Archive for November, 2006
General consensus amongst golf writers is that picking a winner at the Nedbank Golf Challenge is nigh on impossible, which is little more than a get out clause. For in reality, previewing the annual field at Sun City is a breeze — and with just a few hours thought, I’ve narrowed this year’s contenders down to a mere 12…
Bring a dozen of the world’s best players together at a post-season event where individual motivation is unknown and recent form provides an unpredictable guide, and choosing a champion makes for sporting roulette. But on a course that traditionally favours the players who’ve been at Sun City before, and with a local quartet set to elicit plenty of home support, there are one or two pointers as to who might top the leaderboard come Sunday at the Gary Player Country Club.
Sun City’s favourite son returns
Centre of attention will be Sun City’s favourite son. Ernie Els cuts an enigmatic figure in world golf at the moment: he insists he’s still as determined as ever, and those close to him are adamant the desire to win is still very much there, but it’s hard not to look back at last year’s knee injury as critical in Els’ career. He’s won a Dunhill Championship and taken Tiger to a play-off since coming back, but the majestic Big Easy of old has been a fleeting sight this year. A fourth victory would be a record for the event, and his 65 in Wednesday’s pro-am suggests another win is within reach; still, Els isn’t quite the heavy favourite he usually is coming in to Sun City.
Els is one of two players to have won back-to-back titles at Sun City (Nick Price is the other); looking to add his name to that list is defending champion Jim Furyk. Comments about Furyk’s swing have become the stuff of golfing cliché; unconventional as it may be, it’s proved hugely effective, with Furyk picking up ten top-five finishes this year, including second in the US Open. 2006 has been another very solid year for the American, and such is his love for Sun City that he usually arrives a week in advance for a safari holiday with his family. Good form, familiar surroundings, and a course he knows how to win on — there’s a reason the odds will be so low on Furyk.
If Furyk’s year in America has been one of steady success, then Trevor Immelman has blazed a far more eye-catching trail. Two near misses on the PGA Tour raised questions as to his ability to seal the deal; those questions were answered in spectacular style as Immelman held off Tiger Woods, no less, for his maiden win in America. The son of Sunshine Tour Commissioner Johan Immelman also became a father for the first time in 2006, already an outstanding year for the 26-year-old; there’s scope for a final flourish, however, and while first-timers tend to struggle at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Immelman could be this year’s dark horse.
Also making his Sun City debut this year is the man sunk the winning putt at this year’s Ryder Cup, Henrik Stenson. The Swede has had a strong year in Europe, including victory in the BMW International Open, but it’s the victory over the United States that stands out as his golfing highlight for 2006 — and while an all-round game that’s certainly long enough to deal with the Gary Player Country Club will make him competitive, the trophy probably won’t be on a flight to Stockholm come Sunday night.
Chris DiMarco, like Jim Furyk, was on the wrong end of this year’s result at the K Club, but a lack of Ryder Cup success is a blemish on an otherwise solid year for DiMarco, who had to deal with the loss of his mother Norma to cancer. A familiar contender at Sun City, DiMarco also spent time on the Sunshine Tour early in his professional career, and is a popular figure at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. He’s also a far better golfer than he’s often given credit for, as his second place at the Open Championship this year confirms, and is a genuine contender for 2006.
Garcia enjoys the nightlife
There’s a carnival atmosphere to Sun City when the Nedbank Golf Challenge rolls into town, and while they’re competitive out on the course, most of the players let their hair down once the round is complete — and none more so than Sergio Garcia. A huge fan of the resort, Garcia is a regular figure in the casino or on the dancefloor once the sun has gone down — but his flair for the nightlife doesn’t seem to affect his golf. With two wins under his belt, the Spaniard has mastered the Gary Player Country Club before, and if his putter catches fire, a hat-trick of titles is well within Garcia’s reach — although with no titles in 2006, Garcia’s odds might be a little longer than usual, and a 76 in the pro-am on Wednesday doesn’t bode well.
