text:
Monday, September 11. 2006
Discontent Spreads
What can you do? What can we do? What do you think of these suggestions in the four letters?
Your comments are welcome.
Posted by Mark at 05:54 | Comments (24)
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Again the first thing we should do is to seek to strengthen our ties to the Lord, participating fully in His Church as communicants, worshipping Him in our Churches, praising Him and praying to Him. We can turn to Him for the solutions to problems and any ills that may have beset the administration of the Church. It is only in Him and through Him that any resolution to problems can be attained.
The Churches we are participating in on Sundays and other days are the same Churches that we were participating in before any problems in funds or whatever were cited. We need to remember this for our eternal life is what is paramount, and we are saved in and through His Church. Our time is best spent in moving forward spiritually and to do so is to seek to emulate Christ who showed love, forgiveness, caring for others. Who among us has not made mistakes? Who among us has not sinned? If we want correction to any problems that may exist then we should be supportive of efforts to correct those problems. There need not be name calling; there need not be harsh condemnations; there needs to be common action for the good of all. I know when I am at the altar it is not administrative pluses or minues that occupy my mind, it is Christ and all that He offers; and all the love and mercy He has shown me. The Church has been important in my life; she has been a loving mother; she has been there for support, encouragement, correction; and growth. It is that upon which are focus needs to come. Then we can move forward and see that any problems are corrected, and to the best of our ability see that mistakes are not repeated, although as persons who sin we know that mistakes will always be with us on this earth. May God strengthen and forgive all of us.
#1 Archpriest William DuBovi on 2006-09-11 07:59
A few quick questions incited by your "latest news":
1) Will the "infamous" videotape in the possession of Archbishop Job be viewed at the coming MC meeting or Midwest Diocesan Assembly?
2) According to the OCA Statute, who can call for an "extraordinary" All-American Council and, lacking OCA "employees," who is actually competent to legistically plan it?
3) If resolutions to withhold assessments are passed by dioceses, who will pay which people to execute the needed changes? Does some new organizational flow-chart exist somewhere to pick up the pieces? Is Dcn Danilcheck now on the OCA payroll?
#2 Inquiring Mind on 2006-09-11 08:31
The church seems to be on a track working towards better financial future health.
The Metropolitan has taken responsibility for the failures and is working to correct them.
The administration is working to rightfully pay charities that were subordinated for things like payroll, travel, taxes, rents, maintenance.
The biggest problem facing us isn't Fr. Peter's claim of 2 million faithful. The biggest problem is only having 27,000 dues paying members.
The church administration, Holy Synod, and MC need to look inward on the OCA as much as we are asked to do in Confession.
The bequest line is not a floating line that balances the budget. The bequest line should be based on prior year amounts. When the OCA develops the budget, it should tell us what things must be sacrificed if we have too few members, or what new things have been added.
I have been an objective observer and given even Fr. Kondratick a pass to this point. Alice Woog's angst towards Dn. Peter and any forum between the national church and laity is astounding and indicative of why secrecy and near financial collapse happened. I believe her stay violates Statute and if anyone were to resign next, it would rightly be her. The Holy Synod should remove her if they can govern a violation of the statutes. I cannot express my dissatisfaction enough. I believe the failure to disclose things like the OCA budget and reporting against it is the biggest reason the church has spun downward for five years. Anyone that gets in the way of operating in a healthy fashion should resign. I encourage all of you to consider your positions on this issue.
Dr. Skordinski's letter after a judge's decision is mute, and foolhardy. I understand and empathize with her tremendously. To make a decision about a loan without so much as a financial statement is foolish. The entire MC should have threatened resignation. The priests would have stayed and the church would have been entirely in the hands of the clergy, Bishops, and administration to give everything away. However, the Metropolitan is taking the right steps to repair the financial shortfalls, so I see both sides. Why no financials blows me away. Maybe I'm missing something, not sure. Shouldn't Faith be addressing us instead of a previous judges decision? She got a lot of salutes from everyone here, but I found her move comical to be honest.
The OCA should rethink its treatment of members and parishes. I believe Fair Share has failed.
Let's say that churches are tithing to the OCA and their respective Diocese and the split is 50/50, or for simplicity $100 each. On a Fair Share amount of 2.7M, this would imply 5.4M split, and tithing would imply 54 million in church revenues. Split between 700 parishes is an average budget of $77,142 for each church. Does this seem right? Who knows?
I would like to see churches fully report members, even if they are non dues paying. By changing the membership contribution amounts and reporting membership status, the church would be able to better work towards growth. For example, if a geographical area had a lot of wealth, it may support another church. If there were a lot of child members, it might require another church in the future.
27,000 paying members is a much sadder number than the one reported by Fr. Peter ....
Further, if there are 27,000 paying members in 700 churches, this means an average of only 38 dues paying members per church. Also, pretty sad. Also, if the dues paying members are responsible for the contributions, each member would be contributing, $2,000 annually, or 10% of only $20,000 personal income. I'd rather not hear too much more complaining about Fair Share.
Someone needs to figure out priorities and balance trying to grow our depressing membership with money spent. To me, this would be clergy and Synod.
The bigger question to me at this point isn't about the financial mismanagement, but about the churches apparent failure to grow. Being forthcoming and reporting fully members, paying, non-paying, children, etc. seems like it would be needed and valuable.
These are my recent thoughts.
1) Woog NO, please GO
2) Skordinski (to what end?)
3) 27,000 paying members
4) 2,000,000 faithful (overly hopeful for sure)
5) Damning the leader for a trip to Russia (right, but sad)
6) Church that tries to grow. How?
7) The loan (required).
Balanced budget (what gives and takes were made and was the bequest line just the float offsetting the moat)
A bit scattered, but there you have it.
#3 Daniel E. Fall on 2006-09-11 10:26
Dear Inquiring:
1) There are no announced plans to view the videotape at the Diocesan Assembly.
2) According to the OCA Statute:
"The All-American Council shall be convened periodically at intervals of three years. Each All-American Council shall decide the time and place of the next regular or extraordinary session. The time and place of the meeting may, for urgent reasons, be changed by action of the Metropolitan Council with the approval of the Holy Synod."
The next AAC regularily scheduled AAC should be in 2008; it has been delayed till 2010.
3) The council materials have been written in large part by free-lancers employeed for the job, rather than employees of Syosset. The Councils have been organized and run by people designated for those task - such as the council managers. The actual work is done by scores of local committee volunteers. In short, as valuable as their contributions have been, the Church is not dependent exclusively on "employees" of Syosset to organize, manage or run a Council.
4) Protodeacon Danilchick states he is not an employee of Syosset, rather a volunteer, as are all 3 persons on his Best Practices sub-committee. These are the only "changes" that are currently in the offing, and they cost nothing, besides time and effort.
#4 Editor on 2006-09-11 10:43
As usual, thank you for a great, insightful post.
I couldn't agree with you more. Anyone who keeps getting in the way of working toward a solution to our problem should simply walk away already and find another hobby.
Here's a thought, instead of people complaining and constantly moaning about every single move the Metropolitan or Fr. Kucynda makes, how about they come up with a solution of their own to the problem?
I really believe the Honesdale National Bank and the NY State Attorney General's Office could care less whether the OCA has 2,000,000 or 27,000 members. The only thing they are interested in is do we have any collateral to utilize against the loan, in case payment isn't made.
I think the answer is a resounding YES.
People, do any of you realize just how bad a financial position our Church is in? What other recourse do we have than to go the route of the loan?
It's easy for each of us, myself included, to complain, say why don't they do this or that, etc., but the fact of the matter remains, the OCA is in a real financial pickle and there is no other way out. Would it be better to close up shop and let it go down the drain?
Witholding assessments is not the answer either.
I have said on numerous occassions before, that one person had complete and absolute control over the entire finances of the Church for a very long time.
That person is no longer employed and things are finally changing for the good.
Problems indeed exist and monies are still owed to their proper places. The loan will enable the Church to justly return what rightfully belongs to others.
If anyone out there has a better solution and/or fast access to cash, then by all means, stop complaining already and step up to the plate and come up with a solution!
Why don't Faith and Alice spend some time creatively campaigning to raise money for the Church if they won't endorse the loan or support Best Practices? I'm sure many people will follow their lead.
Michael Geeza
#5 Michael Geeza on 2006-09-11 12:54
I am seeing much courage in trying to change the status quo. The faithful are trying to move the church to higher moral, ethical, and legal ground. We need the positive energy of the laity and clergy alike who are now trying to righteously claim back the noble mission of the OCA. The OCA fulfill its Godly mission of being a beacon to the world. After the whole mess is over, we will have more courage and be much stronger to never let this whole mess happen again.
Patty Schellbach
#6 Patty Schellbach on 2006-09-11 15:56
Protodeacon Danilchick wrote on the OCA's web page: "The reason for the investigation is to determine whether financial improprieties occurred and, if so, what remedies might be available, what legal step might be taken, and what changes might be made to protect the Church (including the faithful) in the future. The Church is working to do just."
It seems to me that all of the justification for the PR investigation falls under the competency of the Metropolitan Council according to the Statutes. Therefore the report should be released to the MC so that they can undertake the appropriate actions and responses.
And since he says the changes are being made "to protect the Church (including the faithhful)" then we the faithful should be fully informed from what or whom we are being protected, and to know what is being done for our protection and how we can support and participate in this protection. Otherwise, it will only be that the faithful are being protected from knowing what and who are threatening them.
It would appear that the real threat to us is coming from within the OCA not from an external source.
