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What could a restored Northwestern Pacific Railroad provide for Humboldt County? We could have a much more economical and environmentally sound method for the movement of goods and materials into and out of Humboldt County. Many trucks carrying solid waste and recycled materials could be replaced by much more efficient railcars. There is also a growing need for a port facility to handle the shipment of bulk cargos such as grain, minerals and scrap for recycling.
A restored railroad would allow for historic excursion trains between Eureka and Samoa with occasional runs as far south as Shively and South Fork. I envision a day when self-propelled passenger cars would run on a regular and frequent schedule between Fortuna and Arcata. They would not only serve students at Humboldt State and College of the Redwoods, but shoppers and workers within all three cities.
Full restoration of the railroad would allow for resuming scheduled or excursion passenger service between Humboldt County and the San Francisco Bay Region. If they could do it in 1914, surely we can do it today. Even if reopening the Eel River Canyon does not prove to be environmentally feasible, many of the benefits could be enjoyed by a short line railroad just within Humboldt County.
I continued to be amazed by the opposition to a railroad on the North Coast. While the rest of the world looks to rail as the most economical and environmentally sound method for the transportation of people and goods, there is opposition to the restoration of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad by some of those who consider themselves to be environmentalists. Although Europe is far ahead of the United States, even this country is moving to improve our rail systems and Amtrak has the highest number of passengers in its history. Even California voted last month to support high-speed passenger rail between major cities. Marin and Sonoma counties voted, by a two-thirds majority, to tax themselves to provide passenger rail.
So, what's the problem here? First of all, the railroad had been shut down for 10 years. There are those that believe it will never have a chance of returning. There are even those that don't want the railroad to return, for various reasons. I strongly believe that those who do not want the railroad are shortsighted and frankly, very selfish.
One group that doesn't want the railroad is the trail advocates. Those trail advocates want the railroad to go away, in the belief that they can then use the right-of-way for a trail. What they fail to recognize is that if the railroad went away, they still would not have a trail.
I have heard arguments that the North Coast Railroad Authority should rail bank the rail line north of Willits so that it can be turned into a trail. By federal law, to rail bank, the NCRA would first have to formally and legally abandon the rail line. A lot of the right-of-way, including areas between Eureka and Arcata, are not owned by the NCRA. The NCRA holds a permanent easement within that right-of-way that allows it only to operate a railroad. If the rail line is formally and legally abandoned, that easement reverts to the underlying property owners. Any trail organization would have to negotiate purchase of a trail easement with those property owners. I am also aware of a large number of those property owners who are not interested in opening up their property to be used as a trail.
I believe that a trail, especially between Eureka and Arcata, would be of benefit to a large number of people. However, there has been and continues to be a tremendous amount of wasted energy and political capital in the insistence that the only possible trail is along the railroad right-of-way. While there are areas where a trail could be constructed adjacent to the railroad, there are other areas where the railroad right-of-way is too narrow to allow for a trail. It would make a lot more sense to develop a trail on the east side of Highway 101 than to spend all this energy on something that will never happen.
Loss of this publicly owned right-of-way would be a permanent and tragic loss to the people of Humboldt County. Let's start working together for the greater good of the entire community with the most environmentally creative approach that includes both rails and trails.
Former Assemblyman Dan Hauser represented the North Coast from 1982 to 1996 and authored the legislation founding the North Coast Railroad Authority, along with then State Sen. Barry Keene. He lives in Arcata.


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TRS-80 Level-I BASIC could only store two string variables, A$ and B$. Similarly, I was born with only two bug-storing-slots in my brain. At any given time, I can only remember two bugs. If you ask me to remember three, one of them will fall on the floor and get swept under the bed with the dust bunnies, who will eat it.
|Joel Spolsky
|Painless Bug Tracking

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Subjects taught at LSE | Services and divisions (administration)
All research groups | Research subject areas
Postgraduate scholarships are awarded annually to TWO students who have been accepted for postgraduate study at LSE. These students MUST have completed one of the degrees offered by the University of London International Programmes, for which the LSE provides academic direction.
Pictured: Former students Arun and Ronnie receive their postgraduate scholarships from Professor Janet Hartley.
To qualify, students will normally have, or expect to have, a first class honours degree. These scholarships will cover tuition fees only.
To apply, please complete the following application and submit this to Simon Jolly (firstname.lastname@example.com)
Scholarship Application Form UoLIP LSE 2017
If you are applying to study at LSE and require information about funding your studies, please visit the School's Financial Support Office website.
Use of this website is subject to, and implies acceptance of, its Terms of use (including Copyright and intellectual property, Privacy and data protection and Accessibility). The London School of Economics and Political Science is a School of the University of London. It is a charity and is incorporated in England as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Acts (Reg no. 70527).The registered office address of the School is: The London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK; Tel: +44 (0)20 7405 7686


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The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program with the United Way of Douglas County engages individuals 55 and better in community service activities that match their interests and meet vital community needs.
RSVP aids agencies and volunteers by providing members with limited mileage reimbursement, supplemental insurance, recognition.
This is the opportunity for those 55 and over to join the largest national movement in volunteerism ever! This is a way for individuals to utilize their experience and skills; especially professional skills to improve the Douglas County community.


text:
NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Kidney Diseases
High Potassium Levels
What are the results of high potassium?
Usually none unless the potassium goes up rapidly or is very elevated. In the case of either one of these there can be reversible muscle weakness and/or sudden cardiac death. Hyperkalemia of this magnitude can be detected on an EKG, and is a medical emergency.
Thomas Zipp, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University


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Wenger supports Jack Wilshere
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has backed Jack Wilshere over the midfielder's assertion that only "English people" should play for England.
• Lomas: St George's Park built to last
• Marcotti: Too much too young
• Brewin: England stuck in the middle
The subject of players' eligibility to represent a nation where they were not born has been a much-discussed topic following Manchester United manager David Moyes' claim that the FA is looking into recruiting Belgium-born Adnan Januzaj -- who has Albanian-Kosovar parents -- in the future through FIFA's five-year residency rule.
When asked at the general issue earlier this week, Wilshere said: "The only people who should play for England are English people. If you live in England for five years, it doesn't make you English.
"You shouldn't play. It doesn't mean you can play for a country. If I went to Spain and lived there for five years, I'm not going to play for Spain."
Wilshere's comments stoked up the debate, and the 21-year-old took the Twitter on Wednesday to clarify his position, saying: "I wish he was English!"
Wenger has backed his player's opinion on the matter, telling BBC Sport: "I agree with him. I always said also an Englishman should manage the England team."
However, Wilshere's opinion was called into question by England cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who has an English mother but, like several of his international teammates, was born in South Africa.
The pair then engaged in an exchange of views on the social network.
.@JackWilshere -interested to know how you define foreigner...? Would that include me, Strauss, Trott, Prior, Justin Rose, Froome, Mo Farah?— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) October 9, 2013
.@JackWilshere same difference.. It's about representing your country! IN ANY SPORT!— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) October 9, 2013
In an attempt to close the debate, Wilshere concluded:
To be clear, never said 'born in England' - I said English people should play for England.— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) October 9, 2013
Great respect for people like KP, Mo Farah and Wilf Zaha - they make the country proud.— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) October 9, 2013
My view on football - going to a new country when ur an adult, & because u can get a passport u play 4 that national team - I disagree— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) October 9, 2013
Just saying my opinion, everyone is entitled to theirs. Can't wait for Friday night...— Jack Wilshere (@JackWilshere) October 9, 2013
Use a Facebook account to add a comment, subject to Facebook's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment, and may be used on ESPN's media platforms. Learn more.


