News 2008-07-30 Andanh.com

Bush seeking steps to free U.S. from foreign oil sources
EUCLID, Ohio President Bush yesterday used a speech at a Cleveland-area manufacturer of welding equipment to promote the link between jobs and domestic oil drilling, nuclear power, and other sources of energy development.
A day after the White House predicted the next president would inherit a $482 billion budget deficit and a slower economy, Mr. Bush acknowledged that the nation faces uncertain times. He pushed oil exploration and development of alternative forms of energy such as wind and solar as part of the answer. We need to send a clear signal to the world: Were tired of being dependent on oil from overseas, he said. Lets find it here in the United States of America. After a quick tour of the plant and a 25-minute speech to about 500 employees at Lincoln Electric Co, he was off to raise cash for Republican congressional candidates at a $10,000- to-$25,000-per-person reception at the Gates Mills home of insurance executive Umberto Fedeli. Lincolns plants in the suburb of Euclid manufacture welding equipment and related materials, some of which is used in international energy production.
The company, which touts itself as The Welding Capital of the World, has done well and has continued to expand and pay profit-based bonuses to employees despite the downturn in the auto industry and other sectors of Ohio heavy manufacturing. Ive worked hard to keep your taxes low, Mr. Bush said. Our energy policies havent done a very good job of keeping your gasoline prices low. Therefore, its like paying a tax. ... The problem is that gasoline prices have negated a lot of those tax cuts, and so our economy is facing uncertainty Let me tell you this. Theres no such thing as a quick fix , he said. If I had a magic wand, Id wave it. It took us a while to get to this position, and its going to take us a while to get out of it. He called on Congress to follow his lead in permitting more oil exploration off U.S. shores and in Alaska, noting that he repealed his fathers executive order forbidding expanded off-shore drilling. He called for more nuclear energy production along with solar and wind power. While conceding that expanded oil exploration today wont result in more crude being pumped into the market for many years, he repeatedly related the issue directly to jobs. Theres no magic wand, but it can certainly send a clear signal to the markets that the United States is no longer going to sit on the sideline, that were going to use our new technologies to find hydrocarbons right here in the ... United States, he said. And guess whos going to make the products that help to move that product to market? You are, and youre going to be better off for it, and so is the United States of America, he said. While Lincoln continues to expand, Ohios statewide economic picture has worsened. Ohios seasonally adjusted jobless rate jumped from 6.3 percent to 6.6 percent in June while the national unemployment rate remained stagnant at 5.5 percent. The Republican who hopes to replace him in the White House, Arizona Sen. John McCain, is in agreement with the President when it comes to expanding offshore oil exploration, but he has so far kept the Alaskan wildlife refuge off the table. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama of Illinois, opposes both. George Bushs visit is the latest reminder of the stark choice facing Ohio families in this election: four more years of the same failed policies under John McCain or a new direction for the country under Barack Obama, said Doug Kelly, executive director of the Ohio Democratic Party. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain, however, have pushed their own mixes of alternative energy sources, including cleaner coal technology, and both have said nuclear power will be part of the mix. Mr. McCain , however, has been more specific on nuclear power, calling for construction of 45 new plants by 2030. Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

Authorities find 12-year-old boy's body in Maumee Bay; give up search for father
The Toledo Fire Department has ended its search for Shondale Galloway, 33, who was last seen sometime Monday fishing with his son in Maumee Bay, said Assistant Fire Chief Luis Santiago. The son, Shondale Galloway II, 12, was recovered Wednesday morning in the Maumee Bay.
The chief said there was an extensive search of the area near where the boys body was found. "In that immediate area, we cant do anymore," he said. Boats from the U.S. Coast Guard will occasionally check the area to see if a body surfaces. Chief Santiago said search efforts are not expected to resume Thursday. From previous editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com The body of Shondale Galloway II, 12, was recovered Wednesday morning in the Maumee Bay near where his father, Shondale Galloway, 33, and he were last seen fishing earlier this week, authorities said. The body was found in the area of interest pointed out by cadaver dogs on Tuesday afternoon, said Assistant Fire Chief Luis Santiago. He said divers recovered the body near the little beach area at the tip of the peninsula, about 100 feet from shore, where the water depth varies from 4 to 8 feet. The body was entangled in a fishing line. "Its possible that the person tripped, panicked a little bit, got entangled, and drowned," Chief Santiago said. The chief said the spot has been marked and a search pattern has been established to look for the other body in the same general vicinity. If not found in that area, searchers will widen their area.
Chief Santiago also said the visibility for the divers was not bad near the bottom of the water on Wednesday morning but the wind is picking up which may make it murkier. On Tuesday, the boys mother and mans wife, Marquitia Galloway, recalled how she headed down a mile-long path toward her familys makeshift campsite in Cullen Park in Point Place Monday evening, all she could see was the tent they had set up the day before. There was no sign of her husband or the couples three sons, who had spent Sunday night camping at the tip of the parks peninsula. "It didnt feel right," Mrs. Galloway said. Panicked, she called out for her husband. Her two young sons, Joshua, 5, and Jeremiah, 3, immediately poked their heads out of the tent. Joshua, with several front teeth missing, only muttered to her that daddy was gone. "I felt like something was wrong, but I didnt know what," she said Tuesday, weeping. They were seen standing chest-deep in the water, casting their fishing lines out in the area between Grassy Island and Point Place. The father and son had been fishing within sight of their campsite, which was about 15 feet from the waters edge.
The search began about 7:30 p.m. Monday when Mrs. Galloway returned to the campsite, found the two younger boys alone, and called police. She had expected that her family would have returned home that evening. Chief Wolever, who at one point in his career headed the departments dive team, speculated that the father or son may have slipped and went under the water and the other went in after to help. "We see that a lot," he said. Mrs. Galloway said her husband and son knew how to swim. The river near Cullen Park can be anywhere from 5 to 15 feet deep, which Chief Wolever said can be deceiving. "The [river] bottom is very uneven there. Weve had cases like that when kids stepped in a hole, slipped into the channel, and theyre gone," he said. Authorities searched the peninsula on foot Monday night. After sunrise Tuesday, the search was expanded to include Coast Guard boats and one of its helicopters and a Toledo fire rescue boat with divers and two rescue dogs. The Lucas County Sheriffs Office, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Washington Township Fire Department also assisted in the search.
Chief Wolever said the two cadaver dogs repeatedly alerted authorities to a 30-foot by 60-foot area about 200 to 300 yards from shore. Divers focused their search efforts on that area last night. There is zero visibility in the brown, murky 76-degree water, the chief said, so the divers have to feel around for any sign of the victims. Yesterday afternoon, a second team of divers searched the area using a sonar device. Mrs. Galloway and her husband, with seven of their eight children in tow, walked about 1½ miles to Cullen Park on Sunday from their apartment at 3730 North Erie St. They brought with them a tent and fishing poles. They wanted to spend time together as a family and expose their children to nature, Mrs. Galloway said. "This is something we just started doing," she said, adding they spent much of Sunday fishing. Mrs. Galloway and her four daughters returned home about 7:30 p.m. Sunday after she remembered she had an appointment Monday morning. Fighting back tears, Mrs. Galloway said she has been praying constantly for her husband and son. The 5-year-old boy, who along with his little brother was asleep when their mother returned to the campsite, rode a tricycle around the hallway outside the familys apartment yesterday. "Dad was gone," he said, referring to what he noticed when he woke up. Mrs. Galloways husband, to whom she has been married for almost 14 years, is an entrepreneur and does a variety of things, including handyman work. If he doesnt know how to fix something, she said, he would find a book and learn how. Mrs. Galloways oldest son, Shondale II, who likes to be called Noah after the biblical story of Noahs Ark, idolizes his father. The young boy shares his fathers love for the outdoors, she said. Shondale was a fourth grader at Sherman Elementary last school year, Principal Anthony Bronaugh said. Mr. Bronaugh said Shondale is quiet and respectful. He trusted the young boy to help with small tasks in the cafeteria, like picking up trash and turning off the lights after the lunch period ended. "I could trust him to do that," Mr. Bronaugh said. "I could rest assured there would be no shenanigans." Mr. Bronaugh said several of Shondales teachers yesterday shared with him stories about the boy, who they said is creative. During free time, he often would create elaborate paper airplanes. Mrs. Galloway said her belief in God will help her and her family through this difficult time. "Things happen, but only God knows why," she said.

FDA finds salmonella strain at second Mexican farm
WASINGTON The salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and a serrano pepper at a Mexican farm, federal health officials said Wednesday.
Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief, called the finding a key breakthrough in the case, as did another health official.
"We have a smoking gun, it appears," said Dr. Lonnie King, who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno pepper to a farm in another part of Mexico. Acheson and other officials were grilled at a congressional hearing about why the investigation originally focused on tomatoes. The officials insisted that tomatoes still cannot be ruled out and that it is quite possible the outbreak was caused by several different kinds of contaminated produce. The outbreak has sickened more than 1,300 people since April. Tomatoes had been the prime suspect in the nationwide outbreak for weeks. But last week, the FDA said only jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico were implicated in the nationwide salmonella outbreak. The FDA said then it had found the same strain of salmonella responsible for the outbreak on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno in a south Texas produce warehouse. If it turns out the tainted irrigation water was also used on tomatoes, it could provide some of the evidence federal authorities are looking for to back their original focus on the fruit.

