Ok, so you've probably seen this image floating around as a joke on people's forums or computers....but I still think it sums up my view of Hillary pretty well. Go Obama!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
An Amazing WWII story...
Check this out, it's an amazing account of one pilot's being saved, and then returning the favor to the islanders of New Britain.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080308/ap_on_re_au_an/mastah_preddi;_ylt=AhjHwUo.CASfjy76su1jDM8DW7oF
Sunday, February 17, 2008
This is pretty darn cool....and for real...
Thirty years after the movie thriller ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ hit the silver screen “sQuba” is the first car that can actually ‘fly’ under water.
“Dive it again, James!” If the situation gets too hot for the secret agent he’ll go underground - or under water. So demonstrated impressively by Roger Moore in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me” in 1977 when he dove below the waves in a sleek vehicle that moments before seemed to be an ordinary car. The only problem: The scene never really took place; it was an animation.
With the “sQuba,” the world’s first real submersible car, the movie fake now becomes reality for visitors of the Geneva Motor Show (March 6th - 16th, 2008). Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht (52) is known for his extraordinary automotive creations. The acknowledged James Bond enthusiast and Swiss automobile visionary kept revisiting this scene in his mind over and over: “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true.”
And it is this submerged stabile flight at a depth of 10 meters that sets the “sQuba” apart from military vehicles. While the latter can go under water, they are limited to driving slowly over the submerged ground. Rinderknecht: “It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water. The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water.”
It also had to be a sports car that was converted into a diving dream in the facilities of Swiss engineering specialist Esoro. In a first step the combustion engine was removed and replaced by several electric motors. Three motors are located in the rear. One provides propulsion on land, the other two drive the screws for underwater motoring. They are supported by two powerful Seabob jet drives in the front, which ‘breathe’ through special rotating louvers from HS Genion (for opening and closing the water intake). The rotating outlet jets were designed to be extremely light yet twist resistant by using high-tech nano materials, so-called Carbon Nano Tubes.
It is a sure bet that the “sQuba” will steal the show from any ‘Baywatch’ beauty on the beach. And easily, too: You drive the car into the water and the car floats. That is, until you crack the door to let the water in. Immediately the “sQuba” starts on his way to the underwater world. The occupants’ breathing air comes from an integrated tank of compressed air that divers know from scuba diving. Rinderknecht: “For safety reasons we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency. With an enclosed cabin opening the door might be impossible.” But safety wasn’t the only reason for choosing an open-top design: With an enclosed volume of just two cubic meters of air the vehicle weight would have to increase by two tons (!) to counteract the unwanted buoyancy, giving the “sQuba” the land mobility of a turtle. Without occupants the “sQuba” surfaces automatically. It is even capable of autonomous driving on land thanks to a sophisticated laser sensor system from the Hamburg company Ibeo - without any help from the driver or passenger.
Power is supplied by rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries. Rinderknecht: “The ‘sQuba’ is a zero-emission car as documented by the rotating license plate in the rear. It produces no exhaust emissions. The Swiss are among the world’s pioneers in the area of hydropower. The ‘sQuba’s’ filling station is the water reservoir.” It is no surprise that the vehicle features powerful yet energy-saving LED lighting technology.
3-D foil elements with embossed fish and sharkskin patterns from Wetzel Processing Group and Hornschuch add visual pizzazz and streamline the exterior. Together with styling elements from Foliatec they create a harmonious velvety matt-white appearance.
For shore leave the “sQuba” relies on a stainless coil-over suspension from KW automotive and large Pirelli tires mounted on custom-made forged light-weight wheels from AEZ with 17- and 18-inch diameters. But the “sQuba” is really at home in the water. To make the occupants feel at home there as well the innovative salt-water resistant interior from Strähle + Hess features genuine mother-of-pearl trim and diamond-plated non-slip inlays from KGS Diamond, normally used in high-tech abrasives. After all, ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friends.’ The high-tech VDO instrument cluster and controls create a futuristic ambiance and allow controlling all vehicle functions even while submerged.
Frank M. Rinderknecht and his partners - amongst them also the fleet specialist LeasePlan - have created a truly unusual vehicle and in the process have thought of everything. Even the Motorex lubricants used in the ‘sQuba” are biodegradable. For the Rinspeed boss that is a meticulousness stemming from conviction: “The ‘sQuba’ lets me be one with the elements and lets me immerse myself in a new and fascinating world - with Q factor. It is our duty to protect this world in which we are guests to the best of our ability.” Isn’t it, Miss Moneypenny? - James couldn’t have said it better himself glancing at the sporty Swiss precision chronograph from C.F. Bucherer. Eau la la - shaken, not stirred.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
V-Day
I've gotta run to work, but I quickly wanted to comment on Valentine's Day. Yes, I sent someone flowers and was a sucker to the rampant commercialism that this holiday basically lives off of. However, a thought struck me. Why not treat your special someone as well as you do on V-Day all the time? I don't mean buy them 100$ trinkets or send them flowers every day, cause honestly, they would start hating the mountains of flowers making a mess everywhere. BUT, love....love is the key thing here. People are superior to animals because of their logic and feeling. When feeling or affection leaves a person, they become a machine who only does what is best for him or her. Think about what somebody else needs, that's why I think V-Day might actually matter....even just a little bit..
