Latest news with #Bratton
New York Post
a day ago
- General
- New York Post
Virginia hunter gets single day in prison for killing 20 juvenile bald eagles and hawks in poisoning scheme: authorities
A Virginia hunter got a slap on the wrist for poisoning over 20 young hawks and bald eagles during migration season to stop them from preying on ducks, which he wanted to kill for sport, according to authorities. William Custis Smith was sentenced to one day in prison and received a $9,800 fine for killing 20 'juvenile' red-shouldered hawks and bald eagles in 2023, which he claimed were 'encroaching' on his duck hunting impoundment, according to court documents. 4 The corpse of the juvenile bald eagle, which was poisoned with an insecticide by hunter William Smith. U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia 'He's a big duck hunter, and he was in the process of trying to really get it going [and attracting ducks],' Virginia Conservation Police Master Officer Brian Bratton said of Smith in a statement. 'He was killing the hawks and eagles because they were killing all the ducks he was attracting to his impoundment. It was the time of year when the hawks are migrating through,' Bratton said, adding, 'He was very aware it was illegal.' Smith baited the migrating raptors with rotting fish heads he had poisoned with the insecticide carbofuran and set up pole traps — which are designed to ensnare birds' legs, according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. 4 An illegal pole trap on Smith's property ensnared the young raptors who were attracted to perch on the raised platform. U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia Investigators found a 'fresh carcass of a juvenile bald eagle' on the bird killer's Delmarva peninsula property and seized it as evidence shortly after opening their investigation, which was spawned from an anonymous tip, according to court documents. Agents installed a 'plot watcher camera' near the illegal pole trap and documented several birds being killed, including one that struggled for over seven hours before Smith beat it to death with a pole, court documents stated. A necropsy report on the bald eagle revealed the presence of carbofuran, an insecticide that was banned in 2008 because of its toxicity to humans, according to the documents. 'This particular poison acts so quickly that nine times out of 10, when an eagle, hawk or whatever eats something, it acts so quickly that they die with whatever they're eating still in their claws,' Bratton said. 4 Investigators found dead fish heads that Smith had poisoned and laid out for bait. U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia Smith admitted to investigators to 'killing in excess of 20 juvenile and mature bald eagles and hawks, primarily red-shouldered and red-tailed,' and handed over his batch of poison to authorities, according to the VDWR statement. A single, first offense violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act — which outlaws killing the birds among other offenses — can carry with it a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for up to one year, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. A second violation is considered a felony and results in even steeper penalties. 4 The birds were killed during migration season in an area flush with nature preserves. Jane Scott Norris via Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources Smith was charged in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges of Unlawful Taking of a Bald Eagle, Unlawful Taking of a Migratory Bird, and Unlawful Use of a Pesticide, according to court documents. As part of the plea deal, he was ordered to pay $9,800 in restitution, serve 24 months' probation, 50 hours of community service, and spend one day in jail, according to the VDWR. Smith's hometown of Hallwood, Virginia is near several protected areas including Saxis Wildlife Management Area, Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and Wallps Island National Wildlife Refuge. US Fish and Wildlife did not respond to The Post's request for comment.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma State men's golf rallies past Virginia to win 12th NCAA championship
