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FBI takes BISD computer, talks with staff
Continuing its ongoing investigation into allegations of wrongdoing related to a $388.6 million bond initiative passed by voters in 2007, two agents with the FBI and a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice for the Eastern District of Texas were at the Beaumont Independent School District administration building this week to retrieve a computer for FBI analysis, The Examiner has confirmed. Additionally, several staff members have been questioned by federal authorities.
Sources at the U.S. Department of Justice said authorities have reviewed hundreds of documents from the district and that BISD officials have been cooperating with the ongoing investigation, which was made public in December 2010 with the FBI raids at the home and business of Calvin Walker of Walker's Electric Company.
Walker began drawing scrutiny in October 2009 when The Examiner first revealed the FBI had met with local businessman Duwayne Hermann, owner of D&H Electrical Services. Hermann confirmed for The Examiner that he went to the FBI with documentation suggesting Walker was overcharging on work being done for BISD.
At the time, Hermann focused on the cost of installing utilities at the temporary site used to house the students from Regina-Howell Elementary that is now the temporary site for students from Sallie Curtis Elementary.
"That is a $300,000 job at the most, and that is being generous," Hermann said of the Regina-Howell job in 2009. "I just don't understand. You know what they say – if it looks bad and it smells bad … you know. I have my suspicions."
According to records from BISD, Walker was paid more than $1.5 million for the job.
The latest event occurred at 1:51 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 9, when FBI Special Agents Tim Brewer and Deanna Stephens were observed exiting the administration building with Asst. U.S. Attorney Robert Rawls. Brewer and Rawls were carrying a large computer that was later discovered to have belonged to a previous employee of the district. The trio placed the computer into a gold-colored Chevrolet Equinox before leaving.
Rawls downplayed the taking of the computer, saying it was nothing major, just that it had been used by a previous employee and had been in storage.
"There is really nothing to it," Rawls told the newspaper. "It was an old computer that belonged to a retired employee and we could not check it. Beyond that they have been very cooperative. We just did not have capability of pulling information off of that device. It was not hooked up and it was suggested that we take it and let the FBI look at it."
Rawls said it is his understanding the information on the computer dates back to 2005.
When asked about the computer, Superintendent Carrol Thomas said, "I don't know anything about that."
According to BISD spokesperson Jessie Haynes, this is not the first time the FBI has been to the administration building seeking information regarding billing issues and other matters related to the $388.6 million bond program.
"I have received several calls asking why or what the FBI was doing at the administration building; you probably know as much as I do," Haynes said.
On Wednesday, Feb. 16, Haynes did respond to The Examiner's request for information by sending a written statement via e-mail. The following statement is provided below exactly as it was taken from Haynes' e-mail: "Several weeks ago, BISD responded the requests by several of you concerning various FBI actions. The bottom line was and remains that BISD would assist the Department of Justice in any way possible to help facilitate them in finding whatever it is they are seeking. At that time and again on today, I suggest that you contact the Department of Justice with any questions you may have about their work. At this time, BISD is not commenting on this matter."
A BISD source said the computer might contain information that would show how the district has changed its purchasing and payments systems. Since 2007, several BISD officials involved with business side of the district have retired, including Terry Ingram, the former assistant superintendent for administration and operations; Jane Kingsley, the former chief financial officer; and Patty Attaway, the former purchasing agent. The Examiner has confirmed that these and numerous other current and former BISD employees have spoken with the FBI.
Although the FBI would not comment on their investigation or the direction it was headed, the BISD source said it is their understanding the feds have asked about issues outside the bond, including possible hurricane-related insurance claims and discrepancies involving money from federal Title 1 programs.
The head of the Title 1 program for BISD, Cathy Chavis, was recently questioned by federal officials and was accompanied during that event by BISD's attorney Melody Chappell and spokesperson Haynes. Additionally, George Luke, who is over the maintenance department, was also questioned by federal authorities with Chappell being present. Afterwards, Thomas told staff members that Chappell would accompany any BISD employee being sought for questioning by federal officials. The cost of her services – about $200 per hour – is being picked up by the district at taxpayers' expense.
Chappell was also present the day that the FBI took the computer from the district this past week but denied there was anything going on.
When specifically questioned about the FBI's presence at the district, she declined comment.
An e-mail sent to Chappell in an effort to obtain comments for this article went unanswered.


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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave a deft and thoughtful answer when a popular radio host asked, live on air during an interview, if her boyfriend is gay.
At first she says that it's "absurd," and then when host Howard Sattler offers that Tim Mathieson must be gay "because he's a hairdresser," Gillard responds:
"... to all the hairdressers out there, including the men who are listening, I don't think in life one can actually look at a whole profession, full of different human beings, and say 'Gee, we know something about everyone of those human beings' ... it's absurd isn't it?'"
Hear hear.
[UPDATE 8:47 EDT] Sattler has been suspended.
[UPDATE 6/14] Sattler has been sacked.
Check it out:

subset: commoncrawl


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Bitita's diary: the childhood memoirs of Carolina María de Jesús
M.E. Sharpe, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 163 pages
Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977), nicknamed Bitita, was a destitute black Brazilian woman born in the rural interior who migrated to the industrial city of Sao Paulo. She was self-taught and obtained a degree of celebrity after the publication of several of her diaries written in the 1950s. Her book, Quarto de Despejo (The Garbage Room) sold over 90,000 copies in six months, was translated into five languages, and sold over 300,000 copies in English hardcover alone, as Child of the Dark. Her autobiography, drafted just prior to her death, covers her early life in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally published in French as Journal de Bitita and appearing now for the first time in the English language, Bitita's Diary is the most important document testifying to the hardships of lower-class black Brazilian women ever written. Offering extensive details about race and race relations, religion in rural Brazil (both Roman Catholicism and spiritism), life in small towns and cities of the interior, sexual intimidation, and the hardships of sharecropping, Carolina provides an insightful and moving glimpse of the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 from the vantage point of a poor person caught up in its promise.
What people are saying - Write a review
BITITA'S DIARY: The Childhood Memoirs of Carolina Maria de JesusUser Review - Kirkus
An evocative portrait of a childhood of abject poverty, by one of Brazil's bestselling authors. Jesus (191577) was a literary phenomenon of the 1950s. Discovered living in a shantytown by a So Paulo ... Read full review
Bitita's diary: the childhood memoirs of Carolina Maria de JesusUser Review - Not Available - Book Verdict
An immediate best seller when it was published in Brazil in 1960, Jesus's Quarto de Despejo, the diary of a woman living in the slums of Sao Paulo, contained unusually vivid descriptions of the lives ... Read full review
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Bitita's Diary: The Childhood Memoirs of Carolina Maria de Jesus
Carolina Maria de Jesus
Limited preview - 1997
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already arrived Artur asked Aunt Ana black women born bought Brazil Brazilian brother Cabinda Carolina Maria coffee Coimbra cook countryside cried crying cursed dance daughter diary Didrio de Bitita Dona Maria Doutor Brand dream dress drink earned Euripedes farm farmer farmhands father favela felt fifty thousand reis fight gave Getulio Getulio Vargas godmother going Grandpa happy heard hundred thousand reis Joao kill knew land leave little black girl live looked Mama manioc Manoel Nogueira Maria de Jesus married military policeman Minas Gerais mistress mother mulatto never nigger o'clock pinga plant police poor Portuguese prayed reis a month revolution rice rich Rio de Janeiro Rui Barbosa Sacramento Saint Santa Casa Sao Paulo Sia Maruca sick sister slaves sleep smiled someone talk things thought Tiradentes told Uberaba uncle walked wife woman
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Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000
George Reid Andrews
No preview available - 2004
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Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000
George Reid Andrews
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Story highlights
- Cee Cee Davis says she lost 20-30 friends to violence during high school
- New Orleans had almost a murder a day in January, after locking 2011 Murder City title
- Pastor keeps running list of city murder victims' names in front of church in the Treme
- Mother who lost all 4 sons to gun violence says race a driving factor in city's killings
Curissa "Cee Cee" Davis doesn't trust men, and she's slow to make friends. She can't remember the last time she did something fun.
It's not that she's antisocial; the former Carver High student body president is quite gregarious once she starts talking. But after losing at least 20 friends to gun violence before she turned 18 in June, it's difficult for her to get close to people when there's a good chance they'll be killed.
"Why would you want to make a new friend?" she said. "You still interact with people, but you don't get as close to them as you would."
The revelry of Mardi Gras is over, and so is a series of high-profile pro and college football games that had people dancing in the streets, yet with nearly a slaying a day in January, not all city residents feel like celebrating.
The mayor has called murder "the single-most important issue facing our city." Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has racked up six straight titles as the most murderous city in America. January suggested a seventh was coming, though the pace of the killings slowed considerably in February.
With one of every 1,700 residents slain last year, the murders are not far from people's minds. Bartenders, pastors, students, artists, lawyers -- it seems nearly everyone has an opinion on the cause of the problem, or how to solve it.
Many point to poverty and the accessibility of guns. A mother who lost all four of her sons to violence says race is a driving factor. A police chief wants families to step up as he works to rebuild relationships with communities after decades of corruption. A pastor puts every victim's name on a board outside his church, which helps run an art program to give at-risk kids ways to express themselves. Meanwhile, a neighborhood youth center breaks down barriers with pizza and basketball.
Getting to the youth seems integral to any solution. Of the 26 slayings in January, more than half the victims hadn't seen their 30th birthdays. Keian Ester was only 11, playing video games when a bullet pierced an apartment wall and then his eye. Keian died the next day.
It's the type of senselessness Cee Cee Davis wanted to escape when she recently moved a few miles west to Metairie. Growing up in the 9th Ward, she doesn't know exactly how many friends she lost in high school, somewhere between 20 and 30. She has tried so hard to forget the pain she has trouble naming them all.
One she will never forget is Katie, whose name is tattooed inside her forearm between angel wings. A halo is sketched above the letters R.I.P.
When Davis was 14, she and Katie were inseparable. They both loved fashion. They'd pick out each other's outfits and do each other's hair.
"It just fit. We just loved to be around each other," Davis said.
The only thing Davis didn't like was Katie's boyfriend. Kevin seemed insecure and controlling. Davis would tell Katie she didn't need him, that she was better than that. Katie eventually heeded Davis' words and told Kevin they were through.
Kevin responded by shooting Katie in the back with a shotgun and leaving with an ex-girlfriend. When authorities arrived, 17-year-old Kelly "Katie" Brittany Hill was dead in his bedroom.
Davis' mother woke her at 4 a.m. with the news. Davis was confused. She checked her phone. If Katie were in trouble, she would have called.
"I just dropped the phone and started crying," she said. "Ten missed calls. That's what killed me. I was in a dead dream, and I didn't hear my phone."
Today, Davis doesn't sleep at night. When she's able to nod off during the day, she dreams about people getting hurt -- sometimes herself, sometimes her mother and brother. She brushes off the notion it has anything to do with Katie. Her brother, 24, has the same problem.
"We'll both be up all night," she said, "like two vampires."
'Struck by their ordinariness'
Davis tries to list her other dead friends but doesn't get far: Winky. Brandon. Christian. Desmond. Elton. Christopher.
Christopher, 17, stands out, too. He was also a close friend. Smart and good with computers, he loved working on his '03 Impala. He would give Davis rides, and they went to the movies together.
She was 16 when the Impala became his undoing. After an argument over cars, he was carjacked at gunpoint, shot multiple times, and his body was dumped on the shoulder off Chef Menteur Highway. Two 19-year-olds were arrested but later found not guilty.
The pettiness that leads to murder is a twisted trademark of New Orleans' violence. Davis remembers youngsters losing their lives over the 2009 re-release of the Air Jordan "Space Jam" sneaker.
"For just the damnedest of reasons, people kill each other," Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said.
While there are plenty of killings over drugs, revenge or disrespect, there is an astonishing rate of what Serpas calls "uncommon endings to very common fights."
Indeed, researchers conducting a federally funded crime study last year wrote that murder in the Big Easy is a different animal.
"What appears to be different about homicides in New Orleans are the circumstances of the events -- they are in residential areas and outdoors and do not involve the kinds of drug and gang involvements found in other cities," the researchers said. "In reading the narratives of the offenses, one is struck by their ordinariness -- arguments and disputes that escalate into homicide."
In 200 murder cases selected from a 13-month span between April 2009 and May 2010, the study found 57 were tied to drugs, while 47 were acts of revenge. Gangs were almost never a factor. Arguments led to 37 killings.
When Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced in April that curbing the city's murder rates was priority No. 1, he offered a harrowing assessment of the crimes and their victims.
"By the time you wake up tomorrow morning, I will have likely received another message -- the worst part of my day -- that says exactly the same thing: 'Mr. Mayor, we are sorry to inform you that earlier this evening, police officers responded to gunshots. When they arrived on the scene, they found a young, African-American male face down in blood, gunshots in the back of his head. He was pronounced dead on arrival. There. Are. No. Witnesses.' "
It was barely an overstatement.
The federally funded crime study showed that almost 87% of victims were male and 91.5% were black. Ninety percent were killed with firearms. Forty percent were in their 20s, 13.5% their teens.
Like the people who killed them, the victims often had histories of violence, drugs or gun crime.
Landrieu said there are rarely witnesses, but the study notes there are often witnesses, they just won't talk.
The reason: Many in the community don't trust the police. When Landrieu took office in May 2010, he wrote U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to say he had "one of the worst police departments in the country." A year later, the Justice Department issued a scathing report citing the NOPD's "patterns of misconduct that violate the Constitution and federal law."
The report wasn't talking merely about high-profile cases such as the Danziger Bridge incident, in which officers were convicted of fatally shooting unarmed civilians. The misconduct was far more deeply rooted, the report said.
"NOPD's failure to ensure that its officers routinely respect the Constitution and the rule of law undermines trust within the very communities whose cooperation the department most needs to enforce the law and prevent crime. As systematic violations of civil rights erode public confidence, policing becomes more difficult, less safe, and less effective, and crime increases," the report said.
In the federally funded crime study, just over half of the 200 cases were closed by an arrest or the suspect's death. The study also noted that since Katrina there has been a "series of arrests and convictions of police officers that undermined trust, especially in minority communities."
Many in the city's minority communities say there wasn't an enormous amount of trust before the storm.
Four sons, four funerals
Althea Phillips is among them. Since 1992, all four of her sons have been killed.
Only one killing was solved, that of Leniel Phillips, 29, who stood 4-foot-11 and went by "Shorty." He was killed in a 2005 fight with his wife's ex in Lafayette. The other three slayings -- still unsolved -- took place in New Orleans.
"I miss my children so much that it's unbearable. It takes me to the bed, the pain and the grief that I feel. I don't feel comfortable in this house anymore," she said at her St. Roch home. "When are (they) going to get (the killers)? When am I going to see them on the news? I want them to be held accountable for what they've done. They shattered my life -- again."
Her son Kimbro Washington, 22, a restaurant manager in training, was fatally shot after an argument in 1992. Leonard Phillips Jr. also was 22 when he was killed with an AK-47 at close range in 1995.
Lamont Phillips, 34, was killed last month. Though he served eight years on a drug charge, his mother said he had kicked a heroin habit. Since his release five years ago, he was attending classes at a community college and working on a plumbing apprenticeship. Clever and good-looking, he made his mother proud.
She was devastated January 4 to learn Lamont had been slain just down the street. Local media reports quoted police saying there were drugs at the murder scene. The family says they weren't Lamont's.
When police came to search her home, Althea Phillips passed out from the stress.
Serpas, who took the NOPD helm in May 2010, won't let the police be the only scapegoat for the community's lack of trust. He conceded there has been widespread corruption, "a failure to do effective police work and a failure to build cases" before his administration. He said ideally, he could use another 275 officers on the 1,300-strong force.
But the entire criminal justice system has been "inept," not just the police, he said. The U.S. Supreme Court, for instance, recently reversed a quintuple-murder conviction after justices determined prosecutors withheld evidence in the case.
Serpas is working to rebuild trust, holding weekly community meetings in all eight police districts. In the summer, officers knocked on residents' doors to introduce themselves and hand out crime-prevention literature.
Early successes include taking 5% more guns off the street in 2011 than in 2010 and a 20% increase in tips coming into the Crimestoppers hot line in that same period, the superintendent said.
Serpas and Landrieu have also spoken to local judges about increasing bail amounts in gun crimes, a tactic Serpas said reduced murders in St. Louis.
Police are only a cog in a complicated machine that must fix New Orleans' murder problem, if it's to be fixed, Serpas said. Not only should families teach children more personal responsibility, he said, the city needs more job opportunities, better education and more recreational and after-school programs.
Father Bill Terry at St. Anna's Episcopal Church cautions against a one-size-fits-all approach to New Orleans' violence. Just because something worked in a similar sized city doesn't mean it will work in the Big Easy, he said.
The city's free spirit -- a permissive vibe that has made it so easy for arts, food and music to thrive -- has a flip side.
"The same thing that makes us the funkiest city in probably the world also gives us a laissez faire attitude toward violence," said Terry, who was born Uptown. "It's great for art, but what about curing poverty or rebuilding the city in an intelligent, structured way?"
Making every death matter
Terry became so fed up with the incessant killing that in 2007 he set up a "murder wall" outside the church. Every week, he updates the wall with the names of those slain in and around the city.
The wall, which contains more than 1,000 names, is stored piecemeal around the church because there is no room or money for a permanent monument.
Terry and his wife, Vicki, lost their 19-year-old daughter Tonya to suicide in 1993, so they know the sense of loss many parents are experiencing.
Bill Terry came up with the idea for the wall in July 2005 after a television news report about two murders startled Vicki. She asked him where the killings had happened. Terry told her not to worry; they were on the other side of town.
That night, the couple was awakened by gunshots. Terry ran outside to find a 17-year-old dead, slain in a drug deal, not 25 feet from the front door of their Bywater home.
Police wouldn't allow Terry to administer the teen's last rites, and the victim's "girlfriend was wailing so loudly, it was like Irish keening," Terry said.
He learned that night why fire trucks arrive on a murder scene: to wash away the blood.
"That's when I realized it doesn't matter where the murder is in the city," he said. "We're all responsible."
On the murder wall, the victims are no longer statistics. They are people. With only their name, age, and date and manner of death (overwhelmingly, "shot"), it's impossible to tell if they were rich or poor, 6th Ward or 10th Ward, black or white.
"Stop the conversation about racism and all that bulls***. Not that it doesn't exist, but sometimes we run that up the flagpole instead of dealing with the central issues causing the violence. We can't use that as an excuse not to act," Terry said.
"Racism has less effect on a black kid who is articulate, who has self-esteem, self-respect, dignity and understands the boundaries of the world are not the 9th Ward and 7th Ward. The boundary of this world is their imagination."
The wall, along with an adult education center, mobile medical unit, food pantry and arts school, is the church's way of fighting the violence, Terry said. Though he speaks proudly of each initiative, he seems most smitten with the school.
A creative alternative
Anna's Arts for Kids is headed by Darryl Durham, former executive of the renowned Harlem School of the Arts in New York City. Durham said the wall serves as an important teaching tool because it contains the names of many children who were the same ages as the 4- to 13-year-olds who make up his classes.
Art gives at-risk kids a way to express themselves rather than lash out, he said, but the key is getting kids off the streets, even if for only a few hours on Saturday.
He pointed to the case of a 2-year-old in the impoverished Treme neighborhood whose parents were recently arrested for selling drugs. She's too young to join the program, but Durham will give her a pass.
"I'd rather get her out of that house at 2 and into our program so we can begin to intercede with all that negativity she sees on a daily basis, the stuff she considers normal," he said. "These kids' normal isn't everyone else's normal."
Bradley Livers is one of the school's successes. It wasn't so long ago the 12-year-old was a troublemaker, many people who love him say. He didn't listen, wouldn't obey.
On an unseasonably cold Saturday morning, Bradley was tasked with supervising a group of younger kids. He kept an eye on them as they walked through the Treme neighborhood, making sure they waited until it was clear before crossing the street.
Wearing an overcoat, scarf and tweed flatcap, Durham trailed Bradley with another half dozen children in tow. Durham makes the trek every Saturday, rounding up children for the arts program at the church on Esplanade.
Bradley wasn't so obedient when he joined the program, but now that he is behaving, Durham is giving him small leadership roles.
"Sometimes it's tough for them to be put in that role, but they have to assume that role when we're not there," Durham said. "The adults haven't stepped up and played their role. So many of the adults are drug users and dealers, so the kids look to peers for mentoring."
As Durham collected three of the day's students -- one, 6-year-old Jakia Lee, proudly presenting him with her honor roll ribbon from school -- Bradley began explaining how his neighborhood, Central City, "has so much killing."
He didn't leave his house for weeks, he said, after Keira Holmes Gordon was killed playing in a courtyard at the Calliope Projects in December.
Witnesses told police a man sprayed an assault rifle into the courtyard, injuring a 19-year-old and killing Keira just a few days before her 2nd birthday. A T-shirt depicting "God's angel" is mounted on a wooden post adorned with teddy bears, flowers and crosses -- a makeshift memorial there to remind passersby what happened.
Bradley said he is listening to his parents more often now. Asked why, he gives his take on Deuteronomy 5:16.
"The Bible says that if you don't obey your mother and father, your life will be shorter," he said.
The role race plays
Althea Phillips' family has a wealth of ideas about why the lives of so many are cut short. Gathered in her living room to talk about the violence that took Phillips' sons, about a dozen friends and family members say they believe race is an undeniable factor in the killings.
The plight of New Orleans' young black men, they say, is so hopeless that they turn to crime. There are no jobs, there's nothing to do after school -- and it's far too easy and cheap to get a gun.
That's not the way it was when Phillips, 66, was growing up in the nearby Desire neighborhood. Back then, there were things to do.
There was a neighborhood youth center, a YMCA, drive-in theater, bowling alley, plenty of supermarkets and numerous after-school and social programs, Phillips said. A retired nanny, Phillips volunteered as a candy striper at a local hospital when she was young.
The city's black communities began changing in the 1980s as oil companies, still among the city's biggest employers, began consolidating operations and moving jobs out of New Orleans. At the same time, many black communities in the United States were witnessing the proliferation of crack cocaine.
Statistics show the murder count in New Orleans began climbing, from about 150 in 1985, to more than 250 in 1989, to almost 400 by 1993. Police say the murder rate has been seven to 10 times the national average for three decades. In the mid-1990s, tallying 300 to 400 murders a year was common.
Things became more dire a decade later as Katrina washed away what little there was left to do, and many poor communities struggled to rebuild. One of Phillips' nephews said Katrina desensitized young people to death and violence, and there were few counseling opportunities available to help them cope.
Streets in certain communities still bear wounds from the day the levees broke.
In Zion City, the former First Greater St. James Baptist Church on Erato Street, with its doors wide open and most of its windows broken, serves as a play space for kids during the day, a crack house and bordello at night, neighbors say.
Down the street stands an ivy-laden home in danger of collapsing. A sign in the front yard warns the structure is toxic.
In the once middle class New Orleans East and still-impoverished Lower 9th Ward, businesses and churches along major thoroughfares remain boarded up. A boat lies at North Dorgenois and Lamanche streets, and a Jet Ski sits under a graffiti-clad overpass less than a mile away.
On many streets in the Lower 9th Ward, scores of houses are empty and windowless. One house missing a large chunk of brick wall has been spray-painted in white: "Don't Demolish." Someone has written over the "Don't" in green paint, adding instead, "Please."
The contrast to the well-to-do Uptown, Garden District and French Quarter areas is not as stark as it was in 2006, when a tourism official called it a "tale of two cities." Still, among the newly constructed houses, most of them on stilts, are myriad structures that are gutted and crumbling, their roofs and walls sinking inward.
Asked about the tale of two cities remark, Phillips' nephew, Karl Washington, nodded seriously.
"Uptown was asking, 'Can we get our trolley cars back?' The Lower 9th Ward was asking, 'Can we get some decent water?' " he said.
Three Samaritans killed, one recognized
Many statistics appear to support the Phillips' assertion that race is a factor in the city's poverty and violence.
The median household income, according to the Census Bureau, is almost half for black families what it is for white families. It's also more than $4,000 a year lower than the national average.
A map of murders since 2008, which is linked out from the local newspaper's website, shows a concentration of deadly violence in the largely African-American neighborhoods.
St. Charles Avenue forms a dividing line between the Uptown/Garden District area and young Bradley's violent Central City neighborhood to the north. Though there have been more than a dozen murders in the French Quarter since 2008, the number pales in contrast to the spate of killing in neighborhoods just north of the Quarter, such as the 7th Ward, St. Roch, Florida and Desire.
While the disparities are unsettling to many in Phillips' family, they say it's the public response to three recent killings that drives their point home:
• Mike Ainsworth, 44, was killed earlier this year in front of his two sons while trying to stop a carjacking in Algiers Point.
• Joseph Elliott, 17, was trying to defuse an argument between his father and a neighbor when two men allegedly opened fire, killing the teen and his father in the foyer of their home in January.
• Elijah Grant, 23, was killed during a drive-by shooting a block from Phillips' home. Witnesses told local media that when bullets started to fly, Grant leaned over 1-year-old Brittany Durcos and her two brothers, 7 and 8. All three kids were wounded but lived.
Ainsworth was dubbed a Good Samaritan, his killing reported as a tragedy in headlines across the nation. A $5,000 reward was announced for information leading to his killer -- double the standard Crimestoppers reward.
Elliott and Grant received no such treatment, though community members say they acted just as heroically.
Ainsworth was white. Elliott and Grant were black. Suspects in Elliott's killing were promptly arrested, but there was no special reward offered for help solving Grant's murder. Police announced Tuesday they arrested a suspect, 17, in the Ainsworth killing, at a local high school.
Crimestoppers doubled the reward for Ainsworth after the organization learned he was killed while trying to protect a neighbor's life, said executive director Darlene Cusanza. She said the organization was never made aware of the circumstances of Grant's killing.
It takes a village -- or a pizza
Elliott was a regular at the APEX Youth Center, said founder Lisa Fitzpatrick, and he fit right into the center's mission. Known as "Joker" to his pals, he dubbed the self-administered weapons pat-down that the center requires "the hokey pokey," making the serious exercise seem a little less grave for kids new to the center.
Elliott's lighthearted demeanor helped him break down some of the barriers that divide New Orleans' youth. Youngsters from Zion City and Parkway, for instance, have notoriously been rivals, but Elliott routinely quashed beefs between kids from the two neighborhoods.
Armed with many friends, Elliott would hear about percolating animosities between cliques and seek out the major players to find a solution to the disagreement, people who knew him said.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, several kids from the two neighborhoods were playing basketball together, something at least one Zion City native said was unthinkable a few years back. It isn't solely because of Elliott's efforts; APEX -- which stands for Always Pursuing Excellence -- has also done plenty to persuade youngsters to bury meaningless grievances.
Maybe the basketball courts or the cookouts helped. Perhaps it was the computer lab or TV room or air hockey or billiards tables or the scads of LEGOs. Maybe it's that the kids know Fitzpatrick cares, that she holds church and dinner every Sunday at her home, that she's putting together a GED program or that she's looking for funding to build them a small recording studio.
Fitzpatrick doesn't think it's anything complicated. She's seen barriers fall over a box of pizza.
"People ask, 'How do you get kids down to the center?' It's not rocket science. Unlock your damned doors," she said, "and a plate of cookies doesn't hurt."
There are rules at APEX, but Fitzpatrick lets the kids make them within her guidelines. She is tolerant about the content of music, except when it comes to the glorification of violence. She has even played Lil Wayne videos during church because she can find a lesson in anything.
And though the kids' pants sag below their buttocks, they're wearing gym shorts beneath them. Fitzpatrick set the guideline -- she didn't want to see their underwear -- and the kids came up with the rule.
"They can't go out (in the street) looking like a choir boy, and I have to respect that," she said.
Ask the kids at APEX why they came to the center, and they will say it's because they were invited. One teen was smoking marijuana in the park when Fitzpatrick asked him to come visit. Others said they were playing football when she asked if they'd like something to drink.
"It's safe," said Keith Singleton, 18, wearing a black hoodie memorializing Elliott. "You've got something to do besides be on the streets, because when you're bored, that's when you get in trouble."
Terry said he'd like to see more cooperation among the nonprofits and other groups that work with the city's youth. He'd also like to see more commitments from residents, who he said are personally affected by the violence even if they don't realize it.
To underscore the need for awareness, one of his deacons, Joyce Jackson, visits Serpas' office every month carrying a rose for each murder victim. Serpas said the flowers serve as a reminder that the violence is "not acceptable."
Everyone has something to give, Terry said, whether it's their time or a $5 check, but the city and parents must also find more ways to get kids into the plethora of programs offered throughout New Orleans, no matter a program's aim.
"What they learn is academic. Does it really matter in a crisis? What matters is if they're not on the street, the street isn't teaching them," Terry said.
"And," added Jackson, "they're not on the murder board."


