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Nebraska Screen Gems – "Boys Town" (1938)
Screening-Discussion of 1938 Movie Classic "Boys Town" on Wednesday, October 10.
The first in the Nebraska Screen Gems class series held Wednesday evenings this fall.
Offered by Metropolitan Community College Continuing Education.
Join me for our first Screen Gems Made In Nebraska class at MCC's North Express in the Highlander Accelerator. We'll be screening and discussing the classic 1938 movie "Boys Town." It represents the biggest movie event in our state's history considering the major studio that made it, the mega stars who appeared in it, the huge crowds that turned out for the world premiere in downtown Omaha, the business it did at the box office and the Oscar that Spencer Tracy won for his portrayal of Father Flanagan. Then there's the priceless promotion the film gave the boys home.
Date: October 10, 2018
Meets: Wednesday from 5:45 PM to 8:45 PM
Location: MCC North Express 311, Highlander Accelerator
Registration Fee: $29.00
Register at: https://coned.mccneb.edu/…/ShowSchedule.awp?&…for…
For the entire Screen Gems Nebraska class series schedule, visit:
More information at:
Bill Cosby Speaks His Mind on Education
This is yet another story, the third by the way, that I wrote after my recent encounters with comedy legend Bill Cosby. Here, he tells it like he sees it about the state of education in America. Like many of us he has strong views on the topic and he isn't afraid he will step on somebody's toes from the weight of his celebrity when it comes to saying what he believes. Like what he says or not, he has a consistent message on the topic and has the courage of his convictions to keep right on talking even when there's strong push-back from various quarters to some of what he states about schools, teachers, and parents. Most of the quotes from Cosby came out of phone interviews I did with him. The photos below came from a visit to his dressing room before his May 6 show in Omaha, where some visitors from Boys Town gave him another chance to sound-off on education and for me to record his comments and interaction with his guests. It was a privileged opportunity to glimpse an intimate, off-the-cuff Cosby speaking his heart and his mind on things he cares deeply about.
Bill Cosby Speaks His Mind on Education
©by Leo Adam Biga
Soon to appear in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
By now America's accustomed to King of Comedy Bill Cosby turning serious about topics he usually mines humor from. Expressing his celebrity opinions he sometimes touches a nerve, as when he asserted "parenting is not going on" in poor inner city black homes during a 2004 NAACP speech.
The Reader got three doses of Cosby opining before his May 6 Omaha concert. In each he revealed different facets of himself. In a phone interview he recalled in his avuncular storyteller way his slacker youth in Philadelphia public housing projects and schools. How it took "a rude awakening" for the high school drop-out to become motivated to learn. A "kickoff" moment convinced him "yes, you can do."
His transformation began in the U.S. Navy, where he earned his GED. At Temple University a professor encouraged his talent as a comic writer, reading his work aloud in class to appreciative laughter.
"Had it not been for the positive influence of this professor, without him reading that out loud and my hearing the class laugh, who knows, I may be at this age a retired gym teacher, well loved by some of his students."
Emboldened, Cosby left school short of graduating to pursue his stand-up career, certain, he says, "I was on track with what I wanted to do." He famously returned to complete his bachelor's degree and to earn his master's and Ed.D in education.
He became "a born again, want-to-be-a-teacher." No wonder then he's made education a subject for his advocacy and critique. His strong views don't make him an expert. He doesn't claim to be one. And, to be fair, The Reader asked him to weigh-in on the topic for a second phone interview. He gladly did, too, only this time going off on a rail.
Two weeks later in his Orpheum Theater dressing room he addressed child rearing and education with a captive audience of fans, friends and media. When he gets on a roll like this he's equal parts storyteller and lecturer, blustery one moment, nostalgic the next, probing and cajoling, his mischievous inner-child never far away.
To some, he's a voice of old school wisdom and tough love. To others, an out-of-touch relic. No matter how you feel about his straight talk, it's clear he's concerned about education. His words carry weight because he's fixed in the collective conscience as America's father from The Cosby Show (1986-1994) and all the family routines he's done in concerts, on albums, et cetera.
So when Cosby proclaims, as he did to The Reader, "In education, things are broken," you listen. He believes the brokenness is systemic. "However," he adds, "there are paradigms and they are not secrets. Paradigms meaning they work, they are accessible, you can look at them, and they don't cost super extra money. Because it has been proven that to teach and to make interesting to the students all you need is a good teacher and all that teacher needs is a good principal and all that good principal needs is a good superintendent."
"And they can work on a dirt floor, given students who every year come in perhaps disliking school, perhaps ill-mannered, and still get students to learn," he says. "These people who can teach – and I don't mean the ones who win awards, I mean teachers who can teach, who want to teach – are being held back on purpose by rules in the system. Many of these rules have to do with piling on what's in the practicum, in the technical aspects of it, not giving the teacher enough time because there are sayings like, 'If the student fails, then we fail.'
"In my eyes and ears there are too many people who don't care and they need to go and the people who can work it need to teach…because this United States of America is being talked about in terms of not being what it used to be and that's an embarrassment."
Cosby was just getting started.
"Some people can't teach and don't know how, they don't have an inventive bone in their body and they just need to get another job some place, and I won't embarrass the people by saying what kind of jobs they should have.
"But if you care, if you care about these children and you want to be a teacher and you want to be a principal and you want to be an administrator, a superintendent, then I advise you go to college, get ready to demonstrate, get ready to call out every ill-positioned person…They can't forever get away with this.
"I am appalled because I feel the grownups who are in charge really don't understand how they're ruining our future adults and they at times have not been taught well how to teach."
Then he got around to youth not being supervised and supported at home. How many teachers are unprepared to deal with the issues kids present. Some of those same kids end up as truants, dropouts, functional illiterates, even criminals.
"Many times the teacher may represent the only reasonable thing in life this child will see or feel. Without an education we send more kids out to the street alone because many of them don't have proper parenting at home. Education happens to be, along perhaps with the church and some programs, the difference between a kid committing a crime, hurting someone, and getting the idea that I would like to read, I would like to write, I would like to know how to figure things out, I would like to see more than just the neighborhood I live in."
A failed education, he says, can be measured in lowered earnings, welfare payouts and the costs to incarcerate criminal offenders.
"It would seem to me taxpayers would be in arms to say, 'We want better education, we demand better education for our children'" to help youth become productive, contributing citizens.
He admits he doesn't have "remedies." He does call for "activism" by parents, educators, private enterprise and public policymakers to give schools the resources they need and replicate what works.
Cut to his dressing room, where Boys Town family teachers Tony and Simone Jones brought nine youths in their charge, including their two sons. "You live with them?" asked Cosby. "Why? You were not drafted to look after these boys. OK, then tell me, why are you living there with them?"
"Because we feel it's our responsibility to take care of the kids, not only our own youth but youth in society," Simone said.
"But what made that a responsibility for you? They're not your children," he pressed.
Tony said, "Mr. Cosby I'll answer just very simply: My mom passed when I was 12 years old, and I went to Boys Town to live…" Cosby erupted with, "Oh, really! Now you're starting to tell me stories, you see what I'm talking about (to the boys), you guys understand me? Huh?" Several boys nodded yes. "The story is coming, huh? What did Boys Town do for him?" Cosby asked. One boy said, "Helped him out, gave him a place to stay." Another said, "Gave him a second chance."
"Well, more than a second chance," Cosby replied. "it took care of him," a boy offered. "And made him take care of himself…and that's why he's living with you now – he's trying to build you."
Noting "the hard knock life" these kids come from, he said youth today confront different challenges than what he faced as a kid.
"When I was coming up we didn't have Omaha, Neb. ranked high in teenage boys murdering each other. Am I making sense? We didn't have the guns being placed in our neighborhoods. We had guys who made guns…but now we have real guns and good ones too. It's in the home."
Where there are caring adults and good opportunities kids make good choices.
"The idea is where are these boys coming from and what places they may have to get to. We've got to do more with fellows like these for them to do shadowing…in hospitals, in factories, in businesses, so that these young males begin to understand what they can do."
Cosby told Tony and Simone he can see "the joy of these boys knowing that you guys care."
"It's about showing them the possibilities," Simone told him.
Cosby knows all about the difference a teacher's encouragement can make.
Before seeing his guests out, Tony and Simone got a private moment with Cosby. She says, "He pulled us aside and told us, 'You really need to push children hard to get them to do what they should do. You can't let them slide. Sometimes you have to make a choice for them.' We appreciated his words of advice and wisdom."
Meeting the legend, she says, "was a remarkable experience," adding, "He was really concerned with our kids and what we do. I know every kid that was there took away something that's magical that they'll hold with them for the rest of their lives."
Related articles
- Bill Cosby, On His Own Terms (leoadambiga.wordpress.com)
- Bill Cosby Coming to Omaha to Perform Comedy Concert May 6 (leoadambiga.wordpress.com)
- Outward Bound Omaha Uses Experiential Education to Challenge and Inspire Youth (leoadambiga.wordpress.com)
- Evangelina "Gigi" Brignoni Immerses Herself in Community Affairs (leoadambiga.wordpress.com)
Louise Abrahamson's legacy of giving finds perfect fit at The Clothesline, the Boys Town thrift store the octogenarian founded and still runs
Even though I know better, I sometimes find myself making assumptions about people based solely on their appearance. Pint-sized octogenarian Louise Abrahamson didn't look like my idea of a dynamo not to be trifled with when I first laid eyes on her but as I soon discovered that's exactly what she is. This sweet little old Jewish lady has been running, variously with an iron fist and a velvet glove, a thrift shop at the Catholic run Boys Town for decades now and she shows no signs of slowing down. This story of a Jew deeply embedded at Boys Town reminded me of the deep relationship that Boys Town founder Father Edward Flanagan enjoyed with Jewish attorney Henry Monsky – a story I wrote about and that you can find on this blog. While Monsky's contributions were more advisory, legal, and monetary, Louise's are more cultural, charitable, and practical. My story about Louise that follows originally appeared in the Jewish Press.
