Motorcyclist airlifted after accident on White Flint Park Road

Editor's Note: TDT reporter, Geoff West, will have a more in-depth story in Thursday’s Temple Daily Telegram newspaper. Also look for the story Thursday on www.tdtnews.com.

Fort Hood – Fort Hood officials released more information today about an M36 training device that fell from an AH-64 Apache helicopter Tuesday night in an open field adjacent to Aquarius Drive and Trimmier Drive in Killeen.
Around 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, the Fort Hood Police Station received a call from a Killeen resident to report an unknown object that had falling from the AH-64 Apache helicopter that had taken off from Robert Gray Army Airfield.
Killeen Police Department responded and located the object which was impaled into the surface of the ground. Officials immediately cordoned-off the area and temporarily evacuated homes close to the field.
Fort Hood's Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team was then dispatched to the area. Upon arrival, EOD identified the object as an M36 training device. The M36 is an inert training device without a warhead or propulsion system and is designed to enable crews to simulate Hellfire missile engagements in the cockpit without launching from the aircraft. The M36, which weighs 100-pounds and is 4-feet long, was recovered intact around 11:45 p.m. and returned to the installation.
"Safety is always our number one concern, and we regret the inconvenience to the families affected in the area. We want to reassure the public that our military aircraft never fly off the installation with live munitions," said Col. Howard Arey, III Corps aviation officer.
"An investigation is under way, even as we review our safety and other procedures to ensure we understand why this happened and how to prevent it from happening in the future. We won't know the cause until the investigation is complete, but we believe at this time that it is not a systemic issue," added Arey.

BELTON — Shane Ward has tried not to think about it much. Still, he realizes that all these years playing baseball with the guys he’s grown up with will end sometime in the next month.
Ward will be off to study at Baylor in the fall, making this final baseball season something he wants to enjoy.
So that’s certainly made Belton’s success in the playoffs mean even more to the senior who’s been a big part of these recent wins all across the diamond.
“It’s something I relish about it,” Ward said. “It’s a lot of fun being out here. We’re just trying to have fun, be together the last couple weeks until we graduate. We just have fun out here and do the best we can.”
Baseball has indeed been fun the past few weeks, especially with the way Ward and the Tigers have been playing to reach the third round of the postseason.
Ward will take his usual spot atop the lineup when Belton’s Class 5A Region II quarterfinal series against Bryan opens at 7 p.m. Thursday at Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Red Murff Field.
And when he’s gotten on base, which tends to happen more often than not, good things have seemed to happen.

When the weather turns hot, a cool drink becomes a must have as we work and play outdoors. Sugary carbonated drinks can add thousands of empty calories to your diet every day; so, try lemonade, like the recipe below, and enjoy a fresh, delicate berry and lemon pick-me-up.

Belton rockers Flyleaf are organizing a benefit concert in Dallas on Sunday, May 20, at the Palladium Ballroom. The concert will raise money for the family of Rich Caldwell, a sound engineer for the band who was killed in a car accident on April 19.