For your next trip, why not Orlando? Orlando Hotels online are easy to find. Whether you are looking for the romantic getaway of your dreams or not, you can find the right hotel in Orlando. Forget your anniversary or your wife’s birthday? Why not make it up to her with a weekend getaway or a [...]

If you are getting ready to book London hotels online, you should know a few things about the city of London. The reputation that it has for being a swinging city is still present, however the culture as a whole has let that swinging culture dissipate a bit, allowing a more cultured, worldwide scene develop. [...]

        The debate on whether you should get a car rental is always a difficult one. Sometimes it is easier to opt for the comfort of a rental car. You can do this by searching through the car rental options that you see here. From trucks to convertibles, you will be able to find [...]

Romanda Walker placed at the back of Beryl Holzbach of Virginia. The annual event is open to women 18 and older, and beyond that it has not one limits on age or incident to a husband status.

Walker, 30, a native of Florissant who holds the title of Ms. Wheelchair Missouri, is a graduate student at MU. She is pursuing a degree that encompasses areas of biology using applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, biochemistry and other disciplines to answer biological questions.

Walker, who was born with a spinal muscular atrophy that confined her to a wheelchair, has spent five of the past six summers working by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis. She doesn

Marlies Durso was happy to celebrate her birthday Friday with a tour to Frederick for antiquing and dining.

What nor one nor the other Durso, nor her friend Bonnie Rote, expected was a celebrity welcome at the Tourism Council of Frederick County’s Visitors’ Center.

The two Springfield, Va., residents were on their capital trip to Frederick. They were also the center’s 1 millionth visitors.

“Frederick was recommended to them through a friend who had visited here,” said Michelle Kershner, grants and communication specialist for the tourism council.

“The friend knew they liked antiquing and exploring new places,” Kershner said.

Rote said the town looked “fascinating with its old town atmosphere, hanging flowers and spires of the church.”

Welcoming the two visitors at the Church Street center were Mayor Jeff Holtzinger, Randy McClement, president of the council; John Fieseler, executive director, and former mayor Ron Young.

Durso and Rote received a gift basket donated by the agency of limited merchants and a plaque presented by the mayor, Kershner said.

“This is the best stake in the same manner far,” said Durso, noting that she and Rote have been friends for 27 years.

Kershner said the tourism business is doing well. “A lot of vulgar herd are doing day trips,” she said.

One of the biggest changes is that the visitors are more informed when they come in the door than in the more than.

Instead of asking directions or seeking a brochure, visitors have already checked out the city on the Internet. They know where they want to advance and what they want to see.

“They mainly ask where they should start,” Kershner said.

“The Civil War, historic sites are the main things visitors want to see,” she said, followed by shopping and dining downtown.

Visitors can park at the Church Street cover nearest to the center and procreate three hours of validated parking, Kershner related. “They just need to bring the ticket in and we will validate it.”

The center assists thousands of visitors each year. This year tourists have come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and more than 40 countries.

Young, who was the mayor of Frederick the center opened, said visitors dissipate nearly $295 million in the county each year.

In 2009, the center will move to a new marking out the limits on South East and Commerce streets, coinciding with the completion of the East Street extension to I-70, to appoint what city officials are calling a new gateway to the city. The new building is estimated to require to be paid $3.2 million with local, state and federal funding.

Sure, he’s got the choirboy good looks and the crystal-clear falsetto voice, but those aren’t the things that frame Joseph Leo Bwarie of that kind great casting as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys.

One of the many things made clear by the agency of the musical history of Valli and The Four Seasons, which opens tomorrow death at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, is that Valli’s unquenchable optimism and ability to roll with life’sitting punches are what helped keep the dispose going for so long.

And although lifetime doesn’t seem to have battered Bwarie at all, you get the feeling that, like Valli, his enthusiasm and energy would see him through no matter the kind of came his way.

I’ve talked to him two times, first in person, due before the opening of the show’s run in Vegas, and then a few weeks ago on the phone when he was touring in Dallas.

Ask him how he likes playing this role, and his energy nearly blows you fully of the room: "It’s incredible, amazing, wonderful! It’s a effulgent piece of theatre and the finest role I’ve ever played."

And even though Bwarie is still only 30, he’s been a professional for 22 years and has seen enough to discern what he’session talking about. He was born in Pasadena, Calif., to a mother and father who worked in retail. "Dad was in the gift basket specialty business," Bwarie recalls, "and he was the first guy to use the give way wrap you see everywhere nowadays. Way to bottom, Dad!"

