A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware has approved the Chapter 11 reorganization plan of Freedom Communications, owner of The Orange County Register in California and other media properties.
Under the plan approved Tuesday, Freedom's secured lenders including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of New York Mellon would assume ownership of the company in return for cutting the debt owed to them by nearly 60 percent, to $325 …
With the golf world unable to produce a single rival for TigerWoods, the elements are starting to gang up on him.
The combination of flu, fatigue, fading light and "El Nino"finally put the brakes on Woods' runaway train, albeit in anunofficial, made-for-TV exhibition.
Less than 24 hours after another record-setting victory, Woodsflew three time zones west to face Sergio Garcia in the Battle atBighorn on Monday in Palm Desert, Calif. Though Woods played bogey-free golf, Garcia birdied four of his last five holes to win 1 up.
"He putted beautifully today," Woods said, "and more important, hedrove it beautifully. That put him in position to hit iron shots tothe …
LONDON (AP) — Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard will miss England's European Championship qualifier against Montenegro next month as he continues his slow recovery from hernia surgery.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti says Lampard will not return to action for at least another two weeks as he "needs more time than we expected for his …
BEIJING (AP) — China said Tuesday that it is considering new legislation to better define terrorism and allow for the public listing of terrorist groups, in an effort to strengthen prosecution against domestic threats and bolster Beijing's role in international cooperation.
A proposal before the national legislature would provide more specific legal definitions for terrorists and terrorist acts based on Chinese and international precedents, making it easier to bring terrorism charges, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The proposal targets those using violence, sabotage or threats in hopes of intimidating or coercing governments or international organizations. Incitement, …
HUTTON: St Martin's School has been presented with a Silver Awardfor being one of the toprevising schools in the country. The awardcomes from SAM Learning, an online revision service which has beenused by more than half of all …
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.
Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said.
Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."
"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, …
Comic George Lopez is getting into the late-night talk show game.
TBS says Lopez will start a new talk show in November. It will air Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m., and Lopez promises an outdoor street-party atmosphere.
Lopez starred for six seasons in an ABC …
The first thing financially troubled homeowners should do whenthey know they can't pay their mortgage is notify the lender.
Warned of your financial problem before payment is due, a bankor S&L is much more likely to work with you.
Even if you miss only one mortgage payment, it's probable you'llbe hit with a late-charge penalty. Most lenders charge a 5 percentpenalty for payments made after the 15th of the month - that's $40 onan $800 mortgage.
If you are 60 days late, a bank or S&L will turn your accountover to its collection department. After 90 days, it goes to thelegal department and foreclosure proceedings start.
Borrowers with good payment …
SEATTLE (AP) — Green River Killer Gary Ridgway, already serving 48 life terms for a strangling binge that made him one of the nation's most prolific murderers, was charged Monday in yet another death after teenagers exploring a ravine south of Seattle discovered the skull of one of his earliest victims.
Ridgway already confessed to killing Rebecca "Becky" Marrero, a 20-year-old mother and prostitute last seen when she left a motel in 1982. But prosecutors declined to include her case in a 2003 plea deal that spared Ridgway the death penalty, because he was not able to provide conclusive evidence that he killed her.
The plea deal required Ridgway to plead guilty to future King …
In a move that signals Tyson Foods Inc. believes its chicken business is again profitable, the world's largest meat maker has named a new CEO to replace interim head Leland Tollett, who had been tapped in January to help weather an industry downturn.
Donnie Smith, Tyson's senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods, will take over for Tollett immediately, according to a statement from the company, which is based in Springdale, Ark.
In January, Tollett returned to the company he led from 1991 to 1998 to see the chicken business through a slump involving record high prices for key ingredients like corn and weak restaurant demand that hurt prices it …
Here's the scoop on Vice President and Tipper Gore's privateweekend with good pals Mayor and Maggie Daley: The foursome had an early dinner alone Saturday (except for 20Secret Service agents) in the Italian Village's Vivere restaurant,entering through the eatery's alley entrance at 5:30 p.m. . ..Observers knew something was up, as Monroe Street was blocked bypolice beginning at 3 p.m. . . .Absolutely no photos were allowed -the mayor stressing to co-owner Al Capitanini that "this is strictlya private visit." . . .But Gore sure acted like a candidate, shakinghands and greeting other Vivere customers, just like he was on thestump.
The Veepster ate duck (maybe because …
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Landon Donovan scored in the 36th and 91st minutes to help the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Kansas City Wizards 2-0 on Saturday night and snap a 10-game losing streak.
It also was the first win for last-place Los Angeles (3-10-3) under new head coach Frank Yallop. The Wizards (6-7-2) lost for the third time in eight days and fell into third place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference.
Donovan, fresh off playing for the United States in the World Cup, scored his first goal after midfielder Josh Gardner dribbled around fallen Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad and drove into the Kansas City penalty area. Gardner shuffled a pass to Herculez, who fired a shot. Conrad recovered to block Gomez's shot, but Donovan was stationed just outside the right post and knocked the rebound home.
The second goal came in extra time when Quavas Kirk slid a cross to an unmarked Donovan dashing in from the left side.
Before Saturday, the Galaxy had last won on April 29, 3-2 victory over Real Salt Lake.
Four years ago, Jerry Bailey rolled to a mammoth afternoon onMillion Day at Arlington Park. The Hall of Fame reinsmanopened by winning the $750,000 Beverly D. for Gary Tanaka aboard SnowPolina. He then piloted Bobby Frankel's Chester House to victory inthe Million, which that particular day was worth a one-time gross of$2 million.
Bailey concluded his grand drop-in by almost winning the $400,000Secretariat on 3-5 favorite King Cugat. Only a determined stretch runby Mick Kinane astride Aidan O'Brien's Ciro prevented a Bailey sweepof Arlington's three Grade I races. King Cugat finished second by onelength.
Saturday at Arlington, some industry experts suggest that the 48-year-old jockey has an even stronger hand heading into the Big Threeof the oval's International Festival of Racing. He is listed on twomorning-line favorites, including Million chalk Sweet Return (7-2)and overwhelming Secretariat favorite Kitten's Joy (8-5). And hisBeverly D. mount --Frankel's Commercante (5-2) -- is second pickbehind Musical Chimes (2-1).
Is the first sweep of the AP golden trio looming?
Not so fast," Bailey said after a full afternoon of riding atSaratoga on Thursday. "You can only take things one race at a time.Do I like my three mounts on Saturday? Yes, definitely. But am Igoing in thinking I'm going to sweep the International Festival ofRacing? I don't think that's a good approach to take. Talk to meafter two and I'll let you know where I'm at."
Still, Bailey acknowledged that Kitten's Joy -- trained by theskyrocketing Kentuckian Dale Romans -- is 'probably the best 3-year-old in the country." He said Commercante is "a filly that Iabsolutely love. She tries so hard."
But Sweet Return in the Million?
'That is such a hard race," Bailey said. "Not that the othersaren't. But with a 13-horse field and all of the spotlight, so manythings have to go right for you to win. We have an excellent shot, Iwill say that."