Call it a Cowboy Dozen. The Oklahoma State men's golf team won its 12th NCAA championship on Wednesday, defeating Virginia 4-1 in the match play final at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. Advertisement The win moved OSU into a tie for third place on the all-time list for men's golf titles, trailing Yale (21) and Houston (16), tied with Princeton. Of those four programs, Yale and Princeton haven't won a title since the 1940s and Houston's last win was 1985. OSU has won at least one title in each of the last seven decades, beginning in the 1960s, with the last coming in 2018. 'That's the goal — every team starts out with that, but only one team gets to leave with the trophy each year,' OSU coach Alan Bratton said. 'These guys put in hard work and you do that with a chance to play with pressure. 'All of them did a great job and we're lucky to be on top.' Advertisement With Bratton fielding a lineup of four sophomores and one freshman, it was the youngster who got OSU on the board first. Freshman Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson jumped to a 3-up lead over the first nine holes. Virginia's Maxi Puregger rallied to cut the deficit to one through 13, but with a birdie on the 15th hole and a par on the 17th, Fahlberg-Johnsson closed it out, 2 and 1. More: NCAA Men's Golf Championship highlights: Oklahoma State beats Virginia for 12th national title The OSU men's golf team celebrates after beating Virginia in the final round of match play to win the NCAA title May 28 in Carlsbad, Calif. He was the only Cowboy to go 3-0 in the match play bracket. OSU sophomore Gaven Lane's match went much the opposite. He was 2-down after seven holes, but won six of the next eight to close out a 4 and 3 victory. Lane had five birdies in that stretch. Advertisement Shortly after OSU's Preston Stout lost 4 and 3, Oklahoma State's focus fell on sophomore Eric Lee — again. Just as he did in Tuesday's semifinal win, Lee came through with the clincher. Lee's bump-and-run chip shot from deep rough on No. 18 rolled within 5 feet for birdie. That put the pressure on his opponent, Josh Duangmanee, who missed his birdie putt to give Lee the hole and the match — and OSU the title. 'Honestly, it feels unreal,' said Lee, who transferred from Cal last offseason. 'I didn't really know what to expect coming into today, because I've never really been in this situation. But really proud of the guys, the way they fought. I had a lot of faith in them and I knew even if things didn't go well for me today, they had my back.' Advertisement Virginia took early leads in four of the five matches, but OSU rallied to take charge. OSU's Ethan Fang, who along with Stout was named an All-American earlier in the day, had trailed most of his match, but was 1-up through 15 when Lee clinched the victory. 'These guys have shown toughness all year,' Bratton said. 'We talked about that, if you get behind, you just keep plugging. The tournament starts over every day and every hole, really, in match play. I'm proud of our guys. 'It looks a lot like Karsten Creek out here with all our fans that flew out, so what a special day for Oklahoma State.' More: Oklahoma State men's golf defeats Ole Miss, will play Virginia for NCAA championship Advertisement Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@ or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at or by using the link at the top of this page. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State men's golf rallies past Virginia to win 12th NCAA title
NBC Sports
6 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Destiny fulfilled yet again as Oklahoma State wins 12th NCAA title
CARLSBAD, Calif. – It had been exactly 30 years since Alan Bratton rolled in the winning putt in a sudden-death playoff against a Tiger Woods-led Stanford team at the 1995 NCAA Championship in Columbus, Ohio, clinching his first team national championship in his final season at Oklahoma State. As Bratton, now the Cowboys' longtime head coach, sat in a lounge area Wednesday morning at Omni La Costa, just hours before his team was set to face Virginia in the championship match, he recalled how legendary Golfweek writer Ron Balicki had picked Oklahoma State to win three decades ago. It was a nod that worried the Cowboy faithful considering Balicki, genially known as 'Wrong Ron' for his propensity to whiff on his NCAA pick, had yet to predict the correct champion. The night before the final round, the Cowboys, three shots off the lead, returned from dinner to find a sticky note on Tripp Kuehne's hotel-room door. The message, scribbled in pen, read, BELIEVE IN DESTINY. 'We didn't know who put it there, but Tripp ended up writing it on his golf ball,' Bratton said. 'Sure enough, we win, Tripp tells the story, and Balicki writes it. Good story, right? As the years went on, I kept thinking, I bet Balicki put the note on the door.' At one championship in the early 2000s, Bratton, then a Ping rep, finally got Balicki to admit to it. 