Hi there, my name is Lilly. I am a brown tiger spayed female who needs a good home with a good family who will take good care of me. I am eight years old and am very cute, so please come and visit me at the SPCA.
In next week's issue we will share our interview with Harold and Cindy van Es in which they share some of their experiences visiting Kenya over the holiday break last December, and how their family traversed a war zone to see the school and meet the community they have partnered with.
An earthquake strikes Lansing, demolishing the elementary and middle schools. The next day roads are closed and children are forced to walk to school, at least those who live within four or five miles of the campus. Once they get there they are put to work building mud and dung huts, hauling the dung from nearby dairy farms. There is no lunch or snacks available. Days or even weeks later they have constructed enough of a facility to hold classes again. But all the computers have been destroyed, as well as books and all other teaching aids. After a year of this Lansing learns that some wealthy people from a community in Africa have taken an interest in the town and want to build classrooms that won't melt away every time it rains here. And then we learn that some of this blessed donation is coming from African kids.
If you can imagine this you can begin to imagine what it has been like at the Mbaka Oromo school in western Kenya. In 2006 Lansing students did try to imagine it by living a day as their Kenyan counterparts do. It wasn't easy. A remarkable part of this story is that Lansing kids don't have to imagine it -- they have actually exchanged letters and school projects with the kids their age in Kenya. By doing so they have explored and shared their little world here, and broadened it in a unique and personal way by hearing about another culture from the people they really listen to -- other kids.
The Cornelius / Cargill Library and classrooms at the Mbaka Oromo school
that don't wash away in the rain are among the accomplishments of PALS
If you put a 41 cent stamp on a letter this Monday it will be insufficient because the US Postal Service rates are going up. Starting May 12 it will take 42 cents to send a first class letter. Lansing Post Office's Steve Funcell says that people have been coming in early to get one cent stamps so they can use up the 41 cent stamps they already have. But he expects long lines next week when the rates officially go up. ""People will come in and wait in a long line just to buy a few one cent stamps even though it may not be a pressing issue for them," he says. "I think the businesses are more on top of it. It's more of a problem for individuals."
On July 1, 1885 the rate for a one ounce letter was two cents. It didn't go up until November 3, 1917 when it was raised to three cents during World War I. It actually went back to two cents again in 1919. It didn't reach three cents again until 1932. But in 1958 it went to four cents, which started a more frequent gradual rise. It went up twice in the '60s, four times in the '70s, five times in the '80s, three more times in the '90s, until it reached 34 cents in 2001. Next Monday will be the fifth time the rates have risen in the 21st century. And with each price rise there has been a need for one cent stamps. "We've had one cent stamps for probably 150 years or so," Funcell says.
This week Lansing students were treated to a visit by author John H. Ritter, who is known for his books for young adults that mix baseball with moral topics. Ritter is the third author that former Rochester librarian Susan Rosenkoetter has brought to Lansing in honor of her other, Dorothy Davis Rosenkoetter, who worked at Lansing schools for 18 years. "This year has been our biggest project ever," Rosenkoetter said Tuesday morning. "His two favorite things are baseball and music. He's brought a guitar. He's going to be talking about his books, talking about writing, answering questions, and playing on the guitar. I'm really thrilled because the middle school has a wonderful Jazz band that played as the kids filed in."
(Left to right) John Ritter, Principal Jamie Thomas, Susan Rosenkoetter
This Saturday (May 10th) the Ithaca Community Childcare Center (IC3) on Warren Road will be holding their third annual truck show. Chaired by Julie Darby and Bethany Woodman, the truck show is the center's second biggest fund raiser for its scholarship fund. This year the pair say it is bigger and better than ever, featuring 55 vehicles of all kinds. "The SWAT bus is always a big hit," Darby says. "Police cars, ambulances. This year we have the Time Warner Weather Chaser. They're going to bring the weather van with a green screen and allow children to do a ten minute mock weather broadcast, and a video of themselves to take home free. That will be from 11 to 1. I-100 Classic Rock Radio is coming back again with Cat and Mark DJing broadcasting live from 10 to 2."
Newfield, NY: On Monday, May 5, 2008 at 8:15 AM a cat was found tied inside a bag with a brick along the bank of West Branch Cayuga Inlet Creek in Newfield. The cat, presumably left to drown, was rushed to the SPCA and found to be in good condition.
A resident of Newfield was driving along Newfield Depot Road and stopped at a pull-off between two waterfalls just past the intersection of Adams and Smith Roads. It was there that a bag was spotted down over the bank caught on a dead tree. The bag appeared to be moving. The citizen climbed down and opened the bag to find a live female cat stuffed inside along with a red brick. The bag was tied shut with a piece of rope.
Hi there, my name is Lilly. I am a brown tiger spayed female who needs a good home with a good family who will take good care of me. I am eight years old and am very cute, so please come and visit me at the SPCA. 
Around Town 
If you put a 41 cent stamp on a letter this Monday it will be insufficient because the US Postal Service rates are going up. Starting May 12 it will take 42 cents to send a first class letter. Lansing Post Office's Steve Funcell says that people have been coming in early to get one cent stamps so they can use up the 41 cent stamps they already have. But he expects long lines next week when the rates officially go up. ""People will come in and wait in a long line just to buy a few one cent stamps even though it may not be a pressing issue for them," he says. "I think the businesses are more on top of it. It's more of a problem for individuals."
Newfield, NY: On Monday, May 5, 2008 at 8:15 AM a cat was found tied inside a bag with a brick along the bank of West Branch Cayuga Inlet Creek in Newfield. The cat, presumably left to drown, was rushed to the SPCA and found to be in good condition. 
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