irving rambler - rambler newspapers€¦ · irving rambler $0.25 the irving rambler p.o. box 177731...

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Rambler Vandals damage holiday decorations Page2 Fire Page 2 Obituaries Page 10 Movies Page 3 Puzzles Page 9 Ir Ir Ir Ir Irving Rambler $0.25 ving Rambler $0.25 ving Rambler $0.25 ving Rambler $0.25 ving Rambler $0.25 The Irving Rambler P.O. Box 177731 Irving, TX 75017 “Irving’s weekly community newspaper” www.irvingrambler.com December 20, 2007 Irving T K HIS WEE Editor’s Note: This is the last issue of The Irving Rambler for 2007. We would like to thank the thousands of read- ers and hundreds of businesses that have supported us for the last year. It has been a joy and a privilege to serve the Irving community for 2007. The first issue of The Irving Rambler for the new year will be released the first week in January. Our staff wishes you and yours the very best of Holidays and a great New Year. Following a ceremony at the DFW National Cemetery honoring the fallen, Susan Hicks places a wreath on her son’s grave. Happy Holidays Happy Holidays Happy Holidays Happy Holidays Happy Holidays Despite temperatures in the 30s and gusting winds, the Civil Air Patrol Texas Wing Group 3 conducted a Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Dallas- Fort Worth National Cemetery on Dec. 15. During the ceremony, seven ceremonial wreaths were placed to remember those who gave their lives in service for our country. Specially made wreaths for Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and POW/MIA were also placed on memorials during a ceremony. “This was a way for us to honor the men and women who have served our country,” Char- lotte Chism Waldrum, president of the North Texas Funeral Directors Association, said. “All of the men and women who died in active duty in Iraq were honored with wreaths. There are some dignitaries buried Wreaths Wreaths Wreaths Wreaths Wreaths Across Across Across Across Across America America America America America honors fallen soldiers honors fallen soldiers honors fallen soldiers honors fallen soldiers honors fallen soldiers in the cemetery and wreaths were placed on their graves. Wreaths were also placed on the graves of representatives of each war repre- sented at the cemetery. There is at least one World War One grave in the DFW National Cemetery. “The wreaths give us a chance to let these families know that we are thinking about them and we care. I think it is a nice tribute. We BlackBerry® maker, Research In Motion Limited (RIM) recently selected Irving as its U.S. head- quarters. RIM is expected to em- ploy over 1,000 people in the re- gion over the next several years, including positions in research and development, technical support, business operations and adminis- tration. RIM is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of in- novative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communica- tions market. Since launching the industry leading BlackBerry solu- tion in 1999, RIM’s customer base has grown to over 11 million sub- scribers and is supported on over 325 carrier networks in over 125 countries around the world. The company’s expansion was announced on Dec. 17 by Senator Florence Shapiro, Secretary of State Phil Wilson, Irving Mayor Herbert Gears, Jim Balsillie, Co- CEO of Research In Motion and Greater Dallas Chamber Chairman Ron Gafford at RIM’s new offices. “RIM is a world-class organi- zation widely recognized for its in- novation and business excellence. We are thrilled that the company has selected our region as the lo- cation of its U.S. headquarters,” Ron Gafford, chairman of the Greater Dallas Chamber and presi- dent and CEO of Austin Industries, Inc, said. “Our region is a magnet for international companies and this announcement illustrates, once again, our region’s merits as a prime location for corporate America.” “RIM continues to expand its operations to help address the growing market opportunity for BlackBerry products and services around the world,” Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM, said. “With its talented workforce and strong in- frastructure, Irving, Texas is an excellent location for RIM and we’re very excited to be investing in this region.” The site chosen for RIM’s U.S. headquarters is within Las Colinas’ Riverside Commons, 5000 Riverside Drive, Brazos Building East, Irving. RIM will be initially occupying over 100,000 square feet. Riverside ”This is a great day for North Texas as we welcome this wonder- Research In Motion selects Ir Research In Motion selects Ir Research In Motion selects Ir Research In Motion selects Ir Research In Motion selects Irving for U.S ving for U.S ving for U.S ving for U.S ving for U.S. . . headquar headquar headquar headquar headquarters ters ters ters ters By Jess Paniszczyn Roy Williams Safety Net Foundation joined with Irving’s Wal-Mart Supercenters and Sam’s Club to provide 15 single mothers and their children with a Christ- Shopping spree gives children of Shopping spree gives children of Shopping spree gives children of Shopping spree gives children of Shopping spree gives children of single mothers a merr single mothers a merr single mothers a merr single mothers a merr single mothers a merry Christmas y Christmas y Christmas y Christmas y Christmas mas shopping spree in the Wal- Mart Supercenter located on Mar- ket Place Blvd. Each mother received a $100 gift card specifically to purchase toys and games to create a special Christmas for their children. Fol- lowing the shopping spree, Wal- Mart surprised the families with a gift basket containing all of the essential elements for a turkey din- ner. “We are honored that Roy and Wal-Mart were able to join to- gether for a great foundation,” Kevin Belcoff, the Wal-Mart store manger, said. “He really cares about helping the single mothers in our community. It is well worth the effort of helping him grow this foundation through Wal-Mart in this area. Growing the foundation into Oklahoma is the next step. We are happy to be a partner. “Single mothers are strug- gling with everyday life with gas prices going up and everything else. For a single mother raising kids, it is tough out there. It doesn’t take a whole bunch to help people. It doesn’t take much to make Home sweet home. Santa greets visitors outside an impressive gingerbread cottage in the main lobby of the Omni Mandalay Hotel. Roy Williams and staff members of the local Wal-Mart Supercenters and Sam’s Club say their good-byes as single mother families prepare to leave the shopping spree event. See WREATHS, Page 4 See BLACKBERRY, Page 5 See FOUNDATION, Page 6

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RamblerVandals damage

holiday decorationsPage2

Fire Page 2Obituaries Page 10Movies Page 3Puzzles Page 9

IrIrIrIrIrving Rambler $0.25ving Rambler $0.25ving Rambler $0.25ving Rambler $0.25ving Rambler $0.25

The Irving RamblerP.O. Box 177731Irving, TX 75017

“Irving’s weekly community newspaper”www.irvingrambler.com December 20, 2007

Irving

T KHIS WEE

Editor’s Note:This is the last issue of The Irving Rambler for

2007. We would like to thank the thousands of read-ers and hundreds of businesses that have supportedus for the last year. It has been a joy and a privilegeto serve the Irving community for 2007. The firstissue of The Irving Rambler for the new year will bereleased the first week in January. Our staff wishesyou and yours the very best of Holidays and a greatNew Year. Following a ceremony at the DFW National Cemetery honoring

the fallen, Susan Hicks places a wreath on her son’s grave.

Happy HolidaysHappy HolidaysHappy HolidaysHappy HolidaysHappy Holidays

Despite temperatures in the30s and gusting winds, the CivilAir Patrol Texas Wing Group 3conducted a Wreaths AcrossAmerica ceremony at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery onDec. 15.

During the ceremony, sevenceremonial wreaths were placed toremember those who gave theirlives in service for our country.Specially made wreaths for Army,Marines, Navy, Air Force, CoastGuard, Merchant Marines andPOW/MIA were also placed onmemorials during a ceremony.

“This was a way for us tohonor the men and women whohave served our country,” Char-lotte Chism Waldrum, president ofthe North Texas Funeral DirectorsAssociation, said. “All of the menand women who died in active dutyin Iraq were honored with wreaths.There are some dignitaries buried

Wreaths Wreaths Wreaths Wreaths Wreaths Across Across Across Across Across AmericaAmericaAmericaAmericaAmericahonors fallen soldiershonors fallen soldiershonors fallen soldiershonors fallen soldiershonors fallen soldiers

in the cemetery and wreaths wereplaced on their graves. Wreathswere also placed on the graves ofrepresentatives of each war repre-sented at the cemetery. There is atleast one World War One grave in

the DFW National Cemetery.“The wreaths give us a chance

to let these families know that weare thinking about them and wecare. I think it is a nice tribute. We

BlackBerry® maker, ResearchIn Motion Limited (RIM) recentlyselected Irving as its U.S. head-quarters. RIM is expected to em-ploy over 1,000 people in the re-gion over the next several years,including positions in research anddevelopment, technical support,

business operations and adminis-tration.

RIM is a leading designer,manufacturer and marketer of in-novative wireless solutions for theworldwide mobile communica-tions market. Since launching theindustry leading BlackBerry solu-

tion in 1999, RIM’s customer basehas grown to over 11 million sub-scribers and is supported on over325 carrier networks in over 125countries around the world.

The company’s expansion wasannounced on Dec. 17 by SenatorFlorence Shapiro, Secretary of

State Phil Wilson, Irving MayorHerbert Gears, Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion andGreater Dallas Chamber ChairmanRon Gafford at RIM’s new offices.

“RIM is a world-class organi-zation widely recognized for its in-novation and business excellence.We are thrilled that the companyhas selected our region as the lo-cation of its U.S. headquarters,”Ron Gafford, chairman of theGreater Dallas Chamber and presi-dent and CEO of Austin Industries,Inc, said. “Our region is a magnetfor international companies andthis announcement illustrates,once again, our region’s merits asa prime location for corporateAmerica.”

“RIM continues to expand its

operations to help address thegrowing market opportunity forBlackBerry products and servicesaround the world,” Jim Balsillie,Co-CEO at RIM, said. “With itstalented workforce and strong in-frastructure, Irving, Texas is anexcellent location for RIM andwe’re very excited to be investingin this region.”

