One More Baseball Stadium Left to See

One ball park remaining!

What began 11 years ago as a three-game baseball motorcoach trip to Baltimore, Boston and New York has resulted in 39 multi-game trips, a total of 109 games and seeing games in 29 Major League parks.

Seattle is the only Major League city we have yet to visit.

The number of parks has substantially been declining during the past three years, with flights to Texas and California twice.

Stadium No. 28 was visited on June 28, it being to Tropicana Field the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, the field actually being in St. Petersburg, while we ushered in July with a game in Miami, both indoors.

Tropicana Field Tampa Bay is a domed facility, while the Miami Marlins play in a facility which has a retractable roof.

When you go to Florida you think of the outdoors, and we did see one outdoor game, and a part of another. We took in a Bradenton Marauders game, the Marauders being a Class A Pittsburgh Pirate affiliate in the Florida State League. We also attended a Pirates Rookie League game, that team plays in the Gulf Coast League.

Getting back to seeing the 29 parks/stadiums, of course, it couldn't have taken place without Ohio Valley Uniglobe owner Bill Bryson who can't wait for the schedules to come out each year so he can plan the trips, along with side attractions.

Bryson, my wife Linda, and Warren Hood have been to all 29 facilities. Actually, we have been to 32 different baseball stadiums as during the 11-year period the Yankees, Mets and Nationals played in two different stadiums.

Getting back to this most recent trip, we had the opportunity to tour Pirate City.

As you might know, Pirate City is not only the Pirates Spring Training home, but also houses it's minor league complex.

Five years ago these facilities underwent a $20 million renovation as part of the team's new lease which is through 2033.

The upgrades included new lights, a new visitor's clubhouse and renovations to the home clubhouse at McKechnie Field which is up the road from the complex, and new offices, dormitories, a fifth practice field to the minor league complex.

Pirate City is a state-of-the-art training facility.

It might be ironic, but there is a World Series Conference Room on the third floor of the Pirate City building facility.

Stacey Morgan, the coordinator of sales and market for the Pirates' Bradenton complex, was our tour guide. We toured the three story facility and the adjacent dining facility.

By the way, the dormitory is available for rental to the public.

Those on the Florida trip were amazed with Pirate City, and the many things that go into the operations of a Major League team.

While several of the Marauders played in Charleston last year, there were not to many recognizable names. At Pirate City there were several recent draftees, none of which were on the Marauders roster.

If you didn't know differently, you would have believed you were in PNC Park and not McKechnie Field, as everything seem to have Pittsburgh Pirate logos, even the trash cans had the Pirate 'P.''

By the way, while we were in Florida we stayed in Hollywood Beach for two nights so our group did have some time off from baseball.

As the two Major League parks we visited, we learned that Tropicana Field is the only Major League park to feature an artificial surface and all-dirt paths. Astro Turf was installed prior to the 2011 season.

The Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall-of-Fame moved to Tropicana Field in 2206. Fans can view an array of different artifacts and pictures of the ''Greatest hitter that ever lived.''

Tropicana Field features the world's second largest cable supported domed roof, Georgia Dome being the largest.

Seats behind the back stop are some of the closet in the Major Leagues-only 50 feet from home plate.

Miami's park is located on the site of the former Orange Bowl.

One of the attraction's there is a display of some 600 Bobbleheads of former and current players, even team mascots are featured.

One unique think about the Marlins' park is that there is a row of some 20 seats behind the visitor's bullpen, and throughout the game the players and fans were noted conversing.

Source: http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/587268.html

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Brampton memorial garden dedicated to Air Canada victims [Photos] [Video]

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BRAMPTON?-?

Linda Partridge can?t recall much about her mother and father, but she?s thankful she now has a place to honour their memory.

Wayne and Carnis Ann Partridge were among 109 victims who died on Air Canada Flight 621, Canada?s largest domestic air crash, 43 years ago.

Patridge was just six when she lost her parents.

On Sunday, she joined dozens of friends and relatives of the victims at a ceremony to officially open a memorial garden in their loved ones? honour.

?I can?t tell you about my parents, they didn?t live very long. I think I summed up all of my feelings when I said, ?Damn, thank you? because I truly am so grateful to have somewhere to come to now,? Partridge said after the dedication ceremony.

Flight 621 was scheduled to fly out of Montreal and stop off in Toronto before flying to Los Angeles on July 5, 1970. While entering position to land the plane, First Officer Donal Roland mistakenly deployed brake gear, causing the plane to drop. Both Roland and Capt. Peter Hamilton attempted to regain control of the plane, but were unsuccessful. All 100 passengers and nine crew members on board were killed.