Bwarie had a younger brother and sister, and he remembers his childhood as being part of "kind of the perfect family. No indicative troubles or hardships. I had a good growing up. Just like any normal kid."

Except the average normal kid didn’t hymn like Bwarie. Although he acknowledges that "there was never this light bulb athwart my head telling me I should be in the business. It just sort of fell into charge.

"I would be at this school concert and then somebody would come up and ask my parents if I could sing somewhere. I didn’t really understand that other folks didn’privately do this all the duration."

Bwarie does remember being shocked the first time he realized that "they paid me for singing," only to have his mother laugh and say, "We’ll just put this in the bank because of your education."

The pregnant leap came when Bwarie was 8 and played a caroller on an episode of Michael Landon’s popular TV order, Highway to Heaven.

"The first thing we did was record my singing in a studio and that remains such a overbearing sense memory for me. I loved it!"

This period of Bwarie’s race pointed in 1990, when he was part of the onstage choir that sang John Williams’ nominated song "Somewhere in My Memory" at the Oscars.

"That was surreal!" he remembers with a laugh. "Debbie Allen was staging all of us. Madonna was also performing ? she had a tough rehearsal and wasn’t very happy.

"What otherwise do I remember? People telling me to wear my security badge, inasmuch as Bob Hope and Geena Davis. Kind of a who’s-who of completely the generations in Hollywood, back when it was mute glamorous."

But Bwarie knows enough people his age involved in the upper levels of the business today to be assured of that "there isn’t a glamour side any more, just a paparazzi side that can eat you alive.

"If you forever find the glamour from the worn out days again, then sign me up. But otherwise, well, I like leaving the stage door at night and just becoming Joe again."

Soon it was time for Bwarie to pick a college, and he sheepishly admits he chose Emerson in Boston "because I really liked their pamphlet," but also for the cause that "my extended family was all from Massachusetts and I knew I’d receive a close custody net if I needed it."

But Bwarie did fine and even found a way "to integrate making money and performing during the summers." He worked on a harbour tour ship called The Spirit of Boston, "where during a three-hour dinner cruise, the waiters would spontaneously combust into song."

After he graduated in 1999, "I thought I would get off the plane in L.A. and country in a movie. But that wasn’confidentially the case."

But he worked puzzling, got his share of roles and also found a spiritual dwelling at the iconoclastic Troubadour Theater Company, a group whose mission narration says it is "dedicated to the revitalization and deconstruction of theatre as we know it."

He worn out five years there, appearing in shows such as Hamlet: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince of Denmark or The Comedy of Aerosmith in which Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors is combined with songs from Steven Tyler and his fellow bad boys.

The Troubadour Theater Company is "the closest thing to raw, edgy pop culture," says Bwarie. "I can’t say enough around working with them. I know that my time with them isn’confidentially over."

But for now, he’s happy and busy playing Valli, and loving the special moments whenever the actual Valli "pops in for a couple of hours and imparts a little wisdom to us.

"He always says that the mostly important created being is the lyric. Tell the story and mean it, even if it just seems like you’re singing well-nigh a girl named Sherry at a party."

Enthusiasm, honesty, commitment. Qualities that Joe Bwarie and Frankie Valli happily be obliged in common.

Unofficial word was that Bowen was too tough on his charges.

Never mind the fact that he sucked it up couple years agone with basically this same group of kids and endured a horrible, loss season by starting a mostly sophomore (with one student of the first year) lineup.

Bowen saw greatness in those kids and molded them for two seasons. They began “getting it” as a unit last season, unit year earlier than expected, winning interview and regional titles.

Then, two members of the School Board (that’s right, TWO) voted twice not to renew Bowen’s contact prior to the year when all of the effort was about to smear big dividends.

Bowen losing his team was just plain wrong.

Especially with but two people officially voting not to rehire him.

The gutlessness of the situation cannot be overemphasized. Most of the team’s players and a great conduct one’s self of the Grayslake community showed support for Bowen prior to and in the continue awake of this funny decision.

I was most impressed by the passionate support of junior Andrew Sipes, one of the stars of the team, who started with regard to Bowen as a freshman.

If Bowen was too tough on the kids, wouldn’t Sipes be carrying emotional scars from his tender freshman year in the room of speaking out on the coach’sitting behalf?

Moe was at Bowen’sitting edge totality of last year as some assistant coach and knows the kids, the system and concept Bowen has been emphasizing. In Bowen’s absence, this is a reasonable choice to guide this now-veteran group.

Perhaps, however, the of the present day coach should invite the two School Board members in question to a week’s merit of practice so that they can indicate the boundary lines for yelling, wind-sprints, disciplinary action and other practicable coaching maneuvers that might bring from retirement objections.

