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County's acting budget director fired
Published: Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 8:15 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 8:15 p.m.
As Alachua County dives into developing next fiscal year's budget, its head of growth management will be pulling double duty after the recent firing of the county's budget director.
Acting County Manager Rick Drummond fired Rick Mills Jr., the interim director of the Office of Management and Budget, effective March 4 — the second leadership change for the department since September.
Mills, who has worked for the county for more than a decade, took over the budget office after former Director Suzanne Gable departed in late September for another job in Sarasota County that reunited her with former Alachua County Manager Randall Reid.
Mills initially was placed on administrative leave with pay for about two weeks, and his termination took effect at 5 p.m. on March 4, according to county personnel records. At the time of his firing, he made about $88,600 annually.
"Things weren't jelling," Drummond said of Mills' short stint as interim budget director. "I had to make a decision to get some kind of leadership (that was) needed out there."
County personnel records offered no additional reasons for Mills' firing.
Mills previously served as the county's legislative affairs director, in which capacity he managed the county's state lobbying efforts. That position was eliminated under the current fiscal year's budget, which also halved the funding for federal lobbying from about $60,000 to $30,000. Communications Coordinator Mark Sexton took over the state lobbying responsibilities, while Mills moved into the role of budget director.
Mills had experience in the realm of budgeting, having formerly served as director of the Office of Management and Budget for both Alachua County and the city of Gainesville. He also teaches a graduate course on public finance and budgeting at the University of Florida.
Mills said he was shocked by his firing. He said he was informed of the decision on Feb. 18 upon his return to work after spending a week out of the office because he was sick with pneumonia after a recent bout with the flu.
"I've been budgeting for a long time and doing legislative stuff for a long time, and he didn't seem to like the direction either one was going I guess," Mills said of Drummond. "I thought we were heading in a good direction — and then all of a sudden, boom."
Drummond said he had planned to inform Mills of his firing on Feb. 11, but Mills was absent that day and for the remainder of the week because of illness.
Mills had been working on a reorganization of the budget office, which Drummond said will continue as the department is restructured to allow for a sharper focus on budget preparation.
"I guess we had just different ideas about what was getting accomplished there," Mills said. "I mean, from my point of view, I think we were moving in the right direction. But that was his call."
Although he was surprised by his firing, Mills said he is moving on and focusing on his teaching work at UF.
Mills was the city of Gainesville's budget director before the county hired him in 1999 to fill the same position.
But Reid, then the county manager, removed him from that post in January 2002 and offered him a job coordinating the county's lobbying activities instead, according to county personnel records.
Reid wrote in a letter to Mills: "I no longer have confidence in your ability to effectively manage your assigned department."
Reid wrote that he believed there was a mutual understanding that Mills was more suited for a job with fewer managerial responsibilities.
Mills said he didn't remember the 2002 letter from Reid but noted he was doing budgetary and lobbying work while serving as budget director back then. He said he couldn't handle covering both responsibilities, which is why he agreed to take the lobbying-centric position, which he held for the next decade.
Drummond said he decided to return Mills to his former role as budget director because of his experience and because many years had passed since his earlier removal.
"Because of his experience, I was willing to give it a shot," Drummond said. But it didn't work out as he'd anticipated.
"His perception is what his perception is," Drummond said of Mills. "I'm not going to debate it."
Growth Management Director Steve Lachnicht now will serve as interim budget director in the wake of Mills' firing, likely filling that role for the duration of the fiscal year 2014 budgeting process. Lachnicht also will continue to cover his duties for the growth management department.
"The interim director that was in the role, like I said, fell behind in some of the deadlines, and that's why Rick Drummond made the decision to make a change and let him go," Lachnicht said.
Lachnicht said he is focused on managing both departments as the budget office launches into its months-long adoption process.
"I intend to commit myself to pull it through the budget cycle. I think that's pretty much essential right now," he said.
Lachnicht will oversee the development of an initial budget by July and expects to lead both departments until at least September.
Managing his dual responsibilities will be a stretch, he said, but he will have help from Rick Wolf, assistant director of growth management.
"It's a team effort," he said. "And that's a team in a broader sense of working with other departments in the county."
After he had already agreed to take over as budget director following Mills' firing, Lachnicht said Drummond extended a 10 percent pay bump to him as a "generous offer" recognizing the substantial increase in duties he had assumed.
Drummond said he doesn't plan to hire a permanent budget director in the near future because the county is in the midst of a search for a new county manager.
Typically, the role of budget director is the kind of job a new manager would like to select for him or herself because it is an important position, he said.
Contact Morgan Watkins at 338-3104 or email@example.com.
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Topic: May I Intrude?
October 1st, marks my 3rd anniversary of being Cancer Free from another type of rare Cancer. I had a GIST (Gastro Intestional Stromal Tumor) the size of a large grapefruit, removed along with about 12 inches of intestine. Great ONC, great Surgeon and no sign of anything as of July. Like many of you I get Scans every 6 months and a yearly colonoscopy. This Cancer is also very rare, not much research done and if it returns, surgery is the only remedy, then a chemo pill which I did not have the 1st time. The surgery was 1 year before Teddy passed and I really didn't think about it much as I was so busy with him. I owe my strength and positive thinking to Teddy and to this Board who have all helped me to be who I am today. But, still not sure what I want to be when I grow up! My heartfelt wish is that each of you could make the same post.....CANCER FREE!

subset: commoncrawl


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First Eureka 2040 General Plan Update Community Workshop held Tuesday night
EUREKA- The City of Eurkea is in the process of gathering input from the community for the 2040 General Plan Update for land use.
About 50 people, including members of the community and city officials, attended the first of four Community Workshops for the General Plan Update Tuesday night. People had the chance to visit different stations where they could share their thoughts on certain aspects of the city and what they think could be improved. The General Plan Update is a two and a half year process, and the next Community Workshop will be held toward the end of the summer.
"The citizens need to let us know how the city should grow into the future because this is where they live and work. So this is their community so it is important to receive their input so that the city grows and progresses in a manner that is consistent with their vision," said Lisa Shikany, the Principal Planner for the City of Eurkea Community Development Department.
If you would like to give your input but did not attend the Community Workshop, you can still take part in the Virtual Workshop, which lasts until february 24th.
To participate, visit http://www.eureka2040gpu.com