Buckeye, WNWO-TV negotiating as deadline looms
With a deadline looming, WNWO-TV and Buckeye CableSystem are negotiating a new contract to keep the channel available to Buckeye's 150,000 subscribers.
Jon Skorburg, the vice president and general manager of WNWO, Channel 24, wouldn't say during a news conference yesterday exactly what - if anything - will happen if the contract expires at the end of the day tomorrow without an extension or a new agreement.
But should WNWO decide to withhold its signal from Buckeye, local cable subscribers would have to plug in an antenna in order to watch NBC prime-time network Olympic broadcasts and offerings such as The Office, Heroes, Sunday Night Football, The Today Show, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
At the heart of the negotiations is the television station's position that Buckeye should pay it to broadcast the NBC affiliate's signal.
Buckeye CableSystem is owned by Block Communications, Inc., parent company of The Blade.
Mr. Skorburg said yesterday that WNWO and its owners, Barrington Broadcasting, are seeking "fair value" in exchange for its signal.
"We're not out to gouge anybody; we want what's fair," Mr. Skorburg said.
Under the current arrangement, Mr. Skorburg said his station receives no direct payments from Buckeye for its signal, but now is seeking to be paid fees along the lines of those afforded to major cable programmers such as ESPN, USA, CNN, Fox News Channel, and Disney.
"The fact that broadcasters provide their programming for free over the air changes its value in a real sense and it cannot be compared to the value of exclusive cable or satellite channels," Allan Block, chairman of Block Communications, said. "And I believe economists would agree with me."
Mr. Block went on to say that his company has had a mutually beneficial relationship with local TV stations and that shouldn't be damaged by disputes over retransmission consent and payment.
"The key problem facing broadcasters is that their business model is changing," Mr. Block said. "Their advertising revenues are affected by the same economic forces facing all traditional media, but they cannot look to cable subscribers to make up that loss."
Thomas Dawson, Buckeye CableSystem spokesman, said the cable company is working to reach an agreement with WNWO, and is "not opposed to paying fair compensation" for the right to retransmit its signal.
Under the current arrangement, Buckeye compensates WNWO with on-air advertising trade-offs in exchange for airing its signal.
For Buckeye, at issue are WNWO's ratings compared with other local broadcasters. WNWO is the third-rated affiliate in Toledo, trailing WTOL-TV, Channel 11 (CBS), and WTVG-TV, Channel 13 (ABC).
"Based on their low ratings, we don't feel their value equals the other stations in town," Mr. Dawson said. "They simply want cash on the barrelhead for us to continue to show their programming. We think that they're asking way more than the perceived value to our customers."
Neither side would divulge the specific figures that are being disputed.
Even with the deadline quickly approaching, both sides expressed confidence a deal will be reached.
"We have very smart people working on both sides of the equation," Mr. Skorburg said. "We're going to get there - but if it does come to an impasse the NBC24 signal would no longer exist on cable."
Mr. Dawson alleviated concerns that subscribers would miss out on the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8, promising 1,300 hours of coverage on network-owned cable stations such as MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and Universal HD.
Because of federal regulations, Buckeye would not be allowed to broadcast NBC network programming from the Detroit affiliate, WDIV, Channel 4.
WNWO was included in a sale nearly two years ago in which Barrington Broadcasting, of Hoffman Estates, Ill., agreed to a $262 million deal with Raycom Media Inc. to purchase a dozen television stations across the country.
In 2003, Pilot Group, a private equity firm composed of former AOL Time Warner executives, formed Barrington to acquire smaller market television stations. Barrington owns 21 television stations in 15 markets including Ohio, Michigan, Texas, New York, and South Carolina.
Barrington, in its financial statements to the Security and Exchange Commission that is posted on the company's Web site, acknowledged that if the company is unable to reach agreements with cable companies to carry the signals of its stations, "we could lose revenues and audience shares."
That pronouncement comes at a precarious time for Barrington Broadcasting, which reported a net loss of $7.3 million in the first three months of 2008, and shared concerns that the company may breach its loan obligations before the end of the year.
K. James Yager, the CEO of Barrington, previously served as president and chief operating officer of Benedek Broadcasting Corporation, which at its peak owned 28 stations.
According to federal court filings, Benedek filed for bankrupty in 2002 and sold off its stations. Mr. Yager, along with other senior Benedek staff, co-founded Barrington in May, 2003, with the support of the Pilot Group. Mr. Skorburg said yesterday that Barrington and WNWO are looking for new revenue streams, and seeking increased retransmission fees are part of the company's new business approach.
Earlier this year, Barrington announced an 8 percent reduction of its work force nationwide.
The changes have affected WNWO as it has parted ways with high-profile anchor Jim Blue and longtime weather forecaster "Blizzard" Bill Spencer in recent months.
In April, WNWO announced a round of layoffs that included reporters, photographers, and editors.
Staff writer Steve Eder contributed to this report.
Contact Kirk Baird at:
kbaird@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.

Bush signs housing bill to provide mortgage relief
WASHINGTON President Bush signed a housing bill Wednesday intended to rescue about 15 percent of the cash-strapped homeowners in fear of foreclosure in the next year or so.
Early in the morning and out of public view, the president signed it without fanfare in the Oval Office, adding his signature to a measure he once threatened to veto. The White House said he was accompanied by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston and other administration officials.
"We look forward to put in place new authorities to improve confidence and stability in markets," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. He said the Federal Housing Administration would begin to put in place new policies "intended to keep more deserving American families in their homes." The legislation is regarded as the most significant housing bill in decades. It won approval from lawmakers eager to come up with an answer to the growing housing crisis in an election year. The measure includes $300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners; $3.9 billion to help communities fix up foreclosed properties; and $15 billion in tax cuts, including an expanded low-income housing tax credit and a credit of up to $7,500, to be repaid, for some first-time home buyers. The number of homeowners who could lose their homes to foreclosure by the end of 2009 is estimated to be around 2.8 million. Under the legislation, 400,000 having trouble with payments could avoid it by trading their loans for new, more affordable mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration. Their banks would have to agree to allow the swap and to take a large loss in exchange for avoiding the lengthy and costly foreclosure process. To qualify, homeowners would have to be paying more than 31 percent of their incomes toward their mortgages and show they could afford to make the payments on a new, smaller loan. The measure also is designed to help stabilize markets, in part by making credit more easily available amid rising defaults and falling home values. The bill permanently increases to $625,000 the size of home loans in high-cost areas that the government-sponsored mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy and that the FHA can insure. It would otherwise have reverted to $417,000 for Fannie and Freddie and $362,790 for the FHA by the end of the year. The White House sought to focus attention on parts of the legislation aimed at calming markets. Those include the offer of a temporary but unlimited government line of credit for troubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department gains power, until the end of 2009, to lend them emergency money or buy their stock. This is considered crucial because investor fears about the health of the companies, which buy or guarantee about half of the nation's mortgage loans. An overhaul of the Depression-era FHA also was requested by Bush. So, too, was the provision to keep homeowners from making overly risky mortgage choices by requiring lenders to show how high a borrower's payment could get under the terms of his mortgage. It provides $180 million in preforeclosure counseling. Democratic leaders added an $800 billion increase, to $10.6 trillion, in the statutory limit on the national debt. The House passed the bill a week ago. Senators voted on Saturday to send it to the president. The votes were supported by many Republicans, particularly those from areas hit hardest by housing woes. Through the process, Bush did not like what he saw emerging from Congress and said he would veto it. At first, he opposed the foreclosure rescue through the FHA as an overly cumbersome bailout. Later, though, his veto threat was focused almost entirely on the $3.9 billion in neighborhood grants, which he said would encourage lenders to foreclose rather than work with borrowers. The president also was sensitive to complaints by fiscal conservatives, who object to the raise in the debt ceiling and the bailout for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders. Some, but not all, were mollified by the bill's establishment of a regulator with stronger reins over the two companies and the new "consultative" role overseeing the companies for the Federal Reserve. Bush withdrew his veto threat early last week, saying hurting homeowners could not wait for the outcome of a veto showdown that would take weeks though he predicted he would have won that fight. The White House cast Bush's quiet signing of the bill as an act of expedience, not camouflage. Press secretary Dana Perino said the early morning action was Bush's first opportunity to sign because the bill was transmitted to the White House on Tuesday night. She also noted that most bills are signed without formal ceremonies though that is usually the case because they are minor measures, not legislation of his magnitude. Bush's action seemed to indicate he wanted to play both sides: avoid being seen as not helping middle America in a crisis and avoid too close an association with a bill that many in the GOP opposed. "We recognize that there were many people who did not support the bill. We agreed with them on almost every count when it came to that," Perino said. She said the bill that set for signing ceremony Wednesday one to triple money to fight AIDS and other diseases around the world was the better choice for such attention. "I would dare say that that deserves a larger signing ceremony than anything else that was passed this week in Congress," she said.

Deepwater drilling won't lower costs
In his July 15 press conference, President Bush suggested that our energy costs could be reduced by permitting more offshore drilling - with particular emphasis on drilling on the outer continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. He said that Congress should lift the restrictions on drilling in the outer continental shelf. He then went on to say that "the only obstacle standing between the American public and this 'vast resource' is the U.S. Congress." His statement is now being seriously discussed in the media as if it really was a solution to energy costs. However, it you actually look into the offshore oil business, you find that Mr. Bush conveniently left out a number of facts.
Shallow-water rigs rest on the ocean floor - this type of drilling has been going on for more than 50 years. As for deepwater drilling that Mr. Bush talked about, it is an altogether different technology. There are many obstacles, none of which is Congress. Deepwater drilling is a very complex operation, and an incredibly expensive one. There are fewer than 50 deepwater rigs in the world. They rent for $500,000 to $600,000 per day - and that is just for the rig. Labor, material, supplies, and offshore support are additional costs. Obviously, hurricanes are a serious threat to drilling rigs in the open ocean.
Deepwater drilling has only become economically feasible because of high oil prices, meaning that oil obtained from the outer continental shelf will certainly do nothing to lower energy costs. President Bush must know this. He came from the oil industry. However, it makes a nice sound bite to claim that energy prices would go down if only Congress would allow us to tap into the "vast resources" off the continental shelf.
Jack Pinckard
Napolean
Alaska oil ends up in Japan, not U.S.
Several years ago on my dream trip to Alaska, I stood at the base of the Alaskan pipeline and was awestruck by the size of it and the amount of oil it transports. I remarked to one of the guides that I couldn't imagine why we are worried about running out of oil when we have all of this. He looked at me quizzically and said "Oh, none of this goes to us. It all goes to Japan." I asked him why and he said that the oil from this pipeline isn't the same quality of oil that we use here in the states.
I can't help but wonder why we spent billions and billions of taxpayer money to build the pipeline, only to export the oil to another country. How is this new oil they are searching for going to be any different? Are we going to pay billions more for something we won't even get the benefit from? I sure wish I knew someone who could answer these questions, or at least correct me if I am wrong.
Judy Sikorski
Rossford
Seeing, or not, isn't reason to drill for oil
In The Blade's recent story about the Republican trip to Alaska "Lawmakers see tundra as ripe for oil drilling," by politics writer Tom Troy, a few things jumped out at me. The most significant were remarks from Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana). If his remarks about what he saw make it back to Alaska's residents, tell them I am very sorry.
Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it isn't there, Mr. Jordan. Take the caribou. Even though they were in the vicinity of the existing oil fields, and you told The Blade you saw them, you also say you didn't see them and thus it's time to drill. Did you see them or not, sir, and how is seeing or not seeing caribou a justification for drilling for oil?
Now Mr. Jordan, how about the polar bears? You say you didn't see them either, and I would probably have to believe you on that, since anyone who can Google "polar bears" would learn that most of their time is spent hunting on the water, from the ice. Way to research that one.
And finally, Mr. Jordan, you say you didn't see "Bambi." Well, sir, Bambi is a cartoon.
If we are using not seeing caribou, polar bears, and Bambi as criteria to decide where to drill for oil, let's all get our drillin' gear and head on over to Mr. Jordan's house because I bet I won't see any of those things in his yard. Think there's oil there?
Seth Timman
Sylvania
Oust lawmakers who block energy search
The current policy of Congress to exploit partisan policies over the needs of citizens is appalling. The current Congress holds the opinion that drilling will take years to effect our oil needs. They also hold that nuclear energy and clean coal should not be supported. These opinions and lack of an energy policy for the United States citizens is reason enough for replacement of our representatives.
When an attempt to gather information on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is touted as a "junket" by the opposition, the opposition needs to be replaced. There is nothing wrong with knowing what the facts are at ANWR. The congressional naysayers say that it would take 10 years to get the oil and in the meantime, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would reduce its price in an attempt to defray the drilling on U.S. land. Maybe I am naive, but isn't that what the goal is? If we don't start now, we will never get to the point of energy independence. The solution is to replace our current congressional representatives who only criticize and block appropriate actions.
Larry C. Stalter
Port Clinton
Slowing down saves on gasoline usage
During two recent automobile trips totalling 3,500 miles, I became aware of how simple it is to lower my gasoline expenses without help from the government, the Saudis, or the oil companies.
In the past, I flowed with the traffic on the highway, which meant driving 65 to 70 mph, depending on the speed limits. On these recent trips, cruise control maintained a steady 60 mph on my six-cylinder minivan. During these trips, I passed fewer than a dozen vehicles on the highway.
My arrivals at the motels were an hour later than usual. However, I noted I was much less tired, less stressed out, and much more relaxed than when I drove the top speed limit.
My average consumption of gas was slightly above 27 miles per gallon even though I had cargo of more than 1,200 pounds, which was better than previous trips, where I averaged 22 miles per gallon. I used 30 fewer gallons of gasoline and, at more than $4 per gallon, saved $120.
Perhaps we should consider saving gas by slowing down instead of complaining that "they" should do something about high prices.
There is only a finite amount of oil on this planet. Natural resources do become exhausted. If in doubt, talk to the oil men in Texas and Oklahoma or the iron ore workers in Minnesota.
Thomas R. Michalski
Maumee
MonoMobile hopes to be part of solution
As an inventor of the MonoMobile I wanted to thank The Blade for running the photograph and short story about our invention in the July 22 edition of the newspaper. While the invention is unique in that it runs on roads like an automobile, but then hooks to an overhead rail for long-distance travel (while the driver relaxes, the vehicle is automatically guided by computers and the batteries are recharged), the best part of the invention is the results: a 500 percent increase in fuel efficiency versus the automobile (equivalent to 80 cents a gallon gasoline); 70 percent reduction in transportation greenhouse gas emissions; complete oil independence, and infrastructure costs that are one-tenth of roadways.
It is a complicated but interesting idea that is hard to describe in a short story. I hope that some of your readers will visit our Web site at www.monomobile.com to learn more about it. We plan on making this part of the national debate on solutions to our current crises over energy, global warming, and traffic congestion.
Jay Andress
Cincinnati
'Disposable' income redefined Does anyone else find it odd that with all the complaining about a recession and people not being able to afford gas and food and pay for their mortgages, the new Batman movie broke all records for a movie opening with more than $150 million over a recent weekend?
I guess we can just redefine "disposable" income. Tony Esposito Regina Parkway