'He wrote his own story,' Bratton added with a chuckle. By Wednesday evening, Bratton's team had penned theirs by capturing the program's 12th NCAA Championship and first in seven years. When Bratton shared the tale of Balicki's note on Tuesday night after a thrilling semifinal victory over Ole Miss, sophomore Ethan Fang, one of two Cal transfers in the Cowboys' starting five, decided to write the acronym B.I.D. on his ball for his anchor match opposite Bryan Lee. It couldn't hurt, he figured, and with each putt he struck Wednesday, he caught a glimpse of inspiration. The final time Fang lined up his ball, on the 16th green with a 1-up advantage on Lee, he never got to hit it. No need to, as Eric Lee, the second arrival from Berkeley last summer, was celebrating about 300 yards away on the final green, having just been conceded birdie by Josh Duangmanee to seal a 2-up victory and the clinching point in Oklahoma State's 4-1 triumph in front of a raucous group of about 200 supporters, who, in the words of sophomore Gaven Lane, 'overpowered' the Cavalier contingent all day and out-roared their weight well into the trophy presentation. How 'bout them Cowboys! 'It's overwhelming,' Eric Lee said. 'I haven't heard a crowd that loud in a while, or ever, actually. It's a cool feeling, and it's great to be a national champion with all these guys.' Bratton's heroics in 1995 ensured that he and fellow senior Chris Tidland avoided becoming the first players to play under then coach Mike Holder for four years and not win a national title. This year's Cowboys, loaded with talent but also a youthful squad with no seniors or juniors starting in the postseason, had contributed to the longest win drought in program history before snapping their 19-tournament skid at last fall's Jackson T. Stephens Cup. That was the moment, Bratton said, when it all came together. The Cowboys carried that momentum into their spring opener in Hawaii and won that event, too. They'd end this season with six total tournament titles, a No. 2 national ranking and a pair of first-team All-Americans in Fang and sophomore Preston Stout, who a few weeks earlier had captured his second straight Big 12 medal despite battling flu-like symptoms in the final round. Stout won his first two matches, in the quarterfinals against Oklahoma and in the semis, before falling to three-time first-teamer Ben James, 3 and 2, in the third match Wednesday. That was the only point Virginia would get, though not for lack of competitiveness. Playing in their first-ever final, the 10th-ranked Cavaliers, ranked in the same spot as the Northwestern women a week earlier, quickly jumped ahead in each of the last four matches against college golf's modern-day dynasty – Oklahoma State is now tied for the third-most national titles, which have come in an NCAA-record 76 appearances, and also owns a dozen Big 12 titles; Virginia just notched its first ACC Championship win in 72 years last month. The only exception was the leadoff match, where Filip Fahlberg Johnsson found himself in a comfortable position. Bratton wanted to send his most experienced match-play guy out first, and that ended up being the Swedish freshman, who has a relationship with countryman Leif Westerberg, the former Cowboy who famously left for the British Amateur after 72 holes of that 1995 championship, leaving Oklahoma State to play off against Stanford with just four players. The uber-confident Fahlberg Johnsson, who was seemingly not afraid to exhibit a bit of gamesmanship, won the first hole against fellow first-year Maxi Puregger before closing out the Austrian, 3 and 1, and capping a 3-0 performance that included a scrappy 21st-hole victory over Ole Miss' Cameron Tankersley in a match that wrapped up in the dark. The finish was reminiscent of the Cowboys' 2019 NCAA semifinal bout with Texas at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Zach Bauchou lipped out a putt after the sun had set to end a dominant Oklahoma State squad's run at back-to-back national titles. A year before that, at the 2018 NCAA Championship, Bauchou opened his final match with a front-nine 29 to set the tone in the Cowboys' 5-0 rout of Alabama in front of thousands of home fans at Karsten Creek. Bratton occasionally breaks out his orange polo from that victory for big events, and he did the same Wednesday, though the top remained under a black jacket with the marine layer never burning off and temperatures remaining in the 50s. Another message Bratton delivered to his players on the eve of Wednesday's final was to 'channel their inner Bauchou.' His squad wasn't short on inspiration. Rickie Fowler, perhaps the most recognizable Cowboy alum, texted with Bratton all week and even shared some screenshots of a conversation he was having with cycling legend Lance Armstrong, who was glued to Tuesday's coverage (Bratton did have to inform some of his players who that was). Viktor Hovland also was watching from the clubhouse at Muirfield Village. And Kuehne, one of the greatest career amateurs of all-time, flew out Wednesday morning to potentially witness destiny fulfilled again. He wasn't disappointed. Lane trailed 2 down after seven holes before birdieing five of his final eight to post the day's most convincing result, a 4-and-3 win over Paul Chang, who spent three years on Virginia's club team before earning his spot two summers ago. Fang won four straight holes on the back nine to flip his match while Eric Lee birdied three of his final four holes. Fang, a Texas native, had strongly considered Oklahoma State during his recruiting process before his buddy Lee convinced him to join him at Cal. But a week into school, Fang's car was broken into. 