History.

In 1086, Groton was listed in the Domesday Book as "Grotena" in the hundred of Babergh. The lord of the manor was originally the Abbot of Bury St Edmunds but, at the Dissolution, it was granted to the Winthrops. Groton, Massachusetts is named after the village, as it was founded by a member of the Winthrop family. John Winthrop was born at Groton Manor in 1587; he became the leader of the Winthrop Fleet, a founder of the city of Boston, and one of the first Governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The parish church has a Victorian stained glass window in his memory.  Groton, Connecticut was also named after the village by Winthrop's son John Winthrop the Younger who settled in that area in 1646. On a common called "The Croft" in the village is an old Mulberry tree said to have been planted by Adam Winthrop, the grandfather of John the elder.

Broad Street.

Broad Street a hamlet in the parish, it is located near Mill Green. It is also the location of Pytches Mount.

Pitches Mount.

In Groton Park, Pitches Mount or Pytches is an example of a Norman motte and bailey castle. It may have been built in the 12th Century by Adam de Cockfield. Only the motte or mound survives, which is 200 feet in diameter and covered in bushes and undergrowth. The name is thought by some to come from the Pecche family, who held Groton for the Abbot of Bury St Edmunds in 1200. It is more likely to be named after John Pytches who bought Groton Great House in 1805.

Castling's Heath.

Castling’s Heath is a hamlet in the parish. It has a barn called Castling’s Hall, which is also called Dove Barn, where weddings take place.

Gosling Green.

Gosling Green is a hamlet in the parish, It is just by Groton Wood SSSI.

Groton is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, located around a mile north of the A1071 between Hadleigh and Sudbury. It is part of Babergh district.


Early life and education.

Mousavian was born in 1957 to a prosperous carpet-dealing family in Kashan, a major carpet-manufacturing center. His family had close ties to the Motalefeh, a religiously oriented revolutionary movement that dated back to the early 1960s and was eventually absorbed into the Islamic Republican Party (IRP). Mousavian studied at the Iran University of Science and Technology, as well as Sacramento City College and Sacramento State University in the United States.  In 1981 he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Sacramento State University of California. He was awarded an MA in International Relations from the University of Tehran in 1998 and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 2002.

Early career in Iran.

Reuel Marc Gerecht of "The Weekly Standard" has speculated that Mousavian's father's connections in Motalefeh helped him win access to leading IRP figures, and led to his being named editor-in-chief of the "Tehran Times", the revolution's English-language newspaper, which was established by IRP founder Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti. During his editorial tenure, from 1980 to 1990, Mousavian authored more than 2,000 articles. He also held a number of positions in the Iranian government in the 1980s, including a stint as Vice President of the Islamic Propagation Organization (1981–1983), worked with future-President Hashemi Rafsanjani as Chairman of the Parliament Administration Organization (1983–1986), and was Head and then Director General of the West Europe department of the Foreign Ministry (1986–1989). During the 1980s, Mousavian played a major role in what he later described, in a 2012 book, as “Iran's humanitarian intervention to secure the release of Western hostages in Lebanon.” However, the hostage-takers (Hezbollah), had acted on instructions from the government in Tehran.

Ambassador to Germany.

Mousavian was Iran's Ambassador to Germany from 1990 to 1997. Four Iranian dissidents were murdered at Berlin's Mykonos restaurant in 1992, and five years later a German court concluded that Iran's Special Affairs Committee had ordered the murders, and that the supreme leader, president, foreign minister and intelligence minister of Iran were all active members of that committee. The court found an Iranian intelligence officer and three Lebanese men guilty and issued an arrest warrant for Iran's intelligence minister. Also, Germany expelled four Iranian diplomats and asked that Mousavian be recalled to Iran; he did return to Tehran shortly thereafter. After the issuance of the arrest warrant for the intelligence minister, which Mousavian described as an insult to the entire population of Iran, Iranian news agencies made veiled threats against Germans abroad. Mousavian echoed, saying that if European nations kept treating Iran as America and Israel did, then they would be treated the same way by Iran.  It was also during Mousavian's ambassadorial tenure that the Salman Rushdie affair took place, and Mousavian went on German radio to announce that Iran would not lift its fatwa against the writer.  In the same interview, he expressed skepticism that Germany would risk its trade relations with Iran by protesting the Rushdie fatwa. Because of this statement, Social Democratic politician Freimut Duve called for Mousavian's expulsion, saying that he had, in effect, publicly expressed agreement with the fatwa; politicians from other parties echoed Duve's call. The German Foreign Ministry, moreover, summoned Mousavian to a meeting.

Return to Iran.

Subsequently, he headed the Foreign Relations Committee of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) of Iran during the eight years of Mohammad Khatami's presidency. Mousavian meanwhile continued his education in the late 1990s, receiving a master's degree from the University of Tehran in 1998 and a PhD from the University of Kent in the UK in international relations in 2002.  He later served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2005-7), and Vice President of the Center for Strategic Research and in a variety of capacities for the Expediency Discernment Council's Center for Strategic Research (CSR) from 2005 to 2008. During this period he was Editor-in-Chief or a member of the Editorial Board for numerous CSR publications, including the "Journal of Human Rights Studies", "Journal of International Security and Terrorism", "Rahbord (Strategy) Magazine", and "Journal of Disarmament".

Role in Iranian diplomacy.

Mousavian played a role in a number of key developments during his more than two decades working on Iranian foreign affairs. He helped to secure the release of two German hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon from 1990 to 1993 and American and other Western hostages held in Lebanon in 1998–1999, as well as contributing to the mediation of the largest-ever humanitarian exchange between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah under Germany's auspices (1995–1996). Mousavian also played a role in Iran's cooperation with the US in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in 2001. From 2003 to 2005, Mousavian was Spokesman of the Iranian nuclear negotiation team, which in 2003 agreed for Iran to provisionally suspend uranium enrichment and allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency at its nuclear sites as confidence building measures. In 2004, while head of the negotiating team, Mousavian asserted Iran's sovereign right to pursue nuclear technology for civilian use and expressed satisfaction that the U.S. had been “isolated” at the IAEA in its attempt to pressure Iran. Mousavian's team was replaced shortly before the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President in 2005, in tandem with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's announcement that Iran would resume enrichment activities.

Accusations of espionage.

Mousavian was arrested and briefly jailed by the Ahmadinejad administration in 2007 and publicly accused by the president of espionage for allegedly providing classified information to Europeans, including the British Embassy, before being cleared by the judiciary. There was speculation that his arrest was part of a factional struggle between Ahmadinejad and a triumvirate of his opponents: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami, and Hassan Rouhani, of whom Mousavian was considered an ally. After a year, a spokesman of Iran's judiciary announced that Mousavian had been cleared of the espionage charge after an investigation by three different judges. However, the third of those judges had sentenced him to a suspended term of two years in prison and to a five-year ban from holding official diplomatic posts because of his confessed opposition to the foreign and nuclear policy of President Ahmadinejad.  Accusations were renewed on August 22, 2010, when the Ministry of Intelligence issued a statement repeating the old claims publicly announced by Ahmadinejad in 2007. Mousavian's lawyer has questioned this development, arguing that the Ministry of Intelligence statement ran contrary to the verdict reached three years earlier by the Iranian judiciary.

Post at Princeton and controversy.

Mousavian has been a visiting research scholar at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs since 2009.  Writing in the "Weekly Standard" in September 2012, Reuel Marc Gerecht argued that Mousavian's Western admirers, who see him as “a guide to a possible resolution” of the Iran crisis, “have been as naïve as he has been deceitful... To journalists and American officials, he has tried with conviction to make the case for Tehran’s 'peaceful' nuclear program. For him, the Iranian regime is'misunderstood,' and the West, even under President Obama, has been too hostile and suspicious. Sufficient Western concessions and greater Western sensitivity are the keys to solving the nuclear contretemps.” Mousavian's “assertions that Khamenei’s intent isn’t threatening,” noted Gerecht, “are followed by hints that a bomb might, nonetheless, be logical for the Islamic Republic to develop, especially given the threatening behavior of the United States and Israel.” Gerecht further pointed out that Mousavian, in his writings and talks, is consistently “respectful towards Supreme Leader Khamenei.”  Gerecht noted that "Mousavian at times claims to know a lot about Iran’s nuclear program, and then, when accusations from the IAEA are too cutting, not much at all." For example, "Mousavian knew not a thing" about the uranium-enrichment facility at Fordow until President Obama's press conference about it. Citing Mousavian's expression of trust in "the supreme leader’s fatwa banning the use or production of nuclear weapons," Gerecht observes wryly that "Mousavian is putting his trust in the man who demolished his world, incarcerated him, and forced him and his family into exile. It would be easy to say that Mousavian is just lying—and he is. But what is more intriguing is how hard it is for him to reflect critically on the revolution. In his eyes still, Iran’s faults are mostly American in origin—or tactical mistakes made by his archenemy, Ahmadinejad. Like battered Communists of old who just couldn’t stop loving the Soviet Union, Mousavian remains a party apparatchik who still loves the cause...There isn’t a word, even from the safety of Princeton, about the dark side of Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards’ having the bomb. Little men like Mousavian—ideologues whose identities were created by the revolution—just can't flip."

Current views.

