text:
Missing & Unidentified People
Lets Find Them
Missing 2010 thru 2012
Missing people 2006-2009 (USA)
Parental Kidnappings
Missing & Unidentified Statistics
Mother of missing woman bitter over killer's release
Photo taken in 2008 of Michael Yarnell a.k.a Honeymoon Suspect
News Tribune article published July 8, 2013 – A Morgan County man is scheduled to be released today from the Tipton Correctional Center after serving four years of a seven-year sentence for the death of his wife in 2003.
And the mother of the victim is not happy.
Michael Yarnell, 43, accepted a plea agreement in June 2009 on one count of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, if all other charges were dismissed against him.
Yarnell was charged with multiple felonies in 2008 after he allegedly confessed to killing his wife, Michelle "Angie" Yarnell, and leading her family and authorities to believe she ran away with another man.
"The reason he's getting out now is that he was so successful in hiding her body, which is the evidence," said Angie's mother, Marianne Asher-Chapman. "To this day, we have never have found her remains. She is still a missing person."
Photo of Angie Yarnell who vanished almost one decade ago
Investigators testified that Yarnell admitted shoving his wife, causing her to fall off the couple's deck at their Ivy Bend home in late September 2003.
After he sat with her for a while, they said Yarnell "freaked out" and loaded Angie's body in a car with the intent of driving her to Versailles, but eventually took the body to a boat ramp at the Lake of the Ozarks, loaded her into a canoe and eventually "lost" her in the water.
Yarnell then fled the area and wasn't found by authorities until August 2008.
"I will never understand how our criminal justice system allowed a liar like Michael Yarnell to lead them to such a path, fabricating a story which was nothing more than a self-serving lie to save his own skin from a life sentence or even a death sentence," Asher-Chapman said.
Asher-Chapman's experience led her to co-found Missouri Missing, a group dedicated to helping families of missing persons try to find their loved ones by connecting them with various resources, many associated with law enforcement, and keeping missing person cases out in the public.
Despite being able to help many since found the group in 2007, Asher-Chapman still has a hard time dealing with how her daughter's case has been handled.
"The justice system in the case of my beloved daughter has done little more than to denigrate and insult her and her family and friends, and in no way, has brought any degree of true justice to we who has suffered at the hands of this dangerous predator," she said.
"It gives him full freedom to continue to harm others."
Source: News Tribune
July 8, 2013 letsfindthem 2 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Angie Yarnell, Caucasian Female, Cold Case, Honeymoon Suspect, Ivy Bend, July 2013, Michael Yarnell, Michelle "Angie" Yarnell, Midwest US, Missing woman, Missouri, MO, Morgan County, News Tribune, Tipton Correctional Center, United States, Unsolved Disappearance
'If I die, take care of my boys': Chilling journal of missing mother Susan Powell shows deterioration of her marriage – and warns that her death 'may not be an accident'
Journal entries shows Susan Powell's growing distrust with her husband Josh, as well as her attempts to repair their marriage
Entries reveal that she lamented over the loss of the loving husband she used to know
The couple tried to have a third baby just months before she disappeared
Josh Powell killed himself and her two sons in a horrific murder-suicide last year
Susan Powell disappeared in 2009, and her body has never been found
A newly-revealed journal has shown the despair and turmoil of Susan Powell, who felt like a prisoner in her marriage and warned that she didn't trust her husband in the months before she vanished.
She had been married about a year when she started writing a journal. She was a love-struck, 20-year-old newlywed, dreaming of the future she would build with her husband.
'I just feel incredibly lucky to have Josh,' she wrote in 2002. Before long, however, she found herself torn.
Photo of Susan Powell, mother of two, who went missing on December 6, 2009 in West Valley City, Utah
Powell Family; Susan Powell far right – Susan's husband Josh Powell behind, and their two children Josh and Michael Powell
Susan Powell's handwritten journal showed various entries, including the snippits above and below, in which she feared the worst over tensions with her husband
Mistrust: Susan wrote that her husband Josh could not be trusted in a last will and testament written about a year and a half before she disappeared
Hopeful: Susan also says at the end that maybe there will be a happy ending for everyone after she hinted that there was difficulty in her marriage
Horrific: Josh Powell moved to a home in Puyallup, Washington, where he ultimately attacked his boys with a hatchet after saying he 'had a big surprise' for them. He then set his home on fire, causing an explosion that killed them all
Click here for full article and home video of Susan Powell prior to her disappearance – MailOnline
May 27, 2013 letsfindthem Leave a comment
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Caucasian Female, Cold Case, Dailymail, Josh Powell, Josh Powell Jr, MailOnline, May 2013, Michael Powell, Missing Family, Missing Female, Missing Mother, Northwest USA, Puyallup, Susan Powell, United States, Unsolved Disappearance, UT, Utah, WA, Washington, West Valley City, Western USA
Vermont firefighters charged with holding boy,12, as sex slave for years (DAILYMAIL)
Vermont State police have charged two men with Connecticut ties in an alleged child sexual assault case
The suspects are both middle-age men who were respected firemen for the West Haven Fire Department
The assaults occurred in The assaults allegedly occurred in Ludlow and Cavendish, Vermont
The victim, who is now a young man in his twenties, came forward with the allegations last month, saying the assaults began when he was 12 and the sexual relations continued to last year.
Meyer is alledged to have brought other underage victims from Connecticut to Vermont where he would sexual assault them and then ask the victim to perform sex acts on them
Suspects: Frank Meyer, 39, of West Haven, Conn., and Brett Bartolotta, 42, of Cavendish, Vt., are charged with aggravated sexual assault and slave trafficking
Click here for the full article written and published by MailOnline
March 2, 2013 letsfindthem 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Aggravated sexual assault, Brett Bartolotta, Child predators, Connecticut, Crimes against Children, Dailymail, Frank Meyer, Human Sex Trafficking, MailOnline, March 2013, New England, Northeast, Sex Trafficking, Sexual slavery, Vermont, Vermont State Police, VT, West Haven, West Haven Fire Department
'They stole my baby': Brazilian woman accuses hospital of snatching child from womb after doctors tell her she had 'phantom' pregnancy – MailOnline
Feb 17, 2013, BRAZIL —
Layane Santos received pre-natal treatment during her entire pregnancy
Santos says she was in her 38th week of pregnancy when she was rushed to a maternity hospital in Sao Paulo, south east Brazil, with abdominal pain and blood loss.
After a C-section doctors told the 19-year-old her the baby never existed
Lawyers say they will now ask a judge to seize hospital records
Layane Santos says she had received pre-natal treatment during her entire pregnancy with nurses even recording the growing size of her baby
Layane Santos recieved these ultra sound results a week before the delivery showing the size of the baby's head and weight
Devastating: Layane and her husband had already named their daughter Sofia and spent thousands of pounds buying furniture for their first child's new room
Click here for full article published by Dailymail (MailOnline)
February 17, 2013 letsfindthem Leave a comment
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Brazil, Caesarean section, Dailymail, February 2013, Layane Santos, MailOnline, Obstetrics, Possible Abduction, Pregnancy, Sao Paulo
Kevin Collins Missing: San Francisco home searched in case of 10-year-old's 1984 disappearance
(AP) SAN FRANCISCO – Police searched a home in San Francisco on Tuesday in connection with the high-profile disappearance of a 10-year-old boy nearly 30 years ago.
San Francisco police said in a statement that the examination of the backyard and garage of the house near the city's Haight-Ashbury district was a "follow up to the cold case investigation" into Kevin Collins' disappearance. They said the current residents aren't suspects.
A law enforcement official said a "person of interest" in Kevin's disappearance lived in the house at the time. That person has since died.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the search warrant used to inspect the property was sealed.
Photo of 10-year-old Kevin Collins
Ann and David Collins, parents of missing Kevin Collins, on March 2, 1984 holding a missing poster. / AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File
During the search, cadaver dogs indicated the presence of remains under the concrete in the garage. Police said a preliminary review of the remains showed them to be animal bones, but the San Francisco medical examiner's office was conducting further tests.
Police didn't disclose what prompted investigators to seek a search warrant and renew the probe into the case. The FBI and the Alameda County sheriff's department contributed to the search Tuesday.
Renewed interest in the case, which included a memorable milk carton image of the freckled-faced Kevin, put his mother on an emotional roller coaster, especially when the remains turned out to be animal bones.
"Mostly I'm just numb," Ann Collins, 72, said. "To see them digging in a building so close to where he disappeared was shocking."
Collins and her husband divorced, and she moved to the San Francisco suburb of Concord after an intensive search for her son.
"It would be nice to have closure," she said. "But then a part of me, you know, doesn't want to find him like that."
Kevin was last seen waiting for a bus in the neighborhood after basketball practice at St. Agnes School in Haight. Following his disappearance, a local search that included the plastering of his photograph on posters throughout the city blossomed into one of the first child disappearances to garner national attention. His photograph was on the cover of Newsweek in 1984.
Source of article: CBS News
January 30, 2013 letsfindthem 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Alameda County, Ann Collins, Caucasian Male, CBS, CBS News, Cold Case, Haight-Ashbury District, January 2013, Kevin Collins, Missing Child, Missing Children in the USA, San Francisco, San Francisco FBI, San Francisco Police
The Kidnapping & Murder of Adam John Walsh
Photo of Adam Walsh which was taken the same year of his abduction and murder
Adam Walsh was a 6-year-old boy from Hollywood, FL. On the afternoon of July 27, 1981 Adam joined his mother, Reve Walsh, on a trip to Hollywood Mall, which is right across the street from Hollywood Police Department. The main reason for the trip was so Reve could stop by Sears Department Store to purchase a few items, including lamps.