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Producers can now begin the process of applying for Collection, Harvest, Storage and Transportation (CHST) assistance if they are interested in delivering eligible biomass material to designated biomass conversion facilities. The USDA's Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) will provide financial assistance to producers or other entities that deliver these eligible materials.
BCAP publishes a list of eligible and ineligible materials at www.fsa.usda.gov. Crop residues, such as corn stover, corn cobs, rice hulls, wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse, are eligible after the commodity crop is harvested from the plant.
Other eligible ag resources include feed grains and other agricultural commodities. However, considered ineligible are any crops eligible to receive payments, including loans, under List 8-LP par. 126 or 7-CN (Title I of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008), or an amendment made by that title, but not limited to grains, kernels, oilseeds and other commodities, such as corn, wheat, grain sorghum, barley, oats, cotton, rice and soybeans. BCAP also lists ineligible oilseed plants, pulse crops and other products.
Herbaceous resources, such as forbs, legumes, grasses, vines and mosses are eligible.
It's a good idea to keep posted on the BCAP. The easiest way to do this is to visit the www.fsa.usda.gov Website, click on Energy Programs in the Browse by Subject box and sign up for e-mail updates. I did this and was informed this week of recent changes, including the addition of:
BCAP Agreement
BCAP-1 Form
BCAP Purchase List
BCAP Attachment Instructions
BCAP Attachment 2
BCAP Eligible Materials List
If you have a designated biomass conversion facility in your area, this program sounds like a good market for your ag residues.