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Filed under: HITT
There are many components that contribute to a Marine's optimal readiness, including physical fitness, diet and nutrition, injury prevention, and fatigue management. A balanced and effective approach for optimum performance and combat conditioning should address all four aspects. That's where HITT comes in.
HITT is a comprehensive strength and conditioning program that takes into consideration the physical demands of operational activities to help Marines optimize their combat readiness. The HITT program focuses on the key components of superior speed, power, strength endurance, combat readiness, and injury prevention.
The four major components of the HITT program include:
- Injury Prevention (including active dynamic warm-up)
- Strength and Power
- Speed, Agility, and Endurance
- Flexibility and Core Stability
The HITT workout program can be customized as a training tool for a unit or an individual. It can also supplement your current training routine. The workouts are divided into three different modules to address each of the four components listed above.
- Athlete HITT develops basic strength and speed using barbells, kettle bells, dumbbells, speed harnesses, resistance trainers, and sleds.
- Combat HITT develops functional strength and endurance using suspension trainers, ammo cans, partner drills, and endurance training.
- Warrior HITT develops explosive power and agility using Olympic lifts, plyometrics (jumping exercises), battle ropes, cones, hurdles, and ladders.
Exercise videos provide instruction and demonstrations on how to do the exercises and movement properly. The program also uses periodization to promote long-term training improvements while avoiding over-training. Lastly, the program is categorized into specific phases, each with its own objectives and set of training parameters:
- Pre-Deployment Phase (Warrior, Combat, Athlete). The main goal is to build overall strength and performance, similar to "off-season training" in a traditional sport setting.
- Deployment Phase (Combat). The objective is to maintain overall fitness levels and reduce the risk of injuries while deployed. This is the Marine's "in-season training".
- Post-Deployment Phase (Athlete). The emphasis is reintegration/strengthening. If a Marine were to sustain injury or lose a significant level of performance, this phase would help get him/her return to full training status.
HITT is endorsed by the National Strength and Conditioning Associations (NSCA) Tactical Strength and Conditioning (TSAC) Department. By implementing the latest cutting-edge training methods and sound science, the HITT program builds fitness for today's tactical athlete – the United States Marine. Read more about HITT and other Marine fitness information on HPRC.
The Marine Corps' High Intensity Tactical Training (HITT) program is becoming more and more popular on Marine bases across the country. HITT is designed to enhance the operational fitness and optimize the combat readiness and resilience of U.S. Marines. You can now access the HITT library of exercises on the go: Download the HITT app from iTunes and Google play today!


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European shares posted their best weekly gain so far this year after rising for a fifth day on Friday, boosted by strong German data and growing expectations Greece will soon get the next dose of financial help.
But key indexes failed to break out of their recent ranges, suggesting investors were reluctant to bet on a sustained rally and falls were likely in the coming days if a euro group meeting on Monday fails to yield an agreement on Greece or US budget talks stall.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index rose by 0.49 per cent to close at 5,819.14 points in London, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.89 per cent to 7,309.13 points and the Paris CAC 40 added 0.87 per cent to 3,528.80.
The euro climbed to $US1.2980 from $US1.2884 late in New York on Thursday, its highest level since November 1.
On the London Bullion Market, gold prices rose to $US1,734.50 an ounce from $US1,731 on Thursday.
"The release of a stronger than expected German IFO survey added a clear upward push to the euro's performance," said Rabobank analyst Jane Foley.
Business confidence in Germany made a surprise return in November, data suggested on Friday, after falling for six months amid the eurozone debt crisis.
The Ifo economic institute's closely watched business climate index rose to 101.4 points in November from 100.0 points a month earlier, contrary to analysts' expectations.
Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had anticipated the indicator slipping to 99.5 points.
"The German economy might have lost its invulnerability but today's numbers indicate that the economy should not join the race to the bottom most other eurozone countries are currently in," ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski commented.
The data came as a European Union summit wound up with no deal sealed for the bloc's next long-term budget, with one EU official saying: "There is no agreement."
Talks on a trillion euro budget for the 27-member bloc faltered over tensions between rich and poor states and Britain's demands for austerity, and followed a breakdown in talks on how to resolve the Greek debt problem.
ETX Capital analyst Ishaq Siddiqi said: "After this week and last week's failure by EU leaders to reach an agreement on unlocking Greek bailout funds, markets will be less forgiving and expect risk assets to retrace this week's gains if Greece doesn't get the funds it so desperately needs next week.
"That said, traders are currently adopting a cautiously optimistic stance, and it is likely the final agreement will involve a haircut (discount) on Greek debt but in a different way, i.e., buying and cancelling Greek debt on the secondary market," he said.
In New York, US stocks bounced higher as the market reopened after the Thanksgiving break, with trading tipped to be lighter than normal due to the holiday-shortened session.
In midday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.34 per cent, the broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 1.30 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.38 per cent.
"The fiscal cliff negotiations still hang over the market as the dominant issue, but today the talk is all about retail on one of the busiest shopping days of the year," said Dick Green at Briefing.com.
He referred to a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on January 1 barring a compromise among US lawmakers, and the fact that the Friday after Thanksgiving is typically a dense shopping day as the Christmas season begins in earnest.
In Asia, stock markets mostly closed higher on Friday following a rally in the previous session, while dealers awaited the new meeting on Greece's bailout and the resumption of talks on the US fiscal cliff, dealers said.
Trade was subdued also owing to a public holiday in Japan that closed markets there, while dealers sat tight ahead of negotiations between US Democrats and Republicans to reach a deal on automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect on January 1.


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Richard Gere to receive Palm Springs Chairman's Award
The star of Arbitrage, riding high on a Golden Globe dramatic lead actor nomination, will collect the honour at the
24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) on Jan 5.
"Throughout his career Richard Gere has established himself as an accomplished actor and producer and yet still finds time to support crucial cultural and humanitarian causes," said festival chairman Harold Matzner.
Prior recipients of the Chairman's Award include Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman.
The PSIFF is scheduled to run from Jan 3-14.
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Hello. I have been wanting to get into coding for awhile, and I chose python, in hopes of learning how to code game scripts and such.
I tried downloading a couple of the latest versions, but when I try to type:
print ["hello world"]
I get an error message. It just won't seem to work. So I uninstalled everything and I came here. I'm giving you guys my system info so maybe someone could step up and tell me what to install. Just tell me if I need to let you know any more information. I have absolutely no prior experience with programming.
OS name: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
System Type: x64-based pc
Processor: AMD Anthlon(tm) II X4 630 processor
Please help! I would really appreciate someone telling me what to install.


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Traum says: "ToxicTechno proves that having the life drained from you can be very appealing."
Only voters receive the private messages a model sends to her fans.
Voting is how you show love and appreciation to your favorite models & photographers.
Zivity pays them a cash royalty for each vote they receive.
Wow... intoxicating. Love your work!jeffw
Buy votes to support this artist on Zivity. Votes are $1 each, and when you vote on a set you like, 55% goes to the model and 30% to the photographer. You can vote in the next step after registering and purchasing votes.


