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Katharine Van Zile is president and owner of the company founded by Fayette Van Zile in 1911, but make no mistake: Van Zile Travel Service is not her grandfather's travel agency.
Van Zile, who is known as Kate, says there are many ways the family business has changed in 100 years, from the technological tools designed to customize itineraries and make every aspect of travel more convenient to the difference in management style.
"It was a different time when my grandfather owned the company," she says, describing an incident when her grandfather, then 90, did not approve of the late hours one member of his staff was keeping. "My grandfather happened to be driving by the house, and it was late. He saw her lights were on, so he called her and told her to go to bed; she had an early day and she needed to get to sleep.
"My grandfather was very much a micro-manager," she says with a laugh. "My father was not at all like that, though. He gave me free rein."
Van Zile is a third-generation owner of Van Zile Travel Service, having bought the company from her father, Cameron Van Zile, in 1994. She started working for the company in 1979, becoming a receptionist and working her way up in the ranks, taking over the management in 1984.
She enjoyed working with her father because he was always open to her new ideas.
"He encouraged me to bring new things to the agency," Van Zile says. "When I wanted to introduce corporate travel, he agreed. When I wanted to open a branch in Greece, he was on board. When I wanted to add automation, he approved. My father always let me explore new opportunities for the company."
The continual changes and adaptations Van Zile has made have kept the company competitive, which has not been easy in an industry that has been hit by 9/11, economic downturns and rising fuel costs.
"Today you're either a multibillion-dollar agency or you're a two- or three-person shop. There are only 200 companies our size left in the whole country," Van Zile says.
The firm employs 55 full-time staffers, including six who were hired in July.
"We added to our staff to ramp up for 2013 and 2014," Van Zile says. "We're very excited for the growth we're anticipating."
The company has seen a steady increase in business, even during the economic downturn. Total revenue for 2011 stood at $35 million, up from $30 million in 2010, Van Zile says.
Growth potential
She sees a strong potential for growth in the leisure travel side of the business. It makes up 20 percent of total revenue, with eight staffers dedicated to leisure bookings.
"We have clients who want a proactive agent. We navigate everything for them-the options, the insurance. We book the transaction, and then we are their ally," Van Zile says.
A $100 deposit is required upon contact to cover an agent's time in researching ideas and options presented to a client, Van Zile explains. Some agents were opposed to charging the deposit, fearing it would turn some clients away.
"The serious clients will stay, and they are the ones it pays to spend the time on," Van Zile says. "Others who have nothing invested could just be shopping us for ideas, and agents are better not spending their time on that."
The Internet could be seen as major competition, but Van Zile does not see it that way.
"I don't look at what comes towards us with fear. I just change our approach," she says. "The Internet has actually expanded the opportunities for our business in so many ways. We have been able to grow so much because of it."
The largest part of Van Zile's business now comes from corporate travel. It comprises 80 percent of the company's business with top clients such as Nixon Peabody LLP, Harris Interactive Inc. and SentrySafe.
"We have corporate accounts all over the country and some international business, including Canada, the U.K. and Bermuda," Van Zile says.
There have been so many changes in the travel industry that Van Zile's corporate clients see her company's role as much more than a booking agency.
"We have to manage decisions. We have to be a consultant and help them come up with a policy in some cases," she says.
Van Zile Travel offers many full-service options to corporate clients, such as automated tracking programs for unused airline tickets, online booking and quality control checks. There is a commitment to have every call answered by a live person in fewer than four rings and every email answered within 30 minutes.
Van Zile says her business's competition is not necessarily other agencies, because people have the notion they can manage on their own. That's fine if things go well, but travel does not always go as planned.
"Every change or cancellation we book comes back to us. It's good to have an agent to act on your behalf," Van Zile says.
People are Van Zile Travel's greatest resource, and she says one of her biggest challenges is finding great people who want to enter the field.
"There were 48,000 agencies in this industry nationwide before 9/11. Now there are about 16,000," Van Zile says.
To address this labor challenge she start-ed her own travel "boot camp." It is a six-month program to seek out and then train the most qualified and energetic people to be on her staff.
Just as Van Zile constantly is looking for the strongest new employees to add to her company, she also is thinking of the continuation of her company. At 50 years old, she has no plans yet to retire, but she realizes the importance of a succession plan.
There are three key executives in charge of major areas of the company: Michelle Arney oversees meetings, incentives and leisure; Rebecca Mineo handles corporate travel; and Julie Santino is in charge of finance and technology.
"I'm still overseeing the overall strategic vision, but these three key executives have come up with many new initiatives in technology and creative marketing. They are the next generation moving forward," Van Zile says.
Competitive fire
It was through a seminar on succession planning for family businesses that she met her longtime colleague and mentor, John Doyle, president and CEO of Doyle Security Systems Inc.
"Kate is a natural leader. She has boundless energy and enthusiasm. She also has a bias for action and getting things done. She really enjoys competing," Doyle says.
Doyle jokes that Van Zile's competitive nature extends beyond business and applies to other aspects of her personality, even card games.
"It doesn't do any good to win a game, because she will make you play until she wins," Doyle says.
That same relentlessness applies to her goal setting and drive to achieve them, says Van Zile's sister, Christine Van Zile-Stabins. She has worked at the travel agency for 33 years and today is one of the lead leisure travel counselors.
"Kate is incredible at setting lofty goals and then breaking them into manageable pieces so they are not so daunting," Van Zile-Stabins says.
The two sisters were on a trip to New Zealand together when Van Zile-Stabins learned how inspirations come to her sister and how she keeps track of them.
"I woke up in the middle of the night to find Kate writing and writing. It was 3 a.m.," Christine recalls. "I asked her what she was doing up at that hour, and she said she woke herself up with a good idea and if she didn't write it down she wouldn't go back to sleep. Her brain is going 24/7."
Life is not all work for Van Zile, though. She recently earned her captain's license from the U.S. Coast Guard and helped navigate a boat from Nantucket to Annapolis, Md.
"One stretch of the journey was 36 hours straight on the ocean, and being it was in pitch dark in the commercial traffic zone, I had to tap in to what I had learned," she says. "It wasn't easy."
Van Zile, who attended Pittsford Sutherland High School, earned a GED certificate and took a few classes at Monroe Community College, calls herself a self-learner and is learning to speak Spanish. She also earned a WSET Level III wine certification.
She and her husband, Thomas Bayer, 52, have been married for 26 years. Bayer is an independent business owner who maintains buildings. They live in Brighton and have three children: Jessica Harrell, a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is married and living in Seattle. Alexandra, 18, is attending Virginia Tech. Son Jack, 16, attends Brighton High School and is considering Virginia Tech as well.
"I would like that," Kate says. "It would be great if all three went to Virginia Tech."
When you work in the travel industry, people always ask about your favorite place to visit, and for her there are many. She and her family have vacationed all over the world.
"There are so many great places; it's hard to pick a favorite. My top spots range from an African safari to a surf camp in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands. We have enjoyed so many wonderful experiences," she says.
Many more experiences lie ahead for her, both on the job and in her personal life, she says. "You are never fully done mastering the world."
Lori Gable is a Rochester-area freelance writer.
Kate Van Zile
Title: President, Van Zile Travel Service
Age: 50
Education: Attended some classes at Monroe Community College
Residence: Brighton
Family: Husband Thomas Bayer; daughters Jessica and Alexandra; son Jack
Interests: Learning Spanish, boating, travel, platform tennis, sailing and gardening
Quote: "Move with a sense of urgency, act with a sense of purpose."


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Break Free with gNewSense 2.3
The Ubuntu-based gNewSense is sponsored by the Free Software Foundation and is released without any proprietary or non-free components. This means no restrictions are placed on usage or sharing of gNewSense. The same can't be said for Linux distros like Ubuntu and Debian. gNewSense is an exact snapshot of what free software has to offer. To achieve this gNewSense comes stripped of Ubuntu logos, proprietary firmware, and restricted modules.
Although I've reviewed several Ubuntu-based linux distributions recently(moonOS, Mint7 XFCE, & others) I feel like gNewSense is on a whole different level due to its free software status. Many users will pass over it because it consistently favors compliance over ease-of-use and usability. More and more newbies are coming to Linux for a solution, not because of their morals and beliefs about software. While I'm all for finding solutions, remember that the freedom to share is what got us this far.
I installed gNewSense and have taken these screenshots to share in hopes a few users will give it a shot.
September 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I think that this is probably the next distribution I give a shot, but if they remove all the binary stuff, how does one go about using something like a intel wireless card or nvidia graphics?
September 15, 2009 at 8:25 am

subset: commoncrawl


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first NOLA.com user to add photos or videos of Bjelland Corp
Bjelland Corp is located at 744 Mccormick St, Shreveport, LA. This business specializes in Radiology.


