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Ron Westercamp arrived at his polling place on Tuesday about 45 minutes before the polls opened. A blue camping chair in hand, he staked out a spot on the sidewalk, chatting with other voters as he sat down, prepared to wait as long as it would take to cast his vote in person.

Quickly, the line behind him grewto about 300 people, stretching through the parking lot and onto a residential street behind Ankeny First United Methodist Church.

Despite the surging COVID-19 pandemic, the story was the same throughout Polk County and across Iowa on Election Day, as voters lined up early to cast their ballots in an election that already had set statewide early voting records.In Council Bluffs, a 2-hour wait was reported at one polling station.

Within 2hoursTuesday,32,344 voters had cast ballots in person in Polk County, according to auditor Jamie Fitzgerald.

By 3:30 p.m. the number had reached 80,000.

A final statewide count was not due until late Tuesday, but Secretary of State Paul Pate said he expected a record turnout.

Precinct worker Terri Gideon of Indianola lays out I Voted stickers at the Annett Nature Center in Indianola on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

One Des Moines precinct captain said voting officials hadtold herit wouldn't be a busy day since so many people already had voted early. Instead, Sherry Folwell said, Tuesday broughtlong lines, a lot of newly registeredvotersand a vote-counting machine that broke down twice before noon because itsballot feeder was off-kilter.

"This is 2020 nothing is normal," she said.

Westercamp, 67, said he expected there to be a line, which is why he showed up early he needed to get voting out of the way before reporting to his jobas an appliance repairman. The Trump supportersaid there was no question he would cast his ballot in person this year, as he has every year.

"That's the way I've always done it," he said. "And I feel like it's more secure."

Other Iowans who voted in person voiced similar sentiments, saying they wanted to be there in person to see their votes fed into the automated counting machinesamid national concerns that mail-in ballots would not arrive in time to be counted if at all. President Donald Trump himself had discouraged mail-in voting, citing unverified reports of voter fraud, while former Vice President Joe Biden has encouraged Americans to vote however they feel comfortable.

Witnessing their vote being counted was of such importance to Traci Richison and Dawn Garrett that, when thevote counterat First Church of the Open Bible in Des Moines went down,they decided to wait an hour and 10 minutes for it to be fixed so they could personallyfeed their ballots into the machine.

Voters line up to cast ballots at the Jester Park Outdoor Recreation & Wellness Center in Granger, Iowa, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.(Photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register)

Poll workers directed voters to place their ballots ina box, and said the votes would be recorded once the machine was workingagain.ButRichisonandGarrett wanted to do it themselves.

"I just feel like I want to make sure that it's in there. You know, you're skeptical,"Richison said."And I'd just much rather wait for it to get fixed so I know that it's fed and counted."

"I completely agree," Garrett added. "I mean, this is an important election and I don't want to leave it up to chance."

Danielle Baumler, 23, waited about 45 minutes in an estimated 100-person line at Lutheran Church of Hope in Ankeny before checking in to vote. She arrived right as the polls opened at 7 a.m.

"I came in expecting to wait an hour or 2hours, so it'sgoing faster than I thought it was going to," she said.

Baumler, who is in the middle of wedding planning, said she was too busy to cast a vote early.She said that with her wedding scheduled later this month, she's been paying attention to the rising COVID-19 cases in Iowa, but felt confident voting in person was safe, givenU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

Mask wearing in the line, which stretched throughout the parking lot, was sporadic. Masks were not required in Iowa polling places on Election Day, and Baumler herself was not wearing one.

Precinct captain Emilee Stripe wipes down a table at the West Des Moines law enforcement center on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

Poll workers were supposed to sanitize voting stations between each use,and hand sanitizer was provided near ballot counting machines and the "I Voted"stickers.

That proved to be a problem in some precincts, where the sanitizer gunkedup machines. In some instances, machines were rejecting ballots that had too much hand sanitizer on them a problemthe CDC warned about in its votingguidance.

Most voters the Des Moines Register surveyed said they felt safe in the lines, where voters generally maintained safe social distance.

But James Welty said once he was inside his precinct at the Fort Des Moines United Methodist Church on Des Moines' south side, all spacing went out the window. He said about 25 people waiting for a voting booth to open were "jammed into a very tight space."

He described the situation as "super spreader to the max."