Louise Abrahamson's legacy of giving finds perfect fit at The Clothesline, the Boys Town thrift store the ocotgenarian founded and still runs
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in the Jewish Press
Eighty-nine years ago, Omaha Jewish leader Henry Monsky befriended an Irish Catholic priest with whom he shared a dream of creating a safe haven for troubled youths. The priest found a site, but lacked funds. Monsky, a successful attorney and inveterate do-gooder, lent Rev. Edward Flanagan $90 for the first month's rent on the original Boys Town building in downtown Omaha. Besides serving, pro bono, as attorney for both the home and the late Fr. Flanagan, Monsky was a member of the Boys Town board of directors from its 1917 inception until his death in 1947. His support of Fr. Flanagan and the youth care program got other civic-business leaders to follow suit. The rest is history. As Boys Town's approach to serving at-risk children caught on, donations poured in and the organization expanded. Now, it's become a much replicated national model and the names Fr. Flanagan and Boys Town are synonymous with youth care worldwide.
The role Monsky played in the then-fledging institution's founding is even portrayed in the 1938 Oscar-winning film Boys Town.
Twenty-six years ago, an Omaha Jewish woman named Louise Abrahamson, a former legal stenographer, small business owner, retailer, grant writer, fundraiser and political advisor, got the idea of starting a thrift shop to outfit children at the home with new clothes and things. At the time, she was a secretary and much more at Boys Town. Struck by how little new arrivals had in the way of clothes or other possessions, she took it upon herself to solicit donations from clothing and sundry manufacturers. Donated goods began arriving at her home and were stored in her garage. She distributed the gifts to Boys Town residents and to other organizations helping families and children. Before long, the operation outgrew her garage and moved to new quarters on campus.
Today, she operates out of a retail store-like setting called The Clothesline. The volume of goods that comes in year-round is enough to keep the store's neatly dressed shelves, bins and racks filled and to take up floor-to-ceiling sections of a warehouse storage area. At any given time the inventory — a typical shipment contains hundreds or thousands of items — includes everything from apparel to accessories to toiletries to toys. Each box must be unpacked, sorted and labeled. In 2005 alone she collected merchandise worth a combined commercial value of $1.3 million, a record year. And that's only counting donations of $1,000 or more.
There, she applies her well-practiced people skills and business acumen — "I've done a lot of things in my life" — to sweet talk corporations out of in-kind gifts and to ease the transition displaced kids face miles away from home. All her considerable time on the project is given as a volunteer.
More than just a place where children get a new set of duds, The Clothesline is where kids find a friend in Abrahamson they can always confide in.
"She is so wonderful to all these kids. When they come in they get a hug and kiss," said Betty Rubin, a friend and fellow volunteer at the store. "This is what makes it tick — the warmth of it. I mean, it's very personal to her."
"Louise is one of those rare people who flourishes by helping others," said Fr. Val Peter, recently stepped down as executive director of Girls and Boys Town. "Her joy is in giving to others. She is an expert at human relations. She can talk major manufacturing reps into helping us and she has a way with the kids, too. She is an enormously happy person, and to be that happy you have to work at it."
"This is my life," Louise said by way of explaining why, at age 86, she still works at the store four days a week. "I get a lot of pleasure out of this. It's just kind of a challenge to see if people remember me and send me stuff I ask for for the kids."
Besides, the need that inspired her to start the store in the first place, is still there. Then, like now, newcomers arrive with few possessions and little trust. If anything, she said, kids today present "a lot more problems than when I first came here. I have just taken it into my heart to care about the kids. Generally, when they come in, I don't settle for a handshake. I have a hug. I want them to know I truly care what happens to them. That, to me, is what sets the pace for a youngster. Rather than have them feel like a stranger or a truant, I want them to feel welcome," said the former Louise Miller, an Omaha native and Central High graduate. "That's why I tell them, 'We want you here. It's a great place to be. Make the most of it. If you take advantage of what we offer, we'll never let you down.' I love that about Boys Town. I like what we do for children."
"Louise is a great ambassador for those kids," Girls and Boys Town Public Relations Director John Melingagio said. "She manages to take some of the fear and anxiety away for them."
On a typical day at the store, the pint-sized Abrahamson, crisply-attired in a pants and sweater suit and her hair nicely coiffured, is seated at her command center at the front of the shop, her phone, computer and files within easy reach. An adult man saunters in with a teenage boy trying hard to suppress his unease. The man's a campus family teacher and the youth a newbie in need of threads to replace the banned gang clothes he's come with.
She greets the teen. "Good morning. How are you?" He says, "What's up?" "And you are?" "Tavonne," he tells her. "Where you from?" "Baltimore." "Baltimore, well you know cold weather then. You just pick out what you want, bring it up here and we'll check it out. That's all there is to it," she explains.
A few minutes later, after trying on some pants, shirts and shoes, Tavonne's back. Louise asks him, "Did you find what you're looking for?" "Yeah." "So now you're all fixed up with dress clothes, right?" "Yeah." "That's good. How long have you been here?" "This is my second day." "Second day, you're an old-timer." He smiles shyly. "Probably by the end of next week you'll be sworn in as a Boys Towner. We're glad to have you here." The boy, warming to her, replies, "Thank you." She tells him, "We hope you do well. It's a great place to be. Now, I have these…if you want a watch," she says, pushing a basket filled with nice men's watches near him. He fishes through the bunch and finds one he wants. "I like this one." "It's yours." "Thank you, I appreciate it." "You're very welcome. I want to wish you a merry Christmas." "Same to you." "And I hope things work out for you, dear." "Thanks."
It's this kind of human exchange that keeps Abrahamson coming back day after day. "Yeah, that tells a story," she said. "We get a lot of new kids in this time of year. Family teachers will come in with new children, most of them with little or no clothes other than what they have on their back. All our clothes are new and appropriate to wear at church and school. The kids pick out what they want."
She said her empathy for them extends back to her own childhood. "I knew my folks loved me, but they were busy making a living and really didn't have much time for me. I was lonesome. I needed somebody I thought cared. And I think that's why I feel a special need to help children," she said.
It was while working as a secretary in Boys Town's Youth Care program she saw first hand the want and conceived the idea of a free clothing center. She got it up and running out of her home in no time.
"I'd see these unhappy youngsters come in carrying a grocery sack and I'd say, 'Where's your luggage?' They'd say, 'This is it.' My husband and I used to be in retail — we had a shoes and clothing store — and I wondered if I called on our old dealers, would they help and send me what they have. So, those were the first people I wrote to. They were very giving and began sending merchandise to me."
With the chutzpah all doers possess, she just thought it up and went ahead. "I did this strictly on my own. I didn't ask anybody's permission. I just started doing it," she said. "Once I'd get the merchandise in, I'd open up the boxes and I'd send out a memo and invite the family teachers and the kids to come over my house."
By then, Louise and her late husband of 58 years, Norman Abrahamson, lived alone. Their two sons, Hugh and Steve, were grown. She credits Norman for her success. "He taught me everything I know. He taught me how to greet people. He taught me how to go for the product. He taught me that being kind is unusual. He was very supportive. He encouraged me. He said, 'Go for it, honey. You can do it.' He was there when I asked for advice and when I faltered." A former Edison Brothers shoe salesman, he opened his own retail men's apparel and shoe stores, Hugh's. He later became a real estate builder-developer.
Soon, the amount of donations was too much for the couple's garage. "My husband said, 'Don't you think Boys Town would give you a spot?' So, I went to Fr. Hupp (the late former executive director of Boys Town), who knew I was inviting the teachers and kids over to my house to get clothes, and he said, 'We've got space down in the boiler room (of the Youth Care building). Can you hack that?' 'Any place would be good,'' I said. So, we had our stuff delivered there, and this is pretty much the way it started."
She wore a mask to protect against fumes in the cramped boiler room. It was under Fr. Peter's watch the operation moved from that dank place to its pleasant environs today — in the building that houses the U.S. postal station on campus.
"When Fr. Peter came aboard, we just went on from there. He and I worked very closely, especially at Christmas-time. The store grew and grew, as did the demand."
She's done it almost entirely on her own, too, running things the way she sees fit. "There's nobody that's been put here to watch me."
Generations removed from Henry Monsky helping make the dream of Boys Town a reality, fellow Jew Louise Abrahamson is helping Boys Town fulfill its nonsectarian mission of providing a caring environment to homeless and abused children of all faiths and creeds. She's familiar with Monsky's legacy, too, as she helped organize a touring Nebraska Jewish Historical Society exhibit on him in collaboration with Boys Town. Fr. Peter said that if Monsky is the grandfather of Boys Town, then Abrahamson is "the grandmother. She is loved and appreciated here."
Playing the role of matriarch to kids with severed family relationships appeals to her. "While they're here, I am like their grandmother," she said. "A lot of the young people come in and tell me their problems, and I'll listen very carefully. They're welcome to come in anytime. They don't have to make an appointment."
Her contact with the children often extends well past their graduation and departure from the home. "Even two or three years later," she said, "kids can have hard luck. I'll get a call that says, 'Louise, so and so is going out on a job interview and doesn't have a thing to wear.' And I'll say, 'Send 'em over.' Now, where else can you go and get that kind of a feeling that you're needed and wanted?"
The ties go well beyond that. Her desk at the front of the store displays photos sent by former Boys Town students, many pictured with families they've begun. She exchanges cards and letters, just like any good grandma does. "I keep in touch with a lot of the children after they leave," she said.
