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Brian Gamble
Class of 2010
Major/Minor: Business Management
"There are a lot of opportunities here that few even consider," Brian Gamble '10 notes. That means more fun—and stronger resumé-building—for him.
Brian has traveled the ocean from Australia to Thailand aboard a 112-foot schooner, skied with the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming, worked as a sailing instructor, and cycled 3,500 miles across the United States in the Ride for the Future (a student-organized journey to raise awareness about lung cancer). The business management major was also MVP for the 2008-09 men's rowing team.
Brian's ocean voyage was part of the 90-day "Seamester," a global semester at sea. With islands scattered over both sides of the equator, Indonesia supports the world's second highest level of biodiversity. While underway from Australia to Thailand via Bali and Singapore, Brian learned everything from navigation (by astronomy) to marine biology (by scuba diving). He points out that the College Registrar was incredibly helpful in incorporating this unique class transcript into his regular course requirements.
As a future business leader, Brian is interested in finance. He was one of the students participating in the Alex. Brown Student-Managed Investment Fund, which provides $500,000 for students to invest and manage.
"We all are assigned an industry; we pick the best company and invest," Brian explains. With in-depth research and presentations, the class decides together how to manage the fund. Brian says their class projections surpassed the actual overall market.
Brian has high goals, citing philanthropic billionaire Warren Buffet as his aspirational figure. But until Brian achieves this coveted status, he is working his way up. He currently interns at Benchworks, an advertising firm in Chestertown, which oversees marketing for such companies as Heinz, T. Rowe Price, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Fuze Beverages, and the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.


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Kim Taylor: 32 years later, still a special place
The first time I tried to find Tanglewood, I drove right past it. (The first time in my adult life, that is.) I had been hired by Peter Gelb, then the BSO's assistant manager, now the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, as his assistant. I hadn't been back to Tanglewood since childhood visits.
Several U-turns later, I spotted the tiny wooden sign, swinging in the breeze from a wooden pole, with the hand-painted letters "Tanglewood."
It was so amazingly non-annunciatory! How Bostonian, how New England, how Tanglewood-ian.
That was 32 years ago and not a lot has changed on that front. The signs have been reworked into a slightly larger version, but there is still, blessedly, nothing to really herald this world-class destination sandwiched between the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge.
The Berkshires were a very different place back then.
There was a single restaurant in Lenox, now long gone, called Ganesh which morphed into Café Lucia. And there was Loeb's, our life line to the outside world as the repository of the morning papers. None of us had TV in our rental homes -- there was no cable, no Internet, no cell phones. The land lines at Tanglewood were, at best, temperamental, and would quickly sputter and die at the mention of lightning.
Back then, the press office at Tanglewood was housed next to the Main Gate; it had a flat, tar roof upon which the sun would beat down mercilessly. If one could wheedle a fan from Jim Kiley, who ran the physical plant, one was very lucky.
Before each concert, the office would be converted into a makeshift bar for the press. There were plates of Freihofer's chocolate chip cookies and lots of gin.
In many ways, a trip to Tanglewood was much more of an elitist excursion. Although the years of passing out paper skirts to under-dressed patrons had disappeared, ticket holders for the Shed dressed for the occasion: the women in silk wraps and heels sure to be ruined by the Tanglewood turf.
My first summer began with an all-Copland concert conducted by the composer himself. There were performances by great singers of the era -- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jon Vickers paired with Jessye Norman in the second act of Wagner's "Tristan," a remarkable Verdi "Requiem."
Seiji Ozawa presided over it all in his impeccably tailored, white mandarin-collared Hanae Mori creations with his mane of jet-black hair.
Seranak -- the name deriving from an acronym of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky for their former home overlooking Tanglewood, the Stockbridge Bowl and clear down to Connecticut -- was acquired in 1981. It soon became the locus of post-concert soirees and a pre-concert supper club. One of the earliest parties there, after the BSO had reclaimed it, was an 80th birthday celebration for Copland, attended by Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein.
I was given the task of capturing the cake-cutting in a photo. "Get those three together and do it now!" hissed Gelb.
New at wrangling anything, I tried in vain to corral them for a photo. The BSO's late photographer, Walter Scott, gently put an arm around Lenny (as he was known to all) and Aaron and signaled me to grab Seiji. Voila, success!
The visitations by Bernstein were always a high point of the summer. When he arrived "on campus" in his gleaming vintage Mercedes convertible with its "Maestro One" license plates, one could feel the electricity ripple through the grounds. Everyone was at attention.
I found that being the junior press officer made for good scapegoat material.
In the early '80s, Bernstein had designated one of his performances as a benefit for the Tanglewood Music Center. The three-sheet (the in-house name for the large posters by the Main Gate) neglected to mention this. Bernstein, for whom the strict rules regarding automobiles on the grass were discarded, noticed this omission upon driving past the entrance. He was furious. I was summoned.
There clearly had been some miscommunication about this but since these posters were within my purview, I was the one who was told to explain. I delivered an abject apology. He was gracious and forgiving, surveying me with a cigarette in one hand and silver cup of some libation in the other.
I escaped unscathed.
I was also summoned a number of times to try and assuage visiting conductors who were less than pleased with the reviews they had received. One such visit occurred at Wheatleigh, the elegant resort near Tanglewood. For a 26-year-old, this was very heady stuff, waiting in the Italianate grand foyer.
I was shepherded to the garden where an illustrious German maestro was pacing and whacking the table with the newspaper in question. This is "schrecklish" (German for "terrible"), he kept shouting. "I want this man brought to me."
I tried to explain that this wouldn't be possible, which further infuriated him. He muttered, "In Germany, we handle this differently." Indeed.
Tanglewood, ultimately, is more than the sum of its parts, more than patchwork memories of a Mahler symphony, an appearance by an Ewok, a glimpse of greatness, the image of the orchestra resplendent in white. It is walking across that great expanse of lawn and feeling there may be a greater truth to be revealed or that somehow, one has access just for this moment, to something greater than oneself.
There is a mystery and a beauty that belongs to this place. On a summer Sunday afternoon, with a cool Berkshire breeze and a cloud scuttling by and the orchestra about to tune, one can't help invoke Robert Browning: "God's in his heaven; all's right with the world."
Caroline "Kim" Taylor joined the Boston Symphony's press office in 1979. She rose to director of public relations and marketing for the BSO and married James Taylor on Nov. 18, 2001, having been introduced a few years earlier by film composer and conductor John Williams. Currently, she is a trustee of the orchestra.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

subset: commoncrawl


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Maryland Mall Reopens, Security Heightened
The mall where a Maryland teenager gunned down two people before killing himself was set for a somber reopening Monday under increased security as police worked to figure out why the shooting took place and whether the gunman knew either victim.
Investigators found a journal belonging to Darion Marcus Aguilar, 19, but they would only say that it "expressed general unhappiness." The contents, however, were enough for an officer looking into the disappearance of Aguilar on the day of the shooting to worry about the teen's safety.
Aguilar was supposed to work at Dunkin' Donuts on Saturday morning, but he never showed up. Police said Aguilar took a taxi to the Mall in Columbia in suburban Baltimore and entered the building near Zumiez, a shop that sells skateboarding gear. He went downstairs to a food court directly below the store, then returned less than an hour later, dumped the backpack in a dressing room and started shooting.
Shoppers fled in a panic or barricaded themselves behind closed doors. When police arrived, they found three people dead — two store employees and Aguilar.
The shooting baffled investigators and acquaintances of Aguilar, a quiet, skinny teenager who graduated from high school less than a year ago and had no previous run-ins with law enforcement.
Aguilar, who had concealed the shotgun in a bag, fired six to nine times. One victim, Brianna Benlolo, a 21-year-old single mother, lived half a mile away from Aguilar in the same College Park neighborhood, but police said they were still trying to determine what, if any, relationship they had.
The other employee, Tyler Johnson, did not know Aguilar and did not socialize with Benlolo outside of work, a relative said.
Howard County Police Chief William McMahon said there has been speculation about a romantic relationship between the gunman and Benlolo, but investigators have not been able to establish that.
He said Monday that if the shooting were "domestic-related" he thought investigators would know more about that by this point. But he also did not rule that out.
The chief also said there was no evidence so far that Aguilar ever applied for a job at Zumiez or worked there.
On Monday, the store was covered by white boards as if it was under construction. Messages written on the boards thanked first responders and let customers know the store was closed.
Preparations for the mall's 1 p.m. reopening Monday included memorial books for visitors to sign and an opportunity for them to float white flowers in the mall's indoor fountain in memory of Benlolo and Johnson. Outside, a second memorial was set up with a banner that read: "Forever in our hearts."
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman planned to attend with his wife to eat lunch and shop. He invited other people to join him. "Send a message with your presence that you are standing with us," he said. "Let's get back to business."
Aguilar was accepted last February to Montgomery College, a community college in the Washington suburbs, but school spokesman Marcus Rosano said he never registered or attended.
Tydryn Scott, 19, said she was Aguilar's lab partner in science class at James Hubert Blake High School and said he hung out with other skaters. She said she was stung by the news.
"It was really hurtful, like, wow — someone that I know, someone that I've been in the presence of more than short amounts of time. I've seen this guy in action before. Never upset, never sad, just quiet, just chill," Scott told The Associated Press. "If any other emotion, he was happy, laughing."
Aguilar graduated in 2013.
Aguilar worked at the Dunkin' Donuts on Friday and was supposed to open the store Saturday morning. When he didn't show, his mother filed a missing persons report with the Prince George's County Police Department at about 1:40 p.m., more than two hours after the mall shooting. Officers went to Aguilar's home to speak with his mother about 5 p.m. and saw Aguilar's journal. The portion the officer read made him concerned for Aguilar, the department said.
Police began tracking Aguilar's phone and soon discovered it was at the mall.
At his home where he lived with his mother, officers also recovered more ammunition, computers and documents, police said. No one answered the door there Sunday. A half-mile away, a roommate who answered the door at Benlolo's home confirmed that she lived there but declined to comment further. Two police officers went into the home after he spoke briefly to a couple of reporters.
Residents described the neighborhood as a mix of owners and renters, including some University of Maryland students.
A man who answered the phone at Johnson's residence in Mount Airy, northwest of Baltimore, said the family had no comment. The victim's aunt told a local television station she did not believe her nephew knew Aguilar.
Sydney Petty, in a statement to WBAL-TV, said she did not believe her nephew had a relationship with Benlolo.
"Tyler didn't have anything beyond a working relationship with this girl, and he would have mentioned it if he did, and we're just as confused as anybody," Petty said.
Five other people were hurt in the attack, but only one was hit by gunfire. All were released from hospitals.
(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)


