nikkicomm303blog

Quotation # 2: 

Marilyn Wall, president of the Walls Tie Co., said sales were up this year compared to last year. Wall said because of the increase, the company rehired some of the people they recently laid off and were also able to add about 20 new jobs in different parts of the factory.

Quotation # 4: 

Jerry Butts, a member of the city council, said there are some concerns with the pay raise requested from the police department. He agrees they deserve it, but in order to do so property tax rates would have to increase. The concern is that people would be upset about an increase in taxes that have not changed in over five years.

Quotation # 5:

Anita Keller, president of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said she is upset with laws that she perceives as too lenient against drunk drivers. She expressed concerns of why legislators are not taking an active role, claiming they may be influenced by contributions for campaigns from the alcohol industry.  

Quotation # 6: 

Laura Stewart, president of Stewart Advertising Agency, said the local economy in this city seems to be thriving. She said her companies gross revenue has been increasing each year. Stewart said most of the business comes from local businesses but about 25 percent is from out-of-town clients.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user P i c a

The sky is dark with menancing clouds. Barely anything here had chance to live in the waterless and course desert. In the distance there is a cluster of  parched bushes. Closer to eye sight, out of the sand grew two febble trees, with no branches and only a reminisce of leaves. They stood somberly out of the ground bent awkwardly towards the sky as if they were holding their hands out for water and sun light.

So, I was watching CNN news and they played a story about this young man. I didn’t catch all of the details, I only caught the end of the story but apparently he has struck again. I googled “Barefoot Bandit” and this is one of the articles I found. I couldn’t believe all the robberies they think hes been involved in and it was even more surprising that he is still a free man. Although, when you read this, you’ll see that he was captured once and sent to a detention hall but escaped. My question is, who is this kid?! And what is his motivation? Does he just like messing around with the police or is it something more than that? Either way, I’m intrigued.

1. composes

2. In the year of the lord A.D. 33

3.  czar

4. QE2

 5. court-martials

6.  International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

7. It needs to be spelled out in the first reference- Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps- but then can be referred to as NROTC in the second and any other reference.

8. liberal

9. pour

10.  Altanta, Georgia

So I found this on the Washington Post. I thought is was funny and I liked the cynical tone the writer had in this piece. I enjoyed the humor Mr. Achenbach used, I literally laughed out loud as I read it. It’s basically talking about getting ready for the  up coming snow storm and buying up anything you can and the hysteria that goes along with that kind of thinking. It doesn’t have any real point to it other then people act crazy when it snows.

I went home to Charlottesville for the weekend due to my parents incessant badgering.  I went to the grocery store last night (Thursday) for ice cream, and it was bizarre how empty it was. There was no eggs, no milk, all of the produce and meat products were gone, and randomly all of the cookies were also bought up-luckily I was still able to find chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I even took some pictures on my phone and would put on here if only I knew how.  Today when I sat down to do this post and looked for stories this one stood out, because it was a story I had seen with my own two eyes. I found it humorous that someone actually put into print what I had been thinking last night as I walked through the sad sight grocery store.

My family and I are originally from  New York. We moved to Charlottesville when I got out of high school. We crack up every time Virgina gets snow. People here have no idea what a real snow storm is like-no offense. I’m not complaining- I didn’t have class today or a couple times last week because of the snow. So really what I’m trying to say is, stay innocent Virginia to bad snow storms, that way I will forever have snow days.

I read the story: FBI Continues Digging Suspected Mob Grave

1. News value of story: three dead bodies were found and believed to be the victims of a mob hit.

2. Who: the mob- Richard Joseph Beedle Jr. and Salvatore D’Aquila.

What: murder of three possibly four people

When: The remains were found on a Friday but the police had been searching for weeks. 

Where: behind Beedle’s home in Hamden, NY.

 Why: warfare within the Patriarca organized crime family

How: to be announced? Doesn’t say anything other than murder

3.  The reporter used people and records for their sources of information. It doesn’t seem like there is any personal observation in the story, but there is a possibility that the reporter went to the site where the bodies were found.

4. Sources: U.S. Attorney Stanley A Tward Jr, FBI agents and state police. The reporter probably contacted the sources and interviewed them via phone call or face-to-face. 

5. Based on this story I want to know why the police think the bodies are the victims of a mob incident-is it because of the cooperation of the suspect at the end of the story who told them where the bodies might be? Or is there some other information the police had before but is not present in this story? Also, the story says the bodies were found in Hamden but it doesn’t say where Hamden is. The only reason why I think it’s in New York is because the very first words in the article is New York. It may be wrong, but I think it should specify where Hamben is, when Hamben is mentioned. I also find myself wondering what being charged with, “accessory after the fact of a murder committed in aid of racketeering” is exactly. It sounds pretty self explanatory but I want to know if these guys arrested are just kind of like the “back-up” guys. Like they couldn’t find the real murders but they found these guys so they’re gonna try and get them to flip. Or are they the murders but they charged them with accessory. That detail in the story is a little blurry for me.

I have been living in Charlottesville for the past couple of years. When Morgan Harrington went missing it was a huge deal for the UVA and Charlottesville community. When I heard that the police had found her body, I wanted to know where and when and hopefully someday who. I put two articles on here, one has a little background on Harrington just incase you are not familiar with what happened and the other is the newest update I could find.

No one doubted  Hannah would one day become an internationally known jazz singer  recognized by fans around the world.

Midville is a  place with a  small town atmosphere  offering security to its residents, especially those who are raising families.

 Erin could not see any point in paying tuition to a college where she was convinced  she was not receiving the best education or her money’s worth.

In February, Laura stayed in her room and tried to fight off a  bad  cold.

Welcome to onMason. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Update: It turns out I am not a good writer, need work on my APA style….oh and this post is useless! This is in fact out third post. Sorry.