Just don't assume her kindly ways and diminutive stature mark her as a pushover.
"Louise is a very pleasantly, disarmingly assertive little old lady," said Dan Daly, Girls and Boys Town's Vice President and Director of Youth Care. "You see this pleasant looking, smiling, tiny person and pretty soon she's got her hand in your right back pocket. That's how Boys Town was founded. Her and Fr. Peter, made a very, very potent tandem. He knew what kind of talent she has at doing this sort of thing and he was very supportive of her. It's grown and proliferated because of her personality and her keen business sense."
So savvy is this nice little old Jewish lady in sizing up people, Daly said, that he and other Boys Town officials would steer family teacher candidates by her desk, so she could observe them. Her assessment factored into new hires. Her counsel was also sought ought off-campus by candidates for mayor, governor and senator. She even wrote a booklet to help prospective candidates weigh bids for public office.
Using her political skills, she routinely contacts corporate giants like Target, Wal-Mart, Dillards, Lands-End, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate, and gets them to donate surplus items. Her personal appeals, scripted herself, are laced with tug-on-your-heart pathos and practical let's-do-business talk. She tells them, "We have so many young boys and girls who…desperately need clothing…I am asking for your help. If you have any donation department of your discontinued styles, over-stocks, irregulars or out-of-season merchandise, could I ask that you place us on your recipient list? Any merchandise sent can be a tax write-off…Thank you. I hope you will share in Boys Town's grand mission."
She doesn't stop there, either. She follows up with phone calls and letters, always gently reminding potential donors of the need. Her persistence often pays off. "I'm after them all the time. I don't take no for an answer. I keep pitching, and pitching kindly." Every donor receives a personal thank you note from her.
Melingagio said the donations she brings in help Boys Town "leverage our dollars. Those in-kind gifts she gets from corporations allow the monies we get to go to things that help the kids get better."
When she approached Fr. Peter with her concept for the store, he embraced it. "I knew that if we let Louise loose at The Clothesline, that it would become very big," he said. "The best thing to do is to let Louise do her work. She does it better than anyone else." He said the store's proved a winning venture. "Oh, yes, it's a great idea. We needed it badly. It helps everybody. The best ideas come from people like Louise who have talent and a willingness to make their ideas successful."
He added there's never been any thought of taking it out of her hands. "It has been Louise's baby from the get-go. What we do here is we give people a job and say, You're in charge of making it a success, and she's made it a success. We're all proud of her." He confirmed there's also been no talk of what will happen once she's gone. "We don't want to think about that. We tell her, Take your vitamins. Stay healthy. We need you for years to come. She's it."
Daly said Abrahamson is quite adept at "networking with family teachers. She alerts people when new stuff comes in. She's always pushing the product, so to speak. Louise has her favorites. If she gets something in that she knows one little girl would like, she makes sure that little girl gets the first crack at it." He said it's not only the 500-some kids on campus who benefit from the fruits of her labor. Another 200 or so in foster care settings also have dibs on what she collects. When supplies or shipments exceed the Boys Town demand, she places the extra goods with places like The St. Francis House and the Salvation Army.
Her office is also the base for a whole other category of gifts she acquires for children. Daly said she manages to get kids passes to movies, concerts, athletic events, skating rinks and many other activities. She gets donated food for parties. She ensures every Boys Town resident has gifts at Christmas and graduation. "It's a lot bigger than just The Clothesline," he said.
Service to others is a lifelong habit. Whether advising politicos such as Kay Orr and Hal Daub, or helping run their campaigns for public office or volunteering with the American Red Cross, the Arthritis Foundation, the March of Dimes, Hadassah, the Special Olympics and the United Way or serving as a member of the credit committee of the Boys Town Federal Credit Union or as president of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, she gives her time in many ways.
Then there are the two years she devoted to caring for her son Steve after he was left a paraplegic as the result of an auto accident. He now lives independently. She became a vocal advocate for the rights and abilities of the handicapped. She was also careprovider for her husband after he contracted cancer.
Her good works have been recognized. Under her watch the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society won the Federation's Achievement Award. She was nominated for the National Council of Jewish Women's Humanitarian Award for "her great compassion for the needs of others."
Nothing slows her down, either. A bad back that laid her up last year only kept her away from the store a few months, during which time she did all her business from home. The flow of merchandise never stopped. But she knows she can't do it forever. That's why she'd like to work out a plan for a successor — ideally someone like herself who, as Melingagio put it, "goes the extra mile."
"I worry what's going to happen to this place when I no longer can do it," she said. "My hope is that there is somebody who has pretty much the idea that I have. That they're caring and want so much for the kids that they know how to express that caring. Because that's the bottomline. That's what it's all about."
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Sun reflection: Revisiting the Omaha Sun's Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of Boys Town
I remember when the Omaha Sun Newspapers' investigative report of Boys Town's finances came out in 1972 my very Catholic mother and my similarly persuaded maternal aunts took it as a low down, dirty attack against "our Boys Town." The Father Flanagan established youth care center has always been synonymous with the Catholic Church or at least seen as a Catholic institution, which in fact it has been for its entire life, always with a Catholic priest at its head and traditionally with the local archdiocese and archbishop as its ultimate authority. The story's major revelation was that Boys Town still portrayed itself as a poor, humble, perpetually in debt, and on the verge of closing home for boys when in fact it had accumulated a vast fortune through a systematic fundraising apparatus that kept right on churning out teary letters asking for donations — by the tens of million a year –and taking in millions of dollars above and beyond what it cost to operate the place. Boys Town did not share this bounty with anyone and didn't want anyone to know about it. There's no doubt the story spurred changes at Boys Town, just as there's no doubt Boys Town is a very different organization today than it was then — now boasting multiple locations around the country and doing business in a very transparent manner. As for the weekly Sun, which was owned by Warren Buffett at the time, it went out of business a little more than a decade after winning the Pulitzer Prize for the Boys Town investigative report. The following piece I wrote for The Reader (www.thereader.com) takes a look at that report and, in effect, the story behind the story.
NOTE: Also on this blog see my profile of Stan Lipsey titled "Buffett's Newspaper Man." Lipsey is back in Omaha for the 2011 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders confab and for an exhibition of his photography at KANEKO. He's also participating in a panel discussion at KANEKO about a life of creativity in business. For more on KANEKO, see my story titled "Open Minds."
Of course, Warren Buffett and Berkshire are much in the news these days because of the scandal involving David Sokol, the once heir apparent to Buffett as head of Berkshire.
Sun reflection: Revisiting the Omaha Sun's Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of Boys Town
©by Leo Adam Biga
As seen in the The Reader (www.thereader.com)
When readers picked up their March 30, 1972 issue of the weekly Sun Newspaper, they could hardly believe their eyes.
The small but enterprising paper with multiple neighborhood editions had called out a venerable Omaha institution, Boys Town, in crusading journalistic fashion terms. No crime was alleged, but rather the violation of a public trust.
A front page headline asked accusingly, "Whatever happened to Father Flanagan's dream?" That was followed by the stark declaration, "Boys Town: 700 boys with $209 million." Thus the Sun set the incredulous tone and exploited the shocking results of a special eight-page report inside provocatively titled, "Boys Town, America's wealthiest city?"
The subhead, "Give an account of thy stewardship," was a Biblical admonition for a quasi-Catholic organization that cried poverty in syrupy mass donation appeals each Christmas, while hoarding a fortune no one was supposed to know about or, if they did, question.
Some movers and shakers were prominent characters in the story and in the story behind the story. Sun owner Warren Buffett pointed to the records that revealed Boys Town's "hidden" assets. Publisher Stan Lipsey supported the investigation. Managing editor Paul Williams masterminded and ran it.
The power behind Boys Town lay with Monsignor Nicholas Wegner and Omaha Archbishop Daniel Sheehan. Aged civic-social leaders comprised a rubber-stamp board.
Pleas for money continued even as fortunes swelled. Making matters worse, Boys Town did little with its wealth after a 1948 building project. It shelved new initiatives and rejected best practices, effectively standing still, stuck in time.
The Sun implied Boys Town betrayed Flanagan's mission by staying mired in outdated attitudes and methods. Buffett would later write, "We reported the extraordinary contrast between decreasing services and mounting wealth."
The story won the Sun seven national awards, including a 1973 Pulitzer Prize for local investigative specialized reporting, the same year the Washington Post's Watergate series took the Pulitzer for Public Service. The papers earlier swapped in the same categories at the national journalism society, Sigma Delta Chi, awards.
More importantly, the Sun's probing coverage compelled an organization that after Flanagan's death in 1948 behaved like an imperious empire, paralyzed in what Williams termed "institutional inertia," to enact long overdue reforms.
Today's Boys Town hardly resembles that fossilized institution. Its entire methodology of youth care has been transformed. Boys Town is now recognized as a national leader in parenting and child speech-hearing impairment research and treatment.
The Sun was the liberal, plucky alternative to the conservative, timid Omaha World-Herald. Under Williams, the paper previously won awards for covering Omaha environmental issues and Omaha Transit Company irregularities. Boys Town, however, was a bigger target. While the report did the Sun no harm financially, the paper lost its edge when Williams left a couple years later. In 1980, Buffett sold it to a Chicago publisher. After an anti-trust suit against the World-Herald, the Sun disbanded in 1983.
Nearly 40 years since the story shook Boys Town's foundation, The Reader spoke to key players who worked on the project.
Doug Smith, the youngest, least experienced member of the reporting team Williams assembled, says the irascible editor was the driving force behind "Project B."
"Paul wanted that big recognition, he wanted that big prize … and he really went after it.
