Retailers gear up for Christmas shoppers. - The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colorado)

Byline: James Amos

Nov. 22--Local merchants are expecting a lot of business Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that annually signals the start of the Christmas shopping season, although Pueblo's corporate-owned retail stores mostly refused to comment. Vivian Lopez, manager of the Seabel's store on Union Avenue, said Tuesday that shoppers will have a lot more to look at this year. The owners of Seabel's closed the Wooden Spoon at the Pueblo Mall and increased the offerings inside Seabel's, she said.

The store now has boutique clothing, shoes, gourmet cooking supplies, jewelry, lotions and gels and holiday T-shirts among its variety of products. 'We've got tons of merchandise,' Lopez said, 'and we've changed our store around. We have a whole new gourmet food and gadget area. It's going to be a phenomenal shopping experience.' Herb Critchett at Johnson Sport & Ski on Court Street said his store also expects a lot of shoppers Friday. Critchett forecast that business, aided by a healthier economy, is expected to be better than last year.

'Everything in general is going good right now,' he said of sales. 'We're doing a lot in archery and bows. Letter jackets have been real good.' At Pueblo Records and Tapes on Pueblo Boulevard, Manager Jane Baird said she expects the day to be 'busy, busy, busy.' 'It's hard to say if it will be better than last year,' Baird said. 'I'm hoping it's going to be better.' Other store owners weren't sure if Friday's flood of shoppers will reach them. Hank Cervantes, owner of the Pueblo Military Surplus store on Union Avenue, said that some years he has had a lot of business on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and some years he hasn't. 'It's pretty hard to predict,' he said.

Most of the big-chain stores, which account for the bulk of the shopping expected on Friday, refused to discuss their expectations.

Wal-Mart has three stores in the Pueblo area and is easily the area's largest retail force, doing hundreds of millions of dollars each year. A management spokesman at the Wal-Mart on Dillon Drive referred calls to Wal-Mart's corporate media office. A spokeswoman there said managers at Wal-Mart stores have asked that reporters not be allowed to call them because they are too busy getting ready for the holiday shopping season. A Dillard's spokeswoman at the Pueblo Mall said she was unsure what the Dillard's media policy is, so she declined to comment 'just so I don't get in trouble corporate-wise.'

A Target management official who identified herself only as Amy said the store expects a large number of shoppers on Friday. 'We bring in more help for the holidays,' she said, but declined to make any more comment. A Barnes and Noble Booksellers spokesman said that store expects to be busy Friday. The holiday season is an important time for book sellers and the Pueblo Barnes and Noble will be opening early at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. to accommodate Friday's expected rush of customers. Manager Joe Weis at the North Side Kmart on North Elizabeth Street said he expects a lot of people to come shopping on Friday. 'We always expect a lot,' he said. Weis said Kmart has scheduled additional workers and brought in more inventory for the Friday rush. 'It's traditional,' he said.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

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One voice: Leaders breakfast speaker says Decatur must show united front to make progress. - Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)

Byline: Chris Lusvardi

Oct. 27--DECATUR -- Gloria Davis challenged Decatur business leaders to check differences of opinion at the door and unite in trying to improve the community.

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Davis, who is in her first year as school district superintendent, spoke at the Community Leaders Breakfast Thursday at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, telling leaders to speak with one voice.

'Our vision is to make sure that as a community, we all speak with one voice,' Davis said. 'We cannot be on separate pages when it comes to the critical element within our community, and that is our children. It is all about them.'

The event's featured speaker, Ira Blumenthal, picked up on her theme and had the audience clink their glasses with spoons, one table at a time. The entire room soon was filled with the sound of clinking glasses.

'This community is prospering because it started with one glass and then you linked together,' Blumenthal said.

Audience members were impressed with how the speakers conveyed similar messages.

'That's the way you get things done,' said Chris Shroyer, Main Street Bank & Trust Decatur regional president. 'You start rallying people around the same type of message, and before you know it, it turns into this global mission you've got all this support for.'

Blumenthal, who turned 60 Thursday, entertained the crowd of about 750 people with motivational stories about how to succeed and overcome myths in business.

He said Michael Jordan was the first one at practice and the last one to leave, even though he didn't need to be. He also quoted another sports legend, hockey player Wayne Gretzky, telling the leaders to take chances.

'You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take,' Blumenthal said. 'You cannot score unless you shoot. You've got to continue taking shots right here in Decatur.'

Although she gave a shorter speech than Blumenthal, it was Davis who many of the leaders wanted to hear from as she continues to outline her vision for the school district.

