11-07-2012 herald's special edition

By DOUG CARDERHerald Senior Writer

Maleah Davis emerged from the Williamsburg Community Building Tuesday morning with a huge grin. The Williamsburg resident was sporting two “I Voted in Franklin County” election stick-ers on her red and black-striped shirt. County election officials need not worry about fraud. She didn’t vote twice. Or even once. Two-year-old Maleah was sporting the stickers her par-ents, Tyler and Maggie Davis, had received for voting Tuesday at the community building, 125 W. William St., Williamsburg. The young couple said they thought it was important to take their daughter to the polls. “We wanted to get her started early,” Maggie Davis, who works at Great Southern Bank in Ottawa, said with a smile that matched her daughter’s grin. Her husband nodded in agreement. “Voting is one of the most im-portant rights we have as Ameri-cans,” Tyler Davis, a conductor with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, said. The Williamsburg couple indicated the presidential race

was the biggest draw on the bal-lot for them, though they said they would vote any time they had the opportunity. This Elec-tion Day was of special signifi-cance, 21-year-old Maggie Davis said, because it marked her first opportunity to vote in a presi-dential race. The Davises indicated they both voted for Republican presi-dential candidate Mitt Romney. “After the past four years of this economy, it is time for a change,” Tyler Davis, 22, said. The Davises said the national deficit and education funding are two issues of concern to them. “I want to make sure [student loans] are available when she gets old enough to go to college,” Maggie Davis said as she patted her daughter’s head. College loans also were on the mind of Samantha Paulson, 19, Tuesday morning as she strode across the parking lot to cast her vote at the poll in the Pomona Community Building, 219 W. Jef-

ferson St., Pomona. “As a college student, funding for college loans is one of the issues that is important to me,”

Paulson, a student at Ottawa University, 1001 S. Cedar St., Ot-tawa, said. Paulson said it is important

for voters to be informed before going to the polls.

HOME DELIVERY: (785) 242-4700 Community News.Community Connections.

SPECIAL ELECTION EdITION

REsIDENts stREss ECONOMY, IMpORtaNCE Of VOtINg

Photo by Doug Carder/The Ottawa Herald

Tyler and Maggie Davis take their 2-year-old daughter, Maleah Davis, with them to the election polls Tuesday at Williamsburg Community Building, 125 W. William St., Williamsburg. The young couple said they wanted to stress the importance of voting to their daughter at an early age. “Voting is one of the most important rights we have as Americans,” Tyler Davis said.

Election results for Franklin County reveal

voters’ top choices.See Pages 3-4.

WHO WON?

WednesdayNovember 7, 2012Ottawa, Kansas

75 cents Volume 143, No. 212

16 PagesHeraldOttawaThe

saluting local service. See Pages 5-16.

GOd BLESS OUR VETERANS

Election Night ends with victory for president. sEE pagE 2.

fOUR MORE YEaRs ObaMa wINs RE-ELECtION

Photo by Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press

President Obama speaks, as a tear streams down his face, at his final campaign stop before the 2012 presidential election in Des Moines, Iowa. Obama earned a victory Tuesday night, though he did not carry Franklin County or Kansas in his bid for re-election.

fRaNkLIN COUNtY VOtERs baCk ROMNEY

County’s voter turnout higher than expected. See Page 4.

MORE ELECtION NEws

See VOTERS, Page 2

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 Election Results The Ottawa Herald

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“I watched all four debates [three presidential and one vice presidential], and I’ve done a lot of outside research — I didn’t just rely on the media,” Paulson said. Paulson, who said she was look-ing forward to casting a ballot in her first presidential election, said her conclusion was that the Republican platform offered the best solution for the country. Gary Bogart, 33, Ottawa, also said he had watched the debates closely, and he concluded Romney was the winner. “After watching the debates, Romney got my vote,” Bogart said following his trip to the ballot box early Tuesday morning at Ottawa City Hall, 101 S. Hickory St., Ot-tawa. “It was a tight decision for me. I think President Obama has done a pretty good job, and he did bring [Osama] bin Laden to justice. “I think the president’s down-fall has been the economy,” Bogart said. “He hasn’t been able to fix the economy the past four years. The economy still stinks, and people still can’t find jobs.” A Casey’s General Store em-ployee, Bogart said he rearranged his schedule to work that night so he could vote during the day. “I vote every opportunity I can get,” he said. Rural Williamsburg couple Aaron Mayo, 36, and Vanessa Mayo, 34, said they always exercise their right to vote. On Tuesday morning, the Mayos had brought along their four children — Adrian, 13, William, 9, Lydia, 7, and Ciara, 3 — to the poll at the Williamsburg Community Building. “We thought it was important for the kids to understand why it is important that we vote,” Aaron Mayo said. Vannessa Mayo agreed with her husband. “It’s important for our kids to understand that people have fought for our freedom to vote for whomever we think will make the best leader.” The Mayos said their children are home-schooled, so Election

Day provided a good opportunity to see in person how the process they have been studying about worked. The Mayos also took their chil-dren to events during the August primary race. “The county races are impor-tant, too,” Aaron Mayo said. “And the kids had the chance to meet some of the candidates.” Young William Mayo vigorously nodded. “I got to meet the sheriff.” “It’s important for [the kids] to see these are real people, not just names on a ballot,” Vanessa Mayo said. While he agreed the local and state election races were impor-tant, Bogart said the presidential race was the big draw on the ballot for him. “All the local races had pretty much been decided, but I think the presidential race is going to be close,” Bogart said. Paulson said she also expected the presidential race to be tightly contested. “The polls show about a 5-per-cent differential [between chal-lenger Romney and President Barack Obama], so I think the race will be close,” Paulson said. Ottawa resident Lynne Evans agreed the presidential race should come down to the wire.

“I think it is going to be a close race, and my vote is going to count,” Evans said, smiling. A registered Republican, Evans said she doesn’t always vote a straight GOP ticket, but rather votes for who she thinks is the best candidate. Evans did not tip her hand on which way she voted for president but said, “two issues that concern me are Medicare and taxes.” The Ottawan, who cast her bal-lot Tuesday morning at City Hall, said she feared Superstorm Sandy, which last week wreaked havoc on the East Coast — causing billions of dollars in damage and leaving millions of Americans without power — could have hindered some voters’ ability to get out and cast their ballots Election Day. “I’m not sure if we will know who won the presidential elec-tion tonight,” Evans said Tuesday. “Sandy might delay the outcome.” Paulson seemed more optimis-tic Americans would know Tues-day night who their next president would be. “I don’t think Sandy is going to delay the results,” she said. “I think we will know tonight.”