Bailey is 2-for-6 lifetime in the Million. He is a neoned 2-for-3in the Bev. D, also winning with Memories of Silver in 1997. But heis 0-for-8 in the Secretariat with the place effort aboard King Cugatbeing his best finish.
THE NEW YORK-BASED SUPERSTAR is one of five jockeys listed withmounts in all three classics. Others include Frankie Dettori, who hasCrimson Palace (15-1) in the Bev. D, Vespone (12-1) in the Millionand Hazyview (9-2) in the Secretariat and Pat Day, with Bev D.starter Riskaverse (12-1), Mr. O'Brien (8-1) in the Million and CoolConductor (6-1) in the Secretariat.
Also trying to triple are Edgar Prado (Aubonne, Bev. D, 30-1;Magistretti, Million, 30-1; and Greek Sun, Secretariat, 3-1) and 23-year-old Irishman Jamie Spencer (Necklace, Bev. D, 12-1; Powerscourt,Million 4-1; and Moscow Ballet, Secretariat, 5-1).
O'Brien and Frankel are the only trainers with starters in allthree of Arlington's main events.
TIM YAKTEEN, an assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, confirmed thatthe West Coast-based star will not be coming to Arlington thisweekend to saddle Sabiango (6-1) and Senor Swinger (12-1) in theMillion. Yakteen said that Baffert will monitor progress fromSouthern California while Yakteen and Mick Jenner complete finalhands-on work.
ON THE SUBJECT of jockey oddities, keenest Million clockers notethat of the 13 scheduled starters, only one -- Senor Swinger, withBrice Blanc -- was ridden to victory in his last start by the riderslated to pilot him on Saturday.
Four starters -- Magistretti (Prado), Kicken Kris (KentDesormeaux), Sabiango (Victor Espinoza) and Hatif (Mike Smith) --will be steered for the first time by the jockeys aboard them atMillion post time.
TODAY'S DAILY RACING FORM will carry complete past performancesfor all three of Saturday's classics. Legendary Form artist PierreBellcoq ("PEB") has completed work on a cover focusing on the APInternational Festival of Racing for Saturday's edition of the turfBible.
EPALO, ONE OF THE latest German runners set to compete for Milliondeutschmarks, galloped on the Arlington turf Thursday. "Just tostretch his legs," said trainer Andreas Schutz. ... Day and Baileyare the only jocks scheduled to compete on Saturday who have wonMillions.
The Pioneer Valley will soon be bidding adieu to one of its most controversial corporate citizens.
Syracuse, N.Y.-based pyramid Companies, owner of the Holyoke Mall and the Hampshire Mall, is selling those properties along with the rest of its huge portfolio. And as the conglomerate that changed the retail landscape of the Pioneer Valley prepares to exit the regional stage, BusinessWest looks at the legacy the company will leave in its wake.
Both the mall and Pyramid have their share of supporters and detractors lined up along familiar battle lines; members of Holyoke's business and political establishment generally consider the mall an economic plus and Pyramid a good corporate neighbor, while various citizens' coalitions believe the mall has drained the life out of downtowns throughout the Pioneer Valley and that Pyramid has ripped the city off blind. It is probably fair to say that most of the mall's 14 million annual visitors don't think about it's impact on the region, one way or the other.
Much ink has been spent on Pyramid, from the New York Times on down to the local dailies in communities where the company has a presence. A picture emerges of a hugely successful organization that pursues its interests with single-minded intensity. Pyramid Chairman Richard Congel appears as a Robert Moses-type but without the Master Builder's sense of aesthetics. Whereas Moses obliterated New York neighborhoods to build parks and bridges, Congel deposits malls. Choose your adjective; Pyramid has been described as a "mall-building juggernaut," a "Goliath," a "ruthless, unscrupulous giant," and as "the worst kind of corporate citizen."
Certainly, Pyramid has beaten back almost every challenge to its development and expansion plans. Whether it was buying elections, overriding environmental concerns, beating back abutters' resistance to expansion, or challenging tax assessments, Pyramid's deep pockets and powerful legal muscle have proved too much for small communities to handle.
Pyramid brings to the table a sophisticated knowledge of land-use and zoning laws and a mastery of local political processes to achieve its ends. A common tactic is to employ litigation as a means of forcing cities and towns, where tax assessment offices are often undermanned and poorly equipped, to lower tax obligations on Pyramid properties. But whether it is exploiting election law loopholes in New York or end-running environmental protection statutes in Massachusetts and Vermont, even the company's opponents generally concede that Pyramid appears to operate within the letter, if not the spirit, of the law.
Locally, abutters and tenants recall numerous horror stories of being bullied by Pyramid. And no less an authority on the subject than former Holyoke Mayor Ernest Proux once said of the company, "you were dealing with a group that would cut your heart out and eat it for lunch."
It was Pyramid that motivated Ward 3 City Councilor Helen Norris to get into politics in the first place.
"One of the reasons I ran for office was to look at the tax assessing office and some of the practices there regarding the mall," she said. "I found that the mall was not appropriately assessed and, as a result, small businesses in town were subsidizing it."
Money Talks
"You shouldn't be able to do what we did in Poughkeepsie," said Congel in response to a report by the New York State Commission on Government Integrity that found Pyramid had funneled $776,967 to four candidates in 1985 Town Board elections. The four candidates supported a zoning change that Pyramid needed to develop a mall, and the company's massive infusion of funds -- in elections where all candidates combined spent around $20,000 - was enough to put its chosen few over the top.
Poughkeepsie is a good case study of the lengths to which Pyramid will go to get its way. Operating through three political committees -- The New York Republican State Committee, The New York Republican Federal Campaign Committee and Building a Better New York -- Pyramid channeled the funds without ever disclosing its role and, according to the commission, "embarked on a massive litigation strategy in an effort to keep the company's involvement from public view."
Leaving nothing to chance, Pyramid also hired an attorney who was council to the New York State Election Law Committee, the very body that was later called upon to investigate the campaign contributions.
Powerhouse lobbying firm Campaign Strategies was also hired, which distributed massive amounts of literature through direct mail and door-to-door campaigning. The literature, avoiding any mention of Pyramid or its plans, focused on the two issues -- lower taxes and better planning -- found to be of paramount interest to voters. More than 80 different brochures and letters were mailed to voters during the three-week campaign.
In an internal memo from Campaign Strategies, the company stated that "effective, sophisticated research reveals public perceptions and guides us in changing those perceptions." The direct mail "allowed us to create artificial issues" that enabled Pyramid to "reposition itself and the mall as concerned members of the community rather than as an alien presence concerned only with economic gain."
The strategy was successful, and all of the Pyramid-supported candidates won. They voted for the zoning change, and all lost their seats in the next election, after Pyramid withdrew its presence and its funds for new hunting grounds.
"They went straight to the center of power and played a bigger league political game than this town has ever seen," former Poughkeepsie Town Supervisor Anna Buchholz told the New York Times. "It startled us to discover that outside money could have such an impact and it shattered people's illusions about the sanctity of local government."
Congel had a different take. "It was a choice we made and I'm proud of it," he was quoted as saying. "We need predators and we need prey. All things are needed to keep the balance."
