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So we all know that the Hand Me Downs: A Poor Man's Heirlooms post was a huge wall of text, and that I'm breaking it down into class-sized pieces for you. No need to repeat all of that business, so here we go. Moving on to the next class in this series (in no particular order, I might add), we have: Warriors.
General Concept
The basic idea of what I call "hand-me-downs" (or HMD's) is that you're taking items that can be passed from one toon to the next (so Common, White-quality items) and enhancing them to make them better. Enhancements that we're going to talk about here come mostly from the Enchanting profession, though a few may also be found in Blacksmithing (counterweights, sheild spikes, etc), Leatherworking (armor kits), and Engineering (scopes).
The whole point here is to get low level gear that you can pass around to any alts that you ever roll to make them more powerful starting out. As Cynwise and I have proved through experiment in both PvE and PvP at low levels, it isn't heirlooms that make your character so overpowered, it's actually the enchants.
So if you're trying to decide on which class to role, or what to go take one for a test drive for 10 levels or so before deciding whether or not to keep them, this is a great way to get a feel for how the class is going to play for you without putting in investment that's going to be wasted. Since these items can be passed around due to their lack of binding, it's not a big deal to roll a character, gain a few levels, scrap them and reroll another, and so on until you find a nice fit.
Melee Weapons
Unlike casters, a melee class actually needs to look for good weapons in order to perform well. For a Warrior, we're looking for good damage slow speed. We don't necessarily want to stick with the same weapon from level 1-15 (or higher), because the damage itself needs to go up, so with melee classes you may want to consider multiple HMD's to upgrade to throughout the first 20 levels or so.
Once the LFG becomes available to you I strongly suggest you run through The Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep, as well as The Stockade and Blackfathom Deeps. Those dungeons have the best weapons you can find for your level. While some may not always perform as well as your HMD's, averaged out they most likely will. Remember that you're looking for big damage, slow speeds, and bonuses to Strength and Attack Power.
While HMD's are excellent at making your characters more powerful, when it comes to melee classes your weapons should be upgraded whenever possible, making HMD's have much shorter lifespans for melee classes. I don't bother with melee HMD's passed level 11-12, and I wouldn't suggest that you do so either unless you can't stand LFG and for some reason can't find a quest with a decent reward.
Melee Weapons (1H)
Fine Scimitar: [Lvl: -] 3-7 Damage (2.5 DPS), 1.90 Speed
Arcane Forged Axe: [Lvl: -] 2-5 Damage (1.7 DPS), 2.00 Speed
Studded Blackjack: [Lvl: 5] 5-11 Damage (4.4 DPS), 1.80 Speed
Cutlass: [Lvl: 10] 10-20 Damage (7.0 DPS), 2.20 Speed
Hatchet: [Lvl: 11] 12-25 Damage (7.4 DPS), 2.50 Speed
Scimitar: [Lvl: 14] 14-27 Damage (8.7 DPS), 2.30 Speed
Cleaver: [Lvl: 15] 14-27 Damage (9.2 DPS), 2.20 Speed
Double Axe: [Lvl: 19] 19-37 Damage (11.2 DPS), 2.50 Speed
Left-Handed Claw: [Lvl: 20] 12-23 Damage (11.7 DPS), 1.50 Speed
Right-Handed Claw: [Lvl: 20] 12-23 Damage (11.7 DPS), 1.50 Speed
I don't generally suggest leveling with one-handed weapons starting out because of their low damage compared to two-handers, but if you want to use a shield to help you level then these are your options. If you decide to go Fury at level 10 then you'll want a good pair of one-handers though, so I've included some good options for you here.
Starting out I'd shoot for the Arcane Forged Axe since it's a vendor item compared to the Fine Scimitar being a drop. At level 5 you may want to upgrade to a Studded Blackjack or similar item for higher base damage, though it's not necessary if you have a decent enchant on the axes. For melee classes, I suggest Fiery Weapon as your initial HMD enchant, because it deals 40 Fire damage when it procs, and that proc can crit for 60 or 80 Fire damage instead. The damage from the proc is often enough to one-shot the mobs in your starting areas, and it quickly dispatches the mobs you'll face up to level 10 as well.
At level 10 you need to make a decision on your spec, and that determines which weapons you pursue from there on. If you're Arms, then you need to upgrade to a two-hander to maximize your damage potential. For Fury, it's time to grab a pair of one-handers for furious facesmashing. And for Prot, you just need to upgrade to a better one-hander and grab yourself a shield.
Melee Weapons (2H)
Bastard Sword: [Lvl: -] 5-8 Damage (2.1 DPS), 3.00 Speed
Broad Axe: [Lvl: -] 5-8 Damage (2.1 DPS), 3.10 Speed
Vile Fin Battle Axe: [Lvl: 4] 12-19 Damage (5.1 DPS), 3.10 Speed
Frostbit Staff: [Lvl: 5] 12-19 Damage (5.8 DPS), 2.70 Speed
Tabar: [Lvl: 9] 21-33 Damage (8.5 DPS), 3.20 Speed
Claymore: [Lvl: 10] 23-35 Damage (9.0 DPS), 3.20 Speed
Rock Hammer: [Lvl: 16] 37-59 Damage (12.5 DPS), 3.70 Speed
Battle Axe: [Lvl: 20] 46-70 Damage (15.3 DPS), 3.80 Speed
Here's quite a list of two-handers for you to choose from. Remember to take your racial modifiers into account when choosing your weapons. If you have a bonus when using certain types of weapons then try to stick to those weapons to maximize your performance in combat. Of course, there's nothing wrong with just going with whatever weapons look cool either.
For my melee toons I generally get a weapon that I can use at level 1 and then replace at 5, or one that I can use a level 3 and then replace at level 10-12. If you're going to stick to two-handers then I suggest upgrading to the Vile Fine Battle Axe or Frostbit Staff at level 5 and then the Claymore at level 10. You can probably last through most of your teens with the Claymore before replacing it with a dungeon drop or quest reward that offers more base damage and a decent stat boost to make giving up the enchant worth it.
If you aren't using LFG to level and you aren't having any luck with good weapons from your quest rewards, then you might consider upgrading to either the Rock Hammer or the Battle Axe as HMD's. I would strongly urge you to run dungeons at this level though as there are some excellent weapons to be found.
Enchanting Melee Weapons
As a Warrior, you're interested in Strength enchants. Stamina is a decent option since your life revolves around taking damage as well as dealing it.
Melee Enchants
Enchant Weapon – Crusader: Proc: +100 Strength for 15 sec., heals you for 75-125 (x2 crit)
Enchant Weapon – Fiery Weapon: Proc: +40 Fire damage (x2 crit)
Enchant Weapon – Strength: +15 Strength
Enchant Weapon – Lifestealing: Proc: Steals 30 health from the target (x2 crit)
The best source for Strength at low levels is Crusader with a +100 Strength proc. That's 200 Attack Power plus a heal when it procs that's going to have you one-shotting mobs left and right. If you go with a slow weapon, then Crusader is the one you want. If you're going with fast weapons, then you want either +15 Strength or Fiery Weapon.
If you're going to roll a Protection Warrior, then you might want to consider Lifestealing instead because it deals extra damage and also converts that damage into healing for you. While my personal preference is still Crusader, regardless of spec, you can use any of the ones above and be successful.
For Fury, I tend to feel more "furious" if I'm dual wielding Fiery weapons because it both looks cool and has some burst damage from the procs. Fiery Weapon is typically half the price or less of a Crusader enchant, so go with whichever one you have easiest access to. You might also want to consider putting different enchants on your weapons so they look distinct and provide the benefit of multiple enchants. Crusader/Fiery, Crusader/Strength, Fiery/Lifestealing, and Crusader/Lifestealing are the combinations I would suggest if you go that route.
The only Warrior that's going to use a Shield passed level 10 is Protection. You can use a shield before then even if you don't plan on going Prot, though you may be better off going with a big two-hander for damage.
Large Round Shield: [Lvl: -] 171 Armor
Dull Heater Shield: [Lvl: 5] 307 Armor
Standard Issue Shield: [Lvl: 5] 307 Armor
Wall Shield: [Lvl: 12] 480 Armor
Reinforced Targe: [Lvl: 19] 634 Armor
If you want to start off with a shield, then the Large Round is the one you want. The Dull Heater can be purchased at level 5, or you can do what I did and spend 18 seconds farming a pair of Standard Issue Shields outside of Scarlet Monetary. (Note: The area around SM changed from 4.0.3 to 4.0.3a, so these might not be available now.)
I've listed a couple of options for HMD's passed level 10 if you're going to roll as Prot, but you're probably better off sticking with your low level shield until you replace it with dungeon drops or quest rewards.
Shield Enchants
Felsteel Shield Spike: Deals 26-38 damage when you block
Thorium Shield Spike: Deals 20-30 damage when you block
Mithril Shield Spike: Deals 16-20 damage when you block
Enchant Shield – Greater Stamina: +7 Stamina
The best option from a leveling perspective is to go with the biggest, nastiest shield spike you can find to slap on the most interesting-looking shield you have access to and then go stab some eyeballs out with the shield spikes while you're smashing faces with your weapon.
If you're worried about your health then get the Stamina enchant, but otherwise stick with the shield spikes.
Armor isn't nearly as important as your weapons because in the levels that you'll use HMD's you should not have very many issues with survivability, making the armor stat much less impressive than it really is. The main benefit that you'll get from your HMD's then is actually the enchants that you place on them. The best-in-slot items for both chest and leg slots (that can be used at level 1) are interestingly cloth items; Haliscan Jacket and Haliscan Pantaloons.
And since the whole point of HMD's is to enchant them in order to make them more powerful than regular gear, we're not going to bother making HMD's that cannot benefit from enchants, or which benefit only a very small amount. So we're not going to look at Belts, jewelry or trinkets.
Mail Armor Set
Chest: Haliscan Jacket: 90 Armor (Cloth), Unadorned Chain Vest: 53 Armor
Legs: Haliscan Pantaloons: 77 Armor, Black Tuxedo Pants: 54 Armor, Unadorned Chain Leggings: 47 Armor
Waist: Unadorned Chain Belt: 30 Armor
Bracer: Unadorned Chain Bracers: 23 Armor
Gloves: Unadorned Chain Gloves: 33 Armor
Feet: Unadorned Chain Boots: 37 Armor
Back: Linen Cloak: 12 Armor
No surprises here, again we have the Blood Elf starting zone's vendor items. Warriors get better Rage if their armor is a somewhat slacking (at least they used to), and Paladins have plenty of self healing at their disposal, so I wouldn't bother replacing HMD's on either of them until you start to find superior dungeon drops or significant quest rewards.
I still get a little chuckle at the Haliscan Jacket/Pantaloons and Tuxedo Pants beat out even the best Mail options at level 1, so they're listed here as well even though they're cloth.
Chest Enchants
Enchant Chest – Exceptional Health: +150 Health [ilvl 35+]
Enchant Chest – Exceptional Stats: +6 All Stats [ilvl 35+]
Enchant Chest – Greater Stats: +4 All Stats
Enchant Chest – Stats: +3 All Stats
Enchant Chest – Major Health: +100 Health
The +150 Health enchant can only be placed on the Haliscan Jacket because it requires a minimum item level of 35 and the Haliscan is one of only two items you can wear at level 1 that meat that item level requirement. The other is an expensive gown purchased in Moonglade which is limited quantity and has a horribly long respawn time. To give you an example of how hard it is to find, I've been looking now for almost 5 weeks and I've never even seen it.
The best option for offense rather than survival is the +6 Stats which still gives you 60 Health, but also a fair amount of Attack and/or Spellpower. Like the +150 Health though, it toon can only be placed on the Haliscan Jacket.
The +4 Stats enchant is pretty hard to find and you're going to pay a pretty copper for it if you buy it on the AH, so you may want to settle for the much easier to obtain +3 Stats. The +100 Health isn't going to help you perform any better in combat, it's just survivability, so it's listed last.
Bracer Enchants
Enchant Bracer – Superior Strength: +9 Strength
Enchant Bracer – Superior Stamina: +9 Stamina
Enchant Bracer – Minor Agility: +1 Agility
Finally we come to a class that gets some real benefit out of that +9 Strength enchant. Unless you're in dire need of more health, the Strength enchant is the way to go. If you need survivability then the Stamina is a very solid choice as well, and if by some freak occurrence you can't find either of those, then the +1 Agility is better than nothing.
Glove Enchants
Enchant Gloves – Greater Strength: +7 Strength
Enchant Gloves – Superior Agility: +15 Agility
Enchant Gloves – Minor Haste: +10 Haste
Enchant Gloves – Greater Agility: +7 Agility
Enchant Gloves – Threat: +2% Threat on all attacks
I generally prefer the +15 Agility enchant for my gloves, but the Strength classes don't get quite as much from Agility, so +7 Strength is a very solid option. Given that the two mail-wearing classes who'll be using your HMD's both benefit the most from strength, I'd say +7 Strength is the way to go here, or just reuse the +15 Agility Leather gloves you use on your other toons. I wouldn't bother enchanting both a leather and mail piece with +15 Agility unless you're just trying to burn through your enchanting mats.
Haste will give you a slight boost to your attacking speed, and will give a small benefit to your Rend damage (at least, I think bleeds benefit from Haste the same way DoT's do – could be wrong), and the +7 Agility is a decent substitute if you can't find the others.
I also listed the Threat enchant which I definitely recommend if you're going to be a tank. From what I've seen so far in low level LFG, Warriors have the most drastic and most wide-spread threat issues of all the tanks. Is 2% going to fix the problem I'm seeing? I honestly don't know, but I do know that when my Resto Shammy meets a Warrior tank I prepare to heal the entire group rather than just the tank.
Leg Enchants
Light Armor Kit: +8 Armor to Chest, Legs, Hands or Feet
Medium Armor Kit: [Lvl: 5] +16 Armor to Chest, Legs, Hands or Feet
I'm going to go ahead and list these here just for the sake of completion. I don't use HMD pants because of the fact that these are the only enchants you can put on them. A little extra armor never hurt anybody, but it never really helps for your low level toons either. Not when we're talking about 8-16 points of it, at least. If you want to use them, then here they are.
Boot Enchants
Enchant Boots – Greater Agility: +7 Agility
Enchant Boots – Minor Speed: +7% Run Speed
Enchant Boots – Lesser Accuracy: +5 Hit
Enchant Boots – Greater Stamina: +7 Stamina
While I lean heavily on the Minor Speed enchant for my toons, I like that the Warrior's Charge ability lets me sort of get by without it. You don't get significantly more benefit from +7 Agility, but that one does at least have some direct impact on your combat performance.
If you're going to try Fury then you'll probably want to give that +5 Hit enchant a shot as dual wielding comes at the price of hit chance. The Stamina enchant is there if you need more health, of course. While health is a tank-related stat in general, I would actually suggest that for Warriors you shoot for better damage stats early on. But that's my experience healing Warrior tanks talking, not my (lack of) experience playing one.
Cloak Enchants
Enchant Cloak – Stealth: +8 Agility and +8 Dodge
Enchant Cloak – Lesser Agility: +3 Agility
Enchant Cloak – Superior Defense: +70 Armor
Enchant Cloak – Subtlety: -2% Threat
As I've mentioned in the other HMD posts so far, the Stealth enchant made a surprise leap of awesomeness in 4.0.3a by switching from a lackluster enchant to the best-in-slot cloak enchant for the majority of low level play. You want it more than the others and that's really all there is to it.
The +3 Agility enchant is fairly even with the +70 Armor on my personal preference list though I'd probably choose Agility between the two for a Warrior.
DPS Warriors hit pretty hard right now and killing blows can lead to some nasty chained-Victory Rushes, so if you're frequently dealing enough damage that you're causing threat issues in your random dungeons then you may consider the -2% Threat enchant.


