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Shield Your Pool With Pool Covers, Reap Advantages Pool covers are coming to be increasingly popular among business pool owners in addition to residence swimming pool owners.
This holds true for both interior and also exterior swimming pools.
Pool covers offer a great deal of advantages for any type of pool proprietor, some of which also translates to tangible as well as measurable values.
Certainly, a swimming pool cover is one essential swimming pool item that any kind of pool owner must have.
There have been numerous reported sinking occurrences of kids and even family pets due to unguarded pool.
Having a pool cover over your unattended swimming pool is very effective to avoid accidents like these from taking place.
The swimming pool cover is a veritable security device.
It functions as a horizontal fence on your pool, sealing it off from unexpected gain access to by your young kids, your family pets, as well as unwanted visitors.
Though there is still no substitute from proper guidance, a swimming pool cover might in some way do this on your behalf when you are not around.
Swimming pool covers can conserve your life, as well as the life of the people you care about.
In addition to purchasing security, obtaining a swimming pool cover for your swimming pool, as a matter of fact, saves you money.
How? A pool cover can conserve you as much as 70% on operating prices by lowering your pool's need for added heating equipment, makeup water, water therapy chemicals, and also cleansing and also upkeep expenses.
Over time, your swimming pool cover will certainly spend for itself.
According to researches, swimming pools not shielded by a swimming pool cover can shed as high as 30% of their heat every day and greater than 10,000 litres of water, consisting of chemicals used to deal with the water, all due to the all-natural process of dissipation.
Evaporation, amongst numerous various other factors, is mainly responsible for the heat loss in pool water.
It takes a significant quantity of energy to evaporate water, subsequently taking a lot of warm out of your pool water also.
With the use of a pool cover, warmth loss is decreased by blocking evaporation as well as securing the warmth in.
Naturally, there will certainly be a considerable decrease in your swimming pool home heating prices as your water thermostat might cut the warmth supply from the central heating boiler throughout the use of the pool cover.
Also, securing more of the warm in with your swimming pool cover somehow extends your swimming period.
Your pool continues to be warm and also inviting for a a lot longer time period.
A pool cover over your swimming pool also dramatically decreases the amount of energy needed to ventilate the pool space for indoor swimming pools.
There will certainly be little demand for ventilation and also exhaust fans, permitting you to save much more on air-heating expense.
You are not just conserved from big energy bills, by blocking dissipation, you also reduce makeup water by as much as 50%, and also chemicals for treating water by as long as 60%.
Loss of volatile chemicals like chlorine due to dissipation is additionally substantially decreased.
Research studies show that about 5,000 gallons of water is saved, along with chemicals used to treat it annually if swimming pool proprietors will certainly simply make use of swimming pool covers.
For indoor pools, less corrosive hygiene chemicals released into the air due to subdued evaporation results to lowered moisture damage and acidic deterioration on your building framework.
This additionally includes components such as steel hinges, door and window frameworks, audio speakers, as well as others.
Swimming pool covers additionally cut your cleaning time as well as minimize swimming pool equipment maintenance cost.
Pool covers keep off fallen leaves, debris and dirt out of your pool water.
Leaving your pool water crystal clear for the lengthiest time.
A swimming pool cover can additionally safeguard swimming pools from rough winter season elements.
With a pool cover over your pool, the heat of the swimming pool water is kept well inside and also with the pool cover also maintaining the dirt out, your swimming pool equipment lasts much longer since it actually functions less.
Outside as well as interior pool proprietors will certainly benefit from a swimming pool cover.
Mostly, it can save lives as a safety and security tool.
As well as the financial incentives and also benefits are just an included benefit.
Swimming pool proprietors no more require to worry on exactly how to maximize their pool usage and keep it at its ace problem.
The key is merely to use a pool cover that best matches your swimming pool and your swimming needs.
An independent contractor is a person, business, or corporation that provides goods or services under a written contract or a verbal agreement.
Unlike employees, independent contractors do not work regularly for an employer but work as required, when they may be subject to law of agency.
Independent contractors are usually paid on a freelance basis.
Contractors often work through a limited company or franchise, which they themselves own, or may work through an umbrella company.
In the United States, any company or organization engaged in a trade or business that pays more than $600 to an independent contractor in one year is required to report this to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as well as to the contractor, using Form 1099-MISC.[1][2] This form is merely a report of the money paid; independent contractors do not have income taxes withheld like regular employees.
The distinction between independent contractor and employee is an important one in the United States, as the costs for business owners to maintain employees are significantly higher than the costs associated with hiring independent contractors, due to federal and state requirements for employers to pay FICA (Social Security and Medicare taxes) and unemployment taxes on received income for employees.[3] Likewise, employees are protected from being fired without cause, and if fired or let go for other reasons are entitled to unemployment benefits, whereas independent contractors have neither protection nor entitlement.
Employees are also entitled to receive overtime pay for work performed over the 40-hour-per-week standard, whereas independent contractors may work any number of hours (including far above this standard) with no change in pay.
In the early 1990s, the IRS methodically began to look for employers who were misclassifying employees as independent contractors, and has since obtained billions of dollars in Social Security back taxes.[3] Recently, worker classification initiatives have been a top priority for the IRS, the Department of Labor, and state agencies.
In 2011, the IRS and the Department of Labor entered into a memorandum of understanding in an effort to jointly increase worker misclassification audits.[4] The United States Supreme Court has offered the following guidelines to distinguish employees from independent contractors: The IRS, for federal income tax, applies a "right to control test" which considers the nature of the working relationship.[6] They highlight three general aspects of the employment arrangement: In general, their criteria parallel those of the Supreme Court in sentiment.
They include guidelines such as the amount of instruction, training, integration, use of assistants, length of professional relationship, regularity of work, location of work, payment schedule, source of funds for business expenditures, right to quit, and financial risk more typically seen with each work category.
In their framework, independent contractors retain control over schedule and hours worked, jobs accepted, and performance monitoring.
They also can have a major investment in equipment, furnish their own supplies, provide their own insurance, repairs, and other expenses related to their business.
They may also perform a unique service that is not in the normal course of business of the employer.
This contrasts with employees, who usually work at the schedule required by the employer, and whose performance the employer directly supervises.
Independent contractors can also work for multiple firms, and offer their services to the general public.[3] The distinction between independent contractors and employees is not always clear, and continues to evolve.
For example, some independent contractors may work for a number of different organizations throughout the year, while others retain independent contractor status although they work for the same organization the entire year.[7] Other companies, for example in the freight transport industry, specify the schedule for the independent contractor, require purchase of vehicles from the company and prohibit work for other companies.[4] In July 2015, the U.S.
Department of Labor issued new guidelines on the misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
"A worker who is economically dependent on an employer is suffered or permitted to work by the employer.
Thus, applying the economic realities test in view of the expansive definition of "employ" under the Act, most workers are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act."[8][9] ...
the economic realities of the relationship, and not the label an employer gives it, are determinative.
Thus, an agreement between an employer and a worker designating or labeling the worker as an independent contractor is not indicative of the economic realities of the working relationship and is not relevant to the analysis of the worker's status.[8]Examples of occupations where independent contractor arrangements are typical: Independent contracting has both benefits and drawbacks to contractors.
Firms in the sharing economy such as Uber can gain substantial advantages via the misclassification of employees as independent contractors.[10] The employer of an independent contractor is generally not held vicariously liable for the tortious acts and omissions of the contractor, because the control and supervision found in an employer–employee or principal–agent relationship is lacking.
However, vicarious liability will be imposed in some circumstances: Due to the higher expense of maintaining employees, many employers needing to transition from independent contractors to employees may find the switch difficult.
There is a transitional status for employees as an alternative to independent contracting known as being a statutory employee.
Statutory employees are less expensive to hire than classic employees because the employer does not have to pay unemployment tax.
However, they are more expensive than independent contractors because Social Security and Medicare taxes must be paid on wages.
Similarly to independent contractors, statutory employees can deduct their trade or business expenses from their W2 earnings.[3] A growing number of workers do not neatly fit the government's categorizations of independent contractors and statutory employees, and are increasingly being classified as dependent contractors.
Some of these contingent workforce—independent contractors, temporary workers, and part-time workers, who work when and for how long they want, such as those who work for such companies as Uber, Handybook, Inc., and CrowdFlower—have filed lawsuits that argue that companies that substantially control workers' work and behaviors while working (such as at Handybook, Inc.: when to knock on customers' doors vs.
ring the doorbells, and how to use the customers' bathrooms) should be covered by minimum-wage and overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as receive other traditional employee protections.
Wilma Liebman, former chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board, has observed that Canada and Germany have such protections in place for contingent workers.
And UK Prime Minister David Cameron has appointed an overseer for freelance workers in that country, to determine how the government should support freelance workers.[16][17][18]
A Private military company (PMC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain.
PMCs refer to their staff as "security contractors" or "private military contractors".
Private military companies refer to their business generally as the "private military industry" or "The Circuit".[1] The services and expertise offered by PMCs are typically similar to those of governmental security, military or police forces, most often on a smaller scale.
While PMCs often provide services to train or supplement official armed forces in service of governments, they can also be employed by private companies to provide bodyguards for key staff or protection of company premises, especially in hostile territories.
However, contractors who use offensive force in a war zone could be considered unlawful combatants, in reference to a concept outlined in the Geneva Conventions and explicitly specified by the 2006 American Military Commissions Act.[2] There has been controversy over whether PMCs in active combat zones should be considered mercenaries.
The services of private contractors are used around the world.
P.
W.
Singer, author of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, says "In geographic terms, it operates in over 50 different countries.
It’s operated in every single continent but Antarctica." Singer states that in the 1990s there used to be 50 military personnel for every 1 contractor, and now the ratio is 10 to 1.
He also points out that these contractors have a number of duties depending on whom they are hired by.
In developing countries that have natural resources, such as oil refineries in Iraq, they are hired to guard the area.
They are also hired to guard companies that contract services and reconstruction efforts such as General Electric.
Apart from securing companies, they secure officials and government affiliates.
Private military companies carry out many different missions and jobs.
Some examples include close protection for the Afghan president Hamid Karzai and piloting reconnaissance airplanes and helicopters as a part of Plan Colombia.[3][4] According to a study from 2003 the PMC industry was worth over $100 billion a year at that time.[5] According to a 2008 study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, private contractors make up 29% of the workforce in the United States Intelligence Community and cost the equivalent of 49% of their personnel budgets.[6] Modern PMCs trace their origins back to a group of ex-SAS veterans in 1965 who, under the leadership of the founder of the SAS, Sir David Stirling and John Woodhouse, founded WatchGuard International (formerly with offices in Sloane Street before moving to South Audley Street in Mayfair) as a private company that could be contracted out for security and military purposes.[7] The company's first assignment was to go to Yemen to report on the state of the royalist forces when a cease-fire was declared.
At the same time Stirling was cultivating his contacts in the Iranian government and exploring the chances of obtaining work in Africa.
The company eventually operated in Zambia and in Sierra Leone, providing training teams and advising on security matters.
Stirling also organised deals to sell British weapons and military personnel to other countries for various privatised foreign policy operations.
Contracts were mainly with the Gulf States and involved weapons supply and training.
The company was also linked with a failed attempt to overthrow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi from power in Libya in 1971.
Woodhouse resigned as Director of Operations after a series of disagreements and Stirling himself ceased to take an active part in 1972.[8] Stirling also founded KAS International (aka KAS Enterprises) and was involved in a collaboration with the WWF to forcibly reduce the illegal poaching and smuggling of elephant tusks in various countries of Southern Africa.[9] Other groups formed by ex-SAS servicemen were established in the 1970s and 80s, including Control Risks Group and Defence Systems, providing military consultation and training.
Dramatic growth in the number and size of PMCs occurred at the end of the Cold War, as Western governments increasingly began to rely on their services to bolster falling conventional military budgets.
Some of the larger corporations are: Vinnell and Military Professional Resources Inc.
in the United States; G4S and Keeni-Meeny Services in the United Kingdom; Lordan-Levdan in Israel and Executive Outcomes in South Africa.
The exodus of over 6 million military personnel from Western militaries in the 1990s expanded the recruiting pool for PMCs.
Some commentators have argued that there was an exodus from many special operations forces across the globe towards these private military corporations.
Units that were allegedly severely affected included the British Special Air Service,[10][11] the US Special Operations Forces[12] and the Canadian Joint Task Force 2.[13] Finding work in the industry is not difficult for most former soldiers as their personal network of fellow and ex-soldiers is enough to keep them informed of available contracts.
In 1985, Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) was established in the United States, primarily to plan for contingencies and to leverage the existing civilian resources.
However, it was three years later before it was first used.
In support of a United States Third Army mission, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) used LOGCAP to contract for the construction and maintenance of two petroleum pipelines systems in Southwest Asia.
Later, USACE awarded the first contract under LOGCAP to Brown and Root Services (now KBR) in August 1992 as a cost-plus-award-fee contract, which was used in December that year to support the United Nations forces in Somalia.
Some contractors have served in advisory roles, that help train local militaries to fight more effectively, instead of intervening directly.
Much of the peacekeeper training Western governments have provided to African militaries was done by private firms,[citation needed] and with the increasing absence of Western military support to international peace operations, the private sector was commonly utilized to provide services to peace and stability operations from Haiti to Darfur.
The Center for Public Integrity reported that since 1994, the Defense Department entered into 3,601 contracts worth $300 billion with 12 U.S.
based various PMCs within the United States, specifically during the initial response after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Domestic operations are generally under the auspice of state or federal agencies such as the Department of Energy or the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense.
Driven by increasingly greater fears of domestic terror attacks and civil unrest and disruption in the wake of disasters, more conventional security companies are moving into operations arenas that would fall within the definition of a PMC.
The United States State Department also employs several companies to provide support in danger zones that would be difficult for conventional U.S.
forces.
The October 2000 USS Cole bombing proved a pivotal moment for private military companies at sea, and directly led to the first contract between Blackwater and the US Military [14] [15] In December 2006, there were estimated to be at least 100,000 contractors working directly for the United States Department of Defense in Iraq which was a tenfold increase in the use of private contractors for military operations since the Persian Gulf War, just over a decade earlier.[16] The prevalence of PMCs led to the foundation of trade group the Private Security Company Association of Iraq.
In Iraq, the issue of accountability, especially in the case of contractors carrying weapons, was a sensitive one.
Iraqi laws do not hold over contractors.
U.S.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld justified the use of PMCs in Iraq on the basis that they were cost effective and useful on the ground.
He also affirmed that they were not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.[17] Two days before he left Iraq, L.
Paul Bremer signed "Order 17" giving all Americans associated with the CPA and the American government immunity from Iraqi law.[18] A July 2007 report from the American Congressional Research Service indicates that the Iraqi government still had no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S.
government.[19] However, in 2007, the Uniform Code of Military Justice was amended to allow for prosecution of military contractors who are deployed in a "declared war or a contingency operation." PMCs supplied support to U.S.
military bases throughout the Persian Gulf, from operating mess halls to providing security.
They supplied armed guards at a U.S.
Army base in Qatar, and they used live ammunition to train soldiers at Camp Doha in Kuwait.
They maintained an array of weapons systems vital to the invasion of Iraq.
They also provided bodyguards for VIPs, guard installations, and escort supply convoys from Kuwait.
All these resources were called upon constantly.[5] Another area that saw a large involvement of Private Military Companies over the past decades was Somalia and the seas surrounding it.
While having less publicity and scrutiny compared to PMC involvement in Iraq, in the Western media, the role of the PMCs in this area should not be underestimated.
Up till today PMCs are active in this region to both provide support for the UN AMISOM mission, and provide security for private shipping organizations that sail through the Gulf of Aden.
At the seas the PMCs are hired to deter pirates from attacking vessels and taking the shipping crew and their transport hostage.
While, a large variety of international naval missions with the same goals (such as EU's Atalanta, NATO's Ocean Shield, and one by CTF 150) are and were active in this region, it is still necessary for the shipping companies to have security personnel on-deck.
This is a service that could almost solely be provided by PMCs.
While these PMCs seem to be successful in providing this de-centralized form of security, it also has a large downside since, inherent to its de-centralized nature, it is very hard for the UN or other international organizations to provide effective oversight over what happens at the seas.
Whereas, the UN showed that between 2010 and 2015 there were over 50 encounters between the national sovereign Navies, that participated in the missions, resulting in over 1200 detained pirates, only one PMC published information over this period.[29] Since the PMCs are so much more active in this area, and covering a larger part of it through it activities on board of trading ships, this seems to be a very low estimate.[30] PMC presence in Somalia is an example of two violent non-state actors at sea engaged in combat with each other.
By the end of 2012, the number of contractors who had died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait had reached 3,000.
Scholars have studied whether contractor deaths have an effect on the public's "casualty sensitivity" when substituted for military fatalities.[31] Casualty sensitivity refers to the inverse relationship between military deaths and public support for a sustained military engagement.
Contractor deaths may account for nearly 30% of total US battlefield losses since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[32] In October 2007, the United Nations released a two-year study that reported, that although hired as "security guards", private contractors performed military duties.
Many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are not signatories to the 1989 United Nations Mercenary Convention banning the use of mercenaries.
However, a spokesman for the American mission to the U.N.
office in Geneva (UNOG) said that "Accusations that U.S.
government-contracted security guards, of whatever nationality, are mercenaries is inaccurate."[33] As Martha Lizabeth Phelps points out, the difficulty separating private from public troops means that legal proceedings against these violent non-state actors can be complicated.
She claims contracted combatants carry the legitimacy of the state that hires these firms.[34] There is currently no globally accepted norms or legal framework applied to these firms.
The corporate nature of PMSCs (Private Military and Security Contractors) is a barrier to their accountability for violations of international law (Crow & John, 2017).
No international court has jurisdiction over these corporations and there is no preexisting mechanism in place bound by international law to account and manage for PMSCs use of force.
However, there are a few soft law instruments in which these corporations are held responsible to some degree of legal status.
One favorable argument for PMSCs is that they have the skills and expertise necessary to deploy in a short times notice with the ability to provide for a wide range of services (Malamud, 2014).
However, outsourcing does bring on the risk of a lack of transparency in the selection process of third party personnel.
In addition, the UN is held responsible to ensure a clean human rights record and maintaining a gold standard for missions that entail the use of private contractors.
Often, states do not have control over these operations.
In many cases, there are doubts to as if the work of private contractors does or does not fall within the boundaries of Article 47 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, as well as relating to the Protections of International Armed Conflicts 1977 amongst others (Karska & Karski, 2014).
Although, in 2012 the UN Department of Safety and security published a new policy in which oversees the use of armed private contractors.
Planning is also underway at the United Nations to prepare a convention dealing with PMSCs.
Establishing clear criteria is necessary to determine when it is permissible to use such companies and for what activities.
Criteria such as transparent decision making procedures, solid vetting and screening measures, as well as standard operating procedures.
The Central African based park-ranger organization African Wildlife Defence Force is contracting former servicemen and law enforcement personnel to protect national parks and private game ranches in Africa.
Candidates must undergo additional retraining to become a park ranger.
These are also referred to as Private Ranger Contractors or PRC.
The use of private security contractors by NGOs in dangerous regions is a highly sensitive subject.[51] Many NGOs have sought the services of private security contractors in dangerous areas of operation, such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan due to the following reasons:[51] Quite often the contractors hired are local companies and mostly are unarmed personnel guarding facilities, only very rarely are international contractors or mobile armed security personnel used.[51] However, there are a great many voices against their use who cite the following problems:[51] The result is that many NGOs are not open about their use of PSPs and researchers' at the Overseas Development Institute studies have found that sometimes statements at NGOs central headquarters contradict those given by local staff.[51] This prevents informative knowledge-sharing and debate on the subject needed to improve NGOs decisions regarding this issue, though there have been some notable exceptions (Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO) and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI)).[51] The Private Security Contractor fulfills many different needs in the private and public sectors.
While some nations rely heavily on the input of governments such as the US, other countries do not trust the US, so they tend to look for private contractors who will have a fiduciary obligation them.
According to Joel Vargas, Director of Operations for Contingent Security Services, Ltd and Assistant Director for InterPort Police, it will be impossible to build democracies without having the assistance from the private sector performing activities for clients.[citation needed] After the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Iraq, the U.S.
State Department is reportedly planning to more than double the number of its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000.
Defending five fortified compounds across the country, the security contractors would operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and even staff quick reaction forces to aid civilians in distress.
Its helicopter fleet, which will be piloted by contractors, will grow from 17 to 29.[52] Due to strain of United States Armed Forces, the U.S.
State Department and The Pentagon has also outsourced the expanded military training in Africa to three companies: Military Professional Resources Inc.
(M.P.R.I), DFI International and Logicon (Now owned by Northrop Grumman).[35] Demands for specific PSC services have grown to record levels in recent decades, and private firm's capabilities now include an array of services that are vital to the success of on-the-ground war fighting as well as other more traditional stability operations and contingency contracting.
While past calls for corporate responsibility have heralded successes such as the Kimberley Process and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in widespread international operations, there has also been a move within the PSC and contingency contracting industries to call for accountability and to implement a code of ethics for the retention of services and operations of such service providers.
Existing credible accountability initiatives form a skeleton for governing the conduct of contractors, but much remains to be fleshed out to form a coherent and standardized framework from which to oversee such organizations and activities.
Over the last decade there have been a number of initiatives to regulate the private security industry.[53] These include the ISO/PAS 28007:2012 Guidelines for Private Maritime Security Companies[54] and the ANSI/ASIS PSC.1 and PSC.4 standards.
Founded in 1955, ASIS is a society of individual security professionals dedicated to increasing the effectiveness and productivity of security professionals by developing educational programs and materials.
ASIS is an ANSI-accredited Standards Developing Organization, and within ASIS the ASIS Commission on Standards and Guidelines works with national and international standards-setting organizations and industry representatives to develop voluntary standards and guidelines for security professionals.
With funding from the U.S.
Department of Defense, the ASIS Commission on Standards is currently promulgating four sets of standards for private security companies.[55] PSC.1 – MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR QUALITY OF PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANY OPERATIONS-REQUIREMENTS WITH GUIDANCE[55] This Standard provides auditable criteria for quality assurance of Private Security Company (PSC) operations and services, consistent with pertinent legal and human rights obligations and good practices recognized in the Montreux Document and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers.
