Aberdeen Community Theatre cast likes saucy, funny characters of 'Chicago' BY RONDA JO ANDERSON, Aberdeen Community Theatre
Funeral services for Edgar D. Wipf, 91, of Aberdeen will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Pastor Jeff Whillock officiating. Burial at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Edgar died Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, at ManorCare Health Services of Aberdeen.
Visitation will be from 1 to 7 p.m., with family present from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 S. Main St., Aberdeen.
Edgar D. Wipf was born on Aug. 24, 1921, in rural Spink County to Joseph and Mary (Kleinsasser) Wipf. This is the area where he grew up and attended school. He graduated from Frankfort High School and later attended Northern, where he graduated in 1969, with a BA degree.
On Oct. 30, 1969, he married Marjorie (Frazier) Walker in Aberdeen. Edgar taught in many schools for 18 years. He then was the building manager for the Professional Arts Building, where he helped all tenants solve a variety of problems and retired in 1990. After he retired, he kept busy with woodworking, he made footstools and little chairs for all his family and friends.
Edgar was a member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Aberdeen. He also was a member of the Moose Lodge No. 590 since 1966 and the Eagles Lodge. He loved doing crosswords, jig saw puzzles and playing solitaire on the computer. He enjoyed attending the Breakfast Club for twenty years, dancing waltzes and polkas and attending Daniel O’Donnell concerts and had a private luncheon with Daniel.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Joe and Mary Wipf; brothers: Alvin Wipf and Willis (Irene) Wipf; and sister-in-law, Wanda Wipf.
The 2013 projected prices for crop insurance are known, so producers are huddling with their crop insurance agents to determine what policies, coverage levels and units of coverage to use for the coming crop year.
At first glance, the projected prices per bushel look good at $5.65 for corn, $12.87 for soybeans and $8.44 for spring wheat, says Andy Swenson, North Dakota State University Extension Service farm management specialist. These prices are the third highest ever and should provide stout risk protection.
Most producers select a revenue policy with a revenue guarantee, which is calculated by multiplying the projected price, the actual production history (APH) yield and the selected coverage level. However, revenue is only one side of the profit equation. The true measure of this crop insurance safety net is how the revenue guarantee compares with costs.
Unfortunately, costs have risen dramatically, Swenson says. Budgeted total costs of production have doubled for corn and wheat since 2006.
To answer this question, Swenson focused on the east-central region of the state (Eddy, Foster, Griggs, Stutsman and Wells counties) for which he annually constructs projected budgets. For 2006 to 2013, he calculated the revenue guarantee using the projected crop insurance price for the year, a 70 percent coverage level and assumed the APH was similar to the seven-year Olympic average yield used in the budgets. Each year, the revenue guarantee was compared with projected costs.
The costs included a charge for labor and management. The labor and management charge used for 2006 was $30 for wheat and soybeans and $40 for corn. It was increased each year by 2.5 percent.
For east-central North Dakota, the 2013 revenue guarantee for soybeans is estimated at 92 percent of projected per acre total cost, which is down from 98 percent in 2012. The corn revenue guarantee was 89 percent of total cost, which is down from 94 percent in 2012. Spring wheat increased to 80 percent compared with 78 percent in 2012. During the eight years of 2006 through 2013, soybeans typically had the best safety net, while spring wheat had the worst.
When focusing on individual crops during the eight years, the 2013 safety net is projected to be the third best for wheat but only the fifth best for soybeans and corn.
The 2008 year had a significantly better safety net than other years. The revenue guarantee was 142 percent of projected total per acre costs for soybeans, 130 percent for spring wheat and 109 percent for corn. Agriculture is a risky business, but 2008 was a year when producers essentially could not lose, Swenson says.
The poorest safety net year was 2006, when the revenue guarantee was projected to cover only 78, 63 and 59 percent of soybean, corn and spring wheat total costs per acre, respectively.
It is important to note that the crop insurance revenue guarantee is not necessarily the minimum revenue that will be received per acre.
In fact, it only is accurate if there is a complete crop failure, Swenson says. If there is any production, the revenue will be a combination of crop value and crop insurance indemnity (if any). Because of differences in the crop revenue insurance harvest price (determined by the futures market) used in the calculation of crop insurance indemnities and the local cash price the farmer actually receives when selling the grain, the actual revenue per acre typically is somewhat less than the crop insurance revenue guarantee.
