text:
Methodological issues in estimating sodium intake in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Hyun Ja Kim, Kyungwon Oh
DOI : https://doi.org/10.4178/epih/e2014033
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Epidemiol Health > Volume 36; 2014 > Article
Kim and Oh: Methodological issues in estimating sodium intake in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Epidemiol Health 2014; 36: e2014033.
Published online: Nov 28, 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih/e2014033
Division of Health and Nutrition Survey, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cheongju, Korea
Correspondence: Kyungwon Oh Division of Health and Nutrition Survey, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 187 Osongsaengmyeong 2-ro, Cheongju 363-951, Korea Tel: +82-43-719-7460, Fax: +82-43-719-7527, E-mail: kwoh27@korea.kr
Received Oct 13, 2014 Accepted Nov 28, 2014
For policy goal setting, efficacy evaluations, and the development of related programs for reducing sodium intake, it is essential to accurately identify the amount of sodium intake in South Korea and constantly monitor its trends. The present study aimed to identify the status of sodium intake in South Korea and to review the methods and their validity for estimating sodium intake in each country; through this, we aim to determine more accurate methods for determining sodium intake and to monitor the trend in sodium intake for Korean citizens in the future. Using 24-hour dietary recall data from the 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) to estimate daily sodium intake, the average daily sodium intake among Koreans was 4,546 mg (men, 5,212 mg; women, 3,868 mg). In addition to the nutrition survey that uses the 24-hour dietary recall method, sodium intake can also be calculated from the amount of sodium excreted in 24-hour urine, 8-hour overnight urine, and spot urine samples. Although KNHANES uses the 24-hour dietary recall method to estimate the sodium intake, the 24-hour dietary recall method has the disadvantage of not being able to accurately determine the amount of sodium intake owing to its unique characteristics of the research method and in the processing of data. Although measuring the amount of sodium excreted in 24-hour urine is known to be the most accurate method, because collecting 24-hour urine from the general population is difficult, using spot urine samples to estimate sodium intake has been suggested to be useful for examining the trend of sodium intake in the general population. Therefore, we planned to conduct a study for estimating of 24-hour sodium excretion from spot urine and 8-hour overnight urine samples and testing the validity among subsamples in the KNHANES. Based on this result, we will adopt the most appropriate urine collection method for estimating population sodium intake in South Korea.
KEY WORDS: Sodium, Urine, Nutrition assessment, Dietary Reference Intake, Validity, Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Excessive sodium intake is a risk factor for hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, and gastric cancer, and indirectly functions as a factor that can increase the risks of obesity, kidney stones, and osteoporosis. Reducing sodium intake significantly decreases the prevalence and mortality rates of chronic diseases [1]. It is well known that Korean consume too much sodium from traditional foods, such as kimchi, soy sauce and paste, salt-fermented seafood, soups, and stews; hence, policy-based approaches that can reduce sodium intake are urgently needed. Furthermore, in order to establish reduction goals and evaluate the effectiveness of sodium reduction programs, it is essential to accurately estimate sodium intake and continue to monitor trend in sodium intake in South Korea. Sodium intake can be investigated with nutrition surveys using 24-hour dietary recall or food records, as well as through amount of sodium excreted in 24-hour urine, 8-12 overnight urine, and spot urine samples; moreover, the methods for estimating sodium intake vary for each country, with each having its own advantages and disadvantages [2].
The aims of this study were to identify the status of sodium intake in South Korea and to review the methods for estimating sodium intake for each country and their validity; through this, we will establish a method for accurately estimating and monitoring sodium intake in a representative Korean population.
STATUS OF SODIUM INTAKE IN SOUTH KOREA
According to the 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) [3], the daily sodium intake for Koreans was 4,546 mg (men, 5,212 mg; women, 3,868 mg), which exceeded 2-fold of the recommended maximum daily intake of 2,000 mg [4], established by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Figure 1). In looking at the trend in sodium intake (over 1 years old, age-standardized) since 1998, when KNHANES was first conducted, mean daily intake of sodium increased from 4,582 mg in 1998 to 5,260 mg in 2005; however, sodium intake decreased to 4,453 mg in 2007, when the revised food composition table was established. On the basis of the trends since 2007, wherein the same food composition table was applied, sodium intake showed slight increases at 4,608, 4,618, and 4,785 mg in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively, but it continuously decreased thereafter to 4,752 mg in 2011 and 4,546 mg in 2012. The daily sodium intake in men was higher than that in women by approximately 1,000-1,500 mg, which was attributable to higher consumption of food in men compared to women; however, annual trends for both men and women showed similar patterns.
In the 2012 KNHANES, the percentage of excessive sodium intake compared to the goal for sodium intake (9 years or older, 2,000 mg) established by the Korean Dietary Reference Intake was 93.3% for men and 79.8% for women aged 9 years or older (Figure 2); moreover, the percentage of excessive sodium intake in people in their 30s and 40s appeared to be the highest at 91.9% (men, 96.9%; women, 86.7%). Regardless of area of residence or household income level, over 85% of the subjects showed excessive sodium intake.
ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, AND VALIDITY OF METHODS FOR ESTIMATING SODIUM INTAKE
Daily sodium intake can be measured with the nutrition survey methods, such as 24-hour dietary recall and food records, and through amount of sodium excreted in 24-hour urine, 8-12 overnight urine, and spot urine samples.
Among these methods, the 24-hour urinary sodium excretion is known to be the gold standard method for measuring sodium intake, because 85-95% of consumed sodium is excreted through urine and sodium in urine is highly correlated with sodium intake from food [5]. Nevertheless, the 24-hour urine collection has the disadvantages that urine collection without loss for 24-hour from the general population that engages in free lifestyle is difficult and imposes a high burden on the participants [2]. In the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (England), the North Karelia Salt Project (Finland), FINMONICA Study (Finland), and the national FINRISK Study (Finland), 24-hour urine from a representative sample has been continuously collected to monitor the average sodium intake of their citizens.
A nutrition survey using 24-hour dietary recall or food records can be a relatively useful method in a large-scale population study, but it is subject to several limitations [6]; there are difficulties in recalling exactly how much of what type food was consumed for the past 1 day, as well as determining exactly how much salt was added during cooking. In addition, by applying the same value of sodium in dish to all, it has the disadvantage of not being able to reflect individual differences in salt intake. Moreover, since the food composition table is amended every 5 years, it presents limitations in making comparisons in annual trends. Sodium intake has been estimated from a 24-hour dietary recall for 1-day in KNHANES, 24-hour dietary recall for 1-2 days in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the US, and a semi-weighted food record method for 1 day (3 days before 1995) in the Japanese National Nutrition Survey. The validity of 24-hour dietary recall methods for estimating sodium intake varies for each country, based on primary food consumed and cooking characteristics (Table 1) [7-11]. In the West, the primary source of sodium intake is processed foods (US, 77% [12]; UK, 65-70% [13]), which allows determination of a significant portion of individual sodium intake from food intake alone; thus, the correlation coefficients with 24-hour urinary sodium excretion were approximately 0.3-0.4 [7,9,11]. However, in a study on Koreans, the results indicated that the correlation coefficient between the sodium intake from 24-hour dietary recall and 24-hour urinary sodium excretion was 0.11 [10]. One of the reasons for such a low correlation is considered to be difficulties associated with the fact that the primary sources of sodium intake for Koreans are cooked dishes, such as kimchi, soups, and stews; the amount of ingredients and the amount of seasonings added could not be identified in the cooked foods, despite the fact that there can be significant differences among individuals based on sensitivity to salt and the amount of salt added during cooking. It makes difficult to estimate individuals' sodium intake with the application of a standardized amount of ingredients in cooked dishes.
