Grady Patterson died he was 85
Grady Leslie Patterson, Jr.died he was 85. Patterson was the South Carolina State Treasurer and a United States Air Force General.[1] In Grady L. Patterson, Jr.’s thirty years as South Carolina State Treasurer, he has been responsible for many of the changes that modernized state government and protected South Carolina’s citizens. During his tenure, South Carolina transformed itself from an agricultural economy to one strong in manufacturing and technology, but certain financial truths never changed for Treasurer Patterson.
(January 13, 1924–December 7, 2009)
Born in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, Patterson graduated from University of South Carolina. He served in World War II and was State Treasurer of South Carolina for thirty-seven years.[2]
For years South Carolina was an innovator in the management of public funds under the guidance of Treasurer Patterson. He has always advocated common sense conservative management policies. State officials recognized Grady Patterson’s leadership, and he has often been the voice for responsible fiscal management in often-contentious policy debates.
Because of his common sense approach to state government, Patterson promoted several initiatives to keep state spending on a tight leash and to make the Treasurer’s Office more responsive to the needs of South Carolinians.
In 2006, he was defeated for reelection by Republican Thomas Ravenel.
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Mark Ritts died he was 63, American actor and puppeteer
Mark Ritts died he was 63. Ritts was an American actor, puppeteer, television producer and director, and author. Ritts also produced and directed many independent videos and television spots as President of Mark Ritts Productions, Inc., to clients around the world.
| (June 16, 1946 – December 7, 2009) |
Ritts was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1946. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature. Beingn the son of noted puppeteers Paul and Mary Ritts, he pursued a sideline in puppetry, starring in PBS’s The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson and NBC’s The Pink Panther Show, among many others.
Throughout the 1990s, Ritts was the voice and manipulator of “Kino”, the Emmy Award-winning puppet co-host of PBS‘s Storytime, as well as one of the show’s writers.
From 1992 to 1998
, he participated on CBS‘s Beakman’s World. In it, Ritts starred as Lester, a disgruntled actor in a rat suit who reluctantly helps Beakman with his experiments and trades barbs with Josie, Liza and Phoebe. The character was originally conceived as a puppet character, but at the last minute, the show’s producers decided he would be a costumed actor.The program has been televised in nearly 90 countries around the world, and is seen in syndication throughout the United States.
After moving to California from the East Coast in 1994, Mark wrote and produced a Barney the Dinosaur special for Fox, as well as a one-hour documentary on microbiology called Creators of the Future, which debuted in prime time on PBS in 1999.
Ritts is also the co-author (with Don Fleming, Ph.D) of a parenting book entitled Mom, I Hate You, released by Three Rivers/Random House in April 2003. In July 2005, he and co-producer/writer/director Ted Field released Cast Off for Catalina, a DVD about visiting and enjoying southern California’s Santa Catalina Island aboard your own boat. A second DVD, Cast Off for Mexico, was released in 2007. Ritts provided the voice for the character Gianciotto in the 2007 film Dante’s Inferno.
He made a major high-definition documentary for Merck & Co. and creative directed an elaborate conference for Carlson Hotels at Las Vegas‘s Bellagio Resort and Casino. He was also a director of the Court TV series North Mission Road.
Ritts died from kidney cancer on December 7, 2009 in La Cañada, California. He was 63 years old.[1]
He was married to actress and singer Teresa Parente and had a daughter and two sons with her.
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Did you know what teams have not won a super bowl?
Did you know what teams that have never won a Super Bowl?
- Buffalo Bills
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Cleveland Browns
- Houston Texans
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
- San Diego Chargers
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Detroit Lions
- Minnesota Vikings
- Atlanta Falcons
- Carolina Panthers
- New Orleans Saints
- Arizona Cardinals
- Seattle Seahawks
What NFL team has the most Super Bowl appearances without a win?
There has been two teams to have four (4) Super bowl Appearance with out a win.
The Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings.
Did you know that the Buffalo Bills was one of the greatest loosing teams in history to go to 4 Super bowls in 5 years. They were also the only Superbowl team to ever loose back to back Super bowls by field goals! Buffalo is also the only team to win four consecutive American Football Conference Championships, and lost all four Super Bowls. Since the NFL’s expansion to 32 teams in 2002 the Bills are the only AFC non-expansion team to not make the playoffs
Did you know that the Denver Broncos also lost four (4) Super bowls, but did win 2?
Did you know what team has won the most Super Bowls in NFL history?
That would be the Pittsburgh Steelers, they played in these Super bowls.
SB9 : 16-6 Pittsburgh over Minnesota
SB10: 21-17 Pittsburgh over Dallas (1976)
SB13: 35-31 Pittsburgh over Dallas
SB14: 31-19 Pittsburgh over LA Rams
SB40: 21-10 Pittsburgh over Seattle (2006)
SB43: 27-23 Pittsburgh over Arizona (2009 – most recent)
Did you know that one team has went undefeated in Super bowl appearances? They are currently 5-0.
That would be the San Francisco 49ers
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Connie Hines died she was 79
Connie Hines died she was 78. Hines was a retired American actress, best-remembered for playing Alan Young‘s wife, Carol Post, on the 1960s syndicated and then CBS sitcom Mister Ed.
(March 24, 1931 – December 18, 2009)
Hines was one of four children born in Dedham, Massachusetts to an actress mother and a Boston-based teacher/acting coach father. As a child, she appeared in many of her father’s stock-company plays. A member of the class of 1948 at Dedham High School, she was voted the most popular girl in her class. She also dated the captain of the football team and was class secretary. She tried out for a part in the senior class play, but did not get it.[1]
After her father’s death, she went on to marry an insurance agent and moved to Jacksonville, Florida. She worked as a model there and as a radio and stage actress, joining a stock company in Miami. By the time she was divorced, Hines traveled to New York City to study with the Helen Hayes Equity Group. When she came to Hollywood, California, she lived in an apartment, rented a car and got her start in acting on an episode of Whirlybirds. Her first film role was in 1960’s Thunder in Carolina.
