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We know that the industrial fishing industry can often skirt the law in search of profits. In my decade of campaigning to rescue our oceans, I have seen dozens of ships fishing illegally, seen fish hidden in the inner bowels of fishing boats and witnessed industry officials lie to the faces of politicians.
This is just one of the many reasons that we at Greenpeace are working to change the way we catch and buy fish all over the world. And today details emerged about one of the world's largest fishing companies, South Korea-based Dongwon Industries, which will hopefully encourage action by governments, consumers and retailers across the world.
Dongwon owns fishing boats and tuna brands – including US tuna brand StarKist – all over the world. Dongwong and Starkist are also members of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, a group with the intended purpose to ensure legality and sustainability of its members' tuna products.
But these intentions again amount to little as it has been revealed that a Dongwon fishing boat, the F/V Premier, (which is under investigation for fishing illegally in Liberian waters in 2011 and 2012), had also fabricated a letter from the Liberian government implying that the allegations of illegal fishing were a misunderstanding and that it was allowed to fish in Liberian waters.
This is a series of very serious criminal offences and shows the depth this company is willing to go to in order to manipulate governments and to continue its pillage of our dwindling tuna resources for its own profits.
Greenpeace has been working in Africa and across the Pacific and Indian oceans to keep destructive and illegal fishing activities out – and to empower local communities to have more ownership and benefits of their ocean resources. We have consistently been putting pressure on governments and international oceans management bodies to end illegal fishing and have demanded action from markets to ensure they do not buy from companies engaged in illegal and unsustainable fishing.
In Korea, we have been urging Dongwon to clean up its act for several years. Last year, Dongwon topped Greenpeace East Asia's ranking as the most unsustainable tuna brand in Korea. The company has not responded with any solid policies or intentions to clean up its act and to ensure sustainable and legal tuna products, including in the US where its brand Starkist is a market leader.
Today we are asking the South Korean government to call Dongwon's ship back home, conduct an independent investigation into how these latest activities could take place under its watch and impose an effective sanction, such as revoking the F/V Premier's licence.
If we want healthy oceans, ample seafood and sustainable fishing jobs for the future, we need fishing operations to act responsibly at sea today. While this instance of the F/V Premier may just be one boat, we know that too often, what happens at sea stays at sea and we're none the wiser.
We're working to pressure the South Korean government to do the right thing – and calling on retailers to ensure they do not purchase tuna that could come from illegal sources such as this. Watch this space for future updates.
Sari Tolvanen is an oceans campaigner based in Greenpeace International's Amsterdam office
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We found 1 items that match your search.
Letter to Mayor Abraham Beame from Charles B. Rangel: Notice of Potential Hostos Closure
Congressman Charles Rangel wrote this letter to Mayor Abe Beame in November of 1975 to convey his opposition to the closure of Hostos Community College as a means to achieve budget cutbacks for the city. As the United States Congressman representing [...]
Item Type: Text (Diary / Correspondence)
Subjects: 1970s Fiscal Crisis, Austerity, Community Colleges, CUNY Centralization, Politics, State and/or City budget

subset: commoncrawl


text: A handy and highly recommended extra, this footprint will not only protect your tent from abrasion, it will also provide a layer of insulation and help keep the underside of the tent clean for less fuss packing away. The footprint should be entirely covered by the tent to prevent rain from being channelled under the floor. Designed to fit under the Azura 600XL tent.


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One of the most recognizable tool brands in Poland. Products designed to solve everyday problems and realize interesting ideas in every home.
This website uses technical means that may store and write information (cookies) in storage memory of your computer. We gather this information to provide our services and for use by research companies for statistical purposes, all in accordance with the Privacy Policy available at: Personal Data Privacy Policy. Your browser allows you to define conditions for storage and accessing cookie files.


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Top off your meal with this succulent peach dessert!
Preparation Time: 8 mins
Cooking Time: 7 mins
Yield: 8 x 1 peach servings
Place peach on a grill tray, cut side up. Pour a little syrup over each peach and dot with a little butter. Cook under a hot grill until bubbling and heated through.
In a bowl, mix together ricotta, sugar and vanilla. Serve immediately with the grilled peaches.
If desired, can use sugar-free alternatives to caster sugar and maple syrup.
Serving suggestions are not included in the nutritional analysis.


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The centrepiece of Schloss Freudenberg in Wiesbaden is a permanent interactive exhibition that explores the mind and the senses.
At over 60 exhibits you will be able to play games testing your awareness of natural phenomena such as equilibrium, gravity, light and darkness, and sound and reverberation. The DunkelBar (Dark Bar) and Dunkelgang (Dark Trail) – where you have to rely on senses other than sight – are experiences not to be missed.
Opening times:
Monday-Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday & Sunday 11am-6pm
Dvije korisne kombinacije tipki za zumiranje u pregledniku:
Povećavanje: +
Smanjivanje: +
Dodatnu pomoć dobit ćete od proizvođača preglednika klikom na ikonu:


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Posted by Editoress on 01/16/12
Canadian Cyclist was invited to visit a number of Taiwanese bike companies in the fall of 2011. Here is one of our factory visits - to read the overview to our visit and access all the articles, go to the main page Here
DK City
DK City is an example of a Taiwanese manufacturer that is in the process of making the transition from an OEM business to one that has a significant segment of OBM and ODM products. Currently, the company is involved in three manufacturing areas - Housewares (for Ikea), Fitness Equipment and Electric-powered Mobility. Fitness equipment accounts for 80% of revenue.
The db0 electric bike has won 7 design awards
However, the company began a concerted effort to move into the electric bike market four years ago, and has started to introduce some innovative designs. Many of the designs are for scooters - two and three wheeled (the later with an interesting tilting body for cornering - it could be a very cool inner-city delivery bike). However, the one that caught our eye for the bike market, is the db0; a folding pedal-assisted bike that actually looks quite stylish and rides well (in our brief rip around the factory parking lot).
The db0 takes only a few seconds to fold up and comes with a three-speed gearing system. It is a true pedal-assist bike, as opposed to an electric scooter, and will be eligible for government subsidies in the European market. So far, it has won seven international design awards. The db0 is expected to be on the market next year.
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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£100-150/day in Bristol
A specialist internet marketing agency in Bristol requires a very experienced lead PHP Developer with MVC/HMVC experience for an immediate or asap start.
The developer will be working on an internal toolset with a variety of users. Most of the day-to-day work will be around web scraping, API interaction, view development & CRUD operations.
Skills Required:
- Experience with an (H)MVC framework - Codeigniter, CakePHP, Recess...
- Understanding of and experience with RESTful web service design
- Excellent documentation skills
- Expert frontend technology skills in HTML5, CSS3, PHP 5.3+, *SQL, JavaScript, jQuery...
- Excellent understanding of UX & UI principles
- Ability to work quickly and efficiently with other people's code
- An understanding of browser compatibility and testing methods
Database experience can be relational or schemaless
Competitive Salary
Fast growing business means great Career Opportunities
Quarterly paid-for Team Building and Social Events
Monthly Award Scheme
Annual BBQ
Annual Christmas Party
Hours flexible to suit
Your Birthday as a Holiday!
Personal Development Plan
To be considered for this opportunity you'll be asked to send a link to your GitHub account or online portfolio together with your availability, existing salary and salary expectation.
Pls apply here: http://www.3desk.com/job/159/lead-ph...ed-in-bristol/
or via email: email@example.com


