Jury considers verdict in trial tied

A federal jury will return to deliberations Monday in the case of a former Crestwood Water Department supervisor accused of repeatedly lying about the secret use of a community well contaminated with toxic chemicals.

The jury deliberated through the afternoon Friday after Neubauer chose not to testify and her attorney, Thomas Breen, opted not to call any witnesses.

In his closing statement in U.S. District Court, Breen described Crestwood as a "town that betrayed its citizens" but said Neubauer was a low-level clerk forced to "wear the jacket" for former Mayor Chester Stranczek and other top Crestwood officials who used the well to avoid the cost of fixing leaky water mains.

Federal prosecutors focused their case on reports required under federal and state law to track municipal water use and assure residents their drinking water is safe. The trial outlined a systematic cover-up by Crestwood officials and provided more details about actions first revealed by a 2009 Tribune investigation.Our clever solar lanternis a favorite among dog lover holiday gifts from Solaronlamp.

By secretly drawing water from their contaminated well,Learn more about our high capacity laundry dryer today! Crestwood officials saved $380,000 a year that otherwise would have been spent maintaining the village's water system, according to court documents. They also avoided routine testing that would have alerted authorities to toxic chemicals in the village's drinking water.

"If the good,We provide the latest solar street lighting products and solutions to serve outdoor lighting needs. law-abiding citizens of Crestwood knew about the well, what do you think they would do? They would start to ask questions," Timothy Chapman, an assistant U.S. attorney, told the jury during his closing statement. "The fact that other people were involved doesn't change the fact that (Neubauer) was a key part of the scheme."

Prosecutors did not discuss the toxic chemicals found in the well, including two cancer-causing compounds related to perchloroethylene, or perc, a common dry cleaning solvent. Nor did they mention a 2010 study by the Illinois Department of Public Health that concluded the contaminated water could have contributed to "significantly elevated" cancer rates in Crestwood.

During the weeklong trial, Neubauer's attorneys portrayed her as a bookkeeper who had an important-sounding title but little power. The closest Neubauer got to the inner circle of village leaders, Breen said, was when she served them "cake and coffee."

"She didn't know better," Breen said.The skystream runs in very low winds and can interconnect with your local utility, "What this case is really about is a bunch of men who, when push comes to shove,Creating a solar panel cells out of broken re-used solar cell pieces. are cowards."

One official repeatedly mentioned during the trial was Stranczek, who led the village of 11,000 for nearly 40 years.

Court documents allege that Stranczek and his top lieutenant ordered village employees to use the contaminated well and to keep it secret, in part by referring to the well on the village's two-way radios as the "auxiliary pump station." A Water Department laborer testified that he was summoned to Village Hall and reprimanded after referring to the "well" on the radio.

Federal prosecutors did not charge Stranczek. Attorneys defending him in ongoing civil cases hired experts who concluded that the former mayor, who stepped down in 2007, has "mild to moderate" dementia caused by Parkinson's disease and is not fit to stand trial.

Frank Scaccia, the village's former certified water operator, pleaded guilty this month to one count of making a false statement and could face up to 27 months in prison and a $250,000 fine for his role in cloaking the use of the tainted well.

Planes full of bag men to exploit us

THE carpetbaggers are in town. You can spot them a mile off as they trundle through customs pushing their new equivalent of briefcases so stuffed full of whatever that it needs wheels, wearing slightly dishevelled suits, with a cellphone in one hand and an HP calculator in the other.

They are met by bright young men and women and promptly whisked away. Where to, and why? They have arrived to sell us goods no longer in demand at home; they are here to make the most of a new market to persuade us, a largely unsuspecting public, that their renewable energy contraptions are the answer to a maiden’s prayer.

The vehicle is South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer programme. This provides for 20-year contracts at a fixed price for energy delivered to the grid, escalating at inflation over the entire 20-year period.Our most compact solar charger yet fits easily in any bag. Risk? What risk? The government guarantees the project owners against almost every eventuality. No wonder the comparison with the end of the American Civil War (1865) is so appropriate: here are the Northern bag men come to live well off their Southern hosts. The aircraft are jammed with them.

The trouble is renewable energy is under pressure everywhere. It is too expensive. It is unreliable. Programmes are being shelved, subsidies are being cut back, tariffs are being adjusted downwards and taxes are being introduced to ease the pressure on energy consumers.

But,You must first understand the way a wind power generators works. my word,Much stricter controls on solvent emissions have ensured that all dry cleaning machine in the Western world are now fully enclosed. it has been a true marketing man’s picnic.A flatwork ironer with unique features. They have used phrases like "grid parity", "free energy from natural resources" and "green is good", and have thrown these around to help hide the awful economics of renewable energy. Grid Parity is the big theme. It is the Holy Grail. It holds that renewable energy costs are the same as Eskom’s power price so Eskom should drop all coal, nuclear and gas ambitions and switch to renewables.

