Good Shepherd Academy

This photo was sent to me by Chuck Brennan. The new name is already in place...

Missing classmates

The reunion committee has been working diligently trying to track down missing classmates. We have been using a recent class list from BOR, Karen's 2002 list, Google, Switchboard, friends, family members and will turn to psychics next, I'm sure. Now that Michael has mailed out the invitations, he's starting to get a few of them returned, so please help us if you know the whereabouts of the following people:

Martina Dicton Gaetano (found as of 7/25/2007)
Carol Potomis Kopicki
Donna Reese
Christine Ritchie (found as of 7/29/2007)
John Roach
Barbara Asher Salo (found as of 7/29/2007)
Donna Shatkoski
Karen Krishunis Shemanski
Patti Nowicki Shovlin (found as of 7/29/2007)
Karlene Wagner (found as of 7/29/2007)

You can email me or Michael Kinney with any details you might have.

Thanks,

Lee

New Bishop O'Reilly Blog

I've got an email from Raphael Micca about a new blog and website he's organized for all Bishop O'Reilly alumni and I recommend you check it out and follow the links. It's a regular walk down memory lane. I've permanently linked it to this page over on the left hand side, but here's the link if you'd like to visit. Make sure to bookmark it!

Blog activity...

I started this blog just prior to the last reunion and for a while it had a lot of activity from various class members but lately it's just been me along with an occasional posting from Jay. Anyone with a Blogger ID can post here and I have a link on the left hand side entitled 'tips on posting here', which has the information on how to post here. After you get your Blogger ID, email me to let me know what it is and I'll add you to the group so that you can post. I think some of you who used to post here have forgotten your IDs or passwords so if that's the case, get a new one and let me know what it is and I'll add you back in to the group.

It would be great to read some postings here by people other than myself!! :-)

Found souls....

We are inviting a few people who were members of our class but did not graduate with us to the reunion. In some cases, these people spent the majority of their years at one of the Catholic feeder schools and then at BOR but transferred to another school before graduation. I have always been curious about what happened to them and would like to know where they are now.

Jim Sawchak, who spent a total of 10 years at St. Johns and then BOR, contacted me through Classmates.com and I've been emailing him about the reunion and other events. I told him that due a lift in the restrictions about who can attend, he's welcome to join us and we'd be happy to have him at the reunion. He's living in Delaware now and is very curious to know what has happened to the rest of us.

In addition to Jim, we also have Cynthia (Williams) Leonard who went to BOR from 7th through 10th grade who would like to attend. Perhaps some of you remember her.

John Simonitis, who attended Sacred Heart and then BOR for most of his academic career, will also be invited.

Let me know if you want the contact information for these people and I'll send it to you. If you know of others you'd like to see attend the reunion and can help me with their whereabouts, please email me.


-Lee

Daily Rush fix

Joe Petrasek has asked for a new feature for our weblog, and I must say it's quite good. I will periodically post a Rush video here for your enjoyment. You could have seen them yourself in Scranton because they were there about a week ago, on June 29th, yet I heard not a single report from anyone on how well you liked the concert.... You all did go, right?

I'll be at the Rush concert in Denver on August 8th, this time sitting (actually, most likely standing with arms flailing) in ROW 8. The last time we saw them there in 2004, I ended up on the cover of Neil Peart's book, Roadshow. My friend Mike has since digitally enhanced the photo to make it easier to pick me out of the crowd so you should check out that link even if you've seen it before.

It was the erstwhile Bob Wanat who first introduced me to the group way back in 1976 and I've enjoyed them immensely ever since.

Reunion request

Dear Fellow Bishop O'Reilly Class of 1977 Classmates:

We will have a 30th Class Reunion on September 29, 2007 at R & D Memories (former St. Michael's Hall) on Fellows Ave in Hanover Township. Our Class Reunion Committee has some questions we would like your assistance with:

1. Do you have any interest in attending? Interest or definite?
2. Your current mailing address, this is to keep us up to date.
3. Any addresses or our fellow classmates. Also to keep us up to date.

I hope all of you can help us with this request. Because time is short, I felt this would be the best way to contact those whose email addresses we have and hopefully gain more so everyone will be aware of our 30th Reunion.

You can email Lee at lee810@yahoo.com or me at fishfishr@juno.com or by phone (570)-821-0464.

Thank you,
Michael Kinney

30th Reunion Date/Location Set

I got this message today from Michael Kinney so it appears that the reunion is a go. As you may recall, I sent out a request for a volunteer to head up the reunion about a month ago and had just about given up hope when Mike stepped up. Thanks Mike!

---

The Bishop O'Reilly Class of 1977 30th Reunion Committee met Thursday, June 14th and decided on a date and place for our reunion. We will have a 30th Class Reunion on Saturday, September 29th, 2007. The reunion will be held at R & D Memories on Fellows Ave in Hanover. No other details have been discussed.

The Committee members in attendance where: Arlene Galanda Kuharchik, Chuck Brennan, Karen Lanczak Leonardi, Maryellen Finley Cusma, Paul Reinert and Michael Kinney.

We are asking everyone with current addresses or other contact information of any our classmates to send them to Lee. We want to insure everyone receives an invitation. Thank you for your help.

Another topic discussed was a 50th birthday bash for all of us in two years as we all turn 50 years old! It will be a causal hopefully cook out type party during the summer months. I volunteered to chair that committee.

If anyone is interested in volunteering for the committee please contact Michael Kinney (570) 821-0464 or (570) 262-5463.

---

Reunion planning meeting this Thursday

I got a very nice compliment from Mary Lynn Delfino, the development Director of Development at Bishop O'Reilly about Chuck Brennan for volunteering to carry the gifts to the altar for the closing ceremony. A few days later, Chuck passed along these photos.



Here is his note:

Lee,
I attended the O'Reilly closing ceremony on the 27th of May. Mike Kinney, Bev Yakus and Maryellen Finley were there as well...it was awesome.. I brought the wine up to the altar during the mass at St. Ignatius Church as a reprepresentatative of the 70's decade. I attached two pics for you to share on the reunion website...one is of myself and Linda Rakauskas(Serino)bringing up the wine and water. But the other one is the gem...it is of myself with my first cousin Molly(Sister Mary Alicia) to my right and guess who on my left? Sister Ines!!! Our Junior class moderator and my homeroom teacher as well as Chemistry teacher...her name is now Sister Donna Marie. My cousin explained to me that some years ago they had the opportunity to change their names to their Baptismal ones, so Sister Ines did. Hope you enjoy and keep me informed on reunion plans. I told Mike I could give him a hand if he takes the lead.