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Stipa gigantea
golden oats
- Position: full sun
- Soil: moderately fertile, medium to light, well-drained soil
- Rate of growth: average
- Flowering period: June and July
- Other features: the flowers make attractive dried flower arrangements
- Hardiness: fully hardy
Arching stems of glistening, golden, oat-like flowerheads above clumps of slender, grey-green leaves. This majestic evergreen grass is an excellent specimen plant for a sunny, mixed or new perennial border. Perfect for introducing movement, it looks stunning under-planted with the rich purple flowerheads of Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'.
- Garden care: When planting always wear stout gardening gloves to protect against the sharp edges of the basal leaves. Wearing gloves, comb through the plant in early spring to remove dead foliage.


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TheStreet) ¿ " data-srcset=" 200w, NEW YORK (TheStreet) ¿ 500w" />
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Digital Generation ( DGIT), MannKind ( MNKD) and Windstream ( WIN) sank to 52-week lows on Thursday.
Digital Generation The digital technology services company reported Wednesday first-quarter net income of $988,000, or 4 cents a share, down from year-earlier net income of $12.7 million, or 45 cents. "Versus peers, we see DGIT shares trading at 4x-6x EBITDA, or $7-$17," Oppenheimer analysts wrote in a report Thursday. "Currently, we cannot justify a long-term fundamental thesis; however, the company might be attractive to a PE firm given its cash flow characteristics and strong industry position." Shares of Digital Generation hit a 52-week low of $8.66 on Thursday. The stock's 52-week high of $36.67 was set one year ago. Digital Generation trades at an estimated price-to-earnings ratio for next year of 5.21 times; the average for broadcast and entertainment companies is 13.47. Five of the nine analysts who cover Digital Generation rated it buy. Three analysts gave the stock a hold rating and one rated it sell. The stock has fallen 27.85% year to date.


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The town of Tiburon has become the first municipality in Marin County to ban smoking in all large apartment complexes.
The Tiburon Town Council voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt the new ordinance, which will allow smokers a three-year grace period before the ban takes effect.
"They did a first reading of the ordinance. It was a 5-0 vote," said Scott Anderson, the town's community development director. Adoption of the ordinance will become official after a second, largely perfunctory, reading on July 20.
Tiburon is the third municipality in Marin to restrict smoking in apartment buildings since April.
"This is the strictest law," said Bob Curry, who heads Marin County's Tobacco Related Disease Control Program.
In April, the Larkspur City Council adopted a ban on smoking in at least 80 percent of condominium and apartment units. In May, the Fairfax Town Council banned smoking in at least 75 percent of units but exempted condominiums and apartment buildings with fewer than four units.
Tiburon's new smoking ordinance exempts condos but affects all apartment complexes with four or more units. It also prohibits smoking in outdoor dining areas and parks, near building entrances and at outdoor special events. In addition to tobacco, the smoking ban covers "any other plant or herbal materials."
Jennie Cook, chairwoman of the Smoke-Free Marin Coalition, said, "I'm thrilled that Tiburon came through. It takes a few years to make it happen but at least we know it's going to be 100 percent smoke free."
Smoke-Free Marin is a coalition of grassroots anti-tobacco activists that has helped draft all of the local ordinances. Cook said the coalition is working to craft similar laws in Mill Valley, Sausalito and San Anselmo.
Cook said, "I think these cities compete and when they hear of one city doing something that is good for the public they get on the bandwagon. Within the next couple of years, we will probably have all of Marin County at least 80 percent non-smoking. That's an accomplishment."
Curry said that in September, Marin County supervisors may consider restricting smoking in apartments in unincorporated areas.
The lack of opposition to the ordinance in Tiburon was deafening. Town staffers mailed copies of the ordinance to all 51 owners of affected apartment properties and notices to all residents living in Tiburon's 660 rental apartments, affected restaurants and the Chamber of Commerce. The only response was two emails from residents supporting the ordinance.
In her email, Ellen Pesavento, who lives in a five-unit townhouse in Tiburon, recounted how she was helpless to do anything about a neighbor who smoked in her previous building, and noted her sister's death from lung cancer five years ago.
She wrote, "I applaud all of you for your work on our behalf for our health depends on this!"
Contact Richard Halstead via e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com


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AC input connector for BC3300 Charger
Expand Messages
- Sorry for the incomplete information I was requesting. I am looking for the
AC input connector that goes to the Solectria BC3300 or Brusa NLG4 Charger.
When I bought the car, mine was missing the connector. This is the female
side that would be connected to the top of the charger that provides AC to
the unit. Thanks,
Rick 1996 Solectria Force.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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She died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came.
The title of this post comes from the same song that Robert (from "Abnormal Anabaptist") used in the title of his post "All the lonely people, where do they all come from."
In his post, Robert is thinking about the lonely people in this world – people all around us. And, they really are all around us. If we take the time to pay attention, we'll see them everywhere.
At one point, Robert writes about a time he began to notice the "lonely people" while he was in the Emergency Room with his daughter:
First, we were alone. We sat there, my daughter and I, and no one interacted with us, really. Now, the receptionist dude at the desk took pity, offered a coloring book and a blanket to my daughter while we waited, but that was his job. And, he was busy so couldn't dedicate much time to us.
Secondly, we weren't the only ones alone. I saw children coming in with bruises and broken bones, people with injuries from car accidents, alcohol poisoning and/or a drug OD, fevers, illnesses, injuries, etc. And they all sat in their own little corners. No one talked to them. No one listened to them. No one showed any sense of compassion and humanity to them. "All the lonely people, where do they all come from."
Interestingly, love and concern for others is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit that Paul mentions. It is the "royal law" according to James. It is a demonstration that we truly love God, according to John. It is the most basic responses of a person who is following Jesus, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and submitting to God's will in his/her life.
In spite of love being the most basic response, every author of the New Testament books found it necessary to exhort their readers toward love. Love is the most basic response to God, but also one of the most difficult to follow him in.
Thanks for the exhortation to follow Jesus in loving others, Robert!
3 Comments
Comments are closed. If you would like to discuss this post, send an email to alan [at] alanknox [dot] net.
And thank you for the additional reminders of the scriptural bases for this type of love and compassion. Iron sharpens iron.
God bless!
As the saying goes,"That's where the rubber hits the road!"
Two very pertinent articles. Both great!


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Tunnel vision : the big dig view from my studio window on the corner of "A"" and Wormwood Streets in Boston
Five layers of cut-out illustrations depict a view of a construction site as seen through a window, held in place with an accordian binding on two sides.
Artist: Davidson, Laura
Publication Date: 2001
Original Size: 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 12 x 18 cm.
Collection: MSU Libraries Artists' Book Collection
© 2017 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer.