But for some, the pandemic was the No. 1 reason to show up and vote. Chloe Gamble, a 29-year-old Des Moines resident who voted for Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, said she lost two jobs on the same day, March 17, when Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered businesses across the state to shut down in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19.She had worked in the hospitality industry and at a podiatry clinic, but now is struggling to make ends meet.

Chloe Gamble after voting Tuesday afternoon at Polk County River Place.(Photo: Rood, Lee)

"For me, it's primarily about the handling of the coronavirus. The lack of a second stimulus bill has really impacted my life and the lives of many of my friends," she said.

"People out there just need help."

Radenko Stanisk, a retired construction worker who came to Iowa from Bosnia 23 years ago,said he decided to vote for Trump this year after supporting Democrats in the past.

Although people complain about the pandemic, Stanisk said, the country and the economy had been on a better track with Trump.

"I voted for (President Barack) Obama, and he didn't help the middle class," he said. "In fact,I paid a penalty because I had no health insurance when I was a construction worker."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259. Follow her on Twitter @KimNorvellDMR.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her atlrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at@leeroodor on Facebook atFacebook.com/readerswatchdog.

Read or Share this story: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/03/election-day-brings-long-lines-iowa-despite-record-early-voting/6124125002/

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Despite record-setting early balloting, Iowans encounter long lines as they vote in person on Election Day - Des Moines Register

A new feature-length documentary film profiling the meticulous, Harboe Architects-led restoration of Frank Lloyd Wrights Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, will be available to stream for a limited time on Vimeo starting October 30. This special preview screening/fundraising period will conclude on November 15 with a panel discussion hosted by filmmaker Lauren Levine discussing the documentary and the momentous effort to preserve one of Wrights most iconic early works for future generations. Virtual tickets for the film, titled Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wrights Modern Masterpiece, cost $20 and include access to the Zoom-based panel.

Proceeds from ticket sales will help support four additional Wright sites in addition to Unity Temple: Taliesin, Taliesin West, Fallingwater, and the Hollyhock House in Los Angeles. (Despite being geographically disparate, all five of these works collectively comprise a single UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Frederick C. Robie House, the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.)

Narrated by Brad Pitt, Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wrights Modern Masterpiece dives into the rich history of the reinforced concrete (a then-audacious choice) house of worship. Commissioned in 1905, Unity Temple was completed in 1908 following a string of construction delays, modifications, technical difficulties, and cost overruns.

Wright, 41-years-old at the time of the churchs completion, had settled in Oak Park, a growing suburb directly west of Chicago, in the late 1880s. Wright took on numerous residential projects in and around Oak Park during the beginning of the 20th century including early Prairie-style homes. Wildly experimental for its time, Unity Temple was not only Wrights first major public buildingits also widely considered his most significant work and a vastly influential forebear of the modern architecture movement. Unity Temple makes an entirely new architectureand is the first expression of it. That is my contribution to modern architecture, Wright later said.

The project was also a deeply personal commission for the young architect, who was a member of the Unitarian Universalist congregation that the church was built to serve. (Unity Temples predecessor, the Oak Park Unity Church, was destroyed in a fire in 1905.)

Over the decades, Unity Temple has suffered from various structural problems and maintenance woes, namely water damage. Early efforts to safeguard the church led to the formation of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation (UTRF) in 1970, a secular, preservation-minded organization that, thirty years later, began devising a comprehensive restoration master plan in partnership with the church. Unity Temple was named both a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year UTRF was established.

Fast-forward nearly four wear, tear, and leak-filled decades later to 2009 when the UTRFs push to preserve the ailing church became all the more urgentand widely-publicizedwith its inclusion on the National Trust for Historic Preservations 11 Most Endangered Historic Places List. In 2015, Unity Temple closed to the public and restoration work kicked off in earnest. The multi-year, $25 million effort, which involved painstaking interior and exterior work including on the buildings art glass windows and multitude of leak-prone flat roofs, was completed and reopened in the summer of 2017 for both worship andguided public tours led by the Chicago-based Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. The restoration was met with widespread acclaim and much like with the churchs drawn-out construction, the patience of all involved certainly paid off.

Over the course of the documentarys 55-minute run time, Levine chronicles the reawakening of Unity Temple with input and insight from the restoration team including lead architect Gunny Harboe, members of the Unity Temple congregation, and a range of architectural historians and critics including Paul Goldberger and Blair Kamin. As for Pitt, he steps in to narrate the architects philosophies, according to a press release.

