Posted: 02 Feb 2010 06:50 AM PST

Sandra Keller chases birds all over America, even to places where birders are as rarely seen as their subjects.

The Barrington, Camden County, woman once drove up to New Hampshire for a chance to glimpse a wayward African bird called a western reef heron.

In her travels across Commercial Township and other favorite birding spots, she has become sensitive to how strangers perceive her.

"Once I was looking at a barn owl in Salem County toward dusk. Because it was near the Salem nuclear power plants, the State Police showed up. I don't go to that road now," she said.

Last month, a Massachusetts man who said he was birdwatching was arrested after police decided he was behaving suspiciously.

Paul Peterson, 47, of Boston, was charged Jan. 5 with disorderly conduct, assault and resisting arrest after his binoculars drew the attention of neighbors near a Massachusetts marsh.

Peterson said he did nothing wrong and plans to fight the charges.

"It just so freaked me out. It's a shame that it's caused me not to enjoy birdwatching as much," he said.

Peterson's first court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 22. Whether he is found guilty or not, birders said conflicts and misunderstandings are not uncommon, especially in congested New Jersey, where few natural areas are far from neighborhoods.

Don Freiday, director of birding programs at the New Jersey Audubon Society, said police have stopped to question him at least five times while he was birding.

"One of the most memorable was when I was along the north shore of Monmouth County. I had a birding scope on my gun stock and an officer mistook it for a real weapon," Freiday said.

After that experience, Freiday decided the convenience of the modified scope was not worth the dangers a similar mistaken assumption could pose, and he no longer uses it.

Not even the late Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's most famous birders, was beyond reproach.

In 1942, Peterson was photographing goldfinches in Long Island, N.Y., when neighbors reported him to police as a suspicious character, according to Elizabeth J. Rosenthal's biography "Birdwatcher."

Fortunately for Peterson, the officer recognized him as a famous naturalist. But the biography noted that birders faced unique challenges during World War II.

"Because of their binoculars, birders were suspected of spying," Rosenthal wrote.

The modern birder is more likely to run afoul of homeland security.

Scott Shalaway, a newspaper columnist from Cameron, W.V., goes birding in Cape May every year on his family vacations in Sea Isle City and Avalon, and said he has run into problems in the past.

"I was birding on a public road near a power plant along the Ohio River. They have lots of natural areas near power plants. It's a birdy place," he said. "Within two minutes of getting out of the car, a security agent pulled up and quizzed me about why I was looking at the power plant. With my spotting scope and binoculars, I thought it seemed obvious what I was doing."

In New Jersey, parks and refuges are never far from residential neighborhoods.

"I think there will be more conflicts. It's important for birders to be sensitive to it," Shalaway said.

Once, police in Texas stopped Audubon's Freiday because he was too near an oil refinery, he said.

"Another time I was birding the Raritan Bay area near the Earle Naval Weapons Station shortly after 9-11. I was looking at ducks in the bay. This Navy patrol boat came storming over at high speed," Freiday said.

The sailors aboard the boat sized him up and must have decided he posed no threat to national security. They turned around and retreated.

Cindy Ahern, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., spends weekends birding in Cape May and Cumberland counties. She said she got into an argument with a neighbor once when she tried to photograph a hawk in their yard.

In her experience, most people who live near public parks and refuges are accustomed to seeing birders. But reactions can vary when she goes off the beaten path.

"If they can't understand it, they'll question it," she said. "Looking at it from the outside, someone with no interest or knowledge will ask questions. They don't get it."

The American Birding Association promotes a birding code of ethics, which includes a healthy respect for private property. The Cape May Bird Observatory in Middle Township lectures birders not to train binoculars on homes or businesses.

Freiday said most of the neighbors he has encountered while birding are tolerant about the activity. Birding and other ecotourism is big business in New Jersey, generating more than $500 million each year in Cape May County alone according to a 2006 study.

"I think people probably by now can recognize a birder when they see one," he said.

Contact Michael Miller:

609-272-7247

MMiller@pressofac.com

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Schrader raises eyebrows, brings back memories - NASCAR

Posted: 02 Feb 2010 06:35 AM PST

Rule changes to this year's Budweiser Shootout raised some eyebrows when the eligible drivers list was announced, particularly when it came to the addition of Ken Schrader, who will pilot the No. 82 Toyota on Saturday. But even though he hasn't been behind the wheel of a Cup car in more than a year, it seems altogether fitting that Schrader, who became the first driver to win back-to-back Busch Clashes, should return 20 years later to the site of some of his greatest glory.

According to the biography posted on Schrader's Web site, Schrader literally started going around in circles at an early age. Growing up in Fenton, Mo., his father Bill tied Kenny's go-kart to a post in the backyard with a rope, allowing the 3-year-old to speed around until the vehicle ran itself out of gas. He made his public debut at I-55 Speedway as a teen -- a track which he now owns -- then began traveling all over the midwest, mainly running open-wheeled cars.

He captured the USAC Silver Crown championship in 1982 and the USAC Sprint Car title a year later, and had one aborted attempt at making the field at the Indianapolis 500. But by that time, Schrader wanted to give stock-car racing a try, and in 1984, rented Winston Cup cars from Elmo Langley for three races. He finished 19th at Nashville in his Cup debut but soon ran out of cash. However, Langley was impressed enough to allow Schrader to run twice more.

