Dead malls remembered
Do dead malls go to heaven?
Not quite. But if they’re lucky their memories live online.
The Web site, Deadmalls.com, is a virtual gravesite of bygone malls. Operated by a couple retail historians, it’s a site where people share memories and often lament the closing of their favorite mall.
For Jeff Postelwait, Eastland Mall holds several childhood and adolescent memories.
“My first girlfriend and I had pictures taken in one of those automatic photo booths in the food court,” he wrote. “As a teenager, my brother and I would drive through the parking lot to moon shoppers — back then there were still shoppers to wave your butt at.”
Kent Ahrens remember shopping at Shepherd Mall when it was anchored by TG&Y, and had a Gold Mine video arcade.
“At one time, this was the place. Now, it’s a place,” he posted on the site.
He goes on to say that Shepherd Mall is a classic case of a dead mall success story, and now has another use — office space.
Heritage Park Mall, although not quite dead but teetering around 50 percent occupancy rate, is the last mall listed on the site, www.deadmallls.com
Trisha Evans
Retail reporter
Fundraisers to benefit Tiderman family
Two events benefiting the Michael Tiderman family of Purcell will be held in June.
Tiderman, 38, an Oklahoma City fire lieutenant, and his 11-year-old son, Justin, died May 17 in a two-car car accident in southwest Oklahoma City. A former training officer, Michael was assigned to Fire Station 20 near SW 29 and Council Road at the time of his death. Justin was a fifth-grade student at Tuttle Intermediate Elementary School.
The Tiderman Family Fundraiser Golf Tournament will be June 18 at Winter Creek Golf & Country Club, 7 Clubhouse Drive, in Blanchard. The four-person scramble will have a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
There will be prizes for the top five teams, door prizes and contests for longest-drive and closest to the hole.
The cost is $60 per person and includes lunch. For information, call Tammy Pennington at 361-0014 or 224-7737. Donations will be accepted.
The Tiderman Memorial 10K/5K and Fun Walk will begin at 9 a.m. June 23 at Schrock Park, 5 J.D. Ryan Road, in Tuttle. Activities include a 10K race, 5K race, 2 mile fun walk, cookout, inflatable toys and performances by classical guitarist Edgar Cruz.
The cost is $25 for the 10K and 5K races and $35 for day-of-event registration. The cost for the fun walk is $15. The fun walk is free for children under age 12.
Click for more information about the event.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
bees
Natural chemicals that honeybees use to build their hives might prevent cancer, according to scientists at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Researchers are studying a sap known as “bee propolis” Certain acids found in propolis were shown to prevent the formation of cancers that begin in the glands — specifically colon cancer. Clinic trials in humans are expected later this year after toxicology tests.
– Jim Killackey, staff writer
Lunar lore
The Moon will be full tonight for the second time this month. It last was full on May 2. That relatively rare occurrence has been defined as a blue Moon. However, it’s actually not an official blue Moon. A mistake by an amateur astronomer who wrote an article for “Sky and Telescope” magazine in 1946 led to the misnomer. A blue Moon, as originally described in old issues of the “Maine Farmers Almanac,” is the third full Moon during a season that experiences four full Moons.
Although the mistake occurred more than six decades ago, the magazine didn’t discover the error until eight years ago. It tracked down multiple copies of the old almanacs and ferreted out the true pattern of blue Moons:
Although the idea of a seasonal pattern suggested itself to us immediately, verifying the details required a lot of detective work. We found that the Blue-Moon definition employed in the Maine Farmers’ Almanac is indeed based on the seasons, but with some subtle twists.
Instead of the calendar year running from January 1st through December 31st, the almanac relies on the tropical year, defined as extending from one winter solstice (”Yule”) to the next.
However, the term and its incorrect definition already have entered our lexicon. As “Sky and Telescope” noted, at least one dictionary defines blue Moon as the second full Moon in a month.
For a closer look at the Moon, try Google Moon. Make sure you zoom in all the way to learn about the curious substance that forms Earth’s only satellite. What does that look like to you?