Adam was your typical, friendly boy so when he saw a couple of children playing video games in the arcade section of the store he asked his mother if he could stay behind and watch. Figuring she would be less than 75 ft away in the lamp section, she said yes and left her son who was happy and amused with the video games, behind.
That was the last time she would see her son alive.
"I said, 'I'm going right over here to the lamp department,' and he said, 'Okay, Mommy, I know where that is,'" Reve told Nightline in a 2011 interview.
Police records in Adam's case released in 1996 show that a 17-year-old 'security guard' asked four boys to leave the department store. Adam is believed to have been one of them. It is unknown why they were asked to leave.
Reve noticed fairly quickly (about 5-10 minutes) that the lamp she wanted wasn't in stock and headed back to the arcade. Adam was nowhere in sight. She wasn't initially concerned, figuring Adam ran off with some kids she went out to search for him, asking local shoppers if they've seen him. After searching for over an hour, Reve began to panick and called police.
By the end of that week this case was National news, thousands of fliers with the smiling, brown-haired boy were published and posted all over cities and towns and eventually made their way out-of-state. But by then, it was too late.
Two weeks (16 days) after Adam went missing his severed head was found in a drainage canal more than 120 miles away from home. The rest of his body has never been located.
From the beginning, the Walshes were disappointed with the Hollywood Police Department.
First, the Walshes say the cops didn't take the missing persons case seriously enough. Then they say the police botched the murder investigation.
"It was one nighmare after another," John Walsh said.
The prime suspect was Ottis Toole, an admitted serial killer who was in prison for many other crimes.
"You keep killing and killing and it gets easier and easier and it don't really bother you," Toole once told Texas law enforcement.
Toole made 24 documented confessions to killing Adam Walsh, including a 1984 videotaped interview with Texas Rangers. During the interview, he said, "I kind of feel bad about that Adam Walsh kid."
"That is," he said, "the youngest child I ever killed."
Toole even had the gulls to write to the Walsh family, demanding $5,000 in exchange for telling them where the rest of their child's remains were.
"I read that letter and went into the bathroom and threw up," John Walsh would later tell Nightline in an interview. "I said, 'This son of a bitch. We have to figure out a way for him to tell us what happened."
In the decades that followed, Adam's case remained open. Toole continued to recant his confessions about being the killer several times and for years he was never charged. Many people believed he was admitting guilt simply for the fame and to be remembered. They believed this because he never proved his guilt and wouldn't tell police where the rest of Adam's body was.
For years the case went unsolved and the Walsh family felt like they were the ones doing all the investigating. It became frustrating but they were not going to let their child's name go down in vain.
The Walsh Family – John Walsh in the middle, Reve Walsh (right) and daughter on the left
At the time there were no missing faces on milk cartons, no Amber Alert system in place to alert the public if a child goes missing, no National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, nothing. To a family who's missing a child each minute feels like eternity and the Walsh's were determined to change this.
They didn't want other families to go through the tragedy they went threw and for the families who have gone threw unsolved tragedies. They were determined to catch as many predators and criminals as they possibly could.
Prior to his son's murder, John Walsh was a partner in a hotel management company in Hollywood, Florida. After his son's kidnapping and murder, he became a strong human and victims rights advocate, criminal investigator and the creator and host of America's Most Wanted which has helped save thousands of missing people and solve crimes. Walsh is also a part owner of Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington D.C.
America's Most Wanted (AMW) Logo
John Walsh (pictured) has been a strong human and victims right advocate for many years and continues to speak out and help other families of crimes
Reve Walsh rarely speaks out about her child's murder. In 2011, she sat down with Nightline ABC to discuss a new book "Bringing Adam Home," which tells the story of her son's case and the tragedy they went threw.
"When all this was going on, I just thought to myself, I can't wait till it's 20 years or 25 years," Reve said. "I don't care about getting old, I just want this experience of my life to be that far away from me because I thought it would be different. It's really not." Reve told Nightline.
The Walsh family had dedicated their lives to helping other families find their missing relatives, children, etc. Over the years they've helped find thousands of missing people and criminals. They were not going to let their son's horrific murder go in vain. But still, the frustrations grew each year Adam's case continued to go unsolved.
"I cannot go to my grave not doing everything I can possibly do," she said. "We are going to get a cold case detective, we are going to start from the beginning, and have this man work this case. I don't care if you go to work just to pay the bill of this private investigator.' And John said, 'I know the guy.'"
That guy was Joe Mathews, a retired police detective who had briefly been involved in the Walsh case early on and was critical of how it was handled.
After combing through the case file, Mathews made a major discovery: a roll of film from the crime scene of Ottis Toole's car — it was film that the original detectives never bothered to have developed. Pictures show bloody footprints on the driver's side of Toole's car. On the rear floorboard of the car — where Toole admitted to tossing Adam's severed head — pictures show the bloody outline of a face.
"I have a blood transfer from Adam's face onto the carpet — you can actually see his image. It's as clear as the shroud of Turin, Veronica's veil. It's clear," Mathews said.
He showed the picture to the Walshes.
"To me, it was the one thing that a mother knows, is that this is their child, that this picture is their child," Reve Walsh said. "This is the piece of evidence that ties everything together for me and I can go to my grave knowing that not only that I did everything I could but that I found my answers in that photo."
In December 2008, based on the evidence presented by Mathews — who is also one of the co-authors of "Bringing Adam Home," — the new Hollywood Police Department Chief Chad Wagner officially closed the case, definitively naming Ottis Toole, who had since died in prison, as the man who killed Adam. Wagner apologized to the Walshes for mistakes that he said were made early in the investigation.
It's been over 32 years since the kidnapping and murder of Adam John Walsh and his family never gave up on him and didn't let his case go down in vain. America's Most Wanted is still helping law enforcement solve thousands of crimes and they plan to continue for as long as they possibly can.
Click here to learn about the Adam Walsh Children's Fund & The Adam Walsh Act
NCMEC
January 26, 2013 letsfindthem 18 Comments
Categories: Child Abduction, Uncategorized Tags: 2013, ABC News, Abduction, Adam Walsh, Adam Walsh Children's Fund, AMBER Alert, Americas Most Wanted, Amw, Child abduction, Child predator, Child predators, Cold Case, Families Of Missing Children, FL, Florida, Hollywood, Hollywood Police Department, January 2013, Joe Mathews, John Walsh, Kidnapping, Kidnappings, Missing Children, Murdered Child, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, NCMEC, Nightline, Ottis Toole, Reve Walsh, Serial Killer, Solved, South Florida, The Florida Department of Children and Families, United States, Washington DC
New Boston police join missing person network
The New Boston Police Department announced Tuesday they have become a participating member of the A Child is Missing Alert Program.
The program is similar to what the state has in the Amber Alerts, but the A Child is Missing Alert Program places actual calls to local citizens — more than 1,000 calls within 60 seconds. The alert message will include the age of the missing person, a description of the person, their clothing description, and the last known time and location of where the person was seen. The alert covers under persons under the age of 21 and disabled and elderly persons, often with Alzheimer's and dementia.
"Once an officer takes a missing person report that falls under the guidelines of his program, we will place a immediate call to the A Child is Missing Alert Program operators who then will input the information into their automatic data system and a recorded message will be sent out to all local telephone numbers in the New Boston and Scioto County areas, informing our local citizens of the alert," said New Boston Police Capt. Steve Goins.
The standard Alert Program utilizes computer mapping and enhanced satellite imagery to select an appropriate calling area, and will call between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10:30 p.m., unless significant extenuating circumstances dictate otherwise. Police departments also have access to 24-hour alert calls. Unlisted phone numbers and cell phone numbers can also be entered into the database at http://www.achildismissing.org to receive alert calls.
According to the program, a child is reported missing in the United States every 40 seconds.
Goins said getting missing persons information out to the general public in a quick and timely manner is a major factor in helping find the missing child or elderly person before they are hurt. The more people in our area that can assist the police in going out in their neighborhood and helping to look for the person, the more likely the outcome will be successful in finding the person.
"This program will most definitely benefit the department in how we search and look for missing persons. The program is also a free service to all law enforcement agencies," Goins said.
Source: Portsmouth Daily Times
January 24, 2013 letsfindthem 4 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, A Child Is Missing Alert Program, Alzheimer's and Dementia, AMBER Alert, Boston, Boston Police Department, Child abduction, January 2013, MA, Massachusetts, Missing Child, Missing Children, Missing Children in the USA, Missing person, New England, Portsmouth Daily, Ryan Scott Ottney, The Amber Foundation For Missing Children, The New Boston Police Department, United States
Sandy Hook Hero, Gene Rosen, Now Being Harassed By Conspiracy Theorist Who Believe The Newtown Resident Is Nothing More Then A Fake
It's been exactly one month since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and according to Huffingtonpost, Gene Rosen (pictured) is now being harassed by conspiracy theorist also known as "truthers", who believe the alleged hero is nothing more than an actor and pedophile.
A good Samaritan who harbored six terrified survivors of the Sandy Hook massacre has been singled out by conspiracy theorists accusing him of being a liar and an actor.
On the morning of the shooting, Gene Rosen of Newtown, Connecticut, was feeding his cats when he discovered four terrified children hiding out in his driveway. They told him their teacher was dead, and he listened to their chilling account of the tragedy still going on at the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School.
In the aftermath, Rosen, 69, was interviewed by many of the media outlets that descended on the small community, and his anguished face flashed across television screens around the world.
The sincerity of that anguish was questioned by a group of conspiracy theorists who call themselves "truthers," Salon reported earlier this month. These truthers have so far posted Rosen's personal information online, created fake social media accounts using his name and harassed him via email and phone.