A 6-year-old girl with short bangs and big, bright eyes bounced off the walls of her mother’s office, gnawed a piece of fried chicken, and checked off her favorite after-school activities: swimming, diving, ballet, tae kwon do, gymnastics, softball and tennis. “On the days Zoe’s like this, things are good,” said Burbank resident Lizzette Schley. “She is just like the rest of her fellow kindergartners, except for one difference.” Zoe was diagnosed in 2006 with ankylosing spondylitis, a genetic form of arthritis that causes the spine and joints to swell.
First you learn to crawl, then you learn to walk, then you learn to run (then you learn to drive five miles to the place where you like to walk or run). The same process applies to learning about split infinitives, with just as much crashing into walls and falling on your butt. First you learn that you've been doing something wrong, then you learn that it wasn't wrong in the first place, then you learn that your initial grasp of why it's not wrong was in fact wrong. For those of you on deadline for your blogs or eager to turn to the horoscopes, here's the must-know stuff about the dreaded split infinitive: Don't worry about it. Ninety-nine out of 100 language authorities agree there's nothing wrong with it. So if your energy for learning grammar is limited, this one does not belong on your priority list.
JUNE CASAGRANDE Somewhere out there, a group of misled but well-meaning grammar prophets is spreading a sort of false gospel. They warn people against the horrors of ending sentences with prepositions. They predict gloom and doom for anyone who dares to begin a sentence with "and," "but," "so" or "because." To hear them talk, you'd think splitting an infinitive is as dangerous as splitting an atom. They all mean well -- really they do. But they're unintentionally doing harm, punishing people for trying to play by the rules.
A few weeks ago, I wrote in this space: ?The key to avoiding the frightening-sounding problem known as the ?dangling participle? is to not be frightened.? Soon after, I got this e-mail from a reader named Barbara: ?June, as a former English teacher, I noticed your split infinitive in your first paragraph. I?m sure it was just a simple error, but it is one that irritates me. I hope you don?t mind.? Barbara was referring to the phrase ?to not be,? which places ?not? right between the ?
English is a cruel language. Hyphenation rules mean that a water-skier water-skis on water skis. The abbreviated version of "until" is not "'til" but the bizarrely spelled and unpunctuated "till." And try explaining to any poor soul struggling to learn English the logic behind the pronunciation of "through," "though" and "throw." But such random acts of cruelty don't mean that the whole system is viciously, homicidally, reality-TV-caliber cruel. Sometimes the language can be quite forgiving, and that's when it's really cruel.
blr-aword10 If we could, we'd categorize everything in terms of dog people vs. cat people, liberal vs. conservative, Rosie vs. Donald. I used to shun such distinctions, especially the idea that the population can be divided into cat people and dog people. Then I got four cats. Now I can say with 100% certainty that I'm a dog person.
It’s a tremendous feeling when the pieces come together. And that’s precisely the combination of acting and script that yield terrific results in “Trying” by Joanna McClelland Glass at the Colony Theatre in Burbank. Sarah Schorr (Rebecca Mozo) is a young woman from Saskatchewan, Canada, who moves to Washington, D.C., and takes a position as secretary to Francis Biddle (Alan Mandell). Biddle is a career civil servant with a history of various cabinet posts and presidential appointments, among them attorney general and chief American judge of the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II. The story takes place in 1967 when Judge Biddle is age 81 and not in the best physical or mental condition.
JULI C. SCOTT In your August 9, 2000 editorial, you commented on the pending litigation between the city and Irv Rubin over the council invocation policy ("Praying for a better policy for City Council"). You have expressed the opinion that the Burbank City Council should change it's invocation policies by eliminating prayers which "call upon a specific deity or promote one religion over others". You do acknowledge that there is nothing "intentionally exclusive" about the current policy, however, you seem to have accepted Mr. Rubin's assertion that because he is offended by the content of one individual's mode of prayer, the council should censor all volunteers who offer to provide an invocation at the beginning of the council meeting.
Paul Clinton CIVIC CENTER -- Burbank has been served. Jewish activist Irv Rubin formally presented his 1st Amendment lawsuit at the City Council meeting Tuesday. The suit seeks to abolish the prayer that begins each session of that legislative body. Burbank attorneys now have 30 days to formally respond to the suit. Rubin, the national chairman of the Jewish Defense League, filed his suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday. He said a Nov. 23 invocation that referenced Jesus Christ was tantamount to the city singling out Christianity over other religions and violated the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.
