“Open Forum - Brainerd Dispatch” plus 4 more |
- Open Forum - Brainerd Dispatch
- The Almanac - Oct. 6 - Post Chronicle
- Orosi mother's trial in child's death could end today - Visalia Times-Delta
- Fuel customers reject fixed-rate contracts - Eagle-Tribune
- On Native Ground - American Reporter
| Open Forum - Brainerd Dispatch Posted: 06 Oct 2009 05:53 AM PDT Congress seemed to be completely in the dark until this report broke on Fox Cable News despite the fact that ACORN has been under investigation in over 14 states for months regarding voter fraud among other unsavory associations. But, President Obama brushed the whole issue off as not being of any great importance. This after his singing the praises of ACORN not only during his campaign but in recent months. Instead of giving credit to James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles for exposing this mess, they are now faced with lawsuits by ACORN and of course investigations by some members of Congress who themselves voted to give ACORN billions of tour tax dollars. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks especially those arrogant members of Congress who think they are above the law! But, that's different! Isn't it strange that any associate of President Obama seems to be thrown under the wheels so speak when they embarrass him. Such as the case of the Rev. Jeremy Wright and his infamous and profane America sermon when aired, Van Jones, green czar, who mysteriously resigned at midnight after being exposed on Fox Cable News that he was a self-avowed Communist and then ACORN! Remember President Obama saying, You know the kind of person I am by the people who surround me. Really? Dolores Zaske Pine River Bill from 2007 was pro-family A recent letter praises former Rep. Paul Gazelka who is challenging Sen. Paul Koering in Senate District 12. The writer then claims that Sen. Koering was wrong to author a Minnesota Universal Health Care Bill in January 2007. That is inaccurate. What Sen. Koering actually did was co-author a February 2007 bill that removed the requirements needed to be met by children to be covered by MinnesotaCare, essentially making them automatically eligible. This was especially meant to provide health care to children of families without health care insurance. There was no language in this bill establishing a universal health care system. The state of Minnesota helps fund public schools plus school breakfasts and lunches for children who cannot pay for their meals. Locally, we help supply needy children with school supplies and backpacks to help them learn better in school plus warm coats, caps, scarves and mittens. Sen. Koering believes it's equally important to provide health care for these same children. He knows that children cannot learn as they should if they aren't healthy. The writer calls Gazelka pro-family and fiscally responsible. If this bill, which helps needy children, isn't pro-family and fiscally responsible, then I don't know what is. Sandra L. Knight Brainerd Pick your weather forecast The Farmer's Almanac is predicting a much colder than average winter for the Upper Midwest. It also forecasts a relatively dry winter in Minnesota, with more snow to the west. The National Weather Service is predicting a warmer than average winter for us, based partly on the developing El Nino in the Pacific. The NWS is assuming normal snowfall in Minnesota. You can hedge by keeping both ear muffs and the snow blower handy. Rolf Westgard Deerwood Health care and abortion It is my understanding that the current health care reform bills in Congress, would pay for abortions and artificial birth control. I've read that regular birth control pills and the morning after pill can cause abortions. Please contact our U.S. senators and representative and ask them to vote against any health care bill that does not explicitly exclude coverage for abortion and artificial birth control. Patrick Borden Brainerd | |
| The Almanac - Oct. 6 - Post Chronicle Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:20 AM PDT Today is Tuesday Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2009 with 86 to follow. The moon is waning. The morning star is Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn. The evening stars are Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus. Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include singer Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," in 1820; inventor and manufacturer George Westinghouse in 1846; tennis champion Helen Wills Moody in 1905; actresses Janet Gaynor in 1906 and Carole Lombard in 1908; Norwegian ethnologist, archaeologist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl in 1914; former "60 Minutes" journalist Shana Alexander in 1925; and actresses Britt Ekland in 1942 (age 67) and Elisabeth Shue in 1963 (age 46). On this date in history: In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It was the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women. In 1921, sports writer Grantland Rice was at the microphone as the World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time. In 1927, the movies began learning to talk. "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson, Hollywood's