Noe's piggy bank
STATE liquidators deserve substantial credit for recovering $5 million over and above the $50 million misused in Ohio's "Coingate" scandal, but the favorable outcome does not in any way mitigate the guilt or punishment of Tom Noe.
Political spin being what it is, someone is bound to claim that Noe should be off the hook because, while the former Lucas County businessman was given $50 million of state money in a scheme to invest in rare coins, the people hired to clean up the mess he created are expected to recover a total of $54.9 million.
But such "no harm, no foul" reasoning is specious, like claiming that a hold-up man shouldn't be prosecuted because he returned the loot to the carry-out.
As Bill Brandt, who headed the successful Coingate liquidation effort, so succinctly put it, "I've heard people say, 'Well, you've returned all the principal, so maybe Noe wasn't guilty.' Well, there's $13 million to $18 million worth of interest missing here. This was used as a personal piggy bank. People have blinders on."
The bottom line: Officials of Republican-controlled administrations in Columbus directed $50 million from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation investment pool to Noe, a GOP insider, who commingled the state money for personal use and otherwise manipulated the windfall to finance a high-rolling lifestyle, including political contributions.
He was found guilty in 2006 by a Lucas County jury of 29 counts, including aggravated theft, forgery, money laundering, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
And, while Noe's lawyers are challenging the conviction, the appeal is based mainly on the claim that he didn't get a fair trial because of adverse publicity, not that he didn't misuse the money.
So there is no doubt that Noe richly deserves the 18-year prison sentence he was assessed for Coingate and which is due to begin next year. In the meantime, he's serving the balance of a 27-month federal sentence for a separate conviction involving illegal contributions to President Bush's 2004 campaign.
Noe was, for a while, able to convert his political connections into cash by treating state money as his own private slush fund. Regardless of how much the state ultimately was able to recover, he now must pay for his crimes with a long stretch behind bars.

Time Ohio abolished the mayor's court
A recent story in The Blade stated that the city of Northwood has the busiest mayor's court in northwest Ohio. I can understand why, as I witnessed and was a victim of parking citations being distributed by the Northwood police during a neighborhood garage sale in the Cedar Creek Woods development on July 18.
With a tremendous turnout of patrons and with limited parking, drivers were forced to park on either side of the street and in some cases near to or in front of a fire hydrant. This, of course, was only for a brief period of time. Suddenly, four or more Northwood police officers arrived with citation books in hand, knowing, of course, that the people attending the garage sale were only temporarily parking. No consideration was given, no warnings given, no courtesy given - only parking citations were given.
How much will be collected by Northwood's mayor's court is unknown. What is known is the pilfering of the public to enrich Northwood's mayor's court needs to cease. As a former mayor of Walbridge, I believe it is time for the state of Ohio to abolish mayor's courts and put an end to this means of raising revenue for cities and villages.
One more word of advice: Avoid Northwood garage sales, for what you save could end up costing you more and be absorbed by an overzealous city and a possible appearance before Northwood's mayor's court.
Gary A. Revill
Curtice
Recognize workers' right to organize I am president of the LAWS unit of United Auto Workers Local 2320 consisting of the staff attorneys at the Lucas County Child Support Enforcement Agency. Our unit has been in existence for 15 years, and we have negotiated five contracts with the county in that time. My experience with our negotiations has been that the UAW sought contracts for us that were fair and advised us to reconsider our position when it believed that our contract proposals were excessive.
In consideration of this background, I am following the request of Ray Wood of UAW Local 14 in his open letter to Lucas County residents to call upon Juvenile Court administrators to acknowledge the rights of their employees to organize and negotiate fair wages and working conditions. I do not know the full details as to why the Juvenile Court administrators rejected the contract, walked away from negotiations, and withdrew legal recognition of the union, but I do not believe it is too late for them to discuss the issues in dispute with the leadership of the UAW to reach an accommodation which is satisfactory to all concerned.
I would also like to comment upon the claim that members of the UAW may have flattened tires as a means of intimidation. Based upon my experience with the UAW, I am reluctant to believe that there was UAW involvement in these actions. During my tenure with the UAW, I have been frequently requested by the UAW leadership to participate in and donate to causes that enhance the welfare of our community. I hope that this matter has not resulted in an inaccurate portrayal of the record of the UAW in our community.
Gary C. Newnham
Sylvania
Congress steals from Peter to pay Paul Recently, Congress passed a bill that would stop a pay cut to doctors from Medicare. That was a good idea because the proposed cuts would have made it very difficult for doctors to continue to see patients on Medicare. What also happened was that to come up with the money, Congress decided to cut funding for Medicare Advantage Programs. To simplify, what that means is that Congress stole from Peter to pay Paul. Anyone with a Medicare Advantage plan will now see higher deductibles, larger premiums, and higher co-pays.
In northwest Ohio alone there are thousands of people with Medicare HMO's and private fee for service plans. My point is do not for a moment think that Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, and any of the rest of the Democrats or turncoat Republicans did you any favors. A vote in favor of this bill was a vote for big government, inefficient national health insurance. You will now have to dig deeper in your pockets when you get sick.
Steve Harrison
Perrysburg
A good diet is better for kids than pills I find it very curious that very profitable cholesterol-lowering drugs are now being marketed to children with front-page headlines, in spite of the fact that cholesterol is an essential nutrient in the body, being necessary for proper development of the brain and the production of many hormones. Low cholesterol levels are associated with violence, suicide, and aggression.
Serious side effects are very common with these drugs, including muscle wasting and brain fog (nice things to do to our children). In fact, if the drugs are effective at all in reducing heart disease, it is because of their anti-inflammatory properties. Yet our western lifestyle, which children are part of, is loaded with pro-inflammatory pop, junk food, and toxins of every sort. We allow our food companies to promote these deleterious unfoods and then turn around and try to fix it with a pill.
Experts who have carefully and objectively examined the research purporting to link cholesterol and heart disease have found it unconvincing - misinterpreted, biased, and often poorly done - but highly profitable for the drug industry. On the other hand, there is a long list of nutritional factors that have been clearly associated with heart disease: trans fats, excessive omega-6 fats, and low levels of vitamin D, magnesium, and other vitamins and minerals.
Instead of relying on pills, let's make sure our kids get adequate vitamins, minerals, and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients by eating nourishing whole real foods, fruits, vegetables, and grass-fed meat and full-fat dairy, while boycotting the nutrient-depleted refined foods that line our grocery store shelves. Real food is wonderfully tasty and satisfying and ensures a lifetime of good health.
Carolyn Johnson
Williston
Truck-stop Tasers have possible benefit Concerning the July 16 story in The Blade about TravelCenters of America reaching a deal to sell Tasers at truck stops, it might be a great idea if teenage girls could purchase them.
Ed Marentette
Dorian Court
Many ways available to save more money The Better Business Bureau makes a valiant effort to inform people about the scam companies who purport to help you with your financial troubles but want some money up front. Well, I'm here with some free advice!
First, get rid of those two satellite TV dishes on your roof. Spend $27 on a set of amplified rabbit ears, and if you need it, $20 for a digital convertor with analog pass-through. I get six Toledo stations that currently broadcast 13 channels. And I still get the lower power stations that don't have to convert.
Next, your phone service. All it has to do is let you make and receive calls. Do you really have to know who's calling? And that cell phone. For some people that alone is a mortgage payment.
The Internet. Unless that Internet connection is making you enough money that it's self-supporting, get rid of it. Go to the library for your e-mail. While you're there, pick up books and videos on managing your finances. They also have excellent selections of movies and instructional videos.
Also, go back to the July 13 Parade magazine that came with your newspaper. There's a family in there that leads a fulfilling life on $32,000 a year income. Plus a lot of hints and tips on managing your money.
Right now, I'm composing this and will e-mail it from the library. Then I'll go home and brew a cup of coffee that will cost me 7 cents. That's right, 7 cents.
John H. Strand
Lambertville, Mich.
Shaw on extraterrestrial life Concerning The Blade editorial In search of intelligent life: When someone asked George Bernard Shaw if he thought there was intelligent life on other planets, he replied that if there is, they must be using the Earth as their lunatic
asylum. BOB VERSTEEG Bowling Green

Obama's journey
SEN. Barack Obama's trip to South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe was a success for him as a candidate and for the United States.
He didn't break major policy ground, nor should he have, consistent with his stated position as a senator and the Democratic presidential candidate, not president.
The trip wasn't intended to be a long seminar on what U.S. foreign policy would be if Mr. Obama is elected in November. If anyone wanted to know that, they could read his campaign's position papers, listen to his speeches and interviews, and then extrapolate what he would do in the White House, once faced with the hard realities of America's situation in the world.
Think back to George W. Bush's first campaign in 2000. The image of Mr. Bush's proclaimed "humble" foreign policy does not correspond closely with what his policy was to become. Sept. 11 intervened. The obsession with invading Iraq intervened. His apparent affinity for Latin America as a former governor of Texas evaporated. And good luck to anyone who can find the open attitude promised to America's traditional allies by Mr. Bush in what he has done as president.
What Mr. Obama had to do on his trip was make his way across the foreign policy creek on stepping stones without falling into the water. Particularly overseas, plagued by the time change, face-to-face with representatives of sometimes feral foreign media, challenged by the "if it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" phenomenon, any senior American traveler is at risk of ending up with at least one shoe full of water.
By those standards, Mr. Obama gets credit for having survived the trip unscathed, but it was much better than that. It had to warm the hearts of Americans to see him welcomed by a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin; to have his troop withdrawal schedule endorsed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki; for him to have the sense to meet with both Israeli and Palestinian officials, and to have begun work on working relationships with King Abdullah of Jordan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Each of them could have been more careful to stay neutral than they did. Instead, their enthusiastic welcomes probably helped Mr. Obama, although there is no reason to believe they wouldn't have been equally hospitable to the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.
The foreign leaders certainly gave the impression that they believed the Illinois senator is about to become what Mr. McCain sarcastically calls him: "The One."
Mr. Obama proved once again that he is politically nimble, he can shoot the foreign policy three-pointer, and that his popularity on both sides of the Atlantic is not to be underestimated. These attributes can only help this nation in the future.