"I think he knew this was going to be the biggest story of his career, or not. I thought, maybe we all thought — he's obsessed with this thing. When we got the announcement we won the Pulitzer one of the guys said, 'Ahab has his whale.' Paul was a great leader on this project. He did bring it home."
"The story was really there for the taking by somebody with energy and enterprise, and that's what Paul Williams had," says Randy Brown, hired as associate managing editor just as the Sun launched the investigation. "He was the brains."
As the team dug into the reality behind the carefully cultivated Boys Town facade, it became clear the wary institution was paranoid for a reason.
"I felt the story was really justified," says Smith.
He and his colleagues knew the heart-tugging letters Boys Town sent out suggesting the boys would go hungry without donations were pure hokum.
"I'd say an unethical appeal considering they were sitting on a lot of money," he says.
Team member Wes Iversen, the Sun business editor, was dismayed Boys Town made it appear "as though the wolf were at the door when they had a big pile of money they were doing nothing with."
In the end, Boys Town was its own worst enemy.
"It was a case of they had lost their way, their mission," says Smith. "It was the story of an American institution that had gone off track."
When Smith asked Boys Town post office officials how much mail went through to try and gauge the scope of fundraising efforts, a reluctant staffer was quoted saying: "The reason they won't let me give out the amount of postal receipts is because people will get everything misconstrued."
It turned out up to 50 million appeal letters went out per year. The volume suggested a cash cow system returning huge revenues.
Boys Town officials repeatedly made ill-advised statements that came back to haunt them. In classic investigative fashion Smith and photographer Len Cook burst in on its secret direct mail apparatus, housed in a downtown building, to find 125 women typing the appeal letters and a flustered fundraising director trying to hush it up.
The Sun quoted the director as saying, "Please don't mention this in your article. It's so easy for the public to get the wrong idea. People will think we're rich."
Smith recalls Boys Town as remarkably unsavvy then in handling press inquiries. "At that time they were not equipped to handle this kind of assault by journalists," he says.
Ironically, Flanagan had been a genius at promotion. He invited Hollywood to make two feature films on Boys Town. He cooperated with newsreels, he did national radio broadcasts, he toured the home's band and football team nationwide, he made speaking appearances across the country and he welcomed celebrities to the campus.
By the early ''70s the cautious Wegner isolated Boys Town, making it an island cut-off from the world.
Bulldog reporter Mick Rood interviewed Wegner and caught him in several untruths, including the assertion Boys Town was in debt. Even when confronted by the facts, Wegner and, in a separate interview, Sheehan indicated the fundraising would continue unabated. Business as usual. The arrogant dismissal of serious questions, such as when would enough money be enough, made everything Boys Town said suspect.
"When you as a reporter or newspaper discover that," says Rood, "that makes you want to dig. It makes you forget for a little while that the poor monsignor was in very poor health, it makes you forget that some people wouldn't like the story because people don't need to be deceived like that. That's the motivation right there."
"I didn't know quite what to think of it because the numbers were enormous," says Brown. "It was jaw dropping."
Iversen says it was "a money machine."
Until those documents were secured, the team had only been able to speculate about Boy's Town's riches. With the hard numbers in hand, all was exposed.
"This was the whole kit and caboodle," says Rood.
The surviving team members readily credit Buffett with giving them the golden egg that pushed the project over the top.
"Without that it would have been a good story, but not a Pulitzer story," says Lipsey.
Omaha Sun Newspapers newsroom ©Provided by Randy Brown
Buffet also helped the Sun analyze the Boys Town treasure chest.
"I worked with Warren compiling the numbers, making sure they added up, getting all the details straight, ready for publication," says Brown. "And he insisted on double checking everything. We knew we were taking on an institution that's beloved in the community and he didn't want any mistakes — not 25 cents in the wrong column."
Rood says Williams was methodical planning assignments and supervising their execution: "He made very thorough outlines … very detailed things, so we were all well aware of what we were supposed to be doing. It was also a way to make you accountable. I mean, if it was written down there you better have done it. There was no excuse. You had to have made that call you said you were going to make.
"We worked separately most all of the time. We had periodic meetings to compare notes. It was a very disciplined operation — one you wouldn't expect from such a small paper. He was the best editor I ever worked for, ever will work for, and a good friend."
Brown says, "everything was reread and reedited," adding, "It was a grind."
Iversen recalls months of slogging away, interspersed by occasional euphoria.
"A lot of it is just hard, heavy-duty grunt work," he says. "At that time we had no easy way to check things. It's just a lot of legwork, a lot of looking things up in books in libraries and county offices and you name it, running around checking various places and trying to piece things together. At times it could seem like drudgery, at other times when we would get a major insight everybody would say, Ah-ha, now we see where this is headed and we've made a breakthrough here.
"It was really heady times."
Some intrigue did attend the story. Though the stakes were much different from the Post's Watergate coverage, the Sun had its own Deep Throat in Claude Organ, a reform-minded Boys Town board member. Buffett met with Dr. Organ about the project and the surgeon-educator steered the Sun in the right direction.
"Everything was closely held," says Rood. "We were more than sworn to secrecy."
Warren Buffett
During the investigation's last few weeks Williams took the precaution of the team working out of his home's basement rec room for fear of losing the story to the Herald. Rood says a defensive Boys Town came to suspect the story was more than the routine historical piece the Sun painted it as. When the report broke, no one at Boys Town was prepared for its all-encompassing depth. The expose laid Boys Town bare.
Much more could have been published, team members say.
The Sun did many follow-ups over the next year and beyond as Boys Town changed its administration and board, opened the campus to consultants, replaced its warehousing of youth with a home-family model and developed new facilities and programs.
In 1974 a desperate Boys Town, still reeling from the fallout from the story, which went national and spawned new stories, hired Omaha PR man Bill Ramsey to help repair its tarnished image. It took time, but things turned around by the late 1970s-early 1980s.
Current Boys Town spokesperson Kara Neuverth says the institution did act on the reported misalignment of net worth and youth services:
"We listened to that feedback regarding some fund raising practices. What I can tell you about this organization today is that we are transparent and we pride ourselves on our experience. For an organization to remain at the forefront it must adjust its practices to stakeholder input, changing times, and new knowledge — just as we did 40 years ago. That is the lesson learned."
The Sun investigative team scattered to the far winds. The shared Pulitzer opened doors for Rood, Iversen, Brown and Smith. Paul Williams left to teach at Ohio State. He also co-founded IRE, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and wrote a book before his untimely death. Publisher Stan Lipsey went on to head the Buffalo News for Buffett.
The story solidified Buffet's long-held interest in newspapers — he soon acquired a major share of the Washington Post — and confirmed for him their vital role in a free society. In a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders he wrote the Sun's achievement "vividly illustrated that size need not be equated with significance in publishing."
The Changing Face of Boys Town and its Finances
The following sidebar appears in the print edition of The Reader but not in the Web edition:
©by Leo Adam Biga
In 1972 you had to be a member of the Boys Town inner circle to see its balance sheet. Or, as in the case of the Sun Newspapers, you had to know about a new and therefore obscure tax form filing that required nonprofits to report their financials. Even then, it took the Sun time and expense to obtain the public records, documents and figures Boys Town dearly wanted to suppress.
Today, due in part to the Sun's disclosures of Boys Town's worth, the law requires nonprofits to be much more transparent about their assets. The same information the Sun had to go to some lengths to get 40 years ago, anyone with access to a computer can easily and freely obtain today with a few keystrokes or mouse clicks.
In 2009, Boys Town, which now has a national reach, reported $1 billion in assets, $810 million in the Father Flanagan's Fund for Needy Children (the institution's endowment) and $122 million in liabilities for a net worth of $903 million. Five to six percent of the endowment supports annual operations.
Boys Town reports nearly 90 percent of every dollar received is spent on child care.
Charity Navigator awarded it a four-star rating for sound fiscal management. Boys Town's accountability has earned it recognition as a Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance accredited charity. These are all signs of how the organization does business very differently now compared to when the Sun rattled its cage.
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Redemption, A Boys Town Grad Tyrice Ellebb Finds His Way
When I met Tyrice Ellebb about a decade ago he was a young man who had turned his life around in a dramatic way through the aid of many caring individuals and institutions, including Boys Town, but he was also reeling from leaving the powerhouse University of Nebraska at Omaha wrestling program, where he achieved much. He had personal matters to attend to that in his mind at least took precedence over collegiate athletics, even though he was a key cog for a team poised to win a national title. He was also a very good football player. He felt bad about the way things worked out but as my story makes clear the people you may have thought he most disappointed were still in his corner. I lost contact with Tryice after the story but I understand he did get things together in his life and I know he's excelled at indoor professional football. This story originally appeared in the Omaha Weekly, a paper that is no more, and I offer it here as another example of the kind of sports writing I like to do.
Redemption, A Boys Town Grad Finds His Way
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in the Omaha Weekly
As the No.1-ranked UNO wrestling team enters the stretch-run in its national championship hunt, the man who should be holding down the heavyweight spot for the Mavericks is no where to be seen. Senior Tyrice Ellebb, projected as a strong title contender, left the team this winter after the latest in a series of personal crises sent him reeling. A sweet, soft-spoken goliath who loves to dance, Ellebb was at his best when he bounced around the mat to the beat of whatever song was in his head. Sadly, he has had his last dance in a UNO uniform.
At only 23, the massive Ellebb (he stands 6'3 and his weight hovers around 300 pounds) has weathered a topsy-turvy life that's found him both on the side of the angels and the devils. Growing up on Chicago's south side, he ran with the notorious Gangster Disciples. Looking to escape his hometown's mean streets, he followed four uncles to the former Boys Town, where he won election as mayor. While he flourished in the nurturing Boys Town setting and, later, in the family-like UNO wrestling program, he also made some bad choices along the way, including fathering three children — all out of wedlock. Still, he applied himself in high school and developed into a standout football player and wrestler — winning two state heavyweight championships (pinning all his opponents as a senior).