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subset: commoncrawl


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DURHAM, N.C. – A solid defensive performance fueled an unrelenting attack on the cage Sunday as the seventh-ranked Blue Devils downed No. 14 Wake Forest, 3-1, at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium. Sophomore Aileen Johnson, senior Emmie Le Marchand and junior Jessica Buttinger tallied goals in the contest, with Le Marchand also adding an assist.
Head coach Pam Bustin's squad improved to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in ACC play while also collecting its fifth consecutive win. The Demon Deacons fell to 8-4 and 0-3 in conference action with the loss.
"This team stays together and they stay together on task with what our goals are," Bustin said. "I think that gave them the motivation today with a conference game in front of us that we had to show up and take care of it."
A defensive battle emerged in the opening minutes of the match, though Duke utilized smooth passing outlets to create opportunities up top. The Blue Devils broke through for a score in the 28th minute when Le Marchand sent a ball inside for Johnson, who tapped it over the head of Wake Forest goalkeeper Valerie Dahmen for a 1-0 advantage.
The Duke defense remained steady for the rest of the half, holding the Demon Deacons to zero shots in the first 35 minutes of play.
Le Marchand doubled the squad's lead less than 10 minutes into the second period as she fired a shot that careened off a Wake Forest defender and into the goal. The tally was the team-leading seventh of the year for the forward from Worcester, England, who now has 45 for her career.
The Blue Devils neutralized a couple of penalty corner opportunities by the visiting team before the Demon Deacons' Molly Murphy capitalized on a breakaway to cut the score to 2-1 with just under six minutes to go. However, Duke responded just a couple of plays later when Buttinger touched in a goal off a penalty corner hit by Barreca.
The Blue Devil defense shut down Wake Forest the rest of the way to earn the 3-1 victory and move to 2-0 against ACC opponents.
"I was really proud of our defense today," Rescigno said. "We just did a great job of outletting the ball around the backfield and getting up to the sidelines which was basically why we generated so much attack today and were so successful with shots."
For the contest, Duke outshot the Demon Deacons 15-7 and led in penalty corners 5-3. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Blazing recorded three saves against four shots on goal while Wake Forest's Dahmen totaled eight saves in the loss.
Bustin's squad continues conference play next weekend, hosting Syracuse Friday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium. The game will be streamed live on GoDuke.com Inside Access.


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I started doing this look and immediately thought "MERMAID!" The colors just remind me so much of a typical mermaid's colors.
Products used:
Benefit F.Y.Eye Primer
Delft Paint Pot
Steamy eye shadow
Aquavert eye shadow (llight frosted aqua)
Electric Eel eye shadow
Solar White eye shadow (light gold)
Blue Peep fluidline
Vanilla eye shadow
Urban Decay liquid liner in Perversion
MAC Plushlash Mascara
NYX False Lashes #132
MAC Hug Me lipstick
Spaced Out blush


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1st some personal info. Beginner. I'm 39. 10 years without playing. Now in Florida.
Old racquet Price Response 110 . Maybe 14 years old. No weight info on the racquet. 5 years since last re-string.
I got for Christmas a 4 lesson present from my wife at a local C.Club & since then I'm playing 4 times a week . I love it. 1 day lesson/ 3 days games. And I'm learning fast.
The Pro in a nice way told me that racquets get tired over time and loose some of their good qualities. In other words , It's time to get rid off that dinosaur & he said to look for a oversize /11 oz./27in.long.
I like the Babolat line and I don't want to buy & learn again on a huge racquet. And in a couple of month have to buy a smaller racquet again.
Can I ignore the oversize recommendation and force myself to learn on a 100 in. racquet? Like the Pure Drive or AeroPro Drive.
Thanks , and please let me know what do you think.
I want to see everybody's opinion.