Junie Donlavey signed Schrader to a full-time ride the following season, and he scored three top-10 finishes en route to rookie of the year honors. Schrader won the first of his 23 career poles at Darlington in 1987, allowing him entry into the 1988 Busch Clash, where he finished seventh for new owner Rick Hendrick. The Busch Clash at that time was a 20-lap sprint exclusively for pole winners, with the starting lineup drawn at random.

That same weekend, Schrader began a stretch where he sat on the pole for three consecutive Daytona 500s. In addition, that assured him a spot in the following year's Busch Clash. And in 1989, Schrader led 15 of the 20 laps, naturally from the pole, to score the victory and take home the $75,000 winner's purse, his biggest paycheck up to that point. (Continued)

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Cadres’ decisions of the PM are unpredictable: leftist - Focus Infomation

Posted: 02 Feb 2010 05:59 AM PST

Sofia. Obviously the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov hardly orientates in the selection of serious and responsible people, said leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Sergey Stanishev commenting on decision of the PM to appoint deputy Prime Ministers who have not fulfill themselves after that, FOCUS News Agency reporter informs. In his words such approach can not be used-to say you will appoint new deputy Prime Minister and to change your mind in a few days. He said the cadres' decisions of the PM are unpredictable.
"It was announced officially and loud new deputy Prime Minister will be appointed-Mr Mihov. Then I have made a statement this is a PR, which aimed to cover the issue on the failure with the nomination of Rumyana Zheleva for EU Commissioner. Something to attract your attention," Stanishev said.
"Mihov really has rich academic biography, which does not make him good choice for deputy Prime Minister," Stanishev said.
Regarding to the appointment and resignation of PM's adviser Kolyo Paramov, BSP leader said:
" As far as I know Mr Paramov has no economic education. May be I am wrong. However, most economists doubt his capacity as economist."
"I have no intention to get into confrontation or a duel with Mr Borisov over the activity of the government and the position of the BSP as an oppositional political power," Stanishev said answering a journalists question about the commentary of the PM that if he (Stanishev) is put at the lie detector it will flash.
Tsvetomira GEORGIEVA

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Prep School Defensemen for Truth Question Kerry Hockey Feat - Salon

Posted: 02 Feb 2010 05:16 AM PST

BOSTON. John Kerry spent his entire career in the shadow of Ted Kennedy, only to be eclipsed by newly-elected Republican Scott Brown within months of becoming the senior senator from Massachusetts. Now he faces a new threat to his legacy; charges that he embellished his hockey accomplishments as a prep school forward in the 1960's.

"I'm pretty sure I tipped it with my stick."

A new group, Prep School Defensemen for Truth, issued a statement today alleging that Kerry never achieved a "hat trick", the accolade earned by an individual player who scores three goals in a single game. Kerry's campaign biography has listed this accomplishment since he first lobbied for membership in Yale's secretive Skull and Bones society.

Skull and Bones

Prep School Defensemen for Truth is composed of former Independent School League hockey players who competed against Kerry. The Independent School League is made up of exclusive New England prep schools such as Groton School, Middlesex School, and a passle of saints; St. George's, St. Mark's, St. Sebastian's and Kerry's alma mater, St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire.

"Who you callin' a middle-class mouth breather?"

Nils Beckwith, a spokesman for Prep School Defensemen for Truth who played for Governor Dummer Academy in Byfield, Mass., was blunt in his assessment of Kerry's hockey skills. "He was on the third line, a real lightweight. He never scored off of me."

Long the butt of jokes, now just "The Governor's Academy"

Kerry staffers countered the group's charges, saying they had been given extensive access to the Senator's youth sports memorabilia in his Boston office, and that the hat trick claim was substantiated by a trophy that bore the inscription "Mini-Mites".

"Buzz off--I'm gonna be President someday."

USA Hockey Recording Secretary Jim Lopresti could not confirm the significance of that award. "Sounds more like a self-esteem kind of thing. You know, everybody who shows up for the last game gets one. For a hat trick it's different--you get a little patch. Kids put them on their jackets."

Republican party officials seized on the controversy and vowed to examine Kerry's other hockey statistics such as his plus/minus rating, the measure of a team's overall effectiveness while a player is on the ice.

"I don't have my goalie mitt!"

In a statement that he read from the steps of his Beacon Hill townhouse, Kerry denounced the charges as politically motivated. "Who among us hasn't been thrilled by the sight of Bobby Esposito stopping a slap shot with his goalie mitt? To turn hockey, a game of speed and beauty, into a partisan football is reprehensible."

"Don't be a puck hog!"

One fact Kerry's supporters and detractors agree on: in four years of prep school hockey he never recorded an assist. In response to a reporter's question, Edward "Bink" Hollings, St. Paul's hockey coach during the 60's, conceded that "if John ever passed the puck, I didn't see it."

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Biographies

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

“Sometimes those birdwatchers spot some really upset neighbors - Atlantic City Press” plus 3 more

“Sometimes those birdwatchers spot some really upset neighbors - Atlantic City Press” plus 3 more

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