"I don't know what to do," Rosen, a retired psychologist told Salon in a follow-up interview on Tuesday., "There must be some way to morally shame these people, because there were 20 dead children lying an eighth of a mile from my window all night long. And I sat there with my wife, because they couldn't take the bodies out that night so the medical examiner could come. And I thought of an expression, that this 'adds insult to injury,' but that's a stupid expression, because this is not an injury, this is an abomination."
Unfortunately for Rosen, it is an abomination that has gained ground in the weeks since the deadly school shooting. Websites, like SandyHookHoax.com, have sprung up questioning Rosen's motives for sharing his story.
Click here for the full article and video published by Huffingtonpost
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Adam Lanza, Connecticut, Conspiracy Theorist, Conspiracy theory, CT, Elementary school, Gene Rosen, Huffingtonpost, January 2013, Mass Shooting, Murdered Children, New England, Newtown, Newtown Connecticut, Salon.com, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Sandy Hook Hoax, School shooting, Shooting Spree, Truthers, United States
Parents Of Missing Journalist, James Foley, Who Was Kidnapped By Syria Gunmen On Thanksgiving Day, Speak Out
Photo James Foley which was taken in Aleppo, Syria, in July, 2012
Photo of Diane & John Foley, parents of James Foley who are appealing for his safe release after not hearing word from him in over six weeks after the reporter was allegedly abducted by unknown gunmen in Northern Syria
James Foley also known as "Jim" to family and friends, is a 39-year-old Boston Native and foreign freelancer who was kidnapped in northern Syria on Thanksgiving Day.
According to reports, parents John & Diane Foley from Rochester, NH, say their son was in northern Syria covering the civil war for Agence France Presse when he was kidnapped on November 22nd by unidentified Syria gunmen near the village of Taftanaz, in the northern province of Idlib.
"We just don't know anything," Diane Foley said. "We don't know who has him."
Initially, the Foley's had chosen against reporting the incident and appealing for help, hoping it would help with their son's release. But over one month later, after not hearing word, the concerned family have decided to come out with his abduction, and appeal to his kidnappers for his safe return.
They have also created a website, http://www.freejamesfoley.org, and have asked the public for help by signing their petition.
The website comes less than one year after the Foley's launched a very similar appeal when James was kidnapped by pro-Gaddafi (Government) Forces. He was held captive in Libya for six weeks before being released.
'We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he's okay,' said John Foley, the father of James Foley.
'Jim is an objective journalist and we appeal for the release of Jim unharmed. To the people who have Jim, please contact us so we can work together toward his release.'
According to Huffingtonpost, twenty-eight journalists were killed in Syria in 2012, including South African photographer Anton Hammerl, who was shot during their capture and left to die in the desert. The deaths in Syria alone has prompted the Committee to Protect Journalists to name Syria the most dangerous country in the world to work in last year
January 3, 2013 letsfindthem 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2013, Abducted, Agence France Presse, Boston, Foley, Freelancer, Idlib, James Foley, January 2013, Jim, John and Diane Foley., Kidnapped, Libya, Massachusetts, Middle East, Missing, Missing Man, New Hampshire, NH, Pro Gaddafi Forces, Reporter, Rochester, Syria, Thanksgiving
Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year
Hoping everybody has a wonderful, safe Christmas!
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
December 25, 2012 letsfindthem Leave a comment
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: 2012, Christ, Christmas, December 2012, Holiday
"If Your Reading This, I'm either Missing Or Dead" – Clark County Teen Disappears Under Mysterious Circumstances
The disappearance of Tara Calico
The Unsolved Murder of Sylena Jo Dalton And The Kidnapping Of Her 2 Month Old Infant Still Unsolved
Missing NY Baby Levon Wameling Last Seen At His Utica Home Six Weeks Ago
Janice Pockett Memorial Bench Dedication Ceremony
Endangered Missing
Endangered Runaway
Found Deceased
Found Safe
Unidentified People


text:
Archaeology expert to reveal secrets about Pictish well on Bennachie
An archaeology expert will give a talk next month detailing a remarkable discovery on one of Scotland's most iconic mountain peaks.
A team from Aberdeen University's Northern Picts project unearthed a centuries-old well at the Mither Tap, one of the summits of Bennachie, last summer.
The deep granite well would have served as a water source for the occupants of the impressive fort at the top of the hill, the remains of which can still be seen today.
Although it was previously discovered in the Victorian period, it was re-covered and has lain unnoticed beneath thousands of hillwalker's feet ever since.
Large areas of charcoal deposits, bones and other structures were also discovered within the pictish fort.
Professor Gordon Noble of Aberdeen University led the "amazing" dig and will be giving a talk about the findings in Inverurie next month.
His talk takes place at the Acorn Centre in on Thursday, March 19, at 7.30pm.
The event also includes the annual meeting of the Bailies of Bennachie, a voluntary conservation charity, whose members helped with the excavation in June last year.
Outreach officer for the Bailies, Fiona Cormack said: "We are really excited that Professor Noble is coming to give this talk.
"The excavation of the Mither Tap hill fort has shed new light on the history of the Bennachie hill range.
"It will be fascinating to hear what has been discovered.
"The Bailies are also holding their short annual meeting at the event, looking at their activities over the last year and ahead to plans for the forthcoming year."
The talk is free to attend and tea and coffee will be served.
Full article: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeenshire/2028397/archaeology-expert-to-reveal-secrets-about-pictish-well-on-bennachie/
Published Tuesday February 18th, 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In 2003, I was severely ill in the first week I reached Sombaykha Primary School. I wanted to run back home but I was officially four days away from everything familiar to me. I knew I was going to die in the place so new and so remote. Everything about the place made me lonely. It was then that I accidentally broke a thick red ruler in headmaster's office. You won't believe how the scent of pinewood that came from the broken ruler suddenly made my heart race. I took the two broken pieces with me and kept them hear my pillow. From the next morning I felt more alive than ever.
Coming back to Paro and living among the Pine trees is a gift of natural happiness. I know the trees, I grew up with them, I played on their branches and slept under their shade. The scent from the free sends me heart dancing. I am home. But wait, what's under those trees?
Below my training centre in Dop Shari, there is a small patch of pine trees. It's too small to be called a forest but the small group of trees seemed to have survived so many human interventions. Between the trees and the road there is clearly a pit overflowing with garbage. It doesn't seem like a recent activity but now that we live and work in that area, people could easily blame it on us. My colleague Ram took it on to himself to clear that area as part of his social initiative. He got us gloves and sacks.
We thought an afternoon would be enough but as we dug we discovered that the place was used for ages. The waste was obviously from a hotel- countless wrappers of milk, sugar, biscuit, frozen chicken, wine bottles, broken plates and glasses, carton boxes,... It doesn't require much intelligence to analyse that the former occupant of our office was responsible. This place was earlier a tourist hotel, and evidently a very irresponsible one.
What we discovered later broke my heart completely. Beyond the pit, cleverly hidden under the pine trees was a secret world of plastic. It was clearly years of intentional and irresponsible dumping of plastic waste, which should be a criminal offence to the nation. It's a wonder how the authorities didn't spot at least the pit that was just below road to Paro Dzong.
The bigger question is, where are other hotels hiding their waste? I have seen a few patches of landfill here and there in Paro. Above Gaptay I have seen a depression in the woods filled with hotel waste, and above that I have seen at least three hotels. It seems to a trend in Paro to hide their waste in the woods. I would therefore like to alert National Environment Commission and Tourism Council of Bhutan to investigate this issue in Paro and perhaps elsewhere in the country.
In Paro the problem must have cropped from the failure of the Dzongkhag Municipal. I assume that they can't possibly assist the hotels in managing their waste when they seem to fail in managing the waste in the middle of the town. The waste collecting trucks are small and manually operated, and the frequency of collection seems very less. The bins placed at prime locations are small even for a single user, and therefore are seen overflowing perpetually. Everything seems so half hearted.
Wherever the problem is there seems to be a serious need of intervention. This beautiful country we are so proud of may soon lose its countless adjectives, and our proud environmental efforts may just turn into myths on paper.
Oh it's so sad. If this continues on, it will cause a greater effect to the environment in the near future. Hope the authority will look into this and impose a 'fine' to the responsible individual and corporate who cause this to happen like what we have here in Singapore.
At the same time educate the people and other awareness about the preservation of the nature and keep the area clean are also necessary plus providing the right place to dump and clear the rubbish regularly.


text:
Community > Code, Doing Things the Apache Way
In 2019, Apache APISIX, an open-source cloud-native API gateway project, was donated to the Apache Software Foundation by API7.ai. By 2022, APISIX has grown into a 10k+ starred open-source software project on Github, with 6M+ downloads and 500+ open-source contributors. The secret to Apache APISIX's fast growth lies in its community, more specifically its activeness and openness, as APISIX is truly doing things "the Apache way".
APISIX contributors have grown from 0 to 500+ in three years' time.
Had you ever been part of a conversation in the APISIX community, you will instantly notice its responsiveness and friendliness. If you submit an issue in any APISIX-related space or post a question in our Slack chat, most likely, someone from the community will reply within a few hours. If there are features of APISIX that you find improvable, it is easy to start a conversation within the community and have someone else appending to or even helping with your suggestions.
This activeness is heavily reliant on the fact that APISIX caters to actual needs, thus inducing more people to try out the open-source API gateway and to come back and contribute. Another factor, we would love to think, is the efforts of API7.ai, who initially donated the project to the Apache Software Foundation. Not only are the employees of API7.ai frequently maintaining APISIX, but we also originated a few initiatives that significantly drew more awareness to APISIX.
