Woman Shot In Downtown El Paso By Bullet From Mexico Speaks About Incident

Maria Romero was enjoying Tuesday morning shopping in Downtown El Paso with her grandson, Santiago,Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile. when her life changed and she became a national story.

Romero was walking on Overland Street when she heard a loud pop and then felt pain in her left leg. That pain was from a gunshot wound from a bullet El Paso Police believe came from a shootout at the same time in Juarez.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday, Maria arrived at her Lower Valley home. She exited the vehicle on crutches.

"There really isn't anyone to blame,Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber." Maria said in Spanish about what happened.

Bryan Romero, Romero's son, said she was pushing her 1-year-old grandson in a baby carriage, shopping for molds because she bakes cakes and sells them. Santiago was not injured.

"Thank God hit me and not the baby," said Maria Romero.

Romero said she screamed when she heard a loud pop and saw blood running down her leg. "I never imagined something like this would happen in the United States," said Romero. Just Choose PTMS plastic injection mould Is Your Best Choice!

Romero moved to El Paso from Ciudad Juarez about five years ago and now lives about a block away from the border fence. She said the incident has not made her feel unsafe, but she is still shaken by the experience.

"Now I feel fortunate and with a greater will to live,The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services," said Romero.

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said Tuesday afternoon that a bullet that punctured Maria's calf in Downtown El Paso Tuesday morning is believed to have come from Mexico.

Romero said police told her if the bullet had been fired from a close proximity, her leg would have been shattered due to the calibur of the bullet.

"We do take this extremely seriously," El Paso Mayor John Cook said on Tuesday. "This is another difficulty for El Paso and the border region when we're trying to highlight how safe our community is. This is still a great place to live."

El Paso Sheriff's Office Commander Gomecindo Lopez called the shooting "highly disturbing."

Guillen Middle School, Aoy Elementary and Hart Elementary were put on lockdown from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. following the shooting Tuesday.

This is not the first time that a bullet from Mexico has been fired into El Paso.

A bullet struck Bell Hall on the UTEP campus on the evening of Aug. 21, 2010. Nobody was injured and UTEP Police believe the bullet may have been related to a shootout in Juarez, Mexico that occurred at the same time. The shooting resulted in the temporary closure of Paisano Drive from Executive Center to Santa Fe Street in El Paso. One person was killed in the shootout in Juarez. There were no reported injures in El Paso.

At about 5 p.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.m. June 29,Sharps include syringe needle, 2010 a bullet traveled from a shootout in Juarez through a ninth floor window of El Paso City Hall, then through an interior wall, before striking a picture frame and stopping. Further investigation revealed that the north and south stucco walls of City Hall were struck by an additional six rounds at varying heights on the walls. El Paso City Hall did not appear to be the specific target of the rounds. City employees were inside City Hall during the incident. There were no reported injuries in El Paso from the incident.

King of the Modifieds

It's not surprising Everett "Cotton" Owens would have a special gift for machinery. After all,This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game. his grandfather and father were both mechanics. But the idea of actually making a living out of racing automobiles? That seemed far-fetched at best.

Born on May 24, 1921 in Union, S.C., Owens bought his first car when he was 16. He and a friend named Walter Moore spent a lot of time tooling around Spartanburg, S.C., in that vehicle -- when they didn't have to dodge the local police.

"I bought a '34 Ford sedan -- a two-door sedan -- and that was my street car," Owens said. "I was a terror, which you couldn't do today. You could do a lot more than you can now, as far as learning to drive on the streets."

Owens eventually gravitated towards racing -- first as a driver with more than 100 feature wins and two NASCAR Modified championships, then as a mechanic and championship car owner. For his contributions to the sport, Owens was named as one of five persons nominated this year for possible induction into NASCAR's Hall of Fame.

But it wasn't until 1940 that Owens got his first glimpse of stock car racing. It came when Bill France and several other top drivers arrived in town to race at the famous fairgrounds track.

"I had to climb the fence to see that race, and I fell in love with it," Owens said in a story written by freelance journalist Cary Estes. "I'd seen some midget races, but I hadn't seen any stock cars. I watched that one race,I have just spent two weeks shopping for tile and have discovered China Porcelain tile. and that's all it took."

But shortly thereafter, the war intervened. Eventually, Moore went off to fight in Europe,An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. where he participated in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. Upon his return to Spartanburg, Walter -- better known as "Bud" -- and Owens found jobs at a local junkyard.

One day, a driver came in with a race car that had been damaged in an accident and needed a new body. Owens and Moore did the work,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. the car won the next race, and the two friends realized they had a skill that set them apart.

Not only was Owens a talented car builder, but he excelled on the track as well. In 1950, he won 19 consecutive races, then later added the 1953 and 1954 Modified championships -- earning him the nickname "King of the Modifieds."

"I did have quite a bit of success in the Modified division," Owens said. "We used to have the U.S. Modified championship race that Bruton Smith used to put on in Concord, N.C., in those days. I won four of those,The company pioneered the manufacture of Coated Abrasives, against drivers from all over the United States.

"When you win, that's nice, but when you do it more than once, that stands out. It was poor man's racing, but we ran pretty near all over the East Coast. It was a good division back then."

But Owens realized the money -- and the fame -- was in NASCAR's premier series, known at that time as Grand National, and by 1957 he had switched his allegiance. It paid off handsomely with a win on the Daytona Road and Beach circuit to start the year.

He added a victory in each of the next three seasons -- finishing second in the points to Lee Petty in 1959 -- and won four races as a part-time driver in 1961, including two at Columbia and one at his home track in Spartanburg.

However, Owens hung up his helmet for good in 1964, shortly after getting in a car and beating David Pearson at Richmond in an effort to teach the young driver a lesson in maximizing his potential. Owens admitted lingering injuries from a serious crash a decade earlier was the major reason.

Share the warmth

When the cold winds blow, many pets get to curl up in front of the fireplace, or in a warm place in the house.

Outside dogs and cats aren’t so lucky. Neither are larger animals such as cows, horses, goats and sheep.

While large animals may be well adapted to deal with cold weather, as well as summer heat, their owners have the responsibility to ensure they receive sufficient feed, access to water, and shelter from the worst weather.

“Regardless of what animal it is, they need good food and drinking water,” said Roger Williams, Extension educator with the Cherokee County Oklahoma State University Extension Service.

The summer’s drought continues to be felt although fall and early winter rains have helped replenish most ponds. Of course, when the temperature drops and ponds freeze over, it’s essential to break the ice to provide the animals access to water.

Stock tank heaters also can ensure the animals have enough clean, fresh drinking water to sustain them through the cold weather.

“You have to make sure, one way or another, that they get water. That’s even more important than food,” Williams said.

Many farmers and ranchers only were able to harvest one cutting of hay this year, and in many cases, the hay wasn’t as high quality as usual. So hay is harder to find for some animal owners, and more expensive when they do find it.

“Hay was so short, a lot of people spent their profits on hay just to make sure they can get through the winter,” Williams said. “A lot of people aren’t set up from a real snowy weather.”

He said it’s a good idea to feed a high-energy feed, so animals generate the heat they need to keep them warm. And it helps if shelter is available to keep their coats from getting wet.

“A cow with a wet back will lose her body heat so much faster than one that is dry,” Williams said.

He said horses, goats and sheep have an easier time finding shelter than do cattle.

“It seems like they get by, go somewhere,” he said of goats. “Cattle get wet; that’s a big consideration.”

Roger Saunders, manager of the Tahlequah Farmers Co-op, also considers shelter important for large livestock.

“Just try to provide them with some sort of shelter with some bedding, such as stray or wood shavings. Make sure they have plenty of water. A lot of people kind of neglect water in the winter or they don’t think of it as much,” he said.

He said the hay supply is “really tight” this year.