Hines auditioned and won the role of appropriate wife, Carol Post, on Mister Ed, which was, arguably, her best-known character. Hines considered her role to be just getting a steady paycheck as the storylines focused more on the relationship of Wilbur and Mr. Ed (the talking horse) than her. Her biggest line in the show was “lunch is ready!” [2] She also said that playing the same role wasn’t the greatest part in the world. Around the same time, she took some acting, dancing and music classes. She continued playing that role until 1966. After the series ended she took guest parts on television shows (Bonanza, The Mod Squad) before retiring in 1971. Young and Hines performed together in 1996 in Irvine in the two-person play Love Letters, which deals with the correspondence of a man and woman over 50 years.
A divorcee, she remarried in 1970 to Lee Savin, an entertainment lawyer and producer. They retired to Dana Point in 1989 on the recommendation of Young, who had been living there. Hines hosted a local cable access show about animals, interviewing veterinarians and animal behaviorists and offering animals for adoption. They remained together until Lee Savin’s death in 1995.[3]
Hines died from heart problems at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She was 79 years old. (The LA Times obituary originally listed her age as 78, but corrected her birth date and updated her age as 79.)[4]
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Percy Sutton died he was 89
Percy Sutton died he was 89. Sutton was a civil-rights activist, entrepreneur and lawyer.[1]
| (November 24, 1920 — December 26, 2009) |
Sutton was born in San Antonio, Texas, the last of fifteen children born to Samuel and Lillian Sutton. Both of his parents were educators with his father being one of the first blacks in Bexar County, Texas. His father, born into slavery, also served as principal of three high schools. S. J. Sutton, an early civil rights activist who did not use his first name for fear it would be shortened to Sambo, farmed, sold real estate and owned a mattress factory, funeral home and skating rink — in addition to being a full-time principal. All Percy Sutton’s siblings graduated from college. His brothers included G. J. Sutton (the first black elected official in San Antonio[citation needed]) and Oliver Sutton (a judge on the New York Supreme Court).
Percy milked cows and rode around San Antonio with his father in the same Studebaker that was used for funerals, distributing milk to the poor. He liked to attach strings to cans to pretend to be a radio broadcaster.
Sutton joined the Boy Scouts of America and attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 1936 and was recognized with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult. Sutton stated that scouting was a key factor in shaping his life.[2]
At 12, he stowed away on a passenger train to Manhattan where he slept under a sign on 155th Street. Far from being angry, his family regarded it as an adventure.
His family was committed to civil rights, and he bristled at prejudice. At 13, while passing out N.A.A.C.P. leaflets in an all-white neighborhood, he was beaten by a policeman.
He took up stunt-flying on the barnstorming circuit, but gave it up after a friend crashed. Later, during World War II, he served with the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed all-black unit in the Army Air Forces, as an intelligence officer. He won combat stars in the Italian and Mediterranean theaters.
Sutton attended Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas; the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama; and the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. He went on to attend Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, New York.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Sutton became one of America’s best-known lawyers[citation needed]. He represented many controversial figures, such as Malcolm X. After the murder of Malcolm X, Sutton and his brother Oliver helped to cover the expenses of his widow, Betty Shabazz.[citation needed] Sutton’s civil-rights advocacy took him even further in the minds of many. Being jailed with Stokely Carmichael and other activists endeared him to the Harlem community and showed many that he was willing to be placed in harm’s way for his client’s sake.
Sutton was a longtime leader in Harlem politics, and was a leader of the Harlem Clubhouse. The Clubhouse has dominated Democratic politics in Harlem since the 1960s. His allies in running the Clubhouse were former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, and former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson.
He ran for borough president of the Manhattan borough of New York City in 1965, and won with 80% of the vote. He served in that post until 1977, when he ran for the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor against U.S. Representative Ed Koch, New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo, New York City Mayor Abraham Beame, former U.S. Representative Bella Abzug, and U.S. Representative Herman Badillo. Koch won the nomination and mayoralty.
In 1971, Sutton cofounded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation which purchased New York City’s WLIB-AM, which became the city’s first African-American-owned radio station.
He initiated, December 2009 the revitalizing of the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem. He also produced the successful It’s Showtime at the Apollo, a syndicated, music television show, first broadcast in September 12, 1987.
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Did you know Chris Elliot was the first SNL castmember to have a child as a cast member on SNL?
That is right Chris Elliot the former member of SNL cast member for the 2008-2009 season. Is one of the first SNL cast member to have a child who is also a cast member.
Her name is Abby Elliot.
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Vic Chesnutt died from an overdose he was 45
James Victor “Vic” Chesnutt died from an over dose he was 45. Chestnutt was a singer-songwriter living in Athens, Georgia. Injured in a car accident in 1983, the paraplegic artist’s first big breakthrough to commercial success came with the release of the tribute album Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation.[1]
(November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009)
Chesnutt released several albums during his career, including two produced by Michael Stipe, and a 1996 release on Capitol Records. His musical style is described as “skewed, refracted version of Americana that is haunting, funny, poignant, and occasionally mystical, usually all at once”.[2]
Around 1985, Chesnutt moved to Athens and joined the band, The La-Di-Da’s.[3] After leaving that group he began performing solo on a regular basis at the 40 Watt Club; it was there that he was spotted by Michael Stipe of R.E.M.; Stipe produced Chesnutt’s first two albums, Little (1990) and West of Rome (1991).[3]
In 1992, Chesnutt was the subject of a PBS documentary, Speed Racer. He also had a small role in the 1996 Billy Bob Thornton movie Sling Blade which he later described self-mockingly as a poor performance.[4]
In 1996, Chesnutt was exposed to a wider audience with the release of the tribute album Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, the proceeds from which went to the Sweet Relief Fund. The album consisted of Chesnutt covers by famous musicians including Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins (with Red Red Meat), Madonna, R.E.M. and Live.
He recorded with other groups and artists. Most notably he made two albums with a fellow Athens, Georgia group Widespread Panic, under the name of brute. Chesnutt’s album The Salesman and Bernadette (1998) was recorded with alt-country group Lambchop as the backing band. The album Merriment was a collaborative effort between Chesnutt and Kelly and Nikki Keneipp, with Vic writing and singing the songs, and the Keneipps playing the music. The 2005 album Ghetto Bells featured famed guitarist Bill Frisell, whom Chesnutt met in 2004 at the renowned Century of Song concert series at the German festival RuhrTriennale. Ghetto Bells also featured the legendary eccentric lyricist and composer Van Dyke Parks on accordion and keyboards. Chesnutt’s wife, Tina Chesnutt, would frequently play bass on his albums. His niece, and fellow songwriter, Liz Durrett also appeared on the Ghetto Bells album.
