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Domestic leads to fire, suicide
ISAAC HALE/STAFF PHOTO
“Maddie” the brown bear presses her nose out one of the two corn cribs that has been her home for the last seven years on Tuesday outside Covington.
Going home Brown bear ‘Maddie’ headed to California animal sanctuary MIKE ULLERY/STAFF PHOTO
Firefighters from Piqua and Fletcher, along with Miami County deputies work the scene of an early Monday morning garage fire that allegedly was started by the husband of the resident of the nearby home. After setting the blaze, the man went to the rear of the property and took his own life with a shotgun, as deputies arrived on the scene.
Scene consisted of shotgun blasts, accelerant BY WILL E SANDERS Staff Writer wsanders@civitasmedia.com PIQUA — Authorities rescued a woman and her adult son from a rural Piqua home early Monday morning after the woman’s husband attempted to break into their residence, lit a garage on fire and blasted a shotgun into the air several times — before taking his own life. Miami County Sheriff’s Office
Lt. Steve Lord said the victim of the apparent suicide was identified as David A. Gerlach, 48, who lived at the residence and was found lifeless in the backyard of the home, which is located at 9881 County Road 25-A, just north of Piqua. According to Lord, authorities were initially called to the home at approximately 2:30 a.m. on what was first described as a domestic-related incident, but once law enforcement arrived they noticed a detached garage
was on fire. While detached, the garage was in close proximity to the home and a large propane tank, Lord said. Upon arriving at the scene deputies and other emergency first responders assisted a 43year-old woman and her 21year-old son from a window in a bedroom as Mr. Gerlach fired a shotgun several times in proximity to the home and burning garage. See Domestic/Page 8
Congress returns to duke out issues BY DONNA CASSATA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress returned Monday to potentially incendiary fights over nominations, unresolved disputes over student loans and the farm bill, and the uncertainty of whether lawmakers have the political will to rewrite the nation’s immigration laws. The cooperation evident in the Senate last month with passage of a bipartisan immigration bill could be wiped out immediately if Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., frustrated with GOP delaying tactics on judges and nominations, tries to change the Senate rules by scrapping the current three-fifths majority for a simple ma-
jority. Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has indicated it’s a decision Reid could regret if the GOP seizes Senate control in next year’s elections. “Once the Senate definitively breaks the rules to change the rules, the pressure to respond in kind will be irresistible to future majorities,”McConnell said last month, looking ahead to 2014 when Democrats have to defend 21 seats to the GOP’s 14. McConnell envisioned a long list of reversals from the Democratic agenda, from repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law to shipping radioactive nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain in Reid’s home state of Nevada.
Recently elected Democrats have clamored for changes in Senate rules as Obama has faced Republican resistance to his nominations. Two Cabinet-rank choices — Tom Perez as labor secretary and Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency — could be approved by the Senate this month after a loud debate over administration policies. The GOP also has challenged Obama’s three judicial nominees to the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as they’ve tried to eliminate the vacancies. The Senate scheduled a vote late Monday on a less contentious nomination — Gregory Phillips to serve as U.S. circuit judge for the 10th Circuit.
Mother Nature’s wrath hits Fletcher community ISAAC HALE/STAFF PHOTO
Raised water levels and flattened wet grass (left) are remnants of flooding that took place in Fletcher early Monday morning.
ISAAC HALE/STAFF PHOTO
Carolyn Bodey (right) hoses off a table dirtied by flooding in the driveway of her home at 6 Water St. in Fletcher after heavy flooding surrounded her house and flooded her basement severely Monday. Due to the flooding early Monday morning, two residences were evacuated and several houses were affected by flood waters.
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BY WILL E SANDERS Staff Writer wsanders@civitasmedia.com COVINGTON — Maddie, a fully-grown, 12-year-old female brown bear, has resided in two connected corn cribs at a rural Covington farm for the last seven years under the care of her owner, Kimberly Wymer. On Tuesday Maddie’s life of confinement came to an end. Officials with a California animal sanctuary coaxed the 325 pound bear from her rusted corn crib home and into a transport cage where she will make a cross-country trek to her new home. And that new home is Lions Tigers & Bears, a wild animal sanctuary and rescue facility in Alpine, California, where she will begin her new life of freedom in a new 5-acre habitat. The sanctuary itself contains 55 rescued animals and 17 different species, said Bobbi Brink, founder and director of Lions Tigers & Bears. Brink said she was happy when Wymer reached out to her and her organization, and said she was glad that Wymer decided to do the right thing for the interests of Maddie. “She (Wymer) knows she is doing the right thing for this bear,” Wymer said. “And Maddie knows it, too. Maddie knows she is going to get a good home. It will be nice to get this bear out of her small cage and into a habitat.” Wymer, 47, said she got Maddie from a friend who had the bear for three years, but then needed to get rid of it. Wymer said that had she not stepped in to take care of the bear from her friend that Maddie was going to be sold for $125 to a hunting lodge for a canned hunt. She said she would have given Maddie a new home years ago if she would have been aware of the Lions Tigers & Bears organization. Nevertheless, Wymer said Maddie’s new relocation is bittersweet because she and the bear have developed an obvious bond over the course of the last seven years. “She is not a cute and cuddly bear,” Wymer said. “I mean, she is a bear. She will play with me, play paddycake with me one minute and the next minute she will try to bite you. … She is a wild animal who should not be kept in two corn cribs. She should be allowed to be more of a bear.” Wymer said when Brink and her crew pulled into the gravel driveway of the rural Covington farmhouse where Maddie has been kept, located at 6485 Mulberry Grove-Rakestraw Road, that she started to cry uncontrollably. After about a half hour Maddie eventually made her way into her transport cage as Wymer tried coaxing her, at times holding back her emotions. “You can do it,” Wymer said to the bear. “That’s my girl. Come on.” “It’s like giving away a kid,” said Wymer’s husband, Duncan, 35, standing behind his wife as Maddie slowly entered the cage as the door shut behind her. On Jan. 1, 2014, a new state law goes into effect that makes private exotic ownership of animals illegal, which is why some owners, like Wymer, are voluntarily, and proactively, surrendering their animals, said Tim Harrison, a well-known exotic animal expert who was called Index in to assist with the rescue. Harrison commended Classified ...............12-13 Wymer for taking the bear Opinion ..........................4 from its previous owner, Comics ........................11 saying Wymer had good in- Entertainment ...............5 tentions, but stated that Golden Years .................6 dangerous animals like Health ............................7 Maddie should not be kept Local ..............................3 as pets. Obituaries......................2 “She took it in, so to me Sports.......................9-10 she is a hero, but when it Weather .........................3 comes down to it people should not have them for pets,” Harrison said. “Now Maddie is going to a beautiful place to retire. It’s going to be a happy ending 6 2 7 4 8 2 5 8 2 1 0 1 for Maddie.”