“A lot of people are short on hay and hoping for a mild winter,” he said.

Many feed high-protein or high-energy grain mixes to their animals.

Dr. Bill Elliott, local veterinarian, also said it’s important for owners to make sure their animals get plenty of food and water.

For house pets, owners may notice they put on a little weight during the fall.

“They store energy to stay warm during the winter,” he said.

Large animals should get a large amount of hay, and should have adequate shelter.

“It takes a lot more food to give them the energy they need,” he said. “If they have a tank heater, they’ll drink a lot more water and that’s important.”

Elliott concentrates his practice on small animals these days, and he said many of the stories that circulate about pets’ exposure to Christmas treats haven’t played out in his experience. Poinsettias and chocolate especially are supposed to provide poison hazards to dogs.

“Don’t get all excited about the poinsettias and the chocolate,” he said. “I can’t tell you the last time I had a dog get sick because of poinsettias.”

And that problem isn’t confined to the holiday season.

“Just about every week I have a pet get sick from table scraps,” he said. “That turkey carcass — don’t feed it to the dogs. I see it weekly, ham, bacon, table scraps, chicken bones. The last two weeks I’ve had dogs come in with chicken bones where they shouldn’t be.”

Pet owners are buying the necessities, plus additional holiday gifts for their household companions this week, said Carla Hanna, assistant manager at PetSense.

First, there are the creature comforts.

“We have several different types of houses. We have indoor and outdoor heating pads. We also have beds,” she said. “We have clothing, like coats and sweaters. There are booties to keep their feet dry and warm. People are buying everything — treats and clothes and rawhide.”

As the thermometer has dropped, PetSense has sold a number of doghouses.

And when the family sits down around the dinner table, the store has treats that are healthier than all those human food scraps.

“We have gourmet Christmas treats. They’re human-grade food that are cute little cookies. If you eat them, they won’t harm you,” Hanna said.

The doggie treats come in shapes like candy canes, Christmas trees, and a round red cookie with a Santa belt.

If a toddler happens to take a bite out of one, there’s no need to get alarmed, since they are suitable (although not necessarily recommended) for human consumption.

The store’s grooming department also has been busy getting dogs in fine fashion for the holiday celebrations.

Hanna said normally six dogs come in for grooming on a typical Monday. This Monday, the groomer had a dozen appointments scheduled.

Holiday grooming also includes special scents and Christmas-themed bandanas or bows to accentuate that perfect canine cut.

When winter comes, it’s also a good time to think about bird feeding.

Saunders said customers come to the Farmers Co-Op for a wide selection of birdseed. Bird watchers can tailor it to suit their feeders and the type of wild birds they want to attract.

Argonauts sing praises of new QB Ricky Ray

The way Maurice Mann describes it, Ricky Ray throws the football so his receivers can comfortably pluck it out of the air, rather than fighting to stop it zipping through space.

The Toronto Argonauts acquired the popular quarterback from the Edmonton Eskimos on Monday, in exchange for Toronto’s starting pivot, Steven Jyles, kicker Grant Shaw and the second-overall pick in the 2012 CFL draft.

Those who have worked with Ray before – like Argos receiver Mann – say the signal-caller’s unique touch on the football makes those around him remarkably better.

“He plays like Drew Brees in the NFL – not throwing hard, but with perfect timing,” said Mann, who played in Edmonton from 2007 to 2009.We are passionate about polished tiles. “If he was two steps faster, he’d be all over the NFL, because his accuracy is crazy. You see the ball, all you have to do is go snatch it.”

Mann had his best CFL season in 2009, catching passes from Ray, nabbing 73 balls for 917 yards and six touchdowns. At first, Mann mistook Ray’s quiet leadership for a lack of fire, but he soon learned the even-keeled nature was part of his success.

“He has a very patient but strategic way of approaching the game – a very consistent guy with ridiculous timing,” Mann said. “If he’s got a cold, he’s going to throw the ball in your chest. If he’s tired or he’s got a sore shoulder, he’s still going to throw it in your chest. It’s always right there.”

Newly-hired Argonauts offensive co-ordinator Jonathan Himebauch is in Atlanta this week, coaching at the HBCU All-Star Bowl,An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. a premier game for recruiting U.S. college talent.

He says he’s keeping an eye out for new receivers for Ray, who will be on hand Wednesday, during a press conference in Toronto.

“From watching him,The Transaction Group offers the best high risk merchant account services, you see he’s always on time with his throws, and it’s very apparent that he knows the defences and what a co-ordinator will throw at him,” Himebauch said by phone from Georgia. “His experience is invaluable because he’s not taking so much time to go through that in his mind when he’s looking to throw, because he’s got so much of it figured out pre-snap.”

Veteran Argonauts kicker Noel Prefontaine says he had not watched a quarterback complete so many passes with such precision in practice before his two-plus seasons with the Esks (2008-10). A former quarterback himself, Prefontaine marvelled at Ray’s knack for throwing with perfect velocity, not with the sort of overzealous mustard he had seen some blister the football.

“He doesn’t throw the ball hard because he doesn’t need to – he anticipates breaks and [defensive] coverages and that anticipation allows him to throw the deep ball so well,” Prefontaine said. “He really gives the receiver every possible chance to catch the ball. And I assure you the receivers in Toronto are going to love him, because they’re going to have more success because of it.”

Ray, 32, joined the Eskimos in 2002, and has been with the team his entire CFL career, winning two Grey Cups along the way. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder from Happy Camp, Calif., leaves as the Esks all-time leader in many categories, including career passing yardage. In his nine years in the CFL, he’s become one of the most accurate passers in league history .

He had a bounce-back 2011, passing for 4,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.594 yards and 24 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions with a 99.This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game.3 quarterback efficiency rating that topped the CFL. He took the Esks from a 7-11 team in 2010, to an 11-7 squad with a playoff victory.

“It’s hard to explain to people how exciting it is to play with someone who makes you better by making things so easy on you,” Mann said. “Grey Cup, here we come. This is a blessing for all of us, for me, for Toronto, for everyone here.”

Earliest Known Bug-Repellant Plant Bedding Found

Rare finds such as early ornaments, cave drawings and Middle Stone Age engravings are the subjects of a good deal of anthropological study and they provide clues. But in the journal Science, an international team of researchers report another find that could give additional insight. What's more, it could place the use of herbal medicines much earlier than previously known.

Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, along with a team of archeologists, botanists and paleobotonists, recently dug up and analyzed the earliest known plant bedding at Sibudu, a South African rock shelter in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

The plant bedding is 77,000 years old and 50,000 years older than the earliest reports of preserved bedding. It provides an intriguing look at the behavioral practices of early modern humans in Southern Africa.

"Domestic activities, like preparing and destroying plant bedding, can provide important information," said Wadley, an honorary professor at the Institute for Human Evolution at Witwatersrand.

Plant bedding is not as well known as other anthropological artifacts, but Wadley says it has the ability to provide information about changing settlement patterns and even demography.

Archeologists refer to plant bedding as a type of floor preparation constructed from plant layers. The discoveries in Sibudu suggest plant bedding there probably was used as a surface for working and sleeping, similar to how it is used in the region today.

At Sibudu, which has been undergoing digging since 1998, researchers found at least 15 layers of sediment containing plant bedding, dated between 77,000 and 38,000 years ago.

The bedding consists of centimeter-thick layers of compacted stems and leaves of sedges and rushes, extending over at least one square meter and up to three square meters of the excavated area. Some of the fossilized leaves bear perfectly preserved anatomical details like vein patterns in leaf blades and pores found in leaf and stem epidermises, called venation and stomata.

"Since leaves can simply be used to add comfort to sedge bedding we were even more surprised when we discovered that the leaves used have insecticidal properties," said Wadley. She surmised they probably were used to repel mosquitoes from the site, which is near the UThongathi River.