I hoped to convey a window into Wrights mind, beyond the often repeated autobiographical mainstream material, so that we could better understand Wrights guiding philosophy and intent that his buildings reflect the people who use them, said Levine. It was important to capture both the tremendous task and details of the restoration itself as well as the spirit, diversity and commitment of the congregation who continue to bring the building to life.

Go here to read the rest:
A Brad Pitt-narrated documentary about restoring the Unity Temple will soon be available for streaming - The Architect's Newspaper

The earthquake struck in seconds, but three years later restorers still face a monumental task: about half of the 2,340 colonial-era buildings and churches damaged in the 2017 Mexico quake still need to be repaired, restored or partially rebuilt.

It is a titanic challenge: crumbling old stone and lime mortar walls and domes, without an ounce of cement or rebar, have to be built back with the same ancient materials

But that doesnt mean the work is primitive. At the Nuestra Seora de Los Angeles church near downtown Mexico City the restoration work has a space-age feel: towering curved metal support structures are delicately lowered into place by huge cranes, to support the half-collapsed dome of the church. Meanwhile, the other, standing half of the 100-ton dome looms 80 feet (25 meters) above workers.

There is always a sensation of risk being in there, of course, because you sense that pieces could come falling down at any time, said Antonio Mondragn, the architect at the National Institute of Anthropology and History who leads the restoration effort. Any material that comes flying down from 25 meters (yards) would be very dangerous. There is always a risk, and we know we cant stay inside very long.

Mondragn has gained a respect for the old church a chapel built in the late 1500s stood here, of which only a portion of one wall remains, while the collapsed dome was built between 1740 and 1884 calling it noble. The dome didnt collapse at the moment of the quake, but rather five days later, leaving time to get people and precious objects out.

It is so dangerous to stand beneath the remains of the dome that the tons of steel structures are made off-site and then gingerly lowered into the crater at the center where the dome once stood; the steel beams simultaneously brace the remaining walls of the cupula, provide a work platform just under the dome and the arch over the top, to provide trusses for a temporary metal roof.

The experts working on projects like this across Mexico face some of the same issues confronting restorers everywhere, like Frances re-building of the Notre Dame Cathedral: are the materials and craftsmen's skills of centuries ago still available? How can you explain delays to impatient modern citizens, for whom construction is something that is done in weeks or months?

It is true that some of the finer, more specialized knowledge of these (construction) crafts has been lost. This work is still being done, perhaps more clumsily, but the crafts remain and people know how to work with these materials, Mondragn says, referring to the quarry stone and super-light tezontle volcanic stone used to build the original dome. But with quarries near the city depleted or filled in to create housing Mondragn says in effect, it gets harder every day to find good material.

Initially, restorers thought that they would have to dismantle what remained of the dome and re-assemble it piece by piece, Mondragn said. But they realized that the cause of the collapse had been an enormously heavy central cupola that stood atop the dome and which had been leaning out of level because the church was unevenly sinking into Mexico Citys notoriously swampy soil. So the collapsed part could be rebuilt and mated with the remaining structure.

The $2 million restoration effort at Nuestra Seora de los Angeles will take at least two years more; impatient residents often ask experts why it is taking so long. To date, about 1,100 of the 2,340 damaged structures have been restored.

Architect Fernando Duarte Soriano is restoring churches for the Institute, known as the INAH, in the neighboring state of Morelos. He points to the barrel-vault roof from the 1500s of the former convent of San Juan Bautista in Tlayacapan, Morelos that cracked and partly collapsed in the 2017 quake.

Sometimes with community members, we face a situation where they say it has been so long, and you havent finished,' says Duarte Soriano, noting that original materials like lime mortar, wood and stone take longer. Imagine, these structures sometimes took as long as 100 years to be built ... and in three years, we have managed to consolidate the structure.

While the Tlayacapan convent, started in 1554, soon after the conquest, is nearing completion there are dozens of other churches that need urgent attention.

Duarte Soriano headed up teams that went out immediately after the 2017 quake to inspect 159 damaged buildings in Morelos, often at enormous personal risk. The truth is there are vaults on the verge of collapsing, collapsed bell towers, domes, buttresses and walls that were falling down. At times it wasnt safe to go into all those places, there was a chance that part of it was going to come down on top of you.

Unable to correct inclinations in some structures, the best restoration work will still leave some buildings leaning at crazy angles, steadied with steel cables and counterweights.

