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Senator is killed in plane crash [Tragedy in Eveleth]
Miami Herald Online ^ | Saturday, October 26, 2002 | BY JAMES KUHNHENN AND SUMANA CHATTERJEE

Posted on 10/26/2002 3:57:54 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

WASHINGTON - Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota liberal who was locked in one of the tightest reelection contests in the country, died Friday with his wife and daughter, three aides and two pilots in a plane crash in northern Minnesota. Continues.

=============================================================================

Tragedy in Eveleth

As a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, there were few issues -- very few issues -- Minnesota's Paul Wellstone and I would see eye-to-eye on, but the Senate's most unabashed liberal, I hasten to say, was more than a worthy opponent.

Dubbed a "60s radical" by Mother Jones, the former Carleton College professor-turned-Senator was resolutely true to his beliefs, a liberal's liberal, tenaciously championing often-times daringly unpopular causes and positions, heedless of the risks, politically. An example was his 'no' vote on a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq, the only Democrat locked in a tight race to do so. The measure earlier this month sailed through the Senate, 77-23. Another was his vote against the hugely popular Welfare Reform Act of 1996, at the time again the only Democrat up for re-election casting a nay vote.

Indeed, the North Star State's senior Senator, who proudly bedecked his Senate offices with posters and pictures of Hubert Humphrey and Bobby Kennedy, was, in many ways, the very antithesis of the modern-day, phony-baloney Democrat Party. Sen. Wellstone eschewed poll-driven politics, he hated the two-faced, the devious, the insincere. Unlike most of his colleagues, he stood for something -- firmly, intently.

He delivered his speeches with the fervor and intensity, the ardor and zeal of a Sunday morning Baptist preacher. No-one slept when Wellstone spoke.

President Bush calls him "a man of deep convictions."

Scoring a stunning upset in 1990 against GOP Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, Professor Wellstone, whose old and decrepit green campaign bus became symbolic of his longshot bid, came to Washington loathing North Carolina's conservative Sen. Jesse Helms. Not long afterwards, the firebrand liberal was warmly singing his praises on the floor of the Senate.

It's why even his staunchest rivals have nothing but good things to say about Sen. Wellstone, who crossed the aisle only rarely, yet was always polite, decent, cordial, gracious, attentive. Wellstone, to borrow an oft-used cliche, could disagree without ever being disagreeable.

Times like these reminds us all how very fragile, how very precious, how very fleeting life truly is.

His doomed twin-engine plane crashed in a marshy, wooded area in northern Minnesota, tragically taking his life and that of his wife, Sheila, and his daughter, Marcia.

The world will be a lonelier place without them.

My heart goes out to David and Mark, Wellstone's two sons, and all his family and friends.

Anyway, that's...

My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
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To: RJCogburn
>He was a straight shooter and believed what he said.

He honestly wanted to steal money from me and make me poor. I don't give credit to such beliefs.

21 posted on 10/26/2002 5:16:32 AM PDT by Dialup Llama
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To: Dialup Llama
He honestly wanted to steal money from me and make me poor. I don't give credit to such beliefs.

Nor do I.

But he let me know he wanted to steal my money, unlike most pols...of both parties....who want to do the same thing to some degree or other, but try to tell me that they really do not.

22 posted on 10/26/2002 5:22:35 AM PDT by RJCogburn
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To: JohnHuang2
Let's consider, no tower or RADAR at Eveleth, plane being handled by ATC at Duluth, low cloud ceiling, low visibility and the pilots operating on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules)...

this sounds alot like the plane crash that took out Ron Brown...

it wouldn't take much to offset the locator beacon thereby causing the aircraft to come out of the clouds in a place other than over the landing threshold!!

Keep in mind he was lagging in the polls and I wouldn't put anything past the demonrats to hold onto the Senate!!

23 posted on 10/26/2002 5:23:24 AM PDT by Nitro
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To: Nitro
Let's consider, no tower or RADAR at Eveleth, plane being handled by ATC at Duluth, low cloud ceiling, low visibility and the pilots operating on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules)... this sounds alot like the plane crash that took out Ron Brown...

Well, hon, I've flown on planes in both areas.

Ron Brown's airport is at the base of a mountain. Despite being a major city, it had minimal approach help for IFR. You miss the airport, you hit the high cliff. Indeed, the Serbs sat on the top of the mountain and shelled Dobrovnik for a couple of years...luckily the town was stone, and survived, although the tourist areas didn't. So the pilot should not have taken the chancy flight.

In Minnesota, however, snow is the rule. Icing is common. Planes crash all the time. When I heard the crash, I was afraid it was the local commuter. The rule is that when it's foggy, you are bussed two hours to the next airport to take off, or go the next day. Right now, you could leave St. Paul with a clear forcast, and an hour later hit icing. (flight time in commuter is about 45 minutes to Hibbing. The real question is why he went to the smaller Virginia airport rather than Hibbing and take a car). Closest thing to northern Minnesota is Alaska in climate and weather. It's already snowed there.

24 posted on 10/26/2002 5:37:11 AM PDT by LadyDoc
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To: LadyDoc
First of all what I suggested is pure speculation...

second the point still stands, if you break out of a low cloud cover expecting to be over the apron and you see forest all around, it is entirely possible that recovery would be impossible and icing would further rob the aircraft of the necessary lift required to prevent impact!

Although I probably will lay off the conspiracy theory sites for a while!!

Happy Landings!!!

25 posted on 10/26/2002 5:46:11 AM PDT by Nitro
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To: No dems 2002
Tough crowd.