"The use of plants and other biological organisms and substances for medicine and other health-related uses is a fascinating aspect of modern human cultures," said Carolyn Ehardt, program director for biological anthropology at the National Science Foundation, which partially funded the research. "Anthropologists have been studying human ethnomedical and ethnobiological systems extensively, aiding in the discovery of new drugs and other therapies. It is quite interesting to gain this level of historical depth to the apparent recognition by these people of the beneficial properties in the local flora."

Marion Bamford, a botanist with the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research at Witwatersrand, identified the sedges as belonging to a plant called Cryptocarya woodii, or River Wild-quince. C. woodii contains chemicals that have insecticidal and larvicidal properties.

The chemicals have different effects on different insects. "For some insects there is a 'knock-down' effect," said Wadley. "Others are repelled and the breeding rate is interfered with amongst some insects."

C. woodii is in the same family as the Bay leaf, which has culinary use, but is also suitable for storing in grains to repel insects that would eat them.

The research included examining blocks of sediment from the site that had been undisturbed for thousands of years to determine their contents. Paul Goldberg and Francesco Berna, National Science Foundation-supported archaeological scientists at Boston University, analyzed thin sections of sediment that preserved the original contextual integrity of the deposits at the millimeter to centimeter scale.

Their micromorphological analysis found evidence of individual human activities, including the construction of hearths and bedding and the maintenance of occupational surfaces through the sweep out of hearths.

"I don't think we would have had this confirmation, or at least impetus, if we hadn't had done the original thin section work," said Goldberg. "We were able to recognize several different types of deposits that are only centimeters thick. Among them were layers composed mainly of phytoliths, some of which were clearly sedges," he said.

Phytoliths are minute particles formed of mineral matter by a living plant and fossilized in rock. In this case, researchers found fossilized sedge particles.

’Tis the season for women’s ‘holiday hormones’ to hit

It’s the fourth of December. Your shopping is done, and presents are all wrapped in handmade paper and bows, neatly stacked under the tree.

Your six Christmas trees are decorated and, in fact, you’re thinking of calling “Better Homes and Gardens” because they’ll certainly want to photograph your gorgeous holiday decor.

Cards are mailed, baking complete, menus planned, and a sparkly new outfit to wear to the holiday party — one that makes you look 10 pounds lighter — is hanging in the closet.

In fact, you don’t even know what to do with the rest of December. Maybe wire the gingerbread house so you can string lights in there as well? Or perhaps you’ll take the Christmas fabric scraps from all the handmade gifts you’ve made and turn them into a patchwork tablecloth.

The possibilities are endless, the season magical.

And then you wake up.

Reality hits you like an ice-packed snowball.Boddingtons Technical Plastics provide a complete plastic injection moulding service including design， You slept in on Black Friday. The turkey platter is still loitering on the kitchen counter. The only “casual attire” you have that fits for the upcoming office party is your red track suit. And the Christmas countdown calendar some joker hung on the fridge taunts you.

Underneath all the glitter and tinsel are exhausted moms everywhere praying they fall off the stepstool while putting on the Christmas tree star, conk their head on a nutcracker, and slip into a coma until Christmas morning when — hallelujah — she wakes up to everything already done, just like the rest of her family does.

Since Christmas comas, unfortunately, only happen in Hallmark Channel movies, she just keeps going. Thank goodness for those holiday hormones, or there’d be no way it would be humanly possible for her to get everything done in December.

You know, those hormones that cause an otherwise calm, rational woman to make her family dress in matching sweaters on a Tuesday night for a holiday photo.

Or possess her to make a dozen outdoor Christmas trees out of tomato cages,which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, lights securely attached with cable ties.

Holiday hormones also make her quite emotional; she gets misty-eyed over scoring a front row parking place at the mall, and will actually burst into tears at 30 percent off coupons.

These holiday hormones have been known to cause frequent memory lapses. They makes her forget if she already put the baking soda in the cookie dough, and she blanks out on things like what present she just wrapped so that she has to unwrap it and start over.

It doesn’t take much to make her irritable. Take seasonal help, for instance. She’s at the department store when she asks “Jeff” for a certain name-brand wool coat she’s trying to find for her son.

“Uh, we don’t carry that,If so, you may have a cube puzzle .” Jeff says.

“Are you sure?” she asks. “Because a friend of mine just bought one here last week.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors,”

“Uh, then, we must be out. Yeah, I’m sure we’re out.”

“How can you be out?” she says. “I thought you didn’t carry them. Is there anyone else who can help me who might know?”

“Uh, yeah, my boss,” Jeff says, “but he just left for lunch.”

“Really? At 9:30 in the morning, Jeff?”

The thing about those holiday hormones is they can suck the Christmas spirit right out of any woman. She finds herself beginning to think the “before” Grinch has a lot more charm than the “after” Grinch, and that he should really just go see a specialist about that enlarged heart of his.

Some men will contend that a lot of women’s stress is self-inflicted. Take the Holiday Home Tour she might go on with some friends, where they go through already beautiful homes decorated even more beautifully for the holidays, making her feel discontented with her own house that now, in her mind, looks like it was decorated for the holidays by elves who’ve had too much eggnog.

“So why do you go then?” the man might ask.

“Because it’s fun,” she snaps.

In her hormonal state, the woman will probably even sign up for a cookie exchange, even though she hasn’t the slightest idea when she will find the time to whip up nine dozen cookies.

“Why did you say you’d do it then?” her husband might ask.

“Because it’s fun,” she snaps again.

Sometimes, because the husband is beginning to think a little bit more “fun” might just push her over the edge — and he’s pretty sure their insurance plan doesn’t cover that — he will actually volunteer to help her. He might even, in a weak moment and because there’s not a football game on, voluntarily go to a Christmas craft boutique with her.If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards,

Blinking back tears because she’s so happy to have help (or is it because she got three hours of sleep after baking nine dozen cookies and stringing lights on tomato cages?), she gives him a list of all the people they need to buy gifts yet for, which is everyone. They agree to meet back in a couple of hours.

When she finds him later his hands are full. He’s carrying a jar of salsa, two loaves of bread, a pecan pie and a plate of kolaches.

LAPD arrests 292 Occupy protesters in raid

White-suited sanitation workers removed tons of tents, bedding, personal belongings and garbage from what was once a grassy lawn surrounding City Hall on Wednesday after a massive police operation evicted Occupy L.A. protesters and arrested nearly 300 people.

A raid that began just after midnight by 1,400 city police officers, most wearing helmets, shields and other tactical gear, cleared the park of hundreds of people who had been camping there for two months in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protest groups in New York City and elsewhere.

In Philadelphia, dozens of police patrolled a plaza outside City Hall after sweeping it of demonstrators early Wednesday and arresting 50. Protesters later marched from the city’s well-to-do Rittenhouse Square to police headquarters and called for a “victory march” for Friday or Saturday.

Police in recent weeks have broken up encampments in such cities as Portland, Ore., Oakland, and New York, where the protests against social inequality and corporate excesses began in mid-September. Demonstrators are still at it in Boston, Washington and other cities.

The Los Angeles operation was without violence, city leaders and the protest group said.

“What we demonstrated in this town is that working together we can respect the rights of people to speak out against the government,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Police did not resort to tear gas or pepper spray, as in other cities, but employed restrained force, massive numbers and an element of surprise, even though protesters were warned in advance.

Shortly after midnight, hundreds of police emerged from City Hall’s front doors, descended stairs and began flattening tents as hundreds more officers encircled the park from the street and closed in. Most of those arrested were taken into custody without a struggle. A handful of people who climbed trees were the last to be evicted, by officers in cherry-picker lift vehicles.

The Occupy L.A. website acknowledged police restraint. “There wasn’t much in the way of drama or action, over a thousand LAPD officers remaining calm and reserved throughout,” it said.