In the Pioneer Valley, the predator moved in different ways. While there is no direct evidence that Pyramid influenced local elections, the company's presence was certainly felt by local officials, mall tenants, and abutters.
Lease on Life?
Perched on 47.25 acres at 50 Holyoke Street, the Mall sits just off Exit 15 on I-91. Just as the Connecticut River used to bring commerce into the city, that function is now served by the Interstate, the route by which shoppers arrive from Vermont, Connecticut and Western New York State. Multi-lane exits, access roads and well-coordinated traffic lights seamlessly steer shoppers into the mall's free parking lots.
The mall has 208 stores, restaurants and kiosks, including such plums as Filene's, Filene's Basement, Lord & Taylor, Toys "R" Us, J.C. Penney and Sears. Tenants are often bound by long-term leases of up to 10 years, and also make percentage-of-sales payments to Pyramid, as well as paying into common funds to cover costs for parking, maintenance, utilities, association fees and other charges.
Those numbers Can be substantial. Though Pyramid keeps its leasing information secret, details were revealed in a 1987 article in the now-defunct Holyoke Transcript-Telegram of a lawsuit brought against the mall by Taco Lindo, then a tenant. Holyoke City Councilor Norris said she recalled that, after the article was published, most mall-based advertising was withdrawn from the ill-fated newspaper.
The lawsuit -- for allegedly breaching an oral agreement that no other Mexican restaurant be allowed to open, and for allegedly allowing mice and other rodents to thrive in the mall's basement -- revealed that the small restaurant was paying $1,550 per-month in rent, an 18% administrative fee, 9% of its gross sales, a 3% management fee, maintenance fees, a percentage of shared operating costs, and an additional $35,000 for its share of building costs.
Those fees may have been a little too hefty. In 1995, 18 merchants -- including many from the Holyoke Mall and Hampshire Mall, where the issues were first raised -- filed a $192 million lawsuit against Pyramid in Northern District Federal Court in Syracuse, N.Y. The suit alleges that Pyramid "fraudulently and systematically" overcharged merchants for rent, utilities, property taxes and other fees. At least one of the claims is filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The suit includes seven tenants of the Galleria in Buffalo, N. Y., who claimed the company had defrauded them "through deliberately duplicated and grossly exaggerated ... common area costs and real property taxes." One tenant in the action claimed to have paid more than $100,000 in "excessive common area costs" over a five-year period.
And in 1993, Edison Brothers (Oak Tree, Chess King), filed suit over the same issues; in 1994, New York-based retail conglomerate Melville Corporation (Kay-Bee Toys, CVS), also filed suit over the same issues, followed by Transworld Entertainment (Record Town, Coconuts) in 1995.
The latter suit alleges that Pyramid steadfastly refused to open its books, contrary to common industry practice, or discuss with tenants how it arrives at the fees. Additionally, Pyramid is accused of being particularly heavy-handed in collecting the fees.
And while Pyramid is a tough customer with its tenants, it can play even rougher with the communities that play host to its malls.
Taxing Situation
The impending sale of the Pyramid portfolio is of critical importance to Holyoke. The city relies on taxes from the mall to survive and the new owner will be under intense scrutiny to see if it behaves like its predecessor. The total tax assessment on Pyramid for fiscal 1998 is $5,581,306, or an astronomical 19.7% of Holyoke's total tax levy for this year. According to Key Seyffer, president of the Holyoke Taxpayers Association, the mall is easily the city's largest taxpayer, far surpassing Northeast Utilities, which pays less than $1 million in taxes.
Holyoke is desperate to increase its tax base. Linda Morneau, a Holyoke assessor, said at a June meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that the city lost $50 million in tax revenues from its industrial base over the last eight years. That number is catastrophic when one considers that the total 1997 tax levy was only $25,569,540, or just over 31% of the city's total budget, with the remainder coming from state aid.
Moreover, a 1996 survey of Holyoke bonds by Moody's Municipal found that "a declining tax base ... will continue to present a significant challenge" to the city. Moody's also said that "following a revaluation in 1995, the city recorded a 22% decrease in assessed valuation, putting the city close to its Proposition 2 1/2 primary levy limit."
The devaluation was another severe blow to Holyoke, one of 178 Massachusetts cities and towns at or near its tax levy limit. Because of Proposition 2 1/2, the amount the city can raise through taxes is restricted to 2.5% of the city's total valuation; that number is close to $1.2 billion, and 2.5% of that is around $29.6 million. When the city's total valuation goes down, the amount of money it can raise through taxes -- divided amongst retail, industrial and residential taxpayers -- goes down as well.
"If the levy is reached the only way to go around it is an override, and we'll never see that again," said Seyffer. "Through tax classification you can spread the $29.6 million between residential, commercial and industrial. Someone has to pay more."
Given this backdrop, the question -- is the mall paying its fair share of taxes? -- takes on greater significance. But to answer it requires two pieces of information; how big is the mall, and what is it worth?
Pyramid has gone to extraordinary lengths to withhold the data that the city needs to answer those questions. According to Anthony Dulude, Holyoke's chief tax assessor, Pyramid has never allowed the city to see its leases or income and expense statements.
In 1993, then-mall manager Maurice Molod received a notarized request from the Board of Assessors asking for that data. "Failure of an owner to comply with such request within 60 days shall bar him from statutory appeal," the letter read, citing the relevant Massachusetts law.
Pyramid never responded, and to this day no one in Holyoke knows what those numbers are. And although it is impossible to put a fair value on the mall without that information, Robert Bateman, Director of the Holyoke's Office of Economic and Industrial Development, is unconcerned.
"There's nothing unusual about that," he said. "The mall doesn't have to share that, it's proprietary. Any large taxpayer questions their assessment. It's standard practice. It's one of the ordinary day-to-day things that a large business does."
Thomas Ripa, a former interim town conservation officer and an activist with numerous citizens' coalitions, differs with Bateman's assessment. Ripa said that numerous state laws and DOR regulations require all taxpayers to supply that information. He also thinks the city has an obligation to tax the mall using the same rigorous standards that are applied to homeowners and that, at a minimum, undervaluing the mall has cost each residential taxpayer between $1,000 and $1,400 over the past 10 years.
"There has been a catastrophic failure of the civil service in Holyoke -- tax assessors, the legal department, the building department and code inspectors -- to perform on even a minimal basis," he said.
Norris said the Assessor's Office has improved its operations over the years, but not necessarily in terms of putting a fair value on the mall. It was through her own efforts, she said, with assistance from Ripa and others, that resulted in the mall's taxes being raised from around $1.8 million in 1994 to more than $3.5 million in 1995.
"It took me literally five years to make any impact on valuation, to get it close to where it should be, but I am not convinced it is exactly there," she said.
Norris said that prior to 1994, the Board of Assessors did not even keep minutes of their meetings and the City Council did not review the qualifications of assessors; they were simply appointed. Those policies resulted in some questionable practices that probably cost the city millions of dollars in tax revenues over the years. In 1992, for example, the Cole Layer Trumble Company, an assessing firm, valued the mall at around $91 million, but a document from the assessors office shows that figure crossed out and replaced with a lesser figure of just over $77 million.