The development of this Standard was facilitated by the U.S.
Department of Defense through a consensus-based process.
The DOD was required by Congress through Section 833 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 to begin using business and operational standards in contracting and management of PSCs, with the intent of raising the overall standard of performance of these companies.
This Standard fulfills that mandate.
It has also been recognized by the American National Standards Institute and are achieving international recognition.
PSC.2 – CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT AND AUDITING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR QUALITY OF PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANY OPERATION[55] This Standard provides requirements and guidance for conducting conformity assessment of the Management System for Quality of Private Security Company Operations (PSC) Standard.
It provides requirements for bodies providing auditing and third party certification of Private Security Company Operations – private security providers working for any client.
It provides requirements and guidance on the management of audit programs, conduct of internal or external audits of the management system and PSC operations, as well as on competence and evaluation of auditors.
PSC.3 – MATURITY MODEL FOR THE PHASED IMPLEMENTATION OF A QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR PRIVATE SECURITY SERVICE PROVIDERS[55] Standard PSC.3 development is complete and has been approved in January 2013.
PSC.3 will benefit private security service providers in improving their quality of services consistent with respect for human rights and legal and contractual obligations.
It will provide a basis for managing risk while reducing costs, demonstrating legal compliance, enhancing stakeholder relations, and meeting client expectations.
The model standard outlines six phases ranging from no process in place for quality assurance management, to going beyond the requirements of the standard.
Criteria based on core elements of ANSI/ASIS PSC.1-2012 Standard can be used to demonstrate continual improvement and are compatible with rewards and recognition programs.
PSC.4 – QUALITY ASSURANCE AND SECURITY MANAGEMENT FOR PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANY'S OPERATING IN THE MARITIME ENVIRONMENT[55] This Standard provides guidance for PMSCs to implement the ANSI/ASIS PSC.1-2012 for private maritime security companies.
It establishes guidance on quality assurance in all security related activities and functions while demonstrating accountability to law and respect for human rights.
In 2008, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Swiss government, and contributors from private security companies and the civil society/NGO sector developed and proposed the Montreux Document on Private Military and Security Companies.
The document details international legal obligations and lists specific recommendations related to PSC services procurement practices and operational oversight, and clarifies the obligations of States pertaining to the hiring of such entities during armed conflicts.[56] Private military companies are explored extensively in the Metal Gear video game franchise, with several games (particularly Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) featuring the command of fictional PMCs.[57] In the video game storyline, which takes place in the 20th and 21st centuries, traditional militaries eventually collapse as the world becomes run by PMCs.[58] In Contract Wars and its sequels, Hired Ops and Escape from Tarkov, the armed conflict erupts between two fictional PMCs, the Russian BEAR and the western USEC.[59] In Marvel Television's The Punisher on Netflix a PMC by the name of ANVIL is heavily featured.
ANVIL's founder, Billy Russo, being one of the primary antagonists of the series.[60] Much like real PMCs, ANVIL provides training spaces for U.S.
forces on American and foreign soil.[61]
Mary Badham as Sport SharewoodJune Foray as Sport Sharewood (voice, outdoor scenes)Kim Hector as WittDee Hartford as Gloria SharewoodJeffrey Byron as Jeb SharewoodGeorgia Simmons as Aunt TTod Andrews as Gil Sharewood "The Bewitchin' Pool" is the 156th and last episode of the first incarnation of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone.
("Come Wander with Me", however, was the final episode to be filmed.) It originally aired on June 19, 1964 on CBS.
Right before the end of the introduction, as in a typical episode, Rod Serling appears on-screen and says: A swimming pool not unlike any other pool, a structure built of tile and cement and money, a backyard toy for the affluent, wet entertainment for the well-to-do.
But to Jeb and Sport Sharewood, this pool holds mysteries not dreamed of by the building contractor, not guaranteed in any sales brochure.
For this pool has a secret exit that leads to a never-neverland, a place designed for junior citizens who need a long voyage away from reality, into the bottomless regions of the Twilight Zone.After the opening credits are finished rolling, Serling, in voice-over, says: Introduction to a perfect setting: Colonial mansion, spacious grounds, heated swimming pool.
All the luxuries money can buy.
Introduction to two children: brother and sister, names Jeb and Sport.
Healthy, happy, normal youngsters.
Introduction to a mother: Gloria Sharewood by name, glamorous by nature.
Introduction to a father: Gil Sharewood, handsome, prosperous, the picture of success.
A man who has achieved every man's ambition.
Beautiful children, beautiful home, beautiful wife.
Idyllic? Obviously.
But don't look too carefully, don't peek behind the facade.
The idyll may have feet of clay.Sport Sharewood (Mary Badham) and her younger brother Jeb (Jeffrey Byron) live in a large, expensive house, but their parents are cold, ill-tempered, self-centered, and constantly bickering with each other.
While Sport and Jeb are sitting beside their swimming pool, Whitt (Kim Hector), a young boy in a straw hat, pops up from the deep end of the pool and invites them to follow him.
The children dive underwater only to come back up in a swimming hole bordering a rustic, simple homestead.
An assortment of children are playing in the yard.
In contrast to their lavish home of neglect and insults, they are welcomed and loved from the moment they arrive at this humble children's paradise.
There is only one adult there, "Aunt T." (Georgia Simmons), a kind and patient elderly woman who loves children.
She explains that she has many children there who came from parents who did not deserve them.
Sport and Jeb go home, for fear that their parents will be worried.
"Aunt T." advises them that they likely will not be able return as few children can find their way back.
But Jeb later returns to Aunt T's, and Sport is sent by her mother to go and find him because she has something to tell them about some decisions that are made that will make all their lives better.
Sport finds Jeb at Aunt T's but he refuses to go back.
Sport convinces him by telling him that their mother has promised everything will be better; he reluctantly agrees to return with her.
Back home their parents inform them they are planning to divorce and they must decide which parent they will live with.
The children refuse and dive back into the pool, and are able to escape.
When they do not reemerge, their father jumps in to rescue them, but discovers they have disappeared.
Sport and Jeb are now happily living with Aunt T.
Sport hears the distant and remorseful voice of her mother, but ignores it and focuses on her new life.
A brief epilogue for concerned parents.
Of course, there isn't any such place as the gingerbread house of Aunt T, and we grownups know there's no door at the bottom of a swimming pool that leads to a secret place.
But who can say how real the fantasy world of lonely children can become? For Jeb and Sport Sharewood, the need for love turned fantasy into reality; they found a secret place—in the Twilight Zone.This was the final episode of the original Twilight Zone series to be broadcast, though not the last to be filmed.
The last episode filmed was "Come Wander With Me", while, according to Marc Scott Zicree's "The Twilight Zone Companion", the reediting of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (including the addition of new footage of Serling) was the last episode "produced" before cancellation.[1] The last episode broadcast during the original run – as a repeat – was "The Jeopardy Room".
Numerous production problems delayed the premiere of this episode, which was originally scheduled for March 20, 1964.
Most noticeably, back-lot noise rendered much of the outdoor dialogue unusable – only the indoor scenes with Aunt T were considered audible.
The entire cast (except Aunt T) consequently re-dubbed their outdoor dialogue in September 1963, but Mary Badham's voice was still deemed not right.[2] Unfortunately, by the time this decision had been made, Badham had returned to her home in Alabama, and the cost of flying her back to Los Angeles to re-record her lines yet again was ruled to be too expensive.
Eventually, voice actress June Foray, best known as the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel in the Bullwinkle cartoons, dubbed Sport Sharewood's lines for all the scenes that take place outdoors (and sounding very much like Rocky).
In the finished episode, the change in Sport's voice is noticeable when she moves indoors, and Badham's own deeper voice and more authentic accent are heard in place of Foray's overdubbed voice characterization.
Another production peculiarity is that "The Bewitchin' Pool'" is the only episode of The Twilight Zone to open with a teaser scene that is repeated in its entirety later in the episode.
This opening teaser scene (which is well over two minutes in length) was not included in Earl Hamner's original episode script; it appears to have been included to lengthen the episode after some other footage was dropped.
Note that actor Harold Gould is listed in some sources as a cast member for this episode, but does not appear in any capacity in the finished production.
(In one account, Gould is given credit for having played a radio announcer, but there is no radio announcer in the actual completed episode.)[2] Other re-used footage in the episode includes an identical 10-second shot of Sport and Jeb swimming up to the foot of a tree on two occasions; Sport and Jeb's mother twice telling them in the space of a minute "Darn you loudmouth kids" – using exactly the same footage of her dialogue, as well as of the kids' reaction; and the first and final shots of various children playing in front of Aunt T's house.
Earl Hamner, Jr., got the idea for The Bewitchin' Pool while living in the San Fernando Valley region of California and witnessing an alarming divorce rate and the effect it had on children.
The episode was one of the first shows on television to really address the problem of divorce and bad parenting, and in part it represents wish fulfillment or escapism for children in such situations.[2]
Tarlair Swimming Pool opened in 1931 at the base of a sea cliff just outside Macduff in Banffshire (now Aberdeenshire) in Scotland.
This outdoor swimming complex was built in an Art Deco style with a main building backing onto the cliffs and changing rooms to its left hand side.
It was commissioned by Macduff Burgh Council in 1929, with the architect being John C Miller, the Burgh Surveyor of MacDuff.
The contractor for the project was Robert Morrison & Son of Macduff.[1] Since 2007 it has been protected as a category A listed building.
It is considered by Historic Environment Scotland to be the best example of only three surviving outdoor seaside pools in Scotland, the others being at Stonehaven and Gourock.[2] The design of the pool was a clever use of pumped sea water to fill the pools, and flooding of the main pool at high tide to flush out the old water.
The main pool had a diving board at the deep end and a child's chute at the shallow end, though both are now missing.
The second-largest pool was a boating pool with the two remaining pools being paddling pools.
The complex is now in some disrepair with a mixture of weathering, rock falls and vandalism being the main causes.
In 2010, a proposal was put forward for redevelopment of the complex as a lobster hatchery.[3] In 2012 a small group of local residents in the Macduff community created a "Save Tarlair" page on the social networking site Facebook, which drew the attention of over 7000 followers to the plight of pool complex.
A community group "Friends of Tarlair " has since been formed and is working with Aberdeenshire Council to try to find a way forward for the site as a community facility.
It has been announced that £300,000 will be earmarked for the refurbishment of the pools.[4] Channel 4 television made "Tarlair Outdoor Pool" the subject of the third episode of a series of six documentary films on "Britain's Abandoned Playgrounds".
The site also features in the Stuart MacBride novel, "The Missing and the Dead", when a child's body is found in the pool.[5] Coordinates: 57°40′16″N 2°28′12″W / 57.671°N 2.470°W / 57.671; -2.470
A Moon pool is a feature of marine drilling platforms, drillships and diving support vessels, some marine research and underwater exploration or research vessels, and underwater habitats, in which it is also known as a wet porch.
It is an opening in the floor or base of the hull, platform, or chamber giving access to the water below, allowing technicians or researchers to lower tools and instruments into the sea.
It provides shelter and protection so that even if the ship is in high seas or surrounded by ice, researchers can work in comfort rather than on a deck exposed to the elements.
A Moon pool also allows divers or small submersible craft to enter or leave the water easily and in a more protected environment.
Moon pools can be used in chambers below sea level, especially for the use of scuba divers, and their design requires more complex consideration of air and water pressure acting on the Moon pool surface.
Moon pools originated in the oil drilling industry, which uses them in drilling at sea or in lakes, to pass drilling equipment into the water from a platform or drillship.[1] Drill pipes need to run vertically through the structure or hull, and the Moon pool provides the means to do this.
Very deep Moon pools are used in underwater habitats—submerged chambers used by divers engaged in underwater research, exploration, marine salvage, and recreation.
In this case, shown in part D of the diagram, there is no dry access between the chamber and the sea surface, and the Moon pool is the only entry or exit to the chamber.
Submerged chambers provide dry areas for work and rest without the need to ascend to the surface.[2] This kind of submerged chamber uses the same principles as the diving bell, except they are fixed to the seafloor and may be called a wet porch, wet room, or wet bell.
Sometimes the term Moon pool is used to mean the complete chamber, not just the opening in the bottom and the air–water interface.
The alternative to a Moon pool in an underwater habitat is the lock-out chamber, which is essentially like a fixed submarine, maintaining internal air pressures lower than ambient sea pressure down to 1 atmosphere, with an airlock to enable entry and exit underwater.
Underwater habitats may have connected chambers with Moon pools and lock-out chambers.
Camp Arifjan is a United States Army installation in Kuwait which accommodates elements of the US Air Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard.
The camp is funded and was built by the government of Kuwait.
Military personnel from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada,[1] Romania and Poland are also forward deployed there.
Camp Arifjan is located south of Kuwait City, and west of the Shuaiba Port (Military Sea Port of Debarkation/Embarkation, or SPOD) and Kuwait Naval Base (KNB).
Camp Arifjan is divided into 7 zones.
Camp Arifjan is a US military installation used as a forward logistics base, Aviation Classification and Repair Activity Depot (Task Force AVCRAD) for the entire Southwest Asian Theater (through Patton Army Air Field), helicopter ground support base, and as a motor pool for armored and unarmored vehicles.
U.S.
military vehicles that did not receive new additional armor plating in the United States prior to deployment to U.S.
Central Command–tens of thousands–received their "up-armoring" at Camp Arifjan.
Additionally, many thousands of service members and contractors pass through Camp Arifjan either on their way to or from Iraq, Afghanistan or other countries in Southwest Asia.
The service members deployed to Camp Arifjan are in a variety of different statuses.
Many are on active duty and come on a one-year Permanent Change of Station (PCS), while some active duty come in a Temporary Change of Station (TCS) status.
Additionally, there are many Guard and Reserve units that support a variety of functions in the SouthWest Asia [SWA] theater that come on varied length tours.
Because of the Khobar Towers bombing of 1996 in nearby Saudi Arabia, the U.S.
Army decided to replace Camp Doha near Kuwait City with a base more protected from terrorist attacks.
In July 1999, the Kuwaiti government began constructing Camp Arifjan south of its capital.[2] Patton Army Airfield is the United States Army airfield, located within the camp boundaries.
Patton Army Airfield is run by elements of the Army National Guard's Aviation Classification and Repair Activity Depots (AVCRADs).
Organizational (AVUM), Intermediate (AVIM) and limited depot maintenance support is available via Patton Army Airfield and its corresponding AVCRAD elements to many United States military aviation assets within the Southwest Asian Theater (SWA).
The airfield is named in memory of General George S.
Patton.
The base has undergone many changes within the past several years, including the construction of half a dozen barracks, hundreds of "temporary" or transitional barracks, known as PCBs (Pre-Fabricated Concrete Buildings), three dining facilities, and the establishment of three base exchanges (AAFES), as well as a major addition of paved roads throughout the Camp.
There are approximately 9,000 personnel stationed at Camp Arifjan.
In addition, a number of foreign nationals also work at the base.[3] The facility is primarily staffed by US Army Contractors.
The base leadership continues to allow local and Third Country National vendors to set up small shops within the main PX lobby.
In addition to the permanent vendors, certain vendors are also allowed to set up large Arab-style bazaars on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Camp Arifjan has many fast food restaurants on site, such as: Pizza Hut, Charley's Subs, Hardees’s Burgers, three Subways, Burger King, Pizza Inn, Taco Bell, KFC, Baskin Robbins, Panda Oriental, Green Beans Coffee, two Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Cinnamonster.
There is also a large Chilli's restaurant[4] with 250-person seating capacity, as well as three Military Dining Facilities (DFACs), some of which serve four meals daily.[5] In addition, the camp - known colloquially by the initials "AJ" or as Camp Afri-jail[6]- is regarded by U.S.
military personnel as having the best recreational facilities of any Kuwaiti military installation.
The camp's swimming pool and three gym facilities make it the most desirable duty station in the country among foreign military personnel.
Recreation centers are located in Zone-1 and Zone-6.[7] Coordinates: 28°52′41″N 48°09′28″E / 28.878°N 48.1579°E / 28.878; 48.1579
I (Almost) Got Away With It is an American documentary television series on Investigation Discovery, debuting on January 12, 2010.[1][2] The series profiles true stories of people who have committed crimes, and have avoided arrest or capture, but ultimately end up being caught.
Many of these people escaped from prisons after being sentenced while others escaped jails they were being held in while awaiting trial.
Sometimes they are on the run as little as a few weeks before being caught while other times they remain on the run for years and in a few cases even decades.
While on the run, some of the fugitives do anything from robbing gas stations to stealing Crystal Gayle's tour bus.[3] Many others found a way to build a new life without committing new crimes and successfully remain in hiding for years.
The series was created by executive producer David M.
Frank of Indigo Films.
Most scenes were not filmed in areas that the stories took place.
Many outdoor scenes in this series are filmed at the company's studio on Treasure Island in San Francisco, in the middle of San Francisco Bay.
Other outdoor scenes were filmed in northern New Jersey.
The series has repeated on Discovery Channel and American Heroes Channel (AHC).
Academi is an American private military company founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince[2][3] as Blackwater,[4] renamed as Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after the company was acquired by a group of private investors.[5] The company received widespread notoriety in 2007, when a group of its employees killed 14 Iraqi civilians and injured 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad for which four guards were convicted in a U.S.
court.[6][7] Academi provides security services to the United States federal government on a contractual basis.
Since 2003, the group has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 2013, Academi subsidiary International Development Solutions received an approximately $92 million contract for State Department security guards.[8] In 2014, Academi became a division of Constellis Group along with Triple Canopy and other security companies that were part of the Constellis Group as the result of an acquisition.[9][10] Blackwater USA was formed in 1997, by Al Clark[11] and Erik Prince in North Carolina, to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations.
In explaining Blackwater's purpose, Prince stated: "We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service".[12] After working with SEAL and SWAT teams, Blackwater USA received its first government contract following the bombing of USS Cole off of the coast of Yemen in October 2000.
Prince purchased approximately 7,000 acres (28 km2) of the Great Dismal Swamp, a vast swamp on the North Carolina–Virginia border that is now mostly a national wildlife refuge, from Dow Jones executive Sean Trotter.
"We needed 3,000 acres to make it safe," Prince told reporter Robert Young Pelton.[13] There, he created his private training facility and his contracting company, Blackwater, which he named for the peat-colored water of the swamp.[14] The Blackwater Lodge and Training Center officially opened on May 15, 1998 and was headed up by Milo.
His real name remains anonymous.
with a 6,000-acre facility and cost $6.5 million.[13] The training facility comprises several ranges: indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions; an artificial lake; and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties.
The company says it is the largest training facility in the country.
The concept was not a financial success and was kept financially solvent by sales from sister company Blackwater Target Systems.[15] Jeremy Scahill has claimed that Blackwater Security Company (BSC) was the brainchild of Jamie Smith, a former CIA officer who became Vice President of Blackwater USA and the Founding Director of Blackwater Security Company, holding both positions simultaneously.[16] However, this claim is denied by Prince and Blackwater executive Gary Jackson who describe firing Smith from his position as a low-level administrator for "non-performance" after a 30-day contract.
Additionally, Smith has been accused of further embellishing his military and contracting record to defraud investors at SCG International Risk.[17] BSC's first assignment was to provide 20 men with top secret clearance to protect the CIA headquarters and another base that was responsible for hunting Osama bin Laden.[18] Blackwater was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S.
invasion of Afghanistan.
BSC was originally formed as a Delaware LLC and was one of over 60 private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq's new army and police, and provide other support for coalition forces.[19] Smith left Blackwater to start his own firm, SCG International Risk, in 2003.
Blackwater was also hired during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the United States Department of Homeland Security to protect government facilities, as well as by private clients, including communications, petrochemical, and insurance companies.[why?][20] Overall, the company received over US$1 billion in U.S.
government contracts.[21] The company consisted of nine divisions and a subsidiary, Blackwater Vehicles.
In August 2003, Blackwater received its first Iraq contract, a $21 million contract for a Personal Security Detachment and two helicopters for Paul Bremer, head of the U.S.
occupation in Iraq.[22] In July 2004, Blackwater was hired by the U.S.
State Department under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Worldwide Personal Protective Services (WPPS) umbrella contract, along with DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, Inc.
for the purpose of providing protective services in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Israel.[23] The contract applied for two years and expired on June 6, 2006.
It authorized 482 personnel, and Blackwater received $488m for its work.[24] On September 1, 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, Blackwater dispatched a rescue team and helicopter to support relief operations.[25] Blackwater moved about 200 personnel into the area impacted by Hurricane Katrina, most of whom (164 employees) were working under a contract with the Federal Protective Service to protect government facilities,[20] but the company held contracts with private clients as well.
Blackwater's presence after Katrina cost the federal government $240,000 per day.[26] In May 2006, the U.S.
State Department awarded WPPS II, the successor to its previous diplomatic security contract.[24] Under this contract, the State Department awarded Blackwater, along with Triple Canopy and DynCorp, a contract for diplomatic security in Iraq.
Under this contract, Blackwater was authorized to have 1,020 staff in Iraq.[24] Blackwater's responsibilities included the United States embassy in Iraq.[27] At the time it was a privately held company and published limited information about internal affairs.[28][dead link] Cofer Black, the company's vice-chairman from 2006 through 2008, was director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
He was the United States Department of State coordinator for counterterrorism with the rank of Ambassador-at-Large from December 2002 to November 2004.
After leaving public service, Black became chairman of the privately owned intelligence-gathering company Total Intelligence Solutions, Inc., as well as vice-chairman of Blackwater.[29][30] Robert Richer was vice president of intelligence until January 2007, when he formed Total Intelligence Solutions.
He was formerly the head of the CIA's Near East Division.[29][30] In November 2006, Blackwater USA announced that it had acquired an 80-acre (32 ha) facility 120 miles (190 km) west of Chicago in Mount Carroll, Illinois, called Impact Training Center.
