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A's get Rosales from Reds, sign Gross
Miles goes to Cincy; Taveras acquired, but then designated
By Jane Lee / MLB.com
Oakland also officially announced the signing of free agent outfielder Gabe Gross to a one-year contract -- initially reported by MLB.com on Sunday -- and claimed infielder Steve Tolleson off waivers from Minnesota.
Rosales, 26, essentially represents the final piece to the A's offseason puzzle as a young utility infielder. It became obvious he was the key player in the trade when Oakland immediately designated Taveras -- along with left-handed pitcher Dana Eveland and eventually Gregorio Petit -- for assignment.
"He's exactly what we needed for a utility infielder," A's assistant general manager David Forst said of Rosales. "He plays some outfield too, and he's a relatively young guy with not that much Major League service time who we feel could potentially be here for a while.
"Our scouts have seen a lot of him over the past few years, and every single one of them just loves the way he plays the game and really likes his versatility."
Rosales, who will most likely be used to spell Cliff Pennington at shortstop this season, played all four infield positions while batting .213 with four home runs and 19 RBIs in 87 games with Cincinnati last season.
On the flip side, the 33-year-old Miles -- acquired by the A's along with Jake Fox and $1 million from the Cubs on Dec. 3 -- has more experience at shortstop but is primarily a second baseman and comes with a heftier price tag. He hit .185 in 74 games for Chicago last year and will make $2.7 million this season.
Meanwhile, the A's have a 10-day window to take care of Taveras, who departed Cincinnati after one unsuccessful season as the Reds' leadoff hitter. In 102 games, he hit .240 with a .275 on-base percentage and 25 steals.
Taveras is due $4 million in 2010 -- a fairly large price tag the A's are hoping to unload soon.
"We're making contact with teams to see if there's someone interested," Forst said. "We've got 10 days to figure that out."
If the A's can't unload the 28-year-old Taveras, they will have essentially paid $1.3 million for Rosales' rights. But it's safe to say they are not in need of another outfielder, especially with the signing of Gross, who hit .227 with six homers and 36 RBIs in 282 at-bats last season for Tampa Bay. He can play all three outfield spots and figures to provide a left-handed hitting option off the bench while at the same time pushing aside any notion of a Johnny Damon reunion in Oakland.
"Gabe's always been a solid defender, a guy who hits right-handers well," Forst said. "We just felt like he was a good fit for the team, whether it's spotting some of our guys against tough righties or filling in at times since he can play both corner outfield positions. We've always liked the way he plays, and we feel he's a good fit for the team the way it's constituted right now."
The move begs the question of where Gross' presence leaves a handful of other outfield options, most notably Travis Buck and Eric Patterson -- the latter who, according to Forst, seems to have the edge in competing with Gross as the team's fourth outfielder.
At the same time, Forst made sure to note Buck "has every opportunity to play well and make this team, but he needs to earn his way here."
Joining Buck -- and several others -- in the hunt for a spot on the Opening Day roster will be 26-year-old Tolleson, who combined for a .266 average, eight home runs and 40 RBIs in 130 games for Double-A New Britain and Triple-A Rochester in the Twins' farm system last year.
"He's another guy our scouts have liked since seeing him play in the Arizona Fall League in 2008," Forst said. "He's somewhat similar to Rosales, just a couple years behind. He can play a number of positions and helps add to the depth."
Both Rosales and Tolleson have options left, which affords the team plenty of flexibility as it enters the season with question marks surrounding another utility infielder named Eric Chavez.
More than enough depth will be on display at Spring Training in just a few weeks' time, but Forst said Monday's hoopla of transactions doesn't necessarily mean the club is quite done wheeling and dealing.
"We've got three players on designation, so we need to make moves and figure out how to resolve those situations," he said. "We never close the door on anything. I think we're very happy with the roster as it looks right now, but we'll certainly sign guys right up until the first day of Spring Training and even, like last year, into Spring Training."
Jane Lee is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Allright everybody, I fixed the left pan error.You can find the new HQ-Drops on our brand new website!!!http://www.djdropsforless.tk
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Charity Shea Curly Casual Half Up Braided Hairstyle - Medium Brunette Hair Color
Description(Added: 22nd August 2012 )
This auburn brown mane is pulled over to one side and braided over the shoulder for a cool and casual look and feel. This look is easy to achieve at home and great for any casual occasion. Product is needed for hold and shine.
- Hair Category: Casual
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- Gender: Women
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- Hair Density: Thin/Medium
- Hair Texture: Fine/Medium
- Age: Under 21, 21 - 30, 31 - 40, and 41 - 50
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- Glasses: Suits with and without
- Styling Time: 30+ minutes
- Styling Tip: Allow up to 2 hours styling time for hot roller setting, teasing, pinning and spraying. This long lasting style is great for all occasions and all weather conditions.


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Out call stands, keeping Marlins' run off the board
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com
ST. LOUIS -- MLB's blocking the plate rule came into question in the fourth inning on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
On a terrific defensive play by St. Louis pitcher Shelby Miller and catcher Yadier Molina, Miami's Marcell Ozuna was tagged out on a squeeze play by Andrew Heaney.
Heaney dropped the bunt on the grass in front of home plate. Miller charged and made an underhand flip to Molina, who applied the tag on Ozuna, who attempted a headfirst slide to the back of the plate. Umpire Clint Fagan immediately signaled out.
Miami manager Mike Redmond asked for the play to be reviewed to see if there was a violation of Rule 7:13, which involves the blocking of home plate.
Officially, it was a crew-chief review. After two minutes and 15 seconds, the ruling was that the call stands.
It was a crucial play at the time, because the game was tied at 1.
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. He writes a blog, called The Fish Pond. Follow him on Twitter @JoeFrisaro. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Powering through my UFO pile!!! This top was made by my BIL nother, who died. My sister gave me a lot of unfinished pieces and I am finishing them for Brian. Really liked how this turned out. I sttiched in the ditch on the body of the quilt and and leaves and flowers to the border.
That's a beautiful quilt, Elizabeth, love the color combination. You did a wonderful job on the quilting.
Beautifully done, Elizabeth I know he would love the way it looks. Ginny
Karla--the log cabin quilt is wonderful!! The boy's instructor will love it!!
Joe--Sophies's quilt is so sweet! She will treasure it forever. Glad you were able to resist the temptation of strong black coffee.
Elizabeth--beautiful job on the quilting. Love the colors in the quilt!
Vivian--Hi! Missed seeing you!
I am still working on borders on the textured quilt. I hand-gathered a 36 inch strip for one of the borders last night and my hands are not happy about it today. And it is cold and raining and dreary today so I'm taking frequent breaks with the heating pad around my hands.
Have a quilty day!
Karla - love the log cabin. The appliqué is a nice touch.
Joe - Sophie's quilt is lovely. She is a lucky little girl.
Elizabeth - great quilt, so nice you could finish it. Great quilting.
I caught up on MQ 8 today and am now cutting border fabric for a baby quilt. Or will be as soon as I get off the Internet.
lovethe quilt, busy yet so appealing to ghe eye. Great. Oolor combos too. Xcellent mob!
This is so true !!
I gave the business the link to this thread so they can get ideas and hopefully design ironing broads that we can love.
Wow !! That is so pretty !!!
She did very good work and you just added more love to it. Nicely done !
One day I will learn how to get my pictures posted. I think it's my camera setting or my settings on my computer. Mean while, I sure enjoy seeing all that you all are working on.
I am still taking stitches out of a quilt. The woman did a nice job on it but our vision was different. I had vision of the design being upright when the quilt was on the bed. It bothered me too much so I am pulling out the stitches. Anyone want a job?? LOL I would gladly pay someone to do this.
elizabeth you've done a beautiful job on a vert pretty quilt
gini in north idaho
wow, Elizabeth, that is stunning. I absolutely LOVE your colors!
Very nice Elizabeth, beautiful color combo! He'll be happy with it, I'm sure.
Millbury, MA
Great job on the log cabin and the dragons. The instructor will love it.
Joe, very pretty quilt. Take it easy on all that coffee.
Elizabeth, beautiful quilt and beautiful quilting. Love the colors.


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Volusia County sheriff's investigators are asking for the public's help in finding trailers stolen out of three West Volusia cities.
Volusia County sheriff's investigators are asking for the public's help in finding trailers stolen out of three West Volusia cities.
Sheriff's office spokesman Brandon Haught said investigators learned a warrant for the arrest of Michael Desaussure was served Wednesday in Seminole County, but the Orange City man has since posted bail.
Haught said though there are no longer any active Volusia County warrants for Desaussure's arrest, investigators continue to track the whereabouts of the trailers stolen out of Orange City, DeLand and Deltona. Investigators would also like to speak with anyone who may have had any recent interactions with Desaussure, 53, who is a suspect in other theft cases.
Investigators believe Desaussure "targets unattended trailers during daylight hours and transports them to Orlando to sell them within hours of the thefts."
Authorities do not know where Desaussure is since he posted bail, Haught said. Investigators believe the trailers they are searching for were taken to Orlando and sold.
Haught said Desaussure is also suspected in the theft of a trailer Tuesday from DeBary. The 2005 Emerson Hombre tandem-axle trailer was loaded with wheelbarrows, a cement mixer and a tool box.
Anyone with information about Desaussure or any of the trailer thefts is asked to contact Sgt. Virgil Ford at 386-668-3830 or CrimeStoppers at 888-277-8477 (TIPS). Tips can also be sent via text message to the number with "TIP231" included in the body of the message. Tipsters can remain anonymous and qualify for a reward of up to $1,000.