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Thu, 25 August 2011
Some parents pull their kids out a day care center which requires employees have good morals. Huh? Then, Matt Barber studies MAPPERS?... whazzat? "Minor Attracted Persons"... used to be called pedophiles. Then congress votes to change Rules of Engagement... (ROE's)
Direct download: mickelson-2011-08-25.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:31pm CDT


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CANNES, France -- What a difference 21 years makes.
In 1987, the last time a French film won the Palme d'Or, the audience at the Palais du Festival was so angry at the choice of "Under the Sun of Satan" that it hooted furiously and the director, Maurice Pialat, yelled right back.
But when Laurent Cantet's masterful "Entre les Murs" won the top prize at the Festival de Cannes on Sunday night -- one of only two unanimous votes, jury president Sean Penn revealed -- the audience erupted in ecstatic rhythmic applause, which only increased as most of the 24 middle-school students who made up the cast joined the director onstage.
The last of the competition films to be screened, "Entre les Murs" (which literally means "between the walls," though it's being translated as "The Class") manages to touch on a surprising number of serious personal and societal issues by focusing on one year in the life of a class in the 20th arrondissement, one of Paris' poorest neighborhoods.
Based on a book by teacher Francois Begaudeau (who stars), this film's considerable emotional impact is especially powerful because it seems to come out of nowhere. Best known for 2001's "Time Out," Cantet has always focused on the realities of contemporary life. "What I'm interested in is individuals facing a very complex world," he said at his news conference. "I take an interest in what's happening around me."
Aside from France, it was the national cinema of Italy that did best at the awards, taking two top prizes. The Grand Prix, the festival's runner-up award, went to Matteo Garrone's involving "Gomorra," a film that offers a panoramic view of the suffocating stranglehold the Mafia-like Camorra organization has over Naples. Taken from Roberto Saviano's bestselling book (which has been translated into 33 languages), "Gomorra" expertly intertwines five separate stories that insert us into this pitiless world from which no escape seems possible.
One of "Gomorra's" actors, Toni Servillo, is also the star of Paolo Sorrentino's "Il Divo," which took the Prix du Jury. This is an arresting, visually jazzy picture about the unlikeliest subject: the sphinx-like former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. Joining head-turning style with an intense focus on the intricacies of Italian political life, this is a fearless, invigorating film.
While some observers thought Servillo might get the best actor award, it went, in the jury's other unanimous choice, to Benicio Del Toro, the only universally praised element of Steven Soderbergh's hefty 4-hour, 28-minute two-part biopic "Che." Del Toro, who was also greeted with great applause, said he'd "like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara."
The best actress award, a major surprise even to the filmmakers, went to Sandra Corveloni, who played a heroic mother trying to raise four fatherless boys in the slums of Sao Paulo in "Linha de Passe," directed by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas.
Special prize
The jury also created a special 61st Festival Prize and gave it to two veterans doing work that Penn characterized as "so rare and so important." One recipient was Catherine Deneuve, star of Arnaud Desplechin's marvelous "A Christmas Tale," a multi-generational drama centered on a gorgeously fractious family that comes together for a memorable Christmas-week reunion. Unexpected but still made squarely in the French humanistic tradition, this is a film you don't want to end, not because the characters are so happy but because they are so human and so alive.
The other recipient was Clint Eastwood for directing "Changeling," a dark yet hopeful drama made with his trademark assurance and storytelling skill. Eastwood was not present to accept his award, while Deneuve said she was "very touched" by hers.
The festival's remaining two awards went to a pair of Cannes veterans. The best screenplay prize was given to Belgium's Dardenne brothers for their "Lorna's Silence," about a young Albanian woman wrestling with her conscience. And the best director award went to Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan for his formally beautiful "Three Monkeys." Taking the Camera d'Or for best first film was "Hunger," a look at the 1981 hunger strike in Northern Ireland directed by Turner Prize-winning video artist Steve McQueen.
The non-winning competition film most deserving of recognition was the Israeli animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir," directed by Ari Folman. Dealing with Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon in an often surreal way, this haunted, haunting film is aesthetically adventurous and passionately committed to the cause of peace.
Knockout films
As always with Cannes, some of the most satisfying films were not found in the official competition. Perhaps the most out and out enjoyable was Bent Hamer's small wonder, the luminous and deliciously funny "O'Horten," a fine successor to an earlier Hamer creation, the knockout "Kitchen Stories."
The Horten of the story is a stolid, pipe-smoking Norwegian train engineer whose first name is Odd. Forced to retire at 67, Odd enters into a series of serendipitous adventures that show him the necessity as well as the absurdity of embracing life. "If you think the thought, it is possible to do anything," Hamer says. "It's never too late."
Illustrating the other side of the coin was James Toback's "Tyson," a completely mesmerizing and remarkably candid portrait of the former heavyweight champion that surprised many people with its intimacy, including the subject himself. The director says that when Mike Tyson saw the film, "he was silent for above five minutes and then he said, 'It's like a Greek tragedy. The only problem is that I'm the subject.' "
A comeback of another sort came from the gifted 70-year-old Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, who opened the Directors' Fortnight with a double surprise. His new movie, "Four Nights With Anna," his first in 17 years, was every bit as good as such films as "Deep End" and "Moonlighting," which made his considerable reputation. Set in contemporary Poland, this story of obsessive desire and the power and limits of human love is a small gem, created with exceptional skill and command.
Revivals too
Though Cannes can be an exasperating place, its willingness to embrace all aspects of cinema is a tonic. The festival boasts an extensive revivals screening program that this year showed a newly restored version of David Lean's little-seen, noticeably adult 1949 romantic melodrama "The Passionate Friends."
And in honor of the 85th anniversary of Warner Bros., the festival not only screened Richard Schickel's perceptive documentary, "You Must Remember This," to be seen on PBS this fall, but it also featured 10 different Warners films at public screenings on the beach. Eastwood made a surprise appearance at the "Dirty Harry" screening, leading one impressed French critic to award him "the Palme for love of cinema."
Finally, as always, there was the Marche du Film, the Cannes market, where films to suit every taste and every mood are dreamed about, bought and sold. If, for instance, you yearn for a new film from Asian action star Tony Jaa, here is "Ong Bak 2," which promises "several dangerous scenes including the fight on the back of tens of elephants."
If your tastes are a bit more refined, there is "Prince of the Himalayas," no doubt accurately described as "Shakespeare's Hamlet as you've never seen it, gorgeous filmed in Tibet at 16,000 feet with an all-Tibetan cast."
Even more multicultural, if that's possible, is Tamil B picture hero "Quick Gun Murugan," described as "a South Indian karmic cowboy whose duty is to protect vegetarianism and cows."
Even Clint Eastwood would be impressed.