In 2022, employees in API7.ai hosted and co-hosted nearly 40 in-person and online APISIX community events. Those include in-person meetups, community meetings, use case demonstrations, and contributor workshops. Our most recent event is Toronto Open-Source Meetup, where over 40 software engineers, founders, and contributors showed up in person, and many more joined online. The event included fact-based and experience-based sharing sessions on open-source- and API-gateway-related topics. Allen from the University of Toronto commented that the talks drove him to consider contributing to and even pursuing a career in the open-source software field.
The event attracted more than 40 participants to attend in person.
The Apache APISIX Summit Asia 2022 in May was yet another brand new attempt to help organizations and enterprises better understand and utilize the open-sourced API management tool. This two-day event introduced 15 event-based APISIX use cases presented by engineers from top-tier tech companies like Tencent Cloud, AliCloud, VMvare Tanzu Labs as well as APISIX PMC members. There were also many in-depth roundtable seminars where engineers, open-source contributors and investors shared their thoughts on the whys and hows of building a community first open-source software.
Apache APISIX Summit Asia 2022
Besides all these, API7.ai engineers play a critical part in APISIX's projects in GSoC. Google Summer of Code(GSoC) is a global program focused on bringing new contributors into open-source software development. GSoC Contributors work with an open-source organization on a 12+ week programming project under the guidance of mentors. For 3 years in a row, engineers at API7.ai have acted as mentors to APISIX's projects in each year's GSoC. Under the guidance of these APISIX PMC members/Committers, many GSoC contributors went on to become APISIX Commiteers themselves.
The welcoming environment serves as another powerful enticement. APISIX boasts a widely diverse community consisting of people of different ages, races, genders, and experiences.
Zeping has been an active contributor to APISIX since early 2020 when he was looking for an easy-to-use full-lifecycle API management tool for his personal project. At that time, he was a junior in college majoring in management. According to Zeping, his issues and PRs would always get responded to within half a day, and essentially that was what lured him into the community and kept him in. It also helped that he was promoted to become an APISIX PMC member later on. "If you go over our PMC members and Comitters, you will find that there are many students or fresh graduates like myself."
Like Bai, Zexuan has also been contributing to APISIX in its early days, but he is already an experienced expert at OpenResty and Go. Zexuan is the core developer of OpenResty and has been writing Go & Lua for more than 7 years. He discovered the Apache APISIX community in 2019 and eventually became an APISIX PMC member and tech lead at API7.ai.
Sylvia's story is a little bit different. You will most likely have seen Sylvia's work if you've read APISIX's blogs. She's an open-source enthusiast and she helps with APISIX's documentation and blogs. She's drawn to the community by its warmth. "I and other contributors attend meetups and play games together. I like the vibe of APISIX's community.", She commented, "I also love how so many women play a critical role in this community." Indeed, not only does the APISIX community value equal opportunity, but we're also bringing more women into the OSS game. This December, APISIX will partner with Amelia, a North-America based exclusive gathering place for women in tech, venture, and business, to host an online meetup to talk about women and their success in the open source software space.
You can also learn more about our developer advocates story.
These stories are a mere fraction of hundreds of true APISIX enthusiasts, but they showcased why APISIX has gained so much traction in the past 3 years. Earlier this year, APISIX was awarded "Cloud-Native Technology of the Year" by CSDN and recognized as "Top 100+ Developer Tools 2021" by Stackshare. By putting community before code, APISIX welcomes all sorts of meaningful conversations via mail group, Slack, or in Github. As 2023 approaches, all of us at API7.ai genuinely look forward to seeing APISIX being discovered, implemented, and improved by more and more people.
Find us on Slack
CommunityEcosystem
What Is gRPC? How to Work With APISIX?
How Does NGINX Reload Work? Why Is NGINX Not Hot-Reloading?


You will find a lot of information about how to customize a blog, optimize it on search engines and other details related to blogging in this article. Here, I have discussed in details what a blogger should never do which can affect his blog badly and what a blogger should do to become a successful blogger one day. These techniques, tips and tricks are valuables for beginners and intermediate bloggers to achieve their ambitions in this field.
1- Never change the link (permalink) of your post once it is indexed by search engines. This is because, your post is recognized with the help of unique link. A copy of a post is also cached by search engines. So, if you change the link, visitors if hit the cached copy, they will not be able to see the post on your blog. Lately, search engines will recognize the post whose link has been changed but rank it very low. This is because search engines keep record of activity (statistics) with specific links. A change in link will harshly affect search engine optimization (SEO) and post once again has to start from the beginning to build reputation in search engines. Also, if a post is shared, people will not be able to see that post whose link has been altered.
2- Never spam your blog or posts no matter how much good stuff you have on your blog. Spamming just build a bad reputation.
3- Do not choose confusing or deceptive post titles. Neither it help people nor people like it. Temporarily, you can generate some traffic through this mean but not for very long period of time.
4- You should not publish by reversing the date of a post just to prove that you are the first one to report about something. This does not help in SEO and chances are there that your that post shall get entirely ignored by search engines.
5- Do not post fake. If you are doing this just to divert traffic towards your blog, soon, your blog shall be banned by search engines.
6- Try to be creative and not a copy cat. Search engine recognizes originality and if you copy something and post it on your blog, your that post might get ignored or rank very low in search results. But if you have to copy something, must mention the source and give credit to the person or website from where you have taken something for your blog post. This will help in back linking and will not affect your blog reputation.
7- Search engines also trace public comments which people make about your blog posts. Therefore, be nice in blog section and keep your self away from unnecessary fight, rage or posting crap. If someone indulges into fight with you, you have the authority to delete his comments or block him, and you should avail the facility to protect your blog from building any sort of bad reputation.
8- Do not annoy people with stupid web design and pop ups. Also, do not force people to like you on social web media. This is the pathetic practice which some bloggers do. People have come to your website to get benefit from it and not to like it on social media. But if they are benefited, they will surely like your blog on social websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google plus etc.
9- Never use fake means (bots) to generate fake traffic on your blog especially when you are using your blog to earn money. Companies like Google spend millions on research to make their ads service fool proof. So, if you wish to do this, I can guarantee you that you shall get banned permanently from the respective advertising service.
10- If you are publishing ads on your blog or website, do not click them. Also, do not request visitors to click them. It is against service policy to click your own website ads or requesting others to click them. Advertising companies like Google are quick in banning websites who do this.
11- Do not be impatient. You should not expect to become famous over night. Famous websites you are seeing around took years of hard work to build reputation on today's flooded internet.
1- Before publishing a new post, choose its title wisely. Choose a unique post title and search for it over internet to learn how many posts are there with the similar title. If there are many, then think about bringing some changes in post title to attract people toward it.
2- Choose permalink with care. Mostly by default, your post title becomes your permalink. But you can make necessary amendments in it to improve search engine optimization. Link details must be reflecting content of blog post.
3- Do some study and research before posting about a subject. Mentioning references is a good thing to make people realize that they are at right place and getting right information.
4- Join forums. Forums are good place to express your opinions, getting help and helping others. If you find a topic on a forum about what you have made a nice post on your blog, post a link to your blog post over there. This will divert traffic toward your blog. On the other hand, you will be building a reputation of your blog through this mean. Some forums allow to mention external links in signatures. Avail this opportunity to generate some good traffic.
5- Join social web media. Make official webpages to promote your blog. What you post on your blog, give a reference to that on social web pages to invite people to check that.
6- Post regularly. It is not a good practice to post after a long period of time. If you do not find time or do not get much thoughts about posting, invite your friends to join your blog and become a writer. A joint effort is more futile than working alone.
7- Use key words and key phrases in your posts. This will help search engines to recognize what your post is all about. Use alternative names to improve quality and search engine optimization of a post. For example, in a post which is about some kind of mobile phone, at one place if you have used the word 'mobile phone' to describe, at the other place use 'cell phone'. This kind of versatility is also very helpful in creating an attractive post.
8- It is better to post search description for individual post by yourself. But if you do not do this, search engine will itself set a streak to display in search results. Usually, it is the first paragraph of a post from where search description is chosen by search engines automatically but it is not mandatory. Search description also changes with the search string if the whole blog post is cached by search engine.
9- Use the facility of not tracking your own page views to know how well your blog is doing. Such option helps in revealing correct figures of page view count generated by clicks of visitors.
10- Publish ads in a manner to maintain soberness of blog and blog posts. Design the web template in a way that advertisement should not ruin the look of website. If you have slightest intention of posting ads in future, make necessary changes today to fulfill the requirements of ads layout in future. If you do not do this in the beginning, you may suffer from improper display of contents especially images of your website when space will be occupied by displayed ads.
11- Allowing comments for posts is the right decision so that people could express their opinions and ask related questions. Positive comments encourage bloggers to keep up their work.
12- Use correct grammar and proper language in blog posts to show your maturity and professional behaviour. Wrong use of grammar not only changes the meaning of a sentence but also develops a bad impression in the mind of a reader. If you are weak at grammar, do not be shy and take help from others to rectify grammatical errors.
13- Utilize webmaster tools to fix errors and to improve performance of website on search engines. Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools both are excellent for this purpose.
14- No-follow all the external links. This can be done by adding short code (rel="nofollow") to them. It does not affect user experience but helps search engines understand that respective link should not be considered while crawling. It helps the websites and blogs to work better in the SERP. External links which people leave in comments must be made no-follow.
I like the helpful info you provide in your article. I'll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I'm quite certain I will learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
How do I go about obtaining one of these for the website I'm making?
You can buy a domain through godaddy.com, namecheap.com or any other famous companies who sell and provide hosting for web domains. Google's Blogger gives you an option to buy a domain from within the control panel and free hosting for your blog.