#7 Fr. Ted Bobosh on 2006-09-11 16:39
To set the record straight: I'm one of Fr. Daniel assistants who did not sign the resolution of the Columbus Deanery clergy. I was not able to attend the deanery meeting at which it was discussed--I seldom am, having a full-time secular job. As for myself, I did not feel comfortable with the idea of withholding assessments. That was the only thing I had any question about--certainly none of the other provisions. I agree with all of those. As far as I know, from conversations, the same holds for the other two clergy who did not sign. Fr. Daniel has great love and respect for his son, but I do not believe that he was in any way motivated by 'protecting' him--his son can hold his own.
In no way do I feel any need to 'protect' Syosset. I have not contributed to the special appeals for years, after hearing from Metropolitan Council members that funds so collected were possibly being used improperly to pay operating expenses (or worse). I have heard enough of the antics (from someone with first hand knowledge) of Fr. Bob to wonder why he has not been deposed, at the least.
I have no ambitions in the Church. I am an assistant, and that's what I shall remain. As such, I have no right to attend assemblies. I may not speak to the bishop without permission. I try, but my preaching is mediocre. I was told not to sing in the choir while in seminary, my voice is so bad. I've never been an "insider" in the deanery: I'm a liberal Democrat amongst most priests who think that anyone who doesn't vote far right Republican should be excommunicated. I've been a supply priest for the deanery, but given the reaction to my not signing, I doubt that I will ever be asked to do so again. And I've probably lost friends because of not signing.
My point: I didn't abstain from signing because I think that everything is just fine with Syosset. I didn't abstain from signing out of obedience to my rector--he did not tell me what to do, and, indeed, we have not always agreed on this whole matter. I didn't abstain from signing because it might get me into trouble--I'm at the bottom of the ecclesiastical food chain. Indeed, not signing seems to have pushed me deeper into the mud. I just didn't think that that tactic of withholding assessments would work, and would only cause more problems, more division.
I think that civil intervention is necessary for there to be any real change--that will finally make the powers that be sit up and take notice.
#8 Name withheld on 2006-09-11 18:25
Daniel - you quote Fr. Peter as the source of the 2 million members. (Twice)
I believe it was actually Fr. Paul, in the loan document.
A case of robbing Peter to pay Paul?
#9 Marty Brown on 2006-09-11 19:12
Dear Father,
Thank you so much for writing and clarifying your position as well as those of your fellow Columbus clergy. I have often said on this site that reasonable people can reasonably disagree about difficult topics; clearly this will be one of them as the possibility gains momentum.
In the interests of accuracy, though, it must be pointed out that a) your voice is not terrible - I have heard you chant liturgy beautifully; and b) your preaching is hardly mediocre - I have heard you preach very good sermons on more than one ocassion. And I look forward to hearing them in the future, as do all your friends in Ohio.
With great respect,
Mark Stokoe
#10 Editor on 2006-09-11 19:17
I am a conservative Republican who does not think you should be excommunicated! Indeed I commend you for your forthright statement. While I would have signed the letter and agree with withholding the assessment, your position is certainly defensible and in no way shoud be held against you.
#11 Kenneth R. Tobin on 2006-09-12 04:27
I guess the State of New York will have to take control of this situation, since the Holy Synod and the Metropolitan Council has not. The Metropolitan has been in office for more than four years and yet he has never moved into his diocese (breaking Canon Law). The Acting Treasurer, the highest ranking financial officer of the church does not even have an accounting degree (perhaps he has an acting degree). It appears that no one really cares. As one person said on this site, the faithful will begin speaking with their wallets and then with their feet. It's just so sad.
Marlene Sayres
#12 Anonymous on 2006-09-12 04:55
I am the "other" associate priest in Fr. Daniel's parish and while I disagree with my brother's self-assessment in regard to his gifts and abilities, I affirm and share his sense of frustration and, I dare say disappointment, accompanying the debate around the resolution to withhold assessments.
Speaking only for myself, there were several reasons for which I refrained from commenting during the e-mail exchanges within the Columbus Deanery regarding the proposed resolution. When mentioned by name in an e-mail as one of those not yet committted to signing the resolution, I replied (publicly), expressing my personal concerns and indicating why, in conscience, I could not sign.
My e-mail was then responded to by one individual (publicly), who compared my concerns about signing the resolution to the failure of many Germans to voice their objections to the Nazis. And on another point: "Do you mean to say we have no responsibility, accountability or culpability for what our leaders do?" I responded to the individual (privately). The individual did respond to my private e-mail, apologizing if there was any offense taken on my part and explaining that his comments came from a sincere concern for the good of the Church, which I understand and acept. Even so, I decided at that point that I would comment no further in any public forum... even if asked by name.
I take exception to that decision today to support my brother associate and to offer one reflection. History indicates that challenges and crises come and go. Though it may be difficult and perhaps lengthy, the current financial scandal will be resolved. When it is, there is no reason to believe that the OCA will not come out of it a stronger more vibrant organism... administratively, at least.
Perhaps the bigger (and far more deadly) scandal is the way individuals are being treated in the handling of the current crisis and the debate surrounding the means to address it.
While the high level of disrespect shown by some national church leaders and administrators toward the Faithful cannot be denied, it can never justify a similar lack of respect shown toward those who do not agree with a certain course of action... whatever that action may be.
No matter how well-intentioned our words or actions may be, no matter how noble the desired end... from either side of this issue... there are reputations being damaged and spirits harmed.
May God keep all of us mindful of this fact as we choose our words and plan our deeds.
#13 the "other" priest on 2006-09-12 12:36
Hey Marty,
Good catch. Lot on my mind with that email. Sure was Fr. Paul that said 2 million faithful. God willing, he's right, if not today, then someday.
#14 Daniel E. Fall on 2006-09-12 18:09
The biggest problem here is that the Metroplitan is continuing to deceive his flock. The second biggest problem is he continues to think he's untouchable, rather than acting like a man who knows its time to step aside for the good of YOUR church and allow the healing to begin.
When, not if, but when, the Metroplitan and others are indicted, will you then see that there is actually a problem?
#15 Bob H. on 2006-09-13 16:10
Withholding Fair Share is wrong unless the doors are closed and you can't see and aren't allowed inside the church.
A great response from the "other" priest.
Unfortunately, reputations and spirits of the people responsible for the financial failures can't replace losses of 1.7M over 5 years. Even the best intent can result in overspending. We've all done it, and it is surely easy for a church who shares the goal to give.
I thought long and hard about my comments about our representative Alice Woog before I made them. I have only made conditional comments about people in the past, so I wasn't too glad about the decision I had come to..
I believe there are a number of people in the administrative ranks that don't believe any dialogue with laity is important, or that the laity need to step through a 'chain of command', but that thinking is flawed after the financial failures of late.
The OCA does not get a free pass because it is God's institution. The Catholic Church thought that and children were harmed.
The decision I have come to over this matter of dialogue with laity is based on a view of how the world operates and what extra steps the OCA must now take to operate in the world contribution market now after these problems.
If I donate to the Red Cross, I am a customer of the Red Cross and they are accountable to me and dialogue is required between me and them. If the Red Cross wants additional contributors, they must earn that privilege by reporting how they spend their contributions. If they wish to exist without any scrutiny on spending, their existence shrinks unless they prove it out in other ways.
Post failure...
If the OCA only wants Fair Share and nothing more, then, and only then, would I agree that the OCA shouldn't engage dialogue with laity. This means budget appeals, seminary appeals, charity appeals, bequests, and other forms of contribution would be outside consideration. This means the MC and Synod should approve the administration's budget and take remedial action when budgets fail. This also hasn't happened under the current MC/Synod.
If the concern is that the image of the OCA would be damaged by discussion of the problems in an open forum; we are far beyond that concern today.
How can anyone have it both ways? Discontinue dialogue with the laity for image, or because of the 'chain of command', when the church has failed so miserably for 5 years or more and still expect contributions, even turnaround? Or get Dn. Peter out of it so the Communications Dept can do it even though they are non-financial managers? Silly. All of it, just silly stuff.
No apologies from me, just disappointment. A small church administration budget like 4.2M dollars and you don't want to report it and results against it so that the people who support it can see if it thrives or just survives? To what end? Full collapse? The ends desired by Alice Woog are surely to keep people out of decisions, like Fr. Wojcik in Clayton from complaining about travel budgets, for example, and all the bickering that may bring.
Unfortunately, after the administration, Synod, and Metropolican Council come up 1.7M short after 5 years, the scrutiny is required, and those that don't want it need be fired.
The Metropolitan Council members are elected persons, subject to the same scrutiny of any elected official. The Midwest truly needs to think long and hard about who it nominates for this important role.
A secular organization I worked for had a worker advisory board that met each month. The administration took all questions, published them, and responded to them. Many questions resulted in "this will be checked". All questions were answered. They didn't owe anyone any answer. The administration did it for their own benefit. To have problems brought to their attention, even if it was old sandwiches in a vending machine. They didn't want to lose people because a vending machine wasn't tended properly. Or problems with too much warped material.. The administration could go an confront a purchasing manager who had been trying to cover up the problems and seek remedies to the issue.
This simple dialogue is invaluable and can result in many solutions. It doesn't come without costs.
I'll finish by saying I'm more than disappointed in our elected representative for wanting to quash this important dialogue and for letting the church administration slip us 1.7M into the red. Unless I'm mistaken, she has also been against "Best Practices". This stuff is stacking up and I can't get to a good reason.
