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by Tom Utescher
"Red rain is pouring down, pouring down all over me." – Peter Gabriel
Two things made Penn Charter lacrosse fans miserable at last Friday's Inter-Ac League match, a steady, chilly rain and the red-clad Patriots of visiting Germantown Academy.
They say soggy playing conditions can curtail the scoring in such a contest, but on the Quakers' Perrott Turf Field the two teams rang up a total of 30 goals, with GA posting 20 of them to raise its record to 1-1 in league play and 5-1 overall.
Both schools officially opened the Inter-Ac season with a loss on Tuesday of last week, GA falling to a team with a national rep, Haverford, by a 12-7 tally.
Pat McDonough, the head coach for Penn Charter (4-4 overall), related, "We lost 7-6 to Malvern on Tuesday but we played pretty well, so the way we looked today was disappointing. Give GA credit – they came ready to play today, obviously more than we did."
Just a few minutes into the second quarter, McDonough's club was looking up at a 9-2 deficit. It was 11-7 at halftime and PC struck twice at the start of the third quarter to trail by only two goals, but the Pats went on a roll that lasted the rest of the game, outscoring their hosts, 8-1.
"We held them to three goals in the second half; we played very well at both ends of the field," observed GA skipper Dave Martin. "We have an older, veteran team who's been around for a long time, and they know what it's like to play in this league, which is incredibly difficult game-in and game-out."
Three of the seniors who did battle last Friday will be attending Dickinson College. Penn Charter midfielders Grant Guyer and Tyler White are bound for the Carlisle, Pa. school, along with GA's George Robinson, also a middie.
Charter has scoring standout Joey Sankey signed up with the University of North Carolina, and another attacker, Andy Grabowski, is headed in the opposite direction, set to play for Williams College. GA's Beau Jones will be taking his playmaking skills to the University of Delaware, while his classmate Bobby Tait, a defender, joins the squad at Syracuse University.
Jones delivered eight assists and scored twice himself in the Patriots' victory at Penn Charter, and GA got six goals from Reid Weber and five from Billy Oppenheimer, both juniors. White and Sankey gave the Quakers five and three goals, respectively. Junior goalie Jackson Tamasitis, who is already getting a lot of college looks, was under pressure much of the game and finished with nine saves in a losing cause.
After junior middie Connor Crump put Germantown on the board with an unassisted strike in the opening minute of last Friday's fray, the visitors went on to lead 7-2 by the end of the first quarter.
After the Pats increased their advantage to 9-2 with 9:35 to go in the first half, Charter enjoyed its best offensive stretch of the game. The Quakers were back within five with a minute-and-a-half remaining, and with just 15 seconds left Guyer found the upper left corner of the visitors' goal to make it 11-7 at the interlude.
White quickly netted PC's eighth goal as the second half got underway, and a little later an apparent score for GA was negated by an offsides call. With 8:55 left to play in the third period White went airborne in front of the Germantown goalcage for a successful shot, pulling PC within two points of the Patriots for the first time since the middle of the first quarter.
This time, GA responded quickly. Just 14 seconds after Charter's ninth marker, the visitors' Tait cut across the front of the crease and dumped the ball past Tamasitis. Three more goals followed over the next three minutes, and Jones came from behind the cage near the end of the quarter to make it 17-9 heading into the final frame.
"We got way down early, and it's hard to dig yourself out of that deep a hole," admitted PC's McDonough. "We did it to a degree in the second quarter, but we weren't able to sustain that. We're a little beat up; we lost a bunch of guys on defense to injuries in the last couple weeks. We have some inexperienced guys in there who are trying to adjust as fast as they can, but there are going to be some growing pains."
Although the turf was holding up well, everything and everyone else was pretty well saturated as the contest progressed into its final 12 minutes. With its front supports sinking into the mud, Penn Charter's filming scaffold was listing towards the field as Germantown's video crew and scorekeepers looked nervously down from their perch.
The Patriots were still going strong between the lines, outpointing PC 3-1 in the concluding quarter to double up the Quakers, 20-10. Sophomore Tyler Crump finished the game in goal for GA, relieving junior starter Jake Adoni.
"There's always room for improvement," GA's Martin said after his club's convincing win. "I told the kids at the beginning of the year that the objective is to keep improving throughout the season, and that process is a marathon, not a sprint. Hopefully in a month we'll be better than we are now, just as we're better now than at the start of the season."


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The Jabra PRO 9450 headset provides office staff with a plug-and-play compatible interface to handle calls from both desk phones and UC softphones. It's ideal for companies that are in transition to UC or using a combination of these two types of phones.
Thanks to state-of-the-art audio technologies, the Jabra PRO 9450 delivers exceptional sound performance. A noise-cancelling microphone ensures that the user's voice is heard clearly, while wideband quality makes incoming sound crystal clear. The Jabra PRO 9450 also has a unique built-in ringer on the headset base, which enables users in companies with silent PC policies to hear incoming calls to their softphone without wearing the headset. Furthermore, the Jabra PRO 9450 is 100% software based, providing you with investment protection by lowering your total cost of ownership. It comes with free mass deployment software via Jabra PC suite to facilitate installations that can be upgraded easily with drivers for new phones and new features as technology evolves.
Enjoy easy call handling and great sound all around the office:
Dual connectivity — lets you easily handle calls from your desk or softphone.
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subset: commoncrawl


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"Indian Ministry of defence's current agenda to expand the defence industrial base, encourage indigenous defence production and reduce defence imports is commendable as that will ensure India faster approaching towards indigenisation. India is a key country for us, we seek preferred partnership and we want to expand our presence by showing our technologies with the capabilities of local partners," said Giorgio Zappa, COO, Finmeccanica.Finmeccanica has been present in India for over 40 years operating in the Indian region. In the last four decades Finmeccanica has developed long term relationships with Indian partners and participated in many pioneering projects, including supplying radar and communications systems, military and civil helicopters, civil aircrafts and naval systems. Finmeccanica currently has significant partnerships with key public companies such as Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL), Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) as well as with private companies such as Tata Sons and HCL. It continues to strengthen existing partnerships by value additions and constant upgradation and establishing new partnerships thereby contributing to increasing self reliance of the defence industry. Finmeccanica is also looking forward to joint development projects with DRDO and other R&D labs.Oto Melara, a company of the Finmeccanica group, involved in the design and production of small and medium calibre naval guns, and BHEL are producing a 76 mm naval gun. The Indian Navy has appointed Bhel as the production agency the 127 mm large calibre gun.Ansaldo STS India, a company of the Finmeccanica group, employs close to 280 people in India and provides signalling and control technology for the railways.Finmeccanica also has an important collaboration with BDL for torpedo counter-measure technology.Last year the company received orders exceeding $ 700 million from India. This includes an order for 12 VVIP helicopters.
Follow @MACHINISTIN
Follow MACHINIST.IN on Facebook


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To keep costs under control, Fanning suggests keeping plumbing lines where they're at. Prices increase dramatically when homeowners want a big jetted or sunken tub, or if they want to reconfigure the plumbing lines, because it usually means breaking into the concrete slab.
If the bathroom has original copper plumbing that doesn't leak, it often doesn't need to be replaced. Galvanized steel pipes are known to rust, requiring copper replacement. A homeowner can sometimes save on costs by keeping a few of the original pieces, such as the shower valve or tub. "If it's a good valve, I say leave it in," Fanning adds.
Fitting today's stuff-laden lifestyles into a mid-century bath can be a challenge. "Eichler baths are all roughly five by eight (feet), and it's really hard to find space," says designer Sue Olson of Sue R. Olson Designs, a design and cabinetry dealer based in Menlo Park.
If you're desperate to have a larger spa-like bath, seek opportunities for expansion within areas surrounding the bathroom. One way to do this is by re-configuring the closets near the bathroom to 'create' more room for the space. In some homes, there are closets around the bathroom that aren't very efficient in their configuration.
To make the most of storage space, many space planners also look at stud cavities. "Try to consolidate storage as much as possible to one area or wall," says designer Lourdes Garcia. "The bathroom is perceived to be larger just by cleaning up the elements within the space." Overhead storage areas around the perimeter also help, and they take up less room from the floor space.