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Expedia Verified Reviews
Don't miss out on a lower price on this hotel
Get an overview of this hotelHistoric downtown hotel 2 blocks from Benaroya Hall
Popular property highlights
A Seattle landmark
Built on the original site of the University of Washington, this grand hotel is just a few blocks from the Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Place shops, the Pike Place Market, and the convention center.
Fitness/business centers
A top-notch fitness club and spa features a pool, a spa tub, beauty services, plus exercise machines with DVDs attached. The business center offers computer stations. WiFi is available for a fee.
City views and more
Renovated in May 2016, guestrooms feature upholstered chairs, mid-century modern furniture, and city views. Amenities include high-speed Internet access, coffee/tea maker and cordless phones.
Languages Spoken
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Fairmont Olympic Hotel
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Fairmont Olympic Hotel features an indoor pool, a health club, a spa tub, a sauna, and a fitness facility. The property's full-service health spa, Penelope The Beauty Bar, offers body treatments, facials, beauty services, and a spa boutique. A bar/lounge is open for drinks and room service is available 24 hours a day. Guestrooms were renovated in May 2016. The hotel serves breakfast each morning in the restaurant (surcharges apply).
This 5-star property has a business center and offers business and secretarial services. Wireless Internet access is available in public areas. This Seattle property has event space consisting of banquet facilities, conference/meeting rooms, a ballroom, and exhibit space. The property offers an electric car charging station. Wedding services, concierge services, and limo/town car service are available. Guest parking is limited, and available on a limited first-come, first-served basis (surcharge).
- Bar/lounge
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- Number of restaurants - 2
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- Total number of rooms - 450
- Number of floors - 12
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Available in all rooms: Wireless internet access ( USD 15.28 per night )
Available in some public areas: Wireless internet access ( USD 15.28 per night )
Languages Spoken
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Self parking (surcharge), Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Premium TV channels
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- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
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- Number of bathrooms -
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Where to Eat
The Georgian - Premier dining room. Eleven different shades of yellow enhance hand-carved plaster work restored above windows. Chihuly glass collection. Northwest regional fare served. Dinner selections include Cedar Plank Smoked King Salmon on Shaved Apples with Hard Cider Sauce; Tarragon Crusted Rabbit Loin on Morel Gnocchi with Essence of White Truffle. Lunch menu includes Roasted Steelhead with Lobster Stock and Morel Infused Pepe Pasta; Prosciutto and Basil Wrapped Massive Prawns with Cannelini Beans and Aged Balsamico. Afternoon tea served with freshly baked scones. Open daily.
Shuckers - Upscale pub-style restaurant/bar. Seafood menu features live oysters, smoked salmon, Northwest clam chowder; Microbrew Battered Fish and Chips, Dungeness Crab Cakes, and Garlic and Rosemary Roasted Whole Dungeness Crab. Open daily.
The Terrace - Lobby lounge. Cocktails and lighter fare served. Extensive selection of specialty-martinis. Live piano entertainment. Open daily.
Spa Services
- Manicures and pedicures
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If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
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Check-in time ends at 3 PM
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is noon
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Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Up to 3 children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 30.0 per night.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of USD 50 per pet, per stay
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Optional extras
- Breakfast fee: between USD 14 and USD 36 for adults, USD 7 and USD 18 for children (approximately)
- Fee for in-room wireless Internet: USD 15.28 per night (rates may vary)
- Fee for wireless Internet in public areas: USD 15.28 per night (rates may vary)
- Self parking fee: USD 45.00 per night (in/out privileges)
- Valet parking fee: USD 55 per night (in/out privileges)
- Pet fee: USD 50 per pet, per stay
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 30.0 per night
Hotel Name
- Fairmont Hotel
- Fairmont Olympic
- Fairmont Olympic Hotel
- Fairmont Olympic Hotel Seattle
- Fairmont Olympic Seattle
- Hotel Olympic
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- Olympic Fairmont Hotel
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We should mention
Up to 3 children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.
Awards & Affiliations
- Fairmont Olympic Hotel is listed in the 2012 Condé Nast Traveler Gold List of the world's best places to stay and the 2012 Travel + Leisure 500.


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Garlic Oil
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(Recipe ID: 687)
Preparation time: 5 minutes plus 14 days
Source: Vito De Carolis
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Items indicated with an astrisk (*) available for purchase in the Avanti Savoia store. See below to add these items to your cart.
- 6 large Garlic Cloves, peeled and coarsely sliced
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SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Saber Sean Cadley sits in 16th place and teammates Emily D'Agostino and Sarah Collins rank 19th and 20th in the epee bracket after the first day of the NCAA Women's Fencing Championship at Freeman Coliseum Saturday.
In the same NCAA saber bracket that former Duke fencer Becca Ward won in 2009, 2011 and 2012, Cadley recorded a 6-9 record on her first day of competition. In her first trip to the NCAA Championship, Cadley led Duke's three women's participants in wins and touch differential.
With six points from Cadley, five each from D'Agostino and Collins and 15 from All-America men's epee Dylan Nollner during the men's competition, Duke climbed from 16th to 11th place in the team standings and sits just four points behind Harvard for a top-10 spot. The Blue Devils have recorded top-10 team finishes in three straight trips to the NCAA Championship.
D'Agostino and Collins turned in matching 5-10 records on day one of the epee competition. D'Agostino, a two-time All-America fencing in her fourth straight NCAA Championship, scored 54 points in her 15 bouts, while Collins scored 49. Collins, a sophomore, is fencing in her second straight NCAA Championship.
Cadley, Collins and D'Agostino will compete in the final two rounds of the NCAA Women's Fencing Championship on Sunday.


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Stanczyk sees the newest Ancestry.app is out.
Mostly I like it. The user interface is a radical departure, but mostly I like it. Your family trees will be updated and that takes some time. So I am guessing how the data is stored on their Servers changed too.
The tree view now allows for more ancestors to be viewed and you can switch back/ forth between only direct lineage ancestors and seeing siblings/cousins. It felt speedier too.
OK , I am still engaged. Keep the updates coming.


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Sacred Work
A building is not sacred. A church or a temple, no matter how old, or big, or beautiful, by itself is not sacred. It's the attitude of the people and the things that people do in a building that make it sacred or not. I have met many people in the home performance field who quietly go about the work of making homes sacred places; places that serve a higher purpose than just making money for the contractor or builder; buildings that are affordable to live in, that are healthy environments, and that house people in comfort. I want to celebrate these quiet heroes, and someone very important to me who contributed to the healing of the planet we all call home.
My father, Thomas Bernard Gunshinan, died of cancer at the age of 85 last December. He grew up in Long Island and went into the Navy at 17 so he could be in the War before it ended. To him and many others of his age it seemed like a chance for an adventure. He was a radioman on a small, shallow draft boat that went through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific to China and back twice to do harbor control in Shanghai and bring supplies up the Yangtze River for the Chinese fighting in the war. Dad talked of the White Russians he met in Shanghai, who all looked lost and forlorn to him. And he talked about the grace and dignity of the Chinese workers, called "coolies" at the time, who carried heavy burdens, both physical and otherwise. He came back and went to Catholic University for an electrical engineering degree through the GI Bill, got married, and had two kids already when he was recalled for the Korean War, this time to work in communications in Norfolk, Virginia.
After college Dad worked for the Navy and then NASA from its beginnings in the mid-60s to the mid-80s, when he retired at 61 to take care of my mother who was dying of cancer. As with most kids, I didn't think too much about what my dad did for a living when I was young, although we made plenty of trips to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he worked, for holiday parties and once I remember to see a launch on closed circuit TV. With his crew cut and pocket protectors, Dad was not cool or hip. And his attempts to help us read the bands on electronic resistors proved frustrating to him and my brothers and I. (We did manage to build a Heathkit oscilloscope together, though it was mostly his work. It was the sixties and seventies, and so we hooked up the oscilloscope to a reel-to-reel stereo system and made our own light shows with the music of Jimi Hendrix, Lead Zeppelin, Yes, and Iron Butterfly's "Inagodadavida" with it's awesome drum solo.)
But now I know Dad had an impressive resume. He was an electrical engineer and Quality Assurance engineer who was responsible for the testing and operation of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) (the precursor to the Hubble), TIROS Series weather satellites, the Sea Air Rescue Satellite (SARSAT), the Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite (GOES), and finally the living and scientific quarters of the International Space Station. He retired while the space station was still a political football and they never could focus on a mission or a design, or a budget.
All the satellites my father worked on, the ones that made it into orbit, exceeded their design life. (One of the OAO satellites never made it into orbit, but that was the Air Force's fault. The "shroud" that held the satellite on top of the rocket never opened and it fell into the Indian Ocean when it couldn't maintain its orbit. NASA fished the satellite out of the ocean and cut up the solar panels and gave the project crew a piece on a plaque as a strange memento of the failed launch. Did I say it was the Air Force's fault?) The satellites Dad worked on were the early weather and scientific and environmental satellites that measured infrared temperatures and surface albedo, and provided other data that made the work of early environmental scientists and climate change research possible. I don't know how many lives his TIROS weather predictions and the Sea Air Rescue Satellites (SARSAT) saved, but it was many.
Dad never got any major awards and he was never written up in the Washington Post. His boss at NASA hired him, gave him a high level of responsibility, but took 13 years to pay him accordingly. I know it pained my Dad a lot, especially with six kids to take care of, but we did fine and he wasn't someone who needed or sought celebrity or riches. He always considered it a privilege to serve the country. His work was fascinating and rewarding in itself. And he came home every day at 5:20 pm for dinner with my Mom and us six kids in a 1,400 square foot Rambler in Silver Spring, Maryland. My grandparents (Mom's side) lived for several years in a basement apartment my parents built for them.
Like a lot of you in the home performance field, who every day do something to make homes more comfortable, efficient, and healthy to live in, my Dad sacrificed his life, not dramatically, but each day for the good of others. For many of you, the houses you work on, by your actions and attitude, become sacred. My Dad's work was sacred work and I think he and a lot of other engineers at NASA, RCA, and other government contractors made a lot of satellites, some of them still pumping out useful data, sacred objects in the sky. Dad's sacrifice was spread out over a lifetime. He was paid for his work and it allowed him and my mother to raise a family and see that we all grew up to be productive, hard working, and honest citizens. (At least I can speak for my three brothers and two sisters and not for myself.)
Thank you all who put your heart and soul into the work of home performance. And thank you Dad. Your love and strength and good heart will live forever. And your satellites are living for a heck of a long time too.
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Sponsored by Basketball (men)
Luther scored its third highest point total of the season and also broke the single season school record for three-point field goals, as the Norse defeated Coe College 90-70 this afternoon in Eby Fieldhouse.
Luther blistered the nets shooting 54 percent, that included a 48 percent effort from three-point land. Luther's 13 treys this afternoon brings its season's total to 159, with eight games remaining on the regular season schedule. The old mark was 152 set during the 2000-01 campaign.
John Androus led the Norse with a double-double. Androus, who scored his 1,000th career point this afternoon, produced 16 points and collected 13 rebounds. Nathan Meyer (15), Brian Nnaoji (12) and Jake Martin (11) completed the list of double digits scorers.
Coe was led by the trio of Andrew Wirth (20), Max Schmarzo (14) and JT Vonderhaar (12). The Kohawks worked hard for their points this afternoon as the Norse defense held them to 43 percent. Luther also won the battle of the boards 35-25.
The win was the second in a row for the Norse as they improved to 2-4 in the Iowa Conference, 10-7 overall. Coe fell to 1-5 in league play, 9-8 overall.
Luther returns home on Wednesday, Jan. 29 and hosts Buena Vista University (4-2, 9-8) at 8:00 p.m. in the Regents Center.
Questions? Contact David Blanchard, post_to_results, 563-387-1586