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With the nation watching, Newtown parents still grieving and gun owners objecting, legislative leaders Monday said they had met the solemn challenge presented by the Sandy Hook school massacre with a bipartisan agreement for the nation's strongest gun control bill.
Easy passage of the legislative response to the Dec. 14 killings is expected in House and Senate votes scheduled for Wednesday, leaders of both the Democratic majority and Republican minority said after completing weeks of negotiations on the bill.
"There were some who said the 'Connecticut effect' would wear off — that it would wear off in Connecticut and it would wear off across the country," Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said at an evening press conference in the Capitol flanked by five other legislative leaders.
"What they didn't know was that Democrats and Republicans would come together and work to put together the strongest and most comprehensive bill in the United States to fight gun violence, to strengthen the security at our schools, and to provide the mental health services that are necessary," he said.
"Knowing that that tragedy happened in Connecticut, it was up to Connecticut to show the way," said House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk. "And I'm very proud to say today the package that we are introducing ... has accomplished that goal."
The bipartisan deal would strengthen the state's existing ban on semiautomatic assault rifles to include weapons such as the Bushmaster AR-15 used by Adam Lanza to kill 20 first-graders and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Current law defines an assault rifle as having two military-style characteristics on a list of several, such as a pistol grip and a flash suppressor. The new bill would require only one such characteristic. It also lists more than 160 firearms by name as assault weapons.
People could keep the banned rifles that they already own if they submit to new registration procedures. But future sales of the rifles would be prohibited. An existing owner could bequeath an assault rifle to a family member, but could sell it only to a licensed firearms dealer who would have to sell it outside Connecticut.
Magazines Disputed
The bill stepped back from an outright ban on large-capacity magazines containing more than 10 cartridges, such as the 30-round magazines that Lanza used. Instead, it would allow owners of large-capacity magazines to keep them if they make an official declaration by Jan. 1 of how many they own and submit to restrictions on their use. The magazines could only be loaded with 10 or fewer rounds, except in their owners' homes or at a shooting range, where they can be fully loaded.
Buying, selling, importing or transferring high-capacity magazines would be a Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Parents of Sandy Hook victims said Monday that they wanted those high-capacity magazines taken away from owners, not "grandfathered in" under the new bill. They called for an up or down vote on that issue.
But Williams and the other leaders who negotiated the agreement said they don't support such a vote because they want to stick to what has been negotiated.
"We learned, the way that no other parents should learn, that the most dangerous, dangerous part of an assault weapon is the magazine," Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan, 6, was killed Dec. 14, said at a press conference with other parents at the Capitol Monday morning.
"The horrible, brutal truth is that 154 bullets were fired in four minutes, killing our children, our daughters, our wives. The shooter carried 10, 30-round large-capacity magazines," Hockley said. "We have learned that in the time it took him to reload in one of the classrooms, 11 children were able to escape. We ask ourselves every day — every minute — if those magazines had held 10 rounds, forcing the shooter to reload at least six more times, would our children be alive today?"
Lanza killed himself as police arrived at the school. He killed his mother at their Newtown home before driving to the school.
Neil Heslin, whose son, Jesse Lewis, 6, was killed, said Monday night: "I think it's useless to register the magazines. How are you going to register them? I think it's stupid. There's no way to register them, there's no serial numbers. … It's just another law or regulation that's not going to be enforceable." But he said the bill contains other "steps in the right direction."
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy supported the parents early in the day, saying he agreed with them that "simply banning [the magazines'] sale moving forward would not be an effective solution."
Monday night, when asked if Malloy would sign the negotiated bill into law or if he would veto it, the governor's communications director, Andrew Doba, said he had no additional comment.
Williams said at the press conference that it is leaders' hope and expectation that Malloy will sign the bill.
Meanwhile, the executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, a group that has been allied with many of the Newtown parents and residents of that area, expressed support for the compromise bill.
"We're not totally satisfied with everything," Director Ron Pinciaro said, "but … I think we're in the land of political reality right now … and we're not going to push anybody to push an amendment" for the vote that the Newtown parents requested on the magazine ban. "It's not a perfect day for us but it's a very good day."
The firearms industry expressed dissatisfaction Monday night with the proposal. "It's unfortunate that legislators are moving forward with gun control that's not going to make Connecticut safer," said Jake McGuigan, director of government relations for the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation.
"I think Cabela's really has to think about whether they can remain in the state as a destination," McGuigan said of the sporting goods megastore in East Hartford. "Based upon this bill, even the ability to sell ammunition is going to be pretty difficult for them. The manufacturers have no reason to stay in Connecticut anymore."
Tighter Rules
Aside from expanding the assault weapons ban and restricting the high-capacity magazines, the bill also would:
•Create what lawmakers believe would be the first statewide dangerous weapon offender registry in the country. People convicted of any of 40 or more specific crimes, most of them involving shootings, would have to put their names on the registry and keep their address current for five years after their release from prison. The registry would be accessible only by law enforcement officials.
•Require a certificate of eligibility or gun permit to be presented by any person buying ammunition. A certificate of eligibility could only be obtained by undergoing a national criminal background check, the same as required for a pistol permit.
•Impose tighter gun-registration procedures and universal background checks for purchasers of all firearms, whether the purchase is from a retail store or between individuals. This would cover purchases at gun shows. Background checks would be required for purchases of long rifles and shotguns.
•Increase penalties for many firearms-trafficking and illegal-possession offenses.
•Increase the "look-back" period for restricting gun possession by persons involuntarily confined or admitted to a hospital for mental illness. Currently, such people cannot possess a firearm or obtain a permit for a year after their release. The bill expands that period to five years.
•Raises the age requirement for purchase of semiautomatic rifles not clarified as assault weapons under the bill to 21, from the current 18.
•Clarify the state's risk reduction credit program, stating that violent criminals who commit crimes with guns must serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentences. Some lawmakers said that this translates into the end of the state's highly controversial early release program, but Malloy administration official Michael P. Lawlor said it is simply a clarification of existing law. Republicans have harshly criticized the early release program, and its inclusion in the gun bill reflects a compromise.
Capitol Bureau Chief Christopher Keating contributed to this story.


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What's that you're doing, Ms. Mischuretz?
Jane Mischuretz, 19
aircraft technician
… has been with Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg for only a year.
"Airplanes have always fascinated me, especially jet engines. Think about it: Modern air traffic would be unthinkable without them. What I'm doing right now is attaching a fuel hose to our training engine. I'm only in my first year of training, so I'm not allowed to work on an engine installed on an operating aircraft, but my colleagues and I practice everything in the training workshop. Some of the tasks and procedures are quite easy to learn, others are more difficult, so we have to practice again and again. One of these tasks is securing bolts with a safety wire. To do so, I run the wire through the heads of two bolts that are already in place and twist it tight in a particular way. The vibrations in the engine can cause the bolts to loosen, which is why they have to be secured. Some of the places I have to get to are so tricky that I have to use a mirror. Working with a mirror image makes the job quite a lot harder."


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House & Senate Documents and Reports also includes the pre-1817 American State Papers. In addition many executive branch materials historical maps illustrations etc.
Fulltext access to the Serial Set which began publication with the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817). This collection also includes documents published 1789-1817, known as the American State Papers. The United States Congressional Serial Set contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports. The reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. The documents include all other papers ordered printed by the House or Senate. Documents cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, executive-branch materials were also published in the Serial Set. The database comprises 335,000+ publications, 9.7 million pages, 1.67 million statistical tables, 300,000 illustrations and 56,000 maps.