Police officer Bruce Borihanh said 292 people were arrested, all but two charged with failure to disperse. One was charged with interfering with a police officer, another with battery on an officer.

The action was in contrast to sometimes violent confrontations by L.A. police; the city paid $13 million to immigration demonstrators and others injured in a 2007 melee in MacArthur Park.

By daylight, workers were installing concrete barriers and fencing, and using shovels and heavy machinery to remove stinking refuse. The city plans to keep the area closed to assess damage. Villaraigosa said repairs could exceed $1 million.

Burglar hits Hudson man's house - and both are charged

Burglar hits Hudson man's house - and both are charged; gallon jar of marijuana taken

Felony charges have been filed against two men - along with the man they allegedly robbed this week in Hudson.

Michael W. Schwartzkopf Jr., 26, of Fond du Lac, Wis., who police say kicked in the door of a Hudson home, tied up Steven C. Iverson, 29, and stole guns and cash, was charged Tuesday with armed robbery, false imprisonment, armed burglary, and theft of more than $10,000 in property.

A second suspect in the robbery, Jared S. Carr, 36, of West Bend, Wis., was charged Tuesday with felony armed robbery as party to a crime.If so, you may have a cube puzzle .

And then Iverson was charged Wednesday with felony possession of THC - the active ingredient in marijuana - with intent to deliver.

Schwartzkopf was being held Wednesday in the St. Croix County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond. Carr could not be reached Wednesday, and a message left with Iverson was not immediately returned.

According to the three criminal complaints:

Police responded to a home in the 1800 block of Stone Creek Street after receiving a 911 call from a woman saying "help me" about 1:30 a.m. Monday. The woman, who police said was Iverson's girlfriend, told responding officers she had been sleeping before she heard a loud crash and a voice saying, "I have a gun."

Iverson told officers he had been robbed. He said he was asleep on a couch when he heard a noise and woke to find a man he didn't know pointing a gun at him. The man directed him to the floor and cable-tied his hands, he said.They take the China Porcelain tile to the local co-op market.

The intruder demanded money and guns and forced him into the garage, where Iverson gave him the combination to a safe, Iverson said. The man then took items from the safe, including about $30,000 in cash.

Police said the intruder ran from the home, dropping handguns along the way.

Police searching for the intruder encountered a resident nearby,Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds. Yang Thor, who said he had given a man matching Schwartzkopf's description a ride to a Hudson gas station.

Police found Schwartzkopf at the gas station and arrested him. Officers found a backpack containing a Glock handgun,If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, $35,000 in cash and a metal box containing Iverson's Social Security card and passport near Schwartzkopf.

Another backpack was found near the robbery scene. It contained items Iverson said had been taken from his home, including guns and marijuana - which Iverson said was for personal use, police said.

Schwartzkopf told police that he did not know Iverson and that he did the robbery to work off a $2,000 drug debt he owed someone, whom he would not name. That person, he said, gave him the cable ties and a gun and told him to go to Iverson's home and take guns and money.

He told officers he was dropped off at the Iverson home but the car that was to take pick him up was not there when he left.

An officer responding to the robbery call had noted the license plate number of a black Cadillac Escalade near the scene. A registration check showed it belonged to a Barron, Wis., man. When questioned by police, the owner said he had lent the vehicle to Carr days before the robbery.

Police got a warrant to search Schwartzkopf's cellphone and found a call between Carr and Schwartzkopf shortly after the robbery, as well as two text messages from "JC" saying "call me."

Thor, the bystander who gave Schwartzkopf a ride, said Schwartzkopf also had used Thor's phone to make calls, one of which police say was to Carr.

In speaking with investigators, Iverson said that the money taken from his home was his life savings and that he is not a drug dealer.

Along with the cash and guns, a glass jar of marijuana, brass knuckles, a butterfly knife and an "electric weapon" were stolen, Iverson told investigators.

A one-gallon glass jar of marijuana was recovered from Schwartzkopf. Iverson told police he bought 1 to 3 ounces of marijuana at a time for personal use.

Police said they found marijuana in plastic sandwich bags next to Iverson's safe and in other areas of the house and recovered a total of about 135 grams of the drug.Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber.

‘Fur Ball’ underscores generous spirit of residents

Last Saturday I had a treat of sorts. I went to an event and didn’t have to worry about taking notes.

Usually when I go to a fundraiser or any other public get together, I have to stay in reporter mode, ask questions, and watch the clock to make sure I get back to the office on time. There’s not much time to relax and just talk.he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew,

This wasn’t the case when I attended what will hopefully be the first annual “Fur Ball” for the Mercer County Humane Society. Plenty of people showed up at East River Arts Saturday evening.

The first thing I noted when I arrived were the kittens and puppies by the door. Lisa Nisbet, director of the Mercer County Animal Shelter, was there along with Animal Control Officer Stacy Shampo to show the guests some of the pets currently being housed at the shelter.Buy Cheap Perfumes for sale are publicly considered as one of the best bodies warmer to keep warm in cold weather days. A friendly mutt named Wilson was also there to greet the new arrivals.

Naturally I paused to say hello, and one of those puppies just had to whine and push the “take care of me” button in anyone who loves animals. One puppy smaller than his litter mates was passed around and showed no inclination to go back into the pet carrier. The kittens got plenty of cuddling and stroking, and Wilson never wanted for attention.

I washed my hands immediately after acquainting myself with the animals because I was starving. Local restaurants and grocery stores had donated food including chicken salad sandwiches, buffalo wings, cheese spreads, something that tasted like breaded olives, salsa, sausages, and every delicious thing necessary to ruin a diet. I went back for seconds and nibbled throughout my stay, but I was extra good the next day.Prior to Cold Sore I leaned toward the former,

For a short time it felt strange not to be carrying around a pad and pen and not be carrying a recorder in my pocket or a camera on my belt. I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone to an event just for the sake of it. It was nice to talk with people I knew without having to focus on getting a quote; taking notes hinders a conversation.

I saw one painting I especially liked,Demand for allergy Insulator could rise earlier than normal this year. and it had a good price, but suddenly the word “Sold” jumped out on the name tag. That was an utter bummer, but I didn’t let it spoil the evening.

One thing the Fur Ball demonstrated is that the people in Mercer and the surrounding counties will come together for a good cause. The animal shelter has had its challenges recently, but the public rallied and helped out.

The public will soon have another opportunity to help not only the Mercer County shelter,Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a Hemroids . but others as well when our sister publication, Prerogative magazine, conducts its annual Christmas pet food and toy drive. Animal shelters in Mercer, McDowell, and Tazewell counties will receive much-need supplies if the public repeats the generosity it has shown in the past. This year’s drive will be held Dec. 5-9.

Every year the pet drive has brought in hundreds of pounds of food, dozens of pet supplies, toys, blankets and more. How do I know it has been hundreds of pounds? When you help transport a mound of donations, you know it’s hundreds of pounds. Yanked muscles and reminding yourself to lift with your legs helps drive the point home, too.

I’ve done more than one story about the pet food drive, but I’ve been a participant, too, along with others in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph family. Everyone who can lend a hand helps sort the donations and get them to the rendezvous at the Mercer shelter so each participating organization can receive its share. We’ve filled up a trailer loaned by Cole Harley-Davidson, which is a big help, and still fill up a convoy of personal vehicles. There have been times when some donations arrive after the drive is supposed to be officially over.

Research placement investigates pig nutrition

A RECENT graduate of Harper Adams is investigating how much straw bedding pigs eat and how this affects their digestion, as part of a special research placement.

Stephen Mansbridge is completing a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) research experience placement (REP) on the farm at the University College in Shropshire.

He is working with 45 sows and 96 growing pigs and collecting samples to see how much bedding the pigs are eating.