Chesnutt’s first four albums were released on the independent Texas Hotel label. He then recorded About to Choke (1996) for Capitol Records, which was his first and only major record label recording. The Salesman and Bernadette (1998) was on PolyGram; Merriment (2000) was on the Backburner Records label; spinART was the label for the self performed and recorded Left to His Own Devices (2001). Vic then found a new home at the New West Records label, who released two albums for him. In 2004 New West also re-released the early Texas Hotel recordings, including expanded liner notes and extra tracks.
In the winter of 2006, he recorded North Star Deserter at the Hotel2Tango in Montreal. It was released on September 11, 2007 by Constellation Records. The record included contributions from Constellation artists Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as well as Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto. The album was produced by documentary filmmaker Jem Cohen. [5] He also appeared as a guest musician on Cowboy Junkies‘ 2007 album Trinity Revisited, a 20th anniversary edition of their classic album The Trinity Session.
Chesnutt was also a supporter of medical marijuana[6], which he claimed helped with his medical problems. He contributed the track Weed to the Rescue to the 1998 Hempilation II charity album, with proceeds going to NORML, an American organization dedicated to marijuana legalization.
Elf Power (also from Athens, Georgia) collaborated with Chesnutt on the album Dark Developments, released under the name Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and the Amorphous Strums. The “amorphous strums” refers to Curtiss Pernice and Sam Mixon, who also played on the album.
An adoptee, Chesnutt was raised in Zebulon, Georgia, where he first started writing songs at the age of 5. At 18, a car accident left him partially paralyzed, though it wasn’t long afterward that he realized he could still play guitar.[3] After his recovery he left Zebulon and moved to Nashville, Tennessee; the poetry he read there (by Stevie Smith, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, W. H. Auden, Stephen Crane, and Emily Dickinson) served to inspire and influence him.[3] Chesnutt stated his atheism since age 13.[7]
On December 25, 2009, Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma in an Athens hospital.[1]
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Eddie James died he was 46
Eddie James died in a motorcycle accident, James for more than 20 years, was the motorcycle enthusiast. He reveled in the freedom of long-distance riding, particularly to open areas in the West and South.
“I think it was a great escape for him,” said his brother Jonathan Johnson. “He loved long horizons, the mountains.”
With the wind blowing through his thick, snow-white hair, Mr. James rode his motorcycle to all 50 states, logging more than a half-million miles in his lifetime, his brother said. His favorite spots included Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Florida and Mississippi.
But Mr. James didn’t just seek out vast stretches of highway and open terrain. He also explored oddball stops that were off the beaten path. For instance, he knew where to find the world’s largest ball of twine in Darwin, Minn., and had visited the world’s largest hand-dug well in Greensburg, Kan. He also had collected more than 650 stamps from hundreds of national parks.
And in 2006, Mr. James coordinated ride events for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation’s “Ride for Kids,” raising money to find the cause of and cure for childhood brain tumors.
“Basically, anything that involved motorcycling and traveling, he was on board for,” said his fiancée, Lisa Erbes of Atlanta.
He was killed doing what he loved the most, dying Dec. 6 in a motorcycle crash on Interstate 75 close to the Northside Drive exit.
A memorial service for Edmund “Eddie” Clarence James III, 46, of Atlanta will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at H.M. Patterson and Son, Arlington Chapel, in Sandy Springs. The funeral home is in charge of arrangements.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, he grew up in the tiny town of Silver Lake, Minn. In his early teens, he moved to Winsted, Minn., to live with his older sister. He found a job 15 miles down the road, cleaning barns, bailing hay and milking cows as a herdsman assistant. To travel back and forth, the then-15-year-old bought his first motorcycle.
“It was a green [Hodaka] Road Toad. Basically, it was a glorified dirt bike,” said sister Aura Lee Carpenter. “It was noisy as all get out. It leaked oil, and it was so ugly. But he fell in love with it.”
In the early ’80s, he worked at several Minneapolis/St. Paul motorcycle dealerships, and in 1984, he was a founder of TeamStrange Airheads, which has evolved into one of the leading long-distance riding organizations nationwide.
In 1989, he started racing at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn. He enjoyed racing, and even involved family members. In fact, he made them his pit crew, Mrs. Carpenter said.
He even drove his 7-year-old niece to her first communion on his motorcycle, dropping her off at the church’s front steps. “We never had a moment in my family … that Eddie and his bike weren’t involved,” she said.
Mr. James moved to Atlanta a year ago and owned multiple bikes at the time of his death. He was a big bear of a man who lived life to the fullest and loved children, family members said.
“He’s Santa Claus on a motorcycle,” Mrs. Carpenter said. “He loved his bike. His whole life revolved around that.”
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John Pittenger died he was 79,
“‘Pitt,’ as he was affectionately known, was a true patriot, serving his nation, his state and his community as a military veteran, as an educator, a farmer, a lawyer, a state legislator and a state Cabinet secretary,” Bruce Beardsley, chairman of the Lancaster County Democratic Committee, said.
“To me, and to my political colleagues, he was a friend and trusted mentor,” Beardsley said. “He played an invaluable behind-the-scenes role in the renaissance of the local Democratic Party, advising me, my predecessor and many others. He helped the party raise money, and he enjoyed and had a remarkable knack for motivating and recruiting people to volunteer for the party. It was almost impossible to say ‘no’ to Pitt.”
Beardsley said Pittenger was the “epitome of a great American. Throughout a lifetime of service, he never abandoned the effort to make the world a little better place, although he did come to discover that it’s a lot harder than he thought it would be. He will be sorely missed.”
Mike Sturla, the current state Congressman for the 96th District, said, “I, along with countless others, consider him a mentor. Very few people talked to him and didn’t learn learn something. I respected what he accomplished and what he tried to get others to accomplish.”
Jim Shultz actively campaigned for Pittenger’s election in the 1960s.
