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The Race Not Run
It was one of the hardest phone calls he ever had to make, a courtesy call all candidates running against incumbents are expected to make. But to phone District Attorney John Vance, his old boss and mentor, a man he'd known and respected for 30 years, and say hey, nothing personal, I just want your job--well, he had every right to dread it.
Reluctant though he was, Bill Hill had worked too hard to turn back. He'd spent the last six months testing the waters--quietly gathering commitments, power, stroke--for a race that could bloody the Republican Party from the inside out. Vance's 12-year tenure as DA had been marred by mismanagement, low staff morale, and a gradual loss of the prestige that had characterized his predecessor, Democrat Henry Wade, a living legend around the courthouse. Yet Vance had told Republican women's clubs and several judges he intended to seek a fourth term in office. A bitter primary battle might weaken the steel grip Republicans held on the courthouse; it might encourage an entire slate of ambitious lawyers to take on competent judges they perceived as vulnerable.
But in early June 1997, when attorney Bill Hill sat in his downtown office in the NationsBank building and finally called Vance, none of this mattered.
"John, I'd like to come talk to you," Hill recalls saying, expecting to be worked into the DA's schedule sometime in the future.
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"I'll be in your office in 10 minutes," Vance said, obviously aware something was up.
Vance arrived as he said he would--Hill's office being just a few blocks from the Frank Crowley courthouse. Vance looked healthier than he had in the past, having survived with grace quadruple bypass surgery in 1993. At 65, he remains handsome, a grandfatherly version of Clark Kent with thinly drawn lips, narrowed eyes, and meticulously groomed black hair--features suggesting a cautious, conservative man.
Hill, on the other hand, is garrulous and easygoing. His ice-blue eyes lose their chill the minute he flashes his cockeyed grin. His blond hair has turned ashen with age, but at 56, he can't hide a good-ol'-boy charm that might seem disingenuous if it weren't so "dadgum" disarming.
Hill didn't threaten or challenge Vance; instead, he says, he poured his heart out. For the last several years, he'd had a restless feeling about his life. His kids were out of the house and married. Money wasn't that important to him and his wife. So he started searching for something more significant, more meaningful. "I am leaning toward running for DA," he told Vance. "This may be my last shot."
Hill doesn't recall Vance saying much; the DA isn't known for being chatty. He did leave Hill with the impression that they were still friends, but didn't say whether he still planned to run.
Then, three weeks later, on June 25, in a terse, one-sentence memo to "All District Attorney Employees," Vance left no doubt about his intentions. "For your information, I will not be a candidate for re-election in 1998."
Although the announcement came as a surprise, Vance's popularity had declined enough that many of his fellow party members privately expressed relief. Now that he was no longer a candidate, speculation ran rampant within Republican circles about who else might enter the race. County Criminal Court Judge Henry Wade Jr. certainly had the right name, but needed to move fast if he wanted to jog the memories of those aging voters who'd kept his father in office for 36 years. Criminal District judges Keith Dean and John Creuzot had, on occasion, made rumblings about running, often after bad press portrayed Vance as asleep at the wheel. But no one stepped forward--trampled instead by wealthy Republican check-writers in their rush to anoint Bill Hill the next district attorney of Dallas County.
Even the Democrats refused to come out fighting, figuring why bother: The Democratic Party hadn't won a contested courthouse election since 1992. Peter Lesser, who had taken on Henry Wade when it wasn't fashionable to do so, had lost his hunger for the job. State Senator Royce West, who ran against Vance in 1986, said he wanted to continue his work in the Texas Legislature.
Only on January 5, 1998, the filing deadline, did a Democratic candidate emerge. He was Rick Reed, a prosecutor who was giving up his career to run. A by-the-book bureaucrat, Reed risked his future to fulfill what, at times, seems little more than a Walter Mitty dream. With limited help from Democrats, he has mounted a mom-and-pop campaign--his family literally runs his headquarters. Some contributions have even come in through a cookie jar positioned at the door. Reed does have the endorsement of the Dallas Police Association, but what good is being backed by the blue when your opponent is backed by the blue bloods?
Who is Bill Hill, anyway? A political nobody. A criminal-defense lawyer, of all people. Had Hill masterminded what amounted to a bloodless coup, toppling a sitting district attorney before publicly announcing he was a candidate for the office? Had Vance become such a political liability, his office so poorly run that the Republican powers believed it was time to force his retirement?
Hill claims he wants to restore the office to its glory days under Henry Wade, who, for more than three decades, ran the courthouse as though he owned it. Wade was an immensely powerful, larger-than-life, cuff-'em and stuff-'em prosecutor--and by comparison alone, Vance may have been doomed to disappoint. "You don't want to be the guy who succeeds Henry Wade," Peter Lesser says. "You want to be the guy who succeeds his successor."
Before he retired in 1986, cigar-chewin', tobacco-spittin' Henry Wade was a yellow-dog Democrat in a courthouse made up entirely of yellow-dog Democrats. Of the 900 lawyers who were on his staff over the years, many have their own their favorite stories about "The Chief."
Wade attained legendary status when he prosecuted Jack Ruby for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby had been represented by flashy San Francisco lawyer Melvin Belli, whom Wade, during the trial, repeatedly called "Mr. Belly." When Belli objected to the misnomer, Wade apologized. "Just to show there are no hard feelings," he said, "I want to take Mr. Bell-eye to lunch and feed him some spaghett-eye."
The jury in the Ruby case deliberated less than two hours before returning the death penalty, although an appellate court later reversed the ruling, determining that a trial in Dallas was too prejudicial to Ruby. Even so, Wade counted the jury's verdict as one of his 30 successful death-penalty prosecutions and claimed he never lost a case he tried personally.
Wade came across as a country lawyer, chewing his words as well as his cigars. But he was a pragmatist who possessed tremendous political savvy. He claimed his door was always open to anyone who wanted to see him: attorneys, victims, people interested in the outcome of a criminal case. "Wade had amazing people skills," says one courthouse veteran. "He could give you the impression he was helping you, even if he wasn't." He would get the file from the prosecutor handling it, go over it with the interested party, then tell his prosecutors to do whatever they thought was right. But if you had Wade's ear, if you were part of the courthouse family, or if you were Buddy Minyard or W.O. Bankston or even Darrell Royal, your feelings about a case might carry more weight. Whether this was favoritism--or Wade just making people think they were favorites--it was a holdover from the small-town mentality Dallas hadn't quite shaken off.
By 1979, eight of the 10 felony judges had been former Henry Wade prosecutors; a majority of the misdemeanor judges had served under him as well. When the legislature created a new district bench or a vacancy needing filling, no one in Dallas County could get the judgeship from the governor unless he had the blessing of Wade. "He didn't have the power to appoint someone to the district bench," says one criminal judge. "But he did have the right to veto anyone he didn't like."
Wade also knew how to stay in office, surviving 10 elections, many without opposition. Rarely was he criticized in the press, which often paid homage to him. He had the firm backing of the Citizens Charter Association, the business oligarchy that ran this town and selected its candidates. It didn't hurt that his state-of-the-art hot-check department became the business community's unofficial collection agency.
It also didn't hurt that he was perceived as incorruptible--he prosecuted his own brother for driving while intoxicated--and that he ran one of the top prosecutor shops in the nation. Wade surrounded himself with clever, able assistants: Bill Alexander, James Allen, John Vance, Doug Mulder, John Sparling, Steve Tokely.
Wade loved training young prosecutors to be tough and independent and entrepreneurial. "Lawyers are supposed to make decisions, and he let his lawyers be lawyers," says former Wade prosecutor Reed Prospere. "He hired the best ones for the job and then trusted them to do it."
But Wade also bred his prosecutors to be competitive, not just with the defense bar but with each other. Prosecutors were promoted not on seniority but on the number of jury trials they tried. The office boasted a conviction rate of more than 90 percent, one of the highest in the nation. Wade's office grabbed national press when prosecutors persuaded law-and-order Dallas juries to hand down life sentences for paltry amounts of marijuana. It became a kind of game among prosecutors as to who could get the longest sentence against a defendant: 1,000 years? 2,000 years? Wade himself set a national record when he convinced a jury in 1973 to sentence Franklin and Woodrow Ransonette to 5,005 years for the kidnapping of Amanda Dealey, daughter-in-law of then-Dallas Morning News publisher Joe Dealey.
Appellate courts repeatedly condemned Dallas prosecutors, finding their actions unethical, their arguments inflammatory, their focus more on getting convictions than on doing justice. Prime-time blunders such as Randall Dale Adams, Joyce Ann Brown, and Lenell Geter all happened under Wade's watch. But he offered no apologies, instructing his disciples that convictions make the front page, whereas reversals get buried somewhere in the back.
At age 72, Wade decided not to seek another four-year term. But rather than appoint his own successor, he let two of his former top assistants slug it out in the '86 Republican primary.
John Sparling was perceived as the overzealous candidate, the former assistant DA who'd drafted Wade's notorious jury-selection memo that encouraged rookie prosecutors to exclude blacks, Jews, and women from jury service because they were presumed soft on punishment. John Vance seemed the more reasonable candidate. He was a thoughtful, impartial jurist--12 years as a criminal trial judge, five years as an appellate judge--who many believed never really wanted the job in the first place, but agreed to seek it because of a promise he made to a dying friend, Judge James K. Allen. Vance beat his opponent in a bitter race that may have turned against Sparling when Republican women's clubs began gossiping about unseemly allegations in his divorce.