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This is in response to to the many threads currently running about AGD's ablility to deliver product.
As the president of this company I have to look at the big picture. It is my responsibility to insure the survival and long term health of the company even before the wants and needs of the customer. Please note the words "long term". As an example, if we were making widget "A" and loosing money, I would have to raise the price IN SPITE of 100% complaints from my customers. From the companies perspective there is no difference between loosing money on a product or not selling it at all, which is what the customers might do if you raise the price.
There are only three variables when it comes to making a product, Quality-Delivery-Price. You only get to pick TWO! These three options are never clearly understood by the buying public. Marketing's job is to make people believe they are getting all three. AGD as a company picks Quality and Price, we have never in our 16 year history been known for delivery, ask anyone. No one ever says "that's way too expensive" or "that's crappy quality" but they certainly complain about "AGD doesn't make enough".
So in the big picture (and we will use recent examples) what do I need to look at in order to make my overall business decisions? Lets start with the Superbolt! We came right out of the box with 1000 units, plenty for everyone so no one would wait. A problem was discovered and what did everyone say? No one said "hey great job on delivery!" there was a loud and clear bashing that "we came out with it before we tested it enough". Our reputation for delivery went up ZERO and our Quality rep took a big hit. In order to shore back up Quality we had to do a trade in deal on all the old superbolts. This cost the company double to get out of that tight spot. Note to self, "better to wait than to rush because it costs twice as much to fix and they care about quality more than delivery".
Lets move on to the ULE bodies with the detent issue. Now if that had been a slightly different problem and the bodies were unusable, we would have had to go to the bank and get a loan in order to trash the bodies and then make new ones. Note to self, "the more expensive the product, the more careful we need to be on the first few batches or else it could bankrupt the company". I doubt many people would line up to buy a product that was non functional even at a discount price. At this point everyone has forgotten about the Superbolt and is back to complaining about delivery (good job Tom you are still scoring high on Quality and Price).
Moving further on lets go to Roller Triggers! Good quality, SUPER FAST DELIVERY and not a bad price! Sold the first bunch in a couple days so we banged out 1000 more and sold…….none. AO screaming for them one day translated into a dead item the next. Had to blow out the last batch to another manufacturer at a big loss. Note to self, "listen to AO but don't count on everything they say as being true in the big picture".
So finally we come to the subject at hand, the Xmags. It was never my idea to make the xmag body, AGDE came up with it and when the cnc version came out you all went wild for it. Of course you did because it was one of the hardest to machine parts in the history of paintball, that we didn't design, made overseas, from a supplier we had never used before, on the most expensive product we ever made. Not a problem lets proceed. From the very beginning this is what I heard from AO " I want an Xmag NOW but if AGD doesn't get them out people are not going to wait". Humm… based on the Roller Trigger above that means we could sell a few and then they could decide that the Matrix is better because they liked the movie. Thinking about the Superbolt fiasco these things better be perfect because we cant afford to replace them or we might go to the poor house aka ULE's above. Thinking more about it, if we blow the quality (like on the ano) on our flagship product, we will never recover, if we raise the price….no can't do that… its already the most expensive paintball gun out there. Ok only choice then is to let them wait, that's what we have to do because our delivery rep can't get trashed any worse!
Some facts about the xmags, we are currently 300 on backorder and its not going up. This is not a big backorder by any standards. We have 500 machined bodies in the pipeline right now. This is a prudent number in process for this level of backorders considering its such an expensive product. While AO has been complaining, there have been multiple dealers that have had these guns sitting on the wall and not selling. Adventure Games NH had the first 9 to come off the assembly line with no preorders. She wanted to cut it back to two but I told her to come to the AO dealers section and sell them. She did and got no takers in the auction she set up, she only took two. More were sitting at Predator Marketing in CA for weeks until an AO guy found them and bought them. This is even after I made a personal appearance out there to show them the marker and get them charged about it. Fox River Games home of our sponsored team Swarm had them sitting on the wall for weeks until AO found them there too.
In the grand scheme of things its not the dealers calling and placing orders, its AO voicing its opinion from the group that wants to have Quality, Delivery and Price all happen at the same time. While I can sympathize with your desires, the reality of manufacturing does not allow me or anyone else to make all three of these things happen at once. You have all made it exceedingly clear from your comments and actions in the past that waiting sucks but lack of quality is completely unacceptable. We still have the price variable that has not been tested yet. If we come up with some extra guns in this next batch I am going to put them in stock at some extremely high price just to say we have them. This is the only way to get rid of Delivery at the (increasing) expense of Price.
So AO I have to come here every day and read the gut wrenching complaints about delivery but I know based on the big picture that the long term successful strategy is to make you wait. I should see it as a good thing because that means or quality and price are on target, but that's hard to do when people think its stupid when you don't just magically make more. If it was a 5 dollar item I would gamble and make a bunch, fact is we don't make enough profit on xmags to live off them so they are getting all the attention we can give them. For the reasons above I will restate that it is highly unlikely that we will ever be holding xmags in stock, if you can't wait I apologize but that is just the way it is.


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BOISE — An invasion of elk in parts of Elmore County has caused ranchers there to turn to state lawmakers for help.
A group of ranchers visited the Statehouse Jan. 15 to ask legislators and state officials to help them deal with the thousands of elk that have set up residence on their land in recent years.
According to the ranchers, who are mostly from the Mayfield area southeast of Boise, more than 4,000 elk have invaded the area.
Idaho Fish and Game Department officials said several large wildfires in the region and the presence of wolves in higher country are two of the main reasons the elk have moved to the area in large numbers.
Rancher Jeff Lord told members of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee that the elk are eating at the ranchers' expense and they damage spring and winter range.
"If we can't solve this problem, we need to be compensated," he said. "I don't want to be a winter elk feed provider. I want to be a rancher."
Lord said his family has ranched in Mayfield since 1945 and the first elk in the area were seen in 1977.
"Since then, the numbers have increased dramatically," he said.
Rancher Steve Damele said herds of up to 800 elk are going back and forth across private land, causing serious damage in the form of destroyed fences, degraded range and lost feed.
"The economic loss is substantial," he said. "The ranchers in this area are united in this effort and ready for a long-term solution."
The ranchers were invited to the Statehouse by Sen. Bert Brackett, a Republican rancher from that district.
Three of the nine committee members are ranchers and a fourth is a farmer.
"The numbers (of elk) keep increasing and they're looking for some answers," Brackett told his fellow committee members.
Rancher Mike Grimmett said 500 to 1,500 elk cross his ranch on any given day and their numbers are growing steadily.
"As you can imagine, I'm feeding a lot of the state's animals," he said. "It's an ongoing cost. We want to make sure our concerns are heard and we want to figure out a way to fix this problem."
Scott Reinecker, IFGD's southwest region supervisor, said the department has used several strategies to try to address the problem, including landowner appreciation hunts and depredation hunts.
But he acknowledged they haven't been enough.
"We definitely do need to do more," he said. "We're going to try to do what we can."
Sen. Monty Pearce, the committee chairman and a rancher from New Plymouth, told Reinecker that it's apparent the things the department has done in the past to control elk populations in certain areas aren't working in this case.
"It sounds like we need to think out of the box," he said. "I think this needs to be put on the front burner."


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Police are currently investigating a single vehicle crash that seriously injured a Millsboro man Saturday night near Ellendale.
Police are currently investigating a single vehicle crash that seriously injured a Millsboro man Saturday night near Ellendale.
The crash occurred around 10:30 p.m., as Kenneth O. Grinnell, 63, was operating a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee southbound on U.S. 113, just north of McColleys Chapel Road. For unknown reasons, the Cherokee left the west side of the roadway, said Cpl. Gary Fournier of the Delaware State Police. The operator attempted to correct the issue and the vehicle re-entered the roadway and then back to the right before traveling off the west side of the roadway where it struck a tree. The impact caused the vehicle to rotate and continue southbound where it struck a ditch and became airborne before coming to a stop.
Grinnell, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the vehicle upon impact. He was removed from the scene by EMS and initially transported to Milford Memorial Hospital before being flown to Christiana Medical Center. The extent and seriousness of Grinnell's injuries were unknown, police said.
Troopers are continuing their investigation into this incident. Traffic in the area of U.S. 113 and McColleys Chapel Road was impacted for approximately two hours as troopers investigated and cleared the crash.


