GM's oldest retiree honored at birthday party

GM's oldest retireehonored at birthday party
DETROIT -- Ernest Pusey gets a birthday kiss from Peg Millard at the American Legion post in Bradenton, Fla. Pusey, who turns 109 today, has the distinction of being the oldest of General Motors Corp.'s 455,382 retirees and surviving spouses in the United States.
After serving with the Navy in World War I, Pusey joined the automaker in 1926 -- 18 years after its founding.
He worked several plant jobs before retiring in May 1958 as a tool and die maker at Chevrolet's former Plant Four in Flint.
Pusey said he still remembers the early days of the industry, building vehicles that people would hardly recognize today. He said he appreciated his time with the automaker.
"I remember some of the strikes," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Bradenton. "Outside of that, the memories are pretty good."
Pusey was honored Tuesday during a birthday party at Bradenton's America Legion post. To commemorate the occasion, Gary Cowger, president of GM North America, and United Auto Workers vice president Richard Shoemaker sent Pusey a joint letter of congratulations.
Though Pusey doesn't drive much these days, he's still a loyal GM owner. His vehicle of choice: a 1999 Oldsmobile 88.
Methodists bolster stanceagainst homosexuality
PITTSBURGH -- United Methodists stood firmly against homosexuality at a national meeting, even as their top court rejected a request from conservatives to intervene in the case of a lesbian pastor.
Delegates to the Methodist General Conference, held once every four years, voted down resolution after resolution that would have signaled broader acceptance of gays and lesbians in the church.
Even the ruling in the lesbian minister's case was not clearly a victory. The Judicial Council said Tuesday it had no authority to review the acquittal of the Rev. Karen Dammann, who had acknowledged she had a female partner and was charged with violating church law.
However, the court also ruled that bishops -- in the future -- cannot legally appoint someone who was found at church trial to be a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual."
The Rev. Ms. Dammann's lawyer contended this restriction does not apply to the clergywoman when she comes up for reappointment. Some bishops and evangelicals insisted it did and argued she was no longer in good standing in the church.
Election workers killed
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Two foreign contractors helping the United Nation prepare for landmark elections and their Afghan driver were killed in an attack in a remote eastern province, senior Afghan officials said today.
The foreigners killed in Tuesday's attack were employees of Global Risk Strategies, a London-based security firm, said Farooq Wardak, the Afghan government's top election official. He didn't have the men's names or nationalities.
"I confirm that there was an attack by a number of people and two foreigners and one Afghan were killed," Deputy Interior Minister Hilalludin Hilal told The Associated Press.
The company is surveying parts of rural Afghanistan as part of U.N. plans to register voters for September elections.
Mandela's first wife dies
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Evelyn Mandela, the first wife of former President Nelson Mandela, has died. She was 82.
She died Friday of respiratory illness, according to news reports.
Born Evelyn Mase, Mandela was the deeply religious daughter of a mineworker and a cousin of the late Walter Sisulu, one of the giants of the liberation struggle who was imprisoned with Nelson Mandela.
She married Nelson Mandela in 1944 and the couple had four children. One daughter died in 1948 before she was a year old, and a son was killed in a car accident in 1969 while Nelson Mandela was in prison.
It was unclear where their other two children were.
The couple divorced in 1955.
Associated Press