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About RBC > Media Newsroom > Speeches > Living with Dignity: "Our time is now" for Collaboration
Charlie Coffey
Executive Vice President
Government Affairs & Business Development
RBC Financial Group
Hospice Association of Ontario's Annual Conference
Alliston, Ontario
Friday, September 16, 2005
Janet, thank you for the marvelous introduction.
As many of you know, Janet delivered a speech entitled "The Role of Hospices within Ontario's Transformed Health Care System" to the Bayview Community Hospice last November. It was striking to me for a whole host of reasons not the least of which is Janet's innate understanding of the issues and the opportunities - not to mention, her innate understanding that when it comes to living with dignity, the time is now for collaboration. In Janet's right on the money words:
"The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has declared end-of-life care a transformational project within a much larger initiative to transform and enlarge home care services. The thrust is especially important for hospices, because while 90 percent of Canadians say they want to die at home if possible, 75 percent of Canadians die in hospitals or other institutional settings. And while 86 percent of people say they want to spend their final days in a familiar setting, only 6 percent of family members say they would be able to take care of a loved one at home without outside support being given by organizations such as hospices."
In the next few minutes, I want to focus on collaboration, as it relates to influencing public policy and building relationships - and then we'll open up this session to a Q/A, as I really want to hear from you. The "time is now" to get started
There's a distinct need for hospices to collaborate/work with the Hospice Association of Ontario in order to develop common messages and consistent actions not only in the newly formed Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), but also on a province-wide basis. A decentralized health care setting requires cooperation, collaboration and focus. And without cooperation, collaboration and focus in this environment, the voices of hospices could be lost on a local level - and HAO and hospices across the province could lose some ground in terms of all the advances made in the last year or two. And I'm not just talking about losing ground with government; I'm talking about losing ground with various partners, including those in the private sector. It's a hard reality.
Approaching advocacy to build a stronger case and momentum for quality end-of-life care, while engaging people, plans and promotion with collaboration as the centerpiece to success, is the ultimate goal. It's essential to focus on strategies and action plans - proven advocacy steps - that will help HAO members cultivate more caring alliances with governments, corporate Canada and other organizations.
We're all aware that Ontario is in the formative stages of moving from a centralized to a decentralized health care system. As Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, George Smitherman said on April 7th, as part of World Health Day: "LHINs are based on the simple principle that local people, close to the action, are best able to determine the urgency of local priorities. They represent an understanding that community-based care, reflecting the needs of that community, is best planned, coordinated and funded in an integrated manner within that community." By virtue of its name, the success of LHINs is about collaboration.
And Ontario's May 11th Budget included the following commitment, as part of its transformation agenda: "The government intends to improve access to doctors, nurses and other health professionals by...supporting end-of- life care services, including those in residential hospices, for 4,300 adults and children in their communities by investing an additional $39 million this year." This announcement is a result of collaboration in action and quite significant to HAO and members.
In Ottawa, as part of National Hospice Palliative Care Week 2005 last May, The Honourable Tony Ianno, Minister of State (Families and Caregivers) welcomed the launch of 'A Caregiver's Guide - A Handbook About End-Of-Life Care'. Another collaborative effort
On June 2, Senator Sharon Carstairs, "called upon the federal government to renew its commitment to a national strategy on palliative and end-of-life care in her report, Still Not There: Quality End-of-Life Care: A Progress Report. The Senator's report makes 10 new recommendations for improving end-of-life care for Canadians. Along with a recommendation for a renewed national strategy, the report also recommends improvements to the compassionate care leave benefit under Employment Insurance, increased education and training for health professionals and informal caregivers on end-of-life and the creation of a public information program on services available, legal rights, and care for the dying."
"In the past five years we have instituted a compassionate care leave benefit, increased research dollars, increased physician education and created a virtual hospice. However, there are still only about 15% of Canadians who have access to quality palliative and end-of-life care. With an aging population, by 2020 we are expecting there will be 40% more deaths each year. We need an integrated, well-funded, cross-departmental and cross-jurisdictional national strategy on palliative and end-of-life care now to ensure we can cope with the needs of Canadians," said Senator Carstairs. Again, these recommendations revolve around collaboration.
Public policy advocacy is about getting information to the right people at the right time and in the right way - marketing and managing what you have to say to influence your targets and ultimately getting results. And when you get it right, you're paving the way for strong alliances or partnerships that have immense power to push the envelope on public policy. It's always about collaboration.
One of the key challenges in education - understanding the dynamics - almost always has to do with timing. Messages tend to resonate when something significant happens in the public domain - something that directly interests/affects governments and their constituents (elections, budgets etc.). Given the increasing influence and activity of grassroots leadership (from backbenchers to special interest groups, business and everyday citizens) in terms of shaping public policy, it's very important for growth groups to be well informed and consulted about issues.
A fundamental principle of good relationship building is to establish a foundation of Trust, Integrity and Credibility, as TIC is a must when higher levels of engagement on more serious issues, is required. When possible, framing your agenda from the perspective of the government's agenda or the corporation's agenda (and their need to satisfy multiple stakeholders) is helpful for building trust and leveraging.
Many people still ask the question, does business have something to bring to the table on quality end-of-life care? I believe it does. In the broadest sense, business interests are not special interests - they are the national interest. At a policy level, business interests are about jobs, investment, growth, trade, prosperity and the standard of living. We're interested in almost all of the policies that affect the economic well being of our customers, shareholders and employees. It's essential for HAO to continue seeking out internal collaborative opportunities, with public sector/community and business partners.
I can only echo the words of Sharon Carstairs: "It's
important to recognize that the key to the success of the
Canadian strategy will be collaboration among governments,
health professionals, voluntary organizations and communities.
This is a message that I will be taking to business community
members and other community leaders across the country to
increase public awareness of palliative care
it has implications
that extend far beyond the health sector. End-of-life issues
directly affect the lives of not only patients and their immediate
families; they also have a direct bearing on their employers,
friends and communities."
RBC Financial Group's association with the HAO is a good example of collaboration at work. We continue to support hospices across Canada, mainly through the RBC Foundation. We're also proud of the volunteer work employees do in supporting hospices right here in Ontario and from coast to coast. And we're especially proud of our 15 year relationship with the Hospice Association of Ontario.
From supporting HAO's Life Line services program and enhancing family members' understanding of issues relating to the financial implications of terminal illness, to advancing regional and province-wide educational opportunities, RBC can share our skills and expertise with hospice staff, members and volunteers. And we can help increase their skill sets in areas such as human resources, marketing, planned giving and financial accountability. In addition, we're establishing a working group of RBC and HAO representatives to ensure these collaborative initiatives are delivering on commitments. It's all about supporting HAO and its members in terms of building capacity, sustainability and competencies and it revolves around collaboration. The bottom line is that we all want to live with dignity - end-of-life is everybody's business. No one misses out on this one!
There are strong business reasons for RBC to be involved with HAO, which are important for you to know in terms of advocacy. Canadians providing care for aging parents, either alone or while raising children - the so-called "sandwich generation" - are facing huge challenges and often with sacrifice to careers, social lives and overall health. There are thousands of Canadians caring for an elder and children in Canada - a number that's growing each year. Many RBC employees are faced with this challenge each day and the hospice movement is working to create policy and awareness on some of these key issues.
As well, RBC can help various HAO care providers and clients navigate financial decisions that arise with terminal and long-term illness, including decisions about investment and estate planning. This is also part of building relationships. I've been pleased to advise HAO in the area of public policy from time to time and I'm delighted that Yvette Holt, RBC's Regional Vice-President, Ontario Central South Region is now a member of the board of directors (and in the audience this afternoon). And then there's RBC's Renae Addis, Manager Community Investments Ontario, who above and beyond her business relationship with HAO, has a personal involvement too. Why have I mentioned all this? Just look at the results to see how collaboration has worked in the RBC/HAO relationship. Use the tools at your disposal and continue to repeat this success story with other partners.
Janet Napper sums it up so well: "Ontario's hospices have a very large opportunity to play an important role in the development of local end-of-life service delivery models, regional networks, the provincial end-of-life committee as well as LIHNS. Once all of these systems begin to work, what will be crucial for all health care providers, including hospices, will be to develop partnerships and collaborations.
These alliances will be central to hospices' ability to provide integrated care. Hospices will need to be strategic in their collaborations, will need to clearly define their objectives and what "excellence" and "integration" mean to them, and then develop the partnerships that will best position them in the future." As I said two years ago at your conference - Janet gets it big time!
And we all know that incremental progress would not be possible without the tireless work of staff, members and volunteers in the HAO and throughout the province. I applaud each and every one of you at this conference you're all champions in my mind. I applaud your unwavering support of hospice palliative care - you bring new meaning to vision, voice and action - new meaning to "living with dignity: our time is now."
Before we open the floor for questions and discussion, here's my top 10 advocacy check list for you to think about:
In closing, enlightened public advocacy leads to enlightened public policy. The Hospice Association of Ontario - and its members - has the vision and voice to make a difference. Try new approaches for aligning interests and support - in cultivating alliances with governments, communities and businesses. Do so at this conference and the Palliative Care Association National Conference in Edmonton on September 25-28th. The time is now for collaboration!
Thank you now let's hear from you.


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Assisi for Kids
I realize it's been Itinerary Central over here for the past few weeks, but I've had these blog posts simmering in the pot for awhile now and am finally catching up with my editorial backlog. (That's what we real writers call our half finished Word files. Editorial backlog.)