The site chosen for RIM’s U.S.headquarters is within LasColinas’ Riverside Commons,5000 Riverside Drive, BrazosBuilding East, Irving. RIM will beinitially occupying over 100,000square feet. Riverside

”This is a great day for NorthTexas as we welcome this wonder-

Research In Motion selects IrResearch In Motion selects IrResearch In Motion selects IrResearch In Motion selects IrResearch In Motion selects Irving for U.Sving for U.Sving for U.Sving for U.Sving for U.S..... headquar headquar headquar headquar headquarterstersterstersters

By Jess PaniszczynRoy Williams Safety Net

Foundation joined with Irving’sWal-Mart Supercenters and Sam’sClub to provide 15 single mothersand their children with a Christ-

Shopping spree gives children ofShopping spree gives children ofShopping spree gives children ofShopping spree gives children ofShopping spree gives children ofsingle mothers a merrsingle mothers a merrsingle mothers a merrsingle mothers a merrsingle mothers a merry Christmasy Christmasy Christmasy Christmasy Christmas

mas shopping spree in the Wal-Mart Supercenter located on Mar-ket Place Blvd.

Each mother received a $100gift card specifically to purchasetoys and games to create a special

Christmas for their children. Fol-lowing the shopping spree, Wal-Mart surprised the families with agift basket containing all of theessential elements for a turkey din-ner.

“We are honored that Roy andWal-Mart were able to join to-gether for a great foundation,”Kevin Belcoff, the Wal-Mart storemanger, said. “He really caresabout helping the single mothersin our community. It is well worththe effort of helping him grow thisfoundation through Wal-Mart inthis area. Growing the foundationinto Oklahoma is the next step. Weare happy to be a partner.

“Single mothers are strug-gling with everyday life with gasprices going up and everythingelse. For a single mother raisingkids, it is tough out there. It doesn’ttake a whole bunch to help people.It doesn’t take much to make

Home sweet home. Santa greets visitors outside animpressive gingerbread cottage in the main lobbyof the Omni Mandalay Hotel.

Roy Williams and staff members of the local Wal-MartSupercenters and Sam’s Club say their good-byes as single motherfamilies prepare to leave the shopping spree event.

See WREATHS, Page 4

See BLACKBERRY, Page 5

See FOUNDATION, Page 6

December 20, 2007 www.irvingrambler.comPage 2 The Irving Rambler

The Irving RamblerThe Irving RamblerThe Irving RamblerThe Irving RamblerThe Irving Rambler (214) 675-6493 (214) 675-6493 (214) 675-6493 (214) 675-6493 (214) [email protected]

Member of The Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce -- The Irving Rambler is Copyrighted 2007

Stacey Starkey -DirectorJohn Starkey - Publisher

The entire contents of this newspaper are the sole property of The Irv-ing Rambler, Inc., with all rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without per-mission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

If you have an upcoming event, game scores, a press release, or inter-esting story, please let us know. The Irving Rambler encourages submissionof articles, facts, and photographs pertaining to the people, life, business, andentertainment of Irving, Texas.

The Irving Rambler is published weekly by Irving Rambler, Inc., P.O.Box 177731, Irving, TX 75017.

The Publication of columnists’ views, as well as advertising, does notconstitute endorsement. The Irving Rambler reserves the right to reject oredit any advertising. The Irving Rambler, its publisher, and editor are notresponsible for errors in advertising.

The Irving Rambler Volume 4 Issue 31 is published weekly for $25dollars a year by The Irving Rambler, Inc. 627 S. Rogers, Irving, TX 75060.Periodicals postage pending at Washington, DC, and additional mailing of-fices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Irving Rambler, P.O.Box 177731, Irving, TX 75017.

You can subscribe to The Irving Rambler for $25 per year. The IrvingRambler is also distributed throughout Irving in businesses and public areas.

Deadline for the submission of articles and advertising is noon Monday,prior to the publication date. All submitted articles are subject to editing. Opin-ions expressed in submitted advertisements, articles, editorial, or commentaryare those of the writer, and not necessarily those of The Irving Rambler, thepublisher, editor, or any staff member. All articles, press releases, photographsand other materials submitted become the property of TheIrving Rambler.

INTERNET www.irvingrambler.comE-mail [email protected]

Ambulances went into overload four times.Structure fire was a “fully involved” mobile home. The

fire was extinguished with 1st alarm companies. No injurieswere reported.

Ambulances went into overload four times.Ambulances went into overload once.At 8:50 a.m., the Irving Fire Department responded to a

reported structure fire at 924 Hilltop Drive. The first emer-gency personnel were on-scene at 8:55 a.m. with a total oftwo alarms being called. Total number of pieces of major equip-ment was 12. Thirty-five Fire Fighters and three Chief Offic-ers were utilized in bringing the emergency under control.There were no injuries at this emergency.Ambulances went into overload twice.

Irving Fire Department responded to353 incidents.The Fire incidents

92 Miscellaneous Fire and Rescue Calls10 Structure Fires 3 Special Operations 1 Vehicle Fires

Comments:

Medical calls37 Major Accidents88 Major Medical20 Heart Attacks41 Difficulty Breathing42 Trauma Related19 CPR Situations

Irving Fire DepartmentActivity summary Dec 13-19, 2007

12-13:

12-15:12-18:12-19:

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By Jess PaniszczynAs Christmas approaches,

many of Irving’s citizens haveelected to decorate the outside oftheir homes with a wide variety ofitems including lights, inflatablecharacters and cutouts. Whetherthe decorating is limited to a singlewreath or a light display that canbe seen from outer space, the ef-fort, time and expense of decorat-ing is a boon to the whole commu-nity.

Sadly, some individuals havetaken it upon themselves to dam-age these displays of goodwill. Onenight early last week, severalinflatables in front of homes in theUniversity Hills area were slashed.

One of the inflatables that borethe brunt of the attack was BarbaraRosenthal’s snowman. An oldermodel, the snowman is no longerin production and cannot be re-placed.

“I decorate the house for littlechildren, poor people who come toour neighborhood to look at thelights, and old people. It is a shamethat someone would do that topeople. Not only to me, but to allthe people who enjoy what we do.

“It hurts my feelings. I lovedthat snowman. We will try to fixhim and see if he will hold air. Oth-erwise, we will buy something newnext year,” Ms. Rosenthal said.

Her daughter, Lisa Morelli,tried to make sense of thesnowman’s destruction.

“I am just wondering whodoes this. A couple of people didn’tlike some of the Halloween things.And sometimes at Halloween somevandalizing goes on. But not atChristmas. Christmas is not Hal-loween. Christmas is the highChristian holiday.

“I hope those kids get coal intheir stockings,” Ms. Morelli said.

Three years ago, LindaWollenman had metal figures cov-ered in lights stolen out of her frontyard.

“There is a wire runningthrough all of my metal decora-tions. They are locked to a tree. Ifthey have a bolt cutter, they willbe able to cut it, but they can’t justgrab and run,” Ms. Wollenmansaid.

She has a lot of sympathy forher neighbors whose decorationswere damaged this year.

“Whoever did this is not veryconsiderate. They are not very nice.I think things like this make peoplescared to put things out. It is re-ally pathetic when you can’t putanything out for fear of having itdamaged or stolen,” she said.

Las Colinas Association secu-rity officers reported the vandalismto the Irving Police Department.

“We also had some vandalism

in Hackberry Creek the othernight,” Jan McKenzie, securityassistant for the Las Colinas As-sociation said. “The Irving policesaid they would patrol the areasmore. And patrolling the areasmore is about all we can do too.We will just patrol more and see ifwe can catch the little boogers whoare doing this. I would like to getmy hands on them.

“We see most of our vandal-ism at Christmas and Halloween

when people want to decorate andmake things nice for the kids.Other people want to come in hereand ruin it. I was raised that youdon’t bother other people’s stuff.But kids these days don’t seem toget the hint.

“This is private property andpeople are supposed to stay wherethey belong. I think if the peoplewho vandalized these propertiesare caught, charges should be filedagainst them,” she said.

Vandals try to deflatehomeowners’ Christmas spirit

Unhappy tidings. A fallen Santa lays in a neighborhood yardbeside the faux snow that spilled on the ground when this inflat-able decoration was cut by vandals.

12-20 to 12-23-2007

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214-675-6493The Irving Rambler December 20, 2007 Page 3

Matt is a member of the North Texas FilmCritics Association (NTFCA) and hoststhe weekly syndicated Indie Rock RadioShow Spin 180. Plus with his wife Cindythey do a weekly radio feature, TheMungles on Movies. For additional re-views and interview clips visitwww.mungleshow.com.

Opinions expressed in any com-mentary are those of the writer, and notnecessarily those of The Irving Rambler,the publisher, editor, or any staff mem-ber.

Mungleson Movies

By Matt MungleTitle: JunoRated: PG-13

I am often asked what makesa movie great in my eyes. What doI personally enjoy watching as aregular moviegoer. My answer isalways the same. Enjoyable char-acters and creative dialogue. WhenI first saw the previews for Juno, Iwas hooked. This was one film Iwas dead set on seeing, regardlessof time and scheduling. And I mustsay I was not disappointed. Fromthe music, to the directing to thelook and style, Juno delivers amovie with heart. This flick takesa humorous look at a serious cir-cumstance and creates a love storycolored far outside the lines.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page)finds herself pregnant at the ageof 16 and is forced to make deci-sions and deal with issues thatmost adults struggle with. But shehandles them with a depth and

By Matt MungleTitle: Sweeney Todd: The DemonBarber of Fleet StreetRated: R

Tim Burton has a way with di-recting that places him in a classall his own. The little things headds put his signature all over aproject. If you even consider bring-ing the stage musical of SweeneyTodd to the big screen, and want itto work, there is no better man forthe task. Burton’s sense of “maca-bre as art” is necessary to elevatewhat would be a simple blood bathwith singing, into an artistic and,well, enjoyable movie experience.Add to the mix his two favorite in-gredients, Johnny Depp and Hel-ena Bonham Carter and you havethe recipe for perfection. But asthey say, the proof is in the pud-ding or in this case the meat pie.So does it serve up a must see filmfor the Holidays? Yes, thoughmany will decline seconds.

maturity far above her high schoolpay grade. Juno is a character un-like any female role I can recallever seeing. Diablo Cody (writer)created a young girl who is quirkyand loveable yet overlaid withrapid fire wit and sarcasm. Sinceit takes two to make a baby therehad to be the male counterpart toJuno. Enter Paulie Bleeker(Michael Cera). Cera is perfect asthe puppy love interest. He is 90%nerd but in that cool, quiet, artysort of way. There is gentlenessabout him that balances Juno’s,“say what you are thinking”lifestyle.

