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Rated PG
Copyright 1970 Ellman Film Enterprises
Reviewed by
Andrew Borntreger
on 24 May 2010
The Characters:
Jasper B. Hawks - John Carradine! He's a traveling salesman who never lets an opportunity pass him by, not even if it means shooting the opportunity in the knees so that it can't get away.
Elmer Briggs - This man was born 200 years too late. What he needs is a mint julep and a Confederacy to enjoy it in.
Joi - A smart blonde! Check her out!
Chris - Shortly after having sex with her boyfriend, she is kidnapped to become the next Mrs. Bigfoot. I hope that this girl likes her men hairy. If there was one thing hairier than a boyfriend in 1970, it was Bigfoot.
Rick - Chris' boyfriend. He spends most of the film being sore over the whole "Bigfoot hit me on the head and stole my girl" thing.
Rick's Friends - They ride motorcycles.
Bigfoot - He's big, hairy, and prone to committing sexual assault. The NFL needs to draft this guy before he becomes extinct.
The Missing Links - Bigfoot's smaller kin who kidnap women for him to mate with. Who knew that Sasquatch needs enablers?
The Plot:
Even though John Carradine is among my favorite b-movie actors, this film is a dreadful bore. Of course, Mr. Carradine's performance is hamstrung by the fact that he is not playing a scientist of some sort, and the film lacks anything that would allow him to engage in his exceptional propensity for techno-babble. Given a table filled with miscellaneous beakers and test tubes, an ad-hoc x-ray projector, or, God bless, a Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson brain, John Carradine becomes an oratorical messiah.
However, in this movie John is just a traveling salesman with an inept sidekick. Jasper and Elmer are traveling through the mountains in a derelict station wagon filled with an assortment of useless junk masquerading as merchandise. The door is tied shut with rope, the radiator leaks, and various pieces of the vehicle appear ready to succumb to the inexorable force of gravity. This is not the sort of car you want to drive up and down steep mountain roads, even when there are numerous streams that can be used to fill the radiator. Fortune smiles on the bagmen, and they arrive alive at a sleepy general store that serves as the gateway between civilization and the wilderness.
Joi's afternoon flight in her small plane goes a bit less well. Even though she checks the aircraft prior to departure, and even though the plane appears to be in perfect working order, while flying over the mountains the airplane suffers a sudden, complete, and catastrophic failure. Joi either bails out or is thrown clear as the plane plummets to Earth (actually, it might have simply disintegrated in mid-air). Luckily, the pilot turned skydiver is wearing a jumpsuit and a parachute. She makes it safely to the ground. While Joi is stripping off her jumpsuit, Bigfoot happens to come strolling by.
"Hi, little girl, want to make a movie?"
From what I gather, Bigfoot's problem is that the few surviving sasquatch females are infertile. Whether that is due to monkey menopause, untreated ape STDs, or DDT (maybe sasquatch lay eggs or something) is not explained. It's just that mommy sasquatch needs a surrogate. So, there is Bigfoot, wandering through the empty woods, thinking to himself that unless he can find something to breed with, his race is going to die out, and he stumbles across a buxom blonde stripping off her clothes. Can I get a "Thank you, Jez-eezzz!" from you?
This film is so Southern that I'm turning into a Baptist by osmosis. Amen.
Later on, Rick and his friends ride their bikes into the woods to party. It's the kind of soiree that only happened during the 60's and 70's. Ah, those were the days. The men sat around the campfire wearing turtlenecks and drinking beer while the women shimmied to the music blaring from a cheap radio, and then they shagged. However, Rich and Chris are not partaking of the present-retro goodness. The pair made the mistake of stopping earlier to get their freak on, and stumbled across the secret sasquatch burial ground. When a bigfoot (but not the Bigfoot) shows up, Rick gets knocked out and Chris is carried off to join Joi. Both girls are tied to trees, awaiting Bigfoot's marital attentions.
Since they are tied up, Joi and Chris contemplate their situation. They quickly realize that capturing human females must be a part of the sasquatch's reproductive strategy. I would say that both girls take the news rather well, especially since the blessed event is going to be intimately personal affairs for both women. Bigfoot is going to take his big hairy youknowwhat and stick it in the lucky gal's big hairy (it's the 70's) youknowwhat. Ostensibly, this will either cause the desired round belly condition, or else Bigfoot will try again until it does. I imagine that women who, for various reasons, fail to make babies eventually cause Bigfoot to get angry, and then he takes them apart to find out what is wrong.
Each time that Bigfoot disassembles a young lady and finds an IUD inside, his primate brain probably screams, "Another one of these things! I hate these things! Why do they keep making women with these? Oh well, I just have to put her back together without this, and it's babies all the way." Yeah, well good luck with that, big fella. Most guys learn the hard way that taking a lawn mower apart to figure out what is wrong is a bad idea. Women are even more complicated. They either work, or they don't. Do not change their factory settings, do not buy new parts for them, and do not try to disassemble and reassemble them. Don't even "open the hood" so to speak. There are no user serviceable parts.
It's almost as though Apple designed women.
Upon regaining consciousness, Rick stumbles his way out of the woods and into the general store. He convinces Jasper and Elmer that Bigfoot really exists, that the hairy monster really did thump Rick over the head, and that Bigfoot really did kidnap Chris for purposes unknown. Jasper does not care about Rick's headache or the peril to Chris' virtue; what interests the traveling salesman is the idea that capturing Bigfoot could make him gobs of money. The huckster grabs some guns from his truck and the trio (Jasper, Elmer, and Rick) heads into the mountains.
The rescue party gets ambushed by the bigfoot tribe, and the rescuers are soon tied to wooden poles along with Joi and Chris. I hope that Bigfoot does not try to procreate with the men. That would explain why the race is becoming extinct, but I already have enough random bits of horror to fuel my nightmares. John Carradine screaming as a huge shaggy primate mistakenly attempts to fend off extinction in a completely useless and horribly offensive way is not the sort of thing I need my psyche contemplating at 2 AM.
Of course, dreaming that I am being chased by the Michelin Tire Man isn't a whole lot of fun either. Nor is it the sort of nightmare easily explained to my spouse in the wee hours of the morning.
The women are saved from Bigfoot's captive breeding program by a combination of bear intervention and a search party discovering the sasquatch's den. Quite a bit of lead is tossed at Bigfoot by the humans. Bleeding from multiple wounds, the hairy creature retreats into a cave. For good measure, one of the men tosses dynamite in after the monster. The end, and God bless.
Just in case my review made this film sound more interesting than it is: it's not. People talk a lot. People stand around a lot. Rick's friends ride their motorcycles a lot. Jasper tries to sell a lot of stuff to the owner of the general store. Maybe that sounds like a lot, but not a whole lot happens.
Join the B-Masters as we search for missing links and sasquatch. Click on the banner for more reviews.
Things I Learned From This Movie:
Bigfoot is usually seen near bodies of water because he suffers from a chronic case of hiccups.
Pine forests are a motorcyclist's playground.
The last thing a girl wants to be, when there are eight-foot-tall horny humanoids about is beautifully, bountifully, buxom.
Southerners believe that "boy" is a universal pronoun.
You know that fuzzy guy at your work who has a BO problem? He's actually a shaved sasquatch.
Primates are genetically wired to prefer blondes.
Ron Jeremy is the product of Bigfoot mating with a human female.
Sometimes the best part of a movie is the poster.
Stuff To Watch For:
13 mins - Your eyes are not deceiving you. There is an individual, notable, and prominent credit for a camper.
17 mins - Worst spontaneous nookie pit stop ever!
23 mins - This is not day for night, more like polarizer for night.
31 mins - I almost know this song, but it is being played so badly that I cannot put my finger on it.
51 mins - Where are we supposed to be? Georgia? Alabama? Oregon?
58 mins - He looks more like Mel Brooks than a Native American.
70 mins - That is a really loud frog.
76 mins - For crying out loud, movie: do something!
Audio clips in wav format
Starving actors speak out
Elmer: "There's something out there, Jasper. I seen big, huge footprints down by that stream like I've never seen before!"
Jasper: "Briggs, my good man, if you continue to travel with me, you'll see a lot of things you've never seen before."
Rick makes a phone call to his friends.
Chris: "What do these creatures want?"
Joi: "They're more human than you think. I'm sure that's why they brought us here."
Chris: "But why?"
Joi: "The only thing I can figure out is that they're a dying race, and they want to reproduce more of their own kind."
Chris: "How horrible!"
Elmer: "Jasper, my old legs ain't holding out too good."
Jasper: "They'd better, 'cause we're not quitting until we find it."
Elmer: "But dog-gone it..."
Jasper: "We're sitting on a million dollars, Briggs. And it's right up there!"
Rick: "When we find it, Mr. Hawks, I want you to shoot it."
Jasper: "Now, hold on boy. Not if I don't have to. That critter's worth more alive to me than dead."
Theme Song
Listen to a clip from the soundtrack.
Click for a larger image
Scenes from the movie
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MPEG video files
- 9.4m
Footage of people on motorcycles, moth-eaten creature suits, and two women tied to trees. Imagine eighty more minutes of this, and you will have a good picture of the rest of the film.
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Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #1.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 06:37:15 AM by
This film is so Southern that I'm turning into a Baptist by osmosis. Amen.
Thanks for the great review, Andrew: I just hope your good lady doesn't see the paragraph about how to take ladies apart.
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #2.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 07:40:52 AM by Tom E.
The fact that this movie made it to screen at all explains why American Gladiators lasted three seasons.
