Wednesday's Sports Scoreboard

All Times Eastern
National Football League
No games today.
National Basketball Association
New Jersey 0, Atlanta 0 -1
Toronto vs Orlando, 7 p.m.
Washington 0, Cleveland 0 -1
Boston vs Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Golden State vs Minnesota, 8 p.m.
New …

Who's the man? // Barnett must decide on a quarterback

Tim's our guy.

Remember those words? That's what Northwestern coach Gary Barnettsaid all the way back on, let's see here, Monday? That's when heannounced he had chosen Tim Hughes over Chris Hamdorf to finally putan end to the quarterback controversy.

He had decided against a two-quarterback system, he said at thetime, because the quarterback in the game "can't be afraid to make amistake." In other words, it isn't good for a quarterback to worryall the time about being replaced. Barnett structured a plan,though, that had Hamdorf playing two series per game - the firstdrives of the second and fourth quarters - for experience.Well, the Tim's-our-guy plan lasted about …

Cirrus 2Q sales miss Street view; shares plunge

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Audio chip maker Cirrus Logic Inc. said Wednesday that its fiscal second-quarter net income fell 64 percent as revenue rose slightly but the cost of sales and research and development climbed by more.

The mid-point in the company's guidance for third-quarter revenue fell short of analysts' forecasts and Cirrus Logic's shares tumbled in extended trading.

Net income for the three months to Sept. 24 came to $11.2 million, or 17 cents per share, down from $30.9 million, or 42 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding stock-based compensation expenses and a provision for income taxes, adjusted earnings per share came to 33 cents, slightly beating the 32 …

MATL seeks to condemn land for power line

The developer of a power line between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alberta, is seeking to acquire via eminent domain an easement across some land east of Cut Bank.

Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. filed a complaint for condemnation Monday in Glacier County District Court against Larry Salois and his mother, Shirley Salois.

Larry Salois said he does not object to the line crossing his mother's property, he just wants a half mile of the line slightly adjusted. He said the route MATL wants to use runs adjacent to wetlands and over tepee rings on prairie that has never been plowed.

The condemnation complaint says MATL and the Saloises failed to agree on a …

Cloak story debatable Lincoln exhibit cloaked in theories

A blood-spattered cloak_allegedly worn by Abraham Lincoln's wifeon the night the president was shot_is the centerpiece of "Wet WithBlood," an all-day exhibit and symposium Saturday at the ChicagoHistorical Society.

Lincoln was shot on April 14, 135 years ago; he died the followingmorning. Lincoln artifacts will be displayed at the museum, and ateam of forensic experts, historians and scientists will detail itsinvestigation into the authenticity of the alleged Mary Todd Lincolncloak at a 2 p.m. discussion.

Did the cloak really belong to Mary Todd Lincoln? Is the blood onthe cloak really Lincoln's? History buffs will note that, on thatawful night at Ford's Theater in …

NEW BUSINESS: Jon-Paul Capito, Mr. Moonwalk LLC

Owner:

Jon-Paul Capito

Address:

935 Perry Woods Cove Fort Wayne, IN 46845

Telephone:

(260) 312-0909

Web site:

mrmoonwalkllc.com

E-mail:

jcapito212@aol.com

Type of business:

Moonwalk rental service

Owner's education/background:

Capito is currently working toward a bachelor's degree in business marketing.

Competitive advantage:

"We offer competitive …

Artist of famed Obama poster arrested in Boston

Police in Boston say the artist famous for his "Hope" posters of President Barack Obama has been arrested on outstanding warrants.

Shepard Fairey was in Boston on Friday for his new exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Police Officer James Kenneally says the department had Jan. 24 warrants alleging the Los Angeles artist tagged property with graffiti.

…

High noon near for Central Casting parent

The battle by British-based MIM Ltd. to take over IDC Servicesis heading toward a showdown that could occur this week, sources saidMonday.

IDC, a hardly known Chicago company whose principal businessesinclude such Hollywood institutions as the Central Casting "extras"service, has been locked in a boardroom battle with MIM for severalweeks.

Last week, IDC's board voted to give IDC President Lawrence J.Berkowitz a leave of absence when it became apparent he hadencouraged MIM to attempt the takeover. MIM, which already controls49.9 percent of IDC, has been seeking the ouster of three IDC boardmembers who oppose the takeover.

Berkowitz was put on leave …

Treasures Moving to New Acropolis Museum

ATHENS, Greece - One of Greece's most modern buildings is about to become home to some of the country's most treasured antiquities.

In a painstaking operation set to start Sunday, more than 4,000 ancient statues, friezes and other artifacts will be eased off the Acropolis and transported by a series of three cranes to the glass-and-concrete structure near the foot of the ancient hill. The operation is expected to take 10 months.

"It's going to be like a ... ballet of cranes - or like James Bond," Bernard Tschumi, the award-winning architect who designed the museum, told The Associated Press.

The long-awaited 215,000-square foot museum is not due to open to the …

SEC charges Madoff-linked firm, adviser with fraud

Federal regulators filed securities fraud charges Monday against a prominent California investment adviser and a New York brokerage firm said to be secretly controlled by Bernard Madoff, accusing them of funneling billions of dollars from investors into Madoff's pyramid scheme.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced civil fraud charges against New York-based Cohmad Securities Corp., its chairman, Maurice "Sonny" Cohn, his daughter, Chief Operating Officer Marcia Cohn, and vice president and broker Robert Jaffe. Named in a second SEC lawsuit was investment adviser Stanley Chais, a longtime Beverly Hills philanthropist, who allegedly oversaw three …

MORNINGLINE

Results Should the Postal Service charge business customers for picking uptheir own mail? Yes: 6% No: 94% …

SAfrica security minister defends information bill

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa's security minister is defending a bill that rights groups say may threaten freedom.

Siyabonga Cwele said in parliament Friday there are "several clear and present dangers" that justify the law on national security grounds.

Cwele says he agrees with criticism that the bill is too broad in protecting information deemed important to national or …

Netherlands plans legalization of park sex

It will no longer be illegal to have sex in Amsterdam's Vondel Park under regulations set to take effect later this year, De Telegraaf reported March 7.

"Why should we try to maintain something that is actually impossible to maintain, which also causes little bother for others and, for a certain group, actually signifies much pleasure?" asked Oud-Zuid district Alderman Paul van Grieken.

People having sex in the park will be expected to do so only after dark and out of public view. They also must not leave condoms lying about.

Meanwhile, the police institute's National Diversity Expertise Center is advising other cities to follow Amsterdam's lead. It said legalizing park sex would help protect gay men from queer-bashers.

The Amsterdam branch of the Dutch national gay group COC (now known only by its formal initials) welcomed the news.

"Cruising is something belonging to all times and banning it does not work anyway," said chairman Dennis Boutkan. "They do it surreptitiously and mostly without others being annoyed by it. [B]y agreeing on rules of behavior, safety can be increased."

Human-electronic device communication

Imagine a world where humans can communicate with electronic devices in the same way they talk to other human beings. Imagine a world where people could tell their vehicles what music they want to hear in the morning, and then have it automatically changed for them in the evening. Imagine "smart" vehicles that will drive themselves to their owners' destination whilst calling the grocery store for the family's daily needs.

Much of this technology is already a reality - and the rest could soon follow if Swiss company SVOX AG has its way. SVOX is a university spin-off founded in the year 2000 by a group of researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.

SVOX solutions are used for devices such as infotainment systems and hands-free car kits to enable turn-by-turn directions, command and control functionality, music track selection, handsfree dialing and similar actions. The company's Automotive Textto-Speech solutions are tailored for noisy car environments and are available in 24 languages and 35 voices.

