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On the morning of September 11, 2001, after terrorists toppled the World Trade Center towers, rammed a jet into the Pentagon, and were thought to be in control of an unknown number of additional planes, the National Security Council ordered the government to act as if the apocalypse was now. A series of secret orders, known collectively as Continuity of Government, or COG, zipped across the government's classified computer and phone networks.
On cue, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Alternate National Warning Center in Olney, Md., sent emergency action alerts. The 1st Helicopter Squadron (code-named "Mussel") swooped down to the National Mall from Andrews Air Force Base, grabbed congressional leaders, and rushed them to the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Bluemont, Va. The Secret Service spirited first lady Laura Bush to a bunker beneath one of its buildings. An Army helicopter on standby at Davison Army Airfield, about 15 miles from the Pentagon, whisked the deputy Defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, to an enormous hardened bunker (code-named "Marconi") deep within the Raven Rock Mountain Complex near Maryland's border with Pennsylvania.
But 50 years of secret contingency planning, most of it drawn up with a U.S.-Soviet Union nuclear war in mind, had not anticipated a threat like the one that came on 9/11. No one had updated continuity-of-government plans for the Pax Americana. Communication nodes malfunctioned, leaving President Bush, who was in Florida, out of touch with the military and the White House at key points during the day. Hotlines, conference-call systems, and telephone circuits with built-in preemption capability—the key connections between all the moving parts—were unreliable.
The government couldn't find Cabinet members; they and their security details were clueless about where to go. The Presidential Emergency Operations Center, or PEOC, three stories beneath the East Wing of the White House, was not always in contact with the president when it needed to be. For a time, the emergency center could not reach Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was assisting with the rescue operations at the Pentagon, even though an officer or two from the Pentagon Communication Agency accompanied his personal protection detail.
That day did not cause an existential crisis for American government. The evacuation of key leaders from Washington worked well enough. But the problem was distilled by a furious phone call from Bush to PEOC at 10:08 a.m. demanding to know what the hell was going on. Fact is, the people there didn't really know and weren't equipped to find out.
Eventually, officials realized they had a major national-security threat that was independent of terrorism: Any major catastrophe in Washington could bring down the federal government, blurring chains of command and separating decision makers from intelligence. And if something truly catastrophic happened, they acknowledged, they would have no idea how to reconstitute government afterward.
Months before September 11, riding in a routine springtime motorcade in Washington, Bush had tried to make a telephone call from his limousine. Static. He couldn't get a signal. When he arrived at the White House, he pointed to Joseph Hagin, his deputy chief of staff for operations—the man responsible for making the president go—and motioned him over. In no uncertain terms, Bush told Hagin that the president should be able to make a telephone call to anyone at any time. "He essentially said to me, 'We need to fix this and fix it quickly.' He asked, 'What would we do if something really serious happened and this didn't work?' " For the next seven years, Hagin led an extremely secret, multibillion-dollar effort to reconstitute the nation's doomsday plans. He has never before given a formal interview on the subject.
Hagin had not finished the job by September 11. The day after, at a National Security Council meeting, Bush was "irate," as one aide put it, about the failure in communication that caused the breakdown in the chain of command. To this day, senior members of the NSC do not know whether Bush gave Vice President Dick Cheney the authority to order planes shot down, as Cheney asserted. (Bush later said he did, in a conversation between the two before 10 a.m., but no evidence exists, and many members of the administration suspect that Bush gave Cheney no such blessing, though none would say so on the record.) The 9/11 commission, which was established to prepare a full account of the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks, including the government's preparedness and response, noted only that the president's and vice president's recollections did not necessarily jibe with the notes taken by others who were with both men that morning.
After the attacks, Hagin refocused his work to head off this sort of communications dysfunction in the next crisis. The goal: Move information to the president immediately—anywhere, regardless of place or time—about threats to the homeland. If the president couldn't be reached, the Defense secretary had to be available to make decisions. The president could delegate his authority to the vice president—but Bush wanted to have the option to do so or not, something that aides got the strong impression he had not had on September 11 when Cheney jumped in decisively. No one blamed Cheney, who was steeped in Reagan-era continuity planning, but they recognized that the legitimacy of the presidency was at stake if the vice president had to improvise. What if the president needed to decide on a nuclear attack but couldn't be reached?
"[Bush] said to me, 'We need to fix this and fix it quickly.' " —Joseph Hagin, former White House deputy chief of staff for operations
"We worked quickly to reduce the time it took to get the president ready to make a call for Noble Eagle events," a former Bush administration official told National Journal, referring to the combat air-patrol canopy over Washington. If a plane were to violate the air-defense zone, the president would receive instant briefings and could be connected to the National Military Command Center within minutes. Officials updated the technology of the nuclear-launch briefcase, the so-called football, and revised its accompanying folders to include contingency responses to a range of disasters.
The U.S. Northern Command, or Northcom, was launched in 2003 to oversee the defense of the country's interior; it also took responsibility for the combat air patrols over Washington and for several units that perform classified missions related to homeland defense. Northcom, headquartered at the District of Columbia's Fort McNair, was given shoot-down authority for airplanes across the country.
Working with the Energy Department, Northcom monitors a real-time radiation map of the Washington metropolitan area; almost every day, a department helicopter flies over sensitive areas to determine if the background levels have changed. Karl Horst, the commanding general of Joint Force Headquarters for the National Capital Region, told National Journal that Northcom is responsible for the antimissile batteries around Washington and for evacuating the government in catastrophic circumstances—by air, by ground, and by sea. A classified Concept of Operations plan known as Conplan 3600 spells out these functions.
For spiriting officials away, the government has more than a half-dozen command posts built into airplanes and more than a dozen transportable systems on the ground. Plans call for potentially stashing officials on submarines, aircraft carriers, and offshore bases—even in friendly foreign countries. Budget requests boosted the Secret Service's budget by several hundred million dollars for emergency capabilities. The military established a second alternate command center on a base near the White House and a third bunker at the Pentagon.
It took several years and several hundred billion dollars to modernize the communications links between the president, the Cabinet, the military, and the bunkers—known informally as "the sites." A number of redundant networks were put in place, run by a little-known agency called the National Communications System. Located in the Homeland Security Department, it manages a variety of secret projects, including one called SRAS, or Special Routing Arrangement Service, which gives government officials priority use of our communications systems in emergencies and acts as a hub to transmit emergency war orders. The National Security Council and the White House Military Office also manage a system of interlinked and redundant communications bunkers across the country that allow the president to communicate directly with, say, the director of the CIA or the FBI, wherever they are.
Hagin's team modernized presidential relocation facilities, including the White House's PEOC and the Raven Rock bunker that served as Cheney's "undisclosed location." Officials reopened several closed bunkers and constructed new ones in Colorado and Florida. Altogether, about a dozen formal presidential relocation facilities are stocked with six months' worth of supplies. National Journal discovered a secret Defense Department agency responsible for COG acquisitions—the folks who make sure the bunkers have toilet paper. (The National Security Council asked NJ not to reveal its name because doing so would jeopardize the cover programs associated with other COG functions.) The agency operates out of a nondescript office building in Maryland.
It took two years to equip the president's limousine with reliable, secure voice links to Royal Crown, the White House's switchboard for classified communications. In 2004, Air Force One finally received teleconferencing capability—and live TV. The White House Communications Agency upgraded its Washington-area infrastructure and spent several years reconciling interoperability issues with the Secret Service. The communications agency surveyed major telecom carriers and found that one had much more capacity than the others; everyone got new phones. (National Journal was asked not to disclose the carrier.)
Many of the assets that FEMA uses to mitigate and respond to disasters have classified functions that kick in when COG plans are executed. The number of programs is secret, but the government has secure facilities at every Cabinet headquarters and relocation site that contain protected vaults stocked with bright red binders. The binders spell out the COG plans for the department. The security officers who guard the vaults and safes are paid by their departments, but they actually report to the White House Military Office.
Presidential helicopters are a weak link in the chain of command. Officially, the HMX-1 squadron, based in Quantico, Va., has at least 17 working helos. The reality is that a large number are used for spare parts. The copters are 30 years old, and President Obama killed a follow-on program because it was more than $1 billion over budget. Back when Bush was on board, the helicopters experienced two power failures and one communications breakdown. Designed for 14 passengers, many of the choppers seat only 10 because of bulky emergency communication equipment and countermeasures. (The Secret Service, which supervises presidential COG programs, declined to comment, and the Marine Corps referred requests for comment to the White House.) A White House official said that Obama endorses a reasonably priced alternative and that it is on track.
The secret COG apparatus is huge: One former government official with knowledge of the budget estimates that continuity-of-government programs have cost $20 billion over the past 10 years. When Obama took office, he asked for a full accounting. A six-month study concluded that although the COG expansion made it much likelier that the president and the Cabinet members could be safely hidden and protected, the plans did not sufficiently address what happened next—when Cabinet secretaries had to figure out how to respond to a paralyzing influenza pandemic, for example. Would state governments follow federal orders? Would private companies allow the executive branch to take over their operations and carry out orders? Who had the telephone numbers of the superintendents of major school districts so that the president could call and personally request that a system be shut down if a state refused to do so?
Obama has kept the COG infrastructure intact for now. According to administration officials, he has also pushed to link its functions with the rest of the government's catastrophe planning. Last year, the administration held what it called the biggest continuity-of-government exercise since September 11; top White House officials were evacuated, as were members of the Cabinet and their senior aides. "The goal was to see how we could all get off-site and still communicate," a senior official said. Obama participated from the White House Situation Room. An annual tabletop exercise called Eagle Horizon, which envisions multiple simultaneous catastrophes, included more participants in 2010 than any other exercise of its kind before, according to a FEMA official.
Hagin said he did not intend to criticize the Obama administration, and he informed the NSC about his cooperation with National Journal. But he also told NJ that he observes a sense of drift in all branches of government as the passage of time since September 11 draws focus from emergency preparedness. He worries that COG programs, which have large but classified budgets, face pressure to slash spending. "The continuity-of-government programs took on an urgency [on September 11] that they certainly had not held since the fall of the Berlin Wall and possibly at any time since the Cuban missile crisis," Hagin told National Journal. No matter the cost, the Bush administration was determined to take them seriously. It was forced to.
Decapitation attacks from terrorists or natural disasters that could paralyze Washington are low-probability, high-impact events. It's hard to protect against them, let alone figure out how to pay for those protections. Resources are finite. When a military asset is deployed as a backup communication system to another backup communication system on the chance that an improbable event might happen, that asset is not available to support troops in actual combat. These are legitimate trade-offs that should be debated.
Yet, by definition, very few people have a bird's-eye view of the COG programs from which to debate them. And because they are enmeshed in questions about the Constitution and the separation of powers, Congress has very little oversight for them. The National Security Council controls these "Special Access Programs," and virtually everything about them is orally briefed to a few select members of Congress. Not even the chairs of the Homeland Security committees are privy to all the details. Consequently, almost no debate about COG takes place—how much it costs and what assumptions govern its implementation. And it is not even clear which branch of government should have authority over continuity of government.
In 2007, Bush issued a homeland-security presidential directive that consolidated COG functions in the White House because FEMA was having trouble interacting with the Defense Department on crucial, classified issues. That directive also established, in public, the dual assumptions that guided Bush's planning. The branches, led by the executive, would work together to prepare for catastrophes, but the executive branch would exercise unilateral authority to make sure that eight "national essential functions"—from "providing leadership visible to the nation and the world" to stabilizing the economy—continued to operate throughout a major emergency.
