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Last night was one of those nights where the stat-tracker looked like a slot machine with so many games on and so many big lines. Let's dig right in after a busy 13-game Wednesday night.
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Mullens Mania
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist missed another game due to a concussion and owners simply have to wait and see how it goes. I think there's enough upside to hold on here even if he was struggling a bit before going down. The Bobcats will need to develop him. Byron Mullens had another solid night in his second game back from a severe ankle injury, scoring 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting with three treys, seven rebounds, and a block in just 17 minutes. The Bobcats need him and owners need to have him in most lineups.
The Early Returns
Dion Waiters hit 9-of-14 shots for 19 points with five assists and a steal, though he didn't hit a three in the Cavs' blowout win over the Bobcats. Wayne Ellington saw extra minutes and scored 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting with a nice line, but owners should make him do it again before blinking in most formats. Marreese Speights scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with 10 boards and a block in 19 minutes, and he likely would have played more if the game wasn't a blowout. I added him in some big money leagues and I like the early returns. Tyler Zeller scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting with six rebounds, three assists, and one block in his 22 minutes, and I have him ranked a good amount below Speights. He's 14-team material at best.
Supporting Cast
As usual, none of the question marks in Boston were able to step up in last night's win against the Raptors, but owners of Kevin Garnett (27 points, 10 boards) and Paul Pierce (12 points, 2-of-11 FGs, 11 boards, six assists) have to be thrilled. Both had small issues with last night's lines, but they're going to carry so much load that owners should only fear that they break.
Courtney Lee scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting (no threes) with two rebounds, three assists, and no steals or blocks, Avery Bradley scored 11 points with a three, two assists, and a block, Brandon Bass scored 10 points with three boards and a block, Jason Terry barfed up two points in 26 minutes, and Jeff Green scored eight points with six boards, three assists, and a steal in his 27 minutes. Ugly. Leandro Barbosa scored 14 points with a relatively full stat line, but he's probably the weakest positioned guard on this list. I'm holding Bass for a little while longer, if I owned Green I'd probably view him as a long-term stash, and the guard group doesn't interest me much unless I'm banking on their threes.
Today in Toronto
It may be a last-chance to show he can make things work, but Bryan Colangelo's influence in making Rudy Gay the focal point in Toronto is impressive. Gay has come in and averaged 21 shots per game in his three contests for the Raps, and last night he scored 25 points on 8-of-24 shooting with 12 rebounds, three assists, and four steals in 41 minutes. He doesn't strike me as a guy whose efficiency is going to rise, but even the TV guys are ultra-committed to making the Gay trade look like a success. Whether or not everybody cools it and the touch distribution starts to equalize is a fair question. For now, though, the trade looks like a solid bump to his value.
The other big story was Andrea Bargnani's return from an elbow injury that has kept him out since Dec. 10, and he did fairly well with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals on 5-of-10 shooting in 24 minutes. I think the Raptors will start to shift some of Rudy's ridiculous workload onto Bargs once they're done convincing everybody that trading for Gay was the right move. I think he should be owned in 12-team leagues for the hopes a trade out of Toronto can help him tap back into mid-round upside. Just be cognizant of his inherent risks.
Jonas Valanciunas played just two minutes and will continue to be held back until the deadline. I've stashed him in some competitive leagues in which I need big men, but there isn't a guarantee that he will pan out so owners need to stash at their own risk. Kyle Lowry got back on track with 17 points, seven boards, eight assists, four steals, and three treys. One has to think he'll get tired of watching Gay chuck up so many shots and tonight might be the first indicator that he's seeking to achieve balance on his own.
Roy Hibbert feasted on the Sixers' banged up frontcourt, scoring 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting with 14 rebounds, two steals, and five blocks. I can't think of a better sell-high moment. After a slow start to the season, the Pacers are 31-19 and challenging for the East's best record, and though Paul George (4-of-13 FGs, 15 points, full line) struggled with his shot he's the reason for the surge.
Deep Sixed
Jason Richardson (knee) could be on his tenth medical opinion by the time I publish this, and the bottom line is that he looks like he's toast for this year. That makes Nick Young (nine points, 4-of-13 FGs, six boards, three assists, no steals or blocks) a must-own player in my book, even if he stunk like his teammates in their 88-69 loss to the Pacers.
Evan Turner enthusiasts have gotten a cold shower in the past few weeks, and all I know is that it's going to take a prolonged period of consistency before I get off his back for losing his head. He hit 1-of-10 shots for two points, nine boards, and four assists, and he has scored eight or less in four straight and hit 10-of-36 shots over that time. With holes in his fantasy game, he just can't have that. And yes, the one place I own him I'm holding.
Lavoy Allen scored 12 points with six rebounds, a steal, and a block in 35 minutes, which may be a typical line and that could give him some low-end value so give him a look if you need a big. Dorell Wright played 30 minutes and scored nine points on 4-of-8 shooting with eight rebounds, three assists, one steal, and two blocks. I'm concerned what Young will do to stagnate the offense and the lack of playmakers in general, which will hold Wright back a bit, but I like his chance of having a 25-30 minute role while everybody is out. I'm considering in add in non-shallow formats.
Everybody (Eventually) Loves Raymond
Raymond Felton hasn't been great since returning from his pinkie injury, but got back on track last night against the Wiz with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, three treys, three boards, four assists, and two steals. Yes, there is risk, but the buy low window in the event he returns to form appears to be 1-2 games wide. J.R. Smith (illness) played and he hit 6-of-14 shots for 13 points and not much else, but at least he was on the court.
Behind Beal
Bradley Beal missed another game as the shooting wrist struck again, and I'd be willing to stash him for dead weight when it gets announced that he will return and that is about it. John Wall is back as he posted 21 points, five rebounds, nine assists, and a block. Martell Webster scored 19 points with five treys and after his recent production you have to give him a short-term, spot-start look but Beal's return will probably knock him off the standard league list. Trevor Ariza finally made noise with 20 points, five treys, four rebounds, three assists, and a steal on 7-of-11 shooting in 33 minutes, and he has the same issue with Beal coming back that Webster does.
Taking the Night Off
Chris Paul (knee) and Blake Griffin (hamstring) were scratches and that makes a whole lot of sense when the opposition is a banged up Magic squad. Chauncey Billups (foot) is nearing a return but it's anybody's guess when that will be. Jamal Crawford joined the party with a shoulder issue, but it could very well have been a simple maintenance day off. This left Eric Bledsoe free to go nuts with a season-high 27 points, six rebounds, three assists, six steals, three blocks, and two threes on 9-of-21 shooting. Filthy. DeAndre Jordan also took advantage with 13 points and 14 rebounds, as did Lamar Odom (eight points, five boards, four assists, six steals, one three) and Ryan Hollins (13 points, eight boards, two blocks). Owners can safely ignore the Clippers box score for evaluation purposes.
J.J. Redick (shoulder) and Arron Afflalo (calf) were ruled out early yesterday for last night's game, and the lack of reporting on Afflalo's injury is a bit unsettling but we still haven't heard that it's serious, either. As for Redick, he is day-to-day and an MRI ruled out any structural damage. Jameer Nelson (arm) got back into action and picked up where he left off with 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting, five rebounds, four assists, and three treys.
E'Twaun Moore slid one spot over and hit just 3-of-16 shots for seven points, three boards, five assists, a steal, and a three, but his 35 percent shooting over his last five games is cutting into his value. I wouldn't break my neck to hold him with his role in question once Redick and Afflalo return. Moe Harkless showed some of what has held him back in general this season, hitting just 2-of-11 shots for six points, nine boards, one steal, and two blocks. The non-scoring numbers are acceptable, but he's not making the impact he'll need to make in order to hold his playing time when the Magic get the aforementioned guys back. He has long-term upside, but things might get rough in the short-term.
Culture Change
The Grizzlies are in full-on implosion mode and it's probably because Robert Pera has come in with John Hollinger and changed everything but the plastic forks in the media room. Lionel Hollins is openly irked right now with the Rudy Gay trade, and with all of that in mind we're still in the one-week cooling off time frame I discussed yesterday. If the Grizz are still struggling after that, then maybe the issue won't go away.
Tayshaun Prince scored six points on 3-of-9 shooting with two rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes, and one more of those will be the confirmation that the leopard didn't get new spots. Jerryd Bayless is clearly taking over some of Gay's offensive responsibilities and he had another good night, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting with four rebounds, five assists, and a three. I was down on Bayless a week or so ago, mainly because I figured he'd have to share with guys like Darrell Arthur (two points, 15 minutes) and Ed Davis (two points, six boards, nine minutes). To date neither of them has taken food off of Bayless' plate, and his value proposition will be fully expressed once those guys are fully integrated and Quincy Pondexter returns.
Attack of Teague
Anthony Tolliver got a start for matchup purposes and scored eight points with seven rebounds, a block, and two threes in 28 minutes. If he keeps it up we'll let you know, but for now he's only worth a look in very deep leagues. Josh Smith scored 19 points with 11 rebounds, six assists, a steal, a three, and three blocks on 7-of-13 shooting, and Jeff Teague kept his foot heavy on the gas with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting with 13 rebounds and two threes. It's going to be fun watching Teague have the backcourt all to himself.
James Harden is absolutely on fire right now, and last night he hit 10-of-16 shots for 36 points with four treys, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals while single-handedly keeping the Rockets in the game against Miami before losing. He has averaged 24 points, 6.6 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.2 3-pointers over his last five games, while shooting a nasty 53 percent from the floor, 50 percent from downtown and 80 percent from the line over that stretch.
Kevin Martin is a nice player and Thunder management are scared to tell Kendrick Perkins to stop shooting the ball let alone amnesty the guy, but man I feel like we're getting robbed of what could have been a special team there if Harden was in play. One look at the Houston box score will let you know that there were no surprises tonight, but Patrick Patterson posted an empty 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting with three rebounds, a three and nothing else, and that probably irked owners recently making an add. I wish I could tell you that the inconsistency was going to stop, as it probably won't.
Addition by Subtraction
Chris Bosh was a later scratch due to illness last night and that left LeBron James (32 points, full line) and Dwyane Wade (31 points, full line) free to destroy fantasy leagues. Wade is slowly climbing back onto his perch with second round value over the past two weeks and that would fit the 'old guy takes first half of the season off narrative' pretty nicely. Ray Allen has been really struggling lately and hit just 1-of-8 shots last night for five points, one three, and not much else. I have no problem dropping him but it wouldn't be surprising if he rebounds from the low point on his graph.
Reggie Evans Scores 10 Points. No, Really.
Reggie Evans put up a surprising 10 points to go with his not-so-surprising 14 rebounds and one block in 30 minutes, and no, I'm not running to go pick him up. Gerald Wallace scored 14 points with three rebounds, one assist, and two threes in 27 minutes, which means in the one place I added him I'm cautiously optimistic that I earned a late-round value in the Nets' current roster configuration.
Tailbone's Connected to Bench, Usually
The Free Andre Drummond train took a small hit when he had to leave last night's return-game halfway through. He said the issue was his tailbone and not his back, and owners will want to watch this situation closely but in general I'm not panicking at this early stage. Jose Calderon scored eight points with nine assists and two threes as he gets acclimated to his new team, Brandon Knight started putting up his old shooting guard numbers with 12 points, two rebounds, four assists, and two steals on 4-of-10 shooting in 26 minutes, and Rodney Stuckey came off the bench with four points and three rebounds in 23 minutes. Cut Stuckey in 12-14 team formats if you want, and look at Will Bynum (13 points, four rebounds, seven assists, two steals) as an alternative to Knight and/or in general but keep in mind that four's a crowd in Detroit.
Act Like You've Been There Before
Andrew Bogut (ankle) did not play due to the back-to-back, which was expected, and Jarrett Jack (shoulder) did not play, which wasn't expected. We're calling him questionable for Friday's game until we get clarification on the abruptly reported injury. Now that that's out of the way, I figured it would be a blowout loss for the Dubs in yesterday's Dose, and it was, and last night's outing had some added bad taste when Kevin Martin called out GSW's bench after the game. I'm paraphrasing, but he said the younger guys that haven't proven anything shouldn't be talking trash the way they did and he also alluded to a dirty play. This isn't the first time the Warriors' bench has been caught acting like they haven't been there before, as the Lakers were cracking up watching the bench's reaction to a Blake Griffin 3-pointer that clanked off the side of the backboard. All of it just makes me wonder where the leadership is, as the wrong guys are talking trash and the entire team is complaining about having the score run up on them in a professional game.
At least Klay Thompson got back on track with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting and three treys, and Stephen Curry had 14 points, eight boards, and 11 assists even if he hit just 5-of-20 shots against a motivated Russell Westbrook. Harrison Barnes hit 7-of-9 shots for 19 points but just one steal to his stat line, and that's enough to make me write the outing off as a harbinger of things to come with guys out. David Lee put up a typically big line and got worked over inside again. Rinse, lather, repeat.
The Thunder slugged it out with the Clippers and had to turn around and play in Golden State the next day earlier in the year. The Warriors treated the game like a Super Bowl and the Thunder came out flat in a loss, so it made sense that they'd want revenge at home. Serge Ibaka walked over the Warriors' interior with 15 points, nine boards, four assists, a three, and six blocks, Kevin Durant scored 25 points with a full line, Kevin Martin scored 21 points with three treys, four assists, and two steals, and Russell Westbrook ate up Stephen Curry on both ends and finished with 22 points and a full line.
Same Old Story
Kendall Marshall (zero points, three assists, 20 minutes) flamed out after a mildly interesting Tuesday, and I don't think he can get his shot together to be an asset this season. Goran Dragic continued to trudge along, scoring 13 points with six assists in 32 minutes. Michael Beasley played just 20 minutes, scoring 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting with five rebounds and no steals or blocks. In other words, he showed why I have no real interest in him. Jared Dudley bounced back from a disaster on Tuesday, scoring 14 points with six rebounds, three assists, and one three in 28 minutes. I put Shannon Brown (six points, 16 minutes) in the same category as Beasley for fantasy purposes as well as the damage they do to the Suns' offense when they're making mistakes.
But, How Am I Going To Know It's The Right Moment?
Eric Gordon didn't have the game I thought he might after all his rest, hitting just 3-of-14 shots for nine points with no rebounds, two assists, and one steal in 32 minutes. Just try to find your sell-high moment like the slow clap guy from Not Another Teen Movie. In bad news for me, I gave up on Al-Farouq Aminu in a few places and he got back on track, scoring 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with 11 rebounds and a steal in 30 minutes. I have a feeling he'll be mostly productive this season but that owners will have a hard time timing when to use him.
Blazers Punch In, Punch Out, Lose
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points with 10 boards in his return to his Dallas hometown, Damian Lillard hit just 6-of-17 shots for 19 points and a full stat line, and Nicolas Batum battled through his shooting wrist injury to score nine points on 3-of-8 shooting with six rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one three in 41 minutes. My guess is that he's targeting the All Star break as a time he can get some rest. Wesley Matthews scored 21 points with five treys, J.J. Hickson double-doubled with 14 and 10, and the Blazers are who we thought they were before the game started.
Extra Mayo or Other Mayonnaise Pun
Dirk Nowitzki scored 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting with eight rebounds in last night's win over the Blazers. Shawn Marion added 13 points and 10 boards, and O.J. Mayo got hot hitting 11-of-14 shots for 28 points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, and three treys. Some of the team-affiliated local talk has been calling for more touches for Mayo, and it's possible you see the team start to make a more concerted effort to get him the ball now that Dirk has settled in. Vince Carter played through an illness and scored 17 points with three rebounds, three assists, and three treys. He missed Monday's game and has scored between 17 and 22 points in his last three games. Give him a look, but he's been up and down in general over the past month.
Tim Duncan (knee, ankle) and Manu Ginobili (hamstring) were both early scratches from last night's game, and they're both still day-to-day without any indication of when they're coming back. That left the usual suspects in place to do their damage. Tony Parker scored 31 points with a full line, Danny Green went nuts with eight 3-pointers on 9-of-14 shooting overall for a career-high 28 points, and Kawhi Leonard went for an ultra-efficient 19 and 10 with two steals, two threes, 7-of-13 FGs, 3-of-3 FTs, and a block. That's the type of upside I was touting a few weeks back when everybody was hopping off the bandwagon. This trio is going to carry a lot of weight while Ginobili and Duncan profile to be the rest guys at this early junction.
Making Up for AK
Andrei Kirilenko did not play due to his quad injury and it's unclear when he'll be coming back, so for last night the Wolves had a nice-sized hole in their rotation against the Spurs. Derrick Williams was able to step into some of that value with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, 12 rebounds, and two threes, but he had no other stats to illustrate the holes in his fantasy game. Along with his inconsistency, I'm not buying.
Dante Cunningham came in relatively hot and had a pedestrian four-point, six-rebound night with a steal and block, J.J. Barea hung onto his low-end value with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting and three treys, and Nikola Pekovic went off for 21 and 10 with a 11-of-12 mark from the foul line. Rick Adelman went away from Alexey Shved, who finished with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting (including a three) with four rebounds, two assists, and one block in 18 minutes, but he had been pretty productive coming in and he's more of a long-term guy playing in an older, injury prone group anyway.
Sammy D Does It Again
X-rays taken on Larry Sanders' back after Tuesday's fall returned negative and though he missed last night's game, he is with the team and could play on Friday. Ersan Ilyasova bounced back from a dud on Tuesday to score 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting with four rebounds and two threes in 30 minutes on Wednesday. He's not going to blow you away every night, but the consistency of minutes and confidence he's showing is key to his value right now. Brandon Jennings is in a funk right now and hit just 5-of-16 shots last night, scoring 17 points with five rebounds, four assists, and four steals. He's shooting 34.9 percent over his last five games and that's a by-the-book buy low moment.
Perhaps the biggest question, however, is what was Samuel Dalembert going to do after his enormous outing on Tuesday. The answer was pretty good, actually, as he scored 10 points with 11 rebounds, four steals, and four blocks in 26 minutes. The steals and blocks are what caught my eye, but he's going to have to take minutes from somebody other than Sanders. He's also going to have to keep his nose clean and not do stupid stuff, which has been a real problem for him. So his long-term value is better today than it was yesterday, but I still have concerns about his ability to keep sustainable production going. He's worth an add, but I'm not dropping anybody of consistent value to keep him with guys like John Henson, Drew Gooden, and Ekpe Udoh around to give Jim Boylan options.
Jazz Frontcourt Gets Loose
Gordon Hayward (shoulder) did not play and while he didn't sound sure, he commented that he thinks he's closer to the end of his injury than the beginning of it. Players can be overoptimistic in their comments, so just keep an open mind here about his timetable. I'm holding him through the trade deadline to see if things shake up in his favor. Earl Watson (leg) did not play, which opened the door for Alec Burks to play 29 minutes, but he didn't make a huge impact with just eight points, three rebounds, three assists, and two threes.
It's possible that we're seeing a shift toward Burks in a 20+ minute role with time at both guard slots, especially if Hayward remains out, but he needs to show more in standard formats before owners should get all hot and bothered. Paul Millsap (19 points, six rebounds, five assists, four blocks, two steals), Al Jefferson (19 and 11 on 8-of-12 FGs), and Derrick Favors (nine points, 11 boards, three steals, three blocks, 22 minutes) all got into the mix. Enes Kanter even gets his name called with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting with nine rebounds and five blocks in just 17 minutes.
Thursday Night Lights
LAL @ BOS: Dwight Howard (shoulder, back) is more drama than anything else these days, and not in the sense you're probably thinking of initially when I say that. The whispers have been that he bailed on Orlando, but back surgery was good enough to get him out of that rumor and his play upon returning certainly looks like a guy with a bad back. Now his shoulder injury is getting cat-calls from everybody including Kobe Bryant, and Howard has gone public with talk about numbness in his legs and the outside appearance is that he's not willing to play hurt. On top of that, is he just folding under the pressure in Los Angeles, and is he unwilling to play an intense brand of basketball? Is he trying to distance himself from this year's disaster? Preserving his career by not risking further injury? So many questions, and I know what my gut tells me but I can't say with any certainty what the answers are. Howard is questionable for tonight, and in general.
Pau Gasol (torn plantar fascia) is going to be out six weeks to three months, and that's cuttin' territory unless you have bench spaces available for guys that may not pan out. Metta World Peace and Earl Clark should already have been owned in most leagues, and I'd be hard-pressed not to add Antawn Jamison now that Mike D'Antoni is officially free to implement his small lineup. MWP will return tonight after serving his one-game suspension on Tuesday. The Lakers are down personnel, but the Celtics could easily struggle on the tail-end of a back-to-back.
CHI @ DEN: Joakim Noah (plantar fasciitis) was set to practice yesterday but there was no immediate post-practice report. I've beaten the horse to death, but he's a risk to get overused so owners should be hoping he takes it easy. Marco Belinelli (ankle) is a game-time decision after scoring a season-high 24 points on Monday. I'm not really concerned about him and an absence won't necessarily translate into transferable fantasy value. Carlos Boozer said his hammy didn't bother him after Monday's ho-hum return. He's expected to play tonight and should be in most lineups. The Nuggets come into the game healthy and they need to continue to build continuity on both ends of the floor.