The company designed the SpeechCreate development tool after receiving feedback from car manufacturers and Tier One suppliers.

Automotive Industries (Al) asked Martin Reber, CEO of SVOX AG to explain the reasoning behind the recent acquisition of a speech processing unit from Siemens.

Reber: Our goal is to make SVOX a one-stop destination for embedded speech. Whilst the company's roots are in speech output (TTS), the acquisition has enabled us to offer a complete range of speech solutions including speech recognition (ASR) and speech dialog. The ASR technology we have acquired is proven and mature.

Al: The SVOX speech solution recently became part of the Android mobile phone platform. Do you see Android and similar platforms becoming relevant for the automotive industry?

Reber: Demand for open-source software platforms is spreading. Initiatives such as Continental's AutoLinQ and GENIVI are good examples of this. We see it as part of a bigger "convergence" trend, where the line between mobile devices and in-car telematics is becoming increasingly blurred. We are ready to work with all of these new players to speech-enable their platforms.

Al: Tell us about the Microsoft and SVOX speech technology solutions.

Reber: Our focus is firmly on embedded speech. Since the Microsoft Auto platform is already such a big success (with Ford Sync shipments already exceeding one million units), SVOX has made it a priority to optimize its offering for this platform. The suite allows customers to differentiate themselves by making their Microsoft in-car products more intuitive to use.

Al: What new automotive solutions is SVOX working on?

Reber: The next "big thing" in speech user interfaces is flexible dialog - a solution that allows the user to communicate with the car as if it were a human being. For example, a user may say "I would like to read something in the evening," and the system will reply with, "Would you like to download a book or visit a book store?" The dialog will then continue until the task is accomplished.

Al: How big is SVOX's global reach so far, and how do you hope to further expand its influence?

Reber: Our business is global by nature. Our clients are major international OEMs and Tier Ones. We currently have offices in Switzerland , Germany and the USA and the team is truly international. There are more than 15 nationalities amongst our 100 employees. For SVOX, the most obvious next step would be expanding into other major regions such as Asia.

[Sidebar]

"Our focus is firmly on embedded speech, and the solutions that we offer are highly portable and platformindependent."

Martin Reber, CEO of SVOX AG

BLOOD, GUTS, AND FULL BODY MASSAGES: The 'Grin' Reaper cleans your town

If grimy dishes make you gag, consider what Gary Darby spends his time "scrubbing": Hazardous waste. Bad toxins. Suicide remnants. Contaminated bird crap. Bloody murder scenes. Sewer sludge. Meth-lab vapors. Gag-inducing odors. Anthrax and other instruments of chemical warfare. Good, old-fashioned barf. Consider suicide for a moment--did you wonder who would clean up your mess? That's right--in addition to all things unhealthy and offensive to the olfactory senses, he mops up death.

Imagine you're Courtney Love. Kurt Cobain, a man without the world's most healthy plasma coursing through his veins, has just blown his head off in your home. The shotgun blast left skull fragments, brain matter and blood stains all over the room. First, you'd probably call the police, maybe the coroner, perhaps notify the fan clubs--but then who? Certainly not a fireman, not a coal miner. A lot of people in this situation solicit the services of carpet cleaners and carpenters. In fact, it is precisely those people who are often enlisted to restore crime scenes. Or the families and friends of the deceased do it themselves.

Now forget about being Courtney Love.

You've just walked into the bedroom and discovered that the closest person in your life is missing his or her face. The walls are stained with blood and the scattered remnants of a shattered life. It doesn't have to be suicide. Accidents, as well as murder, happen. The person who can properly clean up the scene and help to blur the memories will be dealing with you while you feel the way that image made you feel. You don't want a heartless bureaucrat, nor do you want a careless clown. Regardless, few of us would stop to think about the blood-to-airborne pathogens possibly preparing to attack our lungs. Even fewer of us can imagine the horrific prospect of being the person who eliminates the smell and replaces the blood-saturated walls and floors. Gary Darby not only imagines it--he gives out the phone number for his company, American Bio-Hazard Services, and waits to do it.

Not long ago, a man in a Boise North End apartment died of AIDS. He was discovered about four days later. "There were maggots all over the apartment," Darby says. "He had melted through the bed and was about to melt through the floor." The information is related in the unimpressed voice that most of us would use to describe the discovery of an expired carton of milk.

He goes on: "Yeah, everything in there was contaminated. His mother asked me to look for some personal items, so I had to keep an eye out for them, pictures and things like that. I decontaminated everything and gave them to her at no charge ... I lost money, but I wasn't about to hit her up for cash. The place is clean, though. I do not fool around with public safety."

Perhaps something less devastating has presented a problem--such as a pile of pigeon crap in your bell tower (doesn't everybody have a bell tower?) that has reached an unacceptable level of petrification and potential disease. Maybe it's a sewage catastrophe--complete with human waste, puke, and whatever else that was deemed flush-worthy soaking into your freshly weeded garden.

None of these are the kinds of situations into which average people fearlessly tread--nor should they, considering the risks of HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, malaria, ebola, meningitis, streptococcus, encephalitis, staph infections and various other pathogens of the potentially fatal persuasion.

Nuclear waste evokes images of mutants with boiling skin and extra limbs. We rarely, however, think about the dangers of the blood stored in the veins of our friends and neighbors. And what of the whole rainbow of expired bodily excretions? Just gross, seemingly, not deadly. But, as it turns out, surface appearances are misleading. Blood, for instance, even dry blood, can kill you. Diseases are mutating faster than we can find cures. In the case of any of the aforementioned calamities, American Bio-Hazard Services is available. Their elite crew of men in protective suits and filter masks, much like those government officials from E.T., will descend upon the scene and remove the disease-ridden parasites that are invisibly suspended in the air we breathe.

Actually, it's just one person--but he does have the suit. Gary Darby is like that Australian Crocodile Hunter guy--except, instead of worrying about venomous snake-bites, he's more concerned with airborne pathogens that could either put him on kidney dialysis for the rest of his life or, in the case of modern weapons of war, choke him to death after one final breath of contaminated air. Oh, yeah--and for a modest fee, he'll also repair your computer and then give you a deep, soothing, rejuvenative massage. But his ancillary occupations are not his primary concern.

"Blood is as dangerous as nuclear waste," he says. "Bodies are landmines of germs ... You can't leave any amount of matter at all, because it will emit the most horrendous odor. Blood is notorious for it ... There cannot be one drop of blood left when I'm done."

Despite the occasional request from family members to salvage personal items, he tries to remain detached.

"I refuse to see bodies, because it personalizes it," Darby says, while petting the aging cat that rests on his lap and sheds on the floor. "By the time I get there, the coroner has removed most of the body. They'll often even pick up teeth for me. In the past, family and friends took care of it, and it personalized the whole thing." The comfortable cat, combined with its owner's cheerful nature evokes images of a James Bond villain who has decided to change his ways and make the world a better place.

Darby understands the trauma that families experience after a loss, because his sister was murdered when he was a child living in Africa. "I've seen the tragedy. It wasn't a grisly murder, but the impression it left on me was very strong," he says. And the images of Apartheid-related blood are still vivid to him.

A 47-year-old Vietnam vet who has volunteered his time to work with crack babies in Portland, Oregon, Darby is a portrait of charming mystery. He is from "all over the world." His dad was a military instructor. Later, Darby worked for Hewlett-Packard. When "things went south," he simply directed his attention toward the bio-hazard industry. The business is only a few months old, established after he completed the exhaustive training and was invited to join the anthrax-decontamination team in Washington, DC.