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Old Toys Not On the Floor Anymore, Hurray!
Mom starts online toy rental serviceBy LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press WriterSun Feb 10, 3:09 PM ET
After scouring the Internet to fill her house with only the best toys for her infant twin sons, Lori Pope hated to watch the clutter build as the boys lost interest.
If you can rent movies, video games and even handbags online, she thought, why not toys?
That's the idea behind Baby Plays, a Web-based company Pope launched in October that allows parents to receive four or six toys in the mail every month, assembled and ready for playtime.
Call it Netflix for the toddler set.
Baby Plays subscribers visit the company's Web site to browse among nearly 200 toys for newborns through preschoolers. Customers build a wish list of toys they'd like to rent, and Pope's staff ships them to their door.
"It's going to take a load off of moms," Pope said.
The program has been great for Heidi Borden, a financial analyst from the Houston suburb of Katy who used to dread shopping for toys with her now 11-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son.
"She wants to get on the floor and he's running down the aisle and I'm just stressed to pick out something really good really quick, get in and out," said Borden, 39. "It's just a lot nicer to be able to do this online and not worry about if it's something that they don't like."
As the co-owner of an oilfield supply business, Pope also didn't have a lot of time to shop. To save time, money and space, she searched the Internet for a toy rental company. When she couldn't find one, she decided to start her own.
Pope started with 10 customers, shipping toys out of spare office space in her business. Now she's got about 200 customers nationwide, including about 40 grandparents, and is preparing to move into a 3,000-square-foot warehouse next door.
She has spent $250,000 of the money she's made from her other business to get the company off the ground, from buying toys and hiring employees to subletting the office and storage space. She still pours about $12,000 a month into the company but hopes to begin turning a profit by this fall.
Customers pay $28.99 a month to get four toys a month for three months and $35.99 a month to get six toys a month for three months. Families willing to sign a yearlong contract can get six toys a month for $31.99.
Baby Plays' inventory includes popular toys by brands such as VTech, LeapFrog and Playskool as well as more obscure European manufacturers. Pope keeps at least seven of each kind of toy in stock so she can fulfill almost every request. She plans to double her inventory over the next two months.
Pope mainly stocks sturdy, easy-to-clean toys with few parts or parts that are easily replaced. She searches Web sites and catalogs for popular toys that are appropriate for small children and meet all European and American safety standards.
Once a new toy comes in, Pope invites Houston-area customers and their children to her office for some hands-on testing. If the kids love them, she'll order more. If they ignore the toy or lose interest just a few minutes, it's cut.
The toys are sanitized with Clorox wipes and loaded with fresh batteries before being shrink wrapped and boxed for shipment. The few toys that are too big to be shipped fully assembled are boxed with a screwdriver and instructions.
Families generally keep the toys for one month and then send them back in the box they came in, using a postage-paid return label the company includes with each shipment. Most parents know that's long enough for little kids to exhaust their interest.
But it's no big deal if the little one wants to hang on to a couple of toys for several months, Pope said. Parents can just exchange the toys they don't want, and new toys are shipped out as the old ones are returned.
Pope also keeps a close eye on the merchandise, yanking toys that are broken or more than "gently worn" and donating them to needy families nominated by her customers.
"If it has a little scratch on it, we're not going to take it out of the program," she said. But, "we're not going to ever send anybody anything that they're going to feel like is junk."
Each type of toy is also tested for lead paint when a new shipment arrives from the wholesaler, Pope said. She also avoids toys with small pieces that a child could break off and choke on.
The lead testing was a big selling point for Regina Rubin Cody, a Cleveland mother of 8-month-old twin girls.
"With the two babies it's kind of a handful," she said. "To be able to have one less thing to worry about offers kind of a real peace of mind."
Project LAPCAT
Hypersonic jet could reach Australia in under five hours
Tue Feb 5, 7:05 AM ET
British engineers unveiled plans Tuesday for a hypersonic jet which could fly from Europe to Australia in less than five hours.
The A2 plane, designed by engineering company Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire, southern England, could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000 mph (6,400 kmh), five times the speed of sound.
The LAPCAT (Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project, backed by the European Space Agency, could see the plane operating within 25 years, the firm's boss Alan Bond told the Guardian daily.
"The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia," he said.
The plane, which at 143 metres (469 feet) long would be about twice the size of the biggest current jets, could fly non-stop for up to 12,500 miles (20,000 km).
It operates on liquid hydrogen, which is more ecologically friendly as it gives off water and nitrous oxide instead of carbon emissions.
Passengers would have to put up with having no windows, due to problems with heat produced at high speeds. Instead designers may put flat screen televisions where the windows would be, giving the impression of seeing outside.