Some family members said they had a sense of closure with opening of the memorial garden at the crash site near at McVean Dr. and Castlemore Rd.

?It feels like we?re at a funeral 43 years later, and for me, that is incredibly comforting,? Lynda Fishman, whose two sisters and mother died on the flight, said, standing in the garden.

Fishman authored a book on the events surrounding the crash of Flight 621, Repairing Rainbows, and said it took 40 years for all of the different families to get together and discover one another. She added, ?it?s always better late than never,? and said they?ve become a family of support for each other.

The idea to create a memorial came about three years ago when the various developers were looking into buying the land. They asked residents what they would like done with some of the land, and many requested a park or garden at the crash site. Seven developers behind the River?s Edge community financed the construction of the garden.

Before work on the memorial began, the crash site had been relatively untouched, with the exception of the initial clean up. Developers and family members said there had been incidences where passersby found bones belonging to victims.

Many of the families, including Fishman, blame Air Canada - which was owned by the federal government at the time of the crash - for not taking care of the site earlier, and being reluctant to talk about the incident since it occurred.

?It makes me sick to talk about Air Canada. They should have done this years ago, we should have had a a proper memorial with the grounds properly cleaned up years ago,? Fishman said.

Air Canada created a memorial to to victims at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1979.

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Source: http://www.winnipegsun.com/2013/07/07/brampton-memorial-garden-dedicated-to-air-canada-victims

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Former NBA star, Shaq, bashes Dwight Howard, belittles city of Houston

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Shaquille O'Neal says the Los Angeles spotlight was too bright for Dwight Howard.

Speaking at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, Shaq hammered his former colleague as if they were battling in the post.

O'Neal opened his mouth agape when asked about Howard, who chose to leave the Lakers for the Houston Rockets late Friday, and joked about cheering on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick in Saturday's race.

A few seconds later, he threw an elbow Howard's way.

"It was expected," Shaq said. "We've all been in LA, and not a whole lot of people can handle being under the bright lights. Everybody wants to do it, but when you get there, there are certain pressures. I think it was a safe move for him to go to a little town like Houston. That's right, little town. I said it."

Source: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_23610495/former-nba-star-shaq-bashes-dwight-howard-belittles?source=rss_viewed

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Algeria, EU sign 'strategic' energy deal

AFP - Algeria and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday to develop energy cooperation, EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said.

"This is a strategic document, a tool to develop energy cooperation between Algeria and the EU," he told a news conference.

The agreement, which was under negotiation since 2008, was signed by Barroso and Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.

It covers a broad section of cooperation in the conventional and renewable energy sectors, as well as the transfer of technology, and is expected to help boost investment in Algeria.

Algeria is Europe's third largest provider of natural gas after Russia and Norway, meeting 13-15 percent of the needs of the 28-member bloc.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20130707-algeria-eu-sign-strategic-energy-deal

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2 Koreas talk at border on stalled industrial park

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Delegates from North and South Korea held talks Saturday on restarting a stalled joint factory park that had been a symbol of cooperation between the bitter rivals, but there was no word on whether any significant progress had been made as discussions went into the night.

The Kaesong industrial zone, just north of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, was the centerpiece of inter-Korean projects hatched during a previous era of warming ties. But it was closed in April as tensions rose between the rivals when South Korea held military exercises with U.S. troops not far from the border. North Korea pulled its 53,000 workers out of the industrial park, and South Korea then ordered its managers to leave as well, against their wishes.

Representatives from the two sides met Saturday in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ for working-level talks. A delegate from South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is in charge of relations with the North, said before leaving Seoul that the sides would discuss retrieving products that the South Korean managers left behind at the complex and inspecting the facilities. They also agreed to discuss restarting work at the park.

The talks started just before noon, and were still going on Saturday evening.

South Korean businessman Han Jae-kwon, president of an emergency committee for restarting the park, said he was watching for news on the talks' results at his home in the southern city of Daegu.

"I hope they could narrow their differences," he said.

The park, which brought together North Korean labor and South Korean capital, resulted in nearly $2 billion a year in cross-border trade before its shutdown. It was the last remaining joint project between the two Koreas as relations soured over the past five years.

As the park remained shuttered, South Korean businesses that operated in Kaesong sought rescue funds from the government. Some South Korean businesspeople who were forced to leave their Kaesong factories behind sent a message to government officials near the border city of Paju as they headed to the talks Saturday, holding placards that read "We want to work."