This facility has been operational since April 2007 and serves law enforcement agencies throughout the Midwest.[citation needed] Blackwater tried to open an 824-acre (3.33 km2) training facility three miles north of Potrero, a small town in rural east San Diego County, California, located 45 miles (72 km) east of San Diego, for military and law enforcement training.[31][32][33][34] The opening had faced heavy opposition from local residents, residents of nearby San Diego, local Congressmember Bob Filner, and environmentalist and anti-war organizations.
Opposition focused on a potential for wildfire increases, the proposed facility's proximity to the Cleveland National Forest, noise pollution, and opposition to the actions of Blackwater in Iraq.[35][36] In response, Brian Bonfiglio, project manager for Blackwater West, said: "There will be no explosives training and no tracer ammunition.
Lead bullets don't start fires." In October 2007, when wildfires swept through the area, Blackwater made at least three deliveries of food, water, personal hygiene products and generator fuel to 300 residents near the proposed training site, many of whom had been trapped for days without supplies.
They also set up a "tent city" for evacuees.[37] On March 7, 2008, Blackwater withdrew its application to set up a facility in San Diego County.[38] In October 2007, Blackwater USA began the process of changing its name to Blackwater Worldwide and unveiled a new logo.[39] The change deemphasized the "cross hair" reticle theme, simplifying it slightly.[39] On July 21, 2008, Blackwater Worldwide stated that it would shift resources away from security contracting because of the extensive risks in that sector.
Said company founder and CEO Erik Prince, "The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk."[40] In February 2009, Blackwater announced that it would be once again renamed, this time to "Xe Services LLC", as part of a company-wide restructuring plan.
Subsequently, it reorganized its business units, added a corporate governance and ethics program, and established an independent committee of outside experts to supervise compliance structures.[41][dubious – discuss] Prince announced his resignation as CEO on March 2, 2009.
He remained as chairman of the board but was no longer involved in day-to-day operations.
Joseph Yorio was named as the new president and CEO, replacing Gary Jackson as president and Prince as CEO.
Danielle Esposito was named the new chief operating officer and executive vice president.[42][43] In 2009, Prince announced that he would relinquish involvement in the company's day-to-day business in December, along with some of his ownership rights[which?].[citation needed] In 2010, a group of private investors purchased Xe's North Carolina training facility and built Academi, a new company, around it.
Academi's Board of Directors included former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former White House Counsel and Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Jack Quinn, retired Admiral and former NSA Director Bobby Ray Inman,[44] and Texas businessman Red McCombs, who served as Chairman of the Board.[45] Quinn and Ashcroft were independent directors, without other affiliations to Academi.[46] In May 2011, Academi named Ted Wright as CEO.[47] Wright hired Suzanne Rich Folsom as Academi's chief regulatory and compliance officer and deputy general counsel.[48] The Academi Regulatory and Compliance team won National Law Journal's 2012 Corporate Compliance Office of the Year Award.[49] In 2012, retired Brigadier General Craig Nixon was named the new CEO of Academi.[50] A merger between Triple Canopy and Academi, along with other companies that were part of the Constellis Group package, are now all gathered under the Constellis Holdings, Inc.
umbrella.[9] The transaction brings together an array of security companies including Triple Canopy, Constellis Ltd., Strategic Social, Tidewater Global Services, National Strategic Protective Services, Academi Training Center and International Development Solutions.[10] In 2015 six Colombian mercenaries reported by local media to be employed by Academi were killed in Yemen.
The mercenaries were being led by an Australian commander believed to have been hired by the United Arab Emirates to fight the Houthi insurgency.[51] In 2016, Ali al-Houthi, former President of the Revolutionary Committee, a body formed by Houthi militants, reported that a Tochka missile hit on a Saudi-led command center in Ma'rib resulting in the death of over 120 mercenaries, including 55 Saudi (9 officers), 11 UAE and 11 foreign commanders of Blackwater on January 17 as well as other material losses.[52] Also in 2016, two hundred Sudanese mercenaries from Blackwater and their commander US Colonel Nicolas Petras were killed in Yemen in an attack by Yemeni forces on January 31 with another Tochka missile that impacted a gathering of the Saudi forces at al-Anad military base in Lahij province according to Houthi and Iranian sources.[52] Academi has a variety of services and product offerings.
United States Training Center (USTC, formerly Blackwater Training Center) offers tactics and weapons training to military, government, and law enforcement agencies.
USTC also offers several open-enrollment courses periodically throughout the year, from hand to hand combat (executive course) to precision rifle marksmanship.
They also offer courses in tactical and off-road driving.[54] USTC's primary training facility, located on 7,000 acres (28 km2) in northeastern North Carolina, comprises several ranges, indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions, a man-made lake, and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties.
Company literature says that it is the largest training facility in the country.
In November 2006 Blackwater USA announced it acquired an 80-acre (32 ha) facility 150 miles (240 km) west of Chicago, in Mount Carroll, Illinois, to be called Blackwater North.
That facility has been operational since April 2007 and serves law enforcement agencies throughout the Midwest.[citation needed] The training facility has since been renamed Impact Training Center[55] and once again has been renamed Hollow Training Center.
In 2011, the Pentagon contracted USTC to provide "intelligence analyst support and material procurement" for NATO in the ongoing Afghan drug war.[56] Academi offers tactical training for maritime force protection units.
In the past, it has trained Greek security forces for the 2004 Olympics, Azerbaijan Naval Sea Commandos, and Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior.[57] Academi's facilities include a man-made lake, with stacked containers simulating the hull and deck of a ship for maritime assaults.
Blackwater received a contract to train United States Navy sailors, which was managed by Jamie Smith, following the attack on the USS Cole.[58] It also purchased a 183-foot (56 m) vessel, McArthur, which has been outfitted for disaster response and training.[59] According to Blackwater USA, it features "state of the art navigation systems, full GMDSS communications, SEATEL Broadband, dedicated command and control bays, helicopter decks, hospital and multiple support vessel capabilities."[59] McArthur was built in 1966 by the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Company and served as the survey ship USC&GS McArthur (MSS 22) for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1966 to 1970 and as NOAAS McArthur (S 330) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1970 until her decommissioning in 2003.
The ship is home-ported in Norfolk, Virginia.[60] The company trains canines to work in patrol capacities as war dogs, explosives and drug detection, and various other roles for military and law enforcement duties.
Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was formed as a Delaware LLC in December 2001 and was the brainchild of Jamie Smith, a former CIA officer who was the Founding Director as well as acting Vice President of Blackwater USA.[61] The company, based in Moyock, North Carolina, is one of the private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq's new army and police, and provide other support for coalition forces.[19] The company was started to help train SEALS for combat.
However, in the aftermath of 9/11, civilian security teams were needed by the United States Military.[18] Before 2001, tier-one contractors, or former members of elite, special forces units, were hired from a small pool of applicants.
After the September 11 attacks, Cofer Black, the former head of counter terrorism at the CIA, requested that the federal government hire more contractors to operate overseas.
Eventually, the CIA realized that a large number of civilian contractors would be needed overseas to accomplish its broad goals.
The federal government turned to Blackwater for assistance.[18] Jamie Smith and his deputy David Phillips recruited, vetted and hired a 21-man team.
This team was then trained and deployed on a Top Secret project to provide protection for CIA personnel and facilities in Afghanistan.
Jamie Smith and Erik Prince deployed with the team to Afghanistan.
The two then deployed to the Pakistani border as a two-man element providing security assistance in one of the most dangerous places in the country at the time.
Prince stayed there for one week and was in Afghanistan for a total of two weeks, leaving Smith and the remainder of the team to continue to carry out the mission.[62] By 2003, the ground war in Iraq changed into a diplomatic mission, demanding hundreds of diplomats and State Department employees.
The government traditionally handles its own security, but it lacked the staff for high-risk protection details.
Therefore, a different type of protection was needed, and Blackwater would provide the solution.
Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince, says that "not one State Department employee was killed while we were protecting them."[18] Academi's primary public contract is from the U.S.
State Department under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Worldwide Personal Protective Services (WPPS) and WPPS II umbrella contracts, along with DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, Inc., for protective services in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Israel.[63][64] Academi provides and maintains a "shoot house" system and patented the BEAR multi-target training system that was designed and developed by the company.[65][66] Blackwater Target Systems company was managed by Jim Dehart and the company was largely responsible for keeping Blackwater Training Center financially solvent until the creation of Blackwater Security Company by Smith.[15] Force Protection Inc in early 2005 provided the first Cougar Security Vehicle (SV) to Blackwater USA for use as a transport vehicle for U.S.
Provisional Coalition Authority officials in Baghdad.
Academi operates and markets its own armored personnel carrier, the Grizzly APC.[67] Aviation Worldwide Services (AWS) was founded by Richard Pere and Tim Childrey, and was based at Melbourne, Florida, US.
It owned and operated three subsidiaries: STI Aviation, Inc.
Air Quest, Inc.
and Presidential Airways, Inc.
In April 2003 it was acquired by Blackwater USA.[68] Presidential Airways (PAW) is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Regulations Part 135 charter cargo and passenger airline based at Orlando Melbourne International Airport.
It operates aircraft owned by AWS.
Presidential Airways holds a Secret Facility Clearance from the U.S.
Department of Defense.[69] It operates several CASA 212 aircraft in addition to a Boeing 767.[70][71] Several of the MD-530 helicopters used by Blackwater Security Consulting in Iraq are also operated through AWS.[72][73] A CASA 212 aircraft, tail number N960BW, operated by Presidential Airways crashed on November 27, 2004, in Afghanistan; it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah.[74] All aboard, three soldiers and three civilian crew members, were killed.
Several of their surviving kin filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005.[75] In late September 2007, Presidential Airways received a $92m contract from the Department of Defense for air transportation in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.[76] STI Aviation focuses on aircraft maintenance, and is a FAA/Joint Aviation Authorities 145 repair station.[68] They specialize in Short 360, EMB 120, Saab 340, and CASA 212 maintenance.
As of January 2008, STI Aviation appears to have been folded into AWS, along with Air Quest.[77] Many of Blackwater's tactical and training aircraft are registered to Blackwater affiliate EP Aviation LLC, named for Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince.[78] These aircraft include fourteen Bell 412 helicopters, three Hughes/MD 369 "Little Bird" helicopters, four Bell 214ST medium-lift helicopters, three Fairchild Swearingen Merlin IIIC turboprop airliners, nine Aérospatiale Puma utility helicopters,[79] a Maule Air MT-7-235 STOL aircraft, an Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano counterinsurgency aircraft, and a Mooney M20E fixed wing aircraft.[80] Aviation Worldwide Services was purchased for $200 million in 2010 by AAR Corp., an Illinois company.
In a letter released on February 8, 2011, the new owners informed state officials that they are shutting down the Moyock, North Carolina, operation and moving some employees to a new business location in Melbourne, Florida.
Some 260 staff are affected with about 50 losing their jobs, beginning at the end of February.
The company views the aviation division as a growth opportunity.[81] In 2010, Greystone was acquired by current management.[who?] Greystone now operates as a standalone, management owned provider of protective support services and training.[citation needed] A private security service, Greystone is registered in Barbados, and employs soldiers for off-shore security work through its affiliate Satelles Solutions, Inc.[82] Their web site advertises their ability to provide "personnel from the best militaries throughout the world" for worldwide deployment.
Tasks can be from very small scale up major operations to "facilitate large scale stability operations requiring large numbers of people to assist in securing a region".[82][dead link] Erik Prince intended Greystone to be used for peacekeeping missions in areas like Darfur where military operations would need to take place to establish peace.[83] Greystone had planned to open a training facility on the former grounds of the Subic Bay U.S.
Naval Base, but those plans were later abandoned.[84] According to a company press release, Blackwater provided airlift, security, logistics, and transportation services, as well as humanitarian support.
Blackwater moved about 200 personnel into the area hit by Hurricane Katrina, most of whom (164 employees) were working under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to protect government facilities,[85] but the company held contracts with private clients as well.
Overall, Blackwater had a "visible, and financially lucrative, presence in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as the use of the company contractors cost U.S.
taxpayers $240,000 a day."[86] Academi (then Blackwater USA) was one of five companies picked in September 2007 by the Department of Defense Counter-Narcotics Technology Program Office in a five-year contract for equipment, material and services in support of counter-narcotics activities.
The contract is worth up to $15 billion.
The other companies picked are Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, OHI, and Arinc Inc.[87] Blackwater USA has also been contracted by various foreign governments.
The DEA and DoD counternarcotics program is supported by Blackwater Worldwide in Afghanistan as well.[88] "Blackwater is involved on DoD side" of the counter-narcotics program in Afghanistan says Jeff Gibson, vice president for international training at Blackwater.
"We interdict.
The NIU surgically goes after shipments going to Iran or Pakistan.
We provide training to set up roadblocks, identify where drug lords are, and act so as not to impact the community."[88] In 2008, about 16 Blackwater personnel were in Afghanistan at any given time to support DoD and DEA efforts at training facilities around the country.[88] Blackwater is also involved in mentoring Afghan officials in drug interdiction and counter narcotics.[89] As Richard Douglas, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained, "The fact is, we use Blackwater to do a lot of our training of counternarcotics police in Afghanistan.
I have to say that Blackwater has done a very good job."[90] The Obama administration awarded Academi a $250 million contract to work for the U.S.
State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan.[91] In 2005, Blackwater worked to train the Naval Sea Commando regiment of Azerbaijan, enhancing their interdiction capabilities on the Caspian Sea.[92] In Asia, Blackwater had contracts in Japan guarding AN/TPY-2 radar systems.[93] In March 2006, Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA, allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, that the company was ready to move towards providing security professionals up to brigade size (3,000–5,000) for humanitarian efforts and low-intensity conflicts.[94] The company denies making this claim.[95] Mark Manzetti, writing in The New York Times on August 19, 2009, reported that the CIA had hired Blackwater "as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda."[96] Newly appointed CIA director Leon Panetta had recently acknowledged a planned secret targeted killing program, one withheld from Congressional oversight.
Manzetti's sources, which tied the program to Blackwater, declined to have their names made public.
The CIA was acting on a 2001 presidential legal pronouncement, known as a finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts.[97] Several million dollars were spent on planning and training, but it was never put into operation and no militants were caught or captured.[97][98] Manzanettie notes that it was unknown "whether the C.I.A.
had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Al Qaeda operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance in the program."[96] Jeremy Scahill reported in The Nation in November 2009 that Blackwater operated alongside the CIA in Pakistan in "snatch and grab" operations targeting senior members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The report cited an unnamed source who has worked on covert US military programs, who revealed that senior members of the Obama administration may not be aware that Blackwater is operating under a US contract in Pakistan.
A spokesman for Blackwater denied the claims, stating that they have "only one employee in Pakistan."[99] Blackwater Worldwide played a substantial role during the Iraq War as a contractor for the United States government.
In 2003, Blackwater attained its first high-profile contract when it received a $21 million no-bid contract for guarding the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, L.
Paul Bremer.[100] Since June 2004, Blackwater has been paid more than $320 million out of a $1 billion, five-year State Department budget for the Worldwide Personal Protective Service, which protects U.S.
officials and some foreign officials in conflict zones.[101] In 2006, Blackwater was awarded a contract to protect diplomats for the U.S.
embassy in Iraq, the largest American embassy in the world.
It is estimated by the Pentagon and company representatives that there are 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, and some estimates are as high as 100,000, though no official figures exist.[101][102] Of the State Department's dependence on private contractors like Blackwater for security purposes, U.S.
ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker told the U.S.
Senate: "There is simply no way at all that the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security could ever have enough full-time personnel to staff the security function in Iraq.
There is no alternative except through contracts."[103][104] For work in Iraq, the company has drawn contractors from their international pool of professionals, a database containing "21,000 former Special Forces operatives, soldiers, and retired law enforcement agents," overall.[86] For instance, Gary Jackson, the firm's president, has confirmed that Bosnians, Filipinos, and Chileans "have been hired for tasks ranging from airport security to protecting Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority."[105] Between 2005 and September 2007, Blackwater security staff were involved in 195 shooting incidents; in 163 of those cases, Blackwater personnel fired first.[106] Erik Prince points out that the company followed the orders of United States government officials, who frequently put his men in harm's way.
Many of the shootings occurred after drivers in vehicles failed to stop when ordered by Blackwater guards.[107] The Iraqi Government revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq on September 17, 2007, after a massacre in which Blackwater contractors were later convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians.[108][109] The deaths occurred while a Blackwater Private Security Detail (PSD) was escorting a convoy of U.S.
State Department vehicles en route to a meeting in western Baghdad with United States Agency for International Development officials.
The license was reinstated by the American government in April 2008, but in early 2009 the Iraqis announced that they had refused to extend that license.[110] In 2009, FBI investigators were unable to match the bullets from the shooting to those guns carried by Blackwater contractors, leaving open the possibility that insurgents also fired at the victims.[111] In a 2010 interview, Erik Prince, the company's founder, said the government is looking for dirt to support what he dismissed as "baseless" accusations that run the gamut from negligence, racial discrimination, prostitution, wrongful death, murder, and the smuggling of weapons into Iraq in dog-food containers.
He pointed out that current and former executives have been regularly deposed by federal agencies.[112] Prince argued in September 2007 that there was a "rush to judgment" about Blackwater, due to "inaccurate information.” On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed two SUVs, killing the four armed Blackwater contractors inside.[113] Local residents hung the charred bodies above a bridge across the Euphrates.[114] In response, U.S.
Marines attacked the city in Operation Vigilant Resolve,[115] which became the first Battle of Fallujah.
In the fall of 2007, a congressional report by the House Oversight Committee found that Blackwater intentionally "delayed and impeded" investigations into the contractors' deaths.
The report also acknowledges that members of the now-defunct Iraqi Civil Defense Corps "led the team into the ambush, facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team's escape, and then disappeared."[116] Intelligence reports concluded that Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi was the mastermind behind the attack, and he was captured after a Navy SEAL special operation in 2009.[117] al-Isawi was ultimately handed over to Iraqi authorities for trial and executed by hanging some time before November 2013.[118] In April 2004, at the U.S.
government's headquarters in Najaf, hundreds of Shiite militia forces barraged Blackwater contractors, four MPs and a Marine gunner with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 fire for hours before U.S.
Special Forces troops arrived.
As supplies and ammunition ran low, a team of Blackwater contractors 70 miles (113 km) away flew to the compound to resupply and bring an injured U.S.
Marine back to safety outside of the city.[119] On February 16, 2005, four Blackwater guards escorting a U.S.
State Department convoy in Iraq fired 70 rounds into a car.
The guards stated that they felt threatened when the driver ignored orders to stop as he approached the convoy.
The fate of the car's driver was unknown because the convoy did not stop after the shooting.
An investigation by the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service concluded that the shooting was not justified and that the Blackwater employees provided false statements to investigators.
The statements claimed that one of the Blackwater vehicles had been hit by insurgent gunfire, but the investigation concluded that one of the Blackwater guards had actually fired into his own vehicle by accident.
John Frese, the U.S.
embassy in Iraq's top security official, declined to punish Blackwater or the security guards because he believed any disciplinary actions would lower the morale of the Blackwater contractors.[120] On February 6, 2006, a sniper employed by Blackwater Worldwide opened fire from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry, killing three guards working for the state-funded Iraqi Media Network.
Many Iraqis at the scene said that the guards had not fired on the Justice Ministry.
The U.S.
State Department said, however, that their actions "fell within approved rules governing the use of force" based on information obtained from Blackwater guards.[121] In 2006, a car accident occurred in the Baghdad Green Zone when an SUV driven by Blackwater USA contractors crashed into a U.S.
Army Humvee.
"The colonel ...
said the Blackwater guards disarmed the soldiers and forced them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle their vehicles."[122] On December 24, 2006, a security guard of the Iraqi vice president, Adel Abdul Mahdi, was shot and killed while on duty outside the Iraqi prime minister's compound.
The Iraqi government has accused Andrew J.
Moonen, a Blackwater employee at the time, of killing him while drunk.
Moonen was subsequently fired by Blackwater for "violating alcohol and firearm policy", and travelled from Iraq to the United States days after the incident.[123] The DOJ investigated and announced in 2010 that they were declining to prosecute Moonen, citing a likely affirmative defense of self-defense and high standards for initiating such a prosecution.
The United States State Department and Blackwater USA had attempted to keep his identity secret for security reasons.[124][125][126] Five Blackwater contractors were killed on January 23, 2007, in Iraq when their Hughes H-6 helicopter was shot down on Baghdad's Haifa Street.
The crash site was secured by a personal security detail, callsign "Jester" from 1/26 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division.
Three insurgents claimed to be responsible for shooting down the helicopter, although this has not been confirmed by the United States.
A U.S.
defense official has confirmed that four of the five killed were shot execution style in the back of the head, but did not know whether the four had survived the crash.[127][128] In late May 2007, Blackwater contractors opened fire on the streets of Baghdad twice in two days, one of the incidents provoking a standoff between the security contractors and Iraqi Interior Ministry commandos, according to U.S.
and Iraqi officials.
The first incident occurred when a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad.
The following incident occurred when an Iraqi vehicle drove too close to a convoy.
However, according to incident testimony, the Blackwater guards tried to wave off the driver, shouted, fired a warning shot into the car's radiator, finally shooting into the car's windshield.[102] On May 30, 2007, Blackwater employees shot an Iraqi civilian said to have been "driving too close" to a State Department convoy that was being escorted by Blackwater contractors.[129] Following the incident, the Iraqi government allowed Blackwater to provide security by operating within the streets of Iraq.[130] Documents obtained from the Iraq War documents leak of 2010 argue that Blackwater employees committed serious abuses in Iraq, including killing civilians.[131] On April 21, 2005, six Blackwater USA independent contractors were killed in Iraq when their Mil Mi-8 Hip helicopter was shot down.
Also killed were three Bulgarian crewmembers and two Fijian gunners.
Initial reports indicated that the helicopter was shot down by rocket propelled grenades.[132] In 2007, the U.S.
government investigated whether Blackwater employees smuggled weapons into Iraq.[133] No charges were filed.
On August 21, 2007, Blackwater Manager Daniel Carroll threatened to kill Jean Richter, a U.S.
State Department Investigator, in Iraq.[134] In June 2014, a New York Times investigation reported that it had secured an internal State Department memo stating this.