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Red Sox - 000 000 001 - 1 5 1Penny pitched well (6-6-2-0-2, 106) but two solo home runs -- Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson -- was enough for Hanson (6-2-0-2-2, 97) and a quartet of relievers.
Atlanta - 100 100 00x - 2 6 2
On his ninth pitch of the afternoon -- a fastball to Kelly Johnson -- Penny grimaced, called out the trainer and was seen shaking his right arm. Penny said afterwards that his thumb had gone numb when it "popped out of the joint for a second. It was nothing. I just needed a second to let it come back."
Boston's run came when Jason Varitek's two-out single scored Kevin Youkilis.
There was an odd play in that inning. Youkilis singled and Jason Bay struck out. David Ortiz tapped a grounder to second. Johnson gloved the ball and went to tag Youkilis, but Yook froze in the basepath. So Johnson threw to Casey Kotchman at first base to retire Ortiz. Kotchman then threw down to shortstop Diory Hernandez, who chased Youkilis back to first.
Hernandez's throw back to Johnson at the bag was high and Yook was able to slide back in safely. So ... Ortiz grounded out to second and the runner at first did not advance!
Brad Penny (4.93, 94 ERA+) / Tommy Hanson (3.13, 136 ERA+)
Penny: 3.81 ERA in his last 10 starts (all of May and June). At $5, he's becoming a bargain at the back end of the rotation.
Terry Francona:
He's gotten us into the sixth pretty regularly. Now, his stuff is getting better, too. His stuff is more powerful. ... He's starting to locate, he's starting to throw it downhill. [Trade rumours?] I didn't pay much attention, because I knew where we were. We didn't sign him to trade him. We signed him to win.Hanson would be making his fifth career start today. However, he has been battling the flu and Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said it was "very iffy" if he could go this afternoon. If not, Kris Medlen (6.12, 69 ERA+) will get the ball for his fourth career start.
Hanson continued his recent trend of creating trouble for himself and then pitching out of it. Against the Yankees on Tuesday, the 22-year-old rookie held the Yankees scoreless over 5.1 innings, but walked five batters and hit another. The wildness drove up his pitch count to 99 in the fifth, forcing him out of the game despite allowing just four hits.Mike Lowell will fly back to Boston tonight and get an injection of Synvisc in his ailing right hip on Monday morning. Lowell:
It's not normal to look forward to an injection, but I'm really looking forward to it. I want to feel the relief that hopefully it can provide. I defer to them when they say I can play after that.