For these reasons, I ask her leave.
No AAC in 2008 will be very bad for the church.
#16 Daniel E. Fall on 2006-09-13 16:46
Daniel, (and Patty and Mark and KRT)
One issue that grips me is the notion that we should withhold funds from Syosset.... that somehow, this will fix things.
Back during Lent, when BT of the West stopped paying my dues to Syosset, I was furious (!) and said so. I didn't want my axe grinding bishop withholding it as part of his defiance of the Met. I sent money directly to New York to make up, in a small way, for this.
But now, here we are, almost six months later, with the same odor emanating from Long Island. I honestly believe that many - including several in Syosset are trying to right the ship and move forward.
1) we're still seeing Watergate-like responses to questions,
2) we're still trying to understand how membership figures can be construed to some multiple of reality, and
3) it seems like the light at the end of the tunnel has been extinguished because someone misspent electric bill money.
I've tried to be a moderate in my statements on this site, in contrast to some who seem to call for daily reenactment of the French revolution. I've tried to remember the honey-vinegar balance in catching flies, I guess.
But is it now time to withhold money from our national church, as the parish in Wisconsin believes? Will that force the issue and get the dudes that haven't apparently taken us seriously to wake up? Or will it exacerbate a bad situation and hurt people that are innocent bystanders?
What do you folks think? I respect your opinions.
#17 Marty Brown on 2006-09-13 17:02
Dear Mr. Brown,
A fair question and one on which reasonable people can disagree.
I keep waiting and hoping for some constructive action by "the powers that be." So far I see nothing but obstruction and attempts to silence dissent, at least as far as the clergy are concerned. Everything else, and there is not much else, is window dressing designed to pacify the credulous.
Under these circumstances, withholding the assessment makes sense to me. Of course some innocents may suffer in the short run, but it will be nothing compared to the suffering that will occur if the underlying problems are not addressed. The laity will not, and should not, support church institutions that have been corrupted.
There are of course many other things that can be done to force change and reform. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit will be manifest in many different ways.
#18 Kenneth R. Tobin on 2006-09-13 19:21
I believe Marty is onto something. Perhaps there has already been a reduction in receipts that has gotten their attention. A further reduction may well result in simple, shorter, declarative sentences being the rule for answers to questions from the people funding the OCA.
I've tried (probably without much success) to be moderate in my own responses as well. I believe the fundamental difficulty is that the Metropolitan believes those who are making criticisms are merely the 21st century equivalent of the renovationists, or the "Living Church" adherents from the years following after the Bolshevik Revolution. His Beatitude seems to think that if he just hangs on long enough, the critics will blow away in the wind like Fr. Kedrovsky.
His Beatitude does not understand that (myself excluded) those making the criticisms are faithful, decent people who need to be encouraged rather than to be shunned.
It is also possible that life in "higher" Orthodox circles, as it actually exists, is not only more twisted and complicated than we imagine, but is more twisted and complicated than we can imagine.
#19 Ed Unneland on 2006-09-13 19:33
The Feast of the Elevation of the Cross/ Sept.14th
To All:
With respect to this web site and all the comments, documents and opinions posted, it's really time to move on. The problems have been brought to light and investigations are taking place. There are a number of people who will make sure the truth comes out and all issues are handled properly. The faithful will be made aware of everything, however, let's move on!
All of this is fascination is what Fr. Alexander Schmemann use to refer to as those preferring the scandals and darkness of the humanity in the Church rather than the "JOY" which Christ came to proclaim. There have always been scandals and improprieties in the Church from the beginning. Christ's death on the cross was the biggest scandal for all mankind yet, we are called to see "what is really important" not caught up in the scandals and evil of men.
Let the accountants and lawyers do their jobs and let's move on.
I suggest that to ensure future strength in the OCA, a decentralization of church authority be considered. A weaker central church administration and stronger diocesan authority with strong lay leadership.
Whatever the outcome, let's remember that we are followers of "Christ crucified" which is folly to the world. We are called to a higher standard of forgiveness and "taking up our cross" and following Christ. Let's move on choosing to build up the Body of Christ and spreading the Good News that "Christ is Risen" and last enemy has been destroyed.
"O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine inheritance. Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries and by the virtue of thy Cross preserve thy habitation."
#20 Nicholas Kobbs on 2006-09-14 07:36
Dream on! Read Mark's response to this "head in the sand" approach to Mr. Geeza.
#21 Kenneth R. Tobin on 2006-09-14 09:36
I would love to agree with you, but the OCA just released the 2006 budget this September.
We have no way of knowing if the OCA is on target for bequest and other contributions, which make up 13% of its income sources, and are likely the float that has sank the boat over the last 5 years.
They have not met best practices (although working toward) and it is the laities dollars that will end up paying for this mess.
There is notable weakness across all of management, admin, Synod, and MC. An AAC is now supposedly not going to happen in 2008.
The first dialogue has just been opened between administration and laity and even MC members are against it.
All is not well.
#22 Daniel E. Fall on 2006-09-14 12:37
"The problems have been brought to light and investigations are taking place. There are a number of people who will make sure the truth comes out and all issues are handled properly. The faithful will be made aware of everything, however, let's move on!"
#23 Linda Weir on 2006-09-14 14:50
I am encouraged by the growing number of Orthodox who have come to the realization that withholding funds is the only way that we will get the administration's attention.....
#24 Sergei on 2006-09-19 18:11
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I teach a variety of courses for communication studies, educational studies, and sociology, including intercultural communication, media effects, women/men/communication, nonverbal communication, rhetorical criticism, public speaking, and argumentation and debate.
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Looking for more information about Wolf Wajsbrot?
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1925 — Krasnik, Poland
When Wolf was a young boy, his family moved to France to escape Poland's economic instability and growing antisemitism. Soon after they settled in Paris, his father found work in construction, and Wolf started elementary school.
1933-39: Paris was home to Wolf, but he loved to listen to his parents reminisce about autumns in Krasnik and journeys to Lublin. Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. The Wajsbrots learned of the death camps and mass deportations of Jews. Wolf's parents no longer spoke of the past. Wolf received his school certificate, and at age 14 he began an apprenticeship to a mechanic.
1940-44: The Germans crossed into France in early 1940, and by June they occupied Paris. The Wajsbrots escaped many of the early roundups of Jews, but on July 16, 1942, Wolf's parents were arrested and deported. At 17 he joined the armed resistance group, Franc-Tireurs et Partisans, to fight against the German occupation. He helped to set two bombs on a Paris street that killed many German officers and soldiers. In the autumn of 1943 he was arrested.
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Lafayette Consolidated Government Votes To Keep Red Light Cameras In Lafayette
Last night Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) voted in favor to amend their current contract with RedFlex, the company that manages the Red Light Cameras in Lafayette. This will keep Red Light Cameras at various intersections in Lafayette, plus more cameras will be added with the city. Drivers in Lafayette can expect to see fixed-cameras at 4 additional locations/intersections, as opposed to 17, which was negotiated by the administration.


text:
hi folks,i m new in php. so far i m doing good but now i get the error Warning: mysql_fetch_array() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in xxxxxxi seriously hate this error. i can't find any help on why this error come but here is my code
function get_heads($cat_id){
$query = mysql_query("select * from categories where menu_name = {$cat_id}");
/* if($result = mysql_fetch_array($query)){
return $result;
return null;
die (mysql_error());
echo "$result";
first i thought i was doing the if statement wrong but now i tried the while and even then i have issues. help pls
The error indicates that the query has ended with an error.You have to check that before starting the while loop. And $result is an array, so instead of echo try print_r:
function get_heads($cat_id) {
$query = "
select *
from categories
where menu_name = {$cat_id}
$result = mysql_query($query);
if (!$result) {
die (mysql_error() . " in query $query");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
echo "<br />";
It usually means you had an error in your sql statement, so the smart move is to echo the error - OR go look in your mysql log file - pick up the exact query and check it.
Here is a guess. If your menu_name is a string, not an integer, then you have failed to quote the string in your statement
".....where menu_name = '$cat'";
What Cups said will probably fix your problem, however if you run into this error again with a more complex query, or you just can't find what the problem is, what I always do is echo the query and throw it into phpmyadmin, see what that says.
Yeah, I should have said that too - what Kokos means is do this:
function get_heads($cat_id){
$qry = "select * from categories where menu_name = {$cat_id}"
$query = mysql_query($qry);
// etc
// then if things go wrong add this line:
echo $qry ;
Then you can see your query AND the variables that PHP has inserted for you (or not ) and then paste it into whatever you use to manage your database.
Instead of doing that, you can look in your mysql logfile.
As for finding your logs, my logs are in:
"C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\data"
My logfile is usually that last file in that folder that has changed, go to the bottom of that file and you will see the last query mysql handled.
The logfile you want is normally called <name of your machine>.log
When it gets too long, delete it, and restart the mysql server in Services and it creates a new one.
Maybe there is an easier way?
well now i did my query simple way and not in function so uncomplicated things for me until they get solved. but the error seem to be very deceiving. it says now You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1 in query and here is my query
$query = mysql_query("select * from categories where menu_name= {$sub_cat["id"]}");
die (mysql_error() . " in query $query");
even i tried to wrap the query in single quote i get inner error around id.this query is driving me nuts by not working. Edit : I tried to figure out. and seem if i do a simple simple * from table it doesn't prompt any error but after where it give same error.but still wondering why its happening
You still haven't quoted your variable, isn't this causing the problem?