Fares would be comparable with current first class tickets on standard flights, of around 3,500 pounds (4,700 euros, 6,900 dollars).
The flight time from Brussels to Australia would be four hours and 40 minutes. "It sounds incredible by today's standards but I don't see why future generations can't make day trips to Australasia," he said.
"Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it."
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Where is Love? ..Not at College...
Where Is the Love? Students Eschew Campus RomanceJanuary 31, 2008; Page D1Like many campuses, Purdue University has some traditional hot spots for romance -- "The Old Pump," where couples used to meet after dark, and a bell tower known as a lucky place to propose marriage.But engineering major Amy Penner has been so busy volunteering with a women's engineering group and planning her career that she's only dimly aware of them. Her boyfriend has left campus to get a doctorate overseas; asked how much time she spends dating, she says, "That would be zero."MORE WORK & FAMILY • Does marrying later push people to make a better choice for a mate? Join the discussion on The Juggle, the Journal's work and family blog.• Sue Shellenbarger talks with one woman who sacrificed her dreams of becoming an opera singer after she became a "trailing" spouse, following her Air Force husband around the country.Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be becoming a thing of the past. College life has become so competitive, and students so focused on careers, that many aren't looking for spouses anymore.Replacing college as the top marital hunting ground is the office. Only 14% of people who are married or in a relationship say they met their partners in school or college, says a 2006 Harris Interactive study of 2,985 adults; 18% met at work. That's a reversal from 15 years ago, when 23% of married couples reported meeting in school or college and only 15% cited work, according to a 1992 study of 3,432 adults by the University of Chicago.Gone are the days when sororities and dorms marked engagements with candle-passing ceremonies while men serenaded beneath the windows.
College romances like the one in 'Love Story' are becoming rarer these days.Even at tradition-steeped Transylvania University, a 228-year-old institution in Lexington, Ky., an old white ash called "The Kissing Tree," cited in 2003 by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the most romantic spots on campuses, is no longer an "icon of intimacy," says Richard Thompson, a longtime Transylvania professor and dean. Lucie Hartmann, 21, a senior, says "no one utilizes" the spot for romance; like most students, she's intent on "using college to set a foundation for a career."Researchers cite a couple of factors. Young adults are delaying marriage, for one thing. In the past 15 years, men's median age at first marriage has risen by 1.2 years to 27.5, and by 1.4 years for women, to 25.5, the highest in more than a century, Census Bureau data show.Also at work is "credential inflation" -- an increase in the qualifications required for many skilled jobs, says Janet Lever, a sociology professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Many young adults want the flexibility to relocate freely and immerse themselves in new work and educational opportunities before making room for marriage and family. As a result, students favor "light relationships that aren't going to compromise where they go to grad school or which job they take," she says.Cody Cheetham, 22, a Purdue senior, is looking for a marketing job after she graduates in May and plans on getting an MBA. "A lot of us don't even know where we're going to be living six months after we graduate," she says. "We don't want to bring another person into the chaos of our lives."If you're a parent, as I am, you may be wondering what all this means. Such sordid campus-life portrayals as Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" aside, the news about students' social lives isn't all bad. To be sure, the "hookup culture" -- the campus trend toward casual sexual behavior, usually linked with alcohol and no expectations of a continuing relationship -- is rife. Some 76% of college students have engaged in hookups, which usually stop short of intercourse, according to a study of 4,000 students by Stanford University sociology professor Paula England. Students report having had an average 6.9 hookups and only 4.4 traditional dates by their senior year.On the bright side, more students are having fun on group dates; also, deep, but platonic, male-female friendships are more common.Many young adults return to traditional dating after graduation, says Kathleen Bogle, author of a new book, "Hooking Up," based on a study of 76 students and recent alumni. Young adults "want to find a quality person, a good person," to marry, says Ms. Bogle, an assistant sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia, "and traditional dating is seen as a better way to do that" than hooking up.With the benefit of hindsight, though, some grads may yearn for the stretches of time on campus for extracurricular activities and studying with the opposite sex. Julia Vasiliauskas broke up with her boyfriend at the University of Rochester in New York soon after her 2003 graduation, then went to grad school and began teaching near Seattle. Now that she feels ready, at 26, to find a partner, "I regret that I didn't find that person in college -- because now that I'm working, I don't have time."Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com
