Stories of Excellence unveiled at RPS ceremony

February 15, 2010 · Filed Under Top News Stories · Comment 

CHOSEN FOR CHARACTER—this year’s Examples in Excellence students. These students go out of their way on a regular basis to make a difference in the lives of others. They were honored at a special ceremony Monday.

 

It has been nearly a decade since Rockford Public Schools (RPS), Douglas Photography and The Rockford Squire newspaper have teamed up to recogonize special students.

Over the years their stories have been moving and inspirational. This year is no exception. Examples in Excellence, Rockford Students Making A Difference, a supplement to the Squire was unveiled Monday, February 8.

Find your copy in this issue, pick one up at the Rockford Public Schools administrative building on Main Street or at the Squire at 331 Northland Drive.

Each RPS school has selected one student based on their strength of character to be included in this once-a-year program.

One youngster underwent open heart surgery this school year. Another has started her own non-profit organization to help the homeless to stay warm.

It was standing room only during the ceremony as parents, siblings, grandparents, school staff and the Rockford Board of Education honored the students.

Dr. Shibler, Rockford Superintendent, said he values the group effort this program requires.

“I am so proud of the partnershipRockford Public Schools has with the Squire and Douglas Photography,” he said. “It is a tribute to our community and families that we have students such as these.”

Examples in Excellence is possible because of the advertisers who support the program. Please take time to thank the ones you know and visit the ones you don’t. If you know the students in this year’s Example in Excellence, be sure to congratulate them  on this great honor.

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Ric’s Food Center celebrates anniversary

February 15, 2010 · Filed Under Top News Stories · Comment 

Ric's Food Center Rockford Store Director David Brickner can't believe how fast two years have flown by at the store. He holds up the new Tell A Friend logo, caricature of store owner Andy Woodrick, who bought the business from his dad in 1997.

 

Ric’s Food Center Rockford store Director David Brickner can’t believe how fast two years have flown by at the store. He holds up the new Tell A Friend logo, caricature of store owner Andy Woodrick, who bought the business from his dad in 1997.

It seems like yesterday Ric’s Food Center opened for business, but on Monday, February 8, the store passed its second anniversary.

“It feels like two minutes, not two years,” said Store Director Dave Brickner.

He didn’t want the date to pass without thanking the customers that have become regulars at the family grocery. “The people have been very supportive,” he said, noting that he is often surprised at how far shoppers come to visit.

Many local residents have become regulars, but shoppers come from Belding, Ada and often beyond. “They’ll tell me they live in such and such place, but every time they come through here they have to stop in.”

Brickner believes winning customers comes from many things staff at Ric’s does.

“I don’t believe anything is a small thing,” he said of the company philosophy of customer service and making each shopping experience a pleasure. Periodic open houses with free product sampling are among ways the store thanks  to their shoppers. Periodic super-specials, such as a meat sale held this Thursday, February 11 and running through Wednesday, February 17, are other examples. Still, it is the smallest things as well as big events that Brickner believes drive loyalty.

“People can do everything right, but if they don’t mean it, you can tell,” he said of his employees’ cheery attitudes. “I hear all the time how people appreciate our staff and they want to know how we do it,” he said. “If you want a friendly staff, hire friendly people.” He used as an example Carol in deli, who was the subject of a note praising her caring attitude.

Brickner also credits the store’s success with the feedback they receive and follow. “We can’t do the best job if we don’t know what people are thinking,” he said.

The store’s new campaign, Tell A Friend, debuted the first of the year. A caricature of owner Andy Woodrick is the star of the program, which encourages people to share their impressions of the store with others.

“The old adage is, if people are happy, they tell one person. If they aren’t happy, they tell ten. We want people to tell others if they like what they see here.”

Brickner said that whether a person is spending 15 cents or two hundred dollars, they are both a customer and he wants them happy.

“You don’t win a customer with a transaction and you don’t win them in a day. You have to win them every day, all day long. There is nothing small, nothing that doesn’t matter.”

Ric’s Food Center is located at 6767 Belding Road. It is one of five stores owned by Andy Woodrick, who purchased the business from his father, Richard, in 1997. The first store opened in Mt. Pleasant in 1977. The Rockford store employs about 60 people and opened its doors February 8, 2008. Store hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

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Words on Weather & Climate—February 11, 2010

February 15, 2010 · Filed Under Weather and Climate · Comment 

More IPCC goofs

by Craig James

Meteorologist Craig James, new Squire columnist

First, a quick update on the Climategate article I wrote a couple of weeks ago. The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England had many emails and documents either leaked or hacked that appeared to suggest ways of hiding data and avoiding freedom of information requests. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office just recently released a statement that said the University did break the law but no prosecution would occur because the requests were made beyond the six month statute of limitations.

However, the University has said it will now release the raw climate data requested, but oops… much of it has been destroyed. What? Isn’t that like saying we know we broke the law but you’ll just have to trust us that our conclusions are valid even though you can’t check them?