SELECT * FROM `categories` WHERE `menu_name` = '{$sub_cat["id"]}'
can u tell with the whole mysql_query thing with the query. i m confused here:confused:
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `categories` WHERE `menu_name` = '{$sub_cat["id"]}'");
die (mysql_error() . " in query $query");
Ah! now it worked. so where was i going wrong?


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SAINT LEO, Fla. – Saint Leo University head men's tennis coach James Bryce has announced the signings of Ismail Lemtouni and Bruno Sisti to join the Lions' men's tennis program beginning in the fall of 2012.
Both signing National Letters of Intent, Lemtouni joins Saint Leo from Georgia Perimeter College, while Sisti comes from the IMG Academy in Bradenton.
"Both of these future student-athletes will add to a squad that didn't lose a starter from last year's NCAA Tournament team," said Bryce. "They will only improve the level of competition, both in practice and during the regular season. As a group we feel this will only help us improve our chances of obtaining all of our goals."
Coming off their most successful season in program history, Bryce has added punch to his nationally-ranked squad as they look to improve their 16-8 record from a year ago.
Earning back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, the Lions finished third in the Sunshine State Conference, while seeing its first-ever win over Rollins. The team also finished 12th in the nation, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, while briefly cracking the top-10 for the first time ever.
Ismail Lemtouni
Junior | Georgia Perimeter College
A native of Tangier, Morocco, Lemtouni excelled while at Georgia Perimeter. Named the regions player of the year, he was designated the nation's top doubles player and was runner-up at the JUCO National Championships in 2011 en route to an undefeated season. Competing out of the two flight position for both season, the back-to-back ITA All-American guided his team to a fourth-place finish, according to ITA, and concluded the season ranked 15th in the country in singles and tops in the nation in doubles.
Bryce's Thoughts: "Ismail has been one of the top junior college players for the past two years and will bring a great deal of experience and maturity to the tennis program. Top tier JUCO players are always big contributors to any NCAA squad, and I hope Ismail will bring the same energy and level he demonstrated at GPC. I am looking forward to his involvement."
Bruno Sisti
Freshman | IMG Academy - Bradenton
Bryce's Thoughts: "Bruno is a big hitting Brazilian who has trained at IMG during high school. His work ethic and desire to improve will be a big help to our squad. Bruno's potential over the course of his college career is unlimited and I am looking forward to see what he can produce in the future."
Lemtouni and Sisti will join the rest of the team in the fall as they open up their preseason schedule with the Varner Invitational.
For more on the nationally-ranked men's tennis team, visit SaintLeoLions.com.


text:
How can you pick good skin care if you don't even know why you're cleaning your skin? To start, your skin is the largest organ in your body. Yes, it's an organ, just like your heart, lungs, or kidneys. The skin keeps us warm, protected, and holds all our many parts together. It's also largely responsible for eliminating wastes and maintaining our constant body temperature.
The skin is built in layers, like a sandwich. If you were to take your skin and stretch it out, it would stretch about 18 square feet and weigh over 3 kilograms. That's a lot of surface area! The layers that make up the skin are very important when discussing skin care. The first layer is the epidermis, a thin layer of tightly packed cells that are constantly being shed. Protecting the epidermis is a layer of sebaceous oil and perspiration called the acid mantle. The slight acidity of this coating protects the skin from bacteria.
Below the epidermis is the dermis, a middle layer that gives our skin strength and flexibility. Collagen and elastin fibers, two big players in aging skin, are located here and it's predominately their fault when your skin starts to sag and wrinkle. The final layer of the skin is the subcutaneous layer. Mostly this is fatty tissue that gives our skin smoothness and contour.
The skin is our protection, but that doesn't mean it's bulletproof. In order to excrete wastes, the skin must be able to breathe. Oxygen passes into and out of the skin along with salts, sweat, and waste particles. This also means that chemicals applied to the surface of the skin. are just one step away from being in the body. This is why proper skin care and finding safe products is very important for not only your skin's sake, but also your overall health.


text:
Foreign Minister Westerwelle condemns kidnapping of UN observers
Mar 7, 2013
21 United Nations observers were yesterday kidnapped by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights. Foreign Minister Westerwelle issued the following statement today, March 7,2013:
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms yesterday's kidnapping of UN observers in the Golan Heights and I welcome the UN Security Council's prompt and clear response. Neutral United Nations personnel must not be allowed to become pawns in the civil war in Syria.
I call upon those responsible to release the UN observers immediately."


text:
de Marco Levy
Acerca del libro
When we started thinking about a Mitzvah Project we were posed with two main questions: who did we want to help and how? The first thing that came to mind was to raise money for a cause that was close to home or had affected our lives. After days of brainstorming, two things became evident:
My brother Marco had a passion for cooking beyond remark and our lives were changed forever when my grandmother (Nona Yolanda) succumbed to brain cancer.
My brother Marco, who is a year younger than me (12), has a love for cooking like that is remarkable. He spends most afternoons cooking, inventing recipes or watching the Food Network. He has already created several recipes of his own which have become favorites among several of my mother's friends. During Israel's recent border security issues with Lebanon, he and I raised money for the Israeli Defense Forces by selling his famous "Rougales". However, this time we wanted to do something that would remain with people for a longer time, something that would ensure our remembrance of Nona Yolanda forever.
This is how this recipe book was born. In it we compile most of my brother's best recipes (I say "most" because he says that some are "secret") and recipes he loves that were passed down from my grandmother. All the recipes were written by him and in some cases translated from Spanish by my mother who has given us much support, love and infinite patience throughout this process.
Nona Yolanda passed away six years ago from Brain Cancer, she was 62 and I was 7. She was treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York. My father tells me that it is a remarkable place. We hope that nobody ever has to go there, but we also know that by contributing the money that we receive from the sales of our recipe book to this institution we are going to help other people get a better chance at life.
We hope you enjoy the book's wonderful recipes and also know that your purchase will go a long way to help others.
Características y detalles
- Categoría Cocina
Cuadrado pequeño, 18×18 cm
40 Páginas
- Fecha de publicación jun. 26, 2008
- Etiquetas cook books, recipe books, chef marco, orange cafe
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text:
Hey everybody, this is Pete Abraham of The Journal News and I wanted to use John's blog to reach out to any Mets fans from Westchester, Rockland or Putnam counties.
What's your opinion of Carlos Beltran? It seems that while he has been a very good player (this month aside), he hasn't quite won the hearts of Mets fans. Agree or disagree? What is about him you don't like?
I am looking for comments from a few fans for a piece I'm writing. If you'd like to comment, please send me an e-mail with what you think.
Pete Abraham


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SMWC Professor Kathryn Myers Becomes Author
November 25th, 2013 | SMWC
When Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Associate Professor of Paralegal Studies, Kathryn Myers, saw a gap in the available learning materials for her field, she decided to do something about it. Myers recently became an author when she wrote three books about legal research, writing and analysis. One text contains all three topics, "Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing;" one text is "Legal Research;" and the final is "Legal Analysis and Writing." She is using the comprehensive book in campus and distance courses.
"There are many textbooks about legal research because it is a staple of any paralegal or law school program. However, I have never found a text that not only explains what to do and how to do it but why," states Myers. "I think that students need to understand why something is done; therefore, they can better utilize the other tools of what to do and how to do it."
The SMWC paralegal studies program incorporates the Core Competencies identified by the American Association for Paralegal Education (AAfPE), to which SMWC is an institutional member in good standing. A past president of the AAfPE, Myers serves as coordinator of the paralegal program at The Woods. In her 29 years at SMWC, Myers has had many accomplishments and opportunities that she is grateful for.
"I not only have created a wonderful paralegal program with over a 90% placement rate but also had the opportunities to develop and pursue other interests such as helping to create two criminology programs, teaching some general studies and teaching some political science courses," states Myers. "I have also been encouraged to participate in national, state and local activities relating to paralegal and law."
Myers is actively involved in paralegal organizations and frequently creates continuing education sessions on legal research and writing, as well as other topics, for programs sponsored by the Indiana State Bar Association, the Indianapolis Bar Association, and Indiana Paralegal Association. Myers has been active in the AAfPE since 1989, serving on numerous committees, acting as editor of The Paralegal Educator, and serving as President of AAfPE in 2001-2002. She has chaired and served on the national conference committee since 2002 and has been a frequent speaker at regional and annual AAfPE conferences, often covering research and writing. Myers spoke on the value of print research at the Nov. 2013 annual conference in Phoenix.
In addition to her position in the paralegal program, Myers is also the director of the SMWC Honors Program. No matter what role she is in, she always has the students' best interests in mind.
"If I make a difference in the life of just one student, I am successful," states Myers. "Seeing the proverbial light bulb come on is an exciting time."
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text:
In economics, utility is a measure of the relative satisfaction or desiredness from consumption of goods. Given this measure, one may speak meaningfully of increasing or decreasing utility, and thereby explain economic behavior in terms of attempts to increase one's utility. A theoretical unit of measurement for utility is the 'util'.
The doctrine of utilitarianism saw the maximization of utility as a moral criterion for the organization of society. According to utilitarians, such as Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1876), society should aim to maximize the total utility of individuals, aiming for "the greatest happiness for the greatest number".
In neoclassical economics, rationality is precisely defined in terms of imputed utility-maximizing behavior under economic constraints. As a hypothetical behavioral measure, utility does not require attribution of mental states suggested by "happiness", "satisfaction", etc.