Equally offensive on the court
HOW ironic that the biggest brawl to date in women's professional basketball occurred on the same Auburn Hills, Mich., court that hosted one of the most notorious fights in pro sports history, the 2004 dustup involving the NBA's Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, and Pistons fans.
And, to put a sharper point on the issue, how disappointing that women athletes stoop to the same boorish behavior of their male counterparts when tempers flare during a close game.
Sorry, ladies, fighting is not progress, it's poor sportswomanship, to coin a phrase, just as fisticuffs on the court is for the men.
The slugfest in question erupted late in a WNBA match at the Palace of Auburn Hills last week between the Detroit Shock and Los Angeles Sparks when the Sparks' Candace Parker got tangled up with the Shock's Plenette Pierson while trying to rebound a missed free throw.
Players on both sides began throwing punches as coaches and a few bench players joined in. Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn - a former member of the Pistons' "Bad Boy" teams of the 1990s - appeared to purposely shove Sparks center Lisa Leslie to the floor.
Ms. Leslie's teammate, DeLisha Milton-James, rained retaliatory punches on Mr. Mahorn's back, which he hardly seemed to notice.
Video of the brawl was replayed endlessly, and Ms. Leslie acknowledged the damage the brawl would do to WNBA attempts to promote its athletes as role models for young girls. She said that the tawdry scuffle was not how she wanted to represent herself in front of her daughter.
At least Ms. Leslie understands what's at stake, and now league officials need to levy some substantial fines and lengthy suspensions to show they don't want such foolishness to be repeated.
Fighting among pro athletes, whether male or female, is equally offensive to fans who expect more from the best.

Tigers trade Rodriguez to Yankees for pitcher
CLEVELAND The Tigers traded catcher Pudge Rodriguez to the Yankees in exchange for reliever Kyle Farnsworth.
Brandon Inge will be the Tigers' new regular catcher. Dane Sardinha was called up from Toledo to be Inge's back-up.
Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com

Tigers hit Indians without taking batting practice
CLEVELAND - Jim Leyland doesn't deserve - nor does he accept - all of the credit when he pulls certain strings and gets positive results.
All he can do is write nine names into a lineup, and the rest is up to the guys swinging the bats.
But at times this year it's seemed he's had a sense about his team, knowing when certain players need to play and when others need a night off. He determined yesterday that his entire 25-man roster was a bit fatigued from recent events, and canceled batting practice.
Rested and ready, the Tigers responded with 14 hits in an 8-5 victory over the Indians one night after getting shut out for the 11th time this season.
Detroit now trails Chicago by 5 1/2 games and is five games behind Minnesota in the American League Central.
"It had nothing to do with whether we won or lost, probably, but the guys like it," Leyland said of skipping batting practice. He said he's already canceled batting practice for tonight's game, meaning players don't have to be dressed until 6:15.
"It puts them in better spirits. They can sleep in, stay out a little later, maybe have a beer," he said.
Something else Leyland will do again tonight is play Brandon Inge, who went 2-for-3 with a homer, a double, and three RBIs.
Inge, who caught last night and will play third base tonight, had an RBI double off Cleveland starter Matt Ginter during a three-double, three-run fourth inning. With the Tigers up 6-3 in the eighth, Inge belted a two-run homer off Rafael Betancourt for his eighth homer this year. "I show up to the ballpark every day expecting I'm going to be playing, and more so the other days I get a letdown," said Inge, who's been Detroit's uber utility man this year. The nightmare season for Betancourt continues. One of baseball's top relievers last year, he truly dominated the Tigers, shutting them out in 132/3 innings in 2007. In 41/3 innings against Detroit this year, Betancourt has allowed nine runs on seven hits. "Betancourt's going to figure it out," Indians manager Eric Wedge said before the game. "The funny part about it is, he has a better breaking ball and changeup than he ever has. It's just a matter of putting it all together and working off his fastball and throwing his breaking ball where he wants to." Miguel Cabrera led off the second with a solo homer and finished 2-for-5. Cabrera is batting .395 (17-for-43) with five homers and 15 RBIs in 10 games against the Indians this season.
Edgar Renteria and Gary Sheffield both had two-run doubles last night. It was Renteria's seventh extra-base hit in his last 70 games, and Sheffield's hit erased an 0-for-9 skid.
Armando Galarraga continued his reign as the Tigers' most consisted starting pitcher. He allowed three runs on five hits in 51/3 innings and picked up his team-high ninth victory.
"I don't know where we'd be with out him," Leyland said.
But all was not right with the Tigers. Questions still linger about their bullpen.
Joel Zumaya, who left Sunday's game with a right triceps issue, pitched 12/3 innings last night, allowing a run on a walk and two doubles. New closer Fernando Rodney pitched in a nonsave situation in the ninth inning and started by walking Grady Sizemore.
Sizemore later scored from third on a wild pitch.
Asked if he had concerns about his late-inning relievers, Leyland said: "Quite a bit if we don't start throwing the ball over the plate."
Leyland said Todd Jones might close tonight.
Contact Joe Vardon at:
jvardon@theblade.com or 419-410-5055.

Kirkland hits 2 homers in Mud Hens' win over Indianapolis
There are several adjectives that could be used to describe the Mud Hens' a 5-3 victory over Indianapolis at Fifth Third Field last night.
"Sloppy" certainly qualifies, since the Hens made two errors and several other misplays that helped the Indians score their runs.
"Contentious" would work, since there also were several arguments with umpires and an ejection of Toledo shortstop Derek
Wathan. But "noteworthy" probably would be the best choice, since it took some notable performances to claim the victory. The Mud Hens got a pair of home runs by Kody Kirkland, not to mention three runs manufactured by some good situational hitting. That and a strong pitching performance by Chris Lambert and Clay Rapada helped the Hens win for the second straight game. "We actually played through our mistakes," Parrish said. "We gave up some runs after making errors we shouldn't have made. A couple of the arguments happened because we misplayed plays."
Kirkland was one of the heroes after slamming long home runs in the second and fourth off Indianapolis starter Ross Ohlendorf. Despite playing third base in place of Mike Hessman, who has joined the U.S. Olympic team, Kirkland said he's not trying to be another Hessman.
"I'm not a guy who's going to hit 32 home runs like Hessman," Kirkland said. "Those are some big shoes to fill. I'm just going to go out there, play hard, and try to play my game."
The Mud Hens used a similar formula to score single runs in the first and third innings. Both times Clete Thomas got on base, then stole second before coming home on two-out doubles by Timo Perez.
"Base hit, steal base, move a guy over, bring him in," Parrish said. "And we got two two-out hits, and that has been missing lately." That was enough offense for Lambert, who retired the first nine Indianapolis batters he faced before surrendering a run in the fourth - a run that comes with an asterisk. Nyjer Morgan led off with a walk, then stole second before Lambert struck out Andrew McCutchen and coaxed Neil Walker to lift a fly to deep center. Thomas was in position to make the catch, but he dropped the ball, allowing Morgan to take third and Walker to reach second. Morgan scored on a single by Ryan Mulhern, but Lambert escaped further damage by getting Luis Ordaz to hit into a double play.
Defensive struggles also led to a two-run Indians rally in the seventh. Mulhern led off with a liner to shortstop that bounced off Wathan's glove for an error, and Luis Ordaz doubled Mulhern to third.
Josh Wilson hit a sinking liner to right that went under Brent Clevlen's glove for a double that scored Mulhern and moved Ordaz to third. Ordaz scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Kata.
Rapada set down Indianapolis in the eighth, but not without controversy.
With one out McCutchen walked, but Rapada picked McCutchen off first. McCutchen ran to second, and Jeff Larish threw to Wathan as McCutchen ran by - and umpire David Uyl called McCutchen safe.
Wathan later was ejected by another umpire, David
Rackley. Wathan declined comment on the ejection by Rackley, who an inning earlier had called Wathan's long fly into the Roost a fair ball, a call that later was reversed. Rapada worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first save.
Contact John Wagner at:
jwagner@theblade.com or 419-724-6481.

Central, BGSU favored to win MAC; Rockets tabbed for 4th in West
DETROIT - In 2008, every Mid-American Conference football team will return at least 13 of 22 starters from last season. A few squads have 18, 19 and even 21 starters back.
It's one reason why when Central Michigan coach Butch Jones says any team can win the league championship, he means it.
"Of all my years being in the Mid-American Conference, I think this is the most competitive it's ever been," Jones said. "I think each and every team has the opportunity to win the championship. When you look at our West side, there's not much separating each team in our division. It's going to be extremely competitive."
CMU, the two-time defending MAC champion, was picked to win the title for the third straight year by the MAC News Media Association. The preseason poll was released yesterday at the football meetings held at Ford Field.
The Chippewas were chosen to win the MAC West and Bowling Green State University was picked to win the MAC East. The University of Toledo was picked to finish fourth in the MAC West.
"For us it's always nice to be picked first," BGSU coach Gregg Brandon said.
"It's an honor. Because we have that expectation, to compete for championships."
BGSU is coming off a bowl appearance, while UT has had back-to-back 5-7 seasons. UT coach Tom Amstutz said the Rockets' place in the poll "doesn't really matter to me.
"All the coaches look at what we do on the field, and the challenges and opportunities we all have," Amstutz said.
CMU received 29 of 36 first-place votes to win the MAC West division while BGSU garnered 17 first-place votes to win the East. Every East team had at least two first-place votes, with Miami in second place with seven. Ball State received five first-place votes in the West and Western Michigan two.
In the championship game, 24 voters picked CMU to win, with Ball State receiving five votes and BGSU four. The championship game is Dec. 5 at Ford Field.
The three MAC teams that played in bowl games last year, Central Michigan, BGSU and Ball State, all have at least 15 starters back, including the top three legaue producers in total offense in quarterbacks Dan LeFevour, Tyler Sheehan and Nate Davis.
Returning MAC East champion Miami has 17 returning starters. Temple has 21 returners and Western Michigan has 19.
"The league has become so balanced, especially on our side," Brandon said.
"I think any team in the East could win it."
Before the meat of the conference schedule arrives, the MAC will take its chances against several nationally ranked or historically strong teams in the non-conference schedule. Last season the league had a dismal 5-28 record against teams from BCS conferences.
Because of the experience and depth so many conference teams expect to rely on this season, though, Amstutz sees the potential for a successful nonconference showing by the MAC.
"I think this year you'll see our conference come away with some really big nonconference wins," Amstutz said. "Just like in 2004, when our conference came up with some really big weekends, I'm predicting you'll see that again this year."
Contact Maureen Fulton at:
mfulton@theblade.com or 419-724-6160.