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Lose It! is a smart phone app that helps you set goals and achieve them through tracking your daily calories, habits, and exercise.
FitNow, Inc.
This handout serves as a guide for identifying motivations to lose weight and setting weight loss goals. It also prompts consideration of the steps to reach goals, approaches for tracking progress, and support systems.
Indian Health Service
ChooseMyPlate.gov from the USDA illustrates the five food groups that are the building blocks for a healthy diet and provides tools for diet/calorie tracking and information on weight management, physical activity, and healthy eating. Some materials available in Spanish.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
This national weight management program is designed to help veterans lose weight, keep it off, and improve their health. The materials available on this website can also be used to help non-VA patients manage their weight. En español
U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA)
These web pages provide information and tools to help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. Includes resources for health care professionals to assist in assessing and treating overweight and obese patients.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
This booklet and website, designed for Latino families, provides information on how to stay healthy and prevent diabetes problems, especially heart disease.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
This program can help you lose weight by forming helpful habits, eating smarter, getting more exercise, and providing support through in-person meetings and online resources. En español
Weight Watchers
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Apparently, it happened something like this: It was during the '80s in Durango, and a few residents would set off fireworks at the north end of the old fairgrounds rodeo arena, which was the original Durango High School football field. The fireworks were crude, the handling was dangerous, and the explosions unpredictable, which, of course, drew a nice crowd. It also scared the heck out of the livestock.
It was clear to almost everyone that a more organized, safer fireworks show was needed. But who would organize it? Chuck Norton and other notables led an unsuccessful effort to have a public or private organization take on the project, but they were turned down by all. Already on the hook for $5,000 worth of fireworks he ordered from a Utah supplier, Chuck and the committee passed the proverbial hat and started asking for $40 donations from every downtown merchant. They even placed collection jelly jars at City Market. The then city of Durango Fire Department was approached to set off the fireworks from Fort Lewis College, and to seal the deal Chuck agreed to feed them all, something he's still doing 25 years later. But a serious in-town fire broke out, the Fourth of July show was canceled and the fireworks were donated to the La Plata County Fair.
The Committee of Notables didn't give up. It convinced the City Council to provide funding to supplement private donations. The event moved to Santa Rita Park. Food-and-beverage vendors and arts-and-crafts booths were added. Live entertainment included several good bands and a bad Elvis impersonator.
The pre-fireworks party then switched to Rotary Park, and the fireworks were launched from Cemetery Hill for greater viewing from downtown and Rim Drive. From these storied beginnings, Durango has enjoyed an annual Salute-to-America fireworks display. For the last 10 years, eight more family-friendly events have been added.
The common theme through three decades and several venue changes: It takes committed residents, volunteer committees, municipal support, civic organizations and corporate sponsorships to keep our traditions alive.
Don't forget the real meaning of this national holiday, and remember those who serve in the name of freedom.
So here are the details:
Kick off the morning at Rotary Park with the combination Freedom 5K Run by Durango Parks and Recreation Department and All-American Gourmet Breakfast by Rotary Clubs. Then move to Buckley Park to hear readings of our Declaration of Independence presented by Fort Lewis College at 11 a.m. Midday live entertainment, kids' games, magic shows and a kids' flea market presented by Durango Toy Depot follows. Hungry patriots big and small can enjoy a barbecue lunch, beer tent and kids' games at the Elks Club on East Second Avenue and Ninth Street. Move closer into downtown for the annual 6 p.m. hometown parade presented by the Business Improvement District followed up with a high- energy street dance powered by the popular Hi-Rollers. The 9:15 p.m. fireworks show is sponsored by BP of America and presented by DFRA.
email@example.com. Bob Kunkel is the downtown business development manager for the city of Durango.


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Sting comes out to the entrance ramp and falls down, then starts shaking and grabbing his face, and it looks as if he is reinacting what happened to him last week. He confirms it, and says he really did lose his mind, but he remembers getting hit and that he was nervous. He remembers the fire in his eye, and he had his ass handed to him by Hulk Hogan, because Hulk still has it. Sting asks if the fans want to see Hulk back in the ring because he is dying to see it happen, and he wants the fans to chant because he wants a match tonight!
Ric Flair comes out instead, and he asks if he really called Hulk the greatest wrestler of all time, but they will get back to that later. He says Sting earned the title of "Icon" and people always ask Flair for one more match with Sting, and he says they will make it happen but Flair wants to finish his thought. He says he wants to get to where he belongs, and he needs to wrestle Sting for that to happen, so he has a proposition in mind. Flair says if he wins, Sting has to retire, but if Sting actually beat him, he will serve Hulk to him on a silver platter. Flair tells him to think about it, because he means a real retirement, and he has to go home, then he asks for an answer. Sting says he wants to ask the fans, then tells Flair he smells like garlic, but the match is on!
Flair goes back to Hulk's office and sees him throwing things at the walls and starts yelling at Flair. He closes the door and knocks, then reenters and tells Hulk he has it covered and Sting can't beat him. Hulk says Sting shouldn't be walking right now after everything he did to him last week, but Flair tells him to calm down since they haven't seen each other in two months. He tells Hulk to relax and catch up with him, but Hulk tells him to stop because he is done with Sting. Flair tells him Sting will be gone because he is going to kick Sting's ass, and Hogan tells him to get everyone together to take care of Sting tonight. He says he won't wrestle Sting again, but Flair tells him not to worry, and leaves the office and WOO's a few times.
Have a news tip? Attended an event and want to send a live report?


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She was looking for someone who liked boats, liked to dance, and remembered World War II.
He was looking for someone to travel the world with him.
For John and Bliss Hill, life together began aboard their 55-foot, hand-built sailing boat Breezy.
From Bliss's journal: "It was love at first sight and we spent two years happily finishing the boat. John did the heavy work, whilst I did the interior and exterior varnishing. Six weeks after we launched the boat, we were married onboard in Los Angeles Harbor at sunset."
The Hills will share their sailing adventures in a slideshow at the Ocean Club meeting, 10 a.m. March 1 at Clubhouse 3, Dining Room 2.
John, a former aerospace engineer, designed and built the single-hull ketch rig almost singlehandedly, after purchasing the unfinished hull from a boat maker in Torrance. It took him four years to complete the work, which included pushing the hull out 15 feet to make it higher than a normal boat.
Breezy was the third boat John built.
In December 1983, the couple set off from San Diego to St. Croix, Virgin Islands with their black Doberman, Gale. The 5,000-mile voyage took them down the coast of Mexico, to Costa Rica, through the Panama Canal, and northeast to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The Hills' six-month adventure included encounters with native Indians in the San Blas Islands and a voodoo ceremony in Haiti.
Bliss kept a journal written in pencil, which she later typed and compiled with hundreds of photos into a book. In one entry, she writes:
"The third day out from the last port in Mexico heading for Costa Rica, we were hit with 60 mph winds and 20-foot seas that blew us 200 miles off shore. A sail that normally takes two days extended to six. If we could have sailed close to the coast we would have had milder seas, but there was a revolution going on in Nicaragua. Boats were required to stay 20 miles offshore or risk being confiscated."
John describes the swells as higher than the ceiling of their Laguna Woods home. "The boat was going up and down, up and down. The next thing we knew, we were on top of the wave. It was like riding an elevator for two days."
John proved his mettle as a sailor that day. "I learned he really knew what he was doing," Bliss says.
Today, the Hills are active members of the Ocean Club, and often co-skipper the club's sail boat on its regular excursions. John enjoys regaling friends with stories of their adventures aboard Breezy. "I'd do it again if I could."
And Bliss? "I'd go anywhere in the world with him he asks."
Contact the writer: 949-837-5200 or email@example.com


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The death of a woman who was electrocuted when she answered a call on her iPhone 5 will be investigated by Apple, according to reports.
A 23-year old Chinese woman was killed when she was electrocuted while answering a phone call on her device, which was charging at the time, according to Reuters.
Apple issued condolences but refused to comment further. It is not clear if the death was an isolated incident.
Ma Ailun, 23, was a flight attendant with China Southern Airlines and a resident of Xinjiang province in the western part of the country.
A message from her sister reporting the circumstances of her death went viral in China, according to Xinhua, the state-run media agency.


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The M22 brings you handling and performance that is closer to the modern defensive handgun than any other rimfire pistol. Designed for inexpensive high velocity 22LR ammunition the accurate rapid fire performance of the M22 offers the shooter an economical shortcut for modern pistol practice. Easy to load ten round magazines. Single action trigger offers precision with every shot. Accessory rail lets you train with lights and lasers. High visibility adjustable rear sight. Handles like your carry gun.The rifle comes standard with front and rear folding sights, along with picatinny style rail mounts.
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America is On a First Name Basis with Angie Hicks '95
May 14, 2013
"Angie Hicks calls Indianapolis home. Her family is here. Her business is here. However, her name is absolutely everywhere," begins a report aired by Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV. "That's because Angie Hicks is the 'Angie' in Angie's List."
A 1995 graduate of DePauw University, where she was an economics major and Management Fellow, Hicks co-founded the company -- now a national powerhouse -- shortly after receiving her diploma in Greencastle. Beth Vaughn reports, "Hicks said it took her company 16 years to collect a million household customers. It's taken just 16 months to double that number ... Angie's List offers 550 categories of service reviews in 200 different markets. About 1,300 employees, mainly based at a business park just east of downtown Indianapolis, work the phones and sell advertising for the site."
Hicks says, "Surround yourself with great people. That can sometimes be better than the idea."
The station adds, "Hicks is a graduate of DePauw University. She told RTV6 that before launching what would become Angie's List after college, she worked as a server at Ryan's Steak House and as an employee at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Now that she's found professional success, she looks for opportunities to mentor other young goal-minded people. Hicks said her message is always to seize opportunities as they become available and always keep your eyes open for the next one to come along."
Access the report at the station's website.
Hicks holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. In October 2009, she was honored with DePauw's Robert C. McDermond Medal for Excellence in Entrepreneurship. (photo at left: President Brian W. Casey awards the McDermond Medal)
Angie Hicks Bowman was a guest on CBS This Morning March 7. Learn more in this previous summary.Back


