11 Year Old Boy Faces 1st Degree Murder Charges in the Shooting Death of 8 Year Old MaKayla Dyer in White Pine, TN

YES YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, YOU ALSO HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE AND CARE FOR THEM …

An 11 year old boy has been charged with the shooting death of his 8 year old neighbor, MaKayla Dyer. The unidentified boy, due to his age, is reported to have shot MaKayla Dyer with a 12-guage shotgun over a discussion about puppies. That’s correct. An 8 year old is dead today over puppies. For an eleven year old to do something this callous and heinous, there is more going on with this child than an argument over puppies. According to accounts from a neighbor, Chasity Atwood,  “He asked the little girl to see her puppies. She said no and laughed and then turned around, looked at her friend and said, ‘Let’s go get the — ‘ and never got ‘puppies’ out.” The boy then shot her in the chest with a shotgun owned by the boy’s father. Look for the father to be charged with reckless endangerment or negligent homicide as well. Who the hell in their right mind owns guns and just has them out in the open with children present in the home?

Authorities were called to Robin Road in White Pine around 7:30 p.m. Saturday on a report of a shooting.

Deputies found the girl on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest. She was taken to Morristown-Hamblen Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Sheriff Bud McCoig said the young girl’s next-door neighbor, a fifth grader at White Pine Elementary School, used his father’s 12-gauge single-shot shotgun to shoot and kill the girl from inside his house. The victim was in second grade at the same school.

Officials have not released the name of the shooter or the victim, but neighbors identified the victim as Maykayla Dyer.

Sheriff McCoig would not release any details on a possible motive, but neighbors say the two were arguing over a puppy.

“Wanting to see a puppy, the little girl laughed and told him no, and that was it,” neighbor Chasity Arwood said.

NBC News: Tennessee Boy, 11, Charged With Killing Girl After Argument Over Puppies.

Dyer was transported to Morristown-Hamblen Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The boy is being held in juvenile court on charges of first-degree murder.

At Dyer’s school on Monday, principal Bill Walker told reporters that “it’s not just the school that’s hurting — it’s the whole community,” he said, adding, “We remember her smile and her beautiful face and her interaction with her classmates.”

C-130 Crashes in Afghanistan; 6 U.S. Service Members Dead

MORE BAD NEWS FROM AFGHANISTAN …

As reported at NBC News, a C-130 transport plane crashed while taking off in Afghanistan killing 13 people abord the plane, including 6 American service men. The terrible incident took place shortly after midnight local time (3:19 p.m. ET) at Jalalabad airfield. The Taliban has claimed that they shot the plane out of the sky; however, U.S. Air Force Maj. Tony Wickman, spokesman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing dismissed the claim, saying that “it is with high confidence that we can say it does not appear that enemy fire was involved.” Well, it didn’t just crash on its own … what happened?

Six American service members were among 13 people killed early Friday when a U.S. C-130 transport plane crashed while taking off in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official said.

The incident occurred shortly after midnight local time (3:19 p.m. ET) at Jalalabad airfield, coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. Brian Tribus said.

Six of the dead were U.S. service members that were the crew of the aircraft. The other victims were five civilian contractors, who were passengers, and two Afghan civilians who were killed on the ground, Tribus said.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Tony Wickman, spokesman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, told The Associated Press the the Super Hercules aircraft crashed “shortly after take-off wholly within the airfield.”

The civilian contractors were working with “Resolute Support,” the NATO-led mission to train and advise Afghan security forces. It follows the military mission in Afghanistan after combat operations ended at the end of 2014.

A cause for the crash has not been determined.

NY Yankee Great & Hall of Famer Yogi Berra Has Passed Away at Age 90 … Rest in Peace

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” (Yogi Berra)

I am a lifetime Boston Red Sox fan and for most of my life the New York Yankees have been the bane of my existence, but it is with much love, respect and sorrow I say that Yogi Berra has passed away.

Sadly, one of the greatest and most beloved New York Yankees of all times has passed away, Yogi Berra is dead at age of 90. His skill on the field as a catcher was certain and the man was a winner in all things on and off the baseball diamond. The man behind the mask and known to so many for his Yogisms will be sorely missed.  He was born Lawrence Peter Berra was born on May 12, 1925, in the Italian enclave of St. Louis known as the Hill, and grew up to be one of the greatest, most unique and lovable Yankee icons of all time.  Maybe greater than all his World Series wins, too numerous All-star appearances, 3 MVP’s, Yogi Berra served two-years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving as a gunner’s mate in the D-Day invasion, and had already played three seasons for the Yankees.

Yogi is the last of the all time greats, they just don’t make them like this anymore.

Click here or on pic for video via ESPN (Pic -

Yogi Berra, one of baseball’s greatest catchers and characters, who as a player was a mainstay of 10 Yankee championship teams and as a manager led both the Yankees and Mets to the World Series — but who may be more widely known as an ungainly but lovable cultural figure, inspiring a cartoon character and issuing a seemingly limitless supply of unwittingly witty epigrams known as Yogi-isms — died on Tuesday. He was 90.

