“O'Keeffe museum to honor Annie Leibovitz - The Sun News” plus 4 more |
- O'Keeffe museum to honor Annie Leibovitz - The Sun News
- STAR leader has the knack to help troubled students get back on track - St. Petersburg Times
- Wallet dropped in lake resurfaces 2 years later - Statesman Journal
- Suspect Arrested in brutal Gee family murder - Bloggernews.net
- Politicians beware: Oil photo exhibit opens in DC - Modesto Bee
| O'Keeffe museum to honor Annie Leibovitz - The Sun News Posted: 02 Oct 2009 05:32 PM PDT |
| STAR leader has the knack to help troubled students get back on track - St. Petersburg Times Posted: 03 Oct 2009 10:21 AM PDT By Tony Marrero, Times Staff Writer BROOKSVILLE — John Stratton worried about the new girl. The brown-haired 10th-grader arrived Wednesday morning at the STAR Education Center, landing there for truancy and behavior issues. A couple of hours later, she sat in the back of a classroom with a sullen look on her face. "She's not thrilled about being here," said Stratton, STAR's principal. "I was happy she was in class. Many of the 77 students currently at the county's alternative school for grades 6-12 likely feel the same way, Stratton acknowledges. Some wind up there for chronic behavioral issues, others for one doozy of a mistake. For some, the school off Broad Street just north of Brooksville Elementary is the last chance to shape up before expulsion. Stratton, in his first year at the school, is new, too. But the 43-year-old father of two says he's pleased to be there. He says he realized about two decades ago that he had a knack for bringing out the best in troubled students, so he jumped when the STAR position opened. "I absolutely want this school to be the best it can be," Stratton said. "I want it to have a good name. When the other secondary principals send students here, they should know they're getting a quality education and we're working on their behavior." Stratton, a St. Petersburg native, didn't plan on a career in education, though his mother worked as an elementary school teacher. Early in his days at the University of South Florida, however, he helped run a St. Petersburg recreation center. He found himself drawn to teenagers, especially those with behavioral issues. When asked why, he smiled and admitted he isn't quite sure. "Other than being incredibly patient, I don't know, because I had a rather traditional upbringing," he said. He went on to graduate with a bachelor's degree in special education. Later, he earned a master's degree in educational leadership. He landed his first job as a high school teacher at the Hamilton Disston School in Gulfport for children who are severely emotionally disturbed. "I loved it," Stratton recalls. "I felt it came easily." Stratton moved to Hernando County and commuted for 11 years to Citrus County's Crest School for physically and mentally disabled students, where he worked as a middle and high school teacher. From 1997 to 2001, he served as a behavioral and staffing specialist at the Renaissance Center, Citrus County's equivalent to STAR. Stratton said the experience at Renaissance, coupled with the next four years as an assistant principal at Crystal River Elementary, where he focused on general education curriculum, helped round out his resume. In 2005, he joined the Hernando district as a middle school assistant principal at Challenger K-8 in Spring Hill. He was wrapping up his first year as assistant principal at Central High School when then-superintendent Wayne Alexander decided to change leaders at STAR. Stratton applied and got the job. "When I moved into the county, there were a few schools that were of interest, and this was certainly one of them," Stratton said. "I feel like I've come full circle." John Shepherd, a veteran educator who had served as STAR's principal for the past 12 years, didn't want to leave. Alexander didn't give a specific reason for moving him to an assistant principal post at Eastside Elementary, Shepherd recalled last week. "But I told him the best person for the (STAR) job would be John Stratton," Shepherd said. • • • STAR, which stands for Students at Risk, has its roots in the so-called Opportunity School that opened in Lake Lindsey in 1976. Two years later, the school moved to its current location on Varsity Drive. After a few location changes in the early 1990s, the school moved back to Varsity in 1996 and took the STAR name. Within the school is the Technology Oriented Performance Program, or TOPP, which is not necessarily for students with behavior problems. The program is designed to help those behind in credits or struggling with a low grade-point average. Alexander, during his tenure, had threatened to close STAR and create a program on another existing campus. Stratton says he's convinced the school must remain separate in order to send a message to the students who are there for behavior problems. That way, he said, "they are earning their way in and earning their way out." The goal is almost always to get students back into their home schools, though some will always do better in a smaller environment. But Stratton says STAR should strive to give kids more options while they are there. Currently, with just 10 instructional staffers and a need to keep class sizes small, that's a tall order. For example, the school does not offer physical education. Stratton said he will seek to forge partnerships with other high schools. Staffers might come to STAR, or students could travel to other campuses to earn credits. Hernando High, for example, might lend a hand for performing arts, he said. "Maybe we send them over there one class at a time to see how they adapt to a larger campus," he said. That would also help officials determine whether students are ready to head back