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Ask Experts & Get Answers to Your Questions - ASAP
Hi there Thank you for following up - I will be looking forward to hearing from Pam, hopefully soon Many thanks Birgit
Dear Pam - I hope you see this today - I increased the price Lots of love Birgit
Dear Birgit she says, "where do you stand with yourself"?
I have the connection Birgit but if I use it to only answer questions like a robot then the gift if not of any value. Instead I use it to assit the guides, so that in the long run you will have more fufillment than any "relationship" can ever, ever, ever provide.
Look not to where you stand with him, but where you stand with your soul.
I can give you an overview of 2013 based on your sun sign (Gemini) and your rising sign (Aquarius) and I can tell you now the focus will be on your career and work relationships, interestingly enough!
It's a short overview because this venue does not allow for a true, complete analysis of your entire chart. It would be valued at 60 usd. If you would like that, please let me know :)
I hope this helps...if this has been helpful please do rate my positively :)
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Owner convicted of killing his pet terrier
A dog owner has been convicted of killing his pet and throwing it from the balcony of his 15th floor flat.
Dean Edwards was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to his Staffordshire bull terrier following a two-day trial. The hearing was told the two-and-a-half year-old dog named Diesel suffered a "chest trauma" injury which caused "catastrophic" injuries to its heart and surrounding arteries.
The 44-year-old denied causing injury to the pet or throwing it over the balcony of the flat in Smith House in Stoney Lane, Bloxwich.
But he was convicted at Walsall Magistrates' Court on Friday and the hearing was adjourned until November 5 for reports.
The court was told the RSPCA and police were called after Diesel was found lying on the ground on November 15 last year.
During an inspection blood was found on the balcony and inside the flat.
Specialist vets said heavy bruising discovered on the dog was not consistent with a fall.
It was believed the animal was dead before it was found on the ground, said Mr Nick Sutton, prosecuting.
Edwards said the first he was aware of Diesel being on the ground was when he was awoken by the doorbell to his flat.
He said the dog had been sleeping on the balcony.
Mr Sarbjit Singh Lalli, defending, said that although baseball and roun-ders bats were seized from the flat but was nothing forensically linking them to Diesel.
But District Judge Michael Morris said: "The defendant struck a fatal blow to Diesel and attempted to throw Diesel to the ground to cover up."
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Steven Tyler, Nicki Minaj Spar Over "American Idol" Judging
ABC Digital
Updated at
(LOS ANGELES) — Everyone else has weighed in on the alleged feud between new American Idol judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj, so why not the guy who recently filled one of those seats at the table? Steven Tyler tells MTV that he's not happy with the reports of friction on the set of Idol.
"I know that they've got something going on on the judges' panel, [and] it shouldn't be that, it should be just the opposite. They should have something going on, which is called camaraderie," he said. "They should have something going on so thick and beautiful that they can lay it over the new talent that's trying to birth itself."
Tyler explained, "It needs to be birthed, not judged by entertainment factors. It needs to be judged by people that [are] honest, true, that have the 'it' factor. Not the 'it' factor because they can fight. [What] the f**k is that all about?"
Speaking about the new judges' abilities to nurture new talent, Tyler, 64, thinks he and fellow former judge Jennifer Lopez are much more capable in that department than, say, Nicki Minaj.
"These kids, they just got out of a car from the Midwest somewhere and they're in New York City, they're scared to death. You're not going to get the best [out of them]. … If it was Bob Dylan, Nicki Minaj would have had him sent to the cornfield," he said. "Whereas, if it was Bob Dylan with us, we would have brought the best of him out, as we did with Phillip Phillips. Just saying."
Minaj, 29, responded with a torrent of tweets.
"Steven Tyler said I would have sent Bob Dylan to a cornfield??? Steven, you haven't seen me judge one single solitary contestant yet!," she wrote. "I understand you really wanted to keep your job but take that up with the producers. I haven't done anything to you. That's a racist comment."
She continued, "You assume that I wouldn't have liked Bob Dylan??? why? black? rapper? what? go f**k yourself and worry about yourself babe."
She ended her tirade by pointing out, "When Steven 1st went on Idol he was ridiculed by his peers & fans alike. Called a sell out. So what does he do? Ridicule the next judge."
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, Kimmel asked Ryan Seacrest about Minaj's static with both Tyler and Carey before him. "Is Nicki Minaj crazy?" Kimmel queried. "Are you worried — are you scared of her?"
Seacrest laughed it off, adding, "I think people are going to be very impressed with how good she is as a judge on the show."
Kimmel also joked, "If Nicki Minaj pulls you off that stage and beats the life out of you on the air, that show's is going to be right back, 50 — who knows, maybe even 100 million viewers," to which Seacrest said gamely, "You know me, anything for the show."
The new season of American Idol starts Jan. 16.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio


text: GodisaGeek: "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a good shooter occasionally elevated beyond that by its subject matter. Unfortunately, every time it has a really good idea, someone else has already done it. The action, squad system and dialogue wheel are almost point-by-point imitations of those seen in Mass Effect 3, and the perma-death element just doesn't have the impact that it has in Enemy Unknown. While the mechanics are solid and the firefights are always great fun and just on the right side of challenging (at least when played on Squaddie – or Normal – difficulty), 2K Marin just don't take enough risks to hit the big time here."


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Marywood University School of Social Work Awarded Catholic Charities USA Centennial Medal
Published on Tue, September 28, 2010
Marywood University School of Social Work received the Catholic Charities USA Centennial Medal on Monday, September 27, in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. The award recognizes Marywood's contributions to the reduction of poverty in the United States and its commitment to the principles of Catholic Charities USA. Catholic Charities USA will presented Centennial medals to 100 recipients, chosen by a Centennial Medal Committee.
"As the School of Social Work's representative, I am greatly honored to accept the Catholic Charities USA Centennial Medal in recognition of the School's work over the past 40 years. The Centennial Medal recognizes the contributions of the BSW and MSW educational programs and faculty, as well as its many graduates who have served their communities and the social work profession admirably. All bring honor to Marywood University," said Lloyd L. Lyter, Ph.D., Interim Dean of the College of Health and Human Services.
The Marywood University School of Social Work is the leading provider of social work education in Northeast Pennsylvania, having educated more than 4,000 MSW and 500 BSW social workers since 1969. The school's hallmark flexibility in both scheduling and locations, as well as its welcoming learning environment, is responsive to beginning, career changing, and mid-career social work students. The MSW Program is offered at four geographic locations in the region and the social work track offers a Ph.D. in Human Development. The school's graduates are leaders in a variety of social work practice arenas in the region and throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, with a majority of its Ph.D. graduates in administrative, research, and college teaching positions.
About Catholic Charities USA:
Catholic Charities USA is the national office for Catholic Charities agencies and affiliates nationwide. As a professional association and social justice movement, Catholic Charities USA supports local Catholic Charities as they provide help and create hope for over 9 million people each year regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds.


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Aqueduct: Discreet Dancer to run in Grade 1 Carter
Discreet Dancer, the authoritative winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap on March 9, will attempt to become a Grade 1 winner when he runs in the $400,000 Carter Handicap here April 6, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Discreet Dancer is one of three horses Pletcher is scheduled to run in stakes on the April 6 card here. Verrazano is slated for the $1 million Wood Memorial, while Princess of Sylmar will go in the $250,000 Gazelle.
Discreet Dancer is 4 for 5 lifetime, with his only loss coming in the Fountain of Youth last year in his only start around two turns. The Carter is run at seven furlongs.
"Not one hundred percent sure what his best distance will turn out to be," Pletcher said Wednesday in a rare March appearance at Belmont Park. "Considering the options, seven-eighths is a good spot to try. If he were to run well, that could set him up for the Met Mile."
Others expected for the Carter include Fort Loudon and Comma to the Top.


text: Set: In a darkened room, no interior light source, filming out a glass window with antiglare properties at a distance of about 7 feet to catch a brightly lit object. I have the iris practically closed to compensate for the brightness which in the image makes the room dark but the image outside the window bright and clear. But then I open the iris and the brightness flows in creating an overexposure of light at the window And at the same time I let in full direct sunlight from behind me and to my left yet the image in the window remains overexposed. Shouldn't the sunlight washout the overexposure in the window from the outside light source since, after all the sunlight is so much brighter than the light source out the window? Or is the overexposure from the outside source normal still? Will I need to close the iris again somewhat to reduce the overexposure effect I'm getting in the antiglare window.