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"I was Batman for a week!" says Roland Sarria, barreling down Broadway Road in his two-tone black and gray Honda Element, covered with bright red and black decals advertising the sporting event he's been promoting for the past seven and a half years: "Rage in the Cage: Extreme Fighting Championship."
He says this suddenly, after grousing about Tempe traffic and demonstrating his sure-fire method for handling the occasional morning road rage brought on by inattentive seniors boarding the Loop 101 on Shea Boulevard, near his home: "I usually give 'em one of these," he says, jerking the wheel quickly to the right, a two-ton nudge, then yanking it back to the left.
"Nobody knows it, but I saved three people in five days in car accidents," Sarria continues, speaking fast, loud and passionately in his natural salesman's style.
"The first time, I was driving on the U.S. 60, saw a car accident -- bam! I pulled to the side, went up to the car, I go, 'Are you all right?' This girl goes, 'I'm a little sore,' and I say, 'Stay there, I'll get help.'"
Sarria says he waited out the ambulance, then vanished without sticking around for acknowledgement. A couple days later, he was the first to arrive at another accident scene, and then another.
"It was unbelievable. I really felt like Batman! I could just imagine that girl three days later, telling her friends, 'I crashed my car, and some guy helped me get out, then just walked away without even giving his name.'"
After the third rescue, Sarria came home and told his girlfriend, Gloria Moore, who works as a real estate agent for Re/Max, "'You won't believe it: I saved another person!' She's like, 'Stop it.'"
Moore, who's known Sarria since 1991 and has lived with him since 2000, says Sarria frequently goes through these spirited quests to save the world. One Thanksgiving, he went one better than donating a turkey to the homeless shelter and "actually brought a homeless guy home to dinner," she says, recalling her surprise. Another time, visiting Tijuana, he grabbed together a bunch of kids off the street and took them to the restaurant with him.
Truth is, he had trouble breaking the Batman streak. For the 42-year-old fight promoter, a Cuban-born scrapper who fought his way up from eating sugar packets for dessert in the L.A. projects to become, today, the ringmaster behind the second-highest-attended cage fighting events in the nation, the role of urban superhero fit like a tight knuckle glove.
"I study great warriors, great generals -- Caesar, Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun -- and I try to follow their way of thinking," Sarria says, pulling into the parking lot of a post office. "Because it's a war out there, just surviving. In this business, one bad show can wipe you out. You have to put so much money into each one."
Recently, Sarria quit his successful day job as a nutritional-supplements salesman to concentrate full time on promoting Rage in the Cage, the no-holds-barred fighting exhibitions he's taken from a monthly nightclub event in 1998, attracting a few hundred spectators at a Phoenix bar called Rodeo Nights, to an arena-filling extravaganza drawing more than 8,000 people every five weeks to the West Valley's cavernous Glendale Arena.
Rage in the Cage is a pumped-up spectacle, an adrenaline-spraying night of mixed martial arts fighting, ring girls in short skirts and an audience stoked to see only the rubbernecking highlights of a boxing match, a hockey game and a NASCAR race -- the knockouts, brawls and rail crashes -- all acted out between a succession of modern gladiators in a 16-foot octagonal steel cage, and all set to a pulsing rock soundtrack.
It's a big, hulking, sweaty event, involving sometimes 24 fighters, lots of staging and lighting, and a ton of arena personnel to bring it to life. But in the end, it's Roland's show.
While Sarria employs three other people to help with the paperwork and booking the fighters, the success of each Rage in the Cage show depends largely on the nonstop grunt work and personal sales calls Sarria insists on doing himself.
On this particular Friday morning, he's motoring around Phoenix and Tempe, stopping first at a print shop to pick up postcards promoting his new monthly events at the Fort McDowell Casino, then buying mailing labels at an office supply store, and finally charging up a purchase of 10,000 23-cent stamps at the post office, which he'll spend the better part of his Saturday affixing to each of the postcards himself with the help of a couple of friends.
Banking his future on the success of his fight events without the safety net of a regular 9-to-5 job might worry Sarria, if he didn't consider himself a bit of a superhero.
"It would be scary, leaving a good-paying job at my age, if I thought like the average man," says Sarria, who a few years back adopted the middle name Maximus, after the Roman general Russell Crowe played in Gladiator, one of his favorite movies. "But I can't think like the average man. I have to think like Alexander the Great."
Right now, Alexander the Great is standing in the lobby of a Tempe post office, holding a little slip of paper bearing the number 41 and looking up at the electric sign saying, "Now Serving: 25."
"Oh, wow. Things are not going my way today," Sarria says, frowning. While average men and women wait patiently in the crowded aisle of seats along the wall, Sarria quietly slips into conqueror mode again, immediately figuring how he can fill up the time until his number is called. He opts to head over to CopyMax to see if the tickets he ordered printed for the Fort McDowell show are ready.
"I don't sit around too often," says Sarria, who limits that activity to the two or three hours he spends early each morning at one of a few favorite coffee shops near the martial arts training center he owns on University Drive in Tempe, brainstorming ideas for Rage in the Cage and plotting out his day.
"When you're raised like me, and you know what it is to not have, it's hard to just rest. I have to keep pushing. Have to."
It's fight night at the Glendale Arena, the second Saturday in June, and Michelle "Grapple Girl" Farrow, the top-ranked female in the cage wrestling circuit, has just flipped her Midwest contender Mystee Blackwood to the mat and is ferociously laying into her with open-palm punches.
With Farrow, a startlingly muscular 37-year-old woman who looks uncannily like Robin Williams if he had played Mrs. Doubtfire as a buffed-out, rippling roller derby queen, perched over the blonde, pigtailed Blackwood, affecting a Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms innocence (although the two are approximately equal in weight), the quick, 16-second battle is a perfect mix of World Wrestling Entertainment soap opera, mixed martial arts mastery and good old-fashioned mud-wrestling titillation.
Since adopting rules in 2001 allowing cage fighting to be sanctioned by the Arizona state boxing commission (to date, two fighters have died in cage fighting, one in Russia and one in Korea, and the sport is still illegal in 23 states), Rage in the Cage has become noticeably tamer: Closed-fist punching is no longer allowed once the fighters are on the ground, and a round is considered over when a fighter draws blood.
For Sarria, who says security used to have to break up fights in the crowd at pre-sanctioned events, the sport's new legitimacy is a welcome thing. He merely amps up the excitement of his events in other ways: hiring rock bands to rev up the fans before the fights, urging fighters to step up the drama upon entering the cage, and hiring ring girls in impossibly short skirts cut to make every man in the first three rows happy he shelled out $100 for seats in the ringside section.
Thanks to Sarria's incessant salesmanship, two film crews are circling around the cage tonight, one from local broadcast station UPN Channel 45 and another from a new Internet-based video outlet called ISTV, who are both taping Rage in the Cage for the first time.
At the start of the night, over at the far east end of the arena, local makeup-and-metal band St. Madness, hired to play music before the fights and during the show's two scheduled intermissions, is getting into a heated debate with some arena stage managers over what they've just been informed Sarria does not want them doing on stage.
"They're saying we can't do any of our theatrical scenes," lead singer Patrick Flannery, a.k.a. Prophet, complains. "We have a song called 'Love's Butcher Shop,' where I drink blood out of a chalice. But it's the blood they use in movies. It's karo syrup. I guess it's okay to have guys totally beating the crap out of each other and splattering real blood, but we can't show fake blood."
The debate looms for several minutes until Sarria finally zooms by, cooling his heels for a second, to tell Flannery, in five terse words, "This is not your concert."
In a flash, he's gone again -- Batman style. But the discussion immediately grinds to a halt, and the members of St. Madness reluctantly take the stage, without their bucket of karo syrup.
Just what fits into a Rage in the Cage show -- which Sarria calls a "family affair," but then immediately adds, "we have go-go dancers, cheerleaders, rock bands" -- can be a tough call, but that call clearly belongs to him.
The show itself is more Spike TV than Disney Channel, with fighters first joining master of ceremonies Sarria on a smaller platform to colorfully trash-talk their opponents and boost their own prowess, then entering the cage for three quick rounds of three-minute fights, throwing kicks, punches, karate chops -- whatever works to get the other guy to "tap out" and call the referee -- all geared to the perceived short attention span of today's fight fans.
"This is the generation of extreme," Sarria says. "Kids today don't want to see traditional boxing. It's too boring for them."
Sarria, whom his older sister says still has a sometimes annoyingly childish side -- "He can be in a restaurant and throw one of these little bottles that smell like farts when they break," says Martha Sarria. "He buys them by the case." -- keeps things moving at a typical 13-year-old's pace. Whenever a wrestling hold goes on long enough to look like a frozen video game (in the rules told to the fighters beforehand, any hold that goes on for 10 seconds is considered too long), Sarria gets on the mic to throw a zinger at the fighters. "Man, what are these guys trying to do? Make loove?" he says during the first fight.
During the fifth fight of the night, when Richie Hightower downs first-time cage fighter Ryan Potter with a swift kick to the groin -- a big crowd-pleaser, judging by the thunderous applause -- Sarria revels in the opportunity to crack a few ball jokes. "Well, at least we know he's got huevos!" he says.
"I don't understand it," Flannery gripes backstage after Sarria cuts short St. Madness' first intermission set because of some mosh-pit dancing in front of the stage and orders the sound man to switch to records -- the first track being Mötley Crüe's stripper anthem "Girls, Girls, Girls." On the mic, Sarria is urging the crowd to "get a few cocktails" before the next fight begins.
"They keep saying this is a family sporting event," Flannery says, cracking a thin smile through the evil KISS makeup. "I just don't get it."
To get Roland Sarria's family values, it helps to know a little about his own desperate upbringing, and where he formed his spotty impression of the perfect American family.
"It's funny, but my favorite show growing up was The Brady Bunch," Sarria says a couple weeks before the Glendale Arena show over a light lunch (plain bagel with cream cheese) at the Chompie's deli on University Drive in Tempe, just down the street from his martial arts training center, Brausa. "And every person I ever met used to say to my brothers and sisters, 'Your parents did such a good job with you all.' Little did they know, it was The Brady Bunch. That's how we learned."
When he was only 1, and still living with his family in Havana, Sarria's mother became mentally ill with what would eventually be diagnosed as acute schizophrenia, one of the few English words he still has difficulty pronouncing. "She was there, but she wasn't all there," he recalls. "She was always talking to herself."
His sister Martha, the oldest of the five Sarria kids, says there were times their mother would cook, but for the most part, the siblings were left to take care of themselves while their father worked. "We actually raised each other," says Martha, who now owns a retail shop in Palmdale, California. "I was trained to be like the mother."
A few years after moving the family to the housing projects of Culver City, California, when Sarria was 4, to seek better medical help for Sarria's mother in America, his dad became discouraged with her lack of progress and started leaving the kids home alone for longer stretches at a time. They later found out he was leading a double life, seeing another woman and becoming more distant from his own family.
"Who could blame him, in a way?" asks Martha, who says that after years of therapy, she's come to accept her father. "He would feed us like we were little animals, just throw us a bag with a little bit of food. Eventually, he started coming by less and less."
By the time Roland was 10, his dad left for good, but by then he and his two brothers were already working odd jobs. "We grew up fast," he says. "We had to."
They learned to survive without calling attention to their situation, he says, to avoid being split up by meddling social workers, subsisting on one meal a day through their school's free lunch program and exuding an air of Brady normalcy.
"If the social workers would have found out the way we were living, we would definitely have been separated by the state," Sarria says. "The Brady Bunch taught me how a family should be. I remember all those lectures in discipline, and that saved me."
His sister agrees that watching sitcom families helped them model their behavior (they also watched a lot of Happy Days and The Partridge Family), but says not having that idealized family in real life left its emotional scars on all of them -- especially, she says, Roland.
"We still see our father," she says -- and their mother, too (thanks to modern medicine, Martha says their mother is doing better mentally than ever before). "But when we see our dad, Roland goes up to him like he wants to say, 'Acknowledge me. Love me. Tell me that you're sorry for abandoning us.' And he'll never get that."
"He's a very strong person, he's a survivor, but he's still looking for mommy and daddy," Martha adds in her still pronounced Cuban accent. "Everything he has done in his life has been to get acknowledgement. I know he wanted to be a movie star, he wanted to be a model. He was a stripper at one time. It's acknowledgement. 'Look at me. I'm okay. I've made it.'"
As promoter of Rage in the Cage, Roland gets plenty of other lost boys in his camp, too emotionally stunted to go for therapy, but thrilled to have the opportunity to work out their issues by pounding another guy in the cage.
"I would say 75 percent of the kids who come through Rage in the Cage come from dysfunctional families or violent backgrounds -- gangs, you name it," he says. "And once they do this, their lives are changed forever."
In a way, Rage in the Cage is Roland Sarria's ultimate turkey dinner, his way of playing Batman and wrestling the unfortunate from the car wrecks of their lives -- and getting acknowledged for it, too.
"I don't need that, I could care less about what people think of me," says Martha, laughing. "But Roland needs that. I think he's still looking for that."
Next to the 12-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship, the first event that introduced America to cage fighting -- basically a fast-paced "anything goes" mash-up of every popular fighting style known to man, from judo, jujitsu and karate to wrestling, boxing and even street fighting -- Sarria's Rage in the Cage events, held exclusively around Phoenix, have grown to draw some of the biggest audiences in the sport. The Ultimate Fighting Championship averages around 20,000 ticket sales per show, while Rage in the Cage's number is rapidly approaching 10,000.
A big key to his success, Sarria says, is his single-minded determination to make his event the hottest ticket in town. Divorced for the past seven years, with no kids, and a self-described loner -- "Lone Ranger" is the term he prefers -- Sarria eats, sleeps and breathes Rage in the Cage. His girlfriend Moore says there are days she only sees him for 10 minutes, between their two busy schedules.
"I am so driven," he says, "because I've got nothing else to fall back on. I don't have a degree, I'm 42, and I know I don't want to go back to the 9-to-5 work force. So this is do or die for me. I've drawn the sword, and I can't put it back."
Fortunately for Sarria, he's found an endless supply of fighters who feel pretty much the same way about their own futures.
"There's a lot of guys who were maybe wrestlers in high school but weren't good enough to get college scholarships and now have nowhere to go," he says. "Or boxers, or martial artists, who maybe couldn't go pro but still want a career in sports."
Sarria himself played football at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, California, a middle-class suburb his mom and siblings moved up to after his absentee dad landed a better job ("My father was never around, but he gave us a house to live in," he acknowledges). Although he went on to junior college and became a two-time All-American as a nose guard for the respected El Camino Junior College team, he was a little too small (5 foot 9 and 155 pounds) and his grade average was a little too low to attract the college recruiters.
"One of the most painful things I ever experienced was when I realized my football career was over," he says. "Going from being a star football player to just a regular person was a humbling experience."
Itching for a new combative sport to get involved in, Sarria was eventually drawn to mixed martial arts, which he had seen on some pay-per-view broadcasts under the name the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 1994, he began training with Brazilian jujitsu legend Rickson Gracie and won state champion awards in jujitsu that same year.
"I never wanted to do karate or tae kwon do," Sarria says. "Seemed too Oriental to me. I didn't want to look in the mirror all day doing paradas. I was an ex-football player, okay? I wanted contact! I wanted to go to a school where I could bang!"
At the same time, Sarria was running an entertainment service in California, finding DJs for parties, videographers for weddings, and supplying nightclubs with whatever kind of entertainers they asked for.
"If you needed a clown, I would send you a clown," he says. "If you needed a male dancer, I'd send you a male dancer."
After marrying and moving to Phoenix in 1996 -- then divorcing in 1998 when his California business, which he had attempted to run long-distance from Arizona, failed ("Don't kid yourself: You run out of money, you're gonna lose your honey") -- Sarria decided to merge his new love of martial arts with his knack for nightclub promotion and started selling local club owners on the idea of booking cage fighting shows, using the fighters he had begun training himself at a center he opened in Tempe called Brausa, named for its integration of Brazilian and USA fighting styles.
It was a tough sell at first, especially in Arizona: By the mid-'90s, Senator John McCain had become cage fighting's most aggressive opponent, putting pressure on skittish arena owners and cable TV outlets to begin dropping the events.
Nevertheless, Sarria pressed on, printing up fliers at Kinko's and corralling friends and Brausa students to show up and fight monthly at the west Phoenix nightclub Rodeo Nights.
Once the Ultimate Fighting Championship reemerged under a body of rules that allowed the sport to be sanctioned by state boxing regulators, Sarria was able to take Rage in the Cage to bigger venues -- first the Celebrity Theatre, where attendance averaged 2,000 people a night, then the Dodge Theatre, where crowds swelled to 3,500. In April, Rage in the Cage moved into the new Glendale Arena, where the events, held roughly every five weeks, now draw more than 8,000 rabid fans, each paying between $25 and $100 for seats.
Today, Sarria often has trouble finding time to work out, never mind mentoring the stable of eager young toughs who keep signing up to become professional cage fighters.
"I don't get involved with the fighters anymore," he says. "I let John Petrilli [Rage in the Cage's "match-maker," in charge of booking available fighters for each match] do that. I just deal with the business."
As a troupe of entertainers, Sarria has come to regard his fighters in the same league as the clowns or male strippers he used to traffic in -- although sometimes a 230-pound bruiser can be a bit harder to deal with than the average Bozo.
"A cage fight for me is no different than doing any other kind of promotion at a nightclub," he says. "It can be hard to control these fighters sometimes. A lot of 'em are young and wild, and they're not as smart as they think they are."
It's the second intermission at June's Rage in the Cage event in Glendale. Fifteen minutes until the last three groups of fighters, the heavyweights, the headliners of the night, take their turns inside the big steel cage in front of a record crowd of 8,174 people.
For Ray Elbe, "Magical Ray" Elbe, the 22-year-old kickboxing champ known as much for his flashy entrances as for his fighting, it's Magic Time.
Elbe is famous for putting on a good show, and tonight, he bounds up to greet Sarria flocked by the girls from the Buttasmooth modeling agency, with which Elbe has recently hooked up his own sponsorship.
Entering the cage, Elbe struts for the UPN 45 and ISTV cameras like a rock star. But his opponent, Leonard Wilson, a new, up-and-coming black karate prodigy fresh from weeks of nightly after-work training at the downtown Phoenix YMCA, is not entertained.
As the fight begins and Elbe moves in for one of his trademark kickboxing attacks, Wilson deftly dodges his foot. Then dodges it again. Then throws a torrent of punches to Elbe's head, sending Elbe to the ground. The second time Elbe gets up and goes in for the attack, Wilson throws a perfectly balanced spinning back-kick to the left side of Elbe's jaw, and Elbe is done, tumbling back into a corner of the cage, where Wilson charges at him, bent over at the waist, pummeling Elbe with punches to the head until the referee pulls him off.
While Elbe sits with his hand on his left eye, Wilson triumphantly scales the cage and throws his arms up to the crowd. The ISTV camera that only 43 seconds ago was capturing Elbe's grand entrance is now, incredibly, splattered with Elbe's contact lens -- a weird, once-in-a-lifetime catch, now preserved on the Internet.
Before the fight, Elbe's camp arranged to have 5,000 glossy color fliers inserted on the seats around the arena, announcing Elbe's starring appearance at the official fight after-party at the nearby Coyote Hill nightclub. Now, Elbe will have to miss what he's billed as his own celebration; concerned about injuries to his eye, Elbe will spend tonight and tomorrow in the hospital, undergoing a CAT scan and numerous ophthalmologic tests.
The physical injury winds up leaving fewer scars than the boot to his pride, however.
"In Phoenix, the fight crowds are tough," he says afterward. "I've never fought in front of 8,000 people and heard everybody yell in unison as I walked out of the ring, 'You suck!' Knowing that I could beat any one of these people on any given moment, you know what I mean?"
In a way, Sarria loves it when one of his more self-glorifying fighters gets taken down a peg.
"I get a kick out of these guys," he says, laughing. "I think some of 'em have been hit in the head a few too many times. I keep telling them, 'Hey, guys, do you realize you lose more fights than you win?' 'Yeah, but my name is Magical, Muh-muh-magical Ray Elbe!' I get a kick out of it."
Inflated egos are Sarria's biggest foe, driving up the fees the fighters set for themselves based on both their fight record and their perceived crowd appeal.
Sarria says Rage in the Cage pays its fighters between $100 and $5,000 per fight. But Elbe, who says he makes a comfortable "couple thousand" per bout -- "I'm at the top of the food chain," he boasts -- has seen fighters come away with as little as $35. He says Wilson made only about $200 for his fight at the Glendale Arena, for which he took away the "Fighter of the Night" award.
Sarria, naturally, is happy to see a new generation of fighters eager to unseat the stars, and willing to start cheap.
"The fighters in the early days were awesome, but then we started to get a lot of prima donnas," he says. "What happened was the guys started to think they deserved all this money, but the show wasn't in a position to fund them.
"I had to take a stand on that," he adds. "A lot of these guys don't understand how progress works. They want it quick and fast, but they don't understand success takes time to build."
Homer "The Rock" Moore is another star Rage in the Cage fighter who believes Sarria is not rewarding him fast enough. At a roundup of fighters at Brausa the week before the Glendale Arena fights, where contenders take turns flipping a 150-pound Michelin tractor tire for exercise while others are interviewed on camera by Cathy Rankin, the foxy blonde host of the ISTV Web site, Moore is the only fighter to arrive with his own agent, who persuades Rankin to interview Moore outside in front of his cousin's silver Hummer H2.
At 33, Moore -- 205 pounds packed into 5 feet 10 inches of Ali-styled audacity and bluster -- believes he's ready for bigger things than Sarria has been able to secure for him.
He says he recently scored his own Hummer, an H3, as payment for starring in a local TV commercial for Scottsdale's Legends dealership, although Sarria insists Moore only had temporary use of the vehicle (Legends declines to comment either way).
"I closed my own deal with Legends," Moore says proudly, adding that Sarria has historically left fighters on their own in securing sponsors. "Rage in the Cage just ain't moving fast enough for me."
With 24 official wins and only five losses since his first Rage in the Cage fight in 1999, Moore feels he's become one of the biggest draws at the events, and is currently negotiating with Sarria to get "a nice little chunk" of the fortune he believes he's making the organization in ticket sales.
"I'm in my prime, and I've got a lot of people I'm talking to who want my charm, my charisma and my work ethic," Moore says matter-of-factly. "This is a tough job that I do," he adds, rubbing the cast on his hand left over from an injury sustained in his last Rage bout. "If they wanna play, they gotta pay!"
For his part, Sarria isn't worried about losing Moore to another promoter. "I know his game, I know his sales pitch," he says, chuckling. "Homer's a character. He should be in movies. But his bull doesn't work with me."
Sarria admits a few of his star fighters have already gone out on their own, "but most of them hit a wall, quick." He still smarts over losing his first star player, Edwin "Babyface" Dewees, a 223-pound grappler with short blond hair and, true to his nickname, a sweet, rounded face even a grandma could love.
"He was like my prodigy, my son," Sarria says with a heavy sigh. "But he gave me the old knife-o. Broke my heart."
For the June fights, Dewees came back to Rage in the Cage after a two-year break, during which time he fought for the number one Ultimate Fighting Championship. But the reunion was short-lived; by July, Dewees was fighting for the competing King of the Cage at a casino in Globe.
"He came back, but he didn't come back to Daddy," Sarria says. "It's his decision, he can do whatever he wants. I'm not gonna bother him. He can just learn like the rest of 'em.
"But I guarantee you, he'll be back," he says. "They always come back."
Sarria is heading south on McClintock Drive in the Rage in the Cage Honda, running yet another business errand, when he comes to a stoplight and sees a group of young men in bicycle helmets, white shirts, ties and backpacks pedal past him in the crosswalk.
"There they go, the Mormons," he says. Unlike the majority of people on the planet, Sarria actually loves it when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionaries come knocking on his door.
"Every time I see them, I'm like, 'Come in, sit down!'" he says, laughing. "My girlfriend goes crazy. She's like, 'Not again!'"
These days, Sarria is more into mental sparring than duking it out with a student at his training center, where longtime Rage in the Cage fighters like Rich Moss have been taking over a lot of the training duties. He enjoys any challenge where he can put his persuasive skills to the test.
Even though he's been living with his steady, Gloria Moore, for the past five and a half years, Sarria admits he can't resist a casual flirtation with any girl he thinks he can charm, just for the challenge of it. In the checkout line at OfficeMax, he tries to impress the sweet young thing behind the counter by showing her the double-jointed pinkie finger on his right hand, eliciting a grossed-out "Ew!" -- but also a pretty smile.
"Girls are easy," he confides on his way out the door. "One thing I learned is it's not what you look like, it's what you say."
For all his flair as a salesman, Moore says Sarria is not the best businessman. "Being too trusting can sometimes be his demise," she says. "That's how he's been taken a few times. Especially now that it's become so mainstream, there are a lot of new businesspeople who want to ride on his coattails. So that's when I get involved. He's more the dreamer, I'm the realist."
While Moore insists Sarria doesn't like confrontation, he clearly likes the verbal chess game of a good debate. Lately, Sarria's been studying Mormonism, mainly so he can engage in lively theological discussions with his lawyer friend, who's a Mormon, and entertain himself by going head-to-head with the tie-wearing bicyclists who show up at his door.
"I sit 'em down, let them talk for an hour, and then I hit 'em with my questions," he says, smiling excitedly now. "The first thing I say is, 'Let me ask you this. Is it true that if you die as a Mormon, you become a god, with your own planet, and lots of women?'"
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Although Sarria says he found his own relationship with Christ after his divorce and could never convert to Mormonism, something about this particular belief of the LDS faithful, which he can never get them to express in the down-to-earth phrasing he uses, appeals to him.
Maybe it goes back to his Alexander the Great mindset, or the occasional Batman leanings. But the idea of ruling your own planet, attended to by a harem of women and worshiped as a god -- the ultimate acknowledgement -- holds a certain undeniable allure to Roland Sarria.
"They never give you a straight answer to that one," he says, "but I always drill 'em, as a salesman: 'Yes or no. C'mon. Do you become a god?' And finally, they say, 'Well, yeah.'
"Cool!" Sarria replies. "You gotta admit, that sounds awesome."