Ryan Carter BURBANK -- A battalion of 34 California municipalities has come out in defense of the city of Burbank's use of religious invocations that refer to Jesus Christ at the beginning of City Council meetings. In a brief filed Tuesday, attorneys representing the 34 cities, including Glendale, asked the state Court of Appeal to overturn a Los Angeles Superior Court ruling that prayers at the beginning of Burbank City Council meetings are unconstitutional if they mention Jesus.
Paul Clinton CIVIC CENTER -- Making good on his threat, a Jewish activist has filed a 1st Amendment lawsuit against Burbank to stop the city from continuing its practice of prayer before City Council meetings. Irv Rubin, the national chairman of the Jewish Defense League, said he felt excluded when he attended the Nov. 23 council meeting and a Mormon pastor referred to Jesus Christ during the invocation. Rubin said he considered including other cities in the suit.
Paul Clinton DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES -- Jewish activist Irv Rubin has won the first round of his fight to stop Burbank City Council invocations that include references to Jesus. At a Thursday hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alexander H. Williams rejected Burbank's request to toss out Rubin's Dec. 20 lawsuit against the city. Williams, who also moved the lawsuit's trial date from Sept 15 to Nov. 3, said Rubin had good cause to object to the invocation at a Nov. 23 meeting that he attended.
BHRC's prayer views clear as mud I don't know of another organization that has taken more pains in your newspaper to correct misconceptions about its positions than the Burbank Human Relations Council. President John Brady's latest letter clarifying the BHRC's guidelines for the invocation was to me about as schizoid a deliberation on the issue as you can have. He says he's totally against censorship, while his whole intent is to exclude faith-specific prayers in the invocation.
John Brady I wish to correct the mischaracterizations of the Burbank Human Relations Council's policy on "the prayer issue" that appeared in a recent issue of the Leader("Council prayers are here to stay," Jan. 15-16). The BHRC was portrayed as an enemy of the invocations before City Council meetings. This is not our policy. We take a different view of this controversy. We think more people should be allowed to participate in the invocations.
I think the only logical answer to the City Council's invocation problem is don't have one! Drop the whole thing. If council members feel they are unable to conduct the city's business wisely and fairly without praying about it first, they can say their prayers in the privacy of their offices or homes. Or we could try to be all-inclusive -- face Mecca while praying, burn incense, have Hindu and Buddhist rituals, call in a Wiccan priestess, even call in an astrologer, or sacrifice a chicken and read the omens in its entrails.
It?s been a good year or so since I have written a column pertaining to someone who was arrested and then tried to invoke his 5th Amendment right to remain silent. I?m sure you are all familiar with this from television, commonly known as one?s Miranda rights. I always advise my clients that if they are ever arrested, there is a reason they are given this right to remain silent, and they should exercise this right. In columns in which I have addressed this issue in the past, the story generally involves someone trying to invoke his or her 5th Amendment right to remain silent, and the question becomes whether the invocation of the right was clear enough to ward off further police questioning or whether some ambiguity in the request for 5th Amendment protection allowed the police officers to keep on questioning the individual.
GAINS FEDERAL SCREENERS DESERVE OUR SUPPORT Federal security screeners started Tuesday at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, becoming the first such workers in Southern California. While questions have been raised as to whether the change from contracted to federal employees will make much of a difference, these workers should be commended for standing up during a time when many people are at a loss as to what they can do personally to restore this nation's sense of security.
Ryan Carter Clergy here are beginning to wonder if invocations in the name of Jesus Christ, Allah or any other deity at the start of City Council meetings will continue. Monday's state appeals court decision upholding a ban on specific references to a deity in prayers that open City Council meetings only reinforced what many local clergy feel is an injunction on their free speech rights. The court validated a November 2000 Los Angeles Superior Court judge's ruling that prohibits sectarian prayers.
I wish the City Council and Board of Education had the moxie of the Burbank Leader editorials regarding two issues. The first is the Burroughs High School mascot issue, and the second is the use of the name Jesus in City Council invocations. Except for the courage of Trish Burnett, the Board of Education has taken a wishy-washy attitude regarding the mascot issue by basically ignoring it. A student committee was set up to study it ad infinitum. The board refuses to take a stand because it didn't get strong feedback from the voters.
Whether the Constitution guarantees that each citizen has the freedom of religion or the freedom from religion, the Burbank City Council has shown that it is not afraid to test the waters where the secular meets the sacred. What prompted this test? Irv Rubin -- a resident of the west San Fernando Valley -- attended a City Council meeting in November 1999, when a Mormon pastor prayed to Christ during an invocation prior to the meeting. Miffed at the mention of Christ, Rubin -- chairman of the Jewish Defense League -- filed a 1st Amendment lawsuit the next month against Burbank to stop the city from continuing its practice of prayer before City Council meetings.
