The couple had their first date at the home improvement store, so they thought it would be a handy place to get hitched, too. Gaylan Whitwer and Francine Brickner-Whitwer of Gibbon were married Friday, standing in a kitchen display at the Menards store in Kearney.
They remodel homes as a hobby.
"This is where we spend on all our spare time, where we spend all our spare money," Gaylan Whitwer told the Kearney Hub. "It's just the …
Planners are set to take action to ensure a historic area of thecity is saved from "a spiral of degeneration".
Aberdeen City Council is due to agree next week to introduce aConservation Area Management Plan in a bid to improve the area.
Chiefs want to regenerate the area between Union Street and GuildStreet and Bridge Street and Market Street, and is planning a five-year upgrade under the Townscape Heritage …
Dorchester families united by marriage
A smartly dressed couple walked up the steps to Dorchester's Holy Family Church speaking in Haitian creole Saturday afternoon. They were greeted with bagpipe music as they passed the white limousines that carried bridesmaids and grooms men to the Dorcena-Forry wedding.
Among the more than 240 people who turned out for the wedding of Billy Forry and Linda Dorcena -- the new generation of two of Dorchesters' most civically active families -- were a who's who of Haitian and Hibernian Dorchester.
Forry has become ubiquitous in the political and civic affairs of the neighborhood as managing editor of his family's Dorchester …
Even for Silvio Berlusconi, self-confessed admirer of the female form, a naked breast on a painting that provided the backdrop for his televised appearances proved one scantily clad beauty too many.
The breast _ a small part of a vast reproduction of an 18th century artwork by Venice master Gianbattista Tiepolo in the press room of premier's official residence _ has been visible in TV pictures and photos right behind Berlusconi.
The answer: a high-level cover-up. His staff apparently ordered the retouching of the naked female figure, representing truth, to add a delicate drape to cover the offending breast. Newspaper photos this weekend showed the painting …
Terrelle Pryor jumped on a golf cart and rode up the Rose Bowl tunnel in his grass-stained uniform, heading out to pick up a trophy. A clutch of departing Ohio State fans caught sight of his No. 2 jersey and let loose the sort of wild cheer Pryor always imagined would be the soundtrack to his career.
Ohio State's bowl woes were over, thanks to a quarterback who finally played up to his enormous potential _ and a sturdy defense that grounded Oregon's high-flying offense.
Pryor passed for a career-high 266 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 72 more and threw a 17-yard scoring pass to DeVier Posey with 7:02 to play, ending the No. 8 Buckeyes' three-game BCS skid …
I have an easier time picturing youngsters clutching thoseGameBoys at the breakfast table, eyes riveted on the little screen,tongues jutting in concentration, furiously thumbing the well-wornplastic buttons, trying to get Sonic the Hedgehog up the staircasefor the 5,000th time, while the Froot Loops, untouched, slowlydisintegrate into a puddle of multi-colored slush.
The …
LEXINGTON, Kentucky (AP) — Tom McCutcheon won gold and U.S. teammate Craig Schmersal took the silver in individual reining Thursday at the World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park.
McCutcheon, aboard Gunners Special Nite, finished with a score of 228.0. Schmersal, aboard Mister Montana Nic, had a 223.0, followed by Canada's Duane Latimer on Dun Playin Tag at 222.5 for bronze.
"Through the whole thing, he felt like he got stronger and stronger," McCutcheon said of his horse. "I was really happy with him today. He felt good to me all the way through. Everything I wanted to do, he was there."
T. McQuay, another American, was in fourth at 222.0.
Shawn Flarida, …
North Korea announced Thursday that it will scrap an accord aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes with South Korea in retaliation for Seoul blaming Pyongyang for a torpedo attack that sank a South Korean warship.
Tension on the divided peninsula has risen dramatically since a team of international investigators said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine tore apart and sank a South Korean warship on March 26, killing 46 sailors. North Korea has denied its involvement in the sinking and warned any retaliation would mean war.
On Thursday, North Korea's military said it will "completely nullify" an inter-Korean accord aimed …
IRVINGTON, N.J. - A fast-moving fire roared through a motelcatering to low-income people, killing three people and injuring somefirefighters.
The cause of Sunday's blaze at the Irvington Motor Lodge remainedunder investigation. The victims were only identified as a man andtwo women, leaving many area residents wondering if their loved oneswere among those killed.
While officials were going through the scene seeking clues, about30 people gathered behind the yellow police tape that cordoned offthe scene, shouting out questions and handing pictures …
Greece's transport minister has warned that national carrier Olympic Airlines faces a dim future amid mounting speculation that it will be closed down within a few months.
In a series of carefully worded statements late Friday and over the weekend, Costis Hadzidakis reaffirmed the government's commitment to keep the airline aloft.
But he also stressed that the government would protect the interests of Olympic employees and the Greek public if the carrier is shut down _ something the Greek media has widely interpreted as a sign of its imminent closure.
Hadzidakis' statement came after a Friday meeting in Brussels with EU Transport Commissioner …
A teen advisory committee spent the summer surveying hundreds of their peers citywide. Now, it has passed along its findings to schools chief Ron Huberman in a report, "How to Reinvent Chicago Public High Schools."
Among the 30 recommendations: Make class sizes smaller, have teachers offer weekly office hours for students, and provide mediation alternatives rather than just suspending students.
The students also had loftier suggestions -- such as adding to current graduation requirements two years of extracurricular activities and college-level courses, and application to at least …
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian militants in Gaza fired three rockets at Israel early Sunday, despite reports that they had agreed to halt such attacks.
Palestinian officials said earlier that the main militant groups - Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - had agreed to stop firing rockets if Israel calls off its Gaza offensive.
The groups, who recently met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City, denied an agreement had been reached.
The talks were sponsored by Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said the officials, who declined to be named because the meeting was closed.
Nabil Shaath, an aide to Abbas, said the Palestinians were in agreement that Israel and the militants should call a cease-fire.
"A cease-fire is a cease-fire. It has to be accepted by the two parties, and it has to lead to a resolution of all the outstanding issues" in Gaza, Shaath said in an interview.
