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Legislative remedies to mass incarceration

Jan. 30, 2014

By Nikiya Harris

Jan. 30, 2014 0

Wisconsin incarcerates more African-American and Native American men than any state in the nation. This month, I introduced a bill that would mandate minority impact statements in the state's criminal lawmaking. If passed, criminal legislation proposed at the state Capitol must be accompanied by a statement that will analyze whether the legislation disproportionately affects minority populations.

Currently, our criminal justice system is being hindered by the same prejudices it was built to protect. Instead of providing justice based upon an individual's culpability, our criminal justice system is wrought with racial disparities.

I want Wisconsin to be No. 1, but not in African-American incarceration. Wisconsin should not be No. 1 in new unemployment filings or the number of people we kick off of health care. I want Wisconsin to be No. 1 in job growth, in education and in economic development.

I have seen firsthand the devastating effects of incarceration on our city's morale, our county's vitality and our state's pocketbooks. Since 1990, Wisconsin has spent billions of dollars on corrections. With the price tag of incarceration and racial disparity at record highs, it's time to ensure that we are intelligently and carefully drafting laws that do not come with unintended consequences.

So how did we get here?

In the 1970s, the "War on Drugs" grew more powerful and tough-on-crime rhetoric flooded the media with images of violence. TV and radio brought violence into people's living rooms. The result was politicians who expedited the passage of criminal laws without taking time to examine the consequences of their actions.

Since the early 1990s, our state has been following a trend that can be seen nationwide: Increased sentencing penalties coupled with decreased funding for communities has brought our state to its knees, at the expense of minority populations.

Public safety should be one of the biggest priorities of our state. It is in the best interest of the state and the public to ensure that we lock up those individuals who pose a threat to the safety of our neighborhoods.

However, one-third of the Milwaukee County individuals we have incarcerated since 1990 are nonviolent offenders. Nearly 40% of them are drug offenders who may get pulled into the drug trade to feed their addictions. Instead of treating these individuals, our state has followed a consistent policy of putting them behind bars.

Currently, the criminal justice system is a revolving door. With a lack of community resources, offenders often find themselves isolated from economic opportunity and forced into their old lifestyles in order to survive.

So what does this tell us? We need to be more informed and deliberate about the policies that we are drafting. Instead of speeding criminal legislation through, we should pause to examine both how that legislation may affect our community, as well as the financial implications of the proposed legislation.

We often hear the slippery slope argument that we need to lock away nonviolent offenders before they move toward committing more dangerous crimes.

But what about the slippery slope that allows for us to lock up offenders and then release them back into the community without treatment? What about the slippery slope for the offenders who have drug addictions and whose only support in the community is the dealers they used to buy from and the friends they used to shoot up with? What about the slippery slope that allows the state to pay billions for incarceration but then ignores every step in the process after the bars are shut?

Instead, our state should invest more money in programs such as our treatment alternatives and diversion program (TAD), which provides offenders who have addiction problems with substance abuse treatment instead of incarceration. Instead of siphoning money from the state, like our corrections spending does, every dollar invested in TAD yields benefits of $1.93 to the criminal justice system through avoided incarceration and reduced crime rates. Programs like TAD help reduce recidivism and allow offenders to be reintegrated as productive members of our community.

Our state should no longer simply react to problems in our community; we should be actively working to resolve them. The use of minority impact statements will allow legislators to be more educated about the unintended consequences of the laws they are proposing. As elected officials, we have an obligation to the public to ensure that the policies we pass are a direct result of informed, fair and thoughtful decision-making.

State. Sen. Nikiya Harris (D-Milwaukee) represents the 6th Senate District.

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 RoadBike Review's Forum Archives

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2004 Campagnolo(2 posts)

2004 Campagnolocipolini2b
Oct 21, 2003 9:44 AM
Anyone purchase or demo this new groupset yet? I checked the weights of all the components, and EVERYTHING is a little bit lighter. I can't speak for performance, but the stuff weighs much much less than the '04 dura ace. For instance, the shifter/brake lever for Dura Ace weighs 419 grams, and the campagnolo counterpart weights a mere 324 grams! These are weights claimed by their respective manufacturers, I'm certain actual weight will vary by +/- 3% when actually shipped. There is no way I'm getting the whole new recrod group. Tooo expensive, but I will be picking up a front derailleur (its just TOO hot) and also the new 259 gram chain. Anyhow, I'd love to hear reviews on the new stuff. Have any magazines reviewed the new components yet? http://www.campagnolo.com/groupsets.php?gid=1&cid=all
Lighter shift actionmhinman
Oct 22, 2003 8:31 AM
04 Record has a lighter shift action than previous years, and can be distingished from previous years by the "10 Ultra" on the right shifter instead of the "10 speed"

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 RoadBike Review's Forum Archives

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U.S.E post - carbon, ti, or al?(2 posts)

U.S.E post - carbon, ti, or al?fallzboater
Oct 26, 2003 7:09 AM
I'm going to need a low or zero-setback post for a new frame I'll have in a few weeks. I'm looking at the U.S.E ti or carbon posts for low weight and not totally outrageous price (wouldn't want to go any higher). This is for a compact road frame and I'll be running about 9" of extension from the top of the seat tube to the rails. I'm 185 lbs (6'-3"). I would go with the the carbon for slightly lighter weight and possibly more comfort, but am interested in recommendations between the carbon and ti or al, which I assume would be stronger and stiffer.

At my weight and this amount of extension, should I be at all concerned about the strength of the carbon post? Is it likely that it would feel too flexy?

If I went with the ti post, which is still pretty light, would I likely notice any more shock absorbtion than their al post, which is also pretty light, and quite a bit cheaper?

Any other recommendations? I've been using Thomson posts, which have a great clamp, but are heavier.

re: U.S.E post - carbon, ti, or al?Juanmoretime
Oct 26, 2003 9:18 AM

I ride Alien ti on all my bikes including mountain. USE recommends replacing the carbon post every two years, not much life for the money. The Alien ti's are almost as light and have a much greater life. If you constantly fiddle with your saddle, forget the Alien. They are difficult to adjust and the mounting bolts strip easily. I'm just a set it and forget it guy so the post is great for me, I also have a box of replacement bolts. I'm 6'2' and 175 and don't notice any flex. One post material from another isn't going to make much difference in the comfort of a ride, although tire do. Go with at least 23 and I find Michelin's give a very soft ride although I'm sure you will here from those that will differ from me.


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Back to the Scottish Parliament Business Bulletin No. 106/2010: Tuesday 22 June 2010
Archive Home

Business Bulletin 1999-2011

Minutes of Proceedings 1999-2011

Journal of Parliamentary Proceedings Sessions 1 & 2

Committees Sessions 1, 2 & 3

Annual reports

Summary of Today’s Business

Meetings of Committees

9.30 am Justice Committee Committee Room 1
10.30 am End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee Committee Room 4
2.15 pm Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee Committee Room 6
2.15 pm Subordinate Legislation Committee Committee Room 4

For full details of today’s business, see Section A. For full details of the future business, see sections B and C.

The sections which appear in today’s Business Bulletin are in bold

Section A: Today’s Business

- Meetings of Committees

- Meeting of the Parliament

Section B: Future Meetings of the Parliament

Section C: Future Meetings of Committees

- Other Future Meetings

Section D: Oral Questions

- Questions selected for First Minister’s Question Time

- Questions selected for response by Ministers and Junior Scottish Ministers at Question Time

Section E: Written Questions – New Questions for Written Answer

Section F: Motions and Amendments

Section G: Bills

- New Bills introduced

- New amendments to Bills

- Members’ Bills proposals

Section H: New Documents – New documents laid before the Parliament and Committee Reports published

Section I: Petitions – New Public Petitions

Section J: Progress of Legislation – Progress of Bills and Subordinate Legislatio


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AR Newsletter
New AR
ADRA Distributes Supplies to Mindanao Flooding Victims
More than 800 killed after tropical storm hits

FLOOD DAMAGE: Tropical storm Washi caused flash flooding in the northern part of Mindanao, Philippines. ADRA is distributing emergency food kits and plans to soon expand its humanitarian response to supply drinking water.
he Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is distributing emergency supplies to some of the families hardest hit by flash floods in eastern Mindanao, the southern island of the Philippines.

Philippine officials report that the December 16 tropical storm Washi—which caused flash flooding and landslides—has killed more than 800 people in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

ADRA is distributing emergency food kits to some 1,400 families in the affected areas. The distribution will last four days and will be carried out in close coordination with the City Social Welfare Office and Adventist Community Services volunteers.

Nearly 72,000 people have been affected by the tropical storm in the northern Mindanao province of Lanao del Norte, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported. In some areas household items such as kitchen appliances and furniture have been swept away, and businesses have shut down.

ADRA is working to broaden its response, with plans to provide flood victims with essential health services, in addition to increased access to clean water.

                                                                                —reported by ADRA staff

Copyright © 2017, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide. Online Editor: Carlos Medley.
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That's a lot of freaking downloads, mister!

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2007/07/18 12:15 -04:00, original URI:

Late last week I needed to answer a question the other day about the number of successful downloads of Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.

So I went to the tool that gives those stats and I found out that (between the 1.3 and 1.4 versions) as of last week there have been

downloads of this tool!

Now that number gave me pause. Even though lots of those downloads may have been by people who never built a keyboard layout, and more than a few might be the same people downloading both versions of the tool or downloading to install on another machine, there are still a lot of downloads there.

Any way you look at it, a bunch of those downloads were done by people who built a new keyboard layout for themselves.

And a bunch of those downloads were done by people who ended up building keyboard layouts for others -- sometimes for whole language communities!

A few of those downloads were even done by people who work for Microsoft in the subsidiaries who used it to produce keyboard layouts that eventually made their way into Vista, and we were able to add more keyboard layouts than any prior version due to how much easier they were to create.