College romances like the one in 'Love Story' are becoming rarer these days.Even at tradition-steeped Transylvania University, a 228-year-old institution in Lexington, Ky., an old white ash called "The Kissing Tree," cited in 2003 by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the most romantic spots on campuses, is no longer an "icon of intimacy," says Richard Thompson, a longtime Transylvania professor and dean. Lucie Hartmann, 21, a senior, says "no one utilizes" the spot for romance; like most students, she's intent on "using college to set a foundation for a career."Researchers cite a couple of factors. Young adults are delaying marriage, for one thing. In the past 15 years, men's median age at first marriage has risen by 1.2 years to 27.5, and by 1.4 years for women, to 25.5, the highest in more than a century, Census Bureau data show.Also at work is "credential inflation" -- an increase in the qualifications required for many skilled jobs, says Janet Lever, a sociology professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Many young adults want the flexibility to relocate freely and immerse themselves in new work and educational opportunities before making room for marriage and family. As a result, students favor "light relationships that aren't going to compromise where they go to grad school or which job they take," she says.Cody Cheetham, 22, a Purdue senior, is looking for a marketing job after she graduates in May and plans on getting an MBA. "A lot of us don't even know where we're going to be living six months after we graduate," she says. "We don't want to bring another person into the chaos of our lives."If you're a parent, as I am, you may be wondering what all this means. Such sordid campus-life portrayals as Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" aside, the news about students' social lives isn't all bad. To be sure, the "hookup culture" -- the campus trend toward casual sexual behavior, usually linked with alcohol and no expectations of a continuing relationship -- is rife. Some 76% of college students have engaged in hookups, which usually stop short of intercourse, according to a study of 4,000 students by Stanford University sociology professor Paula England. Students report having had an average 6.9 hookups and only 4.4 traditional dates by their senior year.On the bright side, more students are having fun on group dates; also, deep, but platonic, male-female friendships are more common.Many young adults return to traditional dating after graduation, says Kathleen Bogle, author of a new book, "Hooking Up," based on a study of 76 students and recent alumni. Young adults "want to find a quality person, a good person," to marry, says Ms. Bogle, an assistant sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia, "and traditional dating is seen as a better way to do that" than hooking up.With the benefit of hindsight, though, some grads may yearn for the stretches of time on campus for extracurricular activities and studying with the opposite sex. Julia Vasiliauskas broke up with her boyfriend at the University of Rochester in New York soon after her 2003 graduation, then went to grad school and began teaching near Seattle. Now that she feels ready, at 26, to find a partner, "I regret that I didn't find that person in college -- because now that I'm working, I don't have time."Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Some of the funniest videos I have ever seen...
Ok, so I just got back from the FOB for a week, and I happened on two old favorites that I used to watch all the time. Then I thought, why not just post all them on the blog. These are short Trigon Medical Insurance commercials, but they have me literally laughing in tears right now at the Lawton Public Library.
Friday, November 30, 2007
A Quick Thought About How Good We Have It..
So I was out at the FOB (Foreward Operating Base) this whole week, and coming back to civilization this Friday made me really think about how good things are. The best part of of the FOB was believe it or not, the bathroom. Hot water, showerheads, mirrors. Simple things like this proved to be one of the bright parts of my day almost every day. We had pretty mediocre cafateria type food and MREs most of the time, but that food was some of the best I've had in awhile because it was all I had. There were 32 of us sleeping in a room no bigger than a small garage, and things like soft chairs, comfortable clothes, and riding inside of a car/truck were not to be had either.
I came back to Fort Sill's BOLC II barracks area, and felt like I was on vacation. There were only three of us to a room, you could take a shower as long as you wanted to, and I had my cin/raisen bagels in the drawer again. I came out to Atlanta Bread Company, had an italian and sausage pizza, a smoothie, and started posting on this blog and checking my email.
This is one thing I appreciate about the military. You realize how much you have once you leave it all, even if only for a week. Even simple things like sleep....yep, you don't get much in the military. This weekend I might as well be in the Colorado Rockies, on a Cancun beach, or home in Kansas City. For the next two days, I can do what I want, eat what I want, and sleep when I want. It's amazing. But, I'm off to the FOB again next week again, and while it's nothing close to what the deployed soldiers overseas endure, it definitly gives me a taste of very simple living.
So if you're bored, or think life is dull, you probably need to try life without several things you use daily. Things like free time, a soft chair, or even your own bed in your own room. I know I am much more appreciative of these "routine" good things.
Exhibit "A" of Radical Islamic Overreaction
Calls in Sudan for execution of Briton
By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press WriterFri Nov 30, 3:59 PM ET
Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."
In response to the demonstration, teacher Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her safety, her lawyer said.
In Britain, Gibbons' son, John, told The Associated Press that her mother was "holding up well" and she made an appeal for tolerance.
"One of the things my mum said today was that 'I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people,'" John Gibbons said, relaying part of a telephone conversation with her.
The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.
"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.
They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."
Gibbons' chief lawyer, Kamal al-Gizouli, said she was moved from the prison for her safety for the final days of her sentence.
"They moved this lady from the prison department to put her in other hands and in other places to cover her and wait until she completes her imprisonment period," he said, adding that she was in good health.
"They want, by hook or by crook, to complete these nine days without any difficulties, which would have an impact on their foreign relationship," he said.
Several hundred protesters, not openly carrying weapons, marched from the square to Unity High School, about a mile away, where Gibbons worked. They chanted slogans outside the school, which is closed and under heavy security, then headed toward the nearby British Embassy. They were stopped by security forces two blocks away from the embassy.
