High School Football...More Dangerous than we thought?

Redmond, California -- Pete Stenhoff is a 16-year-old student who played football at Chula Vista High School.  He used to be able to live life to the fullest, until one day when he was playing football.  Pete Stenhoff was a physically fit, 210-pound linebacker here when he planted his helmet in the chest of a ball carrier two years ago.  He hasn’t walked since.  Medics that night rushed Stenhoff to the hospital, where he learned he had cracked vertebrae.

 Not that it is much comfort, but he is not alone.  “Stenhoff is one of 20,000 youths who are injured playing high school football each year. Like Stenhoff, nearly 2,400 are permanently disabled. But he is luckier than some; 13 youths died last year as a result of their injuries on the football field.”

Stenhoff lost thirty eight pounds and was unable to graduate on time with his classmates.  At the end of the day, he is not bitter, he said, “but I wish I would have known just how bad it could be.” 

Firefighters Taking on the Worst

The spell of hot, dry weather has held the area in its grasp for the last few weeks is taking its toll on grasslands and fire fighters.

Saturday, in the wake of 15-mph and 25-mph winds and a high temperature of 99 degrees, fire protection agencies from across the area responded to 16 calls.

At the largest of those was a 25-acre grass fire on Peabody Road north of Prathersville and west of Route 19.  Paramedics treated on sight at least five of 35 fire fighters for heat exhaustion, county fire Chief Debra Shuster said.

Three more of the heavily clad firefighters were hospitalized for heat exhaustion, and two of those were flown to Springfield Hospital by helicopter.  All were treated for about one hour and released.

Dennis Sapp, fire captain of Station No. One, said the blaze at Peabody Road, which burned out of control for an hour before it was contained, probably was started by a trash fire. The blaze endangered some nearby farmland and the barn on it, but was extinguished before anything but grass was burned.

Schuster said fires like the one on Peabody Road had been starting all day, especially in the northern part of the city and county.  Schuster said some of the fires could have been the work of an arsonist, but careless burning was a more likely cause.

“We don’t have any evidence there is an arsonist”, Schuster said.  “We sure hope we don’t have someone running around starting fires on purpose, but there is that possibility.”

Fresno Pacific sweeps Springfield College in 1st Round of NAIA Division 1 Basketball Tournament

Tulsa, OK – Tonight’s first round matchup was between an old rivalry. It seemed as thought Springfield College did not know what they were getting themselves into.
Moore came out strong for Fresno’s team, putting up statistics for a double-double. He wracked up a solid total of 24 points, helping lead his team to victory.
Of the Amundson brothers, it was Ty who came through for Fresno with 18 points.
At halftime, Springfield was only trailing Fresno by 9 points at 40-31, a very possible spread to overcome.

Springfield only managed to put up a mere 25 points in the second half, while Fresno pulled away with the lead scoring 41 points in the second.
Other notable players included Muldrow from Springfield, who posted 20 points throughout the game.
As the game marched on, it was clear that Fresno would be walking away with the win and advancement through the tournament.
“I’m extremely proud of my team. They have been training extremely hard and played their hearts out and it truly showed today” ,Coach Connors of Fresno said.
“I’m really happy we are moving on to the second round. You never know what the outcome of these tournaments is going to be. I’d like to thank my teammates for giving me the chance to lead the team to victory. Go Fresno!” ,Moore said.

Robbery at Gunpoint at the Black Derby Liquor Store

Dateline -- A gunman with a pillowcase over his head pointed a pistol at a clerk and fled down an alley with $2,845 moments before police arrived at the Black Derby Liquor Store on 2311 Ripley Way.
The gunman pointed a pistol at store clerk Steve Bellinos and demanded he empty the register into another pillowcase, police said.

Man Robbing Store Clerk

Standing at 6-feet tall and wearing blue jeans, a dirty white t-shirt ripped at the sleeve, and a pillowcase over his head, the gunman entered the liquor store at 7:12 p.m., police said. Bellinos triggered his silent alarm behind the desk at 7:16. p.m. Police officers Anne Fulgham and Jose Lopez answered the alarm and arrived on the scene at 7:19 as the gunman was leaving the store.
Officer Anne Fulgham shouted a warning, then fired a shot at the man, which missed, police said. The man escaped capture by running into an alleyway.
John Paul Reinicke, 35, was walking down Ripley Way when the chase began. “The officers did a great job, [but] the guy ran so fast… he looked like a track star,” he said.
Police are investigating the incident, as they do each time an officer fires a service revolver, Police Chief Antonio Grasso said.
Police ask that those with information relating to the crime contact them.

World News at a Glimpse

Fatal Shooting in St. Joseph, Missouri

St. Joseph, Missouri - A shooting rampage killed a police officer and the gunman and injured three others near 22^nd and Union streets.