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Preamble: Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here tonight to celebrate this thing called CFR Cluj v Manchester United in the Champions League. It's the second Group H game for each side and both can consider themselves lucky to have three points on the board in the wake of less than impressive openers.
While they'll happily take it, only the most blinkered United fan would claim their side's win against Galatasaray at Old Trafford was not mired in good fortune. The Turkish side will remain mystified by the referee's decision not to award them a penalty for Nemanja Vidic's blatant foul on Umut Bulut in a match that will otherwise be remembered for Michael Carrick's composure in front of goal, Nani's lack of it and the welcome return to action from illness of Darren Fletcher.
Boasting considerably less Champions League pedigree than their visitors tonight, Romanian champions CFR Cluj got their campaign off to a winning start with a heroic 2-0 away win over FC Braga. Brazilian midfielder Rafael Bastos availed of his counter-attacking side's only two shots on goal to bag a brace against his former club. They'd probably gnaw your hand off if you offered them a point in the DR Constantin Radulescu Stadium tonight, but are an outside bet to get one.
CFR who? You may not know a great deal about them, but CFR Cluj are no mugs. They've won their last five Champions League matches (including qualifiers), but have been less than impressive on the home front and are currently lying sixth in the Romanian top flight, nine points off the pace being set by Steaua Bucharest after 10 games. Even though they hammered Gloria Bistrita 5-1 at the weekend, it would be a big surprise if they were to nick even one point from tonight's match.
The Cluj manager speaks: CFR have a few players with experience in the Champions League and we have the whole of Romania behind us," said Cluj manager Ioan Andone in the build-up to this evening's fixture." I hope our enthusiasm will make a difference. If we manage to score, we will have a chance. I don't think you can speak about fear against United. If we won it would bring prestige and six points in the group, which is very important. It would be huge for Cluj and Transylvania too."
The Manchester United manager speaks: "I watched the games against Basel and Braga and I would pick out Rafael Bastos [as the main threat]," said Sir Alex Ferguson in his pre-match presser. "CFR are a team who defend quickly and get plenty of bodies behind the ball. Their main strength is the counter-attack, as they showed against Braga. Counter-attacking is very important in European football these days. Their strongest point is they have got three points. They play us tomorrow and then two games against Galatasaray. They need secen more points from five games and they will qualify."
Manchester United team news: Sir Alex Ferguson makes six changes from the team that was beaten by Spurs on Saturday. David De Gea is in goal, but the somewhat porous back four of Messrs Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans and Evra remains intact. Anderson, Tom Cleverly and Darren Fletcher are named in a three-man midfield, while Wayne Rooney joins Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez in a front three that could fill their boots against a side that's conceded in 10 of their last 12 games.
CFR Cluj-Napoca: Mario Felgueiras, Sepsi, Cadu, Rada,
Ivo Pinto, Sougou, Aguirregaray, Muresan, Camora, Bastos, Kapetanos.
Subs: Stancioiu, Diogo Valente, Nicoara, Maftei, Piccolo, Bjelanovic, Luis Alberto.
Manchester United: De Gea, Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Cleverley, Anderson, Fletcher, Rooney, Hernandez, van Persie.
Subs: Lindegaard, Nani, Welbeck, Powell, Kagawa, Buttner, Wootton.
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)
Interesting trivia (depending on your point of view): There are 13 different nationalities represented in tonight's starting 22: Brazil, England, France, Greece, Mexico, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Senegal, Spain and Uruguay.
Manchester United field one Spaniard, two Brazilians, three Englishmen, a Frenchman, a Scot, a Mexican, a Dutchman and a Norn Ironer. CFR Cluj's line-up comprises four Portuguese, three Romanians, a Uruguayan, a Senegalese, a Greek and a Brazilian.
An amusing start to the evening: This match is being broadcast on ITV and presenter Adrian Chiles and his analysts Gareth Southgate and Lee Dixon are standing pitchside. As they discussed the line-ups, somebody had the bright idea of the turning on the pitch sprinklers behind them. Sadly, they appeared to be standing this much out of range and managed to avoid a proper soaking, although they did get liberally sprayed.
Some reader emails: "Alphabetised countries - the true sign of the obsessive," writes John out in China. "Fine work, sir."
"Some interesting points in your preamble, but I can't help feeling you're missing the truly important information," writes Matt Dony. "Exactly what did Fergie make of the Ryder Cup win?"
"Not to be stereotypical, but given that one of the greatest Romanian exports is this fellow, is anyone else hoping that the stadium announcer takes tonight's attendance manually and says 'A ha-ha!' after each number?" asks Ryan Dunne.
Click-clack! Click-clack! Click-clack! The teams emerge from the tunnel and ITV immediately cut to an advert break.
1 min: Manchester United kick off playing from right to left and with their players wearing white shirts, shorts and socks. Cluj's player's wear burgundy coloured shirts with white triangles under the arms, burgundy shorts and burgundy socks.
2 min: Manchester United concede the first corner of the match and Rafael Bastos prepares to swing it in from the left. His delivery to the near post is excellent and Modou Sougou leaps highest to send a header flashing wide of the far post off Darren Fletcher.
3 min: Bastos takes the second corner and sends this one towards the far post in a bid to pick out the centre-half Cadu. He does exactly that, but the ball's a mite too high for the Portuguese defender and he sends it high and wide under pressure from Rio Ferdinand.
6 min: Manchester United ping the ball around the edge of the final third trying to find an opening past the 10 men CFR Cluj have behind the ball. A rogue pass gifts possession to the home side and they attempt to attack on the break.
8 min: I can see a theme developing here. As expected, CFR Cluj have dug in on the edge of their own penalty area and are showing no inclination to take the match to Manchester United. It's fairly understandable, considering their success against Braga, when they won 2-0 after having two shots on goal compared to their opponents' 38.
12 min: Modou Sougou, who wears the No99 on his back, has gone down injured inside his own half after coming out second best from a challenge with Anderson. Apart from the two corners, that's been the highlight of the opening 10 minutes.
GOAL! CFR Cluj 1-0 Manchester United (Kapetanos 13) Manchester United go behind to asn early goal once again. From inside his own half, Rafael Bastos picks out Sougou on the right flank with a marvellous long diagonal pass. With Patrice Evra nowehre near him, the right-winger crosses low and hard into the centre, where the unmarked Antelis Kapeanos sweeps the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from eight yards or so.
15 min: United's defence pick up where they left off on Saturday, standing off an opposition striker and allowing him too much time when they should have closed him down. Alone and without help in front of Evans and Ferdinand, Kapetanos was given far too much time on the ball before scoring. The only resistance he met was a lazy leg waved in his general direction by Evans when he was unleashing his shot past De Gea.
18 min: Fletcher and Rooney combine well on the edge of the Cluj penalty area and the latter fires off a shot from just outside the D. Goalkeeper Mario Felgueras puts it out for a corner, from which Manchester United win another one.
19 min: From the second corner, the ball breaks to Hernandez in the Cluj penalty area with his back to goal. He plays it back to Anderson, who tries to pick his spot and side-foots the ball a couple of feet past the left upright.
21 min: Another enterprising attack down the right flank from CFR Cluj, with defensive midfielder Matias Aguirregaray picking out Sougou with a long pass. The winger is unable to keep his footing and slips, allowing Manchester United to clear.
23 min: United attack down the centre, with Tom Cleverley picking out Robin van Persie with a first-time ball that takes four defenders out of the equation. With his first touch, Van Persie sends the ball skidding not too far wide of the left upright.
25 min: CFR Cluj substitution: Modou Sougou off, Luis Alberto on. The provider for the opening goal is forced off with an injury sustained in a collision with Anderson some minutes ago. "I don't think Patrice Evra will be shedding any tears to see the back of him," says Andy Townsend on ITV.
26 min: More patient build-up play from Manchester United's players as they try in vain to find a way through the packed Cluj defence. Nobody could mistake them for Barcelona as it all looks a bit slow and ponderous. The home fans are whistling relentlessly, presumably in a bid to get the referee to blow for half-time a bit early.
GOAL! CFR Cluj 1-1 Manchester United (Van Persie 29): Manchester United win a free-kick on the left flank, which Wayne Rooney whips into the penalty area. Standing unmarked, Robin van Persie leaps and misses the ball with his head, but gets a lucky break when it hits his shoulder, loops over the goalkeeper and drops under the crossbar and into the back of the goal.
32 min: Good play again from Cleverley, who picks out Javier Hernandez on the edge of the penalty area. The Mexican unleashes a snap-shot that's on target, but not hit with enough venom to trouble Mario Felgueiras in the Cluj goal.
34 min: Possession stats: CFR Cluj 30%-70% Manchester United. Cluj get the ball out of their own half and it's whipped into the Manchester United penalty area from the left. Pantelis Kapetanos is the only player within 30 yards of it, but it doesn't go anywhere near him.
35 min: Hernandez dinks the ball between centre-back and right-back for Robin van Persie to chase and the Dutchman shjoots low and diagonally from left to right. Goalkeeper Felgueiras stays on his feet and blocks the shot.
37 min: Darren Fletcher links up with Cleverley and Anderson before sending a cross to the far post towards Van Persie. Cluj right back Ivo Pinto heads clear.
39 min: "I think Andy Townsend may have spoken too confidently re Evra (25 min)," writes Hugh Collins. "If Celtic can win an away game in the Champion's League, then I wouldn't be that surprised to see an adult defender reduced to tears by the sight of an opponent's back."
42 min: Manchester United win a corner off Ivo Pinto and Wayne Rooney sends it towards Robin van Persie at the far post. He's beaten in the air and CFR Cluj embark on another of their trademark counter-attacks, only for Gabriel Muresan to to drag a shot wide of David De Gea's goal.
43 min: Another United chance, but by no means a gilt-edge one. Rafael crosses to the edge of the penalty area, where Wayne Rooney is forced to lean backwards before directing a weak header harmlessly wide.
45 min: It's half-time. After falling behind once again, Manchester United go in all square at half-time courtesy of a Robin van Persie fluke. They've been vastly superior to CFR Cluj, but have looked anything but clinical up front or at the back. Elsewhere in this group, Portuguese side Braga lead Galatasaray 1-0.
Random half-time observations
• Wayne Rooney still looks to be carrying a bit too much timber; or at least looks very, very laboured. He's pouring with sweat compared to the other players, but then he has been out for a while.
• All Manchester United's chances have been created through the middle of the poitch, which is unsurprising considering they're playing without any wingers.
• Manchester United need to bring on a winger.
• Manchester United's defending for the goal they conceded was hideously bad. Evra was caught hopelessly out of position, which allowed Cluj winger Sougou to cross.
• When the cross went into the penalty area, Kapetanos got the better of both Evans and Ferdinand, when they should have been able to deal with him comfortably.
Alex Ferguson's half-time interview: "Our passing and intensity of possession has been good, but losing that goal the way we did was a shocker ... an absolute shocker. The way they play everyone is behind the ball, so it's going to be difficult to get width. They're just sitting in there and hoping we make mistakes."
Second half: No changes on either side as the home team kicks off. If you haven't l;istened to this Monday's Football Weekly podcast yet, then shame on you. It was presented by Soccer Am's Max Rushden, who left the studio to hop on a train to Manchester, from where he was flying to Cluj to support the Romanian champions in this match.
47 min: Wayne Rooney tries his luck with a long-range effort which the goalkeeper puts out for a corner from which nothing comes.
GOAL! CFR Cluj 1-2 Manchester United (Van Persie 48) Great goal from Manchester United, which has its origins on the right flank. With the ball at his feet and lots of time on his hands, Wayne Rooney looks up and sends a splendid diagonal pass up and under into the corridor of uncertainty between goalkeeper and back four for Robin van Persie to chase. The Dutchman beats the dithering goalkeeper to the dropping ball, cocks his left leg like a dog taking a pee on a lamp-post and dinks it into the bottom left-hand corner.
53 min: Another lapse in concentration by Manchester United's defenders almost lets Kapetanos in for a second. Muresan squares the ball low and hard from the right and, with Evans and Ferdinand standing off him again, the Cluj striker has all the time in the world to slash it high over the crossbar. If he'd hit the target there, who knows what might have happened?
55 min: "While we're on the subject of random observations, did you know that basic gingerbread is a mixture of flour, brown sugar, golden syrup and cinnamon?" asks Simon McMahon. "And that Grasmere in Cumbria is considered the home of gingerbread? Yes, I'm having to watch the great British Bake-Off and follow the footie on the minute-by-minute."
56 min: If Manchester United's players are trying to wind up their manager and ensure a long, fraught trip home from Romania, they're doing a very good job. Cluj win a corner, the ball's sent in from the right and Cadu rises completely unmarked at the back post to send a bullet header flashing wide of the left upright. He runs back into position with his head in his hands, berating himself for not doing better.
59 min: United earn some respite after a five-minute period of sustained Cluj pressure, when Rafael Da Silva wins a free-kick wide on the right flank from his namesake Rafael Bastos in the Cluj side.
59 min: From the edge of the final third, Matias Aguirregaray tries to play Pantelis Kapetanos through for a one-on-one with De Gea with a stabbed pass along the deck for the striker to chase. Rio Ferdinand makes a crucial interception.
60 min: CFR Cluj substitution: Goalscorer Kapetanos off, to be replaced by Croatian one-cap wonder Sasa Bjelanovic.
64 min: Decent enough play from United, who carve Cluj open down the right flank, before Anderson squanders possession by sending a deep looping cross way too near the goalkeeper.
65 min: Cleverly tries to play Javier Hernandez through on goal with a ball through a gap between two players in the Cluj defence, but the Little Pea is flagged for offside.
68 min: With nothing else going on, fancy getting strafed with my stat gun? It's not as unpleasant as it sounds. Passes completed: Cluj 152-473 Manchester United.
70 min: Excellent play by Manchester United, with Rooney linking up beautifully with Tom Cleverley down the inside left. The midfielder plays a weighted pass along the deck for Rooney to pull back towards Van Persie, who stretches out a leg and misses making contact by this much.
"Shouldn't basic gingerbread contain ginger?" asks Daniel Stauss in response to Simon McMahon (55 mins). "Isn't that the whole point of gingerbread? If you type the word ginger enough times, your fingers lose all sense of feeling."
74 min: Evra goes to ground in the Cluj penalty area while trying to get on the end of a pull-back from Robin van Persie. The referee gestures to the Frenchman to get to his feet. While I can't be certain it shouldn't have been a spot-kick without seeing a replay, it didn't look like one on first viewing.
76 min: After coming in from the left flank, Hernandez plays the ball out of the penalty area to Rooney, who tries to pick out Robin van Persie with a dinked ball over the top. There isn't quite enough weight on his pass and Cluj clear.
78 min: Pass. Probe. Pass. Pass. Pass. Pass. Probe. Lay off. Pass. Pass. Probe. Lay off. Pass. Probe. Clatter. Peep! Free-kick.
79 min: Having made his debut for Manchester United in the Capital One Cup against Newcastle last week, Scott Wootton now makes his Champions League bow. The 21-year-old from Birkenhead replaces Jonny Evans, who has been nursing a dead leg all evening.
80 min: Cluj substitution: Matias Agiurregaray off, 24-year-old left-footed midfielder Viorel Nicoara on. He's not from Birkenhead.
83 min: Manchester United substitution: Little Pea off, Danny Welbeck on.
84 min: With just seven minutes to go, this match is being played at a very pedestrian pace. Manchester United are looking very comfortable in possession, but are just one gaffe or long-range howitzer away from having to share the points here. That would be calamitous, despite them have been drawn in a group that looked even easier than the one they usually get.
85 min: I've been very impressed with Tom Cleverley tonight. His performance was no-frills and efficient, while his movement has been good and his short passing has been very neat and effective. Rio Ferdinand gets booked for a high challenge on Rafael Bastos, who he hoofs in the stomach as the pair contest a 50-50 ball.
88 min: David De Gea wins a free-kick after being clattered by Sasa Bjelanovic with a late challenge as he plucked the ball from the sky. He did well to hold on to that ball despite the mid-air collision. Remember the amount of abuse and ridicule he was subjected to by assorted armchair goalkeeping experts, who were very quick to write off a 21-year-old off because he occasionally looked dodgy under a high ball? I do.
90 min: Manchester United win a throw-in deep in Cluj territory, but their hosts win possession back and launch another counter-attack. Ivo Pinto gets in a cross from the right and David De Gea saves brilliantly from a Rafael Bastos bullet-header after the Brazilian steals in unmarked at the near post. Corner for Cluj ...
90+3 min: After his comments on Saturday, we can only presume that Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with all this injury-time the referee is playing; Cluj are certainly trying to make the most of it. United fail to clear the corner properly, the ball falls kindly for Ionel Rada on the edge of the penalty area and he pulls the trigger only to see his effort blocked by a desperate Rafael lunge.
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! It's all over. Manchester United do just enough to hold on for the win against a very limited team who will consider themselves unlucky not to have stolen a point in the dying seconds of injury time. While Alex Ferguson will be relieved to get out of Romania with the win, must be seriously concerned with his side's many shortcomings in defence.
On a far more important note: "Daniel Stauss is probably right," writes Simon McMahon of the great ginger-free gingerbread debate. "I think the ingredients I listed are those required for the basic dough to which the ginger is then added. It would certainly be a bit strange if ginger was absent from gingerbread. I wasn't really paying attention to be honest. Paul Hollywood can rest easy."
Elsewhere in Group H: Braga have beaten Galatasaray 2-0 in Istanbiul, which means Manchester United are top with six points from two games, Cluj and Braga next on three points each and Galatasaray are whipping them in on no points.