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About The Author
Dana K
I study photography and video art and everyday I dive into the deep web in search of images that make me tick. I choose the ones that resemble my dreams. I`m also in love with everything paper so I built my own imaginary paper shop.


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Modern twist on traditional swaddling featuring a unique Arms UP design that replicates your baby's natural sleeping position, allowing them to self-soothe and preventing the startle reflex
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The easy–fit connectors are simple and totally universal. If you regularly use more than one buggy you can purchase extra BuggyBoard connectors and leave them attached to each buggy. We are here to help with fitting advice and spare parts – just contact us.


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Diamanti to join Asian champions Guangzhou
Serie A outfit Bologna have confirmed that midfielder Alessandro Diamanti will join Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande.
The 30-year-old midfielder will end his two-and-a-half-year stint in Bologna to link up with Guangzhou's Italian coach Marcello Lippi.
Guangzhou won the Chinese Super League and AFC Champions League in a terrific season and have bolstered their squad with the addition of the experienced Diamanti.
A statement on the Italian club's website read: "Bologna announces that it has reached an agreement with Guangzhou Evergrande for the permanent transfer of Alessandro Diamanti."
The former Livorno, West Ham and Brescia player is excited to make the move to Asia.
"I am pleased to be able to start with my family this new adventure," Diamanti said.
"I thank the whole club and especially the city of Bologna, which has made me feel important on and off the field."


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adjective, shod·di·er, shod·di·est.
noun, plural shod·dies.
Nearby words
Origin of shoddy
Examples from the Web for shoddiness
He retains a semi-stunned look of restrained disgust at the shoddiness and unearned smarminess of the proceedings.Notes on Charlie Sheen and the End of Empire|Bret Easton Ellis|March 16, 2011|DAILY BEAST
I was tired of the shoddiness of the entire shoddy situation.The Prairie Child|Arthur Stringer
British Dictionary definitions for shoddiness
adjective -dier or -diest
noun plural -dies
Word Origin for shoddy
Word Origin and History for shoddiness
1862, "having a delusive appearance of high quality," a Northern word from the American Civil War in reference to the quality of government supplies for the armies, from earlier noun meaning "rag-wool, wool made of woolen waste and old rags" (1832), perhaps a Yorkshire provincial word, of uncertain origin.
Originally used for padding, English manufacturers began making coarse wearing clothes from it, and when new it looked like broad-cloth but the gloss quickly wore off, giving the stuff a bad reputation as a cheat. The 1860 U.S. census of manufactures notes import of more than 6 million pounds of it, which was "much used in the manufacture of army and navy cloths and blankets in the United States" according to an 1865 government report.
The Days of Shoddy, as the reader will readily anticipate, are the opening months of the present war, at which time the opprobrious name first came into general use as a designation for swindling and humbug of every character; and nothing more need be said to indicate the scope of this novel. [Henry Morford, "The Days of Shoddy: A Novel of the Great Rebellion in 1861," Philadelphia, 1863]
Related: Shoddily; shoddiness.


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Getting his Phil
There was no need for professional golfer Phil Mickelson to apologize for comments about his disdain for his home state of California's tax rates - but he did anyway.
During his recent apology, Mickelson compared his tax comments to his breakdown at the 2006 U.S. Open, when a tee shot that veered far left of the fairway led to his collapse.
As you might have guessed, we see symbolism in Mickelson's errant tee shot to the left.
It is primarily the tax policies of the left in America - tax and spend with little fiscal responsibility - that led to Mickelson's dislike for tax rates in the first place.
It seems Mickelson, nicknamed "Lefty," was done in by the left once again as far as taxes, but he had no reason to apologize.
There are millions of American taxpayers that feel the same way.
Big deal for Amarillo
Perhaps it does take upward of $56,688 a year for a family of four with retirement, college and health insurance costs to make it in Amarillo (that is according to a Center for Public Priorities study), but that's not necessarily a knock against Amarillo.
It has been a few months ago, but last June Forbes.com ranked "The Best Small Places For Business And Careers."
Amarillo was No. 31 overall out of 184 cities, finishing ahead of Midland (No. 61), Abilene (67), San Angelo (85), Odessa (95), Waco (99) and Wichita Falls (149).
In individual categories, Amarillo was 44th in cost of doing business, 37th in job growth and 61st in education.
The rankings had Amarillo with a median household income of $49.062, unemployment at 4.8 percent and its cost of living was 7.6 percent below the national average.
It isn't hard to find statistics and rankings that can back up just about any opinion or belief (some more legitimate than others), but there is no debating that Amarillo is doing some things right as far as its fiscal/business health.
Money talks for Eastridge Elementary
Earlier this month, Eastridge Elementary of the Amarillo Independent School District was awarded $10,000 by Solution Tree, "an educational publisher and professional development provider," according to a news release.
Eastridge was one of three schools - the others were in Warsaw, Ind., and Kitchener, Ontario, Canada - to receive the monetary award, which included competition from schools across North America.
Eastridge received "the (re)defining Excellence in the School Award," which was determined by videos and essays from applicants.
"Working at Eastridge, every day you have to roll up your sleeves," Eastridge Principal Genie Baca said in a news release and in the school's winning video. "You have to dig in, and you have to give it 100 percent, but when you leave it is the best feeling to know that you're at a place that you love to work."
According to its website, Solution Tree is a leading provider of educational strategies and tools that improve staff and student performance.
Congrats to Eastridge Elementary for also proving itself as a leader in education.


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My wife's grandmother, Zella (McConnell) LeVan, started this memory scrap book as she was graduating, in 1924, from Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The book contains pages full of well wishes from classmates and clippings of various school events. In later years, she added newspaper obituary clippings.
Zella taught 2nd grade in Munith, MI schools. She and her husband Elmo (Bill) lived in Waterloo Township.


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Olivia Wilde Cloaks Her Baby Bump in Glittery Green Gucci Gown on 2014 Golden Globes Red Carpet [PHOTOS]
Olivia Wilde is expecting her first child with funnyman Jason Sudeikis, and she wrapped her bulging baby bump in a glittery green Gucci gown at the 2014 Golden Globes.
Her long-sleeved, column-shaped gown (paired with an Emm Kuo clutch) was appropriate and beyond chic for a woman in her delicate condition, and the smoky eye makeup was TDF -- to die for, of course.
Can we just say that Wilde is miraculously carrying all her baby weight in her belly?


