text:
Clot Dissolving Treatment for Blood Clots in the Lungs
This study has been terminated.
(PI changed institution and impossible to solve problem with contract's sites)
Jeffrey Kline
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Jeffrey Kline, Carolinas Healthcare System
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: May 16, 2008
Last updated: July 22, 2014
Last verified: July 2014
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- Study Results
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Detailed Description:
The purpose of this study is to determine if tenecteplase plus enoxaparin is safe and effective in the treatment of patients with severe submassive pulmonary embolism.
|Pulmonary Embolism
|Drug: Tenecteplase + Enoxaparin Drug: 0.9% Saline + Enoxaparin
|Phase 3
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Randomized Trial of Tenecteplase to Treat Severe Submassive Pulmonary Embolism
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: Pulmonary Embolism
Drug Information available for: TenecteplaseU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Jeffrey Kline, Carolinas Healthcare System:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Number of Patients With Cardiogenic Shock or Respiratory Failure From Pulmonary Embolism and Number of Patietnts With Major Hemorrhage [ Time Frame: 1,2,3,4, and 5 days ]
- Number With Functional Cardiopulmonary Limitations Assessed With a Composite Measurement (Six Minute Walk Distance, Right Ventricular Function and Quality of Life Score on the SF-36) [ Time Frame: 90 days ]
- Number With Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism and/or Severe Post-phlebitic Syndrome [ Time Frame: 90 days ]
|Study Start Date:
|May 2008
|Study Completion Date:
|October 2012
|Primary Completion Date:
|May 2012 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Placebo Comparator: 2
Saline + Enoxaparin
Drug: 0.9% Saline + Enoxaparin
Enoxaparin: 1 mg/kg within 12 hours before receiving saline.
Experimental: 1
Tenecteplase + Enoxaparin
Drug: Tenecteplase + Enoxaparin
Enoxaparin: 1 mg/kg within 12 hours before receiving tenecteplase.Subsequently, patients will receive 1 mg/kg enoxaparin SQ Q12 hours until discontinuation is clinically indicated.
Tenecteplase:will be administered using a tiered-dosing schedule according to patient weight: <60Kg=30mg; ≥60Kg to <70Kg=35mg; ≥70Kg to <80Kg=40mg; ≥80Kg to <90Kg=45mg; ≥90Kg=50mg
Detailed Description:
This project is a phase III, six-center, randomized trial of tenecteplase to treat severe submassive (systolic blood pressure >90 mm Hg) pulmonary embolism (PE). "Severe" requires one of the following predictors of a adverse outcome: right ventricular (RV) hypokinesis on echocardiography, hypoxemia (pulse oximetry reading <95%, <1000 feet above sea level), serum troponin I (abnormal at local threshold) or brain natriuretic peptide concentration >90 pg/mL (or NT proBNP >900 pg/mL). Patients from the emergency department or inpatients can be enrolled within 24 hours of a diagnostic positive CT angiography. After informed consent, eligible patients will be randomized to the study or placebo arm. All patients will a receive a 1mg/kg enoxaparin, SQ followed by a syringe prepared in pharmacy containing either a body weight-adjusted dose of tenecteplase or a 0.9% saline placebo, given IV push. Patients will be followed for five days post-treatment for composite acute adverse outcomes: PE-related (death, any ACLS intervention, circulatory shock, respiratory failure, need for vasopressors with organ dysfunction) and hemorrhage-related (intracranial or intraspinal hemorrhage and any other hemorrhage requiring transfusion, surgical or endoscopic intervention or a hemostatic drug). Survivors will return at three months for assessment of a delayed adverse outcomes of death or cardiopulmonary functional limitation (CFL): interval medical care for dyspnea + RV dysfunction or pulmonary hypertension on echo + either a NYHA score ≥3 or a 6 minute walk distance <330 m. Together, the acute and delayed outcomes represent composite serious adverse outcomes (SAOs). We hypothesize an absolute 20% reduction in composite serious adverse outcomes in the study arm compared with the placebo arm. The six hospitals represent geographic diversity: Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, New Haven, and Springfield, MA. To help maintain balance between sites, the six sites will each enroll a maximum of 40 patients until the sample size of N=200 is reached, which allows the 20% effect size to be tested at α =0.05 and β=0.20 with 15% loss to follow-up. The study will employ an intent-to treat analysis. Secondary endpoints include recurrent venous thromboembolism within three months, scores from two validated quality of life questionnaire (VEINES-QOL and SF-36TM) at three months. Human subject safety include requirement that a study MD verify the presence of all inclusion and absence of exclusions in real-time, a method to allow unblinding to the clinical care team, an independent DSMB that will perform 6 interim analyses and will enforce predefined stopping criteria for either safety or efficacy.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Pulmonary vascular imaging positive for PE within the previous 24 hours
- Ability to provide written informed consent and comply with study assessments for the full duration of the study
- Age >17 years
- Evidence of severe PE: RV hypokinesis on echocardiography, abnormal troponin I or T (any non-normal including indeterminate values, using local reference thresholds) or BNP measurement >90 pg/mL or NT proBNP >900 pg/ml (not more than 6 hours prior to CT angiography and not more than 30 hours before enrollment) or a pulse oximetry reading <95% within previous two hours (<93% in Denver).
Exclusion Criteria:
- Systolic blood pressure < 90 mm Hg at time of informed consent
- Do not resuscitate or do not intubate order
- Systemic fibrinolytic treatment within previous 7 days
- Inability to follow-up at 3 months
- Documented gastrointestinal bleeding within previous 30 days
- Active hemorrhage in any of the following sites at the time of enrollment: intraperitoneal, retroperitoneal, pulmonary, uterine, bladder, or nose.
- Head trauma causing loss of consciousness within previous 7 days
- Any history of hemorrhagic stroke
- Ischemic stroke within the past year
- Prior history of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
- History of intraocular hemorrhage
- Intracranial metastasis
- Known inherited bleeding disorder, e.g., hemophilia
- Platelet count < 50,000/uL
- Prothrombin time with an INR >1.7
- Chest, abdominal, intracranial or spinal surgery within the previous 14 days
- Subacute bacterial endocarditis
- Pregnancy (positive pregnancy test)
- Prior enrollment in the study
- Current treatment with fondiparinux, dalteparin, a direct thrombin inhibitor or administration of a glycoprotein inhibitor within the previous 48 hours.
- Known pericarditis
- Allergy to heparins,or tenecteplase
- Elapsed time that would preclude drug or placebo administration within 24 hours after diagnosis
- Evidence of non-end stage kidney injury (creatinine clearance < 30 ml/min without chronic hemodialysis treatment; chronic hemodialysis-treated patients are eligible)
- Preexisting end-stage cardiopulmonary disease (heart failure with left ventricular ejection fraction <20%, known severe pulmonary hypertension or other lung disease causing permanent dependence upon oxygen)
- Any other condition that the investigator believes would pose a significant hazard to the subject
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00680628
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00680628
|United States, California
|University of California, Davis Medical Center
|Sacramento, California, United States, 95817
|United States, Colorado
|University of Colorado Hospital
|Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80045
|United States, Illinois
|Northwestern Memorial Hospital
|Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
|United States, Massachusetts
|Massachusetts General Hospital
|Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
|United States, North Carolina
|Carolinas Medical Center
|Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, 28203
|United States, Rhode Island
|Rhode Island Hospital
|Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02903
|United States, Utah
|University of Utah Hospital
|Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84132
Sponsors and Collaborators
Jeffrey Kline
|Principal Investigator:
|Jeffrey A Kline, MD
|Carolinas Medical Center
More Information
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Keywords provided by Jeffrey Kline, Carolinas Healthcare System:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Stewart LK, Peitz GW, Nordenholz KE, Courtney DM, Kabrhel C, Jones AE, Rondina MT, Diercks DB, Klinger JR, Kline JA. Contribution of fibrinolysis to the physical component summary of the SF-36 after acute submassive pulmonary embolism. J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2015 Aug;40(2):161-6. doi: 10.1007/s11239-014-1155-5.
|Responsible Party:
|Jeffrey Kline, Director, Emergency Medicine Research, Carolinas Healthcare System
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00680628 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|May 16, 2008
|Results First Received:
|October 29, 2013
|Last Updated:
|July 22, 2014
Keywords provided by Jeffrey Kline, Carolinas Healthcare System:
Pulmonary Embolism
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Pulmonary Embolism
Embolism and Thrombosis
Vascular Diseases
Cardiovascular Diseases
Lung Diseases
Respiratory Tract Diseases
Tissue Plasminogen Activator
Fibrinolytic Agents
Fibrin Modulating Agents
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text: Vertical Search Works opens London office Published on November 27, 2013. Most Popular New York—Vertical Search Works, which provides search marketing technology, announced the opening of a London office to support its expansion in the European marketplace. Vertical Search Works provides semantic search, video and mobile technology to marketers. European clients include software company Asta Development, construction equipment manufacturer New Holland and financial services company Relendex. In this article: BtoB

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Many publications had Indiana ranked No. 1 in their preseason polls this fall and so far, the Hoosiers haven't disappointed.
"Starting No. 1 is good," junior guard Victor Oladipo said, "but we'd rather finish No. 1. Don't get me wrong. We love the accolades. We love the recognition. At the same time we realize it's not where you start, but where you finish."
Entering this season, IU returned most of its firepower from last year's 27-win Sweet 16 team that stirred visions of the program's national title-winning glory days.
Add one of the nation's best freshman classes and you have are off-the-chart expectations.
What you don't have, Oladipo said, is a group of guys so full of themselves that they forget the misery of recent seasons and the reason for the turnaround.