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* A Dialogue between Prof. Sang-jin Han (President of the Joongmin Foundation) and Prof. Eloisa Martin(editor-in-chief of Current Sociology )was published in the March 10 issue of the Hankyoreh. Prof. Martin visited Korea on February 27 for an ISA writing workshop. This dialogue , arranged by the Hankyoreh, took place on March 7 at the Joongmin Foundation for Social Theory. In this dialogue we can find an interesting comparison of President impeachment in Brazil and South Korea. In addition, the two scholars agreed that politics of conviviality and sympathy are needed for social solidarity. Here is the the translation of this dialogue article.
Social engagement created through cooperative 'conviviality'
March 9, 2017
REPORTED by Ahn Chang-Hyun (firstname.lastname@example.com), PHOTOGRAPHED by Kim Myoung-Jin (email@example.com)
ENGLISH TRANSLATION by Park Sae-Seul (firstname.lastname@example.com)
Professors Eloisa Martin and Han Sang-Jin sat down to discuss their thoughts on candlelight politics and social theory.
Eloisa Martin
l In Brazil, the Right gained power after the impeachment of the Leftist government
l Korean students are competitive but must find hope for solidarity
Han Sang-Jin
l Women changed protests through candlelight and cultural events
l Politics based on 'compathy' is necessary for coexistence
Citizens' candlelight protests against the Park Geun-hye – Choi Soon-sil political scandal may draw to a close depending on the ruling of South Korea's Constitutional Court on March 10th.
"I witnessed the candlelight protests at Gwanghwamun and participated in the International Women's Day celebration," says Professor Eloisa Martin of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. This is her first visit to Korea. "I was deeply impressed by the dynamism of the Korean citizens." Professor Martin has been the Editor of Current Sociology, the official journal of the International Sociological Association, since 2010. During her stay in Seoul, she took part in the 'Candlelight Politics and Social Theory' seminar jointly held by the Korean Society for Social Theory and the Joongmin Foundation for Social Theory on March 8th. On the 7th, The Hankyoreh sat down with Professor Martin and Professor Emeritus Han Sang-Jin (President of the Joongmin Foundation for Social Theory) to listen in on their discussion in the conference room of the Joongmin Foundation.
Han Sang-Jin (hereafter HAN): The confrontation between rival citizens, the pro-impeachment 'candlelight citizens' versus the anti-impeachment national flag-waving citizens, has received due attention from the international community. This is your first visit to Korea; what was your impression of these demonstrations?
Eloisa Martin (hereafter MARTIN): I had the chance to see the candlelight protests on the anniversary of the Sam-il (March 1st) Movement, and I also took part in the street march on March 4th in commemoration of International Women's Day. During this time, I thought about 'the impeachment of a female president'. Brazil also impeached its female president in August last year. Impeachment, in and of itself, is not an inherently good or bad thing. In Brazil, the conservative Right seized power. It is the opposite in Korea.
HAN: After 8 years of control under former President Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT – Partido dos Trabalhadores), Dilma Rousseff of the same party assumed the presidency. One year after her reelection, in the 14th year of the government under the Workers' Party, President Rousseff was impeached for improper abuse of power.
MARTIN: President Rousseff's political power was weak and vulnerable. In a time of political isolation, the execution of the budget was not transparent. Some of the budget for the following year was pulled forward to the current one, leading to a situation wherein revenue and income were higher than spending. It is an age-old practice, but the ruling power was criticized for corruption. It was possible to criticize the situation as 'fiscal pedaling', but it was not a crime.
HAN: Then how did that lead to impeachment?
MARTIN: In Brazil, the House and the Senate decide on impeachment. President Rousseff's ruling party was not the majority party of the assembly at the time. Additionally, conservative media conglomerates such as 'Grupo Globo' monopolized print, television and radio news to instigate fierce attacks against the corruption of the Workers' Party. Prominent economic organizations in São Paulo, conservative religious groups, legal professionals, and the like fostered an environment which supported impeachment.
HAN: I'm curious about the responses from citizens.
MARTIN: There were demonstrations supporting impeachment. Economic organizations provided financial resources and facilities and conservative media outlets splashed these demonstrations on news headlines. Amidst a social atmosphere of strong denunciation of the progressive camp's alleged corruption, labor unions, Leftist social organizations, and citizens' movement groups did not have much power and the media largely ignored their opposition demonstrations.
HAN: Did the two groups clash on the streets during their demonstrations? What happened in Brazil after the impeachment?
MARTIN: The rival demonstrations were held on different dates. In comparison, the Korean experience is dynamic and interesting. The 'candlelight protestors' and 'flag protestors' have different opinions but they find a way to coexist without resorting to violence. In Brazil, the power was turned over completely to the Right and the public's welfare expenditure was curtailed while policies for education, health and labor became worse as neoliberal policies took hold. Brazil suffers from extreme inequality. The top 5% live lavishly but the bottom 70% struggles to eat. Impeaching the president brought about the destruction of social justice. The impeachment signaled not the end, but the beginning of new problems
HAN: This experience signaled the impeachment of the progressive political party. What lessons can we learn from this?
MARTIN: The weakness of the progressive camp is its immense internal discord and its unwillingness to understand or even listen to the disadvantaged groups in society while attempting to convince others of its core beliefs. There is a serious gap between the educated Leftist politicians and the working and poor classes. Even laborers want their children, at the very least, to receive a good education; hence, good schools should be built in poor residential areas. However, the progressive camp is blind to these problems. It cannot communicate with society and it does not have the capability to pursue widespread solidarity.
HAN: In Korea, there is a new opportunity for progressive groups but they conduct affairs of the state with ideology and organization rather than the policies of life world embracing those who are most vulnerable in our society. There are many citizens who are worried about what will happen if these groups assume power.
MARTIN: Korean university students have great anxiety about the future, coupled with intense competition in the society. Everyone wants to be ahead of the others. Solidarity does not come from everyone becoming winners and earning benefits over others. Coexistence requires concessions and sacrifices. I believe this is the political task that the progressive camp must achieve. It must embrace the weak and vulnerable and view them as partners. In this respect, I believe that Professor Han's Joongmin theory or 'middling transformation' strategy is significant.
HAN: Your statement is too generous. In the last 15 years of candlelight protests in Korea, the participation by women protestors has stood out conspicuously. Even housewives march in the protests with their children. In accordance with this, the candlelight protests can sometimes become a classroom, or even a festival or cultural event.
MARTIN: Female participation in the candlelight protests is important and topical. Women have shared values which extend beyond social class, education, and political affiliation. They show high interest in concrete problems such as education and social welfare. This may even introduce the possibility of bridging the fragmented ideological orientations of the progressive party. Korea's social networking services (SNS) are the most advanced in the world – but aren't the uncontrolled emotional outbursts often expressed on these services also a hindrance to meaningful communication? I emphasize the importance of cooperative 'conviviality' enjoyed by all. The crux of democracy is the embracement of diversity, going above and beyond cultural hegemony. Korea's civil society may be confrontational but it shows the potential for such coexistence.
HAN: In similar vein, I want to emphasize the role of 'compathy'. I believe that politicians with outstanding capabilities for communication and social governance must lead the way to the future. This is because in this 'risk society' of economic polarization, coexistence cannot come solely from the competitive reasoning of survival of the fittest.
MARTIN: I now see the task for Korea's progressive camp through this dialogue. Rather than being preoccupied with ideologies or power struggles, a new politics of 'compathy' should be pursued to achieve inclusive solidarity. This is where the future of politics lies.