legendary "first talkie," premiered in New York, ushering in the era of sound to great moviegoer enthusiasm and heralded the end of the silents. In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated as he reviewed a military parade in Cairo. In 1985, England's worst post-war race rioting, which began almost a month earlier in Birmingham, spread to the Tottenham section of London. One officer died and 125 people were injured. In 1989, Oscar-winning Hollywood legend Bette Davis died of cancer in a suburb of Paris. She was 81. In 1991, Anita Hill, a former personal assistant to Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas, accused Thomas of sexual harassment. In 1994, South African President Nelson Mandela addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress. In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton used his new line-item veto power to eliminate 38 military spending projects. In 2001, Cal Ripkin Jr. retired after a spectacular baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles that included playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games. In 2004, a U.S. weapons inspector said that Iraq began destroying its illicit weapons in 1991 and had none by 1996, seven years before the United States invaded. In 2005, U.S. President George Bush said the United States and allied forces had foiled at least three al-Qaida U.S. attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. Also in 2005, Canadian health officials said an additional six older people died in Toronto from a mysterious respiratory virus but the toll of 16 dead wasn't considered a threat to the city. In 2007, Pervez Musharraf breezed to re-election to a third term as president of Pakistan. But, opposition continued to challenge legality of his serving as both president and army chief. In 2008, stock markets around the world lost ground on the first day of trading after the U.S. bailout bill was signed into law. An international credit crunch and threats of a worldwide recession sent nations scurrying to find emergency ways to shore up their aching economies. U.S. markets flirted with a single-day record of declines but recovered from a momentary 800-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average. The DJIA closed below the 10,000-point level for the first time in four years, ending at 9,955.50, off 3.58 percent on a loss of 369.88 points. Also in 2008, suicide bombers killed 27 people in central Sri Lanka and 20 in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. And, at least 60 people died in southern Kyrgyzstan when an earthquake rattled the central Asian country. A thought for the day: Tansu Ciller, the first woman prime minister of Turkey, said: "Nobody can resist a ripe idea. The idea today is change." (c) UPI | |
| Orosi mother's trial in child's death could end today - Visalia Times-Delta Posted: 06 Oct 2009 03:23 AM PDT The trial of an Orosi mother charged with murder and child endangerment for abandoning three newborns, resulting in the death of one, could end today. Defendant Nancy Ortiz will take the witness stand on the seventh day of her murder trial. Her attorney, Michelle Winspur, said Monday that she could present the defense's entire case today. First, however, the prosecution is scheduled to present its final witness, a laboratory technician from the California Department of Justice's crime lab in Richmond. DNA samples from Ortiz, 24, and the three babies were sent to the lab, where it was determined that the Orosi woman was their mother. The babies were found abandoned in the Orosi neighborhood where Ortiz lives between February 2005 and December 2006. The first two, a boy and a girl, survived while the third died of hypothermia after being left more than a day in the bed of a pickup. On Friday, the 12 jurors and five alternates were played a two-hour video of Ortiz admitting to Tulare County sheriff's detectives that the babies were hers, as well as describing how she hid the pregnancies from her parents. Winspur has said Ortiz, who already had two children who lived with her in her parents' home, abandoned the last three shortly after giving birth to them in her bedroom. She left them in front of neighbors' homes, she argued, hoping that whoever found them could give the children better lives than she could provide. Tulare County sheriff's Detective Jim Franks was asked Monday by Deputy District Attorney Janet Wise about temperatures in the Orosi area the days the babies were found. His response, taken from the Farmers' Almanac: On Feb. 10,2005, the day's low in the Orosi area was 35.6 degrees; on Jan. 8, 2006, the low was 44.6 degrees; and on Dec. 3, 2006, the low was 28.4 degrees. A sheriff's deputy testified last week that the second baby was found with bits of her feces frozen to her leg. "You don't know what the weather was," Winspur said to Franks during her cross-examination, noting that he wasn't assigned as investigator of the abandoned-baby cases until Dec. 4, 2006, and that he went to none of the crime scenes on the days the babies were found. | |