Take care,
Chuck Brennan



Speaking of the reunion, Mike Kinney sent me an email yesterday and they are going to have a planning meeting on June 14th if anyone want to attend.

The Bishop O'Reilly Class of Classes 1977 will hold a 30th Class reunion meeting on Thursday, June 14, 6:30 PM the Bakehouse. ( 152 S. Wyoming Ave. Kingston, across from the old 1977 Burger King!!) Anyone interested in helping or just visiting are welcome to attend.

If anyone has any questions I can be reached at home : (570) 821-0464 cell (which I don't answer during the day at work because it's in the van because it likes to jump off my belt and aggravating me!!!) is (570) 262-5463.

Thank you,

Michael

More 30th Reunion News

Over the weekend, Michael Kinney stepped forward to volunteer to pull together a 30th Reunion this year. As some of you may remember who read this blog or who get periodic emails from me, we needed a volunteer chair the committee for the reunion because the committee members who did it last time had other committments this year that made it impossible for them to dedicate the time to the planning this year's reunion, although they are available to help out.

If you would like to help, please contact Mike by email or by phone at 570-821-0464. His email is fishfishr (at) juno.com . I didn't want to put that in the normal email format because it would get picked up by spambots. If you have any suggestions for places or dates for the reunion, please share them. Also, anyone needing to update their address/phone/email, please contact and I'll pass that along to Mike.

Thanks,

Lee

O'Reilly Closure Celebration

Alumni, friends, faculty (past and present), and religious sisters and priests are cordially invited to a Celebration of Thanksgiving for West Side Central Catholic/Bishop O'Reilly High School

Date: Sunday, May 27, 2007

Time: 4:00 -7:30 p.m

4:00 p.m. Liturgy at St. Ignatius followed by an Open House & Social at Bishop O'Reilly

7:00 p.m. Evening Prayer in memory of the deceased members of the WSCC/BOR family
RSVP with your attendance by Friday, May 18

Phone: (570) 714-9614, ext. 412
Email: develbor@epix.net

Class reunion planners from all years are highly encouraged to pass the word on to your classmates.
Get involved with the Closing Celebration!
Purchase commemorative items (clothing, artwork, etc.)
These Special Edition shirts that say "Central Catholic/Bishop O'Reilly" are exclusive to Bishop O'Reilly.
*Contribute items for memory rooms at the Open House
*Submit names for Evening Prayer
*Volunteer for the Event
Note: All of the information above will be emailed to develbor@epix.net where you will get a response.

30th Reunion News

After our 25th reunion, we took a poll on the website to see what people wanted to do for the 30th reunion. Tom Crossin had volunteered his house as a place to host the reunion, and that was a popular choice based on the submissions to the poll, but with 5 years to think about it, that may not be the best venue for a group that could easily exceed 100 guests. It would be quite an imposition for one person to host a reunion at his or her home, so the plans for our 30th reunion are still not decided.

Both Karen and Arlene, who were instrumental in heading up the 25th reunion, have had to attend to a lot of personal commitments this year which makes it difficult for them to head up a committee to plan the reunion. So we'll need someone else to volunteer to lead the committee if we are going to have a 30th reunion this year. The committee members, namely Karen Leonardi, Arlene Kuharchik, Mike Laton, and Chuck Brennan are willing to help, but the person who chairs the committee would still need to organize/delegate the important details, namely:

Select a date and type of gathering (i.e., an informal outdoor event or an inside semi-formal event)

Organize any side events such as ice breakers

Locate a venue and arrange catering

Organize a list of names and addresses to contact fellow class
members (our current list is 5 years old) and send out invitations

Collect the responses as well as the money and pay for expenses

So, if you're interested in leading or participating in the planning, or have some suggestions for where we should hold this reunion, please contact me and let me know your preferences. You can email me at lee810@yahoo.com or call me at 970-978-6188. I'll be more than happy to do the emailing and web site activities, but being out here in Colorado, I probably won't be attending any committee meetings in person.

Albany Result

Well,
The good news is that we did better this year than last year, but we lost 7-6 in the finals. It was probably the most exciting match of the evening. I'm a pretty proud dad right now...

Anyone who'd like to see a picture of my son winning his 2nd Sectional (PA Regional crown) can go to http://johnsoncitywrestling.com/. Pretty good pic. We'll hopefully have good news when we return from Albany next week. See ya'!

Press Release/Meeting on school closures

I received a few notices of this meeting in my email, so I figured I'd post it here for all to see.

PRESS RELEASE

The Parent groups of Bishop Hafey High School, Bishop O'Reilly
High School and Seton Catholic High School are hosting a forum to
discuss their response to the Bishop's final plan in closing the
schools. It is asked that anyone interested in Catholic education in
Luzerne County attend. It is the hope that parents, students, alumni,
relatives and friends of students who are affected by the Bishop's
decision will attend. It is particularly asked that the Bishop Hoban
High School parents, students, alumni, relatives and friends who also
wish to enter into this discussion attend.

Being that all the elementary Catholic grade schools in Luzerne
County are affected, those parents, alumni, relatives and friends are
asked to attend.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss specific ways to let
the Bishop and the people of the Scranton Diocese know how this
decision, which is against general Catholic teaching and philosophy as
we all have known it, is strictly a business decision. The meeting will
be held Sunday, January 21, 2007 from 2:00p.m to 5:00p.m at Convention
Hall in Pittston Township which is conveniently located off Route 315
and Route 81. The site was selected since it is accessible and because
of the capacity to hold a large number of people. Any further
information concerning same please contact the various leaders of the
parents groups and/or contact any parent in the three schools that are
actually hosting this forum.

Press Release on school closures

******The following is taken from the offical press release, which can
be read in full at
http://www.dioceseofscranton.org/News/SchoolsAnnouncementReleaseJan17th2007.asp

Bishop Hafey High School, Bishop Hoban High School, Bishop O’Reilly
High School, and Seton Catholic High School will close. A single high
school will be established to serve Luzerne County at the facility in
Wilkes-Barre.

