. Edwards

April 24: CWO Patrick W. Kordsmeier, Capt. Arthur L. "Bo" Felder, Ssgt. Billy J. Orton, Ssgt. Stacy C. Brandon, PO1 Michael J. Pernaselli, PO2 Christopher E. Watts, Ssgt. Cory W. Brooks

April 25: PO3 Nathan B. Brukenthal, Spc. Kenneth A. Melton

April 26: Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker, Sgt. Lawrence A. Roukey, Lcpl. Aaron C. Austin

April 27: PFC Marquis A. Whitaker, Ssgt. Abraham D. Penamedina

April 28: Ssgt. Kendall Thomas, Spc. Jacob R. Herring

April 29: Sgt. Adam W. Estep, PFC Jeremy Ricardo Ewing, Spc. Martin W. Kondor, Ssgt. Esau G. Patterson Jr., Ssgt. Jeffrey F. Dayton, Sgt. Ryan M. Campbell, Spc. James L. Beckstrand, Spc. Justin B. Schmidt, PFC Ryan E. Reed, PFC Norman Darling, Sgt. Landis W. Garrison

April 30: Cpl. Scott M. Vincent, Cpl. Joshua S. Wilfong, PO2 Jason B. Dwelley, PO3 Christopher M. Dickerson

Details on these soldiers may be found at Iraq Coalition Casualties.