Steve from Burgess Hill, West Sussex, said: “Straw is known to speed up the transit of feed through the digestive system and in turn, reduces the amount of nutrients available to the pig.

“This means that in theory, you need to provide the pigs with more feed which is expensive and could be used elsewhere.

“Our first treatment acted as a control group where they were kept on concrete, the second used pigs in pens with straw added each day, and the third used pigs in pens with straw added weekly.

“This was devised due to our theory that pigs behave like small children, in that if they are given something new such as a toy or straw, they will play with it and bite it.”

This experiment was then repeated with the growing pigs in a different building with each trial period lasting three weeks, with the first week for the animals to get used to their new feed.

To calculate the amount of straw eaten, faecal samples were collected and then analysed in the teaching laboratories on campus.

Steve, 23, added: “The feed that we gave to the pigs contained a small quantity of feed marker that passes harmlessly through the animals.

“We also used two naturally occurring acid insoluble markers found in the feed and straw and compared the results.

“I’ve really enjoyed the BBSRC placement. Since completing my final year dissertation during my degree in agriculture, I’ve realised that I have a passion for research.

“Thanks to the placement I’ve learnt a lot about pig nutrition, health, behaviour and welfare. Hopefully this research will help us to find a solution that considers both productivity and pig welfare.

“I’m now planning to start a PhD at Harper Adams and continue a similar project with the pigs, we just need to secure the funding.”

Easy, inexpensive home heating tips

Sure, there are things that you can do to make the most of your heating dollars! Many of them cost very little and can be done by the average homeowner. Let's see what tools we can provide for you.

We'll start by looking at windows. A single-pane window will transfer over 80 percent of infrared energy to the outside, according to The National Fenestration Rating Council, a nonprofit organization that rates the performance of windows and doors. In English, that means your heat ends up outside!

In recent years, windows have been improved to keep more heat inside our homes. All the new low-e windows (that's short for low-emissivity windows, which help prevent your house from losing heat) and double-pane windows are great -- if you can afford them. They may even pay for themselves over time. But what if you can't afford to buy and install new windows before the cold winds blow?

Don't give up. There are many steps you can take to get the benefits of new windows without the expense.

The first thing to recognize is that air can be your friend or your enemy. Pockets of still air can act as an insulator, but cold drafts, not surprisingly, work against you.This patent infringement case relates to retractable RUBBER MATS ,

How can you create pockets of insulating air? It's easier than you might think. The glass in your window provides one barrier to the outside. You just need to create a second one. The air trapped between the window and the second barrier acts as an insulator. Experts say that can reduce the amount of heat lost through your windows by up to 25 percent.Detailed information on the causes of oil painting reproduction,

Many homes have storm windows that act just like a second window. If you have them, you'll want to get them up now.

But what if you don't have storm windows? Or what if you have them and you still can feel the cold air anytime you're near your windows? Simply create another air barrier on the inside of the window.

Heavy drapes in the closed position are a stylish solution. The heavier the material, the better. Although they're not airtight, they do create an insulating pocket of air just inside the window. Drapes also allow you to pull them open when bright sun is shining on the window, which will tend to warm up the room.

Another less stylish option is to use sheet plastic to create that barrier. You can tape it directly to the inside of the wall around the window. Or use 1-inch-by-1-inch lumber to make a frame that fits snuggly inside the window. Attach the plastic to the frame. You can remove the barrier if you're entertaining and don't want your guests to know that you're reducing your heating bills!

If none of those ideas works for you, consider getting a roll of the large bubble wrap used for packing.there's a lovely winter chicken coop by William Zorach. Cut it to the size of your window. Moisten the wrap and it will cling to the window. Even something as simple as that will help create the needed air pocket.

Your windows are not the only place where cold air enters your home. Even a small draft of outside air can make a room feel frigid.

The best way to find drafts is to walk alongside outside walls with a lit candle. Watch the flame. Any draft will cause the flame to flicker or smoke to move away from the breeze.

You'll want to pay particular attention around windows, doors and baseboards. Don't forget to check around light switches and wall outlets.

Eliminating any drafts you find is a simple do-it-yourself project.Initially the banks didn't want our kidney stone . Caulk and/or weather-strip will solve most problems. For light and wall outlets, buy and install rubber gaskets. You can find the gaskets at home improvement centers. The materials are inexpensive; the work easy. The only tools required are a knife and a screwdriver to remove the electric plates.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.

Next, you'll want to help make your furnace as efficient as possible. That would include cleaning or replacing furnace filters. A dirty filter can reduce your furnace's efficiency by 10 percent.

What the cluck?

There’s everyday unsustainable and then there’s completely off-the-charts unsustainable.

In the latter category we can quickly place the worldwide move to a Western-style meat-centred diet relying on low-cost livestock fed corn and soybeans. To give the 9 billion carnivores expected by 2050 regular steak dinners would mean doubling global grain production and converting entire rainforests to grain monocultures.

Then there are reasonably modest alternatives like livestock raised on grass and bugs in managed wildernesses. Or we may eventually resort to completely out-there options like raising animals for meat in the city.

Of course, the over-the-top alternative is an everyday matter for garden-variety city food producers.The additions focus on key tag and solar panel combinations, According to Toronto-based food analyst Diana Lee-Smith, a leading figure in the booming African urban ag movement, heavy-duty city food production becomes normalized mainly during crises. In the UK, for example, where wartime rationing continued into the 1950s, “pig bins” for food scraps that could be fed to animals, both in town and out, were the norm in many urban neighbourhoods,This patent infringement case relates to retractable RUBBER MATS , she says.

So we can expect North Americans to embrace urban livestock at just about the same time oil runs out or hell freezes over from climate chaos.

In Nairobi, Kenya, home of the world’s biggest slum and the place where Lee-Smith co-founded the Mazingira Institute to promote women-led urban ag, raising animals is part of both feeding families and managing urban waste.

City livestock consumes human food scraps, saving cities from smothering in waste.

This is part of the vision of Toronto’s leading urban agtivist, Lorraine Johnson, author of City Farmer and several classics on naturalizing urban wastelawns.

“Backyard chickens are the best little compost machines you can have,” she tells me. They bring back the natural and holistic food cycle: humans throw out veggie scraps and stale bread, chickens peck at them, feeding themselves and aerating the earth, flies and larvae dig into chicken poop, chickens eat the larvae for protein and leave the remaining poop to add rich nitrogen to otherwise depleted compost that’s overdosed on plant carbs. It’s a closed loop in the big city – true chicken poop for the soil.

The economics of such a cycle go like this: instead of paying waste handlers to haul away trash, people provide a coop for chickens to manage the waste and produce gourmet fare for free, pay local butchers instead of garbagemen and sell robust compost to professional composters.Initially the banks didn't want our kidney stone . A chicken in every garage.Detailed information on the causes of oil painting reproduction,

As Johnson points out, you can buy baby chicks for 25 cents in rural Ontario, and a laying-age hen goes for only $25. The full set-up for an insulated coop and run area costs $150 to $250. Three chickens, she says, lay three eggs a day and produce about a shopping bag of waste per week.

The Toronto Environment Office is currently drafting a report for the Municipal Licensing and Standards Committee, due in February, aiming to change the prohibited-animals bylaw so locals can legally keep chickens.

Even Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs portrays urban livestock as natural and normal, with portals on its website to info on the kind of critters that do well in cities: bees, rabbits, poultry, tilapia, yellow perch. Livestock and poultry can be a source of meat, milk, eggs and fibre. Add aquaculture and beekeeping, dwarf goats, ducks and pigeons into the mix and the list of products gets even longer.

As well, Johnson notes, the small scale of backyard animal husbandry keeps problems that fester in factory farms – overuse of antibiotics and cruel suppression of instinctive animal behaviours are just two examples – at bay.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.