The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons' trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.
Many protesters carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have brandished at past government-condoned demonstrations. That suggested Friday's rally was not organized by the government.
A Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons during one sermon, saying she intentionally insulted Islam. He did not call for protests, however.
"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.
"This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.
Britain, meanwhile, pursued diplomatic moves to free Gibbons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke with her family to convey his regret, his spokeswoman said.
"He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release," spokeswoman Emily Hands told reporters.
The Foreign Office said consular staff had visited Gibbons in prison, and she was in good health.
Officials said Lord Ahmed, a Muslim Labour peer, would travel to Sudan to try to secure Gibbons' release. The Foreign Office said the trip was a private initiative.
In Washington, the U.S. government backed Britain's diplomatic efforts.
"We are very supportive of the British government. They are working to get their citizen back," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"There is a shared assessment that the punishment that has been imposed on this woman is in every way excessive, even though it has been reduced," he said. "Quite clearly there is an overreaction of the individuals involved in the prosecution of this case."
Most Britons expressed shock at the verdict by a court in Khartoum, alongside hope it would not raise tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.
"One of the good things is the U.K. Muslims who've condemned the charge as completely out of proportion," said Paul Wishart, 37, a student in London.
"In the past, people have been a bit upset when different atrocities have happened and there hasn't been much voice in the U.K. Islamic population, whereas with this, they've quickly condemned it."
Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused the Sudanese authorities of "gross overreaction."
"This case should have required only simple common sense to resolve. It is unfortunate that the Sudanese authorities were found wanting in this most basic of qualities," he said.
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a political advocacy group, said the prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense."
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies, which represents 90,000 Muslim students in Britain and Ireland, called on Sudan's government to free Gibbons, saying she had not meant to cause offense.
"We are deeply concerned that the verdict to jail a schoolteacher due to what's likely to be an innocent mistake is gravely disproportionate," said the group's president, Ali Alhadithi.
The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization, said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should pardon the teacher.
"The Ramadhan Foundation is disappointed and horrified by the conviction of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan," said spokesman Mohammed Shafiq.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Gibbons' prosecution and conviction was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador late Thursday to express Britain's disappointment with the verdict. The Foreign Office said Britain would continue diplomatic efforts to achieve "a swift resolution" to the crisis.
Gibbons was arrested Sunday after another staff member at the school complained that she had allowed her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Giving the name of the Muslim prophet to an animal or a toy could be considered insulting.
The case put Sudan's government in an embarrassing position — facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other. Many saw the 15-day sentence as an attempt to appease both sides.
In The Times, columnist Bronwen Maddox said the verdict was "something of a fudge ... designed to give a nod to British reproof but also to appease the street."
Britain's response — applying diplomatic pressure while extolling ties with Sudan and affirming respect for Islam — had produced mixed results, British commentators concluded.
In an editorial, The Daily Telegraph said Miliband "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable."
Now, however, the newspaper said, Britain should recall its ambassador in Khartoum and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.
By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press WriterFri Nov 30, 3:59 PM ET
Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."
In response to the demonstration, teacher Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her safety, her lawyer said.
In Britain, Gibbons' son, John, told The Associated Press that her mother was "holding up well" and she made an appeal for tolerance.
"One of the things my mum said today was that 'I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people,'" John Gibbons said, relaying part of a telephone conversation with her.
The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.
"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.
They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."
Gibbons' chief lawyer, Kamal al-Gizouli, said she was moved from the prison for her safety for the final days of her sentence.
"They moved this lady from the prison department to put her in other hands and in other places to cover her and wait until she completes her imprisonment period," he said, adding that she was in good health.
"They want, by hook or by crook, to complete these nine days without any difficulties, which would have an impact on their foreign relationship," he said.
Several hundred protesters, not openly carrying weapons, marched from the square to Unity High School, about a mile away, where Gibbons worked. They chanted slogans outside the school, which is closed and under heavy security, then headed toward the nearby British Embassy. They were stopped by security forces two blocks away from the embassy.
The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons' trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.
Many protesters carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have brandished at past government-condoned demonstrations. That suggested Friday's rally was not organized by the government.
A Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons during one sermon, saying she intentionally insulted Islam. He did not call for protests, however.
"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.
"This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.
Britain, meanwhile, pursued diplomatic moves to free Gibbons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke with her family to convey his regret, his spokeswoman said.
"He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release," spokeswoman Emily Hands told reporters.
The Foreign Office said consular staff had visited Gibbons in prison, and she was in good health.
Officials said Lord Ahmed, a Muslim Labour peer, would travel to Sudan to try to secure Gibbons' release. The Foreign Office said the trip was a private initiative.
In Washington, the U.S. government backed Britain's diplomatic efforts.
"We are very supportive of the British government. They are working to get their citizen back," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"There is a shared assessment that the punishment that has been imposed on this woman is in every way excessive, even though it has been reduced," he said. "Quite clearly there is an overreaction of the individuals involved in the prosecution of this case."