The use of sodium concentration in spot urine as a method for estimating daily sodium intake has the advantage of placing fewer burdens on participants, but it is limited in accurately measuring an individual's sodium intake due to the fact that sodium concentration can easily be affected by the volume of fluid ingested [2]. Despite this disadvantage, spot urine has been considered a useful method for estimating population mean value of sodium intake. It makes it possible to compare the sodium intake between different population and monitor trends over time within a specific population [14]. The correlation coefficients between sodium concentration in spot urine and sodium concentration in 24-hour urine were 0.28-0.86 [14-19], with differences observed in the time and frequency of spot urine collection (Table 2). An 8-12 hour overnight urine method has the advantage of low-burden urine collection than 24-hour urine method, but it has the disadvantages of needing to collect the urine under strict time constraints and requires the assumption that urine excretion is constant day and night despite of usual diurnal pattern in excretion of sodium (i.e., higher excretion during the day). In the case of overnight urine, its correlation coefficients with 24-hour urine were 0.59-0.78 [20-22], which indicates that it is more valid as a substitute for 24-hour urine than spot urine (Table 2).
IMPROVEMENT OF METHODS FOR ESTIMATING SODIUM INTAKE IN KOREA NATIONAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION SURVEY
Although a 24-hour dietary recall method has been used to estimate the average sodium intake of Koreans in KNHANES, as previously mentioned, a 24-hour dietary recall method has limitation in making accurate measures of sodium intake owing to its unique characteristics as a research method and in the processing of data. As such, in order to improve upon the limitations of the nutrition survey, we planned to adopt methods for estimating sodium intake using urine in KNHANES; however, prior to this introduction, an examination of the feasibility and validity of various urine sodium measurement methods is required. Accordingly, a study on the estimation methods for sodium intake in KNHANES is currently underway as a research project of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 24-hour urine, 8-hour overnight urine, and spot urine samples from 300 adults who had participated in KNHANES is collecting to develop a formula for estimating sodium intake for Korean, and to test the validity of the sodium intake estimation method using spot urine and 8-hour overnight urine samples through comparisons with 24-hour urinary sodium excretion. Through the present study, guidelines for the most appropriate urine collection method, collection time, and collection amount for estimating sodium intake of Koreans will be developed and adopted in KNHANES. It is anticipated that the sodium intake estimated with spot urine or 8-hour overnight urine samples will complement the results of the 24-hour dietary recall method used in KNHANES; moreover, the sodium intake by Koreans estimated through this method is expected to be used as the basis for promoting policies on sodium reduction, developing health policies, and evaluating their effectiveness.
The KNHANES has been financially supported by the Health Promotion Fund with administrative support by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Supplementary material is available at http://www.e-epih.org/.
epih-36-e2014033-supplementary.pdf
Trend in mean daily intake of sodium among Koreans above 1 year of age, Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1998-2012). The age-standardized mean was calculated using an estimated population, based on the 2005 census of the Korean population. Since 2007, a revised food composition table was used to calculate the sodium intake.
Prevalence of excessive sodium intake compared to the Korean Dietary Reference Intake among Koreans above 9 years of age, the 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Values are presented as percentages and confidence intervals. The goal for sodium intake of Korean Dietary Reference Intake was established at 2,000 mg/d for those above 9 years of age. The age-standardized prevalence according to the area of residence and household income was calculated using an estimated population, based on the 2005 census of the Korean population.
Studies that compared the 24-hour dietary recall method with the 24-hour urine collection method for the estimation of sodium intake in a healthy population
Authors (published year) [Ref]
Sample size (age)
No. of days of 24-hour recall
No. of days of 24-hour urine
Correlation coefficient between dietary sodium intake and 24-hour urinary sodium
Espeland et al. (2001) [7] US Elderly cohort participants M: 181, F: 160 (60-79 yr) 5 5 r = 0.30
Sasaki et al. (2003) [8] Japan Cohort participants M: 32, F: 57 28 2 r = 0.38 for men
r=0.47 for women
Reinivuo et al. (2006) [9] Finland Random population M: 410, F: 469 (25-64 yr) 2 1 r = 0.3
Shin et al. (2010) [10] South Korea Healthy volunteers F: 236 ( ≥ 20 yr) 3 1 r = 0.11
Rhodes et al. (2013) [11] US Healthy volunteers M: 232, F: 233 (30-69 yr) 1-2 1-2 r = 0.18-0.43 according to the body mass index
Ref, reference; M, male; F, female.
Studies that compared spot or overnight urine samples with the 24-hour urine samples for the estimation of sodium intake in a healthy population
Type of urine sample
Correlation coefficient between spot or overnight urinary sodium and 24-hour urinary sodium
Spot urine samples
Kawasaki et al. (1982) [15] Japan Healthy volunteers M: 91, F: 151 (20-63 yr) Spot urine r = 0.47 for 1 d
r = 0.73 for 1 d after discarding outliers
r = 0.62 for 3 d
Kawasaki et al. (1993) [16] Japan Healthy free-living individuals Adults: 159 (20-79 yr) Spot urine (second morning urine) r = 0.728
r = 0.51 for 1 d to 0.82 for 3 d
Costa et al. (1994) [17] Brazil Healthy individuals Adults: 611 (20-74 yr) Spot urine r = 0.28
Tanaka et al. (2002) [14] Japan INTERSALT participants M: 295, F: 296 (20-59 yr) Spot urine r = 0.54
Mann & Gerber (2010) [18] US Unselected volunteers M: 81 (21-82 yr) Spot urine r = 0.17
Morning urine r = 0.31
Evening urine r = 0.86
Brown et al. (2013) [19] Europe INTERSALT participants (29 populations) M: 1,369, F: 1,376 (20-59 yr) Spot urine (individual level) r = 0.50 for men
Spot urine (population level) r = 0.51 for women
r = 0.79 for men
r = 0.71 for women
Overnight urine samples
Watson & Langford (1970) [20] US Students F: 52 (20-22 yr) Overnight urine r = 0.76
Liu et al. (1979) [21] US Volunteers M: 116 (30-44 yr) Overnight urine r = 0.72
Kamata & Tochikubo (2002) [22] Japan Healthy individuals M: 71. F: 78 (35-49 yr) Overnight urine r = 0.73 for men
1. He FJ, MacGregor GA. Reducing population salt intake worldwide: from evidence to implementation. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 2010; 52: 363-382. PMID: 20226955
2. Elliott P, Brown I. Sodium intakes around the world. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2007. p 6-15.
3. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Korea health statistics 2012: Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (KNHANES V-3). Cheongju: Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2013. p 390-399, 520-524.
4. World Health Organization. Diet, nutrition, and the prevention of chronic diseases: report of a joint WHO/FAO expert consultation. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2003. p 56.
5. Kirkendall AM, Connor WE, Abboud F, Rastogi SP, Anderson TA, Fry M. The effect of dietary sodium chloride on blood pressure, body fluids, electrolytes, renal function, and serum lipids of normotensive man. J Lab Clin Med 1976; 87: 411-434.
6. World Health Organization. Strategies to monitor and evaluate population sodium consumption and sources of sodium in the diet. Geneva: World Health Organizatio; 2011. p 6-12.
7. Espeland MA, Kumanyika S, Wilson AC, Reboussin DM, Easter L, Self M, et al. Statistical issues in analyzing 24-hour dietary recall and 24-hour urine collection data for sodium and potassium intakes. Am J Epidemiol 2001; 153: 996-1006. PMID: 11384956
8. Sasaki S, Ishihara J, Tsugane S; JPHC. Validity of a self-administered food frequency questionnaire in the 5-year follow-up survey of the JPHC Study Cohort I to assess sodium and potassium intake: comparison with dietary records and 24-hour urinary excretion level. J Epidemiol 2003; 13: S102-S105.
9. Reinivuo H, Valsta LM, Laatikainen T, Tuomilehto J, Pietinen P. Sodium in the Finnish diet: II trends in dietary sodium intake and comparison between intake and 24-h excretion of sodium. Eur J Clin Nutr 2006; 60: 1160-1167. PMID: 16639417
10. Shin EK, Lee HJ, Lee JJ, Ann MY, Son SM, Lee YK. Estimation of sodium intake of adult female by 24-hour urine analysis, dietary records and dish frequency questionnaire (DFQ 55). Korean J Nutr 2010; 43: 79-85.