The number just staggered me.

It staggered me for another reason, too -- because of the small number of actual bug reports that have come up, most of which were to do with either limitations of MSKLC (or the underlying keyboard support in the USER subsystem) or straight out feature requests. The actual bug count has been quite small!

So while technically not The most robust software project I ever worked on (that project technically had fewer bugs!), and technically not the code I have worked on that the most people have run (pieces of Windows definitely qualify for that!), I can't help feeling like as a team we touched a lot more people in a much more significant way.

From Cathy and Simon and Kanya and Gary and Shu and Jenny and little old me, not to mention all of the people who reported issues during the beta and the people who helped sign packages in the early AM and even the people in management who approved the project, something really cool has been done.

263,400,000 times. :-)

This post brought to you by (U+221e, a.k.a. INFINITY)

# Asztal on 18 Jul 2007 12:58 PM:

I love MSKLC. I'm having trouble getting the created layouts to work on Windows Vista (I can go into more detail, if you like), otherwise I'd be using my custom english-hungarian hybrid layout right now.

So, thank you very much for this awesome tool :)

# Michael S. Kaplan on 18 Jul 2007 1:21 PM:

Have you downloaded the 1.4 version, designed to address the problems and limitations affecting Vista?

# KTamas on 18 Jul 2007 3:26 PM:

MSKLC is probably one of the best things since sliced bread... been using my version of US-International (extended it a lil' bit with the missing Hungarian letters and killed off those darn sticky 's and "s) for quite a while now.

# Gerard van der Land on 19 Jul 2007 3:20 AM:

I'm wondering why a number this high doesn't cause you question it's accuracy. The 1.3 version is currently #1890 and the 1.4 version #736 on popularity rating on Download Center, which is not bad, but I cannot imagine that more than a quarter of a billion people would choose to download a specific tool like this with the intention/need of customizing their keyboard layout, that would be a huge percertage of the installed base of Windows. (Note, I'm not talking about downloads, but people).

# Cristian Secară on 19 Jul 2007 1:21 PM:

Somewhat off-topic: where can I get more info on what one must done to add a custom (or alter an existing) virtual keyboard layout on a Windows Mobile device ?

# Michael S. Kaplan on 19 Jul 2007 2:28 PM:

Hey Cristi,

I do not know offhand. Seems like something for the Suggestion Box if you wanted me to ask around? :-)

# Cristian Secară on 19 Jul 2007 6:20 PM:

If one day you get/put some info on this, I would be glad to hear/read it. However, it's not a hurry. Just in case ...

# Michael S. Kaplan on 19 Jul 2007 6:28 PM:

I will probably never remember it if it is here -- if you're interested in seeing it some day you'll definitely want to put it in the Suggestion Box....

# Michael S. Kaplan on 20 Jul 2007 5:25 PM:

Hey Gerard,

The number is actually the sum of the number of downloads across all of the years of 1.3 and the time 1.4 has been out, and I do believe they are accurate.

Though of course people have pointed to me that they havr download the tool several times themelves and I know I have easily needed to download in 11-12 times, and the count is literasl successful downloads, so it is not a people count or anything.

The really popular things dwarf this number, as do the ubiquitous things like security patches and so forth. Comparatively speking, it is still a small fish in a big pond. But the number still takes my breath away! :-)

referenced by

2007/08/19 Finding lost friends and (for something completely different) sites that suck

2007/07/27 Boot Camp 1.3 and MSKLC (also 1.3) -- excitement, enjoyment, and a wrinkle or three

go to newer or older post, or back to index or month or day


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Author Topic: Clense our Spirits (Starlight Valley Theme) [ORCHESTRAL, CHOIR, SOUNDTRACK]  (Read 171 times)

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Offline J-MACHine

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Done for a contest being held by the staff behind the A-FUCKING-MAZING comic, Memoria, the latest (and last) in a long line of webcomics with a interconnecting plotline based on the japanese RPG series,  the Mother series. ... Or, to those not in the know, the series that those kids Ness and Lucas come from in Super Smash Bros.
You can check out the comic here (go on, it's more then worth it; )

The contest has the optional theme of being based on the events in a location the cast has wound up in around the current spate of updates, which is a small, backwater town wherein every townsperson is part of a cult that worships and bases their beliefs around a dragon (it... makes much more sense in context, i assure you), and constantly have their faces hidden behind stylized dragon masks, wear very dull, muted colours, and seem to be relentlessly happy. I wanted to craft a song for the town in question, and decided to go a 'no synth sounds' route; the only slight use of synth was in the edited choir samples, to give them an otherwordly, unnatural feel. I then mixed that up with some acoustic percussion, and even stuck in a faux "scratchy vinyl recording" section with an organ sound that needs but one insane 'holy' man/woman's speech to undercut the atmosphere i was going for.

Fabulous Pony Eurotrance™

You can also use the following HTML or bulletin board code to share it on your page or forum signature!

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Get SF Weekly Newsletters

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Circumcision Ban Cut from the Ballot

Posted By on Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 12:30 PM

"Intactivist" David Pinckney
  • "Intactivist" David Pinckney
The city's controversial circumcision ban was officially snipped from the November ballot after Judge Loretta Giorgi ruled this morning that the measure would violate state law that prevents cities and counties from regulating medical services -- when they are a matter of statewide concern.

Oral arguments were heard this morning at the San Francisco Superior Court, since bill proponent Lloyd Schofield filed an opposition to Giorgi's tentative ruling yesterday. Giorgi clearly anticipate heightened emotions as she reminded both sides this morning: "The issue for debate today is not the pros and cons of the circumcision procedure. What's before us today is solely issue of whether the proposed city ballot measure is preempted by state law."

Attorney Michael Kinane, speaking on behalf Schofield, argued that the measure would be equivalent to state laws which ban female circumcision. He pointed out that state laws have neither supported nor banned male circumcision. "San Francisco needs to protect our babies," Kinane said. But Giorgi concluded that Kinane's arguments only reinforced her decision.

Meanwhile, outside the courthouse, Bay Area "Intactivists" displayed signs such as "10 out of 10 babies oppose circumcision" and "Circumcisers are child mutilating rapists."

David Pinckney, who was outside the courthouse today, said he knew that Giorgi was not going to change her mind, but he hopes to popularize the cause by bringing it to the public's attention. When asked how people had been responding to his signs, he said: "Unfortunately, most people don't really care."

Matt Hess, executive director of the Male Genital Mutilation, told SF Weekly yesterday that his organization plans to appeal today's decision. So we guess it's fair to assume we've not entirely nipped this one in the bud.

Follow us on Twitter at @TheSnitchSF and @SFWeekly.
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  • clipping at Brava Theater Sept. 11
    Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'. Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"


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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Methi Pilaf/ Rice With Fresh Fenugreek Leaves

          Back in India, after more than a month's stay in the US, hardly had time to check my blog since last Friday, and again this weekend is going to be a busy one with house hunting in Bangalore. In the meantime, whenever I get a chance I am trying to do a post and visit other blogs. Today's post, Methi Pilaf, again something that I had cooked 2 months back, I haven't cooked anything for more than a month now. This is once again a very simple and flavorful dish and goes very well with almost any side dish or even a simple raitha or yogurt..

Need To Have
  • Basmati Rice - 1 cup
  • Chopped Methi/ Fresh Fenugreek Leaves - 1 cup, packed
  • Fresh Or Frozen Green Peas - 1 cup
  • Tomatoes - 2 medium, chopped
  • Garlic - 5 cloves, chopped
  • Broken Cashew Pieces - 1 tablespoon
  • Red Chilly Flakes - 1 teaspoon
  • Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoons
  • Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
  • Cinnamon - 1" piece
  • Cloves - 2
  • Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
  • Salt - to taste

          Soak the basmati rice for 1/2 an hour. Heat some oil, add the cinnamon, cloves and cumin seeds, when it starts sizzling, add the chopped garlic, saute for a minute, then add the cashews and saute till both the cashews and garlic turn golden.

          Now add the tomatoes and saute for a minute, then add the green peas, chopped methi, chilly flakes, coriander and turmeric powders, mix everything and cook till the tomatoes have turned mushy. Drain the water from the basmati rice and add it and mix it for about a minute.

          Add 21/2 cups of water and salt and cover with a lid. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the heat and cook till done.

Can use even frozen fenugreek leaves that you get in Indian stores.
When you cook the rice, once almost all the water has gone, switch off the stove and leave it covered and undisturbed for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Can replace green peas with some cooked chickpeas.
Pin It

  1. Looks appetizing and perfectly cooked.

  2. I've not seen fenugreek leaves anywhere so thanks for the tip to check the frozen aisle in Indian groceries, as we have a few around here.

  3. delicious and delectable pulao with full of flavours...nice pics

  4. I can smell the fragrance of fenugreek..lovely

  5. Very healthy pulao...perfect for lunch box...

  6. wow very tempting one pot meal,love it...

  7. Super tempting and tasty flavorful rice !!

  8. such a flavourful n healthy one pot meal!!

  9. Nice and flavorful rice,looks super delicious...

  10. Looks sooooooooooo inviting !

  11. Thats a very healthy and delicious looking pilaf.

  12. yummy methi rice it looks awesome and delicious.

  13. looks yummy! what a flavourful one pot meal

  14. wow..pulao looks so inviting, love this simple yet flavorful pulao anytime...nice pictorials Hema :)

  15. tempting pic n very healthy n yummy luking rice.

  16. this looks so good ! bookmarking this

  17. I love one pot meals.. Pulao looks tempting and delicious Hema :-)

  18. healthy one pot meal..looks so tempting..

  19. yummy pilaf..healthy way to eat pilaf..awesome..