Most Britons expressed shock at the verdict by a court in Khartoum, alongside hope it would not raise tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.
"One of the good things is the U.K. Muslims who've condemned the charge as completely out of proportion," said Paul Wishart, 37, a student in London.
"In the past, people have been a bit upset when different atrocities have happened and there hasn't been much voice in the U.K. Islamic population, whereas with this, they've quickly condemned it."
Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused the Sudanese authorities of "gross overreaction."
"This case should have required only simple common sense to resolve. It is unfortunate that the Sudanese authorities were found wanting in this most basic of qualities," he said.
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a political advocacy group, said the prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense."
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies, which represents 90,000 Muslim students in Britain and Ireland, called on Sudan's government to free Gibbons, saying she had not meant to cause offense.
"We are deeply concerned that the verdict to jail a schoolteacher due to what's likely to be an innocent mistake is gravely disproportionate," said the group's president, Ali Alhadithi.
The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization, said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should pardon the teacher.
"The Ramadhan Foundation is disappointed and horrified by the conviction of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan," said spokesman Mohammed Shafiq.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Gibbons' prosecution and conviction was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador late Thursday to express Britain's disappointment with the verdict. The Foreign Office said Britain would continue diplomatic efforts to achieve "a swift resolution" to the crisis.
Gibbons was arrested Sunday after another staff member at the school complained that she had allowed her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Giving the name of the Muslim prophet to an animal or a toy could be considered insulting.
The case put Sudan's government in an embarrassing position — facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other. Many saw the 15-day sentence as an attempt to appease both sides.
In The Times, columnist Bronwen Maddox said the verdict was "something of a fudge ... designed to give a nod to British reproof but also to appease the street."
Britain's response — applying diplomatic pressure while extolling ties with Sudan and affirming respect for Islam — had produced mixed results, British commentators concluded.
In an editorial, The Daily Telegraph said Miliband "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable."
Now, however, the newspaper said, Britain should recall its ambassador in Khartoum and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.
A Present for Hillary Clinton
Hostage crisis ends at Clinton office
By BEVERLEY WANG, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 18 minutes ago
A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.
Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages, Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn.
The suspect — clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie — was put on the ground, handcuffed and taken two blocks to the police office in the back of a tactical response vehicle.
The man walked into the office shortly before 1 p.m. and took several hostages, police and witnesses said. He let a woman with an infant go immediately and at least one other woman got out about two hours later.
Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.
Police said earlier no one had been injured, and that appeared to still be true at the end.
Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.
"She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.
Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution.
The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers for the campaign.
A law enforcement official confirmed to The Associated Press earlier that the suspect's name was Leeland Eisenberg, and said Eisenberg was an older man known around the town to be mentally unstable. The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
The official said the man walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb, and that he demanded to speak with Clinton. Authorities did not know what Eisenberg wanted to talk to Clinton about.
They believe the device strapped to the man's chest was made with road flares, not a bomb, the official said.
Eisenberg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy of placing fliers in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their doors.
"This is nothing more than a gimmick to get around the Constitution and go around in the middle of the night upon unsuspecting citizens in their own yard and search their vehicles," Eisenberg said.
Police, who said they were just trying to reduce theft from motor vehicles, changed the policy in response.
By BEVERLEY WANG, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 18 minutes ago
A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.
Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages, Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn.
The suspect — clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie — was put on the ground, handcuffed and taken two blocks to the police office in the back of a tactical response vehicle.
The man walked into the office shortly before 1 p.m. and took several hostages, police and witnesses said. He let a woman with an infant go immediately and at least one other woman got out about two hours later.
Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.
Police said earlier no one had been injured, and that appeared to still be true at the end.
Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.
"She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.
Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution.
The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers for the campaign.
A law enforcement official confirmed to The Associated Press earlier that the suspect's name was Leeland Eisenberg, and said Eisenberg was an older man known around the town to be mentally unstable. The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
The official said the man walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb, and that he demanded to speak with Clinton. Authorities did not know what Eisenberg wanted to talk to Clinton about.
They believe the device strapped to the man's chest was made with road flares, not a bomb, the official said.
Eisenberg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy of placing fliers in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their doors.
"This is nothing more than a gimmick to get around the Constitution and go around in the middle of the night upon unsuspecting citizens in their own yard and search their vehicles," Eisenberg said.
Police, who said they were just trying to reduce theft from motor vehicles, changed the policy in response.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Kansas is Injured, Injured Bad...
Well, Kansas is currently getting kicked around by Mizzou at Arrowhead stadium 21-0. Wow, well maybe Kansas wasn't as good as they looked after all...
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Off to the FOB
Hey hey hey, it's time to go out to the fob (Foreward Operating Base) to do land nav, us weapons, etc...
Sadly, the much anticipated army + awesome music slideshow did not get done because of time issues, but have no fear, that will be accompished during thanksgiving break.