Norris said that it was Anthony Dulude who worked the magic; Dulude would not comment on the document.
"There was a lot of pressure on Tony, but why didn't he come to the City Council with it," said Norris. "It was just a case of bending over when someone comes in with Guccis and alligator shoes. That move raised the taxes of all other businesses in the community."
On top of that, said Norris, Pyramid then had the gall to ask for a tax abatement in addition to the reduction in valuation. In a 1994 letter, Norris and former City Councilor Elaine Pluta wrote to then-mayor William Hamilton about the $62,000 abatement.
Norris and Pluta concluded that the abatement and revaluation more than wiped out the $400,000 in increased tax revenues that the mall expansion was to have provided to the city. They also said that the valuation adjustment and tax abatements were voted on "behind closed doors in violation of open meeting laws."
"When small businesses in Holyoke are paying full freight on their taxes, and certain big businesses seem to get special tax breaks ... a deep and corrosive cynicism is fostered in the fairness of government," Norris and Pluta concluded in their letter. The two councilors said that the total loss to the city was $579,934.
Norris remains firmly against giving the mall any tax breaks. "If they have the location, I don't think Pyramid needs any other perks," she said. "They have sucked everything out of Holyoke that they possibly can to maximize their profits."
Norris is certainly on the mark in describing the pressure that Dulude is under. He is bound by a number of state laws and precedents that require all properties to be taxed at their full and fair values. But in the world of real politics, he has to respond to the whims of the powers that be.
In a Feb. 27, 1987, letter to the Holyoke Board of Assessors from Pyramid lawyer David Nettina, a settlement is described whereby, in apparent contradiction of the DOR-recommended valuation methods -- and in a period or nationwide retail growth -- the assessed value of the Holyoke Mall would remain at $60 million for the fiscal years 1986, 1987 and 1988.
Nettina wrote: "We understand the next tax bill is due out in March and will be received indicating an assessed value of $76 million. We will file, and your office will grant promptly, an abatement re-establishing this value to be $60 million."
Dulude certainly makes a case for being completely outgunned. The assessors office wasn't even computerized until 1994, he said, and a staff of six has to assess and collect 40,000 excise bills.
Dulude said the city has only two options with Pyramid; it could have taken Pyramid to court -- and still can -- or it can make estimates as to a fair valuation for the mall. For now the city has chosen the latter option, said Dulude, because litigation is expensive and there is no guarantee that the city would win.
The assessor's office would not provide any valuation data on the mall. But valuations obtained by previously supplied documents from the tax assessors office indicate that, for 1987, the city's valuation for the mall was $76,876,000; for 1993, the figure was $74,578,800; for 1994, $79,578,800, and for 1995, $101,654,600.
The mall's true gross leasable area has proven to be as nebulous a statistic as its revenue and leasing streams. Dulude puts the total gross area of the mall at 1.432 million square feet, or 1.315 million square feet adjusted for valuation. Meanwhile, in marketing and public relations materials, A1 Parent, the mall's marketing director, offers only the single figure of 1.6 million.
A 1992 valuation survey by the Cole Layer Trumble Company put the total square footage for valuation purposes at 1,306,448 square feet, excluding parking. That survey was done before the 550,000 square-foot expansion finished in 1995, suggesting that the present mall is no less than 1.850 million square feet.
Dulude said that Braintree-based Patriot Properties provides square footage estimates and valuations based on averages throughout Western Massachusetts. "They use state averages for leases and expenses," he said. "Pyramid provides maps and blueprints of the mall and we operate off of the stuff provided by Pyramid."
Ripa believes those documents are meaningless.
"They could have any number of sets of blueprints," he said. "Unless you put a team in there with surveyor wheels who are prepared to spend six weeks measuring the gross leasable area, there is no other way to derive a true measure of how to tax the building. To my knowledge this has never been done."
Ripa said that during the 1980s there was a massive internal expansion within the mall. He said eight fountains in the food court area were converted into retail space; that the former cinema areas, and J.C. Penney's automotive and maintenance areas were similarly converted.
"It was a common occurrence for malls to do," he said. "They narrowed the width of common areas to increase the leasable space." But Dulude said he was not aware of any internal expansion.
Ripa said that assessment summaries from Patriot Properties were "woefully lacking" in listing permits for renovation additions and expansions. He also said that Patriot described the mall's exterior as "brick veneer" when its actually pre-cast concrete; that a count of 20 restrooms is way off, and that the heating type is described as gas when, in fact, the mall is heated by electrically heated forced hot air.
Those errors indicate that Patriot did not conduct an on-site valuation survey and that Pyramid cannot be trusted to provide accurate data, said Ripa.
"That's the reason why the Massachusetts Department of Revenue recommends a leasing stream method for valuing shopping malls," he said, "and why its so critical for the city to be able to examine income and expense statements."
Pressure Situation
Holyoke is not the only community that has fallen prey to the company that has made an art form out of refusing to pay taxes in the hope its host will eventually give up and settle for less.
The Crossgate Mall in Guilderland, N.Y., was assessed at $187 million in 1997. Pyramid challenged the assessment for the fifth time in as many years, claiming the valuation should have been 40% less. It took the town five years of litigation just to review Pyramid's income and expense statements.
"I feel that Pyramid pressures us into lowering the assessment whether it's justified or not," David Galarneau, the town assessor, was quoted as saying. "All they do is throw lawyers at us and we don't have the money to fight back."
According to a report in the Buffalo News, Guilderland spent $80,000 in 1996 alone in litigation with Pyramid.
The town of Wallkill, N.Y., has been in litigation with Pyramid since the 1992 opening of the Galleria at Crystal Run.
"They feel they are about 40% over-assessed," town assessor Molly Wanat told the local press. "It's been very difficult."
Some towns just give up. In the Western New York town of Cheektowaga, the assessment on an undeveloped parcel near a Pyramid mall was reduced from $350,000 to $1,000 after challenges from the company. The tax bill for the Riverside Mall in Utica was lowered by one third, from $1.8 million to $1.2 million. In 1996, the town of Plattsburg, N.Y. settled four different assessment challenges by Pyramid; the assessment on Champlain North Mall was reduced from $49.5 million to $41 million.
In August, 1997, Pyramid challenged the assessment of a mall in West Seneca, N.Y. The assessment was later reduced to $2 million from the original $3.2 million.
Companies like Pyramid are "approaching the tax as something that's negotiable," James Culver of the New York State Tax Association told the Buffalo News. "Taxpayers should be outraged that this is happening, and they don't even know."
But the taxpayers who do know also know something else. A citizen activist fighting the 1996 challenge in Guilderland put it succinctly. "If they get what they are looking for ... that has to be made up by the rest of the taxpayers," he said.
Meanwhile, those who cross Pyramid find themselves often facing expensive, time-consuming litigation designed to bully challengers into submission.
The town supervisor from Watertown, N.Y., Ralph Dickinson, once referred to Pyramid's actions as a "con job." He was rewarded with a libel suit. "Where they might fail," he wrote, "they threaten legal action to attempt to intimidate ... they file lawsuits based on distortions, half-truths and falsehoods. They try to portray themselves as good corporate citizens by throwing a few nickels and dimes around for PR purposes. Greed is their motivation, and only greed. I would never trust anything they say. They are the worst kind of corporate citizen."