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Three commercial properties and five residences were recognized Monday as part of the 18th annual Community Revitalization Awards program. The program allows the City to thank property owners who have completed revitalization projects having a significant, positive impact on their property and the surrounding area.
The judging committee included Council Members Scott Dunn and Steve Mitchell, City Plan Commissioners Randy Roland and Marilyn Frederick, and Mary Bedosky representing the Chamber of Commerce.
Properties receiving an award include:
QuikTrip - With more than 600 stores in operation, QuikTrip opened its first store in Richardson in 2012. Acquiring the entirety of the northeast corner of Inge and Belt Line Roads, QuikTrip replaced a dilapidated, vacant, automotive brake facility and two outdated multi-tenant retail buildings with extensive new landscaping along three streets and the development of their third generation store design.
Jack In The Box - Replacing a portion of an aging multi-tenant retail center and the location of a previously demolished restaurant, Jack in the Box developed their latest restaurant concept. Featuring a modern building design with decorative wall fixtures, and lighted canopies, this development has helped to reenergize the Northrich shopping corridor.
Govindji's Jewelry - Expanding from a small 2,000 square foot space in 1985, Govindji's Jewelry embarked on a significant remodeling program for their existing flagship store along Central Expressway. Occupying the entirety of a two-story, 12,000 square foot retail building, the former brick and concrete building has been replaced with a classical building design featuring a cast stone and brushed metal façade with a large arched entryway, large fabric panel awnings, and up-lighting within the sidewalks. This has certainly raised the bar for redevelopment along Central Expressway.
Swanson Residence - With the assistance of Fairview Custom Home builders, the Swanson family's remodel of this Canyon Creek home is highlighted by the addition of an expanded second story with a standing seam metal roof, a projecting arched front porch with decorative columns and trim, rebuilt stone retaining walls with brick sidewalk pavers and extensive new landscaping.
Wallace Residence - The conversion of this Canyon Creek ranch-style home to craftsman-style was completed in early 2012. Highlights of the remodel include a prominent front entryway that features duel tapered columns and a pronounced roofline, wide overhanging eaves with decorative bracketing, an addition of a second story with new windows, and extensive new landscaping.
Kirk Residence - Designed by Fairview Custom Homes, the construction of this new Canyon Creek home features a brick and stone façade with stained cedar shutters, decorative bracketing, an arched recessed front door, and new landscaping that maintained the mature trees.
Guinn Residence - Remodeled by 3rd Street Custom Home Builders, then subsequently purchased by the Guinn Family, this redesigned craftsman-style inspired home features a prominent covered front porch highlighted with tapered columns, a low-pitched roof line with decorative bracketing, clear-story windows, and new landscaping.
Kazmann Residence - In a collaborative effort between Vicosa Architects and Deitrichson Fine Custom Homes, the redevelopment of this home-site features a stone façade with arched windows, a prominent, recessed front entryway with decorative cedar bracketing, Spanish tile shingles, and a wrought iron Juliette style balcony flanked by natural gas lanterns.
Nominations are already being accepted for the 2013 awards. For more information, contact Israel B. Roberts at 972-744-4256 or email@example.com.
411 W. Arapaho Rd. Richardson, TX 75080-4551 PH# 972 -744-4100 | Mailing Address P.O. Box 830309 Richardson, TX 75083-0309
© 2018 City of Richardson, TX | Privacy Policy
| Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities call, 972-744-0908 or Email firstname.lastname@example.com


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Longoria ready to restart rehab process
By Bill Chastain, Adam Berry and Greg Zeck / MLB.com
Longoria hasn't played since that game on June 18, but he is restarting his rehab process, which will include batting, fielding and running drills before playing in another rehab game.
"We're finally moving back forward again," Longoria said. "It wasn't like I thought -- it wasn't anything major. ... I've already missed enough time as it is, and I don't want my season to be over at this point by doing something stupid. That was the decision; it was my decision."
During the Rays' most recent road trip, Longoria said all he did was rest the hamstring. It wasn't until the team returned home that he put any stress on it.
He added that he is "not back to square one" and that he feels better now than at any point during the rehab.
The injury, a partial tear of his left hamstring, sidelined Longoria on April 30. The expected recovery period is typically six to eight weeks, and he said he may have tried to come back too quickly.
"When you approach that time, you expect it to be right," Longoria said. "It just wasn't. Again, I'm really happy with the way that it's been. I say that with 100 percent confidence."
There is currently no timetable for Longoria to return to the Rays, because he needs to repeat the process.
"[I need to] go through all of the steps I went through before I went out to rehab the first time," Longoria said. "From the way it feels now, those are going to go a lot quicker."
Rays manager Joe Maddon said he trusts his training staff, which he called the best in all of baseball. He said he wants to be patient with Longoria and not try to rush him back.
"Nobody's upset, let's just get him back," Maddon said. "We're only going to the World Series with him."
Longoria was hitting .329 with 19 RBIs in 23 games for Tampa Bay before getting hurt. The team is 25-28 in his absence.
Fuld making progress, takes batting practice
ST. PETERSBURG -- Sam Fuld has been on the 60-day disabled list since April 2 following right wrist surgery. Initially, the prognosis varied for when he might be back. Some said August, others said September and some suggested the Rays outfielder might miss the entire season, his second with the club.
Now the recovery meter appears to be pointing in a different, more positive direction.
Fuld took batting practice Friday, taking approximately 35 swings and feeling fine afterward.
"Up until today, I had two days of short batting practice in the cage, maybe like 15 or 20 swings," Fuld said. "Today was by far the most I've done."
Fuld reported that he has moved past the worried-to-take-a-rip stage during batting practice.
"That's a huge part of getting over any injury," Fuld said. "When I was out there today, I felt myself worrying about my actual swing instead of worrying about my wrist, which is always a good thing.
"I felt great, no pain. [It] still feels a little odd not having taken BP in 2 1/2 months. But I'm really happy about the way it helped."
Fuld has been optimistic from the beginning that he would beat some of the dire estimates regarding when he might return, however ...
"I still haven't gotten to where I need to be, but if you had told me 2 1/2 months ago that I'd be at this point, I would have been very happy," Fuld said.
As for when Fuld might begin a rehab assignment, he said they had initially talked about August, but now they're shooting for the middle of next week. Fuld would likely accompany the team to Cleveland, pay a visit to the Cleveland doctor who performed the surgery, then head for a rehab assignment.
Rays manager Joe Maddon speculated that Fuld would use the maximum amount of days allowed for a position player to rehab, which is 20 days.
"I would imagine he would need all of that," Maddon said. "At-bats, you're going to play, you're going to get rested, you're going to have to work hard to get the swing. All those different ideas or thoughts are going to be involved. So I'm anticipating the max on him."
Fuld could not hide his enthusiasm about his situation.
"I'm happy with where I'm at," he said.
Rays option Gomes, Ramos to Triple-A
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays' pitching staff will get a boost Saturday night, but first they had to send two young relievers back to Triple-A Durham to clear room on the roster.
Right-hander Brandon Gomes and lefty Cesar Ramos were optioned after Friday night's 4-2 win over the Tigers, and Tampa Bay will make three roster moves prior to Saturday night's game against Detroit. Starter Jeremy Hellickson will be activated from the 15-day disabled list, reliever Kyle Farnsworth will come off the 60-day DL and reliever Joel Peralta will return after serving an eight-game suspension for using pine tar.
"They're at the point now where they know that they belong here," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Gomes and Ramos. "They know that they can pitch here and be successful. It's tough."
This was Gomes' third stint in the Majors this season, and it lasted only a week. He owns a 6.94 ERA and 1.97 WHIP in 11 2/3 innings, but he had been pitching well recently before giving up four runs on four hits and two walks while recording only one out Tuesday in Kansas City.
Ramos will return to Durham for the first time since being recalled May 6. He put together a 1.74 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 11 appearances spanning 20 2/3 innings.
"It's great to get the quality back that we're getting, but we've developed some really nice young relief pitchers," Maddon said. "And they're great guys. They fit here well. They're great teammates. I think in Spring Training, I spoke of our depth in the bullpen -- there it is."
Rays to give out more Zim Bears at future game
ST. PETERSBURG -- Due to the great demand for the Zim Bear, the Rays announced Friday night that they will be ordering another 10,000 Zim Bears to be given away at a future Rays game.
On Friday night, the first 10,000 fans to arrive to the Tigers-Rays contest received a Zim Bear, which is a miniature teddy bear with the face of Rays senior advisor Don Zimmer.
Since being unveiled during Spring Training, the Zim Bear has gained great popularity, which enhanced the anticipation for Friday night's giveaway. Fans were lined up outside the stadium hours before the first pitch hoping to procure one of the prized dolls.
Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. Adam Berry is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @adamdberry. Greg Zeck is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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|Related Sections:
|Norfolk County
Heather Hill Country Club - Middle/South Course149 W Bacon St
Plainville, MA 02762
Phone: (508)695-0309Fax: (508)699-9393
This public club offers one regulation eighteen hole course and one nine hole course. The North Course (nine holes) has a few hills that can cause uneven lies. The fairways are narrow, and the greens are small. The South Course (eighteen holes) has many more hills than the North Course, but doesn't have any sand bunkers. The fairways are wide open, but they are tree lined. The greens are large, and water hazards come into play on three holes.
|Holes: 18
|Greens: Bent Grass
|Fairways: Bent Grass
|Greens Fees:
|$20 or Less
|Course Type:
|Dress Code:
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|Guest Policy:
* Update this Course: Update/modify the details for this golf course's listing.
*All Greens Fees provided are subject to change. Please call the golf course to confirm the current fees.