Possessing great size, agility and quickness, he was courted by Nebraska and Kansas State as a walk-on gridiron prospect. When he did not qualify academically he signed with Iowa Central Community College, where he twice garnered junior college All-America honors and earned an associate's degree. At UNO he fought homesickness, endured the death of a dear aunt and worked with teammates and coaches in managing his complicated life. Although an acknowledged leader on and off the mat, Ellebb's frequent missed practices and late arrivals were distractions. Allowances were made, but it never seemed enough. "We demand a lot here in our program and it was hard for him to get all that together. We tried to be flexible and to give him some leeway, but you can only do so much," UNO Head Coach Mike Denney said.
Mike Denney
Despite the distractions, Ellebb proved a force to be reckoned with by winning the North Central Conference heavyweight crown and finishing a solid fourth at last year's NCAA Division II tournament. Heading into this season he was seen as the linchpin of a dominant UNO squad tabbed as odds-on favorites for the team title. After working so hard and overcoming so much, this was going to be his year. Then, last December, it all came crashing down around him and his dreams of glory vanished. His story can be seen as both an object lesson in overcoming the odds and a cautionary tale of taking on too much-too soon.
To understand just how far he came, one must understand that for the longest time this product of a broken home appeared headed for prison or a violent death — the fate of several friends he hung out with as a youth. Even though his mother, Sharon, was a security officer, she almost found out too late his gangbanging was threatening to destroy him the way it already had one of her brothers. There were street fights, drug dealings, gunshots, threats and reprisals. Through it all, Ellebb avoided incarceration, completed school and remained close to his family.
"I was letting the streets get to me. You always had to worry about looking behind your back. Somebody always wanted to take you out because they wanted your name. It's just crazy. It got to the point where in my head I felt I needed to kill somebody if people bothered me," he said.
It took the senseless death of a family friend who was like a favorite uncle for him to rethink the gangster life. "Two rival gangs were involved in something stupid and a gun went off and it instantly killed him. That kind of tore me up real bad. That made me understand I didn't need to be involved in gangs anymore. I needed to get away before they beat me or before I wouldn't see my next birthday."
When his mother found out she was losing him to the streets she promptly saw him off on the next train to Boys Town, where other wayward men in the family had found refuge. "I listened to her and I'm glad I made that choice to come here. I accomplished a lot at Boys Town," he said. There, he came under the influence of teacher-coach Don Bader, who said, "Tyrice had a lot of issues. He needed a lot of work. But he got on the right track. He's a great kid." These days, when Ellebb visits his old stomping grounds in Chicago, he finds little changed. "My friends are still doing the same thing. The only thing different is everyone is older. When I go back there I'm like, 'God, I'm glad I left there.' I couldn't picture myself being that way now. When I tell people, 'I used to be a thug,' they say, 'I couldn't see you that way.' And I go, 'Yeah, I know, I changed. I made myself change.'" UNO's Denney said despite the baggage Ellebb carries, "he has a lot of good in him."
Prior to his latest troubles Ellebb's commitment to wrestling waned at various times, but he always rededicated himself. With the birth of his third child last year, however, his passion lagged. Soon, he fell behind in his classes and was declared academically ineligible the first semester. The only action he saw offered a vivid display of his inner turmoil when, for the only time in his wrestling career, he was disqualified after throwing a punch at an opponent who earlier elbowed him.
According to Ellebb, "When that happened, I said to myself, 'I can't do this right now. I need to get my head together.' Coach Denney told me to work through it. He chose for me not to wrestle the following weekend, but sitting out didn't help. A lot of stuff was going wrong then. It just started piling up so fast." The final straw was when his beloved grandmother, Anne, who helped raise him, was stricken with cancer. "She's the backbone of our family. She keeps us together. She's the only person I can talk to. She's the one who makes me keep striving to do right. When I found out about my grandmother being sick, it was more than I could handle."
Overwhelmed, he retreated into a cocoon. "I was struggling with myself. I just stayed away from everyone. I wasn't talking to anyone. I felt I was going to have a nervous breakdown." Finally, on December 15, he left Omaha for Chicago to be with his family. His departure caused him to miss some final exams, resulting in two incompletes. By re-enrolling this semester as a full-time student, he unwittingly used up any remaining eligibility. No matter, Ellebb had already decided he could not continue wrestling. "I felt (quitting) this was probably the best thing for me and for the team because I couldn't wrestle to my potential if my head and heart wasn't in it," he said. His decision has caused him anguish. "I hate that I'm not part of the team now and not out there trying to help them win the national championship. If things didn't fall out like they did and if I didn't make my load as heavy it was, I'd probably still be part of it." Perhaps his biggest regret is abandoning the team without formally giving his coaches or teammates an explanation. "They deserve to hear something," he acknowledges.
During Ellebb's tailspin Coach Denney said he tried contacting him but could not reach him. "I made attempts to find out what was happening. I even tried to contact some of the people he hangs with, but I could tell he was drifting away from us. I could sense as early as last summer he was struggling again and I tried to be really positive with him. But we just didn't seem to be able to create enough positive power to hold him. The negative forces just kind of overwhelmed him."
In gauging how much Ellebb's absence hurts, Denney said, "Certainly, we miss him. We miss what he could have contributed. We were counting on him. The Lord blessed him with a lot of talent. We went from a senior who, in my mind, was the frontrunner to win a national championship to a redshirt freshman, (Lance Tolstedt). Losing all the experience Tyrice had and all the work and time we put into him is a huge impact on our team."
To a man, Ellebb's former teammates say they feel no bitterness. Instead, there is frustration and empathy. For 125-pounder Mack LaRock, Ellebb's departure "was a big disappointment because we know how much stronger he made our team, but we also realize all the different problems and situations he has in life. He did let us down, but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I was in his shoes. There's no really hard feelings. Tyrice made his bed and he has to lie in it now."
Perhaps the most disappointing thing to those who care about Ellebb is that so much effort went into his athletic success that stopping short now seems a waste. Then there is the fact wrestling provided a sometimes uncertain young man a structure and stability he often could not find elsewhere. "Being part of our team gave him a positive force that could really help him, but when he's away from that he gets into these other forces that aren't so positive," Denney said.
As for himself, Ellebb looks forward to making amends with his former UNO comrades and taking care of business with his family. "I have all my priorities in order now and the main ones are being a part of my children's lives and finishing school. People tell me I'm a good person. I'm just trying to find that person in me and to do what I'm supposed to be doing in life."
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Buffett's newspaper man, Stanford Lipsey
Another native Omahan who has achieved great things is Stanford Lipsey. This publishing scion has enjoyed a full career in journalism. A good deal of his newspapering life has been associated with billionaire investor Warren Buffett. The two men are good friends. Lipsey retains strong ties to Omaha, where Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway are based. This story appeared in The Reader (www.thereader.com) on the eve of the annual Berkshire shareholders meeting, which draws tens of thousands to Omaha for what's been described as a Wooodstock for capitalists. Lispey and Buffett made journalistic history back in the early 1970s with the Omaha Sun Newspapers, when an investigative report into Boys Town's vast financial holdings and wealth ended up winning the paper and its publishing team a Pulitzer Prize. Buffett later hired Lipsey as publisher of the Buffalo News, a position he continues in today.
NOTE: See my new story on this blog about the Omaha Sun's Pulitzer winning report on Boys Town during Lipsey's reign as publisher. The story is titled "Sun Reflection." Lipsey is back in Omaha for the 2011 Berkshire Hathaway confab and for an exhibition of his photography at KANEKO. He's also participating in a panel discussion at KANEKO about a life of creativity in business. For more on KANEKO, see my story titled "Open Minds."
Of course, Warren Buffett and Berkshire are much in the news these days because of the scandal involving David Sokol, the once heir apparent to Buffett as head of Berkshire.
Buffett's newspaper man, Stanford Lipsey
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally published in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
Omaha native and veteran newspaper publisher Stanford Lipsey has seen and done it all in a six-decade journalism career that's closely allied him to Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett.
Lipsey climbed the ranks at the now defunct Sun Newspapers in Omaha to become owner-publisher. In 1969 he sold the Sun to Buffett, but remained as publisher. In 1972 Lipsey was at the helm when the Sun, acting on a lead from Buffett, poked into the finances of Boys Town. The Sun's probing led to sweeping changes at the charitable organization and earned the paper a Pulitzer Prize.
Buffett later appointed Lipsey publisher of the Buffalo (N.Y.) News. Lipsey is still its publisher today. In 1988 he was named a Berkshire vice president. The old friends, inducted in the Omaha Press Club Hall of Fame in 2008, may or may not get together this weekend at Berkshire's annual shareholders' meeting in Omaha.
Lipsey, who got his start as a photojournalist, came out with a photography book, Affinity of Form (2009, powerHouse Books), that can be purchased at the Qwest Center exhibition hall during the May 1 meeting or at the Bookworm. He still shoots, only with digital equipment, not the Brownie or Speed Graphic he began with. Instead of snapping news pics, he makes fine art images for galleries and books.
His life as a news hound has spanned hot type, clattering typewriters, digital off-set presses, computerized newsrooms and newspaper web sites. His training began at Omaha Central High and the University of Michigan. While in the U.S. Air Force he served as editor of the Offutt Air Force Base publication Air Pulse.
He began working at the Sun in 1952, learning the business inside and out. Lipsey said the Sun "was small enough so I could do it all." He considers a well-rounded newspapering experience an "invaluable" education most publishers "don't have" today. "In the large daily business hardly anybody has it. They come from one field. They were either an editor or an advertising manager or a business manager, but they don't have the crossover background between news and advertising," he said.