Israel has been carrying out a campaign of airstrikes and raids into Gaza for nearly a month. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, which began after militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.
Days later, Hezbollah militants operating out of Lebanon captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, opening a second front in Israel's fight against Islamic militants. Israel has responded with a large-scale offensive in Lebanon.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was traveling leaving for the region Sunday to explore the possibility of a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. She was also expected to meet Abbas.
`Ecotourism" is one of this year's hottest buzzwords in thetravel industry. All that buzzing - over tourism that aims topromote conservation of the natural world - is certain to beamplified by the much-heralded Earth Day 1990 campaign to mobilize100 million save-the-planet demonstrators on April 22.
An "overwhelming public interest in ecotourism has grown bothdomestically and internationally in the last two years," reports theWorld Wildlife Fund in its recently published study, "Ecotourism: ThePotentials and Pitfalls."
Dozens of tour companies are putting "ecotour" labels on theirprograms to such diverse destinations as Oregon and Costa Rica, theAntarctic and Nepal. Even an airline is getting into theenvironmental act: Virgin Atlantic Airways, which now calls itself"the green airline," is creating a "Virgin Forest" fund to plant atree for each passenger who flies the British carrier from LosAngeles to London starting May 16.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill a year ago in Alaska's Prince WilliamSound spotlighted the impact that manmade disasters can have onscenic wilderness areas beloved by ecotourists. About the same time,the running aground of a passenger-cargo ship in Antarcticaillustrated the threat that careless adventure travel can pose tofragile environments.
Allied with ecotourism, and sometimes overlapping it, is themovement for "responsible tourism," spearheaded by theCalifornia-based Center for Responsible Tourism and espoused byauthor and columnist Arthur Frommer. Its main goal is to amelioratemass tourism's adverse effects on human cultures in the developingworld by espousing "low-impact travel."
As World Wildlife Fund president Kathryn S. Fuller points out inthe foreword to her organization's study, the boom in ecotourismgives cause for concern as well as enthusiasm.
It "can generate badly needed revenue for local and regionaleconomies, heightened local awareness of the importance ofconservation, and new incentives for governments and the dwellers inand around appealing natural areas to preserve them," Fuller writes.
"At the same time, however, the demands placed on ecosystems andnatural resources from increased tourism can destroy the veryattractions that draw people. Developing ecotourism wisely thereforeposes an enormous challenge."
That challenge is evident, for example, on the GalapagosIslands - the unique South American treasure trove of isolated animaland plant species 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Revenue fromtourists visiting the Galapagos supports the entire national-parksystem of mainland Ecuador. But the government recently increasedthe annual number of tourist permits to 87,000 - 3 1/2 times theislands' capacity, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Ideally, ecotourism can fulfill the role described by RichardRyel, president of Alabama-based International Expeditions, as "thebiggest economic success story for developing countries andpotentially a saving grace for the global environment.
"As a result of this blossoming trend in ecotourism," continuesRyel, "countries endowed with great ecological resources arebeginning to recognize the value of their unspoiled habitats.Instead of exploiting natural areas for timber, agriculture, miningand animal products such as ivory and skins, these countries aresetting aside millions of acres in the development of a morelucrative and sustainable economic base rooted in tourism."
But there is reason to be skeptical about claims for theecological or cultural benefits in any kind of travel, based on masstourism's track record of despoiling the natural world from Hawaii'sWaikiki to Spain's Costa del Sol and disrupting Third World societiesfrom Mexico to Borneo.
"Tourism today is an accurate reflection of the state of globalaffairs," asserts "The Challenge of Tourism," a report prepared forthe Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism, an internationalbody related to the Center for Responsible Tourism. "Modern masstourism becomes more and more an environmental menace, whose effectsoften approximate those of extractive industries" such as mining.
Mass tourism in its present forms, concludes a report fromlast fall's "Tourism and Ecology" conference of the Center forResponsible Tourism, "accommodates the defacing of historic sites andthe desecration of sacred sites, strips local fishing villages of theright to use beaches and waters, clutters remote trekking routes withtrash, encourages the illegal slaughter of protected game animals forskins and trophies, introduces Western-style conspicuous consumptionto the youth of `under-developed' countries, and generally serves asa neo-colonial force."
Many in the tourism industry would reject that judgment as tooharsh. But nobody disputes the immense and growing worldwideinfluence of travel - for better or for worse.
There were 400 million international tourist arrivals in 1988,according to "Tourism: The World's Peace Industry," an article byLouis J. D'Amore. Travel revenues rank third (after oil andarmaments) among all export industries, accounting for nearly 6percent of total global exports and 25 percent of international tradein services.
Spending for domestic and international travel totals about $2trillion a year - 10 to 12 percent of the world's gross product.
If travel and tourism were a country, reports The Economistmagazine, its gross national product would rank fifth in the world.The industry's direct contribution to global GNP is estimated at $968billion annually: $516 in employee wages, $286 billion in cashavailable for dividends and investments, $166 billion in taxpayments. Travel accounts for one of every 16 jobs worldwide, andtourism earned poor countries $55 billion in 1988, ranking secondonly to oil as an earner of badly needed hard currency.
As tourism reaches even the remotest regions of the Earth, "TheChallenge of Tourism" points out, "there is little general awarenesson the part of travelers about the impact their visit has" on exoticdestinations.
The heart of the matter, concludes the "Tourism and Ecology"report, is "educating, not only tourists, but also marketers oftourism and those whose roles in government gives them opportunitiesto make a difference. Consumers of tourism need a wide range ofoptions for environmentally aware action."
One kind of option is offered by aware operators such as KurtKutay, president of Wildland Journeys. During a Wildland trek lastyear along Peru's Inca Trail, "several dozen persons in the journeycollected literally tons of debris left by previous hikers. For theparticipants, the experience not only brought considerableimprovement in that environment, but also provided a stark lesson onthe awesome impact of even adventure journeys on remote sites."
Some 6,000 travelers hike the Inca Trail each year, and Kutaysees "some major impacts on the archeological resources, on thenatural environment in Machu Picchu National Park." A major problem,along with the Peruvian government's inadequate management resources,"is just that people who are hiking the trail don't have an adequatebackground and knowledge of low-impact camping. This is a majorissue in the world for adventure-type travel."