Read one way, the directive implies that, in an emergency, the executive branch has the authority to ignore Congress and the judiciary if it wants to. The body of law that governs national emergencies can certainly be interpreted that way. Many statutes and unclassified orders expand the authority of the military to carry out executive functions that amount to martial law (contravening the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which restricts what the military can do on American soil).
The directives even spell out what happens if someone lower in the line of succession takes advantage of uncertainty to assume presidential authority.
Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, allows the military to establish operational zones inside the United States during emergencies. Nixon's Executive Order 11490 allows for the emergency "control of enemies and other aliens" within U.S. borders—and for the Securities and Exchange Commission to shut down the stock markets. The National Emergencies Act in 1976 gives the president broad powers that the Army believes allow the commander in chief to "regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens," according to a 2010 Army legal document obtained by National Journal.
Then there's the Insurrection Act, which gives the president the power to use the military to forcibly contain "civil disturbances." The rules of engagement are classified but "restrictive in nature," according to the Army document. An "execute order" issued by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2009 lays out some scenarios in which the military can use force, even without permission from higher authorities—usually when no federal law-enforcement officials are available, and lives and property are in imminent danger.
The military can even make arrests under those circumstances, under 10 USC 382. Title 10, Section 374 (b) 2 of the U.S. code permits the Defense Department to provide technological and personnel support to law-enforcement agencies. Under Title 18 of the code, the attorney general can request significant military assistance for containing and mitigating civil disturbances. Other laws permit emergency quarantines, too.
The most sensitive parts of continuity of government—the ones that expand executive power most conspicuously—are very closely held. They've been completely revised, according to several officials who have read them, for an era when state governments feel confident exercising their own power and when some Americans are predisposed to suspect martial-law scenarios. Classified executive orders spell out a range of powers the president can assume in the event of an incident of national significance. (Since 1958, one of these documents has provided for the suspension of habeas corpus for citizens on "security" lists at the time of a crisis.)
According to people who have seen them, the COG plans include draft presidential emergency-action directives, or PEADs, under which White House lawyers can fill in the blanks—in the case of "x," the president may do "y." But it's unclear whether, during an emergency, these orders would be recognized by the federal agency or officials they're directed to, or by state governments, or even by the American people. The Bush-era COG plans were based on the commonsense premise that no post-disaster government would be legitimate unless people perceived it to be a valid expression of their will and the constitutional balancing of powers among the branches. The Bush White House encouraged the federal branches to plan together.
The COG plans also include, however, directives for scenarios in which one or two branches of government cannot function. "As we would go through functions, we would realize, 'Oh shit, that's going to be a challenge because Congress can't constitute a quo-rum,' " one of Hagin's colleagues said. "So our plans were written from an operational concern about our ability to perform their role, and what flows from the executive branch in those situations is the scenario where they can't [perform]."
COG planners are particularly worried about how to reconstruct a government whose authority people will respect. That wasn't a problem when President Truman first confronted the prospect of a nuclear doomsday. During his presidency, military officers wrote plans for a postcrisis government that the public would almost certainly have accepted as legitimate. People of that era did not conceive of a six-decade-long diminution of trust in the presidency—or in all large institutions. They did not consider the idea that a malfunctioning Congress could affect the way Americans respond to emergency powers because no one would be able to check the president. Back then, functions mattered more than personality. That is, if the president were killed, it would be sufficient that his successor (whoever that might be) could press the right buttons to launch nuclear weapons.
By September 11, 2001, that 1940s-era system was inadequate because the world had calmed down. The idea that terrorists could decapitate the government was within the realm of imagination, but it was not something that preoccupied Washington. CIA Director Leon Panetta, who was President Clinton's chief of staff, told National Journal that he recalls being introduced to the bunker facilities underneath the White House and participating in a few exercises, but says he had no cause to spend much time on continuity-of-government scenarios.
Meanwhile, the plans themselves were relics. Most were minor revisions to the Eisenhower administration's Code of Emergency Federal Regulations blueprints. Those secret documents emphasized fixing immediate problems like food shortages and rioting rather than ensuring that legitimate elected officials could solve problems and mitigate the potential for an extended crisis.
"I feel very confident that we can reconstitute the legislative process." —Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer
The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 spells out procedures to ensure that constitutional government endures, but it is full of holes. In the scenario imagined by the statute—no president, no vice president, no speaker of the House, and no president pro tempore of the Senate—the secretary of State becomes president either until the end of the current president's term in office or until someone higher in the chain of command suddenly reappears or recovers from injuries and is able to discharge the powers of office. (After the secretary of State, the chain of succession proceeds through the Cabinet, based on when the departments were created.)
Imagine that some lower officeholder takes power for a time, and then the vice president recovers from an injury. As soon as the VP wants, he or she can "bump" the acting president—or not, if the VP doesn't want to. Constitutional scholars don't like this provision because it provides incentives for all sorts of mischief (someone could be bumped just as a particular piece of legislation needed the president's signature) and relies on the assumption that national leaders are willing to completely surrender the attachments of their political party and their personal agenda.
Another problem is that, in a catastrophic emergency, the people who need to know who is in charge might not be able to find this out immediately. In particular, the Secret Service and the officials who execute lawful orders from the National Command Authority (which is another name for the commander in chief's executive powers) might be paralyzed by a communications breakdown, despite all the systems. If confusion persists about who's alive and who's dead—and if, for example, the Defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are out of the country or incommunicado—the confusion could be deadly.
Maybe the secretary of Defense, if he doesn't have contact with anyone above him in the chain of command, assumes that he is the acting president. Maybe the vice president will do the same if he can't reach the president, or if the Secret Service doesn't know whether the president is alive. These are extremely unlikely scenarios, but what happens if two people act as if they're in control?
The PEADs provide Cabinet secretaries, White House aides, and other senior officials with what amount to checklists: Have you called here? Have you waited for "x" amount of time? Are you sure that FEMA hasn't done "y"? After they answer the questions, the checklists then empower the officials to temporarily assume certain presidential authority to make sure that the government can function. The directives even spell out what happens if someone lower in the line of succession takes advantage of uncertainty to assume presidential authority. The documents are written, essentially, to deal with possible coups d'état.
These scenarios are improbable, but the confusion around them is not. Confusion played out for real in 1981 during the attempted assassination of President Reagan. In the chaos after the president was shot, Secretary of State Alexander Haig declared that he was in charge. The secretary had apparently forgotten that the vice president, the speaker of the House, and the president pro tempore of the Senate were above him in the line of succession. (Haig later insisted that he meant to say that he was in charge of just the White House and its immediate executive functions until Vice President George H.W. Bush could return to Washington.)
Reagan's "biscuit"—his nuclear-command code-verification card—remained in the custody of the FBI for a period of time after the shooting, even though Bush was connected to the National Military Command Center at all times. There was no abrogation of the National Command Authority, and yet the American people were treated to scenes that seemed to show an executive branch out of control.
Possibilities like these keep planners up at night. Hagin and others believe that an alive, alert, in-touch elected president of the United States will have an enormous calming effect on the American people during a major calamity. But in an age where some people seem to doubt the legitimacy of presidents even before they take office (Bush lost the popular vote in 2000, and a quarter of Americans still think that Obama was not born in the United States), it's hardly clear that the public would accept Vice President Joe Biden or Speaker John Boehner as chief executive. Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and other scholars believe that a government run by someone who is unelected or someone without a Congress to provide a check wouldn't be seen as legitimate even if the levers of government worked.
In the end, continuity of government relies as much on the other two branches of government as on the executive. But the different habits and prerogatives of each are difficult to bridge. Virtually every former and current official contacted by National Journal is confident that the executive branch is well prepared to handle almost anything. But they said that Congress and the judicial branch might not be.
Hagin says he did what he could. He furnished the House speaker with a plane containing secure communications, and he offered to help pay for judiciary's separate and unrelated "marshal's office"—which protects Supreme Court justices when they are outside the District as well as federal judges across the country—to modernize its COG plans. (Continuity-of-government planning for justices and the Court itself is handled by this marshal's office, which did not return a phone call seeking comment.)
Ornstein has long complained about the American political system's inability to conceive of the questions that would arise if many members of Congress were killed—or if Congress were unable to function at all.
Then there's the problem of constitutional succession. The president pro tempore of the Senate, who is customarily the longest-serving—and oldest—member of the majority party, is fourth in line to the presidency. The majority leader of the Senate, who is much more familiar with the policy decisions that would need to be made in an emergency, is nowhere in the line of succession.
Had a decapitation strike taken out Bush, Cheney, and the speaker of the House in 2001, the octogenarian Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., would have become president, and his staff could have taken over the government. Currently, 86-year-old Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, fills that post. Senior officials in the Bush and Obama administrations say they have privately expressed concern to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about the role of the president pro tempore. Reid has not been responsive, these officials say. The majority leader's office declined to comment, but a simple Senate rules change could fix this quirk.
The Constitution itself is another problem. When a senator dies, the appropriate state government usually acts quickly to appoint a successor, but House seats remain vacant until a special election is held. After a crisis, the Senate could reconstitute itself much more quickly than the House could. If a catastrophe happened to wipe out most of Congress tomorrow, Democrats would quickly be running Capitol Hill again. The Republicans' control of the House—if the lower chamber were able to function at all—would be wiped away.
According to several congressional officials, members and their staffs pay little attention to the subject of continuity. But Terrance Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms and the former head of the U.S. Capitol Police, insists that the legislative branch's continuity-of-government planning is robust and dynamic. "The notion that we aren't prepared speaks highly of the classified system that we have in place," he said. The plans are "well formed and well rehearsed," Gainer said. "Whether something happens to one building on Capitol Hill, whether Washington, D.C., as a whole isn't available to us, whether it is something more catastrophic … I feel very confident that we can reconstitute the legislative process."
Gainer is briefed on COG planning at least once every two weeks, he says, as is Phillip D. Morse, his counterpart at the Capitol Police, which is responsible for the Capitol complex and the security of the House of Representatives. Their teams have rehearsed such nuances as how to physically deliver legislation if the president is somewhere else. "Our main goal is to make sure that Congress can do substantive, meaningful legislation," Gainer said.
Others briefed on Congress's plans are skeptical. One official privy to recent congressional COG plans said that members have never been subject to a call-tree exercise, which is the staple of continuity planning. "No one has ever sat down from a secure site and tried to call every member of Congress in their districts to see the response rate," the official said. "I know it takes time to do this, and I know that it's not in the nature of Congress to be closed and secretive about these things, but we have to do them."
Speaker Boehner has asked his chief of staff, Barry Jackson, who became familiar with COG plans as an official in the Bush White House, to assess congressional readiness, a senior Republican aide said. In Ornstein's assessment, the legislature's continuity-of-government planning is "a classic case of avoiding short-term discomfort to insure against small chance of devastating long-term catastrophe."
"The farther we get away from September 11," Hagin said, "the more memories start to fade. No president, current or future, should want to be in a position to struggle to communicate effectively because the technology was not there in a critical national emergency. We learned that the hard way, and we suffered through a time with an inadequate system."
On the night of 9/11, members of Congress memorably gathered on the Capitol steps to sing "God Bless America." It was a sign to all that the Republic was strong. But what if there is no Congress to gather and give that sign? The legislative branch lags behind the executive branch in considering that possibility. The legitimacy of what the government does in a crisis is at stake.
This article appears in the April 9, 2011 edition of National Journal Magazine.
National Journal