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Not quite so flamboyant is this year’s other Spaniard, Jose Maria Olazabal; he does have a pair of Masters titles under his belt, however, and while success has been a little thin on the ground in recent years, he’s still an accomplished golfer, with a Ryder Cup triumph to look back on, as well as a third place at Augusta this year. Olazabal would love to get one over Garcia, certainly — there’s a friendly rivalry between the Ryder Cup partners — but a win looks unlikely for the double Major winner.
As it does for Olazabal’s European team-mate, David Howell. One of a new breed of English golfers emerging from the country’s barren post-Faldo years, Howell has had a great season on the European Tour, and is one of the stars who will certainly believe he can follow countryman Luke Donald’s performance at Sun City last year in making a real run at the title. Experience counts a lot at the Gary Player Country Club, however, and Howell’s has a tough field as well as an unfamiliar course to negotiate; very much an outside bet.
A more intriguing bet is golf’s most temperamental man, Colin Montgomerie. Seven consecutive European Order of Merit titles are offset by an absence of Major titles, and the tag of best player never to have won a Major looks destined to stick. Which would be an injustice to a man who is both one of the game’s great characters, and great players. The Majors aren’t totally out of range, of course, and 2006 has seen some superb golf from the Scot, who can erupt with volcanic fury, or prove delightfully good-humoured; the latter usually applies at Sun City, and while he won’t be this year’s favourite, he still has the game to snatch what would be a popular victory.
Goosen a good bet
More popular still, though, would be a triumph for the youngest man in the field: South African debutante Charl Schwartzel, who joins the 12-man field as last summer’s Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner. Just a few years ago Schwartzel was walking the course with his father, excitedly pointing out the big names on the course — now he’s one of them, faced with taking on 11 established stars in South Africa’s defining golf tournament. Schwartzel hits the ball vast distances, and has a victory at the dunhill championship behind him; winning at Sun City would be something else entirely, however, and while a South African fairytale this week is asking a lot, it would make for a story most splendid were Schwartzel to emerge triumphant.
Out of all 12 golfers at the Nedbank Golf Challenge this year, however, two stand out as marginal favourites. The first of those is Padraig Harrington, still celebrating this year’s European Order of Merit title, and a recent run of form that has included Tiger’s scalp at the Dunlop Open in Japan (thus denying Woods three wins in a row). Harington has an unofficial course record of 61 at the Gary Player Country Club to his name, and while his teetotal habits might not sit in line with the playful decadence of Sun City, even Harrington might have reason for a celebratory drink come Sunday evening — something his 65 in Wednesday’s pro-am would seem to confirm.
First Harrington will have to get through the other man in exceptional form, and a man who’ll have plenty of local support behind him. Retief Goosen has employed a swing coach for the first time in his career, and while few would be able to find fault with one of golf’s purer swings, the Goose is quietly confident that a few key changes have made an important difference. A recent win in Asia confirmed that, and Goosen goes into the Nedbank Golf Challenge having won the professional title at the Nelson Mandela Invitational. If his putter stays hot — Goosen needed just nine putts over the back nine holes in his first round at Arabella — then a second title is very much in sight. Listen out for the chant of ‘Goose’ around the 18th come Sunday; picking a winner is always a gamble, but Goosen looks as good a bet as any.
November 30th, 2006
Who knew we needed facials, there?
Heather O’Donnell, manager of Manhattan’s Smooth Synergy Cosmedical Spa, reports the facility is currently in the process of trademarking the “fanny facial” they have been offering for about a year.
Up to 15 people a week have been indulging in the three-step, 90-minute treatment. A papaya-mint cleansing and exfoliation is followed by microcurrent treatment, which sends electrical currents to posterior tissue and muscle to lift and tone. The process is finished off with an organic spray tan.
“We’ve done one on a man, but usually it’s women,” says O’Donnell. “I guess women feel more comfortable. And we’re probably more worried about it.”
Women are using that same microcurrent technology to tone and lift in Canada too.