I happen to think that Umbria is a great destination for kids, for a number of reasons. And Assisi is a fun town for families to visit, with the help of a few caveats to keep in mind and pointers to guide your way.
Some Caveats
There's some bad news: Assisi (like almost all of Umbria's towns) is a hill town. Which means there's a bit of climbing to get between virtually any two points on your map…which can be trying for kids who are not great walkers, but definitely a chore for everyone on the hottest days of the summer.
Try to time your visit according to the season (avoiding long, steep stretches during the hottest hours of the day) and rally your flagging troops with promises of snacks and play time (suggestions for both below). Also, everyone should wear comfortable clothes and zero drop shoes (Folks, can we not tour our children around all day in beach flip flops or crocs?) that are also suitable for visiting the Basilica, if that's on the itinerary.
Assisi is, strangely, largely open to traffic (aside from a number warrens of tiny picturesque alleyways, too narrow to fit cars through), so you'll have to keep sharp for passing cars along most of the main streets. Even the central Piazza del Comune is criss-crossed by cars through the day, so for better (and greener) play places, see below.
Before You Come
A bit of preparation will go a long way toward helping your kids get the most out of a visit to Assisi, including–most importantly–a quick lesson on the life and person of Saint Francis. His compelling story (Involving some of Disney's key plot points: spoiled, war-mongering offspring rebels against family to chart own destiny. Personal growth and historical greatness ensue.) is one that most kids find fascinating, and his love of animals, message of peace, and lack of a gory martyrdom make him a relatively innocuous and universal role model.
There are a number of excellent biographies of Saint Francis geared toward children (Including one authored by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Yeah, that one.), and parents can choose one which emphasizes different aspects of his life (the religious, the natural, the peaceful) depending upon their interests and tastes.
There is also a fun app called Gumshoe Tours Assisi specifically for kids visiting Assisi. Full of games like I Spy, treasure hunts, and puzzles, the app gets kids interested in some of the town's most famous monuments by integrating games and learning. Definitely worth downloading (the download is free, but there are in-app fees to unlock…see comments below).
Also, take a look at my Assisi itineraries (one, two, and three day) for a good general overview, tips like water fountains and shady spots, and more places to eat and shop.
The Basilica of Saint Francis
The Giotto frescoes in the Basilica's upper church work exactly like religious art was supposed to back in the day: telling a story in comic book form to an overwhelmingly illiterate congregation. If your kids have had an introduction to Francis' life (you ordered a book, right?), they'll enjoy recognizing many of the most salient events retold in the famous frescoed panels. Also, be aware that the friars are insistent about maintaining silence within the church, so it's preferable to go over the fresco cycle before entering (using a guide book or app) rather than incur the wrath of the prowling brothers by hissing explanations inside the church.
The Temple of Minerva
This intact Roman temple facade in Assisi's main Piazza del Comune is sure to interest older kids who have started studying Roman history (or younger ones who have watched Tom and Jerry cartoons). Not much to see on the inside, but the Corinthian columns and covered portico are a great backdrop for family photos.
The Basilica of Saint Clare
Flying buttresses!! What more need be said? Also, two fountains (one to the side of the church under the buttresses), a sprawling piazza with no cars (except around the local elementary school 1:00 p.m. pick up time), and a row of shady benches overlooking the valley. This is a good stop to make.
The Rocca Maggiore
This is the de facto playground for much of Assisi's youth (residents get in for free), as its real stone towers, tunnels, ramparts, and parapets are a million times more fun than any tire-and-timber castle at the neighborhood park. Kids need to be careful of the worn stone steps that can be slippery, and the dark tunnel running under the length of the outer wall to the far tower can either be electrifying or terrifying, depending. But, all told, this is a great place for kids to take a break from the solemn church atmosphere and run off some steam. Also, there's a grassy outer courtyard with a small refreshment stand (there's no admission to the outer courtyard) where everyone can get a cold drink and relax for a bit.
L'Eremo delle Carceri
This Medieval hermitage halfway up the side of Mount Subasio is a good mix of culture and nature for everyone. The pretty stone monastery has a quirky, windy route through its chapel, rooms, and passages and the tiny doorways and stone slabs where the friars slept are a fascinating look at both how small folks were back then and how humbly the first Franciscans lived. On the far side of the monastery, the woods have a number of paths and trails through the surrounding area leading to little shrines and caves where Francis and his brothers would retreat to pray. A warning: these woods are a pilgrimage destination and visitors are expected to be quiet and respectful…so if you are looking for a place for a loud family game of hide-and-seek, this is not it.
St. Francis' wood
This is the perfect place for a little break after touring the Basilica. Literally steps from the entrance to the upper church, the Bosco di San Francesco is a recently reclaimed woodland with a gorgeous trail downhill to the valley floor at the bottom. Wherein lies the only problem: if you walk all the way down (it's a couple of kilometers), you have to make the trek back up. That said, there is a bubbling brook flanked by a pretty (and flat) trail, occasional benches, and lots of woods for exploring at the bottom. A good compromise is simply starting there (there is a free parking lot at the bottom visitor's center), and exploring the flat bit at the bottom and a bit of trail uphill.
La Porziuncola
This is fun because it's a church in a church. The grandiose Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli hides the tiny Porziuncola chapel inside, which was the center of Francis' second community of friars (the first is about 2 kilometers away in Rivotorto, where another grandiose church contains a tiny stone hut where Francis once lived and prayed).
Play places
Assisi is sadly bereft of great playgrounds. In years past, kids would play ball in the church piazzas, but they have been gradually paved over and declared off-limits for play over the past generation. There is a rather desolate, tiny play area with swings and a climbing structure outside the Porta Nuova city gate, which is okay in a pinch. Otherwise, the town park (called Regina Margherita on maps, but known to everyone locally as the Pincio) has just had a grand reopening after decades of neglect and abandon. There are no play structures, but the park itself is very green and pretty and a great place to run around or picnic.
Otherwise, the Bosco di San Francesco (see above) is good for running around (if you don't pass through the bottom visitor center but instead cross the road and take the trail along the stream you won't need to pay the entrance donation), the Rocca is perfect for the more adventurous (the outer courtyard is open to the public; to enter the castle itself you need to purchase a ticket), or, for calmer kids, the Eremo is good for stretching the legs in shady woods.
Of course, the mother of all outdoor play is on the top of Mount Subasio, where the vast grassy plain offers kilometers of traffic-free running around.
Laboratorio Artistico Alice
Address: Piazza Chiesa Nuova (right beneath Piazza del Comune)
I can't talk up the kids' t-shirts Alice hand-paints enough…sunflowers, doggies, dinosaurs, poppies, whimsical scenes of Assisi. If you give her a couple of days (and she's not too busy), she'll even personalize the back with your choice of name painted in a rainbow of colors. A one-of-a-kind gift. Aside from her handpainted tshirts, Alice has jewelry, photo albums, paintings and prints. All in her lovely, whimsical style.
Address: Via Portica, 15/A
This shop is bursting with wooden toys and decorations…Pinocchio in all sizes and colors, mobiles, wall clocks, rocking horses. Toys from another era yet somehow ageless.
Ok, yes. In a perfect world, we would feed our children three square meals and two healthy snacks a day, travel or no travel. Yeah, well. Guess what. This ain't a perfect world. Here's where you can score some pizza and ice cream.
Ristorante I Monaci
This popular local favorite for pizza on Via Scallette, 10 is usually hopping with those looking for a simple meal at a fair price. They serve pasta and meat as well.
Pizza by the slice
The tiny pizza shop "Da Andrea" on the corner right across the street from the Church of San Rufino (there is a small wooden bench next to the door) has the best slices in Assisi.
Ice cream
There is, sadly, no great ice cream in Assisi. But there is convenient ice cream…i.e. Caffè San Francesco. After your visit to the Basilica, it's time to give your brain and feet a rest at this landmark local cafè across the street. Try to grab the secret hidden table behind all the flowerpots on the corner for the best view in town, or enjoy the old-world style marble and scarlet decor inside.
Pastry shop
Bar Pasticcieria Sensi is about halfway down Corso Mazzini between the main piazza and Santa Chiara. Though not as showy as many other pastry shops around town, this is where the locals all flock to satisfy their sweet-tooth. They also have not great (but convenient) ice cream.
3 Comments
Lisa Barr |
Love this post! We have been travelling to Italy with our two sons (now 16 & 19) since they were toddlers and, except for one hot, buggy, drought-plagued trip, have always had good experiences. I think two things are key to travelling with kids: first, reasonable expectations. Balance museums and churches with picnics and gelato. Cut your planned list of activities in half and it should be about right. Second, I cannot recommend enough staying in an apartment or agriturismo for the extra space and ability to cook some meals at home. We always found that making lunch out the big meal of the day, with a smaller dinner at home worked well, especially with younger kids and relatively late dining hours in Italy. And even though our kids once famously complained, "Italy again, mom; can't we go to Disney like everyone else?" they now really appreciate the experiences they've had.
Morgan |
The Gumshoes Assisi app isn't free (anymore?) it's free to download, but there is a fee to "unlock" every individual location. I'm glad I checked before we headed over, or else my daughter would have been so sad!
That aside – thank you so much for such a great guide!! I did not know about the complete silence in the complete silence aspect of the basilica, and I'm SO happy to know that. My daughter is 5, and we are still working on the total silence thing… So this will either be a great challenge game for her, or a total avoidance for me. Either way, I'll be prepared and won't have to go through the shame of being informed by a friar. Thank you!!
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subset: commoncrawl


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Grammy winners, awarded musicians and family members of Earl Scruggs will gather in Shelby on Jan. 11.
Grammy winners, awarded musicians and family members of Earl Scruggs will gather in Shelby on Jan. 11.
That�s the date of a grand opening celebration for the soon-to-open Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories from the American South.
Destination Cleveland County has worked for years to restore the old 1907 courthouse in uptown Shelby for the Scruggs Center.
The museum � expected to open later this calendar year � will bear the name of Scruggs, a county native and world-renowned musician, and share the history of the region.
Celebration guests will include Vince Gill and Travis Tritt, multi-Grammy winners, as well as Scruggs� sons, Gary and Randy. They will be joined by award-winning dobro player Rob Ickes of Blue Highway and award-winning banjo player Jim Mills, formerly with Ricky Skaggs.
The event will include music, as well as stories about Scruggs and his contributions to other musicians.
Earlier that day, a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony will be held at the Scruggs Center.
�Earl would have been 90 on Jan. 6,� said J.T. Scruggs, chairman of the Scruggs Center and Earl�s nephew. �This is a great way to celebrate his birthday and the opening of the center. It�s going to be a great show.�
Want to go?
* �Remembering Earl: Music & Stories� will be at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11, 2014 at Malcolm Brown Auditorium at Shelby High School.
* Tickets for the grand opening will go on sale in mid-October, according to organizing group Destination Cleveland County.
* The Star will have more details as they�re available.
* For the latest, you can also visit earlscruggscenter.org.
* Once open, the center will welcome county residents with free admission on Wednesdays
Familiar guests
Grammy winners Vince Gill and Travis Tritt will attend the grand opening for the Scruggs Center.
Gill and Tritt are familiar with Shelby, both having visited before.
* Tritt, who has two Grammy awards to his credit, was one of the first to get a sneak peek inside the Shelby center in 2012.
* Gill, who has 20 Grammy awards to his credit, performed with The Time Jumpers at the Don Gibson Theatre in Shelby in February.
Scruggs Center development
Here are some of the key points in the development of the Scruggs Center.
2006 � Destination Cleveland County begins as a citizen task force to work on two economic development projects, the Don Gibson Theatre (which opened in November 2009) and the soon-to-open Earl Scruggs Center
2008 � Local capital campaign launched, which has to date raised more than $8.2 million; master plan completed for Earl Scruggs Center
2009 � Earl Scruggs, family members and friends filmed for use in Scruggs Center
2010 � Exhibit designs for center completed
2011 � Bidding and renovations began on Scruggs Center
2012 � Exhibit fabrication for Scruggs Center underway
2013 � Reviews of films, scripts, text panels and other exhibits; final fabrication of exhibit cases and interactive media components
Late 2013 � Opening of Scruggs Center planned
Jan. 11, 2014 � Grand opening celebration for Scruggs Center


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J. Michael Fay, conservationist and NG Explorer-in-Residence, has survived an elephant attack, contracted malaria, walked over 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) across central Africa, and completed an 11-month journey through the redwoods trekking another 1,800 miles (2,897 kilometers). Find out what he was like as a kid and what he does for fun.
When he was a child:
"I grew up in Pasadena, California in this neighborhood with lots of kids called Hastings Ranch, which was in the foothills, adjacent to the San Gabriel Mountains wilderness area. …That was our playground, that vast wilderness behind the house, which was literally all the way to the Colorado River.
So I think that's where I started wandering and I also had the good fortune of having an older brother, he was ten and I was like six, and he probably had friends that were 12 or 13. So we were just the rowdy kids out there doing our "Little Rascals" kind of thing."
JOB: Conservationist and NG Explorer-in-Residence
GREW UP IN: Pasadena, California
FAVORITE PASTIME AS A KID: Exploring the woods and building forts, and fly fishing when I moved to New Jersey.
HEROES: Henry David Thoreau and President Theodore Roosevelt
TYPICAL DAY: Walking somewhere and taking notes about animals or the environment. I have filled hundreds of notebooks.
FOR FUN: Walking is my favorite thing to do.
BEST ADVICE: Don't listen to anyone when they tell you to do something different than what you want to do.
TRAVEL GEAR: Sandals, shorts, t-shirt, raincoat, and a backpack with a tent, lighter, GPS, notebook, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, pocket knife, and mosquito net in Africa.
FAVORITE PLACE TO EXPLORE: Any place
HOW CAN KIDS HELP: Get outside and start thinking about natural resource management and how to replenish the natural resource capital that we have lost.


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Companies with no direct ties to renewable power lobbied to save the wind tax credit, signaling a change in the fight for clean energy incentives.
When Amy Hargroves made the rounds in Congress last fall to lobby for an extension of the wind production tax credit, she was often greeted with confusion: Why was she here talking about wind power?
That's because Hargroves wasn't fighting for the credit as a representative of a turbine manufacturer like Vestas or an interest group like the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Instead, she was representing Sprint Nextel, a telecommunications giant with no direct ties to the wind game.
Sprint is among dozens of seemingly unrelated corporations, including Starbucks, Levi Strauss and New Belgium Brewing, who lobbied to save the wind tax credit. It's hard to gauge how much effect they had on lawmakers' last-minute decision to give the tax credit a one-year reprieve by putting it in the fiscal cliff tax package. But their involvement shows that the business community has identified a need for renewables and could become an important lobbying force in promoting clean energy.
"This signals a change in the coalition structure," said Clyde Wilcox, a professor in the government department at Georgetown University. "In the past, it would be green energy companies or environmental groups that have either a business interest or a public interest in these issues. But people look up when a new series of players lines up."
Some companies, like Sprint, lobbied for the wind tax credit on their own. Others joined Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), which was founded in 2008 by the green investment group Ceres to push for energy legislation. Its 23 members include clothing retailers (Gap and Eileen Fisher), tech companies (eBay and CA Technologies) and the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team.
As more large corporations set internal goals to reduce their carbon footprints, they have a vested interest in keeping renewable energies cheap and available. Some are also looking to the future and are concerned that climate change could affect their bottom lines.
Starbucks for instance, has pegged its environmental goals not just to reducing its own footprint, but to "help ensure the supply of high-quality coffee that our customers expect from us into the future."
BICEP director Anne Kelly, who is also a registered lobbyist, said her organization encourages companies that are already committed to reducing their carbon footprints to step forward and join the broader political discussion on climate and energy issues.
"Our focus is not to simply have the decisions being made by those in Washington," Kelly said. "We all have a stake in the climate and energy crisis. These companies see it in their supply chains, in the energy they buy, so they should be standing at the table."
Broader Issues Important
BICEP members have weighed in on a variety of issues, from the 2009 cap-and-trade bill to state-level renewable portfolio standards that would require a certain percentage of a state's power to come from clean sources. After Hurricane Sandy swamped the East Coast, Kelly said, companies also expressed interest in promoting adaptation and resiliency policies, because they saw that extreme weather could damage their factories or customer base.
In September, 19 corporations signed a letter BICEP sent to the party leaders in both chambers supporting the wind production tax credit, or PTC. Several companies that signed aren't BICEP members, including Sprint and Johnson & Johnson.
"As Congress investigates ways to spur business growth, we urge you to ensure an extension of the PTC," the letter said. "Failure to extend the PTC for wind would tax our companies and thousands of others like us that purchase significant amounts of renewable energy and hurt our bottom lines at a time when the economy is struggling to recover."
Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium Brewing, which signed the letter, boasts on its sustainability blog that it was the first American company to get all its energy from wind power. Keeping wind energy popular—and cheaper—helps the brewery keep its costs low and, the blog says, helps add wind to the state's energy mix.
The American Wind Energy Association has warned that letting the credit lapse would mean a steep drop in new wind projects. When it was allowed to expire in the past, new installations dropped between 73 and 93 percent. The credit is valued at 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity produced from utility-scale turbines. Since its creation in 1992, it has been renewed five times.
With the one-year renewal in hand, AWEA is now pressing Congress for a long-term deal: A six-year extension that gradually phases out the credit.
Hargroves said Sprint aims to get 10 percent of its power from renewables by 2017 and might have trouble meeting that goal if the tax credit expired and fewer producers invested in wind energy. Sprint has already seen the pitfalls of losing a wind contract. When its five-year, clean energy purchasing arrangement with Kansas City Power & Light ended, Sprint's share of wind power dropped from 2.5 percent to just .5 percent, forcing the company to make up the difference by buying renewable energy credits.
Some companies now see the wind tax credit as a small piece in a larger clean energy picture.
Google, for example, has lobbied for a variety of energy programs, and last week announced a $2.65 million grant to the Energy Foundation to promote more smart grid technology.
The failure of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, better known as the Waxman-Markey climate bill, in 2009 was a bitter disappointment to BICEP members and other companies that supported the bill.
Apple and Nike resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposes cap and trade, in order to support the legislation.
With no other grand-scale climate legislation on the horizon, Kelly said BICEP's members and other companies are focusing on smaller initiatives, like the wind tax credit, that might be easier to pass. If those victories can be achieved, she said larger goals could be set.
"We're already starting to see some consensus around needing a price on carbon," she said. "We know it's politically volatile, but our members are saying we need to tax things that we don't want."
Not the Usual Suspects
The corporate lobbying effort has been a boon for the renewable energy industry. Having big business backing the wind tax credit has brought more credence—and heft—to the fight by taking it out of the realm of non-profits and wind companies.