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MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. /quotes/zigman/68270/delayed/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL -0.23% could triple its potential smartphone market in China and help its profit, even with a lower gross margin if it launched a lower-priced iPhone in that country, said Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, cited by Apple Insider. "Stabilization in China smartphone pricing and growth in China's Mobile's 3G smartphone share ripen the market for a lower-priced iPhone," said the investment bank. A $330 iPhone, it said, is "incremental to EPS even at a low 40% GM and with flattening growth for the legacy iPhone."
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text: I liked that Chen Lu was emotional about the bronze that year because she had overcome so many obstacles. You don't see that too often. Usually it's the favorite who "just missed out" and their dreams are crushed. It's not really gratifying to watch something like that, as a fan.


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Maxi, meet mini. The best of both lengths combine in this ultra-glam prom dress! We're loving the lace mini, paired with a maxi tulle skirt. And the one shoulder strap? Glam goddess to the max - literally.
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Meet Ring-Ding, an adoptable puppy rescued from the south by Adopt-A-Dog of Greenwich.
A few weeks ago, kennel manager, Kristin Alouisa, and events coordinator, Brian Gordiski, made a 30-hour round-trip to South Carolina. Their purpose was to pull a mother and her litter of six puppies from an overrun, mom-and-pop type shelter in a remote location. During the ride home the Adopt-A-Dog team gave Ring-Ding his name. They also named his mother Hostess and the other five pups Twinkie, Yodel, Snowball, Cupcake and Suzie Q.
While Adopt-a-Dog operates as a sanctuary where dogs live out their days contentedly if they don't find a forever home, the "puppy house" fills and empties quickly.
And although Adopt-a-Dog's director Allyson Halm laments that not a single dog found a home at this fall's "Puttin' On The Dog" event, the inevitable phone calls from families seeking Christmas puppies are not much consolation.
Still, as awareness increases that pet stores source from puppy mills, and as rescuing grows in popularity, the solution would seem obvious: Match the supply of unwanted southern puppies with northern demand.
And, with black labs so popular in New England, but euthanized at high rates in the south, the solution sounds like a no-brainer.
If only it were that simple.
Canine Parvo Virus
The highly-contagious, often lethal virus known as Parvo, to which puppies are most vulnerable, is common in the south. According Dr. Putter of Greenwich Animal Hospital, a handful of factors converge to create the deadly situation.
"The environment is warmer and more hospitable to the virus. There's also a reluctance to spay and neuter, more roaming, and more unvaccinated pets in the south," explained Putter. "There are overall more animals who can get it."
Putter explained that Parvo is fecal-oral. "An infected dog sheds the virus in its feces and it is transferred through a mucus membrane – eyes, nose, or mouth. Parvo can remain in the environment for days or even weeks. A dog might step in it, sniff it, or lick his paws, lick your shoes. It just takes a trace a mount. And it's more virulent than it used to be."
Parvo: Puppies crash fast, essentially dying of dehydration
Hostess is healthy, though she carries the Parvo virus. This is because an adult dog's antibodies are sufficient to ward it off. And while Hostess was nursing her six puppies, she passed along her antibodies in her milk.
Once the puppies were weaned at around 6-8 weeks they became vulnerable and remained susceptible until two weeks after their first Distemper-Parainfluenza-Parvovirus vaccine.
All six pups spent at least two days at Greenwich Animal Hospital. Yodel and Cupcake were released, but went back after relapsing. Yodel was adopted directly form the hospital by Dr. Putter's brother Eric. After a struggle, Ring-Ding recovered and left the hospital on Friday, Dec. 14.
"The bill is $6,000, which represents a discount for hospitalization and intensive care," said Halm. "Dr. Kramer and Dr. Putter also travel here about twice a month to evaluate the dogs at no cost."
"It was a major effort to get the puppies to live," said Halm.
Parvo Protocol at Adopt-A-Dog
"We believe full disclosure is the only way to educate the public and let them know these problems exist," said Halm when asked whether she worries about scaring potential adopters.
Halm described the rigorous Parvo protocol at Adopt-A-Dog, adding that this is probably their fourth litter of Parvo from the south.
The puppies go straight from the van to the puppy house for the standard two-week quarantine. They are monitord constantly for signs of lethargy, vomiting, or diarreah, which would trigger an immediate trip to the vet. There are scrubs, gloves and booties, and a "puppy-only" volunteer rule during quarantine. Then there is the constant cleaning and disinfecting with a solution of bleach diluted in water.
Why Rescue from the South?
"Driving in the south, there were so many strays running along the highways and dead on the side of the roads that eventually I stopped looking out the window," said Alouisa. "You see dogs chained to fences or kept in small pens," she added. "Or running free, skinny and scared. They come to the kill shelters with little hope of finding a home. They almost have better chances roaming as strays."
Alouisa said the shelter Ring-Ding and his family were pulled from was about 50 miles in from the highway. "It was very remote, we drove down a dirt road to this couple's house, which was a trailer. As soon as we pulled in the driveway, our truck was surrounded by dogs, 50 or 60 dogs. Little dogs, big dogs, medium dogs."
Alouisa said she often grapples with the Why rescue puppies from the south? question. "When you meet them, it's all worthwhile," she said. "Plus I know how they're set for life once they get to adopt-A-Dog."
Alouisa paused and nodded her head reluctantly, as if asking herself the Why puppies from the south? question again. "But we just can't keep rescuing all these dogs."
Anyone interested in adopting Ring-Ding, his siblings, or any of the dogs at the sanctuary should go to http://www.adopt-a-dog.org/ or call (914) 273-1674.