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Wednesday, 28 December 2011 14:10
Farm and forest land eligible for tax breaksWritten by Admin
- font size decrease font size increase font size
If you have 10 acres or more of agricultural land or five acres of horticultural land and make a gross production amount of $1,000 for three proceeding years, you might be eligible for a property tax break. Landowners with 20 acres of forestland may also be eligible.
A workshop to explain the program will be held at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 5 in the meeting room at the USDA Service Center on Raccoon Road. There is a discounted property tax rate
828.452.2741, Ext. 3.
Published in Archived Outdoors


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The King, The Chairman, and Daddy Long Legs. (and Joe Esposito in the back)
Last edited by GuidoYaztremski; 12-21-2012 at 09:43 PM.
Hey crossfire....
Ken M needs to post here...
Is that dude's date derek jeter?
Last edited by 1greenNUT; 12-26-2012 at 06:10 PM. Reason: alliteration *****es
yup, I think your right


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Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
What's the best vehicle for my needs?
markozm Posts: 1Hello everyone,
I don't drive much -- my three year old Kia Soul has ~15k miles. My lease is up March 1 and I need to find a new car. I have three kids but my wife has a minivan so it needs to fit everyone but doesn't need to be our main kid transportation. In face, like the Soul, I love having a small car for parking, efficiency, etc.
So, I don't drive much and I don't want to spend a lot ($300-$400/month max), but I do appreciate comfort, not having to worry about repairs, and technology like iPhone and Bluetooth integration.
I've been looking at the Audi A3, the VW Tiguan, Prius, Mazda...I'm all over the place. Any recommendations on this size/type -- what's better, or worse -- would be greatly appreciated.
Lastly, I've both financed and leased in the past. I'm open to either but if my main focus is total cost of ownership over three to fours years, it all seems to be similar...
Ok, thanks so much, any help is greatly appreciated.
plekto Posts: 3,738The best car between the A3 and the Tuguan is actually the Jetta Sportwagen. You can also get one with a TDI engine and get this, a manual transmission if you want.
A TDI with manual drives almost exactly as fast as a gas engine with automatic in real-world conditions. It's *not* slow and actually is quite fun. VWs are known for excellent manuals as well and most people could learn how to drive one in 5 or 10 minutes. I'd personally rate only Mercedes, BMW, and Honda as better if you can find a manual any more from them, that is. And, yes, despite some complaining, anyone can learn to drive manual. If you drive 5K a year, it's even more of a reason to enjoy every mile, because you're obviously not getting stuck in traffic jams or driving for hours a day.
The BIG advantage, though, is cost and repairs. Any mechanic can drop a new clutch in a VW. That DSG automatic by comparison is a $4000 repair bill waiting to happen someday. The smart buyer avoids VW and Audis with automatics and gets manuals if they can. Almost every VW and Audi in Europe is sold with manual, and it's not because they love punishment. :P
TDI and manual is a match made in heaven and it simply crushes the hybrids. Plus, it adds a bit of techno-bling to your life. TDIs are hot, hot commodities as of late and command excellent resale prices (depreciation is almost negligible if the car is in great shape). Total cost to own is therefore amazingly reasonable compared to the standard gas engine models.
One thing to add - if you just want a normal non-TDI model, VW is offering $200 a month leases until the end of the month.
qbrozen Posts: 22,681With the amount you drive, leasing is a waste of money. Even if you took the lowest amount of miles on your current lease, you've paid for 15k more that you haven't used.
If you like your Soul, why not buy it out? With those miles, it may be worth more than the buyout, and you've still got 7 years of powertrain warranty on it, right?
'17 F150 Crew 2.7; '67 Coronet R/T; '14 Town&Country Limited; '09 LR2 HSE. 44-car history and counting!
sebring95 Posts: 3,238Agree with gbrozen on this. Leasing almost ALWAYS costs more from a total financial impact, particularly on sub $40k vehicles. Even if you decide you don't want to buy it out and keep it, I would recommend trying to trade it before you turn it in....you may have positive equity compared to the buy-out.
Have you looked at Mini Coopers? I've thought about one as a run-about and they hold their value pretty well. When you get bored in a couple years you've got a premium low-mileage version to trade/sell.
suydam Posts: 3,243Agree. The Soul is a pretty practical little vehicle. Is there some reason you're not keeping it? That might tell you which direction to go.'14 Buick Encore Convenience
'17 Chevy Volt Premiere
stever Posts: 52,683A reporter would like to talk to someone under the age of 30 who bought a car within the last few months. Please reach out to email@example.com by Wednesday, March 20, 2013 if you'd like to help.
sandman_6472 Coral Springs, FLPosts: 4,284Totally agree here...keep the Soul. Test drove one a couple weeks back and even have the brochure in the car and it's a nice vehicle for your purposes. In the same position as you...3 kids and do not drive much and have a '06 Civic which I bought with 37.8k on the clock. Work part time now and when I do go in, it's 52 miles round trip so will be putting some mileage on here now. But it's a great little runabout just like your Soul. I actually like the versatility of the Soul and am considering one when I purchase in a few more years.
I personally love auto trannys as I just want the vehicle to go when needed to so I can just sit back and watch the road, others have opposite viewpoints. Do what fits your needs the best but leasing does seem a bit silly in your case. There are so many nice choices out there...just get what you like that is affordable...personally, I love imports from Japan/Korea as that's all we have in our fleet...all great cars that are "cheap to keep" with no drama. No one wants drama with a vehicle or needs the aggravation really.
Good luck and by now, you've already made your decision. Hope it was a good one.
The Sandman :sick: :shades:
2015 Audi A3 (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2009 Nissan Versa SL Hatch (daughter #1) / 2008 Hyundai Accent GLS (daughter #2)


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Leading consultant ophthalmologist Mark Wevill, who heads the eye unit at Space Healthcare in Leamington, was flying to Cape Town this week to speak at an international medical conference.
One of the world's leading eye surgeons, Mark, who has carried out more than 20,000 laser eye procedures, will be addressing the Congress of the Ophthalmological Society of South Africa (OSSA), which takes place from Thursday March 13 to Saturday 16.
In recent months Mark has addressed the largest ophthalmic conference in the United States, attended by 7,000 surgeons in New Orleans; Europe's largest equivalent conference in Amsterdam, attended by 5,000 surgeons; and Asia's largest conference of 10,000 surgeons in India.
Last year Mark joined Space Healthcare, which had invested more than £1 million in state-of-the-art equipment for its centre in Clarendon Avenue.


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In a letter to the secretary of state's office, Wasserman said officials should give him 30 more days to circulate petitions and gather more signatures for his proposal, which would give him exclusive rights to operate casinos in seven Arkansas counties. Election officials last week said he had fallen short of the number of signatures required during an initial count and would not qualify.
Proposed constitutional amendments need at least 78,133 signatures from registered voters to qualify.
Wasserman didn't meet a requirement that signatures from at least 15 counties equal at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the last governor's election — he fell short in Prairie, Saline and Woodruff counties. In his letter, he said that the 15-county rule could not apply since he turned in more than the minimum number of signatures.
"If you feel the petition is insufficient due to your disqualification of certain voters or errors contained on the petition sheets then it is the constitutionally mandated duty of the secretary of state to so inform the sponsor of the amendment and allow 30 days to correct or amend the petition," Wasserman wrote.
Alex Reed, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said the office did not have immediate plans to continue counting Wasserman's signatures but would review his letter and respond in the next couple days.
A competing casino measure cleared the initial count and election officials are now verifying that the signatures came from registered voters.
The competing proposal from professional poker player Nancy Todd would give her exclusive rights to operate casinos in four counties. If Todd falls short during the verification period, she'll have 30 additional days since she cleared the initial count.


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We've extended our returns over the festive period, orders placed from 4th through to 24th December 2017 can be returned up until 22nd January 2018.


