text:
Wildland fire suicides and why choice is so hard to understand
I finally asked my mom if she would talk about her suicide attempt in order to understand the perspective of someone who gets to that point. This last summer suicide rates of wildland firefighters made the headlines and with such a long and devastating fire season, it seemed to add insult to injury for those in the community.
Wildfire Today and The Atlantic both ran in-depth pieces on the epidemic. I ran the numbers and they are staggering: Between 2015 and 2016, 28 firefighters died on the job. During that same period 52 firefighters took their own lives. Numbers do not lie and these numbers reveal that more firefighters die by suicide than by fire.
I wanted to address mental health and suicide at work, I wanted to get people talking about it to help remove the stigma that only the weak or selfish take their own life; hoping that perhaps if we try to understand, maybe we won't judge and thereby provide a safe place for people to talk about what has caused them to reach a point of no return. But in order to do that I needed to try to understand myself.
I was touched by suicide when I was 25 years old after my mother almost succeeded at taking her own life. We've never talked about it. I don't know why I have been so afraid to ask her about it but I figured it was time. I needed to understand. To my surprise she had no problem talking about it – seemingly eager to tell her story. Maybe she's been waiting for an opportunity to be understood.
After my mom graduated from law school she got a job in the Utah Attorney General's Office as an assistant attorney general. She was also teaching law classes at the University of Utah. Her and my dad were divorced and me and my three other siblings lived with my dad, but mom was around a lot. She had latitude with her work schedule working for the State. She was flying high – she had a great and prestigious job, she had flexibility, she had a successful boyfriend who was also a lawyer that she thought she might marry, and she had aspirations of running for office – she seemingly had everything; the sky was the limit. Until she flew too close to the sun.
The Utah Medical Association offered her a job. Life was moving fast. She couldn't believe how great it was; surely being the attorney for the Utah Medical Association would propel her to the pinnacle of her career. She was warned by an associate not to take it, certain she would hate it. Her father suggested she let him negotiate her salary and told her not to take anything below $100,000. She didn't listen to anyone because she knew what she was doing, it was a strategic move for her and her career – it was a prestigious private sector job. If she could hack this, she could take on the world. She took the job for $11,000 more than she was making, which was roughly $80,000.
The glamour and allure wore off fast. The new job did not have the flexibility or independence that the government job did. She could not work early and leave early, she was required to be with her bosses all the time, to have a cell phone so that they could get a hold of her, and then she started to have to work nights and weekends.
It was then that she began to feel like she was suffocating, like a noose had been placed around her neck and was tightening. No longer was she able to see her kids when she wanted to, she didn't have time for her boyfriend; she didn't have time for anything but work.
One night she did the math on her salary and the hours she was working and it amounted to little more than minimum wage. The warnings and suggestions she had heard before she took the job came back to haunt her. She had not done her research and now she was trapped. Her life became fragmented; she was losing control of it and watched helplessly as pieces of it started drifting away. For a professed control freak, this was terrifying. She started having anxiety attacks. It was a gradual sequence of events that led her there, but once she got there it sped up and her life spiraled out of control.
I had recently gotten out of the military and was going to school at what was Dixie State Community College in St. George at that time. I was living in my mom's second home that she rented out to single women. I didn't know at the time that something was wrong but I took a trip to Mexico with my mom and an old boyfriend hers that she had gotten back together with after her and her other boyfriend broke up. She wasn't herself. She seemed scared and nervous which was completely the opposite of her normal state of being. Me and my brother blew it off as weird and didn't think about it beyond asking, "What's wrong with mom?"
A year later I had moved to Salt Lake City and was going to Salt Lake Community College. I went to visit my mom at work – I'd never seen her office. While we were talking she told me she couldn't breath and took her chair outside to sit in the parking lot. Admittedly, it was strange but then again, my mother never liked being inside so it was kind of normal. I was still a little confused by her behavior and didn't know how to respond to her telling me that she felt like she was suffocating in the building. It never occurred to me she was in trouble.
Years later when I was talking to one of my aunts, she told me that my mom was talking about suicide to them. They took her to a behavioral health hospital because they thought she was suffering from depression. The doctors gave her anti-depressants. As someone who doesn't like to be out of control, she didn't want to take the pills, but I think she did take them. Later it was discovered that she was suffering from anxiety not depression.
At this point she had married a long-time boyfriend and was living in Midway, Utah. She lost a worrisome amount of weight and was not herself at all. She said she had been told she had a life threatening brain disease. With this news she started to wonder what it had all been for. Why had she left her family and her kids to go to law school and then work a job that became a prison if she was just going to die anyway? She had given up what mattered most to her for something she thought had a higher purpose, that was bigger than her – a heroic life – only to find out that it wasn't worth it in the end.
She started to look at what she had to leave us kids. She had $15,000 in the bank. She wrote notes to all us where she left all she had to us (I never saw the letters), took her bottle of pills and drove to Deer Creek Reservoir and swallowed them all. She thought what she was doing was a loving act not to make us go through the long process of watching her die only to leave us with nothing.
For some reason she drove back to the house. She says she remembers it being very scary because of all the medications she had taken. Her husband rushed her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. When I got the call he was sobbing and told me what happened. He explained how she went into convulsions and only survived because the pills were time released. The doctors said that if the pills had all released at the same time she would have died.
I was in shock. I drove to Midway though I don't recall why or what I did. All I remember is seeing the man who for all intents and purposes was a second father to me, sitting out behind his barn on the ground bawling – his eyes bloodshot, the life drained out of him.
The next day I had to go to school. I cried all the way there. I remember sitting in the parking lot and thinking that if I let myself feel this, my world would fall apart too. I wiped the tears away, pushed my feelings beneath the surface, went to class, and never let myself feel it again.
At the time I had just started dating my husband. We were in a long distance relationship and he would fly from Georgia to Utah to see me or vice versa. We were sitting in Barnes and Noble in Salt Lake City on one such visit and he asked me if I was okay. I said, "I'm not a glass doll, I won't break." In retrospect that seems like such a calloused thing to say, but in reality, it was a defense mechanism against the fear of falling into a void I was afraid I would never be able to climb back out of.
My mother was transferred to the LDS Behavioral Health Hospital. I recall only going to visit her there once. She was lying in the hospital bed and didn't seem aware of my presence. I tried talking to her but she wouldn't respond, staring straight through me. She looked empty as if she had succeeded at killing herself but her body hadn't registered it yet. I wanted to hold her hand or lay down with her and hug her, hold her tight, but I couldn't do it. The person in front of me was not the strong, fearless, larger-than-life woman I had known all my life – the person in front of me was a stranger.
I didn't know how to reach her. I didn't know what to say or do. I'd never been taught what to do with pain and suffering and so I sat there frozen and terrified. I felt a tremendous amount of guilt, certain I should be doing something but not knowing what, and thinking that I was a worthless daughter. So I just kept putting one foot in front of the other in order to survive myself.
What transpired after that is a blur. I got married, moved away, and started a family of my own. My sister got out of the Air Force and her and my brothers tried picking up the pieces while trying to find their own way in life. Mom never recovered. She had a mental break that left her in a perpetual loop of regret and agony. She became a ghost, an empty shell, a person without a purpose, living because – what choice did she have?
I don't know if the suicide attempt caused my mother brain damage or if she already had some form of mental illness that was camouflaged by her success that would have eventually revealed itself in time, but mental illness is the only way to describe what happened to her. She bounced around for years living with family members who would take care of her until worn out and then pass her off to someone else. She did not take care of herself and engaged in erratic and disturbing behavior that left her and the family routinely dealing with the police. Mom was supposed to be taking medications but wouldn't and the family couldn't make her.
Roughly eight years later I moved back to southern Utah. While my mom didn't live with us, we took her on and spent a lot of time with her. This was when I started to see a change in her; she seemed to be getting better. I don't know if it was having me close or if it was my children, or if it was a combination of things but she found a desire to live again and started getting better – not whole, but better.
When we talked on the phone she told me she was so glad she didn't succeed at killing herself and that even though she is homeless, she loves life. She wondered aloud if idealistic people were at a higher risk for suicide than others. She queried further if people who work "heroic" jobs, who witness destruction, loss, and ugliness in life – as well as heroic, bigger-than-life events that they are a part of – or those who have to choose between that life and people they value – or those who lose their "heroic" status – are at a higher risk. She told me that she definitely saw her work as heroic, as noteworthy – but that when that heroic world started to crumble, her idealism crashed with it.
She explained that it wasn't one thing, it was a sequence of events that all collided at once and left her feeling fragmented, her life seemingly in shards that she couldn't seem to put back together. While my mother's story is her own and I am certain people have many reasons and different triggers that get them to that point, I'm also certain there is a common strand between all of them.
I am now the same age my mother was when she tried to end her life. I have never contemplated suicide but I lived long enough to question what it is all for, to wonder what the point is. I have taken the hard knocks of life and as Stephen King said, I've seen time begin its stealthy and rotten subtractions. I know what it is like to lose interest in things that used to bring value and joy to my life, and force myself to keep doing them, hoping the joy and fulfillment will return. I know what it is like for kids to become the only reason to keep going and do what must be done and I know what it is like to long for close friendships and community and not have the energy to reach out and maintain, establish, or build them while enviously watching others who have. This is all without a collision of destabilizing events.
I thought of my season on the engine, the high stress, high camaraderie, fulfilling, and fun work and then the denouement that followed at the end of fire season that left me lost and off balance when I returned to normal life. It took me a good two months to recover and find meaning in life outside of my job. I still struggle with it and that was one season. I can only imagine a career of it year after year with all that life throws at you – potential problems or stresses at home, perhaps unhappy spouses, or no support and loneliness waiting at the end, illnesses or injuries that end the job, medical expenses that lead to bills and debt, time away from children – or just trying to find value outside of a high-value job.
As my mother talked I thought of a conversation I had with my boss who talked to me about the stresses of of being a wildland firefighter and warned me of the strain it puts on a marriage, telling me to take care of the home life. He said, "There are a lot of divorced firefighters." He then went on to say, "You never know what a coworker is going through, you may never know that one of them is living out of a car – let me know if you are struggling so that I can help okay?"
What he didn't tell me was that fire is an escape from the worries of life, that for brief, adrenaline-filled periods you have a single purpose where the cares of the world fall away and, as Steinbeck said, "…a kind of glory lights up the mind like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then -the glory- so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished," – until it ends and everything turns back to gray. What my boss didn't tell me was how hard it would be to get by in the day-to-day stretches of time after the glory had faded.
I asked my mom if there was anything anyone could have said or done to help her, any intervention that would have kept her from veering toward suicide. She wasn't sure and said she would have to think about it. *
My mother was strong, fierce, and full of life – I still see her that way but perhaps more realistically now, more human; definitely fragile, breakable. Perhaps that is where we go wrong with people, we don't allow them to be completely human – we don't pay attention when they are living in the gray.
Perhaps the stigma of being weak if you are struggling with circumstances that appear to be a result of poor choices is what causes people to go it alone. Or maybe there is something insidious to the culture of rugged individualism where you are told to pull up your bootstraps and push through it despite needing help, and as a result, there's a fear of sharing just how bad a shape you are in. And then there's sharing your mental fitness with others – the trust required and vulnerability that would follow such an admission, combined with the very real possibility of repercussions for letting people know the truth – that could be a strong deterrent to that kind of honesty.
I am just taking stabs in the dark but I have to believe there are answers. Why is suicide so astronomical, especially among veterans, police, and firefighters? Why do "heroes" kill themselves? Why does anyone?
Furthermore, what makes a life worth living? What can we do for those who think theirs isn't? What can we do if we think our own life isn't worth living? It's possible there are answers if we are willing to look, if we are willing to enter uncharted territory where answers are uncomfortable, don't come easy, and where when they do, they're hard to grapple with. I'm willing to go there and listen to find out. Are you?
After observing those who survived Nazi concentration camps and those who did not Jewish psychiatrist Victor Frankl said that survival wasn't based on youth or physical strength but rather on the strength derived from purpose, and the discovery of meaning in one's life and experience. He said, "Man is ready and willing to shoulder any suffering as soon and as long as he can see a meaning in it."
Perhaps finding meaning outside of work is a starting place. If you want to talk or share you can contact me here.
*My mother has since told me that being given the statistics of suicide among children of parents who have committed suicide might have kept her from trying.*
Utah legislators see savior in Trump in battle for public lands
When Donald Trump was running for office in 2016, a recording of comments he made about his fame and power being so all-encompassing that he could just grab a woman's pussy surfaced. Unlike his more prevalent modus operandi of denial and counter accusations, he did not deny having said it. He summed it up as locker room talk that was inappropriate. This may be the closest thing to contrition he has ever done.
Here in Utah, the predominant Mormon culture denounced him and his bid for the presidency. I recall Mayor John Pike posting about it on Facebook saying he could not be president and implying his support for Evan McMullin.
It appeared — on the surface at least — that in spite of being one of the reddest and most fundamentalist conservative states in the union, the Mormons by and large had a moral code which would not abide supporting such a man regardless of the desire to have a republican in the Oval Office.
Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher even lauded Utah on his show, saying, "How about the Mormons?" As outspoken as he is about the absurdity of the claims of all religions, he seemed to be momentarily impressed that perhaps there was a line that could not be crossed with them.
I remember saying to myself in response to Maher, "Don't count on it."
This is because, in my own experience living in Utah, I have come to understand the duplicitous nature of this culture intimately and first hand. I doubted (and would eventually be affirmed in that doubt) that the election results would demonstrate that said line even existed. Roughly half (45.5 percent) voted for Trump.
This is anything but an anti-Mormon rant. It is an uttering of bewilderment at the sheer hypocrisy of the conservative religious right. It is a belaboring of the painfully obvious fact that religion and its claims to having the final word on moral authority have been hijacked for the purposes of greedy men and women.
And one would need look no further than the example of the moral ground laid in the 2016 election versus the election results to see this.
After all, Trump was the Will of God incarnate for the legislators of this pristine state to at last have a shot at what they have been fighting for since they arrived in the original territory just a little more than 100 years ago: the right to claim for themselves what was never theirs and do as they please with what does not belong to them — public lands.
Prior to the last year, any attempts at gaining control of land that belonged to every American was stopped in its tracks by long-standing court precedents and legislation such as the Antiquities Act, the Federal Land Management and Policy Act, and even the Taylor Grazing Act. What were tantamount to nothing more than rally cries fortified by frivolous lawsuits and acts of childish behavior with deadly consequences were seemingly validated by Trump's illegal decision to rescind the newly appointed Bears Ears and Escalante National Monuments.
In no less than a week's time from Trump's announcement, Utah legislators began to introduce bills to paper over the illegal act, making it veritable law of the land. This has been their hope all along: to take hold of land that does not belong to them under the guise of being better stewards of it only to sell it to the extractive industries, though they deny it.
Adding to the hypocrisy is the constant bemoaning by Utah legislators of federal government overreach and the need for independence contrasted with the copious amount of federal money the state takes. In fact, in a bill proposed to allow a self-governing national park, they will still require federal money to run it in the form of taxes paid by every American who rightfully owns that land.
At present, multiple lawsuits have been brought forth to challenge Trump's sweeping illegal move and interestingly enough just this week a motion was made to have the venue for these cases to be heard moved from Washington D.C. to a federal court in Utah.
How convenient.
Duplicitous as they may be, I will say that they are cunning. This was a masterfully played hand that could set into motion a chain of events leading to the abolition of federal land management agencies altogether as well as public lands.
Careful what you ask for, Utah. Because the master you serve is not a benevolency at all but rather serves the corporate machinations of greedy and merciless people who have feigned sympathy for your plight in order to steal the birthright of every American. The day will come when you realize the Pandora you have been played for and the box you will not be able to close.
See you out there.
Originally published in the Southern Utah Independent.
U.S. Government shuts down over Dreamers
The government has shutdown over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, or so it seems. Many democrats are asking, why this of all the issues they could bargain with? Many republicans, including the President, are suggesting that democrats care more about illegal immigrants than our military. Perhaps, however, the better question is, why are republicans holding strong against 800,000 children who were brought here by parents escaping horrible living conditions in their own countries? It seems a small compromise for republicans to make and a cruel and unnecessary demonstration of inhumanity to insist on holding our budget and government hostage unless we deport them.
Our government is a republican form of government, not a straight democracy. A republic places limits on the government by the law to protect minority rights. This means that certain inalienable rights cannot be taken away by the government even if a majority elects them into office. A pure democracy is "rule by the omnipotent majority." In a democracy, an individual, and any group of individuals composing any minority, have no protection against the unlimited power of the majority. It is a case of Majority-over-Man. For those who do not like the federal government to have too much power or control over their lives, this is the check against it. It alone is what stops mob rule. This is important because any of us could at some point in time be in the minority, whether race, religion, or political affiliation.