Former Pittsfield mayor Charles Smith didn't have to go to such lengths to attract a lawsuit. Pyramid sued Smith personally, along with the city of Pittsfield, for $31 million, after Smith failed to agree to Pyramid's proposal to build a 600,000-square-foot mall. A ruling against Pyramid was upheld at the appeals level, but the city was obliged to spend more than $100,000 to defend itself.
The Clarkstown, N.Y. Courier attempted to summarize Pyramid in an editorial; "For the last 15 years, the Pyramid Companies have followed the same game plan whenever they have built a mall. First they have purchased the bulk of the land at a deep discount ... then they have hired influential local spokesmen, contributed liberally to local political parties, and removed any town council member who stood in their way ... that's the Pyramid formula."
Where There's a Will ...
Unlike in, say, Poughkeepsie, in Holyoke there is no proof that Pyramid ever funneled money to anyone. The company does have powerful advocates at the local level, however. They are represented by the influential Holyoke law firm of Resnic, Beauregard, Waite & Driscoll. Bateman, former City Solicitor Daniel Glanville and many others have all attested to Pyramid's good corporate citizenship.
Former mall manager Maurice Molod served on the board of the Holyoke Economic Development and Industrial Council during the controversial mall expansion in 1994 when, in an extraordinary legal maneuver, the company, with the assistance of HIED and the City Council, secured a Public Works Economic Development Grant of $1 million from the state. At the time, Pyramid's expansion plans were stalled over wetlands concerns off of Whitney Avenue, but the 11th hour grant from the state allowed those concerns to be overridden by moving Whitney Avenue over and around the disputed wetlands.
Norris, who said Molod was an active player in securing the state grant despite his dual role as mall manager, said that the money from the state could have been used for a number of more pressing concerns -- such as traffic problems in the Elmwood section of the city stemming from the mall -- instead of benefiting a mall owner whose personal wealth is estimated to be in excess of $200 million.
"There are now better than 10,000 cars a day traveling through quiet residential streets," she said. "Some of the residents of Elmwood are literally prisoners in their own neighborhoods.
But it was the Sisters of Providence, who have lived in and served Holyoke for 125 years, who were most adversely impacted by the mall expansion. To the Sisters' eternal misfortune, their property abuts the mall.
Their problems with the mall began back in the late 1970s, when they had to install methane gas detectors after an explosion during the mall's initial construction.
Then, runoff from the mall's parking lots caused severe erosion in Tannery Brook, which crosses the Sisters' property. After four years of litigation, Pyramid agreed to pay for improvements that the company "had agreed to make four years earlier," Sr. Kathleen Popko, a spokesperson for the Sisters, said at the time. She also said that gas odors, debris, litter, and break-ins posed constant problems, and that the Sisters were awakened by snow plows in the winter and motorcycles in summer.
Then the real problems began. When Pyramid first proposed that the mall be expanded, the Sisters agreed, stipulating only that the expansion be contained to an area at the North end of the mall. Sister Popko said that Pyramid attorney John Mason readily agreed.
But when Mason showed up two years later with the expansion plans, it was to the southern end of the mall -- right up against the Sisters' Motherhouse -- that the sprawl was to be added.
Popko said at the time that Mason's response was; "That was two years ago ... times change."
To the Future
Ripa hopes that things will be different under a new regime. "My efforts all along have been to have some equity for the homeowner in Holyoke who has to pay his or her taxes every quarter," he said. "They should be paying less and the mall should be paying more."
Bateman said it's hard to predict how a new mall owner will behave, but indicated that it will likely be business as usual. "No one can forecast what a new owner will do," he said "They will contact me and the mayor, meet with us, and develop a relationship."
Ripa, who gives Pyramid high marks for its success in fostering such relationships, scoffs at Bateman's comments.
"Pyramid did what they were supposed to do by holding their value where they wanted it held," he said, "but the city gets a F-minus. This group will never be able to tax the mall properly. You don't sit down with a bear and ask it if it wants to eat your family for lunch."
Chinese shares rose Thursday, led by securities and metals, after regulators eased rules on major shareholders buying a company's shares in another move meant to boost slumping prices.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.64 percent, or 80.69 points, to close at 2,297.50. The Shenzhen Composite Index for China's smaller second market grew 3.15 percent to close at 607.794.
Regulators announced they will let major shareholders in a company buy its shares up to 10 days before it reports financial results, easing a previous 30-day limit. That came after the government said earlier it would try to boost markets by encouraging state companies to buy back their own shares.
"It seems that the government has achieved the goal of stopping the slide," said Zhang Gang, strategist for Central China Securities. "The rebound has not finished yet, but whether it lasts will depend on later policies."
Securities brokerages rose sharply on expectations they will benefit from more trading activity.
Citic Securities, the brokerage unit of China's biggest investment company, climbed by the daily limit of 10 percent to 23.08 yuan. Haitong Securities Co., also soared 10 percent, rising to 19.66 yuan.
China United Telecommunications Corp., or Unicom, leapt 10 percent to 5.43 yuan after its parent company bought about 50 million Unicom shares in Shanghai on Wednesday.
Steel producers and coal miners rebounded as investors hunted bargains following a price decline.
Baoshan Iron & Steel Corp. advanced 9.49 percent to 7.15 yuan. Coal producer China Shenhua Energy Ltd. added 7.55 percent to 28.07 yuan.
In currency markets, China's yuan strengthened to 6.8197 to the U.S. dollar, up from Wednesday's close of 6.8237.
Texas child welfare authorities returned to a polygamous sect's ranch in search of children who may have arrived since more than 460 minors living on the property were swept into state custody last month.
Guy Jessop, a guard at the main gate of the dusty ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, greeted two Child Protective Service workers who were accompanied by a sheriff's deputy Wednesday. The child welfare agents asked whether they could enter the ranch to look for more children.
Jessop denied them access. The child welfare agency could seek a court order to force ranch residents to allow officials in; a search warrant is for criminal matters, which the agency doesn't investigate.
Child welfare spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner would not comment publicly on whether the agency would seek a court order. She said workers went to make initial inquiries and were conferring with law enforcers about how to proceed. Any children on the Yearning For Zion Ranch would have arrived after the raid in April, she said.
FLDS elder Willie Jessop said he was not certain whether children were on the 1,700-acre (688-hectare) ranch. He added that if there were, they would have arrived with parents who came to comfort relatives after the April raid, which was conducted with a search warrant.
The children were taken because state officials say the sect forces underage girls into marriage and sex. FLDS members deny any abuse.
Willie Jessop said ranch residents would allow authorities to investigate any legitimate claims of abuse. He briefly spoke to a sheriff's deputy who came back Wednesday evening and left again without searching the premises.
"If they have an honest complaint, we'll be honest, but we were lied to," said Willie Jessop, noting that authorities have never produced the alleged teenage girl whose allegations of abuse led to the raid and the removal of all sect children.
