Findcate

The condition of a 4-year-old girl severely injured in a tornado that struck Hugo two weeks ago has improved.

Annika Prindle was upgraded to fair condition Monday afternoon at Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, spokeswoman Cate Dobyns said.

Contributions to help Annika and her parents, Jerry and Christina Prindle, can be made to the Gerard Prindle Family fund at any US Bank.

Tags: brother, cate, christina, gillette children, hugo, monday afternoon, old girl, prindle, s hospital, spokeswoman, tornado, us bank

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by David Hencke, Westminster correspondent

(The Guardian)

Money set aside to clear landmines and remove arms from conflict zones is to be raided to pay a private defence contractor to keep Tornado jets flying in Iraq, according to a confidential memo seen by the Guardian. The Ministry of Defence plans to pay BAE Systems from the multimillion-pound Conflict Prevention Fund - which covers projects such as destroying weapons in Bosnia and landmines in Mozambique - to subsidise the ?m-?0m cost of servicing each of the six planes.

The move follows a cost-cutting plan which has backfired for the MoD because of increased military action in Iraq.

The memo acknowledges that the emergency measure is needed because the MoD has closed its own state-of-the-art facility for servicing Tornado jets as a way of saving ?00m over 10 years. A scaled-back facility is still not fully equipped for the job. Memos sent to ministers reveal that the ministry has decided to make the request to BAE Systems because the alternative facility, at RAF Marham in Norfolk, has insufficient capacity.

The decision to close the fast jets and engines business of Dara, the Defence Aviation Repair Agency, based at St Athan, Glamorgan, from last April provoked a huge row in 2005. Trade unions, MPs and the all-party Commons defence committee condemned the move. At the time the committee concluded it was perverse and wasteful for the MoD to invest large amounts of public money to renovate the facilities at RAF Marham when it has at its disposal a state-of-the-art facility at St Athan. The committee said: It is doubtful that the facilities at RAF Marham will ever match those at Dara [in] St Athan.

A memo sent to Lady Taylor, the minister for defence equipment and support, reveals that the RAF has had to increase its operations in Iraq, and six Tornados have required servicing this year. The net result is that there is insufficient capacity available at RAF Marham to meet the full requirements of the operational and training task, the memo says.

The memo proposes, and the minister accepts, that BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, should take over the work because it has a gap between completing an order for Saudi Arabia and new Tornado capability trials. It goes on: The use of BAE Systems Warton will incur additional costs. BAE Systems are in the process of calculating these costs, but there is yet no timescale for their presentation to MoD. The additional monies will be subject of a claim against the Conflict Prevention Fund. The memo acknowledges there will be anger about the decision, which will attract adverse comment from the unions. It adds: Defensive news briefs are being developed to counter adverse media comment. Yesterday the Guardian showed the memo to the union Unite, which called for an inquiry by MPs on the defence committee and said it would seek an urgent meeting with the minister.

Ian Waddell, Unite’s national officer, said: We are angered and dismayed by the MoD’s transfer of Tornado support to BAE Systems but not surprised. The decision to close a multimillion-pound, state-of-the-art facility and roll support forward to an ill-equipped RAF base was lunacy.

It is now clear that everything we said has been vindicated. Unite maintained throughout the closure of Tornado support at Dara St Athan that RAF Marham could not cope with the work, and would fail to meet surge requirements. We believe parliament and the Commons defence select committee were misled over the closure of St Athan.

Only a few weeks ago the government announced their decision to sell off helicopter support to Vector Aerospace, which we have warned could have serious consequences for the UK’s battlefield helicopters. That decision looks even more ludicrous now that our concerns over fast jet support have proved to be true.

James Arbuthnot, Tory chairman of the defence committee, said yesterday: We will consider holding an inquiry to see how the MoD have handled this and will also want to look into the wider issue that equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is much more heavily used and what steps are the MoD taking to deal with this.

The MoD confirmed the decision. A spokeswoman said: This is a short-term measure only, due to Tornados’ increased use on operations. From April 2009 all Tornados will undergo depth maintenance at RAF Marham.

Tags: cate, helicopter, job, pace, spokeswoman, tornado

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nberginnbergin

The past year was a good one for the Heritage Trust, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting the preservation and restoration of Burlington’s architectural resources, said Heritage Trust President Steve Frevert.

Heritage Trust will hold its annual meet at 2 p.m. Sunday Feb. 10 at Hibernia Hall, 1204 Washington St., to discuss last year’s progress and look toward next year. There will also be a “big announcement” for the group.

As part of the meeting, two guest speakers will share their experiences with historic preservation: Mike Haverkamp, president of Iowa City’s Friends of Historic Preservation and Tim Weitzel, chairman of the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission.

The two Iowa City groups spearheaded a massive recovery of historic properties in Iowa City after a tornado devastated parts of the city. Their collaboration won them an Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In Burlington, Heritage Trust’s activities include owning and operating Hibernia Hall, offering education about restoring historic properties, hosting an annual Tour of Homes, providing grants for the restoration of historic porches and siding, as well as selling building and house parts garnered mainly by salvaging materials from buildings slated for demolition.

