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The imposition of the automatic spending cuts (the sequester) is now less than a month away, and there are few signs of compromise between the Administration and Congress.
If there is no deal to avoid the sequester, farm program spending would be cut. But how much and where are still unclear.
USDA would have to cut nearly $2.47 billion over the last six months of the fiscal year. A report from the Office of Management and Budget released last fall shows cuts in mandatory spending would total about $469 million this fiscal year, with a significant part of that coming out of direct payments.
There would be $289 million cut from conservation programs, but USDA would honor in-force contracts, such as the Conservation Reserve Program. School lunches and the food stamp programs would be exempt from the cuts, but funding for the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) would fall by $543 million.
Almost all USDA programs would see some cuts in funding.
U.S. debt will continue rising over the next ten years even as the economy recovers and unemployment falls, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In the annual forecast the CBO says the debt will be equal to 77 percent of GDP by 2023, compared to the 40-year average of 39 percent.
The amount of money the government has to pay for interest alone on the national debt will more than double over the next decade.
(The CBO baseline uses assumptions that current laws remain in place for the 10-year forecast horizon.)
The CBO also released their baseline for agriculture for the next decade.
The forecast is based on a continuation of current ag policy and Congress uses the baseline to estimate changes in program costs under alternative provisions. The baseline shows spending on commodity programs up 15 percent in fiscal 2013. CCC program costs hold about steady through the 10-year forecast period, but conservation program costs rise by about 35 percent.
Crop insurance program costs hold steady at between $8 billion and $9 billion per year. CBO's corn acreage forecast for 2013 is 97 million acres, down 200,000 each for corn and soybeans, 1.3 million for wheat, respectively.
A bill that would eliminate a permit requirement for applications of pesticides has been introduced by Senators Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan. A 2009 Court of Appeals ruling required the pesticide applications to be by permit only under the Clean Water Act.
The system is called the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The system requires approximately 35,000 pesticide applicators to get permits covering about 500,000 applications per year.
(The same bill was introduced in the last Congress but it was never brought up for consideration on the Senate floor.)
Just as Japan eased import restrictions on U.S. beef, Russia announced a ban on imports of all U.S. beef and pork unless USDA agrees to certify that the products are free of traces of ractopamine. (Ractopamine is a feed additive
that promotes leanness and the international food safety organization has
ruled that meats produced using the additive are safe for human consumption.) So far, USDA has said it will not comply with Russia's demands. Russia is a key buyer of U.S. beef and pork, with combined shipments valued at more
than $500 million per year.
Last week a court ruled that EPA set the 2012 mandate for cellulosic ethanol too high in an effort to boost the industry. The mandate for last year was set at 8.7 million gallons, far more than was produced. However, almost as soon as the court ruling was reported, EPA set the cellulosic ethanol mandate for 2013 at 14 million gallons. There is growing momentum in Congress to reevaluate the Renewable Fuels Standard mandates. Changes are far from certain, but they are more likely now than they were at this time last year.
End of an era at the Kansas City Board of Trade. CME Group, Inc. plans to close the Trading pits of the KCBT in late June as part of the futures-exchange giant's 2012 acquisition of that regional exchange. The shift signals an end to nearly 160 Years of trading HRW wheat futures in KC.


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The 76ers are attempting to trade swingman Andre Iguodala, league sources have told Bob Finnan of the Mourning Journal.
There is no active dialogue between the two teams, but a source said to keep an eye on the Cavaliers.
Cleveland has a $14.5 million trade exception they could use to acquire Iguodala.
Via Morning Journal
Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers
Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Raglan T-Shirt American Bulldog On Board is a sporty version of the popular favorite t-shape. It provides comfort and control over most weathers and can also be worn underneath a t-shirt or a shirt for extra protection. The sporty raglan design gives it a more casual approach.
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Kinga makes a debut release on GM with the fantastic "Nomad", a true summer tune fit for any terraced evening. Kinga has seen releases on labels like P.S Records, Technique and Open Records.
The Original Mix is a light hearted take on progressive house with a summer vibe that invokes a sense of contentment with everything. The feel good factor is in full flow due to the very catchy synth hook and accompanying guitar, the synth work is top notch with filtering and modulation in all the right places. The bassline is just stunning, creating a pulsating rhythm. On the break the melodies take over before getting back to the groove, a must for any set.
Silkway steps up for remix duties. Silkway has worked with Kinga in the past with a remix on Kinga's "Daydream" and it's clear that this partnership works well. Silkway has also seen releases on P.S along with Stereofaza and System Recordings. The remix is a credit to the original with a cool summertime vibe flowing through the sound. Chunky kicks alongside soft hats and percussions, the bassline sits in the background waiting to pounce as it builds up the energy. The big focus here lies with the brilliant synth melodies which come to prominence on the break, another fine progressive house slice.
14 August 2013 Bonzai Progressive FEATURED RELEASES Green Martian, KInga, Silkway


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Taking the gun debate to the people: Many want common ground
PORTLAND, Ore. - People in the Portland area have strong feelings about the new initiative that former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, launched Tuesday to curb gun violence.
Giffords was shot in the head two years ago after a gunman opened fire in a supermarket parking lot. She nearly died. Six people were killed and 13 were wounded.
The couple is launching a campaign against the gun lobby after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Even though the opinions are strong on both sides and the emotions are high, many people in the Portland area are hoping to find common ground on the issue.
In a restaurant and a barber shop Tuesday, some people said they're not sure new gun laws are the answer while others are afraid what will happen without them.
"I'm a constitutionalist," said Tim Schilz while eating lunch at Tom's Pizza and Sports Bar in Gresham with his friend Don Staab. "I believe in what the Constitution says, and our rights guaranteed us by the Constitution delivered to us the freedom and the right to bear arms."
Schilz wondered aloud whether guns should be taken away from people or whether more help should be offered to the mentally ill. And between slices of pizza, he spoke about the idea of tougher laws.
"So take those people. Put them together in a room and write a bill that makes it hard to get a weapon. And if you have any history of mental illness or if you have any history of violence - even if you hit your wife - you don't get a gun. Period."
Staab wondered how to enforce the gun laws.
"To take the guns away, how would you enforce that? How would you go get them? In what capacity? Would you say, 'Everybody turn your guns in?' That's not going to work. To me, it's a difficult situation to talk about," he said.
Sitting in the chair and getting his haircut at The Barbers in Northeast Portland, Oliver Raskin said, "You have to kind of meet people halfway, I think. People have the right to own guns. ... It's very polarizing, right? People have legitimate points on both sides; though I do not agree with the fact that we need to have them because it is a constitutional right."
Raskin said he does support stronger gun laws.
"I feel like guns are like drugs," said Cassie Packard while cutting 19-year-old Collin Wiederstiel's hair. "If people want them then they're going to find them."
For his part Wiederstiel said he thought it was societal.
"Maybe we need should be questioning how much we glorify guns in our society," he said.
But both doubted whether anything will change.
Regardless of what will happen with gun control in the future, right now Oregon counties are inundated with applications for concealed handgun licenses.
In Lane County the number of applicants tripled in December. It's the same story in Linn County and at a shooting range in Albany instructors are seeing a similar spike.


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Don't Push Your Dividend Stocks Off a Fiscal Cliff
With President Obama's re-election earlier this week, all eyes have now focused on the looming expiration of the current tax rates at year end.
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Looking for a name for a red-haired baby? The most common method is to go through the long list of names that mean, well, red-haired, from Rory to Rufus, Flynn to Flanagan. An alternative is to find yourself a worthy titian-tressed namesake, either from the pages of history or a current celeb. So, at the risk of offending by omission such ordinary-named notables as Helen of Troy, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, James Joyce, and Margaret Sanger—here are our nominations for best-named redheads of all time. Oh — and where is the most famous redhead of all? Turns out Lucille Ball's natural hair color was mousey brown.
Damian Lewis
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It's the kind of work that housemaids Marta Dionicio and Maria Chamale have never minded. In their world of extreme circumstances, there's never been a fast buck. They're used to toiling with brooms, dirty laundry and filthy toilets from dawn to dusk. Easy Street is across the tracks—in a distant town—far from the reality of their cramped two-bedroom apartment.
chile fields
Victor Medina is a chilero, a chile worker. A slight man of 72, he's worked in the fields almost his entire life and it shows: He walks bent over with a shuffling gait. One morning in early October, he left El Paso, Texas, where he lives, to pick green chiles in New Mexico. He arrived in Deming at 6 am, waiting an hour before it was light enough to work.
Chileros are paid piece-rate which means they're not paid by the hour but for how much they pick. This year, it was usually 85 cents for a 20-pound bucket of chiles. Medina filled 60 buckets, grossing $51. According to the receipt the contratista (labor contractor) gave him, Medina worked six hours; his hourly wage was $8.50, a dollar higher than New Mexico's minimum wage. But Medina actually worked eight hours and his hourly wage was only $6.38. Federal law requires that all workers, including those working piecerate, must earn at least minimum wage. Medina should have been paid $60. Instead of paying that extra $9, the contratista "shorted" Medina's hours, writing down fewer hours to boost his hourly wage.
It was in no way unusual. Wage theft is rampant in New Mexico's fields. A recent survey of 253 farmworkers by the New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty found that two-thirds of those surveyed reported having wages stolen the previous year.
Maria Martinez Sanchez, an NMCLP attorney who helped conduct the survey, said shorting hours is the most common way workers have their wages stolen. But it's not the only way.