Sometimes, finding space is more about tricking the eye than adding square footage. A bath can appear larger by eliminating miscellaneous center walls and adding seamless glass walls around the shower. Large windows and skylights also help to enlarge a space visually.
San Mateo Highlands Eichler owners Barry and Rosemary Brisco did just that. For their master bath project, which was part of a full-house remodel with general contractor Calvert Ventures, they removed the wall between the sink area and the toilet/shower area. A window was put into the wall behind the sink, and the wall on the exterior side of the shower area was replaced with an aluminum-framed glass door. Custom bamboo cabinets helped to maximize space in the adjacent walk-in closet.
As a special addition, the couple added an outdoor shower just beyond the bath. "We use it almost every day no matter what the weather," says Barry. "It's just a delightful experience to shower outdoors."
An innovative sink design also helped the Briscos to capture more visual space. Instead of a traditional vanity, the couple chose a sink formed from a single piece of glass that is suspended from the wall. To make up for the lack of under-sink storage, they added additional drawers immediately to the left in the closet.
"I used to think the bathroom space was so small before the remodel, but now I never get the sense I'm cramped -- even when Barry's in there with me," Rosemary says. "I think the sink has made a big difference in giving a sense of more space because it's empty underneath it."
If you're lucky enough to have the budget, and your local building authority will allow it, a home addition on the ground level might be a smart direction for achieving more square footage. In some cases, it's actually more cost effective than remodeling the existing bathroom, says designer Sue Olson.
Olson facilitated an addition for one Palo Alto family who wanted to include a steam shower and a walk-in closet in the master bath. The addition allowed the family to do both. "The additional space also allowed us to put in a row of cabinets, so now there's plenty of storage," she says.
Once the logistics and budget are determined, choosing fixtures and surfaces is the next task. Although a less expensive remodel is possible by incorporating fiberglass fixtures or veneered particleboard vanities, keep in mind you get what you pay for. Experienced contractors recommend either plywood or solid wood cabinetry that will resist water and daily wear and tear.
Toilets can range in price from $100 to $1,500, but a decent mid-range product will do the job and last a long time. Even if you're on a tight budget, plan to spend up for some of the bath's key workhorses: quality shower doors that won't rust, well-made faucets, and hardware.
Danny and Alison Benaderet, Cliff May Rancho owners in Long Beach, learned the hard way that low-budget products often lead to less-than-perfect results. The couple remodeled their master bath twice after inexpensive products failed in their first remodel.


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School of Music
Guzzetta Hall
139 E. Buchtel Ave.
Akron, OH 44325-1002
Tel: 330-972-7590 330-972-8301
Fax: 330-6409
Email: email@example.com
Website: School of Music
Tags: art concerts music music education
Need to add an office or correct some information?
Use the Offices & Departments online request form.
Visit our Campus map for driving directions and more information.


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Plastic/ Cosmetic Surgeon- Dr. Milan Doshi
Indian Board-Certified Plastic Cosmetic Surgeon with International expertise and qualification Dr. Milan Doshi will reverse this potentially embarrassing condition, allowing you to lead a more fulfilled and comfortable life. In the last few years, a greater level of improvement has been seen in medical technologies, medication and anesthesia, eliminating the risks and fears. A detailed consultation with the cosmetic surgeon can help you further.
Dr. Milan Doshi has an extensive experience in Cosmetic surgery and often guides physicians from all over the country about the surgical techniques. He is aware of all the modern treatments that are used in his field of expertise. Moreover, he makes sure that he is continuously upgrading his knowledge and skills by attending workshops and seminars.
Dr. Doshi's approach is to ensure that the person achieves total well-being – peace, happiness, and fulfilment. While beautifying the person from outside, he makes sure that the person feels beautiful from within. He believes in providing a level of satisfaction and harmony unparalleled by other Cosmetic surgery surgeons.
Known as one of the top Cosmetic surgery surgeons in India, Dr. Doshi uses highly advanced methods and provides unique guidance to the patients for their complete satisfaction. He has a vast experience as a Cosmetic surgery doctor, who understands the patients' requirement and suggests them the best treatment to help them achieve aesthetically-pleasing, youthful and natural results. He has successfully performed Cosmetic surgery operations for many.
He is a founder and Medical Director at Vardan Nursing Home (Goregaon East) and Allure Medspa (Andheri West), respectively. He ensures that each of his patients is given the most suitable treatment and personalized care for their optimum satisfaction.
Why do you need to fly to India?
India has captured the trend of cosmetic surgery and the need behind it well. In India, you will find a rare combination of technologically supported services and personalized care. Moreover, there are no language and communication issues in India. Cosmetic surgeries, since high in demand, can fetch an affordable deal. Another good reason to fly to India for surgery is to save duty, which is imposed otherwise on cosmetic surgeries done in other countries.
This is a right time to book your tickets and save some good bucks!
Cosmetic Surgery in Mumbai, India costs relatively less compared to regions like the UAE and other parts of the world. Medical tourists from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah travel the most to India.
Key factors:
- Affordable
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- Feel at home atmosphere
- Highly qualified surgeons and staff
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- Can be combined with holiday/business trip
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Please take a moment to review some of his results before and after surgery photos. These results prove just the beginning. Because quality, results, and the overall experience of Cosmetic surgery begin first and foremost with you, the patient, and it is Aesthetic Surgeon Dr. Doshi's goal to help you not only love the results of your surgery, but also enjoy the process.
He focuses on you, and provides the finest personal service and facilities so that you will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambiance. Top Aesthetic Surgeon Mr. Doshi has been innovate in designing new instruments, simulators and advanced cosmetic surgical techniques. While Dr. Milan Doshi's qualifications and training attest to his knowledge, it's his surgical skills and his dedication to excellence and commitment to personalized, quality care that is the basis of his greatest recognition.
Dr. Doshi established Allure medspa with one specific goal – to break down the traditional doctor-patient barrier and create an environment where patients feel comfortable and relaxed. Dr. Milan Doshi treats every patient as if they are family members. In fact, many patients comment that talking in his consultation room is like sitting around the kitchen table with good friends.
Doshi's Allure Medspa is one of the biggest ISO 2001:2008 Certified Cosmetic surgery center. With a worry-free approach, Allure Medspa will ensure your cosmetic enhancement goes exactly the way you want it to.
You are in safe hands!
Dr Milan Doshi – Certificates


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Directe contactpersoon voor Lindab producten in uw land
Foto 1/4
With Pinnab's help, we now have indoor climate system that is based on simplicity, energy saving and very good air quality. The air in the house is changed about three times an hour and everyone who visits us quite spontaneously comments on what fresh air we have here. In the room where we have heating panels, we also completely avoid having downdraughts at the windows and gain a comfort that I think surpasses expensive insulating glass. "We are also seeing already how the heating costs have gone down quite dramatically. Obviously, we are very pleased with the comfortable ventilation and heating in our house!" says Pierre Spiridon, the owner of Villa Sigtuna.


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any body implemented set operations using Sugar CRM Rest API..?
Welcome to the Java Programming Forums
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any body implemented set operations using Sugar CRM Rest API..?
Welcome to the forum.
Did you have a problem with some code you forgot to post?
Thread moved from "Whats wrong with my code?"
Please visit the Announcements page for a brief on forum usage, especially number 9.
Thanks for your reply
actually, i wanted to set a relationship between 2 modules of SugarCRM using Rest API. Function name is set_relationship.
here is the code sample
/////Start Java Code
SugarSession session = client.getSugarSession(new SugarCredentials("admin", "admin"));
String moduleName="Accounts",linkFieldName="Contacts";
//First set_entry()
HashMap<String,String> values=new HashMap<String,String>();
String moduleId= client.setBean(session, moduleName,values);
SugarBean moduleBean = client.getBean(session, moduleName, moduleId);
assertEquals(moduleName, moduleBean.getModuleName());
//Second set_entry()
values=new HashMap<String,String>();
String relatedId= client.setBean(session, linkFieldName,values);
SugarBean linkBean= client.getBean(session, linkFieldName, relatedId);
assertEquals(linkFieldName, linkBean.getModuleName());
SetRelationshipResponse response= (SetRelationshipResponse)client.setRelationship(se ssion, moduleName,moduleId,linkFieldName.toLowerCase(),re latedId);
if (response.getFailed()==1){
throw new Exception("Set Relationship failed.");
//////end java code
it shows Created:1,Failed:0,Deleted:0.... as it must be. but the problem is that it doesn't make any relation.