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e-IRG Workshop, 9 March 2016, Amsterdam.
Rene Belso is head of Development and International Relations of Danish e-Infrastructure Cooperation (DeIC) and Independent Expert to the European Commission. He was Director of Danisch Center for Scientific Computing from 2007 until 2012. Previous to that he was employed as senior policy advisor for Nordic Council of Ministers, head of Section for Danish Ministry of Rerearch and Technology, Business administrator for Power-Flex ApS, Consultant for Vastex Limited, Research Assistant for Danish Institute for International Studies and Telecommunications Operator at East Asiatic Compant Ltd.
He has or is still participating (boards, councils etc) in Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE),E-Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team (SAT); UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG), Nordic High Performance Computing (Nordic-HPC), European Data Infrastructure (EUDAT), GEANT Association (GEANT), European Grid Infrastructure (EGI), The Danish Research Network (Forskningsnettet), Nordic DataGrid Facility (NDGF), Arctic Council's ICT-network (ICTN), Joint Committee of the Nordic Natural Science Research Councils (NOS-N), Senior Officials on Information Society (SOIS), the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), Global Change Centres of Excellence programme (Nordic Council of Ministers), Nordunet3 Internet research program
Erik Fledderus is managing director of SURF and chair of its Executive Board. He is e-IRG delegate for the Netherlands. Mr. Fledderus previously worked as the managing director of the Information Society at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and he has been a principal ICT scientist. As a professor of Wireless Communication, he also works at Eindhoven University of Technology. He has over 20 years of technical and managerial experience in various positions at organisations such as the University of Twente, KPN Research, TNO, the Knowledge Platform on Electromagnetic Fields and Health, CLICKNL, and the Joint Institute for Innovation Policy (JIIP). Since Oct 2015 Erik chairs the DG Connect Advisory Forum.
Prof. W. Hazeleger, Director/CEO Netherlands eScience Center (NLeSC)
Prof. Hazeleger serves as director of the Netherlands eScience Center, a center that connects e-infrastructure, data and computer science with applications in scientific domains. He also has a chair in Climate Dynamics at Wageningen University (NL).
At Wageningen University and Reading University (UK), he studied meteorology. Prof. Hazeleger received his PhD in 1999 in physical oceanography from Utrecht University, after which he went to Columbia University in New York to conduct research on climate variability.
In 2002 he started working at KNMI (Royal NetherlandsMeteorological Institute) on climate dynamics, climate and sea level scenarios and development of global numerical Earth system models. From 2006 to 2014 Hazeleger led a division at KNMI on Global Climate research, and he was Acting Head of Regional Climate Division and Acting Director of the research department on Climate and Seismology Research.
He (co)authored over 90 refereed publications on numerical climate modelling, variability, predictability, climate change and adaptation to climate change. Prof. Hazeleger serves on a number of international and national science committees, including the advisory committees of ECMWF, UK Met Office and the Swedish eScience Research Center.
Tony Hey began his career as a theoretical physicist with a doctorate in particle physics from the University of Oxford in the UK. After a career in physics that included research positions at Caltech and CERN, and a professorship at the University of Southampton in England, he became interested in parallel computing and moved into computer science. In the 1980's he was one of the pioneers of distributed memory message-passing computing and co-wrote the first draft of the successful MPI message-passing standard. After being both Head of Department and Dean of Engineering at Southampton, Tony Hey escaped to lead the U.K.'s ground-breaking 'eScience' initiative in 2001. He recognized the importance of Big Data for science and wrote one of the first papers on the 'Data Deluge' in 2003. He joined Microsoft in 2005 as a Vice President and was responsible for Microsoft's global university research engagements. He worked with Jim Gray and his multidisciplinary eScience research group and edited a tribute to Jim called 'The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery.' Hey left Microsoft in 2014 and spent a year as a Senior Data Science Fellow at the eScience Institute at the University of Washington. He returned to the UK in November 2015 and is now Chief Data Scientist at the Science and Technology Facilities Council. In 1987 Tony Hey was asked by Caltech Nobel physicist Richard Feynman to write up his 'Lectures on Computation'. This covered such unconventional topics as the thermodynamics of computing as well as an outline for a quantum computer. Feynman's introduction to the workings of a computer in terms of the actions of a 'dumb file clerk' was the inspiration for Tony Hey's attempt to write a popular book about computer science. Tony Hey is a fellow of the AAAS and of the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2005, he was awarded a CBE by Prince Charles for his 'services to science.'
Bob is the coordinator of the HNSciCloud Horizon 2020 project. Driven by the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) commitment of leading research organisations from across Europe, HNSciCloud creates a competitive marketplace of innovative cloud services serving scientific users from a wide range of domains (19573-2016). The marketplace builds on a hybrid cloud platform including commercial cloud service providers, publicly funded e-infrastructures and buyers' in-house resources.
Bob was one of the founders of the Helix Nebula initiative (http://www.helix-nebula.eu/), a public private partnership to explore the use of commercial cloud services for science applications. Bob is also the coordinator of the Procurement Innovation for Cloud Service in Europe (PICSE http://www.picse.eu/) project to raise awareness of procurement of cloud services for the public sector.
Bob participates in the EIROforum IT Working Group (http://www.eiroforum.org/) and is the editor of the published series of e-infrastructure documents (http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.34264, http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13148, http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7592).
Bob was until 2014 the head of the CERN openlab project (openlab.cern.ch) which is a unique public-private partnership between CERN and leading ICT companies. Its mission is to accelerate the development of cutting-edge solutions to be used by the worldwide Large Hadron Collider (LHC) community and wider scientific research.
His experience in the distributed computing arena includes mandates as the technical director and then project director of the EGEE projects (2004-2010) which led to the creation of EGI (http://www.egi.eu/).
Cees de Laat is a full professor at University of Amsterdam. His research interests include optical and switched networking and workflows for processing of big data in PetaScale e-Science applications, Semantic Web to describe e-infrastructure resources, and Systems Security & privacy of information in distributed environments. Prof. de Laat serves on the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Policy Board on ESnet, is co-founder of the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF), and GRIDforum.nl and founding member of CineGrid.org and member of IEEE and ACM. For more info: http://delaat.net/.
Barend Mons is a molecular biologist by training (PhD Leiden University 1986) and spent over 15 years in malaria research. After that he gained experience in computer-assisted knowledge discovery, which is still his research focus. He spent time with the European Commission (1993-1996) and with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Barend also co-founded several spin off companies.
Currently, Barend is Professor in Biosemantics at the Human Genetics department of Leiden University Medical Center, is Head of Node for ELIXIR-NL at the Dutch Techcentre for Life Sciences, Integrator Life Sciences at the Netherlands eScience Center, and board member of the Leiden Centre of Data Science.
In 2014, Barend initiated the FAIR data initiative and in 2015, Barend Mons was appointed Chair of the European Commission's High Level Expert Group for the "European Open Science Cloud".
Kees Neggers is one of the key figures in the development of international research networking and the internet. He co-founded and developed organisations like RARE-TERENA-GEANT, CCIRN, Ebone, AMS-IX, RIPE NCC, the Internet Society and GLIF. He served as Managing Director of SURFnet from SURFnet's start in 1988 until his retirement mid-2012 and was CEO of SURF from July 2014 until May 2015. In 2002, Neggers became "ICT Personality of the Year" in the Netherlands, in 2012 he was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau and in 2013 he was inducted as a Pioneer in the Internet Hall of Fame.
Arjen van Rijn is institute manager of the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) since 1999. Through the Nikhef activities in networking and distributed computing, and in particular in his role as project leader of the Dutch BiG Grid project (2007-2012), he became involved in the national e-infrastructure, coordinated by SURF. He was one of the founders of EGI.eu and member of its Executive Board in the years 2010 - 2014. He is a Dutch e-IRG delegate since July 2012.
Giorgio Rossi is Professor of Physics at the Università degli Studi di Milano; he leads the APE (Advanced Photoelectric Effect Experiments) and NFFA group at CNR-IOM and Elettra in Trieste performing research in surface and interface science and operating advanced synchrotron radiation beamlines and in-situ growth laboratories that are open to users. He coordinates the NFFA-Europe (Nano Foundries and Fine Analysis) European infrastructure since 2008. He is currently vice-president of ESFRI and Chair of the Physical Science and Engineering Strategy Work Group. He has been elected as next Chair of ESFRI, starting in July 2016.
Director, National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Founder Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy. NCSA director Edward Seidel is a distinguished researcher in high-performance computing and relativity and astrophysics with an outstanding track record as an administrator. In addition to leading NCSA, he is also a Founder Professor in the University of Illinois Department of Physics and a professor in the Department of Astronomy.
His previous leadership roles include serving as the senior vice president for research and innovation at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, directing the Office of Cyberinfrastructure and serving as assistant director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation, and leading the Center for Computation and Technology at Louisiana State University. He also led the numerical relativity group at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Germany, and before that he was a senior research scientist leading the numerical relativity group at NCSA.
Seidel is a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. His rdesearch has been recognized by a number of awards, including the 2006 IEEE Sidney Fernbach Award, the 2001 Gordon Bell Prize, and 1998 Heinz-Billing-Award. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics from the College of William and Mary, a master's degree in physics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983, and a doctorate in relativistic astrophysics at Yale University in 1988.
Mick Symonds is Principal Solutions Architect for Atos, based in The Netherlands.
He has worked in the IT services business for over 40 years and has held a wide range of roles, from technician to marketing, from general management to consulting. A particular focus has been on the ongoing management of IT infrastructure services and their development.
He has been responsible for the development of Atos' global data centre and cloud strategies, and as a by-product has produced comprehensive White Papers on these and other subjects (downloadable from the Atos web site).
Much of his time in the last five years has been devoted to the development of Helix Nebula (http://www.helix-nebula.eu/), a European initiative to deliver federated cloud services to public organisations, starting with the scientific research community. Within that initiative he has been chairing the Suppliers side. He has also spent much time and effort on discussions with the European Commission on cloud-related matters.


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- Audience: Middle school students and educators
PRISMS stands for Phenomena and Representations for the Instruction of Science in Middle Schools and is a project of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) funded by the National Science Foundation's National Science Digital Library program. Resources include pictures, video clips, graphs, simulations, and more for middle school teachers and students in the areas of biology, astronomy, ecology, and earth science.
- Database Provider: National Science Digital Library (NSDL)
Express Link (bookmark): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=isms


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Tuesday, March 22, 2011
All Clear on the Cholesterol Front
I was puzzled when she said that because my rheumatologist had referred me to her with the request that she send me to a specialist for my cholesterol since the Actemra (tocilizumab) infusions would likely increase my borderline levels.
But to quell my concerns, my family doctor showed my the handy-dandy chart she used to come to her quick conclusion.
Entitled the "10-Year Coronary Disease Risk Assessment," it took into account things like my age, bloodwork results, smoking, diabetic and blood pressure statuses, and added up all the corresponding points, charted a percentage and spat out (OK, not literally, but sounds fun!) a figure that clearly indicated I'm in the low-risk category.
Whew! Ben & Jerry's, here I come! (Just kidding! Or at least somewhat kidding.) My doctor says we'll check my cholesterol again in six months just in case and go from there.
Okey-dokey. I am good with that.
4 comments:
It's nice to get some good news once in a while! Enjoy that ice cream :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 23, 2011 at 10:09 AM
What a conundrum this cholesterol thing is eh? I have always had slightly high levels when I flare. When I find a reprieve, they lower a bit. I figure it this way, fiber one bars and oatmeal. I don't eat fried-EVER and I am careful about other foods. I'm not a salt person unless a medium well steak is in front of me which is maybe once a year. I don't partake of truly fatty foods. Yet, my numbers remain up. Genetics. That is the number contributor, in my case, for my numbers not coming down.ReplyDelete
I indulge once in a while in a parlor party and bring my hagendaz strawberry to it. What more can I do that I am not doing short of going on drugs. Yeah, that's a concept!! Like we are not on enough already eh?
Hugs to you.
- AnonymousMarch 23, 2011 at 5:13 PM
Great! Hoping this good news is a start of trend of good things headed your way.ReplyDelete
WarmSocks and Carla: I am loving getting some good news for once – it is a good, good feeling!ReplyDelete
Tammy, that sucks! I hope your RA is well-controlled at least so your cholesterol levels don't go up because of that. Here's hoping you do well!


