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Security challenges: Nigeria must renegotiate ECOWAS Protocol to avoid war – Shehu Sani
Senator Shehu Sani represented Kaduna Central in the Senate during the eight legislative Assembly. A civil rights activist and public commentator, Sani has always been outspoken on national and international issues. After his brief stint in the Senate, the Senator has decided to try his hands on something different, setting up a centre that will help address the ills of the African continent. In this interview with Tony Akowe, Senator Shehu Sani speaks on his new centre, illegal migration and security situation in the country. Excerpts
You just opened the Africa Centre of Freedom, Peace and Development after your four year stint at the National Assembly. What is the centre all about?
The centre is a think-tank and advocacy platform that will focus on key areas of democracy, peace and development in Africa as a continent and our country Nigeria in particular. It is a centre that will be involved in research and advocacy in key areas such as democracy and political freedom. It is a centre that will provide the platform for resource persons, intellectuals, organisations and individuals who are interested in promoting political freedom, democracy and good governance. Secondly, this is a centre that will advocate for economic and social justice. It is a centre that will be fully involved in performing an independent oversight on institutions that are directly related to economic progress of both the country and the continent.
The third issue for the centre is the issue of peace and security. Nigeria and indeed the whole of Africa have been facing series of security challenges from sectarian strife to terrorism to religious and ethnic violence. This centre will key into the aspirations of the African Union so that issues of peace and security would be of major importance to us.
Aside these issues; how will the centre benefit other African countries?
This centre will host national developmental policies and programs. One problem we face as a continent has always been that nations have been shunning policies and programs to reconstruct their nations and also reach to their point of progress which they aspire to, but the inhibiting factor has always been lack of coordination and synergy within the continent itself. Now with the signing of African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), there is need for advocacy by organisations and individuals and this centre will play a key role to see that it is not only an intergovernmental affair, but also an idea that would be rooted in the heart and minds of Africans. Environmental issues are also issues we are going to tackle in this centre. We cannot divorce some of the conflicts we face as a nation from the very fact that environment play a key role. The farmer/herdsmen clashes and the migrations that we have been saying in the last few years cannot be divorced from environmental issues. We will also be interested in protecting the fundamental rights of citizens and ensuring that government within the continent adhere strictly to the protocols and conventions of the African Union and ECOWAS as it relates to universal freedoms and rights. This centre will also be working towards stemming the tide of irregular migration. This centre already has about 55 academics from universities across the country who have voluntarily offered themselves to be part of this new initiative. It is going to be a think tank and an advocacy centre.
Considering your political interest on the issue, how do you think the centre will be acceptable to Nigerians?
There is no individual that is denied the right to set up an organisation based on what our constitution says. Even though it is a political organisation, my political affiliation and interest does not in any way affect the centre. I believe there would have been conflict if I am still holding political office. But the fact remains that I am not holding any political office at the moment.
Will the centre also operate as a pressure group?
As for the centre, ours is to provide the necessary material resources and ideas for others to act and that will include government. So, as far as we are concerned, we are not a pressure group. Our relationship with government is to assist where our services are needed. We would provide solutions to security challenges confronting Nigeria; whether it is banditry, insurgency or herdsmen violence. I think these are the major challenges affecting us. We will also provide the same solutions to other African countries. We have sent out the necessary correspondences to governments across the continent.
One can say without doubt that you are back to your days of activism. But the problem we have in this country is not policy formulation, but policy implementation. How would the centre make sure that those who are supposed to implement these policies do so?
As a country, we have problem with implementation of our policies and programs and I think that is why our crises and problems have prolonged. But that should not stop us from advocating for what should be done and why it should be done rightly.
What will your centre do about reintegrating victims of human trafficking into the society?
As a senator, I have raised issues on human trafficking and migration on a number of occasions. It is unfortunate that African leaders have not taken the issue of migration seriously. Hundreds of Africans risk their lives crossing the Sahara, getting into terrorist enclave in Libya and most times, dying in their attempt to cross to Italy. But you don't see that issue occupy the front burner of discourse whenever African Heads of States gather. That is because the pressure on the African leaders to act is coming more from the European side than from African groups, individuals and institutions. Many of our national anti- human trafficking agencies are grossly under-funded and so, they depend on donations from Europe for them to act. They don't have vehicles, they don't have navigation equipment. They don't have even the resources to advocate, to reach out to universities and young people for them to stop crossing the Sahara. That should not be the case. This centre will work assiduously to make sure that we stem the tide of young people crossing the Sahara, to Libya and to Europe. We would do that by reaching out to those that are directly involved.
Nigeria is currently overburdened with the issue of debt both foreign and local. As someone who headed the Senate Committee on foreign and local debt, what do you think your organisation can do to rescue Nigeria from huge debt?
Nigeria's current debt stands at almost $24trillion and by 2015 it was about $15trillion. The issue is that there is lack of awareness on the part of the citizens as to what that is all about. Governors simply request for approval from the State Assemblies and the State Assemblies approve it without any public hearing. Civil society groups appear to be more interested in what happens at the National Assembly and not State Houses of Assembly. Because of lack of advocacy on the issue of debt, governments simply get away with it. By 2006, we were out of the debt trap and now we have risen to $24trillion. The position is that, when the awareness on debt is high, there would be less and less desire for government to borrow. They are exploiting the ignorance of people on debt and we are simply pilling up debt. Many states are unable to pay their workers' salaries and execute their capital projects because of the previous burden of debt that has been left behind. This centre will provide citizens with the necessary information they need to know because you will never get any serious information from those in government.
On irregular migrations to Europe, considering the comment of a former Ministers that Doctors for example are free to leave the country, in what way will this centre focus on to make sure that these people have conducive environment to stay back?
There is a difference between what the minister said and what we are trying to do. The current approach of the government and the nation to irregular migration is simply allowing people to move to Libya. If they cross to Europe then they are lucky, if they are deported back by Libyan Government to Lagos or Abuja they would be received, camped for two or three days and then allowed to move round and then they would go back to where they were deported from. Now we cannot solve the problem of migration like that. There is a danger to irregular migration. The first has to do with the fact that the victims are being either attracted by fool factor that there is paradise in Europe. They are also being sent out by what I call the push factors. They claim there are economic factors that made them to leave their homes. This centre will focus on targeting young people who have been used and misinformed of greener pasture that exists on the other side because these victims either fall as terrorists' foot soldiers in Libya, or they just fall into prostitution ring in Europe or they become drug traffickers. So these are the kind of things that happen.
On security you talked about the need for relationship with neighbouring countries for effective handling of security issues. We do know that Nigeria as it stands today, has such exciting relationship with our neighbours but our security situation is still nothing to write home about. What is your take on the existing relationship among countries, especially in the sub region?
I think in view of the crises we are facing as a country today, the violence and the killings; we must renegotiate the ECOWAS Protocol on issue of migration specifically as it affects our own security challenges as a country. We must enforce laws that will protect our country. When herdsmen move from other nations with arms to our nation and we fold our arms in the name of protocol, they will end up destabilising our country. Our concern is why are there no herdsmen violence in Ghana, in Guinea, in Burkina Faso, in Niger Republic? Why are there none in Togo and Guinea Bissau? Why only in Nigeria? These are questions that we need to ask. If you are coming into our country with weapons; we cannot allow you to come in the name of protocols. That should not be acceptable because allowing these herdsmen to come into our country and unleash mayhem and kill people has a capacity of igniting a civil war in Nigeria. We can't allow such to happen in the name of protocols. We have to have a country first before we belong to a union. That is my view on that.


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by Willa Cather
Annotated Text
Book I, Introduction and Chapters 1-10 Summary and Analysis
Chapters 11-19 Summary and Analysis
Book II, Chapters 1-8 Summary and Analysis
Chapters 9-15 Summary and Analysis
Book III, Chapters 1-4 Summary and Analysis
Book IV, Chapters 1-4 Summary and Analysis
Book V, Chapters 1-3 Summary and Analysis
Last Updated on September 30, 2016, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 3842
Book I, Chapter I Summary
Download My Antonia Study Guide
The novel opens with the narrator Jim Burden traveling to Black Hawk, Nebraska, where he will live with his grandparents now that he's an orphan. On the way there, the passenger conductor, a friendly man, tells Jim and his traveling companion Jake, his grandfather's new hired hand, about the foreigners going to settle in Nebraska, only one of whom (the titular Antonia, a girl just four years older than Jim) knows a few words in English. It's clear that Jake is disgusted by this influx of foreigners, but Jim withholds judgment, focusing instead on surviving the long, bumpy ride to Nebraska.
Upon arrival, Jim and Jake are met by a man named Otto Fuchs, who drives them out to the farm just west of Black Hawk. Jim notes that Otto looks like he could be a character in the Jesse James book he's been reading during the long trip. Otto has a huge scar across one cheek, half of his left ear is gone, and he has a deep brown tan, along with "the face of a desperado." He drives Jim and Jake in an old straw-filled wagon and covers them with buffalo hides to keep warm. Jim marvels somewhat at the size of the land, feeling very small and "blotted out." He doesn't say his prayers, reasoning that in this landscape, "what would be would be," regardless of his prayers.
Book I, Chapter I Analysis
Cather uses alliteration when she writes that "Jake's experience of the world was not much wider than mine," where "mine" is Jim's.
Jesse James (1847 - 1882). A Confederate guerrilla and bushwhacker, James is best known as a bank robber and gunslinger who terrorized the Wild West for a couple decades. In his final years, he and his gang members were under increasing pressure from the law, and it became difficult for them to remain active. Eventually, James was killed by one of the gang members, Ford, who was hoping for a reward.