text:
eTolls - The Resistance (Moderator: alanB) /
Government wasting tax payers money
Author Topic: Government wasting tax payers money (Read 6510 times)
alanB
Bike: Husqvarna (all models)
The whole argument from the government regarding etolls is that there is no other way to pay for the freeway upgrade and maintenance.
The minister of finance stood up in parliament and said in passionate tones, almost tearing his clothes saying "the fiscus could not stand it!".
But EVERY SINGLE DAY there is an article in the press about how the government just keeps pissing away our money through lavish spending on them selves, incompetence (ie appoint some twit into a position at some ludicrously high salary, and then he either makes stupid decisions, costing money, or they need to hire "consultants" at even more ludicrous fee structures to do his job for him/her), etc etc.
So I would submit our country SHOULD EASILY BE ABLE TO PAY FOR ALL INFRASTRUCTURE OUT OF EXISTING TAXES WITHOUT ANY NEED TO INCREASE THE FUEL LEVY OR IMPOSE TOLLS!
All they need to do is do their jobs and eliminate wasteful expenditure or fraud and corruption. If they just put half the effort they did into that instead all the time and effort in forcing through etolls, they would have paid for the roads ALREADY plus be a few billion in the black over and above that! ( we are wasting 25bn a year according to their own report from 2012, so by now they could have paid for the freeway improvements and have 20 odd billion in the bank spare!)
When etolls were first announced I started collecting press releases which showed this. It quickly became quite a big job on its own and stopped after a while but I thought it might be useful to creat a place just to drop these articles to remind ourselves from time to time why the whole thing is just so wrong!
A few guidelines:
1) Please copy and paste the actual article, not the link, because the links will eventually go dead.
2) Include the source, date and person who wrote the article - so that the source is clear and we give due acknowledgement to the publishers and author.
3) Stick to info in the public domain.
Husqvarna '09 610TE - Great Bike!
I just finished a SciFi novel Extinction: Task Team, download the preview.
Re: Government wasting tax payers money
The governments report on wasteful/lost/stolen etc expenditure.
R25bn PER YEAR!
axpayers didn't get value for R25bn
Xolani Mbanjwa
Johannesburg - Auditor General Terence Nombembe has unearthed R25bn in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in national and provincial government departments in the 2010/2011 financial year.
Nombembe, who expressed concern about the financial controls in public sector spending, said this was an increase of R2.3bn compared with the previous financial year - because of his office's increased "scrutiny" of taxpayers' money.
The exact figure of R25.445bn includes the spending of government entities such as Eskom and the SA National Roads Agency Limited.
Addressing reporters in Pretoria this morning Nombembe said he felt the most discomfort about the area of financial reporting, where government officials failed to record the correct amounts spent.
He said financial information was often corrected by his own officials during the auditing process at the end of the financial year.
While national and provincial departments, including entities, reported R13.7bn in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful spending in their annual reports, the AG found a further R11.7bn through the final auditing processes.
Nombembe said financial managers should be trained to be able to report on finances correctly before all spheres of government could reach the target of clean audits by 2014.
"It (correct financial reporting) is the single and sole factor that will make clean audits in SA a reality. The role of the ministers, premiers, MECs, portfolio committees and Scopa [the standing committee on public accounts] is important," said Nombembe.
One of the "biggest weaknesses" in government as a whole was the effectiveness of information technology systems and controls, said Nombembe.
The AG report shows that at provincial government level irregular expenditure - incurred in contravention of national laws - was the biggest culprit at R16.8bn, followed by unauthorised expenditure (overspending on certain projects) at R2.9bn while fruitless and wasteful expenditure (spending in vain, which could have been avoided) stood at R850m.
At national government level irregular expenditure was R4.5bn, fruitless and wasteful expenditure R593m and unauthorised expenditure was R802m.
Nombembe expressed concern that most government departments did not understand the requirements for meeting service delivery objectives and that departments were apparently deliberately not reporting their finances accordingly.
"Financial reporting is the biggest area of concern where there is [a] supply chain. This is where we still find a number of omissions by departments in adhering to departmental norms.
"Once again it's an area, to a large extent, that does need to be given attention because there's constant deviation. It doesn't mean money has been lost, just that due processes are not embarked upon by government departments," said Nombembe.
He was also concerned with the high vacancy rate and called on government to employ skilled people who have an understanding of the basic accounting principles.
But Nombembe was pleased that senior government officials including the executive had committed themselves to improving the state of financial reporting and controls in the public sector.
He warned that unless the executive rise to the occasion and monitor financial controls in their respective departments Operation Clean Audit, set for 2014, would not be a reality.
ANC funds 'used for wrong purpose'
December 4 2013 at 12:04pm
By Natasha Bezuidenhout
Copy of IOL pic sep16 rsa bank notes
Cape Town - Fired ANC parliamentary staffers have claimed in the Labour Court that the party diverted statutory funds to finance its 2009 election campaign.
At the time the ANC caucus retrenched 89 staff members.
Fifteen employees took the party to court for alleged unfair dismissal.
On Tuesday, advocate Alec Freund, representing the staffers, questioned former ANC chief whip Nyami Booi in the Labour Court on statutory funds allegedly diverted to pay Oryx Media a total of R7.4 million to, among other things, assist with the party's election campaign.
R15.6m was allegedly also diverted for accommodation and travelling.
Freund told the court that party constituency allowances and party administration funds were not supposed to be used for election and advertising.
"The funds were used for graffiti, floppy hats, airfares and hotels," said Freund.
Booi said it would have been brought to his attention if the funds had been diverted and "that he was not aware of it".
Freund submitted in court that Booi may be party to yet another offence.
In 2009, Booi was one of 31 MPs who pleaded guilty to abusing parliamentary travel warrants in the so-called Travelgate saga.
At the time he was fined R50 000 (or five years' jail), and given until January 2014 to pay the money in monthly instalments of R1 000.
Booi told the court that Freund did not know what he was talking about and had no knowledge of how Parliament's system runs.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about, he never worked for Parliament and I don't want to engage with someone who has never worked for Parliament and doesn't know how its systems work."
Booi denied any knowledge of the figures spent on travelling expenditure which included hotel accommodation, flights and rental cars.
natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za
« Last Edit: December 05, 2013, 12:22:56 pm by alanB »
Welcome aboard the gravy train
Jacques Pauw, City Press
Johannesburg - If you are a public servant and want to get rich, join the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
A City Press investigation has revealed that the agency's staff will earn an average salary of R517 000 each this financial year, prompting one of its directors to admit that it was nothing more than an ANC Youth League-dominated "gravy train".
The investigation has shown that NYDA staff earn on average significantly more than most of the employees of 14 other similar public entities surveyed.
The agency also leaves other government departments in the shade in terms of average costs per job.
The NYDA, shrouded in controversy after it spent R100m on a youth festival in December last year and over the close links of its staff with the youth league, will receive R1.2bn over the next three years from the Treasury.
Treasury national budget documents show that each of the agency's 339 staff members earned R430 000 on average last year.
The Treasury allocated R187.5m for salaries for 363 staff members for the current financial year: an average salary of R517 000 per employee.
'Errors'
NYDA chief executive Steven Ngubeni, whose yearly income of R1.8m is the same as that of a Cabinet minister, charged that City Press' information, which was published by the Treasury and signed off by the Presidency, was "fraught with errors and misconception".
Ngubeni said that in the previous financial year, the agency had 433 people – 94 more posts than were approved in the Treasury documents – and had paid them an average of R322 269 yearly.
But NYDA director Francois Slabber conceded to City Press that managers in the agency earn "far too much".
Asked whether the agency was a gravy train, he said: "It had all the potential not to be one, but it is one now."
Slabber, an independent board member, gets a yearly stipend of R378 000 for spending about five days a month on agency business, although he says it is "sometimes more".
Slabber said since 2009 the agency had lost several of its "brightest stars" who are currently being replaced with "ANC
Youth League members who are not such bright stars".
The chief operations officer of the agency, 33-year-old Magdalene Moonsamy, earns R1.2m. She is also a youth league spokesperson.
The agency's chairperson, Andile Lungisa, earns R790 000 a year. He is also an executive member of the youth league and its former deputy president.
Until recently Ngubeni was the deputy secretary general of the league.
City Press attempted to determine the discrepancies between the Treasury figures provided by the Presidency and Ngubeni's figures.
The Presidency referred enquiries to the agency. Ngubeni said the Treasury did not determine their budget for them.
A Treasury spokesperson said that the accounting officers of public entities did have discretion on the use of appropriated funds, but the agency would have to account for why there was a change in what they had signed off on.
This was in terms of what had been planned for personnel and what the audited outcome was.
NYDA employees earn on average more than most public servants in national departments, but Ngubeni said a fairer comparison would be with similar public entities.
City Press obtained the figures for 14 entities from published Treasury documents.
For the current financial year, only Competition Commission employees have a higher average salary than the agency's staff - R574 000 yearly compared to the agency's R517 000.
The NYDA's average salary was larger than that of agencies like the national credit regulator, Nedlac, the CSIR, Productivity SA and the National Gambling Board, among others .
- City Press
Suspect tenders of R3bn at public works
Johannesburg - An investigation by the department of public works (DPW), in partnership with the special investigation unit, has revealed a number of serious irregularities in the award of certain tenders granted by the department, the minister of public works, Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, disclosed on Monday.
Criminal charges were likely to be brought against several department officials and others outside the department, she said.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde said in a statement that since she took office ten months ago, she had been investigating a number of tenders awarded by the department.
"After I was appointed I discovered that the ANC, the government, and the people of South Africa had been let down by dishonest officials in the DPW; I was inadvertently handed a poisoned chalice," she said.