Buffett said, "He's a real journalist but he understands every aspect of the business, and that was one of the considerations why we wanted him up in Buffalo."
Under Lipsey's watch, managing editor Paul Williams guided the Sun expose of Boys Town when the still single-campus, dormitory-style, boys-only home used weepy mass mail appeals to portray itself as destitute. The Sun revealed Boys Town sat on a $162 million endowment dwarfing that of many national institutions. Property and building assets created a total net value in excess of $200 million.
"We knew there was a story there, but we didn't know how to get it," said Buffett. "I was sitting at home doing the tax return for my own tiny little foundation and there was something in the instructions that said my tax return would be public. All of a sudden it dawned on me if a tax-free institution such as this foundation of mine had to make the return public, Boys Town probably did."
The story goes Buffett called on a well-placed source who sat on the Boys Town board to verify Sun suspicions the nonprofit had accumulated a fortune. Public records confirmed the rest. Public indignation was strong.
"It's a helluva story," Lipsey said by phone. "It was so well done."
He said breaking the exclusive, which major news outlets picked up, was what the Sun needed to do to stay relevant opposite the Omaha World-Herald.
In Buffett, the paper had deep pockets and considerable clout. In Williams, who went on to help found Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., a solid newsman. In Lipsey, a crusading publisher.
"See, we didn't have the advantage of being a daily, so when we came out we had to have something fresh, so we did investigative reports, enterprise reports," said Lipsey. "Warren, Paul Williams and I would sit down and brainstorm — what's the story, what should we go after, and then this thing came along — it actually came along on a tip from Warren. It made for a great story."
Like Lipsey, Buffett still feels a sense of pride about what they did.
"That was a watershed. It didn't do us any good commercially as a paper, but that was probably as interesting a month or two of my life as has ever occurred," said Buffett.
The report upset the Catholic community. Defensive Boys Town officials attacked the Sun as "a yellow rag." The gutsy coverage earned the Sun the first Pulitzer given to a weekly for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting. It's the last Pulitzer, period, won by any Nebraska newspaper. The award also recognized the reforms the story instigated. A chastened, more transparent Boys Town embarked on a course serving at-risk youth in new, home-like environs across the nation. Boys Town also built the first of its major research facilities.
When Buffett acquired the Buffalo News in 1977 he asked Lipsey for help. "When I was in trouble up in Buffalo with the paper I called him," said Buffett. At first Lipsey served as a consultant, commuting between Omaha and Buffalo, before accepting the role of publisher in 1983. The two men share an abiding mutual respect. "I admire Warren. I would say he's someone who has taught me a lot. He's a steady hand. He makes decisions that are totally moral, totally wise, and for the right reasons, and they're not always necessarily for profit," said Lipsey. "He won't buy a company where the management isn't in place. The only exception to that is me."
Warren Buffett
The book The Warren Buffett CEO, Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers, devotes a chapter to "the turnaround" Lipsey engineered in Buffalo.
"You see a newspaper doesn't really match what Warren buys in companies because this paper was losing money when he bought it but he always had enormous respect and love for newspapers. But then he was short — we had a very good editor but we didn't have a good publisher here. He had to get one to come in, and he tapped me," said Lipsey. "There was a daily newspaper here in competition called the Courier Express. It became one of these fights to the death type thing. I got very interested in that. That was an enormous challenge, and I wanted to make sure we survived."
Buffett said Lipsey was well qualified coming from a small paper to oversee a big paper because he knew all phases of newspaper operations: "Stan knew the press room, he knew circulation, he knew ad sales, he knew the newsroom. Stan''s been a terrific friend and business associate. He's over 80 now and he goes to work every day with the same zest as always. There's no one I trust more."
With the dynamic pair behind it, the Buffalo News won out. Lipsey's still in charge, but the shrinking place of printed newspapers in this digital age concerns him
"Certainly right now the newspaper business is challenging. We're doing better than most papers, but we're not doing well. All our numbers are way down. Circulation, advertising, profit, volume, everything, and I think you've seen the same thing with the World-Herald, and they were enormously profitable. The trouble with newspapers is they're extraordinarily costly, so when you have a sharp fall off in revenue it's hard to cut as much as you're losing, because you have to so many people in the newsroom, so many people running the presses, so many people driving the delivery trucks. That's the problem."
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text: Core Automated Maintenance System for Mobility (CAMS-FM/G081) is the MAF's Logistics C2 system. It directly supports USTRANSCOM and 18AF/618 Air Operation Center (AOC)Global Mobility C2 processes. As the Logistics C2 system for the MAF Fleet, it provides an enterprise view of critical data (status, location, availability, & capability) needed by global decision makers at USTRANSCOM, AF, AMC,18AF/618 AOC, PACAF, USAFE, AETC, AFRC, ANG and Wings (~31K users). Currently G081 has approximately 1200 aircraft (C5, C17, KC135, KC10, KC-46, C130, C9, C40C) managed in the system.

subset: commoncrawl


text: The Third Quarter 2015 Chicago neighborhood quarterly Residential Reviews are in! We've expanded to cover more of the neighborhoods I serve, and now have real time data features! See how the market is doing in the Gold Coast, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, North Center, River North, West Loop and Wicker Park/Bucktown.


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InAuth Featured In PaymentsSource On Fraudsters Increasing Sophistication In Account Opening And Identity Fraud
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- For eyebrows and lashes
- Tints to a natural brunette shade
- Smudge and waterproof
- Results last up to 6 weeks
Please note: This product must be mixed with a developer or peroxide before applying to the hair (sold separately).


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WASHINGTON — Americans for a Better Economy, the nation's most effective grassroots-powered advocate for ag, energy and resource development, sent Monday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office a petition signed by 5,273 conservative activists calling on him to go on offense and fight back against increasingly successful efforts to use environmentalism to threaten jobs and economic recovery by passing the REINS Act.
"In 2016 Americans gave the White House, U.S. House and Senate to people who said they were going to 'drain the swamp.' Republican leaders could have kept that promise by sending to President Trump the REINS Act, a popular proposal to take power away from politicized bureaucrats and give it back to the people," said ABE President Donny Ferguson. "Republican leaders instead sat on their hands, let the Left land punches and in 2018 were handed their worst defeat since Watergate."
"Americans are enraged when they learn Congress is letting unelected bureaucrats make up and enforce their own laws. It's time to stop letting the Left win by setting the terms of the debate," said Ferguson. "If the Senate Majority ever wants to win again they need to fight back. Leader McConnell can start by passing the REINS Act and forcing the Left to defend an unaccountable, out of touch bureaucratic state."
The 5,273 petition signers are just the start of what will be ABE's ongoing campaign to engage conservative activists and defeat increasingly successful efforts to use environmentalism to advance socialism and "de-develop" the United States' economy.
"If you are a Republican in Washington these are the people who put you there," said Ferguson. "These are the people who donate to candidates, knock on doors and get out the vote. And we've just started. Hundreds of thousands more will follow."
The petitioners make four demands of McConnell, as well as all other members of the Senate and House:
1) Passage of the REINS Act, to take away the power of unelected bureaucrats to make up and enforce their own rules.
2) Block any attempt to tax carbon.
3) Block any attempt to restore the Obama administration's 'Waters of the United States" rule.
4) Block any attempt to pass any of the "Green New Deal."
The REINS Act is a major government reform, requiring Congress affirmatively approve every new "major rule" proposed by the Executive Branch before it can be enforced on the American people, as opposed to the status quo, where regulations ultimately take effect unless Congress specifically disapproves.
Passage of the REINS Act would mark the single largest transfer of power from the bureaucracy back to elected lawmakers.
Americans for a Better Economy organizes nationwide grassroots support for pro-growth energy, environmental and agricultural policies and opposes the increasing use of environmentalism as a vehicle to promote socialism.
ABE President Donny Ferguson was previously the Executive Director of American Tradition Partnership where he helped collect 250,000 petitions in support of the Keystone Pipeline and won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case expanding Citizens United to the states. As Communications Director and Senior Policy Adviser to Congressman Steve Stockman he ran one of Capitol Hill's most effective media and policy shops.
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Paving the way for Utah Girls Wrestling By Riley McKenzie, 12/05/18, 9:15PM MST
Imagine walking out onto the mat to face your opponent. You have prepared months and months for this match, and your heart is pounding out of your chest. You fix your ponytail and get into position. When you look up, you see an insanely muscular male walking towards you. You feel as if all of your preparation is about to go down the drain. Is this how you should feel about the sport you love? Girls wrestling is on its way to being treated as its own, to maintain fairness and equality for all competitors.
In Davis School District, they are slowly but surely doing their best to make a change. Girls are competing in the Junior Highs, female coaches are being hired, and the high school team at Northridge High has nearly doubled in its amount of girls in the last year. According to an article called, "Girls Wrestling Takes Off in Utah High Schools Despite Challenges" by Patrick Carr, he states that the national number of female wrestlers in the US was 7,351 in 2010-2011, and in 2016-2017, that number nearly doubled to a solid 14,587 girls participating in wrestling.
Maria Gomez is the first female educator to be hired in the state as a wrestling coach. She's the assistant coach at both Northridge High, and North Layton Junior High for this upcoming season and was the first woman to charter an all girls club in the state of Utah. Maria was instrumental in creating and sustaining an audience for girls wrestling in Layton, Utah that has bloomed with the help of Rachel Meyer, NUGW Coaches Benita Karo, Cherri Webster, former Coach Courtney Maples (now assisting at UMA Girls), former Utah Girls Director Billy Cox, Olympian Nigerian Wrestler (now NUGW Head Freestyle Coach ) Coach Amarachi and Folkstyle Head Coach Lau. With the help of surrounding local Head Coaches, one that took it upon himself, Northridge High Head Coach Kevin Kennington that opened his wrestling doors to support and assist Maria in the journey that sustained the beginnings of Northern Utah Girls Wrestling. She has also created a competition platform called The Amazonian Battle Series. It's an all girls tournament that has grown from 1 to 3 tournaments in the last year with the help of Craig LaMont and Caleb Hardy hosting an All girls Battle this season.
