Josef Fritzl's lawyer says he has received more threats as he wraps up his defense of the Austrian on trial for imprisoning his daughter for 24 years.
Rudolf Mayer told reporters as he headed into the final day of court proceedings against Fritzl that he has been a target again. Mayer has said in the past that he both he and Fritzl had received death threats.
…
Actress Kim Ulrich, who plays a young nurse on the NBC televisionseries "Nightingales," says she and her colleagues sympathize withcritics who don't like to see them running around in their underwear.
"I think that since we've had to do all the underwear scenes andall of the aerobic scenes, we've kind of banded together to fightthem," she said recently. Critics have complained the show …
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. has agreed to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, but the deal isn't set to close until a year from now, and it will likely face tough regulatory scrutiny. Here's what a completed deal could mean for customers:
— Some time after the deal is completed, T-Mobile phones with "3G" wireless broadband won't get 3G service any more, and will need to be replaced. AT&T will be offering new phones with access to AT&T's 3G network to these customers, but it's not clear what the deals will be. It could take a year for AT&T to turn off T-Mobile 3G, so there will be time to adjust. AT&T will use T-Mobile's 3G frequencies for 4G instead, for faster data …
A Pakistani court granted police another 10 days on Tuesday to question five Americans held on suspicion of links to Islamist militants, a government official said.
Authorities also said they had released the father of one of the five men who was arrested along with the group last week.
Police could find no evidence that father Khalid Farooq, also a U.S. citizen, had committed any crime, regional law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said.
The men, aged 19 to 25, were reported missing from the Washington, D.C., area after their families found a farewell video …
SOUTH BEND, Ind. Where does Rodney Culver play?
Anywhere he wants to.
The 6-0, 219-pound sophomore-to-be scored three touchdowns andrushed for 66 yards as the Blue won Notre Dame's Blue-Gold intrasquadgame 21-8 Saturday. Culver, who rushed 30 times for 195 yards andthree touchdowns last fall, is an armful at either fullback ortailback.
"It doesn't matter to me - I just want to play," said Culver,from Detroit, one of several Irish to display their rushing skillsbefore a crowd of 25,694 interested in getting an early look at the1988 national champions.
Kenny Spears (58 yards rushing), Anthony Johnson (47) and RickyWatters (27), the top tailback, …
FAO President Jac Nasser may lose his 'Jac the Knife' nickname. Are you ready for 'Jac the Savior?'
It's been a little more than a year and a half since Jac Nasser took over as head of Ford Automotive Operations, and it's never going to be the same.
He's been busy, chopping out costs and products. Some say he continues to earn his nickname, "Jac the Knife." Others says he's tired of that moniker and hopes to soften his image a bit. In the last 18 months Nasser has:
Cut $3 billion from FAO's costs, helping to boost Ford earnings to a record $6.9 billion and outdoing rival General Motors, which ended 1997 with a $6.7 billion profit. Cost cuts for 1998, however, won't …
Democrat Barack Obama raised $52 million last month for his presidential campaign, more than twice as much as Republican rival John McCain in a significant boost to his financial cache for the fall contest.
The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee ended June with a combined total of $92.3 million in the bank. The figure represents a notable fundraising jump, especially for the DNC.
Obama reported $72 million cash on hand and the DNC $20.3 million. But the Democrats still lag Republican John McCain's presidential campaign and the Republican Party.
Last week, McCain reported raising more than $22 million in June, which was his best …
WASHINGTON -- America in recent years has been sweltering throughthree times more than its normal share of extra-hot summer nights,government weather records show. And that is a particularly dangeroustrend.
During heat waves, like the one that now has a grip on much of theEast, one of the major causes of heat deaths is the lack of nightcooling that would normally allow a stressed body to recover.
Some scientists say the trend is a sign of man-made globalwarming.
A top federal research …
Independent bookstores across the country are fighting a valiant, passionate battle against big box stores, online merchants and auction sites. Many seem to be alive and well in Idaho, thanks to their personalized touches, manageable size, knowledgeable, service-oriented staff and more often than not--something rare or distinct within their walls. Here are a few of our favorites and what makes them stand out from the pack.
Book & Game Company
The sunny, airy feel of Book & Game is immediately welcoming. Maybe you've wandered over from the adjoining River City Bagel after a bagel and lox and some organic coffee, or maybe you've arrived with a specific purchase in …
Chinese paramilitary police with riot shields and batons abruptly took up posts this week on the main street of this Tibetan town, disrupting the bustle of Buddhist pilgrims in a reminder of China's determined control of the region.
With some Tibetans pushing harder against Chinese rule, the communist government is determined to pacify the area.
The show of force Monday was meant to deter unrest while a local court sentenced a group of Tibetans for taking part in large anti-government protests in March in Xiahe, a small town abutting a sprawling complex of golden-roofed temples.
Though the verdicts were not publicly announced, the trial also …
Oak Park's Brennen Keefe highlighted yesterday's conferenceaction with a two-run single to give the top-ranked Huskies a 5-3victory over Proviso West in West Suburban Silver action.
Keefe's bases-loaded single in the top of the seventh snapped atie at 3. Sean Lawrence mopped up for winner Russ Ivojak by gettingthe last two outs and stranding two runners. Oak Park is 14-0, 7-0.
LaGrange (10-4, 4-2) bumped Glenbard West 3-2 as Joe Sabanhomered in the seventh to give Frank Cosenza the distance victory.
In West Suburban Gold, Willowbrook (12-4, 5-1) pounded ProvisoEast 10-1 as Jeff Englund threw a five-hitter and Rich Hintz and TedDelis each had two …
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - An investigation into airstrikes that slammed into Afghan homes where Taliban fighters sought shelter found that 62 insurgents and 45 civilians were killed, two Afghan officials said Sunday.
An investigating team was sent to Helmand province's Gereshk district, where fighting took place between insurgents and Western …
Before the Royals went on their double-digit winning streak,manager Hal McRae was on the hot seat, in danger of being firedbefore the season ended. His job now appears safe.
Q. Did you ever worry about your job or get paranoid?
A. "Nah, I'm too stubborn for all of that. Besides, if youstart worrying about it all the time, you're doomed anyway. You'rejust going to drive yourself crazy."
Q. Did you ever receive a phone call from general manager HerkRobinson concerning your status?
A. "Well, I really don't need that. I don't need a vote ofconfidence. I'll manage until they tell me not to manage anymore.Everyone who takes a job like this knows you're hired to get fired."
When Michael Maynard was 20 years old, he was busted forpossessing pot.
Two months ago, he was fired from his teaching job for that veryoffense. He is now 42.