Bishop Martino noted that he has spoken to Bishop Edward P. Cullen of
the Diocese of Allentown to assure the families of the students from
Bishop Hafey that an arrangement with Marian Catholic High School in
Hometown is one that will provide a Catholic high school education to
students from the greater Hazleton area. He also stressed that the
Diocese of Scranton, in particular the parishes of the greater Hazleton
area, will remain connected to the students from their respective
parishes who attend Marian Catholic High School.

The following elementary sites will remain:

Holy Family Academy, Hazleton, which will become a PK-Grade 8 program
located at the Bishop Hafey site.
St. Aloysius, Wilkes-Barre
SS. Peter and Paul, Plains
St. Nicholas/St. Mary, Wilkes-Barre
Gate of Heaven, Dallas
St. Jude, Mountaintop
Holy Rosary, Duryea
Wyoming Area Catholic, Exeter
St. Mary Assumption, Pittston
A new elementary center will be established at the present Bishop
O’Reilly High School building for students in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade
8.
The sites that will no longer operate are:

St. Boniface, Wilkes-Barre – which will be combined at the new
elementary center in Kingston.
Sacred Heart, Wilkes-Barre – which will be combined at the new
elementary center in Kingston.
Regis Elementary, Forty Fort – which will be combined at the new
elementary center in Kingston.
Sacred Heart, Luzerne – which will be combined at the new elementary
center in Kingston.
Sacred Heart, Dupont – which will combine with Wyoming Area Catholic
Pope John Paul II, Nanticoke – which will combine with St. Aloysius
and/or the new elementary center in Kingston.
The Individualized Instruction program that operates at Regis
Elementary and Bishop O’Reilly High School will be continued at the
elementary center in Kingston and at the high school in Wilkes-Barre.

Bishop Martino cited the Meitler consultants’ observations that all of
the Local Consultative Groups and other interested parties had provided
thoughtful and detailed proposals. In particular, the proposals
regarding the high schools included ambitious plans for fundraising and
student recruitment.

However, the consultants determined that past history, current trends
and demographic projections do not support the realistic prospect that
these goals can be achieved. Furthermore, neither the Diocese nor the
parishes can afford to subsidize the schools while these goals are
being pursued.

“I know that some people will be disappointed with these outcomes, and
it has been difficult for me to make some of these decisions, but I
believe they are necessary,” Bishop Martino said. “Now I ask everyone
to join with us as this plan is implemented.”

Financial Support for Catholic Schools

A common formula for determining parish assessments will be utilized
throughout the Diocese. It is the responsibility of all Catholics to
provide financial support for Catholic schools. Therefore, all parishes
will contribute based on their income and a sliding scale.

Many parishes with schools are providing a level of financial support
that is not sustainable and jeopardizes other important aspects of
parish ministry. The new system will establish an equitable formula
with all parishes sharing in the support of Catholic schools.

Governance

Regional Catholic school systems (Pre-K to 12) will be formed for both
Lackawanna/Wayne and Luzerne Counties . The systems will each be
governed by boards of clergy and laity with delegated authority and
responsibility. The boards will be directly accountable to the Diocese
and will have responsibility for areas such as planning, finance,
policy development, public relations, marketing and institutional
advancement.

Implementation of the Plan

The principals at each school will be forming transitional teams to
address the practical aspects of the reorganization and the particular
issues that will affect their respective school communities.

A process for registration for the 2007-08 academic year will be
announced in the near future.

Meanwhile, the Diocesan human resources director is working with
teacher representatives to develop a fair and equitable policy
regarding school personnel. After registration is complete and the
number of personnel needed is determined, the policy will be completed.

The Diocesan Finance Office is working on preliminary budgets for the
2007-08 school year.

“We will all work together to enhance our Catholic identity, advance
our curriculum, plan for facility upgrades, technological advances, and
other programs to ensure that every student has the opportunity to
obtain a quality Catholic education,” Bishop Martino said.

The Bishop added that the uncertainty that often surrounds the status
of particular schools from year to year should be dispelled now that
the Strategic Plan has been determined.

“The future for Catholic education in the Diocese of Scranton
begins today,” Bishop Martino said. “We will chart a path that takes
our schools through the 21st century – a path that will provide all of
our students with a quality Catholic education that is accessible and
affordable for families and parishes."

O’Reilly backers face tight deadline

I got this information recently from Bev Cottle:

Meeting tonight will focus on plans designed to keep Kingston high school open.

By MARK GUYDISH

mguydish@timesleader.com

“If the Catholic Church does not put the effort into educating the next generation of Catholics, we don’t have much of a future in this area.”

Raphael Micca 2006 O’Reilly graduate

The Bible studied by every Catholic school student says God created the world in six days. Well, as of this morning, that’s the same amount of time left for supporters of local Catholic high schools to pull off a minor miracle: save three schools slated for closing this June.

For Bishop O’Reilly proponents, the big push starts tonight.

“We can’t afford to just have a general discussion,” said attorney Tom O’Connor, who helped set up a 7 p.m. meeting for O’Reilly supporters at the Independent Fire Hall in Kingston. “We have to get to work. Hopefully we’ll produce something and arrange another meeting fairly quickly.”

O’Reilly supporters are a bit behind those who have rallied to save the other two Catholic high schools in Luzerne County that would close under a proposal announced Nov. 14. A small group of Seton parents met informally at the Pittston school on Saturday, while a much larger crowd – more than 600 by one organizer’s estimate -- crammed the cafeteria at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazleton last week.

Under the plan released by Wisconsin-based Meitler Consultants Inc., those three schools would merge with Bishop Hoban in Wilkes-Barre, and all students would attend the new combined school in the existing Hoban building. When the proposal was unveiled, Alan Meitler said the next step was to get public input before finalizing the plan in January. That input is supposed to come primarily from groups set up by the diocese, but a groundswell of grassroots supporters sprung up within days of the announcement. Since then, the diocese issued a deadline for any counterproposals: Dec. 4

O’Connor said O’Reilly supporters haven’t held a meeting yet because things developed too quickly. “We just thought we wouldn’t get anybody” to attend an earlier gathering.

Tonight’s meeting will include a brief introduction and overview, with the crowd breaking up into subgroups to hash out details of specific issues, O’Connor said. “This is to listen to the parents, hear what they want, not to say, ‘Here’s what it’s going to be.’”

While any realistic options are welcome, O’Connor said two ideas already floating around will be on the table: converting O’Reilly to a pre-kindergarten-through 12th grade school, or merging O’Reilly with Seton.