subset: commoncrawl


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New Business Q & A
In & Out Convenience Store
Q: Who is the owner of the business?
A: Jeannie Lawrence
Q: When did you open?
A: January 1, 2013
Q: an you briefly describe your business?
A: "It is a convenience store. We sell gas, candy and have a deli featuring pizza and sub sandwiches."
Q: Why take the plunge now?
A: "The opportunity was good."
Q: What sets your business apart from others?
A: "Plenty of space, and we can expand in almost any direction."
Q: Where are you from?
A: Fulton, Missouri
Q: What is your background, and how does it relate to your business?
A: Jeannie managed a convenience store in Kansas City for 3 years
Q: What activities do you enjoy in your free time?
A: "Gardening, I love it though I haven't had much time lately."
Q: How are things going so far?
A: "It is going good. We started kind of slow, but business is picking up every day."
Q: Plans for the future?
A: "Not at this time."


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Despite a zero-death Independence Day last year, the 19 road deaths on the holiday during the last five years make July 4 the state's deadliest day of the year on the road, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety.
Despite a zero-death Independence Day last year, the 19 road deaths on the holiday during the last five years make July 4 the state's deadliest day of the year on the road, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety.
A major factor for the deaths was drunk driving, which accounted for 13 of the holiday's deaths (65 percent), a rate which far eclipses Minnesota's annual percentage of deaths as a result of drunk driving, historically around 30 percent.
Added DWI patrols will be on the roads during the holiday period in the Twin Cities area.
"Independence Day delivers a potentially tragic scenario on the road with nice weather, more celebrations and added traffic volume," says Donna Berger, director of the DPS Office of Traffic Safety. "It's up to each of us to make smart decisions behind the wheel and that includes planning ahead to lock in a sober ride."
Midway through the year, there have been 154 traffic deaths, up from 145 at this time in 2012.
Minnesota's Deadliest Days, 2008–2012
Other deadliest days in Minnesota include: April 25, May 22 and July 10 (15 deaths each); May 30 (14); and June 17, July 13, Aug. 29 (13 each).
Independence Day Travel Period, 2008–2012
The travel period surrounding the Fourth of July is historically deadly. There were 29 deaths during the official holiday travel period of which 19 were drunk-driving related.
DPS officials are stressing that motorists buckle up, drive at safe speeds, pay attention, be patient, drive well-rested and plan ahead for a sober ride.
DWI Consequences
A DWI offense can result in loss of license for up to a year, thousands in costs and possible jail time.
Repeat DWI offenders, as well as first-time offenders arrested at 0.16 and above alcohol-concentration level, must use ignition interlock in order to regain legal driving privileges, or face at least one year without a driver's license. Offenders with three or more offenses are required to use interlock for three to six years, or they will never regain driving privileges.
Tips to Prevent Drunk Driving
· Plan for a safe ride — designate a sober driver, use a cab/public transportation or stay at the location of the celebration.
· Offer to be a designated driver, or be available to pick up a loved one anytime, anywhere.
· Buckle up — the best defense against a drunk driver.
· Report drunk driving — call 911 when witnessing impaired driving behavior. Be prepared to provide location, license plate number and observed dangerous behavior.
About the Minnesota Department Public Safety
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) comprises 11 divisions where 2,100 employees operate programs in the areas of law enforcement, crime victim assistance, traffic safety, alcohol and gambling, emergency communications, fire safety, pipeline safety, driver licensing, vehicle registration and emergency management. DPS activity is anchored by three core principles: education, enforcement and prevention.
About the Office of Traffic Safety
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) designs, implements and coordinates federally funded traffic safety enforcement and education programs to improve driver behaviors and reduce the deaths and serious injuries that occur on Minnesota roads. OTS also administers state funds for the motorcycle safety program and for the child seats for needy families program.
OTS is an anchoring partner of the state's Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) traffic safety initiative. A primary vision of the TZD program is to create a safe driving culture in Minnesota in which motorists support a goal of zero road fatalities by practicing and promoting safe and smart driving behavior. TZD focuses on the application of four strategic areas to reduce crashes — education, enforcement, engineering and emergency trauma response.