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Tagged: Southern Africa
African artists are calling on the African Heads of State to keep their promises and invest at least 10% of their national budget in agriculture.
African artists, including Oxfam Global Ambassador Baaba Maal, are calling on the African Heads of State to keep their promises made in 2003 Maputo to spend at least 10% of their national budget on agriculture.
African governments must keep their promises to invest in healthcare, a coalition of organizations from across the continent said today, at the launch of the "Alternative Presidents Debate" at the African Union Summit in Kampala.
International agency Oxfam has welcomed the announcement by international drug purchasing agency UNITAID to create a patent pool for HIV drugs. Millions of poor people will now have access to cheaper, more appropriate medicines.
Europe is negotiating new trade deals – economic partnership agreements – with African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries but it is choosing power politics over partnership.
If the new trade agreements are skewed in favor of Europe's rich countries, then they are more likely to increase rather than reduce poverty.


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- Hockey
U.S.' Lyndsey Fry a barrier-breaker for Arizona hockey
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 should not have been an important day for hockey.
But it was.
That night, Glendale, Arizona's City Council convened to discuss the future of the financially troubled Phoenix Coyotes, the tenants of the city's Jobing.com Arena that had been without an owner for over four years.
The purpose of the meeting was simple: Have the seven members of City Council vote on whether or not to approve a 15-year, $225-million lease deal for Jobing.com Arena (pictured below) to the Renaissance Sports & Entertainment group, which was looking to purchase the Coyotes and keep the team based in Glendale.
Photo: USA Today Sports
Riding on this vote that would be decided by a simple majority rule was the fate of hockey in the state of Arizona: If the deal was declined, the Coyotes would be all-but-confirmed to be sold to a different ownership group and moved, probably to either Quebec City or Seattle, Washington, within days.
If the deal was accepted, the Coyotes, who arrived in Arizona from Winnipeg in 1996, would be sold to Renaissance Sports & Entertainment and remain in the Grand Canyon State for the foreseeable future, allowing hockey to continue to be grown in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.
After hours of tedious deliberation, the votes were placed.
The Coyotes were staying.
A New Beginning
When the votes were cast that kept the Coyotes in Arizona, it wasn't unanimously cheered from Tombstone to Tusayan.
In fact, there were many detractors, local and abroad, who'd have welcomed the team's departure to more northern pastures, due to the remaining perception of many being that a cold-weather sport like hockey just hadn't grown in Arizona since the NHL team's arrival a decade-and-a-half before.
However, the detractors didn't know about Lyndsey Fry.
Then again, it'd have been hard to have blamed them for never having heard of Fry, then a 20-year-old women's college hockey player 3,000 miles away at Harvard.
But as anonymous as Fry may have been, her connection to the vote that had just been cast to keep the Coyotes in the state was as pointed as even the prickliest cactus in the Arizona desert.
RELATED: Hockey legend Ken Dryden discusses hockey's dramatic growth in the U.S.
For Fry, a Chandler, Arizona native who was three years old when the Coyotes moved to the American southwest, was about to become the first person, male or female, from the state of Arizona to ever represent a United States hockey team in the Olympics.
In Sochi this February, Fry, currently 21 years old and taking a year off from Harvard, will make her Olympic debut.
"I'm just really proud to show the world that Arizona has good hockey, and that good players can come out of there," says Fry. "Hopefully, we can continue to inspire younger players, so there will be more from Arizona."
While Fry will be the first Arizona born and raised hockey player to ever compete in the Olympics, it isn't as if she's the rare exception of a supremely talented hockey player to come out of the state.
The Phoenix Coyotes, who recently announced that they will be called the "Arizona" Coyotes at the start of the 2014-15 NHL season, have three players in their prospect pool from the state, as well.
There's Zac Larraza, currently a junior at the University of Denver, Henrik Samuelsson, the son of former Swedish-born NHL defenseman and Coyotes associate coach Ulf Samuelsson, and Brendan Burke, a junior goalie whose father, former NHL goalie Sean Burke, is a former Coyote who's now the team's goalie coach.
"There's a lot more kids playing minor hockey in Arizona now than when the team got here," says Sean Burke, a Coyotes goalie from 1999-2004. "The sport's growing, in general, now that the team has been here for a number of years."
And if the Coyotes had left?
"It would have been hugely negative," adds Burke, also a 1988 and 1992 Canadian Olympian. "I think that at the end of the day, obviously there still would have been the hardcore hockey fan. Kids would still play hockey (if they were already playing) but I don't think you'd be able to create any new fans.
"Having access to NHL players, there can be a feeling among kids here that even they can have a chance to make it to the NHL. If the team had left, it would have changed a lot of that."
Of course, whether the Coyotes had left or not, hard-working 2014 U.S. women's hockey team forward Lyndsey Fry was probably already ticketed for a trip to Sochi.
But, what the Coyotes staying in Arizona did was maintain an environment that will allow "more" Lyndsey Frys to be groomed to realize their Olympic dreams. Because different than more easily accessible sports like baseball, basketball or football, participation in, and the popularity of hockey in non-traditional hockey markets is uniquely linked to the presence, community work and accessibility of its local NHL team.
And if the Coyotes had moved, there wouldn't be a local NHL team to shepherd hockey's growth in Arizona, significantly jeopardizing the chances of kids like Lyndsey Fry continuing to be developed.
This is more than just a theory, though.
The math doesn't lie, as can be expressed by the fact that hockey participation in the state of Arizona has risen by over 86 percent in the years the Coyotes have existed. This is compared to the numbers of Georgia, which have already dropped by over seven percent in the two years since its Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in 2011.
Hockey Participation in Arizona since the Coyotes Arrived
Hockey Participation in Georgia since the Thrashers Arrived (and departed)
Statistics: Courtesy of USA Hockey
These numbers, highlighting steady growth in Arizona, are in stark contrast to Georgia, where what had been a steady growth has turned into a decided decline since its NHL team left.
These numbers, perhaps more than just statistics, mean that along with the handful of Arizona born hockey players who are starting to make their names in big-time hockey, that the Coyotes' presence in their market means more than Arizona having another team in its crowded professional sports scene.
The Coyotes remaining in Arizona means that the sport of hockey actually has a future in the state.
A future as a hockey state that will become closer to the present when Lyndsey Fry, a barrier breaker for Arizona hockey, takes to the Olympic ice in Sochi this February.
Women's Hockey


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BayCare Magnet Helps Save Woman's LifeIt's not every day that a piece of mail helps save your life. But that's exactly what happened to Charlene Mixa last spring when the East Lake Woodlands resident received a BayCare magnet explaining heart attack signs and symptoms for men and women. (more)
New and Expanded Steinbrenner Children's Emergency/Trauma Center Opens St. Joseph's Children's Hospital opened its new and expanded Steinbrenner Children's Emergency/Trauma Center on December 16, 2013. The hospital has the busiest children's emergency center in the region, and the larger, advanced facility will increase the community's access to the highest levels of pediatric emergency care in the area. (more)
More news
This year's conference focuses on the student athlete who is involved in high school and middle school sports, as well as those involved in other physical activities. Keynote speaker David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene, will present how the "10,000 hours rule" damages the performance and health of young athletes. In addition, there is an impressive lineup of BayCare professionals who will present health topics relevant to the active young athlete during the day-long seminar.
The Sports Medicine Conference is being held on Saturday, August 9, from 8am-4pm at Hilton Carillon Park, 950 Lake Carillon Drive, St. Petersburg. Fees (includes continental breakfast and lunch): Students: $35, Adults: $40 and CME/CEU Attendees: $65.


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Along the Via Francigena
The Via Francigena in Tuscany From Lunigiana to Maremma
Discover the itineraries and places to stop
Walking through nature, surrounding by works of art and history along the age-old pilgrim route.
Dining along the via Francigena with the ancient Pilgrim cake
The origins of the legendary Torta co' bischeri
Travelling along the Francigena is an experience which goes beyond individual spirituality: it's tiresome, sweaty ...
Walking near Siena Medieval villas and gentle hills
120 km from San Gimignano to Radicofani
Silence, nature and beauty. Travelling along the Via Francigena is an experience that takes over your senses and your heart.
Taking the spiritual path from Versilia to Lucca
Cities intersected by the Francigena
The historic Via Francigena crosses the entire region of Tuscany: from the highest area of Versilia to the region's ...
Summer of Re-enactments
Napoleon on Elba Island - Commemorating his Disembarking
The Bicentennial Events
Tuscany is preparing to celebrate in style for the 200-year anniversary of Napoleon's arrival on Elba island ...
Folklore and re-evocations in Tuscany
From the Palio to Carnevale
In Tuscany, every year looks to the future with a nod at the past, as this is a place where innovation and ...
A journey through art and tradition
The magical Palio horse race in Siena returns
The city of the Palio, the enchanting city, is of course Siena. ...
the area dedicated to operators on our portal!