The first idea is possible, he said, because at one point the O’Reilly building housed “well over 1,000 students.” The building has 352 students in grades seven through 12 this year, according to the diocese Web site. “Why couldn’t you put the elementary students on one floor?” O’Connor asked.

The merger with Seton was first brought up after the meeting of that school’s supporters Saturday. Ron D’Eliseo, one of the parents who spearheaded the meeting, said it included some O’Reilly parents who were open to the idea of merging the two schools into the Seton building. “Although we don’t have 100 percent buy in, we all agreed we’re not going to be able to save all the schools. And we think it’s more beneficial if we utilize the Seton facility.”

O’Reilly is carrying some debt, needs some expensive maintenance, has no real endowment fund and has a comparatively inactive alumni association, D’Eliseo said. Seton, on the other hand, has been running in the black, needs no major repairs, has a solid endowment fund and an annual alumni contribution drive, though he conceded that last one needs to be beefed up to make the school more viable.

D’Eliseo also said Seton draws students from as far north as Old Forge and Moosic, and that those students are unlikely to travel to O’Reilly or Hoban if Seton closes. He believes that if just half of O’Reilly students transfer to the Seton in a merger, the school would be able to keep classes small while enhancing curriculum offerings.

Raphael Micca, a 2006 O’Reilly graduate who launched three Web sites to contact supporters, isn’t fond of that idea. Stressing that he “doesn’t want to hurt anyone,” he respectfully suggests that O’Reilly offers more academic programs. “I think (Seton) is a wonderful school, but they don’t pull as many people from the region because of that.”

Ideally, Micca said, all four schools should stay open. “If the Catholic Church does not put the effort into educating the next generation of Catholics, we don’t have much of a future in this area.”

All three expressed their sympathy for Bishop Hafey parents. At least O’Reilly and Seton are relatively close to Hoban. Hafey is 25 miles away, making it unlikely students will be willing to enroll in a consolidated school at the Hoban location. Even the alternative -- Marian Catholic in Tamaqua, part of the Diocese of Allentown -- is 12 miles in the opposite direction.

But Hafey may have garnered the biggest support. Pat Owens, a parent who helped organize a meeting last week, pointed out that those who attended pledged $35,000 that very night. There is another private meeting of alumni scheduled for Wednesday. “There are several fundraising programs going on, with the intent to try to raise – if the bishop allows us to stay open – in excess of $1 million.”

Owens noted that community leaders have spoken out strongly in support of Hafey, including Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, Hazleton City Council, the local chamber of commerce and CAN DO, an industry development nonprofit corporation.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm to keep Bishop Hafey open,” Owens said. “We’re trying to come up with a rational business plan.” In fact, the group is so optimistic they are hoping to submit the plan by Dec. 1, the Friday before the deadline. The school, he noted, has run in the black for three years after a shaky stretch, while still paying $60,000 a year toward the diocese for a loan taken to get through rough financial times.

All four argued that closing three high schools would not necessarily strengthen Catholic education in the area, as promised by Meitler. In fact, it could deal a critical blow, they said. Closing Hafey, Owens said, would likely mean losing most of the 380 students there, simply because they would be unwilling to travel to Hoban or Marian.

Noting that high school students often get involved in other church activities, including teaching Sunday religion classes to youngsters, O’Connor said that, in closing the schools, “you start to get a ripple effect,” losing the students who help keep other parish efforts going.

Shuttering three high schools could shatter confidence in the whole Catholic school system, already shaken by repeated elementary school closings in recent years. “The biggest reasons enrollments are down is not costs,” D’Eliseo argued. “It is the negative publicity and insecurity about potential closings.”

And the new plan only adds to that uncertainty, failing to provide concrete recommendations on tuition and curriculum in the newly consolidated high school, O’Connor said.

“There are so many unanswered questions.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supporter Websites

• www.myspace.com/saveseton

• www.petitiononline.com/saveschs/petition-sign.html

• www.leavenocatholicstudentbehind.com/

• www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savebor/

• www.bishoporeilly.org

• www.myspace.com/savebor

Proposal to keep O'Reilly open

Hello everyone,

I've been remiss at keeping the weblog updated but I wanted to let you know that a fellow alumni has a MySpace page dedicated to the effort of keeping O'Reilly open. I'll try to be better at posting anything I get from him on a timely basis in case it involves meetings, etc.

Here is the most recent message, unfortunately too late for anyone interested in going to the meeting, but still informative:

Attention supporters of Bishop O'Reilly High School:
There is a very important meeting for all parents, students, alumni,
friends and supporters of Bishop O'Reilly as well as the Region 6 family
of Catholic schools on Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 PM at the
Independent Fire Company Hall on Sprague Avenue in Kingston. We need
your support! Have you heard the Seton parents proposal? I attended
their meeting and voiced my concerns about it, but they seem set on
gaining half of O'Reilly's enrollment in order to survive. In other
words, save Seton at the expense of Bishop O'Reilly. We can't let that
happen. Come to the meeting prepared. Read the Meitler recommendations
and the Seton proposal. Be ready to counter both proposals!

For more information, please visit the new website dedicated to saving
Bishop O'Reilly at www.bishoporeilly.org. I posted my thoughts on the
Seton proposal in a blog entitled "Why We Reject The Seton Proposal" at
www.myspace.com/savebor.

Please spread the word about the meeting and do plan on attending. Make
sure everyone knows about, be they parents of O'Reilly students,
alumni, or just friendly supporters. Bishop O'Reilly needs your help!

Thank you,
Raphael Micaa
webmaster, bishoporeilly.org

Bishop O'Reilly to Close

Beverly (Yakus) Cottle has been sending me some articles about the closing of Bishop O'Reilly which is expected to happen at the end of this academic year. Below are articles from various news sources, one of which includes a quote from Beverly. I've also got a link to the full report, called the Meitler Recommendations for Lackawanna Wayne Counties.

It's sad for me to hear about the closing of the Catholic schools and churches around the valley. First it was the Catholic elementary schools citing falling enrollment and rising costs and now it's the high schools. At first I was looking for someone or something to blame, then I realized there were just too many causes for this condition to lay blame on any single cause. So I'll just take some of the blame myself for having moved away from area, like many others have done, searching for better employment opportunities.