  20. Classic :) looks sooooo yummyyyy.....Please pass some to me :)
    Like me, folow me at-


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Handmade Love: Snowtime

I was inspired by Miss Angie to make some Etsy treasuries of amazing holiday-themed goodies. If you're looking for a handmade treasure to gift, or just some inspiration for the season, here's what I'm swooning over this week...

1. Winter Snow Door Hanger by Dutch Girl Decor

2. Let it Snow Banner by Mailbox Happiness

3. Snowmen Smores Soap by My Lucky Dragon

4. Knit Snowman by Nykki Makes

5. Sparkly Snow Felted Wool Bowl by Zanie Crafts

6. Winter Fairy Queen Crown by Faeryspell Creations

7. Red Cardinal Photograph by greenpix

8. Tiny Silver Snowflake Earrings by Red Truck Designs

9. Winter Snowflake Tree Tile Pendant by Artsy Diva Designs

10. Game of Thrones Jon Snow mug by TrendingToday

11. Snow Much Fun polish by KBShimmer

Bring on the SNOW! (unfortunately, that's not likely here in Seattle until January, at the earliest. And probably an inch at the most, then. *le sigh*).

Do any of these snow goodies catch your eye?

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text:
550 Million Dollar US Embassy Skimps on Art

by Art Fag City on August 11, 2008 Blurb + Newswire

It’s a good thing there are people who not only are aware of American arts policies such as the one mandating 1% of the construction budget of any building be used to fund and install public art, but actually think to check that this has been full filled.   Felix Salmon notes brand-new 550 million dollar US embassy in Beijing met only 0.14% of its expected quota.

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Guns are an affront to a civil societyAs members of a...

the Forum

March 20, 1991

Guns are an affront to a civil society

As members of a civilized society approaching the 21st century, we have the right to ask our fellow citizens who want guns to demonstrate an overriding need before allowing them to acquire weapons that daily terrorize, maim and kill. Each year tens of thousands of Americans are killed by handguns, many of them our children. According to the Department of Justice, handguns are used in the commission of more than 600,000 crimes annually. Medical care for the wounded alone costs our society more than $1 billion a year.

No one has a constitutional right to keep a Uzi machine gun or a Saturday Night Special. Why shouldn't guns be controlled? They are more deadly than drugs.

Buyers say they want guns for hunting, target practice and self-defense. The reasons they don't list are murder, rape, robbery, assault and suicide. Legitimate self-defense sounds reasonable, with an appropriate weapon, although statistical evidence suggests that it's usually a loved one who ends up shot. The need for target practice could be satisfied by a licensed establishment that controls the guns and ammunition. And hunting with assault weapons, grenade launchers, cheap pistols, hollow-point bullets and most of the guns sold today is absurd.

Finally, there are already some 60 million handguns and assault weapons in the hands of ordinary individuals. Why do we need more?

Roger C. Kostmayer

Unfair to owners

In response to Douglas M. Behr's letter, "Stop the sprawl" (Forum, March 15), Behr notes that the Baltimore County master plan calls for protection of rural areas.

That might sound nice to people who don't own the land in question, but it clearly represents a form of discrimination against landowners for the benefit of non-landowners.

If the state wants mini-parks, let the state pay us for our land. It's not free!

J. Douglas Parran

St. Leonard

Not our friends

What right do the Palestinians have to demand an independent state ` or anything else ` after their disgraceful support of Saddam Hussein and his slaughter of Kuwait?

Every day for weeks, TV reports showed Palestinians in Amman marching on the U.S. embassy and burning our flag ` at the same time America's sons and daughters were losing their lives in Iraq. Palestinians literally cheered the Scud attacks on Saudi Arabia and Tel Aviv and called for more.

The Palestinians showed their true colors when they chose a ruthless dictator as their hero. They deserve no reward for acting as our enemies when we needed their support.

Jeffrey P. Jarosz

The "outhouse" governor, William Donald Schaefer, may have had to phone his Eastern Shore constituents back home for some "how-to" tips once he discovered that most of the indoor toilet facilities in Kuwait were destroyed during the war.

Reginald Toran

Grow up, governor

Gov. Schaefer should step down from his position in Annapolis. Any governor who writes obnoxious letters or seeks out his critics ` Maryland residents ` in person should not be governor of this or any other state. I applaud Cornelius Hourihan for standing up to this man. Unfortunately, all Marylanders are stuck until 1994. Mr. Schaefer, please grow up.

Vincent J. Sizemore

Peter Principle?

As a longtime Schaefer watcher, I am puzzled by a lot of news our governor has been making of late. For example:

In the four-plus years of the Schaefer administration, the state payroll has added 6,000 workers. In December, he said he was going to lay off 1,800 workers. If he can afford to drop 1,800 of the 6,000 who have come on board since he took office, how necessary are they? How necessary are the other 4,200? Why were they hired in the first place?

Then he announced cuts in welfare payments and blamed it on the General Assembly because it refused to raise taxes on working people who are already having trouble making ends meet, to an extent because of Maryland's already unusually high taxes. As any chief executive officer knows, one does not undertake such a move unilaterally ` that is, without checking with the board of directors (in this case, the General Assembly). Did he really think he could get away with this kind of independent action?

On March 14 I read that his popularity has slipped over the past six weeks from a 68 percent rating to a new low of less than 35 percent. Has the Peter Principle ` a person rises to the level of his/her incompetence ` finally taken hold? To what is our governor's increasingly bizarre behavior attributable? Have the pressures of office caused him to strip a gear in his mental transmission?

Should he realize that Marylanders are tired of his confiscatory tax policies and wild spending? Should he do the honorable thing and step down? Have Marylanders finally realized what they got when they elected William Donald.

Charles A. Frainie

Baltimore Sun Articles
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Top 'Q': Will You Scholar-athletes Miss The Deadline?

March 29, 1991|By Pat O'Malley

All right, sports fans, I've got a truckload of "Q's & A's" to put in your Easter basket.

Don't forget to give me a call on the 24-hour Sportsline, 647-2499, this holiday weekend with your own big "Q" orresponse to any of the questions without answers below.

Let's start with probably the most important "Q" of all -- Are you aware that today is the final day for the All-County Academic-Athletic Team applications and that they be must be in our office before 5p.m. or postmarked today?

We will announce the 12 boys and 12 girls selected for the ninth annual Academic-Athletic Team sometime in April. They'll be honored at a dinner on Thursday, May 2, at the Ramada Inn in Annapolis.

As usual, the dinner will be in conjunction with the Anne Arundel Trade Council.

* Don't a lot of us hope that Annapolis High will announce after next Wednesday's very important meeting of the Panther Boosters, Faculty Council and Citizens Advisory Council that the school is going to name either the football field or gymnasium after late coach Al Laramore?

"We definitely need to do something at the school, but I'm not sure that naming the field afterAl is the proper thing to do," said Annapolis athletic director FredStauffer this week.

"I don't know if that would give him the proper recognition that he

deserves in a share type of thing with Mr. Ensor. That's my concern. What is that field going to be called when somebody writes or talks about that field? Is it going to be LaramoreField or Richard G. Ensor Stadium?

"Will the memory of one of those two gentlemen be lost if we try to include both names in that samefacility?"

Hopefully not, and any reporter or anyone else who aims to be accurate certainly would call it by its proper name if Laramore's name was added. It would properly be referred to as: Richard G. Ensor Panther Stadium -- Al Laramore Field.

Ensor was the former Annapolis High principal who died several years ago after suffering injuries in an auto crash. His wife, Veronica Ensor King, is on record as saying that she and her family would not object to Laramore's namebeing annexed and thinks it's a good idea.

While Stauffer is not in favor of the football field where Laramore, who coached several sports, made his biggest impression, the majority of the Panther coaches want it. Head football coach Roy Brown and one of his assistants, Billy Phebus, have formed "The Friends of Al Laramore" in hopes of lobbying for the field to be named after Laramore.

Such a much-deserved honor would mean a lot to Laramore's wife, Dorothy, and their two sons, Dan and Dave, who patiently have waited more than two years forsomething to happen.

"Maybe keeping silent and staying out of this was the right thing, maybe not," said Dorothy Laramore. "Al and ourfamily gave our lives to Annapolis High, and that's where his name belongs.

"I don't agree with putting his name on the community parkat Bates which was old Annapolis High. That's not Al Laramore. Annapolis High is and Annapolis will always be dear to our hearts."

Unfortunately, the Laramores really have no say in this whole thing and have to hope that justice is served.

* A scholarship fund has beenestablished and a benefit alumni basketball doubleheader and a golf outing set up, but is North County High going to name its gym after the late Dick Hart?

Hart was the only hoop coach Andover High ever had in its 30-year existence, and North County is now housed in that building and is in the community where the man lived and coached. Hart was to be the Knights' first coach this year, but his failing health that resulted in his recent death prevented him from coaching.

*Guess who is Broadneck's new junior-varsity baseball coach? How about the man who started the program in 1982 and is the Bruins' athleticdirector?

Yes, Tim McMullen, who won state baseball championshipsat Brooklyn Park (1980) and Broadneck in its first varsity season (1983), is the new coach.

"David Brown (sophomore pitcher on the '83state champion), who played here, coached our JV last year, but because of his job hours (he is a physical therapist) couldn't get off intime to coach," said McMullen. "So, Mark (Stover, head baseball coach) asked me, and I'm having a lot of fun.

"It's a great break fromthe regular grind to get out there with the kids again."

McMullenturned the reins over to Stover, who was then the Bruins' JV coach, in 1985.

* Did you know that former Chesapeake High star pitcher and 1983 Anne Arundel County Sun Baseball Player of the Year Steve Monson, who is pitching in the Milwaukee Brewers' farm system, appears in the April issue of National Geographic?

No foolin'. National Geographic did a bit on minor-league baseball and highlighted Brewer farmhands, and Monson is in there in color. Also, Johnny's of Baltimore 20-and-under team manager Walter Youse, the scout who signed Monson, appears as well.