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American (147)
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(Café, French, Middle East)
Coffee, cakes, excellent sandwiches, desserts and delicious Zingerman's breads. Cigars and smoking r...
Everything made from scratch. Homemade breads. Owners, husband and wife, originally from Opus One an...
Located along a stretch of Orchard Lake Road that is home to several Indian restaurants, Udipi is th...
(American, Barbeque, Greek, Seafood, Steak)
Steakhouse and bar specializing in Black Angus beef and a large variety of seafood, pastas and sauté...
Vivo! Ristorante recently opened its doors in downtown Windsor. Your hosts, Chef Rino Bortolin (form...
Wasabi's bibimbab is best served in a dolsot, a heated stone bowl. Chef Seonghun Kim tops a big pile...
(American, Caribbean, Seafood)
"Tropical motif. Excellent seafood selection. The service is as friendly as the menu is varied, from...
"A neighborhood bar with lots of style." The top floor has huge windows overlooking Woodward. Downst...
Downtown Plymouth's Only Authentic Mexican Kitchen
Carry-Out or Dine-In Delivery Available
Zickafoose's is decided to recreate the elegance and warmth of Victoriana with furnishings and decor...
(American, Breakfast, Café, Deli, Vegetarian Menu)
Zingerman's creates made-to-order sandwiches using traditionally made foods. It was rated the #1 mea...
(American, Breakfast, Deli, Salads)
As fine a deli as anyone could wish for, and more than just a haven for triple-decker sandwiches and...
"200 different soups, 12 available each day. Each order comes with a big hunk of bread. Daily featu...
"The Detroit area's only gourmet soup restaurant and carry-out, Zoup! features 12 rotating daily sou...


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Home > News & Events > Special Alerts
Special Alerts
First Sentinel Bank, Richlands, Virginia, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit cashier's checks bearing the institution's name are in circulation.
The counterfeit items include the routing number 251473512, which is assigned to First Sentinel Bank, but are dissimilar to authentic checks. The counterfeit items display a negative image of the bank's logo in the top-left portion of the item that includes a dark background and light lettering. The counterfeit items also display the wording "CASHIER'S CHECK" on the left side of the item. In the top-center portion of the counterfeit item, the bank's name and location are printed, followed by a toll-free telephone number, which is not associated with the bank.
Authentic cashier's checks display the wording "Cashier's Check" in the upper-right corner of the check. The checks also display a logo, which is an image of a person superimposed over a large "1." The image of the person is light; the background color of the "1" is dark. To the right of the logo, "FIRST SENTINEL BANK" appears in a large font. Below the logo and the bank's name is the wording "Subsidiary of First Region Bancshares, Inc."
A copy of a counterfeit item and a copy of an authentic cashier's check (VOID) are attached for your review.
Any information you have concerning this matter should be brought to the attention of:
Serena McClanahan
Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4004, Washington, D.C. 20429, or transmitted electronically to firstname.lastname@example.com. Information related to federal deposit insurance or consumer issues should be submitted to the FDIC using an online form that can be accessed at http://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp.
For your reference, FDIC Special Alerts may be accessed from the FDIC's website at www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2006/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.
Attachment (not available electronically)
NOTE: As a security precaution, the FDIC does not post to its Web site online copies of fraudulent instruments or copies of the genuine instruments that have been counterfeited. This is to avoid attempts by others to use the electronic versions of these instruments to facilitate additional fraud. Printed copies of fraudulent instruments are mailed with the Special Alert letter to the financial institutions on the letter's distribution list (generally, FDIC-supervised banks – commercial and savings). Printed copies of the Special Alert and its attachment(s) may also be obtained from the FDIC's Public Information Center, telephone: 1-877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200; fax: 703-562-2296; or e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com).
Distribution: FDIC-Supervised Banks (Commercial and Savings)
|Last Updated 04/28/2006


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Although the non-scheduled days of summer are wonderful the first few weeks, now is usually around the time I start frantically looking for something to do with the kids that doesn't involved plunking them in front of the television or the computer. What's on our schedule this week? Nature activities!MORE
toys, games, and books
online games
- 20 Free Educational Apps for Kids
- Best Learning Websites for Toddlers and Preschoolers
- Fun & Games at FamilyEducation.com
- A Parent's Guide to Poptropica
- Introducing Your Child to the Computer: Online Games and Learning
best toys
- Top 10 New Outdoor Toys for Summer
- 12 Classic Toys That Still Rock
- Rethinking Children's Play
- Early Morning Fun
- Toy Finder


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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorback Soccer team (5-0) was successfully able to keep its unbeaten streak alive with a 1-0 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (3-1). The Razorbacks picked up the lone goal in the 66th minute of play from freshman Alexandra Fischer, the first goal of her career.
"We told the players to celebrate tonight because they have earned," head coach Colby Hale said. "I thought tonight was a complete team effort. At the half we told our players to keep doing what they were doing and grinding out the game because we felt like something good was going to happen."
In the first half of play, both teams were unable to reach the scoreboard. Arkansas outshot Tulsa 8-1 in the first half and amounted five corner kicks to Tulsa's one.
In the second half, the Razorbacks put up seven shots on the period and found the back of the net in the 66th minute with the effort by Fischer. Senior Taylor Green started the action on the play by sending the ball into the box to Katie Moore who placed the ball for Fischer. Freshman goal keeper Cameron Carter picked up her fifth win on the season as well.
"We just work really hard, that's what we are all about," Hailey Pescatore said. "It is really exciting to have a bunch of students and fans supporting us and helping us win the game."
The Razorbacks who are ranked second in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America regional rankings continue to build on their record start. Tonight's 1-0 win marks the fourth shutout in five games this season for Arkansas. Holding Tulsa scoreless on the night, the Razorbacks also equaled a program record allowing just two goals through the first five games. The last time Arkansas accomplished that feat was during the 2009 season.
The Razorbacks remain home for action on Sunday, Sept. 8, when they play host to the Nebraska Huskers. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (CT) at Razorback Field. The match will be featured on television on CST.


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So I guess things have changed over the years? People don't drive a route and track the mileage on their car and then make a goal to run that route? No more treadmills with distance measurements on them? It's all about the paid apps for your iPhone?
I found a few that I thought might be good info to share:
1. RunKeeper
Good points: Maps, Tracking mileage, monitors speed, takes into account different activities (not just running), set up music playlist to go along with workout. Even better Point: FREE
2. Calorie Counter and Diet
Good points: Easy to use, BIG food database, you can customize (set up favorites), can work stand alone (doesn't need to be hooked up to internet in case you lose your signal), tracks more than cardio exercise, set up with your friends! FREE!
3. Nike + GPS
Good points: It's Nike so you know it's not going to be bad. Motiviational, tracking, customize goals, sharing of info, good record keeping.
Not so great point: It is primarilly for running and not much flexibility for other types of exercise activity. Definitely NOT free: $1.99
If you use other apps or have had bad experiences with those listed above, please feel free to share them here in the comments.
Kat Roberts is a local Westchester author. Recent works include: HOT MOMMA - not your typical diet and fitness guide for new moms and women; NO MORE LAZY DAYS - a parenting guide to keep yourself and your children active and off the couch. You can check out more of Kat Roberts at her website at www.katroberts.webs.com


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Charter member of the "We Always Believed in Ashley" Club and the "We Believe in Ricky" Club
Old, lonely, pathos-hungry, and extremely gullible
I got excited when I saw Revenge listed for next Wednesday: I was hoping they'd changed their minds about moving the show to Sunday. But no, it's a recap episode, and the regular season premier will indeed be Sunday the 30th.
Thank goodness for 2 DVRs and late-night repeats for PBS, Knowledge Network, Bravo, and Showcase -- otherwise I don't think I'd manage with everything that's on on Sundays!
I am happy to have the recap for Revenge though, there are some things I'll definitely want reminding about.
My Sun shows include (various times of year): Amazing Race, The Good Wife, Homeland, Mad Men, some masterpiece theatre, the Borgias, Celebrity Apprentice.
My Sundays include Revenge, Once Upon a Time, The Good Wife, Over the Rainbow, Masterpiece, various BritDrams on Knowledge Network, and Mythbusters.
And to further add to the Sunday overload, I just noticed that PBS will also be carrying Call the Midwife starting on Sept 30. I'd spotted this in a DVD catalogue and just sent an acquisition recommendation to my library for it, but now I have a backup plan. It's about midwives in working-class London in the 50s, and was one of the highest rated new dramas when it aired in the UK. It stars a lot of familiar British actors: Vanessa Redgrave, Pam Ferris, Judy Parfitt, Jenny Agutter, and Ben Caplan (token male ).
My last reference to Revolution I promise. LOL I thought those interested in what things would look like after fifteen years of being dormant would like to watch this video. This is Norwich Mental Hospital which was abandoned in 1996 and is the focus of many ghost stories. LOL It still stands abandoned today.
For those of you with Showtime, don 't forget Homeland starts on Sunday 9/30! At least with that, there's always On Demand if there's too many things to record.
Call the Midwife is a wonderful series. And in some ways eye opening.
Finally got to watch Revolution. I liked it. I can overlook all the little things like the clothes and the hair and even batteries not working and stuff like that, as long as the story keeps me interested I'll keep watching. I'm interested to see how Miles buddy became the leader of the militia. But the one thing that bothers me ... they specifically said that Daniel is 19 years old, which makes Charlie about 22-23. No way do I buy her as a 23 year old ... she looks like she's 30.
I haven't yet made an effort to find out what all the new shows are this year. Anything worth seeking out? I mostly prefer stories with season-long arcs rather than episodic, and the higher quality of writing and acting on shorter-season cable shows.
An MLB.com reporter asked what one thing Votto couldnt do. I cant skate or play hockey, Votto said. Well, I can skate ... but I cant stop.
"I guess I'm just...I'm not used to someone putting me first." -Emma, Once Upon a Time, episode 2x3, Lady of the Lake
Scandal is back on Thursday. My niece says it's going to be a doosie season.
Has anyone questioned why we see all the power go out. A long line of cars gone suddenly dead, and a sequential blinking out of all the headlights on those cars.....yet the airplanes that are falling out of the sky still have their lights on.
Of course it's that way for dramatic effect, so we can see those planes falling out of the sky. But really, if the car's lights have all gone out, then the planes shouldn't have had any working lights either.
Person of Interest will be back on September 27th.