I don't know why democrats are insisting on making DACA the lynch pin of passing the budget but it may very well be because it's the right thing to do. Those children did not ask to be brought to this country illegally; they more than likely had no choice in the matter. In this country we generally believe that parents know best what is good for their children and would support the parents' decision in almost any other situation.
Congress recognized that these children should not be penalized for the actions of their parents and therefore set about coming up with a solution for them. It's the humane and ethical thing to do. The Dream Act Bill was first proposed in Congress in 2007, then again in 2011, and then after a lot of work, passed in 2013.
What the Dream Act Bill created was immigration policy, DACA, that that allowed some individuals who entered the country as minors, and had either entered or remained in the country illegally, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit. As of 2017, approximately 800,000 individuals – referred to as Dreamers after the Dream Act Bill – were enrolled in the program created by DACA. These people willingly enrolled in this program.
According to the Journal of Public Economics, research has shown that DACA increased the wages and labor force participation of DACA-eligible immigrants, and reduced the number of unauthorized immigrant households living in poverty. Studies have shown that DACA increased the mental health outcomes for DACA-eligible immigrants and their children.
To address the issue of American job loss, there are no known major adverse impacts from DACA on native-born workers' employment and most economists say that DACA benefits the U.S. economy. The loss of immigrants, however, could negatively impact our economy. And last, to be eligible for the program, recipients may not have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. In other words, these are good kids who will become good citizens. There is no evidence that DACA-eligible individuals are more likely to commit crimes than any other person within the United States.
This looks like the fair and morally superior solution to deportation. The only question that remains is: Why are republicans making the future of these children the lynch pin of the budget? What do they lose by allowing these children to stay and become citizens? What do any of us lose? The answer, sadly, is nothing. We lose nothing except the image we portray to the world of our humanity by what we are willing to do to the least of our brothers and sisters. They, on the other hand, stand to lose a lot.
Our country was founded and established by mothers and fathers seeking escape from their home countries, who risked it all to start a new life in a new land. We would be wise to exercise humility and care when affecting the fate of other human beings, especially when it costs us nothing to do so. This land is big enough for all of us; it is great because of all who came here, worked here, lived here, and died here. Immigrants built this country. Who are we to claim they no longer have a place here? What right under our republic do we feel morally entitled enough to do that?
As a federal civil servant I am not glad that the government has shut down, I have something to lose in this, but I am glad that there are individuals in Congress who will fight for the rights of others, who will put it all on the line for children who deserve a fighting chance, from a country that has lured generations of people to its shores with the promise of freedom and opportunity to dream big.
Pope, Nolan G. (2016). "The effects of DACAmentation: The impact of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals on illegal immigrants". Journal of Public Economics. 143: 98–114. doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.08.014.
Patler, Caitlin; Cabrera, Jorge (June 2015). From Undocumented to DACAmented: Impacts of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program Three Years Following its Announcement (PDF) (Report). Institute for Research and Labor Employment, University of California, Los Angeles.
Gonzales, Roberto; Terriquez, Veronica; Ruszczyk, Stephen (October 1, 2014). "Becoming DACAmented: Assessing the Short-Term Benefits of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)". American Behavioral Scientist.
"Trump's Harsh Message to Immigrants Could Drag on Economy". Associated Press. 2017-09-06. ISSN 0362-4331.
"Fact Check: Are DACA Recipients Stealing Jobs Away From Other Americans?". NPR.org.
Bushatz, Amy. (January 2018). How a Government Shutdown would impact military pay, benefits, Military.com.
Outdoor Recreationists, the ranchers of tomorrow?
Most recreationists who are even slightly aware of land management issues on public lands are familiar with the Bundys and their stand against the government. It is safe to say that most think the Bundys are mistaken in their approach to public lands. It is equally safe to say that none would put themselves in the same category as the Bundys. Recently; however, the House Committee on Natural Resources voted to amend the Wilderness Act to allow bicycles in wilderness areas at the behest of some in the mountain biking community.
Ted Stoll, founder and executive director of the California-based Sustainable Trails Coalition, who is the author of this bill, has been seeking out help from the very representatives actively trying to take public lands – and why wouldn't he go to the representatives who value wilderness areas the least? While Stoll and his supporters followed the legislative process and did it the legal way, in contrast to how the Bundys have been doing it, their efforts to mine the ground of protected wilderness landscapes, whether they intended it or not, are providing the first in-roads for opportunists seeking similar access with designs of their own.
In 1960 Wallace Stegner wrote what has come to be known as The Wilderness Letter. It was written to the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission regarding recreation in wilderness. In it he states that recreation has no more to do with wilderness than it does with churches or with the "American Dream" and argued against recreation in wilderness areas because the idea of wild places existing was more valuable than peoples' access to recreational experiences in them.
He went on to explain how the wild landscape of our country built and forged our national character making us who we are, giving us quiet and solitude from the industrial and technological world we created, and that wilderness, however impractical to some, provides blessings of a spiritual kind to those who enter, and can calm those who simply contemplate it.
Our national identity and character is without question linked to the land. The expansion westward shaped the people of this Nation as surely as the Revolution did; it's in our blood to roam and get caught up in the vast landscape of our country. People not born here but who choose the United States as home can sense it and feel and immerse themselves in it as well.
Stegner said, "The American experience has been the confrontation by old peoples and cultures of a world as new as if it had just risen from the sea. That gave us our hope and our excitement, and the hope and excitement can be passed on to newer Americans, Americans who never saw any phase of the frontier. But only so long as we keep the remainder of our wild as a reserve and a promise–a sort of wilderness bank."
We should not forget our history or the untamed land from which it grew; and in remembering, we should fight to preserve and protect it.
Our protection should come from a place of gratitude. We enjoy rights, access, and a standard of living built on the experiences and lessons learned from those who came before us. Few of us have lived in a place or time where we could not drink the water, breathe the air, or eat the food. That is a blessing many in the world do not have.
Few of us have witnessed rivers catch on fire due to pollution, or watched thousands die as industrial smog settled over a city, or have had to live with the slow death caused by contamination or living down wind or down river of noxious poisons or toxins. Few of us have seen wildlife die slow and agonizing deaths from lead poisoning or pesticides. This is because people before us learned that "progress" has costs and passed legislation and implemented regulations in order to protect life and a basic standard of living. But that doesn't mean it will stay this way.
We could be the ones who let it slip away. It is on us now to decide if we will maintain our collective civic conscience that ensures benefits for the good of all of us. Either our hard work or our complicity will shape the lives of those who come after us. As Gifford Pinchot said 100 years ago about our generation, "Our duty is to the future. To ensure that people in 2010 have a country of clean water, healthy forests, and open land will require battle with certain groups, namely the alliance between business and politics." What will the generation 100 years from now have to say of what we passed on to them?
Today we stand witness to decisions being made by an administration that is undoing much of the hard work done by American pioneers – much of it the manifestation of the alliance between business and politics. We are witnessing a heretofore unseen zeal to slash and burn through historic and unprecedented ethical human progress, progress that revealed our values and character to the world, and it is being done without a care. It is such an overwhelming attack that it will take generations to fix and recover from if we do nothing to stop it – and that work will have to be done by our children and their children.
The policies being dismantled, and the decisions being made today, foretells a future where we might very well live to see access to our public lands disappear. Situations like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan might become the norm. We could see more rivers filled with mine tailings as the EPA is gutted and made inept. We may witness the death of our national forests as climate change moves into fifth gear while we do nothing. Our children's children may never get the chance to see wild salmon, or hear the howl of a wolf, or experience a starry night because of what we do or do not do right now. We may witness and experience poverty – not just in terms of wealth – the likes of which most of us have never seen, least of which could be the loss of experiencing the last remnants of our wild lands as they were 100 years ago.
According to the Department of Interior, more than 500 million people visit National Parks and Monuments, wildlife refuges, and recreational sites annually. Additionally, the Forest Service statistics shows 173 million visits annually to national forests and 300 million visits to scenic byways and other travel routes near national forest lands. This says nothing of the development around the edges of public lands for people who want to live nearby.
It is safe to say that recreationists are the biggest users of public lands. Because of that, we need to be hyper aware of our impacts on the ephemeral and fragile ideals public lands are founded on and endeavor to protect them. Otherwise, we will be no better than others using public lands for their own selfish ends.
We should also recognize the economic value our public lands provide to our governments, both national and local, and by proxy, the benefits those dollars bring to us. The Outdoor Recreation Association believes it will be the economy of the future. Right now tourism and recreation make up the fourth largest economic sector in the country with $887 billion in consumer spending annually, bringing in $65.3 billion in federal tax revenue, and $59.2 billion in state and local tax revenue. Where do those billions of dollars go? Defense spending? Funding NASA? Roads? Medicaid?
Furthermore, what these numbers do not show is the amount of revenue brought in by international tourists and recreationists. Those dollars are paid by non-citizens who through their spending directly benefit us in terms of tax revenues that we ourselves do not have to pay.
Some in the outdoor industry recognize this, but none are on the forefront of this battle more than Patagonia. If there is a growing movement, they are the tip of the spear. We are witnessing a David and Goliath show-down between Yvon Chouinard's Patagonia and the Federal Government that has escalated into anti-Patagonia tweets from government officials and even an invitation to Yvon Chouinard to come to Washington by Rob Bishop (R-Utah).
Patagonia was the first to stand up to Utah politicians pursuing their anti-public lands agenda in a real way by pulling out of the Outdoor Retailer (OR) show when it was clear Utah representatives would not stop their crusade, causing many other companies to follow suit – eventually leading the OR show to another state.
Patagonia really committed itself when it publicly supported, funded, and advocated for the protection of Bears Ears National Monument. They did so for the climbing certainly, but they didn't do it just for that – as is clear from the public statements the company has made. Patagonia is fighting for the continued experiences that can only be found in wild places– because as Stegner said, "If the abstract dream of human liberty and human dignity became, in America, something more than an abstract dream, mark it down at least partially to the fact that we were in subdued ways subdued by what we conquered."
In other words, they are fighting for an American ideal – a uniquely American feeling, and the renewal that comes from immersing yourself in the land.
Chouinard is a living example of the combination between the American Dream and the American Spirit. He built a successful company out of the recreational sports he loves. He played in our wild places and helped pioneer gear for others to play in those wild places also – and now he is fighting for those places. Fishing, surfing, and climbing shaped the 70 year old man we see today. He is what Wallace Stegner described as, "…an American, insofar as he is new and different at all, is a civilized man who has renewed himself in the wild."
Patagonia is an interesting paradox to behold because the outdoor retail industry has largely been an affable yet harmless group more interested in color combinations of zippers on puffy jackets than public policy, seemingly taking for granted the fight it took to get access to public lands that fuels much of their business; an industry "incapable of driving large-scale global change." (The Big Business of Resist) Despite the potential, they hardly garnered a look from political players.
When I attended the OR show in 2015 I went to listen to former Secretary of Interior, Bruce Babbitt. I shook my head as I looked around the room at the roughly 300 people in attendance making up a miniscule fraction of the 10,000 that showed up for the OR show. It represented an embarrassingly shallow lack of substance in an industry built on the substance of such individuals as Bruce Babbitt.
Here was a man who came from a ranching family in Northern Arizona who became a lawyer, a governor, and the Secretary of Interior who tackled some of the most complex and controversial issues in public land management resulting in long overdue reforms to mining, grazing, and endangered species law. A man who used his skills as an effective public advocate and teacher to counter the inevitable criticism from political opponents, and was instrumental in defeating the environmental rollback propositions of the Republican's 1994 manifesto, Contract with America.
Here was a man who was the first Secretary of Interior to restore fire to its natural role in the wild and to tear down dams, restoring river flow into the Atlantic and the Pacific; a man who was personally involved in demonstrating catch and release programs for endangered trout and salmon to highlight how restoring native fish habitats restores economies; the same man who provided recommendations to President Clinton that led to the creation of 21 new monuments protected under the Antiquities Act that are now being undone by President Trump.
The OR industry turned a deaf ear to this man – until now. Babbitt's words are reaching once deaf ears like the distant rumble of a long gone train. As if rising from a dead and distant past I can hear him say, "Wake up. Your industry – the $646 billion per year outdoor recreation industry – is a sleeping giant. If you mobilize the full economic and political power of your industry, you can change the debate. The persistent, high-stakes debate about public lands that is." (Jimmy Tobias, 2015, Outside Magazine)
Patagonia did "wake up" and may finally be garnering Washington's attention, but they are largely a lone wolf in the outdoor retail industry. Many in the industry are still plugging their ears. Many disagree with Patagonia's stand, disagreed with pulling out of the OR show, and are playing it safe on the sidelines. Why mess up a good thing?
Many believe that Patagonia will take hard blows and may be destroyed in this fight. Many are shaking their heads at what is surely going to be a long legal battle, wondering if Patagonia has the stamina to go the distance and if the company will end up laying off employees to continue their fight.
Patagonia most certainly has something to lose and it's more than just retail sales; they have put it all on the line in defense of public lands and therefore, could lose it all. But, as former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said, "If you are not at the table, you are on the menu." They are clearly at the table now and contrary to high ranking political figures poisoning the well by suggesting that Patagonia is catering to coastal elites, the costs they could incur speaks to the integrity of their fight – a fight we all stand to win or lose.
Wallace Stegner quoted Sherwood Anderson writing to Waldo Frank in his Wilderness letter, "Is it not likely that when the country was new and men were often alone in the fields and the forest they got a sense of bigness outside themselves that has now in some way been lost…. Mystery whispered in the grass, played in the branches of trees overhead, was caught up and blown across the American line in clouds of dust at evening on the prairies…. I am old enough to remember tales that strengthen my belief in a deep semi-religious influence that was formerly at work among our people. The flavor of it hangs over the best work of Mark Twain…. I can remember old fellows in my home town speaking feelingly of an evening spent on the big empty plains. It had taken the shrillness out of them. They had learned the trick of quiet…"
And then said, "We could learn it too, even yet; even our children and grandchildren could learn it. But only if we save, for just such absolutely non-recreational, impractical, and mystical uses as this, all the wild that still remains to us."
Bruce Babbitt said, "This is the moment to apply the strength of your industry to the defense of America's public lands."
One could argue that Patagonia is doing just that. It's not just about climbing or just about sales, it's about the idea behind real places that provide intangible spiritual value to people who need and yearn for it. The land is a gift available to us that we neither earned nor deserve, but have. This fight is not just worthy, but according to Bruce Babbitt, doable – but we have to engage in it.
Let's hope the outdoor retail industry can produce impactful results as well as create compelling stories to sell merchandise. Let's hope Patagonia is not just the tip of the spear, but the tip of the spear with the entire Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) behind it – however active behind the scenes or slow to act they may be. "REI alone, with a membership of 16 million – more than three times that of the NRA – is theoretically capable of exerting enormous pressure on lawmakers." What could the Patagoniac tribe, REI members, and the OIA bring to the table as a united front?
We need to decide where we stand else we become the ranchers of tomorrow. What makes mountain bikers who pushed for the wheels in wilderness legislation similar to ranchers like Cliven Bundy is that they are fighting for their own self-interest. They believe that their wants supersede everything else. It is a short-sighted view. We recreationists would be wise to consider our impacts on the land – we far outnumber ranchers – and should acknowledge and respect limits when pursuing activities that we love.
We should also support those fighting a battle that we stand to benefit from. Here's to Patagonia and the hope that the OIA stands with them – and that they team up with tested and hardened veterans of the public lands battle, the modern day Teddy Roosevelts – the Babbitts and Udalls of the country – and wins, because if Patagonia and others like them persevere, we will all preserve and maintain a little longer our national character that was shaped and forged by a wild and untamed landscape.
We will reveal to the world that our character is built on more than money, that we respect and value the wisdom and gifts our ancestors gave us, and that we fight for our ideals because it's who we are and who we will continue to be. And maybe, more importantly, we will leave behind for those coming after us the legacy of caring enough about each other to preserve our wild lands as sanctuaries for anyone seeking a momentary reprieve from a hurting and angry man-made world.
A Review of certain National Monuments since 1996
Public Comment
I support our monuments, parks, refuges, forests, ranges, and all public lands. I also support the foundation of law upon which their existence is founded. I support the proud American tradition of leaving some things alone and preserving their existence for present and future generations to enjoy. The value of these lands is incaluable. Their value is beyond what can be exchanged on the stock exchange. If we cannot live with 70% of our lands developed, extracted, and used then we won't be able to with 100%. Wisdom is learning to live within limits and ingenuity is finding solutions to prosper within them.
Are we really so petulant that we must dispose of it all?
I am also in favor of increasing the budgets for land management agencies to a level that is adequate to manage the land of which Congress has been delinquent in doing. It is a disservice to civil servants and to the public to provide Congress with inflated paychecks and retirement benefits and then cut jobs and budgets for average citizens fulfilling an American mandate. Do the right thing.
"The land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it's the only thing that lasts."
Comments can be submitted online at http://www.regulations.gov by entering "DOI-2017-0002" in the Search bar