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Public recital set for Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. in CHS choir/orchestra room.
Seventeen Crookston High School choir students participated in the State-Section Vocal Solo Contest held at East Grand Forks last week.
Twelve of the students received double stars, a Superior rating and five received single stars, an Excellent rating.
Schools participating in the contest in addition to Crookston included East Grand Forks, Fisher, Grygla, Red Lake Falls, Red Lake County Central, Sacred Heart, Warren/Alverado/Oslo, and Win-E-Mac. Contest adjudicators included Alden Andersen, Deland Elseth, Shirley Hanson, and Ken Sherwood.
Corene Everett and Belinda Fjeld accompanied the Crookston choir students.
Double Stars, Superior Rating:
Mercedes Aponte, sophomore - The Water is Wide
Hallie Cardinal, sophomore - Aura Lee
Mariah Frisk, junior - The Last Rose of Summer
Torrie Greer, junior - All Through the Night/Angels Watching Over Me
Cody Klamm, junior - Poor Wayfaring Stranger
McKaylee Klamm, senior - Homeward Bound
McKaela Larson, senior - Pieta Signore
Keaton Limper, senior - O Divine Redeemer
Allison Reinhart, sophomore - Go 'Way From My Window
Bryan Sanchez, junior - La Donna e Mobile
Paige Sanders, senior - On My Own
Marie Sandman, freshman - On Eagle's Wings
Single Stars, Excellent Rating:
Sotonye Afonya, junior - Danny Boy
Mickayla Johnson, junior - Greensleeves
Ashley Manning, freshman - Amazing Grace
Cyrina Ostgaard, senior - Much More
Heidi Shol, junior - Love's Philosophy
All soloists had the opportunity to work on their solos with Melanie Popejoy, our Artist in Residence from UND. The choir students will perform their solos at a public recital on Monday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. in the choir/orchestra room at CHS. Admission is free with refreshments to follow.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council through funding from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State's general fund.
CHS trio sings at Concordia
Three Crookston High School Choir students, Sydney Luckow, Bryan Sanchez and McKaela Larson, were selected to participate in the Concordia College High School Choral Festival on Friday & Saturday, Jan. 25-26 in Moorhead.
The weekend began with a concert at Memorial Auditorium on Friday night by a professional men's group "Cantus" for over 600 high school choral students, followed with pizza for all participants and a late night mass choir rehearsal with conductor, Dr. Rene Clausen.
The students spent Saturday rehearsing the mass choir selections and listening to mini-concerts by Concordia's Cantabile and Mannerchor Freshman Choir. The event concluded with a late afternoon concert at Trinity Lutheran Church that featured four high school choirs: Blaine High School Concert Choir, Roseville Area High School Cantus Certus, Willmar High School Cardinal Choir and the Red River High School Concert Choir, Grand Forks ND, as well as the Concordia College Concert Choir, and ended with the Festival Choir under the direction of Dr. Rene Clausen.


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The Trade Dimension in the Follow-Up to the Rio+20 Summit
Excellencies, Distinguished Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to welcome you all to our discussion on the trade dimension in the follow-up to the Rio+20 Summit. I am particularly honoured to welcome two Secretary-Generals of the Rio summits: Mr. Maurice Strong, Secretary-General of the 1992 Earth Summit on Environment and Development, and my dear friend, Ambassador Sha Zukang, Secretary-General of Rio+20. Both of them are contributors to the "Road to Rio" magazine we are launching here today, and both of them will inspire and guide us in the challenging road from Rio.
Mr. Sha called me in early 2010 to seek UNCTAD´s support to the UNCSD process, particularly on the issue of the interface between trade, the green economy and development. Today, trade is no longer seen only as a concern in the UNCSD, but also recognized for its potential to open opportunities in the transition to a more balanced, inclusive and development-centered green economy. Trade in green goods and services can be harnessed by developing countries as an engine of growth, job creation and poverty eradication. Although the final text of the Rio+20 Outcome Document is not yet known to us, we are already aware of the key trade-related issues it identifies and we have a good idea of what needs to be done to promote beneficial outcomes from trade in a green global economy.
The significant challenges facing many developing countries that lack the required financial, technological and human capital needed to structurally transform their economies, in a sustainable manner, must be overcome. From a trade perspective, as countries transition to a green economy, they will need to identify entry points to emerging green markets where they can favourably compete with other nations. Better access to technologies and related capabilities are also required to ensure that local industry can meet any additional standards of the green economy. At the same time, there are concerns that the pursuit of a green economy might serve as a pretext for reducing foreign access to markets. International cooperation will thus be essential in responding to these challenges, especially in the areas of capacity building, technology transfer and financial assistance, as well as building international consensus around questions of green protectionism and ways to discourage it.
An important expectation for Rio+20 is that it will catalyse the development and launching of new capacity building activities, enabling developing countries to take advantage of new trade opportunities in the green economy. For our part, UNCTAD will assist countries in the development of national green sectors. Using our Green Product Space Methodology, we have established a new capacity building programme to provide support to developing countries interested in identifying promising new export opportunities for green goods and services within a broader framework of national green economy development strategies.
We are also active in the area of technology-policies. Several of the green economy requirements, such as carbon labeling and border carbon adjustments may have adverse effects on industries in developing countries, as enterprises and organizations may not have the technological means to conform to the new requirements. Developing countries should therefore be assisted through greater access to technologies and related capacity building to be able to cope with the move to the green economy. UNCTAD has been working on many facets of this and will strengthen its ongoing work. Our Technology and Innovation Report 2011 for instance dealt with how renewable energy technologies can, by way of providing critical infrastructure, support the shift in production structures within developing countries, and serve the goals of industrial policy by helping exporters become more competitive, while transitioning to the green economy.
UNCTAD is also supporting countries in their efforts to address trade concerns and potential trade conflicts in their transition to a green economy. In addition to our work in cooperation with the WTO and other relevant institutions in monitoring protectionism - including green protectionism - we will soon establish a forum for international cooperation on trade-related challenges in the green economy. UNCTAD's Global Forum on the Green Economy and Trade will offer an institutional space for experts and economists to engage government officials, to exchange information, and to re-frame the discussions from conflict resolution to conflict prevention, and thereby promote cooperative approaches to policy making.
Through these new initiatives, UNCTAD aims to be a valuable partner for countries seeking to advance their Rio+20 objectives, and in particular their aims to seize new green export opportunities and discourage green protectionism.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are honoured today to have such a distinguished panel share their Rio+20 visions with us. In their interventions, panelists are invited to address two questions:
(i) how national transitions to a green economy can be managed to provide net development gains? And,
(ii) what are the key challenges faced at the national and international levels and how can we best address them?
In their interventions, I would also encourage our panellists to share their views on ways UNCTAD can help to open new trade and sustainable development opportunities, and to provide solutions to the challenges they foresee going forward.
I wish you all a productive discussion and I thank you all for your attention.
Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement
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A southeast breeze will bump temperatures up into the lower 50s today under a mostly sunny sky. The breeze will really pick up tonight (15-mph gusts) and Monday (15 to 20 mph).
Highs will rise a bit for the workweek, with middle 50s on Monday, upper 50s on Tuesday and 60ish on Wednesday. The chance for rain increases, too: 20% Monday night and 40% Tuesday.
Another round of soaking rain is likely Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Things cool down Thursday and Friday, with sunny skies and highs just shy of 50 degrees.