Last week I wrote about some of the charges recently made about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regarding conflict of interests with its chairman and the ignoring of peer reviewed data skeptical of human induced warming. I hadn’t planned on writing further about this but so many additional items have come to light that I just had to do a follow-up article. This story is beginning to sound like a soap opera.

The IPCC is a political organization charged with compiling peer-reviewed scientific research so that world governments can make policy regarding global warming. Not only has it come to light that much peer-reviewed information has been selectively ignored but many of the IPCC’s conclusions were drawn not from peer reviewed scientific research at all but from opinion papers from activist organizations such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Here are a few examples:

1. A WWF report is cited twice as the only supporting proof of IPCC statements about coastal developments in Latin America.

2. When discussing mudflows and avalanches linked to melting glaciers, the IPCC relies on two sources, an unpublished paper and a WWF document.

3. When the IPCC advises world leaders that “climate change is very likely to produce significant impacts on selected marine fish and shellfish” it doesn’t call attention to the fact that the sole authority on which this statement rests is a WWF workshop project report.

4. The IPCC claim that “up to 40 percent of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to even a slight reduction in precipitation” was from a WWF article written by an anti-smoking and food safety campaigner and a journalist. The article itself was actually referring to logging, not climate change.

There are many other instances in the IPCC’s latest report of WWF and Greenpeace papers being used as authoritative sources. But the real eye opener is that articles found in Leisure, Climbing and Event Management magazines were used as scientific sources.

The IPCC’s claim that since 1900, “observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was being caused by global warming”, came from two anecdotal sources. The first was interviews with mountain climbers in Climbing magazine and the second was from a dissertation written by a geography student at the University of Berne in Switzerland, where he interviewed climbers in the Alps. It turns out that in the actual dissertation itself, he never blamed global warming for the changes he observed.

And finally, in a strange departure from the staid subject of global warming, the beleaguered chairman of the IPCC, Dr. Rajenda Pachauri, has just released what has been described as a smutty romance novel, Return to Almora, laced with steamy sex, lots of sex. I guess it is no wonder he didn’t have time to make sure the IPCC statements were based on real science. It also turns out Dr. Pachauri is driven one mile each day to his office in a limo instead of taking public transportation as he tells the rest of the world to do.

Is this the kind of work that wins you a Nobel Prize? Is this the kind of work we should use to make political decisions that affect billions of people?

While the press in both the United Kingdom and India are having a field day with these issues, very little has been said in the mainstream media here in this country. But I did see stories about how Bin Laden blamed the United States for global warming. SIGH.

Craig James has been retired since July 1, 2008, after 40 years of broadcasting television weather. He was chief meteorologist at WZZM-TV for 12 years and chief meteorologist at WOOD-TV for 24 years. He is a graduate of Penn State University, where he received a Centennial Felowship Award. He was also honored as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

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Rockford resident, former railroad man celebrates 95th birthday

February 15, 2010 · Filed Under News · Comment 

Friends and family of  James (Jim) Drenton surprised him on his 95th birthday on Saturday, February 6. Jim retired in 1977 from the C&O Railroad after 35 years. He and his wife Ann and their children had a cottage on Big Brower Lake during the 50s and 60s before making it their year-round home in the mid-60s. They later moved into the City of Rockford. The couple have two sons, one daughter, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Jim has many interests. Some of them are flowers, fishing, golf, and fixing things that break. He is a charter member of the North Kent Golf Club and was a member of the Great Lakes Golf League. He enjoys good health and loves walking around the dam and talking with the people fishing there.

One of Jim’s favorite past times is shopping. He still Christmas shops for all of his family members, giving special consideration to each one’s age and interest. Because he loves to shop and help others less fortunate he is a frequent contributor to the local food pantry.

Jim enjoys all the wonderful friends and neighbors he has met while living in Rockford and appreciates all the help they give him.

Guest at the party Mary Ohnsman said, “People wonder what heaven will be like. When you’re celebrating with a group of family and friends, that’s about as close to heaven on Earth as you can get.”

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February Phone-a-thon to benefit Rockford Education Foundation

February 15, 2010 · Filed Under News · Comment 

REF Phone-a-thon volunteers Cathy Newberg, Paul & Sue Spinder and Sue Arends hard at work preparing the mailing at last years phone-a-thon.

 

The Rockford Education Foundation will be conducting its annual Phone-a-thon on February 23, 24 and 25, between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. On each of those three nights, volunteers will be calling parents in the Rockford school district to ask for donations.  The foundation funds educational opportunities for learners in the Rockford area.

“The REF has once again awarded $60,000 to the Rockford community in grants this year,” says Phone Chairperson, Theresa Webb. “Since 1991, we have awarded more than $800,000. The Phone-a-thon is one of our largest fundraisers of the year and last year we raised $22,000 for the Foundation.”

“The state budget cuts in education have made our work even more important,” says Sue Arend, REF Administrator. “We really appreciate the support we have received from the community in the past, and hope people will consider helping us out, in any way that you can, again this year.”

Anyone interested in volunteering to help with the Phone-a-thon may call the REF at 863-6317.

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