Doug Carder is senior writer for The Herald. Email him at [email protected]

VOTERS: Important for kids to understand vote(Continued from Page 1)

GOP finishes sweep of Kansas US House seats

By JOHN MILBURNThe Associated Press

TOPEKA — Kansas Re-publicans repeated their sweep on Tuesday of the state’s four congressional districts, keeping the U.S. House seats in the par-ty’s hands for the second straight election cycle. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a To-peka Republican, earned a third term in Congress in the 2nd District, while three freshmen easily won re-election to their seats. The races follow a trend in Kansas politics in recent years that has seen Re-publicans and the party’s conservative wing gain a tighter grip on elected of-fices, despite increases in the number of unaffiliated voters. Democrats have struggled over that time to field candidates in all of the districts, or have had to rely on relative political newcomers to step forward. That was the case in the 2nd District where Jenkins faced Democrat Tobias Schlingensiepen, a Topeka pastor making his first run at public office. The dis-trict covers much of east-ern Kansas. Because of new boundaries drawn in June the district includes all of Lawrence and Douglas County which had previous-ly been in the 3rd District. Jenkins campaigned on jobs and the economy, vowing to continue to fight back government regula-tions on small businesses, including blunting the ef-fects of the new health care act. Schlingensiepen, in his first political campaign, won a three-way Democrat-ic primary in August. The last Democrat to hold the seat was Nancy Boyda who lost to Jenkins in 2008.

Kelly Hart, a 30-year-old teacher, took the day off from South Middle School in Lawrence to vote. A reg-istered independent, she voted for Mitt Romney for president, but Jenkins for Congress based on person-al experience. She said Jenkins had been helpful with her fa-ther’s business, which re-cycles asphalt for construc-tion uses. Hart said her father even went to Wash-ington on the issue and Jenkins followed through on her help. “That says something about her,” Hart said. “Out-side of politics she’s a nice lady.” In the 4th District in south-central Kansas, GOP Rep. Mike Pompeo defeat-ed Democrat Robert Till-man. Both are from Wichi-ta. Republicans have held this seat since 1994 when Pompeo’s predecessor Todd Tiahrt took the seat from Democrat Dan Glick-man. Pompeo won in 2010 when Tiahrt vacated the seat to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. Third District GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder of Overland Park faced only Libertari-an Joel Balam in his bid for a second term in the Kan-sas portion of the Kansas City metro area. Yoder was unopposed in the August primary and Democrats didn’t field a candidate for the November general election. Rep. Tim Huelskamp faced no opposition on Tuesday after being unop-posed in the August GOP primary. Huelskamp is a former state senator with conservative credentials on both fiscal and social is-sues.

Jenkins bests challenger

Obama powers to win despite weak economyBy DAVID ESPOAP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON — President Obama rolled to re-election Tues-day night, vanquishing former Mas-sachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and prevailing despite a weak economy that plagued his first term and put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions. “This happened because of you. Thank you” Obama tweeted to sup-porters as he celebrated four more years in the White House. After the costliest — and ar-guably the nastiest — campaign in history, divided government seemed alive and well. Democrats retained control of the Senate with surprising ease. Republicans were on course for the same in the House, making it likely that Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Obama’s partner in unsuc-cessful deficit talks, would reclaim his seat at the bargaining table. Romney led narrowly in the pop-ular vote, by about 30,00 votes out of more than 98 million cast, with ballots counted in 74 percent of the nation’s precincts. But Obama’s laserlike focus on the battleground states allowed him to run up a sizeable margin in the competition for electoral votes, where it mattered. He won Ohio, Wisconsin, Vir-ginia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Colo-rado and Nevada, seven of the nine battlegrounds where the rivals and their allies poured nearly $1 bil-lion into dueling television com-mercials. Romney was in Massachusetts, his long and grueling bid for the presidency at an unsuccessful end. He won North Carolina among the battleground states. Florida remained too close to call. The election emerged as a choice between two very different visions of government — whether it occupies a major, front-row place in American lives or is in the back-ground as a less-obtrusive facilita-tor for private enterprise and en-trepreneurship. The economy was rated the top issue by about 60 percent of voters surveyed as they left their polling

places. But more said former Presi-dent George W. Bush bore respon-sibility for current circumstances than Obama did after nearly four years in office. That bode well for the presi-dent, who had worked to turn the election into a choice between his proposals and Romney’s, rather than the simple referendum on the economy during his time in the White House. Unemployment stood at 7.9 per-cent on Election Day, higher than when he took office. And despite signs of progress, the economy is still struggling after the worst re-cession in history. There was no doubt about what drove voters to one candidate or the other. About 4 in 10 said the economy is on the mend, but more than that said it was stagnant or getting worse more than four years after the near-collapse of 2008. The sur-vey was conducted for The Associ-ated Press and a group of televi-sion networks. In the battle for the Senate, Dem-ocrats won seats currently held by Republicans in Indiana and Massa-chusetts. In Maine, independent former Gov. Angus King was elected to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe. He has not yet said which party he will side with, but Repub-licans attacked him in television advertising during the race, and Democrats rushed to his cause. Polls were still open in much of the country as the two rivals began claiming the spoils of a brawl of an election in a year in which the struggling economy put a crimp in the middle class dreams of mil-lions. The president was in Chicago as he awaited the voters’ verdict on his four years in office. He told report-ers he had a concession speech as

well as victory remarks prepared. He congratulated Romney on a spir-ited campaign. “I know his support-ers are just as engaged, just as en-thusiastic and working just as hard today” as Obama’s own, he added. Romney reciprocated, congratu-lating the man who he had cam-paigned against for more than a year. Earlier, he raced to Ohio and Pennsylvania for Election Day campaigning and projected con-fidence as he flew home to Mas-sachusetts. “We fought to the very end, and I think that’s why we’ll be successful,” he said, adding that he had finished writing a speech an-ticipating victory but nothing if the election went to his rival. But the mood soured among the Republican high command as the votes came in and Obama ground out a lead in critical states. Like Obama, Vice President Joe Biden was in Chicago as he waited to find out if he was in line for a second term. Republican running mate Paul Ryan was with Romney in Boston, although he kept one eye on his re-election campaign for a House seat in Wisconsin, just in case. The long campaign’s cost soared into the billions, much of it spent on negative ads, some harshly so. In the presidential race, an es-timated one million commercials aired in nine battleground states where the rival camps agreed the election was most likely to be settled — Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and Ne-vada. In a months-long general elec-tion ad war that cost nearly $1 billion, Romney and Republican groups spent more than $550 mil-lion and Obama and his allies $381 million, according to organizations that track advertising.

Photo by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawans wait in line to vote Tuesday morning as the polls open for the fourth and fifth precincts at First Christian Church, 1045 S. Hickory St., Ottawa.

