| U.S. Hwy. 199 to receive two upgrades by fall 2008
GASQUET The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced Tuesday that two upgrade projects on U.S. Hwy. 199 are slated to be completed by fall 2008. Both projects were initiated by Caltrans for safety measures. The Hardscrabble Creek Bridge, also known as the Viggo "Vic" Meedom Memorial, was built in 1929. Caltrans is currently replacing the bridge before it becomes a safety hazard. The project started over the summer and will cost an estimated $3 million. "We're replacing it before it does wear out," said Julie East, spokesperson for Caltrans. "Bridges only last so long. We can stave off problems." The new bridge will be wider with 8-foot shoulders to better accommodate pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The contractor, American Civil Constructors, is using a technique known as the "jack and slide" method to replace the bridge.
Golfer masters the hole-in-one
Then contact Community Sports Editor Mike Camunas at mcamunas@sptimes.com or (352) 544-9480. At a glance A breakdown of Meurn's nine holes-in-one It's remarkable that Carl Meurn has nine holes-in-one, but what's not remarkable is that he remembers each one vividly. Here's a list of each of his aces: No. 1: Broadwater Golf Club, Biloxi, Miss., No. 7, 107 yards, March 1, 1973 No. 2: Pine Lakes Country Club, Morton Ill., No. 8, 165 yards, September 1973 No. 3: Bethpage State Park Yellow Course, Bethpage, N.Y., No. 7, 150 yards, May 28, 1980 No. 4: Seven Springs Golf and Country Club Challenger Course, No. 2, 146 yards, June 1984 No. 5: Mount Hawley Country Club, Peoria, Ill., No.
American Opinion
In effect, the law is the fire blanket the government has thrown over all dissent, including press freedom. During his presidential campaign - the first in the country's history that allowed multiple candidates - President Mubarak vowed repeatedly to repeal the state of emergency in favor of a new anti-terrorism law. He received the enthusiastic support of civil society and human rights groups, journalists, lawyers, and other professional organizations, and even members of the political opposition. A typical civil society response came from the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners. They wrote the Prime Minister that they "consider the termination of the state of emergency by the Egyptian authorities as a step forward towards the respect of Human Rights in Egypt and the strengthening of democratic values in the country.
End of the road for Japan's taxi smokers
Japan's salarymen once considered it their inalienable right to enjoy a quick puff in the back of a taxi on the way to a meeting. Their wives, too, saw nothing wrong with cycling through the rain, umbrella raised and children perched on tiny seats at the front and back and bags of shopping dangling from the handlebars. But they are being forced to change their ways after the introduction of a smoking ban in many of Japan's taxis this week and, later this year, a planned clampdown on multitasking cyclists. On Monday, Tokyo became the latest of several cities to ban smoking in taxis as Japan made a belated attempt to ride the wave of tobacco intolerance sweeping other developed countries. Smoking is now banned in 52,000 vehicles belonging to Tokyo's two biggest taxi associations, with a further 3,000 other unaffiliated cars, which have so far escaped the ban, expected to follow in the coming months.
Neighbors thwart 5 home intruders
A woman was playing cards with some of her family in a home on Fort Wayne's south side Wednesday night when she heard what she thought was a gunshot coming from the first floor. The woman told police she went downstairs just after 9 p.m. to investigate the noise and saw five men standing inside the home, a police report said. The men ordered the woman to give them money, police said. The woman told officers that people had started to leave the neighboring home and that when the would-be robbers saw them, the men fled the house and got into a waiting vehicle, the police report said. The woman told officers that she had never seen the men before. Struck bicyclist ID'd, still critical Police have identified the man who was struck by a car while riding his bicycle Tuesday night as 53-year-old William E.
For families, green can mean baby steps
It does mean doing something, because parents are arguably the most powerful environmental force. "The most important people are people who care about the future. The people who care about the future are parents," said Dr. Roger Rosenblatt, a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The problem is that today's parent also is one of the most harried people, potentially easily discouraged or frozen by the gloom and doom of melting ice caps, dying salmon and rising oceans. "You have to give people a sense of hope," Rosenblatt said. "If you create a sense of despair, then no one does anything." The key is to start small. "You don't have to turn your life upside down to make a difference," said Katharine Wroth, who oversaw a series on green parenting at the popular environmental Web site Grist.
Flip Shelton: Don't sweat the scorpions
NI Hao. I'm back from the Kingdom of Bicycles and had a cracker of a holiday. It seems my pre-travel worries were unwarranted. (Dear reader: if you missed my last column I was caught in a Chinese conundrum and feared retribution from the god of travel, Hermes.) According to English pop songstress Katie Melua, there are "nine million bicycles in Beijing" and, given that the city is as flat as Ballarat, the topography is certainly conducive to cycling. To give you some perspective -- just over one million bikes were sold in the whole of Australia last year, while in Beijing nine million bikes exist in an area roughly twice the size of Melbourne. That's about 536 bikes a square kilometre! In bravery akin to a matador facing a rampaging bull, cyclists gather at intersections before building up enough strength in numbers to venture across.
6,000 free ‘granny’ bikes will bring continental success story to ...
They have helped to calm the traffic-choked streets of Paris and spawned hundreds of romances among strangers. Now the French capital’s free bicycle hire scheme is coming to Central London, where 6,000 sturdy bikes will be deployed outside Tube stations and other locations. Unlike Paris, where the cost of the bikes and docking stations is funded privately in return for advertising space, London council tax payers will have to contribute much of the £75 million cost of the scheme. That apart, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, is copying almost every other aspect of "Velib", the Parisian scheme, which takes its name from a contraction of vélo (bike) and liberté. The bicycles will be free for the first half-hour to people who preregister and agree to pay an automatic penalty of about £100, deducted from their credit cards, if they fail to return the bikes.
Candidates press cases for Round 2
I have always admired your family and the things they stood for. I was in college when that fatal day came and we no longer had our inspiration, your brother. I am disappointed in who you are endorsing. To think about all the times that the Clintons were here for you, and now you just put them aside. I think about it, and I thougt you were above the good old boys. Not so sure about that now. Hillary, a women. Maybe that just does not sit well with you Kennedys. I just don't understand. She is a great lady that certainly helped your party out by staying with Bill. The party owes her more than a senate seat. She should have all of you out there shouting her attributes. It was alright for Bill to be used to get votes for our new governor. He also has a short memory. I will have a hard time voting for either one of you because of this.
|