"I inherited a situation where serious irregularities had occurred. It was extraordinarily difficult to get to the truth of what had been taking place because some officials did everything they could to obstruct my investigations.
"Frankly, I have been lied to and deceived by people who instead of serving the people of South Africa were intent on lining their own pockets.
"We know of more than 40 cases where tenders were awarded improperly, where proper procedures were not followed and dishonesty took place. We have confirmed to date that tenders with a value of more than R3bn have been affected.
"Because we are still investigating we cannot be sure that we have yet discovered all of the wrong doing. We will involve law enforcement agencies within the public service and the criminal justice cluster in the hope that the wrong-doers will be brought to justice."
The minister said that the situation had overshadowed the good work the department did.
"It is sad that the public focus will now be on criminal activities instead of what has been achieved thanks to the hard work of many of our officials."
She added that she was in the process of strengthening her team to ensure the people of South Africa are better served.
"Under the circumstances it would be unrealistic to expect that the department will be given a clean bill of health by the auditor general. We know of irregular expenditure, what appears to be false book keeping and have discovered evidence of corruption by DPW officials.
"I cannot undo what was done in the past but I can assure South Africa that its government will not tolerate corruption and dishonesty. It will take me many months to unravel all that has happened but it will be done."
The minister said an urgent priority was to ensure that the process when leasing properties was tightened up and consistently applied.
"I cannot wave a magic wand and cure the ills of corruption overnight.
"What has to be done is for the department to become more vigilant in ensuring that proper tender procedures are followed. I would also like to see the justice system send a message to corrupt officials by handing down stiff penalties for those found guilty of white collar crime."
- I-Net Bridge (News24)
Concern over city managers' pay
Johannesburg - Reports that city managers earned salaries comparable to senior political leaders warrant transparent performance agreements, the DA said on Monday.
"The Johannesburg city manager [Mavela Dlamini], for instance, earns R2.3m a year, which is higher than Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe," said Democratic Alliance Gauteng spokesperson Fred Nel.
Dlamini also had a better income than newly appointed Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng who earned R2.2m a year, he said.
The Sowetan reported on Monday that the only public official earning more than Dlamini was President Jacob Zuma with R2.5m annually.
Following Dlamini was eThekwini manager Mike Sutcliffe (R2.1m), Ekurhuleni manager Khaya Ngema (R1.8m) and City of Cape Town manager Achmat Ebrahim (R1.7m).
Nel said: "Publishing their performance contracts will allow citizens to see what is expected from top municipal officials who are paid with their rates and taxes."
This would also allow analysts to evaluate whether the performance agreements were in line with each municipality's service delivery strategy, he said.
"If ministers' agreements with the president can be published then so should that of municipal managers."
The SA Municipal Workers' Union said exorbitant salaries were at the expense of suffering workers and communities.
"It is absurd that these managers get paid millions, even though the municipalities they work for are plagued with corruption, nepotism, crisis and the poor delivery of services," the union said in a statement.
"The severity of the challenges faced by many municipalities warrants many of these managers to be sacked, let alone receive handsome remunerations and performance bonuses."
It said once workers, some who earned as little as R4 000 a month, learnt of their employers' salaries, nothing less than outrage would be expected.
"Workers deserve nothing less than a decent living wage and their managers far less than what they are currently getting."
Co-operative government spokesperson Vuyelwa Quinga Vika referred queries to the SA Local Government Association (Salga), which was not immediately in a position to comment.
- SAPA
Suspended officials paid almost R100m
Cape Town - Government departments and entities have paid at least R93.6m to senior officials suspended with pay from April 2009 to the present, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.
"The actual figure is certainly much higher, but is difficult to ascertain precisely because many departments have not answered the DA's parliamentary questions on this," spokesperson Ena van Schalkwyk said.
In the 2009/10 financial year, 192 officials on salary scale 11 or above were placed on suspended leave with full pay, she said in a statement.
Another 173 had been suspended with full pay since that time, totalling 365 officials.
This amounted to an average of R257 000 paid to each official while on suspension.
"Nearly R100m has been paid to senior managers who have received full salaries despite not working," Van Schalkwyk said.
Innocent until proven guilty
Most of these officials received their salaries while awaiting the outcome of their disciplinary hearings. It was not clear how many of them were fired after the investigations were concluded and how many were retained. The DA would ask follow-up questions to find out.
Top of the list was the SA Social Security Agency paying R8 399 462, followed by the correctional services department on R6 751 607, and the rural development and land reform department on R5 800 979.
"Of course it is right that officials should not be punished financially just because they have been accused of wrongdoing. People must be considered innocent until proven guilty.
"However, we cannot have a situation where suspended officials wait for months on end with full pay before the disciplinary measures against them are finalised."
South Africa could not afford to keep errant public servants on the payroll while government departments dragged their feet. The quicker these matters were dealt with, the more money there would be for service delivery, Van Schalkwyk said.
Presidency spends R61m on travel - DA
Johannesburg - The presidency has spent over R61m on travel and subsistence in the 2010/11 year, the Democratic Alliance says.
The party was commenting on the presidency's 2010/11 Annual Report, released on Thursday.
According to the DA's Athol Trollip, the report indicated that the presidency had "excelled at increasing the size of its budget, but not the quality of its performance."
Trollip said that between 2009/10 and 2010/11, the presidency's expenditure had increased by 74%.
However, according to the Auditor General's report, even the most basic regulatory processes were still not being followed, Trollip added.
"Despite spending over R61m on travel and subsistence, and almost R500m on the largely ANC Youth League-controlled National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), over the last financial year the presidency was unable to develop a satisfactory strategic plan, or implement sufficient performance monitoring procedures.
"How did this happen, given that the presidency includes the department of performance monitoring and evaluation, which is supposed to evaluate the performance of the entire national government?"
Trollip said the greatest impediment to the presidency's improved performance was the absence of regular oversight by a dedicated portfolio committee.
"Without constant parliamentary scrutiny to keep the department on the right track, the disjuncture between its vast budget and its underwhelming contribution to improving government performance will continue."
More than a year ago, Trollip proposed that a presidential portfolio committee be established to oversee the activities of the Presidency.
"The ANC has subsequently sought to bury this proposal in Parliament.
"I will be using the opportunity presented by today's release of the Presidency's annual report - and the concerning trends this report highlights - to put this proposal back on the parliamentary agenda."
Furthermore, Trollip would be submitting a series of questions to President Jacob Zuma and Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane about areas of concern raised by the auditor general, and to interrogate the reasons for the Presidency's significant expenditure increase over the past financial year.
Govt corruption: R30bn could be lost - SIU
Cape Town - The head of both the special investigating unit and the asset forfeiture unit said on Wednesday the country could lose as much as 20% of its total procurement budget to graft annually, in response to a question about the extent of government corruption in South Africa.
"I think that may not be an unrealistic estimate," Willie Hofmeyr told Parliament's justice committee, adding that it translated to between R25bn and R30bn.
The SIU was currently investigating 558 procurement contracts to the value of R1.9bn and 360 cases of conflict of interest where R3.4bn was involved.
Hofmeyr said the fight against corruption was hindered by a shortage of investigators and the low rate of criminal convictions of officials found with their fingers in the till.
"We should have 7 000 people whose job it is to investigate corruption and I think we have 700.
"Our policies are pretty good but if there are not consequences for breaching them... a culture of impunity spreads pretty quickly."
Hofmeyr welcomed the cancellation of the flawed lease contracts with Roux Shabangu for new police headquarters but went on to highlight further problems in the police and public works departments.
"From the kind of things we have found the SAPS leases are not an uncommon practice elsewhere."
SIU investigations have shown that public works paid at least R35m to entities where staff held undeclared interests and were investigating irregularities to the tune of R330mlinked to the building and renovation of 33 police stations.
However, he said, the worst leeching of taxpayers' money was not happening at national level.
"Local government is where the problems are the worst and where oversight mechanisms are the least."
Asked about the implications of the Constitutional Court judgment in the Glenister case, Hofmeyr said if a central anti-corruption agency were created he would like the SIU to be part of it and believed the Hawks also had a central role to play.
"There isn't really a centre from which government's anti-corruption efforts are driven. I think there is a bit of a gap there. The Glennister judgment is an urgent issue that needs to be resolved soon," he said.
"If there is a new corruption unit set up we would like very much to be part of it."
The court found that the legislation that created the Hawks did not give the unit enough independence and gave Parliament 18 months to amend it.
Funding trouble
The special investigating unit ran into severe funding trouble this year when Eskom established that legally it may not be paid by state entities that solicit its help, MPs heard.
He told the justice committee the corruption-busting entity had expected to earn R240m from such agreements but instead had to turn to Treasury to tide it over.
"We are getting an additional R97m from Treasury this year," he told MPs.
Hofmeyr said the SIU was alerted to the problem by Eskom in June after the electricity utility had asked it to probe "corporate governance issues", notably persistent problems surrounding its coal supply contracts.
He said the SIU obtained two legal opinions which confirmed that provided by Eskom, upsetting a 7-year-old practice that had seen it accepted remuneration from a range of state entities.
"We got our own legal opinion at the end of June and then a second opinion that confirmed it and accepted we have got a problem," he said.
"Basically, we are not allowed to charge departments for our services. Everybody was a bit blind-sided by this issue."
Hofmeyr mentioned the matter in a briefing on the SIU's annual report.
He said the unit had not wanted to make it public until it was confident of finding both long and short term solutions because it did not want its staff to fear for their jobs, he said.
An amendment to the SIU Act that would make such payments legitimate is in the pipeline, Hofmeyr said. At present, the legislation is silent on the issue.