text:
"Every day is a gift. Open It with Joy"
This is a lovely affirmation from a Ford Warriors In Pink bookmark and it is a wonderful reminder in which to start off each day. I actually use it as part of a morning prayer of thanks. I recognize, however, that it is harder to "open it with joy" when you are facing diagnosis, surgery, chemo, or radiation as part of your day. Cancer is often referred to as a journey because there are phases (both physical and emotional) that must be "traveled" through. There are no short cuts along the way. Each phase holds its own challenges and trauma. Often when all the treatment is completed, the life beyond cancer becomes a time of fear and uncertainty. Your medical support and testing is not as frequent. My oncologist referred to it as "your security blanket is gone" when I completed my last treatment and mentioned my new trepidation. Will the cancer recur? That's the big question in our minds. Although the fear may never go away completely, fear of recurrence should diminish over time (unless something triggers our fear, such as a friend or relative being diagnosed with cancer or we begin experiencing a pain previously associated with cancer). I have found that the fear does diminish and using coping strategies such as exercise, massage, meditation, calming self-statements/affirmations, prayer, and yoga are all helpful in accomplishing this goal.
InCure's 7th Annual Cancer Guide they have added an additional suggestion: creating a "WORRY LIST."
Make a list of worries and include specific examples. Many worries look different when written out, and may seem less problematic. Even the simple task of expressing specific concerns may release some of their power.
Write down every recollection of worries that actually materialized in some concrete way. Scan the notes and find the number of times a "false alarm" outnumbered the times a worry became reality.
Every day at about the same time, revisit the list, carefully noting how, since the day before, nothing actually happened. Allow a specific amount of time for this activity and cut down the time allowed for "worry list" review each week until it is diminished to one minute each day.
Seek out someone who is dealing with cancer and share this approach with them. Showing others that worry is a drain on energy may lift the spirits of other survivors, as well.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Call Today for Your Initial Consultation
Practice Areas
Contact Us
We're here to help
Recent Blog Posts
If your spouse dies, you, as the surviving spouse, have a right to receive assets from your deceased spouse's estate, even if their will or
trust makes no provision for you. In Virginia you are entitled to a family allowance, an exempt property claim and an elective share of your deceased spouse's augmented estate. These claims are payable from your deceased spouse's
probate estate or trust or in some instances by persons who received assets which belonged to your spouse by beneficiary designation or joint ownership.
The family allowance in Virginia is $2,000 per month, payable for at least a year. It can be paid monthly or in one lump sum. If the decedent had minor children, the allowance is for use by the children and the surviving spouse. The allowance is payable to the surviving spouse. This allowance has priority over debtor claims against the estate. The family allowance is in addition to any other benefit passing to the surviving spouse or minor children by will, intestate succession or elective share.
In addition to the family allowance, the surviving spouse is entitled to receive tangible personal property valued up to $20,000 from the decedent's estate. This is called the exempt property claim. If there is not $20,000 worth of exempt property, the surviving spouse can receive money from the estate sufficient to bring their claim up to $20,000.
If there is no surviving spouse, minor children can share the exempt property claim. As with the family allowance, the right to exempt property is in addition to any other benefit passing to the surviving spouse.
For very small estates with limited assets, a surviving spouse may want to consider claiming the homestead allowance of $20,000.00. If there is no surviving spouse, each minor child of the decedent is entitled to claim the family allowance, with the $20,000 being divided among the minor children.
If this allowance is claimed, the surviving spouse is not entitled make an elective share claim. Nor can the surviving spouse take anything under the decedent's will or by intestate succession, unless what they would get under the will or by intestate succession is less than $20,000 and then they can claim the difference up to the $20,000 maximum.
Most surviving spouses omitted from their deceased spouse's will or trust, or not satisfied with what was left to them, should consider filing for an elective share of the deceased spouse's augmented estate. The surviving spouse is entitled to one-third of the decedent's augmented estate if the decedent left surviving children or their descendants or one-half if there are no surviving children or their descendants. The augmented estate includes both probate and non-probate assets such assets held in a trust, life insurance proceeds and retirement benefits.
Making an elective share claim can be complicated. Our Fairfax probate attorneys are experienced in making and litigating statutory claims on behalf of surviving spouses and in defending against such claims on behalf of executors, trustees and beneficiaries. Jean Galloway Ball successfully litigated a leading case in Virginia on elective share claims,
Dowling v. Rowan, 270 Va. 510, 621 S.E.2d 397 (2005).
Contact our office for a consultation to review your rights and explore your options!
formerly Jean Galloway Ball, PLC
The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.
Privacy Policy | Site Map