Kutay cites Nepal as another place where "nature tourism isreally overrunning fragile environments. Nepal travelers, eventhough they are adventure travelers making that leap into somethingnew, still want to have those comforts like a hot shower. They don'tthink about the fact that this contributes to the deforestation withlocal people going out and harvesting firewood to heat up the water."
Despite such problems, ecotourism does offer great potential asa protector of imperiled environments. "From a conservationstandpoint,"declares the World Wildlife Fund's report, "nature tourism canprovide an economic justification for conservation of areas thatmight not otherwise receive protection. In East Africa, forinstance, preservation of wildlife for tourist viewing has proved asuccessful economic argument for conservation."
Countries such as Costa Rica and Belize are finding thatecotourists spend more than passive beach vacationers - though theportion of that money that stays to benefit the local economy isanother thorny issue. Some tour operators include a contribution toecological projects in the price of the package. Victor EmanuelNature Tours, for example, donated $500 per tourist from one of itstrips to help buy threatened rainforest in Costa Rica.
Responding to mounting criticism from scientific circles aboutthe growth of adventure travel to Antarctica, three major NorthAmerican operators of ship tours to that continent established jointguidelines last fall for safeguarding the South Polar environment.The regulations deal with tourists' conduct around wildlife, properbehavior at research bases, respect of historic relics, andunauthorized removal of keepsakes.
Closer to home, the widening interest in ecotourism is floodingAmerica's national parks with visitors - 340 million last year, whichis double the figure of two decades ago. At Yosemite, Yellowstone,Grand Canyon and other popular parks, notes the World Wildlife Fundstudy, "success can quickly become too much of a good thing."Environmental groups are currently battling tourism interests over aproposal to limit the number of overnight stays in Yosemite.
Paradoxically, as the planet's wilderness continues to shrinkunder population pressures, the interest of American travelers inseeing what's left of that natural world is likely to grow everstronger.
"More and more people, who otherwise would never have taken anadventure trip," says Wildland Journeys' Kutay, "take it because weprovide a sense of safety, security and comfort for these adventuretravelers.
"While it's great that they're making this leap, discoveringsomething about themselves and learning more than they might haveotherwise on a conventional trip," Kutay adds, "there's also anelement of being well-equipped, wearing their Gortex, their camera,their good new hiking boots and all the colorful clothes that we havetoday."
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — About 3,000 protesting police officers have turned the grounds outside the state parliament in Sydney into a sea of blue uniforms as they demonstrate against planned changes to the way injured officers are compensated.
Officers are upset at plans to alter the New South Wales state's Death and Disability Scheme. The changes would restrict some compensation payouts and place more emphasis on getting injured officers rehabilitated and back to work.
The police came to Sydney on Tuesday from around the state and marched from Hyde Park to Parliament House.
Minister for Police Michael Gallacher said in a statement that the government remains committed to making changes to the scheme to ensure its long-term sustainability.
Creditors filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings on Aug. 17 against Recycling Technologies International, a Hanover-area company that received a state loan to improve its business.
Recycling Technologies purchases shredded tires and grinds them into rubber powder, while removing steel, fiber and other contaminants.
Among the creditors was Dodge Regupol Inc., Lancaster, which sells some of the recycled rubber products RTI makes, according to documents filed in U.S Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg.
RTI owes Dodge Regupol $262,455, according to bankruptcy documents.
Other creditors include the following companies: Colony Tire Corp. of Edenton, N.C., $8,141; Lavokika 2000 Inc of Farnhan, Quebec; and Emanuel Tire of Baltimore, no amount listed. Total claims from all creditors are $301,527.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a reorganization proceeding that allows the debtor to continue to be in business. A Chapter 11 plan, when approved, provides a method for the debtor to pay its creditors.
George Soukas, CFO of Dodge Regupol, said his company wants RTI to continue to operate. Dodge Regupol, in fact, owns 50 percent of Recycling Technologies.
"We felt for some time the business was under-capitalized, and we felt an unwillingness from the rest of the owners to capitalize it," said Soukas. Recycling Technologies did not have enough money to pay its creditors, he said.
Soukas declined to provide more information about his company's filing of the Chapter 11 proceeding against Recycling Technologies.
In general, the involuntary bankruptcy petition might indirectly lead RTI's other owner to lend RTI more money to operate, said Joshua D. Cohen, a partner with Hartman, Underhill & Brubaker, Lancaster. Cohen is not involved with the case but offered guidance on how a situation like this could occur in a Chapter 11 case. RTI's other owner is Recycling Technologies Inc.
Loan approved
"The company would not be legally compelled to put more money in, but it might be in its interest to put more in," Cohen said.
On Aug. 21, Dodge Regupol received preliminary approval from the bankruptcy court to lend up to $200,000 in additional funds to keep RTI going, which Dodge Regupol intends to do, Soukas said.
In a Sept. 5 hearing, the bankruptcy court approved Dodge Regupol's loan.
The loan had to be approved by the court because, once a bankruptcy petition is filed, whether voluntary or involuntary, the court has to approve any loans or other transactions outside normal business operations, Cohen said.
It's not unusual to have a creditor offer additional financing to a debtor, Cohen said. The funds enable the debtor to stay in business, so that, when a reorganization plan is approved, it can pay its creditors, he said.
Once the loan receives final approval, a number of things could happen, according to Mitch Sommers, a bankruptcy attorney in Lancaster who also isn't involved in this particular case. If approval is given, Dodge Regupol and the other creditors could withdraw the involuntary petition, and the bankruptcy proceedings would end.
"It would not surprise me to have this company out of bankruptcy as quickly as it went in," Sommers said. If this did not happen, RTI could choose to file a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
Sommers said, from his perspective, it is unusual for RTI to get a loan from a creditor.
The fact that the loan from Dodge Regupol was worked out so quickly indicates that the creditors and RTI are working together, he said. That also could be a sign that the loan was planned even before the involuntary Chapter 11 filing, he said.
Sommers was surprised, however, that the amount of the loan was $200,000.
He often sees creditors make loans of $3 million to $4 million.