If you go further south to Vernal, Utah you have newly appointed USA wrestling Utah Girls National Coach Candace Workman with many wrestling first and pioneer for women's wrestling in the state as a wrestler; is now giving back to the community as an assistant coach at her local Jr.High program and a Head Coach for her Tiger League youth program. She shared some experiences in how her new role as a coach for predominantly boys in her community: It's been interesting going from wrestler to coach. I'd get a lot of people coming up to me and asking who I was. I can't even count how many times I got the, "Are you a mom or manager who knows a lot about wrestling?" In Vernal I've always been apart of the program even when I was living and training in other states. As the Head Coach last year I did have a few parents say they were a little concerned when they heard their son had a girl coach, but after a little while I had those parents coming up to me saying they wouldn't have it any other way because I really do know wrestling and I would be the only coach taking notes for all their kids matches and things like that. When I was growing up in Utah people weren't used to seeing a girl wrestler. Now you'll see a few at every tournament and its not a big deal, most people don't even think twice. I think women coaching will have the same progression. It's going to be slow at first. Well have to prove that we have the same knowledge and skills to be coaching wrestling as men do and over time I'm sure it'll be normal to see women in the corner who aren't just moms or managers . As a kid I never really thought of myself as a girl" wrestler, I always just wanted to be a wrestler. Now, as a coach, I don't really think of myself as the " girl" coach. I am a coach who happens to be a girl and I'm equally qualified to be sitting in that corner coaching both the boys and girls. - Candace Workman
The ripple effect of leadership is evident and can build future generations stronger in the wrestling community another state accomplishment down south at American Leadership Academy Female All American Hailey Cox hired on as the Jr High Head Coach and Assistant at the high school wrestling programs. She has been a wrestler since she could walk, born and raised in a wrestling family, former resident at the Olympic Training Center, Cadet World Team member, another girls wrestling pioneer and has had many other firsts through her wrestling career and now will have many more as a female coach paving the way for Utah Girls Wrestling.
Why is it important for more women to get into coaching? Women are an untapped resource and will help widen the talent pool for prospective coaches. Women also have different life and leadership experiences and qualities; this is something that the corporate world is becoming increasingly aware of and is capitalizing on. Sports also need to recognize the attributes women can offer and ensure they consider the experience women can bring to coaching. Women are also well placed to understand the psychological and social pressures female athletes may experience. (Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation)
The Utah High School Athletic Association has seen and heard the voices of the state and has created a Female Equity/ Emerging Sports Committee, which is creating the process and application for future sports to be sanctioned. Maria Gomez serves in that committee with other superintendents, directors and principals that see the need to create opportunities and equality in the state for female athletes. USA wrestling Utah has had a girls committee this year directed by Craig LaMont which serves and focuses on growing and creating opportunities for girl wrestlers in our state as well.
As you can see, schools are on their way to gaining a bracket for young female wrestlers. Adding official brackets for girls only will allow females to wrestle their peers, and eliminate any fears that parents and competitors may have. With the help of the community around us, this change has impacted many lives, and many lives to come, but we all need to work together to ensure that there is a safe and ensuring environment for wrestling to occur. "We should not require young girls to test themselves against males in this sport in order to be a competitive wrestler, or be valued as a good wrestler. It is a tough and demanding sport as it is, and young girls deserve the right to compete with other tough female wrestlers."-Katherine Fulp-Allen Shai.
In the state of Utah there are countless of fathers for daughters, mothers for daughters, high school coaches , female coaches that are creating and paving the way to welcoming, safe, and empowering environments. When female wrestlers are participating in practices, participating in tournaments, taking advantage of clinic opportunities you are thanking your Leaders for creating that space they made for you. We would like to thank the many that were not mentioned in this article, but know that you are appreciated by your community, your parents, your girls they know who you are, please continue the selfless work, because in the end you are changing a child's life one wrestling match at a time. The future looks bright when you train a girl to wrestle you train a generation to succeed.
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When Microsoft let the FSX team go, I was pretty concerned. Flight Simulation is a niche market and I worried that perhaps this was the beginning of the end of our favourite hobby. Boy, was I wrong!
In the two years since the demise of ACES, we have seen no fewer than six stand-alone flight simulators released; DCS A-10, IL2: Cliffs of Dover, X-Plane 10, Take on Helicopters, Microsoft's new Flight and now AeroflyFS. In fact, the world of desktop flight simulation actually got more diverse, with a clear split between the hardcore general multi-role sims such as X-Plane and Cliffs of Dover, the study sims such as DCS A-10, and now entry level simgames such as Take On Helicopters and Flight. AeroflyFS fits into the latter category.
Ikarus who?
Despite my ignorance, Ikarus is not really a newcomer to the world of simulated flight. The company's AeroflyRC product range has become quite popular among radio control flyers thanks to its variety of simulated models and great flight dynamics. AeroflyFS then is the evolution of that product, a first person true flight simulator.
Well, sim-game. X-Plane, FSX and the DCS series are hardcore simulations, not only of flight, but also of the world of flight. Sure, you could just jump in and aim skywards, but the delight of those products comes from relentless study and practice. AeroflyFS, like Microsoft Flight, answers the question so many newcomers to simulation have:
"Why can't I just go flying?"
This is a VFR-only simulator. It models the whole of Switzerland in photo-realistic detail down to an accuracy of 40cm, and encourages you to simply jump in and just go flying in any one of the included eight aircraft comprising Extra 330, Sopwith Camel, Swift S1, Discus BM Glider, Pitts S-2B, Robin DR 400, F/A-18 Hornet and Cessna 172. There's no ATC, there's no taxiing to the runway, no navigation systems to mess with. It's all about you, and the aircraft and the experience of flying.
Now, I know at this point some of you are about to turn the page. Please don't – bear with me here. This is a simulator that Ikarus has said it intends to grow based on feedback. What's not currently included now is likely to be added later, so in the meantime what we're left with is a foundation that's going to be built on. The question then is, is the product strong enough at present?
In flight
Surprisingly, yes – but it's not perfect. Take the Skyhawk for example. On the ground, she's a little too twitchy for my taste, but in the air the little Cessna flies pretty much by the numbers. In fact, once you get airborne the combination of the flight model and the phenomenal sounds make this one of the most immersive simulated Cessnas I've ever flown – that is until you start to turn. All turns seem to be auto-coordinated, which is a bit of a let down. The stall characteristics of the aircraft are also a little unconvincing. Same thing applies with the Extra. At times it feels amazing, such as crabbing towards the runway (just like in the real aircraft) before finally putting her down with a satisfying squeak.
But then at other times it's just plain odd! The Extra will occasionally snap roll rather than stall, but nowhere near as bad as its aerobatic sibling, the Pitts S-2B. That aircraft, for me, needs more work in terms of its behaviour. It feels incredibly unstable and twitchy, and while the developer has tried to model the phenomenal roll rate of the Pitts, they do seem to have gone a little too far. For example, I managed to record almost 720 degrees of roll per second, compared to about 300 in the real aircraft.
Just when I was ready to dismiss the whole affair though, I discovered the gliders. I don't fly gliders. I don't 'sim-fly' Gliders either. But I spent almost an entire Saturday roaming around the Swiss Alps looking for thermals and updrafts in Aerofly's two included gliders and now I'm a convert. In short, the gliders are breathtaking. The level of realism is out of this world – they fly and handle just as they should (on paper), they feel amazing, and the challenge in keeping them aloft is only surpassed by the sheer joy that comes when you find that one particular thermal that will propel you heavenwards at 1,000 feet per minute! When you couple the amazing flight modelling of these aircraft with the phenomenal visuals outside of the cockpit, you're on to something potentially very big.
Is this the real world?
Given the diversity in visual quality currently available within the simulation market, AeroflyFS is by far the single most attractive flight sim I've ever spent time with – plus it's silky smooth too! The landscape outside the cockpit is always photo-realistic and stunning and choosing to base the whole affair in Switzerland (the home of the developers) was positively inspired.
It's one of the most scenic places on earth and absolutely the right choice for a VFR simulation. Everything about the Swiss landscape is modelled in exacting detail, from winding rivers to the ominous rock and snow-strewn faces of the alpine peaks and valleys.
The aircraft models too are delightful. All accurately cast shadows, glint and shine as the sunlight passes over them. All have full animations on the parts that are supposed to be animated. None have interactive cockpits, which is an obvious negative, and none have fully modelled systems (which is a huge omission if you're going to let people jump into an F/A 18 Hornet), but regardless they are all truly works-of-art.
On the downside you can't adjust the time of day within the sim, or download real world weather. However, you can adjust the weather using a fairly standard set of sliders and buttons and it's surprisingly authentic.
Sitting on a runway you can slide the wind strength up and see the flags and windsocks around you instantly respond as their environment changes. This is not even possible in FSX. For the glider pilots and those still starting out, you can even turn on 'visual' cues within the sim – enabling you to see wind currents and thermals visualized within the virtual world. At this point, it's worth mentioning the audio element of the simulation.
The sounds are great, but just as with the flight modelling there are disappointing areas. For example, the reproduction of the sound of the Sopwith Camel's rotary engine has been done well. However, on the flip side, in the more modern aircraft there are no sounds for things such as flaps, or increased wind sound when they are deployed.
Is this just fantasy?