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Personal Trainer
- Recruiter
- Stonebridge Careers Training
- Location
- Wolverhampton
- Salary
- Training course once completed will lead to permanent employment
- Posted
- 02 May 2017
- Closes
- 05 May 2017
- Sector
- Engineering
If you're looking to start an exciting and rewarding career doing something you love and have the passion, drive and commitment then you are half way to becoming a Fitness Professional. Whether you want set up your own business, work in a gym or develop your own skills then becoming a Personal Trainer is the career path for you!
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As a Personal Trainer you will be expected to;·Motivate your client·Record all client progress·Teach new techniques and exercises·Create nutrition plans to tailor your clients individual requirements·Use your knowledge to support and inspire club membersWe are looking for someone who is client focused, passionate to help others and has great time and diary management. If you have what it takes to become a Personal Trainer, then we have everything you need to become a Fitness professional. Currently we work with many fitness career partners that are waiting to hire people like you!
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This job was originally posted as www.totaljobs.com/job/67888350


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PARENTS are invited to an open morning at Taunton School this weekend.
Ahead of the day, Taunton Prep School headmaster Duncan Sinclair said: "We all have a burning desire to provide the best for our children, and never is this greater than when thinking about education and their preparation for life.
"We believe that providing for your child's future with us is the best investment you will ever make.
"School isn't only about assemblies, classes and break time, but is an experience designed to inspire, encourage and enthuse children to embrace the opportunities we are proud to offer.
"We recognise that children are different from each other and cater for their individual needs.
"Our Artsmark Gold Award for performing and creative arts, as well as our academic and sporting success are certainly things we are proud of, but being a school family means being more than that.
"We are a school with vision, preparing young children for the future. Why not visit us and find out more."
The open morning for 0-18 years is on Saturday (February 1) from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
For details, call 01823-703703 for 0-13 years or 01823-703700 for 13-18 years.
See today's County Gazette for the weekly Class Action schools feature, which this week centres on Taunton School nursery and reception.


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Holiday Cheer
News & Events
Seventy-five area families will benefit from the largess of BSU community members thanks to the Baskets of Love program.
The students of Jumpstart spearheaded the collection, with the help of other student groups or individuals seeking to spread some holiday cheer, also chipped in.
In addition to the 75 families, who will be each be given a large basket of toys and gifts, five bicycles will be given away.
One of the student organizers, Jeremy Floman, said he was expressing the thoughts of all those involved, when he said: "It makes me feel great to help others knowing that everything that was donated goes directly to the families who are most in need."
The Maxwell Library, Alumni Center, Wellness Center, Academic Achievement Center, Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, and other offices and departments around campus participated in this program. (Story by John Winters, photo by student Erin O'Leary, University News)


