Check out our June newsletter!
Marine Hero’s New Truck Signals a Fresh Start FROM WRECKAGE TO RENEWAL THE LEGAL NAVIGATOR JUNE 2024
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a native of California, was one of the few remaining members of the armed forces left in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control. He aided in evacuation efforts from Kabul Airport. The operation was harrowing, and Tyler was surrounded by thousands of Afghanis clamoring to escape from fundamentalist rule. However, on Aug. 26, 2021, just four days before the final plane carrying American service members would take off, Tyler was severely wounded in a suicide bomb attack that took the lives of more than 180 people.
According to CNN, Tyler remembers a flash, then a massive wave of pressure that threw him to the ground. When he woke up, the crowds around him had dissipated, and he realized something horrible had happened. More than 100 metal ball bearings from the explosive device had struck him. Throughout recovery, he would have to undergo 44 surgeries, including the amputations of his right arm and left leg. Looking for a fresh start, Tyler decided to buy his dream car: a 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor with a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine. Despite everything he had been through, Tyler was determined to live his life to the fullest. With his new wheels, Tyler took his partner Victoria on cross-country road trips, visiting cities and national parks across Utah, Wyoming, California, and Colorado. After every day of adventure, they would sleep the night away in a hammock in the truck bed. Then, on Thanksgiving, a reckless driver traveling down a Virginia interstate highway hit Tyler. Just five months after taking it off the lot, that accident totaled his truck. Devastated, Tyler would share the story of the crash with his more than 60,000 followers on Instagram,
crediting the structural integrity of his truck with saving his and Victoria’s lives. The post went viral and eventually caught the attention of the truck’s manufacturer, Ford Motor Company. In February, Tyler was invited to the Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan, where he met with Ford’s executive chairman, Bill Ford, great-grandson of the company founder. After the tour, Ford made Tyler the offer of a lifetime: They allowed him to customize his very own Ford Raptor, fit with any options he wanted. The starting price of the base model is nearly $78,000, and with warranty and customization options, that price can exceed $100,000. Now, Ford was offering him a Raptor, tailor- made for him, free of charge! Tyler chose a 2024 Raptor R, with a supercharged V8 engine that clocked out at 720 horsepower, worth more than $110,000. Later that same month, Ford dropped Tyler’s custom Raptor off at his driveway. Now, he is back on the road, living freely in the truck of his dreams. “I like to consider myself a good American trying to be a great American. This [gift of a new Raptor] truly left me speechless. It’s a small thing to them (Ford), but to me, it’s everything,” Vargas- Andrews told the Free Press.
Estate, Medicaid, and VA Benefits Planning — An Ohio Guide … download your free copy today!
740-452-8484 • 1
From Tragedy to Triumph Olympian Steiner Overcame Adversity to Win Gold
In June 2007, just one year before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, an SUV traveling on the wrong side of the road hit 22-year-old Susann Steiner — wife of German Olympic weightlifter Matthias Steiner — while she was driving. She was rushed to the hospital, and it was there that Matthias promised her he would win a gold medal in her honor. Tragically, Susann died as a result of her injuries, but Matthias’ promise to his late love lived on. Wanting to make his wife proud, Matthias trained harder than ever before. He had been lifting weights since he was just a teenager, and though he had won medals and championships before, he had never claimed the ultimate prize: an Olympic medal. Matthias also had to compete in the super heavyweight category against the strongest weightlifters in the world. Among his competitors were the formidable Russian Evgeny Chigishev, an Olympic veteran and champion, and the Latvian Viktors Scerbaiths, who won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. “Weightlifting is a sport without mercy [and] it is very tough to make progress,” Matthias said in an interview with the Olympic Channel. “Every time you touch the bar, you realize that you
are always alone in weightlifting, the weights are getting heavier and heavier, everything hurts.” But Matthias was not alone. His memory and dedication to Susann inspired him to attain strength he never imagined possible. As it turned out, he needed
Photo: Dacoucou
every ounce of his strength to claim victory. The competition was incredibly close. Matthias’ victory was not secure until the last lift; he needed to clean and jerk an astounding 569 pounds — more than he had ever lifted before — to fulfill his promise. Incredibly, he succeeded. He edged out Chigishev by 1 kilogram, winning the gold medal with a score of 461 against Chigishev’s 460. After he had completed his lift, he fell to his knees in tears. At the podium, he held his gold medal and a bouquet of roses in his right hand and clutched a picture of Susann in his left. Matthias honored Susann’s memory with his gold medal victory, exactly as he promised.
MY WORD! EXPLORING THE RICH HISTORY OF SCRABBLE
Brunot’s Bargain As soon as Brunot secured the rights to the game, he began making significant changes to it. These included redesigning the board, its color, players’ starting position, and the location of various score multiplier tiles. But his most important contribution was changing its name to Scrabble! The owner of Macy’s then discovered the game and offered to carry it in his stores. Brunot went from creating 12 copies of the game an hour when he first acquired the rights to 2,000 sets per week by 1952. By 1954, millions of copies were sold. Today, the game has been translated into over 20 languages and has sold over 100 million copies. People play the game worldwide, in tournaments and living rooms alike, and it has allowed millions to share in the joy initially envisioned by a down-on-his-luck architect in a time when hope was a distant prospect.
the iconic lettered tiles, each with separate quantities and point values. Butts determined the point values by surfing through his collection of local newspapers and counting how often each letter appeared. To prevent players from creating too many cheap plurals, he included only four “S” tiles in each box and assigned the letter a measly 1 point. Butts was eager to share his idea with the world, but the world was not as eager to receive it. He pitched the game to several publishers and retailers, but all rejected it. Butts had to retail it on a small scale, and the game did not become the surefire hit he expected it to be. It wasn’t until fellow New Yorker James Brunot discovered the game that things changed for the better. Brunot offered to mass-produce the game and, in exchange, would provide Butts with a portion of the profits, which Butts happily agreed to.