More than 30 million voters cast early ballots in nearly three dozen states, a reflection of the growing appeal of getting a jump on the traditional Election Day.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Local Election ResultsThe Ottawa Herald

FRANKLIN COUNTY RESULTS*NATIONAL AND STATE OFFICES

US PRESIDENTChuck Baldwin (Ref.) ................................83Gary Johnson (L) .................................... 219Barack Obama (D) ................................3,611Mitt Romney (R) ..................................6,893

US HOUSE DISTRICT 2Dennis Hawver (L) ..................................460Lynn Jenkins (R) ...................................7,427Tobias Schlingensiepen (D) ................ 2,775

KANSAS SENATE DISTRICT 12Denise Cassells (D) .............................3,600Caryn Tyson (R) ................................... 6,791

KANSAS HOUSE DISTRICT 5Bill Feuerborn (D) .................................1,103Kevin Jones (R) ................................... 1,925

KANSAS HOUSE DISTRICT 59Caleb Correll (D) .................................. 1,991Blaine Finch (R) ...................................5,503

FRANKLIN COUNTY OFFICES

COUNTY ATTORNEY Fred Campbell (L) .................................3,107Stephen Hunting (R) ............................ 6,672

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 2Rick Howard (D) .................................. 1,262Ed Taylor (R) ........................................ 1,200

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT 2Roy Dunn (R) ........................................1,721

COUNTY SHERIFF Jeff Curry (R) ....................................... 7,644Write-In ................................................ 1,266

COUNTY CLERK Janet Paddock (R) ...............................9,206

COUNTY TREASURER Debbie Hough (R) ................................ 9,434

REGISTER OF DEEDS Sue McCay (D) .....................................8,161

STATEWIDE BALLOT QUESTION

WATERCRAFT TAX CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTYes ....................................................... 4,087No ........................................................ 5,557

LEGISLATURE

Republicans lead state racesBy BOBBY BURCHHerald Staff Writer

It appears a parade of elephants stormed Franklin County’s polling locations Tuesday. Republican candidates hoping to represent all or parts of Frank-lin County encountered pleasant Election Day voting results in Franklin County, as all state and federal GOP nominees claimed victory in the county.

House District 59 A former Ottawa mayor is head-ing to Topeka to represent his

hometown, western Franklin and northeastern Osage counties. Blaine Finch, R-Ottawa, cruised to a decisive victory Tues-day over Caleb Correll, D-Ottawa, in the race for Kansas House District 59. “I’m happy to have won, and I’m ready to get to work representing

the best interests of the people in the state of Kansas,” Finch said. “I hope to take the spirt of the folks that live and work here [to Topeka]. I think they have pragmatic and practical values, and I’m ready to represent them. ... I want to thank the people of the 59th district for supporting me.” Finch claimed more than 73 percent of 7,523 Franklin County votes cast in the District 59 race. During Kansas’ Aug. 7 primary elections, Finch defeated Kansas Rep. TerriLois Gregory, R-Ottawa, by fewer than 1,000 votes.

COMMISSIONER SEAT

Narrow upset in county contestBy CRYSTAL HERBER Herald Staff Writer

A newcomer will take the seat of a longtime incumbent county com-missioner. Unofficial results in Tuesday’s general election indicate Demo-crat Rick Howard unseated 12-year veteran Ed Taylor for the District 2 seat on the Franklin County Board of Commis-sioners. The close race came down to the last reporting precinct, with Howard receiving a total of 1,262 votes and Taylor walking away with 1,200. With such a small margin in the unofficial numbers, Howard said he is cautiously optimistic about his chances of win-ning the election because some votes have not yet been counted. “There’s still provi-sional votes that have to be counted and I think there are several votes still out there, so it’s not a done deal yet,” Howard said Tuesday night after hearing the results. The Franklin County Board of Commission-ers, as well as the county election officer, are ex-pected to open any provi-sional ballots and count them starting at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15 in the county clerk’s office inside the courthouse, 315 S. Main

St., Ottawa. At that point, the official votes will be released, and Howard said he hopefully will be able to breathe a sigh of relief after the more-than-week-long wait. “I feel good about be-ing on top at this time,” Howard said. “Like I said, it’s very close and there’s several more

votes out there to be sorted through, so I don’t want to jinx myself yet and say anything and get too happy about this un-til they get those in and see where we stand.” Receiving more than 48 percent of the votes, according to unofficial results, Taylor said he was disappointed about

the vote’s outcome, but that he was expecting a close race in the sec-ond district. He said he wishes Howard, whom he called his friend, luck in the future. “I feel very fortunate to have served the 12 years. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the face of county government in that time,” Taylor said Tuesday night. “I think Franklin County is in good shape, and I wish him all the best.” After 12 years of help-ing to canvass votes, Taylor said, he doesn’t expect the number of provisional ballots to cover the more than 60-vote spread between the two candidates. “I don’t think you’ll get that many provisionals; there never is. I would be very surprised if there were that many,” he said. “Even if there were that many provisionals, you’re not going to get them all.”


Caleb Correll, D-Ottawa, right, congratulates Blaine Finch, R-Ottawa, Tuesday after Finch won the race for Kansas House District 59 outside an election watch party at Pizza Time, 208 S. Main St., Ottawa.


Ed Taylor, R-Ottawa, incumbent for Franklin County Board of Commissioners second district, watches with his wife, Shirlene Taylor, as results are tabulated during a watch par-ty Tuesday night at Pizza Time, 208 S. Main St., Ottawa. Taylor appeared to have lost the commissioner post by a narrow margin to Democratic challenger Rick Howard, D-Williamsburg.ELECTION RESULTS KEY

denotes overall (district, state or national) general election winner

denotes winner among Franklin County voters

* Tuesday’s Franklin County election results totals are unofficial. A canvassing of votes, which will formalize the exact vote count, is set for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15 at the Franklin County Courthouse, 315 S. Main St., Ottawa.

33%63%

■ Hunting turns out victory against Libertarian. See Page 4.

■ Curry defeats write-in challengers. See Page 4.

■ Unopposed primary win-ners win elections. See Page 4.

■ County’s voter turnout higher than expected. See Page 4.

More election news

Howard

GOP candidates headed toward vic-tory at presstime. See Page 4.

Kansas Legislature

See STATE, Page 4

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 Election Results The Ottawa Herald

Hunting defeats challenger in county attorney matchupBy CRYSTAL HERBER Herald Staff Writer

After a few months on the job, Ste-phen Hunting will remain the coun-ty’s top prosecutor. Hunting, 38, Gardner, held onto the position as Franklin County at-torney after amassing more than 68 percent of the total votes in Tues-day’s general election, according to an unofficial vote count. With a smile on his face, Hunting said he was hap-py with the results. “I’m pleased with the outcome and thankful that the voters of Franklin County are going to give me an op-portunity to serve them for four more years,” Hunting said shortly after the results of all 25 precincts in the coun-ty had been reported. Appointed county attorney by Gov. Sam Brownback in May, Hunting began serving after being selected by the Franklin County Republican Central Committee to fill the role of the county’s chief prosecutor. Since that time, Hunting has made several changes that he said he and his staff feel good about and will help the peo-ple of Franklin County. “Hope to continue the work that we’ve started,” he said. Hunting’s competitor, Libertar-ian Fred Campbell, Garnett, received about 32 percent of the more than 9,800 votes cast in the county attorney race. Having never served in an elected office before, it was the first election

in which Hunting had participated. Through this process, he said, he has learned a few things. “You should never take anything for granted, that it’s a wonderful process we go through, and it’s some-

thing that makes this country spe-cial,” he said. “I’m just glad I was able to be a part of the process and glad that the voters trust enough in what we’re doing in our office to let us continue the good work.”


Voters arrive at the Peoria Township precinct Tuesday at Briles Schoolhouse, 3305 Texas Road., Wellsville. Beth Chambers, polling location worker, said about 180 people had voted at the location as of 1 p.m., compared to 130 voters for the entire day during the primary election. Chambers said a line of voters was wrapped around the outside of the one-room schoolhouse when the polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.