"I live with my phone, and my intention is to help people," he says. "This is not an area with enough crime that I can get rich from it." But it's the only business in the Treasure Valley to specialize in crime-scene clean-up. So, all he needs is a bit more trauma in the area, and he'll be coughing all the way to the bank.

Darby, however, expects American Bio-Hazard Services to eventually hire employees and combat terrorism--because, as he says, envisioning the future, we'll be dealing with a lot of noxious gases. "Chemical warfare is cheap, and bio-terrorism is inevitable," he says. Meanwhile, there's always a crime scene--or at least one or two sick scenes. Darby poses a question: "Who will clean up grandma's tuberculosis germs--which linger in the air for 30 to 40 days?"

Suddenly, his 23-year-old cat prepares to puke on the carpet. He grabs a paper towel and catches the cat vomit before it hits the ground, then tosses it into the garbage, all in one graceful move and all without derailing his thoughts. "You can be a carrier of tuberculosis for up to 10 years and not even know it," he continues. "I put my life on the line for this. It's hazardous work."

The hypothetical-grandmother scenario leads into gruesome territory: Who's cleaning things up, for instance, in the Middle East? "I don't know," Darby says, "but the bombers could infect themselves with a disease and then blow themselves up." True. They could do that anywhere--and if so, the situation demands a company willing to eliminate biological hazards.

Several millionaires were made during last year's anthrax problem. At a rate of 200 to 500 dollars per hour, the virusfighters are bound to make some money--especially when nobody dares to say, "Okay, that's good enough. Get out of here. I see with my own two eyes that there ain't no more stupid anthrax in here."

A business that depends upon death and destruction, while, on the surface, can appear a bit unsavory, not only helps the people affected by the death and destruction--but, regardless of the conditions under which it prospers, you have to admit that, these days, death and destruction are bankable commodities. Nice, recession-proof work--if you can get it.

In the sense that nobody is obligated to call someone who eliminates biological hazards, it's an unregulated industry. However, once a business like Darby's is advertised as such, it must comply with OSHA and EPA standards. For example, if you haven't obtained a license to label, color-code, store and dispose of sharps (needles and medical tools), you can be fined $25,000. The regulations are too verbose and numerous to list here, but basically: Employees must wash hands. They must also wear disposable gloves, masks, hoods, eye protection, face-shields, and impenetrable suits of germ-resistant armor to cover the rest of their severely endangered flesh. Oh, and they must get all of their shots. And keep their pockets full of Mr. Yuck stickers.

The industry is further required to meet the rules of the American Bio-Recovery Association. It's like taking the Bar exam, except, instead of practicing for closing remarks, the graduates put on space suits and dispose of diseased syringes. Speaking of throwing things away, you can't just drop a blood-soaked rug off at the dump. Everything has to be sealed off, and if anything has seeped into the floor or the wall, it has to be removed and replaced with blood-less wood. These jobs are not contracted out to someone else. In addition to extensive training in disinfection, chemical/pathogen decontamination, and deodorization of trauma scenes, Gary Darby must also be familiar with carpentry, janitorial services, psychological counseling and preserving evidence.

Ripping up the carpet, even if the blood is dry, can launch tuberculosis or hepatitis germs into the air, which are then picked up by the heating or cooling vents and distributed throughout the house or building. Once inhaled, germs can remain dormant for years, so you may want to reconsider slowing down to look at car-wrecks.

Cops and medics have no choice but to slow down and look, though. They're in danger of contracting blood-borne viruses or a virus that has gone air-borne from blood, not to mention mosquito-borne viruses. Who's cleaning up the remnants of car wrecks, anyway? Often, it's mechanics and auto-body shops. Through the process of evaporation, we can contract pathogens via the eyes, nose, lungs, even broken skin near the base of our fingernails. Maybe this is why people in hospitals are always sick.

Darby's services cost anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 per job. His fees are usually covered by property insurance, so he also bravely works with insurance companies, which don't smell as bad as four-day-old feces but can often present similarly messy complications.

Yes, American Bio-Hazard Services and others in the industry are often protecting people from invisible bullets, but Gary Darby is not a shameless opportunist. Otherwise, he would be soliciting customers by advertising on TV ... something like this: "Suicide trouble? A multi-casualty drive-by-shooting problem? Body tissue of unknown origin? Tired of dusting that pesky fingerprint powder? Maybe you just have too many bird droppings piling up on the basketball hoop. Whatever your source of horror--I'm here to help! If you call right now, I'll not only clean up your calamity--but for a few extra bucks, I'll throw in some feng shui! Hell, I'll even replace drywall, re-carpet the floor and paint the damn room pink! Yes, American Bio-Hazard Services focuses on homicides, suicides, industrial accidents, removal of decomposed remains that you may have forgotten about, vehicle accidents, sudden hemorrhaging, projectile vomiting, offensive smells, messy births and terrorist attacks--but that's not all: I can also fix your computer and give one hell of a great massage! So don't hesitate--call now!

"I want to help," Darby says. Consequently, he's available anywhere in Idaho, 24 hours a day, including holidays--so you'll never have to deal with any excuses of the sorry-I'm-busy-coloring-eggs-with-the-kids variety. In fact, he doesn't have kids--just a very old cat. Almost all of his contracts are private, but public establishments need his services just as much. Businesses can unknowingly put people in hazardous situations by enlisting employees to do the job. ("Hey, Jimmy, before you take another smoke break, pick up that blood.") But nobody wants to see people with hepatitis filters walking into a place of business, so American Bio-Hazard Services maintains a low profile. The company will, for instance, be listed in the phone book under "House Cleaning." And Darby will gladly cover up the logo--a red bio-hazard symbol--on the side of his truck.

"Are you obsessed with germs?" I ask, scanning his kitchen for cat hair. He shrugs off the question, then adamantly recommends that people wash their hands often and "keep both toilet covers closed at all times"--well, maybe not at all times, but at least when not in use. This, Darby estimates, can cut down 40 percent of your exposure to colds, allergies and other viral irritants.

Recently busy with a suicide in Nampa, a trauma-scene photo collection rests on his table. "What do I do to decompress from all of this? I give massages," Darby says, sliding a pile of flyers to me, "I'm the Happy Masseuse." Sure, the masculine form is "masseur," but of all people, Gary Darby deserves a reprieve from anything that sounds like the word, "sewer." The flyer, which suggests a massage-and-computer-repair combination, reminds us to "smile and laugh every day!"

Whatever you call him--the Happy Masseuse, the Grin Reaper--Gary Darby is ready to answer the phone. And incidentally, the flyer announces that 10 percent of the massage/computer income will be donated to "assist dislocated and abandoned cats and to help senior citizens pay for medical procedures and medication for their feline friends." That's one thing he doesn't want to clean up.

Photograph (Gary Darby)

Man who murdered 2 executed in Texas

A man whose cross-country crime spree with his girlfriend a decade ago ended in a gun battle with police in San Francisco was executed Thursday in Texas for killing a sheriff's officer.

Joshua Maxwell's voice broke as he apologized repeatedly in the seconds before the state put him to death by lethal injection for the October 2000 slaying of Bexar County sheriff's Sgt. Rudy Lopes.

"The person that did that 10 years ago isn't the same person you see today," Maxwell said. "I hurt a lot of people with decisions I made. I can't be more sorry than I am right now."

He said his execution was "creating more victims."

"This is not gonna change anything," he said.

Maxwell, 31, was the fourth inmate executed this year in Texas, which executes more prioners than any other U.S. state. No late court appeals were filed for him. The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to review his case.

Lopes, a 45-year-old veteran jailer, was robbed of his truck and shot. His bound and blindfolded body was found behind a San Antonio shopping mall.

Maxwell and his girlfriend, Tessie McFarland, crisscrossed the country in a deadly crime spree, starting in Indiana with the robbery and slaying of Robby Bott, 45, a FedEx mechanic from Mooresville, Indiana, a month before Lopes' slaying.

Bott's parents joined three relatives of Lopes on Thursday as witnesses in the Texas death chamber. Maxwell's son, mother and half-sister watched through a window in an adjacent room.

After Maxwell was pronounced dead, Shirley Bott turned to a state official accompanying her and showed a heart-shaped locket she wore on a chain around her neck.

"I have my son's ashes in here," she said. "I wanted him to be here."

Maxwell and McFarland were arrested less than a week after Lopes' body was found. They had a chase and running gun battle with police through downtown San Francisco after Maxwell, driving Lopes' stolen truck, refused to be pulled over for running a red light.

Maxwell was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in Lopes' killing. In Indiana, he was convicted of murder, felony confinement, arson and theft in Bott's slaying.

McFarland, 30, is serving a life prison term in Texas after pleading guilty to Lopes' slaying. In Indiana, she initially was charged with murder, criminal confinement, arson and theft in Bott's killing, but pleaded guilty to confinement and arson as part of a plea deal.

Web Bidding Help Drives Live Auctions

His chanting is rhythmic and rapid, a staccato string of numbers that quickly grows hypnotic as auctioneer Kevin Teets scans the audience, eyes darting between buyers on opposite sides of the room.

Perched in the front row is Dave Kauffman, who has come 220 miles from Marysville, Ohio, in search of vintage, remote-control model airplanes and accessories.

Within hours, Kauffman has so many planes and parts, to be resold at flea markets and online, that it takes five trips to load his hatchback at the Greene County Fairgrounds.

"I can tell from the first sale if it's going to be a good night," he said. "Tonight was a very good night."

Although auctioneers initially considered the Internet a threat, its growth and development of searchable Web sites like AuctionZip have contributed to a boom in the live-auction industry, with one-time rivals forming partnerships that produce bigger audiences for sellers, often by simulcasting live auctions on the Web.

Buyers emboldened by success on eBay and other sites are seeking live sales in search of lower prices _ and the thrill of competing in person.

Sales of goods and services at live auctions totaled $257 billion in 2006, a surge of 7 percent over 2005.

A study for the Kansas-based National Auctioneers Association found residential real estate auctions have grown 39 percent since 2003, agricultural real estate grew 33 percent, and sales of commercial and industrial property surged 27 percent. Car auctions increased by 10.5 percent and charity auctions rose 16.5 percent.

"I don't know where the auction industry would be without the Internet," said Teets, of Fairmont, W.Va. He turned professional three years ago and made the top 12 at the 2007 bid-calling world championships in San Diego.

"The Internet has educated the buyers. It's educated the sellers. It's opened a lot of these small sales up," said Teets, 31, who works for Joe R. Pyle Auctions of Mount Morris, Pa.

Earlier this year, the 6,000-member National Auctioneers Association teamed up with Gemstar-TV Guide International to launch Auction Network, which produces Webcasts of auctions.

"The Internet has been the greatest thing that ever happened to the auction industry," said NAA president Tommy Williams, an Oklahoma real estate auctioneer. "It made us reinvent ourselves."

Auctioneers were slow to embrace the Internet because it was considered competition, said Ina Steiner of Natick, Mass., editor of AuctionBytes, a trade publication for online merchants.

But now, even rural residents often have sufficient Web service to compete and sellers realize that customers have choices far beyond eBay. There are specialty sites like Bid4Assets for real estate and IronPlanet for construction equipment.

"General consumers, they go to sites like eBay," Steiner said. "But they might go to Google. Google's the great equalizer. If an auction site is savvy and has a listing optimized for Google, people can find them."

The intersection of live and virtual auctions promises nearly limitless opportunity, and a few companies have already found niches by pairing traditional auction houses with the online world.

Julian Ellison moved from London to New York in 1999 to launch LiveAuctioneers, a Webcasting project. In 2002, he persuaded San Francisco-based eBay to partner on live Web auctions.

At the time, eBay had 25 million users; today it boasts 275 million. Ellison has ventures with 638 auction houses worldwide and annual sales approaching $100 million.

"A lot of our auction houses that we started doing business with were on their knees," he said. "Some have said to me: 'You guys have absolutely saved our bacon.'

The changing world also creates opportunity for individuals, and the NAA is beginning to see more women and minorities entering the profession. The world champion bid-caller, former real estate investor Denise Shearin of Brandywine, Md., is the first black auctioneer to hold the title.

Shearin, who went pro in March 2006, was initially captivated by the chanting but quickly learned there's more to the business, requiring constant re-education about values, intensive marketing efforts and sophisticated people skills.

"Like so many other businesses, you get out of it what you put into it," she said. "If you really enjoy it, 50, 60 and 70 hours a week really do go by very quickly and fairly easily."

___

On the Net:

National Auctioneers Association: http://www.auctioneers.org/

LiveAuctioneers: http://www.liveauctioneers.com/

AuctionZip: http://www.auctionzip.com/

Auction Network: http://auctionnetwork.biz/

Bid4Assets: http://www.bid4assets.com/

IronPlanet: http://www.ironplanet.com/

LiveAuctioneers: http://www.liveauctioneers.com/

Basque separatists arrested in north Spain

Spanish police in the Basque region said they have dispersed a banned march and arrested at least five separatist sympathizers in the northern seaside city of San Sebastian.

An AP reporter at the scene says regional police charged at the gathering of several hundred people marching in support of ETA prisoners. The protesters hurled bottles and rocks at police.

The regional government had banned Sunday's march after it was organized by a group that favors amnesty for prisoners held for Basque separatism related crimes.

ETA has been waging a violent campaign that has killed more that 825 people since the late 1960s as it aims to carve out an independent Basque nation in parts of northern Spain and southwestern France.

NATO: Continued resistance in Libya 'surprising'

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO says the continuing resistance by pro-Gadhafi forces in Sirte and other locations in Libya is "surprising" because they are fighting a losing battle.

NATO spokesman Col. Roland Lavoie said on Tuesday that instead of opting for a political solution, the former strongman's troops have chosen to continue fighting and "to inflict pain on the rest of the population in Libya." But, he says they can no longer mobilize significant forces or command those forces.

Lavoie says that Gadhafi loyalists can no longer be resupplied in the battle for Sirte after the new government's units won control of key parts of the town's center.

He says, "so from that perspective, it just does not make sense to see what these few remaining forces are doing."

Students may line up at school for swine flu shots

Schoolchildren may be first in line for swine flu vaccine this fall _ and might even be able to get the shot right at school.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told The Associated Press she is taking that possible scenario to school superintendents, urging them to start planning now in case the government needs their buildings as part of a mass vaccination campaign.

No decision has been made yet on whether and how to vaccinate millions of Americans against the new flu strain that's circulating the globe. But because younger people so far seem most susceptible to this new flu, Sebelius says school-age children could be among the first groups targeted for the shots. She gave the update in an interview with The AP on Tuesday.

Las Vegas jury reaches verdict in Simpson case

Jurors in the O.J. Simpson trial reached a verdict Friday after working into the night, deliberating the fate of the former football star and a co-defendant accused of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a casino hotel room.

"We have a verdict," said Michael Sommermeyer, spokesman for the Clark County District Court. He said it would be read after all the defendants, lawyers and prosecutors arrived at the court.

The jury reached a decision after deliberating for more than 13 hours.

Simpson, 61, and a golfing buddy, Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, each face five years to life in prison if convicted of kidnapping, or mandatory prison time if convicted of armed robbery. They've pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including conspiracy, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon.

Deliberations began 13 years to the day after Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles.

The jury sent one note to the judge around 3 p.m. with what the court spokesman called a "procedural question."

Judge Jackie Glass responded with instructions to look at documents they had already been given, Sommermeyer said.

The jury of nine women and three men heard 12 days of testimony, capped by prosecutors' arguments Thursday that the Las Vegas case had its roots in the 1994 slayings.

Prosecutors alleged Simpson planned _ and Stewart helped carry out _ a plot to retrieve personal items that Simpson lost after squirreling them away to avoid turning them over to Goldman's family to satisfy part of a $33.5 million civil wrongful death judgment levied in 1997 by a California court.

Four men who accompanied Simpson, Stewart and a middle man to the Palace Station casino hotel for the Sept. 13, 2007, confrontation later pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution. Thomas Riccio, the man who arranged and secretly recorded the meeting, testified under immunity from prosecution.

Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, told the jury the prosecution didn't prove Simpson was guilty in the criminal case that he said "has taken on a life of its own because of Mr. Simpson's involvement."

"Every cooperator, every person who had a gun, every person who had an ulterior motive, every person who signed a book deal, every person who got paid money _ the police, the district attorney's office, is only interested in one thing: Mr. Simpson," Galanter said.

Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson, presented his client as the trial's forgotten man.

Since Sept. 15, the jury heard 22 often colorful witnesses _ including seven of the nine people who were in the cramped hotel room. They listened to numerous replays of secret recordings made before, during and after the alleged robbery.

Neither Simpson nor Stewart testified, and jurors were instructed not to consider that when judging the case.

Glass kept a tight rein on the proceedings and rejected several mistrial motions. She read 41 legal instructions to the jurors and six alternates before the panel heard closing arguments.

___

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

Welcome for bypass hearing A Public inquiry is to be held early next year into plans for the long-awaited Aberdeen bypass.

A Public inquiry is to be held early next year into plans for thelong-awaited Aberdeen bypass.

The hearing will consider objections to the proposed bypass, whichalready number around 7,500.

Opponents of the plans have welcomed the announcement by TransportMinister Stewart Stevenson.

They claim a detailed examination of the plans would show them tobe "flawed".

Mr Stevenson also announced additional facilities to lodgeobjections via a Transport Scotland project website.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has published orders todayrelating to the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, giving details ofhow to object.

Mr Stevenson, pictured, said: "It has always been likely that ascheme of this size would be subject to a public local inquiry.

"Now the final set of orders have been published, we will moveforward to the next stage in the statutory process.

"The objection period for the road and compulsory purchase ordershas another two weeks to run. It is important that people who wish tosubmit objections do so within that timeframe.

"I have arranged for a dedicated e-mail address to be set up forobjections. In view of disruption caused by the postal dispute, thiswill provide an alternative means of submitting objections."

Henry Irvine-Fortescue, vice-chairman of Roadsense, the groupopposed to the scheme, said: "We believe that when the detail isexamined at the inquiry, the whole project will be seen to be flawed.

"It won't solve Aberdeen's congestion problems, and is the mostenvironmentally-damaging route."

The bypass is expected to cost between pounds295 and pounds395million.

A public meeting is being held by Roadsense at the InternationalSchool in Milltimber on Saturday at 1pm.

Letters

DEVELOPING CONCEPT OF LARGE-SCALE WINDROW COMPOSTING

Dear Editor:

When I first started looking into composting 33 years ago, I would have welcomed the choices represented in the July 2001 BioCycle article, "Advances in Windrow Turning," covering more recent entries into this industry.

Having come from an agricultural background and having been schooled in a wide range of natural science subjects at the university, upon returning from combat after World War II, I spent nearly six years investigating the environmental impact of water development projects throughout 12 Western Plains states for the government. This attention to the proposed projects brought me into close contact with farmers and the rapidly changing farming practices. During the war, the chemical industry had been expanded and when war ceased, one of the convenient outlets for this production was use in soil treatment. I became concerned for the deterioration of soil and the quality of food produced from this simplistic approach to crop production.

Next I entered the farm building business, which maintained my contact with the soil and the people of the soil. I was on hand at the emergence of the large feedlots. To my amazement, apparently this industry had not thought out the consequences of such concentrations of livestock and the resultant wastes. The "Dr. Experts" at our institutions of higher learning and the U.S. Department of Agriculture seemed only interested in seeing how many tons of manure could be applied to an acre of soil without destroying its productivity. Attention was also given to how it could be made into building material, fuel to generate power or some other unrealistic waste of this potentially valuable material. The last thing on anybody's mind was how it could be processed and better used to restore the deteriorating soils.

Composting had been around for centuries; however, methods used were so laborious that in farming it was only done by the farmer himself and this did not fit into the changing nature of agriculture. It was also thought that quantities of fibrous organic material, such as straw, were necessary to make it work.

As I addressed these challenges, all known equipment used in farming, road building and mining was considered, and by late 1968, 1 was ready to get my feet wet. In January 1969, I began by watering and tilling beds of manure, running it through a manure spreader and lifting it with a travel loader. I proved to myself that compost could be made from straight bovine excrement without bulking materials. Through cooperation of farmer friends from my earlier building business, we got field trials out on low application rates. Soil structure was always enhanced and with larger application rates, we could grow good crops. If we could get production costs down, it would be economical for the farmer.

When I began to take stock of the gratifying results seen in these field trials, and began to look at the economics, it was obvious that a more efficient means of compost production had to be achieved. With this in mind, in 1969 I went to another former customer who operated a farm repair shop - really an ingenious village blacksmith - and we swept the floor of his shop, took chalk and began to lay out the design of the first compost turner. One of the design parameters was a machine that could be taken to the compostable material rather than taking the enormous quantities of material available to a machine and then having to remove it before more could be processed. In other words, avoiding a bottleneck in production. We concluded that a windrow should be used and a machine, which would straddle it and aerate it in place, was needed. My blacksmith friend knew of an abandoned combine that had a torque converter, which could be used to propel the machine at very low ground speeds (see photo).

During the years since the concept of developing a machine to travel to the compost windrow was first conceived in 1969, and somewhat enjoying the challenge of building a better machine, many concepts have been tried. I have worked with people far and wide that have built their own machines. Some of these people have even entered the manufacturing business. I was dissatisfied with the usual turning of piles from top to bottom and not thoroughly mixing material in the middle of the pile with that on the outer edges of the windrow. I finally came up with a drum design that effectively accomplishes this desirable result and patented it. The dozens of machines that have this drum have always received favorable comments concerning the way it aerates, mixes and piles the windrow.

My motivation for developing largescale windrow composting (and developing the first windrow machine not mentioned in the BioCycle article) was to have economically feasible compost made from our unused organic wastes to restore the soil for the betterment of the quality of crops. I am pleased that this has now become a very active field of manufacturing with many involved. It is my hope that those engaged in the important field of composting will not lose sight of the value to our soil of their product and that they will keep in mind the old saying: "Good, better, best, never let it rest until the good is better and the better is best."

Fletcher Sims, Jr.

Canyon, Texas

compcorp@arn.net

CLARIFYING THE DECONSTRUCTION PROCESS AND ITS ECONOMICS

Dear Editor:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to William Turley's letter (September, 2001) in which he described problems with our July BioCycle article entitled "How Cost Effective is Deconstruction?" I would like to first clarify the process undertaken in the referenced study and then general issues regarding deconstruction and the demolition industries. Reuse of building materials has taken place since there were buildings. Generally, my definition of deconstruction is the "de - construction" of a building, that is disassembly, which out of necessity generally follows the reverse order of construction. Hence, the word "deconstruction." Because it is a whole-building removal process, the goal is first maximizing the recovery of reusable materials, and second, overall diversion of as much materials as possible from landfill, taking into account recycling those materials that are not readily reusable. It is also a process that must meet all local, state and Federal regulations, and in order to be feasible, it must be cost-effective based on the knowledge and skill of the deconstructor, and site-specific conditions.

The referenced study calculated the costs of deconstruction and salvage of reusable materials from six wood-framed houses, removing the structures completely from the site, in Gainesville, Florida. Removing a building can be accomplished three ways: moving it, dismantling it, or reducing it to the smallest volume possible for disposal in a landfill. The equation using the term demolition was the third case, a baseline for measuring the relative costs of deconstruction. According to Webster's dictionary, demolition is cited as "to wreck." To wreck is cited as "to destroy or damage badly; ruin 2. to tear down (a building, etc.)." I believe the term was used properly in the context of common American English.

I also do not believe there was any speculation of what the demolition industry or any particular demolition company might do in any given situation. Our study was not a political statement. There is recycling of building materials in the construction and demolition industries, and there is also a considerable amount of materials that are not reused or recycled. We asked local demolition companies how much they would bid to remove the building and if Mr. Turley would like to see them, I have a set of photographs showing how a sister building to one of the buildings we deconstructed was removed to make way for a new development. It was crushed using mechanical means and deposited in a local landfill. Unfortunately, as with many things in modern society, low tipping fees encourage disposal as a low first cost solution to building materials removal.

Deconstruction will not pay back its added labor cost on every building or in every location. Clearly local disposal fees and the quality of the salvaged materials and local markets will dictate what and when it is cost-effective. I am very glad to learn from Mr. Turley that the demolition industry is the paradigm of environmental consciousness and recycling efforts; our work is meant to act as information and education to this industry and any other sectors of the economy seeking to understand both the constraints and opportunities for deconstruction and salvage of building materials. I would hope that Mr. Turley would see as many others do, that deconstruction is an option for reducing disposal costs, managing hazardous materials, and increasing revenues for any entity that realizes its potential.

Mr. Turley claims that the equations used in the article misrepresent the demolition industry. The fundamental problem with that claim is that the study cited in the article is an economic analysis of the technique of demolition and disposal versus the technique of deconstruction and salvage on a oneto-one basis of six wood-framed houses in Gainesville, Florida. It is not and never claimed to be, a characterization of the demolition industry and its overall or even company-specific rates, of recycling. I presume that Mr. Turley would support a statistically sound characterization study of the demolition industry's recycling rates and we and many others would be delighted to conduct that characterization study for him.

Brad Guy, Associate Director Center for Construction and Environment

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida

METCO officials call for funding increase

METCO officials call for funding increase

David G. Yosifon

The state of Massachusetts, acting Governor Paul Celluci announced last week, has a $1 billion budget surplus. Though there are a number of competing plans on how to spend the windfall, a modest chunk of it will likely be returned to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts, the rest will be spent on capital projects, and new expenditures for innovative or long-proven programs.

Once again though, not for METCO.

The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, the 32-year-old voluntary school desegregation program which sends students of color from Boston and Springfield to suburban schools, has received no increase in its $12 million budget for the last decade. With inflation figured in, the METCO program has suffered increasingly debilitating cuts each of the last ten years.

With Beacon Hill bobbing in gravy this year METCO officials hoped finally to receive a significant increase. No such luck. The state House's budget again level funds the program at about $12 million, and the state Senate's buget offers a mere 3 percent increase. The final appropriation will likely be somewhere between the zero and 3 percent figures.

Jean McGuire, METCO's long time executive director, says the legislature has reneged on promises repeatedly made to her during lean budget years that things would get better when the economy did.

"Every year they have told us wait until things get better, wait until things get better," McGuire said. "Now there is a surplus, so what's the problem?"

"They pump money into a glam-our-slammer instead of funding education," she says, referring to the state's new prison next to the Roxbury exit of Interstate 93. "It tells you what they really want for black and Latino kids."

McGuire is frustrated that the state has been committing funds to experimental educational programs, such as school choice and charter schools, instead of expanding existing programs like METCO that have long and successful track records.

And the experimental programs, McGuire says, have been more lavishly funded than METCO. The state reimburses participating suburban school districts about $3100 for each METCO student, all of whom are minorities, that the district accepts. School Choice Districts, meanwhile, get $5000 for each student they receive -- and 90 percent of School Choice participants are white.

"You can have innovation without ripping off a successful program that we know works," she said.

One of the difficulties in getting the legislature to commit more funds to METCO, according to John Shandorf, assitant director of METCO, is that while the program is funded by all the state's taxpayers, only seven of the Commonwealth's 56 senators hail from districts that participate in the program.

Of course, METCO operatives are more than willing to expand their operations beyond the 37 suburban districts it currently serves and set up similar programs in other parts of the state -- but they would need a significant budget increase to do so.

METCO was created in 1966 as a program to voluntarily ease racial segregation both in city schools, which are populated by students of color in far greater numbers than their proportion in the city as a whole, and in suburban schools which often have few if any black or Latino students at all.

The program buses black children, and since the early 1990s Latinos and Asians as well, to suburban schools in the hopes that both those traveling and the host community will benefit from the racial, cultural, and geographical exchange.

Over the years politicians and commentators have come to discuss METCO primarily as a mechanism through which a handful of lucky minority students can escape the Boston public schools and enjoy a safe and quality education in the suburbs without moving there, which most poor families could never afford to do.

The program is extremely popular, and very difficult to get into. There are 3,300 students currently enrolled in METCO, and about 14,000 African Americans currently on waiting lists. According to Shandorf, if a parent wants his child to go to METCO from the first grade they had better sign the child up right around the time it is born. For Latinos it is slightly easier to get in, and METCO actually recruits Asians to participate.

There are no academic entrance requirements to get into METCO, and the program is fully available to most specials needs students.

McGuire insists that voluntary desegregation and cultural exchange remains the foremost purpose of the program, and so she is frustrated when politicians argue that METCO's funding should not be increased because the Boston Public School's will soon be improved and the program will become unnecessary.

While METCO students and their parents may not always be motivated by this racial exchange agenda, the program seems to achieve its desired effect anyway. A 1997 study, which came out of Harvard University's Civil Rights Project, found that 88 percent of surveyed students said their primary interest in participating in the program was to receive a better education than they would in the Boston Public Schools.

About 26 percent said their most important reason for participating was the opportunity to experience a new environment and meet new people, and 22 percent said it was to experience different cultures.

The same study though found that more than 90 percent of METCO students surveyed said they had "good" or "excellent" experiences learning to get along with people from different backgrounds. The study stressed that the students indicated that "getting along" did not necessarily mean becoming close friends but rather indicated an ability "to cope and co-exist in a white environment."

While there are a number of studies like the Civil Rights Project's, McGuire said that a fuller picture of METCO's success and impact would have to assess the attitudes of white students in the suburban schools, since the program is as much about their attitudes and perceptions as it is about black students from the city.

McGuire's tough rhetoric about the state's failure to commit new resources to METCO is echoed by John Bryant, president of the METCO Parent's Council.

"We have gone the politically correct route of appealing to the consciousness of the state to do the right thing," Bryant said. "Now we are considering a class-action lawsuit."

Bryant said his parents group is considering suing the state on the grounds that it fails to provide METCO students with important educational opportunities, such as access to extra-curricular and after-school programs, which other students at the schools that METCO kids attend are afforded.

As many as two-thirds of METCO schools, according to Bryant, have had to cut transportation budgets to the point where they can no longer provide late buses to bring students back to the city in the evening, when after-school programs are through.

And the cuts run deep than just transportation for after-school programs. METCO was never designed as a simple busing arrangement -- a central element to the program has always been providing councilors and seminars to help both city and suburban students better understand each others backgrounds. Special METCO tutors have also traditionally helped Boston students get up to speed in suburban schools that often move at a faster academic pace than the Boston public schools at which students previously studied.

As METCO's budget has stagnated over the last decade, fifteen councilors have been reduced to four, seminars have been virtually eliminated, and tutors have been cut in the host district, according to Bryant.

"It's just not enough to get kids out to the suburbs to sit next to a white kid in class," said Bryant. "Little by little the program is being destroyed. It's like their saying this year I'm going to cut off your toes, then you hands, then your legs, and then next year we're going to see if you can leap over these hurdles," Bryant said.

Reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.'s admonition that civil rights strides have only been made when grassroots activism is combined with legal challenges in the courts, Bryant said his organization is "very close" to filing a lawsuit against the state on behalf of METCO students.

"It appears there needs to be some higher authority to intervene," Bryant said.

NZ, Samoa to meet for first time in a test

New Zealand will play Samao in a rugby league test for the first time as part of its warmup to this year's Four Nations tournament.

The teams will meet at Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium on Oct. 16, seven days before New Zealand's opening match against England in a Four Nations tournament which also involves Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Despite playing international rugby union for decades, Samoa has only played international rugby league since 1988 and had competed at World Cups since 1995. Samoan Rugby League chairman Peter Paul said the October test was an important step forward for his nation.

"With such close relationships between the two countries and so many of our players making it in the best league competitions in the world, it is very important that we continue to offer them the chance to shine at an international level," he said.

"We were disappointed to miss out on the Pacific Cup last year and we need tests against the world's best to ensure we are better prepared for such tournaments in the future."

Getting a taste of life at an English school

Schools around Street have welcomed students from Belarus thisweek.

On a trip organised by the head of Brookside School Claire Axten,the students are aged 13 to 18 and from School 4 and School 8 in thecity of Svetlogorsk, in the Gomel region of Belarus.

The city has had strong links with the Mendip area for more thana decade.

The children have been helping out at Brookside and Catcottschools and will also visit Bishop Henderson School at Coleford.

They will be getting a taste of life at a Somerset secondaryschool as well when they visit Crispin School, Street.

On Friday they will return to Brookside where they will beperforming for parents and children during the Christmas show and inthe evening will be selling their own arts and crafts at the schoolfair.

The 16-strong group are headed by English teacher Zoya Emelyanovaand translator Dmitry Dadalko. Margarita, an English student fromMinsk, is also helping out.

The students have been telling the children about life in Belarusand teaching them a few Russian words.

The young visitors have also had a little time for somesightseeing, visiting Cheddar Gorge, Wells and Bath.

For the visitors the most surprising things have been thepresence of homeless beggars on British streets, and the twistynature of Britain's roads.

In Belarus, long straight highways connect all the towns andcities.

While teacher exchanges between Svetlogorsk and Brookside schoolhave become a fairly common occurrence, this is the first time that students have been able to experience life in British schools.

Better US standards mean safer holiday toys

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says tougher safeguards for toys mean better choices for families this holiday season.

But it's important to buy age-appropriate toys, have the proper safety equipment and make sure kids play in safe surroundings.

Consumer Product Safety Commission head Inez Tenenbaum told The Associated Press on Thursday that tough U.S. standards on lead content are one reason for a decline in toy recalls.

There have been fewer than 45 recalls this year, compared with 50 a year ago and 172 in 2008.

The agency also says it received 12 reports last year of toy-related deaths involving kids younger than 15. That's just half as many as in each of the two prior years.

The bad news: Toy-related injuries are rising.

There were 186,000 emergency room visits last year by kids for injuries related to toys, compared with 152,000 in 2005.

___

Online:

Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov

New owner of Top-O-Rock still weighing his options: ; Doctor says he may use circular building as event center, office space, home

The doctor who bought Top-O-Rock, the circular house built by thelate Henry Elden, said he has not yet decided what he will do withthe property.

"I think there are a lot of options for it," Dr. Mitchell Rashidsaid on Wednesday. "I haven't made up my mind 100 percent. I'll putit up for lease for maybe an event center or an office space like alegal practice or an architect's office. Maybe even restore it as apersonal home. I haven't decided yet."

The house needs a lot of work. "It's an overwhelming project,"Rashid said.

That's quite a statement considering the fact Rashid and anassociate, Dr. Elie Gharib, are currently constructing a four-storymedical office near Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston.The doctors are directors of the West Virginia Heart & VascularInstitute, which has offices at Thomas Memorial and in Logan.

Rashid said Top-O-Rock is zoned residential-commercial. "That'swhat Mr. Elden had done with it," he said, referring to Elden'sarchitectural practice. "They also have had numerous weddings andevent planning up there, with the beautiful views that overlookCharleston and the Capitol."

Rashid said he believes the site has ample parking.

"I think it would be a gem of a property, to restore it back towhere it was in the '60s," he said. Right now he is "just goingthrough the due diligence of getting information about it to see ifthe structure is safe, what kind of remodeling can be done to it. Idon't know if I will put it up for lease but I probably will. Ihaven't decided."

Rashid and Kamilla L. Rashid bought the famous house on July 26from Elden's daughter, Barbara Elden Scavullo of San Francisco, for$400,000, according to a deed filed in the Kanawha CountyCourthouse.

The house had been listed for sale. Rashid said theadministrators of the Elden trust then decided to conduct a sealed-bid auction. Rashid said he doesn't know how many other bidders, ifany, there were.

Rashid said he was not surprised that his bid won "because of thescope of the project and how much renovation would be required."

Elden built Top-O-Rock in 1968. Over the years the glass housenear Porter Road in Kanawha City was featured in several nationalmagazines. Elden and his son, Ted, always encouraged both friendsand strangers to come visit the house.

Henry Elden died in 2009 at age 94.

DAILY MAIL FILE PHOTO This is an early photo of the glass house,Top-O-Rock, built by the late Henry Elden in 1968.

Contact writer George Hohmann at business@ dailymail.com or 304-348-4836.

PGA NOTES

TOLEDO, Ohio The unofficial attendance is 110,074 for seven days.Yesterday's crowd is not included because Sunday's ticket stubs werehonored. . . . Bob Tway was scheduled to play in the Insurance YouthClassic in Springfield, Ohio, yesterday, until Sunday's rainlengthened the PGA. "On the final days they pair a pro with one oftheir youth finalists," said Tway. "I played in it when I was a kid. I'm sorry I missed that. It's kind of fun, and I know it's a bigthrill for the kids."

Tway and Greg Norman will resume their battle forplayer-of-the-year tomorrow at The International, a new tournament inCastle Springs, Colo. A modified Stableford system, which keeps scoreon points instead of strokes, will be used at The International andthe field will be cut after each round. . . . Norman and Tway couldalso meet at the Sept. 1 Grand Slam of Golf at Kemper Lakes.

Inverness shed Sunday's rain amazingly well yesterday. Theplayers found the greens fast and Norman suspected they had beendouble cut and rolled before the start of the round. . . . BenCrenshaw, who shared yesterday's low round of 67 with David Graham,was ribbed about getting hit in the head with his own club Saturday,an accident that required three stitches. "Four or five years agothere was enough padding up there that it wouldn't even have dentedit," said Lanny Wadkins. . . . Johnny Miller withdrew with nineholes to play, giving up at least $1,500 - the check given the lastplace finisher. No reason was given for his withdrawal.

Now get on with it

PEOPLE living in Brislington are fed up with the developers of ahousing estate because work has still not finished on roadalterations which were begun nine months ago.

Residents of West Town Lane say the work being carried out byBarratt Homes, which is building 122 homes at the former ImperialGround, has caused them untold stress and inconvenience.

Barratt began work in October last year on the junction of theestate, the road layout, upgrading a crossing and altering aroundabout.

The changes were a condition of the council granting planningpermission.

People living nearby say work has stopped and started since itbegan with no explanation given as to …

Philippine rebels say peace process could collapse

Muslim rebels on Saturday urged the Philippine government to halt a military offensive they say threatens a yearslong peace process and escalates violence in the troubled south.

The military has launched ground and air attacks on rebel positions in response to a guerrilla rampage Monday in which 37 people were shot or hacked to death in several villages.

Al-Haj Murad, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, told a news conference at a tightly guarded rebel base near southern Cotabato city that the military has started indiscriminate attacks while pursuing rebel commanders blamed for leading the rampage.

The rebels, who have been fighting for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south for decades, have said they regret a recent upsurge in violence and that the commanders responsible acted on their own. Murad said peace talks should resume, but repeated earlier rejections of a government demand that suspects be turned over to face the criminal justice system.

"We cannot subject our members to the laws of the government," Murad said from a stage where four rebels armed with M-16 rifles and grenade launchers stood guard. "We are a revolutionary force."

He suggested that the correct forum to deal with the rebel commanders should be a cease-fire committee involving the government, the rebels and an international truce monitoring group.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro repeated the government's demand. He accused rebel leaders of engaging in "extortion ... intransigence and arrogance" in their statements since the rampage when they should be showing "good faith to try to stop the conflict from escalating" by turning over the commanders.

"We hope the (rebels are) reasonable enough to see that it does them no good to coddle these criminals," Teodoro told reporters in Manila.

Murad said a deadline of sorts looms because the truce group's mandate is set to expire Aug. 31.

The military has reported heavy fighting in four towns since Thursday and estimated it has inflicted up to 100 casualties on rebel forces in ground battles and barrages of artillery and aerial bombing.

Col. Marlou Salazar, an army brigade commander, said intercepted radio messages and accounts from villagers show 22 rebels have been killed in the last three days of fighting in four Maguindanao townships alone.

Two government soldiers were killed and 15 others wounded in the area, Salazar said.

Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, said about 500 civilians were escorted out of the combat zone in Datu Piang township Friday and another 1,000 were being helped out of outlying villages.

Brig. Jorge Segovia, the military spokesman on the conflict, said about 85,000 people have been displaced, some by the rebel rampage, others while fleeing the military's response.

Segovia said several rebel "satellite" camps have been overrun. He urged guerrillas not affiliated with the commanders responsible for Monday's carnage to get out of the way of the military's pursuit, with troops narrowing their cordon of the area.

Eleven soldiers were wounded late Thursday in what the military called an ambush as the rebels tried to take control of a key highway.

Police said they have filed preliminary charges, including murder, attempted murder, robbery and arson, against 90 rebels, including the two commanders blamed for instigating Monday's violence.

Local political leaders in the south have started arming civilians to protect against rebel attacks, a dangerous development that could further escalate violence, Amnesty International said Friday.

It said the rebels "should be held to account" for serious violations of international law, but warned that the deployment of civilian militias on the government side "can set off a chain of reprisals and only increase the danger facing civilians."

Just weeks ago, a peace deal to end the decades-long insurgency had seemed within reach after government and rebel negotiators initialed an agreement on an expanded Muslim autonomous region.

But Christian politicians in areas that would be affected challenged the deal in the Supreme Court, triggering the attacks by the rebels.

Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that "circumstances have changed" after the recent attacks and the government will no longer sign the agreement.

Murad, the rebel chairman, rejected any review of the agreement.

"It's a done deal," he said. "If the government will not change its position, there's a possibility that the peace talks will collapse."

Greg Maddux's winless streak reaches 9 games

Greg Maddux's winless streak reached nine starts, the second-longest drought of his brilliant career, when the Minnesota Twins beat the San Diego Padres 9-3 Wednesday night for their eighth straight victory.

Brendan Harris hit his second go-ahead homer in two nights, a two-run shot, and Maddux (3-6) squandered an early 3-0 lead. Pinch-hitter Craig Monroe added a two-run drive for the Twins and Carlos Gomez had three hits. Justin Morneau went 0-for-4 with a walk, ending his 12-game hitting streak.

The Twins are last in the majors with 50 homers yet have hit four in two games at spacious Petco Park.

Minnesota's entire winning streak has come against NL teams. San Diego has lost four in a row and nine of 11.

Maddux's longest winless stretch is 13 starts from May 11 to July 14, 1990, with the Chicago Cubs.

In his 23rd season, the 42-year-old Maddux dropped to 0-3 in nine starts since his last win, May 10 against Colorado. Maddux became the ninth big leaguer to reach 350 wins that night. Getting to 351 has been a struggle, although Mad Dog had a 2.70 ERA in his previous eight starts.

He allowed six earned runs Wednesday night, his most since yielding a career-high nine in a 9-0 loss at Arizona on April 18. He gave up seven hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Maddux left to a nice ovation from the crowd of 22,324. A night earlier, Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, baseball's career saves leader, was booed after giving up homers on consecutive pitches to Harris and Brian Buscher in the ninth inning of Minnesota's 3-1 win.

San Diego took a 3-0 lead against Glen Perkins (4-2). Kevin Kouzmanoff hit an RBI triple in the two-run first inning and Scott Hairston had an RBI double in the second.

Maddux gave it all back in the third, when the Twins scored three runs on three hits and a hit batsman. The big hit was a two-run double by Joe Mauer.

The Twins went ahead on Harris' two-run shot with one out in the fourth that was caught by a fan in the first row of the second deck in left field. It was Harris' fourth. Michael Cuddyer was aboard on an error by Kouzmanoff at third.

Maddux was chased by Carlos Gomez's two-run single with two outs in the sixth that made it 7-3.

Monroe homered off Mike Adams in the eighth, his seventh.

Perkins went five innings, allowing three runs and six hits. Three Twins relievers allowed only two hits in the last four innings.

Notes:@ San Diego rookie Carlos Guevara, who relieved Maddux, left the game after being hit on the lower right leg by Morneau's comebacker leading off the seventh. He has a bruise and is day-to-day. ... Tampa Bay Buccaneers LB Cato June threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He's a California native and was a starter on the Indianapolis Colts' Super Bowl championship team in 2006. ... San Diego fell to 3-11 in interleague play this season and 83-107 overall.

Simon To Use Merit Panel For Filling Judicial Posts

In a move lauded by the legal community, U.S. Sen. Paul Simon(D-Ill) revealed plans Friday for apolitical merit commissions tohelp pick federal judges, prosecutors and marshals.

Simon also announced that he would share the selection offinalists with his junior colleague, Sen.-elect Carol Moseley Braun.By tradition, the senior senator of the president's party in eachstate usually has sole discretion for such nominations.

"Sen. Simon, by offering me an equal role to his in thisprocess, is being quite generous and magnanimous," Braun said in astatement distributed during a news conference where Simon made theannouncements.

Three separate merit commissions - …

Research on bone research reported by scientists at University of Otago.

"Unlike the cardiac circulating hormones, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) appears to be largely tissue-based and circulates at concentrations considered insufficient to affect organ function. Consistent with CNP's crucial role in regulating skeletal growth, serial studies in juveniles show that both plasma CNP and aminoterminal proCNP (NTproCNP) are highly correlated with growth velocity raising the possibility that skeletal tissues contribute to circulating concentrations of CNP forms during the growing period," investigators in Christchurch, New Zealand report (see also Bone Research).

"Hypothesizing …