In 1931, the Great Depression — the worst economic crisis in American history — had thoroughly dampened the country’s spirit. Amidst the crisis, Alfred M. Butts, an out-of-work New York architect, decided to create a game to take his mind off the economy. Aspiring to develop a classic to join the ranks of other timeless card and board games, Butts came up with the idea for a board-and-tile game he non-committedly named “Criss Cross,” which we now know as Scrabble. The Architect’s Plan At its core, Scrabble was inspired by crossword puzzles and always featured
2 • swbwlawfirm.com
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.newsletterpro.com
Unlock the Mysteries of Fort Knox From Gold Bars to Priceless Artifacts
We all know the country’s gold reserve is securely stored in a vault at Fort Knox. However, have you ever wondered about the exact amount of money housed in the vault or who can access it? A treasure trove of interesting facts lies hidden in the billions bunker of Kentucky, but here are a few tidbits we know.
of gold. The information is split up among several different people. The exterior has two separate electric fences and an additional concrete barrier. The government spends about $5 million yearly to protect the site, including other security measures like searchlights. Visitors are rarely allowed inside, but Franklin Roosevelt did
get to inspect the gold vault himself in 1943, making him the only U.S. president in history to visit.
Gold The first pieces of gold arrived at the fort in 1937 and had to be
Other Valuables Fort Knox has also kept other valuable, historic items safe. During WWII, the government kept the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence within its walls. In 1978, it housed the cape of the king of Hungary and the Magna Carta, the medieval English charter of rights. The military even stored supplies of morphine sulfate inside during the Cold War due to the fear they might run out of painkillers if foreign sources of opium dissipated.
transported by a top-secret caravan. Every gold bar weighs 27.5 pounds, and Fort Knox currently holds about 147.3 million ounces of gold. By today’s standards, that’s almost $300 billion. The most gold to ever be held at the fort was in 1941 when it contained 649.6 million ounces.
Security This building is one of the most secure in the country; no one person knows the whole combination number to access the vault
TAKE A BREAK
Delightful Banana Bread
Ingredients
• 2 cups all-purpose flour • 1 tsp baking powder • 1 tsp baking soda • 1/4 tsp salt • 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar • 2 large eggs • 2 cups mashed ripe bananas • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. 2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. 3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 4. Add eggs and mashed bananas and mix until blended. 5. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, stirring until blended. 6. Stir in walnuts. 7. Pour batter into prepared pan. 8. Bake for 65–70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool before serving.
Adventure Camping
Hiking Juneteenth Park Picnic
Pride Sandals Sunburn Swimming
Father Gemini
740-452-8484 • 3
Stubbins Watson Bryan & Witucky Co., L.P.A.
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
59 N. 4th St. Zanesville, Ohio 43701
Mon–Thu: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fri: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
740-452-8484 swbwlawfirm.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
A New Truck for a New Beginning
1 2
Steiner’s Emotional Road to Olympic Glory The Appeal and Evolution of Scrabble
Fun Facts About America’s Treasure Trove Delightful Banana Bread
3
How a Pet Husky Prevented Disaster
4
HERO HUSKY SAVES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
On Dec. 15, 2023, pet owner Chanell Bell of Philadelphia was taken aback when she noticed that Kobe, her 4-year-old miniature Alaskan husky, had dug a hole in her home’s front yard. This was a stark departure from Kobe’s usual behavior, which Bell initially dismissed as boredom and promptly refilled the hole. However, when Kobe began to dig again in the same spot, Chanell realized something was amiss. “We’ve been here at our home for a while now, and he never digs holes,” Bell told USA Today. “So, I knew something was up.” She investigated further, reviewing footage from the family home’s security camera overlooking Kobe’s newfound digspot. Then, she witnessed Kobe sniff the air around the area before digging the hole in the same spot again. Thinking something Kobe smelled must have alarmed him, Bell phoned Philadelphia Gas Works, which sent a crew out to investigate. The engineers discovered that
the gas lines beneath the Bell household were old, dilapidated, and beginning to leak. After fixing the issue, the company told Bell that if Kobe had not discovered the leak, the line would have posed significant health and safety concerns for the whole neighborhood. “They told me something as simple as a light switch turning on could’ve caused an explosion,” Bell told USA Today. After Bell shared Kobe’s story on social media, it caught the attention of PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who awarded the young husky the Heroic Dog Award. Inspired by Kobe’s efforts, Bell wrote a children’s book dedicated to him called “The Dog That Saved the Block Before Christmas.”
4 • swbwlawfirm.com
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.newsletterpro.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator