Man found dead in kangaroo, wallaby enclosure reportedly had 'history' of playing rough with animal
The man — identified by officials as 52-year-old Eric Slate — was a relative of the animal's owner.
He was killed on Friday evening in the fatal encounter that took place at 5 Star Farm, a South Carolina petting zoo located around 30 miles from Myrtle Beach, according to Fox Carolina.
The animal believed to be responsible for Slate's death has not been euthanized, Horry County Councilmember Mark Causey told News13.
The 5 Star Farm petting zoo — which has events listed on its website dating back more than 15 years — features animals like camels, ponies, llamas and more, according to its website.
"The animal was not nor has been out of his secure enclosure," Robert Slate, owner of 5 Star Farm, wrote on Facebook. "At this time we do ask for respect and support for the family."
The investigation is currently ongoing, and an autopsy has been ordered, according to Horry County Police.
"There are a number of other animals at the incident location," Horry County Police said in a Facebook post. "All animals are accounted for and contained, and there is no risk to the community."
The Horry County Police Department, the Horry County Coroner's Office and 5 Star Farm did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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New York Times
31 minutes ago
- New York Times
Yankees drafted player after he admitted he drew swastika on Jewish student's door in college. Why?
When the New York Yankees drafted University of Utah shortstop Core Jackson in the fifth round in July, they were aware that he had drawn a swastika on the dorm room door of a Jewish student in 2021, when he was a 17-year-old freshman at the University of Nebraska. Jackson voluntarily called teams to tell them about his actions before the 2024 draft. In a phone interview with The Athletic, Jackson said that he was 'blackout drunk' when he drew the swastika, and that he had no recollection of the incident or why he did it. He said he knows that he made a 'really stupid mistake,' and that he has learned and grown since that time and is no longer 'the person he was when it all happened.' Advertisement The University of Nebraska declined to discuss any specifics of the incident, and the university police did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Yankees amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said the team's decision followed the most thorough 'due diligence' look into a player in his 23 years on the job, and that it was cleared directly with owner Hal Steinbrenner. The draft pick came after multiple members of the organization had conversations with Jackson and those close to him, and after discussing the situation with multiple high-ranking Jewish members of the club, including team president Randy Levine, who supported the decision to draft Jackson. The club, however, did not speak with anyone at Nebraska about the incident, according to Oppenheimer. Jackson also was charged with driving under the influence on Utah's campus in September 2024. According to his agent, Blake Corosky of True Gravity Baseball, the charge was later reduced to impaired driving, a misdemeanor. Corosky said Jackson had performed community service, received substance abuse training and paid fines. Jackson said he hasn't 'touched a drop of alcohol' in the months since. Oppenheimer said he thought the swastika incident 'affected (Jackson's) draft status' and was likely part of teams' calculus when he went undrafted in 2024. (Jackson transferred to a junior college for the 2023 season and played for Utah the past two seasons). 'I think that his tool set, his athleticism, his performance was definitely something that would have gone a lot higher in the draft,' the scouting director added. The Yankees drafted Jackson at No. 164 overall this July, signing him to a bonus of $147,500, well under the pick's $411,1000 slot value. 'I think it's important that it is part of my story,' said Jackson, now 21. 'I have this platform now that God has given me, and I can share my story about his forgiveness.' Advertisement The greater New York area was home to about 1.4 million people who identified as Jewish as of 2023, according to a study by the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, making it the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. The Yankees were 'looking to find the good in this,' Oppenheimer said. 'He's shown his accountability here,' Oppenheimer said. 'I think his actions have shown his remorse. He's acknowledged it. I think he's taken the right steps to continue to learn, to understand what he's done.' Jackson said he was so drunk the night he drew the swastika, in October 2021, that he blacked out and doesn't remember any of the incident. He claims that he didn't know who lived in the dorm room, and said that he 'broke down in tears' the next day when someone told him what he had done. 'I felt like the worst person in the world,' he said. 'I don't want there to be any excuses for my actions.' He said he wanted to apologize to the student, but that campus police told him to not contact them. He said the University of Nebraska fined him, had him undergo basic sensitivity training online and made him perform community service after the incident, but that there were 'no other repercussions.' He was not arrested, and he played on the university's baseball team the following spring. A Nebraska spokesperson declined to comment on the situation, but said that it 'takes discrimination and similar allegations very seriously and has policies and procedures in place to rapidly respond to student concerns.' The Athletic was not able to identify or speak with the victim, or to independently verify Jackson's version of events. A Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the University of Nebraska asking for documents pertaining to the incident had not received a response at the time of publication. Jackson played for the Nebraska baseball team in 2022, hitting .210 in 44 games, but left the school that summer. He described his freshman year as 'being in a dark place,' and said that he departed because he was not 'growing in my faith or getting better at baseball.' Jackson said he didn't have any Division I offers upon leaving Nebraska, so he played his sophomore year at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, hitting .321 with four homers, 33 RBIs and a .907 OPS. He was eligible for the draft in 2023 but wasn't selected, and then enrolled at the University of Utah, where in 2024 he hit .363 with four home runs, 41 RBIs and a .979 OPS as a junior. That spring, he began attracting the attention of MLB teams intrigued by his arm strength, right-handed power and athleticism. Advertisement At the end of his first interview with a Boston Red Sox scout, Jackson was asked if there was anything else he wanted to talk about. Jackson told him about the swastika incident. 'Everybody found out about it (then),' said Corosky, Jackson's agent. 'Including us.' After hearing the story from Jackson, Corosky said he considered no longer advising the shortstop. Corosky also represented Jacob Steinmetz, an Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospect and the first practicing Orthodox Jewish player ever drafted. As a courtesy, Corosky said that he called Jacob's father, Elliot, who is the head men's basketball coach at Yeshiva University, a Division III Orthodox Jewish school in New York City. He wanted Elliot to be aware of what had happened. Corosky told Elliot Steinmetz that Jackson appeared 'extremely remorseful,' but also 'doesn't (understand) exactly what he did.' After Steinmetz's initial anger faded, he suggested that Corosky consider trying to educate Jackson about antisemitism. A few hours later, Steinmetz called Jackson. 'Right away,' he said, 'you could tell (Jackson) was the nicest, sweetest kid in the world, (but) dumb as rocks when it came to these kinds of issues.' According to Steinmetz, Jackson hadn't seemed to fully grasp the dark history behind the swastika — the symbol that represented the German Nazi Party in the 20th century and is still being used by neo-Nazis worldwide. Jackson told Steinmetz that his education on the symbol was limited. Jackson grew up in a Christian household in Wyoming, Ontario, a rural town about 30 minutes from the Michigan border, and told The Athletic that he had hardly encountered Jewish people or learned about Jewish history in school. Steinmetz had a point he wanted to impress upon Jackson. 'If I walked into a hall and saw a swastika, I'd be pissed off,' Steinmetz said. 'My grandparents would be freaked out and terrified by it.' Advertisement Corosky ultimately told Jackson he would continue advising him, but under two conditions. First, Jackson would have to call a representative from each of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball and describe what he did. He told Jackson 'not to pull any punches' no matter how difficult it was to talk about. Second, Jackson would have to work with Steinmetz on 'some intense, gut-wrenching understanding of why what he did was so hurtful and awful.' Jackson agreed. 'Obviously,' he said of calling teams to inform them, 'it wasn't easy, but it was part of growing up and understanding to take ownership of my actions.' Most scouts told Jackson they appreciated his candidness. Steinmetz reached out to the head of Holocaust studies at Yeshiva, who put him in contact with Ann Squicciarini, then a graduate student at the school. Squicciarini, who is Christian, had enrolled in Yeshiva's Holocaust education program in the wake of two Jewish students being attacked in her native Brooklyn in May 2021. Squicciarini designed a five-week course for Jackson, including video and reading assignments, and the pair met for an hour each week. Squicciarini logged everything, and sent post-session reports to Steinmetz. 'He was attentive and engaged,' Squicciarini said. Neither she nor Steinmetz were paid to work with Jackson; both said they wanted to use education to fight hate. Ari Kohen, the director of the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at Nebraska, said that it's 'absolutely crucial' for society to learn how to teach antisemitism and preach awareness of 'all forms of bigotry, truthfully, to young people today.' 'I don't feel that we have fully figured it out at this point,' said Kohen, who was at the Harris Center when Jackson drew the swastika but had not been aware of the incident before being contacted by The Athletic. 