text:
Wassermusik festival celebrates its tenth year in 2017 with a host of exciting acts to fill out the program. The 2017 festival launched on Friday 21st of July and is now in the home straight – there are just 10 days left to experience it, before it closes on Sunday 13th of August.
Wassermusik X offers a diverse range of cultural delights – from film to spoken word, music to fashion, talks, concerts and oh so much more! This year's talks program is on the theme of 'rivers' and is curated by Flussbad Berlin, the team behind the proposed new recreational site in the Spree canal.
Highlights in the coming weeks include:
Mali pop from Oumou Sangaré and Chilean folk music from Pascuala Ilabaca on Saturday the 5th of August from 7pm. A fashion show and documentary like no other as streetwear from the Congo is examined in Kinshasa Fashion, followed by the quintessential voice of 1970s Ethiopian jazz, funk and soul music Alemayehu Eshete with his band The Polyversal Souls, together on Friday the 11th of August from 7pm.
Other artists appearing include Khaled, the Barmer Boys, Los Pirañas, Orchestre Les Mangelepa, Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya, Arto Lindsay & Band, Marcos Valle, Moreno Veloso, Cumbia All Stars, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Bixiga 70, Romperayo, Newen Afrobeat and more!
There is food on offer too in the Wassermusik Markt – caipirinhas will be flowing as hot empanadas and other snacks are served, along with cultural goods for sale such as ceramics and espadrilles.
Wassermusik X is running until Sunday 13th of August at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt at John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10. It's walking distance from U Bahn Hauptbahnhoff and Bundestag. See the program online for individual sessions times and ticket prices.