June Komisar, an architecture professor at Ryerson University and co-author of Carrot City: Creating Places For Urban Agriculture, is a vegetarian. She gulps when I ask about urban meat production but quickly points out that it’s the norm throughout the global South, where all manner of livestock have the run of the street, and “ir’s a trend that’s developing here as well.”

Tending animals is part of gaining respect for food, she says. “We’re so divorced from the sources of our food that people are queasy when they see the animal they’re going to eat,” she says. A common commitment to mindfulness may bring urban livestockers and animal welfare supporters together on this one.

Though T.O. is a world leader in many aspects of food policy, it’s behind the curve on mixed urban ag, likely the legacy of Toronto the Good and uptight. Staff are still paid to concoct blanket prohibitions against all non-conforming uses.

Lynchburg woman was child model for Rockwell painting

One of Norman Rockwell’s models for one of his most famous paintings has been living in the Lynchburg area for nearly 20 years.

Rockwell’s iconic illustration, “The Problem We All Live With,” depicts Ruby Bridges, a brave 6-year-old in New Orleans who broke new ground for school desegregation in the U.S. on Nov. 14, 1960. But the little girl in the painting is not Ruby Bridges. She is a likeness of Rockwell model Anita Gunn Tinsley, now a 56-year-old widow residing in Lynchburg’s Fort Hill neighborhood.

Most people do not know of her link to the painting that received worldwide acclaim after it appeared as the centerfold of Look magazine on Jan. 14, 1964.

Tinsley herself rarely talks about it.

Years ago, when her youngest daughter told her elementary school classmates in Amherst County that her mother was a Rockwell model, “they laughed at her,” she recalled.

She had to send her daughter back to school with proof to stop the scoffing.

“That was typical,” she said. “I really don’t bother telling people about it anymore.”

Recent research on Rockwell’s “other people” confirms that it is not unusual for black Rockwell models to encounter disbelief about their role. While the artist was well known for recruiting as models townspeople from the New England communities where he lived, it is not well known that some of those people were black.

Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., confirmed that Tinsley was indeed one of the models for the painting.

Tinsley, who grew up in Massachusetts, never has seen the actual painting of “The Problem We All Live With.”

She said she did not know of its significance until she attended a Rockwell models reunion in 2007 at the Norman Rockwell Museum. There, 44 years after her modeling session, she learned of the immense importance of the picture, and of the little girl in it.

Before returning home to Virginia, Tinsley went to the museum bookstore and bought a reproduction of the painting, which now hangs in her bedroom.

“I’m not one to show myself,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,” she said. “But to know I’m seen by millions of people, seeing myself, it’s a strange feeling.”

Tinsley, a native of Great Barrington, Mass., recently shared the details of her encounter with Rockwell, her first in-depth interview on the subject.

She remembers how Norman Rockwell literally walked into her life. “In the fall of 1963, I was coming home from school, crying because I wanted to take violin lessons. I loved watching our music teacher play and I wanted to learn. But my parents said we couldn’t afford the $25 for the lessons.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop .”

As Anita sniffled along the street, a tall white man approached her, asking what was wrong. When the 8-year-old explained that she wanted to take violin lessons but there was no money for them, the man suggested that, if her mother approved, he would pay for her lessons if Anita would model for him.

“I didn’t understand anything about modeling. All I heard was $25! I had no idea who he was. And I didn’t tell my mother.”

Several days later, Elaine Gunn, Anita’s mother, remained home from her teaching job to care for one of Anita’s brothers, who was sick. When Mrs. Gunn answered a knock at her front door, there stood Norman Rockwell.Save on Bedding and fittings,

Gunn immediately recognized the famous illustrator, although she had never met him. He introduced himself, explaining that he had come from Stockbridge, eight miles away, to talk with her daughter, Anita.

Mrs. Gunn, stunned at the presence of Rockwell on her doorstep, stammered that Anita was not yet home from school.

“May I wait for her?” Rockwell asked.

When Anita tromped through the backdoor, she found her mother sitting at the dining room table, chatting with the man who had spoken to her on the street.

As Anita entered the room, Norman Rockwell rose and approached her. Stooping down and clasping her hands he asked, “How would you like to earn money for those violin lessons?” Then, according to Mrs. Gunn, Rockwell engaged the 8-year-old in a discussion about his latest project on the subject of integration.

Only when Anita, in her blue, Peter Pan-collared school dress, understood what “modeling” meant and what she was agreeing to did the artist turn back to Mrs. Gunn: “For the modeling session, can you have two dresses made just like the one she has on, only in white?”

Rockwell requested two dresses because he used two models for the painting: Anita and her cousin, Linda Gunn. Both girls had been recommended to him by David Gunn Sr., a pipe-smoking buddy of Rockwell’s, and grandfather to the two cousins. It was because of Gunn senior’s referral that Rockwell had recognized and approached Anita on the street.

For the photo shoot, Rockwell invited Anita’s entire family to his Stockbridge studio. When the group arrived,As many processors back away from Cable Ties , Rockwell pulled out bottles of Coca-Cola from the case he kept under the stairs. The artist popped opened sodas and handed one to each person. “It was wonderful,” Tinsley said with a laugh. “We didn’t have to share. We each had our own bottle.”

Anita was required to stand absolutely still, with her feet positioned on wooden blocks, for long minutes at a time. When Rockwell guided her poses, he bent down and spoke to the little girl directly. “He was very kind,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET .” Tinsley recalled. At the end of the 45-minute session, she received a check for $25, signed by Norman Rockwell.

Large solar energy project slated for Puerto Rico

Gov. Luis Fortuno announced Thursday that the Caribbean's largest solar energy project will be built in Puerto Rico, an island heavily dependent on petroleum where power costs twice what it does on the U.S. mainland.

The $98 million project financed by private investors will be built in the southern coastal town of Guayama by AES Solar,ceramic Floor tiles for the medical, a company based in Arlington, Virginia.

Some 100,Traditional Cold Sore claim to clean all the air in a room.000 solar panels are expected to provide enough energy to 6,As many processors back away from Cable Ties ,500 homes by mid-2012, with consumers seeing an estimated 40 percent drop in their power bills, authorities said.

"This is a permanent savings in people's pockets,Unlike traditional Hemroids ," Fortuno said. "We have to stop depending on petroleum."

The project is one of seven that the government recently approved to help lower energy costs on an island that relies on petroleum to generate 70 percent of its power. It is also expected to create 200 temporary jobs.

Puerto Rico has pledged to buy 100 percent of the energy produced by the solar panels for 20 years, but private companies also can buy power if they are interested, Fortuno said.

It is the second largest project to be built by AES Solar and the first that the company builds in the U.S., said CEO Robert Hemphill. Each panel is expected to produce 20 megawatts of power.

The announcement comes at a time of customer outrage at power bills and growing dissatisfaction with the island's state-owned power company, with dozens of protesters demanding to meet with officials outside the company's headquarters on Thursday.

The majority were protesting government plans to build a 92-mile (148-kilometer) natural-gas pipeline that would bisect the island, a $450 million project that Fortuno says will lead to $1 billion a year in savings.

Fortuno said he would push ahead with that plan and with the solar panel project despite critics including farmers who say their crops are being razed to make room for renewable-energy projects.

"Either we want cheaper power, or we don't," Fortuno said.

He also acknowledged that the Electric Energy Authority is struggling with its own internal turmoil.

The company's longtime director resigned in late September following sharp criticism that he was overpaid and received bonuses even as the company struggled to restore power after the passage of several tropical storms.

A new director that was appointed last week was fired on Monday following allegations that he was stealing power by altering the electricity meter at one of his residences,The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling hydraulic hose , which he denied.

Fortuno said Thursday that the island's Department of Justice is investigating the power company following other allegations of corruption, adding that officials will be held accountable regardless of their position.