Hoke thinks UT can hang with Michigan
DETROIT - When the University of Toledo plays Michigan this fall at the Big House, perhaps it will look back at a recent near-miss by one of its conference brethren.
Ball State nearly took down the Wolverines in Ann Arbor in 2006, playing with a chance to tie the game on the UM 7-yard line with fewer than three minutes to play. UM came away with the 34-26 win.
Cardinals coach Brady Hoke said he thinks UT can perform just as well as his squad did at Michigan Stadium. The Rockets travel there Oct. 11 for the first time.
"When we played Michigan they were the No. 2 rated team in the country," Hoke said. "I don't think they'll be No. 2 this year. I think Toledo will do great. I have a lot of respect for the way [UT coach] Tom [Amstutz] runs his program."
TURNING A PAGE: Bowling Green State University's Anthony Turner has played quarterback and tailback. Now he'll try his hand at receiver.
"A.T. is leaning toward receiver [so that we can] utilize him a little more and be kind of a swing guy," Brandon said, adding that Turner may again be used for direct-snap runs from the quarterback position.
The news comes as a surprise as Turner played well last year at tailback, starting in four games. With the bulk of his production coming in November, Turner rushed for nine touchdowns and 519 yards.
Brandon indicated Turner would have been used sparingly in the backfield as sophomore Willie Geter and senior Eric Ransom had strong offseasons.
Considering the Falcons have considerable depth at receiver, it's not clear how Turner will fit in.
DRIVING IT HOME: Miami senior linebacker Clayton Mullins, the reigning Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year, completed a daunting offseason project. It took his father and him three months of weekends to build a truck back home in Fairborn, Ohio.
Mullins drives the vehicle, which gets less than 10 miles to the gallon, around campus in Oxford.
"You need a stepladder to get into that thing," Miami coach Shane Montgomery said. "You've got to be an athlete."
Even with Mullins' individual success last season, he wasn't happy with how the year ended. The RedHawks lost their final two games to finish 6-7 and miss out on a bowl game despite winning the MAC East.
"We have a sour taste in our mouths," Mullins said. "The big thing is to finish. Everyone is coming back with the same feeling."
TREY'S TIME: Eastwood High product Trey Hunter is expected to be used on special teams and at receiver for Eastern Michigan. Hunter, a redshirt freshman, has impressed in offseason workouts.
"He's got a great work ethic and he's always staying after and catching balls with me," EMU quarterback Andy Schmitt said. "He runs great routes. I think he's going to be a really dependable receiver for us."
Bowsher graduate Aeric Clay, who signed with the Eagles two years ago, is no longer with the program, EMU coach Jeff Genyk said.
TV TIME: ESPN Regional Television has announced that it will air nine MAC games over a six-week period as part of its syndicated package. Games scheduled to be shown include Miami at BG on Oct. 18, Central Michigan at Toledo on Oct. 25 and BG at Ohio on Nov. 8. All games will begin at noon.

Mud Hens strike up a victory
Heres all you need to know about the Mud Hens 5-4 win over Pawtucket at Fifth Third Field yesterday afternoon: The winning run scored on a walk-off strikeout.
Thats right, a walk-off strikeout. I think thats the way that game should have been won, Toledo manager Larry Parrish said. We ended up congratulating a guy after a nice strikeout. That was a crazy game. The game-winning rally began when Freddy Guzman singled off reliever Lincoln Holdzkom with one out in the 12th. Guzman stole second on the first pitch to Clete Thomas, causing the PawSox to intentionally walk Thomas. Guzman and Thomas executed a double-steal before Holdzkom struck out Brent Clevlen. Then Holdzkom struck out Timo Perez on a wicked curve ball inside, but the ball bounced past Pawtucket catcher Dusty Brown and rolled to the backstop. Guzman scored easily, and Perez just beat Browns throw to first to give the Hens their second win in the last seven games.
Guzman getting on base was a key for us, Parrish said. He created havoc on the bases, and without his steal of third, that strikeout isnt a run. Guzman finished with four steals, marking the third time he has done that this season. He has 35 steals with the Hens and 46 including his month with Double-A Erie, one of the highest totals in the minors this year. When I got the base hit, I wasgoing to try and put the winning run on second, Guzman said. When I was at second, I wanted to put the winning run on third. They threw the wild pitch, and it was good for us. Things didnt look good for the Hens early, as starter Anastacio Martinez spent five innings weaving in and out of danger. Pawtuckets Dusty Brown lined a bases-loaded double off Martinez for a pair of runs in the first, and a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Joe Thurston scored a run in the second. But Martinez limited the damage, stranding five runners in the first two innings and nine over five innings. And the Mud Hens bullpen was terrific, allowing just one hit and one unearned run in seven innings to keep the Hens in the game. Problem was, the Hens werent able to take advantage of their opportunities due to a variety of miscues spread throughout the game. The most telling mistakes came in the fifth, when Guzman singled with two runners on base, but Max St-Pierre wasnt able to score from second. He advanced only to third, then was thrown out at the plate when Brown tracked down a potential wild pitch and threw to Pawtucket starter Devern Hansack covering home. Maxie didnt read the ball [on the Guzman single], but I still could have sent him because the right-fielder threw the ball to second instead of the cutoff man, Parrish said. Then he tried to score on a ball that didnt get very far away from the catcher. Thomas bailed out St-Pierre with a two-run double that tied the game. The PawSox scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth, but Erick Almonte slammed a two-out homer off Hunter Jones to retie the game. Contact John Wagner at:jwagner@theblade.comor 419-724-6481.

Mud Hens auditioning for closer
The Mud Hens began auditions for the closers role yesterday, and the two top candidates for the job both fared well in Toledos extra-inning win over Pawtucket.
Francis Beltran and Francisco Cruceta both threw well in their first appearances since closer Blaine Neal left to join the Olympic team yesterday. Both covered two innings in helping the Hens claim a 5-4 victory. Beltran covered the eighth and ninth, holding the Red Sox hitless and striking out two while walking one. The batter he walked, Gil Velazquez, scored an unearned run thanks to a two-out error by shortstop Derek Wathan, one of three errors the Hens made behind him. Beltran seems to be the unluckiest guy weve got, Toledo manager Larry Parrish said. We make errors when he pitches, and I dont know what it is. Its like a starter who pitches every time his team doesnt score. Beltran pitches when were due to make an error. Its been like that all year, and usually he gets an L for it. Cruceta held Pawtucket scoreless in the 10th and 11th, pitching around a one-out double in the 10th and two walks in the 11th. Thats the hesitation we have with Cruceta the walks, Parrish said. Beltran throws more strikes. Ian Ostlund gave up just one walk in two scoreless innings before Beltran and Cruceta, marking his eighth consecutive scoreless appearance. Ostlund has logged 122/3 innings in that span, giving up just five hits and three walks while striking out out 16. Newcomer Casey Fien got the win in his first Triple-A appearance. Fien walked the first batter he faced, Velazquez, but struck out two others and got help when catcher Max St-Pierre caught Velazquez stealing.
BACK BEHIND THE MIC: Long-time Mud Hens broadcaster Frank Gilhooley was at the ballpark yesterday and was involved with the radio broadcast for all 12 innings. Gilhooley, who has been a part of Mud Hens radio broadcasts for the previous 21 years, has been sidelined by health issues. BONINE WINS AWARD: Eddie Bonine was named the IL pitcher of the week. In two starts last week Bonine won twice, beating Rochester June 21 and then shutting out Pawtucket for seven innings five days later. In his two starts, Bonine allowed just six hits and four runs, only two of which were earned, in 141/3 innings. On the season, Bonine is 11-2 with a 3.96 ERA for the Hens. WORTH WAITS: Shortstop Danny Worth was in the original lineup yesterday but was scratched because of shoulder stiffness. Worth missed roughly a month of playing time for Double-A Erie because of the injury, coming off the disabled list last week. Being an early game, he didnt have time to stretch it out, Parrish said of Worth. Hopefully [today] well have more time and hell be ready to play. THREE-DOT DATA: Timo Perez singled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. The Hens now are 4-2 in extra-inning games, while Pawtucket is 8-3. Yesterdays crowd of 9,905 was the Toledos 23rd sellout this season and the 198th in the seven-year history of Fifth Third Field. The Hens have played in front of a full house in their last five home games.

GM to cut US, Canadian salaried workers
DETROIT A General Motors Corp. official says the automaker plans to cut 15 percent of its U.S. and Canadian salaried work force or around 5,100 jobs by Nov. 1.
The GM official declined to confirm the specific numbers Wednesday but indicated they generally were accurate. The official asked not to be named because the company had not planned to release the numbers until later.
GM had said in mid-July that it would cut white-collar costs in the U.S. and Canada by more than 20 percent, but it wouldn't say how many workers would leave. GM President and Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said at the time the company hoped most of the cuts would be made through attrition, retirements and buyout offers.

Ford to add 200 jobs to Lima plant
LIMA Ford Motor Corp. will add more than 200 new jobs to its 50-year-old engine plant in Lima as it ramps up production of sedans and crossovers like the Edge and Flex.
Plans call for the plant to begin producing D35 engines for the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker in the fourth quarter. Ford spokesman Angie Kozleski said the new jobs would first be offered to laid off workers from other Ford plants. "Were working through the details right now, but expect our plans to be in place in the fourth quarter," Ms. Kozleski said. "We do have an excess workforce right now. We are offering buyouts to employees in many locations, so well pull employees from other plants to add to this location."
The plant will build two engines, a 3.5L V6 for the Ford Edge and Taurus and the Lincoln MKY and MKZ, and a 3.7L V6s for the new Ford Flex and Lincoln MKS crossovers. Currently, the 2.4 million square-foot plant produces Fords Duratech 35 and Vulcan V6 engines. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday approved a seven-year, 60 percent tax credit for the automaker to add 219 new full-time jobs on a third shift at its engine plant in Allen Countys Bath Township. Built in the mid-1950s, the Lima Engine plant originally produced V8 engines for the Ford Edsel. It currently employs more than 750 people. According to the Ohio Department of Development, the new jobs would have an average wage of $25 per hour. A spokesman for United Auto Workers Local 1219, which represents hourly workers at the plant, could not be reached for comment. The plant won the additional work despite its productivity dropping 34 percent during 2007 to an average of 4.03 hours-per-engine, according to respected industry analyst Ron Harbour, whose annual Harbour report measuring auto industry productivity was released last month.