Forrest Fowler, 18, Ottawa, wearing an American Flag cap, studies his ballot Tuesday at the third and sixth pre-cinct polling location at Ottawa City Hall, 101 S. Hickory St., Ottawa. Fowler said it was the first time he had voted in any election.

Curry defeats write-in challengers The sheriff is expected to remain the sheriff. Franklin County Sheriff Jeff Curry won more than enough votes Tuesday to re-tain his position as sheriff. Despite facing two write-in candidates, Cur-ry gathered 85 percent of the votes in the general election. The write-in candidates, Philip Brown and Byron Goracke, both of Ottawa, be-gan their campaigns against Curry about two weeks ago. Unofficial results report that write-in votes accounted for about 14 percent of the votes in the general election. The write-in votes did not necessarily go to Brown or Go-racke. Vote totals for the write-in candidates won’t be counted until an official canvassing of votes, set for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15 at the Franklin County Court-house, 315 S. Main St., Ottawa. Curry, who has served as sheriff since 2010, re-ceived 7,644 total votes in the general election, according the unofficial results released by the Franklin County elections officer. There was a total of 1,266 write-in votes in the general election.

Unopposed primary winners win With Tuesday’s unofficial general election totals tallied, several county elected positions remain un-changed since the Aug. 7 primary election. Others will have new faces in January. Roy Dunn, Republican, is ex-pected to succeed David Hood on the Franklin County Board of Com-missioners when the new county of-ficials are sworn in after the new year. Dunn defeated Hood 55 per-cent to 44 percent in the Republican primary and faced no challenger in the general election. Republican Janet Paddock un-seated long-time incumbent Shari Perry to take over as county clerk. Paddock, who faced no challenger in the general election, defeated Perry handily, garnering more than 70 percent of the votes in the pri-mary. Paddock received more than 9,000 votes in the general election. There were 300 write-in votes in the general elec-tion clerk’s race, though no official write-in cam-paign was announced by an opponent. Debbie Hough, who has served as county trea-surer since 2000, is expected to remain in her office as she faced no challenger in either the Republican primary and general election. Democrat Sue McCay also will continue to serve the county as register of deeds after not facing a challenger in both elec-tions.

Voter turnout higher than expected Franklin County voters were more engaged dur-ing November’s general election. Unofficial results yielded a 63.8 percent voter turnout in Franklin County, with 10,909 people turning out to cast their ballots in the local, state and national races. More than 9,200 ballots were collected in the 25 precincts throughout the county, and nearly 1,700 absentee ballots were collected through advance voting. More than twice the ballots were cast in the gen-eral election than were in the primary, according to results. Only about a third of the 16,719 registered voters at the time cast their vote in the Aug. 7 pri-mary election. The more than 63-percent turnout is greater than Shari Perry, the county election officer, predicted. About a week before the election, Perry said she expected about a 45-percent to 50-percent voter turnout. Franklin County comes in slightly below the pre-election state-wide prediction of 68 percent made last week by Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State.


Brandon Jones, Osage County attorney, talks with Stephen Hunting, Franklin County attorney, as results are announced Tuesday during a watch party at Pizza Time, 208 S. Main St., Ottawa. Hunting handily defeated opponent Fred Campbell, L-Garnett, who also was running for county attorney in Anderson, Osage and Miami counties.

Correll, who snagged 1,991 votes, said he was pleased with his campaign despite failing to claim a victory. GOP campaign strategies across the state were effective in derailing the election hopes of many Kansas Democrats, Correll added. “I felt like I did a good job getting my message out there,” Correll said, adding that he plans to re-main active in the commu-nity and in the Franklin County Democratic Party. “It’s been a tough year for Democrats in Kansas. The Republicans did a pretty good job of tying us to the president, which is prob-ably not accurate, but they succeeded in doing that, so I think that contributed to [the voting results] a lot. But I think I did a good job, and I felt like I rep-resented what I thought were the best views for the district and stuck to that instead of partisan politics.” Overall, Finch nabbed 72 percent — or 6,433 votes — of the ballots cast in

District 59, according to the Kansas Secretary of State’s website.

House District 5 Political newcomer Kevin Jones defeated an 18-year incumbent in Franklin County’s race for Kansas House District 5, which includes eastern Franklin, most of Anderson and west-ern parts of Linn and Miami counties. Jones, R-Wells-ville, seized more than 63 percent of the county’s vote, accord-ing to the Franklin County Clerk’s Office. Jones’ op-ponent, Kansas Rep. Bill Feuerborn, D-Garnett, captured about 36 percent of the 3,032 votes cast in

the race. “That’s awesome — I’m stoked,” Jones said of his success in Franklin County. “I’m very thankful that people have gotten out and voted and voted for me. Obviously, it’s my home county and where I grew up, so I’m thinking my opponent probably expects that.” At presstime, Jones was narrowly leading his op-ponent by 52 percent to 48 percent margin, attracting 4,339 votes with 25 of 36 precincts reporting, ac-cording to the Kansas Sec-retary of State’s website.

Senate District 12 Kansas Rep. Caryn Tyson secured a definitive victory in Franklin County for the Senate District 12, capturing more than 65 per-cent of the county’s votes. Tyson, R-Parker, gar-nered 6,791 votes in the county, while her oppo-nent, Denise Cassells, D-Mound City, claimed 3,600. Tyson narrowly defeated John Coen, R-Wellsville, in the August primary for Senate District 12, which

includes Allen, Anderson, Franklin, Linn and parts of Bourbon and Miami counties. At press-time, it appeared Tyson was heading to a victory with 65 percent of the dis-trict’s vote, claiming 14,750 votes in 82 of 109 precincts reporting, according to the Kan-sas Secretary of State’s website. “We’re excited with the results we’ve seen,” Tyson said Tuesday night. “We’ve have great support throughout the district and had a lot of good volunteers working on the campaign. … I think both sides ran a very professional cam-paign. It was not a negative campaign on either side. I was very proud of that.”

STATE: Republicans find Franklin County success(Continued from Page 3)

First-time voter

Election Results

Feuerborn

Jones

Cassells

Tyson

Election Day participation

Curry

Dunn

Paddock

Military service, shared experiences strengthen father-son bond. See Page 12.

Ottawa Veterans Day observances returning. See Page 6.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 God Bless Our VeteransThe Ottawa Herald

god bleSS our veteranS

Saluting Franklin County veteranS

Recollections of a ‘tin can’ sailor. See Page 15.

DAR honors war veterans See Page 11.

Residents pledge allegiance to US, ‘Under God’ tradition. See Page 10.

