June 28, 2009, 10:01am: Unfortunately the horse was picked up by its owner Sunday night…laws need to change folks….
After again seeing that poor little horse go back to that environment as of last night we bring you a nice change of pace, here’s Raindance Farms Kitten Cam. Offline currently….
Here’s some shots after we went back and hooked up the trailer to load the wandering horse up and get him safely off the road. Apparently the inherent safety issue of a loose horse wandering down the middle of a county highway with traffic doing 55 to 60mph isn’t enough to warrant a response from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department – not so much as the courtesy of a return call. I wonder what the liability is to law enforcement when they’ve been repeatedly called on the danger and they take no action whatsoever to respond or take action and an accident with a fatality occurs? They were perfectly fine knowing that we were handling their responsibility for them, standing there waiting. Our township representative tried very hard to assist, however, and we’re grateful to Oakland Township. Unfortunately, the township doesn’t have the authority to confiscate a horse and area farms were unwilling to get involved without the sheriff’s department ‘blessing’. He couldn’t be brought to our farm as he’s a stallion and our stallion was already going wild trying to get through the fencing when he caught scent of the nomadic wanderer. The short time he was at our farm the animals went wild. Very dangerous situation.
Thus I took the plight direct to the sheriff’s office. Hidden behind mirrored, thick glass a voice asked what I wanted and I asked where they wanted this horse I’ve called in repeatedly about. This was after wandering the Superior Police building and banging on the doors trying to catch the attention of officers who looked at me, then back to their reading and wandering around inside. Thank goodness there’s helpful cleaning people at the Douglas County Courthouse who were able to point out the unmarked safe fortress that is the sheriff’s department – they were the only ones willing to give any help up until that point. I had already determined the horse couldn’t be tied outside as that was a safety, liability and abandonment issue in itself. But that safe fortress offered a place I intended to leave the horse.
Eventually the Superior Police Department had a representative come out and wait with us until the sheriff’s department representative arrived. In the meantime we had found a farm willing to house the horse temporarily (until Monday). Monday if need-be we will be loading the horse back up and returning to the courthouse. We’re hoping that won’t be necessary. A horse in that entryway to the fortress will block access to the jail visitation area and I can imagine that would be inconvenient to those hidden behind the glass.
June 26, 11:11pm: update – Apparently nobody has thought to bring the plight of a horse directly to the jailhouse/sheriff’s office door… The horse is officially confiscated and has been brought a temporary location – it has until Monday at that farm. At that point I told them if there is not official resolution the horse will be returned to the sheriff’s office. Unfortunately the media was unavailable though wanted to be kept posted. By the way, that was one happy horse to have that kind of space to run and run.
Watch the news tonight folks…the WindChill Legacy, Ltd. & Raindance Farms, LLC are involved in another rescue – and after repeated calls to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department as we sat alongside the road with the abandoned horse, it was finally turned over to the township who is not equipped – nor does it have the legal right to confiscate a horse. This horse has been reported repeatedly to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department. Tonight as we waited alongside the road for the sheriff’s office to pay us the courtesy of a return call to direct how to handle this horse we finally gave up. Apparently it wandering down the middle of this highway isn’t enough to get Douglas County to respond to a clear safety issue. The horse is a stallion and thus we are unable to again attempt to house the horse. Other farms in area refuse to take the horse as none of us have legal right without the Sheriff’s office intervening.
So we’re taking the horse to the sheriff’s office. That’s right, since we have no legal right to hold the horse and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department will not respond to our repeated requests we are doing the only thing we know we can legally do – bring the horse to their office and tie it to their door.
I am calling all three local television stations and the Duluth News-Tribune to inform them of this. Stay tuned…
Duluth, MN. Awareness of SADS conditions is the highlight of the upcoming Head of the Lakes Soccer Tournament this weekend – June 12-14. Jordan L. Tucker, age 18 years and 5 days, of Cloquet, passed away unexpectedly in his sleep early Saturday, November 15, 2008 due to an undetected hearth arrhythmia. He was an honor student with a passion for fishing and hunting. Jordan loved soccer and was named all-conferences goalie and played in the all star game this fall. He also was an excellent youth soccer referee
To participate in the tournament, visit http://www.gitchigummisoccer.com/.