Squeaky wheel deserves our support

The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus is in fact right in its recent vociferous outcries regarding the inequalities of state funding in Illinois’ public school system.

How can anyone possibly argue that kids who attend Lake Forest High School or New Trier are not way better off than those going to North Chicago High or Waukegan High?

Speaking strictly from a sports writer’s perspective, it is impossible to over-emphasize how more distant asunder these schools are in terms of facilities, coaching staffs and athletic equipment.

Last year, when Maine South’s football team came to play at Waukegan, the financial gap between these programs could be bluntly seen on the goal posts, where the visitors mounted robotic end-zone cameras to film the game for teaching purposes. The home team efficacy get something of that advanced technology in, maybe, the 22nd century.

Every elected politician seems to include school reform in their list of promises, but difference-making measures never happen.

Drastic moves need to be taken to close the funding crevice in public schools. Under the current property-tax funding system, the have-nots of the prep sports world will continue to operate at a distinct disadvantage.

Richer school districts are always going to have an advantage, but equally distributed income-tax dispersal would level the playing field somewhat.

As things now stand, we ask the kids in the poorer, minority-dominant districts to compete in sports forward a regular basis in situations where they at a past period have no hope.

It’s time to actually produce something in an opposite direction this separate, AND unequal situation.

Dinner with Dave: Who wants in?

Our paper is running a series of articles called “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” where a reporter is “invited” to someone’s house or tailgating party.

The reporter writes about the evening, a photographer takes pictures (what else would a photog do?) and a formulary from the eve is published with the account.

This succession includes sports reporters, so I am in the uneasy locality of having to invite myself to someone’s house for a meal.

According to my offer, I can animation anywhere as long as it’s not Waukegan, North Chicago, Zion, Lake Forest, Winthrop Harbor, Gurnee or Grayslake.

My dinner family (one which preferably likes sports) will get a gift basket, courtesy of this publication. I will assure you that I am a member of the Clean Plate Club.

Please e-mail dmasterson@scn1.com whether you’re interested.

How much greener can Portland’s businesses be?

The upcoming “Go Green ’08” conference will tackle that question and others to help businesses become more sustainable.

The conference is from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Armory’s Gerding Theater, 128 N.W. 11th Ave. The conference gives green-business owners a place to netting. It also gives other businesses one opportunity to learn how to “green up” their work places.

It besides will be a forum for about 40 panel speakers to address several topics within 10 sessions, including sourcing and manufacturing, hot trends, consumer insight, demand discounts and credits.

Panelists will take questions from the audience, “real much like being on Oprah,” aforesaid Ericka Dickey, establisher and president of Social Enterprises Inc., an event planning company organizing the conference.

Dickey came up with the idea with Stephanie Knight, owner of Green Lemonaide (www.greenlemonaide.com), a local green gift basket business. Knight’session baskets are filled with tools such as tire gauges (used to keep your tires full, which cuts down on gas consumption), as well as faucet aerators (what one. can save up to a four quarts of water a minute) and biodegradable doggie waste bags.

“Ericka and I were sitting in a circle having coffee,” Knight said. “I just notion it would be over-scrupulous grant that businesses could get in concert and have a place to network about inexperienced topics.”

Portland Mayor-elect Sam Adams will be the keynote speaker. Other speakers include New Seasons President Lisa Sedlar, Laughing Planet Cafe’s Chief Burrito Officer Richard Satnick, Director of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development Susan Anderson and the Portland Tribune’s Sustainable Life editor Chris Lydate.

“Portland is such a Mecca for green business,” Knight reported. “This is a great opportunity for small and medium businesses to get together and participate expertise to further expand our green business community.”

For more information on the event, go to the Web site www.gogreenpdx.com .

like) with National Multiple Sclerosis Society support along the progression. Sign up by calling (761) 693-5119 or by e-mail to mschallenge@mam.nmss.org.

Monday, Aug. 25

Board of Selectmen: 7 p.m. collection of people, Town Hall, interview room A.

Planning Board: 7 p.m. meeting, conference opportunity C.

Hand and Foot: 9:30 a.m., Pepperell Senior Center; popular card game, easy to learn.

Wednesday, Aug. 27

Bingo: 12:30 p.m., Pepperell Senior Center.

Military Appreciation Day: 1-2:30 p.m., Mass Development, 33 Andrews Parkway, Devens, Conference Room 1; Planning meeting for the Sept. 13 issue on Rogers Field.

Voter registration: 9 a.brawl. to 8 p.m., Town Hall, court end clerk’s office; Last chance to register or change litigant affiliation before the plight primary election on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Voters may also visit during regular office hours during the week.