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2" W x 2.75" H
Online Return & Exchange Policy
We welcome returns & exchanges. Please let us know within 7 days of delivery if you are not satisfied with your purchase.
The following items are non-refundable & not eligible for return/exchange:
- Furniture
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- Sale Items
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We will send you a pre-authorized return label within 2 business days. It will be your responsibility to safely package your item and drop off at the nearest Fedex/UPS within 7 business days.
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Damage Policy
In the event that your order arrives damaged, we will replace or repair the item if the item can be replaced or repaired. If the item is one-of-a-kind, no longer available, or cannot be repaired, a full refund will be issued.
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Wednesday, October 2, 2019
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
by David Seidler
directed by Michael Wilson
Paralyzed by his stammer and unable to speak to a nation in crisis, King George VI ascends the throne as England stands on the brink of war once again with Germany. Enter Lionel Logue, an Australian migrant with a career path as unexpected as the king's. The remarkable true story of this unlikely bond between a reluctant king and a charismatic subject that inspired the Academy Award-winning film is now brought to the stage, where writer David Seidler first imagined it. Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director Michael Wilson stages this exciting North American Premiere. Following its Chicago run, the production is slated for engagements at other theaters across the country.
Planning to attend this event? Getting to Navy Pier has never been easier. Learn more about our convenient transportation and parking options.


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Jeff Crews: Game of a Lifetime
This is the saddest/happiest thing I've ever seen in my life. It hits you right in the feels. Jeff Crews sounds like an incredible person and I'm so, so happy he got to see Homer's no-hitter. Baseball is the greatest sport there is. There's nothing like it. Rest in peace, Jeff.


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Woman killed in Baltimore City fire
Cause of fire not yet known
Baltimore City fire officials said a woman is dead after a house fire in the Pimlico area of northwest Baltimore.
City firefighters responded to a home in the 5700 block of Highgate Drive around 2 p.m. Friday.
Firefighters gained entry into the single-family home and extinguished the fire in minutes.
The victim, who was not yet identified, was found dead in the basement of the home, officials said.
"Unfortunately, the victim that was found did perish. Preliminary, (we) believe to be due to smoke inhalation and burns. However, the official cause of death will be determined by the state medical examiner," Fire Chief Kevin Cartwright said.
Baltimore police classified the woman's death as suspicious, but officers declined to release other information until they received the medical examiner's report.
Officials said there are not sure if there were any smoke detectors in the home or whether they were working. They also said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Police said homicide detectives were called to the scene.


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The Very Best Oscar-Winning Movies
List Rules Only films that WON the Academy Award for Best Picture
All of the best Oscar winning movies暖暖直播APP视频教程 that won the Oscar for Best Picture. Currently, there are 90 movies that have won the highly coveted Best Picture Academy Award, and they are all here for you to vote and rank from best to worst. The annual Academy Awards ceremony brings the world together in celebration of the best films of the year, and this list of all the movies that have won the Best Picture Academy Award is here in celebration of decades of quality filmmaking.
With 90 years of votable film history behind us, there are plenty of classic movies vying for the honor of being called the greatest film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. From the movies that win critical acclaim across generational divides (The Godfather, Schindler's List), to the feel-good movies with great casts (Forrest Gump, The Artist), to controversial Best Picture Oscar winners (The Hurt Locker, Crash), this list of the films that won a Best Picture Oscar is here to separate the best movies of all time from the ones that were maybe the best of the year they won.
What is the best movie that ever won the Best Picture Oscar? What is the worst movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture? Vote on these Best Picture winners, and maybe you'll find out! If there's an Oscar winner for Best Picture that you didn't like, vote it down and let other moviegoers know it wasn't worthy of film's top honor.
If you're interested in what movie will end up on this list after the 2018 Oscars are given out, check out the 2018 Best Picture Oscar ranking暖暖直播APP视频教程 to vote for your 10 (or more) favorite potential Academy Award winners.


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The Fear Factor 1970 Hemi-Powered 'Cuda
Reality-Show Host Joe Rogan Commissioned Rad Rides by Troy to Build theHemi-Powered Sick Fish 'Cuda
As the shenanigans of each episode of Fear Factor draw to a close, host Joe Rogan enlightens viewers by announcing to the winner, "Evidently fear was not a factor for you." That line has been repeated enough over the past five seasons to become a catch phrase of sorts that reflects the show's success. In the cutthroat world of reality TV, that's an awfully long time to survive, and it has no doubt imparted its host with some monetary flexibility with which to buy steel-crafted toys of hedonism.
Most Hollywood celebs opt for blinged-out Hummer H2s, Bentleys, traditional wanker exotics, and (gag!) trendy gas-electric hybrids, but Rogan did the right thing and had Rad Rides by Troy build him a '70 Barracuda. The car means more to him than the average ego-carriage, as it pays tribute to a clunker Mopar his mom gave him before he made it big. In a way, it symbolizes how far he's come since the days of touring the country as a fledgling stand-up comic.
No doubt, the car had to be truly unique to capture the sentimentality it represented. Few builders are as well known as Troy Trepanier. Being the darling of the automotive press and a fixture on the hit TV series Rides has a way of doing that, and his list of celebrity clients grows by the day.
We already broke the news that Troy's working on a drop-top '67 Lincoln Continental to sweeten that World Series trip for Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez. In addition to the inherent stress of delivering a hallowed E-body that justifies the six-figures-and-then-some price tag, the crew had to work within a tight six-month timeframe to coincide with its scheduled debut on Bud Brutsman's Rides show on TLC. That was the bad part. The good part was a relatively big budget to exercise creativity, with the only criterion being "make it cool." Ah, the beauty of a double-edged sword.
A big part of making that deadline was starting out with a car in relatively good shape. Again, it was a rather laissez-faire process for Joe. He told Rad Rides what he wanted, and they went out and bought a car to start with for $13,000-one that was mostly rust-free and straight, save for a pair of dinged-up quarters. In trademark Trepanier fashion, the host of subtle visual cues aren't recognizable at first glance, but their individual elements become more prominent upon closer study and more innovative when considering the craftsmanship they required. It ultimately hits you as a brilliant artistic statement. The most obvious change is the AAR 'Cuda hood, not often seen in shiny paint, and the cotton-gauze air cleaner peeking out from its flared scoop. Further enhancing the hungry-look theme is a custom front lower valance that integrates a scoop of its own surrounded by more AAR-like winglets on both sides. Widened and mounted flush, the front bumper is from a (forgive him) '69 Camaro.
Moving rearward, hints of change are far less apparent and the overall look is more subdued. To hide the ugly stock stamped subframe, Rad Rides lowered the rocker panels accordingly, creating an illusion of the car squatting lower than it really is. Out back, a custom roll pan blends into the quarter-panels as if crafted from a single piece of steel. The rear bumper and taillights get the flush-mount treatment as well, and a custom rear spoiler complements the newly chiseled lines. Blemishes like the door handles, side-marker lights, and emblems have been shaved for a flawless complexion. We hear that a subtle paint scheme was planned until Rogan saw the bare-metal work-in-progress on our Oct. '04 cover and liked it in plain silver. Besides, judging by looking at all three of this month's feature cars, silver is the new red.
From the outside, the implication of Sick Fish is clearly one of modern sophistication. Dig beneath the skin, however, and an animal emerges that satiates our visceral desire to accelerate like a rocket sled. Nestled into an engine bay that's blacked-out, Chevy style, is a fuel-injected, 650hp, 528ci Mopar Performance crate Hemi, which happens to be the very same engine plucked from HOT ROD's Troy-built Hemi Dakota truck before it went to the crusher. The Elephant mates to a Bowler-built 727 automatic tied to a Gear Vendors under/overdrive, providing six forward gears. Finishing off the driveline is a 3.54:1-geared Strange Engineering Mopar-style Dana 60 rearend swinging from a custom four-link suspension extensively modified to accommodate the pavement-hugging ride height.
Rogan has no performance data on the car yet, but we think it would make for a good episode of Fear Factor and serve as retribution for all the times Joe has antagonized his contestants as they contemplate eating live Madagascar roaches, or as they tremble before walking on a 3-inch-wide beam suspended hundreds of feet in the air. Imagine: Put Rogan in the right seat as Nextel Cup driver and SoCal resident Jimmie Johnson puts the 'Cuda through its paces on the oval at California Speedway, just inches away from the wall. If, after a dozen or so laps, Rogan can keep from soiling himself, we could shake his hand and say, "Evidently fear was not a factor for you. "So Joe, Jimmy, and NBC, what do you say?
Quick Inspection: '70 Plymouth 'Cuda
POWERTRAINEngine: With a 4.500-inch bore and 4.150-inch stroke, the Mopar Performance crate Hemi measures a total of 528 ci with forged internals, 10.25:1 compression, and a 292-degree advertised-duration hydraulic cam. For clearance purposes, a remote-mount Milodon oil filter has been added. The intake is a Steve Magnante leftover from when HOT ROD owned the engine, and it's topped by twin throttle-bodies for a Big Stuff 3 EFI system. The injection is fed by a custom fuel cell, a Paxton pump, an Aeromotive regulator, and Bosch 45 lb/hr injectors. Power: EFI guru John Meaney tweaked the 528 with his Big Stuff 3 standalone system to the tune of 650 hp. Transmission: A Bowler 727 automatic does the shifting to either go along with the drag touring vibe or make it easier to cruise Sunset Boulevard. A Gear Vendors overdrive effectively doubles the number of gears. Rearend: The beefy Dana 60 rearend comes courtesy of Strange, fitted with 35-spline axles, 3.54:1 gears, and a limited-slip differential.
CHASSISFrame: To accommodate 22-inch wheels out back, the rear got a back-half job that required fabricating new tubs and modifying the floorpans. Custom chrome-moly subframe connectors stiffen the structure. Suspension: The factory front torsion bars have been replaced with QA1 coilovers with 650 lb-in springs and Magnum Force |control arms. The subframe, also from Magnum Force, was raised for additional ride-height reduction. A Flaming River power-steering rack eases slow-speed navigation. Out back is a custom four-link with QA1 coilovers and 400-lb-in springs. Brakes: The binders are all Baer, with 13.75-inch rotors up front and 14.75-inchers in the back, squeezed by four-piston calipers. A Baer master cylinder and proportioning valve split the juice to each wheel. Wheels: One-off two-piece Billet Specialties billet-aluminum wheels measure 19x8 up front and 22x10 in the rear. Tires: The skinny-sidewall BFGoodrich rubber is P235/35ZR19 in the front and P285/35ZR22 in the back.
STYLEBody: Rad Rides fabbed up new rear quarters and custom front and rear valances. The vibe is primarily road race with some drag race mixed in. Paint: Sprayed in-house at Rad Rides, the paint is an '04 Nissan color called Sporty Silver that gets progressively darker toward the rocker panel, and a custom-mixed satin charcoal has been applied to the taillight panel, grille, and hoodscoop. Interior: The interior features an amalgam of hard-core race equipment and luxury. Occupants are held into the Recaro seats with a five-point harness that straps to a full rollcage. Auto Meter gauges adorn the instrument panel, and steering is accomplished with a Billet Specialties wheel.


