45° DNS FOG, Medal Standings
Rings Blog
-
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 7:44 am
Body found on Bodega Bay beach
Campers in Bodega Bay found a body on a beach late Monday afternoon, believed to be a man missing from Davis, Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.
The death appeared to be a suicide, although an autopsy hadn’t been performed as of Tuesday morning.
While the man’s identity wasn’t being released, he was believed to be a Davis resident who was reported missing over the weekend, officials said.
The body was found about 5 p.m. Monday on Bodega Dunes beach. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 7:37 am
Napa's Copia food, wine center files for bankruptcy
Copia, the Napa food and wine center launched by wine legend Robert Mondavi, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, saying it plans to reorganize and reopen with an emergency $2 million infusion of cash.
"The decision to restructure the business through a Chapter 11 filing should provide us with the opportunity to strengthen our balance sheet," Copia CEO Garry McGuire said in a statement.
Also known as the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, Copia shut its doors Nov. 21 after it ran short of cash. The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa will allow Copia to pay employees and vendors while it restructures its operations, McGuire said.
Copia has secured $2 million in financing to supplement its working capital, he said.
But it's unclear when the $78 million center will reopen. Copia's announcement said it will take six months for the restructuring "to achieve profitability and long-term sustainability."
The source of Copia's new financing wasn't disclosed, and center officials couldn't be reached for further comment Monday.
The nonprofit organization has lost at least $4 million every year since opening in 2001 in downtown Napa. Copia laid off 24 of its 80 full-time employees in September and cut its hours from seven days a week to three.
Earlier this year, Copia announced a reorganization aimed at putting the center on a firm financial footing.
The plans included partnership with a real estate developer to build a mixed-use specialty retail center and four-star boutique hotel connected to the Napa River site.
Copia also plans to sell its First Street location and lease back space for its programs.
The center said it would move away from its museum format and adopt a new business model, using its food and wine experts to produce cookbooks, recipes, exhibits and courses to be taught on site, on TV and online.
The changes already have resulted in "significant improvements" to the bottom line, McGuire said.
Copia's bankruptcy filing listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and debts of $50 million to $100 million. On Nov. 21, the center's board authorized filing the petition, saying Copia has defaulted on secured debt and hasn't been able to arrange alternate financing.
The center's largest creditor is Winston & Strawn, a San Francisco law firm that handles corporate finance issues. Copia also owes money to a brand marketing consultant, public relations firm, a restaurant group, newspapers, magazines and more than 100 other vendors.
You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 7:10 am
Retailers push 'Cyber Monday' online bargains
Retailers who saw Thanksgiving holiday sales taper off as the weekend progressed fought back, stepping up online promotions on the day known as "Cyber Monday" to get consumers to keep shopping.
Online merchants peppered customers with e-mails Monday enticing them to visit their sites for holiday discounts, said Ken Burke, founder of MarketLive, the Petaluma-based e-commerce software firm.
"The e-mail volume today has just gone through the roof," Burke said Monday.
But after weeks of already heavy discounting both at regular stores and online, experts were doubtful that the day would give much of a lift to what is still expected to be one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.
Total retail sales for Friday and Saturday rose 1.9 percent compared with the same holiday period a year ago, but a shopping frenzy on Friday wasn't sustained the next day, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp. a research firm that tracks traffic and retail sales at more than 50,000 outlets.
Sales rose 3 percent on Friday to $10.6 billion, but slipped 0.8 percent on Saturday to $6 billion. ShopperTrak expected a further pullback Sunday, estimating that total retail sales for the three-day weekend probably rose a modest 1 percent.
"Consumers were very deliberate about where they went and what they shopped for," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. "They shopped for promotions, and there wasn't a lot of impulse buying."
Retailers must act quickly because the shopping season is shorter this year. There are only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, compared with 32 days a year ago, placing more pressure on merchants to make crucial sales.
In Sonoma County, many retailers were pleasantly surprised by the volume of traffic in their stores over the weekend.
J.C. Penney at Coddingtown Mall, which heavily promoted Black Friday discounts, had its biggest sales day of the year Friday, said store manager Mike Simmons. Saturday's sales softened somewhat, but shoppers returned in droves Sunday, he said.
"Overall, we exceeded our expectations," he said.
While other retailers saw plenty of shoppers, some saw a troubling trend.
"The traffic was comparable, but they were buying more smaller things," said Michael Sigala, manager of the Cost Plus in Santa Rosa.
Margie Haskin, saleswoman at Sur La Table cookware store in the Montgomery Village Shopping Center, said total sales are down about 10 percent for the year, and more holiday shoppers appear to be thinking small.
"I'm seeing people buy more small things, more practical things," Haskin said.
Analysts said consumers were waiting for retailers to cut prices even more before opening their wallets.
"People are expecting that deals will only get better as we approach the Christmas time frame," said Youssef Squali, an analyst at Jefferies & Co.
This wait-and-see approach is appearing in Web traffic patterns showing people visiting Web sites in large numbers but not always following through with purchases, said Burke at MarketLive.
"There's no question that people are still waiting to buy," Burke said. "They are still in research mode."
Visits to 150 Web sites managed by the Petaluma company's software were up 10 percent last week compared with a year ago, but total sales were flat, Burke said.
The percentage of visitors who actually bought merchandise online dropped, however, telling Burke that shoppers are using Web sites for research as much as commerce.