Many farmworkers are driven to the fields in buses or vans provided by contratistas. They typically arrive while it's still dark and wait until it's light enough to begin picking. According to Sarah Rich, an attorney at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the Portal-to-Portal Act, a federal law, states, "Once (workers) get to the farm and they're being told to wait, they're basically there for the employer's benefit…they should get paid for that time."
Yet the NMCLP survey found that 95 percent of the workers questioned were never paid for the waiting time. Workers should also be paid for the time they wait for their money at the end of the day. They're not.
New Mexico's minimum wage is $7.50 an hour, 25 cents more than the federal minimum wage. Some very small farms are exempt from paying the federal rate, but the vast majority of farmworkers should be paid the higher rate. Almost all the workers interviewed for this project report being paid $7.25 an hour. The difference works out to just a few dollars more a week but it's significant for chileros who average less than $9,000 a year. "With $8 or $10 extra, I could buy food for my children, pay a bill," says Jorge Alferez, a 55-yearold chilero from Ciudad Juarez.
A comparison of what Medina earned that one day and what he should have earned is instructive. If he were paid $7.50 an hour for the hours he actually worked and paid for the hour he waited at the beginning and end of the day, he would have earned $75 instead of $51. If he works those hours for five days, he should earn $120 more for the week than he was paid.
At the urging of Martinez Sanchez, the state Department of Workforce Solutions recently sent an email to its staff stating that workers should be paid at least $7.50 an hour and are to be paid for their wait times.
Workers know their wages are being stolen yet they rarely complain. The NMCLP survey found that 93 percent of the time, workers who wanted to complain about working conditions didn't because they fear retaliation. Juan Adamo, a chilero, summed up why. "All that is important is that we work," he says. "If we complain, it will make our lives more difficult. I need the little money I do make."
This article was reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.
The Guatemalan immigrants do what it takes to survive, provide for their families, stay out of debt and put aside for a rainy day whatever they can afford.
When they moved to Santa Fe without documents three years ago, Dionicio and Chamale scrambled to find jobs. A church member referred them to AJ Cleaning Services. Business owners Blanca and Ernesto Talavera, they learned, might hire them to clean homes in Las Campanas during the day and business offices at night.
"We were so happy," Dionicio tells SFR through an interpreter.
She and Chamale agreed to work for $9.50 an hour—the Living Wage in Santa Fe in 2010. The next day, when the women set off for their first shift of dusting, sweeping and toilet bowl cleansing, they had no idea they were about to become victims of wage theft that would lead to a contentious 26-month fight for nearly $2,000 in compensation.
Even with laws on the books to deter the crime, employees face long uphill battles to collect the money they're due. Unethical employers act with virtual impunity since enforcement is lacking.
"Wage theft is a big problem in New Mexico and around the country," says UNM Associate Professor of Sociology Andrew Schrank, who this summer co-authored Mexican Immigrants and Wage Theft in New Mexico, with University of Michigan doctoral student Jessica Garrick.
Results of the duo's interviews with 210 immigrants at the Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque and mobile consulate in Santa Fe show close to 30 percent of undocumented workers have experienced wage theft. Another 22 percent of immigrants with legal documents to work claimed that their wages have either been shorted or withheld completely at least once.
Yet, the problem isn't limited to New Mexico immigrants. National labor market analysts say it's an epidemic that impacts every level of employment and industry sector, including tourism, agriculture, trades and transportation.
Even white-collar professionals have had their incomes pinched.
Wage theft occurs when workers are not paid minimum wage, are forced to work off the clock, have their tips stolen, are not paid time and a half for overtime, are ordered to shift extra hours to a new time period to avoid overtime, or never receive their final paycheck. Even college educated employees can be victims of wage theft. That happens when they're misclassified as managers and prohibited from earning overtime. Both state and federal laws require employers to pay their staffers at least the minimum wage for every hour that is worked. In Santa Fe, employers have to abide by the local minimum wage , currently $10.51 an hour.
In fiscal year 2013, the US Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division recovered nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in back wages for workers around the country whose employers improperly denied them pay they had earned. The cases processed during that 12-month period benefited more than 269,250 workers who were owed $250 million in back wages. Nearly a third of that money was secured for low-wage workers.
"Employers who commit minimum wage, overtime and other wage violations deny workers their full hardearned income, and we are committed to ensuring that the money is in the hands of those who worked for it," says Laura Fortman, principal deputy administrator for the division. "That's money that they will spend on the rent, on transportation, to put food on the table, and to buy clothes for their kids."
Since the beginning of 2009, the Wage and Hour Division has closed 145,884 cases nationwide, resulting in more than a billion dollars in back wages for 1,238,589 workers.
Yet, that's only a fraction of what workers claim they are owed, a figure that topped $30 billion annually in 2008 estimates.
And, not all victims report their pay shortages. People, who are victimized, according to Schrank, are also at significant risks of health and safety violations and often subjected to verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their bosses.
"Employers who violate one labor law tend to violate other labor laws," he says. "If they're going to steal your wages they're also not going to provide safety equipment. In some cases, the bad apples are also going to abuse you."
Car detailer José Martinez can relate. He and five other workers claim that they were both underpaid and abused for six years by Squeaky Clean Car Wash and Car Spa Services' owner Jay Ritter and his managers. The workers were eventually awarded back pay.
Customers who drove away with sparkling clean vehicles and new car smells couldn't have known the generous tips they left behind for Martinez and his buddies never made it into their pockets or paychecks.
"Our supervisors were stealing our tips," Martinez tells SFR through an interpreter. One manager, Martinez recalls, even thanked him for buying him beers with tip money from the day before.
While state law allows employers to keep worker's gratuities, a combination of hourly pay and pooled tips must equal at least the minimum wage.
That wasn't the case at Squeaky Clean. Martinez's check stubs showed he was making $9.50 an hour, but without the cash tips, Martinez says, he was really only making $5.15 an hour—not enough to pay his bills or feed his first child and then-pregnant girlfriend.
Martinez, who moved to Santa Fe from Chihuahua, Mexico, and started working at the car wash when he was 16 years old, says his money woes weren't limited to stolen tips. Line employees, he claims, were also forced to work off the clock. Cleaners were instructed to arrive at one of the business's two locations on Cerrillos Road by 8:15 am, but supervisors wouldn't clock them in until after the first patrons arrived a few hours later. When customer traffic slowed down, workers were taken back off the clock, but prohibited from leaving the premises.
Verbal and physical abuse from supervisors, according to National Labor Relations Board documents, was routine.
"They'd call us fucking idiots," Martinez says about the times his bosses got frustrated or mad about equipment breakdowns.
The abuse didn't stop with swearing. Another worker got sprayed down with a water hose and then forced by supervisors to work outside in cold temperatures. He worked the rest of the day, Martinez says, wearing a sopping wet uniform and boots.
Martinez himself kept quiet about his pay and work environment. For months, he was reluctant to speak up—even when his health began to suffer from inhaling fumes from cleaning solvents he used at work.
"I was afraid of getting fired," he says. Pointing to the top of his nose, Martinez says he'd get heavy bleeds. On some nights his eyes would be so irritated they stung. The skin on his hands was constantly peeling.
"They didn't provide us with any protective gear," says Martinez.
When the workers' requests for glasses and gloves went ignored the men feared retaliation if they pushed the issue. Others worried managers would act on threats to notify federal agencies that could deport them (not knowing that immigration courts frown on wage theft and often give people temporary visas to pursue their claims).
Even businesses that hire undocumented immigrants are not exempt from labor laws.
"You're still liable for paying them the minimum wage," says Schrank.
In the immigrant community, those fears are understandable, he says.
"When you live in a society where you've got Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer railing against immigrants all the time, it's not surprising immigrants are worried," says Schrank. In New Mexico, he says, migrant workers fear Gov. Susana Martinez will eventually take away their driver's licenses and their ability to get to work.
Wage theft problems are further exacerbated for workers who live paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to retain a private attorney to represent their complaints. Desperate for cash, those workers often settle claims quickly and for far less money than they're actually owed because they can't wait for their cases to slowly work their way through the Department of Workforce Solutions Wage and Hour Division, or maneuver through the courts.
Most of the so-called "bad apple" employers have learned to play on those concerns.
"They've learned to work a system that isn't sufficiently staffed," says Schrank.
At the federal level, there's just one agent enforcing wage laws for every 141,000 workers, and more than half of the states have cut wage enforcement personnel in recent years. And, according to the Economic Policy Institute's Gordon Lafer, some states have even tried to eliminate those positions entirely.
That's not the case in New Mexico. The Department of Workforce Solutions (DWS) has eight labor law administrators trained to process wage theft claims, and their work has generated some positive results.
In fiscal year 2013, almost 95 percent of the nearly 800 claims administrators received were resolved, earning workers over a half-million dollars—an increase of 47 percent over three years.
The increase in cases may indicate more people are willing to report their employers—people like Dionicio and Chamale, who tried to get a resolution with the cleaning service last January.
At her DWS hearing, Dionicio testified when she asked Blanca Talavera about getting paid after a week on the job she was told the company only paid its employees once a month. Neither she nor Chamale knew state law requires employers to print paychecks at least every 16 days.
After asking about their wages, records show, the women's employment situation deteriorated. Chamale got fired after Talavera allegedly accused her of damaging a company car that she says she never drove. After her last day of work, Talavera told Chamale she was going to keep her wages to cover repairs—another violation of state law, since the two hadn't agreed she'd pay for equipment damages when she was first hired.