"We'll continue to keep working hard, listen to this coaching staff and playing for each other. We'll take it one game at a time. We're not looking ahead to what we can't affect. We can only affect the here and now.
Everybody's energized. It could be a really special year, and everybody is anxious for the year to start. It's what you dream about – winning a national championship, a Big Ten championship. We're trying to make our dreams come true."Notre Dame entered the 2012 football season with little expectations – except from itself. The Fighting Irish weren't even ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 to start the season, but when the regular season concluded, no team was rated higher. In a story that stunned the college football world, Notre Dame won every single game this season and will now play for the BCS National Championship (Monday on ESPN vs. Alabama).
Irish get defensive
Notre Dame utilized the best defense in the nation (in points allowed) throughout this season to fuel its run to the top of the polls.
"Well, that's who we are," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. "It's been our defense all year. Our offense is able to manage enough points."
The Irish shut down an explosive Oklahoma offense on the road to show everyone that the program was back, then got great performances – and a little luck too – in wins against Pittsburgh and Stanford.
Notre Dame closed its season with an awe-inspiring goal line stand to seal its championship game fate at USC.
"They've had a great goal-line defense all year," USC coach Lane Kiffin said. "They've done that to everybody down on the goal line. ... It's just so hard to score touchdowns versus them."
Eifert proves elite
As great as the Notre Dame defense was, the Fighting Irish had some weapons offensively, as well.
None were as potent as former Bishop Dwenger High School standout Tyler Eifert.
"… To also play at the level that he's played," Kelly said of Eifert, "to break the kind of records with the great tight ends that have been here at Notre Dame is an amazing feat. I think he epitomizes in terms of what we look for as a Notre Dame football player."
Eifert earned the 2012 John Mackey Award, which is given to the nation's best tight end.
"Sometimes at the tight end position you get labeled as either a pass catcher or a run blocker, and (Eifert) has broken that mold," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said.
"He lines up as a wide receiver. He's lined up attached as a run blocker and a pass protector, because we all knew one thing that he had: He could catch the football."
Eifert recorded 44 receptions for 624 yards and four touchdowns this season, while leading Notre Dame to the national championship game.
During his career, Eifert has totaled 134 receptions, 1,779 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns, which makes him the all-time career leader in receptions and receiving yards by a Notre Dame tight end.This fall proved to be a season of shock for the Bishop Luers High School football program. No, the Knights did not fail to win an IHSAA Class 2A State Championship, which would have been stunning. However, who guided the team to its fourth consecutive state title did prove to be a sad surprise to many of the Bishop Luers family.
Longtime coach fired
After 33 years of service to his alma mater, Bishop Luers athletic director and football coach Matt Lindsay was fired when the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend learned "inappropriate video clips, none involving nudity," were discovered on Lindsay's computer Sept. 12.
"I know that this matter has been the subject of much speculation in the media and in the community," Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades said in a release. "Because of the concerns of all involved, we have tried to proceed carefully and honestly, though under intense public pressure."
The next day Lindsay was placed on administrative leave by Bishop Luers principal Mary Keefer and he was fired a few days later.
"The only thing I can say is that the 33 years I spent at Luers have been awesome," Lindsay told The News-Sentinel shortly after being fired. "I love the people and I wish them all the best. It's been a great ride."
In the statement, Bishop Rhoades said that in accord with diocesan policy, the matter was reported to law enforcement officials in the Fort Wayne area for their investigation and evaluation.
At this time, no charges have been filed against the longtime educator.
Same old, same old
The Knights had new leadership through the second half of their football season, as former coach Steve Keefer was named as the interim coach in wake of Lindsay's termination. However, the results were the same.
In November, Bishop Luers withstood a rallying Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter squad and came away with a 40-28 win in the IHSAA Class 2A State Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
"This is what Luers football is all about," senior defensive back Kendrick Mullen said, "digging deep down and playing for the `Luers' on our chests."
A game that looked to be over when Luers went up 27-0 in the second quarter turned into a wild finish where the Knights needed two gut-check drives to claim their fourth straight Class 2A title.
"Our hearts dropped a little," Mullen said when the lead evaporated. "We had a little adversity. But we've been battling adversity all year. We know how to bounce back from tough times like that."
Luers staged two essential final drives, the first one 63 yards, the second one 60 yards. Fifteen of the 16 plays in the drive were running plays. Senior Tyvel Jemison finished off the first drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, while senior Jaylon Smith capped the last drive with a 16-yard scoring run.
Smith, who is headed to Notre Dame as a linebacker, finished with 150 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
The final two drives came from deep within, that reserve of energy that champions seem to possess.
Smith is the best
At no point in the 21-year history of the Indiana Mr. Football Award had any of the many great players from Fort Wayne been recognized as the state's best.
That changed earlier this month.
Bishop Luers senior Jaylon Smith was named as Indiana's 2012 Mr. Football.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Notre Dame commit receiving 23 votes, 11 more than runner-up Tim Kimbrough of Warren Central.
"He is very gratified," Bishop Luers coach Steve Keefer said about Smith. "He tries to stay very humble and is focused on moving to Notre Dame and is working towards that."
Smith culminated his senior season with Bishop Luers' fourth consecutive state championship. He rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns in that game, in addition to his usual dominant performance at linebacker.
For the season, Smith finished with 75 tackles, 20 tackles for loss and eight sacks. After not seeing the ball a lot offensively to begin the season, Smith came on in the second half to finish with more than 1,200 yards rushing and 18 scores.
Smith was also named as the recipient of the Dick Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's best linebacker.If a Hollywood screenwriter wrote a story mirroring that of the 2012 Indianapolis Colts, movie studios would laugh and probably even chastise the writer for being too farfetched. The Colts allowed the greatest player in team history – heck, arguably the greatest player in history – to walk away following a disastrous 2011 campaign. And the team actually got better.
No more Manning
After 13 seasons of being the most beloved athlete in city history, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and team owner Jim Irsay stood in front of the media in early March at the Colts practice facility and talked about the Colts'/Irsay's decision to release Manning. Irsay thanked him profusely, wished him well, vowed to retire his jersey and choked up.
"It's a difficult day here, with shared pain between Peyton and myself," Irsay said.
Manning told Colts fans and the city he loved them and said he understood the circumstances that produced this breakup. Then he choked up.
"I sure have loved playing football for the Indianapolis Colts," Manning said.
Later that month, Manning signed with Denver and is a candidate for the 2012 Most Valuable Player Award.
Colts are in 'Luck'
With the first pick in the NFL Draft, the Colts took Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. He merely stepped into a situation where he had the biggest shoes to fill of any rookie in the league.
While Luck wasn't Manning, he showed more than a little potential to be the perfect quarterback for the next decade of Colts football. He set NFL records for most yards passing by a rookie in a single game (433), most 300-yard games (six through Dec.9) and broke Manning's record for most passing yardage in a single season.
Most importantly, Luck recorded more rookie wins than any No.1 quarterback pick in history.
He also showed a knack for late-game heroics, setting a new rookie mark for most fourth-quarter or overtime game-winning drives.
"Show me a guy who has the most resilience in the NFL, and I'll introduce you to my quarterback Andrew Luck," Colts tight end Dwayne Allen said.
Wins accumulate despite changes, coach's illness
With Manning injured all through the 2011 season, the Colts went from being a perennial Super Bowl contender to 2-14 and the worst team in football.
Improbably, they flipped it around again in 2012. Despite getting rid of several big-name players (Manning, Dallas Clark, Gary Brackett, Jeff Saturday, Joseph Addai), the Colts made run at a playoff spot.
The team returned only a few veteran players (Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis) and hired a new coaching staff led by first-year head coach Chuck Pagano.
After the Colts started off 1-2, the team was hit by devastating news that Pagano had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He went on a leave of absence and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians became the interim coach. Arians maintained contact with Pagano and build on his foundation.
"We have a group of young men and older men who have a cause," Arians said. "When you play for a cause, you play together. It's all 53 guys for one common cause and that's to extend this season for Chuck."
Pagano attended some games while undergoing treatment with the hope of joining the team for a playoff run.
Mr. Irrelevant
One of the players along for the ride is quarterback Chandler Harnish, who had record-setting careers at Norwell High School and Northern Illinois University. Harnish was taken in the draft by the Colts with the No.253 and last pick of the draft, a spot affectionately called "Mr. Irrelevant."
The selection was huge for Harnish, who grew up a Colts fan, attending many games.
"He is relevant, because otherwise you wouldn't burn a pick on somebody," Colts general manager Ryan Grigson said after the draft. "He is very smart and mobile. He is a really good leader and you don't get a bad word about this guy. He's got ability and we are happy with the pick. He was up there on our board higher than when we took him, believe me."
Harnish made the Colts' initial 53-man roster but was later released and signed to the team's practice squad. He hopes to compete for a roster spot with the team again next season, perhaps as the No.2 quarterback behind Luck.This past year brought some changes to Fort Wayne's storied hockey club. The Komets again found themselves moving to a new league, moving from the Central Hockey League to the East Coast Hockey League, which brought an increase in the level – and the amount – of competition. Throw in the fact that the National Hockey League remains in the midst of a lockout, and the 23-team ECHL rosters have been impacted as well. However, the one constant for Fort Wayne is that this team continues to thrive.
Nine is fine
Prior to the fifth game of the CHL Presidents' Cup Finals in mid-May, the legendary Bob Chase boldly – and accurately – stated that when the Fort Wayne Komets decide to play to their potential, they are unbeatable at this level. Nearly six decades of announcing Komets games has obviously paid dividends in Chase's bank of knowledge.
Fort Wayne played spectacularly at both ends of the ice and left no doubt among the 9,560 fans in attendance at Memorial Coliseum as to who is the best team in the Central Hockey League with a 6-3 win over Wichita.