Shroyer, who heard Davis give a speech for the first time, said he wanted to see her plan and how she delivers her message.

'It came across loud and clear,' Shroyer said. 'I think she's probably able to deliver that same kind of message to her staff and the teachers and really what kind of audience she has with that same type of vigor. I think that's going to be a positive thing for the district going forward.'

Davis hopes to work with the leaders to get the community more involved in the schools.

'The success of the school district is clipped to the success of the Decatur community,' Davis said. 'It is not separate. It is not an island unto itself. It is something that has to be a physical part of what we do as we move forward as a Decatur community.'

Chris Lusvardi can be reached at clusvardi@herald-review.com or 421-7972.

Copyright (c) 2006, Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.

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A mother's memoir of life in St. Elmo. - Chattanooga Times/Free Press (Chattanooga, TN)

Byline: Jan Galletta

Oct. 7--The St. Elmo neighborhood where the late gridiron great Reggie White spent much of his childhood was a friendly location, where folks seldom locked their doors, said his mother, Thelma Collier, 62. The Chattanooga woman and her two oldest children lived in several homes within the community, but she said many of their best times took place in a rented residence on Balcomb Street, which the family occupied from the time her famous son was 4 years old until the end of his second-grade stint. 'Everybody in the neighborhood was very good and looked out for each other,' she said. 'Everyone was protective of each other's children, and they (children) felt free to go outside. It was safe.'

There was little traffic on Balcomb, and children often played in the street while their parents sat and chatted on their front porches or on those of their neighbors, according to Ms. Collier. She said her sons Julius Dodds, 48, and Reggie (1961-2004 ) walked to the St. Elmo School, now apartments. Daughter Christie Collier wasn't born until 1971 and went to Brainerd, Ms. Collier said. 'Reggie was good in English, and Julius was an honor student in everything,' said Ms. Collier, 'but because Reggie was bigger than the others at St. Elmo, he watched out for all the little kids.' On one occasion, he came home mud-covered from having plucked a friend out of the sewer where some bullies tossed the younger boy, she said. But his usual after-school routine was to play sports at St. Elmo Recreation Center and to rush home to see the gothic TV soap 'Dark Shadows.' 'Then he'd get scared at night and want to come sleep with me,' she said. She said that when he misbehaved, her younger son lost his showwatching privileges instead of getting a spanking, perhaps because 'he grew so much, so fast; every day, it was like he was just swelling,' she recalled. Young Reggie fed his appetite with trips to the nearby Kay's Kastle and ran to the former Red Food store on Broad Street to fetch groceries for his mother. She said, 'One time, he was being treated for bronchitis -- probably, it was that sarcodosis which (later) killed him -- and was put on a diet. 'But that didn't last long; we didn't get along too well on that soup and Jell-O diet,' she said. Holidays were fun for St. Elmo's young set in the '60s, according to Ms. Collier. She said she and her mother, who lived in Wheeler Homes, would cook for days, setting up three tables to seat their extended family. On the Fourth of July, 'we had picnics and shot off fireworks in the yard,' she said. 'One Halloween, I put Reggie in a wig and dress to trickor-treat, and a neighbor told him he was the prettiest little girl she'd ever seen,' said Ms. Collier. 'After that, he went as a cowboy or Batman.'

Summer vacation often found her boys boarding the bus for a ride to the Warner Park pool or piling into Ms. Collier's father's car for swimming and a cookout at Booker T. Washington State Park, said Ms. Collier. She said they made cups of fruit-juice 'frozens,' which they scooped out with spoons, and sold hot dogs at church socials to aid the youth program at the Piney Woods church they attended. 'Reggie loved animals, and he was always bringing something like hamsters home,' said Ms. Collier. 'One time he was outside and called me to come see his dog. There was this big Doberman just straddling the windows of the porch looking in. We kept it two weeks and found it another home.' It was in the St. Elmo neighborhood that Ms. Collier met her late husband, Leonard. She said that he taught Reggie to drive and bought him a 1960 Cutlass he later took to class at Howard High School. Now an East Brainerd resident, Ms. Collier said, 'I'd like to move back to St. Elmo one day. 'It was about the best neighborhood I ever lived in. And it was such a nice place to raise children.'