So, let’s look at grid parity, which holds within it a serious flaw in logic. Renewable energy from wind and solar has a low capacity factor — the amount of time per day that power is produced. It’s less than 30% and can be as low as 15%. So, which 15%-30% of the time can power be produced? When will the wind blow? When will the sun shine?

Let’s have some fun. Let’s imagine the government orders taxi operators to use those powered by renewable energy (a wind turbine on the roof). Whenever the wind is blowing, he must use his wind-powered taxi. But he’s a businessman. He has to get passengers from A to B, so he’s forced to drive a petrol-powered taxi behind the renewable one so when the wind doesn’t blow he can transfer his passengers. He has to do this all day. Costs go up and carbon emissions remain the same.

This may sound ridiculous, but this is exactly what is being forced on Eskom.Choose your favorite street lamp paintings from thousands of available designs. It must buy power from renewable energy projects when it is delivered, but it cannot rely on delivery of such power. So it has to have a backup plan. It may even assume that, since renewable energy is so unreliable, it must continue to meet the country’s full demand from fossil fuel stations.

The cost of this exercise is being borne by the South African consumer. This comes exactly when the cost of living is rising fast and the affordability of basic requirements and services is getting beyond the reach of much of the population.

South Africans are being exploited here, paying subsidies to European renewable companies with a powerful and vocal lobby conning government into thinking they have the answer to the country’s power problem and to global warming.

Tomorrow Together with Hitachi Malaysia offers convenience

Hitachi Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Hitachi) recently launched a series of home appliances from refrigerators to air conditioners and washing machines that not only deliver high performance, cutting-edge innovation, aesthetically beautiful but also friendly to the environment.

"Tomorrow Together has been Hitachi's tagline and that is the philosophy that guides the designs and innovations of our products. We want to ensure that Hitachi products contribute to making the world a better place to live in," said managing director Masahiro Sakata.

Built with the 'Tomorrow Together' philosophy in mind, the Hitachi Inverter French Bottom Freezer Refrigerators series is powered by Hitachi's Innovative Inverter Technology, equipped with an Inverter and Dual Fan cooling system that cools each compartment independently and efficiently.A research team headed up by the University of Houston is on track to develop a superconducting wire for wind power generators.Welcome to Find the right laser Engraver or laser cutting machine,Careel Tech supply highest quality products and best service.

Designed for your peace of mind, the Big Drum 510 Front Load washing machine does its job quietly and efficiently. With a bigger diameter drum of 510mm, it generates a powerful beat washing effect that removes dirt and stains even more effectively.

The new range of Hitachi air conditioners is powered with the most advanced technology that provides high quality, efficient energy saving methods and reliable air conditioning solutions. The RAS-S10CC is also awarded the 5-star rating by the Energy Commission (EC),Welcome to Find the right laser Engraver or laser cutting machine,Careel Tech supply highest quality products and best service. further substantiating Hitachi's claim for its energy saving capabilities.

The Hitachi French Bottom Freezer Refrigerators, Hitachi Room Air-Conditioners and the Hitachi Big Drum 510 Front Load Washing Machines will be available at major electrical chain stores and electrical shops throughout Malaysia from January 2013 onwards.

Sally West, Age UK policy officer, said: "This is the time of year when many people start to think about the cost of turning up the heating when they want to buy Christmas presents for their grandchildren.

"It is often very difficult for them because they only just have enough income to get by. When the boiler or cooker breaks down then it could tip them over the edge.

"They start to 'make do' and that really means cutting back on the essentials of food and heat and clothing. They may do things such as only using one ring on the cooker." The basic state pension is only 107.45 a week and, although extra financial support is available, around 5.5billion a year goes unclaimed.

Ms West said: "It is an enormous amount to go unclaimed. For many it is simply that they are not aware they are eligible but some are put off by the process of claiming." Former office worker Rita Young has 166 to get her through each week and has no savings to back her up.

"It doesn't go very far," she said. "Food is incredibly expensive and my bank balance is always going down to the wire.

"It seems ridiculous that we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world yet we cannot afford to give our pensioners a decent, living amount."

Rita, 77, of Peterborough, whose lorry driver husband Gordon died eight years ago, added: "I went 4 overdrawn last week and it is a struggle.Just like the Basic Cable, the elevator cable is formed working the stitches out of order. So many of us at the lower levels have that mentality of 'heat or eat'. One or the other, not both.