Mousavian expressed deep concern about developments in Iran after that country's 2009 presidential election, but continued "to press for the U.S. to engage Tehran in a bid to reduce regional tensions," according to a 2010 article by Jay Solomon in the "Wall Street Journal". Mousavian believes that any future Iranian government will continue to pursue a nuclear fuel program, and that the U.S. should therefore improve relations with Tehran as a safeguard against an atomic weapons program. He also opposes UN sanctions against Iran, saying they "only serve to radicalize [Tehran’s] position." Instead of imposing sanctions, the U.S. should "shape a comprehensive dialogue with Iran based on shared interests in stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan" and "should develop with Tehran a broad security plan for the Persian Gulf that could prove crucial to securing the free flow of energy in and out of the strategic waterway."  Mousavian dismissed as "politically motivated" the conclusions of a November 2011 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that suggested "possible military dimensions" to Iran's nuclear program.  Writing in "National Interest" in December 2012, Mousavian questioned the assumption by Western powers that "the best hope of altering Tehran’s nuclear policy and halting its enrichment activities" lies in "comprehensive international sanctions and a credible threat of military strike." Mousavian maintained that "such punitive pressures... will not change the Iranian leadership’s mindset, and that a military option would be catastrophic" for everyone. Besides, he insisted, Iran has no interest in acquiring nuclear weapons. He offered ten reasons why this is the case, among them that developing nuclear weaponry would be considered "forbidden or haram" under Islam, would "trigger a regional nuclear arms race," and would be contrary to Iran's goal of becoming a modern nation.  In another December 2012 article, Mousavian argued that "U.S. strategists... should understand... the role of religion and clerics" in Iran. Noting that the world's "most powerful ideological-political party... is the Shia Cleric Organization in Iran," he complained that "Western policymakers and some of their 'Iranian experts'... have yet to realize that the clerical system... is a collective decision-making process, with heated discussions and debates among about twenty of the most revered Grand Ayatollahs in the country." Washington, he emphasized, "needs to recognize that Islam is the main source of Iranian power, and the religious establishments will play a key role in the future developments of Iran and the region...Instead of changing Iran's government, the United States should focus its regional policy on three key areas: addressing the Palestinian issue, engaging moderate Islamists, and pursuing a regional security pact."  In a January 2013 "New York Times" op-ed headlined "How to Talk to Iran," Mousavian and Mohammed Ali Shabani argued that there will be no “resolution of the nuclear standoff” between Iran and the West if Western leaders fail to grasp two key concepts: "maslahat," meaning "expediency, or self-interest" and "aberu," meaning "face – as in, saving face." For millennia, they wrote, "Persian culture has been distinguished by customs that revolve around honor and esteem...There are almost no instances in modern Iranian history when maslahat has trumped aberu. The West has poorly understood these concepts. This was particularly true under President Bush, who rewarded Iran’s tacit acceptance of the American invasion of Afghanistan by labeling Iran a member of an 'axis of evil.'" Mousavian and Shabani expressed the belief that "Iran would be open to new measures regarding the transparency of its nuclear program, and would agree not to pursue any capability to enrich uranium beyond that needed to fuel atomic power plants, if its legitimate right to enrichment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was recognized and if an agreement to remove sanctions was reached."  Mousavian is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, an organisation which works to end the production and use of enriched uranium and plutonium.

"Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir".

Reviewing Mousavian's 2012 book, "Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir" in the "Wall Street Journal", Sohrab Ahmari said that although the book “is billed as a memoir,” it is more of “a diplomatic brief, complete with awkward bureaucratic prose and key sections stippled by bullet points.” Ahmari drew attention to “the endnotes, where an editor apparently felt obliged to acknowledge where the author parts company with the public record,” as in an assertion that Iran had fully disclosed the details of its nuclear activities to the IAEA.

Seyed Hossein Mousavian (, born 1957 in Kashan) is an Iranian policymaker and scholar who served on Iran's nuclear diplomacy team in negotiations with the EU and International Atomic Energy Agency. He currently resides in the United States, where he is a visiting research scholar at Princeton University.


Accident.

The accident happened a few hundred yards from the village of Hampton Gay and close to Shipton-on-Cherwell. The train with 13 carriages and two engines had left Oxford station for Birmingham Snow Hill at 11:40. The train was about half an hour late and going about 40 miles an hour when after six miles the tyre of the wheel on a third-class carriage broke. The carriage left the track for about 300 yards including the bridge of the River Cherwell. After the bridge and before a similar bridge across the Oxford and Birmingham canal the carriage went down an embankment taking other carriages with it, breaking up as they crossed the field. Three carriages and a goods carried on over the canal bridge, and another fell into the water. The front section of the train carried on for some distance. The owner and men from the Hampton Gay paper mill close to the accident site tried to assist the injured in the snow. Telegrams were sent to local stations to summon medical help but it took an hour and a half before a doctor appeared. A special train was used to move the injured back to hospitals in Oxford. At least 26 died at the scene while four others were dead by the time the special train had arrived at Oxford station. At least one other died in hospital. The canal was dragged but no bodies were found.

Causes.

The basic cause was found to be a broken tyre on the carriage just behind the locomotive, but that failure was worsened by the poor braking system fitted to the train. When a passenger warned the fireman of the problem, by waving from the carriage window, it was still being pulled along intact along the rails. However, the driver braked immediately, before the brake at the rear of the train in the guards van could be applied. The engine brake caused the failed carriage to be crushed, and the carriages behind derailed near the Oxford Canal. There were 34 deaths and 69 seriously injured in the carriages which fell from the bridge over the canal.

Inquiry.

The inquiry that followed quickly established the root causes. The tyre was on an old carriage and was of an obsolete design. The fracture started at a rivet hole, possibly by metal fatigue, although it was not recognised as such by the Inquiry. The weather was very cold that day, with snow blanketing the fields and very low freezing temperatures, another factor that hastened the tyre failure. The Railway Inspectorate recommended that the railway companies adopt Mansell wheels, a type of wooden composite wheel, as the design had a better safety record than the alternatives. There had been a long history of failed wheels involved in serious accidents, especially in the previous decade. The problem of broken wheels was not resolved until cast steel monobloc wheels were introduced.  The disaster led to a reappraisal of braking methods and systems, and the eventual fitting of continuous automatic brakes to trains, using either the Westinghouse air brake or a vacuum brake.  The Inspectorate was also critical of the communication method between the locomotive and the rest of the train using an external cord and gong, suggesting that a telegraphic method should be adopted instead.

Inquest.

An inquest was opened on 26 December 1874 using the manor house at Hampton Gay; the 26 bodies found at the scene were laid out in two rows in a large paper store in the paper mill for the court to view and seek formal identification and the wreckage was also examined. The coroner and jury decided to re-convene in Oxford and permission was given to move the wreckage but only one carriage would be moved to Oxford for further investigation and examination.  The following week the coroner returned to Hampton Gay to further identify bodies and also those which had been kept in the third class waiting room at the Oxford Railway Station and one at Radcliffe Infirmary.

Related incident.

"Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham", discussing the accident, notes that:

The Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash was a major disaster which occurred on the Great Western Railway. It involved the derailment of a long passenger train at Shipton-on-Cherwell near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England, on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1874, and was one of the worst ever disasters on the Great Western Railway.


History.

Toponymy.

The origin of the name "Ranau" comes from the Dusun word "ranahon," which means paddy fields. The Dusun people who live in the highland grow mountain rice on the hills (called "tumo/dumo"), where the mountain rice is called "parai tidong" in Dusun. The people in the lowlands of Ranau use traditional water-filled paddy fields for rice cultivation. Over time, “Ranahon” was shortened to “Ranau.” As the central district administration is nearer to the lowland, the name “Ranau” was adopted as the official name for the district.

Early references.

Allusions to a place in Ranau, the Mount Kinabalu, had appeared in sources from China. Wang Dayuan mentioned a mountain called "Long shan" when he described the country of "Bo ni" (勃泥 "bó ní") in his book, "Description of the Barbarians of the Isles" (島夷誌略 "dǎo yí zhì lüè") written between 1330 and 1350. "Long shan" (龍山 "lóng shān") means Dragon Mountain, and the term was associated with Mount Kinabalu because there were dragon legends related to Kinabalu. Another Chinese source, a nautical compendium called "Fair Winds for Escort" (順風相送 "shùn fēng xiāng sòng") composed circa 1430, described a voyage from Siam to Mindanao via the west coast of Borneo, where the Chinese ships passed "Sheng shan" (聖山 "shèng shān"). "Sheng shan" which means Holy Mountain, was identified as Mount Kinabalu.  References to Mount Kinabalu had also appeared in early maps of the East Indies made by Europeans cartographers, where it was referred to as "Mount St. Pedro" or "Mount St. Pierre". The name "Mount St. Pedro" was used by map makers such as Gerardus Mercator in his "India Orientalis" map published around 1595, Nicolaes Visscher II in his early 17th-century "Indiae Orientalis" map, and several other cartographers. In some maps, for example, the 1710 "Ottens's Map of Southeast Asia" by Joachim Ottens, the mountain was called "Mount St. Pierre". However, John Pinkerton's "East India Isles" map from 1818 labelled the mountain as "St. Peter's Mountain".  Because of the stories of the local people, early geographers believed that there was a great lake at the peak of the mountain. During the Ice age about 100,000 years ago, the mountain was covered with ice sheets and glaciers moved slowly down its slopes. Only the summit peaks were very noticeable above the ice. The natives' oral history may have had its roots in a folk memory of these glistening sheets of ice. The earliest documented expeditions to ascend Kinabalu in March 1851 and in 1858, led by Sir Hugh Low and Sir Spenser St. John, revealed there was no lake.  Later maps, as evident in the maps by Archibald Fullarton & Co. and J.Rapkin, indicated that a lake was located south of the mountain. With further assertions from the Kiau people (of Kota Belud district) that they had done trading business with villagers who lived near the lake shore, St. John thought the lake had probably been located southeast below Kinabalu, where the Ranau plain is situated today. The Dusun word "ranahon" ("ranau") is used to describe a wet field of lowland rice, so highlanders may have thought they were looking at a lake when they saw irrigated rice fields. Explorers William B. Pryer and Captain Francis Xavier Witti concluded there was no lake near Mount Kinabalu when they explored the Ranau plain in the early days.

Under British North Borneo Company.