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The Conference Launching the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) is co-sponsored by five United Nations agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Under their mandates, all have worked on issues of sustainable development and related standards for years, and the Forum is an example of the UN delivering as one to coordinate efforts on important development matters.
So-called voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), also termed private standards, claim to improve the health, occupational safety, economic, social, environmental, or animal-welfare conditions under which products are made. They are increasingly becoming significant factors in international trade, particularly for governing long international supply chains. Not complying with them may lead to market exclusion and marginalization. Bilateral or regional free trade agreements generally do not deal in VSS, and, as voluntary instruments, they remain outside the rules of the World Trade Organization, but some experts maintain they may have comparable or even greater practical effects on trade than tariffs do.
Besides playing a very important role in trade and market access, VSS can be important tools for helping to achieve sustainable development objectives such as higher material/resource/energy efficiency, reduction of environmental pollution, or better work and social conditions, including higher incomes. In this way, VSS can effectively contribute to strengthening public goods and services.
Although legally "voluntary" - not created by governments but by private firms, by non-governmental organizations or by coalitions of producers and consumers - they often de facto become mandatory in global markets as their implementation is required by key commercial actors, such as large retailers, traders, or processing companies. Some VSS may also be referenced in government regulations.
Because VSS apply to the processes by which goods are made - for example, for goods labelled "organic" or "fair trade" - they are generally invisible in the end products. Yet, an increasing number of consumers prefer certain production processes, or emphasize specific objectives such as fair wages, occupational safety, animal welfare, nature conservation, or reduction of greenhouse gases.
VSS can result in price premiums - for example for organic produce or fair-trade products. Conversely, they may reduce production costs, by reducing external inputs, for example of energy or fertilizers, or the costs associated with environmental damage, such as soil or water contamination.
The recent expansion and growing complexity of global supply chains for food and other goods, and the increasing role played by consumer preferences, have expanded the use of VSS. Markets dominated by VSS have recently had annual growth rates significantly higher than those for conventional markets, though beginning from a small base.
The share of "sustainable" products in the market is hard to quantify. But a review on sustainability and transparency carried out by the State of Sustainability Initiatives (SSI), a project that monitors the field, estimated in 2010 that the share of sustainable coffee increased by 433 per cent between 2006 and 2009; tea by 2,000 per cent; cocoa by 248 per cent; and bananas by 64 per cent. By comparison, consumption of conventional foods over that period increased by 10 per cent.
Most of the world's largest coffee roasters have developed strategic alliances with sustainability standards such as Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and UTZ Certified, or have developed their own coffee standards. In 2011, some 12 per cent of globally consumed coffee was compliant with at least one sustainability standard.
According to estimates by the Tropical Commodity Coalition, certified tea accounted for 10 per cent of world production at the end of 2010. Sustainable banana sales accounted for about 10 per cent of world exports in 2009. Sustainable forestry initiatives - as under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) - covered some 18 per cent of globally managed forests by the end of 2009.
Experts studying the field say that although various VSS market shares may be high, such standards on their own are no guarantee of correspondingly high positive environmental or social impacts.
VSS raise important issues for international scrutiny and for developing-country governments, such as how well they promote sustainable production and consumption methods, including opportunities for cost savings; how well they promote competitiveness in growing and lucrative markets; and how effectively they internalize environmental and social costs.
Experts contend that at times of policy inaction or slow progress on international negotiations, such as on climate change, VSS are one of the few promising and dynamic tools that may alleviate some problems (such as deforestation) and slow or reverse negative trends (such as increasing resource use). Unless couched in the right national and international policy frameworks however, VSS may not be sufficient to bring about major progress in tackling such problems as climate change or agricultural transformation.
While VSS undoubtedly can have many national, international and company-level economic, environmental and social benefits, the development and implementation of VSS poses certain challenges:
While at first sight appearing to be policy-neutral and techno-driven tools, VSS often define criteria for market entry or exclusion and thus for the redistribution of income between actors inside international value chains. That can give extensive power to those who control the standards.
As anyone can set VSS, there is a risk of them being used by vested commercial interests to create or defend market niches. There is thus a danger that market access requirements will be based not on scientific facts but on proof of compliance with a loosely connected amalgam of subjective and scientific criteria. This can make it difficult to distinguish environmental and social protection measures from trade-protectionist measures, raising the risk of reinforcing anticompetitive tendencies.
The development process for VSS may not be sufficiently transparent and inclusive. The underlying methodologies for developing criteria and indicators, and impact assessments, are often not clear. Some VSS only focus on one, or on a narrow range, of sustainability issues, limiting the scope for holistic improvements and resulting in confusion among consumers and even producers. Some commentators contend that recently, there has been a tendency towards "inflationary dissemination" of VSS, with some standards being limited to incremental rather than fundamental changes.
VSS can require considerable know-how, equipment, infrastructure and related investments, and tend to reinforce already existing capacity weaknesses, notably among smaller-scale producers and in the least developed countries.
The cost of implementing VSS is not low. As costs and benefits do not necessarily arise at producers' level, governments may need to intervene to balance the costs and benefits for different actors. Price premiums resulting from the use of VSS can be earned in some markets, but research has shown that this is rarely the case.
In more and more markets, several VSS are required for effective market access (for example, organic and fair trade VSS in addition to the GlobalGAP standard, for food sold in large supermarkets). This multiplicity of required standards often results in multiple compliance and certification costs.
While there are arguments for and against VSS, in many international markets they have become a reality and have long since graduated from niches. Therefore, there is a need to discuss and analyse VSS more systematically in order to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs, particularly for small-scale producers and less developed countries.
The five UN agencies partnering in the Forum are all actively working on VSS, including by providing support in formulating national strategies, impact assessments, harmonization and equivalence, coordinated capacity-building, access to affordable finance, and the trade aspects of sustainability standards. The agencies will aim at pooling resources and synchronizing their efforts, and at assuring policy coherence, coordination and collaboration. The effort is thus an example of the UN delivering as one to maximize impact and efficiency.
UNFSS is meant to be a demand-driven Forum for dialogue, the exchange of information and experience, and capacity-building, in response to the information needs and concerns of key decision- makers, particularly from the public and private sectors of developing countries. The launching conference will seek guidance from these decision-makers on the priority issues to be addressed in future Forum activities. Indeed, the Forum is intended to boost effective participation by developing countries in the international debate on the development of VSS.
More information on UNFSS and the launching conference is available at www.unfss.org.
Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement
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China's Radical New Space Drive 419
First time accepted submitter Noctis-Kaban writes "Scientists in China have built and tested a radical new space drive. Although the thrust it produces may not be enough to lift your mobile phone, it looks like it could radically change the satellite industry. Satellites are just the start: with superconducting components, this technology could generate the thrust to drive everything from deep space probes to flying cars. And it all started with a British engineer whose invention was ignored and ridiculed in his home country."


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Sturgis boy's bowling team wins championship
When Rick Freske and Sturgis High School developed a bowling team not that long ago, he knew a state championship was possible.
And those thoughts became reality on Saturday as Freske's dream for the Sturgis boy's bowling team came true.
The Trojans beat Lapeer West 1,326-1,154 in the finals.
"We've been able to fulfill what we wanted to do — win regionals and then ultimately win state," Freske said. "It's an awesome feeling and I'm so proud of these kids. I still can't believe it."
Sturgis trailed Lapeer West by 100 pins after two baker games by each school.
Yet, the Trojans were able to dominate in singles action, knocking down 1,009 pins compared to just 737 for Lapeer to pick up the win and a state championship.
"I'm very proud of our kids and what they've been able to help build," Freske said. "They held it together in the finals and never gave up. I thought our guys did a great job."
Individually in the finals, four Trojans had better games than the best score from Lapeer.
Derrick Freske rolled a 195, Ramsey Cline scored a 210, Marcus Neal rolled a 222, Skylar Robison had a 213 and Logan Kulpinski bowled a 169.
Lapeer was led by Brandon Welling's 189 while Tyler Skene had a 148, Bradley Bell had a 143, Zack Clor had a 131 and Conner Withey had a 126.
Individually, Freske said the match was decided when his son Derrick was bowling. He finished with a 195 in the game and only needed to start the 10th frame with a strike and a spare. Yet, he was able to top that by striking out on all three rolls to secure the win.
"We knew it was over after Derrick was done bowling and all of our guys bowled great," Freske said of his team. "They did what they needed to do in order to take that 100-pin deficit down and win a state championship."
Based on the win the bowling team will earn a state title banner in the gymnasium and have their team photo put on the wall for winning it all.
"I still can't believe it," Freske said.
To make the finals, Sturgis was one of eight teams to qualify of the 18 that made it to state. They finished fourth in qualifying at 3,306 pins and headed to the quarterfinals, where they beat fifth-seeded Bay City Western 1,252-1,231.
In the semifinals, Sturgis knocked off No. 1 seeded Bay City John Glenn 1,283-1,214.