text:
Tow talk: Council votes 4-1 for advisory board
After a reported spike in towing complaints from visitors to downtown Charlottesville, the city's towing laws are about to come under scrutiny as City Council voted 4-1 to form a towing advisory board, which will have the power, among other things, to suggest limiting the amount a tow company can charge.
Currently, towing operators in Charlottesville can charge the state-allowed maximum of $125 during weekdays and $150 on weekends to transport a car– no matter how short the distance. Additional fees, however, can drive that price up.
For instance, Collier's Towing Company tacks on a $25 release fee for after-business-hours vehicle retrieval, and the owners of lots can add a parking fee to make up for lost revenue.
The advisory board formation comes in the wake of what assistant city manager David Ellis described to Council as an increase in complaints from residents and visitors alleging "unfair, dangerous or unprofessional towing practices."
Several councilors expressed doubts at the May 21 meeting about the need for such a board.
"Why isn't the first course of action talking to these vendors and trying to get an understanding as to what is going on from their perspective," asked Kathy Galvin. "Does it need better signage? Better posting?"
Several tow truck operators were in attendance at the meeting, and Collier's owner Glenda Jones accepted the Councilors' invitation to speak.
"I don't dispute the board," Jones told council. "What I do dispute is the people looking down on us as bad people... We're doing a job we're paid to do."
By state law, the advisory board would include two towing operators, two police officers, and one member of the general public (with an alternate citizen also appointed). Councilor Dave Norris pointed out that the proposed board's composition, as dictated by state law, leaves something out.
"I feel like it's missing the most important element, parking lot owners," said Norris, before casting the only negative vote.
"I felt like the towing companies, you can love em or hate em, but ultimately they're hired by the lot owners," Norris explains the day after the meeting. "If they changed the way they run the lots, we wouldn't have this issue."
Norris says the advisory board will likely be appointed this summer, and, after drafting a new ordinance that council will need to approve, will meet once per year.Read more on: towing
49 comments
Speaking of towing, do people get towed from the little lot in front of The Artful Lodger on the DM? Specifically, after the stores' regular business hours.
Sometimes, I see cars parked there, but many times there are a lot of tempty empties.
Why don't you losers just pass a law and be done with it.... if you are so incompetent that you cannot figure this one out then you should all resign and let people with an IQ higher than a goat take your place...
How hard is it for the city attorney to rule that overstaying at a paid lot is not trespassing under the towing impound regulations? Make the lot owner call the cops to get it authorized and distributed to those towers on the cities list at the cities price.
Colliers is doing their "job" alright gouging people using technicalities in the law....
Perhaps the city should reimburse car owners since it is the citys utter failure to actually solve the problem.
Maybe we need an advisory board to figure out how to elect and effective council.
Amen Bill Marshall.
After regular hours that lot is actually rented to a parking company that charges $5.
An advisory "bored" for towing............., but they did vote to give those who do not take the medical option to get $500/mth.............. a 50% pay raise.
Right. Let involve the police everytime some dipshit cannot figure out how long he needs to park. Why do so many people think it is the government job to solve individual stupidity and laziness? Get the goat to stand by the payboard and figure it out with the dinddongs than can travel the world but try to hedge on 2.50 for the opera.
Anyone ever hear of personal responsibility?
"a towing advisory board, which will have the power, among other things, to suggest limiting the amount a tow company can charge."
WOW. That is some REAL authority there! They actually have the power to make a suggestion. I wonder if they'll be as effective as the farmer's market 'task force' which forcefully executed its task of advising the council to leave the farmer's market right where it is?
The council has once again shown true bravery! In the face of mild complaints from a small number of people, they have appointed a commission!!
Let the word go forth, from this time and place: The Charlottesville City Council will appoint a commission to prognosticate regarding any issue in the interests of pandering to any and all noisy interest group!!
Bill Marshall is absolutely on target! Well said! Predatory towing should not be allowed in our city! It's bad for the locals and, bad for the Tourists, who by the way are responsible for a large amount of dollars in the coffers. Yes I understand personal responsibility etc.. ad nauseum. But if you've read the previous article, this seems to be a case where the towing companies are laying in wait, like a lion over a weak wildebeest. And the lot owners seem to be in collusion with this corruption.
jimi hendrix, if the cops take their time showing up (which they will) then the people will show up and the lots owner can collect the correct amount for the time used. The guy will adjust his business plan and make money honestly and after a few days of hassle the cops won't be called because the guy will soimply collect more money for the time used.
Suppose the city impounse every car at an expired meter the MINUTE it ticks off? Would you be ok with 145bucks?
They admit that 25 bucks is for lost revenue because the unclaimed car was taking up a space... but they tow in 5 minutes which is only about a quarters worth of time AND they don't give refunds when people come back an hour early.
The guy is a predator plain and simple and his behavior while currently legal should mean that the city should ride him like a bronco and nail him the way he nails others. (ie are there any code violations on his lots or buildings? Is he declaring all those cash kickbacks? )
The city should not let this continue.
To the chronic council bashers: it's my understanding that state law requires the City to establish a towing council before they can implement new rules. So you should switch your emnity to the General Assembly.
@Bill Marshall...wait...whut? The government should use the laws to control the free market in parking? Like, not allow parking lot companies to maximize their profit by forcing people to buy more parking than they need, in advance, lest the more expensive 'penalty phase' kicks in? Best of all, the penalty is managed by a third party, who you don't get to pick, because we wouldn't actually want any price competition in that area. C'mon man, that's the essence of gotcha capitalism! Geez...it's kind of like asking for...Dodd-Frank!
You're seriously impacting the profit center of parking companies and towing companies..what did these businesses ever do to you? These companies are supporting our local economy by employing parking lot attendants, tow truck drivers, and the companies that build those ginormous fancy new tow trucks all the companies seem to be buying all the time. Do you hate America?
Who are you and what have your done with our Tea Party'in "Independent" commenter?
Whoever you are, I certainly agree with you: the City Government should regulate these extortionist "business" practices.
These towers are using poorly written laws to set up and extort citizens. This issue has been dealt with in other cities succesfully. They are claiming that the cars are "trespassing" when they are not, The lot does not give refunds for people who leave early but want an extra 145 bucks if they stay late including a 25 dollar fee on the premise that the lot owner lost use of the space. It may be legal as long as the city allows it but the city has an obligation to create laws that are not abused, The city has the right and RESPONSIBILITY to impede in the abuse of tourists and citizens for the common good. If all they need to do is have the lot owner call the police to confirm the trespass and then give the tow to the companies in rotation on the cities list at the established rate then they are serving the owner of the lot his rights under the law and protecting the citizens from predators at the same time. It does not involve a comiittee it requires a reasonable intrepretation of existing law.
It also requires people with a GD backbone.
Bill, I was really just ribbing you a little about some of your other...ideological perspectives.
In any practical sense, I think you are 100% correct on this issue and I hope council acts quickly to regulate this practice. I am not a lawyer, but it would be interesting to get the Commonwealth's Attorney's read on the trespassing statute.
I agree with non-resident taxpayer. It's funny to see someone (Bill Marshall) I've always taken to be a tea partier calling for government regulation of private property. Funnier still, he wants the city attorney to take on the roles of legislator and judge as well.
city tows are about the same its $50 a tows but you get a ticket with the car so its about the same with the downtown lots so not much is going to change with the price if the city is making everyone pay around $75 total with the cars they remove and it might be hard for the city to do too much when they do not share the city towning only one company tows all the cars so if they make everyone use set prices then the city needs to open there tows up with every tow company
First off I am nit a tea party guy, but I am for capitalism. I am not proposing the government regulate them out of existence I am proposing the government stop aiding and abetting their behavior by neglevting its duties toi the citizens. I am for closing refining any regulations and laws that are abused and really just "loopholes" for these folks to use to take advantage of unsuspecting patrons. They are ABUSING the trespass statute. If the city chose to create a regulation that fully disclosed in a big sign at the site that said IF YOU EXCEED YOUR TIME LIMIT YOUR CAR WILL BE TOWED IMMEDIATELY AND YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY 145 DOLLARS IN CASH TO RETRIEVE IT. that would be fine with me too.
I have zero problems with anyones business plans so long as there is transparency PRIOR to the transaction taking place. That is why there are laws about requiring estimates and approvals for auto repair etc etc.
This issue is a collusion between a tow company and a lot owner to take advantge of tourists and other unknowing indiviuals. Some of you may be surprised to find out that some repair shop pays a kickback for each tow brought in to them and recieves a kickback for reffering a regular customer for a tow.
Its a shady business and the rules are in place (DOT, insurance etc) but are seldom enforced.
Like I said , if you see a rollback and the vehicle is not secured in FOUR places it is a violation of the law. The drivers are supposed to have medical cards and clean records. They are not allowed to use cell phones unless the vehicle is parked and the trucks need to be in good condition.
If they want to play nice then be nice, if they screw you then catch them and report them.
That IS the way it is supposed to work.
@bill marshall, what country did you grow up in? "How hard is it for the city attorney to rule that overstaying at a paid lot is not trespassing under the towing impound regulations? " City Attorneys do not "rule" anything. Judges do.
most repair shops add to the tow bill not give kick backs and all tow drives have to have a background check with the state and its few who get towed thats 5 to 10 mins. over but most don't even paid from the start because no one is there and they think no one will check
Bill... It sounds like you are encouraging any disgruntled person that has been towed to stalk a tow truck company/driver and wait for them to hopefully break the law. All this "play nice" verbage sounds like something kids do in grade school, which is where most people learn that if they break the rules they must also suffer the consequences.
Really... I am encouraging exactly that.... the tow companies are colluding with the lot owner to screw people by using the letter of the law so turn about is fair play.... if the towers want to exploit the law then let them fix every little thing on the truck and use 4 tie downs as required by law, never use the cell phone, have a medical card on them at all times and spend the money to take the required dot alcohol abuse courses.
b..... I respectfully disagree as I know for FACT that the industry is rife with kickbacks in both directions. Shops pay for stranded motorists and the tow companies issue a "shorted" bill for the tow (they write 85 bucks but only charge 75 bucks to the shop so it looks like the shop is not charging a markup. )
C-ville eye... ther city attorney gives legal opinions all the time. If he published the opinion that the lot is creating a "bailment" under the law as opposed to a "trespass" under the law then it would be on the lot owner to take that decision before a judge to overturn it. If the city attorney looked at the law and decided towing it without police confirmation was stealing then the interpretation is his to make until a court proves otherwise.
These people are predatory. We are allowed to regulate predatory busineses, we can do it with pawn shops and pay day loans etc etc. Do your job.
Do you think it would be legal for a dry cleaner to have a tiny sign that says all clothes not picked up by 6 pm will considered abandoned and sold? There is such a thing as common ;law and reasonablness of interpretation.
If a consumer had what was was truly "informed consent" to the circumstance that would be ok too but they don't.
So fight fire with fire... let the city require every impound from pre paid lots call on the impound and let the tow go in rotation at the cities eastblished rate. Hell let the city tack on a ticket to pay for it... but if you did this the problem would solve itself because when the lot owner stops getting the kickbacks he will need to modify his predatory practice and have an attendent there to collect the money or offer a one price all night rate through the machine.
Its the job of government to keep things in balance. 145 bucks for overstaying at a parking meter (basically) is too much and the government should not sanction it when they have a choice. (which they do)
Either make them call it in or have people be given a flyer in at least size 20 font explaining what will happen if they are not back in time that includes the requirement for cash the kickback to the lot owner and the fact that there is NO grace period.
Fix it today.
He's right, y'know?
Bill dosnt know any thing they go by state law with the towing price and every car is called in to the police so they know it's not stolen when people call all lots are mark and like I said most people do not paid at all the. Towing company's cost a lot to run trucks are about 50000 to buy if any is getting by on high prices it food vender and beer vender in on the downtown mall and at Jpj making 1000 percent on $4 hotdogs And $7 beer so the city should do the same with them they make all that money with no overhead
@ B Can you repeat your point so that it makes sense?
I never thought I would say this but.... Bill Marshall is exactly right. 100% on the money.
Ultimately I think it is bad for the city to have people towing aggressively. I personally know people who have been towed very quickly and have a negative opinion of cville because of it. They are now less likely to come downtown to eat or to a concert etc.
So to me we should try to figure out how we can allow the lot owners to make money for the service they provide without the need or incintivization for aggressive towing.
How about if we allow the city to issue parking tickets in private lots that sign up. The ticket would be for a full days parking plus an administrative fee. Yes it would likely be a money looser for the city, but if we assume that it is bad for all businesses to aggressively tow, then it would be a net positive.
We would continue to allow private lots that did tow, but they would only be able to charge for the differential between when the parking ticket expired and when the person was towed and we would make any other kickbacks illegal.
B ... caling it in and having to wait for an officer to verify is two different things....if the tower has to wait for it to be verified as a trespasser then the cop will need to pick the tower who is next on the list so it may not be colliers and the rate is the cities rate not the collier gouge rate with additional kickbacks and such... this means that there would not be a tower in the shadows waiting to nail people for fun and profit.
Doing impounds is just a way for the guys in the back of the class who have no real skills and no real ethics) to take advantage of situations to make way more money then there effort, education or actual acomplishments deserve. If they want to do that then they can but the city should no aid them in their quest to abuse the law that was designed to protect busineses who have people walk off and consume valuable parking spaces while not patronizing the business. Ift would be no different than if Guadalahara had a tow truck in wait to nail anyone who ate with them and then walked over to the convienence store to get a paper for a minute. It would be legal but word would get out quick. The problem with this lot is that there are lots of tourists who will never come back TO THE CITY and we need those tourism dollars to help the schools the poor and build infrastrutcure. The city should at a minimum require extensive signage at the lot make them call a cop before every tow and give it to someone on the cities list or both. They do not need an advisortyy committee because they are not regulating towers they are regulating parking lots.
bill u still dont know very much about it the city has one towing company not a list thats a big problem the city give all there tows to one company so how can they make all the companys go by one rule and they dont let all the tow company on there list the city tows cars all the time with a ticket so they get paid just like the lot owners are doing with there kickbacks thats why no one is talking about city tow because they have a parking ticket and u cant get out of it. the botton line is nothing going to change the towing company go by state laws with there prices
Mr "b" as long as that tow "company" ain't Colliers towing it sounds like a win.
they not going any where any time soon they not the problem they go by the rules people who don't pay to park are breaking the rule if the city wants to do something they can buy that lot for about 20 million and let people park for free and taxes can go up for the hard working peolpe who go by the law and rules so people can keep there $2 ahour for parking
For those saying just pass a law, no need for an advisory board....
The problem is state law REQUIRES an advisory board if a locality wants to regulate towing more strictly than state law specifies.
Yet another reason to change the Dillon Rule power of the state government.
@b, so you are saying that if people want private parking lots to be controlled by the public, it should buy the lots and make them public lots? That does not seem to follow the rule of The Commons where all open spaces can be used by the public as it sees fit even if it is privately owned. In other words, when using my things you must abide by my rules but when I use your things I don't have to abide by your rules. It shows an attitude prevalent in middle schools across the country. Why don't you people who do not wish to be towed just simple use public parking?
The City puts its towing contract out for bid every year. Companies bid competitively to do all the towing for a year, subject to contract conditions. Because they compete, the price is reasonable. I dont know the current year contract price, but I'd guess $50 bucks or less, probably with some after hour increase of $10 or $15 bucks. That is the free market price for a tow and it should be fairly well documented by the City's contract history.
$160 is a price that can only be sustained by a monopoly condition. It might be an appropriate penalty to pay for parking in a clearly marked handicapped parking space downtown. It is not an appropriate penalty for someone who actually paid to park for 3 hours in a commercial lot and then overstayed it for a few minutes.
It concerns me that Colliers is doing 20 of these type towings a week. Thats 1000 a year. I'm not sure how many other of the local tow companies have similar "arrangements" with lot owners, but the total number could be worse than this. That's a lot of people every year who are going to get a very bad impression of Downtown Cville. Thats not good business for the City. I dont even see how its good business for Mr. Woodard.
It also concerns me what a punitive mindset so many Hook readers seem have. So some guy spends an evening Downtown, supporting local businesses and arts, PAYS for 3hrs parking and then gets his car yanked and a $145 fine? Ha Ha! Serves him right for going to the Opera! I can understand the professional sadist's glee in over the situation, but everyone else? really?
Its probably easier and more to the point to regulate the circumstances under which cars can be towed than to regulate the towing operators.
U are right Kevin that's one of my points If the city makes set price then all towing company should be able to tow for the city no need for a contract because the price are set and the city tows way more then 20 cars a week that why they can tow at $50 but its also with a ticket I guess around $25 more so it's not that much from city tow then the rest. Dont think the city can make a few company go by one set of rule then give all there towing to one company that will make a killing on UVA football games
B - I understand your point, but the way City contracting works is if you are the low bidder, you get the work. Not "if you are the low bidder, anyone else can do the work for the same price" If that were the case, there would be no incentive for companies to bid their best price on a contract. The City doesnt make the towing price. Whatever towing company can come up with the lowest cost makes the towing price. That is clearly not happening here.
"So some guy spends an evening Downtown, supporting local businesses and arts, PAYS for 3hrs parking and then gets his car yanked and a $145 fine?"
@Kevin Lynch, the fact that the driver only paid for 3 hours to go to the opera says that he decided beforehand how much he was going to pay regardless of the actual charges for parking downtown supporting local BusinesseS for an entire evening downtown AND an opera with intermission? Obviously, he felt he could determine what the price should be and not the property owner. How is the tower supposed to know whether he was supporting downtown businesses or watching TV in his girlfriend's apartment in Queen Charlotte? What difference does it make what he was doing? Obviously he wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing by honoring his implicit contract to remove his car within three hours so somebody else can park there and spend money in Miller's. How long was the tower supposed to have allowed him to park overtime? half-hour? Hour? That may have caused the owner of the lot to lose a customer that was not willing to wait which means money out of the owner's pocket rather than the parker's pocket where is should be coming from. Face it the man was trying to get something for nothing. The arrogant ass is lucky I wasn't the tower. It would have taken him a week to find that car in a remote cow pasture totally stripped.
to the nasty slothlike creature of colliers tow service, that laughed at me and sarcastically thanked me for the contribution to his personal life:
Kharma comes in myserious ways
"It also concerns me what a punitive mindset so many Hook readers seem have." @Kevin Lynch, it concerns me when people wish to apply rules according to whom the rules are being applied. If I drug dealer or pimp were in the same position I am sure those clamoring for leniency would want to use every tool to drive that character from downtown by having that car towed.
@Cville Eye - "the fact that the driver only paid for 3 hours to go to the opera says that he decided beforehand how much he was going to pay regardless of the actual charges for parking downtown"
No, it says that he misjudged the time he would need for the opera. I probably would have done the same. Oh snap! I forgot about the intermission! I guess it sucks for me that I'm not a seasoned opera goer like yourself.
I have never been towed, but I have paid to park in large and small cities over this Country. Like most people, I've lost track of time and had to pay extra a few times, but its usually for just an extra hour. The most I can recall paying was at a lot in Philly when I went over the 3 hour rate and had to pay an extra 15 bucks or so for the 24 hour rate. And I thought *that* was a ripoff! That is the sort of worst case scenario that normal people expect if they overstay a paid lot.
"How long was the tower supposed to have allowed him to park overtime? half-hour? Hour? "
If he paid to park and overstayed the time, the worst penalty he should get is to have to pay for the next increment of parking time, whether that is an extra hour, 12 hours or whatever.
"Face it the man was trying to get something for nothing."
No - someone who parks in a handicapped spot or no parking zone, or in a paid lot without paying is trying to get something for nothing. This guy paid for a three hour parking ticket.
"The arrogant ass is lucky I wasn't the tower. It would have taken him a week to find that car in a remote cow pasture totally stripped."
Wow, are you sure you're only 80 years old? You seem a bit older. Do you ever miss throwing stones at adultresses?
"No, it says that he misjudged the time he would need for the opera. I probably would have done the same. Oh snap! I forgot about the intermission! I guess it sucks for me that I'm not a seasoned opera goer like yourself." When you and your band play do you think you will be actually away from your car for only 3 hours or less considering you also have to allot time for your supporting downtown businesses? You have to admit that isn't common sense.
"Like most people, I've lost track of time and had to pay extra a few times, but its usually for just an extra hour. The most I can recall paying was at a lot in Philly when I went over the 3 hour rate and had to pay an extra 15 bucks or so for the 24 hour rate. And I thought *that* was a ripoff! That is the sort of worst case scenario that normal people expect if they overstay a paid lot." Sounds to me like you're saying the penalties were so small staying over didn't matter much to you. That's why you have had several overstays. Unlike most people, I never have out of respect for other people.
"If he paid to park and overstayed the time, the worst penalty he should get is to have to pay for the next increment of parking time, whether that is an extra hour, 12 hours or whatever." And who was supposed to collect this extra money, the tower? That would he would have to keep coming until the driver showed up to get the money, check or card? Or should he volunteer to sit in a chair at the lot to save money on gas and make sure the driver doesn't slip in while he's gone to dinner? Does he actually get a break for dinner?
"This guy paid for a three hour parking ticket." And he was trying to get something (an extra two hours) for nothing (free).
"Do you ever miss throwing stones at adultresses?" No, I don't have to. Currently, I sit outside the courthouse with two old Downtown Mall bricks waiting for John Edwards to come out. It's only a matter of time.
So I guess the parking rate is 9 bucks for the first three hours and 145 for the next five minutes......
If you leave your drycleaning too long at the drycleaner a bailment is created and they can charge you extra. If you rent a storage unit and don't leave a bailment is created and they charge you extra, if you overstay in a hotel room a bailment for your belongings is created and they can charge you extra. The charges are reasonable to the circumstance and most probably regulatedby usery laws. The city simply needs to pass a law that unattended lots where cars are left over are 1) not considered "abandoned" for 12 hours and b) subject to the same bailment interpretation as these other examples. The car should not be ALLOWED to be towed until it is considered abandoned and then it should be handled by the police.
If the lot owner wants more money than let him hire an attendant instead of using twists in the law to extort people.
The dillion rule doesn't matter as they would be regulating lots not towers.
I agree with B. Marshall. If the law stays the same there should be a sign: IF YOU EXCEED YOUR TIME LIMIT YOUR CAR WILL BE TOWED IMMEDIATELY AND YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY 145 DOLLARS IN CASH TO RETRIEVE IT AND WALK A MILE TO DO SO. I have seen over the years time after time people towed from the Judge's spot at Court Square. I even saw R. C.'s car towed once. The sign should read: THIS IS THE JUDGE'S SPOT. YOU WILL BE INSTANTLY TOWED WITH NO EXCEPTIONS, EVEN IF YOU ARE A DESC. OF T.J.
bill marshall, Kevin Lynch and Sam, many city committees do not require city residency. Has any of you thought about applying for the new task force? I think your opinion should be represented. Before you ask, I do not want to serve on a committee about parking lots.
@Ida Rile, Council members have demonstrated frequently that rules do not apply to certain people. It's called government of the non-privileged for the privileged of the privileged.
C-viile eye, Poor Kevin has done his time ... and then some... I have zero interest in sitting on a commmittee made up of towers that will claim that they have the "right" to gouge and Police who want to keep it a civil matter so they don't have to get involved. It is 4-1 from the start.
This is just an example of the city council shirking any real responsibility. I suppose they need to save their energy to debate whether statues should be removed or which developer to give city land too at firesale prices.
so bill i can park my car in your driveway and you can't doing anything about it. thats what u want its no different with parking lots the high price is to hope people will not do it again just like when u go over the speed limit its like a $200 ticket
After Kevin Lynch rests up from the water supply debate, he'll be back. Unlike those who really represent or otherwise benefit from special interests, he appears to be one of the few who considers what is best for the general public. He also likes problem-solving and boy does Charlottesville have problems with problem-solving.
Does state law limit the composition to only five people plus one alternate?
Who is Dave Norris to determine how often the task force meets? I am too lazy to look up the answers to my last two questions but anyone who knows the answers feel free to chime in.
b If you park your car in my driveway I have to call the Police who make a determination that your car is TRESPASSING and THEY have it towed. I cannot call Colliers and authorize them to charge you for a tow I request.
and the price is high for same reason a dogs lick themselves.... because they can...
bill no u don't have to call the cops u need to know the law just like people who rent a parking space can have the car remove because its for them to park. u don't need a cop for everything so call the cops when someone is parking in your driveway and see what they say going to tell you just to have it removed its just like condos if you don't have a sticker they call to have it remove not calling the cops to do it. don't know where all the people come from but thats the way it is every where people need to know they just can't park anywhere they think they can. its just like when u go to the beach for the day you just can't park at the hotel the hotel is going to remove it as quick as it can so there guest have parking people cant just do what they want but they think they can
I don't have to call the police to have a car removed from my property. I've had cars towed from my property any number of times. This is another one of the perennial s**t storms this town has ginned up over the towing issue and, as was the case in the past, when it subsides things will remain the same despite Mr. Marshall's veiled calls for "nationalizing" private lots.
In the end most of the complaining comes from people's entitled attitudes about parking and their self exculpating lies about not seeing or understanding signs written in plain english. What's happening in these cases is people just want the rules to be flexible enough to allow them to do whatever they want....
If I own a private lot it really is up to me to decide the rules for allowing people to use it. Charlottesville isn't unique in having these issues. Go to New York and park your car on the street where the sign says "no parking after 8:00 AM on Tuesdays, for street cleaning". See what happens to your car if you park it Monday night and are "only 30 minutes late" retrieving it Tuesday morning. If you think you're hard-done by Woodward and Colliers, try the New York thing for a real eye-opener....


