Latest News and Articles
Family relays Bush's order
The National Guard on Saturday addressed concerns of family members of local soldiers ordered to stay an additional four months in Iraq. "I'm concerned about the fact that they don't know yet," said Ann Bell of Columbus, whose 21-year-old nephew, Ryan Lawton, is in Iraq.
A total of 159 soldiers, 148 of them from New Jersey, will remain in the war-torn nation for an additional 125 days, but as of Saturday, they had not been officially notified they would not return home in March as planned.
"In this age of communication, it's unbelievable that they haven't received this communication yet," said Colleen Kokas, Ryan Lawton's other aunt, who attended Saturday's information session at the National Guard Armory.
The Jersey-based units are at sprawling Camp Anaconda, just more than an hour's drive north of Baghdad.
Fashion Calendar
FROM SIR, WITH LOVE: Slatkin & Co recently introduced the Elton John Fireside Holiday Collection of scented candles, stones, home fragrance oil and accessories. From $7.50-$54; 20 percent of proceeds go to the singer's AIDS foundation. At Bath and Body Works, bathandbodyworks.com.
BROWARD BABES: The Sisterhood of Temple Beth El, 1351 S. 14th Ave., Hollywood, 954-920-8225, is hosting its annual fashion show, A New Beginning, at noon Tuesday. A $15 donation is requested. RSVP to 954-920-8225.
SMOOTHIE POWER: Treat locks to a free MOP (Modern Organic Products) hair care smoothie from 3-6 p.m. Jan. 10 at GBS, The Beauty Store, 308 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, 305-446-6654. The custom cocktails combine ingredients like honey, yogurt and vanilla.
SPA NEWS: The Ritz Carlton, South Beach, One Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, 786-276-4000, has two ''speed pampering'' packages for the time-crunched.
New liver gives man new life
Mike Baker woke up early Tuesday morning, walked down the stairs of his west Hutchinson home, stepped into his kitchen and began making a bologna sandwich to eat during his lunch break.
He packed his lunchbox and headed off to his first day of work in more than a year and a half as a maintenance technician at the Tyson Foods plant in South Hutchinson. However, the sandwich sat uneaten, replaced by barbecue beef, baked beans and a low-calorie sheet cake at a company-sponsored luncheon to celebrate Baker's return to work. "This guy looks a whole lot better now than he did the last time I saw him," Tyson plant manager Bill Woodward said. "This is a miracle standing next to us right here." Some of the nearly 20 employees gathered in the meeting room had never seen Mike, but most had worked alongside him during his four years at the meat processing plant.
Commentary by Mark Creech
...Organizers of this week's Urbana '06 student missions conference in St. Louis say more than 22,000 delegates have registered. Urbana '06 director Jim Tebbe says 72 percent of them answering a questionnaire said they were coming "to seek God's will for their lives." Between now and Sunday, they will explore booths from 270 mission organizations. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sponsors Urbana conferences every three years to challenge each generation of students with Jesus' commission to make disciples of all nations. InterVarsity USA president Alec Hill says, "If we can effectively present the case for global missions now, they will make lifelong commitments by going, giving and praying." [AP]
...Christians in the world's most populous Muslim nation didn't let the threat of violence keep them from church this week.
Interfaith serves more than just Escondido
Interfaith Community Services commends Sam Abed for calling on all of North County's cities to share responsibility for helping the homeless. We are eager to work with the Escondido City Council to implement a regional task force that will find new ways to more effectively address the needs of the less fortunate in their communities of choice.We would also like to clarify that Interfaith Community Services offers services in other North County cities besides Escondido. The total annual clients enumerated on our Web site include all of our service centers, not just Escondido. Last year, we served about 22,000 persons throughout North San Diego County.
Interfaith presently has offices in Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista, offering services to the impoverished in those communities.
Analysts: Home Depot CEO change a start
ATLANTA -- With Bob Nardelli gone as chief executive, the challenge facing Home Depot is to turn its stores back into the irresistible shopping destinations they were a decade ago -- making them more customer-friendly, with more knowledgeable employees, cleaner aisles and better-stocked shelves. .
Vital skills are a sight for sore eyes
In a bid to save the sight of dozens of children in India, Newcastle eye doctor, Michael Clark, visited the country last month. Here he recounts his extraordinary trip with the eyesight charity ORBIS
Friday, December 8 I left Newcastle Airport at 9am and changed planes at London Heathrow for my long flight to India. I usually don't mind flying, but this was the start of a very long journey. I was not expected to arrive at my final destination until Sunday morning! I was just hoping to be able to get some sleep on the overnight flight but being tall it is always a challenge. Saturday, December 9 .
Full text of Donaldson's State of County address
Fellow members of the legislature, citizens and press, as I stand before you I am sure we all agree that individually and collectively we have much to be grateful for. 2006 was a historical year for Ulster County. Individually we each held new positions in the organization that often forced us to reevaluate ourselves and our priorities. We grew from that experience and learned to work together in ways we may have thought impossible twelve months ago.
We have made significant advancements in creating better government at a better price. Just as it took political courage to make many of the decisions this past year it will take courage to continue reform this year. Political courage is something this body has proven to have. After one year into this administration I am very proud to say we changed the status quo while remaining true to the concepts of transparency, accountability and reform.