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Breaking News (158)
2009 GraduationWritten by
Over 1,000 students from local high schools are preparing to graduate this weekend, finishing off their secondary education and preparing for the next step forward. While many can expect a lengthy ceremony, senior Randy Howard from Whale Gulch school has the stage all to himself, as the sole member of his graduating class. Large and small schools alike will be busy in the days to come, preparing for the familiar pageantry of speeches, caps, and gowns. On behalf of Redwood Community Radio, congratulations to the graduating class of 2009--enjoy a safe and relaxing summer!
Arcata High School 190 Thursday, 11th June, 5:30 PM at College of the Redwoods
Eureka High School 302 Friday, 19th June, 2:00 PM at Albee Stadium
Ferndale High School 44 Friday, 12th June, 7:30 PM
Fort Bragg High School 129 Friday, 12th June, 5:00 PM
Fortuna High School 275 Friday, 12th June, 4:00 PM
Hoopa Valley High School 36 Thursday, 11th June, 7:00 PM
Laytonville High School 34 Friday, 12th June, 7:00 PM
Leggett High School 17 Thursday, 11th June, 7:00 PM
Mattole Valley Charter School 54 Saturday, 13th June, 2:00 PM at Van Duzer Theatre
McKinleyville High School 158 Thursday, 11th June, 2:30 PM at College of the Redwoods
Osprey Learning Center 20 Friday, 12th June, 7:00 PM
South Fork High School 55 Friday, 12th June, 7:00 PM
St. Bernard's High School 22 Friday, 5th June
Whale Gulch High School 1 Thursday, 11th June, 10:00 AM
*Graduation ceremonies are held on the campus of the school in question except as noted.
Sam Cushman's truck, remains foundWritten by Simon Frech
This article was originally ttitled Missing Person: Sam Cushman
KMUD News reported on 10/29/2009 that Mr. Cushman's pickup truck and his remains have been found.
Here's an article in the October 30, 2009 edition of the Eureka Times-Standard:
Human remains found in Trinity County last week were identified as a missing Garberville man on Wednesday and his death appears to be a suicide.
Sam Dunlea Cushman, 36, was reported missing May 3 and was classified as "at risk," according to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. The Trinity County Sheriff's Office determined that Cushman died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound. He was identified through his dental records.
A citizen hunting on private property reported finding a 1998 green camouflage Toyota Tacoma truck approximately two miles south of Island Mountain in Trinity County on Oct. 24. The truck belonged to Cushman, according to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office.
Cushman dropped off his child at his former girlfriend's home on April 28 and then disappeared. After he did not return phone calls and e-mails, his former girlfriend notified police.
Link to this article: http://www.times-standard.com/ci_13675566
Below is the original article from our website:
scroll down to see photo of Sam Cushman
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office
826 Fourth Street, Eureka, CA 95501
Date: May 08, 2009 From: Brenda Godsey, PIO
(707) 268-3645
Subject: Missing Person Case: 200902894
Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is looking for a Garberville man who has been missing after unexpectedly dropping off his child at his ex-girlfriend's house and disappearing. On May 3, 2009. Sam Dunlea Cushman's ex-girlfriend reported that she had not seen nor heard from Sam since he dropped off their child on April 28. The woman added that Sam had not returned her phone calls or e-mails and that was unusual for Sam. She said on April 29 she had received a telephone call from a friend of Sam's who told her he had seen Sam that day. He told her Sam had been acting strangely and he was concerned about Sam. That was last time Sam has been seen.
Sheriff's Deputies checked Mr. Cushman's house and found many of his personal items still at the house. Further investigation revealed that Mr. Cushman may be struggling with some personal problems and he has a history of drug use and depression. Mr. Cushman is considered an "at-risk" missing person.
Mr. Cushman drives a 1998 green camouflage Toyota Tacoma, California license plate 8S71716. Mr. Cushman is known to travel to Mendocino County via Bell Springs Road. He is 36 years old, 6 feet tall, and 145 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes. He has several tattoos including a lion's head on is back. Anyone with any information regarding the whereabouts of Sam Cushman should call the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office at (707) 445-7251.
Graffiti on Carson St, EurekaWritten by
For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2009
On Wednesday, April 29, 2009 Eureka Police Officers served search warrants at six locations for persons suspected of causing a rash of graffiti throughout the greater Eureka area.
Seven juveniles were contacted at the locations and all seven took responsibility for a particular style of graffiti. They were identified as being responsible for over 250 sites in the Eureka and Arcata areas.
This is an ongoing investigation and reports will be forwarded to Juvenile Authorities for prosecution for malicious mischief.
None of the juveniles contacted had any gang affiliation nor was any of the graffiti done identifiable to any particular gang.
Attached are examples of the graffiti that was done.
Swine FluWritten by Simon Frech
If you're concerned or want to find more information about health issues, including the recent swine flu outbreak, please check the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services website www.humboldthealthalert.org
Community Park Meeting February 24, 2009Written by Simon Frech
A meeting to discuss the future of the Southern Humboldt Community Park was held at the Mateel Community Center in Redway on February 24, 2009. It was attended by about 200 people, most speaking in support of rezoning the park from Agricultural zoning to Recreational.
KMUD News reporter Cynthia Elkins attended the meeting and recorded the statements. As a public service we make the recording available in two parts. You can listen online or download the file to your computer. If you would rather receive a recording on two CD's (in higher audio quality) you may purchase the set for $15, shipping included. Call KMUD at (707) 923-2513.
Part 1 (59:32)this link if you'd like to download the file or if the player above doesn't work for you. Right-click on the link to download (control-click on the Mac).
Part 2 (1:01:46)this link if you'd like to download the file or if the player above doesn't work for you. Right-click on the link to download (control-click on the Mac).
Comments, suggestions, problem reports regarding these files should go to tech -at- kmud dot org.
Missing: Christine Noel McArthurWritten by Simon Frech
The Eureka Police Department is requesting the public's assistance in locating a missing juvenile named Christine Noel McArthur. Christine is a white 16 year old female, 5'07", she weighs 100 lbs, has brown hair and brown eyes. The last time Christine was seen was approximately two weeks ago. Any one with information regarding Christine is urged to contact PSO Mary Anderson at Eureka Police Department at (707) 441-4300 or call the 24-hour dispatch number (707) 441-4044.
(Bulletin issued February 19, 2009)
Solar vehicle visits KMUDWritten by KMUD News
Find out more on the project's homepage xof1.com
An Article in the San Jose Mercury News about the builder of this vehicle, Marcelo da Luz.
"He's like a magnet," said John Schaefer, 71, a renewable energy consultant who met da Luz in Arcata three weeks ago and volunteered to follow him to the Bay Area in the support van. "Everywhere he goes, people come together around him and his car." When it broke down in the small Northern California town of Redway, "a bunch of residents picked the thing up and carried it to the KMUD radio station's parking lot where Marcelo got it going again."
Read the whole article here
Offshore Oil: How to submit commentsWritten by Simon Frech
How to Submit Comment on Offshore Oil Development
The Minerals Management Service has proposed a new 5 year program for offshore oil and gas developments. The public has until March 23rd September 23rd to submit public comment.
Northwest Training Range Complex
The U.S. Navy has been training in the Northwest Training Range Complex for national defense purposes for over 100 years. In line with the Northwest Training Range Complex-wide management practices, the U.S. Navy has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (EIS/OEIS) to comprehensively evaluate the effects of current and future Navy activities within the range complex on the environment.
Deadline for public comment on the Environmental Impact Statement is March 11, 2009
Find information about this here: http://www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com/
Redwood Drive Road Closure picturesWritten by
Submitted 12_31_2008 by Marty Messenger, Humboldt County Roads
New Lead in the Reetpaul Rana Murder CaseWritten by
The Humboldt County Sheriffs Office says they are continuing to investigate the murder of Reetpaul Singh Rana, the San Francisco man whos body was found on Saturday, September 13, 2008 near the Dyerville Loop Road north of Alderpoint Road.
As previously released, Mr. Ranas vehicle, a light blue 1996 SAAB four-door sedan, was discovered on a dirt access area on the north side of Big Lagoon on September 10, 2008. The vehicle had been damaged by fire.
Sheriffs Detectives have determined a person of interest may have been hitchhiking near Big Lagoon on the night of Wednesday, September 10, 2008. That person, Ryan Carroll, may have hitchhiked from Big Lagoon, north on US Highway 101. Sheriffs Detectives are interested in speaking with anyone who may have seen Carroll or given him a ride that evening. (Ryan Carrolls picture is attached).
Anyone with information about Ryan Carroll or this investigation should call Detective Cheryl Franco at (707) 268-3644 or Sergeant Wayne Hanson at (707) 268-3639.