With her friend out of work, Dionicio says she eventually decided to quit her job.
"They didn't have the money to pay me," says Dionicio. "Blanca told me just to wait; I'd be paid eventually."
Without paychecks, the women were forced to beg their friends for rent money. Chamale, who was five months pregnant at the time, feared getting evicted by her landlord.
"It was awful. We didn't have anything to survive," says Chamale.
"We were angry and didn't know what we could do," adds Dionicio.
After scrambling to collect $400, the women got another referral. This time, Dionicio's longtime partner told them they should ask for help at Somos Un Pueblo Unido's Worker Center—an immigrant advocacy group founded in 1995 to improve the lives of immigrants. (Somos also collaborated on UNM's wage theft study and paid for its printing.)
Alma Castro, a community organizer for Somos, wasn't surprised when she listened to the maids tell their story.
"It's a tale we hear way too often," she says. Castro helped the women file claims with Labor Law Administrator Jeremy Garcia. At a hearing he conducted later, Castro introduced a secret recording she'd made during a meeting with Talavera.
On the tape, Talavera argues in Spanish about the wages owed.
"She told them she 'won't pay them,'" Castro tells SFR.
When it was her turn to testify, Talavera stipulated Dionicio had indeed worked 110 hours for her company, but used an alias.
That's not a legal reason to withhold wages, however, according to the US Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986.
Talavera also swore she'd paid for the women's labor in cash, but could not provide paycheck stubs or any receipts. State law requires employers to maintain written payroll records for at least one year. Federal law requires records be kept for two or more years.
Garcia ruled in the women's favor and ordered the Talaveras to pay Dionicio $1,150 and Chamale $750. The administrator even allowed the owners to set up a 12-month payment plan with the state Labor Division.
It appeared the case was over. It wasn't. Dionicio says she only received one check before the Talaveras backed out of their signed agreement. Chamale has never received a dime for her labor.
Joy Forehand, a deputy secretary at Workforce Solutions, says when the payments stopped, the department got a summary judgment against AJ Cleaning Services, but still hasn't been able to collect the women's money. The case will head back to court this spring and the women hope to get a garnishment order. But Ernesto Talavera says he is prepared to fight the women's claim.
"We didn't get a fair hearing at Workforce Solutions," he says.
Talavera claims he has new evidence, and told SFR he'd show it to us the day after Thanksgiving, but never showed up for the appointment or contacted the paper before press time.
For Santa Fe's Interfaith Worker Justice Organizing Director Rev. Holly Beaumont, wage theft is "becoming too commonplace."
It is, she says, something that's even harder for handymen and day laborers to deal with. After getting stiffed, they're often on their own to collect their wages, because the Department of Workforce Solutions doesn't have jurisdiction in their cases. The only recourse for people doing odd jobs is to file a complaint in magistrate court or district court if they're owed more than $10,000.
Bankruptcy can also be a huge obstacle. It's complex, but the law allows employers, in some situations, to discharge workers' wages. That's what happened in Santa Fe in 2011.
Former employees of the now defunct China Star restaurant on Cerrillos Road say they worked up to 12 hours a day without overtime and were only paid $5 an hour; well below the then $9.85 Living Wage. A bankruptcy court originally awarded the restaurant's workers $8,000, but they'd like to see Fusion Fire Buffet and Grill be held accountable for $622,743 in lost pay. The workers, and their attorney Karl Kalm, also claimed the new restaurant is a "continuing enterprise" operated by the same China Star group of people, but a judge dismissed that allegation in October citing a lack of supporting evidence.
When it comes to wage theft, Beaumont says Santa Feans should adopt a 'No Tolerance' policy.
"We should not be supporting any businesses that are stealing wages from their workers," says Beaumont. "When people's wages are stolen, they can't buy gas, groceries and shoes for their children."
Somos Attorney Gabriela Guzman agrees. She wants policymakers to help prevent more people from becoming victims.
"It hurts our economy and puts businesses that are following the rules at a disadvantage," says Guzman.
New state laws and city ordinances are helping. Four years ago, New Mexico was one of the first states to pass anti-wage theft legislation after Somos organizers found two legislative champions.
First, in 2009, Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Bernalillo introduced HB489. It gave workers the right to collect treble damages, extended the claim period from one to three years from the last violation (workers can still collect wages for up to 10 years), and protected employees from retaliation on the job. It also required employers to post cease and desist orders along with workplace notices describing their prior wage violations.
Somos returned to the Roundhouse with new proposals last year.
Along with Rep. Phillip Archuleta, D-Doña Ana, they persuaded Gov. Susana Martinez to sign a measure to expedite wage theft claims.
"We found these cases were taking a long time to be heard," says Marcela Díaz, the executive director at Somos. "Sometimes it was taking as much as 18 months. Now wage theft claims are at the same level as unemployment claims."
Despite the improvements, Díaz points to new concerns with DWS. She says the department doesn't try to collect the maximum damages allowed for employees and hasn't recognized the three year statute of limitations—often sending people away if their claim is over 12 months old.
"These laws are supposed to be a disincentive for employers and makes sure they won't continue to violate the law," she says, adding that the department needs to communicate with claimants in their native language while adjudicating their cases. Currently, claimants only receive correspondence written in English.
"They don't understand what's happening with their case," says Díaz. "That's caused them to miss deadlines and have their claims closed."
DWS Secretary Celina Bussey defends her group's work, but has admitted she needs more resources to confront the problem. An informational campaign, she believes, can identify misunderstandings that "inadvertently result in wage and hour issues."
To stay ahead of the epidemic, Bussey has directed her staff to work with both employees, employer organizations and various interest groups like Somos and Interfaith Worker Justice in Santa Fe, and El Centro and the NM Center on Law and Poverty in Albuquerque.
"The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions takes its role as educator of the state's labor laws very seriously," Bussey writes in an emailed statement to SFR.
Education isn't the only solution. Díaz and Guzman would like to see more lawyers trained to represent wage theft victims. And they're doing more than talking about it. Last week, Somos co-sponsored a Continuing Legal Education seminar for attorneys with the help of New Mexico Legal Aid in Las Cruces, and last November, Somos teamed up with the nmhba.net/to train 16 more attorneys.
Even as more lawyers get up to speed, state Attorney General Gary King has also been vocal lately about what he calls the "wage theft crisis." He's worked with other AGs around the country to make sure national companies are compliant with state wage laws.
"In New Mexico, I'd like to see district attorneys be able to pursue violators," says King. "It's a real problem when employees can't put food on their table."
He's not the only frustrated politician. Santa Fe Mayor David Coss says he has been working on the issue for the past eight years. Instrumental in creating the city's Living Wage Ordinance, Coss now serves on a Wage Theft Task Force with King, Bussey, Beaumont, and community advocates.
The mayor would like to see penalties increased for wage law violators like Squeaky Clean.
"I used to get my car cleaned there, but not anymore," says Coss.
The mayor who leaves office next spring has been monitoring minimum wage issues around the country and in Albuquerque, where a voter-approved $8.50 minimum wage went into effect earlier this year, and watching what's happening in Houston, where city councilors just approved a measure to step up sanctions against companies who deny their employees earned pay. Violators there could have their business licenses, city contracts and other permits taken away.
To curb the problem, Schrank thinks the public should see wage theft in the same light as street crimes.
"If we treated those crimes as casually as we treat workplace crimes, the American people would be outraged, but for some reason, because the criminals are employers, we look the other way," he says.
That approach works for Marcela Díaz. "When employees work they need to get paid," she says.
That includes employees like Dionicio.
She's back at work now, cleaning rooms at a casino resort north of Santa Fe. "I'm getting paid on time," she says, relieved. Now, with a little money put aside for a rainy day, Dionicio musters a smile, and hopes for a White Christmas. This year, she'll be able to afford to buy gifts for her children.


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I think Perl has continually defied these attempts to package patterns because of it's meta programmability.
Things we previously thought were not possible to package are now on CPAN as usable modules.
Design patterns are thus getting more and more refined, and in time converge simply with the best practices for the software that helps to implement them.
In the Java community metaprogramming is a much more difficult thing, so in order to produce extensible, reusable and clean code you need to have a much stric
bah, i meant attempts to *define*
See ifdef [cpan.org].
In response to the criticism that it is a source filter, it filters for content within pod sections, which avoids almost all of the ambiguities that otherwise make parsing Perl so fun.


text:
So for max D i am throwing flick. Granted my flick is more like a sidearm baseball pitch. However after a few round my left foot the toes end up hurting !! Not the foot but all of the toes they will hurt for a day or so and be back to normal after. I assume im possibly curling my toes when im following through ?
Any thoughts ?


text:
Direct Cost Policy
- Non-institutional gift aid such as Title IV funds, state grants, and outside scholarships will be applied to the student account first. Institutional aid is always applied last.
- If a student has a credit caused by institutional aid and outside scholarships, the student is not eligible for a refund. The institutional aid will be adjusted down to remove the credit.
- If an on campus student has a credit caused by institutional aid and/or other gift aid in conjunction with a PELL grant , they are eligible for a refund up to a maximum of the PELL award. Off campus students are not eligible for this refund .
- Title IV loans such as Stafford, PLUS, or Perkins loans are refundable. The refund cannot exceed the amount of the loan.
- In a credit situation, before institutional aid is adjusted down, the student is entitled to an up to $600 per semester book voucher, except where the scholarship states that books are not covered.