What I love most about thisstory is how Juno’s family reactsand deals with her situation. Thereis a tone of mercy and grace, witha banner of support above all else.This film could have gone manydifferent directions. But it allowedthe characters to be decent at theircore and with their dealings witheach other. Juno has tough deci-sions to make and she just wantsto do the right thing. Cody’s scriptallowed her to do that. And that initself makes this film endearing. Itoffers up the issues of marriage,adoption, abortion and love subtly.

It makes its point with humor voidof cynicism. Jennifer Garner andJason Bateman are the couplewanting to adopt a child and youget to see the struggle that processoften is. Garner as always is ador-able. Add great character actorslike Allison Janney and J.K.Simmons as Juno’s parents andyou have an unbeatable cast.

Juno is rated PG-13 for ma-ture thematic material, sexual con-tent and language. Unlike mostteenage movies there is not a hintof sex for shock or sophomoric hu-mor. It is dealt with maturely andwonderfully. The language is mildthough Juno has a descriptive wayof referring to anatomy and thepregnancy as a whole. But it makesher character who she is. Those 15and up will probably see this film100 times so parents might as wellgo with them the first time or two.You will laugh out loud and itmight even spark some dialoguebetween you and your kiddo. Andcan that ever be bad? I give Juno asolid 4 out of 5 tic-tacs. JasonReitman has delivered another ter-rific film and to him I say thankyou for directing! With a look atJuno, I’m Matt Mungle.

Juno is dynamite

Sweeney Todd A bloody good filmSweeney Todd (Depp) is a

man preoccupied with revenge.When he returns to London to seekout the people who tore his familyapart, his bitterness turns him intoa heartless killer. A barber by trade,he sets up shop over Mrs. Lovette’s(Helena Bonham Carter) meat pieshop where the two twisted mindsstart a grotesque business venturewhile Todd plots his revenge. Likeany unforgiveness left uncheckedTodd’s festers until he is totallyconsumed with vengeance. It con-trols him and manipulates his ev-ery action. Yet all of this happenswhile everyone is singing. Go fig-ure.

Sweeney Todd: The DemonBarber of Fleet Street is based onthe Broadway musical and staystrue to the genre. Ninety percentof all the dialogue comes in theform of a song. This may hindermany from enjoying another clas-sic from Burton. But the songs andperformances are what makeSweeney Todd stand out from othertypical slasher stories. There is

something about the music and thesinging that make it bearable. Toddis a warped individual and manytimes words sung evoke more emo-tion than when simply spoken. Inconjunction, the spurting blood be-comes part of the dance. It addsflavor and color to the mix.Depp has proven himself throughout his career as a character actorwho creates personable roles. LikeBurton, Depp has a way of endear-ing you to the most detestable per-sons. Here he has to do that whilesinging. And he pulls it off. At firstit was a little odd. It took me a fewscenes to warm up to the crooningDepp. But once I knew he was se-rious I took him serious and wasonboard the rest of the waythrough. Even better was HelenaBonham. Carter was amazing andcombines vocal depth with com-fortable character creation. Youforget she is singing as her move-ments and delivery is smooth andfluid. She isn’t acting and thensinging. It is seamless in its tran-sitions. The two combine to make

the musical to movie transforma-tion succeed. Not an easy task.Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barberof Fleet Street is rated R forgraphic bloody violence. All threeof those words are prominent inthis film. We aren’t talkingHairspray here. This film is darkand sinister and graphic. The im-agery is as powerful as the musicand lyrics. It is an important ele-ment to the feel of the film. This isnot one for the squeamish. Otherthan that the film is tame on allfronts. You will find no adult lan-guage save for a couple of verymild expletives. Fans of Depp willenjoy this new endeavor and Bur-ton followers will not walk awayfeeling slighted. The only issue youhave to deal with is the singing. Ifyou hate musicals then you will notenjoy this. You can’t overlook thesinging. You can’t put it aside and

rely on the remaining parts to sus-tain you.As much as I enjoyed this film andrecommend it for fans of theBroadway version or musicals ingeneral, I am not sure I would seeit again. I loved every moment ofthe experience and I may changemy mind later but for now I amsatisfied with the single sampling.I give Todd 4 out of 5 thumbnails.

COMMUNITY CALENDARDecember 22Holiday Celebration - Presentedby Las Colinas Symphony Or-chestra presents a festive, holidayconcert at 8 p.m. in Carpenter Per-formance Hall filled with Christ-mas carol favorites, a family sing-along and all of the traditions ofthe season. The Las Colinas Sym-phony Orchestra will also performseasonal works such as Holst’s Inthe Bleak Midwinter and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Polonaise fromChristmas Eve. $25-55. 972-252-2787 for tickets.

December 24Christmas Eve

December 25Merry Christmas - The SouthMacArthur Church of Christ wel-comes everyone to share in the

Community Christmas Dinnerfrom 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. free ofcharge. The church is located onthe southwest corner ofMacArthur Blvd. and ShadyGrove.

December 30Connie Jordan Exhibit - TheIrving Jaycee Center for the Artsin conjunction with the Irving ArtsAssociation will host an exhibitby Connie Jordan and an auctionof her work to benefit research forParkinson’s disease. In additionworks donated by various localartists, including some from theIrving Art Association will be auc-tioned. Her show will be displayedat the Irving Jaycee Center for theArts from Dec. 30 through Jan.24. A reception will be held Jan.11 in the East Gallery at 2:00 p.m.

for “Painting for Parkinson’s”with viewing artwork and meet theartist. The auction will begin at7:00 p.m. till the final bid is taken.

January 1New Year’s Day - All librarieswill be closed. January 2Midweek Mysteries - This bookdiscussion group, which is opento the public, meets at 2 p.m. inthe Central Library Auditoriumthe first Wednesday of everymonth. This month the group willfocus on Lindsey Davis’ “MarcusDidius Falco” mysteries. Bring afavorite title for discussion. January 3Little Bit of Science - For chil-dren ages 3-5. Hands-on activities

provide a foundation for futuresuccess in science education 10a.m. to 2 p.m. This month the classwill explore the science ofweights, balances and scales. Par-ents or caregivers must be present.No registration required. January 3JumpstART, Stories & ART -Irving Arts Center, 3333 N.MacArthur Blvd. The Irving Cen-tral Library and Irving Arts Cen-ter offer a family storytime and artactivities held at 10 a.m. on thefirst Thursday of every month. InJanuary, Donita Maligi from theIrving Central Library presentsCajun Folktales followed by an artprogram where kids can expresstheir creativity. Call children’sservices at 972-721-2458 or the

Irving Arts Center at 972-252-7558. January 3Valley Ranch Live - ValleyRanch Library, 401 CimarronTrail. Valley Ranch Live is a fam-ily program for all ages presentedthe first Thursday of every monthat 7 p.m. This month the programwill feature winter crafts. No reg-istration required. Call 972-721-4669.

January 4Teen Chess Club - SouthwestBranch Library, 2216 W. ShadyGrove Road at p.m. The chessclub for teens, ages 12-18, meetsthe first Friday of every month.Call 972-721-2546 for more in-formation.

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The IrThe IrThe IrThe IrThe Irving Ramblerving Ramblerving Ramblerving Ramblerving RamblerCall 214-675-6493

AdAdAdAdAdverververververtise intise intise intise intise in

December 20, 2007 www.irvingrambler.comPage 4 The Irving Rambler

don’t want people to think that wehave forgotten our service men andwomen.

“We have many, many veter-ans from Irving who have beenburied in the DFW National Cem-etery. This year 100 wreaths wereplaced. Next year they plan to place1,000 wreaths in the cemetery.

Charlotte and her staff from

Chapel of the Roses participatedin the formal ceremony and helpedplace wreaths afterwards.

“That Saturday was probablythe coldest day we have had allyear. They didn’t have a largecrowd, but the people we spoke tosaid the event meant a lot to them.My father was in service, and itmeant a lot to him that we took thetime to remember,” she said.

Wreaths rememberfallen servicemenContinued from page 1

Mark BallTo help inform the public of

the dangers of drinking and driv-ing, a new program is being imple-mented by the Texas Departmentof Transportation that will allowfriends and family members ofDWI victims to purchase memo-rial signs to be placed near the lo-cation of fatal crashes. The pro-gram is the result of legislationaimed at reducing the more than1,670 traffic fatalities in 2006 thatinvolved drivers under the influ-ence of alcohol or drugs.

The 80th Texas Legislaturecreated the program at the requestof Julie Blasingame. A drunkdriver was involved in the deathof Mrs. Blasingame’s daughter,Rachel. Ms. Blasingame is the firstparticipant in the program.

“I would love to see these me-morial signs all over Texas as con-stant reminders for our drivers tonot drink and drive,” saidBlasingame. “So many grievingfamilies will want to honor their

loved one’s memory in this waybecause they know that good willcome from it. They know theirloved one won’t be forgotten andit will cause many drivers to thinkabout how their actions affect oth-ers. Nearly every family in Texasknows someone who has been af-fected by a drunk driver.”

The legislation creating theprogram required TxDOT to de-velop administrative rules govern-ing the operation of the program.Those rules became effective onDec. 6 and the department has pub-lished a new web page,w w w. t x d o t . g o v / s e r v i c e s /t r a f f i c _ o p e r a t i o n s /memorial_sign.htm, that containsall the information a person needsto participate in the program.