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As we know Jim has shoot the Ellen show last night.
Since the episode will air on Monday, the promo has started!
Here the link to the page of the show website so you can see the video:
He looks awesome!
And Dumb & Dumber To will start shooting next Tuesday!


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56, of St. James, Mo.
Randy Warren Lamberth of St. James, Mo. passed away suddenly on March 13, 2013 at his home in rural St. James, Mo. Randy Lamberth was 56 years, 6 months and 8 days of age.
Randy Lamberth was born on September 5, 1956 in Rolla, Mo. to his parents: Ronald Warren and Margaret (Brydon) Lamberth.
Randy Lamberth was a loving son, father and nephew. Randy proudly served his country in the United States Navy. Randy will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.
Surviving Randy Lamberth is a special friend: Paula Licklider of St. James, Mo.; his father: Ronald Warren Lamberth of St. James, Mo.; two sons: Brandon Lamberth and wife Laura of St. James, Mo.; and Braeden Lambert of St. James, Mo.; two sisters: Linda Hazely of Joplin, Mo.; and Cheryl Marie Copling of Cuba, Mo.; one aunt: Loveta Steen and husband Merel of St. James, Mo.
Visitation for Randy Lamberth will be on Saturday, March 16, from 6 - 8 PM at the Jones Funeral Home in St. James, Mo.
Funeral Services will be on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 2:00 P.M. at the Jones Funeral Home Chapel in St. James, Mo. with Jason Bell officiating, burial in the St. James Cemetery. Pallbearers will be: Brandon Lamberth; Braeden Lamberth; Shawn Steen; Merel Steen; Dale Garver; and Jimmy Ludwig.
Preceding Randy Lamberth in death is his mother: Margaret (Brydon) Lamberth and one grandson: Owen Lamberth.
Memorials may be made to the March of Dimes. Cards are available at the Jones Funeral Home in St. James, Mo.
Those wishing to leave online condolences may do so at www:jonesfunerals.com.
All arrangements under the direction of the Jones Funeral Home in St. James, Mo.


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Recipes brought to you by Avanti Savoia
Visit us online at www.avantisavoia.com
Homemade Mayonnaise
Be the first to review this recipe.
(Recipe ID: 411)
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Source: Vito De Carolis
Make your own! Easy, easy, easy.
Items indicated with an astrisk (*) available for purchase in the Avanti Savoia store. See below to add these items to your cart.
- 3 Egg yolks
- 6 teaspoons Fresh lemon juice (more drops as needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon Fine sea salt *
- 1/4 teaspoon Dry mustard
- 1 1/2 to 2 1/4 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil *
- 5 teaspoons Hot water
*Note: Egg yolks, and oil must be at room temperature (about 70°F)
- Beat yolks, salt, mustard, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a small bowl until very thick and pale yellow. (Note: If using electric mixer, beat at medium speed.)
- Add about 1/4 cup oil, drop by drop, beating vigorously at all times.
- Beat in 1 teaspoon each lemon juice and hot water.
- Add another 1/4 cup oil, a few drops at a time, beating vigorously at all times.
- Beat in another teaspoon each lemon juice and water.
- Add 1/2 cup oil in a very fine steady stream, beating constantly.
- Then mix in remaining lemon juice and water; slowly beating in remaining oil.
- If you like, thin mayonnaise with a little additional hot water.
- Cover and refrigerate until needed.
- Do not keep longer than 1 week.
Buy Ingredients
The following ingredients are available in the Avanti Savoia online store. Click the product name for more information.


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« Back to people
Morgan BarnardFormer Adjunct, Alumni, Class of 2005
|Courses Taught:
|Video for New Media
Morgan studied experimental media at CCAC. He has worked in film/video post-production and music videos for the past 8 years and now wants to get back to his experimental roots. He wants to expand the possibilities of storytelling though video and wants to explore new technologies and more commercial work as well.


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Sometimes it's the simplest — or most basic — needs that go overlooked.
A group of eighth-grade yearbook students at Falcon Bluffs Middle School sought to help others during the holidays. While they could have done a canned food or clothing drive, the students settled on something often overlooked in the spirit of giving: diapers.
The end result was about $1,000 in diapers donated to mothers through Catholic Charities.
"We got the idea on a Friday, and we had all the posters and everything up on Tuesday," said Samantha Tilson.
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We're proud to say ALL of our products are made in the United States by highly paid workers. The manufacturing facility who handles sewing our products is a wonderful and comfortable place, filled with lots of plants and plenty of light! The ladies love working for the owner and we appreciate them every day!
We may not sew our own diapers any longer, however, we still do make all the Fluff Dust ourselves! It's quite the operation and we usually make about 50 lbs of each scent at a time. It gets pretty smelly so we often leave the garage door open. You should see the looks on the faces of people on the sidewalk...us with our baggies of white powder and our scale! But it smells so nice that they always ask what smells so good and we're able to explain what we're making.
We are thrilled to release the Knickernappies OneSize diaper. The first prototype was sewn at my kitchen table almost 2 years ago. Since then, we've been through at least 15 prototypes and 30 babies of all ages have put it through their own special tests. Our smallest testers were between 6 and 10 pounds and it tested very well with these tiny newborns. Our largest tester, Camille, is 40 lbs and still wearing her Knickernappies OneSize diapers at night.
When Knickernappies began we offered only two products; the Knickernappies diaper and the LoopyDo insert. In the last 3 1/2 years we've grown a lot! Now we offer a large variety of diapers, inserts, accessories, and more. I'm proud to say the LoopyDo and SuperDo inserts are the #1 and #2 ranked inserts on Diaper Pin! Thank you so much for supporting Knickernappies and providing jobs in Oregon/USA!
Knickernappies OneSize Side-Snapping Diaper
The Knickernappies OneSize Diaper is the first of its kind: a side-snapping, onesize diaper that comes with TWO inserts made in the USA! (Yes, even our inserts are USA-made!)
Knickernappies OneSize Diapers have some great features:
* Four size adjustments to fit your baby best -- Small, Medium Short, Medium, and Large
* Tested to fit babies from about 8 lbs to 40 lbs
* Two inserts with every diaper, sizes small & large, and our inserts are Made in the USA!
* Choose between two top-rated LoopyDo inserts or two microfiber inserts.
* A scooped tummy panel & topstitching for best fit under chubby baby bellies
- Elastic on both sides of the pocket opening to hold the insert in place
* Very gentle Lastin elastic in the leg and waist - no red marks!
* Lastin elastic is long lasting and can't "go out" like regular elastic
* Two Year Guarantee on elastic and snaps.
* Also introducing a new color for Knickernappies: Chocolate! A fabulous new color perfect for boys or girls.
Give one a try! We know you'll love it.


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CN launches public awareness campaign for safetyWritten by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
With trespassing being the leading cause of rail-related fatalities in the United States, Canadian National is marking Rail Safety Week through May 5, 2013, with a public awareness campaign stressing the deadly risks of trespassing on railway tracks and property.
CN Police Chief Bobby Walker said, "Disobeying railway crossing signals or trespassing on railway property is dangerous and illegal. We cannot tolerate that individuals put their lives and those of others at risk. Through a combination of education and enforcement, we aim to change attitudes and behaviors towards rail safety. We must reduce injuries and fatalities on or near railway crossings, tracks and CN property."
CN Police will be out in full force during Rail Safety Week, conducting safety initiatives at commuter stations, CN intermodal terminals and railway crossings in the United States and Canada. CN will visit commuter stations to target a larger audience of rail users, particularly parents who will be urged to pass on safety information to their children.
In 2012, there were 2,802 grade crossing and railway trespassing accidents in the United States, causing 683 fatalities, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. More than 50 percent of trespassing incidents resulted in fatalities.
CN has been promoting railway safety for more than 25 years through its All Aboard for Safety community education program. Every year, CN Police officers make hundreds of All Aboard for Safety presentations and talk to more than 300,000 children and adults at schools and community events in the United States and Canada about the importance of safety and the dangers of walking or playing on or near railway tracks. Part of the strength of this program is the collaborative relationship with major community safety partners Operation Lifesaver and Parachute.