The Monday after Thanksgiving was dubbed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the unofficial kickoff to the online retail season -- when customers shop at their desks as they return to work. But with more deals advertised ahead of time and more consumers with high-speed Internet access at home, the day has lost some luster.
While "Cyber Monday" is not the busiest online shopping day of the year -- that day usually occurs later in December as shipping deadlines approach -- retailers stepped up their online deals Monday, offering discounts, free shipping and more.
Home furnishings Web site Cuddledown offered 20 percent off all online merchandise, while J.C. Penney used its site to advertise deep-discounted "Screen busters."
Overall, there were few technical problems reported during the day, but Gap and Old Navy sites were down for about 45 minutes in the morning because of heavy traffic, the company said.
Retailers disappointed by sales in their stores are hoping the traffic has migrated online.
Preliminary figures issued Monday showed mixed results. Nielsen Online reported that online traffic grew 10 percent year-over-year on Black Friday to 31.7 million unique visitors across 120 online retailers.
And online billing site Pay-Pal said transactions increased 34 percent and online payment volume rose 26 percent on Black Friday.
But Internet research company comScore said online spending on Thanksgiving Day and Friday was up 2 percent compared with a year ago. While slightly better than the flat growth comScore has predicted for the holidays, the increase is still drastically lower than last year's 19 percent growth.
For the holiday season to date, online sales are down about 4 percent to $10.41 billion, according to comScore.
The most likely candidate for busiest online spending day this year is Monday, Dec. 15, comScore spokesman Andrew Lipsman said, as consumers rush to make sure gifts can be shipped in time for Christmas.
"Cyber Monday is never really the heaviest online spending day," he said. "It (marks) the first significant spike in online spending, but then spending continues to build really until about the middle of December."
Staff Writer Kevin McCallum and the Associated Press contributed to this report. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 7:05 am
Former Santa Rosa soccer coach takes plea deal in sex case
Richard A. Vives could face probation or jail time; charge carries maximum 8-year sentence. (PD File)A former Santa Rosa youth soccer coach agreed to admit one count of sexual acts with a teenage girl Monday, minutes before the girl was set to testify about the details of the encounter at a preliminary hearing.
With the plea deal, Richard A. Vives, 42, will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss seven other charges against him at a sentencing hearing in January.
Vives pleaded no contest, the legal equivalent of guilty, to one felony count of oral copulation on a 16-year-old girl who was too intoxicated to resist.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, prosecutor Jason Riehl said. Vives, who has no prior criminal record, could receive probation and counseling or jail time.
The single incident occurred in early October at his home when the girl was sleeping over and they were the only ones awake in the house, said Vives' attorney, Kristine Burk. Both Vives and the girl, a friend of one of Vives' daughters, had consumed alcohol, Burk said.
There was no coercion, force or violence involved, and the girl's level of intoxication was questionable, Burk said.
Vives felt it was important to accept responsibility rather than drag his family and the girl through a humiliating public process, Burk said.
"Good people make mistakes," she said. "I don't think he actually is guilty of this specific offense, but this is the kind of thing where you could win the battle and lose the war."
The girl and her family, through Riehl, declined to comment. Riehl declined to comment on what led to the plea agreement.
After Burk and Riehl negotiated the plea, Vives entered the courtroom, appearing resigned to his fate. He signed a several-page plea agreement and rights-waiver form and gave the bailiff his thumbprint.
The girl sat in the rear of the courtroom with her family and a court victim-witness advocate. She didn't speak in court, and Vives didn't appear to see her.
Vives, a married father of three girls, served briefly as Piner High School's junior varsity girls soccer coach. He was also a longtime board member and coach for the Northwest Oaks Youth Soccer Club and the referee coordinator for Santa Rosa United Soccer club.
He hasn't served in those roles since his arrest, Burk said, and likely will be prohibited from holding jobs or volunteer positions involving minors ever again. The girl was a longtime friend of his daughter and not a soccer player.
Vives will be examined by a court-appointed psychiatrist, whose conclusions will be included in a Probation Department recommendation to Judge Elliot Daum on an appropriate punishment.
The charge Vives admitted was one of three that carried a potential eight-year prison term. A sexual-battery charge carried a maximum of four years, and four other counts carried one-year terms.
Burk, Vives' attorney, said probation is an appropriate punishment for the facts of the case.
The charge isn't a strike under the state's three-strikes law, nor is it considered a violent felony that could add time to any future charge.
Burk said the girl had spent the night at Vives' home as many as 75 times previously without incident.
Vives remains free on supervised release pending the sentencing hearing, scheduled for Jan. 23.
You can reach Staff Writer L.A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:23 am
Teen face: Justin Brown
Personal: Justin Brown is a 17-year-old senior at El Molino High. He lives in Guerneville with his mom, Roni, and his twin brother, Jerod. His sister Brandi, 19, lives in San Francisco. The family has two cats, Smokey and Buddy.
Football practice ushers in challenges: Justin Brown played starting left tackle until a late October practice injury put him on crutches. That would be bad enough for a teen who also enjoys track and field, which starts in March, but he's also one of four rally commissioners, and he and his brother just landed the leading roles of Jean Valjean and Javert for El Molino's 2009 production of "Les Miserables."
"And I can't drive now. I have to ask my brother to do all the driving. And I have 20 stairs leading up to my house," he said as if delivering a punch line.