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Penn & Teller's act isn't easy to describe: If you call them magicians, it's almost an insult, since so much of what they do revolves around hilariously debunking and making fun of so-called magic shows. To call them comedians is to ignore the elaborate, fascinating, seemingly death-defying tricks they pull off with apparent ease. No one else does what Penn & Teller do: put together painstakingly rehearsed stunts and tricks, and package those tricks with hilariously caustic, cynical humor. The duo's richly deserved popularity has led to numerous TV appearances (talk shows, a prime-time ABC special last fall, a variety show on FX premiering this summer), successful tours (the duo resides in Las Vegas, where it's a major draw, and plays two weeks in Chicago in the first half of June), and even a movie, 1988's Penn & Teller Get Killed. The Onion recently spoke to both Penn Jillette (whose interview runs next week) and the silent-in-performance Teller.
The Onion: Ultimately, the two of you use your powers to entertain the people. Do you feel like you could be doing more for evil?
Teller: [Laughs.] Uh, well, there are a lot of people who have taken care of that. Yes, I could be in the Senate. I think the powers we have are best used to stimulate the minds of the interested public.
O: Do you like the public?
T: Immensely. And I don't understand people who don't. I don't understand performers who don't. You can see it in every aspect of our show: the fact that we get probably 15 people at various times up onto the stage with us, and basically trust them not to screw up the show; the fact that, after every show, we hang out in the lobby and have people come up and say whatever they damn well please to us, or get autographs, or take pictures with us. We just like 'em. People come up to me on the street and make some little jokelike they'll say, "Excuse me, sir, what time is it?" And I'll say, you know, "5:15," and they'll say, "Hey! Made you talk!" And that's merely a way of saying, "I know your work and I like you." I couldn't be more pleased: These are the people who are letting me do what I've always dreamed of doing for a living.
O: Are you tired of answering questions about how you're different from David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy?
T: Well, I don't frequently have to, because their audience and our audience don't overlap almost at all. People do not come to a Penn & Teller show to see a magic show. They just don't. They come to see weird stuff that they can see no place else, that will make them laugh and make the little hairs stand up on the backs of their necks.
O: Do people still believe in magic?
T: Unfortunately, yeah. It's an embarrassing thing that, in a modern culture, people still fall for lines of bull that were invented in the caves. Look at the popularity of James Van Praagh, the guy who wrote a best-seller called Talking To Heaven. It has literally been on the New York Times best-seller list foreverwell, not literally forever, but virtually forever. And what is it? It's spirit-medium bullshit of the worst kind, and it's taking really serious advantage of people's grief and making money off of it. And people fall for it. So, yeah, people unfortunately still believe in magic, and there's not one good thing about that. I believe in art. [Laughs.] I think art should be in the place in our culture where religion used to be. Where magic used to be, there should be art.
O: It seems like we've sort of entered an ageand maybe this is my limited perspectivein which debunking magic is more popular than practicing it. You have the Secrets Of Magic Revealed specials...
T: But what is that? That's the kind of thing that anybody could go to the library and read in the magic books. It's the kind of thing I loved as a kid. As a kid, I would go to the library and just sit for hours in the children's department, contemplating the diagrams of the old illusions. It's a fascinating thing to watch, which accounts for the fact that the showwhich, as far as I can tell, has not a grain of wit or performance on itis terribly popular. But that's confirmation that people love the concept of magic. They love the concept of lying turned into an art form: Everything that's evil about lying, once you put it in a frame on a stage, becomes virtuous and becomes wonderful. And people love that, and they love measuring one view of reality against another. They love situations in which they can look at something and sort out for themselves where make-believe leaves off and reality begins. So I'm not surprised that that show is popular, because it's not in any way a dismissal of magic. It's a tribute to the fact that people are fascinated by magic. They're not fascinated by illusion, as Doug Henning would have us believe. Magic is a much tougher thing: It's not about watching a cartoon or a special effect. It's about seeing something that seems to violate all your previous experiences in the world, and coming to some sort of terms with thatwhether it's coming to terms with it as poetry, or coming to terms with it as deceit, or coming to terms with it as technology. It's an incredibly vigorous kind of natural form to work in.
O: Are the David Copperfields of the world even still popular? They used to be a lot more visible.
T: As far as I know, immensely. There is a whole audience for that sort of thing. There's a whole audience for heavy-metal rock. There's an audience for almost anything, and Copperfield is, I think, still one of the most popular performers in the world, in terms of popularity and numbersand dough, which is a perfectly fair measure of that. It's completely different from what I'm interested in. It's just a different kind of audience. It's an audience that wants something different. There's huge audience for the film Titanic, too, and Titanic is not a great work of drama.
O: You guys are doing a show for the FX network this summer. What's that all about?
T: It's a variety show, one hour once a week starting in August, with us sort of hosting and starring in it and doing several new Penn & Teller kind of bits, which we're writing specifically for the show. We're going to go for the most eclectic possible mix of guests: I've told the booker that my idea of the perfect show would be Pavarotti followed by a trained house-cat act, follwed by Jane's Addiction, followed by Sigourney Weaver and Matt Damon doing a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire. That's my idea of what I'd like on the show; now, whether I'll get that, I don't know. The eclecticism of it, I think, is gonna be pretty for sure. I don't know if we'll get Pavarotti on there; I'd like to have him. If he happens to be in town, I'd love to have him in.
O: Are you contracted to do a season, or...
T: We're set up to do 16 [episodes].
O: And that's basically what you're going to do in lieu of touring?
T: Yeah, we get done playing in Chicago June 14, and we start shooting I think 10 days later.
O: How did ABC respond to Penn & Teller tormenting children, drowning you, and making jokes about secular humanism before Monday Night Football [as they did on Penn & Teller's Home Invasion]?
T: With remarkable support. They honestly did. I was absolutely stunned by how... I'll give you an example: Originally, we had placed the water tank [a hilarious bit in which a trick apparently goes awry, leaving Teller drowned] midway through the show, and then we would come back later, and you would see me alive and doing other stuff. We just thought that was an interesting placement. ABC said, "Look, couldn't you just leave Teller dead?" The only thing they seemed to care about, in terms of saying no, was they didn't allow us to do the section of our polyester trick where we wrap the polyester around the kid's neck and try to strangle him. They wouldn't let us leave the mouse dead in the liquid nitrogen. We had to bring back the mouse. They care a whole lot whether a mouse is dead or alive, but Teller, who cares? But I was amazed and stunned; I really expected a whole lot of serious prime-time censorship, and instead we wound up working with some very hip people there.
O: They were right, too, about the water tank.
T: I think they were absolutely right. This may be the first time I've ever said that sentence in relation to some television activity. They were right.
O: What's in the live shows that you're doing now?
T: The polyester trick is there. "Looks Simple," which is a backstage view of a cigarette routine, but it's a very curious sort of thing where I come out on stage and light a cigarette [pauses], and then we show you how I did that trick. We take a piece of commonplace realitylighting a cigaretteand then simulate it with an intricate magic routine, and then show you how the trick is done. Penn will be juggling broken liquor bottlesbottles that he's broken the bottoms off ofbare-handed, so the consequences of a miscatch are a little more dramatic than if he were juggling, I don't know, clubs. I'll be making a bunny-rabbit disappear by heaving it into a chipper-shredder. It's a very splashy trick. We'll be doing a 12-minute opera, which we call "Houdini Back From The Afterlife"; [he comes back] to tell us that there's no afterlife. It's a very elaborate piece of staging involving, among other things, an electric bass guitar, a wooden chair, four pieces of rope, a staple gun, and 15 yards of Spandex. It's not like any opera you've seen before. We'll be doing the world's largest and heaviest card trick, with the forklifts. Mofo The Psychic Gorilla is returning with a new act; this time, Mofo invades the audience's pockets and is able to tell them the serial numbers on their dollar bills. But, boy, is Mofo cheesy; I won't tell you anything further about Mofo, except that there are those who have falsely accused me of providing the voice for Mofo. Of course, I strenuously deny that. Let's see...
O: You've done some stuff with guns.
T: Yes, I'm just about to get to that. Penn will do a science lecture in which he illustrates sub-atomic molecular theory by having a woman from the audience smash a concrete block on his body with a sledgehammer. And we're doing the gun trick that we're sort of well-known for now, in which we have two .357 Magnum guns examined by audience membersand there's no stooging in the show at all; we usually find military personnel or police or gun hobbyists. We have them examine two .357 guns, mark the ammunition, load the guns, and hand us the guns. We stand at opposite sides of the stage and fire the guns into each other's faces, through panes of glass. The panes of glass are left with bullet holes, and the marked bullets, still hot from being fired, are then removed from our mouths by the hands of the people who signed them. It's a very disturbing trick, because you look at it and you say, "Okay, that's real, that's real, that's real, that's real... Somewhere along the line, I had to be wrong."
O: What are the odds that one of you will actually be killed doing a trick?
T: Um, I like to think none. Think back over what you may know of our career: We have run me over with an 18-wheel tractor-trailer. I have swung over bear traps on a trapeze, with the bear traps, of course, open and ready to spring. Nearly nightly, I swallow a hundred needles and six feet of thread and bring the needles up threaded without dying. So it's kind of a specialty of ours to take elaborate, careful safety precautions, and make sure that you can never see them. We're incredibly prudent, and we tend to stand watch over each other to make sure the other guy doesn't get too out-of-control. And in the case of, for example, the gun trick, we did the whole gun-safety course. When we were experimenting with it, we experimented very prudently, step by step by step by step. And I'll tell you, it was not a very pleasant action to be holding a gun up and pointing it at Penn's face, and I would assume he feels the same about me. [Laughs.] When we first did it, we had to have other people stand in as the shooters, because we couldn't stand the notion of pointing guns at one another's faces. So it's, I think, very unlikely. We're terribly cautious.
O: What do you want done with your corpse when you're dead?
T: Um, it may not be entirely in my control. There are people I know who would like to have a grave to visit, and we already have a grave. But I think there are people who would like to know that my corpse is actually in this grave. Given my absolute druthers, I would certainly like to see that every part of my body is used for spare parts for science.
O: What do you and Penn disagree on? You seem to be aligned in every way.
T: Well, you get aligned in every way by having every possible argument. [Laughs.] Really, I believe the first six years we worked together, we did very little more than scream at each other all the time about every little thing. And, gradually, you come to accords about things. We still... What do we disagree about? When an idea is developing, there will be disagreements every stage of the way. But that's the nature of how we work. We end up in the position that, if both of us can agree on it, then a large portion of the populace seems to be able to go along with it, because we've come at it from such opposite directions.
O: How much public-advocacy work have you done? I know you've spoken out on civil liberties, on the V-chip.
T: Yeah, I did a New York Times editorial on the Pornography Victims' Compensation Act, whose idea was that, if a rapist claimed to have viewed a porno movie, the victim of the rape could sue the porno producer. You know, that sort of magical thinking is predominant among politicians. But equally horrible stuff is still happening: There's a whole weird mindset now in which the only thing you have to do is utter the words "child pornography" in connection with anyone's name, and instantly that person's life is ruined. It's amazing: It's the equivalent of "Communist" in the McCarthy era. It's very strange. Honestly, I think it's a very good idea to have it not legal to exploit children in pornography. They're maybe a little too young and fragile for you to say that the responsibility falls on them to protect themselves from being victimized. That being said, if somebody has a photograph made by Lewis Carroll, I don't think that person should be able to be imprisoned for it. And the photographs by Lewis Carroll, by our current standardswhich are so incredibly vague... I was talking to the head of the ACLU, Nadine Strossen, and she quoted me some of the laws. I wish I could quote some of them off the top of my head. They're things like, "If the model could conceivably be underage, might be able to be represented as being underage and in a suggestive position"not even explicitly nude or involved in sexthat falls under the same category. And worse, if you happen to have a picture of Brooke Shields from the Pretty Baby days, you really, by current laws, could be subject to criminal procedures. It's really insane. I don't know how to approach that or exactly what to do about it. Of course, I don't think children should be raped or abusedthat makes perfect sensebut carrying that to the degree of criminalizing every possible thought in connection to that is really like executing people for murder because they like to watch Psycho. It isn't criminal behavior. I should be able to fantasize about being Hitler at his worst and not be prosecuted for that.
O: How much have Penn & Teller come under fire by censors?
T: Amazingly, not much, and I cannot understand why. Part of it may be that [censors] know that if they were to approach us with certain questions, we would just laugh in their faces. And not a defiant laugh, but a laugh of, "You can't be serious, now, can you?" We've never really had problems.