We sayThank You

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Ottawa veterans observance returningBy MEAGAN PATTON-PAULSONHerald Connections Editor

Organizers are hoping to end this year’s Veterans Day events with a bang. For the first time, a fireworks display will be the finale for a weekend of events aimed to honor and remember veterans, Sherry Wright, Veterans Day parade coordinator, said. “We just thought we’d try to do something differ-ent to get more people in the community involved,” she said. Wright, who has been organizing the parade for nearly two decades, along with a small committee of other helpers, said this year’s Veterans Day event lineup will kick off with an opening ceremony Friday at Forest Park, 320 N. Locust St. The theme this year is “God Bless America/God Bless Our Veterans.” “The flags ceremony, which is very important that night, will be toward the beginning of the pro-gram,” she said. Every year, more than 700 flags are erected to create a “Healing Field of Flags” at the park in honor of veterans, loved ones and fallen soldiers. For a fee, people can pay to have their loved one recognized by one of the flags, Wright said. The Field of Flags will be open 24/7, Wright said, starting Friday night and ending Sunday, for people to reflect, pay tribute or simply scratch a curiosity itch. “People drive by, they’ll stop and come back and wonder what’s going on,” Wright said. “(Some) come to honor their loved ones and honor their veterans.” At the opening cer-emony 6:30 p.m. Friday, U.S. Marines veteran Steve Harris, a Franklin County commissioner and Walmart Logistics execu-tive, will be featured as a speaker, and patriotic tunes and a dance routine will follow. “Alan Cunningham and his music class will be doing some presentations of patriotic songs, and Spotlight Dance Academy will be doing the dance routine,” Wright said. This year’s Veterans Day parade, which is Saturday, is expected to have about 225 entries.

The parade will begin at 10:45 a.m. at Fifth and Main streets and proceed to Forest Park, where event-goers will be met with food, craft booths, military displays and re-enactments. Wright said Veterans Day parade entries will be accepted as late as Satur-day morning. “Anyone who wants to pay tribute to our veter-ans, I don’t want them left out,” she said. After the parade, the Wild Women of the West — a group of women who ride in on horseback, Wright said — will lead into the re-enactments. In the late afternoon, music will be provided by the Lintner family, and the fireworks display will begin at dusk. People

are encouraged to sit on the bleachers at Forest

Park or bring their own blankets and lawn chairs,

Wright said. Saturday evening also will feature the Marine Corps’ 237th Birthday Ball at GreatLife and Fitness, 1001 E. Logan St., Ottawa.

The event is open to the public, Wright said, but reservations are due by today. Veterans will receive a free meal at Applebee’s Sunday — a generous ser-vice they’ve provided for the last two years, Wright said. “I can’t say enough good about them, because they are so good at helping our community out with any-thing we need,” she said. “Plus they are excellent when it comes to helping out with our veterans. They really go out big-time for them.” Although the Veterans Day events are free to the public, Wright said, during the parade some volunteers will be walk-ing around with World War II helmets, collecting donations for the Franklin County Veterans Memo-rial. “We’d like people to put donations in those helmets,” she said, “and all that money will go the upkeep of the Franklin County veterans wall.” The cost of flags, clean-ing, landscaping and other various expenses is about $500 a year for the memorial, she said. Those who would like to make a larger donation may do so at the Franklin County Courthouse, Wright said, or call Wright directly at (785) 418-4237. Wright also asked that anyone interested in help-ing out with next year’s events call her. “We really would like to see more young people to get involved and take this over,” she said.

File photos/The Ottawa Herald

ABOVE: Greg Oshel, Ottawa, unfurls an American flag dur-ing the 2011 opening cer-emony for the Healing Field of Flags at Forest Park, 320 N. Locust St., Ottawa.

LEFT: Flags blow in the wind following the 2011 opening ceremony for the Healing Field of Flags at Forest Park.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 God Bless Our Veterans The Ottawa Herald

By MEAGAN PATTON-PAULSONHerald Connections Editor

It’s one thing to learn about wars in a history book. It’s another to meet folks who actually served in those wars. That’s exactly why it’s important to Scott Lane, Central Heights history teacher, to continue to observe Veterans Day by letting his students meet area veterans. “I think sometimes history lives too much in a book,” Lane said. “This allows it to be brought to life and make it personal.” Central Heights once again will have its Veter-ans Day activities Friday, Lane, organizer of the event, said. It’s one of several events around Franklin County that will observe Veterans Day in some way. The day will start with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the school, 3521 Ellis Road, Richmond, Lane said, followed by an assembly at 9:30 a.m. A featured speaker, Jesse Randall, will share his experiences flying as a chopper pilot in Viet-nam, and patriotic songs will be performed by the school’s band and swing group. A class of first-graders will recite the Pledge of Allegiance, while perform-ing sign language to it. After the ceremony, students will have the op-portunity to talk with and meet recognized veterans. “It’s definitely some-thing we all look forward to, to have the kids get to have personal contact with the veterans who have done so much for them,” Lane said. “It really makes an impact on the kids.” It’s the sixth year for the ceremony, Lane said, which has grown tremen-dously since its inception. “When we first started it, we had like five veter-ans come,” he said. “Now we expect over 30.” Many live in the sur-rounding area, but some are family members of students. Area veterans also will be present at the Wells-ville school district’s Veterans Day ceremony Monday. The program, which begins at 10 a.m. and is or-ganized by the American Legion, also will feature patriotic tunes by the school’s musical groups. In addition, it will fea-tured speaker Maj. Aaron Thomas, a firing squad salute, and the retirement of the colors. The Wellsville program, which has been presented for more than four de-cades, lasts about an hour, Sheldon Pokorney, prin-cipal at Wellsville High School, said. “It is a good program,” Pokorney said. “I think it’s good for our kids to see this. … It’s good for them to know what veterans do, what they’ve done for the country. It gives them more of an appreciation for the military.” Lane agreed that it’s important for students everywhere to observe Veterans Day in one form or another. “I think it’s something that needs to be recog-nized in every school,” Lane said. Veterans also may take advantage of some spe-cial deals around town in observance of the holiday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently an-nounced in a press release that it will waive day-use fees for veterans at the more than 2,400 USACE-op-erated recreation areas na-tionwide — which includes Pomona Lake — on Veter-ans Day, which is Sunday. Veterans, active and reserve component ser-vice members, and their families, may participate. “We honor our veterans, active and reserve ser-

vice members, and their families this Veterans Day with an invitation to launch a boat or swim at one of our beaches free of charge,” Maj. Gen. Michael

J. Walsh, USACE Deputy Commanding General for Civil Works and Emergen-cy Operations, said. The waiver covers fees for boat launch ramps and

swimming beaches. It does not apply to camping and camping-related services, or fees for specialized facilities such as group picnic shelters.

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ABOVE: Randall Renoud, a U.S. Army Reserves veteran, stands beneath an American flag during a 2011 Veterans Day assembly at Wells-ville High School. Renoud, Wellsville Elementary School principal, was the featured speaker at the school as-sembly, and he spoke about casualties of war, referenc-ing Jacob Butler — a WHS graduate who was killed in 2003 in Iraq. “It’s a pretty high price we pay for what we have today,” he said. This year’s program in Wellsville is planned for 10 a.m. Monday.

ABOVE: Veterans and their family members eat breakfast be-fore a 2011 Veterans Day program at Central Heights School, 3521 Ellis Road, Richmond. Students in the Family, Career, Community Leaders of America group prepared the break-fast for the veterans an hour before the program. The annual breakfast is planned for 8:30 a.m. Friday before the school’s 9:30 a.m. Veterans Day program.


