Obituary: Patrick B. Lightheart

Patrick B. Lightheart, 96, of Andover was a Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist and a staunch family man.  He died quietly in his home during the night of natural causes.

Lightheart achieved his goal of a profession in journalism and environmental science in his late ‘50’s.  He also had a number 1 bestselling book called Nature, God and You.

He was originally from Chicago and spent 30 years as a master craftsman in the Carpenters Union.  He married his wife, Mary, a PhD in Animal Science, in 1998.  He often said that she was his inspiration for going back to school and achieving the goals that he did.  He took great joy in working outdoors and was an avid nature writer. 

Lightheart is survived by his wife, Mary, 5 children: Christine (Isaac) Hayes, Andrea (Richard) Bush, Devin (Jessica), Mary Cate (Gordon) Kennedy, and Ryan (Susan), 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

As a devout agnostic he will be cremated and his ashes will be spread by his two sons at an undisclosed location in the Rocky Mountains.

Sheriff Department Shortchanged

By Patrick Lightheart

Tempers flared during a finger-pointing incident at the Thursday afternoon city council meeting.  Sheriff Gus DiCesari said, "You're putting the lives of the people in this county in jeopardy."  DiCesari went as far as to accuse the county commissioners of shortchanging the Sheriff's Department.

Commissioner Pres. Anne Chenn disagreed.  Chenn replied that the County did not have the money to buy eight new police cars and hire five new sheriff deputies due to an increase in healthcare benefits and higher fuel costs. Plus $30 million was spent to build a new prison so the funds were not available for this year.

Commissioners Anita Shenuski and Raymond Laybourne are firmly on the Sheriff's side and have voiced strong opposition to cutting the sheriff department’s budget. They have urged other members to spend less money on programs for migrant workers in efforts to redirect funds to the Sheriff Department and law enforcement programs.

Commissioner Shenuski, during a heated exchange, said, "We never had problems until we began letting migrants come to this county to work." Shenuski laid claim that the migrant workers were responsible for a whole host of problems and said, "They are a problem for our law enforcement, our schools and our healthcare system.” Shenuski also went as far as to say that they take jobs from decent people in the community and work for next to nothing and said, "If something gets stolen you can bet it is one of them!”  Shenuski concluded by saying that, "We need to protect local residents from them!"

Chenn adamantly denied these claims and said, "You are being a hypocrite when you try to blame these people for everything." Chenn then pointed out that the immigrants were hard-working decent people and they were working jobs that local residents did not want.  Chenn said, "They add a great deal to the local community and they pay taxes."

The county commissioners estimate that approximately 5000 migrant families are now working in the county.  Most of them are employed in agricultural, construction or the service industries. Commissioner Jose Gardez pointed out that many of the migrant workers become permanent members of the community. They also go through proper channels and become citizens. Some even open up their own small business in the community.

DiCesari made clear that at least eight vehicles had over 150,000 miles on them. DiCesari said, "It is getting too costly to maintain the older vehicles and they spend too much time in the repair shop." DiCesari then stated in 27 years it is the first time I have not had a budget allocated to the department for equipment. DiCesari said, "My deputies cannot keep driving these old vehicles, something bad is going to happen."

The commissioners voted five to two against the Sheriff Department’s request for the additional cruisers and deputies.  Chenn told DiCesari that the additional request of $580,000 for new cruisers and deputies could not be granted at this time. The Sheriff's Department would have to make do for the year with what they have. Then Chenn suggested that the deputies should not drive their cars home at night. This would cut down on mileage and make more cruisers available.

            DiCesari pointed out that by letting the deputies take their cruisers home and parking them in their neighborhoods was a deterrent to crime.

Deadly Crash on Interstate

By Patrick Lightheart

Interstate 790 was closed down in both directions at 6:45 a.m. after two semis collided in the northbound lanes and caused an 18 vehicle pile-up injuring 20 and killing two. According to Sgt. Albert Wei first responders said it looked like a scene out of a war movie. Many of the people were outside their cars lying on the ground covered in blood. Others were trapped in their cars and would need to be extricated before they could be treated.

The fire department dispatched all five of its ambulances with more ambulances being dispatched from four nearby cities to assist with the injured. The two people who sustained the worst injuries were transported by a “Life Flight” helicopter to a trauma center 50 miles away in Statesville. The rest of the injured people, four severely injured, were transported to the nearest hospital by ambulance.

The two fatalities were in the vehicle that collided with a semi-tanker hauling diesel fuel. The driver managed to pull his truck to the side of the road safely with no damage to the tanker. Firefighters had to cut the roofs off of three vehicles to free their passengers.

Traffic was rerouted to Interstate 690 creating long delays during the morning rush hour. The investigation is ongoing due to the complexity of the accident scene. With so many cars and so many injured they are still trying to sort out who was in what car, and who was driving.