Saturday, April 19, 2014

TRAVESTY: High School Senior Asks Miss America to the prom suspended for no other reason than to excercise power, admits school official

04/19/2014

Patrick Farves, a senior at Central, was warned not to do it, but he did it anyway

It started as a joke.
And wound up with an 18-year-old senior at Central York High School serving a three-day in-school suspension for asking a woman for a date.
When Patrick Farves heard that Davuluri was coming to his school, he joked with friends that he was going to ask her to be his prom date.
And as it often happens in high school, word spread quickly, and soon his classmates at Central York High School were approaching him and asking him whether he was going to ask Miss America to the prom. There came a point, Patrick, from Manchester Township, said, that he felt he had to do it.


He is known around school for doing stunts like that. Last year, when Rohan Murphy, an athlete born without legs who became a motivational speaker, made an appearance at the school, Farves, during the question and answer period, asked if he could take a "selfie" with the wrestler. Murphy agreed.
So as the assembly featuring Davuluri approached, Patrick steeled himself to ask her out. He got her a little plastic flower, and if there was a question-and-answer session, he would pop the question. It was not clear whether he would have the opportunity. A few students were selected to ask pre-screened questions, and Patrick wasn't among them.
And it appeared that the school administration wasn't cool with his plan. Word got to the administration, and a member of the staff pulled Patrick into his office right before the assembly. He told Patrick the administration had heard rumors about what he was planning and that if he chose to go through with it, it would be considered inappropriate.
"At that point in time, it was 10 minutes before the presentation, and I was pretty much set to do it," he said. "I was a little pressured. Everybody expected me to do it."
And he said, "I'm the kind of person who, if someone says I won't do something, I'll prove people wrong. I will."
During the assembly, the Q-and-A session ended and there was time for a few more questions. Patrick approached the mic and said, "Miss America, I have a question."
And he asked her to be his prom date.
She laughed.
The crowd in the auditorium cheered.
Patrick approached the stage and handed Davuluri the plastic flower and asked whether he could take a "selfie" with her. She said, "Maybe later."
Patrick turned to return to his seat and did a little dance.
The crowd cheered again.
One of his friends was next to ask Miss America a question, but before he did, he told the crowd, "Let's give a hand to my friend, Patrick Farves."
Another cheer.
It was then that an administrator removed Patrick from the auditorium and took him to the principal's office. He figured he was in deep trouble, that he might be looking at a suspension or be forbidden from going to the prom, or not be allowed to walk at graduation this June. (He is planning to attend Point Park University to study communications or film and theater.) The principal, he said, was pretty mad.
He got three days in-school suspension. But he can still go to prom.
His suspension sparked a Twitter protest at the school — #freepatty. Patrick didn't have anything to do with it. He accepts his punishment and he thinks he got off lucky.
"I do understand why the administration was mad," he said. "I don't want to be the kind of person to try to justify myself. ...I didn't intend to disrespect the administration. I can see how it was seen as a slap in the face."
He realizes that his act took attention away from the event and that he did it even after being told not to.
And he has apologized. While in suspension, he wrote a letter of apology to the assistant superintendent.
He had gone to a concert Thursday night and didn't tell his mother, Ann, about it until Friday morning. She said she was disappointed that he defied the administration, but thought that his action was "kind of cute."
"It's a very mixed bag," she said.
After the assembly, Patrick said he texted a friend who was working backstage with Davuluri and asked to have his apology passed on. It wasn't necessary. She thought it was cute, his friend told him.
"I want to give a shout out to Miss America for being a good sport," Patrick said.
The school district declined to comment "as a matter of district policy," spokeswoman Julie Randall Romig wrote in an email, adding that "student disciplinary actions are confidential by law and we respect both the law and our students' rights to privacy."

Central issued a statement later on its website, read it in its entirety below:
"It is not our practice to discipline a student for asking someone - even Miss America - to a school dance. However, it is our practice to set expectations for student behavior, to communicate those expectations and rules to students and families and to ensure those rules are followed within our schools. This practice is not uncommon and happens every day, multiple times a day, in schools, businesses and homes across America.
"Let's take the rules of parents, for example. If I tell my child to be home by 10PM, and my husband tells our child to be home at 10PM, what do we do if our child defies us and returns home at midnight? As parents, we would be remiss not to give an appropriate consequence to our child for deliberately defying us so that our child understands that our rules should be followed and respected. Schools must operate in the same way.
"Yesterday's event was a wonderful experience for our students and a once in a lifetime opportunity for our district, and it is a shame that the media wants to frame this story to sell papers and make headlines using a distortion of what actually occurred.

Figures on government spending and debt

04/19/2014


Figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated). The government's fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

Total public debt subject to limit April 1717,465,829
Statutory debt limitsuspended
Total public debt outstanding April 1717,512,421
Operating balance April 1781,896
Interest fiscal year 2014 through March117,724
Interest same period 2013120,987
Deficit fiscal year 2014 through March413,264
Deficit same period 2013600,482
Receipts fiscal year 2014 through March1,320,793
Receipts same period 20131,196,611
Outlays fiscal year 2014 through Feb1,734,057
Outlays same period 20131,797,093
Gold assets in March11,041

(Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Proposed Legislation Impacts Spouses Of Veterans

04/19/2014

HARRISBURG – A bill has been introduced allowing spouses of disabled veterans to receive a real estate tax exemption should the veteran become deceased before being deemed fully disabled and eligible. Currently, veterans who are injured during active duty service and are no longer able to perform their duties are subject to an evaluation period, in which it is determined whether they are able to perform any other duties within the military or are deemed to be 100% disabled. However, should they die as a result of their injury or disability before the evaluation period is complete, their spouse does not qualify for the real estate tax exemption they would have otherwise received. The legislation would allow the spouse to receive the tax exemption if the Veterans Administration determines that the veteran would have been deemed 100% disabled had they survived the entire evaluation period, and if the veteran died as result of the injury or disability. House Bill 2187 was referred to the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.


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Legal Victory For Dr. James Dobson

04/19/2014
WDAC.COM


DENVER – Dr. James Dobson has won a temporary injunction preventing the federal government from requiring his ministry to include abortion inducing drugs in its health insurance. A federal judge in Denver issued the injunction Thursday. Dobson sued in December, saying the Affordable Care Act‘s abortion mandate violates the religious beliefs of his Colorado Springs-based ministry, Family Talk. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering similar challenges from Hobby Lobby, Conestoga Wood Specialties, and other employers. Dobson is founder and president of Family Talk, which is featured on WDAC Monday through Friday at 3 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
DR. JAMES DOBSON
     DR. JAMES DOBSON

Legislative report touts prekindergarten endocrination

04/19/2014

SANTA FE (AP) - A legislative committee report concludes that prekindergarten delivers a greater return on investment for New Mexico than taxpayer subsidized child care.
  
The Legislative Finance Committee staff report says prekindergarten's benefits outweigh the costs, although that's not the case for child care provided through registered homes and some state licensed programs.
  
Prekindergarten provides services through public schools and other locations. It costs about $3,000 for each student. But report says research shows prekindergarten's benefits include improving student achievement through the third grade.
  
New Mexico will spend about $231 million on early childhood programs in the next budget year - a nearly 13 percent increase. About $98 million is for childcare assistance for about 20,000 children, and $37 million is for prekindergarten to serve more than 10,000 children.


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NAME THAT PARTY: Court filings reveal Paterson mayoral candidate Goow's decades-old criminal conviction

04/19/2014


PATERSON — Former councilman Aslon Goow Sr. said he believed political motivations were behind recent federal court filings that refer to a decades-old criminal conviction for burglary, a record that Goow successfully had expunged.

Aslon Goow
Aslon Goow
"It's very disturbing," said Goow, one of eight candidates for mayor in the May election."I'm not in position to talk about it in detail. I'm letting my attorney handle it."

The court proceeding in which the filing was made relates to Goow's unsuccessful civil rights lawsuit against the city. In that suit, he made claims against Paterson police officials arising from an investigation of him after Goow engaged in a high-speed chase of a man he suspected of a crime in 2006.

Goow lost that case, and lawyers for the city are trying to recoup more than $500,000 spent to defend the city and Paterson police officials in the litigation.

A federal appeals court ruling issued last month referred to "expunged records" that showed "Goow had been arrested and/or convicted more than 15 times, had served time in the Passaic County jail, and had submitted two applications for expungement, both of which were granted."

The judicial opinion provides no other details about the expunged records, which are several decades old.

William Connell, attorney for former Police Chief James Wittig, a defendant in the Goow lawsuit, provided additional detail in a legal motion filed on March 19 seeking to force Goow to reimburse Paterson for lawyers' fees incurred in the case. The city confirmed it has paid more than $465,000 of a total $501,000 in defense legal fees.

Connell certifies in the motion papers that one of Goow's convictions, which was expunged, "included the offense of burglary."

Goow this week was startled to learn that the court's ruling and Connell's motion contained details regarding his expunged record.

"Those were all sealed," he said, asserting that the cases all happened when he was a "young adult."

The councilman said the release of the information about his expunged records demonstrated what he called the city's attempt to conduct a "political vendetta" against him.

Goow's lawyer, Mark Frost, said there had been motions approved by judges in the case to seal any records involving the expunged records. "I don't know how that got made public," Frost said. "It's something I have to look into."

Paterson's law director, Domenick Stampone, declined to discuss the case, saying the litigation was still pending. Mayor Jeffery Jones has not responded to attempts to get his comments on the situation.