| Fuel customers reject fixed-rate contracts - Eagle-Tribune Posted: 05 Oct 2009 11:05 PM PDT Even though The Old Farmer's Almanac is predicting a colder winter than last year, many fuel oil companies and their customers are warming up to the fact that this winter probably won't be as difficult for them. The volatile oil market of a year ago is a thing of the past — a sign of relief, especially for Southern New Hampshire residents who signed fixed-rate fuel contracts when they thought the price of oil was going to continue to soar. Expecting the price to increase well past $5 a gallon, many people last year rushed to accept the fixed-rate deals offered by their suppliers. With the statewide average price hitting $4.73 a gallon in July 2008, what happened next had many oil customers reeling. The price of oil plummeted, falling an average of 20 cents a gallon in a few weeks and continuing to drop more than $2 a gallon in only four months, according to the state Office of Energy and Planning. "I was kicking myself," said Dana Langley of Derry, who locked in at more than $4 a gallon. "Who knew it would drop in half in a few (months)?" Langley, the owner of Derry Barber Shop on West Broadway, said last year's bad experience has made him think twice this year. Langley is still trying to decide if he should go with a pre-buy deal this winter. He's not alone. Some local oil dealers said many of their customers are hesitant to choose fixed-rate contracts, although they saved hundreds of dollars during past winters. One bad year was all it took. "This was a real wake-up call for some people," said Bill Ermer, owner and president of Ermer Oil Co. in Atkinson. While fixed-rate contracts are usually a good deal, Ermer said, signing up for one last year was a real gamble. "It's like going to Foxwoods," he said. It wasn't just fuel customers who were hit hard last year, dealers were, too. "We took quite a big hit last year," said Bob Knapp, manager of Rockingham Oil in Derry. Although some people blamed the dealers for skyrocketing costs, they, too, were victims of the unpredictable market, Knapp said. A new state law requires oil dealers to lock in their own contracts with suppliers when offering pre-buy prices, leaving them with virtually no flexibility as far as cost, Knapp said. "I think the law needs a little tweaking," he said. But while some customers are reluctant to gamble on the fuel oil market this year, the pre-buy nightmare of 2008 hasn't discouraged many of Rockingham Oil's regulars, Knapp said. Last year, the company offered its pre-buy customers the opportunity to purchase their oil at the latest, lower rate, but for an additional 50 cents a gallon, what's called "downside protection." Customer loyalty remains high If the price of oil drops, so does the rate customers pay if they have downside protection. If the price rises, they still pay the lower rate. Despite the pre-buy scare, Knapp said, the same people are still buying their heating fuel from Rockingham Oil. "They have been the same loyal customers," he said. "Those aren't the ones you want to lose." According to other local dealers, most oil customers are sticking with the companies they purchased their fuel from in the past. In addition, New Hampshire oil suppliers seem to be offering the same plans, according to Joseph Broyles, energy program manager at the Office of Energy and Planning. He said his office did receive calls last year from dissatisfied pre-buy customers. "As far as I can tell, the companies offering these services last year are offering them this year," he said, noting these types of contracts should be looked at as merely a budget-planning tool with inherent risks. "They don't guarantee you are going to save money. They don't guarantee you are going to lose money," Broyles said. "The position is a contract is a contract." Budget plans are more popular While most customers aren't changing oil providers, they are switching plans and many are avoiding the fixed-rate deals, according to Ermer and Bill Fuller, general manager of Fred Fuller Oil Co. "I think you see a lot more people doing the budget plan instead," said Fuller, who has several offices, including one in Derry. Budget plans allow customers to make their payments on a monthly basis without being saddled with large, lump-sum bills after deliveries are made. But the budget plan often comes with a higher cost per gallon, just like downside protection. For instance, Fuller said Thursday his pre-buy price was $2.39 a gallon, the same offered by Rockingham Oil, while his other special plans cost $2.69 a gallon. Southern New Hampshire residents who purchased oil late last week without a contract paid an average of slightly more than $2.20 a gallon, according to NewEnglandOil.com. But this winter, the price they pay could be a lot higher — or it could be a lot less. Or, it could barely change it all. It's anybody's guess, the dealers said. "No one has a crystal ball," Fuller said. ÔÇæÔÇæÔÇæ Join the discussion. To comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com. | |
| On Native Ground - American Reporter Posted: 05 Oct 2009 11:12 PM PDT On Native Ground | MY BACK PAGES: WATCHING MY CRAFT CHANGE OVER 30 YEARS by Randolph T. Holhut American Reporter Correspondent Dummerston, Vt.