Minister's bills of luxurious hotels
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has spent 174 days staying at luxury hotels in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Big-spender, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has spent 174 days staying at luxury hotels in Johannesburg and Cape Town and managed to survive President Jacob Zuma's cabinet reshuffling today.
The Minister has only been in the office for two days and lived luxuriously in hotels despite having official residences in both areas.
This came to light on Monday in answers to a Parliamentary question by her opposite number, Lourie Bosman, in the official opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The cost to the taxpayer for the stays has totaled R1.6 million or R1 700 per stay, as Joemat-Pettersson chalked up stays in Peermont D'Oreale Grande Emperor's Palace in Gauteng, the Hydro Executive Apartments in Johannesburg, and Cape Town luxury hotels the Vineyard and The Table Bay.
Joemat-Pettersson, who is a member of the SA Communist Party, is one of the ministers in government's high court application to have more stringent conditions for the entry of giant US retailer Wal-Mart into the local market.
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest company has a strict code of conduct for its executives when they travel on corporate business.
They have to fly economy class, share hotel rooms and hire the lowest cost vehicles.
Other ministers who have declared themselves hostile to Wal-Mart's entry are Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel and Trade & Industry Minister Rob Davies.
Bosman said: "I feel it is very ironic that Joemat-Pettersson is staying in these high cost hotels while she is opposing the Wal-Mart deal and they set the example on how to keep costs down. I find this all very bizarre."
According to the reply sent by Joemat-Pettersson's office, she spent:
- 36 days at a cost of R135 000 at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Cape Town in July/August 2009
- 36 days costing R290 000 at the Peermont D'Oreal Grande Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng in Sept/Oct 2009
- 28 days costing R420 000 at the Pure Toys One in Jun/Jul 2010
Expensive stays include:
- R15 000 at the Intercontinental at OR Tambo in Ekurhuleni Gauteng for one day in January 2010
- R24 000 at the Hydro Executive Apartments in Johannesburg for four days in June
- R10 629 at the Intercontinental OR Tambo for one day in April 2011
The answer then detailed double-booked stays:
- having paid to stay at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town, she stayed at the Peermont D'Oreal Grande Emperor's Palace in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng for three nights between 16 to 19 June in 2009
- having paid to stay at the Intercontinental at OR Tambo International, she stayed at the 5-Star Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town on 12 April 2011
Pretoria stays:
- Sheraton Pretoria for three nights in May 2009 for R15 000
- Aluane Town Lodge for 31 days between May and June 2009 for R41 000
- Aluane Town Lodge for 31 days in October 2009 for R35 910 - Paul Vecchiatto I-Net-Bridge
dirtyXT
FML!
Bike history:
Ital jet 50 - sold, DT 50 - scrapped - AR80 - sold DT185 - confiscated KDX250 - sold ZZR400 - sold KX500 - XT660R Swapped for R1 YZF R1 - sold - XT660Z - current
R3.6m a month for empty building for dept
Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance is referring a justice and constitutional development department building lease to the auditor general to investigate, it said on Thursday.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe had confirmed in written reply to a parliamentary question that the public works department had leased a building in Pretoria for use by his department at a rental of R3.662m a month, DA spokesperson Debbie Schafer said in a statement.
"Rental has been paid since January 1 2010 and the building will only be occupied by November 30 2011 as they are still 'busy with the required tenant installations'.
"Thus, over a period of 23 months, an amount of R84 235 816.63 will have been paid to lease a building that has been empty for most of that time," she said.
An additional R150 000 had been paid since April on security services for the empty building.
'Shameful waste of money'
This was a "shameful waste of money and yet another example of irresponsible financial management" by the public works department.
Schafer said she intended posing additional parliamentary questions to determine why it was necessary for the justice department to lease a new building, and why it was rented at this not insignificant amount of money when it was "apparently unsuitable for use".
In addition, it was necessary to know what kind of work needed to be done to the building, which would be quite extensive if it had not yet been completed after 18 months, and who was paying for it.
This latest revelation was reminiscent of the police lease deal saga, where inflated rentals were agreed to by the public works department for buildings yet to be renovated.
An investigation into that deal by the public protector found that both Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Police Commissioner Bheki Cele were guilty of conduct that was improper, unlawful, and amounted to maladministration.
"Depending on the answers received to my questions on the justice department lease this matter may also require investigation by the public protector.
"In the meantime, I shall refer it to the auditor general to investigate the seemingly fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred to date," Schafer said.
Where's the money going, school body asks
Bloemfontein - The government should find out what was happening to money budgeted for basic education, a school governing body said on Wednesday.
"The national government has put its money where its mouth is, but now we have to determine why the money disappears into a bottomless pit," said the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools (Fedsas).
"The money must reach the schools."
Fedsas is a voluntary association of public scool governing bodies, claming to represent some 1 260 schools.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan presented his 2011 medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Fedsas deputy CEO Jaco Deacon said money budgeted for basic education, R231bn over the next three years, confirmed the national government was serious about education.
The problem was to determine what this money was spent on because parents had to pay an additional R10bn per year to fund salaries for additional staff.
"Fedsas applauds minister Gordhan's continued commitment to and support of education, despite the fact that the system was underperforming," said Deacon.
He said some schools in Limpopo had not received a cent from their provincial government the past year.
In the Free State the education department sent a letter to schools to explain that there was not enough money for reimbursement for exemption of school fees, despite regulations in this regard.
Fedsas said such examples suggested a misappropriation of education money.
The governing body said the focus should not necessarily be on the funds available for education, but rather on how this money was used.
Deacon welcomed money made available for the continuation and expansion of the annual national assessments.
"This was a positive step because these results are the only real measure of the success of the system."
DA: President's new jet an extravagance
2011-11-06 15:3
Johannesburg - The R1.6bn that the state is expected to spend on two new long range jets for the President Jacob Zuma and his deputy is "simply wrong", the DA said on Sunday.
"The fact is that it is simply wrong to spend R1.6bn on business jets when millions of people in our country do not have housing, health or access to basic services," Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier said in a statement.
The department of defence confirmed that a tender was out for the purchase of two new business jets for the exclusive use of Zuma and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. This after technical problems on VIP flights.
"It is an outrageous extravagance for President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to each have dedicated long-range business jets," said Maynier.
Defence spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya said as a lead department in the purchase process, defence was weighing several options including whether to lease the aircraft or to buy them outright.
Maynier said he would schedule a meeting with Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu in order to get a full and comprehensive briefing on the planned acquisition.
Golden handshakes cost SA millions
Cape Town - Municipalities across South Africa are losing millions of rands due to golden handshakes and severance packages paid out to municipal managers.
According to The Times, most of the country's municipal managers fall victim to political interference and very few stay in office. Many have been suspended or fired, bought out of their contracts or offered settlements.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has not had a single municipal manager complete their contract since the municipality was created in 2000.
Graham Richards, a former municipal manager, received two golden handshakes, worth R6m after he was fired twice.
Tshwane and Mangaung municipalities were in the same boat with municipal managers saying there was pressure on them to grant tenders and resources to politicians. They also blamed corruption and political meddling.
An ANC spokesperson said he was unaware of complaints of political interference in municipalities while the South African Local Government Association said golden handshakes were a concern.
Fired ministers still earning big bucks
Johannesburg - Sacked ministers Sicelo Shiceka and Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde were still earning R840 000 a year salaries as ANC MPs, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.
African National Congress caucus spokesperson Moloto Mothapo told the newspaper that neither the former co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister, nor the ex-public works minister had resigned as Members of Parliament.
President Jacob Zuma sacked them on October 24.
Both still earned salaries as ANC MPs of R840 000 a year and also enjoyed privileges such as 48 paid-for inland business class plane tickets a year, and 24 plane tickets for their spouses.
Shiceka and Mahlangu-Nkabinde have been implicated in wrongdoing by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde's decision to allow two controversial building leases valued at R1.6bn to go ahead, despite tender procedures not being followed and legal advice to the contrary, amounted to maladministration, according to a finding by Madonsela.
In a separate report on Shiceka, Madonsela found he had racked up more than R1m in travel costs for himself, his staff and friends in violation of the executive ethics code.
This included a trip to Switzerland to see a girlfriend jailed on drug-related charges.
Shiceka denied any wrongdoing and vowed to go to court to contest Madonsela's findings.
Taxpayers to pay R400m for ANC party
Kaydene Jordaan, Volksblad
Bloemfontein - Taxpayers will have to pay more than R400m for the ANC's centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein.
This is on top of the R100m which the ANC had already budgeted for next year's big party.
This amount is however petty cash compared to the money that will be spent to ready infrastructure in the Free State to host the party.
- Taxpayers have already paid R150m for the Philip Sanders resort just outside the city. The resort will be the headquarters of the festivities;
- A further R35m has been budgeted to restore the Methodist church in Waaihoek, where the ANC was founded in 1912;
- R200m has been allocated to renovate the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Mangaung;
- The official house of Free State Premier Ace Magashule will get an upgrade costing R15m;
- Millions will also be spent to restore the historic Mapikela home, and the Winnie Mandela home in Brandfort.
Cope's Casca Mokitlane said that as it is an ANC celebration, the organisation must use its own money to finance the party.
The ANC however feels that the centenary celebrations form part of every South African's heritage, which is why it sees no problem in spending large sums of money.
Roy Jankielsohn, leader of the DA in the Free State, said it would be highly irregular for a political party to tap into national, provincial and municipal budgets to pay for its celebrations.
"We are worried about how much money is being used for the restoration of the buildings and church, even if they could be declared national heritage sites."
Professor Andre Duvenhage, political commentator of the North West university, said such spending of taxpayers' money threatens democracy.