Life of Jesse James. Likely, this is a dimestore novel about Jesse James, the famed gunslinger and bank robber.
One example of a metaphor from this chapter is the description of the conductor's gold cufflinks as being inscribed with "hieroglyphics," where hieroglyphics are a metaphor for the symbols and etchings that Jim finds incomprehensible (they aren't, of course, real hieroglyphics).
Jim personifies an engine when he describes it as "panting heavily after its long run," as if it were a person who'd just run a marathon.
The passenger conductor uses a simile when he says Antonia is "as bright as a new dollar." Later, Jim uses a few similes when describing Otto, whose moustache turns up at the corners "like little horns."
Nature. When Jim looks up at the big, Midwestern sky, unridged by mountains, he feels "erased, blotted out" by the incredible size and grandeur of the sky. In comparison to the vastness of nature, Jim feels small and insignificant, and he abandons his prayers for the night, thinking that nature, with all its glory, will be more powerful than any prayer he utters.
Travel. There are many forms of travel in this novel: the journey from east to west, from town to country and country to country, and from one home to another. Jim, an orphan, travels to Nebraska at the same time as Antonia, an immigrant, who has come to America from Bohemia in order to pursue a better life with her family. Antonia's travels, though certainly more arduous and significant than Jim's, get comparatively little attention, and no emphasis is placed on the journey itself.
Xenophobia. Both Jake and the passenger conductor expresses xenophobic views in this chapter, but Jim, who doesn't have strong feelings on the matter, merely parrots their views to prevent a confrontation. Though there will be some other examples of xenophobia in the novel, Jim, as narrator, does not himself approve of this kind of conduct, and he accepts Antonia and the immigrants easily.
Book I, Chapter II Summary
Exhausted by his journey, Jim takes a long nap and is later woken up by his grandmother, whose deep tan looks much like Otto's. She has been crying a little and says, emotionally, that he looks just like his father, her late son. She tells Jim to come down to the kitchen for a bath. While Jim bathes, his grandmother bakes gingerbread, and a Maltese cat comes to rub against the tub. The kitchen is very welcoming, and Jim spends some time exploring his cozy new home before his grandfather comes back.
Jim immediately takes to his grandfather, whose dignity Jim respects. Together, they sit and eat dinner with Jim's grandmother and Otto Fuchs, the Austrian hired hand who drove Jim and Jake to the farm. After dinner, Otto takes Jim aside to say that his grandparents bought him a "perfect gentleman" of a pony as a present. Jim spends the next day exploring the countryside, excited by everything he sees, including the cornfield, the hills, the garden, the prairie.
Book I, Chapter II Analysis
Bismarck, North Dakota. Currently the capital of North Dakota, the city of Bismarck was founded in 1872, when its white settlers stole land from the Mandan Native American tribe. It was renamed Bismarck in honor of the first German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (1815 - 1898), who'd earned the nickname "Iron Chancellor" due to his iron-firsted rule over the German bureaucracy.
Book of Kings. Originally written as one book of the Bible, the Book of Kings was later broken into two books, both of which detail the history of Israel and Judah in the years following the death of David. Jim wishes that his grandfather, with his deep, sympathetic voice, would read Jim's favorite passages from the Book of Kings. This allusion underscores the fact that Jim was raised a Christian, even though he doesn't practice his religion much in this novel.
Jim equates happiness with the thought of dissolving "into something complete and great," or, in other words, of being part of something bigger than one's self. In this case, that thing is nature.
Jim uses metonymy when he says, "I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea." Here, "grass" stands in for the entirely of the countryside, as "water" stands in for the waters of the sea. This standing in of the small for the whole further emphasizes the grandeur of nature.
Jim personifies the wind when he says that he could hear it "singing its humming tune."
Religion. Jim periodically makes reference to his Christian upbringing, as he does in this chapter when he alludes to the Book of Kings from the Bible. His awe in the face of nature stands in for his faith, becoming in itself a kind of religious experience that fosters the love, peace, and happiness that Christianity is supposed to bring to its followers.
Book I, Chapter III Summary
On Sunday morning, Jim and Otto visit their new neighbors, the Shimerdas, Antonia's Bohemian family. Jim's grandmother sends the Shimerdas provisions, knowing that they've moved to a new homestead that doesn't yet have a garden or means to support such a large family. Their house is really a cave that a fellow Bohemian, Peter Krajiek, sold them for an exorbitant price. Antonia is a strong young girl, and her brothers are prepared to work on a farm, but Mr. Shimerda, a weaver by trade, is old and frail and doesn't know how to run a farm. Jim's grandparents worry that their newest and nearest neighbors will have a rough time of it. Otto wishes that he'd helped negotiate the price of the land and horses for Mr. Shimerda, but Otto is Austrian, and the Bohemians don't trust Austrians.
One of Antonia's brothers, Jim learns, had webbed fingers and likes to frighten people with them. Otherwise, Antonia's siblings are well-mannered and obedient, and they're prepared to work for a living. Jim immediately finds Antonia pretty, and they run hand in hand to the top of a hill to get a better view of the countryside. Antonia, who doesn't speak English yet, struggles to tell Jim his eyes are blue like the sky. Later, Mr. Shimerda asks Jim to teach Antonia English.
Book I, Chapter III Analysis
Jim personifies the road when he says it "ran about like a wild thing."
Cather uses a simile when she writes that Mr. Shimerda's face "looked like ashes."
Antonia's Ring. When Antonia attempts to give Jim her ring, it becomes a symbol of her gratitude for the English lessons Jim gives her.
Clothes. Mr. Shimerda's clothes symbolize his professionalism and his dignity, which stems from his prior life as a prominent weaver and textile artist in Bohemia. By wearing his great coat, his gray vest, his green tie and his perfectly coiffed hair, he's clinging to his former social status and presenting an image of himself that no longer exists.
Language. In Chapter I, Cather made it clear that there's a language barrier between the immigrants going to Black Hawk and the white families like Jim's whose native language is English. However, in this chapter, that language barrier is punctured when Antonia learns the words for blue, sky, and eyes. Mr. Shimerda's request that Jim teach Antonia English promises that this language barrier will be torn down with time.
Book I, Chapter IV Summary
That same Sunday, Jim takes his first ride on his pony, Dude. Otto supervises, just in case. When Otto's satisfied that Jim can ride on his own, Jim starts acting as a messenger for Otto, riding his pony across the fields to ask to borrow something, for instance, or tell people that there will be a religious service at the schoolhouse. When Jim rides, he follows a trail of sunflowers left behind by Mormons as they traveled across the country. Antonia often comes over to play with him, and the two watch owls burrow into the ground near a place called "dog-town," where strays dogs all congregate. The chapter ends with two unsettling images: of Mrs. Shimerda allowing fermented, grayed bread dough to substitute for yeast in her recipe, and of Peter Krajiek, living amongst the Shimerdas like a snake.
Book I, Chapter IV Analysis
Jim equates Peter Krajiek with a rattlesnake that the Shimerdas don't know how to get rid of, like the dogs and owls who don't know how to get rid of snakes.
Rattlesnakes. In the country, rattlesnakes take over the burrows that owls and other birds are forced to make in the ground because of the absence of trees. Once the snakes take over these burrows, they kill the birds, eat their eggs, then move on to the next victim. These rattlesnakes are metaphors for Peter, who takes advantage of the Shimerdas, and symbols of nature's brutality.
Sunflowers. Legend has it that the first groups of Mormons who traveled across the country spread sunflower seeds behind them, leaving a long trail of bright yellow sunflowers for the next groups to follow. These sunflowers are symbols of the desire for others to have a safe journey.
Water. Traditionally, water is a symbol of life, and Cather uses it (and its absence) to suggest that life on the prairie is, in additional to being beautiful, very harsh, and the stray dogs must search for fresh drinking water wherever they can.
Book I, Chapter V Summary
Antonia is excited when her father becomes friends with two Russian men, Pavel and Peter, who is not to be confused with Peter Krajiek, a Bohemian. Pavel and Peter live up in dog-town, where they run a little farm. Pavel is tall, sickly, and prone to wild gesticulations. Peter is short, fat, and rather jolly. They're good farm-hands and spend the summer working together in the sun. Peter is pleased with the fact that he owns a cow, because in Russia only the rich had cows. He cuts up a couple melons for Antonia and Jim, and they all sit down to eat. He sends them home with a pail of milk and a sack of cucumbers for Mrs. Shimerda. He gives nothing to Jim, because he doesn't need it.
Book I, Chapter V Analysis
Cather uses a simile when she describes Peter's facial hair as being "as thick and curly as carded wool."
Friendship. In this chapter, a great friendship develops between Peter and Pavel, Mr. Shimerda, and Antonia and Jim. This friendship will do Mr. Shimerda good, momentarily freeing him of his depression and homesickness. Their departure in VIII will throw Mr. Shimerda into a spiral ending with his suicide. Antonia and Jim, however, place less stock in their friendship with Peter and Pavel, and though they enjoy their time with the Russians, their friendship with each other takes precedence over all others. In future chapters, we'll see how Antonia and Jim's relationship gets complicated over time.
Book I, Chapter VI Summary
Most days, when Jim and Antonia finish their lessons, they head out into the open fields to enjoy their great beauty. When the sun hangs low, the prairie glows red and gold, and Jim thinks of it as the burning bush from the Bible. One day, they see Mr. Shimerda slowly making his way through the fields. Though he's sick, he has managed to shoot three rabbits, the skin of which he promises to fashion into a winter hat for Antonia. Mr. Shimerda says that he'll give his gun to Jim when he gets older. Apparently, the gun was given to Mr. Shimerda by a rich Bohemian at whose wedding Mr. Shimerda played the fiddle. Jim is uncomfortable with this offer, but doesn't decline.