Utility is applied by economists in such constructs as the indifference curve, which plots the combination of commodities that an individual or a society requires to maintain a given level of satisfaction. Individual utility and social utility can be construed as the dependent variable of a utility function (such as an indifference curve map) and a social welfare function respectively. When coupled with production or commodity constraints, these functions can represent Pareto efficiency, such as illustrated by Edgeworth boxes and contract curves. Such efficiency is a central concept of welfare economics.
Cardinal/ordinal utility Edit
Economists distinguish between cardinal utility and ordinal utility. When cardinal utility is used, the magnitude of utility differences is treated as an ethically or behaviorally significant quantity. On the other hand, ordinal utility captures only ranking and not strength of preferences. An important example of a cardinal utility is the probability of achieving some target.
Utility functions of both sorts assign real numbers (utils) to members of a choice set. For example, suppose a cup of coffee has utility of 120 utils, a cup of tea has a utility of 80 utils, and a cup of water has a utility of 40 utils. When speaking of cardinal utility, it could be concluded that the cup of coffee is exactly the same amount better than a cup of tea as the cup of tea is better than the cup of water.
It is tempting when dealing with cardinal utility to aggregate utilities across persons. The argument against this is that interpersonal comparisons of utility are suspect because there is no good way to interpret how different people value consumption bundles.
When ordinal utilities are used, differences in utils are treated as ethically or behaviorally meaningless: the utility values assigned encode a full behavioral ordering between members of a choice set, but nothing about strength of preferences. In the above example, it would only be possible to say that coffee is preferred to tea to water, but no more.
Neoclassical economics has largely retreated from using cardinal utility functions as the basic objects of economic analysis, in favor of considering agent preferences over choice sets. As will be seen in subsequent sections, however, preference relations can often be rationalized as utility functions satisfying a variety of useful properties.
Ordinal utility functions are equivalent up to monotone transformations, while cardinal utilities are equivalent up to positive linear transformations.
Utility functionsEdit
While preferences are the conventional foundation of microeconomics, it is convenient to represent preferences with a utility function and reason indirectly about preferences with utility functions. Let X be the consumption set, the set of all mutually-exclusive packages the consumer could conceivably consume (such as an indifference curve map without the indifference curves). The consumer's utility function ranks each package in the consumption set. If u(x) ≥ u(y) (x R y), then the consumer strictly prefers x to y or is indifferent between them.
For example, suppose a consumer's consumption set is X = {nothing, 1 apple, 1 orange, 1 apple and 1 orange, 2 apples, 2 oranges}, and its utility function is u(nothing) = 0, u (1 apple) = 1, u (1 orange) = 2, u (1 apple and 1 orange) = 4, u (2 apples) = 2 and u (2 oranges) = 3. Then this consumer prefers 1 orange to 1 apple, but prefers one of each to 2 oranges.
In microeconomic models, there are usually a finite set of L commodities, and a consumer may consume an arbitrary amount of each commodity. This gives a consumption set of , and each package is a vector containing the amounts of each commodity. In the previous example, we might say there are two commodities: apples and oranges. If we say apples is the first commodity, and oranges the second, then the consumption set X = and u (0, 0) = 0, u (1, 0) = 1, u (0, 1) = 2, u (1, 1) = 4, u (2, 0) = 2, u (0, 2) = 3 as before. Note that for u to be a utility function on X, it must be defined for every package in X.
A utility function rationalizes a preference relation on X if for every , if and only if . If u rationalizes , then this implies is complete and transitive, and hence rational.
In order to simplify calculations, various assumptions have been made of utility functions.
- constant elasticity of substitution (constant elasticity of substitution, or isoelastic) utility is one with constant relative risk aversion
- Exponential utility exhibits constant absolute risk aversion
- Quasilinear utility
- Homothetic utility
Most utility functions used in modeling or theory are well-behaved. They usually exhibit monotonicity, convexity, and global non-satiation. There are some important exceptions, however.
Lexicographic preferences cannot even be represented by a utility function.
Expected utilityEdit
- Main article: Expected utility hypothesis
The expected utility model was first proposed by Daniel Bernoulli as a solution to the St. Petersburg paradox. Bernoulli argued that the paradox could be resolved if decisionmakers displayed risk aversion and argued for a logarithmic cardinal utility function.
The first important use of the expected utility theory was that of John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern who used the assumption of expected utility maximization in their formulation of game theory.
A von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function assigns a real number to every element of the outcome space in a way that captures the agent's preferences over both simple and compound lotteries (put in category-theoretic language, induces a morphism between the category of preferences under uncertainty and the category of reals). The agent will prefer a lottery to a lottery if and only if the expected utility (iterated over compound lotteries if necessary) of is greater than the expected utility of .
Restricting to the discrete choice context, let be a simple lottery such that , where is the probability that is won. We may also consider compound lotteries, where the prizes are themselves simple lotteries.
The expected utility theorem says that a von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function exists if and only if the agent's preference relation on the space of simple lotteries satisfies four axioms: completeness, transitivity, convexity/continuity (also called the Archimedean property), and independence.
Completeness and transitivity are discussed supra. The Archimedean property says that for simple lotteries , then there exists a such that the agent is indifferent between and the compound lottery mixing between and with probability and , respectively. Independence means that if the agent is indifferent between simple lotteries and , the agent is also indifferent between mixed with an arbitrary simple lottery with probability and mixed with with the same probability .
Independence is probably the most controversial of the axioms. A variety of generalized expected utility theories have arisen, most of which drop or relax the independence axiom.
Discussion and criticismEdit
Different value systems have different perspectives on the use of utility in making moral judgments. For example, Marxists, Kantians, and certain libertarians (such as Nozick) all believe utility to be irrelevant as a moral standard or at least not as important as other factors such as natural rights, law, conscience and/or religious doctrine. It is debatable whether any of these can be adequately represented in a system that uses a utility model.
See alsoEdit
- Allais paradox
- behavioral economics
- consumer surplus
- convex preferences
- decision theory
- efficient market theory
- expectation utilities
- Ellsberg paradox
- game theory
- list of economics topics
- marginal utility
- microeconomics
- prospect theory
- cumulative prospect theory
- risk aversion
- risk premium
- Transferable utility
- Utility Maximization Problem
- utility (patent)
- utility model
References and additional readingEdit
- Neumann, John von and Morgenstern, Oskar Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton, NJ. Princeton University Press. 1944 sec.ed. 1947
- Nash Jr., John F. The Bargaining Problem. Econometrica 18:155 1950
- Anand, Paul. Foundations of Rational Choice Under Risk Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1993 reprinted 1995, 2002
- Kreps, David M. Notes on the Theory of Choice. Boulder, CO. Westview Press. 1988
- Fishburn, Peter C. Utility Theory for Decision Making. Huntington, NY. Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co. 1970


text:
Face it: They could release both a grisly death photo and a video of his swift burial at sea, but it wouldn't really feel like Osama Bin Laden is dead until someone slapped together a celebratory dance song and dropped it on iTunes. So rejoice, for 50 Cent's G-Unit protégé Hot Rod has done just that, releasing "Osama Bin Laden Is Dead" to a nation desperate for some sense of closure, preferably driven by cheap jock-jam synths and peppered with Charlie Sheen references. In addition to Cinco de Mayo, it looks like you now have the long-overdue assassination of a terrorist figurehead as an excuse to party like you just moved one step closer to healing the wounds of 9/11, y'all. [Buzzfeed]
Submit your Newswire tips here.


text:
So, Is Dimock's Water Really Safe to Drink?
Preliminary test data appears to complicate the Environmental Protection Agency's assurances that the water is safe to drink in a Pennsylvania town (EPA said nothing about cause).
March 21: This post has been corrected.
When the Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that tests showed the water is safe to drink in Dimock, Penn., a national hot spot for concerns about fracking, it seemed to vindicate the energy industry's insistence that drilling had not caused pollution in the area.
But what the agency didn't say – at least, not publicly – is that the water samples contained dangerous quantities of methane gas, a finding that confirmed some of the agency's initial concerns and the complaints raised by Dimock residents since 2009.
The test results also showed the group of wells contained dozens of other contaminants, including low levels of chemicals known to cause cancer and heavy metals that exceed the agency's "trigger level" and could lead to illness if consumed over an extended period of time. The EPA's assurances suggest that the substances detected do not violate specific drinking water standards, but no such standards exist for some of the contaminants and some experts said the agency should have acknowledged that they were detected at all.
"Any suggestion that water from these wells is safe for domestic use would be preliminary or inappropriate," said Ron Bishop, a chemist at the State University of New York's College at Oneonta, who has spoken out about environmental concerns from drilling.
Dimock residents are struggling to reconcile the EPA's public account with the results they have been given in private.
"I'm sitting here looking at the values I have on my sheet – I'm over the thresholds – and yet they are telling me my water is drinkable," said Scott Ely, a Dimock resident whose water contains methane at three times the state limit, as well as lithium, a substance that can cause kidney and thyroid disorders. "I'm confused about the whole thing… I'm flabbergasted."
The water in Dimock first became the focus of international attention after residents there alleged in 2009 that natural gas drilling, and fracking, had led to widespread contamination. That April, ProPublica reported that a woman's drinking water well blew up. Pennsylvania officials eventually determined that underground methane gas leaks had been caused by Cabot Oil and Gas, which was drilling wells nearby. Pennsylvania sanctioned Cabot, and for a short time the company provided drinking water to households in the Dimock area.
This January, the EPA announced it would take over the state's investigation, testing the water in more than 60 homes and agreeing to provide drinking water to several of families – including the Elys – in the meantime.