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text:
HAYGROVE trampolining star Sophie Churchill just missed out competed in the national schools finals in Newcastle.
Sophie was first in the under-19 individual after her first two routines but had the award snapped from her grasp in the final round to come second.
The under-15 team of Emily Rossiter, Maisie White, Megan Kellaway and Chloe Arlow, who qualified for the Nationals at the Southern Zonal Championships in Kent, travelled with Sophie.
The girls finished just outside the medals in fourth place nationally.
Haygrove PE teacher Sarah Gallagher said: "Congratulations to all the girls. Competing at this level is a great experience and will give the younger ones lots of confidence.
"I'm proud of Sophie – she competed successfully with the very best of her age group and walked away as second in the UK."


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NAPLES, Fla. - It's fall, which means there will be more sightings of Florida's largest land mammal.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is hosting an event Friday morning at the Naples Zoo to provide information about how bears are more active this time of year. The commission will also highlight what to do and not to do when humans encounter bears.
During the event, wildlife officials will place bear-resistant garbage cans in a bear display. The FWC will also launch a new website where residents and visitors can document their encounters or bear sightings.
FWC biologists estimate that there are between 2,500 and 3,000 black bears in Florida. It's the only species of bear found in Florida.
Copyright 2013 by ClickOrlando.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Getting Married Will Make You Obese
Couples that live together are twice as likely to become obese than those that live separately, according to new research. Although cohabitation does result in some health benefits, like decreased cigarette smoking and lower mortality, Penny Gordon-Larsen, associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, found that married couples and those living together had greater weight gains than other people of the same age, and the couples had a greater risk for obesity. She said age may not be the cause of the weight gain, but the pressure of changing behaviors could be. People living together tend to eat together, cook bigger meals, and eat out more frequently than when they were single, said Gordon-Larsen. Spouses, she added, can be good influences on each other, as long as, they realize what's going on. That may be how they avoid packing on the extra pounds. [Telegraph via Impact Lab]


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Player Information
2012 Cross Country (R-Sr.) • Liberty's top finisher in three of his four races, including the Big South meet, where he was the conference runner-up • Became the 12th men's runner in program history to earn three All-Big South awards in cross country • Individual champion at the Royal Cross Country Challenge with a personal-best 8K time of 24:07.6 • After his Royal Cross Country Challenge victory, he was named the Big South and ECAC Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week • Recorded his third career top-60 placement at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championship, finishing 48th overall (third on the team) in a 10K personal-best effort of 31:17.71
2012 Outdoor Track & Field (R-Jr.) • Included on the Big South Presidential Honor Roll for the third time • Made a successful 10K debut, placing fifth in the Big South final in 31:28.00 • Dropped his 5K personal best to 14:27.74 while capturing fourth place in the college section of the Penn Relays • Notched an 18th-place finish in the IC4A 5K
2011-12 Indoor Track & Field (R-Jr.) • Ran the 3K/5K double on back-to-back days at the Big South meet, notching fourth place in the 3K and ninth in the 5K • Sped to a personal-best 3K time of 8:24.32 on his way to a 17th-place IC4A finish • The 3K effort ranks him No. 10 on Liberty's all-time list
2011 Cross Country (R-Jr.) • Liberty's No. 2 runner for most of the season • Crossed the line sixth at the Big South meet in an 8K season-best time of 24:36, garnering All-Big South accolades • Finished 47th at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championship and 24th at the IC4A meet • Posted top 10 finishes at the Coastal Carolina Invitational/Big South Preview (third) and Charlotte Invitational (ninth)
2011 Outdoor Track & Field (R-So.) • Big South Presidential Honor Roll • Earned a seventh-place finish in the Big South 5K final • Closed his year with a season-best 14:39.37 5K effort at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier
2010-11 Indoor Track & Field (Jr.) • Did not compete in any races for Liberty and was redshirted
2010 Cross Country (Jr.) • Ran in only two meets, before receiving a medical redshirt • Teamed up with Josh MacDonald to finish second overall and first among Liberty's pairings at the Virginia Tech Cross Country Relay • Ran an 8K season-best time of 25:33 at the Brooks Paul Short Run
2010 Outdoor Track & Field (So.) • Big South Presidential Honor Roll • Did not compete in any races for Liberty and was redshirted
2009-10 Indoor Track & Field (So.) • Posted a ninth-place showing in the Big South mile final • Season-best mile time of 4:19.76 came at the Liberty Quad
2009 Cross Country (So.) • Top three runner during most of his first cross country season at Liberty • Took eighth place at the Big South Championship for his first All-Big South notation • His 10K season-best time of 32:08.0 at the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championship was good for 56th place overall and third place on the team
Previous School • Spent his freshman year (2008-09) at Biola • Qualified for the NAIA national championship in cross country, as well as the indoor mile and distance medley relay • Earned All-GSAC honors after placing 11th at the conference cross country meet
Prep • Graduated from Sussex Technical High School • Capped off his high school career by winning the 1,600-meter title at the DIAA Meet of Champions • During his senior year, he was seventh at the Delaware state cross country meet, second in the 1,600 at the state indoor meet and fourth in the 1,600 at the state outdoor championship.
Personal • Son of Robert and Ruth Ricksecker • Older sister Rebekah ran track & field and cross country for Liberty and is now an assistant cross country and track & field coach for the Flames and Lady Flames • They became the first brother-sister duo in program history to both earn All-Big South honors in cross country, garnering three notations apiece. • Secondary English education major • Birthday is on Sept. 12
Top Efforts in a Liberty Uniform 800 – 1:57.99 1,000 - 2:35.85 (Indoor) 1,500 – 3:59.30 Mile – 4:19.76 (Indoor) 3K – 8:24.32 (Indoor) 5K – 14:27.74 10K - 31:22.29
Big South Individual Titles (1) 2013 Outdoor 10K All-Big South Honors (4) 2009 Cross Country – 8th 2011 Cross Country - 6th 2012 Cross Country – 2nd 2013 Outdoor 10K - 1st
Upcoming events are currently unavailable for this team.
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Jim Cooper's Met Police face a tough assignment in the FA Cup third qualifying round after being drawn away to Dereham Town.
The Magpies ply their trade in the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League - two levels below the Met - but they are currently top of the pile having won six out of six - scoring 18 goals and conceding just three.
When they host the Met, it will be their fifth FA Cup game of the season with their most notable scalp of Chasetown coming in the last round.
Meanwhile, Hampton & Richmond will know more about their third qualifying round opponents when they travel to Ryman League Premier Division rivals Bury Town.
Bury, who sit just below the Beavers in the table on goal difference, have not lost all season winning the last five games with the concession of just one goal.
The ties are due to be played on Saturday, October 6.


