Motorcyclists get bikes blessed
PORTLAND, Ind. -- Does God ride a Harley?\nMaybe not, but one evangelist at a motorcycle blessing ceremony says God loves people so much that he cares about their hobbies, including motorcycles.\nAbout 30 bikes were individually blessed by local church members and members of the Christian Motorcyclists Association at the Jay County Gospel Fest, located about 90 miles northwest of Indianapolis.\nRoger Wilson, a CMA evangelist, travels with his wife, Rayleen, to bike blessings across the country. They have logged about 120,000 miles attending such events over the past 18 years.\n"God does care about your everyday needs, and He cares about your bike," Roger Wilson said.\nWilson and others circled each motorcycle Saturday, their hands interlocked and heads bowed in prayer. The group asked for God's protection of the bike and its owner.\nDan and Jan Tomano, both CMA members who participated in the event, said they have had their own bike blessed in the past as an open declaration of faith.\n"It's nice to know God's hand is over us while we ride our bike," Dan Tomano said.\nA small sticker attached to a bike as proof of the blessing also serves as a great conversation starter, he said.\nThe motorcycle blessing was a new event at the Gospel Fest, said Gyneth Augsburger, Jay County Tourism Director. Augsburger said she heard from a friend that the CMA did bike blessings, and thought it would be a fun thing to do for the festival.
Dogs fend off intruders in LaPorte\nLAPORTE, Ind. -- At least twice in five days, dogs have scared off a man prowling outside the bedrooms of children, but the pets' vigilance has done little to calm fears.\nDogs chased, and possibly bit, a prowler in the back yard of a home Thursday night. It has renewed fears about an intruder who has already grabbed one girl from her bedroom in the middle-class neighborhood.\nIn the first incident one week ago, the intruder entered a bedroom, took an 8-year-old girl outside and removed her underwear before barking dogs scared him off, police said.\n"We're scared. It's in our own back yard now," said Tamara Pray, whose dogs chased the man Thursday night after he had stood outside the window of her 3-year-old son.\nJittery residents in the city of about 22,000 in northwest Indiana have reported tampered window screens and noises outside their bedrooms since the first attack.\nDetective Mike Dove said the police's task of finding the man is "enormous."\n"We're doing everything we can to catch this person and put an end to this," Dove said.\nIn the first incident, a tall, thin man cut a bedroom screen and climbed inside, police said. He carried the girl from the bedroom she shared with her 10-year-old sister while the rest of the family slept. The man placed duct tape across her mouth, removed her underwear and took off his own pants, the girl told investigators.\nBefore he could hurt her, barking dogs next door scared him away. He told the child he would return for her.\nThe girl began screaming and pounded on her back door awakening her mother.\nPolice said they believe the same man was outside the Pray home Thursday night.\nAt about 10 p.m., Pray was letting her dogs outside before she went to bed. Immediately, the dogs raced over to the side of her house, and she saw a tall, thin man running toward the back of her fenced-in yard.\n"I heard him yell 'ouch' and swat at the dog before he jumped the fence," Pray said.\nUnderneath the boy's locked bedroom window was grass that had been matted down by the man's feet, police said.\nPolice say they are certain the incidents involved the same man. They are hoping for a major break in the case.\n"It's like any major case like this. You got to get that break, and then it all falls into place," Asst. Police Chief Stan Klimczak said.