E-mail Jan Galletta at jgalletta@timesfreepress.com

Copyright (c) 2006, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

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Saigon brings taste of Vietnamese to Lodi. - The Record (Stockton, CA)

Sep. 28--LODI -- The menu at the Saigon Grill fails to include the phrase 'some assembly required' for the variations of pho, the classic Vietnamese beef-and-noodle soup and unofficial national dish. Close to a quart of the scalding clear broth is accompanied by rice noodles, bean sprouts, thinly sliced rare beef, sliced green onions, chili pepper slices, a sprig of basil and a wedge of lime. You decide what and how much you want to add to the broth, turning the pho ($6.95) into a thick stew. Meanwhile, the newly opened Saigon Grill has assembled an impressive menu of Vietnamese cuisine. Some dishes are practically indistinguishable from Chinese fare, while others show their similarities with Thai food with an emphasis on grilled meats, cilantro garnishes and herbs such as lemongrass. Saigon Grill is on the site of a former Chinese restaurant, but extensive remodeling has left no hint of its predecessor. It is immaculate with modern Asian decor, plus two LCD TV screens tuned to news or sports channels. The unisex bathroom is spotless. Saigon Grill fills a dining niche in downtown Lodi. It's less than a block from the Lodi Stadium 12 cinema, next to a city parking lot and rounds out diners' choices of the growing number of restaurants in the city's entertainment district. It's the city's only Vietnamese restaurant and well worth a visit. The pho broth at the Saigon Grill is a basic beef broth with just a hint of a floral herb that lets you know it didn't come off a grocery store shelf. Although flank steak is the classic meat in pho, diners also can have their soup authentic style, a combination that includes beef tendon ($7.50). Other choices include meatballs and chicken. Appetizers range from deep-fried rolls ($4.75-$5.25) to shrimp grilled on a peeled sugar-cane skewer ($7.95). The crispy egg rolls ($5.25) were light, fresh and don't last long on a plate. The standard price for a rice plate with grilled pork, chicken or beef is $7.95, or $9.50 if you choose shrimp. During a recent visit, the chicken was flavorful with a sweet and salty marinade, if not slightly overdone, with a healthy serving of rice. A plate is enough to satisfy two diners if they're not too hungry. Sweet and sour chicken ($7.95) was no different at Saigon Grill than at most Chinese restaurants. It included chunks of pineapple, onion and green pepper, and the variation of sauce that typically leans more toward sweet than sour. The vegetable chow mein also leaned toward the Chinese style but lighter on sauce that allowed the flavors of mushrooms, snow peas, tofu, bok choy and broccoli to emerge. The Saigon Grill offers family-style dinners for up to $38.95 for four people, and entrees no more expensive than $12.95 (steaks or salmon). The menu includes 62 items, plus additional side orders and beverages that include tapioca and coconut milk drinks. A drink menu includes beers and local wines. Service is friendly, and drink refills are offered quickly. Although the restaurant is busy, diners can get in and out within an hour. Table service includes chopsticks as well as a fork and spoon. Perhaps the only things missing from the menu are smaller, lower-cost lunch servings. Questions? Comments? Contact Entertainment Editor Brian McCoy at (209) 546-8293 or bmccoy@recordnet.com. A copy of The Record's restaurant-review policy and recent reviews can be viewed on the Web at http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=ENT04

Copyright (c) 2006, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

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Friendship has its privileges for brands, pix.(Fox Searchlight Pictures plans for markeing its movie 'The Ringer') - Daily Variety

CAN A MOVIE have friends? That's a question I've been pondering since discovering the MySpace.com profile of 'The Ringer,' the Fox Searchlight comedy starring Johnny Knoxville as a corporate lackey who tries to rig the Special Olympics.

MySpace, for those of you living off the grid, is the social-networking Web site acquired by Searchlight's parent company, News Corp., for $580 million last summer. There are about 40 million people who use MySpace to fashion online identities for themselves, organize their offline lives, download music, post pictures of their friends and hook up.

One of the curious things about MySpace is that you don't have to be a human to join. The profiles of real-life teenagers commingle indiscriminately with profiles for corporate entities like NikeSoccer, Vans Warped Tour, Cingular, Starbucks, the Toyota Scion and the Dell DJ Ditty, a variation on the iPod Shuffle with an FM radio.

Click on the profile for the Dell DJ Ditty and you're presented with a short commercial starring the company's spastic mascot, Mitch Ferrence, 'maestro of air guitar, lip sync and dance' along with a collection of videos and testimonials from more than 100,000 friends. Here's a note from one of the Ditty's 'friends,' a 20-year-old guy named Kit from Eagle Pass, Texas: 'Mitch, I mold my lifestyle to yours and it rocks.'

Turns out 'The Ringer' is even more popular than Mitch. According to MySpace, the movie has 261,000 friends.

THE IDEA OF BEING friends with a movie, a brand or a fictional character is kind of pathetic. But it's a mark of a cultural shift that's only gradually dawning on big media companies as they struggle to connect with a generation of consumers spoon-fed on wireless technology.

