South Bend, Indiana; September 11, 2008

Local

City Tries To Deal With Abandoned Houses: South Bend will award contracts within the next week to demolish 102 vacant or abandoned homes within the city.

The City of South Bend also had another plan to deal with abandoned housing—the Dollar House Program.

Prospective residents do get a house for $1 but there is a catch. The potential buyer has to pay for an improvements to bring the building up to code. That usually discourages or disqualifies most applicants according to South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke.

Uncle Ron's Ramblings

Five Years Tomorrow Since Passing Of "Man in Black": Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the passing of a man who became not just a Country/Western music legend but an American icon, Johnny Cash, the Man in Black.

Appropriate ways to observe the milestone would be to wear black, walk the line, do it one part at a time (when you think about it that's probably the best way to do it anyway), fall in to a burning ring of fire, name a son Sue, get a ticket on the Rock Island Line or the Orange Blossom Special, go on down to Jackson (the song didn't specify Michigan or Mississippi), take a train from here south and bug the porter every 15 minutes until you get to the Mason-Dixon Line. A less appropriate way would be to shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

Of course, the Cash family and the law would discourage that last option, although if you are stuck in Folsom Prison I suppose you can't help but hear that train a comin' and think about the Man in Black.

Geeks Of the World Unite: For confirmed geeks or those of you might be wanting to get in touch with your inner geek, Michiana Free Geeks allows volunteers to get hands-on experience refurbishing donated computers.

Volunteers can also earn a FreeBox computer system.

Free Geeks can accommodate a CFH group on Thursday, from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. at its headquarters in the Studebaker Business Center on West Chippewa Street.

If anyone is interested let your humble (yes yes, I know, I have much to be humble about) editor know.

Announcements

Qi-Gong: Mondays, 1-2 p.m., in the Community Room. All are welcome.

Voter Registration: There will be someone on hand to register voters Mondays at 6 p.m., either in the men's lounge or the Community Room.

ABE

.

▪Positive Life Skills Class: Wednesdays, 9-11:30 a.m. PLS is a walk-in self-empowerment program for Starting Over graduates and new guests. It is open to anyone (even staff). Receive a new key chain when you have attended all eight sessions.

▪ABE Incentives: Students will be given a card to be initialed during each walk-in class attended. Once a student has attended 10 walk-in programs, cards can be redeemed for prizes.

▪Advanced Computer Classes: Students need to sign up in ABE for a 15-minute preview with Sanya by September 5 to qualify for this class. The class will be meeting for eight sessions on Wednesdays from 3-4 p.m.

▪Math Study Sessions: Mondays, 3-4 p.m., and Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., SOSH room.

▪Submit Your Poem: If you like to write poetry in your free time, this is your chance to be a published author! Submit a poem to any staff member in the ABE room and it may be published in the next ABE Newsletter. Also, we will hopefully start another Poetry Jam in the Fall; let us know if you are interested

▪Learn Better Handwriting: No handwriting classes in September. Sign up in ABE for the next class.

▪Writing: Tuesdays, 7-8 p.m., ABE. Improve your basic writing skills under the guidance of a trained instructor.

▪Creative Writing: Starting up again September 11, Thursdays, 6-7 p.m., in the conference room.

▪Book Club: Inspirational Reading Squad—Monday, 7-8 p.m.

Regular (CFH Book Club)--will be meeting Monday and/or Thursday, 8-8:30 p.m. Read books of choosing (approved by ABE staff).

Sign up in ABE or on the ABE bulletin board by the men's lounge.

▪Masterpiece Seminar: September 9-November 4; Tuesdays 6 –7 p.m.

▪DCP: DCP (Developing Capable People) classes will be starting September 17 on Wednesday and Thursday nights, 5:30-8 p.m. Ask your coach to get on the list.

Herald Sports

ND Notes: Irish coach Charlie Weis says he expects to face all three Michigan quarterbacks Saturday.