“He was a mentor to me and others. We sought out his counsel and great advice. He was selfless, taking an interest in our lives, in our careers and families,” said Shultz, a friend of Pittenger for more than 50 years. “I admired his passion for the Democratic Party. He was the personification of Mr. Democrat.”
Just three months ago, Pittenger was on the phone to committee people and working to get people registered to vote, Shultz said.
“He was passionate about public service,” Shultz said. “I will greatly miss him.”
G. Terry Madonna, director of Franklin & Marshall College’s government department and a political analyst, said Pittenger was an early mentor of his, too.
“I deeply respected his views on politics and government. He was the first person to introduce me to politics when I was in college and to participating in government,” Madonna said. “He deliberately sought out some of the young people at the college to get involved in politics.”
Madonna said Pittenger encouraged young people to get into politics as an “honorable profession.”
“He stressed that good people need to get into government service,” Madonna said. “He was a man of incredible integrity with very, very strong convictions and willing to express them. He was an incredible role model.”
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said Pittenger was “certainly a man of principles and an anchor in the Lancaster Democratic Party for many years.”
“Even when he was not living here, he participated from a distance,” Gray said. “His intellectual abilities were great, and he was a warm, caring person. His character traits were reflected in his politics. He was motivated to get the best for a person, whether aged, infirm or young. He was a tremendous guy.”
After practicing law in Lancaster from 1958 to 1965, Pittenger became involved in Democratic politics. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 96th District from 1965 to 1966. During this term, Pittenger helped draft the bill that set up the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency scholarship program and was a principal sponsor of the Mental Health/Mental Retardation Act of 1966.
He was defeated in the next election, but was re-elected the following term, serving from 1969 to 1970. As a member of the Democratic Policy Committee and chairman of the Joint Legislative Data Processing Committee, Pittenger helped develop assessment procedure reform and computerize all state registration and election figures.
Also during his two terms, Pittenger authored a controversial proposal for charging graduated — or income-based — tuition at state colleges and universities and vigorously supported a bill to strengthen the powers of the state Board of Education. He was the first member of the General Assembly to bring high school seniors to Harrisburg on a regular basis to serve as pages in the House of Representatives.
He also served as director of research for the minority Caucus of the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1968.
In 1971, while a member of the Commission on School Finance, Pittenger was appointed legislative secretary to Gov. Milton J. Shapp and served as a liaison between the governor’s office and the Department of Education.
As legislative secretary, he helped steer the state’s first personal income tax bill through the General Assembly, played an instrumental role in securing reforms to Workmen’s Compensation and Unemployment Compensation Acts and guided to passage the bill that created the Department of Environmental Resources.
A year later, Shapp named Pittenger the state secretary of education.
As secretary, he established due process rights for handicapped children and created the Governor’s School for the Arts and the state government internship program for state college students.
He also led the fight to mandate equal athletic programs for female students in public schools and supervised the first complete rewrite of the school code in 30 years. In addition, he played a key role in adopting the system of statewide achievement and attitudinal testing in grades five, eight and 11.
He served for three years as chairman of the legislative committee of the National Council of Chief State School Officers.
Pittenger resigned as secretary in late 1976 to accept a position as visiting lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
In 1978, state House Speaker K. Leroy Irvis asked Pittenger to chair a commission on the reform of the Pennsylvania House. His commission’s report led to the establishment of the Bi-Partisan Management Committee and other major reforms.
In 1979, Pittenger threw his hat into the ring in the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Richard Schweiker, but withdrew a year later when Mayor Pete Flaherty of Pittsburgh entered the race.
Pittenger was named dean of Rutgers University Law School in 1981. There, he instituted an exchange program with the law faculty of Karl Francis University in Graz, Austria; presided over the development of specialties in taxation and international law; and helped persuade Rutgers to build a law school dormitory in Camden.
Although he stepped down as dean in 1986 to move back to Pittwillow Farm –the family farm in southern Chester County –he continued to teach at the law school until his retirement in 1994.
Throughout the years, Pittenger taught several courses as an adjunct professor in the government department at F&M and served as the college’s pre-law advisor.
He also was the co-author, with Henry W. Bragdon, of “The Pursuit of Justice,” an introduction to constitutional law for high school students, and of “Politics Ain’t Beanbag,” a political memoir.
Once Pittenger moved to Homestead Village in 1997, he became active in Democratic politics once more. He said he wouldn’t be happy until the day there was a Democratic mayor in Lancaster, a Democratic governor in Harrisburg and a Democrat in the White House — all at the same time.
Pittenger attended public school in Swarthmore and Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in American history in 1951 and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1958.
Between college and law school, Pittenger was a Frank Knox Fellow at the London School of Economics. He received the honorary degree, doctorate of humane letters, from Franklin & Marshall College in 1981.
A first lieutenant, he served in the infantry and government intelligence in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1955.
He was a member of the Society of Friends.
Active in community affairs, Pittenger served as president of Lancaster Opera Workshop and Harvard Club of Central Pennsylvania and vice president of the board of Family and Children’s Services and Lancaster Foundation for Educational Enrichment. He was a trustee of Lincoln University.
An avid squash and badminton player, he served intermittently for 15 years as the first coach of F&M’s men’s squash team.
He received the Lancaster Jaycee Good Government Award in 1967, the B’Nai B’rith Man of the Year Award in 1968 and the Penn State Special Award for Leadership in 1976. The Lancaster County Democratic Committee honored him in 2003 with its first Lifetime Achievement Award.
Born in Philadelphia, he was the son of the late Nicholas Otto and Cornelia VanDerveer Chapman Pittenger.
He was married to Pauline Miller Pittenger.
Surviving in addition to his wife are two stepsons, Josiah Leet of Lancaster and Matthew Leet of Oakland, Calif.; and a sister, Jane Kellenberger of Boulder, Colo.
To see what stars died in 2009 click here
Did you know what teams never played in a superbowl?
Did you know that their are several teams that have never played in a Super Bowl?
- Cleveland Browns
- Houston Texans
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Detroit Lions
- New Orleans Saints
Okay let keep it real, I think that their are at least 2 teams on this list that never will!
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i can make your bed rock lil wayne video
Lil Wayne can make a hit out of anything, wow!
