3-10-06
hhhhmmmm,.!
good morning kids! look at this....
Chicago Requires Driver's Ed for the Blind
Friday, March 10, 2006 11:09 AM EST
The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) Most high school students eagerly await the day they pass driver's education class. But 16-year-old Mayra Ramirez is indifferent about it.
Ramirez is blind, yet she and dozens of other visually impaired sophomores in Chicago schools are required to pass a written rules-of-the-road exam in order to graduate a rule they say takes time away from subjects they might actually use.
"In other classes, you don't really feel different because you can do the work other people do," Ramirez said. "But in driver's ed, it does give us the feeling we're different. In a way, it brought me down, because it reminds me of something I can't do."
Hundreds of school districts in Illinois require students to pass driver's ed, although the state only requires that districts offer the courses. A state education official says districts that require it should exempt disabled students.
"It defies logic to require blind students to take this course," Meta Minton, spokeswoman for the state Board of Education, told the Chicago Tribune in a Friday story.
About 30 students at two Chicago high schools with programs for the visually impaired recently formed an advocacy group in part to change the policy.
A Chicago Public Schools official said the district would be open to waiving the requirement.
"I can't explain why up to this point no one has raised the issue and suggested a better way for visually impaired students to opt out of driver's ed," said Chicago schools spokesman Michael Vaughn.
Vaughn said parents of disabled students can, by law, request a change in their child's individual education plan, which could include a driver's ed exemption. But teachers and students said that is a little-known option, and that they have been told driver's ed is required to graduate.
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Deputy Shoots Himself at Firearms Exercise
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 5:41 PM EST
The Associated Press
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP) A Wood County sheriff's deputy who is a firearms instructor accidentally shot himself in the leg during a live firearms exercise at a police firing range.
The Wood County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident, which occurred Tuesday night at the firing range near the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport.
Deputy Jeff Hamric was returning his gun to its holster after firing it when the weapon discharged, Sheriff Ken Merritt said.
"It discharged, the bullet went through the bottom of his calf, bounced off the bone and lodged in his ankle," Merritt said.
Merritt said it was not clear whether proper steps had been taken to secure the weapon.
Hamric remained hospitalized Wednesday at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg.
Information from: Todd Baucher/WTAP-TV, www.wtap.com
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No Takers for Malaysian Bigfoot Permits
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 2:09 PM EST
The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Apparently nobody wants to meet Bigfoot.
The Malaysian Forestry Department says there are no takers for permits on offers to explore a protected forest for the mythical creature, despite initial excitement over reported sightings of the beast, The Star newspaper reported Wednesday.
Authorities printed 500 application forms anticipating a rush, but none has been filled, Che Hashim Hassan, the department's director in the southern state of Johor, was quoted as saying.
The Malaysian media has been gripped by Bigfoot fever since November 2005, when fish farm workers reported seeing three giant human-like creatures in the Endau Rompin park in Johor. They also claimed to have seen a gigantic footprint.
Park officials combed the site but found no physical evidence of a Bigfoot. However, they recorded more reports of sightings from aboriginal villagers who live on the park's fringes.
"We thought that with all the interest in Bigfoot, we would have a lot of inquiries from the public," Che Hashim said. "However, this is not the case."
Tourism officials said they planned to use the interest in Bigfoot to draw tourists to Malaysia.
hhhhmmmm,.!
good morning kids! look at this....
Chicago Requires Driver's Ed for the Blind
Friday, March 10, 2006 11:09 AM EST
The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) Most high school students eagerly await the day they pass driver's education class. But 16-year-old Mayra Ramirez is indifferent about it.
Ramirez is blind, yet she and dozens of other visually impaired sophomores in Chicago schools are required to pass a written rules-of-the-road exam in order to graduate a rule they say takes time away from subjects they might actually use.
"In other classes, you don't really feel different because you can do the work other people do," Ramirez said. "But in driver's ed, it does give us the feeling we're different. In a way, it brought me down, because it reminds me of something I can't do."
Hundreds of school districts in Illinois require students to pass driver's ed, although the state only requires that districts offer the courses. A state education official says districts that require it should exempt disabled students.
"It defies logic to require blind students to take this course," Meta Minton, spokeswoman for the state Board of Education, told the Chicago Tribune in a Friday story.
About 30 students at two Chicago high schools with programs for the visually impaired recently formed an advocacy group in part to change the policy.
A Chicago Public Schools official said the district would be open to waiving the requirement.
"I can't explain why up to this point no one has raised the issue and suggested a better way for visually impaired students to opt out of driver's ed," said Chicago schools spokesman Michael Vaughn.
Vaughn said parents of disabled students can, by law, request a change in their child's individual education plan, which could include a driver's ed exemption. But teachers and students said that is a little-known option, and that they have been told driver's ed is required to graduate.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Deputy Shoots Himself at Firearms Exercise
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 5:41 PM EST
The Associated Press
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP) A Wood County sheriff's deputy who is a firearms instructor accidentally shot himself in the leg during a live firearms exercise at a police firing range.
The Wood County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident, which occurred Tuesday night at the firing range near the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport.
Deputy Jeff Hamric was returning his gun to its holster after firing it when the weapon discharged, Sheriff Ken Merritt said.
"It discharged, the bullet went through the bottom of his calf, bounced off the bone and lodged in his ankle," Merritt said.
Merritt said it was not clear whether proper steps had been taken to secure the weapon.
Hamric remained hospitalized Wednesday at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg.
Information from: Todd Baucher/WTAP-TV, www.wtap.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
No Takers for Malaysian Bigfoot Permits
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 2:09 PM EST
The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Apparently nobody wants to meet Bigfoot.
The Malaysian Forestry Department says there are no takers for permits on offers to explore a protected forest for the mythical creature, despite initial excitement over reported sightings of the beast, The Star newspaper reported Wednesday.
Authorities printed 500 application forms anticipating a rush, but none has been filled, Che Hashim Hassan, the department's director in the southern state of Johor, was quoted as saying.
The Malaysian media has been gripped by Bigfoot fever since November 2005, when fish farm workers reported seeing three giant human-like creatures in the Endau Rompin park in Johor. They also claimed to have seen a gigantic footprint.
Park officials combed the site but found no physical evidence of a Bigfoot. However, they recorded more reports of sightings from aboriginal villagers who live on the park's fringes.
"We thought that with all the interest in Bigfoot, we would have a lot of inquiries from the public," Che Hashim said. "However, this is not the case."
Tourism officials said they planned to use the interest in Bigfoot to draw tourists to Malaysia.
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