| Toughen product safety regulations
FEWER of you are buying toys this shopping season due to the recent spate of product-safety scares. In an online poll conducted Oct. 9-15 of 2,565 adults in the United States, 33 percent of respondents said they will shy away from buying toys this year; 45 percent vowed to avoid toys made in China. That's going to be tough, considering 80 percent of all toys sold in the United States are manufactured in China. Parents are right to be scared, after numerous recalls this year of toys made in China that contain high levels of lead paint and other toxic or dangerous materials. Earlier this month, millions of Aqua Dots, a popular arts and crafts kit, were recalled after beads in it were found to have a toxic coating. More precautions are needed to keep dangerous toys away from children.
For arts-and-crafts fans, it's a holiday
On the first Saturday in December for the past 24 years, Franklin County High School has become a craft-lovers paradise. The gym, cafeteria, band room and hallways are filled with people who make jewelry, cherry furniture, hair bows, soaps and a variety of Christmas ornaments and yard dcor. Sisters Cindy Fyffe of Harrodsburg and Sherrye Wainscott of Lawrenceburg leave their children at home and meet for coffee before driving to Frankfort for the arts-and-crafts fair. "This is an annual event for us. It's a sisters' day," Fyffe said. Another group of friends manages to set aside the day to get together and shop for gifts. Suzette Gash, Felita Giles and D.J. Barnett, all of Lawrenceburg, do a lot of things together, and this is an event they enjoy attending. Gash ran into her friend Patty Conway of Frankfort and told her about all the things she had bought for herself, instead of the gifts she came to buy.
Trip To A Sacred Site
It's like a trip in a time machine to a cave where the 1,000-year-old secrets of the ancients Mayans are revealed. Tropical paradise Belize is a relative sliver of land on the Caribbean coast, just south of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and neighbored to the west and south by Guatemala. Since Belize was the former British Honduras, most residents are fluent in English. Belize is world-renowned for its turquoise coastal waters, reefs, atolls and blue holes in the Caribbean, and with that, snorkeling and scuba diving. But hidden in the jungle interior is this lost world, Actun Tunichil Muknal, which became accessible to the public on a limited basis a few years ago. In the country's official 200-page visitor magazine, "Destination Belize," which lists thousands of recreation getaways and contacts, this cave is not even mentioned.
ORU regents meet in wake of Richard Roberts resignation
Read the latest stories about the ORU lawsuit, examine the lawsuit and other documents, and watch slide shows and video.
The Oral Roberts University Board of Regents will meet today to consider what to do in the wake of last week's resignation of President Richard Roberts. The regents had been scheduled to hear the results of an outside investigation of allegations against the former president and his wife. Roberts resigned Friday following allegations that he and his family misused ORU resources. He had been on a leave of absence as ORU president since Oct. 17 while the school's board and independent auditors investigate allegations made in a lawsuit brought by three former professors. In late October, ORU announced it had hired the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller & Chevalier Chartered to investigate the allegations.
Around Oneonta
The State University College at Oneonta will offer an old-fashioned "Yuletide Celebration" at the College Camp off upper East Street from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. The event is free and open to the public. The celebration at the lodge will include complimentary refreshments, a hunt for a Yule log, traditional burning of the log, creation of seasonal crafts and storytelling in the recently constructed Iroquois longhouse at the camp. More information is available from Snapper Petta, the college's director of outdoor activities, at 436-3455. CSO offering gift wrapping The Catskill Symphony Orchestra is sponsoring its annual holiday gift wrapping booth at the Southside Mall starting Saturday and continuing through Monday, Dec. 24. The booth is by the Southside Cinemas and the AT&T store.
|