"It's big, it's big," Komets forward Kaleigh Schrock repeated for emphasis. "I used to watch (the Komets) win cups when I was a little boy, and now I've got two as a player. It's just the same as it was when I was watching it as a little boy. It feels just like that."
The victory gave the Komets a 4-1 series win and the franchise's ninth championship.
How dominating were the Komets?
Facing the most successful team in the league during the regular season, Fort Wayne went off on Thunder goaltender Bryan Hogan almost immediately. The Komets got five goals in the first period; including a stretch of four goals (Colin Chaulk, Schrock, Frankie DeAngelis and Bobby Chaumont) over a span of 3:26 as they took a 5-2 lead into the second period.
New league brings new faces, competition
After playing their first 47 seasons in one hockey league, the Fort Wayne Komets joined their fourth league in the past 14 seasons just days after winning the Ray Miron Presidents' Cup in the Central Hockey League in May, as the club affiliated with the East Coast Hockey League.
"With the CHL ... one of the things we have been looking at very closely is where are our geographic rivals going," Franke said. "What's going to happen with Dayton, what's going to happen with Evansville, what's going to happen with Quad City and what's going to happen with Bloomington? Those four pieces are very, very important to the puzzle. If two or three of those teams go away, then all of a sudden Fort Wayne up in northeast Indiana becomes almost the Rapid City of the northeast in the CHL.
"The ECHL, on the other hand, has Toledo, Kalamazoo and Cincinnati. Those are old-time Fort Wayne rivals. When we moved to the CHL a couple of years ago, Toledo was in a mothball situation because they tore down the old Sports Arena. and they hadn't played for a couple of years. There was a question what was going to happen with Toledo, and there was a question with Kalamazoo where they were going to be. Everything was way up in the air two years ago, and that's why we made the decision to do the two-year deal in the CHL."
A Fort Wayne legend goes national
Everyone in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio knows of the greatness that Bob Chase has brought to the sport of hockey. Now the rest of the hockey world knows, as well.
In October, the 86-year-old Komets broadcaster received the Lester Patrick Trophy for service to hockey in the United States at the USA Hockey Hall of Fame banquet in Dallas.
"It had to be one of the most memorable moments in my life," Chase said. "You don't move to those heights very often when you spend your life in a sport like this. I'm glad I'll have pictures to help me remember it all. This was top-of-the-mountain stuff."
More Information
What you saidHere's how you ranked the sports stories of the year in our online polls, from most to least important.
Bob Chase earns hockey's highest honor, 13
Manning, Colts part ways, 10
Longtime Luers coach fired, 8
IU basketball returns to No. 1, 7
ND plays for BCS title, 4
Komets win ninth championship in team history, 4


text:
A Novato man is facing kidnapping charges on allegations he took a 16-year-old runaway to Las Vegas for sex, authorities said.
Douglas Harry Warenback, 53, who is on probation for a prior child pornography case in Novato, was arrested at home Tuesday on a warrant from Nevada. He is being held without bail at the Marin County Jail pending further proceedings.
The investigation began Sept. 3, when Las Vegas police found Warenback, the girl and two other males in a car at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. The car smelled of marijuana, Warenback was at the wheel, and police learned the girl was 16 years old, according to court filings. The other two males were 22 and 17 years old.
Warenback is on probation for a 2011 conviction for possession of child porn in Marin County, according to court records. Under the terms of his probation, he is not allowed to be with minors without other adults present.
Under questioning by Las Vegas police, Warenback initially described the girl as his girlfriend, and said the four occupants of the car had two booked two rooms at the hotel, according to an affidavit by Detective Casey Clarkson.
"I asked Warenback if he was sharing the room with (the girl) and (he) said no but that he was either going to have a threesome with (the girl) and one of the other males or watch her and one of the males have sex together as he stayed in the room," Clarkson wrote.
Police then contacted the girl's mother in Elk Grove, Sacramento County. The mother told police she had no idea her daughter was in Las Vegas and that she had reported her missing as a runaway.
The mother also said she had found an online profile for her daughter on a sex website, in which she posted nude photos of herself and prices for sexual services.
The mother also said that she found a phone number in her daughter's room, and when she called it, and man answered and identified himself as "Doug." The mother asked him what his relationship to her daughters was, and he said he was "just like a dad to her," the affidavit said.
Warenback was booked and released while Las Vegas police continued to investigate possible kidnapping charges. He allegedly called the mother to ask for an affidavit saying he had the parents' consent to take the girl to Las Vegas.
"Warenback went on to say that it would help him out with the legal trouble he has coming his way and he is done talking to (the girl)," Clarkson wrote.
Warenback, whose birthday is Monday, listed his occupation as "engineer" when he was booked at the county jail.
Contact Gary Klien via email at email@example.com


text:
Q: Chef, I heard you were in Louisiana recently to open restaurants for a new casino. Did you find any interesting recipes while there that would be good for the chilly months coming up?
A: I had a great experience down there, working side-by-side so many talented chefs who created some of their more famous dishes like gumbo and etouffée. While getting ready for Hurricane Isaac to blow its way through late last month, I came across a wonderful recipe that reminded me of the creamed corn and bacon dish my mother would make on cold winter days. I found two talented chefs who make it two different ways: Chef Otis Dickerson with his soulful recipe, and Chef Troy Deano, with his modern, lighter succotash style, really put their hearts into their dishes that have been passed down through the generations. Below, I have a recipe that will work whether you like the richness of the butter and cream, or a healthier version with delicious flavor.
4 oz tasso ham, diced
2 T butter
2 lb. corn, kerneled
1 c onion, diced ½ c celery, diced
¼ c red bell pepper, diced
¼ c green onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 T sugar
4 c chicken stock
½ c heavy cream
1 t thyme
1/8 t cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS: Render your tasso in butter until crispy. Add onion and celery, and cook until tender. Add red pepper and garlic. When vegetables are cooked, add corn and cook, moving the corn constantly to keep from browning. After about five or 10 minutes, add stock, cream and dry seasonings. Reduce to low heat, cover and let braise for 30 minutes. Sauce should begin to thicken. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add green onion and taste for flavor.
FOR A LIGHTER DISH, MAKE THE FOLLOWING SUBSTITUTIONS: Canola oil for butter
Low-fat ham for tasso (this also will reduce the spiciness of the dish). Use low-sodium chicken stock.
Omit cream.
Chef John Johnson is River City Casino executive chef. Do you have a recipe request for Chef John? Email him at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Industry News
Sally Beauty Supports PBA Scholarship Fund
Mike Spinozzi, president of Sally Beauty Supply, presented a $10,000 ceremonial check representing Sally Beauty's support of the Professional Beauty Association's Student Scholarship Fund. The check was presented at the recent International Salon and Spa Expo in Long Beach, California.
Spinozzi presented the check to Pontida Vonsaga, one of the 2013 scholarship winners. The PBA was represented at the scholarship ceremony by Peggy Sue Schmoldt, who assisted in the presentation, which also recognized the 20th year Sally Beauty has made a $10,000 donation to the scholarship program.


text:
SEVERAL businesses in Winchester have faced disruption this week after telephone line failures.
Shops and cafes on Upper Brook Street and St George's Street have been without a line since last Tuesday (February 11), and one business has been told it could be weeks before it is sorted.
It means that shops are unable to take payments by credit or debit card, use the internet and make or receive calls.
Workers have criticised BT for failing to update them, despite the telephone exchange sitting just yards away.
Park Life Kids has hired a mobile credit card machine, at a cost of £80 per week.
The manager, Danielle Pendlebury, said they hired it out of necessity. She said: "The owner, Maria Harvey, had a statement from BT this morning (February 18). They said it could be weeks before our phone lines come back and they didn't seem to know what's wrong.
"We have had to pay to hire a mobile machine because otherwise we have no way of taking card payments, and as a small business we are affected a bit more than bigger businesses would be.
"The majority of our payments are taken by card so it's a real problem, and we don't know when it will be sorted."
It is believed that the basement of the telephone exchange has been under four feet of water for over a week, causing damage to underground cables.
Tom Romita, owner of Tom's Deli, estimated that he has lost "hundreds" of pounds since the lines went down, and has even suggested solutions to BT.
He said: "I've been phoning them every day. I suggested running temporary cables over ground, and they said it was a health and safety issue. I suggested putting us on 4G and they told me to buy a dongle. Then I asked them to consider fixing it as a matter of urgency but they said ground water levels were too high.
"If they were ten miles away I could understand, but they are less than thirty metres away."
The Citizens Advice Bureau, on St George's Street, has remained open despite having no email or online system, internet or outgoing calls, and has spent an estimated £350 on mobile internet dongles and other emergency maintenance devices.
Jenny Meadows, chief executive of Winchester CAB, said it's been a stressful time. She said: "I thought at one point that we were going to have to evacuate, but we have managed here."
BT engineers visited the CAB on Tuesday (February 18), and it seems the problem in their office has been dealt with; however Gervades and Shoe Repairs, both on Upper Brook Street, confirmed they are still facing disruption.
A BT statement yesterday said: "We had a cable chamber which flooded and caused loss of service to around 100 properties in the area. We have cleared one cable and we also replaced around 60 metres of damaged cable to clear the vast majority of faults when this work was completed on February 14.
"We had around 20 residual faults left which did not clear. Engineers have been working on these remaining faults and we are hoping that these will all be cleared by the end of today (WED)."


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The Camuti Consultation Service is available on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10AM to 12PM and from
2PM to 4PM ET (excluding holidays)
Have a specific question about the health and/or care of your cat? Why not take advantage of our Camuti Consultation Service? This unique service puts you in contact with one of our outstanding veterinary consultants, who will discuss your cat's condition and/or care with you.