“I am pleased that TxDOT hastaken this important step to helpraise public awareness on the dan-gers of DWI,” State RepresentativeBetty Brown said. “Drunk drivingcontinues to be one of our state’s

State launches memorial sign proState launches memorial sign proState launches memorial sign proState launches memorial sign proState launches memorial sign programgramgramgramgrammost serious traffic safety issuesand represents a real and seriousdanger to innocent law-abidingmembers of our communities. Ifthis program deters even a singleimpaired driver from venturing outonto streets and highways, it willhave served its purpose.”

The cost to obtain a memorialsign is $300, which will helpTxDOT defray the cost of the sign.The sign will identify the victim(or family name), date of the crash,the phrase “Please Don’t Drinkand Drive”, and the phrase “InMemory of…”.

The program requires that fa-tal crashes must have occurred ona state highway and bans memori-alizing impaired drivers killed ina traffic crash.

An erected memorial sign willremain in place for one year, afterwhich it will be offered to theperson(s) who made the originalapplication for participation in theprogram.

Provided by Robert SmithThe Visiting Nurse Assoc

iation’s Meals on Wheels programdelivered a special Thanksgivingmeal to more than 3,200homebound frail elderly, sick, anddisabled residents of Dallas Countyon a cold, blustery Nov. 22.

There were additional chal-lenges this year, besides the low

temperatures, because Thanksgiv-ing meal preparation began at 4a.m. in VNA’s temporary Meals onWheels kitchen in Irving. Themeals were then trucked over to theparking lot of the Comerica Bankservice building in Dallas, wherevolunteers started arriving at 8:30a.m. to pickup the Thanksgivingmeals for delivery on 322 routes.

”Thousands of homeboundelderly, sick, and disabled indi-viduals were counting on Meals onWheels volunteers to bring them ahot Thanksgiving meal, a few kindwords, and the wish for a happyThanksgiving,” Robert Carpenter,VNA president and chief executiveofficer, said. “We did not want todisappoint them.”

The Comerica site where vol-unteers gathered is adjacent towhere construction has begun onthe new VNA center and Meals onWheels kitchen at 1440 W. Mock-ingbird Lane in Dallas. The newbuilding will replace VNA’s head-quarters that was destroyed by firein 2005. Construction is expectedto be completed in March 2008.

Preparation has now startedon organizing VNA Meals onWheels deliveries for Christmasmorning. Information about vol-unteering to deliver ChristmasMeals on Wheels can be obtainedby contacting Betsy Cox, VNADirector of Volunteers, at 214-689-2210 or [email protected].

Meals on Meals on Meals on Meals on Meals on Wheels volunteers braWheels volunteers braWheels volunteers braWheels volunteers braWheels volunteers brave theve theve theve theve thechill to get Thanksgiving meals deliveredchill to get Thanksgiving meals deliveredchill to get Thanksgiving meals deliveredchill to get Thanksgiving meals deliveredchill to get Thanksgiving meals delivered

Meals on Wheels volunteers huddle against cold wind and lowtemperatures Thanksgiving morning. More than 700 volunteershelped get 3,200 Meals on Wheels delivered for the Visiting NurseAssociation.

day as Brighter Tomorrows) andan original member of the Excel-lence Now committee for the Irv-ing Independent School District,where he proposed the Irving Cel-ebration of Excellence - or ICEAwards - which annually recog-nizes Irving ISD students, classesand staff members for outstandingachievement. Danish played amajor role in supporting a culturalexchange of a ballet dance perfor-mance group from Kiev to Irving,and helped make it possible for theIrving theater group Metro Play-ers to travel to the Ukraine.

In the past few years, Danishserved on the “Citizens for TexasStadium development” and “ForIrving’s Future” committees, andwas chairman and founder of Irv-ing South Economic Resources,Values and Economics Committee(I-SERVE), which provided a blue-print for the future of Irving.

Currently, Danish is presidentof the Irving Democratic Club,founding director and chairman ofthe Irving Veterans Memorial ParkCommittee, and a member of Ro-tary International, the Greater Irv-ing-Las Colinas Chamber of Com-merce, and Berean MemorialChurch, where he has served mostof his life.

“John Danish is proud to livein Irving and has worked hard tohelp make it an even better com-munity,” said Mary Higbie, whonominated Danish for the award.“He sets a high standard of citi-zenship for himself as well as oth-ers.”

Scott has donated countlesshours of service to numerous or-ganizations and events throughoutIrving. She is a member of the Irv-

Danish and Scott named High Spirited CitizensThe City of Irving recently

honored longtime Irving residentsJohn Danish and Barbara Scottwith the High Spirited Citizen.Mayor Herbert Gears presented the

award to Danish and Scott duringrecent Irving City Council meet-ings.

A three-term member of theIrving City Council, Danish heldthe position of Mayor Pro Temduring his tenure. A tireless sup-porter of public transportation,Danish is past chairman of the Irv-ing Planning and Zoning Board,the Public Transportation Commit-tee of the Greater Irving-LasColinas Chamber of Commerceand the Irving Citizens AdvisoryCommittee for the DART Board ofDirectors. He currently serves asthe City Council-appointed Irvingrepresentative on the DART Boardof Directors.

Danish is former board mem-ber for Irving’s chapter of theAmerican Heart Association,member of the Irving Heritage So-ciety and, as an attorney, provided

his legal expertise to the IrvingTeen Court. He was a foundingmember and first president of thedomestic violence shelter, NewTomorrows (still in operation to-

ing Community Theater Leagueand a board member for the LyricStage League, an organization forwhich she raised thousand of dol-lars as the four-year chair of a pro-gressive dinner event. Instrumen-tal in raising thousands of dollarsfor the Irving Symphony as well,Scott served in many leadershiproles with both the Irving Sym-phony Association and IrvingSymphony League. She’s workedon the Youth Concerts, which ben-efit Irving Independent SchoolDistrict 5th grade students, as wellas with the Irving SymphonyBelles.

A Life Member and formerofficer of Friends of the Library,Scott is the current president ofWomen of Rotary, and currentpresident and 17-year member ofthe Las Colinas Women’s Associa-tion. In addition, Scott has sup-ported the Irving BaylorHealthcare Foundation Guild, OurChildren’s Place, Irving Cares, theIrving Advocacy Center, and theIrving Schools Foundation.

Councilman Joe Philippnominated Scott for the award, andrefers to her as “an inspiration, alife force and a beacon of excel-lence” within the community.

The High Spirited Citizenprogram was initiated in 1988 bythe Irving Convention and VisitorsBureau. Its purpose is to encour-age the spirit of volunteerism. Todate, more than 400 of Irving’s“unsung” heroes have been hon-ored with the award. To nominatean Irving resident for the award,contact Jane Kilburn at 972-252-7476 or download an applicationform at www.irvingtexas.com/Me-dia/HighSpiritCitiz.

Joe and Wilma(Jones) Frye recentlycelebrated their 50th

Wedding Anniversarywith a reception atFirst Baptist Church-Irving on Sunday, De-cember 16th, given bytheir four marrieddaughters , JanetChism (John),Carolyn Tarver(Dale), Linda Fancher(Jeff) and Gail Pace(Jim) and their 8grandchildren.. Theywere married on De-cember 14th, 1957 in

50th Wedding Anniversary

homemaker. They are still ac-tive members of FBC-Irvingand now reside in Grand Prai-rie, TX.

the chapel of FBC-Irving withDr. Henry Kinkeade officiating.

Joe is retired from LTVCorp (Vaught Corp) after 37years of service. Wilma was a

John Danish Barbara Scott

214-675-6493The Irving Rambler December 20, 2007 Page 5

RESEARCH IN MOTION (RIM) SELECTSIRVING FOR ITS U.S. HEADQUARTERS

RIM, the maker of BlackBerry, announced on Mon-day, Dec. 17, its selection of Irving as its U.S. head-quarters. Present for the announcement were StateSenator Florence Shapiro, State RepresentativeLinda Harper-Brown, Secretary of State Phil Wil-son, Mayor Herbert Gears and Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of RIM. RIM is expected to employ more than1,000 people in the region over the next severalyears, including roles in research and development,technical support, business operations and admin-istration. RIM will initially occupy over 100,000square feet. “With its talented workforce and stronginfrastructure, Irving is an excellent location forRIM and we’re very excited to be investing here,”Balsillie said.

PROTERRA PROPERTIES TO EXPANDVALLEY VIEW BUSINESS CENTER

Proterra Properties Inc., a privately held Dallas-based real estate investment, development and man-agement company with three existing buildings,totaling some 608,000 square feet, in Valley ViewBusiness Center, is planning additional develop-ments in 2008 within the business park, to includea speculative 400,000 square foot building on a 25-acre parcel, and a 140,000 square foot building onan adjoining 7.5-acres parcel.

OMEGA ENVIRONMENTALTECHNOLOGIES RECEIVES

INCENTIVE FROM CITY.The City Council approved an incentive packagethat will bring Omega Environmental Technologies,a world-wide distributor of automobile aftermar-ket air conditioning parts to Irving, the hometownof its owners Grace and Thom Davis. Omega is infinal lease negotiations with Proterra for 100,000sq ft of its recently announced 400,000 sq ft build-ing in Valley View Business Center. Omega wasnamed the 2007 Small Business Exporter of the Yearby the Export/Import Bank of the United States.

Irving by 2011. The DART staff identified through valueengineering nearly half of the shortfall and will be ex-ploring other alternatives including the outsourcing ofdesign and build to a single contractor. The DART staffwill provide another update to the DART Board on Jan.8th with action to be taken by the Board scheduled forJan. 22nd. Thomas assured Irving City and Chamber lead-ers that the DART staff would work diligently with theCity to achieve our common goal of service to Las Colinasand to the Airport.