During the British North Borneo Company administration beginning in the 19th century, Ranau was governed under the Province Dent. Later it organised as a substation of Tambunan with a Government station under the Interior Residency. Ranau was connected to the West Coast Residency only by a bridle road and by a southerly bridle path to Tambunan. Telegraph line was also available from Ranau to Tambunan.  The Ranau plain and its surrounding hilly areas were historically inhabited by Dusun farmers who practised shifting cultivation. Their major staple crops were upland rice and lowland wet rice. Natives from Ranau would go to large "tamu" (native market) at nearby districts to sell and buy, or exchange goods using the barter system. Tobacco, a major export item for the Company, was successfully cultivated in extensive parts of Ranau district, especially in the highlands. It became an important source of income for Ranau natives. At that time, brokers thought that the tobacco produced from highland Ranau and the Interior proper was of high quality compared to that grown down in the lowlands, although the plants were similarly obtained from Ranau.  Between 1897 and 1898, Mat Salleh built a fort in Ranau; he used it as a base three times during his rebellion against the British North Borneo Company. His fort in Ranau was measured at long and wide. It had a three-sided strong-point on one side and a watch-tower in the middle. The fort was surrounded by a thick earth wall with high strong fence. Sharp bamboo stakes were thickly sown into the grounds around the fort. Mat Salleh first entered Ranau on 10 February 1897, where he gained many Dusun followers; his influence increased to as far as Inanam. The Company was aware of this development. It attacked his fort in Ranau on 23 February, which resulted in the death of his father. Mat Salleh escaped but retreated back to Ranau in July the same year. After being tracked down by Captain J.M. Reddie and E.H. Barraut, Ranau was attacked again but escaped. Mat Salleh's final movement to Ranau occurred in November 1897.  A total of 288 Sikh, Iban and Dayak policemen from Abai Bay and Sandakan led by G. Hewett, George Ormsby, P. Wise, and Adjutant Alfred Jones, were ordered to invade Mat Salleh's fort in Ranau on 13 December 1897. The fort was significantly destroyed; during the action Jones and 13 other policemen were killed. On 9 January 1898, Hewett and his troops attacked the Ranau fort again, to find it had been abandoned by Mat Salleh and his followers. The government forces destroyed the fort completely. As a result of this rebellion, the Company built an administration building in the district. It erected a "loyalty oath stone" as a sign that the residents of Ranau swore loyalty to the Government. The loyalty oath stone still exists until today.

World War II.

The Japanese occupation of North Borneo became official on 16 May 1942, and divided North Borneo into two governorates. Ranau was under the Governorate of the West Coast Territory (西海州 "seikaishū") and was directly administered by a district officer (郡長 "guncho") with the help of village headmen.  At first, the Japanese were not interested in the Interior Residency, but soon, demands for the collection of foodstuffs increased. They also realised the strategic importance of controlling the Interior. The Japanese set up a garrison in Ranau to control the local people; it was one of the strongest army posts in the Interior. Village headmen were given orders to gather as many groups of labourers as possible from villages all over the district, to work for the Japanese in upgrading existing roads, mainly the one leading to Sandakan, and also to construct an airstrip in Ranau near a detention camp of Australian prisoners of war. Ranau served as an important junction for the Japanese troops from Sandakan heading to Jesselton and also for the troops from the Interior proper marching as reinforcements towards Kudat.  Towards the end of the war, Ranau stood witness to the infamous Sandakan Death Marches. The first march started in January 1945. 470 Australian prisoners of wars left Sandakan and by June, only 6 remained alive in Ranau. The second march of 536 prisoners began on 29 May 1945. Along the way, two prisoners managed to escape into the jungle and later saved by the Allied units with the help of locals. Only 183 prisoners reached the Ranau camp on 24 June 1945. Another four prisoners successfully fled the camp and led to safety by a native teenager who found them hiding in the jungle along a river. They were also rescued by Allied paratroopers later. In June 1945, the Japanese captors moved with the prisoners south of Ranau to a second jungle camp near the Kenipir River to escape from the air raids of napalm bombs by the Allied planes. By August 1945, all survivors of the marches were killed.  Three memorials were erected in remembrance of the marches. The Ranau Memorial, also known as the Gunner Cleary Memorial was constructed in 1985 in memory of the tragic death of Gunner Albert Neil Cleary from the first Death March. The Kundasang War Memorial built in 1962 is a memorial park dedicated to the Australian and British servicemen who died in Sandakan and on the marches, and also to the locals who assisted the prisoners of wars. The Last Camp Memorial was newly unveiled in 2009 in remembrance of the exact spot where the Death March ended.

2015 earthquake.

On 5 June 2015, an earthquake measuring at 6.0 on the Richter magnitude scale occurred at 07:15 a.m. MST with its epicentre approximately 15 km north of Ranau. Mount Kinabalu was closest to the epicentre and was affected by massive landslides causing eighteen people to lost their lives, three of which were from Ranau. Another 137 climbers were stranded on the mountain but they were eventually rescued. It was the strongest earthquake to occur in Malaysia since 1976. Following the earthquake, there were reports of damage to the structures of the Ar-Rahman Mosque, fifteen primary schools and eight secondary schools in Ranau.

Geography.

Ranau is situated between 5°30’N to 6°25’N and 116°30’E to 117°5’E. The district, with a total area of, is surrounded entirely by Kota Marudu to the north, Kota Belud to the northeast, Tuaran to the west, Tambunan to the southwest, Keningau to the south, Tongod to the southeast, and Beluran to the east. The northern part of Ranau is bounded by the Crocker Range and the Pinousok summit which runs in a southwesterly direction, to the east lies the Ranau plain and Trus Madi Range while the southern part is bounded by the Labuk highlands. Laconically, Ranau's geography is characterised by undulating lands at most areas with a valley plain.

Demographics.

According to the 2010 Census, there were 94,092 people residing in the district, with 14,207 households and 15,514 living quarters. The population density was 26 people per km2 (68.5/ sq mi).  The racial makeup of the district consisted of 93.1% Kadazan-Dusun, 1.7% Chinese, 1.16% Bajau, 1.0% Malay, 0.15% Murut, 0.1% Indians, 4% Other Bumiputera and 0.8% listed as Others. 6.0% were Non-Malaysian citizens, mainly foreign workers from Indonesia and the Philippines working as labours in large farms and plantations.  In the district the population was spread out with 48,341 male residents (51.4%) and 45,751 female residents (48.6%) out of which 39.1% under the age of 15, 20.1% from 15 to 24, 25% from 25 to 44, 11.8% from 45 to 64, and 3.9% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 106 males.  Most Ranau residents speak the Sabahan Malay dialect but the Dusun language is primarily spoken as well especially among the older generations. Mandarin and Chinese dialects such as Hakka and Hokkien are spoken among the Chinese community and native languages of the other ethnicities can be heard as well. English is more or less spoken and understood by the younger generations and the locals who work in the professional sectors.  As of 2000, 46.85% of the population practised Islam. Closely behind, Christians made up 45.68% of the population while 1.09% were Buddhists and 0.06% were Hindus. 6.31% were recorded as “Others”, presumably referring the remaining natives who still practice ancestral animistic beliefs and traditions.  Major Places of Worship  The Basel church, the Chinese temple and the mosque are located next to each other along the same road called Mosque Road ("Jalan Masjid").

Administrative divisions.

In the national and state level, Ranau has only one parliamentary seat for the "Dewan Rakyat" (House of Representatives) which is P.179 Ranau but it is represented by three state assemblymen in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, each one for N.29 Kundasang, N.30 Karanaan and N.31 Paginatan state assembly seats respectively.  As of the 14th General Election held on 9 May 2018, the current Member of Parliament for Ranau is Jonathan Yasin and the current state assemblymen representing the district are Datuk Dr. Joachim Gunsalam for N.29 Kundasang, Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Masidi Manjun for N.30 Karanaan and Datuk Abidin Madingkir for N.31 Paginatan.  Meanwhile, in the district level, Ranau is governed under a district office form of local government headed by a District Officer. Since 2009, the District Officer of Ranau is Haji Faimin Kamin. There is only a Magistrates’ Court in the district but there is also a Native Court, having jurisdiction on matters of native law and custom. Normally, each village will have a Village Head working as a leader, together with a Village Development and Safety Committee carrying out activities pertaining to the villagers’ interests.  Ranau district is divided into 14 sub-districts and each sub-district is divided into villages (Malay: "kampung", abbreviation: "kg".). There are a total of 212 villages in Ranau. The following are the 14 sub-districts in Ranau with its respective villages in order of proximity to Ranau township:

Economy.

Ranau is an important agricultural and tourism centre in Sabah and this two sectors have been the main economy backbone for the district. Most of the tourism business are centred around the highlands of Kundasang, a sub-district in Ranau while agriculture business is widespread all over Ranau. Therefore, most people of Ranau work as farmers or operators of their own business although there are white-collar workers as well mainly in the government sectors such health, education, service and administration and a few in the banking sector.

Agriculture.

The moderate temperature of the Ranau highlands coupled with its fertile soil has been fully utilised by farmers to grow different types of vegetables and fruits such as cabbage, spring onion, tomato, lettuce, carrot and to a certain extent cauliflower, capsicum and many others. Strawberry has been successfully cultivated here and there were attempts in growing apple as well although the result has been varying. Flowers of different species are also planted here for commercial purposes.  Kundasang also boasts a dairy farm owned by Desa Cattle (Sabah) Sdn. Bhd. company located at Mesilau.

Tourism.

Hotels, resorts, motels and lodging houses can be found concentrated nearer to the Kinabalu Park. Not only do these facilities improved the growth of tourism business by attracting more visitors to stay longer but the local residents have also benefited as more jobs have been created for them.  Among the well-known hotels in Kundasang are the Mount Kinabalu Heritage Resort & Spa and Kinabalu Pine Resort. A new 5-star hotel called the Royal Kinabalu Mountain Resort & Hotel Suites located 800 metres from the entrance of Kinabalu Park is currently undergoing construction.  During weekends and school holidays, lots of tourist buses and vans plus private cars from Sarawak and Brunei can be seen heading to Ranau.

Other business.

Apart from that, other business such as restaurants, superstores such as Milimewa and G-Mart, grocery shops, clothing stores, handphone shops and cyber cafes are mainly operated within the township area. CIMB Bank, Maybank, Agro Bank, Bank Rakyat and Bank Simpanan Nasional each have their branch in Ranau. The only fast food restaurant in Ranau is KFC which has two branches, one in Kundasang town and another in the Ranau town centre.

Mamut Copper Mine.

Ranau was the centre of Malaysian copper, gold and silver mining from 1975 to 1999. The Mamut Mine at the slopes of Mount Kinabalu was an open cast mine which was operated by a joint venture of Japanese and Malaysian investors under the "Overseas Mineral Resources Development Sabah Sdn Bhd", later restructured under the name "Mamut Copper Mining Sdn Bhd. (MCM)". During the 25 years of operation, the Mamut Copper Mine was responsible for 50% of the gold and 90% of the silver production in Malaysia. In its booming years, MCM was mining an annual production of 25,000 tons of copper in Ranau. Operations were discontinued in 1999, leaving a crater of 1200 metres diameter and a depth of 500 m. Filled with water, the crater forms now a huge lake, which - together with the heavy metal legacies of the "Lohan Tailings Dam" - made the headlines of several reports on environmental contamination.