Book I, Chapter VI Analysis
The Burning Bush. The Biblical tale of the burning bush is told in Exodus 3, in which Moses sees an angel of God in a bush, its glory burning like fire. God calls out to Moses from the bush, telling him that he must lead the Jews out of Israel. Jim compares the open prairie to the burning bush to suggest that God is inside it, too, and that the fields are holy.
Jim uses a simile when he says the red fields are like "the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed." This is also an allusion to the burning bush of the Bible.
Book I, Chapter VII Summary
Jim briefly resents Antonia for acting superior to him because of their age difference (she's about four years older than him). Then something happens that makes her think of him as an equal. The two of them are walking through dog-town when Antonia stumbles across a long, old rattlesnake in one of the burrows. Jim kills it with a spade, then marvels at the green poison that oozes out of its head. He takes the dead snake home as a trophy, proud of himself for defending Antonia. Otto praises Jim in front of Antonia, but once they're alone the two men realize that Jim got lucky: his rattlesnake was old and lazy, made complacent by years of easy meals and nonexistent predators, and wouldn't have been so easy to kill if he were younger. Still, Jim hangs the dead snake on the fence, and everyone agrees that it's the biggest rattlesnake any of them have ever killed.
Book I, Chapter VII Analysis
Alliteration. Cather uses alliteration to great effect in the line: "He lifted his hideous little head."
Jim uses a simile when he says that the air "was clear and heady as wine."
Rattlesnakes. For Jim, the dead rattlesnake symbols both his masculinity and coming of age, because it proves to Antonia that he is, in fact, her equal. The significance of this kill is somewhat undermined by the realization that Jim got lucky and wouldn't normally have been able to kill a rattlesnake. Still, this chapter marks an important shift in Jim and Antonia's relationship, as Antonia stops treating Jim like a little boy.
Age. We learned in Chapter I that Antonia is four years older than Jim, but little has been made of this fact until now. Jim, who teaches Antonia English and feels, because of this, that he's more mature than her, intellectually speaking, acts as if there's no age difference between them at all. This can be interpreted as arrogance on Jim's part, because Antonia is perfectly within her rights to think of Jim as a child, given that she's four years older. Then again, it may just be a byproduct of Jim's desire to be more to Antonia than the boy next door who teaches her English.
Book I, Chapter VIII Summary
Near the end of Autumn, Peter confesses to Mr. Shimerda that he has fallen deeply into to debt to Wick Cutter, Black Hawk's much-reviled moneylender. Soon after, Pavel hurts himself on the job and starts coughing up blood. One afternoon, when Jim and Antonia go visit the sick Pavel, they find him huddled in bed, frightened by the sound of wolves in the distance. Pavel then relates the story of why he and Peter came to America: when they were in Russia, their sled was run down one day by a pack of wolves, and everyone in their caravan was killed. In shame, Peter and Pavel left their homeland and moved to America, where they moved around, working odd jobs, before settling in Nebraska, where Peter took out a series of bad loans that cause them to lose their farm at the end of this chapter. Pavel dies not long after he unburdens himself of the story, and Peter is forced to sell off all his possessions. Jim and Antonia never see him again.
Book I, Chapter VIII Analysis
Jim uses foreshadowing when he tells the reader that he'll write more about Wick Cutter later.
Cather uses Pavel's story about the wolves as a metaphor for their financial situation. When these wolves attack that sled caravan, they're effectively destroying Peter and Pavel's future, just as the moneylender Wick Cutter destroys Peter's dream of having his own farm. In this metaphor, Wick Cutter is the wolf and the two Russians are just his latest kill.
Melons. For Peter, the ripe, juicy melons he grows on his farm become a symbol of all his hard work and, later, of comfort. When he's taken away, his beard is dripping with melon juice, indicating that he has once again turned to his favorite food to make himself feel better.
Book I, Chapter IX Summary
Otto makes Jim a sturdy little sled so he can ride around on the snow in winter. Jim loves his new sled and uses it to take Antonia and her sister Yulka out on an adventure one afternoon. It's much too cold, however, and the girls nearly freeze in their ineffective winter clothes. Jim comes down with quinsy (a form of tonsillitis) immediately after and stays in bed for two weeks. While he's at home, he sits with his grandmother in the kitchen and reads The Swiss Family Robinson to her as she bakes. Otto sings them old cowboy songs and tells them the story of how, when he first came to America from Austria, he was asked to look after a woman traveling on the same boat. He had a rough time of it because she gave birth to triplets on the boat and he was obliged to take care of them until they arrived in Chicago.
Book I, Chapter IX Analysis
"Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" and "For I Am a Cowboy and Know I've Done Wrong." Popular old cowboy songs from the 1800s. "For I Am a Cowboy and Know I've Done Wrong" is technically a lyric from the song "Streets of Laredo," which has been adapted by many singers in the past century, including Johnny Cash.
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. First published in 1812, The Swiss Family Robinson has since become on the most popular books written in the 1800s, having spawned many sequels and film adaptations over the years. It stars a large Swiss family who are shipwrecked on an island and forced to fend for themselves. Near the end of the book, the family is rescued, but some of the Robinsons choose to stay behind and live on their tranquil, beautiful island.
There are many similes in this chapter, including: "My horse's breath rose like steam."
Jim's Sledge. Unlike Peter and Pavel's sledge from Chapter VIII, Jim's sledge isn't a reminder of wolves and of death but rather a fun means of transportation that Jim rides happily and shows off to his friends.
Book I, Chapter X Summary
During Jim's convalescence, the Burdens don't see much of the Shimerdas. Mr. Shimerda is often seen hunting birds in an old coat that isn't nearly warm enough for the weather. In part because of this and in part because she's worried about Mrs. Shimerda and the kids, Jim's grandmother gives them a rooster in the hopes that they'll start a hen house. The Burdens are once again shocked by the Shimerda family's poor living conditions and the fact that the girls sleep in what's little more than a badger hole. They give the Shimerdas a large hamper full of food.
Mr. Shimerda makes a point of saying that his family isn't broke, and that they still have enough of their savings to by cows and chickens in the spring. Mrs. Shimerda, who broke down crying at the sight of the food hamper, shows the Burdens a sack of what turns out to be dried mushrooms, which they carried with them all the way from Bohemia. Jim eats one, but finds it a little strange.
Book I, Chapter X Analysis
Food. Food and its abundance or scarcity are closely tied with the theme of poverty, and in the context of this novel those who have food are well to do and those who don't are poor, living in caves or on credit like Peter and Pavel. The foods that recur most often are staples like potatoes, meat, and bread, emphasizing that one must survive before one can prosper.
Mushrooms. The Shimerdas' dried mushrooms are symbolic of their homeland and Bohemian heritage. When Mrs. Shimerda offers these mushrooms to the Burdens, it's as if she's inviting them to learn about the Shimerdas' past and culture.
Poverty. Despite Mr. Shimerda's pointed remarks about his family's finances, Cather makes it abundantly, painfully clear that the Shimerdas live in poverty and that they're struggling to feed themselves in the hard, bitter winter. Their poverty sets them in a different social class than the Burdens, but for the most part Jim leaves this fact unexplored, never bothering to delve into the power differential inherent to this experience. Jim's grandmother in particular looks on the Shimerdas with pity, and this slight condescension never quite dissipates.
What is the correct pronunciation of "Antonia" from the novel My Antonia?
Why is Jim an unreliable narrator in My Antonia?
How is religion treated in My Antonia, and which religion is shown in a better light?
In My Antonia, describe the nature of the relationship between Jim and Ántonia. In what ways do they form a special connection? How does this...
In My Antonia, who learns more through their friendship, Jim or Antonia?
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Arkansas legislators worked into the evening on day two of the current special session yesterday. After failing to gather enough votes to suspend the rules and consider SB 8 on the floor of the state Senate1, senators in support of the move to join the SEC primary on March 1 redoubled their efforts to push the measure through.
Those efforts by majority party Republicans included cutting a deal with state Senate Democrats to make the move of the consolidated primary -- including the presidential primary -- to March 1 temporary. Under the provisions of the amended bill, the Arkansas presidential primary will move into the SEC primary position on the calendar, but only for the 2016 cycle. The election would automatically revert to its current May position at the end of 2016 (for the 2020 cycle). This would either save future legislators from having to change the date back to May as they have in other instances when Arkansas has moved its presidential primary forward on the calendar (see 1988 and 2008) or force them to revisit whether to hold an early primary again in 2020 and beyond.
The amended SB 8 emerged from the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee with a "Do Pass" recommendation and was subsequently passed by a 28-6 vote by the full Senate. The measure now heads to the House for consideration. The lower chamber passed the original (unamended/permanent) version of the SEC primary bill on Wednesday.
For more see coverage from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
1 The chamber was able to gain enough support to extract the bill from committee, but not enough to meet the supermajority requirement to consider the bill immediately. Without that supermajority, the bill, by rule, had to wait two calendar days before the chamber could consider it. That would have pushed the special session, originally scheduled to adjourn on Thursday, May 28, into Saturday.


KPE Underground Radio, a half-hour segment that aired on MediaCorp Radio stations for five days in October 2007.