'Especially with how quickly our culture changes, thanks to social media, thanks to the meme-ification of all these things.' Advertisement It's important to try to educate someone who commits an act of hate, Kohen said. 'If we drive to punish,' he said, 'that doesn't allow us to take that teachable opportunity. There's a lot that I think we miss.' Steinmetz agreed. 'It's not redeemable if you think it's just a joke,' he said. 'It's redeemable if you do the work, take the path back (and) prove to people you're not just doing it to get a job out of it.' Oppenheimer, the Yankees' scouting director, has known Utah head coach Gary Henderson for more than 40 years. Henderson called him about Jackson in the fall of 2024 — well after the Yankees were aware of what Jackson had done. Other teams had been 'very active in trying to understand the situation,' including the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres, Corosky said. Jackson worked out for the Detroit Tigers and the Yankees. Henderson told Oppenheimer that Jackson was 'really playing well' and that 'he's turned a corner. He's been a good person, a good teammate.' That's when the Yankees' conversations began. Jackson met twice with Steve Nagy, the Yankees' scout who covers Utah as part of the Four Corners region, who 'heard the story for himself,' Oppenheimer said. Oppenheimer himself talked to Corosky, and then with Jackson and Steinmetz. Oppenheimer also met via video conference call with Jackson and Yankees director of mental conditioning Chris Passarella, who signed off on the decision. Yankees national cross checker Mike Wagner, who is Jewish, met with Steinmetz. Oppenheimer met with assistant director of player development Stephen Swindal Jr., who is also Jewish, to discuss Jackson. Oppenheimer also called general manager Brian Cashman and Steinbrenner, who rarely gets involved in player selection, and arranged a conference call that Oppenheimer attended with Steinmetz and Levine. The Yankees did not speak with anyone from the University of Nebraska, according to Oppenheimer, but they felt their process was thorough. 'I don't think we've ever done this,' Oppenheimer said regarding the breadth of their inquiry into a single draftee. '(Yankees brass) has knowledge of the players we think we're going to be involved in, but not to the degree that they needed to be aware of (this) situation.' Advertisement 'I feel that moving forward,' Oppenheimer said, 'we've got a good citizen and a good person and a good baseball player.' Minutes after the Yankees drafted Jackson on July 14, he called Steinmetz. 'He was thanking me for everything I did,' Steinmetz said, 'how much it means to him, how he's not going to let me down and how he's going to get to work.' Oppenheimer said he already made the player development staff aware of Jackson's history, and that Jackson has had no issues since joining the Yankees, who quickly promoted him to High-A Hudson Valley. Jackson said he understands that people may be upset by his past. 'I would ask for their forgiveness and let them know I'm not the same person I was when that happened,' he said. 'I've grown up. I've learned. I've reconciled. I've done the things I needed to do to learn about it.' (Top photo of Core Jackson: Tyler Tate / AP Photo) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Memphis repeats as city with worst drivers in the U.S. though another Tennessee city is competing for the top spot
Memphis ranked as the city with the worst drivers for the third consecutive year, but another Tennessee city came in second. ConsumerAffairs, a customer review and news service that collects and analyzes data to assess various aspects of American life, ranked Memphis as the worst city for the third consecutive year. The organization analyzes crash data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. This ranking uses the most recent data available for 2024. According to the report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that in 2024, 39,345 people died in traffic crashes in the U.S. This figure marks the first time since 2020 that the number of fatal traffic crashes was below 40,000. Here's which city in Tennessee has joined Memphis at the top of the list of worst drivers in America. Does Tennessee have good drivers? While Tennessee is not the worst state for drivers, it is certainly not the best. Of the six Volunteer State cities included in the ranking, only two saw improvements in their ranking in 2025. Memphis ranked No. 1 as the city with the worst drivers, the same rank it had in 2024. It had 17.96 crashes related to bad driving, 38.79 total fatalities, 2.23 fatalities involving DUI, 8.58 fatalities involving speeding and 9.22 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. The only categories to decrease from 2024 to 2025 were the number of fatalities involving DUIs and positive blood alcohol content. Knoxville ranked second, up from No. 25 in 2024. The city had 13.94 crashes related to bad driving, 31.49 total fatalities, 3.61 fatalities involving DUI, 9.29 fatalities involving speeding and 4.65 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. Chattanooga placed 16th, up from