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Click here to register online.
Over the last decades, the world has witnessed a number of seminal accomplishments for women globally, yet stubborn contradictions remain for women in the Global South. In celebration of International Women's Day, Barnard College hosts a daylong symposium to take stock of women's rights movements in Africa. What, we ask, are the most urgent challenges that confront women and men involved in African women's social justice movements? In a series of three panel discussions, distinguished scholars and activists—including Nobel Peace Laureate and Barnard Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice Leymah Gbowee—will address key issues for continental women's movements, including the role of men in women's social justice movements, the importance of intergenerational activism, and the stakes of transnational feminist engagements with the continent. Reception will follow.
Speakers include:
For more information and to register, visit bcrw.barnard.edu/event/african-womens-rights-and-resilience or call 212.854.2067.


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You don't have to travel to Washington, DC, to tap most of its genealogical treasures such as the National Archives—but nothing beats a trip to the nation's capital for putting you in touch with history, family and otherwise. And don't let your research quest keep you from seeing a bit of the city while you're there. Washington, after all, is perhaps the only city in the world to list government and tourism as its top two industries.
Before you get down to actual research, take time to tour the National Archives building (800-234-8861, www.nara.gov/nara/dc/Archives1_directions.html). It's located at 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, between Seventh and Ninth Streets NW. The research entrance is on Pennsylvania Avenue; you enter the Exhibition Hall on Constitution Avenue. Admission is free. Among the exhibits, of course, you'll see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. But some of the other pieces may surprise you: The Magna Carta, which is owned by Ross Perot, and the gun that Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy are both housed here and are sometimes on display.
When visiting Washington, it makes sense to leave your car at home. Parking is tough to come by legally and the city's good things come in clusters. Plan to walk a lot and use the city's subway system, the Metro. The Metro is clean, cost-efficient ($5 for an all-day pass) and will get you to most places that you want to go. The National Archives building is right off of the Archives/Navy Memorial stop on the Yellow or Green Line. A map can be found on the Metro's Web site at www.wmata.com. The only drawback of the Metro is that the system shuts down around midnight on most weeknights. Late nights will require springing for a cab, which charge by an archaic zones-traveled-through system instead of a time or distance fare.
Some monuments—such as the new FDR memorial—are quite a hike from the Metro, though. Your best bet for these is a Tourmobile pass, which lets you get on and off at any or all of its 24 stops (www.tourmobile.com).
The other must-sees for family history buffs are the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution. The library, which celebrated its 200th birthday this year (see "A Voluminous Celebration"), holds 112 million items on 530 miles of bookshelves in its three massive buildings, which are named after Library of Congress founder Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams. It's located at 101 Independence Ave. SE; researchers should use the Second Street entrance to the Jefferson Building (202-707-5000, www.loc.gov). Admission is free. Use the Capitol South Metro stop (Blue and Orange Lines).
The Smithsonian (www.si.edu) includes 14 museums in Washington, DC, and the National Zoo. Its National Museum of American History, at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW (202-357-2700, americanhistory.si.edu), has a collection ranging from the "Star-Spangled Banner" flag to Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. It's truly "the nation's attic." Admission is free. Use the Smithsonian or Federal Triangle Metro stops (Blue and Orange lines).
Take time to explore the 150,000 volumes and 53,000 microforms of genealogical material at the Daughters of the American Revolution Library, 1776 D St. NW (202-879-3229, dar.library.net). The library is open to researchers weekdays and Sunday afternoons for a fee of $2-$5 (except during the group's annual meeting in mid-April and holidays). Use the Farragut West Metro stop (Orange and Blue lines).
Among the city's newer museum attractions is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW (800-400-9373, www.ushmm.org, Smithsonian Metro stop), which offers a somber but important look at history. Admission is free but timed. Since all tickets are frequently gone by noon, consider calling ahead to reserve (a small fee is charged). Please think twice before taking small children to this powerful, harrowing museum.
Another popular new museum is across the Potomac in Arlington, Va., the Newseum, 1101 Wilson Blvd. (888-NEWSEUM, www.newseum.org). This museum chronicles the history of news through interactive exhibits. You can try your hand at being a news anchor or test your journalistic ethics. Admission is free. Use the Rosslyn Metro stop (Blue and Orange lines). (The Newseum recently announced plans to move to an expanded site at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street NW.)
Check out washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/entertainment/art/museumlist.htm for a handy guide to Washington's cornucopia of museums.
Jim Faber is a former Family Tree Magazine editorial assistant.


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Sundancer 350
Form and function. We're often told we have to pick one. Not so with the Sundancer 350, where stylish aesthetics for the jetsetter and power for the explorer combine in perfect harmony.
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Peer-Reviewed Publications
Found 7 resultsTitle
Filters: Author is Wiebe, Douglas J [Clear All Filters]
Ecologic Momentary Assessment to Accomplish Real-Time Capture of Symptom Progression and the Physical and Cognitive Activities of Patients Daily Following Concussion." JAMA Pediatr. 2016."
Mapping Activity Patterns to Quantify Risk of Violent Assault in Urban Environments." Epidemiology. 2016;27(1):32-41."
Protective Effects of Adolescent-Adult Connection on Male Youth in Urban Environments." J Adolesc Health. 2016;58(2):237-40."
Oculomotor and neurocognitive assessment of youth ice hockey players: baseline associations and observations after concussion." Dev Neuropsychol. 2015;40(1):7-11."
Vestibular Deficits following Youth Concussion." J. Pediatr.. 2015."
Characteristics of prolonged concussion recovery in a pediatric subspecialty referral population." J. Pediatr.. 2014;165(6):1207-15."
Self-reported violence-related outcomes for adolescents within eight weeks of emergency department treatment for assault injury." J Adolesc Health. 2011;49(4):440-2."


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- Updated: 06 May 2015
Article Index
For RALLY UPDATES and SCHEDULE CHANGES go to gillette.wbcci.net
Wally Byam Caravan Club International, Inc.
57th International Convention/Rally
June 28 - July 4, 2014 • Gillette, Wyoming
Join the Fun June 28th-July 4th, 2014
Full Hook-Up Campground - Ultra Modern Great Conference/Rally Facilities
Excellent Entertainment, Interesting Seminars, Inter-Club Events, Unit and Region Events, Happy Hour with new and old friends, Early Worker and Rally Tours, Airstream support, Vendors, take part in the ever important Club Meetings, be part of the future of your Club. Join the City of Gillette and Residents for a fabulous Fire Works Display. Plan and enjoy a 4th of July Picnic with your Unit or Region - plan to show your creativity in the 4th of July Parade
Support our "Wounded Warrior Program" and the "Monument of Peace" Project.
Make it a Unit Project to support our Community Service Program – WBCC is proud of our Community service work and this year we will add a new program to help the Lyons Club bring sight to those in need with the contribution of used eye glasses.
Plan a caravan before or after this Rally, this is an area that should be on everyone's "Bucket List" did you know that from Gillette you can travel to Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872 as America's first National Park, to the Devils Tower, Crazy Horse Memorial, The Mammoth Site, Wind Cave National Park, Reptile Gardens and that just names a few of the exciting side trips around this area.
Gillette itself provides the opportunity to visit their Art Walk, Water Slides, Wall Climbs, Rodeo, the Donkey Creek Festival and Wright Days taking place during or just before and after our Rally and on a trip downtown you will likely see herds of Antelope along the road. Good Restaurants, Hotels, a new Health Centre, fun shopping, super Friendly People, check out www.livability.com/gillette. Bring the kids and/or grandkids everyone can enjoy this Rally.
Public Relations/Rally Promotions; Hazel Knopp #200, Chairman
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Follow photo editor Wanda Goodwin on Twitter
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
Mustafa Abu Bekir, 23, second from left, reacts as he meets with his relatives after crossing the Turkish Cilvegozu gate border, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. Abu Bekir, said he was severely wounded by a bomb dropped from a Syrian army warplane, while fighting with the Free Syrian Army a month ago in Idlib. Public opinion surveys show intense American skepticism about military intervention in Syria, even among those who believe Syria's government used chemical weapons on its people. The United States, citing intelligence reports, says the lethal nerve agent sarin was used in an Aug. 21 attack outside Damascus, and that 1,429 people died, including 426 children.