1. Ng, D. (2008, September 20). KPE by numbers. The New Paper, p. 12. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
5. Ng, D. (2008, September 20). KPE by numbers. The New Paper, p. 12. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
10. Biggest road project in Singapore takes off. (2002, November to December). Southeast Asia Construction, p. 8. (Call no.: RSEA 338.476900959 SAC); Tan. C. (2002, June 29). LTA awards $1b worth of contracts for Circle Line, KPE. The Business Times, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
14. Biggest road project in Singapore takes off. (2002, November to December). Southeast Asia Construction, pp. 8–9. (Call no.: RSEA 338.476900959 SAC); Everything's new, nothing has changed. (2007, October 25). The Straits Times, p. 45. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
15. Almenoar, M. (2008, September 17). Safety first for KPE tunnel. The Straits Times, p. 26. Retrieved from NewspaperSG; Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, pp. 131, 134. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Land Transport Authority. (2014, December 3). Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE). Retrieved 2016, October 23 from Land Transport Authority website: https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/projects/kallang-paya-lebar-expressway-kpe.html; Many eyes on tunnel expressway. (2008, September 12). The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
17. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, p. 150. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Land Transport Authority. (2014, December 3). Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE). Retrieved 2016, October 23 from Land Transport Authority website: https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/projects/kallang-paya-lebar-expressway-kpe.html; Sounds of the underground. (2007, October 25). The Straits Times, p. 43. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
18. Tan, C. (2008, August 2). KPE stretch to close ahead of full opening. The Straits Times, p. 50. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
20. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, pp. 29, 48. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Goh, C. L., & Hooi, A. (2003, October 29). Giant smoke stacks to air new expressway. The Straits Times, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
21. All set, ready to go. (2007, October 25). The Straits Times, p. 44. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
22. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, p. 29. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Logistical problems. (2004, August 23). The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
23. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, pp. 25, 32–33, 46–47, 62–63. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Everything's new, nothing has changed. (2007, October 25). The Straits Times, p. 45. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
24. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, pp. 47, 62, 95. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Ahmad Osman. (2009, May 28). Smart tunneling. The Straits Times, p. 116. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
26. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, p. 32. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Tan, C. (2001, October 12). SembCorp unit wins $235m expressway deal. The Business Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
27. Cheong, C. (2008). Building Singapore's longest road tunnel: The KPE story. Singapore: SNP Editions, p. 32. (Call no.: RSING 624.193095957 CHE); Firms wins $257m contract to build tunnel. (2001, December 14). The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
32. Almenoar, M. (2008, September 18). KPE gets green light from safety assessors. The Straits Times, p. 35. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
33. Land Transport Authority. (2014, December 3). Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE). Retrieved 2016, October 23 from Land Transport Authority website: https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/projects/kallang-paya-lebar-expressway-kpe.html; Sounds of the underground. (2007, October 25). The Straits Times, p. 43. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
35. Rajan, T. (2007, July 28). 3-km tunnel linking PIE and ECP opens in October. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
Almenoar, M. (2008, August 29). Toll gantries on KPE built as safety precaution. The Straits Times, p. 47. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
Tan, C. (2004, September 8). Extra level of checks for KPE project. The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
Tan, C. (2007, October 26). Traffic marshals to ply expressways to clear jams quickly. The Straits Times, p. 54. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.


Week 44 produced a gain based on a strong US$ and strength in the Financials.
We had a gain of $1587 with almost half coming from our position in the XLF calls.
This brings our YTD gain to a new high of the year of $8,425.
Funds in use are $1,782.
had a 100% up rule sale the same day.
This is the last of the big weeks of earnings and I for one will be glad to see it over. The disparity among individual companies is within industries is evident, but none as much as solar.
SCTY reported Friday and was down 22% while FSLR did the same and was up over 11%.
In the high-end TIF has stabilized after falling from $96 to $75 (closed $82.44) while SIG, mid-price, has rallied from $115 to over $150 in the same period. What is clear, is that all participants within industries can- not be painted with the same brush.
While I'd like to be more active in the Gold and Energy areas, but they continue to confound.
I'll have to wait…being wrong for 15% without wanting to be a seller doesn't fit my risk parameters.
The Gold has looked like it was flagging out between the recent highs around $1190 and great support at $1150, but on Wednesday it resolved itself with a run from $1152 to a high of $1183, only to collapse and close the week at $1141. The NUGT (3X Gold ETF) went from $49 and closed the week at $34.69. I'll be watching it back at support around $27-30 as a buy.
As for the overall market, I am concerned with the rising rate scenario in the very short term.
20 XLF were sold in two tranches: first on the 28th gaining $ 570.
for a grand total of $ 3,174 one of the best weekly options profits of the year.
For the year to date we have gains of $ 20,517.
Open position losses increased by $942 to $ 14,571.
Herbalife HLF 1.05 vs 1.45 U.S.
All major indexes were quite neutral for the week with three of the five slightly higher, while both the Transportation and Russell averages were quite negative. However, for the entire month stocks had their best performance in four years.
The Nasdaq had a mildly friendly week , the leader of all indexes gaining 21.88 points or 0.43%. The S&P 500 added just 4 points to 2079 while the Dow gained 16.84 up 0.10%. The DJ Transportation Index was a disappointment falling 2% or 167.51 points ignoring all the good numbers especially from airline constituents. The Russell 2000 lost 4 points or 0.36% finding support at its 13-day moving average.
Lackluster earnings and continued top line revenue growth continue to be a headwind for stocks. So far earnings reported for S&P 500 companies have dropped nearly 5% in the third quarter, based on the 65 that have reported and forecasts for the rest.
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mostly lower. The Yinn ( YINN: $21.71 ) – 3.90 or -15.2%, which is the volatile Direxion 3x Bullish indicator, was defensive all week. Talk abounds that China will soon lower its GDP growth target. Many emerging nations including China felt the pinch of the FOMC's relatively hawkish directive on Wednesday, which kept alive the possibility of a rate hike in December leading to a dollar rally.
Greed is gradually returning from the oversold conditions of August-September. It still needs to go above 85 to be significant.
The AAII Confidence Index finally rallied above its Long Term Bullish average of 38.74% to 40.4% which adds to vulnerability of stocks. Bearishness dropped to just 20.6% well below the average of 30.30%. Adding to uncertainty, those neutral rose to 39.0% well above 30.96% average.
GDP increased 1.5% in the third quarter, down from a 3.9% gain in Q2 2015. The Briefing.com Consensus expected GDP to increase 1.6%. Excluding inventories, real final sales rose 3.0%. That is in-line with normal potential growth patterns. Even though the headline growth level was on the lighter side, the overall economy looked pretty healthy in the third quarter. All of the downside growth trend was the result of a substantial pullback in inventory growth. That was a normal reaction following two consecutive quarterly gains.
Personal consumption spending increased 3.2% in Q3 2015, down from a 3.6% gain in the second quarter. Goods spending increased 4.5%, with much of that gain coming from a 6.7% increase in durable goods demand. Services spending increased 2.6%.
Personal income increased 0.1% in September after increasing an upwardly revised 0.4% (from 0.3%) in August. The Briefing.com Consensus expected personal income to increase 0.2%. Personal spending rose 0.1% in September after increasing 0.4% in August. The consensus expected personal spending to increase 0.2%.Wages and salaries were flat in September, which was slightly better than the 0.2% decline that was implied in the September employment report.
On the spending side, goods spending declined 0.5% in September after increasing 0.1% in August. A 0.8% gain in durable goods spending, which was mostly the result of strong auto sales, was offset by a 1.2% decline in nondurable goods spending. Services spending increased 0.4% in September, down from a 0.5% increase in August. The personal savings rate ticked up to 4.8% in September from 4.7% in August.
The Chicago PMI increased to 565.2 in October from 48.7 in September which was the best reading since January. The New Orders portion of the Purchasing Manager's Index increased to 59.4 in October from 49.5 in September. Backlogs, however, continued in decline being lowered to 45.5 in October from 46.5 September.
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was revised down to 90.0 in the final October reading from 92.1 in the preliminary report. The Briefing.com Consensus expected the index to be revised up to 92.6. The Current Conditions Index was revised down to 102.3 in the final October reading from 106.7. The expectations Index was revised down to 82.1 from 82.7.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 97.6 in October from a downwardly revised 102.6 (from 103.0) in September. The Briefing.com Consensus expected the Consumer Confidence Index to decline to 102.5.
The Present Situation Index declined to 112.1 in October from 120.3 in September. The Expectations Index fell to 88.0 from 90.8. Despite improvement in jobs security, as shown by historic lows in the initial claims level, and relatively low gasoline prices, consumer confidence weakened over the last month. That stands in contrast to the preliminary October reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which increased to 92.1 from 87.2 in September.
The decrease in confidence is unlikely to have a material impact on consumption trends. Consumption relies on income not sentiment. As long as the labor market continues to improve, consumption growth should follow.
It's never too early to start thinking about next year. Sure, we still have a holiday season and a Fed decision, to get through before 2015 rings out. But now is when we start to focus on our trades for November we need to forecast what the year may, or may not, have in store. Unfortunately, the calendar-gazing habit tends to bring out the silly side of investing. No small number of "experts" habitually hold forth on the airwaves with a gravitas-laced analysis of the January effect or some other variation of "when X (calendar event) happens, expect Y (stocks to go up, down, all around)". Next year is 2016, meaning of course that it is once again time to elect a US president. And presidential years take calendar-centric silliness to a whole new level. Not only is there an imagined pattern to presidential election years, as the pundits would have it, but there are "rational" explanations as to why this is so. Fact or fable? Let's do what we always do, and examine the data.
In pre-election years, November's performance is substantially weaker. DJIA has advanced in only half of the last 16 pre-election years since 1950 with an average gain of 0.3%. S&P 500 has been up in 9 of the past 16 pre-election years, also gaining on average a paltry 0.3%. Small-caps and techs perform better with Russell 2000 climbing in 5 of the past 9 pre-election years, averaging 1.0%. NASDAQ has been up in 6 of the last 11 pre-election year Novembers with an average 0.9% gain.