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Saying the words, “un-der God,” in the Pledge of Allegiance is important to 9-year-old Jakob Schmoe. The phrase wasn’t always part of the Pledge, but Schmoe, Ottawa, said he’s thankful it is now. “I think the words should [be included] because God is the one that created Earth and our continent,” he said. “When I say those words, I think about why God made the earth and how He made it so special.” Since it was drafted in 1892, the Pledge of Alle-giance has been changed four times, most recently in 1954 when the words “under God” were added. Since then, it has continuously been under scrutiny. Some staunchly defend its inclusion. Others main-tain it does not represent a separation of church and state. Even today, people con-tinue to debate the inclusion of the phrase. A question posted on The Herald’s Facebook page is proof of that, garnering the varied responses of more than 200 readers on the issue. Kurtis Bryan, a 2009 Wellsville High School graduate, had a different take on the subject. “I’m a Christian, and I guess in a perfect world everyone would be, but I’m a firm believer that religion should have nothing to do with government or a public entity of any kind,” Bryan, who now attends Emporia State University, said. Bryan said he was aware many people disagree with him on the concept, but he didn’t predict the Pledge’s verbiage would change any time soon. “The part of the country we’re in — the Midwest, specifically — is going to be geared toward more Chris-tian values,” he said. “You go to a different coast, and it’ll be totally different.” Laurie Weber, Ottawa, has an opposite stance on the issue. She’s not a Chris-tian, but she believes the words “under God” should remain in the Pledge.

“I think if we start strip-ping stuff out like that, it’s going to be the start of some-thing a lot worse,” she said. “All of a sudden there will be a lot more things that are gone, like off the money and everything. I’m not a Christian, but I’ve seen how some people are going down the wrong path, and seeing [those words] could be the one thing that turns them around.” Weber said she believes in a higher power, but not “in the Christian way of looking at God.” The words are not forced religion, she said, but rather an expres-sion of unity. “I don’t see how it’s hurting anybody with it in there,” she said. “It’s not forcing anybody to believe in one God or another God. It’s just saying that we’re one nation together, and we need to stick together. We need to not be a free-for-all, basically.”

History of the Pledge The Pledge of Allegiance, written in 1892 by socialist minister Francis Bellamy,

was originally published in a family magazine. It was formally adopted by Con-gress as the nation’s pledge in 1942. In its original form, it read, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one na-tion, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhow-er encouraged Congress to add the words “under God,” which brought about the 31-word Pledge that is said today, according to www.ushistory.org “In this way we are reaf-firming the transcendence of religious faith in Amer-ica’s heritage and future,” Eisenhower said of the change during his Flag Day speech June 14, 1954. Then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, now U.S. president, also defended the change in a speech in 2006, saying that, “Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation — context matters. It is doubt-ful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of mutter-ing the phrase ‘under God.’ I didn’t.” But its inclusion has been challenged often during the past 58 years. “The practice of recit-ing the Pledge in public

schools specifically targets children, inculcating them with a monotheistic mes-sage not held by millions of Americans,” the American Humanist Association, a nonprofit organization dedi-cated to promoting human-ism, said in a 2005 press release. “This is not a passive reading of a historic docu-ment but an active swearing of a loyalty oath to one’s country and, since 1954, an avowal that our nation exists ‘under God,’ which is tantamount to prayer.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, America’s largest public interest law firm, made the following statement in a 2004 press release: “Removing ‘under God’ from the Pledge is not anti-religious ... just the opposite is true. The only way the reli-gious reference in the Pledge can be upheld is for the Court to conclude that the words ‘under God’ have no religious meaning, which is far more insulting to people of faith.”

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A place in schools? Making children recite the Pledge, particularly with the words “under God” in it, has been challenged several times over the years, most recently in 2010, when, in a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the words “under God”, ruling that they were of a “ceremonial and patriotic nature” and did not constitute an estab-lishment of religion. For the first 50 years of its existence, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by schoolchildren all over the country every day. Today, in 36 states — including Kansas — schools are required to lead stu-dents in the Pledge. Howev-er, in 26 of those states — not including Kansas — stu-dents are able by law to opt out of reciting the Pledge. Kansas currently has no law regarding whether students can be forced to say the Pledge. At Ottawa schools, el-ementary and middle school students recite the Pledge ev-ery morning, but high school students do not, superinten-dent Dean Katt said. “Our hope is by the time they’re high school age, they’d have that instilled in them already, not that, that wouldn’t be a good thing to do,” Katt said. Katt said he wasn’t sure how many students over the years have chosen not to recite the Pledge, but if a student chose to do so, that would be OK. “We would let kids opt out of it, for their beliefs,” he said. The Pledge also is re-cited occasionally at public forums and other school events, Katt said. Having children recite it, he said, is a positive promotion of patriotism, he said. “I think it’s great,” Katt said. “I think we need to do everything we can to promote patriotism. It helps students understand the sacrifices that were made, why we celebrate Veterans Day as a nation. … I think we need to do more to promote that.” Like many, Weber grew

up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school, and doesn’t disagree with its role in schools today. In fact, being engaged to a veteran, she supports it wholeheart-edly, she said. “I grew up with it, and it didn’t hurt me any,” she said. “I think if for some reason that kid or parent doesn’t want them to say that part of it, they could say the rest of it and not that piece. I think that’s about more than the God issue. It’s about be-ing an American and being proud of our country.” This month, Schmoe will

get to lead the Pledge of Allegiance twice in front of an audience — once at his school play at Garfield Elementary School and the other Saturday at the start of the Veterans Day Parade, the theme of which is “God Bless America/God Bless Our Veterans.” He’s a little nervous about the presentation, he admit-ted, but he’s been practicing daily. Schmoe said he under-stands some people don’t be-lieve in God, but he still thinks the words are necessary. “I think it should still be

in there even if they don’t believe it because other people who don’t know what it means can still get the idea of who God is and what God does,” he said.

PLEDGE: Flag salute still part of school routine(Continued from Page 10)

DAR honors war veterans

Photos by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

ABOVE: Allen Hill, joined by his wife, Gina Hill, Ottawa, talks Saturday about his service dog, Frankie, during a Daughters of the American Revolution meeting at the Franklin County Visitor Information Center, 2011 E. Logan St., Ottawa. Hill, a retired Army Staff Sergeant, joined by other area veterans, attended the meeting honoring veterans. Allen and his wife co-founded Silent Siren, an organization to help military families support those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

ABOVE: Area veterans are honored during a Daugh-ters of the American Revolution meeting Saturday at the Franklin County Visitor Information Center, 2011 E. Logan St., Ottawa. Pictured are Galen Bristow, 90, Ottawa, WWII veteran; Ron Sears, Garnett, Viet-nam War veteran; Rex Bartlow, Ottawa, Korean War veteran; DAR junior member Ruth Nicole Brown-Austin, Shawnee, Iraq War veteran; and Allen Hill, Ottawa, Iraq War veteran. Daughters of the Ameri-can Revolution meeting at the Franklin County Visitor Information Center, 2011 E. Logan St., Ottawa. Hill, a retired Army Staff Sergeant, joined by other area veterans, were in attendance for the meeting honor-ing veterans.