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UN CC:Learn News
Member Countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) Gathered to Discuss the Regional Strategy on Climate Change Education
Representatives of all member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and partners of the regional UN CC:Learn Program "Scaling-up Climate Change Education, Training and Awareness-Raising in the SICA" met in a workshop in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on June 30 June and July 1st 2016.
Second Edition of Trainers' Training on National Adaptation Plan: Getting Ready to Reach Out
Trainers from 17 different nationalities gathered in Marrakech, Morocco to learn how to support the national adaptation planning process in the least developed and developing countries through practice-oriented and participant-centred learning methods.
Niger at Halfway through its Process of Formulating National Learning Strategy on Climate Change
The "Conseil National de l'Environnement pour un Développement Durable (CNEDD)" has organised a workshop to discuss formulation of National Learning Strategy on Climate Change.
Burkina Faso Validates its National Climate Change Learning Strategy
Thursday, May 19, 2016 marked a turning point in the development of the National Climate Change Learning Strategy on Climate Change of Burkina Faso.
Validation of the Strategy on its Way
On 15 and 17 May 2016 in Ghana, two Regional Stakeholder Workshops were organized to validate the national Climate and Green Economy Strategy.
New UN CC:Learn e-Tutorial in Khmer Piloted in Cambodia!
In the context of a severe drought, Cambodian public sector officials attended an applied training on how to integrate climate risks into the national budget process from 9-11 May 2016.
Head of UN CC:Learn Secretariat presented UN CC:Learn at the First Friends of UNITAR Meeting
"Sometimes words can be as important as actions" said Head of UN CC:Learn Secretariat, Mr. Angus Mackay, referring to the December 2015 climate talks in Paris.
UN CC:Learn becomes a key partner of the ESD Global Action Programme!
UN CC:Learn was nominated by UNESCO to become a key member of the Global Action Programme (GAP) Partner Networks on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) under the "Priority Action Area 1: Advancing Policy."
Youth Climate Dialogues Awarded on Occasion of International Mother Earth Day
Participated in Youth Climate Dialogues in November 2015, students from Kantonsschule am Burggraben, St. Gallen, Switzerland, were awarded in the 5th edition of the Swiss-wide student competition organized by the Eduki Foundation at the Palais des Nations, Geneva.
Identification of Synergies between Green Economy and Climate Change
On 14 and 15 April 2016 in Accra, Sectoral Information sessions were organised to improve understanding on the concept of green economy component of the strategy, as well as elements to be considered in the Learning Strategy.