Education.

All primary schools and secondary schools in Ranau are public schools although a small private school for secondary school students does exist and a number of privately owned kindergartens as well. The Ranau District Education Office provides services to 11 national secondary schools and 71 national primary schools.  The only Chinese National-type school in Ranau is the Ranau Pai Wen National-type (Chinese) Primary School (). There are two schools with Christian missionaries background, St. Benedict's Ranau National Primary School in the town area and Don Bosco Bundu Tuhan National Primary School in Bundu Tuhan. Apart from the typical primary schools, there are also Islamic religious primary schools that cater to Islamic education for primary students. For Islamic religious secondary school, there are only two such schools in the district, i.e. the SMA Mohammad Ali Ranau in Lohan and SMA Al-Irsyadiah Marakau Ranau in Marakau.  The oldest national secondary school in Ranau is Mat Salleh Ranau National Secondary School while the oldest primary school is Ranau Town National Primary School. Among the newly built schools in Ranau are Ranau National Secondary School and Kilimu National Primary School.  Secondary schools in Ranau Secondary school leavers can also opt to take vocational courses at the Ranau MARA Vocational Centre ("Pusat Giat MARA Ranau"). There is also a bible school; "Maktab Teologi Sabah" (Sabah Theology School) located in Namaus which offers up until degree level programs.

Sport and recreation.

Ranau Sports Complex (KSR).

Ranau Sports Complex is located at an altitude of 780 m above the sea level and surrounded by hills. The chilly climate engulfing the sports complex makes the place very suitable as a training ground for all sports.

Ranau Recreation & Golf Club (RRGC).

RRGC located at Kilometre 1, Jalan Ranau - Tambunan, Ranau, Sabah. 9 hole golf course with panoramic view of the imposing Mount Kinabalu. With state of the rolling fairways and green are difficult to read, it could test the strategy of golfers. Some players say, it is a 9-hole golf course is the best in the state. The club was joined by some of the best clubs around. With a total length of 5.737 metres for men and 5.053 metres for lady. Course rating : Par 72. Slope Rating : 128 (Men) / 118 (Lady).

Culture.

Ranau commands a special place in the minds of all Kadazan-Dusun because of the significance of Nunuk Ragang as the original home of their ancestors, before the dispersal and migration throughout Borneo. Nunuk Ragang is in Tampios, at the confluence of the Liwagu Kowananan and Liwagu Kogibangan, draining into the Labuk River. A landmark building in the form of a banyan tree has been built at the supposed site of the longhouse housing the first Kadazan-Dusun settlers of Nunuk Ragang. Some Bobolians (or Bobohizan in the ethnic Tangara Kadazan-Dusun dialect), keepers of the cultural and racial memories, opined that the ancestors came from "pogun Sina" or China Homeland. This is somewhat supported by the fact that certain words in Kadazan-Dusun share similarities with that of ethnic Taiwanese tribes.  A number of festive celebrations observed by Ranau people can be seen celebrated throughout the year, be it religious or cultural celebrations and among them, the major ones are "Tadau Kaamatan" (Harvest Festival), Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas, and Chinese New Year.  "Tadau Kaamatan" is an annual event celebrated by the Dusun people in Ranau district in the month of May although the exact date is subject to change each year but as with any district level Kaamatan celebration, the date precedes the Sabah state level Kaamatan celebration which falls on 30 and 31 May every year. However, at the village level, the Kaamatan may be celebrated as late as June or July depending on their own preferences.  Originally a ritualistic event, Kaamatan was usually marked by strict observance of animistic rituals and rites to be performed to appease the spirit of rice at the end of the harvesting season. Nevertheless, today, Kaamatan is more akin to Thanksgiving as the majority of Dusun people have converted to mainstream religion although some still practice the rituals and rites but rarely to be seen. Among the highlights of Kaamatan events which usually attract the most people are "Sugandoi" (singing competition) and "Unduk Ngadau" (cultural beauty queen pageant) while traditional sports competitions are also held.  During Eid ul-Fitr, open houses are the norm, with Ranau people, regardless of religion, visiting the houses of their Muslim relatives and friends to mark the celebration. Like many other Christians in Asia, Christmas is still being observed in a religious fashion where churches usually hold congregation throughout the Christmas week with the highlights on Christmas Eve and Christmas Mass. Carolling can also be seen done among the younger generations although they only visit houses where they are invited to carol. Open houses and Mass, usually by the Ranau Council of Churches where different Christians denominations celebrate together and by Christian politicians can also be seen.  Chinese New Year is celebrated mainly by the Chinese community and during the week of the celebration, one can hear and watch the Ranau Lion Dance team visiting Chinese peoples' houses throughout the Ranau town and its vicinities to perform the dance accompanied by its trademark musical instrument performance of drums, cymbals and gongs as well.  Other celebration includes the Good Friday where one would normally see the Christians in the district going to church congregations during the Holy Week with its culmination is on Good Friday to Holy Saturday and usually ends on Easter Sunday. Meanwhile, another religious celebration that can be observed here is the Eid al-Adha.

External links.

Tourism

The Ranau District () is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The capital of the district is in Ranau Town. The landlocked district bordering the Sandakan Division to the east until it meets the Interior Division border. Ranau sits east of Kota Kinabalu and west of Sandakan. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the district was 94,092, an almost entirely Dusun ethnic community.


Etymology.

In the past, Kudat was known locally as "Tanjong Berungus" and sometimes also called "Tambarungan". During the early arrival of Chinese traders at Tanjung Berungus, they were surprised to see a kind of grass growing everywhere. The desperation forced them to ask the locals comprising the Rungus tribes who are the native inhabitants of the place who later explained to them that the grass are called "Kutad" in their language. The place then became the centre of meeting between the local and Chinese traders to carry out trading activities. However, since the Chinese pronunciation was inaccurate, the term "Kudat" eventually emerging and became synonymously used among the people. While another story from the Binadan people explained the word Kudat comes from a reaction “takkudad aku” in their language which mean "I am shocked" after a people from their tribes shocking when hearing a ship named Santi while they sailing from Limau-Limauan to Tanjung Berungus. The event subsequently gave them an idea among their community who also agreed to name Tanjung Berungus as Kudat.

History.

The area around Kudat was once under the thalassocracy of the Sultanate of Brunei and later Sulu. In 1763, the British East India Company gained the Balambangan Island and set-up trading post. A British settlement was opened in 1773 but closed the following years after being attacked by Sulu pirates. It was reopened again in 1803 before closed again. After the reinforcement of British troops to combating piracy in northern Borneo been increased, the British began to establish a solid presence in North Borneo with the establishment of North Borneo Chartered Company with Kudat become its first capital.

Demographics.

According to the last census in 2010, the population of Kudat district is estimated to be around 83,140. It consists of a majority of Rungus, a sub-group of the Kadazan-Dusun peoples. About 10% of the inhabitants are Chinese (mainly Hakka), and there are also a minorities of Bajau, Dusun, Murut, Bugis and Malay. As in other districts of Sabah, there are a significant number of illegal immigrants from the nearby southern Philippines, mainly from the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao, many of whom are not included in the population statistics.

The Kudat District () is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Kudat Division which includes the districts of Kota Marudu, Kudat and Pitas. The capital of the district is in Kudat Town.


Plot summary.

The action covers a period of roughly four months—from August to November—around the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Liza Kemp is an 18-year-old factory worker and the youngest of a large family, now living alone with her aging mother. Very popular with all the residents of Vere Street, Lambeth, she likes Tom, a boy her age, but not as much as he likes her, so she rejects him when he proposes. Nevertheless, she is persuaded to join a party of 32 who make a coach trip (in a horse-drawn coach, of course) to a nearby village on the August Bank Holiday Monday. Some of the other members of the party are Tom; Liza's friend Sally and her boyfriend Harry; and Jim Blakeston, a 40-year-old father of 5 who has recently moved to Vere Street with his large family, and his wife (while their eldest daughter, Polly, is taking care of her siblings). The outing is fun, and they all get drunk on beer. On their way back in the dark, Liza realises that Jim Blakeston is making a pass at her by holding her hand. Back home, Jim manages to speak to her alone and to steal a kiss from her.  Liza feels attracted to Jim. They never appear together in public because they do not want the other residents of Vere Street or their workmates to start talking about them. One of Jim Blakeston's first steps to win Liza's heart is to go to a melodramatic play with her on Saturday night. Afterwards, he assaults and rapes her (although the graphic details of their sexual encounter are not explicitly described):  Jim punches her in the stomach, but in the end they "slide down into the darkness of the passage". Despite the violent encounter, Liza is overwhelmed by love. ("Thus began a time of love and joy.")  When autumn arrives and the nights get chillier, Liza's secret meetings with Jim become less comfortable and more trying; they must meet in the third-class waiting-room of Waterloo station. To Liza's dismay, people do start talking about them despite their precautions. Only Liza's mother, a drunkard and a simple person, doesn't know about their affair.  After Liza's friend Sally gets married, her husband doesn't want her to earn her own money, so he stops her from working at the factory; besides, Sally soon becomes pregnant. With Sally married and stuck at home, and even Tom seemingly shunning her, Liza feels increasingly isolated, but her love for Jim keeps her going. They do talk about their love affair: about the possibility of Jim leaving his wife and children ("I dunno if I could get on without the kids"); about Liza not being able to leave her mother, who needs her help; about living somewhere else "as if we was married", about bigamy—but, strangely, not about adultery.  Domestic violence features repeatedly in the novel. Soon after their wedding, Harry beats up Sally just because she has been away from home chatting with a female neighbor; he even hits his mother-in-law. When Liza drops by, she stays a bit longer to comfort Sally, which makes her late for her meeting with Jim in front of a nearby pub. When she finally gets there, Jim is aggressive towards her for being late. Without really intending to, he hits her across the face ("It wasn't the blow that 'urt me much; it was the wy you was talkin'") and gives her a black eye.  Soon the situation deteriorates completely. Mrs Blakeston, who is pregnant again, opposes Jim's affair with Liza by refusing to talk to him, then goes around telling other people what she would do with Liza if she caught her, and those people inform Liza, who is frightened. One Saturday afternoon in November, Liza is on her way home from work when the angry Mrs. Blakeston confronts her, spits in her face, and physically attacks her. Quickly a crowd gathers, not to abate the fight, but to abet it. ("The audience shouted and cheered and clapped their hands.") Eventually, both Tom and Jim stop the fight, and Tom walks Liza home. Liza is now publicly stigmatised as a "wrong one", a fact she herself admits to Tom ("Oh, but I 'ave treated yer bad. I'm a regular wrong 'un, I am"). Tom wants to marry Liza, but she tells him that "it's too lite now" because she thinks she is pregnant. Tom says he wouldn't mind that, but she insists on refusing.  Meanwhile, at the Blakestones', Jim beats up his wife. Other residents hear them and young Polly appeals to some for help, but they choose not to interfere in other people's domestic problems ("She'll git over it; an' p'raps she deserves it, for all you know").  When Mrs Kemp comes home and sees her daughter's injuries, all she does is offer her some alcohol (whiskey or gin). That evening they both get drunk. During the next night Liza has a miscarriage. Mr Hodges, who lives upstairs, fetches a doctor from the nearby hospital, who soon says he can do nothing for her. While her daughter is dying, Mrs Kemp has a long talk with Mrs Hodges, a midwife and sick-nurse. Liza's last visitor is Jim, but Liza is already in a coma. Mrs Kemp and Mrs Hodges are talking about the funeral arrangements when they hear Liza's death rattle and the doctor declares her dead.