- A meal plan cannot be added to an off campus student's account and be covered by an institutional credit.
- For off-campus students who receive any institutional aid, a meal plan can be added to the student's account and covered by an existing credit if the total award package (including institutional, state and federal aid, but excluding the Lipscomb employee discount ) amounts to a full ride (full tuition, fees, room and board) or greater. The credit will be allowed to cover the Herd (middle-level) meal plan only.
For complete details, see the current Undergraduate Student Catalog.


text:
I Think, Therefore I Scam
Franco Nicoletti's hair has gone salt-and-pepper, and he's shaved off his mustache. He doesn't look half the man he used to be. But maybe that's the point. Could this be the same man who spent the last decade engineering schemes to swell his offshore accounts? The man accused of defrauding countless friends and business partners, of attempting to launder $7 million in cash, of skimming a small fortune from his many enterprises in Boca Raton? For the last two years, this once flamboyant swindler, a man accustomed to the finest accouterments, has gone unadorned, forced to trade in designer threads for prison-issue, blue-green jumpsuits and a pair of modest brown sandals.
"I've made some pretty fundamental mistakes in my life," Nicoletti says. "But I have peace within me, even in a prison cell."
It's two weeks before a federal judge in West Palm Beach will lock him away for 16 years for attempted money-laundering, and Nicoletti is sitting in a plastic chair in the visiting room at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. "Look I didn't kill nobody," he says. "I'm not such a bad guy." Through tortoiseshell reading glasses he examines a slim volume he's typed up and bound in plastic, the tale of his last ten years in South Florida. It contains the details of the massive law-enforcement conspiracy of which he claims to be a victim.
"I'm sitting here because I stepped on the wrong feet," he offers. "If the system focuses on you, you're as good as gone. Sure I've done some bad things in my life, but I swear to you I did not do these things they accuse me of."
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As Nicoletti speaks he looks you in the eye. He speaks with self-confidence, peppering his discourse with strategically placed outbursts -- a fist on the table, an arched eyebrow, a vehement sneer. You want to believe him. You feel yourself believing him, just as so many before believed him and, in believing, entrusted him with their most prized valuables, even their love.
Lillian Dinallo was taken in by Nicoletti the first time they met at his Boca restaurant, back when her second husband was still alive. Richard liked him too; they talked about cars, boats, Frank Sinatra. Nicoletti sang to the old couple in a rich baritone, towering above them on stage at Ciro's Pomodoro in a handmade Italian suit, the gold lizard pin on his lapel glimmering in the spotlight. To them he looked like an aristocrat, even though he would later share tales of humble beginnings on the Mediterranean coast below Rome. Nicoletti was a throwback, the kind of man who'd bow and kiss a woman's hand, then compliment her escort on the cut of his suit. He sparkled with gold; a Swiss watch dangled from his wrist, and gold chains framed the bright smile beneath his mustache.
When the Dinallos first visited Ciro's, it was an overbooked Saturday night. No table was available. They left with an impatient "humph" after the maitre d' told them they'd have to wait at the bar. "Don't you know who those people are?" Nicoletti scolded after they left. "The Dinallos do not wait for a table."
At the time Richard Dinallo was one of the wealthiest men in Boca Raton. His New Jersey construction company had built Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, and he owned the Bridge Hotel in Boca. But he was sick with cancer and knew he wouldn't be around to care for Lillian much longer. He died in his bed at Boca Raton Community Hospital on October 29, 1991, and a family fracas for his millions ensued. Nicoletti stepped in as Lillian's legal advisor and emotional crutch. Eighteen months later they married. She was 63 years old, he was 46. Franco was Lillian's third husband, Lillian his fifth wife.
Nicoletti moved into the house that Richard Dinallo built, a spectacular seaside mansion with wraparound balconies and a bronze mastiff just inside the wrought iron gates. He put his name on the deed but kept his condo on the golf course at Boca Pointe. He drove Richard's Ferrari and parked a Rolls in the driveway -- he'd always had a weakness for Rolls Royces. For a while Nicoletti and his new bride were the talk of Boca society, appearing regularly at charity fundraisers and in the local society pages. But the fairy tale wouldn't last long.
Just after the New Year in 1996, Nicoletti was arrested, charged with laundering $300,000 in cash, and held on a $2 million bond. Eager to prove her love, Lillian sprung him on Valentine's Day. After that, Nicoletti knew Lillian would always stick by him. She was the only one who would. All the others -- friends, business partners, ex-girlfriends -- had turned on him. They were rats who'd sell out their own mothers to save themselves. Nicoletti had been called many things -- swindler, grifter, con man -- but never a rat.
When he arrived in Boca Raton in 1989, he was like a character from a Scorsese film or a Mamet play -- a fast-talking, flashy Italian who claimed to be an international business tycoon and carried fistfuls of cash. He neglected to mention, however, the less savory aspects of his years in California, like the eight convictions for charges that included mail fraud, bank fraud, and arson. If pressed, though, he always had a good explanation for the charges. He had a good explanation for everything. He was the Harry Houdini of legal entanglements. Generously armed with charm and guile, Nicoletti had over the years dodged countless lawsuits and smooth-talked judges into handing him light sentences. He'd also accumulated mountains of cash, dozens of exotic cars, and women, always lots of women.
Nicoletti was a master of the long con, a financial wizard who constructed elaborate business deals that promised quick and generous returns. He culled potential investors from the clientele of the numerous restaurants he opened around Los Angeles and Boca. "If he thought he could get something out of you, he would treat you like royalty," his second wife, Judy Whitfield, recalls. For weeks, sometimes months, Nicoletti would work to gain trust, wooing the wealthy with expensive dinners or weekends at his home in Jamaica. All the while he'd let slip details of business deals in the works. He talked up impending financial windfalls to such a degree that people would come to him, begging, pleading, for a chance to come on board. "Well, there really are no guarantees," he'd tell them. "But to be completely honest with you, this really is a phenomenal opportunity."
Usually they'd bite. Many of the people Nicoletti bilked failed to realize they'd been scammed until months, even years, had elapsed. He was so likable that his victims sometimes came to his defense after he was arrested. In the words of one, "Franco could talk the Pope into giving him the Vatican jewels."
But by the mid-'80s Nicoletti's charms had begun to fail him, and he wound up serving a total of almost four years in West Coast prisons. At the California Institute For Men in Chino, a prison psychologist concluded that Nicoletti was a man devoid of the emotional backstops that make it difficult for others to lie, cheat, and steal without compunction. In other words, he was a sociopath -- fearless, impulsive, grandiose, and highly manipulative. Nicoletti dismissed the prognosis as psychobabble. To his friends and wives, even those he'd swindled, he was a larger-than-life figure who made everything seem possible.
"He always had a can-do attitude about everything," Judy Whitfield recalls. "If you said to him, 'Franco, let's go check out this island in the middle of the Pacific; I understand it's for sale,' he would say, 'Yeah, let's go do it.' For him all things had potential."
Nicoletti had begun to accumulate a small empire in Boca Raton that would eventually include three restaurants, a travel agency, and a series of medical clinics, when two local detectives latched on to him. Palm Beach Sheriff's Det. Robert Hawkins and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent George Vilardi spent almost eight years trying in vain to nail Nicoletti. They stumbled across him during a 1989 burglary investigation in which his nephew was a suspect. "Once I had run Franco's criminal history and had started calling people in California, I knew there had to be something to this guy who had just shown up in Boca Raton," Hawkins recalls. Over the years the detectives tracked Nicoletti at Ciro's, Zelda's, and Hoexter's, his trio of Boca restaurants. They interviewed ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, and former business partners and even flew to California and New Jersey to gather dirt on him. They could never make anything stick.
Nicoletti responded by mocking the two detectives on stage at Ciro's and, in 1994, filing a $5 million harassment suit against them. "He was one hell of a challenge," recalls Vilardi. "We had a lot of trouble getting anyone to come forward and talk to us about him. Who knows what he's really done the last ten years he's been in Boca." Don Youngbluth, an IRS agent who pursued Nicoletti in the late '90s, says the investigations did get personal at times. "You're dealing with such a despicable human being, it's easy to lose your objectivity," he adds. "In terms of white-collar crime, I think Nicoletti is one of the most corrupt human beings I've ever met, truly a man without a conscience."
Although he eluded them for many years, Nicoletti must have known that sooner or later the detectives would catch up with him. That may be why he needed $7 million so badly. That kind of money would be enough to set him up with a new life, in Argentina perhaps, if only everything hadn't gone so terribly wrong.
In November 1996 Nicoletti asked Frank Petillo, a well-connected bookie, for help in finding an investor who could front him a cash loan of $7 million, money he said he needed to finalize a $50 million business deal. As collateral he offered $12 million in bearer bonds, untraceable government bonds worth their face value. Petillo introduced Nicoletti to Rich Rendina, a disbarred lawyer and former state attorney from Fort Lauderdale, who in turn introduced him to Tom Ramos, a man claiming to be the private financial consultant to a wealthy investor who had amassed his fortune trafficking in drugs in the '70s and '80s. During the meeting at Ciao Bella, a new Italian restaurant in which Nicoletti was a silent partner, Rendina asked him if he had a problem doing business with a drug trafficker. He said he didn't.