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Invictus, will win an oscar or two
The true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
This movie Invictus was everything I expected and a little more. From the minute I started watching the movie I forgot that I was watching Morgan Freeman and kept thinking Nelson Mandela. The deep and conceptual thinking of Mandela made me respect him even more as the story unfolded. The precision placement of the music made you want to cry one minute and stand up and cheer the next moment. Clint Eastwood has done it again with his vision to see a story and make you feel it, from beginning to end. Matt Damon was equally impresses as the Francois Pienaar.
I maybe going out on a limb, but after what I saw my words should be etched in stone that this movie will win at least 2 Oscars. One should be for best Actor and Best Director, of course I would not be surprised to see it win more! Make some time and see this one you will be glad that you did. 4 stars ****
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George Michael died he was 70
George Michael[1] died he was 70, Michael was a sportscaster best known nationally for his long-running American sports highlights show called The George Michael Sports Machine. Started as a local show in 1980 called George Michael’s Sports Final[2] and then nationally syndicated in 1984, the nationally broadcast show was distributed for syndication by NBC until it left the air following the March 25, 2007 airing. Michael won a Sports Emmy in 1985 for his work on The George Michael Sports Machine.
(March 24, 1939 – December 24, 2009)
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Michael anchored the sports desk at WRC-TV (News 4) in Washington DC from 1980 to 2007. Previously he was a WABC-AM disk jockey known as “King” George Michael, and was noted for his energetic style. Several incidents from his radio stint at WABC in New York City have been chronicled in deejay “Cousin Brucie” Morrow’s autobiography.[3] George Michael replaced Morrow at WABC in 1974. Before that he was the popular evening deejay at Philadelphia‘s WFIL Radio (560 kHz) from 1966 until his move to WABC. While in New York, he also served for several seasons as a commentator on New York Islanders telecasts, where he was paired mainly with Tim Ryan.
As a sports broadcaster at WRC, Michael was easily one of the most popular media personalities in the Washington area. Michael got significant latitude in his programming, employing a bevy of segments some might consider old-fashioned, including his “Tuesday Replays” and “Wednesday Wrestling.” He also had devoted extensive coverage to and was considered a significant influence in the popularity of NASCAR, broadcasting interviews with famous drivers such as Dale Earnhardt well before that sport became what it is today. An avid equestrian himself, Michael also broadcast segments on bull riding and rodeo.
Michael’s affable personality had endeared him to the curmudgeonliest of local and national sports personalities and landed rare interviews. For example, Michael’s team at WRC had been the only local sportscasters allowed to broadcast from inside the Washington Redskins‘ FedEx Field during the season.
In November 2005, Michael was seriously injured in a horseback riding accident. He broke several ribs and injured his wrists during the equine mishap at his Comus farm in upper Montgomery County, Maryland. Michael resumed his duties in December 2005.
Michael left his role as WRC’s daily sports anchor on March 1, 2007 following a dispute with WRC-TV (News 4) over layoffs of his staff. The George Michael Sports Machine went off the air on March 25, 2007.[4][5] He continued to host weekend sports panel shows, such as Full Court Press (basketball season) and Redskins Report (football season) as well as interviews at Redskins Park on Mondays with Jim Zorn and Joe Bugel through December 2008. He was completely dropped from WRC due to budget cuts despite the fact Redskins Report was consistently one of WRC’s top shows. He indicated at the time of his layoff, he would like to work on a panel show again but not on a nightly newscast.[6]
Michael died on Dec. 24, 2009, at 70 years old after a two-year battle with cancer.[7][8]
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Lock his ass up!
A So. Fla. Man Asked Cabbie For A Ride To Memphis, Then Refused To Pay
A South Florida cabbie was tricked into making a 20 hour trip from Miami to Western Tennessee over the weekend. And he ended up getting stiffed, not getting a penny for his efforts.
CBS4’S Stephen Stock spoke with the cab driver victim by telephone and his colleagues on the streets about getting shorted on a very long trip.
From 7 at night to 4:30 in the morning, 6 days a week for 29 years Jean Desir has driven a taxi on the streets of Miami.
Despite two robberies, one at gunpoint, and countless riders who’ve stiffed him on fares, this past year has been toughest of all economically.
“This year has been really really hard,” the 54 year-old said, “really hard.”
That’s what makes the story of Desir’s fellow taxi-driver so tough to swallow this holiday season.
Police say Miami resident Luciolo Perez convinced a cabbie from Flamingo Taxis to drive him to Memphis, Tennessee. That’s a 20 hour cab ride to the middle of the country.
Then police say Perez stiffed the driver of $3,000 in cab fare, plus expenses such as gas and meals, which the cabbie paid with his own credit card.
CBS4 News spoke by phone with the cab driver, who drove this taxi half way across the country and back.
His name is Lelis Almeira.
Almeira refused CBS4’s request for an on-camera interview, saying he was tired frustrated and angry and, “I just want to put this incident behind me.”
“(The money came) out of his own pocket,” said Almeira’s colleague at Flamingo Taxi, Joel Lubin.
That’s why Flamingo Taxi dispatcher Lubin is angry too. He said that a scam such as this hurts drivers especially hard, given the tough economic times they’ve suffered through this year.
“He didn’t have to do it,” Lubin said. “He spent all his money for the expenses. He put everything for meals on his credit card expecting to get paid.”
CBS4 reporter Stephen Stock asked: “And this happens?”
“This happens,” Lubin said. “He’s kind of lost faith in humanity. And I don’t blame him.”
“We ain’t going to promise something we don’t have,” said the woman in Memphis whom Perez had traveled to visit, Nellie Rose.
Rose insists she didn’t have the money and made that clear to Perez.
“I don’t know why the cab driver and him came on (to Memphis).That’s between them,” Rose said.
Memphis police arrested Perez and charged him with theft over $1,000.
Now, in addition to trying to find $3,000 in cab fare, Perez must find enough money to bond out of jail.
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Did you know who won rookie of the year and MVP?
| Did you know these are the only guys in history to ever accomplish this feat? |
To win Rookie of the Year and MVP!!!
Wes Unseld in 1969
and
Wilt Chamberlain in 1960.