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Great tv by Samsung
Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)
I bought this tv to replace my Samsung Ln46c650 I wanted a bright picture with led edge lighting And that is what I got I still have a love for the Samsung Plasma tv's but I choose between the two depending on the media I watch. I would recommend this tv. Also, I'm a Tech and I know that the newer model Is also great the 6100 model for 2013
Pros: back cover Is made of steel next to the current model
Cons: The new model has 4 HDMI INPUTES This one has only 3 HDMI INPUTES but I wanted a steel back cover


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Worm: The First Digital World War tells the story of the Conficker worm, a potentially devastating piece of malware that has baffled experts and infected more than twelve million computers worldwide. When Conficker was unleashed in November 2008, cybersecurity experts did not know what to make of it. Exploiting security flaws in Microsoft Windows, it grew at an astonishingly rapid rate, infecting millions of computers around the world within weeks. Once the worm infiltrated one system it was able to link it with others to form a single network under illicit outside control known as a "botnet." This botnet was soon capable of overpowering any of the vital computer networks that control banking, telephones, energy flow, air traffic, health-care information — even the Internet itself. Was it a platform for criminal profit or a weapon controlled by a foreign power or dissident organization?
Surprisingly, the U.S. government was only vaguely aware of the threat that Conficker posed, and the task of mounting resistance to the worm fell to a disparate but gifted group of geeks, Internet entrepreneurs, and computer programmers. But when Conficker's controllers became aware that their creation was encountering resistance, they began refining the worm's code to make it more difficult to trace and more powerful, testing the Cabal lock's unity and resolve. Will the Cabal lock down the worm before it is too late? Game on.
©2011 Mark Bowden (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
"An exiting account of a new kind of apocalypse!"
Hugely enjoyable, if slightly scary account of the "Confiker worm", which is probably inside your computer (and mine) at this moment, waiting for a command from "the BotMaster" to awake, and create havoc, by comandeering your PC, along with millions of others to target and "pwn" banking, utilities, defense and other essential computer networks of our civilisation's fragile infrastructure.
This is a true story of potential network apocalypse, of huge egos, and huge intelligences, experts in arcane knowledge most of us cannot begin to grasp, evil geniuses and selfless volunteers; real life "X-men"; "white hats" fighting the shadowy "black hats" in a battle of wits, with the fate of our society at stake - the good guys trying to stay just one step ahead. It's all great fun, and brilliantly written and narrated.
Rather worryingly, the people who should be monitoring this kind of thing, the CIA, FBI, MI5 and others, seem to be blissfully unaware of the danger. Hmmm!
"A real-world techno thriller"
Yes. It is brisk, well written and rich with the kind of detail I like in my books. There's stuff there for IT security professionals too
It zips along at a pace. It could have been dry and functional but Bowden compels the listener to keep up
"Very Good."
If you are at all interested in computer security then this is worth a listen.
"Engaging and Informative"
Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down), in Worm, tells the story of the Conflicker worm which was introduced to computers in 2008 and infected 1.5 million computers in 195 countries. He brings to the public the story of those who would disrupt the internet and those who are charged to protect it. A strength of Bowden is his uncanny ability to tell this story in a way that the nongeek will easily follow and understand. I was particularly interested in passage where Bowden explains what goes into protecting the internet, profiles the people involved in that task, and explains something of what takes place in such an atmosphere and environment. It is probably the topic covered, but I found Black Hawk Down to be far more engaging than Worm. On the other hand, the battle scenes of Black Hawk Down lend themselves to life-and-death struggle and computer hacking and worms are not that bloody. Nonetheless, Bowden fan will be entertained, informed, and otherwise rewarded for reading his most recent book. Christopher Lane's reading is well done.
"Clear, Concise Story of the Conficker Worm"
I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. It was very clearly written with plenty of background on the technical side of computer viruses and worms to make the story clear and easy to follow. The Conficker worm turns out to be rather mysterious, and I appreciated that mystery element. For the most part, Bowden keeps himself out of the story - another plus. Recommended for those who like Hackers, The Cuckoo's Egg, and stories about computer history.
"Important Insight into the Next 10 Years"
I'm often amazed at how surprised others seem to be by big events. Seriously. The rise of the internet was not surprising to most computer scientists. 9-11 was not surprising to a large number of terrorism experts. That the iPhone or more precisely something like it would explode into the mainstream was predicted by a plethora of prognosticators for very long time.
So this book is your change to able to say, "Oh, yea I've known about that for a couple of years", while too many of your friends are reeling in shock … although in my personal experience saying this wish such lack of tact is less than ideal for your friendships {wink} …
Sometime in the next 5 to 15 years (let's call it 10 years) there will be an act of cyber-war or cyber-terrorism that will shock much of the western world. But really the shocking thing would be if such an event doesn't occur.
This book is the story of the creation of a formidable new weapon in the "cold" cyber-war, which seems to have been escalating for about 5 years, by none other than the former Soviet Union. It is told from the perspective of rag tag band of American intellectuals who fought intently to prevent its creation. It is a very good story, but more importantly knowing this story will elucidate future world events. In the end there is just enough
The story is one that most computer security experts don't know, or only vaguely know. In this regard this is a must read for mainstream computer scientists. But the author goes to great lengths to explain concepts to non-programmers. For example he explains in surprising detail the, somewhat rudimentary, buffer overflow attack at the heart of the sorry through an extended analogy to a cook following a recipe a bit too slavishly while a miscreant tricks the cook into inserting ruinous items into his own recipe. Often this sort of thing is tedious for the expert listener, but somehow it wasn't in this case.
"Informative and shocking."
An interesting read about a subject I knew little about. Sure I surf the internet but never understood the workings and how someone benefits from all the viruses(malware).
I came away knowing more about the internet and with less confidence in my government to protect us.
I would recommend this book as an eye opener!
I just finished this book and I see in today's newspaper some of the people that are in the book have a grant from the government to build a new firewall. They are to start from the beginning to create a new way of protecting computers instead of patches. Mark Bowden's well written book allowed me to understand the problem and the importance to the new firewall. The conficker worm is the largest most frighting malware I have heard of. This book reads like a sci-fi book only it is all real. The conficker has created the largest bot-net ever seen and no one yet knows what this worm is going to do or when never mind how to stop it. Just imagine what would happen if some one shut down all the Internet traffic and crashed all the computers. This is a great book and Christopher Lane did a good job narrating the story.
"New Attack in the Digital Worrld"
For anyone that is reading my review you are already connected to the digital world, as we know as the Internet. Even though you may not be an ultra geek or just don't care what is going on in cyberspace, you should wake up and be more aware of the new digital threat to our new society because the attack will effect everyone, no matter if they go online or not because all of our financial institutions are link together and we live in a digital world.
There were many articles, postings, warnings, security patches and ongoing technology podcasts and blogs on Conficker. They were all mix match of speculation, like Y2K. No one really knew what was going to happen when Conficker went off.
"Worm" is a good read, even though you might not have any interest on this subject. The material that is presented is elementary for people that aren't aware of these types attacks, but it also goes much deeper for savvy users to keep their interest. More like inside baseball on Conficker.
C Day came and went like Y2K. The Internet didn't break down, the power grid didn't blew up and we had access to our bank accounts. The book addresses several valid points. If we are not careful or up to date, there will be a virus that will bring the net down and we will all be broken.
"I enjoyed this"
This is an interesting story about a world I know little about. I like the way the author weaved some information in as to how things work in the computer world, as I like to understand how things work. It is an engaging story, a mystery. Well written and well narrated.
"A surprisingly suspenseful story"
I would recommend this book to anyone I knew that both was enthralled by Internet and computer security enough to grasp some of the higher level computer jargon that is used. While the author does a great job of breaking the oat complex down into very simply terms it would seem somewhat confusing to someone who knows nothing of both the computer and how virus's work.
The story was dramatic and engaging. Even though it happened in the past so I Know for a fact that the world survived, I found myself biting my fingernails at the possible outcome and understanding just how those involved at the time must have felt.
If you are interested in international security and conflict Worm should be on your radar. Bowden condenses and focuses a very heady topic with aplomb.
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1. Macoute Blood
Marilise was eighteen in the fall of 1992, when she boarded a boat leaving Haiti. Her boyfriend, Franfrico, was with her. Maybe a third of the 70 passengers were heading out for reasons similar to Marilise's: They were young women who, owing to attacks or harassment by police or armed gangs, had left home, if they still had one. It was about a year after the military coup that toppled newly elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a time of violence and revenge-taking on all sides.
Most of Marilise's relatives were Tonton Macoutes, members or supporters of ex-dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier's murderous secret police, or of his son Jean-Claude, called "Baby Doc." The former died in 1971; the latter was forced out of power in 1986 and fled to France. Many Duvalier cronies, supporters, and armed thugs remained in Haiti, though, often facing retribution from the regime's numerous victims and enemies. Marilise's family thus was a natural target in the violent unrest unleashed by Baby Doc's ouster and the increasing breakdown of law and order in the years that followed. Her father, Josène, was a big smiling man, a butcher by trade. Her mother, Solange, worked as a hotel maid. They had expediently allied themselves with the Duvalierists, less from political conviction than to help ensure their physical and economic security.