He said that Dodge Regupol could be taking a larger security interest, a larger debt, in RTI.
Tim Leighty is president of Recycling Technologies International and also a shareholder of Recycling Technologies Inc. Leighty said Recycling Technolgies' problems were due to the economic situation at the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001.
"The Chapter 11 is a reorganization," Leighty said. "Our expansion is completed, and we intend to keep operating
"The problem was soft first and second quarters," he said. "The company found itself in a very tenuous condition. But I think there's been an upturn in the industry." He explained that, in the third quarter, sales had increased by about 20 percent over the previous quarters. He attributed this to an increased demand from existing customers,
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy has no effect on a $3.2 million loan from the state Department of Community and Economic Development received in June 2000, a state official said
That loan was used to purchase more tire shredding equipment so Recycling Technologies could expand production.
According to department spokeswoman Megan Miller, the loan is performance-based, and if RTI is able to produce more than 120 million pounds of shredded tire materials within eight years, it becomes a grant. The loan is not affected by the bankruptcy proceeding, Miller said.
Recycling Technologies International, formerly Recycling Technologies Inc., started in Leighty's Chambersburg home in 1993.
Operations at the Conewago Township plant began in September 1994.
The plant is about 87,000 square feet.
MEXICO CITY - Only hours after Mexico's new president pledged tobring peace, prosperity and accountability to the nation, he madegood on one of his top promises, ordering soldiers to withdraw fromtroubled territory in the south. Helicopters pulled soldiers fromjungle outposts and army trucks rumbled back to base along windingmountain roads Friday night in the southern state of Chiapas, wherean Indian-rights rebellion has been simmering for six years.
The withdrawal was one of Vicente Fox's first orders as Mexico's62nd president. He took the oath of office Friday morning, thenbegan a three-day victory lap around the country with a rousingspeech at Mexico City's huge national auditorium.
He later revived a tradition not seen for more than a decade: atriumphant ride in a convertible through the city's main streets,where ebullient voters perched on balconies dumped clouds ofbrightly colored confetti on his head.
Shortly after sunset, tens of thousands thronged to the city'scentral plaza to watch fireworks and cheer the man who unseated aparty that had been in power since the start of the GreatDepression. Hundreds of thousands more were expected to gather atweekend rallies in Mexico state, Oaxaca, Guadalajara and thenorthern city of Monterrey.
Fox knows he owes a lot to those who helped him make history, andhe began to express his thanks the moment inauguration day began.
His first act - hours before receiving the red, green and whitepresidential sash from outgoing leader Ernesto Zedillo - was to slipinto the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe to thank Mexico'spatron saint.
He then stopped off to serve tamales and hot chocolate to streetkids in Tepito, a gritty, low-income barrio in Mexico Cityfrequented by drug dealers and prostitutes - and an area not often,if ever, frequented by his stiffer predecessors.
"He won not because of his party but because of the way he hasbehaved. He has embraced the people, opened his heart to them," said39-year-old Silvia de Jesus Maya, a Masahua Indian who said she hasfaith in Fox's pledge to help Mexico's indigenous people, themajority of whom live in poverty and on the margins of society.
Wearing an open-collared shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, Foxleaned close to the ear of a chatty homeless 17-year-old and at onepoint stood up on a plastic folding chair to wave to the people inthe crowd who couldn't see him. Moments before his departure, heslipped into a slum shack much as Superman would disappear into aphone booth, emerging minutes later with freshly slicked-back hairand the crisp suit he would require for his swearing-in at Congress.
"I am certain he is going to come through for us," said LeticiaMichelle, 40, one of hundreds of residents cheering him on from analleyway between tin-walled shacks and modest cement-block homes.
In his speech to the nation, Fox went point-by-point over amassive list of proposals he has introduced since his campaign -everything from eliminating corruption and achieving peace inChiapas to cleaning up the environment.
SINGAPORE - Oil prices retreated Monday as traders took profits after crude futures closed above the $70-a-barrel mark last week for the first time in almost a year.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery lost 31 cents to $70.37 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore.
"The crude market is slipping some this morning, which I attribute to profit taking," said Victor Shum of Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "Perhaps the market feels the jump last week in oil futures was overdone."
The contract on Friday rose $1.11 to settle at $70.68 a barrel after rising as high as $71.06 in intraday trading. The Nymex front-month oil contract last closed above $70 a barrel on the last day of August 2006.
"The key concern remains about making enough gasoline to meet summer demand," Shum said. "Coming into this week in the U.S., with the July 4 holiday in the middle of the week, expectations are that demand for gasoline will be high as many people will be driving."
U.S. gasoline demand is especially strong between the July Fourth holiday and Labor Day in September.
The concerns over gasoline demand were stoked on Wednesday when the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reported that gasoline inventories dropped 700,000 barrels in the week ended June 22. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a 1.1 million barrel gain.
Earlier in the year, an unusual number of refinery outages served as a bottleneck in the gasoline supply system, sending gasoline futures prices higher. Crude oil followed the gasoline prices higher in sympathy, traders said, even though crude stockpiles at the time were near nine-year highs.
Now, as refineries come back online, oil prices seem less tethered to gasoline futures, and crude oil stocks are falling as refiners try to crank out more gasoline.
Shum said three attempted terrorist attacks in Britain on Friday and Saturday were not affecting prices significantly as they had no impact on oil supply or demand.
Also Monday, August Brent crude futures fell 22 cents to $71.19 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Nymex heating oil futures dropped 0.14 cent to $2.041 a gallon. Natural gas prices lost 9.3 cents to $6.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Europe's stock markets rose modestly Monday ahead of an expected steady opening on Wall Street, with investors sitting tight ahead of a raft of U.S. economic news and Tuesday's presidential election.
The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 17.93 points, or 0.4 percent, higher at 4,395.27, with mining stocks doing particularly well on higher commodity prices. BHP Billiton PLC and Anglo American PLC were up 3.4 percent and 3.1 percent respectively.
France's CAC-40 was 15.06 points, or 0.4 percent, higher at 3,502.13, with bank Societe Generale up 2.0 percent after it reported in-line third quarter profit and said it was strong enough "to weather a potential deterioration in the economic environment of 2009."