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Kim Peek Died he was 58
Kim Peek has died he was 58, Peek was an American prodigious savant known as a megasavant.[1][2][3] He had a photographic or eidetic memory, but also social developmental disabilities, possibly resulting from congenital brain abnormalities. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman, in the movie Rain Man. He was not autistic and likely had FG syndrome.
| (11 November 1951 – 19 December 2009) |
Kim Peek was born with macrocephaly, damage to the cerebellum, and, perhaps most important, agenesis of the corpus callosum, a condition in which the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing; in Peek’s case, secondary connectors such as the anterior commissure were also missing. There is speculation that his neurons made other connections in the absence of a corpus callosum, which results in an increased memory capacity.[4] According to Peek’s father, Fran, Peek was able to memorize things from the age of 16-20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he maintained. He read a book in about an hour, and remembered almost everything he had read, memorizing vast amounts of information in subjects ranging from history and literature, geography, and numbers to sports, music, and dates. His reading technique consisted of reading the left page with his left eye and the right page with his right eye and in this way he could read two pages at time with a rate of about 8-10 seconds per page. It is believed he could recall the content of at least 12,000 books from memory. [5] Peek resided in Salt Lake City, Utah and was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[6] Peek died of a heart attack on December 19, 2009.[7]
Peek did not walk until the age of four and walked in a sidelong manner.[4] He could not button up his shirt and had difficulty with other ordinary motor skills, presumably due to his damaged cerebellum, which normally coordinates motor activities. In psychological testing, Peek scored below average (73) on general IQ tests.
Unlike many savants, Peek had shown increasing social skills, perhaps due to the attention that had come with being perceived as the “real Rain Man”. His father says that his sense of humor had been emerging since 2004 or so. Also, he had developed well beyond the stage of being a mere repository of vast amounts of information; his skills at associating information he remembers were at least one of the signs of creativity. He displayed difficulty with abstractions such as interpreting the meanings of proverbs or metaphorical terms of speech.
Although never a musical prodigy, Peek’s musical abilities as an adult were receiving more notice when he started to study the piano. He apparently remembered music he heard decades ago and could play it on the piano, to the extent permitted by his limited physical dexterity. He was able to give running spoken commentary on the music as he played, for example, comparing a piece of music to other music he had heard. In listening to recordings he could distinguish which instruments play which part and was adept at guessing the composers of new music by comparing the music to the many thousands of music samples in his memory.
In 1984, script writer Barry Morrow met Peek in Arlington, Texas; the result of the meeting was the 1988 movie Rain Man. The character of Raymond Babbitt, although inspired by Peek, was portrayed as having autism. Dustin Hoffman, who played Babbitt, met Peek and other savants to get an understanding of their nature and to play the role with accuracy (see Method acting). The movie caused a number of requests for appearances, which increased Peek’s self-confidence. Barry Morrow gave Kim his Oscar statuette to carry with him and show at these appearances. It has been referred to as the “Most Loved Oscar Statue” since it’s been held by more people than any other Oscar statue. Kim also enjoyed approaching strangers and showing them his talent for calendar calculations by telling them on which day of the week they were born and what news items were on the front page of major newspapers. Peek had also appeared on television. He traveled with his father, who took care of him and performed many motor tasks that Peek found difficult.[4]
Peek died on 19 December 2009, of a heart attack. He was survived by his father.
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Arnold Stang died he was 91
Arnold Stang[1] died he was 91. Stang was an American comic actor who played a small and bespectacled, yet brash and knowing big-city type.
Stang once described himself thus: “I look like a frightened chipmunk who’s been out in the rain too long.”[2] As for his squawky, Brooklyn voice, he said “I’m kind of attached to it…[it’s]a personal logo. It’s like you’re Jell-O or Xerox.[3]
(September 28, 1918 – December 20, 2009)
Stang once claimed he got his break in radio by sending a postcard to a New York station requesting an audition, was accepted, and then bought his own ticket to New York from Chelsea, Massachusetts with the money set aside for his mother’s anniversary gift.[4]. True or not, Stang worked on New York-based network radio shows as a boy, appearing on children’s programs such as The Horn and Hardart Hour and Let’s Pretend.[5]. By 1941, he had graduated to teenaged roles, appearing on The Goldbergs. Director Don Bernard hired him in October that year to do the commercials on the CBS program Meet Mr. Meek but decided his voice cracking between soprano and bass would hurt the commercial so he ordered scriptwriters to come up with a role for him.[6]. He next appeared on the summer replacement show The Remarkable Miss Tuttle with Edna May Oliver in 1942[7] and replaced Eddie Firestone Jr. in the title role of That Brewster Boy when Firestone joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943[8].
Cantankerous comedian Henry Morgan made him a sidekick on his program in fall of 1946, and Stang appeared in similar roles the following year on radio shows with Eddie Cantor[9] and Milton Berle[10].
At this time, Stang had appeared in a number of movies, including Seven Days Leave, My Sister Eileen and They Got Me Covered. He had also appeared on the Broadway stage in Sailor Beware, All In Favor and Same Time Next Week where he first worked with Berle.[11]
Stang moved to television at the start of the Golden Age. He had a recurring role in the TV show The School House on the DuMont Television Network in 1949. He was a regular on Eddie Mayehoff‘s short-lived situation comedy Doc Corkle in fall of 1952[12]. Then, he made a guest appearance on on Berle’s Texaco Star Theater on May 12, 1953[13] and joined him as a regular the following September, often berating or heckling the big-egoed star for big laughs. Stang also had guest roles on several variety shows of the day including The Colgate Comedy Hour.
In films, he played Sparrow in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak. In It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) he played Ray, who along with his partner Irwin (played by Marvin Kaplan), owns a gas station that is destroyed by Jonathan Winters. He appeared in Hello Down There (1969). In one of the oddest movie pairings, he partnered with Arnold Schwarzenegger (billed as “Arnold Strong”) in the latter’s first film, the camp classic Hercules in New York (1970).
As a voice actor for animated cartoons, Stang provided the voice for Popeye‘s pal Shorty (a caricature of Stang), Herman the mouse in a number of Famous Studios cartoons, Tubby Tompkins in a few Little Lulu shorts, the famous Hanna-Barbera lead character Top Cat (modeled explicitly on Phil Silvers‘s Sgt. Bilko), and Catfish on Misterjaw. He also provided many extra voices for the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog. On television, he appeared in commercials for the Chunky candy bar, where he would list all of its ingredients, smile and say, “Chunky, what a chunk of chocolate!” He provided the voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee in the 1980s and was also a spokesman for Vicks Vapo-Rub.