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Burdened with the label of autism — and for decades a specter of "severe retardation" as well — 37-year-old Goddard had no "voice" until 1997, when she learned to use a facilitated communication device. Now, she painstakingly pecks out letters with one finger and relies on the machine to convert her words to speech, although capitalization challenges and misspellings go with the territory.
She recently used the device to co-author a book with her mom, Dianne Goddard. Titled "i am intelligent, From Heartbreak to Healing — A Mother and Daughter's Journey through Autism," the non-fictional story details Peyton Goddard's life from her trials with an educational system that segregated her and was inflexible to her special needs through her years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse by trusted extended-family members and even a school employee.
For years, Goddard, who lives in Point Loma in her own wing of her parents' home, was forced to live in a speechless world, where few people realized what was bottled up inside her. Even her mother, who has a degree in education, regrets she wasted too many years obsessed with trying to "cure" Peyton and make her "ordinary," instead of embracing her uniqueness.
"For so long, I felt this is a tragedy," said Dianne Goddard. "It's so much better seeing it as a gift."
Peyton Goddard was 22 when, despite her challenges with uncontrolled body movements — what she calls "motor madness" — she learned to type with the help of her mom and other facilitators, who provide support and resistance on her arm and wrist.
The first words from the woman who was once prone to violent outbursts and bizarre, self-destructive behavior, who was deemed "a hopeless case" by so many were: "I am intlgent. [sic]."
Denied a high school diploma, she pushed to attend Cuyamaca Community College. To quiet her body so she could engage her mind, she worked jigsaw puzzles in class. And, with the help of her parents and a team of supporters, educators and doctors who believed in her, she graduated class valedictorian in four years.
Writing the book turned into a decade-long project that took Dianne Goddard to some very dark places, where her daughter had been suicidal for years.
"Not until we wrote the book did I realize that she felt treated as subhuman," Dianne Goddard said.
Peyton Goddard writes of her pain: "Pity I'm poisoned by hopeless way I feel wherever I'm less to you. I know intelligence in my somewhat-differently-operating brain; you presently are verifying by the daffy ways I move that I am an idiot. Therefore, opportunities for learning and living I am not allowed, and wasting I am … Walks I need because it is scary to stand still."
Her doting dad, Pat Goddard, a former executive vice president for Chart House restaurants, has taught her to ride a bike and even ski.
Dianne Goddard points out that the book "I am intelligent" is about healing, "not curing, but living." Published by skirt!, it is available at numerous outlets, including Amazon.
Before she was 12, Peyton Goddard spoke a little. But despair, repeated abuse and warnings "not to tell" robbed her of her voice.
Even so, she listened to her mother read the likes of Chaucer and Shakespeare and even taught herself to read some of her older brother's classic books.
"My brain was hungry to learn so upping read I did," she expresses. She writes in poetic old-English style, using metaphors and obsolete words, as well as some invented language.
"I'm tell this worrisome world that eases our awesomed if all persons areas freed are sweetly treasured as important," Peyton Goddard types.
Of the private hell that long imprisoned her, she adds: "It was reaping fears that I'm human news nothing."
Peyton Goddard sees herself as an advocate for undervalued children. She writes in her own parts of the book, which she assiduously edited herself: "Understaters utter I'm no one. I'm broken, moldy bread, throwaway trash, great leper. Now I know I'm a voice of never-heard voices. Nothings need to be heard."
She "speaks" at local at school and community groups. At one event, she challenged her audience.
"I am not able to control by body," she wrote. "I cannot talk. I need help to do most things. But I can open my heart to most people … Can you do that?"
Sitting on her living-room sofa, she whispers a few words, and Dianne Goddard is hopeful her daughter eventually will regain some speech. For now, Peyton Goddard has explained to her mom that it's difficult for her mouth to say what her brain is thinking.
So, Dianne Goddard keeps Peyton focused on the keyboard, reminding her frequently, "Keep going" and "What's next?"
Peyton Goddard writes this to her readers: "Ultimately the veil will drop when you, like me, are looking through eyes years rested on prejudice not, in God's hands equal and fearless of the dashing hurdles that face us."
Dianne Goddard said she's fortunate that, by writing the book together, "We got to know each other on the level of the heart that some talking families don't know."
For more information, visit Peyton Goddard's website, www.peytongoddard.com.