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #3.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 01:48:56 PM by
You are right that your review makes the movie sound much for interesting than it really is. The way you describe it makes me think of it has some sort of weird exploitation film with a very creepy bigfoot fetish. Sadly, I have a feeling that there is an exploitation film out there with a bigfoot fetish. It is a pretty weird world after all.
Oh yeah, you are right. The movie poster looks way more interesting than the movie!
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #4.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 03:02:28 PM by
I must admit "Breeds with Anything" is one of my favorite tag lines of all mankind's history.
Great review of a really lousy movie, Andrew.
FUN FACT: This is possibly the worst movie in Doodles Weaver's career. Or not.
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #5.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 03:51:43 PM by bob
they can tie knots, but do not have a language? or permanent structures? of course i have not seen the movie, so
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #6.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 05:33:32 PM by
Then I take it "The Greatest Monster Since King Kong" on the poster, is just hyperbole.
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #7.
Posted on May 25, 2010, 08:16:16 PM by
The acting is as monstrous as the monsters...
Re: Bigfoot (1970)
Reply #8.
Posted on May 26, 2010, 06:56:40 AM by
Another great review Andrew
I like the girl in the green bikini. I think I'll go with discretion being the better part of valor and NOT watch the whole movie just to see more of her though
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|2011-12-25, 17:27
|Link #21
* >/dev/null
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Surrey, UK
Age: 34
I've always preferred the villains who have a perverse sense of the way things should be. E.g. a villain who isn't power-hungry as an end of itself, but who believes that they're the best person to rule because they would do the best job. So even if that means crushing all dissent that's acceptable because (to them) the ends justify the means.
Off the top of my head my favourite villains would be:
1) The Shivan race in FreeSpace 1: Their motivation was simply to wipe out any space-faring species that might be a threat to other, younger (and non-space-faring) species.That way such younger species would have a chance to develop before being wiped out or enslaved.
2) The Vorlons/Shadows in Babylon 5: Rather than try to attack each other directly they tried to use the younger space-faring species to fight for them. For the Shadows it was all about 'development through chaos', i.e. getting the other species to fight each other (by instigating wars) with the hope that those who survived would be militarily stronger. For the Vorlons it was about 'development through order'. Species should develop through cooperation, so any trying to enslave or wipe out the others was the enemy.
3) Sakurai Shin'ichirou in Senkou no Night Raid, for being able to manipulate others in order to (almost) get what he wanted. All of this, whilst (to the audience) pretending that his agenda was not deceptive.
4) Jouslain Tytania in Tytania: Mostly for being a likeable villain and his ability to play politics to maintain his position.
using the younger space-faring species as collateral
|2011-12-25, 18:04
|Link #22
Disabled By Request
I doubt Maul would've been able to do anything like that, but the point is that if Maul were trained to be more than just a tool, he'd have been much better, and could've easily played a pivotal role in the Clone Wars. For instance, rather than having Dooku be a Sith, he'd have been a Jedi who defected to Palps' side and been under Maul's command, considering Maul is part of the Sith order where Dooku wouldn't have been.
I think another example of a truly great villian is Shinobu Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho. I deem him one of the most interesting villains if not THE most interesting in any anime I've seen. His backstory is most of what makes him interesting. An incredibly talented child with unmatched skill who fought for most of his life defending humans from demons, believing demons were the monsters and criminals becomes twisted beyond repair when he sees how cruel and monstruous humans can be. The fact he has 7 different personalities to deal with different kinds of situations or aspects of Sensui's life is another thing that puts him so high in my book of best villains fiction has ever known. Shinobu pretty much made the second half of the show awesome.
|2011-12-25, 22:46
|Link #23
Onee-Chan Power~!
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: In this reality (A.K.A. Colorado, U.S.A.)
|2011-12-25, 22:51
|Link #24
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
We will see on Darth Maul, as they are bringing him back for the Clone Wars. I believe next month. (other fiction has brought him back before, either with mechanical hips and legs, or as a clone to face either Obi-wan on Tatooine or Darth Vader as a test/assassination plot)
|2011-12-25, 23:08
|Link #25
Onee-Chan Power~!
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: In this reality (A.K.A. Colorado, U.S.A.)
|2011-12-25, 23:25
|Link #26
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
Not to my knowledge. It was hinted in the storyline about Savage Opress and the Nightsisters...Savage was to go looking for his "brother" in the Outer Rim. They showed what appeared to be Darth Maul. The recent commercials and people in charge have stated that Darth Maul is coming back...but not said how or why. The assumption is that Savage finds him and they have to deal with Obi-wan and Anakin at some point, but this being the Clone Wars, just about anything could happen.
|2011-12-26, 10:45
|Link #27
Deadpan Snarker
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Neverlands
Age: 41
There's only so much intimidation you yourself can do if you're an eye stuck on a tower
|2011-12-26, 12:01
|Link #28
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: East Boston, Massachusetts
Age: 29
|2011-12-26, 12:31
|Link #29
I totally agree, best villain (but not necessarily evil) was Qべ
Also Kyouko@KoreZon was really out there
Caster/Uryuu@F/Z could have outdone him, but thus far totally failed, same goes for the master of something from KoreZon, ended up really lame, let's hope Chris will improve on that
Let me add funniest villain Heracles' Combo/Club, who turned out to be the reincarnation of Gandi
As well as the most non-villainous, yet hated as villains characters, Ume@Ben-tou and Yozora@Haganai
|2011-12-26, 18:24
|Link #31
Deadpan Snarker
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Neverlands
Age: 41
|2011-12-27, 03:23
|Link #33
temporary safeguard
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Germany
I take the Steins;Gate "SERN" is like animes "Snackers" and "DacMonalds", so I put the real name instead. It's obviously meant to be CERN in both cases.
You are assuming that Steins;Gate is not 100% true, that's what they want you to believe! :P
Last edited by Dhomochevsky; 2011-12-27 at 18:05.
|2011-12-27, 08:29
|Link #34
Disabled By Request
Or it could just be word spread by conspiracy theorists who simply want to be heard at all costs whether or not what they say is true.
|2011-12-27, 17:56
|Link #36
Knight Errant
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Age: 30
|2011-12-27, 18:46
|Link #37
The Comet has Come
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 41
Even by the end of Freespace 2 we have no idea what the motives of the Shivans are...only that we should be very afraid because they got a lot of really big ships and can make a star go supernova for reasons only they know. On top of the reasons we had to fear them from Freespace 1....which we could only guess at.
|2011-12-27, 20:18
|Link #39
Join Date: Dec 2011
This is an awesome thread. To be honest, though, most villains qualify as failed villains simply because they inevitably lose to the protagonist at the end of the movie/series/book/etc.
Ambiguous villains do tend to be the best, in my opinion. But like you said, it's realism that's important.
One of my favorite villains of all time has to be Bed Wade from 3:10 to Yuma. He's thoroughly reprehensible in every way, but he still manages to eke a bit of sympathy from the audience (maybe a bit too much sympathy -- by the end of the film, he seems to have become more of an antihero than a villain). A better example might be Tom Ripley from The Talented Mr. Ripley (I know, I'm choosing some pretty obscure "villains" here). No one can deny that he'd a sociopathic murderer without a redeemable bone in his body, but at the same time, we understand his motivations, and that makes him real.
|2011-12-28, 15:18
|Link #40
The GAP Man
Lex Luthor
Depending on the writer and how they handled the story, Lex could irrepentant or sympathetic. Lex used to be a fan of Superman until an accident happened that cost his hair and he blamed Superman for it. Lex doesn't want to kill Superman as much he wants to discredit him and make himself look good. I really liked his Smallville incarnation, he was actually cool and he was best friends with Clark but his fatal flaw combined with the events that occurred as the series progressed molded him into the villain he was destined to be. This incarnation of Lex struck a chord with me because Lex was a villain who didn't aspire to be but the circumstances in his life and his own failings is what led him to the dark side. It shows that while it is true that while man change their circumstances, the circumstances can change men.
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CCPE's widely cited annual report, City Park Facts, and the The Excellent City Park System report have become critical tools for park advocates, city planners, journalists, city promoters and others. In partnership with the City Parks Alliance.


text:
Rockets' Infatuation Could Lead to Heartbreak
July 17, 2012 by Stephen Kerr • Print Story •
If your heart has ever been completely captured by someone, you know the signs: lots of sleepless nights, your mind thinks of little else, and you'll do anything to win their favor.
Maybe Daryl Morey can identify with some of those emotions. The Houston Rockets general manager probably hasn't slept much the past few weeks, and he's pulling as many strings as he can to woo one player's favor: Dwight Howard.
If you want proof, all you have to do is look at the roster moves the Rockets have made recently to put themselves in a position to trade for Howard. Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Marcus Camby, Luis Scola, Chase Budinger, and Sam Dalembert, are all gone from the past season's roster. All these moves have given the Rockets the cap room they need to go after a star, whether it's the Lakers' Andrew Bynum or Dwight Howard. They also signed Jeremy Lin to an offer sheet, and it appears the New York Knicks will not attempt to match it, so Lin could be another piece of the Rockets' new puzzle for next season.
While the Rockets would certainly not complain if they ended up with a player like Bynum, it's become apparent they want Howard to be their knight in shining armor, the one who can bring them back to championship contention. According to sources close to the talks, the Rockets have expressed a willingness to take on long-term contracts of several veterans the Magic are trying to unload, including Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, Hedo Turkoglu, and Quentin Richardson. The Rockets could also send current and/or future Draft picks to Orlando as part of the package.