to their home schools on a permanent basis, he said. The school should soon have a part-time guidance counselor, Stratton said. • • • STAR has been too small to earn a grade in the state's accountability system based on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores. But the population was almost large enough by last year, so Stratton predicts the added stress that comes with more scrutiny is inevitable. Stratton is working on a shoestring discretionary budget of $40,000. Still, the oak-tree-shaded campus of about 12 small buildings — some 3 decades old, others built a few years ago — is looking better already, staffers said. New paint and carpet can go a long way. "We've always been the bottom of the barrel for everything," said Nicole Angell, who started her teaching career at STAR three years ago. "Last of the textbooks, last of the technology. The money usually runs out before it reaches us. (Stratton's) goal is to have the money reach us. I think he's going to make it happen." For many STAR students, though, role modeling is just as important as technology or exam prep, Stratton said. "You develop relationships," he said, "and if you can get some of these kids to have a relationship with an adult, a mentor on campus, that's what usually turns them around." Tony Marrero can be reached at tmarrero@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1431. [Last modified: Oct 03, 2009 01:20 PM]  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Wallet dropped in lake resurfaces 2 years later - Statesman Journal Posted: 03 Oct 2009 10:43 AM PDT Two years after he lost his wallet during a vacation at Detroit Lake, Eric Johnson of Bend got it back. Eric Anderson of Salem returned it to him in person Friday morning — water-logged and dusty, but complete with cash, photos, credit cards and identification. "It still blows me away that someone would be that dedicated to get somebody's stuff back to them," Johnson said. "That doesn't happen anymore." Johnson, 33, works as an arborist throughout the state. For the past six or seven years, he has been traveling up and down Interstate 5 for his work. When the wallet went missing, Johnson lost the business cards and notes he'd collected along the way about old friends — and a couple of hundred dollars in cash. Anderson, 43, works for Qwest Communications. Anderson was kayaking on Detroit Lake with a buddy last weekend when he spotted a stray fishing line and some old anchors off the bank near Piety Island. That's where Johnson dropped his wallet in the water two years ago. Johnson spends a lot of weekends wakeboarding on the lake with his family. Anderson also spends time at the lake with his children. "I've got three kids. I push that stuff with them all the time, so it was important for me to find him to give him his stuff back," Anderson said. It took some detective work to find Johnson. Anderson started with an Internet search, but Johnson has an unlisted cell phone. Then Anderson called a real estate company in Bend. A clerk at the office gave him Johnson's mother's address. Anderson called the power company to get her number, but they do not give out personal information. He tried Bend Police Department next. Anderson didn't call the police first because he wanted to hand off the wallet personally. "I thought if I went that direction, I can't make sure it's going to go to him," Anderson said. Anderson tried Marion County Sheriff's Office next, which contacted Deschutes County Sheriff's Office. That's when Johnson got the call. "I'm like, 'Oh wait, I haven't been to Salem in a long time,'" Johnson said. They made contact and arranged to meet. "I'm just blown away," Johnson said. Anderson didn't want a reward or publicity. He just wanted to meet the guy whose wallet he'd recovered. "I'd like to show my kids who you are," Anderson told Johnson. Next week Anderson is going to be in Bend on business and Johnson is going to take him out for a beer.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Suspect Arrested in brutal Gee family murder - Bloggernews.net Posted: 03 Oct 2009 10:07 AM PDT
The Gee children did attend Church on Sunday, but did not attend school on Monday. On Monday afternoon, a neighborhood boy went to the Gees home and knocked on the door. It opened and he made the gruesome discovery. The boy ran home and after relating what he saw, calls went out to relatives of the Gees. Beason is a small farm town of about 200 located in rural Logan County in the State of Illinois. It is so small that most everyone knows everyone else. As reported in the stltoday.com, the postmaster, Judie Duncan, recalled how the Gee children and others would wait for the school bus outside the tiny storefront of the post office each morning. The quiet community, shocked by the violence of the murders, was accustomed to basking in the perception of safety, seldom locking their cars or doors at night. Sheriff Steve Nichols quickly put the word out for all residents to lock their doors and take every caution, while he, and his deputies, investigated the murders and hunted down the killer or killers. Yellow police tape surrounding the Gee home and buildings on their property. Located on the outskirts of Beason, it is the first house on the road leading to the city of Beason. Moreover, if that weren't enough to tell people the Sheriff was on the case, the large fifth wheel with the big badge painted on the side and parked at the Gee home, would leave little doubt. They covered the house and other buildings with a fine toothcomb and brought out DNA, fingerprints, and blood as potential evidence. Sheriff Nicole was determined to solve this crime and get justice for the family. He requested assistance from the FBI immediately. No stone will be left unturned.
