Samoa News Blog @newzblogz.com

In response to the onset of summer in Northern California and increased wildfire risks, the federal Bureau of Land Management announced that fire restrictions will go into effect Monday.

The fire protection orders, which limit campfires, firewood cutting and off-road motor vehicle use, affect land managed by the BLM Arcata Field Office in Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Mendocino counties.

Under the fire restrictions, campfires and charcoal barbecues may be used only within fire rings or stoves in developed recreation sites, posted campsites or campgrounds. Portable stoves and lanterns using gas, jellied petroleum or pressurized liquid fuel are exempt, but require a campfire permit.

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It can appear strange that some of the most important Latino politicians in this country, who we identify as leaders of our community, have declared clearly that one can only express American patriotism in English. But it is also clear that some Latino politicians want to secure some of the important Anglo vote, and they always think of votes, and decided to defer to the number imperative. But one curious result is that the feminine sensibility, once again, has brought a bit of logic into this d...

It seems incredible how some people cast themselves in the role of judges of somethings value without having complete grasp of what they are talking about. In this case, concerning Nuestro Himno. No one has said that they want to replace of change the U.S. national anthem with this Spanish version. Proponents dont even want it to be official. In fact, there are already four official translations that the government did a long time ago and are accessible through the Web, if one wants to read them...

Its not rational to express such indignation at a different interpretation of the national anthem. There is a native-language version, for example, in Samoa, an American territory. Nobody talks about this. And the root of the furor against the song is that Nuestro Himno is in Spanish. Perhaps some people should comprehensively explain why there is a double standard when Spanish arrives on the scene. Prejudices, perhaps?

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When it comes to history, Lauri Rule believes that there is no better way for her Gunn Junior High School students to learn than firsthand, from the people who lived it.

"When young kids go in and interview people about an event, they're getting a firsthand account of history," said Rule, who puts a lot of time into coaching student teams for History Day competition in addition to her classroom duties.

This year, two Shackelford Junior High students, Hannah Leffingwell and Elizabeth Spence, placed seventh in the National History Day competition, and their documentary made it to fourth place. Rule taught at Shackelford for 12 years before coming to Gunn two years ago.

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New York Times columnist Tom Friedman likes to say that columnists do either heating or lighting: "You can heat things up or you can shed some light." Uncle Al often writes a third kind of column: plumbing.Some time ago he fussed endlessly under his downstairs bathroom sink, trying to snake out a slow-running drain. When he seemed to have succeeded, and went to put the pipes under the sink back together, he couldn't get them to fit. He ended up buying many pieces of plastic pipe before he manage...

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