Our consultants have years of clinical experience, and they are happy to discuss a variety of topics ranging from the diagnosis and treatment of specific diseases to the best ways to manage weight loss or hairballs.
Important note: The purpose of this service is not to diagnose or to guide in the treatment of specific diseases, nor to serve as a second opinion regarding specific diagnoses. Given the fact that our consultants do not have direct access to your cat, specific diagnoses and recommendations regarding therapy, including drug dosages, are not provided. These issues are best managed by your veterinarian. This service serves as a source of information and support for cat owners and enthusiasts alike, and we are happy to assist you in this regard.
It is our goal to provide you with the most current and comprehensive information in a timely fashion, so that your feline questions are answered and your concerns addressed promptly and accurately.
General Consultations
FHC Member - $44
Non-Member - $55
The quality, accuracy, and efficiency of our services are reliant upon the information that our consultants receive prior to contacting you. To this end, our dedicated staff will be happy to collect the necessary information from you when you call and to forward this information to a consultant in preparation for a return call. You can expect a return call from one of our consultants within 48 hours of your call.
Cardiology Consultations - $75
Heart disease is, unfortunately, relatively common in cats, and we are happy to offer consultations with a board certified veterinary cardiologist. Relevant data (i.e. echocardiography reports, electrocardiography reports, blood work, radiographs) may be forwarded to the Feline Heath Center's Consultation Client e-mail address prior to your consultation. After receiving intake information and data, a veterinary cardiologist will contact you within 48 hours.
Oncology (Cancer) Consultations - $75
Oncology consults often require additional information in the form of images such as radiographs, CAT scans and/or MRI images, and these may be forwarded to the Feline Health Center's Consultation Client e-mail address along with other data such as medical records, bloodwork, or imaging reports. The same parameters for call back times apply for consultations with our resident in oncology.
Behavior Consultations - $115
After obtaining some basic information from you, a detailed behavior consultation form will be sent to you. Please complete the form and return it to the Feline Health Center's Consultation Client e-mail address. After reviewing the behavior consultation form, a veterinary behaviorist will contact you within 48 hours.
Feline Health Center members receive a 20% discount on general consultations along with other benefits of being an FHC member. To apply for a membership and receive a discount on your general consultation please click here. Payments can be made by American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa.
In most cases, a consultant will contact you within 48 hours of receiving requisite data where needed. Please make every attempt to provide contact information that will facilitate easy communication, as we are eager to answer your questions in a timely fashion. We realize that in today's hectic world, there may be times when you may not be able to answer a return call from our consultants. If, however, a consultant is unable to reach you after attempting to do so three times over a period of 48 hours, your case will be transferred to inactive status. This does not mean that we do not wish to help you, because we do! Rather, a case that has been termed inactive will require that you contact us at your earliest convenience to arrange contact with one of our consultants, and your case will be reactivated, with the same parameters regarding contact by one of our consultants as outlined for the case initially. We ask that you do not contact us regarding the status of your consultation unless 48 hours have lapsed since initial contact or reactivation. Please understand that we are always working diligently to provide you with the answers that you need, and that these measures are designed to provide our operation with the efficiency required to address all of our callers' inquiries.
We appreciate your patronage, and we trust that the information that we provide will assist you and your feline friend(s) in whatever manner necessary. It is important to point out, as mentioned above, that consultation with our service is not a substitute for having your cat(s) examined by a veterinarian, and all cats should see a veterinarian for regular check ups and any time they are showing signs of illness. Given the fact that our consultants do not meet your cat in person, it is not possible for our consultants to render second opinions regarding specific diagnoses.
Best Regards,
The Cornell Feline Health Center Team


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ANAHEIM -- First he blistered their ears. Then he had them knock each other around on the ice a lot more than usual, because he didn't see much battle in their one-sided loss the night before.
Sharks coach Todd McLellan was just as upset Sunday as he was Saturday night, when his Sharks were outplayed badly in a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. And he made his point in multiple ways.
"We didn't work too hard last night. We didn't commit ourselves, so we'll try it in practice and see if we can convert that into a game-time thing tomorrow night," McLellan said, setting up Monday night's game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.
Before taking the ice, McLellan got everyone's attention with a high-volume critique of San Jose's effort against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"He wasn't happy, and nobody in here is going to be upset that we got yelled at," forward Adam Burish said. "We're adults. We're pros. You know if you did your job or you didn't. Sometimes you deserve a little ass-kicking, and then you move on. Guys handled it, guys responded."
On the ice, it looked more like training camp than the second half of the season. Players hammered away at each other in one-on-one drills along the boards. If there were refs, more than a few players might have been sent to the box for cross-checking.
"It was good today," Burish said. "At the time, it's hard and it sucks, but when it's done you feel good about the work you put in."
McLellan made it clear he would rather see that compete level in games, not practices. But after reviewing video of his team's performance, he said he felt he had to start somewhere.
"I just kind of got hit in the first," Clowe said. "Finished the first period but didn't think it was smart to go back."
Clowe didn't skate Sunday and wasn't sure of his chances of playing against Anaheim.
"We'll see how it feels tomorrow," he said. "I don't really know the odds."
"It will be a reflection on their play, but there are others that could come out and it would also reflect on their play," the coach said. "Who's available to go in and what roles they can fill come into play."
For more on the Sharks, see David Pollak's Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PollakOnSharks.


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Most of the cars entered into the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance are restored into pristine condition, so lustrous that the glare is blinding during the sun's brief appearance over the coast.
Related: View a slideshow
But a select few are preserved in their original state, with the owners striving to keep them as authentic as possible.
"If it's a museum, they will keep it original," said Paul Daniels, collections manager of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, in reference to a 1913 Mercer Model 35 J Raceabout. "If it's a private collector, nine times out of 10 they're going to spend the money to fully restore it. But we're into preserving vehicles and showing them in all their glory."
In stark contrast to the weathered Mercer, a 1934 Packard 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria owned by Joseph and Margie Cassini of West Orange, N.J., won Best of Show on Sunday. The car has semi-custom coachwork and features including the distinctive Raymond Dietrich-styled teardrop fenders.
The Cassinis also won Best of Show in 2004 with a 1938 Horch 853A Erdmann & Rossi Sport Cabriolet.
"The second time is just like the first time, it's such a thrill," Joseph Cassini said. "It's even more exciting and emotional the second time."
What makes the car so special? "It's sexy," Cassini said.
Allan Winn, a chief class judge at the Concours, said the Packard is an unusual car that has an "unrestrained style."
He said it is a worthy winner.
"I think the four cars that were in the final round were all very good cars and I would have been happy with any of them being the overall winner," Winn said.
The other finalists were a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Van den Plas Belgium Torpedo, a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Vanvooren Pillarless Saloon and a 1932 Lincoln KB Murphy Roadster.
Only recently have unrestored cars garnered consideration for Best of Show at other concours. A 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B earned the honor at the 2013 Elegance in Hershey, Pa.
But Winn doesn't think an unrestored car will win the top award at Pebble Beach any time soon.
"It's probably unlikely that we will ever see an unrestored car unless it's an untouched one that's straight out of the factory and has been locked away, in which case it would be the perfectly preserved motor car," Winn said.
Daniels said the yellow Mercer owned by the museum is the most original car of its model in existence. The metal was repainted in the 1950s, but the frame and all of the parts are in original condition and the vehicle identification numbers and tags all match.
"You won't find anything as original as this one," he said. "Everything else that you'll see usually has been through nut-and-bolt restoration, frame off of body, you know, everything. But this one, there's still an inch-and-a-half layer of muck underneath. It is original."
Bits of the wooden wheels are exposed as the yellow paint wore off during the past century, adding to the car's character.
Another original preservation car at the Concours was a 1935 Voisin Clairiere Berline owned by Bill and Linda Pope. According to David Loy of the Scottsdale Automotive Museum, it is miraculous that the car survived World War II. Many of the cars were scrapped during the war for their aluminum bodies.
"It probably was in a barn, covered in hay or behind something, so they were actually able to save it," Loy said.
According to Loy, the Voisin has had minor repairs, including fixing the leather seats and replacing the main power lead.
"It is perfectly OK," he said. "To repair is good. To restore, which would mean sanding down, banging out all of the fenders and repainting it isn't (good)."
The paint has worn down in the 78 years since the car was built and, like the Mercer, the Voisin has decades-old mud clinging to its undercarriage. But Loy said the car is "a piece of history."
Tommy Wright can be reached at 646-4457 and firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wrightscribe.


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Obama is considering a range of weaponry to the rebels, as described in the Washington Post, including surface-to-air missiles. The idea would be to ship them the weapons, bolster their war effort, and watch them topple the blood-soaked dictator — without a deeper U.S. military commitment.
Except that few strategists consider that realistic. Assad has a variety of advantages — an adaptive military estimated at over 50,000; complete air superiority; chemical weapons — that he will retain even if Obama opens a new arms pipeline. Overcoming those advantages means getting, at the least, U.S. and allied airpower involved — a step the Obama administration, and especially the military, want to avoid. Especially since it might involve shooting down Iranian planes, a fateful step.
"The Syrian regime is not collapsing, nor is it on the verge of collapse," says Christopher Harmer, a former U.S. Navy officer and analyst with the Institute for the Study of War. "Everyone has been saying that for about 18 months. It has contracted, and may be forced to contract further; as long as they have control of their chemical weapons, I don't think there is a collapse scenario."…
There's another option, one several senators have called for: using American and allied air power to take away Assad's control of the skies. However you construct a no-fly zone — launch Tomahawk missiles from submarines in the Med against Syria's recently upgraded air defenses; use the U.S.Patriot missile battery in Turkey as the basis for an anti-aircraft effort; scramble F-15s, F-16 or F-22s; whatever — it takes away "an indespensible element of Assad-regime survival," Harmer argues. The important thing is to stop the Iranian planes filled with weapons and stop the Beechcraft-sized Syrian planes from conducting aerial intra-theater resupply of Syrian Army forces.