* What about the mandatory four stick checks per game (two each team) in boys lacrosse? Should the state drop the newly adopted NCAA rule?

Baltimore Sun Articles
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YOU ARE HERE: Burbank HomeCollections

In Burbank, Black Friday crowds thin out after overnight rush

Stores open overnight before many shoppers arrive, easing foot traffic.

November 23, 2012|By Mark Kellam,
(Raul Roa/Staff…)

A rotating schedule of overnight and early morning store openings significantly checked the Black Friday crowds at the regions major retail destinations, producing a much calmer scene compared to years past.

That's because back then, Black Friday was still confined to early morning store openings, attracting huge crowds of pre-dawn deal-seekers. But this year, with major retailers pushing their opening times further into Thursday territory, the onslaught of shoppers was spread out, leaving relatively normal conditions for those who arrived later in the morning on Friday.

In Burbank, police were deployed to Best Buy and Target overnight Thursday as the first few hundred customers were given wristbands for midnight access. Hundreds more customers, meanwhile, waited in lines that snaked around buildings and into parking lots.

But by 9:30 a.m., the crowds at the Empire Center had subsided substantially. In Target, 11 of the store's 20 check-out lanes were open and the lines weren't exceptionally long.

And that suited some customers, like Elisa Corral, just fine. She started shopping with her daughter, Claudia Corral, at 7 a.m.

“It's not worth it to stay here in the middle of the night,” Elisa Corral, said, adding that she plans to spend less money this holiday season.

Claudia Corral said she preferred the smaller crowds.

“This is just perfect for us,” she said. “I hate shopping and this seems safe.”

Meanwhile, the nearby Best Buy store, which opened at midnight, was packed with lengthy check-out lines.

Brandon Masiel and his girlfriend, Courtney Yancey, were initially in a line outside a store at midnight in Porter Ranch, but they opted not to wait.

“We decided to go home, go ahead and go to sleep and get up early and get out here,” he said as they left the Target store.

At the region's other retail juggernaut, the Glendale Galleria, the staggered opening times had a significant impact on the crowds.

The difference wasn't lost on Eva Hermano, who was shopping with her daughter, Leslie, at the Galleria at 6:30 a.m.

“I said to her, ‘Where are all the people?'” she said.

Many of them had done their early bird shopping at Target, which opened at 9 p.m. Thursday, and Macy's, which opened its doors at midnight, depleting the typical Black Friday crowd before the rest of the mall had even opened.

“There certainly appear to be people who are shopping earlier and probably finishing their shopping around 2 or 3 a.m.,” said Brent Shoenbaum with consulting firm Deloitte & Touche. “The earlier openings draw people in sooner and they leave earlier than the morning shift that typically emerges at 6 a.m.”

Follow Mark Kellam on Twitter: @LAMarkKellam.

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YOU ARE HERE: Burbank HomeCollectionsFire Protection

Fire Protection

June 8, 2005
The following information was taken from police reports: DOWNTOWN BURBANK 400 block of 1st Street: An electronics store employee reported to police Friday that an $1,800 laptop computer was taken from a display case. 400 block of 1st Street: An electronics store employee reported to police Sunday that a $1,900 desktop computer had been stolen. 300 block of 3rd Street: The owner of a payroll management company reported to police Monday that $206,000 had been embezzled from his business.
December 13, 2003
Jackson Bell Consider them mobile computer terminals version 2.0. Earlier this week, the Burbank Fire Department finished installing a computerized communication system in each of its emergency vehicles. Battalion Chief Bill Sanders says the upgraded system by Motorola Inc. "puts us ahead of the curve." "It's a giant leap forward in technology and in what these units are capable of doing," Sanders said. "They are like rugged laptop computers."
By Jason Wells and Megan O'Neil | July 27, 2010
A fire destroyed a commercial building near downtown Burbank Tuesday evening, but firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading to an adjacent auto repair shop. No injuries were reported in the two-alarm fire that, at one point, forced firefighters to retreat from the roof not long before it collapsed. Burbank and Glendale firefighters also fell back from the building at San Fernando Boulevard and Santa Anita Avenue after they discovered an unknown flammable liquid “pouring out the doors,” said Burbank Fire Capt.
By Gretchen Meier, | July 31, 2010
Fire officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire that gutted a commercial building Tuesday evening near downtown Burbank, but said the blaze caused $1.75 million in damage. "It could take weeks to find out the cause, or we could know tomorrow," Burbank Fire Capt. Ron Bell said. Both the Fire Department and insurance company investigators continue to sift through the charred building at San Fernando Boulevard and Santa Anita Avenue to determine what set off the two-alarm fire in the wholesale distribution company.
November 4, 2000
A whopping 87% of Burbank's registered voters turned out for the general election on Nov. 8, 1960, spurred by the heated presidential contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, 15 statewide propositions and two lively local issues. Voters trounced an initiative that would have reduced firemen's workweek and narrowly sustained a City Council ban on the sale and use of fireworks. Proponents of fluoridating Burbank's water supply failed to qualify their measure for the ballot.
May 15, 2002
Gretchen Hoffman BURBANK -- As brush fire season picks up with drier-than-usual conditions, local firefighters are being called on to fight blazes across Southern California. The Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena fire departments sent strike teams to fight a fire sweeping across the Angeles National Forest near Santa Clarita on Saturday and Sunday, Burbank Fire Marshal Dave Starr said. On Monday, they were called to send a strike team to a blaze in Orange County, but the team was canceled en route, Glendale Fire Capt.
May 29, 2002
Ryan Carter BURBANK -- Firefighters call it beefed-up accountability at the scene of a full-alarm fire. But when it comes to the proposed budget, a staff aide to fire commanders to help ease confusion at a scene is not in the works -- not now. Citing a recently adopted national fire-protection standard that recommends a staff aide or assistant be assigned to battalion chiefs, Burbank firefighters and the...
September 17, 2003
Connie Baker The City Council on Tuesday took steps to upgrade its impact fee schedule by approving $50,000 to hire a consultant to update a system developed in 1993. Economic & Planning Systems Inc. (EPS), a land economics consulting firm with offices in Berkeley, Denver and Sacramento, won the bid out of 10 competing companies. The firm is experienced in services relating to real estate, government and public infrastructure, as well as financial feasibility and impact fee analysis.
By Christopher Cadelago | February 10, 2010
DOWNTOWN — Burbank Fire Chief Tracy Pansini on Wednesday announced plans to retire effective Feb. 20, with longtime Battalion Chief Ray Krakowski expected to take over the department in March, officials said. Pansini, a 30-year veteran of the department who considered himself an “in-the-trench guy,” has been out on medical leave since June. Officials would not comment on the nature of the leave, citing the chief’s right to privacy. “I want to personally thank city leaders, both current and former, for all the opportunities that were afforded to me during my tenure with the city,” Pansini wrote in a letter to officials announcing his plans.
By Robert Phipps | October 2, 2009
A few years ago, on a midday Saturday, my left arm started hurting, and I started sweating heavily and feeling dizzy. Those feelings got worse and worse, and when my fear finally overcame my juvenile machismo, I asked my wife to call the emergency medical technicians. She did, and they came promptly and checked me out and gave me an EKG. After a while my symptoms subsided, and the EMTs said that there was no indication I was having a heart attack. I needed them; we called; they came immediately and gave me first-class care.
Burbank Leader Articles Burbank Leader Articles


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Their Credo: You Are What You Wear, And Paint On, And Coif

October 18, 1985|By Magda Krance.

Some people never grow up. They pass the days dreaming up new costumes for each night. They plaster on theatrical makeup, lots of it. They dye and sculpt their hair meticulously. It is expensive hair. They dress up in vintage clothes or their own bizarre creations. They wear lots of flashy-trash jewelry, regardless of gender. They say, ``Let`s put on a show!`` They live in fantasyland, a happy kind of Twilight Zone. They live to Make Appearances.

You can see them at the Limelight any night of the week.

Some of them pose, affectedly or playfully, in the glass-contained environments just beyond the entrance to the trendy post-disco nightclub on Dearborn Street at Ontario. Over here, a sphinx-like sylph sits in sand and toys with a live tarantula. Across the way, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI grimace with maniacal glee while their guillotine goes up and down--slam, up and down, slam. Over there, an Edie Sedgwick lookalike in thick black eyeliner, a blond wig and a mini-miniskirt stares through the passing crowd with beyond-the-grave blankness as the real Edie flickers on a small-screen TV behind her.

Others prance in the more expansive glass box behind the upstairs bar. A few weeks ago they were making like wild-eyed post-nuclear cavemen, with bones pierced through their stand-up hair, displaying tribal-paint makeup and tattered fur loincloths. More recently, they converted their big box to a new- wave lunar landscape, complete with extraterrestrial graffiti and cave paintings. They wore bat-winged white bodysuits with attached trefoil and spiraled headgear, and glow-in-the-dark facepaints.

Still more otherworldly apparitions drift through the crowd emanating artsy ennui. They don`t merely attract stares; they command them, on account of their close-cropped spiral-cut or leopard-spotted hair, their raving beyond-Tina-Turner wigs, their foot-high mohawks, their girls-will-be-boys-and-boys-will-be-girls garb, their chains dangling between pierced noses and ears.

These minglers feign airy indifference as the talking heads in business suits and other conventional (or conventioneer) costumes turn to gawk. These breathtaking apparitions may just be on break, released from their glass cases for a quick drink and a smoke. Or they may dress this way without being paid to do so.

``What do they do for a living, that they can look like this?,`` the turning talking heads muse.

Several are freelance performers. According to Michael Allen, Limelight`s co-art director, the club taps 30 such performers, about 12 of them regularly. The fee for an evening starts at $40, depending on the performer`s experience, plus free soft drinks and juices, and a couple of cocktails. ``I`m trying to get more professional performers in, from the area acting schools,`` Allen says.