Shortly after Duvalier's downfall, Marilise and her family lost all their possessions when their house in Delmas, a diverse section of Port-au-Prince, was torched. She was twelve at the time and disappointed at not being able to retrieve her only toy, "my dolly." But at least they were alive, more than Marilise could say for several relatives and family friends whom she watched die by necklacing, the murder method first popularized in South Africa and later adopted in Haiti under the name "Pere Lebrun," after the owner of a big Port-au-Prince tire store. "They put a tire on your neck, pour gas on your body, and set fire," Marilise elaborates in a sad monotone, as if reciting, her English strongly accented. "You keep talking. You can see yourself burning. You die like that. In 1987 some of my family started to get killed. Sometimes I see [Pere Lebrun] four or five times in one day. My cousin died like that. If I stay I get killed too."
Marilise is 27 years old now. In late September she gave birth to her third child. She is tall and broad, with dark golden skin, wide-set, long-lashed eyes, and two gold teeth. She has a shy and obliging manner; when she is relating emotionally disturbing events, she cries. Yet there remains about Marilise a tough, almost threatening aspect. It's hard to tell how much of her personality is the product of the antidepressants she has been taking for the past several years.
Eleven months ago Marilise was released from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's Krome Service Processing Center. After a year at Krome and almost two years in the Broward County Jail before that, she is making a fresh start. The past nine years have battered and broken her. She has survived nearly alone, having lost along the way most of her friends and immediate family; now even her two oldest children are wards of the State of Florida. Marilise vows to write her autobiography someday so her kids can know the truth about her life. Except the truth about her is amorphous, as it is with millions of Haitians who have become other people outside their country. As it is with Haiti itself, a nation where good and evil can be indistinguishable and where truth easily deceives. A Kreyol proverb observes, "Dèyè mon gen mon"-- behind the mountain, another mountain. Thus Marilise's story of degradation, poverty, and fear begins to reveal a person who in some ways has been an innocent victim all her life, except there's really no such thing. It's hardly inspirational. Perhaps it's allegorical, a story not too far removed from that of every other Haitian woman who ever came here on a boat, except in degrees of darkness. She tells it in a stream of consciousness, pouring out vignettes then suddenly skipping to a different incident years removed. It sounds too awful to have happened, but so do too many stories from Haiti ...
Back in the late Eighties, Marilise's parents didn't have the kind of money that would allow them to escape Haiti in style, to jet into exile as Jean-Claude Duvalier and his free-spending wife, Michele, had. As long as the corrupt and repressive Duvalier regime was in place, the family at least enjoyed a measure of protection and privilege, but they were out of luck in the social and political chaos that followed. The post-Duvalier years leading up to the December 1990 election of Aristide as president have been dubbed the dechoukaj, from a Kreyol word meaning to uproot, smash, lay waste. Things got worse in some ways for the Duvalierists after Aristide took over and then seven months later was deposed in a bloody military coup. While paramilitary gangs hunted down and killed Aristide supporters, other pro-Aristide groups killed their opponents as well.
Marilise, the only daughter among her parents' six children, was indulged by her brothers, who tried to keep her away, as much as possible, from the spreading violence. By the fall of 1992, she had been out of school for a couple of years and sometimes worked as a nanny. She was in love with Franfrico, a former classmate who lived on the same block as her family. But the meager stability Marilise enjoyed ended one afternoon when, on her way home from a friend's house, "a lady told me don't go home because a bunch of soldiers had come into my house; some people broke the window, and they were looking for my brother to kill him."
Marilise ended up at the bus station, where after sitting petrified on a bench for three hours, she caught the eye of a woman who camped out at the station most days to sell her homemade bread. "She see me sitting for so long and she asked me what was I doing there," Marilise recalls. "I told her I can't go home, so the lady took me to St. Marc [a city southwest of Port-au-Prince], where she lived. She gave me food, and she told me about the boat going to Miami."
From St. Marc Marilise called Franfrico to join her on the journey. The boat set out in late October 1992. The organizer of the voyage, according to Marilise, was the same Pere Lebrun of tire fame. It is doubtful this was really the man, though. A dozen knowledgeable sources, including a Lebrun in-law, say the real Pere Lebrun is still in Haiti operating his tire business and neither he nor his sons has ever been involved in running boat people to Miami. More likely, the leader of Marilise's expedition called himself by that famous name to disguise his true identity, a practice not unheard of among men involved in trafficking of one kind or another. Marilise, in fact, believes the boat captain "had done some very bad things in Haiti" and was escaping to save his life.
He did more bad things on the boat. Marilise has described the ordeal many times, but she invariably becomes agitated and her words begin to come out in bursts, scenes stumbling into another in no particular order. She shrinks from talking about how "Pere Lebrun" and his group of about three or four other men wasted no time in helping themselves to the young women onboard. "Pere Lebrun," according to Marilise, "tried to get me and another girl." She is vague about what kind of sexual relations they might have had, but she clearly saw no possibility of refusing Lebrun's or anyone else's advances there in the middle of the Caribbean. Underlying her telling of this and later victimizations is an unarticulated acquiescence to an ancient principle that has infused most of the world's cultures and religions: It teaches girls and women to be in every way at the disposal of men. Even so, all the passengers were at the mercy of "Lebrun" to some degree. "I don't have no choice," Marilise insists, the monotone punctuated every now and then by a panicked staccato. "Because he be cursing us out, saying he's going to drop us into the water."
It did her boyfriend no good to resist, either. Marilise asserts Lebrun and his lieutenants resolved in their first few days at sea to offer a human sacrifice to the vodou lwa, or deities, to ensure a safe trip "direk pou miyami," direct to Miami. Two young men were selected. Franfrico was one, and Marilise says Lebrun's daughter's boyfriend was the other. Marilise wanted to intervene, but she did nothing. "I didn't have any power," she explains, almost pleading, repeating the statement another few times. "If I tried I was going to die, too. They threw him over, and he went under the boat, and nobody ever found him again. Then after [Lebrun] killed [Franfrico], he snatch my boyfriend's passport out of my hand, so no one would know what happened."
"That's not the story I heard," says a Haitian living in Miami who was told of the boat crossing but didn't want to speak about it for this article. "I thought what happened was she was having sex with the captain, and when the boyfriend found out, he started a fight and they beat him up and threw him off the boat. There wasn't no vodou. There wasn't no Pere Lebrun."
But there was a voyage lasting eleven days that Marilise's boyfriend did not survive. After four days the passengers ran out of water. They disembarked at one of the Bahamian islands, Marilise recounts, picked up some water and food, and continued on their way to Miami. They were fortunate to get past the Bahamas, where countless Haitian watercraft have run aground or wrecked on sandbars, and where thousands of Haitians have been detained and deported.
Marilise and other women onboard didn't escape the threats and abuse of the captain and his men, though, until the boat was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard off Miami Beach. The passengers were loaded onto a cutter and once on shore bused to "a big place. I don't know if it was Krome," Marilise remembers. "We could take a shower, and they gave us food. After that they took us to [a refugee processing center]. We filled out a bunch of papers, and they took us and put us in a motel on Biscayne Boulevard." She had made it to Miami, more or less direct, along with tens of thousands more Haitian and Cuban refugees who were part of a major wave of boaters and rafters arriving in 1991 and 1992.
2. Morning in America
During the early Nineties the INS was housing hundreds of immigrants in Miami motels owing to a lack of space at Krome. Those who were claimed by family members usually were promptly released. Marilise knew her half sister lived in South Florida but didn't yet know how to reach her. Cubans, because of their privileged status under U.S. immigration law, could count on minimal time in government custody, an immediate work permit, and virtually guaranteed permanent-residency status after a year. Haitians had no guarantees of any sort; thus Marilise was elated when a woman named Emite Ledice, or Umite Ledice, or Emit Lides (her name is spelled a variety of ways on official documents, but she couldn't be found to verify any version) arrived one morning at Marilise's motel (she thinks it might have been the Bayside Motor Inn at 5101 Biscayne Blvd.). Marilise believes it was a practice among certain Haitian residents in those days to visit places where immigrants were being detained and arrange releases for people who agreed to work for the residents in some capacity.
Ledice, a woman about ten years older than Marilise, lived in North Miami. "She put me in her custody if I would take care of her kids," Marilise relates. "I was paroled [by INS] and went to live at her family's house. Later I got a social security number and permit to work. I thought Emite was going to put me in school, help me learn English. But she said she'd have me deported if I didn't help her." Marilise did work at other jobs during the next few years, including waiting tables at a restaurant owned by Ledice's cousin. She lived at Ledice's home "on and off," she says, also sharing an apartment in Broward County with three other women. One day in April 1993, Marilise splashed bleach in the face of one of her roommates. She contends it was an accident, that she had been cleaning the bathroom and had neglected to screw on the top to the bleach bottle. Nevertheless she was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. The charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor and eventually dropped, but Marilise spent 25 days in jail. Soon after that incident, the INS ordered Marilise deported, but the agency apparently never was able to find her to notify her of her precarious situation.
In October 1993, almost a year to the day she left Haiti, Marilise's mother, father, and eldest brother, Davide, were murdered in Port-au-Prince. "They chopped them up and set the house on fire," Marilise recounts, again a dry recitation. Her clenched, ringed fingers rest on her tummy. "I got a cousin here who told me to call Haiti. When I called I talked to the man downstairs, and he told me what happened." She keeps her brother's and parents' death certificates with her, the thick blue papers folded together in a square. They are in French, the names and data filled out in blue ink in large childlike script, and they convey no terror or pain. The causes of the deaths are not listed. "They cut my mother's throat," Marilise repeats breathily, holding back tears. "They killed my brother who loved me. I'll never see them again."
It was after the deaths that Marilise came into contact with her older half sister, who had come to South Florida more than a decade earlier and was living in Broward with her husband and daughter. Marilise and Nadia (a pseudonym) have the same father, and Nadia instantly wanted to protect Marilise and help her succeed in the United States. "She's so much like my dad," Nadia marvels. "She smiles like him, sounds like him; same height, same face."
Nadia spoke with New Times but didn't want her identity revealed and was distressed at the prospect of an article about Marilise's private life. "She's not the only person who got off a boat and don't speak English," Nadia observes indignantly. "A lot of kids had it worse, underage with no family, but they go to school and make something of themselves. She choose not to."