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JOPLIN, Mo. —
Next May 16 will mark the 150th anniversary of the battle at Rader's Farm, and a local committee hopes to have some sort of memorial under way to commemorate the event.
Officials three years ago announced the purchase of a portion of the farm property north of Joplin, with plans to develop a historic site where a regiment of black soldiers was ambushed and killed by Confederate guerrillas.
Planning started soon after the purchase of the five-acre tract at the corner of Peace Church and Fountain roads, but was interrupted by the May 22, 2011, tornado and its aftermath. The committee working on the project will describe efforts thus far at a meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday with the Jasper County Commission.
"We have to have authorization to proceed from the commission, since the county owns the property," said Brad Belk, curator of the Joplin Museum Complex and a member of the committee. "We hope to have something started by May, and there's a lot to do."
The tract has been cleared by county road crews. A small barn is the only structure still standing on the property. The committee hopes the site eventually will include a structure to replicate the original Rader farmhouse, with a small cabin and a split-rail fence at the perimeter of the land.
Another step the commission will have to endorse is the designation of a tax-exempt entity that will help collect donations to finance the memorial.
"What we would like to see is the homestead as the memorial, with the building used to complement the living history," said Steve Weldon, who is the county archivist and a student of Civil War history in the region.
Committee members, including local historians, authors and others, hope to see the site memorialize those who died there. They also see the project as an opportunity to explain the importance of the region in Civil War history.
"This area represents people of all factions and the multicultural nature of the Civil War on the western border," Weldon said.
The farm property is where a regiment of 40 members of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry had come to forage for food. They began gathering corn at the Rader farm near the village of Sherwood when they were ambushed by a guerrilla band of about 70 Southern sympathizers. Fifteen black soldiers were shot and killed. Most of the regiment's white escorts escaped on horseback, though they were chased down and also killed.
The next day, Union reinforcements arrived and found the soldiers' bodies, which had been mutilated. On orders from the regiment's white commander, the bodies were placed inside the Rader house and burned, along with the body of a Southern sympathizer who was shot after he was found nearby. The commander also ordered nearby communities, including Sherwood, burned to the ground.
Weldon said a nearby location where Center Creek flows into Spring River was the start of a recruitment expedition by Southern forces. That expedition was to go west and pick up soldiers who had fled. Those soldiers were to be moved to Texas, where they would be organized as part of the Confederate army. When the group was in Southeast Kansas, it was attacked by Osage Indians.
"All but two of them were killed, and their heads were cut off and piled on the prairie," Weldon said. "But two of them escaped and came back to Jasper County, and all that became part of the lore of the Osage Nation.
"So here we have two massacres, one against Union forces by the Confederates and one against the Confederates by the Indians. Most assuredly, there are stories to tell from all sides."
THE FIVE-ACRE TRACT was purchased at a cost of $25,000, with a donation from Joplin attorneys Ed and Allison Hershewe.


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This version of the Top Top Table is made to be used outdoors. With a melamine top, this cafe table is perfect for use outside the home on a patio or porch or for commercial use outside a restaurant or cafe.
Created by Philippe Starck, this version of the Kartell Top Top Cafe Table features a transparent pleated square leg and an aluminum base supporting a weather resistant table surface.
For additional information, please see our shipping and delivery policies page.
To receive the most competitive shipping rates available on this Kartell item, call our sales team at 888-467-6278!


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Comic-Con: Guillermo del Toro Shows Us How to Pilot a Pac Rim Jaeger on Oculus
WIRED reports from Comic-Con as it opens to the public.
WIRED reports from Comic-Con as it opens to the public.
This week at the trailer house, we get so many random goodies it's like a care package from your most eccentric aunt.
As the latest superhero film looms large, some of you may be wondering if there are any comics you should read before seeing Guardians of the Galaxy. Admittedly, Marvel usually does a pretty good job of making films that anyone can enjoy, but if you really want to know what's up, here are five comics that can help you get started.
Before you head to the theater, arm yourself with this lesson in Besson.
Angry Nerd is hungry for some new material. Instead of force-feeding us cinematic souvlaki with CGI blowouts of Greek-inspired story lines, maybe it's time to look beyond the Peloponnesian lore. And no, Brett Ratner, we will not be entertained with your upcoming Hercules starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
WIRED reports live from the first exciting day of Comic-Con 2014.
Lucy is a perplexing blend of science and fiction. WIRED asked writer/director Luc Besson for all the secrets of his latest film.
Name a culture somewhere on Planet Earth and more than likely the werewolf stalks its folklore, from African and Asian tribes all the way up to the classic (and confusing) Altered Beast of Sega Genesis.
Comic-Con International. Four(ish) days of non-stop pop cultural onslaught. Comics, movies, TV shows, cosplay—there's a lot to take in. And making sure you catch everything you want to see (and, frankly, probably a few things you wish you could unsee) means setting priorities. With that in mind, here's everything we're taking an oath not to miss at this year's con.
With the doors almost ready to open for Comic-Con International in San Diego, Marvel Comics is opening the floodgates to their massive online comics archive, Marvel Unlimited—for only 99 cents. For the next week, a dollar will buy you a month of total access to Marvel's online cache of over 15,000 comics.
It's hot out there in these streets. That's why we're hooking you up with a good excuse to lay low in your living room: mainlining The Wire.
Elsa Jenna While you were using your iPhone to record your cat riding a Roomba, Hollywood types (and would-be Hollywood types) have used smartphones to create everything from heart-wrenching shorts to feature-length thrillers. There are a zillion smartphone films on the web; here are the ones you should watch right now. Goldilocks In 2010, Michael […]
Maciek Jasik "There's no show without an audience," says Dan Deacon, an electronic musician known for finding new ways to include his fans in his performances. A few years ago he created an app that responds to inaudible ultrasonic tones; when he plays those notes over the sound system, phones in the crowd light up […]
Elsa Jenna Alternate reality games existed before the iPhone, using email, fake ads, and even faxes to send players on clue hunts. But thanks to the smartphone, games now include geospatial triggers and social media integration, allowing players to seamlessly interact with one another and the world around them. Even Google has gotten involved, through […]
Last year, WIRED's giant robot mech took Comic-Con International by storm. This year, the effects wizards at the Stan Winston School set out to top their previous creation, crafting a nearly 14-foot tall, 2,000 pound creature to amaze the crowd this week in San Diego. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the building of this mind-blowing creation.
It's scheduled to wrap production in the fall, stars well-known actors, and boasts a deep bench of design and production talent. But this one won't be co-starring Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana.
Ubisoft's new game teaches about World War I through the mechanics of a side-scrolling puzzle game.
David Sparshott Damage control is an excruciating, highly addictive game that among my friends has destroyed relationships, rekindled others, threatened to ruin careers, sparked sexual intrigue, and caused no end of terror and laughter. It is a game for two friends, and best played drunk. The instructions are simple: 1.) Trade phones. 2.) Select a […]
Keira Rathbone Teju Cole was stuck in traffic in Mumbai when an idea came to him. He had recently written a short story and he thought, why not share it in tweets? Cole is the author of two books of fiction, Open City and Every Day Is for the Thief. He's also a prolific voice […]
After years of being infamously secretive about his projects ahead of their release, J.J. Abrams has surprisingly flipped the script when it comes to next year's Star Wars: Episode VII. He's already given fans a glimpse of what looked like a marketplace on Tattooine and a chess table from the Millennium Falcon, and now he's sharing a familiar sight from the first three Star Wars movies—although in a slightly different form.


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In two judicial races during the Nov. 6 general election, both Elizabeth V. Cutter and Lois Conroy emerged with top votes, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State website.
Cutter received 68.45 percent of the vote. Challenger Steven Antolak received 30.78 percent of the vote for the Judge - Fourth District Court 22 position. Conroy received 58.31 percent of the vote with Marc Berris trailing with 40.90 percent of the vote for the Judge – Fourth District Court 44 position.
Uncontested, winning races included:
Judge Court 2 – Francis Magill
Judge Court 6 – David Piper
Judge Court 15 – Phil Carruthers
Judge Court 17 – Denise D. Reilly
Judge Court 29 – Nancy E. Brasel
Judge Court 33 – M. Jacueline Regis
Judge Court 35 – Daniel Mabley
Judge Court 40 – Jamie L. Anderson
Judge Court 45 – Marilyn Brown Rosenbaum
Judge Court 46- Mary R. Vasaly
Judge Court 48 – John O. McShane
Judge Court 49 – Lyonel Norris
Judge Court 50 – Bruce A. Peterson
Judge Court 59 – Patrick Robben
Fourth District Court area includes communities such as Maple Grove, Edina, Eden Prairie, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Lake Minnetonka, Plymouth, Richfield, Southwest Minneapolis.