Keeping things in perspective: He's known around campus for his funny personality. The energetic teen throws himself full-tilt into campus activities.
A swollen knee will not ruin his fun.
"I've been really lucky. Our last rally was three days before the injury, and the next one isn't 'til spring," he said optimistically.
He's noticed how many times each day fellow students and his family make his life on crutches a bit easier.
"As cheesy as it may sound, I've had a lot of people help me, and I know they care for me, so it's not the end of the world," said the teen.
His girlfriend, Briauna Dural, walks him to classes, and friends in Encore, a special campus choral group, pull up chairs for him. No way can he hop up on the risers, he said.
Friends help him carry items at lunchtime, and if he drops a crutch, someone always helps him get it back under his arm, he said.
Please, pass the ham: He discovered acting at Guerneville Elementary and pursued roles in high school. Last year, he played Nicely-Nicely Johnson in "Guys and Dolls," belting out the raucous "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" number like he was on Broadway.
"Acting, for me, is not about that whole cliché about wanting to experience being someone else. I'm a big ham. . . . I like the attention," he said.
"Les Miserables" is in rehearsals, and Brown is soldiering on. For now, he's doing some scenes sitting in a prop wheelchair while the cast works around his injury. The hope is that he will be walking by performance dates in late January and early February.
"My brother and I practiced all summer to prepare, so I'm not worried about doing the show. I'm just nervous about my knee. I don't want to disappoint," he said.
A few of his favorite things: Following in his mother's footsteps, he plans to study hospitality and hopes to own his own Wine Country hotel someday. That's why he enjoys his part-time job working in a cafe, where his brother is also employed.
His favorite food is chicken wings. Favorite movie? Will Ferrell's "Step Brothers." "O, The Things I Know!" by Al Franken is his favorite book.
His heroes include his mom, sister and a family friend whose cultural traditions have included the Browns since the boys were tiny.
"When I was 5, my family met and fell in love with Winnie Hogoboom, who's Danish. My favorite family tradition is the night before Christmas, which is when Danish people really celebrate," Brown explained.
It seems Brown's heroes are all strong women. Winnie Hogoboom is principal of Albert Biella Elementary School in Santa Rosa.
"My mom raised us alone, and that's hard to do. My sister is doing really well. And Winnie has inspired me to really focus on my education," he said. "I think we all want to be viewed as good citizens in Winnie's eyes."
Following graduation, the 3.7-GPA student plans to attend Santa Rosa Junior College.
-- Rayne Wolfe -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:21 am
Everyone should know joy of making music
Music is a big part of my life. Especially the guitar. I have been playing guitar for eight years. I first started playing guitar when I was 6 years old, so I started out easy.
I used tab notation, and I naturally got the hang of the tab notation method. My teacher said that I had the ability to memorize a song in less than an hour. I didn't think that it was a big deal, so I started playing regular notation (like with notes and that stuff). That was a little more challenging.
I was taught about the different symbols and what they mean. I took in every bit of information my teacher gave me. I was able to do the scales by the end of the third week I started the notation exercises. That was where I realized that I really did have a talent like other people told me. I could play anything that my teacher put in front of me.
I started writing my own music a few months back. I'm not that good at the lyrics part, but the music, I can come up with a melody or solo in no time. I like coming up with the music, but sometimes it can be a challenge.
The hard part about making music is making it all sound together and in sync with each other. I have a garage band, so that isn't a big problem, but if you were writing it down, it makes it a little more difficult.
I always carry a tablature notebook in my backpack. Just in case there is something that pops into my head, I can easily write it down. Tablature notebooks are a really important thing for a songwriter. They are easy to carry, are lightweight and blend in with your school notebooks. You can buy them in any music store, so there is a good supply and they are not hard to get.
The world is full of music. You can hear it anywhere you go. For example, in your own house there probably is stuff like the sound of your footsteps that could be the beat, and during dinner, you would probably hear pans or plates being hit together. There is also the sound of the TV. The music is literally in the air.
You can make music out of anything. It doesn't have to be a guitar or a piano, or even drums. There is a group that uses stuff like brooms and basketballs. It's pretty cool what they do. After I saw then, I started writing up my own music.
Like I said before, music is my life. I always love the sound of any instrument, whether it's from a piano, guitar, drum or even a Dumpster. I really encourage everyone to at least learn how to play an instrument. You would really enjoy it. It also helps you out in school. If you want to express something, Just put it into words, and then rhyme them. It is not really that hard. I have given a lot of my time to music, and it has paid off in happiness and joy. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:20 am
Don't be a drunken e-mailer
Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes over the past couple of weeks trolling tech blogs or cocktail lounges has probably heard about Mail Goggles, a new feature on Google's Gmail program that is intended to help stamp out a scourge that few knew existed: late-night drunken e-mailing.
The experimental program requires any user who enables the function to perform five simple math problems in 60 seconds before sending e-mails between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. on weekends. That time frame apparently corresponds to the gap between cocktail No. 1 and cocktail No. 4, when tapping out an e-mail message to an ex or a co-worker can seem like the equivalent of bungee jumping without a cord.
Mail Goggles is not the first case of a technology developed to keep people from endangering themselves or others with the machinery of daily life after they have had a few. For years, judges have ordered drunken-driving offenders to install computerized breath-analyzers linked to their car's ignition system to prevent them from starting their vehicles when intoxicated.
But as the first sobriety checkpoint on what used to be called the information superhighway, the Mail Goggles program also raises a larger question: In an age when so much of our routine communication is accomplished with our fingertips, are we becoming so tethered to our keyboards that we really need the technological equivalent of trigger locks on firearms? In interviews with people who confessed to imbibing and typing at the same time -- sometimes with regrettable consequences -- the answer seems to be yes.
Jim David, a comedian who lives in Manhattan, said he wished he had Mail Goggles one night when he was "looped" and sent an e-mail message to a religious organization, "saying something like, 'you people are directly responsible for gays everywhere getting beaten,"' he recalled in an e-mail message.
"I received a response from their legal department that wanted to know specific information as to exactly how I knew they were responsible, that these were very serious charges, and that I should receive a phone call from the FBI soon," David said. "I hit 'delete' faster than lightning and took an Ambien."
Kate Allen Stukenberg, a magazine editor in Houston, said that "the thing that is disappointing about Mail Goggles is that it's only on Gmail," because many people need cell phone protection, given the widespread practice of drunken text-messaging.
Last month, after Hurricane Ike ripped through her hometown, Stukenberg, 29, said, she found herself consoling a friend who had used the tragedy as an excuse to send a drunken text-message to reconnect with an ex-boyfriend -- a move she later regretted. "She said that Ike had messed up her apartment so she had no place to stay, so could she stay at his house," Stukenberg recalled. "It was total liquid courage."
Indeed, the Mail Goggles program itself was born of embarrassment. A Gmail engineer named Jon Perlow wrote the program after sending his share of regrettable late-night missives, including a plea to rekindle a relationship with an old girlfriend, he wrote on the company's Gmail blog. "We've all been there before, unfortunately," said Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. So-called drunken dialing may be as old as the telephone itself, but now, he said, the edge of the abyss is much closer in an era when so many people carry personal digital assistants containing hundreds of contact numbers -- including clients, work adversaries and bosses -- everywhere, including bars and parties.
And e-mail messages can be particularly potent because they constitute what social scientists call "asynchronous" communication, meaning that exchanges between people do not happen in real time, unlike face-to-face or telephone conversations.
People can respond to work-related messages hours after they leave the office -- a risky proposition if they happen to log on after stumbling home from happy hour.
The delay in response time means that people have lots of time to shape a response to achieve maximum impact, he said. "If you have eight hours of bar time to think of all the bad things you can come up with, this becomes uniquely damaging," Bailenson said.
"If you've completely lost all motor skills, Mail Goggles probably isn't necessary," Ryan Dodge, a dating blogger who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., said in an e-mail message. "But there's a dangerous point of intoxication where you're lucid enough to operate a keyboard, but drunk enough to think that professing your love via Facebook to that girl in your 11th-grade homeroom is a stellar idea."
Dodge, 26, said he had not tried Google's new program, but he had learned to filter drunken excess from his own late-night e-mails by adopting "ridiculously proper" Jeeves-like grammar.
For example, one late-night e-mail he sent to a woman he was flirting with read: "Good evening. The number I have listed for you doesn't seem to respond. Quite curious. I would be most grateful to receive your updated number. . . . Season's greetings."
Text-based communication and alcohol are a potent mix in part because people already tend to be more candid online than they are in person, even before they loosen their inhibitions with a drink, said Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
"Research suggests that for some people, the use of computers or other gadgets creates some emotional distancing from the person they are addressing," Rainie said in an e-mail message. The distance, in other words, makes them feel safe -- flirting becomes more flirtatious; insults become more insulting.
The latter was the case with one 23-year-old record producer in Manhattan who recalled a drunken text-message mishap on a recent trip to his alma mater, Syracuse University. The producer, who declined to be identified, said he had picked up an undergraduate woman while intoxicated and had accompanied her back to her apartment. But sitting in her kitchen at 4 a.m., he said, he started to have second thoughts. So while she was in the room, he tapped out a message to a friend's iPhone: "Eww Saratoga, what am I thinking? I can def. do better then this . . . can you drive my car and get me out of here?"
Seconds later, her telephone buzzed. He had accidentally sent the message to her, not his friend, the producer said.
Months later, after a few more romantic misadventures with her, "We had a long talk, and I apologized," he said. "I now write songs about getting my life together." -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:18 am
BPA found in dental sealants
Cavities or chemicals? That's the dilemma for parents worried about a controversial substance found in the popular sealants that are painted on children's molars to prevent decay.
The chemical is bisphenol-A, or BPA, which is widely used in the making of the hard, clear plastic called polycarbonate, and is also found in the linings of food and soft-drink cans. Most human exposure to the chemical clearly comes from the food supply. But traces have also been found in dental sealants.
Although the Food and Drug Administration has reassured consumers that the chemical appears to be safe, it has received increasing scrutiny in recent months from health officials in the United States and Canada.
The National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has raised concerns about BPA, particularly over childhood exposure to the traces that leach from polycarbonate baby bottles and the linings of infant formula cans.
The 2003-4 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found detectable levels of BPA in 93 percent of urine samples collected from more than 2,500 adults and children older than 6.
BPA has estrogenlike effects, and animal studies have suggested that exposure may accelerate puberty and raise a potential risk of cancer. In October, the journal Environmental Health Perspectives reported that the chemical might interfere with chemotherapy treatment. And in September the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that adults with higher levels of BPA in their urine were more likely to have heart disease or diabetes.
Despite these concerns, the American Dental Association remains strongly in favor of sealants. Dentists note that numerous studies show that any exposure they cause is negligible and temporary, lasting no more than three hours after the initial application. And other studies have found no detectable levels of BPA in most American-made sealants. Meanwhile, sealants have been shown to offer years of protection against cavities.
"This is such an enormously valuable tool to prevent tooth decay," said Dr. Leslie Seldin, a New York City dentist and consumer adviser for the American Dental Association. "The BPA issue, I think, is so minuscule in impact that it doesn't really warrant the attention it's been getting."
Dental sealants have the consistency of syrup so that they can seep into the crevices of molars. A light is used to harden the sealants, which are then buffed smooth. The coatings prevent the growth of bacteria that promote decay in the grooves of molars.
In October, a review of 16 studies by the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit group that evaluates medical research, showed sealants offered significant protection from cavities. In the seven studies that compared sealants and regular brushing alone, the 5- to 10-year-olds who used sealants had less than half as much decay on biting surfaces four and a half years after the treatment. One study with a nine-year follow-up found that only 27 percent of sealed tooth surfaces had developed cavities, compared with 77 percent of unsealed surfaces.
The Cochrane review did not address BPA, but it did cite a March review article in tThe Journal of the Canadian Dental Association, looking at 11 major studies of BPA exposure from dental sealants.
That review, financed by the nation's health system and conducted by researchers with no industry ties, concluded that patients were not at risk for exposure to the chemical. And it noted that dentists and patients could further limit any exposure with simple steps like buffing tooth surfaces and gargling and rinsing after sealants are applied, all of which are standard practices in most dental offices.
The review also found that three products did not release detectable amounts of BPA: Helioseal from Ivoclar Vivadent, Seal-Rite from the Pulpdent Corp., and Conseal F from SDI (North America). All carried the 2007 American Dental Association seal.
The amount of BPA exposure can vary depending on the sealant. In a 2006 article in the Journal of the American Dental Association, researchers from the U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the effects of two dental sealants on 14 men, based on saliva and urine samples. They found that patients treated with an Ivoclar Vivadent product called Helioseal F showed no change in urinary or salivary levels of BPA, while patients treated with Delton Light Cure sealant, from Dentsply Ash, were exposed to about 20 times higher doses of BPA.
Linda Niessen of Dentsply International said in a statement that the ADA says sealants are safe, and she notes that any exposure from a sealant is "significantly lower and occurs infrequently" compared with other sources of BPA.
Parents concerned about BPA exposure should ask their dentists what type of sealants they use and whether it has been tested for BPA. But researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered this bottom line: "Sealants should remain a useful part of routine preventive dental practice." -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:17 am
Defending Play
NEW YORK
In one classroom, a group of preschool teachers squatted on the floor, pretending to be cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers. Next door, another group ended a raucous musical game by placing their tambourines and drums atop their heads.
Silly business, to be sure, but part of an agenda of utmost seriousness: To spread the word that America's children need more time for freewheeling play at home and in their schools.
"We're all sad, and we're a little worried. . . . We're sad about something missing in childhood," psychologist and author Michael Thompson told 900 early childhood educators from 22 states packed into an auditorium last week.
"We have to fight back," he declared. "We're going to fight for play."
After his keynote speech at New York's 92nd Street Y, the teachers dispersed into dozens of workshops, some lighthearted, some scholarly -- but all supporting the case that creative, spontaneous play is both vital and endangered.
It's not a brand-new cause -- two years ago it was endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. But social changes and new demands on kids' spare time confront free-play advocates with an ever-moving target.
Among the speakers at the Wonderplay conference Y in November was Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a Temple University psychologist who contends that lack of play in early childhood education "could be the next global warming."
Without ample opportunity for forms of play that foster innovation and creative thinking, she argues, America's children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy.
"Play equals learning," she said. "For too long we have divorced the two."
Some of the factors behind diminished play time have been evolving for decades, others are more recent. Added together, they have resulted in eight to 12 fewer hours of free play time per week for the average American child since the 1980s, experts say.
Among the key factors, according to Thompson:
Parents' reluctance to let their kids play outside on their own, for fear of abduction or injury, and the companion trend of scheduling lessons, supervised sports and other structured activities that consume a large chunk of a child's non-school hours.
More hours per week spent by kids watching TV, playing video games, using the Internet, communicating on cell phones.
Shortening or eliminating recess at many schools -- a trend so pronounced that the National PTA has launched a "Rescuing Recess" campaign.
More emphasis on formal learning in preschool, more homework for elementary school students and more pressure from parents on young children to quickly acquire academic skills.
"Parents are more self-conscious and competitive than in the past," Thompson said. "They're pushing their kids to excel. . . . Free play loses out."
The consequences are potentially dire, according to Thompson. He contends that diminished time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of socially inept young people and is a factor behind high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.
Many families turn to organized sports as a principal non-school activity, but Thompson noted that this option doesn't necessary breed creativity and can lead to burnout for good young athletes and frustration for the less skilled.
Vivian Paley, a former kindergarten teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and now an author and consultant, argues that the most vital form of play for young children involves fantasy and role-playing with their peers.
"They're inventing abstract thinking, before the world tells them what to think," Paley said in her speech to the conference. "It gets them thinking, 'I am intended to have my own ideas.' "
She worried that preschools, in the drive to prepare students for the academic challenges ahead, are reducing the opportunity for group fantasy play -- and thus reducing children's chances to learn on their own about fairness, kindness and other social interactions.
"The theater of the young receives the least attention from those planning the curriculum of our nation's schools," Paley said. "This very activity is being dismantled in our schools to make room for early phonics. . . . Preschoolers are being asked to practice being first graders."
Fretta Reitzes, director of the 92 Street Y's youth and family center, which serves more than 6,000 children, says many of the parents she sees are struggling to find the right balance for their kids' schedules, asking "How much is too much?"
Preschool teachers need to lead by example, Reitzes said.
"Bringing play back into the lives of children, it's not just OK," she said. "It's really good for them." -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:12 am
Worst floods in 20 years inundate Venice
VENICE, Italy -- Water in Venice rose to its highest level in more than 20 years Monday, flooding much of the Italian city and forcing residents and tourists to wade through knee-high water.
City officials said the sea level topped 61 inches Monday, well past the 40-inch flood mark, after heavy rains. Alarms went off to alert citizens in the morning.
"There are very few streets that are water-free," Venice spokesman Enzo Bon said.
Among the spots affected was St. Mark's Square, the landmark piazza that is the lowest point in the city.
Workers were unable to install raised wooden walkways used during flooding because the water rose too high and too fast.
The floods forced many water taxis to suspend service, Bon said.
Pedestrians rolled up their pants or wore rubber boots to walk through the water.
Some had plastic wrapped around their legs, while some tourists in St. Mark's walked on chairs left in the piazza.
The last time Venice registered such high waters was in 1986, city officials said. The all-time record was 76 inches in 1966. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:09 am
Obama introduces national security team
WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama on Monday introduced his national security team, made up of centrist Washington insiders, and promised an overhaul of foreign policy to give added emphasis to diplomacy and bring a "new dawn of American leadership."
Appearing at a Chicago news conference with Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton and five others who he plans to put on his team, Obama said his administration would restore U.S. standing through alliance building and international institutions, as well as by maintaining U.S. military power.
U.S. military might "has to be combined with the wisdom and force of our diplomacy," Obama said. He pledged that the nation would exert influence by "the power of our moral example." His words seemed aimed at drawing a contrast with the Bush administration, which has been widely seen as emphasizing military force and unilateral action.
In one sign of the importance the new president will place on international institutions, Obama said the job of ambassador to the United Nations again would have Cabinet rank, as it had under President Bill Clinton.
Obama said he would nominate Susan Rice, a former State Department official, to the U.N. post. The national security team also will include Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will continue in his current position; retired Marine Gen. James Jones Jr., the new national security adviser; Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, the nominee for secretary of Homeland Security; and former deputy attorney general Eric Holder Jr., the nominee for attorney general.
Even as Obama emphasized his plans for a break from Bush administration policies, there were abundant reminders that the new team will struggle with familiar problems and that there would be substantial continuity in the way they must deal with them.
Obama said his administration would be committed to maintaining "the strongest military on the planet" and to adding to the ranks of the Army and the Marine Corps.
While emphasizing new efforts to win friends abroad, the president-elect promised to continue the campaign against terrorists, because "there is no place for those who kill innocent civilians to advance hateful extremism."
Obama acknowledged that while his new administration intended to turn to non-military or "soft power" approaches to overseas challenges, it enters office facing emergencies that might call for the same use of U.S. troops and intelligence that President George W. Bush has relied on. He cited the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asserting that "the national security challenges we face are just as grave and just as urgent as our economic crisis."
During the news conference, Obama also gave hints of his foreign policy priorities. He said he still believed that the 16-month period for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq that he promised in the campaign is "the right time frame," and that Gates and the military leadership would be ordered from the outset to devise a withdrawal plan.
But he said he would consider the recommendations of his military advisers on implementing the plan and would take into account the safety of U.S. troops and Iraqi interests.
He cited his interest in pushing from the beginning for Arab-Israeli peace, even though many observers are now deeply pessimistic about the outlook for the conflict.
Critics have questioned whether Obama will be able to guide U.S. foreign policy with a team of strong-willed veterans led by Clinton, his fierce rival during the long presidential primary campaign. But Obama said the choice reflected his belief in "strong personalities and strong opinions. I think that's how the best decisions are made."
Clinton, Gates and Jones have worked together in the past and agree on some issues. Yet the holders of those three posts often have collided in past administrations, especially under the pressure of wars and other foreign policy crises.
Obama said the team members believe they can get along. He promised: "I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out."
Obama has chosen a centrist team in part to ensure broad support as he takes on the politically risky effort of winding down the Iraq commitment while seeking a new approach to the Afghan war, which he says is now being lost.
In introducing his team, Obama stressed qualifications that were likely to appeal to conservatives as well as those of other political stripes.
He pointed out that Jones, who served in the Vietnam War, won a Silver Star, and that "generations of his family served heroically on the battlefield."
He noted that Gates had won respect in both political parties "for his pragmatism and competence."
Obama's selections have won praise from Republicans. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on ABC's "This Week" that Obama's choices were "excellent."
The new Clinton-Obama alliance produced some awkward moments. As the New York senator entered the news conference and took her position to wait for Obama's arrival, she listened as one broadcaster loudly recounted to a TV camera the bitterness of the primary -- and her loss in the campaign -- for the otherwise quiet room.
Clinton smiled gamely during the soliloquy, which ended abruptly when Obama came in.
Later, Obama brushed off a reminder of the primary's contentiousness, when a reporter asked why he would hire Clinton after charging during the campaign that her travels as first lady amounted to little more than having tea with foreign leaders.
He said asking such questions about charges made during the campaign was no more than "fun for the press."
Clinton, in her remarks, also argued the case for a more vigorous form of diplomacy. "We know our security, our values, and our interests cannot be protected and advanced by force alone nor, indeed, by Americans alone," she said.
She added that "while we are determined to defend our freedoms and liberties at all costs, we also reach out to the world again, seeking common cause and higher ground."
In announcing his selection of Holder, Obama again sought to draw a contrast with the Bush administration, which has been widely accused by Democrats of narrow partisanship under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Obama said of Holder: "The attorney general serves the American people, and I have every expectation that Eric will protect the people, uphold the public trust and adhere to our Constitution."
The nominees are expected to be confirmed by the Senate. OBAMA'S TEAM
Obama on Monday revealed his national security team:
Former campaign rival Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will remain in that job.
Retired Marine Gen. James Jones as national security adviser.
Former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security.
Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of state, as ambassador to the United Nations
INSIDE
Clinton joins Obama's team
of rivals
Biographies of president-elect's new national security team
Obama lists $1 million-plus in donations for transition
Page A5 -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:04 am
Court: Thai government invalid
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Constitutional Court dissolved Thailand's top three ruling parties for electoral fraud today and temporarily barred the prime minister from politics, bringing down a government that faced months of strident protests seeking its ouster.
The ruling set the stage for thousands of protesters to end their siege of the country's two main airports. Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy protest group at Bangkok's international airport cheered and hugged after they heard news of the verdict.
"My heart is happy. My friends are very happy," said Pailin Jampapong, a 41-year-old Bangkok housekeeper choking back tears as she jumped up and down.
Government spokesman Nattawut Sai-kau said that Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his ruling, six-party coalition would step down.
"We will abide by the law. The coalition parties will meet together to plan for its next move soon," he said.
He also said the government was postponing a regional summit in Thailand of Southeast Asian countries, from December to March.
Somchai's People's Power Party, the Machima Thipatai party and the Chart Thai party were found guilty of committing fraud in the December 2007 elections that brought the coalition to power with a thumping majority.
Court President Chat Chalavorn said the court was dissolving the parties "to set a political standard and an example."
"Dishonest political parties undermine Thailand's democratic system," he said in the court's ruling.
The ruling sends Somchai and dozens of party executives into political exile, barring them from the country's politics for five years.
But other members of the three parties that escaped the ban can join other parties and try to cobble together a new coalition and choose a new prime minister.
It was expected that Somchai would remain the caretaker prime minister until then.
Thousands of members of the protest alliance have been camped in the main Suvarnabhumi international airport and the domestic Don Muang airport for about a week, cutting off all commercial traffic to the capital and stranding more than 300,000 foreign travelers.
At the Suvarnabhumi airport, the verdict was read out on a protest stage outside the main terminal.
"It is good because the (corrupt) politicians have been told to get out. It is good for Thailand. This is a blow for corruption," said Nong Sugrawut, a 55-year-old businessman who was among the thousands camped at Suvarnabhumi.
Politicians banned by the verdict refused to comment.
"The court just banned me and my party from political activity so I can't give you any comment," Kuthep Saikrajang, a spokesman of the People's Power Party, told The Associated Press. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:02 am
Bush reflects on his 8 years at helm
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush expressed remorse that the global financial crisis has cost jobs and harmed retirement accounts and said he'll back more government intervention if needed to ease the recession.
"I'm sorry it's happening, of course," Bush said in a wide-ranging interview with ABC's "World News," which was airing Monday. "Obviously, I don't like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I mean, we're in. And if we need to be in more, we will."
The U.S. economy fell into a recession in December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research reported Monday. Many economists believe the current downturn will last until the middle of 2009 and will be the most severe slump since the 1981-1982 recession.
On the war in Iraq, Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was the "intelligence failure" regarding the extent of President Saddam Hussein threat to the United States. With the support of Congress, Bush ordered the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003 -- a decision largely justified on grounds, later proved false, that Saddam was building weapons of mass destruction.
Asked if he would have ordered the U.S. invasion if intelligence reports had accurately indicated that Saddam did not have the weapons, Bush replied: "You know, that's an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can't do. It's hard for me to speculate."
During a discussion about what Americans should know about what it is like to be president, Bush was asked what he was most unprepared for going into the office.
"I think I was unprepared for war," he said. "In other words, I didn't campaign and say, 'Please vote for me, I'll be able to handle an attack.' In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."
On the presidential election, Bush called Barack Obama's victory a "repudiation of Republicans."
"I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me," said Bush, who leaves office with low approval ratings. "I think most people voted for Barack Obama because they decided they wanted him to be in their living room for the next four years explaining policy. In other words, they made a conscious choice to put him in as president."
As he leaves office, Bush said he felt responsible for the economic downturn because it's occurring on his watch, but he added: "I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so" before he became president. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:00 am
Officials raise milk death toll
China's Health Ministry said six babies may have died after consuming tainted milk powder, up from a previous official toll of three, and announced a six-fold increase in its tally of infants sickened in the scandal -- to nearly 300,000.