On the surface, pursuing Howard is a no-brainer. The Rockets would have a bona fide star to build around, and a legitimate shot to get back in the playoffs, something they haven't done over the last three seasons.
A closer look, however, reveals some major concerns the Rockets should pay serious attention to before pulling the trigger. Howard's indecision of whether he wanted to stay in Orlando or be traded last season kept both sides going back and forth like a ping-pong ball. After finally opting to stay put just before the NBA trade deadline, Howard made it clear through comments to the media he couldn't play for Stan Van Gundy, and wanted the head coach removed.
Howard then suffered a back injury in a game against Philadelphia, forcing him to have surgery and miss the rest of the season. Recently, he informed Orlando once again he wanted to be traded, specifically to the Brooklyn Nets. Such a deal appears to be off the table, particularly since the Nets agreed to a four-year contract with center Brook Lopez.
Perhaps the most telling sign that the Rockets should be less than enthusiastic about acquiring Howard, is his reluctance to play for the team, something he has made clear on numerous occasions. If the Rockets are unable to convince him to sign a long-term deal, they would either have to hope they can trade him before next season's deadline, or lose him altogether and be stuck with paying out money to former Magic players' leftover contracts. That money could be used to make other trades or free agent acquisitions. Plus, any young players or future draft choices the Rockets lose to Orlando would be wasted on a hired gun who has no interest in sticking around past next season.
Since Howard is adamant about not wanting to play for the Rockets, what's to stop him from claiming his back is not sufficiently recovered enough, even if doctors clear him to play by the start of next season? While it's hard to dispute Howard's hustle and competitiveness on the court, his spoiled and immature behavior makes such a possibility less far-fetched than you might think.
Failure to pull off a trade for Howard wouldn't be the end of the world. Daryl Morey, however, is willing to gamble his team's future he can charm the unpredictable star into falling in love with the team and the city. Let's hope Morey doesn't end up like the jilted lover who gets his heart broken.


text:
A violent and obsessed boyfriend was found guilty today of murdering his aspiring model girlfriend in a jealous rage.
Wealthy jeweller's son Elliot Turner, 20, strangled 17-year-old Emily Longley in his bed after going "absolutely nuts" in a culmination of a month of anger and upset over his suspicions she was "twisting his heart" by seeing other men.
His parents Leigh, 54, and Anita, 51, helped cover up the crime by destroying a confession letter from their son and taking away vital evidence after the killing at their home in Bournemouth, Dorset in May last year.
The pair were convicted by a majority of 10 to 2 of perverting the course of justice - a charge that Elliot Turner had admitted during the four-week trial at Winchester Crown Court.
Turner mouthed the word "f***" after the jury foreman gave the verdict following nine hours of deliberations.
There were cries from the public gallery where Emily's family were sitting.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow when Turner will be told the minimum term he will serve of his life sentence.
His parents were bailed for sentence at a date to be fixed but told they were likely to face jail.
Turner was well known in the local bar and club scene in the Bournemouth and Poole areas and was part of a gang of rich young men called The Firm.
Called by his friends All-Talk Turner because of his boasting, he met Emily in December 2010.
The pair enjoyed the high-life around the resort, partying late in to the night and drinking £180 bottles of Grey Goose vodka often with other members of The Firm.
But Turner, who had a history of obsession with women, soon showed signs of jealousy and the short volatile relationship quickly descended into violent arguments with Turner threatening to kill his girlfriend on an almost daily basis.
He was described in court by the prosecution as showing himself to be "threatening, aggressive, violent, controlling and possessive towards Emily Longley".
Emily went back to Auckland, New Zealand, to see her parents in April and Turner was incensed by Facebook pictures of her with ex-boyfriends and other men.
She had suffered from abusive relationships back home in New Zealand and had emotional problems and was vulnerable.
When Emily returned she wanted out of the relationship and she slept with his best friend Luke Ashford after an argument triggered by Turner's obsession.
In the days before her death, Turner accessed her phone and Facebook accounts and learnt she was arranging to meet men.
He went to one club in Bournemouth and armed himself with a lump hammer to confront them when he learned she was out with another man.
He had driven there in his black Mini Cooper and was hitting the steering wheel in anger witnesses said. This was even though he admitted he had slept with three women during the relationship.
That night he didn't find Emily but he warned the other suitor, Louis Powell, that she was his girlfriend and to back off.
Crying, he then told friends he had killed Emily with the hammer and dumped her in bushes before then saying it was a joke.
The day before he murdered her he asked his impressionable friend Tom Crowe how he should kill Emily as his obsession started to reach a crescendo.
They even discussed setting her on fire in his bedroom using petrol and strangling her and the pair even practised strangle holds.
On the night of May 6 Turner thought he had patched up his relationship with Emily and they were boyfriend and girlfriend again.
But she wanted out and Turner was angry when he met up with her and saw she was dressed in very short shorts, a leopard print bra and small waist coat.
He said she was dressed like a whore and he continued to argue with her in a bar called Cafe Shore.
Finally a fed up Emily threw drinks over him and he attacked her before later that night she fatally agreed to go back to his house in the affluent Queen's Park area of Bournemouth to talk things over.
This was despite Emily texting Turner to say: "Hit me with a mallet? Do what ever you want to me - I will never get back with you. I actually hate you."
Tom Crowe was the last person to see her alive other than her killer. He told the court that Turner asked him to kill Emily using the lump hammer but he told him to f*** off.
The last thing he saw was Emily trying to lock Turner out of his own house, but the 13-stone man overpowered her and they went inside.
A neighbour had walked by and Mr Crowe presciently told him he thought Turner would kill Emily.
The prosecution said that Turner used a pillow to smother Emily and then he strangled her using a sleeper hold.
Forensics found the teenager's "face mask" of make up on the pillow and Emily's make up was also on Turner's shirt.
But Turner stuck to the story he told police and paramedics when they were called to the house on the morning of May 8 that Emily had repeatedly attacked him and he defended himself.
In the witness box, Turner said that he grabbed Emily by the neck for five or six seconds and then pressed down on her as she lay on the bed to stop the attack.
He then stormed out of the bedroom and came back, got in to bed and woke up to find her dead.
He said he had loved her and she had loved him and had only wanted the best for her and he denied murdering her.
When arrested at the scene he had his passport in his pocket and his bags packed, the court heard.
Police were suspicious from the start because of Turner's threats to Emily but there was no conclusive cause of death except for tell-tale haemorrhages under her eyelids that were consistent with neck compression.
Detectives decided to bug the family's £350,000 home and discovered that his doting parents had helped cover up their son's crime.
Highly incriminating tapes played to the jury told how Leigh Turner had destroyed his son's "confession".
During one discussion when Anita Turner refused to believe her son had done anything wrong, an exasperated Leigh Turner said "He (Elliot) f****** strangled her".
Turner himself was heard to say: "I just flipped. I went absolutely nuts...I just lost it. I grabbed her as hard as I could. I pushed her like that."
He was heard calling Emily a "f****** bitch" and talking about the "f****** anger" that had built up in him over her.
Leigh Turner said: "We have perverted the course of justice by destroying evidence."
But Anita Turner was heard to say they had been right to do it.
They also discussed changing Anita's story about the delay in calling the ambulance. Anita had called Leigh first and there had been an hour delay in calling paramedics while calls went to and fro between the family.
Anita admitted that she took a jacket from Elliot Turner's bedroom but that she didn't think it was wrong. The prosecution said police were distracted by her husband and the confession letter was in the coat.
Police also examined Turner's computer and found searches about death by strangulation.
Emily had been born in Britain but her family had emigrated when she was nine. She had returned to live with her grandparents Ronald and Zosia Longley in a large detached cottage near the seafront in Southbourne, near Bournemouth, to study for a business national diploma at Brockenhurst College in Hampshire. She also worked part-time at Top Shop in Bournemouth.
Her divorced parents Mark and Caroline flew over from New Zealand and attended court every day to find out what happened to their daughter.


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Today, the New Orleans
Aviation Board met in open session and voted to commence negotiations with
Iftikhar Ahmad for the Director of Aviation position at Louis Armstrong New
Orleans International Airport.
Ahmad has been the
Director of Aviation at Dayton International Airport in Ohio since 2006 and
previously served in executive positions in Nashville and Houston. In
Dayton, Mr. Ahmad managed over 200 personnel and an operating budget of $39
Million in revenues and $36 Million in expenses with a Capital Budget of $156
Million. Dayton International has approximately 3 Million annual
passengers, 10 airlines and 160 daily flight operations.
Armstrong International
Airport handles approximately 8 Million passengers annually, 9 passenger and 2
cargo airlines, and 160 daily flight operations.
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Company to Receive Corporate Award at 2007 Governor's Hurricane Conference FMA Recognizes PGT for Service "Above & Beyond"
VENICE, Fla., May 9, 2007 -- PGT, the leading provider of residential impact-resistant windows and doors, will receive the Corporate Award at the 21st Annual Governor's Hurricane Conference May 16 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center. The company will be honored for its contributions to advance hurricane preparedness and mitigation techniques. Meanwhile, the company was recently presented with the 2007 Executive Director's Award by the Fenestration Manufacturer's Association (FMA) for its advisory role to various building code committees and work groups.
"My appreciation in receiving this recognition goes first to our employees," said PGT President and CEO Rod Hershberger. "Each day every individual on our team makes an extra effort to go above and beyond the ordinary. Our employees have made PGT an industry leader demonstrating their commitment to be Visibly Better."