Germany's DAX was the best performing major European index, up 48.72 points, or 1.0 percent, at 5,036.69, boosted by a 3.7 percent rise in Deutsche Bank AG, which said it is strong enough not to ask for funds from the German government's 500 billion euro ($637 billion) rescue package.
In the U.S. shares are expected to open largely unchanged following Friday's late surge with investors awaiting key reports on manufacturing activity, construction spending and auto sales.
"There's nothing to hang onto to push stocks up or down," said Howard Wheeldon, a senior strategist at BGC Partners.
Dow futures rose 6, or 0.1 percent, to 9,304. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures were unchanged while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 1.50, or 0.11 percent, to 1,338.50.
The data later could act as a trigger for some movement, though BGC's Wheeldon said there's usually a "lull in proceedings in the 48 hours" preceding U.S. elections.
The Institute for Supply Management is expected to report that the manufacturing sector contracted in October faster than it did in September, while the Commerce Department is expected to report that construction spending dropped 0.8 percent in September following a flat reading for August, according to economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.
Analysts are also anticipating extremely weak vehicle sales figures from the auto industry for October _ even more anemic than in September, when automakers said fewer than 1 million vehicles were sold for the first time in 15 years.
In addition, the markets will have further U.S. economic data to digest this week, most notably Friday's October jobs report, Tuesday's presidential election and interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Both banks are expected to reduce their benchmark rates by a half-percentage point to 3.25 percent and 4.00 percent respectively but there is rising speculation that the Bank of England may decide to cut by a full percentage point.
"The coming week could not be richer in economic data, central bank and political events, and while it is to be hoped that a new month might introduce a 'clean sheet' element to proceedings, the fact remains that the world financial system remains on life support," said Marc Ostwald, an analyst at Monument Securities.
Europe's gains follow Asia's advances overnight, though Japan was closed for a public holiday.
Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index climbed 375.70, or 2.7 percent, to 14,344.37 but closed well off its session highs, while South Korea's main stock market added 1.4 percent after the government unveiled nearly $11 billion in new spending measures to prevent the economy from sliding into recession.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed up more than 5 percent _ its best performance in almost two weeks _ despite troubling evidence of slowing manufacturing and retail sales, as traders anticipated a further interest rate cut from the country's central bank on Tuesday.
India's main stock index rose 3.5 percent after a central bank decision over the weekend to cut the nation's key interest rate and release $8.1 billion into its financial system.
Shanghai's benchmark, though, erased early gains to trade in negative territory amid reports suggesting Chinese manufacturing, the engine behind the country's phenomenal growth, was contracting. The index closed down 0.5 percent.
Elsewhere, lingering worries over the health of the global economy pushed oil prices lower Monday, as traders ignored advancing stock markets and focused on fears of slipping demand.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery traded as high as $69.19 before falling back. By noon in Europe it was down 92 cents at $66.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On the currency front, the dollar was up 0.6 percent at 99.09 yen, while the euro was up 0.8 percent at $1.2838.
____
AP Business Writers Madlen Read in New York and Jeremiah Marquez in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
A DRAMATIC final ball win against the Netherlands kept up Essex'sfine early season form in the Clydesdale Bank 40 on Friday.
But against one of the weakest opposition on the county circuitEssex should have had a far easier afternoon than they did - thisone was too close for comfort.
Chasing 218-8 the Dutch looked set for a shock win at 179-3 butthey just failed to keep up with the asking rate and medium fastbowler Chris Wright kept his nerve in the final over to claim thenarrowest of victories.
"We got out of jail," admitted coach Paul Grayson afterwards.
"It was too close but it was a terrific little bit of bowlingfrom Napes (Graham Napier) and Wrighty (Chris Wright) but there areareas that we need to improve on that we have identified."
Chris Wright praised Essex allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate, whoalso plays for Holland, after the win for giving him the rightadvice in the closing stages.
"Ryan ten Doeschate knows these guys fairly well and I justfollowed his advice.
Advice "I was on the wrong end of one of these at Worcester lastyear, so it was nice to make amends.
"In hindsight, we were a few short, but we should still havedefended it better than we did.
"At one point it looked they might beat us but it was fantasticto pull it back."
Playing at the glorious tree-line Amstelveen ground just outsidethe capital of Amsterdam, this was Essex's first competitive gameagainst the Dutch and served as a good opportunity for Essex toconsolidate their position towards the top of Group B. They werewithout Danish Kan-eria due to visa problems and Ravi Bopara wasunavailable.
After loosing the toss Essex were put in and Matt Walker, nowfully recovered from a groin problem, top scored for Essex with 71,with Jaik Mickleburgh weighing in with 46.
A late cameo of 24 off 16 balls from James Foster helped push thescore past the 200 mark but it wasn't a particularly threateningtotal on a slowish wicket.
Despite loosing two early wickets a steady partnership of 103 forthe fourth wicket between Eric Szwarczynski (75) and Bas Zuiderent(56) looked to have set up the hosts for a successful run chase.
Belted But when both men fell in successive balls it was game on.
They needed 16 from the last two overs with five wickets in handand when Graham Napier was belted for a six off the first ball ofthat spell Holland looked to be in the driving seat.
However the bowlers kept cool and Chris Wright only concededthree runs from the first five balls of the last over and when thebatsmen could only score one off the final ball he was run out byGrant Flower.
Essex have now won three out of their five 40 over matches withone no result and Grayson is satisfied with his team's response tothat opening day ten wicket hammering at home to Yorkshire. "Theyhave responded well," he said.
"I'm pleased with the response and we are doing okay but there isroom for improvement."
Match report David Arnold email: sport@gazettenews.co.ukClydesdale Bank 40 VRA Ground, Amstelveen. Essex Eagles: 218 -8(Walker 71) The Netherlands: 217-6 ( Szwarczynski 75, ten Doeschate3-42) Essex won by one run Man-of-the-Match: Matt Walker Points:Essex 2 Netherlands 0 Next Match: LV=County Championship versusNottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Play starts on Saturday and isscheduled to last four days
The city should demand a refund from the supplier of $1 millionin "tamper-proof" fire hydrant caps that haven't kept kids fromcooling off at the city's expense, an alderman said Thursday.
