Russia, Georgia on brink

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S I N C E 1 8 47
Body surfing
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2008
The summertime bulge
riod when they once did not.
Connecting you with your community
OVER
HEAD
HEELS
Russia,
Georgia
on brink
More firepower,
troops and bombing
Medvedev says he’s
trying to force cease-fire
Sky divers to perform at balloon festival
Go and do
BY M. DIRK LANGEVELD
Staff Writer
LEBANON — When the
door of the plane opened, the
reality of my first sky-diving
experience hit me.
Any sense that this was just
a leisurely plane ride was
gone as a blast of chilly air
burst into the narrow cabin
and the roar of passing air began to compete with the loud
drone of the twin-engine Otter. Gradually, the plane began losing passengers, as experienced sky divers toward
the rear jumped through the
opening.
With each leap, I shifted up
on a bench in the cabin, securely tethered to my jump
master, Tony Hays. Before
long, the videographer, Jason
Struthers, swung through
the door and clung to the fuselage, ready to record our
exit, as Hays and I stood on
the edge of the void.
From there, I had an excellent view of the ground,
11,000 feet away, through
passing wisps of clouds. Hays
signaled that I should smile
for the camera, and he began
a rocking shift of momentum
before we got to know gravity
a little better.
The jump was offered to the
Sun Journal by Skydive New
England, which is based at a
Great Falls
Balloon Festival
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Reporter Dirk Langeveld prepares to jump out of the plane.
small airfield not far from the
New Hampshire border. The
outfit has been around for
23 years, and has increased
its jumps from 4,000 per year
to 22,000 over the past nine
years.
This weekend, Skydive
New England will send a
team of four sky divers to do
formation jumps at the Great
Falls Balloon Festival in
Lewiston-Auburn. The team
was scheduled to appear at
last year’s festival, but was
canceled because of inclement weather.
Weather permitting, the
team will aim to make four
jumps over Saturday and
Sunday from 5,000 feet above
the balloon landing area. The
sky divers will also be looking for hot-air balloons that
will permit jumps out of the
baskets, said Jason Fogg, the
company’s marketing director.
“You might see a couple of
shows just on the side there,”
he said.
The team’s displays will include formations created by
holding ribs on each other’s
jumpsuits; smoke shows created with canisters on the
jumpers’ feet; a jump with a
large American flag; and approaches to the ground with
speed canopies.
Skydive New England
will perform two sky diving demonstrations during
the Aug. 15-17 Great Falls
Balloon Festival, landing in
Simard/Payne Memorial
Park in Lewiston.
Ten skydivers will jump
from two separate planes
and join in formation in the
air, before landing on a target in the riverside park.
The team will jump on
Saturday and Sunday at 11
a.m. and 1 p.m. each day,
weather permitting. The
team will not jump in excessive wind or rain.
The event is free and open
to the public. Skydive New
England is headquartered
in Lebanon, and has been
operating for 23 years.
A complete schedule of
events for the 16th annual
Great Falls Ballooon Festival is included in today’s
Sun Journal.
OUTSIDE TSKHINVALI,
Georgia (AP) — Russia and
small, U.S.-allied Georgia
headed toward a wider war
Saturday as Russian tanks
rumbled into the contested
province of South Ossetia
and Russian aircraft bombed
a Georgian town, escalating a
conflict that already has left
hundreds dead.
Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said the country was “in
a state of war” and accused
Russia of beginning a “massive military aggression.”
The Georgian parliament approved a state of martial law,
mobilizing reservists and ordering government authorities to work round-the-clock.
Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev said that Moscow
sent troops into South Ossetia to force Georgia into a
cease-fire and prevent Georgia from retaking control of
its breakaway region after it
launched a major offensive
there overnight Friday.
In a meeting with refugees,
Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin characterized Georgia’s actions as “complete
genocide,” according to his
office’s Web site. Putin also
said Georgia had effectively lost the right to rule the
breakaway province – an indication Moscow could be
preparing to fulfill South Ossetians’ wish to be absorbed
into Russia.
The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war also increased Saturday when Russian-supported separatists in
another breakaway region,
Abkhazia, also targeted Georgian troops by launching air
and artillery strikes to drive
them out.
President Bush called for
an end to the Russian bombings and an immediate halt to
the violence.
“The attacks are occurring
SEE GEORGIA PAGE A8
SEE SKY DIVING PAGE A4
"EIJING
Yeti’s howl a fading memory as Bhutan moves on
BY TIM SULLIVAN
Associated Press Writer
SIGNYAR, Bhutan — He remembers the darkness of the
pine forest, and the footprints,
and his terror when the creature began to howl. He remembers the stories of his childhood, of a beast that stalked
Advice: b6
the upper reaches of the mountains, and how fear spread
through the village every time
it was spotted.
In a remote Himalayan kingdom that held out against the
modern world for as long as it
could, the old man remembers
a time when the yeti was a normal part of life.
Classified: E
b-PLUS
Crossword: b6
“The creature has always
been out there, and it’s out
there still,” says Sonam Dorji,
77, sitting on the pockmarked
wooden floor of his small farmhouse. It’s a cold Himalayan
morning, and he warms himself beside a wood stove. The
smell of burning pine fills the
room. “If you travel the an-
Perspective: C10
MAINE
The comedian, who had
the lung disease sarcoidosis, succumbed
to complications from
pneumonia. A3
Pups help
solve old
sex-crime
mystery
Woman with cloned
dogs faced charge she
held man as sex slave
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)
— A woman who made news
around the world when she
had five pups cloned from
her beloved pit bull Booger
looked very familiar to some
who saw her picture: She’s
the same woman who 31
years earlier was accused of
abducting a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.
SEE MYSTERY PAGE A8
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bernann McKinney holds one
of her five cloned pit bull puppies.
/LYMPICS
Daily medal count
cient trails, even today, there’s
a good chance you’ll meet
him.”
His son-in-law, listening to
the old man’s stories, laughs
dismissively from across the
room.
Tshering Sithar is 39, a bull-
Lottery numbers: C4
BERNIE MAC DIES
Who’s in the lead
G -S -B Total
1. United States
2 -1- 4
7
2. South Korea
2 -1- 0
3
3 China
2 -1- 0
3
Michael Phelps sets world
record. For Olympic coverage, see Sports, page D8
SEE YETI PAGE A4
Maine: C1
Associated Press
Nuptials: b7
SPORTS
COOL FOR SCHOOL:
MONEY SMARTS:
GAYTON NO. 2: No-
It’s no longer just about
No. 2 pencils; school supplies have graduated.
Page b1
Androscoggin Bank is
offering free classes in
financial literacy this fall.
Page C1
va Seafood clinches its
sixth state Legion crown
with 7-0 win over Gayton.
Page D1
Obituaries: C4
Opinion:C9
WE A T H E R
Today:
77/55
Tomorrow:
68/57
More weather: A10
Sports: D