Richter later returned from Iraq to the US and wrote a scathing review of the lax standards to which Blackwater was held accountable, only two weeks before a serious Blackwater incident in which 17 Iraqi civilians were shot and killed by Blackwater employees under questionable circumstances.
The death threat incident was confirmed by a second investigator, a Mr.
Thomas, who was also present at the meeting.
The shooting incident that followed has been described by some as a "watershed" moment, and a factor which contributed to Iraq's later decision to refuse to allow US troops to stay beyond 2011.[135] On October 2, 2007, Erik Prince attended a congressional hearing conducted by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform following the controversy related to Blackwater's conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan.[136][137] Blackwater hired the public relations firm BKSH & Associates Worldwide, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, to help Prince prepare for his testimony at the hearing.
Robert Tappan, a former U.S.
State Department official who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, was one of the executives handling the account.[138][139][140] Burson-Marsteller was brought aboard by McDermott Will & Emery and Crowell & Moring, the Washington law firms representing Blackwater.[138] BKSH, a self-described "bipartisan" firm (Hillary Clinton, when pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination, was also a client), is headed by Charlie Black, a prominent Republican political strategist and former chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee, and Scott Pastrick, former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.[141] In his testimony before Congress, Prince said his company has a lack of remedies to deal with employee misdeeds.
When asked why Andrew Moonen had been "whisked out of the country" after the shooting death of the vice-presidential guard, he replied, "We can't flog him, we can't incarcerate him."[142] When asked by a member of Congress for financial information about his company, Prince declined to provide documentation, saying "we're a private company, and there's a key word there – private."[143] Later he stated that the company could provide it at a future date if questions were submitted in writing.[144][145] When the term "mercenaries" was used to describe Blackwater employees, Prince objected, characterizing them as "loyal Americans."[146] A staff report compiled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on behalf of Representative Henry Waxman questioned the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of U.S.
troops.
Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day per guard, "equivalent to $445,000 per year, or six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S.
soldier," the report alleged.[147] During his testimony on Capitol Hill, Erik Prince disputed this figure, saying that it costs money for the government to train a soldier, to house and feed them, they don't just come prepared to fight.
"That sergeant doesn't show up naked and untrained," Prince stated.
Moreover, he pointed out that Blackwater's employees are trained in special operations and exceed the capabilities of the average soldier.[147][148] In the wake of Prince's testimony before Congress, the US House passed the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act in October 2007 that subsequently led to the prosecution by U.S.
courts of some US military contractors, but only for incidents involving attacks on US nationals.[149] The legal status of Blackwater and other security firms in Iraq was a subject of contention.[150] Two days before he left Iraq, L.
Paul Bremer signed "Order 17" giving all Americans associated with the CPA and the American government immunity from Iraqi law.[151][152] A July 2007 report from the American Congressional Research Service indicates that the Iraqi government still has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S.
government.[153] On October 5, 2007, the State Department announced new rules for Blackwater's armed guards operating in Iraq.
Under the new guidelines, State Department security agents will accompany all Blackwater units operating in and around Baghdad.
The State Department will also install video surveillance equipment in all Blackwater armored vehicles, and will keep recordings of all radio communications between Blackwater convoys in Iraq and the military and civilian agencies that supervise their activities.[154] In December 2008, a US State Department panel recommended that Xe should be dropped as the main private security contractor for U.S.
diplomats in Iraq.[155] On January 30, 2009, the State Department told Blackwater Worldwide that it will not renew its contract in Iraq.[156] However, in 2010 it was awarded a $100 million contract from the CIA.[112] Regardless of these developments, Xe defended its work in Iraq.
A company spokeswoman stated: "When the US government initially asked for our help to assist with an immediate need to protect Americans in Iraq, we answered the call and performed well.
We are proud of our success – no-one under our protection has been killed or even seriously wounded."[157] In August 2010, the company agreed to pay a $42 million fine to settle allegations that it unlawfully provided armaments and military equipment overseas.
However, the company is still allowed to accept government contracts.[158] The settlement and fine conclude a U.S.
State Department investigation that began in 2007.
On September 23, 2007, the Iraqi government said that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts in connection with the Blackwater shootings.[159] However, on October 29, 2007, immunity from prosecution was granted by the U.S.
State Department, delaying a criminal inquiry into the September 16 shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians.[160] Immediately afterwards, the Iraqi government approved a draft law to end any and all immunity for foreign military contractors in Iraq, to overturn Order 17.
The U.S.
Department of Justice also said any immunity deals offered to Blackwater employees were invalid, as the department that issued them had no authority to do so.[161] It is unclear what legal status Blackwater Worldwide operates under in the U.S.
and other countries, or what protection the U.S.
extends to Blackwater Worldwide's operations globally.[162] A number of Iraqi families took Blackwater to court over alleged "random killings committed by private Blackwater guards".[163] Legal specialists say that the U.S.
government is unlikely to allow a trial in the Iraqi courts, because there is little confidence that trials would be fair.
Contractors accused of crimes abroad could be tried in the United States under either military or civilian law; however, the applicable military law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, was changed in 2006, and appears to now exempt State Department contractors that provide security escorts for a civilian agency.
Prosecution under civilian law would be through the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows the extension of federal law to civilians supporting military operations; however, according to the deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division, Robert Litt, trying a criminal case in federal court would require a secure chain of evidence, with police securing the crime scene immediately, while evidence gathered by Iraqi investigators would be regarded as suspect.[162] The Iraqi government announced that Blackwater must leave Iraq as soon as a joint Iraqi–US committee finishes drafting the new guidelines on private contractors under the current Iraqi–US security agreement.[164] On January 31, 2009, the U.S.
State Department notified Blackwater that the agency would not renew its security contract with the company.[165] The Washington Times reported on March 17, 2009, that the U.S.
State Department had extended its Iraq security contract with Blackwater's air operations arm, Presidential Airways, to September 3, 2009, for a cost of $22.2 million.[166] On January 31, 2010, three current and former U.S.
government officials confirmed the Justice Department is investigating whether officials of Blackwater Worldwide tried to bribe Iraqi government officials in hopes of retaining the firm's security work in Iraq after the shooting in Nisour Square in Baghdad, which left 17 Iraqis dead and stoked bitter resentment against the United States.
The officials said that the Justice Department's fraud section opened the inquiry late in 2009 to determine whether Blackwater employees violated a federal law banning American corporations from paying bribes to foreign officials.[167] In 2012 the Department of Justice closed the investigation without filing any charges.[168] In the March 2004 court case Helvenston et al.
v.
Blackwater Security, Blackwater was sued by the families of four contractors killed in Fallujah.
The families said they were suing not for financial damages, but for the details of their sons' and husbands' deaths, saying that Blackwater had refused to supply these details, and that in its "zeal to exploit this unexpected market for private security men," the company "showed a callous disregard for the safety of its employees."[101] On February 7, 2007, four family members testified in front of the House Government Reform Committee.
They asked that Blackwater be held accountable for future negligence of employees' lives, and that federal legislation be drawn up to govern contracts between the Department of Defense and defense contractors.[101] Blackwater then countersued the lawyer representing the empty estates of the deceased for $10 million on the grounds the lawsuit was contractually prohibited from ever being filed.[169] In January 2011, U.S.
district judge James C.
Fox dismissed the suit.[170][171][172] On November 27, 2004, an aircraft operated by Presidential Airways and owned by its sister company, Blackwater AWS, crashed in Afghanistan; it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah.
Three soldiers and three civilian crew members aboard the plane were killed.
Several relatives of the victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005.[75][173][174] On October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the 17 Iraqis killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16, 2007, Blackwater Baghdad shootings.[175] The suit, Abtan v.
Blackwater, alleged that Blackwater had engaged in war crimes, created a "culture of lawlessness", and routinely deployed employees who used steroids and other psychoactive drugs.[176] In June 2009, an amended lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, alleging that Blackwater employees shot and killed three members of an Iraqi family, including a
The following is a list of episodes from the 1955–1962 television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the 1962–1965 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
While Carl (Meeker) is at work, his wife Elsa (Miles) is apparently attacked and left traumatized.
Later, driving in town, Elsa points out a man as her attacker, so an enraged Carl kills him in his hotel room.
But moments later, Elsa, still mentally disturbed, identifies another man as her attacker.
Kim (Forsythe) returns home to the U.S.
from four years in Paris, hoping to reunite with his estranged father.
He learns that his father died four years ago, a fact that his brother and sister-in-law did not tell him.
Kim suspects foul play, but eventually learns that he is the one who killed his father, and he has been in a mental hospital for four years; his memories of Paris are just a delusion.
Cowboys Red (McGavin) and Dell (Barry) meet in old Maggie (Corby)'s roadhouse and threaten a shoot-out.
Maggie does her best to negotiate a peace, eventually convincing them to only shoot each other when the clock strikes.
When the clock mysteriously stops, the men take it to be a sign from God and leave peacefully.
The light-hearted ending is enhanced by an explanation of why the clock stops.
Financially strapped couple Frank (Blackmer) and Mildred Partridge (Gregg) scheme to have Mildred "disappear" for seven years and declared legally dead in order to collect Frank's insurance pay-off.
Insurance investigator Mr.
Kettle (Emhardt) suspects that Frank killed Mildred, and his constant hounding of Frank means that the couple cannot be in contact with each other.
The night before the seven years is up, Frank is visited by Mildred, who has moved on with life, and she declares that she wants a divorce and an end to the scheme.
In a rage, Frank kills her and buries her in his garden.
The next day Kettle apologizes to Frank for his assumption, and offers to help him with his garden.
Paris, 1899.
British Mrs.
Winthrop (Forbes) and her daughter Diana (Hitchcock) are on their way home via France, and check into a Paris hotel.
Mrs.
Winthrop is suddenly ill, and the hotel doctor (Mylong) sends Diana to his home for medicine.
When Diana returns, the front-desk clerk (Marsac) and other hotel employees claim to have no recollection of her, nor is there any record that the Winthrops were ever there.
Diana goes to the embassy, where her story is believed only by Basil Farnham (Toone).
Diana and Basil demand to see the room, which is very different from Diana's description, but Diana rips off the wallpaper, proving that there is a conspiracy at hand.
The cover-up is revealed to have been set in place by the French government, because Mrs.
Winthrop, who is now dead, had the bubonic plague.
Based on the Legend of the Vanishing Lady.
Lois (Gates) expects ex-con Dan (Barry) to kill her as revenge for her causing his brother's death.
Dan is surprised when Lois refuses to put up a fight, and seemingly has a change of heart.
He offers her a business deal, and Lois sets up a boutique, which after months of hard work is launched successfully.
Dan also convinces Lois's ex-boyfriend, Tim, to reconcile with her.
Lois, now happy and full of life, expresses her gratitude, but Dan reveals that he did all of it so that Lois would not want to die, and that now he can kill her with satisfaction.
Movie producer Mr.
Callew (Cotten) fires a long-time employee on the phone and scoffs at his crying.
Callew later gets into a car accident and is completely paralyzed.
He is assumed to be dead and is ignored by everyone, and only gets the mortician's attentions with his tears.
With a serial-murderer maid on the loose in the city, Ralph (Sloane) becomes suspicious of his and his wife Ethel (Ward)'s housemaid, Mrs.
Sutton (Bondi).
When Ralph gets violent cramps at work, he has his home cocoa analyzed, and it turns out to contain arsenic.
Ralph initially blames Mrs.
Sutton, until he learns that the serial murderer has been caught.
However, Mrs.
Sutton confesses to him her unhappiness at having had to lie for Ethel, who is having an affair.
Ethel, unaware of what Ralph has learned, offers him a cup of cocoa that she made for him.
Heavily indebted Charlie Raymond (Lawford) answers a newspaper ad placed by Walker Hendricks (Williams), who wants a companion for his road trip to San Francisco.
During their journey, Charlie learns that Walker is on his way to claim an inheritance from a family that he has never met.
Charlie kills Walker and takes his identity to present himself at the lawyer's office.
There he is met by a policeman, who informs him that the real Walker Hendricks was killed much earlier, and the man that he had killed was English Jim, another con man who had also been after the inheritance.
Albert Pelham (Ewell) has a paranoid suspicion that he has a double who is slowly taking over his life, and is better at it.
Pelham varies his schedule and buys a one-of-a-kind tie in the hopes of catching his double off-guard.
When Pelham returns home, his double is already there, and they are seen together by Pelham's manservant Peterson (Watson).
The double points out that Pelham is wearing an unusual tie, and when Peterson accepts that this means Pelham is the impostor, Pelham has a breakdown.
Stanley (Mantell) and Dorothy (Maguire) Crane live in the apartment below volatile couple Amelia (Evelyn) and Ben (Kemmer) Verber, and often hear them fighting.
After a particularly loud fight, Ben mysteriously vanishes, and Dorothy pushes Stanley to find out more.
Despite his skepticism, Stanley helps Sgt.
Halloran's (Simon) investigation.
They eventually discover that Amelia killed and hid Ben's body in the basement, and the reason the fight got so out of hand was because Ben was about to leave Amelia — for Dorothy.
Disgruntled ex-con Harold Sears (Fitzgerald) is hired as a department store Santa thanks to his parole officer, Clementine Webster (Gregg).
Sears loathes the job but his attention is caught by a cynical poor boy who wants an expensive toy and believes that Santa is unable to give it to him.
Sears steals the toy to give it to the boy for Christmas.
Sears is caught by the police, but Webster understands Sears' intent and has the charges dropped.
Lyle Endicott (McGavin) worms his way into the good graces of Martha Cheney (Collinge), a rich, invalid woman with a penchant for sculpture.
Lyle hopes to obtain her Cheney vase, which will fetch a high price on the market.
Lyle methodically cuts Martha off from the world in the hopes that she will die.
When Lyle's girlfriend warns the authorities about his plan, Lyle rushes to Martha's gallery to take the vase, but discovers that Martha has been working on dozens of copies of the vase, and now he is unable to identify the correct one.
When middle-aged Mr.
Stepp (Qualen) is suddenly fired, he shoots his boss Baldwin (Cabot).
Stepp is surprised when Baldwin is at work the next day as though nothing happened.
Baldwin's partner, King (Reed), convinces Stepp that he hallucinated the shooting, but King has actually hired a look-alike actor named Davidson to take Baldwin's place in order to close an important deal.
King and Davidson agree to stage Baldwin's "death" later, and in order to close all possible leaks, King forces Stepp to retire.
In retaliation, Stepp shoots and kills King.
Gangster Sam Dunleavy (Mathews) wants to murder his ex-girlfriend, Goldie (Michaels), so he has his friend Barney (Stone) arrange for him the perfect alibi.
Barney has it staged as though he and Sam are playing a game of poker in Barney's back room.
Sam sneaks out successfully, but is unable to kill Goldie when she claims that she is pregnant.
When Sam returns to Barney's backroom, Barney has accidentally shot himself, and Sam is arrested for murder.
Sam Cobbett (Cassavetes) has just broken out of prison and enters the house of Mary Schaffner (Pavan) while her husband is away.
Cobbett makes Mary cook for him, dismiss her neighbors when they come by, and pretend that everything is okay over the phone when her mother calls.
Cobbett believes that he can take his time, but the police suddenly arrive to arrest him.
They were tipped off by Mary's mother — Mary is deaf and should not have answered the phone.
Based on the Lizzie Borden murders, and set one year after Lizzie was acquitted for the murder of her parents.
Ambitious reporter Nell Cutts (Rowles) barges into the home of the Borden sisters Lizzie (Mathews) and Emma (Lorring) in the hopes of an exclusive interview.
Cutts' aggressive questioning causes Emma distress, but it turns out that Emma killed their parents, and Lizzie was merely trying to protect her.
Clarence (Harris) and Elmer (Qualen) are retired insurance agents, and hope to use their years of experience to save people that they believe will die soon.
Clarence has his sights of Mrs.
Shrike (Fleet), a boorish alcoholic who he believes has a death wish.
They try to advise her to change her life and fix her house, but this just causes her to lash out.
As the pair leave, they see Mrs.
Shrike's husband return home, and she is killed soon afterward.
Businessman Ralph Cowell (Reed) kills his silent partner, Alfred Sloane (Delevanti), in order to avoid paying what he owes.
The murder is witnessed by vagrant Peter J.
Goodfellow (Newton), who picks up Sloane's cigarette case with the IOU inside, and uses it to blackmail Cowell.
Goodfellow and his friend Fenton Shanks (Silver) move into Cowell's home, much to the disgust of Cowell's wife, Herta (Knudsen).
After months of Goodfellow and Fenton living with them and pawning almost everything in the Cowell home, Cowell is able to find the IOU and burn it.
Goodfellow and Fenton leave, but soon afterward a policeman arrives with a pawn ticket signed by Cowell for Sloane's cigarette case, tying Cowell to the Sloane murder.
Detective Krovitch (Bronson) investigates the murder of juggler Luke Ockham in a theatre.
His suspicions fall on John Fabian (Rains), a ventriloquist with a fixation on his female dummy, Riabouchinska (voice of Gregg).
Riabouchinska, seemingly acting independent of Fabian's control, insists on telling Krovitch the truth that Fabian killed Ockham, because Ockham threatened to expose Fabian and Riabouchinska's love affair to the world.
Riabouchinska declares she can no longer love Fabian and stops moving, while Fabian is arrested by Krovitch.
American journalist Mary Prescott (Trevor) is traveling on a train out of the Iron Curtain when she is befriended by local celebrity Jan Gubak (Bergerac).
Mary agrees to carry a luxury watch for Gubak, but during the customs inspection Gubak turns her in to officers for smuggling luxury items.
Mary is arrested, but released soon after when the watch is discovered to be fake.
Mary learns that Gubak is part of the underground resistance, and the charade was to enable Gubak to smuggle sensitive microfilm out of the country.
Gubak gives Mary the microfilm and urges her to write the truth about his country.
Ray Clements (Damon) travels to a monastery to get revenge on a crook who is taking sanctuary there.
Father Vincente (Sloane) advises him to choose forgiveness, and Clements is forced to leave.
Clements later kills the crook's partner in self-defense and takes sanctuary at the same monastery.
He tells Father Vincente that he no longer wants revenge, but the crook has already died.
Herbert Carpenter (Williams) and his wife Hermione (Elsom) are planning a long holiday in California.
On the day of their departure, Herbert kills his wife and buries her in the wine cellar, and then goes to California by himself.
While there, Herbert receives a letter that Hermione had arranged for contractors to excavate the wine cellar as a present for Herbert.
Brothers Paul (Hatfield) and Henri (Coolidge) plot to kill their Aunt Rosalie (Natwick) to inherit her fortune.
Paul has Henri grind glass into fine powder, and Paul adds it to the egg mixture that is supposed to make a soufflé for Rosalie's dinner.
However, that night Rosalie insists on eating something else, and the next morning Paul dies when he eats an omelette made out of the lethal egg mixture.
Couple Frank (Bronson) and Lorna (Crane) Branwell go to the mansion of eccentric Monica Laughton (Winwood) to rob her.
The plan goes awry because Laughton is crazy and wholly unresponsive to their threats.
The Bramwells become tired and frustrated, because they cannot find any money and there seems to be no food in the house.
In desperation, they eat a batch of freshly-made muffins, not knowing that they are filled with rat poison.
Laughton's fortune turns out to be inside a handbag that she carries everywhere with her.
Dead mystery writer Alexander Penn Arlington (Williams) is distraught when he arrives in Heaven not knowing who killed him.
His angel, Wilfred (Napier), returns Alexander to Earth to repeat his last day to investigate.
Alexander's assistant, nephew, wife and her lover all have motives.
In his study, he tells them all that one of them is planning his death.
His wife's lover turns off the light and Alexander is killed in the dark without seeing who did it.
Returning to Heaven, Wilfred points out that the killer must have trusted the person who turned off the light, so it must have been Alexander's wife.
Elderly Mr.
Crabtree (Qualen) is ordered by his boss, Mr.
X (Greene), to kill a man who will enter his office on a certain day.
Crabtree decides not do the task, but when a man enters his office at the expected time, Crabtree is so upset at the thought of losing his job that he ends up killing him anyway.
Shortly afterward another man, the correct target, arrives at Crabtree's office, but Crabtree has already received his payment for the murder and walks out.
Married couple Mark (Abbott) and Debbie (Gates)'s first anniversary is ruined when a portrait they commissioned is revealed to be of Mark's first wife, Jocelyn, who has been missing for five years.
Debbie believes that Mark stills loves Jocelyn and urges him to find the truth.
With the help of Mark's friend Jeff (Bailey), Mark tracks down the painter, Arthur Clymer (Baragrey), who claims to have been married to Jocelyn and killed her in a jealous rage.
Mark attacks Clymer, because he described how Mark killed Jocelyn five years ago.
Clymer is actually a police officer, and worked together with Jeff to get a confession out of Mark.
Antiques dealer Laurence Appleby (Harris) kills his wife in order to get her inheritance.
Since he still has debts, he woos and marries wealthy heiress Martha Sturgis (Mundy).
When Martha refuses to give him money, he tries to kill her, but she is prepared for him.
Martha and her lawyer have evidence that Appleby killed his first wife, and if anything happens to Martha, her lawyer will go to the police.
Appleby is about to comply with Martha's demands, but she accidentally falls and dies.
Karen (Thaxter), a recovering alcoholic, wakes up hungover and with no memory of the night before.
She slowly recalls attending a party with her lover, Jeff (Stevens).
Karen started drinking when she was told that her friend Renee (Allbritton) was trying to seduce Jeff.
Her last memory is of breaking a glass in her hand, and Jeff trying to help her.
Karen then learns that she is in jail for killing a man with a broken glass.
Sir Stephen Hurstwood (Clanton) offers a bet of $1,000 if Howard Latimer (McGuire) can stay the entire night in a supposedly haunted room of the Hurstwood mansion.
Latimer is given a gun, one candle, one match, and a book that describes the mysterious beheading of Julia Hurstwood in the room.
That night Latimer sees a ghostly headless figure and collapses in fright.
The ghost is a trick set up by Hurstwood for money, but Latimer becomes insane from the experience.
Lottie Slocum (Ritter) is the last person to have seen Clara Nash (Mathews) before she was strangled to death.