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Roaring into town — Can you hear it? The HOGs are on their way.
Roaring into town — Can you hear it? The HOGs are on their way.
The Louisiana Harley Owners Group is headed to Houma for its annual rally, which starts Thursday and runs through Saturday.
For those three days, the local streets will be teeming with Harleys, and their owners will be enjoying a healthy dose of local hospitality.
"This is what they call the kick-off rally, meaning out of all the Harley Owners Group chapters across the country, we're having the first rally of the year," said coordinator James Champagne. "Plus, this is our 30th year and the 110th-year anniversary for Harley-Davidson, the largest cycle organization in the world with over 1 million members. So planning this has been great for the past couple months, but it's definitely been a ride and a lot of work."
It is great to think that such a gathering — with an estimated 2,000 motorcycle enthusiasts attending — has chosen our region for its rally.
Welcome and enjoy.
Officer of the Year — Detective Brad Cadiere is a credit to the Houma Police Department.
And now he has a little of the credit in return.
Cadiere was recently named Officer of the Year by the department and was recognized this week by the Terrebonne Parish Council.
"Detective Cadiere displays strong work ethic, skills, dedication and abilities that make him an outstanding detective," said Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis. "He shows passion and has tremendous respect for witnesses and victims. He displays everything the Houma Police Department motto describes: honor, pride and dedication."
Those are high words of praise, and they are well-deserved.
For his part, Cadiere said his job is tough but rewarding.
"I realize there are things that need to be done that are not easy to do, and it takes a special person to do it. I think I am one of those people."
Congratulations on the honor.
An impressive award — Theresa Plaisance has had an incredible season, and it will continue today.
As part of the LSU women's basketball team, Plaisance was named earlier this week to The Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference First Team and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's All-Region Team.
A junior forward, Plaisance is a former standout at Vandebilt Catholic and the daughter of Nicholls State women's head coach DoBee Plaisance.
Her team from LSU will take on California today in Spokane, Wash., in the third round of the NCAA women's tournament.
Good luck, not that Plaisance and her teammates will need luck if they play with all their talent.
On top in the ring — Morgan "Big Chief" Fitch recently returned to the area.
A native of Raceland, Fitch has been in Pennsylvania training for the boxing ring.
His return, though, was a success.
He beat William Waters last week at Evergreen Civic Center to improve his record to 9-0.
"This win feels great, man. It's been seven years now. I'm back home," Fitch said after the fight. "To come back home, to have family and friends who support me, is the moment I've been waiting for."
It was a big win, but it surely won't be his last.
Editorials represent the opinions of the newspaper, not of any individual.


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My Film "REMIX" will be featured at the Kansas City Animation Celebration, hosted by the Midwest Association of Professional Animators (MAPA).
It would be much appreciated if you could come out an support me and my class mates. The works of my classmates Ryan Comiskey and Trent Coffin are also playing at this festival. Below is the date and address.
MAPA Animation Celebration Sept. 8 at the Boulevard Drive-in, 1051 Merriam Lane Kansas City, KS 6610
For more information: http://www.kcanimators.net/
"Remix" ©2012 Douglas R. Meloche from DrMeloche on Vimeo.