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PELHAM -- While a pair of busy burglars were taken off the streets north of Lowell and in Southern New Hampshire on Monday by a regional police task force, area residents should not delude themselves to think all daytime housebreaks in the area will now cease, police cautioned.
Matthew Szczechura, 29, of Pelham, and Jeffrey Lavoie, 26, of Hudson, N.H., were arrested together Monday at 5 p.m. during a vehicle stop on Mammoth Road, and charged with burglarizing at least two dozen homes in Dracut, Tyngsboro, Hudson and elsewhere in the region over the past six weeks. The crimes included four burglaries committed earlier Monday in Windham, Danville and Sandown, N.H., Pelham Police Lt. Brian McCarthy said.
Szczechura was charged with being a fugitive from justice (burglary warrant, Dracut), burglary, and conspiracy to commit burglary. Lavoie was charged with burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.
Evidence from Monday's four burglaries in Windham, Danville and Sandown was found on the suspects when they were stopped, McCarthy said, so police seized their vehicle pending a search warrant.
Further burglary-related charges are expected to soon be filed against the pair by Dracut, Tyngsboro, Windham, Hudson, Sandown and Danville police, McCarthy said.
At their joint arraignment Tuesday in Salem, N.H., District Court, Lavoie and Szczechura were ordered held on $20,000 cash bail each, before being transported to the Valley Street Jail in Manchester, according to the court clerk's office.
McCarthy said detectives from a regional burglary task force confirmed that Szczechura and Lavoie were involved in at least 20 previous break-ins in Pelham, Hudson, Dracut and Tyngsboro.
"Due to the recent rash of approximately 35 daytime burglaries in Pelham, Hudson, Dracut and Tyngsboro, a regional burglary task force was formed," McCarthy said. "During most of the burglaries, the suspects used forced entry and targeted jewelry and electronics."
A key ingredient of the investigation was the cooperation of several area pawnshops, who provide police departments regularly with a "pawn list" detailing all items that were pawned recently, so that police can then compare the list with the descriptions of items taken in area burglaries, McCarthy said. After many of the items stolen in the multiple burglaries cited were found by detectives at local pawnshops, "detectives subsequently zeroed in on the two suspects believed to be committing a majority of these burglaries," McCarthy said.
"The regional task force was looking for these guys, so when they came through town (Monday evening) we grabbed them as they came into Pelham," said McCarthy. "The arresting officers found some items in the car that were from burglaries the suspects had done earlier in the day (Monday) -- four burglaries in Windham, Danville and Sandown.
"We closed those four burglary cases Monday night, and then 20 more burglary cases they are also believed to have committed have been closed. So... we're getting there," McCarthy added. "(Szczechura and Lavoie) are also suspects in several more unsolved burglaries in other area towns."
Lavoie appears to be the same Jeffrey Lavoie of Hudson, N.H. who was arrested as a 24-year-old in June 2010 jointly by Methuen and Hudson, N.H. police on a home-invasion charge for having broken into a Methuen residence while the home was occupied, Hudson Police Capt. William Avery reported.
McCarthy said he recently had a home-security alarm system installed in his own home. "Because I don't want to be that guy, that cop that gets his door kicked in while he's out patrolling the rest of the community," the lieutenant said.
If a resident does have a burglar alarm newly installed in their home they need to notify the Police Department about that, McCarthy advised. Pelham police are in the process of updating the town's alarm-permitting process, and will be posting a copy of the related ordinance on Pelham's official website in the coming week, McCarthy said.
Last week, Pelham police issued a public warning about a rash of five home burglaries that had occurred in the area in recent weeks, including on Atwood, Applewood and Lawrence roads. Investigators said Tuesday it was unclear if Szczechura and Lavoie were responsible for those break-ins.
"We're not sure on those yet, it might be a different group (of burglars) out and about," said McCarthy. "As much as I hate to say it, there's usually more than one group operating at any one time. It looks like these guys were only the most active."
Follow John Collins on Twitter at johncolowellsun.


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Circa 1930
A pair of double light sconces in their original silverplate with delicate ribbon details.
Overall: 19-1/2" h. x 13-1/2" w. x 6-1/2" d.
Backplate: 18-1/2" h. x 6" w.
Can be UL listed for use in dry environments
2 Candelabra sockets, maximum 60 watts per socket
2" x 3" Vertical junction box recommended
1 pair total available.
On display at our 28th Street showroom.


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LONGMONT -- An 18-year-old woman suspected in a New Year's Eve hit and run that killed a 16-year-old Denver boy told the Times-Call last week that she did not hit the boy and that damage on her car that police attribute to the wreck was caused in an earlier accident.
Kendra Balentine said last week that her car was damaged on Dec. 30 when she lost control of her car in icy conditions and slid into a parked car.
Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said on Monday that investigators found the victim's report of the accident and learned that Balentine did not make a report. Satur also said that the victim did not find a note claiming responsibility for the damage, which was minimal.
"We have since taken an accident report on that," he said, adding that damage on Balentine's car matches damage on the other vehicle, but that the Dec. 30 accident does not account for all of the damage on the car.
Police arrested Balentine on Jan. 3 on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident involving death. Investigators believe she struck Jason Grimmer, 16, on the 2200 block of Main Street just after 10 p.m. New Year's Eve as the boy fled from a fight between two groups of men. The fight apparently started shortly after police left the scene of a report that a group of white boys and men had used racially charged language toward a black man, who initially declined to press charges. Investigators believe that after the officers left the black man called in friends, who arrived within minutes, leading to a fight with the group of white men and boys.
Balentine is related to some of the men who responded to the calls for help and police suspect she also received a call or text for assistance.
However, Balentine said she was at the Messiahville Baptist Church at the time the boy was struck and her pastor, family and others in attendance have vouched for her whereabouts, if not her car's.
According to police, only Balentine and her mother, Stephanie, have keys to the car and Stephanie Balentine is not a suspect in the crash. Police report that there is damage and biological evidence on the car connecting it to Grimmer's death. DNA samples collected from the car were sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for lab testing, which can take weeks or months to complete because of backlogs at the lab.
Satur said investigators are stilling looking into Balentine's alibi, but that it conflicts with another witness statement that investigators obtained earlier in the investigation. He declined to offer details.
"Our initial investigation led us to believe one thing, and we're investigating all of the information," he said. "At this point we are not in a position to put out all the information that we have ... we're subject to rules and policies."
Balentine was formally charged on Jan. 8 and is out of jail on a $50,000 bond awaiting her February preliminary hearing on the third-degree felony.
No one has been arrested in the fight. Satur said the hit and run is the priority for detectives, who will move on to the fight itself once the hit-and-run investigation has concluded.
Stephanie Balentine said Monday that the family could not offer further comment on the advice of Kendra Balentine's public defender.
Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 or email@example.com.


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The marine industry is filled with bad news lately. Tour boats being run down, oil rigs exploding and destroying lives, ecosystems and large conglomerates.
The one thing your mother taught you when you were but a wee babe was your manners, saying your sorry even if you weren't entirely at fault. This is probably the worst thing she could have drilled into your head if your chosen profession is of a sea-going nature.
The idea of proving and/or assigning blame is the one thing that keeps legions of Admiralty lawyers in business. Years ago, my father told me "never admit you're wrong"(when it comes to this industry), I thought it was nuts but he couldn't have been more right.
I read an article in Marine News magazine recently that was submitted by a Mr Randy O'Neill in the License Insurance industry. He wanted to drive home the point of how, as professionals, we need to show a heightened level of awareness in and around recreational boaters. Gee, ya' think?
There isn't enough detail included in the case he cites to really know what happened or how, but he relates a "near miss" involving a small pleasure boat and a tug and tow that was approaching a bridge.
In a nutshell: The tug and tow had to maneuver for the bridge in tight quarters and came in close proximity to the pleasure boat (which was anchored and fishing in the channel of course). The small boat was apparently in radio contact with the tug and tow and was warned to move, there was no collision.
After the "near miss" the small boat called and complained to the USCG. The tug's captain heard the complaint being transmitted and tendered the small boat with an apology for the close call and went on his way. Good manners, but a bad move.
The USCG saw the apology as an admission of guilt and tried to suspend the tug master's license for 9 months. No physical contact was made and no one got hurt but that didn't stop the authorities from seeking an S and R hearing.
In the end the USCG wanted his head and got it. The apology was somehow seen as an admission of negligence. The idea that the tug master was trying to be a nice guy (thanks Mom) went to his being convicted of not hitting the little guy.
The USCG wanted to go after somebody and I'm guessing the tug captain was the only license they could get. The tug captain's license was suspended for a month and he had six months probation tacked on for good measure. What kind of sanction did the little guy get for anchoring in the channel, as far as I can tell, nada.
I don't have any more detail than that. The tug captain may have already had prior circumstances or encounters that made him a candidate for suspension, or the more likely scenario was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, the suspension appears excessive since there wasn't any clear reason (apparent in the story) to punish the professional except for the fact his was the only license on the river at the time. The moral of the story is a general cautionary tale but it's oversimplified by the lack of details. Was the tug being reckless? Did the small boat get enough warning before the "close encounter", I can't say based on what I read.
This naturally brings me to the idea of license insurance. I did some reading on the gCaptain website and came across an article written by Mr. John Konrad that clearly states the pro's of putting a policy to cover your license in your pocket. I'm convinced the idea is a good one.
The article is in two parts, written a short time ago and everyone should at least read for themselves what the man has to say.
The point in the end is that no matter the situation, admitting fault, offering a specific apology or any apology for that matter, will bite you on the ass. Even if nothing suffered any harm. Not just with the authorities, but with your insurer as well. Apologies, realistically speaking, equate with fault. Something we have to consider since our P&I guy wants to avoid public statements about details until things are examined and settled. Your license insurance representative will probably tell you the same thing, keep a tight lip and say; I want a lawyer.
Sorry Mom…