The town where I live now (Greeley, CO) opened up its first Catholic elementary school about 5 years ago, and it has an enrollment of about 120 students. It's the only one in a 50 mile radius. There are no Catholic High Schools in all of Northern Colorado despite a combined population of over 250,000. :-(

---

From Diocese of Scranton Website:
Diocese to Decide Fate of Catholic Schools

Tuesday, November 14, UDPATED: 9:50 p.m.
By Jon Meyer and Bianca Barr

A plan developed for the Diocese of Scranton proposes to close several Catholic schools in Luzerne County, including three of the four high schools.

A group that's been studying Roman Catholic education in our area developed the plan. It was unveiled Tuesday night during a meeting at Genetti's in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

A similar meeting will be held Wednesday night at St. Mary's Center in Scranton. Recommendations for Catholic schools in Lackawanna and Wayne Counties will be unveiled.

The plan for Luzerne County involves moving from a parish-based school system to one that is regional in nature. Bishop Joseph Martino called the plan "very radical in some ways. It is very new for the 21st century and, at the same time, very transforming. It's going to permit us to go from what we have right now, which may not help us sufficiently, into something altogether new and improved."

Enrollment numbers in Luzerne County show Catholic elementary schools are down 1,700 students since 2000. High schools lost 500 students, bringing the total to more than 2,000 empty seats in five years.

In light of declining enrollment and rising costs, the consultants recommend closing three of the four Catholic high schools in Luzerne County. Bishop Hafey in Hazleton, Bishop O'Reilly in Kingston, and Seton Catholic in Pittston would close. Only Bishop Hoban in Wilkes-Barre would remain open, but with a new name.

"I don't particularly like that idea, and I don't think a lot of my classmates will end up going there," said Shane Ostroski, a junior at Seton Catholic. "I am not too sure what I will do, but what we've been talking about in class, many of them say they would go to a public school."

The plan also recommends trimming the number of Catholic elementary schools in Luzerne County from 14 to 10. The Sacred Heart and St. Boniface schools in Wilkes-Barre would be phased out. Pope John Paull II in Nanticoke and Sacred Heart in Dupont would be closed.

"The school is the heart of the parish," said Fr. Joseph Verespy of Sacred Heard in Dupont. "So, if the school does in fact close along the line, it would really affect the way the parish operates."

The recommendations that come out of Tuesday and Wednesday night's meetings are not final. The Diocese of Scranton will study the report and the schools and make a final decision in January on which, if any, schools will close.

---

Proposal: O’Reilly, Seton, Hafey to close

Students would attend updated Hoban. Several elementary schools may shut.

By MARK GUYDISH, Times Leader


WILKES-BARRE – Bishop Hoban as the lone Catholic high school in the county, forcing Hazleton students to travel either 25 miles north to Wilkes-Barre or 12 miles south to Tamaqua. No more St. Boniface elementary in Wilkes-Barre, no more Sacred Heart in Dupont or Wilkes-Barre, no more Pope John Paul II in Nanticoke, and the combination of Regis in Forty Fort and Sacred Heart in Luzerne.

And no more parish schools. They would all fall under the jurisdiction of a newly created regional school board overseeing all of Luzerne County.

That, in a nutshell, is the preliminary proposal for local Catholic schools under the long-awaited report and recommendations from Wisconsin-based Meitler Consultants Inc., which calls for consolidating Bishop Hafey in Hazleton, Seton Catholic in Pittston, and Bishop O’Reilly in Kingston into an expanded and updated Bishop Hoban.

The man who outlined the plan at a press conference Tuesday, Alan Meitler, did not speculate on how many students the diocese would lose by closing three high schools, but the math is simple. Last year the four schools had 1,383 students in grades 9 through 12. Meitler said they expect the new school would have about 1,000. Translation: A loss of nearly 400. “There would be substantial savings, but more importantly we will be able to offer academic courses, programs and opportunities not available in all the schools,” Meitler said.

Much of that loss of students, presumably, would come from closing Bishop Hafey, where there were 263 students last year. Pressed multiple times about what some might consider an abandonment of Hazleton high school students, Diocese School Superintendent Joe Casciano conceded that there is no way to counter such a negative response. “If there wasn’t an emotional attachment (to the school), we’d be more concerned.”

He also tried to cast the plan as providing an option, rather than simply closing the lone Hazleton Catholic high school. The diocese wants to make an arrangement with the Diocese of Allentown that would allow Hazleton Area students to attend Marian Catholic in Tamaqua as if they were from Marian’s area and supporting parishes.

The Diocese of Scranton already has a similar arrangement for high school students in northern counties to attend a high school that actually sits in the Diocese of Rochester, he added.

Meitler and others repeatedly stressed the recommendations are preliminary and that the next step is to receive input and options from committees set up at each school involved. Final recommendations and decisions would be made in January. Meitler also said he couldn’t offer ways for people to alter the proposals, but encouraged “rational, clear and compelling ideas and facts” in any alternatives.

The plan as it stands now calls for the new regional system to be set up and the high schools merged by the start of next school year. The new regional system would create greater accountability by putting most control of the school system into the hands of lay people, Meitler said.

It would also level tuition across elementary schools, and spread parish subsidies among all churches, rather than the current system that has one or several parishes supporting a nearby school. Meitler said it was too early to suggest details of such a plan, but that the idea would be to make sure the amount requested from each parish is equitable.

Most of the recommendations for elementary schools are not as immediate, routinely suggesting that a year or more pass while details are worked out and buildings are prepared for school mergers. The proposals are:

• Trying to sell Bishop Hafey High School and use the money to build a new, larger elementary school to accommodate the 504 students currently attending two separate Hazleton buildings grouped together as “Holy Family Academy.” If Bishop Hafey cannot be sold, it could be converted to handle the elementary students. That second choice is not a simple proposal, though. Rooms, furniture and even toilets must be kid-sized under such a plan.

• Look into setting up a pre-kindergarten to grade three or grade six school as part of St. John Bosco Parish in Conyngham. The report notes that St. John Bosco and nearby Good Shepherd “have sufficient base of school-age students to support an elementary school” if parents want to support one.

• Close Pope John Paul II – one of only two schools in the nation named after the late pope – in Nanticoke, but keep the early childhood center open. The report notes the school has $162,000 in debt and that some of the supporting parishes will almost certainly be consolidated.

