April 9, 2008 -- Major killed in Iraq was committed to others

By David Kennard, The Idaho Statesman

An hour before Sunday's rocket attack on the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Maj. Stuart A. Wolfer sent an e-mail back to his manager in the states.

Wolfer, a Boise trial lawyer known as "Stu," was "150 percent committed, 150 percent engaged and always looking for ways to improve any process or procedure that he felt needed to be changed," Allan Milloy of Thomson West wrote in a company e-mail.

The attack took the life of two soldiers involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to a Department of Defense announcement Tuesday.

Wolfer, 36, was assigned to the 11th Battalion, 104th Division, Boise, and served as a logistics officer at Phoenix Base in Baghdad.

The other soldier was Col. Stephen K. Scott, 54, of New Market, Ala.

"They died April 6 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit with indirect fire," a Defense statement said.

News of Wolfer's death spread by e-mail literally around the world, sent by friends, co-workers and those who remember him as the father who dropped his daughters off at school by saying, "I love you, beautiful."

The Wolfers have three daughters: Lillian Wade, 5; Melissa Lacey-Marie, 3; and Isadora Ruth, 1.

"He was a very loving and amazing father," Lee Anne, his wife, said in a written statement. "He called his children beautiful because he said they looked like their mother. He held his family foremost in his life. Stuart was an amazing man and will continue to live on in the hearts of those he touched forever."

According to news reports, Wolfer was in the gym at Phoenix Base inside a safe zone at the time of the 3:30 p.m. attack. The blast also wounded 17 soldiers, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It's a tough day for us," the official said Sunday. "These are our colleagues, our friends."

"Stu forged strong relationships with just about everyone he encountered," said Peter Warwick, president and chief executive officer of Thomson North American Legal, Wolfer's employer.

"Stu was a wonderful person," Warwick told the Idaho Statesman Tuesday.

When he heard the news of Wolfer's death, Warwick sent a message to company employees. In it, he included one of many e-mails Wolfer sent to co-workers:

"The last few weeks have been incredible," Wolfer wrote. "I spent a day visiting the Iraqi Military Academy at Rustamiyah. The flight over started off with me sitting across from a fellow Reuters camera man from Baghdad. We embraced and said hello and then I explained to him that we were on the same team. He let me take a photo with his camera at about 1,000 feet."

It was that kind of expression that created bonds between Wolfer and those he met.

Rosemary Regner of Eagle, an associate, said Wolfer had many friends.

"He was a degreed attorney," Regner said. "I remember ... he received (his first) notice of his call to duty during the Idaho State Bar meeting, and he was very grave about the news. He returned, and we were all very happy to have him back."

Wolfer, who would have turned 37 on April 23, was called up from the Army Reserves for active-duty service with the Army in 2004, and served in Kuwait for a year.

He was called up again and left for Iraq on Dec. 29, 2007.

His military job as a logistics officer was to assist the international forces in their work to return control of the country back to Iraqi citizens.

"In addition to his official duties," Warwick said, "he also was a volunteer with the newly established Boy Scouts International Association in Baghdad, saying, 'If we are going to be turning Iraq over to the citizens, they have to have leaders. You have to develop them, and starting them early with Boy Scouts is one of the ways that we can do this.' "

He began his military service in the Army ROTC program while attending Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

When he graduated in 1993, he had advanced to the rank of second lieutenant.

He was assigned to an Army unit in Iowa in 1995. That's where he met his wife. They were married in August 2001.

After transferring to the U.S. Army Reserve, he attended and graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He later began working for Thomson West Legal in Minneapolis, Minn., as a territory manager for Idaho and Montana.

According to Rabbi Dan Fink of Ahavath Beth Israel, the synagogue in Boise, the family was very active in the congregation.

"He was a stalwart member of the community," Fink said. "He dearly loved his family and stayed in constant touch with them while he was away."

Fink said the family regularly exchanged letters, packages and e-mail.

"The Idaho National Guard offers condolences to the Wolfer family," a statement issued Tuesday by the Department of Defense said. "Maj. Stuart A. Wolfer was a patriot who served with honor, in the finest traditions of a citizen-soldier, when his country called on him."

In addition to his family in Emmett, he has relatives in Iowa, New York and Florida.

Services will take place in Iowa and in Boise at a later date.

David Kennard: 377-6436

Sept. 28, 2006 -- Boss’s departure leaves vacancy for new dork

By David Fong, Troy Daily News

I still remember when David Kennard walked into our newsroom seven years ago. My first thought was, “Well, where did they get this dork from?”
And as he prepared to leave our newsroom, my final thought is, “How can we possibly let this dork go?”
Often times in this business, we see our co-workers more than we see our families (which, when you have a mother like mine, isn’t necessarily such a bad thing, I suppose). In any event, it sometimes gets to the point where we start thinking of our fellow journalists as family members.
I suppose since he was the boss, some might think of David as a father figure — but I never did.
Mostly because if I ever gave my father a “Wet Willie” or a “Purple Nurple” or “Forearm Skin Burn” — all of which I tried to administer to David on a weekly basis — my dad would have beaten the snot out of me.
No, David was more like an older brother — an older brother that I was physically superior to (or at least an older brother that allowed me to think I was physically superior to him).
Last Sunday, David wrote his final column detailing all the things he’s going to miss about living and working here in Miami County.
And here’s all of the things I’m going to miss about David being here:
■Throwing things on top of the roof of the Troy Daily News. In the past three months alone, pumpkins, doughnuts and muffins have all been thrown from the street to the roof of the newspaper by David and I. Good thing he’s leaving before he put something through our publisher’s window, huh?
■Working with David to put out “The Blitz,” our weekly high school football section. You ever notice how beautiful some of the covers have been, particularly during Troy-Piqua week? Thank him.
He’s one of the most talented newspaper designers I’ve ever known. Afraid you’ll notice a drop-off here in the next week or so? Blame him ... for leaving.
■Calling David at home at 3 a.m. when the computers crash — then him not remembering our phone conversation the next day.
■Watching David eat a nutritious dinner when he pulled a Saturday night shift. If, of course, you consider an entire can of sour cream and onion Pringles, a giant microwave burrito and six gallons of root beer (real root beer, not the kind of root beer I usually write about) nutritious, that is.
■The Strawberry Festival bed races. How can we possibly continue this tradition without him? Much faster, in all likelihood.
■Buying various forms of livestock with him at the Miami County Fair auction every summer.
Last month, David and I spent an afternoon at the fair. We drank milkshakes, we looked at pigs, we played midway games and we won one of those stupid painted sticks (which I spent the rest of the day poking him with, by the way).
By that point, I knew David was looking to move out West and likely would be leaving our happy family soon. In the back of my mind, I knew it was probably going to be one of our final chances to hang out.
While I was happy to see him move on to a new opportunity, I knew all of our lives were going to be a little worse off once he left.
In his final column, David wrote that what he’ll miss about Troy is everything. All I’m going to miss about him is everything.
The big dork.

Troy’s very own David Fong appears on Thursdays in the Troy Daily News. With David gone, he plans on channeling all his abuse toward Chuck Soder.

Sept. 24, 2006 -- The best thing about living in Troy is everything

Besides the tomato garden in the backyard, I think the thing I’ll miss the most about Troy is the Strawberry Festival bed races.

Wait. Scratch that.

Besides the tomato garden in the back yard, I think the thing I’ll miss the most is fishing for bluegill in the county ponds next to the Little League fields.

No, wait, tomatoes, fishing, then Strawberry Festival bed races. Of course the bed races count for two, because it’s also a blast selling strawberry pies with the Boy Scouts on the square that same night.

Also on the list would have to be riding the Great Miami River bike path through Troy — but once I’m not around I’m not sure who will give Bob Shook a hard time about the thing. (I’d never admit it, but he and his committee really have done a great job on the project.)

So my Troy top 10 would be backyard tomatoes, fishing, bed races, bike path, then maybe sneaking away from the office to grab some lunch at Bakehouse Breads or Taggerts on the Square.

After that, I have to include the Friday night concert series, the downtown bike races, eating elephant ears at the Miami County Fair and squeezing lemons for the Rotary Club on the levee during the Strawberry Festival.

Is that 10?

OK, making the top 20 would have to be pizza from the Staunton Country Store, golf at the Troy Country Club or Miami Shores — since I’m a horrible golfer it really doesn’t matter much to me.

Also, watching Fourth of July fireworks from the Market Street bridge, concerts at Hayner, ice cream from Wildberries and hiking at Charleston Falls.

OK, wait, Charleston Falls has to be in the Top 10. I’m a little lost on what has to go, but they’re all right up there.

Rounding out the top 20 things I’ll miss the most when I leave next week has to be skiing with the high school at Mad River Mountain and watching any high school sporting event, but especially basketball.

And let me renew my objection to selling the Miami East Intermediate School Gym. You just haven’t experienced basketball unless you’ve seen a game at that old gym.

Other stuff that has to be included on the things-I’ll-miss-most list: Running the 5K at Brukner, Summer Camp with the Boy Scouts (total I’ve spent 30 nights over six summers in canvas tents between here and Kentucky) and riding the motorcycle along the River Road north of Troy.