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If he hadn’t also been a veteran, it might have been more difficult for Edward Gunnels to see his son serve overseas. “It’s a big difference be-tween somebody who’s not experienced it, compared to somebody who has,” Gun-nels, Leavenworth, said. “You know what to expect.” Gunnels, who served in the U.S. Army for more than 26 years, watched as his youngest son, Jesse Gunnels, Ottawa, also joined and served overseas. Both men joined shortly after graduating high school. Both men served in dangerous locations. And both men now are suffer-ing from PTSD, or Post-trau-matic stress disorder, from their years in the military. But the similar experi-ences have strengthened their relationship, Edward Gunnels said. “It’s one of those things that you know what he’s getting into because of the amount of time I spent in the military, plus being in a com-bat situation,” Gunnels said. “My wife grew up in the military, so we both knew that’s a chance you take when you join the military, if you’re going to make it or not. That’s one of those things you just psychologi-cally deal with.”

‘A family thing’ Edward Gunnels joined the Army May 17, 1977, two days out of high school. His father had served briefly in the military, and Gunnels knew it’s what he wanted to do. His first duty assignment was to Fort Hood, Texas, which was followed by as-signments in Germany, Fort Knox, Ky., Fort Riley and then back to Germany. He joined the Army Reserves in 1994, and then deployed to Iraq in 2003. He retired in 2004. Most of his time in the military he spent as an instructor or mechanic, repairing tanks, he said. He earned numerous awards and medals, including the Meritorious Service Medal, the Iraqi Freedom Medal and five Good Conduct med-als. He met his wife in Ger-many, and the two married in 1983. They had two sons. When his youngest son, Jesse, 26, decided to join the Army in 2005 — a year after Gunnels had retired — he was proud. “It was a family thing,” Jesse Gunnels said. “My mother’s family is military, and my dad’s family is military. I was just following tradition, and I wanted to serve my country and do the right thing.” The two kept in touch by email and mail during the deployment, Edward Gun-nels said. “It was definitely an adventure,” Jesse Gunnels said. “I got to learn new things and see the world.”

‘Looking for bad guys’ Jesse Gunnels trained in the United States for eight months before his unit of about 80 people was shipped overseas. He said the experience certainly was eye-opening. “It was very dirty,” Gun-nels said. “Unlike the land-fills we have, they bury their trash. They have a trash area that’s six blocks wide by six blocks long. It’s just piling over each other. If you don’t have money, your sew-

age goes out your front door into your yard. The water is contaminated, but they drink it.” Gunnels was an infantry man, serving on dangerous “snatch-and-grab” recon and raid missions, “looking for bad guys,” he said. That all ended, though,

when a vehicle he was riding in was hit with a roadside bomb. “We were on patrol com-ing back from a 54-hour mission. We were tired,” Gunnels said. “We came across an IED that went off. It smashed the side of our vehicle, and I got shrapnel

in my forehead and hear-ing loss in my right ear. I thought I was perfectly fine. The medic ripped it out on site.” Gunnels received tempo-rary treatment at a green zone in Baghdad, before being flown to Germany by Blackhawk helicopter. “I was there for treatment a while, and then they sent me stateside,” he said. “I was here for about a month, and then they gave me a discharge.”

‘Talk about it’ Now, Edward Gunnels works as the master me-

chanic for the City of Leav-enworth, and Jesse Gunnels is adapting to civilian life again. They both have returned to their normal lives, but life as a veteran has had its roadblocks for both of them. “We talk about it every now and then because we’re both dealing with some PTSD issues,” Edward Gun-nels said. Jesse Gunnels said he deals with nightmares and flashbacks caused by loud or startling noises. He takes medication for it, but he just takes it one day at a time, he said. It helps to have someone

to talk to who knows what he went through, though, he said. “We make sure we’re both on the same wavelength,” Edward Gunnels said. Both father and son are members of VFW 5901 in Ottawa, so they’ll be spend-ing Veterans Day together, riding in Saturday’s parade. For other parents of soldiers, Edward Gunnels offered one piece of advice. “When their son or daughter comes back, they’re going to be going through an emotional time period,” he said. “Just be there to support them. They need all the help they can get.”

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Being a veteran and be-ing a politician have one striking similarity, Roy Dunn said. Both are all about service. “Being in the service, you’re serving the whole country,” Dunn said. “ ... Any time you can serve your country it’s important. I think politics is the same way. It’s an honor to be elect-ed by the people, and the responsibility to serve them is just as important.” Dunn, who was running unopposed Tuesday for a seat on the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, is one of several local public servants who also is a veteran. Fred Campbell, who serves as Anderson County attorney and was vying in the general election to become Franklin County attorney, also served his country. Despite never having a desire when he was in col-lege to serve in the Navy or be a politician, he said he always knew service would be part of his life. “It’s just always been a desire to help people and do things for other people, not just for myself,” he said. Kevin Jones, a Wellsville school board member and Kansas House candidate, felt a similar calling to

serve. After getting a master’s de-gree in min-istry and leadership, as well as pastoring in the Wichita area for about eight years, Jones said, he thought he need military ex-perience to know true service. He joined the U.S. Army and became a Green Be-ret, serving in Iraq. “I served with the greatest men and women on the planet,” Jones said. Returning from the military, he and his family settled in Jones’ hometown, Wellsville, where he works as a Realtor, farmer and eBay Power Seller, as well as serv-ing on the Franklin County Planning Commission. “I want to be productive as a man,” he said. “I believe service is the greatest thing

we can do on this earth.” Jones said the constant in his life — from the ministry to the military and then to politics and public service — has been all about giving. “It’s all about service,” he said. “It’s just a new way of doing it. The desire of my heart is to serve people as best I can.” Steve Harris, a Franklin County commissioner, and Jeff Curry, Franklin County sheriff, are other local public

servants who served in the military at some point in their careers before taking positions in the public eye.

‘One of the little guys’ Campbell joined the Navy when he was 22 years old, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who also served in the Navy. Before enlisting, he had

been studying at the Univer-sity of Mississippi. “I had been there four years, I worked at Pizza Hut, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said. When Campbell joined, he was trained as a hospital corpsman. During that time, he did toxicology research, which led him to several jobs at Kansas City hospitals after the military. “My dad and granddad

were both doctors, and everybody thought I should go and be a doctor,” Camp-bell said. “But I talked to my wife and said, ‘I’m not sure I really want to be a doctor.’ I’m very picky, I like to argue about the meaning of words.” That’s what led him to law, he said, and eventually to a job in public service. “It all just kind of fell into place,” he said.

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Campbell said in his years as a public servant, he can see that there are overlaps between military service and public service. However, there are vast dif-ferences, too, such as being in the spotlight. “When you’re a politician, you’re kind of a lightning rod, whereas when I was a hospital corpsman, I just did my job and didn’t have to take public comments. I was just one of the little guys,” he said.

‘Pause and remember’ Dunn served in the Army during the Vietnam War, as well as in the National Guard from the mid-1970s to

the mid-1980s, he said. “We had the draft back then, so I joined the ser-vice,” he said. Dunn previously served as county commissioner from 2004 to 2008. He noted that neither can-didate for U.S. president in the 2012 election had served in the military — a point that also applies to the majority

of those serving in Congress. “I think we need veterans in the political arena to make sure that our country takes care of its veterans,” he said. Dunn said he’d like to see more young people getting involved politically or in some other way to help their community. “Everyone should think about serving their commu-

nity in some regard, in some form of service,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be in a politi-cal service.” A member of the Veter-ans Day parade committee and the Vietnam Veterans of America, Dunn planned to celebrate this year by help-ing lead local observances. He encouraged others to reflect on their own family members and friends who have served in the military. “I feel appreciative of the veterans that come before and the many Americans that gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” he said. “I’d just like everyone to take a pause and remember veter-ans on Veterans Day.”