Still time seemed to pass slowly for relatives and friends of the Gee family, as well as the towns people. On September 25, tribune.com reported the autopsy indicated blunt force injury as the cause of death. Canine dog teams searched the perimeter of the home and the bean fields. It was notable the dogs took a direct path, north to the road. Funeral services were on Monday, September 28. Family and friends of the victims attended, including (as reported by sj-r.com) Chris Harris. An employee of the Dixie Travel Plaza in McLean recognized the description of the truck as belonging to former employee, Chris Harris. Then Marjorie Wright told pantagraph.com that on Wednesday night she saw Harris put his truck into Nicole Gee's garage.
The Harris family does not believe Chris Harris is guilty and they plan to hire an attorney out of Chicago. The investigation continues and Sheriff Steven Nicole is not ruling out the possibility of future arrests. Linda Johnson  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Politicians beware: Oil photo exhibit opens in DC - Modesto Bee Posted: 03 Oct 2009 10:50 AM PDT "We hoped that there would be something going on around oil," curator Paul Roth said of the museum's plans for the exhibit beginning two years ago. "At a certain point, we realized, no, it's Washington and it's oil. There will be something going on." The show, underwritten by Canada's Scotiabank, will be on view at the Corcoran through December, then will travel to Canada and other destinations through 2012. Corcoran officials also expect a smaller version to travel in Europe. Burtynsky spent 12 years exploring the subject, following past projects on mines, quarries and farming. The images are divided thematically to show how oil is extracted from the earth and how it drives transportation and development. It ends with a frightening thought - the end of oil. Some of the most striking images depict the abandoned, rusting oil fields of Azerbaijan in 2006, where the earth has been tapped dry. The Toronto-based artist, who is the son of a General Motors production worker, said he had an "oil epiphany" in 1997 and was compelled to learn more. The exhibit was conceived when President George W. Bush, once an oil businessman, was still in office. "I thought whoever the new guy is will have to have a different perspective, you know?" Burtynsky said. "Otherwise, America is in trouble." His images include a pristine forest in Alberta, Canada, sliced by silver oil pipelines; massive oil fields with dozens of derricks pumping in Belridge, Calif.; and car-centric cities from Texas to China. "It's like trying to photograph something that you never see," he said. "We don't see crude oil. It's like blood in our veins. It runs through our body, but if we see it, there's a problem usually." Rather than show oil spills, though, Burtynsky tackles the demands for oil and its consequences. One scene depicts a Las Vegas suburb with man-made lagoons and waterways from overhead, showing the surrounding Nevada desert. "We make these worlds where we manufacture waterfront property to get more money for these houses," he said. Other scenes are darker. In Bangladesh, Burtynsky photographed massive oil tankers resting in black, toxic mud where barefoot workers break down the ships for scrap and salvage any leftover crude. Some photographs show the massive oil industry in Burtynsky's home country of Canada - the second-largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia - with its oil sands in Alberta. Museum director Paul Greenhalgh called the images an "apocalyptic display of what humanity does to the landscape," likening the photographs to artworks produced in the early 19th century in Europe "when the landscape was being ripped up by the first phase of industrialization." Burtynsky said he rented helicopters and hydraulic trucks and stayed mostly on public roads to capture his images, though he did have a brush with the FBI. About a week after he photographed oil refineries in 2004 from a helicopter over Pasadena, Texas, he got a call from investigators. "You know, it would be better if you let us know when you'd be doing this," the agent told Burtynsky. The artist replied: "I didn't think to call the FBI."  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Beason, Ill. - Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols announced an arrest on Thursday, October 1, had taken place in connection to the murders of 46-year-old Raymond "Rick" Gee, his wife 39-year-old Ruth, and their three of their children, 16-year-old Justina Constant, 14-year-old Dillen Constant, and 11-year-old Austin Gee. The youngest child, and only survivor, Tabitha Gee, is severely injured and remains in the hospital. Christopher Harris, the ex-husband of Nicole Gee Harris and father to three of her children, now accused of bludgeoning to death the Gees in a brutal struggle that took place sometime Sunday evening. He is charged with multiple murders.
Nicole Gee Harris was one of the first to respond and one of the first to view the bloody murder scene. A 911 call went out and the county sheriff's office quickly responded. The scene was so bloody and brutal the caller thought it was a possible shooting.
It didn't take long for over 250 tips to come in. Then someone came forward with a description of the grey trunk seen at the Gee's home on Sunday evening. 
Nicole Gee Harris and Chris Harris divorced in March of 2007. According to Logan County public records, there were several hearings regarding support and one filed by Harris about visitation. The couple recently had another child together.| You are subscribed to email updates from Add Images to any RSS Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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