No. 34 in 2024. It had 9.30 crashes related to bad driving, 20.24 total fatalities, 2.73 fatalities involving DUI, 5.47 fatalities involving speeding and 4.92 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. Clarksville ranked 29th, up from No. 93 in 2024. It had 8.14 crashes related to bad driving, 18.03 total fatalities, 1.16 fatalities involving DUI, 6.40 fatalities involving speeding and 4.07 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. Nashville ranked 55th, an small improvement from No. 53 in 2024. It had 6.0 crashes related to bad driving, 16.4 total fatalities, 2.8 fatalities involving DUI, 3.4 fatalities involving speeding and 6.0 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. Murfreesboro was the safest city in Tennessee, ranking No. 191 with a crash score of 16.9. It had 2.6 crashes related to bad driving, 7.2 total fatalities, 2.0 fatalities involving DUI, 1.3 fatalities involving speeding and 3.9 fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people. In 2024, Murfreesboro ranked 185th. Cities with the worst drivers in 2025 Memphis has been ranked as the city with the worst drivers for the third consecutive year. Memphis had the most crash fatalities and fatalities involving a driver with a positive blood alcohol content in the country. Memphis, Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Waterbury, Connecticut Aurora, Colorado Tucson, Arizona Kansas City, Missouri San Bernardino, California Billings, Montana Miami Gardens, Florida Charleston, South Carolina Cities with the best drivers in 2025 Frisco, Texas, was the city with the best drivers in 2025. The city had zero crashes related to bad driving, fatalities involving DUI, fatalities involving speeding, or fatalities involving a positive blood alcohol content. The total fatalities per 100,000 people was 0.48. Frisco, Texas Fargo, North Dakota Santa Rosa, California Lehigh Acres, Florida Alexandria, Virginia Bellevue, Washington Torrance, California Lowell, Massachusetts Quincy, Massachusetts Pasadena, California Jordan Green covers trending news for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis repeats as city with worst drivers followed by another TN city Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Volusia sheriff who hired first Black and woman deputies honored
James Tucker served one term and was only 28 years old when he was elected sheriff of Volusia County in 1952, but he left a legacy that is still felt today, officials said. Family and county officials spoke about Tucker on Tuesday during the unveiling of a marker in his honor on one side of Tomoka Farms Road at Shunz Road. The marker is a few miles south of International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach. The Sheriff James Tucker Memorial Road is the section of Tomoka Farms Road from West International Speedway Boulevard to State Road 44. "My dad definitely needed that honor," said John Powell Tucker III, one of Tucker's sons. "It just blows my mind. My heart is full." The former sheriff was only48 when he died. Tucker opened doors 'for people to charge through' during his term as Volusia County sheriff Tucker was the youngest sheriff ever elected in Volusia County when he took office. He hired the first African American deputy, Carl Brinkley, and the first woman deputy on the force, according to the county. Brinkley died at 90 in 2016. During his time at the Volusia Sheriff's Office, he became the first Black officer to reach the rank of sergeant in any sheriff's department in Florida. Brinkley, who was a minister and civil rights advocate, also co-founded the Florida Association of Negro Deputy Sheriffs during his time at the sheriff's office. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, who spoke at Tuesday's event, said that Tucker hired the first woman on the force to help with juvenile crime. Tucker also recognized that African Americans in Volusia County weren't being served well, Chitwood said. "So what does he (Tucker) do?" Chitwood said. "He doesn't give a handout. He gives a hand up. He opens the door for people to charge through that door." In his short time in office, Tucker put programs in place that continue today, such as the Junior Deputy Sheriff's League and the Marine Search and Rescue Group, according to the county. Tucker's commitment to service was evident before his time as sheriff and afterward, officials said. Tucker was a World War II Navy veteran. After his time as sheriff, he became a "prosecutor, judge, educator, and city attorney," according to the county. "Few individuals in our county's history have contributed so broadly in public life," District 2 Volusia County Councilman and Vice Chair Matt Reinhart said. His principles were also reflected in his death, which came after rescuing a girl from the St. Johns River, Chitwood said. "His death basically sums up how his whole life was. It was about serving and protecting," Chitwood said. Tary Lynn Tucker, Tucker's daughter-in-law, said she wants Tucker's life to inspire future generations. "And to give all the glory to God, as I know he would want that to be," she said. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia sheriff honored with renamed piece of Tomoka Farms Road Solve the daily Crossword