Nor were the original builders centuries ago faultless geniuses; the restoration work has uncovered some elementary errors, like the use of rounded river-stones in the lower parts of some walls. Their round shapes are inherently unstable and dont hold mortar well.

Experts restoring buildings and monuments here have faced every kind of challenge: how to replace a bent old steel support completely encapsulated inside a slender stone column hundreds of feet tall; how to fix foundations sunk in swampy soil; how to restore church bell towers that are central to village life. There have even been fires and takeovers by homeless people at one church under restoration.

Filiberto Arias Araujo, the parish priest at the San Juan Bautista church in Tlayacapan, explains the importance of the bells in Mexican village life. Church bells are commonly rung as an alarm in emergencies, or toll to gather townspeople together. After San Juan Bautistas bell towers were damaged in 2017, the town went silent for three years.

They rang the bells recently as a test, Arias Araujo said of the restoration experts. They wanted to see if there were any vibrations, especially in the facade, and the people were saying Great! We got shivers hearing what we hadnt heard in three years, our bells, the voice of our town.

The rest is here:
Mexico halfway through quake restoration of old churches - The Independent

Pastor Bill Wiebe has been head of the congregation at the Port Rowan Community Church in downtown Port Rowan for 16 years. He says the accidental excavation of a 19th-century gravesite on church property Tuesday was a surprise and remains a mystery. Monte Sonnenbergjpg, SR

PORT ROWAN Accidently digging up a grave is always disturbing.

So it was Tuesday in downtown Port Rowan when a crew installing water mains at the corner of Bay Street and Church Street inadvertently excavated bones that proved to be human.

A construction crew digging at a local church unearthed the remains, Const. Ed Sanchuk of the Norfolk OPP said in a news release Wednesday.

The Norfolk OPP crime unit continued to investigate and determined that the remains located in a casket are historical in nature and appeared to be a burial site.

No foul play is suspected and this incident is not being treated as suspicious.

The remains were found on property belonging to the Port Rowan Community Church. A date stone embedded in the front of the brick building says it was known as the Baptist Chapel at the time of its construction in 1856.

At the scene Wednesday, Pastor Bill Wiebe says the discovery would not have been a surprise had the remains been located on the south side of the church.

Wiebe said the old Baptist cemetery was south of the building but was relocated over time as the congregation sold off lots for properties that, today, front onto Bay Street between the church and Wolven Street.

As it happened, the grave discovered this week was excavated to the north of the church across the street from the Port Rowan post office. That, Wiebe said, adds an element of mystery.

The records of the church were destroyed in a fire in 1906, said Wiebe, who, with wife Lorraine, has served as the pastoral family at the Community Church for 16 years.

All we have is a written oral history. Thats what we rely on pre-1906. History tells us that people too poor for a funeral wouldve been buried on site. This wouldve all been farmland 150 years ago.

Wiebe added that the oral histories gathered after the 1906 fire do not mention burial grounds to the north of the church. The fact the body was interred in an east-west direction tells Wiebe it was a Christian burial.

The excavation occurred at a time of turmoil in downtown Port Rowan.

The London firm J-AAR Excavating is replacing iron water mains at several locations in the core that prematurely failed due to improper installation 30 years ago. The graves discovery is part of this work.

Overseeing installation is Vallee Consulting Engineers, Architects and Planners of Simcoe. A foreman in downtown Port Rowan Tuesday declined to comment.

It is too early to say what will become of the remains. Norfolk OPP are in contact with the office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario, forensic anthropologists, and Norfolk officials along with Pastor Wiebe.

From a spiritual standpoint, Wiebe says there are no consequences he can think of regarding the innocent disturbing of a grave, as opposed, he added, to the conscious act of grave robbing.

The scriptures tell us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, he said.

Excavators in urban areas of Norfolk have uncovered 19th-century gravesites before.

In the late 1980s, an excavating crew removing an in-ground fuel tank at a former service station on James Street in Delhi uncovered a portion of a forgotten cemetery from the days when Delhi was known as Fredericksburg. The graves were located on the east side of James Street immediately south of Church Street East.

MSonnenberg@postmedia.com

See more here:
Construction crew unearths human remains - The Beacon Herald

AVONDALE Thirty-three years ago, local leaders were asked to look 50 years into the future and make predictions about Chicago and society as part of a time capsule project for ComEds 100th anniversary.

This summer, a construction worker found the time capsule much earlier than expected and the predictions arent looking too accurate, though we have 17 years to change that.