Theatrical adaptations.

A musical based – albeit loosely – on the novel was written by Willie Rushton and Berny Stringle, with music by Cliff Adams. It opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London in June 1976, and ran for 110 performances. It was produced by Ben Arbeid, directed by Berny Stringle, musically directed by John Burrows, and starred Angela Richards (best known as a regular in the BBC's "Secret Army") in the title role, Patricia Hayes, Ron Pember, Michael Robbins and Eric Shilling, among others.  The musical style is predominantly music hall, but the show includes a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan, a church choir arrangement with some completely incongruous lyrics ("A Little Bit on the Side"), and some touching ballads.  "The Tart with a Heart of Gold" was cut from the West End production, and is also missing from the original London cast recording (Thames THA 100), despite it describing the entire "raison d'être" of one of the main female characters.  The musical has not been officially published for amateur performance, but it is occasionally licensed for amateurs. The world amateur premiere was performed at the Erith Playhouse in Erith, Kent, in June 1977, and was attended by members of the London production team. The rights to this musical are currently held by Thames Music in London.

Liza of Lambeth (1897) was W. Somerset Maugham's first novel, which he wrote while he was a medical student and obstetric clerk at St Thomas's Hospital in Lambeth, then a working-class district of London. It depicts the short life and death of Liza Kemp, an 18-year-old factory worker who lives with her aging mother in the fictional Vere Street off Westminster Bridge Road (real) in Lambeth.


Rogers Pass.

The Canadian Pacific Railway's line through Rogers Pass completed its transcontinental railroad through to Canada's west coast, and at the time was the only such link. It was therefore of vital importance to keep it open through the winter months. Although completed in November 1885 it was soon abandoned as throughout that winter, up to 12 metres of snow buried the line and avalanches tore away newly-laid sections of track. A costly system of 31'snow sheds' was constructed to protect the most vulnerable sections of line, covering in all. However, most of the route through the pass was still unprotected, meaning that men and equipment were often called upon to clear the track.

March 1910.

The winter of 1909–1910 provided conditions particularly conducive to avalanches; many slides being experienced during January and February. On March 1, 96 people had been killed further south in the Wellington avalanche in Washington State. Three days later on the evening of March 4 work crews were dispatched to clear a big slide which had fallen from Cheops Mountain, and buried the tracks just south of Shed 17. The crew consisted of a locomotive-driven rotary snowplow and 63 men. Time was critical as westbound CPR Train Number 97 was just entering the Rocky Mountains, bound for Vancouver. Half an hour before midnight as the track was nearly clear, an unexpected avalanche from Avalanche Mountain swept down the opposite side of the track to the first fall. Around 400 metres of track were buried. The 91-ton locomotive and plow were hurled 15 metres to land upside-down. The wooden cars behind the locomotive were crushed and all but one of the workmen were instantly buried in the deep snow. The only survivor was Billy Lachance the locomotive fireman who had been knocked over by the wind accompanying the fall but otherwise remained unscathed.  When news of the disaster reached nearby Revelstoke a relief train consisting of 200 railmen, physicians and nurses was sent to the scene. They found no casualties to treat; it became a mission to clear the tracks and recover the bodies beneath 10 metres of snow. Many of the dead were found standing upright, frozen in position, reminiscent of Pompeii. 62 workers were killed. Among the dead were 32 Japanese workers.

Response.

The disaster was not the first to befall the pass; in all over 200 people had been killed by avalanches there since the line was opened 26 years previously. The CPR finally accepted defeat and in 1913 began boring the five mile long Connaught Tunnel through Mount Macdonald, at the time Canada's longest tunnel, so bypassing the hazard of Rogers Pass. It was opened on December 13, 1916, and the railway abandoned the pass.

The 1910 Rogers Pass Avalanche killed 62 men clearing a railroad line near the summit of Rogers Pass through the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia on March 4, 1910. It is Canada's worst avalanche disaster.


Excavation.

Lyttle inherited a 20-room property in the London borough of Hackney. In the mid sixties he dug out a wine cellar under his home. Having done so, he said that he had "found a taste for the thing" and kept on digging, for some forty years. He created a network of tunnels, wide and narrow, on several levels. Tunnels led in all directions, some of them up to in length, and reaching as far down as the water table. One excavation connected with the Dalston Lane tunnel, and the railway line.  Lyttle dumped the clay he dug up in his garden and sometimes in empty rooms of the house. At some time he stopped maintaining his house and the building fell into disrepair.  Lyttle's work attracted complaints from neighbours when sinkholes began to appear in the pavement, and when water and power supplies were interrupted. The local pub also expressed concern that its cellar could collapse into one of Lyttle's tunnels. Serious complaints to Hackney Council may have started around the turn of the century, leading to inspections but at first not to firm actions. Because of the state of the house and the complaints an ultrasound inspection was carried out in 2006, revealing the extent of the tunnels.  When asked by journalists why he had excavated the tunnels, he said "I'm just a man who loves to dig" and that he just wanted "a big basement". He also said that "There is great beauty in inventing things that serve no purpose."  Lyttle was dubbed "The Mole Man of Hackney" by the press.

Legal challenges.

Lyttle was evicted in 2006, and Hackney Borough Council filled the tunnels with aerated concrete. He contested the decision in court and returned to his home for a short time. In 2008, the High Court of Justice ordered that Lyttle cover the costs of the council making the structure safe, at a total of £293,000.  After this, Lyttle was moved to a hotel for three years, before being rehoused in an apartment in a high-rise building. He was put on the top floor, to discourage tunnelling. While there he knocked a hole in a dividing wall between two rooms.

The property after Lyttle.

Some 33 tonnes of soil and debris were removed from Lyttle's former garden and from some of the rooms, including the wrecks of three cars and a boat. In 2012 the property was sold for some £1.1 million. By 2020, the house has been renovated by the architect David Adjaye to form a home and studio for the artist Sue Webster.

William Lyttle (1931–2010) was a British civil engineer who gained fame by digging an extensive network of tunnels under his home in London.


Club career.

Michael was raised in Cairns and played all his junior football at Saints Soccer Club. His amateur senior career began at merged club Edge Hill-Saints before moving south to Sydney University in the New South Wales Winter Super League on a Warwick Segal university scholarship. He then spent two seasons playing professionally for Marconi Stallions (2002–2004) in the now defunct NSL, before heading to Romania. He was then signed to Wisła Kraków on a Bosman transfer from FC Naţional Bucureşti in Romania's Divizia A.  On 28 January 2008 he signed for SK Brann and was loaned to the Melbourne Victory on 19 June 2008. On 26 July 2008 he scored his first goal for the Victory in a pre-season cup game against Perth Glory, to guide the Victory to a 1–0 win in Perth.  On 5 January 2009 he was signed from Melbourne by Gold Coast United after successfully negotiating his transfer from Brann.  On 1 February 2012 he scored his first goal in his professional career for Gold Coast United against his former club Melbourne Victory at Aurora Stadium in Tasmania. The game finished 1–1.  Michael played for Perth Glory for the 2012 – 2013 A-League season onwards after Gold Coast United folded at the end of the 2011–12 A-League season and was selected as part of the PFA team of the year. He also featured in the All Stars match verses Juventus after the 2013–14 A-League. He played every single minute of the 2014–15 A-League season.  Following Perth Glory's salary cap scandal of the 2014–15 A-League season, it is understood his days at the club were numbered and in mid-January Thwaite joined Chinese club Liaoning Whowin.  During Michael's first season in the 2016 Chinese Super League Thwaite made 25 appearances scoring 3 goals.  Following changes to the Chinese Super League's foreign allowance and Liaoning Whowin signing Australians Robbie Kruse and James Holland, Thwaite was released along with his Australian teammate Dario Vidošić in February 2017.  Thwaite signed for Western Sydney Wanderers for the 2017–18 A-League season, scoring 1 goal and reaching 200 A-League games during the Sydney Derby on 25 February 2018. At the conclusion of the season, Michael returned home to his family on the Gold Coast.  In 2019 Michael will play for Gold Coast United in the Queensland National Premier League. On 8 June 2019 Thwaite played his 100th competitive game for Gold Coast United scoring in the 52nd minute against South West Queensland.

International career.

Thwaite was part of the Australian under-20s team in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in the UAE. He was also involved with the 2004 Olympics qualifying team, but did not make the final squad for the tournament proper. He made his international debut on 9 October 2005 in a 5–0 win in a friendly match held in London against Jamaica. He was a squad member of the Australian national team in their historic World Cup qualifying tie against Uruguay, but did not play, as head coach Guus Hiddink preferred the more experienced Tony Popovic and Tony Vidmar in the starting lineup. Thwaite was also a member of the Australian national team that qualified for the 2014 World Cup.