text:
Sep 10, 2011 at 10:01 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Adrian Peterson thinks he's the best running back in the game. Now he's getting paid like it, too.
Peterson agreed Saturday to a contract extension with the Vikings that includes $36 million in guaranteed money and as much as $100 million over the next seven years if he plays that long with Minnesota.
"It means a lot, man," Peterson said. "It shows from ownership and just this organization, that they recognize that. They recognize the (player) that they have. It means a lot. But money don't make you. It's hard work. Continuing to work hard and my focus is going to continue to be to help this team."
The deal came five days after the Vikings locked up linebacker Chad Greenway(notes) to a lucrative long-term contract, the latest in a line of millions of dollars doled out to top players by owner Zygi Wilf since he and his family purchased the franchise in 2005.
Peterson has begun the final year of his rookie deal on a $10.72 million salary and was in prime position for a big pay day. After setting the NFL's single-game rushing record with 296 yards against San Diego in 2007, Peterson has been picked for the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons. He's already second in Vikings history behind Robert Smith with 5,782 yards rushing for his career, and his 54 touchdowns over the last four years are the most in the league over that span.
"Adrian loves playing for the Minnesota Vikings," his agent, Ben Dogra, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "Deep inside he wanted to finish his career with the Minnesota Vikings."
There was some doubt about whether Peterson wanted to stay with the Vikings, who are coming off a disastrous 6-10 season and aren't being labeled Super Bowl contenders this season. But Peterson lauded the organization, particularly Mark and Zygi Wilf, who told both Peterson and Greenway early last season that he was going to keep them in Minnesota.
"He said 'I want to make sure you guys are going to remain Vikings for your careers,'" Peterson said. "He stayed true to that today. He stayed true to his word."
Temp: 72°F (22°C)
Dewpoint: 63
Wind: 16 SE
Weather: Clear


text:
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text:
A Coon Rapids girl has been volunteering since the was three years old.
Becca Wichlen is now 14 years old and a freshman at Coon Rapids High School.
Her volunteer work has not gone unnoticed.
Wichlen will be honored at the 10th District American Legion and Auxiliary convention in May with the Good Deed Award.
She is a member of the Coon Rapids American Legion Junior Auxiliary and her grandmother, Shirley Mosher, is a member of the Coon Rapids American Legion Auxiliary.
She enjoys volunteering, Wichlen said.
"Volunteering makes me feel good and I enjoy helping people," Wichlen said.
Wichlen started her volunteer work at a Columbia Heights nursing home where her great-grandfather was living.
She took part in game day once a month at the nursing home and found out how much fun it was to interact with the residents, according to Mosher.
"Even though her great-grandpa passed away several years ago, Becca continues to volunteer at the nursing home," Mosher said.
But Wichlen's volunteering goes beyond the nursing home.
As a child, Wichlen attended the Coon Rapids Day Care Center, which is located at the Coon Rapids United Methodist Church.
Wichlen still goes to the day care center, but as a volunteer now.
She works at the day care center's carnival every year and this year she also painted bean-bag toss characters on large pieces of plywood for the carnival, Mosher said.
The characters were from cartoons such as Cookie Monster and Sponge Bob Square Pants, she said.
Wichlen is also involved in volunteer work through participating in the many activities of the Girl Scout troop of which she is a member.
This includes packaging food at Feed My Starving Children in Coon Rapids, which Wichlen said all the girls enjoy doing.
Indeed, Wichlen has earned her Girl Scouts Bronze Award and for the past few years, she has sold over 500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, according to Mosher.
Wichlen's volunteer work extends to the Coon Rapids American Legion.
Last summer, she volunteered at the old car show, which took place on a series of Tuesday evenings in the Legion post parking lot.
Wichlen was a waitress, delivering hundred of hamburgers to both the old car owners and people attending the event to look at the vehicles.
"She and her younger brother both plan to participate again this year," Mosher said.
"Everyone at the Legion knows Becca."
As a freshman at Coon Rapids High School, Wichlen has been a member of the football and basketball cheerleaders through which she had been involved in volunteer work for the Missing Grace Foundation.
According to its website, the Missing Grace Foundation's mission is to provide resources and support for families that have experienced pregnancy loss, infant loss, infertility or adoption and to advocate for comprehensive, patient-focused prenatal care for all women.
Five core areas encompass the heart of the foundation's mission – grieve, restore, arise, commemorate and educate, the website states.
Wichlen had planned to go out for track this spring, but an ankle injury has prevented that, she said.
Wichlen has lived in Coon Rapids her whole life, attending L.O. Jacob Elementary School from kindergarten through second grade, then Morris Bye Elementary School and Coon Rapids Middle School.
Peter Bodley is at [email protected]


text:
Lockout V: Take the Long Way Home
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Originally Posted by
Thanks. Its under the assumption that they had played 82 games this year AND had 5% growth (although growth is adjustable). Yes it's unrealistic, however I'm not sure how/what else to put there in year 1 (2012) for revenue.
I would like to continue this, because I still don't get it. The revenue column means, "For the season ending in the year in column B, there was this much revenue" Is that right? That would mean, in 2011-12, there was the often assumed 3.3B in revenue.
Then, I would assume, and here is where I may be wrong, that, under a full season with normal revenue increases, that the increase for 2012-13 would be $3.3b * .05, right? But the spreadsheet is somehow double counting that.
The formulae in cells c6 and c18 are unlike all the rest, and that is the part that confuses me. I don't understand why the calculation for both of those years can't be the same as the rest. (Again, I understand we are assuming 'normal increases in revenue' and 'a full season played' because how all that gets dealt with if they play remains to be seen).
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text:
The rain couldn't dampen spirits at Pott Row during the weekend as a new sports facility, which officials hope will be the first of several boosts to facilities in the community.
A new dedicated area for playing the game of petanque, which is known as a terrain, was opened by West Norfolk's mayor, Barry Ayres, on Saturday – pictured above.
Representatives of the West Norfolk Petanque League also gave a demonstration of the sport, which is a version of the French game of boules.
The facility is the fruit of a fundraising campaign by the Hudson Fen Leisure charity, who say their main long-term ambition is to raise money for a new village hall. Their next project is to improve the rest of the ground so it can be used for football and other sports.
Secretary Claire Cook said: "We would like members of our community, of all ages, to use Hudson Fen and we hope it will be a popular facility that will aid us in raising our profile and awareness of our goals."


text:
Mirages and Mad Beliefs:
Marcel Proust was long the object of a cult in which the main point of reading his great novel In Search of Lost Time was to find, with its narrator, a redemptive epiphany in a pastry and a cup of lime-blossom tea. We now live in less confident times, in ways that place great strain on the assumptions and beliefs that made those earlier readings possible. This has led to a new manner of reading Proust, against the grain. In Mirages and Mad Beliefs, Christopher Prendergast argues the case differently, with the grain, on the basis that Proust himself was prey to self-doubt and found numerous, if indirect, ways of letting us know. Prendergast traces in detail the locations and forms of a quietly nondogmatic yet insistently skeptical voice that questions the redemptive aesthetic the novel is so often taken to celebrate, bringing the reader to wonder whether that aesthetic is but another instance of the mirage or the mad belief that, in other guises, figures prominently in In Search of Lost Time. In tracing the modalities of this self-pressuring voice, Prendergast ranges far and wide, across a multiplicity of ideas, themes, sources, and stylistic registers in Proust's literary thought and writing practice, attentive at every point to inflections of detail, in a sustained account of Proust the skeptic for the contemporary reader.
"[A] deliciously rich interrogation of the French novelist's oeuvre. . . . Prendergast has baked a millefeuille of a book here, crisp, rich and multilayered. Read it for its exposition of jokes, of magic, enchantment and spectrality, of the Proustian body (a place 'where we live but not where we are at home'), as well as for its awkward questions. Refusing to treat Proust as a celebrant, this book interrogates his gloriously mad project, while also amply fulfilling its intention to 'stay alert, with one of the most alert minds of modern literature.'"--Mary Bryden, Times Higher Education
"Prendergast . . . has produced a study that makes readers want to take a fresh look at the work--perhaps the best accomplishment for literary criticism."--Edward Ousselin, French Review
"From Bergson to Sebald, Prendergast's new book demonstrates his brilliant reach. Delving into the smallest details and largest ideas, as well as Proust's own 'truth written with the aid of figures,' this investigation of his skeptic perspective is as deep as it is wide."--Mary Ann Caws, author of Marcel Proust
"Christopher Prendergast extracts new and original meanings out of the best-known pages in Proust. This is the rewarding upshot of close and perspicuous readings that reveal ambiguities and paradoxes in passages whose interpretations are often taken for granted. Prendergast's admiration, far from blinding him, leads to his discovering the strength in Proust's loose ends."--Antoine Compagnon, Collège de France and Columbia University
Acknowledgments vii
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text:
I'm looking at making a homepage for myself that helps remind me to do daily habits. I'm fairly rusty on my programming skills. The point of this is to give me a useful little tool while I learn more about programming. I'm comfortable with HTML5. CSS3, PHP, and have made use of some jQuery based snippets and done minor modifications to them.
Here's how it will work:
- I open my browser and it loads a page with a list of my daily habits. - As I complete habits for the day, I click on them in the list, and they are hidden from view. Only the remaining habits are visible. - The next day, the habits list is reloaded. It seems simple enough, but I'm not sure how to approach it.
I'm just looking for general pointers to get me headed in the right direction. Things like:
Not called "habits", but the Ember.js site has a guide that walks through creating TodoMVC demo application.