The former Bloom Township High School teacher has filed suit,alleging the state's criminal background investigation law isunconstitutional.Maynard was dismissed from his permanent substitute teaching jobin December after a state-mandated background check revealed he hadpleaded guilty to possessing a small amount of marijuana in 1974."I'd been cited a number of times for doing a very good job atthe school," said Maynard, whose conviction prevents him fromteaching at any school in Illinois, under the state's school code."I was shocked they could let me go for something that happened whenI was just a kid."The 1985 law was designed to protect Illinois schoolchildrenfrom dangerous felons by requiring all schools to conduct criminalbackground checks on teachers as a condition of employment.If an educator is found to have committed one or more of thecrimes listed in the code, including misdemeanor drug offenses, he orshe is to be fired immediately.Maynard is suing Bloom Township School District 206 in ChicagoHeights, the Illinois Board of Education and the Illinois TeacherCertification Board, alleging the law is unconstitutional because itpunished him retroactively for a crime he committed 22 years ago."It's not fair to destroy a person's career on something thathappened in his youth during an era when marijuana, Jimi Hendrix andWoodstock were fashionable," said Homewood attorney William Borah,who is representing Maynard. "How many baby boomers would beunemployed if they were held to the same standard?"Maynard, caught during a routine traffic stop, was carrying alittle more than 10 grams of pot - about 6 or 7 joints.Because teachers fired under the criminal background law are notallowed hearings to contest their dismissals, Maynard's suit alsoalleges that the loss of his job constitutes a loss of propertywithout due process or equal protection of the law.Although Bloom is named in the lawsuit, Maynard does not blamethe south suburban school, where he has taught for the last twoyears."There is a great respect for (Maynard's) talent and anappreciation for his teaching," Borah said. "They would haveretained him as a teacher at Bloom except for that statute."School officials declined to be interviewed, but in a letteradvising Maynard of his dismissal, Bloom Principal Lynda Byrd wrote:"Mike, please be reassured that this is not a reflection upon yourwork record at Bloom High School. You have given fine service to theschool and its students. It is, however, a matter of law which mustbe cleared."Borah said legislators are to blame for writing a "sloppy" lawthat keeps criminals out of classrooms but also arbitrarily punishesthose convicted of minor crimes.But state school officials say Maynard's firing is justified."The definition of a minor crime is in the eye of the beholder,"said Kim Knauer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Board of Education."Unfortunately, mistakes you make when you're young come back tohaunt you - rightly or wrongly. It's hard to make the exception."The law that prohibits Maynard from teaching does not includemurder as a grounds for termination.State Sen. Robert Raica (R-Chicago) is sponsoring a bill thatwould add murder and Class X felonies to the list of includedoffenses. Senate Bill 1486 passed out of the Senate last week andwill be heard in the House."The background check for teachers is to make sure that no ClassX felons, no child molesters, arsonists or those who committed anytype of serious crimes that would have the potential of endangeringthe child," Raica said. "I thought it was very odd that arson was inthere but murder wasn't."Raica also said he was surprised that "pot smoking" was on thelist, but he declined to comment specifically on Maynard's case.Maynard said the school did a background check when he was hiredbut apparently lost the information. His arrest showed up whenanother check was done.Maynard, a Crete resident and father of two sons, has a master'sdegree in public administration from Northwestern University. Heworked as a substitute teacher from 1979 to 1981 and as a budgetanalyst for George Ryan, now the Illinois secretary of state, whenRyan was lieutenant governor. After owning his own forklift servicebusiness, Maynard said, he decided two years ago to return to hispassion - teaching."I'm completely unemployable in the state of Illinois as ateacher," said Maynard, who has been selling heavy equipment sincehis firing. "It's all been very embarrassing. And it hurts becauseI can't do the job that I love."
LONDON (AP) — Sir John Rose is retiring as CEO of Rolls-Royce Group PLC next year after 15 years heading the aircraft engine maker.
Rolls-Royce announced Thursday that Rose will retire in March.
He will be succeeded by John Rishton, who is now chief executive of the Dutch retail group Royal Ahold. Rishton has been a director of Rolls-Royce since 2007, and he was chief financial officer of British Airways from 2002 to 2006.
In a summer of unlikely movie stars _ fighting pandas, drunken superheroes, aging archaeologists _ Danny McBride is a perfect fit.
He's at the awkward center of "The Foot Fist Way," the first movie from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company. After that, the 32-year-old from Virginia pops up in two high-profile August comedies, "Tropic Thunder" and "Pineapple Express."
And before the theater-going public has even figured out how to pick his curly hair out of a crowd, he's sweating away on the desert set of his next film, a big budget "Land of the Lost" remake, alongside Ferrell and computer-generated tyranosaurs.
Just don't think it's gone to his head.
"My assistant still puts my pants on one leg at a time," McBride deadpans.
McBride studied filmmaking at North Carolina School of the Arts and dreamed of being a director. Upon graduation in 1999, he and fellow classmates made the sojourn to Hollywood.
They waited tables and landed jobs as production assistants on an "American Gladiators" ripoff called "Battledome," cleaning up sweat and blood.
Though he served as second unit director on classmate David Gordon Green's acclaimed arthouse film "George Washington," nothing else materialized. McBride settled into a production house gig doing motion control for video of photographs.
"After the first year, half the people we came out here with went home, and after the second, more," McBride said. "It was definitely seeming like it was time to throw the white flag up. We were getting beat down. It wasn't too hard to convince us to go out to North Carolina to shoot something."
That something was "The Foot Fist Way," shot in 19 days in the summer of 2005 on a $70,000 (45,140) budget financed by credit cards. Written by McBride and former classmates Jody Hill and Ben Best, it tracks tae kwon do instructor Fred Simmons through marital woes and a climactic showdown with his low-budget action film hero, Chuck "The Truck" Wallace. Hill directed and Best co-stars as Wallace.
The film won over midnight audiences at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006, but only landed a UK distributor. After the fest, DVDs were passed around Hollywood talent agencies. The dark, twisted laughs won its creators high-profile advocates.
"We really didn't have a tap on how much the film had been circulated," McBride said. "Then next thing you know, Judd Apatow is asking us to come by the set."
Ben Stiller became a fan. Tom Cruise had a sit-down meeting with Hill, who is now shooting his second movie, "Observe and Report," in Albuquerque with Seth Rogen and Ray Liotta. Eventually Ferrell and his producing partner McKay purchased "Foot Fist," for distribution through Paramount Vantage.
"Danny's a really talented funny guy who everyone's kind of slowly discovering," Ferrell said. "Hopefully this will be kind of the first thing that sets him up. I have a whole Web site that's dedicated to letting people know that I discovered him first."
Despite the star wattage behind the film, marketers asked McBride to promote the movie with in-character red carpet appearances and interviews. He declined all _ except an apparently disastrous Andy Kaufman-esque turn as Simmons on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."
"We kind of knew that we had to generate a lot of our own buzz for the movie," McBride said. "There was no climax to it or punchline. We just went on there and blew it."
McBride gets to blow things up as the movie-within-a-movie's special effects coordinator in "Tropic Thunder," due out Aug. 15. In "Pineapple Express," out a week earlier and directed by former classmate Green, he plays a drug dealer that James Franco and Rogen turn to for help.