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Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll
Vincent Coll, better known as Mad Dog Coll, was not a typical New York gangster. He was very young when he began a career of violent crime – only a teenager – and only 23 years old when he was killed in a hail of bullets in a Manhattan drug store. Yet, he had become the leader of his own gang and one of the most notorious criminals in New York at the time of his death.
Mad Dog Coll was a creature of his own invention. Shut out of controlling a slice of New York's lucrative liquor trade during Prohibition, he started in his own gang and crashed the party. He was very different in another way: Coll robbed other gangsters by kidnapping them for ransom, and towards the end of his career he set himself up as an assassin who would accept contracts from one prominent gangster who wanted to kill a rival.
And finally, he was an Irish-born gangster who was born in Bunbeg, Co Donegal, and was one of the few Irish-born and the only Donegal-born gangster in New York during the glory days of the gangsters, in the first half of the Twentieth Century.
The Boy from Donegal
Coll has often been referred to in articles as the "Gweedore gangster" or the "Donegal gangster," as if there was some connection between his life of crime and his place of birth. One author even suggested that Coll had inherited some violent genes from his Gweedore ancestors who had a number of violent confrontations with landlords in the Nineteenth Century.
A far more likely influence on the anti-social development of Coll was a broken home caused by the desertion of his father who left the family after they arrived in New York; the years he spent in New York orphanages where he was physically and sexually abused; and an upbringing in the crime ridden streets of the Bronx, where he lived after he was released from the orphanage.
In these streets Coll learned from his peers that helping himself to what belonged to others was no crime, and that those who resisted parting with their belongings could be attacked, and even killed, and that was no crime either.
After his mother died, Coll and his brother Peter were placed in a number of Catholic orphanages, but were found to be uncontrollable by the clergy who ran these institutions. Eventually they were sent to live with an aunt named Mary Friel, a native of Gweedore, Co Donegal.
If the authorities thought that living with a close relative would turn the boys into law abiding citizens, they were badly mistaken. The brothers used the Friel home as a base from which they organized a juvenile street game made up mainly of Italian youths who had dreams of becoming top Mafioso, like the leading Italian gangsters who were beginning to make a name for themselves in New York City.
In the 1960s, long after Vincent Coll's murder, a Coll relative still living in Brooklyn, said that Vincent Coll had been led astray by the Italians in his neighborhood, and it was they who introduced him to a life of crime. She also said that "his Italian girlfriend" had also been responsible for his violent career, because he committed robberies in order to buy her jewels,
This story was an attempt to rewrite history, however, because Coll was never led astray by his Italian neighbors. In fact it was he who recruited the Italian youngsters into a gang, and all of them would end up dead, either murdered by other gangsters, or executed by the State of New York for the murders they had committed.
As for his "Italian girlfriend," Coll's longtime girlfriend was Lottie Kreisberger, a German Jew, and she and Coll were birds of a feather: They were violent sociopaths who were determined to get rich as quickly as possible. After Coll was killed, Lottie formed a gang of her own and continued to rob and kill until she was finally locked up.
The Enforcer for Dutch Schultz
Coll and his juvenile gang were initially involved in street crime, such as muggings and the robbery of grocery stores. But then at the age of 19 he was hired by a leading gangster named Dutch Schultz as an enforcer who collected debts owed to Schultz. His duties also included the protection of Schultz's highly lucrative liquor distribution business, which was earning millions of dollars a month supplying bootleg whiskey and beer to taverns all over New York.
Prohibition was in effect in New York at this time and there was an insatiable demand for liquor of any kind, and Schultz was only too happy to supply all the liquor that was needed.
Coll's job was to insure that taverns in New York that were being supplied by Schultz continued to buy liquor from Schultz and not from one of the other gangsters who were also in the liquor business. If the tavern owner stepped out of line and bought his liquor from another gangster, then Coll took whatever steps that were necessary to bring him back in line. On several occasions this resulted in the murder of the tavern own
Coll was so valuable an employee to Schultz that he was able to treble the number of taverns that used the Schultz product and this greatly increased the gangster's profit margin.
Coll knew his worth to Schultz and he resented the fact that he was just an employee and was not sharing in the profits.
Schultz was only six years older that Coll and Coll was convinced that Schultz was not that intelligent and that he had become successful because of pure luck. Coll envied the amount of money that Schultz was making and the respect that Schultz was given throughout New York City, even though it was widely known that he was a gangster.
Schultz was immune from prosecution because he shared his profits with those that had an ability to harm him. Coll regularly dropped off brown bags full of cash to police stations in every area in which Schultz operated, as a gift from the gangster.
Leading politicians also received their share in overstuffed envelopes. It was only the workers in the Schultz gang who were shut out of the profit-sharing, and Coll was determined that this practice would end.
So he went to Schultz and told him he wanted to be a partner in the operation and he wanted a share of all profits. Schultz laughed in his face and told him he would remain on a salary and if he did not like that he could leave the gang.
Crowding in on Dutch Schultz
Coll left the gang and recruited a dozen members of the Schultz gang to join him in this new enterprise.
Coll was not an idiot and he knew that he could not just set himself up in a criminal enterprise and no one would object to it. He knew there were a number of problems facing any gangster who wanted to break into the lucrative liquor distribution business in New York City during Prohibition.
First of all, the entire city had already been carved up into areas where individual mob bosses controlled all aspects of the business. Shultz operated mainly in the Bronx and Harlem, while Owney Madden, an Irish gangster who was the mob boss of Hell's Kitchen, had a sphere of influence in Manhattan. Other mobsters controlled other areas of the city.
Each mob boss had his own fleet of trucks to distribute the liquor, and all had drivers who were armed to the teeth. Madden even had his own brewery in Manhattan in which he brewed all types of spirits. All of these mobs operated without any violence, because each mob boss respected the territorial rights of the other gangsters.
The politicians and police went along with this arrangement because they knew they would never be able to stamp out all the production and distribution of bootleg liquor, so they tolerated the gangs who were not violent.
Of course, the hefty bribes that came their way was another incentive to turn a blind eye to the illegal liquor business.
The media knew all about the mob's activities but there were few editorials in the newspapers to crack down on the gangsters, because the gangsters would have little hesitation in killing any editor who made trouble for them and the editors knew this. Anyway, stories about murder and other violence in the world of the mob sold newspapers because the public was fascinated by the lifestyle of the gangsters.
When Coll decided to become a mob boss, he knew that he could not possibly begin a liquor distributing business without infringing on the territory of some other mob boss. And he knew well that the reaction would be all out war between his gang and the gang of the mob boss he had targeted. But he intended to go ahead anyway because he wanted the money, and he wanted the power and the glamour that went with the role of a successful mob boss in New York City. And he was determined to succeed.
Coll was a little cautious at first. He approached Owney Madden of the Hell's Kitchen Irish gang and tried to create an alliance with him. He told Madden he could persuade many of the taverns supplied by Shultz to accept his beer and liquor, if Madden would make him a partner.
Madden saw the raw ambition in Coll's eyes and he knew that here was a person who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, so he treated Coll with a great deal of caution because he did not want to make an enemy of this dangerous young man. He even took Coll to the famed Cotton Club for dinner and told him that if he proceeded with care he could achieve everything he hoped for, including dining at the Cotton Club every night. But that if he acted rashly he would make an enemy of every gangster in New York and he would achieve nothing.
Coll listened to Madden, but when it became clear Madden was not going to do business with him, he rejected Madden's advice and declared war on Dutch Shultz. Before it was over there were a score of gangsters assassinated and several others were executed in the electric chair.
Shultz was terrified by the savagery of Coll's attack on his organization. Coll hijacked scores of Schultz's beer trucks and sold the beer at discount rates to taverns; he gunned down drivers who resisted hijackings; he burned down a warehouse belonging to Shultz, destroying 26 trucks and a vast supply of beer; he assassinated several of the top gangsters in the Schultz organization and then went after Schultz himself. Shultz retaliated by murdering Vincent Coll's brother, Peter, and put a bounty out on Vincent.
However, Vincent Coll did manage to bully his way into the control of some sections of Harlem and the Bronx that were previously controlled by Shultz, and he gained ownership of several taverns by telling the previous owners that he would kill them if they did not get out of town. Within a year Coll was on his way to being a player in the beer wars of New York.
Coll's tactics so terrified Schultz that he offered a large sum of money to several policemen to murder Coll. They turned down the offer.
Kidnapping the Prominent for Profit
Meanwhile, Coll decided to take advantage of his growing reputation for violence to get involved in other criminal activities: like the kidnapping of prominent personalities for ransom; and contract murders that serviced the needs of the leaders of organized crime. Those kidnapped were prominent in show business; the contract killings were requested by Mafia leaders who wanted to eliminate other Mafia leaders. Coll's fee for such a killing was $50,000, which in 1930 was a huge amount of money.
The kidnapping activity made the Coll gang a great deal of money. He kidnapped show business legend Rudy Vallee and received $100,000 for Vallee's release. Next to be taken was Sherman Billingsly, owner of the Stork Club, the most famous restaurant in New York, who paid Coll $25,000 for his release. Then Billy Warren, a New York banker, parted with $83,000 to get his freedom. Coll then had the nerve to kidnap George De Mange, a close aide to Owney Madden and forced Madden to pay $38,500 for his release. There were many other kidnappings that received no publicity, but all of them added to the growing wealth of Coll, who was making more money from this activity than he was making in his war with Shultz.
None of the victims of Coll's kidnapping ever filed a complaint with the police, nor did they complain about Coll to the media. The reason for this was that the victims knew that if they filed a complaint with the police they would immediately be put on Coll's hit list, so they kept very quiet about the crime. Another reason they kept quiet was that the ransom money paid was usually money that had never been declared as income to the Internal Revenue Service, so they would have set themselves up for an IRS audit if they told the authorities they had handed over a huge amount of cash to Coll.
Coll was very careful to select victims who would not complain about his crime, and he was delighted at the ease with which he was making huge sums of money.
Craving Respect and Recognition
But this activity was not generating any publicity for the gang in the newspapers and since Coll craved the notoriety of Owney Madden and Dutch Shultz, he was frustrated that his terror tactics were not making him a superstar in the New York night clubs.