During the last seven years, I’ve flown kites at WACO field, marched in numerous Halloween parades and bought enough animals at the Miami County Fair market sale to fill a barnyard.

A side note: You know those hamburgers they pass out to buyers at the sale barn? Well, don’t you think it’s just a little cruel to be eating hamburgers in front of the cows that are walking around in the auction pen? I mean talk about rubbing your face in it.

Oh yeah, and bike rides to Troy Community Park, and riding on the TDN float in the Strawberry Festival Parade, and root beer floats from the UDF across the street.

I can’t believe I almost forgot root beer floats. Working the copy desk on a Saturday night would be almost unbearable without root beer floats.

I hope they have root beer floats in Idaho and tomatoes and strawberry pie.

David Kennard has been the Troy Daily News executive editor for the last seven years. Next week he leaves for a new position at the Idaho Statesmen in Boise, Idaho. You can contact him at kennard@tdnpublishing.com.

Aug. 24, 2006 - Troy Daily News

Aug. 20, 2006 -- Culture, Song, Dance

Aug. 20, 2006 - Troy Daily News

Troy Daily News

July 23, 2006 -- On the Trail of the Wright Brothers

July 23, 2006 - Troy Daily News

July 19, 2006 -- Storm Pounds Troy

July 19, 2006 - Troy Daily News

July 2, 2006 -- Spirit of Independence given birth by early Americans

As you sit in your driveway Thursday, drinking your lemonade and watching the kids burn themselves on sparklers, pause for just a minute to recall why we celebrate the Fourth of July. 

 We celebrate, of course, to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. That eventful day was told mostly by early newspapers and by word of mouth and was eventually followed by the Revolutionary War, which began in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, and ended with the surrender of British troops in Yorktown in 1781. 

It wasn’t until two years later, however, in 1783 that America became officially recognized by “the crown” in the Treaty of Paris, and still another year (Jan. 14, 1784) before the newly formed Congress actually ratified the action. 

The delay, from 1776 to 1784 — almost a decade — is a good example of how the government still works today. Of course, there was the small matter of overthrowing the greatest military in the new era. 

So the real question is this: On what date should we celebrate the birth of our country? On the date of conception in 1776, or on Jan. 14, 1784 when it was actually born? My answer is Aug. 9, 1757. Any historians out there? That famous day in history marked the beginning of the fall of the British empire on the North American continent. 

Four days earlier, the sound of locusts hung in the late summer air as red coated regulars scrambled to shore up the walls of the massive Fort William Henry in New York. 

The 2,400 soldiers, carpenters, laborers and family members that operated the fort northeast of the finger lakes region of upstate New York, had heard about the massive French force that planned to lay siege to the fort sometime in the coming days. 

Lieutenant Colonel George Monro, a veteran British officer with plenty of military service on his resume, had already sent runners with a message to nearby Fort Edward for assistance in dispatching the French. 

Had it not been for a rogue gang of American Indians tapped into service by the French, we may still be pledging allegiance to the Union Jack instead of the Stars and Stripes. 

The dispatch never arrived at Fort Edward and the French began their siege of the most prized fort on the “Western Frontier.” Fort William Henry was a massive collection of walls made of heavy logs, mud and boulders. It was a prize that needed to be taken if France was to secure its trade routes from Canada into the lower continent. 

The French commander in North America, Louis-Joseph Marquis de Montcalm, knew about forts. He had already taken several British forts by force and had no intention of letting William Henry escape. But Montcalm was a decent man by war standards. 

Before he ordered his cannons to fire on the walls of the edifice to British might, he sent in a white flag as an offer for the enemy to surrender. 

Monro refused, of course, and the fight began. 

The already humid air soon became choked with thick smoke as the bombardment commenced. American Indian warriors used the thick cover around the fort to slowly pick off the defenders mounted high on the walls above. 

The fight lasted only three days before Montcalm sent his second-in-command Francois-Gaston deLevis into the fray with yet another white flag to allow the British to surrender. 

Monro initially refused, but deLevis had no intention of annihilating his foe, and offered what to this day is considered one of the most generous military offers made. 

Monro was allowed to leave the fort with his survivors if they promised to not fight the French again for 18 months. 

They would keep their personal items, their weapons and their flags. 

The sick and wounded would remain and be cared for by the French and returned to the British when they were able. 

How could he refuse? Monro, in return for his civility, treated Montcalm to a feast the following day. And so the British kept their pride intact as they left William Henry in the hands of the French. 

A side note: The wild card in the whole affair was the large group of American Indians who were not civil by any stretch of the imagination. 