text:
"I made these meatballs for my son's first birthday party and they were a huge hit. I got many requests for the recipe so I decided to post it. I served it with pre-sliced hoagie rolls and croissants, but some people just ate them plain with a fork."
Meatballs for Sandwiches
0 recipe photos
READY IN:4hrs 30mins
Ingredients Nutrition
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
- 1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1⁄2 sweet onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- italian seasoning
- 4 -5 lbs meatloaf mixture (ground beef and pork)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 slices bread, cubed and soaked in milk
- 3 eggs
- 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- italian seasoning
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix bread cubes soaked in milk, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, garlic, pepper, and seasoning in the bottom of a large bowl.
- Add meatloaf mix and combine with other ingredients using your hands. Don't mix too much, just make sure all ingredients are well blended.
- Roll mixture into balls using your hands and arrange meatballs on a cookie pan (with sides, not the flat kind).
- Bake meatballs for 30 minutes. You can brown them under the broiler for a few minutes if you like a crunchier meatball.
- In the meantime, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil on low heat until translucent, do not burn.
- Combine the sautéed onion and garlic to the rest of the sauce ingredients in a large crock pot or stock pot. Turn crock pot on high (if using a stock pot, bring contents to a boil).
- When meatballs are done in the oven, mix into the sauce mixture. Cook in crock pot for 4-6 hours on high heat. If using a stock pot, reduce heat and simmer meatballs for 4 hours or until ready to serve.


text:
COLIN Montgomerie paid tribute to McDowell, telling Sky Sports 1: "Graeme McDowell was put there for a very good reason. He's full of confidence and that showed.
"That birdie on 16 was quite unbelievable.'' He continued: "I'm very proud. It's a very proud moment for us all here in Europe. They all played to a man magnificently, they all gave 110% and that's all you can ask.
"I want to talk about every player playing how well they did. They did magnificently. I knew I had a great 12. I just had to rely on certain people at certain times.
"At one stage there were eight blue names on the board and it was over. But they weren't two, three up, they were one up. It's a dangerous position to be in.
"They (the US) came back extremely well. All credit to them. Tiger showed he was number one in the world. Phil Mickelson did brilliantly.
"All credit to the American team. You played magnificently today. The three-point deficit was the reason why we won.'' Asked about his own achievement, Montgomerie said: "I didn't hit a shot so it wasn't much of an achievement, but it's a proud proud moment.''


text:
Taliaferro Hall
Welcome to Taliaferro Hall (pronounced "Tolliver")! Taliaferro is conveniently located across the street from the historic Wren Building in the heart of Old Campus and near the Campus Center. Forty- nine first-year residents live on three floors with a hall bath on each floor in this small, close community. Located on the first floor are the communal kitchen, laundry room, and two air-conditioned lounges. Taliaferro has four double rooms that share a bathroom on the second floor, often referred to as the Tower, separated from the rest of the hall. These rooms provide an opportunity to build an intimate community and still be able to interact with the rest of the building. Taliaferro was named after Major General Booth Taliaferro, an alumnus of the University.
- Coed housing
- Communal kitchen
- Laundry
- Smoke-free
- Hall baths
- Number of residents: 51
- Floors: 3
- Wireless access
- Public Phone Locations & Numbers
- Accessibility
- Street Address: 112 Jamestown Road
- Welcome message from the staff
For more information about an individual room, click on the room number. Floor plans are provided to demonstrate differences between room types. Individual rooms vary. All dimensions and square footage are approximate and should not be relied upon as representation, express or implied, of your actual assigned room.