At Ottawa’s Body Toning Solutions, director Patricia Howland explains the company has obtained distribution rights for the Eurowave machine for Ontario and Quebec. The U.K. market is already saturated, with salons now offering the service in the U.S. and Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. The company plans to showcase it to spas in Toronto this week.
‘SAGGY AND BAGGY’
Electrical muscle stimulation, explains Howland, tones muscle the way a workout would, only “quicker and more effectively.” It works on any part of the body, though the belly seems to respond most when it comes to inch loss, she said.
“People do it on their butt, because especially as you grow older, you get a bit saggy and baggy,” she said.
Cosmetic procedures increased 44 per cent between 2004 and 2005, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons does not keep national statistics). In 2005, the society reports 15.6 million procedures — both surgical and nonsurgical — were done in the U.S. A spokeswoman for the Canadian Society estimates Canadian procedures at 10 per cent, or 1.5 million, of the number of American procedures.
And mixed in with all those breast lifts, laser hair removals, and hair transplants are others procedures it would have once been impossible to imagine.
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Heard of an upper arm lift? Calf augmentation? Vaginal rejuvenation? How about hand plumping, leg lengthening and belly button reshaping? All now possible.
In her book Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery, New York Times writer Alex Kuczynski interviews Dr. Suzanne Levine, a New York podiatrist known as the city’s “foot facelift” doctor. Levine — who has opened her own clinic for feet, called Institute Beaute — does everything for the feet. She shortens toes and offers laser rejuvenation to lessen the appearance of spider veins, collagen injections to make high heelwearing easier and even Botox.
HATE THEIR TOES
“People come to me and they say ‘I want to wear my Jimmy Choos, I want pretty feet, I hate that long skinny toe in the middle,” she says.
A recent issue of Esquire magazine listed “ankle lipo” as one of the worst new trends. New Jersey-area plastic surgeon Dr. David Watts is not a fan either, though those afflicted with the condition known as “cankles” — where the calf and ankle meet in a portly fashion — may not agree.
“You do have some people who have fat ankles and it is a described procedure,” says Dr. Watts. “(But) they stay swollen forever.”
When weekly tabloid magazines showed “before” and “after” pictures of Demi Moore’s knees this fall, there was no mistaking something appeared to be missing from the 43- year-old’s knobby parts; a pouch of fat hanging over two kneecaps. Dr. Watts suspects liposuction.
“It looked as though she did,” he said. “A tuck, you’re going to see a scar. I didn’t see any hint of an incision.”
Dr. Watts recalls the flood of interest in labiaplasty — trimming the labia — after Howard Stern discussed it on his radio show. So whether Moore lightened her mid-leg load or not, even a rumour was bound to put the idea into others’ heads.
“A lady just asked about it today,” said Dr. Watts.
November 28th, 2006
As a former Russian agent lay seriously ill in a London intensive care unit and Scotland Yard investigated his possible poisoning, doctors were uncertain what substance had felled Alexander Litvinenko and how it had been delivered.
Although the London hospital had not released a full accounting of his illness, it indicated that he was suffering from gastrointestinal upset, hair loss, pain and failure of the bone marrow, which is the body’s factory for producing blood and immune cells.
He traces his illness to food or drink that he ingested Nov. 1, after eating a meal with a previously unknown man who had offered him information about the Oct. 7 murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He was admitted to University College Hospital in London last Friday.
Initial suspicion focused on thallium because that colorless, odorless compound causes hair to fall out and has been a common culprit in attempted poisonings over the years. But the progress of Litvinenko’s symptoms over the past few days has not been typical for thallium poisoning, and the hospital announced Tuesday afternoon that test results had cast doubts on the theory.
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“Based on results we have received today and Mr. Litvinenko’s clinical features, thallium poisoning is an unlikely cause of his current condition,” the hospital announced in a statement released late Tuesday, noting that the levels of thallium detected in exams were not toxic.
But experts said thallium could not be ruled out with a single test, especially in a case where so much evidence pointed to the compound. “It is difficult to say two weeks later,” said Dr. Lee Cantrell, of the University of California at San Diego, noting that the hair loss was almost diagnostic for thallium.