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The 2009 MEN'S TEAM USA has again successfully defended their International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) World Inline Hockey Championship in Varese, Italy, July 6 through 11, 2009. Eight new players formed the 13 man roster after a come-back win last year restored their title in Dusseldorf, Germany. Team USA was not afforded the favorite's designation this year, as one might expect of the defending champion, largely due to the complete absence of veteran stars that have carried the USA team through the past decade and a half since the organization by FIRS of world inline hockey. The strong national teams of the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Canada and France presented formidable obstacles for these young Americans to overcome. The Czech inline hockey team, as usual, was liberally sprinkled with ice hockey veterans recruited from their nucleus of hockey talent which radiates throughout the professional leagues of Europe and into the NHL of North America. The Swiss and Canadians teams consisted of veteran players who considered hockey victories their natural right and looked upon such accomplishments as mere fulfillment of their national heritage. All three of these teams have previously won FIRS World Inline Hockey Championships. And there was another serious contender, France, which has been twice runner-up at the World Championships and has the best pure inline roller hockey development program in Europe. These four national teams presented serious pitfalls along the path of a repeat victory for the young and internationally unseasoned American team. Their task was further intimidating by the fact that the retired veteran USA Men have previously won 11 of the prior 14 World Inline Hockey Championships, since the event was originated by FIRS in 1995.
The American team opened the preliminary round robin matches pitted against Great Britain, which they handled easily by a 7 to 0 victory. Their next day's game was against a talented Italian Team in their home arena, which the USA team overcame with another victory, 7 to 3. The following day's game against Switzerland, however, had an unhappy conclusion, finishing up 3 to 2 in favor of the Swiss. The only two goals scored by USA were by seasoned players Travis Fudge and Greg Thompson, in a bruising game that resulted in a collective 13 minor penalties being assessed among both rosters. The pool play ended with a loss for USA, but was not of serious consequence except for seeding into the forthcoming single elimination medal play.
USA men drew France for the Quarter-finals. The USA won a close 2 to 1 match with France, which is a common result at previous World Championships, since France closely matches the USA style in their skate speed and style of play. In this game the USA team's WC newbies produced all the scoring, saving the day with goals by John McGuinness and Joshua Laricchia. The Americans advanced to the Semi-finals to face the Czech Republic and experienced an unexpected easy victory 7 to 0, with McGuinness and Laricchia again scoring two goals each, and another newcomer Dustin Roux helping with a goal. Two team veterans Brandon Barnette and Thompson also contributed a goal apiece. TEAM USA advanced to the final for the Gold Medal and faced their perennial rival TEAM CANADA.
The losing teams from Semi-finals face each other in the finals of the World Championship for a Bronze Medal. This pitted the Czech Republic against Switzerland, which in terms of their recent USA experience would lead to the assumption that such a game is a foregone conclusion in favor of the Swiss. Switzerland beat USA in pool play 3 to 2 and USA handily whipped the Czechs 7 to 0. Wrong! The Czechs scored 4 unanswered goals in the first period before the Swiss woke up to the fact that they might just lose this game. Daniel Steiner scored a goal for the Swiss late in the first period, which was quickly answered with another from the Czech Republic, so the Czechs took a 5 to 1 lead into the locker room at half time. In the second period both team more or less traded goals, getting 3 each, thus making the final score Czechs 8 and the Swiss 5, with the World Championship Bronze Medal going to the Czech Republic. This sort of unpredictable game frequently results when neighboring sport teams go into competition wearing their country's colors and emblems and vie in international tournaments for local (European) bragging rights.
The Gold Medal Game between traditional hockey rivals Canada and USA, opened with a quick score by Canadian John Clewlow and another goal a minute later by Jordon Schulz. Behind 2 - 0, the USA rolled up its sleeves with a goal by Greg Thompson and the first of his three goal hat-trick by Chris Connole. Tied 2 - 2, Canada scored again later in the first period by a Dave Hammond goal which carried the two teams into their half time locker rooms with Canada ahead 3 - 2. In the second period, Canadian Clewlow scored again for the final Canada goal, followed by USA player Dustin Roux scoring unassisted and then Chris Connole produced the final two components of his hat-trick, putting the USA out in front to stay, and World Gold Medal victory 5 to 4 over Canada. Canada took the Silver Medal.
#17 Brandon BARNETTE - St. Charles, MO; #97 Chris CONNOLE - Murrieta, CA; #39 Keith DiPRIMA - Goalie, Ronkonkoma, NY; #98 Travis FUDGE - Springfield, MO; #10 Eric KEENE - North Wales, PA; #13 Anthony KING - Boston, MA; #37 Joshua LARICCHIA - Huntington Beach, CA; #19 Daniel Marmorstein - Phoenix, AZ; #44 John McGuinness - Yaphank, NY; #25 Jonathan MOSENSON - Bethpage, NY; #36 Dustin ROUX - McMurray, PA; #91 Gregory THOMPSON - Bayport, NY; #30 Michael URBANO - Goalie, Huntington Beach, CA. COACH - Joe Noris - LaJolla, CA; MANAGER - Jon Roux - McMurray, PA; Trainer - Beth ROUX - McMurray, PA.
4. Switzerland 5. France 6. Italy 7. Spain 8. Colombia 9. Germany 10. Belgium 11. Great Britain 12. Korea 13. Australia 14. Mexico 15. Japan 16. Venezuela.
The Eighth World Games was held in the Chinese Taipei city of Kaohsiung, which was the second time this quadrennial event was held in Asia since its 1981 launch at Santa Clara, California. The World Games is a huge multisport competition whose nearest comparison is to the Olympic Games. The World Games was founded by International Sports Federations that are recognized by the IOC, but which are outside the roster of sport disciplines that participate in the Olympic Games, either in whole or part. Originally began with 12 International Federations, of which Roller Sports is a founding member, the IWGA now consists of 32 International Sport Federations which encompass approximately 100 participating countries. Under the Patronage of the International Olympic Committee and the organizational umbrella of the General Assembly of International Sport Federations (GAISF), the IWGA recognizes the International Federation of Roller Sports (FIRS) as the controlling entity for fielding inline roller hockey teams in the World Games as well as all other roller sport disciplines. Our sport of inline hockey was admitted in 2005, taking the place of ball and cane roller hockey, while the roller sports disciplines figure and speed skating have remained continuous participants in all World Games since its 1981 origin.
Quite naturally for an event as diverse and huge as the World Games, the entries (countries) eligible for participation in a given sport must prequalify, normally by their federation's previous year's world championships. This insures that only the best athletes are present to represent their sports and limits the size and duration of the Games to manageable numbers. In the case of inline hockey, our qualifying tournament was at the 2008 FIRS World Inline Hockey Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany. Only the top five placing teams at the World Championships, plus the national team from the host country, are eligible to compete in the 2009 World Games. The qualified national inline hockey teams all participated in Taiwan: United State of America, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy and host country Chinese Taipei.
At this year's World Games, because of the limitations of time, a round-robin tournament was selected for deciding the Champion, discarding the usual world championship format of pool play, and then followed by quarter-finals to finals in single elimination competition. The 2008 World Champion Team USA completed a perfect run through the round-robin games with a final confrontation against France, the 2008 World Championship Silver Medalist qualifier. Entering this game finale, the USA's victory record stood at 4 - 0, with France having a record of 3 - 0 - 1, both of which were the best records of the six national teams involved. The USA gained a lead of 2 - 0 over France late in the first period with goals scored by Greg Thompson and Joshua Laricchia. The USA opened the second period with two more goals by Chris Connole, adding to its lead and then a final score by Travis Fudge bringing the tally for USA to 5 - 0. In the last 7 seconds of the game, France avoided a shut out by a goal off the stick of Jimi Lefranc, producing a final tally of 5 - 1 in favor of the USA. The Americans thus secured a second World Games Gold Medal for USA inline hockey. France earned the Silver Medal.
The Czech Republic took the Bronze Medal with a 3-2 won/loss record, losing only to France and USA. Switzerland, the bronze medalist at the 2005 World Games, took fourth place with a 2 - 3 won/loss record, having lost to the Czechs in the opening game of this competition 5 -2. Italy with only a single victory, plus a tie with silver medal winner France, came in fifth and Chinese Taipei entering the World Games as the representative team for the host country, was without World Championship ranking and finished in 6th position in the World Games, without achieving game points.
Team Name
Czech Republic
Chinese Taipei
4. Switzerland 5. Italy 6. Chinese Taipei
Within the course of two weeks the USA Men Inline Hockey team won two major tournaments against the best roller hockey players in the world. It was not an easy victory for this team, but it is an dual win that was initited by the American team at the 2005 World Championships in Paris, France, going on to Duisburg, Germany for double win at the 2005 World Games. Can the USARS hope to make this an ongoing tradition for TEAM USA every 4 years hereafter?
#17 Brandon BARNETTE - St. Charles, MO; #97 Chris CONNOLE - Murrieta, CA; #39 Keith DiPRIMA - Goalie, Ronkonkoma, NY; #98 Travis FUDGE - Springfield, MO; #10 Eric KEENE - North Wales, PA; #37 Joshua LARICCHIA - Huntington Beach, CA; #23 Peter MESSINA, JR - Elk Grove Village, IL; #25 Jonathan MOSENSON - Bethpage, NY; #36 Dustin ROUX - McMurray, PA; #91 Gregory THOMPSON - Bayport, NY; #30 Michael URBANO - Goalie, Huntington Beach, CA; COACH - Joe Noris - LaJolla, CA; MANAGER - Jon Roux - McMurray, PA.
In this difficult time during world economic recession, USA Roller Sports sought and received needed financial and material support from within the inline hockey industry in order to sustain its National Governing Body obligations relative to sending representative USA Teams to participate in FIRS World Championships, as well as the addition this year of the World Games in Taiwan. We are particularly proud to have gained the support of the following TEAM USA Benefactors:
FINANCIAL - Tour Hockey; CCM Hockey; Ace Jerseys; RinkRat; Internet Broadcasting; TDI Photo; Sports Pro and Southern Sports Supply.
HOCKEY EQUIPMENT - Tour Hockey; Reebok; Bauer; LaBeda; RinkRat and Ace Jerseys.