William Bulwane, spokesperson for Premier Magashule, did not respond.
- Volksblad
Bribery widespread, Stats SA survey finds
I-Net Bridge
Johannesburg - Citizens are being asked for bribes by government officials for the services they are legally required to perform, Statistics SA said on Thursday.
The Pretoria-based agency released its survey Victims of Crime 2011 on Thursday.
"The bribes are mostly in the form of money, favours or a present."
The survey showed that since 2007, the proportion of people asked to pay bribes had increased significantly in relation to traffic fines.
"Comparisons with the previous survey indicated that bribes related to visiting a prison, pension, or bribes involving social welfare grant and identity document or passport applications have decreased," the agency said.
More than half (52.8%) of those who were victims of corruption were asked to pay a bribe to the traffic official to avoid traffic fines. This was most common in Gauteng (62.2%), the Western Cape (57.6%) and Eastern Cape (55.8%).
The second-highest bribe solicitation was for policing (21.4%), where 33.0% of corruption victims in the Western Cape paid bribes to the police. This was also fairly common in the Free State (28.9%) and Northern Cape (26.1%).
Statistics SA said other sectors where some bribes were solicited included driver's licences (15.9%) and job seekers (13.8%).
Cele 'golden handshakes' probed
Cape Town - Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa is investigating a slew of golden handshakes worth R31m given to policemen on the watch of suspended national commissioner Bheki Cele.
Mthethwa told MPs on Wednesday that in a bid to stop long-running abuse of the police's special pensions system, he had decreed that the national commissioner may no longer award pay-outs without his approval.
"If you are applying this section 35 thing I have to know. I have to say 'yea' or 'nay'," he said, adding that the SA Police Act would soon be amended to this effect.
"The issue is that it has been a culture of section 35s being implemented without informing the executive authority... this is a huge matter, it cannot be left to the national commissioner alone," he told Parliament's portfolio committee on police.
Mthethwa's remarks follow controversy last month over a R1.1m pay-out given to former Gauteng crime intelligence chief Joey Mabasa, on top of his pension.
He was one of 19 policemen retrenched under section 35 of the act in the past two financial years. They received pay-outs totalling R31.2m.
Cele denied that his decision on Mabasa was informed by allegations linking the crime intelligence chief to Czech fraud accused Radovan Krejcir.
Instead, he told incredulous MPs last month, the police no longer had a suitable position for Mabasa because of internal restructuring.
Mthethwa said he had discussed the case with Cele and although he had been assured that Mabasa had no case to answer, he was not convinced that this applied to all the other recipients of special pensions.
He was in the process of scrutinising every successful section 35 application in recent years, not to recover the money, but to make sure people had not been released to cover up wrongdoing.
"You can't review. It would be difficult to get the money back from them, in fact it is impossible because it is pension money.
"I have instructed the secretariat to interact with the police to make sure that indeed nobody gets away with murder.
"I wanted to understand who these people are for the sole purpose that you can't, because you have been granted section 35, get away from a criminal investigation.
He added: "What is most worrying... when we focus on those people we will be missing the point, they did not give themselves the money.
"I think for ourselves the focus has been rather, knowing not only the 20 we are talking about, but how many others, because it has been going on for years. It has been a culture that has hardened."
Mthethwa said he had been surprised to learn that deputy national commissioner Andre Pruis was among those who received a section 35 pay-out.
"What is not provided for is that when somebody is in any event going for a pension you give section 35 - that is part of abuse that is investigated."
Mthethwa said amendments to the act would be fast-tracked and should reach Cabinet within months.
"We have the final draft. I will be taking this to Cabinet next year."
He said he was also investigating some 20 cases in the past two years where people were recruited within the police after external applications were invited under section 45 of the act.
"Section 45 appointments are under investigation because it is my contention that if you apply section 45 the way it has been applied in the police currently, I need to have substance out of that.
"People would go and advertise and then appoint somebody in the police. Why not just go straight and appoint somebody in the police?"
Cele was suspended by President Jacob Zuma last month over his role in the police headquarters scandal. Mthethwa told MPs he had the fullest confidence in acting commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Moving Mr Minister - R3600 a day!
Exactly what kind of car can you rent for R3600 a day - especially when Muggins Taxpayer is footing the bill? Ask minister in the presidency Collins Chabane who thought his governmental backside deserved such comfort at the expense of his constituents.
Chabane and his deputy spent almost R550 000 on car rental between March 2010 and July 2011, according to a parliamentary reply to a question from the Democratic Alliance.
SPENDING CONDONED
Which must get some kind of car because a check with Avis showed that a modest Mercedes C180 costs R860 per day and a rather more imposing Toyota Fortuner 4x4 luxury station wagon R830 per day. What WAS Chabane driving?
Chabane revealed that he spent R159 000 during this period - about R3600 in rental per day. Deputy minister Dina Pule spent R387 000, a more modest but still extreme R2500 a day.
DA public service and administration spokesman Geordin Hill-Lewis said such "reckless spending" was being condoned because of provisions in the ministerial handbook.
"This handbook allows ministers to live a life of luxury at the expense of ordinary South Africans," he said.
He said public service and administration minister Roy Padaychie should ensure long-awaited amendments to the handbook were presented and implemented immediately to curb excess spending.


text:
Texas 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 0
LA Angels 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 x 3 7 0
W: J. Suarez (8-8) L: J. Hernández (2-3) S: R. Tepera (6)
6:07 PM PT7:07 PM MT8:07 PM CT9:07 PM ET21:07 ET1:07 GMT9:07 6:07 PM MST8:07 PM EST8:37 PM VEN5:07 UAE (+1)7:07 PM CT, October 1, 2022
Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California Attendance: 32,472
Angels rally to beat Rangers 3-2 after Suarez perfect thru 6
MLB Headlines
Astros hire Braves VP Brown as GM
A's running out of time to find new home
RHP Voth, Orioles avoid arbitration
Nootbaar, Yoshida in Japan's WBC team
Rays, LHP Springs agree on 4 years, $31M
Cuba names 5 MLB players for WBC team
3B Scott Rolen elected to Hall of Fame
MLB probes Clevinger for domestic case
KC gets BoSox LHP Taylor for SS Mondesi
Mets sign OF Pham to 1-year contract
(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
By JOE REEDY
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Jose Suarez fell short in his bid for a perfect game, but Livan Soto made sure that he would still get a win.
The Angels left-hander lost his chance at perfection and the lead in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers, but Soto drove in the tying run and scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame as Los Angeles rallied for a 3-2 victory Saturday night.
"He had a focus about him today that I'm not sure I've seen," Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said of Suarez.
It was the second time in three nights that an Angels pitcher had not allowed a hit through six innings. Shohei Ohtani carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning Thursday night against Oakland before it was broken up.
Soto had three hits, drove in a run and scored one for the Angels, who have won six straight to tie a season high.
Shohei Ohtani - who received the Angels MVP and Pitcher of the Year awards before the game - extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a base hit in the eighth inning.
Nathaniel Lowe had a two-run homer in the seventh as the Rangers dropped their fourth straight.
"He (Suarez) made one mistake and Nate made him pay for that. We tried to hold on. Unfortunately the seventh inning got us and they ended up getting two," Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley said.
Suarez (8-8) struck out five in retiring the first 18 batters before Marcus Semien led off the seventh with a single. The 24-year old from Venezuela ran into more trouble in the inning when Lowe connected on an elevated slider and drove it into the right-field stands to put the Rangers up 2-1.
It was the first time Suarez had a no-hitter through six innings. His previous low in hits allowed at that point of a game was two, which happened twice this season.
"I knew (going out for the seventh) that I had a perfect game but my focus was on throwing seven innings. I had a bet with my pitching coach that I was going to throw seven and I did that," said Suarez, who went seven innings to tie a season high and allowed two runs and two hits with six strikeouts.
The Angels regained the lead with a pair of runs in the seventh. Fletcher started the inning with a hit and advanced to second when Kurt Suzuki was hit by a pitch. Soto then ripped a double into the right-field gap off Jonathan Hernandez (2-3) to drive in Fletcher. Suzuki tried to score from first, but Semien made a great relay throw to catcher Jonah Heim from shallow right field to get Suzuki out at home. Heim made a hard tag to Suzuki's head, but Suzuki remained in the game.
Matt Thaiss then hit a hard grounder to Semien at second base, but Soto beat the tag at home to give the Angels the lead.
"I was focusing on running on contact, make a nice slide and avoid the tag. I think it worked out well," Soto said.
Ryan Tepera retired the Rangers in order in the ninth for his sixth save.
The Angels opened the scoring in the second. Jo Adell got aboard with a one-out double to left-center and then scored when Suzuki blooped a single into shallow center that Semien could not get to it in time.
Texas' Cole Ragans went four innings and gave up one run and four hits and struck out two.
STRONG FINISH
Soto went at least five innings in his last 11 starts and went 7-4 with a 2.81 ERA and 58 strikeouts. Saturday's strong outing also allowed him to get his ERA down to 3.96 for the season.
"I'm really proud of the way he's handled this season. You know, ups and downs but the finish for him was phenomenal," Nevin said. "The way he takes care of himself and goes about his business, he's a big part of what we're doing."
Angels: CF Mike Trout sat out after fouling a ball off his right foot during the seventh inning of Friday night's game.
Rangers: Have not named a starter. RHP Tyson Miller (0-3, 5.40 ERA) is expected to work most of the innings.
Angels: LHP Tucker Davidson (2-7, 6.80 ERA) took the loss on Sept. 21 against Texas after he allowed three earned runs and five hits in five innings.
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports