mimblr.com

On Sunday, May 25 at approximately 3 am the Halton Regional Police Service were called to a single motor vehicle collision on Eighth Line south of Derry Rd. in Milton.
The vehicle, occupied only by its driver, was travelling north on Eighth Line and left the roadway on the east side. The vehicle went through a deep ditch and became airborne before coming to rest against a hydro pole along the road and in a farmer’s field.
In the final resting position with the front end of the small car facing the ground and the trunk up in the air against the pole the car became fully involved in flames burning the car and hydro pole.
The young male driver (in his late teens) was ejected and succumbed to his injuries; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim’s name is not being released pending notification of next of kin.
The collision is currently under investigation by the Halton Regional Police Reconstruction Unit.
On Sunday, May 25, at approximately 5:01 am a single vehicle fatal motor vehicle collision occurred on Tremaine Rd south of Derry Rd in the Town of Milton. Police investigation into this accident indicates that this vehicle was travelling northbound on Tremaine Rd when it failed to negotiate an s-bend turn and collided with a guard rail. Four persons were in the vehicle at the time of the accident. One male passenger (17 years old), ejected from the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. A female passenger (18 years old) suffered a serious foot injury and was air lifted by ambulance to hospital. Another male passenger (18 years old) suffered a serious leg injury and was transported by ambulance to hospital. The male driver of the vehicle (17 years old) was transported by air ambulance to hospital due to a serious life threatening head injury. All four occupants reside in the Milton area. Alcohol consumption has been deemed to be a factor in this collision.

oakvilletoday.ca

Derrick Farley, a 29-year-old Army sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., has seen many people die. He served in Iraq for three year-long tours of duty with only six-month breaks between them. He remembers driving trucks along the dirt roads of Tikrit, ever alert for telltale signs of a sniper or the sudden blast of a hidden roadside bomb. His vehicle, he said, was hit 13 times.
After he returned home from his last tour, it was often the less tense moments from Iraq that ran through his mind. For months, he had nightmares during which he screamed out in Arabic as he relived run-ins with detainees. At times, the sound of shots ringing out from the firing range at Fort Bragg would launch him right back onto the roads of Iraq.
Farley is far from alone: A Rand study released last month said 20 percent of the approximately 1.6 million U.S. military personnel who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
But recently Farley has found a way to quell the symptoms of PTSD. Instead of allowing his mind to flash back to the roadside carnage, the truck driver pictures himself sitting on a yoga mat at the District’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, taking deep, relaxing breaths.
The techniques Farley learned there from yoga teacher Robin Carnes help him to realize that he’s "actually here on Fort Bragg and not in Iraq," he explained by phone from the base.
‘They’re Not as Angry’
The Specialized Care Program at Walter Reed focuses on helping service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan leave their wartime experiences behind.
Yoga, Carnes said, has become a large part of that effort.
In conjunction with a team of psychologists, a physical therapist, two nurses, a social worker and a general internist, Carnes has worked with hundreds of service members.

washingtonpost.com

North senior wants to make a difference
The Edmond Sun
EDMOND — Looking into Lydia Huff’s steel blue-gray eyes, one would not guess she has fought a great fight and won. She is full of life now, but it wasn’t always so.
Growing up, Lydia was an active student, but as she was getting ready to begin her freshman year in high school she started looking pale and feeling lethargic and unmotivated.
“A week later my condition worsened, my lymph glands became swollen, and I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia,” Lydia said.
A military brat by her own definition, her parents took her to Tinker Air Force Base where, after blood tests and X-rays, she was sent to The Children’s Hospital at University of Oklahoma Medical Center on June 1, 2004. There she was diagnosed with leukemia and spent the next two weeks.
Early diagnosis and proper medical attention helped Lydia go into remission in August 2004. Then she began her 2 1/2 year regimen of chemotherapy sprinkled with the prayers and support of the nursing staff, her mom and dad, Cynthia and Toby Huff, her family and her friends. She finished the chemotherapy treatments in December of 2006.
Monthly visits to the hospital for check-ups the first year led to a clean bill of health; now she goes every two months.
“Without the support of the school counselors, I don’t know how we could have made it through those two years,” her mother, Cynthia, said.
Those next two years were not easy for Lydia but she never gave up.
“When I first got Lydia as a sophomore some days she would come to my office worn out,” said sophomore counselor Patty Bray. “Sometimes she would just have to rest, but she would get up and go back to class.

edmondsun.com

COMPILED BY ANGELA GRAYSON
‘Trowel and Error’— 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today . Presentations by Rosina Newton (’Schmorganic: Why and How to Go Natural in the Garden’), David Meeker (’Heirloom Veggies for Hot Southern Climates’) and Paula Middleton (’Landscape Treats for Your Eyes and Table’). Mayfield Park, 3505 W. 35th St. Free, $5 donation requested. 453-7074.
Austin Butterfly Forum Field Trip — 9 a.m. to noon Sunday . Val Bugh and Dan Hardy lead participants looking for butterflies, insects and spiders. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 4801 La Crosse Ave. $7. 345-6935, www.austinbutterflies.org.
‘Roses to Know and Grow in Central Texas’ — 2 p.m. Sunday. Learn about roses that do well in our climate and how to care for them. It’s About Thyme Garden Center, 11726 Manchaca Road. Free. 280-1192, www.itsaboutthyme.com.
Round Rock Community Garden Club ‘All About Tomatoes’ — 9:15 a.m. Monday. Wendy Odium, the ‘Tomato Queen,’ lectures. Baca Center, 301 W. Bagdad Ave., Building 2, Round Rock. Free. 218-5499.
Bromeliad Society of Austin — 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. R.L. Frasier presents ‘Succulent Bromeliads/Hardy Hechtias of Mexico.’ Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road. Free. 933-1867.
Austin Bonsai Society — 7 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bill Boytim discusses and demonstrates how to improve your trees by air layering and grafting. Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road. Free. 266-2655.
Bamboo Logic Seminar — 10 a.m. to noon April 12. Topics will include bamboo horticulture, growth habits and rates and species types; problem-solving for the invasive (’running’) bamboos; and landscape applications for non-invasive (’clumping’) bamboos. Casa de Luz, 1701 Toomey Road. $15 includes seminar, tour and handouts. 350-8505, www.bamboo-logic.com.
Cherrywood Plant and Book Swap — 9 a.m. April 12. Trade plants that are well-suited for propagation and/or transplanting in Austin. Bring books to share with neighbors. Cherrywood Green, Cherrywood Road and East 34th Street. Free. 478-2358.

statesman.com

Beetle Bailey may be well-loved, but he’s what the Pentagon calls “legacy technology” — a laugh-delivery system left over from an era before today’s joint, net-centric military and its wired, Web-savvy service members. Ink-on-paper cartoons, like many legacy systems, still are useful, but you’ll find few new-generation military gagsmiths in your newspaper. Now, of course, they’re online.
For the cost of a domain name and some computer gear, military cartoonists can deliver jokes and characters tailored to an audience of fellow service members who’ll laugh at things that might produce blank stares from civilians.
Take 1st Lt. Ken Dahl, star of “Air Force Blues,” available online at http://www.afblues.com. The fictional F-15 aviator wears an “I’m a fighter pilot” T-shirt for days when his flight suit is in the wash. His most hated enemy: The MQ-1 Predator, which deigns to do an Eagle’s work.
Dahl and “Blues” are the work of Staff Sgt. Austin May, a public affairs specialist at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
“What I like best about it is, it’s not being done right now,” May said of drawing an Air Force Web comic. “A lot of people have done them in the past, and they’ve had great success with them, but this niche wasn’t being filled.”
May first forayed into the Web comic world with “AWACker,” based on his experience as an E-3 aircrew member at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the comic still can be seen at http://www.chairforce.com. His new comic is more inclusive of the whole Air Force and is similar in its Web presence to the popular gamer comic “Penny Arcade,” complete with loyal forum-goers.
“Air Force Blues” and “Penny Arcade” inspired another military Web comic, “Anchors Away,” drawn by a Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Tim Lockhart — in fact, Lockhart credits May for coming up with the “Anchors” name. Online at http://www.navycomic.com, “Anchors Away” takes its inspiration from Lockhart’s daily life in the Navy and from readers’ e-mailed suggestions.

armytimes.com

The Mellow Mushroom has teamed up with the Lowcountry Environmental Education Program (LEEP) to bring the first in a series of Earth-friendly themed art shows. The first show, titled “Earth: The Beautiful and Controversial” will have an opening reception at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The show will feature a collection of works from eight local artists. Music will be provided by Mirage Quartet, a local jazz group, and there will be a silent auction, with proceeds going directly to LEEP.
LEEP is an environmental non-profit that provides opportunities for students of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds to explore South Carolina’s natural environment through experiential learning. The Mellow Mushroom is at 309 King St.
For information on the events, call Jonah Jeter at 327-0346. To find out more about LEEP, Visit their Web site at
The Broad Street Merchants’ Association is collaborating with the Harbour Club and The Charleston County School of the Arts Music Program to host the second annual Southern Light-Plein Air Paint Out.
The event will begin with the artists’ signing of the canvases May 28, then painting around town that afternoon, May 29 and May 30, and on the morning of May 31. Local and national artists will be participating in this paint out. However, this event is open to all artists. Anyone interested in registering should do so before May 25.
For more information about Southern Light-Plein Air Paint Out, or to request a registration and/or a workshop package, contact Julie Sweat at the Edward Dare Gallery at 853-5002 or via e-mail at
The Spencer Art Gallery II has just announced the opening of “Coastal Impressions,” an exhibit of new oil paintings by Charleston artist Lisa Willits. There will be a reception for the artist featuring her works Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the gallery, 57 Broad Street.