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It's Monday morning and for some odd reason I have lots of energy this early. That's pretty rare for me. LOL! I figured, since I'm up, I'd share an outfit post with you. Now, it's been pretty gloomy here in L.A. and I love it, because I get to dress nice and comfy…definitely one of my favorite ways to dress. Especially on a Sunday! I think it should be a rule. But, that's just me.
Everything in this outfit is a repeat offender, except for the shoes. My denim top is from Land's End (no longer available), the cardigan is from Just My Size (no longer available), and the skinnies are from Torrid.
The ankle boots are courtesy of Naturalizer. I took their "Izer" quiz and was determined to be a "Synthesizer," which recommended the Onset in Coffee Bean Suede. I couldn't agree more! Discover your inner "Izer" NOW…take their quiz! The boots are pretty comfy, I wore them all day with no issues. And yes, they do offer these in wide widths and they're on sale 50% OFF!
Take a second to check out a few of these Naturalizer boots. You'd be surprised at how chic they are!
Disclosure: Items in this post were gifted. The above is my true and honest opinion. I was NOT paid for this post.


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Countdown to Big Brother 11!!!
Want to know how much longer you have to wait for Big Brother 11? The actual premiere date and time? Well check out this link, I have it set to countdown to July 9th, 2009 at 7 pm Central Time…….if you just can't wait and want to know how much longer to the date, go…Details


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I am debating what I should and should not BOLD in Question/Answer sets on a survey I just created.
Currently, I have the Question as "normal", and the Number/Labels in my Answers as "bold".
Should I make the Labels "normal"?
And should I make the Questions "bold"?
Here is a screen-shot of what I have currently...
Yes please make the Labels bold and the questions normal. The eye can scan through the labels more easily this way.
Does that include making the Text portion (i.e. "Poor Article" and "Excellent Article") bold as well?
Personally I would not make the Text portion bold (i.e. "Poor Article"). Bold labels only.
Well, to be precise, "1 Poor Article" and "10 Excellent Article" are the LABELS in my HTML. (I just wrap the Text with a  for formatting purposes.)
Here is what I believe you are saying...
To be honest, that looks to faint to me...
The numbers are (for example) are still bold therefore the <label.. does look dim in comparison. I would not make the numbers bold or the <label.. but that's just me. If you don't like the look of it then go with it being bold. In the end, the eye should be the final judge.
I personally like the way you have it in your first screenshot. It focuses the eye on the range of answers instead of all the answers. IMO it will help your survey-taker to focus their brain on their options as well. However, I think it's a matter of personal taste. I've seen it done both ways. Generally, though, bolded text is only used for emphasis, not for visual aesthetics.
I would recommend removing the word "Article" at each end, as it's redundant. The question asks you to rate the article, to that word is implicit. The user just needs to know which end is which, and "poor" is enough to indicate that number 1 is the low end.
As for the bold, I'd be inclined to remove it and perhaps use italics instead, to distinguish it from the questions themselves. Whatever is bolded is most important on the page, and "poor" and "excellent" are not the most important text. They are really just little asides to clarify what the numbers mean.
If anything, I would bold the questions, as these are really the most important parts, and bolding them would help the eye distinguish them. (You know for sure where each one starts and ends.)
Interesting conversation so far!
To Ralph's point, here is a sample flipping the bolding paradigm around...
I think that looks good, and I agree with some of Ralph's ideas about the Question being the most important.
The only problem, is that if you look at my Survey form from the top then I think my original scheme looks best...
What do you all think?
I'd still like to see you remove the word "Article" from the options.
It's under "Management Review".
I'll get back to ya on that...
Any thoughts on the latest screen-shots that I posted?
They both look OK to me, but I can understand why you wouldn't want too much bold at the top of the page. You could perhaps lighten the color of the questions to compensate (a slightly lighter gray, for example).