“This is one of the more insidious poisons used in homicides and it has been used successfully throughout history,” he said, noting that though general sale had been banned in Britain and the United States for many years, thallium still had industrial and medical uses, so it continued to circulate. It can still be purchased with relative ease on eBay, he said.
The problem with implicating thallium in Litvinenko’s case is that it typically causes gastrointestinal problems, severe nerve pain and hair loss. But it does not cause failure of the bone marrow, which is Litvinenko’s most serious and life-threatening problem. The bone marrow can be suppressed by radiation and by a wide variety of other drugs and toxic chemicals.
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But some toxicologists believed that a mixture of poisons might offer an explanation. Litvinenko “has some symptoms consistent with thallium poisoning and he’s also got symptoms consistent with some other type of poisoning, so it’s not 100 percent thallium,” Dr. John Henry, a clinical toxicologist who is involved in the case, told reporters as he left the hospital Tuesday, suggesting that perhaps radioactive thallium might be to blame.
“If it’s a homicide you really have to worry that it’s a mixture,” said Cantrell, who is also San Diego area director of the California Poison Control System. The hospital is carrying out further tests.
Litvinenko’s friends have blamed the Russian secret service, the Federal Security Service, saying the illness is the result of deliberate poisoning; a spokesman for the Russian agency reiterated its emphatic denial Tuesday.
Litvinenko has been a frequent critic of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and has been living in exile in London since 2000.
Given the sudden and unusual nature of Litvinenko’s symptoms, there is a strong possibility that he was poisoned or somehow otherwise ingested a toxic substance, said doctors who were not connected to the case and who would not speak for attribution without access to medical details.
With his bone marrow failing, Litvinenko has few of the white blood cells that fight infection, Henry said, so he is vulnerable to germs.
Bone marrow failure usually also involves severe anemia and internal bleeding, since the bone marrow produces red blood cells and platelets to promote clotting.
Many types of cancer chemotherapy intentionally suppress the bone marrow, although the drugs are delivered in careful doses so that the marrow can recover when chemotherapy is stopped. Since it is unknown what substance and at what dose Litvinenko ingested, it is difficult to predict if his marrow can reconstitute itself.
November 22nd, 2006
Scotland Yard’s counter terrorism unit was last night leading an “extensive” investigation into the alleged deliberate poisoning of former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko.
The force revealed that the 41-year-old had been placed under police guard as he fights for his life in hospital
The first pictures of Mr Litvinenko in his hospital bed were released last night, graphically illustrating how the apparent poisoning attempt has ravaged his physical appearance.
The pictures, taken yesterday, clearly show him to be gaunt and weak, and reveal how he has suffered dramatic hair loss.
Mr Litvinenko is in intensive care at University College Hospital in London after allegedly being given the deadly toxin thallium.
Friends have claimed he was poisoned because of his staunch criticism of the Russian regime. However, Kremlin officials yesterday dismissed all accusations of involvement.
Scotland Yard said its Counter Terrorism Command, SO15, was now heading the police inquiry into the allegations. It is an indication of the sensitivity of the investigation, which could have diplomatic ramifications.
The force is likely to focus on two meetings Mr Litvinenko had on November 1, the day of the alleged poisoning. The first was at a London hotel where he had tea with two Russian men – one a former KGB officer – while the second was at a sushi bar with an Italian academic.
In a statement last night, Scotland Yard said: “We are investigating the circumstances surrounding how a 41-year-old man, suffering from the effects of poisoning, became ill.
“The patient remains in University College Hospital under police guard.
“The investigation is being led by the Counter Terrorism Command, under the control of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke.”
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The first hospital pictures of Mr Litvinenko showed him propped up by a large pillow and surrounded by an array of medical apparatus, including at least two intravenous drips.
Friends have said he looks like a “ghost”. He appears a shadow of the fit and healthy man depicted in pictures taken before he fell seriously ill.