Of course, Vance was no Henry Wade, nor did he want to be. Yet others constantly measured him against Wade and found him wanting. Although Vance wasn't a politician, the courthouse was growing increasingly political as judges became Republican in both name and philosophy.
Vance was more ideological than Wade, but was also less accessible and had far less personal magnetism. (Vance did not respond to repeated requests to be interviewed for this story.) He possessed a judge's sense of fair play and wanted to avoid the excesses of his predecessor. Yet he knew his predicament: If he changed things too drastically, it would be perceived as a criticism of Wade. If things didn't change at all, he'd be dismissed as a caretaker, a lame duck, a "do-nothing DA."
Immediately after his election, the "Judge"--as he was called by his staff--went on a morality crusade, playing to the right wing of the Republican Party by cracking down on pornography and prostitution cases. His critics believed this was a serious misallocation of dwindling law-enforcement resources, which could be better spent curbing violence, particularly in the late '80s and early '90s, when random street crime seemed to be soaring out of control.
He rankled the defense bar by backing off his campaign pledge to liberalize discovery practices by opening the prosecutor's file for defense perusal. Losing the support of the enemy was of no political moment, but losing the support of his own troops would prove nothing short of a disaster.
That this should occur as a result of abusive practices endemic to Wade's office made it even more difficult for Vance to accept. In March 1989, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the capital murder conviction of Randall Dale Adams, who had been on death row for 12 years. The high court held that Wade's top prosecutor, Doug Mulder, had suppressed evidence and sponsored perjured testimony in obtaining the conviction. Vance wrongly decided to retry Adams, and even worse, assigned the case to Winfield Scott, one of the same go-for-the-throat prosecutors who had mistried the case in the first place.
When Scott took over, he acted as if the reputation of the entire Wade era were on trial. He seemed out of control, sounding caustic, playing poorly to a national press, which heard him accuse the trial judge of being biased, the appeals court of being too liberal. Vance was outraged: He dismissed the case and forced Scott to resign, accusing him of being a "gunslinger" and of "running amok." Scott told the press that he was a scapegoat and that Vance was no Henry Wade. "Wade would never have let things get in this mess," he told The Dallas Morning News. "The whole legal community knows it."
Sentiment began to grow among the prosecutors' staff that Vance would not back them on the hard calls. Wholesale firings became more common as some assistants came to believe that everyone was expendable. That notion was reinforced when Vance delayed giving them raises, instead using budgeted funds to equalize pay for those who had seniority in sections other than the trial division. Lawyers would get promoted from misdemeanor to felony court--their responsibilities increasing--but without a commensurate increase in pay. Where Wade had built his reputation on the backs of an elite corps of trial lawyers, most of whom had left the office and gone into successful private practice, Vance seemed more inclined to treat everyone equally.
Unless, of course, you were a victim.
In Wade's day, a victim had no political muscle, no movement to call his own. A victim was the "complaining witness" in a criminal case, with the real damaged party being the State. But Vance had to contend with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and other victims' advocacy groups, and he pledged to give every victim his day in court.
"I need to talk to the victim" became the mantra of paranoid prosecutors fearful they might get fired if victims became outraged with the way their cases were being handled and went to Vance--or worse, the press--to complain. Unlike Wade, rather than exercise prosecutorial discretion and screen out "dog" cases before they ever got to the grand jury, Vance developed a reputation for indicting everyone, cluttering dockets with trash cases that upset judges because they never seemed to go away.
That's because few people had the authority to make them go away. While Wade inspired his loyal troops to breathe fire and slay dragons, Vance kept his prosecutors on a short leash, fettering their discretion with policies and rules, shackling their entrepreneurial spirit with an added layer of hierarchy--called "superchiefs"--and bureaucratic red tape: no dismissals without approval from a superchief; no deferred adjudication (a type of probation that does not result in a final conviction) without permission from the immediate chief; no plea bargains of less than 25 years for anyone charged with a first-degree felony who has two prior trips to the pen, without the approval of First Assistant Norm Kinne or Vance himself.
"But you have a better chance of getting an audience with the Pope than getting in touch with some of [Vance's] section chiefs," one former Wade prosecutor says.
In the interest of victims' rights, Vance created a child-abuse division and a family-violence division--leading the state in protecting battered spouses and molested children. In the interest of justice, he agreed to reverse the errors of Henry Wade--requesting pardons, new trials, and dismissals of those who'd been wrongly convicted years ago. At the same time, he maintained the aura of incorruptibility that had been the hallmark of his predecessor. "Vance has never gotten the credit he deserves," says criminal-defense attorney Barry Sorrells. "He has a low-profile style, but runs an honest shop. It's squeaky-clean."
Vance, however, took huge public relations hits on many of the high-profile cases his office tried: His prosecutors came across as racist and relentless when they pursued County Commissioner John Wiley Price for his sometimes criminal brand of civil disobedience. They looked bumbling and foolish when they failed to convict former minister Walker Railey for the attempted murder of his wife. One Railey prosecutor told the jury that Walker acted with premeditation when he tried to strangle Peggy Railey; the other argued that he acted spontaneously. The absence of Wade's elite corps of trial lawyers was painfully apparent in these and other defeats.
During his second term, when his health failed him, Vance was forced to relinquish authority to his subordinates. But when his health returned, he failed to get that authority back. His first assistant, Norm Kinne, was a brilliant trial lawyer with little inclination for management. Nevertheless, the task of running one of the largest law offices in the city--200 attorneys--fell upon his shoulders. Superchief Mike Gillett had a knack for aggravating just about everyone with whom he came into contact, but despite the entreaties of many within the bench and bar, Vance allowed him to accumulate only more power as time went on.
There was a growing perception in Republican circles that Vance was absent without leave, that the DA's office was in free fall. "People in the business community began to realize that Vance was tying the system up with too many unprovable cases," says one courthouse insider. "They saw it as a waste of taxpayer dollars." Others longed for the good old days of Henry Wade, citing low morale and poor performance among Vance's rank and file.
Vance seldom worked the Republican Women's Club circuit--the worker bees of the party--the way a good Republican should, and he fell into disfavor with queen bee Martha Weisend, a power player in courthouse politics. At an October 1996 fundraiser for state District Judge Tom Price, she told Republican Party Chairman Bob Driegert that it was time for a change in the DA's office--and she was determined to make it happen. She was already looking for someone to run against John Vance.
Candidate Bill Hill was standing in the doorway of a modest home on University Drive, doing a meet-and-greet with members of the Westlake Republican Women's Club--48 activists ready to help their party any way they could, manning phone banks, planting yard signs, chatting up friends--48 devotees to a Republican way of life. "There are over 20 women's clubs in Dallas," says one Republican insider. "If you ignore them, then come primary time you can be sure they will ignore you."
Despite the close quarters, Hill charmed the crowd with his country gentleman's ways, smiling his half-smile, looking dapper in a brown houndstooth-check suit.
One of the clubbers, Mary Jane Wilson, whispered, "Anybody who ever runs for public office--we see them trotting through here."
After the pledge of allegiance to a tiny flag sitting in a glass vase by the fireplace, Hill began his stump speech. "I do appreciate ya'll having me here. I was here 'bout a year ago," he said in his hard, deep-throated Texas twang. "But I wasn't even a candidate yet. Though I do feel I have been training for this job my whole life."
Which isn't far from the truth. Hill was raised in Garland when only 5,000 people lived there and coming to Dallas meant packing a bag. Garland gave him a blue-collar sensibility--as he's quick to point out--and the opportunity to run track. During his senior year at Garland High, he had the fastest time in the nation in the 220-yard dash. "I just enjoyed winning," Hill says.
Scholarship offers came from every college in the Southwest Conference, and Hill wisely chose SMU. Not only did he run on the relay team that broke several Southwest Conference records, he also ran with the right crowd. To his well-heeled frat brothers at Phi Delta Theta, Hill was laid-back, unassuming, country-fried. Hill counted as friends Gil Clements, Governor Bill Clements' son; Ray Hunt, the future owner of Hunt Oil Company; and Tom Luce, who has become Ross Perot Jr.'s point man on the arena deal. One of his best friends was Charles Younger, a pre-med student from Midland, who would introduce him to George W. Bush in the '70s while Bush was making a name for himself in the oil business in Midland. Over the years, their friendship grew as Hill and Bush would golf and fish together and attend Rangers games.
Whether by luck or design, Hill trafficked with people who would someday become the new business elite in the city.
Although track left little time for academics, Hill and SMU teammate Mickey Wade managed to sneak off to the courthouse and watch Mickey's Uncle Henry try Jack Ruby for the murder of Oswald. That's when Hill decided to become a trial lawyer. "I'd finally found a place where I could channel my competitive energies after track," he says.