Ald. Luis V. Gutierrez (26th) said 12- and 13-year-olds in hisHumboldt Park ward can bypass the "custodian cap" in a matter ofseconds with pliers and a screwdriver.
The president of Hydra-Shield Manufacturing Inc. of Texas,supplier of the cap, said he is aware of the problem and has giventhe city a modified cap at company expense. No hydrants equippedwith the new cap have been tampered with, city officials said.
The city has 47,000 fire hydrants, 7,000 with caps.
"Nothing is going to be 100 percent (tamper-proof), but I wouldsay this is as close to a 100 percent deterrent as there is in themarketplace," said company President Henry J. Stehling.
Told of the alderman's demand for a refund, Stehling said,"That's totally out of line. There's no way they can justify that.I've done everything I can to work with the city."
Gutierrez countered that a hydrant with a modified cap atPotomac and Artesian was illegally opened this week. Some HumboldtPark hydrants have remained on for up to 24 hours at a time, causinglow water pressure and basement flooding, he said.
After the cap is bypassed, hydrants must be turned off withspecial wrenches available only to the Fire Department and WaterDepartment crews, he said.
The alderman said he would introduce a resolution at the CityCouncil's Sept. 12 meeting demanding an investigation into the $1million Hydra-Shield contract.
"We need to investigate why these caps are failing and demandour money back," Gutierrez said.
"The working people and senior citizens of our communities arearriving home to find that they do not have adequate water pressureto bathe, wash dishes or do any of the other day-to-day tasks theyneed to do. The safety of the general public is endangered everytime there is a fire and insufficient water pressure to combat it."
The alderman acknowledged "maybe there is no way" for the cityto make its fire hydrants tamper-proof. But, he said, "Then weshouldn't be foolish enough to spend $1 million on a program thatdoesn't work."
Water Commissioner Samuel W. Hurley Jr. acknowledged that somehydrants have been opened despite the custodian cap. But he said theproblems have been confined to Humboldt Park and Pilsen, where only"4 or 5 percent" of the caps were installed.
BLACKBURN, England (AP) — Blackburn held on for a 0-0 draw against Sunderland on Monday in the Premier League despite having captain Christopher Samba sent off in the first half.
Samba was given a straight red card for pulling down Danny Welbeck in the 45th minute as the Sunderland forward was about to break into the area.
Sunderland striker Darren Bent wasted the best chance of the game midway through the first half when he came one-on-one with Paul Robinson but fired a weak shot straight at the goalkeeper.
Under a persistent rain at Ewood Park, Bent had another chance early in the second period when he met a cross from Ahmed Elmohamady but sent his close-range header well wide.
Both teams have nine points from eight games, with Sunderland ahead on goal difference.
Blackburn rarely threatened but Morten Gamst Pedersen nearly surprised Simon Mignolet by sending a long free kick direct on goal, forcing the goalkeeper to backtrack and tip the ball over the bar.
Steed Malbranque had an open net in the second half after Robinson had rushed out to deny Bent with a sliding challenge, but the Sunderland winger sent his chip from long range just wide.
Sunderland kept pressing for a winner over the last 20 minutes but had to settle for a sixth draw in eight games.
| G FG FT PTS AVG |
| Wade, Mia. 63 676 454 1871 29.7 |
| James, Clev. 63 610 456 1774 28.2 |
| Bryant, LAL 63 641 395 1761 28.0 |
| Durant, OKC. 57 526 350 1480 26.0 |
| Nowitzki, Dall. 63 591 374 1605 25.5 |
| Granger, Ind. 52 423 318 1302 25.0 |
| Jefferson, Minn. 50 485 186 1156 23.1 |
| Roy, Port. 59 490 312 1353 22.9 |
| Bosh, Tor. 59 470 395 1345 22.8 |
| Harris, N.J. 57 396 432 1283 22.5 |
| Jamison, Wash. 64 519 266 1386 21.7 |
| Paul, N.O. 58 435 325 1241 21.4 |
| Stoudemire, Phoe. 53 404 323 1134 21.4 |
| Jackson, G.S. 51 361 264 1077 21.1 |
| Johnson, Atl. 62 481 229 1307 21.1 |
| Howard, Orl. 61 440 403 1283 21.0 |
| Parker, S.A. 53 450 198 1113 21.0 |
| Gordon, Chi. 64 465 267 1336 20.9 |
| Carter, N.J. 62 453 270 1286 20.7 |
| Butler, Wash. 56 408 272 1141 20.4 |
| FG Percentage |
| FG FGA PCT |
| O'Neal, Phoe. 398 655 .608 |
| Nene, Den. 346 579 .598 |
| Biedrins, G.S. 290 506 .573 |
| Howard, Orl. 440 774 .568 |
| Okafor, Char. 360 637 .565 |
| Gasol, LAL 435 775 .561 |
| Bynum, LAL 254 455 .558 |
| Lee, N.Y. 413 740 .558 |
| Yao, Hou. 445 819 .543 |
| Millsap, Utah 326 604 .540 |
| Rebounds |
| G OFF DEF TOT AVG |
| Howard, Orl. 61 264 592 856 14.0 |
| Lee, N.Y. 63 201 554 755 12.0 |
| Murphy, Ind. 61 121 605 726 11.9 |
| Biedrins, G.S. 55 209 430 639 11.6 |
| Duncan, S.A. 59 161 467 628 10.6 |
| Okafor, Char. 64 222 448 670 10.5 |
| Yao, Hou. 62 165 435 600 9.7 |
| Bosh, Tor. 59 152 405 557 9.4 |
| Gasol, LAL 62 200 384 584 9.4 |
| Millsap, Utah 58 206 325 531 9.2 |
| Assists |
| G AST AVG |
| Paul, N.O. 58 643 11.1 |
| Williams, Utah 50 529 10.6 |
| Nash, Phoe. 56 550 9.8 |
| Calderon, Tor. 50 425 8.5 |
| Rondo, Bos. 63 531 8.4 |
| Kidd, Dall. 64 535 8.4 |
| B. Davis, LAC 49 382 7.8 |
| Duhon, N.Y. 62 477 7.7 |
| Wade, Mia. 63 484 7.7 |
| James, Clev. 63 445 7.1 |
The official in charge of the Treasury's $700 billion bailout program for the financial sector warned Congress that the government should not force banks to make loans that bankers may deem risky.
