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By Alexander Dziadosz
TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - A new video making the rounds in Lebanon opens with ominous string music reminiscent of a horror film and the title "Before it's too late."
Red stains spread across a white map of the tiny coastal country, marking areas where Palestinian refugees settled after they fled or were driven from their homes with the creation of Israel in 1948.
Once settled in Lebanon, the video says, the refugees threatened its sovereignty, attacked its national army and helped cause a 15-year civil war that killed more than 100,000 people. Now Syrians are coming in similar numbers.
"Will history repeat itself?" asks the video, which has garnered thousands of hits on YouTube and been shared on Lebanese blogs and websites.
Some Lebanese said it was racist, but many agreed with it, reflecting concern the fallout from Syria's 22-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad may threaten the fragile peace between its diverse ethnic and religious groups since 1990.
Those Lebanese see the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly Sunni Muslim Syrian refugees as a replay of the flood of Palestinians which altered Lebanon's communal balance and challenged its Christian-dominated power structure decades ago.
The debate about what to do with the Syrians has raged on social networking websites and in the corridors of power, paralyzing the country's response to the influx. Lebanon, unlike Turkey and Jordan, has not set up formal camps for the Syrians.
"In Lebanon, there is no political consensus or national consensus about how to deal with the refugees," Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour told Reuters in an interview.
The camps issue is sensitive because of "historical fears" around the Palestinian camps, he said, while noting the significant difference between the two groups; while the Palestinians were prevented from returning, the Syrians will presumably be able to go home when the war ends.
More than 200,000 Syrian refugees have already arrived in Lebanon, equal to about 5 percent of the country's 4 million population. The United Nations says there may be 1 million Syrian refugees in the region by June, from around 700,000 now.
With an eye on those figures, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, a Christian, has proposed shutting the border. Other Christian politicians have made similar suggestions. The YouTube video - whose exact origin is unclear - claims that by 2020 Syrian and Palestinian refugees will outnumber Lebanese.
"We must act before we become guests in our own country," it says, urging people to put pressure on politicians to do something, without saying exactly what.
Lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan is more diplomatic than some of his colleagues when he discusses the refugees. But he is clear about where he stands.
"What's going on in Syria is alarming," Kanaan said in an interview at his home in an upscale northern suburb of Beirut.
What started as a peaceful protest movement demanding democratic reform has become an internationally-backed civil war, he said. "Fundamentalism, Islamism and terrorism" were spreading, and Lebanon could not afford to get involved.
There are few countries where demographics are so sensitive. French colonial rulers carved Lebanon out of Sunni-majority Syria largely to give a haven to the area's Maronite Christians, who follow an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic church.
The country, only about a third as large as Belgium, is also home to Sunnis, Shi'ites, Druze, Armenians and a medley of other groups. No one knows how exactly how many there are of each because Lebanon has not carried out a census since 1932.
Resentment of Christian dominance among some of these groups helped trigger civil war in 1975. For a decade and a half, rival ethnic and religious factions carved the country into warring fiefdoms and wove a dizzying web of alliances and betrayals. Bullet-scarred buildings still dot the capital, Beirut.
Many Lebanese trace the war's origins to the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly Sunni Palestinians. Over the years, the refugees took up arms to fight Israel but also clashed with Lebanon's army and Christian militias. Tit-for-tat raids and massacres escalated into full-blown war.
For Kanaan, a Maronite, the new influx brings similar dangers. To preserve its stability, Lebanon must distance itself from Syria's conflict, bolster its army and control the border, he said. But he stopped short of calling for the border to be totally closed.
"If we say this, you will have somebody saying, 'Oof, this guy is' - I don't know what sort of description they can give me. But what other solution? If not closed, at least controlled. But controlled seriously," Kanaan said.
"You can receive people, and you have to. And you have to be very sensitive to these issues. But you can't sacrifice your home, your country, your people, just because you want to be humane. There is a limit for everything."
Syria and Lebanon's common history and language, as well as family and political ties, mean that in many ways, Syrian refugees have a more complicated situation here than in Jordan and Turkey, the other two biggest hosts.
Before the conflict, many Syrians came to Lebanon to work in construction and farming or to do other manual labor. The line between migrant worker and refugee is often blurred.
Ibrahim El-Eshbee, 27, had lived and worked in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre two years before the conflict began, and decided to return when the war reached his hometown of Idlib in northern Syria.
Peddling vegetables from a cart, he's able to earn enough to afford a spartan two-bedroom flat with several family members. But he says life is harder than the last time he was here. The Syrians' arrival has pushed up rents and deflated wages.
"Before, a house like this used to rent for $100 or $150. Now it's gotten to $200 or $250. It goes up and up. If the landlord isn't happy with the rent, he'll kick out the tenant and rent the place to any family that's desperate," Eshbee said.
The conflict has also cut off supply routes for cheap goods from Syria the vendors used to sell. "Now there's nothing from Syria, and the parts from China are too expensive," he said.
Down the road in a dirt lot near the Mediterranean coast, Syrian families crowd into tents made of plastic sheeting and weighed down by tires and breezeblocks. Signs for a McDonald's and a large supermarket loom in the distance.
A cultural center across the street is named after Bassel al-Assad, the Syrian president's late brother, a reminder of the ties between Syria's government and Hezbollah, the political and military group which dominates the largely Shi'ite area.
Hezbollah have said the refugee issue is humanitarian, not political, and should be treated accordingly. Indeed, Syrians in the Tyre camp said they had no political disputes with locals.
Economic relationships were another matter.
"We've gone back to the days of slavery," said one young man from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo with a light black beard, a leather jacket and long, slicked-back hair.
"The Lebanese come to you, and they don't treat you like you're a person. There are no human rights. 'You're a migrant, you're a refugee, you're a laborer.' It's like that."
Refugees at the camp said they paid the lot's owner 50,000 Lebanese pounds ($33) a month per tent, while the wage for a day's labor had dropped from 15,000 pounds to 8,000 -- little more than a grilled chicken sandwich at a nearby store.
"We have this Arabic expression: 'When the calf falls, the knives come out.' The butchers come out. Now we're like the calf," said the Aleppan man, who declined to give his name.
The resentment cuts both ways. Many Lebanese complained about Syrians opening up shops and competing with locals, Abu Faour, the social affairs minister, said. Others had found jobs scarcer and wages lower because so many Syrians were now willing to work for so little.
More children and beggars have appeared on the streets, Abu Faour said. The delay in setting up camps meant around 220,000 Syrians had scattered throughout some 700 sites in Lebanon, costing resources to monitor and protect them.
"I'm afraid this issue could lead to a social and economic explosion in Lebanon," Abu Faour said.
Gunmen loyal to opposing sides in Syria's civil war have clashed repeatedly in Lebanon's second city Tripoli, where posters of Assad cover walls in some neighborhoods. On Friday, at least two Lebanese soldiers were killed in a gunfight with militants, which residents said was linked to Syria's conflict.
Robert Watkins, United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, said resentment against the Syrian refugees was indeed growing. In the northern Akkar province, someone recently lobbed a Molotov cocktail at a Syrian gathering.
Still, Abu Faour said, Lebanon's government will eventually have to consider setting up camps, despite the resistance to such a move. "Today, this issue has become pressing," he said. "There is no longer anyone who can ignore it."
(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam and Dominic Evans; editing by Philippa Fletcher)


