Augustas iconic Eisenhower Tree felled

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

One of Augusta Nationals most iconic features will be missing from this years Masters following the enforced removal of the courses famous Eisenhower Tree.

The loblolly pine, named after the former US President Dwight Eisenhower whose ball struck it so many times off the 17th tee that he asked for its removal, finally got the chop courtesy of the climate rather than executive orders with Augusta National Golf Club chairman Billy Payne explaining the tree lost most major branches and was removed at the weekend.

The loss of the Eisenhower Tree is difficult news to accept, Payne said. We obtained opinions from the best arborists available and, unfortunately, were advised that no recovery was possible.

The chairman said no major damage was caused elsewhere on the course and preparations for Aprils 2014 Masters would be unaffected by the ice storm.

We have begun deliberations of the best way to address the future of the 17th hole and to pay tribute to this iconic symbol of our history rest assured, we will do both appropriately, Payne added. Asked for his views on what Augusta National might do at the 17th, 2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson, who on Sunday won the Northern Trust Open, his first tournament since claiming the Green Jacket two seasons ago, said: It seems like theyll put a tree or something there. Again, theyre not asking me, but thats what I would do if they asked me.

Id say, Why wouldnt you put some other kind of tree there or something.

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Augustas iconic Eisenhower Tree felled

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With the creation of a state law stating that houses must be equipped with a sprinkler system for safety reasons, some Greek houses off University of Wisconsins campus are opting to take the opportunity for full-blown renovations.

Reporting from theWisconsin State Journal said the concern for fires at Greek houses arose after a fire destroyed the former structure of Sigma Phi Epsilon in 2008. A 2006 state law set the requirement that fraternities and sororities install sprinkler systems by Jan. 1 of this year, according to the story.

Eric Flanagan, a foundation board member for Delta Upsilon, said hes seen no complications with meeting the sprinkler requirements. He said the fraternity learned of the plan in 2006 and took it as an opportunity to update a house that had not been renovated since the 1960s.

At that point we decided we would do a full renovation of the house to coincide with the sprinkler requirements, were doing a full $2.1 million historical renovation of the inside of our house, Flanagan said. The outside of the house, since its a historical building, will remain the same but its a full-gut rehab on the inside.

Flanagan said the money for this makeover was made possible in part by an anchor donor, John Morgridge, who was a UW Alum and a prior president of Delta Upsilon. Morgridge agreed to match any funds raised by the fraternity, Flanagan said.

Currently, Delta Upsilon has raised $1.6 million total, Flanagan said.

Flanagan said the house is currently closed and the renovations will be in full swing from March until August. The house will re-open in time for the fall semester, he said.

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said cost was a major obstacle in the renovation efforts.

Each house needs to comply with the sprinkler codes, which can cost anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000, Resnick said.

This can obviously be somewhat burdensome to sorority and fraternity houses, Resnick said.However it also does provide not only increased safety for the members but a chance to revamp many of the houses that havent seen some of the TLC that is otherwise needed.

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State sprinkler law leads to Greek house renovations

"It looks like a graveyard." 9OYS sheds light on a dark dumping grou
It #39;s a neglected area, where dirt roads go on for miles and the desert seems endless.

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Captain Falcon Sheds Manly Tears
Breast Cancer awareness Ganondorf is a sight to behold but I legitimately freaked out when ganon pulled out the sword. @_@

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GV Prakash sheds wieght for Pencil!
Music composer GV Prakash, is likely to make his debut as an actor. Meanwhile, he has shed nearly 9 kilos to look more appealing in Pencil. GV has added, tha...

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Ford Motor Co.s new F-150 pickup sheds 700 pounds from its body and chassis, but to get there, the Dearborn automaker needed help from about a dozen hefty men.

In an effort to improve the durability of its leather-wrapped truck seats, Ford hired a firm to enlist the help of men of a certain size: at least 265 pounds. Dressed in dirty jeans, their mission was to climb into the drivers seat, get down and climb up again, at least 10,000 times per truck.