In one, ad agency founder Harold E. Kuttner predicted by 2037 we will no longer have bigotry, anti-semitism or discrimination of any kind in our country.

In another, local pastor John S. Quinn of St. Andrew Catholic Church said by 2037 he expects the Catholic church to allow women and married men to be priests, and to adapt its doctrines to scientific discoveries.

The country is battling a growing wave of bigotry, anti-semitism and discrimination, with hate crimes on the rise.

And women and married men are still excluded from priesthood in the Catholic church despite repeated calls for change.

SCROLL FOR PHOTOS OF TIME CAPSULE ITEMS

The construction worker found the letters and all of the other artifacts in the time capsule at the end of July on the ComEd headquarters site at 3500 N. California Ave.

Crews are demolishing the 90-year-old building because the company built a new headquarters. ComEds new, $58 million headquarters complete with a public STEM education area opened on the same site in February.

The time capsule was installed in 1987 at ComEds centennial party, a grand event with a performance by Lane Techs marching band, a helicopter landing and a car show, said John Maxson, a longtime ComEd employee who organized the party.

In the weeks leading up to the party, the time capsule was filled with memorabilia from ComEd employees, everything from 1987 coins to 1987 issues of Life magazine, as well as letters from local leaders.

The goal was to surprise and delight whoever stumbled across the box decades later, Maxson said.

At the party, officials placed the time capsule near an 8-foot-tall art deco eagle sculpture, thinking itd be found at least 50 years later, in 2037.

Maxson said he was surprised when he got a call in July and learned the time capsule had already been found.

I was like, Oh my gosh, already? I really had not thought about when it would be found. I thought it would be way in the future, Maxson said.

I didnt know what way in the future meant, but at the time we thought of the office there, at California and Addison, as being one of the pyramids or something we thought this was something that was a permanent asset of the company.

But Maxson noted the past 33 years probably saw more change than [ComEds] first 100 years.

Its unfathomable how technology and the company has changed in such a short period of time, he said.

Back in 1987, ComEd relied on natural gas and coal to generate electricity, whereas today natural gas is its main source. Technicians had to bring drawings with them when going out to fix or install power lines because there was no GPS. Meter readings were done manually; today, theyre automated.

Those are only a few examples of the technological advancements made in just a few decades, said Maxson, who worked for ComEd for 32 years.

I remember [thinking] it would be a different world when its found, but I had no idea it would be such a short period of time, he said.

As for the 2037 predictions: Weve got 17 more years to eliminate bigotry and make the capsules vision for the future a reality.

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Original post:
Time Capsule From 1987 Found In Avondale Building: 'Unfathomable' How Technology Changed But Social Progress Lagging - Block Club Chicago

Road construction to fix delays on one road have created new problems on another one, leaving many drivers on Highway 101 in the Greer area frustrated. A driver reached out to us frustrated with their morning and afternoon commute. Well, apparently she is not the only driver frustrated because SCDOT says they have received several complaints. SCDOT officials said they are working on a solution. Drivers are seeing backs up in the areas of from Memorial Drive Extension to Pine Drive sometimes. We did some digging and found some answers for why this is happening. This stretch of road has been on SCDOTs radar since 2016. "We have monitored the intersection, and then in 2018 based on the crash data we had at the time for safety reasons it was necessary to have a 3-way stop there to stop the major collision we were having there," said Brandon Wilson, the traffic engineer for District 3.This helped traffic from Milford Church Road enter onto Highway 101 but now it is causing backups for drivers on Highway 101. SCDOT officials said that is partly because of Gross Meadow Bridge being closed. It was deemed unsafe after an inspection so SCDOT had to close it. "Unfortunately, what that has done is pushed a lot of vehicles over to 101 and to that intersection," Wilson said.SCDOT is looking at whether or not to repair or completely replace the bridge. It is going to be a while before the bridge is fixed, officials said. So, engineers say they are not going to wait on the bridge to be fixed to hope that also fixes the congestion issues on Highway 101. "We are actively working on the intersection working to come up with a solution there to work that out then once the bridge opens back up it will just work even better," Wilson said.SCDOT officials said they are looking at several options including adding a traffic signal or replacing the three-way stop with flashers but it will probably be early next year before they get anything in the works.If there is something slowing down your commute or something you think is dangerous, we want to know about it. Send an email with details to this email address, newstips@wyff4.com, so we can work to get to the bottom of the issue.