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I gave them grief over Yarna
Because if we get the product at a secondary market, that means that it has been sold and out of the store. When companies make exclusives, the only thing that matter is to sell them all.
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The Washington Teacher Performance Assessment (WTPA) is being developed as the Washington version of a nationally available assessment of readiness to teach for novices. The national assessment is focused on student learning and is designed around the principles applied by successful teachers:
- Develop knowledge of subject matter and subject-specific pedagogy.
- Develop and apply knowledge of students' varied needs.
- Consider research and theory about how students learn.
- Reflect and act on evidence of the effects of their instruction on student learning.
The Washington version adds a state emphasis of involving students in their own learning process and providing student-voice evidence. As a performance-based assessment, the Washington TPA is designed to engage candidates in demonstrating their understanding of teaching and student learning in authentic, experiential ways.
As a participant in this assessment, you will have an opportunity to develop a collection of materials that represents the ways in which you impact student learning in your "student teaching" classroom or other instructional settings. When developing your materials, you will be prompted to synthesize what you have learned throughout your preparation program and apply it with the students you currently teach. Your Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) evidence will demonstrate your current abilities, knowledge, and skills as a beginning teacher on your way to becoming a highly accomplished teacher.
Summary of Tasks
In this assessment, you will describe, analyze, and evaluate the teaching of a series of 3–5 literacy lessons referred to as a learning segment. Consistent with the Common Core Standards and recommendations provided by the International Reading Association (2010) for literacy professionals, a learning segment prepared for this assessment should reflect a balanced literacy curriculum that attends to foundational skills and strategies, word knowledge, conventions, language development, and positive literate environments. While the full scope of a balanced curriculum may not be feasible in a short learning segment, you should plan, teach, and assess skills and strategies in a balanced, integrated way so that your students develop and monitor their abilities to meaningfully comprehend and/or compose text.
You will complete three tasks for edTPA:
- Planning for Instruction and Assessment
- Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning
- Assessing Student Learning
Evidence of Teaching Practice: Artifacts and Commentaries
To complete the assessment, you will submit artifacts and commentaries as evidence of how you planned and implemented instruction to develop student learning in literacy. Artifacts represent authentic work completed by you and your students. These include lesson plans, copies of instructional and assessment materials, video clip(s) of your teaching, student-voice evidence, and student work samples.
The commentaries are your opportunity to describe your artifacts, explain the rationale behind their use, collect student-voice evidence about their learning progress, and analyze and reflect on what you've learned about your teaching practice and your students' learning. In each commentary, you will respond to prompts to provide evidence of what you know and understand about your students and their learning. Note that although your writing ability will not be scored directly, commentaries must be clearly written and well focused.
When preparing your artifacts and commentaries, refer to the rubrics frequently to guide your thinking, planning, and writing. Refer to the Elementary Literacy Evidence Chart for information about how your evidence should be formatted for electronic submission.
Evaluation Criteria
The evidence you submit will be judged on six dimensions of teaching:
- Planning
- Instruction
- Assessment
- Analyzing Teaching
- Academic Language
- Student Voice
Evidence for the planning, instruction, assessment, and analyzing teaching dimensions will come from the corresponding tasks. Evidence for the academic language dimension will come from the Planning and either the Instruction or Assessment tasks. Evidence for the student-voice dimension will come from all tasks.
The rubrics used to score your performance on the TPA are included in the handbook and are linked electronically to each task. The descriptors in the five-level rubrics address a wide range of performance representing the knowledge and skills of a novice not ready to teach (Level 1) to the advanced practices of a highly accomplished beginner (Level 5).


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Five Ducks named All-Pac-12 First Teamers
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - Five University of Oregon players, including the first freshman quarterback to receive the honor in 23 years, have been selected to the Pac-12 Conference all-league first team in a vote of the conference's head football coaches, according to an announcement Monday by Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota, who becomes the league's first freshman named to the first unit at that position since USC's Todd Marinovich in 1989, is joined by senior running back Kenjon Barner, sophomore center Hroniss Grasu, senior defensive end Dion Jordan and sophomore cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu on the Pac-12's elite team.
Joining the quintet were Oregon senior linebackers Kiko Alonso and Michael Clay on the all-conference second team.
Earning honorable mention all-conference acclaim from Oregon were sophomores Jake Fisher (offensive line), Colt Lyerla (tight end), Terrance Mitchell (cornerback) and De'Anthony Thomas (return specialist); juniors Taylor Hart (defensive line), Josh Huff (wide receiver) and Wade Keliikipi (defensive line); and senior Isaac Remington (defensive line).
Mariota became the Ducks' first freshman starter at quarterback since Danny O'Neil in 1991 and capped the regular season by being voted by his teammates as the team's Most Outstanding Player, along with Clay.
The Honolulu, Hawaii native's 2012 achievements have included setting the conference record for most touchdown passes by a freshman (30), becoming Oregon's first freshman to throw for 300 yards in a single game (three times), and threatening the NCAA freshman record for single-season passing efficiency. With one game remaining, he stands three touchdown passes shy of equaling the Ducks' single-season school record and is on pace to eclipse the Oregon school record for one-year completion percentage. Mariota has completed 218 of 312 passes (69.9%) while throwing only six interceptions, and is ranked fifth in the country in passing efficiency.
Mariota also was tabbed as the Pac-12's Freshman Offensive Player of the Year.
Barner is one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given to the top running back in the country, and is ranked fourth nationally in rushing (135.3 avg.) and sixth in scoring (11.0 avg.) as Oregon's 15th 1,000-yard single-season rusher (1,624).
Grasu was vital to the success of the school's running game as the second-year starter has been a key component in Oregon ranking second in the country in scoring (50.8 avg.), as well as fourth in rushing (323.3 avg.) and total offense (550.1 avg.).
Jordan is one of five finalists for the Butkus Award, given to the top collegiate linebacker in the country. He has recorded 44 tackles this season, including 10.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 quarterback sacks.
Ekpre-Olomu leads the Pac-12 in passes defended (t6th nationally) and forced fumbles (3rd in the nation), in addition to being credited with 58 tackles.
Clay and Alonso rank as the Ducks' top two tacklers at 92 and 75 stops, respectively, with Clay fifth in the conference in tackles per game (8.4 avg.).


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Euro Sex Parties Features Ms. Nia Black and Ms. Hanna Sweet
Nia Black and Hanna Sweet proceeded to go for a little drive around the town. These babes kept on revealing their lovely pussies and succulent tits while riding around in the ride. Nia and Hanna returned towards the apartment and began removing their wardrobe. Both of them had unbelievable physiques. The girls sucked and fucked those pricks. They both had their pussies pounded and also got cum everywhere.


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Iowa City-area activists opposed to war are organizing a nonpartisan "Peace Caucus" training session that will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Iowa City Public Library.
The event is ...
Photos: 2012 Iowa caucus day
Photos: Mitt Romney in Iowa on ...
Photos: Candidates stage last-day campaign stops
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In the estimates, USDA projected soybean production at 2.656 billion bushels, up slightly from last month's total of 2.628 billion bushels and down from last year's 2.891 billion bushels.
Based on Sept. 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 37.0 bushels per acre, up 0.5 bushel from last month. If realized, this would be the lowest production since 1999.
USDA's World Agricultural Supply/Demand Estimates also released this morning projected soybean ending stocks at 160 million bushels, up 5 million bushels from last month, but still the lowest level since 1996/97.
USDA estimated U.S. corn production at 8.849 billion bushels, down slightly from last month's total of 8.886 billion bushels and down seven percent from last year's total. Based on conditions as of Sept. 1, yields are expected to average 125.4 bushels per acre, up 0.2 bushel from August but down 12.8 bushels from last year. If realized, both the yield and production would be at their lowest levels since 1995.
Projected U.S. 2002/03 ending stocks of corn at 729 million bushels, down 37 million bushels from last month due to lower forecast production.
Meanwhile wheat price prospects continue to brighten as USDA lowered its ending stocks estimate for 2002/03 by 60 million bushels, based on expanding use and lower imports.
"In the long run, we are looking at a bull market in corn," said Terry Roggensack, an analyst with Hartfield Management, Inc., who spoke at a press briefing on the report this morning at the Chicago Board of Trade.
"The ability of the market to restrain demand will become a bigger and bigger factor in the coming year."
In both corn and beans "we have to find where commercials come in and support the market -- $2.87, maybe all the way down to $2.77 on December corn and $5.67 to $5.81 for November beans," Roggensack said. "A good objective for November beans is $6.23 and $3.07 to $3.19 for December corn."
Adding to the support is the belief in the trade and on farms that contrary to USDA's report, U.S. corn and soybean crops are actually shrinking and that demand is increasing. "I think we're looking at USDA numbers that are designed to appease the marketplace," said John Welsh, senior vice president of Peregrine Financial Group.
"At the beginning of this year, there wasn't anyone who expected less than 10 billion bushels of usage in corn. Now suddenly, USDA is projecting that we're only going to use 9.77 billion bushels.
"I wonder what happened. It's curious to me that that occurs like that. So is USDA's figure of 460,000 acres of abandonment in corn. I bet there's at least a million acres of abandonment in Kansas alone.
"USDA has a tendency to calm us all down with numbers and has a tendency to be wrong," Welsh said. "They were wrong all last year in their export projections, dead wrong. I'm still very perplexed about their projections of a reduction in usage for corn.
"To me, it looks like the market is trying to recover to a better price level. If I was a betting man, I'd bet the final numbers for corn production is closer to 8 billion bushels than nine.
According to Roggensack, "The focus for soybeans will remain on U.S. yield numbers over the next 3-4 weeks and then the attention is going to shift to the South American situation. USDA has already plugged in an enormous increase in soybean production from record high levels. Achieving that is going to be quite a task. They will need good weather and improving economic situations to produce the crop."
"I don't think the corn usage number is going to be threatened until we get prices up quite a bit from where they are now," Roggensack added.


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The agricultural industry has found itself routinely making the national nightly news since the tragic events of Sept. 11. Unfortunately though, the news reports have focused on the potentially disastrous mix of agricultural chemicals and aerial applicators.
In fact, the FBI recently issued a warning to the agricultural aviation industry to be vigilant to any suspicious activity relative to the use, training in or acquisition of dangerous chemicals. The federal agency is also asking ag pilots to be on the lookout for anybody inquiring about the airborne application of chemicals, and to report any threats, unusual purchases, suspicious behavior by employees or customers, or unusual contacts with the public.
Despite these warnings, Pat Kornegay, president of the National Agricultural Aviation Association, reinforces his organization's belief that aerial applicators have been "grossly misrepresented" as a threat to national security. However, the group has also asked its members to continue to properly secure their aircraft and their business operations.
"Agricultural aircraft have never been a threat to the security of the United States or its citizens. The National Agricultural Aviation Association has cooperated with authorities in addressing every aspect of these far flung theoretical assumptions surrounding recent events, but we are again victims of media misinformation," he says.
"It is our hope that governmental authorities can come to understand the disastrous results of these actions. The agricultural production of this nation will wilt on the vine, the forest fires will continue to consume our wilderness, and an industry that has always been essential to the production of food and fiber will be destroyed if this is allowed to continue," Kornegay says.
"When we lose control of the sources of our nation's food supply because of ill-advised actions based on erroneous information, a real threat to our nation's security will be realized."
Whatever the risk to national security, Herb Willcutt, Extension agricultural engineer and safety specialist at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., says now is the time to give thought to storing any remaining farm pesticides or fertilizers over the coming winter months.
"In view of recent events, I would probably keep a closer eye on any potentially hazardous materials, and I would be a little more diligent in locking up all farm chemicals and fertilizers. Plus, it never hurts to secure and safeguard farm property for safety, as well as economic reasons," says Willcutt.
"With the winter months coming on, now is as good a time as any to insure that any stockpile of farm pesticides or fertilizers is protected from both the cold and possible prying hands.
"Some of the hazardous materials used for production agriculture need to be protected from freezing. All farm chemicals and fertilizers should be secured from children and other unauthorized personnel who do not know how or what they may be dealing with," he says. "The theft of chemicals and fertilizers, especially anhydrous ammonia and ammonium nitrate, which could be used for drug and explosive purposes, poses a real economic risk as well as a danger to humans."
Willcutt recommends farmers store pesticides only in labeled containers, with secondary containment in the event of a leak, spill or ruptured container, and in a locked storage facility. The storage facility should also be ventilated with a forced air fan, which should be turned on before entering.
In addition, he says, all electric wiring and lights should meet national electric codes for facilities storing hazardous materials. Farmers should make routine inspections on storage facilities and should report any materials stolen or tampered with to proper authorities.


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For solution providers that count small and midsize businesses among their customers, the cloud, big data and BYOD are top of mind this year for SMB executives.
CRN spoke with Mark Bier, founding principal of VAR Staffing, a Richardson, Texas-based recruiting service, and Todd Billiar, director of channel development at VAR Staffing, to learn more about where they see the SMB spend heading in 2013.
"We do see a lot of growth in the SMB," Bier said. In the past, the majority of VAR Staffing's services were for large, enterprise-level companies. However, that's changing. "Eighty percent of the services we do [are for SMBs]," he said. "It used to be 60-40 the other way."


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Events for Wednesday, August 9, 2017 through Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Events List Navigation
August Pickin' on the Square
Join us Saturday, August 12th from 5:00pm – 8:00pm for our 4th Annual Pickin' on the Square Series! Pickers, come jam informally around the square or sign up for a performance slot! All playing levels welcome. Secure instrument check is available. Not a picker? Come and bring your family and friends and sit back and enjoy as we celebrate the tradition of bluegrass music. Take part in complimentary kids crafts, homemade ice cream, yard games, and more! Interested in visiting the…Read More »
August Books & Banjos
Books & Banjos Bring your kids to the Earl Scruggs Center for a summer outing. We provide the stories, crafts and fun – you provide the kids! Register for one (or all three) of the scheduled times below. Hurry! Space is limited to 24 kids per time. $5 plus tax per child Ages 5-10 10:30am-11:30am Wed, June 21: Banjo-inspired Wed, July 19: David Holt-inspired "I got a Bullfrog!" Wed, Aug 16: Rhythm & Rhyme For reservations or for groups of 10 or more, call Patty at 704-487-6233.Read More »
8th Annual Rhythm and Roots Run
Saturday, October 14th, 2017 Thank you to presenting sponsor Plaster Family Dentistry and all of our Rhythm & Roots Run Sponsors Runner's World Says This is a Run NOT to Miss! Runner's World listed the Rhythm & Roots Run as one of 18 5Ks that are "awesomely unique". Join us to find out why! ________________________________________________________ CLICK HERE to register. A group of banjo players get ready to join Wiregrass bluegrass band to kick off the 4th annual Rhythm & Roots Run…Read More »
Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn
The Earl Scruggs Center & Don Gibson Theatre Present Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn CLICK HERE to purchase tickets. MEMBERS ONLY PRESALE OPPORTUNITY: June 1, 2017 11:00 am Members, check your email for special access code. Interested in becoming a member? Call us at 704.487.6233 or CLICK HERE for more information. On Sale to General Public starting June 7, 2017 Pricing: Attend both events for $55.00 Concert Only $48.00 Workshop Only $18.00 (limited to 100 attendees) Tax and fees added…Read More »
David Holt & Josh GoForth
In celebration of our newest special exhibit, David Holt: Photos, Music & Stories, and back by popular demand with a new set, The Earl Scruggs Center proudly presents David Holt & Josh Goforth In Concert 7:30 PM – 9:00 pm Friday, December 1st Tickets: $20 General Admission seating: Doors scheduled to open at 6:30 pm Beverages will be sold from 6:30 pm – 7:20 pm. Cash only. Soft drinks, water, beer and wine Complimentary exhibit admission with concert ticket on show…Read More »
Lunch-N-Learn – Carolina Jazz Connections
The Earl Scruggs Center is proud to present North Carolina Humanities Council Road Scholar Larry Reni Thomas and his presentation "Carolina Jazz Connections" on Wednesday, December 13th! FREE program thanks to the North Carolina Humanities Council. Exhibit admission not included. Exhibit Admission: $12 adults |$8 seniors/college|$6 youth |5 and under FREE Exhibit admission FREE for members. On Wednesdays exhibit admission is FREE to Cleveland County residents. Bring your own lunch, or pre-order a $10 prepared lunch. CLICK HERE to reserve your…Read More »
Zoe & Cloyd
Purchase your ticket here! 1st Place Winners of the 2015 FreshGrass Duo Contest Eyes Brand New named one of the "Outstanding Roots Music Releases of 2017″ by No Depression Magazine "Favorite Musical Picks of 2017″ – Lisa Snedeker, Huffington Post Hailing from opposite ends of the Appalachian mountains, husband-and-wife duo Zoe & Cloyd is renowned fiddler and vocalist Natalya Zoe Weinstein and award-winning songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist John Cloyd Miller. Their show is as diverse as their upbringing. Coming from…Read More »
Lunch-N-Learn: Playing for Empowerment – Mill Town Baseball During the Depression Era
Reserve your seat! During the dark days of the Depression the rural South had little to hang its hopes on: God, family, and baseball. The Prussian strategist, Carl von Clausewitz famously said, "War is the pursuit of politics by other means." In "Hometown" North Carolina during the Depression, "Baseball was the pursuit of power/empowerment by other means." Baseball was a game that everyone could either play or watch as they sought power/empowerment: mill owners sought enthusiastic workers and loyal mill…Read More »
Lunch N Learn: Darin Aldridge
Reserve Your Seat! Darin Aldridge presents: Bluegrass Then and Now with images, music, & stories Half of the husband and wife duo, Darin and Brooke, he has placed several tracks at the top of the charts on Americana/Roots, SiriusXM, Bluegrass and Gospel charts. He has received multiple nominations from International Bluegrass Music Association and won IBMA Mentor of the Year 2017. Program FREE with museum admission! Exhibit Admission is available for $12 adults, $8 seniors/college, $6 youth, 5 and under FREE. Exhibit…Read More »
In the Dugout with the Curators – May 15th
MEMBERS ONLY OPPORTUNITY— In the Dugout with the Curators May 15th 10:30am – 11:30am Private walk-through of "Home Plate Don't Move" with Curators. Discuss the plans, strategies and players who made this happen, ask questions and share your own stories.! Very limited space so please pre-register! Choose between two different days! Interested in Becoming a Member? Check out our GET INVOLVED page or call 704-487-6233 to join today!Read More »


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A ward-by-ward look at the candidates and the issues, from potholes to garbage pickup, sidewalks to the city budget. Politics doesn't get any more grass-roots than this.
As Springfield heads to the polls April 5 for the general election, many voters will be focused on their choice for mayor. But just as important is the makeup of the city council, with 10 aldermen drawn from across the city. Together, their decisions will set the tone for Springfield's future even after their four-year term is over. We've highlighted the six contested races citywide and provided some context that will hopefully make it easier to understand both the election and city government thereafter.
Ward 1: Young newcomer challenges a familiar face
In 2008, Ward 1 got a Wal-Mart on South Sixth Street. Meanwhile, Mike Crews and Frank Edwards got an election issue. Both alderman candidates highlight the supercenter to explain their philosophies for representing their ward, the area anchored by Lake Springfield and the University of Illinois Springfield.
"There was a lot of pressure on me to keep that (development) from happening," says 60-year-old Edwards, who was finishing up his second term as alderman when the city council chose him in December to fill out the late Tim Davlin's term as mayor. Now Edwards, who also owns Springfield Welding and Auto Body, is running for his old city council seat. "But I knew it was a good project for our ward and I helped push for it. … Now we have restaurants out there. There's a medical facility built in there. So there are a lot of positive things that are good for the people of Ward 1." He says it's up to aldermen to research, ask questions, filter through emotions and know what's best.
Crews, a 26-year-old teller at Marine Bank, says Edwards should have listened more to his constituents, many of whom feared the development would bring excess traffic. "I guess what the residents of Ward 1 wanted didn't really matter," he says of Edwards' position. He says residents' fears came true, and now more cars travel over roads, including the crumbling and flood-prone Hazel Dell Road. "I would have had town hall meetings and I would have been able to feel the pulse of the people who live in Ward 1 and if they didn't want it, yes, I would have fought against having it in Ward 1."
Crews says Edwards is disconnected with Ward 1 residents and promises that if elected he'll hold quarterly town hall meetings, attend neighborhood association meetings and continue knocking on doors. He wants to improve public transportation, find grants or enact a Tax Increment Finance district for Toronto Road economic development, conduct an in-depth study of fire department personnel needs and implement zero-based budgeting. He says he would "seriously consider" increasing parking fines, dining taxes and hotel-motel taxes. As for cuts, he says: "Without looking at that line-by-line audit it's hard to determine what we need to cut."
Edwards lists roads and property drainage as the biggest issues in Ward 1. Drainage problems that cause residents' yards to flood, he says, come from continual building. "That's really not an issue for the city to be involved in, that's more of an issue for the homeowner and the person they bought the lot from or the developer," he says, adding that new building regulations probably aren't a good idea. "It's tough to build as it is, and our construction industry is somewhat besieged now." He says he wants to see Hilltop Road widened and Toronto Road resurfaced. For any major roadwork to happen, though, the city will need either grants or patience. "Until we get our budget in order, it's going to be tough to make any promises on anything."
Edwards says the council has already raised all reasonable fees and taxes but adds that he would support increased parking fines. "Now it's time to slow down spending," he says, pointing to staff layoffs as a solution going forward. Edwards has attempted laying off employees as mayor, where hiring and firing responsibility ultimately lies.
Though Edwards' powers as alderman would differ from his current powers as mayor, Crews criticizes Edwards' mayoral decisions. "He claims to be a fiscal conservative, and I thought being a fiscal conservative meant you did more with less," Crews says, referring to Edwards' hiring of alderman Steven Dove as executive assistant. Crews also criticizes Edwards' attempt to lay off nine city employees, positions for which aldermen, to Edwards' chagrin, restored funding. "It seems like you always want to cut people at the bottom rung of the ladder and that doesn't make sense," Crews says. "These front-line people are really the backbone of these departments."
Edwards continues to defend his actions: Personnel costs in some cases are the only thing left to cut, he says, and Dove as deputy mayor has become increasingly necessary with the resignations of the mayor's executive assistant and budget director. He says his time-consuming duties as mayor might hurt his candidacy, but adds: "This isn't about what's good for Frank Edwards. This is about what's good for the community."
Edwards, a Republican, says his experience – first as a rookie firefighter, then as a fire chief, alderman and now as interim mayor – has provided him with in-depth knowledge of and a valuable perspective on the budget and how government works. Edwards says he's committed to reaching out to his ward but adds: "Am I absolutely perfect? No. There have been phone calls that I've missed. Do I call people back? Yes. Do I return e-mails? Yes. Sometimes do people like the answers you give them? No. But most of the time you explain what you can and can't do for people and you go from there."
Crews, a Democrat, says it's time for a change. "We need someone fresh. I am younger so I have a little more energy than some. I would be completely devoted to being Ward 1 alderman."
– Rachel Wells
Ward 3: Workhorse candidates in a working man's ward
Ward 3 covers much of Springfield's far east and is mostly residential. Once home to many coal miners and factory workers, the ward has largely retained its blue-collar makeup, but is also quite diverse, including newer, mostly white neighborhoods in the north and south, as well as older, majority black areas in the center.
Unlike many of the other alderman races, there are no write-in candidates here, no young faces out to make names for themselves and no negativity between candidates. Each candidate has some measure of experience in politics, public service or both, all have lived in the ward most or all of their lives, and they all know the issues facing Ward 3. What separates these candidates is their experience and what they say will be their focus if elected.
William "Billy" Earl, 48, works for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services and has served on the Sangamon County board for 10 years, the Prairie Capital Convention Center board for eight years and Springfield Mass Transit board for eight years. He currently serves as second vice-chairman of the Sangamon County Democratic Party. His first priority if elected would be addressing the city's financial situation.
"We can stand at everybody's doorstep and promise them we're going to do this and that, but until we get a handle on the budget and economic issues of the city, that's the number one issue," Earl says.
He says he would push for economic growth as a solution to the city's budget shortfall and is not currently in favor of increasing taxes or fines. Earl says he would also like to see the city do a better job of recruiting minorities for employment, possibly through a partnership with local high schools to teach trade skills along with fire and police preparatory classes.
Doris Turner, 57, has been a county board member since 2000 and is currently serving as first vice-chairman of the Sangamon County Democratic Party. She works as head of the Center for Minority Health Services at the Illinois Department of Public Health and is the only woman and the only African American candidate for alderman running in a contested ward. Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson, the only other woman and only other African American in the election, is running for a second term uncontested.
Turner says she would like to implement a four-pronged plan to revitalize Ward 3 if elected. She wants to push the city toward a more efficient budget process, which she says would begin much earlier in the year, while also continuing the city's cooperation with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce Q5 initiative to attract new businesses to the east side. Turner calls for addressing abandoned structures through better code enforcement and stronger anti-blight ordinances, while ensuring Ward 3 receives "prompt and efficient" services.
"I think that we really have to start holding department heads accountable for the way they issue out work orders and the way that they double back to ensure their completion," Turner says.
Jim Gasparin, 56, serves on the board of managers for the Sangamon County Employee's Health Insurance Plan and is the lone Republican running in Ward 3. He says public safety will be among his top priorities. For 17 years, Gasparin has worked on computer technology with the Sangamon County Sheriff's office. His experience there has shown him problems with the public safety services in Ward 3, such as low fire and police department staffing levels, unusable or nonexistent sidewalks and poor building code enforcement.
Gasparin would like to see the city build a day shelter so the city's homeless could wash up and seek help or jobs.
"Can you imagine going to look for a job if you're wearing the same dirty clothes you've had on for several days?" Gasparin asks. "It would give them dignity."
David Estes, 41, a masonry supervisor with Galassi Masonry in Chatham, is running in Ward 3 as an independent candidate. A former Democratic precinct committeeman in the 1990s, Estes says his primary focus if elected will be dealing with the abandoned houses in Ward 3. The city should tear down problem properties, he says, and turn them over to nonprofits or implement TIF districts to encourage new development.
"We need to restructure the timetable to get [control of] abandoned houses, not hire more attorneys," Estes says, adding that the ward also needs more business growth.
"I want to see some jobs here," he says "Some retail or factories, we need something that's going to create jobs, and fast food just doesn't do it."
– Patrick Yeagle
Ward 5: A newcomer calls for 'accountability'
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman walks door to door in his ward, listening to his constituents' complaints about bad sidewalks, poor drainage, potholes and more. Cahnman is seeking a second term as alderman of the ward that encompasses the city's downtown and nearby residential areas to the north, south and west. The ward includes many of the city's biggest tourist attractions, such as the old and new State Capitols, but it also contains many abandoned houses.
"I like to help people on an individual level," Cahnman says. "A lot of what people are talking about here is individual constituent problems, as opposed to the overall policy issues. … People want someone who is accessible and who will respond and be effective to their requests."
Cahnman, 56, has represented Ward 5 since 2007 and previously served a term on the Sangamon County Board from 2002 to 2006. A lawyer in private practice, Cahnman touts his flexible work schedule and previous experience as his biggest assets, while pointing to accomplishments like banning future drive-through liquor windows and prohibiting panhandling downtown.
But Cahnman faces a determined challenger in Ryan Tozer, a 28-year-old Republican. Tozer says he is running for Ward 5 alderman because he feels Cahnman lacks "accountability, integrity and trust." A former Republican precinct committeeman with his first child due soon, Tozer currently works as an outreach coordinator for the Illinois House Republicans. He says he has already knocked on every door in Ward 5 and is going around a second time, adding that he has received positive feedback so far.
"When I knocked on peoples' doors, people are just so relieved that there's a choice out there," Tozer says. "Yesterday I was out putting up yard signs and this lady comes out – she was almost near tears – and gave me a hug and goes, 'I'm so glad that you're running.'"
Tozer says Cahnman's votes as alderman are geared more toward "self-benefit" rather than what's best for the city. For proof, Tozer points to Cahnman's vote on Feb. 22 to have Mayor Frank Edwards redirect part of a planned budget surplus toward avoiding eight layoffs – a move Tozer says was meant to look good for reelection.
Cahnman says he felt the proposed layoffs were "bad policy."
"Originally, the mayor's budget had a $10 million deficit, and he came back with a $2 million surplus," Cahnman explains. "If people were not laid off, we would still have a surplus – it would just be a bit lower."
Cahnman says the workers who would have been laid off were actually revenue-generating positions, and laying off workers should only be done by a mayor who was elected.
Mayor Edwards is not an elected mayor," he says. "I felt like that is a decision should be made by a mayor with a mandate from people."
Additionally, Tozer says he was troubled by Cahnman's August 2009 arrest on a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a paid sex act from two female undercover police officers. Cahnman was acquitted in December 2010, but Tozer feels Cahnman should have resigned anyway.
"The appearance was horrible," Tozer says. "Guilty or not, he should have resigned immediately. … I think that was selfish."
Cahnman responds that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and it would have been "irresponsible to resign from the job the voters elected me to do."
"The people of Ward 5 elected me because I'm a fighter and not a quitter," he continues. "I have a proven track record of being independent, fighting hard for my constituents and not giving up when the going gets tough."
If reelected, Cahnman says he will continue to push for better enforcement of building code violations against abandoned houses and fixing rundown streets and sidewalks, among other goals.