In other news, I had a combatives level 1 "Clinch Drill" on last saturday morning. You have to run at your instructor and grab him in certain holds, all while he is drilling you with his boxing gloves. I got punched about 30 times in the head, so the rest of the day was a bit loopy. But, I am officially certified now, and even bought some super cool sunglasses(60$) for the FOB.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Exciting happenings during BOLC II's week 2
So, seems I got heel kicked in the eye this last thursday. Doesn't really hurt but sure does draw the comments. Oh, and that's not acne on the side of my neck, it's scratches and abrasions from fighting people. Well, I need to go and find an apartment or house to rent for next spring's OBC here. I'll post more exciting things when I get the time.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Fort Sill Amenities
Here are two fun things about Fort Sill. First, this is the artillery howitzer I will soon train to command other people to fire.
Secondly, it seems Miss America 2007 is from Lawton-Fort Sill. She came back to visit, and here's a picture. Lol, pretty funny. I'm still at BOLC II though, pretty slow so far...but that's ok. PT test on Wednesday.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Just Found This, You Need to Watch it!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1805284474389135521&q=chubb+chubbs&total=343&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
An Amazing Poem About Why We Fight...
WISH YOU WERE HERE
By Corporal Joshua Miles and the boys from 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, Kuwait
For all the free people that still protest. You're welcome. We protect you and you are protected by the best. Your voices are strong and loud, but who will fight for you? No one standing in YOUR crowd. We are your fathers, brothers, and sons, wearing the boots and carrying the guns.We are the ones that leave all we own,to make sure your future is carved in stone. We are the ones who fight and die, we might not be able to save the world,but at least we try. We walked the paths to where we are atand we want no choice other than that. So when you rally your group to complain, take a look in the back of your brain. In order for that flag you love to fly, wars must be fought and young men must die...We came here to fight for the ones we hold dear. If that's not respected, we would rather stay here. Please stop yelling, put down your signs,and pray for those behind enemy lines. When the conflict is over and all is well, be thankful that WE chose to go through hell.
By Corporal Joshua Miles and the boys from 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, Kuwait
For all the free people that still protest. You're welcome. We protect you and you are protected by the best. Your voices are strong and loud, but who will fight for you? No one standing in YOUR crowd. We are your fathers, brothers, and sons, wearing the boots and carrying the guns.We are the ones that leave all we own,to make sure your future is carved in stone. We are the ones who fight and die, we might not be able to save the world,but at least we try. We walked the paths to where we are atand we want no choice other than that. So when you rally your group to complain, take a look in the back of your brain. In order for that flag you love to fly, wars must be fought and young men must die...We came here to fight for the ones we hold dear. If that's not respected, we would rather stay here. Please stop yelling, put down your signs,and pray for those behind enemy lines. When the conflict is over and all is well, be thankful that WE chose to go through hell.
My Kind of Kid!
6-year-old tries to drive to restaurant
Wed Oct 10, 8:13 AM ET
A hungry 6-year-old grabbed his grandmother's car keys, positioned his child seat behind the steering wheel and tried to drive himself to an Applebee's restaurant.
He didn't get far.
Unable to take the car out of reverse, the boy backed up 75 feet from her house into a transformer Tuesday, knocking out electricity and phone service to dozens of townhouses in this suburb north of Denver.
No one was injured and the boy, whose name was not released, got out of his car and told his grandmother what happened.
"He proceeded to start the car and started backing up," said Sgt. Colleen O'Connell of the Broomfield Police Department. "He went backward about 47 feet, hit the curb, then went backward another 29 feet."
Investigators couldn't figure out how the boy reached the accelerator.
No charges will be filed.
"I have five children of my own, so I know you cannot watch them every minute they're awake," said nearby resident Nancy Hollis, whose power was knocked out by the accident.
Looks Like "Success Tech Academy" wasn't too successfull...
Ohio school gunman kills self, wounds 4
By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer
A 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself.
A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said Asa H. Coon, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week.
"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it."
Armed with two revolvers, Coon fired eight shots and may have targeted teachers, said Police Chief Michael McGrath. Police found a duffel bag stocked with ammunition and three knives in a bathroom but found no suicide note, he said.
Parents were angry that firearms got into a school equipped with metal detectors that students said were intermittently used.
Coon had a history of mental health problems and threatened to commit suicide last year while in a mental health center, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer.
He spent time in two juvenile facilities after a domestic violence episode and was also given home detention, and he was suspended from school last year for trying to injure a student, the paper reported.
Officials said two teachers and two students were shot, and that a 14-year-old girl fell and hurt her knee while running out of the school.
Witnesses said the shooter moved through the converted five-story downtown office building, working his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms. Officials said he was wearing a Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails.
The first person shot, student Michael Peek, had punched Coon in the face right before the shootings began, said student Rasheem Smith, 15.
Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking. He shot Mike in the side." Peek, 14, didn't know Coon had a gun, Smith said.