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Apartment dweller accused of kidnapping
An Oklahoma City man survived being kidnapped by a friend’s neighbor Saturday, according to reports from Oklahoma City police.
About 9:30 p.m., officers responded to a reported kidnapping in progress at an apartment complex in the 3900 block of NW 122.
The man who called said his friend was being held against his will with a pistol and wooden swords in another apartment.
Arriving on the scene, officers found two shaken men and an unloaded pistol on the apartment floor.
According to the report:
Several hours earlier, the pair had been at the apartment swimming pool when the accused kidnapper came up, offering to buy beer if someone would go to the store and get it.
After a few beers, the accused kidnapper showed the two men a small pistol he was carrying in his pocket, telling them he was a trained killer, had trained others to kill and referred to his apartment as his killing place.
The accused kidnapper also inquired about the pair’s knowledge of martial arts and demonstrated some techniques on them.
The two men left the pool, but one of the men realized he’d left his cell phone by the water.
When he returned to the pool, he started talking with the accused kidnapper, who convinced him to return to his apartment.
Once inside, the accused kidnapper asked the victim to “Tell me about your problems.”
The accused kidnapper continued to ask the victim to tell him about his problems, becoming more agitated.
The accused kidnapper then grabbed the man’s left thumb and twisted it, telling him, once again, “Tell me about your problems.”
The victim’s friend became concerned when his friend did not return from the pool and called him.
When the victim answered, he quietly asked his friend to call the police, saying he was being kidnapped.
Trying to distract the accused kidnapper, the victim told him he heard someone at the door. The accused kidnapper reacted by going to his bedroom and returning with a short sword.
After he saw no one was at the door, the accused kidnapper put the sword point against the man’s head, telling him, “If you do that again, I’ll … kill you.”
Then he threatened to kill and bury the man that night.
During all this, the victim was text messaging his friend by holding his cell phone behind his back.
Then, the accused kidnapper set down his gun and went back to his bedroom.
The victim, sensing a chance to escape, grabbed the weapon and fled to his friend’s apartment, where they both waited for police to arrive.
After talking to the victim and his friend, officers went to the neighbor’s apartment, where he was unresponsive to their knock.
Seeing the man’s legs on the floor through the opened patio door, officers entered to find the accused kidnapper seated in the hallway with his hands in his lap.
They handcuffed him without incident and held him on complaints of kidnapping, pointing a firearm and assault with a dangerous weapon.
As officers searched the accused kidnapper’s apartment, they found a Ruger Mini 14 rifle, a Ruger 10/22 rifle, a Ruger 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, a Smith & Wesson .357-caliber revolver, a Steyr .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, a Rossi revolver, an AR-10A2 rifle, wooden and metal swords, 11 knives and ammunition.
The weapons were confiscated, police say.
Chad Crow
Staff writer
Stamp of approval
My colleague Tim Henley argues below that higher rates for U.S. Postal Service stamps should produce better service. I can follow his reasoning, but meanwhile that expensive gasoline isn’t making my car go any faster.
Although frequent hikes in the cost of a first-class stamp are annoying, they are justifiable. When I first licked a first-class stamp at about age seven, it cost 6 cents. This inflation calculator shows that 6 cents in 1968 was worth about 35 cents in 2006. The current price of a first-class stamp is 41 cents.
While many reasonable folks who know more about the Postal Service than I do have argued that agency could be much more efficient, the balance sheet looks pretty tight. Last year, the Postal Service generated $72.7 billion in revenue and spent $71.7 billion to run the business. That’s an operating margin of 1.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the Postal Service delivers just about anything Americans can jam into a mailbox. Here’s a sample of items that these folks submitted for delivery that arrived at their destination: a $20 bill encased in a clear plastic envelope; a rose (with address attached with a string); a tooth; an unwrapped feather duster; a coconut; a deer tibia; a dead fish and a cheese wheel.