A police officer responding to the scene was killed when bullets hit his back window seven times, striking him in the back of the head and killing him.  He was identified as Bradley Thomas Arn, a 28-year-old husband and father to two twin daughters.

This is the first time a police officer was fatally shot in the area since 1991.  The last officer was shot in 1944.

“They did a good job.  They did what they were trained to do”, said Officer Connors.  “There is the shocked stage, then the anger stage, then you get over it.  It is tough on everybody.”

“One bullet came through and hit the officer in the back of the head.  Officers are talking to many friends and officers and they say it’s very new to St Joseph.”, said a substantiate from police named Amy Buckner.

St. Joseph, MO

“I got my cordless phone to the back of the house in the alley and saw an average-sized man with a Mohawk shooting down Calhoon street.  When he saw cops he turned and started shooting,” a witness named Liberty said.

Norma Guthrie was going down the street behind a police officer to the store and the bullet went through her window and nicked her husband. It then killed officer Arn according to police. 

Police are investigating and conducting an internal interview of the officer who fired the shot. 

Witnesses say it was the neighbor of his and he was a little bit odd and off at times.

The department is using fingerprints to identify the shooter who was not carrying any identification. There is no confirmed report as to why he walked two or three streets and started to open fire, police said.  There were four confirmed casualties and two fatalities.

Sidebar:  There is no information on the funeral yet, but at 10 a.m. tomorrow a press conference will be held by police officers.

Sidebar:  Officer Arn can be remembered here.

Sidebar:  For a better illustration of where the story took place, look here. 

School Board Debate

The past Tuesday night, the School Board candidates headed to the Lenoir Retirement Community Center and debated ideas concerning year-round schooling, trailer classroom construction, and unionizing.  

            Board President Elton Fay disagreed and said, “What Mr. Lane fails to tell you is that if we are to avoid erecting additional buildings, to save on construction costs, the cost of educating our children would go up substantially.”

            Another candidate Larry Dorman, said, “as a board member, I would focus on eliminating overcrowding in the schools and increasing teacher pay.”  When schools have smaller class sizes, the students tend to be more successful and obtain a better education.

          Board member Kerry Corino said, “the increasing population makes it difficult to counteract large class sizes.”  A possible solution could be to redistrict some students.

            Private schools have advantages here because they are able to turn away students, while public schools cannot.

            Lastly, teacher unionization was questioned and immediately declined because of state laws. 

Michael Jordan’s Immortal Income

            Michael Jordan is and will probably always be the best basketball player to ever walk this earth.  His career highlights include winning the N.B.A. championship a total of six times, Most Valuable Player five times, a fourteen time N.B.A. Allstar, and the list goes on.  Whatever you can think of in the game of basketball and its history, Michael Jordan has accomplished that feat and probably more.

            In the history of any sport, when a player becomes good enough and fairly unbeatable but also well known, companies throw endorsement deals at them.  Most of the highest paid endorsements are paid in the Nascar industry, but there are comparable endorsements in just about any other sport depending on what a player makes of him or herself and career.

            According to www.celebritynetworth.com, Michael Jordan’s net worth is currently estimated to be somewhere in the ballpark of five hundred million dollars, which I honestly thought to be a little bit low.  When Jordan first started out playing basketball professionally in 1984 for the Chicago Bulls, he was paid a salary of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  In his last season he played for the Bulls in 1997, he was paid a hefty salary set at thirty three million, one hundred and forty thousand dollars.  Michael’s career earnings from basketball alone total to a record high for his era of ninety three million, seven hundred and seventy two thousand, five hundred dollars.  So the question is proposed, where has the other four hundred million dollars that Jordan earned over the years come from?  Endorsements are the answer.

            According to http://www.powerbasketball.com/soleinfluence.html, his endorsements include “…$16 million from Nike, $5 million from Gatorade, $5 million from Bijan Cologne, $4 million from MCI, $2 million from Ray-O-vac, $2 million from Hanes, $2 million from Ball Park Franks, $2 million from Wheaties, $2 million from Wilson, $2 million from Oakley, $1 million from AMF Bowling, $1 million from CBS Sportsline, and $1 million from Chicagoland Chevrolet.”  This was when Jordan was earning the absolute most from his endorsements when he was still actively and professionally playing basketball. 

            Currently, you will see Michael on a Hanes commercial every once in a while as he still plays an active role as a spokesperson in the company.  But since he has retired, his endorsement deals have thinned out.  After all, he has his own shoe company called Jordan which earns him millions per year while he just sits back and cleans his trophies. 

            Michael Jordan is an outlier in the world of sports.  He is like the Tiger Woods of golfing.  He did not just play basketball well, but he brought a legend to the sport and also gave basketball an unforgettable essence and improvement because he accomplished feats thought to be merely impossible by any sane human being.  Even when Jordan passes away some day, he will always be remembered throughout the world whether it be because of his endorsements, the legend he molded, or through his shoes that will live on.