It was the first time since Sept. 21 that health authorites have revised the total number of babies sickened by milk powered adulterated with the industrial chemical melamine. The previous total was about 50,000. -
Tuesday, December 02, 2008, 6:00 am
Winery on auction block
If you think selling a house in this market is tough, try selling a $22 million winery.
That's what Larry Kirkland has been trying to do for more than a year to no avail.
The Napa rancher turned winery owner has been looking for a buyer for his Western-themed Kirkland Ranch Winery in southern Napa County ever since it emerged from bankruptcy in the summer of 2007.
That was right about the time the economy began to falter. His hopes for a quick sale faded further as the mortgage meltdown turned into a full-blown credit crisis, making it tougher for buyers to borrow money.
Now he's resorting to that last-ditch sales tactic becoming increasingly common in the battered housing market -- the real estate auction.
Running out of time to meet his goal of selling the winery by the end of the year, Kirkland and his advisers opted for a sealed-bid auction to drum up some interest in the property.
Buyers have until Wednesday to submit bids for one of two options.
Bidding starts at $22 million for the 69-acre winery property, including 45 acres of vineyards. Buyers also have the option to purchase an additional 186 acres of land, 110 planted in vineyards. The opening bid for the combined properties is $26 million.
The $22 million reserve price is less than half what the winery was valued at when it entered bankruptcy in 2006. A lot has changed since then, said Robert Nicholson with International Wine Associates, a Healdsburg firm that has been marketing the winery to prospective buyers.
"The volatility of the financial markets has made it really difficult for buyers to determine what the real value of things are," Nicholson said. "They are looking very hard at valuations, and they are looking particularly hard at cash flows."
Kirkland Ranch isn't the only Wine Country sale to run aground in the current market. Last month, a deal to sell the historic Chateau Montelena winery in Calistoga to wealthy French vintner Michel Reybier fell apart. The deal collapsed in part because the value of the Euro weakened significantly and the global credit crunch stemmed the flow of investment funding.
Marketing woes
Built in 1998, Kirkland Ranch never achieved the commercial success of many of its neighbors to the north in Napa Valley.
Kirkland designed it as both a production facility and destination winery, considering the location to be ideal for drawing in large numbers of tourists.
The timber-framed building sits on a scenic knoll and features a large tasting room complete with stone fireplaces, a mounted black bear head, wide porches and ample parking for tour buses.
But the winery, in the southeast corner of Napa County, sits east of key arteries into the Napa Valley, such as Highway 29 from American Canyon and Highway 121 from the Sonoma Valley.
"People just drove right past it," said Simon Inman, an attorney specializing in wine industry acquisitions with the firm Carle, Mackie, Power & Ross.
That's partly because Kirkland didn't follow up the construction with a viable marketing plan for his wines, according to Martin Jones, a turnaround specialist who became general manager of the winery last year.
"People are attracted by the romance of the wine business, but often really don't have the marketing plan or management resolve to develop the business and sustain the years of losses before something starts to stick," Jones said.
Bad partner
Kirkland Ranch's marketing woes were compounded by its name. Costco, the largest seller of wine in the nation, launched its private label wines in 2004 under the name Kirkland Signature. The big retailer's move effectively pre-empted the winery from earning wide distribution for its wines, Jones said. Instead, it emphasized a second label, called Jamieson Canyon wines, he said.
Short on cash and looking for a marketing partner, the winery made the mistake of teaming up with an untested penny-stock company headed by a Connecticut investment banker with no wine industry experience.
360 Global Wine Co. formed a joint venture in 2003 with Kirkland, then acquired Viansa Winery and Italian Marketplace from the children of Sam and Vicki Sebastiani with $34.5 million borrowed from a hedge fund. The company's efforts to integrate the two wineries, launch new brands and make massive debt payments all failed.
Filing bankruptcy allowed Kirkland to cut itself loose from the grip of 360 Global, which also ultimately went bankrupt. The Kirkland family emerged from bankruptcy with 100 percent ownership of the winery, but still deep in debt.
The new lender is Madison Capital, a New York-based hedge fund. Jones declined to say how much the Kirklands owe, but said the $22 million sale price is approximately the amount needed to retire debt and pay closing costs on the sale.
As part of the deal, Kirkland was required to sell about 2,300 acres of land, which was purchased by Silverado Partners earlier this year, Jones said, declining to disclose the price.
One of the winery's great strengths is the size of its production capacity. The 57,000-square-foot building has a 3,000-barrel cellar, a permit to process 200,000 gallons of wine per year, and a bottling line capable of corking 500,000 cases a year.
The decision to hold an auction has generated a significant amount of buzz, and potential buyers have been touring the facility regularly in recent weeks, said Sally Nicholson, a principal in International Wine Associates.
"It has certainly struck a chord in the market," she said.
Bidders' identities are secret, but the winery would make a good fit for an existing wine company looking to strengthen its Napa presence, Nicholson said.
Being a new winery, the facility doesn't need much additional investment. Nevertheless, some buyers might want to change the business model, she said.
"There's a lot of creative thinking going on on the part of prospective buyers," she said.
Decor not to everyone's taste
Some think the Western style of the winery -- with its timber columns, caribou-hide couches and a deer antler chandelier -- just doesn't resonate with Napa wine tourists.
"He spent millions and millions of dollars building something that would have looked better in Wyoming than Napa, quite frankly," Inman said.
But Sally Nicholson said Kirkland was just a man ahead of his time.
"He had a very large dream in the buoyant '90s and created something quite extraordinary," she said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.