Contributing to pre-election year November's weaker performance is nasty declines in 1987, 1991 and 2007 The twelve month periods coinciding with the calendar years of 2012, 2008, 2004 and 2000 have all been below average (3.7 percent, -33.8 percent, 3.1 percent and -6.2 percent respectively).
It is true that recent elections have not coincided with great times for investors. In addition we need to begin looking at year-end tax loss selling of losers such as companies involved with energy, steel and heavy transportation.
Enzo Biochem ( ENZ 3.72 ) Bought at our price of $ 2.78.
(the "Company" or "ProtoKinetix") (www.protokinetix.com) trading at $ 0.0521 low and 0.0969 high on Friday has a huge upside potential. They are in collaboration with the James Shapiro laboratory at the University of Alberta. The sole intention of the collaboration is to develop a commercial product pipeline of therapeutic applications for the AAGP™ family of molecules.
The HDGE continued to decline last week falling well-below our 11.04 buy level, the barrier between bear and bull markets. We would look to buy with a stop loss at 10.28. It is high risk but a possible hedge against some of our successful longs like LUV and URI. HDGE is the BEAR hedge.
We now want to be long stocks at their respective limits. Buy Intel on dips and Arcelor Mital.
We bought CVS and were stopped out for a loss of 3.30 points.
We always use stops. Keep losses small.
We bought Virgin Air (VA) at 32.20. Please check on the previous weekly market letters if there are questions.
We are long in Diana Shipping at 6.60. DSX is a bear market opportunity with a small risk.
We are long Bank of America at 15.65. and would use 15.02 as a stop loss.


Ecommerce is growing worldwide and becoming the preferred way for purchasing products and services. The statistics being thrown up by global ecommerce is full of unbelievable numbers that can make any entrepreneur perk up and immediately look into incorporating it into their business.
While these numbers are pretty big right now, they're expected to only increase in the coming years. It had been quite an amazing year for ecommerce in 2017, and 2018 is expected to top it in many ways.
Last year, ecommerce achieved a total of $2.304 trillion in sales, and it's expected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2021. According to cumulative data from Statista, that's a 246.15% increase from $1.3 trillion in 2014. In such a short time, ecommerce has become a force to be reckoned with in the business world.
Another statistic worth noting here is B2B (business-to-business) ecommerce being 234.18% greater than B2C (business-to-consumer) ecommerce. While the latter reached ecommerce sales of $2.304 trillion, B2B ecommerce reached $7.7 trillion, which now makes ecommerce indispensable for B2B companies.
In particular, mobile ecommerce (mcommerce) is becoming more and more of the preferred way customers order products online. Global mcommerce sales rose by 40.3% to $1.357 trillion in 2017, with China making up 67.1% of that total.
While the US and the western world once held the ecommerce crown, Asia has caught up with the giant markets of China, Japan, and South Korea. The US' hold on ecommerce is expected to slide from 22.2% in 2015 to 16.9% in 2020.
Most of these countries are known for having good broadband infrastructure, which is necessary for ecommerce to propagate. Of course, ecommerce is more conducive for certain categories of products and services, like fashion, media, consumer electronics, and so on.
While most of ecommerce see purchase and delivery of durable (non-perishable) products, there has been a growth in demand for online purchase and delivery of perishable goods like groceries, beauty products, medicine, and so on.
Among the top 10 countries, it's South Korea that sees the majority of ecommerce in consumable products.
One of the most popular ecommerce platforms worldwide, WooCommerce is a free-to-use plugin for the WordPress blogging platform.
That makes WooCommerce widely accessible to a tremendous number of users worldwide with a user-friendly installation process in WordPress and the availability of WordPress + WooCommerce bundles out there.
WooCommerce goes toe-to-toe with Shopify for the throne of world's top ecommerce platform. If you happen to already have a website powered by WordPress, then WooCommerce is a no-brainer.
Popular for being an all-in-one platform used all over the world, Shopify is part of a group of turn-key ecommerce solution that provides everything an online entrepreneur needs from setting it up to selling products.
The company was founded in 2004 and the platform was launched in 2006.
Shopify is well-received by tech pundits, who described the platform as "clean, simple, and easy-to-use." The publicity it garnered from various business and tech outlets spread its name far and wide, which contributed to its popularity.
As one of the best known online brands in the world due to its marketing efforts, Squarespace is mostly known for its easy-to-use website building and hosting solutions. They have since added ecommerce functionality into it, which is Squarespace Commerce.
With Squarespace Commerce, you can build an online store and make it operational in virtually no time flat. You do need to pay more for all the extra bells and whistles, but you do end up with a very good-looking online store with Squarespace Commerce.
The free website hosting service has now added its own ecommerce platform (known as Wix Store), similar to Squarespace Commerce.
You can build a website and put up your online storefront all in one platform, making it easier for users with little technical proficiency to get into ecommerce and run an online business in the comfort of their own home.
It does have less customizability compared to more dedicated platforms, but it has all the basic parts needed for entrepreneurs to get into ecommerce.
One of the earliest ecommerce systems out there, OpenCart was originally developed back in 1998 and saw its first public release the following year. It had a rocky start as it was eventually abandoned before being revived in early 2005.
OpenCart now has around 317,000 live OpenCart sites. Its long history and open-source architecture is conducive for its community of users and developers.
Based on PHP and using MySQL for its database, Zen Cart is a platform that branched from osCommerce back in 2003. It differs in architecture and some of its core features. It now boasts over 100,000 users with developers from around the world supporting its growing community.
While not as popular as WooCommerce and Shopify, Magento is a top alternative for online entrepreneurs who are looking to do things properly in ecommerce.
Initially released in 2008, this open-source ecommerce platform's developer was originally developed by Varien, Inc., which was later acquired by eBay. Varien had previously worked with osCommerce before developing Magento.
Magento offers flexibility with customizability due to being written in PHP. The developers of Magento has since spun out of eBay as an independent company with a new owner in late 2015, and the platform has been gaining traction ever since.
Introduced in 2007, Prestashop has been gaining popularity over the past decade with its Prestashop Ecommerce development solutions.
It focuses mostly on reliable online shopping solutions and an amazing user experience for online entrepreneurs with a low budget for establishing an online store.
Prestashop is a good solution for those who need to put up an online store right now without much budget. If you're looking for a fully-fledged store with more advanced features, Prestashop is not the best for that.
With hundreds of thousands of users in its online community, osCommerce is a truly open source and free-to-use ecommerce platform under GNU General Public License. There are over 260,000 different stores running on osCommerce, with 12,800 registered sites under its belt.
This platform is best for those who are just looking to put up an online store without fiddling too much with it. Whether you're simply dipping your toes into ecommerce or running a small to medium online store, osCommerce is a pretty good solution.
Built upon the concept of being all-inclusive, BigCommerce seeks to provide everything an online entrepreneur needs to get started with ecommerce in one package. This is opposed to other platforms that may offer bits and pieces of an online store separately.
BigCommerce is a hosted platform with all-inclusive options that competes directly with Shopify and Volusion, as well as non-turn-key options like WooCommerce (along with WordPress), Magento, and others.
The online retail economy is certainly far from its peak, which also means that starting an ecommerce business (now) could prove to become a very lucrative endeavor in the future.
Choosing the perfect platform to use for a store might be a difficult task for some, but the good news is that there are so many available resources on the web (like the data we've presented above) that should help making the decision easier - because it should be.
You can also follow SaleHoo on Facebook and Twitter to get more updates.


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Names of NoteCurrently selected
Captains of Industry
Eccles Shorrock
Frank Brian Mercer
Born In Blackburn
Russell Harty
Cemetery Walk
Notorious Names
Notable Names of Blackburn and Darwen
Founding FathersCurrently selected
Rev. Dr. Robert West Pearson
The Walmesley | The Petre's | The Osbaldestons | The De Rishtons | The Orrells c. 1420-1628 | The Torbocs
Humphrey Chetham 1628-1653 | George's Descendants 1664-1835 |The Kay Family 1855-1890
The Walmesleys
In 1581 the Talbots sold their Rishton estate to Thomas Walmesley and he proposed to use the whole of the chapel as a family mausoleum.
Sir Thomas Walmesley owned Dunkenhalgh and Hacking Hall estates. He rebuilt both Hacking Hall & Dunkenhalgh Hall.
Hacking Hall
© Gordon Hartley - terms and conditions
Dunkenhalgh
Sir Thomas Walmesley died 1612 and is buried in the de Rishton chapel.
The tomb was the exact counterpart of the one we see below, which is the tomb of the Anne Duchess of Somerset and is in Westminster Abbey.
Sir Thomas Walmesley is here entombed who was a judge of common-pleas in the 31 years of Queen Elizabeth and continued a judge of that bench25 years above. During which time he went to all the circuits of England except that of Norfolke and Suffolke.
He died the 26th day of November 1612 having lived 75 years
compleat under five severall Princes.King Henry the 8th,King Edward the 6th,Queen Mary,
Queen Elizabeth, and our sovereign King James.
He left behind him ( who are yet living ) Anne his Lady and sole wife and also one only Son Thomas Walmesley sole heyre to them both.
Whom in his life time he saw twice married. First Eleanor sister to Henry Lord Danvers and daughter to Sir John Danvers by Elizabeth his wife and comeyres of the Lord Latimer.
And secondly to Mary sister of Sir Richard Hoghton Baronett:
By both whom he saw issue. By his first wife one Son and two Daughters.