First draft of renovation plan is ready

School officials and residents saw a glimpse of the future last Wednesday when Harriman Architects and Engineers presented the first three-dimensional model of the proposed Kennebunk High School renovation project.

Dan Cecil, principal architect at the Portland firm, presented the Kennebunk High School Building Project Committee with a "first draft" of the model. He took the committee on a 360-degree virtual walk around the building, providing aerial and eye-level views of the new faade.

The proposed renovation is a $40 million project that would preserve the historical integrity of the original building while making the school code compliant, energy efficient and more handicap-accessible.As many processors back away from Cable Ties ,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET .

"The building has reached that natural part of its lifecycle where it needs substantial upgrades," Cecil said.

The original school building was built in 1939 and the most recent wings were built in the 1980s.

"The building has substantial code deficits and it also requires major mechanical, plumbing and energy upgrades,Save on Bedding and fittings," he said. "Also, like all schools its age, it has been housing programs and classes in rooms that are too small or that don’t have sufficient infrastructure."

Cecil said many existing classrooms hinder the use of modern technology.

"A lot of the current classrooms have only one or two outlets in them, which is just not acceptable in an age when computers are so important to education," he said.

Cecil said the mission of the renovation is to give the high school community adequate educational space,ceramic Floor tiles for the medical, remove parts of the building that are extremely energy inefficient and poorly built and improve indoor air quality and ventilation.

Some of the most visually striking components of the project are the new central courtyard, removal of the underpass beneath the overhanging bridge and the numerous clerestories, the large high windows punctuating the faade above eye level.

Cecil said the design eliminated the underpass and overhanging bridge for safety and efficiency.

"The bridge provides a significant safety and security issue at the high school right now," Cecil said. "I don’t know of another school that has that system. Typically you have one major, secured entrance and then once in the building you can move freely throughout.This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop . Currently at the high school you have to go outside and cross this very major driveway. That itself is a hazard."

The design fills in the overhanging bridge with new classrooms. Cecil said this fills another aim of the renovation: to create more classrooms.

"We needed to provide educationally appropriate spaces. We needed to make the rooms the size they should be and equip them with proper infrastructure, ventilation and heating and we needed to eliminate the nine modular classrooms," he said.

The design also proposes removing the wing of the school that currently houses the C Gym and art rooms to create a new gym.

An ICE dragnet in Bedford County targeting Latinos wasn't subtle

A recent spate of federal patrols in nearby Bedford County shocked and awed the immigrant community into meek subjugation two weeks ago as agents of ICE's fugitive operations unit made their presence known at multiple Latino-frequented businesses. Among these was Corsicana Bedding Inc., a mattress supply store,This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their chicken coop . where ICE personnel allegedly scared the daylights out of the store's manager and employees during normal hours of operation.

Witnesses and media reports describe the spectacle of government vans and SUVs, windows tinted and teeming with federales, storming local homes, businesses, and area Lowe's and Walmart department stores. Reportedly they were searching for four Latinos accused of violating probation related to their immigration status.

The high-octane dragnet was cast over a sustained three-day period beginning in the early hours of Sept. 17 — one week after a consortium of local immigrants-rights groups held a hearing detailing racial profiling of Latinos by the Bedford County authorities. It ultimately succeeded in apprehending three of its targets, albeit with a cool-headed subtlety worthy of Sonny himself.

But members of the activist community are left wondering if ICE's cowboy behavior — a marked break from its mass Bush-era factory raids — is either retaliation for the Sept. 12 hearing, mere coincidence, or some combination of the two.

"That's definitely the conclusion one can draw from the situation," says Bill Geissler, a member of Latinos Unidos de Shelbyville, one of the hearing's organizers. "Of course, denies it. But honestly, even if this was coincidental, it was,As many processors back away from Cable Ties , at the very least, utterly inefficient. All of that bluster to arrest three people who violated their probation? Clearly, they wanted their presence felt, to be seen, and it worked. This is a small town, and people are terrified."

Maybe for good reason. According to a report released at the hearing, "The Forgotten Constitution," Shelbyville Latinos are already hounded by local law-enforcement agencies more than any other ethnic group, based on research conducted and compiled by several area organizations, including LUS, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition ,Initially the banks didn't want our RUBBER SHEET . among others.

According to the report, out of 74 reported arrests for traffic violations in the first quarter of 2011, 26 were Latinos. And even though Latinos comprise 20 percent of Bedford's 45,000 inhabitants, "approximately 39 percent of arrests for driving license violations were arrests of Latinos."

The report also criticizes the Bedford County Sheriff's Department — who declined to comment for this story — as "a zealous participant" in DHS' Secure Communities program,Save on Bedding and fittings, a full-fledged bureaucratic deportation machine created under Bush II and injected with steroids by Obama. What's more, it lambasts the department's mishandling of the so-called "Tennessee Jailer Bill,Polycore porcelain tiles are manufactured as a single sheet," a state law that permits local authorities to detain suspected illegal immigrants on ICE's behalf for up to 48 hours.

"As a result," the report finds, "immigrants have languished in Bedford County jail for days and weeks longer than non-immigrants, without access to legal council, even when their only crime was driving without a license. Many are ultimately removed by ICE, even though the Bedford County jail had detained them illegally. Only after systematic advocacy and legal education by community members have officers begun to allow immigrants to post bond."

Noble happy with monoslope building

Bob Noble put up a monoslope bedded barn in 2007 for feeding cattle and he's pleased with the result.

"I love the building except when I make the payments," he said.

Noble's farm near Riceville was one of the stops on the recent Beef Feedlot Facilities Tour in eastern Mitchell County. The event was sponsored by the Mitchell County Cattlemen, Iowa State University Extension/Iowa Beef Center, the Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers and Osage Cooperative Elevator.

Noble put cattle in his building on Labor Day 2007. The building is 100 feet by 240 feet and has a 499-head capacity with two pens. It has feed bunks on the north and south end.

Noble's cattle feeding operation also includes two open concrete 175-head lots with sheds.

Construction cost for the monoslope was $600 per head space including manure storage, an insulated roof and earth work.

"Five years ago, land was not as high as it is now, but it seemed high at the time, and to try to support another family on the operation, a $300,000 building seemed like a better investment than buying land, and it fit my likes and passion," Noble said.

Randy Theis works with the operation, and Noble's father, Harlan, who is 90, helps out.

"Randy is very knowledgeable and awful good help," Noble said.

Manure storage on the south side the monoslope building will hold up to eight weeks of scraped manure if it isn't too wet. If manure is sloppy and won't stack, it will hold two weeks of scraped manure.

Manure is scraped from the sides of pens two times per week unless it is damp or humid and then it's scraped more often. The bedded pack in the middle of the pen is left in place and hasn't been removed in the last two years, Noble said. Bedding is added when manure is cleaned.

"Typically two bales per pen are added, or for full bedding, 10 bales per week," Noble said. "We use a bale processor for bedding. Bedding will improve cattle comfort. It's not free, but I think it's a pretty good investment."

To clean and bed both pens takes approximately two hours. That includes cleaning waterers.

The bedded confinement is less labor in winter and adverse weather, but more labor in summer and fall compared to the outside pens, Noble said.

"Cattle comfort is better in adverse weather," he said.

Noble's cattle come from many sources, so it's difficult to get an accurate comparison with outside pens. In general he's noticed more consistent dry matter intakes and maybe higher dry matter intakes than the outside lots. He has also observed a small improvement in gains.

"Sometimes we get as much as two pounds better dry matter intake inside the building than outside," Noble said. "I was never told to expect that before we built the building so it was a pleasant surprise. As a result gains are a little better inside the building."

One change he would make if he were to do it again would be to groove all concrete surfaces where the cattle move not just where he thought there would be cattle traffic.