11. Rhodes DG, Murayi T, Clemens JC, Baer DJ, Sebastian RS, Moshfegh AJ. The USDA Automated Multiple-Pass Method accurately assesses population sodium intakes. Am J Clin Nutr 2013; 97: 958-964. PMID: 23553153
12. Mattes RD, Donnelly D. Relative contributions of dietary sodium sources. J Am Coll Nutr 1991; 10: 383-393. PMID: 1910064
13. Bull NL, Buss DH. Contributions of foods to sodium intakes. Proc Nutr Soc 1980; 39: 30A.
14. Tanaka T, Okamura T, Miura K, Kadowaki T, Ueshima H, Nakagawa H, et al. A simple method to estimate populational 24-h urinary sodium and potassium excretion using a casual urine specimen. J Hum Hypertens 2002; 16: 97-103. PMID: 11850766
15. Kawasaki T, Ueno M, Uezono K, Kawazoe N, Nakamuta S, Ueda K, et al. Average urinary excretion of sodium in 24 hours can be estimated from a spot-urine specimen. Jpn Circ J 1982; 46: 948-953. PMID: 7109212
16. Kawasaki T, Itoh K, Uezono K, Sasaki H. A simple method for estimating 24 h urinary sodium and potassium excretion from second morning voiding urine specimen in adults. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 1993; 20: 7-14. PMID: 8432042
17. Costa Ede A, Rose G, Klein CH, Achutti AC. Diastolic pressure as an index of salt sensitivity. J Hum Hypertens 1994; 8: 703-709. PMID: 7807501
18. Mann SJ, Gerber LM. Estimation of 24-hour sodium excretion from spot urine samples. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich) 2010; 12: 174-180. PMID: 20433530
19. Brown IJ, Dyer AR, Chan Q, Cogswell ME, Ueshima H, Stamler J, et al. Estimating 24-hour urinary sodium excretion from casual urinary sodium concentrations in Western populations: the INTERSALT study. Am J Epidemiol 2013; 177: 1180-1192. PMID: 23673246
20. Watson RL, Langford HG. Usefulness of overnight urines in population groups. Pilot studies of sodium, potassium, and calcium excretion. Am J Clin Nutr 1970; 23: 290-304. PMID: 5436638
21. Liu K, Dyer AR, Cooper RS, Stamler R, Stamler J. Can overnight urine replace 24-hour urine collection to asses salt intake? Hypertension 1979; 1: 529-536. PMID: 541044
22. Kamata K, Tochikubo O. Estimation of 24-h urinary sodium excretion using lean body mass and overnight urine collected by a pipe-sampling method. J Hypertens 2002; 20: 2191-2197. PMID: 12409957
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At age 18, Barton W. Stone left home to attend Guilford Academy, Feb. 1, 1790, near Greensboro, North Carolina. The school was operated by David Caldwell, a Presbyterian preacher. Though a strong Calvinist, Caldwell's school was focused on the teaching of law. Stone wanted to attend for that purpose. However, within a short time Stone found something there that planted the seed of religious awakening in him. What he found there changed the course of America's Religious History.
The history of the life of David Caldwell is very fascinating. He was the eldest son of Andrew and Martha Caldwell, and was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, March 22nd, 1725. After receiving the rudiments of an English education, he served an apprenticeship to a house-carpenter, and he subsequently worked at the business for four years. He was graduated from Princeton in 1761. This was the year in which President Davies died. Caldwell was said to have helped in carrying him to his grave. After leaving college, Mr. Caldwell was engaged as a teacher for a year at Cape May. He then returned to Princeton, and acted as assistant teacher in the college, in the Department of Languages. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, June 8th, 1763. After spending some time as a missionary in North Carolina, he was ordained at Trenton, New Jersey, July 6th, 1765. Later that year he started a log cabin school in Guilford County. On March 3rd, 1768, he was installed as minister of the two churches in Buffalo and Alamance settlements, in North Carolina. To supplement his meager salary, he purchased a small farm, and about the same time commenced a classical school in his own house, which he continued, with little interruption, till the infirmities of age disqualified him for teaching. His home and Log College were in the area where the Bicentennial Park in Greensboro is today. Archaeological investigations have disclosed the spot where the home stood, but have not found the exact location of where the Log College stood. Stones mark the corners of the house. Another structure was found, but thought to be an out-kitchen. There is a Historical Interpretation Museum built about 50ft. from the location, in a modern/colonial fashion where you can research more on the history of the Caldwell's contributions to American History.
David Caldwell was identified with some of the most terrible events of the war of the Revolution. Gen. Cornwallis offered a £200 reward for his capture for speaking out against the Crown. His house was plundered, his library and furniture destroyed, and the most vigorous and insidious efforts were made to overtake and arrest him when he had fled for his life. The family survived by hiding in the smokehouse and eating dried peaches. He was a member of the convention that formed the Constitution of the State of North Carolina, in 1776, and took an active interest in the political concerns of the country, his opinion always carrying with it great weight. He continued to preach in his two churches till the year 1820. He preached often at Hawfields Presbyterian Church, east of Greensboro, where Barton W. Stone later was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister. He died August 28, 1824.
Though Stone was educated by Caldwell, not much is known of their relationship after Stone left the Presbyterian Church. If in Greensboro, N.C., the burial place of David and Rachel Caldwell is one place not to be missed. They are buried next to one another in the beautiful church cemetery behind the Buffalo Presbyterian Church.
In Greensboro, N.C., take the Route 29 North exit off I-40. Follow Hwy. 29 about 5 miles until you get to Cone Blvd. You will want to take the West Cone Blvd. exit. Continue out Cone Blvd a couple miles until you get to Church St. Turn Left onto Church St. Then turn left on 16th St. Buffalo Presbyterian is on the corner. To get to the grave. Go to through the porch area between the church office and the sanctuary. Continue down the causeway between the two buildings until you get into the cemetery. Look immediately to your left and there close to the building is the Caldwell section of the graveyard.


Concord Hospital as seen from a view that displays a significant amount of vegetation.
I like that the vegetation layers are of different plants and so much of the area in the shot seems overgrown.
I also like how calm a photo this is and, aside from two objects, looks like a natural area.
The challenge this week is "Landscapes".
This week is hosted by Amy and next week's will be hosted by Tina.
This entry was posted in Photography and tagged architecture, building, concord, hospital, landscape, lens-artists, monochrome, plants, scene, vegetation. Bookmark the permalink.
Hi, SH. You're right about the peaceful feeling with the vegetation in the foreground. It was almost a surprise to see the modern building in the distance. 🙂 I think the b and w works here.
I'm trying to work more with monochrome than colour, so I'm glad you think it turned out.
I, too, like the vegetation layers. A very peaceful landscape!
There's a few locations in Sydney like this. Makes you forget about the urbanisation, if only a little bit.


text:
A design-lover's guide to Sri Lanka
A nine-day journey spanning millennia-old forts and modernist hotels
Saumya Ancheri
Published: Aug 13, 2018 | 13:26:20 IST
The Last House by Geoffrey Bawa
Some of the prettiest views of Sri Lanka's misty hills and golden beaches come from royal fortresses and chic hotels. Ruins of ancient civilisations jut over thick forest, massive forts loom over rolling seas. And dotting both city and countryside are the elegant, iconic hotels, public buildings and private homes created by much-loved 20th- century architect Geoffrey Bawa.
There's no better place to begin an architecture trail than Heritance Kandalama (heritancehotels.com; doubles from LKR25,625 or Rs10,900), a four-hour ride from Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport. It's considered the nest of all the landmark hotels that Bawa designed from the 1960s onwards.