I direct your attention to the link in my previous post, this time just read the whole page. Lets not make someone point out each number on the page.
Wrap your code in tags, and make it easy for us to help you.
Please be specific with the problem you are facing. "it doesn't make any relation" is not a very clear description of the problem. What does the code do? What do you expect?


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By DAVID GREEN
Beer will be served at Morenci's next Town and Country Festival. City council members voted 5-2 Monday to accept a proposal from the festival committee for a beer tent in Wakefield Park.
The proposal was opposed by council members Greg Braun and Keith Pennington.
Committee member Michelle Grieder said beer sales would be used as a fund raiser and as an effort to attract more people to the festival.
Kori Christle, also on the festival committee, told councilors that the beer tent proposal is a safer approach than the unsupervised drinking area that council has approved in the past for softball tournaments.
Council voted against a drinking area permit for this year's festival and the annual softball tournament was subsequently moved to Fayette where alcohol consumption is allowed at the ball fields.
The proposal calls for cooperation with Morenci's Eagles club. The Eagles will obtain a liquor license and use that to buy beer and supplies. The club will also purchase an insurance policy for the festival weekend.
Festival committee members will assist in the tent and the Eagles will donate half of the profits to the festival.
The beer tent will be in operation from 6 p.m. until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights during the festival.
Members of REACT, a volunteer security group, will be on hand during the sales and they will have radio contact with the Morenci Police Department. At least eight security guards are expected when the tent is open.
The location of the tent has not yet been determined, but the tent will be surrounded by two snow fences, with only one entrance/exit. A portable toilet will be located inside the tent.
Identification will be checked at the entrance and no beer will be allowed outside the tent.
Council member Dick Hewitt noted that the committee has attempted to obtain permission in the past, but councilors have stated concerns.
"It looks like they've taken care of our questions and concerns," he said.
Councilor Art Erbskorn said a commitment has already been made to Little League about having a tournament at the festival and he would be opposed to the sale of alcohol while the tournament was played.
Sue Snyder said that no one has contacted the committee about a Little League tournament and Erbskorn said that it's tentative.
"Our intent is to have a softball tournament," Snyder said, "but there's no reason we couldn't do both."
The tournament for the youngsters could be scheduled to end before 6 p.m., Snyder said.
Keith Pennington asked if those working in the tent would evaluate whether or not a person should be served additional beer.
Christle said they would and noted that committee members have had state sponsored alcohol consumption training.
Audience member Colleen Leddy said she supported Pennington's argument against issuing the permit for this year's festival, and she thanked him for it, but she was looking at the issue differently now.
"It all comes down to a value judgment," she said. "It's the people's park and it's the role of the city to support what people want."
Councilor Tracy Schell said there are many people who are opposed to alcohol sales.
"I know there are and I'm among them," Leddy said. "But maybe we need to keep the value judgment out of it and focus on the business end."
Schell said she thinks it's not just a morality issue for many people, but also concerns about safety.
"We're working to make it as safe and secure as possible," Grieder said. "We want to turn this into a positive experience."
Snyder added that it's also part of an effort to offer something for everyone.
"The thing I like about the proposal is that it will be controlled," said mayor Doug Erskin. "You've touched all the bases we asked for a year ago."
RECYLING—Pennington expressed his gratitude to the Seneca Township board for donating $3,000 again this year toward the city's recycling center. The gift is a great help toward covering the cost of operation.
He said the city would welcome contributions from other townships—something in addition to recyclables.
CEMETERY—Council approved changes to the cemetery rules, including a prohibition against the discharge of firearms except during authorized ceremonial activities. Snowmobiles and other motorized off-road vehicles are not allowed in the cemetery.
FARMER'S MARKET—Council tabled a motion to allow a once-a-week farmer's market in the city parking lot behind Borchardt Brothers grocery store.
Planning commission member Tracy Schell said that commissioner Karen Mepham asked for council's consideration of the request.
Pennington said he likes the idea as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on Borchardt's, a tax-paying business.
Schell asked for the motion to be tabled until Borchardt's was contacted.


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This little stretch of Parry Avenue, just northeast of Fair Park, isn't the street of broken dreams. Not yet, anyway. The dream here is still tangible and exciting. But it has definitely taken some hits. Parry Avenue is a bitter window on what everybody in every neighborhood is going through these days. It illustrates the tension between what Dallas always says it's going to do--get bigger, better, more international, blah blah blah, sell sell sell--vs. what actually happens. Two years ago, the volunteer agency Habitat for Humanity came in and built small, neat brick-fronted homes on both sides of Parry's 4500 block. This had been a lost pocket of southern Dallas left behind by the white flight of the 1950s, out of view, squeezed behind everybody else's freeway project and industrial park and almost totally trashed out. Ticky-tacky frame houses had fallen on their knees and elbows in the weedy gumbo soil. Some were wooden caves inhabited by drug pirates.
So here today is this tidy little avenue of sturdy working-class homes. When people open their doors, you can see the pride inside, the careful rows of bric-a-brac above the big-screen TV and the plush carpeting still remarkably fresh after two years of rampaging children.
Habitat, its volunteers and supporters, and the families who were able to move in under Habitat's income guidelines have invested heart, money, and blood, working to transform a terrain of ruin into a green pocket of decency and hope. The dream is almost there.
But it's also visibly slipping away, because the part of this scene that belongs to the city of Dallas--the street itself--looks like hell.
Two years after Habitat finished building the houses and people began moving in, there still are no curbs on this block. No gutters. No connection to a storm sewer. No sidewalks. It doesn't even look like an urban street. It looks like what you would expect to see in an all-cousin trailer park. Rain slides off the tarry surface of the street and floods up over the footpaths where sidewalks were supposed to go, turning the soil to gelatinous brown soup.
Up and down the block, in spite of the residents' efforts, there are unmistakable signs of disrespect. Someone has come in during the night and dumped trash on a vacant lot. Blowing litter is glued down in the mud on the sides of the street. It's the kind of thing you just don't see on a street that looks tight, looks right, looks like somebody's policing up the area on a regular basis.
On this particular day, two candidates are walking the block--Jeannette Brantley-Wango, running for the District 7 city council seat currently occupied by Charlotte Mayes, and Margaret Donnelly, waging a longshot campaign for mayor. Those races and all of the other city council seats will be decided in the May 1 municipal election.
Maria Ruiz, a compact woman with a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old in the house, won't immediately open the door for strangers. But when she darkens the peephole, she must spy something, perhaps the campaign literature. She changes her mind, and the door flies open.
Mrs. Ruiz, eyes lighted by a predatory gleam, sees fresh meat in front of her house--do-gooder, promise-making suits who want something from her. She rubs her hands together and starts belting it out.
The street. The curbs. The gutters. The sidewalks.
Both Donnelly and Brantley-Wango offer her political push cards covering broader topics such as economic development and public accountability, but she's not buying, not listening, not looking.
The street. The curbs. The gutters. The sidewalks.
Up and down the street today it's the same story from everyone. Abel Arriga Jr., who speaks little English, turns to Donnelly, who grew up in Venezuela, and says the same things in Spanish: "Las aceras, los arroyos."
Elaine Echols is shooing in children from the car. She moved here from Oak Cliff two years ago and loves it. "The neighborhood's wonderful," she says. "It's peaceful. It's actually quiet. Habitat's been wonderful."
But she wants to talk about the street, the curbs, the gutters, the sidewalks. Where are the sidewalks?