The 1988 ND national championship team will be in town this weekend along with head coach Lou Holtz for its 20^th anniversary reunion.

Bees 6, Hawks 0: The hosts hit three homers and starter Danny Gutierrez struck out 11 Hawk batters in seven innings as the Hawks lost their first playoff game of 2008.

Game two is tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Burlington. The series returns to the Cove Friday; game time is 6:30 p.m. The fourth and fifth games (if necessary) would be Saturday at noon and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

MLB NL: Cubs 4, Cardinals 3 (Cubs lead Brewers by 4.5; magic number 13); Brewers 4, Reds 3; Giants 4, Diamondbacks 3; Marlins 7, Phillies 3; Mets 13, Nationals 10; Braves 9, Rockies 5; Astros 7, Pirates 4; Dodgers 7, Padres 2.

MLB AL: White Sox 6, Blue Jays 5 (White Sox lead Twins by one game; magic number 17); Rays 4, Red Sox 2 (14) (Rays lead BoSox by 2.5 games; magic number 16); Athletics 5, Tigers 2; Angels 4, Yankees 2 (Angels clinch playoff spot); Mariners 8, Rangers 7; Indians 7, Orioles 1.

MLS Scores: No games scheduled.

WNBA Scores: No games scheduled.

NFL Notes: Bears—Bears pick up 13-year veteran OT Fred Miller; waive rookie and ex-Buckeye OT Kirk Barton (2008 seventh round pick); Colts—Colts waive DT Ed Johnson after drug arrest; Titans—discouraged QB Vince Young talks about quitting NFL; Saints—leading WR Marques Colston to miss four-six weeks after left thumb surgery; Buccaneers—QB Jeff Garcia out against Falcons; Brian Griese to start; 49ers—QB Alex Smith on IR again; Jets—Jets sign TE Chris Baker to contract extension.

NCAA Football Notes: Ark-Texas—Razorback-Longhorn contest postponed to September 27 due to Hurricane Ike; LSU—Tiger Stadium to be ready for North Texas Saturday; Cincinnati—starting QB Dustin Grutza has surgery on broken right leg; Stanford-TCU—Saturday game moved to noon from 6 p.m. due to Hurricane Ike; Virginia—starting QB Peter Lalich to miss Saturday game because of legal problems.

Weather

Today High 79 Low 63 Partly Cloudy

Fri High 74 Low 61 T-Storms

Sat High 74 Low 61 Chance Storms

Sun High 74 Low 54 Chance Storms

Mon High 67 Low 49 Chance Storms

TV Schedule: 16—8 p.m., My Name is Earl; 8:30 p.m., America's Got Talent; 9-10 p.m., The Office (two episodes); 22—8 p.m. Big Brother; 9 p.m., CSI; 25—8 p.m., Smallville; 9 p.m., Supernatural; 28—8 p.m., Hole In the Wall; 9 p.m., Kitchen Nightmares; 46—7-10 p.m., Making Healthy Choices Special; 57—8 p.m., Ugly Betty; 9 p.m., Grey's Anatomy; 69—8-10 p.m., Heroes Among Us: The 2008 Hero Awards.

Nation/World

Nation/World Headlines: Presidential Election—Obama, McCain clash over lipstick comment; Obama talks about lipstick and pigs on Letterman show; Oprah says she won't host Palin until after election; DC 9/11 Memorial—Pentagon unveils 9/11 memorial to honor 184 killed there; Pakistan—Pakistani PM backs army chief after he rebukes U.S. for incustions into Pakistani territory in search of Taliban; Interior Scandal—sex, graft, and drug charged in alleged U.S. Interior Department scandal; Russia—breakaway Republic of Georgia pro-vince Abkhazia expects deal on Russian military bases; Tsunami Warning—strong quakes in Japan, Indonesia prompt tsunami warnings: Jobs—U.S. initial jobless claims 445,000 last month.