Few people were out on the ranch property Wednesday afternoon when Willie Jessop allowed journalists to enter. One woman in a lavender prairie dress was gardening in front of one of the sprawling log cabin-style homes. Another man was moving cows around the ranch's dairy.
The school house, where hundreds of FLDS children now in foster care once attended class, was empty. Calendars there still displayed the month of April, when the raid occurred, and photos of the sect's jailed prophet Warren Jeffs were in every room.
Willie Jessop, after talking to agency officials, predicted CPS would return after the dozens of journalists, who raced 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the ranch from FLDS custody hearings in San Angelo, left Eldorado.
Agency spokesmen did not return calls from The Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon.
In San Angelo, child custody hearings for the children taken in the raid six weeks ago completed their third day. Five judges have been conducting what is expected to be three weeks of hearings on what the parents must do to regain custody of their children.
The custody case, one of the largest in U.S. history, has been marked by chaos from the beginning. So far, at least eight mothers initially put into foster care as underage girls have been reclassified as adults, significantly eroding the state's initial count of 31 underage mothers. Others were expected to be reclassified as adults in coming days.
The sect children, ranging from infants to teenagers, were removed en masse from the ranch during an April 3 raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant abused teenage wife. The girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.
On Wednesday, sect members requested 500 to 600 voter registration cards from Schleicher County, something they had not done in the five years since the ranch was transformed from a small game ranch to a $20.5 million (euro13 million) self-contained community with houses, a school, a dairy, wood shops, gardens and an enormous gleaming white temple.
"As residents of the state, we have to take responsibility for part of this," said Willie Jessop. "We were naive enough to believe there was good people in government to protect our rights."
Schleicher County has an estimated 2,800 residents, and the FLDS property is the third-biggest taxpayer in the rural ranching county, accounting for roughly 18 percent of its tax base. But county officials have had no role in the raid, aside from sheriff's deputies assisting state law enforcement.
The FLDS, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago. Members contend they are being persecuted by state officials for their religious beliefs.
Jeffs, who is revered as a prophet, is serving a prison sentence for a Utah conviction of being accomplice to rape in the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to a 19-year-old sect member. He awaits trial in Arizona on similar charges.
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki will not play for Germany at next month's world championship in Turkey.
The German basketball federation said Tuesday that the nine-time All-Star would be back for the 2011 European Championship that will also serve as a qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The announcement came shortly after the Mavericks signed the 32-year-old Nowitzki to a new contract, a deal reportedly worth over $80 million for four years.
The 12-year NBA veteran was the league's MVP in 2007. He became the 34th player in league history to reach 20,000 career points on Jan. 13 and ranks 27th among all-time scorers.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were headed for a mixed opening Friday with little expected in the way of economic reports or corporate earnings announcements.
Major indexes have risen steadily this month. The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen on only three trading days in February. The index is up 0.4 percent so far this week and 3.6 percent for the month. The S&P 500 has risen 0.9 percent this week and 4.2 percent this month.
Ahead of the opening bell, Dow futures were up 6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,294. S&P 500 futures were unchanged at 1,338. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,395.
Finance chiefs from the world's 20 industrialized and fastest developing nations met in Paris Friday to discuss issues affecting the global economy. In a speech at the conference, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that countries with large trade surpluses like China should let their currencies rise in value in order to prevent another financial crisis. He also said that countries with large trade deficits must reduce government spending over time, an apparent reference to the United States.
Campbell Soup Co. fell 3.7 percent in pre-market trading after the company said its profit fell 8 percent in its latest quarter. The company also cut its outlook for the rest of its fiscal year.
Stocks finished higher Thursday after a strong manufacturing report overshadowed a bigger than expected rise in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits.
Friday is the last day of trading before the long weekend. Markets will be closed for President's Day on Monday.
Sunderland has agreed to sign Ireland midfielder Andy Reid from Charlton.
Charlton said Thursday that it had agreed to sell the 25-year-old Reid and was trying to sign Sunderland defender Greg Halford on loan.
Reid, who joined Charlton from Tottenham for 3 million pounds (US$6 million; euro4 million) in August 2006, has not played since December because of a knee injury.
He would become Sunderland's fifth January signing after Jean-Yves Mvoto Mvoto, Phil Bardsley, Rade Prica and the on-loan Jonny Evans.
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Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch will fight Arthur Abraham in Monaco as part of the third group stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic.
The fight will take place on Oct. 2 at the Chapiteau de l'Espace Fontvieille in the principality on the Mediterranean Sea. Froch had wanted the fight in his native England, Abraham wanted the fight in Germany, and officials also discussed holding the fight in Montreal.
Monaco is considered a neutral location for the important matchup.
Abraham has three points and is in second place in the modified round-robin tournament, which will be pared from six fighters to four after the third stage. Froch is tied with two other fighters for third with two points.
three poems poetry zine, Laura Murray, just_got2dance@yahoo.ca poettongues.blogspot.com
Laura Murray lists her email address as just_got2dance at yahoo.ca. Well, it would seem that she "just got to" write poetry as well, although I'm thinking she could stand to spend some more time on this hobby. That wasn't a diss, I'm just saying she might want to expand her portfolio a bit.
There's one poem by the name of "[shoreline]" which consists solely of the word waves typed over and over, formed into an oscillating pattern and sometimes spot-coloured dark red. Typographically, I suppose it's a nice effect, but I can't help thinking it would've been a bit more evocative if she'd thrown a couple more words in there. Like, two or three is all I'm asking. This is why you're getting your asses handed to you by bloggers, you lazy zinemakers! This is why! (N.B.: Laura also runs a blog.)
The other two poems, which also have aquatic/outdoorsy themes to them, are actually quite nice. You can go check out her website, I'm sure they're up there. Well, not completely sure, because my 'net connection has sucked lately, but pretty sure. (Mike Drach)
The Deccan Chargers beat the Mumbai Indians by 19 runs in an Indian Premier League match on Wednesday at Centurion Park:
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Scores:
Deccan 145-6 (Rohit Sharma 38, Venugopal Rao 28) def. Mumbai 126-8 (J.P. Duminy 52, Pinal Shah 29; Rohit Sharma 4-6, Tirumalsetti Suman 2-14, Rudra Singh 2-19).
The Swiss government on Wednesday approved the resettlement of two Chinese inmates at Guantanamo as part of its commitment to help President Barack Obama's administration close the detention center.
Beijing had objected to the move, calling the brothers terrorist suspects who should face justice in China.
"We have stable, good relations with China and we want to keep them that way," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said.
Switzerland's decision to take in the ethnic Uighur brothers was guided by humanitarian principles and should not be interpreted as giving preference to one country over another, she said.
Tensions between China's majority Han population and Uighurs in the Western region of Xinjiang have flared up recently, and Beijing is highly sensitive to any separatist inclinations.
Widmer-Schlumpf said Switzerland carefully examined the men's backgrounds and even checked DNA samples before concluding they likely posed no security risk.
The brothers, who have been held in Guantanamo since 2001 and 2002, will probably be transferred to Switzerland within a month, she said. In January, an Uzbek became the first former inmate of the U.S. detention center to be resettled in Switzerland.