Tommy Felts, Herald man-aging editor, contributed to this report.

POLITICS: Young people need to get more involved(Continued from Page 13)

Ottawa Veterans Day events begin 6:30 p.m. Friday at Forest Park with the open-ing ceremony for the “Healing Field of Flags.” More events, included a parade and live music are planned for Saturday. For more on the holiday observances, See Pages 6-7.


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Not too many people can give you a first-hand account of what it was like to serve on a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Pacific during World War II. But Ottawan Don Price is one of those people. Price spent three years in the Pacific from the summer of 1942 to the conclusion of the war in 1945. Price, a graduate of Princeton High School, class of 1940, moved to Ottawa in 1941, and worked for Peter-son Mages Studebaker while taking a correspondence course in aviation mechan-ics. In 1942, Price moved to California to complete his studies. However, Price said, “with the draft breathing down my neck, I decided it would be best to volunteer for the Navy,“ rather than risk being drafted into the army. Price said he reported for training in San Diego. “They assigned a bunch of us right out of boot camp after about three and a half weeks, and we went to Pearl Harbor and got on this ship.” The ship was the USS Cummings, a destroyer that had survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. For the next three years that ship became his home, the crew of nearly 300, his fam-ily, and the Pacific Ocean, his backyard. Cummings initially was assigned to escort convoys between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco. “We had convoy duty for a while,” Price said, “sailing back and forth from Pearl Harbor to either San Diego or San Francisco. We were screening,” he explained, “trying to keep the subma-rines from sinking our ships ... and us.” The destroyers were con-sidered sub hunters, using depth charges to destroy en-emy submarines. Price said the destroyers were made of a super thin metal, no more than 3/8-inch thick, as com-pared to the battleships and carriers whose hulls were as thick as 1½ feet. It made the destroyers fast and maneu-verable, able to travel 35 mph in waters as shallow as 18 feet and earned them the nickname, tin cans. Price said once one of their depth charge explosions actually

cracked their own hull. As a machinist mate, Price performed his primary duties in the engine room. He typically worked four hours on, eight hours off, monitoring the steam tur-bines and pressure gauges and using evaporators to pu-rify the ocean water to feed the boilers. He said some of the toughest times at sea was during bad weather. It wasn’t unusual for the ship to bob about in the water often becoming completely submerged for a moment. “Sometimes that de-stroyer was just the same as a sub,” Price said. “We were

underwater a lot of the time, anyway.” Once a wave nearly washed Price overboard. “I grabbed hold of a lifeline and it swung me into a torpedo that dented my shin,” he said. It was his only wartime injury. The worst of his experi-ences were during typhoons. The sailors had to sleep face down with their arms wrapped around their bunks to avoid being tossed off onto the deck. He said rumor had it that three U.S. destroyers were lost in a typhoon that the Cummings fortunately survived. Price recalled the scari-

est experience during his deployment came just two weeks before the war ended. The crew had spotted what he referred to as “a motor shore torpedo boat.” They managed to sink it using the 5-inch deck mounted gun after some highly skilled maneuvering to avoid the same fate. On a more humorous note, Price recalled the time someone spotted what they believed to be a submarine periscope in the distance. It turned out to be “a swab,“ he said — the handle of a mop standing upright bob-bing in the water. “With the handle up like that,” he said, “from a

long ways away you’d think looked like a periscope but it wasn’t.” Price saw more than just the open seas and California ports during his enlistment. Naturally, liberty was his favorite time. Early on, the people of Hawaii (a territory but not yet a state) treated the crew to an exceptionally fancy “R&R” at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. The crew had the oppor-tunity to go ashore down un-der in Auckland, New Zea-land, which was his favorite, as well as Sydney and Perth, Australia. He especially en-joyed frequenting the “milk bars,” of Auckland which he

described as similar to the local Dairy Queen. Price also recounted the anxiety he felt touring the inside of a Buddhist Temple in Ceylon. It had nothing to do with the temple, per se, but the fact that they in-sisted that he leave his only pair of shoes outside. Price told of crossing the equator many times and about the celebration that initiates sailors on their first crossing changing their status from “pollywogs” to “shellbacks.” He received a certificate commemorating the occasion.

Recollections of a ‘tin can’ sailor


Don Price, 90, Ottawa, holds Tuesday at his home a photograph of himself when he was in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Price served as a machinist mate in the engine room of the USS Cummings, a destroyer that survived the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor. Price served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945.

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Don Price, 90, Ottawa, holds Tuesday at his home a photograph of the USS Cummings, a de-stroyer he severed on during World War II. The most prestigious passenger to ever board the vessel was President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt along with his dog, Fala. Price said Roosevelt boarded the boat in August 1944 in Alaska after a brief fishing trip that concluded his tour of the Pacific theater. Price also has a newspaper clipping about a nationwide address Roosevelt delivered from the Cummings at a stop in Bremerton, Wash.

The Cummings operated with the British Pacific Fleet in April 1944, in the Indian Ocean, acting as a diversion during their air strikes on Sumatra. Price also recalls when they “lopped off a few rounds into Java.” Price was stationed off Iwo Jima on that infamous day in February 1945 when the Marines raised the American flag atop Mount Suribachi. Afterward, part of the Cummings’ respon-sibility was to fire onto the island closing off the numer-ous hillside caves where the Japanese were believed to be holed up. The Cummings also was used in air-sea rescue mis-sions, particularly during the intensified air strikes in

Okinawa, Japan. Price said they once “scooped out a grateful Japanese pilot who we had shot down.” He still has a photo of that pilot. On the lighter side, while in Alaska, Price said, “we picked up a guy that got washed off another ship. We came along side there and I thought for sure we were going to squash him. ... We were up there in Alaska. Boy, he was cold when we got him out of there.” The Cummings’ most prestigious passenger was none other than the com-mander-in-chief himself, President Franklin Dela-nor Roosevelt. He came on board, along with his Scotty dog, Fala, in August 1944 in Alaska. Price said Roosevelt had been on a brief fishing trip that concluded his tour

of the Pacific theater. Price has a photograph from a news clipping about a na-tionwide address Roosevelt delivered from the forecas-tle of the Cummings during a stop in Bremerton, Wash. He also has a photo of the crew standing by in formation for the president’s speech taken by a shipmate. On the back of the photo he simply wrote, “I’m in there somewhere.” Price also told about plenty of boredom; “lots of same-o, same-o, just watching for the enemy,” he added. They were once 40 days at sea in the Marshall Islands without ever seeing land. On the other hand, it was and continues to be a job that needs to be done and it has and continues to be done by a very special dedicated few, he said.

PRICE: Veteran tells ship’s stories(Continued from Page 15)


11-07-2012 herald's special edition

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