text:
Project X
Doug Hamilton, a 43-year-old Southwestern Bell manager, left work early on a wet, stormy October day in 1994 to attend a conference with his daughter's kindergarten teacher.
When the meeting ended, Hamilton began driving his wife and three young children home to Mesquite, but decided, two blocks from the house, to take a fateful detour.
His wife and children wanted to see the culvert under the Highway 80 service road near Town East Boulevard because they knew that when the city fails to close the floodgates--as it had that day--overflowing rainwater creates a dramatic whirlpool along the road.
"You know how it is," says Hamilton. "Cheap thrills for little kids."
As Hamilton steered his red Chevrolet Astro van toward the edge of the service road, Elisa Moore, a 29-year-old special-education teacher at The Notre Dame of Dallas School, was heading home to her apartment near the freeway. Moore drove her blue 1990 Mustang down the highway ramp--and straight into the flood.
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The swirling waters drowned her engine. Then water began streaming into her car, rising first to her waist, then creeping up toward her neck. A rippling wave from a whirlpool spun the Mustang around. Moore didn't know how to swim. "I was terrified," she recalls.
With the engine dead, the panicked teacher could not open her electric door locks or lower her windows. The water continued to rise inside her car. She couldn't muster the strength to punch out the glass. Says Moore: "I had to assume I was going to die."
Then Moore looked out her window and noticed a man with an orange electrical cord tied around his body, swimming in the water and banging on the glass.
It was Doug Hamilton. Spotting Moore's bobbing Mustang, he had sent his wife Janet home to fetch an inner tube and all the electrical cords--he knew he didn't have any rope--that she could carry. When she returned, Hamilton handed one end of a 100-foot cord to a group of men, who had stopped by to see what the floods had wrought. "Whatever you do," Hamilton told them, "don't let go."
Then he waded into the chilly, chest-high waters while debris rushed by him. He yelled for Moore to open her car door, but she couldn't. Then--to this day Hamilton doesn't know exactly how--he pried the door open himself from the outside.
"Please don't let me die," Moore blurted.
"I don't intend to," Hamilton replied.
In the weeks following the rescue, the tale of Hamilton's heroics dominated the water-cooler conversation of his colleagues at the phone company's Dallas offices. When his Southwestern Bell bosses got wind of it, they nominated him for the company's highest honor, the Theodore N. Vail Award, which includes a $5,000 cash prize. The company had only conferred the distinction six times before.
Eager to bask in the glory of its employee's actions, Southwestern Bell even assigned a public-relations specialist to drum up publicity about the rescue. In the ensuing December 30 Dallas Morning News story, featured prominently on the front page of the "Mesquite" section, the Dallas-Fort Worth vice president and general manager for Southwestern Bell, Tom Morgan, sang Hamilton's praises. "He is a hero in every sense of the word," Morgan told the News.
Yet Doug Hamilton never received the Vail award. One of his superiors informed Hamilton in February 1995 that a Southwestern Bell award committee had decided he was "not worthy." Later that month, nearly five months after he had saved Moore's life, the telephone company--this time without publicity--fired him from his $47,000-a-year job.
Hamilton, who had never held another job since graduating from college, had worked for Southwestern Bell for 20 years. His bosses told him he was being dismissed for conduct unbecoming of a manager.
In response to Hamilton's court challenge to his firing, Southwestern Bell cited a single confrontation he had had with a female colleague. In court papers, the company says Hamilton had "verbally and physically accosted a co-worker...in an aggressive and abusive manner."
Hamilton says he and the woman both raised their voices during the "altercation"--which he regrets--and that he merely swatted her finger away after she began poking him in the chest during the exchange.
In a wrongful-termination and employment-discrimination suit he filed last November against Southwestern Bell in U.S. District Court in Dallas, Hamilton alleges that the reasons the company cited for canning him were "pretextual and in no way descriptive of the actual reason for discharge." In court documents, he claims that the actual circumstances of his dismissal violated state and federal law.
His brush with death, Hamilton contends, triggered a case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which produces irritability, flashbacks, and uncharacteristic impulsiveness. He claims he told his superiors in December 1994 that the condition left him disabled, and that the doctor he'd seen had diagnosed the problem and prescribed medication. Yet the company, he says, refused requests to switch him temporarily into a less stressful, nonmanagement job. Hamilton blames the condition for the incident cited in his dismissal.
In court papers, Southwestern Bell concedes that Hamilton's supervisor knew he was suffering "some problems which he related to the rescue and that he was seeking counseling through his church." The company denies that Hamilton or the doctors advised his bosses he was disabled.
Hamilton alleges that Southwestern Bell had another, more insidious reason for wanting to get rid of him. Hamilton became a marked man, according to his suit, because he had been complaining to his supervisor about the possible illegality of company policies known internally as "Project X."
According to Hamilton's complaint, Project X was the name for a set of procedures in the company's Dallas revenue-management office that discriminate against minority customers. Hamilton--and others who worked in the department with him--say the term and policies came from their boss, Dennis Dorsey, area manager for the revenue-management center. Project X, says the lawsuit, involves rules "concerning the establishment and termination of telephone service to minority subscribers" that are "radically different" from those applied to nonminority customers.
Southwestern Bell spokesman Chino Chapa declined to comment on the existence of Project X, but said the company denies "any and all allegations of discrimination" and has "a commitment to equal opportunities for all citizens." Asked about Project X, Dorsey replied, "I'm not even sure what we're talking about there." Dorsey's boss, Thomas Rasberry, just laughed when asked about Project X.
But five other Southwestern Bell revenue-management office employees--three still there and two who have left--confirmed details of the Project X policies in interviews with the Observer.
Responding to a description of Project X practices at Southwestern Bell, Rick Guzman, an assistant public counsel in the Office of the Public Utility Counsel, an Austin state agency established to serve as a watchdog for telephone consumers, said: "Sounds like high-tech redlining to me."
"It's difficult when people come and tell me I am a hero," says Doug Hamilton as he finishes a lunch of fried chicken, potatoes, and corn in a Rockwall restaurant. "I don't think a hero would act like this. In the movies, the hero lives happily ever after. They don't have flashbacks and nightmares."
The son of an auto mechanic, Hamilton describes himself as a born-again Christian. The first in his family to graduate from college, he started at Southwestern Bell immediately after earning his degree in 1975. His first job was in an Oak Cliff business office, where he began as a customer-service representative, an assignment that meant handling all kinds of telephone customers' requests, including those for repairs and starting up service. Fond of his job and the company, Hamilton planned to be a lifer with Southwestern Bell. Hamilton became even more intent on that plan in the spring of 1986, when he discovered that his wife, Janet, a part-time dental hygienist, suffered from multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease of the brain and spinal cord. He knew that it would be difficult to obtain health insurance if he switched jobs, given his wife's pre-existing condition.
That same spring, Hamilton completed his master's degree in business administration and moved into management. In January 1992, a corporate restructuring landed him a supervisor position in the newly created revenue-management office. His boss was Dennis Dorsey.
Employees in the revenue-management office focused their energies entirely on maximizing Southwestern Bell's collection of cash: screening potential customers' billing and credit information (such as addresses, employers, and social-security numbers) to avoid starting service for those at high risk of failing to pay; and deciding when to pull the plug on those who had fallen behind on their bills. The revenue-management workers also call customers to demand prepayments or deposits on accounts with high long-distance charges.
It is in the course of this everyday business that Dorsey reportedly began instituting the policies known within the revenue-management office as Project X. Hamilton and four others familiar with the policies there say they first heard the term from Dorsey.
The Southwestern Bell employees say Dorsey instructed his subordinates to scrutinize customers in lower-income, high-minority-population areas more closely than those in neighborhoods that were more affluent and heavily Anglo. Even the Southwestern Bell computer-billing software is programmed, Hamilton and the others say, to focus bill-collection activities on areas such as Oak Cliff rather than Addison, Northside Fort Worth rather than North Richland Hills.
Careful scrutiny of prospective customers is a legal and prudent business practice--as long as it is applied equally. Public Utility Commission of Texas rules state: "No utility shall discriminate on the basis of race, nationality, color, religion, sex, or marital status." But at Dorsey's direction, Hamilton says, Project X implemented specific approaches that treated customers in low-income areas more harshly.
On busy days, for example, revenue-management supervisors would tell their staffs to investigate and validate 100 percent of the social-security numbers and previous addresses on service applications from prospective customers in Oak Cliff--while not checking a single one from Richardson.
At other times, they would be told to start service-termination procedures for any Oak Cliff resident who was late on a bill of more than $50. Workers were told not to bother contacting North Dallas customers even if they were delinquent on a $200 bill.
If a relatively new customer in West Dallas began making more than $100 in long-distance calls a month, supervisors told revenue-management workers to call and ask for a deposit--as much as $1,500. Southwestern Bell typically required no such deposit from a Richardson or Addison resident with comparable long-distance charges.
Southwestern Bell customers remained unaware of such disparate treatment, the revenue-management office workers say. "How would they know?" asks Shawn Tankersly, a revenue-management employee who was fired by the company this fall after 15 years. "People in $255,000 houses don't talk to people in $300-a-month apartments about their telephone bills."
The geographic areas targeted for more-rigorous collection procedures are neighborhoods that, according to Southwestern Bell records, consistently produce the largest percentage of unpaid bills and outstanding debts.
Each month, revenue-management supervisors calculate for each geographic area (or "wire center," as insiders call them) the percentage of bad debt compared to total billings. One such report for a period covering January 1994 shows an Oak Cliff neighborhood left the company with $445,055 in unpaid bills--3.14 percent of $1.42 million Southwestern Bell billed customers in the area that month. In comparison, an Addison neighborhood left the company with $448,406 in unpaid bills--just 1.8 percent of the $2.5 million billed in that area that month.
The company, of course, had an economic desire to minimize bad debt to boost profit for shareholders. But Dorsey had a personal incentive. His compensation is linked to the overall debt ratios in Dallas and Fort Worth neighborhoods, according to Hamilton and another former supervisor in the revenue-management department who still works for Southwestern Bell. The lower the bad-debt number, the higher Dorsey's take-home pay.
Hamilton and the others say the revenue-management office supervisors, including Hamilton, intent on keeping a tight grip on bill-payers in the targeted neighborhoods, sometimes pushed staff to skirt a state Public Utility Commission requirement that customers receive 10 days' notice before any termination of service.
The notion of Southwestern Bell systematically treating customers from poorer neighborhoods with more scrutiny and less sympathy offends both consumer and civil-rights activists.
Rick Guzman, the assistant public-utility counsel who said the Project X policies sounded to him like "high-tech redlining," says both PUC guidelines and state law require Southwestern Bell, a regulated utility, to provide service without regard to race.
Guzman and his predecessors at the Office of Public Utility Counsel had not previously heard of complaints about such discriminatory practices, but suspect the silence stems from a lack of consumer knowledge. "This is the kind of thing a customer might feel, but it takes an employee on the inside to know that," says Kathy Grant, who was an information specialist for the watchdog agency and now works as lobbyist for an Austin law firm.
Craig Murphy, an Oak Cliff resident and Democratic Party precinct chairman, had a personal reason to suspect Southwestern Bell was treating residents of his neighborhood harshly. Last year, Murphy recalls, he had fallen one month behind on payments for a second telephone line that had recently been installed in his home office. Southwestern Bell shut off his service--without notice, Murphy says, although he concedes the company claimed it had warned him. Murphy received such treatment, he says, even though he had consistently paid his phone bills on time for 15 years. A supervisor reinstated his service and "popped out with the fake apologies," Murphy recalls.
Murphy remains unhappy about how quickly the plug was pulled and suspects the location of his residence had much to do with the swiftness of the termination. Southwestern Bell "should take the time to use a more reasonable standard" than geographic lines to determine who merits credit, he says.
Plenty of other Southwestern Bell customers have lodged complaints with the Texas PUC. In a recent five-month period between September 1, 1995, and January 26, 1996, the commission's records show it received 59 complaints about billing issues--20 about service terminations, 20 about discontinued service, seven about inadequate or no-notice cutoffs, and four about the company's handling of delinquent payments.
Kathy North, manager of consumer affairs for the PUC, says that the formal complaints filed with her agency most likely massively underrepresent consumers' problems with Southwestern Bell. "Most people don't know we exist, and the company has no obligation to report complaints to us," says North.
She identifies the Texas PUC as one of the nation's least aggressive in policing such matters. "We don't get into the details of their [Southwestern Bell's] business practices," she says.
PUC rules give the telephone company freedom to handle customers disparately. As long as the company is filling 95 percent of service requests within seven days and giving 10 days' notice before terminating service for delinquent payment, it is operating within the PUC guidelines.
But as North concedes about Southwestern Bell, "They know how to get around the rules."
Doug Hamilton concedes that he never intended to sacrifice his job to fight discriminatory practices at Southwestern Bell. Though he had voiced complaints about Project X over the years, he says he did so gingerly--at first. "I had to protect my job," he says.
Hamilton says his conflict with supervisors over Project X worsened in the months after he pulled Elisa Moore from her sinking Mustang. The emotionally draining experience, he says, led him to begin acting less cautiously, more irritably, and more impulsively--both at the office and elsewhere.
In fact, the brush with death had thrown both Hamilton and Moore into emotional tailspins.
At the scene that day in October 1994, the two strangers had hugged each other as they climbed out of the water. Moore then thanked Hamilton. "By the way, what's your name?" he asked. She told him her first name and then climbed into a police cruiser for a lift home.
On their way home, Moore recalls, the officer stopped to tell some Utah tourists on the other side of the culvert--busy snapping photos of the rushing waters--to move from the danger. Says Moore: "I remember being furious that they had been standing there, taking pictures of me dying."
At home, she stripped off her soggy clothes, showered, and then "lost it," she says. "I called my parents and just started sobbing."
Moore's return to normal life was slowed by an irrational fear of water. "It took me until Christmas to take a regular shower and until February to get behind the wheel on a rainy day." Unable to make it to work through rain--feeling panicked and paralyzed--she would turn her car around, head back home, and call in sick.
Hamilton endured similar post-rescue frights. On the evening of the event, Hamilton had told his wife to drive the children home without him. He wanted to walk the few blocks by himself. On his way back, he recalls, he sat down in a field and cried for 90 minutes. "I couldn't stop," he says. It was only when he got home and took a shower that he realized that fire ants had covered his body with bites. A counselor would later tell him that such a lapse in physical awareness is common after emotional experiences, a result of soaring adrenaline levels.
A few weeks later, Hamilton learned of other men who had tried to save flooding victims, only to drown themselves. Losing sleep and suffering from nightmares, Hamilton decided he needed to find Moore and talk to her to establish some closure. He asked his Mesquite city councilwoman to help him find Elisa, whose last name he didn't know.
Hamilton and Moore compared notes about nightmares and stress. They began talking on the telephone once every few weeks. They didn't see each other again, however, until a Southwestern Bell public-relations man asked them to pose together for a photograph that appeared on December 22, 1994, in The Mesquite News, along with a story about Hamilton's nomination for the Vail award.
By then, Hamilton's problems at work had already begun to surface. As a supervisor in the revenue-management department, one of Dorsey's right-hand men, he was working for a demanding boss.
Hamilton says he was having increased conflicts with Dorsey, particularly over Project X. "I had expressed concerns about the way we were treating our customers, particularly when there were blatant violations of the PUC guidelines. I wanted to know who was going to take the fall."
One practice in particular, Hamilton says, made him nervous that the PUC might personally charge him with violating its regulations. When prospective customers from areas targeted under Project X applied for phone service, the revenue-management office workers who scrutinized the credit information often conducted their checks after a dial tone was already on, Hamilton says. As a result, they sometimes belatedly discovered that the customer had provided a faulty address or social-security number. Dorsey, Hamilton says, wanted his workers to order service terminated in such cases without 10 days' notice, as though it had never been started.
This clearly violated PUC rules, Hamilton contends. He says he went to Jan Moody, a supervisor in another department, the department responsible for initiating dial tones, to try to develop a procedure that lowered debt levels while staying within the PUC guidelines. Moody, now in another Southwestern Bell department, confirmed that she knew Hamilton but declined to say anything else.
Hamilton was not the only Southwestern Bell employee to raise questions about Project X with Dorsey. Tankersly says her black and Hispanic co-workers repeatedly objected to the patterns they detected--patterns that discriminated against residents of their own neighborhoods. "They would be living in those areas, and they would say it is not right," Tankersly says. A black 20-year Southwestern Bell employee still in the revenue-management office concurs, saying, "I understood Project X to be highly discriminatory." She says she complained to Dorsey, but that he didn't even acknowledge her objections.
Meanwhile, in October 1994 Hamilton had advised Dorsey that he was suffering emotional problems stemming from the rescue and was discussing the difficulties with his minister, Michael Armour at the Skillman Church of Christ, according to his complaint. On December 2, 1994, Hamilton claims, he asked Dorsey to refer him to the Employee Assistance Program for counseling. A program counselor that day recommended he begin seeing a licensed psychotherapist.