The Alpine nation is hoping to curry favor with the Obama administration as it struggles to conclude a drawn-out dispute over wealthy Americans who hid billions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service in Swiss bank accounts.
Widmer-Schlumpf told reporters in the capital, Bern, that Switzerland wasn't making any demands on Washington for taking in the Guantanamo inmates. "We assume that the United States won't hold this decision against us though," she added coyly, declining to say whether any informal arrangements were made.
The men are craftsmen who would quickly find employment in Switzerland, the justice minister said.
They will be resettled in the northwestern canton (state) of Jura, where officials on Tuesday also approved the move.
Other European nations that have agreed to take in Guantanamo detainees include France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Portugal.
Afghan officials say four people died and 18 were wounded when international troops opened fire on a civilian bus near the southern city of Kandahar.
Zelmai Ayubi, spokesman for the local governor, says the incident occurred early Monday. The victims include women, children, and men. He says 12 of the wounded were taken to a military hospital.
Ayubi said the provincial government strongly condemned the shooting.
A NATO official said the alliance was aware of the incident but had no immediate comment.
A new commercial titled "World Cup," breaking Saturday, is beingbilled as a classic battle between experience and youth. In the newspot from Dieste/Dallas for Sierra Mist, veteran soccer sensationPele is pitted against the sport's newest up- and-coming sensation,14-year-old Freddy Adu. Sierra Mist is the official drink of MajorLeague Soccer and the title sponsor of the MLS All-Star game.
In the spot, set on a soccer field on an extraordinarily hot day,Pele and Adu compete for the last Sierra Mist left in a cooler. Thework was originally planned as a Spanish-language commercial, but anEnglish-language version was added to the mix because of theperceived popularity of both athletes.
Pele is the only three-time world champion in soccer and the onlyplayer to score more than 1,000 goals in the history of the sport.Adu, the youngest player in the MLS and the youngest athlete to turnpro in American team sports in a century, was the number one draftchoice by D.C. United in January.
The new Sierra Mist commercial first airs during Adu's MLS debutSaturday, when he and D.C. United play the San Jose Earthquakes.
Sanford supplies Foohy
as name for new school products
Foohy is the catchy name attached to a new brand of schoolsupplies for tweens aged 8 to 13 from Bellwood-based Sanford, a unitof Newell Rubbermaid.
To play up the oddball name, Sanford is launching a month-longpromotion inviting kids to share their favorite form of April "Foohy"via the new Web site www.foohy.com, where youngsters also will findinteractive games and a soundboard that can create and record uniquenoises.
The promotion kicked off Thursday, which the company announced itwas renaming "April Foohy Day." Colorful prints ads will support theeffort to get kids to bond with the Foohy products.
Local firm designs bottles for 2 new flavored rums
Image means a lot in the high-end liquor business. That's whyMount Gay rum turned to MLR Design/Chicago to create all-new bottledesigns for two flavored rum line extensions -- Mount Gay Mango Rumand Mount Gay Vanilla Rum -- that start rolling out in stores and atbars this month.
MLR's look for the new rums includes a translucent glass bottleand brightly colored labels intended to add a touch of sophisticationto the product inside. The rums and the packaging are both aimed at24- to 39-year-old liquor connoisseurs with a more adventurous mind-set.
To be sure MLR had found the right look, Mount Gay polledconsumers. More than three out of every four respondents reportedlydescribed the packaging as "stylish and up-to-date" or "refreshing."
Red touted in pretty colorless spot for M&Ms
Red gets its turn in the spotlight in the latest commercial fromBBDO/New York heralding the return of color to M&Ms after a winterwhen all color disappeared.
Guest artist/director Alexander Gelman came up with the conceptfor the 15-second spot, which doesn't have a heck of a lot of punch.All we get is a group of M&M's arranged in a grid that twirl aroundand shift position a bit as they morph from brown to red and backseveral times.
It's a fairly uninvolving bit of schtick that is a letdown, comingin the wake of last month's "River of Chocolate," which featured anundulating sea of M&M's that magically changed color to the rhythmsof the '60s tune "Color My World."
By Daniel Cooney
KABUL -- A road crash that sparked deadly anti-American rioting in Kabul on Monday occurred because a military truck lost its brakes coming down a hill and plowed into a line of cars, the U.S. military said yesterday.
Chanting "Death to America," rioters on Monday stoned the U.S. convoy involved in the accident, then headed to the centre of Kabul, ransacking offices of international aid groups and searching for foreigners. Smoke billowed from burning buildings.
The death toll from the unrest rose to 11, most of them from gunshot wounds, according to three city hospitals. More than 100 people were wounded.
Up to five people were killed in the accident, but it wasn't clear whether those deaths were among the tolls the hospitals reported.
Military spokesman Col. Tom Collins, in explaining the cause of the traffic accident, said the truck's brakes "apparently overheated and failed" as it came down the long hill.
"The driver, very experienced in the operation of this type of vehicle, a heavy cargo truck, applied the primary and emergency brakes and took evasive action to avoid hitting pedestrians," Collins said.
The truck hit several unoccupied parked cars in an effort to slow, but it wasn't enough, and the truck hit occupied vehicles at an intersection, he said.
The military will compensate the victims or their families, Collins said, adding that a full investigation was still underway.
The crash sparked the worst riots across Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Hundreds of Afghan and coalition troops took up positions around the capital yesterday to prevent further unrest, and the city of four million was calm as stores reopened and residents went to work.
The rioters claimed U.S. troops had shot and killed civilians at the scene of the accident.
A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition confirmed there was gunfire but said coalition personnel in one military vehicle only fired over the crowd.
President Hamzid Karzai went on television Monday night to decry the violence, branding the rioters as troublemakers who should be resisted.
About 2,000 troops prowled the city to enforce an overnight curfew, which passed without incident, said Gen. Zahir Azimi, the Defence Ministry spokesman.
"The army has control of the city. We have tanks in the city for the first time," he said.
As the violence eased late Monday, embassies sent out convoys of armoured vehicles to pick up their nationals from homes and buildings and bring them to foreign military bases where they spent the night.
-- Associated Press
Brake failure blamed for deadly Kabul crashBy Daniel Cooney
KABUL -- A road crash that sparked deadly anti-American rioting in Kabul on Monday occurred because a military truck lost its brakes coming down a hill and plowed into a line of cars, the U.S. military said yesterday.
Chanting "Death to America," rioters on Monday stoned the U.S. convoy involved in the accident, then headed to the centre of Kabul, ransacking offices of international aid groups and searching for foreigners. Smoke billowed from burning buildings.
The death toll from the unrest rose to 11, most of them from gunshot wounds, according to three city hospitals. More than 100 people were wounded.
Up to five people were killed in the accident, but it wasn't clear whether those deaths were among the tolls the hospitals reported.
Military spokesman Col. Tom Collins, in explaining the cause of the traffic accident, said the truck's brakes "apparently overheated and failed" as it came down the long hill.
"The driver, very experienced in the operation of this type of vehicle, a heavy cargo truck, applied the primary and emergency brakes and took evasive action to avoid hitting pedestrians," Collins said.
The truck hit several unoccupied parked cars in an effort to slow, but it wasn't enough, and the truck hit occupied vehicles at an intersection, he said.