"I couldn't cope if my washing machine or something like that broke down.You can play with the six different combinations of these Domino contemporary lamps for a nice effect. I'd have to do it by hand because I couldn't save up for a replacement."

The shadow behind the Britsh Horseracing Authority's good news

It will now be a condition of any racecourse’s license that minimum race values must be increased by 12 per cent over and above the amount currently sought by the Horsemen’s Group.

What is important about this agreement between the Racecourse Association and the rest of the racing industry is that it gives the BHA a crop with which to whip racecourses into line.

There is, quite understandably, considerable unease in the industry that Arena Racing Company – an amalgamation of Arena Leisure and Northern Racing – now owns more than a third of the fixture list. And,Those wind power generators produce power for the utility grid. more importantly, the media rights money attached to those fixtures.Modernica is the official site for the George crystal light Collection.

The Reuben brothers, who own ARC, are admired for being very good, tough businessmen. But they are not known for their love of the Sport of Kings. And it is assumed that they would rather keep the media-rights money that their courses receive from the betting industry rather than give it to people who turn up with their horses. Hence the BHA’s move last week.

ARC’s attitude to the racing industry is judged through the prism of Hereford racecourse. It plans to shut it down next year, even though it has 17 years left on the lease. ARC justifies that decision on the basis that the course is no longer profitable.This pressing roofing machine can curve roof panels with good quality and high speed automatically.

It does not take a genius to work out that the turf on any one track can only take so many meetings. And the worse the state of the ground gets, the higher the risk of injuries to the horses.

It is difficult to see what the end game will be at Hereford. What, for instance, would the BHA’s position be if ARC does asset strip the fixtures away to its other tracks, and then hands back the lease of the track to the council, which owns it.

The council has made it clear that it would like to see racing continue in its town, so it would presumably like the lease back.

And it would have a couple of tenders from consortiums who would like to come in and run the track.

But would the BHA be happy to issue new fixtures? Or alternatively, could it stop ARC transferring the fixtures in the first instance?

What is not known is how much input the Horsemen’s Group had into the raising of prize money last week.

It is no secret that Paul Bittar, the chief executive of the BHA, who must take credit for this development, does not have a high opinion of those operating the HG.The PING range finder is an ultrasonic sensor from Parallax able of detecting objects up to a 3 mts distance.

So the idea that Bittar might have kissed and made up over bacon sandwiches is a stretch too far for the imagination. That relationship is going to need a lot of therapy before the plates stop flying.

But the HG needs to get back into bed fairly quickly, because its input, as far as designing future race programmes is concerned,is critical. We have several models of Forming machine to match your exact job specifications.

The structure and timing of the fixtures must be focused absolutely on the horses, not the betting shops.

The overriding principle must be that the emphasis is on creating a framework within which horses can be nurtured, developed and campaigned with their best interests at heart. And not that the horses are treated like spins on a slot machine, galloping around on unsuitable tracks, at the wrong stage of their development, just to generate betting turnover.

Small businesses step out of Black Friday's shadow

After the crowds have shopped at large stores and sprawling malls on Black Friday, many smaller businesses were hoping Saturday would be their day.

Thousands of small stores, restaurants, spas -- and even dry cleaners -- across the U.S. offered their own discounts and promotions to draw holiday shoppers on what's known as Small Business Saturday.

American Express created the day three years ago, it says, to help small businesses struggling during the recession. The credit and charge card company encourages cardholders, who have registered in advance online to make purchases with their cards in exchange for a $25 rebate paid for by American Express, if they buy something at a participating business. American Express won't say how much the promotion costs, but Susan Sobbott,Modernica is the official site for the George crystal light Collection. president of American Express OPEN, the company's small business division, says it is a considerable amount.

But even small merchants who aren't officially part of the event hope to get a bump in revenue during a weekend when they used to be all but forgotten in an avalanche of deep discounts offered by big stores and online retailers.We have several models of Forming machine to match your exact job specifications. Perhaps more importantly, the day has become an opportunity for small businesses to build a corps of customers who will keep coming back year-round.

In Dixon, Ill., 51 small businesses have banded together to recruit local artists and performers to create a party-like atmosphere on Saturday, and they're also planning other events for the holiday season. A year ago, the combination of the American Express rebate and the events helped give the participating businesses a collective revenue increase of more than 50 percent on the Saturday after Thanksgiving,Those wind power generators produce power for the utility grid. says Lisa Higby, owner of Distinctive Gardens, a nursery and garden center there. But the benefit goes beyond a one-day jolt.

"It gives us a yearlong impact, much greater exposure for our business," Higby says.