Neel Kashkari, interim assistant secretary for financial stability at Treasury, told a congressional oversight panel Wednesday that bad lending practices were at the root of the financial crisis and cautioned Congress not to "micromanage" institutions that receive government funds.
"However well-intended, government officials are not positioned to make better commercial decisions than lenders in our communities," he said.
Kashkari, who was put in the job under the Bush administration, testified amid growing impatience among members of Congress who want to see evidence that the taxpayer money is actually loosening credit markets.
Lawmakers on a subcommittee of the House Oversight and Reform Committee voiced frustration with what they said was a continued lack of clarity from the Treasury on how banks were spending money they have received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Under the program, the federal government has used more than $300 billion in taxpayer money to infuse financial institutions with cash, much of it by purchasing preferred stock and other assets.
Subcommittee chairman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, complained that at least three financial institutions that have received TARP money _ Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., and J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. _ have made foreign investments.
"If the banking system is in serious enough trouble to require massive amounts of federal support, shouldn't that federal support be channeled to the domestic economy?" Kucinich asked.
Kashkari said large financial institutions operate globally and that it was difficult to track whether foreign loans were made with U.S. deposits or foreign deposits because money "is fungible."
"We also have to be careful that if we set hard rules not letting our largest institutions do business abroad, other counties may say, OK, they're going to reciprocate and not let foreign banks then lend in America," he said.
The misgivings about Treasury's investments were bipartisan.
"We don't know if $300 billion has changed anyone's behavior," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
Kashkari said Treasury has used the TARP's capital purchase program to invest an average of $16 million in 489 banks. He said the program was making about 30 new investments a week. At the same time, several banks have indicated a desire to pay back the federal funds early, citing the number of government restrictions that the Obama administration has attached to the capital injections and the fear that other limits may be added.
DETROIT Like any other player wanting to make a major leagueteam, Steve Carlton went through a tryout Sunday at Comiskey Park.Except it was no usual tryout.
"I caught him," said Tom Haller, who caught 1,200 major leaguegames.
How many guys have a team's general manager catch a tryout?
"I was in bermuda shorts and he was in bermuda shorts and he hadon street socks," Haller said. "It was real back-to-the-sandlots."
Carlton didn't try to throw hard but he impressed Haller enoughthat the Sox signed him yesterday.
"I was pleased with what I saw," Haller said. "He had fullextension on his arm. He was flipping the ball free and easy.
"He pitched for a while and then we played long toss for a fewminutes. He looked healthy to me."
Ironically, Haller is a former general manager at San Francisco,which released Carlton last week.
And when Carlton arrived at the team's hotel in suburban Detroityesterday, he took Haller's room.
DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER
PHILADELPHIA - Amos, Alvin, Amos, Alvin.
Do not expect the ratio of carries to be proportional to mentionsin the first paragraph. That despite the fact both of West VirginiaUniversity's top two tailbacks have started and produced 100-yarddays this season.Yet WVU's Amos Zereoue and backup Alvin Swoope have something incommon.Both rank among the Big East Conference's top 10 rushers.Considering Swoope, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound junior from Port St.Lucie, Fla., did not play in the opener against Ohio State, hispresence among the leaders is surprising. But his 224 yards on 36carries places him eighth in the league with an average of 56 yardsagame.Much of that came Saturday, when Swoope started for an injuredZereoue in WVU's 37-7 romp at Temple. He gained 141 yards and scoredtwice on 16 first-half carries. It earned him a shower at halftime -a twisted neck dictated he would not return."It was my first start," Swoope said when asked what he wouldremember about the game. "And my first carry."On WVU's second play from scrimmage, Swoope zig-zagged 47 yards tothe Temple 7. He scored on the next play.All of which was gratifying to someone destined to be Zereoue'sbackup until the two-time 1,000-yard rusher leaves Morgantown.Swoope is in the midst of a career comeback of sorts. He left theprogram for personal reasons after the Gator Bowl that ended the1996season. Swoope is a father. He returned to WVU last winter.His 1999 playing time is not even guaranteed. Breathing on thathurt neck are freshmen such as Lewis Daniels, Brannon Goins and AvonCobourne. The speedy, 5-8 Goins saw his first varsity actionSaturday, rushing 11 times in the second half for 48 yards."He's good and he played pretty good without a lot of work,"Nehlen said of Goins. "We hoped he went in the right spot."Others seemed happy for Swoope, who plays a sort of Jeff Hostetlerto Zereoue's Phil Simms."Alvin might not have the breakaway speed Amos has, but he has thesame moves," quarterback Marc Bulger said."I think it was pretty easy," said wideout David Saunders, whocaught two touchdowns. "My play was easy because of the work ofAlvin Swoope."Of the Big East's top 10 rushers, Swoope has the highest per-carryaverage (6.2).- n nFor his performance, Swoope was named the Big East's Co-OffensivePlayer of the Week.He shared the honor with Virginia Tech tailback Lamont Pegues, whohad 146 yards and a touchdown in the Hokies' 17-0 victory overBostonCollege on Thursday.The Defensive Player of the Week was Tech free safety KeionCarpenter, who had an interception and nine tackles.Tech's Andre Davis was named the Special Teams Player of the Weekfor blocking a punt and returning it 34 yards.- n nSince the Big East added football in 1991, only four league teamshave beaten WVU's next opponent, Miami (Fla.).The Hurricanes (3-2, 1-1) will travel to Morgantown on Oct. 24 fora 3:30 p.m. game that will be televised by CBS. Both Miami and WVUare off this weekend.Only two in the conference have beaten Miami more than once. WVUis 2-5 against the Hurricanes, winning in 1993 and 1997. VirginiaTech has won four straight over Miami - including this season's 27-20overtime road win - after losing the first three.A loss for the Hurricanes, coming off a 26-14 defeat to FloridaState, would virtually eliminate them from league-title contention.Although not the powerhouse of last decade, Miami is improved oflate, in part because 29 freshmen played substantially in 1997.Miami features senior quarterback Scott Covington, who has thrownfor 1,048 yards and 12 touchdowns. Sophomore wideout Santana Mosshas 16 catches, seven for touchdowns.- n nOdds and tight ends:- The last time WVU scored at least 37 points in four consecutivegames was 1993. Then, the Mountaineers beat Pitt (42-21), Syracuse(43-0), Rutgers (58-22) and Temple (49-7).- Senior Damon Cogdell started his second straight game at middlelinebacker.- WVU has earned celebration penalties in its last two games, thuscreating the dreaded 35-yard extra-point try.- Despite a Beamonesque leap in attendance from the 1996 WVU-Temple game (2,546), it was still possible to have a conversationfrom the open-air press box to someone in the stands.- A nominee for worst pass of 1998 was turned in by Templefreshman Greg Muckerson.Sprinting, then falling toward the right sideline, Muckersonattempted an underhanded flip to tailback Stacey Mack, who had hisback turned. Cornerback Scooter Davis intercepted."I'm like, 'Man,' " Davis said.Writer Mike Cherry can be reached at 348-5170.