"I was led to believe we would have sidewalks," she says. "But right in front of our house we have holes where the water just sits if it rains. They get full of mosquitoes."
She says she has given up on the city. "I tried to contact someone, and they never even called me back. So I said OK, forget it."
The big picture is coming in loud and clear to both candidates: The big picture is at their feet. If they start talking about anything that's more than six inches off the ground, they're losing votes.
A few nights later at a candidates forum at South Oak Cliff High School, most of the men and women seeking the District 7 seat appear and give short speeches. The forum is sponsored by some union locals and ACORN, which is a Saul Alinsky-style grassroots organizing group with a long history in this part of the city. The evening's theme is supposed to be "A Living Wage." The sponsors want all the candidates to sign a pledge saying that, if elected, they will vote in favor of an ordinance requiring the city of Dallas to do business only with contractors willing to pay at least $8 to $9 an hour for labor.
The rhetoric is nostalgically New Left: "A hiring hall, controlled by the community, should be established to help move people into these jobs," according to fliers distributed at the door.
Put to music, Pete Seeger could sing it.
For some reason, the event is moved at the last minute from the main auditorium to a large classroom upstairs. Approximately 75 people are jammed in the room; it's hot; the a.c. hasn't been turned on yet. The crowd is 90 percent black. Most people are over 40.
All of the candidates pay lip service to the living-wage issue, but each of them tries to put some jump in the house with something else. There are candidates here from all over southern Dallas, but by far the largest number are those seeking Charlotte Mayes' seat in District 7. First elected in 1991, Mayes is being forced off the council by term limits. Eight people are running for her place, which encompasses South Dallas, part of East Oak Cliff, and Buckner Terrace.
One candidate, Sharon Middlebrooks, tosses out a few tried and true semi-racial lines.
"Our parks don't look like other people's parks," she says, with a very significant roll of the eyes.
Supposedly white people get all the nice parks, and southern Dallas gets screwed. Ten years ago, that line would have had people in a room like this slapping their hands on their student desktops and saying "that's right, Sharon."
Tonight she gets a muted "Umm-hmm."
Roy Williams is here, one of the two plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit that overthrew the old, white-dominated at-large council system and established all single-member districts in 1991. That was eight years ago, and his face time is gradually wearing thin, but Williams still has clout in this room. A perennial candidate since '91, he is running in Barbara Mallory Caraway's District 6.
Williams is a tall, imposing figure with a practiced political presence. He can and does intone some of the time-honored maxims of racial politics as though he were playing a cathedral pipe organ. Tonight he edges in that direction and is greeted by stony faces and silence. He makes a quick adjustment, switches gears, talks instead about recent revelations that the incumbent, Mallory Caraway, takes campaign contributions from titty bars.
"Please, please, don't send someone back to the council who behaves that way," he rumbles.
Marvin Crenshaw, Williams' co-plaintiff in the city council suit and another famous face in southern Dallas, is running in District 7. He tries to pitch himself as the candidate most familiar with City Hall: "First of all, you need to send someone down there who knows where to go to the bathroom."
But the audience just looks confused, failing to appreciate his quip.
Brantley-Wango is one of the least-known candidates, certainly one of the greenest. But tonight, toward the end, when lots of people are nodding off at their little desks, she wades right into them and tells them all about Parry Avenue, South Boulevard, and Bonton, about the length and breadth of District 7.
"I have walked it all," she says, slowly raising a preaching finger high above her head. "And it's deplorable!"
A rumble comes up from the house. "Yes! Yes it is!"
"There is no excuse!" she shouts.
"That's right!" they shout back.
"I want something done about it!"
For the first time in a very long, hot evening, they cheer and shout, and a few even pound their desks. Clearly, in her months of walking door-to-door, Brantley-Wango has found the key to the heart of District 7.
The streets. The curbs. The gutters. The sidewalks. Las aceras. Los arroyos. Trash pick-up. Code enforcement. The part the city is supposed to do.
People here this evening pay respect to Williams and Crenshaw, offering a certain deference. The lawsuit was good. But it's history. Everybody has seen African-American council members on TV giving the white folks hell down there for decades.
But how about some new curbs? How about something we can see, something for which there are no excuses?
Welcome to the era of post-racial city council politics.
Of the eight people seeking the District 7 seat, the two most frequently viewed as front-runners are Joyce Strickland and Leo Chaney.
Strickland, 52, founder of Mothers Against Teen Violence, is the clear choice of the Dallas Citizens Council, the white business group that holds secret meetings and funnels money into campaigns. She is a very moving stump speaker.
Chaney, 49, has deep family roots in southern Dallas and a longtime job with DISD, has served on boards and commissions for years, and is easily the best-trained of the lot in politics and city procedure. He is probably acceptable to members of the Citizens Council because of his experience, and he has garnered some modest support from them.
In a very close third place is Sharon Middlebrooks, who is young, bright, and comes across as sincere. She is a repeat candidate with some track record in the community. She describes herself as a housing manager and consultant. Her record as an apartment manager is marred by a major censure from HUD three years ago for running a crack-house hellhole apartment complex. She blames all of that on the owners of the property, and HUD officials concede she may have a point.
Further from the pack is Marvin Crenshaw, a perennial, apparently running to shave some votes off Strickland, but it's not clear for whom. Finally, there are three marginal candidates, including one who never shows up for anything and another whose stump speech is that he comes from Gary, Indiana. He says that's a good thing.
Of the eight, the wild card is Brantley-Wango.
Jeannette Brantley-Wango lives in a gracious restored home on South Boulevard in the heart of old South Dallas. She was born here 52 years ago, step-daughter of the Rev. P.T. Shaw, pastor of Ideal Missionary Baptist Church and one of the old preacher-powerbrokers of legend. She went through Catholic school in Dallas and graduated from Madison High in 1962, then attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
A stint on Canadian television launched her on a successful international career as a jazz singer. She came back to Dallas in 1982, when her Swedish husband's employer sent him here to check out the real estate market. Since returning, she has entertained in the area and was involved in a short-lived attempt to revive the Green Parrot, a Dallas jazz nightspot.
Her decision to run for Mayes' seat was inspired by an editorial in The Dallas Morning News calling for greater citizen involvement. But she has taken a line on local issues somewhat at odds with the News' support of the so-called "big ticket" public endeavors--specifically the project to rebuild the Trinity River, the sports arena, and the wooing of the 2012 Olympics. It's a line that might seem to pit her against many in the black community, whose votes have been counted on to push most of those items over the top at the polls. More than any of the other seven candidates, Brantley-Wango has been saying straight-out that the big-ticket deals may be the reason why the little-ticket things--the curbs, the gutters, the sidewalks--never get done.
It did not take long for her to find out how very unpopular that kind of talk is with the money boys downtown.
One recent afternoon, Brantley-Wango was on her way to City Hall to take part in a joint press conference with several community leaders who were raising questions about the river project. She was pulling out of the driveway on South Boulevard, in fact, when her phone rang back at the house. Her husband, Hans, took the call. On the other end was Bill Ceverha, former weatherman and Republican activist and a frequent spokesman for the Stemmons family interests pushing the river deal.
Hans Wango says Ceverha was excited. "He said to me, 'Jeannette's not going to that press conference, is she?' I said, 'Yes, I think that's where she's going.' He said, 'Well, that's a very big mistake. She's going to cut herself off from a lot of funding if she does that.' He asked me if she had a cell phone in her car so I could stop her. I said she didn't."
Brantley-Wango, who has known Ceverha and his wife for years, was angered when her husband told her about the call.
"Can you imagine that?" she asks, still fuming a week later. "I wasn't even saying it was a bad deal. I was just asking for more information so we could know what kind of a deal it is."
Ceverha, who has been around a lot more politics than Brantley-Wango, readily admits he told her husband she wasn't going to get any help from him if she took part in an anti-river event, even one raising questions about the river deal. And he wonders how she failed to understand that.
"That's true," he says of Hans Wango's recollection of the call. "I said that. Jeannette and I had visited. We're old friends. I've been trying to help her raise some money. But I've been working on the river thing for six or seven years. This is a major issue for me. I'm amazed she didn't know that."