The closure meant a loss of salary for tens of thousands of North Korean workers employed in factories run by 123 South Korean companies, and a loss of goods and orders for business managers who relied on Kaesong to churn out everything from shoes and watches to cables and electrical components.

Saturday's talks came after a protocol disagreement last month resulted in the Koreas calling off what would have been the first senior-level meeting in years.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-koreas-talk-border-stalled-industrial-park-125811833.html

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Source: http://emmanueladegbola.com/use-search-engine-optimization-like-a-pro/

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Ariz. town recalls fallen firefighters during 4th

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) ? As many in this Old West town used the Independence Day celebration to honor 19 fallen firefighters, bereaved families began speaking more publically of their loved ones.

Coleen Turbyfill, mother of Travis Turbyfill, 27, on Thursday recalled that she had misgivings when her son's elite Hotshot firefighting crew set out for a blaze burning so close she could see the flames, but he comforted her and told her, "This is what I love."

Turbyfill and his 18 colleagues were killed Sunday battling a wildfire south of here in Yarnell, not far from the place they called home.

A day after Prescott remembered their brothers, there were several significant signs of progress Friday at the fire.

Electric power and propane company crews were to begin restoring service and inspecting gas tanks for leaks or other damage. The crews will be "trying to make it safe when the people come back to stop in and go about their lives," said fire management team spokesman Jim Whittington.

Also, fire bosses are releasing some of the assigned personnel because only so many crews can work in the areas where fire-break lines haven't been completed, he said. The latest count of assigned personnel was 550, down from nearly 600.

The fire is 80 percent contained, and that is expected to increase Friday as firefighters do more work on rugged, rocky terrain on the fire's north side, Whittington said.

The fire destroyed more than 100 houses and burned about 13 square miles. Yarnell remains evacuated, but many residents of the nearby community of Peoples Valley are allowed to return. Most others could be home this weekend.

The weather was relatively calm overnight with cloud cover Friday morning and increased humidity, but a change was in the forecast, Whittington said. Weather in recent days had thunderstorms forming to the east and north of the fire area, but thunderstorms expected later Friday could come from the south, from the Phoenix area, he said.

"So we'll have to be watching our southern flank," he said. "We have to be heads up on that."

Sudden wind shifts turned the fire on the Hotshots crew on Sunday.

The firefighters had deployed to what was thought to be a manageable lightning-caused forest fire near the small town of Yarnell, about 60 miles from Phoenix. Violent winds fueled the blaze and trapped the team. The Hotshots deployed their emergency fire shelters, but only the crew's lookout survived.

A red-eyed Amanda Marsh called a press conference Thursday to make her first public statements about her husband, Hotshot leader and founder Eric Marsh.

"Eric and I don't have children but he said that all the men on the crew were his kids," she told reporters at the local high school, a row of 16 firefighters standing behind her for support.

Across town, more than 10,000 residents found release for days' worth of pent up emotion in fireworks, dancing to patriotic songs, and the freedom to shout "America!" whenever the mood struck.

"It's a relief," said resident Todd Lynd as he watched a cover band play in front of a banner commemorating the fallen firefighters. "It's hard to heal by yourself."

The celebration ? traditionally the biggest day of the year in this city of 40,000 ? played out against the backdrop of handmade memorials, including clusters of 19 mini-American flags on grass lawns and rows of 19 candles glowing in packed restaurants.

Families of the Hotshots who attended the nighttime fireworks display were together but apart from the crowd, escorted by police to a separate viewing area.

On Saturday, the town will hold its traditional July Fourth parade, which features cowboys on horses, and winds around the elm-lined courthouse square.

The men's bodies, still in Phoenix for the autopsies, are expected to arrive on Sunday. Each firefighter will be driven in a hearse accompanied by motorcycle escorts and American flags.

A memorial service planned for Tuesday is expected to draw thousands.

Sunday's tragedy raised questions of whether the usual precautions would have made any difference in the face of triple-digit temperatures, erratic winds and tinderbox conditions. A team of forest managers and safety experts is investigating.

While firefighters and support personnel have focused on the fire itself, "there's still an issue of what happened here" Sunday, Whittington said.

___

Associated Press writers Paul Davenport and Amanda Lee Myers in Phoenix, Allen Breed and Felicia Fonseca in Prescott and Martin Di Caro in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ariz-town-recalls-fallen-firefighters-during-4th-085052894.html

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