text:
Our keen knowledge of & passion for Vietnamese architecture resonates throughout each An Lam property. Every handcrafted piece of wooden furniture is desided with contemporary local culture by an artisian with an acute eye for detail.
Throughout each property, beautiful handcrafted furniture is a key signature. Natural materials, handmade textitles and earthy colours reiterate our bonds to our environment, while creating calming light-filled spaces for true relaxation.


text:
These pages are about benefits in the UK. If you are looking for information about benefits in another country, please contact your local epilepsy organisation
What is Attendance Allowance?
Attendance Allowance is a benefit to help with personal care if you are disabled and are 65 or over.
What will I get?
You could get either £55.65 or £83.10 a week. You get the lower amount if you need help during either the day or night. You get the higher amount if you need help during both the day and night.
These amounts were correct in November 2017.
You don't have to use the money to pay for care. It is up to you how you use it. But your Local Authority may take your Attendance Allowance into account when deciding how much money, if any, you need to pay towards any care services you receive.
Can I get Attendance Allowance?
To get Attendance Allowance you must be 65 or over. You must also have a disability which is severe enough that you need:
- Help caring for yourself, and/or
- Someone to supervise you to keep you or others safe
It doesn't matter if you are actually getting any care or supervision. What matters is that you need it.
To qualify for Attendance Allowance at the lower rate you need to meet either the daytime conditions or the night-time conditions. To qualify for the higher rate of attendance allowance you need to meet both the daytime and night-time conditions.
Daytime conditions
To meet the daytime conditions you must need:
- Frequent help throughout the day in connection with your bodily functions, or
- Continual supervision throughout the day to avoid danger to you or others. This doesn't need to be non-stop supervision, but must be regular checking
Night-time conditions
To meet the night-time conditions you must need:
- Prolonged (at least 20 minutes) or repeated (at least twice) attention at night in connection with your bodily functions, or
- Another person to be awake at night for a prolonged period (at least 20 minutes) or at frequent intervals to watch over you in order to avoid danger to you or others
Bodily functions mean things like getting dressed, eating, washing, going to the toilet or taking medicine.
How do I claim Attendance Allowance?
You can download a claim form from the Government website.
Alternatively you can get a claim pack by ringing the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0345 605 6055.
Filling in the claim form
The claim form asks questions about your ability to carry out activities, and whether or not you need help to do them. With each question, think about whether you might need help to do that activity, even if you don't get that help at the moment.
Question 32 asks if you fall or stumble because of your illnesses or disabilities. This includes falls because of seizures.
There are also questions on the form about supervision. If you need someone to keep an eye on you because you might have seizures, you can explain this on these sections of the form.
With a variable condition like epilepsy, your condition might not affect you in the same way each day. If this is the case for you, it can help to keep a note over a few days, or weeks, of any tasks you needed help with. Also note down any supervision you needed. You can then refer to this when filling in the form.
What happens next?
After you have returned the claim form, your doctor or other health professional you named on the form might be contacted for more information. Sometimes you might need to have a medical assessment to confirm if you are eligible.
Once the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made its decision, you will get a letter telling you whether you can get Attendance Allowance, and at what rate.
What can I do if I'm not happy with the decision?
If you're not happy with the decision you can ask the DWP to look at your case again. This is called a Mandatory Reconsideration.
If the DWP has looked at your case again, and you are still unhappy with the decision, you can appeal. For more information on appeals and reconsiderations see the appeals and reconsiderations factsheet on the Disability Rights UK website.
Where can I get help with benefits?
Provides a free online benefits calculator and grants search tool to help you find out what financial help you are entitled to.
Website: turn2us.org.uk
Helpline: 0808 802 2000
Citizens Advice
Citizens Advice provides advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. Check the website or your local phonebook for details of your nearest Citizens Advice service.
Telephone advice in England: 03444 111 444
Telephone advice in Wales: 03444 77 20 20
Find your local Citizens Advice in Scotland
Find your local Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland
Website: citizensadvice.org.uk
Disability Information and Advice Line services, run by and for disabled people. They may be able to refer you to someone who can help you fill out claim forms for benefits (provided there is someone in your area).
Helpline: 0808 800 3333 (to find your local group)
Website: scope.org.uk/dial
This website has lots of information about all the different benefits that are available.
Website: gov.uk/browse/benefits
Disability Rights UK
This website has a number of free factsheets you can download. It offers basic information about benefits, tax credits, social care and other disability- related issues for claimants and advisers.
Website: disabilityrightsuk.org
Welfare Rights Unit
Welfare Rights Units give free advice and support on benefits. Some can also help with completing claim forms and appealing benefits decisions. Contact your local council to find out if they have a Welfare Rights Unit. To find your local council visit gov.uk/find-you-local-council
This website has lots of information about the benefits that are available in Northern Ireland.
Website: nidirect.gov.uk
Advice NI
Offers information, advice, advocacy and representation for people in Northern Ireland.
Helpline: 0800 988 2377
Website: adviceni.net
This information has been produced under the terms of The Information Standard.
- Updated November 2017To be reviewed April 2019


