Richard Krug 4/2/1945 - 4/12/2008

On April 12th, my step-dad and mom were in a motorcycle accident while on an afternoon ride between Kingman and Bullhead City, AZ. My mother was airlifted to Las Vegas where a plate was screwed into her leg to repair a fractured tibia. Dick didn't survive the accident. His obituary follows...

---

---

Richard T. Krug, 63, of Kingman, Ariz., and formerly of Oil City, Penn., died Saturday, April 12, 2008, while riding his motorcycle near Bullhead City. Born April 2, 1945, in Oil City, he was the son of the late George and Blanche Krug. He graduated in 1963 from Oil City High School.

Mr. Krug served in the U.S. Army in the Finance Corps and as a Military Police Sergeant during the Vietnam era. He attended Clarion University and graduated from Youngstown University.

While living in Oil City, he was well known as manager of the First Seneca Bank in Oil City, Penn.

In Kingman, Mr. Krug was president and CEO of the Mojave Federal Credit Union. He owned and operated Village Auto West in Kingman and the business was so named because of his close association with his friend Bob Fry’s Village Auto in Oil City, Penn.

An avid and knowledgeable automobile collector, Mr. Krug’s restorations won many awards at car shows throughout the Southwest.

His friends everywhere remember him as a spontaneous person who enjoyed life to the fullest and as an absolutely loyal friend to all who knew him.

Surviving are his loving companion of many years, Dianne Morin of Kingman, Ariz.; his stepsister, Betty Lorraine Ellert of Fla.; two stepchildren, Eric Steffe and Amy Hartle of Oil City, Penn.; several cousins, including Sam Krug and his wife Paulette of Ninety Six, S.C., Polly Krug Harshbarger of Mt. Dora, Fla., Tom Stuck of Avon Lake, Ohio, Bob Stuck of Carmichaels, Penn., Dr. Beverly Snyder Settlemire of The Villages, Fla., Linda Snyder of Ala., Dr. Chuck Snyder of Ohio and Tom Reagle of Fla.

Also surviving are two uncles, Elmer Mohney of Oil City and Lee Dinger of Meadville, and an aunt, Fern Snyder of Oil City, Penn.

He was a much-loved father figure to Benjamin Morin of Edgewood, N.M., and Matthew Morin of Denton, Tx., and he was “Grandpa Dick” to 12 grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to any of the Kingman, Ariz. dog shelters.

Nuts!

From my good friend Dave West...

The Republicans campaign on a platform of kicking you in the nuts. They tell you it’s for your own good, and if you don’t like being kicked in the nuts you’re secretly a terrah-ist. They get elected, and then start kicking you in the nuts.

The Democrats hold hearings decrying nut-kicking, go on and on about how bad the Republicans are for kicking people in the nuts, and claim that kicking you in the nuts is not only unrelated to the war on terror but actually hurts both you and national security. Enough people now have been kicked in the nuts and found it unpleasant that a slim House and Senate lead was handed to the Democrats in 2006.

They get elected, and immediately start kicking you in the nuts.

Disappearing Rights Mug

This mug depicts the text of the Bill of Rights. When you fill it with hot liquid, the text slowly vanishes, simulating the effect of the Patriot Act.

You can buy one here.

The Ballad of Marty Minolta

An entertaining take on Albuquerque's Red Light Cameras from my good friend, and a good man, William H. White, municipal judge of Edgewood, New Mexico:

The Ballad of Marty Minolta OR Saga of the Shutterbug Stalin

W.H. White, June 2007

Albuquerque had a mayor,
he was a camera fan.
He placed 'em here, he placed 'em there,
he spied throughout the land.

It started with the red lights;
some folks were slow to stop.
But there was little revenue
in tickets from a cop.

So Marty sat and Marty thought,
there came some sly insights.
"I'll simply change the law a bit;
who cares about their rights?"

"No need to come before a judge;
Craig Loy can write a law.
We'll make 'em prove they're innocent."
He smiled at what he saw.

Then this camera Alcalde
looked at speeders like some sheep.
He could help some special interests
if he made those fines real steep.

And the camera crazy Council,
noting revenues were thin,
said, "Click and flash and take their cash.
We'll fleece them to the skin."

And the people still stayed silent,
when they should have formed a mob,
so these scheming politicians
looked for other ways to rob.

Now Marty likes to talk a lot,
and one day upon his cell
a fine idea came to him;
"We'll have fines for this as well."

"If it's good enough for Santa Fe,
it's good enough for us.
I've already trashed their freedoms
and they haven't made a fuss."

But someday soon we'll have enough
of the way that we've been shorn.
They'll, none of them, deserve our votes,
they'll only have our scorn.

And what of little Marty
and his fascist camera plan?
The day is near when all will sneer,
"Why, he's barely half a man."

HAD ENOUGH?

Had enough of arrogant public officials, their Big Brother programs, and their Star Chamber hearings?

With the stroke of a pen, Mayor Chavez and the City Council have taken away your RIGHT to be presumed innocent.

They have taken away your RIGHT to be individually and personally charged with wrong doing.

Your case has now become a "Public Nuisance" hearing:

• The hearing officer works for the City.
• The City and a private company, Redflex split the revenue.
• The video is reviewed by City and Redflex employees.
• You must PROVE you are not guilty.
• Good luck, sucker!

The City Project Manager of the camera enforcement program is Lt. Haarhues of the A.P.D. Automated Enforcement Division.*

The Redflex project manager is the same person.*

The Project Managers are required to hold regular meetings.*

I wonder who takes the minutes? There are, of course, no meetings. And no minutes. And no one to hold the City accountable.

*14 December 05 Agreement between the City and Redflex.

WHAT YOU CAN DO?

1. Contact the Mayor (768-3000) and your Councilor (768-3100). The City's website is: http://www.cabq.gov follow the links.
2. Politely, but firmly, demand an end to the whole camera enforcement program.
3. Remember like an elephant, and "throw the bums" out if they persist in this heavy handed, greedy program.
4. If you are cited, demand a hearing. It may not be fair and you may be busy. The Americans at Valley Forge, Bull Run, and Wake Island could have been "busy", too. This is about principle, not about your time or your money. FIGHT BACK!
5. Spread the word. Feel free to reproduce this. Put it on the bulletin board. Put it on the net. I'm "mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more." How about you?

New post

This is a new post so Larry can't give me a hard time about not posting anything. <g>

Gravatar Browser

If you haven't already checked out the new Gravatar 2.0, then you should. It's pretty cool. Did you ever wonder what people choose for their Gravatars? Every want to just browse through them? Me too, so I whipped up a little PHP script to do just that. Not sure how long it will work since they may have not intended for images to be loaded directly, but for now we can have a looksee.

Gravatar Browser

Mint bans melting coins

WASHINGTON -- Given rising metal prices, the pennies and nickels in your pocket are worth more melted down than their face value -- and that has the government worried. U.S. Mint officials said Wednesday they were putting into place rules prohibiting the melting down of 1-cent and 5-cent coins, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for people convicted of violating the rule.

Because of the prevailing prices of metals, the cost of producing pennies and nickels exceeds the coins' face value.

A nickel is 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper. The metal in one coin costs 6.99 cents for each 5-cent coin.

Modern pennies have 2.5 percent copper content with zinc making up the rest of the coin. The current copper and zinc in a penny are worth 1.12 cents.

AP

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.