Kevin R. Shores

Kevin Richard Shores is an Native American soldier who served in the United States armed forces prior to the Persian Gulf War and afterwards became ill with the Gulf War Syndrome. Born in 1967, he grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota and is a member in the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. He has since become a notable advocate in the United States Midwest to increase public awareness about the mysterious illness affecting many Gulf War veterans, along with some other political causes.

Military service

After graduating from high school, Shores served in the United States Navy from 1985 to 1988 where he served on the USS Fox, until he was given an honorable discharge. Not long after returning to the United States of America his health began to deteriorate with muscle aches, joint stiffness, night sweats, major weight loss (70 pounds), uncontrollable muscle twitching, chronic fatigue, loss of vision in his left eye, and other symptoms. Shores now uses a wheelchair. Shores argues that he suffers from Gulf War Syndrome and he become active with the American Gulf War Veterans Association in 1997.

State v. Shores, 444 N.W.2d 701 (ND 1989)

In April 1988, Shores was on leave from the United States Navy and was driving across the country to visit family in Minnesota. Near Wyndmere, North Dakota he had gotten his car stuck in a ditch and walked to a nearby house for assistance. These people felt that Shores needed medical assistance and drove him to the Wyndmere police department where he was forced into hospitalization, while the police searched his vehicle and found methamphetamine in his car. When he was released from the hospital he was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and convicted in a jury trial. Shores unsuccessfully appealed his case to the North Dakota Supreme Court arguing that he lacked proper legal counsel and that the state had failed to prove that controlled substance was his.

Political activism

In 2000 Shores started the Gulf War Illness Awareness Ride where he rode in his wheelchair from Moorhead, Minnesota to St. Paul Minnesota to raise public awareness of the syndrome and to speak with Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and United States Senator Paul Wellstone. The trip had to be delayed after he was hit by a garbage truck and broke a toe while on the way to St. Paul.

An alumnus of Minnesota State University Moorhead, he was the leader of the campus chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws from 2001 to 2004.

In 2001 Shores ran for mayor of the City of Moorhead on a platform that was similar to the Green Party, although the elections are non-partisan. He received 55 votes in that election. On September 14, 2005, Shores started his second campaign to run for the Mayor of Moorhead, Minnesota and ran a much more active campaign, including a free concert featuring Wookiefoot and received over 700 hundred votes, but failed to defeat incumbent Mark Voxland.

Articles and resources

* World Net Daily "Disabled vet's hard road to recovery." [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=13178] . 2000.

* Kevin R. Shores 2005 campaign web site. [http://www.kevin4mayor.com]