British firm to close Bowling Green plant putting 135 out of work
BOWLING GREEN A plastics plant here that was sold last year by Perrysburg-based Owens-Illinois Inc. will be closed later this year by its new owner, putting 135 people out of work.
Rexam PLC, a London-based global manufacturer of consumer packaging, announced today that it would close the plant on Miller Drive in the fourth quarter of this year. The seven-year-old plant makes plastic packaging products, including caps for coffee creamers, toothpaste, and ketchup, said Greg Brooke, spokesman for Rexam Americas. "This is an unfortunate step we have to take," Mr. Brooke said this morning. "Well make this transition as easy as possible for all our people." He said the company would provide "competitive" severance packages and job training assistance. Workers are represented by UAW Local 12.
The plants production work will be divided among Rexams 53 other plastics plants worldwide, Mr. Brooke said. "Its no reflection on the people or the performance of that plant." The facility was acquired by Rexam last year as part of O-Is sale of its plastics-packaging unit. Other area Rexam jobs will not be affected by the closing, including those at the firms U.S. plastics headquarters in Perrysburg and aluminum beverage container plants in Fremont and Whitehouse, Mr. Brooke said.

Solar start-up eyeing Perrysburg
Ohio officials have approved tax credits for a Toledo start-up firm that is considering Perrysburg for a $105 million plant that would have 400 employees making make low-cost solar-energy panels.
A company official said yesterday that no decision has been made about where to situate the plant and that the firm continues to consider offers from other states and Canada.
But there are strong signs that the company, Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC, is leaning toward a former television components plant on Progress Drive, off State Rt. 25 in Perrysburg.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority agreed this week to provide a credit against state income taxes worth 60 percent of Ohio payroll taxes withheld from employees. The job creation tax credit would last for 10 years.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency approved a permit April 24 for the firm to operate around-the-clock producing 240 panels an hour at the Perrysburg factory, which formerly housed Delafoil Inc.
Mohammad Smidi, an official at the EPA office in Bowling Green, said a company executive told him this month that Willard & Kelsey planned to begin operations there as early as late August.
Company executives have told Perrysburg officials that they intend to seek a 10-year, $177,000 job-creation grant as well as assistance with road and traffic improvements.
But no formal application has yet been filed, said John Alexander, city administrator.
The former Delafoil operation was purchased this year by a firm linked to Michael Cicak, who is leading the investment group behind Willard & Kelsey. Mr. Cicak is a veteran of the solar energy industry who worked for many years with the late Harold McMaster, a Toledo inventor who founded the firm that became solar energy giant First Solar Inc.
Keith Guenther, director of operations at Willard & Kelsey, said the company continues to work with development officials in Columbus, Wood County, and in other locations under consideration. He declined to characterize the competitiveness of Ohio's offer.
" I can't say because it undermines the whole process," Mr. Guenther said.
The firm is also considering sites in Canada as well as Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and Michigan, the Ohio Development Department said.
The EPA permit indicates that the firm plans to make solar panels using newer, low-cost thin-film technology similar to that used at First Solar.
The origin of the firm's name is unclear. But Willard Street and Kelsey Avenue is an intersection in East Toledo near where Mr. Cicak lived as a youth.
According to the Ohio Department of Development, Willard & Kelsey was formed "for the purposes of developing and manufacturing solar panels for worldwide distribution."
If the firm chooses Perrysburg, the city would become the base of corporate operations as well as of production and research, Development Department documents state.
The $105 million investment would include $7 million to buy the factory, $7.3 million for renovations, and $89 million for machinery.
The tax credits, approved on Monday, are to begin in January and stretch through December, 2018.
The company told the state it plans to create 400 full-time jobs within three years of opening and retain ten full-time jobs. The average wage of the new jobs will be $21.25 and hour.
Two other solar-panel plants are either operating or under way in metro Toledo. Phoenix-based First Solar Inc., which last year had the fastest-growing stock on Wall Street, produces more than 2 million panels a year at its U.S. plant, in Perrysburg Township.
Most of the two-foot-by-four-foot panels are shipped overseas to commercial solar installations.
Xunlight Corp., led by a researcher from the University of Toledo, plans to begin panel production this year at a factory off Nebraska Avenue in Toledo.
And a unit of Q-Cells AG, the German company that is Europe's largest manufacturer of solar panels, has teamed up with a local firm to operate a research and development center in Perrysburg that specializes in new technology that holds promise of reducing production costs.
Contact Gary Pakulski at:
gpakulski@theblade.com or 419-724-6082.

Owens-Illinois to close Canada plant, expand in New Zealand
Owens-Illinois Inc. said yesterday it will expand a bottle plant in Auckland, New Zealand, and closing a plant in Toronto.
The Canada factory will close by Sept. 30, affecting 430 employees, the Perrysburg firm said. Production will be transferred to other North American plants. In Auckland, the firm will spend $60 million on another furnace and other improvements to boost daily output to 2.2 million bottles by 2010. The moves will create 35 jobs.

Who says boom de ah dah, Stephen Hawking says boom de ah dah
"...as human beings we are capable of making sense of situations based on the thinnest slice of experience."
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30 BOOM-DE-AH-DAH, BOOM-DE-AH-DAH: Can't get going this morning? Get some . . . I Love the World with the Discovery Channel and Stephen Hawking. Then find Mike Rowe, Bear Grylls, the Deadliest Catch captains, Mythbusters, and Cash Cab's Benjamin Bailey sing their version. (KC)
WHO CAN RESIST a band named Natalie Portman's Shaved Head ? They'll be at Frankie's Inner City on Friday night in Toledo showing off their quirky blend of pop and alt-rock. (RL) TUESDAY, JULY 29 WHEN WILL THEY LEARN? Another radio "shock jock," another offensive
comment, and more controversy: this time it's Michael Savage yammering about autism that has sponsors pulling their ads. (RL) WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: El Caminito Del Rey (The Kings Pathway) is the pathway above the El Chorro gorge, near Alora in Malaga, Spain. Intense. The construction of this walkway was finished in 1905 and not much maintenance has been performed since. See if you can get through this 6:25 video without grabbing the arms of your office chair. (KC) IF YOU'RE BORED WITH THE OLYMPICS: Wife Carrying leads this list of the World's 10 Silliest Sporting Events. Goat Polo and Dog-Surfing failed to make the Top 5. (RS) START MAKING SENSE: Alternative rock granddaddies David Byrne and Brian Eno are back together for a new album and tour, which should bring some fresh sounds to a music scene that's been a bit stale. (RL) MONDAY, JULY 28 TRACK HOW Brett Favre and his suitors are screwing up the odds for Super Bowl XLIII. The Detroit Lions will probably remain 80-1 regardless of how the Favre sweepstakes turns out. (KC)
BE THE FIRST on your block to sport the new GPS with Knight Rider, which includes the stylings of voice actor William Daniels from the 1980s TV show. You will be tempted to begin getting lost on purpose, just so you could hear KITT make an announcement. (RS) WHO SAID IT: Bush or Batman? Can you guess which of these quotes - provided by Philadelphia sketch group, Secret Pants - belong to our president, George W. Bush, and which belong to Batman from his 1960s TV series? (RS) BARACK OBAMA's warmup acts at his recent Berlin speaking engagement were reggae artist Patrice and Reamonn, two very popular acts in Germany. (KC) THIN SLICING Have some Thin Slices to contribute or comment on?
Rod Lockwood Kevin Cesarz

Melissa Gilbert returns to 'Little House,' this time as 'Ma' Ingalls
MINNEAPOLIS - Melissa Gilbert has finally come home to the prairie - or at least to the big city near the prairie. She has yet to sink her feet into Plum Creek, next to the dugout where the real-life Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in the 1870s.
Gilbert, who spent most of her childhood portraying the bold pioneer girl on television, is cast as the proper and reserved Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the Guthrie Theater's musical version of Little House on the Prairie.
She sings. She dances. She teases out Ma's wild side. Previews started Saturday, and the show opens Aug. 15. Advance ticket sales have broken the theater's record, and the run already has been extended an additional two weeks to Oct. 19.
The role sent the 44-year-old actress back to her Little House books for a fresh take on material she first dug into at age 9, underlining in crayon.
When it comes to Ma, Gilbert said that she sees "a whimsical loss" in the family matriarch - glimmers of a headstrong girl tamed by life.
"There's the girl she used to be that she sees in Laura," said Gilbert, who played Laura on TV from 1974 to 1983. "But she has to be able to model how to find a way to be satisfied with the life that's ahead of her. There were no other choices for women back then."
On television, Gilbert grew up in Walnut Grove, Minn., the setting of the book On the Banks of Plum Creek.
In real life, she has yet to visit any of Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood homes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kansas, or Iowa. The TV show was shot in Simi Valley, Calif. The red-haired actress first came to Minnesota in February to start work on the musical and set fingers pointing when fans recognized her in Laura Ingalls Wilder territory.
Gilbert wants the Guthrie Little House cast to pile into a van and visit Walnut Grove, about three hours' drive west-southwest of Minneapolis. "I think I need to put my feet in Plum Creek," she said. "I think that would be a moment for me."
It would also be a moment for Walnut Grove, where Amy Ankrum, director of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum there, said that nearly 1,000 fans turned out earlier in July to see Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, the twins who played Laura's younger sister Carrie on TV.
"I can hardly imagine what kind of a crowd Melissa would bring if they knew she was coming," said Ankrum, who grew up in Walnut Grove reading the books and watching Little House on television. She and 14 others are planning to see the musical in September.
Anticipation is high for the first major new interpretation of Little House in a quarter century, with fans lining up last month for tickets. Gilbert is performing alongside Steve Blanchard as "Pa" and Jenn Gambatese as Laura's sister Mary. Newcomer Kara Lindsay plays Laura.
Gilbert said she wasn't sure at first that austere stories of family life in the 1870s and 1880s would work as a musical, but the script and score won her over. Rachel Sheinkin wrote the musical, with music by Rachel Portman and lyrics by Donna di Novelli. It's directed by Francesca Zambello, who guided The Little Mermaid to Broadway last season.
Gilbert's next challenge was singing. Though she grew up loving such musicals as Gypsy and Annie, she wasn't confident she had the voice for a musical.
Still, she worked with a vocal coach and it came together. Zambello said Gilbert's name came up as a potential Ma once the musical was written. "Of course, her connection to the material was fascinating," she said.
After Gilbert worked on her singing, she asked Zambello to come listen to her. Gilbert said she wanted Zambello's approval before joining the cast. The director said Gilbert had raw talent but needed to work on her technique.
"You're always looking for actors who offer multiple layers to roles," she said. "She was interested and had never been in a musical. It was a big challenge for her to rediscover the stories but from a completely different angle."
Gilbert reveals details of Ma's past in "Wild Child," a song that leads into the show's finale. Her Ma stands on equal footing with Pa, who lifts and twirls her as they dance.
"There are references to Ma not being all that prim and proper," Gilbert said. "It's a much different relationship than it was in the television show. The relationship between Ma and Pa is much sparkier. In pictures they're always touching."
The Guthrie production won't be the first musical based on the Little House books.
Laura's Memories has been performed for about three decades in Mansfield, Mo., where the author settled with her husband and daughter and wrote her books. That musical covers Laura's life from early childhood to starting her own family, and it draws crowds every summer.
"It's not only the history - it's the wholesomeness of it," said Becky Dierksen of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield. "And I think that these days, that's kind of hard to come by."
Gilbert, who lives in the Los Angeles area, has been staying with her 12-year-old son on a lake near Minneapolis this summer. The actress said she has invited other cast members over to barbecue and watch movies, although she nixed a screening of old Little House on the Prairie episodes. ("Oh no. Ouch.")
Newcomer Lindsay said that she, too, wanted some distance from the TV show so she could create her own Laura. She said Gilbert has refrained from giving her advice on the character.
"I think it would make it uncomfortable," Lindsay said. "She's trying to discover Ma and I'm trying to discover Laura, and she's just letting me do that. She'll just be there to nod her head and encourage me. She doesn't push anything on me at all."
Gilbert's return to Little House on the Prairie is also feeding into an autobiography she plans to publish next year. She said memories of the TV show and colleagues such as Michael Landon have come flooding back during rehearsals; tears have followed. She exchanged e-mails with Karen Grassle, the TV Ma.
In fact, Gilbert - who has had a steady career in TV movies since her Little House days - said she never tried to escape being identified as Laura, except during a brief coming-of-age period when she yearned to establish herself as an independent young woman (not unlike the struggle Laura went through on TV). She played the character from ages 9 to 19.
"How horrible can it be to be remembered for something that's beloved and iconic?" she said.
"It's not all of who I am, but it's part of who I am and it's part of my history, too. I can't really deny it."