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Didn't have a chance to read everything that other HealthCareScene.com websites had to offer this week? Here is a round-up of some of the best articles this week
EMR and HIPAA
EHSD – EHR Hunt Stress Disorder
Are you "worn out, drug out, and generally pooped" about the search for the perfect EMR? If so, the diagnosis might be what Dr. Gregg describes as EHSD — the EHR Hunt Stress Disorder. Sometimes it is hard to know which EHR company to go with, with over 600 out there. Knowing how to narrow the options down quickly might make the decision a little bit easier, and EHSD less severe.
The Happy EMR Doctor
Readers Speak About Computing in Front of Patients
Should not only use, but discuss, EMR in front of patients? Dr. Michael West recently wrote about computing in front of patients. Readers responded about their thoughts on it and hardly any had negative feelings. In this post, Dr. West responds to the comments readers left and how he feels that EMR is here to stay.
Wired EMR Doctor
EMR Workflow Continues to Evolve
Over the last seven years, Dr. Michael Koriwchak has implemented electronic medical records into his practice. While there has been some trial-and-error involved, the skills his staff and him have concerning EMR continually become more fine-tuned. Dr. Koriwchak talks about two different types of workflow, and which one he prefers. He reflects on how the combination of "successful web portal with a sophisticated workflow engine operated by staff" allows a practice to use EMR even more efficiently.
Smartphone Healthcare
New Friend Request . . . From the Family Doctor?
Social Media is becoming more and more popular, so doctors and hospitals everywhere are jumping on the bandwagon. Would you follow your doctor on Twitter or Facebook, or is that crossing the line for a patient-doctor relationship? The pros and cons of the growing trend for medical professionals going virtual are discussed.
Hospital EMR and EHR
Issues to Consider When Offering Hospital-Subsidized EMRS
Hospitals have started offering subsidized EMRs recently to physicians. While these might be tempting to accept, a physician must be careful about the conditions on which the EMR is accepted. Before accepting a hospital-EMR deal, be sure to read this list of questions to ask the hospital offering it.
EHR and EMR Videos
Smoking Cessation With the Waiting Room Solutions EMR System
There are quite a few preventative measurements required for EHR Incentive Meaningful Use and CQM Compliance. A video from Waiting Room Solutions provides a "how-to" video on how to use the Web-based EMR system for Smoking Cessation.