He runs an amusement park in "Land of the Lost," which was adapted from the TV series but drops the family dynamic. Ferrell plays a scientist and McBride said they've been able to improv some scenes despite the focus on high-end CGI.
"I haven't seen a comedy that is this sort of humor but on this scale of production," McBride said. "The vibe is really laid-back and chill. It reminds me of the vibe on 'Foot Fist,' believe it or not. At the end of the day, it's a director and a few actors trying to make something funny."
And by the end of his career, McBride doesn't necessarily want to be one of those few actors. He wants to write and direct, and is working with Green on an epic fantasy inspired by Laurence Olivier's 1981 "Clash of the Titans."
What will his well-placed fans say to that?
"You just have to kind of step up," McBride said. "Let's not disappoint 'em."
Last year, much to the astonishment of programmers whoconsistently underestimate the intelligence of the American public,the epic PBS documentary about the Civil War triggered theimagination of a vast television audience.
Now if only the same thing would happen with John Guare's 1984stage epic, "Women and Water."
The three-hour play, operatic in scope, is receiving aremarkable production by a young ensemble that appropriately callsitself the Big Game Theater. And the result is one of the mostgripping and demanding productions of the season.
With its cast of 20 and a narrative journey that moves from thebloody battlefields of Virginia to the deceptively idyllic beaches ofNantucket and the unpredictable waters of the Caribbean, Guare'sdrama would seem the perfect property for a big-budget company. Yetin Big Game's tiny storefront, where murders and love scenes areenacted just inches from the audience, worlds unfold and souls arebared to marvelous effect.
A sweeping, poetic, densely woven work of grand design andhaunting overtones, "Women and Water" touches on many of the samethemes dealt with in TV's "The Civil War." But as shaped by thestrange and marvelous mind of this most original and idiosyncraticplaywright - and as transformed by the language and craft of puretheater - Big Game's production probes even more intensely into thepsychological roots of this defining national struggle, and into muchthat has come afterward.
Guare's play bears the imprint of poet Walt Whitman, thatmasterful chronicler of the American life force. But it also exudesa strong odor of death, because like Joseph Conrad and HermanMelville, Guare is not afraid to seek out the most horrific outpostsof the American pscyhe. He travels into the heart of darkness andthe belly of the beast.
Initially staged in 1984, and rarely performed since then,"Women and Water" is chronologically the first in what was envisionedas a quartet of plays about America in the 19th century.
As Guare considers the legacy of slavery and capitalism, and theenduring power of the individual, he also sets the stage for theworks to follow. They are "Gardenia," which premiered at the GoodmanTheatre Studio in 1983 and tells of a New England utopian community;"Lydie Breeze," produced by Steppenwolf Theatre in 1986, and theuncompleted "Bulfinch's Mythology."
But if you look closely, you'll also detect traces of Guare'smost recent play, "Six Degrees of Separation," which again deals withrace, guilt and experience.
At the center of "Women and Water" is Lydie Breeze, a23-year-old nurse for the Union Army. The child of a merchantseaman, she is a fierce and endlessly self-challenging young woman.
And during the course of the play she must come to terms notonly with her own desires, but also with her father (played by MelZellman), her twin brother (Chet Grissom), a black man linked totheir destinies (Alexander Parker) and three young men (stronglyacted by Peter Blood, David Bryson and Brett Radford) whose lives shehas saved.
Big Game's production has been directed with tremendousingenuity by David Cromer. (The scene in which a buzzard devours adead soldier is so terrifying I will never forget it.) And JaneGalt's set - rough wood platforms and shadowy forests of gauze andbare branches - serves as a barge, beach house, graveyard and muchmore.
The performers bring fiery conviction to everything they do.But it's Natasha Lowe as Lydie who is the unrelenting force behindnearly every scene. Pale and slender, with delicately chiseledfeatures and riveting eyes, Lowe charges through this play like aveteran soldier. And with the rest of the cast, she emergesvictorious.
"Women and Water" will continue through May 5 at Big GameTheater, 1257 W. Loyola.
Performances begin at 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Ticketsare $10. Reservations (312) 262-1132. Street parking is available.
Last summer, Willis and Byrdalene Horst visited an elderly Toba woman to record stories of how churches began in the Argentine Chaco in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Horsts have lived in Argentina for almost 30 years, nourishing the evangelical church begun over 40 years ago with the guidance of Mennonite Board of Missions workers. They serve with a team that includes Germans of the Evangelical Free Church tradition, North American Mennonites and Argentine Baptists.
"We share a common Anabaptist spirituality and common convictions about the appropriate style of missionary presence among the Toba indigenous people," says Willis.
The vision carried by the Horsts and their team does not fit the missionary stereotypes.
"We come to share the good news that the life-giving Creator, who has been with them and inspiring...their culture since the beginning, has now spoken a new word in Jesus," says Willis. The team acknowledges that "the gospel does not erase, suppress or supplant previous culture and spirituality, but rather enhances it, bringing possibilities for new life and hope." The missionary is "always a guest, never a conqueror."
Willis says that Jesus brings to completion the indigenous people's "Old Testament" in much the same way that he fulfilled the best of the Jewish tradition.
Byrdalene works on helping indigenous women discover their gifts and build a biblical foundation for their faith.
"I have become much more conscious of discrimination against women, of the need for inclusive language, and the need to encourage indigenous women to exercise their gifts in the church, and for the men to give them space to do that," she said. She is beginning to see this happening.
[Graph Not Transcribed]
A powerful testimony to the understanding of these women is their dramatizations of verse collections Byrdalene puts together for Christmas and Easter.
"One Toba church planned a dramatization and memorized the verses, but when they began the practices, they were so moved by the story that the actors broke down crying and could not continue," she said.
The Horsts believe the indigenous church has something to teach the North American church:
- Don't bring us handouts. Come walk with us.
- Don't teach us your solutions. Read the Bible together with us.
- Don't come to help us. Come to learn together with us how we can help each other.
- Don't lay up treasure on earth. All the Creator's gifts are meant to be shared. Stinginess is the worst sin of all.
- Accept each other as God accepts you. Welcome the outsider; be gracious and hospitable to all.
- Have faith in Jesus who is the most powerful of all powers.
- Watch and wait for Jesus is coming.
"The indigenous believers have taught us that God is so much greater than we could ever have imagined," Willis said.
An organics cocollection pilot in the town of Bracebridge, Ontario has resulted in plans to begin a full-scale composting program for the District of Muskoka, where Bracebridge is located. The pilot, which ran from July, 1995 to April, 1996, involved 1,200 households divided into three groups of 400. Each group used a different type of container for the organic portion of the waste stream - 32 gallon Otto aerated wheeled carts, cellophane lined kraft bags, and degradable brown plastic bags (see "Pilot Evaluates Wet/Dry Collection, BioCycle, November, 1995). Residents in the cart group received biweekly collection of refuse and organics, with recyclables collected on alternating weeks. Residents using bags for organics received weekly collection of wet/dry materials. "Participation rates for the cart program were 52 to 54 percent, versus 34 percent for the kraft bags and 21 percent for the plastic bags," says George South of Muskoka Container-ized Services, Ltd. (MCS), which carried out the pilot.
