Two mothers of former pupils at a Medway school which has been investigated over alleged child abuse for apparently locking children in a cupboard claim their children were locked inside it with a key.

The pair, who also used to be parent volunteers at the Brompton Westbrook Primary School, where they say they did their teaching assistant training, say the way their children were treated has had a lasting effect on them, so much so, one, aged just 11, is on now antidepressants.

Trustees at the academy in Kings Bastion have appointed an independent investigator to look into claims that up to eight children have been locked in a room.

Mums Patricia Wilkins and Alison Lovett

A previous inquiry by Medway Council concluded that four staff had cases to answer for gross misconduct. No one has been suspended as a result of the allegations.

She does not trust adults now, especially teachers and I was never told she was put in this room and locked in it as a punishment" - Mrs Wilkins

This week, Patricia Wilkins and Alison Lovett, both 37, said their children used to fight tooth and nail not to be taken to school when they were pupils there as they were so frightened to go into class.

Mrs Wilkins, from Gillingham, said her daughter was a star pupil until she reached Year 3 and then things started to go wrong and she noticed a change in her.

She said: She was about eight when it first started, she was too frightened to talk to me about anything that had happened at school.

She went from being a normal child to one who hid away from people.

Excerpt from:
Brompton Westbrook Primary school locked children in room claim mums Patricia Wilkins and Alison Lovett

"Elephant in the room" or "Elephant in the living room" is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.[2]

It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first recorded use of the phrase, as a simile, as The New York Times on June 20, 1959: "Financing schools has become a problem about equal to having an elephant in the living room. It's so big you just can't ignore it."[3]

This idiomatic expression may have been in general use much earlier than 1959. For example, the phrase appears 44 years earlier in the pages of a British journal in 1915. The sentence was presented as a trivial illustration of a question British schoolboys would be able to answer, e.g., "Is there an elephant in the class-room?"[4]

The first widely disseminated conceptual reference was a story written by Mark Twain in 1882, "The Stolen White Elephant", which slyly dissects the inept, far-ranging activities of detectives trying to find an elephant that was right on the spot after all. This may have been the reference in the legal opinion of United States v. Leviton, 193 F. 2d 848 (2nd Circuit, 1951), makes reference in its opinion, "As I have elsewhere observed, it is like the Mark Twain story of the little boy who was told to stand in a corner and not to think of a white elephant."

A slightly different version of the phrase was used before this, with George Berkeley talking of whether or not there is "an invisible elephant in the room" in his debates with scientists.[5]

In 1935, comedian Jimmy Durante starred on Broadway in the Billy Rose Broadway musical Jumbo, in which a police officer stops him while leading a live elephant and asks, "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante's reply, "What elephant?" was a regular show-stopper. Durante reprises the piece in the 1962 film version of the play, Billy Rose's Jumbo.

The term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue which is obvious to everyone who knows about the situation, but which is deliberately ignored because to do otherwise would cause great embarrassment, or trigger arguments or is simply taboo. The idiom can imply a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly, or it can simply be an acknowledgment that the issue is there and not going to go away by itself.

The term is often used to describe an issue that involves a social taboo, such as race, religion, or even suicide. This idiomatic phrase is applicable when a subject is emotionally charged; and the people who might have spoken up decide that it is probably best avoided.[6]

The idiom is commonly used in addiction recovery terminology to describe the reluctance of friends and family of an addicted person to discuss the person's problem, thus aiding the person's denial. Especially in reference to alcohol abuse, the idiom is sometimes coupled with that of the pink elephant, q.v. "the pink elephant in the room."

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Elephant in the room - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DBR Staff Writer Published 06 November 2014

Grand Traverse Distillery, a maker of craft spirits including vodka, gin, rum, whiskey and bourbon, will open a tasting room at the Downtown Market in Michigan.

Founded by Kent Rabish in 2007, Grand Traverse Distillery is based in Traverse City, and is the largest micro-distillery in Michigan. In his commitment to using local ingredients, Rabish uses corn, wheat and rye grown at Send Brothers Farm, just nine miles northeast of the distillery's production facilities.

Rabish said: "Grand Traverse Distilleries is among the very few using the 'grain-to-bottle' method, which means we start with fresh, local rye, corn and wheat, and combined it with pure glacial water to create our artisan spirits.