Nevertheless, Coll liked to project the image of a successful gangster and he invested some of his income in expensive suits and hats, and insisted that his gang members dress in a similar manner. Expensive clothing did a great deal to enhance the image of Coll, who was handsome and had a natural self confidence, but the majority of his gang members looked like thugs even when they were dressed up, so the expensive clothing merely drew negative attention to them.
Coll continued to crave respect when he visited the famous clubs of New York… the kind of respect that Owney Madden received, or the respect given to leading Mafia mobsters like Lucky Luciano or Maranzano.
But it was obvious to him that the club owners reacted with fear to him, and he knew they saw him as a vicious young thug who was extremely dangerous.
On one occasion, Coll, accompanied by his girlfriend Lottie Kreisberger, attended an Irish fundraiser in Brooklyn, which had been organized by immigrants from Gweedore, Co Donegal. The benefit was for a family who lost all their belongings in a fire.
Coll and Lottie showed up dressed in designer clothes and swaggered around the venue as if they were superstars. This was the first social contact Coll had with a group of people from his homeland, and he may have thought his growing notoriety and his glamorous image would have made him a celebrity at the event. He did not know any of the people in attendance, but all of those present knew who he was and they knew he had a criminal reputation. The reaction of the Gweedore immigrants to Coll astounded him. Not a single person approached him to give him a friendly greeting, and those that he tried to interact with were cold and looked at him as if he were unwelcome.
This was the first time that Coll became aware that he was not respected in the Irish community in New York. Indeed these Donegal immigrants acted as if they despised him. His fancy clothes and glamorous girlfriend meant nothing to those who were present.
There were several of Coll's second cousins present and they were so embarrassed by Coll's presence that they left the venue without identifying themselves.
The Gweedore immigrants had a reason for their attitude. They had come to America to find a better life and have opportunities available to their children not available back in Donegal. Already the children of previous generations of Gweedore immigrants were sending their children to college; were buying homes; were joining the police department; and were firmly on the side of law and order. They rejected the lifestyle of people like Coll whom they viewed as a menace to society. Above all, they were furious and embarrassed that Coll was referred to in some Irish American newspapers as the "Gweedore gangster," as if Coll was a product of his parish back in Donegal.
Coll would put a different spin on his visit to Brooklyn when he talked about it later. He described the Gweedore people as little nobodies who were jealous of his success, and he said they lacked ambition and were willing to settle for little weekly salaries instead of reaching for the stars as he had. He also said they were cowards who were afraid of the police.
The Beginning of the End for Coll
Coll's involvement in contract killing made all the crime bosses in New York nervous – none more so than Schultz – because they believed that none of them were safe as long as he was roaming the streets. This sideline was freighted with danger for Coll as well, but what led to his doom was a gunfight in the streets of New York in which the Coll gang tried to kill members of the Shultz gang but instead killed a 5-year old boy and wounded three other children.
The child's death created such an uproar about gang warfare in the streets that all of the power brokers in New York: the crime bosses, the police, the politicians, and the media were in unanimous agreement that Vincent Coll had to be eliminated, because it was believed that nobody was safe as long as he was around.
The leaders of organized crime offered $40,000 to anyone who would kill Coll, and the City of New York chipped in another $10,000 that was added to the mob fund. Coll and Lottie went intro hiding in upstate New York, and his gang scattered all over the city.
The media dubbed Coll a "baby killer" and filled the pages of the newspapers every day with negative coverage on him. The media called him the worst criminal in America, and the FBI named him as #1 on its famed Ten Most Wanted List. Mayor Walker christened Coll a "Mad Dog" and from then onwards he was known as Mad Dog Coll.
The idea that Coll was "the worst criminal in America" was of course nonsense. Most of the Italian mob leaders had killed scores of rivals, and Irish gangsters Owney Madden and Legs Diamond had also murdered a score of rivals. These other gang leaders also controlled huge criminal enterprises that were vast in comparison to the activities of Mad Dog Coll.
Coll's real crime was that he had disrupted the criminal status quo in New York City by hijacking the assets of another crime boss who was giving generous bribes to the police and leading politicians. He was also offering to execute the leading gangsters in New York for a hefty fee, and it was believed he would also execute the mayor if the price were right.
No city that had a well-run criminal enterprise that supplied the illegal substances that the public craved, and shared its ill gotten gains with the police and the politicians, could tolerate such a loose canon, so all parties with a stake in the status quo got together to demonize Coll, and the media was only too happy to cooperate with front page headlines.
One would imagine that the Coll gang would be horrified by the torrent of bad publicity that had descended on the head of their leader. But in reality Coll was delighted with the publicity, as if he had just been elected president of the United States, and the gang members were immensely proud of their notoriety and openly boasted about their membership in the gang.
Other small time gangsters in the New York area were attracted to the gang by this notoriety and made it known that they would love to join the gang. But Coll thought it wise to hide out in upstate New York, where the gang got together again.
Coll approached Legs Diamond, another notorious Irish gangster, and tried to form a joint enterprise with him – smuggling beer and whiskey into areas far from New York City. Coll told Diamond they could make a fortune. Diamond was cautious in his dealings with Coll and he had every reason to be since he knew Coll had once accepted a Mafia contract to assassinate him.
But before the new alliance could be created, New York State police captured most of the Coll gang, and a few days later Coll himself and Legs Diamond were captured and were booked on capital murder charges.
Coll was charged with the murder of the 5-year old boy in New York and it was the consensus of opinion in the city that Coll was on a fast track for an appointment with the electric chair. Indeed, there was a demand in the city for a speedy trial and execution.
Coll on Trial
Coll had a great deal of cash, which he had acquired from his kidnapping activities, and he used this cash to hire Samuel Liebowitz, one of the leading attorneys in New York. The stakes were very high for Coll, who knew that he would be quickly executed if he were found guilty.
Coll insisted from the very beginning that he had nothing to do with the murder of the child. He said the child was killed in a crossfire between rival members of the Shultz gang, and that the authorities were trying to frame him for the killing because they had been paid off by Shultz.
The prosecution's case was very weak because it rested on the testimony of a single eyewitness who claimed he saw Coll inside a car using a Tommy gun to rake the street with bullets, one of which killed the child. But after two days of questioning, Liebowitz thoroughly discredited the witness by revealing that he had a long criminal record and that he had committed perjury on the stand in another trial in the Midwest. Coll was acquitted.
If Coll had an ounce of sense, he would have fled the city and disappeared into the American countryside once he was allowed out of jail. He should have learned something from what happened to Legs Diamond, who had recently been acquitted by a jury but then gunned down by the Mafia who did not like the fact that Diamond was on the loose again.
Coll complained to the media about the hit on Diamond saying that it was just not fair that a man could be acquitted by a jury and then executed by gangsters. He seemed to think that gangsters should respect law and order, which was ironic since he was the last person in the world who respected law and order.
Coll's Final, Fatal Gambit
Instead of running for his life, Coll and Lottie organized a new gang, and the first thing Coll did was to threaten to kill Owney Madden, the Hell's Kitchen boss, if Madden did not hand over $50,000. Madden promptly put word out that he would give $50,000 to anyone who would kill Coll. This inspired gunmen from all over the country to come to New York and go on a hunt for Coll.
The police and the Mafia were so incensed that Coll was back on the streets again that they were determined to put Coll out of business. The Mafia supplied Owney Madden with assassins whose marching orders were to track down Coll and kill him. The police stated that they would arrest Coll every time they saw him on a city street, and they followed up with that threat, hoping to make life so tough for Coll that he would leave New York.
Coll was outraged at the way he was being treated. He told reporters that he had never been convicted of killing anyone and that Owney Madden and other mob bosses had scores of murders to their credit. He said that Mafia dons could assassinate scores of people and the police, the politicians and the press treated them with respect, yet he was treated as if he was a pervert.
Coll claimed the Catholic clergy were also in cahoots with the mob because they allowed elaborate funerals for dead gangsters even though they knew the gangsters made their money from illegal activities. All of Coll's complaints were ignored.
As the pressure on Coll increased, Coll and Lottie told some close friends that they might go "home" to northwest Donegal.
Coll believed he would be respected back in his native parish. But there is little doubt that he would have received a very cold welcome there, because ordinary criminals were shunned and disrespected, especially if they were killers. The only persons who had killed someone and were still respected were those who were activists during the Irish War of Independence, and Coll certainly would not have fitted into that particular category.
As the hunt for him intensified, Coll proved to be a wily quarry who could not easily be cornered. He insisted that his gang break up into small units and that they move from one address to another every couple of days. Coll himself used numerous disguises and rarely exited a building from the same entrance.
Strangely enough, as the pressure mounted on Coll so did a support network of friends who conspired to provide a safe haven for Coll and members of his gang. Indeed, there were scores of people who had only had a casual relationship with Coll who volunteered their homes as safe havens, so the gang had numerous hideouts all over the city.
This had a tragic consequence for one family that was playing host to members of the Coll gang when some of Madden's hit men caught up with them.
Madden had spies everywhere in the city who supplied him with information on the movements of Coll. One evening Madden was informed that Coll and a dozen members of the gang were seen entering an apartment house in the Bronx and Madden dispatched three gunmen armed with machine guns to wipe the gang out.
Unknown to Schultz, however, Coll and Lottie had stayed in the building for only a few minutes and then left by a back entrance. When the gunmen burst into an apartment, some members of the Coll gang were playing cards with a group of friends, that included several women and two babies, and in the ensuing gun battle, the hit men killed three people and wounded six others. Coll, of course, was long gone.
This slaughter created panic in the streets of New York and new demands that Coll be brought down. The whole city knew that it was the mob bosses who were initiating the violence in this case, but Coll still got the blame because people reasoned that it was the activities of Coll that were the root cause of the violence, which in a way was true.
The Assassination of Mad Dog Coll
Madden eventually came up with a strategy that led to the murder of Coll. Through his informants, he learned that Coll was moving around with a single bodyguard, a Polish gangster named Edwin Popke, aka Fats McCarthy, a gunman who was just as ruthless as Coll.
Madden contacted McCarthy, and by either bribing him, or threatening him, or a combination of both, he persuaded McCarthy to set up Coll, and allow him to be murdered while pretending to protect him. The plot worked.
Coll and Lottie were staying in the Cornish Arms Hotel, 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue, on February 9, 1932, and were planning a kidnapping of Owney Madden. He had contacted Madden and made a demand for $50,000, and he told Madden that if he did not come up with the money, he would kidnap him.