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Battleground Appalachia: Left Wing Radicals respond to McCrory’s cancelation of Moogfest appearence, protest will go on

04/19/2014

N.C. gov recognizes trap set by radicals as nonproductive. Won't waste precious time....


Here’s the press release from protest organizers:
Governor McCrory announced the cancelation of his appearance at a closed door, invitation only event to kick-off Moogfest 2014. The governor was to attend the panel discussion on technology and economic development in WNC along with Asheville’s mayor Esther Mannheimer, business leaders from Durham, and the mayor of Hickory, among others.
The event generated controversy owing to the unpopularity of the Governor’s agenda and sparked a protest coalition that had grown to over three hundred people planning to demonstrate against McCrory’s appearance at closed door event. The protest group coalesced around a set of diverse issues including but not limited to allegations of corruption, environmental damage and coverups, regressive economic policy, attacks on abortion access, attacks on public education, among many others.
Despite being widely reported in the media by a number of outlets, featured in the public relations material of both the mayor’s law firm who sponsored the meeting, and the Moogfest website, McCrory’s office cited a ‘scheduling conflict’ as the reason for his cancellation.
Andrew LaFiosca, a local Ashevillian and protest organizer had this to say, “Over the past week, we’ve seen our collective community rise in solidarity confronting an administration that threatens our environment, our right to equality, and our future.
While some speculation remains on the reasoning behind McCrory’s sudden absence, especially in light of all the press releases, articles, and posts in Moog’s official schedule, I think we can all be happy that a man so mired in corruption, and so out of touch with the citizens who pay his salary will no longer falsely represent our town in it’s biggest festival of the year.  Whether or not someone at Moog, or through the city made a positive decision in regards to the community remains to be seen.”
The rally remains scheduled for 2:30 pm, next Wednesday, April 23 in downtown Asheville at the Vance Monument.
“We still plan to gather at the Vance monument on Wednesday.  The issues we have with the governor have not dissipated, simply because his presence has. They are not reducible to one man. We look forward to having speakers from different segments of the community come out to address these topics.”

Creating Poverty: N.C. Kituwah Preservation and Education Program Deliberately Teaching Infants and Toddlers Cherokee as FIRST Language

04/19/2014

What a great way to give unskilled migrant workers job competition! Good "lookin' out" for the future.

10th anniversary of Kituwah Preservation and Education Program

  
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians marked the 10th anniversary of the tribe’s successful indian language initiative, the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program (KPEP), on April 17, 2014.
Funded by a $3 million grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, the KPEP is multi-faceted effort to revitalize the Cherokee language.
The teaching program began in 2004 with a single classroom. In 2009, the Eastern Band opened the Kituwah Academy, a 42,000 square foot facility with ten classrooms where children from infancy through the forth grade receive instruction in their native language.
Referred to as a “total immersion” approach, the program teaches Cherokee as a first language to children beginning as young as six months. All classes and all conversation is conducted in Cherokee. Participating children and their parents learn to speak and read together.
“The immersion school stands as the tribe’s best hope for keeping the language alive,” said Michell Hicks, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band. “Not only are we teaching our language to our children, but native language experts associated with the Kituwah program are translating dozens of books and other materials, even movies, into Cherokee.”
KPEP used a survey of tribal members to measure the extent of Cherokee language usage. Results showed that only 460 fluent speakers were then living in Cherokee communities, with 72% of them over the age of 50. Elder speakers were dying far more quickly than new speakers were emerging. It is estimated that today number has declined to fewer than 200, with an average age of 55 years old.
While the Cherokee language has been spoken for hundreds of years, there are few trained teachers. As one tribal elder remarked, “Speaking a language means we have a culture. There is a big difference between people who have a culture and people with a history.
The KPEP plan has focused on several areas, including:
·       Curriculum development, teaching materials and teacher training.
·       Creation of a post-secondary degree program for future certified elementary education teachers of Cherokee language at Western Carolina University.
·       Scholarships for future Cherokee language teachers.
·       A community-based language program for children and adults offered by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian who want to learn Cherokee as a second language.
·       Speaker gatherings that bring together fluent speakers so they can regularly use the language. Stories and word lists are shaped into curriculum material for immersion classes.
There are also language symposiums that bring together members of the Eastern Band, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and the United Keetoowah Band to discuss their common language.

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Immigration Policy Fail: Throwing brick, threatening cops with broomstick ends in arrest

04/19/2014


Photo: 
A 53-year-old man is behind bars after authorities say he threatened officers with a broom stick and threw a brick at them when they were responding to a call.
Juan Manuel Marroquin was arrested in connection to the crime after authorities were dispatched to his sister’s house in reference to a disturbance call in Brownsville. 
Marroquin was asked to leave, but he alleged refused to do so and became combative.
The thrown brick ended up hitting on of the police cars and no one was injured, according to Brownsville police.
Marroquin was arrested and charged in connection to the alleged crime.