"Single batch, handmade, one-at-a-time is how we bring our spirits to market, and we are excited to be the first local distiller to open a tasting room in Grand Rapids."

The Grand Traverse Distillery Tasting Room at the Downtown Market will feature spirits to taste and buy by the bottle. The tasting room will also offer local products and mixers that best complement their spirits, such as syrups, peanuts and pickles, as well as clothing, glassware and barrels for those who want to age their own spirits.

Downtown Market president and CEO Mimi Fritz said: "While artisan spirits are growing rapidly, Grand Traverse Distillery is committed to the re-emerging art of craft distillation, and we are thrilled to add an incredibly popular, ultra-premium Michigan brand to the Downtown Market.

"They are a perfect addition to our space and mission."

Grand Traverse Distillery will continue to make all of its products at its Traverse City facility. The spirits also are available at tasting rooms in Leland, on Traverse City's Front Street and in Frankenmuth, with another tasting room coming soon at Black Star Farms.

Construction on the space will begin this month, and the tasting room will open in December.

See the article here:
Grand Traverse Distillery to open new tasting room in Michigan

Comic-Con will be in San Diego through 2016, but beyond that, organizers have yet to commit.

With an expanded convention center now a derailed dream, San Diegos hospitality industry is stepping up its efforts to entice its most beloved convention, Comic-Con, to stay in town through 2018.

Well aware that rival cities like Anaheim and Los Angeles still have a keen interest in luring a convention of Comic-Cons size and worldwide stature away from San Diego, Mayor Kevin Faulconer is appealing to local hoteliers to hold the line on future room rates during the July meeting when demand for lodging is the highest all year and rooms the costliest.

He plans to attend Comic-Con Internationals board meeting on Sunday to make a personal pitch to organizers and remind them how much San Diego values their annual meeting, which draws more than 130,000 attendees, fills hotel rooms countywide, and commands international media coverage.

Comic-Con International currently has formal commitments to stay in San Diego through 2016, but future years remain up in the air.

While no decision on a future Comic-Con contract will be made at the groups board meeting, the citys Tourism Authority, which is responsible for securing long-term bookings at the convention center, is hoping to finalize an agreement by the first of the year.

Toward that end, the tourism agency is currently seeking agreements from hotels in the Comic-Con convention room block to not raise their rates above 2016 levels for the years 2017 and 2018. It is not the kind of request that would be made for any other convention, no matter how lucrative, Tourism Authority CEO Joe Terzi said. During this years convention, discounted room rates ranged from a low of $161 a night to $380.

Of the more than 50 hotels in the 2014 Comic-Con convention room block, close to 30 have already signed agreements stipulating that for 2017 and 2018 they will not deviate from what they pledged for 2016, Terzi said. In addition, major waterfront convention hotels are committing to some free meeting space for Comic-Con events, and the center itself will adhere to a much discounted rent, which this year totaled nearly $200,000.

Comic-Con has expressed concern over the last several years that its getting very expensive for their attendees to come to San Diego and while they recognize that theyre here at a premium time of year, they feel theyre being taken advantage of to a degree, Terzi said. I believe that Comic-Con is ours to keep but we cant get too cocky and create an environment that doesnt work for their customers.

The latest effort to cement a deal with Comic-Con feels a little like deja vu. Four years ago, former Mayor Jerry Sanders, as Faulconer is doing now, pressured the citys hoteliers to offer more competitive room rates as part of an ultimately successful bid to win Comic-Cons business through 2015. At the time, Los Angeles and Anaheim were also heavily courting Comic-Con.

Originally posted here:
Will Comic-Con stay in San Diego?

Join us on at 6 p.m. Thursday in the library meeting room for a book signing, presentation and Q & A with Iowa Authors Dave & Barb Else. The Elses are authors of For all the Small Schools: A Photographic Pursuit of Iowas Forgotten Schools. A love for Iowas small rural schools set Barb and Dave Else on a journey to find the lost high school buildings that are no longer being used for education. In the latter part of the 19th century and into the early 1900s, the Iowa countryside was dotted with one-room kindergarten through eighth grade rural schools. In addition, nearly every town in Iowa had a high school, often just a few miles away. Due to declining enrollment and for purposes of efficiency, many of Iowas high schools were closed or merged with other districts beginning as early as the 1940s. For All the Small Schools is a photographic pursuit designed to rekindle memories of Iowas great rural schools and the students, parents and communities they served. This program is free to the public and open to all ages.