Spectacular views from Heritance Kandalama
Built in the early 1990s on a rocky outcrop, the hotel has 152 rooms and suites from which you can drink in views of the Kandalama reservoir and the fifth-century Sigiriya 'Lion Rock' fortress. The panorama makes it well worth lingering over a meal at one of the hotel's five eateries. Make time for its neighbouring UNESCO World Heritage sites. Begin with King Kashyapa I's rock fortress at Sigiriya, built after he seized the throne by entombing his father alive in a wall. The layout is majestic; the entry used to be through the maw of a sculpted lion, but now, only the paws remain. And the Mirror Wall is believed to have been so polished that the king could see his reflection as he passed by. Look out for the frescoes and the bathing pools for his harem. Go on to the colossal remains of the old capitals of Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura, packed with archaeological treasures, and the Buddhist caves of Dambulla and Mihintale, all within a two- hour drive. The golden Buddha outside the 340m-high rock temple of Dambulla can, in fact, be spotted from Heritance Kandalama.
The Buddha Statue at Dambulla Golden Temple. Photo: Education Images/ getty
In the 1st century BC, these caves were King Walagamba's refuge for 14 years; he developed the temple complex here after exile. The central highlands of Haputale, a five- hour drive away, enclose the restored planter's bungalow of Thotalagala (thotalagala.com; doubles from LKR1,20,115 or Rs51,030).
Interiors of a room at Thotalagala Plantation House. Photo: Felix Odell
Sitting on nearly 8,000 hectares of tea plantation, it neighbours master tea planter Sir Thomas Lipton's Dambatenne estate. Visit Lipton's bungalow and factory the next day, and trek or drive up to Lipton's Seat to share his favourite view of the misty hills. Excellent hiking awaits in Horton Plains National Park. Or stay in at Thotalagala's grand seven-suite bungalow, with its sweeping views, hearty plantation fare and immersive glimpse into life on a working estate.
Walk through fields of green tea to get to Lipton's Seat. Photo: Educational images / getty
The Last House (thelasthouse.com; doubles from LKR35,100 or Rs14,920) in Tangalle, a four-hour drive away, is so named as it was Bawa's final creation, designed in 1997. The six-bedroom property is a testament to Bawa's gift for flowing layouts where the indoors seamlessly open out to earth and sky—here, to views of the lagoon and beach.
A similar trip can be organised by Qwest Destinations (qwestdestinations.com) from LKR4,44,710 or Rs1,88,260.
Geoffrey Bawa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
'The grief is still strong': Breedlove murder investigation continues
"I know my life will never be the same. I'm just looking for the day that I can accept what has happened," Breedlove's mother said.
'The grief is still strong': Breedlove murder investigation continues "I know my life will never be the same. I'm just looking for the day that I can accept what has happened," Breedlove's mother said. Check out this story on courierpress.com: https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/local/2017/07/18/grief-still-strong-breedlove-murder-investigation-continues/103793028/
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Tori Fater, Courier & Press Published 12:02 p.m. CT July 18, 2017 | Updated 1:20 a.m. CT Feb. 9, 2018
Two years after DJ and musician Shane Breedlove was shot and killed on Evansville's East Side, his mother said she feels like she is "on hold" until the person responsible is arrested. Noah Stubbs / Courier & Press
Shane Breedlove(Photo: Furnished)
Two years after DJ and musician Shane Breedlove was shot and killed on Evansville's East Side, his mother said she feels like she is "on hold" until the person responsible is arrested.
"It's like I can't move any further," Carole Cleveland said. "When I think about the situation we're in, it just doesn't seem real. It just doesn't seem possible."
Breedlove was found dead July 19, 2015, in the 6000 block of Washington Avenue, near Thompson Avenue. An autopsy concluded he died from internal bleeding after he was shot, and his death was ruled a homicide.
The woman who was on the phone with Breedlove when he was shot said she never heard gunshots that night – just sirens.
Stephanie Bramlett said Breedlove had called her the night he was killed to keep him company while he walked to work at KC's Time Out Lounge at Washington Square Mall. She offered to drive him, but he declined.
"He said 'no, just talk to me. By the time you would make it here I'll already be at work,'" she said. "We were basically just laughing, carrying on as friends."
He told her "hold on a second, Steph" and she heard what she believes were fire truck sirens. She assumed that was why he had paused their conversation, but when the sirens passed he didn't start speaking again.
"I couldn't tell if it was deep breathing or static on the phone," Bramlett said.
She hung up and called back, but he didn't answer. Getting nervous, Bramlett decided to drive to the road where she knew Breedlove had been walking.
"I just had a bad feeling. But you know, you don't call the police off a bad feeling," she said.
Bramlett ended up following police to the crime scene. She saw a body but did not know for sure whether or not it was Breedlove until after she spoke to detectives.
She talked to police several times over the next week to clarify details. Bramlett said she had not spoken up publicly about the night Breedlove was killed before now because she was worried about her safety, and still has some concerns since no one has been convicted for his murder.
"It tears me apart. His mom and dad are such sweet people," she said. "Shane left behind all these children who no longer have a father to go to."
After two years, she's tried to move on because she thinks it is what Breedlove would have wanted.
"I've made peace with it myself with the exception that no one's been convicted," Bramlett said. "Even when there's a conviction, it's not going to bring him back."
Two years after his death, no one has yet been brought to trial for Breedlove's murder. No one has been ruled out as a suspect either, said Evansville Police spokesman Officer Phil Smith.
"Someone is responsible," he said in an email. "They need to be held accountable and the Breedlove family deserves to know what happened to their loved one."
Family, friends still seek answers in Breedlove shooting
$40,000 reward announced at Breedlove memorial service
Breedlove's mother still hopeful case is solved soon
It's not just the fact of Breedlove's death that is difficult for Cleveland.
"The grief is still strong," Cleveland said. "It's the fact that it was a murder that I struggle with. I just don't suppose I will ever understand how anybody can intentionally take someone's life like that."
Three men arrested in connection with Breedlove's death shortly after he was killed saw their charges dismissed when investigators said there was not enough evidence to continue with the case.
Derrick Murray, 36; Bobby John Handegard, 43; and Handegard's son Bobby Michael Handegard, 21, were arrested in August 2015 and held in the Vanderburgh County jail for two months before the charges were dropped. The only motive presented publicly was that Breedlove testified in a battery trial against a business partner of Bobby John Handegard. The business partner was acquitted of that charge.
The defense attorneys for Murray and both Handegards said at the time they believed the state's case was flimsy. Police said they established probable cause but had not found the evidence they thought they would after the arrests.
The Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the case, since it is an ongoing investigation.
Vigil held for Shane Breedlove in Evansville
ALEX SLITZ / THE GLEANER Gavin Breedlove, 13, of Henderson, holds a sign for his father, Shane Breedlove, during a vigil held for Shane along Washington Ave. in Evansville, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Shane Breedlove was found shot to death at the corner of Washington Ave. and Thompson Ave. on July 19, 2015, the investigation is ongoing.
ALEX SLITZ / THE GLEANER Carole Cleveland, of Robards, mother of Shane Breedlove, shows Shane's kindergarten graduation photo during a vigil for Shane held along Washington Ave. in Evansville, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Shane Breedlove was found shot to death at the corner of Washington Ave. and Thompson Ave. on July 19, 2015, the investigation is ongoing.
ALEX SLITZ / THE GLEANER Family and friends gather during a vigil for Shane Breedlove along Washington Ave. in Evansville, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Breedlove was found shot to death at the corner of Washington Ave. and Thompson Ave. on July 19, 2015, the investigation is ongoing.
ALEX SLITZ / THE GLEANER A car with a window decal reading 'In Memory of Shane Breedlove' sits along Thompson Ave. near the site of a vigil for Shane Breedlove in Evansville, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Breedlove was found shot to death at the corner of Washington Ave. and Thompson Ave. on July 19, 2015, the investigation is ongoing.
ALEX SLITZ / THE GLEANER Carole Cleveland, of Robards, mother of Shane Breedlove, speaks to friends and family during a vigil for Shane held along Washington Ave. in Evansville, Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Shane Breedlove was found shot to death at the corner of Washington Ave. and Thompson Ave. on July 19, 2015, the investigation is ongoing.