Brantley-Wango says she did know Ceverha was pushing the river deal. She points out that when she spoke at City Hall, she said only that the people pushing for the deal needed to come clean with the public on all of the project's costs.
In her eyes, it's simple. Money is finite. The city can only sell so many bonds at one time. In order to know where her district stands, she has to know what the big-ticket items are really going to cost.
There are ways to focus on District 7 in southern Dallas and see it as worse off, in terms of what the city does for it, than other parts of town. For example, according to the most recent data published by the city showing how districts compare, District 7 and its neighbor to the west, District 6, share bottom place for the percentage of code-enforcement cases that get resolved by the city. These usually are cases in which a property has deteriorated badly and the neighbors are complaining. Getting it resolved means either getting it fixed or having it demolished.
But many poor people live in the southern and western ends of the district. It has twice the citywide ratio of people with incomes under $12,500, twice the ratio of houses worth less than $25,000, and significantly more elderly people and people without high school diplomas. It makes sense that more properties might deteriorate here and that the surrounding community might be less aggressive about dealing with it.
All of the candidates and most people in the district who have tried to deal with City Hall only shake their heads when the name of Councilwoman Charlotte Mayes is mentioned. Mayes has been famous during her four terms in office for not returning phone calls.
"I think the effectiveness of the representation has been a major issue," Chaney says.
It's also possible to focus on District 7 another way. From this other perspective, District 7 still has terrible problems, but its terrible problems are no worse than the rest of the city's terrible problems. The issue of streets is a good illustration.
Even by the city's own generous estimate of its own performance, almost one-third of the streets in District 7 are in substandard condition. The amount of the district's streets deemed by the city to be in "satisfactory condition" is 69 percent. And if that's what the city is willing to admit about conditions out there, one can only assume the truth is much worse. Anyone who has driven around Dallas recently knows what "substandard" means: gaping potholes, broken and eroded curbs, cracks, cheap blacktop patches all over the place, big old steel plates that have been left in the street for years. All in all, a teeth-rattling surface that seems to put 10 miles on a car for every mile driven.
But at 69 percent, District 7 is doing pretty well, compared with District 11, around Dallas' crown jewel Galleria area, where the ratio is only 60 percent satisfactory. And 11 does quite a bit better than District 2, in the very heart of the city and downtown, perhaps the city's most visited area, where the ratio is only 53 percent.
But all of the districts should feel sorry for Mary Poss' District 9, in affluent northeast Dallas and Lake Highlands. There the ratio is less than half good.
In fact, when the southern districts are compared with the northern districts, the south does better, at an overall average of about 64 percent satisfactory. The northern average is 59 percent.
The underlying reality, of course, is that the citywide average is 62 percent.
And that stinks. Everywhere.
Here is the mystery: For some reason, even though these are fat times and the local economy has been boiling for several years, even though real estate values have been steadily rising citywide and money has been rolling into city coffers, the city of Dallas can't even begin to get to the basic repairs it needs to make in the streets.
The answer to the heartache of Parry Avenue is not that racist or mean-spirited city officials have conspired to deprive a poor benighted block in South Dallas of what everybody else gets. Nobody gets curbs these days.
Jim Pate, regional executive director of Habitat for Humanity, speaks very carefully about city staff. He points out that he must work with them day in and day out. But he also seems not to blame them for what happens.
"As far as sidewalks go," he says on the phone, "we always put the sidewalks in ourselves in front of our houses."
So why didn't he put in sidewalks on Parry Avenue?
"According to code, you can't put in a sidewalk unless there's a curb and gutter there. I've never gotten a clear explanation of why that's the case. But I guess they don't want the sidewalk to be too far away or too close to the curb."
So why isn't there a curb and gutter?
He explains that curbs and gutters are the city's responsibility on "dedicated streets"--that is, streets that already exist, as opposed to brand-new streets created by developers out in the suburbs.
The city, he explains, isn't installing the curbs and gutters because it is several years behind on such projects. Even if it did finally install them, the city would assess homeowners on the block up to $750 a household for the work, as if it were a repair.
Federal money is available to pay for the work, so that no assessment would be necessary, but the city administers the federal grant programs so slowly that the wait is four years or more, even after a grant has been made. David Dybala, head of public works for the city, could not be reached for comment on the Parry Avenue situation.
Pate explains it with a related story. In the Bonton area of District 7, south of Highway I75 at Bexar Street, Habitat ran into a similar situation a few years ago. There were no city curbs or gutters. The city wouldn't allow Habitat to build sidewalks.
In that case, when Habitat finished building its houses, it went to the city for certificates of occupancy. Pate says, "The building inspector told us, 'I can't give you a green tag [certificate of occupancy], because you don't have sidewalks.'
"We went up the line to somebody and said, 'Hey, look, you guys are the reason we don't have sidewalks. Give us a break.'
"Well, they agreed it was kind of ridiculous. The cost to us of putting in sidewalks, by the way, is about $350 a house. So the city said what we needed to do in order to get a green tag without sidewalks was get a 'waiver of sidewalk.' Well, guess how much a waiver of sidewalk costs? You guessed it. $350."
Pate's theory--a more sophisticated version of what people tend to say when you walk door-to-door--is that when you call City Hall, you get a story. Some story. Long story, short story, good story, dumb story. But what you don't get is sidewalks. And what you never sense is an active will to get out there and help make life better.
Pate sees a universe of honest, well-intentioned city employees who have nothing to gain and everything to lose by bending a single rule a single inch. All of the incentives from above are for them to go cautiously and slowly.
"My spin is that the city council has declared affordable housing to be a matter of public priority," he says, "and that's good, but where it falls off the map is where you get to the departmental and agency level. Their hands are really tied."
But are they? Is it really a case of our political leaders wanting to do the right thing by us but being thwarted by an overcautious bureaucracy? Or is Pate too generous in his assessment of the city council?
District 7 candidate Sharon Middlebrooks, 39, suggests the people she talks to are beginning to get antsy about the political paradigm of recent years.
Since Ron Kirk's election as the city's first black mayor with principal support from the Dallas Citizens Council, all of the deals have worked the same way: The white leaders downtown go to the black community, offer a slice of the pie, and then carry the big-ticket items at the polls mainly on the backs of black southern Dallas votes. What Middlebrooks says she hears when she walks District 7 is that the bill is due. Now.
Her campaign headquarters is in a huge retail space in an aging, underoccupied mall on Buckner Boulevard near Interstate 30. It's an interesting choice, closer to the more affluent eastern extreme of her territory. A short distance north, the district begins to look much more like Poss' fashionable adjoining District 9. But what Middlebrooks says she hears from the people at the affluent end of the district is the same thing she hears from people in the poorer areas.
"They talk about traffic on Buckner, the potholes on Samuell Boulevard, how $1.6 million was approved to repair the streets in one area of the district in the 1995 bond issue and the work has still not begun. And they're not scheduled to sell the bonds until the year 2000."
This is where the rubber meets the road, in Middlebrooks' view. District 7 was one of the key districts where voters, especially in black-majority precincts, supported the mayor on the Trinity River project and the arena.
"The voters in this district feel that they have partnered with the city on the big-ticket items," she says. "Now they want the city to partner with them by delivering cost-effective city services.
"They are saying, 'Give me some of that now.' Not in the year 2000. Now."
Leo Chaney's family made money in the dry cleaning and real estate businesses. His mother was president of the black PTA when the schools were segregated. He was a member of the NAACP Youth Council formed by the late Juanita Craft, a revered civil rights leader of the '60s and '70s. Twenty years ago, he joined Kathlyn Gilliam in forming Clean South Dallas Inc., an early attempt at forming a southern Dallas political machine.
Chaney has worked on the executive staff of the Dallas Independent School District for 21 years, almost always in a community-relations capacity. He served on the City Plan Commission for eight years before resigning this year to run for city council.
"I've worked under four superintendents, and they have all supported my involvement with the city," he says quietly at a table in the fourth-floor library of DISD headquarters.
Better than any of his competitors for the District 7 seat, Chaney can speak the language of public finance, but he also hears the language of the neighborhoods.