Lottie, who used to be the Nashes' babysitter, believes that Clara had it coming because she treated her husband Mr.
Nash (Newton) badly.
Lottie has feelings for Mr.
Nash, and hopes to please him by keeping his secret from the police — that he was at home the night that Clara died — but he kills her instead.
Clint Ringle (Mullaney) wants to marry schoolteacher Ellie Marsh (Hitchcock), but when she refuses him, he kills her fiancé.
Clint is hunted by the townsfolk and hides in the belfry of Ellie's school, planning to kill her when he gets the chance.
Clint stays in the belfry for a few days and feels smug when everyone assumes that he is long gone.
When Ellie's fiancé is buried, a man rings the bell for the funeral, causing Clint to shout in surprise and reveal his whereabouts.
Dana Edwards (McGuire)'s fiancée is killed in a hit-and-run, and he is unable to remember any details of the car involved.
Dana is approached by John Hurley (Harris), who claims to know how to encourage memory recall.
After many sessions, Dana is successfully able to remember the license plate of the car and tells the police.
He is then surprised to learn that John Hurley is crazy and not a memory expert at all.
Wealthy but plain-looking housewife Irene Cole (Dana) is pursued by playboy Prince Burhan (Bergerac), but refuses to leave her neglectful husband (Hewitt) for him.
When Burhan dies, Irene and her husband assume that he killed himself over his love for Irene.
Some time later, Irene's friend Randall (Clanton) learns that Burhan's death was an accident, and that he had pursued Irene for her money.
Randall decides not to tell Irene, because her marriage has much improved.
Mild-mannered Paula Hudson (Hussey) is apprehended by the police for owning a stolen mink coat.
Paula attempts to prove that she bought it, but to her distress the people she bought it from deny ever having sold it to her.
Paula is eventually approached by the man who stole the coat, and he steals it back in order to end the investigation, but ends up being arrested.
Gil Larkin (Horton) is upset when he learns that the woman he loves, Mona Cameron (Williams), is being abused by her husband Ben (McDearmon).
Gil confronts Ben in his office, but someone knocks Gil unconscious and shoots Ben.
Gil is briefly apprehended, but after he is released he goes to Mona and realizes that she set him up so she could be with her lover, Ritchie (Lewis).
Mona and Ritchie are arrested.
A murderer has killed two blonde women while they are alone at night.
Ellen (Ford) is terrified, but her husband Steve (Brodie) is dismissive of her.
While Brodie is at work, Ellen is scared and suspicious of various people that she meets.
She is only relieved when the locksmith arrives to fix a lock and chain on her door, but the locksmith turns out to be the murderer.
Richard (Homeier) and his wife Beth (Woodward) are about to be kicked out of their home.
Richard steals the money that his boss, Burroughs (Christy), owes him, and in the process accidentally kills him.
Richard becomes paranoid, and he overreacts and is shot when a financier comes to collect his debt.
While injured and possibly dying, Richard discovers that Beth met Burroughs the night before and got the money that was owed them.
Mary (Thaxter) begs her husband Arthur (Langton) not to go away on a business trip, but he refuses.
Mary is alone in the house when Ted Lambert (Grizzard), an escapee from a mental institution, breaks in.
The two develop a rapport, and Mary confesses that she is always been afraid except for when she lived with her parents, only her husband no longer wants to live with them.
After Ted leaves, Arthur returns home and Mary shoots him.
Mary then tells her father on the phone that she can return home now.
Pregnant housewife Mary Maloney (Barbara Bel Geddes) bludgeons her husband (Allan Lane) to death with a frozen leg of lamb when he says that he is going leave her for another woman.
Mary sets the scene to look like a struggle and puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook.
When the police arrive to investigate, they are unable to find the murder weapon, and Mary gives them the cooked leg of lamb to eat for supper.
In Las Vegas, a Gambler (McQueen) and a Woman (Adams) are approached by Carlos (Lorre), who proposes a bet on whether Gambler's lighter can light up ten times in a row.
If Gambler wins, he gets Carlos' convertible; if Gambler loses, Carlos will cut off Gambler's small finger.
The lighter works seven times in a row when Carlos's wife interrupts, revealing that Carlos is penniless.
Carlos's entire fortune belongs to his wife, who lost three fingers to win it from him.
Beginning with this season, the program was expanded to an hour and re-titled The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
This is a list of the heritage sites in Kimberley as recognised by the South African Heritage Resource Agency.
From its inception early in 1870, until about 1885, buildings were Type of site: Conservation area Previous use: Residential.
Current use: Residential.
The City Hall was designed by F C Rogers in the neo-classical style.
Immediately after the discovery in 1871 of the deep diggings on the farm Dutoitspan, later Type of site: Square.
The Market Square was the centre around which the City of Kimberley arose.
It was the scene of many important events in the history of the City and of the Republic.
C J Rhodes, J B Robinson, Ernest Oppenheimer, Harry Oppenheimer, Lord Kitchener, Gen French, Field Marshal Montgomery, Duke of Connought, Prince of Wales Historical Interest "The original building of the Kimberley Club, which was founded in 1881, burnt down in 1886, as did its replacement in 1895.
The present building, designed by the architect D.
W.
Greatbach, was completed in 1896.
It was extended in 191x.
Type of site: Club Current use: Social : Club.
The original building of the Kimberley Club, which was founded in 1881, burnt down in 1886, as did its replacement in 1895.
The present building, designed by the architect D W Greatbatch, was completed in 1896.
Diamonds were discovered there in the beginning of 1871.
Type of site: Chapel Current use: Religious : Chapel.
The chapel is proclaimed to be a monument to commemorate the pioneer work of Sister Henrietta Stockdale for the training of nurses and in recognition of the profession in South Africa.
During the remote geological epoch.
Type of site: Rock engravings/Glacial pavement Current use: Archaeological site.
The exposures on Nooitgedacht are excellent examples of glacial pavements and have been preserved.
Arlington House is a 58-metre high eighteen-storey residential apartment block in Margate, Kent, England.
It was built in 1964, it has 142 apartments, and was designed by Russell Diplock & Associates, developed by Bernard Sunley Trust, and built by the contractors Bernard Sunley & Sons.[1] The sides of the building have a wave-like design, providing both inland and sea views.[2] It was initially advertised as "Britain's first ‘park and buy’ shopping centre with luxury flats", incorporating a theatre, restaurant and rooftop swimming pool.[2]
The Jay Paley House is a large house at 1060 Brooklawn Drive, near the borders of Benedict Canyon, Holmby Hills, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills in Los Angeles.
It was designed by Paul R.
Williams for businessman Jacob Jay Paley (1885-1960) and his wife Lilian (1893-1954).
The 13 bedroom, 15,100 sqft house was built in 1935 on a six-acre estate.[3] Jay Paley and his brother Samuel were Russian immigrants who had founded the Congress Cigar Company, manufacturers of the La Palina brand, in Chicago in the 1890s.[1] The Paley family founded the Columbia Broacasting System (CBS), and Paley subsequently sold a substantial shareholding in 1928 for several million dollars.
He became a film producer in the early 1930s, and in 1934 founded JayPay Productions with film executive Walter Wanger in association with Paramount Studios in 1934.
He sold further CBS shares to Samuel Paley, his brother, and his nephew William S.
Paley to finance his film production company.
Paley and his wife Lilian moved to Los Angeles, and the house was commissioned.[5] Williams had previously designed a house for Jay Paley's nephew, William S.
Paley, at 200 South Mapleton Drive that was completed in 1934.
Paley subsequently invested in the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, which was also designed by Williams.
After Paley's death in 1961, the furnishings were sold at auction and the estate subdivided and developed.
[6] The house, retaining the pool & tennis court, sold for $475,000 (equivalent to US4,063,948 in 2019)[3] to Barron Hilton.[1] The businessman and hotelier lived at the house until his death in 2019.
The two storey brick house is designed as a modified H-plan,[1] made up of 32 rooms.[4] The northwest and southwest wings and center are extended to form an E-configuration from the flat facade.
The entrance door is framed with wooden columns and a pediment.
The rear of the house also has extended northeast and southwest wings, with a two-storey conical roof supported by columns summouting the semicircular southeast wing.
A central hall runs the entire length of the house from north to south.
A large living room is to the right, it opens to a small garden and ornamental pond.
The first floor is the site of the music room and the library.
The east side of the house contains the dining room, a breakfast room, and four maids rooms with a separate living room.
A private garden for the servants is located next to the service wing.[5] Writing in The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills, Jeffrey Hyland felt that the house marked a 'new direction' for Williams as "He started with the traditional English Georgian style and then gave the residence a thoroughly modernist spirit, creating a residence that was both traditional and contemporary".[5] The style of the house has also been described as Hollywood Regency and English Georgian.[1][3] The house was built by the building contractors O'Neal and Sons, at a cost of $100,000 (equivalent to USD1,864,806 in 2019).[1] The interior of the house was designed by Harriet R.
Shellenberger, her interior designs were removed in 1961 following Paley's death.[1] The interior was redesigned by Kathryn Crawford in the 1960s; Crawford's designs for the house were featured in Architectural Digest in September 1968,[7] including gold bathroom faucets across its 13 bathrooms.[4] After redecorating, Hilton displayed his collection of guns and model airplanes.[4] The house also has an 80-seat movie screening room and an elevator.[4] The swimming pool and the pool house precede the main house and were designed by Williams to a Classical design with landscape architect c.1932 and built by the Paddock Pool Complex.
The pool house contains a bar and grill and games room.
The success of the swimming complex convinced Paley to commission the main house from Williams.
The pool is known as the Zodiac pool as the base features the 12 signs of the Zodiac in blue, yellow and gold tiles imported from France with a sunburst design.[8][9] The pool house was featured on the cover of Architectural Digest in 1933.[1]
The following is an episode list for the ABC sitcom Who's the Boss?.
The series stars Tony Danza and Judith Light, and centers on a widowed ex-Major League Baseball player from Brooklyn who relocates to an affluent Connecticut suburb with his daughter to become the housekeeper for a divorced advertising executive, her son and her mother.
The series ran for eight seasons, debuting on September 20, 1984 and concluding with an hour-long series finale (part of a three-episode story arc) on April 25, 1992.
Pawn Stars is an American reality television series that premiered on History on July 19, 2009.
The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24-hour family business operated by patriarch Richard "Old Man" Harrison, his son Rick Harrison, Rick's son Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison, and Corey's childhood friend, Austin "Chumlee" Russell.
The descriptions of the items listed in this article reflect those given by their sellers and others in the episodes prior to their appraisal by experts as to their authenticity, unless otherwise noted.
Utawarerumono is a 26-episode anime television series based on the visual novel of the same name by Leaf.
The series aired in Japan between April 3 and September 25, 2006.[1] With the first DVD release of the anime on August 23, 2006, a short bonus episode lasting about seven minutes was also included.
The opening theme is "Musōka" by Suara, the first ending theme used for the first 25 episodes is "Madoromi no Rinne" by Eri Kawai, and the second ending theme used for the final episode is "Kimi ga Tame" by Suara.
The North American rights to the Utawarerumono anime were initially held by ADV Films for US$109,201 effective August 1, 2006,[2] who completed a full DVD release of the entire series.
In July 2008, Funimation announced that the license to Utawarerumono (and other titles formerly held by ADV) had transferred to them.[3] A three-episode Utawarerumono original video animation (OVA) series was developed by the creators of the anime.
These episodes focus on side stories from the game which were not covered in the TV series.
The first OVA was released on June 5, 2009.
The OVA's opening theme is "Adamant Faith" by Suara and its ending theme is "Yume no Tsuzuki" by Rena Uehara.
In the first OVA, the episode focuses mainly on Urutori's relationship with the child rescued from Niwe's attack, and how she refuses to give up the child to another family, going so far as to attack her friends.
Fame is an American musical drama television series which premiered on NBC on January 7, 1982.
The series is based on the 1980 film of the same name.
In 1983, the series entered syndication, for which it remained until its conclusion in 1987.
Six seasons and 136 episodes have been aired.
The series is available on DVD.
Season One was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on November 1, 2005 and is now out of print.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment acquired the rights to release the series under license from MGM and released Seasons One & Two in a box set on September 15, 2009.
Both releases were made available as individual sets on January 12, 2010 via 20th Century Fox.
As of yet, there have been no plans to release the remaining seasons.
The following are a list of episodes.
Auditions introduce the School of the Arts main characters; oddball Julie Miller, funny Garcy, haughty diva Coco Hernandez, awkward misfit Montgomery McNeil, naïve loudmouth Doris Schwartz, reclusive Bruno Martelli and street smart Leroy Johnson.
The teachers are dance instructor Lydia Grant, English teacher Elizabeth Sherwood and music teacher Benjamin Shorofsky.
Songs: "Miles from Here", "Take Me", "Fame", "Red Light" Lydia's old boyfriend, Robert, offers her a part in a show and teaches Coco a lesson in the process when she applies for the "ethnic actress" part.
Danny learns Johnny Carson is expected to dine at Danny's favorite restaurant, so he gets a job there.
*The song "I Still Believe In Me", performed by Erica Gimpel and Debbie Allen and co-written by Gary Portnoy (co writer of "Cheers" theme song) was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Original Song.
Songs: "The Show Must Go On", "I Still Believe In Me" A school board evaluation involves observing and interviewing students about their priorities.
Head inspector Melendez decides a gym is necessary, leading to a cardio contest between football players and the dancers.
Leroy's estranged older brother Willard, just released from jail, moves in...bringing a gun, leading to Leroy's arrest while trying to dispose of it.
Songs: "I Can Do Anything Better Than You Can", "Come What May" The School of the Arts 7th annual benefit has Montgomery running the auditions and show.
Coco tries unsuccessfully to get performance shy Bruno to perform at the event, so Mr.
Shorofsky changes his student proficiency tests to be performed in front of the class and addresses Bruno's fear.
Danny shows bad sportsmanship when he fails to earn a place in the performance while Leroy's academic grades eliminate his performing.
At the benefit a brown-out gives elevator trapped Danny and Doris a deeper understanding of each other.
Songs: "Alone in the Crowd", "We Got the Power To Be" Dance major Kathleen's audition for the Ran Tyler dancer troop causes Miss Grant to ask Bruno for an original piece, but Bruno and Kathleen can't agree on the music concept.
Kathleen falls and her audition is postponed due to the minor injury.
Her prior diagnosis of multiple sclerosis causes the insurance company to decide to remove her from the school.
Doris tells Bruno about Kathleen's impending removal when Bruno and Kathleen become romantically involved.
Leroy fills in for Kathleen, then fakes an injury to make a place for her return.
Danny doesn't want to perform a love scene with tall Julie, so the kids stage the scene to get around Danny's height issue.
Songs: "Be My Music", "Ballet for Kathy" (instrumental) Coco's authoritative teaching methods while instructing the dance class choreography mid-term upsets her peers.
Mister Shorofsky chooses Julie to play in the ensemble for Coco's project, so jealous Coco torments Julie during rehearsals and blames it on astrology.
Bruno promises an original lullaby for his cousin's birthday, but gets too busy.
Mr.
Martelli causes a small fire in one of Bruno's synthesizers, so he buys a new expensive synthesizer but must work extra shifts to pay for it, resulting in a fatigue injury.
Bruno secretly gets a part-time job with a polka band and finishes the lullaby.
Songs: "It's Sonata Mozart" (instrumental), "Could We Be Magic Like You", "Hi-Fidelity" Montgomery is stage manager for the school production of "Othello," but a pending union strike makes faculty involvement questionable.
Coco, believing she's the better actress, is upset when Julie gets the part of Desdemona.
Mr.
Shorofsky supervises the music, but he and Bruno disagree on the direction of the score.
Both Mr.
Shorofsky and Miss Grant are opposed to the strike, but all the teachers are expected to picket.
Montgomery unites the students and Coco volunteers to help with choreography, but Leroy fears Shakespearian literature and drops his lead role.
Bruno struggles with the music, an early rehearsal proves disastrous and Leroy's absence is a problem.
Leroy gets private tutoring from Miss Sherwood, Mr.
Shorofsky approves of Bruno's composition and the production is a success.
Songs: "Desdemona", "Starmaker" When Mr.
Crandall's assignment requires an improv scene portraying a character far removed from themselves, Doris pretends to be a teenage prostitute to "research" her role.
She discovers a real 16-year-old prostitute, Tracy, and convinces her mom to take Tracy in after their arrest.
Doris convinces the staff to allow Tracy an audition that goes badly and then Doris convinces the runaway to call her parents and performs her enlightening improv piece.
Mr.
Shorofsky buys a classic car and asks Miss Sherwood to teach him to drive.
Songs: "Life is a Celebration" Danny's attitude and performance have dwindled and the staff discover he's been working early mornings as the stage manager at a late night comedy club.
The club's star comedian gives Danny caffeine pills as a "gift" and the overwhelmed Danny turns to the drugs before performing.
His work violates the no professional work clause of the school and endangers his education.
Danny's father ignores the drugs until the kids intrude on his Saint Anthony Lodge event.
Doris wins the part in a commercial for Hank Burgers, but detests both the director and the burgers.
Songs: "Come What May", "Step Up to the Mike" Montgomery's movie star mother is directing the school's variety show but wants to use it for herself.
Songs: "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" (instrumental) Doris and Montgomery agree to tell the truth for an entire day.
Doris' suggestion that Michelle has big hips makes her insecure and Doris reveals to Miss Sherwood that Miss Grant doubts her ability to perform an African tribal dance, resulting in the teachers trading places.
Montgomery reveals to Mr.
Shorofsky that the class didn't practice their assignment.
Everyone puts their petty differences aside when Mr.
Shorofsky is attacked by an intruder in the school and the show is reworked so as not to dishonour him.
Songs: "I Was Only Trying To Help", "Carnival" Julie's mom is apprehensive about job hunting, causing Julie to be replaced by a mannequin when she fails to attend rehearsal.
Miss Sherwood's graduate student, Jeff Harris, has a hidden agenda and becomes romantically involved with Julie, claiming he's only writing an article about her move from Grand Rapids to New York City.
Julie's mom learns after she's being hired her as a numbers' runner and Julie discovers Jeff is scheming to scandalize both Julie and the school, resulting in the two contemplating moving back to Grand Rapids.
Songs: "Mannequin", "It's Gonna Be A Long Night" Miss Sherwood overhears Leroy asking Danny to let him copy his assignment and asks his parents to come in.
She finally goes to Leroy's house to confront them and excuses him when she learns he lives in a meager apartment alone.
Miss Grant chastises her and says to challenge him again for his own sake.
Bruno composes a mindless song parodying Mr.
Shorofsky to prove popular music is noise, but Montgomery secretly records the song and submits it to a local new wave band.
With a flimsy record contract possible, the gang expresses its concern with Montgomery's exploitation of Bruno just when Mr.
Shorofcky makes Bruno realize that he shouldn't compromise his integrity for money.
Songs: "Sho Sho Sho Shorofsky", "Do The Gimme That" After finishing her morning jog, Miss Sherwood discovers a dog in the school with the janitor Tim.
When she asks him of the dog's whereabouts, he denies seeing a dog.
We learn shortly that he is indeed aware of the animal.
Doris' allergies act up in the presence of dogs or people who have been around them confirming Miss Sherwood's discovery of a dog in the school.
Miss Sherwood confronts Tim who gets upset by the accusation of being a liar.
Curious, Doris gets Bruno and Danny to try to find where the dog is being kept.
They discover old Broadway dancer Birdie Whelan has been living in the janitor's quarters after falling short of his rent.
He's the owner of the dog and old dance rival Tim has been hiding him there.
The kids decide to keep their secret to spare Tim's job and Birdie's living space but of course in the school of the arts, that doesn't happen.
They plan a benefit to raise money for the two.
The kids arrange a benefit for Tim and Birdie but Miss Sherwood informs them that they would be expelled for courting favour for an employee.
Determined to do the benefit, Doris revamps the benefit as a fundraiser for Clumpy, the dog.
On a lighter note, Birdie is aware of Leroy's dancing talents and encourages him to listen to Miss Grant.
Meanwhile, Mr.
Shorofsky has order a table tennis table in which he plans to move into Miss Grant's classroom.
Mr.
Shorofsky creams Julie and Mr.
Crandall and breaches his agreement to store the table against the wall.
Miss Grant sets up a match between Mr.
Shorofsky and Lang Peyton-Smythe, a neighbour of hers, and she defeats him.
Songs: "We're A Couple of Swells", "You're the Real Music" Mr.
Shorofsky's old girlfriend, and survivor of the Holocaust decides to pay him a visit.
Leroy wants his mother to be present for parents' day, but neither of them can afford to have her flown in from Detroit.
The gang decides to surprise Leroy.
Songs: "Hope" When Bruno learns that a famous composer stole his original music, he decides to find and confront him.
Budget cutbacks call for the termination of one of the school's teachers: either Sherwood or Crandall.
Crandall gets cut, but the teachers meet with city board representatives to offer putting off their raises in order to keep Crandall.
The kids gather around Crandall at his goodbye party and sing "Starmaker." Crandall's job is saved for one year in exchange for the school not getting approved new lighting in the auditorium.
To celebrate, the kids sing and dance to "Hot Lunch" (played in the original film).
Coco does not appear in this episode.
Songs: "A Very Special Place", "Starmaker", "Hot Lunch Jam" When Bruno's script is chosen for the school production, he finds he may have bitten off more than he can chew when he can't decide whom to cast.
Problems arise when Bruno casts himself in the lead role.
Coco finds difficulty trying to get along with Troy Phillips, a disabled new student.
Julie is given the impression that her dad is considering a reconciliation with her mother only to find that her father plans to marry another woman.
After losing his part as the lead in a school production for repeated tardiness, Leroy considers dropping out of school to join a dance troupe.
A famous dancer, who happens to be in town preparing for a show, charms Lydia and is invited to the school as a guest speaker to give the kids some insight into being famous.
When Lydia begins a relationship with him, she has to deal with the downside of his lavish lifestyle.
Bruno has to choose between Shorofsky and his father's wishes when he's offered a chance to audition for a scholarship to Juilliard.
Lydia butts heads with her employer Richard Simmons at her new second time job as an aerobics teacher.