Will Rogers Every year at this time, I give readers a case of the Willys. I don't mean the feeling that comes from knowing my annual holiday poem is imminent. These are the Willy Awards. I hope you've booked a baby sitter and confirmed the limo, because it's time for the most anticipated awards of the year. OK, maybe not the MOST anticipated. Maybe they're the awards you always forget until they're here. But they're here, and there's nothing you can do to stop them.
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County residents can clean out their garages and garden sheds of old cans and bottles of bug sprays and weed killers for an upcoming household pesticide collection sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
The free collection of these household chemicals will be held on Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, at two locations. On Friday, residents can bring the pesticides to the Antrim Township Municipal Garage, 10655 Antrim Church Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
On Saturday pesticides can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Franklin County Administrative Annex, 218 N. Second St.
Only pesticides will be accepted. According to the Department of Agriculture, these include ant, fly, roach and other insect sprays; mouse, rat and rodent poisons; flea powders, chlordane, DDT, moth balls, wood preservatives, herbicides and fungicides.
Other possibly hazardous household chemicals will not be accepted. Those include paint, used motor oil, anti-freeze and solvents, according to the Department of Agriculture.
For amounts of more than 20 gallons or 100 pounds, residents should contact the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at 787-3400 for special instruction prior to the collection date.
CINCINNATI — In about the time it takes to sing a hymn, sign a contract, or burst a bubble, the Cincinnati Reds proved Wednesday night what Orel Hershiser has been saying now for weeks: 1988 is over.
One inning into Hershiser's 1989 regular-season debut, the Reds had a run on the Riverfront Stadium scoreboard on Todd Benzinger's run-scoring single to end the phenomenal stretch of 59 consecutive zeroes that the Dodger pitcher had posted in his record-setting streak at the end of last season.
Eight innings later, Cincinnati reliever John Franco struck out Kirk Gibson to put the finishing touches on the Reds' 4-3 victory and Hershiser's first loss since last Aug. 24, a period spanning a dozen starts--including three in the league playoffs and two in the World Series, plus one dramatic postseason relief appearance against the New York Mets.
"I'm sure Orel knew that sometime or other this year, he'd get scored upon," said Franco, who has yet to give up a run to the Dodgers while ringing up saves in the first two games of the new season.
Hershiser accelerated that inevitability with two throwing errors, one on a botched pickoff play in the first inning, the other on a bunt in the fourth. He then was unable to survive one last flawed inning--the seventh, when left fielder Gibson dropped Chris Sabo's fly ball for a two-base error, catcher Mike Scioscia missed an outside pitch for a passed ball, and Eric Davis delivered Sabo with a sacrifice fly for what proved to be the deciding run.
The 20,964 fans who sat in the Cincinnati chill may have come expecting perfection--not only from Hershiser, but also from his mound opponent, Tom Browning, the Reds' left-hander who set down all 27 batters he faced the last time he pitched against the Dodgers. Instead, they saw a game decided by the caprices--walks, errors, bad hops and good--that normally govern a pitcher's life but somehow spared Hershiser for two magical months.
"A very strange game," Hershiser said afterward. "So many different things happened, and they all happened in one game."
Hershiser didn't need to consult Red Manager Pete Rose to know that the odds of prolonging his streak were not in his favor.
"You have to be ready for the moment," Hershiser said, alluding to the streak that in his mind ended during the playoffs last season. "And you have to have the ability to go through with it. But with the probabilities of baseball, you can only go so far.
"Don (Drysdale) told me that you don't realize what you've done until after you retire. That's when you think about how easy it is to score a run, and what a feat (the streak) was."
During the streak, Hershiser said, Barry Larkin's leadoff groundball would have been hit directly at Dodger shortstop Alfredo Griffin. "Instead, he hit a chopper that went over my head into center field," Hershiser said.
When Hershiser tried to pick Larkin off first base, his throw hit the Red player near the armpit as he dived back into the bag, giving Larkin free passage to second base. Hershiser struck out the next two batters, Chris Sabo and Eric Davis, then walked Kal Daniels on four pitches--a prudent decision, inasmuch as Daniels came into the game with a .500 average and four home runs off Hershiser.