It's particularly special to receive the Corporate Award because Florida is our home base," said Debbie LaPinska, PGT Vice President of Sales and Marketing, who will accept the Governor's Award on behalf of PGT. "We've made a corporate commitment to aid the State's efforts to make homes and buildings safer for Floridians. We are proud to be a partner in this collaborative effort and we're pleased to share this year's award with StormSmart."
With manufacturing facilities in Florida and North Carolina, and more than 2,000 employees, PGT is dedicated to helping ensure that structures in Florida and other coastal regions are stronger and safer. The 26-year-old company's involvement with home hurricane protection began more than a decade ago after Hurricane Andrew struck Florida. The company worked with Miami-Dade county officials and others to create wind-borne debris testing protocols and then developed PGT® WinGuard® Impact-Resistant Windows and Doors, the #1 residential impact-resistant products in the industry.
Today, PGT code experts, remain active in assisting government officials craft testing standards. Through PGT University (PGTU), the company's on-site training facility, employees and building trade professionals are continually educated about new building code requirements. Additionally, PGT code experts serve on public committees responsible for reviewing and improving building code requirements.
The conference runs from May 14-18 and features workshops to increase awareness and improve preparation in order to lessen the effects of man-made and natural disasters. This year's theme is "Building on Past Successes … Preparing for Future Challenges." PGT received the Corporate Award in 2005 for employee-relief efforts after Hurricane Charley devastated Charlotte County and impacted nearly half of its employees living in the region. The manufacturer extended support to 840 of its workers and their families by providing them with a family relief center, food and supplies, repair services and relocation assistance.
In their roles as public affairs and code compliance experts, team members are responsible for educational efforts directed at local, state, regional, national and international legislators, regulatory officials, insurance industry representatives, industry associations, architects, builders and developers. Each regularly gives educational seminars related to code education and speaks to architects, engineers, builders, homeowners, building departments and the media on code related issues. The PGT code compliance specialist actively serves on the Construction Specifications Institute, Fenestration Manufacturers Association, Florida Building Materials Association, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Building Officials Association of Florida (BOAF) also serving on the Code --MORE-- Interpretation Committee. Additionally, the organization contributes to the Florida Building Commission Product Approval Workgroup, the Commission's Hurricane Research Advisory Committee and its Structural Technical Advisory Committee. The organization has had a presence at all Building Commission meetings since 2001.
PGT® pioneered the U.S. impact-resistant window and door industry and today is the nation's leading manufacturer and supplier of residential impact-resistant windows and doors. PGT is one of the largest window and door manufacturers in the United States. In its 26th year, the company employs more than 2,000 at its manufacturing, glass laminating and tempering plants, and delivery fleet facilities in Venice, Fla., and Salisbury, N.C. Sold through a network of over 1,300 independent distributors, the company's total line of custom windows and doors is now available throughout the eastern United States, the Gulf Coast and in a growing international market. PGT's product line includes PGT® Aluminum and Vinyl Windows and Doors; WinGuard® Impact-Resistant Windows and Doors; PGT® Architectural Systems; and Eze-Breeze® Sliding Panels. PGT Industries is a wholly owned subsidiary of PGT, Inc. (NASDAQ: PGTI). www.pgtindustries.com.


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Posted Fri December 21st, 2012 - 03:03 PM PST
Halle carried daughter Nahla's backpack, but we're hearing that the little girl will be spending time with Gabriel before jetting off to France to join her mom and Olivier.
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Transfer News: Wigan sign Grant Holt from Norwich for undisclosed fee
Wigan Athletic have completed the signing of experienced striker Grant Holt from Norwich City for an undisclosed fee.
Last Updated: 08/07/13 10:50pm
Holt has agreed a three-year contract at the DW Stadium and he becomes the seventh signing since Owen Coyle took over as manager.
Coyle is delighted to have added the 32-year-old to his squad following the sale of striker Arouna Kone to Everton earlier in the day.
"This is a fantastic piece of business for us at a really good price," Coyle told the club's official website.
"Grant is a proven goalscorer at every level and he will definitely bring something new to the table that we were missing in the squad.
"There is already a great buzz about the place since the new boys have started coming through the door and this is another one that will really lift the place.
"He's been a hero to the fans at every club he's been and I know the Norwich fans are sad to see him go, he's been one of the icons of their success in recent years. But now it's the Wigan fans' turn to enjoy him and we're all delighted he's coming on board."
Norwich boss Chris Hughton added: "Grant was an important part of what we managed to achieve in the Barclays Premier League last season.
"Of course before I came to the club I was very aware of the magnificent job he had already done in the three years prior to that as well.
"When we look back I'm sure we will all agree that to score the amount of goals he has done for the club in that time is a remarkable achievement.
"Myself and all of the staff certainly wish him all the best for his time at Wigan."
Holt netted 15 league goals in Norwich's first season back in the top flight in 2011/12, but he only scored eight Premier League goals last term and City manager Chris Hughton has been actively seeking reinforcements up front.
He joined Norwich in 2009 and has also played for the likes of Rochdale, Nottingham Forest, Blackpool and Shrewsbury after starting his career at non-league Workington.
The hard-working forward joins Marc-Antoine Fortune in boosting Wigan's attacking options, while Coyle has also signed Scott Carson, Thomas Rogne, Stephen Crainey, James Perch and Chris McCann since replacing Roberto Martinez as manager.


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Behind The Scenes: Trina - Million Dollar Girl
Behind the scenes look at Trina's new video for "Million Dollar Girl" featuring Keri Hilson and Diddy.
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Remember back people first started talking about how Anne Hathaway lost 25 pounds in, like, 5 minutes to play a prostitute dying of tuberculosis in Les Miserables? And Hathaway's rep made a big deal about denying all those X-treme crash dieting rumors (less than 500 calories a day!)?
Well, as you might have suspected, the rep was totally LYING. In the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Hathaway finally 'fessed up:
"I just had to stop eating, all for a total of 13 days' shooting."
Yeah, that's kinda what we figured, Anne. And honestly, I don't have a problem with the whole method acting thing -- if Hathaway wants to suffer for her art, well, that's cool. BUT I do worry about non-celeb types following her lead, because while Hathaway was probably being monitored by doctors 24/7, the average gal could do some serious damage to her body by starving for 13 days.
Here are just a few examples of the problems crash diets can cause:
1. Heart damage. From arrhythmias to heart attacks, crash diets cause such drastic shortages of potassium, magnesium, and copper that the heart stops functioning properly.
2. Dehydration. Lots of people think that drinking plenty of water while dieting will keep them well-hydrated, but in fact, it's difficult for your body to retain water if you are not eating balanced meals.
3. Kidney failure. Just ask Margaret Cho, who ended up hospitalized when forced to drop a huge amount of weight for her tv series.
So, take-home message here, people: If you're not a famous method actor hoping to win an Oscar, the whole starving for 13 days thing is probably not worth the risk. (That said, check out the Les Mis clip below -- Hathaway's performance looks incredible.)
Have you ever gone on a crash diet?
Image via thehollywoodreporter


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This is my last post here at Blogger. I took a deep breath, and moved over to Wordpress. I was having a lot of trouble accessing and replying to the comments I was getting on my posts and I hated that. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time and trouble to comment. So finally I had enough.
If you follow the blog, please log in to the new Mr Goodstory at https://colinfalconer.wordpress.com/ and if you'd like to, you can follow again from there.
I put my new post on there today; it's a quiz about Shakespeare, as April 23rd was a very big day in his life.
Thank you for following me and I hope to see you soon at Wordpress!
Looking for Mr Goodstory
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Footbinding produced the so-called 'lily' feet or 'lotus' feet once common in China. Women today may complain about high heels but this was probably one of the cruellest forms of foot torture ever invented. What were they thinking? Perhaps the Chinese saw what the Inquisition were doing in Europe and felt envious.('We want a Spanish boot too! ... Only let's put it on the women.)
Footbinding first became fashionable China in around the eighth century and persisted for almost a thousand years. Women were literally crippled by this custom.
A noble woman in Imperial China with normal feet was practically unmarriageable. (Only peasants had normal feet, because they needed to get about in the fields and work. A real lady showed her status by staggering around in agony or having someone carry her.)
While still a small child a rich girl had her feet soaked in a bath of urine and vinegar, then all the toes except the big one were folded under the foot, and secured with tight bandages. This soaking and binding process would continue throughout the girl's childhood, with the result that the feet never grew more than three inches long.
Often this disgusting procedure led to gangrene; this was considered a good thing as the rotting toes would then fall off and cease being a nuisance! The ideal of perfection was to have hardly any foot at all.
Chinese men loved women with lily feet, even though the feet themselves were usually covered in silk slippers. And a good thing, too; under the bandages they were often a rotting, scabrous mess and stank to high heaven. One fashion trend we don't want back. That, and flares.
But lily feet are not the only form of torture women have endured in the name of beauty. In certain African and Asian cultures neck rings are worn to assist a woman's matrimonial chances. Was this fashion inspired by African men thinking giraffes were hot? I'm not sure but in certain cultures, girls as young as two were fitted with spiraled metal coils, and these were gradually increased, some by as much as twenty turns.
|photograph Steve Evans
The neck doesn't elongate of course. That's called execution by hanging and as such is not a very effective fashion trend. What happens is the weight of the collar depresses the collar bone and ribs down to a position forty five degrees below what is normal. Yeah feels good.
These days the custom only persists because of the tourist industry.
The chopine was a type of platform shoe popular during the Renaissance, used as a sort of overshoe to protect a lady's real shoes and dress from the mud and ordure that littered the streets back in the day.