charleston.net

Goldfein, at the time commander of the Air Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base and now the vice director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, was found to have gone to great lengths to see the contract awarded to SMS, while senior Air Force leaders socialized with the company’s partners. According to the report, Goldfein even arranged for President Bush to videotape a testimonial that was included in the SMS contract proposal.
The report offers a searing, blow-by-blow account of how a relatively mundane Air Force contract spun out of control, highlighting conflicts of interest in the selection process, officers stacking the deck in favor of friends, and others influencing a system designed to eliminate such favoritism in spending taxpayer dollars.
“The investigation found that the December 2005 award to SMS was tainted with improper influence, irregular procurement practices, and preferential treatment,” according to a redacted copy of the report, which is scheduled for release this week. “Lower priced offers from qualified vendors and capabilities in-house were bypassed in an apparent effort to obtain services from (redacted), president of SMS, who had a long-standing relationship with senior Air Force officers and members of the Thunderbirds.”
Goldfein and four other officers whose names have not been released have received administrative punishments for the episode, and investigators are continuing to look at the contracting processes at Nellis Air Force Base amid “irregularities” and “systemic weaknesses” that plagued the unit.
Goldfein declined to comment, and a Nellis spokeswoman said Thursday that base officials aren’t commenting. Similarly, an e-mail from the Review-Journal seeking reaction from a Thunderbirds spokeswoman went unanswered. The crack aerial team is scheduled to perform this weekend in Wilmington, N.C.
Goldfein told investigators he “never interfered with the evaluation or selection process and never directed anyone to do or not do anything.” Other members of the selection team said the process was “fixed” from the beginning.

lvrj.com

Two ATA Airlines planes are shown idle as a Southwest Airlines passes by at Oakland International Airport in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 3, 2008. ATA Airlines shut down operations and stranded thousands of travelers Thursday when an unexpected loss of key charter flights and soaring fuel costs forced the carrier into bankruptcy. Once the nation's 10th-largest air carrier, ATA entered bankruptcy for the second time in just over three years. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
By JOSHUA FREED – 9 hours ago
A slowing economy and high fuel prices appear to have killed off tiny ATA Airlines, Aloha Airlines, and Champion Air. A big pile of cash will keep the big airlines from that same fate, for now. It’s not that the big carriers aren’t buffeted by the same forces that shut down ATA on Thursday and Aloha on Tuesday. Champion Air, a Minnesota-based charter airline, will stop flying by May 31.
But the nation’s biggest airlines have hoarded some $19 billion in cash as of the end of 2007, according to a tally by Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl. Even if fuel stays at today’s levels and revenue drops 2 percent, they would still have $14.7 billion in cash at the end of 2009, under Neidl’s estimate.
That’s less cash than the 10 percent of revenue they like to keep, but enough to hold off a crisis, analysts say. The only carrier in Neidl’s analysis with less than 5 percent of revenue in cash at the end of 2009 would be Frontier Airlines, which would have just $4 million by then.
He believes the older hub-and-spoke airlines “and most of the low-cost carriers will survive the weak economic environment and high fuel prices over the next two years, though with not much room to spare,” he wrote in a note on Saturday.

ap.google.com

If you keep your eye to the sky this weekend chances are your going to see some unique aircraft flying over the skies of Panama City.
The Tyndall Gulf Coast Salute will feature the latest hi-tech aircraft the Air Force has to offer, as well as some that have been gracing the skies for over the last half century.
B-25 Pilot Jim Terry said, "when you get in the airplane it’s like going back to 1942 the air plane is just as it was then has the exact same engines it had then the same equipment and makes the same god awful racket."
"The reason we get to do this is because of the veterans World War II that flew all these planes all those years ago. They call them the greatest generation and they truly were the greatest generation, and that was the best America had to offer 65 years ago and it’s just amazing to us that they actually flew machines like this in combat."
Now, the B-25 is a flying museum, so everyone can see and appreciate what that generation did to fight for our freedom.
If you would like to catch a ride on the Pacific Prowler you can go to Precision Air, next to the Panama City Bay County International Terminal on Sunday from 10:00 a.m - 2:00 p.m. Rides are on sale as part of a fundraiser to help restore the B-25.

wmbb.com

/24-7PressRelease/ - RICKMANSWORTH, UK, March 15, 2008 - Fractional ownership is a concept that is gaining momentum it provides the route to woning luxury, boats, cars and properties. The UK will be host to its biggest fractional ownership exhibition taking place at Broadgate Event Venues, EC2A 2BQ in the heart of the City of London 28 - 30th April 2008.
The exhibition is being billed as one of the largest and most diverse fractional ownership and asset-sharing exhibitions in the world, the event caters for the growing number of people who want to enjoy a lifestyle of luxury items and experiences - without the ties, responsibilities and capital outlay of a complete purchase.
The Expo takes place at the prestigious Broadgate Event Venues which ‘houses’ the highest penetration of ABC1 consumers in the UK and is free to attend for visitors.
Limited to just 27 exhibitor stands, the show will play host to a number of different fractional ownership and asset-sharing “zones”: Property-houses, hotels, residence and destination clubs, Motoring - classic vehicles and supercars, Sea - boats and yachts, Air - aircraft and jets and, finally, Lifestyle - wines and spirits, sport, handbags and other relevant assets and investments. There will also be plenty of desirable ‘fractional’ luxury objects on display.

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