ACE CASH EXPRESS NAMEDBEST BUYOUT OR CHANGE

OF OWNERSHIP (UNDER $1 BILLION)Las Colinas-based Ace Cash Express, a provider of fi-nancial services including check cashing, money trans-fers, prepaid debit cards, money orders and short-term,high-yield loans, was recognized as the Best Buyout orChange of Ownership in the recent Dallas BusinessJournal’s Merger & Acquisition Awards for the buyoutof the company by management and JLL Partners. Thetransaction was valued at $455 million.

STATE REPRESENTATIVEANCHIA RECIEVES AWARD

State Representative Rafael Anchia, who represents asmall portion of Irving, was recognized by the North

CITY COUNCIL PAVES WAY

FOR SANMAR DEVELOPMENTWith the approval of zoning changes and incentive agree-ment by the City Council, SanMar, Corp., a nationaldistributor of name-brand sportswear, will break groundin early 2008 on its new 680,000 sq.ft. build-to-suitDFW regional distribution facility in Irving at the north-west corner of SH-161, Northgate Drive and Valley ViewLane. Upon completion of the facility, approximately150 existing jobs will be relocated to Irving. ProLogis,Inc., the world’s largest owner, manager and developerof distribution facilities in 105 markets across NorthAmerica, Asia and Europe, will serve as the developerof the project.

DART UPDATEMore than 135 Irving leaders joined the Mayor and CityCouncil at a meeting of the DART Board where optionswere discussed for closing a financial gap identified byDART staff that would impact service arriving into theLas Colinas Urban Center by Dec. 31, 2011. Gary Tho-mas, president of DART, briefed City Council on Dec.12th and committed to the rail service being available in

Texas Commission as its Legislative Crime Fighterof the Year. Representative Anchia was cited forsponsoring legislation that strengthens law enforce-ment.

SHERMCO INDUSTRIES NAMESSAFETY ENGINEER

Roger Boos has been named corporate safety direc-tor for Shermco Industries, the Irving company since1974 to call for all your electrical service needs,from high voltage lines to the smallest electric mo-tors. Shermco has been recognized as one of theBest Places to Work in the Metroplex.

JPI NAMES VICE PRESIDENTIrving-based JPI, one of the largest luxury apart-ment developers in the US, has named ChristineSchoellhorn to the position of vice president, busi-ness development.

NEW $5 BILL TO ENTER CIRCULATIONOn March 13, 2008, the U.S. Treasury will intro-duce a new $5 bill. The Federal Reserve Board isadvising businesses that manufacture or use auto-mated checkout and vending machines to updatebill scanners to accept the new currency. The $5bill is used extensively in vending and self-check-out machines.

STATE OF THE CITYJanuary 29th at the Dallas Marriott at Las Colinaswill be the annual State of the City where MayorGears will discuss 2007 accomplishments and plansfor the future.

THE IRVING ECONOMICDEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

initiated 11 new projects this fiscal year for eitherrelocation or expansion in Irving, and continues tomanage 21 similar projects carried over from theprevious fiscal year.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INVESTORSThe Irving Economic Development Partnership would like to thank the following entities for

their continued support and investment in our program:DIAMOND INVESTORS

City of IrvingLas Colinas Marketing Alliance

PLATINUM INVESTORSFlowserve CorporationGardere Wynne Sewell LLPIrving Convention & VisitorsBureauTIAA Realty, Inc./Cousins

The Staubach CompanyOncor Electric Delivery

BRONZE INVESTORSArchon GroupAT&TCrow Holdings/Apollo R. E.EF Johnson, Inc.ExxonMobilFrymire ServicesImlach & Collins BrothersJames Hardie Building ProductsKnight Security Systems, LLCKoll Development CompanyOffice Resource GroupPrediction AnalyticsPS Business ParksReliant EnergySan Jacinto Public Affairs

Properties Services

GOLD INVESTORSAviall, Inc.Carrington LaboratoriesColdwell BankerRIM

SILVER INVESTORSAllstate InsuranceAtmos EnergyClassic Fare CateringComerica BankFriedel PhotographicGranite PropertiesMedco Health SolutionsQuantum Custom Homes

To share in the benefits enjoyed by these entities, please call us at 214.217.8484 or visit ww.irvingchamber.com.

WEEKLYBIZ BRIEF

A business activity report by the Irving EconomicDevelopment Partnership.

Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493Advertise in the Irving Rambler Call 214-675-6493

ful company, and the jobs it willcreate, to Irving-Las Colinas,” Sen.Shapiro said. “Technology is animportant industry within thisregion’s diverse economy andRIM, with its BlackBerry brand,is one of the leading wireless com-munications companies in theworld. I am so proud to welcomeRIM to North Texas and I ampleased to offer my support andcongratulations on this new part-nership. RIM is sure to become akeystone corporate citizen in ourcommunity.”

Continued from page 1

BlackBerry brandcomes to Irving

“For the pastseveral years, Texashas made a big dealabout attracting newcompanies, creatingwell-paying jobsand promotingemerging technolo-gies throughout theLone Star State,”Texas Secretary ofState Phil Wilsonsaid. “Research InMotion supportsthese three goals asthey bring their U.S.headquarters to Irv-ing. RIM has re-mained on the cut-ting edge of wirelesscommunications formore than 20 yearsand will make apowerful impact in

this community and our state formany years to come.”

“The City of Irving is proudto welcome RIM to our outstand-ing roster of Irving corporations.This is a big win for our region,”Mayor Gears said.

“It is indeed good news tohave such a well-known and re-spected company such as RIM joinus among the ranks of Irving’s dy-namic business community,”Peggy Masters, Chairwoman,Greater Irving-Las Colinas Cham-ber of Commerce, said.

Provided by Anne LardnerIn keeping with the spirit of

the season, staff members at Pro-motional Products Association In-ternational (PPAI) collected good-ies for the troops deployed troopsin Iraq and Afghanistan. Spear-headed by business developmentmanager, Pat Burgher, CAE, whatstarted off as a small gesture ofappreciation turned into a grandshow of holiday cheer.

“While many soldiers receivepackages all year round, some re-ceive little, if anything, fromhome,” Burgher said. “We allagree the troops deserve ourthanks for putting their lives on theline for us every day, and this wasa great chance to show every sol-dier just how appreciated theyare.”

Working through the PPAICommunity Service Committee,employees collected everythingfrom greeting cards to snacks,treats and books. The packageswere shipped Dec. 10 in order toarrive in time for Christmas.

The original plan was to send18 soldiers at least one box, butwith the abundance of items thecommittee received, each soldier

will now receive two boxes filledwith their most missed items fromhome.

“I was surprised by howmany items were donated, but Ishould have known better. Thisteam is a very generous group ofpeople who are always willing toreach out,” Burgher said.

PPAI participates in commu-nity outreach programs year-round. In the past 12 months, thisstaff of 70 has donated more than50 winter coats for needy men,women and children, collectedfood to fill 15 Thanksgiving bas-kets, adopted more than 50 angelsas part of the Salvation Army An-gel Tree program, collected blan-kets for the homeless, donated mi-nor-league baseball tickets to BigBrothers Big Sisters of NorthTexas, sponsored a blood drivethat yielded 11 pints of blood—benefiting 33 people in NorthTexas, greeted returning troops atDFW Airport with smiles, snacksand waves and donated nearly oneton of food plus cash donations toIrving Cares, a local food pantry.

For more information aboutPPAI, visit www.ppai.org.

Staff sends care packagesStaff sends care packagesStaff sends care packagesStaff sends care packagesStaff sends care packagesto soldiers for the holidato soldiers for the holidato soldiers for the holidato soldiers for the holidato soldiers for the holidaysysysysys

Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research in Motion,discusses the company’s move to Irving.

December 20, 2007 www.irvingrambler.comPage 6 The Irving Rambler

425 W. Irving Blvd. at O’Connor

(972) 253-7335Hours: Mon. - Fri. 5:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Sat. 5:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sun. 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.

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Metro (817) 498-7079And our new location at

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Visit Our Other Locations at5912 Denton Hwy., Watauga, TX

Serving Irving For Over 35 Years

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BREAKFASTLUNCHDINNER

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Family DiningHomestyle Cooking

All You Can Eat Food Bar After 5 p.m.Lite-eaters Selection

December 23rd - 10:30a.m.A Proclamation of the Christmas Gospel Through the Arts:

December 24th - 5:40p.m.Harp Recital

December 24th - 6:00p.m.Christmas Eve Worship with Communion and Candle-

light

Come WCome WCome WCome WCome Worshiporshiporshiporshiporshipwith Uswith Uswith Uswith Uswith Us

Woodhaven Presbyterian Church3650 North O’Connor Road

Irving, TX 75062972.541.0747

Woodhaven News Line :: Extension 211

Advent Worship Schedule

Rev. Shannon J. Kershner.

Christmas special for children andto let those who are strugglingknow there is hope out there forthem. This is one of many com-munity foundations that Wal-Martis involved with.”

Mr. Williams was inspired bywatching his sister cope withsingle parenthood to create the RoyWilliams Safety Net Foundation.

“It is important that peopleknow that I am more than a foot-ball player,” Mr. Williams said. “Iam a person who gives back to thecommunity and I care about singleparent mothers.

“The foundation is now goingon its fourth year. We are watch-ing it grow into a beautiful flower.I am so privileged to be a part ofthis foundation. Through ourscreening process, we choose themore needy mothers who reallyneed more help.

“We help wonderful mothers.Next year we hope to be able tohelp 20 moms. Each year we addmore and more events. A shoppingspree at Wal-Mart is a beautifulthing. I appreciate Wal-Mart step-ping up and helping our founda-tion,” he said.

As Tynisa Hill shopped withher 20-month-old son, her cartcontained such items as a SpongeBob table and chairs set, and a con-tainer of blocks.

“These are his first blocks.This is the first time he will playwith blocks of his own. My son isa blessed little boy,” Tynisa said.