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Forms Jobs
Service with the Winston-Salem Police Department offers the unique satisfaction of knowing that every day, the hours you spend on the job make your community a better place to live, work and play. This is true whether you serve as a police officer or as one of our non-sworn employees who support them. It truly is a team effort.
The Winston-Salem Police Department has openings for police officers year-round. The Department fills non-sworn positions as the need arises.
Use this page as your launching pad to learn more about the advantages of joining our team.
Why become a Winston-Salem Police Officer?
How do I apply to become a Winston-Salem Police Officer?
How do I apply for a Non-Sworn position?
Scholarships for HBCU students interested in becoming a Winston-Salem Police Officer
Ready to learn more?
Call 336-773-7925 or
Toll free 1-877-777-WSPD (9773) or
Email a WSPD recruiter.
Would you like us to contact you about opportunities with the Winston-Salem Police Department? Online contact form.
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Valentine's Day Hotel Getaway Deals to NYC, Anchorage, Chicago, LA, Cincinnati, Scottsdale & Boston
January 25, 2013 (PRLEAP.COM) Travel NewsNEW YORK (January 25, 2013) - Clear your schedule, turn off your cell phone and take advantage of the romantic hotel getaway deals offered at Millennium Hotels and Resorts this Valentine's Day weekend. Go flightseeing over the magnificent Alaska Range with the Millennium Alaskan Hotel's "Wild Valentine's Weekend" package, get engaged in Chicago with the help from the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel's "Happily Ever After" getaway package or treat that special someone to a romantic stay in Boston, NYC, Los Angeles, Cincinnati or Scottsdale. However you choose to celebrate the most romantic day of the year, Millennium Hotels and Resorts has an enticing hotel getaway deal to offer.
The Millennium Alaskan Hotel Anchorage has taken everything that makes America's Last Frontier utterly unique and created a romantic Valentine's Day hotel deal for the record books. An intimate seven-course dinner with Alaskan specialties, an exciting dogsled ride with an Iditarod champion, flightseeing over the magnificent Alaska Range and hot toddies served fireside are all included in the "Wild Valentine's Weekend" getaway deal. This package is priced at $1,999 for two, including two nights' accommodations in a Jacuzzi Suite and the package features described above. Reservations can be made by calling 907-266-2216 or emailing firstname.lastname@example.com.
Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel Chicago's "Happily Ever After" Valentine's Day getaway deal features the perfect setting to declare your love during a special five-course dinner with sparkling wine pairings to accompany each course. Created by NiX Restaurant, each course includes aphrodisiac ingredients and the sparkling wines including Prosecco from Italy, Cava from Spain, a California sparkling wine, sparkling rose and of course, champagne. To make the proposal even more special, the hotel will provide a rose and a photographer to capture the moment. Bring your own ring, and NiX Restaurant can help to present it in a creative way. Or choose your rings together; the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel Chicago can arrange a special private showing of engagement rings at the exclusive shop of one of the leading jewelers in the city. The cost for the couple is just $709, and this deal can be booked online at http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumchicago/hotel-specials/happily-ever-after-package.html or by calling (312) 751-8100.
From New York, the city that never sleeps to the lakeside resort in Scottsdale, you'll have plenty of destinations to choose from for your romantic Valentine's Day rendezvous. Rekindle the romance by enjoying chilled champagne, gourmet sweets, prix-fixe meals and late check outs at Millennium Broadway Hotel, Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, Millennium Hotel Cincinnati or Millennium Resort and Villas Scottsdale. The Millennium Bostonian Hotel is featuring a romantic three-course gourmet dinner at its North 26 Restaurant & Bar.
For more information and a complete list of romantic getaway deals available at the Millennium Hotels and Resorts this Valentine's Day, visit http://www.millenniumhotels.com/usa/valentines
About Millennium Hotels and Resorts
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc (M&C), listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1996, is a dynamic, global hotel company, which owns, asset manages and/or operates a worldwide portfolio of over 100 hotels across seven distinct global brandsGrand Millennium, Millennium, Grand Copthorne, Copthorne, M Hotel, Studio M and Kingsgate throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and North America.
Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) was established as a global brand by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc to provide a common marketing and operating platform across its entire portfolio. Founded on the philosophy of genuine hospitality, this dynamic hospitality group has an outstanding reputation for excellence, taking pride in exceeding the needs of its business and leisure travelers. The strategic locality of its properties in gateway cities such as London, Paris, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok makes MHR the perfect address to conduct your business or indulge yourself while on holiday.
Established in the United States in 2000, the North American arm of MHR includes a portfolio 14 hotels in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Anchorage, Boulder, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Durham, Minneapolis, Nashville, Scottsdale, and St Louis. www.millenniumhotels.com
Contact Information
Lisa Petersen
Millennium Hotels & Resorts
Contact Us
Lisa Petersen
Millennium Hotels & Resorts
Contact Us