Taj Mahal harvests blues from around the world
Back in the late '50s, when he was a teenager, Taj Mahal was torn between a career in music and a life on the farm.
With his passion and intelligence, he would have been successful at either one, but his fans can be thankful that he chose the guitar over the plow.
Throughout his career, the 65-year-old Mahal has gotten his share of tail feathers shaking with his effusive Afro-Caribbean approach to the blues. During those years, he worked with the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, and the Rolling Stones, scored films, and won two Grammys.
On Sept. 30, Mahal (born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in Harlem) will celebrate the 40th anniversary of his debut album with "Maestro," a new CD studded with special guests, including Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Angelique Kidjo, Los Lobos, and Ziggy Marley.
QSo, you have a number of guest stars on the new album. How did it turn out?
AI'm proud of everything. A lot of people will be pleasantly surprised. I don't want to let everything out of the bag. I worked with contemporary people and some of the more established groups. It covers a lot of ground, expanding some of the older blues styles, incorporating West African music and stuff from the Caribbean. It's fun and it moves. If you don't roll the rug back and move the furniture on this one, there's something wrong.
QYou've been credited as being one of the pioneers of world music. Do you think that label applies?
AYeah, I think so. The music existed out there. I'm not going to be credited with the whole scene. The thing is, my mother's side are African-Americans from the South, my father's side are Afro-Caribbean people, so I'm a blend of cultures. What I make out of all that energy and information is music - music that has a whole lot of diversity, which is normal in my life. The average American life is sometimes very dull and distracted - that's why you can sell tons of fast food, 'cause no one sat down and made a meal for them. We're dealing with music in the same way. You're told what to hear. It's corporatized. Here we are, the free-est country in the world, and we get to hear the least amount of music.
QHow did blues purists feel about your fusion of those kinds of rhythms? Were they accepting of it?
ANo. A lot of times, they absolutely got upset. So, I just totally ignored them. How the hell can you be a blues purist when you never dug a shovel in the ground or worked behind a mule on a farm? I was a farmer before I got into the music scene. That's how I got to go to college. Part of the reason I liked older music is that urban music didn't really work well when you worked on a farm. Sure, you can listen to it and you might go out to a club and dance to it, but when it came to working, you needed worker's music. These were guys with a third-grade education writing poetry that still stands today: "I'm gonna get up in the morning/and I believe I'll dust my broom."
QDo the blues need to move forward and experiment - or is it enough for the younger musicians to just preserve it?
AThis is a living music. To be talking about mules in the field, plowing and sharecropping, you're probably not going to find a lot of people doing that. But with the new green revolution happening here on Earth, there's going to have to be a new music for people who are picking those baskets of beans and having rooftop gardens and putting up those windmills and solar panels and recycling that gray water - there's always some room for songs to be written about those things, and that is the job we human beings have to do next, which is put this Earth back in order. OK. So, there's got to be some music for that.
For everyone saying, 'Well, that [old blues] era's gone ...' Yeah, probably is. But if that old music doesn't have any value, then all the sculpture, all the painting, all the things that were said, we just need to let it go. We're not letting go of that, so why should we be letting go of what value blues brought to us? Or ragtime, or jazz, or classical? Let's hear this stuff, let's play it.
QYou worked with Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, some other greats. Was there a musician you learned the most from?
ANo, that's hard to say. There's always something you can learn from people. Sometimes it depends who you're close to, who your parents are closest to. Your old cock-eyed Uncle Albert - haha - he always had some great ideas for fishin' or whatever. You know, I look at these people in a West African/Caribbean or older Southern sense in that they were ancestors and they were griots, praise singers who sang the songs of their time and brought it through. It's just they intersected with the popular ability to make records, so we were lucky enough to hear these artists in their prime. They took it out of the daily reality.
QI recently did an interview with Steve Miller ...
A Oh, Steve's a great guy.
QYeah, he was talking about how the Rolling Stones took a lot from Ry Cooder. You were hanging around with those guys. What are your thoughts on that?
AYeah, Ry went over [to England]. They worked with John Hammond, Jack Nietzsche, a lot of guys who gave them direction. Jagger's voice, he didn't have a deep enough voice to sing like Muddy. But he came to it like Don Covay or Chuck Berry and then he had phrasing like Muddy. They always knew who the real players were. They would have been happy spending their whole life trying to play like their idols, but some people in management said, 'Hey, you guys have to come up with your own stuff.' That's when they started writing their own tunes.
How I got to be involved with the Rolling Stones "Rock and Roll Circus" ... We were playing at the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles. I was playing harmonica with my eyes closed and I looked down on the dance floor and I'll be doggone if there was Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones, and across from them was Eric Burdon and Hilton Valentine [from the Animals] and sitting at the back of the room was Eric Clapton. When the set was over, the guys waved me over. I said to Mick, "I love what you're doing. The fact that you can put blues on the radio first thing in the morning, I don't know what you have in the water over there." I said, "If there's any project we can do to help you out, man, don't hesitate to call." Three months later eight round-trip tickets from Los Angeles to London came in the mail, for four musicians [and managers]. I don't know anyone else in the music business, all the years I've been out here, who's ever been that generous. We got there, none of us put our hands in our pockets for anything other than personal stuff we wanted to buy. These guys treated us royally. With all the plaudits I've had, no one has treated me that well.
Q I understand you prefer playing outdoor shows like the one you're doing in Pittsburgh.
A I love the outdoor shows during the summer, people having a good time. Pittsburgh is several things to me: the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Satchel Paige and Gus Greenlee. And Dakota Staton, beautiful jazz singer who came out of that town. Pittsburgh is George Benson. Pittsburgh is the original bass player with Ray Charles, Edgar Willis -- I just loved the way he played upright bass. And there's lots of other people from there. We used to play the Syria Mosque back in the day -- I had a great show there with Little Richard. So I've had some really good friends from Pittsburgh.
The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Scott Mervis is a writer for the Post-Gazette.
Contact him at: smervis@post-gazette.com.

Rib Heaven: Easy pickin delicious barbecue at two rib event weekends
For those who love ribs, the next two weekends will be heaven.
Smoke on the Water Ribs for the Red Cross will be Friday through Sunday at Promenade Park in downtown Toledo. Eight confirmed rib vendors include six local ribbers. The 25th Annual Northwest Ohio Rib-Off presented by The Andersons and The Blade will be Aug. 7-10 at the Lucas County Fairgrounds in Maumee. Ten national ribbers from the National Barbecue Cookers Association will be there with plenty of equipment and enthusiastic competition, and mega-amounts of flavor. I caught up with Mike Bower, manager of the Famous Daves BBQ corporate rib team out of Plymouth, Minn., as their two trucks and two trailers were traveling to a Columbus event last weekend. They have a mobile kitchen thats 32 feet long and a 28-foot refrigerated truck plus a 15-foot trailer that holds two Southern Pride Smokers. There will also be plenty of "barbecue talk" between ribbers and their customers. "Thats part of the experience of what we do on the road," says Mr. Bower. "People can get a lot of tips and we are happy to share." If you buy the sampler bones (which range from two to four bones depending on the event), you can hit quite a few places each weekend and learn how the ribbers make their award-winning food. Heres a sampling of what youll find.
Confirmed vendors for Smoke on the Water at Promenade Park are: Big Moes BBQ & Catering from Kalamazoo, Mich.; Black Kettle Bar Be Que, Famous Daves Big Ten, Po Mos, TJs Catering, and Toms BBQ, all of Toledo; Sidelines Sports Eatery & Pub of Lambertville, and Chicago Barbecue Co. of Burr Ridge, Ill. "Theres a big difference between barbecue and grilling with higher temperatures and shorter time," says Johnnie Harris of Black Kettle Bar Be Que. "Barbecue is no higher than 220 degrees, and depending on your meat and its thickness you might cook at lower temperature and longer. Thats the definition of barbecue." He describes his ribs as tender, juicy, spicy, smoky, and they cook between six and seven hours. This summer Black Kettle Bar Be Que has been at the African-American Festival, Juneteenth Festival at the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Old West End Festival. "Our pork is marinated in vinegar and water and then rubbed and refrigerated," he says. He uses a Southern Pride smoker to cook the ribs. "We can do 250 pounds of meat at a time. It is a convection oven with propane gas that burns a log for the duration of eight or nine hours." A thermometer maintains the temperature when the door is closed. "When I bring out the ribs, the sauce is put on by the customer," he says about his tomato/vinegar sauce which comes in spicy and mild. "Some people are purists. They like the meat with the smoke of the grill." Baby back ribs Award-winning Sidelines Sports Eatery & Pub of Lambertville makes a baby back pork rib. "We dont smoke them, we braise them," says Eric Sitter, one of the owners. "We like the way that holds the moisture and the meat falls off the bone."
The ribs are braised in seasoning solution with a tight cover, which Mr. Sitter calls "steam baking." Its "almost like pressure cooking." Once its braised, "we cool down the ribs and barbecue them on the grill. Then we add sauce, which caramelizes," he says. Sidelines sauce is sweet and zesty made with honey. Sidelines used to have another location in Maumee; when that store closed, owners opened a second business which is called Sidelines II at 2109 Laskey Rd. in Toledo. St. Louis cut Famous Daves Big Ten Ribs from the Toledo Famous Daves Barbecue restaurant at 4757 Monroe St. uses the St. Louis cut, according to Jerrid Heidel, operations director. "We pride ourselves on the largest cut in the industry which is 2½ pounds per slab."
Its hickory smoked. They use a rib rub with 18 spices. Although Famous Daves has multiple sauces, the Rich and Sassy Sauce is used to finish the rib. This group of local ribbers will be at the Smoke on the Water event at Promenade Park on the first weekend. A second team, the corporate team from Famous Daves BBQ based in Plymouth, led by Mr. Bower will be at the 25th Annual Northwest Ohio Rib-Off at the fairgrounds on the second weekend. "We can do a larger volume," says Mr. Bower. "The perfect rib is overall size using the middle ribs which have good marbleization," he says. "We use a heavy amount of sauce on the grill. When the sauce caramelizes, it takes on a different flavor. Sometimes I dont re-sauce it when it comes off the grill for the taste and texture. When you take a nice bite off the rib and it takes a little tug but the bone is clean and theres a sweet sauce." On-site people try to find different things they can do at home for their own ribs, says Mr. Bower, who is part of the National Barbecue Cookers Association. Members of the NBCA travel together from event to event, but not all of them will be at the same event. Northwest Ohio Rib-Off Nine other NBCA members will compete at the Northwest Ohio Rib-Off at the fairgrounds: Armadillos of Youngstown; Aussom Aussie of Pittsburgh; Buddys BBQ & Blues of Mentor, Ohio; Butchs BBQ of Mount Laurel, N.J.; Mojos Ribshack of West Salem, Ohio; Pigfoot BBQ of West Salem, Ohio; Sgt. Oinks BBQ of Tiffin; Smokin Joes Hog Wild BBQ of Mansfield, Ohio, and Texas Outlaws of Elizabethtown, Ky.
NBCA president and founder Jerry Gibson of Pigfoot BBQ says "the St. Louis cut is the meatiest and tenderest." He uses some sauce, but first the rib is seasoned. The sauce is added to caramelize on the grill. "The smoker is a big oven. We precook ribs and finish them on the grill," he says. He has five sauces: mild, sweet, hot, killer, and apple-licious which is a new sauce made with apple butter. "Its my 20th year in Toledo," he says. "Working out at the fairgrounds gives more room, but we miss the lunch crowd we had downtown." But crowds have been good this summer. "Business is not down because of the economy," he says. Aussom Aussie features Australian-style ribs. "We use a fruit-based concept," says Paul McKay. In Australia, cherry and apple woods are used to smoke ribs. Fruit juices are the base of the sauce such as apples, pineapple, orange, and tomato. "In Australia, apples were common and tomatoes were more expensive." He describes his sauce as sweet and mild but he also has a raspberry chipotle sauce which is sweet and spicy. Barbecue is extremely popular in Australia. "The secret of a good rib is that it is tender, juicy, and flavorful," says Mr. McKay. He uses a five-hour process in which the ribs are pre-seasoned with a dry rub, then put in the smoker with cherry and apple woods. "Then they hit the grill and are glazed with sauce to caramelize." Here are three recipes sure to inspire home barbecue. Backyard Barbecue Spareribs has a ketchup-based sauce made with cherry cola seasoned with paprika and chili powder. Maple-Mustard Glazed Spareribs is salted and grilled 1½ to 2 hours over indirect heat until tender and brushed with a maple glaze. Memphis-Style Ribs from The Barbecue Bible by Steve Raichlen (Workman, $22.95) are rubbed and marinated and then smoked, mopped, and grilled. Smoke on the Water Ribs for the Red Cross is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Promenade Park in downtown Toledo. Admission is $3. Children 12 and under are free. There is free admission on Friday until 5 p.m. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The 25th Annual Northwest Ohio Rib-Off presented by The Andersons and The Blade is Aug. 7-10 at the Lucas County Fairgrounds in Maumee. Admission is $8 at the door with optional $25 VIP concert seating available from the Stranahan Theater box office, Ticketmaster outlets, and The Andersons. Hours are 3 to 10 p.m. Aug. 7; 3 to 11 p.m. Aug. 8; noon to 11 p.m. Aug. 9, and noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 10. Contact Kathie Smith at: food@theblade.com or 419-724-6155.