Thomas, Elizabeth, & Anne. By second one a son Charles.
The tomb of Judge Thomas Walmesley was smashed to bits by some of Cromwell's men during the Civil War.The market cross was also damaged at the same time.
On the East wall of the South transept of the Cathedral you will find this coat of Arms.
This piece came from the smashed tomb of Judge Walmesley.
The Petres
Outside the Cathedral you will see the tomb of the Petre family.This tomb is on the site of the Judge Walmesley vault, as Petre married into the Walmesley family and the Petres became Lords of the Manor of Rishton. The Petre tomb also marks where the de Rishton chapel was in the old Parish Church.
The Petre Tomb
Coat of Arms on Petre Tomb
The Osbaldestons
On the north side of St, Mary's Parish Church was another chapel.This was the Osbaldestons' mortuary chapel.Against the wall in this chapel were two brasses:
One with the bald head of an old man with a grey beard, his body armed.
Inscribed:- Here lyeth the body of Sir Edward Osbaldeston a charitable, courteous, and valiant Knight, qui obiit A.D.1636 aet 63.
The epitaph is concise, but contains a character replete with all the requistes of chivalry in its period of utmost purity.
The other brass is in memory of another Osbaldeston (Edward son of Alexander),which acquaints us with nothing further than that he died in 1689, aged 38.
© BwD - terms and conditions
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The De Rishtons
There were also two more Coats of Arms hanging in the de Rishton chapel.
When St. Mary's church was demolished these coats of arms which are on canvas one were to be found in the choir vestry of the Cathedral. The second one on canvas was said to be fixed to the wall of the staircase. Number 2 on the drawing below is of the Coat of Arms that was in the choir vestry, and shows the Petre Crest.
The other coat of arms on canvas is of the Walmesley crest impaled with the arms of Lord Stourton.
On this picture you can see the south side of the church and the south
De Rishton chapel can be seen at the back corner of the church
The Orrells c. 1420-1628
© BwD - terms and conditions
The Torbocs did not give up their claim to Turton until 1500 and, of course, during this time the Orrells of Turton laid claim to the Torboc estates at Tarbuck. But the Torbocs were not the only critics that the Orrells had to face. When Henry VIII attacked the Roman Catholic Church and confiscated the wealth of the monasteries, the Orrells of Turton chose to remain Catholic. John, the head of the family at the time, was the grandson of the original William and Elizabeth's grandson.
The scene of life at the Tower in John Orrell's time was not one of great luxury. He owned horses, cattle and sheep. Sheep-breeding was a traditional source of income in Lancashire. There were stores of wool and flax at the Tower and, on a more peaceful note, the family were able to relax to the music of a virginal.
But John was not a quiet man. Instead of hiding from the new religious order, he demanded recognition that several items in the local chapel, including a bell and a chalice, were his heirlooms. This was the chapel, on the site of Chapeltown Church, that was to change the village of Turton's name to Chapeltown.
And John found himself at odds with his neighbours again but not about religion. According to court records of 1560, he, ". . . of his great might and power, with force of arms, entered upon Turton Moor and enclosed certain parcels of ground, to the utter disinheritance of Christopher Horrocks." This was provocation! Christopher Horrocks retaliated. He, ". . . and about twenty others, armed with long pikes, staves, bows, arrows, swords, spades and short daggers, did assemble at the enclosure and did cast down and destroy the same."
The enclosure movement, which was to change the face of the eighteenth century English countryside, had in Elizabethan Turton already begun.
At some time during the sixteenth century the timbered south-wing and hallway were added to the Tower. This work may have been carried out while John Orrell was Lord of the Manor. It was certainly continued after he had been laid to rest in Bolton Parish Church. The man responsible then was John's son and successor, William.
About 1596 the stone tower itself was altered. Its height was increased by a third. This was not to add an extra storey to the building but to raise the height of the floors that were already there. The difference in the stonework can be seen from outside, and on the top floor you can see traces of earlier windows on a level with your feet.
The only signs of the mediaeval interior to survive are parts of a stone spiral staircase and a garde-robe or toilet.
In two ways William succeeded in putting Turton on the map. The first of these he could perhaps have wished to do without. In 1590 a chart of Lancashire was prepared for Queen Elizabeth's adviser, Lord Burghley, marking the homes of prominent Roman Catholics. On this map, not far from a stream called "Turton Water", stands a building with the words, "Orel de Turton".
The Tower's second geographical reference was made a few years later when Turton was visited by the chronicler William Camden. This inveterate traveller had set out from Bury, in the hope of discovering the site of the Roman settlement of Coccium. Instead he found himself "among precipices and wastes" at Turton Chapel and at Turton Tower, "the residence of the illustrious family of Orell".
Sad to say, the Orrells had only a few years left at the Tower. William, in making his improvements, had overspent. Possibly also John, his son and heir, was weak with money. The truth is that the year after the death of this second John, his younger brother was obliged to sell the estate.
The Torbocs
Turton's Lords of the Manor, in the reign of King John, were the Torbocs. Far from being a local family, they came, as their name suggests, from Tarbuck, on Merseyside. For their position at Turton they paid feudal dues to their overlords, the barons of Manchester.
Then, about 1420, John de Torboc died. Since his son died soon after him, his lands were divided between his daughter, Elizabeth, and her Torboc cousins. While the cousins were given Tarbuck, the manor of Turton was inherited by Elizabeth.
It was about this time that Turton Tower was built. Made of stone and rectangular in shape, the building belongs to the group known as pele-towers. These had been popular in northern England and Scotland since the days of Robert the Bruce, a hundred years earlier. It may have been built to suit the wishes of Elizabeth's guardian, Sir John Stanley, or perhaps his relations, the Orrell family of Wigan.
Elizabeth was destined to be married into that household. She was married to William Orrell of Wigan. Although Elizabeth's Torboc cousins were to continue to lay legal claim to Turton, the Orrell family moved in and settled to become the earliest recorded residents of Turton Tower.
Humphrey Chetham 1628-1653
The name of the last Orrell to own Turton Tower was the same as the first there, William. At first William set out to seek a loan of £1,000 from the Manchester banker and textile merchant, Humphrey Chetham. Not many months later, in 1628, Chetham paid him £4,000 for the Tower, the estate, the Lordship of the Manor and all the rights associated with it.
Humphrey Chetham was a wealthy man. He had already acquired a manor house at Clayton Hall on the other side of Manchester and he kept this as his first home.
So when a King's Messenger arrived at the Tower one summer's day, three years later, the owner was nowhere to be found. Thismessage was left for him,
"Mr. Humphrey Chetham of Turton,
You are by virtue of a Warrant directed to me from the Lords of the Most Honourable Privy Council being Commissioners appointed by His Majesty's Commands with those not appearing at His Majesty's Crownonacon to take upon them the Order of Knighthood. You are therefore to appear before their Lordships at Whitehall on the XXth day of October next: whereof you are not to fayle as you will answere the contrary at your perill.
Dated at yor howse this 30th day of August, 1631.
Your loving friend to Comand
Franncis Taylor
One of the Messengers of His majesty's Chamber".
In the reign of King Charles I the offer of a knighthood was less an honour than an imposition for which one had to pay. Like many other men, Humphrey Chetham chose to reject the knighthood and be fined. Four years later he could not refuse the duty of serving for a year as High Sheriff of Lancashire. The usual burden of this office was to have to pay for the board and lodging of the Justices attending the Assizes at Lancaster.
Humphrey asked George, his nephew in London, to send him all he needed that was not available in Manchester, and he sent his steward, James Walmsley of Turton, to negotiate the best terms he could with the Keeper of Lancaster Castle.
As Sheriff, Humphrey suffered a more onerous year than most in being responsible for collecting King Charles's "Ship money" from the county. This was another attempt by the King to raise funds independently of Parliament.
It is not surprising that, when the Civil War broke out in 1642, Humphrey Chetham was found on the side of the Roundheads. As one of Manchester's leading financiers, he was appointed treasurer for the cause in Lancashire. As Lord of the Manor he raised and equipped Turton's soldiers and the Tower was used for quartering Roundhead troops. In 1645 he recorded, "In free quarters at Turton to maiors and captaines by 2 or 3 at a time for divers times and to Troups sometymes 12 sometymes 16, sometymes 20, sometymes more. And likewise in foot sometymes 60 or 70 a night and daily relieveinge of horse and foote especiallie at that tyme when Preston was regained from us to the enemy, at wch tyme for divers weeks my servants were forced to brew and bake almost everie daie for the reliefe of the afforesaid Souldiers that came to my howse of wch it is impossible for me to give a p'fect accompt."
Humphrey took an interest in Turton. In the Civil War correspondence was often addressed to "Humphrey Chetham of Turton" or "Humphrey Chetham att Turton". When he died in 1653 he left funds for the education of children in Turton and a library, which still survives, in the Parish Church.
But whereas Humphrey tended to use Clayton Hall in Droylsden as his home, he left Turton Tower for the use, in 1648, of his nephew, George.
George's Descendants 1664-1835
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George was succeeded by his son and his grandsons. In 1748, when the second grandson died, the inheritance passed to another grandson, his cousin, Edward. But Edward was the last of the Chethams. He left no children and his sisters had interests elsewhere. So, in the 1770's, we find the Tower being leased to tenant farmers.
George's descendants were still the Lords and Ladies of the Manor. The local magistrates' court was conducted in their name. In the ballad of the riotous Turton Fair, published in 1789, we hear an appeal to the Lady of the Manor to intervene there. The Lady referred to was Edward's niece, Mrs. Mordecai Greene, "Because she's solely vested with a pow'r That will avail in this distressing hour."