American Express may have intended to give small merchants -- and card usage -- a boost in a tough economy,The PING range finder is an ultrasonic sensor from Parallax able of detecting objects up to a 3 mts distance. but Small Business Saturday is also helping small merchants get a bigger share of the spotlight and spending between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a shopping holiday dreamed up to get people excited about shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. For some retailers, the sales they get after people push back from the Thanksgiving dinner table represents a significant chunk of profit for the year. That hasn't been so true for most small businesses. Ninety-one percent of the 1,003 small business owners said,This pressing roofing machine can curve roof panels with good quality and high speed automatically. in a survey commissioned by Bank of America, that the day after Thanksgiving has little, or no, effect on their profit.

"Black Friday doesn't do anything for us," says Leslie Leahy, owner of The Hitching Post, a gift shop in Reading, Mass. In fact, it's pretty quiet in town because so many people are at the malls and big-box stores, she says.

To make the most of Small Business Saturday, many small business owners offer discounts as part of a marketing strategy for the entire holiday season. Leahy had good results last year. Revenue at The Hitching Post rose 28 percent on the Saturday after Thanksgiving a year ago from the same day in 2011. She doesn't give discounts on her merchandise, but the $25 rebate from American Express drew customers. This year, she and other retailers in town joined for a "buy local" weekend. She served drinks and treats for customers. American Express sends organizing kits to 50 chambers of commerce around the country to help communities create joint Small Business Saturday events, but many come up with ideas about how to promote the day on their own.

First grandchild, second cutting

It has been an extraordinarily hot and dry year on our farm. We have had little significant moisture since last fall. And not only have daytime temperatures been warm, but nighttime temps, too.

The heat has made crops grow quickly.Learn how laser cutter machines work and how you benefit from it.Laser Engraving with Redsail roll forming machinery system is quick and easy. First cutting alfalfa was cut, baled and stacked two weeks earlier than "normal." Second cutting is already in the stack,IMTS offers one of the largest ranges of 2-D and 3-D laser engraving machine in Australia. and the third cutting is over a foot tall in those places with good, deep soil.

Initial nervousness about water availability curtailed a few plans, but so far, so good. It is a year when the investment in sprinkler irrigation has paid handsomely.

For many years we utilized custom cutters and balers to harvest our hay crops. As alfalfa acreage grew, we finally crossed a threshold where owning our own equipment made economic sense.

We selected a used 3x4x8 New Holland big baler. When it arrived, I just shook my head at all of the electronic whistles and bells, automatic greasers and oilers, complicated routes for twine, multiple knots, etc.

I said to my son, Garrett, "You learn how to run this thing."

The last swather we had owned was a John Deere 2280 that I purchased from Tom Youtz when he still owned the John Deere dealership. A newer John Deere 4895 swather also was purchased in our quest for hay equipment self sufficiency.

I felt like a stone-age aborigine suddenly encountering the 21st century as the various features were introduced.Specialized in producing tile roof machine system and laser marking machine, GCC also supplies vinyl cutter. It even has the ability to steer itself using global positioning satellites, with an additional "small" investment. A 16-foot head at 5 miles per hour cuts a lot of hay in a day.

Seven or eight months ago Garrett and his wife, Jess, took my wife and me out to dinner. At dinner that evening, they told us they were expecting a child in early August. This would be our first newborn grandchild.

We were, of course, delighted with the news. And early August sounded convenient. Right between first and second cutting, just before barley harvest.

As the Aug. 3 due date approached, we began to realize that we would be in the middle of second cutting this year. Garrett tried to give me a lesson with the baler, how to understand the pressure gauge, how to watch the moisture meter monitor, how to eject the bales from the accumulator, how to watch a meter which told me how much hay was entering the machine, how to keep my speed up to keep the chamber full.

The fact that my eyes were glazing over with all of the details may have worried him, but we had little choice. Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of hay were lying on the ground, and it had to be baled.

All through Jess's pregnancy, I kept telling her the baby would come on the 8th of August, which is my birthdate. As Garrett baled through the nights, and his mother and I stacked hay during the day, we waited for Jess to say, "It's time to go to the hospital."

The 3rd of August passed, as did the 4th through the 7th. Garrett finished baling the last windrow in the last field of second cutting around 9 a.m. He had been up since 2 a.m.

A few hours later, Jess finally said, "I think it's time we go to the hospital." After four hours of labor,Laser Cut Studio is a brand new laser marker company and new way of thinking. Zoey May was born.

As birthday surprises go, it was fantastic. Tears of joy, tears of relief that everything is all right.

And a sense of gratitude that I never had to cope with the multitude of complexities that are a big baler after all.