"We're getting such broad bipartisan support because people see this as an American industry," said Ellen Carey, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association. "I think Americans and businesses see the potential here and understand the benefits of that potential in jobs ... and low-cost energy."
AWEA has made that case countless times before, to the public and on the Hill. But having large businesses with deep pockets and hundreds of employees send that message draws a different kind of attention.
"Usually what happens on Capitol Hill is like that quote from Casablanca: 'Round up the usual suspects,'" said Georgetown's Wilcox. "You'll get Sierra Club and the [Natural Resources Defense Council] and groups like that on one side, and then on the other side the oil companies and some of the ideological Republicans.
"But then here come these political elites or corporate leaders who say this is an important issue for them. People stand back when there are more than just the usual suspects doing it."
Wilcox pointed to the gay marriage movement as an example of how corporations have challenged the lobbying status quo. Google launched a "Legalize Love" campaign last summer to fight anti-homosexuality laws around the world, including anti-gay marriage legislation in California. Other companies have also spoken out in support of gay marriage.
The participation of outside companies also means more money for wind tax lobbying.
According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the American Wind Energy Association spent $1.5 million on lobbying in 2011. The American Petroleum Institute, in comparison, spent just over $8.6 million lobbying for its members' interests and a single oil company, Exxon Mobil, spent $12.7 million.
The wind lobby got a boost from Starbucks, which spent $580,000 on lobbying in 2011, with environmental issues—including clean energy promotion—among the company's top five issues.
Sprint spent almost $4 million, with energy ranked as its second-most lobbied issue. That included meetings with lawmakers to discuss the wind tax credit, improving the use of hydrogen fuel cells for backup power and other general clean energy issues.
Sprint doesn't pretend that its effort is entirely altruistic.
"We're a company. We're selfish," Hargroves said. "For renewable energy, we came up against a barrier in purchasing more wind and right now the PTC will help us get over that barrier. When other barriers come up, we'll deal with them."
Hargroves expects it will become more common for businesses to coalesce around social issues, an idea supported by a recent article in the Harvard Business Review. It identified the trend of "creating shared value," where companies look past short-term profits and focus on improving society. That means not only setting sustainability or charitable goals, but "creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges," wrote Harvard professor Michael Porter and Mark Kramer, founder of the consulting firm FSG.
"Businesses acting as businesses, not as charitable donors, are the most powerful force for addressing the pressing issues we face," Porter and Kramer said. "The moment for a new conception of capitalism is now; society's needs are large and growing, while customers, employees, and a new generation of young people are asking business to step up."


text:
A library worker in the town of Lindsay, California, reported to police last week that a man was looking at child pornography on one of the library computers, and because of that tip, police arrested that man. But she also lost her job over the incident.
Brenda Biesterfeld says by calling the police, she disobeyed the direction of a supervisor. The supervisor told her to make a note on the man's library account and tell him to stop looking at the pictures. Biesterfeld felt that the authorities needed to be alerted, so she called the police anyway. When police did get involved, they found thousands of images of child pornography. The man was arrested, and a day and a half later; Biesterfeld was out of a job.
oh dear
It's rare that you will see a situation end badly for, literally, everyone involved. Supervisor, employee, town, pervert, trustees, mayor, etc.
I don't get these libraries that don't confront people looking at porn. Warning, ejection, banning, trespass ticket, arrest.
What's wrong with that?
Here's "What's wrong with that"
You do not have a hard and fast definition of what constitutes pornography. Untrained people will be acting as law enforcement agents and criminalizing others simply for looking at anything the incipient thought police supercop finds "offensive", and as I point out very nearly everytime: There is nothing that cannot be found offensive by someone, somewhere. Where's Waldo, Michelangelo's David, etc ad nauseum.
There is nothing that cannot be found offensive by someone, somewhere.
The idea that your staff can't tell the difference between a painting and a photo of a guy raping a ten year old means either you are being slightly disingenuous or your staff is f*cking retarded.
Is there anyone alive that can't tell the difference between Internet porn and everything else?
And I don't care what the finer points of the first amendment say. I say I have an overriding interest in the safety and accessibility of my library and that allowing patrons to view porn compromises that interest.
Oh, please -- my ass!
I say I have an overriding interest in the safety and accessibility of my library and that allowing patrons to view porn compromises that interest.
See, Chuck, here is where you fucked up like every reactionary asshole. You failed to properly differentiate. You do have to allow your patrons to view pornography, because pornography is protected speech. What you have a bug in your britches about is correctly referred to as "pro-sci-bable ob-scen-i-ty". And your illustration of why you are totally fucking unqualified to judge pornography is also an illustration of why ninety percent of people, at least, librarians included, are likewise unqualified.
Robert Mapplethorpe's work is not child "pornography", but I have no doubt every "We Must Protect The Children" (r)(tm)(c) asshole everywhere will say that that doesn't matter and it needs to be censored anyway.
And another thing. Has it occured to anyone that if Ms. Biesterfeld violated the civil liberties of the suspect then the case against him is fruits of a poison tree and he cannot be constitutionally tried? You've got to ask yourself just what you want here. Do you just want to roust these perverts in such a way that they get to walk, or do you want due process to be respected so they can be identified and jailed as necessary? And protecting the rights and liberties of criminals protects yours as well, and don't give me no bullshit about how you've never done anything wrong and have nothing to fear. Donald Marshall spent twenty-some years in prison because he did the right thing; he found a corpse in the snow and reported it and ended up prosecuted and jailed for a murder he did not commit.
There is nothing that cannot be found offensive by someone, somewhere.
excellent points
I noticed you mentioned a dead artist and a convict no one has heard of that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. That's super.
Further I find that your logical and legal acumen are equaled only by your restraint. You are definitely not Internet-crazy or a thread-derailing troll. Not at all.
Get a Grip! or maybe you too enjoy sick perversions !??
You are obviously a pervert yourself if you think it's ok to view the types of things the library pervert was caught viewing!! In case you missed the point: the police caught him in the act of viewing porn-Not art and the police arrested him!! The librarian didn't single handedly decide he was a perv and put him in jail----THE COPS DID! And the cops are trained to know child porn from art dont ya think??
You have shown your true colors taking the attitude you have, I hope you get busted also since you obviously think it's ok to view perverted pics of little kids being molested, abused, and raped! I guess you enjoy them too! I am a mother, and thank GOD most ppl do not share your twisted views, it's because of ppl like you that this world is becoming the cesspool state that it's in now! Thank-you to Brenda Biesterfeld and the police for getting another sick twisted pervert off the streets and away from our children!
Fang Face
Just as nothing cannot be found offensive by someone, nothing cannot be considered art by someone. Does that make it art? Ms. Biesterfield did not violate anyone's civil liberties, she didn't attempt to define child pornography. She simply told the police about something that she thought was illegal, and, by the way, that was happening in a public place. The police handled it from there. And the man was caught, red-handed, by the police. This kind of thing happens all the time, people tip off the cops to something illegal, then its up to the cops to catch the person.
By the way, your use of profanity makes other people take you less seriously. There are more creative and mature ways to express your opinions.
Yes, it is art before it is porn
Just as nothing cannot be found offensive by someone, nothing cannot be considered art by someone. Does that make it art?
In a free society, the system of justice is founded on the assumption of innocence. That applies not just to people who are suspected of committing a crime, it applies to everything suspected of being criminal. Speech and art included. For something to be found to be proscribably obscene, it must be found in a court of law to fail the Miller Test. If it passes the Miller Test, it can still be found to be pornographic, but protected speech none the less.
As you can see by the mindlessly hateful spewing of Tempest above, there is a segment of society in which the assumption is of guilt. That is not a foundation upon which to base a respect for humanity, or of human rights and civil liberties. It is, in fact, the kind of foundation upon which was based the witchhunts of the 15th through 18th centuries, in which anywhere from 30,000 to seven million innocents -- some as young as seven years old -- were subjected to horrific tortures and burned alive.
My position is not in defence of criminals, it is in defence of the civil liberties of all people, including those who commit heinous and despicable acts. Because otherwise we do not have freedom, we have majority accorded privilege. And all it takes under that system is one hysteric screaming "burn the witch" to lose that privilege.
For more on where I stand on the knee-jerk, reactionary hysteria against pedophiles, see my commentaries:
There is nothing that cannot be found offensive by someone, somewhere.
There is a difference
There is a difference between child porn and regular porn. That's more than offensive, it's illegal and sick and should be offensive to anyone. The librarian acted exactly how she should have. You should be ashamed of yourself, twisting the story to quasi defend a pervert. It's people like you who keep enabling sickos like that. Child porn is child porn, and anyone can tell the difference.
libararian retaliation
Problem with the county firing her for reporting the crime is that she has great lawsuit against the County. Viewing or possession of child pictures (your automatic editor won't let a person type p**o**r**n) is a federal crime. A person cannot be fired or retaliated against for reporting a crime to authorities. While there is no requirement to report (hence the cowardly supervisor is ok for refusing to report) an employer cannot discipline a worker for reporting a crime. Hope she sues.
That's Whack
I worked at a large public library system in the South (not the deep South), and we regularly busted people for viewing porn. The procedure was to call our in-house security to ask the person to leave, and our IT department so they could come clean the pc (of downloaded images and the inevitable malware). If we'd seen someone viewing child porn, we would have called library security immediately to detain the person before they got away, and I guarantee you the cops would have been called!