In 1964, Hill married his college sweetheart and went to SMU law school on a full scholarship (he had to coach the freshman track team in return). In 1967, as he approached graduation, he and classmate Steve Tokely would camp out at Wade's door, just the way they were instructed to do, so Wade could gauge how passionate they were about working for him.
Wade loved jocks, had played football at the University of Texas, and immediately took a liking to Hill. "It was probably because I was the only one in the office who knew how to play golf," Hill says. Wade would teach him how to read people on the jury, how to develop a rapport with them. "A lot of what goes on in a jury room doesn't have a dadgum thing to do with your case," Hill says.
John Vance was Wade's first assistant and became another Hill mentor. "He was very methodical and taught me step-by-step how to prepare a complicated case," Hill says.
After five years and eight death-penalty convictions, Hill figured it was time to provide better for his wife and three kids. Already settled in University Park, he switched sides and became a criminal-defense attorney. From his SMU connections, he quickly developed the kind of premium practice most criminal lawyers only dream about. Referrals from major downtown law firms provided him with 90 percent of his business; his clients were mostly white-collar criminals who knew they would have to pay and pay big; others were the sons and daughters of Park Cities types who got busted for street crimes and drugs, such as Vance Miller Jr. (DWI) and Walter Lewis Perryman (murder and kidnapping).
In the early '80s, no one could imagine that the savings and loan industry was in such a shambles, nor could they imagine what a boon it would be for criminal lawyers. Hill was perfectly positioned for the onslaught: Downtown law firms referred him bank presidents and CEOs. His credibility with two U.S. attorneys, Michael Carnes and Jim Rolfe--who would later share office space with him when they entered private practice--helped him stop many prosecutions before they began. "I did my best work without anyone knowing it," Hill says. "A lot of my business clients didn't want to read their name in the paper, so they didn't want to read my name in the paper. That's why nobody knows my name."
Yet when Hill had to strap on his trial boots, he had more success than most. He represented Dallas businessman Charles J. Wilson in 1994, and a federal jury handed Hill one of only two acquittals in Texas during the entire S&L debacle.
As he built his reputation, he also extended his web of connections. "I make no apologies for my friends," says Hill. "You live in a community for 40 years, you get to meet a lot of people." Whether it was volunteerism at the Salesmanship Club, boosterism at SMU's Mustang Club, or Presbyterianism at his Park Cities church, Bill Hill acquitted himself well.
But for him, over the last several years, something was missing--something meaningful and spiritual and real. He spoke with his pastor about it, who gave him a book titled Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance, and it crystallized his feelings. "You reach a point in your life when you ask, Is there anything else? I started looking around to see what else was possible."
He says the best years of his 30-year legal career were the five he spent as a prosecutor. "Anyone who worked for Wade back then wondered what it would be like to sit in his chair." So in February 1997, he began to "test the waters" for a run against Vance.
There are those who believe the district attorney's job is merely resume padding for Hill; that what he really wants is a Congressional seat, or an inside-the-Beltway position in the Bush administration, if and when. Hill laughs at these suggestions, acting as though he lacks the political cunning even to think that far ahead. As he talks about the DA's race, he does at times seem boyishly naive. "If someone told me to go talk to somebody, why, I'd be at their doorstep the next day," he says. But he went after his goal so decisively, even veteran politicos were surprised by his savvy.
"The power base of the Republican Party is very diffuse," says Republican Party Chairman Bob Driegert. "But somehow Bill managed to hit all the bases."
Hill already had untapped clout in the business community. His membership in the Salesmanship Club, his lifelong civic boosterism, and his friendships with Ray Hunt, John Scovell, and others gave him entree to big-time Republican money.
The downtown legal community was also his for the picking: From his practice, he had groomed business and personal relationships at nearly every major law firm downtown: Hughes & Luce, Thompson & Knight, Akin Gump. Since his days at SMU, he had known Michael Boone and George Bramlett of Haynes & Boone. They offered to provide him with an arrangement so he could wage his campaign and not go broke in the process. Hill would become "of counsel" to the firm, turning over his caseload and getting compensated for practicing very little law.
Hill's political clout came from his close association with Gov. Bush, who encouraged him to run from the beginning. "If word gets out that this is the governor's friend, the rumor itself is intimidating enough," says one Republican political activist. "Just as effective as the governor actually making calls on Hill's behalf." Hill began to line up support with some of Bush's closest allies, getting early advice from Jim Francis, a member of Bush's kitchen cabinet, as well as George Bayoud, an old-line Republican who worked in Governor Clements' administration, and Martha Weisend, a board member of the Dallas County Council of Republican Women.
That Weisend was on her own hunt for someone to challenge Vance, Hill says, was just coincidence--though a meaningful one. She was a player who could bring to the table Republican field workers and check-writers alike. She also had the ear of Pete Schenkel, an executive with Scheppps Dairy who, together with Weisend, often involved himself in courthouse politics and law-enforcement issues. Hill met with Schenkel, who'd been a longtime Vance backer, and asked for his support. "I was working real hard on him," Hill says. "I thought I was definitely in the ballpark, but he hadn't made up his mind."
Schenkel says he only agreed to back Hill after Vance ruled out running again, but for him to say otherwise would make it appear that he was part of Weisend's attempt to overthrow Vance. Yet other Republican activists say it was Schenkel's support that broke Vance's back and made Hill's candidacy a fait accompli.
Even the right wing of the Republican Party seemed mollified with Hill. They didn't know much about him, but found solace in his active church affiliation.
Next came the showdown with Vance, which Hill felt bad about, but rationalized. "I thought that Vance was tired and didn't really want to run."
Or perhaps Vance was simply outflanked, cut off from power, support, and money. Why fight a bitter war within your own party and risk going out a loser when you can leave your office with dignity? "It was a textbook way to do it," says one Republican insider. "A very subtle yet powerful bloodless coup."
If Vance harbored any resentment, it crept out only once--in a sarcastic comment he made to a Morning News reporter: "I think it's time to let someone else have all that fun."
With the waters tested, the floodgates now opened as any reluctance to support Hill's candidacy vanished. Both Henry Wade and Vance, playing elder statesmen, agreed to become his honorary campaign chairmen. His finance and campaign committee looked like a who's who of Republican politics. Money poured in, and a bandwagon mentality took hold. People couldn't wait to align themselves with Bill Hill: Republicans as well as Democrats, Bush people, Clements people, businessmen, lawyers--$10,000 from Gerald Ford (a prominent Democrat and SMU giver whom Hill knew in law school), $5,000 from Ray Hunt; $2,500 from Tom Hicks. By mid-October 1998, Hill's campaign had raised nearly $370,000 in contributions, though Hill swore he never asked anyone "for a dime."
The chance of a primary fight was over before it began. Judges Henry Wade Jr., Keith Dean, John Creuzot, and former prosecutors Jim Burnham, Dan Hagood, and Knox Fitzpatrick all decided to back out even before entering the ring. "It was a textbook campaign on how to line up Republican support and get elected to office," Bob Driegert says.
The election, of course, was still many months away. But as Hill told the Westlake Republican Women's Club in September, "Some folks already think I'm district attorney. But I do have an opponent. Some folks just think I don't."
The meeting seemed more spontaneous than it should have been, a cluster of cars suddenly appearing in a library parking lot--mostly pickups. This handful of grass-rooters on a too hot September morning was about to scour a Mesquite neighborhood for votes for a candidate they hardly knew. They were the party faithful--and in Republican-rich Dallas County, it's not surprising there were only seven of them. While they waited for Rick Reed, their candidate for district attorney, they exploited a small opportunity to further their cause.
"The best way to kill a politician in this city is to ignore them," explained a party stalwart sporting a leather vest and walrus mustache. "There ain't nothing more depressin' than working in a campaign without money. It's like declaring war and having nobody show up."
Phil Fisher, a foot soldier of more Democratic campaigns than he cared to remember ("this ain't my first rodeo"), looked over the day's battle plan, a list targeting the swing voters of precinct No. 1317--those non-lever-pulling Mesquite independents more likely to vote for a person than a party. "A family that lives in a neighborhood like this and votes Republican," remarked Fisher from the shadows of his gimme cap, "is just a Democrat that ain't been talked to in 15 years."
Rick Reed drove up in his red Geo SUV. Erin, his 10-year-old daughter, had come along to do her part. At 43, Reed is a long fellow, made lankier by his thick, rubber-soled sandals. His high brow, angular features, and serious demeanor bear a passing resemblance to George Bush Sr. He is nothing if not earnest. He was already sweating.
Fisher collared Reed quickly. "I talked with the guys at the UAW hall," he told him. "We dropped off about 20 of your signs. You don't even have to train those guys. They'll just pick them up and go."
Labor, minorities, Democratic clubs based on geography rather than gender--these were the groups whose rank and file might do some of the legwork for Reed. "Well, just give me a precinct and let me go," one of them said.
Fisher drove Reed and his daughter to Cascade Street, a working-class neighborhood, remarkable only for the number of cars parked in each driveway. Reed had to work fast, knocking on each door three times, then moving on if no one answered. Some people were reluctant to open up, but Erin's presence softened their resistance.
At a house with a broken tricycle hanging from a mailbox, the door opened, and Reed delivered his spiel. "Hi. I'm Rick Reed. I am campaigning for district attorney."