The Obama administration's new strategy to help fight Mexican drug cartels is getting under way without presidential picks to run the U.S. agencies in charge of battling drugs, border smuggling and illegal guns.
The White House has not nominated anyone to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs and Border Protection, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
For now, career officials are acting in a temporary capacity as agency heads even as the White House pledges an all-out attack on the drug cartels that threaten to destabilize Mexico and expand operations in the United States.
In any new administration, most government agencies go for a few weeks or months without a presidentially selected leader. But the continued vacancies, particularly as the drug cartel campaign begins, worries past agency chiefs.
Asa Hutchinson, who at different points led the DEA and border security efforts under the previous Republican administration, said the DEA must be the centerpiece of any push against the cartels.
"Just as you would not want to go without a high-level Defense Department official during a time of war, you would not want to go without the lead DEA official being confirmed for the fight we have with the cartels," said Hutchinson.
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said the administration has confidence "in the professional staff who will implement the plan ... but we are also moving quickly to put leadership in place to ensure that it will succeed."
More than 10,800 people have been killed in Mexico by drug violence since December 2006. Mexico has deployed more than 45,000 soldiers to fight the heavily armed cartels.
The administration on Friday laid out a long-term strategy for fighting the drug trade, centered around new, undeveloped technology and bolstered border inspections.
The strategy document drafted for Congress calls for building visual shields near border-crossings to stymie spotters, improving nonlethal technology to stop suspects and using more intelligence analysts.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the plan also puts renewed emphasis on reducing the demand for drugs in the U.S.
Asked about the present lack of permanent leadership in three key federal agencies, she said it won't hinder the anti-cartel effort. The agencies' acting leaders are career professionals "highly expert" in their fields, she said.
The ATF has gone without a presidentially nominated, congressionally approved leader since 2006.
At the direction of Justice Department officials, the ATF has shifted more agents and resources to the Southwest border. But Democrats in Congress want the agency to do more to investigate and arrest gunrunners and illegal gun sellers.
Bradley Buckles, former head of the ATF under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said running the agency without a confirmed leader "is a very difficult process."
He said many of the agency's programs have been in place for a long time and do not need a director to oversee them, but that's not true when it comes to trying to reach bigger goals or launch new initiatives, he said.
"You can't do proper strategic planning and strategic thinking. It's very difficult to move the agency ahead on a broad front because you are reduced to just taking care of day to day activities," he said.
Laura Sweeney, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the government has thrown "unprecedented forces" at the cartels. She said there are many programs in place that are "key building blocks in the ever-evolving fight."
Michael Braun, a former DEA official, said the lack of confirmed leaders weakens the agencies in dealing with foreign countries, as well as other parts of the U.S. government.
"When you have a presidentially appointed administrator in place, with that position comes the power," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Arthur H. Rotstein in Tucson, Arizona, contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
Drug Enforcement Administration: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea
U.S. Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov/
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: http://www.atf.gov/
The Army Chief of Staff has recognized eight Army Reserve organizations with Deployment Excellence Awards.
The 7th Army Reserve Command (ARCOM) took top honors in the supporting unit category for the Army Reserve. Second place went to the 4013th Garrison Support Unit from Fort Polk, Louisiana.
"The 7th ARCOM in Heidelberg, Germany, mobilized more than 70 percent of the command from five locations throughout Germany and Italy," said Maj. Gen. Claude V. Christianson, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, in his speech during the awards ceremony. "The Command supported four contingency operations and two separate war plans simultaneously."
During its largest and most challenging mobilization, the 7th ARCOM mobilized troops for Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, supported peacekeeping missions in both Bosnia and Kosovo, and assisted Europe-based Active Army and stateside Army Reserve units deploying to Southwest Asia.
"This award is a great testament to the teamwork and leadership of our Noncommissioned Officers and the Soldiers on the ground, who are truly deserving of this recognition," said Brig. Gen. Richard M. Tabor, Commander, 7th ARCOM. "Without their hard work and dedication, and the commitment of the ARCOM staff, we could not have gotten through this challenging time."
The award, which is presented annually, recognizes deploying units, supporting units and installations for outstanding mission accomplishment that meets or exceeds Army standards.
DEPLOYMENT EXCELLENCE AWARD RECIPIENTS
SUPPORTING UNIT CATEGORY
* First Place - 7th ARCOM, Schwetzingen, Germany
* Runner Up - 4013th Garrison Support Unit, Fort Polk, Louisiana
LARGE UNIT CATEGORY
* First Place - 1190th Deployment Support Brigade, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
* Runner Up - 418th Quartermaster Battalion, Tucson, Arizona
SMALL UNIT CATEGORY
* First Place - 805th Transportation Detachment (Logistics Support Vessel), Tacoma, Washington
* Runner Up - 419th Transportation Company, Salt Lake City, Utah
INSTALLATION CATEGORY
* First Place - Fort Dix, New Jersey
* Runner Up - Fort McCoy, Wisconsin