One of his closest friends, Alex Goldfarb, said: “He’s a very fit man, he never smoked, he never drank, he would run five miles a day, but now he has lost all his hair, he has inflammation in the throat, so he cannot swallow, he has to be fed intravenously, he is very weak, and has not eaten properly for many days. He can speak only with difficulty.”
Kremlin officials said accusations of its involvement in the alleged poisoning were “sheer nonsense”.
Scotland Yard has said detectives were awaiting the results of toxicology tests before commenting on the cause of Mr Litvinenko’s condition.
However, in the meantime they are examining his movements in and around the time of the suspected poisoning. This will include analysis of CCTV footage to see if he was being trailed.
Officers have already spoken to Mr Litvinenko, but they are hoping to interview him again when he is well enough.
Mr Litvinenko was reportedly taken ill while investigating the murder of dissident Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
He is said to have collapsed after a meeting with an Italian academic, Mario Scaramella, on November 1, at itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly.
It has been reported that Mr Litvinenko and his followers were certain Mr Scaramella had no knowledge of the poisoning attempt. A political source in Italy also said Mr Scaramella was “adamant” he was not involved.
It also emerged yesterday that Mr Litvinenko had been targeted in a previous attack in London two years ago, when a petrol bomb was thrown at his home.
A defector to Britain who has been granted asylum and citizenship, Mr Litvinenko has, according to his friends, been given only a 50/50 chance of survival over the next four weeks.
November 21st, 2006
After Sgt. Spencer Akers died from injuries suffered in Iraq, hundreds of tributes were posted online.
“May God bless your family in their time of grief. My wife died in the World Trade Center and I feel a loss every time I hear of a brave soldier losing their life to protect mine and my sons.” — Chris (NY)
After the 9/11 attacks, Akers decided to rejoin the military. He had also volunteered to serve in the first gulf war.
“Sept. 11 was not an attack on his country, it was an attack on his family,” said his sister, Jeannine Robertson.
Akers, who was single, looked for a unit that was going to be active in Iraq.
“He said, ‘If I can take the place of a married man or a man with children, I’m gonna do it,’ ” Robertson said. “For months, he looked for a unit. He said, ‘I’m not going to go over there and twiddle my thumbs and peel potatoes. I’m going to go and be on the front lines.’ ”
“Hey man. … I wear a bracelet with your name on it now, and when people ask me about it, I tell them it was my sergeant and my friend, who gave his life for freedom. When my daughter can talk, I’ll tell her that you were one of the best men and soldiers I ever had the honor to meet. Sherri and I are going to try to have another baby, and I hope it’s a boy, because we both agree that his name should be Spencer.” — Jamison Yager (BattleBuddy)
After the explosion Nov. 21, Akers was helped out of the burning Humvee.
He was planning to return to Traverse City on leave that Friday, to buy a house on the outskirts of town.
“He was wide awake,” said his father, Don Akers. “They told him, ‘We are taking care of you, Spence. You are with us. You are not in enemy hands.’
“As far as I know, that was his last conscious moment. They put him under. They kept him pretty well sedated and on morphine.”
Akers suffered burns over 75% of his body, including most of his face and head. He had a broken arm, elbow, hip, knee, wrist and hand. “Basically, his right side was crushed,” Don Akers said.
His sister said, “When he got to the hospital, they rate the burns from 1 to 9, with 9 being the worst. And he was 9-plus. Some of his bones were burned.”
“Rest in peace soldier, I thank you for what you have done for all of us.” — Terry Elkins (Rochester Hills)
Don and Carol Akers learned on the phone about the explosion.
Don Akers, 68, is a retired builder and maintenance supervisor. Carol, 70, is a retired nurse. They live in Tustin. They had two children — Spencer and Jeannine, 41, who lives north of Toronto.
“Deep down, almost from the beginning, it’s like I knew he wasn’t going to make it,” Carol Akers said. “Only a mother could describe it. A feeling deep down in the pit of your stomach that’s not good.”
Doctors weren’t sure if he would survive the trip to a burn unit in Texas. Akers had more than 20 surgeries and 100 blood transfusions.