They became particularly fashionable among the courtesans of Venice. They were made of wood or cork and covered with brocade or velvet. But the fashion got out of hand; shoes became a status symbol, would you believe! The higher the heel, the further up the social ladder you were. Some were over twenty inches high. A woman could literally tower over her competitors.
Women wearing chopines were often accompanied by a servant on whom they could lean; though the Italian dancing master Fabritio Caroso wrote that a proper lady should be able to dance flourishes and galliards with them on. Really? I would think it was like trying to dance a tango in stilts.
Lead was the cosmetic of choice from the times of ancient Greece right up to the twentieth century, I'm afraid. It gave the wearer a fetchingly pale complexion but turned the blood culture into something you'd expect to find at Chernobyl or Bhopal. It also damaged the skin; the only solution was to put on more lead on it to cover it up.
|Elizabeth I, looking suitably pale
It takes years to accumulate to a fatal dose. Victims literally pale into insignificance. Meanwhile they put up with minor side effects like brain damage, paralysis, insomnia, and curiously, a limp wrist.
The most celebrated death from lead poisoning is believed to be Elizabeth the First.
Why do the folk you see on the walls of ancient Egyptian walls wear so much eye make up? Were they all trying to look like Kim Kardashian?
Actually, it just helps reduce glare. The Egyptians not only had to cope with the bright desert sun but the pyramids and other public buildings were originally covered in stark white limestone (you can only see this veneer today at the very apex of the Giza pyramids) so every time they went outside it was like walking into a row of searchlights.
But yes, it also looked great on Elizabeth Taylor. She just wore it to reduce the glare, too.
So far we've only talked about women's fashions. But in the mid eighteenth century there was a clique of young male British aristocrats who made today's metrosexuals look like cage fighters. At one curious point in our history the indulged sons of the Regency rich came back from their gap years in Europe and turned into Lady Gaga.
In an age where men wore plain and simple dress these guys didn't come out of the closet as such - they just wore everything that was in it. The look consisted of towering, elaborate wigs with tiny hats perched on top like a cherry on a ice cream sundae accessorized with garish waistcoats and bright colored stockings. They even developed their own language, a mixture of French and Italian words with curiously accented English. Regency rap.
It scandalized Britain and attracted widespread outrage and ridicule. The fashion did not go unnoticed overseas: it even featured in a famous lyric in the colonies. "Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni."
There; now I finally know what that lyric means. You learn something every day.
Now some of you may have noticed that I haven't been answering comments; that's because my comments system keeps falling over. I can't stand it anymore, so I'm leaving the Dark Side and making the move over to Wordpress this weekend. Wish me luck! I'm sure the new system will be better. Meanwhile I'll leave a link to the new site here at blogger.
All this week Who Dares Wins Publishing has been promoting AZTEC as a free book, along with Atlantis 'Devils Sea' by Bob Mayer, and Rekindled by Jen Talty. It's a fantastic offer so if you'd like to take advantage of it, follow the links! Offer ends tomorrow!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Hernan Cortes was probably one of the greatest of the conquistadores – which is a back handed compliment in a way, like being the best of the Nazis or being named Terrorist of the Year. He was a man of ruthless genius, a Christian crusader possessed of unparalleled greed, even for those times – but his achievements were breath-taking.
He won a land of almost limitless resource for Spain with an army of less than five hundred Spaniards, not all of them soldiers and not all of them loyal, while ostensibly on a simple scouting mission from Cuba.
He did not defeat the Aztecs with Spanish force of arms – he was five hundred men against a nation of a million – but with an astonishing bluff. He took the pot and the game with nothing in his hand. Through good fortune, steely determination, and the help of a Mexican slave girl he achieved what would otherwise have been considered impossible.
It is one of the great stories of history, a triumph of human endurance and determination, notwithstanding that Cortes's eventual success was an unmitigated disaster for the indigenous population and resulted in unimaginable misery for hundreds of thousands of people.
The story of Hernan Cortes is the story of a woman named Malinali. Her exact origins are unclear –she was thought to have been a Mayan princess by some – but her place in Mexican history is unparalleled. For without her, Cortes would have got no further than the beach.
Her name was corrupted by history to Malinche; even today the word malinchista is shouted across the floor of the Mexican parliament as a deadly insult – it means a traitor to the Mexican people.
Yet was she the monster that the Mexicans make her out to be?
There is only one person who ever knew the truth and that was Malinali Tenepal herself – La Malinche. Both concubine and translator to Cortes, her motives and what she said and how she said it will always be a matter of debate - it is what makes hers such a gripping and intriguing story. It is not about the battles but the love affair, one of the most extraordinary pairings in all history.
Not everyone in Mexico agrees with me on my interpretation of Malinali – but then they don't agree with each other either. As with all history, there will always be a thousand versions, and no one can ever say which one is the true one.
But what is certain is that in almost every contemporary drawing and painting she is at Cortes' side, whispering in his ear. She was the only one who ever knew what was being said by both sides, the only one who spoke both Spanish and nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. She was the only one who could have made the bluff work.
She was also the only one to share Cortes' bed. Did she love him? No one can say. Did he use her for his own purposes and then cast her aside? Of course he did. He was only ever interested in gold and glory.
Fittingly perhaps, Cortes' life after the conquest was one of frustration and humiliation. History has not been kind to him either. I spent the better part of an afternoon trying to track him down. I finally found him not far from the Plaza Major in the Church of Jesus Navareno. He is walled up in a casket by the altar and you have to peer very hard to make out the plaque let alone the inscription. That's how much they think of him now.
He crumbles to dust in the place where he first met the Aztec emperor Motecuhzoma. And Malinali?
|Wolfgang Sauber
No one knows what became of her. It is believed she died an old woman in Spain. Cortes showed her his gratitude by marrying her off to someone else. Her name is still reviled in Mexico. Foreign authors who dare write her story still get assaulted with man bags (see previous post.)
But for all that, her tale, and that of the conquistadores, remains one of the most intriguing and tragic sagas in history. I still believe she could not have foreseen the terrible cataclysm she unwittingly engineered. But if you're ever in Mexico City, don't quote me on that.
If you do, watch out for man bags.
From the 17th to the 21st this week, Who Dares Wins Publishing is promoting AZTEC as a free book, along with Atlantis 'Devils Sea' by Bob Mayer, and Rekindled by Jen Talty. It's a fantastic offer so if you'd like to take advantage of it, follow the links!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Everything you've ever heard about Mexico City is true. The city contains roughly the same population as the whole of Australia and twice as many cars as people. They say that one day walking in the streets of El DF is equivalent to smoking a pack of forty cigarettes.
I was there for a week a few years back to promote a book I had written about the conquest of Mexico. I had not read the book myself on anything except my laptop and the Australian edition was still in editing. So it was slightly surreal to fly halfway across the world and discover it has been a bestseller in another country for weeks.
The central figure of my story was a Mayan princess called Malinali (better known in the west as Malinche), Hernan Cortes' lover during his 'entrada' in the early sixteenth century. My book speculated about her life, her motives, her role in the defeat of the Aztecs and most especially, the precise nature of her relationship with the great conquistador.
Well. You wouldn't think the Mexicans would care any more, would you? The woman has been dead for half a millennium and her name is almost unknown outside of Mexico.
But they do care; they care a lot. It was why almost every newspaper and magazine in the city wanted to talk to me.
They care so much, in fact, that at times I was being interviewed by three journalists at a time because there was not enough time to schedule everyone. Not all of the journalists liked the book; halfway through one interview a journalist threw his manbag at me and said he was offended by my interpretation of Malinche, a woman he and many Mexicans regard as a traitor of the first rank. She is responsible for selling out Mexico and consigning her nation to catastrophe and slavery, he said. Well, perhaps. But there's two sides to every story.
Finally he stormed out of the office.
I didn't read the review but I got the impression that I wouldn't be able to use any quotes on the cover of the reprint.
My interpreter for the duration of my stay was a very attractive young woman by the name of Beatriz, publicity director for the large publishing house that had bought Spanish rights to my book. When I was invited onto a popular daytime television show she found out half an hour before my appearance that she would be required to accompany me in front of the TV cameras as my interpreter.
She had never been on television before and was very nervous, especially as the show's host was the notorious Victor Trujillo, Mexico TV's shock jock. Her husband was away on business in Guadalajara and she was afraid that he might see the program; she was also nervous that her mother, a very strict Catholic who disapproved of our host, might also hear about it.
Victor's particular schtick was to have his guests lie down on a psychiatrist's couch while he sat behind them and asked them personal questions, like a therapist. Sometimes he would have a blonde in a red leather bikini stride onto the set and sit on his guest's lap to distract them - so really, it was more like a kinky interrogation session than a sombre literary interview.
Fortunately Beatrix had warned me about this.
So when the blonde came on set, I was prepared. I asked, through Beatriz, if the young woman would come back to my hotel with me. I had Victor on the back foot.
Disappointed at not catching me off guard, he raised the stakes. He brought on his second surprise – a male model with a six pack (make that twelve) in a bulging g-string who came and sat on Beatriz's lap. I don't know who was more surprised; my blushing interpreter or her husband, watching from his hotel room in Guadalajara.
On the way back to the car afterwards Beatriz was busy fielding phone calls from her mother and her other half. After she hung up the phone she told me she would not be acting for any more Australian authors. I protested that it really wasn't my fault but she told me I was a no-good gringo and I could get my own lunch. So there.
Wow, this was really working out well.
