Blagojevich is subpoenaed in case of steer stripped of title at state fair

[Freddie Stubbs]

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sunday, Aug. 08 2004

Suit seeks amount
that runner-up brought



SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Attorneys for the owners of Mongo, the steer that had its champion ribbon stripped away at the Illinois State Fair last year, have summoned Gov. Rod Blagojevich to testify in a case that seeks compensation for the disqualification.

Officials at the fair took the 1,294-pound steer's championship away after learning that Mongo's Iroquois County owners had given him banned medicine to treat a sore hoof.

A Sangamon County judge ruled in February that Mongo's disqualification should be reversed because fair officials had failed to follow the proper procedure for publishing the rules for livestock exhibitors at the fair.

The judge awarded the steer's teenage owner, Whitney Gray of Gilman, Ill., attorneys' fees and costs. Now, the Grays seek damages of $21,500, the amount that the runner-up brought at the fair's Sale of Champions.

more: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Cnews%5Cstories.nsf&docid=ED0900681AE65EAB86256EE9008391F6

[King of New Orleans]

1. This a scandal

that could shake the very foundations of state government.

I haven't figured out yet why the Gov. was summoned though.