Marriage is to remain between a Man and a Woman in the State of CA. Late last night the results came in with small winning margins. It was a close race.
I find it interesting that BIGOTRY was found on the side of those that supported the NO on 8 campaign. They were intolerant of the YES on 8 campaigners and their fundamental right to choose which way they would vote. I found that the vast majority of intolerance was from the NO on 8 side rather than the YES on 8 side.
I was also completely disgusted in the way that the NO on 8 tried to use the media to mislead people especially about the MORMON church. On the last day of the battle the NO on 8 campaign aired a slanderous commercial misleading people into thinking that the Mormon missionaries would barge into people's homes to take away their rights.
In the end Marriage is left to be between a Man and a Woman for this season.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Ohio's Gas Station Ghost Drawing A Crowd
Wednesday November 14, 2007
There's a new resident at Marathon Gas Station in Ohio, and you might call him Casper.
A ghost-like blue glow has appeared on security cameras at the filling depot, and it's causing quite a stir. The image moves around the screen for half an hour, leaves, then returns. At one point it seems to land on a car windshield, and then it floats away.
The spooky images have drawn a crowd to the filling station in Parma, Ohio, just outside Cleveland. Motorists want to take a look at the surveillance images for themselves.
Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the mysterious blue haze, and there are plenty of suggestions about what it could be.
Some feel there's nothing supernatural about the light and say it's a plastic bag that's out of focus. Others are sure it's some kind of spiritual presence.
Gas station ghost spotted at Marathon in Ohio
First of its kind ghost was caught on film at Marathon gas station in Parma, Ohio.
Ghost hunters and curious locals have been flooding the gas station in hopes to see the blue ghost again, some claiming that the gas station could have been built on an ancient Indian burial grounds. But cool-heads warn that the image could just be one of an off-focus plastic bag flying in the wind. "I actually watched it for 30 minutes and then actually I watched it move and that is when I got freaked out," said the gas station owner, who is getting plenty of business thanks to the blue ghost. You can watch the video of the ghost (or plastic bag) below and make up your own mind.
Carey Christenberry of Irving: The testing payoff
College-prep exams have actual value, unlike the TAKS
11:19 AM CST on Thursday, November 8, 2007
My son gets a lot of mail. Not e-mail, mind you, but quaint, old-fashioned mail that you have to retrieve from the mailbox.
Those of you who are parents of high school seniors have probably noticed this phenomenon. Every day another stack of letters and brochures and stylized catalogs comes from colleges across the country hoping to entice him. He doesn't read a single one. I, however, read them all, even the ones from Kettering and Lyons and Rensselaer.
The pitch that gets my undivided attention is the one that says: "We have reserved a full scholarship for you." Actually, not every student gets that letter. In fact, across the country, only about 16,000 students get letters that offer "big" scholarships for academic achievement. These students represent less than 1 percent of the highest scorers on the PSAT/NMSQT exam, an annual exam given in October to high school juniors. Not every college offers scholarships to this select group. Harvard doesn't give them a dime. But many schools from across the country offer full tuition scholarships to full rides for "big" PSAT scores.
The University of Alabama says this: "As a National Merit Finalist you will receive the value of tuition for four years, regular on-campus housing for four years, $2,000 for summer research or international study, $1,000 per year for four years, and a laptop computer." That letter came in the mail today.
See for yourself. Check out each university's Web site for the scholarships they offer. For most, scoring well on the PSAT provides the largest remuneration. The next level of scholarship money comes from good SAT or ACT scores in combination with a strong GPA; the higher the scores the more scholarship dollars. Using the old SAT scale that my generation grew up with, a 1200 might command a $1,500 scholarship, while each additional 100 points might add several thousand more. Since the average score for Texas students on the SAT is around 1,000, an academic scholarship isn't in the cards for most students, but the SAT/ACT is a significant factor in most colleges' admissions' decisions.
Guess how many four-year colleges and universities give scholarships or guarantee admissions for great TAKS scores? I know of none. Certainly, students can't graduate from Texas high schools without passing the TAKS tests, but they can't use those tests as a ticket into UT or any other school. TAKS is a ticket out of high school, but not a ticket into college. The end-of-course exams that will soon replace the TAKS tests will be no different, unless new Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott adopts a new mindset toward exit-level testing.
In a state where no child is supposed to be left behind, why use tests that leave students behind?
At the very least, we should prepare students for the testing format that will determine their college opportunities. The TAKS tests are untimed, taking the better part of four school days to administer. The SAT and ACT take up four hours on a Saturday morning. On TAKS, students can spend eight hours writing an essay. The SAT and ACT give them 25 minutes. No wonder that average SAT score in Texas dwells near the bottom nationally.
Based on TEA's testing track record, I'm not optimistic that a new set of tests will alleviate the disparity between high school graduation and college preparation.
It's not the schools' fault. They didn't create TAKS, and they can't ignore the severe ramifications of not improving TAKS scores, even when those scores do not equate to success beyond high school. As long as the schools are under the thumb of a flawed accountability system that determines their fate, most schools will continue to dance to the TAKS two-step and let those students who have college aspirations fend for themselves.
Within this system is a tacit premise: Not every Texas student is college material. While this certainly doesn't jibe with No Child Left Behind, it is the only way to explain why we fall prostrate before tests that don't promote college readiness. In an Oct. 23 editorial, The Dallas Morning News cited a study showing that 30 percent of Texas students who go to college need remedial help to catch up. What percent of Texas students actually matriculate to college and then eventually graduate? Those numbers are depressing.
I don't think every graduate needs to go to college. But it's wrong when those who want to go can't.
Until TEA can produce a test that can put a letter in my mailbox that provides my son a scholarship, schools should focus on the tests that can.
Carey Christenberry is an English teacher and tennis coach at Nimitz High School in Irving and a Teacher Voices volunteer columnist. His e-mail address is CChristenberry@ irvingisd.net.
Harding Academy’s ACT scores rise
Scores higher than state, national average
Harding Academy received great news recently for their academic program. The 2007 class had an ACT score average of 24.4. This is 3.9 points higher than the state average and 3.2 points higher than the national average.
Darren Mathews, Dean of the High School, stated, “We use the ACT score as one of our main indicators for our academic program. Since all of our students are required to take the ACT, we can draw some significant conclusions concerning our academic program.”
Over the past several years Harding Academy has used the Stanford test as well as the PSAT and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to monitor their academic performance.
“Six years ago we analyzed our total program from Kindergarten to the twelfth grade and decided that reading would become a priority. The class of 2007 was the first class to participate in this effort and their reading score (25.8) is 4.9 points higher than the state average (20.9).”
Ellen Pompeo Weds Her McDreamy
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:15:56 AM PST
There's at least one TV heroine out there who doesn't need any writers to help craft her happy ending.
Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo tied the knot with music producer Chris Ivery in a brief civil ceremony held at New York's City Hall Friday.
"They are over the moon," Pompeo's publicist, Jennifer Allen, said of the newlyweds.
According to Allen, the low-key ceremony lasted just a few minutes and was conducted by a city clerk. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a fellow Boston-area native, and First Deputy Mayor Patti Harris served as the couple's witnesses and were the only people present for the civil vow swap.
It's the first wedding for both.
"I'm very happy for her," Ellen's father, Joseph Pompeo, told People, adding his famous offspring informed him after the ceremony of his father-in-law status. "She just didn't want a big thing."
In keeping with the under-the-radar vibe of the nuptials, the newlweds have opted out of a honeymoon trip, though last month Pompeo told People magazine she and Ivery were planning a trip to Bologna, Italy, "very soon." In the meantime, they were spotted Sunday night celebrating courtside at a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.
The couple have since returned to the West Coast, however, with Pompeo back on the set of Grey's Anatomy Monday. The show has continued production in the wake of the Writers Guild strike, though with series creator-writer-exec producer Shonda Rhimes refusing to cross the picket line, it will likely be forced to close up shop soon.