Breedlove's family will visit his grave Wednesday in a private gathering, Cleveland said. A $40,000 reward is still being offered for information in the case.
"I know my life will never be the same. I'm just looking for the day that I can accept what has happened," she said.
She remembers her son for his musical talent, from the time he was 12 years old and singing karaoke with his friends in the garage.
"He had a fabulous voice and could sing wonderfully," Cleveland said. "He never had a lesson in any kind of instrument but there again it just came to him naturally. He was very rounded in his talents."
Breedlove stays on her mind because she feels she has to be his advocate after his death.
"I have to keep asking questions, I have to keep pleading for answers. I have to keep posting on Facebook about the reward," Cleveland said. "I'm always looking for the next thing I can do to help move the case forward."
Anyone with information on the killing can leave an anonymous tip at the WeTip hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (1-800-782-7463) or call Evansville Police Department's detective bureau at 812-436-7979 or the department's anonymous tip line at 812-435-6194.
"Any little bit of information the community could provide might be helpful in the future," said Jess Powers, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor's Office.
Read or Share this story: https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/local/2017/07/18/grief-still-strong-breedlove-murder-investigation-continues/103793028/
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Heathrow Airport Landlord Achieves Full Occupancy Across Real Estate Portfolio
One of the largest private landlords at Heathrow has achieved full occupancy across its London-focused airport industrial real estate portfolio.
Aberdeen Standard Investments' Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust (AIPUT) is marking its 15 year anniversary and has been responsible for 30 per cent of new letting deals at Heathrow so far in 2020, including a lease extension with Kuehne+Nagel, the world's largest air freight forwarder, at its South Cargo Centre location.
This facility played a key role in the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting national resilience through large scale import and export of pharmaceuticals and export equipment.
"Achieving full occupancy in the context of COVID-19 demonstrates the unquestionable need for and resilience of AIPUT's airport-focused real estate portfolio in even the most testing economic environment."
Fund Manager, AIPUT
2.1m Sq Ft Portfolio
AIPUT is one of the largest private landlords at Heathrow, with a portfolio of some 2.1m sq ft. The fund has recently agreed an extension to its £200million revolving credit facility with RBSI (Royal Bank of Scotland International) through to late 2022.
The most recent transactions bringing the portfolio to full occupancy were lease agreements with Automania Garage Services (AGS) and PRS Distribution at Airport Gate, together representing almost 100,000 sq ft of industrial warehousing. AGS is a new customer for AIPUT, whereas PRS has a long-standing relationship with the fund, having previously occupied space at its Blackthorne Point location.
Nick Smith, Fund Manager at AIPUT, commented: "Achieving full occupancy in the context of COVID-19 demonstrates the unquestionable need for and resilience of AIPUT's airport-focused real estate portfolio in even the most testing economic environment. The portfolio is as market resilient as it has ever been, due to our determination to be responsive to the evolving needs of our customers.
"We will continue to manage the AIPUT portfolio to prioritise maximum occupancy and a durable income stream; working to successfully navigate our way through this extremely challenging period for commercial property, whilst also working with our clients to identify future growth opportunities.
"Whereas the Heathrow industrial property market is currently working effectively, we expect that a resurging consumer demand and national need will put further pressure on a distinctly limited availability of new warehouse space."
Airport Gate Refurbishment
In preparation for the handover to AGS, Units 2-4 at Airport Gate were extensively refurbished during the lockdown period, ensuring that the buildings would be completed in time to meet the company's required timescale for occupation.
Prior to the most recent Airport Gate lettings, AIPUT also completed a 28,000 sq ft long-term lease in May 2020 with Rygor Commercials at its Camgate location, also at Heathrow.
Earlier in 2020, AIPUT secured planning permission for two new warehouse buildings at its dnata City East site in Stanwell (115,000 sq ft) and the Blackthorne Point estate at Poyle (Slough) of 28,000 sq ft.
The former has been pre-let to dnata and will operate in conjunction with the existing state-of-the-art 242,000 sq ft warehouse that began operations with dnata (and its customers, Virgin Atlantic Cargo and Delta Cargo) in September 2019. The two buildings at dnata City East will process around 10 per cent of Heathrow's total air freight capacity.
The new warehouse at Blackthorne Point is being promoted as a rare high quality "coolbox" opportunity for specialist temperature-controlled operators such as life sciences, food-perishables, benefiting from market-leading design specification for an occupier to thrive in a post COVID world and to offer the best working environment for their staff.
Picture: An aerial photograph of the Heathrow site
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New Popular Noteworthy Genres
Don't Believe Them
By Steve Stroble
#realistic fiction
Hearing bad news from your boss is uncomfortable enough. But when the unexpected changes involve what will raise your stress levels maybe a hundredfold, the situation quickly escalates from critical mass to nuclear.
"Are…are you certain you are doing the right thing?" asked the Vice President. He glanced to his left and right and over one shoulder looking for support before remembering how he and the President of the United States sat alone inside a small office attached to the Oval Office.
"Yes, I'm sure."
The President stood.
"Well, my last piece of official advice to you is to put together a short list of those who you think would be right to take your place. If you need any help deciding on a final candidate, you might want to call together the Cabinet and talk it over with them before sending your final selection over to Congress for their approval."
The President walked to the door leading back to the large office where for years he had made thousands of decisions affecting billions of people. His vice president caught up to him at the thick oak door.
"Sir, the other party might now have a majority in the House but there still are not enough of them in the Senate to impeach you. Sure, there are some turncoats in our party who might vote for your impeachment but –"
"Let me tell you something about being POTUS. Sure, you can try to change things here in D.C. But you know what remains no matter what you do?"
"No, sir."
"WHINOs."
"WHINOs?"
"That is short for We're Here Indefinitely, New One. So what if a new person becomes president every four to eight years? There is an unbreakable iron triangle of the ones in Congress, the ones who work for the federal government, and the special interest groups that both of the first two parts of the iron triangle cater to. The same is true at the state levels. Only there, the iron triangle consists of those in the legislature, those working for the state government, and all of the special interests they cater to."
The President shook his successor's hand. "Good luck. I've enjoyed working with you. Well, don't let me keep you from what you need to do now."
I need time to sort this out, thought the Vice President as he walked through a maze of hallways past Executive Office staff, visitors, and secret service agents assigned to protect the highest leaders of America.
He told the agent assigned to guard him of his intended destination. After nodding his understanding, the agent spoke into a tiny communications device to inform a driver and four other agents of imminent movement of Eagle, the code name of the one they guarded with their lives. Two of the agents joined the Vice President in his black, bulletproof limo. The other three rode in the lead vehicle of the small motorcade.
Uncomfortable silence reigned in the second car until the Vice President flipped on the TV embedded into a console by the back seat. Already, talking heads on many of the news channels he flipped through were speculating on just what the President might say during his unannounced message to the American people. Nervous, the agent seated next to the Vice President broke protocol.
"Sir, do you know what he's going to say?"
The Vice President nodded. "Go ahead and watch it with the headphones on. I have some calls I have to make."
He picked up the phone capable of connecting him to subordinates worldwide. Within ten minutes, he had scheduled a series of briefings that would begin within minutes of his arrival home at Number One Observatory Circle on the grounds of U.S. Naval Observatory. Heads of the CIA, FBI, NSA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others would brief him with their assessments of a world gone crazy.
The wife of the Vice President counseled him as well after the briefings ended. Although not officially on the payroll as an advisor to him, that is what she had become. At times, he reminded her how you are worth more than rubies, thank God that I found you or I wouldn't have made it this far. He did so after she had helped him compile a list of eleven names to serve as his potential replacement.
"I'll run the names by the Cabinet when I meet with them tomorrow," he said as he turned off the lamp next to their bed. "They get to choose which order we send them over to Congress."
Faced with getting the House and Senate's approval, both of them had agreed that because of the current gridlock on Capitol Hill, it was possible none of the eleven names would eventually have the title of Vice President in front of it.