Road construction to fix delays on one road have created new problems on another one, leaving many drivers on Highway 101 in the Greer area frustrated.

A driver reached out to us frustrated with their morning and afternoon commute.

Well, apparently she is not the only driver frustrated because SCDOT says they have received several complaints. SCDOT officials said they are working on a solution.

Drivers are seeing backs up in the areas of from Memorial Drive Extension to Pine Drive sometimes.

We did some digging and found some answers for why this is happening.

This stretch of road has been on SCDOTs radar since 2016.

"We have monitored the intersection, and then in 2018 based on the crash data we had at the time for safety reasons it was necessary to have a 3-way stop there to stop the major collision we were having there," said Brandon Wilson, the traffic engineer for District 3.

This helped traffic from Milford Church Road enter onto Highway 101 but now it is causing backups for drivers on Highway 101.

SCDOT officials said that is partly because of Gross Meadow Bridge being closed. It was deemed unsafe after an inspection so SCDOT had to close it.

"Unfortunately, what that has done is pushed a lot of vehicles over to 101 and to that intersection," Wilson said.

SCDOT is looking at whether or not to repair or completely replace the bridge.

It is going to be a while before the bridge is fixed, officials said.

So, engineers say they are not going to wait on the bridge to be fixed to hope that also fixes the congestion issues on Highway 101.

"We are actively working on the intersection working to come up with a solution there to work that out then once the bridge opens back up it will just work even better," Wilson said.

SCDOT officials said they are looking at several options including adding a traffic signal or replacing the three-way stop with flashers but it will probably be early next year before they get anything in the works.

If there is something slowing down your commute or something you think is dangerous, we want to know about it. Send an email with details to this email address, newstips@wyff4.com, so we can work to get to the bottom of the issue.

Read more from the original source:
Traffic Tuesday: Construction delays on Highway 101 lead to frustration on other road - WYFF4 Greenville

Tony Bolick|The Courier-TribuneAsheboro Police Reports

Recent reports

Oct. 12: Asheboro Police responded to Wendys, East Dixie Drive, Asheboro, in reference to a larceny.

Oct. 13: The manager of The Salvation Army Thrift Store, East Dixie Drive, Asheboro, reported the theft of a bicycle valued at $50.

Oct. 13: CedricJumar Cassidy reported the theft of work equipment from his work truck parked at a construction site, North Fayetteville Street, Asheboro.

Oct. 13: Barbara Eleanor Funkey, Elwood Stout Street, Asheboro, reported a larceny at her residence.

Oct. 13: Jennifer Nixon Damron, Old Liberty Road, Asheboro, reported a possible larceny at her residence.

Oct. 13: Asheboro Police responded to Workout Anytime, East Dixie Drive, Asheboro, in reference to a larceny.

Recent charges

Emmanuel D. Jones: 23, 1009 S. Church St., Apt. 12, Asheboro, simple possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, open container.

Stanley Jean Lerebours: 29, 1002 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Greensboro, probation violation.

Chris Elvin McNeill: 38, 73444 Union Grove Church Road, Seagrove, possession of heroin.

Recent reports

Oct. 8: Kimberly M. Blake, Beechwood Court, Asheboro, reported the theft from her residence of $710 in clothing, $435 in shoes, a bag valued at $575, jewelry valued at $252, a cell phone valued at $600, toiletries valued at $67, a pillow valued at $25 and a drill valued at $20.

Oct. 7: Brian E. Pearman reported a check stolen from his business located on NC 62, Trinity.

Oct. 10: Douglas Eckland reported the theft of a Kubota BX23S tractor valued at $25,000 from a construction site on Tobacco Road, Trinity.

Oct. 13: Tyler G. Smith, US 220 S, Asheboro, reported the theft from his motor vehicle of a cell phone valued at $500 and $300 in damage to his vehicle.

Recent charges

Donald Robert Lynch: 54, 2958 Spencer Road, Archdale, communicating threats, assault and battery.

David Anthony Powell: 52, 4546 River Oaks Drive, Randleman, bill of indictment.

Denise Saunders Powell : 56, 4546 River Oaks Drive, Randleman, bill of indictment.

Donald Lee Stiles: 56, 5117 Elmont St., Archdale, possession of a stolen firearm.

Cody William Toler: 33, 5240 Ridge Road, Trinity, court/receive active sentence.

Heather Leigh Davis: 36, 3141 Nance Country Road, Climax, second-degree trespass.