Now the Postal Service has delivered another option for those who don’t like rate hikes — buy more stamps. The new “Forever” stamp will mail a one-ounce first-class letter no matter what the rate of postage.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Don’t Expect More for Your Money
Since postage rates increased earlier this month, I’ve noticed that my mail isn’t arriving at my house any sooner. It’s not arriving late by any means, but since I started paying more for postage, I expected to receive my mail a little sooner than usual.
If a restaurant owner raises the prices on the menu items, I expect the food to taste better, and I expect the service to be more pleasant.
If my landlord raises my monthly rental fee, I expect to see more amenities added on my property.
If I donate money to a charity organization, I expect the organization to tell me how my money was spent.
If my credit card company raises my interest rate, I expect to be treated in a courteous manner whenever I call the 1-800 number instead of being transferred seven times and being put on hold for 30 minutes.
If my pastor passes around collection plates asking the congregation to donate money to the church’s “building fund,” I expect to see structural improvements to my church’s building.
Maybe I’m a little naive or maybe my expectations are too high. Am I wrong for expecting better services to go along with rate increases?
Tim Henley, staff writer
Dogs have their day, too
The Harn Homestead and 1889ers Museum, 313 NE 16, in Oklahoma City will host its first “Howling Around the Harn” event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
There will be food from Earl’s Rib Palace, pet treats from “la T da” Gourmet Pet Treats Boutique, games and merchandise vendors. Dogs may be entered in contests for best costume, best trick, ugliest dog and longest Frisbee catch.
All dogs must remain on a leash and be up to date on shots.
Veterinarians from Banfield, The Pet Hospital will be answer questions and provide information about implanting microchips in animals.
Animal Rescue Friends of Nichols Hills and Best Friends of Shelter Pets in Oklahoma City will have dogs available from adoption.
Admission is $3 per person. Dogs are free.
For more information or to become a vendor, call Cher Golding at 235-4058 or e-mail cgolding@harnhomestead.com.
Harn Homestead is a nonprofit living history museum focusing on territorial and early statehood days. The 9 1/2-acre grounds feature the 1904 Harn family home, farmhouse, one-room schoolhouse and two herb gardens.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Contest to decide best foods in Oklahoma
The winners of the 2007 Made in Oklahoma recipe contest will be determined on Wednesday during a cook-off at Platt College Culinary Institute, 2727 W Memorial, in Oklahoma City. A five-judge panel will sample the top 10 dishes in three categories: main entrees, desserts and 100-year-old recipes.
The contest is an officially-recognized Oklahoma Centennial Commission project.
Entries will be judged on creativity, taste, ease of preparation and how well the foods use two Made in Oklahoma Coalition-eligible products. The foods used in Wednesday’s judging will be prepared by Platt College Culinary Institute students.
Celebrity judges are Kurt Fleischfresser, chef at The Coach House, Melba Lovelace, The Oklahoman food columnist, “Kitchen Kimberly,” Oklahoma television personality, Natalie Mikles, Tulsa World food columnist, and Carol Smaglinski, Oklahoma Gazette food editor.
A grand prize winner and two finalists in each category will be announced during a ceremony on June 7 hosted by First Lady Kim Henry. Prizes include a $7,000 KitchenAid appliance makeover, KitchenAid stand mixers, state park getaways and a family weekend retreat at Tatanka Ranch in Stroud.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
You picked a fine time to be seized, loose wheel
Some of the best evidence to date that Mars was wetter than it is now was uncovered by the spunky NASA rover Spirit, which continues to operate long beyond its predicted lifespan. A broken wheel on the rover scraped a patch on the Martian soil, revealing a lighter area that produced a concentrated deposit of nearly pure silica. The presence of such a deposit would require the presence of water, NASA scientists say.
The three-years-and-counting mission of the Mars rovers has produced incredible images. The rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were designed to last 90 Martian days. Click here to see a movie of a Martian dust devil. The image was created by linking a series of photographs from Spirit’s camera.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars.
These missions are much more than just pretty pictures. President Bush in 2004 announced the goals of completing the International Space Station before retiring the Space Shuttle in 2010, then returning to the Moon by 2020 with manned missions as early as 2015.
“With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond,” Bush said.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