text:
Khamis, Julai 12, 2012
Wakil Mongolia ke Malaysia selongkar misteri pembunuhan Altantunya
4 ulasan:
When Ι oгiginally lеft а comment I seem tо haѵе
clicκed on thе -Notifу me when new comments агe аddeԁ- checκbοx and noω whenever a сοmment іs аddeԁ I get fouг emaіls with thе exact
samе сοmment. Is theгe a way уou can rеmoνe mе from that service?
Thank you!
My hοmepagе: payday loans uk
- 12 April 2013 1:24 PG
Appreciatе thiѕ ρost. Will try it out.
Here is my homepage: payday loans
- 12 April 2013 9:47 PG
I loved as much as you'll receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again since exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this hike.
Also visit my page; ketone diet pills reviews
- 29 Mei 2013 1:24 PTG
I constantly emailed this weblog post page to all my contacts, since
if like to read it after that my friends will too.
Take a look at my homepage: life insurance vs 401k
- 5 Jun 2013 1:38 PTG


text:
Jerky Treats Recall: 600 Pets Die, 3,600 Sick In Jerky Treats Mystery (VIDEO)
A jerky treat recall, issued in January in an attempt to find out the cause of a huge wave of illnesses among pets, has still not resulted in the reason for hundreds of deaths being found. According to reports about 600 pets have died and more than 3,600 have been taken seriously ill, and until now health officials are still at a loss in solving the mystery.
The deaths have allegedly been tied to jerky treats made in China, and illnesses have been found in animals who have eaten the snack for years. The rate of illnesses has slowed this year, according to health officials, however, the federal Food and Drug Administration officials are now calling on veterinarians and pet owners to help solve the mystery.
"To date, testing for contaminants in jerky treats has not revealed a cause for the illnesses," Martine Hartogensis, a deputy director for the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a report. "Despite these warnings, we have continued to receive reports of illnesses in both cats and dogs."
Earlier this year in January, the FDA reported that 500 animals had been killed and 3,200 sickened – allegedly connected to the jerky treats. Since then the rate of deaths has fallen sharply thanks to a jerky treats recall from two of the largest sellers.
Several brands have taken part in the recall, including Waggin' Train and Canyon Creek Ranch treats made by Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Milo's Kitchen Chicken Jerky and Chicken Grillers home-style dog treats from Del Monte Corp.
Reports have confirmed that various pet owners have been reporting illness and death among their pets since 2007, with various health issues identified including gastrointestinal and kidney failure.
Officials have been investigating the cause for months now but are still not closer to finding out why the jerky treats are causing the problems.
"We still are extensively testing treats for a number of things," Hartogensis told NBC News. "We do seem to be getting some leads, but we still have a little bit of a ways to go."
The FDA has asked veterinarians to send detailed information about the cats and dogs that become sick after eating the jerky treats.


text:
A Man Called Ove
Year: 2015
Origin: SE
Director: Hannes Holm
Duration: 116 minutes
Certification: 15
Awards: Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Starring: Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Filip Berg
Official Trailer
Book your Screening Here
Stepping from the pages of Fredrik Backman's international best-selling novel, in this comedy drama Ove is the quintessential angry old man next door. A widower, he has given up on life until he meets his young and boisterous neighbours.
In Swedish and Persian with English subtitles.


text:
Gateway introduces two new ID49 and ID59 notebooks that come with an aqua-blue touchpad that resembles matte glass when not lit, and then glows when touched. The new ID series notebook has a thin and lightweight design.
The ID49 and ID59 are powered by Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processor with up to 8GB of memory and up to 500GB hard drive. The former packs also NVIDIA GeForce GT330M graphics and the NVIDIA Optimus technology that auto switch between integrated Intel HD graphics and the GT330M.
The Gateway ID49 comes with a 14-inch LED-backlit display and the ID59 has a 15.6-inch screen. They also sport a DVD burner, WiFi support, 1.3 Megapixel webcam and multi-in-one card reader. ID49 and ID59 start at $679.99 and $799.99 respectively.