Leroy's girlfriend, Stephanie, and the rest of the gang suspect that their ballet teacher is racist.
Miss Grant confirms this when she confronts the teacher.
Bruno is chosen to escort the new kid, a young musical prodigy, around the school.
Jim Hamilton, a blind substitute teacher, interferes with Lydia's preparations for a school performance that members of the school board are expected to attend.
Coco auditions for a major film role.
Doris, influenced by Coco's many successes, goes on a crash diet in an attempt to be one step closer to perfect.
Coco is being pressured by her boyfriend to have sex.
As he's preparing to join the Navy, Coco tries to get him to go back to school.
When Miss Sherwood finds blacked out words in her student, Jennie's book, she learns that her student is a victim of censorship under her stepfather's ruling.
After the recent death of her grandmother, Coco questions her ambitions to be a performer.
When Julie's cello goes missing, the gang decides help her find it.
When Doris unexpectedly runs into her estranged brother at school, she sets out to reunite him and their father after years of not speaking to each other.
When Mrs.
Berg mistakenly invites Lydia's old ballet teacher to a school performance, Lydia incorporates ballet moves into her Jazz routine in order to impress her former teacher.
Danny has a hard time dealing with the sudden death of his favorite teacher, Mr.
Crandall.
David's father tries to renew their relationship after David makes it clear he wants nothing to do with him.
Co-starring Stuart Charno (as Clerk), Andrew Ethier (as Lester), Thomas McGreevey (as Tom Reardon), Co-starring Ann Nelson (as Mrs.
Berg), David Greenlee (as Dwight), Stephanie E.
Williams (as Stephanie Harrison), and Bronwyn Thomas (as Michelle).
Bruno, Leroy and Doris scheme their way into a country and western dance club in an attempt to put a new spin on their school production of "Romeo and Juliet." Doris meets and falls for a regular performer at the bar.
Bruno starts seeing a 30-year-old waitress from the bar.
Miss Sherwood hooks up with a man through a dating service.
Leroy is at risk of being failed out of school when he doesn't turn in his report.
Leroy discovers he's being followed around school by a little boy.
With the help of the talented dancing little boy and his father, a former tap dancer himself, Leroy comes up with the idea to base his report on the life of the former dancer.
A television commercial actor is brought in to give advice to the students.
Bruno's father is troubled by the thought of aging as his birthday nears.
Bruno and Shorofsky promise the dress rehearsal for a school show to different people.
Doris is uncomfortable with her grandmother moving in with her and her family.
Nia Peeples appears as a guest star here playing another character, but would return in Season 4 in the starring role of Nicole Chapman.
Troy Phillips, who has a crush on Julie, tells everyone at school that they slept together after a night of studying ended with the two fast asleep on the couch at Troy's place.
After Mr.
Reardon's old college friend, a sleezy reporter, stays with him for a short time, a picture of Mr.
Reardon in a speedo on his water polo team comes out in a gossip tabloid.
Miss Sherwood challenges Bruno to create art solely with a computer.
Bruno willingly accepts the challenge until he learns that the computer was brought in to replace Mrs.
Berg.
Leroy suggests that they hide the computer and when the computer goes missing, Leroy is blamed.
Preparations for "Friendship Day" at the school have everyone on edge.
With Doris in charge, her domineering behaviour turns the student body against her.
Julie's mother and Bruno's father think that Bruno and Julie are planning to have sex.
Miss Sherwood has Doris pulled from the school revue when her midterm essay doesn't turn up.
Doris insists she's submitted it but her protests fall on deaf ears.
Angered, Doris slips, bumps her head on a step, and dreams she's entered the "Land of Oz" with Miss Sherwood as the Wicked Witch, Miss Grant as the Good Witch, Leroy, Danny, and Bruno play the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin man, and Mr.
Shorofsky plays the Wizard of Oz.
Contains excerpts from the Fame cast's live concert billed as The Kids from Fame in the United Kingdom.
Note: This episode is not featured on the DVD of Fame, Season 2.
After a hallway of school lockers is vandalized, Dwight finds a suicide note.
Doris tries to enlist her friends to help her find the author of the note.
Lydia blackmails Leroy and Danny into assisting her friend Brother Timothy in order to be a part of the school's Alumni production alongside a famous Alumnus.
It turns out that the help he was looking for was a coach for his church basketball team.
When the dates for the dress rehearsal for the show and the game conflict the boys are torn between the team and the production.
The school hosts "U.N.
Week" with Emerson High School and the kids find getting along to be difficult as the kids from Emerson High act snobbishly toward them.
As Lydia secretly helps Mr.
Reardon prepare for an audition, rumours start to spread of an affair between the pair.
Note: Danny Amatullo does a hand gesture in front of his partner, but the gesture is unseen and when his partner is about to reveal what the hand gesture was, the screen is frozen and Ms.
Sherwood speaks up.
The show takes place at the start of the new school year.
When Bruno's father unexpectedly dies, he is forced to drop out of school with no means of funding his schooling.
Two new students Christopher Donlan, a dance major, and Holly Laird, a drama major, immediately find difficulty being accepted most notably by their more seasoned competition, Leroy and Doris.
Quentin Morloch, the new vice-principal, takes over with the intent to rule with an iron fist.
Coco, Danny and Doris find out that even though her mother still lives in New York City, Julie is married and now lives in Texas.
After Bruno leaves school, Mr.
Shorofsky finds him a job as a waiter at "Caruso's," a coffee house where Bruno is free to play his music.
Leroy and Christopher decide to settle their feud with a fist fight.
With Bruno's friends ready to help welcome Bruno at his new job, Doris is unwilling to take part in the celebration.
When Miss Grant decides to downgrade Christopher to a different class, Leroy works with him in an effort to keep him in the same class as he is in.
When Quentin Murloch and the rest of the school find out the President of the U.S.
plans to show up to watch the school's fundraiser performance, certain elements of the show are reevaluated, including a monologue by Danny.
With the President expected to attend the show, Leroy refuses to perform.
Miss Sherwood is being considered a security risk.
(Special Guest Star and Female impersonator, Charles Pierce, plays a bag lady).
This episode features the cast of "Fame," billed as "The Kids from Fame," along with the season three regular dancers in a special concert performance taped while on tour in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The concert features performances, by the cast, of songs from the television series.
The concert took place in an indoor stadium in Tel Aviv before a live capacity audience.
Along with the concert, the cast from "Fame" are shown visiting historical landmarks within the city during the 35th birthday celebration of the nation.
(Debbie Allen staged and choreographed the entire concert).
When Christopher is challenged by Keach Howard, the last man Chris defeated, to a boxing match, Chris is adamant about not fighting and remaining focused on his dancing.
When Keach meets Dwight and finds out that he is friends with Donlan, he beats him up.
Chris seeks to avenge his friend injury.
Leroy becomes a mentor to Billy Hall, a fellow dancer in Miss Grant's class who Leroy sees a lot of himself in.
Bruno, unwittingly, falls for Lisa Connors, a student-teacher for Mr.
Shorofsky.
Although the two are comfortable with their relationship, members of the faculty do not feel that relationship is appropriate.
Mr.
Morloch expresses an interest in Miss Sherwood.
When Mr.
Morloch announces that all students participating in any school production must have a minimum C average, the students become upset about their scores.
Against Mr.
Morcloch's objections, Mr.
Sherwood assigns the students the responsibility of the teacher with Leroy making the tests and Danny grading them. Danny is forced to make a tough decision when he suspects a friend has cheated. When Tino, the leader of the gang, the Enforcers, asks Danny to find him a choreographer, Danny enlists Christopher and Michael to coach rival gangs, the Enforcers and the Silhouettes in a "break dance" competition. Rather than fighting, the gangs are using the dance competition to settle a dispute between the two parties. Doris has trouble ridding herself of "Snake," a gang member who has a crush on her. Coco, inspired with Bruno's life out of school, has to decide whether or not to drop out with the chance to tour with a traveling act. (This would be the final episode that Erica Gimpel, "Coco," would appear in as a regular with her name remaining in the opening credits until the end of the season). When Dwight shows up to school with severe bruises on his body, Danny along with the rest of the school believe he is a victim of bullying. Danny appoints himself as Dwight's bodyguard against his wishes. Against her requests, Larry Marshall, an undercover cop, joins Lydia's dance class in an attempt to bring rumored drug trafficking within the school to a halt. Holly falls for Billy Christiansen, a new piano player who plays at "Caruso's." Upon getting ready to ask him out, she learns that he is a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair. Mr. Morloch tries to get Miss Grant to give his friend and former baseball star, "Lefty" Rogers (played by famed R&B Singer Peabo Bryson) in pursuit of a career in recording jingles for television commercials, singing and dancing lessons. This special features the cast of "Fame," billed as "The Kids from Fame," along with the season three regular dancers in their first concert in the U.S. which takes a look back at popular music in the year 1983 (See 1983 in music). The concert took place on December 27, 1983 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California before a live capacity audience. Among other musical performances, this particular episode featured a medley of songs from motion pictures and a special tribute to Michael Jackson. (Guest starring is Irene Cara, who sang "Fame" - the song an Academy Award winner - originally for the film of the same title which she also starred in as the original Coco). While working on a scene together, Holly and Christopher are prompted by their friends to try going out with each other. Danny falls for Marya, a student hoping to be admitted into the School of the Arts. When they discover that her dancing ability - or lack thereof, isn't enough to get her in, Danny pursues Miss Grant asking her to "pull some strings." When Doris' ex-boyfriend, Sandy Gordon, who was expelled for his drinking problem, is allowed readmission into the School of the Arts, she's overjoyed until she learns that he was hiding his continuing battle with alcoholism from her. Doris enlists her friends to help him beat his addiction. When Doris tries to get her classmates to do a production of the reputedly haunted play, "The Gypsy Queen," she and Miss Grant are convinced that they have seen a ghost. While trying to obtain a better understanding of the occult, they discover that Mrs. Berg is a "spirit medium." When Mr. Morloch learns about Leroy's previous track success, he tries to persuade him to go for a college track scholarship much to Lydia's dismay. While doing character research for a role as an elderly woman in her acting class, Doris finds an older man falling for her. When Holly's mother, Suzie (played by guest star, Donna McKechnie) moves in with her, she finds that her mother is getting in the way of things. When Danny tries to hypnotize Leroy and Christopher, Mr. Morloch is inadvertently put under a post-hypnotic spell and Mrs. Sherwood wants to have some fun with it. When the kids discover that Danny has leucemia, Doris makes her biggest effort to convince Danny to listen to his doctor and fight the disease. Lydia decides to show the kids how to make a non-dancer look good in a dance number. A former night club performer, and close friend to Leroy's uncle, Eddie Macon (played by guest star, George Kirby), is discovered by Ms. Sherwood hiding out in a closet in her classroom. Now homeless and alcohol dependent, Leroy and Mr. Reardon attempt to help him while casting him in a school production. Holly helps Doris with a make-up in an attempt to impress a boy that she's interested in. Blind substitute teacher, Jim Hamilton (Played by guest star, Tom Sullivan), returns to the School of the Arts. This time he's returning as the director for a school production. He expresses a romantic interest in Lydia. After she turns down his advances, Jim backs out of the production leaving Lydia to believe that it's because of her. Morloch takes over as the director for the production while Lydia and the kids attempt to get the real reason for Jim's resignation. When Caruso's landlord, Sal Di Angelo, threatens to turn the coffee house into a parking lot, Bruno proposes that he keep the coffee house open if he arranges an admission to the School of the Arts for Sal's friend, a young opera singer named Alisha Morgan. Mrs. Berg's husband is suspicious of Mrs. Berg and Mr. Shororfsky's relationship. (Phoebe Yadon-Lewis is introduced in her role of Alisha Morgan). Miss Daniels, a former singer who stopped singing because of stage fright, fills in for Ms. Sherwood as an English substitute. Miss Daniels tries to keep her past a secret, but Dwight remembers her from his childhood and gets Mr. Shorofsky's to help her overcome her fear. (Melissa Manchester, Grammy Award recipient for Best Female Vocalist, plays Miss Daniels in her dramatic television. She performs two of her hits: "City Nights" from her 1983 album "Emergency" and "Better Days" from her 1976 album "Better Days & Happy Endings.") While showing off for a girl in class, Christopher back flips and hits his head, resulting in severe hearing loss. He is forced to transfer to a school for deaf students. Christopher refuses help from his old friends but Theresa, a friend from his new school, helps him accept some help from a friend. Lydia and Shorofsky try mixing singers and dancers in the same production. Lydia is hired to teach dance to a basketball team. While getting involved with the star player, S.T. Gray, he refuses to come to her class. Lydia has to decide whether to report him. Mr. Shorofsky is disappointed with Doris rejecting her heritage when she turns down the opportunity to perform at a Holocaust Survivors benefit. (Norm Nixon, San Diego Clippers guard and Debbie Allen's real-life husband, guest stars as S.T. Gray.) Christopher's home troubles are affecting his performance in school and he is unable to tell his friends about his problems or seek their help. With his father unemployed, Chris is forced to take on the role of a parent to his young siblings. When the students fall behind in their efforts in class, Mr. Morloch holds a class on a Saturday. It's the first week of school after the summer vacation has ended, love becomes a top priority at the School of the Arts. After they both share their grief over love gone wrong, Doris and Danny find consolation in each other and end up trying their hand at love together as a couple. Leroy is concerned as he discovers that his girlfriend may be pregnant. Holly has a crush on Mr. Reardon and Miss Sherwood starts dating a married man. (Janet Jackson, Nia Peeples, and Jesse Borrego join the cast in the roles of Cleo Hewitt, Nicole Chapman, and Jesse Velasquez). The school presidential campaign has Danny and Doris butting heads. Campaign managers, Nicole and Jesse find that share a lot in common. Chris falls for Sasha, a student attending the School of the Arts as the daughter of a Czech diplomat who is on assignment for the U.N. Leroy finds that Cleo has a crush on him. While dancing in the hallway, the kids injure Miss Sherwood putting her in the hospital. Because of this, the Board of Education enforces a directive that states that dancing be prohibited in unspecified areas. With Mr. Morloch enforcing this new directive, the kids become determined to rule out the new rule. (This episode marks the first time Ann Nelson (as Mrs. Berg) is credited as a regular in the opening credits). After some reluctance to let his estranged father back into his life, Leroy discovers that his father really cares for him. Danny tries to convince his father that his aspirations to become a comedian aren’t futile. Billed as "Kids from Fame," the cast from "Fame" perform in their first concert of the season alongside the season four regular dancers. This concert marks their second in the U.S. and their first with Janet Jackson, Jesse Borrego, and Nia Peeples in the cast. The theme of the concert is a tribute to the history of Rock 'N' Roll through the 50s and 60s including music from the Beatles to the Beach Boys. The concert took place at the Jones Beach Amphitheater on Long Island, New York. Notable performances include a Beatles medley by Gene Anthony Ray, Jesse Borrego, Billy Hufsey, and Carlo Imperato and an Elvis tribute by Billy Hufsey. A blizzard traps the staff and students in the school, provoking various problems. With the added problem with heat conservation due to a broken furnace, Doris fights with her mother for independence, a new relationship between Nicole and Jesse is challenged while the two are trapped in a classroom, and Leroy goes out into the blizzard to make an audition. While Mr. Morloch looks for a burglar in the school, he instead finds out that the burglar is actually a pregnant teenager. (This show was dedicated to the memory of Armando Huerta). Disaster strikes at the School of the Arts. While trying to get the attention of a student, Mr. Morloch inadvertently upsets the cast with the scare of a hex. By whistling in the auditorium before the night of the performance, as depicted in a showbiz dictum, Mr. Morloch is held responsible for a series of disastrous events by the students and teachers in the cast. Trevor Kane, a School of the Arts Alumnus and acting has-been, returns to the School of the Arts to make an appearance in a play that Doris is directing. When he questions his abilities as an actor, the gang set out to assure him that he is adequate. After a morning news program airs an interview with Nicole, she receives a letter from a young man, Ray Claxton, who is serving time in a juvenile detention hall. Jesse is bothered by Nicole's closeness to Claxton as she decides to pay him regular visits at the prison, though she claims she's only visiting due to her admiration of his music and songwriting skills. Holly's professional dancer mom, Suzi, pays her a visit and serves as a temporary teacher for Miss Grant who is out to audition for a role in an out-of-school production. A rivalry between Lydia and Suzi ensues which brings the two head-to-head in a dance off for a spot in the upcoming teachers' show. Through being fined for performing on the street without a license, it is discovered that Jesse is an illegal alien. When the Immigration Department makes it clear that they intend to deport him, Doris commits to marrying him in an effort to keep him in the country. When that fails, Mr. Shorofsky makes the offer to adopt him. However, it is Nicole who may have the solution. During Careers Day, guest speaker Sgt. Joe Garver, is invited to speak to the students about the military. With the intent to inspire the kids to consider careers in the military, Garver starts up an R.O.T.C. program in the school with the help of Mr. Morloch's support. Miss Sherwood runs a theme of 'poetry of the 1960s' while the kids plan to do a production of "Hair" as a benefit concert for the Nuclear Freeze campaign. (Joan Baez has a guest performance). This episode was the second half of the concert starring the cast of "Fame" and the season four regular dancers. Filmed at the Jones Beach Amphitheater on Long Island, New York, this episode included a tribute to Stevie Wonder featuring covers of his hits ranging from "Fingertips (Part 2)" to "Ribbon in the Sky." Janet performs her brothers' hit "I Want You Back," Nia Peeples covers Pat Benatar's "Fire and Ice," and Jesse Borrego takes on Prince's "When Doves Cry." Two love triangles develop at the School of the Arts: Cleo starts dating Danny in an attempt to make Leroy jealous. Meanwhile, when Christopher has a hard time with Shakespeare in drama class, his teacher, Trevor Kane's (played by Anthony Newley), appoints Christopher the acting partner of his ex-wife, actress Daphne Simone (played by Deborah Wakeham) – who is seeking Mr. Kane's coaching for a Broadway play. When Christopher develops feelings for Daphne, Mr. Kane learns that he too still has feelings for her. In the midst of Parent's Week, turmoil hovers over the kids. Danny has a hard time dealing with his parents' separation. Nicole's parents put pressure on her when she enters the New York Science Fair while Morloch encourages Christopher to hang out with Cassidy in an attempt to make him "normal." When he does a re-write for a "street" version of "Cyrano De Bergerac," Christopher casts Nicole as Roxanne, Jesee as Christian, and Danny as Cyrano. Although Nicole is seeing Jesee, Danny has admitted that he has feelings for her. Mr. Morloch is reacquainted with an old college roommate whose wife he used to be with and may still have feelings for. When Christopher and Danny collaborate in a comedy act, Christopher is discovered and experiences fame. Along with the pros of fame, Chris becomes tainted when he abandons his partner and attempts to sabotage Leroy as he becomes competition. When Nicole moves in with Holly for a week, tension builds between the pair. After her turn as professional on Broadway, Coco Hernandez returns to get her diploma at the School of the Arts. Nathan Adler (Played by Milton Berle), a famous retired director, is chosen to direct a school production and casts Coco as the lead in the play. This poses a clash between director and lead actress. Mr. Morloch temporarily makes Miss Sherwood Vice Principal when he has to leave the school to attend a conference for school administrators. She discovers the challenges of being an administrator. In an attempt to make some money to pay for his rent, Leroy signs up for a television game show and as a result finds himself in a bit of trouble. Doris starts dating a guy that she thinks is perfect. When Doris is mugged on her way to her grandmother's house, she finds that the experience induced trauma her in many aspects of her life. Having a crush on Holly, Dwight learns to overcome his shyness around her as the two become close friends. It's the end of the year and Prom is near. Doris has decided on a Hawaiian theme for the Prom to the disapproval of the rest of the kids. With her parents' recent divorce, Holly deals with the stresses of her failed home life by starving herself. A recovering anorexic herself, Miss Grant, recognizing the signs, offers some helpful words of advice to which Holly ignores. It may take severe consequences to expose her to the dangers of anorexia. Guest starring Donna McKechnie (as Suzi Laird), Barry Jenner (as Jim Laird), and Gigi Vorgan (as Tina). Co-starring Shirley Prestia (as The Nurse). The School of the Arts welcomes Diane, a visiting photographer who has arrived under the pretense of working on a project involving the kids. Nicole has always known that she was adopted and through a sense of connection that she feels with Diane, Nicole discovers that Diane is in fact her biological mother. Diane and Nicole begin hanging out with each other much to the dismay of Nicole's parents and Jesse. Expected to deliver his annual State of the School address, Mr. Morloch enlists an unwilling Chris, when he loses his voice, to present his speech for him. When Danny is challenged by an old rival - and his school, Zackary Taylor High - to a softball game against his school, Danny accepts the challenge, although worried about putting the team together. At first, things go well, but when the girls decide to play and beat the boys during their first practice, the humiliated team backs down leaving the girls to take the place of the boys on Danny's team. As the School of the Arts opens up again for the new school year, things are stirred up, yet again. New student, Dusty Tyler (played by Loretta Chandler), finds herself feeling out of place. Similarly, veteran and recent graduate Leroy Johnson - who has just been asked to be Miss Grant's assistance - feels he doesn't belong as he's no longer a student and not quite a teacher. He's further upset when he's chosen to choose someone among his friends to play the lead role in the school's new production. After mocking Dusty for reading the lines of Romeo from "Romeo and Juliet," Mrs. Persky gives Danny and Christopher the task of playing the role of two sisters in full costume. (Joining the cast this season is Loretta Chandler (as Dusty Tyler). With an unexpected visit from his feisty, eight-year-old, streetwise niece, Tina, Leroy reluctantly allows her to stay with him at his apartment while her father, Leroy's brother, Lamar, has taken off without a trace. With Miss Grant and Mr. Shorofsky trying to put together a show with the help of a backer, Stanley Beckerman, and with Tina's behaviour getting her suspended from school, Leroy is forced to take her to school with him where Jim Parker, Beckerman's assistant, decides that without Tina there will be no show. With Tina unenthused with the idea of being featured in the show to help her uncle out, she uses the desperation of the faculty to bribe Leroy, Miss Grant, and Mr. Shorofsky, though her reluctance to help Leroy out may put the show at risk. Danny finds out that he can't get actors’ equity because there is already a Danny Amatullo registered. Christopher struggles to understand his role as Hamlet. While in Central Park, Danny encounters his favourite old western actor Bronco Bob and his partner in the classic films, Prince the Miracle Horse and is star struck. Danny eventually finds that his hero is down on his luck and depends on the sale of pictures of him and Prince to make a living. Danny is concerned and determined to help. Things get worse when an old acting rival, Myron "Black Bart" Leach, spitefully tries to repossess Prince with the pretext that Bronco has ceased payment on the horse. In an attempt to pay for the horse and restore Bronco's