A dog barked angrily, and Reed backed his daughter away. "I don't think she would hurt you," the woman said. "She only has one tooth."
Reed forgot to laugh.
"I have the endorsement of the Dallas Police Association and nine other county police and firefighting organizations," he said, handing her his campaign literature. The key is to turn every conversation into a yard sign; Reed seemed awkward about closing the deal. "Would you mind if we put my sign in your yard?"
"No," shrugged the woman. "Put it wherever you want."
At each house, Reed was quick to point out his police endorsements. He's the real "law and order" candidate, he said, a 12-year career prosecutor under Vance, backed by the blue.
It bothers him that he can't get those tough-on-crime Republicans to understand that their candidate has made a killing representing criminals. "Bill Hill hasn't prosecuted a case since Richard Nixon was president," he says.
Reed fast-walked from one house to the next, leaving Erin about 10 paces behind.
He recalled that when he was a boy, living in Oak Cliff, he walked the neighborhoods with his father, a two-term liberal Democrat in the Texas House. Dick Reed, a machinist with Texas Instruments, was one of the first candidates to take on the Citizens Charter Association, the conservative business oligarchy that ran Dallas. "They were fighting for the elite vote," the elder Reed says. "I was fighting for the common vote." But victory did not come easily.
In 1968, Dick lost the Democratic primary to the CCA-backed candidate and demanded a recount. After obtaining a court order, he discovered that he'd been cheated out of 500 votes, the difference in the election. The public outcry was so great, he ultimately won the legislative seat.
But when he wanted to file charges against the Democratic party chairman and others for voter fraud, Henry Wade said the case was too hard to prove. "Wade was real magnanimous," Dick Reed says. "He said, 'Boy, they treated you bad,' and he was going to make it up to me. Then he called a few of his friends and raised some money for my campaign." The grand jury issued a report condemning the conduct, he says, but returned no indictments. "That was Wade's way of getting off the hook--not indicting someone who was too privileged to get indicted."
Dick Reed again butted heads with the establishment when he gave up his legislative seat to run against Roy Orr for county commissioner in 1972. It was a close race until days before the election, when a leaflet containing a picture of Reed with black activist Al Lipscomb was mailed to voters. The unattributed flier claimed Dick Reed was in favor of forced busing, open housing, and free lunch programs. He lost the election, failing to get into a runoff by a narrow margin.
Although Rick was just a teenager at the time, his father's races devastated him. He wanted nothing to do with politics, seeing the system as crooked. Perhaps that's why he was attracted to the law. Getting a taste of injustice at a young age may have fueled his passion to represent the underdog, the innocent, the lost cause.
But law school at the University of Houston proved a disappointment: The idea that a good lawyer should be able to argue either side of a case ran afoul of his idealism. He quit after his first year and went to work as a law clerk for the Dallas firm of Passman, Jones. Slowly, after a few years, he got back his fire for law, and finished up at SMU in 1985.
His dream was to hang a shingle and start his own practice. But it was too unrealistic, too hard to sell yourself, too unprofitable. Even though he thought prosecutors were the "bad guys," he convinced himself to go to work in the district attorney's office--first for Henry Wade and then John Vance. "In the beginning, I felt like a spy," Reed says. "It took me about a year to switch allegiances."
He was a good company man, climbing the ladder from entry-level misdemeanor prosecutor to felony chief; then on to chief of all the misdemeanor courts; and finally making chief of the white-collar crime division. Reed was more from the John Vance than from the Henry Wade school of prosecuting. He was methodical, unadorned, worked hard not to make a mistake. He prosecuted more than 3,750 criminal cases, tried more than 275 jury trials, and gained a stellar reputation as an ethical lawyer. He married Lynne, a registered nurse, had three children, bought a home in Cedar Hill, and lived a good life. Why he decided to risk it all for a race that courthouse observers say he hasn't a chance in hell of winning--and that's with a strong Democratic turnout--was a mystery, even to his own family. "It never occurred to me he would be a candidate for anything," his father says.
Perhaps it's the son taking on the father's battles. "It bothered me that I was going to take marching orders from some silver-spoon candidate who had been anointed for the job," Reed says. "This is not an office that belongs to the wealthy. It shouldn't matter how much you have contributed to a campaign to decide how much justice you get."
Reed hated the idea that some outsider--some criminal-defense attorney, of all people--was about to become his next boss. Deciding whether to enter the race--the way he labored over it--put a strain on his marriage: He had no cushy deal with a downtown law firm that would pay his salary while he ran. He would have to quit his job, forgo more than $100,000 in income, live off his wife's salary. "We owned some land in Ellis County, and I had no idea how we were going to make the mortgage payment," he says.
Reed realized the political reality of running as a Democrat: Dallas County is 51 to 60 percent Republican, depending on who is asked. Yet he believed he could appeal to independent voters by portraying himself as "the prosecutors' candidate."
"The next time around, Hill would be the incumbent," Reed says. "My opportunity was now."
In September 1997, Reed made his own courtesy call to Vance, telling his boss that he intended to run for district attorney as a Democrat. Vance said that Reed would have to resign once he announced his candidacy, so he waited until the January filing deadline so he could draw a few more paychecks.
In April 1998, his campaign received its biggest boost when Reed secured the endorsement of the Dallas Police Association, which offered to let him use their PAC room as his campaign headquarters. It's nothing fancy--the renovated second floor of a two-story downtown office building--but it's serviceable and free.
Although Reed had hoped to raise $100,000 to finance his campaign, he never saw that kind of money. As of October 12, he'd received just over $27,000 in campaign contributions. Big-ticket Democrats wanted no part of him. Many have aligned themselves with Hill, making him appear the consensus candidate. Even some of Reed's closest friends at the DA's office have disappointed him: His old felony chief, Dan Hagood, insisted that Reed remove his name from campaign literature.
Instead, Reed is running an old-fashioned, populist campaign: pressing flesh, kissing babies, going to every parade for every group that ever celebrated anything in this county. "We're not trying to buy this election," says Dick Reed, his son's unofficial campaign manager. "We're trying to earn it."
"I fully expect to win," Rick Reed says.
Last month, after only an hour of neighborhood door-knocking, Reed was in full drench, the back of his pants soaked with the sweat pouring down his shirt. On Willowbrook Street, he approached a man in a black T-shirt who was working in his garage. The garage looked like a burglary waiting to happen, stuffed with tools and car parts. The man began to recite all the crimes in his neighborhood: a lady down the street had been assaulted, a man up the block was robbed, those apartments down the way were loaded with drug dealers.
Reed acted sympathetic, but stuck to business. "I'm sorry for all that. Can I put up a yard sign?"
"Sure, but the deal is, you gotta help this neighborhood."
"The DA doesn't get involved in law enforcement. I can only send a message to other criminals by being a tough prosecutor."
"That's good enough for me. Stick it anywhere you like."
Reed was amazed at his success--eight yard signs on Willowbrook alone. If the election were held on this street, Rick Reed would be the next DA.
But in a county as large as Dallas, how many doors can he knock on? How many streets can he canvass?
Phil Fisher provides today's answer: "Three streets down, 600 to go."
That Bill Hill is a Republican, cut in the mold of Democrat Henry Wade, and Rick Reed a Democrat, cut in the mold of Republican John Vance, demonstrates how irrelevant partisan politics should be in courthouse races. Only they're not. Hill maintains strong front-runner status because he is on the ballot as a Republican in a Republican county. His ability to raise big money and support stems from that political fact of life.
Reed calls this the anointing of Bill Hill--and it may well be. His challenge is to convince voters somehow to reject the candidate the "business oligarchy," in his father's words, has selected for us.
The truth is that two decent men, both political unknowns, are vying to become heir to the legacy of Wade and Vance--the only DAs Dallas has known in 48 years. Yet at times they don't even seem to be running in the same race. Hill has mostly relied on billboards, radio spots, and Republican women to get out his message. Reed has relied mostly on his family and himself.
Although they have yet to debate, if given a forum to do so, their platforms would sound strikingly similar, hitting upon all the hot-button law-and-order themes that play so well with voters: placing a strong emphasis on curbing juvenile crime; tougher drug enforcement coupled with more drug treatment; making the district attorney's office run more efficiently; demanding rigorous prosecution of sex crimes, violent crimes, hate crimes.
The fundamental difference between them would be reduced to personalities: Do we want a Wade-like DA in Bill Hill? Pragmatic, accessible--a lawyer who has known both sides of the docket and can lead by example rather than default, a political man who risks feeling obligated to the business establishment who elected him.
Or do we want a Vance-like DA in Rick Reed? A justice-for-all, by-the-book straight-shooter, who lacks the inspiration to rally his own party, much less his own staff.
Come November 3, the choice is ours. Or is it
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...that's nice, but 30 out of 30 NBA coaches being paid to draw up gameplans would disagree with you, as well as those of us with common sense.Sure, Haslem had a open look, but does that make it theb RIGHT basketball paly? I will admitt it was a GOOD basketball play, but no way I cave on that being the RIGHT basketball play.
I don't even know what this is supposed to imply. I just know it's absurd.You might get credit for that answer right in a Michigan or Ohio State Grad class, but in Real Life Basketball 101, you like leBron, FAIL!