As Vanessa Huesca watched the President announce his resignation effective tomorrow at noon she thought he looked even more worn out and depressed than President Lyndon Johnson had in 1968 when he had told America I shall not seek and will not accept the nomination of my party as your President. Vanessa had been five at the time of LBJ's announcement.
Later during her college years, Vanessa took note when her political science professor claimed that network news anchor Walter Cronkite's devastating assessment that the Vietnam War had descended into a stalemate was what had driven LBJ to quit. She changed her major to journalism, determined to also bring about major change.
After graduation, the only broadcasting jobs she found were at Spanish speaking television stations. She quickly tired of being required to wear outfits that accented her large breasts and revealed her lower thighs. But most of all, she resented a long series of men who had promised much but delivered little or nothing.
Her obsession to change history the way Cronkite had revived somewhat as one of his successors used fake documents to target a sitting President's re-election campaign. The end justifies the means became her unspoken code of conduct. Then members of her party called her racist after she backed Hillary Clinton instead of Barrack Obama for President in 2008. Angered, anything goes became her new code.
Her body remained youthful but all her disappointments had aged her soul and kept her single.
As she drove toward her youngest sibling's apartment, Vanessa remembered reading what one of her heroines, FDR's wife Eleanor Roosevelt, had said to those around her the first time Whittaker Chambers came into her presence: He's not one of us. Vanessa sighed as her anger toward her little brother grew into resignation.
"Little Thomas is not one of us," Vanessa said as she switched off her phone, which chimed nonstop with tweets and calls celebrating the President's announcement moments before.
"But I'm afraid I'll get fired," Thomas Huesca said after listening to his oldest sibling's plan.
"Not if you do it exactly like I said. Don't you want one of our own to become President before we both die?"
Thomas grumbled as he made a face to match his mood. He wondered what was worse, doing what Vanessa wanted or having to listen to another speech of how the white men from Spain destroyed our ancestors in South and Central America. He studied the small vial of clear liquid given to him by Huesca.
"I don't know. Will it hurt him? Is it poison?"
"No, pobrecito. It will just make him loco en la cabeza long enough to disable him from being President is all. But you have to be sure it gets into his system right after he is sworn in as the new President."
Western Slopes of Sierra Nevada Mountains
Danny Trang awoke with a start, his body once again drenched with sweat caused by his recurring dream. When his dream's bloody scenes refused to end, Danny skipped breakfast. He walked from his small cabin built into one of the Sierra Nevada's foothills to the stable with the creature he spoke to more than all other humans combined.
"Just a snack for now," Danny said as he dumped a small portion of oats on top of a flake torn from an alfalfa hay bale he dropped into his horse's trough.
While the horse ate, Danny brushed his chestnut hair until the animal looked in better shape than his master. With black hair dangling past his shoulders and chameleon-like skin that alternated between a pale yellow and dark red, Danny often frightened strangers. At times, he spooked the inhabitants of the four parcels nearest to his cabin, his only neighbors for five miles in every direction.
"Let's go." Danny guided the horse from his stall into the predawn light and leapt atop it to ride bareback.
Horse and rider climbed a nearby slope for several hundred feet and then followed an abandoned logging road that gave a view of their neighbor's four homes. They rode a half mile until the logging road ended at the dirt road connecting the neighborhood's properties. After crossing an ancient wooden bridge, Danny left his horse by a long rusty gate secured by lengths of chain connected by five locks that allowed the five households access to and from their private little world.
Danny climbed over the gate and walked to a large square metal box divided into six smaller ones, one with a slot, the drop off and pickup point for rural mail. He found only a newspaper in his mailbox. Its large bold headline across the top of the front page made Danny curse.
"Now I'm going to have to tell the dream to my neighbors," he said. "Whether they like it or not."
Thomas Huesca's next shift at the White House began at 5 a.m. It promised to be a busy one, his supervisor informed Thomas as he tied a white apron about his waist.
"The Vice President is being sworn in as the new President at noon. Afterwards, he and the Cabinet are having a working lunch." The supervisor frowned at her inattentive helper. "Are you listening to me?"
Thomas stopped fondling the vial of liquid his sister Vanessa had entrusted to him and pulled his hand from his black pants' pocket. "Yes ma'am."
The first effects of the drug hit the newly sworn-in President about an hour after he drank the glass of water served with his lunch. By then, his Cabinet members were arguing about which name from his list of possible new Vice Presidents to send to Congress for its approval. One by one, they stopped speaking as they noticed the President begin to stare around the room. Ten minutes later, irrational statements gushed from him.
His doctor was called. After a quick exam revealed dilated pupils, increased blood pressure and pulse rate, and increasing anxiety, the doctor said, "Mr. President, I think we need to run some further tests at Bethesda Naval Hospital."
"Oh? Will we fly there on Air Force One?"
A couple of hours later at Bethesda Hospital, two psychiatrists conferred after their independent exams of the President.
"What did the blood tests show?" the Secretary of State asked them after being summoned to the hospital.
"There were no traces in his blood test of alcohol, LSD, THC, cocaine, PCP, MDMA, barbiturates, or amphetamines, all substances which could account for his erratic behavior," answered the head psychiatrist.
"He seems to be in a psychotic state," said the other psychiatrist. "For his safety, we need to keep him here under twenty-four hour observation."
"Definitely," said the head psychiatrist. "His tweet of Don't believe them proves the President is paranoid and delusional."
Already, the talking heads had become exploding heads as they conjectured about the condition and unavailability of the new President. They quoted sources, always referred to as speaking only on the condition of remaining anonymous, by the score. When the Secretary of State returned to the White House, an army of reporters equipped with satellite dishes had surrounded it.
The one he knew would be waiting pulled him into a private office inside of the White House.
"As Speaker of the House, I'm next in line of succession to the President," said a sweaty little man, anxious to exploit the situation. "We need to immediately invoke the section of the 25th Amendment that states the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet can determine when the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."
"No buts. There is currently no Vice President so I am now the de facto VP, whether you like it or not. Either you and I go in and convince enough of the Cabinet to come up with a written declaration of how the President is incapacitated and I am now the acting President or else I go outside and tell the press that the Cabinet is stonewalling just because of my party affiliation."
After an awkward introduction, a relationship can only improve, Danny Trang believed. Or so he hoped.
"Have you read the last message that the real President sent out on his Twitter account before he was replaced?" asked Danny.
The one who lived nearby yawned. He was black, looked somewhere around fifty years old, and not easily impressed. Or so it seemed.
"What was it that he sent? I'm not following him on his Twitter account."
"He said, Don't believe them."
Danny jerked his head backwards, a rare gesture used when it felt as if he had been slapped in the face by the obvious indifference of someone he was trying his best to help. "So, it means he was set up. This whole story about him being incapacitated is obviously just a cover-up for what really happened."
"So what really happened? Were you there?"
"No. But the main thing is how the Acting President is up to no good." Danny paused. "Let me tell you about my dream. Maybe then you can understand, at least a little bit." For the next five minutes, Danny spoke of American soldiers killing American citizens on American soil. But Don Gamble remained impassive, unimpressed.
"Sorry, but I'm not into dream interpretation. Your dream sounds like some kind of dystopian thriller sort of movie. You know, the kind that Holly wood has been cranking out for years and years."
"Look, he's already federalized the National Guard in all fifty states. Doesn't that scare you at all?"
"Sort of." Don shrugged. "Look, I get the impression you're just dancing around something you really want from me. What is it? After all, I've lived here for almost a year now and this is the first time I've talked to you. The most you ever did was wave when you rode by on your horse. Until now, what gives?"
"I need to know what you really are. It's one of two things. And they both begin with the letter N."
Don's quick mind jumped – to a conclusion as usual. "Oh, I get if. You think I'm either a negro or a nigger, don't you?"