While Pompeo and Ivery, both 38, grew up minutes away from each other in Boston, they only met cute in 2003, at a Los Angeles grocery store. They played the "just friends" card for a full six months before veering into nonplatonic territory.
Their Friday wedding date was almost a year to the day since Ivery popped the question. The duo became engaged on Nov. 10 of last year, Pompeo's 37th birthday. The record producer proposed with a 3.5-carat emerald-cut diamond in a platinum setting from jewelry designer Tacori.
Since then, Pompeo has made no pretense about her desire for a hush-hush ceremony, frequently professing that she and Ivery would likely eschew Hollywood tradition and make do with an elopement.
Former Cedar Rapids man's murder in California remains unsolved
More than four months after police discovered his body in a northern California lake, Eastern Iowa native Paul Womachka's murder is still a mystery.
Authorities say someone killed the 39-year-old who lived most of his life in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. But the suspect is walking free, and his tight-lipped friends and family have stonewalled detectives, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Paul Joseph Womachka — his family called him Joe — went missing on June 27, a night he was driving his taxi.
His last customer was Morgan M. Jack, a 30-year-old he picked up at the Robinson Rancheria, a Pomo Indian Tribe community near Clear Lake, about 130 miles north of San Francisco. Jack wanted to be driven about 10 miles to the Big Valley Rancheria, another Pomo community on the lake's west side.
Womachka drove him there and was not seen again.
Divers found Womachka's submerged minivan, with his body inside, in the lake off the rancheria two days later. After the autopsy, the sheriff's office announced the death was a murder investigation.
Jack was arrested for a parole violation and identified as a person of special interest in the crime.
Since then, the 130 or so people who live at the Big Valley Rancheria — where Jack lives part-time — have closed ranks. Though rumors have swirled through the several small resort towns around the lake, nothing has been resolved and no one has been arrested for the murder.
Jack was released from jail in September.
Indian rancherias are peculiar to California. They differ from Indian reservations and settlements in that they are subject to the laws of both the county and the state of California. The Lake County Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction over the county's rancherias, just as if they are regular towns, Detective Nicole Costanza said.
But that hasn't helped the investigation move any faster.
"Most of the people (who) live on the rancheria are family, so they're going to cover for themselves," Costanza said. "They're covering for each other, and that's really all we're getting."
Valentino Jack, the tribal chairman, did not return The Gazette's phone calls asking for comment.
Sheriff's Lt. Cecil Brown said he may release new information on the case as soon as this week.
Though the official manner of death is homicide — death at the hands of another person — authorities will not say how Womachka was killed, saying that information is being withheld because of the investigation.
Womachka grew up, worked, married and raised a family in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
He graduated from Kennedy High School in 1985 and attended Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa. He met Erica Rhomberg at her 20th birthday party in Iowa City. They were married in 1988.
Ten years later, they were divorced but remained friends. She moved to the Clear Lake area in California in January 2004. A few months later, Womachka followed with their sons Quinn, Eden and Pere — now 17, 14 and 12, respectively.
"We never fell out of love with each other," Erica Womachka said. "We just realized that living together was a difficult process. He was an incredible man."
The divorced couple opened a taxi business together. She worked days, and he worked nights. Womachka also ran a windshield repair business.
Womachka's interests, by all accounts, were wide-ranging — writing, nature, music, philosophy, the arts and sports. In his spare time, he worked on independent films and helped coach soccer at Upper Lake High School. In the spring, just months before he died, he helped launch a soccer program at Upper Lake Junior High School.
"The guy had a heart of gold," said Randy Gibson, who worked with Womachka at McLeodUSA in Cedar Rapids for three years. "It takes a strong man to just uproot your kids and yourself and move from Iowa to California. Unfortunately, this is the result you get out of it."
The three boys are now living with their mother in Lucerne, a town on the east side of Clear Lake.
"Clearly, of course, we're frustrated," Erica Womachka said. "We do believe that the officers are doing everything that they can. ... I'm still hopeful that it'll all come out."
She said she had to pull the three boys out of school because of the community tension resulting from the unsolved case, which has also raised local hackles.
"A lot of people are upset about it," said Roy Parmentier, the mayor of Lakeport, the town that sits between the two rancherias. "It's discouraging, that they can get away with any ... thing they want to do out there."
Womachka's father, Paul Womachka in Cedar Rapids, and his brother, Brian Womachka in West Liberty, declined interviews, saying they don't want to interfere with the investigation.
Authorities say someone killed the 39-year-old who lived most of his life in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. But the suspect is walking free, and his tight-lipped friends and family have stonewalled detectives, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Paul Joseph Womachka — his family called him Joe — went missing on June 27, a night he was driving his taxi.
His last customer was Morgan M. Jack, a 30-year-old he picked up at the Robinson Rancheria, a Pomo Indian Tribe community near Clear Lake, about 130 miles north of San Francisco. Jack wanted to be driven about 10 miles to the Big Valley Rancheria, another Pomo community on the lake's west side.
Womachka drove him there and was not seen again.
Divers found Womachka's submerged minivan, with his body inside, in the lake off the rancheria two days later. After the autopsy, the sheriff's office announced the death was a murder investigation.
Jack was arrested for a parole violation and identified as a person of special interest in the crime.
Since then, the 130 or so people who live at the Big Valley Rancheria — where Jack lives part-time — have closed ranks. Though rumors have swirled through the several small resort towns around the lake, nothing has been resolved and no one has been arrested for the murder.
Jack was released from jail in September.
Indian rancherias are peculiar to California. They differ from Indian reservations and settlements in that they are subject to the laws of both the county and the state of California. The Lake County Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction over the county's rancherias, just as if they are regular towns, Detective Nicole Costanza said.
But that hasn't helped the investigation move any faster.
"Most of the people (who) live on the rancheria are family, so they're going to cover for themselves," Costanza said. "They're covering for each other, and that's really all we're getting."
Valentino Jack, the tribal chairman, did not return The Gazette's phone calls asking for comment.
Sheriff's Lt. Cecil Brown said he may release new information on the case as soon as this week.
Though the official manner of death is homicide — death at the hands of another person — authorities will not say how Womachka was killed, saying that information is being withheld because of the investigation.
Womachka grew up, worked, married and raised a family in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
He graduated from Kennedy High School in 1985 and attended Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa. He met Erica Rhomberg at her 20th birthday party in Iowa City. They were married in 1988.
Ten years later, they were divorced but remained friends. She moved to the Clear Lake area in California in January 2004. A few months later, Womachka followed with their sons Quinn, Eden and Pere — now 17, 14 and 12, respectively.
"We never fell out of love with each other," Erica Womachka said. "We just realized that living together was a difficult process. He was an incredible man."
The divorced couple opened a taxi business together. She worked days, and he worked nights. Womachka also ran a windshield repair business.
Womachka's interests, by all accounts, were wide-ranging — writing, nature, music, philosophy, the arts and sports. In his spare time, he worked on independent films and helped coach soccer at Upper Lake High School. In the spring, just months before he died, he helped launch a soccer program at Upper Lake Junior High School.
"The guy had a heart of gold," said Randy Gibson, who worked with Womachka at McLeodUSA in Cedar Rapids for three years. "It takes a strong man to just uproot your kids and yourself and move from Iowa to California. Unfortunately, this is the result you get out of it."
The three boys are now living with their mother in Lucerne, a town on the east side of Clear Lake.
"Clearly, of course, we're frustrated," Erica Womachka said. "We do believe that the officers are doing everything that they can. ... I'm still hopeful that it'll all come out."
She said she had to pull the three boys out of school because of the community tension resulting from the unsolved case, which has also raised local hackles.
"A lot of people are upset about it," said Roy Parmentier, the mayor of Lakeport, the town that sits between the two rancherias. "It's discouraging, that they can get away with any ... thing they want to do out there."
Womachka's father, Paul Womachka in Cedar Rapids, and his brother, Brian Womachka in West Liberty, declined interviews, saying they don't want to interfere with the investigation.
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