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Martian Water Stuck in Minerals
Mars today is pretty dry. But billions of years ago, water flowed across the Red Planet. It ran in rivers that carved deep valleys. And it may have even filled a Martian ocean inside what today look like the remains of ancient shorelines.
So where'd all the water go? Some of it is locked up in polar ice caps. But much more may be buried in the ground.
"It's a good amount of water."
That's Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences at Brown University, on March 20th at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.
"So the work we presented was to estimate the amount of water that could be sequestered or captured within the hydrated minerals, and stored within the crust of Mars." [J. F. Mustard et al., "Sequestration of Volatiles in the Martian Crust through Hydrated Minerals: A Significant Planetary Reservoir of Water"]
These hydrated minerals, he says, are all over. And they run pretty deep."We used a variety of indicators to estimate the depth. One of them is the vast cracks we have in the surface of Mars, such as in Valles Marineris, which can go down to eight kilometers. And we can detect phyllosilicates to that depth, so that tells us at least eight kilometers deep. But we also survey impact craters, which are like drill holes into the surface of Mars. And the bigger the crater, the deeper the drill hole.
"So we've identified hydrated minerals in craters as large as 100 kilometers, which gives us a rough estimate of around 10 kilometers depth that we've excavated from there. So for those two independent pieces of evidence we estimate at least the top 10 kilometers of the crust have strong signatures of hydrated minerals in them."
If all the water were liberated from those minerals and spread across the entire planet, it would make a pretty impressive reservoir.
"If we take all the water that we know to exist in the polar caps on Mars, it's around 30 meters of water. So this is probably around three to five times the amount of water that we see currently in the polar caps on Mars."
That amount might not impress deep-diving James Cameron, but it's a significant reservoir by Mars standards. Freed up, it would flood the entire Martian surface under at least 100 meters of water. "It's enough to go swimming in."
—John Matson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


text: A heavy metal rocker's $10,000 guitar was stolen from his tour bus Friday night outside the Chicago Theatre, officials said. Rocker Zakk Wylde, former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and founder of the heavy metal band Black Label Society, was performing at the theater as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour, which featured famous musicians like Buddy Guy and Johnny Lang Wylde, 47, told police that he returned to his tour bus following his performance at the venue and discovered his guitar and leather jacket were missing, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada. Wylde valued the guitar, a custom-made Pelham Blue Les Paul with his signature bulls-eye pattern on it, at around $10,000 and told the Tribune that surveillance footage from the Chicago Theatre showed three men entering the bus just after 10 p.m. after his tour manager forgot to lock the bus door while stocking it with food and ice. Wylde took to Twitter and Instagram following the theft in hopes that the guitar might be returned.


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Kanye West Feels Lonely After His Mother Passed Away: Wants To Design & Do Music On Weekends
AP reports "After a tough year for Kanye West, the rapper admits that he's had it with showbiz and is contemplating making his music more of a weekend hobby. He also opens up about being on his own without a woman in his life"
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2015 We The People
Over Memorial Day weekend the expansive front lawn of the sprawling Camden County Technical School Gloucester Township Campus in Sicklerville, NJ will be transformed into a sea of red, white and blue as hundreds of American flags are displayed in tribute to all who have sacrificed – and who continue to sacrifice – to make the United States the greatest country in the world. We invite you to take part in this spectacular patriotic celebration and to join with us on Monday, May 26 for a special hour-long presentation featuring comments from a number of dignitaries and invited guests and featuring a special musical performance by the elite and nationally-recognized Jersey Surf Drum & Bugle Corps.
Read the rest of the article here.