• Eventually merge St. Boniface with St. Aloysius. The two schools, barely a mile apart, “by themselves do not have enough enrollment to be viable long term. Although they are technically supported by a total of four parishes (three for St. Boniface) students come from “over 30 parishes.” The two schools started this year with combined enrollment of 340 students, which would be too much for St. Aloysius, but it could be expanded, Meitler said.

• Work toward unifying SS. Peter and Paul in Plains Township and Sacred Heart nearby in Wilkes-Barre, first putting them under one administrator and eventually phasing out Sacred Heart.

• Add a full-day kindergarten class to St. Jude in Mountain Top, and continue trying to expand pre-kindergarten offerings. The report notes that St. Jude has an unusually high loss of students from sixth to seventh grade, and urges efforts to figure out why and reverse the trend.

• Market and recruit at Gate of Heaven in Dallas, where enrollment has dropped from 514 in 2000-01 to 325 this year.

• Combine Sacred Heart in Luzerne and Regis Elementary in Forty Fort, either by moving all students to the Bishop O’Reilly building, or splitting the grades so that one school handles lower grades and one handles higher grades. There is no recommendation on handling the special education students housed at Regis, the only diocese school in the county that has special education enrollment.

• The report called the recent reorganization of schools in the Pittston area “very problematic” – parents unsuccessfully sued to keep St. John The Baptist open. Under that reorganization in 2004, four elementary schools and Seton Catholic High School were grouped under “Region 7 (the diocese currently has eight school regions, four of them in Luzerne County; under the new system those four would be one region).

The report calls Region 7 “a regional system in name only” with many schools still operating independently. It recommends considering moving St. Mary Assumption students to another facility, possibly to an expanded Wyoming Area Catholic or to the former Oblate Seminary in Pittston. It also suggests the new marketing and retention efforts for Wyoming Area Catholic.

Meitler did not speculate on what will happen to employees of closed schools, and Casciano declined to say how the diocese would decide which ones are kept when schools merge. Casciano did note the diocese has about 350 teachers and administrators countywide, and that there is a natural turnover of up to 100 teachers a year. He said he hopes that, along with retirements, would help avoid having people involuntarily lose their jobs.

Meitler praised Bishop Joseph Martino and the diocese. “This diocese administration is being very proactive. It is being very courageous,” he said. The goal is not simply to save money but “to have money to spend on things we’re not doing here. … We want to come out of this plan truly with something better and something exciting.”

Admitting he found the school system “confusing” when he became Bishop in 2003, Martino echoed the sentiment. He said he was concerned that some schools seemed to lose their Catholic identity – he cited the lack of religious decorations at Christmas – some were in serious need of repairs, and some were carrying unacceptable debt. He refused to place blame, opting instead to suggest that people may simply have gotten caught in an old system of running schools that doesn’t work anymore.

“As we move forward I hope people will not assault the messenger or get tied up in issue of methodology. I’m very, very concerned that people take the opportunity to be concerned about our schools, and not just about my school.”

---

School news angers parents

BY WADE MALCOLM
STAFF WRITER, Citizen's Voice

11/15/2006

WILKES-BARRE — A distressed, angry look crossed Beverly Cottle’s face upon hearing the news.


Bishop O’Reilly — her alma mater and the school from which her son will graduate in the spring — will soon close if the Scranton Diocese carries out the recommendations made Tuesday night.

The Forty Fort resident arrived at the lobby of the Genetti Hotel & Conference Center with her husband, Bruce, at around 8:30 p.m., hoping to learn the fate of the Kingston high school.

“I think it’s such a sad statement on the day we open a casino, filled to capacity,” she said, referring to the huge crowd that attended opening day of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, “and our Catholic schools are empty.”

“I just don’t know where our priorities are,” she said visibly emotional and shaking her head.

She was not the only parent to point out the ironic timing of two landmark events in Luzerne County. Nor was she the only one disappointed when the rumors many had feared for months were finally confirmed.

Though the study released Tuesday only made recommendations, which are not final, some parents and students see the report as a kiss of death. They presume the diocese would follow through on the study’s advice and shutter schools they have come to love.

Mike Vitale has a daughter enrolled in eighth grade at Sacred Heart, Dupont, and a son in his sophomore year at Seton Catholic in Pittston. Both schools will be eliminated if the diocese follows the recommendations. He said the institutions have had an important impact on his family.

“One of the things I’ve always appreciated is the small scale of the schools, the closeness of the school environment,” he said. “My daughter has been with the same 18 or 20 kids since she started school.”

With the plan to consolidate the county’s four Catholic high schools into one, juniors at Seton Catholic, Bishop O’Reilly and Bishop Hafey in Hazleton face an awkward adjustment heading into a senior year removed from the experiences of their undergraduate years.

“I’m a little upset; I don’t want to leave all my friends,” said Sam Andrewscavage, a Seton Catholic junior and a member of the school’s baseball team. “I’m going to miss the school and I’m going to miss my team.”

Anticipating the emotions stirred by the sweeping recommendations, the diocese stressed how essential change was to the future of Catholic education in Northeastern Pennsylvania, unpleasant though it might be.

“I hope there will not be too many emotional outbursts,” the Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino said during a press conference. “What I think people are forgetting is that our schools are in terrible shape.”

While some were distraught their schools had closed, others were relieved to learn theirs were spared, such as Pat O’Brien, a mother of two students at Holy Rosary in Duryea, who knew she would “sleep a lot easier tonight.”

“All of us feel very badly for the students and the parents of the schools that were affected,” she said. “As happy as we are for our school, we are praying for them that they will be able to stay in a catholic school in Luzerne County.”

Hannah Update

I received this update from Beverly recently about the little girl named Hannah that was mentioned earlier in the blog.

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Below is an update on little Hannah. Please continue to lift her up to the Lord and pray for the Lord to send “Aaron and Hur to hold up (Hannah’s and Jessica’s, mom,) arms” like they did for Moses. May God be glorified through Hannah’s illness and HEALING!

Love and God Bless,

Beverly



Hi Bev --

Here's an update for you to see how Hannah's treatments are going. Please continue to keep her in your prayers the next few weeks. I can't begin to thank you enough for lifting Hannah and her family up at this time. I'm sure being surrounded with such powerful prayer is helping them get though this nightmare.

As usual, I will keep you updated...

Love

Donna




Dear Family & Friends,

Well, we spent Monday through Friday night at Children's this week.

It was definitely an adjustment. I learned sharing the bed with her is the best way to get sleep at night.