Then, last Thursday, the EPA released a brief statement saying that the first 11 samples to come back from the lab "did not show levels of contamination that could present a health concern." The agency noted that some metals, methane, salt and bacteria had been detected, but at low levels that did not exceed federal thresholds. It said that arsenic exceeding federal water standards was detected in two samples.
But Dimock residents say the agency's description didn't jibe with the material in test packets distributed to them, and they voiced concerns about why the EPA had passed judgment before seeing results from nearly 50 homes. Several shared raw data and materials they were given by the EPA with Josh Fox, the director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "GasLand," who shared them with ProPublica.
EPA press secretary Betsaida Alcantara said the agency was trying to be forthcoming by giving the tests results to Dimock residents and is now considering whether to release more information to the public about the water samples. "We made a commitment to the residents that we would give them the information as soon as we had it," she said. "For the sake of transparency we felt it was the right thing to do."
However preliminary, the data is significant because it is the first EPA research into drilling-related concerned on the east coast, and the agency's first new information since it concluded that there was likely a link between fracking and water contamination in central Wyoming last December. The EPA is currently in the midst of a national investigation into the effects of fracking on groundwater, but that research is separate.
As the agency has elsewhere, the EPA began the testing in Dimock in search of methane and found it.
Methane is not considered poisonous to drink, and therefore is not a health threat in the same way as other pollutants. But the gas can collect in confined spaces and cause deadly explosions, or smother people if they breathe too much of it. Four of the five residential water results obtained by ProPublica show methane levels exceeding Pennsylvania standards; one as high as seven times the threshold and nearly twice the EPA's less stringent standard.
The methane detections were accompanied by ethane, another type of natural gas that experts say often signifies the methane came from deeply buried gas deposits similar to those being drilled for energy and not from natural sources near the surface.
Among the other substances detected at low levels in Dimock's water are a suite of chemicals known to come from some sort of hydrocarbon substance, such as diesel fuel or roofing tar. They include anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene– all substances described by a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as cancer-causing even in very small amounts. Chromium, aluminum, lead and other metals were also detected, as were chlorides, salts, bromide and strontium, minerals that can occur naturally but are often associated with natural gas drilling.
It is unclear whether these contaminants have any connection to drilling activities near Dimock. The agency says it plans further testing and research.
Many of the compounds detected have not been evaluated for exposure risk by federal scientists or do not have an exposure limit assigned to them, making it difficult to know whether they present a risk to human health.
Inconsistencies in the EPA's sampling results also are raising concerns. EPA documents, for example, list two different thresholds for the detection of bromide, a naturally occurring substance sometimes used in drilling fluids, opening up the possibility that bromide may have been detected, but not reported, in some tests.
"The threshold that it is safe, that shouldn't be changing," said Susan Riha, director of the New York State Water Resources Institute and a professor of earth sciences at Cornell University. "For some reason … one was twice as sensitive as the other one."
The EPA did not respond to questions about the detection limits, or any other technical inquiries about the test data.
A spokesman for Cabot declined to comment on the water test results or their significance, saying that he had not yet seen the data.
Correction: This post said EPA tests had detected bromium in some Dimock water wells. It should have said bromide. Also, the post identified Susan Riha as the director of the New York State Water Resources Group. She is the director of the Water Resources Institute at Cornell University.
71 comments
I was waiting to see what kind of spin you would put on this. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed, you ran to your hard core anti-drilling "scientific" sources and got them to spin the results in the worst possible way they could. But the facts are the facts, there isn't any evidence that the water quality issues currently seen in Dimock have anything to do with drilling and we now have the EPA's data to corroborate that. It would appear that the well water in Dimock is perfectly safe to drink, with levels of contaminates no greater than what would normally be seen in an area with similar geology and residential development.
But why should the EPA's testing show contamination linked to drilling activities, the DEP's didn't and the DEP had access to the drilling companies baseline water quality data … something you continually refuse to even acknowledge let alone address.
If the drilling is done correctly i believe them in that it isn't unsafe, but the problem is when they cut corners to save money accidents happen. Whether its a cracked concrete seal or just incorrect disposal of the fluids this can and does contaminate soil and water. Any logical person knows that. I can show list of fines in the dozens for violations of drilling companies in PA alone. Thats the problem doing it cheap to save money. If they were respectful of the way they do their fracking their wouldnt be a problem.
Sheldon, your view reflects the sentiment of many in the southwest corner of PA. My friends and I see the fracking boom as a gold rush, and everyone wants to strike it rich quick. I think the methane harvested from these wells can help us transition from an oil economy, but we have to do it responsibly. If people's wells are becoming contaminated, I don't see that as acceptable.
Mike H: What part of "preliminary" do you not understand in your scientific mind. The Catskill Formation is common to many other parts of Pennsylvania with underlying Marcellus (and other marine) formation. Yet, in areas with no active drilling the high methane is NOT common nor is other common organics. While PADEP persists in pointing out the Salt Springs State Park well, they refuse to acknowledge even what the Indians knew that this is a rare occurrence of salt (brines) and the related methane. It is interesting that Ivy Industrial Park TCE/PCE investigation just to the south is in the same (Catskill) formation and had hundreds of wells tested. Yet the only organics were related to the solvents at several sources. Again, if you say "similar geologic terrain" then why is high methane not detected in Luzerne and other southern counties not drilled yet, or even to the south near Waverly. If you wish to play geologist, get a degree and license. We have enough so called experts playing the role these days.
I'm sure that if you put glasses of Dimocks water in front of any of the nay sayers including Gas company executives and their families.I very highly doubt any of them would drink it.
Very well said Murray. This industry will just keep denying, but if you challenge them to drink water from one of the contaminated wells, well that's another story.
To anyone that states Dimock's water is safe to drink: I would like you to go drink that water for 2 years. If you're still alive we can debate further on the safe/unsafe issue.
Yes I would love to travel from city to city where frac tech international (dallas fort worth area) and interview people who live near gas drilling and ask them myself!!
They include anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene and benzo(a)pyrene– all substances described by a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as cancer-causing even in very small amounts.
Ooohhhhh … so scary! But like with many things written by Mr Lustgarten, context is king, so lets dig into what the water quality report said and what the relative risks are.
Fluoranthene wasn't detected in any sample at a greater concentration of .3 micrograms/liter. The EPA's NOAEL (no observable adverse effect level) for fluoranthene is 125 mg/kg/day. That means at a concentration of .3 micrograms/liter (the largest value from the study), a 65lb child would have to consume a staggering 3,286,000 gallons of water EVER DAY to even reach the lowest level of concern that the EPA has epidemiological data on for fluoranthene.
Anthracene wasn't detected in any sample at a greater concentration of .23 micrograms/liter. The EPA's for anthracene is 1000 mg/kg/day. That means at a concentration of .23 micrograms/liter (the largest value from the study), our same 65lb child would have to consume a mind boggling 34,324,943 gallons of water EVER DAY to even reach the lowest level of concern that the EPA has epidemiological data on for anthracene.
Pyrene wasn't detected in any sample at a greater concentration of .26 micrograms/liter. The EPA's for pyrene is 75 mg/kg/day. That means at a concentration of .26 micrograms/liter (the largest value from the study), our same 65lb child would have to consume a mind boggling 2,277,000 gallons of water EVER DAY to even reach the lowest level of concern that the EPA has epidemiological data on for pyrene.
And finally we come to benzo(a)pyrene which wasn't detected in any sample at a greater concentration of .2 micrograms/liter. The EPA's doesnt specify what the NOAEL for benzo(a)pyrene is, but from what I could dig up a dose of 200 mg/kg/day has been established for mice undergoing intermediate exposure to benzo(a)pyrene. That means at a concentration of .2 micrograms/liter (the largest value from the study), our same 65lb child would have to consume a lake draining 7,894,000 gallons of water EVER DAY to be put in danger from the benzo(a)pyrene levels seen in the EPA's data.
Now I don't know anyone, be it man or beast that can consume several million gallons of water a day … perhaps Mr Lustgarten does … I don't know, but clearly this is an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Yes yes yes to you Murray…..ask the oil companys to live in and eat and drink from these area for a week and bath in the contaminated water…none of them will…it sickens me what THEY are getting away with and moving closer to my home—-
Would the gas execs give this "safe" water to their kids to grow on? Or is Dimock and other neighborhood frack water another socialized loss for financial gain?
is there really ANY acceptable level of carcinogens or dangerous chemicals to have in your family's drinking water??
I hear you Marlene,I am in contract with my Independent MLA up here in B.C.Canada.She is up north near Tumbler Ridge looking into Dying animals and people that are getting sick.[She is there to find the truth]Our current Provincial Goverment is being Brainwashed by $ signs and the Gas Co. lobbyists.B.C. is 2nd only to the U.S.in fracking.The reason they are doing so much isn't for ther peoples interest but for a cheap energy souce for the Tar Sands in Alberta.Please search: CBC 16x9 at that site pls search Fracking,It will give you an idea of whats going on up here.It is sure easy for these nay sayers to slam this topic when it's not their drinking water.
As usual, the story got ahead of the facts!
I don't know if it's possible to safely extract shale gas in any region, including and especially the heavily populated and groundwater-dependent Northeast. I don't know if anyone knows. Even if it is possible to extract shale gas safely, is that what is happening? There have been a tremendous number of violations in PA.
A PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center study of PADEP records found that between Jan. 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011, there were 3,355 violations of environmental laws by 64 different Marcellus Shale gas drilling companies in PA and that 2,392 of the violations "likely posed a direct threat to our environment and were not reporting or paperwork violations." The study also pointed out that because of limited PADEP enforcement staff, additional violations probably occurred that were not noted by the PADEP.
The Scranton Times-Tribune is currently reporting on methane contamination in Franklin Township, PA. Investigations into that situation are ongoing.
There are so many red flags out there at this point that to continue putting people's health & property at risk would be criminal. We need a nationwide moratorium on shale gas extraction & we also need an honest and open investigation into its safety.
Just want to make sure that everybody knows the energy companies actually pay people to monitor these sites and post disinformation. They make it sound really official or down to earth too. If you follow these sites enough you can almost spot them by their writing style and certain phrases.
EPA should be ashamed. I use to work there BR (Before Reagan). Now its just mostly hacks.
Obama bowed to the financial industry for money and now it appears he wants money from the energy industry.
I have recently read a book, Censoring Science (Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of global Warming). That was under George W. Bush. I smell something similar going on here. It's a shame that this is under Barack Obama. EPA workers are likely as pissed as we are. Obama has a website. Barrage him with complaints about this.
Betsy, I access Common Dreams daily. On that site it's easy to detect the paid disinformers. They project a pseudo-cool (until somebody really pricks their soft underbelly); and then they stay on and repeatedly post to argue against all who disagree with them.
More global; warming?
It took only 2 1/2 months for Dimock's tap water to to eat through a plastic gallon (water). Then, unfortunately, my Nuke Alert is set off at over 40 beeps per second every time I walk passed where it leaked with a trail out the door into the yard. Oops! I polluted! What puzzles me is why the local wells don't have methane contamination.
Betsy said :
"the energy companies actually pay people to monitor these sites and post disinformation"
I agree. I'm also sure that Obama and the Dems, the Repubs, and every major corporate criminal organization does the same.
They do everything they can to keep complete control over every aspect of media including comment sections where much of the real evidence in the world is posted. I am often attacked when I post the evidence I've compiled at :
The campaign contributions that support that evidence are seen in Exhibit C of my Federal Court filing that is posted at :
(Everything else on that site is redundant with the first site. The first site has the newest evidence regarding Obama and the U.S. government protecting Wachovia Banks laundering of $378 billion for the murderous Mexican cartels.)
(Wachovia Paid $110 Million in Fines Which is 1/3 of one percent of the $378 Billion of Murder Related Money They Laundered !!)
I believe all the corporate crimes including the energy companies collusion with the EPA are all very connected as evidenced by Bill Moyers quote on PBS :
"How did politics create a winner-take-all economy? This was an inside job, politically engineered by Wall Street and Washington working hand-in-hand, to turn the legend of Robin Hood on its head: giving to the rich and taking from everybody else. It's all on the record."
Our government's relationship with the energy industry is like a sophisticated corporate mafia "inside job" too. I believe we should all try to stop injustices. At the same time there is so much evidence that our government is controlled by murderous sociopaths I believe the most important thing we can do is pray and be as close to God as we possibly can. I also pray God will help the sociopaths to see the destruction there greed is causing, and find God and change their ways.
I've had cancer burned from one eye and orbital surgery on the other, I have many falls and accidents and typing makes that worse, and there's so much evidence I'm having huge problems getting it organized.
Since we are all in great danger I am obsessed with doing whatever I can.
Any Grand Jury can easily organize the evidence and seek indictments of Obama and Bush and their DOL, DOJ and SEC, EPA and other agency directors.I probably won't be responding to any new attacks from Mike H or any of the other names he posts under; responding to their obfuscations is like playing a shell game blindfolded.
At least Im glad to see that the EPA has stepped up to pay for the water for these people and their animals. Im so tired of seeing tax payers having to foot the bills (bail outs) for corporate executives who rape the poor, middle class and the land so they can get richer. Id say before they frack in other peoples back yards, they first need to frack their own properties including vacation homes and then frack each and every one of their relatives…then, and only then I may change my opinion on fracking. Theres an old saying about doing unto others as youd have done to you
it is so annoying to read some of the comments of people who are so quick to defend the companies who are doing this fracking. why are they jumping to their defense. why would they not even consider that a company (and our government) would do something harmful or unethical and then hide or lie about their actions. to me it is quite obvious that fracking is harmful to the health of people and the health of our earth. why is it always about money. why are so many people against working towards green energy alternatives. i for one would sacrifice the conveniences in my life, what little i have, for a better world for all. it really is all so frustrating.
Just a slight technical correction, As a chemist I must point out that the term "heavy metals" really doesn't mean anytthing. Please refer to the link below and the copied abstract from The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
It is often used as a group name for metals and semimetals (metalloids) that have been associated with contamination and potential toxicity or ecotoxicity. At the same time, legal regulations often specify a list of "heavy metals" to which they apply. Such lists differ from one set of regulations to another and the term is sometimes used without even specifying which "heavy metals" are covered. However, there is no authoritative definition to be found in the relevant literature. There is a tendency, unsupported by the facts, to assume that all so-called "heavy metals" and their compounds have highly toxic or ecotoxic properties. This has no basis in chemical or toxicological data. Thus, the term "heavy metals" is both meaningless and misleading.
Statoil has a better fracking record than other companies because of their claims they don't cut corners. Wildcat oparations do, like in Colorado and Wyoming. They all need to be watched consistently
Fracking must be stopped they are ruining our land and precious environment…when will the people of America wake up? This should be one of the biggest fights in American History… before they (GOV + GAS CO's) destroy it all!
The problem, as I see it is not the extraction of oil and gas, it's the special treatment the gas and oil industry bought and paid for from our elected offitials, whose salaries we pay, who changed the constitution to grant exemptions to the industry from the laws that protected the citizens and environment. That was a smart move on the part of the industry - they did their homework and real dumb of the American people to not vote the scoundrels out of office. When 40% of the people make the rules and 60% don't give a d__ned about what congress is doing, you get what we have. Freedom is not free! Neither is the media truthful. You need to register to vote and then research your politicians and weed out the ones who take money and vote for the legislation favoring the money giver. It really is our fault.
Ever since the Supreme Court gave corporations personhood the whole country will crumble…....the money they are now able to give as persons outweighs the democratic notion of one person one vote. The corporations now legally buy and sell politicians and there is no hope unless the people wake up.
The only reason to hurry up and frack (why not wait, the prices are terriblyl low now) is to get in before we find the links between it and diseases and pollution. They are just shipping the excess to China anyway…....chill and study…...but they know what they will find.
Jen H: you said you are tired of taxpayers having to foot the bill, and you are glad the EPA is providing clean water, (to Dimmick residents), well, the EPA is taxpayer funded, too, so yes, we taxpayers are paying to provide clean water to replace the water that the corporate criminals contaminated. Declare your county fracking-free and work to amend the constitution to deny person-hood to corporations, etc.
I read a very disheartening article in the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/us/wind-river-indian-reservation-where-brutality-is-banal.html about the Wind River Reservation of Wyoming the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined in the middle of the state and the article was about the large crime rate and there are only six police men in the entire area said there the following:
"On one section of the reservation, people must boil drinking water because chemicals, possibly the result of the oil and natural gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, have contaminated the water supply. And fearing that the chemicals might explode in a home, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered residents to run fans and otherwise ensure ventilation while bathing or washing clothes."
the story is about the huge unemployment at this location were all this gas drilling is going on but no Indians seem to be able to get a job and the unemployment rate is 80%
I live in the West, in the Rockies. You can drive through Canyons where the earth has moved huge blocks of Land upward. Going through a Canyon, you see Ice frozen where water has leaked from the cracks in the rock.
The forces that drive mountains high come from deep in the earth and the rock is not just a solid piece like concrete, it is pourous, lots of rocks of different sizes, intertwined, and they have "gaps" between them that allows water to come down 10,000 feet to the valley below as springs, creeks, and rivers.
Inside snowcapped mountains are reservoirs that leak gradually and provides a year round spring as it makes its way to the valley floor. If there is not enough snow in the winter, the water in the creek drys up early. So the mountain is a reservoir of water with gradual leakage through the cracks that wind up as creeks and springs.
Now imagine if you were to take a mountain and turn it upside down, with the water being forced Upward (can do that if a geyser) like in Yellowstone and New Zealand.
In this case, Gas that can rise to the surface rather than water that flows downward.
We have a river that flows in a valley and runs out into the high desert and disappears. It later appears, 150 miles away at springs.
Years ago, a farmer tried to create a reservoir by using a bull dozer to dig a deep pond and then using the bull dozer to divert this river to the pond. The pond filled up.
The farmer came back a few days later and all the water was gone. It had drained out into the cracks in the bottom of the pond. Where he had disturbed the normal River channel, the water was also gone or diminished.
When he bull dozed the river bottom to funnel water into his newly dug reservoir, he disturbed the "silt cover" that plugged the cracks that mother nature had filled over centuries. Disturbing that base, opened up cracks and fissures that allowed the water to seep into and disappear.
Now think upside down. Gas rises and disturbing the century old barriers of mother nature could cause cracks to open up, couldn't it?
I do not think, where the "fracking" is taking place is much different than this unique area in the Rockies. East of here just might have a deeper top soil but down deep, the same cracks we have in the west, that Mother Nature has plugged up with silt, are present and if disturbed, will cause the water to disappear (water table) and in the case of gas, to rise up into the drinking water.
Just ask the people who turned on the tap and watched it blow up.