subset: commoncrawl


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Organized labour has reached an agreement with government to cushion public sector workers with 10 percent cost of living allowance (COLA).
The parties also agreed to increase the minimum wage by 14.5 percent, Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo gathered from an ongoing meeting between the parties.
The joint standing negotiation committee concluded that the 2014 cost of living allowance will be paid in lieu of an increase in the Base Pay on the Single Spine Salary Structure.
The COLA will represent 10 percent of the 2013 Basic Salary and would be paid effective May 2014
The Public Services Joint Standing Negotiating Committee (PSJSNC) comprises Government, represented by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, on one hand, and Organised Labour on the other.
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Posted on Jan 29, '07
This is probably a silly question. I'd like to Mint (that a verb too, I suppose?) pages where my PHP simply issues a "header(location: abc)" command to redirect. Is this possible? Or does the JS need to be drawn for Mint to do its thing? Any thoughts? I'd like to avoid the meta refresh at all costs.


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This position is closed or expired.
See other Catering jobs
The Role
This is an excellent opportunity to add an international assignment to your CV, while experiencing a new culture, with a leading Middle East dairy company.
Our client is a major player in the Saudi Arabia dairy industry, supplying over one third of the country's total drinking milk. In the recent past they have diversified their product portfolio to include butter, cheese, powdered milk and breakfast cream, alongside non-dairy products manufactured at their sister site. Their company mission is to produce a range of nutritious foods for all age ranges and to be the brand of choice in the region.
As a Dairy Process Technologist you will support the factory's implementation of new products into full-scale production. You will look to optimize all aspects of the manufacturing process; design new processes based on the latest and expected future technologies and actively participate in new product development (NPD).
Other responsibilities will include:
Optimizing recipes to reduce costs while maintaining quality and complicity with local laws
Liaising with the co-packer to ensure final products meet the company specifications
Advising the QA Manager on necessary procedural updates
Apply now for this amazing opportunity!
It is expected that you will hold a Food Technology or related degree and have the appropriate communication and project management skills to work in a challenging multicultural environment. Previous experience within the dairy sector working with products such as milk, cheese or yogurt is a must.
About the Company
Why Focus International?
Firstly, we know our market and we deliver. Based in the UAE & The United Kingdom we have a track record of developing long term relationships with candidates & clients over the last 10 years who see the benefit of strategic Talent Management, from Graduates to Main Board appointments.
Our main areas of expertise lie within the following:
Production & Engineering Food Technology Sales & Marketing Product Development Supply Chain & Logistics Human Resources
Equipment & Services
Categories: Bakery Dairy Grocery Added value chilled foods Frozen foods Fresh Produce Meat, Poultry & Fish Drinks and Beverages
To support our work, we have an extensive database of internationally based food, drink & FMCG professionals. We advertise on all relevant websites, we network constantly and with a team of experienced Search Consultants we know the people you will want to talk to.
We are the regions largest and only dedicated Food and Drink recruiter complimented by a number of excellent relations within many non food FMCG companies across the MEA who see the value our approach offers. Born out of a strategic vision from our parent group Focus Management Consultants Ltd to be closer to our international partners across the MEA region, we have rapidly become one of the premier FMCG recruitment consultancies working with both large multinational businesses and local operations. Supporting our consultative recruitment activity we utilise the most optimised and developed web and social media engagement techniques available in the market allowing our team of specialist consultants to engage with candidates & clients on many different media platforms. As innovative leaders of our sector, we are constantly investing in creative ways to source and attract candidates and add value to the recruitment process for our clients.
Our business approach is ethical and honest, and it is our clear objective to maintain integrity with both clients and candidates at all times.
The aim is to become your preferred recruitment contact who will work in partnership with you, assisting and advising at all times your search for that next career opportunity. We also desire to become the preferred partner of choice to FMCG businesses for your ongoing and long term recruitment needs. We will achieve this by delivering you highly effective solutions and committing to you for both your immediate and future business needs.


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Felix Hernandez Throws Perfect Game
Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez has always dreamed of throwing a perfect game. On Wednesday, his dream became reality. Hernandez threw the 23rd perfect game in MLB history in a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
"I don't have any words to explain this,"said Fernandez shortly after throwing perfection. "When Phil Hughes almost had his perfect game here I said I have to have one."
It took "King" Felix threw 113 pitches for 77 strikes, including 12 strikeouts, to achieve perfection.
While his gem marks the 23rd perfect game in MLB history, it's the 3rd perfect game this year. White Sox pitcher Philip Humber and Giants ace Matt Cain etched their names in the perfect game record books already this season.
To read more from the AP on the first perfect game in Mariners history, click here.


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Tom Strickland has been shrugging off his connection with the law firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Strickland ever since he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate last fall. But despite the campaign's efforts to distance the Democratic candidate from his livelihood, Strickland's contributions tell a different story: Money is pouring in not only from the firm but also from some of the firm's most famous--and infamous--clients.
Brownstein, Hyatt has long been associated with big political money and legislative clout. The firm's lawyers have been frontmen for such heavyweights as TCI, the Daniel Ritchie Company, United Airlines and McDonald's. In addition, back in the Eighties, members of the firm did legal work and lobbying for a number of principals and businesses--MDC Holdings, Drexel Burnham, and Silverado Savings and Loan--that were later connected to either the savings and loan crisis, the junk-bond scandal or allegations of a campaign money-laundering scheme. Strickland--a named partner in Brownstein, Hyatt who made $555,000 last year from the 6.5 percent share he controls--has tried to publicly divorce himself from the firm's activities since the race began.
"I'm running, the firm's not," Strickland said during an October interview with Westword. Norm Brownstein himself aided Strickland in his efforts. "If someone wants to make innuendo, fine," Brownstein said last fall. "But Tom isn't running as a partner in the firm."
The firm, however, has certainly honored the campaign with some hefty contributions. Attorneys employed by Brownstein, Hyatt, as well as some of their spouses, have given more than $30,000 to Strickland's campaign--a feat that caused one insider to mutter: "Those billable hours are going to be going up."
The firm's political fundraising power doesn't end with its employees. Brownstein clients including US West, TCI, Liberty Media (a TCI associate), Vestar Capital and Trillium have--through their principals, employees or political action committees--given tens of thousands of dollars more. In fact, TCI's whopping $5,000 show of support made Morrison Knudsen's levy of $1,000 look cheap. (Knudsen is the Boise, Idaho, conglomerate for which Strickland himself lobbied in 1993 and 1994--sometimes making as much as $2,700 a month from its single account.)
As of April 1, Strickland had raised over $500,000 for his campaign, dwarfing Democratic opponent Gene Nichol's total of $176,000. On the GOP side, Wayne Allard had raised $665,000 and Gale Norton had raised $387,000.
Despite Strickland's insistence that his support would come from the environmentally minded, contributors like Newmont Mining Corporation and Westmoreland Coal Company far outweigh the sprinkling of environmental dollars donated to date. Strickland's Republican opponents can barely contain their glee.
"One cannot be the environmental candidate," says Diane Rees of Norton's campaign, "and at the same time accept so much money from people who employ his firm to fight environmental regulations. He's going to have some difficulty down the road."
And in place of the traditional Democratic supporters from, say, the labor movement, is a mix of high-finance investors and, overwhelmingly, lawyers and lobbyists. Six members of the influential inside-the-beltway Washington lobbying firm Patton, Boggs & Blow have donated to the campaign; Frank "Pancho" Hays, the Denver lobbying king who won the tobacco industry's fight against cigarette taxes last year, chipped in as well. So did Denver lobbyists Karen Reinertson, William Dupree and several partners at the lobbying firm Greenberg, Baron, Simon and Miller.
In addition to heavy support from an industry Strickland has insisted should not be used to define him, donations have also been pouring in from people and places to which Strickland has specifically denied having any connection. Last fall Strickland wouldn't even entertain questions about Brownstein, Hyatt's ties to a number of the major players implicated in the Silverado collapse and the Drexel-Burnham scandal or about allegations that MDC Holding Companies had laundered campaign monies. "I had nothing to do with any of them," Strickland said at the time.
But Leon Black--the former head of mergers and acquisitions for Drexel Burnham--and his wife have given $2,000 to Strickland. Employees of his new firm, Apollo Advisors, have chipped in $5,000 more. Employees of developer Larry Mizel's MDC Holdings and its subsidiary Richmond Homes have given $4,000. In all, Strickland collected more than $10,000 from people and companies he claimed to have nothing to do with.
Strickland's campaign workers refuse to comment, and the candidate hasn't returned phone calls. But other candidates in the Senate race aren't silent on the issue.
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"We've heard of limousine liberals," says Diane Rees, "but this is like reinventing government in a Ferrari."
Democratic opponent Gene Nichol's campaign staff, which has waged an aggressive campaign against the better-funded Strickland, throws in a jab about the implications inherent in Strickland's list of contributors.
"It's tough not to return phone calls of your former clients," says Charles Bedford, campaign manager for Nichol. "It's tougher still to ignore them if they've also given you money.