Savage takes on autism, advertisers shock jock back
"...as human beings we are capable of making sense of situations based on the thinnest slice of experience."
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point.
TUESDAY, JULY 29 WHEN WILL THEY LEARN? Another radio "shock jock," another offensive
comment, and more controversy: this time it's Michael Savage yammering about autism that has sponsors pulling their ads. (RL) WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: El Caminito Del Rey (The Kings Pathway) is the pathway above the El Chorro gorge, near Alora in Malaga, Spain. Intense. The construction of this walkway was finished in 1905 and not much maintenance has been performed since. See if you can get through this 6:25 video without grabbing the arms of your office chair. (KC) IF YOU'RE BORED WITH THE OLYMPICS: Wife Carrying leads this list of the World's 10 Silliest Sporting Events. Goat Polo and Dog-Surfing failed to make the Top 5. (RS) START MAKING SENSE: Alternative rock granddaddies David Byrne and Brian Eno are back together for a new album and tour, which should bring some fresh sounds to a music scene that's been a bit stale. (RL) MONDAY, JULY 28 TRACK HOW Brett Favre and his suitors are screwing up the odds for Super Bowl XLIII. The Detroit Lions will probably remain 80-1 regardless of how the Favre sweepstakes turns out. (KC)
BE THE FIRST on your block to sport the new GPS with Knight Rider, which includes the stylings of voice actor William Daniels from the 1980s TV show. You will be tempted to begin getting lost on purpose, just so you could hear KITT make an announcement. (RS) WHO SAID IT: Bush or Batman? Can you guess which of these quotes - provided by Philadelphia sketch group, Secret Pants - belong to our president, George W. Bush, and which belong to Batman from his 1960s TV series? (RS) BARACK OBAMA's warmup acts at his recent Berlin speaking engagement were reggae artist Patrice and Reamonn, two very popular acts in Germany. (KC) THIN SLICING Have some Thin Slices to contribute or comment on?
Rod Lockwood Kevin Cesarz

Backyard Barbecue Spareribs

2 slabs pork spareribs 1 cup ketchup ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce 1 ½ cups cherry cola soft drink ¼ cup vinegar 2 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 medium onion, chopped Prepare a medium-hot banked fire in a covered kettle-style grill. Cut each slab of the ribs between the ribs into four pieces. Place rib-side-down over indirect heat and grill for 1¼ hours. Meanwhile in a saucepan combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, cherry cola, vinegar, paprika, chili powder, pepper, and onion; simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Brush ribs generously with sauce and continue to cook, about 20 to 30 minutes, basting and turning often, until ribs are nicely glazed.
Yield: 4 servings Source: The Other White Meat

Maple-Mustard Glazed Spareribs

4 pounds spareribs Salt, as needed ½ teaspoon mixed pickling spices 1 small onion, coarsely chopped 2 teaspoons vegetable oil ½ cup maple-flavored syrup ¼ cup vinegar 2 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper Sprinkle spareribs with salt. Tie pickling spice in cheesecloth and set aside. In a medium saucepan cook onion in oil until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add cheesecloth packet, syrup, vinegar, water, mustard, and pepper; simmer 20 minutes. Remove cheesecloth. Prepare medium banked fire in covered kettle-style grill. Grill ribs over indirect heat 1½ to 2 hours, until tender. During last 5 minutes of grilling, brush ribs occasionally with maple glaze, turning to glaze evenly.
Yield: 4 servings Source: The Other White Meat

Memphis-Style Ribs

Equipment: 1 ½ cups wood chips (preferably hickory) soaked for 1 hour in cold water to cover Ribs and Rub: 3 racks pork spareribs (about 7 pounds) ¼ cup sweet paprika 4 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 4 ½ teaspoons dark brown sugar 1 tablespoon salt 1½ teaspoons celery salt 1 ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder 1 ½ teaspoons dry mustard 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin Mop Sauce: 2 cups cider vinegar ½ cup yellow (ballpark) mustard 2 teaspoons salt Prepare ribs and rub: Remove thin, paper skin from back of each rack of ribs by pulling it off in a sheet with your fingers, using a corner of a kitchen towel to gain a secure grip. Combine paprika, black pepper, brown sugar, salt, celery salt, cayenne, garlic powder, dry mustard, and cumin in a small bowl and whisk to mix. Rub two thirds of this mixture over ribs on both sides, then transfer ribs to a roasting pan. Cover and let cure in the refrigerator 4 to 8 hours.
Prepare mob sauce: Mix together the cider vinegar, mustard, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Set up grill for indirect grilling and place a large drip pan in the center. If using gas grill, place all of the wood chips in the smoker box and preheat grill to high; when smoke appears, reduce heat to medium. If using a charcoal grill, preheat it to medium. When ready to cook, if using a charcoal grill, toss wood chips on the coals. Brush and oil grill grate. Arrange ribs on the grate over drip pan. Cover the grill and smoke cook ribs for 1 hour. When ribs have cooked an hour, uncover the grill and brush ribs with mop sauce. Remove grill and continue cooking the ribs until tender and almost done, ¼ to ½ hour longer for baby back ribs, ½ to 1 hour longer for spareribs. The ribs are done when the meat is very tender and has shrunk back from the ends of the bones. If using a charcoal grill, add 10 to 12 fresh coals to each side after 1 hour. Fifteen minutes before ribs are done, season with remaining rub, sprinkling on. Yield: 6 servings Source: The Barbecue Bible

Ground covers: color underfoot
You've seen portulaca if you wander through most rock gardens in full sun. The low ground cover is also called moss rose. But don't look for soft, fuzzy green foliage on this annual. It has small, needle-like leaves that sprout off of short stems that like to spread out flat, rather than reach for the sky. It gets its "rose" name for the tiny rose-like blossoms that bloom all summer.
This is a great choice for that spot between the sidewalk and the curb in your yard. You know, that strip of grass that gets neglected and you hate to mow? Dig it up next year and plant portulaca and let it fill in.
This colorful ground cover also works like a charm in a rock garden or wall with small crevices to fill. It doesn't need much attention - just good drainage and lots of sun.
Catch the wave You can create a blanket of color in a large patch by packing it with petunias. Wave petunias are the latest hot-shots on the garden scene that will dead-head themselves and keep on blooming all summer. The colorful horns of flowers come in many vibrant colors, such as hot pink, red, lavender, and many other colors.
You can find these annuals with tiny flowers like milliflora that will fill a container and spill over the sides. Grandiflora have the largest bloom, up to four inches in diameter. They work great in large areas that are hard to reach because they will creep around the bed and keep growing. But they do need some attention. Petunias like to be pinched. Break their long stems halfway back at this time in the growing season so they stay low and bushy, rather than long and scraggly.
Mini Suzi If you love black-eyed Susans, you'll love a flowering carpet of mini-Suzi's. The annuals are really called creeping zinnia or Sanvitalia. They have another fun name called lazy daisies because they are a trailing plant that likes to lay around and fill in. They will grow under a foot tall and have those familiar yellow flowers with dark brown centers that are about as big as a penny.
Just like their bigger relatives, zinnias, they grow quickly from seed in the spring and look great in a spot that needs to be filled in and gets lots of sun. They don't like a whole lot of water, so you won't need to hit them with the sprinkler on a weekly basis. If they get too wet, they just might develop a bad case of fungus.
Ajuga! Bless you! Their name almost sounds like you sneezed. Try it. "Ah-CHEW-ga!" See what I mean? This colorful perennial, also known as bugleweed, is dark green and deep purple and really likes to fill in. It is a favorite around the Heidbreder garden since I have so much shade. It has a tiny lavender or white flower and shows off its deep foliage all season long. It spreads easily so it makes a great underplanting that will take some work out of weeding once it gets established. But just like all good things, it can work its way into your grass if you don't give it a defined edge.
Now, if you want to get rid of the grass and let the ajuga take over, then you are in luck! But if you are like me, the minute you give it the go-ahead to take over the yard, it stops cold. Time for another sneeze! "Ah-CHEW-ga!"
I used to think lamb's ears were just one of the fun plants my grandma used to grow for pure amusement. It can also make a really fun ground cover. Its low-growing,