text:
CHILSON - Concerned with increased taxes, some residents are calling for an end to the Chilson Volunteer Fire Department.
"With the arrival of the 2009 Ticonderoga town tax bills many have expressed surprise and dismay at the unprecedented 70 percent increase leveled for the Chilson fire department," Margaret Scuderi wrote to the Times of Ti.
Scuderi has called a meeting to discuss the tax hike and the fire department's future on Friday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. at the Chilson Community Building.
Tax rates in the 2009 town budget are $9.89 per $1,000 of assessed value in the Ticonderoga fire district and $10.40 in the Chilson fire district.
The higher tax rate in Chilson can be attributed to a $16,900 increase in the Chilson fire district budget.
Fire district budgets are set by the local board of fire commissioners and submitted to the town board for inclusion in the town budget. Town trustees have no say on fire district spending.
Fred Hunsdon, Chilson fire chief, said the fire district increase is needed to meet state mandates requiring certification of equipment.
While the department needs no new equipment, it must pay an independent firm to certify all its equipment is safe and in working order, Hunsdon explained.
Hunsdon said he has not been invited to the Feb. 20 meeting, but plans to attend and explain the tax increase.
The department received a big boost a year ago, Hunsdon said, when it got a $163,000 Federal Emergency Management Administration grant.
"We saved the fire district a lot of money by getting that grant," he said.
The money was used to purchase equipment to outfit 10 firefighters, Scott air packs, a heat imaging camera, a chemical gas detector, jaws of life extraction equipment and a ventilation system to clear smoke of carbon monoxide from buildings.
A separate $10,000 grant allowed the purchase of portable generators. Those can be used during power outages to assist residents with medical conditions that need electricity and to power the Chilson Community Center. The community center is owned by the fire department and serves as an emergency shelter.
Scuderi claims Chilson residents have two options for the fire company - keep it as is or merge with the Ticonderoga Fire Department.
"Either way, we will continue to have a fire house, fire equipment and a trained crew to respond," Scuderi wrote. "It appears that any fire would be responded to and taken care of in much the same way as it is presently."
Hunsdon disagrees, noting he has discussed the issue with Ticonderoga firefighters.
"If Ti took over they wouldn't want our trucks because they're out of date," he said. "They would probably need to put a big pumper and tanker up here.
"They'd have to build a new fire house because their trucks wouldn't fit in our current fire house," he continued. "They may even have to buy property, because the current fire house is so close to wetlands the APA (Adirondack Park Agency) probably wouldn't let someone build on the site today. It could cost millions."
Scuderi pointed to merger of the Ironville and Crown Point fire districts. In that case the Ironville fire house was closed and all calls are responded to from Crown Point.
If the Chilson fire house closes, Hunsdon said, residents will suffer. He pointed to a house fire Feb. 4 that destroyed a garage. Chilson firefighters were able to save the home.
"If the firemen were coming from Ticonderoga they wouldn't have made it in time," Hunsdon said. "It would have taken them at least 15 minutes longer to get there (than Chilson firefighter) and that would have been the difference."
Hunsdon believes the majority of Chilson residents support the local fire company.
Formed in 1960, the Chilson squad covers a 30-square-mile area that includes Putts Pond and a portion of Eagle Lake. The fire district includes large tracts of state-owned property that have required Chilson firefighters to battle forest fires in the past.
The company responds to emergency calls, but does much more.
Each October firefighters go house-to-house in the community giving away smoke detectors and batteries while delivering fire safety information. The company also assists during weather emergencies, cleaning downed trees from road ways and bringing generators to home-bound residents.


text:
Mastering Public Speaking and start earning in 30 days
Sale Date Ended
Page Views : 426
Professional Development Program to improve Skills and Income:
Master Public Speaking in 20 sessions and start your 2nd source of income from Life Management Academy
I ensure that, you master
Public Speaking, Presentation Skills,
Interview Skills, Effective Communication,
Self-confidence and Stress Management technique in 20 sessions and start earning in 30 days from us.
See you all on Wednesday evening to have great time together.
Participants fees Ra.100/-. Please register to commit and confirm to invest time for self growth to improve your income and confidence.
Dipankar Biswas
Public Speaking Coach & Author


text:
Six players in the PrepsNow 20-county coverage area were voted to the Associated Press 2017 all-state football team, with D.H. Conley quarterback Holton Ahlers earning 11 of a possible 19 votes to earn the AP Offensive Player of the Year award.
Shelby linebacker Dax Hollifield was voted top defensive player, earning 10 votes.
Harding coach Sam Greiner was voted AP coach of the year after the school won its first state title since 1953.
Ahlers, an East Carolina recruit, was also an AP all-state pick last season. As a senior, he completed 223 of 358 passes (62 percent) for 3,763 yards and 61 touchdowns with four interceptions and also ran 109 times for 933 yards and 14 touchdowns. That was the second highest touchdown responsibility (75) in state history and fourth-most touchdown passes in a single season.
Digital Access for only $0.99
For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today.
His favorite target, junior wide receiver C.J. Johnson, also made the all-state team. He caught 68 passes for 1,547 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Leesville Road senior offensive lineman Peyton Winstead (East Carolina recruit), Orange senior linebacker Payton Wilson (N.C. State recruit), Wake Forest senior defensive back Javon Terry (UNC recruit) and Green Hope senior returner/wide receiver Jordyn Adams (UNC recruit) also made the team.
Winstead played left tackle for the Pride but is the state's top-ranked center prospect. Wilson made 103 tackles, 21 tackles for losses, 10 sacks in just eight games. Returned an interception for a touchdown and recovered a fumble, and also played wide receiver, quarterback and punt returner. Terry tallied 42 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 5 interceptions and 19 passes broken up.
Adams had more than 1,000 yards receiving, but made the team as a returner after scoring touchdowns on five kick returns, including three punts in one game to tie the NCHSAA record.
Adams and Wilson were U.S. Army All-American selections.
Below is the complete list, decided by 19 media voters across the state. Number of votes are shown in parenthesis. No player in the state was unanimous.
▪ Holton Ahlers, QB, D.H. Conley (14)
▪ Quavaris Crouch, RB, Harding (14)
▪ Zamir White, RB, Scotland (12)
▪ C.J. Johnson, WR, D.H. Conley (9)
▪ Wiz Vaughn, WR, New Hanover (9)
▪ Reggie Bryant,WR, Seventy-First (7)
▪ Gary Williams, TE, Vance (7)
▪ Jovaughn Gwyn, OL, Harding (12)
▪ Michael Edwards, OL, South View (9)
▪ Peyton Winstead, OL, Leesville Road (8)
▪ Katrel Shaw, OL, Mallard Creek (7)
▪ Larry Dowdy, OL, South Point (6)
▪ Will McDonald, OL, Porter Ridge (6)
▪ Tye Mintz, ATH, Cherokee (3)
▪ Traveon Freshwater, DL, Northeastern (14)
▪ Jordan Davis, DL, Mallard Creek (11)
▪ K.J. Henry, DL, West Forsyth (11)
▪ Jacolbe Cowan, DL, Providence Day (6)
▪ Dax Hollifield, LB, Shelby (14)
▪ Payton Wilson, LB, Orange (8)
▪ Jerome Bass, LB, Red Springs (5)
▪ Miles Simon, DB, Hibriten (10)
▪ Francis Meehan, DB, New Hanover (7)
▪ William "J.R." Walker, DB, Northeastern (7)
▪ Malik Dunlap, DB, Harding (6)
▪ Tyus Fields, DB, Hough (6)
▪ Javon Terry, DB, Wake Forest (6)
Special Teams
▪ Chris Dunn, K, North Davidson (12)
▪ Jacob Young, P, North Rowan (6)
▪ Jordyn Adams, KR, Green Hope (11)
Coach of the Year: Sam Greiner, Harding (8)
Offensive Player of the Year: Holton Ahlers, D.H. Conley (11)
Defensive Player of the Year: Dax Hollifield, Shelby (10)
Aaron Moody: 919-829-4528, @Aaron_Moody1


text:
I'm losing my touch with stained glass! I used to take beautiful pictures of stained glass windows, but today I just pointed my camera and clicked. I'll definitely go back and fiddle with the exposure so as to not get the blown-out light areas.
This is St. Agnes at Trinity Episcopal Church in Collinsville. She was a young virgin from a Christian family in late 3rd century Rome. A local prefect wanted her to marry his son, but she refused, and the prefect ordered her to be put to death. In those days, a virgin was not allowed to be executed (she was only 12 or 13), so the prefect dragged her to a brothel, but none of the men were able to deflower her. She was then ordered to be burned but would not burn; eventually she was killed by the sword.
She is the patron saint of gardeners (hence the flowers) and is always depicted with a palm frond (a symbol of martyrdom) and either holding a lamb or with a lamb at her feet. The lamb (Agnus in Latin) is part of her iconography because the word is so close to Agnes.
Here is a link to another St. Agnes window I photographed in Stamford CT. http://stjohns-stamford.org/parishlife/glass/martyrs/


text: After a high of 50 on Monday, Aberdonians can expect temperatures to slowly return to normal for the rest of the week. Ken Gillespie with the National Weather Service office in Aberdeen said the normal high for this time of year is 38 and the normal low is 20. Today's high is expected to be 46 with a low around 29. There is a 30 percent chance of rain or freezing rain this evening through Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday's high should be 41 and the low should be 24. There is a 20 percent chance of light snow Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon. Winds on Wednesday will be out of the north, changing to northwest by evening, at 10 to 15 mph. Highs Thursday through Saturday will be around 39, with lows around 18.