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Two men died this morning in a two-vehicle crash in Butler Township that sent both vehicles down an embankment and into a creek at Greenwood Drive and South Benbrook Road, authorities said.
Killed were Thomas P. Shaffer, 85, of Ellwood City and Glenn S. Davis Jr., 66, of Harrisville.
Butler Township police said the collision happened just before 7:30 a.m., when Shaffer ran a stop while eastbound on Greenwood Drive in a van.
The van broadsided Davis' pickup truck, which was traveling south on South Benbrook Road.
Shaffer was pronounced dead at the scene. Davis was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
An autopsy is to be conducted on Shaffer's body this evening. Authorities said no other autopsy was planned. The crash remains under investigation.


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Not exactly eight minutes, but close enough. This spring, Stealth series Metal Gear Solid is coming to the PSP. It will look like this.
Series creator Hideo Kojima has called Peace Walker a "MGS5-class game", and it was later revealed that Peace Walker was going to be called Metal Gear Solid 5. Watch this gameplay clip and judge for yourself whether or not the game leaves up to it!
Thanks, Lyndon!


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Ernst Hofbauer (b. 22 August 1925 Vienna, Austria – d. 24 February 1984 Munich, Germany at age 58) was an Austrian film director.
During the early 1970s, in Munich, Hofbauer teamed with Walter Boos, Wolf C. Hartwig, and Ludwig Spitaler to produce the original thirteen films under the banner Schulmadchen Report (or Schoolgirl Report); the stories were adapted from books written by Guenther Hunold, while Guenther Heller composed the film script, Klaus Werner did the camera work, and the music was handled by Gert Wilden & Orchestra. Hofbauer and Boos were referred to as the 'Titans of Teen Libido'. The films were classified as 'sexploitation', and were extremely popular, seen by more than 30 million people all over the world.
In the United States, the films were released in grindhouses and drive-ins, and the names of the films were changed to conform to American standards. Because the films focused on young girls who may have been under legal age in this country, the Schoolgirl Report series was eventually suppressed.
The Schoolgirl Report series was very interesting because the films portrayed many unknown teenagers and actresses who were vibrant, beautiful, naive, innocent, and unabashed. Most of the films related a series of vignettes to tell an interesting story. Hidden pedophile lust, co-ed skinnydipping, situations involving first-time sexual experiences, and encounters with teachers were all shown in the episodes. Interracial love affairs, male and female masturbation sequences, forced prostitution, rape, voyeurism, harmless erotic games, seduction, and erotic touching are also portrayed in the vignettes. Well-known German sex kitten Ingrid Steeger and the ever-horny Italian comic Rinaldo Talamonti play key roles in many of the vignettes. Rosl Mayr appears in almost all of the thirteen Schulmadchen Report films as an elderly lady with a comic role. She is perfectly cast as a comedic talent and is the only senior actress that plays a key element in many of the vignettes. Marie Ekorre, Sonja Jeannine, Christina Lindberg, and Birgit Tetzlaff are a few of the young actresses who titillate the audience with their erotic encounters. Friedrich von Thon conducted street interviews to discuss the plots in the vignettes, and many of the situations were followed up with a courtroom setting (the male actors were charged with statutory rape). The Schoolgirl Report films were classified as 'soft-core' eroticism, which is similar to the David Hamilton genre.
Ernst Hofbauer directed many erotic films in addition to the original thirteen Schulmadchen Report classics. Sex sells, and Hofbauer exploited consumer demand for R-rated movies involving young actors and actresses. He had a unique style that combined youth, eroticism, wit, and anecdote. His exploitation films of the 1970s appealed to moviegoers from all walks of life.
A chronological list of the original 13 Schoolgirl Report films follows:
- ★ Schulmadchen Report I: What Parents Don't Think is Possible, aka Schoolgirl Report Part I
- ★ Schulmadchen Report II: What Keeps Parents Awake at Night, aka Schoolgirl Report Part II
- ★ Schulmadchen Report III: What Parents Find Unthinkable, aka Schoolgirls Growing Up
- ★ Schulmadchen Report IV: What Drives Parents to Despair, aka Campus Swingers
- ★ Schulmadchen Report V: What All Parents Should Know, aka 14 and Under
- ★ Schulmadchen Report VI: Erotic Young Lovers, aka Campus Pussycats
- ★ Schulmadchen Report VII: But Heart Needs to Be There
- ★ Schulmadchen Report VIII: What Parents Should Never Get to Know, aka Naughty Coeds
- ★ Schulmadchen Report IX: Examination Before the Matriculation
- ★ Schulmadchen Report X: Every Girl Starts Sometime
- ★ Schulmadchen Report XI: Confessions of a Naked Virgin, aka Blue Dreams
- ★ Schulmadchen Report XII: Young Girls Need Love, aka Blue Fantasies
- ★ Schulmadchen Report XIII: Don't Forget The Love When Having Sex
File under Blast From The Past, Fetish, History of Pornography, Music, SeMeN SPeRmS Approved, SeMeN SPeRmS BLArRrG, SeMeN SPeRmS ViDeO CLuB, Sex
Conjured by o~ SeMeN SPeRmS ~o on July 20, 2014


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Comics: Cultures & GenresClaire S Ross7 April 2010
This post is written by Ernesto Priego a PhD student at the Department of Information Studies and UCL Centre for Digital Humanities. You can find out more about Ernesto on his blog and twitter feed.
International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference. Comics: Cultures & Genres
Manchester Metropolitan University
12-14 April 2010
On April 14th I will participate in the International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference. Comics: Cultures & Genres at Manchester Metropolitan University. My paper, drawn from my PhD dissertation, is titled "'Floppy Paper Things With Staples': Comics and Materiality in the Digital Age." The paper is indeed a continuation and reworking of an article I presented last year at the Computers and the History of Art 25th Annual Conference in London.
Organised and curated by Dr David Huxley and Dr Joan Ormond, researchers of the Manchester Metropolitan University Visual Culture Research Centre, the Manchester conference will host keynote lectures by some of the most prolific comics scholars in the UK (Paul Gravett, Roger Sabin, Mel Gibson and Martin Barker), as well as eight panels covering the subject areas of genre, gender, culture, national identity, adaptation, ideology, history and form. It is within this last bracket that I will participate.
The Manchester conference also marks the launch of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (Routledge), a much-needed addition to the still-limited number of peer-reviewed publications solely devoted to the study of comics, such as the pioneer International Journal of Comic Art and ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies .
My paper seeks to discuss how materiality plays/played a key role in the phenomenology of comic books and graphic novels, and therefore in understanding what is at stake in the migration from the printed page to the digital screen. In days when the "dematerialisation" of "creative content" is so pervasive, it is important to focus more emphatically on the materiality of the printed comic book as a process of construction of meaning.
The challenges of contemporary comics scholarship and comics conferences are several. In spite of their apparent ubiquity in the mainstream cultural landscape, comic books are the object of a widespread prejudice that has two main expressions. One is the debatable disqualification of any text perceived as addressed or appealing to children as lacking in "seriousness;" the second is a pervasive iconophobia that still has very actual manifestations today.
For comics scholars the challenge remains in establishing a critical distance from their object of study. Nevertheless, as Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse discuss in their introduction to Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet, it cannot be denied that often the academic study of popular culture shares productive and creative spaces with "fan culture" and is the result of "the meeting of two worlds" (2006). This does not deny the fact that serious critical inquiry of cultural products requires both a passionate approach to the subject matter and an almost heartless, cold-blooded ability to dissect it.
Bart Beaty (University of Calgary) wrote that comics, as "a maligned and ignored medium of communication" tends to be "bolstered by those that are interested in the form" (2004). In reaction to this widespread tendency Beaty argues that if "comics studies" are to be taken seriously as a scholarly field, "the medium [of comics] needs to be promoted by its detractors." According to Beaty, beyond the mere "celebration" of the form, what would make comics scholarship reach "maturity" would be proper scholarly interrogation; "to bring to light submerged insights into culture generally that the specific form of comics illuminate."
I am hopeful the Manchester conference will offer both an excellent opportunity to evaluate the state of international comics scholarship and to prove that a love for comics is not opposed to their critical scholarly interrogation.


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School workers on leave after girl with Down Syndrome has shoes duct-taped to feet
INDIANAPOLIS – An Indianapolis school district has placed on leave employees involved in an incident in which the shoes of a girl with Down syndrome were duct-taped to her socks.
Wayne Township Schools spokeswoman Mary Lang says the district is "appalled" by the incident Monday at Westlake Elementary School in which 8-year-old Shaylyn Searcy was sent home with the duct-taped shoes.
The district hasn't identified the employees or the number involved.
It released a statement Wednesday saying an investigation involving police and the Indiana Department of Child Services is continuing. It also says all of its special education employees will review the district's policy on seclusion and restraint of students.
The district says Shaylyn's parents have accepted her transfer to another school in the district.