Back at the start of this review I called AeroflyFS a sim-game. While you can jump in and indulge in VFR flying to your heart's content, the package also includes a whole set of challenges. These cover the basics of flight, such as level flight, level turns as well as aerobatics, plus challenges to see if you can loop, roll or even make accurate four-point rolls. Each is presented in the form of a mini game, with the objective of having to pass through various glowing green boxes strategically placed in the sky. It may appear a little simplistic, but in practice it's very hard.
Each challenge is scored and at the end you're given a virtual medal to rate your performance. It's actually quite good fun trying to attain the gold medal on each of them, but perhaps not at all what we're used to seeing in more 'traditional' sims such as Flight Simulator. That said, Microsoft Flight also adopts the same pattern, and it's a fun way to introduce people to flying. My only concern is that if the challenges are there as a way of coaxing people into the world of simulated flight, then perhaps they need to be a little more user-friendly. Perhaps adding voice narration and encouragement would also be a big win, rather than the on-screen text cues currently in place.
You have probably noticed that there's a recurring theme throughout this review. I keep saying: "It's really good, but…" For me that sums up AeroflyFS as a whole. It's really good, but! As a game based on flying, it's great. I loved the gliders, the graphics, the sound, the scenery – all of these features are amazing. As a 'heavyweight' flight simulator though, it falls short in many areas. However, Ikarus has committed to extending it over time and I hope it does. If you're new to flying, I heartily recommend it. If not, well, I will leave it to your own opinion after reading this review.
Addendum – our score
This has been a tricky sim to review. It has got a lot of potential as a platform for future expansion and even to be the absolute best VFR simulator on the market. However, it is aimed at the 'everyman' – a flight simulator for all, rather than those who are more into the hardcore depth of say FSX or X-Plane. We debated how to score it and decided two scores would be the best way to go. For newcomers we would award 80% and for the more seasoned flight simmer – 75%.
By Peter Wright
Score 80%
PUBLISHER & DEVELOPER: Ikarus
PRICE: AeroflyFS is now available on DVD from SimWare Simulations
website:www.simw.com for €39.99 or from the Ikarus website: www.aeroflyfs.com for $49.99
AT A GLANCE: An entry-level flight sim with a lot of potential.
Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon64 X2;
2 GB of System RAM; 24GB free hard
disk space; Graphic card: ATI Radeon HD
4850 or NVIDIA GeForce 9600 or faster
with at least 512 MB; PC: Windows XP/ Windows Vista / Windows 7;
Mac: Intel based Apple Mac computersrunning Mac OS X – 10.6.8 or 10.7.3 or newer
Joystick recommended.


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We are here to help with compassion & understanding
We understand this is a difficult time, and we're here to help you. We will take care of all the tiny details ensuring a stress-free experience for you and your family.
Our secluded location offers privacy and a quiet calming atmosphere and our Castle's flexibility means we can cater for large numbers and smaller gatherings.


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ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — An Indianapolis man is dead after a head-on crash Sunday afternoon near Zionsville.
Boone County Sheriff's deputies and emergency responders were called just before 1:45 p.m. to the 7600 block of Oak Street on the report of a head-on collision involving a commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle.
The driver of the Toyota, Michael Patrick, 46, of Indianapolis, died at the scene, according to a press release from the Boone County Sheriff's Office.
Luke Thomas, 32, of Indianapolis, was driving a Home City Ice box truck was uninjured in the crash.
Investigators said in a press release the box truck was on its side and the Toyota was in the ditch.
At this time, the cause of the crash has not been released.
It is unknown if drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.
MORE TOP STORIES | FedEx employee dies in workplace accident at Indy Airport hub | Mooresville High School student killed in Morgan County crash | Downtown Indy's NYE celebration canceled for 2018 | Cathedral High School basketball player taunted
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POWIIS and POWIIS Primary are offering online admissions during this period. Book a virtual appointment with our Registrars by emailing [email protected] or ring us directly at,
Candidates will be invited for assessment at the school or at a venue in their region: please contact us and we will do our best to help with the test location.
The school assesses candidates for entry to ensure that the curriculum and pace of learning are appropriate for them and that they have the potential to be happy and to thrive in the school, contributing co-operatively towards the community. The ability to understand and communicate effectively in English is fundamental.
Assessment of Candidates
Total Assessment time, including breaks: 4 hours.
The assessment is designed to need no special preparation and it is much preferred that candidates do not receive coaching or tuition in advance. It is intended to be a positive experience of benefit in itself and it should certainly not disrupt ordinary school work. It is understood that candidates will have different school backgrounds and different levels of English; the assessment attempts to measure a candidate's potential to learn and develop.
All candidates will be assessed in a similar way so that decisions about class groupings and setting can be made. Some schools, including some British curriculum schools, are able to provide fuller and more focused information on candidates. This is important and useful to us, but no candidate will be at either an advantage or disadvantage because of the school from which they apply. Similarly, the admissions process is devoid of any discrimination and the application of quotas. Parents are asked to let us know in advance of any special needs so that arrangements can be made.
Out of courtesy, parents should inform the candidate's current school before assessment for POWIIS. It is particularly important that a current school is aware of intentions before we ask for a confidential report. Ideally current schools, teachers and headteachers should be involved in the discussions so that they can offer advice about future schooling. They will know their pupils well and so their advice is to be valued.
Prior to admission, parents are required to declare they have shared with the school any background information which might reasonably be thought relevant to the offer of a place, and to the candidates' potential for success at POWIIS.
The Admissions Process
Application To apply formally for their children to join the School, parents submit a Registration Form together with an Assessment Fee of RM500.
The Registration Fee is payable after acceptance into the School. This fee is refundable only in cases where an application is declined by the School.
Assessment The assessment procedure varies depending on the age of the pupils.
Foundation Stage (ages 3 to 5) – The pupil will be invited to spend time in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) setting and will be assessed by staff observing the interaction and use of language of the child in an informal setting. The Head of the Department will consider the comments and observations made by staff before an offer of a place is given.
Year 1 and Year 2 (ages 6 to 7) – The pupil will be invited to spend a period of time in the classroom where they can be assessed on basic skills in numeracy and literacy and the potential for learning. All work is set at National Curriculum ability levels appropriate for the age group and these assessments should be seen as a positive opportunity for the child to show their ability in these academic areas. The parents may be required to have a meeting with the Principal.
Year 3 to 6 (ages 8 to 11) – The pupil's abilities in the core subjects of Mathematics and English along with some measures of general ability will be tested. All work is set at National Curriculum ability levels appropriate for the age group and these assessments should be seen as a positive opportunity for the child to show their ability in these academic areas. The parents may be required to have a meeting with the Principal.
The assessments are designed to need no special preparation and it is intended that they will be a positive experience for each child. It is understood that children will have had different experiences and varied levels of English; the assessments attempt to measure a child's potential to learn and develop.


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In the near future, mankind takes to the stars and begins a halcyon period of planetary colonization. New colonies are formed under the Earth-loyal banner of the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance.
But behind the smiling façade of galactic growth, unrest is growing. On the planet Helghan, colonists find themselves warped by the poisonous atmosphere. Those that survive become stronger, and develop a burning hatred for the alliance that sent them to the accursed planet in the first place. The ruthless, militaristic Helghast secede from the ISA, conspiring to wage war against them.
The peaceful colony of Vekta becomes the first victim of Helghan's retribution, quickly falling under enemy control in a bloody blitzkrieg that leaves thousands dead or injured.
As a skilled member of an ISA squad, you find yourself in the middle of the desperate conflict. Can you survive the Helghast assault and halt the march towards all-out war, or will you be just another faceless casualty in unmarked grave?
- Platform
- Campaign players
- 1-2
- Online players
- 2-16
- Streetdate
- 26/Nov/2004


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Syndication as branding
Syndicator Byron Allen is headed for the information superhighway, and he plans on using syndicated TV to get people to follow him.
Allen' s Los Angeles-based CF Entertainment, which produces and distributes such syndicated shows as Entertainers and American Athlete, plans to launch an online entertainment network and superstore on April 22. Allen says Entertainmentstudios.com will boast more than 1 million items for sale or auction-from CDs, DVDs and movie tickets to memorabilia, such as furniture from Sylvester Stallone's home. It will also feature downloadable clips from CF shows.
To drive traffic to the site, Allen is offering TV stations a free half-hour syndicated celebrity interview strip.
He is also signing up stations to add a link to Entertainmentstudios.com on their Web sites. In exchange, stations get 5% of e-commerce proceeds that can be tracked back to their sites. At least 17 stations have agreed to add the link, including WNDS-TV Boston.


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Spring Features!
MATCHA PANCAKES Two scratch made green tea pancakes topped with butter & honey
BREAKFAST PIZZA Warm whole wheat pita bread with fresh nut free pesto, mozzarella, roasted mushrooms, and goat cheese crumbles. Topped with an over easy fried egg*
GARDEN BENNY Plant-based and eggless. Grilled red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, black olives and green peas on top of a grilled English muffin. Topped with our house vegan siracha hollandaise & served with house potatoes or hash-browns
HATCH GREEN CHILI GRITS Cheddar, diced Hatch green chilies, pork green chili, tomatoes and scallions. Served with a buttermilk biscuit & butter
COUNTRY CARBONARA GRITS Mozzarella, bacon crumbles, green peas and scallions. Finished with an over easy fried egg* and side of country gravy. Served with a buttermilk biscuit & butter
CRAB & GOAT CHEESE GRITS Goat cheese crumbles, diced red pepper and scallions. Topped with our house grilled crab cake. Served with a buttermilk biscuit & butter
SIDE OF CHEDDAR GRITS Served a la carte
All specials are prepared in limited quantities