Honours.

With Melbourne Victory: Personal honours:

Education.

He has a Bachelor of Human Movement Science degree from CQUniversity Australia. Michael also is a certified AFC B-Licence coach.

Michael Errol Thwaite (born 2 May 1983) is an Australian football (soccer) player who currently plays for Gold Coast United.


Early life.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Dion Waiters Sr. and Monique Brown, Waiters was raised by his mother, who had him when she was seventeen; his father was in jail at the time of his birth. Four hours after Waiters was born, his grandmother died. Waiters grew up playing basketball wherever he could, regardless of weather or time of day. Away from basketball, his home life revolved around his mother and stepfather, James Barnes.

High school career.

As a freshman, Waiters attended Bartram High School and South Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, but did not play basketball at either school. Waiters committed to Syracuse during the summer after his freshman year despite not having played a minute of high school ball. In his sophomore year of high school, Waiters attended South Kent School. Waiters then played basketball at Life Center Academy his junior and senior years. Following his senior year, Waiters was ranked as the 15th best overall recruit according to ESPNU and ranked as the No. 2 best shooting guard in the ESPN 100. Waiters was also ranked as the 29th best overall recruit by Rivals.com.

College career.

Freshman season.

In his freshman season at Syracuse, Waiters averaged 6.6 points, 1.5 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game. In a second round loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament, Waiters shot 8-for-10 with 18 points.

Sophomore season.

In his sophomore season at Syracuse, Waiters averaged 12.6 points, 2.5 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. He was named the Big East Sixth Man of the Year, earned third-team All-Big East honors, was named AP Honorable Mention All-American, and was selected to the All-Big East Tournament team.

Professional career.

Cleveland Cavaliers (2012–2015).

Waiters was selected fourth overall in the 2012 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers despite choosing not to work out for any teams before the draft. This was a choice he made after receiving a promise from a team in the middle of the lottery that they would draft him if available. Many scouts also found it a surprise that Waiters was drafted so high because he did not start in college and played zone defense at Syracuse.  On January 14, 2013, Waiters scored a career-high 33 points against the Sacramento Kings, doing so on 12-of-18 shooting. Waiters was selected to play in the Rising Stars Challenge game during 2013 NBA All-Star Weekend, along with teammates Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Tyler Zeller. Waiters came off the bench to score 23 points for Team Shaq. Throughout his rookie season, Waiters both started and came off the bench for the Cavaliers. He was consistently bothered by a sprained ankle and loose cartilage in his knee, forcing him to miss 21 games over the year.  After his rookie season, Waiters was graded as the fourth-best overall rookie by NBA.com and placed fifth in NBA Rookie of the Year voting with 21 points.  On February 14, 2014, Waiters participated in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge. He finished the game with 31 points and 7 assists.  On March 18, 2014, Waiters recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 11 assists in a loss to the Miami Heat.  On November 5, 2014, Waiters was absent for the U.S. national anthem and was quoted saying that he stayed in the locker room because of his Muslim faith. He later stated that the report about his religious beliefs having anything to do with him skipping the national anthem was entirely false.

Oklahoma City Thunder (2015–2016).

On January 5, 2015, Waiters was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder from the Cavaliers in a three-team trade that also involved the New York Knicks. Cleveland received Iman Shumpert and J. R. Smith from the Knicks and a first-round pick in the 2015 NBA draft from the Thunder, while Cleveland sent Lou Amundson, Alex Kirk, and a second-round pick in the 2019 NBA draft to the Knicks, and the Thunder sent Lance Thomas to the Knicks. After a poor debut for the Thunder against the Sacramento Kings on January 7 where he scored 4 points on 1-of-9 shooting, he scored 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting two days later to help the Thunder defeat the Utah Jazz, 99–94. On April 15, 2015, in the team's final game of the season, Waiters tied his career-high with 33 points in a 138–113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Waiters garnered a bench role for the Thunder in 2015–16 under new head coach Billy Donovan. He started in just two games for the team over the first half of the season, playing back up to André Roberson. On November 10, 2015, he scored a season-high 25 points in a 125–101 win over the Washington Wizards. With a knee injury to Roberson in late January, Donovan entrusted Waiters with stepping up to a starting role. On January 26, in his first start since November 22, Waiters scored 14 points in a 128–122 overtime win over the New York Knicks. He returned to the bench on February 24 following Roberson's return from injury. On April 6, he tied his season-high with 25 points in a 120–115 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. In Game 2 of the Thunder's semi-final series against the San Antonio Spurs, with San Antonio trailing 98–97 with 13.5 seconds remaining and Oklahoma City out of timeouts, Waiters elbowed Spurs guard Manu Ginóbili to get the space needed to inbound the ball. Following the game, Waiters and the referees were highly scrutinized by the public and media personnel.  On June 27, 2016, the Thunder tendered a qualifying offer to make Waiters a restricted free agent. However, on July 18, the Thunder rescinded their qualifying offer, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent.

Miami Heat (2016–2020).

On July 26, 2016, Waiters signed with the Miami Heat. He made his debut for the Heat in their season opener on October 26 against the Orlando Magic. In 34 minutes as a starter, he recorded nine points, six rebounds and four assists in a 108–96 win. On November 26, he scored a then season-high 28 points in a 110–107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Four days later, he was ruled out for two weeks after an MRI revealed he had suffered a Pectineus tear. He returned to action on January 4, 2017 against the Sacramento Kings after missing 20 straight games. On January 21, he tied a career-high with 33 points in a 109–97 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Two days later, he made a three-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to cap his second-straight 33-point effort, as he lifted the Heat to a 105–102 win over the Golden State Warriors. He finished the game with six three-pointers on eight attempts. On January 30, 2017, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, January 23 through Sunday, January 29. Waiters led the Heat to a 4–0 week as Miami extended its winning streak to seven games. He averaged 23.3 points (tied for eighth in the East), 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds. Waiters missed the final 13 games of the season with an ankle injury, as the Heat missed a playoff spot with a ninth-seed finish and a 41–41 record.  On July 7, 2017, Waiters re-signed with the Heat. On October 30, 2017, he tied his career high with 33 points in a 125–122 overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In January 2018, his long-problematic left ankle forced him to the sidelines indefinitely, and on January 22, he underwent successful surgery to repair instability in the left ankle. A preexisting navicular bone fracture was also repaired.  On December 28, 2018, Waiters was sent to Miami's NBA G League affiliate team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, for a rehabilitation assignment. On January 2, 2019, he made his return for the Heat, scoring seven points in six minutes in a 117–92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was his first game since December 22, 2017. Far from 100 percent fit, he played the game due to Dwyane Wade being sidelined by a virus. His second game of the season came on January 8, scoring a team-high 15 points in a 103–99 loss to the Denver Nuggets.  On October 19, 2019, Waiters was suspended for Miami's 2019–20 season debut game for "conduct detrimental to the team." On November 8, Waiters missed a game against the Los Angeles Lakers due to a panic attack he experienced while flying to the game. His panic attack stemmed from over-consumption of THC-infused edibles. Two days later, the Heat suspended Waiters for 10 games, including the previous game he missed, for the consumed edible. On December 12th, the Heat suspended him again, this time for six games, for calling in to work with an illness, then posting a picture of himself on his Instagram page on a boat celebrating his birthday. On January 24, 2020, Waiters made his season debut scoring 14 points in a 122–117 loss against the Los Angeles Clippers.  On February 6, 2020, Waiters was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in a three-team trade also involving the Minnesota Timberwolves and three days later, he was waived by the Grizzlies.

Los Angeles Lakers (2020–present).

On March 6, 2020, Waiters signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dion Waiters (born December 10, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange and was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Waiters also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat.


Plot.

Buck is a St. Bernard/Scotch collie hybrid dog living the easy life on Judge Miller's estate in Santa Clara, California—unaware that the fall-1897 Klondike gold rush has created a demand for sled dogs. This demand results in Judge Miller's gardener, Manuel, stealing Buck away and selling him to a man who sends him to Seattle—where another man, wearing a red sweater, beats the headstrong Buck into submission with a club—the first introduction into "primitive law". Buck is then sold to Perrault, a dispatch-courier for the Canadian government—who, with his partner, dog-musher Francois, takes him on a boat to Dyea, Alaska.  There, Buck, new to the snowy Northland, sees "the law of club and fang": Curly, another Southland dog, is brought down by a husky, then a group of huskies mercilessly finish her off. Buck then is strapped into dog-team traces and taught to pull a sled—a humiliating experience at first, but something he learns to enjoy. He comes to know the brutal and experienced lead-dog Spitz—and they develop a rivalry for mastery. Among the many lessons of the harsh Northland he learns, learning how to steal without being caught is the "first sign" that he's capable of adapting to the precarious environment. Perrault is a daring man who works hard to drive the team safely over treacherous ice; Francois is a stern but fair dog-driver who even makes moccasins for Buck's as-yet soft feet from a pair of his own. The team travels the "Yukon Trail" up to Dawson City in Canada's Yukon territory—where a gold prospector, later revealed to be John Thornton, notices him.  On the way back to Dyea, a chase between the dogs and a hare leads to the ultimate death-match between Buck and Spitz—who severely wounds Buck before Buck determines how to effectively strike back and kill Spitz. With Spitz gone, Buck prepares to assume the lead-dog position, but Francois attempts to place the half-blind but reliable Sol-leks in the spot. Buck contests that—and when Perrault and Francois can't get Buck to comply, even with clubs thrown, they give "him" the position; Buck then proves to be an even more reliable leader than Spitz. Perrault, already ahead of the trail record and determined to beat it, slowly works the dogs down;—when wheel-dog Dave can longer pull the sled, and won't run free alongside to get back his strength, the men decide to euthanize him—with Perrault leading the team ahead before Francois' shot is heard.  When they return to Dyea, the dogs——too worn out to work for the men anymore—are sold. Francois embraces them—especially Buck—a final time, while Perrault tells the new owners—Hal, his sister Mercedes, and her husband Charles, a trio of inept Southland prospectors—that the dogs need a rest. But the rash, impatient Hal wants to head to Dawson immediately—ignoring the onlookers' advice about lightening the load and ditching the tent until after the dogs pull the sled, and it tips over and spills. With a smaller load, the team starts out—with four of Mercedes' dogs from the Southland added, which ultimately means too many dogs to feed over the long trek.  The overworked and starving dogs start dying off; when the good-natured Billie falls dead in his tracks, Hal—all Southland gentility gone—cuts him out of the traces and leaves his corpse on the snow. The spring thaw leaves them increasingly without crossing places on the river; when they pull into John Thornton's camp at White River, he advises them to lay over until the fall. Hal instead orders Buck to lead the sled across the ice, but Buck, sensing "impending doom", refuses to get up, even under several blows of the club. John Thornton pushes back Hal, saying, "If you strike that dog again, I'll kill you", and cuts Buck loose. The trio leads the remaining dogs on; after a quarter mile, the ice gives way under the sled—killing dogs and humans alike.  Buck finds the nurturing John Thornton to be the "ideal master"—experiencing "love" for the first time;—he nevertheless grows wilder and more tempted by the forest—with only Thornton holding him to civilization. He later repays his live-saving master when John and his partners Hans and Pete are prospecting for gold and Thornton is suddenly swept into the harsh river current—leading to a daring rescue by Buck with Hans and Pete. Later, in Dawson, John Thornton pays off his debts by betting that Buck can single-handedly pull half a ton of flour on an ice-stuck sled 100 yards—which Buck amazingly does. Buck and Thornton then head off into the wilderness in search of a Lost Cabin full of gold.  Before they can find the legendary cabin, they find a used gold mine and decide to go no further. While John pans for gold, Buck increasingly spends more and more time in the forest, hearing "the call of the wild". During a long time away, Buck kills a bear and befriends a wolf; remembering John Thornton, he returns to his master, only to set out again later. When John Thornton finally finds gold, he is slain by a Yeehat Native American warrior—who is then slain by Buck, who's arrived a little too late. Mourning his master, he hears the call again; this time, with "the last tie" to mankind broken, he obeys, becoming a wild dog leading a pack of wolves. The Yeehats subsequently tell of a "Ghost Dog" who leads the wolf-pack—terrorizing them, and ensuring "there is one valley they never enter." This dog "sings the song of the younger world, which is the song of the pack."