The military will compensate the victims or their families, Collins said, adding that a full investigation was still underway.
The crash sparked the worst riots across Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Hundreds of Afghan and coalition troops took up positions around the capital yesterday to prevent further unrest, and the city of four million was calm as stores reopened and residents went to work.
The rioters claimed U.S. troops had shot and killed civilians at the scene of the accident.
A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition confirmed there was gunfire but said coalition personnel in one military vehicle only fired over the crowd.
President Hamzid Karzai went on television Monday night to decry the violence, branding the rioters as troublemakers who should be resisted.
About 2,000 troops prowled the city to enforce an overnight curfew, which passed without incident, said Gen. Zahir Azimi, the Defence Ministry spokesman.
"The army has control of the city. We have tanks in the city for the first time," he said.
As the violence eased late Monday, embassies sent out convoys of armoured vehicles to pick up their nationals from homes and buildings and bring them to foreign military bases where they spent the night.
-- Associated Press
Trailblazer and Tempo are making way for Renegade and Renaissance.
Yup, there's even a presidential transition for Secret Service code names _ which are anything but secret in loose-lips Washington.
President-elect Barack Obama _ aka Renegade _ had a say in choosing the code name that his protectors use when they're whispering into those microphones in their sleeves. He was given his choice of several names starting with R.
And in keeping with the tradition of having all family members' code names start with the same letter, future first lady Michelle Obama is Renaissance, and daughters Sasha and Malia are known as Rosebud and Radiance, …
Final services for historic church
For five generations, Linda Slaughter's family has been a part of the Metropolitan Community Church. As long as she can remember, Slaughter watched her family pray in the church, grow in the church, invest in the church and now as one of the few remaining family members of the church, she fears she must watch the death of the church.
The more than 110-year-old church will hold its final services this Sunday and is slated to be destroyed to build a new facade, hopefully bringing a new face to the congregation.
What may seem like a roll with the times has Slaughter and others viewing it as a loss of rich history.
"It's very …
Two Revolutions: Village Reconstruction and the Cooperative Movement in Northern Shaanxi, 1937-1945, by Pauline B. Keating. Stanford, California, Stanford University Press, 1997. xvi, 340 pp. $49.50 U.S.
The decline of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong thought as an operative ideology in the People's Republic of China has inspired much reflection on the meaning and legitimacy of the Chinese revolution of 1949. For a long time, Western scholarship was shaped by two paradigmatic works. Chalmers Johnson's 1962 book Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power argued that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power by harnessing popular anti-Japanese nationalism. In The Yenan Way in Revolutionary China (1971), written in part as a response to Johnson, Mark Selden countered that it was the CCP's socio-economic reforms, a kind of peasant populism, that garnered them mass support. …
Insurers are continuing to find innovative ways to use capital markets and financial institutions other than insurance companies to spread their risk.
Aspen Insurance Group Holdings recently completed what could be a first-of-its-kind transaction with Deutsche Bank to protect itself from defaulting reinsurers. Hannover Re finalized an innovative derivatives deal in lieu of buying traditional retrocessional coverage. And Benfield Group has teamed up with a bank to market a product that aims to cover reinsurance recoverables.
"There's been a good amount of chatter on the market about recoverable covers," said Rob Bredahl, president of Benfield Inc.
Aspen Insurance Group: Problem Solved
Julian Cusack, chairman and chief executive officer of Aspen Insurance Ltd., the Bermuda-based operating company of Aspen Insurance Group, said the goal of its transaction was to reduce the company's exposure to the risk of one or more of its reinsurers defaulting.
At the end of 2005, after two heavy years of hurricane losses, Aspen was carrying more than $1 billion in reinsurance recoverables on its balance sheet. In its annual U.S. Securities and Exchange Form 10-K for 2005,Aspen reported its reinsurance recoverables had increased to $1.19 billion from $198 million, although they were reduced to $468 million by year-end 2006.
"Looking back through the history of the property/casualty sector, there have been …
Byline: Gene Levy Staff writer
Ernie Steck, whose name has been synonymous with Albany Academy athletics for nearly four decades, announced his retirement Wednesday as athletic director. His resignation becomes effective at the end of the current school year.
Steck, 67, was one of the most sucessful football coaches in SectionII history, and also coached basketball, track and baseball at the private school.
He said retirement was his own decision, something he had been thinking about since his wife Roselyn died two years ago.
"I just want to have more time to myself," said Steck, who has been athletic director at Academy since 1971. "I just …
Oil prices held steady near US$131 a barrel Tuesday in Asia on expectations Tropical Storm Dolly won't disrupt oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's biggest oil company, said Monday it was evacuating workers from oil rigs in the western part of the Gulf but didn't expect its production to be affected by the storm.
"The market doesn't see Dolly as a real threat at this point," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consulting firm Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. "It doesn't look like it will have much of an impact."
Midafternoon in Singapore, light, sweet crude for August delivery was down 1 …
BRUSSELS, Belgium NATO promised Tuesday that no nuclear weaponswould be stationed on the territory of new members in Eastern andCentral Europe.
The announcement was intended to defuse Russian opposition toNATO's expansion into formerly communist countries.
The United States and its allies offered to open negotiationson political and military cooperation with Russia. NATO's foreignministers proposed that a plan of the new partnership with Moscow beannounced at its Madrid summit in July, when the alliance will selectone or more new members.The decisions made at the foreign ministers' annual meeting atNATO headquarters reflected what U.S. officials described as …
On March 3, retired Bishop Fergus O'Grady of Prince George diocese, in northern B.C., died at age 89. Bishop O'Grady became renowned in the 1950s for his "Frontier Apostles." A company of volunteers from all over the world, they came to help the bishop, who had no money, in his rural diocese of mining and forestry towns to help start parishes and schools and expand the apostolate among Canadian natives
In Montreal, on March 25, 1998, Neil Willard, Auxiliary Bishop for the English section of the Archdiocese of Montreal, died of cancer. He was 60 years of age.
Canada has a new army bishop in the person of Bishop Donald Theriault, 52, from the Diocese of …
MILDENHALL Cricket Club has been handed a major financial boost towards the redevelopment of its pavilion.
Funding for the project - which is believed to be almost [pounds sterling]400,000 - has come from the England and Wales Cricket Board and Forest Heath District Council.
The cash injection will allow the Wamil Way-based club to build two additional changing rooms and viewing balcony.
The pavilion will have a new extended entrance that will include a lift for disabled access.
Chairman Steve Hunt said, "We have worked hard as a club over the last five years to ensure the project would come to fruition.
"This will allow us to …
Byline: KENNETH C. CROWE II Staff writer
Saratoga County selected two local engineering firms Tuesday to design its proposed countywide water system and fix a price for the water that would be charged communities connecting to the system.
``We indicated a need. We have to indicate a cost. We believe the need is there for between 5 million and 6 million gallons per day,'' said Supervisor Raymond Callanan, R-Ballston, chairman of the county Water Committee.
Callanan said among the communities interested in the county water, only Saratoga Springs and Clifton Park have said how much they may need. Saratoga Springs has said it would require 4.5 million …