The next morning I woke at six o'clock to the sound of bugle and drum, as the Mexican flag was raised in the Plaza Major. It is a big flag, a monster that takes a dozen soldiers standing at arm's length to furl and unfurl.
I spent the morning with more journalists (no man bags thank God) and then Beatrix took me to an early lunch and invited me to sample one of the local delicacies, chilli chicken in chocolate sauce. It tastes exactly like it sounds, like chicken covered in spicy chocolate sauce.
She then drove me back to the television studios for an interview that was to be syndicated throughout Latin America, South America and the US. I was happy enough with this but did not discover until a minute or so before we went on air that it would last for the better part of an hour. I also discovered, to my chagrin, that my interviewer, who could speak perfect English, would instead ask me the questions in Spanish, and these would be relayed to me through my earphones by an interpreter – at about a split second delay.
Now if you've never had this experience you may not appreciate how disconcerting this is. You have no idea what to do with your eyes for one thing; if you look at your interviewer's face, the lip movements are out of synch with what you're hearing and you end up staring at your interlocutor like an imbecile and going "Huh?"
Or if you look away and just concentrate on what you're hearing through your earphones you look like someone who's lived with their bedridden mother all their life and has lost any ability for social interaction.
To compound my panic the chocolate chicken I had eaten for lunch had come back to haunt me. Montezuma had decided to take his revenge on the latest author to slur his name and not only could I not look my interviewer in the face – I also began to sweat, wriggle and cross and uncross my legs every few seconds.
I survived the interview with seconds to spare. Was it Beatrix's revenge? I suspect so.
All in all, my author tour of Mexico was a chastening experience. Oh, and I got mugged. But hell, it's Mexico. Doesn't everyone?
Would I go back and do it all again? If I could get another book on their bestseller; lists, you bet. I'm a writer - it's okay to be shameless.
But next time I'd pass on the chili chocolate chicken.
From the 17th to the 21st this week, Who Dares Wins Publishing is promoting AZTEC as a free book, along with Atlantis 'Devils Sea' by Bob Mayer, and Rekindled by Jen Talty. It's a fantastic offer so if you'd like to take advantage of it, follow the links!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
A hundred years ago today, at just about now in fact, Jack was standing on the bow of the Titanic with Rose, arms outstretched. It seems like yesterday, doesn't it? The iconic ocean liner was set to become the most celebrated shipwreck in history; and Jack and Rose the most famous lovers since Romeo and Juliet.
But for all the movies and the exhibitions and magazine articles about the Titanic, how much do you really know about her? Here's a short quiz to test your TQ (Titanic Quotient.)
1. Where did the Titanic sail from?
(a) Liverpool
(b) Southampton
(c) Northampton
(d) Hollywood
2. The band kept playing as the ship went down. But what song?
(a) Nearer my God to Thee
(b) Autumn
(c) the theme from the Love Boat
(d) My Heart Will Go On
3. Why did the Titanic sink?
(a) it collided with the Carpathia
(b) it struck a reef
(c) it hit an iceberg
(d) the captain was Italian
4. What does Jack Dawson shout when he stands on the bow with Rose?
(a) I'm the King of the World!
(b) I'm the King of the Sea!
(c) I'm the King of the Ocean!
(d) If I push you off now there'll be more room for me later on that door!
5. Finish this expression: 'Women and .... first.'
(a) millionaires
(b) cross-dressers
c) Italian ship captains
c) Italian ship captains
(d) children
6. What was not actually on board the ship when she foundered?
(a) an ancient Egyptian mummy that cursed the ship
(b) a diamond called the Heart of the Ocean
(c) a jeweled copy of The Rubaiyat
(d) an Alexander III commemorative Faberge egg
7. There was no J. Dawson on the Titanic. True or false?
8. Jack tells Rose he used to go ice fishing on Lake Wissota as a boy. What's wrong with this assertion?
(a) There was no Lake Wissota then
(b) There are no fish in Lake Wissota
(c) Lake Wissota is in Peru
(d) Lake Wissota is one of Beyonce's back up singers
9. The day after Jack stops Rose from leaping into the water, they are walking along the promenade deck. What unlikely object can be seen in the background?
(a) an orange life preserver
(b) a jet airplane
(c) a hill
(d) Celine Dion lying on a sun lounger
10. If Rose loved Jack so much why didn't she make space for him on the door? Write your answer as briefly as you can. Spare paper is available at the front desk if you need it.
1. Southampton. If you said Northampton go and stand in the corner.
2. You get a point for (a) or (b), though if I were to be really pedantic I would have to insist that none of the answers is correct. One passenger asserted that they were playing Nearer my God, but the passenger who recalled that particular hymn being played got away quite some time before the ship sank. So really, no one can be sure what they were playing when the ship broke up. All seven musicians perished.
3. The Titanic was struck by an iceberg. The time between the first sighting and the collision was around thirty seconds.
|a photograph of the actual iceberg taken several days later
4. I'm the king of the world
5. the answer is (d). If you answered (b) give yourself half a point. Two male gamblers, Doc Owen and Kid Homer, actually did dress up as women to gain access to a lifeboat.
6. In fact (a), (b) and (d) were not on board. The Rubaiyat by the 11th-century Persian astronomer Omar Khayyam was the only truly rare item lost. The binding of this incredibly luxurious book contained fifteen hundred precious stones, each set in gold. It had been sold at auction in March 1912 to an American bidder for £405 - 15 years worth of wages for a junior crew member on the ship. The supposedly cursed mummy of Amen-Ra was not on board, as myth suggests, as it was on display at the British Museum at the time. The Heart of the Ocean is a fiction and no one knows what happened to the Faberge egg.
7. True. After he finished the script director James Cameron found there really was a J. Dawson on the Titanic. Gravestone #227 is the one most visited in the cemetery at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where most of the victims are buried. The grave actually belongs to Joseph Dawson, an Irishman who worked in Titanic's boiler room as a coal trimmer. Many filmgoers, moved by the story, left flowers and ticket stubs at Dawson's grave when the film was first released.
8. Lake Wissota is a reservoir in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. The lake was formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Chippewa River, in 1917.
9. While Jack and Rose are walking on the promenade the day after he rescues her, a small hill with a building on it is visible over Jack's shoulder.
10. Sorry, I won't accept any answer for this one. That's a two person door if ever I saw one.
Just to finish, I found this little gem on the internet. It's a Lego version of the Titanic. Warning: it contains spoilers.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The wonderful children's author Lynn Kelley at http://lynnkelleyrandomactsofwriting.blogspot.com.au/ and historical author Mirella Patzer (who has one of the best history blogs and review sites) at http://www.historyandwomen.com/have both tagged me for the Lucky 7 Meme. It works this way:
1. You go to page 77 of your current WIP
2. You go to line 7
3. You copy down the next 7 lines, sentences or paragraphs and post them, as they're written.
4. Finally, you tag 7 authors, and let them know they're tagged.
So to take part in the Lucky 7 Meme, here's my excerpt from my historical epic STIGMATA, which I'm editing right now and is due to be published by Corvus Atlantic later this year.
'I had a friend in Outremer. He was a southerner, from the Languedoc. A good man. Once I saw him knock some ruffian down for abusing a horse. And twice he saved my life. He was devout in his faith, went regularly to communion and would never do any man harm. But the manner of his death was beyond imagining. He took a wound to the belly in a skirmish and died a week later, still howling. He deserved a sweeter fate. Other men, they wore the cross even while they raped women and took the greatest pleasure in torturing their prisoners, yet they survived our wars in good humor and good health. I confess, I do not understanding the workings of God or the life he has put us in.'
'Yet we are here, and we must make the best of it.'
Philip laughed. More a bark really, abashed at having spoken so plainly with his own squire. 'Yes, you are right. We must to our duty. And yet . . .' He traced the carving of her name on the stone. 'Sometimes, if you take a single man or woman from the world, it is suddenly empty.'
'She left you something to remember her by.'
'This runt of mine took her life from me.'
'I am sure he did not wish to be without his mother. He is as wronged as you in this grief. And what of your good wife in heaven now, pray God? Would she want you to abandon him?'
Philip sat up reluctantly, and clapped him on the shoulder. 'How did you come to be so wise when you have only eighteen summers? You are right. Enough now. Show me my son.'
And so to the seven authors I'd like to tag, if they'd like to take part:
Alica McKenna Johnson
Deborah Krager
Stephanie Drayer
Sherry Jones
Kim Rendfeld
Roberta Trahan
Dianne Capri
Thanks Lyn and thanks Mirella!
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John and Martha King of King Schools have released a new online Flight Instructor Refresher Course (FIRC).
"This FIRC moves away from reviewing the same topics that flight instructors learned as private pilots, and instead gives flight instructors more insight on issues such as identifying and changing at-risk behaviors, and conducting an effective flight review," said John King.
"The goal is to provide tools to help instructors produce pilots truly ready to be pilot-in-command," added Martha.
Additionally, the Kings say the FIRC is the first such course to incorporate a paperwork-free, completely online, renewal process. "Instructors will be able to complete the renewal requirements without ever having to move away from their computer, and will receive their temporary certificate by email," commented John.
"Solving the two major problems in general aviation, the student dropout rate and the fatality rate, requires a fundamental change in the way we teach," said John King. "And this program is designed to give renewing flight instructors fresh insights into ways they can help their customers to both become good risk managers and long term members of the pilot community."
The course follows the latest guidance from the FAA recently released as revision "G" of FAA Advisory Circular 61-83.
The King Schools FIRC program has been designed to run on the iPad and on all Windows and Mac Web browsers. It sells for $99 without CFI renewal processing or $124.95 with processing included.