In Portland, the library has worked with the Police to capture child porn collectors. Children are damaged by the production of this stuff, and people who view it often damage children. That library director should be fired. The library should be sued by the employee, until it is shut down. She should be made director. Is this for real? How can people be so stupid?
Re: ridiculous
>That library director should be fired.
I agree wholeheartedly. This is a misinterpretation of ALA's "Freedom to Read" position in the hands of a control freak. You cannot and must not restrict or discipline an employee from reporting a crime. Doing so is either a crime itself or should be.
No, this is not for real. Research this topic more fully. She was NOT fired for anything related to this incident. The suspect was NOT found to have child porn at the library; he is accused of having it at home. The library worker HELPED the patron sign on to the internet and view his email; she said so on radio. The suspect has NOT been charged with a federal crime. He is a defendant in state court. And the library worker was ON PROBATION for other work-related issues. The worker has turned this into a media frenzy; research her comments. They are different every day. Everyone is getting worked up about this. I wish everyone would just do some RESEARCH about this case, that type of activity we encourage in our library system.
That's ridiculous! Why
That's ridiculous! Why wait, following the chain of command for what is and a very serious issue. The man in the library could have walked out of the library to pursue his next "target." Sounds like a lot of ego involved at the library. Hopefully the librarian lands on her feet. What's the protocol for an irate patron who waives a gun around in the air before leaving the building on a rampage? Probably to make a note in the computer on his account and wait for the library director's words.
Doesn't it make you wonder
Doesn't it make you wonder if the supervisor is also a child porn viewer? "Thousands of images" found on the library computer, supervisor says not to report them - all in a state where parents can be arrested for taking pictures of their own baby in a bath without a diaper? Something stinks big here. The librarian needs to be reinstated, the supervisor needs to be fired.
ALA indoctrination gone to far
The librarian who got fired forgot to obey the ALA's commandment, "Thou shalt not volunteer information to law enforcement, ever." This disturbed mindset, shared by the fired librarian's supervisor, comes straight out of the ALA's playbook. The ALA's obstructionist position against law enforcement to the point protecting child predators brings us to the disturbing and irrational situation being reported our of Lindsey, California. What this library needs is a new DIRECTOR who puts the wellbing of the community's children above mindless adherance to the ALA's marching orders.
Denise Varenhorst
Family Friendly Libraries
Dear Ms. Vorenhorst,
ALA is a voluntary organization. They can no more give orders than the AMA can change my cholesterol medicine.
Sometime people manage to make mistakes and be idiots all on their own without help from a large conspiracy, The Great ALA Porn Machine Child Murdering Collective, Jane Fonda, etc.
Further, ALA has always maintained that lawfully obtained warrants must be respected. Many states, including my own, have laws that explicitly prohibit giving any confidential information to law enforcement without said warrant.
Would a list of sites visited on a public computer be considered confidential? I don't think so.
Now. the books they checked out last week, or the amount of fines paid, or what they have on reserve, or ILL requests those are all confidential, and should not be revealed except in response to a Court Order... and frankly what use could the possibly be anyway.
But that somebody looked at the Encyclopedia of American Music from the reference seaction, or some child porn site on a public computer seems not to be confidential simply because it was done in public.
I don't see how you can draw
I don't see how you can draw a distinction between use of a public computer and use of a public book. Why should they be held to a different standard?
I am not drawing that distinction
That is exactly the point I am making. If I use the dictionary on the stand, or the computer on the desk in the public library my actions are public.
The distinction I think you misunderstand and perhaps I did not make clear is a patron's record. The public has no right to know what books I have checked out, I can't as the library staff what my neighbor has checked out nor can my neighbor ask what I have out. The fact that I could go to the library and watch my neighbor check them out notwithstanding, library records are not public information and in almost every jurisdiction protected by law.
BTW, 1 Ralph McInerney mystery, a book about cheese, and a US Army band CD is what I have out this week. I don't care if anyone knows, but I can certainly understand why others may wish to maintain what little privacy we have left.
Conspiracist clap-trap
The ALA's obstructionist position against law enforcement to the point protecting child predators . . .
As I mention in a post to another story, "child pornography" is a misnomer. What we refer to as child pornography is actually a genre of proscribable obscenity. The ultra-self-righteous apply the rubric "pornography" because they will not differentiate between speech that is unprotected and speech that they simply don't agree with. Pornography that is not proscribably obscene, you see, is protected speech. If you have just cause, in good faith, to believe that a crime has been committed, you should report it to the police. I'm pretty sure even the ALA respects that principle, and I'm also pretty sure that organizations such as yours would prefer to call the police over any material that you don't agree with.
It seems pretty clear to me that your Freedom unFriendly Libraries group is just looking for any excuse to shit all over human rights and civil liberties. I can understand being squeamish about the sexual abuse and rape of actual children -- that sort of thing certainly arouses my disgust and wrath -- but I can still recognize the necessity for respecting the civil rights of even the most vile and despicable criminals, and your high-horse is all about violating the civil liberties of the law-abiding.
From the little I've seen on this issue, I have no doubt so far that the supervisor is in the wrong, but I am also certain that you are merely engaged in conspiracy theory and spewing hatred and vile lies in an effort to effect a system in which knee-jerk reactionary theo-fanatics accord to themselves control over the minds of the populace.
There is nothing that cannot be found offensive by someone, somewhere.
Not just porn; a criminal offense.
People that posess, view, produce child pornography upon conviction should be jailed for the remainder of their natural lives.
If I stabbed the librarian would a note be made in my record and would they simply ask me to stop stabbing librarians?
Another reason I will never set foot in California. And as a California taxpayer I find the supervisor to be a disgusting waste of my tax money.
I am all amazement. It's interesting (and disheartening) to see how different ideologies intersect, especially in such a black and white case.
I think it's unfair to accuse the ALA - as an organization - rather than the individual supervisor, of being "obstructionist". Brenda Biesterfeld was acting in an ethical manner that complies, in my opinion, with the ALA's Code of Ethics. VII does state that librarians should "distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties". However, this is not necessarily a moral issue, but an ethical one.
Eithics (usually information ethics) is a branch of philosophy that Librarians must interact with, as a responsibility of our profession. We are required to make and act on our ethical choices all the time. This case no different.
Biesterfeld should not have been fired, because her boss made an unethical, socially irresponsible decision.
Am I the only person here...
...to whom the phrase "misprision of a felony" suggests itself upon reading this story?
For those of you too young to have grown up like me watching "Perry Mason," misprision of a felony is the federal offense of having knowledge of a crime and not reporting it. If the Bush Justice Department wants to go out with a bang, it seems to me that perp-walking this supervisor might serve that end.
Under federal law misprision
Under federal law misprision of a felony (18 U.S.C. § 4) requires active concealment of a felony rather then just failure to report it. California doesn't seem to have any law on the books of this type.
It is a common law crime in many jurisdictions. It does not require active concelament - in fact active concealment may and most likely would rise to the level of accessory.
Misprision may not be charged when the defendant is an accessory. Misprision is most often charged when there is an affirmative duty to report such crime. Seldom is there an affirmative duty to do anything, heck the cops don't have an affirmative duty to protect any individual.
It is sledom charged because it is hard to prove. It is not uncommon to find persons pleading to it rather than a more serious crime. See the recent Zach Scruggs plea that came after he was charged with much more serious crimes relating to the bribing of a Mississippi judge.
Dickie's boy probably won't be holding any Hillary fundraisers either.
Seeking Contact with Fired Librarian
I added Brenda Biesterfeld to my Good Librarians page. She is a hero.
If anyone knows her, please ask her to contact me as I wish to speak with her attorney about the library possibly violating it's enabling statute, ordinance, or charter.
This really does happen??
I'm in my first year of library school and in the Intro class this exact issue was discussed. I thought it was theoretical issue. I can't believe it really happen(ed)(s). I was in the minority side of my class when I said I would call the police. My view was child porn viewing, owning, producing, whatever,,,is a crime and should be reported. If you saw someone breaking into your neighbor's house, you wouldn't call the police?? What kind of a citizen are you? I think this librarian is a hero who saved a child or maybe even several children from harm.
It is good to read many librarians feel that she should not have been fired. Maybe I'll be in the majority in the "real" world?
p.s. I agree with Chuck.
Not all libraries in California...
The key word here is child. Child porn is illegal no matter what your opinion and/or policy is on adults viewing pornography. In my system we are told to call the police immediately if we see someone viewing child pornography. There is no note, there is no waiting.
"Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds"
-Candide by Voltaire
A view from across the Ocean
In South Africa, Cape Town we've just started providing the free internet and pc access to the public and I must say that our guideline are quite clear, if what you are viewing is offence AT ALL, you're going to get your ass shot out of the library.
(And possibly have a copy of the constitution liberally applied to your head until the police comes. )
That said getting fired for calling the police, is just plain wrong. Even on the darkest continent, being a responsible employee means writing the wrongs even if it does go against procedure.
Everybody know that! Don't they?
The facts have been so
The facts have been so distorted in this matter. The librarian saw a glimspe of a screen that had 12 thumbnail pictures on it. She thought that they were children but was not sure. Here boss told her to give him a note to stop looking at porn. This was done and the gentleman left. 8 days later the librarian called the police. She gave all of the gentlemans personal info over to the police without any warrant. She also gave another patrons personal info over. The Librarian told this patron on the original date that the gentleman was viewing pornography. the next time this gentleman came to the library this librarian called the police and said he was there using the computer. The police arrived and saw the man looking at an images of a naked adult on the screen. The supervisor was right telling her employeee to ask him to stop. This librarian had no way of knowing what the man was looking at. She has violated his rights and freedom. Individual judgemants that she does not like gay porn do not give cause for what she did. There is absolutely no proof that the man was ever looking at child porn in the library.