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The first in a series of state budget axes fell last week when Gov. Tim Pawlenty withheld $271 million in 2008 aid. Cities, counties, human services programs, higher education and other state agencies will receive less than what the state had promised in payments they are scheduled to receive today.
Under gubernatorial authority to "unallot'' funds to balance the state budget, Minnesota local government aid (LGA) took the biggest hit with a $110 million reduction -- $66 million to cities and $44 million to counties. That translates into cuts of $13.2 million for Minneapolis, $5.7 million for St. Paul, $10.5 for Hennepin County and $4.3 million for Ramsey County. Other cities and counties had payments withheld according to their size and budgets.
Generally, this first round of emergency cuts was handled well. Instead of imposing sledgehammer, across-the-board decreases, the governor outlined service priorities. Placing K-12 education and military and vets affairs among his top priorities, he held those areas harmless. Understanding the devastating impact reductions would have on some smaller units of government, the administration wisely exempted cities with populations under 1,000 and counties with fewer than 5,000 residents.
The governor withheld a portion of the December payments -- not the entire six-month installment -- making it somewhat easier for local governments to absorb.
And Pawlenty got off to a good start by meeting with legislative officials and leaders from affected agencies before making unallotment choices. Going forward, he should continue that kind of open communication. The $271 million cut is only the beginning, and during the 2009 session lawmakers must deal with a whopping projected $4-billion-plus deficit.
When setting LGA amounts, the governor must not forget one of his own funding priorities: public safety. The state cannot expect cities and counties to simply increase property taxes for those basic services. Experience and history tell us that excessive LGA cuts eventually force reduction in fire, police and other first responders. Minneapolis, for example, lost 100 cops because of a 30 percent state aid cut in 2003. It took three years to restore those positions.
As we've argued previously, to avoid those kinds of substantial cuts, the state may have to help arrange short-term borrowing for local governments or even give them temporary access to state cash flow.
According to city and county associations, many local governments were prepared for the $271 million unallotment and will muddle through with a combination of hiring freezes, budget reductions and use of surplus funds.
But to make it through the tough financial times ahead without gutting essential services, state lawmakers must continue to consult with their local government partners. They should study the detailed lists of burdensome state mandates produced by city and county organizations to find relief, savings and efficiencies. Working together, they can use these budget challenges to drive important reforms.


