| CR entertainment venues get new director
Compass Facility Management has appointed Scott Schoenike as executive director of the U.S. Cellular Center, Paramount Theatre and Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.
Schoenike has more than 18 years of experience in the hospitality and entertainment industry, most recently as executive director of the DeltaPlex Entertainment and Expo Center in Grand Rapids, Mich.
At the DeltaPlex, he inherited a building that had an operating loss of $260,000 in 2003. In 2006, the building was operating at a $380,000 profit.
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Festival of Ideas aims for masses, strikes few
During an eight-week period beginning this month and ending in April, West Virginia University's Arts and Entertainment program will host a variety of speakers on former President Abraham Lincoln. According to the WVU Arts and Entertainment Web site, renowned historians, writers and political scientists such as James McPherson, Mark Russell and Sarah Vowell will speak on ''the man, the myth, the martyr and American hero'' who was Abraham Lincoln. My question to the University is: Who cares? Though Lincoln is obviously an important figure in American history, why is the University focusing on a topic that very few are interested in? Learning about the 16th U.S. president is not going to help WVU students understand more about current events, unlike previous Festival of Ideas events. Every year, I found at least one speaker I was genuinely interested in and would attend the event, but 2007's lineup is critically lacking speakers students, not just history professors, are interested in.
Sex shop battle
OPPOSITION is mounting to a new adult shop in Warrnambool, with a petition calling on the city council to quash the proposal. An action group of concerned residents has collected almost 500 signatures in an attempt to prevent the adult entertainment business opening on Walsh Road. ``This is my first venture - it is a topical issue, but you have got to stand up for what you believe in,'' group spokesman Craig Haberfield said. After more than six objections were formally lodged against the planning application, the council will consider the proposal at its next available meeting. Mr Haberfield said citizens' moral objections must be taken into account by council. ``This isn't purely a planning issue; the community's interest and values and the interests of children must be considered by the council in making its decision.'' The petition began circulating on Saturday, calling for the adult shop to be blocked for the social, health and moral welfare of the city.
If you build it, they will come
One p.m. at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall. A choir of Chinese Christians serenely sings hymns as a bearded man hocks tefillin to passersby. Just meters away, a self-declared prophet preaches redemption and a steady stream of shoppers stroll by without taking note. Welcome to Jerusalem's city center. The golden triangle of Ben-Yehuda, Jaffa and King George streets has been the focal point of the city since the British Mandate. Home to coffee shops and restaurants, it was once generously populated by intellectuals, tourists and dignitaries. "The city center used to be literally the center of everything. People would come from all over the place to buy things, for entertainment or just to stroll around," says Azriel Nadav, who has worked in the city center for the past 30 years as the owner of Pick Jewelry and Art on the midrehov (Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall).
Trafigura and the PNP an unholy alliance
I suspect that the reason that the Trafigura scandal is seemingly dying a natural death (perhaps unlike the current Cockpit Country debate) is because nobody has sought to connect the issue of corruption with the plight of the poor in a way that the masses can understand and appreciate, and the middle and upper classes couldn't care less. After all, "everybody is corrupt", one man said to me, "and when I say everybody, I mean everybody - the private sector, the banks, the Opposition, the media - even the church. So why would anybody want to be bothered to continue to talk about Trafigura?" As I have said before in this column, the biggest tragedy of our country is not the over 1,000 murders committed every year. The biggest tragedy is that our country has lost its moral centre to the extent that wrong is right and right is wrong.
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