"Uh –"
"Let me tell you a thing or two. I was born in South Central L.A. to some parents who did not try to use the color of their skin for personal advantage, okay? Oh sure, Daddy was a dyed in the wool Democrat for a real long time. But then he heard through the grapevine what President Johnson said in private about his Great Society program. Johnson said: I'll have the niggers voting Democrat for 200 years. Oh sure, there was at least one liberal who warned LBJ. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote that the steady expansion of welfare programs is a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure. In other words, all liberals really did for us was to put us on a welfare plantation where more and more babies were born without a father in the home so the mom could get welfare and food stamps and housing and –"
"I'm not finished yet, okay? Anyway, when the gangs started to take over our neighborhood, Pop moved us to Anaheim. He found the most rundown house in the best possible neighborhood we could afford and made it livable for our family." Don stared past Danny, as if lost in better days from long ago. "Pop always told us kids to find a career in fixing buildings, cars, or human or animal bodies because something is always needing fixing on them."
"Well, you did a nice job on this place." Danny accented his nods to try and amplify his praise.
"Yeah, I guess so. Pop taught me all there is to know about remodeling. So have you figured out what word that I am that begins with the letter N yet? Or do I need to tell you even more of my life story to give you more hints?"
"Not quite yet." Danny leaned forward until his face was half a foot from Don's and stared into his eyes. "Do you work as an informer for the FBI, DEA, or some local law enforcement agency?"
"Huh? What kind of question is that? No way, man. Why?"
"Because our neighbor to your north and my south needs to know. You remember how California now allows a household to grow up to six marijuana plants at a time?"
"Well, our neighbor grows six at a time for some flatlanders in Sacramento and the Bay Area. Once they get three or four feet tall, he delivers them still in their growing containers to them. He figures he technically isn't breaking the law because he adheres to the limit of six plants at a time per household."
Danny stuck out his hand and waited for Don to shake it. Then he leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's a relief."
"Your pupils didn't dilate when I questioned you and your palm isn't sweaty so I think you're most likely telling me the truth. You probably wouldn't like my next test. My ancestors would heat up a knife blade in a fire and then place the hot blade on the tongue of someone they were questioning. If the person was lying his mouth would be bone dry and his tongue would get burned. But if he was telling the truth, then there would be enough saliva on his tongue to keep it from burning."
Don shook his head. "Look Chief, I am on your side, okay?"
"When I came here, I thought you were either a narc or a neighbor, not one of the two n-words you mentioned. Now I know for sure that you're a neighbor, which is good news because I have a little secret I need to show you just in case things go bad like my dreams have warning me they will be."
"Oh, I'm sorry about my rant then. I get sort of sensitive sometimes."
Their walk on the rutted dirt road to Danny Trang's cabin took a quarter hour, time Danny used to reciprocate by telling part of his family history.
"My mom is full-blooded Northern Paiute Indian. My dad was second generation American because his parents fled from Vietnam after the Communists took over South Vietnam. My dad was all gung-ho and enlisted in the Army right before the Gulf War."
"What did he do there?"
"He was a demolition expert and blew up the chemical weapons plants in Iraq. The guys in his squad always teased him because of how he covered himself from head to toe so as not to catch any of the fallout carried by the winds after the explosions. But he outlived the others."
Instead of entering his roughhewn cabin, Danny stopped at a small shed by the small barn. Sweet smelling smoke drifted from the screen mesh on top of the shed's walls.
"Here's my little secret," Danny said as he swung open the shed's wooden door.
Thick hazy smoke revealed only the outlines of seven large carcasses hanging on metal hooks from the shed's ceiling. Danny added more oak wood chips to the faint coals glowing on the dirt floor.
"So you're a poacher?" Don asked. "Even I know you're only allowed to bag one deer a year around here."
"Not exactly a poacher. I go to the casino run by my mom's tribe and chat up Vietnamese who gamble there. You know how much us Asians love to gamble. Most of them are willing to make a deal to offset their losses gambling."
"What kind of deal?"
"I get them to enter the Fish and Wildlife Department's lottery for a deer tag for this region. I keep their tags on hand here and have a written statement from them that they shot the deer and I am smoking it for them."
"What do they get out of it?"
"Sometimes they want the hides. More often, they just want the antlers for their folk doctors to grind up to make some sort of cure for whatever is ailing them."
"Why so many deer?"
"Just in case things get really bad like in my dreams and we are cut off from food supplies way out here. Last I heard, one of our state's National Guard units is headed this way. It seems that our Acting President is more afraid of honest citizens who legally own guns than the gangs with illegal guns who control all of the inner cities."
Danny paused, wondering if he should tell Don his big secret now that his neighbor knew his little secret.
"But the amendment specifically says that when the President sends a written statement that he is able to resume his duties, we are supposed to let him do so," the Secretary of the Treasury said.
The Acting President shook his head. "No way. If the doctors had found some trace of anything that might have caused his mental breakdown then I could let him take back over as President. But we can't afford to take any chances. What if he has another breakdown? He could start World War III."
"The 25th Amendment also says that if we don't accept his request to return to power, then Congress has to vote on whether to let him do so," said the Defense Secretary.
"Exactly," the Acting President said as his smile broadened.
By the time Congress is called back into emergency session from their vacation, maybe we can line up enough votes to deny the President his return to office for another twenty-one days, the Acting President calculated. Sure, the issue might end up in the Supreme Court.
But, if nothing else, the Acting President knew all of that gave him enough time to permanently disable those he loved to demonize by calling them racists, white supremacists, domestic terrorists, and Nazis.
Thirty Miles South of Danny Trang's Cabin
So far, Captain Samuel Morris' National Guard platoon had confiscated twenty-seven weapons, arrested forty-two citizens who had been categorized as Domestic Terrorist in a data base maintained somewhere in a federal agency 3,000 miles away, and shot and wounded five who had resisted. Captain Morris was especially proud of his no kill rate to date. Other federalized National Guard units elsewhere throughout the country had killed a total of 259 citizens, according to the tallies that the exploding heads on the news networks updated 24/7. All of them agreed such casualties are collateral damage necessary to restore order.
Intell and reconnaissance was the captain's motto. To gather intell, he now chatted up the only one of the local yokels willing to talk to him, an old woman who took a selfie next to Captain Morris and immediately posted it to her Facebook page.
"Can you show me on this map where these people you told me about are holed up at?" Captain Morris asked as he shoved his hand held device under the woman's nose.
"I sure can. They're right there, off of Old Bear Creek Road." The woman left part of a freshly picked booger on the screen as she tapped it. "I never did like that bunch or trust them one bit either. It would not surprise me at all if they had a command post for the rebels up there."
"You don't say?"
The woman nodded.
Then she turned to hurry back inside of her home to call neighbors and boast. They all lived in a small foothill community numbering less than 1,000 residents, the closest town to where Don and Olene Gamble and Danny Trang and their neighbors lived. The one providing intell was known by locals as a gossip, a reprobate willing to slander and revile anyone just to garner attention. If Captain Morris had bothered to verify her story, he could have learned of her wild imagination and evil suspicious nature. But he was anxious to be the first platoon to return to his National Guard unit's headquarters.
That meant reducing the time devoted to intell gathering to a minimum.
He walked to the sergeant in charge of reconnaissance and gave him the coordinates of their target. The sergeant in turn ordered a corporal to launch a small drone. Its whirring blades quickly lifted it above the surrounding oaks and pines and fir trees. It soon disappeared over the treetops as it buzzed toward the coordinates fed to it by the corporal's computer.
Then the captain hopped into his Humvee and punched his desired destination into his phone, which began barking directions to its driver. As the commanding officer's vehicle lurched forward, the other Humvee with equipment to control the drone, two 5-ton trucks packed with twenty-eight soldiers, and a mobile kitchen vehicle followed to where foothills met mountains.
Olene Gamble could not decide what was worse – moving from urban southern California to isolated rural northern California because her husband Don was convinced an apocalypse awaited L.A. or his latest bad news.
"At least one of our neighbors has prepared for what we're in for," Don said as he finished telling Olene about the smokehouse full of deer their neighbor Danny Trang had shown him.
"Maybe I should check out what our other neighbors are doing?" Olene asked, any ruse to avoid listening to her husband's worries, which had metastasized in the last couple of days into what she considered mania.