This man has frequented the library for many years. he is completely deaf and has a mental age of a 12 year old. He was well known to the other members of the library staff.
OK if you say so.
Gee, the librarian in me would like an authoratative source for that information. Based upon what I know of the incident my opinion is clearly formed.
Your arguments are circular and founded on supposition and heresay.
You state the employee was right in telling her employee to ask him to stop. If you support the freedom of adults to look at legal pornography, why would the employee be right asking him to stop?
You say the the librarian had no way of knowing what the man was looking at, yet you accuse her of not liking gay pornography. If she could not see what the man was looking at how could she pass any judgement on what type of pornography she liked or disliked?
You state that there is no proof that this man had ever looked at child pornography in the library, yet there was enough proof for police officers to detain the defendant. Officers were also able to searh his home and discover incriminating evidence that provided them probable cause to arrest the defendant.
The fact that the defendant was deaf, or had frequented the library for years is inconsequential when contrasted with the crimes with which he is charged. You fail to explain how you know the defendant has 'a mental age of a 12 year old, nor how that would excuse posession of child pornography.
Your statements that the staff member violated the defendant's rights and freedom may certainly be construed as libelous, a very dangerous situation into which I would not wish to place myself when. I would certainly not toss about allegations without substantiation - allegations such as the staff member's revelation of patrons' information protected information to the police.
You sir in my most humble opinion, are treading on very thin ice. You make unsubstantiated allegations which may prove injurious. I have advised the staff member in question and I certainly hope she provides counsel with this URL.
While everyone is entitled to opinion, I hold that libel is a most serious offense and should not be tolerated.
N.B. This is not legal advice, should you require legal advise seek appropriate counsel. I do not practice law nor solicit clients in any state notwithstanding any such admittance, licensure, or approval.
...This guy has it right. This woman devised a way to save her job by making a public spectacle out of this. She waited 8 days to report it, and the man is not charged with any offense related to "child" porn at the library. Further, this suspect was unable to sign on the computer himself. SHE HELPED HIM, not only when she viewed the suspect images on an email, but 8 days later, when she signed him on and then called the cops. She could have said no. She could have asked him to leave. Instead, she set him up, and she held a news conference, then a prayer vigil. The world is misinformed about this case. That what happens when people blog first and ask questions later.
How about knowing the facts before slamming the librarian? As I understand it, she was on a probationary period and had been advised of other problems she was causing. The supervisor has 2 daughters, 3 nieces, 3 nephews, 5 great nephews, and 3 great nieces. I doubt that he has any liking for child pornographers.
Also, he has been director there for over 20 years, commended by the state librarian, and offered postions on NATIONAL boards on rural and small town libraries.
Have you read the transcripts of Biesterfield's interviews? Her story keeps changing. She also states that she had the man's email address and password. Hmm... Wonder how she saw the porn? Also, be aware of your facts. Your library usage can be turned into the feds. Look at wiretapping! And have you ever been caught in a porn loop you can't get out of? This is why she should have called Mr. Lewis instead of claiming she was scared of losing her job though she had only meet him 3 times, always with others.
Let us hope she does sign the release that would allow the county to give her records to the press. The director has been unable to defend himself because of their personel rules regarding privacy. What will it say about her if she declines to sign the release? See the Visalia Times Delta.
Hello to you too
Again you obfuscate the issue with superfluous information. I have a cat and a nephew, but truthfully that has no bearing on the the matter nor do the familial ties of the director.
The notion that he has been offered positions on various boards is simply meaningless as well. If you will recall Elliot Spitzer had a failry prominent position last week until he resigned his office under a cloud of misconduct and illegality, that too is meaningless in the context of the matter instant.
I have not read the transcripts of Biesterfield's interviews, I have read several dozen of the news articles and none of the allegations that you presented as fact agree with them. If you have other sources I'd be happy to consider them. I have seen no information that would lead me to believe that she improperly accessed the patron's email account as you allege.
Truthfully I have no idea what you are ranting about. My library usage can be turned into the feds? On what do you base this claim? Certainly any record can be subject to subpoena, but there are safeguards to prevent improper use of subpoena power. However if you or 'the feds' are interested in my library usage I'll happily provide the records to you. I have an outstanding overdue fine of thirty cents to my local PL for a Ralph McInerney mystery that I will pay next time I go to the the library during open hours.
I am also perplexed by your exhortion to 'Look at wiretapping!" There is no allegation of wiretapping in this case. It seems to me that you are a grand conspiracy theorist.
As I find your views so far out of touch with reality I shall expend no further effort to respond to your nonsensical ramblings.
Good day.
That's right
...None of the news articles have it right. That's right. The reporters in this area are young, inexperienced and intoxicated by the national publicity they have received. I promise you: the facts, timeline and circumstances of this case have not been fully disclosed. This woman isn't even a librarian -- she is a library assistant, a clerk. She knew this guy's passwords and she logged him into the computer herself. She set this whole thing up.
Patriot Act
The Patriot Act allows the federal government to look in the library usage, including checked out books and websites viewed just as it allows the wiretapping.
As for the refernce to Elliot Spitzer, that case had actual proof. Just because one public figure was a bad person doesn't mean they all are. In this case, it is a woman who has nothing but claims and nothing to back it up. If she was so scared about her job, why didn't she speak to him personally or even got to HIS boss instead of just whining to the newspaper after the fact?
Remember, goverment rules kept the director from making any, again ANY, comment on the matter. The mentions of his famial ties & board offers show his background. THe offers show that he is an extremely competent librarian and Tulare County is lucky to have him. There is no glory or power with a national library board position.
Yours are the nonsensical ramblings if you are willing to take sides and make judgements on issues based on emotional newspaper articles without the full story from the other side.
Spitzer is a real scandal. This is a nightmare for a local town caught up in hysteria. There are so many losers here: people who want the truth; people who want the public to have confidence in our libraries; the people who need libraries as resources; and good natured public servants who try to do their best. This library clerk was about to lose her job, so she created a scandal. That's pretty ingenious. Now she won't release her personnel file, she won't grant interviews, and she won't face the facts. I suspect we are all on Minute 14 of her fame.
You make many allegations and insist that the facts as presented to us in the many newspaper articles are incorrect. However you fail to present any evidence to the contrary.
I am certain we would all be pleased to read anything exculpatory you have, anything at all, yet you go off on tangents about the youthfulness of the reporters and the USA PATRIOT Act.
It makes me wonder if you are not the pervert in the library.
I think what we all are suffering from is a lack of information. We have one side saying that this guy was looking a kiddie pron, and the woman was right, and on the other we have people saying he wasn't, or that he is mentally handicapped, or etc.
These are the facts that I've gleaned from looking at news reports:
The guy had been talked to for looking at ADULT pron in the past.
She saw THUMBNAILS for less than thirty seconds, and it looked like kids to her (but it was boys, which calls into question her judgment...these are thumbnails after all, and if the dudes shaved their junk, I would say that it would be real hard to tell, generally, from thumbnails, the age of subjects. Especially without leaning in close and making it obvious you're looking).
She was told by her Supe to tell the guy not to do it again or he'd be booted, which she did, and to put a note to that effect on his record, which she also did. Then she wanted to go the extra mile and report him to the police. Her supe said no. She went home, thought about it awhile, and came to the conclusion she could not, in good conscience, leave it alone. She then called the police, who may or may not have found things and may or may not have charged the dude.
We need to know if the cops found anything. And what the dude was actually looking at. Although I respect newspapers and am not going to say 'they must be wrong', I will say that I've yet to find any details on either of those two bits. I would think the images cached or retrievable, and the police reports easy to find for them, yet they have not done so yet. Not finding fault, just saying we can't judge with what we don't have.
I don't know where the comment that he might be mentally handicapped came from, I found nothing on that.
I BELIEVE this is LIKELY to be what happened: The dude may or may not have been looking at kiddie pron thumbnails, but he'd been busted for looking at porn before. Although porn is arguably protected speech, if a librarian happens to see it then a kid might, too, so you're not doing a good job of protecting kids from the pron, so you should stop looking at it. Providing porn to kids is a crime, after all, so the library is okay with telling some one to 'quit that'. HOWEVER, the dude had not, apparently, been caught with kiddie pron previously. So though the probationary librarian said she thought it was kids, she also had to admit it was tiny thumbnails looked at over someone's shoulder for a matter of seconds. So the supe said 'no, don't call the cops'. I think this is reasonable. It is not the librarian's task to look for suspicious activity. Doing that puts people on alert, and makes them feel uncomfortable. Medical professionals don't report crimes that aren't going to be an immediate harm, because it's the only way that their patients can trust them. It patrons can't trust their libraries, then they won't go, defeating the purpose of the library. Because it wasn't big enough for her to be sure, the supe made the judgment call that she shouldn't get this guy harassed. Just let him know pron's off limits. When the woman called the cops, she overrode the supe's judgment call and got this guy harassed. If he wasn't looking at kiddie porn, then she TOTALLY deserves to be fired. After all, the supe's judgment was right, and considering she was still on probationary status (having worked there less than 6 months), she should have deferred to the supe's judgment.
