The Brown County Commission will not meet in regular session today. Commissioners will instead be at the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners annual meeting in Spearfish. The commission generally meets at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday in the commission chambers at the Brown County Courthouse Annex, 25 Market St., Aberdeen. Its next regular meeting will be Sept. 25.
Just when Chelsea Clark had found her rhythm and North Hagerstown's girls basketball team showed signs of life against Smithsburg, Clark's fourth foul sent her to the bench, left the Hubs reeling and propelled the Leopards to an important victory.
Tara Knable and Candace Stanford attacked the Hubs inside for 15 points each, and with Clark out of the game, Smithsburg used a 6-1 run in the final two minutes of the third quarter to re-establish control in a 52-41 victory Friday night that locked up second place in the MVAL Antietam.
"That was the game right there," Hubs coach Barry Borwn said. "Her being in foul trouble had a major impact on us offensively, and it's hard for us to overcome that."
Teonna Jewell's driving, coast-to-coast floater off the glass beat the third-quarter buzzer and gave Smithsburg (13-8, 10-3) a 37-27 lead.
The Hubs cut the lead to seven after baskets by Tiffany Jordan and Clark with less than four minutes left, but Smithsburg closed the door.
Clark finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead North (8-12, 7-6), but freshman Cara Thompson was held to just four points, mostly because of the defense of Smithsburg's Shannon Fowkes.
"Shannon did a great job on Cara," Bill Fowkes said. "She shut her down. We knew the key was to keep the ball out of her hands."
"She took Cara out of her game, and we didn't make the adjustments to get Cara back involved in the game," Brown said.
None of the Hubs had much success in the first half, in which North made only 7 of 30 shots and missed several opportunities from within two feet.
"That's been the story of our season, too," Fowkes said. "So many easy shots aren't falling for us. Tonight was their night for the shots not to fall."
Knable had eight points - including five of Smithsburg's first six - and Stanford added seven points as the duo established its presence inside. All eight of Stanford's second-half points came in the fourth quarter.
"We couldn't establish any kind of flow tonight playing from behind," Brown said. "They came out and played their game and played better than us. They were far more aggressive than we were."
The 0-5 Indians battled 4-1 Milton Hershey tooth-and-nail before falling 28-26 when a two-point conversion attempt failed with 48.5 seconds remaining in their Mid-Penn Capital matchup.
"This one hurt. Of course they all hurt," Waynesboro coach Darwin Seiler said. "The kids played their hearts out, yet we come away with another loss. It's very disappointing."
Waynesboro enjoyed a 12-7 halftime lead and a 20-14 advantage after three quarters, but Milton Hershey put two touchdowns on the scoreboard within four minutes of the fourth period - then held off the determined Indians.
Spartans quarterback Joshua Nyarko scored the eventual game-winner on a quarterback sneak from 1-yard out with 3:11 remaining in the game, and Boyd Hardison booted his fourth conversion to secure a 28-20 lead.
Most of the yardage was eaten up on a 40-yard pass play from quarterback Terrell Rickard to Aaron McKenzie.
Rickard covered the final five yards while running around the right side, but he tried the same maneuver from the left side on the two-point conversion and was tackled by Milton Hershey defensive end Garry Gilliam Jr. two yards shy of the goal line.
"It was a designed play," Seiler said. "We had been playing power football all night, and we tried to lure them into the middle, then go wide. We thought the quarterback could get the corner."
Seiler and the Waynesboro fans were treated to an offensive show by a team which had been shut out two consecutive games.
"We committed to run the I-formation, get off the football and show some power and we did all three," Seiler said. "We piled up yardage, the offensive line stepped up and we did some good things. It just wasn't enough."
Waynesboro didn't touch the football until 5:56 remaining in the segment. Smith took a handoff from quarterback Rickard and scampered 65 yards for the first score of the game.
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Winners of the second annual farmland preservation art contest, the Preserving Our Agricultural Heritage Art Show, were announced at a reception Nov. 14 at the Ag Heritage Center, 185 Franklin Farm Lane in Chambersburg.
Alisha Marshall of Greencastle, Pa., was chosen as the grand prize winner for her photo collage titled "What Will We Do When There is Nothing Left?" Paintings, photographs and digital images by 71 artists were entered.