Joshua Michael Wood: 37, 1840 Dennis St., Asheboro, electronic house arrest.

Nicholas Joseph Davis: 31, 3499 NC 42 South, Asheboro, true bill of indictment.

William Ray Carpenter Jr. : 42, 4328 Briarcliff Road, Thomasville, two counts financial card fraud.

James Carroll Chriscoe: 52, 1656 Jericho Road, Asheboro, second-degree trespass.

Branson Marshall Culler: 20, 6925 Union Grove Church Road, Asheboro, true bill of indictment.

Catherine Alexis Dilldine: 21, 333 Hill St., Asheboro, cyberstalking threats.

Jerry Wayne Grice: 51, 5420 Edgar Road, Archdale, failure to return rental property.

Bonnie Dean Larimore: 59, 6819 Kerr Drive, Randleman, first-degree trespass, misdemeanor larceny.

Thomas Alton Lucas: 43, 2272 Woods Stream Lane, Asheboro, violation of 50B protective order.

Excerpt from:
Business-related thefts reported around Asheboro and the county - Asheboro Courier Tribune

Workers for Monadnock Construction prepare the foundation for the Catholic Charities Bishop Valero Residence in Astoria, Queens. (Photo: Bill Miller)

ASTORIA Construction of a new home for low-income people was about to start last spring in Queens, but the COVID-19 pandemic rattled all aspects of normalcy worldwide.

The Bishop Valero Residence, a project of Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, is expected to add 102 badly-needed apartments for seniors and formerly homeless adults. Its located at 23-11 31st Road in Astoria, Queens.

Financing for this $62 million effort depended on several partners, including the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The pandemic forced that agency to cut back on its budget by 40 percent for the rest of 2020, plus next year, according to David Downs, the deputy director of Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation.

The projects partners, realizing its importance, did not give up.

All the players chipped in to make the project work in the time frame we needed, Downs said. A lot of people had to make some concessions and be flexible.

For example, Downs said Catholic Charities and the city agreed to add more financing. The citys portion of the funding was key because it involved $3.1 million in low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), which are expected to generate $30.8 million in equity over 15 years, nearly half of the money needed to build the project.

Other partners include Bank of America, Richman Housing Resources, and Barings, LLC. Dattner Architects designed the project and Monadnock Construction is the builder.

Although the projects closing was a few weeks late, construction started on time in June, which was a great relief, according to Downs.

We had our construction budget in place, but we could only guarantee costs through June, he said. Supply was a big concern for building materials like steel. So there was a lot of pressure on the team.

We had a calm exterior, but on the inside, we were very nervous.

Affordable Housing Shortage

The Progress of Peoples Development Corporation started making affordable housing in the 1970s serving families, formerly homeless people, senior citizens, and people with HIV.

The task has only gotten harder as New York Citys population swelled to about 8.6 million people, the biggest of all U.S. metropolitan areas. The citys expensive real estate market adds even more hurdles for land acquisition.

Tim McManus, vice president of Progress of Peoples Development Corporation, said a 2016 study showed there were 200,000 applicants for 20,000 affordable housing units in New York City.

Demand for senior affordable housing is a mess throughout the city, McManus said. We dont have numbers to suggest whats happened since COVID, but we know that number has grown.

The Bishop Valero Residence is the second affordable housing project from Catholic Charities to start in 2020. In January, ground broke on the eight-story, 135-unit Catholic Charities Loreto Apartments on Sackman Street in the Brownsville area of Brooklyn.

This site is the former address of Our Lady of Loreto Church, which was demolished in 2017. Nearby is the Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments, which was opened in 2013 on the former site of Our Lady of Loreto School.

The Brownsville project began a few weeks before the pandemics onset in March and continued uninterrupted.

However, projects planned by other developers are not as fortunate, being stuck in a COVID-wrought financing limbo, adding to the frustration of advocates struggling with an existing shortage of affordable-housing citywide.

A lot of projects, McManus said, are still on the sidelines.

Build a Community

The six-story Bishop Valero Residence is expected to open in 2022 with nearly 85,000 square feet of space and environment-friendly features like solar panels.

Its located in a former parking lot for the existing Catherine Sheridan Senior Housing project, another property in the Progress of Peoples Development Corporations affordable-housing portfolio.

About 6,500 square feet are set aside for a ground-floor, 200-seat community center operated by Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services. Other amenities include a commercial kitchen serving hot meals, an exercise area, a computer lab, and a landscaped patio area.

