Month: December 2015

3 months of fatherhood in 5 minutes

This week, my son Grant turned three months old. And we’re finally starting to get some sleep. The early days of having a newborn are well in the rear view, and now Sarah and I are trying to get used to balancing work and day care, while making sure the little guy also gets into a routine.

As we head into the holidays and the New Year, we are thankful that our 3-month-old boy is doing everything he should be at this point — not to mention a few things he isn’t supposed to do for another month or two.

At about 26 inches long, he’s a tall and skinny but sturdy little boy. He’s dangerously close to outgrowing his car seat, and he’s fitting neatly into clothing supposedly designed for 6- and 9-month-olds. Though, as just about everyone tells us, “Well, he’s a Monke.” It doesn’t shock anyone that Grant is already well on his way to being a big guy in a family where the shortest man is 6-foot-1.

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Either you want police to protect or you don’t

There are a segment of people in this country who don’t want anyone to have guns. Many of those same people all of a sudden also have a huge problem with police.

It begs the question: What the hell do these people want? Utopia? Because that isn’t happening.

First — and let’s just get this out of the way — the U.S. government will never go door to door and take everyone’s guns away. If our government tried that, they’d be inciting a second Civil War. No one wants that, so it won’t happen. But, that doesn’t mean a like-minded government won’t try and strip its citizens of their rights to obtain certain types of weapons and/or ammunition.

Last week in San Bernardino, Calif. — in a state with some of the toughest gun laws in the nation — a couple who the Federal Bureau of Investigation alleges has ties to the terrorist group ISIS walked into a holiday party and killed 14 of their co-workers while wounding several others. They weren’t criminals and had obtained their guns legally, according to The New York Times.

It took police armed with assault weapons and assault vehicles to stop them.

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Fugitive captured: Late-night standoff ends with burglary suspect hospitalized

Law enforcement’s standoff with fugitive Jeremy Mellmer ended early Thursday when Mellmer suffered a “suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to a Dickinson Police Department report.

The Southwest Tactical Team became involved in a standoff with Mellmer at about 10:35 p.m. Wednesday outside of a house on the 900 block of Ninth Street East after receiving a tip from an owner of a vacant home on the street. Mellmer had fled custody Monday night while being detained in connection to a string of burglaries involving guns.

The standoff ended sometime between midnight and 12:30 a.m. Thursday as tactical team members gained entrance to the house and found Mellmer in the basement in possession of a firearm having allegedly shot himself.

Mellmer, 31, was taken to CHI St. Joseph’s Health in Dickinson and is in custody. His medical condition is unknown.
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Dickinson Police continue, widen search for burglary suspect

Dickinson Police continued their investigation Wednesday and widened the search for a man wanted after escaping police custody while being detained Monday night for his alleged role in multiple burglaries of firearms in the area.

Jeremy Mellmer, 31, was detained following a traffic stop around 7 p.m. Monday and had been handcuffed before he managed to escape, Dickinson Police Detective Sgt. Kylan Klauzer said. He did not say which law enforcement agent attempted to detain Mellmer prior to his escape, but said it was not a Dickinson police officer.

Area authorities are searching small towns in southwest North Dakota where Mellmer has known family and associates, Klauzer said. Police are also using electronic billboard alerts as far away as Bismarck in an effort to help find him as well.

Klauzer added that Mellmer is likely being aided by others as he evades authorities.

“He doesn’t have a vehicle,” Klauzer said. “He’s using other people to move around right now. We don’t think he’s going to be by himself.”
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Dickinson police search for man after 3 arrested

Authorities in western North Dakota are searching for a man after he fl ed Dickinson Police during an arrest Monday night.

Jeremy Mellmer, 31, is considered armed and dangerous, the Dickinson Police Department said Tuesday in a Facebook post. His escape from custody resulted in a residential Dickinson neighborhood being blocked off for several hours late Monday night as police searched a home where he was thought to be.

At about 7 p.m. Monday, police arrested three Dickinson residents on the 900 block of Eighth Street East on multiple charges stemming from recent burglaries throughout the city and area. Police found stolen property associated with a number of burglaries throughout the Dickinson area, according to a report from Det. Sgt. Kylan Klauzer.
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