He knew little, however, about Benzinger, the first baseman the Reds acquired from the Boston Red Sox last winter in a trade for Nick Esasky. So little, in fact, that Hershiser referred to Benzinger by the wrong first name, Tom instead of Todd. By any name, Benzinger's hard grounder through the right side was a base hit, Larkin crossed the plate easily and the crowd rose to give the newcomer a standing ovation.
"Oh, that'll be headlines tomorrow: 'Hershiser didn't even know the name of the guy who got the RBI to break his streak,' " the pitcher said with a grin.
For the first time since his 2-1 loss to the New York Mets last Aug. 24, Hershiser found himself behind in a game, a heartening development for Browning.
"After we scored the run, I was really pumped up," he said. "I reared back and tried to throw the ball past guys."
Instead, Browning found himself throwing the ball anywhere but over the plate, walking three batters, including Willie Randolph with the bases loaded, for the Dodgers' first run in the second. It could have gotten even uglier for Browning, but left fielder Daniels made a diving catch of Griffin's bid for extra bases to end the inning.
Singles by Davis, Benzinger and Paul O'Neill in the third made it 2-1. In the fourth, after Ron Oester's leadoff double, Hershiser botched Browning's bunt, first looking to third, then throwing wildly past Randolph at first, allowing Oester to score, making it 3-1.
In the fifth, Hershiser, who singled off Sabo's glove in his first at-bat, beat out a bunt and eventually scored on Gibson's sacrifice fly.
THE GOODS : Bitter Sweets : Think you know the prices of snacks? Think again. The cost of candy bars and sodas is all over the map.
Anyone who's paid the price of a snack at an airport won't be surprised by the results of our little informal survey in Los Angeles.
We checked out the cost of a Hershey Bar and a Coke at a variety of locations. Los Angeles International Airport came in at the top or near the top.
A 1.55-ounce plain Hershey Bar will set you back 75 at the airport, the highest price among seven locations surveyed. Only movie theaters sold candy bars for more per ounce.
A 16-ounce cup of Coca-Cola costs $1.61 before taxes at the airport, the second-highest price among venues contacted.
The higher price was at the Whittier Hilton Hotel, where a 12-ounce glass of the soft drink costs $2.25--but is sipped in classier surroundings than your average LAX snack bar.
The cup of Coca-Cola that sells for 7.6 to 10.1 per ounce at the airport costs only 1.7 to 4.3 per ounce at a 7-Eleven in West Los Angeles.
A representative of the Host Marriott Corp., which holds the food and beverage contract at the airport, said prices are based "on prices in the surrounding community, such as all the hotels on Century Boulevard."
A representative for the Los Angeles City Department of Airports said rents for concessions are "a little more expensive than rents in the neighborhood. But our rates are in line with other airports around the country."
The City Council recently authorized contracts with seven new food and beverage providers at LAX, adding a variety of choices rather than the offerings of a single concessionaire. One new provider, Hamada Inc., has proposed a price of $1.05 for a 16-ounce Coca-Cola, a savings of 56 over the current Host price, a representative for the board of airport commissioners said.
The new providers are not expected to increase current prices except perhaps in some sit-down bars, the representative said. Increased revenues are supposed to come from a larger variety of foods as well as offerings by brand names. The plan is expected to be in place by 1996.
Still up for grabs is the contract for one firm to operate 23 other food and beverage outlets in the huge airport and a smaller contract to operate another five service sites.
Among other prices we found: A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola sold for a maximum of $1 at Disneyland and a minimum of 34 at Smith's Food and Drug Centers in Cerritos.
A bar supervisor says the Whittier Hilton Hotel has a reason for charging $2.25, or 18.75 per ounce, for its 12-ounce glass of Coca-Cola.
"We have free entertainment and no cover charge," says Ralph Edmonds. "We get people who will come in and order a Coke and just stay. There's no way to recoup our entertainment cost unless we charge."
To pick the world's top 10 cities based on quality of life, the Geneva-based Corporate Resources Group looked at security, public services, medical and health structures and political and social stability. Boston was the highest-scoring U.S. city, at No. 30. San Francisco was 31, New York was 44 and L.A. 46.
Job cuts are under consideration at Bertelsmann's music division as the company scrambles to slash costs and restore profitability, a spokeswoman said.
Regine Hofmann said cuts at Bertelsmann Music Group were being discussed, but added that the company had not yet finalized its restructuring plan.
The high level of smartphone penetration and social network usage in China suggests that there is a lot of potential in technology products that are sold with integrated content services built in.