Their first neighbor to the south was a widow who somehow had managed to stay on her ten acres of forestland since her husband had died six years ago. For Mary, visiting with Olene always elevated just another day of waiting to die into something special.
"Do you know much about our two neighbors to the north?" Olene asked as she bit into one of Mary's soft homemade chocolate chip walnut cookies.
"Only that they are more private than private," answered Mary. "I've lived here nine years now and you would think both of them are deaf-mutes."
"Because the most I ever get out of either one of them is a wave. Even when I yell out hello or hi they never stop whenever they pass by, the one in his truck and the other on his horse. They have never even said thank you for the boxes of cookies I leave for them out by the mailboxes every Christmas."
Olene cut her visit with Mary short with a promise to return later and next walked to the Bannon's house, which sat closet to the gate secured by five lengths of chain and five locks. As always, Mrs. Bannon was delighted to see Olene. And, as usual, she sensed what nagged at her neighbor before she said a word.
"So is Don acting all crazy too?" Mrs. Bannon asked as she poured a cup of Irish coffee for her guest.
"You should see my Michael. Ever since the Acting President declared martial law, Michael has been taking apart and cleaning every single one of his guns. He must have more than twenty of them. He keeps on saying the second Civil War has begun! At least one good thing has come of all this craziness though."
"Michael was finally able to talk to those two loners who live north of you. It took a national emergency for that to come about."
When Olene asked what might happen if any National Guard troops came to where they lived, Mrs. Bannon shuddered. Then she wiped her tears with her apron.
The head psychiatrist whose diagnosis of paranoid and delusional had caused a newly sworn-in President to unwillingly step down mulled the case over as he walked through his hospital's parking lot. Why had his patient shown no further signs of mental illness beginning the day after the initial onset? The psychiatrist still suspected the dethroned President had been dosed with some kind of hallucinogenic drug. But then why hadn't any shown up on the tests done on his blood work?
An ancient muscle car distracted the psychiatrist's train of thought. A bright decal attached to the car's rear window that read STP seemed to jump out at him, triggering a faint memory of STP being used as an acronym for a drug popular before the psychiatrist had been born.
He hurried to his office and typed STP into his computer's search engine. Over 90% of the hits were for an oil additive. But a few detailed an illegal hallucinogenic drug used during the 1960s and 1970s. Another few minutes of searching gave him the chemical formula of the drug, which in many cases produced a psychotic state in the user, especially if taken unknowingly in a high enough dosage.
He ran through hallways and down flights of stairs to the hospital's lab. There, the psychiatrist grabbed the lab tech he trusted the most by the collars of her white coat.
"Do you still have the blood samples that were drawn from the President on the day of his mental breakdown?" he asked.
"Sure. Why?"
He handed her a copy of the chemical formula he had printed from his computer. "I need you to run another test to see if any of this is present in it, no matter how small the amount is."
Captain Morris ordered his driver to stop their Humvee at the rusty gate and open it. The driver returned a minute later with a shrug.
"Sir, it's got five locks on it attached to lengths of chain."
The captain cursed as he leapt from his seat and stomped to the Humvee parked behind his.
"What is the drone showing?"
The corporal operating it pointed at a computer monitor displaying a live video feed from the drone's camera.
"It looks like there are five dwellings off of the dirt road once you cross this bridge." The corporal tapped his keyboard, which brought up a series of still shots of each of the homes. "Something is cooking at this place, Sir." He pointed at an overhead image of the smokehouse on Danny Trang's property.
Mary Bannon had spotted the advancing National Guard convoy first. To keep her husband from going outside, she asked him to make lunch. Then she called and whispered a warning to Olene Gamble.
Don Gamble noticed the expression his wife used when she did not want to tell him something he needed to know. "They're here, aren't they?" Don asked as Olene set down her phone.
"Great. You know what that means."
Visions of Danny Trang attacking on his horse at a full gallop, Mary's husband Michael Bannon armed with God only knows how many guns, and her Don doing something foolish flashed through Olene's mind. "No, what does it mean?"
"That as usual I get to be the diplomat."
"Just like always. My whole life I've been caught between other blacks who said I was an Uncle Tom or a sellout and whites who couldn't believe a black wasn't only interested in sucking on the social welfare teats of the system. White liberals were always the most condescending with their you can't be black and be a conservative too attitudes. Maybe I should just give up."
Olene inched closer to Don. "Does that mean that you're going to just stay inside and not go out there?" Her arm trembled as she pointed at the door.
"I wish."
While Don walked the quarter mile toward the rusty gate, Captain Morris sifted through his options. One of his privates persuaded him to choose the one he least liked.
"I'm telling you straight up, Sir. It's a meth lab for sure," Private Horton said as he studied the image of the smokehouse that had been forwarded from the computer controlling the drone to the handheld devices of the platoon's members. "Look at all that smoke coming out the top. They must be cooking up a batch of fifty pounds at least."
"Sir, someone's approaching." Another Guardsman pointed at Don Gamble, who had stopped halfway across the short wooden bridge.
"Looky there. The white supremacist Nazis running that meth lab even got themselves a nigger to deliver their dope down to the ghettos," Private Horton said before he spat out a large wad of spit toward Don. It landed fifty-three feet short. "He's a no-good traitor to his own people."
"You can't say…" Captain Morris cut his reprimand short when he remembered that because Horton was African-American, he could use the n-word with abandon. He strutted to the gate and faced Don. "We need you to open this up or we'll have to break it down."
"Are you looking for anybody in particular?" Don asked.
"We have orders to disarm anyone deemed a threat," answered Captain Morris.
"Well, there are five houses up here behind that gate. I think I need to get my neighbors' input before opening up the gate." Don turned and walked toward the Bannon's property.
Watching from a thicket of trees that gave him a clear view of the bridge, Danny Trang waited until Don's shoes touched the dirt road before he pushed the button on the remote electronic detonator his father had taught him to use a week before his death. Danny's dad had also shown him the metal canisters of explosives hidden beneath the bridge and left him with a final warning: only detonate these as a last resort, son.
He had also told Danny of the 15-second delay between pushing the detonator's button and the resulting explosion, a detail Danny forgot during the last nine years. Danny now wished there was also a button to cancel the Detonate command. For whatever reason, Don Gamble had made an about face and now walked back across the bridge toward the gate and Captain Morris.
The explosion splintered the bridge mid-step with Don about a quarter of the way across it. It catapulted him fifteen feet into the air like a circus acrobat, spinning him into a back flip ending with his butt landing on a bed of pine needles at the edge of the steep ravine. The explosion also caused the platoon of Guardsmen to seek cover, flip off the safeties on their weapons, and point them at where the injured Don writhed in pain.
"He's a suicide bomber, Captain Morris!" Private Horton yelled. "Give us permission to shoot him before he explodes another bomb!"
Captain Morris alternated between disbelief and awe and hesitation until his communications specialist yelled for him.
"What is it?" Captain Morris asked after he walked to the Humvee.
"Sir, we just got orders to stand down and return to headquarters."
As the news buzzed from soldier to soldier, most of them dropped their weapons and pulled phones from pockets. Every site they visited broadcast the same story: President Rogers returns to power….President's doctor claims he was given hallucinogenic drug without his knowledge….President Rogers cancels national martial law…
It took a life flight helicopter to evacuate Don from his neighborhood, now more isolated than ever because of its missing bridge. It took him weeks to agree to see Danny Trang.
"So, have you finished rebuilding the bridge yet, Chief?" Don asked as Danny walked into his room at the convalescent hospital.
Books by Steve Stroble
Out of the Wilderness
About Steve Stroble
Steve Stroble grew up as a military brat, which took him from South Dakota to South Carolina to Germany to Ohio to Southern California to Alabama to the Philippines to Northern California. Drafted into the Army, he returned to Germany.
As a Christian, I try to use whatever talent the Creator has given me for the glory of God. You might enjoy one of my permafree books. Please follow me to receive updates on new stories
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