Heritage Trust brought in about $28,000 last year, with about half of that from sales of materials from Preservation Station where the group sells salvaged materials. The rest of the funds came from a variety of sources including: $5,000 from Hibernia Hall, $4,350 from membership dues and $6,000 from the annual tour of homes.

Hibernia Hall actually lost money its first year open, costing the group about $3,000 more than it brought in, Frevert said.

Although the hall got off to a slow start for its first year, Frevert said business is picking up and he hopes financial numbers will be in the black next year.

The trust’s expenses for last year amounted to about $19,500, Frevert said.

“We don’t want to make a bunch of money to sit on. We want to see it (funds) go back into the community and do a little work,” Frevert said.

To help with that goal, Frevert said he would like to see the group focus more on education and encouraging area property owners to rehabilitate old homes.

Housed in three unheated buildings at 923 Osborn St., Preservation Station is a mess of lighting fixtures, wood paneling, sinks, bathtubs, doors, decorative light fixtures and just about anything else that can be taken out of a building and reused.

“A lot of this stuff you can’t buy brand new,” Frevert said. Although replicas of antique materials can be found, the replicas tend to be expensive.

Preservation Station was open by appointment only in January, but it will re-open for its regular hours, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, beginning in February, Frevert said.

Last year, volunteers gutted eight houses and the former North Hill Elementary School.

“It’s amazing what you find in these places. Even the most disgusting places that look like complete dumps, you can find stuff in,” Frevert said.

Frevert said sometime people will simply drop off and donate materials. For example, earlier this year, someone dropped off several pieces of pre-civil war, old growth lumber, wood paneling complete with square nails and flaking paint.

“It’s better than any lumber you would be able to buy today without paying exorbitant prices,” Frevert said.

Although some of the materials go to restoring old buildings, Frevert said much is also purchased for use in crafts and other projects.

The three buildings the group uses for Preservation Station are owned by local businessman Randy Winegard, and the space is donated free of charge.

Although the group is very grateful for the use of the buildings, Frevert said in the future members would like to move to a new location.

The current buildings have no heat, flood when it rains and have a pigeon infestation problem.

The pigeon problem has been solved in the main building; however, droppings from the birds still litter some areas.

Tags: appointment, cate, pace, rbi, tornado, ups

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The Associated Press

After the tornado, Boone County dairy farmer Brenda Kastning emerged from her basement and stepped outside where she could see the large barn was still standing. But the smaller barn, which held 16 calves, had been ripped apart by the twister’s 140-mph winds.

Animals’ needs often come first among the dairy farmers in northern Illinois, near the Wisconsin state line. It was no different in the aftermath of Monday’s rare January tornado, which leveled houses and derailed a freight train on its 13-mile path of destruction through Boone and McHenry counties.

Kastning checked on the calves before she checked on her husband, Chuck. He had been inside the large barn and was fine. Her son was fine. The hired worker was fine. The house was still standing on their farm 20 miles northeast of Rockford.

Where were the calves? Turns out they were fine, too. They had run off and were found later, unharmed.

The next problem was where to put the part of the herd normally sheltered in the destroyed barn. There was room for about 50 animals in the barn the tornado left standing, but another 75 or more would sicken and die without protection when normal freezing temperatures returned.

Neighbors live five miles apart in this rural region, but they come running when called.

“They were on the phone to each other right away,” she said. They brought trailers over and loaded up the cattle.

Three other dairy farmers volunteered to shelter a large number of the Kastnings’ herd, no small commitment since some cows need to be milked and others are expected to calve between February and March.

“This isn’t just bringing a casserole, although we’ve got dozens of casseroles in our freezer,” Kastning said. “They’ve offered to help us for who-knows-how-many months.”

Third-generation dairy farmer Brent Mueller is milking 16 of the Kastnings’ cows, which meant first teaching them a different milking system. Mueller uses a milking parlor, in which the farmer stands in a recessed pit below the cows. The Kastnings’ cows were accustomed to a stanchion barn, with farmer and cows on the same level.

“So far they’ve been adjusting very well,” Mueller said.

Bob Donley, another third-generation dairy farmer, took in more than 50 dry cows and heifers.

“I had more than enough room for them,” Donley said. Caring for the new animals adds about an hour to his already long day, and that’s before calving. “Given the situation, you do what you got to do.”

About half the animals are pregnant. Donley must watch them carefully in case there’s a troubled birth. Then he must care for the calves in the crucial period between birth and weaning, getting them on colostrum, which contains protective antibodies, and holding down mortality rates as much as he can.

Several county granges organized a work day to help the Kastnings clear the farm of debris. Volunteers will muck out calve pens, tear down a damaged corn crib and dismantle the mangled remains of outbuildings.

“That’s kind of how everybody is around here,” Mueller said. “If something goes bad, you don’t want to face it alone. It’s definitely good to have good neighbors.”

Tags: ford, tornado

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