“There are no words to de-scribe it. Roy Williams and hisfoundation have been a specialblessing. I thank God for what heis doing for the single moms in thecommunity. The opportunities arejust unbelievable.”

“This is wonderful, excitingand special,” Carla, a singlemother of two, said as she shoppedwith her children. “It is a dreamcome true to be able to get themall the things I couldn’t afford toget them. They are picking out allof the things they want. This is ablessing.”

Kim Hunt is a foundation vol-unteer, who helps moms withparenting advice.

“This is finally a chance togive back. You see the joy in theirfaces, and you reflect about peoplewho helped you in the past. Todaywe delivered furniture to over halfof the moms. We delivered thingsthat most people take for granted:beds, coffee tables, end tables, andthings of that nature,” Ms. Huntsaid.

“Tonight means more to thesefamilies than you will ever know.To get Christmas, to have moneyjust for toys is wonderful. Therewere moms crying because Christ-mas was just going to be anotherday for them.

In addition to special events,the foundation’s activities helpsingle mothers cope with everydaylife.

“Every month the foundationhas a designated activity. Theyhave the designated lecture, momscan speak with me if they need to,and there is a CPA available to helpthem with budgeting. This helpswith every day of their lives, notjust one quarter of the year.

“The foundation offers a year-round giving back program. Afterthese mothers graduate in June,they will come back and be men-tors for the next fall. The year af-ter that they come back and vol-unteer,” she said.

Foundation supports singlemothers throughout yearContinued from page 1

Provided by Helen RodriguezMoney Management Interna-

tional (MMI), the nation’s largest,non-profit credit counseling firm,was named the recipient of a$50,000 education grant awardedby Comerica Bank. MMI will usethe grant money to hold financialeducation workshops for an esti-mated 1,300 residents in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and Austin.

The banking initiative willfocus on bringing basic financialeducation to under-banked and un-banked consumers, and will assistindividuals and families that meetthe Low- to moderate-income,which is considered to be at 80%or less of area median income.Through workshops, such as Un-derstanding Money and Credit,Your Credit Report Reference

Guide and CheckWi$e, partici-pants will understand the benefitsof working with a mainstream fi-nancial institution for their finan-cial needs.

”We believe that financial andcredit education is the answer tomany of the challenges consumersface today,” Rudy Cavazos, TexasRegional Director of Educationand Community Relations forMMI, said. “These workshops willteach the fundamental skills nec-essary to understand budgeting,saving strategies, credit and moneymanagement, and choosing andmanaging a checking account re-sponsibly.”

To learn more about this ini-tiative and other free educationalworkshops and seminars, call 1-800-308-2227 ext. 3048.

PPPPPararararartners to protners to protners to protners to protners to providevidevidevidevidefinancial educationfinancial educationfinancial educationfinancial educationfinancial education

Sharing the Christmas love

Volunteers at Calvary Church prepare to hand out Baskets of Love during the church’s annualcommunity sharing program. Each of the 500 baskets contain a frozen turkey and all of theingredients for a traditional Christmas feast.

214-675-6493The Irving Rambler December 20, 2007 Page 7

Hours of operation:Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 11-6

Saturday 11-5

Put a PPut a PPut a PPut a PPut a Paaaaaw print in your hearw print in your hearw print in your hearw print in your hearw print in your hearttttt

The precious petsat the DFW Hu-mane Societywould like tobring a lifetime of

Come adopt a new

1611 W, Irving Blvd.Irving, Texas 75061

If you can’t adopt, please donate!

love and happiness into your home!!

Remarks by Daniel GilbertAfter top Republican Presi-

dential Candidates spent weeks at-tempting to convince voters thatthey are the most conservative ofthe group, all have remained mumon a winning issue for Conserva-tives: the right of businesses andfaith-based organizations to re-quire employees to speak Englishwhile on the job.

My position is clear. Englishshould be made the official lan-guage of the United States. Englishlanguage should be a requirementfor citizenship and a requirementin any job where two spoken lan-guages would be a safety or cus-tomer service problem. TheAmerican people and the conser-vative leadership have become soworn down by the politically cor-rect police that we cannot evenstand in the gap for a Christian or-ganization that does nothing buthelp others across the globe. Whatdoes that say about us and our lead-ers?

If the Bush administration’sfailure to protect our borderswasn’t enough, now we have a lov-ing and effective humanitarian or-ganization who has to defend it-self in a lawsuit that stems fromthese very same failed policies.

Not a single Top RepublicanCandidate has publicly weighed inon this issue or expressed supportfor the Salvation Army, which iscurrently being sued by the EEOCfor requiring its employees tospeak English. Yet, 77% of Ameri-cans agree that businesses have theright to demand their employeesspeak English while on the clock.Moreover, a summer 2006Rasmussen poll stated that 85% ofAmericans (92% of Republicansand 79% of Democrats) believeEnglish should be the official lan-guage of the United States.

The case revolves around twoSalvation Army employees inFramingham, MA, who had theopportunity to learn English forfive years, and were required tolearn the language by the sixthyear. The employees were fired andsubsequently petitioned the EEOCto file suit against the SalvationArmy for wrongful termination.

Nancy Pelosi and her HouseDemocrats, under pressure fromthe Hispanic Caucus, attempted todefeat (unsuccessfully) an amend-ment attached to an appropriationsbill to protect prosecuting such anorganization by voting against the

motion 218 to 186. Senator LamarAlexander (R-ND) led the chargein defense of the Salvation Army.

Immigration will undoubtedlybe a deciding factor in 2008. Ac-cording to a recent Rasmussen pollin NH, immigration ranked higherthan national security, oureconomy and Iraq among voters,particularly among Republicans. Ifimmigration is a major factor, whyis all quiet on the Republican frontregarding the Salvation Army?

GOP front-runners may lackthe political courage to support aChristian organization which ishistorically one of the largest so-cial care programs in the world;Democrat front runners are safelydancing around the immigrationissue because their party is so frac-tured on this subject.

If any of the top candidateswanted to separate themselvesfrom the moderate bunch andemerge as the true conservative,they would have demanded other

candidates reveal their position onthis issue, in the likes of the feed-ing frenzy with Senator Clintonand driver’s licenses for illegals inNew York.

All top GOP candidates havepublicly provided to voters, thusfar, was to not raise their handwhen Wolf Blitzer asked if any ofthem disagreed with English as theofficial language in the U.S. Theirtough talk on this issue was un-der-whelming.

Unfortunately, the top candi-dates have a weak history regard-ing immigration policies. RudyGiuliani kept sanctuary cities inNYC, John McCain co-sponsoredthe Amnesty Bill and Mitt Rom-ney is a notorious flip-flopper onabortion, amnesty and gay mar-riage, so we really don’t knowwhere he stands, even if he takes astand.

We The People Say No ToPoliticians!

OPINIONSalvation Salvation Salvation Salvation Salvation ArmArmArmArmArmy bears English languagey bears English languagey bears English languagey bears English languagey bears English languagelalalalalawsuit as Republicans remain silentwsuit as Republicans remain silentwsuit as Republicans remain silentwsuit as Republicans remain silentwsuit as Republicans remain silent

Provided by Gus WestA new study by the Hispanic

Institute unearthed fraud in thepre-paid calling-card industry.

“We have discovered that theaverage calling card delivers only60% of the minutes promised,”Gus West, president of the His-panic Institute, said. “Americanconsumers lose up to a milliondollars a day because of fraudulentphone cards.”

The Hispanic Institute, in con-junction with independent tele-

communications expert NetworkAnalytics, tested 45 different in-ternational pre-paid calling cardsfor efficacy and value to seewhether they lived up to the prom-ises of their advertising. Here are a few of the study’s find-ings: --- Only one-third of the 45 cardstested delivered the full call-timepromised.--- Seven of the 45 cards (15.6%)

tested didn’t work at all.--- Eight of the cards tested hadcall completion rates of 50% orless. Three cards provided lessthan 20% of the minutes promised.--- Dropped calls, poor listeningquality and post-dial delays of upto 50 seconds were hallmarks ofthe majority of cards tested. Fif-teen cards did allow for the callerto utilize the entire time balance.--- Pre-paid phone cards haveemerged as a cost-effective optionfor those calling abroad. They are

especially popular among recentimmigrants who use calling cardsto keep in touch with friends andfamily.

According to West, many call-ing-card firms employ scams thatinvolve deceptive advertising, pub-licizing a certain number of min-utes but delivering far fewer. Westsays that Hispanics are hit particu-larly hard.

“Our findings quantify the un-fortunately widespread nature of

New study reveals rampant fraud in calling-card industrythese scams,” West said.

Prepaid phone cards havegrown into a $4 billion industry,responsible for 11 billion calls in2004.

“Fraudulent companies needto get the message that we will notstand for this sort of double-deal-ing,” West said. “Armed with thefindings of our new study, I’mhopeful that we’ll be able to affectchange on this important con-sumer issue.”

PlaPlaPlaPlaPlaying with all his mightying with all his mightying with all his mightying with all his mightying with all his might

Concentrating on the task at had, Daniel Beltran, a seven-year-oldstudent of the Salvation Army’s Performing Arts School playspiano with his instructor, Jesse Fry, during the Salvation Army’sannual Super Lunch hosted in the Omni Mandalay on Dec. 17.

December 20, 2007 www.irvingrambler.comPage 8 The Irving Rambler

Texas Attorney General GregAbbott recently recognized sevenarea hospitals for improving youngTexans’ lives by successfully work-ing to establish legal paternitywhen a child is born to unmarriedparents. The top performing hos-pitals were selected based on thepercentage of births for which pa-ternity was established thanks tothe hospitals’ efforts in fiscal year2007.