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Tom Morris Library: H. M. S. Surprise (Vol. Book 3) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)
H. M. S. Surprise (Vol. Book 3) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)
Patrick O'Brian
W. W. Norton & Company
Number of pages:
Product Description"Few, very few books have made my heart thud with excitement. H.M.S. Surprise managed it."—Helen Lucy Burke, Irish Press Third in the series of Aubrey/Maturin adventures, this book is set among the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and in the distant waters ploughed by the ships of the East India Company. Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy enjoying overwhelming local superiority. But somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could make him rich beyond his wildest dream: the ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet...Amazon.com ReviewThe stakes are high as HMS Surprise opens, and actor Robert Hardy's sterling reading never lets you forget them. Hardy makes Patrick O'Brian's third novel of high-seas adventure--written in 1973 and set mainly in 1805 on the waters surrounding India and the Orient--seem as immediate as an overdrawn checking account. Money plays a big role, and Captain Jack Aubrey stands to make a lot of it. All he has to do is find Napoleon's fleet--and take their gold away from them. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --Lou Schuler
© 2017 National Sailing Hall of Fame, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization


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text:
One of the eerier reports on the deteriorating
situation in Afghanistan appeared recently in the New York Times. Journalist
John Burns visited
the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Zamir N. Kabulov, who, back in the 1980s,
when the Russians were the Americans in Afghanistan, and the Americans were
the jihad that would eventually wend its way to the 9/11 attacks… well,
you get the idea…
In any case, Kabulov was, in the years of the Soviet occupation, a KGB agent
in the same city and, in the 1990s, an adviser to a UN peacekeeping envoy during
the Afghan civil war that followed. "They've already repeated all of our mistakes,"
he told Burns, speaking of the American/NATO effort in the country. "Now,"
he added, "they're making mistakes of their own, ones for which we do not own
the copyright." His list of Soviet-style American mistakes included: underestimating
"the resistance," an over-reliance on air power, a failure to understand the
Afghan "irritative allergy" to foreign occupation, "and thinking that because
they swept into Kabul easily, the occupation would be untroubled." Of present
occupiers who have stopped by to catch his sorry tale, Kabulov concludes world-wearily,
"They listen, but they do not hear."
The question is: Does this experience really have to be repeated to the bitter
end – in the case of the Soviets, a calamitous defeat and retreat from Afghanistan,
followed by years of civil war in that wrecked country, and finally the rise
of the Pakistani-backed Taliban? The answer is: perhaps. There is no question
that the advisers President Obama will be listening to are already exploring
more complex strategies in Afghanistan, including possible
negotiations with "reconcilable elements" of the Taliban. But these all
remain military-plus strategies at whose heart lies the kind of troop surge
that candidate Obama called for so vehemently – and, given the fate of the
previous 2007 U.S./NATO "surge"
in Afghanistan, this, too, has failure written all over it.
If you want a glimmer of hope when it comes to the spreading Afghan War –
American missile-armed drones have been attacking across
the Pakistani border regularly in recent months – consider that Barack
Obama has made ex-CIA official Bruce Reidel a
key adviser on the deteriorating
Pakistani situation. And Reidel recently reviewed
startlingly favorably Tariq Ali's must-read, hard-hitting new book on Pakistan
(and so Afghanistan and so American policy), The
Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power for the Washington
Post. ("My employers of the past three decades, the CIA and the Brookings
Institution, get their share of blame," Reidel wrote. "So do both of the current
presidential candidates….")
Ali believes that there could be a grand, brokered regional solution to the
Afghan War, essentially a military-minus strategy. Let's hope Reidel and others
are willing to listen to that, too; otherwise it will certainly be "Obama's
war," and – for anyone old
enough to remember – haven't we been through that before? Tom
Operation Enduring Disaster
Breaking with Afghan policy
by Tariq Ali
Afghanistan has been almost continuously at war
for 30 years, longer than both World Wars and the American war in Vietnam combined.
Each occupation of the country has mimicked its predecessor. A tiny interval
between wars saw the imposition of a malignant social order, the Taliban, with
the help of the Pakistani military and the late Benazir Bhutto, the prime minister
who approved the Taliban takeover in Kabul.
Over the last two years, the U.S./NATO occupation of that country has run
into serious military problems. Given a severe global economic crisis and
the election of a new American president – a man separated in style, intellect,
and temperament from his predecessor – the possibility of a serious discussion
about an exit strategy from the Afghan disaster hovers on the horizon. The
predicament the U.S. and its allies find themselves in is not an inescapable
one, but a change in policy, if it is to matter, cannot be of the cosmetic
hawks will argue that, while bad, the military situation is, in fact, still
salvageable. This may be technically accurate, but it would require the carpet-bombing
of southern Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, the destruction of scores of
villages and small towns, the killing of untold numbers of Pashtuns and the
dispatch to the region of at least 200,000 more troops with all their attendant
equipment, air, and logistical support. The political consequences of such
a course are so dire that even Dick Cheney, the closest thing to Dr. Strangelove
that Washington has yet produced, has been uncharacteristically cautious when
it comes to suggesting a military solution to the conflict.
It has, by now, become obvious to the Pentagon that Afghan President Hamid
Karzai and his family cannot deliver what is required, yet it is probably far
too late to replace him with UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. On his part, fighting
for his political (and probably physical) existence, Karzai continues to protect
his brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, accused of being involved
in the country's staggering drug trade, but has belatedly sacked Hamidullah
Qadri, his transport minister, for corruption.
Qadri was taking massive kickbacks from a company flying pilgrims to Mecca.
Is nothing sacred?
A Deteriorating Situation
Of course, axing one minister is like whistling in the wind, given the levels
of corruption reported in Karzai's government, which, in any case, controls
little of the country. The Afghan president parries Washington's thrusts by
blaming the U.S. military for killing too many civilians from the air. The
bombing of the village
of Azizabad in Herat province last August, which led to 91 civilian deaths
(of which 60 were children), was only the most extreme of such recent acts.
Karzai's men, hurriedly dispatched to distribute sweets and supplies to the
survivors, were stoned by angry villagers.
Given the thousands of Afghans killed in recent years, small wonder that
support for the neo-Taliban is increasing, even in non-Pashtun areas of the
country. Many Afghans hostile to the old Taliban still support the resistance
simply to make it clear that they are against the helicopters and missile-armed
unmanned aerial drones that destroy homes, and to "Big Daddy" who wipes out
villages, and to the flames that devour children.
Last February, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell presented
a bleak survey of the situation on the ground to the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence:
"Afghan leaders must deal with the endemic corruption and pervasive poppy
cultivation and drug trafficking. Ultimately, defeating the insurgency will
depend heavily on the government's ability to improve security, deliver services,
and expand development for economic opportunity.
"Although the international forces and the Afghan National Army continue
to score tactical victories over the Taliban, the security situation has deteriorated
in some areas in the south and Taliban forces have expanded their operations
into previously peaceful areas of the west and around Kabul. The Taliban insurgency
has expanded in scope despite operational disruption caused by the ISAF [NATO
forces] and Operation Enduring Freedom operations. The death or capture of
three top Taliban leaders last year – their first high level losses – does
not yet appear to have significantly disrupted insurgent operations."
Since then the situation has
only deteriorated further, leading to calls for sending in yet more American
and NATO troops – and creating ever deeper divisions inside NATO itself. In
recent months, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British ambassador to Kabul, wrote
a French colleague (in a leaked memo)
that the war was lost and more troops were not a solution, a view reiterated
recently by Air Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the British defense chief, who came
out in public against a one-for-one transfer of troops withdrawn from Iraq
to Kabul. He put it this way:
"I think we would all take some persuading that there would have to be
a much larger British contingent there. … So we also have to get ourselves
back into balance; it's crucial that we reduce the operational tempo for our
armed forces, so it cannot be, even if the situation demanded it, just a one
for one transfer from Iraq to Afghanistan, we have to reduce that tempo."
The Spanish government is considering an Afghan withdrawal and there is
serious dissent within the German and Norwegian foreign policy elites. The
Canadian foreign minister has already announced
that his country will not extend its Afghan commitment beyond 2011. And even
if the debates in the Pentagon have not been aired in public, it's becoming
obvious that, in Washington, too, some see the war as unwinnable.
Enter former Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus, center stage as the new Centcom
commander. Ever since the "success" of "the surge" he oversaw in Iraq (a process
designed to create temporary stability in that ravaged land by buying off the
opposition and, among other things, the selective use of death squads), Petraeus
sounds, and behaves, more and more like Lazarus on returning from the dead
– and before his body could be closely inspected.
The situation in Iraq was so dire that even a modest reduction in casualties
was seen as a massive leap forward. With increasing outbreaks
of violence in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, however, the talk of success
sounds ever
hollower. To launch a new "surge" in Afghanistan now by sending more troops
there will simply not work, not even as a public relations triumph. Perhaps
some of the 100 advisers that Gen. Petraeus has just appointed will point this
out to him in forceful terms.
Flight Path to Disaster
Obama would be foolish to imagine that Petraeus can work a miracle cure
in Afghanistan. The cancer has spread too far and is affecting U.S. troops
as well. If the American media chose to interview active-duty soldiers in
Afghanistan (on promise of anonymity), they might get a more accurate picture
of what is happening inside the U.S. Army there.
I learned a great deal from Jules, a 20-year-old American soldier I met recently
in Canada. He became so disenchanted with the war that he decided to go AWOL,
proving – at least to himself – that the Afghan situation was not an inescapable
predicament. Many of his fellow soldiers, he claims, felt similarly, hating
a war that dehumanized both them and the Afghans. "We just couldn't bring ourselves
to accept that bombing Afghans was no different from bombing the landscape"
was the way he summed up the situation.
Morale inside the Army there is low, he told me. The aggression unleashed
against Afghan civilian often hides a deep depression. He does not, however,
encourage others to follow in his footsteps. As he sees it, each soldier must
make that choice for himself, accepting with it the responsibility that going
AWOL permanently entails. Jules was convinced, however, that the war could
not be won, and he did not want to see any more of his friends die. That's
why he was wearing an "Obama out of Afghanistan" T-shirt.
Before he revealed his identity, I mistook this young soldier – a Filipino-American
born in southern California – for an Afghan. His features reminded me of
the Hazara tribesmen he must have encountered in Kabul. Trained as a mortar
gunner and paratrooper from Fort Benning, Georgia, he was later assigned
to the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg. Here is part of the account he offered
"I deployed to southeastern Afghanistan in January 2007. We controlled
everything from Jalalabad down to the northernmost areas of Kandahar province
in Regional Command East. My unit had the job of pacifying the insurgency in
Paktika, Paktia, and Khost provinces – areas that had received no aid, but
had been devastated during the initial invasion. Operation Anaconda [in 2002]
was supposed to have wiped out the Taliban. That was the boast of the military
leaders, but ridiculed by everyone else with a brain."
He spoke also of how impossible he found it to treat the Afghans as subhumans:
"I swear I could not for a second view these people as anything but human.
The best way to fashion a young, hard DICK like myself – DICK being an acronym
for 'dedicated infantry combat killer' – is simple and the effect of racist
indoctrination. Take an empty shell off the streets of L.A. or Brooklyn, or
maybe from some podunk town in Tennessee… and these days America isn't in short
supply… I was one of those no-child-left behind products…
"Anyway, you take this empty vessel and you scare the living sh*t out of
him, break him down to nothing, cultivate a brotherhood and camaraderie with
those he suffers with, and fill his head with racist nonsense like all Arabs,
Iraqis, Afghans are Hajj. Hajj hates you. Hajj wants to hurt your family. Hajj
children are the worst because they beg all the time. Just some of the most
hurtful and ridiculous propaganda, but you'd be amazed at how effective it's
been in fostering my generation of soldiers."
As this young man spoke to me, I felt he should be testifying before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The effect of the war on those carrying
out the orders is leaving scars just as deep as the imprints of previous
imperial wars. Change we can believe in must include the end of this, which
means, among other things, a withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In my latest book, The
Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power, I have written
of the necessity of involving Afghanistan's neighbors in a political solution
that ends the war, preserves the peace, and reconstructs the country. Iran,
Russia, India, and China, as well as Pakistan, need to be engaged in the search
for a political solution that would sustain a genuine national government for
a decade after the withdrawal of the Americans, NATO, and their quisling regime.
However, such a solution is not possible within the context of the plans proposed
by both present Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and President-elect Barack
Obama, which focus on a new surge of American troops in Afghanistan.
The main task at hand should be to create a social infrastructure and thus
preserve the peace, something that the West and its horde of attendant non-governmental
organizations have failed to do. School buildings constructed, often for
outrageous sums, by foreign companies that lack furniture, teachers, and
kids are part of the surreal presence of the West, which cannot last.
Whether you are a policymaker in the next administration or an AWOL veteran
of the Afghan War in Canada, Operation Enduring Freedom of 2001 has visibly
become Operation Enduring Disaster. Less clear is whether an Obama administration
can truly break from past policy or will just create a military-plus add-on
to it. Only a total break from the catastrophe that George W. Bush, Dick
Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld created in Afghanistan will offer pathways to
a viable future.
For this to happen, both external and domestic pressures will probably be
needed. China is known to be completely opposed to a NATO presence on, or
near, its borders, but while Beijing has proved willing to exert economic
pressure to force policy changes in Washington – as
it did when the Bank of China "cut its exposure to agency debt last summer,"
leaving U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson with little option but to functionally
nationalize the mortgage giants – it has yet to use its diplomatic muscle
in the region.
But don't think that will last forever. Why wait until then? Another external
pressure will certainly prove to be the already evident destabilizing effects
of the Afghan war on neighboring Pakistan, a country in a precarious economic
state, with a military facing growing internal tensions.
Domestic pressure in the U.S. to pull out of Afghanistan remains weak, but
it could grow rapidly as the extent of the debacle becomes clearer and NATO
allies refuse to supply the shock-troops for the future surge.
In the meantime, they're predicting a famine in Afghanistan this winter.
Tariq Ali, writer, journalist, filmmaker, contributes regularly to a range
of publications including the Guardian, the Nation, and the London
Review of Books. His most recent book, just published, is The
Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (Scribner, 2008).
In a two-part
video released by TomDispatch.com, he offers critical commentary
on Barack Obama's plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as on the tangled
U.S.-Pakistani relationship.
Copyright 2008 Tariq Ali
Reproduction of material from any original Antiwar.com pages
without written permission is strictly prohibited.
Copyright 2017Antiwar.com


text:
After living in Workington for 19 years i know alot about the place and it is fair to say it is boring to live here. However for the visitor i can see why people like to come here, it's not too far from the Lake District yet still has a town atmosphere about it. Workington is a large town and has recently undergone a regenration in the town centre meaning that there are lots of new shops there such as poundland, ethel austin, river island, HMV and costa coffee. As well as shops that have previously been in the centre but have now moved into larger shops such as JJB sports and new look.
For a small town the night life in Workington is pretty good, the people are generally friendly and there's usually a good night to be had. People generally follow a circuit, people aged between about 17 and 25 follow the same path. Start at the bounty at around 7pm and have a coule of cheapish drinks in there, then move on to yankees for a quick one while the crowds still there, once it starts to empty the usual path is to the vine bar or the circit bar, either one of them will be busy around half 8. stop in one of there for an hour or so and then off to dukes for a quick one or 2 and then into the well, which people normaly stop in there til about 12. Then its back to Yankees agian which is open til 1 or to chasers which is open to 3. After that food is a general need, with sultans and sadies open til around half 3 if your lucky.
Eating out in Workington, you dont have much of an option. The most popular restuarant i'd say is caspain which offers a wide variety of steaks, burgers, pizzas and italian food. with a grill area and a bar. Other than that there isn't many other resturant options in workington, however lots of the pubs do bar meals during the day and some of them at night, though these are mostly the ones such as the travllers rest, the town house and the briery which are out of the town centre.
I originally wrote this review for the Ciao Café. Since this is now a review about the actual town of Workington, I have cut down significantly on the "how I came to live there" bit, although I'm not removing it completely.
~~~The how I came to live there bit~~~
I had it all planned when we left Hull Uni in June 2003. I would get my dream job in London doing social research. Hubby (then fiancé) would carry on working in Hull for a brief time until he found a job in the South of England. We would then buy a house, get married and live happily ever after! Best laid plans.....
In between planning our wedding whilst living over 200 miles apart, and becoming quite depressed about life, I ended up getting a job at the Church of England in Westminster. I'm not religious, but the environment was calm and caring. I made good friends and had interesting experiences, and I don't think I'd have got through that year without the support at work.
Moving on to April 2004. I was just about to leave work one day when the phone rang. It was hubby. He had got a job! The job was at Sellafield (Cumbria if people don't know) - the place where two-headed sheep come from. The job therefore was NOT in the South of England as I had planned. I travelled home in a daze, with just over a month until the wedding I felt like things were collapsing.
About two weeks before the wedding I was biting into my pork crackling and my front tooth filling came out. I turned up at the doctors the next day looking hideous and spurting gibberish, gesticulating saying "Look...Look, just look at my tooth!" "You don't understand I'm getting married" "I don't want to go to Cumbria, I REALLY don't want to go to Cumbria" - don't know what I wanted him to do really, but he got the mental health people onto me.
Things came to a head less than a week before the wedding. I thought I was going mad. My drinking buddy and I went out. I left the pub at 11pm, didn't get home until 3pm (it's a 15 minute walk). I had evidently been in a hedge this time (I only know this as the man who found my handbag found it in the hedge), finally got home, self-injured etc. Hubby talked of cancelling the wedding, but with only a few days to go and well over 100 people coming and thousands and thousands of pounds of my parents' money, I just couldn't. I don't know how much my parents knew about what went on at this time.
The wedding (May 2004) and honeymoon passed without event (both lovely, although I wish I had been happier), and I returned to my parents, and hubby to his. People used to ask "So, what's married life like then?" This really upset me. I know that not everyone knew our situation, but living 200 miles apart and seeing each other every other weekend was not what I had envisaged married life to be.
Basically hubby was staying working in Hull until his job in Cumbria started in September - for financial reasons we couldn't just stop working to be together! There was no point in me giving up my job before we had our accommodation sorted out, so I stayed until November. This was not an easy 6 months (in fact it was a nightmare really), and I hope that no one reading this has to spend the first 6 months of their marriage living apart.
I looked at maps of Cumbria and reckoned that my best chance of finding a job would be in Carlisle (until working at the Church I had thought Carlisle was in Scotland!) So I picked Workington as the place for hubby and I to live - it was half way between Carlisle and Sellafield in terms of travel to and from work.