By then, Hamilton says, his uncharacteristically erratic temper had produced an incident that Dorsey would use as a pretext to fire him.
The incident occurred on November 30, 1994, between Hamilton and Darlene Starks. Hamilton says Starks, a peer in the revenue-management department with whom he had previously enjoyed a good relationship, had spent the better part of the workday Christmas shopping with several other women from the office. The women had approval to leave for an hour or two, he says, but had left for half the workday, much longer than Hamilton deemed appropriate. Their absence had left Hamilton and his staff unfairly overburdened, he says. When Starks finally returned that afternoon, he confronted her.
He says she responded by jabbing her finger in his chest. He concedes he used foul language that he now refuses to repeat. He also admits that in a moment of frustration he finally slapped Starks' jabbing finger to get it off his chest.
Starks did not return messages from the Observer left on her voice mail.
Although the shouting took place in Starks' office, it produced a stir throughout the department. Several employees listened at the door, then scrambled back before their eavesdropping was discovered. "The door started to open," Tankersly recalls, "and we flew back to our chairs."
Almost immediately, Hamilton knew he had gone overboard. He visited with his minister that evening. Recalls the Rev. Armour: "He came to me and said, 'I think I really blew it.'"
On December 9, the company received an anonymous letter about the incident, alleging that Hamilton was "abusive and dangerous." Although Southwestern Bell never established who wrote the letter, the company concedes in court papers that the letter played a role in the investigation that led to Hamilton's firing.
By December 21, Hamilton had visited with a psychiatrist, as the company-recommended therapist had suggested. Dr. Babette Farkas diagnosed Hamilton as suffering from non-psychotic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to a statement she sent to the Texas Employment Commission. She recommended that Hamilton leave work for a week until the medications she had prescribed took effect and returned him to "functioning in a rational 'common sense' manner."
Dr. Farkas wrote in the April 23, 1995, statement to the TEC: "Mr. Hamilton's behavior of November 30, 1994, was an understandable consequence of a psychiatric disorder and should not be interpreted as a rationalization or misconduct."
Written appraisals from his supervisors suggest that Hamilton--prior to the incident of November 30, 1994--had been an exemplary employee. In July 1993, Dorsey, who prepared the evaluation, and senior manager Thomas Rasberry, who endorsed it, signed an appraisal stating that "Mr. Hamilton has been the critical linking pin in the district's successful effort to meet customer access on Mondays...he used exceptional interpersonal skills to pull together...the district office into a highly effective, well functioning team. As a result, the [revenue-management center] managers are able to focus on employee development and the reduction of the company's uncollectible expense."
In an early December 1994 evaluation--after the incident in Stark's office--Dorsey and Rasberry muted their praise only slightly. "He usually has the right idea on how something should be done, but can benefit from a softer approach," they wrote. Nonetheless, Hamilton's bosses gave him high marks for planning work effectively, communicating clearly and concisely, and demonstrating an understanding "of who the customer is." His only low mark on a 19-item checklist came in the category of "coordinating and negotiating with other team members."
Yet on February 9, 1995--two months after that evaluation and five months after his conflict with Darlene Starks--Hamilton was escorted by Dorsey into the office of senior manager Thomas Rasberry. The two superiors informed Hamilton he was being fired.
Dorsey and Rasberry cited the encounter with Starks as evidence of his unstable behavior, Hamilton says, and they gave him no opportunity to defend himself or explain the unfortunate episode.
In court papers, Southwestern Bell contends Hamilton had an opportunity to respond, but offers no further explanation. Reached by telephone, Dorsey and Rasberry declined to discuss Hamilton's firing, citing the pending litigation. Southwestern Bell spokesman Chapa said "there were other factors" involved in Hamilton's firing besides the run-in with Starks, but declined to elaborate.
Eleven days after Hamilton received notice of his termination, the Mesquite City Council presented him with a Public Safety Assistance Award for "recognition of his courageous and unselfish action in the rescue of a Mesquite citizen from dangerous floodwaters."
Says Hamilton: "I wondered if I should tell them, 'Thanks. By the way, I've just been fired.'"
As for his $5,000 Southwestern Bell Vail prize, Hamilton, shortly after his termination, was advised by Rasberry that the award would not be forthcoming. The company supervisor advised Hamilton that he was "unworthy" of the honor.
These days, Hamilton supports his family with his wife's part-time income, his savings, and money he gets from vending machines he has purchased. His biggest concern is the ticking clock on his Southwestern Bell health-insurance benefits. Federal laws require companies to allow terminated employees to maintain coverage for at least 18 months at their own expense. Hamilton has about six more months of coverage.
His wife's multiple sclerosis is in remission, so the family remains optimistic, Hamilton says. Without full-time work, he spends several days a week taking care of the kids while his wife cleans teeth. He has some time to think.
When the weather gets bad, he still has nightmares, he says. When his mind turns to that stormy October night that triggered so many problems, he also asks himself if he would wade out into those waters again--and knows that he would.
"Even if my wife had not come back with the cord, I would have gone after her," says Hamilton. "I could not let a woman die.
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text:
Law of demand
Nevertheless, the industry has been negatively impacted. Bitten badly in 2008, it has been shy to immediately jump at prospects. The legal arms of executive recruitment firms report that the quintessential market peak occurred at the beginning of 2011, with high turnover after Chinese New Year. In the second half of 2011, market uncertainty slowed recruitment.
"Hiring was fairly consistent with recruitment within the IT and telecommunications, FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods], retail and entertainment sectors," says Ricky Mui, solicitor and manager for legal and commerce finance with Robert Walters.
Today, within private practice and financial institutions, demand is strong for banking finance lawyers on all levels. Those with experience in structured finance and products, loans and asset financing and private banking and wealth management are hot, says Olga Yung, senior manager for legal at Michael Page.
In Hong Kong and on the mainland, demand for regulatory lawyers - both contentious and non-contentious - is increasing across in-house financial, corporate and private practice. In-house demand is high for trade and operation compliance skills, particularly with regards to covering anti-bribery, anti-corruption and matters relating to the US-initiated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This area is expected to increase, as is also the need for candidates with competition law and corporate governance experience, Yung says.
The influx of foreign firms into Hong Kong is fuelling demand for intellectual property (IP) lawyers with specific experience in anti-counterfeiting and patent law. "More MNCs [multinational corporations] are seeking to protect their intellectual property rights in Hong Kong and the mainland - especially in areas of fashion retail, luxury, FMCG and pharmaceuticals," says Mui.
In particular, demand for legal or compliance talent is strong in US companies on the mainland. "With the [FCPA] taking a close regulatory watch over US companies or foreign companies listed in the US, and with the mainland continuing to be a strong focal point for business growth in Asia, we are seeing compliance and corporate governance to be a key hiring area within the in-house corporate market for Asia," says Charis Uyecio, senior consultant at legal recruitment and compliance firm Legal Futures.
"A majority of the global corporates who have operations within the mainland will be requiring seasoned legal or compliance professionals with strong FCPA experience, and working knowledge of the mainland regulatory environment," Uyecio adds.
Some candidates made smart career moves to secure regulatory experience in 2011, Mui notes. "In the second half of the year, some lawyers working in banks or law firms moved to government regulators to gain highly marketable regulatory experience," he says.
"It's a good career move as candidates can either progress with their career within the regulator or, afterwards, investment banks and law firms will try to attract them back into the financial services sector with better market rates, salaries and opportunities," Mui adds.
The keen global focus on the region has also created demand for regional language skills. "A new trend [in 2011] was legal translation roles with employers seeking candidates with Korean, Thai, Mandarin and Bahasa language skills," says Mui.
So, what does the future hold? Yung sees continued demand for corporate commercial lawyers in the in-house corporate market. Banking lawyers will also continue to be sought after.
Meanwhile, private practice hiring will depend on market conditions - if the market swings upwards, the demand for corporate lawyers will increase, while that for litigators or banking lawyers will decrease.
If not, some private practice candidates may look at in-house opportunities for better work-life balance and more diverse roles, as well as to gain commercial experience, says Mui.
- Legal professionals with a strong, track record in corporate or commercial law, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), intellectual property, property leasing and IT for the commerce and industry sector
- Banks and financial institutions will continue to hire employees in derivatives and funds
- Legal professionals with general banking work experience for private banking roles
- In private practice, corporate specialists, especially those with strong corporate finance, IPO and M&A experience. Additionally, litigation roles will continue to be in demand
– Ricky Mui, Robert Walters