Reception.

The Hollywood Reporter said it was, "... a pleasant surprise. Much more faithful to Jack London's 1903 classic than the two Hollywood versions." The New York Post claimed Ludlow's adaptation was the "best version yet of Jack London's classic story of survival." In contrast, TVGuide.com said: "The umpteenth dramatization of Jack London's primordial sled-dog novel has some intriguing casting choices, but doesn't do much to lead the pack."

DVD release.

The film has been released on DVD in Region 0, PAL format.

Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon is a 1997 movie. The screenplay by Graham Ludlow is based on Jack London's classic 1903 novel "The Call of the Wild", and is narrated by Richard Dreyfuss and stars Rutger Hauer.


Plot.

Joel Reynolds is the owner and founder of Reynolds Extract, a flavoring-extracts company. Although his business is successful, his marriage lacks passion. He is also often accosted by his annoying neighbor, Nathan. One day, a series of mishaps occur at the extract factory, resulting in an employee, Step, losing a testicle. Cindy, a con artist, reads a news story about the accident. Hatching a get-rich-quick scheme, she gets a temporary job at the factory, manipulating Joel into giving her more information about Step. She also begins a series of petty thefts from her co-workers, who openly accuse each other of the thefts. Although Step initially decides not to sue the company, he changes his mind after a meeting with Cindy, which she sets up in order to meet and flirt with him. Under Cindy's influence, Step hires attorney Joe Adler.  Joel, mistaking Cindy's manipulations for genuine attraction to him, entertains the idea of an affair with her; however, he still loves his wife, and wants to avoid actions that would leave him with regrets later. While visiting his friend Dean and complaining about his situation, Dean suggests that Joel hire a gigolo to seduce his wife, so that Joel can then have a guilt-free "revenge" affair. Joel initially balks at the idea; but, after his judgment is impaired after ingesting a ketamine tablet that Dean mistakenly told him was Xanax, Joel agrees. The friends hire Brad to seduce his wife, Suzie, into an affair, while posing as the pool cleaner. The next morning, Joel sobers up, realizes what he has done, and tries to stop Brad from going to his house; by then, Brad and Suzie have already begun an affair. Brad falls in love with Suzie and wants to run away with her. After smoking marijuana with Dean and his friend Willie, Joel attempts to call Cindy, but soon realizes that he is calling Willie's number. Just then, Cindy walks into the apartment. Willie realizes that Joel is trying to get with Cindy, and punches Joel in the face.  Joel meets with Adler and his associates to discuss the terms of the settlement for Step. The workers, believing that the meeting is about a buy-out of the factory by General Mills, organize a strike. Frustrated by Adler's uncompromising negotiating style and the growing disrespect from his employees, Joel storms out and goes home—where Suzie admits her affair with Brad. Joel admits to Suzie that he hired Brad to do it, then leaves after arguing with his wife.  Joel moves into a motel, where he spots Cindy, staying in another room. When he goes to her room, he notices a purse stolen from one of his employees, along with other stolen items, and realizes that Cindy is not only a thief, but is also behind many of the company's problems. Joel threatens to call the police, but softens when Cindy breaks down in tears. Cindy promises to talk to Step and get him to drop the lawsuit. Ultimately, the two spend the night together. The next morning, Cindy disappears, but leaves the stolen items behind.  Step meets with Joel at the factory, where he offers to drop the lawsuit if Joel promotes him to floor manager. Meanwhile, Nathan stops by Joel's house, making Suzie lose her temper and finally tell him what she really thinks of him. Just as she finishes her tirade, he collapses and dies; feeling guilty, Suzie attends the funeral, where she runs into Joel. After an awkward moment, the two agree to share a ride. It is revealed that Cindy has stolen Adler's luxury car, leaving him Step's truck in its place.

Production.

Principal photography began on August 25, 2008 in Los Angeles. Shortly after completing "Office Space" (1999), director Mike Judge was already about 40 pages into his follow-up script, set in the world of an extract factory, when he was convinced by his representative team that he needed to shelve that and concentrate on something more commercial. "The only idea that I had that anyone was interested in was what eventually became "Idiocracy"," says Judge. Over the next several years he focused his energy on developing "Idiocracy". But years later, by the time of the film's release, audiences had decided that "Office Space" had struck a chord, and they were ready to see Judge return to on-the-job humor and thus the "Extract" script was given new life.  Seeking to keep "Extract" below the radar of the studio system, Judge and his producers set up a production company, Ternion Productions, and arranged private financing—while partnering with Miramax for domestic distribution of the film. Judge relied heavily on his own personal knowledge of the industrial world to bring the story to life. "I actually worked in a factory a little bit myself," the director stated. "I hopefully write stuff that is recognizable as the archetypes of this world." Keeping true to this baseline of reality, "Extract" was shot in a working factory, in this case a water bottling plant south of Los Angeles, in the City of Commerce. Judge took the authenticity one step further by using the plant's employees as extras in the scenes' backgrounds. "Those people were actually running, doing some bottling while we were shooting. There were people working on machines that were so loud in there they couldn’t hear anyone call 'action' or 'cut.' They were just doing their job." Shooting on the factory set led Judge to some epiphanies about what made the story resonate for him: ""Office Space" was told from the point of view of the employees looking up at management as the 'bad guys'. This is told from the point of view of the owner of the place and the workers are the big pain in the butt to him. I think partly it was inspired by that point in my life where I suddenly had a large number of people working for me and realizing you can’t be a 'cool guy boss'. It just doesn’t work. So this is my more sympathetic take on the boss."

Release.

Marketing.

Leading up to the film's release, Affleck went on a promotional tour of various cities, starting in Vancouver, Washington, on August 20, 2009, and ending in Los Angeles on September 14, 2009.  In an effort to promote the film, Judge released a promotional short which featured his characters Beavis and Butt-head who summarize, and critique, the events depicted in the film.

Home media.

"Extract" was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on December 22, 2009.

Reception.

Box office.

"Extract" made $4.3 million during its opening weekend and $7.1 million in its first week of release, with a total worldwide gross of 10.8 million, against a production budget of $8 million.

Critical response.

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 187 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Extract" has some very funny moments and several fine performances, but the film feels slighter and more uneven than Mike Judge's previous work." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."  Dan Zak of "The Washington Post", called it "the most disappointing American comedy of the decade". On the other end of the spectrum, Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" called it "the funniest American comedy of the summer".

Extract is a 2009 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge, and starring an ensemble cast featuring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig, and Ben Affleck, with J. K. Simmons, Clifton Collins, Jr., and Dustin Milligan.


History.