``We aren`t working tonight--we`re off, just enjoying ourselves, and the ambiance, the ambiance,`` says Bob Whittinghill, 26, standing near the central bar at Limelight. He`s tall, wearing a skirt and multi-colored blouse, with a scarf tied fetchingly around the back of his shaved head. ``Most of us are members of SSPU--Space Shuttle Performance Unit,`` he adds, indicating his curiously costumed cohorts. ``There are 12 people in SSPU, and four of us work at Limelight. We perform functions in the arts. Other members in the group have other lives in the arts.``

The performance-art ensemble is about a year old, and its proceeds go to publish a magazine called Plaid, Whittinghill explains. (He`s toting a plaid metal lunchbox as a purse.) When SSPU members aren`t in a glass box at Limelight or performing elsewhere, ``some are in fashion design, or graphic arts or whatever,`` Whittinghill says. ``There`s always opportunity in keylining. I`m editing a book right now, for a computer scientist, on how memory may work.``

Bopping to the beat nearby is Tommy Walton, 23, a member of another performance-art ensemble, Sector Q. Walton looks a bit like Prince with his slight build, sultry lips, dazzling teeth and false-lashed doe eyes. ``The eyelashes are light green--aren`t they maaahvelous? I have salmon ones and purple ones, too,`` he confides. He`s wearing a fetching turban, bracelets

``from Tiffany`s,`` he claims, and an exotic-looking outfit that`s ``all silk. I did the scarf myself. A lot of my clothes I construct myself. I Superglue and staple my clothes together. The turban I sewed on tonight. The jacket is 50 years old, from the Goodman. The shirt is from India. The shoes are from Paris.``

And how does he pull such ensembles together? ``I have my personal resources,`` Walton answers coyly.

Walton, too, is off-duty this night, just making the scene, enlivening the human scenery. ``I do performance four or five nights a week here. Most of the time I`m in a case, but I`m also on stage in the Dome Room sometimes. I do, like, fashion victims, or Doris Day,`` he says with a glittery laugh.


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Fax Machines Become A Fact Of Life For Soviets

September 24, 1989|By Vincent J. Schodolski, Chicago Tribune.

MOSCOW — The telefax machine, a device that would have sent shivers down the spines of old-time doctrinaire defenders of Soviet propaganda, has invaded the Soviet Union.

At Moscow`s central telegraph office, once a center of that defense, Galina Ychenkova, a cheerful lady with a mass of gray curls and very thick glasses, wrinkled her face as she thought back more than 40 years.

``There was a room here on the ground floor,`` she said in tones that hinted at a good-natured mix of conspiracy and mischief. ``It was just behind that door over there, but none of us was ever allowed inside. There was always a militiaman on guard.``

And behind that door, just inside the busy lobby of the stone monolith on Gorky Street, sat the men who read-and frequently censored-the dispatches of foreign correspondents.

That practice ended in the late 1950s. Today, above the same door that once was the end of the line for information, is a large sign in Russian, English and French that advertises a little box with a lot of buttons-a telefax machine.

The fax, the child of the marriage between a telephone and a photocopier, is transforming the way that Soviets, from political dissidents to foreign ministry officials, communicate.

It has eased the strain on foreign business executives trying to make profits grow in the garden of glasnost and it has given birth to alternative news agencies in the land where Tass used to be the only game in town.

Unknown in the USSR just a few years ago, fax machines have begun sprouting everywhere. Their presence marks a technological step away from of the dark ages of rigid official control over the information flow.

Take, for instance, the earnest young editors of the Sajudis Information Agency, the official press service of the Lithuanian popular front, an organization that has virtually become an alternative party in the Baltic republic.

In a crowded little room on the fourth floor of a slightly ramshackle building in the center of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Sajudis compiles information about the popular front and its fights with the Communist Party as both organizations struggle through the puberty of Soviet pluralism.

Lacking proficient Lithuanian-English translators, the editors fax the information to the United States, where Lithuanian emigres translate it into English. From there it is faxed to news organizations around the U.S. and also back to the crowded little room in Vilnius where the editors fax it to Western correspondents in Moscow.

It can all be done in an hour if things work correctly, they say.

Not only the speed is important. The fax has made possible certain kinds of communications within the Soviet Union that were impossible until just a few years ago.

For example, there are two telex systems in the Soviet Union, one international and one domestic, and they don`t connect with each other. That meant it was impossible for someone with access only to a domestic telex to send something abroad, or even to an international telex in Moscow-perhaps to a Western news bureau, almost all of which have international machines.

The fax even has taken the world of Soviet journalism by storm.

``We get major stories from newspapers all over the world by fax now,``

said Alexander Merkushev, editor of the English-language service of Tass.

``Our correspondents also fax us all the U.S. presidential speeches and transcripts of interviews.``

He said Tass correspondents often file their own stories by fax.

But it is not only journalists who are firing documents across telephone lines that traditionally have been user-unfriendly.

Fax machines have enabled business executives to have the last laugh on the unnamed Soviet bureaucrat who decided long ago that telephone switchboards were a dangerous thing.

Because of that decision, in Soviet factories, offices, government bureaus and even giant hotels, each foreman, each bureaucrat, each official and each and every guest has an individual, separate telephone line. And it is impossible to reach any of these people unless they just happen to be sitting by their phones.

This is frustrating enough if you are trying to talk to your visiting aunt at her hotel, but it is a far different matter if you are a business executive, perhaps 10 time zones away, trying to guess when the Soviet you are trying to sell gears to might be at the desk.

Enter the deus ex machina-in this case, the fax.

With a fax on his desk in Chicago, for example, a businessman can send his information at any time of day, or night to the fax sitting on the desk of the Soviet he is trying to reach.

So pleased were many Western business executives with this solution that some actually gave fax machines to their hard-currency starved Soviet contacts.

With the number of fax machines growing every day-it is impossible to estimate how many there are-it finally occurred to a would-be Soviet entrepreneur that there was money to be made in the service business.

Thus was born a new Soviet cooperative that wants to repair and service all those machines out there. But the founders of the organization say they have a problem: They have no idea how a fax works.

When last heard from they were trying to buy one on the black market so they could take it apart to see what makes it tick.


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Pair of investment companies to acquire struggling Eddie Bauer

November 14, 2006|By Bloomberg News.

REDMOND, Wash. — Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. said Monday that it has agreed to be acquired by Sun Capital Partners Inc. and Golden Gate Capital for $286 million after losing more than half its value since exiting bankruptcy.

The buyers will pay $9.25 a share in cash for the 380-store chain, the companies said Monday. The firms also will assume $328 million in debt. Shares of Eddie Bauer rose 14 cents, to $8.99, Monday on the Nasdaq stock market.

Eddie Bauer emerged from Downers Grove-based Spiegel Inc.'s bankruptcy reorganization as a stand-alone company in June 2005.

Sun Capital and Golden Gate are paying 27 percent less than Eddie Bauer's share price when it put itself up for sale in May. Eddie Bauer said the sale would give it the resources to turn itself around. It incurred losses in the past two quarters after it switched its focus from outdoor gear to fashions for teens.

"It's an investment in a brand identity," said Candace Corlett, a principal at the consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail in New York.

Eddie Bauer has suffered from targeting the wrong customer and choosing poor store locations, she said. The new owners will need to better identify its target audience, and are likely to expand catalog sales, she said.

It had a loss of $42 million, or $1.40 a share, on revenue of $226 million in the three months ended July 1, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The retailer has blamed losses on poor consumer response to merchandise changes. It has said its fashions were too skewed to younger customers, and it moved too far away from its "outdoor heritage" and offered too many colors. Eddie Bauer also raised prices too aggressively, it said.

The sale, expected to close in the first quarter, is the latest private-equity acquisition of a retailer. Private-equity firms have agreed to buy about 65 U.S. retailers and restaurant companies so far this year, according to Bloomberg data.

Closely held investment firms such as Eddie Bauer's future owners use their own funds along with borrowed money to buy companies, with the goal of selling them at a profit.

Sun Capital is a Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm that has holdings in retailers, including Mervyn's LLC and Lillian Vernon Corp. Golden Gate Capital, based in San Francisco, has invested in Catalog Holdings Inc., a direct marketer of women's apparel under brands that include Spiegel.


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Editorial: Selling out our ports

It's time to hit the reset button on the flawed privatization process

February 09, 2013

Last spring's unsolicited proposal by APM Terminals to run Virginia's ports set off a contentious debate over how and whether the state should turn over control of the state's most valuable asset to a private party.

For starters, lack of transparency was a problem. Lawmakers felt they had been left out of the process. Other private companies that might have wanted a chance at such a contract — as well as the current operator, Virginia International Terminals (VIT) — felt they had been squeezed out because the APM terms had become the baseline for comparison. One legislator likened the process to a "hostile takeover" of VIT.

Even when the Virginia Port Authority announced it would accept other bids, it set an impossibly short time frame of 45 days for submission of alternative proposals on what has proven to be a highly complex deal. Initially, Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton wouldn't even release the names of those who did bid, on the grounds that the information might be "confusing" to the public. Currently, the only other bidder is a consortium led by JPMorgan IFF Acquisitions LLC.

On top of these backroom dealings, the process has been complicated by conflicting reports on the value of the port concession and whether the current structure is flawed or sound. APM paints the picture that the ports are being poorly managed and not operated to their full potential, while VIT maintains its operation is thriving and profitable.

A major reason the APM deal is tantalizing to the McDonnell administration is that it would free up about $35 million from the Transportation Trust Fund that the Port Authority has been using for capital projects — money that could be rerouted to road improvement essential to the ports' success. And addressing the state's transportation funding problems sooner rather than later has been a top priority for the governor.

But the deal must be analyzed in light of what is best for the Commonwealth over the long term, and we simply don't have enough information to evaluate whether it makes sense to tie up the Port of Virginia for a half-century with a single company. Before Virginia sells off its most valuable asset — one of the few major economic engines that the state actually has control over — we need an independent valuation and analysis by an outside party who doesn't have skin in the game.

Another problem with both the APM and JPMorgan bids is that such a contract would lock up control of the ports with an entity that has commercial interests at other East Coast ports. There are no contractual guarantees sufficient to address the economic decisions that might be made by a company seeking to maximize profits across an entire operation. Even with minimum output requirements, a company could make the business decision to deflect potentially profitable business elsewhere — perhaps to meet similar requirements of another contracting party — resulting in a loss of opportunity to Virginia.

We acknowledge there may be a better way to operate and grow Virginia's ports than the current arrangement with VIT. Two years ago, Gov. McDonnell cleaned house and replaced the Port Authority's board in an attempt to stimulate more efficient management and reverse a disturbing trend of losses. And perhaps due to the threat of privatization, the Port Authority announced plans in January to shake up its management in an effort to increase market share.

Had Gov. McDonnell begun with a careful review of the state's needs and developed criteria for bidders, we might be in a better position today to evaluate and compare proposals. As it stands now, we don't know exactly what the ideal public-private arrangement would look like. The problem is not with privatization per se, but that the reactionary bidding process was defective from the outset.

Operating the Port of Virginia is far more complicated than developing specs for a highway and letting bids. Virginia needs to take a step back from this process and undergo a deliberate analysis of where the ports stand and what is needed to make sure we capture the increased business that is sure to result from the widening of the Panama Canal after 2014. If that analysis leads to the determination that privatization of all or a portion of the port operations is an appropriate pursuit, then the state should seek bids and allow plenty of time for a thorough process.

Meanwhile, the General Assembly would be wise to approve the pending bill that would prohibit the state from taking unsolicited proposals in the future to operate the Port of Virginia. The Commonwealth of Virginia, not an outsider, is the proper party to define acceptable terms for operating this unique and valuable asset.

Daily Press Articles


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YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsGannett

Gannett Offers to Buy Stake in Cowles Media

March 24, 1985|Associated Press

CHICAGO — Gannett Co. has offered a bid to acquire a 14.3% stake in Cowles Media Co., which publishes the Minneapolis Star & Tribune and other newspapers, it was reported Friday.

Douglas H. McCorkindale, Gannett vice chairman and chief financial officer, told the Chicago Tribune that his company offered a bid to acquire the Cowles Media stock, now held by the Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.

McCorkindale didn't offer details of the bid, which was presented to the Register and Tribune Co.'s investment banker, First Boston Corp.

Register and Tribune and Cowles Media are controlled by the Cowles family. The family agreed in January to sell all its assets in the Des Moines company and liquidate it. As part of the liquidation, the Register and Tribune agreed to sell the Des Moines Register and other newspaper properties to Gannett for $200 million.

Cowles family members have said repeatedly that Cowles Media Co. is not for sale.

The Register and Tribune board is to meet Monday to discuss how to dispose of its 14.3% stake in Cowles Media. The board may distribute the stock to Register and Tribune shareholders or sell it to an outside bidder.

Washington Post Co. agreed earlier this month to buy a 17% block of Cowles Media stock for an undisclosed price from a large shareholder in the Minneapolis firm.

But a Post spokesman declined to say if his firm was bidding for the Cowles Media block owned by the Register and Tribune.

It is believed that the Post was one of the companies that lost to Gannett in bidding for the Des Moines Register.

Los Angeles Times Articles


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Charlie Rose drops spoiler about final season of 'Breaking Bad'

July 29, 2013|By Meredith Blake
  • Vince Gilligan, left, sat for a conversation with Charlie Rose to talk about Walt's transformation during 'Breaking Bad.'
Vince Gilligan, left, sat for a conversation with Charlie Rose to talk about… (Neilson Barnard / Getty…)

“Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan paid a visit Sunday night to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens to celebrate the opening of a new exhibition, “From Mr. Chips to Scarface: Walter White’s Transformation in 'Breaking Bad.' "

Before a sold-out audience of several hundred fans, Gilligan sat for a conversation with eminent newsman Charlie Rose. Over the course of the 75-minute chat, he discussed the exact point at which Walt “broke bad” (Gilligan placed it in episode 4 of the first season, when he declines to accept money for his cancer treatment and decides to cook more crystal meth instead), his own experiences with drugs (“I took too many Sudafed one time”) and the difficulty of working on a network drama (he’s a fan of “The Good Wife”).

Of course, with the series headed into its final, 8-episode stretch on Aug. 11, Gilligan also addressed, however indirectly, Walter White’s fate. The writer said that, while he admired the gutsiness of the notorious series finale of “The Sopranos,” the conclusion of “Breaking Bad” will be more conclusive.

VIDEO: Anna Gunn on 'Breaking Bad'

“ ‘Breaking Bad’ was always much more of a finite construct,” he said. “Most TV shows are designed by their nature to be open-ended, to be indefinite, to go on forever. It’s hard to get a TV show going, and once you get it going, you don’t want it to end and I didn’t want ‘Breaking Bad’ to end. But I knew creatively when your self-imposed franchise, as was the case in ‘Breaking Bad,’ is to take your protagonist and turn him into your antagonist, that is a continuum you’ve just ascribed for yourself, and there’s only so bad that bad could be. By its very nature this is something that has a limited shelf life.”

“I’m very happy with the ending,” he added.

While Gilligan assiduously avoided any spoilers, the same couldn’t be said of his interlocutor who, perhaps exhausted by the strain of appearing in three different TV shows, accidentally dropped a small detail about the season ahead. As their chat was winding down, Gilligan, with characteristic humility, was reflecting on the difficulty of topping “Breaking Bad” and the dangers of trying to write something “great.”

When he sat down to write the show, he didn’t imagine he’d ever be “sitting here at the Museum of the Moving Image talking about it with Charlie Rose. I didn’t think any of those things would come of it,” he said.

GRAPHIC - 'Breaking Bad' to 'Justified': Killing off your favorite stars

[Spoiler alert begins now.]

That’s when Rose spilled the beans. “Speaking of that, who in the world gave you the idea to include me in the next-to-last episode?”

“Well, uh, that’s a bit of a spoiler there,” said Gilligan, sounding ever so slightly irritated.

“I spoiled it?” Rose asked.

Gilligan groaned in response, wobbling his hand in the air as if to say "sort of."

“I didn’t describe anything. How does that spoil anything?” Rose said in his defense. “The check will still be in the mail.”

"The check should still clear," Gilligan conceded -- though Rose may want to hurry to the bank.

[End spoiler alert.]

Later, Gilligan gave a small group of reporters a tour of the exhibition, which includes iconic props, costumes and production materials from the series. On display are the drab tighty whities Walt wears in the series premiere, his “Heisenberg” ensemble and the bright pink stuffed bear that floated ominously in Walt’s pool in season 2, among other mementos.

Alas, Walt’s beat-up Pontiac Aztec remains somewhere on the Sony lot, Gilligan said.

Review: 'The Writers' Room' is a zoo tour of how TV shows get made

TCA Press Tour: 'Breaking Bad's' Walter White had a hot dog past?

For 'Breaking Bad' team, it's been a brutal, heady ride to the end

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Real places, fake characters: TV's bars and eateries

PHOTOS: Real places, fake characters: TV's bars and eateries

CRITICS' PICKS: What to watch, where to go, what to eat

CRITICS' PICKS: What to watch, where to go, what to eat

Violence in TV shows

Los Angeles Times Articles


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June 23, 1985|Sunday Call-Chronicle

Cheryl Kern and Melvin Simons were married yesterday in St. Thomas United Church of Christ, Bethlehem.

Doris Houser and Bill Makuvek were honor attendants.

The bride is the daughter of Edith Kern of Freemansburg and Paul Kern of Allentown. The bridegroom is the son of the late Dorothy and Gilbert Simons.

Mrs. Simons is a graduate of Freedom High School and is employed by the Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. Her husband, a graduate of Liberty High School, is employed by Bethlehem Steel Corp.

The couple will reside in Freemansburg.

Morning Call Articles
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Forks company makes computer viewing easier

Its mounting arms for flat panel monitors offer flexibility.

March 07, 2004|By Tracy Jordan Of The Morning Call

Brian Hammerstine needed a way to easily reposition his computer screen while recuperating from an illness.

The solution came in a box shipped from a manufacturing plant just north of Easton in Forks Township.

Innovative Office Products delivered a mounting arm to Hammerstine's New York City apartment that allowed him to rotate his flat-panel display 180 degrees to face either his desk or bed and adjust it to an ergonomically comfortable height.

The arm it replaced, purchased from one of Innovative's leading competitors, went in the garbage.

"I was so disgusted with it, I threw it out," Hammerstine said. "I've been using Innovative's product happily for years."

Hammerstine has been so impressed with the product that last month he negotiated a purchase agreement for a large quantity of Innovative's 7000 Flat Panel Radial Arms. He sells them over the Internet on the eBay auction Web site.

Some days when he's taking orders, Hammerstine is sitting in bed with his wireless keyboard on his lap and his monitor suspended above him on Innovative's floating arm mount.

"There is nothing coming from any other part of the world that is as good," Hammerstine said. "They're an American company that is leading the world in quality."

Innovative Office Products has outside vendors -- all within the United States and mostly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey -- cast the aluminum parts for its patented designs. Its nearly 100 employees machine weld, paint, assemble and package the arms in its 89,000-square-foot facility.

This is the third location for Innovative since Odd N. Oddsen of Morristown, N.J., started the company in 1986 in downtown Easton as a supplier of ergonomic computer accessories.