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We're currently working on ability to show uploaded astro photo images in the SKY-MAP browser interface. Some work has been done already. You can now preview image in the SKY-MAP and even combine multiple images in a single view. To activate the feature use img_source parameter. For example to see Horsehead nebula with highest resolution from Hubble follow this link: http://sky-map.org/?img_source=IMG_553&zoom=12&ra=5.683&de=-2.453
where 553 is img_id that you can find in our astro photo collection.
To combine multiple images use multiple img_id's separated by colon ( : ), For example to see same Horsehead nebula using several images with different resolution follow this link: http://sky-map.org/?img_source=IMG_553:552:489:352:518&zoom=6&ra=5.683&de=-2.453
Here's example with M45 (Pleiades) images:


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I am thankful I came upon this letter written in 1869 by my great-great-great grandfather Noah Agard to his wife, Rebecca Ann Fletcher Agard:
February 28, 1869
Dear Wife:
"I bless the day thou was born." Forty-five years ago this day what a stir there was in one little family; how one suffering woman having safely passed the trial of maternity looked thankfully on the face of her only living daughter and hopefully looked forward to a comfort and companion in the future years. We know how well those hopes were fulfilled and how often she had cause to "bless the day thou was born."
Now in your midday with the care of so large a family upon you; may heavenly wisdom and patience be given you to so instruct and guide the children; that they to their latest day looking back, shall "bless the day thou was born."
And, may many future years of usefulness and happiness bear you gently on to the fullness of Christian grace that shall enable you in looking back over a life well spent.
And forward in confident trust of a blissful future also to "bless the day in which thou was born."
Your ever-loving husband,
Noah Agard


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One of the best week's of the year on the golf schedule is upon us -- Open Championship week. This week, the world's oldest major returns to Sandwich, England, at Royal St. George's. The last time the Open was played at Royal St. George's was in 2003 when Ben Curtis shocked the world.
This time around, Rory McIlroy comes in as the pre-tournament favorite after his emphatic victory in the U.S. Open last month.
Lee Westwood has been playing great this year, as has Luke Donald, who has soared to No. 1 in the world.
Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic for the third consecutive year last week and made it his second win of the season.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to an Open course and they all depend on the conditions.
For this week's, 'A Quick Nine,' feature, we asked our PGA.com Facebook fans this: Who do you think will win the Open Championship?
Here are your answers:
1. Lee Westwood. The Englishman is right up there -- if not at the very top of the list -- when you discuss the best players never to have won a major. Being that he's English and this year's Open is in his home country, rest assured that the man with 11 top-10 finishes in majors, including four in the Open, would love nothing more than to shed that title this week.
Facebook fan quotes:
"I think Westwood will finally get his." -- Jeff Bardel
"Westwood all the way..." -- Stuart Morris
2. Rory McIlroy. Young Rory is one of the hottest players on the planet at the moment. However, he hasn't teed it up in a tournament since that magnificent eight-shot romp over the field at Congressional in the U.S. Open. Does that matter? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. All eyes will be on him this week.
Facebook fan quotes:
"Rory, Rory, Rory! Did you see the pairing; best pairing I've ever seen! Rory, Rickie and Ernie, awesome!!" -- Zach Johnson (not that one)
"RORY!!" -- Jaxon Page
"Rory McIlroy." -- Kellen Nicholas Crow
3. Luke Donald. If Rory is, "one of the hottest players on the planet," it's only because Luke Donald is THE hottest player on the planet. The world's No. 1 player has three wins in 2011. When he's not winning, Donald always seems to be in the hunt. He's never won a major, but has knocked on the door a few times. He's as complete a player as he's ever been and this could be his week.
Facebook fan quotes:
"Everyone knows that Tommy Watson will shine again but the winner will be Luke Donald I'm 100 percent sure." -- Chris Tussing
"Luke Donald." -- Roger Van Deroef
"Go ahead and carve Donald's name on the trophy." -- Jason Moore
4. Padraig Harrington. We haven't heard 'old Paddy's name much in the last couple of years. But if there's any player who can turn it on out of the blue, it's the man who has three major titles, including consecutive victories in the 2007-08 Open Championship.
Facebook fan quote:
"I think Padraig Harrington is due to surprise all." -- Bill Kern
5. Phil Mickelson. In 17 Open Championship starts, believe it or not, Lefty has just one top-10 finish. That was a third-place finish in 2004. He does have one win in 2011, but other than that, he hasn't shown great form. Is this really the week he's going to turn it around?
Facebook fan quotes:
"Phil Mickelson." -- Rich Smith
"Mickelson." -- Ryan Grontkowski
6. K.J. Choi. Do not sleep on K.J. Choi. The Players Champion has six top-10 finishes in 2011 and seems to play his best when conditions are most difficult.
Facebook fan quote:
"I'm rooting for K.J. Choi." -- James Boudreau
7. Nick Watney. He's No. 1 on the PGA Tour money list so far in 2011, thanks to eight top-10 finishes, including two wins. There's no denying that Watney is one of the best young players in the game right now. Is he ready to win a major? Well, he won his last start before this week -- AT&T National -- and tied for seventh in the 2010 Open. I'd say he's got a shot.
Facebook fan quotes:
"Watney! GO DOGS GO!" -- John Pricklepants Maldonado
"Watney." -- Brent Cutts
8. Graeme McDowell. In 2010, it was G-Mac-mania. The man was unstoppable. A U.S. Open win at Pebble Beach... Holing the winning putt for Europe in the Ryder Cup. Since then, McDowell has been struggling to find some form.
Facebook fan quote:
"G-Mac." -- Frankie Pearson
"G-Mac!" -- Steve O. Campbell
9. Steve Stricker. At No. 5, Stricker is the highest-ranked American in the world rankings. Last week, he did what he's done each of the previous two seasons -- won the week before the Open. Even with as well as he's playing, you'd have to think at age 44, Stricker's chances of winning a major are beginning to run out. Who wouldn't love to see this guy hoist the Claret Jug come Sunday?
Facebook fan quotes:
"Stricker." -- Alex Russ
"I'm pulling for Stricker... what he did this weekend at TPC Deere Run was awesome!" -- Vanessa Proehl
"Stricker's hot right now. I like his chances." -- Tony Jandora
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