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March 15 was supposed to be a joyful day for Tim and Melissa Lorang.
Yes, it was a Monday, the first day of a long work week, but it was also the day of Melissa's 20-week ultrasound - the day the expecting parents were going to learn the gender of their baby.
Melissa was convinced that the little ball of life kicking around in her tummy was going to be a girl - so convinced that she had already started furnishing the nursery in their home with furniture fit for a little girl's liking. From Melissa's "short list" of 16 girls' names, she and Tim had selected Madilyn for the name of their daughter. There were more than 30 potential names to consider if the baby happened to be a boy.
"It was exciting because we were going to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl," Tim recalled.
The late-afternoon ultrasound took place at Alegent Bergan Mercy Medical Center in Omaha. Melissa's mother, Joyce Raabe, joined Tim and Melissa at the hospital to take care of their 19-month-old son, Noah, while the ultrasound was being carried out.
Minutes into the procedure, the ultrasound tech told Tim and Melissa that she didn't see "any little boy parts," confirming Melissa's hopes that their baby was indeed a girl.
Tim and Melissa were happy. They were going to have a daughter and Noah was going to have a baby sister.
* * *
'Incompatible with life'
The ultrasound continued and seemed to be going fine. However, about 15 minutes into the procedure, the technician excused herself from the room, implying that she was having problems getting proper measurements of the child. Melissa didn't think anything of the tech's abrupt departure, assuming that there might be a minor glitch with the ultrasound equipment.
"She said she wanted the radiologist to check something," Melissa said. "She was gone for awhile, but she kept peeking in. I had no clue, but Tim knew something was wrong."
After a short wait, a radiologist made his way into the room and took a first-hand look at the ultrasound himself. A moment or two later, he broke the devastating news to Tim and Melissa that he believed their child had anencephaly – a rare and fatal neural tube birth defect.
"He (radiologist) was pretty vague," Melissa said. "He said, 'Your doctor will tell you what's going on, but what I think I'm seeing here is a condition called anencephaly, which is incompatible with life.' Those words (incompatible with life) are quite memorable. I think it's pretty common terminology, but I have thought numerous times since, that has got to be the coldest way to phrase it."
Anencephaly is a condition that affects the formation of the brain and the skull that surround the child's head. The condition results in only minimal development of the brain. In anencephalic pregnancies, the brain often lacks part or all of the cerebrum (the area of the brain that is responsible for thinking, vision, hearing, touch, and movement). A child with anencephaly is unable to sustain life outside the mother's womb.
The news was shocking and confusing – totally incomprehensible – to Tim and Melissa.
"He (radiologist) never really offered any answers," Melissa said. "He kept saying, 'You need to talk to your doctor.' I don't think we really got it. I think I probably even asked, 'Is she going to be OK?'"
In a matter of minutes, a call came into the room from the office of Dr. Daniel Kirsch, Melissa's obstetrician, who had been informed of the radiologist's findings. Melissa was given the option of having a second ultrasound done immediately by Dr. Michael Barsoom, the hospital's Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, or coming back a few days later for a follow-up.
Understandably, Tim and Melissa didn't want to spend the next 48 or 72 hours in limbo, wondering if their daughter's condition had been diagnosed correctly by the radiologist. They chose to have the follow-up ultrasound done immediately.
Dr. Barsoom agreed with the anencephaly diagnosis. After the ultrasound, he opened up a medical book that provided an explanation of anencephaly. Dr. Barsoom made sure Tim and Melissa understood that the condition is always fatal. Their child, if born alive, would likely live for only minutes, hours or days. There is also a chance that their baby could be stillborn.
"We were really confused," Tim said. "We peppered him with questions."
Melissa remembers the first two questions asked of Dr. Barsoom.
"Is she (our daughter) in pain? He said, No,'" Melissa recalls. "Then Tim immediately asked, 'Is Melissa in any danger?' He said I wasn't."
* * *
The Three Options
Tim and Melissa were presented with three options – terminate the pregnancy by having an abortion, induce labor early (after the baby becomes viable at 24 weeks) or carry the pregnancy to term.
If they chose to terminate the pregnancy, Tim and Melissa were told, they would not be able to have the abortion performed at Bergan Mercy, a "Catholic hospital." Inducing labor early would require approval from the hospital's ethics board.
The thoughts that were going through her mind during the meeting with Dr. Barsoom are still vivid in Melissa's memory.
"No matter which choice we made, the end result is going to be the same – she will die," Melissa remembers thinking. "Are we calling the shots and saying when? How far is too far and how far is enough? What can we live with personally?"
Tim and Melissa left the hospital that night still trying to make sense of what had just transpired. Feeling saddened, shocked and distraught, they both knew there was a difficult decision that had to be made. They were encouraged by Dr. Barsoom to take their time. It was a decision that would carry a lasting impact on their lives.
"I think we were probably both thinking different things," Melissa said. "Essentially, I was being told that she's brain-dead and she couldn't live without me. I was her life support. She felt no pain. She can't hear, see or think. The damage to her brain would be extensive.
"My initial thoughts, that day and into the night, was 'I can't do that. I can't spend the next 20-something weeks knowing that my baby's not going to live,'" Melissa said. "I would keep getting more and more pregnant and people would be noticing. I kept thinking, 'How am I going to deal with the questions?' The logistics of the pregnancy just seem impossible, like it was just not something that I could do."
* * *
Amelia, Work of the Lord
On the drive home from the hospital that night, Melissa's thoughts were focused on her daughter – more specifically her daughter's name.
"At some point after we left the hospital, I remember turning to Tim and saying, 'Madilyn isn't her name.' It just didn't seem like the right name anymore," Melissa said. "I wanted her name to mean more and to suit the little girl I was just beginning to know."
After returning home, Melissa got on the Internet and did a reverse word search. She typed in the words "gift" and "of the Lord." Over 60 names came up. She carefully scrolled through the list of names and their meanings. Melissa had been searching for a few minutes when she came upon "Amelia," one of the names that had made the short list.
Amelia, Work of the Lord, seemed like the perfect name. Grace, by the Grace of God, was chosen as Amelia's middle name the next day.
Tim and Melissa share a strong commitment to their Christian faith, so it was only natural that they would turn to that faith for guidance and support during their time of crisis. They met and prayed with their pastor, Rev. Roland Jank, Jr. of Omaha's Mount Olive Lutheran Church.
"It is kind of a gray area, at least in the Lutheran Church, " Melissa said. "Our pastor came over and spoke with us and prayed with us, but really didn't say what to do.
"My dad spoke with his pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Glenwood. The church doesn't have a specific policy for something like this, but the preference would be that the pregnancy be carried to term if the mother's life is not in danger."
* * *
Carrying Pregnancy To Term
Tim and Melissa knew they would have the love and support of their parents, Larry and Joyce Raabe, and Rod and Karen Lorang, no matter which direction they would decide to go with their pregnancy.
Melissa took a couple days off from her job as the advertising sales representative at The Opinion-Tribune newspaper and Tim did the same from his position as an independent insurance agent with N.P. Dodge in Omaha. They pondered their decision and enjoyed spending quality time with Noah.
"It took us a week to kind of wrap our heads around it - for what it meant for her (Amelia), for me, for our family," Melissa said.
Tim said consideration was given to inducing early, but in the end, he and Melissa both came to the conclusion that carrying their pregnancy to its natural term was the right option for them.
"I don't think either one of us considered the abortion," Tim said. "I think maybe we looked at inducing early when the baby would be viable, but for some reason, I think we both felt something inside of us that said it wasn't the right way to go."
Melissa concurred with Tim.
"I think we always knew that terminating at any stage just didn't feel right, but it was more, 'Can we do what's being asked of us?'" she said. "I think it's impossible to separate our faith from the decision. To say faith didn't play a part would be a lie, but was it solely because we felt like this is what the Bible says, the answer is no."
* * *
'Let it be joyful'
It's now been more than seven weeks since Tim and Melissa first learned of their daughter's anencephaly. The reality of the situation has settled in and Melissa has taken on the glow and appearance of a pregnant mother. She's fielded the awkward questions from strangers and acquaintances that are unaware of the anencephaly and she's sensed the uneasiness from friends and relatives who know about the condition but are uncomfortable talking to her and Tim about it.
Melissa's handled her pregnancy in the only way she knows how – in an open and positive manner. "All children are a blessing," Melissa says. She wants to enjoy and celebrate the precious time she has with Amelia, before and after birth, and she wants those around her and Tim to celebrate as well.
"We're not going to go in a corner and cry," she said. "My focus is to experience it (pregnancy) fully, to appreciate every movement and kick – to let it be joyful."
One of the first actions Melissa took after selecting Amelia's name was setting up an Internet blog in her daughter's honor - ameliagracelorang.blogspot.com. Melissa is the administrator of the blog that is affectionately named "A Journal of Life by Amelia's Mommy." Melissa shares spiritually based messages of faith and love in the journal almost daily, along with a sprinkling of her own thoughts and feelings about Amelia, motherhood and a variety of other matters.
Melissa's utilized the blog to educate her readers about anencephaly, share family photos (and Noah's artwork) and to make friends feel at ease about discussing Amelia and the pregnancy.
The blog has been beneficial to Amelia's mommy in many ways.
"Amelia's blog has been a really neat way of sharing our journey with Amelia with our family and friends," Melissa said. "My mom's family in particular is spread across the map so the blog makes the miles between us feel less and less. One of my aunts has said she has to remember to call me because she feels like she talks to me every day as she reads the blog.
"Amelia's blog is also one way I can mother her. There are so many things I will "miss out on" when she flies to Jesus. I can do something every day to honor, celebrate and love her; I can blog."
In one of her blog postings, in which Melissa talks about the inner conflicts she has experienced personally with the national abortion debate, she declares herself to be "Pro-love," a term she borrowed from a film made about an anencephalic child.
"I've never truly identified with the political terms of being pro-life or pro-choice," she said when asked to explain the blog. "Personally, abortion has never been an option for me because of my faith and how I feel personally. I just don't think that's something I could ever do. Not to say that's right or wrong. Many women out there have different feelings.
"I had been very hesitant to write that Pro-love blog. I was somewhat reserved with it in part because I will not pass judgment on anyone that's had an abortion for any reason. Their situation is totally different, or maybe it was identical, but they are at a different place."
* * *
Mommy, 'the planner'
The blog isn't the only way Mommy has chosen to express her love for Amelia. Melissa and Tim know that certain plans have to be made in regard to their daughter's life and death. It's a process, Tim admits, that's been difficult emotionally.
"As much as I try to avoid Melissa's planning, I appreciate it," Tim said. "I read her blog every day and it just amazes me how strong she is and how she's able to cope. I'm a wreck. I try to avoid talking about the last arrangements, going to the hospital and 'what she's going to wear.'"
Melissa smiles and shakes her head when hearing her husband talk of her strength and the plans and arrangements she's making for Amelia. Any perceived strength Melissa has comes from God, she insists.
"I just think the compliment is going to the wrong person," she said. "As I said in one of the blogs, I don't think that I'm strong. I would rather say that I am strengthened. It's not about me, it's not about Tim."
In addition to making final arrangements for Amelia's funeral and burial, Melissa has put together a detailed birth plan for the day of her daughter's arrival in late July or early August. The plan outlines medications Melissa wants and doesn't want to receive at the time of delivery, their desire to have an immediate baptism take place upon Amelia's birth, bathing and dressing instructions, family and friend visitation, life-support guidelines and arrangements to have Amelia's heart valve and aortic arch donated to Nebraska Organ Recovery upon her death.
"I am a planner. That is what I do," Melissa said. "It's not necessarily therapeutic. I would have been planning her nursery. I would have been making sure she had every piece of clothing and baby thing that we are going to need for her life. Instead, I'm making sure her life, short albeit, can be as peaceful and love-filled as possible, so that we can be prepared as a family so that we can give her that. That's very important. There are arrangements that do need to be made. I would rather make them now and prepare."
* * *
'All children are a blessing'
Mother's Day is this Sunday. Father's Day is next month.
For Tim and Melissa, a couple that will mark their fourth wedding anniversary on July 2, Mother's Day and Father's Day are special opportunities to celebrate and appreciate parenthood and the time they have together with their children.
Amelia represents Tim and Melissa's third pregnancy. A miscarriage ended their first pregnancy in July 2007 and Noah was born on Aug. 25, 2008.
"It does give you a bit of perspective in that to be a parent is a blessing and children are a blessing," Melissa said. "Healthy or otherwise, all children are a blessing.
"We do have this time with Amelia. We have time with Noah, but we don't know how long that time's going to be either. We are much more grateful for the time we do have with our children while they're here on Earth."
Tim expects Father's Day to have some added personal meaning this year, not only because of Amelia, but because the day will provide him with an even greater appreciation for his son.
"I think we're extremely lucky to have Noah," Tim said. "Having Noah here – seeing him growing - helps me. Having him here is going to make it (Father's Day) a little easier for me."
Since learning of Amelia's anencephaly, Tim and Melissa have relied heavily on their faith to help them cope and stay strong. They've also been touched and uplifted by the support and prayers they've received from relatives, friends and people they've never met who are telling them that little Amelia has in some way had an impact on their lives, spiritually or otherwise.
Tim and Melissa take comfort in knowing that through the possible donation of her heart valve and aortic arch, Amelia may help preserve the life of another child. They are hopeful that through their own participation in a study being conducted at Duke University, the number of anencephalic pregnancies may be reduced or eliminated in the future.
* * *
'She is perfect to us'
Melissa has received support from other "mommies" of anencephalic children she's met online over the past weeks. Meeting other mothers who have experienced what she's going through has provided Melissa with reassurance.
"Certainly, the other mommies I've connected with, their stories are very precious to me because I've had one-on-one conversations with them about their experience with their babies and anencephaly," she said. "Two of the mommies I've spent a great length talking with are Renee and Julie. Their daughters are Amanda Grace and Lyndan Grace, and we have Amelia Grace. I do not think that is a coincidence by any means."
As difficult as the past seven weeks have been for Tim and Melissa, they take comfort in their firm belief that God had a reason for choosing them to care for Amelia Grace during her time on Earth. They will cherish every minute they have together with her.
Tim and Melissa are preparing themselves for more sorrow, more tears and the difficult days that lie ahead, but through their faith, they will accept God's plan for their daughter with open arms.
Amelia Grace is a blessing and a reason to celebrate.
"There's a time for tears, but there's a time for joy, too. She's worth smiling and celebrating about," Melissa said. "Just because she has a birth defect that is fatal, it doesn't somehow devalue her life. She is here, she is precious and she is perfect to us."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Friends of the Tim and Melissa Lorang family are hosting a pair of blood drives on Saturday, June 12, in honor of Tim and Melissa's daughter, Amelia Grace.
The two blood drives are taking place simultaneously in Glenwood at the Mills County YMCA (from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and at the America Red Cross blood donation center at 132nd and Dodge Street in Omaha (from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.).
Donor appointments for either blood drive may be scheduled by e-mailing firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling Joe at 402-650-8295 or 527-3191.
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A U.S. Department of Justice review of nine deaths at the Glenwood Resource Center in 2008 revealed no "systemic issues" related to the quality of care at the state's largest facility for the mentally handicapped.
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SENECA — With the Seneca boys slated to open play at sectionals tonight in Springfield, it may not come as a surprise to see the Indians making such a heavy mark on the Big 8 All-Conference basketball team this season.
The Indians placed five members of its squad among a list of 10 total local athletes and coaches to make the list on the boys and girls side.
Kyler Ng was a unanimous first team selection for the Indians, while also being named Big 8 Player of the Year. Indians coach Will King, meanwhile, was named Coach of the Year. Also garnering selections for the Indians were Logan St. Clair (second team), Bradley Jumper (honorable mention) and Daniel Noah (special mention/injury).
East Newton's Bryce Zimmerman was the lone Patriot on the squad, garnering second team honors. Other members of the Big 8 first team were: Shane Williams (Mount Vernon), Chandler Myers (Mount Vernon), Matt Magee (Carl Junction) and Travis Vogt (Carl Junction).
The second team consisted of Kyle Woods (Monett), Tripp Tucker (Lamar) and Zane Phillips (Mount Vernon). Other honorable mentions were Garrett Kirk (Cassville), Drew Parker (Aurora), Garrett Bader (Aurora) and Ethan Lowery (Cassville).
The girls team was highlighted by three East Newton Lady Patriots, as Kourtney Brewster and Shelbey Thomlinson each grabbed first team honors and Haley Heilig earned honorable mention. Seneca's Molli Cooper, meanwhile, was also honorable mention.
Rounding out the girls' first team was Brenlee McPherson (Carl Junction), Mackenzie Farmer (Mount Vernon) and Tamiaya Henderson (Mount Vernon). The second team consisted of Kendra Eden (Aurora), Rachel Parker (Aurora), Bryce Boyd (Carl Junction), Audrey LaSalle (Mount Vernon) and Emily Speakman (Cassville).
Honorable mention accolades also went to Maria Chism (Carl Junction), Ryan O'Sullivan (Lamar) and Taylor Jackson (Lamar). The Player of the Year award went to McPherson, while Coach of the Year honors went to Mount Vernon's Jamie LaSalle.
10 locals earn Big 8 honors
SENECA — With the Seneca boys slated to open play at sectionals tonight in Springfield, it may not come as a surprise to see the Indians making such a heavy mark on the Big 8 All-Conference basketball team this season.