Her son, James, M.P. for Arundel, sent silver goblets to be given as prizes at the Turton Agricultural Show.
But John Healey, Samuel Hall and William Horrocks, used the Tower as tenant farmers. Pig-sties and a new coach-house were built for them. Meat and ale were given to the carters who brought the materials to build them.
With each generation the family's bonds with Turton Tower grew weaker. Then in 1833 several prominent citizens of Turton sent a letter to James Greene's son-in-law. Out of deference to Humphrey Chetham, the man whose charities had aided their education, they wanted to erect a monument to him on Chetham's Close hill-top. They were disappointed with the reply to their letter. They had at least expected a contribution to the funds. But the man they had written to was an ironmaster near Swansea. He had other interests to concern him than the moors of Lancashire.
Two years later he and his wife sold Turton Tower and 365 acres to James Kay.
The Kay Family 1835-1890
James Kay was a local man who had made good through harnessing steam power to the spinning of flax. It is said that since his youth he had cherished an ambition to be the Lord of the Manor of Turton and to live in Turton Tower. Now he had become a manufacturer, with spinning mills in Manchester and Preston and with money in his pocket, he was determined to restore the Tower to its former glory.
A new stone frontage was given to the cottage wing of the Tower. Beside the main porch the gable enclosing the staircase was widened considerably, and new rooms, the Ashworth and the Bradshaw Rooms were added.
With Middleton Hall in Manchester being demolished, some of its panelling was brought to furnish the walls of the Dining Room. Panes of Swiss stained glass were set into the upper part of the Dining Room windows. And in the Drawing Room the fine Elizabethan ceiling was restored. When the railway line between Bolton and Blackburn was cut at the back of the coach-house between 1845 and 1848, two bridges were built across it, with turrets and castellated walls to be in keeping with the Tower.
When James's grandson, another James, inherited the estate he adopted the way of life of a country squire.
The Kays used to play tennis, billiards, the piano: and the local hunt used to meet at the Tower. In the building itself the servants were housed in the east-wing, while the family occupied the original Tower.
Several items from their time can still be seen. A German chandelier of the early nineteenth century, made out of antlers; a German seventeenth century wood-carving depicting the Last Supper; and a hugh four-poster bed which stands in the Tapestry Room. Sleeping there, one night, in the later years of the century, was the head-nurse, a lady who had been engaged by the first James Kay at Cheltenham. That night the great bed shook and the people of the Tower feared the ghosts of the Tower were walking, until the following morning a neighbour calling asked if they had felt the earthquake.
In 1890 the Tower and its contents were sold again.


When you cook and bake with SPLENDA® Sweetener Products, you get all the sweetness of sugar, with less calories.
When you cook and bake with SPLENDA® Sweetener Products, you get all the sweetness of sugar, with less calories. There's sure to be something in our recipe collection that will satisfy your taste buds. If you can't find the recipe you're looking for here, use these simple tips and tricks to make adapting your own recipe a sweet success.
SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend is a mix of brown sugar and SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener (sucralose). It provides the same functional properties as regular brown sugar, like browning, volume, texture and moistness, but because you only need half as much, you get half the calories. Follow these simple tips and you won't be able to taste the difference!
When substituting SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend for brown sugar in your recipe, use half the amount of SPLENDA®Brown Sugar Blend as you would brown sugar to get the same sweetness. This means you only need a 1/2 cup (125 ml) of SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend for every full cup (250 ml) of brown sugar.
When combining SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend into melted chocolate or butter, use a few teaspoons of milk to help maintain a smooth texture.
Combine all of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut the fat into the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients. This will reduce the amount and appearance of air tunnels in your finished cake.
To achieve a better rise, use 20 cm (8 inches) round pans with 5 cmm sides (2 inches) instead of 23 cm (9 inches) round pans.
Yeast breads rise well with SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend. That's because there is enough sugar to feed the yeast, quicken fermentation and help with browning.
When melting or caramelizing SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, add a small amount of water to help it dissolve faster. Caramelization happens quicker with SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend than with pure sugar so be sure to watch your saucepan carefully so it doesn't overheat or burn.
Cookies may not spread out as much when using SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend. To achieve a better spread, try pressing the dough gently with your fingertips or a fork before baking.
Baked goods made with SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend will stay fresh for 24 hours when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If you wish to keep your baked goods longer, wrap well and freeze.
SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated can be used almost anywhere you use sugar in cooking and baking. It even measures cup for cup just like sugar. However, its baking properties are slightly different, so use these tips to get the best results.
In recipes where the amount of sugar is quite high (such as in frosting, fudge and pecan pie), sugar often contributes significantly to structure and texture. For best results, replace no more than 25% of the sugar that the recipe calls for. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup (250 ml) of sugar, use 1/4 cup (63 ml) of SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated and 3/4 cup (188 ml) of sugar.
When substituting SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated for sugar, you may notice a smaller yield. Also, certain cakes and quick breads will not rise quite as high, but they will still taste just as delicious! To achieve a better rise, use 20 cm (8 inches) round pans with 5 cmm sides (2 inches) instead of 23 cm (9 inches) round pans. Or, add 1/2 cup (125 ml) of non-fat dry milk powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of SPLENDA® Granulated you use.
When creaming butter or margarine with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, your mixture will appear less smooth than with sugar. When you add eggs, your mixture may separate, but no need to worry, this is normal and will not affect the outcome of your recipe.
Cookies often rely on brown sugar for their chewy, crunchy texture. To keep the texture, replace only the white granulated sugar in your cookie recipes. We also recommend pressing the dough gently with your fingertips or a fork before baking to help them spread.
Jams/Fruit spreads, puddings and custards made with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated may be slightly thinner or soft-set. See Storage (below) for more tips.
SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated will not activate yeast. Always use at least two teaspoons of regular sugar in recipes that call for yeast and replace the remaining sugar with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated.
The golden brown colour of baked goods comes from the caramelization of sugar. This means that baked goods made with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated do not brown like recipes made with sugar. To help achieve a more golden brown colour when baking with SPLENDA® Granulated, lightly spray the batter or dough with cooking spray before baking.
In recipes with a high sugar content or where browning is essential, such as in crème brûlée, we would not recommend a complete substitution of sugar with SPLENDA® Granulated.
Baked goods made with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated will cook faster than those made with sugar. For cookies, brownies, and quick breads, check your baking 3-5 minutes earlier than the bake time suggested in your recipe. For cakes, check 7-10 minutes before the suggested bake time is up.
Baked goods made with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated will stay fresh for 24 hours when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If you wish to keep your baked goods longer, wrap well and freeze.
Although SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated is heat stable and can be used as a sweetener in canning, it doesn't have the same preservative properties as sugar. Please consult a canning book for further instructions on sugarless canning.
How do I use SPLENDA® Sweetener Products?
SPLENDA® Sweetener Products can be used almost everywhere sugar is used. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Packets are great for your coffee and tea, and won't fizz or float on your drink like other sweeteners. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated measures and pours just like sugar and can be used for most of your cooking and baking needs. SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend can be used anywhere brown sugar is needed. Just remember, you only need half as much SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend as the amount of brown sugar your recipe calls for to get the same sweetness.
Remember, substituting SPLENDA® Sweetener Products for sugar may require some adjustments to your personal recipes. Refer to the information at the top of this page to find out how to make these simple adjustments.
How do I modify my recipe to use SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener?
SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, can be used almost anywhere sugar is used in cooking and baking. It measures and pours just like regular sugar. SPLENDA® Granulated works best in recipes where sugar is used primarily to sweeten, such as in beverages and in foods like cheesecakes, pies, puddings, custards, quick breads and muffins.
For more information about how to modify your favourite recipes for SPLENDA®, refer to the information at the top of this page.
Does SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend caramelize in foods?
Yes. The brown sugar in SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend caramelizes in baked goods. How much your recipe caramelizes also depends on any other sugars your recipe may require.
Can I make my own brown sugar substitute by mixing ordinary brown sugar with the SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated that I already use?
Yes, however achieving the perfect blend can be time-consuming and a bit of a challenge. Choosing SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend will save you time and effort while providing you with an ideal blend of brown sugar and SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener (sucralose) that's consistently sweet and delicious, every time. Try it today!
If a recipe also calls for other sweeteners (brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, maple syrup, etc.), can I substitute SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener for all of them?
Sweeteners do more than just provide a sweet taste; some give your favourite recipes colour, provide texture, enhance flavour, or help prevent moisture loss. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated works best in recipes where sugar mainly plays a sweetening role, like in fruit fillings, cheesecakes, custards, sauces, and marinades. In these types of recipes, you can feel comfortable substituting SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated for other sweeteners.
In some recipes, such as cakes, cookies, and muffins, you may need to make a few changes in the recipe to get the great results you want. Or you can use SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, which gives your baked goods the sweetness, volume and moistness you expect, with half the amount of sugar. That's because a 1/2 cup (125 ml) of SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend replaces 1 cup (250 ml) of regular brown sugar!
Can I substitute SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener for icing sugar?
SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated can be substituted for icing sugar. But for best results, we recommend trying our recipe for Powdered Sugar.
Can I use SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener to make candy, fudge and caramel?
The sugar content of fudge, caramel and other candy, angel food cakes, pound cakes and many meringues provides an important structural component which doesn't allow for easy substitution with SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener. Complete substitution in these types of recipes is not recommended.
Can I use SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener for canning and preserving?