Tozer says the city needs to streamline services to save money, while issues like garbage disposal and homelessness should be handled by private entities. He supports mayor candidate Mike Houston's proposal to hire two city attorneys devoted to addressing abandoned houses, as well as increased fines on absentee landlords and better code enforcement. Though he support's Houston's plan, he says he is backing candidate Mike Coffey for mayor.
Tozer also touts the support he has received from unions, as well as his father's and grandfather's union memberships. His campaign has filed three contributions with the Illinos State Board of Elections totaling $3,500 – all from labor unions. Cahnman received an endorsement and a $2,000 contribution from the Southern Central Illinois Laborers Political League, which also gave Tozer $1,500.
"Being a public servant is like running a marathon," Cahnman says. "You have to keep a steady pace and never slack off. I think the fact that I was a marathon runner has helped me keep my nose to the grindstone to keep plugging away at what needs to be done. I don't take no for an answer if it's something that we really need in Ward 5."
– Patrick Yeagle
Ward 6: Three candidates, one campaign
In the second week of March, well into his write-in candidacy for Ward 6 alderman and less than one month away from election day, 36-year-old Cameron Counts volunteered to Illinois Times that he had not once looked at the city of Springfield's budget. While early on he built a campaign website and a Facebook page, now with 33 "likes," earlier this month he didn't have any campaign signs, and he hadn't raised any campaign funds.
Counts' fellow Ward 6 write-in candidate, 46-year-old Kent DeLay, has a Facebook page, a MySpace page and a Twitter account, but through his 21st Century persona DeLay is silent on his current candidacy. Instead, his online presence is built only around his failed attempts to run for state representative. When asked if he plans to run again for the more prestigious post, DeLay responds: "You never say never." He says the alderman position's low pay and smaller constituency don't warrant an expensive campaign or social media tactics. Unlike running for a seat in the General Assembly, this time around he can easily reach every voter face-to-face, he says.
No matter what approach they take, as write-in candidates both DeLay and Counts are up against tall odds. Both were kicked off the ballot in December, leaving on the ballot just one man – 37-year-old Cory Jobe, whom Counts calls "the 8,000-pound gorilla."
"I hate to say that I'm just still running on principle. I am very realistic that I am still relatively unknown," Counts says. He notes that Jobe is "very well connected, if not too well connected, and has a lot of money behind him."
Indeed, Jobe has received support from numerous labor organizations as well as the Sangamon County Republican Party. For this, Jobe credits his "well-thought-out plan" and open-door policy. Jobe has also raised about $30,000 in campaign contributions, which he's used for a website, campaign signs and 5,000 temporary tattoos – a hit at Springfield's crowded St. Patrick's Day parade. In addition to his focused campaign, Jobe has earned media attention throughout his three years as president of the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association.
Jobe says his top priority is inner-city rehabilitation. He promises that, if elected, he'll use half of his aldermanic salary – more than $7,000 annually – to create the "Ward 6 Community Rehabilitation and Revitalization Fund." The fund, overseen by several Ward 6 leaders, would offer grants to Ward 6 neighborhood and business associations. He also wants to increase fines against neglectful property owners, create a neighborhood advisory council and hold quarterly town hall meetings. "I want Ward 6 to be a leader when it comes to identifying issues and resolving them quickly," Jobe says.
Jobe would like to break the city up into zones for garbage collection, with either the hauling companies or the city registering residents for collection so the city's mandatory garbage collection ordinance is easier to enforce. He also supports more inner-city Tax Increment Finance districts and wants aldermen to host some council meetings within their wards to increase familiarity with the entire city. Jobe says outward city expansion isn't necessary in most cases, that increased dining and hotel-motel taxes are a last resort, and that the city shouldn't engage in any new spending.
As for cutting the budget, Jobe says, "Everything is on the table right now, but I will always fight the hardest for public safety and infrastructure." He says the mayor needs to eliminate middle-management positions and says the city should examine reorganization of certain programs.
Counts lists Ward 6's biggest problems as public safety, specifically speeding vehicles; crumbling infrastructure, both streets and sewers; and blight, like Chantilly Lace and the Bel-Aire Motel. He attributes crime in his ward to "people being people" and a poor economy, and he says developing more neighborhood associations could help solve the problem.
"I'm not for increasing tax. It seems like we just keep on taxing everybody," he says, but then adds that he "would consider" an increased dining tax and an increased hotel-motel tax. He's also in favor of higher parking fines.
Counts, who delivers car parts for Stone Wheel, Inc., and is president of the Central Illinois Film Commission, would take a back seat during his first year. "I'm going to be one voice of 11. … Seniors in city council will probably initially be a lot more proactive with a lot of things. I'll be voting on a lot of other peoples' ordinances as opposed to proposing ordinances of my own."
DeLay, an unpaid lobbyist and property investor, agrees that blight is a major problem. He wants to push for more affordable housing and explore turning problem properties over to nonprofits and neighborhood associations. He thinks the city should increase fines on neglectful property owners and focus on enforcement, perhaps by giving more city workers such duties.
DeLay, who is a Democratic precinct committeeman, isn't sure on the issue of whether to expand the city outwards, but he would like to annex the donut-hole village of Jerome. He says police and fire would be his top priorities but that reorganization is an option. For new hires, DeLay is open to looking at scaling back starting pay and benefits. "I was watching Suzie Orman … talking about the American dream we once knew is gone. People are worried about Social Security, and she said, 'I think it will still be here but we're going to have to work longer for less.' It's the same thing with our state budget and our city budget. We're not always going to have more and more."
He's against increasing hotel-motel and dining taxes but says he would update parking fines, though he's more concerned with the general organization of downtown parking. DeLay says he would advocate for the disabled.
DeLay says Jobe, the Illinois comptroller's deputy chief of staff and a consultant for Peoples Economic Development Corporation, doesn't have enough time to serve as alderman. "I'm familiar with state government, and it can suck the life out of you," DeLay says.
Jobe sees things differently. "The jobs that I have today … have prepared me." He touts his organizational skills, explains that Ward 6's current alderman, Mark Mahoney, works for the General Assembly, and says his jobs provide him with ideas for solving problems.
– Rachel Wells
Ward 7: Three is a crowd
Ward 7 spans some of the most well known parts of Springfield, including the historic Washington Park and Botanical Garden and part of MacArthur Boulevard.
Three candidates are running for one seat, making the contest visible and competitive. The candidates are Michael Higgins, 63, owner and chef at Maldaner's Restaurant; Joe McMenamin, 58, an attorney and former candidate for the 19th congressional district; and John Laurenzana III, 30, director of marketing and public relations at Capitol Care Center and endorsed by the Sangamon County Republican Party.
All three candidates agree that Springfield has a need for infrastructure repair, but differ on how to fund short-term solutions for potentially long-term problems. Higgins has been owner of Maldaner's Restaurant, 222 South Sixth St., since 1995, but moved to Springfield from outside San Francisco, Calif., in 1982. He says he has been accused of not having enough time to be on the city council as a business owner. Higgins feels that he has demonstrated through his involvement with MacArthur Boulevard Business Association steering committee and youth mentoring that he can take time away from his business to serve on the city council.
He wants to push for sidewalks along Old Jacksonville Road, maintain Chatham Road and South Grand Avenue, implement recycling and garbage consolidation and revitalize MacArthur Boulevard.
"MacArthur Boulevard used to be one of the grand boulevards," he says. "It used to be the only boulevard like that in Springfield and people want to bring it back."
Higgins favors a dining tax if the money is spent on worthy projects that can get a good return, like infrastructure. Although he has looked at the city budget, he has not seen the final version.
McMenamin, a self-described "fiscal watchdog," is a tax attorney soon to be retired from the Illinois National Guard after 30 years of service. He plans to open a constituent office on MacArthur Boulevard with weekend and evening hours.
Higgins and McMenamin focus heavily on infrastructure and city beautification, while Laurenzana's focus is on redevelopment and incentives to draw businesses to Springfield. Laurenzana is a former Marine with 10 years of marketing and consulting experience but is a newcomer to political campaigns.
The budget is equally critical for the candidates. Higgins says that he has looked at the budget and will not "raid" infrastructure funds if elected to the city council. He would like to turn the vacant Kmart building on Wabash Avenue into a retail open-space and residential small business center and landscape deteriorating parking lots to draw residents from all over Springfield.
McMenamin has seen the city's budget and wants to boost revenue streams by increasing fees on vacant commercial buildings and property like the Westwood Plaza on Wabash Avenue.
"Unless we take the initiative and put pressure on the property owner, it's likely to get worse," he says.
He and volunteers painted over graffiti on the backside of the vacant Kmart building last winter, and he wants to implement a low-cost, high-impact plan to beautify crumbling parking lots with landscaping.
Of the three, Laurenzana is the only lifetime resident of Springfield. He says he has looked at the budget and wants to cut wasteful spending through proper business management rather than by raising taxes.
He agrees with Higgins and McMenamin that infrastructure is one of the biggest issues for Ward 7, but he opposes both the dining tax and an increase in parking fines.
"I was shocked I was the only candidate to speak out against the dining tax," he says. "People want someone in there who's a fiscal watchdog. I've pledged to be a fiscal watchdog and attack wasteful spending when we see it."
– Holly Dillemuth
Ward 8: Write-in challenges Theilen
After walking the neighborhoods of Ward 8, Ald. Kris Theilen says he needs new shoes, and that he lost 15 pounds after campaigning door-to-door in the last month. Theilen is the only candidate running for Ward 8 whose name will appear on the ballot. His opponent, Tim Stout, is running as a write-in.
Stout says that he has also walked neighborhoods in Ward 8, where he says constituents have told him they haven't seen his opponent in the neighborhood in the past four years. Theilen says that he tries to follow up calls from residents within 24 hours but has two young children at home, and a full-time job.
Both offer solutions to a ward with heavy infrastructure problems. A variety of older and newer homes dot the streets within the ward, which encompasses areas between East Monroe Street and part of Illinois Street, as well as abandoned properties along South English Street.
Theilen, 37, is a systems analyst and database manager for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Stout, 53, is a retired lineman with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Stout said he was a member of a political action committee that made contributions to Sen. Larry Bomke, a Springfield Republican, and Congressman John Shimkus of the 19th District. He is endorsed by AFSCME, Carpenter's Local 16, and IBEW Local 51.
Theilen is supported by Laborer's Local 477. He says he regularly polls residents for their input on key votes, like transferring money from the hotel/motel tax to keep employees from being laid off. Stout accuses Theilen of "raiding" city funds for other uses, but Theilen responds by saying that many Ward 8 residents were worried after employee layoffs were announced. They asked him to spend that money to reinstate city employees, he says.
Stout also criticizes Theilen for not having a listed telephone number. Theilen says that his wife, Lori, is listed because the phone is under her name. Theilen's wife, Lori Theilen, is the only person listed at their address in the 2010 White Pages due to an error by a phone service provider, says Theilen. Stout's name is not listed in the White Pages.
"It's really none of Tim Stout's business how I'm running my campaign," Theilen says. When asked what he thought of Stout's campaign, he says he doesn't know because he's not paying attention to it.
Other issues in the race for Ward 8 include infrastructure and the city budget, as well as how candidates will manage the shortfall.
Theilen says that he looks at the budget "line-by-line" every year. He favors increasing the parking fine, which is currently $5, but disagrees that the city should implement the dining tax, a 1.5 percent tax, because it would "single out" the fast food industry when the city recently had an income tax increase.
Stout disagrees with Theilen on the dining tax, and says he would vote for the 1.5 percent increase.
"If you think about a $10 bill, that's 15 cents, right? What's that going to hurt? Nothing," he says.
He hasn't personally read the budget, but says that it's "nothing but a bunch of hoaxes, guesses, estimates."
He began his write-in campaign after being removed from the ballot during the winter. The electoral board voted him off of the ballot 2-1 because of invalid notary signings.
"So I decided to cut my losses and go as a write-in," Stout says. "It's hard to do, it's just lucky I got a short name."
– Holly Dillemuth