Stang appeared on an episode of The Cosby Show with guest star Sammy Davis Jr. In one TV ad he played Luther Burbank, proudly showing off his newly-invented “square tomato” to fit neatly in typical square slices of commercial bread, then being informed that the advertising bakery had beat him to it by producing round loaves of bread. He played the photographer in the 1993 film Dennis the Menace with Walter Matthau. [14]
Arnold and his wife, the former JoAnne Taggart, lived until his later years in New Rochelle, New York, moving toward the end of his life to Needham, Massachusetts. He died of pneumonia in Newton, Massachusetts, on December 20, 2009.[1] The Stangs had two children, David and Deborah.[1] Stang was born in New York City in 1918, but often claimed Chelsea, Massachusetts as his birthplace and 1925 as his birthdate.[1]
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Ann Louise Nixon Cooper died she was 107,
Ann Louise Nixon Cooper died she was 107, Cooper was an American activist for African-American people’s rights.
(January 9, 1902 – December 21, 2009)
Cooper was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, on January 9, 1902. She was raised in Nashville.[1] She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in her early twenties with her husband, Albert Berry Cooper, a dentist,[1] and they had four children together.[2] During that time, she served more than fifty years in public work on the board of Gate City Nursery Association and also helped found the Girls Club for African American Youth.[3] When her husband died, Martin Luther King, Jr. sent Cooper a telegram; she also met with Coretta Scott King and saved photographs of the occasion.[4] Cooper first registered to vote on September 1, 1941. Though she was friends with elite black Atlantans like W. E. B. Du Bois, John Hope Franklin and Benjamin Mays, she didn’t exercise her right to vote for years, because of her status as a black woman in a segregated and sexist society.[5]
During the 1970s, she served as a tutor to non-readers at Ebenezer Baptist Church. She also served on the Friends of the Library Board, serving at one time as vice president of the board. In 1980 she received a Community Service Award from Channel 11 for being one of the organizers of the black Cub Scouts and serving as the first den mother for four years.
She was bestowed with a community service award for her activism from Atlanta’s WXIA-TV in 1980, and the Annie L. McPheeters Medallion for community service from the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History in 2002.[2]
Still living in Atlanta, Cooper voted early for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.[6] After Obama won the election, she came to international attention when Obama mentioned her and compared various stages of her life to the present day during his acceptance speech at a rally in Chicago on November 4, 2008.
“She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin,”
President Obama also made reference to Cooper in his popular campaign chant, Yes We Can:
“And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: ‘Yes we can’.”
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Eki Fatu died he was 36
Eki “Eddie”[6] Fatu[2][5] died he was 36 . Fatu was a Samoan-American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Umaga. He was best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, where he was a two-time Intercontinental Champion.
(March 28, 1973 – December 4, 2009)
He was a member of the Anoa’i wrestling family and frequently worked as a part of a tag team – variously named The Island Boyz, the Samoan Gangstas, and 3-Minute Warning – with his cousin Matt Anoa’i. During Fatu’s first stint with WWE, he was known as Jamal and Matt was billed as Rosey. In late 2005, Fatu returned to WWE. Repackaged under the ring name “Umaga”, Fatu went undefeated for many months on WWE’s Raw brand throughout much of 2006, before suffering his first defeat under the Umaga name in January of 2007. Known by his many nicknames, including “The Samoan Bulldozer” and “The Samoan Savage”, Fatu died on December 4, 2009, as a result of a heart attack.
Articles posted by Sports Illustrated, the New York Daily News, and The Washington Post during the weekend of August 30, 2007, named Fatu as one of a number of superstars to have purchased pharmaceuticals from an online pharmacy, a violation of the WWE “Talent Wellness” program. Fatu specifically was said to have received somatropin, a growth hormone, between July and December 2006, after the “No drugs from online sources” rule was instituted. Fatu violated this rule again in 2009. Due to his unwillingness to seek rehabilitation, Fatu was released from his WWE contract.[51][52]
Fatu was born in San Francisco,California, a member of the famous Anoa’i wrestling family. His mother, Vera, was the sister of Afa and Sika of the Wild Samoans, and his later Umaga gimmick would be compared to their “wildness”.[7] His two older brothers, Sam (better known as Tonga Kid and Tama) and Solofa Jr. (better known as Rikishi), are also professional wrestlers who have achieved success of their own.[5] Dwayne Johnson, known in wrestling as The Rock, is his cousin.
On April 27, 2008, Fatu’s mother Vera died after a seven-year battle with cancer.[53]
A few days prior to December 4, 2009, returning home to Spring, Texas, Fatu had just completed a wrestling tour with Hulk Hogan in Australia.
On December 4, 2009, Fatu was hospitalized after his wife found him not breathing with blood coming out of his nose a few hours after he had fallen asleep the night before while watching television. He was rushed to a local hospital in Houston, Texas and was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit.[54] It was reported that Fatu had suffered a heart attack.
Fatu was pronounced dead around 6:00 PM EST after suffering a second heart attack.[5][55][56]
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Charles Proctor Sifton died he was 74,
Charles Proctor Sifton died he was 74. Sifton was a United States federal judge.
(March 18, 1935 – November 9, 2009)
Born in New York, New York, Sifton received a B.A. from Harvard College in 1957 and an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1961. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Göttingen in Göttingen, Germany from 1957 to 1958.
He was in private practice in New York City from 1961 to 1962, and was staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1962 to 1964. He returned to private practice until 1966, then served as an assistant U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York until 1969, when he again returned to private practice until 1977.
On August 16, 1977, Sifton was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York vacated by John F. Dooling, Jr.. Sifton was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 12, 1977, and received his commission the same day. He served as chief judge from 1995 to 2000, assuming senior status on March 18, 2000.
He was the Father of New York TImes writer Sam Sifton.
Judge Sifton died from sarcoidosis on the morning of November 9, 2009.