We build buildings wed like to live in ourselves, Downs said.

Of the 102 units, 71 are designated for low-income senior citizens, while the other 31 are for formerly homeless seniors. All residents will have access to on-site social services.

We really are trying to put together a comprehensive model, providing not just for housing, but also social services to address the residents physical and social needs, McManus said.

Father Patrick Keating, deputy chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, explained that low-income tenants deserve safe homes, hopefully in the neighborhoods where theyve lived and near their longtime parishes.

What we try to do is build a community, Father Keating said. But its not just buildings; its a greater integration of bricks and mortar with services. All our programs are interconnected.

Father Keating credited Msgr. Alfred LoPinto, chief executive officer, for devising a holistic approach to integrating services.

The Church teaches the dignity of every single person, Father Keating said, and by providing a safe home, youre serving that person, which allows us to fulfill our ministry.

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Catholic Charities Stays on Its Quest for Affordable Housing - The Tablet Catholic Newspaper

A Christian group in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is mulling a protest after the state government prevented construction of a church because it says it was illegal.

Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) has asked the state government run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to quickly resolve the issue in Buddhist-majority Tawang town.

The present government says thatthe church is illegal as it is on public land, referring to the Supreme Court order that bars construction of religious structures in public places, but that is not the case here, Father Felix Anthony, spokesman for the Catholic Church in northeastern India, told UCA News.

People here who are for or against the construction of the church are not for disturbing the peace of the community that has been prevailing for years. People want the issues sorted out amicably. There is no question of disobeying the law written in the constitution.

Police in Tawang on the India-China border on Oct. 6 arrested Joseph Singhi, a pastor of Tawang Christian Revival Church, on charges of constructing a church without any land allotment.

He was arrested after a complaint by the district Land Revenue and Survey officer but was released the same day. Police also detained and interrogated eight others associated with the church.

ACF claimed that the church was established in 1999 and had given several applications seeking land allotment. The papers were submitted to the government through the local administration since 2003, but the authorities never responded.

It was a makeshift church and the problem arose in 2015 when work started on the construction of a permanent structure.

However, Tai Ete, president of Arunachal Pradesh Christian Revival Church Council, said nobody objected when the church was set up in 1999.

The problem started in 2015 when we started construction of the church. The government authorities said it was government land and we didnt have the land allotment order, Ete told media.

Ete said that in 2003 Gegong Apang, then chief minister, and the department concerned had no objection to the church. He claimed that the disputed site is unused and rejected.

Is India not a secular country? The right to freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution to enable its citizens to freely profess and practice their religious beliefs, Ete said.

We want the case to be resolved amicably. They are harassing us intentionally. All have the right to propagate their own religion.

Arunachal Pradesh Christian Revival Church Council had earlier said Christians have no intention to disturb the way of life in Tawang, known for a 339-year-old Buddhist monastery.

ACF handed over a memorandum to Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Oct. 9 informing him about the blocking of the construction of a permanent structure where a temporary church has existed since 1999.

Christianity is the largest religion in Arunachal Pradesh followed by Hinduism. According to the census of 2011, Christians constituted 30.26 percent of the state's population. The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the state with around 180,000 adherents.

Originally posted here:
Christians angry over blocking of church construction in India - UCAN

100 years ago

Oct. 17, 1920: The new Church of the Nazarene building is being dedicated this weekend at Washington and Mason. The congregation has been in town for five years, but this will be their permanent home. The first service was last night, with more scheduled for today.

75 years ago

Oct. 17, 1945: About 200 machinists at the Meadows plant on Bell Street walked off their jobs, shortly after the posting of a progress report on wage negotiations. The issue is a federally directed 14-cent increase that dates back to 1944: who should get it and how much.

50 years ago

Oct. 17, 1970: Four teenagers were injured when a 20-foot section of bleachers collapsed at Heyworth High School. All four of them were from Fairbury and Cropsey. They were treated at a hospital and released. Meanwhile, Fairbury-Cropsey High School won the football game.

25 years ago

Oct. 17, 1995: Normal City Council approved the new Walmart site at Fort Jesse Road and Greenbriar Drive. There was one dissenting vote because of complaints about the tax rebate involved. Construction of the new Walmart is expected to begin this fall.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.

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100 years ago: Church of the Nazarene dedicates new building - Bloomington Pantagraph