For several weeks after she learned of her parents' and brother's deaths, Marilise felt barely alive herself. She cut her hand while working in the restaurant and spent five days in Jackson Memorial Hospital. "I didn't care what happened to me," she concedes. "I didn't feel nothing."
By then Marilise was pregnant. The father was her boyfriend, Pierre (a pseudonym), whom she had met at Ledice's house. Shortly before she gave birth to Barbara in January 1994, Marilise moved into an apartment in Fort Lauderdale with Pierre. In September 1994 she was arrested as she stood on her front step. Broward County Sheriff's Office detectives were executing a search warrant, according to the incident report, and saw Marilise drop a Baggie of crack onto the ground as they approached. Marilise claims cocaine had been planted outside her apartment and police tipped off by a drug-dealing neighbor, a woman who wanted her boyfriend. Nevertheless Marilise was charged with possession with intent to distribute, but the case was dismissed several months later.
It was Nadia who put up Marilise's bond money when she was arrested, and it was Nadia who gave her a job at the variety store she owns. For a time, after the birth of her second girl, Vanessa, in 1995, Marilise and her kids lived with Nadia; she and the children's father split up in 1996.
Regardless of whether Marilise used or sold drugs (she adamantly denies she's ever done either and is backed up by her normally straight-talking sister), she clearly was friendly with a lot of people deeply and violently involved in the drug trade. One of them, she alleges, was her benefactor, Emite Ledice. "She didn't work, but she had money," Marilise charges. "And she was always going on trips to Haiti."
By all accounts Marilise and Ledice had become friends over the years; after the birth of Marilise's children, Ledice would visit with food and clothes, and Marilise often spent days and weeks at Ledice's home when the older woman was out of town. Ledice's children called Marilise Tantin, Auntie. The friendship ended in January 1998 with a dramatic event that stripped Marilise of nearly everything she valued, including her children and her freedom. She has yet to recover from the incident, which may yet result in her deportation to Haiti, where she is certain she'll be killed.
Newspaper stories, police reports, and Marilise's own account of the event and its aftermath are convoluted and sometimes contradictory, and truth often is indistinguishable from alibi. The only facts not in dispute are these: A botched drug transaction on January 22, 1998, led to the kidnapping of four of Ledice's children from their North Miami home and the death of one of the kidnappers. Marilise subsequently was arrested and charged with four counts of armed kidnapping and second-degree murder (because her alleged participation in the scheme resulted in the death of an alleged accomplice). In February 1998 a Florida grand jury indicted her and the surviving kidnapper, Inestin Petit-Homme. By the time she went to trial in September 1999, Marilise had spent twenty months in jail.
The last time she'd seen her daughters had been when the police pulled them, her, and four of Ledice's children out of a van parked near the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop, a large flea market. "I was happy when the police came," Marilise recollects. "They told us: Everybody out of the van.' And then they put handcuffs on me. They said, You're going to jail for kidnapping.' I said, Who? I've been kidnapped since yesterday.'"
It had begun more than 48 hours earlier at Ledice's house. Marilise was there; she says she had been summoned to look after the kids. A series of visitors dropped by, first two men, then another two men. There were discussions in Ledice's bedroom, Marilise remembers, and comings and goings and phone calls and beepings. It came down to one moment, midafternoon, when one of the visitors ripped open a black purse with a knife. "He stuck the knife inside," Marilise reports, "and he said, Oh no, bitch, you're shorting me. Bitch, you give me dirt for drugs.'
"Emite was really scared, and she said, No, it's not my fault.' And they say, Where's my money? Give me my money,' and she say, The other men took the money and left.' And one of them said, I'm not going to leave if you don't give me $15,000.' She calls the other two who already left. I think they didn't answer, so [the two men at the house, brothers Ignace and Inestin Petit-Homme] they tell her to go get [the money]."
Ledice drove off, ostensibly to find the $15,000, leaving the Petit-Homme brothers, Marilise, and the children at the house. When Ledice hadn't returned by around five, according to Marilise, the men herded her and the children at gunpoint into a van. Inestin Petit-Homme drove north on I-95, finally stopping at a house Marilise had never seen before. "They made us go inside, and there was no furniture so we had to sit on the floor," she recalls. Marilise began receiving beeps from the day-care center where her daughters were; she was late to pick them up. She says she asked the men to let her go to the day-care center, thinking that would be her ticket to freedom. Instead Inestin went to collect the two girls and deposited them back at the hideout, where there were only potato chips to eat, and everyone slept, or tried to sleep, on the floor.
Meanwhile North Miami police had been called about a "home invasion" at Ledice's address. According to incident reports, Ledice had called her ex-boyfriend on the afternoon of January 22, told him she was in trouble, and hung up. He had driven to her house and found Marilise, the four children, and two unknown men who threatened him with their semiautomatic 9mm pistols. The boyfriend left after learning the children would be kidnapped if $15,000 was not forthcoming. Later some neighbors called 911. The house was empty by the time police arrived, except for a plastic tape-bound package sitting on a sofa. The package was full of "suspected cocaine" which, according to a North Miami incident report, "was not cocaine per field tests indicating that a drug rip may have occurred."
The next day Ledice went to the North Miami police station asking for help finding her children and claiming to have been kidnapped herself and driven aimlessly around Broward the day before. The police beeped Marilise, and when she called back, it was to the cell phone of a man the kidnappers thought was Ledice's friend but who was in fact a Kreyol-speaking North Miami police officer.
North Miami detectives, who by then had enlisted help from the FBI, the Broward Sheriff's Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, arranged a ransom drop -- $15,500 in exchange for the children. The kidnappers would meet Ledice's "friend" outside a KFC in a Fort Lauderdale strip center. The brothers again loaded Marilise, and six children this time, into the van. Inestin parked about three blocks from the KFC, and he and Ignace walked to the restaurant.
Unable to convince the brothers to hand over the children before pocketing the money, the "friend" gave the take-down sign five minutes later, and a crowd of officers moved in. Incident reports state Ignace drew his gun and was killed in an ensuing shootout. Waiting in the van, Marilise remembers hearing a helicopter overhead and then a burst of gunshots. Inestin led officers to the van, where the children were extricated and Marilise handcuffed.
Marilise and Petit-Homme were tried together before separate juries in Broward Circuit Court in September 1999. Ever since the incident, news coverage had portrayed Emite Ledice as a churchgoing mom betrayed by a friend -- the image presented by police and prosecutors. Marilise's defense attorney, Perry Thurston of Fort Lauderdale, managed to introduce some testimony and evidence supporting a different view of Ledice and her role in the crime. "The jury believed Marilise and not [Ledice]," Thurston says. "Her story about being kidnapped was bullshit. She was out trying to come up with the money for the drugs. Even [Ledice's] children testified that Marilise had been kidnapped, too. She is completely innocent."
"She's guilty as sin," retorts North Miami police Det. Jerome Brown, lead investigator on the case. "Just because you're not convicted doesn't mean you didn't do it." Brown says today he suspected that Ledice was indeed involved in drug trafficking but that the police never came up with enough evidence to press charges. Instead they targeted Marilise; some witnesses interviewed by investigators accused Marilise of plotting the kidnapping as a way to get money from her friend.
The jury acquitted both defendants of the murder charges; Inestin Petit-Homme was found guilty of all the kidnapping charges and received a life sentence. Marilise, declared innocent on all counts, was not free to go back to whatever life she'd had before. Since she is not a U.S. citizen, she was turned over to the INS, which locked her up at Krome to await deportation.
3. The Krome School for Young Ladies
"Are you cheating on your lover and feel it's time to confess? If so, call Jerry!" Marilise isn't watching Jerry Springer today, but she keeps the TV on most of the time, medium-loud. She shows no interest in the private lives of the lowlifes trading insults and punches, but it's safe, controlled contact with the outside world. She says she hasn't made friends with many of her neighbors. She doesn't trust anyone. She doesn't want her address published, because she is certain that would enable any number of people from Haiti to track her down and kill her. "I don't talk to nobody but my TV," Marilise offers, not joking.
She keeps the curtains and blinds closed over the two windows at the front of her apartment. In the dim light the oversize black-vinyl sectional sofa pieces that take up most of the living room loom like the backs of animals herded into a corral. There's a giant stuffed gorilla sitting on one sofa cushion and an even larger stuffed dog standing on the burgundy carpet, facing the front door. The toys, bigger than Marilise's own children, are waiting for the two girls to return, she explains with a hopeful grin. Before the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) will allow her to reclaim the children, she has been required to complete three parenting classes. She is still attending classes, for which her half sister is paying the cost -- $60 each. Nadia is tired of bailing her out but doesn't see any alternative as long as Marilise continues to want for wisdom in her choice of friends and lovers. "If you go right, things go right," Nadia declares. "If you hang out with losers, you're a loser. I've spent all my money, I borrowed money from the bank, to stop her from being deported, to get her out of jail, to try to get her kids back. I'm doing it for her daughters; they've gone through too much."
In a corner of the living room, displayed on an étagère, are several framed photographs of Barbara and Vanessa. The latest portrait, a colorful eight-by-ten with the girls sporting frills and bows against a backdrop of blue sky and powder-puff clouds, was made shortly before Marilise went to jail. Since January 1998 she's seen her daughters twice, most recently this past August at a DCF office in Fort Lauderdale. Taped to the wall just above the étagère is a certificate she received upon graduation from a parenting class. Next to that is a grainy black-and-white snapshot, about three-by-five inches, of Marilise at Krome, in a jail uniform. Her hair is swept up in an elegant coif, and she's bending toward the camera, hands on her hips. She looks amused.
Krome wasn't exactly like jail. The inmates at the detention center generally enjoyed more freedom, and the food was a lot better. There was also the dating game, the term many Krome alumnae use to describe a sort of sexual marketplace that allegedly existed for the pleasure and entertainment of at least a dozen Krome guards. If an officer took an interest in a female detainee, he (or occasionally she) might give the detainee jewelry and clothes, bring her ice cream and candy, even deliver marijuana or other illicit drugs, if that's what she was into.