Workington is in the West of Cumbria, and is part of Allerdale Borough Council. Workington is a fairly large town (this is by Cumbrian standards) with a population of approximately 19,884 (2001 census) although I would have thought it is increasing at the moment. I can't find exact numbers as different statistics say different things (it could be up to 30,000 including surrounding villages). Other towns nearby are Maryport, Cockermouth (sounds rude, but hubby and I are considering moving here when we want a bigger house and have a family), and Whitehaven. In Workington we call people in Whitehaven jam-eaters (and they call us jam-eaters too). Basically it means that they're too poor to be able to afford meat sandwiches to take down the mine (a bit dated since jam costs more than cheap meat nowadays). The rivalry (as far as I'm aware) is good-humoured, not like feuds between towns in the south of Cumbria which can get ugly.
The West Cumbrian accent is fairly distinct......to use an example my West Cumbrian driving instructor said "Turn left at the Harra." Harra of course means "arrow". Of course, silly me! An affectionate Cumbrian term for friends is Marra. I happen to have a Marra from Barra (Barrow), and there was also a dolphin in Maryport harbour for a while called Marra - sadly I have heard that Marra is now dead.
The history of Workington, and some nice pictures can be found at: http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/workton.htm
----Houses (our house and experience) & House Prices---
We didn't have much time to sort out buying a house. Hubby had a certain number of weeks he could live bed and breakfast paid in a hotel, so he was already in Cumbria. Basically I researched houses on the Internet, booked viewings of 4 houses (one was already sold before we got there, so it was 3 we saw) and we had one day (2nd October 2004) to choose a house. People might read this and say "You didn't have to buy it that day, you could have rented". But trust me, it was complicated, and this was the least stressful way to do things! Just believe me ok?!
We looked round the 3 houses, the first was lovely and we decided we would have it. However, the second house we fell in love with as it was absolutely perfect. The third house was a bit of a dump. We decided that we absolutely MUST get the second house. We bought our house for £60K. It was on the market for £52K, but houses in Workington always go for more than they are advertised for. There were 3 other couples who were after our house so we put in an offer above their offers and the owner accepted, and also threw in the fridge and freezer for good measure!
Things were a bit touch and go for a while (I think they probably always are when buying houses!), problems with damp in the house (3 years later and still no sign of this legendary damp), problems with Nationwide sending information to me in Essex instead of hubby in Cumbria. The estate agents (Tiffen and Co) were really good, and on the whole everyone else was. Luckily being first time buyers made the chain a lot easier.
There was the stress of leaving my family and friends, and job, and that was the hardest thing. But all things considered it all went really well. I came up on 1st December on the train (now that's another funny story!) as hubby had a work Christmas party. On 3rd December we drove to Bridlington to sort out hubby's stuff. My parents hired a transit van to fill with my stuff and met us in Bridlington. On 4th December we all travelled to Cumbria to our house.
When we arrived the previous owners were just finishing hoovering. They left the house immaculate, left us a useful list of information about suppliers (etc) and they even left us a bottle of bubbly which was much appreciated. Our house needed no work on it at all, the bathroom was a year old, kitchen 6 months, all the carpets etc were (are) good. The reason the last couple left was that they were having a second child so the house was too small for them.
So....for £60K in Workington we got a 2 bed terraced house, separate living and dining rooms, kitchen, and downstairs bathroom. There is a small yard outside the back. The house (like many in Workington and similar towns) is a coal-miner's house. It is basic, and at first I wasn't too sure how I'd cope with just a downstairs toilet, but it suits us and we are very happy there. Our house is in an excellent location, 5 minute walk (2 minute run!) to the station, and 5-10 minute walk into the town centre.
A house similar to ours would currently be on the market for somewhere in the region of £80-90K (still very cheap compared to the rest of the UK I know - I am from the South!), so we did well buying when we did, and houses are set to rise a lot more. The main reason for the rise in house prices in Workington is the regeneration project.
So, what can you get for your money in Workington at the moment?
*5 bed (1 ensuite) modern detached house, gardens, garage, dining room, living room, double glazing and central heating, - £285K
*3 bed semi, recently modernised, garage, dining and living rooms, garden - £185K
*2 bed terrace plus attic room, lounge, kitchen/diner - £90K
From personal experience I completed my ECDL (Computer qualification) at a local community development centre (in a school) via distance learning, and did an A level psychology via distance learning at the local college (The Lakes) which seems like a really nice sixth form college - they tend to mostly focus on vocational qualifications.
There are lots of primary schools, and three secondary schools in Workington (one Catholic) - their results are between 53% and 60% 5 A-Cs at GCSE. From what I'm used to in Essex this doesn't sound great, but apparently it's ok for the area! Not having children this is not really an issue for us at the moment. To be honest I think I'll be more concerned with how happy our children are at school, since I reckon that between us, hubby and I will be able to get them through any qualification at school.
In August 2007 the University of Cumbria opened, and has a base in Carlisle. This means that there is a university within easy reach of Workington. At the moment things are really just taking off.
Now that it where problems arise! Unless you are a graduate in engineering (like hubby), science, or something like that, then things are not so good in Cumbria. Sellafield is a great employer and wages are excellent. That's great for people like hubby. Although as with most things, higher pay means higher stress levels.
Where does that leave little old me with my degree in Sociology and Masters in Social Research? My job at the County Council (incidentally it took 6 months to get a job as I'm overqualified) requires 5 GCSEs. So, it's not taxing! There are lots of jobs for Social Workers but on the whole (in my opinion at least) things are not great. Pay at the County Council (and borough councils) is pretty pathetic compared to elsewhere in the country.
My job is in Carlisle so I have a 50 minute train journey to and from work (I didn't drive at the time I got the job, but it wouldn't be any quicker, and would cost more to drive anyway). The train service is reasonably good (well, most of the time) - a review on that will be coming in due course.
However, with the University of Cumbria opening, it does seem that things are beginning to improve. It does give me some hope that there are more jobs available which require qualifications! So, fingers crossed!
Plenty of local doctors to choose from, and mine is really nice. Haven't had much dealing with other health things, except brief dealings with the mental health team, and had my wisdom teeth out in Carlisle hospital (very nice, especially compared to Whitehaven hospital which is a dump - where I had my initial appointment about my teeth). I have to say that unless you get seen as a priority by the mental health team, waiting lists are long. At present I have requested counselling, and have been on the list for nearly a year. I would imagine that sadly this is not unusual to Cumbria, and one has to reach crisis point to get treatment.
There is a hospital in Workington, but unfortunately no A & E. For this you need to go to Whitehaven (which is dilapidated) or Carlisle (which is better, but it's further away). They are planning on building a new hospital somewhere in the West of Cumbria.
I did however manage to register with an NHS dentist in Carlisle - this was only due to the wisdom tooth thing - other people aren't so lucky. There are plans to be getting rid of Whitehaven hospital and building something new.
According to an article in the Times & Star (our weekly broadsheet, we also have a daily paper) on 1st December, crime is at epidemic levels in the St. Michael's Ward of Workington (this is where I live).
"Cumbria police figures show that 1,600 serious offences took place in St Michael's ward in 20 months up until August 31 this year. They include 101 drugs offences, 11 sex offences, seven robberies, 437 thefts, 102 burglaries, 473 cases of criminal damage and 36 cases of fraud/forgery and 61 vehicles were stolen during."
However, from what I have seen and heard, it appears that the majority of crime is personal. Basically you're not likely (at least down our street anyway) to have your car vandalised unless you have annoyed someone!
When we first arrived in Workington, the shops weren't anything to shout about, except for a nice Woolworths. However, since the regeneration project we now have a HUGE JJB Sports, Next and New Look, River Island, a Debenhams, HMV, The Works. Other shops like M & S have improved a lot. The shopping centre in town is good, but exceptional I think when you consider the population.
There is an out of town shopping centre called Dunmail Park, which I would say is not really worth bothering with unless you're going to the cinema anyway.
There is a Matalan just out of town, and then there are retail parks with PCWorld, Halfords and Currys to name a few.
We do our main shopping in Tescos - they are planning to build a big new Tescos in Workington which we are looking forward to (although plans seem to be taking years). There is also a Morrisons, but hate the layout so try and avoid it.
I would like to see a Staples, a WHSmiths, an Argos Extra and a Toys'r'us in Workington, but I hope that in time these will come. Some people still seem to trek to Carlisle to go shopping, but I really don't see the point (although saying that I can pop into Carlisle in my lunch break).
There are various places to eat in Workington. There is a McDonalds (out of town), and numerous takeaway (Sadies deserves a mention for their donner wraps!), sandwich shops. Of the actual restaurants, these are the ones worth mentioning:
*Caspians - a grill bar - good value, quick service - also does takeaway
*Impressions - a small restaurant, reasonable prices - they do the most fantastic steaks, and its very homely
*Washington Central Hotel - we've been here several times for special occasions. They also have an AA rosette. I have to say that is does seem to be going downhill, after going on Valentines Day this year.
There is a new Chinese set to open soon, and I hear there are plans for an Italian. I think we could do with a Pizza Hut, but then you can't have everything.
There are lots of pubs in Workington. They have what is widely known across Cumbria "The Circuit". Basically everyone on a Friday/Saturday night starts off at the same pub and goes round on a pub crawl circuit. As you can imagine it's very busy. We have done the circuit (at least started it!) several times, but generally go the opposite way which is less busy.
The good thing about the circuit is that at most times you can get into Wetherspoons and it's dead! There are two nightclubs, have been to one once but decided hubby and I are too old!
----Other things to do----
*There's a 6 screen cinema - it's out of town, but you could walk if you wanted to. There's also a small shopping centre where the cinema is (Dunmail Park), but it's a bit rubbish in the light of the regeneration.
*There's a bowling alley which we've been to several times and will go again.
*The Helena Thomson Museum which is the Workington museum is free, and worth visiting once - but just once!