For more information: KingSchools.com or 800-854-1001
People who read this article also read articles on airparks, airshow, airshows, avgas, aviation fuel, aviation news, aircraft owner, avionics, buy a plane, FAA, fly-in, flying, general aviation, learn to fly, pilots, Light-Sport Aircraft, LSA, and Sport Pilot.


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The owner of the 276-unit Orleans at Walnut Grove Apartments in Cordova has filed a $23 million loan for the property.
Orleans Apartment Community LLC filed the deed of trust, security agreement and fixture filing for the Class A complex Dec. 18 through Transamerica Pacific Insurance Co. Ltd. Charles W. Misenhelter signed the trust deed as member of Orleans Apartment Community.
The Orleans at Walnut Grove, situated on about 17.5 acres north of Walnut Grove Road between Gray's Creek and Houston Levee Road, consists of two phases. The first 180 units, totaling about 198,000 square feet, were delivered in 2012; the remaining 96 units, totaling about 93,800 square feet, were built this year.
The Shelby County Assessor of Property's 2013 appraisal splits the phases but lists both at 317 Woodland Lake Drive. Phase one was appraised at $14.3 million, which includes the 10.6-acre parcel and the buildings. Phase two, which includes the 7.1-acre parcel but not the buildings, was appraised at $444,100.
Wes Misenhelter, owner of Lakeland-based Wesscorp Communities, is the developer of The Orleans at Walnut Grove. Amenities include a 20-acre lake, 3,500-square-foot clubhouse, 2,200-square-foot fitness center, and a salt-water pool with palm trees and cooking area.
AEGON USA Realty Advisors LLC, which acted as agent for Transamerica Pacific, agreed in September to fund the $23 million loan.
Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports
– Daily News staff
The New York Stock Exchange has withdrawn its June 28 determination to delist Memphis-based Verso Paper Corp.'s common stock.
The exchange withdrew the delisting determination after adopting a uniform continued listing standard earlier this month that takes into account average market capitalization.
With the new standard, a company is now considered below criteria for the New York Stock Exchange if the company's average market capitalization over 30 consecutive days of a trading period is less than $50 million. And as that is happening, the company's total stockholders' equity must also be less than $50 million.
Verso still remains below the exchange's criteria for the separate continued listing standard because the average closing price of Verso's common stock was below $1 per share for 30 consecutive trading days.
With the extension from the new standards, Verso has until Feb. 14 to bring the closing share price and the average closing share price above $1.
– Bill Dries
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell has appointed Marcy Ingram as interim Shelby County attorney effective Jan. 1.
Luttrell made the interim choice Monday, Dec. 23, as current county attorney Kelly Rayne prepares to leave at the end of the year to become vice president of public policy at the Greater Memphis Chamber.
Ingram is currently deputy county attorney after having served as deputy chief administrative officer and before that as an assistant county attorney.
As the Christmas holiday began, four of Shelby County's six suburban towns and cities have superintendents for their municipal school districts.
Bartlett Schools board members selected David Stephens as the superintendent of their school system Friday, Dec. 20, in a unanimous vote.
Stephens will come to the post from being deputy superintendent for Shelby County Schools, overseeing the day-to-day operation of the merged school district as it went into its first school year.
Earlier Friday, the Germantown Schools board selected Jason Manuel, principal of Houston Middle School, as Germantown superintendent.
And Millington Schools board members selected David Roper, the former superintendent of schools in Birmingham, Ala., to be their director of schools. Roper is currently a professor of education at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Collierville Schools board was the first of the six suburban boards to come to contract terms with a superintendent, hiring former Shelby County Schools superintendent John Aitken.
That leaves the Lakeland and Arlington municipal schools districts. Leaders of both towns signed an agreement that states both school systems will use the same schools director or superintendent.
Shawn Massey, partner with The Shopping Center Group LLC, is one of 752 commercial real estate professionals across the world to receive a new credential from the International Council of Shopping Centers.
The new ICCS credential, called the Certified Retail Property Executive designation, is awarded to industry professionals for mastering the science of retail operations, leasing and management.
Massey was also recently elected as president of the executive board of the Memphis Metro CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) chapter.
– Amos Maki
Memphis-based Wunderlich Securities Inc. has closed on its equity capital investment of up to $40 million.
The closing of the deal led by Altamont Capital Partners, a private San Francisco Bay area-based investment firm, and members of Wunderlich's management team means Wunderlich is closer to having new funds with which to expand several of the firm's divisions.
Wunderlich private client group president Jim Parrish, for example, said the firm is moving forward with its private client group expansion strategy and that "great things from Wunderlich in 2014" are coming.
– Andy Meek
Tennessee is one of three states receiving a million-dollar grant to increase on-time college completion rates.
The Tennessee Board of Regents announced Monday that the three-year grant will come in cash and technical assistance from the Lumina Foundation for Education and in partnership with Complete College America.
Education officials say the grant supports the state's higher education reform efforts that help students finish a degree in two years from a community college and in four years from a university.
The grant will help the state's community colleges and the Regents' six universities create so-called Guided Pathways to Success programs.
The programs are clearly sequenced degree plans that help students understand the best and shortest paths to get them to graduation.
– The Associated Press
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


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By BOB WOOD
News intern
Fast. Aggressive. Dedicated. These words seem to come up often when talking about the recent European addition to the Hood River Valley High School boys soccer team.
Lukas Berg is a 16-year-old exchange student from Wissen, Germany, and he is spending this year as a senior at HRVHS. So, to make his stay all the more enjoyable, he has been playing defense and midfield for the playoff-bound Eagles this fall.
"It's been fun," he said, "and it helps me stay in shape."
Although Berg uses other sports such as snowboarding and windsurfing to keep up his conditioning, soccer is his true love.
After coming to another country and having his daily routine completely shaken up, Berg found that playing soccer helped him adapt to his new lifestyle, and his new community.
"It helps to get involved," said Berg, who is staying with the Sassara family in Hood River. "You get to know more people that way."
And with that attitude, Berg has had no problem finding his comfort zone in Hood River.
"He's broken himself in gently and is fitting in very well," said HRV boys head coach Doug Beveridge. "At first he was kind of shy, but he's gotten to the point now where he's making jokes."
On top of having to learn a new culture and improve his English, Berg has also had to adapt to a different way of playing soccer.
"When he first started, he didn't play like us," said junior sweeper Sean Rawson. "He used a lot of short passes like they do in Germany. But now he's got the long balls down, and he has learned how to play with us."
After his shake-down period was over, Berg became a valuable asset to the HRV team, both as a defender and as a midfielder. And with the playoffs only one week away, the team is happy to have another weapon on the field.
"He's quite fast, and that is good," said Rawson. "He's aggressive and goes for the ball. Sometimes the rest of us will relax. But he just goes for it."
However, despite an advanced skill set, Berg has only been playing soccer for a relatively short time.
"My parents didn't want me to play when I was younger," he said. "Then, about three or four years ago, my friends invited me to come play with them, so I did."
After only a few years, Berg has learned not only how to play the game, but also how to be a part of a team.
"If I'm not paying attention, he's there," said Rawson. "He knows the game, and he's not afraid to tell people what's not working. It's great."
All in all, Berg has made a positive impression in Hood River, and those he has interacted with have only the nicest things to say.
"If he has nothing to do, he'll help pick up balls or chip in doing something," said Beveridge. "He's a good solid person, a positive influence, and a fine young man."
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For one thing, the guy just knows too much about mud.
For his newest hit, ABC's pratfall extravaganza "Wipeout," Kunitz and his researchers investigated what type of mud would offer the safest landing for contestants who, say, slip off gigantic red rubber balls while running an obstacle course, a maneuver that happens to be not just "Wipeout's" money shot but virtually its entire plot line.
Simply mixing ordinary dirt with water won't do, Kunitz said, because the soil will settle and harden on the bottom. Instead, the producers chose the clay used to make baseball pitchers' mounds. "It's $4,000 a truckload," Kunitz, the former executive producer of NBC's legendary gross-out contest "Fear Factor," told me.
Hey, quality costs money. But this is the kind of dedication Kunitz brings to his craft. He's one of very few TV producers who can repeatedly refer to one of the obstacles in his project called "big balls" and not burst out laughing.
"We're not trying to solve the world's problems," Kunitz said, unnecessarily. "We're just trying to entertain people in the summertime."
His plan seems to be working. "Wipeout" is not a huge hit, à la " American Idol," but it is the No. 1 new series of the summer so far. Ratings are growing; last week's telecast leaped 13%, to 10.6 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The critics may hate it -- and oh, yes, most of them do -- but "Wipeout" looks here to stay a while. Production company Endemol USA, the entity behind "Fear Factor," "Big Brother" and other shows, is confident of a renewal, although ABC has announced nothing yet.
"The question is not about will they, it's about how many" additional episodes the network might order, David Goldberg, president of Endemol USA, wrote me in an e-mail. The producers would like the series to transfer to the regular season, as did "Fear Factor," not to mention "Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "Survivor" and other unscripted perennials. But network executives are noncommittal. John Saade, ABC's senior vice president of alternative series, told me the network sees "Wipeout" "as a good summer asset." (Cautionary tales abound; last year, NBC moved "The Singing Bee," a show that began even more strongly than "Wipeout," to the fall lineup, where it promptly bombed.)
To Kunitz, "Wipeout's" success puts to rest the notion, often advanced by those with a heavy investment in scripted entertainment, that the reality craze may be waning. Not much chance of that. During the writers strike that ended in February, executives used reality fare such as NBC's "American Gladiators" to fill the gaps. And the No. 1 series of the regular season was Fox's ethically dubious lie-detector show, "The Moment of Truth."