The southern portion of Echague separated by Cagayan River was created into a municipality named Jones in honor of an American Legislator, William Atkinson Jones, who authored the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, and was inaugurated on January 1, 1921. It was originally composed of 21 barrios of virgin forest and wide fertile plains with Cabanuangan as the seat of the Municipal Government.  The house of one Tirso Mateo served as the first town hall with the following as the first municipal officials; President;Don Antonio Vallejo, Vice President; Benito Tiburcio, Secretary; Francisco Gumpal; Treasurer Pio Tomines; Justice of Peace Daniel Apostol; Zoilo Gadingan, Chief of Police; and Modesto Payuyo, Antonio Pintang, Gregorio Santos, Dionicio Cristobal, Valentin Torio; and Damaso Leano as Councilors.  The first proposed town site of Jones was in Barangay Daligan, but due to the insistence of the Municipal President Don. Antonio Vallejo who voluntarily donated two hectares of land for the municipal hall and public market site, he also later donated the vast fertile land area of Jones Rural School and Jones North Central School hence the present site of Barangay I and II.  Transportation was then a big problem as there were no good roads, the barrios being only connected by narrow roads and trails suited for hiking, for horse and carabao and for sled and cart. During rainy days, these roads and trails easily turned into knee-deep mud fit only for wallowing carabaos. The principal means of transportation was the Cagayan River passing almost all the barrios, using raft and boats. It was only after about eight years of existence that more vehicles applied between Jones and Echague.  The vast virgin forest and fertile soil of the place was pioneered by enterprising Ilocanos from the Ilocos Province, particularly from Ilocos Norte and some Yogads who are natives of Cagayan Valley. Other ethnic groups followed like the Ibanags and some Tagalogs from Central Luzon.  The Aglipayan Church (Philippine Independent Catholic Church) was the first established church. There were very few primary schools, all hinged to an intermediate school called Jones Farm School at the Poblacion. The early inhabitants concentrated on agriculture with tobacco and corn as the chief crop. Revenue principally came from the real property tax, cedula and sled tax. The town was greatly dependent on national aid.  The town holds a special place in the history of Isabela. When the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the Philippines in 1914, JONES was a shelter for the National and Provincial officials and evacuees from other places up to 1942.  The town likewise became the provincial seat of the Provincial Government during the wartorn years from 1941 to 1942. It was subsequently occupied by the Japanese forces but it continued to be a stronghold of Filipino and American Guerillas led by the brave soldiers under the command of the Brigadier General Guillermo Nakar.  On 1945, Filipino troops of the 2nd, USAFFE 11th, 12th and 13th Infantry Division and the USAFIP-NL 11th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the 1st Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary was liberated and recaptured the entering towns in Jones, Isabela and helping recognized guerrilla units and defeated and attacking Japanese Imperial Army forces and ended in World War II.  Jones is the home of Silvino M. Gumpal, who ably led the Province as Provincial Governor from 1946 to 1951 and who represented Isabela in Congress from 1934 to 1935.  In 1959, the name of barrio Mangaratungat was changed to San Vicente.  Jones has two new steel bridges worth P300M.

Barangays.

Jones is politically subdivided into 42 barangays. Barangay Dicamay 2 is situated in the forest region, 35 kilometres away from Jones poblacion. There are more or less 700 family heads of inhabitants in the barangay and they are classified into four ethnic groups which are the Ilokos, Ifugaos, Igorots and Gaddangs. Agricultural products such as corn, cassava, banana and rice are the source of income of the Dicamay people.  Sibsib falls is the known tourist spot in Dicamay 2 which is 4 km from the barangay proper. It is a great place for bonding. Many visitors from other towns and barangays enjoy the beauty and freshness of air and water in the falls.  Dicamay people also celebrates the Banana “Saba” festival in the month of May. In this month people choose a day where they gather to the Barangay center for celebration, “Thanksgiving mass” is held in the morning and other activities in the evening where each purok/zone members shall have presentations for people enjoyment.

Demographics.

In the, the population of Jones, Isabela, was people, with a density of.  There was originally a population of Agta living in the vicinity of Jones, along the Dicamay River. The Agta are one of the many groups known as 'Negritos' and who are descended from the pre-Austronesian population of the islands. The Dicamay Agta, who combined hunter-gathering with swidden agriculture, have been severely impacted by the influx of other ethnic groups to take up farming land in the area, resulting in there being no Agta living in the area today. There are numerous reports of the Agta having been driven off their lands, and in some cases of having been killed by immigrant groups of farmers.

Economy.

Jones is primarily an agricultural municipality best suited for the intensive production of rice and corn as evidence by its topographic map which shows that 73% of the agricultural area of 16,848 hectares is under 0-3 slope category.

Culture.

Pinilisa Festival  The “Pinilisa Festival” is an acknowledgment of all Jonesian and celebrated every 17th day of March for the bountiful harvest of rice Pinilisa product, a unique organic plum colored rice known not only in the region but as well as on other country, due to its unique fragrant and unique flavor compared to other ordinary rice. Unlike other varieties that rely on synthetic commercial fertilizer to grow healthy, it is rare breed of rice thrives only rainwater and natural features to make it a favorite food for consumers.<  The success of the first Pinilisa Festival was conceptualized by the initiative of the administration of Florante A. Raspado, he was the first Director-General of the Pinilisa Festival. The festival was easily produced and marked the history of the town of Jones and one among the line-up of the Department of Tourism Wow! Philippines Program, making Pinilisa Festival is recognized not only in the Philippines but as well as on the world. The famous product “Pinilsa Rice” of Jones has given birth to the now famous Pinilisa Festival of Jones and is now identified and included in the list and calendar of the famous festival in the country maintained and documented by the Department of Tourism. Tourism Regional Director Blessida G. Diwa is among the patrons of the Pinilisa Festival, showing consistent support for the promotion of the Festival.

Transportation.

The municipality is 354 kilometres north from Metro Manila and about 116 kilometres from Ilagan City, the province's capital, 45 kilometres from Santiago, Isabela and 35 kilometers from junction at Barangay Ipil in the municipality of Echague.  GV Florida Transport is the one of the biggest bus transportation in Northern Philippines particularly Cagayan Valley was currently serving the town & that serves Executive Deluxe Buses (with restroom) - (Jones, Isabela - Sampaloc, Manila via TPLEX  Accessible with UV Express Vans from Santiago to San Agustin.

', officially the ', is a in the province of,. According to the, it has a population of people.


Biography.

Born Roberta Frances Horowitz in Santa Monica, California on April 22, 1937, Fiedler attended area public schools. Studies continued at Santa Monica Technical School (1955–1957) and Santa Monica City College (1955–1959).  Fiedler formed her political identity at Encino's Lanai Road Elementary School, where she mobilized other mothers to protest court-ordered desegregation busing. Fiedler formed an organization called Bustop in 1976, and the organization grew to 30,000 members in weeks. Fiedler's role in the grass-roots group helped propel her to public office, as she won a surprising upset in 1977 against Los Angeles school board president Robert Docter, who favored desegregation busing. While serving on the Los Angeles (City) Board of Education, Fiedler and fellow board member Roberta Weintraub were fierce opponents of desegregation busing.

Career.

In 1980, Fiedler ran as a Republican (GOP) for Congress against Democrat James C. Corman, who had served 20 years in Congress. Fiedler was an underdog, running against Corman in a district that was 62% Democratic, and with the incumbent next in line to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. But in a year in which Reagan's coattails drew large numbers of Democratic voters to the GOP, the National Republican Congressional Committee targeted Corman, hoping not to defeat him, but to embarrass him. Desegregation busing was the central issue in the election between Fiedler and Corman. "Time" magazine reported on the campaign as follows: "Again the issue is local: busing that was ordered by the California Supreme Court in 1977 to desegregate public schools in Los Angeles County.  Corman's campaign manager, Clint Reilly, later recalled that his candidate's position on racial integration drew heavy fire from Fiedler, whom he described as "the leader of LA's anti-busing movement." Reilly noted that the Republican Party raised more than a million dollars for Fiedler, and "the campaign was waged in the racially charged atmosphere of the San Fernando Valley." After a fierce campaign in which Corman was often picketed by anti-integration activists, the candidates entered election day in a dead heat in the polls, and Corman lost to Fiedler by 750 votes out of 200,000 cast.  Fiedler was one of several Jewish woman who has been elected to Congress from California; she was followed in 1982 by Barbara Boxer and in 1992 by Jane Harman. (The first woman elected from California was Florence Prag Kahn of San Francisco in 1924.) Fiedler considered herself an independent Republican, breaking with her party over her support for abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment.  After her narrow victory in 1980, Fiedler was re-elected in 1982, defeating Democrat George Henry Margolis 71.8% to 24.1%. She won in another landslide in 1984, defeating Charlie Davis 72.3% to 25.9%.

U.S. Senate campaign.

In 1986, Fiedler did not run for re-election to the House of Representatives, opting instead to make what proved to be an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination to challenge three-term Democratic incumbent Alan Cranston for his United States Senate seat.  She was charged with political corruption in January 1986 after an undercover investigation allegedly showed that Fiedler offered $100,000 to a rival, State Senator Ed Davis (R), if he would withdraw from the Republican senatorial primary. The charges were dismissed by Judge Robert Altman before the matter went to trial. Despite the dismissal of the charges in February 1986, Fiedler garnered only 7.2% of the vote in the Republican primary.  Fiedler died in Northridge, California on March 3, 2019.

Roberta Frances "Bobbi" Fiedler (née Horowitz; April 22, 1937 – March 3, 2019) was a Republican U.S. Representative from California.


Description.

The natural monument is centered on the mountain of salt mines () in the barangay of the same name in Bambang municipality near the confluence of Magat River and Santa Cruz River in the Upper Magat River Basin. This once snow-white mountain of travertine situated on the southeastern slopes of the Cordillera Central contains the Salinas Salt Springs, a popular attraction in the province during the early days of Spanish and American colonial periods. The mountain of salt was formed through the continuous flow of a natural spring containing sulfate and carbonate salts over millions of years. When the 1990 Luzon earthquake hit the area, tectonic movements caused the underground water to be diverted leaving the whitish mounds dry and causing them to turn gray. At present, this mountain at Sitio Bansing once known for its salt industry is being utilized as fishponds arranged in terraces on the mountainside for freshwater fish such as "tilapia" and African sharptooth catfish, including the giant freshwater prawn.  The surrounding forest inhabited by numerous Philippine deers spreads over the villages of Salinas and Barat in Bambang, Mapayao, Acacia and San Fabian in Kayapa, and Baan in Aritao just north of Caraballo Sur. It is located approximately south of the region's commercial center of Santiago and some from the Cauayan Airport. It is accessible via a road from the Pan-Philippine Highway (AH26) in Bambang.  On June 22, 2018, the Salinas Natural Monument was designated a national park through the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (ENIPAS) Act or Republic Act No. 11038 which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Salinas Natural Monument is a natural monument comprising saline springs and forested mountains in southern Cagayan Valley in the Philippines. It is one of four protected areas in the landlocked province of Nueva Vizcaya spanning an area of in the municipalities of Bambang, Kayapa and Aritao. The park was established on 18 May 1914 as the Salinas Forest Reserve covering the Salinas Salt Springs and surrounding forest through Executive Order No. 44 signed by Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison. In 1926, through amendments made in Proclamation No. 53 by Governor-General Leonard Wood, the forest reserve was re-established as the Salinas Deer Refuge. Salinas was finally declared a natural monument in 2000 under the National Integrated Protected Areas System through Proclamation No. 275 by President Joseph Estrada.