"What I'm hearing from my district is street repairs," he says. "Repair these streets! People would like to see some old-fashioned street sweepers come and clean up the streets. It's simple everyday-type stuff, but people want it done. Now."
What Chaney sees is exactly where the big-ticket items and the curb-and-gutter items meet. Bond sales.
The mayor and the Citizens Council had their victory at the polls last year authorizing the sale of $246 million in bonds to pay for the Trinity River project. And according to legislation now being developed in Austin, voters will be asked to approve the diversion of sales taxes and the sale of additional bonds to pay for the 2012 Olympics, if not through the city then through some sports authority or other entity.
Selling bonds is a way for the city to borrow money. The public, however, has to put up the collateral--in the form of local property taxes. (A little-known aspect of the Trinity River project is that the bond vote authorized not only the bonds themselves but whatever kind of tax the city needs to levy to pay for them.)
If something happens and the bonds don't get paid off in time, local property owners must make up the deficit.
That doesn't stop the mayor and other downtown leaders from glibly saying that, if we need to fix the streets, we'll go ahead and sell bonds and do it.
What Chaney understands is that the city can only sell so many bonds at one time. Whether we call them city bonds or sports authority bonds or whatever, only a certain number of bonds can be sold with the same underlying tax base as collateral. Even after bonds have been approved at the polls, the city staggers their actual sale according to market conditions in order to get good interest rates and not damage the city's credit by borrowing too much too fast.
Chaney isn't opposed to the Trinity River project. But he wants to make sure the city will put streets and other neighborhood issues ahead of everything else--including the river deal--when it decides what kind of bonds to issue and when.
"There is a lot of concern out there about street and surface repairs," he says. "I think the Trinity is going to be a 20-year deal. So how do you prioritize selling all of these bonds? If you ask the people in my district, they will say the priority must be street repairs. Loud and clear."
That would seem to be the overwhelming consensus of almost everyone running for office in District 7. But there is one significant dissenter--the one who happens to have most of the serious Citizens Council money behind her.
Like Chaney, Joyce Strickland grew up in South Dallas and attended Dallas public schools. Unlike Chaney, she left. After finishing her bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Texas in Austin, she worked for IBM and lived in the suburbs. In 1992, when many successful young upwardly mobile African-Americans were moving back to the inner city, Strickland came back to South Dallas, only to suffer the most unbearable tragedy any parent can imagine.
A year after her return to the city, Strickland's older son and a friend were abducted and murdered. Her response was to stay where she was, leave IBM, and form Mothers Against Teen Violence. MATV has become a high-profile community-based organization providing services to people bereaved by homicide.
In raising money for MATV, Strickland has appeared before most, if not all, of the major players in corporate Dallas. She almost always puts tears in their eyes, brings them to their feet, then gets them busy writing checks. At least part of her success should be credited to their respect for her community work.
But if she didn't have their respect, her campaign would certainly be in financial trouble. In the first campaign finance report she filed, almost two-thirds of her contributions came from Citizens Council types or their generous and very civic-minded wives. (And wasn't it nice of Tom Hicks' wife to kick in $1,000 when he obviously had forgotten to do so himself?)
Her second report, filed a week after the deadline, was a more mixed picture. But it showed only $1,500 in contributions and loans, while the first one showed a total take of almost $25,000.
Twenty-five grand goes a long way in District 7. Only Sharon Middlebrooks is in the same ballpark. She also has received a number of contributions from people like Trammell Crow executive J. McDonald Williams and the Dallas Breakfast Group. But a vastly larger share of Middlebrooks' money has come in dribs and drabs from the community.
Strickland is the only one of the candidates who gets chunks like a grand from J. McDonald Williams, another grand from Williams' wife, and then two grand from Jeffrey Marcus, Tom Hicks' partner in Chancellor Media. And only Strickland says she doesn't see any conflict, tension, or contradiction between the big-ticket items and the potholes.
In her spartan office behind Mount Olive Lutheran Church on MLK Boulevard, Strickland sees the question coming:
"These funds [from the Citizens Council] were there and available to every candidate, and every candidate I know has gone after them," she says. "I don't know anybody who has said, 'I don't want your money.' These contributions were not bribes. I view them as votes of support, like letters of commendation."
She agrees that the nitty-gritty code-enforcement and street-repair issues are urgently important to her district. "That's what people talk about in the district. They talk about code enforcement before they talk about crime."
But rather than seeing a trade-off or conflict between those issues and the big-ticket deals, Strickland offers the straight Chamber of Commerce-Citizens Council line. The big-ticket programs will expand the tax base, provide centers of employment, and drive the prosperity that will eventually get the curbs fixed. A local version of the trickle-down effect.
"Many things are about to happen in southern Dallas. The Trinity River project will have major implications for the area adjoining District 7 and therefore will have implications for us," she says.
She agrees with the perception that what people get when they call City Hall is always a story, never a gutter, and that there is a tangible absence of will to go out and build a better city. She, too, believes Councilwoman Mayes let people down. But she says those are two sides of the same coin.
"The city staff gets its will from the level of advocacy that the city council member brings to the table. I would never expect a bureaucrat to say, 'Oh, I'd better take it on myself to go out there and see what needs to be done in South Dallas.'"
It's a straightforward equation: Lazy, unresponsive council member equals no help on potholes.
What she does not agree with is the perception of other candidates that people in her district are getting impatient with the big-ticket deals downtown.
"No," she says bluntly. "I do not hear that. That is not something I hear at all."
Marvin Crenshaw does. In fact, he says it's pretty much all he hears these days.
Certainly in terms of city council politics, Crenshaw, 53, is the veteran. He helped create the existing system. As a grassroots activist in the years before single-member districts, Crenshaw probably was thrown out of more council meetings than most of these other candidates have attended.
He has played some hardball, down-and-dirty racial politics in the past. He is associated in many white minds with the least pleasant aspects of Farrakhanism.
But he says the message from the streets is unmistakable: "Racial politics is over in this district," he says. "It's history."
In its place, he says, will be a more sophisticated, more demanding politics of coalition, focused on smaller, more immediate goals.
"People just know more," he says. "I supported the Trinity River, for example, but I believe that if another election was held today on it, it would not pass."
Maybe it's a good thing the Citizens Council holds its candidate screenings in secret. It might be bad for public morale actually to see it done.
According to people who were present when the District 7 candidates appeared, Strickland worked the room like it was old-home week, shaking hands all over the place and calling everybody by his or her first name. Chaney, also familiar to the moguls and possessed of the necessary graces, was similarly at ease. The rest of them sat quietly, waiting their turns.
Each had been given a questionnaire beforehand. Five questions. The first four were mainly mouthwash: What single citywide issue would you consider to be your top priority? Who else supports you? Have you ever done anything bad? "What should the role of the business community be, in your mind, in helping to set public policy?" (The implied thought is "In your mind, and only in your mind.")
But number five is what we're really here for: "What is your position on: the Trinity River project; the Olympic bid."
It couldn't be any plainer. Sure, all of the candidates want some downtown money. But this is what the downtown money is all about. The Trinity River project. The Olympic bid. You want the money? Then you had better speak positively and persuasively about the big-ticket items.
You hear people talking about curbs and gutters? Los arroyos y las aceras? Great. Tell them to wait. Otherwise, all you'll get is one of those nasty calls from Bill Ceverha.
There are different versions of what happened that day before the Citizens Council, of course. Middlebrooks suggests she thought she heard Brantley-Wango speaking pretty favorably about the Trinity River project. Brantley-Wango says that's a lie, and that Middlebrooks was the one sucking up. Strickland, of course, didn't have to suck up, and the low-key Chaney could have done it in a way that no one would notice.
But we get the picture. On one side, the people's champions. On the other, the checkbooks.
In terms of the major candidates' overall gifts and experience, this is probably one of the best council races any part of Dallas has seen since the inauguration of single-member districts eight years ago. But in this worthy field, two things make Brantley-Wango stand out.