"The initial intent was not to be a manufacturer, but to be more of a reseller of components," said Innovative sales manager Tim Jancar. "It was just a very small period of time before they realized this wasn't what they wanted to do."

The popularity of a CRT (cathode ray tube) holder that Oddsen's son, Odd "Bud" Oddsen Jr., developed to free up desk space catapulted the company into manufacturing, according to Jancar.

Growth of the company prompted moves around 1996 into a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on Liberty Street in Wilson, and in 2001 to its 12-acre site in Forks Township.

The senior Oddsen, a mechanical engineer, and his wife, Wenda, and son are officers in the company that, according to the Pennsylvania Manufacturer's Register, did $8 million to $10 million in sales last year.

Most of those sales were for mounting arms for flat-panel, LCD (liquid crystal diode) screens, which are rapidly replacing the bulky CRT television-like monitors.

"It's just staggering, the sheer number of flat panels that are coming out, and it's pulling our business with it," said Innovative's marketing manager Joe Tosolt. "Our production manager likes to say, "Our slow time of year was last month."'

To keep up with the demand, Innovative's work force has doubled in the past three years. The company plans to start a second shift with two or three machinists this year.

"We're glad to be one of the manufacturing companies in the Lehigh Valley that is growing, because we know that seems to be a rare bird these days," Jancar said.

Nearly 11 million LCD monitors sold were worldwide in the second quarter of 2003, according to DisplaySearch, an Austin, Texas, consulting firm specializing in market research for flat-panel screens. The LCD monitors accounted for 39 percent of the monitor market and 60 percent of revenues.

Companies are converting to flat screens because they free up work space and decrease the risk of ergonomic-related injuries. They also reduce energy costs for air conditioning because LCD screens radiate less heat than traditional monitors.

The spacing savings and ergonomic benefits are even greater when combined with a mounting arm.

Innovative said its arms are unlike those of its competitors because they incorporate important features -- nearly invisible wire management, multiple mounting options, out-of-the way storage, and effortless adjustments through pneumatic cylinders similar to the gas-assist devices used in expensive office chairs.

"The others are incredibly ugly by comparison, and they use springs and some wheels that you have to tighten and loosen every time you move the arm," Hammerstine said. "Innovative's arm is just wonderfully clean and platonic. I'm really surprised they're able to deliver it for the price they do."

Innovative sells its 7000 Flat Panel Radial Arm, which has a 24-inch extension and 14-inch lift, for $225 each. The 7500 series, which has a longer extension and lift, sells for about $100 more.

Discounts to volume buyers allow dealers such as Hammerstine to sell them for 30 percent to 40 percent less than the company's prices. This discourages someone with a home office from contacting the company, freeing the company's seven sales representatives to serve its 2,000 volume and special-order customers.

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Uf Prof Studying People Network

March 31, 1985|United Press International

GAINESVILLE — A group of researchers is taking the old adage of ``it`s not what you know, but who you know that counts`` one step further and trying to discover how and why you know the people you know.

``We`re interested in understanding social structure -- that is, how societies are held together in a global sense,`` said H. Russell Bernard, a University of Florida anthropologist leading the research.

Earlier experiments by other researchers showed that, on average, any two people anywhere in the United States are connected by a chain of acquaintances only about five links long, Bernard said.

For example, Person A, a bus driver in Cheyenne, Wyo., may know a waitress who knows a bartender who knows a lawyer who knows a senator who knows Person B, Frank Sinatra.

But the question Bernard wants answered is, how do people know who their friends` friends` friends are?

``Let`s say you know 500 people, and each of them knows 500 people, and so on,`` Bernard said. ``Those people are not a willy-nilly, random selection from all the 4 billion people in the world.``

If it`s not random, there must be rules that explain why people know the people they know, he said. To get at those rules, Bernard and his associates are studying how people use their personal networks of acquaintances.

``We all use social networks,`` Bernard said. ``If you want to find a job, or get information, or if you want to meet somebody -- whatever you want -- you ask somebody to help you. You use intermediaries to help you get at the rest of the world.``

Working with Peter Killworth of Cambridge University, England, and Florida graduate student Christopher McCarty, Bernard has expanded on a procedure dubbed the Small World Technique, from research done in the 1960s.

The Small World Technique works like this: One person, designated the ``starter,`` is assigned the task of getting a folder to another person, designated the ``target.``

But the starter can send the folder directly to the target only if he or she knows the target on a first-name basis, Bernard said. If the starter doesn`t know the target, the folder is sent, with the same instructions, to someone the starter knows and believes has a better chance of knowing the target.

Each time the folder is sent to a new person, it is recorded as a link in the chain of acquaintances, until it reaches the target.

The Small World Technique revealed how closely linked we all are, but didn`t explain how the connections are made, Bernard said.

Given the uncertainty involved in the technique, people sent the folders to acquaintances on the chance, not the knowledge, that they might know the target, Bernard said. The possibility exists, he added, that with better information about who knows whom, the acquaintance chains might get shorter.

To find out why people choose particular acquaintances as links, the researchers devised the Reverse Small World experiment. Starters were given information about targets, and asked to choose a first link and tell the researchers their reasons for making a particular choice, Bernard said.

The starters were given a list of 500 targets, providing name, location, occupation, age, sex, hobbies and organization memberships.

On average, each starter named 250 different people as links, although some people had much larger lists and others had much smaller lists, Bernard said.

The typical choice for a link was a male friend or acquaintance, not a relative, Bernard said. Choices were usually made on the basis of either occupation or location, depending on the occupational prestige of the target.

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Six In The Running For Bcc President

College Trustees To Conduct Interviews, Make Final Selection.

October 1, 2003|By Jennifer Peltz By Jennifer PeltzStaff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE — The head of Colorado's community college system, the director of an Illinois higher education agency, several community college presidents and Broward Community College's academic chief are the top candidates for BCC's top job -- for now.

A search committee picked six people Tuesday to recommend as replacements for BCC President Willis Holcombe, who plans to retire in January.

Trustees will make the final choice, and they may winnow, add to or otherwise change the list before planning interviews.

The search group suggested:

Larry Calderon, president of Ventura College, a community college in California. During his eight-year tenure, the college has added a campus and doubled its foundation's assets to $6 million, he told BCC in a letter.

Margaret Forde, president of Houston Community College Northeast. She has held the top spot for six years at the growing, racially diverse college in a neighborhood where more than half the residents lack a high school diploma or GED, she wrote.

Eileen Holden, BCC's academic vice president. She came to BCC in 2001 from a similar post at Palm Beach Community College. In a letter relating to the search, BCC Government Relations Director Barbara Cohen-Pippin praised Holden's "ability to analyze and appreciate varying perspectives of her colleagues."

Andrew Jones, president of a campus of the Community College of Baltimore County, Md. During his four years in the job, the Catonsville campus has increased international student enrollment by 30 percent a year and minority student enrollment by 10 percent a year and appointed its first minority academic dean, he said.

Daniel LaVista, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which works with public and private colleges and universities. He came to the job last year after presidencies of two Illinois community colleges and of the Baltimore County community college system.

Joe May, president of the Colorado Community College System. During his three-year tenure, he has led a successful push to persuade state legislators to increase faculty salaries by an average of $3,000 but also grappled with budget cuts totaling 26 percent in the past year, he wrote.

Updates on BCC's presidential search are available at

Jennifer Peltz can be reached at or 561-243-6636.

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Rod SHAW, not titled [fat man at tap] Enlarge 1 /1

Drummoyne, New South Wales, Australia 1915 – Richmond, New South Wales, Australia 1992

not titled [fat man at tap] 1978 Place made: Australia
Materials & Technique: drawings, pastels, drawing in colour pastels Support: paper

Primary Insc: signed and dated lower right in pastel 'RMS 78'. not titled.
Dimensions: image 25.7 h x 19.0 w cm sheet 37.2 h x 29.8 w cm
Acknowledgement: Bequest of Harry Stein 1995
Accession No: NGA 95.752
  • Gift to the National Gallery of Australia, from World House Galleries, New York, 1995.


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Volume 24, Number 3 — March 2017

The Arts — Changing Lives: Literature

Sylvia Nickels, Linda Hudson Hoagland and Barbara Kingsolver
Sylvia Nickels, Linda Hudson Hoagland and Barbara Kingsolver

Literary Validation

Sylvia Nickels lives in Sullivan County, Tenn. She is a member of several literary groups, including the Lost State Writers, and she is a board member of the Appalachian Authors Guild and Associates. She says, "In my case, it's literary art that changed my life. While I love visiting fine art galleries and seeing the pictures and other objects that talented painters, fabric artists, and others have created, words are my brushes and paper/computer screen my canvas. I began seriously writing and submitting about 15 years ago. Since then I've had some stories and non-fiction accepted and become involved with regional writing groups. Writing is a solitary occupation so I need the camaraderie and support of fellow travelers. They help to validate my identification as a writer and hopefully I do the same for them."

Writing: The New Love in My Life

When Linda Hudson Hoagland's husband died, her life changed abruptly. The novelist from Tazewell, Va., says, "I no longer had to schedule every waking hour based on how my beloved Sonny was feeling that day....As a writer, I need time alone to get my thoughts together so I can put them in the computer and eventually on the printed page. Now, I have all the time in the world to do just that but I don't want to do it....I need more clutter, more appointments, more reasons to get out of bed each and every morning, but that doesn't mean I have to have a new man in my life."

It's been almost a year. Hoagland says, "I have developed a new love in my life, and that's the need to sell my books and become recognized for the writer that I am and the better one that I will be in the future....I'm scheduling library appearances, craft shows, fairs, festivals, and book signing events to fill up the lonely hours of each weekend."

Poetry: A Lament

Editor's Note:
The following poem by renowned author Barbara Kingsolver is reprinted by permission from Another America (Seal Press, 1992). Kingsolver currently makes her home in Meadowview, Va.