As a result of the pilot, MCS is launching a full-scale, cart-based program, starting with 3,400 households and all of the institutional commercial/industrial sector in the District of Muskoka. There will be mandatory biweekly collection; residents can purchase or lease the carts. MCS recently completed construction of a 30,000 square foot composting building. Residential and ICI organics will be cocomposted with biosolids in windrows, says South. Eventually, the program will service the entire district, processing 10,000 tons/year of organics.
Now that someone has broken the law, Badgermania is official.
The T-shirt police in Madison, Wis., say counterfeit Rose Bowlmerchandise has been showing up on the Wisconsin campus. Naturally,this raises the question of how people up there would know thedifference when they haven't been to a Rose Bowl in 30 years, so theplace to check would be Bucky's Locker Room.
Except you can't get through by phone and you can barely get inon foot. Lines have been out the door with Badger Patch Kidscleaning out the inventory. The big seller was a newspaper reprintshirt with the headline "Believe It."
Apparently, they did, and so, they piled into the joint to stockup on this month's fashion trend. It got so bad the store held a"sale-a-thon" on the floor of the field house this weekend.
Presumably, those items were legit, but just knowing that fakeswere popping up makes this thing official.
Thing is, Badgermania means different things to differentpeople.
For students and fans, it meant a celebration that began shortlyafter the Badgers defeated Michigan State in Tokyo last weekend, avictory that landed Wisconsin in its first Rose Bowl since 1963. Anestimated 20,000-30,000 celebrants congregated on State Street totoast their heroes, then marched into Camp Randall Stadium and tookthe field (no injuries this time).
For players, it meant getting over 15 time zones of jet lagwhile trying to study for finals next week (and perhaps seekingmedical attention for all the back-slapping and hand-shaking).
For coach Barry Alvarez and his assistants, it's been a rumor.
This much he knows: his staff and players put a hefty downpayment on Tokyo night life after the milestone victory, whichenabled most of them to sleep during the flight from Japan toVancouver to Chicago. Alvarez also knows about the raucous receptionhis team received at O'Hare, and the bus trip to Madison thatincluded a police escort into Camp Randall Stadium for a rally.
And that's about it.
After returning to Madison Monday, he was flying to CaliforniaTuesday to check out practice sites, hotels and whatnot for the NewYear's Day game against UCLA. And those coaches who weren't with himin L.A. were out recruiting future Big Ten champions.
So, for Alvarez, the man who orchestrated this turnaround,Badgermania lasted about a day, give or take a continent. Which ismore than can be said for athletic director Pat Richter, who playedon the last Wisconsin team to win the vacation to Pasadena. Richterwent from Tokyo to New York for meetings, then headed to L.A. to joinAlvarez.
Jeez, you finally hit the lottery and you can't even look at themoney, let alone pocket it.
Hardly seems fair. I mean, it's not every year Wisconsin goesto the Rose Bowl. Hell, it's not even every generation. The Badgershave been there only three times (1953, '60 and '63). They are stilllooking for their first victory.
In fact, the Badgers have been to only six bowls, period, andthey've lost five of them. However, they do have a one-game winningstreak working after that memorable 20-19 victory over a vauntedKentucky club in the historic Hall of Fame Bowl in the landmark yearof 1984.
Or maybe you don't remember it.
Which explains Badgermania.
Only those delirious folks in Madison recall that game. Andthey recall the season before Alvarez arrived, when the Badgers went2-9 in 1989. And they recall his first year, when it was worse.One-and-10 worse. Then, 5-6 and 5-6.
Then, 9-1-1 - the most wins since the Roosevelt administration(Teddy's, not Franklin) and a trip to the Left Coast.
Believe it, even if Alvarez himself can't.
"The Rose Bowl was never in our goals," he said. "We nevertalked about that before the season. We started the season wantingto place in the top four in the Big Ten. I was wrong."
And they love those kinds of mistakes in Madison.
If Alvarez had questions about Badgermania by the time hereturned home this weekend for practice, he could've strolled throughtown to see what scratching the 30-year itch has meant. Or read backissues of the papers. Or read a T-shirt.
But there's no time for that. He still has players to coach, agame to win and, jeez, what kind of food do the hotels offer? Andthen it's off to L.A. on Christmas Day.
Clearly, he has no time to stand in line at Bucky's Locker Room.But that's OK, because you get the feeling this will not be Alvarez'slast fashion statement.
Steve Rosenbloom's column regularly appears Monday, Tuesday,Thursday and Sunday.
Matt Leinart threw more passes at potential dates than defensive backs this season.
"It hasn't been the way I pictured it," the Cardinals' backup quarterback said about his first trip to the Super Bowl, "but it's been good."
Byron Leftwich knows the feeling.
"I'm not sure if I'd feel any different if I was the starter," the Steelers' backup QB said. "But one thing I've learned, at least, is that you don't have to be 'the guy' to enjoy the experience."
Leinart, 25, and Leftwich, 29, were big men on campus whose selections in the first round of the NFL draft _ in 2005 and 2003, respectively _ were supposed to augur bigger and even better things in the pros. It just hasn't worked out that way. Each is still just one play away from the chance to make those predictions ring true.
"I know I'm here for emergencies, but hey, I've held my own against these guys more than once before," Leftwich said. "And it isn't like guys like us suddenly forget how to play."
Leinart signed a six-year, $51 million deal and segued smoothly from Heisman Trophy winner and national champion at Southern California to NFL rookie in Arizona. But he got off to a slow start in 2007, then broke his collarbone and wound up losing the starting job to veteran Kurt Warner. He hasn't been asked to handle much more than a clipboard since.
Leinart threw just 29 passes during the regular season in relief of Warner, for 264 yards and one touchdown. Not surprising, when Leinart makes headlines these days, it's more likely because he's dating Paris Hilton or the supermodel of the moment than anything he's accomplished on the field.
Leftwich maintained a much lower profile at Marshall, but left behind one of the iconic images in sports. He broke his shin in a November 2002 game against Akron, only to return and be carried down the field between plays by two offensive linemen while rallying the Thundering Herd to a 17-point comeback.
Sadly, that image of Leftwich limping and trying to play through pain would prove to be a tableau for his NFL career. Drafted by Jacksonville, he twice earned and then lost the starting job because of ankle injuries, then did it one more time after moving to Atlanta early in the 2007 season.
When Charlie Batch, Pittsburgh's No. 2 passer, sustained a season-ending injury at the start of the preseason, Leftwich put down his plans to compete for a starting job somewhere and signed a one-year deal with the Steelers at the veteran's minimum of $645,000. He didn't play much more than Leinart this season, completing 21 of 36 passes for 303 yards and two TDs.
But Leftwich replaced an injured Ben Roethlisberger against the Redskins back in his hometown of Washington, and that win was satisfying enough to make riding the bench tolerable the rest of the way.
"The last year and a half, being on the surgery table, all that rehabbing, it lets you know that things happen for a reason," he said. "When you find yourself somewhere you've dreamed about for 25 years, it takes a minute to realize it almost never turns out the way you thought.
"But trust me," Leftwich said through a wide smile, "this has been a blessing in disguise."
J.P. woman turns love for sewing into business success
Shaun Taylor
When Patria Valenzuela was a young girl in the Dominican Republic, sewing was something she loved to do under the guidance of her mother. Little did she know, being a skilled seamstress would one day give her the opportunity to own a business doing what she loves to do -- creating beautiful garments for others.
"I always loved to sew," she says.
In 1987, Valenzuela was facing a business opportunity she could not resist. The owner of Sonia's Bridal, a shop in Jamaica Plain's Hyde Square business district, was selling. The shop sells and rents tuxedos, gowns, costume jewelry and other items for weddings and sweet sixteen birthday parties.
"I heard some people were selling this business," Valenzuela re-calls. "I figured I had nothing to lose so, I found out how much it was to buy, then went out and raised the money."
The price was set at $35,000. Patria had just $48 dollars to her name. But she also had a network of family and friends.
Within a week, she had the money.
"Back in 1987 banks were not trying to loan minorities any capital to start a business, and they certainly did not consider me a good risk because I had no college degree and no tangible business background," Valenzuela says. "I went to the people who believed in me, my family and my friends."
Unlike traditional lending sources, however, some of Valenzuela's friends placed challenging conditions on their credit.
"The last $4,000 came from a friend on a Thursday who had to have it back the following Monday," Valenzuela says.
By the end of her first business day, Patria sold enough to pay her friend back. Since then, Sonia's has been doing brisk business, catering primarily to the city's Latino market.
The 59-year-old mother of four has taken the traditional bridal concept and expanded it to a successful full-service operation.
She caters mostly to the traditional Sweet 15 and 16 birthday celebrations in the Latino community.
"We did about 14 to 16 parties that first year," she recalls.
These birthday parties were usually no small task because Valenzuela would have to custom make up to 14 gowns for the girls and 14 tuxedos for the boys, plus a flower girl, the birthday girl and her boyfriend.
In addition to outfitting the party-goers with the correct clothing, Valenzuela has integrated other services into her operation, forming a one-stop party shop. Her son/store manager, Jesus, who graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Business Administration, has helped Valenzuela branch out.
"Why should we be like the rest of the department stores?" he says. "You only have one sweet 15 or 16 birthday, you only have one first marriage in life, that day must be extra special, so to customize everything for our clients is what we do best."
In addition to the limos and catering services Sonia's provides, Jesus himself brings his music and turntables to events.
"I like the opportunity to play music because it allows me to see how some of our events and music bring life to any party, so you can imagine the fun I have," he comments.
Sonia's Bridal Shop now does a minimum of 50 full weddings and 15 to 20, sweet 15 and 16 birthday parties per year. When asked whether or not expansion is in the immediate future, Valenzuela responds, "Yes, but not immediate, we feel stabilizing our current location is our priority, before we expand."
"I realize that I am the next generation and I must keep the torch burning bright so, I must continue to be innovative and make sure we incorporate new technology into the business," Jesus adds.
For more information call at (617) 522-6961 or visit the shop at 351 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain.
Photo (Patria Valezuela)
It's been quite some time since I'd heard such talk, so it caught me by surprise. "Mennonites shouldn't be proselytizing. It imposes our beliefs on others and is triumphalist theology."
The words were spoken with intent to be "pluralistic" and "open minded," but I found them rather "exclusive" and "narrow." With such words, all those not "born Mennonite" (whatever that means) are required to make their own way in seeking healing and hope. In the interest of not imposing, others are prevented from knowing the very thing we've embraced. And we lose the opportunity to present a seamless understanding of peace, service and evangelism--in Christ.
Could we imagine the 16th century Anneken Van Den Hove refusing to speak of her hope in Christ? Or "strong George" Blaurock not sharing his faith, for fear of offending someone? Or Dirk Willems not going back across the ice to care for another human being?
In more recent history, could the church in Ethiopia have remained silent about her faith, or stopped helping others in their need? Such thoughts are absurdities. We can't, with integrity, enshrine Anabaptist movements and then discount their intent--to live out in all ways, the good news of Jesus Christ.
When someone has so completely altered both our "present" and "future"--how can we not share someone who is changing us? Unless, of course, we're not really being changed at all. In which case, we've nothing more, and probably less, to offer than a secular agency. Quite rightly then, the most honest thing we could do is apologize for our presumption, pack up our bags and leave quietly.
But if Christ has become our peace, if the Spirit is conforming us, if God is remaking us--then we have grounds to bring others a message of hope! Not as a marketing ploy to fill our churches, not for personal egos or success. but simply for the sake of others. A weaving of witness, service, peace, and justice--and all soaked deeply in a dye of humility and grace. One of the greatest falsehoods we can embrace is to believe this faith we profess is ours to "have," when it's only ours to give away.
[Graph Not Transcribed]
WASHINGTON - Citing FBI abuses and the attorney general's troubles, senators peppered top Justice and intelligence officials Tuesday with skeptical questions about their proposal to revise the rules for spying on Americans.
Senate Intelligence Committee members said the Bush administration must provide more information about its earlier domestic spying before it can hope to gain additional powers for the future.
"Is the administration's proposal necessary, or does it take a step further down a path that we will regret as a nation?" asked Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-V.Wa., as he convened a rare public hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee he chairs.
For two hours, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein and their lawyers tried to parry increasingly dubious and hostile questions. They deferred many answers to a committee session closed to the public.
With little apparent success, they portrayed the administration bill as merely an adjustment to technological changes wrought by cell phones, e-mail and the Internet since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was enacted in the 1970s. Under current rules, McConnell said, "We're actually missing a significant portion of what we should be getting."
But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., responded, "We look through the lens of the past to judge how much we can trust you." Like other senators, he said that trust was undermined by recent disclosure that the FBI had abused so-called National Security Letters to obtain information about Americans.
Whitehouse added another factor. "The attorney general has thoroughly and utterly lost my confidence," he said in reference to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' shifting explanations for the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys.
Rockefeller pressed a demand for documents in which he was joined by Republican vice chair Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri.
"There is simply no excuse for not providing to this committee all the legal opinions on the president's program," Rockefeller said.
The committee asked a year ago for Bush's order - and the Justice legal opinions supporting it - that directed the National Security Agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to eavesdrop without warrants on Americans believed to be in contact with terrorists.
Democrats and civil liberties and conservative groups complained that the directive violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires warrants from a secret court for intelligence surveillance of Americans. Bush agreed last January to put the program under the court's supervision.
In 2006, the surveillance court approved all but one request to eavesdrop on people in the United States, according to the Justice Department. The court approved a total of 2,176 warrants. The FISA court also approved 43 warrants allowing investigators access to business records of suspected terrorists and spies.
Even though the administration insists the warrantless wiretapping was legal under the president's constitutional powers, the administration bill contains a provision blocking lawsuits against telephone companies that cooperated. The administration has won most of the court battles so far over that spying, but one judge declared it illegal.
"Congress is being asked to enact legislation that brings to an end lawsuits that allege violations of the rights of Americans," Rockefeller said. "We cannot legislate in the blind."
The senators were not calmed by reassurances from the witnesses that the domestic wiretapping is still operating under the secret court's supervision.
"There is nothing in this bill that confines the president to work within" the surveillance act in the future, said Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif. The same issue was raised by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
McConnell said the administration wants to work under the surveillance law now, but acknowledged "that does not mean the president would not use ... (constitutional powers) in a crisis."
"We want to go after the bad guys," Nelson said, "but we want to prevent the creation of a dictator who takes the law in his own hands." He said some senators and others legitimately believed Bush broke the law.
Earlier in the day, the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts reported that state prosecutors obtained a record number of criminal wiretap warrants last year to listen to more than 3 million phone conversations, mostly in drug cases. Federal prosecutors got only a third as many of these wiretaps, all in cases unrelated to terrorism.
---
On the Net:
Senate hearing site: http://intelligence.senate.gov/hearings.cfm?hearingId2643
2006 Wiretap Report: http://www.uscourts.gov/wiretap06/contents.html
The U.S. online poker industry services 2.5 million Americans who play and bet $30 billion annually, according to a June 2010 Forbes article.
The Internet gaming industry generates as much as $6 billion a year in profit, according to a May ABC News article.
If legalized, tax revenues from online gambling could range anywhere from $10 billion over 1 0 years to more than $800 billion over five years, the ABC News article states.
Casino games consistently have accounted for about one-fourth of the online gambling market, according to the white paper written for the American Gaming Association in 2006.
On July 28, the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill to legalize online ker and non-sports betting.
Xenon work lamps from Hella are now available in designs that allow them to be placed in previously impossible positions, providing brighter lighting of the precise work area. Some examples include Hella's Ultra Beam Xenon and Mega Beam Xenon models with fourth generation ballast electronics, as well as the Oval 100 Xenon integral. Designed for heavy-duty vehicles that work through the night, they provide 2.5 times the light output of lamps using 55-watt halogen bulbs. The lights use an impact-proof light are instead of a filament, making sudden light failure practically impossible, while ballast electronics can be positioned safely in the vehicle, up to 10 feet from the light. Hella says the xenon lamps last five times longer than similar halogen models.
More info at www.hella.com
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Thousands lined up to cast their ballots for president Sunday in the Central African Republic, though some neighborhoods saw delays because materials had not arrived on time.
In central Bangui more than 5,000 people stood patiently in line at one polling station. Election officials said polls had not opened in some areas surrounding the capital because the stations had not yet received voter listings.
Strongman-president Francois Bozize is expected to win another term in office, this time facing the man he overthrew nearly eight years ago.
Few believe the vote will bring much change to this forgotten backwater in the heart of Africa, a desperately dirt-poor nation that's suffered five coups and myriad army mutinies since independence 50 years ago.
Voting was supposed to have taken place here last year, but the ballot was delayed several times because opposition leaders complained that preparations were incomplete. As a result, Bozize's constitutional five-year-term expired and was extended.
"I am very happy to vote today to re-establish a state of rights in this country," said 67-year-old Pierrette Montaigne.
Mangaya Yves, a 22-year-old high school student said that he was hoping for change.
"I've had enough of the social programs created by the government. The president must create more work opportunities and work harder to fight unemployment," he said.
Despite the nation's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, Bozize's corruption-addled government remains perpetually cash-strapped. Its authority is mostly limited to the capital, while armed bandits and insurgents roam the anarchic countryside.
In the northeastern village of Obo, rebel groups have made the area so insecure that farmers won't even till their fields for fear of raids.
Bozize, 65, came to power at the head of a rebel army that seized the capital amid volleys of machine-gun and mortar-fire in 2003, ousting Ange-Felix Patasse from the presidency at the same time the rest of the world was watching the invasion of Iraq.
Today, Central African Republic is among the poorest of countries in Africa, ranking 159 of 169 nations on the U.N.'s 2010 Human Development Index, which measures general well-being. Only about half the population in this former French colony is literate, and the U.N. says adults spend an average of just 3.5 years in school.
The country may be best known for the excesses of its late leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who ruled in the 1960s and 70s and even crowned himself "emperor" in a lavish multimillion-dollar ceremony modeled on the coronation of France's Napoleon Bonaparte.
Patasse, 74, is running as an independent and is not believed to have enough support to mount a serious threat. He only returned from exile in Togo late last year after Bozize granted him amnesty.
The strongest challenger is opposition leader Martin Ziguele, a 52-year-old former prime minister who once served under Patasse. Ziguele won about 36 percent of the vote in 2005, though, and may get even less this time around.
Also running are Jean Jacques Demafouth, 52, a former Patasse defense minister who went on to lead a northern rebel group, and opposition figure Emile Nakombo, 55.
If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff between the top two finishers is scheduled March 20.
About 1.8 million of the nation's 4.8 million people are registered to vote at about 4,500 polling stations. They will also cast ballots for 105 national assembly seats. Several hundred international observers, including those from the European Union and the African Union, are monitoring the vote.
___
Associated Press writer Todd Pitman in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.
A joke making the rounds suggests that if America really wants tomake Osama bin Laden miserable, all we need to do is send him his401(k) statement. The tumultuous economy indeed has chewed away atthe bottom line of many Americans' privately funded retirementinvestment programs. Yet, according to a recent survey of workingAmericans conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates Inc., 95 percentof the 500 respondents have not made any changes to their 401(k)plans since Sept. 11. They understand that history shows the marketto be a winner for long-term investors.
The American Enterprise Institute cites a Texas A&M Universitystudy that looked at every overlapping 35-year period stretching back128 years. The average annual return after inflation for a portfolioconsisting of the 500 stocks of the Standard & Poor's benchmark index(or its predecessor) was 7 percent. Over the very worst 35-yearperiod--which includes the Great Depression--annual returns came to2.7 percent. How does that compare to Social Security? Virtually allyoung people entering the labor market can expect a rate of return ontheir Social Security taxes of less than 2 percent. Markets win handsdown.
During the presidential campaign, candidate George W. Bushproposed allowing Americans to privately invest at least some of thecontributions now sent to Social Security. This week, a commissioncharged with making a recommendation on reforming Social Securitycame up with, alas, three proposals. Perhaps that's to be expectedgiven that for years Social Security has been considered the thirdrail of politics--deadly to touch. Or perhaps the commission's sizeand makeup--16 members split between the two parties--may have madeit unwieldy. Two of the plans would cut government benefits forretirees long in the future--which makes it unlikely that Congresswill rush to act before the elections. But, most significantly, allthree plans would allow for younger workers to set up voluntaryprivate accounts.
Those 55 or older would be protected from benefit cuts, but forlater retirees reductions seem inevitable. Still, any cuts envisionedby the panel would be offset by earnings from the private accounts.Demographic changes are forcing reform on Social Security. In 1940,there were 42 workers for every retiree; today, the ratio is 3.3-to-1. By 2030, every working couple will be supporting a retired person.As commissioner Gerald Parsky put it, "The program is financiallyunsustainable in its current form. Doing nothing is not a realoption." The panel's report makes clear that privatized accounts arepart of the solution. Americans ought to have a say in theirpreparation for retirement.
Searches were continuing today for the mother of a girl who fellfrom a fifth-floor balcony in Majorca.
Gianna Cooper, 7, sustained serious injuries when she plunged30ft on to a roof at the Hotel Samoa in Calas de Majorca.
Gianna's mother Sara, 45, was last seen leaving the hotel shortlybefore her daughter was found at 7.30am on Monday morning.
She had been sharing a room with her daughter while the girl'sfather Ian and brothers James, 14, and Jonathan, 10, were sleepingnearby.
A police spokeswoman said: "At this stage we do not want tospeculate as to whether she was involved."
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's police agency says nearly 7,200 are dead and more than 10,900 are missing after last week's earthquake and tsunami.
A week after the disasters devastated the northeast coast, the National Police Agency said Saturday that 7,197 people died and 10,905 were missing.
Some of the missing may have been out of the region at the time of the disaster. In addition, the massive power of the tsunami likely sucked many people out to sea, and, if the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is any guide, most of those bodies will not be found.
INTERCESSION CITY, Fla. _ An oversized tractor-trailer trapped across the tracks. An Amtrak passenger train rocketing around a long, sweeping curve. A series of cascading miscalculations and misunderstandings that left both crews unaware of each other and of impending disaster. The result: Amtrak's Silver Meteor, carrying 103 passengers and eight crew members, blindsided a truck carrying a mammoth, 82-ton generator Tuesday as state troopers frantically tried to flag down the train. At least 52 people were hurt, most with cuts and bruises. The first four cars of the eight-car train, bound from Tampa, Fla., to New York, were smashed and derailed. The impact crumbled the truck, trailer and generator and pushed them 150 yards down the tracks in a wooded, rural area about 10 miles southwest of Kissimmee in central Florida. ``It was like a slow-motion bomb going off,'' said Mark Robinson, a deliveryman who saw the crash. ``The train cars started twisting and turning off the track.'' The train's engineer, James Thomas, 46, said he never had a chance. Amtrak officials said Thomas needed at least a mile to stop the train, which was traveling at the authorized speed of 78 miles an hour. He had 30 yards. At most. ``We had just come around the curve and it was there,'' said Thomas. ``We hit Boom! Bang! Just like that.'' No fire erupted, but the impact raised a thunderhead of dust. As it cleared, dazed and bleeding passengers crawled from the train's windows and from the ripped fuselages of rail cars. Employees of a nearby, small plastics company comforted them on a patch of grass. Paramedics quickly established a triage center on the same patch of grass, now littered with rubber gloves and bloodstained towels. Helicopters and ambulances carried the most seriously injured to local hospitals. Others were treated on the spot. The uninjured were boarded on buses, one from nearby Disney World. ``A strange day for me, let me tell you,'' said the driver, identified by his Mickey Mouse badge as Steve. Chris Gent, a spokesman for the Kissimmee Utilities Authority, which owned the generator, was photographing the operation at the time of the accident. He watched helplessly as the very thing his company was determined to avoid happened anyway. ``All of a sudden the train was there,'' he said. ``Twenty of us were up on the track. I just yelled and everybody ran and took cover.'' Gent and Lt. Chuck Williams, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, provided this account of the accident _ and of an operation plagued at the end by miscalculations and misunderstandings: The $12.6 million generator was being slowly ferried from Tampa's port to a new power station being built west of Kissimmee. The 55-mile journey began at 11:30 p.m. Monday and was just ending at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The generator was so big that it had to be carried on an ``articulated'' trailer, one that is hinged in the middle and requires someone on the back to steer the rear section. The process is so slow and painstaking _ so likely to inhibit surrounding traffic _ that the truck was escorted, as required by the state Department of Transportation, by two highway patrol cars. Just a few hundred yards from its destination, a new power station called Cane Island, the trailer approached from the west along Old Tampa Road. But Gent said it could not make the sharp turn onto an access road and had clipped a stop sign as it tried. So, the subcontractor who owned the truck and was in charge of the moving job _ Roundtree Transport Co. of Tampa _ backed the trailer out and had it come around the other side, from the east. The turn was easier, but halfway across the track, the trailer scraped bottom and became stuck. Now, a crew began jacking it up; the truck had a special hydraulic system to lift the bottom over the rise created by the tracks. ``The tractor-trailer was raised as high as it would go, but it wasn't high enough,'' said Williams, the Highway Patrol spokesman. According to Gent, someone from Roundtree called the local Amtrak office to warn dispatchers of the trapped truck. He was told that the first train through at that point would not come until 1 p.m. and was led to believe it would be approaching from the east, Gent said. So, the crew had about a half-hour, according to Gent. They worked hurriedly, but without panic, he said. But within five minutes, according to Gent, a train barreled around a curve and came right at them _ from the west. The crossing gates came down, hitting the truck and trailer. The red lights flashed their warning. The two troopers who had escorted the truck and were now leaving, stopped and waved at the engineer. It was too late. The train was moving too quickly, the distance too short. The driver of the truck still struggled to get the truck off the tracks, but he could not. He jumped from the cab just as the train hit. He was knocked unconscious and was in critical condition Tuesday night at a local hospital. Gent said he heard no train horn. Other witnesses reported hearing a short blast from the horn followed immediately by the deafening impact. ``I didn't know what was happening,'' Gent said. ``Then I saw the train. Then it hit, and the bang was loud. ... I heard the scraping and the screeching of the steel all along the track.'' Passengers praised the train's crew, saying the evacuation was orderly. Amtrak spokeswoman Pat Kelly said dispatch was the responsibility of CSX Transportation, which owns the track. Donna Rohrer, a spokeswoman for CSX Transportation, which dispatches the trains that run on their tracks, said the truck successfully negotiated another CSX crossing earlier in the day in Tampa, but said her company had no idea the rig would be crossing the tracks in Intercession. ``For whatever reason, we were unaware that they were crossing this private crossing today,'' she said. CSX was notified in advance that the truck would be crossing tracks in Tampa. But the railroad was never notified that the truck was in trouble once it got stuck, Rohrer said. She said special toll-free emergency lines are available to law enforcement and emergency crews in every community crossed by CSX tracks, and that the line in the Intercession area never rang. ``All those calls are answered on the highest-priority basis,'' she said. Rohrer said reporters on the scene were told that witnesses tried to call the railroad before the Silver Meteor struck. ``We have no idea where that call went,'' Rohrer said. The first CSX knew of any problem was at 12:46.20, when the Kissimmee Police called the railroad's emergency center in Jacksonville. As darkness descended on a vista of twisted metal and yellow emergency police tape, Gent was asked: Whoever was at fault, was this the result of a failure to communicate? ``Yes,'' he said, ``it was.'' (Graphic available from KRT Graphic Service; call (202) 383-6064. Photo available from KRT Photo Service; call 202-383-6099. Photos move on KRT Photo Service and are posted to the ``KRT Daily Photos'' icon in category folder on PressLink the day the story moves. One week after transmission, photos are available via keyword search in the KRT Photo Archive on PressLink; call (800) 435-7578 or (202) 383-6099.)Amtrak train smashes into huge tractor-trailer, injuring at least 52. (Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
INTERCESSION CITY, Fla. _ An oversized tractor-trailer trapped across the tracks. An Amtrak passenger train rocketing around a long, sweeping curve. A series of cascading miscalculations and misunderstandings that left both crews unaware of each other and of impending disaster. The result: Amtrak's Silver Meteor, carrying 103 passengers and eight crew members, blindsided a truck carrying a mammoth, 82-ton generator Tuesday as state troopers frantically tried to flag down the train. At least 52 people were hurt, most with cuts and bruises. The first four cars of the eight-car train, bound from Tampa, Fla., to New York, were smashed and derailed. The impact crumbled the truck, trailer and generator and pushed them 150 yards down the tracks in a wooded, rural area about 10 miles southwest of Kissimmee in central Florida. ``It was like a slow-motion bomb going off,'' said Mark Robinson, a deliveryman who saw the crash. ``The train cars started twisting and turning off the track.'' The train's engineer, James Thomas, 46, said he never had a chance. Amtrak officials said Thomas needed at least a mile to stop the train, which was traveling at the authorized speed of 78 miles an hour. He had 30 yards. At most. ``We had just come around the curve and it was there,'' said Thomas. ``We hit Boom! Bang! Just like that.'' No fire erupted, but the impact raised a thunderhead of dust. As it cleared, dazed and bleeding passengers crawled from the train's windows and from the ripped fuselages of rail cars. Employees of a nearby, small plastics company comforted them on a patch of grass. Paramedics quickly established a triage center on the same patch of grass, now littered with rubber gloves and bloodstained towels. Helicopters and ambulances carried the most seriously injured to local hospitals. Others were treated on the spot. The uninjured were boarded on buses, one from nearby Disney World. ``A strange day for me, let me tell you,'' said the driver, identified by his Mickey Mouse badge as Steve. Chris Gent, a spokesman for the Kissimmee Utilities Authority, which owned the generator, was photographing the operation at the time of the accident. He watched helplessly as the very thing his company was determined to avoid happened anyway. ``All of a sudden the train was there,'' he said. ``Twenty of us were up on the track. I just yelled and everybody ran and took cover.'' Gent and Lt. Chuck Williams, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, provided this account of the accident _ and of an operation plagued at the end by miscalculations and misunderstandings: The $12.6 million generator was being slowly ferried from Tampa's port to a new power station being built west of Kissimmee. The 55-mile journey began at 11:30 p.m. Monday and was just ending at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The generator was so big that it had to be carried on an ``articulated'' trailer, one that is hinged in the middle and requires someone on the back to steer the rear section. The process is so slow and painstaking _ so likely to inhibit surrounding traffic _ that the truck was escorted, as required by the state Department of Transportation, by two highway patrol cars. Just a few hundred yards from its destination, a new power station called Cane Island, the trailer approached from the west along Old Tampa Road. But Gent said it could not make the sharp turn onto an access road and had clipped a stop sign as it tried. So, the subcontractor who owned the truck and was in charge of the moving job _ Roundtree Transport Co. of Tampa _ backed the trailer out and had it come around the other side, from the east. The turn was easier, but halfway across the track, the trailer scraped bottom and became stuck. Now, a crew began jacking it up; the truck had a special hydraulic system to lift the bottom over the rise created by the tracks. ``The tractor-trailer was raised as high as it would go, but it wasn't high enough,'' said Williams, the Highway Patrol spokesman. According to Gent, someone from Roundtree called the local Amtrak office to warn dispatchers of the trapped truck. He was told that the first train through at that point would not come until 1 p.m. and was led to believe it would be approaching from the east, Gent said. So, the crew had about a half-hour, according to Gent. They worked hurriedly, but without panic, he said. But within five minutes, according to Gent, a train barreled around a curve and came right at them _ from the west. The crossing gates came down, hitting the truck and trailer. The red lights flashed their warning. The two troopers who had escorted the truck and were now leaving, stopped and waved at the engineer. It was too late. The train was moving too quickly, the distance too short. The driver of the truck still struggled to get the truck off the tracks, but he could not. He jumped from the cab just as the train hit. He was knocked unconscious and was in critical condition Tuesday night at a local hospital. Gent said he heard no train horn. Other witnesses reported hearing a short blast from the horn followed immediately by the deafening impact. ``I didn't know what was happening,'' Gent said. ``Then I saw the train. Then it hit, and the bang was loud. ... I heard the scraping and the screeching of the steel all along the track.'' Passengers praised the train's crew, saying the evacuation was orderly. Amtrak spokeswoman Pat Kelly said dispatch was the responsibility of CSX Transportation, which owns the track. Donna Rohrer, a spokeswoman for CSX Transportation, which dispatches the trains that run on their tracks, said the truck successfully negotiated another CSX crossing earlier in the day in Tampa, but said her company had no idea the rig would be crossing the tracks in Intercession. ``For whatever reason, we were unaware that they were crossing this private crossing today,'' she said. CSX was notified in advance that the truck would be crossing tracks in Tampa. But the railroad was never notified that the truck was in trouble once it got stuck, Rohrer said. She said special toll-free emergency lines are available to law enforcement and emergency crews in every community crossed by CSX tracks, and that the line in the Intercession area never rang. ``All those calls are answered on the highest-priority basis,'' she said. Rohrer said reporters on the scene were told that witnesses tried to call the railroad before the Silver Meteor struck. ``We have no idea where that call went,'' Rohrer said. The first CSX knew of any problem was at 12:46.20, when the Kissimmee Police called the railroad's emergency center in Jacksonville. As darkness descended on a vista of twisted metal and yellow emergency police tape, Gent was asked: Whoever was at fault, was this the result of a failure to communicate? ``Yes,'' he said, ``it was.'' (Graphic available from KRT Graphic Service; call (202) 383-6064. Photo available from KRT Photo Service; call 202-383-6099. Photos move on KRT Photo Service and are posted to the ``KRT Daily Photos'' icon in category folder on PressLink the day the story moves. One week after transmission, photos are available via keyword search in the KRT Photo Archive on PressLink; call (800) 435-7578 or (202) 383-6099.)