One has to do with her years as a seasoned performer. Whether it's a press conference in the flag room at City Hall or a two-minute speech in a sweaty classroom in South Oak Cliff High School, she's very good on her feet. She has timing, poise, delivery, and intensity. She can quiet a room.
The other has to do with her lack of experience, her political greenness. She knows less than the others about the political system in Dallas, and so she is surprised and angry when the system steps on her toes.
Late one night after a political appearance, she is eating a sandwich in her living room while Hans sips a beer and watches the news. She has been doing her own research on the Trinity River project, and while she eats she is riffling through a stack of letters and documents, trying to find something she'd stumbled on earlier in the day.
It's late. She's tired. It's all still a little confused and muddled. She has been informed that some of the land supposedly protected by the Rochester Park levee still requires flood insurance, because it isn't really safe from flooding. She says she is learning from her candidate walks that most of the people in Rochester Park vehemently do not want the levees the city has said it's going to build for them.
"They want to be bought out, so they can move and live somewhere decent."
She talks again about Parry Avenue, about the efforts of Habitat and the thwarted hopes of the families.
"There is just no excuse," she says. "There is no excuse for things to be this way."
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She says again that she is convinced the real issue is that people are on the verge of seeing themselves as played for suckers. That, she says, is what lies beneath the intensity of feeling about mundane infrastructure.
"It's a powder keg," she says. "We're sitting on a powder keg."
If she can get in front of people, and if she stays on course, she would seem to be the one with the silver-bullet message.
Do something small. Do it now.
And even more interesting, if she's right about District 7, she may be right about the whole city. Maybe the challenge all along--the mission capable of uniting the city--was curbs and gutters.
And then, just think: Someday, if that works, we can go for sidewalks.


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text:
Running Cool
His hair is gray now, thick at the neck but thinning on top. The deep, gruff voice is the same. The face, tough yet charming, looks much as it did three decades ago on stage, screen and television. He is relaxed and smiling, unlike the restless, brooding, dynamic characters for which he is known. But after all these years there still exudes from his persona and from his perceptive hazel eyes, the old-fashioned, confident masculinity that is his acting trademark.
Ben Gazzara is sitting, Royal Jamaica cigar in one hand and Absolut on the rocks in the other, in the elegantly formal Polo Lounge at the Westbury Hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The lounge features red leather chairs, red carpet, paisley banquettes and rich, dark wood. Portraits of champion horses line the walls. Gazzara, however, is informal as ever, in keeping with his performing image: the collar of his blue shirt is open and his safari jacket is khaki.
"The taste of a good cigar is like the taste of good food,'' the 63-year-old actor says, taking a gentle puff. The cigar seems right, as if it has been part of him forever, an attribute of assurance, assertive yet undemanding. He has in fact been smoking cigars for more than 30 years. "I love the ritual of lighting one,'' he continues, "making sure it's good, comparing it to others. It's so relaxing. The whole posture: your head goes back; you just sort of slow down. My whole body slows down when I smoke. I'm not as wired. Cigars help me pause and reflect on things.''
Gazzara has much to reflect on. His acting career spans more than 40 years. On Broadway in the 1950s he was the original Brick, the alcoholic husband in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,'' and the drug-addicted Johnny Pope in "A Hatful of Rain." His movies include The Strange One, Anatomy of a Murder (he was the defendant represented by Jimmy Stewart), Saint Jack and Husbands with John Cassavetes and Peter Falk. His many television roles include Paul Bryan in the 1960s series "Run for Your Life,'' in which he portrayed a young man with a terminal illness who, week after week, seeks adventure after adventure to bring as much excitement as possible to his ever-dwindling existence.
Gazzara's most recent acting adventure is the movie "Parallel Lives'' for the Showtime cable network this summer; it is a tale of a university reunion in which he costars with Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Jim Belushi and Gena Rowlands.
The joy of cigars entered Gazzara's life in the early 1960s. "I used to smoke four packs of cigarettes a day,'' he says. "It was 1963. I had a whistle in my bronchial tubes, which kept me awake at night. And then the Surgeon General's report came out. I read it and I said, 'that's it. I'm never going to smoke another cigarette again.' "
But he soon found that cigars were a different story. The Surgeon General didn't warn against them, and Gazzara decided to try one. He began simply. "I started with Tiparillos,'' he says with a laugh. "Remember Tiparillos? It was like smoking paper.''
His tastes soon improved. "I went to Dunhill in Beverly Hills and I bought some good Caribbean cigars,'' he says. "Then I bought a humidor, a beautiful, big, mahogany humidor. And I starting sending for Cuban cigars wherever I could find them. So it became a hobby that started for two cents and turned expensive. Fine cigars are expensive. Taste is what ruins you. Good taste is going to cost you money.''
But he thinks it is worth it. "Most especially there's the pleasure of not inhaling,'' he says. "Not having to inhale to enjoy a smoke.''
These days his cigar choices are eclectic. "I adore Montecristo No. 1's from Havana. Whenever I get to Spain I load up on them and find a way to get them into this country.'' But like all cigar smokers, Gazzara's indulgences are diminished by a dearth of smoke-friendly venues.
So he has come up with a strategy. "I smoke these small cigars because sometimes I can fool restaurateurs and patrons into thinking they're cigarettes. The small cigars don't seem as obtrusive. People don't seem as annoyed as when they see those big stogies.'' The strategy works sometimes. "But sometimes I get caught. There's always someone in the room who doesn't appreciate the good things in life and thinks he or she can live forever." When he is asked to extinguish the cigar he is polite and quietly does so.
"I'm smoking a small Royal Jamaica, which I got at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, one of the civilized places in the world. They allow you to smoke cigars of any kind during dinner in any room. But except for a few other places--Elaine's, Le Cirque--restaurants are denying us the pleasure of having a cigar after dinner.''
At most restaurants, men are more often the complainers. "Women usually are nice,'' he says. "The cigar reminds them of when their fathers smoked. Most of the time the women say they love the smell of cigars.''
Gazzara and his wife of 13 years, Elke Stuckmann Gazzara ("my third and last marriage''), have an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, a home in Sag Harbor, New York, and a villa in Italy, where he lives about half the year and where he has made many movies in the past decade. "They're the kind of movies the Italians love, but that don't travel. You go where they love you.''
He says he smokes freely at home "unlike some guys, whose wives won't allow them. But I have to be honest. When my wife and I first were romancing, there would never be a comment about the cigar. Now I sometimes see her making a face and waving the smoke away. I sense the beginning of something, that there's going to be a complaint. But there haven't been any so far.''
Gazzara also enjoys a drink with his cigar. "I have returned after some years to the pleasure of a Martini before dinner. I think it's the greatest drink ever invented. Of course, you shouldn't drink too many of them.''
He also enjoys good wine with dinner. His Italian villa is in Umbria, about halfway between Florence and Rome--south of the medieval city of Todi, "which was once voted the most livable city in the world,'' in the region that includes Perugia, Orvieto and Spoleto. He is particularly partial to Umbrian wine. "The basis of Umbrian wine is the Sangiovese grape,'' he says, "which is very mellow, like a Merlot. Among the reds, Rubesco is particularly good. So is the Sangiovese wine itself. And there are many labels that you don't see [in the United States].''
Tuscan wines catch Gazzara's eye as well. "Last night at the American Hotel, which has a wine list par excellence that includes $1,400 bottles, I found a $25 bottle of Montepulciano 1990 that was superb.'' He also likes French white wines. "Italian whites are lightweight,'' he opines. "French whites have much more body. And of course French Bordeaux is exquisite, if you want to sit down to dinner and spend $400 on a bottle of wine.''
Despite all his years of success, Gazzara still finds a bit of amazement in the fact that he, the scion of a working-class family, can sit these days and talk about $1,400 wines. He was born a mere 45 blocks from where he is sitting, but it might as well have been a universe away.
His first home was a cold-water flat on East 29th Street between First and Second avenues. His parents, Antonio and Angela Gazzara, were Sicilian immigrants, and Ben spoke Italian before he learned English. His baptismal name was Biago Anthony, but from an early age he was always Ben. His father, who died when Ben was a child, was a roofer and carpenter.