Knee High Naturalists

Join us on at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Carousel Horse Room for a fun knee-high Naturalists program. Learn about Thanksgivings No. 1 bird, the wild turkey in this fun and hands-on presentation! This program is offered by the Jasper County Conservation Naturalist for kids, ages 3 to 5.

Professional Development Book Club Discussion

The Newton Public Library started a new Professional Development book club that is hosted at the library. If you would like to join, stop by the Information Desk to pick up a copy of the book. We will be discussing Dont Bring It to Work by Sylvia Lafair at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the library meeting room. The club will meet every third Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. in the Library Meeting Room and is open to all adults.

Board Game Night

Join us for Board Game Night at 6 p.m. on Monday in the meeting room. Open to all ages. We will have board games and card games for families or individuals to play. Children must be accompanied by a guardian.

Free MP3 & iTunes Music Downloads

Download and own songs from the extensive Freegal database! Up to three songs per week, or one song and a music video. Every Monday, three new downloads will again be available with your library card. Go to http://www.freegalmucsic.com and log in with your up-to-date library card to explore the 7 million songs from 28,000 recording labels. You can also get the app for your mobile device.Need help? Call the Information Desk, 641-792-4108.

Update your Library Cards

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Library host to abandoned school photography program

A comparatively small alteration of an 1890s cottage on Bellevue Terrace has transformed the lives of its occupants through clever manipulation of space and thoughtful use of materials. Photo: Bo Wong

When designing a new home or altering the old, how many of us stop to consider issues such as "spatial well-being"? Or how the spaces we create might psychologically and physiologically benefit occupants?

Probably not enough of us. These principles formed the basis for architect Philip Stejskal's renovation of a Fremantle duplex, completed last year, and netted him the inaugural residential alterations and additions award this week at the National Architecture Awards.

While the project involved a diminutive 20-square-metre alteration and addition to a modest 1890s cottage, it's had a revolutionary effect on the family home.

"The intervention has transformed the lives of its occupants through clever manipulation of space, inventive details and thoughtful use of materials," jury chair and Sydney architect Paul Berkemeier said.

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Brief:

The clients had a modest budget, narrow site and conventional little terrace, disconnected from the garden by a 1.5-metre drop and inconveniently placed bathroom. They wanted to forge a new relationship with the outside, and to replace an existing deck and pergola with a flexible space that was neither fully internal nor external.

Solution:

Philip created an outdoor room with a sunken bay window overlooking the garden, and a built-in seat stretched along a side wall. By wrapping the room in shutters and glazed panels, it could be thrown open or closed down to the outdoors and weather as required.

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Inventive update turns a Fremantle duplex into a box of tricks

The fourth annual No Room at the Inn event, benefiting Family Promise of Midland, will give Midlanders a chance to browse through hundreds of privately collected nativities.

The No Room at the Inn event has just always been really special, said Kay Brockman, volunteer and displayer at the event. You just see everything from gloriously sculpted things to a rubber ducky (nativity). Its just a fun time and I think that everyone should at least come out and look at all of the beautiful nativities. It makes for a fun afternoon.

In addition, Brockman said organizers encourage anyone interested to join in the event and display their own nativities as well.

Everyone should bring their own nativities out to display, said Brockman, who will be displaying one of her own. Theyre welcome to bring it the Thursday night before the event and sign it in.

While not required, Family Promise will accept a donation of $5 upon entry to the event.

We do ask for a $5 donation and it all goes to Family Promise, Brockman said. We would just like for people to come out and support Family Promise. Even if they dont wish to support monetarily, just their presence here would be an honor. Plus theyll enjoy it.

Brockman said the event ties into the mission of Family Promise thematically as it works with the assistance of its Interfaith Hospitality Network to provide assistance to families who are dealing with homelessness.

For the ones that have been able to enter (the program), they have found a room. Some people dont make it but most of them do, Brockman said. With the economy the way it is now, its hard to think that people would be homeless but they are. Im always surprised how many people need a hand.

Currently the program is at full capacity with four families, providing them with shelter at one of several host churches. Families stay at each host church for one week at a time from 6 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. each day.