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On the roads:The road portion of the course (that's from the start to Crystal Spring Farm) is marked with Eco Friendly paint with arrows. Runners will run into traffic as they would if out on a training run. On the trails:The trail portion of the course (that's on the Crystal Spring Farm property) is marked Eco friendly paint and will also have extra signage with arrows on the lollipop loop to ensure runners do not get confused with this section.
Race day registration starts at 5:45 a.m., at Wolfe's Neck Farm for all racers, including all relay team members. Please bring an ID to present. If you plan to register on race day be sure to allow yourself 30-45 minutes to register, use the bathroom, etc. prior to your race start time. We'll have coffee and hot water for tea. And cows.
Many maps and aerial photomaps of the start/finish venue (Wolfe's Neck Farm) the other end of the course (Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick) and points in between.https://four.trovebox.com/photos/album-e/token-dd2030cf0b/list
Around Crystal Spring Farmhttps://four.trovebox.com/photos/album-d/token-2e6a1b1ccf/list


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Poor communication, tribal damage plague Bertha's restart
SEATTLE -- Bertha isn't budging. Ten months in and the big gal has traveled just 1,000 feet.
Hundreds of emails, schematics, and documents obtained by a public records request detail confusion and finger pointing between the Washington Department of Transportation and Seattle Tunnel Partners in the aftermath of the blockage that stopped the boring machine.
The original stoppage was reported on December 5th of 2013, when Bertha hit steel pipe from an "unknown well." Washington Department of Transportation and Seattle Tunnel Partners say the blockage wore down parts of the cutters and seals. It was impossible to move forward without serious jeopardy to the machine.
War of words
That first report about the problem set off a public and private battle over blame. Formal letters flew back and forth almost immediately between WSDOT and STP, the consortium of construction companies contracted to dig the tunnel. STP sent a letter to blaming it for not disclosing the pipe's existence and that it was not identified in any contract documents.
WSDOT responded that "any such implication is incorrect."
Secretary of Transportation Lynn Peterson told the Problem Solvers that there are documents proving STP should have known about the pipe.
Even now, five months since Bertha stopped moving, STP and WSDOT cannot agree on exactly what caused this to happen.
'Confusion' over communication
While each side battled above ground, other issues plagued Bertha under the streets of Seattle.
In those critical hours and days of possible repair, records reveal communication problems at the mega project.
During a test drill on December 7th, a quality verification report said that after "several phone calls and much confusion" above-ground crews drilling down had to move their rigs because "the underground crew was going to try to advance the machine regardless of what was happening on the surface."
In another example, a full month after the stoppage an oversight supervisor raised concern, writing, "it appears that WSDOT and STP are not on the same page regarding what is expected from this process."
Another report shortly before Christmas details a bizarre incident during a family tour by one of the workers. After signing in his family, the worker wrote that a safety rep. made "threats with police escorting us off the site." The worker said guards made his family feel "like they were in a prison and I thought that is (sic) was very un-called (sic) for."
Tribal damage
A lengthy chain of emails revealed that in early November, barges used in the project had damaged netting for Muckleshoot tribal fishermen in the Duwamish because there was not enough time for STP to follow the rules to tell the tribe.
WSDOT wrote, "(d)ue to the time sensitive nature of the work, STP was unable to follow the agreed to protocols for communications." The tribe said it have ancestral rights to fish along the Duwamish and have a long history of working with boats moving through the fishing grounds.
In this case, two nets were moved and one was damaged because as the records show, time was too tight to communicate.
"These latest moves were not provided to us and thus we could not alert the tribes," said one WSDOT email. Invoices show direct payments to the fishermen as required by the treaties.
WSDOT downplayed the impact because reparations only cost 700 dollars, but the mistake set off a call for better communication to do things right the first time.
WSDOT responds
In a statement, Secretary Peterson wrote: "As we build the world's largest bored tunnel, issues both large and small occur that requires WSDOT to hold the contractor accountable and protect community interests and the taxpayer's investment. When we encounter an issue, such as an unanticipated tribal net move due to Seattle Tunnel Partners' operations, we work to resolve it and ensure it does not happen again. In this case, WSDOT sent Seattle Tunnel Partners a directive to make sure a similar incident did not occur again. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is an important partner in building this project and we will continue to work closely with them.
More than 15 projects in the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program have been successfully completed. There is $750 million worth of work underway at the tunnel portals and elsewhere along the SR 99 corridor. An outside panel of experts concluded in their 2014 report that they continue to be confident that the program is on course to be successfully completed. We intend to deliver this program to the people of Washington and protect their interests and investment."
The new tunnel is expected to open in November, 2016, a full ten months later than originally planned.


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Zoe Kravitz: Yelling to the Sky in Brooklyn!
Zoe Kravitz strikes a pose on Monday (June 8) in front of a new piece of artwork by EwokOne in Brooklyn, New York.
The 22-year-old X-Men: First Class actress checked out EwokOne's newest piece of art, which was made on behalf of Zoe's latest movie, Yelling to the Sky.
Joining Zoe and EwokOne was Victoria Mahoney, who directed and produced the film!
Here's the synopsis of the film: "As her family falls apart, seventeen year old Sweetness O'Hara (Kravitz) is left to fend for herself in a neighborhood where her survival is uncertain."