With proper canning techniques, SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated can be used as a sweetener in canning and in making jam-type spreads and preserves because it's heat stable. When sweetening homemade jam-type spreads and preserves with SPLENDA® Granulated, you must use a pectin specifically manufactured for sugarless, no sugar or low sugar preserving. Proper canning techniques are essential to avoid spoilage because SPLENDA® Granulated does not provide the preserving properties of sugar. Once opened, these homemade goodies must be stored in the refrigerator and used within one month, to minimize any spoilage from natural airborne bacteria. For questions and tips, consult a reliable sugarless canning source.
Try some of our delicious jams/fruit spread recipes!
Can I use SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener in frozen desserts?
Yes. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener works well in frozen desserts, particularly fruit sorbets, because it freezes the same way sugar does in ice cream. However, the texture may not be as creamy as you're used to.
Can SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener be used in microwave cooking?
Yes. SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener retains its sweet taste in the wide variety of temperatures and cooking times used in microwave cooking.
Can SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener be used in high-altitude baking?
Yes, SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener can be used in high-altitude baking. Keep in mind that higher altitudes (3,000 ft and above) usually require minor changes when baking, for example, it's generally recommended to use less sugar and leavening and more liquid.


I do not purport to know much about forests but I know there is a saying, that when the last tree dies, the last man dies. I also do not know too much about the scientific linkages between the existence of water bodies and forests, but I know that wherever there are forests, freshwater bodies abound. I was therefore not surprised to learn that the Atewa Forest in the Eastern Region is home to the headwaters of three important rivers in Ghana.
On 30th January 2019, I attended a public lecture and an exhibition organized by AROCHA Ghana, in which offerings from the Atewa Forest were exhibited.
A number of speakers comprising professors, members of the Diplomatic Corp, Traditional Authorities, NGOs and Concerned Citizens, deliberated on the theme for the exhibition, which was "Securing Atewa for Wellbeing and Prosperity Beyond Today". The briefings from all the speakers boiled down to a call on the government of Ghana to develop the Atewa Forest into a National Park, like the Kakum and the Mole National Parks instead of nursing plans to begin bauxite mining in that forest.
I learnt from the speakers that the Atewa Forest, also known as 'Kwaebibirem', is of global importance because it is home to some species, which can only be found in that forest and that, that forest is also recognized as a site for the conservation of birds and other important biodiversity.
As an individual who works in the water sector, I have a special interest in freshwater sources and so I was happy to learn from the speakers during the exhibition, that three important watersheds in Ghana, the Birim, Densu and Ayensu trace their sources in the Atewa enclave. It was also an eye opening moment for me when the President of AROCHA Ghana mentioned that over 50 million Ghanaians get their water needs from those watersheds.
As we celebrates World Water Day 2019, I would like to use the opportunity to remind government and all stakeholders about the importance of freshwater resources in the world and why more attention must be paid to protecting the fresh water resources in Ghana.
According to a 2017 report of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the earth has more water than land as the earth's surface is made of about 70% water. One could therefore assume that water shortage would not be much of a concern for humans. However, according to National Geographic, 99% percent of the earth's water is unusable by humans and many other living things.
While about 97% of the earth's water is saline, only 3% of it is fresh. Of that 3%, over 2% of it is locked up in glaciers and polar ice caps, leaving us with just about 1% of the earth's water, in the form of rivers and underground aquifers, to use for our consumption and societal development.
Water is finite. The Groundwater Association in 2012, said the world uses about 321 billion gallons of surface water per day and 77 billion gallons of groundwater per day. Other Scientists say that the amount of water circulating through the earth's hydrologic cycle is the same amount that has been there since the world began, not a drop more or less has been added ever since. What has changed however is the number of people living on earth, and thus, the amount of drinkable water required for human sustenance.
The United Nations also reports that in the last century alone, water consumption has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase. Again, a 2013 report by the Global Water Institute says that about 700 million people worldwide could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
The above statistics should serve as a clarion call to all nations of the world to protect the freshwater resources available to them. Ghana is blessed with a good number of freshwater resources but we should not become complacent. We could become a water stressed country if we do not protect our watersheds but continue to treat our fresh water sources the way we do currently.
It is in the quest to protect our fresh water sources that I call on the government of Ghana to save the watersheds in the Atewa Forest. I do not know how far advanced government's plan of bauxite mining in the Atewa Forest has gone. Whatever the case may be, government must do everything possible to save the fresh water sources in that forest.
I have read some literature that suggests that before bauxite mining is done, it is possible to remove and save the top soil and other important flora and fauna for restoration after the mining process. I found that insight fascinating.
Indeed, I believe it is possible to do some form of restoration after mining. The question in my mind that remains unanswered is this: is it also possible to restore water bodies in a bauxite mining concession after the mining activities have taken place? In addition, even if restoration of the water bodies are possible after mining, what happens while the process is in place? Where would the millions of people who depend on those rivers get their water needs before the restoration takes place?
Government should critically consider these concerns and do everything possible to preserve the watershed in the Atewa enclave.
I am not against mining and I am definitely not against economic development. I am however against every mining process that has the potential to negatively impact on our water bodies, whether that type of mining is being done underground, on bare land or in forests.
The writer is a communications specialist working in the water sector.


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NFL Europa Week 5: Goodwell Continues Solid Play
Green Bay Packers linebacker Tim Goodwell had his second straight productive game in NFL Europa this past weekend despite Berlin's 24-10 loss to Cologne.
Goodwell did not start but came off the bench to record five tackles (three solo) and one pass defensed.
Two of his solo tackles came against running back A.J. Harris for no gain on a second-and-4 play and against running back Derrick Ross for a loss of 1 yard on a second-and-2. His pass defensed came against tight end Tony Curtis in the end zone and helped force Cologne to settle for a field goal.
Last week, Goodwell played for the first time this season since recovering from a back injury and led Berlin with 10 tackles and a pivotal forced fumble.
Among other Packers in NFL Europa in Week 5, wide receiver Carlton Brewster had one catch for 20 yards for Berlin. Despite his least productive game to date, Brewster still leads the league in receptions (26) and receiving yards (372).
Offensive lineman Adam Stenavich started at left guard for Amsterdam for the fifth straight week and helped the Admirals rush for 114 yards on 27 carries (4.2 avg.) in a 24-17 loss to Hamburg.
Defensive back Alvin Nnabuife came off the bench for Cologne to record one solo tackle, while defensive back Antonio Malone came off the bench for Rhein and had one assisted tackle.
Malone's play was a significant one, helping to drag down a Frankfurt receiver after a 3-yard reception on third-and-5 with less than 3 minutes, 30 seconds to play. On the next snap, Frankfurt missed a field goal and Rhein held on for a 27-24 win.
Here is the Week 6 schedule, with NFL Network broadcast information:
Hamburg at Amsterdam, 8 a.m. CT (tape-delay)
Rhein at Cologne, 11 a.m. DT (live)
Berlin at Frankfurt, midnight CT (tape-delay)


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UPDATED: Oneida County celebrates grand opening of the Nexus Center
Alexis Manore
email / twitter
Oneida County is celebrating the $64 million Nexus Center's grand opening.
Thursday, Dec. 1, Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr.; Rob Esche, president of the Mohawk Valley Garden and the Utica Comets' AHL team; and Carl Annese, chair of the Upper Mohawk Valley Auditorium Authority, hosted an official ribbon cutting for the Nexus Center at 400 Oriskany St. West, in downtown Utica.
(Sentinel photo by Alexis Manore)
Finishing touches are applied inside the Nexus Center on Wednesday, Nov. 9 in Utica.
(Sentinel file photo by Alex Cooper)
Pictured is the Nexus Center on Nov. 5, 2022 in Utica.
Posted Thursday, December 1, 2022 4:41 pm
UTICA — Hundreds of people gathered in the Nexus Center to celebrate its grand opening Thursday night.
Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr.; Rob Esche, president of the Mohawk Valley Garden and the Utica Comets' AHL team; and Carl Annese, chair of the Upper Mohawk Valley Auditorium Authority, officially welcomed members of the public at the event, which took place at 400 Oriskany St. West, in downtown Utica.
"This facility really says a lot about this community, but it also really defines the community for years to come," Picente said. "Our vision, a goal that we had when we put this together, was that more people would come to Oneida County, to see Oneida County, not just to play in Oneida County. Of course, that's a big part of it, to play hockey, to play soccer, to play lacrosse, to have competitions, and cheerleading and robotics. ... Thousands of people every weekend coming into this community, from all across the Northeast, and this country, from across the world."
"The world is going to come to Oneida County because of what we've built here today," he added.
The center was first opened to the public on Friday, Nov. 11 for a hockey tournament, but the complex had not been completely finished. While the structure was completed and safe for occupancy, many of the smaller details like finishing touches on the concessions stations were yet to be finished.
The structure is 170,000 square feet and houses three playing surfaces that can be filled with ice or turf.
Nexus is set to host soccer, public skating, rugby, baseball, softball and other programs like the Northeast Tattoo Expo, which is scheduled to occur June 2–4, 2023. It will host 24 hockey and 24 lacrosse each year, and will draw teams from across the U.S. and Canada to Utica.
Future plans include expanding into a four-seasons complex, by potentially adding in outdoor sports fields.
Nexus is projected to bring 320,000 annual visitors to Utica, and $26 million annually for the local economy.
In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, "The completion of the world-class Nexus Center cements the State's ongoing vision for a reimagined Utica as a destination for sports fans and families alike.
Thanks to an assist from New York, this facility will surely put the Mohawk Valley's economy on a winning streak for years to come."
As a frequent PayPal user, I wasn't surprised to see a payment request on the app pop up. But when I read it, I knew something was wrong.
An investigation in Georgia on efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election …