Among small hospitals, LasColinas Medical Center in Irving,Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, andWise Regional Health System inDecatur were recognized as topperformers after establishing pater-nity for 79% of children born tounmarried parents. Also standingout among small hospitals areLake Pointe Medical Center inRowlett for establishing paternityin 83% of its out-of-wedlock birthsand Palo Pinto General Hospital inMineral Wells after establishingpaternity for 81% of children bornto unmarried parents.

Among medium-sized hospi-tals, Harris Methodist H·E·B Hos-pital in Bedford stands out after es-tablishing paternity for 79% ofchildren born to unmarried par-ents. Parkland Health & HospitalSystem in Dallas stands out amonglarge hospitals by establishing pa-ternity for 80% of children born tounmarried parents.

The statewide average for pa-ternity establishment amongbirthing hospitals in Texas is 71%.Thirty-one hospitals in the statewere recognized for exemplaryachievement.

“Both parents’ active involve-ment in a child’s life is criticallyimportant,” Attorney GeneralAbbott said. “Thanks to the ex-traordinary efforts of these sevenhospitals, more children will ben-

efit from their parents’ emotionaland financial support. The Officeof the Attorney General is proudto partner with hospitals across thestate as we strive to secure a brightfuture for Texas children.”

Under Texas law, a child bornto a man and woman who are notmarried has no legal father. Vol-untary acknowledgment of pater-nity (AOP) is one way to establishlegal fatherhood, so children areeligible for child support and ben-efits such as Social Security,veteran’s survivor benefits andhealth insurance. Equally impor-tant, legal paternity guarantees afather’s parental rights.

Hospitals must provide unwedparents with the opportunity to es-tablish paternity and with informa-tion about the rights and responsi-bilities involved. The Paternity Op-portunity Program (POP), whichwas developed by the AttorneyGeneral’s Child Support Division,trains and certifies employees ofhospitals and birthing centers toassist parents with the AOP pro-cess while the mother and child arestill in the hospital. POP provideshospitals with brochures and avideo that discuss the benefits andresponsibilities of paternity estab-lishment. Hospital staff, in turn,gives this information to unmar-ried parents.

In addition to the 31 hospitalssingled out for exemplary achieve-ment, Attorney General Abbottalso recognized 13 hospitals acrossthe state for achieving six percent-age points above the average.Eighty-nine hospitals were recog-nized for meeting the statewideaverage of helping 71% of unmar-ried parents legally acknowledgepaternity at the time their childrenwere born.

AttorAttorAttorAttorAttorneneneneney General honorsy General honorsy General honorsy General honorsy General honorshospitals giving Thospitals giving Thospitals giving Thospitals giving Thospitals giving Teeeeexas chil-xas chil-xas chil-xas chil-xas chil-dren a good stardren a good stardren a good stardren a good stardren a good start in lifet in lifet in lifet in lifet in life

Nicole McCann (lft) of the Texas Attorney General’s Office pre-sents a certificate to Carol Chauvin from theLas Colinas MedicalCenter.

The holidays offer temptingchallenges to your healthy-eatingplan. Parties have you eating awayfrom home more often, and sweettreats appear unbidden at your of-fice or doorstep.It’s enticing to relax your effortsover the holidays, but your healthdepends on your diet. Here aresome tips from Karen Klatte,

M.D., a cardiologist on the medi-cal staff at Baylor Medical Centerat Waxahachie.

Make healthy food choices.Try to stay away from the foodsthat are heavy in simple carbohy-drates, especially sweets and past-ries. Typically entrées that don’thave a lot of sauce will be healthier.Choosing turkey breast is fine, but

cover it with gravy and you’ll beadding a lot of carbohydrates.There are also hidden carbohy-drates in starchy vegetables, suchas potatoes, that are converted tosugar, so avoid or limit those foods.

Limit calories by choosingsmaller portions. Then, if youmake healthy choices, rewardyourself with a small piece of

candy or dessert so you don’t feeldeprived.

Exercise. Holidays are a busytime and exercise can help reducestress, so remember to take timefor a brisk walk.

Watch your alcohol intake.Moderate drinking (a glass a dayfor women; two for men) is fine.More than that can lead to healthproblems.

Healthy holidays: Tips for making smart food choices

Contact us at 214-675-6493 if your business would liketo sponsor the games section of the Irving Rambler.Almost everyone likes to play games giving advertisersa captive and entertained audience. We are consideringa variety games and puzzles. Sponsoring this sectionwould guarantee you could play your favorite gameevery week.

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December 20, 2007 Page 9The Irving Rambler 214-675-6493

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Margaret’s Corner

Margaret Lopez is an independentwriter for the Irving Rambler. An Irvingresident for more than 12 years, she andher husband have been married for morethan 40 years and have four daughtersand four grandsons.

Opinions expressed in any commen-tary are those of the writer, and not nec-essarily those of The Irving Rambler, thepublisher, editor, or any staff member.

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PAULINE PRICE PaulinePrice, age 90, aresident of Irv-ing for 50years, died De-cember 17,2007 at an Irv-ing nursingcenter.

Born Feb. 14, 1917 on a farmin Maverick, TX to Lewis VernonJones and Cora Lee Jones, shelived there until she was 25 thenmoved to Fort Worth. A long timemember of MacArthur Blvd Bap-tist Church, she loved her SundaySchool Class Members.

Pauline had two cats, Buddy& Sissy. They were a tremendouscompany to her in her last yearsand now need a home. A giftedgardener, she could grow anythingoutside or inside the house. Shehad many beautiful African violetsand all different varieties of roses

in her yard, many she had cut fromplants she had seen and rooted.

Pauline loved to stay busy us-ing her hands and made manyafghans. She had many antiqueitems.

A mall walker for more than10 years, she used to get up everymorning, go to the mall and walkit three times covering every in andout of every entrance recess. Shelooked forward to seeing and talk-ing with the other Mall Walkers.

One of her favorite pastimeswas playing bingo because sheloved to see all her friends. Sheplayed senior bingo atMacDonald’s, the Heritage Centerand monthly at the Elks Lodge.She loved people and visiting.Since she was hearing impaired,this became such a struggle for her.

She really enjoyed travelingand took many trips in her 70’s and80’s. One of her favorite places togo was Branson, MO.

Preceded in death by her hus-band, Robert “Shorty” HermanPrice and by her parents, she issurvived by her son, James An-thony Price and wife Patricia ofDetroit, MI; daughter, Paula GwenBaxter and husband William ofIrving; and, four grandchildren,West, Blake, Daphne and Natalie.

The family received friendsFriday, at the funeral home. A ser-vice will be held 11 a.m., Dec. 22at Donnelly’s Colonial FuneralHome Chapel with Pastor JoshSmith officiating. Interment willfollow at Oak Grove MemorialGardens in Irving.

HATSUNE(HATTIE) YAMADA

Hatsune( H a t t i e )Yamada, age105, and for-merly of Irving,died peacefullyat home withher daughter at

her side, on 12/13/07.Hattie was born March 8,

1902, to Monnosuke Higuchi, bornin Nishinomiya, Japan, and TaniYamamura Higuchi, born inHiroshima, Japan. She was pre-ceded in death by Koichi (Kay)Yamada, her husband of 43 years,son Keizo Yamada, sister MomoweHiguchi, and brother MitsuziHiguchi.

Hattie and her husband livedin Ohio for 12 years and in Irvingfor 53 years. She moved to Hous-ton in 2000 to be near her daugh-ter and son-in-law, Yuri andCharles Streat, and together theymoved to Casa Grande, AZ in Au-gust of this year to be near otherfamily members.

Hattie was most proud of herlong career as a Sunday Schoolteacher, beginning with a class ofyoung boys when she was baptizedand became a member of First Re-

formed Church in College Point,NY at age 17, and ending with aclass of senior citizens at FirstUnited Methodist Church in Irv-ing when the class dwindled (dueto age) to only one member. Thenthe two of them joined anotherclass together. Hattie joined theMethodist Church when theymoved to Ohio and then joined thechurch in Irving. Her last churchhome was at St. Luke’s UnitedMethodist Church in Houston. Shewas a Lifetime Member of UnitedMethodist Women.

Hattie worked as a secretaryfor the federal government in theOffice of Personnel Managementfor 15 years, where she won praiseand respect, and retired at age 70.She was a member of several ser-vice and special interest organiza-tions, and loved her volunteerwork, which kept her busy formany years. After retirement, shetraveled extensively worldwide.

Hattie, the matriarch of fivegenerations is survived by (in ad-dition to her daughter and son-in-law) three grandchildren, TaniDelicia Salazar (Amir Motamedi),Toshi Hernan Salazar (Julia YeeSalazar), and Tami Kay SalazarTerry (Mike Terry), nine greatgrandchildren, and two great-greatgrandchildren. She is also survivedby brother Norimi Higuchi ofFlushing, NY, nephew Donald

Higuchi (Hilde Higuchi) and fam-ily of Yaphank, NY, cousin MarthaTakata of Burlington, Ontario,Canada, nephew Fred Sakuda(Eiko Sakuda) and family ofMontebello, CA, and a host offriends.

The family wishes to expressgratitude to Trinity Hospice ofHouston, and especially AmyO’Neil, RN, Monica Hernandez,CAN, and Dr. Darryl R. Brown,and also to caregivers EstherO’Connor of Casa Grande, EstherGrant, and Shirley Mayon of Hous-ton for their exceptionally tenderand loving care.

RAMONA“MONA” BRUCE

Ramona“Mona” Bruce,age 66, a resi-dent of Irvingfor 37 years,died December15, 2007 athome.

Born June 6, 1941 inGladstone, MI, she is survived byher husband of 44 years, W. W.Bruce; daughters, Tammy SueTrevino of Irving, Christine Neskyand husband James of Fort Worth,Rebecca Lynn O’Donnell and hus-band Thomas of Grapevine; tengrandchildren; one great grand-child; brothers and sister, James

December 20, 2007 www.irvingrambler.comPage 10 The Irving Rambler

Hi Irving! I hope you allenjoy a beautifuland blessed holi-day season as wecelebrate Christ-mas and the New

Year. If you are behind with yourshopping, remember that it is juststuff.