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TUSCALOOSA | It's been 13 seasons since the last time the University of Alabama baseball team pilgrimaged to the College World Series. For the winningest program in Southeastern Conference history, it seems longer.
TUSCALOOSA | It's been 13 seasons since the last time the University of Alabama baseball team pilgrimaged to the College World Series. For the winningest program in Southeastern Conference history, it seems longer.
But maybe not as long as the offseason felt to UA coach Mitch Gaspard and his squad, which are anxious to prove that last season was an aberration. Tonight the Crimson Tide hopes to forever erase 2012 and take the first step toward getting back to Omaha.
For Alabama to make that leap, a group of young pitchers must progress, the defense, highlighted by three freshmen up the middle, must provide stellar play and Crimson Tide hitters need to be clutch.
The team looked solid in all three areas during fall play and in the weeks leading up to tonight's opener, but that hasn't kept Gaspard and his staff from fretting. Until the real games begin, you never know.
"We'll find out a lot more this weekend," Gaspard said.
Shortstop Mikey White, second baseman Kyle Overstreet and center fielder Georgie Salem, all freshmen, solidified UA's defense during scrimmages and are locked in at their respective positions.
Wade Wass was set to be the primary catcher but sustained a broken bone in his right foot during a scrimmage. He is expected to miss six weeks. UA is hopeful that he will return to DH for the Tennessee series and resume catching duties thereafter.
Senior Brett Booth will start at catcher tonight and play third base some this season. Kenny Roberts will start at third and Austen Smith is at first. Ben Moore returns to right field after a Freshman All-American rookie campaign and Ryan Blanchard will start tonight in left.
Sophomore right-hander Spencer Turnbull, who turned more than a few heads during preseason outings, earned the first start of the season with a rebuilt body and a three-pitch repertoire that has already caught the attention of Major League Baseball scouts.
"He put on about 20 pounds over the summer, and he came back looking like a man whereas last year he was a kid," Moore said. "His last few outings he's been lights out. There's been a hit here and there but overall no one's really touched him or got a barrel on a ball. He throws real hard, and he throws down at the knees."
Turnbull's fastball has been 90 to 94 during his last three outings in preseason scrimmages. He's just one of a few pitchers that have Gaspard optimistic.
"Last year our guys had just one pitch with command," he said. "Now many guys are getting two and some three pitches with command. That allows you to set up hitters. That allows you to put hitters away."
It's an optimism that abounds in the Alabama dugout.
"With what we went through last year…We put in the work to come out here and if we do what we do I feel pretty confident that we'll have a great season and turn this thing around," Moore said.
Reach Aaron Suttles at firstname.lastname@example.com or at 205-722-0229.


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Technical Details
|Download driver for: SONY VPCX131KX/S
|Supported System
|Win 8, Win 7, Win 10, Win xp, Win Vista, Win 8.1, Win Server 2003
|File Size
|9928 kb
|VAIO Update Software Update for SONY VPCX131KX/S
How to Update Sony Drivers by Myself?
There are a number of typical alerts and other messages which you may get in the driver updating process, a number of which I've paraphrased and listed here along with advice on what to do:
QUESTION: My Vaio Duo Ultrabook (SVD13225PXW) has gone right into a login loop. It is apparently looking for a file that has either been damaged or eliminated missing. Certainly, I can't shut it down with normal processes and the "assist" button does not interrupt the cycle. Is there any way to shut this down without having just letting the battery run out?
When it is shut down, I might be able to reboot and troubleshoot.
- Power reset the computer. Using a safety pin, push and hold the hole for 5 seconds.
- Reset BIOS.
- Test the computer in Safe Mode.
- Restore the computer to the last known good configuration.
I really hope this helps.
How to Update Drivers with Device Manager?
1. Open Control Panel
Note: If you don't see these options, your Control Panel view may be set to Large icons, Small icons, or Classic View, depending on your version of Windows. If so, find and choose Device Manager from the big collection of icons you see and then skip to Step 3 below.
2. Open Device Manager
From the open Control Panel window, click System, choose the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager button.
3. In Device Manager, you can check for updates, update your drivers or troubleshoot driver problems
To set Windows to install recommended updates
To automatically get available driver updates for your hardware, set Windows to install recommended updates. You can set Windows to automatically install important and recommended updates or important updates only. Optional updates aren't downloaded or installed automatically. To get all available updates for your devices, periodically check Windows Update for optional updates.
- Open Windows Update by clicking the Start button. In the search box, type Update, and then, in the list of results, click Windows Update.
- In the left pane, click Change settings.
- Under Important updates, click an item in the list. You can decide which updates to automatically download and install.
- Under Recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates check box, and then click OK. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You can also allow anyone using your computer to install updates by selecting the Allow all users to install updates on this computer check box.
Still can't Fix SONY VPCX131KX/S Driver Problem? Don't Worry! You can Try DriverTuner
1. Click here to download Driver Updating Tool and double click it to install
2. Scan your PC for outdated drivers. Select the drivers(here you should select SONY VPCX131KX/S) which need to be updated and click download. Or you can just check SELECT ALL.
3. After the download process is finished, you should click SETUP to install them. That's it! Your driver for SONY VPCX131KX/S has been updated. Sometimes a restart is required to let the changes take effect.
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Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP


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Well, it's finally upon us- the final days of the wedding season. I am about to head back to Chicago and thought I would write a post about the epic White Mountains and a few of the hikes that I have done this summer and fall.
In the past, I had always gone west when seeking adventure. To the Beartooths of Montana, the Alaska Range in Denali park, and The Tetons of Wyoming. I had never explored the Appalachians or had any inclination to- despite all I had heard about the AT. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived, which is generally a perfect situation for having your expectations blown out of the water.
The White Mountains, with their vast and exceptionally well-maintained trails, dramatic weather changes, and steep, rocky ridges will forever remain in mind. There is so much to do and see in the Whites- and I am already excited to return and explore them further.
Crawford Notch State Park
The first hike I went on when I got out here was in Crawford Notch State Park. I hiked up Crawford Path toward the Mitzpah Spring Hut and then over to the summit of Mt. Jackson. From there, I hiked the Webster Cliff Trail to Mt. Webster and had lunch on the steep cliff side overlooking the valley. From Mt. Webster I headed down the Webster-Jackson Trail back to rt 302 where I had parked on the other side of Saco Lake. What a great loop hike! It was about 8 miles long with good amounts of climbing, waterfalls, great visibility and warm sunshine on my shoulders. The trail was busy with happy AT hikers and locals eager to get out on that perfect August afternoon.
Franconia Notch State Park
The Franconia Ridge loop hike is probably the best day hike in the area and is only 20 minutes from Bishop Farm. I was lucky enough to do it on another perfect New Hampshire day. It's a loop hike that starts and ends at the lafayette campground off of rt. 93. I started the loop on the Old Bridal Path up to the AMC Greenleaf hut. From the hut, I took the Greenleaf Trail to Mt. Lafayette and then the Franconia Ridge Trail along the ridge line to Mt. Lincoln. and then down Falling Waters Trail to back to Lafayette Campground. This is an incredible hike- the view from the ridge line is truly epic and the 360 views last for about a mile and a half as you walk from one peak to the next. The hike down Falling Waters is incredibly beautiful too, with birch trees all the way down with beautiful red and blue undertones of the wet wood under the peeling bark. About half way between the ridge and the campground, there is a huge waterfall (hence the name of the trail) which I sat beside while I ate a grapefruit and did some bird watching for over an hour. I would highly recommend the Franconia Ridge Loop to any visitor with a day to spend out in the woods. The hike is considered a "difficult" 9 miles and includes some steep climbs and a lot of rock-hopping and would not be suitable for children- but if you are in hiking shape and want a lot of bang for your buck as far as time spent hiking and quality of view, do yourself a favor and check out Franconia Ridge. Be sure to bring extra layers, food, and water- the weather can change dramatically up on the ridge with high winds and very low temperatures so be prepared!
Pemigawesset Wilderness
The last big hike I did out here was with my boyfriend, Joe who was visiting me from Chicago. Joe is a photographer (check out his site here!) so we got some really wonderful shots of our AMAZING trip. We did a 19 mile backpack trip in 2 days starting at the Zealand Trailhead off of rt. 302 in White Mountain National Forest, through the Pemi Wilderness, and ending at Lincoln Woods Visitor Center near Lincoln-Woodstock. We had a friend leave a car for us at the Visitor Center and she did the hike in the opposite way and took our car when she arrived at Zealand.
From 302, we took Zealand road to the trailhead and took Zealand Trail up to Zealand Falls hut. From the hut, we headed up Twinway to Mt. Guyot and the Guyot tentsite where we camped out for the night. It was a beautiful day- with a great ridge walk around Mt. Guyot where we were surrounded by hip-high trees stunted by the high winds. Strangely, however, even in early October, we had hardly any wind and incredibly mild temperatures for the duration of our trip- it was amazing. Guyot tentsite was empty on this night, which apparently is almost as rare as perfect weather. As a result we were able to stay in the lean-to cabin which included an east-facing porch and two log chairs, creating the most perfect place in the world to watch the sunrise while sipping hot Intelligentsia coffee (which Joe brought all the way from Chicago) and snuggling warmly in our sleeping bags.
Rising with the sun enabled us to get an early start on our second day of backpacking, which was certainly a plus. We made it to the top of Mt. Bond by 8am with perhaps 100 miles of visibility in every direction- If only I could start every day like that. From Mt. Bond, we hiked the Bondcliff Trail to Mt. Bondcliff and down until we hit the Lincolnwoods trail which was a flat and calm end of an otherwise very steep and dramatic 2 day trek. The trip really was perfect, we hit the tail end of fall foliage, had warm weather, no wind, and a car waiting for us at our end site- I could recommend it more highly. We were pooped when we got to our friend's car- and I can't imagine how much more exhausted we would have been had we been battling high winds, sleet, snow, or any of the other factors so common in the alpine zone of the Whites. Even so, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was an awesome way to end the season out here in New England, a trip I will never forget. I LOVE THE WHITE MOUNTAINS!!!!!!