“When you go into the hospital,” Robertson said, “there is a sign that says ‘Big Burns.’ It means, huge burns. Big burns. That’s the unit all our boys were in. You know, when you are going down there, it’s serious business.”
Akers never regained consciousness. He developed a deadly fungus on his face.
Robertson didn’t want to look at him. She sat down in the doorway, with her back turned, to say good-bye.
“I only got to see him 15 minutes,” she said. “We dropped off our luggage and went to the hospital. I only had 15 minutes. I met the chaplain. The doctors were waiting. They said, ‘It’s near, you need to get in there.’
“I didn’t know what I was walking into. What do you say? I would not look.”
After he died, Carol Akers prayed, asking God to remove the horrible images from her memory.
“I do think about it from time to time, but it really has blurred the edges,” Carol said.
“May all of those wonderful young men know how much they are loved and missed. They have paid the ultimate price so that they rest of us could continue to enjoy the freedoms we have.” — Yolanda Lyons (Barryton, MI )
The Akers family has developed close ties to several families who lost loved ones in the attack.
“Katie is like another daughter,” Carol Akers said of Katie Youmans, widow of Joshua Youmans. “She fits in our family. She loves our daughter and her kids and she’s like another daughter. I could tell her anything.”
The families get together and try to help each other, often confiding their darkest secrets.
“One of the family members who lost a soldier is dealing with being mad at God, hating God and blaming God for everything,” Carol Akers said. “I said, be careful, you are taking on a pretty big foe there.”
She said her own faith was tested, “but only briefly. That’s been my strength throughout my life. Where else can you go?”
Spencer’s death tested the couple’s marriage.
“Sometimes it was a strain,” Don Akers said.
Carol Akers laughed: “Sometimes, it was a wedge.”
But they have come out the other side, determined to stay together.
“We had so many ups and downs, it’s not funny,” Don Akers said.
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Carol is thankful that he died quickly, compared with the other soldiers.
The Akerses were hopeful that one of the soldiers would survive, so they could find out what happened.
“We held out the hope we would get the chance to talk to a survivor,” Don Akers said. “When we got news that they had Matt Webber up and they were giving him showers, they were taking him out to the sundeck, we were holding out hope that we could get a chance to talk to him and try to find out some personal stuff in his part in the team, how it operated.”
But as each one died, the hope did, too.
“It’s a very sinking feeling,” Robertson said. “You lose Spence and then Josh. The fear level is huge.”
“Dear Spencer … It’s been a month now and I still wake up at night and see the flag on your coffin. The hole that you have left in my life is so huge that sometimes I can’t believe that I could miss someone so much.” — Jeannine (brat-sister) Robertson
Robertson takes comfort, knowing that her brother didn’t know the extent of his injuries. He didn’t have to endure the mental anguish.
“He didn’t have the days and months of laying there, thinking, ‘I have no face. I have no nose. I have no ears. How am I gonna live my life?’ ” she said. “Talk about suffering. That would be indescribable.”
“I used to work with Spence up at the Sands Casino. He could make just about everyone laugh. Thank you for what you have done for our country. We salute you.” — Wendy Manville (Cabinaw) (Kingsley, MI)
Spencer was 6 feet tall and a trim 210 pounds. He was handsome, with dark hair and dark brown eyes.
He was a sports fanatic who loved fantasy football and paintball.
Akers worked as the head of security at a Traverse City bar. He was a computer whiz who also worked at an electronics store.
“He’s over there in Iraq, sitting in a bunker and he’s telling Don how to hook up his computer,” Carol Akers said. “I’m not kidding.”
“Spencer, you will always be remembered as a hero and a person with great love for life … peace out dirty desert dog.” — Sgt Ray G. Flores (Rohnert Park, CA)
Don Akers wears his son’s T-shirts and shorts when he’s working around the house or goes golfing with his wife. And that helps somehow, makes him feel closer to his only son.
The Akerses still get mail from strangers who offer support and prayers. “Sometimes, we would sit there and say, are you going to get the mail or am I?” Carol said. “We got to the point where we didn’t want to go to the mailbox.”
