Menorahs go up without fuss at Hawaii airports
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, December 17, 2006
HONOLULU – Despite a dustup in Seattle over whether Christmas trees and menorahs have a place in that city’s airport, both were put up this season at airports throughout the islands without controversy.
“In light of everything that’s going on, we thought it was a good idea to approach the state … and see if we can put the menorahs up there. And we got a very, very favorable response,” said Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky, director of Chabad of Hawaii.
The national Chabad organization has put up menorahs in public places throughout the country, including one in Waikiki, which Gov. Linda Lingle was to help light Saturday night to celebrate Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights.
Earlier this week, maintenance staff restored 14 plastic trees to their places at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after the trees had been removed after a rabbi threatened to sue over the lack of a menorah in the airport’s holiday display.
Airport managers believed that if they allowed an 8-foot-tall menorah the rabbi requested, they would also have had to display symbols of other religions and cultures. On Monday, port officials learned that the rabbi’s organization would not file a lawsuit.
Parts of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport lost power Saturday night, said airport spokesman Bob Parker.
The outage of unknown origin started around 10:30 p.m. The cargo area, the North Satellite and D Concourse were without power and the airport’s subway system wasn’t working for a short time, Parker said.
The airport didn’t have many late Saturday flights, but some flight operations were affected, he said. Passengers were bused to the South Satellite while the subway system was out of service.
The power outage did not affect the runway lights or the control tower.
Parker said there was a report of a power pole coming down near the airport, but no connection to the power outage has been confirmed.
Gluck’s “Iphigenie en Tauride” will be co-produced by the Metropolitan Opera and the Seattle Opera in the first collaboration between the companies, one that will feature Placido Domingo in the New York run.
Stephen Wadsworth will direct, and the production will open in Seattle on Oct. 13, the companies planned to announce today. It will open at the Met on Nov. 26, and star Domingo as Oreste, Susan Graham as Iphigenie, Paul Groves as Pylade, and William Shimell as Thoas. Louis Langree will conduct in his Met debut.
The role will be the 125th of Domingo’s career, spokesman Edgar Vincent said. Domingo debuts role No. 124 this Thursday at the Met in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s “The First Emperor.”
“Iphigenie” has never been presented by the Seattle Opera and its only previous time at the Met was five performances in German during the 1916-17 season, when it was staged as “Iphigenia auf Tauris” in a version by Richard Strauss.
Two of the nation’s largest charitable foundations – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation – announced plans today to work together to improve education in developing countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The Seattle-based Gates Foundation announced a $40 million grant to the Hewlett Foundation, which the Menlo Park, Calif., foundation will match with another $20 million.
Sylvia Mathews, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program, said the collaboration was taking the form of a grant from Gates to Hewlett because this would most likely be a one-time effort for the Gates Foundation, which has no plans to create a global education program.
Both foundations are known for their work in education reform in the United States and for a variety of global development efforts overseas, and the Hewlett Foundation is adding global education to its portfolio, Hewlett president Paul Brest said.
A church steeple that is such a brilliant white it has drawn complaints about its brightness may land the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in court.
“It’s a blight on the scenery,” said Mitch Hardage, whose house in southeast Medford overlooks the replacement steeple erected last week.
While city officials say the steeple is legal, neighbor John Newell disagrees, and said a public hearing should have been required before putting it up.
“They’ve created an adverse impact that wasn’t there before,” Newell said.
Newell and Hardage hope to convince Mormon church leaders in Medford to tone down the color of the new fiberglass steeple that replaced a more subdued tan concrete spire.
“This is not a spiritual or religious issue at all – we love the church here,” Newell said.
But he warned if the church doesn’t agree to paint the steeple, the neighbors will fight the matter legally.
City Planning Director Rob Scott said the church building doesn’t violate any city regulations.
An Oregon State University study suggests that anti-smoking ads by the tobacco industry targeted at youth and their parents do not work and might actually encourage teens to smoke.
Brian Flay, a professor in Oregon State’s department of public health in Corvallis, was one of nine researchers who studied tobacco industry ads aimed at preventing youth smoking.
He said that, at best, the ads have no effect. And he said some, particularly those aimed at parents, had the opposite effect.
“It actually encourages it, especially when kids see those ads targeted to parents,” Flay said. “If they see those, there’s a 12 percent increase in the likelihood they’ll become smokers.”
Cigarette maker Philip Morris USA disputes those results.
Philip Morris says not only has it spent $1 billion to develop and disseminate effective advertising aimed at deterring youth smoking, but it also has research that shows the ads work. It says the ads are based on widely accepted research and don’t carry any hidden messages.
Rescued from a dirty and abusive home in March, Eddie the dog has a job as a mascot for the group that rescued him – once he’s back on his feet.
Eddie the Lhasa Apso poodle mix was taken in by Senior Dog Rescue in Philomath, Ore. At his old home, confinement aggravated a condition that caused his back legs to rotate at a right angle, causing pain and difficulty moving.
Fundraisers and donors helped collect the $6,000 needed for the surgeries to repair Eddie’s legs. The first operation, performed by Dr. Scott Gustafson of the Oregon State University Small Animal Hospital, was late this summer. The last was this month.
“One of his key problems,” Gustafson said, “was that he hadn’t been walking on his back legs a lot and it caused a lot of atrophy and muscle loss.”
Eddie will need more physical therapy, including swimming, to be able to walk and run. It’s not likely Eddie will ever be a performance dog, but he’ll be able to function well.
“There’s no way to fully correct everything that’s wrong with his legs,” Gustafson said. “But were very optimistic that he can live a normal, happy, tail-wagging life.”
A former Grants Pass theater director who is a suspect in bank robberies in Oregon, Idaho and Maryland, has been arrested and is awaiting extradition after being on the run for several weeks.
James Pate, 36, was arrested Dec. 5 in Phoenix, Ariz., after allegedly trying to steal a motor home, said David Orr, deputy district attorney for Jackson County in Medford.
Pate was being held at the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix and was expected to be extradited to the Jackson County Jail sometime in the next several weeks, according to Jackson County sheriff’s Deputy Troy Rockwell
Pate is accused of robbing banks in Germantown, Md., on Sept. 17, Mountain Home, Idaho, on July 17, and the Washington Mutual Bank in Gold Hill, Ore., on July 6.
In all three robberies the suspect passed a note implying he had a gun, and left with cash. Less than $1,500 was taken in the Gold Hill robbery.
A nationwide warrant was issued in July for Pate, who was arrested Sept. 23 in Dewey Beach, Del.
But he was released by a Maryland judge who dismissed the case some time in October or November, Orr said.
Associated Press