These companies have proven that they are true friends of our sport of inline hockey and we are pleased that our teams have rewarded their generosity with production of three 2009 Gold Medal World Championship performances for the Seniors and a World Bronze Medal for Juniors.
JOE NORIS - LaJolla, California USA TEAM COACH: "This year's World Championship and World Games presented some serious challenges for the team. With a good number of our most seasoned veterans not returning this year, my approach to the team was very different in some ways."
"One thing that was the same was my interest in instilling a "team" concept. I let everyone on the team know that no one may put themselves above the team and expect to play. We needed to play as a team and not worry about personal scoring or what the outcome of a game would be. I regularly let the players know to just take it shift by shift and do the right things. This takes a lot of pressure off the players and helps them to better focus. When players begin to count their own stats, or are not passing to a player because they didn't themselves get a pass, the whole team concept breaks down and playing effectiveness can go fast down hill. Most of the drills I used in practice were the same. They are drills to keep the players and the puck moving which also helps everyone get a feel for each other on the rink. Most of these players do not play together on a regular basis and everyone needed to get a feel for the other players as everyone has his own style."
"For our defensive concepts, we used man-to-man, zone, and a combination of both. When asked when we should switch from one to the other, I left the decision up to the players on the floor with players adapting to changes as necessary. I believed this confused the opposition's offense. It is always a great challenge to figure out who to play at what position and with which partners. With a lot of new players and only 4 or 5 practices available for such arrangements, this was a particularly tough task. For the most part my judgment seemed to work out successfully, judging from the results, but knowing the players as I now do, I would have tried a few different combinations."
"Last year I communicated a great deal through our three veterans who were my captain and two assistants. This year I talked more directly to the players, one-on-one. It was a much younger and inexperienced team and I felt it necessary to build confidence and take away some of the pressure. I did not name a captain. I wanted to let the leadership role emerge and it did with Greg Thompson. He didn't need a "C" on his jersey. He became the leader not only in the locker room, but also by his ability to rise to challenges at the most critical times on the skating surface. Canada was working us. They came out flying and were making us look like we were standing still as they went to an early 2-0 lead. I called a team time out to rally the troops and Greg added his own encouragement. Shortly after that Greg scored on one of the nicest goals I have ever seen. Not only did it put us on the scoreboard but also let the Canadians know that the USA was there to play, and we did. All in all it was a very enjoyable couple of tournaments. The high level of this year's two competitions, Men's World Championships and World Games, was most intense, with lots of very close games. Our players acted in a very professional way, both on and off the rink. I feel very proud to be part of their accomplishments, as they were true sportsmen in every sense."
GREG THOMPSON - Bayport, NY - Defense (W. C. & W. G.): "This was my fifth year on the squad. I have been a part of some great World Championship teams and I learned a lot about the game from past teammates and coaches. This year we were an underdog team which definitely helped us maximize our fire power and heart. Sure, we had a great bunch of players, but a lot of our success as a team this summer had much to do with playing smart and through the off-floor preparations. We emerged winners because every single player played a great role and listened to what coach Noris had to say. Our players are all-stars on their club rosters, but we all realized that we all had to come together and realized that we all couldn't always be out on the rink. This summer we played great "team" defense and our goaltending was truly outstanding. A team can not win a World Championship without these two key elements. Our penalty kill was spectacular when you match our effort against the scoring talent of the high caliber teams we faced this summer at the World Championships and the World Games. It was particularly hard to stop them on the power play."
"The World Games event was as remarkable as the World Championships. I was fortunate to play four years ago at the previous World Games in Germany, but the Taipei World Games this year was by far the best event. The city of Kaohsiung really had everything down to a tee. The city treated this event like it was the Olympic Games. The people there were so generous and the venues were packed out for the events. We were fortunate that inline hockey games were scheduled so that teams were there for the closing athlete's party and the firework display was astonishing. The people of Kaohsiung greeted us with great respect. The closing ceremony sent chills through everyone's body. Inside the stadium during closing ceremonies, there were 50,000 or more spectators our inline hockey teams marched onto the field with all of the sports teams that took part in the World Games. The show put on by the city put on was definitely one for the record books. I was much honored to be part of this biggest event in roller hockey history!"
CHRIS CONNOLE - Murrieta, California - Defense (W. C. & W. G.): "This was the best experience of my life. The competition was much stronger than I had expected. That was great because I love playing top notch hockey and a little added pressure of being on team USA made it much more fun. I was extremely impressed with our captain Greg Thompson. He is a true leader on and off the rink. His game speaks for itself. Not to mention my line mate, Josh Laricchia, who made me look good in every game. I also have to salute our great goal tending. In actual fact, I was impressed by the talent of all the guys we had on our team. They all contributed and did whatever it took in every game."
"I was asked what I thought about the over all caliber of the other teams and players. The other teams were all good in there own ways. The Swiss were extremely strong defensively and had a great goalie. The Czechs had numerous NHL players and some players from the Russian Elite League, so what else need to be said about them? Then there were the French, who were hands down the fastest team in both competitions. It was even harder to play against them, because they practice diving more then they do hockey, so we were in the box most of the game. We were successful as a team because everyone showed up to play as a team and to do what it took to win a game. That's what makes a champion hockey team."
ANTHONY KING - Boston, Massachusetts - Defense (W. C.): "As an athlete you become very goal oriented, which you set for the present and for the future. One of my long term goals was to play for team USA and win a gold medal. I was fortunate enough to do that in my first three years of playing inline hockey. What an honor it was to play for my country that I love so very much. As an ice hockey player I faced the usual obstacles in learning this game. But being on Team USA inline and playing with this fine bunch of guys, made me understand how simple the game of inline hockey can be if you play it as a team. This experience has allowed me to look beyond this present victory and want more. There is no better feeling than achieving goals you set in life for yourself."
"The teammate that impressed me the most had to be our goalie Mike Urbano. As our starting goaltender going out to Italy, he did not begin the tournament between the pipes, nor did he play against the powerhouse Switzerland. Knowing that Urbs knew how much pressure there was going to be on him going into the medals rounds. We relied on his ability to play as well as he could and he lived up to it. That is extremely tough for any athlete to do. The teams that impressed me the most were the Czech, because of their talent and sportsmanship even after losing to us 7-1. I also admired the determination of Team Canada because of their willingness to play hard right down to the end.
There were two very important things that contributed to our success in Italy, first of all from the very beginning we worked together as a team, both on and off the rink, and secondly no player put himself above the team."
PETE MESSINA - Elk Grove Village, Illinois (World Games) - Forward:
"This was definitely my best experience playing inline hockey. We were treated like royalty in Taiwan, like celebrities walking around town. The country obviously went to great lengths making all the athletes feel special. For me, playing in the arena in front of thousands of fans was really a memorable experience. The Chinese did not seem to have a favorite team because they cheered anytime a goal was scored, which was very neat. It was also nice to check out some of the other sporting events and venues around town."
"The closing ceremonies were by far the most unique happening of the trip. Walking into a stadium with about 50,000 + fans screaming was an experience of a lifetime! We were all walking around a football sized field, with our gold medals around our neck, basking in the glory of being a Gold medalist in our "Olympics". Even afterwards, outside of the stadium, there was thousands of people waiting and cheering for the athletes. It was extremely special for us because we were Gold medalists. Every one wanted to take pictures of us and have us sign autographs for them".
"For me, there was not any one player who stood out on our team. We worked together as a unit in every game in order to win. Even though we had a newer, younger team, we all got along well both on and off the rink which I think was a leading factor to our game success. None of us wanted to lose, we all wanted to win so we could come back home and tell our friends and families about wining a gold medal in such a prestigious sporting environment! The ability for me to take part in such a huge event was truly something special. There's no better feeling than wearing a USA jersey every year, but to basically win an Olympic type Gold medal was an unbelievable experience. I take pride in our team, our sport and our country as well. Hopefully I will have a chance to represent our country in the next World Games in Columbia."


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Information Services
Adel Barimani, CIO
Vice President for Information Services
Anderson Hall Room 23
West Chester University
West Chester University's Information Services (IS) division's primary role is to provide the campus with technology services and support to faculty, staff and students. The division is comprised of Information Technology Services, Client Training and Support Services, Web and Content Management Services, Technical Services, Networking & Telecommunications, Administrative Computing Systems and Applications, and the RECAP technology conference services. Together these departments enhance integration of technology into curriculum, provide software training, help desk technical support, digital media services, support for the WCU website, information security services, resnet services, development and maintenance of enterprise systems (MyWCU), course management services, distribution of networking and phone services, and data analysis and reporting for the University.