One of the best ways to reach these networked youngsters is to create content that slips seamlessly into their everyday social discourse: quirky downloads, games, wallpaper, screensavers, buddy icons and sweepstakes.

Hence the viral effectiveness of things like Mitch Ferrence air-guitar videos or slapstick short films from 'Viva La Bam,' a 'Jackass' spinoff on MTV (403,733 friends on MySpace).

Producer Matti Leshem is trying to establish the same traction for the USA Rock Paper Scissors League, which is just what it appears to be: a sports league for rock paper scissors players, promoted in thousands of bars across the country, with a tournament in Vegas, a cash prize of $50,000 and a one-hour special on A&E, all of it announced earlier this month at the TCA, along with a sponsorship deal from Anheuser-Busch. 'The point is, I didn't want to sell a

TV show,' Leshem told me. 'I wanted to create an experience that was tactical and could spread on the Internet and on television, where it could reach the widest possible audience.'

The USARPS (just 154 friends so far) has some PR work to do if it hopes to close the distance with Mitch Ferrence or 'Viva La Barn.' Buts its fans are downright evangelical. As Joe, a high school senior from Elmurst, Ill., puts it: 'Soon One Day I will Rise through the ranks and become NUMBER 1!! EYE OF THE TIGER'

TALK TO SUNDANCEGOERS

about the efficacy of the various marketers there and most of them say the least obnoxious was Moviefone, which hired 40 actors from Salt Lake City, dressed them in Moviefone snowsuits and deployed them on Main Street as 'do-gooders,' feeding parking meters, unloading trucks and offering directions.

The Moviefone do-gooders were, in a sense, the real-world equivalent to the Dell Ditty mascot. They were walking billboards posing as friends.

MySpace had a presence at the Sundance Film Festival, too. The company was there to promote MySpace Film, a new feature designed to enable users to promote their own film and videos. MySpace also threw a party for the Beastie Boys concert film 'Awesome: I F**kin' Shot That!,' a documentary directed by fans using Sony Hi-8 digital cameras.

'Awesome' is evidence of what companies like Yahoo!, MSN and MySpace like to say is a paradigm shift from 'mass media to my media,' in which the goal isn't just to create content for consumers, but to provide consumers with the tools to create it themselves.

It's a good way to make friends, provided it's clear that 'friendship,' thus defined, is something you have to pay for.

Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky., Suzi Bartholomy column: Free Rein: Fundraiser to help disabled riders.(Column) - Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY)

Byline: Suzi Bartholomy

Sep. 21--Saturday looks like it will be a good day to take the kids to the country. The weatherman said it will be mostly sunny and 90 degrees, which is almost balmy compared to the triple-digit temperatures of a month ago.

Take advantage of the good weather, load up your cowgirls and cowboys and drive out to the Bittel Equestrian Center on U.S. 60 West. It will not only be a fun outing for youngsters, but it will help support Dream Riders of Kentucky, an organization that teaches children and adults with physical, mental and emotional needs to ride a horse.

This is the third year that Dream Riders has held a Fall Jamboree. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. there will be pony rides, hayrides, horse show, petting zoo, inflatable bouncers, face painting, horse painting, River City Clowns and games. Admission is $10, which includes everything but concessions.

There is no charge for parents.

Dream Riders is the inspiration of Mike Clark and a group of Daviess Countains who wanted to expose their children and others to a therapeutic riding program that builds confidence and improves balance and speech. Children with learning and physical disabilities sometimes feel left out when they see their classmates participate in activities that are out of their reach.

Kids with disabilities can't participate in school sports, said Suzy Higdon, whose daughter, Haley, is one of the independent riders in the program. 'Kids who don't fit in at school can find their place here,' Higdon said.

'Horses are Haley's life,' said Higdon, who is vice president of Dream Riders. 'She couldn't roller skate or ride a bike, but she can ride a horse.'

Clark has a daughter with Down syndrome and wanted to level the playing field for her and other children and adults who have physical and mental limitations. He also wanted to do something in honor of another daughter of his who was killed in an automobile accident.

'She had the uncanny ability to help anyone,' Clark said.

Besides Higdon and Clark being equestrians they are educators and have incorporated activities in the riding program that improve their clients' speech, balance and confidence. Clark, president of Dream Riders, is principal at Mary Carrico Catholic School in Knottsville and Higdon is a speech therapist.

When Dream Riders started five years ago it had 12 riders. Today more than 300 children and adults ride on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings.

'It's all free to the riders,' Clark said.