*There's a ruined castle.
*The circus (which was excellent) and the fair come once a year.
*A fair few churches if you like that sort of thing - St. Michael's is very nice inside and worth a look. You can't fail to miss St John's which was apparently modelled on St Paul's cathedral - hilarious when you see it!
*Workington library is very nice, and I spent lots of time going to get books when I was unemployed.
*The leisure centre (which is just out of town) has a gym, swimming pool - the usual. It cost us under £500 (I forget exactly) for a year's membership for the 2 of us in 2005 - and that included everything. I think that's good value. However, we've become somewhat lax with our exercising.
*There is a football stadium, and various other things which we know nothing about!
The main thing about Workington is its location. When I found out about coming up here I didn't want to come. People kept saying "Mary, you'll love it, it's beautiful". I was adamant that I would hate it (remember I didn't want to leave my friends and my job). I was sure that it would be temporary and we'd soon move back down south. I did hate it at first.
But I don't miss the family and friends - not anymore. They come and visit. The great things about Cumbria is being able to take people to tourist attractions (I feel later reviews about these will come!). Keswick is a 15-20 minute drive - people go on holiday to Keswick, and it's so near us. We don't really have friends in Workington, they mainly live in Whitehaven or round that area. But we have our house there and we love it.
I hate to admit I'm wrong. But I was wrong. I do love it, it is beautiful, and we're very happy here.
PS. The sheep are an added bonus
The night life is definateley worth going to Workington for. There is a great circuit around town which enables you to walk out of one pub, stagger slightly and fall in to the next. It all starts at Wetherspoons on Oxford street at around 7PM where stomachs are lined and cheap beer is drunk. The waltz to the next pub is the furthest you will go in one stint all night but it gives you a chance to burn off the cheesey chips that you have just consumed. Turn right as you go out of the door and head east, keep walking but be weary of the taxis wanting to kill you at the round about and keep going toward the traffic lights. On your right you will see Level 2, this is a fun pub with dace floor and is usually quite packed. As you leave turn right in the same direction as before and continue toward the traffic lights, on the opposite side of the road ( Washington street) is The Well, enter throught the front door but walk straight on to the top bar if you are below 30, stay in situ if not. Once ready for a move, exit via the side door, stumble slightly and you will find yourself entering Yankees bar through their side door. Once you have danced a bit and upset everyone, leave via the main door in the bottom bar and turn immediateley left, 20m stagger and then youre at Chasers, this ones simple, one door in and one door out, once out turn left again and youre at Xscape, again, as simple as the last out and left again, in approx 15m you will stumble upon a side street, turn left and go through the door on your left, youre now in Circuit. Chill for a while in here and get you breath, congratulations!!!! youre quater of the way round!!!! Head out of here via the Nook street door and turn left again, head straight forward 20m on to King street and turn right, a further 20m is the Red House, mostly oldies and a few hardened rugby players on steroids, another 15m and there is the Grapes, a deceiving little pub. enter and please buy your drink in here, be forwarned!!! As you head toward the toilet you will realise that things have gone different without leaving the pub, this is not the drink taking effect but infact a pact little fun bar area called the Vine Bar, on Thursdays itll have cowgirls on the bar and a great bloody bull in the centre which you will, by this time, be convinced that you have what it takes to stay on forever, the bruises in the morning will remind you. Once leaving here by the main exit you will find yourself in an alley way, turn right and in 10m you will be back on to King street, tun left and in 20m there will be three roads in front, go immediately right and then left down a cobbled street, in 20m you will have a desician to make, hmmm, left or right? on your right is Dukes, and on your left is some other bounce place. Cant remember the name but my mates and I nicknamed it Stringfellows because the bloke behind the bar is his double. Carrying on down this road will lead you to some more traffic lights and on the other side of the road is the Curwen, graet little pub with a whacky DJ bloke who sounds like Joe Pascalle, weird little creature. after here its big desicion time, Fusion is opposite and right on Ladies walk, overated but great but great for the young ones, The Royal oak is over the road and straight ahaed toward the town center, a bit dingy but ok, or back to Chasers untill 2am which is left and back down Washington Street. All are approx 100m. If youve had enough by this time then the Taxis are lining the road on route to Chasers.
Hope this was a little more helpfull, enjoy.
Workington is my place of birth, and having lived there for the first eighteen years of my life, I decided to get out...as the saying goes 'the grass is always greener on the other side!' When I was eighteen I moved to Manchester and then on to Newcastle, as well as travellign to London on a regular basis, these places all opened my eyes, and made me realise what I was missing not having lived in cities, but as I got used to them, there benefits faided away. I am now back living in Workington (for the moment) and have came to appreciate its benefits, that I took for granted when I was younger. Here is what I have to say about the town: Location: Workington is a town with about 25,000 people. It is located on the west coast, about 35 miles from Carlisle, which provides the main road links. Workington is also situated on the edge of the lake district, and is the capital of West Cumbria. Shopping: In the town there are most of the regular high street names, and more of the popular ones are coming, such as Game and Debenhams. We are also getting a small shopping centre, and the biggest Tesco store in Cumbria. There is one out of town shopping centre/cinema and a few retail parks. Sports/Leisure: There is one main sports centre in Workington, as well as several private gyms. Workington is also home to a amateur football, rugby league and rugby union team. On the outskirts of town is a six screen cinema complex, the only one in West Cumbria. Nightlife: Workington has ace nightlife for a small town with about 20 pubs and 2 nightclubs on the town circuit, as well as many others here and there. Circuit pubs to go to are: Yankees, The Well, Scruples Bar, Jailhouse, Circuit Bar, Minors, Grapes, Blue Bell, Vine Bar, Barnabyes, Dukes Bar, The Curwen, Elliotts, Royal Oak, Level 2 and Weatherspoons, followed by one of our nightclubs. Quality of life: Overall in Workington, you have a good quality of life, you are si
tuated near the lakes and Scotland, and hosuing is cheaper than anyware in England. Please visit us and boos the local economy!!!
Well, for anyone who travels this far north to Cumbria in the first place and is then prepared to drive at least 45 minutes from the motorway you may be slightly disappointed to find out that once you finally get to Workington or Wuck-in-'n as the locals call it you don't understand a word anyone says. The accent in my hometown is slightly hard to decipher for people who aren't used to it, as I learned when I moved to Manchester last year! The problem with going to Workington is; when you finally get here, there is almost nothing to do. Well unless you want to play Crown Green Bowls, go to the local parks, (and after 6pm these fill up with drunken 13 year olds) or you want to go to a cold and dirty strip of rocks called Northside Beach. The things that you can do, won't really fill up a fortnight's holiday here but if you're staying in the Lake District it's not that far to travel for a day trip. There's Curwen Hall, a ruined castle that Mary Queen of Scots stayed in on her way to London. You can look round the outside year-round for free and look inside during the summer for about £3-4. Just down the road there's the Helena Thompson Museum, free to look round but they ask you for a donation, a converted large house with exhibitions which are mostly to do with the local area. They do usually have a visiting exhibition in the main hall which is there for about 6 weeks then moves on so there's always something new to see. A favorite memory of my childhood was being allowed to model the Victorian children's clothes for the local newspaper. Now they're behind a glass case to preserve them. There is a town center that has better shopping facilities than the nearby towns and villages, including a Woolworth's, Next, Boots etc. But for a real shopping trip, make the effort and go to Carlisle. There's the industrial estate Derwent Howe which h
as a Safeway, B&Q, Halfords, and some carpet/furniture shops but if you're in Workington on Holiday you won't really be interested in those. It's pretty much on the outskirts of the town. But the best thing about Workington is its pubs. Go into the town Center and just follow one of the general crowds of people into the following; Yankees-pretty old pub, but always packed Scruples-formally called Chasers, newly refurbished and nice, a good meeting point and next door to Yankees. Circuit Bar-a nice mellow local bar, with good music Level 2-upper levels with a Chinese restaurant, nicest toilets in town! Elliott's-Very sticky floor, go to the toilet in Level 2 before you go here! Royal Oak-small pub, walk in one door and out the other in about 30 minutes, because it's so crowded. Nice pub food for lunch, but too noisy/smoky/busy to eat dinner/supper. Fusion- the most popular club, expensive entry and drinks, not that good for all the hype. On a typical night out it is possible to have at least one drink in each of these, and see everyone you know on the way. There is a maximum 5 minute walk between them. There are quite a few places to eat in Workington. I have found these to be the best cafe's in town, with consistently friendly and efficient service. Superfish Restaurant; in the town center, above a takeaway, serving the typical takeaway food, but on a plate. Situated on Pow Street, next to M&S. There is a second takeaway on John Street but this doesn't have a restaurant. Toggies; a little cafe in the town center, very busy on Saturday mornings, pretty reasonable the rest of the week. This is on Pow Street between Woolies and M&S. Treats; a slightly more up market cafe. Also on Pow Street, but near Derwent Bookshop. Washington Central Cafe; part of the Washington Central Hotel, by far the nicest in town, on the corner of Washington Street, just next to the main town
center car park. And then if you like your junk food... McDonalds; have you ever been to a town that doesn't have a McDonalds? Well until recently we didn't have one. Now that we do, its the same as every other one you've ever seen, situated on Derwent Howe. Caspian's; for nice pizza, also deliver, usually very nice, but quite expensive also on Derwent Howe. Kow-Loon; the best Chinese takeaway in Cumbria, people come from all over to Seaton, a village on the outskirts of Workington. You can even by someone gift vouchers for this takeaway! The point is, come to Workington for a day, stay and have the best night out in Cumbria, and then move on, to elsewhere in the Lake District with the rest of the tourists who never make it this far to start with.