"Wipeout" is proving that reality TV never goes away, it just recombines, like a science-fiction villain. An entire subgenre of on-air, YouTube-friendly humiliation contests -- some good-natured, others less so -- is now sweeping prime time. ABC already has "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," which like "Wipeout" owes a debt to the batsu, or punishment, shows popular in Japan. (The Japanese have long cornered the market on unscripted sadomasochism played for chuckles; on YouTube, you can find the clip of a 1980s Japanese classic where a man clad in a straw hat and striped jacket quietly sidles up to passersby and then screams at the top of his lungs.)
Fox is doing an American adaptation of "Hole in the Wall," another batsu show where contestants have to squeeze themselves through odd shapes that are cut into a moving partition. On Tuesday, G4 will debut "Hurl!," which mixes stunts with the world of competitive eating, in hopes of inducing vomiting among contestants and possibly viewers. And the inevitable "Wipeout" copycats are coming, which Kunitz said doesn't bother him a bit.
"I've already heard in the past couple days that the other networks and some of the other cable networks are now looking for similar shows, and that's great," he said. "Any time a reality show succeeds -- [speaking] as someone who makes a living off reality -- that's a good thing for us."
For a show that doesn't even require a complete sentence to sum up its concept, "Wipeout" has led an amazingly charmed life. Kunitz understands the comparisons to Japanese shows such as "Takeshi's Castle" -- rebroadcast on Spike as "MXC" -- but insists that "Wipeout" was really born from a desire to do a funny stunt series. He wanted to sell the show as "Fear Factor" meets "America's Funniest Home Videos."
Kunitz pitched the show to ABC with a producing partner, Scott Larsen, who coordinated many of the stunts on "Fear Factor." "We pitched them at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon; by 4 o'clock, they were calling and saying, 'Don't go anywhere else,' " Kunitz said.
"Wipeout's" secret weapon -- the thing that distinguishes it from the legions of similar shows -- is the addition of commentators John Anderson and John Henson, both of whom already had extensive experience cracking wise to snippets of video: Anderson on ESPN's "SportsCenter," Henson on E!'s "Talk Soup." The pair write most of their own one-liners, Kunitz said, as the show doesn't have a writing staff. "We purposely went out and found funny commentators," he said.
What "Wipeout" won't do is enhance Kunitz's reputation among cultural critics who accuse reality TV of rotting Americans' souls. In 2005, author Bernard Goldberg tossed some mud in Kunitz's direction, putting the producer at No. 69 in his bestselling book, "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America." Kunitz's alleged sin was "Fear Factor," which was accused of polluting the culture with scenes of contestants gobbling horse entrails and the like.
"It's kind of an honor," he said of Goldberg's list. "I look at my company; I think Michael Moore was No 1. I don't mind being in that group of people."
And if critics see "Wipeout" as more of the same in different packaging, Kunitz isn't worried. "As long as someone's talking about the show, that's good," he said. "I sleep very well at night."
The Channel Island column runs every Monday in Calendar. Contact Scott Collins at scott.collins @latimes.com.


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Re: Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen #12
Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 8:40 pm
As always, I am ridiculously behind, but I had to comment on this.GenevieveCullen wrote:
On a random note, what do you think the likelihood of Rob playing a doctor would be? Dancers and doctors and detectives (oh my! ), are my three D's and I would srsly unicorn if he did any of those.
I don't think Rob would make a very good doctor. Eventually there would have to be some sort of investigation for why all his female patients suffered from racing heartbeats. And no one would ever get better! They would forever be insisting they were still sick and needed to see Dr. Rob, NOW!
But Rob as a dancer, [keep it PG13, keep it PG13]........
Please God, let there be a Rob dancing movie! <head asplodes>


text: Monday, November 07, 2011 Implementing PQRS Into Your Practice Beginning in 2015, physical therapists and other health care providers who do not successfully participate in the Physician Quality Reposting System (PQRS) program will be subject to payment penalties. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized the use of the calendar year 2013 as the reporting period to inform the 2015 payment adjustment. Eligible providers, including physical therapists, who do not satisfactorily report data on quality measures for the reporting period between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2013, will be subject to a 1.5% reduction in their fee schedule amount in 2015. APTA is creating new resources for members to assist them in their participation in the PQRS program. A new podcast series on implementing PQRS is available today and reviews PQRS basics, including information on getting started, teaching physical therapists the program, and billing and tracking performance. In addition, on November 16 APTA will host a live audio conference to provide members with an update to changes to the PQRS program for 2012. The Medicare PQRS program began in 2007 as a voluntary, incentive-based program for practitioners, such as physical therapists in the private practice setting, as a means to ensure high quality health care services for their beneficiaries. In 2012, and continuing through 2014, providers who successfully participate in the PQRS program will receive a 0 .5% bonus payment. Comments Is there an easy or direct way to find out if I have been paid the bonus payments? My company has been participating for several years now and I do not know of any bonus payments! Thank you for your help! Posted by Desirea on 11/26/2011 3:44 PM


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RALEIGH (AP) � The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will reopen for five days during the busy fall tourism season with the help of money from Tennessee and North Carolina, officials say.
RALEIGH (AP) � The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will reopen for five days during the busy fall tourism season with the help of money from Tennessee and North Carolina, officials say.
The park, which straddles the states� border, will reopen Wednesday through Sunday. Like other national parks, it had been closed because of the partial federal government shutdown.
Tennessee is giving $300,500 to open the park, while North Carolina is contributing $75,000, the governors of the two states said Tuesday.
Tennessee's $300,500 share is officially being paid by Sevier County, home of heavily visited tourist attractions like Pigeon Forge, Dollywood and Gatlinburg, though 80 percent of that amount will come from the state in the form of a tourism grant. The rest will come from Sevier and Blount counties.
�The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is America's most visited national park, and for the Smokies and the people around it, the month of October is the most important time of the year,� Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said in a release. �I remain hopeful that an end to the federal government shutdown will come this week.�
North Carolina's share is coming from tourism advertising dollars, Gov. Pat McCrory said.
�Many North Carolina communities depend on tourism generated by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,� McCrory said in a release. �It's critical that we get the gates reopened during the fall season.�
McCrory said he's exploring options to open other national parks in his state.
Earlier Tuesday, Haslam couldn't say why it had taken so long for a deal on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to materialize, when other prominent parks such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and the Statue of Liberty in New York had already reopened with the help of state money.
�I can't explain that,� Haslam told reporters after a speech in Murfreesboro. �I wish I knew. We've been working hard with the Park Service since this first became apparent. I don't know why we didn't get more communication back.�
Haslam said earlier this week that a tentative arrangement to reopen the park for the weekend came too late Friday for the state to wire money to the federal government.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the country's most visited national park with 9.6 million visitors in 2012.
Mike Litterst, acting chief spokesman for the National Park Service, cofirmed in an email to AP that an agreement �for five days only� to reopen the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was struck by the park service with Tennessee.
Asked about North Carolina's report of involvement, Litterst wrote that he was unable to confirm that participatoin �by what is in the formal agreement� but said North Carolina's governor would have to be consulted for details from that state.


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Wapakoneta aims to knock Celina off top of WBL
Sports Editor
The Wapakoneta Redskins will look to put Celina where they are after Friday's game — behind Kenton in the Western Buckeye League football standings, as Wapakoneta will host the Celina Bulldogs in a big WBL contest Friday at Harmon Field.
Kenton and Celina are each 2-0 in the WBL entering Friday. Wapak, meanwhile, is 1-1, with a loss to Kenton in the league opener.
The Bulldogs are off to an undefeated start this season under coach Trent Temple, who landed the position after the previous coach Jared Rolfes resigned to leave for North Carolina.
Frye commented on the level of success Celina has had so far in the season given the coach has been in place just over two months.
"Trent Temple has done a great job," Frye said. "He's a good friend of mine. He's stepped in and done a great job. In a way, it might have almost been an advantage for him to get it at the last minute, because he didn't have to think or worry about it. Sometimes you can overthink things in our business.
"They've continued on. It shows the quality of their seniors right now, because they didn't deviate from the plan in place, and the quality of the assistant coaches in addition to the accolades Trent has," he said. "Head coaches get too much credit and also too much blame. They've got great people around him. He's done a great job."
In addition to trailing the Bulldogs in the WBL standings, Wapak is also slightly behind them in the playoff chase, as Celina is ranked fourth in Division III, Region 10, while Wapak sits two spots behind in sixth, as the first release of the weekly computer ratings was on Tuesday.
Celina and Wapak are both in Division III this season after being in Division II previously.
Celina actually finished two spots ahead of Wapak last season in the computer ratings, as the two teams finished 12th and 14th, respectively, in Region 8. Both schools finished 7-3 last season.
The Bulldogs will present to Wapak another form of the spread offense Friday.
Wapak has seen spread offenses of various quantities and styles during the preseason and in every game in the regular season.
Frye said though the style of offense the Redskins defense has had to face is constant, not one opponent presents exactly the same looks, leaving it difficult to get comfortable preparing for each opposing offense.
Celina will look to unleash Braelen Bader against the Wapak defense.
Bader ran for 143 yards on 19 carries last Friday.
As the test from the Celina offense looms, the Redskins defense can keep a shutout streak alive again Friday.
Wapak has not allowed an opponent to score since 5:31 of the third quarter in its Week 2 game against Kenton.