The jamboree is the organization's main fundraiser. 'It costs $45,000 a year' to operate the program, Clark said.

'Dream Riders is a good example of the power of volunteerism,' Clark said. More than 100 teens and senior citizens donate thousands of hours assisting the riders, grooming the horses and mucking out their stalls.

Even severely disabled children can ride, Clark said.

'We want to engage their bodies and their minds,' he said.

One of their routines while riding around the arena is to carry a plastic egg in a spoon, which improves their balance. The simplest tasks are monumental to them, and riding makes them happy, Clark said.

To see more of the Messenger-Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.messenger-inquirer.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

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A unique approach: Michael Wade's background is different from most of the other Scott Robertson competitors. - The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, VA)

Byline: Randy King

May 19--Unlike the majority of the 173 contestants in this year's Scott Robertson Memorial, Michael Wade wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He didn't grow up in a posh country club setting in which anytime he wanted something he could say, 'Oh, just stick it on Dad's tab, he'll take care of it.'

A new car? Wearing the latest chic-fashion clothes? Forget that.

Nope, Michael Wade grew up on the other side of the tracks. Until eight years ago, deep rough for this kid had nothing to do with a golf course.

'I was went into foster care when I was 5 years old,' Wade said. 'In a four-year span after that, I was in 13 different foster homes.'

Life was difficult. Then he got a much-needed mulligan, courtesy of Marvin and Sandy Wade, who adopted him in 1999. Marvin Wade, a longtime pastor who now preaches God's word at Floyd's Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren, has never made a bigger save.

'Michael come up rough, there was a lot of the bad there,' said Wade, who since has adopted a second child, 7-year-old daughter Sarah. 'He's been great for us. So it's been a blessing both ways.'

When Michael was 10, Marvin Wade introduced his new son to golf. The kid has been swinging a club ever since.

'I was good at baseball and I wanted to play baseball, but I hurt my shoulder somewhere along the way and I couldn't pitch very long,' Michael recalled. 'So I started leaning on golf. I like the atmosphere. It was more relaxed than other sports.'

Being adopted by loving, caring parents and being introduced to a game he now lives and breaths 24/7 makes Michael Wade snicker these days when he turns on The Golf Channel and see the network's 'Big Break' show.

'I'm so fortunate to be brought into the family and situation I have now,' said Wade, his voice cracking in emotion. 'Hey, it's part of my story. It makes me who I am today. It makes me have the will and determination that I have to keep going and to win.'

Wade has won plenty the past few years. Still, there are some naysayers among the area's other top juniors who contend he's stockpiled most of his ever-growing golf resume by beating Class B-caliber talent on such circuits as the Plantation Junior Golf Tour.

'That tour doesn't have the kind of players you'll find in the AJGA,' said Steve Prater, head professional and renowned junior instructor at Roanoke Country Club, site of the Robertson.

'But that's OK. I'm telling you, Michael Wade is legit. He can play the game. He's going to play in college somewhere.'

Wade is playing in his first Robertson. It's the kind of big-time stage against top-notch national competition that he's wanted to experience.

'I had never made the field until this year,' said Wade, who in January's mid-semester break transferred from Bassett High to Floyd High, where he will play golf this fall as a senior.

'I know these guys are the big names, but I can play with them. I just haven't had a chance to prove it yet because I haven't played in a big enough tournament to prove it.'

Finally, he got his shot in Friday's first round of the Robertson. The kid rose to the occasion, posting a rock-solid round of 1-over 72 that leaves him tied for sixth and only three shots off the lead.

'Good, maybe I finally made myself known a little bit,' said Wade, smiling. 'But I'm not done yet. I want to win this thing.'

Marvin Wade was there for every blow Friday.

He couldn't have been prouder of how his kid responded under immense pressure.

'He wants to win,' Marvin said.

'He's got a lot of game, but he hasn't had the chances in life that a lot of kids have had. But he's making the most of it now. Michael feels like this is a big door that has a chance to open up for him.'

If he's anything, Michael Wade is a fighter. Nothing has ever come easy for him. Shoot, he carded a 12-under-par 60 on April 30 at Blacksburg Country Club. As fate would have it, Wade was playing alone, meaning his course-record round wasn't 'official' in the books.

'People probably don't believe it, but I understand that,' Wade said.

'I shot it. It happened. I wouldn't lie. Lying is one thing I can't stand.'

If he can somehow pull off the biggest upset in Robertson history, no further evidence of the validity of Wade's game will be required.

'Think that would show 'em?' a smiling Wade responded. 'Man, I hope so.'

Copyright (c) 2007, The Roanoke Times, Va.

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