5.56mm

26 posted on 10/26/2002 5:48:01 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Dialup Llama
So C-Span finally decided to use the conservative line. Did they wipe off all the dust first? As you know concerning the phenonomena of seminar callers and disruptors, the chances that this woman really was a Repub making such a call are not really that high

Agree 100%. CSPAN is becoming NPR on TV and the rats calling in on the REP. line is a common thing(assuming these moderators actually push the Rep. line in the first place). Since when does "playing by the rules" mean anything to them, considering their leaders of the past?

After all, there's no legal controlling authority anyway is there?

My sympathies to the remaining family members of Sen. Wellstone, but keeping with the honesty that i've read here about Wellstones convictions, i'll say I prayer for him and his family, but shed no Clinton(Ron Brown)crocodile tears for the loss of an admitted socialist. Too many others have died trying to prevent the disease of socialism from spreading here and around the world.

27 posted on 10/26/2002 5:59:33 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo
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To: BillCompton
Moynahan is the only other one that comes to mind. ... Zell Miller, Sam Nunn also come to mind. Thirty-five years ago the Democrat Party was filled with men like these - anti-Communist, pro-America Democrats. Unfurtunately, as the Left took over, these men were purged in favor of men like David Bonior, Ron Dellams, John Conyers, and assorted other Marxists. Not satisfied with only one Party, the Left is now very busy attempting to take over the Republicans as well.
28 posted on 10/26/2002 6:04:11 AM PDT by bimbo
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To: Nitro
initial approach or go-around?

WX (metar)at the time KEVM 251654Z AUTO 14003KT 5SM -SN OVC004 01/00 A3003 RMK AO2 2002/10/25 16:45

Airports IAP's

29 posted on 10/26/2002 7:13:58 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo
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To: JohnHuang2
Another wonderful 2 cents worth John!
I will almost miss Paul's feisty speeches! He would make my blood boil with his extreme views, but he like Dornan was never boring! Sadly, both of their voices are silenced in the Congress, one by questionable defeat, one by tragic death.
30 posted on 10/26/2002 7:19:16 AM PDT by ladyinred
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To: RckyRaCoCo
Wow, not being a pilot most of what you offered is very difficult to understand.

But I did notice Hibbing to the west... I totally dig Bob Dylan!!

Actually, if I had a week or two and some manuals I could make some sense of the NOTAM!!

31 posted on 10/26/2002 7:36:25 AM PDT by Nitro
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To: Nitro
The Republicans are saying all the right things at this time of tragedy, but now we have to look at the situation realistically. How can the Pubbies prevent the Dems from grabbing back this Minnesota Senate seat? And what are the Dem's next steps in trying to push Mondale forward?
32 posted on 10/26/2002 7:59:45 AM PDT by Ciexyz
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To: JohnHuang2
<< ..... [Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone's] life and that of his wife, Sheila, and his daughter, Marcia.

The world will be a lonelier place without them.

My heart goes out to David and Mark, Wellstone's two sons, and all his family and friends. >>

Amen.

And God bless you, John, for being the Right kind of American Man -- to step up and say so.

Hugs'n .... Brian
33 posted on 10/26/2002 8:12:30 AM PDT by Brian Allen
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To: JohnHuang2
What a beautiful tribute! Thank you! I join in prayer for those who are suffering the loss of family and friends.
34 posted on 10/26/2002 8:14:07 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Nitro
The translation:

Reported at 16:54 zulu (UTC) on the 25th
Reporting Station - KEVM
Temperature - 1 degree centigrade (33.8 F)
Dewpoint - 0 degree centigrade (32.0 F)
Wind Direction - SE (140 degrees)
Wind Speed - 3 knots
Humidity - 93.0 %
Altimeter - 30.03 inches
Visibility - 5 sm
Ceiling - 400 ft
Current weather - light snow
Sky conditions - Overcast clouds at 400 feet

Hope this helps.
35 posted on 10/26/2002 8:19:57 AM PDT by BamaBlue
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To: Northern Yankee; ABG(anybody but Gore); JohnHuang2
<< ..... One woman, from the republican line, called in and said it was God's will that caused Wellstone's death, and that she thanked God that this happened .... >>

The DNC never takes holidays and respects nothing and no-one.

Isn't it amazing and apalling to witness the depths of mis and dis-information to which the RICO-racketeering gangster bastard "DemocRATS" will gladly plunge -- and the circumstances they are willing to exploit in so doing, eh?

"Republican line," indeed.

36 posted on 10/26/2002 8:22:38 AM PDT by Brian Allen
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To: M Kehoe; JohnHuang2
If Wellstone was an honest man, why did he so vociferously support the Kosovo War (a war authorized neither by the Congress nor by the UN)?
37 posted on 10/26/2002 8:36:38 AM PDT by aristeides
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To: Ciexyz
Sadly, I think the sympathy vote will carry the day for the dims, just like Carnahan.

But, we have had three straight weeks of gains in the "market" and that takes the issue of the Economy out of the dims hands and focuses the question on terrorism and the Republicans are like Superman on the war on terror...

I think we will regain the Senate and increase in the House!!

38 posted on 10/26/2002 8:37:40 AM PDT by Nitro
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To: Ciexyz
Heard on the news this morn that the MN DFl'ers are meeting behind closed doors right now, what that means who knows. Norm MUST NOT just sit back and let them take that seat though. Hope he does a little campaigning still, since the Dems prob. will. It would be a shame for him to just give up after running a great campaign all year.
39 posted on 10/26/2002 8:39:26 AM PDT by gore_sux_2000
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To: BamaBlue
Actually no it doesn't help... except for Kevm nothing seems to jibe...

and as a surface squid even I know SE is 135 not 140!!

40 posted on 10/26/2002 8:45:42 AM PDT by Nitro
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