His death was reported by the Yankees and by the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, N.J. Before moving to an assisted living facility in nearby West Caldwell, in 2012, Berra had lived for many years in neighboring Montclair.

In 1949, early in Berra’s Yankee career, his manager assessed him this way in an interview in The Sporting News: “Mr. Berra,” Casey Stengel said, “is a very strange fellow of very remarkable abilities.”

And so he was, and so he proved to be. Universally known simply as Yogi, probably the second most recognizable nickname in sports — even Yogi was not the Babe — Berra was not exactly an unlikely hero, but he was often portrayed as one: an All-Star for 15 consecutive seasons whose skills were routinely underestimated; a well-built, appealingly open-faced man whose physical appearance was often belittled; and a prolific winner — not to mention a successful leader — whose intellect was a target of humor if not outright derision.

Yogi Berra Highlights

Except for maybe Babe Ruth, Lou Gerig and Joe Dimaggio, Yogi may just be the greatest Yankee of all time and certainly belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of Yankee players.

Beyond the historic moments and individual accomplishments, what most distinguished Berra’s career was how often he won. From 1946 to 1985, as a player, coach and manager, Berra appeared in a remarkable 21 World Series. Playing on powerful Yankee teams with teammates like Rizzuto and Joe DiMaggio early on and then Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, Berra starred on World Series winners in 1947, ’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’56 and ’58. He was a backup player on the championship teams of 1961 and ’62. (He also played on World Series losers in 1955, ’57, ’60 and ’63.) All told, his Yankee teams won the American League pennant 14 out of 17 years. He still holds Series records for games played, plate appearances, hits and doubles.

No other player has been a champion so often.

Perhaps what made Yogi Berra stand out to me as the greatest Yankee was his sense of humor, unique style and accessibility. I have used “Yogi-isms” many times wen writing and in my everyday life in and out of work. My favorite is probably, ” It’s like deja vu all over again.” Of course followed by a close second and third of, “It ain’t over `till it’s over” and “I really didn’t say everything I said.”

If you ever get a chance, go to the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center.

Fantastic Obit at the NY Times.

65 Year Anniversary of D-Day – Yogi Berra Feature

Best-Selling British Author Jackie Collins Dies at 77 of Breast Cancer

Jackie Collins, the best selling British book author who had sold more that 500 million copies has passed away at age 77.   Collins died of breast cancer on Saturday in Los Angeles, California. She is survived by her daughters Tracy, Tiffany and Rory and her older sister, Dynasty actress Joan Collins. Jackie Collins was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in 2009; however, she kept it private and only confided with immediate family. People did an interview with Collins on September 14, which would be her final one. Jackie Collins stated in the interview, she had no regrets about the decision to keep her cancer journey private and as Frank Sinatra would say, “I did it my way”.

Collins, who sat down with PEOPLE on Sept. 14 at her Beverly Hills home for what would be her last interview, had no regrets about the decision to keep her cancer journey private while she embraced a very full life until her very last days. “Looking back, I’m not sorry about anything I did,” she said during the far-ranging interview that saw her spirited, warm and utterly at peace.

“I did it my way, as Frank Sinatra would say. I’ve written five books since the diagnosis, I’ve lived my life, I’ve travelled all over the world, I have not turned down book tours and no one has ever known until now when I feel as though I should come out with it,” said Collins, whose treatments over the years included a lumpectomy, radiation and various drug courses and combinations.

Pic: Jackie Collins.com

Jackie Collins, the best-selling British author who took readers into the glamorous and often steamy world of Hollywood, died of breast cancer on Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 77.

“It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one of a kind mother, Jackie Collins, who died of breast cancer today,” her family said in a statement posted to Collins’ Facebook page. People first reported the news of her death.

“She lived a wonderfully full life and was adored by her family, friends and the millions of readers who she has been entertaining for over 4 decades,” the statement continued. “She was a true inspiration, a trail blazer for women in fiction and a creative force. She will live on through her characters but we already miss her beyond words.”

From Facebook – Family Statement:

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one of a kind mother, Jackie Collins, who died of breast cancer today. She lived a wonderfully full life and was adored by her family, friends and the millions of readers who she has been entertaining for over four decades. She was a true inspiration, a trail blazer for women in fiction and a creative force. She will live on through her characters but we already miss her beyond words.

Police Searching for Missing Adult Woman Who Intentionally Jumped Into Niagara Falls

The authorities are searching for an woman who reportedly intentionally jumped into Niagara Falls. The incident took place near Prospect Point at around 6 p.m. when the adult woman in her 40′s is said intentionally jumped into the Falls with the intent to harm herself.  According to News 4, a bystander took video of the incident and the authorities now have that video and are using it in their investigation. Rescue workers have yet to find her.

Police were searching for a woman who went over Niagara Falls on Saturday evening.

New York Park Police said the woman, described as a white female in her 40s, went into the water near Prospect Point at around 6 p.m. “with an intent to harm herself.”