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What Are America's Best Airports?
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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Crown Limousine had one of its experienced chauffeurs interviewed recently by a local newspaper. Such friendly publicity can attract customers to your operations.
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Read more of the interview here.
Source: Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
Related Topics: chauffeur profiles, public relations
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Using Win2K w/ SP3 I have noticed it fails to audit a logoff if you shutdown or pull the plug on your system. Is there a way to prevent this or easily recognize this event?
Any Policies Apply ?
Group, Local, Domain ?
Ruslan K. Abu Zant
eReg(c) Internet Services
http://ereg.info/ | http://gold-directory.com/ | http://xui.info/
Sorry, you're outta luck. Remember, it logs success or failure of *logins*, not logoffs.
What would be interesting to see is if W2K3 logs power failures or the like. Hmmmm, time to test...
Our scars have the power to remind us that our past was real. -- Hannibal Lecter.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. -- John Wooden
There is no way to log a power failure without windows knowing there is one. If the PC shuts off there is no way for the OS to log it. It's off - memory and cpu are bye bye. (just having fun, it's almost time to get a beer)
The only way - is to have some intermediary device that detects the power cycle or bump and uses itself to keep the PC on long enough to place an entry in the event log or it own logging function. A.KA. UPS And hopefull is sophisticated enought to issue a shutdown command to windows.
I haven't looked at some of the advanced policies in active directory but I will look into it... tomorrow!
West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
Logins 528 Logoffs 538 (it audits both)
Does that mean you had 10 unsuccessful logins?
Originally posted here by RoadClosed
Logins 528 Logoffs 538 (it audits both)
Does that mean you had 10 unsuccessful logins?
Nah, it means they've been hacked 10 times and the login logs cleared... Can't clear the logoff one once you're gone though
IT, e-commerce, Retail, Programme & Project Management, EPoS, Supply Chain and Logistic Services. Yorkshire. http://www.bigi.uk.com
Actually, you can determine that a power failure or some other unusual shutdown took place from the event logs. I don't recall the event ID or whatever but there is an entry that goes into the system log that states that "the last shutdown was unexpected". Thus, if you yank the power cord then when you restart the machine it will place that entry in the log.
What RoadClosed is trying to say is that M$ has what are called logon types when logon auditing is turned on. A logon type 528 is a successful logon and a logon type 538 is a successful logoff. Technically there should be one of each.... Practically it doesn't seem to be the case but that's maybe because the connection is persistent. Either way, if you are looking for the matching logon type 538 for a logon type 528 for a given user and it doesn't appear flip over to the system log for the timeframe and make sure that there wasn't a "the last shutdown was unexpected" error in there.
[Edit] Damn keyboard is all messed up - types the wrong letters all the time.... Honest.... [/edit]
Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
\"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides
Does anyone have any information supporting TigerShark's comment in regards to the unexpected shutdown being audited? Maybe a test to confirm it works and if so how is it audited?
OK here goes... clearing event log..... pulling plug....
Nothing on my XP default install idicates some kind of unsual shutdown. I know we are talking 2k here but I have nothing.... you can see some services starting a minute later to clue in on but nothing that states in black and white that an unkown shutdown happened. So I dug a little and realized there are some options on how XP handles this item...
search on "event log" in windows help returns these options:
To specify what Windows does if the system stops unexpectedly
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.
Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
Under System Failure, select the check boxes that correspond to the actions you want Windows to perform if a Stop error occurs:
Write an event to the system log specifies that event information will be recorded in the system log.
Send an administrative alert specifies that your system administrator will be notified.
Automatically reboot specifies that Windows will automatically restart your computer.
Under Write Debugging Information, choose the type of information you want Windows to record when the system stops unexpectedly:
Small Memory Dump records the smallest amount of information that will help identify the problem. This option requires a paging file of at least 2 MB on the boot volume of your computer and specifies that Windows will create a new file each time the system stops unexpectedly. A history of these files is stored in the directory listed under Small Dump Directory.
Kernel Memory Dump records only kernel memory, which speeds up the process of recording information in a log when the system stops unexpectedly. Depending on the amount of RAM in your computer, you must have 50 MB to 800 MB available for the paging file on the boot volume. The file is stored in the directory listed under Dump File.
Complete Memory Dump records the entire contents of system memory when the system stops unexpectedly. If you choose this option you must have a paging file on the boot volume large enough to hold all of the physical RAM plus one megabyte (MB). The file is stored in the directory listed under Dump File.
I have them all checked so I don't think windows considered a power pull an event? According to my settings an Administrator Alert should be sent, then a restart...?
According to this KB article Event ID: 6008 indicates that the normal shutdown procedure was not followed insofar as the event log was not notified of a proper shutdown occurrence thus at the subsequent restart Event ID: 6008 is entered into the system log. If this is the case then any unusual shutdown should trigger the 6008 error...... But then this is M$.....
I know that it has been pretty reliable on my servers as an indication of an unusual shutdown such as after a power failure when we find out that our UPS battery was dead.....<sigh> No harm done though.....
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Reviewed By Greg S (Seattle, WA) Reviewed for a 1999 Toyota Solara —11/29/2012 8:58 PM
Fantastic springs! We bought a 99 solara for my 16 year old son and it desperately needed new struts. So, KYB struts were scheduled for install and then decided to add new springs for performance and a better stance. Current tires/rims were small (16inch) with Nice Toyo tires. These springs are exactly the proper height for a sharp looking car. The springs make the car feel faster and it definitely performs better in the corners and while stopping. Dad approved and son enjoys.


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Thread: Jackess 1.2.5
- 10-22-2011, 08:14 PM #1Senior Member
- Join Date
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Jackess 1.2.5
Jackess is a pure Java library for reading and writing MS Access databases (currently supporting versions 2000-2007).
The Joiner utility was added, and some new methods to IndexCursor make it easier to join tables using pre-defined (index backed) relationships. Unsupported data types are now handled as binary content. There were some enhancements to give more visibility into the space utilized by the tables in the database. A few other minor bugfixes are included, such as trying multiple classloaders when loading resources as streams and fixing an issue with reading an Access 97 database with a large number of fields.
URL: Java Library for MS Access
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Jackess 1.2.5By java software in forum Java SoftwareReplies: 0Last Post: 10-21-2011, 07:03 PM


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- Learning the general commands of POY 4.0. At the end of this tutorial you will have a good idea of how to use the program. This tutorial is also available as a PDF:


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Chris O'Donnell
Following a monthlong social media contest, the University announced 'Wicked Blue' as the winning nickname of its new — blue — field hockey turf. The announcement was made at halftime during the team's debut clash on the field.
The nickname, one of more than 200 submitted by students, alumni and community members, was submitted by David Alaimo of North Andover. Alaimo has a connection to the field, as he will watch his daughter, Hope, take the turf as a freshman defender. The team presented him with a framed print of the nickname, signed by the players, at halftime of the match with Northwestern.
The contest was a joint effort between the University's Office of University Relations and the Department of Athletics and used social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and online voting. More than 4,500 votes came in over several days, but a clear winner was chosen by fans.
"The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of Wicked Blue, which garnered almost half of the votes," says Scott Donnelly, assistant athletic director of Marketing and Promotions. "It has regional flair and highlights the field's bold color."
The new blue turf is part of a $2 million facilities upgrade that included the neighboring soccer and lacrosse field in the Lester Cushing Field Complex. The color makes field hockey play more visible than a green field, and is one of only a handful in the country. The hue's perfect match to the University's colors is an added bonus for student athletes and fans, as it's clearly visible from the VFW Highway.
"We wanted to make a statement as we enter our first year in Division I as a member of the America East Conference," says Dana Skinner, director of athletics. "Broadening awareness of the University is always a goal and the blue field has already generated a great deal of interest."
To see the field hockey team in action on Wicked Blue, check their upcoming game schedule.