As soon as the British had gone, they rushed in, scalped the dead and took the survivors prisoner along with whatever bounty they could find. 

This appalled Montcalm, who to his benefit, spent the better part of the next year trying to find the captives and return them to the British. 

He succeeded in finding all but about 200. 

Word of the fall of William Henry spread across the frontier.

The British could be beaten. Not only could they be beaten, they could be beaten badly.

That message was heard loud and clear by an already frustrated provincial population of American colonists who were growing angrier by the day at the treatment they received from the King of England. 

Soon, the term patriotism changed its meaning from those loyal to the crown, to those loyal to freedom. 

It was only four months later that a young British officer by the name of George Washington resigned his commission in the British army to become a tobacco farmer in a small town named Mt. Vernon in Virginia. 

Long before the war for independence was fought by our earliest patriots, this other war, the French-Indian War, set the stage for the birth of the greatest country on the planet. 

Happy Independence Day.

June 11, 2006 -- Rules of fatherhood honed by trial and error

The hamster died (note to mother: not the rabbit).

This is not code. The hamster really did die, or is nearly dead as I write this. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to make it through the night. And come morning, we’ll have another addition
to the Kennard family pet cemetery located under the tree house in the back yard.

The running total of four-legged family members who have checked out is four: a cat, two bunnies and hamster No. 1, aka Hamtaro. The fish just get flushed — and I’ve lost track
of how many anyway.

The most recent dearly departed, Hamwise Gamgee, was taking his
last labored breaths early in the day Saturday.

It’s a shame, kind of. We just picked up a really cool hamster habitat
at a garage sale over in the Shenandoah neighborhood yesterday.

Already the kids are talking about what kind of hamster to get next. I believe they are coming to grips with death in the animal kingdom — at least the Kennard animal kingdom.

I suppose with each passing it gets a little easier to accept. I’ll tell you, though, the first couple of fatalities were pretty hard.

Little girls don’t like it when their furry little bunny dies.

I suppose it’s only fitting that the most recent death happened during the Father’s Day season. I firmly believe that it is a father’s duty to dispose of the family pet. That’s what my dad taught me and I’m sure, his dad before that.

Little sons and daughters need to see a father deal with death in a mature way. Even if it means wrapping a hamster up in a band aid box and placing it gently into the ground next to the rhododendron bushes.

Over the years, I’ve figured out a few other things that fathers need to do. I’ve kind of compiled this list myself, since I’ve never found a really comprehensive manual on the subject of fatherhood. In fact, I suppose if there were such a thing, the first chapter would instruct the reader to “pitch this manual — children do not come with instruction.”

No. 1: You can hold your little girl’s hand forever, but sons grow out of it at about age 11.

No. 2: Kisses are a good thing. Refer to No. 1.

No. 3: You cannot be naked in your house — ever.

No. 4: You cannot use the bathroom in your house — ever. Adendum: All bathrooms belong to the children.

No. 5: Never, never, never use the words, “I don’t care,” especially if your wife is around.

No. 6. Fathers know everything. (For father’s only: www.google.com, www.wikipedeia.org, www.seussville.org, www.yugioh.com.)

No. 7. While it is not important that you know the meaning of the following words, it is important that you learn when to use them: bushing, bearing, carburetion, relay switch, sending unit, manifold. Let me illustrate.

Wife: “What is all that smoke coming out of the back of the minivan?”

Your answer: “I’m sure it’s just the manifold bearing, although the carburetion relay switch in these cars sometimes has a hard time communicating with the sending unit after 60,000 miles. I’ll have a look at it when we get home.” 

Young daughter: “Dad sure is smart.” 

No. 8. Get to know your mechanic really well. Addendum: Open a super secret savings account for auto repair.

No. 9. Ladders, boats, BB guns, pocket knives, any wooden object over four feet tall, electric outlets and stray cats are tools of Satan designed to draw you in and cause bodily harm. Also, while the spin cycle on a washing machine looks really cool, you can never grab an article of clothing until the machine comes to a complete stop.

The former has little to do with fatherhood, unless you are with your child at the time of the accident. Addendum: Children learn most swear words from their fathers.

No. 10. Use the following phrases as often as possible: “Because that’s the way it is,” “What makes you think I did that?” “I’m sorry,” “Don’t worry, we can always get a new one,” “I’m sure everything will be OK tomorrow.”

I know there are other rules of fatherhood that need to be addressed.

For instance, we didn’t even talk about the size of an extra large pizza compared to the size of a 6-year-old’s tummy, but like I said earlier, most of this stuff is trial and error anyway.

By the way, anybody know where to find a good eulogy for a hamster?