State Roundup

Casco Township
Men unearth pieces of downed WWII-era plane
CASCO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Four men have unearthed pieces of what they say is a World War II-era fighter plane that crashed 71 years ago in a southeastern Michigan farm field.
Jim Clary, his brother, Ben — an 88-year-old WWII veteran — and two other men used metal detectors to make the find Friday in St. Clair County’s Casco Township just east of Richmond.
The recovered fragments are from a P-38D Lightning that was piloted by 2nd Lt. Al Voss, a native of Elgin, Ill., assigned to the 94th Pursuit Squadron stationed at Selfridge air base in Michigan, Jim Clary told the Times Herald of Port Huron.
Voss was killed trying to parachute from the diving plane on Oct. 15, 1941, the Daily Tribune of Royal Oak reported.
“He is an unsung hero,” said Jim Clary of St. Clair, who along with his fellow searchers uncovered several shards of the plane about 8 inches down in the dirt.
As part of his effort to determine the point of impact, Clary, who lived in Richmond as a boy and remembered hearing accounts of the crash, studied copies of investigation documents, old news articles and Google Earth and talked to a 92-year-old woman who witnessed the crash. The search party then had to wait for a soybean crop to be harvested before they could begin really looking.
Clary and his partners plan to give the largest artifacts to a museum at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
The P-38D was part of the Army Air Force, 94th Pursuit Squadron, which had been stationed at Selfridge. The squadron had camouflaged paint schemes that were identical to the colors found on scraps of aluminum recovered from the crash site.

Lansing
Snyder: Glad more time to consider health exchange
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder says he still hopes that Michigan will set up an insurance exchange under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and says he welcomes an extension of the deadline for submitting plans to do so.
In a letter to governors, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says this month’s deadline remains for states to say if they plan to create health insurance exchanges or let the federal government do it for them.
But Sebelius says states opting to set up exchanges now have until Dec. 14 to submit detailed plans.
Snyder pushed for a state-based exchange but couldn’t win approval from fellow Republicans who control the Legislature.
Snyder tells the Lansing State Journal he’s glad to have more time to work on the issue.

Adrian
Man charged in theft, burning of antique Bible
ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) — A 22-year-old southeast Michigan man faces a hearing in connection with the theft and burning of a 153-year-old Bible.
The Daily Telegram of Adrian reports that Ronald Huskins II of Blissfield is charged with breaking and entering, larceny and arson.
The large Bible and ceremonial ornaments were taken during a July 20, 2011 burglary at the Palmyra Masonic Temple.
Temple secretary Eldon Clingaman told the newspaper that the Bible had been used at each monthly meeting and ceremony of the Palmyra Masons since its 1866 charter. The Bible is believed to have been printed in 1859.
Investigators were told the stolen Bible was placed in an old refrigerator and burned.
Huskins was arraigned Thursday in Lenawee County District Court. His next hearing is Nov. 19.