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Apparatus for cleaning musical instrument strings comprised of a two-sided hinged device internally coated with microfiber that closes on strings and is moved manually up and down neck of instrument; Bottle openers, electric and non-electric; Coffee services; Cookie cutters; Cosmetic brushes; Cosmetic spatulas; Cruets; Drinking vessels; Funnels; Gloves for household purposes; Household utensils for applying electrostatic charge to plastic caus...
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HOXHA by
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The USPTO has given the HOXHA
trademark serial number of 87108139.
The current federal status of this trademark filing is REGISTERED.
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The description provided to the USPTO for HOXHA
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Little Rock marks 150 years since fall to US hands
By KELLY P. KISSEL
Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas' capital city marked 150 years since its fall to U.S. troops during the Civil War with a ceremony at an arsenal that served troops from the North and South.
Seemingly appropriate, the power went out Tuesday afternoon at Little Rock's MacArthur Military Museum, located in the old arsenal building where Gen. Douglas MacArthur was born in 1880. The darkened staircases gave the place an especially historic feel before the museum highlighted the return of 2 battle flags to the state.
Members of the 3rd Iowa Calvary seized Little Rock, weeks after Iowa troops forced the surrender of the 37th Arkansas Volunteer Infantry at the Battle of Helena.
Iowa historians loaned the Arkansas museum the regimental flags, and the pair are in Arkansas for the first time since the war.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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SPDR Gold Trust
First up this week is the SPDR Gold Trust ( GLD), a $71 billion ETF that buys physical gold and stores it in vaults under London. GLD's exposure to physical gold and status as an ETF has made it one of the most popular options for investors who want to add gold to their portfolios -- and this week might just be a good time to do that. GLD is actually a vestige from last week's column, when we looked at a throwback that was taking place in shares. As a reminder, a throwback happens when a stock breaks out above a resistance level, then returns to retest that level as a newfound support price. That's exactly what happened with GLD in the days since, as shares caught a bid around the $165 level and reversed higher. That doesn't mean that gold is headed straight up right now (even if the metal does offer plenty of macro reasons to be a buyer). But it does mean that this metal is providing a very low-risk buying opportunity. I'd recommend picking up a position in GLD at these prices with a protective stop right at this ETF's previous swing low at $157.
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In the West, warm, mostly dry weather prevails, except for cool conditions along the Pacific Coast. Northwestern small grain planting is underway, with 13% of the winter wheat seeded in Washington by September 2.
On the Plains, a cold front is crossing Montana and North Dakota, accompanied by a few showers. Unfavorably hot, dry weather persists across the remainder of the nation's mid-section. On September 2, rangeland and pastures rated very poor to poor ranged from 47% in North Dakota to 96% in Nebraska.
In the Corn Belt, mostly dry weather accompanies late-season warmth. Summer crops continue to mature at a rapid pace, but pastures are in need of additional rain. On September 2, more than 40% of the pastures were rated very poor to poor in every Midwestern State, with a range from 42% in Minnesota to 99% in Missouri.
In the South, hurricane recovery efforts continue in the central Gulf Coast region under hot conditions. Hot weather also persists in the Mid-South, including Arkansas, where today's high temperatures will again approach, reach, or exceed 100°F. Elsewhere, scattered Southeastern showers are maintaining favorable pasture conditions; at least half of the pastures are rated good to excellent in every Gulf and Atlantic Coast State from Louisiana to Maryland.
Outlook: A fast-moving cold front arriving across the northern Plains and upper Midwest will race southeastward, reaching the Atlantic Seaboard during the weekend. Showers and thunderstorms will precede and accompany the front, totaling as much as 1 to 2 inches from the central and southern Plains into the Ohio Valley and Northeast. Locally heavy showers will also dot the southern Atlantic region and the Four Corners States. Cool air in the front's wake will result in a brief period of below-normal temperatures. During the weekend and early next week, however, late-season heat will return to the Plains and Midwest. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for September 11- 15 calls for near- to above-normal temperatures nationwide, except for cooler-than-normal conditions in parts of the Southeast and along the Pacific Coast. Meanwhile, near- to below-normal rainfall across the majority of the U.S. will contrast with wetter-than-normal weather in southern Florida and the Southwest.


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Casino resort bill dies one death in Senate committee
An attempt by Las Vegas' largest casino operators to bring resort-style casinos to to Florida died Wednesday when a Senate committee killed the bill on a tie vote, amid discussion that the promise of new revenue wasn't worth the trade-off of expanded gambling.
"It's not dead,'' said Nick Iarossi, lobbyist for the Las Vegas Sands which has been promoting the legislation with hopes of building a resort and casino to Miami. Because the Senate Finance and Tax Committee's 3-3 vote took place after the meeting was scheduled to adjourn, he said that the vote didn't count and the committee could return to the measure at a future meeting.
"I don't think they have the votes,'' said Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale after the meeing. Bogdanoff was among three supporters of the bill that included Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami and Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach. Voting against the bill were Sens. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, Thad Altman, R-Melbourne and Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando.
Bogdanoff said that had Sen. J.D. Alexander been present at the meeting, he would have provided a fourth no vote to kill the measure outright. But Iarossi said he hopes to persuade Altman and Alexander to give it a second chance.
Iarossi noted that the "lack of movement in the House has definitely harmed our momentum,'' he said, noting that since Rep. Steve Bovo, chairman of the House Business and Consumer Affairs Committee, resigned to run for Miami-Dade County Commission, his committee has been in limbo and the bill was scheduled to be heard there. "This isn't something we want to ram down everyone's throat,'' Iarossi said. "We're definitely in a difficult situation."


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Written on: 28/09/2013 by lucyq1234 (1 review written)
My personal experience with Hays recruitment as follows;
After accepting a placement in Lytham from Hays Preston branch myself and others were "tricked" into signing a contract that allows this company to take "rolled up holiday pay" basically meaning that they don't pay Temporary Staff for holidays, and automatically take money from wages in advance to "cover future holidays". I also need too add that to my knowledge no other recruitment agency in Preston operates this way. AVOID...hopefully enough people will read this and take note...because without us HAYS don't have a business!!!
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Lacuna Coil
Dark Adrenaline
Century Media Records
Lacuna Coil has been an interesting band to watch grow. A touring monster featuring one of the most strikingly beautiful singers in the history of metal, the band has been on the cusp of being huge for a long time. Their last album Shallow Life got them closer to that goal and the new release, Dark Adrenaline, could see them pull a Thelma and Louise over the cliff of mainstream success. Gone are the old screeching vocals and some of the harsher themes, replaced by what really comes down to heavy pop tunes. That's not a slight; it's just a realistic appraisal of what Lacuna Coil brings to the table.
Dark Adrenalinekicks off with one of the better songs the band has ever cobbled together. "Trip The Darkness" boasts a catchy riff backed by epic keyboards that scream big metal hit. When lead vocalist Cristina Scabbia releases her angelic vocals you can't help but bob your head in approval. She's the ultimate metal girlfriend. Hot, sensitive and super talented. I can picture hundreds of thousands of teenage girls with dark eye makeup and a Jack Skelington hoodie sitting in the corner of their rooms, smoking cigarettes and rocking back and forth to "Trip The Darkness".
The same can be said for the follow up jam "Against You". Keyboards announce the hugeness of the gothic angle just as another sweeping and catchy riff propels the song forward. Track after track Lacuna Coil lays down their particular brand of metal/pop with a formula that doesn't really change. The band has wedged their sound in-between melancholy and rage. The blasts of anger spraying randomly aren't Lacuna Coil's bag. They speak more to the gothic/metal outsiders, the ones looking for a dark soundtrack to their infinite sadness.
Lacuna Coil's formula is undeniable and they apply it across the board. Start with keyboards or a catchy riff, add Scabbia's lush and hypnotic vocals, mix well with a high school diary lyrical content and serve with a garnish of heavy metal anger. Song after song Dark Adrenaline is the same thing. If you dig what Lacuna Coil are laying down, then have at it. If you think the band sucked before, this isn't the album that'll change your mind.
For me this kind of metal is boring and derivative. It isn't bad; it just does nothing for me at all. When I can predict the changes and structure of every single tune based on the song before it, I usually tune out. I also can't stand Andre Ferro's vocals on any level. His presence injects a nu metal vibe to Lacuna Coil that they can seriously do without. Cristina Scabbia is gorgeous and sings like an angel. Lacuna Coil would be well served to dump Ferro and let Scabbia run the show. In my humble opinion that would triple their chances at becoming a Metallica sized band.
I don't know if the decision to cover R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" was an honest testament to Lacuna Coils' love of the song or a tactical grab at bigger radio play. Whatever the reason it's the most glaring example of how little Andre Ferro means to the band. When Scabbia sings the cover soars, as soon as Ferro enters the fray it becomes something off a Linkin Park covers record.
Dark Adrenalineis a clean, crisply produced collection of heavy pop tunes with massive crossover appeal. Cristina Scabbia was put on this Earth to be a rock star. Her voice is intoxicating and her dark presence screams to be the heroine of sad girls and lonely guys everywhere. Creatively Dark Adrenaline is nothing new for Lacuna Coil, but it could be the album that finally makes them arena rock champions.
First Aid Kit
The Lion's Roar
Wichita Records
Staying in the female vocal vein I give you First Aid Kit. Composed of Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg, First Aid Kit is a folk drenched acoustic project that is both uplifting and heartbreaking to listen to. Their latest release, The Lion's Roar, is a fuller, richer and more mature offering than their 2009 debut The Big Black & Blue. The Soderberg's have become more comfortable in their musical skin and more assured of what they want to do. That certainty allows for First Aid Kit to be braver with this album, even if it doesn't always work.
Peeling back the layers of First Aid Kit is a warts and all experience. Overall The Lion's Roar is a heart-warming Band-Aid for the heartbroken and isolated. The Soderberg sisters are young, Johanna born in 1990, Klara in 1993, but they have stoic wisdom that betrays their years. The opening title track was not the best decision because it rambles. The vocals are wonderful as is the stark guitar line, but it goes on for about a minute too long. Thankfully the sister's vocals are so good the shaky opener doesn't really hurt the album, it just doesn't do it justice.
My choice would be "Emmylou", a song I defy people not to absolutely love. Outside of name checking Emmylou Harris, June Cash and Johnny Cash, the song exemplifies how good First Aid Kit is when they fire on all pistons. The music puts across the imagery of an old traveler working his or her way across the dusty roads of America. When the Soderberg harmonies enter the fray everything stops. The world gets quiet and just a little more beautiful.
"In The Heart Of Men" has the easy flow of Blood era This Mortal Coil. "Blue" is a more up beat number, cashing in on how much fun a song becomes when you add a xylophone. "To A Poet" puts Johanna and Klara's vocals in the forefront. The instruments are more restrained, framing the harmonies wonderfully. "Dance Another Tune" is the dramatic tightrope act. It's not easy for two Swedish sisters to use Native American rhythms to propel their Americana song along but the Soderberg's pull it off. It's these kinds of chances that keep The Lion's Roar from sinking into hipster folk bullshit. The zither-like sound in "New Year's Eve" or the basic country structure of "This Old Routine", every tune manages to try something new while never losing the subtext of what First Aid Kit are all about.
The only glaring misstep is the tune "King Of The World". The song itself is beautiful, using a combination of church swing, generous hand claps and the mariachi style horns Johnny Cash used for "Ring Of Fire". Again the sisters tell a sad story with glorious vocals. "King Of The World" sets up to be one of the powerhouse tracks of the whole exercise. Then, for no reason, Bright Eyes Conor Oberst jumps in to sing a line and kills the whole song. The sudden appearance of male vocals is just too striking a contrast against the rest of The Lion's Roar so the song flatlines. The jaded will claim the inclusion of indie-rock coolness strikes the first dishonest chord on the album but that's a little too nitpicky even for me.
Ups and downs aside, The Lion's Roar is the first truly beautiful album of 2012. I hope bands like First Aid Kit (and the equally brilliant Mountain Man) can bring back these classic Americana ideals without also including the vomitous indie hipster factor.