“We have probably more than a bushel of mail, from all over the world,” Don Akers said. “It reinforces us to know there are other people who believe in these things the same way we do. Even though they can’t totally imagine what the loss is, they know what loss is.”
When you type Spencer Akers name into a Google search, it comes back with 287,000 hits. Not all are related to this fallen soldier, but there are so many memorial sites and he’s linked to so many sites that it’s almost countless.
“I don’t read them,” Carol Akers said. “I read some of them at first, and I thought, OK, why are you doing this? You are having a pretty good day until you do this, and stop it.”
But the story of Spencer Akers lives through the Internet.
“Hi there,” Akers wrote on his Web page. “Well, about me, I love sports and to cook. I love motorcycles. I work as a bouncer at a club called Streeters. I also go to school … send pics. I love mail and love pics to hang up. And remember why I volunteered for this.”
On Aug. 16, 2005, Akers posted a message, announcing that a soldier had died in Iraq.
“I lost a friend today,” Akers wrote. “And the world lost a great person. So if you folks would give a moment of silence today for him. Please, remember: Freedom is not free.”
November 20th, 2006
NORTH BROOKFIELD — Voters at a special town meeting Friday approved spending $100,000 to design a new police station.
The police station study committee in August recommended that the town build a new station and said a town-owned parcel of land at the intersection of Routes 67 and 148 would be the best location.
Hair-loss gene found at UMass
WORCESTER — Scientists studying hair loss among certain ethnic groups in Russia found a genetic mutation that may shed light on baldness, an article in the journal Science reported.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, working with colleagues in Russia, screened about 350,000 healthy people who showed an inherited form of hair loss among both male and female family members. They discovered a mutation in the gene LIPH, which encodes an enzyme that regulates how some fatty acids are made. They later found that people without the mutated gene have LIPH in their hair follicles.
The researchers don’t know how the LIPH gene might be involved in hair loss, but the enzyme’s importance in hair growth makes it a potential target for therapies, according to Dr. Evgeny I. Rogaev of UMass Medical School and his co-authors.
Worcester Tech wins top award
WORCESTER — Worcester Technical High School is the grand prize winner of School Planning & Management magazine’s Managing Excellence, Delivering Success Awards.
Construction management firm Heery International Inc. submitted the project for consideration. The architect for the project was Lamoureux, Pagano & Associates, and the builder was Consigli/O’Connor.
The school opened in August.
Mohegan Council registration today
WORCESTER — Mohegan Council will hold an information session and open registration for boys in Grades 1-8 who are interested in joining Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts from 1 to 3 p.m. today in the Student Center at Worcester State College, 486 Chandler St. For more information, call (508) 752-3769.
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9-month term ordered in drug case
DUDLEY — One of two Webster men arrested on drug charges April 5 has been sentenced to serve 9 months in the House of Correction on drug charges.
Rodney W. Lechert, 59, of 59 School St., Webster, was found guilty last month in Dudley District Court on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He was sentenced to serve 9 months, concurrently, on each charge.
Man charged in pellet rifle assault
WORCESTER — Police said a Barclay Street man has been charged with shooting a pellet rifle at a woman in a neighborhood dispute.
Louis Perkins, 55, of 44 Barclay St., was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Police interviewed Mr. Perkins, and he allegedly showed them the pellet rifle, police Sgt. Kerry F. Hazelhurst said.
Without victims, case is dismissed
DUDLEY — Assault and robbery charges against a Worcester man were dismissed after the alleged victims could not be located.
Robert A. Johnson Jr., 19, of 68 Houghton St., Apt. 1, Worcester, had been charged with two counts of armed assault to rob and two counts of assault and battery. Judge Neil Snider last month dismissed the charges without prejudice.
Mr. Johnson was one of two men arrested April 18 in Southbridge after a man, identified by Southbridge police as Luis Pearson, and a 15-year-old boy told police they had been assaulted.
November 14th, 2006