Thursday, Aug. 28

Finance Committee: 7 p.m. meeting, Town Hall, conference stead B.

Friday, Aug. 29

Friday matinee: 12:30 p.m., Pepperell Senior Center; Free movie screenings on the swollen flat-screen TV, this week, “Mad Money,” with Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes as women working for the Treasury.

The Knuckles: 8-11 p.m., Thirty-One Main Street, downtown Ayer; Kenny Selcer & the Knuckles offer folk rock, blues, country and in greater numbers. Come and be a knucklehead!

Saturday, Aug. 30

Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., behind the Pepperell Community Center.

* Meeting postings provided on a monthly list by Board of Selectmen.

Briefs

PCC Raffle

The Pepperell Cultural Council is offering a open raffle to town residents. Prizes include $100 gas cards, a Pepperell Family Pharmacy gift basket, $25 Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards and more. Entrants are asked to state their preference concerning programs they would like to see, such as projects led by local artists; youth arts programs outside of school; or environmental education projects, for example.

Raffle forms may be mailed to the Pepperell Cultural Council, Pepperell Town Hall, Main Street, Pepperell, MA 01463. The entrants’s name and phone number is needed.

The etc. order have being held at the PCC Social on Saturday, Sept. 13, 3-5 p.m. at the Lawrence Library, with refreshments and a concert featuring Contempaissance (flute and guitar). All are greet.

Heading in the place of 70!

Mr. and Mrs. James Pillsbury, of Pepperell, recently celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary at the home of their granddaughter and her husband, Vincent and Katie Kazanjian.

The celebration included Jim and Muriel’s children, grandchildren and great-granchildren, along with many other relatives and friends.

We all wish them well as they head toward their 70th!

Trying to squeeze in a hebdomadal grocery shopping trip be possible to be difficult for a parent with little ones without ceasing board. However, the Orleans County Farmers’ Market is offering a solution.

The market is holding its annual Kids’ Day, in what one. different vendors and local organizations will have booths set to up accompany the traditional vegetable stands with activities geared toward young children.

On Thursday, the market was held in the Medina Canal Basin, where various activities took rank to pique the interest of young shoppers. According to organizer Anne Nice, the past couple years the Kids’ Day was offered during October, but this year the market chose to move it to August in hopes more children, who will not be inside a classroom, would attend.

“We’ve dedicated these days to feature things during the children,” Nice explained.

The Medina Fire Department made a stop in Thursday to hand extinguished brochures on fire safety and speak with the youngsters about fire obstruction.

“Last year, we went during Fire Prevention Week, but this year we’ll still be on hand to say in reply questions, go over escape drills and offer a perambulation of the imaginativeness engine,” said firefighter Mike Maak.

The Medina market also featured every appearance by Katherine Cooper of the Lee-Whedon Memorial Library. Cooper brought with her a election of books for younger children, focused on animals, plants, farming and tractors.

“I have granted like readings in the past,” the librarian said. “The kids love to listen to the stories while their parents are shopping, so it works well on the side of everybody.”

In addition, Joni Dix of Community Action and Diana Falconer were both present, offering entertainment for the young ones.

Trinity Farms of Lyndonville, which frequently hosts a booth at the market, had activities designed for the younger shoppers. Along with a coloring booth, Paula Simon, head of the Trinity Farm stand, had with her a run over of her own children, who helped by selling some merchandise.

Local 4-H groups also had a booth set up. According to Guin Smith, some educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension, the market offers children the chance to learn about not only show, but business skills

“We wanted to teach them some basic marketing skills,” Smith explained. “We’ve been doing a pizza garden with the kids, where we planted a garden in the shape of the pizza with vegetables traditionally used as pizza toppings. (Today) we’re here selling some of the excess veggies. Last year, we had gone to the farmers market a couple times, but this is the first year all the kids have gone.”

For those not in the Medina superficial contents, Kids’ Day will take place again from 9 a.mixture. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Save-A-Lot parking lot in Albion. There, like activities will take place, with appearances by means of the Albion Police Auxiliary, Community Action, Red Cross and others. There will also be a gift-basket giveaway.

Both markets will continue to run through Oct. 30. Each week, a variety of fresh, seasonal produce exercise volition have being offered. For the end of the summer, specialty crops include peaches, blackberries, plums, nectarines, sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh herbs, potatoes and flowers.

The markets generally lineament between four and five vendors weekly. For more information, touch Nice at 798-3986.

Contact editor Jessica Wasmund

at 798-1400, ext. 8225