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By MEGAN JAMES
NEW HAVEN — As Dave Winborn prepared for his first full winter living in a tent in the New Haven woods last fall, he had no doubt his home — a Cabela's Deluxe Alaknak II — would survive to see the spring.
"I was supremely confident that no weather, no natural things would do my tent in," he said.
The tent collapsed in early February, while the 55-year-old emergency medical technician was working the overnight shift and 17 inches of snow was pummeling the area.
"I came home, saw that it had collapsed and early that evening I thought, 'Camp Titanic.' That will teach me," he said, chuckling.
But Winborn didn't let the collapse get him down, and unless he was on duty for Valley Rescue Squad in Hancock or New Haven First Response, he never missed a night in that tent. In fact, his camp did make it through the winter, and he plans to do it all again next year.
On a recent morning he was getting ready for spring-cleaning: taking down some branches dangling threateningly over his roof, clearing out the roots protruding from his floor and taking out the insulation he packed against the walls and covered with sheets so he wouldn't breathe in particles of the insulation.
Winborn's motto since moving into his tent last summer has been, "Try something. If it works, stick with it, if it doesn't work, try something else," he said.
He moved into the tent, which he pitched on a friend's land, in part because he couldn't afford an apartment, he said. But also, he did it just to see if he could.
By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — Developers who want to install a water turbine at the Otter Creek falls in downtown Middlebury are hoping to sign up the town of Middlebury and Middlebury College as their two exclusive clients for electricity, a move they believe will make the project more financially viable and less encumbered by permitting hurdles.
Anders Holm and his family — owners of the Main Street building that borders the south side of the falls — are proposing the water turbine, which would harness electricity from the water that flows through a flume under the Holm building. The electricity would be processed in a powerhouse erected on town-owned land near the base of the footbridge that links Frog Hollow with the Marble Works complex across the Otter Creek.
The Holms have spent the past two years refining their project while seeking financing and the necessary permits. The Holms have experienced setbacks on both counts, driving up the costs and lengthening the timeline of their proposal.
They now believe that a partnership with the town and college could expedite the process. The Holms are hoping to make the two entities the only wholesale consumers of their water turbine's power. Such an arrangement, Holm said, could instantly give the project firm standing and credibility among permitting and financing organizations.
College and town officials last week acknowledged interest in the Holm project, though they stressed the need for more study.
"We are still exploring the economic feasibility of this project, but we're excited by the idea of developing a green energy source that would provide power to the college and town," said Middlebury College President Ronald D. Liebowitz.
LEICESTER/WHITING/SUDBURY — If voters in Leicester, Whiting and Sudbury approve, a new consolidated elementary school could be the first built in Vermont in the 21st Century.
A newly formed tri-town school committee met last Wednesday to lay the groundwork for the consolidation plans, including the construction of a new, centrally located school, tentatively called the Community School.
In all three towns enthusiasm for the project has mounted since Town Meeting Day, when Leicester expressed a renewed interest in joining a merger of Sudbury and Whiting schools proposed last year. In November Whiting voters rejected the merger, 47-26, and Sudbury approved it, 53-39.
But the proposal Leicester school board member Hannah Sessions floated before Sudbury and Whiting residents at their respective town meetings in March differs from the original plan in one striking way: The three towns would construct a brand new school building in a central location, rather than splitting grades between existing buildings.
An added bonus, Sessions stressed, is that joint schools are exempt from Vermont's moratorium on school construction funding, so 50 percent of construction costs would be covered by the state.
The committee has yet to determine an estimated cost of building the school, but it wouldn't be much more than other area schools are paying just for renovations and improvements, Sessions said.
At Wednesday's meeting the 20 committee members, most of whom do not serve on a school board, discussed other benefits of consolidating schools. With more than 100 students — Leicester currently has 57, Whiting, 36, and Sudbury, 31 — the biggest perk is that the Community School would have no multi-grade classrooms.
MIDDLEBURY — Sometimes when Sue Schmidt and her sons are shopping for groceries, a stranger will come up to them and ask if she can touch the boys' hair. Schmidt's sons are both adopted — one is African American, the other biracial — and the soft dreadlocks on the younger 6-year-old attract a lot of attention.
Schmidt's answer is always the same — no — but she tries to use the interaction as an opportunity to bring up a topic often overlooked in Vermont, where according to the 2006 U.S. census, 96.7 percent of the population is white.
"We don't talk about race in Vermont, as white people we have the privilege to not talk about race," she said. "My children don't have that privilege. They will never have it."
In her own family Schmidt, who works as Middlebury's Agency of Human Services Field Director, seizes every opportunity to discuss the issue with her sons, whether it's in the grocery store or on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"My youngest son, earlier this month, said, 'What means assassination?' So I explained it. You have to make sure he understands the world that he's living in," Schmidt said. "But there was also part of me that was really sad… because I don't want him to be afraid."
Schmidt is a panelist in an upcoming community discussion on race following a screening at Middlebury College of the Vermont film, "Living on the Fault Line: Where Race and Family Meet."
The documentary, which explores the emotional costs of racial discrimination and white privilege as it plays out in the privacy of trans-racial Vermont families, starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, in Twilight Hall.
By CYRUS LEVESQUE
ADDISON COUNTY — As Green Up Day nears, students at Middlebury Union Middle School are keeping their eyes open for a visit from a local superhero. Captain Green Up, clad in a costume made from the green plastic bags distributed on Green Up Day, has led the charge to pick up litter and trash around the school for several years now, and this year probably will be no different.
"He always seems to be there when they need him," said social studies teacher Peter Brakeley, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the superhero.
Brakeley, who helps organize Green Up Day activities himself at the school but mysteriously has never been photographed with Captain Green Up, has recently taken a leave of absence for medical reasons. However, he said that he will still be able to take part in Green Up Day activities this year. "I should be able to keep my involvement," Brakeley said.
At MUMS, Brakeley helps mobilize about 300 middle school students to help clean up the area on the annual day when Vermonters help clean up roadsides and public areas.
Green Up Day began in 1970 to promote the stewardship of the state's natural landscape, according to Green Up Vermont, the nonprofit organization that has coordinated efforts since 1979. Held on the first Saturday of May, over 40,000 bags of trash are collected annually with the help of more than 250 volunteer coordinators and over 15,000 participants.
This year Brakeley said middle school students will begin work on Friday, May 2, at around 2:15 p.m. The students are eager to help out, partly to get out of the classroom on a spring afternoon and partly just to help their community.
"I think it's important to get students involved with community service," Brakeley said. "There's a lot we can do for our community, especially an energetic group of 10- to 14-year-olds."
MIDDLEBURY —Middlebury selectmen will hire a consultant to assess the current space woes besetting the local fire, public works and municipal offices, and determine whether some of those services could be accommodated on the former wastewater treatment plant property off Seymour Street.
The former wastewater treatment plant, now relegated to a pump station, sits on 12.5 acres of town-owned land. It currently hosts the Middlebury Police Department and a small cluster of buildings — including a garage — that are no longer used by the sewer department and are now falling into disrepair.
Town officials want to determine whether any of those former treatment plant buildings can be salvaged for storage of municipal equipment, and whether it would make sense to consider some kind of new structure there to alleviate the space crunch some town departments are now experiencing.
The consultant will also look at the potential of other town-owned land, and perhaps private property, that could meet municipal space needs, according to Middlebury Town Manager Bill Finger.
Middlebury has $35,000 set aside in its capital budget to pay for the study, Finger noted.
"We want to take into account the space needs of the town and look at the potential to accommodate those needs on property already owned by the town, then look elsewhere," Finger said.
Middlebury's fire department needs are already well documented. While there is decent meeting space in the department's headquarters at 5 Seymour Street, the building is having an increasingly tough time housing the force's vehicles. Fire Chief Rick Cole explained the northern section of the building was erected during the 1930s, while the southern portion was added during the 1970s. Planners back then could not have envisioned the size of today's firefighting vehicles.
MIDDLEBURY — Just past midnight last Friday morning the Middlebury Police Department and two Vermont State Police troopers floodlit a portion of the Otter Creek behind the baseball diamond at Middlebury Union High School and scanned the water for signs of missing Middlebury College student Nicholas Garza.
They were called to the site after a search and rescue agency from Maine, which had been taking photographs of the river in an aerial assessment on Thursday, identified a suspicious object in its photos late Thursday night.
But after two hours probing the dark water — and at the end of another search of the area led by the Colchester Technical Rescue Squad from 6:30 a.m. until sunset on Friday — authorities were no closer to solving the mystery of the 19-year-old's disappearance.
It was about a week ago that the Maine agency, Down East Emergency Medical Institute (DEEMI), contacted Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley offering to help. DEEMI volunteers spent Thursday flying at about 500 feet over the Otter Creek and a portion of Lake Champlain, snapping hundreds of photographs along the way.
"The cameras, by virtue of the lighting conditions, can pick up objects as low as 15 feet below the surface of the water," Hanley explained on Friday afternoon.
At the end of the day DEEMI flew back to Maine where an analyst went through the pictures for suspicious objects.
"In one of their early images they found an object in the water in this area," Hanley said, referring to a section of the river behind the high school that until now has not been searched. "They didn't know what it was. Clearly it wasn't a rock or a tree; it was just a foreign object."
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(AP) — Mondelez International Inc. says it net income fell 29 percent in the third quarter, as the stronger dollar weighed on revenue.
But the results for its first quarter as an independent company topped expectations.
Mondelez, formerly known as Kraft Foods Inc., spun off its North American grocery business and changed its name last month. The company makes snacks including Oreo cookies, Cadbury and Nabisco.
Under the Kraft Foods structure, net income fell to $652 million, or 36 cents per share in the June-to-September period, from $922 million, or 52 cents per share, last year.
On an adjusted basis, operating income totaled 37 cents per share and revenue fell 5 percent to $8.3 billion.
Analysts expected income of 36 cents per share, on revenue of $8.65 billion, according to FactSet.