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Tragedy prompts some to choose sides over gun control
A mere 24 hours after a heavily armed man gunned down 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, lines had begun to be drawn between those who advocate gun "control" and those in favor of gun "rights."
All agreed that what happened in Newtown Friday was unthinkable. There was no consensus, however, when the discussion turned to preventing future school shootings.
Scott Wilson, president of the Groton-based Connecticut Citizens Defense League, suggested that lawfully arming school faculty and staff might help.
"I really think it's time people start thinking out of the box with these things and really consider options to protect our children," he said in a phone interview Saturday.
Wilson, a 48-year-old New London native who works in customer service in the trucking industry, only recently has started telling people that he was the victim of a shooting accident at age 14, when a relative mishandled a friend's .22-caliber pistol.
"He was not watching where it was pointed, and he put his finger on the trigger," Wilson said.
The bullet entered Wilson's shoulder, went into his neck, nicked an artery and lodged against his spine, partially paralyzing his right arm for a period of time, he said.
"In spite of that, after a number of years, I decided that between crime and coming to believe in our rights as citizens, gun ownership was an important thing," Wilson said.
On Friday, less than three hours after the shooting, Wilson sent out a press release on behalf of his pro-gun rights group to express its "heartfelt sympathies to the victims, families and the entire community of Newtown," but also to stand firm on the right to own guns.
"This was an act of deranged behavior from a mentally ill individual, not of decent and law abiding people that own guns and respect life," he wrote in the press release.
The unwillingness of gun rights advocates to budge on firearms issues frustrates those who want to talk about banning assault-type rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines that enable a shooter to fire off multiple rounds without reloading. Every proposal to ban so-called LCAMs, the most recent in 2011, has failed to make it out of committee in the Connecticut General Assembly.
"The problem is not guns, they tell me, even though every one of these mass murders involved guns with a high-capacity magazine," Ron Pinciaro, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said.
But like those who show up in large numbers at public hearings in Hartford to oppose revisions to what already are considered among the strictest gun laws in the country, Pinciaro conceded that no single gun law would prevent mass shootings.
"This is a cultural problem, and it's the incredible lethality and fire power of these weapons that contribute to it," he said. "It's the proliferation of weapons, the fact that we have 300 million guns in the United States, far more than any other country, and the gun manufacturers keep aggressively marketing them."
State Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, who said she consistently gets an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association, and State Sen. Andrew Maynard, D-18th District, who gets "A's" from the gun rights group, agreed the conversation about guns must take place.
Urban said she is a proponent of the Second Amendment and that her low rating from the NRA is probably a result of her opposition to hunting. She was frustrated during the last session when a bill she proposed to ban fake guns within 250 feet of schools was killed.
She proposed the ban after a scare involving a 15-year-old student who pointed an airsoft gun at another teen's head in Stonington. The student didn't immediately comply with police when ordered to drop the weapon.
"I guess what I'm saying is that it's unfortunate that a bill like the simulated gun bill gets killed rather than being able to have a conversation," Urban said. "The opposition rears its head and says, 'No, we will not have this conversation.'"
Urban wants the discussion to include easier access to treatment and insurance coverage for those who have mental health problems.
"I know many constituents who have children who need placement (in a facility)," Urban said. "Until that child does harm to someone or themselves, we can't get them a bed. We need to address that."
Maybe the conversation should even include a rating system for video games, she said.
Maynard, who said he generally has opposed additional gun laws, may be more open to changes in the wake of the Sandy Hook School shooting.
"It's funny that the closer these things strike to home, it focuses your thoughts," he said.
For example, when it comes to the large capacity magazine discussion, "It's very hard for me to continue to justify protecting the rights of sportsmen at the cost of this kind of carnage," Maynard said.
But like the others, Maynard said, changes to gun laws may not have prevented the Newtown shooting. News reports indicated that Adam Lanza had used guns that were legally purchased by and registered to his mother. They also indicate he had a personality disorder and was a loner.
Maynard said conversation has to include the mental health system and identifying people who are showing signs of stress or isolation.
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FIRESTONE -- Weld County's quest to add "North Colorado" to the United States met with loud approval Monday night in southwest Weld.
Approximately 75 people gathered in the Southwest Weld Complex near Firestone to add their voices to the debate over whether to create the 51st state.
Most could agree on two things: there is a "disconnect" between rural Colorado and the Denver-Boulder area, and secession for northeastern Colorado should be put before the voters as soon as possible.
"It may just make a statement," acknowledged Harry McClintock of Frederick. "But doggone it, I really hope we succeed in doing it!"
About 11 northeastern counties, led by Weld, are exploring whether to put a statehood issue on November's county ballots. Under the Constitution, statehood requires approval by both the Legislature and Congress, so this initial vote -- if it takes place -- would be advisory, asking Denver to send a petition to Washington.
If the Legislature doesn't, Weld County Chairman Bill Garcia said, the corner of Colorado would have one more option: Ask voters to put a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot requiring the Legislature to petition Congress.
If that sounds unlikely, Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said, so did Broomfield becoming its own county. A statewide ballot in 1998 passed by a wide margin; the county was incorporated in 2001.
Despite that, several North Colorado supporters acknowledged that a statehood fight would be an uphill battle at best.
"Forming a new state in the atmosphere we have now is much, much harder than it was 150 years ago," said Dan Oster of Kersey, referring to the last "breakway" state to join the Union, West Virginia in 1863.
"Is our intent really to form a new state?" Skip Ellington of Frederick asked. "Or is the intent really to send a message?"
Weld County Commissioners first announced their intentions in June, saying the Legislature was ready to profit from rural Colorado but not to listen to it.
On Monday, a long line of speakers ran down their list of grievances: gun regulation, oil and gas regulation, firefighter unionization and -- the breaking point for some -- Senate Bill 252, which doubled the amount of energy rural cooperatives would have to get from "green" sources.
"We're not falling away from Colorado," Bruce Sparrow of Keenesburg said. "Colorado's falling away from us."
Short of statehood, several also expressed support for a suggestion from Phillips County, that the Colorado constitution should be amended to have the Senate elect one member per county, rather than base both chambers on population.
Weld County will hold two more public comment sessions: today at the Evans Recreation Center, 1100 37th St., Evans; and Wednesday at the Ault Fire Department, 16680 Colo. Highway 14, Ault.
Meanwhile, Conway said, a number of people and even some businesses have expressed interest in moving to the new state.
"It's been the best economic development initiative we've had in a long time," he joked.
Scott Rochat can be reached at 303-684-5220 or email@example.com.


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Huskers Look for Third Tourney Win
The Nebraska bowling team returns to competition after a week off as the Huskers travel to the James Brown Invitational held by Morgan State University in Towson, Md. It will be the largest tournament to date for the Huskers as they compete in the 28-team field. Competition begins Friday morning and will conclude Sunday afternoon.
Head Coach Bill Straub believes the team will be ready for the challenge this weekend even though the team has a long travel day on Thursday.
"This will be our longest travel we are going to have this year, so there is more to do and more connections to make." Straub said, "Hopefully we can get all of our equipment up to the tournament, it's a long way from home."
Even though the team had to back out of competition last week for the Southern University Invite do to a format conflict, Straub said that the team has been competing at a high level during practice.
"I like how the team has been performing; hopefully the team can continue their success this weekend." Straub said, "This is a deep tournament field, and we are excited to see how the team competes against some new competition."
Last time out
The Nebraska bowling team last competed at the Prairie View A&M Invite in Arlington, Texas Feb. 1-3. The Huskers won the tournament title beating Maryland Eastern Shore University 4-1 on the final day of competition.
Leading the way for the Huskers was sophomore Liz Kuhlkin. Kuhlkin finished third in the individual standings with a 290.8 average. She earned a spot on the all-tournament team for the second time this season.
Straub was impressed with Kuhlkin's overall performance, as well as her intensity in the first two days of competition.
"Liz's performance through the first two days was tremendous; she really kept the team in it."
Freshman Beth Hedley added another strong performance to her 2012-13 campaign, recording a 202 on the final day of competition. Hedley finished 22nd in the individual standings, bowling a five-game average of 183.4.
The Huskers finished the weekend with an overall record of 11-2, while finishing fourth in total team pinfall with 8442.
Check back here at Huskers.com for as the Huskers looks to win their third tournament title in a row this weekend.
Huskers Scheduled to Compete:
Elise Bolton
Amanda Burau
Beth Hedley
Liz Kuhlkin
Yan Ling
Kristi Mickelson
Andrea Ruiz
Teams Competing:
Bowie State
Coppin State
Delaware State
Elmhurst College
Saint Francis (PA)
Saint Francis College (NY)
Maryland Eastern Shore
Central Missouri
Fayetteville State
Florida A&M
Fairleigh Dickinson
Morgan State
New Jersey City
Norfolk State
North Carolina A&M
North Carolina Central
Sacred Heart
Virginia Union
Long Island
Arkansas State
Saint Peters College