In the mornings, we drive to OSU and she has her radiation appointment. It is very short, and she is the first five-year-old they've ever had that did not have to be sedated. She is awesome.

She received daily chemotherapy while lying in bed w/me watching movies. The chemo drug was told to be a huge cause of diahrea, which she had NONE. She was nauseas a few times because her sense of smell is very intense right now, which is common when getting chemo/radiation. I call her wolf girl.

While at Children's, Hannah took a pic with her Dr. and myself in costume. She met a Jody Shelly from the Columbus Bluejackets hockey team and the mascot, Stinger.

Since we've been home, she has not complained of any chronic pain. She's playing with her brother, eating, drinking, getting good rest. We definitely needed the time at home to feel normal again.

Next week is another five day inpatient treatment plan. As soon as the doctors are comfortable with her reactions to treatment, we will be allowed to do much more of this on an outpatient basis. I cannot wait, because since we've been home, she's been so much better.

I have a whole new plan for staying at the hospital. I am bringing school work, art supplies and computer games. I am going to try and keep her drinking and eating enough to not need IV fluids, because when she's on them she doesn't want to eat, drink, or play because she's attached to the pump. Laying around makes her feel like a sick person! Since we've been home, it's like all this isn't even happening!



I know so many people are praying for Hannah. Please focus on this: THE DRUGS USED TO HEAL DO NOT HARM.

---

Here is another update that came a few days later....

Dear Prayer Partners, I just wanted to pass along a heartfelt “Thank you!” It is from Jessica, Hannah’s Mom.

Pray without ceasing!

God Bless!

Beverly

---

Hi Bev --

I got an email from my cousin Jessica yesterday (Hannah's mother) saying that she can feel the blanket of prayers covering them and she asked me to pass on her thanks to you and the prayer groups. Hannah is still doing fine with her chemo and radiation treatments. It's still not making her terribly sick nor is she losing her hair. Thank God! But we still have a few more weeks to go...

Love and God Bless,

Donna

My father-in-law

Folks,
I'd like to ask if you'd all pray for the repose of my father-in-law's soul. He passed away on Friday, and I'd like prayers for my family. I've added a copy of the obituary composed by himself, my wife, and sister-in-law. What a guy! Thanks!

Robert T. Mahar (Moe)
of Binghamton

Attention all ye citizens pay heed to what I say, for on this warm November 10th evening, Robert T. Mahar passed away. His cheerful morning face and his droll sense of humor will be sorely missed by all those who knew and loved him. He was predeceased by his parents, Leigh F. and Julia Mahar. He is survived by his devoted, understanding and patient wife of more than 50 years, Margaret McHale Mahar, Binghamton. He is survived by his seven children, R. Thomas and Elizabeth Mahar, Binghamton, Mary and David Mineno, Johnson City, Margaret and John Tobias, Binghamton, Leigh Mahar, Binghamton, Katherine Mahar and Dineshkant Parikh, Kingston, N.Y., Eileen and Thomas Mallon, Binghamton, and Julia Mahar, Binghamton. He is also survived by 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; one sister, Mary Mahar Smith, Endwell; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins. He will be missed by his two cats, Daedelus and Psipsina, as well as several chipmunks, squirrels and blue jays in the neighborhood. He was a graduate of Binghamton Central High School, class of January 1943. He attended Alabama Polytech and Triple Cities College at Syracuse. He was a printer, proof reader and typesetter at the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin for 37 years. He was a humble and proud veteran of WWII, who was wounded in action and a prisoner of war. He was a decorated hero having received the American Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, European African Middle Eastern Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, New York State Conspicuous Service Cross and the Patron Saint of the Rhythm Method. He was a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Church, serving as usher, bingo worker and Holy Name Society member for more than 50 years. He was a proud member of the Broome County Ancient Order of Hibernians and served with his wife as Grand Marshall of the Binghamton St. Patrick's Day Parade, 1996. He was a member of the German Club and the VFW post 478. By his fine example, his children learned to accept all people, regardless of popular opinion. He played the harmonica and the accordion and he spent many creative hours with his family, singing along with Mitch. In lieu of flowers, buy a bag of peanuts for your backyard wildlife. Have a good laugh everyday, Carpe diem.
Funeral Services will be held at the J.A. McCormack Sons Funeral Home, 141 Main Street, Binghamton, Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. and at 12 Noon at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, where a Funeral Mass will be offered. Burial will be in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Whitney Point. The family will receive friends at the McCormack Funeral Home, Tuesday from 4-7 p.m.

Prayer request

I recently received this prayer request from Bev Cottle:

Lee, This is a prayer request that I received from Donna Kachur Pino, one of our classmates. It is regarding her niece, Hannah, who is 5 years old. Donna has asked me to forward this onto you in hopes that you will put it on the BOR website so that she can get as many “prayer warriors” praying for Hannah as possible. Please also ask others to place Hannah on their church prayer chain or to pass this prayer request onto others on their e-mail lists. Thank you for lifting Hannah up to the Lord in prayer.

Love and God Bless,

Beverly Yakus Cottle

-------------------------------------------
Dear Beverly --



Hannah had a biopsy last week and a consultation on Friday which revealed that the tumor between her sinuses and cheek is cancerous (I just found out today.) They will be checking her for further signs of cancer and then do chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Please continue to pray for Hannah and her family. Thank you for all your prayers thus far. As I get updates, I will pass them along.



Love
Donna

-----------------------------

Update: Oct 28th, 2006

Dear Prayer Partners,

Below is an update on Hannah, the little 5 year old girl that has the tumor in her cheek by her sinuses. Also, Praise God, He is Good, All the Time!! Tests earlier this week showed that the cancer has not spread to anywhere else!! Thank you for your prayers, love and concern.

God Bless,

Beverly




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 12:17 AM

Subject: Hannah

Hi Bev --

I got some more info today on Hannah. She will be admitted to Children's on Monday for inpatient chemotherapy five days a week for six weeks. She will also have five day a week radiation therapy at the James Cancer Center at Ohio State University. Hopefully we can focus our prayers specifically on these upcoming six weeks so Hannah will be covered with a blanket of God's protection during the treatments and also for strength for her family during that time.

Thank you for all you've done with the prayer chain. God bless all the prayer warriors standing in the gap for Hannah and her family.

Much love,

Donna

Do you guys ever feel like Al Frankin on Air America - you know - you keep talking nut no one is listening.

Introducing the HP Media Vault

I'm going to borrow this blog to do some promotion. I hope you guys won't mind. I would like to announce that the product I've been working on for the past
year has just been released. I love this product and have had a great time
working on it. One of the most gratifying parts of working on the product
was that whenever we had someone test it, we could never get it back from
them. :-) At first, some people didn't even know that they needed it and yet
after they start using it, they didn't know how they lived without it. It's
a network-attached storage/backup device for the home called the HP Media
Vault. You can also use it in a business. I use one around work all the
time and find it just as valuable in a business environment as it is at
home. The software that comes with it automates both disk image backups as
well as file-based backups. It can be used to easily share files between a
Windows PC, a Linux workstation, or a Mac.

One of the coolest features is the ability to stream music, photos, and
videos to your TV/Stereo systems around your home by using a digital media
adapter. I've started a new FAQ and user group which you can find here:

http://www.k0lee.com/hpmediavault

If you compare it against similar products, I think you'll find that it leads the field when
you compare its capacity, performance, price, flexibility, and support.

Landing at OSH

Someone with a professional grade digital camera snapped my picture when I was landing at Oshkosh this year and put the photo in a very nice photo archive. I'm in good company too since the photo archive included none other than Harrison Ford, as seen in backseat of a Blue Angels FA-18 jet. If you click on the photo, you'll see me making a landing at the 'busiest airport in the world.' It was my 15th attendance at the 'biggest aviation event' of the year.

Machu Picchu

I am always astonished at the accomplishments of our classmates. Earlier this year I was amazed that Mike Kinney ran in the Boston Marathon. Imagine, the most prestigious marathon in the world and one of our classmates earns the right to run in it at age 46! Now I have a picture of Machu Picchu sent to me by one of our graduates and it contains photos not just of her, but also of her sister, brother-in-law, daughters and husband. The photo is visually stunning. I've asked her to blog about the trip, and if she does, I'll delete this posting so you can read about the trip directly from her with photos included. I'm intentionally being secretive, because I'd love the see a trip writeup from her and so this is my attempt at lending intrigue to what looks like a trip already replete with intrigue.

Roadshow

It's not often that you get your picture on the cover of book written your by favorite musician but apparently I've been bestowed this significant honor. Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist for the legendary rock group, Rush, who I've written about on this blog before, has put my face is on the cover of his newest book. Granted it's rather small, but if you look into the crowd on the photo above, I appear about 2/3 of the way up the amphitheater just about 15 seats from the right. :-)

I've read Neil's other books and have enjoyed them thoroughly, especially Ghost Rider, a book that converted me from a Harley rider into a BMW rider. Neil is aware of this fact because I mentioned it to his agent, when I was negotiating for an amazing animation video made by one of his fans for bundling with a product that HP is just about ready to ship. You can see the video here. Unfortunately, the video won't be in the product; we had to settle for a Matt Damon movie.

I tried to send out the reunion message that I posted here last week on the blog, but for some reason it failed, probably because Comcast didn't like the 70+ email addresses in the BCC field. So I tried again today via my Yahoo account and I think it worked. I've had three bounced messages so far due to bad email addresses. I suspect that after a few years, there are a lot of you with new email addresses so I'll probably get a few more. Please let me know if you if you have a new or preferred email address so I can update you on our list.

2007 reunion info...

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing well.

A tentative date for our 30th reunion was selected back in 2002 on Classmates.com which sent an email to people who are registered there informing them that our next reunion would be held August 11th, 2007. However, the reunion committee has yet to meet and so that date is still tentative. I'll make sure to post the reunion date here on the weblog on main page when the committee selects it.

Shortly after the last reunion, per Mike Laton's request, I put up a survey on the main reunion page to collect feedback from everyone to see what options would be the most popular for the next reunion. The survey collected information for a few years but then it broke. I figured out the problem and fixed it just today, so it's back up and working. You can find it here. Please put in your vote if you haven't already voted.

At the 25th reunion, Tom Crossin had graciously offered to host the next reunion at his house. I cannot fathom how difficult that would be, hosting a party that big at one's house, since our reunions have typically drawn over 100 people and it could go much higher than that. According to the survey, Tom's house seems to be the popular choice. I'm sure that it would be economical for the rest of us, but does put a rather high burden on Tom and his family. I'll give him a call and see if it's still an option. The final decision will be made by the reunion committee and they probably won't meet until sometime in October.

Similarly, the date for the reunion was also mentioned in the poll and last time the Labor Day weekend was chosen to take advantage of the 3-day weekend as a time when people may have already planned to travel home to visit with family in the Valley. But it certainly wasn't optimal for everyone. It appears that holiday weekends already have too many scheduling conflicts. So the voting is favoring a summer weekend other than a holiday weekend.

I will also mail out this information to the email list that I have for our class. If you've updated your email address recently, please send it to me so I'll be able to share any future information with you. Also, if you want to help with the reunion, please email me and I'll send your contact information to Karen Leonardi.

Hi everyone. July has been a great month thus far. I played at my church's annual bazaar with joe and Mary Lynch and Paul Reinert. We were pretty good. That's what I've been told anyway. This marked our third year doing this gig. The next day (July 8th), we played at a church summer camp for an hour or so. We really sounded pretty good that evening as well.
On another topic, my oldest son, Rory just accepted a graduate assistant position at Wilkes as a assistant wrestling coach. It made my Monarch (King's) Red blood boil for a short time, but it's going to be a pretty sweet deal. He'll be getting a stiped plus frre tuition toward his MBA. Win-win situation as far as I'm concerned.
My youngest, Leigh will be leaving for the Freestyle National Tourney in Fargo, ND at the end of this month. He's been working very hard and hopes to place in the top 8 to achieve all-american status. Here's hoping...
That's all for now. Take care everyone!!

Shanghai

Shanghai Skyline
Originally uploaded by gray_eminence.

Shanghai


Greetings everyone, from Shanghai, China. I am here on a business trip and will try to take some pictures and post them later.

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer. Terri and I spent 17 days in Europe last month and I've been posting entries of the trip as time permits to my personal blog. Feel free to head over there check it out. I have lots of pictures linked there too. Does anyone else have any stories or pictures to share with us? We've been having a kind of lull here on the group blog. I would be happy to get you set up in Blogger if you want, or link your personal blog if you've got one...