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"Let there be no doubt: in the Asia-Pacific of the 21st century, the United States of America is all in", declared Barack Obama in a speech to the Australian parliament in November 2011. But Asians might be excused for having a few doubts about that now that Obama has cancelled half of his upcoming trip to Asia – so that he can stay at home and concentrate on his budget fight with Congress. For the moment, the president is still planning to travel to the Apec summit in Bali. But even that promise is under review, depending on what's happening in Washington. It would be acutely embarrassing if Obama cancelled the trip to Apec, since it would be the third time he has failed to show up for a scheduled trip to Indonesia. Previous efforts to visit the country that he lived in as a child were cancelled – in March 2010 and then again in June of that year – because of an argument, first over health-care and then over BP. Read more
© The Financial Times Ltd 2016 FT and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.


text:
Welcome back, Horror Highways.
Each year, the Globe had a habit of compiling a light-hearted top-ten of Wirral's most frustrating roads and traffic junctions.
And now the list is back.
We've updated a few and reprised some fine classics.
See if you agree with us and if not, let us know.
Or even better, tell us about your top Horror Highways.
*** *** *** ***
NO 1 - Hoylake Road, Moreton
We have absolutely nothing against chip shops or sofa stores. Indeed, we have been known to sit on our own sofas while scoffing bags of chips.
But that doesn't mean we want to spend aching eons of time each morning and each evening sat in the car glaring darkly at the same said shops while waiting for the traffic to start moving through Moreton Cross.
For a council who happily removed the perfectly good and efficient roundabout at Arrowe Park, why can't it finally get rid of this one and Make. The. Darn. Traffic. Move?
NO 2 - Arrowe Park Junction
Since we're talking about Arrowe Park, let's get back to this monument to highways planning at its finest.
All hail Wirral's most obvious example of what can happen when planners quite clearly run out of useful things to do.
We're willing to bet the person responsible for this has never even driven a car - and probably moved here from Liverpool in a deliberate attempt to undermine our pleasant peninsula way of life.
NO 3 - A41 New Chester Road
In the United States, there are apparently advertisements for budding new rodeo riders advising them to hone their lurching skills by jumping on a plane, hiring a car, and then driving up and down the traffic light-laden mess that is the A41, stopping and starting so frequently that those all-important lower discs in the spine can get toughened up to prepare them for the comparatively easy task of riding a crazed bull.
NO 4 - Hamilton Square
Each weekday morning, thousands of vehicles stand idling at traffic lights around Price Street, Laird Street and Argyle Street, belching out their carbon footprints into the lungs of passing pedestrians while motorists sit brooding in their cars, wondering why they are stuck behind six empty buses.
Yet since the Square first made our list in 2007, there has been some progress. At least they've scrapped the bus lanes. Doh!
NO 5 - Argyle Street
Welcome to The Mystery That Is The Lights That Don't Work Properly.
Those of you who share the deep misfortune of having to try to navigate your way through Birkenhead will probably at one time or another found yourself wondering why it is that this set of lights only turns to green for enough time to allow a supersonic jet to pass through at Mach 2, before hurriedly switching themselves back to red again.
NO 6 - Mersey Tunnels
Tunnel entrances, both of them. Because what we all really want to do is spend our lives inhaling petrol fumes as one of the lanes is always closed "for maintenance."
Or you get there in a hurry and find most of the toll booths are closed. Funnily enough, that often seems to happen when Liverpool are playing at home. Could an Evertonian be in charge?
NO 7 - Millhouse Lane
Because it's about a metre too narrow to comfortably allow cars to pass on the inside, anyone taking a right hand turn from Hoylake Road into Millhouse Lane risks incurring the wrath of motorists stranded helplessly behind them, their knuckles white with repetitive tension and their minds alive with thoughts of ballistic missiles and cauldrons brimful with boiling oil.
NO 8 - Market St, Hoylake
"I know," they said. "Let's test the patience of the hapless residents of one of our seaside towns by ripping up the pavements, introducing bizarre on-road parking areas that have helpfully high kerbs apparently designed on purpose to burst tyres, narrow the driving area so there are constant jams throughout the day, and make it physically impossible to make a right hand turn towards the promenade without causing a tailback that stretches so far back that drivers leaving the M58 near Ormskirk shriek with congestion frustration, too."
NO 9 - Bidston bypass/Aldi traffic lights
A new addition to Horror Highways. Endless queues, traffic lights perpetually set at red. Frustration, depression. It was all so predictable. A modern classic.
NO 10 - St James, Birkenhead
Ah yes, the old favourite - and like a bad wine (or grumpy reporters), it gets worse with age.
Light-controlled filter lanes allow you to dreamily "filter" halfway across the junction then (with what we imagine to be a malevolent grin) they turn to red.
Instant panic!
You're stuck in the middle blocking the path of equally puzzled/furious drivers coming in the opposite direction - no way forward, no way back.
The old roundabout worked perfectly well; yes, there'd be the odd queue building up at rush hour.
But the powers that be successfully managed to turn a small problem into a BIG problem.
Fine work.
Special Mention - And finally, how about a tremendous pat on the back for whoever thought turning off our street lights would be a good idea - and another for the councillors who agreed with them.
Having recently found the the cash to fit Wallasey Town Hall with a new £25,000 carpet and a splendid £800,000 staircase, they still insist it's absolutely essential to save money by plunging dangerous and busy thoroughfares into darkness.
Seems odd to us.
The Bidston to Moreton bypass is particularly treacherous, but the stretch from Saughall Massie to Three Lanes End - surrounded by pitch black countryside - is like driving with your eyes shut and a bag on your head.
*** *** *** ***
So there we are.
We all feel better now, having got that off our chests.
Do you agree with our list?
If you're so minded, you can leave your comment below...


text: In Baltimore's Western District, Dennis Mello is the administrative lieutenant and the Baltimore-accented voice of the roll call room. A Western man to the core, he was unsettled by Colvin's move to shift the drug trade to three areas where district policing was not a priority. But as the perils of the situation began to mount, Mello's loyalty to his major never bent. The aftermath of the Hamsterdam left Mello as the acting commander of the Western, and he now finds himself playing mentor to Sergeant Carver.