For a risk assessment, questions, or to support the SADS Foundation, please visit www.StopSADS.org or call 1-800 STOP SAD.
‘A
government big
enough
to
give you everything you
want,
is strong enough to
take everything you have.’
Thomas
Jefferson
Hi Fear,
I just wanted to tell you I miss you. I miss our nightly routine the most. You knew it as well as I did…your mom falls asleep on the couch by 9:30pm as we watch a movie…I quietly make my way outside, the glow of a good cigar my only light as I stand out under the stars in the driveway. It helps relax me. Problems seem so much smaller by comparison. I walk out to the barn with Walker, Olivia and Ashpepper trailing along. Magic gives a little nicker and there you stand and wait. You refuse to move until your nightly pet, the hug, the kiss on the nose. I call you a “goofball” for the umpteenth time. You continue to stand there. Layla leans around the post for a pet, then back to checking yet again to see if she somehow missed any remaining grain from the previous thousand checks. You had a quiet presence like my own son had, a good natured sense of humor and personality. One last pet and I head back outside. When I look back you’ve moved back, still looking in case I change my mind and continue hanging out with you.
Your mom still hurts. She brought our charge card along with the highest limit on it when she brought you to that hospital. I guess that wasn’t enough though little guy. I know you felt her love for you. I know you still do.
I’ll watch for you each night, just like I do for all the souls we’ve had to say goodbye to. Know that we miss you and love you all, even now as your memory floats on the smoke trails of that cigar I salute you all with each night.
Your dad,
Jeff
June 1, 2009, 10:00am: Good morning everyone, I have returned to the land of the connected. I have been intentionally away from the ‘net and email as much as possible. Took a month away from work to hang out around the farm and take a trip which turned into a major adventure and race. As most of you know, Kathi pulled Fear to a hospital in Kentucky for surgery. Unfortunately that didn’t go the way we’d want. I know she’s written about having to have him put down on the forum so I’m not going to go into detail other than it was heart-breaking for her – he was her baby and they had a very special bond. I know there’s an awful lot of people who wouldn’t have bothered trying to do what she did for Fear. If it was only Fear that she poured her heart out to, we could probably actually get ahead on bills… But she had to try and his loss furthers research as she donated his remains to them for ongoing research and study.
So the original plan was for me to take some much needed vacation and so I headed for Florida a couple of days prior to Kathi’s departure with Fear and Grace. My truck’s new fuel injectors had just been installed so it was a trial run. Around Dothan, AL smoke poured from the right side near the exhaust and I thought I worried the new injectors had failed and poured diesel into the oil… turned out the caliper was leaking heavily onto the drum causing tons of smoke. I limped it into Panama City, FL using an alternate route to avoid all the slow and go that exists on the direct route. So we went to work under the truck the next day. Got it working – only to find the other side binding and the temperatures so hot I got sick working out in the heat. Meanwhile, several states away Kathi found out Fear’s condition was terminal and had a truck problem so I told my brother we had to get my truck put back together and ready to launch – which we did in record time. I headed out of Panama City that next morning and proceeded across the FL panhandle, Alabama, Tennessee, part of Kentucky and into Illinois and never dropped below 85mph. While my brother acted as ground control – looking up traffic updates and construction online, he helped me project an intercept point, finally calculating that at my current average of 85mph and Kat traveling between 60 and 65 that my goal of a southern WI intercept so that I could shadow her back in case she had other problems was nearly unattainable – I could only get within .06 hours using the most optimistic calculations. By the way, A 3/4 ton HD Chevy Duramax Diesel gets 17.1mph consistently at 85 to 90mph cross country. Not too shabby for a truck that big traveling with its afterburners lit most of the way. Fortunately Kathi and Ann stopped in Bloomington, IL on the way back and that gave me the window I needed to catch up.
Now we’re both back safe and sound at home, home on (South) Range…
May 28th was Windchill’s birthday – ironically the same day as the final step in the legal process for the Javenkoskis – the restitution hearing. Not much to report on that, it’s been a long road…Kind of strange how all the legal events coincided closely with major events in Windchill’s brief life.