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When introducing the vice president, Penn provost Vincent Price cited Biden's 36 years in the Senate and pointed to his role in the landmark 1994 crime bill and the recently renewed Violence Against Women Act. Price also paid tribute to Biden's reputation for joviality, joking that the vice president "minimizes his browser whenever President Obama walks by."
After being awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Penn President Amy Gutmann, Biden quipped: "It's much cheaper to get a degree this way, isn't it?"
Striking a more serious tone, Biden drew a parallel between his own graduating class and the class of 2013. He recalled graduating in 1968 into an uncertain world of the Vietnam War and civil rights riots, and a fiscal crisis much like the one young people face today.
But in spite of obstacles, he urged students to challenge "orthodoxy" in order to "lead the world in the 21st century."
"It's never ever ever been a good bet to bet against America, and it's a very bad bet to bet against your generation," Biden told graduates. "You are the most competent, capable, caring generation this country has ever produced, and I am confident you will write a new and better chapter of American history."


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Jye Briscoe's review published on Letterboxd :
I really enjoyed this one. Another great DC Universe Animated film. I've watched quite a few of these over the past few days and this one is tied for my favourite along with Justice League: Doom.
I don't want to say too much about this one because I don't want to give anything away, but this is a really cool, dark batman story with nice animation to top it off. My only complaint would be John DiMaggio voicing the Joker. He didn't fit the character at all and I found it off-putting.
Apart from that, another solid entry in the DC animated films universe.


text:
The Mass Confusion of Values Clarification: A Retrospective Look
In this analytical work, writer and scholar W.J. Rock takes a retrospective look at a popular education program know as 'values clarification'. A powerful social influence and technique to help people get clear about their values, the phenomenon of values clarification saw itself as education for self-actualization concerned with promoting self-esteem.
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Mama to 3 boys
well, the craft room looks like it was hit by a cyclone...i am definitely in full swing and am making all my gifts this year.
I already posted in the toys and dolls forum under christmas gift ideas with a long list of fun stuff im working on for the kiddos. but i wanted to post my other gifts and links as well.
So far I am knitting the Steggy Sweater for my 3 year old son. DH is making him some walking blocks (for DS to stand on- like stilts). I'm thinking about also making him some mittens, and maybe sewing a doorframe puppet theater.
I love this R2D2 hat, and am trying to think of who I can knit it for this year. I'll also probably do some simple stocking stuffer things like coffee mug cozies, etc.
Oh, I would really like to make some wrap-n-mats... I need to look into a pattern and see what fabrics I can use.
Iowaorganic- mama to DD (1/5/06), DS1 (4/9/07), DS2 (1/22/09), DS3 (12/10/10), DD2 (7/6/12) and a new kid due in early 2014
Mama to 3 boys
Oh Mamas,I had a big old craft fail.UHG!I was trying to stencil some kung fu shoes for a 13 yr old friend.Did not work!I melted some of the elastic when I was trying to iron the freezer paper on to the shoes and then the freezer paper sort of stuck to the shoes.UHG!So if you have any ideas for a 13 year old boy...oh yeah and I just gave him a wallet for a party favor so I can't go back to my original idea for him.UHG!
OH NO!!! That SUXS!!!
Teenage boys are HARD!!! I'm stumped for my 16 y/old cousin. Bought him a small game as a joke...and I think I'm actualy BUYING the rest of his gift
Does he have an i-pod? maybe an i-pod cozy?
Funky fleece tie quilt? I made one for my cousin last year out of a kit, and he keeps it on his bed all the time
A quillow? I think that's what they are called? Those pillows that turn into a blanket
A bed organizer that holds magazines, t.v. remote? that can slip under his matress and hang down the side.
A messanger bag, with a pocket for cellphone, i-pod what have you
A fleece scarf with "pockets" at the ends for his hands to slip in when cold/another pocket w velcro for cell/ipod whatever
I'm at the thumb hole for my aunts fingerless gloves...now to just learn how to knit button holes
Hi everyone! Mind if I join?
I could use some help figuring out some gifts for a few people:
Nephews (age 4 and 10) - They are extremely rough on toys and don't take care of things. I want something that I'm not going to put a lot of work into that they don't appreciate. (I may end up buying something cheap for them, anyway, unless you guys have some awesome ideas.)
Brother, age 21 - College student, in final year of nursing program. Very "guy" ish, loves sports and beer.
BIL, age 16 - Likes to fish and hunt
SIL, age 17 - Senior in high school, very sporty and preppy, loves clothes and fashion. I'm stumped by her, because anything I think of doesn't seem good enough.
My dad - Very much like my brother, loves beer and football and Star Trek.
My limitations: I can't knit or crochet at ALL, but I sew. Needs to be extremely cheap, because I'm working on a TIGHT budget here.
I have gotten some amazing ideas from all of you! I am definitely going to do the tea cup candles for my MIL and step mother, if I can find decent tea cups.
Thanks you guys!!! This thread is awesome. I'll be back later with my own ideas to add.
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Injury-riddled Hurricanes recall Ryan Murphy
Posted February 21, 2013
Raleigh, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday announced that defenseman Ryan Murphy has been recalled from the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League on an emergency basis.
The team also placed center Tim Brent on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 14.
Thursday's roster adjustments come a day after head coach Kirk Muller announced that forward Jeff Skinner is day-to-day after suffering a concussion on Feb. 14 against Toronto.
Defensemen Tim Gleason and Joni Pitkanen are also on injured reserve, but Pitkanen did practice Wednesday and could return Thursday evening against Winnipeg, Muller said.
Murphy, 19, has skated in 46 OHL games this season and ranks first among defensemenon his team in goals (8) and points (39). He is in his fourth season of junior hockey for Kitchener and has represented Canada in the World Junior Championships. Murphy was Carolina's first-round pick in 2011.
The Hurricanes also recalled Riley Nash and Jeremy Welsh from Charlotte on Monday. Michal Jordan was previously recalled from the Checkers on Feb. 14.
Thursday's showdown with Winnipeg is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at PNC Arena. With 17 points in their first 14 contests, the Hurricanes are tied atop the Southeast Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning.