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Junior Assuncao
TRAINING: Training is always hard! This fight I'm doing the camp in altitude, with more one on one training for this fight. I've also been training lots of Capoeira, wrestling, swimming... Dec 30th I'll be ready. It's another easy cut, so I hope to keep a high paced fight. My opponent is legit and he comes forward, so it should match my style well.
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How do I win?
It's simple, Photojojo is fun bunch of people, so something fun in return is in order.
Post in the forum which fun, unique, crazy, wacky feature should become a reality in future Canon DSLRs. Post pictures, sketches, words, whatever.
I'll select the winner on Friday.
Visit Photojojo for more fun photo products


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UPDATED — A standing-room-only crowd of more than 1,000 people attended funeral services Monday for a Toronto couple found dead last week in their Hallandale Beach, Fla., condominium.
Police in Florida are investigating the deaths of David (Donny) Pichosky, 71, and his wife Rochelle Wise, 66, as a double homicide.
Rabbi Chaim Strauchler, spiritual leader of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, said at the double funeral at Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, "We are overwhelmed by tragedy, and we are beset with questions."
Earlier in the day, Capt. Sonia Quinones, a spokesperson for the Hallandale Beach Police, said that police were awaiting the medical examiner's report to determine the cause of death and that motive was still unknown.
Wise's son, Jamie, said in a eulogy that he was "confused, frozen, angry, shocked and broken… searching for information, answers, resolution and justice. These questions won't stop, and shouldn't stop, until justice is found."
He recalled his mother's gift for connecting with people and her ability to "inspire, teach, and encourage people to dream… to see the potential within them."
Wise was a preschool administrator at Bialik Hebrew Day School and a founding director of Crestwood Valley Day Camp.
Pichosky, her husband of four years, was a retired businessman who volunteered with seniors at Baycrest, and had spent at least 20 years wintering in Florida.
Jamie Wise said his mother had "truly found her bashert" in Pichosky, whom he recalled as kind and gentle.
Her son read from a note his mother had left for him and his sister, which he said was "not meant to be read for many years."
She told them, "Please remember what I taught you about love and kindness, respect for others, and your responsibility to the Jewish community. Remember to acknowledge daily the gifts and blessings God has given you."
Wise's daughter, Dina Shapiro, recalled her mother as an "incredible, loving, formidable, charitable woman" who was devoted to her family and her work.
As well, she said, her mother began to write books with Shapiro's daughter once she learned to read. Shapiro also read a recent children's book that Wise and Pichosky collaborated on.
"They brought so much joy to each other… and to all who spent time with them," she said.
Pichosky's daughter, Sari Rosenblum, recalled a loving father who made lunch for her every day when she worked around the corner from him at her first job.
A widower when he met Wise, Pichosky had known his first wife, Sandra, from the time he was 12 years old. They were married 46 years. Religion became "an essential part" of Pichosky's life after he kept a promise to God to become observant if he survived brain surgery in his late 20s, Rosenblum said.
A concerned neighbour found the couple Jan. 10 after they didn't show up for lunch the previous day and failed to answer repeated phone calls.
In Toronto, Bialik issued a statement Jan. 11 saying that the "entire Bialik family is distraught by the tragic loss of Rochelle Wise and her beloved husband, Donny Pichosky. Rochelle was an adored member of the community and respected as an outstanding educator and woman of great character and kind spirit."
In Florida, Wise volunteered at a Hebrew day school in Hallandale, helping children with learning problems. She also was an active member of Na'amat, the Jewish women's organization.
Bobby Freeman, a co-director of Crestwood, wrote in an online condolence message that he came to know Wise as "a unique woman, with strength of character, foresight, and the ability to lead with love."
A statement from the camp said that Wise "was a selfless individual who took a genuine interest in the lives of everyone she came across. As the director of Crestwood Valley Day Camp from 1990 until her retirement in 2005, Rochelle dedicated herself to the personal growth and development of every child and staff member in her care, and to creating summer memories that would last a lifetime. With limitless energy, unwavering courage and a passion for children, she was an inspiration to a generation of kids, an example to day camp directors across Toronto, and an amazing friend to those of us at Crestwood Valley."
A bereavement notice sent to Shaarei Shomayim members said that Wise and Pichosky "were important longtime members of our community along with their children and grandchildren. They were both selfless individuals who took a genuine interest in the lives of everyone they came across."
With files from JTA


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Father / Mother
Wesley / Nancy
Rowland / Rowland
July 27, 1823 / Apr. 9, 1825
Aug. 18, 1874 / July 6, 1903
At Rest. / At Rest.
Wesley and Nancy are buried at Fouts Cemetery in Macon Co., NC. This photo was taken August 27, 2010.
Directions to the cemetery: From the corner of Harrison Ave. and W. Main St. in downtown Franklin, NC, go about 3.6 miles on Harrison Ave. Take a left on Iotla Church Rd. Go about 3 miles then turn right onto Judd Duvall Rd. Go about 2/10 mile. Turn right onto a dirt road (141) marked with a sign that reads "Fouts Cemetery." This road goes around the cemetery, which is on top of the hill.


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Sigourney Weaver, Selena Gomez and Emmy Rossum attended the event Monday night, along with supermodels Karlie Kloss (accompanied by her mother) and Coco Rocha.
Guests were treated to excerpts, greatest-hits style, of the company's featured works this season. A highlight was the hugely colorful "Gaite Parisienne," by Leonide Massine, which closed out the evening.
The spring season will be highlighted by the addition to the repertory of Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella."
Guest artists will include Alina Cojocaru of the English National Ballet, Maria Kochetkova of the San Francisco Ballet, and Kevin Jackson of the Australian Ballet.