The grand prize was $250, and use of the winner's artwork by the Farmland Preservation Board for advertisements and posters. Other prizes were awarded for the following age groups: ages 5 to 14; ages 15 to 18; and ages 19 and older. Artwork was judged by Melissa Gayman Ball, NWTF Print Artist, and professor Ben Culbertson of Shippensburg University, using the criteria of overall impact, effectiveness in conveying the theme, originality and artistic merit.
The Franklin County Planning Department and the Greencastle-Antrim School District Art Department created the art show to further awareness of the importance of preserving farmland in Franklin County. Farmland preservation is one of the primary goals of the Franklin County Comprehensive Plan, to preserve the best farmland in the county for future generations to continue the county's agricultural heritage.
Tuesday marked the first official day of the winter season. It seems as if Old Man Winter made his appearance early this year, with temperatures dipping pretty low the past few weeks and with snow.
I think it might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I am pretty sure that I heard that more snow is headed our way ... perhaps in time for a White Christmas. I will be sure to keep my fingers crossed and hope.
Students at Hickory Elementary School received recognition in November for displaying outstanding character skills in the Character Counts! program. Students are nominated by classroom teachers for demonstrating the six pillars of character.
The following is a list of those who received this award for the month of November: Sydney Mills, Wyatt Pitcock, Shaylee Lewis, Ian Lane, Madelyn Porter, Jacob Smith, Hannah Danner, Tea Taylor, Aleya Bullard, Mark Varga, Chasey Kline, Mercedes Guessford, Charlotte Larkin, Brooke Poffenberger, Zeke Carey and Airam Santiago.
To parents of Washington County Public Schools students, please be sure to note the following on your calendar: Schools will be closed beginning today through Sunday, Jan. 2, for winter break. Classes resume Monday, Jan. 3.
I just wanted to take a moment to wish a very Merry Christmas, seasons greetings, happy holidays to you and yours. Wishing all a very safe, happy and joyous holiday.
Driving through California is exhilarating and fraught with beautifully eerie moments: night defined by banks of glowing lights on slow-moving rigs; heavy rain on an incline forcing you to pray through it and grip the wheel; a full plum-colored moon hanging on the horizon so long that it seems to be rising from the west.
Something about la costa tempts me to take the time to do the regular stuff: pose by a giant redwood or the Golden Gate Bridge; forgo a burger stop to lose my head in the clouds at Nepenthe's in Big Sur; gawk at the silk-clad spooks haunting San Simeon, then wind inland to overdose on walnut maple fudge in Solvang. The big challenge is to soar through to Malibu, stopping only for gas and java.
Ultimately, direction doesn't matter. What counts is the ride : weaving down from Eureka, in and out along the 101 and PCH; beelining up Interstate 5, cresting into Bakersfield, dead-set on Fresno; zooming north along the 15, Vegas-bound; Del Mar-busting, headed for Baja. I call it the California run. It's in my blood. And I plan to do it as long as I'm do-able. Black lady rebel with a car. (Wasn't it the summer of '55 when James Dean caught the light where the 46 meets the 41 up near Paso Robles?)
Road dangers are legendary, many exacerbated by the ever-present temptation to break the safety barrier. For some of us demons-on-wheels the 55-m.p.h. speed limit merely increases the thrill of outrunning stormy thunderheads at Tejon-Lebec, sky-driving near Big Sur or midnight fog-surfing in Santa Maria. These aside, the baddest danger sometimes lies at the vanishing point of one's thoughts--as it did on one recent trip I made alone.
Headed up the coast to the Santa Cruz Mountains, I averaged an illegal 85 m.p.h. At confident moments, I dared as much as 110. One eye on the road, one on my wristwatch, I was pleased at my excellent timing. Having left L.A. in the wee a.m., I made San Luis Obispo at sunrise. I figured I could make the whole trip in under six hours. The going was gr-r-r-reat until San Jose.
R&B blasting, I roared up behind two teensy compacts crawling parallel to each other at 50 m.p.h. I slowed and waited a quarter-mile for the bug in the left lane to pull over and join the gnat on the right. It didn't and wouldn't. There was a sheer drop on the left. On the right, the shoulder was too narrow for me to pass.
Furious that my road rhythm had been broken, I began to anticipate bumpercide. These guys had to be doing this deliberately. They had to know each other. This was probably a stunt they pulled regularly on us poor unsuspecting speeders. Let the California Highway Patrol give chase and bust me by law, but God help anyone else who cramps my driving style.
I moved over and tailgaited the car in the right lane for another quarter-mile. He wouldn't give an inch. I could hear the drivers' dufus laughter. I decided to make them clean their seats.
I slowed to 40 m.p.h. and fell back a dozen or so car lengths. Then I jammed the accelerator to the floor, revving up to 75. I rammed my four-door, half-ton monster down the middle of the road, charging past the two compacts. They were too small to hog the road, the space between them making a breezy escape route. I laughed all the way into Santa Cruz.
The next day, my husband called, upset. He had received something that looked like a ticket. It was from the CHP in San Jose, and addressed to him, since the car I was driving is registered in his name. What had I been up to?
"A vehicle registered to you has been observed by a concerned citizen in violation of: 21658 (a) V.C.-UNSAFE LANE CHANGE: Your cooperation in obeying the rules of the road is requested." Signed by a captain commander, it stated that no further action was being taken. Lucky for me.
I try. Seriously. But the road runner in me is hard to tame. On my trip back, I took the big dare. I ran the 101 straight through to Malibu. The trip was considerably less eventful, and my timing was slightly off. But I managed to do it without stopping except for gas, java and, uh, two CHP citations.
Roger Chen's chain of Ranch Markets is growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to his cross-cultural strategy of offering traditional Asian foods in a Western-style setting
Tawa Supermarkets, whose flagship 99 Ranch Markets is a favorite of Asian consumers throughout Southern California, got its start because a Taiwanese immigrant named Roger Chen missed the flavors of home.
Chen, who moved to Orange County with his family in 1983, found himself driving to Chinatown each weekend to buy Tong I cookies, his favorite brand of soy sauce and the green vegetable tong ho (a must for Chinese hot pot).
On those long drives from Fountain Valley, Chen got an idea: Why not build a supermarket that caters to the specific desires of Asian consumers as well as provides the toothpaste, onions and other staples that everybody buys anyway.
As tens of thousands of Asian immigrants poured into Southern California in the 1980s, Chen's idea hit big. Today, there are 16 of the 99 Price and 99 Ranch supermarkets in the United States and Canada that ring up $150 million in annual sales, and 99 Ranch has become the biggest player in California's growing Asian supermarket industry. Most of the Tawa supermarkets are in Southern California.
The company has more than 1,200 employees, averages 10% to 15% growth each year and has expanded into licensing the 99 Ranch name.
"We were trying to upgrade and improve the image of Chinese grocery stores by using Western skills to sell Asian products," recalls Chen, 45, the chairman and chief executive of privately held Tawa, which is based in Buena Park. The company also builds its own retail centers with other partners.
One of the best-known of these shopping centers is San Gabriel Shopping Plaza on Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel, which Chen developed as a joint venture with four partners.
Designed in an attractive, earth-tone, faux-Spanish-mission architecture style, the 250,000-square-foot, two-story shopping center is anchored by a gleaming 99 Ranch Market, where patrons can buy everything from fresh whole lobsters to $400 bottles of aged French cognac.
The plaza also features a department store, jewelry stores, insurance offices, clothing boutiques, bakeries, hair salons and scads of Chinese restaurants for every palate, from Hunan to Peking, including one that dishes up exclusively Islamic Chinese cuisine.
Some businesses even follow the 99 Ranch Market to new locations to piggyback on its vast clientele. One businessman who has followed some 99 Ranch Markets is Victor Kuo, who owns a chain of cosmetics stores called Vitativ, which stocks such products as Clinique, Christian Dior and Shiseido but caters almost exclusively to Asian customers who prefer not to shop at mainstream department stores because of language barriers.
"99 Ranch is very upscale. They have a niche market for Asian customers and more drawing power than other shopping centers," says Kuo, who has placed six of his 10 Vitativ boutiques in 99 Ranch shopping centers. "The rent is a bit more expensive there, but it's worth it. Our business has grown since moving into their centers."
Mainstream chains have responded to the new Asian supermarkets by stocking their own shelves with products such as daikon radish, ground pork and fish sauces to lure Asian customers, says Edie Clark, a spokeswoman for the Food Marketing Institute, a trade association for the supermarket industry based in Washington, D.C.
Mainstream supermarkets are also adding prepared Asian foods for takeout, she says. Overall, sales of Asian food products grew 17% nationally in 1996 to more than $68 million.
But Chen also faces competition from ethnic supermarket chains such as Yaohan, which caters to Japanese Americans, and Hong Kong Markets, whose three outlets offer slightly lower prices and attract Cantonese-speaking Chinese from Hong Kong.
By contrast, 99 Ranch Markets has a loyal Mandarin following from Taiwan. It also has a reputation for slightly higher prices, and some customers say the produce is fresher.
"My wife shops at both 99 Ranch and Hong Kong. From week to week they all have specials, but overall Hong Kong is a little lower," says Christopher Leu, president and chief executive of United Pacific Bank in Los Angeles, whose clients include 99 Ranch and several other Asian supermarket chains.
However, "when you go into a 99 Ranch Market, you feel there's more turnover, so people think the food is fresher."
Leu says that Yaohan, based in Japan, is the largest such chain in the United States but that Tawa is the largest in California.
"The market has been pretty much cornered by Roger's group; he was the first to get the Asian supermarkets independently organized and run more professionally, like Vons," Leu says.
One recent day, customers browsing through the aisles explained why they'll pay more for food at 99 Ranch.
"Why do I shop here? Because the fish is still wiggling," says Ontario resident Calvin Tong, 36, a bus driver originally from Hong Kong, pointing to the packs of fresh fish piled in his cart.
Friends, family and show business colleagues gathered to remember the late Oscar-winning director, producer and actor Sydney Pollack at a private memorial service in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Pollack won Academy Awards for best picture and best director for his 1985 epic "Out of Africa." He directed more than 20 films, including "Tootsie," "Absence of Malice" and "The Way We Were."
He also produced 2007's "Michael Clayton," nominated for seven Oscars (supporting actress Tilda Swinton was the lone winner).
Pollack is survived by his wife Claire, two daughters, a brother and six grandchildren. His son, Steven, died in a plane crash in 1993.
Obscenity trial: An article in Thursday's Section A about a website maintained by federal appeals court Judge Alex Kozinski paraphrased Corynne McSherry, staff attorney at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying that just making music files available, even if no one downloaded them, might run afoul of the law. In fact, she said that although copyrights may be infringed without downloading, depending on the circumstances of the given case, simply making them available wouldn't violate the law.
Bank of America Corp., which has been working to downsize its consumer operations by 30,000 employees, now is targeting highly compensated investment bankers and non-U.S. wealth managers — efforts expected to reduce the job rolls at the bank by 2,000 people.
The cuts, first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, also will cost some commercial bankers their jobs at BofA, the second-largest U.S. bank as measured by assets.
The actions include the planned sale of a division handling wealth management in Europe, Latin America and Asia, according to a person briefed on the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and requested anonymity.
The moves had been expected as Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan tries to fashion a smaller but more focused and profitable company. It's part of a general trend on Wall Street of paring back on investment bankers because the global economic uncertainty has caused a steep decline in deal-making.
Moynihan is trying to slash costs to withstand the fallout from BofA's disastrous 2008 takeover of mortgage giantCountrywide Financial Corp.of Calabasas, Calif., and to compensate for reduced fees and lending income in the current environment of an uncertain economy, record low interest rates and tougher bank regulation.
Many of the latest layoffs will come from among employees of Merrill Lynch & Co., another huge acquisition by Moynihan predecessor Ken Lewis that, unlike Countrywide, has been profitable for the bank.
In addition to selling Merrill's non-U.S. wealth-management arm, Bank of America plans to cut the jobs of as many as 400 high-earning investment bankers, many of them former Merrill employees based in New York and overseas.
Word of massive layoffs in the consumer realm broke in September as Moynihan launched a major restructuring he called New BAC. At the time, the bank said a second round of New BAC would involve other parts of the Charlotte, N.C., company, such as trading and commercial and investment banking.
The current investment bank layoffs are largely unrelated to New BAC, bank officials said, and analysts expect additional job cuts when details of the broader strategy become clear.
"It needed to be done earlier," analyst Paul J. Miller of Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. said Tuesday. "There should be more [layoffs] behind it."
Project of very low consumption, radiation and bitrate softphones, with the support of the spatial audio, of the frequency shifts and of the ultrasonic communications / Multifunction Audio Filter with Remote Control!
You can view the people (celebrities) news and the front page news (with videos, images and constant updates) by following the link below:
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