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Residents of a Flatbush block say their newest neighbors are a bunch of animals — literally!
A family of raccoons has moved into an old garage on E. 23rd Street and Foster Avenue next to the Abraham family, who fear their 4-year-old will strike up a fierce friendship with the varmints.
"My daughter loves animals and I'm afraid she might go towards them if she sees them," said Auria Abraham. "As cute as they are, they are wild animals."
The raccoon family, a single parent and three children, have made themselves comfortable in their new digs and are now wandering on her property, Abraham claims.
"I noticed them on Saturday night, and we've seen them every night since then," she said.
The critters make it impossible for her daughter to enjoy the summertime outside the house by herself, said Abraham, who claims that the city won't do anything about the raccoons until one of the animals chomps down on a hapless victim.
Abraham said when she contacted 311, she was told that the city would only remove the raccoons if she could prove that they were rabid or had attacked someone.
Department of Health spokeswoman Chanel Caraway confirmed what Abraham was told.
"Raccoons don't pose significant health risks unless they are rabid," Caraway said.
Anyone seeing a raccoon exhibiting signs of illness should contact 311 so it can be picked up by Animal Care and Control and tested for rabies, Caraway said. If a raccoon attacks someone, residents should call 911.
But since the raccoons on E. 23rd Street seem healthy, Abraham will have to hire a trapper on her own to have the animals relocated.
Abraham says she doesn't understand why the responsibility for capturing wild animals should fall on Brooklyn residents.
"What would it take for the city to do something?" said the mom. "Would it take someone put in the hospital?"
Lawmakers have proposed multiple pieces of legislation that would force the city to deal with its wily raccoon population, but the bills have gone nowhere.Reach reporter Eli Rosenberg at erosenberg
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text:
Retinal Nerve Fibres Layers Thickness Study in Glaucomatous Patients
This study has been completed.
University of Roma La Sapienza
vingolo enzo maria
domanico daniela
salvatore serena
Information provided by:
University of Roma La Sapienza
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: November 29, 2010
Last updated: December 3, 2010
Last verified: August 2009
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- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
No Study Results Posted on ClinicalTrials.gov for this Study
|Study Status:
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|Study Completion Date:
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|Primary Completion Date:
|No date given


text:
Cable sees value in Seymour
INDIANAPOLIS — Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable said today the addition of defensive end Richard Seymour was well worth the 2011 first-round draft pick traded to the Patriots last year.
"I think so," said Cable at Lucas Oil Stadium. "If you look at what he brought to our team. The ability of opponents or lack there of to run at him on that side of the line of scrimmage. I would like to see a little more pass rush out of him, which he would probably be the first to tell you that. With all those things considered, yeah, definitely, you get that out of a first round pick and [you've done well.]"
The Patriots gave up leadership for the pick, and the Raiders benefited.
"I think he was everything that I thought he would be," Cable said. "You know, I had heard a lot about him as a person and what he would be like in the locker room and on the practice field, and preparation and all those things and to me, he accomplished everything I heard about him.
"The thing that I was probably most excited about was how much he impacted our young players on our football team. He's been in the NFL for quite some time and knows how to prepare, how to get himself ready, how to take notes, the time it takes day to day, week to week as you go through the season and ultimately how to take care of your body. So I think there was a lot of good lessons learned there for a bunch of young football players."


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BroadSoft Inc. (BSFT) President & CEO Michael Tessler sells 5,000 Shares
Posted by: insider (IP Logged)
Date: July 20, 2011 05:46PM
President & CEO of BroadSoft Inc. (BSFT) Michael Tessler sells 5,000 shares of BSFT on 07/18/2011 at an average price of $39.27 a share.
Broadsoft Inc. has a market cap of $1.06 billion; its shares were traded at around $39.86 with a P/E ratio of 94.9 and P/S ratio of 11.1.
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Organic farm prepares veterans for jobs in sustainable agriculture
Posted November 11, 2011 at 1:31PM
In honor of Veterans' Day, allow me to introduce you to an enterprise I just read about: Archi's Acres, an organic farm in California that trains military veterans in sustainable agriculture skills. It is veteran-owned as well as veteran-serving.
The military was a big deal in my childhood home. My father was a Purple Heart veteran of the Normandy campaign and Battle of the Bulge in World War Two. He was among the most peaceful men I have ever met, yet he remained connected to his branch, the US Army, throughout his life, both as a reservist and as a civilian employee at the local armory. His old WW2 unit had reunions every couple of years. Although for many reasons the military wasn't for me, I have tremendous respect for those who serve.
I also know that my father really struggled with finding post-war employment, and that veterans today face the same challenge. So it was a real treat to find Archi's Acres on the web today. (I just entered "veterans" and "sustainability" into a Google search. Amazing.) I am majorly impressed by what I have read on their site and from others who have written about them.
I can't improve on this introduction from their home page:
"Archi's Acres is a small-scale organic farm in Southern California established in 2007 by Colin and Karen Archipley. We are a pro-American, pro-veteran company that utilizes innovative growing techniques to produce inexpensive, organic, locally grown food. These techniques maximize efficient use of our precious available resources, ensuring the sustainability of our planet. Our goal is to augment and accelerate (exponentially) the agricultural revolution across America, in partnership with our military veterans."
What an outstanding concept.
At the heart of Archi's endeavors is the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training program, which provides 270 hours of education and job training in the following categories:
- Sustainable Agriculture
- Organic Production Methods
- Hydroponics
- Green House Production
- Irrigation maintenance and installation and sales
- Farmers Market management
- Farm ownership and or Farm Management
The farm also offers help in business planning and skills. Tuition isn't cheap, but the site says there is assistance available.
Based in Southern California, it was natural for the Archipleys to emphaisze water efficiency in their operations, eventually achieving an estimated 80 percent reduction in water consumption compared to more conventional farms. Gloria Taylor Brown, writing in Natural Awakenings, describes Archi's Acres this way:
"Working together, the two created a model system of soil-less hydroponic, organic farming that can be duplicated in any location, even an inner city parking lot or abandoned building.
"When Colin returned from combat for the last time, Karen realized that she needed to somehow help him continue to serve his country while being in the presence of fellow veterans. Her solution was to suggest the concept of the VSAT program, and together, she and Colin formulated the idea of training returning veterans how to create their own farms . . .
"Today, Archi's Acres is a sustainable, hydroponic, organic farm, with two greenhouses and three open-air growing areas; it produces continuous crops of basil, lettuce, chard, kale and heirloom tomatoes in a state-of-the-art, soil-less facility. Selling to Whole Foods, Jimbo's Naturally and directly at local farmers' markets in Hillcrest and Rancho Santa Fe, Karen's smiling face is a testament to the success of her plan."
The Archipleys told a San Diego TV station that, with two-thirds of family farmers nearing retirement, the federal Department of Agriculture is seeking to create 100,000 new farmers per year over the next five years. They believe that veterans – who acquire motivation, leadership and management skills while on duty – can help. They add that it doesn't hurt that 45 percent of the military come from rural communities, as opposed to one-sixth of the general population.
Here's how the website puts it:
"At Archi's Acres we have created the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) program to offer our combat veterans meaningful employment opportunities in the high-growth industry of sustainable farming. Our philosophy is to call up and redirect our veterans' attributes of leadership, tenaciousness, [and] adaptability, as well as willingness to take on severe challenges, self-knowledge and appetite for continual improvement.
"We have bet the farm on these well-disciplined and hard-working veterans whom we trust to continually challenge themselves to achieve the highest standards in plant production."
For an insightful, personal take on Archi's Acres, I recommend Jon R. Anderson's well-written story in Military Times Edge. And, to get the visual context and meet the Archipleys, check out this nice video segment from KPBS in San Diego:
Move your cursor over the images for credit information.


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Tonga 'wiped' visa applicants' criminal records
New Zealand officials are "extremely concerned" at revelations Tongan police "wiped" the criminal records of 33 people so that they could get NZ visas.
Tongan police faked letters to New Zealand immigration authorities for an unknown number of people saying they had clean criminal records even when they had convictions for serious crime, including manslaughter, Tongan Police Commissioner Grant O'Fee said today.
He said they have identified 33 people who were given letters declaring they had no criminal records when it was known they did.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Pacific regional manager Alan Barry says they are "extremely concerned" at what may have happened in Tonga.
"The New Zealand Government is working with the Tongan authorities to get the details of any Tongans who might have come to New Zealand as a result of cleansed police records."
He said INZ would place alerts on its immigration systems for any Tongan national who was in New Zealand as a result of having their record wiped inappropriately.
"Any individual who is found to have entered New Zealand illegally by not declaring their criminal convictions or by providing misleading information to an immigration officer will be liable for deportation and could face a lengthy ban from ever returning."
Once they had details from Tonga INZ would take immediate steps to locate any individual that they believed has entered New Zealand illegally.
O'Fee said he had "no doubt" that there are more than 33 occurrances.
He said a previous Tongan police minister, now dead, had approved the practice which took place between 2005 and 2008.
O'Fee said the original records held by the Tongan courts and police were intact and each had to be searched manually.
O'Fee, who is a former senior New Zealand police officer, said they were providing Australian, New Zealand and United States authorities with the names of known criminals who had received letters of clean records.
"We are doing everything we can do to cooperate with the authorities in New Zealand and Australia."
O'Fee said they were making an assumption that the letters were written for immigration but some could have been written to support job applications.
Police have yet to find duplicates of all the letters but he noted some were marked "FIP" - "for immigration purposes".
O'Fee's predecessor in the post, Dunedin police officer Chris Kelley had put a stop to the writing of letters when he discovered it but had not been aware of the extent of it.
O'Fee said he discovered the scale in December.
He said he had no idea why the police minister - who was, in those days, effectively the commissioner as well - had approved the writing of false letters.
"It is difficult to grasp what has happened."
He had no doubt that the letters were written deliberately.
"It was not just bureaucratic oversight or error in clerical work."
Solicitor General 'Aminiasi Kefu was leading the investigation which implicated senior Tongan police officers.
O'Fee would not rule out criminal charges or disciplinary measures against police officers.
"I am moving very cautiously in a very measured way on this..... I am anxious to try have a measured response to this."