Beating Time

commemorating the removal of poetry as a requirement in Arizona's schools, August 1997

The Governor interdicted: poetry is evicted

from our curricula,

for metaphor and rhyme take time

from science. Our children's self-reliance rests

upon the things we count on. The laws

of engineering. Poeteering squanders time, and time

is money. He said: let the chips fall where they may.

The Governor's voice fell down through quicksilver

microchip song hummed along and the law

was delivered to its hearing. The students

of engineering bent to their numbers in silent

classrooms, where the fans overhead

whispered "I am I am" in iambic pentameter.

Unruly and fractious numbers were discarded at the bell.

In the crumpled, cast-off equations,

small black figures shaped like tadpoles

formed a nation, unobserved, in the wastepaper basket.

Outside, a storm is about to crack the sky.

Lightning will score dry riverbeds, peeling back the mud

like a plow, bellowing, taking out bridges,

completely unexpectedly.

The children too young to have heard

of poetry's demise turn their eyes

to the windows, to see what they can count on.

They will rise and dance to the iamb of the fans,

whispering illicit rhymes,

watching the sky for a sign

while the rain beats time.

A! Magazine for the Arts Celebrates 15th Anniversary.
— Back to the main story.


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Volume 24, Number 3 — March 2017

Tour of Homes returns to Virginia Highlands Fest

171 East Main Street
171 East Main Street
Additional photos below »

July 27, 2016

The 68th Virginia Highlands Festival invites you explore historic Abingdon, Virginia, while learning about the region's culture and history.

Fifteen of Abingdon's most historic houses will be open on "The Abingdon Historic Homes Tour" event Saturday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All of the properties are within the established downtown historic district within walking distance of each other.

Learn about the architecture and the stories of those who lived in these historic homes which range in date from 1816 up to the 1930s. This tour provides a window into the past as you walk through history in these restored homes.

225 East Main Street: The Bank was built to serve both as residence and business address for the Exchange Bank, established in 1849 with Robert Preston its first cashier. The banker's family lived on the east side of the house. The west side was reserved for banking operations, with a separate entrance, walk-in safe and bars on the windows. Exchange Bank closed many years ago, but it has remained the residence of the Preston and Stuart families, descending to Mr. and Mrs. G.R.C. Stuart. Of special interest are original features of the bank and a portrait of Abingdon's first mayor, John Montgomery Preston.

239 East Main Street: Built in 1886 for Judge John J. Stuart, this brick front-gabled shotgun dwelling was used as his law office until the early 1900s. Its front, which is embellished with decorative details, gives it a Folk Victorian look. Over the years, it has served as an office, residence and a retail store. The shotgun architectural style is often found in its one-story form throughout the South. It is a narrow dwelling with its rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end. Currently it is the residence of Charlotte Sutherland.

360 East Main Street: The elaborate architectural trim embellishing the front pediment and columns for this shotgun-style brick house makes it notable. It was probably built following the Civil War as the law office for John Humes, whose large brick home once stood just to the west. Following his death and the Civil War, a Catholic convent and girls' boarding school known as the Villa Maria occupied the Humes' home. This small structure was built for its priest's office, which was enlarged as a residence during the 20th century. The Villa Maria/Humes house was ultimately removed. This is the residence of Lauren Slone.

120 Court Street: 1872 is the construction date for this front-gabled example of Abingdon's shotgun-style buildings. Of special note is the fan-shaped architectural feature over the front door. It was built as a law office for John W. Johnston, who was also a judge and United States Senator. In 1918, Lewis Preston Summers acquired it, where he wrote his early 20th-century histories of Southwest Virginia. His son Andrew Summers, a musician and musical heritage historian, eventually inherited it and added interior architectural embellishments. It is the studio of portrait painter Tracy Ference.

239 East Valley Street: Built in 1836, this is one of Abingdon's earliest houses. It has remained a residence since it was built by blacksmith and wagon builder, Gabriel Stickley. The clapboard structure with side-gabled roof and a paneled front door with small portico reflects the simple elegance of its vernacular or national style that recalls an earlier Georgian preference. Far from eastern coast trends, styles lingered here longer and also tended to blend with others. Over the years, a rear kitchen area ell has been added, off which is a covered porch and garden. The current owner is Diane Hutchings.

244 East Valley Street: Built in 1916 for D.F. and Della Clark, this Craftsman-style house features many design features common to this early 20th-century house form, such as the side-gabled, overhanging eaves with exposed decorative brackets and a front porch covered by the sloping roof with central dormer. The owners are Gary and Susan Kimbrell, who have painted the exterior in a Craftsman palette and added a folk-art environment in the fenced yard.

171 East Main Street: Wealthy merchant Colonel James White built this Federal-style house in 1819. It was burned in December 1864 during the Civil War and later re-built by Col. White's son, who added the Italianate brackets under the roof eaves, an architectural feature seen on several Main Street homes. At the rear of the property is a brick building originally used as servants' (slave) quarters. White was said to own so much property between Abingdon and Alabama that he never had to spend a night on land he didn't own. Emmitt Yeary is the owner.

Plumb Alley (behind Col. James White's house): Now called the Walnut Grove-Yeary Cabin, this homestead was constructed from multiple original log homes which were moved to this site to form an authentic example of an early working farm, complete with blacksmith shop, kiln, bee hives and outdoor bread oven. Emmitt Yeary is the creator and owner. There will be demonstrations at this site during the tour.

147 East Valley Street: This square brick early 20th-century house is a variation of the Colonial Revival style. Its hipped roof and full-width porch, as well as front door with surrounding lights, are typical design features. It was built in 1909 as the home of Judge Rueben Page, who served with the Washington County Mounted Rifles during the Civil War. It is the second building on this site. The first was the Masonic Hall where the Abingdon Female Institute held its classes until the Hall was destroyed by fire. The owners are Charlene Trulik and Bill Purcer.

132 East Valley Street: This large family home was built in 1876 incorporating the foundation of a smaller 1805 home. Completed around 1880, it had later additions that included the kitchen area and south porch. An interesting aspect of this home is its appearance of two fronts, one facing Valley Street and the other facing Pecan Street. Historically it was the home of the first Methodist Protestant Church minister, Lewis F. Cosby and his descendants. Its owners are Fred and Gypsy Holt.

118 West Valley Street: This front-gabled cottage home, built during the second quarter of the 20th century, is one of several small bungalows on this block of Valley Street, which was Abingdon's first residential neighborhood. Its living spaces were originally increased by a cozy front porch and recently by the addition of a large open porch extending off the back. The lower basement level has also been finished as a useful space for a home office. A new open-air patio along Plumb Alley supplies yet another place for comfortable, informal living. Margaret Hulvey is its owner.

132 West Valley Street: The early 20th century saw the emergence of the smaller American home style known as Craftsman. This 1938 version features a central dormer on the upper half-story. The side-gabled roof slants forward and down to cover an open front porch supported by tapered square columns, typical of this comfortable and livable home design. The owners, Paul and Kelly Read, have recently updated it to feature a large, modern master suite and bath. The lower basement level has been re-purposed to create a work area for potting plants that is handy to the back garden.

107 Park Street: Rick and Susan Humphreys recently restored this 1834 structure, adding an ell to the rear. An empty, abandoned and derelict property before the restoration, many of its architectural features were found and carefully brought back to life. Interesting aspects are its restored front porch, original basement kitchen, stone foundation, clapboard siding. It is now a B&B, the Black Dog Inn.

119 Park Street: Built in 1840, this is another restoration by Rick and Susan Humphreys. It also features an ell addition. Completed in 2003, many architectural details were saved and restored, including mantels, doors, windows and casements, floors, baseboards and stairs. The property is utilized for vacation rentals and is known as A Tailor's Lodging, recalling the tailor business of the original 19th-century owners.

153 West Main Street: This example of romantic architecture in the late 19th-century Italianate style was built in 1879. It was the home of Letty Floyd Johnson, the daughter of one Virginia governor, John Floyd, and sister to another, John B. Floyd. Of note are its arched and hooded windows and four small porches, two on the main ground floor and two above them, each featuring a small cupola-style roof tower. It was sold out of the Floyd family in 1882 to a succession of residential owners. In recent years, a rear addition enabled its use as a retail book store, and most recently it has been the business office for an energy company.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased on the festival's website ahead of time or at The Bank at 225 East Main Street or the Read house at 132 West Valley Street, Aug. 6.

To learn more about the Virginia Highlands Festival and this year's events, visit

Topics: Art

153 West Main

119 Park Street


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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Create Your Own Mondrian Masterpiece, Project 2

In December you learned about Piet Mondrian. Mondrian’s art became more abstract over time until his paintings contained only lines and rectangles of five colors: black, white, red, blue, and yellow. I recommend that you reread that post to refresh your memory before continuing with this project.
Also in December, I posted a Mondrian-inspired painting project. The project I am sharing with you today is much simpler. It’s also not nearly as messy and requires fewer supplies. I’m pleased with how my artwork came out and I think you’ll have good results, too.

Supplies Needed:

Construction Paper: Black, White, Red, Yellow, Blue
Glue Stick

Gather your materials. You will use a full sheet of black and less than one sheet each of the other colors.

Do not cut your sheet of black construction paper. It will be the background of your artwork and will form the black lines between colors. Cut various sized rectangles, strips, and squares of white, red, yellow, and blue.

Lay your colors onto your black paper. If necessary, cut the rectangles so they fit onto the paper. Play with the rectangles until you like the look of your artwork.

To complete your artwork, use your glue stick to attach the rectangles to the black paper.

This is a great project to do with a group of kids. It is not too difficult or time consuming, and each child will create a unique piece.

Don’t forget to check out my post on De Stijl, the art movement to which Piet Mondrian belonged.

You may also be interested to create your own edible Mondrian painting.

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