'I quickly found out that I wasn't a big city guy,' said Fang, who would enter the transfer portal following Cal's NCAA exit last year at La Costa. He returned the favor, too, dragging Lee with him to Stillwater. 'We call it even now,' Lee quipped. Fang remembers Bratton's pitch last summer: 'If you want to win a national championship, you got to come to Oklahoma State.' 'And he was right,' Fang added. Stratton Nolen can attest. The current Cowboys assistant was a reserve on that 2018 Oklahoma State team that has sent five players to the PGA Tour, including Hovland and fellow Tour winners Matt Wolff and Austin Eckroat. It was Nolen who reminded Eric Lee, with Lee tied with Duangmanee on the 15th tee, to 'believe in your destiny.' About an hour later, that destiny was realized. The only difference was Balicki wasn't around to write about it. Balicki died from cancer in 2014 at age 65. When it came to covering college golf, Balicki was a pioneer. Players adored him, trusted him; Fowler made just one phone call to announce he was turning pro, to Balicki, who returned that love in spades. One summer, when told he couldn't travel to the Northeast Amateur, Balicki informed his boss he'd be taking vacation to cover it anyway. His last NCAA Championship came in 2013 – he picked undefeated Cal, which lost in the semifinals to Alabama. Bratton gives Balicki a lot of credit for where the sport is today – million-dollar facilities, private jets, six-figure NIL deals, televised tournaments on Golf Channel. He shed a rare tear talking about Balicki on Wednesday morning, and about 12 hours later, he closed his winning interview by remembering Wrong Ron. 'I've been thinking about him all week, and what a special guy,' Bratton said. 'We don't have all this without somebody telling the story of college golf, and Ron Balicki did it like nobody else.' Even long after his death, Balicki is still inspiring national champions. Relive the final round of team match play for the NCAA Men's National Championship. Brentley Romine talks with the men's golf national champion Cowboys to discuss how they got to the top of the NCAA and how Oklahoma State golfers of the past helped push them to a win.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Consultation on plans for 1,500 new homes in Shropshire
People are being consulted over plans to build a new development with 1,500 houses in Homes said the plans for Telford would include a new primary school, open spaces and investment to support community proposed housing estate would be built to the north of Bratton and company said it was seeking opinions from the public on a number of issues, including the type of houses that should be built. The housebuilder said it is preparing an outline planning application which would meet the requirements of Telford and Wrekin Council's Local added that it was considering a mix of homes, including family homes, homes suitable for first-time buyers, and accessible properties for those looking to the open spaces, Bloor Homes is proposing new sports pitches, courts and a pavilion or clubhouse facility. It is seeking feedback on the plans, giving people until 13 June to respond.A drop-in session has also been arranged at Admaston House Community Centre on Wellington Road in Telford on Thursday, between 14:00 and 18:45 BST. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
31-year-old Birmingham man killed in shooting identified
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A 31-year-old Birmingham man injured in a shooting Sunday night has died. Literrance Leon Bratton was shot while on the 2700 block of 30th Street Ensley shortly before midnight Sunday, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office reports. Bratton was taken to UAB Hospital for treatment where he was pronounced dead around 1:08 a.m. Monday. Los Angeles barbershop blasts 'Baby Shark' to ward off homeless Birmingham police are investigating Bratton's death as a homicide at this time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