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Thanks for you support!
Thank you so much to all those helped to make my open studio such a great success by buying work and visiting my studio. It was lovely to see some old faces and to meet some new ones. What a lovely weekend for it.
It was nearly a sell out, so now there's plenty of room in my studio for new work. Excited!
Latest news
News Archive
- 'Celebrating Art in the Garden' at West Lavington Manor
- The Contemporary Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey, Devon
- Read my latest newsletter
- Crafts Council Maker of the Week
- Surface Spotlight Live at the Surface Design Show
- Bursary Award Winner!
- Shiftworks at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen 4 March - 28 April 2016
- shiftworks is on tour to Stroud
- shiftWorks blog - Will I never learn??
- Handmade at Kew 8-11 October Stand G3
- shiftWorks 2015 is live!
- Design Nation, Decorex and the Southbank Centre
- Summer News from the Studio
- Vibrant colour and materials \\ read my first blog from the shiftWorks Project
- Fresh Air 2015 from Sunday 14 June - Sunday 5 July
- shiftWorks launches today!
- Selected for the brand new Crafts Council Directory
- Spotlight Exhibition & Meet the Maker
- Nominated for Arts Foundation Award
- My stand at 100% Design
- Visit me at 100% Design 17-20 September
- Suspended Glow Panels installed near Brighton
- Ribbon installation for opening of Bath Spa University by Lord David Puttnam CBE
- Runner Up in The Guardian & Dulux Let's Colour Awards 2014
- Buy the Blok Series online now!
- Nominated for Champagne Perrier-Jouet Arts Salon Prize 2014
- Selected at National Trust's Newark Park
- Circle Bath Spring Exhibition
- In the Guardian
- Surface Design Show 2014
- Launching new work at the Surface Design Show February 2014
- Introducing seam Christmas Show in Bath
- At the Eden Project!
- Featured in 'The Design Student's Handbook'
- New Work installed at FreshAir2013
- Awarded £1000 bursary!
- Artolo Art Party
- Two works selected for 10th Anniversary Show
- Newsletter November 2012
- Inspirational photobooks available to buy now (20% off until 31st December)
- Gloucester Cathedral Exhibition open to 31st December
- The Architecture of Cloth, Colour & Space at Gloucester Cathedral
- Linked one day symposium: The Architecture of Cloth, Colour and Space
- Shortlisted for FX 'Breakthrough Talent of the Year' Award!
- FX Magazine's 'One to Watch'
- Selected for Crafts Council Hothouse programme 2011
- BBC coverage of screens at Chelsea Flower Show 2011
- Shortlisted for Crafts Council Hothouse
- Holburne Museum gets dressed up for its re-opening
- Starring with Tom Selleck
- Selected for One Year On at New Designers
- Accepted for Tent 2011
- Illuminate Bath 2010


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How eucalyptus trees are connected to denying climate change
I (Josh Galperin, Associate Director, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy) have two forthcoming publications that argue against the growing "eat the invaders" or "invasivore" movement. Invasive species are a serious ecological and economic problem. The invasivore movement supposes that we can control biological invasions with a fork and knife. My collaborators and I see several problems with this argument. One of the leading problems is that generating enough culinary interest in an invasive species to actually impact its population will lead to cultural endearment. There are examples of invasive species, despite manifest ecological and economic damage, becoming important cultural icons. Even though it has nothing to do with food, the eucalyptus tree in California is one such example.
The following post, written by Professor Eric Biber and originally published on Legal Planet highlights problems of cultural endearment of invasive species by focusing on attempts to remove eucalyptus from the campus of UC Berkeley.
How Eucalyptus Trees Are Connected to Denying Climate Change


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A compact, lightweight chainsaw with professional-grade power and STIHL M-Tronic™ technology.
For professionals who need power without the bulk, the MS 241 C-M chainsaw is an agile, fuel efficient and easy-to-operate package. In addition to its low-exhaust operation, this chainsaw features STIHL M-Tronic™ engine management technology, which automatically monitors and adjusts for changes in your work conditions including elevation, temperature, fuel quality and dirty air filters. Whether you're professionally cutting firewood, felling small trees or doing forestry work, this lightweight saw is the one you want at your side.
|MS 241 C-M Specifications - Professional Use
|42.6 cc (2.6 cu. in.)
|2.3 kW (3.1 bhp)
|4.5 kg (9.9 Ibs.)
|370 cc (12.5 oz.)
|207 cc (7.0 oz.)
|GUIDE BAR LENGTHS (Recommended ranges)
|30 to 40 cm (12" to 16")
|STIHL recommends #3616 (63 PS3 55) OILOMATIC® saw chain and 16" 3005 0084813 Ematic™ guide bar combination. The actual listed guide bar length can vary from the effective cutting length based on which powerhead it is installed on.
Important Information
WARNING! The occurrence called "kickback" can cause serious
or fatal injury. Always read the instruction manual carefully before
using your saw. STIHL uses a green and yellow color-coding
system to help you select a powerhead, bar and chain combination
that complies with the kickback requirements of ANSI
Standard B175.1 (gasoline-powered saws) and §30 of UL 1662/
ANSI Standard B175.1 (electric chainsaws). Ask your STIHL
dealer about safe operating procedures and the advantages of
the STIHL Quickstop® chain brake, STIHL Quickstop® Plus (Q) additional chain braking feature, STIHL reduced kickback bars and STIHL low-kickback
saw chains.
STIHL recommends the use of green reduced kickback bars and green low kickback chains on all STIHL chainsaws.
* The actual listed guide bar length can vary from the effective cutting length based on which powerhead it is installed on.
WARNING! Improper use of any power tool may cause serious
or fatal injury. Read, understand and follow carefully the operating
and safety instructions in your instruction manual before using such products.
STIHL products sold through U.S. STIHL Dealers are for distribution in the United States only.
Model Features
Side-Access Chain Tensioner
The side-access chain tensioner makes it much more convenient for the user to adjust the saw chain with a bar wrench as opposed to the typical location of the guide bar adjustment screw.
Decompression Valve
The decompression valve, also referred to as 'deco' or 'deco valve', vents compression in the cylinder for easier starting. The decompression valve temporarily reduces the compression in the combustion chamber during cranking and helps reduce the effort needed to pull the starter rope. It is opened manually and closes automatically as soon as the engine fires.
Built in the USA
Indicates products that are built in the United States from domestic and foreign parts and components.
Anti-Vibration System
STIHL has developed a system for minimizing the vibration levels of handheld outdoor power equipment. The STIHL anti-vibration system helps reduce operator fatigue and provides a more comfortable working experience.
STIHL M-Tronic™
This product features M-Tronic™ (M) - a new generation of Intelligent Engine Management that eliminates the low and high speed carburetor adjustment screws, compensates for dirty air filter and changes in elevation and fuel quality for optimum engine power at all times.
See it in action!
Pre-Separation Air Filtration System
This time-saving technology boosts the efficiency of the engine's filter system, doubling the time between air filter cleanings. Air drawn into the engine is first separated via centrifugal force, ejecting the heavier dirt particles before being routed to the air filter. This pre-separation means less dirt to be captured by the air filter, resulting in less frequent cleaning and maintenance.
Toolless fuel and oil caps with retainers
Simply lift the lever and twist the caps to remove or tighten. There's no need to use a tool to tighten or loosen.
Standard Features
Common Features for Chainsaws
View the features common to many STIHL chainsaws.
We Also Suggest
HP Ultra 2-Cycle Engine Oil
No matter how you slice it (or trim it or shred it), there's no better protection for your high performance 2-stroke engine than STIHL HP Ultra Oil. This 2-cycle engine oil has outstanding engine cleaning characteristics, plus "ultra" lubricating qualities that are superior to other 2-cycle engine oils. This fully synthetic oil is also highly biodegradable, degrading by 80% in 21 days. We're so confident this oil will protect your engine, we'll double your STIHL limited warranty* when you use it. It's that good.
*Double your warranty when you purchase either STIHL HP Ultra Oil (six pack) or STIHL MotoMix® Patented Premixed Fuel (one gallon minimum) with your STIHL product purchase. Double limited warranty protection applies to select STIHL gasoline-powered products purchased for personal non-income producing, household purposes only. Other restrictions apply. See dealer for details or refer to STIHL's Limited Warranty Policy.
Complete Filing Kits
Includes file guide, depth gauge, round file, flat file and two file handles in tool pouch. Kits available for the following chain types: STIHL PICCO™ Mini; 1/4" pitch chain; .325" pitch chain; 3/8" pitch chain; .404" pitch chain.
For Your Safety
Pro Mark™ Apron Chaps - 9 Layer
For heavyweight protection that won't weigh you down, choose Pro Mark™ Apron Chaps - 9 Layer from STIHL. They're rugged, yet comfortable to wear and easily fit over your work clothes. Sewn into the legs of the chaps are nine layers of Avertic® Pro by Engtex®, a cut-retardant material designed to reduce the risk or severity of injury to the body parts covered by the pads in the event of contact with the rotating saw chain of a gasoline-powered chainsaw. The open-back design of these chaps makes them a great choice for hot working conditions. These Pro Mark™ apron chaps provide three additional layers of Avertic® Pro by Engtex® cut retardant material than our standard apron chaps. STIHL chainsaw protective apparel is also wash and wear, unlike some other brands that require dry cleaning or light surface cleaning.
The STIHL Pro Mark™ Protective Apparel is best paired with Professional STIHL units. This line of personal protective apparel is designed for professional users, helping protect against injuries they may face during frequent use.
Available color: High Visibility Orange
Available lengths: 32", 36", 40"
See it in action!
Black Widow Glasses
STIHL Black Widow Glasses offer an ideal combination of protection and style. These protective glasses have a lightweight, wrap-around design that blocks out 99% of harmful UV rays. Their soft-touch temple inserts provide additional comfort and are designed to help reduce slippage. The lenses are made from optical-grade polycarbonate and are available in multiple shade color options.
Meets ANSI Z87+ Standard
Available lens colors: Indoor/Outdoor Mirror, Smoke Mirror
Great Grip Gloves
Get a grip on your next outdoor project with Great Grip Gloves from STIHL. These gloves provide an enhanced grip with a micro-polymer grip pattern. Its stitched fabric construction and elastic cuff provide a great fit that is comfortable to wear all day long. These gloves are a terrific value, delivering great performance at a great price.
Materials: Stitched fabric, synthetic micro polymer grip and elastic cuff
Available sizes: M, L, XL
Pro Mark™ Forestry Helmet System
The Pro Mark™ Forestry Helmet System is designed to offer premium protection to your most premium asset –your head. The hard hat features a lightweight ABS thermoplastic shell and a six-point ratchet-style suspension system for improved shock absorption and overall comfort. For hearing protection, we've used our NRR 25 earmuffs to help block out tool and engine sound. The visor is a durable steel mesh full-face screen, designed to protect your face from flying debris. And a built-in rain gutter directs rain away from your face during inclement weather.
Meets ANSI requirements for earmuffs (ANSI S3.19-1974) and have a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) of 25 dB(A), visor (ANSI Z87.1-2003) and hardhat (ANSI Z89.1:2009). Type 1 Class C