A guard would promise to arrange for her release, or to prevent her deportation (on neither of which he had any influence) -- but not just because he liked her. She had to have sex. All sorts of encounters, consensual and non, took place in the women's bathrooms, in the health clinic, even in secluded outdoor spots. For years Krome officers as well as their charges, participants and uninvolved alike, knew what was going on. Some, at various times over the past twelve years, have attempted unsuccessfully to stop it. Currently the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating dozens of complaints of sexual abuse and harassment, including several lodged by Marilise. About nine Krome officers were transferred to desk jobs at INS headquarters in Miami pending the outcome of the investigation. The inquiry, however, is now more than eighteen months old, and just two indictments have resulted.
At first Marilise was happy to go along with just about anything she thought would result in her freedom. Soon after she entered Krome in October 1999, a Lieutenant Clark (a pseudonym), who already had a girlfriend among the detainees, seemed to be increasingly interested in Marilise. Clark claimed to have a close friendship with then-officer in charge Edward Stubbs, and assured Marilise he'd intercede on her behalf. "One day we were talking [about my case]," Marilise recalls, "and he said, You want me to help you?' I said, How you gonna help me?'
"I could talk to your officer, tell him you're good people. When you get out, don't worry, I give you a place to stay.' He gave me a pack of gum that night."
Despite Clark's supposedly serious romance with a detainee from Honduras, he continued to pursue Marilise. Several weeks after the gum gift, she and Clark had another conversation in the cafeteria. "I say to him: You know March 14 is my birthday.' I already had three birthdays in jail, and I was still locked up. So he told me when I'm finished with my food go to [the health clinic], go in the bathroom there. So I go. Everyone else is inside the cafeteria eating. When I get to the bathroom, he tells me everything we do is between us. You do it, you're gonna get released.'"
Marilise continues her account, frowning with embarrassment. She admits she is still ashamed of what she did, though at the time she believed Clark really was going to help her. "He started kissing me. He sucked my titty, he said pull down my pants, and I did," Marilise confesses. "He sat on the toilet, and he start to touch my vagina. He tried to put a condom on, but I didn't want to do it with a condom. If anything happens I want there to be proof. He tell me if I can't have sex to suck his privacy. So I did."
From then on she waited for her release. "I wanted to tell somebody, but I was scared if I did he would find out and [the release] wouldn't happen," Marilise rationalizes. She preferred not to think of the episode as humiliation, even though she felt flushed with shame. And there in that closed captive world, any unusual attention from the captors was a privilege of sorts. Like the other girls who believed the guards' compulsive boasting, Marilise was cowed by their assertion of power precisely because she felt powerless. To be singled out, even if for abuse, could make the women feel important, chosen for their unique personal attributes instead of being the easiest to use.
Some girls seemed to revel in their complicity in forbidden practices, and some thought they were involved in a genuine romance. Several years ago, according to affidavits furnished to federal investigators, one officer went so far as to accompany a deported detainee on the plane back to her country. Others have visited their deported girlfriends overseas. Most of the time, though, the sexual relationships were crude forms of barter with the women exchanging something for nothing.
One day Marilise was called to another part of Krome to have her picture taken. She was sure that meant her imminent freedom. "I waited for them to tell me to pack my stuff," she adds. But days went by, and she had no word of any change in her status. Later Clark told her she was on a list to be transferred to an INS facility in Chicago but that "he would get [my name] taken off," she recalls. "I was shipped to Chicago the next day. At that point I started to question Lieutenant Clark's power since he didn't have me removed from the list."
Marilise became ill en route to Chicago and was admitted to a hospital in St. Louis after the plane landed for a stopover. "I stayed in St. Louis for one day, where they found a kidney infection. Then they sent me back to Miami, and I was taken to Windmoor [Hospital]."
That was where Marilise re-encountered an INS officer named Ronald (another pseudonym), who had been transferred from Krome to guard the detainees (principally with psychiatric disorders) at the hospital. A few months earlier at the detention center, Marilise had asked Ronald to mail a letter for her. "Afterward he asked me am I going to pay him for doing that," Marilise recounts. "I told him I don't have no money now, but when I get a job I pay. He says, No, I want you to give me some pussy.'"
That was one of the earlier sexual exchanges in what would become a long-running affair. Marilise says Ronald assured her he'd swing her release, and she trusted him. Although the INS had ordered her deported long ago, her immigration attorney had filed a routine motion requesting the service to reconsider its order. If the INS accepted the petition (something immigration attorneys say almost never happens), her case would be reviewed. Marilise told Ronald she was awaiting a decision, and he promised, never offering specifics, to make sure she'd get the review.
"One day early I was sleeping," Marilise goes on, "and [Ronald] came in and snatched the covers off me and started kissing me. He sucked my titty, put his hand inside my underwear, inside my vagina. He took out a condom, and I said I'm not gonna have sex with a condom. If we get caught, I wanted there to be evidence. Then he went out. Next time, on a Saturday, I was in the bathtub naked. Somebody opened the bathroom door. We started kissing and he asked me to have sex. I told him not with a condom."
Apparently a sexual relationship continued, albeit without unprotected sexual intercourse. "Sometimes [Ronald] brought me gum [at Windmoor]," Marilise says. "I wanted some tennis shoes, and he said if I stick with him, he'd bring me tennis shoes." She was feeling more upbeat than she had in months, enjoying the romantic attention and expecting a prompt release. Then the immigration service denied her request to review the deportation order. Edward Stubbs, Krome's officer in charge, decided Marilise continued to be a danger to society. She was crushed. Suddenly she was back to where she started, except she'd given up a lot to get there. "I found out everybody was lying to me," Marilise laments. "After that I was so depressed. The week after I was denied, I started to tell everybody about [the relationship with Ronald]."
She unburdened herself to low-level INS employees, who couldn't really make a difference in her situation, and she tried to tell her story to authorities who could. Around that time, spring 2000, other INS detainees at Krome were beginning to band together and report to attorneys and law enforcers their own experiences of sexual abuse and harassment by other officers. But Marilise didn't know about that. She might as well have been a street-corner mendicant mumbling to herself. Her decision to contact the top authority at Krome, Stubbs, quickly backfired. "When I called his office," Marilise relates, "the man on the phone asked me: Is there an officer with you?' I said yes. He says, Let me talk to him,' so I handed the phone to the officer, and the officer hung up the phone. I asked him: Why did you do that?' And he said, You're not allowed to talk to Stubbs.'"
Immediately after that, Marilise was transferred to a detention facility in South Carolina, where she stayed for two weeks. "They think I'm crazy; I'm complaining to everybody, and nobody is listening to me," Marilise admits. "When I came back from South Carolina, I said I want to talk to the FBI, but I couldn't find anybody to give me a number. Then my deportation officer said they were sending me back to Haiti. That's when I tried to commit suicide."
On a Saturday night in late July, Marilise remembers, she attempted to strangle herself in a snack room with an electrical cord from a microwave oven. An officer stopped her, so she went to the health clinic and tried again with the cord on a blood-pressure machine. That time a nurse grabbed the line from her. The next morning Marilise gulped down 45 pills she had been given for her kidney infection. Her stomach was pumped at Larkin Hospital, and then she was driven back to Windmoor. "There I found out Stubbs was no longer at Krome, so I tried to call whoever had replaced him," Marilise continues. Again, she got nowhere. Finally she called her half sister Nadia, who connected her with a Sun-Sentinel reporter via conference call. In an August 3, 2000, story headlined "Krome Detainee Says She Was Promised Freedom in Exchange for Sex," Jody Benjamin wrote that Marilise "is speaking out now ... because she feels betrayed." The article cites two incidents in which Marilise alleges she "let [the guards] do whatever they want to do because I thought they were going to help me."
The day before the story was published, Carlo Jean-Joseph, Marilise's immigration attorney at the time, wrote to the INS asking for an investigation of his client's allegations. Marilise's case was added to the other sexual-abuse claims made by women at Krome, and eventually FBI and Justice Department investigators did interview her. Her relationship with Ronald wasn't over, though. "Even after [the sex-abuse allegations] were under investigation," Nadia contends, "he was buying my sister a raincoat; my sister be showing me what the guard be giving -- all this jewelry, nice underwear." Marilise insists she rebuffed the officer's advances from the day she realized he'd been lying about his capacity to get her released; she didn't want to offend him too badly, however, out of fear he might harm her. For example, while being transferred from the hospital back to Krome, Marilise asserts, "He put shackles on my wrists and my [ankles], real tight, and they were hurting," she asserts. "I asked him please could you make them looser, and he said no."
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It appeared the authorities were beginning to listen to Marilise. But she was still on a fast track for deportation. Less than a month after she went public, she was on her way to the airport. "When they put me in processing [at Krome] to deport me," she recalls, "another girl at Krome heard my story and she said, They can't do that to you. Call Cheryl Little.'" Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), is the high-profile Miami immigration attorney whose office was representing, and still represents, several detainees who had made sexual-abuse charges against Krome officers. Like Marilise, all those detainees had been ordered deported, but Little thus far has been able to keep most of them in the United States under the auspices of a new law that makes aliens who cooperate in criminal investigations eligible for a special visa.
In October 2000 Marilise was released from Krome. The immigration service remains committed to deporting her after the federal investigation is completed. However, her FIAC lawyers are optimistic another new law, the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998, will come to her rescue: Thousands of Haitian immigrants who have lived in the United States for the past six years or longer now can apply for permanent residency.
Thus for the first time since she boarded that boat captained by the man she calls Pere Lebrun, Marilise is truly free to start putting her life back together. No one, least of all herself, can be sure how much progress she'll make against the formidable obstacles she still faces: no job or skills, three young children, her depression, and her past. Marilise adores her newborn son, but she knows it's too soon for another child. "Get out of jail and get pregnant?" she muses. "That's no life. I want to get a job."
She should have thought of that ten months ago, opines Nadia, whose own daughter is almost as old as Marilise. "She's my sister and I love her," Nadia says with angry affection. "She's a good sister. When she has a dollar it's my dollar; when she has a dime it's my dime. But she's not the same person she used to be. She lose her mind. When she was outside [of jail and detention] she had financial problems. Now she has mental and financial problems. Sometimes I wonder what's going to happen next."