"I wouldn't call it poverty,'' he says, "but it was a constant struggle. There was no steam heat. There was a coal-burning potbelly stove. When you got up to go to school in the winter and touched your feet to the floor it was difficult because the linoleum was ice cold. Once in a while my mother would say she wasn't hungry, because there wasn't enough food for everybody. But in the main I remember my childhood with great warmth, because our block was a real community. It was like a small town, half Irish and half Italian. There was animosity between the two groups, but there was also respect. And you were watched all the time. You were taken care of by surrogate fathers and surrogate mothers, the people who lived on the block, who made sure you kept your nose clean.''
Across the street from his tenement flat was the Madison Square Boys' Club, the organization that shaped his future. "A man named Howard Sinclair was in charge of the drama group,'' Gazzara remembers. "One day, I saw a friend of mine in a play. I hadn't even known he was rehearsing it. I listened to all the applause he got and I was jealous, so I told him to get me an audition. I had a deep voice even then, and Howard Sinclair gave me a role as a 72-year-old, bearded Arab in a play by Lord Dunsany. And that did it for me. The smells of the theater. The glue. The pancake makeup. And I got applause. So I knew I had to be an actor. I was in play after play. He gave me leading roles. I sat at his feet as he read Shakespeare. He became like a second father.''
After finishing eighth grade at parochial school, Gazzara was accepted at Stuyvesant High School, an elite New York City school specializing in science and math, for which entrance is by competitive examination. "It was a disaster for me,'' he says. "I thought I was bright. I was bright. I was even in a class that would graduate in three years instead of the usual four. But the other kids in the class! My God, what came out of their mouths! They were Einsteins. I'm sure one or two of them have won the Nobel Prize.''
Gazzara would spend his days dreaming--dreaming of becoming an actor. He would cut classes and go to the movies to see his favorite performers: John Garfield, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson. "I had this acting illness and I could not get over it.''
He left Stuyvesant after two years and returned to Catholic school. Then he spent two years at City College. "I told my mother I wanted to be an engineer. What I did was dabble in courses I wanted to take: history, literature and especially drama.''
Then one day he found a place called the Dramatic Workshop, which was headed by legendary German director Erwin Piscator, who had fled the Nazis during the Second World War. The Dramatic Workshop's members had included Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Rod Steiger and Shelley Winters. They had all moved on to the Actors Studio, which was led by Lee Strasberg and was the home of Method acting. So did Gazzara. "And there's where I really started my career.''
Gazzara's first Broadway role, at 23, was as Jocko de Paris, a psychopathic sadist, in "End as a Man,'' based on a novel by Calder Willingham set in a Southern military academy. He was an instant success and he proved that the success was no fluke when Elia Kazan cast him in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Following "Cat'' came "A Hatful of Rain'' and then movies and television, including "Run for Your Life,'' which Gazzara unhesitatingly admits he "did for the money.''
Gazzara's more recent television appearances include "An Early Frost,'' one of the first films to deal with the AIDS crisis, in which he portrayed an AIDS victim's father. In the theater he has starred with his good friend Al Pacino in a two-character play, "Chinese Coffee,'' which they performed in Stamford, Connecticut. "The thought is that when we both have time, we're going to take it to a few places,'' he says. "Places like New York, Los Angeles and London.''
One thing he would very much like to do is direct. "I directed a film in Bali some years ago for an Italian producer and I really liked doing it. I'm working on developing something. You have to keep on working. John Cassavetes used to say to me that he invented work--that if he sat down he would die.''
Looking back on his long career, Gazzara says he has only one regret: "I turned down a lot of movies because I was so idealistic. I was so pure. I didn't really take advantage of the opportunities.'' If he had the same chances today, he says he would take them all because you never know where they will lead.
"Here's a perfect example. In 1979, the director Terence Young called me. I had just made a movie for him called Bloodlines with Audrey Hepburn. He asked me to come and star in South Korea in a movie called Inchon. I knew that working with Terence was wonderful. The picture might not work, but you would have a good time. You would have caviar and Champagne and the living would be good and you would be paid top dollar. But then I read the script and I said no. It was difficult to say no to a friend, but I did.''
A month later, however, Young called again. "He said to me, 'Are you stupid, dear boy? Larry is coming to do it'--Larry Olivier--'and you're not going to do it?' So I said, 'OK, Terence, I'll be there.' And I went.''
The movie turned out to be very forgettable, but the experience was not. In fact, it was memorable in a way that would permanently affect Gazzara's life. It was proof positive that one never knows where something will lead.
"The point of the story is that that's where I met my wife, who changed my life. At that time I was so unhappy. I don't know if I would have changed without her. If Terence had just accepted my first refusal, I'd probably be dead now.''
The woman he would marry was in South Korea producing a television program for Young about the making of the movie. "She was supposed to meet me at the airport to welcome me,'' Gazzara says, "but she became ill. She had never heard of me. She made a sign for the guy who met me to hang up. It said Beng Azzara. I fell in love with her.''
He concludes this proves that one must have a positive attitude. He declares he most certainly has. He takes a puff of his Royal Jamaica, savors the flavor and releases the smoke. "These days,'' Gazzara says, "I turn nothing down.''
Least of all, a good cigar.
Mervyn Rothstein is a reporter for The New York Times.


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Drug information provided by: IBM Micromedex
Medicine containing pyrethrins is used to treat head, body, and pubic lice infections. This medicine is absorbed by the lice and destroys them by acting on their nervous systems. It does not affect humans in this way. The piperonyl butoxide is included to make the pyrethrins more effective in killing the lice. This combination medicine is known as a pediculicide.
This medicine is available without a prescription.
This product is available in the following dosage forms:
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For this medicine, the following should be considered:
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.
Although there is no specific information comparing use of pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide combination in children with use in other age groups, this medicine is not expected to cause different side effects or problems in children than it does in adults.
Many medicines have not been studied specifically in older people. Therefore, it may not be known whether they work exactly the same way they do in younger adults. Although there is no specific information comparing use of pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide combination medicine in the elderly with use in other age groups, this medicine is not expected to cause different side effects or problems in older people than it does in younger adults.
There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. Tell your healthcare professional if you are taking any other prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicine.
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of this medicine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:
Pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide combination medicine usually comes with patient directions. Read them carefully before using this medicine.
Use this medicine only as directed. Do not use more of it and do not use it more often than recommended on the label. To do so may increase the chance of absorption through the skin and the chance of side effects.
Keep pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide combination medicine away from the mouth and do not inhale it. This medicine is harmful if swallowed or inhaled.
To lessen the chance of inhaling this medicine, apply it in a well-ventilated room (for example, one with free flowing air or with a fan turned on).
Keep this medicine away from the eyes and other mucous membranes, such as the inside of the nose, mouth, or vagina, because it may cause irritation. If you accidentally get some in your eyes, flush them thoroughly with water at once.
Do not apply this medicine to the eyelashes or eyebrows . If they become infected with lice, check with your doctor.
To use the gel or solution form of this medicine:
To use the shampoo form of this medicine:
After rinsing and drying, use a nit removal comb (special fine-toothed comb, usually included with this medicine) to remove the dead lice and eggs (nits) from hair.
Immediately after using this medicine, wash your hands to remove any medicine that may be on them.
This medicine should be used again in 7 to 10 days after the first treatment in order to kill any newly hatched lice.
Lice can easily move from one person to another by close body contact. This can happen also by direct contact with such things as clothing, hats, scarves, bedding, towels, washcloths, hairbrushes and combs, or the hair of infected persons. Therefore, all members of your household should be examined for lice and receive treatment if they are found to be infected.
To use this medicine for pubic (crab) lice:
The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.
The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.
Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Do not keep outdated medicine or medicine no longer needed.
To prevent reinfection or spreading of the infection to other people, good health habits are also required. These include the following:
Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.
Check with your doctor as soon as possible if any of the following side effects occur:
Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Portions of this document last updated: Feb. 01, 2020
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/pyrethrum-extract-and-piperonyl-butoxide-topical-route/precautions/drg-20068537
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