And if he was looking at Kiddie pron? Then she still stands to be fired. you can say that she has every right to report a crime, and this is totally true. But in the lack of CLEAR evidence of a crime, I think the county has every right to say, defer to your supervisor's judgment in the matter. By just refusing to do that, she was being insubordinate, and considering she was probationary, that's perfect cause. Of course, the county said there's other 'business reasons' anyway, so maybe its a moot point, but I'm working from the assumption she really was fired for this.
An analogy would be: someone wants to check out a bunch of books on hydroponics. you think that you heard them talking about 'weed', and would like to report them to the cops. They might have been talking about marijuana, and they might have been talking about how they won't have to worry about weeds in their garden. If the supe says no, then don't report them. It's not like you heard them say 'we are totally going to use these books to learn how to grow our own weed so that we can sell it and become marijuana millionaires'. THAT would be something said in a open place that clearly indicates a crime and therefore could be reportable by anyone, including the librarian. But again, this whole section was my analysis of the LIKELY scenario, given what I believe to be the facts that we actually have.
And to the reactionary people saying they 'won't take their kids there' or, 'let's protect the kids', allow me to point out that there hasn't been a single allegation he was MAKING the kiddie pron. He may be a monster, and he may have been looking at it, but he wasn't personally endangering children, he was just making it fiscally worthwhile for other despicable people to do so. The librarian didn't protect a single child. (Of course, its POSSIBLE that he might have acted on his desires, fi he really is a pdphile, but then, we don't even really know that, do we. Neither we, nor the librarian, would be able to know what was going on in this dude's head.)
Several quick points
I have found some details that he may indeed be non compis mentis. Criminal proceedings have been stayed pending an evaluation of his competence (scroll to bottom).
Having worked as an RN in a large ER I can tell you it is quite easy to make a very reliable determination of a persons age using the Tanner scale. I venture a guess that any mother is able to estimate a childs age within six months.
Phyisicans and nurses do report crimes that are not immediatly dangerous. In fact state and federal laws often require us to do so. Any crime relating to the abuse of children would require a Herculean effort to prevent a phycisian or nurse from reporting. Primum non nocere sometimes does mean protecting your patient from self harm through any means including intervention of law enforcement. While we may not be required to report your lack of seat belt usage, I know of no medical professional who would not alert authorities if their patient told them they developed a disease by sodomizing a neighbor child or some other disgusting and illegal behavior. Suicidal and homicidal behavior or ideation is also frequently reported to law enforcement as the physician is not equipped to deal with an armed patient.
You actually can use the word pornography or if you must porn, it is not necessary to call it pron.
Your analogy about week is specious. This has nothing to do with patron circulation records nor an overheard conversation.
The reporting of a crime is in my opinion a moral obligation, the police have the obligation to investigate not the librarian. A reasonable suspicion is enough to justify a call to the local gendermarie. Why she even asked her supervisor is beyond me.
If I saw someone looking at child porn in the library I most certainly would be fired because I would beat them until the police took me away.
A quick response to your
A quick response to your points:
The Tanner scale is, indeed a reliable means of determining age. If you can actually see the image. If you can't, then it's not reliable at all. My point was I don't think that thumbnails would be likely to really give her enough detail. If you read the post, that's what I said. I'm not retarded, there's clearly a difference between adults and kids, I was just saying that since thumbnails are usually very tiny, she wouldn't actually be able to see enough detail to be certain. I don't know that for a fact, granted, I'm just saying I find it UNLIKELY.
Although you are correct in that medical professionals do not need the danger to be 'immediate', the danger still needs to be present. If the patient tells you they like think they caught herpes from sodomizing a willing prostitute, you can't tell the cops. It's a HIPAA violation, even though it's illegal and arguably immoral, because it's part of their medical information. (though, due to the public health risk of a prostitute giving johns herpes, you might report that you have reason to suspect there's one out there, but you wouldn't give the john's info)
Of COURSE a medical professional is going to report child abuse.
But then, at the same time, a medical professional is going to wait until they have darn good cause before they report the person...I was a rambunctious kid who hurt himself a lot, and for awhile they suspected my parents of abuse I was in the ER so much, but they didn't report them to CPS because they knew what a horror unfounded allegations are. (these allegations appear to be true, but as i said, I find it unlikely, given current information, that her suspicions were actually well founded)
What, exactly, is specious about my analogy? Are you saying that something you've seen cannot be analogous to something you're heard? They are both crimes. They are both obvious. And they are both something that the librarian witnessed. So please, tell me HOW it's specious, don't just call it specious. I'll grant, 'this has nothing to do with an overheard conversation', that's why it's an ANALOGY, a 'resemblence of relations, an agreement or likeness between things in some circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise ENTIRELY DIFFERENT'. My point was that in both those cases she would have a reasonable suspiction of a crime being or about to be committed, but in the initial example she wasn't CERTAIN, and while I feel a patron is entirely within their rights to call the cops and get them (the kids in my example) harassed, I don't feel that it is the librarian's place. Much in the same way I don't feel that the librarian shoudl have reported him if she couldn't really see the pictures, which as i said I don't think it likely she could. I find these two things to have a likeness between them in some circumstances or affects. As such it's not specious AT ALL. It is an alternative, illustrative example of my point. In other words: an analogy. Please don't disagree with an assessment that uses words you apparently don't know the definition of.
I used 'pron' instead of 'porn' because an earlier poster said 'porn' was edited...it appears that it is not, and it also appears that I can't be consistent, considering I missed a few instances where my natural inclination to type correctly overrode my decision to misstype it, so 'whoops' to me.
A 'reasonable suspicion' may be enough to call the local law enforcement in general, but at the same time, some libraries understand that need of their patrons to not be in fear that the government is constantly hovering over everything they do. This librarian assistant doesn't seem to agree to this basic philosophy...and as a probationary employee, I see nothing wrong with just getting rid of her instead of trying to educate her on the idea that if patrons are afraid of their librarians they won't go to the library. That's why you have a probationary period...so you can fire people if you just don't feel like dealing with them. She's not being arrested here, she's being let go because her basic philosophy is different from what they want. i don't, barring new information, necessarily have a problem with that.
Now, if this guy is proved to be guilty and convicted, he is a monster. Don't get me wrong. Deserves to be killed, in my opinion. But the librarian was being nosy, and as far as I can tell , for certain anyway, there's no evidence she was able to be positive of the children's age. If, come to find out, he wasn't looking at thumbnails, he was looking at full sized pictures, or the thumbnails were especially large, then I would totally support her decision, in that she was POSITIVE a crime was ACTUALLY BEING COMMITTED, it wasn't just a suspicion based on her being snoopy, it's a certainty based on her being snoopy. Otherwise, she was in the wrong, at least enough to be let go.
This is what happens when people rally around a cause they don't look into...it looks like Biesterfeld not only wasn't a 'hero', but was actually a bad employee, and is now trying to act the martyr...she punched her timecard wrong, and was insubordinate, and didn't put things where she was told to, and there's still some question as to whether she told her boss as much as she told the cops, and even then, whether there was actually child pornography involved.


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Ok, quick rant about the above-linked article in the New York Times, which is titled "Anti-Love Drug May Be Ticket to Bliss" and which chronicles a study of prairie voles to try to understand human pair bonding. In it researchers and the reporter both equate love and sexual neurochemistry:
"reducing love to its component parts helps us to understand human sexuality, and may lead to drugs that enhance or diminish our love for another, says Larry J. Young."
Why prairie voles? 'Cuz:
"These mouselike creatures are among the small minority of mammals — less than 5 percent — who share humans' propensity for monogamy."
I'd love to see the studies classifying humans as a monogamous species. "Love", for the purposes of this study, apparently means "monogamy," and is hence a squarely sexual phenomenon. Love is just the emotional/neurochemical rollercoaster which enforces (ha!) monogamy in humans:
"'Some of our sexuality has evolved to stimulate that same oxytocin system to create female-male bonds,' Dr. Young said, noting that sexual foreplay and intercourse stimulate the same parts of a woman's body that are involved in giving birth and nursing. This hormonal hypothesis, which is by no means proven fact, would help explain a couple of differences between humans and less monogamous mammals: females' desire to have sex even when they are not fertile, and males' erotic fascination with breasts. More frequent sex and more attention to breasts, Dr. Young said, could help build long-term bonds through a 'cocktail of ancient neuropeptides," like the oxytocin released during foreplay or orgasm.'"
"Unproven" is the key here, but this speculation is still the crux of of the NYT's article.
There's something in here that should disturb even you die-hard romantics out there, namely the subtle implication that love is outdated. According to this article (and, apparently, the assumptions of mainstream science), the intense emotions that we feel are just instinctual leftovers from a less civilized age. The article goes on to talk about the inappropriateness of cupid's oxytocin arrow hitting during a business meeting, and speculates about how useful it would be to have a "vaccine" that got rid of the emotional mess alltogether.
All too often I see love discussed in terms of loose neurochemistry and even looser evolutionary psychology. The idea seems to be that the complicated emotions that we feel for one another only make sense in contexts outside of our understanding- the complicated mathematics of hormone interaction and Bedrock, respectively. I'm not willing to give up so easily. Love isn't just a chemical burden passed down to us from homo erectus, it's something that is profoundly shaped and reshaped by cultures across geography and time.
