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The knitting clubs of Broward County are knitting scarves and helmet liners for our Marines

 

 

The knitting clubs of Broward County are knitting scarves and helmet liners for our Marines

 

After receiving several emails from the 3rd Battalion 4th Marine Regiment in Helmand province, Afghanistan our local Marine Reserve Units serving in Afghanistan about the bitter cold and the lack of proper clothing for the type or winter warfare they are conducting it was apparent something had to be done.

 

 Let us not forget that these are Florida Marine Reserves, they live among us and could be your father, daughter or neighbor.  Alan and Shelly Stein of the Broward County, FL Council of the Navy League of the United States decided something had to be done. They contacted all the knitting clubs in Broward County and explained the needs of our freezing Marines.

 

The ladies of the Lakes of Del Ray Knitting Club, The Fort Lauderdale Meetup Group, the knitting group from Tropical Yams-Elegant Stitches and the Pompano Swatchbuckers Knitting Group enthusiastically took up the call. Using donated yarn so far they have knitted seven dozen beautiful scarves and helmet liners.

 

The partnership between these ladies and the Broward County, FL Council of the Navy League is working out beautifully. They knit and we acquire the money for the US Post office boxes through fund raising and contributions. We then fill and send the boxes with notes or cards you might like to include. This is a great way to become involved. If you can knit or would like to make a tax deductible contribution contact Shelly Stein at 954-472-0285 or silvercurl@comcast.net .The post office charges $11.95 per box. You can buy as many as you desire. All of the proceeds go to the Marines.

 

 

 

The Amazing Race Casting Call Takes Place Saturday, Feb. 6 from 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Festival Flea Market Mall

            

** CASTING CALL **

CBS’ THE AMAZING RACE SEASON 17 OPEN CASTING CALL AT

FESTIVAL FLEA MARKET MALL®

TEAM AUDITIONS FOR WORLDWIDE ADVENTURE/REALITY SHOW TAKE PLACE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 FROM 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

WHAT:             Looking for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel the world? Then, The Amazing Race is looking for you! Team auditions for the 17th season of the Emmy Award-winning hit adventure/reality series The Amazing Race will take place this weekend at Festival Flea Market Mall® . The show is looking for dynamic individuals with interesting, honest and candid relationships to add to the fun, free style of the show.

                           WFOR CBS 4 photographers will be on-hand to shoot audition video and submit application packages.

WHEN:             Saturday, February 6 from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

WHERE:          Festival Flea Market Mall

2900 W. Sample Road
Pompano Beach, FL 33073-3026

OTHER:           Auditions are FREE; Contestants must be 21 years of age and a legal U.S. Citizen. Teams should bring a passport-sized photograph and

one photo of teammates together to share with    the producers. Only one package per team will be accepted. Each candidate/team

member must audition and team members must audition together. Both teammates must be able to travel to the same city. Full eligibility

 requirements and the application are available to download at www.cbs4.com/amazingrace .

WHO:               Coordinated by Festival Flea Market Mall and WFOR CBS 4.

Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett,commander of the FLA National Guard t speak at the Broward Countu .FL Council of the Navy League

 
Subject: Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett,commander of the FLA National Guard t speak at the Broward Countu .FL Council of the Navy League

The Navy League of the United States, Broward County, Fl Council will be holding its Dinner Social on February 11 we have a dynamic speaker with Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett, Florida's Adjutant General. As commander of the Florida National Guard since shortly after 9/11, he supervises the administration, training and operations of the Florida National Guard, which is authorized to have more than 10,700 Army and 1,900 Air National Guard personnel with a full-time workforce of more than 2,000.  He is the first aviator to hold this post.

 

It would be our pleasure to have you attend; you will not be disappointed,   please RSVP to bcnavyleague@yahoo.com or call Joan Sefton 954-753-2322 with your choice of prime rib or salmon by February 8. The price is $30 for BCNL members and $35 for others.  

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

 

 

Robert N. Hein, Public Relations Director

Navy League of the U.S.

Broward County, FL Council

RNH1@mindspring.com

954-764-6366

Is Broward County really saving money or just trying to teach voters a lesson?


Two years ago a Florida Constitutional Amendment amending the Homestead Exemption rules in favor of homeowners/taxpayers made its way to the ballot and passed.  Ever since then the Broward County Commissioners have been scolding the residents for passing this amendment.  First, the county parks were closed on Tuesdays in a cost cutting measure.  More cuts were made (not by the Sheriff's office of course, which is a large percentage of the county budget), to county parks and services.  This year certain county parks are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, closed on holidays when they used to be open, and county employees have to take 5 days off without pay during the year.

Well one of those furlough days was this past Friday and Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach is one of the parks that "closes" on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, holidays, and furlough days.  Except that the park wasn't closed this past Friday.  It was staffed and the gate was open.  And while they advertise that the park will be closed on MLK day as well, if you go to the park you'll find the gate open and park employees manning that gate, as well as a supervisor on duty.  Of course they'll tell you that the park is closed for everyone EXCEPT Ski Rixen patrons.  Ski Rixen is a contracted cable water skiing business and due to contractual obligations made by the county it gets to remain open for business inside the park when the park is technically closed to everyone else.  The park employees are getting paid to turn away all but Ski Rixen patrons. this happens every Wednesday and on furlough days and holidays when the park is supposed to be all locked up and no one working to save all this money that the county claims they needed to save.

It appears that all that would need to happen to allow all park patrons inside the park would be a simple change in policy.  I regularly attend this park and finding employees around the park during normal hours is a crapshoot at best.  There is a small staff in the office, a supervisor, and some maintenance personnel.  Maybe a couple more employee at most than what they have on the days that the park is "closed".  The new Parks and Recreation Director is Dan West, who comes to us from my home state of Ohio.  He was the state's park director there and after having spoken with him recently I think maybe he'll seek ways to keep our parks open.  But right now the county is paying their employees to keep us out of the parks and I can't think for any other reason than to punish us for voting for the Homestead Amendment two years ago.  It's the only excuse that makes any sense.  If you can figure out a more plausible excuse for this I'd love to hear it.  The county is paying park staff to keep us out on days that they claim the park is supposed to be closed to save money.  I'm certain it's purely out of spite.  Typical ego-maniacal, power hungry local politicians trying to punish the residents like children.  Call or email your county commissioner and tell them there is no excuse to pay employees to deny access to our parks.  Contact Dan West and ask, or tell, him that the policy of paying county employees to keep residents out of our parks is no longer tolerated.

This past week Quiet Waters Park was "closed" Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, but the gate was open and employees were working two of those days.  This coming week the park will be closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but the gate will only be closed on Tuesday and staff will be working and getting paid on Monday and Wednesday for the sole purpose of keeping us out of OUR park.  It's time we put an end to this ridiculous charade.

http://www.broward.org/countygov.htm

Dan West 954-357-8106

Spotlight on American Youth - Youngest Player in First US Cricket Open

 

 

 

YOUNGEST CRICKET PLAYER

in the

HISTORIC FIRST U.S. CRICKET OPEN

It did not take long for the youngest player to be noticed in the first U.S. Cricket Open last week in Lauderhill, Florida.   A sportswriter was standing next to a young boy, who was excitedly pointing through the outfield fence, pulling at his father’s shirttail and yelling: “That is going to be me one day, Daddy!  I want to be just like him!”  The father looked up and saw Rashard Marshall and must of thought his son had made a very good choice of role models, since Marshall was a highly talented member of the USA National Cricket Team, playing for  the  eventual U.S. Open Champion Washington Tigers and earning MVP Honors of the first U.S. Cricket Open with a total of 162 runs.  However, the youngster was looking past Marshall to another  player.  Smaller in stature than Marshall, but with as huge a desire to compete, the focus of his child was on Shawn Qureshi, the youngest cricketer to play in the historic First U.S. Cricket Open.”

Image001
 Photo by Sohail Abbas

Eleven year-old Shawn Qureshi was thrilled to have been selected to the US All Stars Cricket Team earlier this year.  “I am proud to be associated with such a great group of cricket players.  I tell all my friends to come out and try cricket – they will see how much fun it is.  I hope the schools will soon have teams,” gushes Shawn.  His personal development and success in the sport of cricket buoyed his appointment to the US All Star team.  At various times during the last year, Shawn was in no fewer than three leagues at a time!  You can imagine how excited he became when his US All Stars team qualified for the First U.S. Cricket Open Championship.  

Tony Campbell, manager of the US All Stars, raves about Shawn’s dedication and hard work.  “We caught lightning in a bottle with Shawn during our second match in the Open against the Washington CC from Arlington, Virginia,” explained Tony. “Washington won the toss and elected to bat first and were dismissed for 75 runs.  Although Manjoj Abeysekera scored 20 runs early, Shawn swirled his magic around the Washington CC batsmen by claiming 3 wickets for 15 runs from two overs!  Shawn was spectacular!”  Shawn’s performance sparked his US All-Stars teammates as they scored 77 for 2 with Oneil Irving smashing 30 runs (3x4) and Saquib Shan hitting 23 in the victory.  “I can’t believe it, I got three wickets in the first U.S. Cricket Open,” said Shawn, who represents the U.S. Cricket Academy in the South Florida Cricket Alliance Division One Competition.

Youth was well represented in the U.S. Cricket Open, as Steven Taylor, 15, of the USA National Team played extensively for the Miami Thunder.  Steven has participated at all levels for the national teams – Under 15, Under 19 and Seniors.  Shawn is committed to pursuing the same higher levels of cricket competition.  With his spotlighted role as the youngest player in the First U.S. Cricket Open, Shawn Qureshi is well on his way to stardom – just ask the little boy by the outfield fence!  

 

 

Teens Unaware of Dangers of Hookah Use

I am a parent of teenagers and a resident of Hollywood, and recently read a glowing report about the opening of a hookah bar in our city. The same week, I received an e-mail from our Broward parent advisory group about the dangers of hookah use, and how many young people, especially older teens, are using hookahs as a social tool but are not aware that 80 minutes of use can equal the intake of 100 cigarettes. This is important news that needs to be shared with the public, especially students. I have shared these statistics with students at South Broward High where I am advisory chair, and they are surprised by this data. The link for more info is a study done at the University of Florida: New study measures hookah use among Florida teens
http://news.ufl.edu/2009/11/09/high-school-hookah/

Thanks. 
Donna Greene
Parent Advisory Chair, South Broward High School
Marine Magnet Program
South Broward I-Zone Facilities Task Force Member
City of Hollywood Education Advisory Committee
Hollywood, FL