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PAGE 14 www.yankton.netYankton Daily Press & Dakotan ■ MIDWEST ■ Thursday, May 13, 2010

MIDWEST DIGEST

Rushmore Plans To Combat Pine BeetlesKEYSTONE (AP) — The National Park Service has finalized a plan

to deal with the infestation of mountain pine beetles at MountRushmore National Memorial and will be implementing it within thenext few months.

The plan includes some thinning of the forest, protecting of scenicvista trees, prescribed fire and treatment of green infested trees tocontain the spread of the insect.

Park officials say the goal is to protect the memorial from wildfireand slow the spread of the pine beetle, while protecting some of theold growth forest of the memorial.

Water Floods Basement At Dakota WesleyanMITCHELL (AP) — Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell has

been forced to relocate 16 offices after a basement was flooded bybroken water pipes over the weekend.

The offices in the Rollins Campus Center included financial aid andthe campus nurse.

Vice president Lori Essig says furniture and damaged carpet havebeen removed and heaped in a commons area. Offices have beenmoved into free spaces on campus, including upstairs at the library.

Essig says officials feel fortunate that the flooding didn’t happenearlier when students were still on campus.

More Spring Snow For S.D.’s Black HillsRAPID CITY (AP) — Parts of South Dakota’s Black Hills have

received half a foot of snow or more from a weather system in theGreat Plains, but it isn’t likely to stick around for long.

The National Weather Service on Wednesday posted a winterstorm warning for the Black Hills and the foothills and a winter weath-er advisory for the southwest.

Steve Tremarchi with the weather service office in Sioux Falls sayswarmer days are coming. He says high temperatures on Thursday areexpected to be back in the 40s and 50s.

■ Get Updates At Yankton Online (www.yankton.net)

S. Dakota Ex-Con Executed In TexasBY MICHAEL GRACZYKAssociated Press Writer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A South Dakotaparolee convicted of helping fatally beat androb an Army officer before setting fire to hisbody 12 years ago was executed Wednesdayin Texas.

Kevin Varga, 41, was upbeat and smiling asthe lethal drugs were delivered into his arms.

“I know I took someone very precious toyou,” he told the parents and friends of DavidLogie as they watched through a window. “Iwish what was torn from you was not.”

He said he loved them, asked them for for-giveness but said he didn’t require it“because God has forgiven me.”

“I hope you find peace,” he said.He turned his head toward his mother,

who watched through a window in an adja-cent room, and told her he would “go tosleep and wake up with Jesus.”

“This is the only way God could save me,Mom,” he said.

After thanking the warden, a chaplain andGod, he uttered a loud sigh as the drugsbegan taking effect.

“Oooh! Thank you Jesus,” he said. “I’mgoing, Mom.”

He was pronounced dead seven minuteslater, at 6:19 p.m.

Varga’s lethal injection was carried outafter his court appeals were exhausted and aclemency request rejected by the TexasBoard of Pardons and Paroles.

“We took our best shot,” said his lawyer,

Robin Norris.Billy Galloway, 41, Varga’s former cellmate

in South Dakota and his partner in Logie’s1998 slaying was set to die Thursday in thesame chamber. Like Varga, Galloway’s appealswere exhausted.

Prosecutors said weeks after their parolefrom a South Dakota prison, Varga andGalloway and their two girlfriends drovesouth from Sioux Falls on Sept. 1, 1998. Overthe next week, the group robbed and killed aman in Wichita, Kan., before doing the sameto Logie, 37, an Army major from Fayetteville,N.C., behind a building in Greenville, about 50miles east of Dallas.

Varga and Galloway were convicted of cap-ital murder in Logie’s death, and none of thefour were tried in the slaying of the Kansasman, 48-year-old David McCoy. Venus JoyAnderson, Varga’s 17-year-old girlfriend at thetime of the killings, served a reduced seven-year prison term in Texas in exchange for hertestimony. Deannee Bayless, Galloway’s then-30-year-old girlfriend, is serving 40 years forLogie’s murder and isn’t eligible for paroleuntil 2018.

Varga, a native of Kalamazoo, Mich., hadbeen paroled from South Dakota in May 1998after serving about half of a 10-year term forgrand theft. Galloway, originally fromOnondaga, N.Y., was paroled a month afterhis cellmate. He’d served time for theft,parole violation and attempted robbery.

Anderson testified Varga concocted a planwhere she and Bayless would offer men sexthen blackmail them. As part of the scheme,Varga and Galloway would come out of hid-

ing, ambush their victim and rob him, shesaid.

Anderson testified Varga beat McCoy witha metal pole and kicked him, and that he andGalloway were disappointed their victim wascarrying only $80. McCoy’s body was foundwrapped in sheets in Galloway’s SUV, whichwas abandoned a few blocks from where theslaying occurred.

The four took McCoy’s car to Texas, wherethey planned a similar attack, Anderson said.She and Bayless propositioned Logie, whowas in town on business, at a Holiday Inn barin Greenville. When they went to a desertedarea behind a building, Galloway and Vargashowed up. Police said a hammer and bloodytree limb were found near Logie’s batteredbody, which the four dragged into somewoods and set on fire.

The four took Logie’s car to San Antonio,where they were arrested.

Attorney Toby Wilkinson tried convincinga jury at a trial in 2000 Varga was not a partic-ipant because there was little blood on him.

“There’s no doubt he was there,”Wilkinson said. “If Kevin helped in the beat-ing, there would have been blood every-where. But when he participates in theWichita murder, and he stays with these peo-ple, then I think your average person says hedeserves what he got because he knew whatthey were going to do and didn’t leave.

Varga’s lethal injection was the eighth thisyear in the nation’s most active capital pun-ishment state. He and Galloway were amongat least 10 Texas inmates with executiondates in the coming weeks.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Theestate of a Nebraska woman slain20 years ago was awarded $800,000Wednesday after a two-day jurytrial in a wrongful death case.

Steven Jacob, the man convict-ed of killing Melody Hopper, wasordered to pay the sum toHopper’s family members.

Jacob was convicted in 1990 oftwo counts of first-degree murderin the August 1989 deaths ofHopper, who was his former girl-friend, and Hopper’s boyfriend,James Etherton. Both were shotmultiple times with a semiautomat-ic weapon in their northeastLincoln home.

Etherton died at the scene.Hopper died five days later afteridentifying Jacob as the assailant.

Police have said Jacob shot thepair in a jealous rage. Jacob andHopper had dated, but she endedthe relationship.

The Nebraska Supreme Courtthrew out Jacob’s first convictionin 1993, ruling that Hopper’sdeathbed statement should nothave been allowed because policedid not ask her if she knew she wasgoing to die.

Jacob was retried and convict-ed in 1994 of first-degree murder inHopper’s death and second-degreemurder in Etherton’s. He receivedtwo life sentences.

Two days after the shootings,Hopper’s mother, Margaret “Peg”Schlichtman, filed a wrongful deathlawsuit against Jacob in the statecourt.

A civil court judgment of$734,704 was returned againstJacob in April 1992 after the firstcriminal trial. The state SupremeCourt overturned the award on atechnicality.

Jury Awards$800,000 In1989 Slaying