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ReleasesBack to
Ron Carter
Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson's fifth and final early Blue Note album is his only one with a group larger than a quintet. Henderson welcomes quite an all-star band (trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Joe Chambers) and together they perform originals by Henderson (including "A Shade of Jade"), Walton and Morgan ("Free Wheelin'"). The advanced music has plenty of exciting moments and all of the young talents play up to the level one could hope for. Mode for Joe has been reissued on CD several times over; the 2004 Blue Note reissue remastered by Rudy Van Gelder is recommended, although the difference in sound is minimal and the bonus version of "Black" has been placed at the bottom track list instead of as an alternate in the middle.] ~ Scott Yanow


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Überdragon Sunburst NEX (#P54-Y8):
* Evolution - Put on 1 of your Armored Dragon creatures.
* When this creature wins a battle, you may untap it.
* When this creature battles a creature with 12000 or more power, it gets +11000 power.
* Double breaker (This creature breaks 2 shields.)
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I was hoping the 12th man could send in some reinforcements to help me win this contest so I can take my wonderful, die-hard fan boyfriend to a game!
Click the link below and vote for me Nikki N! It's easiest to scroll down to the bottom and go up to the "N" section that way. You can vote for me every day, on every device until the 9th!
Go Hawks!
http://1027kord.com/the-12th-man-showdo ... o-contest/


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Sweta launched her fine jewelry company in 2007 by supplying one-of-a-kind pieces to private clientele and has since expanded to serve luxury clients worldwide. She chose the company name due to its context in Persian and Indian courts; describing a perfect teardrop shape. It was known that only the finest craftsmen could create a Goshwara, and it is that feminine shape that Sweta still incorporates in her designs today.
Goshwara One of a Kind Smoky Quartz, Carnelian Necklace
Goshwara One of a Kind Rock Crystal, Carnelian Bead Necklace
Goshwara One of a Kind Mother-of-Pearl Bead Necklace
Goshwara One of a Kind Long Rock Crystal Bead Necklace
Goshwara 18K Yellow Gold & Rock Crystal Earrings


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Made of tough glass-reinforced plastic with UV inhibitors, the 12" diameter saucer rotates smoothly on a ball-bearing race, and supports up to 250 lb. To serve as a catch basin, the saucer has a raised lip that helps contain overflow. With six smooth, non-marring feet, it keeps the pot elevated off the surface.
Suitable for indoor or outdoor use. Sold in pairs.


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Catch the Bell Game -TV, Radio, Webby Tom Runge • November 8, 2005 Share:
There are several ways for Wabash fans to watch/listen to the Monon Bell game this weekend.
1. Telecast Party. To see a complete listing of all the Monon Bell telecast parties, click here.
2. DirecTV. It's as easy as direcTV channel 321. (The broadcast is not available on Dish TV.)
3. Regular TV. If you live in Central Indiana, you can pick up the broadcast on WHMB, (Channel 40)
Radio. Tune in to FM channel 91.3 as Terry Byrom, Mark Maxwell, and Ben Hewitt call the game.
Web. Go to www.wabash.edu/sports and follow the directions to the broadcast links (Information should be up tomorrow.) Wabash is adding extra computer capacity to handle the expected load.
Go Little Giants!


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Ian Hutchinson
Woah, the good feeling to see IE6 being put out of its misery.
It's a shame though, a lot of places I've been to, mostly places where many people use the computer still use IE6. For example, my school still uses IE6, and numerous Internet cafes I've visited have it.
I asked one of the technicians why we still have IE6, it's because the upgrade process is too complicated considering the additional security software used in a school environment.
Nothing I fear more when testing, the IE6 run. Nice to hear about the script that emulates solid CSS support, might give it a go next time round.


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The DCV01 series is a family of 1-W, 1500-Vrms isolated, unregulated DC/DC converter modules. Requiring a minimum of external components and including on-chip device protection, the DCV01 series of devices provide extra features such as output disable and synchronization of switching frequencies.
This combination of features and small size makes the DCV01 series of devices suitable for a wide range of applications, and is an easy-to-use solution in applications requiring signal path isolation.
This product has operational isolation and is intended for signal isolation only. It must not be used as a part of a safety isolation circuit requiring reinforced isolation.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


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Choose Edit Design below to add a design
Spark your creativity with these designs.
Inspired by reactive elements on the periodic table, the Nike React Element 55 Premium By You is ready for your adaptation. Play with combinations of premium materials—like open mesh or crinkle-finish nylon—and accents inspired by the scientific process until you discover something truly explosive.
Open mesh and crinkle-finish nylon give you 2 premium bases to start something special.
Choose from accents that were inspired by the experimental process, like a hazard pull tab, utility laces and Nike Grind finishes made from recycled materials.
Tell the world who made this breakthrough style discovery by creating your own custom logo on the tongue.
Whether you choose breathable open mesh or crinkle-finish nylon, this shoe is super light and airy. Robust taping and zigzag stitching wind along the back of the upper for a deconstructed vibe.
Nike React technology is a lightweight, durable foam that delivers a smooth, responsive ride. A soft sockliner wicks moisture and contours to your foot to further amplify shock absorption.
Extending to the midsole, springy rubber nodules are strategically placed at the front and heel of the outsole to deliver great grip.
- Reflective design elements
- Heel pull tab