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Outils d'accessibilité
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Brussels, 25 March 2009
The Commission welcomes today's decision of the European Parliament to support the Single European Sky package
The European Parliament approved today the second legislative package for the Single European Sky (SES II). The texts approved by the Parliament are the result of very fruitful discussions with the Czech Presidency. The Council should formalise the final adoption of the legislative package very soon. These measures will deliver safer, greener and more performing flights, with annual savings for airlines calculated around four billion euros by 2020.
European Commissioner Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Transport, said: "We are sending a strong signal to our citizens, those working in the aviation sector and the industry itself. These proposals lead to a modernisation of air traffic management which will render air transport more feasible, more sustainable and safer."
The European aviation market and its customers will benefit from the enhanced competence of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). At the same time European manufacturing industry and workers in this field of activity will gain from being at the forefront of innovation in air traffic management technology (i.e. satellite based systems - Galileo, data link, etc.), thus giving it a competitive edge on global markets.
For further information see
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Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor :: Navigating 'The Impossible'
Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona made a splash with his debut film "The Orphanage" two years ago, an unusually evocative horror film which won him a Goya Award (Spain's Oscar) for Best New Director. His latest, the English-language "The Impossible," is not a horror film, but it tells a horrific tale of a vacationing family in Thailand that gets separated in the 2004 tsunami. The film's first half focuses on Maria (Naomi Watts) and her son Lucas (Tom Holland) who are swept away in the tumult. Then, halfway through, the film turns to Henry (Ewan McGregor) who searches for Maria and Lucas while caring for the couple's other two sons.
The film is based on the true story of Maria and Henry Belon, a Spanish family that had come to Thailand on a holiday. Watts is playing Maria, but not an exact version of her. The Maria in the movie is not Spanish, and Watts did not dye her hair to match Belon's brunette. What was important was to capture Belon's spirit.
"In Maria's case, I just felt I had this responsibility for her, but she feels she has the responsibility for everyone else that suffered or lost lives," Watts explained at a recent press junket for the film. "Every day we were being reminded of that. Each day we met a new extra or new person on the crew, just so many people would tell us a new version of their story. That was really weighing on me, which is a lot of pressure. But it was very helpful to have all of her information. She wrote endless letters to me throughout (the filming). Each time we changed location and went to a new scene she would write very expressive letters."
For Watts, meeting Belon was a cathartic part of the process. "Working with Maria was just wonderful," Watts continued. "I felt completely connected to her from even before I met her; and then when I met her it was like, 'how do we begin this journey?' This is a different part of her journey, but it was new for me. We were both felt like, 'what should we say and where do we begin?' Particularly as an actor I felt like I wanted to syphon things out of her. But (when we met) I just waited for her to speak. She didn't speak for a while and then we were just looking at each other. Her tears came and my tears came, and then we just gave each other a big hug. I just said, 'I'm so sorry what you went through.'"
What she went through was horrifying: when the tsunami hits, Maria and her son Lucas are thrown underwater - a heart-stopping sequence in the film. When they reach land, Lucas is unhurt, but Maria's leg is badly hurt. They are rescued by local villagers, but are soon immersed in a different kind of chaos at a local hospital. Still the Belons were among the lucky ones in the tsunami, making it out with their entire family intact. As the movie shows, everybody worked together to help each other.
But given the extremes of Maria's experiences, Watts was, at first, doubting if she was capable of capturing her tenacious spirit in her performance. At first she thought couldn't relate to Maria. "She was another type of human being," she said. "But having gone through this experience with her, I know what she went through. You want to hold onto everything she feels and says because you know how close she came (to death)."
Connecting to others
Stories like Belon's are why Watts is an actor, she says. Having also recently played J. Edgar Hoover's secretary Helen Gandy, and outed CIA spy Valerie Plame Wilson, "The Impossible" continues Watts' efforts to play real-life characters.
"[I want to] be connected to myself and others," she said. "I don't know how to explain it, really. Understand myself in the hope to understand others? I don't know. It's a gut-driven thing. It's hard to put into a sentence, but I really enjoy what I do. I feel it's a privilege to take on important stories of people, human beings. Hopefully that's what you get out of the experience of being in the theater is to take it home with you and learn something about yourself. And in this case, you definitely are going to ask, 'What would I do? Who would I be and how would I move through this?'"
Regardless of the tsunami, "The Impossible" represents Watts worst fear as a parent of something happening to her children.
"I have fears about getting separated from my children, just like on the subway," Watts said. "I know that's something you laugh at, but that has gone through my head. 'What would I do?'" It's happened on an elevator before and I'm like, 'will my children know where to get off?' Luckily it's only ever happened in our building so it's okay. And I've taught them to know it is the fifth floor. But if it's a subway, and you haven't had a conversation about it... I've actually tried to have that conversation, but it's just too confusing for them."
Understanding the tsunami
McGregor had less contact with Henry Belon, his real-life counterpart. "Although I didn't get a chance to meet him before we started shooting, I spoke to him on the phone," the actor explained. "But the writer and the director (Sergio G. Sanchez and Juan Antonio Bayona) knew him very well, and they answered what questions I may have had. Then in terms of understanding the tsunami, there was a great documentary that we used called, 'Tsunami Caught on Camera' that was produced by Channel Four in Britain. It was made from holidaymakers' hand footage from their cameras - only using their imagery that was captured by the people who were there. Then interviews with people that were very useful, but it was very difficult to watch. They were brutal and honest. Then we had a great deal of research, material and photographs that were taken there, many photographs from the hospitals in that area, beaches, hotels, temples where they took the bodies."
In preparing for the role, McGregor also spoke with someone he knew lived through the tsunami. Her story was not as fortunate as the Belons' and reminded him of the losses suffered in this natural disaster.
"There's a woman I met in London who's a friend of a friend of mine, who sat with me for three hours or so and told me her whole story, which was very similar to my character in the film's story, really," McGregor said. "She lost her husband, sadly. They have three children and her husband was separated from her and her two kids with her eldest daughter, much the same as I am separated from Naomi in this film. There was some kind of parallels between her story and the character I was playing in this except that her story ended in a much more terrible way. "
Additional perspective
Gaining this additional perspective gave McGregor insight into how survivors process disasters in the moment. "There's something that's very interesting about her," he continued. "She couldn't remember any time frame. There was no sense of time and/or distance, or whether things happened at night or during the day. She couldn't tell you. It's melded. She managed to find a place to leave her children, her two daughters, while she went to look for her husband and her other daughter. It was like a clinic or something where there were Thai women looking after people's children that had been separated from their parents, I suppose. But then she talked about where she eventually discovered her husband's body, which she remembered as being very, very far away and maybe taking hours and hours to walk there. In fact, when she went back, and she's been back several times, she realized it was very close by."
One part of McGregor's friend's experience that is represented in the film is the support from the local community. "She spoke very fondly about the Thai people and how quickly the Thai people mobilized and organized things and how instrumental they were in looking after people, saving people's lives, getting people to hospitals, which I hope we've kind of touched in the film. I hope that's the flavor in our movie, that that's the case. Naomi's saved by a Thai man who drags her from the tree, and the villagers that dress her, and the guys that take her to the hospital, and then the staff in the hospital. It was a very important part. She talked about that."
"It was very rarely that we would hear of negatives," he continued. But there were complications. "Some people talked about not dealing with situations well, or they were regretful about [something they did.] For instance, a female survivor told me that individual's nationalities became quite important. All the governments set up help, but for their nationals. In this person's case, she was married to someone who wasn't the same nationality as her, and her children had adopted the nationality of her husband. Anyway, they (the authorities representing her nation) wouldn't help her children but they would help her. And she recalls losing it.
"People were regretful about their own behavior, if you like, in situations like that. We touch on it a little bit in the scene where we put the kids on the back of the truck with the guy who won't let me use his phone. But mainly we heard stories of great selflessness. People would put themselves out of their way to help other people."
"The Impossible" is now playing in select cities.
Watch the trailer to "The Impossible":


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Leavenworth city staff are recommending a 1.73 mill levy increase for the 2014 budget, which would impact property taxes.
Leavenworth city staff are recommending a 1.73 mill levy increase for the 2014 budget, which would impact property taxes.
City Manager Scott Miller previewed the proposed $25.39 million budget Tuesday night for Leavenworth city commissioners ahead of budget work sessions that are scheduled to begin this afternoon.
"It is a very lean, bare bones budget," Miller told commissioners.
The city's mill levy is currently 51.844 mills. The mill levy has been relatively flat since 2006.
Miller said 1 mill generates about $200,000 in tax revenue for the city. He said a 1.73 mill increase would generate about $370,000 in additional tax revenue.
A 1.73 mill increase would result in a tax increase of $2.49 per month for the owner of a $150,000 home, according to information provided during the meeting.
"I don't like millage increases," Miller said.
He said the city is still attempting to come back from the recession. He said city officials have reduced expenses by $1.5 million since 2009.
"If we do any more reductions, we're going to start affecting our service levels," he said.
He said there is gap between the additional expenses the city is facing for things such as health insurance, utilities and debt service and the additional funding resources that will be available without the mill levy increase.
City commissioners took no formal action Tuesday regarding the budget. The budget for 2014 likely won't be approved until Aug. 13.
Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Preisinger said Tuesday that he hopes city officials present the commissioners the scenario of what would happen if the mill levy were to remain the same.
He said the 1.73 mill increase would equate to about a 3.5 percent increase in the city's mill rate.
He said the city could reduce the mill rate significantly if the local sales tax was increased by 1 cent. He said city commissioners can't increase the sales tax. It would take a vote by local residents.
"That's not our decision," he said.
But Preisinger expressed concern that issues that have caused city revenues to decline won't be helped by increasing property taxes.
Local resident Louis Klemp asked commissioners to study the budget in detail. He said officials have to get spending under control.
"Take care of what we have," he said.
He said officials can't keep adding to the list.
He also said there are areas where the city can collect additional money.
Also Tuesday, commissioners reached a consensus to advance a proposed ordinance related to the proposed tax increase. The proposed ordinance was advanced for a possible future vote.
Finance Director Dan Williamson said the law requires such ordinances. He said the city commission technically doesn't need to pass the ordinance this year because the tax increase would be within $5,000 of the threshold. But Williamson said he believes it was prudent to submit the proposed ordinance in keeping with the spirit of the law.
Preisinger suggested holding off on giving the ordinance a first consideration. He said this could be done next week after the commissioners have had their budget work sessions.
"We could do that," Miller said.
Commissioner Lisa Weakley said she saw no harm in taking up the proposed ordinance Tuesday. A vote wouldn't be taken until after it comes back to commissioners for second consideration.
"It just doesn't feel right to me to say yes now," Preisinger said.
Despite Preisinger's objections, the other three commissioners in attendance reached the consensus to move forward with the ordinance. Commissioner Davis Moulden was absent.
The budget work sessions are scheduled for 1 p.m. today, Thursday and Friday at Leavenworth City Hall, 100 N. Fifth St.


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Circa 1900
A Georgian style double light sconce with a convex mirrored backplate in its original silverplate finish. Signed by the maker R. P. & Co.
Overall: 24 cm h. x 19 cm w. x 11 cm d.
Backplate: 13 cm h. x 13 cm w.
CE wiring available, contact sales for a quote.
CE Lamping: 2 SES/E14 sockets, maximum 60 watts per socket.
1 fixture total available.
Please contact your local showroom about viewing this item.