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Gallery: Lanterman Developmental Center's residents transition to group homes
David Stein's fingernails have almost completely grown back now, so that an observer can barely tell he once, while he was living in a state institution, ripped each one off with his bare hands.
The 36-year-old developmentally disabled man, who has aggressive and self-abusive behavioral issues, now has a steady job with a manufacturing company in Rancho Cucamonga and hosts his family at his new group home in San Bernardino for Thanksgiving and Christmas. His mother, Renee, whom he calls twice a day, says he seems to have never been happier.
But when the California Department of Developmental Services told Renee Stein, 61, of Alta Loma, nearly three years ago that the state was going to close Lanterman Developmental Center, where David had lived for 18 years, she thought her son's life was over. The Pomona facility had been David's home, the staff knew him well and took good care of him and he was safe to roam Lanterman's grounds without concern of misunderstanding or pointed stares, his mother said.
"We fought tooth and nail to not have Lanterman close," Stein said. "I could not have imagined anything more terrible. ... Self-abusive behaviors are frightening when you think (they) are going to live in a group home, but he has just done so well I can't believe it. He is doing 500 percent better than he was at Lanterman."
Stein's son moved into a 24-hour care group home one year ago. Despite her fears of leaving his beloved home at Lanterman, Stein said her son has flourished physically and mentally since.
David is one of the many developmentally disabled Americans who have transitioned into community homes as public opinion and lawmakers back a cultural transition away from large institutions that keep developmentally disabled citizens separate and toward a more integrated approach. The change is also designed to save state costs, legislators say.
Following other states in the country, California began shutting down its six developmental centers in 2004 with the closure of Agnews Developmental Center in San Jose, completed in 2009. The DDS announced the closure of Lanterman in 2010 and has set a goal to fully close the facility by the end of 2014. There are 170 residents left living at Lanterman, a facility that at its peak housed 1,000 people.
State Sen. Carol Liu, D-Glendale, who is on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said this transition in attitudes and distribution of funds has been a long time coming.
"It has been the intent of the Legislature for about 50 years to close these institutions," Liu said. "These things are really hard but we are moving away from institutionalizing people, and I'm in favor of that. I don't think institutions are healthy places where people are all of like kind and all stick together. It's better for all of us to have an experience with all kinds of people."
Many of the fears about treatment at the developmental centers were only enhanced by findings from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2006. The DOJ cited Lanterman after 275 allegations of abuse or neglect were made in 2003-04 and noted that many Lanterman staff members failed to report incidents or did not track them correctly.
Media reports also surfaced in 2012 of significant abuse of residents at Sonoma Developmental Center, including one case of rape and pregnancy of a developmentally disabled woman living there and another case where a male resident nearly died from a broken neck.
This month, the California State Auditor's Office released a scathing report citing the state's developmental centers for not effectively investigating incidents that put residents' at risk and said the DDS has still not addressed "long-standing problems" cited by the attorney general in 2002.
In a response to the audit report, the DDS said it has taken significant steps to improve its reporting system, educate staff on sexual assault and ensure that it thoroughly investigates all reported incidents.
"The auditor's report confirms issues already being addressed by the department," the letter reads.
However, for Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, these incidents are reason enough to close all of the centers as quickly as possible.
"Somebody has to be a voice for these people," Grove said. "There is a more vibrant and fuller life for these individuals out in the community."
But like Stein, the families of many Lanterman residents praised the developmental center as a safe space offering quality care. Most describe being horrified at the thought of their loved ones, many of whom had lived in the center since childhood, being pushed outside its walls.
For John Borack of Fountain Valley, keeping his brother Gary, 59, in Lanterman was his mother's dying wish. Gary had lived at Lanterman for more than 50 years before moving into a community home in Mission Viejo nine months ago.
"We really appreciated the quality of service and care that Gary received at Lanterman. It was his home," said Borack, 51, who grew up in Hacienda Heights. "When they announced the closure ... there was a lot of trepidation on our part just wondering how this is all going to shake out."
Since moving into the home, Gary has done well so far, his brother said, and despite his mother's fears, he is receiving the same level of care he did at Lanterman.
Bob Hazard, whose sister Susan moved into the community three months ago, said he sees the change from institutions to community homes as more than just a budget issue; he said he's seen a shift in public opinion about the institutions over the last few decades.
"After 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' that movie had a big effect on the developmental centers nationwide because people thought they should be allowed to live in the community," said Hazard, 66. "We are fighting a nationwide de-institutionalization ideology, because most people don't understand who these individuals are who have been living in the developmental centers."
Susan Hazard, 62, moved into a group home in Temple City in March after 52 years at Lanterman. Bob Hazard said his sister, who is "profoundly mentally disabled," has been doing "very, very well" since the transition, though the move was not without anxiety.
But for Riverside resident Jerra Letrich, the fear of moving her sister into the community still consumes her. Her sister Brenda, 50, who is severely autistic with behavioral issues, still lives in the developmental center, and Letrich fears that it will be nearly impossible to find an appropriate place for her, or the others remaining at Lanterman, in the community.
"I believe there are not suitable homes for some of these clients because the models don't exist in the community to care for these clients," said Letrich, 54. "If you don't like developmental centers, that's OK, but you need to have equal or better available elsewhere. I would say many, probably most, of the families of the clients remaining would absolutely fight to keep Lanterman because they are fearful for their loved ones lives if they move out."
In addition to the fears about of moving out, now that the closure process is coming to an end, Letrich said she also fears what she says is deteriorating care at Lanterman due to staff reductions. She filed a complaint in May against the DDS for allegedly putting residents in danger, and her letter was one of several submitted by parents regarding resident care and even resident deaths both in and outside Lanterman since the closure was announced.
Letrich and other family members have attended the many legislative and DDS hearings on the closure to express their concerns and advocate for the developmental centers to remain open.
Nancy Lungren, spokeswoman for the DDS, said the department has maintained the necessary staffing levels to keep residents safe and has a specific procedure and staff team in place to facilitate a smooth transition.
"The Department of Developmental Services' highest priority is the health and safety of the people served throughout the developmental center system including those who reside at Lanterman Developmental Center," Lungren said in a statement. "The Department takes seriously this commitment, especially during the closure of a facility."
In 2013, there have been four self-reported incidents at Lanterman, three of which were "unsubstantiated" and one of an "injury of unknown origin. There have been 28 deficiencies found this year by the California Department of Public Health during staff recertifications and complaint investigations.
Gloria Wong, executive director of the East Los Angeles Regional Center, which provides services for former Lanterman residents in the community, said the seven regional centers working with Lanterman residents have a thorough and successful process for transitioning them into the community.
"Small settings, a better quality of life, that's why regional centers exist," Wong said. "The preference for most families is that those services be created in the community."
Letrich, however, she still feels the closure process has taken away her voice and taken the choice away from her sister.
"I believe the decision of the DDS have caused a dangerous environment, period," Letrich said. "Anyone who thinks the closure plan is going well, I guess you'd have to ask them what their measure of success is."


text: Community Service with Huntsville's Mayor Above Left: Bin Chen meets Mayor Tommy Battle during their day of volunteering. Above Right: Volunteers install new playground equipment at Holmes Avenue Park. On November 3, 2012, ILC student Bin Chen, pictured here with Mayor Tommy Battle, was one of 150 volunteers who arrived at the Holmes Avenue Park to install new playground equipment for the children in the area. First, the team dug up and moved soil to level the surface. Next, the volunteers built and anchored the large slides and jungle gyms. To make the area safe and padded for children, they finished by laying mulch over the entire play zone. Volunteers received lunch for their efforts, and Bin was very happy to meet Huntsville's mayor, Tommy Battle, who also came to help with the park project. When asked why he chose to participate in this service opportunity Bin explained, "I was born in a small village in Fujian Province, China, and I didn't have this form of entertainment as a kid, so I wanted to help these children and give them the opportunity to enjoy this kind of play area." Bin highly recommended this volunteer experience to fellow students, citing a snowball effect. "It was meaningful," said Bin. "When the children grow up they will remember this and maybe give time to help other children." To read more about the Holmes Avenue Park Build visit the link http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2012/11/post_50.html