Printable version of this story DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I got my first job in journalism at the age of 18 in the spring of 1980. I was a freshman in college and landed a night shift gig at WSPR, a radio station in Springfield, Mass. News came over an Associated Press teletype machine at 65 words a minute. Changing the heavily inked ribbons was always a chore, not to mention making sure the paper didn't run out. Stories were typed on battered old manual typewriters that dated back to the 1940s. Computers? Still a new-fangled technology that hadn't yet seeped down to this level of the business. The Internet? There were only a few hundred people using it. If you needed to look up an address, you got a phone book or a city directory. If you needed to confirm a stray fact, you pulled out The World Almanac. They were still using reel-to-reel tape recorders, and a razor blade and Scotch tape were your tools for editing audio. It was still an analog world, with dials and meters and black telephones with dials. In the fall of 1985, when I started working in newspapers, video display terminals were cutting edge technology. Two years later, I went out and got my first computer - a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 laptop. With its built-in 300 baud modem, I could file a story anyplace I could find a pay phone. Cellphones? That was as futuristic as the communicators they used on "Star Trek." There were still a few smokers in the first city room I worked in. The barroom downstairs was still a place where you could find reporters between shifts. The building also shuddered just a little from the giant presses when they fired up, and the stairwells were coated with a thin film of ink. That first newspaper company I worked for - the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram and Evening Gazette - had four morning and six afternoon editions and a dozen bureaus in the county it published in. There were two separate news staffs, and even though they worked for the same company, the competition was still fierce. One of my several jobs was working in the morgue - the newspaper's library - where we still clipped stories out of each day's edition and filed them away in envelopes. When a reporter or editor needed background on a subject, my job was to retrieve the right folders with the right clippings in a room filled with hundreds of cabinets with files that went back decades. Pneumatic tubes brought pictures up to the composing room, and page proofs came down to the copy desk the same way. The darkroom was just that, a dark room filled with a dozen photo enlargers and photographers rushing make prints on deadline. I eventually learned how to do darkroom work and how to go from taking the film out of the camera to producing a finished print in under 30 minutes. The photos from the AP came one at a time from a LaserPhoto printer, in 8 minute intervals. Waiting for photos was a constant hassle. The old photographers I encountered then were old enough to have used Speed Graphics - the bulky, hard-to-focus 4 x 5 inch cameras that were the newspaper standard from the 1920s to the 1960s. The old compositors I encountered then were old enough to remember linotypes and the smell of melting lead. The old editors I encountered then were old enough to remember pastepots and black pencils and making and remaking a newspaper on the fly with a few written instructions and a lot of teamwork in the mechanical departments. Pagination - making a pages on a computer - was just starting to creep into use. I remember the first such unit - a Mac Plus - which was used to make graphic. Within 10 years of seeing that Mac for the first time, I would be making pages on a computer. The compositors - the wizards with Exacto knifes that could do just about anything you asked, just don't touch the type, please - were out of a job. Automation changed lots of things. I was replaced by a computer terminal in the paper's morgue. Indexing was now done with a few keystrokes, not with a heavy steel straight edge tearing pages. Digital photography made the darkroom obsolete. The teletype printers disappeared, and wire service news came flying into the mainframe computers at thousands of words a minute. And now I feel as ancient as the people I met when I started out, the tribe that started out in the 1940s and 1950s, when newspapers were king and the work that reporters did was the stuff of movies. Twenty years ago this month, I went through my first buyout. The T & G had been sold two years before, and changes were in the works. Being a junior member of the staff who lashed three part-time jobs into something of a living, I was thrown overboard immediately. But I was struck by how many people, the elders of the paper that I looked up to and learned from, chose to take a buyout and leave than stick around and face an uncertain future. Most of that generation left, and I got my first education on the harshness of the newspaper business. The morning and evening papers merged the following year. The T & G's bureaus started to disappear. The presses moved out of the hulking old building on Franklin Street and went to a remote site a few miles away. The papers were sold again, this time to The New York Times Co. They eliminated zoned editions this year and the paper is struggling to survive. Since that bleak Yuletide two decades ago, I've been through three more newspaper sales. I've become an elder, talking about the old days of afternoon papers, pasting-up pages, teletypes and darkrooms to a generation that Googles phone numbers and needs MapQuest to find an address. And I've watched my profession go from fat and sassy to threadbare and dying in one generation. I'm still young enough to be a bridge between the analog and digital eras, and still looking forward to the shape of journalism to come. The tools we have now to tell stories were barely dreamed of when I started out, but I recognize how important they are and working to master them. We just have to remember that the need to tell stories is primal, and that storytellers will always be needed. What will the young reporters I work with now be saying when they look back at their careers 20 years from now? Will they be talking about that gruff and crabby gray-bearded editor they had as their first mentor? The rickety first-generation iMacs that they have to use to write their stories on? The lack of reliable Internet and cellphone service? Or will they talk about working in newspapers at a time when they became quaint relics of a bygone age? My love for the printed page is still abiding, but it's hard to remember what it was like before the Internet, before desktop computers, before digital cameras and voice recorders, before the avalanche of data that pours from the Web each day, before the 24-hour news cycle, before all the changes that I have seen in nearly three decades of broadcast, print and online journalism. The past is a nice place to visit, but the future is still the place I hope to see. Randolph T. Holhut has been a journalist in New England for nearly 30 years. He edited "The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached at randyholhut@yahoo.com.
Copyright 2009 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.
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