text:
I rarely visit this old blog. Life flies by and kids grow up. My Little Princess will be in high school next year... I started this journey when she was in first grade. Now she does her own hair. This was her beachy waves after her last haircut. She styles her own hair but prefers a messy bun best of all. She still lets me do her hair for our school's annual Daddy Daughter Dance.
My tiny bean is in Kindergarten already and is rock'n a pixie cut! When I used to style it when it was longer, it would last 20 minutes tops before she ripped out the bands and bows. Now she occasionally lets me put in a bow on the side or she'll throw a tiara in. Most of the time we just wet and tousle it - easy-peasy! You'll never see her without her suitcase of art supplies and high heels when I let her wear them.
My Little Bird/Sport is my Warrior Princess. When she isn't working on her grades she is swimming, power lifting or playing water polo. A few times a year she'll doll herself up. She even lets me do her hair for homecoming and prom! I'm going to miss her when she heads off to college.


text: Salmon, peas and broccoli Baby Weaning & baby recipes From 7 months 2 Prep: Under 20 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Age Suitability: 7 months (mashed) Meal Type: Lunch Portion: 4 Freezable: Continues below ad Delicious salmon recipe for babies from 7 months, that can be served to the rest of the family with wholegrain rice Ingredients 2 tsp olive oil 115g salmon fillet, rinsed 4 tbsp peas 2 florets broccoli, finely chopped Method Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the salmon, skin-side up, in the covered pan, for 5 minutes, then turn the fish over. Cook for a further 5 minutes until cooked through. Put the peas and chopped broccoli in a steamer and steam, covered, over boiling water for 10 minutes until soft. Remove the fish from the heat, take off the skin and roughly chop the salmon, checking with your fingers for bones. Mix with the peas and broccoli. Mash to the right consistency or for babies who are struggling with lumps, puree with some of the water used in the steaming. Hints & Tips Add baby pasta or wholemeal rice to make the dish into a family meal. Like this? Try these: * Simple salmon pasta * Salmon, tomato and pepper couscous * Cheesy pasta with broccoli * Baby weekly meal planner - 7 months * Download our free, award-winning Weaning App Baby Weaning & baby recipes From 7 months Last updated: 18/11/2010 17:37:00 By 2 Comments Share Like this article? Showing of Edugieokhomina Is this freezable? DanielleMFM Hi Edugieokhomina, thanks for your message. Yes this recipe is freezable - also, we have a totally free weaning app where you can find all the recipes from MadeForMums - just search MadeForMums Weaning in the app store and we should pop up. Uh-oh! You need to be logged in to do this... Sign In Sign Up Load more posts Write a comment Related Articles Chicken with leeks, carrot and peas Cheesy cod with sweet potato Cod, sweet potato and sweetcorn chowder Summer fruits compote with yoghurt Chicken, cheese and courgette mash Latest on Made For Mums Community Getting Pregnant Pregnancy Baby Toddler & Child Product Reviews & Shopping Competitions News & Gossip


text:
Words that end in azyback
Found 1 words that end in azyback. Browse our Scrabble Word Finder, Words With Friends cheat dictionary, and WordHub word solver to find words that end with azyback. Or use our Unscramble word solver to find your best possible play! Related: Words containing azyback
- Scrabble
- Words With Friends
- WordHub
- Crossword


text:
Short Stay Furnished Apartments
Apartment Types
Waterfront Melbourne offers Furnished Apartments in Melbourne ranging from one, two and three bedroom apartments.
Waterfront Apartments is located next to the World Trade Centre and across the river from the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Crown Casino and the South Wharf DFO shopping centre.
Rates & Availability
Waterfront Serviced Apartments in Melbourne offer luxurious accommodation at affordable rates. Quickly check availability and rates online.
Facilities & Services
The property offers various facilities such as an indoor swimming pool, fitness center, secured car parking area, sauna and Jacuzzi. Internet inside apartments are also available at an additional cost.
Contact Us
For enquiry & reservation give us a call at +61396298877 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
We have reached the end of our stay in Palestine, or the Occupied Territories, or the West Bank, or the Disputed Territories, or Occupied Palestine. Many names for the same small strip of land. I have spent the last week in Beit Sahour, a Christian village near Bethlehem. The group has scattered, for evenings at least, into separate host families; I stayed with the Qumsieh family. It is rather nice to be in a home rather than a hotel. The group still reconvenes for daily escapades. We have been working with the Alternative Tourism Group, and they planned a "nice" week for us.
I use nice in a loose sense, because here in the West Bank, the fact of occupation and the forces of conflict simply cannot be ignored. On Monday, we went to Dheisha refugee camp outside Beit Sahour, and met with a man who had spent most his life within that small arena, wanting to return to his family's land. Then we walked through the crowded streets to meet with the camps Imam, who spoke to us about Islam, and how he viewed the situation. On Tuesday, we met with the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (Arij) which supplied figures and proof of land confiscations and methods of demographic dominance. That same day we went to the town of Hebron, where settlers occupy the city center, and thereby throw the entire city into chaos. Walking through the souq, our heads were covered by a net put in place to keep settlers from tossing items down on the heads of Palestinians below. As we came out of the souq and headed to the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, we passed through three checkpoints and three additional security screenings. We ate lunch in Hebron with Hashim Al Aza, a man whose house is almost surrounded by settlements, is in a part of the city controlled by the Israeli Defense Force, and who is under constant attack. His house is attacked, his trees are chopped down, his children are attacked on the way to school and he and his wife have both been assaulted multiple times.
But despite the signs of brutality, the picture is not without hope. Hashim Al Aza is an advocate for non-violent resistance. The farm we visited on Thursday, Tent of Nations, might be the brightest beacon. The farm is situated on a hilltop; the only one in the area not controlled by settlers, and has been in the family since the Ottoman rule. The farm came under physical attack, but when that failed, the settlers switched to legal harassment. But yet they run a farm, and serve as a witness for peace. Every summer, they hold a children's camp and teach them the way of peace. The rock by the entrance, painted in three different languages, says their message best: "We refuse to be enemies." There is hope.
In addition to our emotion-bending trips, we also have been honored with lectures relating to Palestine. The topics have ranged from the history of modern Palestine to the Palestinian woman. They were given either at the Alternative Tourism Group's study center, Bethlehem University, or Bethlehem Bible College. Regardless of subject or location, they were all informative and interesting.
This is not to say that our stay has been all work. We have visited most of the tourist sites: the Church of the Nativity and the Shepherd's Field. We also saw several craft workshops, several olive wood factories and one of the Hebron glass factories. ATG also treated us to a night of Palestinian music. Beyond that, there was getting to know our hosts, which was a pleasure. As a side note, my Arabic is about on par with my four year old host cousin. Next comes two weeks of study at Jerusalem University College.
– Joel Nofziger


text:
When I first started playing online, one of the questions that always troubled me was the how-to of online deposits. I'm more of an outside person, so computers, the cyber-world or online shopping are not my playground. So, a bit scared, I started playing with "funny-money," as I called it, for a longer period of time than I would've wanted. However, once I learned how easy it actually is to make deposits online and even cash out (although this one takes a little longer), I wished I had started before. I could've started having the real fun way before I did. What stopped me? Myself!
Oh Yes!
At CoolCat Casino, we offer you the choice to either play with fun money or real cash. If you're a beginner then you might like to practice with fun money until you become a pro. You choose: play for the fun of it, play for practice or to definitely get some cash into your pockets.
Whatever your motive is to play with us, making deposits to fund your CoolCat Casino account, is one of the steps to complete. Therefore, I want you to have fun way before I did and become familiar with this process. Check this step-by-step guide that we have created so that you can make deposits online with your eyes closed.
Making a Deposit via Credit Card:
You can use a credit or debit card to fund your casino account just like making any other online purchase:
- If you're a new customer, create an account at CoolCat Casino
- Go to the cashier and choose the Deposit Tab
- Download the "Authorization Agreement"
- Submit "Authorization Agreement"
- Complete your credit/debit card deposit on our secure form.
- For non-US residents you can use Netteller or Click2Pay
- Submit
- Start Playing
In case your credit card is rejected when making the deposit online, you will need to contact our Live Chat for assistance. Popular card brands are accepted and currently include Visa, Master Card and American Express.
Don't forget, if you're a new customer, the Credit Card Agreement Form needs to be completed for safety reasons.
If you've played at CoolCat, then you know that our variety of games is quite awesome: table games, specialty games and lots of cool slot machines that basically match everyone's taste. We even have a CoolCat Casino Slot!
So, is this easy or what? Make sure you keep these steps handy and start playing today.