The result of that punishment-testing is a pair of front seats made of higher-strength steel and tougher leather that weigh a combined 30 pounds less than the current seats, but withstand consistent beating from the beefiest and grimiest truck drivers.

Even though our seats met our internal standards, we were getting a few customers, especially with our leather seats, where the leather was cracking and not living up to expectations, said Tim Dunn, Fords North American seat complete engineer manager, in an interview. Ford eventually found a contributing factor in addition to weight: dirt. Most seat durability testing is done by robot, but engineers were wary of how dirt could mess with robots and never tried the combination.

Enter the seat testers. Wearing stiff new jeans, they worked as many as 10 hours daily, for about a week, in scorching heat last summer in Taylor. Oh, yeah: The participants had to wear the same jeans throughout the process to emulate long-term wear and tear. That got to be both sticky and uncomfortable as the combination of dirt a standardized test material known as Arizona dust, which was patted onto truck seats every 500 sits and sweat began to cake on the denims bottoms and inseams.

The seats will debut in the 2015 F-150, which arrives at dealers late this year.

Though it wasnt known exactly how much the seat testers were paid, it apparently wasnt enough: The firm had to increase the pay rate to avoid losing participants and having to start over, Dunn said.

A couple of them said it just wasnt worth it for what they were getting paid, making $60 to $70 a day, he said.

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Hefty men pound Ford's F-150 into shape

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Once the waste water goes down the drain (via your sink, tub, or toilet), it is funneled into the sewer system through your sewer line, which then feeds in to the municipal sewer system or a septic tank (used in areas like Prosper, Double Oak, Bartonville, and unincorporated areas). Our highly trained plumbers will install your drainage and sewer system with as little disruption as possible to you and your property.

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Need more information from the experts? Call C&W Plumbing today at 972-395-5796.

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The view from Route 105 bridge at Indian Island golf course as the Peconic River leads into the Bay. (Barbaraellen Koch Photo)

Protecting our surface and ground waters is L.I.s public issue number one. The L.I. Clean Water Partnership has done a great job in increasing public and political awareness. But we must avoid the trap of oversimplifying both the problem and the solutions.

Any campaign has three elements: awareness, education and action. Awareness has been raised. Now the hard work, education, has to begin. Education involves inclusive public discussion, scientific debate and a broad coalition on how best to move forward.

Today, everythings a 10-second sound bite. However, using sound bites to explain proposed solutions can be harmful to long-term success. For example, in County Executive Steve Bellones recent public talks on the water issue, he and others read from the same script weve heard over and over again. We deserve more than that. We need more than that.

We need full information to make informed decisions.

Take Mr Bellones main proposal to solve our water problems: prioritize areas with failing septic systems; identify those near existing sewer systems, and extend the sewers to those properties. Interesting concept until you look a little deeper.

Now, putting priority properties, especially waterfront lots, onto a municipal sewer system will remove nitrogen from septic systems and from leeching into our waters. This is good. But think about this a little more. In L.I.s history, when you extend sewer systems, high-density residential and commercial develop follows. Always has. Always will. So what problems do extended sewer systems and more development add to our current water problems?

Many.

First problem is the sewers themselves. Septic systems work by seeping wastewater back into the ground. As the water moves through the soil, it filters out and reduces the concentration of nitrogen and other elements. In areas of high-density too many homes and people on too little land the ground becomes over-saturated with septic output, thus the filtering of nitrogen and other elements is impaired. Sewers solve that problem, to some degree.

Most of L.I.s municipal sewage treatment plants and the smaller community systems which feed into them, take wastewater from the sewers, treat it and pump the resulting effluent into the Sound, our bays or the ocean. While this prevents nitrogen from entering the ground, it also means all of that sewered water is removed from the recharge cycle. In other words, instead of returning a large portion of the water we use back to the water table and deeper aquifers, its diverted to our surrounding bodies of salt water.

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Guest Spot: Nothing simple about our water crisis