Love is around because it makes our lives better and because it makes our society tick. Understanding the neurochemistry of love might help big pharma's bottom line, but ultimately it won't help us understand how the things that we feel and the relationships that we have can genuinely improve our lives. To do that, we have to think about love in the context that where we feel it. Neurochemistry won't help us unless we want to start interacting with romance through drugs. Evolutionary psychology won't help us unless we want to hit on australopithecus. But if we can begin to seriously talk about, study, and understand the structure of relationships then we may just get somewhere.


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In December 2005, the New York Times reported that Showtime's lesbian drama, The L Word, was set to team up with website Fanlib.com to produce a 12-week contest in which viewers could "contribute ideas for show scenes as part of a continuing story line." At the conclusion of the contest, which will be overseen by a staff writer, the winning scenes will be compiled into a commemorative ezine of the episode, with Showtime having the option to produce the finished script for TV down the road.
Whether the episode will actually be produced is not certain, but the contest (which has not yet started) marks yet another step in the mainstreaming of fandom and its cultural products, specifically fan fiction.
This idea of letting fans produce "ideas for show scenes" may at first seem only distantly related to fan fiction—which is fiction written by fans featuring the characters and setting of a television show, movie, or book—but upon closer examination, it is clearly connected. Many fans turn to writing or reading fan fiction because they find their favorite television show lacking. They may want to see a certain character fall in love with a different character; or they may want to find out what really happened when the camera panned away from a particular scene. Fan fiction allows them to take the story beyond the confines of scripted television or film, or even the pages of a book.
By inviting L Word fans—many of whom already create their own "ideas for show scenes" through their fan fiction—to invent their own storylines, L Word producers are piggybacking on a phenomenon that is rooted in centuries of community storytelling, and that has been more recently studied as a part of sci-fi fandom dating back to Star Trek.
In effect, what once was a closeted (or at least semi-closeted) community of fan writers scribbling stories about their favorite Star Trek character has become a worldwide, public phenomenon reported on in global media and openly acknowledged by cultural producers like Showtime.
Most significantly for lesbians and bisexual women, the changing of television—which has increasingly included openly lesbian characters—has also affected fan fiction, with slash (fan fiction about same-sex couples) expanding from its male/male homosocial roots to an open expression of lesbian romance and sexuality.
What is fan fiction, anyway?
Fan fiction originated in the pre-Internet science fiction fan communities that erupted around Star Trek in the 1960s and '70s, with fan-written stories traded through printed fanzines. These fan fiction writers were predominantly white middle-class straight women, an unlikely group who nonetheless pioneered the sexually explicit, homosexual genre of fan fiction known as "slash."
This term was coined from the usage of a slash mark ("/") between the names of two same-sex characters engaged in a sexual relationship; the most popular of these pairings at the time was Kirk/Spock.
With the advent of the Internet and newsgroup technologies in the early 1990s, fan fiction experienced explosive growth, as did fandom communities in general. The X-Files, one of the first fandoms to emerge entirely on the Internet in 1993, rapidly became one of the largest fandoms after Star Trek and one of the most prolific in terms of fan fiction production. The Internet also heralded a change in the demographics of fan fiction writers.
Though precise statistics are unavailable and no sustained research appears to have been done on the makeup of online fan fiction writers, it seems clear that the average age of fan fiction writers fell once the Internet became the primary means of distributing fan fiction.
Fan fiction and its communities have long been of interest to academic researchers, with the most well-known study, Henry Jenkins' Textual Poachers, appearing in 1992. Early academic theorists have argued that writing and reading fan fiction is a subversive act; indeed, Jenkins stated that "Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk." This utopic argument has recently been complicated by an increasing convergence between mainstream or legitimate cultural producers (e.g., Hollywood studios) and grassroots fan-based creations including fan fiction and fan-made films.
Although many fans have read these academic studies on fan fiction and have quite sophisticated understandings of the power dynamics at play between fan and producer, many fans will hasten to point out that the urge to create fan fiction is rarely rooted in the desire to subvert mainstream ideologies or wrestle power from the big boys in Tinseltown. Instead, as Xena fan (and fanfic writer) Lunacy explained in a 1998 Whoosh! article on the history of Xena fan fiction, "Unrestricted by time constraints, or censors or any of the other sensibilities imposed by film or TV, fan fiction allows for a fuller exploration of characters and themes and storylines making it incredibly appealing for fans."
One of the most widely studied forms of fan fiction—which can be categorized in innumerable ways according to each specific fandom—is slash, which has historically been mostly about male/male couples. Academic study of slash has generally concluded that it involves loving relationships between otherwise-heterosexual men, and it is a way for women to evade or reconstruct gender to their liking. However, fans have resisted this interpretation, and male/male pairings have become grittier and more violent in fandoms such as The X-Files or Angel, unlike the idealized harmony of the Kirk/Spock couple.
On the other hand, female/female slash, or femslash, has historically been quite rare. It was not until Xena: Warrior Princess, with its often quite overt subtextual homosexual relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, that the amount of femslash approached male/male slash in volume. Since Xena, other femslash pairings have included Seven of Nine/Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager; Buffy/Faith, Willow/Tara, and numerous other female/female pairings on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer; CJ and a number of female partners on The West Wing, and Olivia Benson/Alex Cabot on Law and Order: SVU, among others.


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Bruce McGechan necesitaba un nuevo diseño de botón o icono y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 60 diseños de 20 diseñadores freelance.
I've launched an internet start up that helps small wine retailers sell more wine online: from ecommerce sites to Adwords.
I help them find a niche in a market full of expert national online wine retailers. Brutal but, like Bob the Builder says, "they can do it, yes they can".
They just need some help is all.
I take a friendly educational approach with a a series of posts and videos about how to create a profitable local wine retailer online store. Many busy retailers see this as too difficult or too time consuming. I show them how its done for free. I also offer a paid service to create a profitable end to end system for them.
40 year old male owner operator of an independent fine wine store servicing a local market. Might be in London, San Francisco, New York or Sydney.
Knows his fine wines and has a great relationship with his customers. Is relatively successful but wants to achieve additional sales online.
Independent and sophisticated businessperson who is looking for a trusted source of advice on how to take his business online.
First, I promise lots of feedback, honest yet not destructive, and I'll check at least every 12 hours.
I am looking for:
- a modern, clean and simple icon (almost a logo), like the Vodafone quote mark or Nike swoosh
- something that can fit in a square shape (a square border, or background, or not - up to you)
- if you use a font of please give the font name, I'll buy it separately
- colours should be professional rather than psychedelic - up to you,
probably best to give some options.
- not a wine bottle, glass, grapes by itself, as these have been done to death, could include these as one part of the design however.
Lastly, what's a wine retailer going to think of when he wants to hire a person to help him sell more wine online? From an ecommerce website to social media to SEO to an Adwords campaign. From providing advice on how he can do it himself, to doing it for him. I had images of a shop counter, a PC screen, a house, orders, shipments… damned if I know :-) , which is why I'm asking you for help...


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Journey to Authentic Living
Transformational lifestyle change through personal development
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Our Impact: TechnoServe's 2012 Annual Report
July 10, 2013
In this year's Annual Report, we highlight our new system for measuring our impact on farms, businesses and industries.
"What gets measured gets done." It's a truism in business. At TechnoServe, we want to achieve real, sustainable impact in the lives of families across the developing world. Measuring that impact properly is the first step.
In this year's Annual Report, we're proud to share our new system for measuring the direct results and impact of our work. Measurement has always been a key focus for TechnoServe. It speaks to our core values of integrity and results. As we have grown rapidly in recent years, we have seen the need for a more consistent, systematic way to measure our impact across programs. We want to hold ourselves accountable for achieving our mission and creating impact.
Read more about the new measurement system in our Annual Report – and learn how TechnoServe's work benefited 2.9 million people in 2012.
Update: Our 2012 Annual Report is now available in Spanish and French.


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BEECO-WSFU Conversion Chart(PDF, 108KB)
PRV Product Information Guide(PDF, 87KB)
Beeco-2019-07 Booklet(PDF, 18MB)
PRV-C Specification Sheet In En Francais(PDF, 549KB)
BEECO Abbreviations Guide(DOC, 27KB)
PRV-C-(Small) List Price(PDF, 75KB)
PRV-C [1/2"-1"] Specification Sheet(PDF, 473KB)
BEECO Cross Reference Guide(XLS, 36KB)
Specification: A Water Pressure Reducing Valve with a built in strainer shall be installed in the incoming water line where supply main pressure exceeds 60psi (413 kPa). The Pressure Reducing Valve shall consist of a bronze body and metal cap, and shall have an adjustment screw to allow adjusting the pressure down to 50PSI (345 kPa), and shall be designed for incoming pressures up to 300 PSI (20.7 bar). The device must have a built in strainer that will stop debris from entering the pressure reducing chamber and is removable for cleaning. Valve shall be of the balanced piston design and shall reduce pressure in both flow and no-flow conditions.
Temperature Range: 33° F - 180° F (0.5° C - 82° C).
Maximum Working Pressure: 300 P.S.I. (20.7 bar).
Adjustable Pressure Range: 25-75 P.S.I. (172 - 517 kPa).
Standard Reduced Pressure Setting: 50 P.S.I. (345 kPa).
Body and Cage: ASTM B 584
Integral Strainer: Stainless Steel
Valve Disk: Elastomer
Diaphragm: Reinforced EPDM
Seat: Engineered Polymer
Internal Bypass for Thermal Expansion.
Convenient Strainer and Seat Access. In-line serviceability.
Corrosion Resistant Body and Cover.
Single or Double Union Connection.
Stainless Steel Strainer.