Adults in the program are required to work or attend school full time during the day for the full two to three months they are in the program. Free child care and afterschool care is provided for the children in the program as well.

Excerpt from:
Annual Nativity display benefits Family Promise

Kitchen Remodel with a Room Addition
To view some of the tools shown in this video go to http://www.tacwise.com This video goes into detail showing a total renovation of a kitchen along with a room add...

By: Craig Heffernan

Originally posted here:
Kitchen Remodel with a Room Addition - Video

The University of Minnesotas Amundson Hall addition allows some much-needed elbow room for the growing Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department and for a fancy electron microscope described by the U of M as the first of its kind in the world.

But the project itself didnt leave much wiggle room for construction crews, who squeezed the 40,000-square-foot addition known as the Gore Annex into a tight location at 421 Washington Ave. SE on the busy campus in Minneapolis.

If you look at the building, we are 20 feet from the next building over, said Jeff Schott, a professor in the U of Ms Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the U of Ms construction point person for the project. It was like building in a phone booth.

U of M officials led a tour of the newly completed building addition Wednesday. Construction started in March 2013.

The $30 million project included $23 million for the Gore Annex, which has two floors below ground and four above ground, and $7 million worth of improvements to the 65-year-old Amundson Hall.

A high point is the FEI Tecnai Femto ultrafast electron microscope, which will enable researchers to learn more about materials at the atomic and molecular scale. The research has applications for everything from energy and medicine to digital technologies, the U of M said.

It allows us to make movies of the materials at the atomic levels, at the time scales we need, explained David Flannigan, an assistant professor in the U of Ms Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

Research in the labs could benefit construction, health care, digital technologies and other industries, Flannigan said. Literally, there are experiments that have never been done before that we will be able to do now, he said.

The project will also allow for growth in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department, which has seen a 30 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment in recent years.

From a design and construction standpoint, the project presented some challenges, including the constrained site next to the Green Line light rail and existing buildings, and a need to avoid vibration that would throw the research activities for a loop.

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U of M project was like building in a phone booth

INTEREL

INTEREL

Dubai, 12 November 2014: INTEREL, the world's fastest growing manufacturer of integrated room technologies in the luxury hospitality industry, has announced the release of a series of new global products as well as the establishment of a local presence in Asia and the Americas.

The company's online room management system offers highly innovative and intelligent solutions for the modern hotelier. Through a combination of cutting-edge technology and uniquely simplified design, the system allows hotel operators to optimize their energy monitoring and consumption and to deliver a greater guest experience.

The hospitality industry's most advanced portfolio of Room Control Units (RCU) becomes even more powerful with the release of a series of new RCUs, which deliver expanded and flexible configuration options efficiently enabling a wider array of guest room environment features, interactions and experiences. One of these new features is a smart lamp option that provides guests with full bedside lamp functionality even when the master light switch is off.

INTEREL has also introduced a brand new series of customizable wall and tabletop room control panels, which now incorporate a range of leading 3rd party power and connectivity options. In addition, INTEREL has released an expanded creative palette for hotel designers with new bold and elegant options for panel finishes, colors and icon layout designs.

INTEREL has seen exceptional growth over the past six months as a result of strong demand for its products and services. In February this year INTEREL appointed Silvio Reale as CEO Asia Pacific, which saw the company enter a number of business hubs in the region including Hong Kong, Jakarta, Macau and Manila. In September INTEREL appointed Michael Cohen as SVP Key Accounts, who will be leading the company's market entry into the Americas.

"With the Middle East being our biggest and fastest growing market in the world, we decided to move the headquarters to Dubai at the end of 2012, with design and manufacturing still based exclusively in Italy. " Said Florian Gallini, Group CEO of INTEREL. He added: "The extension of our geographical reach with a local presence in Asia and the Americas will enable us to assist our clients directly on the ground and is testament to the growing demand for our solutions worldwide."

"Providing innovative technology and design leadership in integrated room solutions."

Headquartered in Dubai, INTEREL is the fastest growing manufacturer of integrated room technologies and energy conservation systems in the luxury hospitality industry with a footprint across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Established in 1984, the Italian manufacturer has nearly two decades of experience in the hospitality industry and is an approved supplier with more than 17 of the world"s leading hospitality and leisure organizations.

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INTEREL Announces New Product Releases And Expands Its Global Footprint