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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get in?
Admission is by audition only. For Winter Term, auditions for students ages 11 to 18 are held in September (generally the Tuesday after Labor Day, this year is Saturday, September 8). Auditions for students ages 6 to 10 are held in the spring. Click here for upcoming Winter Term audition dates. For SAB's summer programs, the National Audition Tour is held in January of each year; audition dates and sites are announced in November of the previous year. SAB encourages students ages 12-18 to first audition for the Summer Course in NYC as that program can be a gateway to the year-round Winter Term. Click here to learn more about SAB's summer programs. [back to top]
How do I audition if I live outside the United States? Is there a fee?
International students (those outside the continental United States) may audition for the Summer Course by submitting a Video application. The video should portray the student in an abbreviated class with the full range of barre and center exercises and, for girls over the age of 12, pointe work. Prior to submitting the video, applicants must fill out our online application form which collects basic contact information and the $30 audition fee via credit card. The online application and video must be submitted between November 1 and January 30th. Click here to learn more about submitting a Video application. International students may also audition in person for the Winter Term. Contact SAB's Audition Manager to make an audition appointment. [back to top]
May I audition for both Winter and Summer at the same time?
No. There are distinctly separate auditions for Winter Term and Summer Course. A small percentage of Summer Course students are invited to enroll in the School's Winter Term, or students may audition specifically for Winter Term. For more information on Summer Course auditions, click here. For more information on Winter Term auditions, click here. [back to top]
How old do I have to be?
Winter Term students are between the ages of 6 and 18 years old; students must reach their sixth birthday by September 1 in the year they wish to enroll. The Summer Course is for intermediate and advanced students ages 12 to 18. (Students must reach their twelfth birthday by July 31 of the Summer Course they wish to attend). The Young Dancer Series consists of two programs: NYC Junior Session and the California Workshop for Young Dancers. Both programs are for students ages 10 to 12 (Students must students must be no younger than 10 and no older than 12 by July 31, in order to qualify). [back to top]
How young do I have to be?
Winter Term students are between the ages of 6 and 18 years old; students must reach their sixth birthday by September 1 in the year they wish to enroll. The Summer Course is for intermediate and advanced students ages 12 to 18. (Students must reach their twelfth birthday by July 31 of the Summer Course they wish to attend). The Young Dancer Series (NYC Junior Session and California Workshop for Young Dancers) is for students ages 10 to 12. [back to top]
What will be required at the audition?
Auditioning boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 10 are evaluated individually and participate in a simple musical exercise. No previous ballet training or preparation is required for this age group. Winter Term auditions for 11 to 18 year olds generally are abbreviated ballet classes with the usual range of barre and center exercises. Pointe shoes are required for girls 13 to 18 years of age. Summer auditions for 10 to 18 year olds are also abbreviated ballet classes, but girls are required to bring pointe shoes to the audition. All students should be prepared to show a copy of their birth certificate or passport at the audition. [back to top]
What is the cost of tuition?
For Winter Term tuition and scholarship information, please click here. For Summer Course tuition and scholarship information, please click here. [back to top]
Can I get a scholarship or financial aid?
For the Winter Term, students in all levels may apply for tuition scholarships that are awarded based on financial need. Additional financial assistance may be awarded for the expense of room and board, travel, and/or academic education, based and financial need. For SAB's summer programs, scholarships are merit-based and are decided at the time of the audition. Applicants are notified of their award at the time of acceptance. Awards range from partial tuition to funds for tuition, room and board, and transportation. [back to top]
When will I be notified of acceptance?
Notification of acceptance or rejection for the Summer Course will be provided within a few days after the audition for applicants who pre-register online. Summer Course applicants who apply on-site will receive their notification within three weeks of the audition. Notification of acceptance or rejection for the Winter Term varies depending on the time of audition. Notification information is distributed at all Winter Term auditions. [back to top]
If I am visiting, may I take a class? Watch a class?
Only students enrolled for the complete Winter Term (or Summer Course) are allowed to take classes. There are no classes available for visiting students. Professional dancers who wish to take class may contact the Registrar's office for class information. Observation of classes is not permitted in the beginning and intermediate levels. Class observation for the advanced levels is available on a limited basis. Visiting ballet teachers are invited to observe classes at SAB; however, they are not permitted to take notes. Those wishing to observe a class must contact the Artistic Coordinator. [back to top]
Does SAB hold any programs outside of NY?
SAB introduced the California Workshop for Young Dancers (formerly LA Workshop) in 2011. The two-week summer program offering classes in technique, pointe and variaions takes place in early August and is for students between the ages of 10 and 12. Auditions are held at select locations on SAB's National Audition Tour in January. For more information about SAB's CA Workshop, click here. [back to top]
What should I wear to the audition?
Children aged 6-10 should wear leotards, t-shirts, shorts or swimsuits to the audition. Girls aged 11-18 should wear pink tights and a solid colored leotard. No skirts or leg warmers are allowed in auditions. Boys aged 11-18 should wear black tights, white T-shirt, white socks, and black or white shoes. [back to top]
Do I need a photo or resume for the audition?
Photographs, resumes and recommendation letters are not accepted at SAB's auditions for Winter Term or Summer Course. [back to top]
Where is the School located?
The School of American Ballet is located in the Samuel B. and David Rose Building, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York City, on West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. A staircase and elevator at 165 West 65th Street provide access to the building entrance above street level. Click here for maps and detailed directions on traveling to the School. [back to top]
Is there an audition fee?
There is a $45 fee for all auditions (including Winter Term and Summer Course) held at SAB in New York City and on SAB's National Audition Tour. There is a discounted $32 audition fee for applicants who pre-register and pre-pay for the Summer Course National Audition Tour. Community auditions for 6-10 year-olds held each spring at off-site locations in Manhattan, Queens, Bronx and Brooklyn are free. [back to top]
When do students begin pointe?
At SAB, pointe work usually begins in the fourth year of study (Girls IV) for 15 minutes at the end of each technique class and in a separate weekly, one-hour pointe class. [back to top]
What does SAB look for in a dancer?
First and foremost, the School of American Ballet looks at each applicant as an individual. The School is selective in admitting new students and renewing their enrollment from year to year. Admission is by audition only. Applicants must be young enough to derive the maximum benefit from their training, enjoy excellent health and have an anatomical structure suited to the demands of classical dance: a well-proportioned, flexible, coordinated body, legs that easily adopt the turned-out condition, and a high instep. They must also possess musical aptitude and a natural gift for movement. Applicants for the Summer Course must be intermediate or advanced students who, in addition to the above, are at a stage of technical advancement proportionate to their age. [back to top]


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Any fan of the New Jersey Nets should be embarrassed to show his face public. Things are only going to get worse next year in Brooklyn when Deron leaves. His bags have been packed since the All Star Game. Oh, so the Knicks will play them tonight and hopefully crush them. Let's see if the Knicks, after shooting 60% from 3 point land, shoot 3 for 35 tonight. Those hoping to see Amare tonight sorry, you will have to wait until Friday to see him miss open jumpers. And, Baron please try not to embarrass yourself tonight.
Knicks vs. New Jersey Jokes 4/18/12 Game Thread


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Preliminary hearings for Alton L. Franklin and DeQuinte Oshea Flournoy in McPherson County District Court have been delayed from Dec. 10 to 1 p.m. Jan. 21.
Franklin and Flournoy were both arrested in September and charged with aiding and abetting murder in the second degree in connection with the beating death of Tabor College junior Brandon Brown on Sept. 16 in McPherson.
Brown was on the Tabor College football team. Franklin and Flournoy were on the McPherson College football team in 2011 but weren't on the roster this year. Both defendants were 19 at the time of their arrests and came to McPherson College from Dallas, Texas.
The preliminary hearings were originally scheduled for Oct. 29.


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Information for the Media
The Office of Communications and Marketing is available to provide members of the print and electronic media with information about New England Law | Boston and its programs, as well as serving as a liaison to faculty members with expertise on topics in the news. Please use our experts list (link on the left) to find faculty members who can comment on a wide range of subjects. If you don't find what you need on the site, please contact us by phone or e-mail.
Jennifer Kelly
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer


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Please apply online for a place on a course.
Rides can be shared. If you are looking for a ride or would like to offer one, you may use our Rideshare site to do this.
S.N. Goenka explains Vipassana meditation in this video (20 minutes)
This is the Bulgarian home page of the organizations which offer courses in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin
Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was taught more than 2500 years ago as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art of Living. For those who are not familiar with Vipassana Meditation, an Introduction to Vipassana by Mr. Goenka and Questions and Answers about the technique are available.
The technique of Vipassana Meditation is taught at ten-day residential courses during which participants learn the basics of the method, and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results. No previous experience of meditation is required. After reviewing the Code of Discipline for Vipassana courses and checking the course schedule, you may apply for a course.
Courses are run solely on a donation basis. There are no charges for the courses, not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All expenses are met by donations from those who have completed a course, experienced the benefits of Vipassana, and wish to give others the same opportunity. Neither the Teacher nor the assistant teachers receive remuneration; they and those who organise the courses volunteer their time.
Courses are given in numerous Meditation Centers and at non-center course locations at rented sites. Each location has its own schedule of courses. In most cases, an application for admission to each of these courses can be made by clicking on a selected one of the listed course dates that appear in the schedule. There are numerous Centers in India and elsewhere in Asia; ten Centers in North America; three Centers in Latin America; seven Centers in Europe; seven Centers in Australia/New Zealand; one Center in the Middle East and one Center in Africa. Non-center courses frequently hold ten courses at many locations outside of Centers as they are arranged by local students of Vipassana in those areas. An alphabetical list of worldwide course locations is available as well as a graphical interface of course locations worldwide and in India and Nepal.
A special 10-day Vipassana course especially for business executives and government officials is being held periodically at several centers around the world. For additional information visit the Executive Course Website.


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As American prosperity flourishes in the years following WWI, Hammacher Schlemmer, under the leadership of William F. Schlemmer, begins to sell unusual luxury items, relegating building supplies to the basement floor.
In 1920, Americans usher in the "Jazz Age," a period of economic prosperity. Also, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's right to vote.


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