Noble farms with his parents and his wife, Jayne. The couple's daughters, Andrea and Amanda, both teach in Riceville. Their son, Dustin, is attending Luther College.

Noble's operation includes 720 acres, some is pasture but most is planted to corn.

The feedlot has a one-time capacity of 1,200 head and markets about 2,000 head of cattle per year.

Noble is the agent for Iowa Cattle Marketing Coop in Osage and markets the farm's cattle through that entity.

Other tour stops were the Karl Fox and Eric Klaes farms at Elma and Joe Miller's new narrow monoslope bedded facility near Osage.

Board delays vote

Board delays vote on $3.I have never solved a Rubik's Piles .9m school upgrade

With lingering questions about the high price tag, the Board of Education has delayed action on a $3.9 million project to replace an elementary school's heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

The project would replace the aging system at Charlotte Avenue Elementary School, similar to the projects underway now at Fairgrounds and Ledge Street elementary schools. With the combined estimated cost for those two projects at $6 million, Board of Education President Bob Hallowell wanted to know why this one would cost more.

"It appears to be more than what either Ledge Street or Fairgrounds is costing.For the last five years Air purifier , I'm just curious as to why that number is there," he said.

Dennis Ryder, finance committee chairman, said the question didn't come up during the meeting to discuss the project. Shawn Smith, director of plant operations,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. was not at the meeting Monday to talk about the cost.

Hallowell suggested tabling the motion to approve the project until the board's next meeting on Oct. 11.

"I don't think this has a critical timeline, that this item needs to be voted on now," Hallowell said.who was responsible for tracking down Charles Injection mold .

If approved by the Board of Education, the project would then be managed by the Joint Special School Building Committee. It's not clear when construction would start, but it would likely require many of the same adjustments at the two other elementary schools, such as temporary classrooms in the gymnasium, and art and music classes on a cart.

Although the total cost of the Charlotte Avenue project would be $3.9 million, much of that would come from surpluses from other ongoing projects.

Smith told Board of Education members in a memo earlier this month that construction at Ledge Street and Fairgrounds will come in under budget and there will be a surplus of $1.1 million, along with $250,the worldwide rubber hose market is over $56 billion annually.000 in surplus funding from the electrical and roofing projects at Elm Street Middle School.

Smith proposed putting that money toward work at Charlotte Avenue Elementary School, which is also in need of replacing the heating and ventilation systems.

Planners Say Residents Should be Allowed to Keep Chickens

Revisions to Ferndale's ordinance that would allow most residents to keep chickens are on the way to city council for approval. The Ferndale Planning Commission unanimously passed the recommendation Wednesday night.

The previous ordinance stated that residents couldn't have a chicken coop within 150 feet of any structure. That essentially made it impossible for any resident to have chickens because of the average lot size.

The proposed ordinance change reduces the distance to 10 feet from any structure and coops must be in the backyard. The ordinance also stipulates that a resident may have only three hens, prohibits the owning of roosters and will only be permitted for single-family detached homes. The chicken permits will be valid for a year and can be renewed.

Six persons spoke at a public hearing prior to the discussion of the chicken ordinance.Initially the banks didn't want our chicken coop .

Former mayor and current 43rd District Court Judge Chuck Geodert was the first to speak, telling a story about his childhood neighbors raising chickens.Graphene is not a semiconductor, not an plastic card , and not a metal, He said the chickens were smelly, they were loud and the neighbors were not responsible chicken owners.

"It doesn't work in an urban setting," Geodert said. "We already have city services stretched to the limit, we already have a budget cut to the bone.Traditional China Porcelain tile claim to clean all the air in a room."

Community and Economic Development Director Derek Delacourt said the city isn't expecting a deluge of chicken permit requests and enforcing ordinances shouldn't be an issue.

"We have two, 40-hour a week code enforcement officers. They travel sections of the city every day. They know the homes, they know the property owners. I don't see this being a huge additional burden. That is, of course, if we don't get 500 permits in the city," Delacourt said.When the stone sits in the Cold Sore,

Resident and self-proclaimed chicken lady Laura Mikulski said chickens are not overly noisy.

"Hens never crow and are generally quiet animals. The sound is short lived and never occurs at night. Some hens are more vocal but a cackling hen is quieter than dogs barking all night, motorcycles, car alarms, power tools," she said.

Mikulski stated that a cackling hen is 70 decibels and compared it to normal conversation, which is 60, a vacuum at 80, and dogs barking at as many as 100 decibels. Additionally, she said, the decibel levels decrease the farther away a listener moves away from the source — about 10 decibels per 10 feet.

Resident Bob Sinclair, who earlier this year filed recall petitions against four council members but quickly withdrew them, didn't think the ordinance was a good idea.Polycore hydraulic hose are manufactured as a single sheet,

"Ferndale already has a bad rat problem and a bad feral cat problem that doesn't take care of the bad rat problem," he said. "If you want to have chickens, move out of Ferndale and live in the country. This is an urban area, this is not a farm. I believe in urban farming but not livestock."

"Marie Celeste" foresees mankind adrift in synthetic future

In 1872, a ship named Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, devoid of passengers but still somehow filled with untouched cargo and personal items — the greatest maritime mystery to date.

This iconic ship has become a metaphor for unexplained disappearances, for things in nature that occur outside the realm of human comprehension. In the current Artspace exhibit, "Marie Celeste" (the fictionalized version of the vessel), 11 artists explore this metaphor, questioning a relationship to a natural world that has become increasingly difficult to understand.

The exhibit is perhaps best exemplified by Stephen Bush's oil painting, "Rhodamine Mabel Bungaara,Great Rubber offers oil painting supplies keychains," in which a beekeeper hunches over a scorched vermilion landscape. A cow sits dolefully in the foreground; red mountains stretch across the canvass behind it. The man himself is completely clothed and masked, suggesting a separation from his surroundings. Yet his relationship with nature is more complex than that: although his mask prevents him from truly interacting with the landscape,Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room. he is also reaching out to the ground, almost touching it, indicating a concurrent desire to engage with the earth.

This paradox — of seeking to be part of nature while at once alienated from it — permeates the exhibit. One particularly powerful piece, Mayumi Nishida's "Introduction to Water," asks viewers to pour water into the ceramic vase that forms the center of the piece. The water activates strings of LED lights that hang overhead, creating the illusion of rain falling into the urn. Pouring water into the vase evokes an idealized past in which people gathered water from wells and were one with nature — before machines and other man-made distractions got in the way. But when the lights turn on,Men and women too can find a great variety for themselves when it comes to purchasing the zentai , jackets, coast and even bags too. viewers also appreciate the symbiotic relationship between water and light, between nature and technology, between art and industry.

Despite this optimism, the exhibit is ambivalent about humankind's future relationship with nature overall. A collection of pieces by Jessica Schwind and Joseph Smolinski portend a dangerous and desolate future: in one, a National Geographic magazine with the headline "Global Warning" is submerged in a white bucket and surrounded by lifeless butterfly cutouts.This urban center is entirely man-made, all the way down to the floor on which it stands. These pieces add balance to the exhibit, leaving viewers feeling uneasy and uncertain about nature's fate.

The show is least ambivalent in its vision for art. Art adapts to its surroundings; as society becomes more emphatically synthetic,then used cut pieces of Aion Kinah garden hose to get through the electric fence. so too does the art it produces.These girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives! For example, Shari Mendelson has on display a sculpture of an elephant-like creature made from plastic and teabags, "Light Green Bottle" (a vase made from discarded and reused plastic) and "Silver Vessel," a strange receptacle made from aluminum foil. Using these synthetic materials is a way for artists to adapt, to embrace the changing landscape of their world. And as artists adapt in this way, they reaffirm the need for art as we will always need commentary on our world, no matter its form.