“Philosophy plays into draft picks” plus 3 more

Philosophy plays into draft picks
How green is your restaurant?
Middle schools lack coherence, consultant says
Authorities call anti-gang efforts in Norfolk ineffective

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 03:27 AM PDT

NASHVILLE — Deciding on what position to tackle with their first round pick might not be the toughest part for the Titans leading up to the NFL draft.

Instead, what could very well be keeping the team's talent evaluators and decision makers up at night is picking between players and a philosophy.

If defensive end is indeed the position they address first, as most draft analysts expect, the Titans are faced with this dilemma: Do they go after a player who's considered more NFL-ready, or do they roll the dice and take one who's considered raw but with enormous potential?

In this draft, it's a position full of players who fit both categories. The Titans are scheduled to pick 16th overall.

"We have three or four players at defensive end that we think are probably worth our pick, and that is a good thing," Titans General Manager Mike Reinfeldt said. " ... There is always some function of readiness or risk vs. top-end potential, and that is why we are having these meetings the past two or three weeks, to really determine what makes the most sense. But I think any time you have a chance to get a special player you better consider it long and hard."

Reinfeldt wouldn't say which players the Titans might be considering, but South Florida's Jason Pierre-Paul has been a popular pick for the team in mock drafts.

The Titans are very intrigued by Pierre-Paul, but he's also considered a risk because of his lack of experience at the collegiate level and questions about his unpolished technique and maturity.

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech's Derrick Morgan, Michigan's Brandon Graham and Southern Cal's Everson Griffen are considered more NFL-ready, while Sergio Kindle of Texas is another impressive player who put much more on film than Pierre-Paul.

Most analysts believe Morgan will be off the board when the Titans pick.

Former NFL scout Russ Lande, now an analyst for The Sporting News, said the 6-foot-4, 270-pound Pierre-Paul has a tremendous upside. Yet while Pierre-Paul was productive in his only college season — 6.5 sacks in seven starts — that's all the big-time experience he had before declaring for the draft. He transferred to South Florida from a community college.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

How green is your restaurant?

Posted: 18 Apr 2010 01:17 AM PDT

(2 of 3)

The menu, featuring natural spins on such popular dishes as cheeseburgers, pulled pork and grilled cheese sandwiches, Cobb salad, chicken salad and french fries, is adjusted for seasonal availability of local farmers' products, because that's "what it means to operate a green restaurant," Wolfe says.

A green franchise

Tim McLoone's restaurants hold the lion's share of green certifications at the Shore, with Steve & Cookies By the Bay in Margate as the only non-McLoone's restaurant to be certified in that part of the state.

McLoone's at Favorites in Woodbridge, McLoone's Pier House in Long Branch, McLoone's Rum Runner in Sea Bright and McLoone's Asbury Grille/Tim McLoone's Supper Club in Asbury Park all are charter members of the GRA and were the first New Jersey restaurants to be certified, in 2007.

"Some of the initiatives that have been put in place may not be visible to the customer, such as low-flow water valves and nontoxic cleaning products, but many things are absolutely evident," says McLoone's spokeswoman Dottie Cooper.

At the Rum Runner, table linens were removed in the main dining room to cut back on energy and chemicals used in cleaning them. At the bar, you can order an organic vodka drink or an organic wines.

At the Pier House, in addition to organic wines and organic salads on the menu, many dishes are served in recycled paper-lined baskets to cut down on the amount of dish-washing done. The Pier House's outdoor furniture was created from recycled milk jugs.

At the Asbury Park McLoone's restaurants, specials frequently include local and/or organic ingredients and the menus themselves are made from 100-percent recycled material. Artisanal cheese plates are locally supplied from Sickles Market in Little Silver. Company-wide sourcing of seafood caught locally from sustainable fisheries, energy-efficient lighting, being Styrofoam-free in all locations and recycled paper use in all offices are only a few of the measures put in place.

Local vendors are used whenever possible, according to president and founder Tim McLoone, who says, "Our commitment to local and sustainable foods as well as a green attitude overall is not a one-time thing, but rather a constantly evolving process." He notes that McLoone's employees, too, are committed to spreading the green attitude, taking part in a beach cleanup every year.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Middle schools lack coherence, consultant says

Posted: 17 Apr 2010 11:03 PM PDT

Last 24 Hours

Last 7 Days

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Authorities call anti-gang efforts in Norfolk ineffective

Posted: 17 Apr 2010 07:28 PM PDT

NORFOLK

City Manager Regina V.K. Williams believes the best way to combat youth gang violence is to link teenagers with mentors. Her philosophy has played out in two city programs coined Save our Children and Project Focus.

But the majority of Williams' bosses, the City Council, have pushed for a more direct approach. They want police and city workers to infiltrate gangs and break them up.

The different approaches surfaced publicly recently when Williams asked the head of the city's Save Our Children gang prevention program and Project Focus, an anti-crime initiative in three low-income neighborhoods, to step down.

Now the two highly touted city programs are being reexamined.

Police and prosecutors alleged earlier this year that the mentoring methods of the programs' former head, Barbara Lai, bordered on obstruction of justice.

City Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Underwood recently looked into the allegations. Amanda Howie, a spokeswoman for Underwood, said the information gathered was shared with Williams. It "did not lead to or support a criminal charge of obstruction of justice," Howie said.

Williams said she doesn't believe that Lai committed any infractions.

However days after a meeting between Underwood, Williams and Police Chief Bruce P. Marquis to discuss the allegations, Williams reassigned Lai, saying she did so "for her own professional good."

Nikki Riddick, who formerly worked in City Hall, has been named temporary head of Project Focus and gang prevention.

As head of the city's gang initiative, Lai was Williams' disciple in more than a dozen neighborhoods. Although she has no formal training as a social worker or counselor, she is a certified gang specialist by the Virginia Gang Investigators Association.

Lai said she hosted pizza and pajama parties and walked the streets on weekends, counseling teenagers to stay out of trouble. If they needed rides home or to school, she took them. She interceded for many with the police, commonwealth's attorney's office and in juvenile court and visited some after they had been arrested.

"I've have been around kids threatening to use firearms and talked them out of it," she said.

Lai continues to work with Project Focus, and has other duties at City Hall as an assistant to Williams. However, Lai said she is no longer allowed to have contact with the many teenagers she worked with for two years.

Councilman W. Randy Wright said Lai had a big heart.

"But she needed to delegate, back off half a step and have the pros do what they need to do.

"I think you've got to have someone with a little more background in law enforcement who can mesh with the Police Department."

Councilman Barclay C. Winn said Lai "may have stepped over the line a little" in trying to help some youths suspected by the police of committing crimes.

"She probably got too attached to these kids."

Project Focus was initiated in late 2007 after demands from Wright for an increased police presence in East Ocean View. Eventually, it also encompassed the Denby Park area near Wards Corner and Olde Huntersville neighborhood just outside of downtown.

The city placed surveillance cameras in all three neighborhoods this year. A rental inspection program was started and code enforcement was increased.

But the program has been troubled from the start. The first Project Focus director was Alphonso Albert, a convicted felon who was forced to resign in late 2007 after word of his violent criminal past became known. Lai was named the temporary head of the program in 2008 and permanent head in 2009.

Williams said both anti-crime efforts have worked as she designed them, noting that juvenile crime has dropped in most areas.

She said she was in the process of hiring two outreach workers with federal stimulus money to continue Lai's mentoring work. But given the criticism that Lai has received, Williams said she fears council members, the police and prosecutors "will snipe at them as they sniped at Barbara."

So far, civic leaders give Project Focus mixed reviews. Olde Huntersville resident Linda Horsey, the former civic league president and a member of the housing authority board, said the effort has had little effect on her neighborhood.

"There's been a lot of talk and no action," she said.

She said was unaware that Lai had stepped down. "Now that she's gone, I hope it will become a serious effort," she said, saying code enforcement under Project Focus was weak.

Rebecca Luce, who heads the civic league in Denby Park, said Lai "pushed for a lot of good things in our neighborhood. She had a very altruistic view of helping young people." But she added that she thinks Lai had "tunnel vision."

"Barbara went on a different path and got lost," she said. "Our neighborhood has major issues with drugs and gangs. Her outlook was more at trying to help the few, and we have many."

Luce praised the city's new interim director saying she has "a lot of great ideas for how to restore the focus to Project Focus."

For her part, Lai said she wouldn't change anything she has done. "I was never aware of an inquiry into obstruction of justice. Honestly, I'm not even sure what obstruction of justice is. I just know that I helped a lot of kids.

"These kids have nothing. Many of them have no real family life. If you've seen the movie 'The Blind Side,' then you know exactly what I was trying to do."

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Philosophy

Sunday, April 18, 2010