Wonder why? The earth is constantly changing, mini-earthquakes and lots of movement, shifting of rock and "cracks" that would allow water to seep away. Or cause Gas to escape upward into the Water shed.
Hopefully, someone will recognize that before all ancient water tables are ruined.
I think if all these people believe the water is safe to drink they should get a bottle to drink every day for a year and then have their blood tested. That's the only way to prove that the water is safe. You people be the lab rats!!!!!
No matter how "God like" an individual, Corporation or conglomerate thinks they are, it is gross ignorance to confront/oppose the natural order of existance. It is as it is and you don't mess with MOTHER NATURE. Mike, you are right -very observant! As things are going, in four generations all our babies will be born in a test tube, provided we freeze enough sperm now while our males are still capable. Check out Dr. Theo Colburns research on Endocrine Disruptors (ED) for a reality check.
I disagree with the comment that the residents of Carter Road in Dimmock had water delivered for a short time. 3 and a half years is NOT a short time to put up with their lives being disrupted. Also ,in the winter they had to pay excess electric bills to keep the water from freezing. When they filled a glass with water ,it looked like milk and when they put their finger into the glass , they could not see it. Their kids cryed when they found out that the Pa DEP said they could return to the same well water. They did NOT want to be covered with scabs again and someday have children. PaDEP is a Paper Tiger when they backed off from a directive to Cabot to bring municipal water from Montrose.When acting DEP secretary John Hanger refused to drink the water he said was fine in the film Gasland, he showed his level of commitment and beliefs. These are crimes against humanity and have to be addressed.No matter how many criminals get paid off!
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
I was reminded of this Paine quote after reading the comments here. No results will be accepted unless they already agree with the preconceptions of the anti-frackers.
As someone here once did to me, I have to direct people here to "Inconclusive by Design," an easy-to-read report (PDF freely downloadable—just plug the title into a search engine) detailing a history of the EPA and related organizations "investigating" superfund sites (remember those?) using mathematical models and experimental methodologies that couldn't possibly result in a real conclusion. It shows a systemic approach at the time of covering up concerns rather than exposing them.
Regarding fracking itself, it's the wrong approach, even if it was perfectly safe. It assumes that, if it was cutting edge in 1950, it's perfect for today, too. It's brute force, and only an idiot uses brute force to solve a problem for more than half a century.
As I mentioned in commenting on another article, it's highly likely that natural gas (y'know, methane, which is exactly what we all pretend doesn't come out of us) is created in a biological process actively performed on existing petroleum products. Logically, it's the only possible difference between fossil fuel deposits with natural gas and those without.
Rather than destroy the deposits, find the fungus or bacteria that eats coal and oil and excretes methane, and gas can be harvested from abandoned mines and wells, for example, essentially for the price of containment. More benefit and less cost than fracking, making energy nearly pure profit.
Of course, the downside would be that oil executives and geologists can't overcompensate for their other shortcomings by thrusting pipes deep into Mother Earth to ejaculate their fracking fluids. That'll probably result in a decrease in employment for Freudian therapists.
But as a bonus, it's likely that such a bug would also happily clean up our oil spills and (with luck) plastic garbage along the way.
First,I am tired of the rhetoric about how natural gas will give us energy independance when vast quantities are being exported to the highest bidder and new LNG ports are being requested along the coasts so the gas can be sold outside the USA on the spot market! Same for the pipeline for the tar sands oil when there is no reqiirement to keep that oil in the USA! It's all about the profit,not our independance and as for the environmental issues;what a joke! The fox watches the henhouse just like the MMS scandal a few years ago. Money talks and big oil money roars! Remember the Gulf oil nightmare which still leaks to this day! "But It's a Big Gulf"!!! (Disclaimer);I have invested on the spot market for both oil and gas and have made money but stopped because it is destroying this country!
Bang On Pat,When will people open their eyes to the Truth.This has nothing to to what's best for the people.It's only for the best intrests of the Corporations.It's all about Greed.Just like the Food industry that buys off and lobbys the Goverment to allow crap like the Pink sludge that goes into our food chain.Shame on them all!
I'm going to buy up all of this land in and around Dimock. I'll offer the owners reasonable rates, but I'm definitely going to get my money's worth. Then, with the EPA's support since the water is so clean, I'm going to open me a water bottling plant and bottle me some water and get rich selling perfectly clean and safe bottled water to all the bottled-water drinking folk all over the country; maybe even Europe. Anybody want in? We'll all get rich, and with EPA's blessing; why would they refuse? All of the analysis is already being conducted and the results are in: THE WATER IS SAFE! I hope nobody steals my idea.
These are the most highly scrutinized water wells in the country. Not a single entity has answered anything other than YES, THE WATER IS SAFE TO DRINK.
Mike Knapp
It is easy to make comments and voice opinions. Unfortunately, commenting and voicing opinions without knowledge of truths is ignorance. I transported 6 gallons of the Sautner's water to the Ottsville, PA area for a meeting, keeping 1 gallon for showing in my hometown. By mid September the chemicals in the water ate holes in the water (pastic) container. It dripped on the floor, out the door and into the yard as I carried the leaky jug out of the house. It left a trail of radioactive something that still sets my Nuk Alert off everytime I get near where it dripped. In December, the water at the Sautners had changed very little in color and smell or radioactivity. Anyone claiming otherwise is either paid to make such claims or is outright ignorant of the facts. Someone making statements that are untrue, knowing they are untrue is a liar.
To anyone suggesting that fracking will provide energy independence, do some research. The natural gas being harvested through this poisonous process is being shipped to other countries for sale.
Never mind me, I'm a paid shill.
If I knocked over an oil filter from my car near a storm drain I could get fined or sent to jail. How does anyone get a pass pumping diesel fuel and other chemicals in the ground?
PLEASE SIGN this PETITION that AMERICAN RIVERS started to BAN FRACKING in the Susquehanna River Valley Basin. PLEASE - have to reach 2,500 soon. Thank you! http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-natural-gas-development-in-the-susquehanna-river-basin
This comment is directed specifically to Mike H, but also those attempting to defend fracking. You are missing the fundamental point here. From my perspective that is twofold:
1. As long as you try to defend fracking and try to paint a picture which is clean and pristine to people like me who are, very admittedly, suspicious and skeptical of fracking, you will fail. While I appreciate your efforts, the thought and time and math you have put into your posts here, you will fail with me, and that is because of point #2.
2. The water is not clean and pristine anymore. It has been tainted at least, but more likely ruined. There is no acceptable level of these compounds except zero. Synthetic compounds appearing in drinking water is unacceptable at any level. There is no defense. Period.
Your entire argument boils down to "don't confuse me with the facts, I already have my mind made up".
How very progressive.
Actually, that increasingly sounds like your position, Mike, and Edwin's point is sound. Where is the ecosystem damage coming from that appears to coincide with fracking?
Seriously. I don't mean that as an insult or sarcasm. Move away from "there's no proven link" and towards solving the problem. The former has no credibility because there was once no proven link between socialization and the flu, or cigarettes and lung cancer.
Can you show that there's no link or that the link is to something else, or are you simply relying on the fact that no EPA model (which are statistically invalid for the purpose) have demonstrated the link to avoid responsibility?
The problem is this: do you err on the side of profit for the next 5 years, or, do you make a decision based on the fact that clean ground water can not be created, and when it is gone, it is GONE. we can't drink fossil fuels. or methane. and this water—similar to what is found in wyoming—can't be used in ag or livestock operations. REALLY? in a hundred years, all the money made from from these wells will not be enough to purchase clean ground water. profit now, to risk something that absolutely cannot be replaced? You think gas prices are bad? Just wait for what you will pay for clean water in 25 years.
Commenting on this story is closed.
Fracking: Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
The promise of abundant natural gas is colliding with fears about water contamination.
The Story So Far
The country's push to find clean domestic energy has zeroed in on natural gas, but cases of water contamination have raised serious questions about the primary drilling method being used. Vast deposits of natural gas, large enough to supply the country for decades, have brought a drilling boom stretching across 31 states. The drilling technique being used, called hydraulic fracturing, shoots water, sand and toxic chemicals into the ground to break up rock and release the gas.


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Brian May and Kerry Ellis Perform Free Gig at St Pancras International
Rock music icon Brian May and West End Sensation Kerry Ellis are set to kick off Tiger Tracks in spectacular fashion on Friday 1 March. Fresh from their candle-lit Born Free tour, the pair will perform a number of classics in front of large crowds at St Pancras International, officially opening the world's largest tiger conservation event.
At 6pm Brian and Kerry will take to the stage on St Pancras International's Grand Terrace, throwing their support behind Tiger Tracks and Save Wild Tigers, a fundraising and awareness initiative set up by the Born Free Foundation and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
Tiger Tracks is presented by Save Wild Tigers, a global conservation awareness and fund-raising initiative. Set up by Simon Clinton in partnership with two leading conservation charities, the Born Free Foundation and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which have joined forces to end the illegal trade in tiger parts and protect tigers in the wild. Tiger Tracks is sponsored by Veolia Environnement.
For more information check out http://stpancras.com/news/the-countdown-to-tiger-tracks/
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From This Author Samantha Vega


text:
The action of moving your leg so that your foot hits the ground in a repetitive, tapping motion in order to create a steady noise while attempting to exemplify the behavior of one under the influence or lacking of brain cells.
While Jackie was inebriated at the party, people began to hear a strange, yet steady tapping sound which they found to originate from her foot beating on the ground in a lame motion later known as The Jackie.
by Gailees February 23, 2011
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