I know that sometimes we re-ally want to find that perfect giftto show someone special howmuch they mean to us, but don’tforget that sometimes those thingsthat don’t cost anything can be themost valuable commodity. A poemfrom the heart, catching a moviewith your spouse or teenager, orvolunteering at the Salvation

Army— all don’t cost much if any-thing at all, but could mean theworld to someone.

For me, the peaceful loving at-mosphere with family and friendsis one of the best ways to celebrateour Savior’s Birthday. The otherday I saw a commercial on TV thatsaid ‘’ you can’t have too muchfamily during the Christmas sea-son.’’ I agree 100% and then some.

When someone is absent onspecial days, it is difficult. Let’s re-member to keep our courageousmilitary men and women in ourthoughts and especially prayersthis Christmas season. Over theweekend I read a report that theU.S. Military had lost 10 troops inIraq during December. If this pace

is sustained it could make thismonth the least deadly in fouryears.

On a different note, I wantedto mention a great resource for con-servative books and other litera-ture: the American Compass BookClub. They have recently been ac-quired by the Conservative BookClub and are offering new mem-ber specials. If you are looking forone good source of books that af-firm your conservative beliefs andprincipals at reasonable prices,consider this book club. Log on towww.AmericanCompassBookClub.comfor more information. I always saythat we must stand for somethingor we will fall for anything.

May you and your family en-joy a beautiful holiday season aswe celebrate the birth of Jesus andenter into a new year. This is thelast issue of the year for the IrvingRambler so I guess I’ll talk to younext year. Merry Christmas. God Bless You.Attend Church Sunday.

Rhonda Huston, a 1987graduate of MacArthur HighSchool, was honored as an Out-standing Graduate.

Ms. Huston earned an Asso-ciate of Arts degree in businessfrom Blinn College and a Bach-elor of Arts degree in accounting

from North Central College. Sheis a certified public accountant anda certified fraud examiner.

Ms. Huston began her careeras a commercial division accoun-tant for Berkshire Property Man-agement in Rosemont, Illinois.Three years later, she joined

Shepard Schwartz & Harris, LLPin Chicago as an audit managerwhere she performed corporateaudits for real estate developers,home builders, and property man-agement companies for 12 years.

In February of this year, Ms.Huston became chief financial of-

ficer for Lakewood Homes, Inc.,based in Hoffman Estates, IL.Lakewood is one of the Chicago’slargest and most respectedhomebuilders. Prior to joiningLakewood, she served as outsideCPA for the company for severalyears.

At Lakewood, Ms. Huston isresponsible for preparing cash flowprojections, coordinating cashavailability, developing and adjust-ing the annual business plan, su-pervising accounting staff, main-taining banking relationships andworking capital financing, coordi-nating investor contributions, pre-paring financial statements, andmanaging payroll reporting. Inci-dentally, she is the first woman tojoin the Lakewood executive team.

Ms. Huston is a member ofAmerican Institute of CertifiedPublic Accountants, Illinois CPASociety, and Association of Certi-fied Fraud Examiners.

Rhonda Huston named Outstanding Graduate

December 20, 2007 Page 11The Irving Rambler 214-675-6493

606 West Airport Freeway – Irving, Texas 75062

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McCormick, Roy McCormick,Donna Hutchinson, Alvin DaleMcCormick, all of Michigan andBernard McCormick of TheColony.

Friends were received by thefamily before and after the Rosaryon Wednesday at Donnelly’s Co-lonial Funeral Home Chapel. Massof Christian Burial was Dec. 20 atHoly Family of Nazareth CatholicChurch in Irving where Mona wasa member of the Altar Guild. Rev.Msgr. Jerome Duesman, celebrant.Interment was at Dallas-FortWorth National Cemetery. Memo-rial contributions may be made tothe Mary Crowley Cancer Re-search Center.

LORENE TERRYLorene

Terry, of Irving,passed awayDecember 13,2007.

S h ewas born Jan. 9,1928 in Tatum,

TX. She was a member of LonersOn Wheels, and enjoyed traveling,hiking, yard work, watching andcheering on the Dallas Cowboys,and doing things for others.

Preceded in death by her hus-band Homer Terry, survivors in-clude her sons Gary Terry andDennis Terry, both of Irving;daughter Patricia Terry of Ft. Scott,KS; sisters Wanda Birch ofBethany, OK, and Juanita Davis ofMabank; grandchildren Misty Wil-liams, Jason Gunn, DorothyLawrence, Rachel Lawrence,Tommy Dail and Morgan Dail;great grandchildren PhoebeOgletree, Braydon Terry, andAudrey Gonzalez; and manycamping friends.

Funeral services were heldDec. 17 at Brown’s MemorialChapel. Interment followed at OakGrove Memorial Gardens.

CECIL FULMERC e c i l

Fulmer passedaway on De-cember 19,2007 to be re-united with hisp a r e n t s ,Marcus and

Betsy Fulmer and his daughterLeAnne.

He was born March 24, 1926in Royce City, TX. Cecil’s careerwas spent in the chemical fertil-

izer business, serving in manage-rial positions with Armour, Inc.and Nipak, Inc. of Dallas. Heserved in Germany and France inWorld War II as a member the 75th

Infantry Division.He is survived by his wife

Glenda, son Mark, and his sisterFrances Hamrick.

Services were held Dec. 21 atFirst Baptist Church – Irving, 403S. Main with Rev. John Durhamofficiating. Interment followed atOak Grove Memorial Gardens.Arrangements were made byBrown’s Memorial Funeral Home.

RHOLAND HENRY“HANK” CARROLL

Rholand Henry “Hank”Carroll, of Irving, passed awayDecember 16, 2007.

He was born Sep. 19, 1926 inYarnaby, OK. He enjoyed fishing,playing 42 and dominoes andswapping stories with family andfriends.

Survivors include his wifeCharlene Carroll of Irving; sonsWade Carroll and wife Becky ofKeller, and Dusty Carroll of Elmo,TX; daughter Gaylen Carroll ofKeller; grandchildren Durenda,Todd, and Greg Jonas, and Cory,Cody & Bobby Carroll; and 10great grandchildren.

Funeral services were heldDec. 19 at Church of ChristBeltline with Don Hatch officiat-ing. Interment followed atRoselawn Memorial Park inDenton.

MARIANNA MUSICKMarianna Musick, age 71, a

resident of Irving since 1967, diedDecember 13, 2007 in Dallas.

Born Oct.10, 1936 inWaxahachie, she grew up there.

Marianna attended East TexasState College. She married JamesR. Musick Sep. 18, 1977 in Irv-ing. A microbiologist, she spentmost of her career at Irving Com-munity Hospital (Baylor). She wasan avid gardener, painter andbirdwatcher.

She is survived by her hus-band James; daughters, CatherineSchmidt and husband Kevin ofRed Oak, Jennifer Cliborn and

husband David of Arlington;brother, John Lane Washingtonand wife Faye Marie ofWaxahachie; grandchildren, SaraMarie Schmidt, Jason CharlesSchmidt, David Gene Schmidt andRachel Nicole Cliborn.

A visitation was held Dec. 17with service followng, both atDonnelly’s Colonial Funeral HomeChapel. The Rev. Gail Gateley of-ficiated.

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Provided by Jordan GibennusRegifting has arrived. If you

haven’t regifted, you are in theminority, according to a recent sur-vey by Money Management Inter-national (MMI).

What was once a shamefulsecret is now a mainstream prac-tice that receives increased atten-tion during the holidays, whenconsumers are inspired or guiltedinto buying for everyone from fam-ily members to the dogwalker. MMI’s holiday site,www.regiftable.com, is a forum forall things regifting, including morethan 700 consumer stories runningthe gamut from the heartwarmingto the horrifying.

This year, there are more rea-sons than ever to regift:

Everyone is doing it. Well,nearly. 58% of respondents to thesurvey say they regift, or are con-sidering doing so.

Times are tough. Rising gasand energy prices, home foreclo-sure rates, rising credit card mini-mum payments, the list goes on.

42% of respondents regift to savemoney. With consumers expectedto spend an average of $900 thisholiday season (according to theNational Retail Federation), manywill accrue credit card debt thatlingers well into the New Year.

Go Green. For the first timein history, consumers are consid-ering the impact of the holidays notonly on their pocketbook, but onthe environment. The good newsis that “going green” doesn’t meanforgoing all gift-giving anddecorating. Regifting is a smallstep towards reducing thisholiday’s environmental impact.

It’s the thought that counts.Regifters have good intentions.62% regift because they think it issomething the recipient would re-ally like.

”Whatever reason you choose,being a savvy regifter is key. Whenpeople say, ‘really, you shouldn’thave,’ you don’t want them tomean it,” Marianne GrayD’Aquila, president for ConsumerCredit Counseling Services of

Greater Fort Worth, said. “With alittle care and common sense, youcan help keep your holiday spend-ing under control, and participatein the holiday tradition of gift-giv-ing.”

Regifting: It’s time to ask, why not?For regifting dos and don’ts,

interesting facts and figures,games, and more, visitRegiftable.com. You can also shareyour regifting stories for a chanceto win a prize.

Brenda and Carlos Nieves and “Molly”(dog) attend the annual Christmas party.

The Cardinal VillageNeighborhood heldtheir annual Christ-mas Party on Dec. 6at the First Church ofChrist. Friends andneighbors were wel-comed by President,Oscar Ward and As-sociate Pastor, FrankBargainer. About 60neighbors attendedincluding several newfamilies with chil-dren. Neighborsbrought food sang Christmas Car-ols. Each family brought DVDs

and telephone cards to send to thetroops.

Neighborhood holdsChristmas party

December 20, 2007 www.irvingrambler.comPage 12 The Irving Rambler