Coll had been calling Madden from different phones around the city in order to prevent Madden from tracing the calls, and when he called Madden on February 8, he told Madden that if he did not come up with the money by 12:30 p.m. the following day that the Coll gang would come after him. Madden told him to call back the following day and he would have his answer.
Madden contacted Fats McCarthy and asked him where Coll made his telephone calls, and McCarthy gave him a list, one of which was the London Chemists, on 23rd Street and 8th Avenue. Madden then assembled a team of three assassins that included experienced assassins Bo Weinberg, Dutch Shultz's right hand man, and two professionals, Leonard Scarnicki and Anthony Fabrizzo, and ordered them to park near the Cornish Arms Hotel the following day and observe where Coll went to make the call to Owney Madden.
Coll left the hotel the following day shortly after noon and strode directly across the street, accompanied by McCarthy, and entered the drugstore. There was a lunch counter near the door and he told McCarthy to sit at the counter and guard the door. McCarthy was armed; Coll was not. There were five people in the drug store when Coll arrived. Three were customers and two were staff members. One of the customers was Peggy Boner, who worked in the Cornish Arms and who was a native of northwest Donegal.
Coll went to the back of the store, entered a phone booth, and called Madden. He had been on the phone no more that two minutes when a car pulled up outside the entrance and Sarnicki and Fabrazzio got out. Weinberg remained behind the wheel. Fabrazzio went in first and pointed a tommy gun at the three customers, two staff members, and McCarthy and told them not to move or utter a sound. McCarthy, who had been sitting at the counter, got up and walked out the door and Fabrizzo did nothing to prevent him from leaving. Coll, who was in the back of the store and inside a telephone booth, was not aware of any of this nor did he see Sarnicki walk across the floor and fire fifteen bullets through the glass door into his body. Only in the final instant of his life would Coll have been aware that his time had come.
There was a policeman on patrol several hundred yards from the London Chemist when the gunfire erupted inside the drugstore, and the police officer arrived at the entrance to the drugstore just as the gunmen were pulling away from the store and were racing up Eighth Avenue.
The officer made no attempt to go into the drugstore, but instead hailed a passing cab and gave chase to the gangsters. The gangster were speeding at 70 miles an hour up the Avenue when the officer began the chase and when the cab caught up with the getaway car the cop started to fire his pistol at the car creating a very dangerous situation for innocent bystanders on the sidewalks as bullets ricocheted off the getaway car. The chase ended when the car occupied by the gangsters began to weave in and out of traffic and the taxi driver lost his nerve and dropped out of the chase.
The murder of Coll was a joint operation by a number of people who wanted to see Coll dead. The gunmen had been provided by Schultz, but Madden had been the one who set up Coll. The Italian Mafia had contributed heavily to the bounty fund used to pay the killers of Coll, and even though the police knew where Coll was living, they made no effort to intervene in the hit before it occurred.
The lone policeman who pursued the killers was probably not aware that his superiors did not want the killers arrested. However, it was odd that Patrolman Sherlock made no effort to enter the London Chemists to see who shot whom, or who might want immediate help, but instead went careening up 8th Avenue after the gunmen shooting wildly at them. How could he be aware that Coll had just been killed and that it was Coll's killers he was pursuing, unless he was one of the police assigned to keep an eye on Coll and saw him walk into the drugstore and then put two and two together when he heard the gunfire.
Lottie Coll heard the sirens of the police and ambulances in the street and ran out to see what was going on. When she saw the police enter the drugstore, she ran across the street and went in and saw the mangled body of her husband slumped in a phone booth. She screamed and cried but would not give the police any information about who might have killed her husband. She was questioned about the identity of the bodyguard who had entered the drugstore with Coll, but she refused to identify him.
The elimination of Coll was welcomed at all levels of New York society, as if a major problem for the citizens of the city had been eliminated. Now that a dangerous loose canon had been destroyed, law and order could be restored, and organized crime and the rule of law could return to a peaceful coexistence, as soon as Coll was hurried off to his grave.
Coll's Funeral – With Flowers "from the boys"
Lottie Coll did not arrange for the funeral of her dead husband – this chore was handled by Coll's older sister Florence Redden, who had also buried her other brother Peter nine months previously when he had been gunned down in the street.
The relationship between Florence and Lottie was not a warm one, and at one point after Vincent's murder Florence said that even though Vincent had taken out a license to get married he had never actually married Lottie.
Florence may have disliked Lottie because she was Jewish, or may have believed that Lottie, who had been accused of killing three previous boyfriends, would also kill Vincent. Anyway, Florence and Lottie were two different people. Florence had an Irish accent and spoke Gaelic; Lottie was the typical New York street girl who hung around gangsters.
But when it came to criminal activities, Florence was no more law-abiding than other members of her family were, because she was involved with Vincent in his criminal activities and involved her teenage son in these activities as well.
When Vincent and his gang were hiding out in upstate New York, Florence and her 14-year old son Joe were holed up in the house with them, and the boy relished the excitement of being with the gang. However, after Vincent's murder, Florence and the boy, unlike Lottie, managed to stay out of jail.
Coll's funeral, unlike the funerals of other prominent gangsters, was an extremely modest affair. Some Mafioso were given elaborate send-offs with High Masses in their parish church, numerous priests on the altar, and thousands in attendance. A Mafia funeral procession to the graveyard could include 100 limousines, with 30 of them carrying flowers. All the major mob families in America sent flowers to a murdered gangster, including bouquets from the mob boss who sanctioned the murder. Coll's passing had none of that glamour.
When Florence tried to arrange a funeral mass in St. Raymond's Church, she was told by the parish priest that Coll would be denied a funeral mass, and no priest would be allowed to provide a service at his grave. Priests were also banned from praying over his body at the Walter Cooke Funeral Parlor, on Willis Avenue, Bronx. However, Coll was allowed to be buried in St. Raymond's Cemetery because the Catholic hierarchy stated that he had gone to confession in the days prior to his death and this entitled him to be buried in a Catholic cemetery.
Florence Coll was furious at the church because she claimed the clergy were only "playing politics" by refusing Vincent a Catholic burial. She argued that if the church were aware that Coll had confessed his sins before he was killed then he died in a state of grace, and if he died in a state of grace why were the clergy treating him like a devil. She also claimed that if Coll had been Italian there would have been no question about him receiving a Catholic burial.
Lottie stayed out of the controversy for a number of reasons. First of all, she was Jewish, and therefore was in no position to argue with Catholic clergy on this issue. Secondly, she had no money – Coll had only $100 when he died – so Florence was the one who was in charge of all arrangements, since she was footing the bill.
The whole burial service was a low-key affair. The public was kept out of the funeral parlor, but friends of the family were allowed in to pay their respects, and hundreds of them did in fact show up. Among the mourners were scores of Italians from Coll's old neighborhood in the Bronx who knew him since he was a boy.
Scores of Donegal folk living in America also showed up, some of whom were family members, and some were neighbors of the Coll family from Donegal.
One of the ironies of the fact that there were so many Irish in attendance was that many of those who showed up for the wake would never have associated with Coll when he was alive, because they despised gangsters. But they showed up when he was dead because they wanted to sympathize with Florence Redden.
When the wake was over, a member of the undertaker's staff read a brief prayer over the body before it was placed in an inexpensive coffin. There were two limousines carrying the Coll family that followed the body to the grave, and another limousine that carried wreaths of flowers, including one from Dutch Shultz, which included a sympathy card, which stated – "from the boys".
Carloads of detectives took up the rear. There were a dozen mourners already in the graveyard when the body arrived, and all were silent as Coll's coffin was placed in the open grave and covered up. Nobody said a prayer. A massive polished granite tombstone stood over the grave, placed there several months previously by Vincent Coll in memory of his murdered brother Peter. Vincent Coll's name would be added to the tombstone later in the year, and Frances Redden's name would be added in 1956.
Coll's assassins collected the $50,000 reward for killing him, but fate had a violent death in store for each of them also. Shortly after the Coll murder, Fabrizzio accepted a contract to kill Bugsy Siegel, a psychotic Jewish gangster, but failed in the attempt.
When Siegel learned that Fabrizzio was involved, he ambushed the gunman and killed him.
Years later, after he moved to Las Vegas to rule the casino industry, Siegel was murdered by the mob in a home he owned in California.
Sernicki was executed in the electric chair in Sing Sing for the murder of a detective, and Bo Weinberg was murdered by Schultz for cooperating with Lucky Luciano. Schultz encased Weinberg's feet in concrete and then dumped him alive into the Hudson River.
Schultz himself was murdered by the Italian Mafia later that year in a Newark, N.J., restaurant, because he stood in the way of a complete Mafia takeover of the crime industry in New York.
Owney Madden saw the handwriting on the wall and offered the Mafia all his assets if they allowed him to retire: an offer that was accepted, and Madden fled to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he opened a hotel and lived on until 1965.
A remnant of Madden's organization continued to exist in Hell's Kitchen until modern times, a gang that was known as "The Westies." The Mafia initially tried to overrun this gang, but these Irish-American gangsters were so ruthless and violent that Mafia Dons decided to leave them alone because they murdered anyone who crossed them.
But in a flash back to the days of Vincent Coll, from time to time the Mafia hired members of the Westies as killers. Like Coll, the Westies enjoyed their notoriety and the fear they instilled in other gangsters.
Lottie Coll tried to form her own gang after Vincent was murdered, but all she achieved was a long jail sentence. After she was released from jail in 1945, she vanished.
Frankie Giordano and Dominick Odierno, the last two members of the Coll gang, had even worse luck: both went to the electric chair for the murder of a Dutch Schultz employee.
Florence Redden and her son Joe dropped out of sight after Coll's death, and the only time Florence Redden's name appeared in the newspaper was a death notice in 1956. She is buried with her two brothers in Saint Raymond's Cemetery.
Joe Redden also disappeared from the media and to date has never surfaced.
The Colls are not talked about that much over in Donegal, even though there are scores of his cousins living there. Since there is no way to make folk heroes out of them, Gweedore folk believe the best strategy is silence on the subject. That makes sense.


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19 May 2012 at 7.28pm | 1 Comment
Lisa Della Casa as Arabella and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Mandryka in Arabella © 1965 Royal Opera House/Donald Southern
The performance of Falstaff on Saturday 19 May will be dedicated to the memory of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who died this week aged 86.
The German baritone was one of his generation's finest lyrical artists and one of the most influential singers of the 20th century, famed for his interpretations of lieder as well as for his performances singing some of the great roles in opera history.
He performed the role of Falstaff on 10 February 1967, conducted by Sir Georg Solti.
All at the Royal Opera House send our condolences to his friends and family.