The men shared a bottle of wine and Nicoletti, feeling expansive, began to let down his usually guarded facade. "Are you telling me this guy is a bad guy because he sells marijuana?" he said to Rendina and Ramos, who, unbeknownst to Nicoletti, was wearing a recording device given to him by the DEA. "Well fuck you. You know why? Because your government sells marijuana, cocaine, heroin, all kinds of shit, every day on the street for your own convenience. So give me a break." Thirty years staving off government attempts to lock him away or deport him back to Italy had bred a stew of resentment that occasionally slipped out. Nicoletti's face reddened, the small lump in the upper right-hand corner of his forehead tensed, and he pounded the table with his fist. "I can pay for these meals and sit at the ocean the rest of my life," he continued. "I don't give a fuck. But I'm a player -- God forgive me, I'm a fuckin' player -- and I'll be a player until the day I die. You know why? I'm a rebel at heart. I don't like this society. I don't like this system. I don't like what it stands for. It screws up too many people's lives, and that's where I'm coming from." He cleared his throat. "You gotta trust me when I tell you this. I can go to my wife and say, 'Honey, I'm in trouble, I need a $10 million check right now.' But I don't do that. I'm on my own. I stand on my own, and I been standin' on my own all my life since I was a little kid."
A rebel was born in the summer of 1959 when a 12-year-old Franco Nicoletti and some of his friends began hawking backrests and umbrellas to tourists along the Mediterranean. "Ombrello, signora?" they inquired in Italian, the sand between their toes. Earlier that summer Franco had asked his father to buy him a pair of shoes. "You want fancy shoes? Buy 'em yourself," his father had told him. So Franco came up with the idea to milk the tourist trade, recruiting his friends to help out. He collected handfuls of lire and got his first taste of the benefits of free enterprise. A young hustler had taken his baby steps.
Franco's family was not atypical among Southern Italian families. His father had been a World War II navy captain who, after the war, went to work for the provincial government. Nicolino Nicoletti was rarely around, splitting his time between his family and those of his mistresses. Franco's mother, who was overbearing and sometimes violent, bore her husband's indiscretions, though she took out her frustrations on Franco, his three brothers, and two sisters. Franco left home as soon he could and began training for the priesthood at a nearby seminary. After two years he dropped out and headed to Sicily to enroll in hotel school. By the time he was 17 years old, he and his friends had hustled together enough money to open a business in Rome, a lively supper club featuring live jazz and good food. But Franco had grown impatient with Italy and longed to travel to the land of opportunity, America.
He flew into Chicago in December 1965, in the frigid heart of winter, and moved in with his grandfather, who was living in Gary, Indiana. Within a few months, Nicoletti hooked up with an Italian businessman who was importing Volkswagens and Porsches to the Chicago area. By the time his visa expired in 1966, he was earning a good wage and driving nice cars and did not want to return to Italy. The following year he told the Immigration and Naturalization Service that Mary Ann Millet, a young midwestern woman he'd begun dating, was pregnant and that they intended to marry. Although Mary Ann wasn't pregnant, the couple were wed on April 29, 1967, when the Vietnam War was in full swing. They then enlisted in the Air Force and were sent to March Air Force Base outside Riverside, California, where Mary Ann was assigned to the medical corps and Franco, who had requested service as an assistant chaplain, was assigned to clerk duty in the nuclear weapons compound. Although he was not a U.S. citizen (and never would become one), Nicoletti was granted a high-level security clearance.
In 1970, three months before he was discharged, he had his first run-in with California law enforcement. Nicoletti was accused of writing bad checks to employees of a Riverside body shop he had started while in the service and was given probation. Today he claims someone else wrote those checks. Whatever did transpire at the body shop, the incident marked the beginning of what would become an almost 25-year run of prison-free legal trouble. After Nicoletti's return to civilian life, he quickly sold the body shop, the first of many businesses he would unload over the years.
Nicoletti's corporate modus operandi was to start a legitimate business, though never in his own name, and then run it into the ground. Along the way, say law-enforcement officials, he was likely skimming the cash proceeds while driving the business deeper and deeper into debt. Because his name was not attached to any of the operations, Nicoletti's personal assets remained protected when the businesses were eventually sold or went bust. "It's what we call a 'classic bust-out,'" explains Vilardi. "Franco was a master at carrying them off."
Nicoletti is in prison now, lost in the fond recollections of those early years. "I was on base, running a beautiful little business," he says, referring to the body shop. "I painted the place, made it spotless, it was great. I started with peanuts and worked hard. You know why I got into trouble?" His voice jumps several octaves, the click of his consonants quickens. "It was my ambition," he says. "It's always been my ambition, my ambition, my ambition." He spits out the words like poison and pounds the table with a clenched fist. "So some bad checks were written. It happened, nobody got screwed out of anything, life went on. Now when I'm the bad guy, they bring that up like its some big deal."
Nicoletti eases back into the chair, smoothes his fingers across the stack of legal documents on the Formica table, and smiles, acknowledging a fellow inmate. "I always think I'm doing the right thing and then something goes wrong."
One night in 1973, Nicoletti walked into the bar at the Holiday Inn in Riverside, smeared with grease and sweat and wearing a jumpsuit emblazoned with corporate logos. He and his team of Formula 7 racecar drivers had won a race earlier that day, and it was time to celebrate. The minute he walked in, Nicoletti noticed the beauty on stage with her rouged lips flush against the microphone. When the band took a break, he called her over. "Hey, gorgeous, come here and talk to me," he said, flashing a mischievous smile.
"Why are you such a pappagallo?" she replied. Judy Whitfield, a college girl raised on a farm, had picked up a few words of Italian during a recent trip through Europe. Pappagallo, which literally means "parrot," is slang for "pickup artist." "How do you know that word?" asked Nicoletti, laughing at the brazen young woman who had dared to call him at his game. Later that night, after Whitfield had returned to the stage, she noticed Nicoletti in a back corner, wrapping his arms around another woman.
A week later Nicoletti returned to the Holiday Inn, alone this time and with a plaster cast on his leg. A gearshift had punctured his thigh. He sat at a table near the stage and stared into his drink. Whitfield was intrigued by the change in his countenance and dedicated a song to him. "This is for the guy who looks so sad," she said. After a brief courtship, Franco and Judy were married, and they moved into a big house in Canyon Crest. Franco's days and nights were consumed with wheeling and dealing while Judy stayed at home, cooking and caring for their baby girl.
In the mid-'70s Nicoletti opened Via Veneto, his first restaurant, and shortly thereafter opened a second, more casual place. Over the next couple of years, he started a string of businesses (all of which would eventually vanish), including a jewelry store, an antiques store, a leather-goods business with his brother Marcello, and a private investment company. He even dabbled in movies, financing a few low-budget flops, including Last Foxtrot in Burbank, a spoof of Last Tango in Paris. He claims he considered the script for Easy Rider before Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper got hold of it but decided it was too "out there" to be commercially viable. Though Nicoletti didn't have much luck in the movie business, he was flush with cash and had begun to mingle with all sorts of high rollers -- movie stars, mobsters, and musicians he met at his restaurants and during forays to Hollywood. Nicoletti befriended Frank Sinatra's road manager, a man known as Jimmy the Hook, and became a regular at Sinatra's house in Palm Springs. He even claims to have shared the stage with Ol' Blue Eyes during a brief singing stint in Las Vegas.
In 1977 Nicoletti met Richard Compton, an ex-con who had married Dawn Roddenberry, the daughter of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Compton owned a 104-foot yacht called the Magnifico II, which he planned to turn into a floating recording studio. Nicoletti, who took the ship's deed as collateral on a loan, seized the yacht after he said Compton failed to pay up in time. Years later a judge ordered Nicoletti and two associates to pay Compton $9.7 million and return the yacht. Compton never was able to collect and lost an even larger potential fortune when his wife was excised from her father's will after she contested her cut, reported at 25 percent of all Star Trek proceeds.
Judy Whitfield met Compton before his relationship with Nicoletti fizzled. "Franco said he had given him $30,000 in return for the ship's deed," she recalls. "The thing is, he never loaned anyone money without some form of collateral. You have to ask yourself, though, 'Who is the stupid one, the person who took out the loan or the person who got the collateral that is worth far more than the loan?' Some of the things he did were highly manipulative, but then some of them you think to yourself, 'Good lord, how could anyone fall for that?'"
During the legal battle over the yacht, Compton had alleged that an associate of Nicoletti, Michael Rizzitello, had strong-armed him into signing over the boat. Rizzitello was one of the most notorious mobsters in Los Angeles, a reputed capo in the Milano organized crime family, who received a life sentence in 1991 for his involvement in a bloody execution-style murder in the parking lot of a Los Angeles strip club.
Nicoletti often surrounded himself with characters of questionable repute, and Rizzitello was not the last mobster with whose name he would be connected. Years later in Boca, Vilardi and Hawkins ran the license plates of cars parked at his restaurant and discovered that many of them were registered to known Mob figures. "Franco knew everybody," Vilardi explains. "At first we thought he was really tightly connected, and then we came to think otherwise. In any case he certainly liked to cultivate the illusion that he was." The detectives say Nicoletti liked to use the perception of Mob ties as leverage, sort of psychological muscle. An anonymous letter they say was sent to the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office alluded to the threat of a Mafia hit on the investigators, describing how black roses would be sprinkled over their graves. "We took it very seriously," says Hawkins. "My personal opinion is that he probably had the capability to do what he said he would."
The truth about Nicoletti's Mob ties remains fuzzy. What is evident is that he ran in the same circles as organized crime figures and was closely connected to men whose criminal histories were spotty at best. The original Ciro's in Los Angeles, where Nicoletti worked as a manager in the late '80s, was reported in the Los Angeles Times to be a Mob hangout, and Ciro Orsini, the restaurant's owner (and a good friend of Nicoletti) had his own legal troubles.
In the early '90s, Orsini's partner in the London branch of a restaurant empire that included establishments in London, Milan, and Los Angeles turned up dead, and Scotland Yard flew three detectives to Boca to question Tito Halabi, one of his business associates, about the murder. Halabi had moved to Boca in 1990, after Nicoletti opened his own restaurant using Ciro's name. He later split from Nicoletti after he ran into legal trouble over a failed cocaine deal and became one of Vilardi and Hawkins' most valuable informants. Orsini, who in the end became estranged from Nicoletti after he says he lost money in the Boca restaurant, never was implicated in his partner's murder. Neither was he implicated in the mysterious death last spring of his girlfriend, a California beauty queen named Jill Weatherwax, who turned up in a vacant lot in Fresno, stabbed in the back and bashed on the skull.
Nicoletti's world had begun to crumble years before the tumult at Ciro's. Unable to cope with his constant infidelity, Judy had left him in 1981. But Nicoletti was resilient and had a successor, an aspiring model named Dana Evans, waiting in the wings. His third marriage could not have come at a more inopportune time. In 1982, only weeks after vows had been exchanged, Franco and Dana were picked up on bank-fraud charges for a series of loans obtained from Empire Savings and Loan of Riverside. Prosecutors told the local press they believed Nicoletti was trying to accumulate as much cash as possible before fleeing the area.
He had used a tactic he would recycle in Boca Raton. At least one of the loans was secured under the name Giuseppe Gaudino, a cook at Via Veneto, Nicoletti's Riverside restaurant, who vanished to Greece around the same time Nicoletti and his wife were arrested. In Boca he secured loans and negotiated business deals under the names of his brother Claudio and sister Maria, both of whom would conveniently return to Italy after the deals had gone sour. In 1983 Nicoletti pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was later charged with arson after Gaudino doused Via Veneto with gasoline in order for Nicoletti to collect the insurance money, and that conviction was added to his conviction for fraud. He served a total of just under four years in prison.
In 1987 Nicoletti walked out of the low-security Federal Correctional Institute in Safford, Arizona, and into the arms of his fourth wife, Rosa. (Though they were never formally married, they considered themselves husband and wife.) Franco, who had known Rosa for years -- their parents were good friends -- began seeing her before his incarceration, while still married to Judy. After his release Rosa urged him to stay out of trouble and lobbied hard for a change of scenery. Two years later Nicoletti arrived in Boca Raton, an anonymous good-natured Italian with a refined taste in clothes and a can-do attitude. But Nicoletti the consummate swindler could not keep his hands out of the cookie jar.
"He gets bored," says Rosa. "That's what gets him in trouble. He's always looking for a new challenge. For Franco it's never really been about money. Sure he likes nice things, but what really gets him going is the challenge. He loves setting up deals, I don't care what kind of a deal it is as long as it's some kind of deal."
In South Florida Nicoletti set his sights on an abundant vulnerable population -- wealthy old widows. In 1990 he met a distraught 52-year-old woman named Barbara Lifschultz, whose husband was near death, confined to a wheelchair and connected to an iron lung. As a young man, Herb Lifschultz had played the saxophone professionally under the name Herb Larson. Nicoletti befriended the old man, regaling him with tales of the time he played Vegas with Frank Sinatra. Ciro's had just opened, and the Lifschultzes quickly became regulars at the restaurant.
Nicoletti told the couple how much he cared for them and that he wanted to look out for their financial interests. He suggested they transfer him the deed on their beachfront condo in order to free up the equity in case of a medical emergency. He said he would keep the cash in a trust account, from which he would make the mortgage payments. Herb knew he was dying and hoped Franco would keep an eye on Barbara for him. He died just after the New Year in 1993. By that time Barbara had begun helping out at Franco's restaurant, running errands, answering phones, doing whatever she could to help.
Seven months after Herb's death, Special Agent George Vilardi came looking for Barbara. He entered her apartment one summer day, handcuffed her, and transported her to a holding cell, where she was thrown in with junkies, drug dealers, and street hustlers. Lying on a creaky cot under a tattered blanket, she cried all night. A federal prosecutor charged Barbara with money-laundering. She had made 96 deposits, each for less than $10,000, in ten different bank accounts over a five-month period in 1992. She appeared to be using a tactic popular among money launderers who exploit banking laws that require financial institutions only to report deposits of more than $10,000. Unreported deposits -- believed in this case to be skimmed cash proceeds from Nicoletti's restaurants -- can be funneled out of the country without setting off alarms. Barbara insisted she'd made the deposits for Nicoletti, whom she believed to be a legitimate international businessman. "I thought maybe he was opening a bunch of new restaurants or something," she recalls. "I didn't question anything. I just did what he told me to do." She turned down a plea-bargain offer and was later acquitted of all charges. Nicoletti never came to her aid and vociferously denies ever having anything to do with the deposits.
After Barbara's release from prison, Nicoletti was picked up on the same charges. Shortly thereafter he was released on bail and Barbara went to see him at a warehouse he maintained in Hillsboro with his business partner Frank Guidotti. Nicoletti was there with his 12-year-old daughter. Barbara remembers him saying, "What are you doing here? I can't be seen with you. Part of the condition of my bail is that I don't make contact with you. You shouldn't be here." Nicoletti put out his hands as if to touch her. "Barbara, are you wearing a wire?" he asked, patting her down.
In September 1993 Barbara's condo was sold at auction on the courthouse steps. Nicoletti had signed over the condo to his sister, Maria Materazzi. After the mortgage payments stopped arriving, the bank foreclosed. Barbara fought eviction for three years but was eventually forced out. In the summer of 1996 she moved what she could into a smaller apartment downstairs and locked the rest of her possessions in storage. Six months later she declared Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Barbara says her bank accounts had also been drained. She had been laying out payments to cover various expenses for Franco that wound up exceeding $100,000. Although he wrote checks that appeared to compensate her for the loans, in reality, says Barbara, Franco was shortchanging her -- to the tune of more than $50,000. "I thought he was a good man," she recalled. "I was victimized and I was used. I didn't have anything to worry about when I met him, and now it's all gone, everything."
"Barbara is a liar," says Nicoletti with a venomous sneer. "I can't understand it, she was part of the family. I took her in, Lillian invited her for Christmas. You know what happened? She was in love with me, and after I got together with Lillian and told her I could never be with her, she grew mad with jealousy. That woman has lied everywhere."
Nicoletti flips through the slim biographical volume he imagines will vindicate him. The packet, entitled "Just About Everybody -vs- Franco Nicoletti," describes a convoluted conspiracy. "The Nicoletti nightmare," he writes, "exemplifies the absolute worst abuses of the American legal system and is comparable to the Ruby Ridge Incident and the Waco Massacre." Using a familiar tactic, he goes on to explain how Barbara's banking activities were connected with his brother Claudio and how the fiasco with her condo involved only Barbara and his sister Maria. Nicoletti, who was eventually charged with defrauding Barbara, is livid with indignation, reaching the end of his tether. Although a trial combining the fraud charges with the earlier money-laundering charges resulted in a hung jury, he knows they will still be a factor in his upcoming sentencing hearing on charges that he attempted to launder $7 million in drug money in 1996. "I did not need to do anything wrong," he says. "I'm appealing to your intelligence. These charges are stupid, absolutely stupid."
On November 20, 1996, shortly before Barbara declared bankruptcy, Nicoletti met with Tom Ramos and his secretary at the Ciao Bella restaurant on Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, hoping to put the finishing touches on the deal he believed would secure him $7 million. Inside the restaurant the aroma of smoked ham and Parmigiano wafted from the kitchen. Nicoletti fingered the silverware on the table. Ramos shifted in his chair. His secretary, Laurel, smiled. "Are we going to do this deal or what?" asked Nicoletti. He grinned and laughed. "Let's do this," he thought. "Let's nail it. This deal will set me free."
But all day Nicoletti had been uneasy. Was it a setup, he wondered? Who was this Ramos character, and why did he always seem so nervous, so damn jittery? He had been cautious when they all met at the restaurant earlier that afternoon to nail down the details. At one point, threatening to break it off, he had started for the door, but Ramos talked him down. He felt better now. That afternoon Ramos had gone to the vault to count the bearer bonds with Frank Petillo, Frank Guidotti, and the secretary, Laurel. Nicoletti had stayed behind. If anything were going to go wrong, he thought for sure it would happen at the vault. "You just do your work," he had told them. They came back that evening, all of them, saying the bonds appeared to be legit. Nicoletti was relieved; nobody had been arrested. This deal will happen, he thought. I will get my $7 million.
"Tommy, to be honest with you, I really like you," Nicoletti said later that evening. Outside, thanks to a wire, the DEA listened. "I was totally paranoid. I don't know who the fuck you are, man. I mean, I figure the next thing I know I lose my bonds and have IRS problems." Ramos smiled uneasily. He knew what was coming.
Ramos and his secretary left the restaurant, having told Nicoletti they would all reconvene the following day to put the finishing touches on a done deal. Outside they peered over their shoulders at the warm glow emanating from the windows. A half-dozen shadows scurried toward the front door.
"What's happening?" said Ramos, whose real name is Angel Cruz. "Are they going to take them down right now?"
"That's the plan," replied the secretary, really an undercover cop named Laura Medley.
"Let's get the hell outta here."
Ciao Bella had started to fill up. Guidotti was enjoying a bowl of penne a la vodka when the detectives burst through the front door. They grabbed Nicoletti, twisted him around, tightened handcuffs on his wrists, and hauled him outside. Some of the men wore shirts emblazoned with the letters DEA. "I know I'm screwed this time," Nicoletti told an agent en route to the DEA's Fort Lauderdale office. "But why is the DEA here? This don't have anything to do with cocaine."
After his arrest Nicoletti was held without bail in the Federal Detention Center, a menacing bunker in downtown Miami. Shortly thereafter the government went after Lillian's mansion, and Nicoletti and she were divorced to protect her assets. Last May he was convicted of attempting to launder $7 million in drug money and just last week was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison. Federal prosecutors had discovered upon close inspection that the bearer bonds seized from a safe-deposit box on Galt Ocean Mile were counterfeit. The entire deal had been a sham. Prosecutors believe Nicoletti never intended to pay back the loan. Instead, they say, he intended to skip town with his millions, leaving the banker and his drug-trafficking client with a handful of worthless paper. But the drug trafficker never existed and neither did the $7 million. It was all a fiction concocted as part of a federal sting.
It's a few minutes before afternoon roll call, and soon Nicoletti will gather with the other inmates and be counted. He grows increasingly exasperated as holes are punched in his story. Why has no one come forward to defend his good name? And how can he explain the lavish lifestyle he's led these past 30 years? Why have all his businesses gone bust? Where is the evidence he ever was a legitimate businessman?
Nicoletti squirms and, slowly and cautiously, gives an inch, but even now, with no apparent way out, he will only admit so much.
"It might not be incorrect to say that maybe I've done some deals where I've come out ahead and somebody else has come out behind," he says. "Sure, maybe that's happened. But does that mean I should spend so many years in prison? Does that mean they can hound me like I'm some big gangster? They want to bury me. I swear to you, I have never maliciously tried to harm anyone. Just ask my wife Lillian.
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If you're car shopping and looking for testimonials from current owners of the models you are considering, look no further than the 2012 Ideal Vehicle Awards. The awards survey more than 75,000 car owners who have owned their 2012 model-year car for 90 days, the largest survey of consumers who own a single model year, rating how happy they are with their cars in 15 areas.
Audi and Mini each received the top brand awards for Premium Brand and Popular Brand, respectively, while Honda/Acura received five individual vehicle awards, followed by General Motors with four, then Chrysler/Jeep and Volkswagen/Audi with three awards.
The 15 key areas that comprised the rating included: exterior styling, exterior size, passenger roominess, cargo space, driver's seat comfort, driver's seat visibility, info/entertainment technology, interior lighting, power and acceleration, ease of getting in and out, interior storage compartments, ride, handling, safety features, and tires and wheels.
The awards are presented annually by AutoPacific, an auto industry research firm, and Autobytel, an independent car information site.
The individual awards were presented in the following categories:
2012 Ideal Vehicle Awards: Passenger cars
|Premium luxury car
|2012 Mercedes Benz S-Class
|Aspirational luxury car
|2012 Audi A4
|Large car
|2012 Dodge Charger
|Luxury midsize car
|2012 Acura TSX
|Premium midsize car
|2012 Volkswagen Passat
|Midsize car
|2012 Subaru Legacy
|Premium compact car
|2012 MINI Cooper
|Compact car
|2012 Volkswagen Golf
|Economy car
|2012 Honda Fit
|Sports car
|2012 Chevrolet Corvette
|Sporty car
|2012 Dodge Challenger
|Hybrid/EV car
|2012 Nissan Leaf
2012 Ideal Vehicle Awards: Light trucks
|Large light-duty pickup
|2012 Ford F-150
|Heavy-duty pickup
|2012 GMC Sierra HD
|Compact pickup
|2012 GMC Canyon
|Luxury SUV
|2012 Land Rover LR4
|Large SUV
|2012 GMC Yukon XL
|Midsize SUV
|2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee
|Premium luxury crossover SUV
|2012 Porsche Cayenne
|Luxury crossover SUV
|2012 Volvo XC70
|Large crossover SUV
|2012 Ford Flex
|Premium midsize crossover SUV
|2012 Honda Pilot
|Midsize crossover SUV
|2012 Honda CR-V
|Compact crossover SUV
|2012 MINI Countryman
|2012 Honda Odyssey
|Hybrid/EV truck
|2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Tara Baukus Mello writes the cars blog as well as the weekly Driving for Dollars column, providing both practical financial advice for consumers as well as insight into the latest developments in the automotive world. Follow her on Facebook here or on Twitter @SheDrives.


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Chicago vs. Boston: How we match up
With the Bruins and Blackhawks facing off in the Stanley Cup final beginning Wednesday night, Boston and Chicago add another chapter in their storied postseason history against one another, and things haven't exactly always ended up going Boston's way. The Red Sox lost to the White Sox in the 2005 American League division series, and the Bears made the Patriots' first trip to the Super Bowl a memorable one all right (a 46-10 trouncing), but then again, there was that World Series against the Cubs — in 1918. When it comes to everyday life, however, Boston and Chicago are pretty similar. Here's how the cities stack up in a variety of categories.
According to Travel and Leisure magazine, which utilized data from its annual "America's Favorite Cities'' survey to face the two cities off against one another, Chicago came out on top overall, though Boston dominated in the intelligence, history, and ice cream categories. No surprise, Chicago beat Boston when it came to pizza and the music scene.
Overall, Boston did come out ahead though in the following categories: People, types of local trips, nightlife, shopping, restaurants, and quality of life.
Of course, the most recent time Boston and Chicago went head-to-head was during the 2012 presidential election, which pitted Chicago's Barack Obama against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. During his memorable speech following the Marathon bombings in April, Obama did refer to Boston sports teams being back on top "much to the chagrin'' of fans from Boston and Chicago. Have to imagine he's still rooting for his hometown team though.
80's sitcoms. Chicago had "Perfect Strangers.'' Boston had "Cheers.'' Winner? As Balki would say, "Don't be ridiculous.'' Boston in a rout.
OK, so Chicago may dye its river green to show off Irish pride around St. Patrick's Day, but who likes to drink the green beer anyway? It's all a little too showy, if you ask us. Chicago has a greater number of people of Irish descent than Boston — an estimated 201,693 to Boston's 98,441 according to US Census data — but it still plays second fiddle to New York City in Irish population size. Chicago's total population is also nearly four times the size of Boston's. In this case, Southie rules.
Nicknames: Beantown. The Windy City. There are no winners here.
Both cities have unique ballpark features. Boston has its Green Monster at Fenway Park. Chicago has its famed ivy on the outfield walls at Wrigley Field. Both have famous watering holes. Fenway has the Cask and Flagon, Chicago has the Cubby Bear. Both cities have baseball TV announcers with their names on food and drink establishments. Boston has Jerry Remy's Sports Bar and Grill, Chicago has Harry Carray's, which is an upscale Italian steak house. Michael Jordan has a steak house in Chicago too, and since Larry Bird won't be opening one anytime soon, this showdown goes to Chicago.
Talk show hosts: Chicago gave us Oprah. Boston delivered Elisabeth Hasselbeck. No offense, Liz, but the Midwest takes this one with ease.
Both cities have vibrant arts scenes. In Boston, whether you're at Symphony Hall or the MFA, the culture of the region is evident, and the same can be true in Chicago, notable for its jazz and blues scenes.
According to the 2012 Mercer Human Resource Consulting Quality of Living Survey, both Chicago and Boston are considered to be among the world's best for quality of living. Boston ranked 35th in the latest survey, while Chicago wasn't far behind at No. 42. No. 1 in this year's survey was Vienna.
Deep dish pizza vs. clam chowder? This isn't really a question, is it?
Chicago has been good to Boston this year. On the day after the Marathon bombings, the Chicago Tribune sports section paid tribute to the city's athletic teams as a sign of solidarity. The front-page illustration read, "We are like you. We know that sports are often the ties that hold us together, that give us a way to talk about the things we care about when other words fail. We know sports can be fun — even in losing. Boys, do we know. We know that anybody who says it doesn't matter whether the Cubs or Sox are in the World Series so long as it's a Chicago team isn't truly a fan of either team. We know. But on Monday, we were reminded again how fragile it all can be. The explosions and injuries and death at a world-class sporting event such as the Boston Marathon makes us heartsick. As much as it is anathema for a Chicago fan to root for any other town — especially Beantown and all of its championship rings — here we are. Hang in there, Boston."
That sort of makes it hard to dislike Chicago, doesn't it? Suppose we'll always have Super Bowl XX to fall back on.


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Ibanez gets reacquainted with first in spring game
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Raul Ibanez figured he didn't need a first-baseman's mitt anymore, so he handed it down to his 12-year-old son. Then Angels manager Mike Scioscia called the 41-year-old designated hitter over the winter and told him he'd be working on first base in Spring Training, even though he hasn't started a game there since 2005.
"My son was in the car and was like, 'You want that mitt back, Dad?'" Ibanez said.
Ibanez reclaimed the glove that day and made his spring debut at first base Monday, while right fielder Kole Calhoun saw four innings there Sunday and an additional three Monday.
Scioscia's hope is that at least one of them gets comfortable there, so that his lineup doesn't really have to change on the days Albert Pujols serves as a designated hitter.
"That's the goal is to have the options on the offensive side to be strong every day," Scioscia said, "even if some guys are going to have to DH or switch positions."
Calhoun -- listed at a generous 5-foot-10, which makes him a bit undersized for the position -- played 37 innings at first base in the Majors last year and appeared there in 34 of his 353 career Minor League games.
Ibanez started 12 games at first base in 1998, 18 in 1999, one in 2000, eight in 2001, 45 in 2002, 18 in 2003, nine in 2004 and four in 2005. Since then, he's played two regular-season innings at the position. No ball was hit to him in six innings Monday, and only four throws were made to first while Ibanez was in the game.
"Certain things come back," said Ibanez, who has been working with infield coach Alfredo Griffin and will also see action in left field. "It's different. There's a lot of little movements going on, with kind of where to be and reminding myself, 'OK, if this happens I have to do this, and if this happens I have to do that.' But I think it'll be OK."
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Gonzo and "The Show", and follow him on Twitter @Alden_Gonzalez. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Ametek Crystal Engineering T-975-CPF Pneumatic Hand Pump Generates Pressure and Vacuum
T-975-CPF pneumatic hand pump generates pressure and vacuum. T-620H-CPF high-pressure, hydraulic hand pump provides a compact pressure source. P-018-CPF hydraulic comparator produces pressure with superior control. Model T-1-CPF high-volume hydraulic comparator is ideal for testing and calibrating pressure gauges, relief valves and pressure switches.


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Happy Holidays to all my friends on WordPress & Twitter! May 2014 bring many blessings unto you & yours 🙂
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Inside the Lakers blog: Keeping and eye on who might be next in leading Kobe & Co.
For up-to-the-minute updates, follow Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter, @MarkG_Medina
For all the team news, visit the Los Angeles Lakers page
Coach Mike D'Antoni resigned after he and the Los Angeles Lakers reached an "insurmountable impasse," D'Antoni's agent Warren Legarie told Los Angeles News Group reporter Mark Medina on Wednesday. This is a collection of the immediate reactions to the news.
Viewing on mobile? Go here: https://storify.com/InsideSoCalSpts/reactions-to-mike-d-antoni-leaving-the-los-angeles


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Get an overview of this hotelFamily-friendly hotel 2 blocks from Boardwalk
Popular property highlights
Near amusement park
Centrally located in Rehoboth Beach, Atlantis Inn is a half-mile from Funland, 2 miles from Tanger Outlet Center, and 11 miles from Cape Henlopen State Park. Washington, DC, is less than 3 hours away.
Outdoor pool
In addition to complimentary wireless Internet access throughout the hotel, Atlantis Inn provides 24-hour guest laundry facilities, free parking, a seasonal outdoor pool, and a spacious sundeck.
Complimentary Wi-Fi
Accessed via exterior corridors, all 94 non-smoking guestrooms at Atlantis Inn feature complimentary wireless Internet access, cable channels, refrigerators, microwaves, and free local calls.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Atlantis Inn
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Atlantis Inn is located on Rehoboth Beach's main drag, close to shops and restaurants, and 2 blocks from the Boardwalk. On the 3rd floor, a seasonal outdoor splash pool has an adjacent sundeck overlooking Rehoboth Avenue. The hotel's front desk provides a safe-deposit box, and complimentary coffee is available in the lobby each morning. Wireless Internet access is complimentary throughout the property. Event facilities measure 800 square feet, and business services are available; fees may apply. Guests have access to 24-hour coin-operated laundry facilities. Onsite parking is complimentary. Self parking is complimentary.
- Outdoor seasonal pool
- Concierge services
- Use of nearby fitness center (discount)
- Front desk (limited hours)
- Express check-out
- Total number of rooms - 94
- Multilingual staff
- Express check-in
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Number of floors - 4
- Laundry facilities
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Picnic area
- Elevator/lift
- Free self parking
- Free WiFi
- Year Built 1978
- Number of buildings/towers - 2
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Free Wi-Fi
- Laundry facilities
- Refrigerator
- Microwave
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Air conditioning
- Access via exterior corridors
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Hair dryer (on request)
- Shower/tub combination
- Free toiletries
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Cable TV service
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Microwave
- Refrigerator
- Daily housekeeping
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
Several dining options are available within walking distance of the Atlantis Inn.
Nearby Things to Do
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Surfing/boogie boarding nearby
- Windsurfing nearby
- Kayaking nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Water skiing nearby
- Scooter/moped rentals nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Bicycle rentals nearby
- Mountain biking nearby
- Skydiving nearby
- Parasailing nearby
- Ecotours nearby
- Golf lessons available nearby
- Personal motorized watercraft on site
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 20 per night.
- Cribs (infant beds) are available.
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Optional extras
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 20 per night
Hotel Name
- Atlantis Inn
- Atlantis Inn Rehoboth Beach
- Atlantis Rehoboth Beach
- Atlantis Motel Rehoboth Beach
- Atlantis Hotel Rehoboth Beach


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Locate your preferred platform and click on it to download the installer. Then run the installer on your machine to install Adobe Digital Editions.
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New! RMSDK 10


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This star rating is the opinion of the property owner only. A Self-Rated hotel has not been assessed by the AA or Visit Britain, whose official star ratings we use across LateRooms.com.
K's Apartments3 Self rated
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About the hotel
k's guest house and apartments offers guests a choice between traditional guest house accommodation and apartment rentals. guests are welcome for a night, week, month and longer. whether in bristol for business or leisure guests are assured a friendly and warm welcome.
recently refurbished k's offers quality, affordable accommodation in close proximity to the beautiful eastville park and within a couple of miles to bristol's historic centre. k's comes in the form of 2 separate apartments. a 3 bedroom and a 2 bedroom. guests can rent the whole apartment or individual rooms on a traditional guest house style accommodation. both apartments consist of bedrooms, living rooms, fully equipped kitchens and bathrooms. the 2 bedroom apartment comes with its own garden where guests can barbecue the summer evenings away. all bedrooms and living rooms are equipped with tvs (free view and dvd). wi-fi is available throughtout the properties at no extra cost.
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- Hotel Non-Smoking Throughout, Tea/Coffee making facilities in each room
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- From 13:00 hours
- By 11:00 hours
- Up to 15 years old
- 25/07/2014 to 25/07/2018 - We require a deposit of 1 nights stay. This is refunded on the day of departure providing there is no damage to apartment. The price shown is based on the occupancy and dates you have searched for. Prices and availability are subject to change based on the arrival date, number of nights and occupancy searched for. All prices are inclusive of all local taxes.
- Pets are not allowed
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On Saturday, March 13th, LSDiscs is hosting their first event in Columbia, MO!
It is a 2-round C-Tier at Albert Oakland park, and hopefully the first of many tournaments LSDiscs brings to our area.
Entry Fees:
Open: $45
Advanced: $35
Intermediate: $30
Novice: $25
Ace fund: $3
(add $10 for non-current PDGA members)
$5 discount if you pre-register by Thrusday, March 11th.
Sign in: 8-9am
Players Meeting 9:15
Tee off 9:30
For hotel accomidations, PM me here on this site and I'll try to set you up somewhere close to the courses.
Hope to see you there!


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Johnathon Schild had no prior racing experience before he teamed up with his father and grandfather.
Between 16 & 23 Years Old and Like To Race?
Then Join…
Young Racers' Club
Dedicated to Supporting
Youth In Racing
Johnathon Schild, Waller, TX
This month's Young Racers' Club winner comes to us from Waller, Texas. Fifteen-year-old Johnathon Schild had no prior racing experience before he teamed up with his father and grandfather to build an '88 Chevy Monte Carlo Pro Stock to race at Houston Motorsports Park, a 3/8-mile asphalt track in Houston.
His dad races an '09 Monte Carlo in the Texas Super Racing Series and was that series champ in 2005. Dad has more feature wins than anyone in the series and was also Super Stock champion at Battleground Speedway and Houston Motorsports Park. Johnathon's grandfather was a dirt track champ in the '90s at Battleground Speedway. So, you just know that the kid has good solid racing genes.
The trio built the car with a 350 crate motor with a Performance Distributor ignition and a power steering system purchased from Day Motorsports. It is fueled by a VDL carburetor. The car has a Ford 9-inch rearend from Quick Performance and rides on Vogtland springs with Bilstein shocks also bought from Day Motorsports.
To date, Johnathon has run a total of five races and has already collected an impressive two wins, two Seconds, and a Sixth (which was his first race). And those are just in the feature races! "I also have three wins, two Seconds, and a DQ for not wearing my gloves my first heat race," says Schild. "I haven't forgot them since!" Johnathon also set fast time three times in a row and currently sits in the Top 5 in points, despite missing the first two races because they didn't have the car ready.
He counts the local business of Double Oak Construction, Yellow Rose Real Estate, Vinyl Graphics, and TWS shop, all of Waller, as his sponsors and can now add a $250 gift certificate from our good friends at RHS. Enjoy!
Our Sponsors
You Could Be A YRC Winner, Too!
Just fill out the entry form below. Membership is FREE!
There is no cost to join the Young Racers' Club. The club is open to racers between the ages of 16 and 23. Just fill out the entry form below and send it to Young Racers' Club, 9036 Brittany Way, Tampa, FL 33619, or register by email at firstname.lastname@example.com. Please include a picture of the car and a picture of yourself when sending the entry form. Pictures cannot be returned. Complete rules on page 83.
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