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Child Support Laws are changing
The ideal of this blog when I first started was to tell all the horrors of child support, but after the first story I began to think that one could become redundant! So my ideal was to take it to the next level of reporting and show some news with a twist. So one thing that I continue to try and stress is that the law is not fair or impartial when it comes to men and how the Courts deal with the.
Thank goodness for the Child Support laws changing for the better and protecting the men a little more. Although I don’t understand what these judges are thinking when they impose these gross and unreal income tax on these super stars income! I am shocked that these women who make their own millions still expect the men to give them another few millions of tax free income.
The new Income Shares formula will be applied in any marriage dissolution (divorce), legal separation, paternity action, or other action where child support is ordered for the first time, or changes an existing child support order. The Income Share formula applies to all cases filed in court after January 1, 2007.
Pre-existing child support orders will not automatically change because there is a new law. For one year starting January 1, 2007, modifications of pre-existing child support orders are allowed only in limited situations, or if the parties agree to change the support. See Limits to Modifying Existing Orders in 2007.
So remember when decision are made now this is the guidelines that they are suppose to be following
The general legal concept of “child support” is made up of three (3) parts:
1) basic support = costs for a child’s housing, food, clothing, transportation, and education costs, and other expenses to care for the child
2) medical support = health insurance and other medical/dental costs
3) child care support = child care costs when parents go to work or school
“Joint child” is a dependent legal child of both parents in the support action.
“Non-joint child” is a dependent legal child of one, but not both parents, in a support action. [NOTE: A step-parent is not considered the “legal” parent of his/her step-child, unless the step-parent legally adopted the child.]
Important Factors
The Income Shares formula includes the gross income of BOTH parents in figuring the amount of child support.
The amount of court-ordered parenting time (visitation) is considered in calculating “basic support.” If a parent has the child between 10% and 45% of the time, the parent gets a 12% adjustment (reduction) in child support owed. If the parenting time is less than 10%, there is no adjustment to child support. Percentage of time is generally calculated by counting overnights the child spends with the parent.
The law presumes that both parents can or should work and earn an income. The Income Shares formula considers this “potential income” as a factor in determining support.
By law, if the parties do not provide specific details about their income, the court will set child support based on other available evidence, including past work experience, the current legal minimum wage, or it will set a minimum amount provided for in the law.
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Eddie Murphy has to pay Spice girl $51,000 a month
Comedian ends legal dispute with former Spice Girl Melanie Brown
Murphy first questioned whether the child was his until paternity tests proved he was the father. “I don’t know whose child that is,” Murphy said on Dutch TV show RTL Boulevard in 2006, “until it comes out and has a blood test.” Both Brown and Murphy were embroiled in a 15-month long legal dispute. “Mel is delighted that the case is over,” a friend of Brown said. “She just wanted what was right for the girl.” To see more child support stories click here
Alaina Reed Hall died she was 63
Alaina Reed Hall died she was 63. Reed was an American actress best known for her roles as Olivia, Gordon’s younger sister, on the long-running children’s television series Sesame Street, and Rose Lee Holloway on the NBC sitcom 227.
| (November 10, 1946 – December 17, 2009) |
Born as Bernice Ruth Reed in Springfield, Ohio, she began her career in Broadway and off-Broadway productions. She was among the original cast members in the 1974 off-Broadway production of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road. Hall appeared in productions of Hair, Chicago, and Eubie!.[1]
In 1976, she won the role of Olivia on the children’s series Sesame Street. Her character was a photographer and kid sister of Gordon. In 1985, Hall co-starred on the sitcom 227, frequently traveling between New York (where Sesame Street is taped) and Los Angeles (where 227 was taped). Due to this frantic schedule, she left Sesame Street in 1988.
After 227 ended in 1990, Hall appeared in guest roles on various TV shows, including Herman’s Head and Blossom. She also provided the voice for the animated characters on Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? and Sonic the Hedgehog. In 1995, Hall co-starred on the short-lived WB sitcom Cleghorne!, starring Ellen Cleghorne. The following year she appeared in the television film The Cherokee Kid. She has since had recurring roles on Ally McBeal, Any Day Now, and ER.
In addition to stage and television work, Hall has also appeared in several films including Death Becomes Her (1992), opposite Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep, Cruel Intentions (1999), and the 2007 independent feature I’m Through with White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks).
Hall was married three times. Her first marriage, which produced two children, ended in divorce. In December 1988, she married actor Kevin Peter Hall after meeting him when he guest starred on 227.[2] She was widowed in 1991 after her husband died of pneumonia-related complications after contracting AIDS through a blood transfusion.[3][4]
Alaina Reed Hall died on December 17, 2009, aged 63, from breast cancer. At the time of her death she was married to Tamim Amini.[5]
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Jerry Fuchs died he was 34
Gerhardt “Jerry” Fuchs died he was 34. Fuchs was an American indie rock drummer, writer and graphic artist. Fuchs was a member of the bands Turing Machine, The Juan Maclean, !!! and Maserati and performed drums live with the groups MSTRKRFT and LCD Soundsystem.[1][2][3](December 31, 1974 – November 8, 2009)
Fuchs attended college at the University of Georgia, where he studied graphic design and drummed in the local Athens bands The Martians and Koncak. In 1996 he moved to New York to join Vineland, a four-piece led by Bitch Magnet guitar player Jon Fine. After touring and recording with Vineland for two years, he began to play with Justin Chearno and Scott DeSimon, two former members of the band Pitchblende; this band would later become Turing Machine.[4]
Fuchs’s disco and Motorik-influenced style[5] led to his becoming associated with DFA Records, joining the dance-punk group !!!, performing on their album Myth Takes. He was a recording and touring member of The Juan Maclean, and also played live and/or on the recordings of other outfits including Holy Ghost!, LCD Soundsystem, Moby and MSTRKRFT.[6] He then joined Maserati, playing on their albums Inventions for the New Season (2007) and Passages (2009). He completed a U.S. tour with Maserati opening for Mono in September–October 2009.[7]
Fuchs also did graphic design work for the magazine Chunklet[4] and wrote articles as a freelance writer for Entertainment Weekly.[2]
Early in the morning on November 8, 2009, Fuchs was caught in a broken elevator in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, and when he attempted to jump out of the car, he accidentally fell to his death down the elevator shaft.[8][3]He was attending a benefit to raise education funds for underprivileged children in India.
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