Antonio Deberry, 17, said he and his classmates hid under laboratory tables and watched the shooter move down the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him." The shooter swore and shot several times, Deberry said.
LeVert said she hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker. She said she heard about 10 shots.
Darnell Rodgers, 18, was walking up to another floor when the stairway suddenly became flooded with students.
"It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot, when I felt my arm burning in the area, that's when I realized that I had got shot," Rodgers said.
"They were screaming, and they were saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' I knew something was wrong, but thought that it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going," Rodgers said.
Rodgers was released from a hospital after treatment for a graze wound to his right elbow.
Coon had been suspended since Monday for fighting near the school that day, said Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization. He did not know how Coon got into the building Wednesday.
Blackwell said that there was a security guard on the first floor, but that the position of another guard on the third floor had been eliminated.
Student Frances Henderson, 14, said she often got into arguments with Coon, who once told her, "I got something for you all." He would often wear a trench coat, black boots and a dog collar, she said.
Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging one another and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, waiting for their children to be released.
Math teacher David Kachadourian, 57, was in good condition; Michael Grassie, a 42-year-old teacher, was in surgery, but his condition was unavailable. The other two injured teens were taken to a children's hospital, which would not release their names, ages or conditions.
People at Coon's home declined to comment Wednesday evening.
Deberry's mother, Lakisha Deberry, said she was upset that metal detectors at the school were not always in use.
"You never know what's going on in someone's mind," said Deberry, adding that she was required to go through a metal detector and present an identification card whenever she wanted to drop off something at school for her children.
The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site.
Classes at all schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will be canceled Thursday, said Eugene Sanders, chief executive officer of the district. Counseling will be available Thursday for students at recreation centers throughout the city, Sanders said.
SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship. It is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building.
"It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School system," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."
The school has about 240 students, most of them black, with a small number of white and Hispanic students.
Coon was white, and Henderson, the student who said she frequently argued with him, is black, but she said she didn't believe race played a role in the shootings.
The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent.
By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer
A 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself.
A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said Asa H. Coon, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week.
"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it."
Armed with two revolvers, Coon fired eight shots and may have targeted teachers, said Police Chief Michael McGrath. Police found a duffel bag stocked with ammunition and three knives in a bathroom but found no suicide note, he said.
Parents were angry that firearms got into a school equipped with metal detectors that students said were intermittently used.
Coon had a history of mental health problems and threatened to commit suicide last year while in a mental health center, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer.
He spent time in two juvenile facilities after a domestic violence episode and was also given home detention, and he was suspended from school last year for trying to injure a student, the paper reported.
Officials said two teachers and two students were shot, and that a 14-year-old girl fell and hurt her knee while running out of the school.
Witnesses said the shooter moved through the converted five-story downtown office building, working his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms. Officials said he was wearing a Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails.
The first person shot, student Michael Peek, had punched Coon in the face right before the shootings began, said student Rasheem Smith, 15.
Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking. He shot Mike in the side." Peek, 14, didn't know Coon had a gun, Smith said.
Antonio Deberry, 17, said he and his classmates hid under laboratory tables and watched the shooter move down the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him." The shooter swore and shot several times, Deberry said.
LeVert said she hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker. She said she heard about 10 shots.
Darnell Rodgers, 18, was walking up to another floor when the stairway suddenly became flooded with students.
"It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot, when I felt my arm burning in the area, that's when I realized that I had got shot," Rodgers said.
"They were screaming, and they were saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' I knew something was wrong, but thought that it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going," Rodgers said.
Rodgers was released from a hospital after treatment for a graze wound to his right elbow.
Coon had been suspended since Monday for fighting near the school that day, said Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization. He did not know how Coon got into the building Wednesday.
Blackwell said that there was a security guard on the first floor, but that the position of another guard on the third floor had been eliminated.
Student Frances Henderson, 14, said she often got into arguments with Coon, who once told her, "I got something for you all." He would often wear a trench coat, black boots and a dog collar, she said.
Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging one another and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, waiting for their children to be released.
Math teacher David Kachadourian, 57, was in good condition; Michael Grassie, a 42-year-old teacher, was in surgery, but his condition was unavailable. The other two injured teens were taken to a children's hospital, which would not release their names, ages or conditions.
People at Coon's home declined to comment Wednesday evening.
Deberry's mother, Lakisha Deberry, said she was upset that metal detectors at the school were not always in use.
"You never know what's going on in someone's mind," said Deberry, adding that she was required to go through a metal detector and present an identification card whenever she wanted to drop off something at school for her children.
The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site.
Classes at all schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will be canceled Thursday, said Eugene Sanders, chief executive officer of the district. Counseling will be available Thursday for students at recreation centers throughout the city, Sanders said.
SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship. It is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building.
"It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School system," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."
The school has about 240 students, most of them black, with a small number of white and Hispanic students.
Coon was white, and Henderson, the student who said she frequently argued with him, is black, but she said she didn't believe race played a role in the shootings.
The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