pride, Danny involves the School of the Arts in the production of a show to raise the funds. This, however, may not solve the dispute over Prince's rightful ownership. With the emergence of a prestigious song-writing contest, the students at the School of the Arts are focused on creating the winning song for the chance at indispensable exposure and potential superstardom. With inspiration from his grandfather's teachings to him as a child in his native Mexico, Jesse wins the competition with a heart-felt original piece. Though initially excited, Jesse discovers a popular downside to the entertainment business when music business big shots, Alan Stewart and Mitch Randall, decide to change many of Jesse's original ideas. Mr. Shorofsky struggles with "selling out" as well when he auditions a mediocre violin enthusiast and former football jock Bradley Elliot, Jr., whose father is willing to make a generous donation that could reform many budget-related deficiencies at the school. When Christopher falls for Julie Chandler, a beautiful, talented student, the two feel like finding each other was the best thing that's happened for either of them. After a noticeable decline in Julie's performance at school, Chris discovers that Julie is secretly a coke addict. Although he insists she quit, she tells him she needs a boost to better her academia and he helps her by making deals with her supplier Hunk Pepitone. When Chris attempts to put an end to her abuse, Julie refuses to end her drug use. In a battle between her and the drug, the drug may come out on top. After his parents' separation, Danny feels uneasy when his mother, Gina Amatullo, starts dating Lou Mackie. There is an eruption of gang warfare in Jesse's barrio (neighborhood) and when local gang rivals, The Ravens and The Skulls rehash an old feud with the return of The Skulls' tough leader, Popeye, The Ravens' leader, George, uses threats to make Jesse join their gang. Nicole, having "visions," senses danger and tries to dissuade Jesse but her warnings go ignored. When Popeye kills Jesse's good friend, Hector, Jesse joins the gang to avenge Hector's murder. One of the Ravens and the younger brother of George, Luis, befriends Mr. Shorofsky when he expresses an interest in the trumpet. Prince Frederic "Freddy" (Played by Billy Hufsey in addition to his regular role as Christopher) of Vatonia has arrived in New York City to make a speech for an important United Nations' event. Upon learning that his life is being threatened and upon the discovery of a perfect lookalike Christopher, by his assistant William, an arrangement is made for the two to switch identities for 48 hours. Christopher is willing to go along with the charade until he is attack by two gunmen, disguised as Freddy's guards, attempting to kill the prince. (Nia Peeples also plays double roles as she plays her regular character Nicole and the prince's fiancé Maryanne of Gimblestien). Upon learning that a noteworthy agent, Moe Starkey, attends a local restaurant regularly, the kids head to the restaurant to get his attention headed by Danny disguised as a waiter. After the gang performs Prince's "Baby, I'm a Star," Moe decides that Danny would make a great agent despite Danny's lifelong aspiration to be an actor. Danny chooses to work for Moe as an agent and because of this strays from his acting duties in the school's latest production. With Mr. Morloch's usually strict nature, during the Christmas holiday, his enforcement of school board regulations has everyone thinking of him as a "Scrooge." On the eve of Christmas, while working on the school's budget, Mr. Morloch falls asleep in his office where he dreams he is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come who come to show him the importance of Christmas cheer. When he awakes, Mr. Morloch has clearly had a change of heart and embraces the holiday spirit. (This episode marks Ken Swofford's final appearance as Quentin Morloch) It's time for mid-year auditions and with the arrival of the new principal, Bob Dyrenforth (Played by Graham Jarvis), we learn that Mr. Morloch has left the school to coach a semi-pro ball team in Buffalo. Holly reveals that she's leaving school because she's been offered a role on a soap opera that will be filmed in Hollywood. Nicole is particularly upset by Holly's departure. When Holly suggests that Nicole go to auditions like she did, Nicole does just that and gets a small role in a Broadway show. When Mr. Dyrenforth unknowingly receives tickets to the same show, he discovers that Nicole is breaking an important school rule and he forces her to choose between attending the school or doing the show. Auditioning dance hopeful, Henry Lee, tries to use his neighborhood connection with Leroy to get into the school with mediocre talent. (This episode marks Cynthia Gibb's final series regular appearance as Holly Laird while Carrie Hamilton, Page Hannah, and Graham Jarvis officially join the cast as Reggie Higgins, Kate Riley, and Mr. Bob Dyrenforth). A series of unlucky events has Mr. Dyrenforth convinced that he is jinxed. Mrs. Berg and Miss Sherwood try to encourage him to remove himself from his pessimism. With evident tension between them, Nicole and Jesse re-examine a sensitive topic. Jesse is upset because Nicole is unwilling to have sex with him. The two decide to split up due to the disagreement on the topic and with a school dance approaching both need a date. Jesse goes with Kate and Nicole goes with Joe Douglas jealously erupts and causes a mild brawl which inadvertently leaves Mr. Dyrenforth soaked in punch. The two reconcile when Mr. Dyrenforth has a talk with Jesse about his jealous outburst and suggests that he wait for Nicole. The two make up and plan to spend the night together in a mountain cabin but a series of unfavorably events leaves the two with whiplash, making Nicole realize that it's best they wait. Danny and Reggie go to the dance together and find that they share a liking toward each other. As preparations are being made for the school's production of Huck Finn, Bobby cast as Jim, expresses an uneasiness with the content of the play and leaves the show after dealing with his suppressed frustration. Bobby gathers some of the kids and tries to have the play pulled, so concerned staff members, Miss Grant, Mrs. Sherwood, and Mr. Dyrenforth, have the opposing kids weigh out their differences. With the help of Leroy, Mr. Dyrenforth is determined to keep the play running. This starts a protest led by Bobby which creates a racial division in the school. The preparations for the play continue with a re-write courtesy of Mr. Dyrenforth but the censorship only creates more opposition as Leroy quits the play. When Mr. Dyrenforth bans the book, Miss Sherwood assigns Fahrenheit 451 to her class which gives Danny the idea to stage a book burning where Leroy helps him show the students the pointlessness of censorship. In a dream, Leroy encounters Jim, the slave from Huckleberry Finn who tells him that it's his job to, in his portrayal of Jim, show that his character isn’t a fool. Tina, Leroy's visiting niece, arrives at the School of the Arts to tell Leroy that she accidentally burned down his apartment while making Ravioli-Os. When Leroy learns of the damage Tina has caused, he seeks a temporary care giver for Tina. Mrs. Berg volunteers to put Tina up while Leroy stays in Miss Grant's spare room at her place. When Lydia is asked out to dinner by her old boyfriend, Carl, she asks Tina to tell Leroy to see if he can stay with a friend for the night. Tina instead tells Leroy that Miss Grant is expecting him to make dinner. Waking up the following morning, after being stood up, Leroy bumps into Carl in the kitchen. Leroy tries to reprimand Tina's actions when he learns of her scheme but Mrs. Berg saves her from the spanking. When Carl comes to the school to pick Lydia up for a date, Tina tells him that she went out with another man. After being stood up, Lydia and Leroy practice their dance when Leroy kisses her, at which Lydia is dismayed. Tina encourages Leroy to pursue Lydia in hopes of her adoption and a marriage between them while warding off Carl. Mr. Shorosky, who has been throwing his table tennis matches with his younger girlfriend, Liu Chin, tries to win her over by beating her while Miss Sherwood struggles to get her book, four years in the making, published. After a rehearsal for the school's production of Sherlock Holmes, a pipe in the dressing room bursts. Mr. Dyrenforth makes arrangements for repair with Artie Horowitz, a contractor, who is also the father of Miltie Horowitz, but the board is unwilling to fund the expensive repair work and Mr. Dyrenforth is forced to close the school relocating the students to another building. Danny discovers that the broken pipe was sawed deliberately and figures that Ralph, the Janitor, is trying to sabotage the school in order to build a parking garage in its place. After seeing Miltie paying Ralph off, Danny is convinced of a father-son swindle. They get Page, Miltie's reluctant love interest to distract him while Danny checks out the janitor's space in the boiler room. After being knocked out by a fallen panel from the room, Danny discovers Ralph's dead body and is knocked out by someone who tries to escape. Danny wakes up convinced that he is Sherlock Holmes and sets out to solve the mystery. Just as Danny proves that Ralph is responsible for the entire ploy, Ralph hits him over the head... With auditions for a presentation of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" underway, competition heats up between Danny and Jesse for the lead role, but in order to make the cut for the play, all students have to pass the Biology midterm. The yearbook money goes missing twice and Dwight has enlisted his fellow hall monitors to get to the bottom of the theft. While developing shots that Reggie took for the yearbook, Nicole and Reggie discover Jesse going into an office cabinet where the now missing yearbook money was stored. When Nicole confronts him thinking he took the yearbook money, he admits that he took the answers to the test. He throws the answers away only to retrieve them from the trash later. He gets the part and all is well until Nicole discovers the answers in his jacket. After Danny discovers the truth about the test, he vows to make Jesse suffer. In his assertion, he discovers he's got his own case of a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" split personality. Tina's father, Lamar returns but only to borrow money from Leroy under the pretense of establishing a life for Tina. Tina's nanny, Mrs. Castillo, dies and Tina is revealed to be the sole beneficiary in Mrs. Castillo's will. When Lamar learns of the $22,000 estate that has been passed on to his daughter, he returns for her offering to use the money to get him and his daughter a house. Leroy doesn’t trust his brother to do right by Tina with the money and when Lamar's conscious gets to him, he opts to leave admitting that he only came for the moBanbury LidoCoordinates: 52°03′41″N 1°21′02″W / 52.061329°N 1.350425°W / 52.061329; -1.350425 The Banbury Lido or Woodgreen Lido at Woodgreen Leisure Centre, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX16 0AT, is an open air lido. The lido is 50 metres long and 18 metres wide, meeting Olympic standards.[1] An “Aqua Zone” for young children includes a refurbished flume. The co-located leisure centre has an indoor sports hall, fitness gym and fitness studio. There is a grassy area on which to relax, sunbathe or have a picnic. Opened on 23 May 1939; £7,900 was raised for building the pool, buildings and a complete layout. With its capacity of 356,000 gallons, the new 1939 pool, together with its surrounding complex, involved 23 contractors and sub contractors, using firms such as the London Brick Company and regional bodies such as Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire Power Company. In 1999, to mark the 60th birthday of the Banbury Open Air Pool, a record turnout of nearly 1500 people visited over the Bank Holiday weekend. The lido was closed from 2002 after various problems including failure of the pool's lining. In 2005 a campaign was developed to save the pool led by the Open Air Pool Support Group. After rumours of planned permanent closure, a 10,000 name petition was collected to save the pool and a demo of an estimated 300 people outside the key council meeting resulted in postponing a decision and re-opening a debate. A month later a well attended public meeting faced a panel of councillors and leisure officers. The leader declared that the pool would be closed. In 2008 Cherwell District Council agreed a contract for refurbishment costing £1.4 million. Banbury Town Council contributes £50,000 a year to help with the running costs. Parkwood Community Leisure, which operates other Leisure Centres on behalf of Cherwell District Council, manages the Woodgreen Leisure Centre. In 2009 the lido reopened.[2] List of Tanglin episodes (Episodes 1-508)Mediacorp Channel 5's television series Tanglin is a long-form drama series[1] produced by Mediacorp Studios from 2015 to 2018. It centres on the lives of multiracial and multi-generational families – the Tongs, Bhaskars, Rahmans and Lims[2] - living in a middle income neighbourhood of Tanglin; their lives reflect the joys, trials and tribulations of everyday Singaporeans. The show began airing on Mediacorp Channel 5 on 30 June 2015[2] and ended on 28 September 2018, after 823 episodes.[3] The last episode is a TV special. This is a list of episodes 1–508. See here for the list of episodes 509–824. List of Dennis the Menace (1959 TV series) episodesThis is a list of episodes from the 1959–1963 United States television series Dennis the Menace. The series is based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name. The series ran for four seasons for a total of 146 episodes from October 4, 1959 (1959-10-04) to July 7, 1963 (1963-07-07). Dennis successfully eludes a babysitter (whom he has never met) and sneaks out of the house and goes to a cowboy movie that his parents also go to while Joey is left with the babysitter, pretending to be Dennis. Madge Blake appears as Mrs. Porter the babysitter. Dennis and Tommy fix a fallen street signpost but fail to notice they've put it up with the street names facing in the wrong direction. Because of the mix up, Mr. Wilson gets a pool dug in his yard instead of it being re-seeded. Suddenly, everyone in the neighborhood wants to be Mr. Wilson's friend. Henry and Mr. Wilson have a fishing trip planned and are trying to keep Dennis from finding out. Dennis however knows something is up when he sees a package delivered to the house that has fishing stuff in it and so it turns out to be a long night for Dennis as he won't rest until he finds out what's in the package. Eventually he figures it out and so Henry and Mr. Wilson end up taking Dennis along after all. Dennis tries to fix up his Grandpa Perkins (James Bell) with Miss Cathcart and other ladies in the neighborhood. Miss Cathcart takes an interest in him, sings for him, and pretty much makes him miserable. Robert B. Williams appears as Mr. Dorfman the Mailman. Mr. Wilson's helps an old neighbor sell his house. He tries to talk a retired couple with no children into moving in next door, which almost works until Dennis and his friends come bursting into Mr. Wilson's house and the couple see how loud things will be. So, what happens is the window repair man is moving in next door, and he has 4 kids, which is not what Mr. Wilson wanted at all. Dennis thinks his father is broke, so he sells bottles in an attempt to make some extra money while informing the neighborhood of the Mitchells' dire straits. Dennis hopes to meet Whip Crawford, his cowboy idol, after Mrs. Webster (Isabel Randolph) tells Dennis that Whip will be in the community pageant. Whip doesn't want to be in the play because he claims his feet hurt, so he tries to dodge Mrs. Webster and everyone else. Dennis, who doesn't give up, does everything he can to get Whip Crawford in the play including going to his hotel room and talking to Whip himself which in the end works. Mr. Wilson pays $250.00 for a rare gold coin from a con artist that turns out to be a fake coin. Mrs. Wilson, without realizing what it is, lets Dennis take it to use in a wishing well, which was the town fountain. Mr. Wilson gets arrested for wading in the fountain looking for his coin. Mr. Wilson wishes that Dennis would go on vacation for a week and his wish comes true in the end when he learns that Dennis is going to his Grandpa's for a week. Note: While at the police station, Dennis mentions on his last visit he was given ice cream. He was referring to an early episode that already had been made, but was not aired until later the first season, called "Dennis Runs Away." The Mitchell's are having a party to entertain one of Henry's clients, Mr. Purdy (Grandon Rhodes), but people are having trouble finding the house. Dennis finds an open house sign and puts it in the front yard and soon the house is over run with people who think that the house is for sale. Mr. Wilson is plagued by a duck that Dennis adopted when its original owner moved away. At first Dennis hides the duck from his parents, but when Mr. Wilson complains about the damage caused to his garden and himself, Dennis reluctantly admits to having the duck. His father helps Dennis build an enclosure for the duck, but Mr. Wilson continues to have problems with Dennis' new pet -- and begins to scheme how to get rid of it even if Dennis and his parents won't. Dennis and a bunch of other town boys are collecting papers for a charity and the prize for the boy who collects the most papers is a Silver dollar. When Mr. Wilson gets word of that, he looks up the value of the Silver dollar and finds it's worth $600. He is determined to make sure that Dennis wins the prize so that he can get the silver dollar. Dennis winds up babysitting a little boy who is a guest of the Wilsons after his father and Mr. Wilson mistakenly both cancel their respective sitters. Ed and Catherine Driscoll (Arthur Hanson & June Dayton) are new neighbors, but problems arise as their phone is on a shared line with the Mitchells. Henry gets angry at Mr. Driscoll for monopolizing the line, not realizing that Dennis and his friends actually were the ones using it, and furthermore that Mr. Driscoll is a valued client of Henry's company. Dennis has nobody to play with after Joey goes home. With everyone else busy, and since nobody can drive him, he decides to walk to his grandfather's house but is stopped by the police. At the police station, he refuses to tell his name, is given ice cream, and causes further havoc including putting cement in Mr. Wilson's bowling ball and accidentally handcuffing an officer. Mr. Wilson's niece Georgiana is getting married and asks Dennis to be the ring bearer. Mr. Wilson is nervous about hosting his niece's upcoming wedding, especially with Dennis being involved. Dennis does manage to disrupt the wedding rehearsal, but things run smoothly after that. Elinor Donahue appears as Mr. Wilson's niece. With his father away on a business trip and his mother sick in bed with a cold, Dennis has to be the "man of the house". A cleaning woman is hired (Olive Carey), but quickly quits, without Alice knowing. This leaves Dennis doing the laundry with Margaret's help, and arranging a dinner party with his friends in connection with a sales pitch. Alan Hewitt appears as Alistair St. Clair, the salesman that set up the dinner. The town holds a Paint-up, Clean-up Week campaign, and everyone spruces up their place. Dennis wants to help but gets in Mr. Wilson's way. He gives Dennis a bucket of red paint for his wagon to keep him busy. Dennis spills the paint on the curb in front of Mr. Wilson's house. He decides to paint the rest of the curb to make it look better. Sgt. Mooney comes by and Mr. Wilson gets blamed for it. Both Dennis and Mr. Wilson are ashamed that they have never learned to whistle, and try everything they can think of, including eating very sour cherries, to be able to do so. Dennis gets his mother a going-away present, jewelry, and hides it on Mr. Wilson's closet shelf. Mrs. Wilson finds it and thinks it is a gift for her from Mr. Wilson. Dennis accidentally steps on one of Mr. Wilson's plants. He buys Mr. Wilson a replacement and plants it in his flower bed without Mr. Wilson knowing. When Mr. Wilson sees the plant, which is much larger than the one that was there originally, he is convinced that the new miracle plant food he invented is the cause of the growth. Dennis and Tommy have started their own newspaper, "The Mr. Wilson News", in which they write about Mr. Wilson's daily activities. But when they overhear him playfully telling Mrs. Wilson that he'd give $20 for a raccoon coat like the one he had in college, the boys tell Mr. Krinkie, who in turn prints this information in the local newspaper. In no time, the Wilson household is overflowing with raccoon coats from sellers from all over town. George and Henry purchase a house as an income property and later find out that it is known to be haunted. Unable to get their money back, they sleep inside to prove that it isn't haunted. Dennis and friends join them and talk to the ghost. Noises they repeatedly hear are finally found to be from a squatter in the basement trying to scare them away. Dennis' school is putting on a play about all nations. Each student has to ask someone to represent a different nationality to be in the play. Dennis asks Mr. Wilson to represent Scotland, but he is not interested. Dennis then asks Mr. MacTavish (Tudor Owen), who accepts. Once Mr. Wilson finds out there are prizes involved, he wants to be in it. Dennis asks Mr. Krinkie to decide after they each put on a performance. A letter arrives stating that Mr. Wilson is actually Irish. It's Mr. Wilson's birthday and he decides to leave Dennis a gold watch in his will. Soon after, Mr. Wilson begins to feel old and is convinced that he has a short time to live. Dennis in return, goes to Mr. Phillips (Ray Teal), an attorney, to have a will drawn up so he can leave his favorite things to Mr. Wilson. Dennis gives Mr. Wilson a copy of his will as a birthday gift. He is so touched that he gives Dennis the watch. George is expecting a visit from his Uncle Ned (Edward Everett Horton), a rocker-chair addict. When Ned arrives, he is active, fit, and energetic. Ned forces George and Henry into a fitness program. As the two struggle to keep up, they plot a way to end the exercises. Mr. Wilson plans to have a quiet evening at home with his coin collection. His plans change when Henry needs a sitter for Dennis. Mr. Wilson is talked into being a sitter for Dennis, Margaret, and Seymour. Seymour finds one of Mr. Wilson's rare dimes, goes down the street and buys a candy bar from a vending machine. John Astin appears as the policeman who arrests Wilson trying to retrieve his valuable coin from the vending machine. An Indian fire-starting demonstration is to take place for Dennis' Junior Pathfinders club, but the person who is to do perform the demonstration hurts his back. Mr. Wilson, trying to get into the Pioneer Club, is volunteered to be the replacement Indian chief and has to start a fire by rubbing together two sticks. Fearing he might not be able to start the fire, Mr. Wilson has his cousin Fillmore, a chemist, put something on the sticks to insure a fire. This leads to an unexpected result. Mr. Wilson installs his own burglar alarm after a series of burglaries in the neighborhood. Dennis and Mr. Wilson think the new neighbor is the stocking bandit. While trying to prove the neighbor is the bandit, Mr. Wilson gets stuck in their basement window. Mr. Quigley, though lacking experience, is named coach of the town's pee-wee baseball team, hoping it will help advertise his store. The mayor agrees to give the team new uniforms if Quigley can get Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers to play an exhibition game in town. Quigley is nervous around Sandy and the kids begin to question if he can really coach their team. That is until Quigley hits a home run off Sandy. George's Uncle Ned visits while George is out of town. He decides to plant flowers to win a flower contest in the summer, but he hurts his back. Dennis gets an older friend named Jerry to help Uncle Ned, but Jerry keeps thinking about his ex-girlfriend Helen (Cheryl Holdridge) and gets nothing done. Helen makes up with Jerry and helps with the bulbs, but she plants them all upside down. George Wilson's brother, John, comes to stay with Martha while George is out of town. John is a writer, but has trouble working without his old seat cushion. Dennis makes it his goal to make a cushion for John. Dennis also helps John get out of speaking at a lecture. Elvia Allman appears as Isabel Tolliver, a woman who wants John to lecture at her Literary Club. After being picked on by Gifford Kelly (Mickey Sholdar), the school bully, Alice makes Dennis promise not to fight. As a result, the bully gives Dennis a black eye. Henry gives Dennis the go-ahead to fight back next time. John Wilson teaches Dennis how to fight and Dennis gives Gifford a black eye. The man that Henry and John hope to rent their investment house to turns out to be Mr. Kelly (Richard Reeves), the bully's father. This creates an awkward situation. Dennis wants to join an older boys' club run by a boy named Walter Hooper (Billy Hughes), but in order to do so, he has to go through an initiation. Walter has Dennis find a goat, a derby hat and a bugle. Dennis stores these things in Mr. Wilson's garage. John sees these things and begins to question his sanity, because as fast as Dennis and others put this stuff in the garage, Walter takes them out. John Wilson is planning a round of golf with Dr. Fred Ferguson, but he tells the doctor what he sees. Dr. Ferguson believes John is hallucinating until he sees the goat himself. Mr. Brady (Laurence Haddon) and Tiny Hawkins (Russ McCubbin), an employee at his store, challenge Henry and John Wilson to compete against them in the sporting events at an upcoming community picnic. The Brady team and the Wilson team are tied, with the egg toss being the winning event. When Henry gets his hand stuck in a pickle jar, Dennis must fill in. Dennis and John win, but because Dennis inadvertently used a hard boiled egg. They must now tell Brady. John Wilson is writing a magazine article about voodoo. Dennis gets the wrong idea and tells the whole neighborhood that John is a witch doctor. Some strange occurrences and odd accidents convince his new neighbors that he really is a witch doctor and is out to hex them. John hosts a party to meet all his neighbors, but everyone is afraid to show up. Dennis makes sure that things work out. Dennis becomes a fast friend of Sen Yuen (Cherylene Lee), a girl from British Hong Kong, who is staying with the Wilsons. Margaret becomes jealous of Dennis' attention to her. After Sen Yuen kisses Dennis, Mr. Wilson tells Dennis that Chinese girls often marry very young. When Mr. Yuen comes by, Dennis tells everyone he can't marry Sen Yuen as he is already engaged to Margaret. Dennis overhears and repeats part of a conversation between John and Eloise in which they decide to no longer play cards together. Rumors around the neighborhood begin to fly that the Wilsons are splitting up. Miss Cathcart and Miss Tarbell (Alice Pearce) get a makeover and make a play for Mr. Wilson, each hoping to be his girlfriend. Each woman enlists Dennis to find out more about Mr. Wilson's situation. Dennis and Mr. Spivey (Leslie Barrett), his school's new principal, get off on the wrong foot after the principal takes a remark about his height the wrong way. He threatens to kick Dennis off the baseball team if he observes any further impudence. Johnny Brady wants Dennis off the team, so he draws an unflattering picture of Mr. Spivey on a paper with Dennis' name on it. This results in Dennis being kicked off the team. With Henry out of town, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Finch and Mr. Wilson each go to see Mr. Spivey pretending to be Dennis' father. Mr. Wilson hangs out and plays with Dennis and his friends for the day to gather information for a magazine article about the changing behaviors of children. That evening Mr. Wilson throws a weenie roast for the kids. While starting the fire for the grill, Dennis accidentally burns all of John's notes that he took during the day. Mr. Wilson takes over an advice-to-the-lovelorn newspaper column for a few weeks. He thinks he will have every single woman in town happily married by the time he finishes. However, complications arise when he unwittingly gives advice to two women - Miss Cathcart and Miss Tarbell - who are out to catch the same man, Sgt. Mooney. Stafford Repp appears as Police Chief Doyle. Mr. Wilson is named chairman of a saving-stamps campaign for the Junior Astronauts. As chairman, he arranges a contest at Dennis' school in which the student who collects the most stamps wins a trip to Cape Canaveral to meet an astronaut. Dennis and Johnny Brady are leading the contest, but then Dennis comes down with Chicken Pox and can't continue. But, Dennis does get a special message that makes him feel better. Guest appearance by Project Mercury spokesman "Shorty" Powers as himself. Stretch Nichols, the school basketball team's star player, quits the team after being teased about his height and worn-out clothes one time too many by Johnny Brady and some of the other players. When Mr. Quigley hears that Stretch quit, he bets Mr. Brady that the team will lose. A sympathetic Dennis persuades Mr. Quigley to help by buying Stretch new clothes and giving him an after-school job, so that Stretch will feel better about himself and rejoin the team in time for the big game. Despite sore feet from the new shoes, Stretch leads the team to a victory. And Quigley gladly pays off on his bet. Bob Hastings appears as Coach Gilmore. Mr. Wilson enters an essay contest that requires the entrants to be parents. He hopes to win a large sum of money. When he wins the contest, he tries to pass off Dennis and his friends as his own children. Mr. Wilson assumes the contest judge (guest star Harvey Korman) is calling at his door, but it proves to be instead an angry motorist whose car the children had damaged. When Mr. Griffin, the contest judge, finally arrives, it turns out the prize is a free pair of shoes for each of the boys. Property taxes have risen, and Mr. Wilson thinks the reason is that the school is wasting money on nonessential programs and luxuries. So the principal invites Mr. Wilson to spend the day as a regular student. Harold Gould guest stars as Dennis' principal. Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Elkins are each running for president of the Birdwatchers Society. The first mockingbird of spring has made its nest in Mr. Wilson's backyard, and its chirping keeps him up at night. When Mrs. Elkins finds out that John has removed the mockingbird's nest, she believes she has the upper hand. However, thanks to Dennis, John comes up with some incriminating evidence against her. In the series finale, Mr. Wilson's Aunt Emma visits and takes an instant liking to Dennis. This causes Mr. Wilson to fear that she will make Dennis her heir instead of him. John becomes more and more worried as Aunt Emma and Dennis spend more and more time together. In the end, Aunt Emma leaves a pirate sword to Dennis and all her money to Eloise. what you should know when hiring pool contractorsA swimming pool is a great addition to your home. There are so many options to choose from and there's no question that it is one of the best investments you can make in your home. If you don't choose the right pool contractors, however, your dream could quickly become a nightmare.finding good designer for dallas pool contractorsPremier Pools and Spas are Dallas Pool Contractors specializing in residential and commercial pools and spas. Top rated Dallas Pool Builders and Spa Designers. Get a FREE Estimate.Getting a swimming pool for your family truly is a blessing from heaven yet that fantasy can transform into a bad dream in the event that you don't examine the pool developers that you welcome to offer on your occupation.�Numerous�Dallas Pool Contractors workers have battled with these extreme financial times and despite the fact that you may think just the great pool developers have survived; this may not be the situation. The best way to guarantee that the Pool Builders you meeting are the ones to work with is by doing a great deal of exploration and getting some information about how monetarily secure they are, the manner by which stable is their business, how gifted are they, and how glad are their clients.�To see whether pool temporary workers are fiscally secure, you can solicit to converse with some from their sellers and suppliers. Strong pool developers will have involved acquaintances with their merchants, through great financial times and awful, and their sellers are extremely faithful to them. They can likewise give you understanding on the Pool Builders themselves - their character, morals and gauges.�A decent sign that pool developers are steady is that they will have a showroom or physical area that you can visit and look at their items, showcases, and workmanship. Tragically in a few expresses, the swimming Pool Builders industry isn't entirely controlled and you will regularly locate a maybe a couple man operation, working out of their trucks, attempting to make a brisk buck.�This "portability" frequently makes it simple for these sorts of pool developers to up and leave town when they come up short on cash or get into money related or contractual issues; regularly leaving huge void gaps in individuals' terraces. On the off chance that you talk with littler Pool Builders, ensure that they have the money related support and dependability of a bigger partnerships, and are either a franchisee or licensee of that organization. These partnerships have their notoriety and brand to ensure and regardless of the possibility that something happens locally with any of their pool developers, they will venture in and verify that issues are tended to and that their notoriety is secured.�To check whether Pool Developers have the right expertise sets to construct your custom swimming pool, you have to have them go up against you a voyage through swimming pools that they have assembled. Take a gander at the tile's craftsmanship, mortar, waterfalls, and decking. How unpredictable are the swimming pools? It is safe to say that they are basic "treat cutter" swimming pools or would they say they are custom pools with exceptional plans and many-sided building? Converse with the mortgage holders and get some information about their involvement with their pool developers. Would they prescribe them to their family and companions? In the event that they were to ever have another swimming pool manufactured, would they utilize the same pool developers?�Other than conversing with pool proprietors on your visit, approach the Pool Builders for a complete rundown of referrals. It is definitely justified even despite your opportunity to call a few of them and discuss how the building procedure went. You ought to get some information about their association with the diverse groups, office staff, schedulers, and also the general nature of development.�Additionally get some information about their involvement with any guarantee issues and if the pool developers gave the same correspondence and client administration after the pool was done, as some time recently. This will let you know what's in store after they have gotten all their cash. Great Pool Builders rely on upon referrals to develop their business and they don't get them if their client administration closes when pool development does.how to get best dallas pool contractorsPremier Pools and Spas are Dallas Pool Contractors specializing in residential and commercial pools and spas. Top rated Dallas Pool Builders and Spa Designers. Get a FREE Estimate.Whether you are building another swimming pool or rebuilding or redesigning a current one, you should know how to discover authorized and experienced pool manufacturers to meet for your undertaking. Despite the fact that it may feel like an overwhelming assignment, a portion of the examination that you have to do is promptly accessible on the web. State laws require that all work performed on swimming pools and spas be performed by qualified Dallas Pool Builders who hold certain grants, contractual worker's licenses and potentially required particular preparing. You may need to consider a few pool manufacturers before you locate the best one for your venture.�Tip 1�Request a proposal from nearby home manufacturers. Numerous building contractual workers work with or have worked with qualified and authorized pool manufacturers in the range. Since their notoriety is hanging in the balance when they prescribe pool manufacturers to their homebuyers, you can be guaranteed that they will just suggest the best and those they actually had extraordinary encounters with.�Tip 2�You have to check that the�Dallas Pool Contractors that you are going to have offered on your undertaking have substantial, current licenses particularly to swim pool development or repair. There are distinctive groupings for temporary workers licenses so may need to scrutinize what the order is for Swimming Pool Manufacturers. Most states rundown this data on the web and you can gaze upward Dallas Pool Builders by their name or temporary worker number. You can likewise check whether there are any infractions documented and if the sum total of what issues has been determined.�Tip 3�Generally as you would before acquiring any vast thing or doing any work on your home, go on the Better Business Agency's site and check the rating of the pool manufacturers you are considering. In the event that they have a rating not exactly "An" or any grumblings that have not been determined, you ought to promptly take them off your rundown of potential Dallas Pool Builders.�Tip 4�Confirm that the pool manufacturers are individuals from any expert associations like the Relationship of Pool and Spa Experts (APSP). Individuals will probably be more respectable and dependable.�Tip 5�Request referrals. All great pool manufacturers will be more than upbeat for you to converse with past customers and will most likely have an extensive rundown of client names and contact data.�Verify that they list quite a while of customers with the goal that you can beware of their guarantee administration too.�Tip 6�Organize eye to eye gatherings with the Dallas Pool Builders so you can talk about the subtle elements of your venture long. Pay consideration on how they respond when you let them know what you need. Do they attempt to guide you in an alternate course or look into that you have put a considerable measure of time and thought into what you need? Recollect that, it is your fantasy they will be building.�Tip 7�Verify that you get a formal composed offer with extremely point by point particulars from each of the Dallas Pool Builders. It is vital that you make a valid comparison so you must be cautious that the items and hardware utilized, the measure of steel in the shell, and every single other part of the task are precisely the same. After watchful examination, you will be prepared to sign an agreement.�The fun part of getting a swimming pool begins as you watch your lawn change into a heaven. At last, it is justified regardless of the work that you have put into it as you watch your family and companions appreciate unlimited hours of fun.�pool deckingWith the excitement of having the contractors in to build you a new swimming pool its easy to forget the garden will probably need landscaping and the pool will need to be decked.finding a great dallas pool contactorsOur Dallas pool Contractors will work closely with you to design the perfect swimming pool that your family will enjoy for years to come.Dallas is the place where there is warm climate and fun in the sun… and in the water. On the off chance that you experienced childhood in Southern California, there is a decent risk that your fondest recollections are in a swimming pool. With your very own group, it is reasonable that you need to make the same sort of recollections. As you tackle the errand of discovering the best Dallas pool Contractors to fabricate your lawn dream, you need to do your exploration and verify that you are making a shrewd, instructed decision.�The main thing that you ought to do is to Google Dallas Pool Builders and see what organizations' data comes up on the first couple of pages. Since Google will probably give you the most pertinent data for your pursuit, it will guide you toward the Dallas pool manufacturer organizations' sites with the best information so you can look into each and choose on the off chance that you might want to welcome them into your home to offer on your swimming pool venture. A things' portion that you ought to be searching for in a Dallas pool Contractors are:�* Experience - Building a lovely swimming patio pool is not a specialty that is found out overnight. On account of custom swimming pools, the specialty of outline and development can take a decent lot of time to ace. A Dallas pool manufacturer with a lot of experience will verify that they exhibit their aptitude in their site. They will do this about discussing their organization's history, their building process, and showing pictures and photograph exhibitions of their undertakings. Regardless of the fact that an organization is considered genuinely new, search for experience inside of the proprietorship or administration bunch before settling on a choice to employ.�* Notoriety and Testimonials– A set up�Dallas Pool Contractors will have a notoriety that justifies itself with real evidence. The absolute best will have supports and testimonials from past clients who will permit them to utilize them as references and offer to have you go to their homes to see the nature of workmanship. All things considered, when work is finished at or past desires, clients by and large are more than willing to share their great stories. On the off chance that it is not, they will need much more individuals to realize that and you will positively keep running crosswise over unfavorable articles and postings on the web from disappointed clients.�* Recompenses and honors – In spite of the fact that these may appear to be unnecessary, in the event that they are granted by fair element, then they say a lot. Chief Pools and Spas was positioned the main national swimming pool Contractors in the nation for 2012. The rankings were controlled by various components, including consumer loyalty, group association, merchant references and income. Chief Pools has an area in Carlsbad, CA which benefits all of Dallas Region. This area is a built up Dallas pool manufacturer and has gotten various prestigious honors, including a few APSP Worldwide Recompenses of Greatness. Each swimming pool configuration is custom, whether it is a straightforward pool to chill in or stand-out showcase pool with every one of the fancy odds and whistles.how swimming pool contractors georgia execute their projectsConstruction of a swimming pond is done in stages. Swimming pool contractors Georgia follow well predetermined processes while constructing a pond. The processes have been used many times and given excellent results. Failure to follow this sequence could produce poor results that would make the owners very disappointed.want information on using a pool netAre you interested in putting up a swimming pool? You must plan for its safety. The best protection is a pool net. It creates a physical barrier over the entire pool. It can easily be removed if you want to use the pool. Don�t wait for an accident to buy a pool net. Read this article for pool net tips. how to get best dallas pool buildersPremier Pools and Spas are Dallas Pool Contractors specializing in residential and commercial pools and spas. Top rated Dallas Pool Builders and Spa Designers. Get a FREE Estimate.Whether you are building another swimming pool or rebuilding or redesigning a current one, you should know how to discover authorized and experienced pool manufacturers to meet for your undertaking. Despite the fact that it may feel like an overwhelming assignment, a portion of the examination that you have to do is promptly accessible on the web. State laws require that all work performed on swimming pools and spas be performed by qualified Dallas Pool Builders who hold certain grants, contractual worker's licenses and potentially required particular preparing. You may need to consider a few pool manufacturers before you locate the best one for your venture.�Tip 1�Request a proposal from nearby home manufacturers. Numerous building contractual workers work with or have worked with qualified and authorized pool manufacturers in the range. Since their notoriety is hanging in the balance when they prescribe pool manufacturers to their homebuyers, you can be guaranteed that they will just suggest the best and those they actually had extraordinary encounters with.�Tip 2�You have to check that the�Dallas Pool Contractors that you are going to have offered on your undertaking have substantial, current licenses particularly to swim pool development or repair. There are distinctive groupings for temporary workers licenses so may need to scrutinize what the order is for Swimming Pool Manufacturers. Most states rundown this data on the web and you can gaze upward Dallas Pool Builders by their name or temporary worker number. You can likewise check whether there are any infractions documented and if the sum total of what issues has been determined.�Tip 3�Generally as you would before acquiring any vast thing or doing any work on your home, go on the Better Business Agency's site and check the rating of the pool manufacturers you are considering. In the event that they have a rating not exactly "An" or any grumblings that have not been determined, you ought to promptly take them off your rundown of potential Dallas Pool Builders.�Tip 4�Confirm that the pool manufacturers are individuals from any expert associations like the Relationship of Pool and Spa Experts (APSP). Individuals will probably be more respectable and dependable.�Tip 5�Request referrals. All great pool manufacturers will be more than upbeat for you to converse with past customers and will most likely have an extensive rundown of client names and contact data.�Verify that they list quite a while of customers with the goal that you can beware of their guarantee administration too.�Tip 6�Organize eye to eye gatherings with the Dallas Pool Builders so you can talk about the subtle elements of your venture long. Pay consideration on how they respond when you let them know what you need. Do they attempt to guide you in an alternate course or look into that you have put a considerable measure of time and thought into what you need? Recollect that, it is your fantasy they will be building.�Tip 7�Verify that you get a formal composed offer with extremely point by point particulars from each of the Dallas Pool Builders. It is vital that you make a valid comparison so you must be cautious that the items and hardware utilized, the measure of steel in the shell, and every single other part of the task are precisely the same. After watchful examination, you will be prepared to sign an agreement.�The fun part of getting a swimming pool begins as you watch your lawn change into a heaven. At last, it is justified regardless of the work that you have put into it as you watch your family and companions appreciate unlimited hours of fun.�questions to ask when hiring pool buildersWhat do you look for when choosing pool builders? Learn what questions to ask when seeking reliable contractors for your job.superior quality coatings for your poolThe art of maintaining a swimming pool lies in the fact as to how well you maintain the integrity of the pool surface. The pool surface is one of the most integral parts of the pool and it is very important for you to ensure that the proper structure of the pool is maintained and the long life of the swimming pool is ensured.discount pool suppliesAll the pool supplies are available at discounted rate. These include pool heaters, pool toys, solar cover, pool chemicals, pool covers and etc.The shops offer the pool equipments at discounted rate on the seasonal basis but there number of online shops who offer the pool supplies at discounted rate all over the year. The online shops give the full description of the products if someone wants to buy. They impress their clients with the informative descriptions. Many shops allow their clients to order online and purchase later from the shop.Pool supplies are available in the second hand condition and they have the large second hand market too. People often use to sell their supplies like pumps, filters and etc after using for a short time. These supplies are quite inexpensive from the online shops. The quality no doubt is same but these are used that�s why they are available in very cheap price.There are many countries who are involved in the direct sales. They offer such a large discount like of 50% during the season. Each and every product of the pool is given at discounted rate when the summers start. Beside this, many online shops offer free shipping after buying their specific products and spend which is to be demanded.It is my advice to buy the second hand pool supplies from your friends or neighbors at discounted rate. It will be quite beneficial for you to buy. In addition to the reasonable price, there is available every information on the internet about the every single pool supplies you want to buy. These pool supplies are available in different sizes ranging from the small kid to the adults. You should try these supplies in your home and I am damn sure that you will have fun.pool cue racks what to look forSo you've got your pool table, your pool balls, and your pool cues. Now you need to start thinking about a pool cue rack. But what do you look for?!? Do you know how to find the one that meets your personal requirements?usual pool problems faced by pool ownersWhen you own a piece of real estate with a swimming pool, you can enjoy refreshing breaks from the sunshine and have fun with your family. If you experience common pool problems don't worry, they are ...hiring the best swimming pool contractorsThe best thing to when you hire swimming pool contractors in Oklahoma City OK is to list down all the potential service provider in town or in the city. There can really be lots of them online so you ...pool equipment suppliesWhile the kids may spend hours swimming in the backyard without breaking a sweat, your job is to keep your pool clean and safe for guests and family. Your garage or pool house should be filled with pool equipment supplies that will keep your investment in a pool yielding dividends of enjoyment for years. The primary element of your pool maintenance kit is pool pump supplies that will keep water filtered around the clock.Your pool equipment supply search/ pool pump supplies search is incomplete if you do not look for products that will make pool maintenance easier. A pool filter timer allow pool owners to conserve energy setting the pump to work certain hours of the day, eliminating energy waste when the pool is not in use. Once your pool is covered for the night, a strong rainstorm may pass through and fill your pool cover with water. You can use a pool cover pump to drain dirty rain water from your cover before opening the pool for business.Newcomers to pool equipment supplies may be shocked at the number of different pool covers on the market. Solar covers are inexpensive products that trap heat into plastic bubbles, distributing that heat gradually to keep the pool warm year-round. Leaf nets are placed on top of traditional or solar covers to collect leaves, sticks and other debris in the autumn. Every family should own a safety cover for the backyard pool to ensure the safety of visitors and guests. A safety cover is a heavy-duty cover that anchors to the edges of the pool, protecting accident-prone guests from falling into the deep end of the pool.After the pool cover is removed in the morning, pool owners have to ensure that the water has been purified before the first cannonballs and dives. A pool owner should have an automatic cleaner and a chlorine generator in his pool equipment supplies to keep water clean at all times. An automatic cleaner will sweep the bottom of the pool and remove debris that may have gotten under the cover. Instead of trying to find the right balance between chlorine and water, a chlorine generator can be used to dole out small amounts of chlorine to avoid burnt eyes and skin discomfort.Your pool is not complete without a set of stairs to allow easy entrance into the water. Budget-conscious families may opt for plastic ladders and above-ground stairs that can be stored in the garage when the pool isn't in use. Other pool owners will opt for in-pool stairs and decks that span above the water to make access easier for their guests. Pool equipment suppliers will have all of these stairs in stock because many families opt for multiple entry options.quest find best swimming pool contractors 1109615 I am about to take on the overwhelming task, at least for me, of starting to interview swimming pool contractors to build the pool that my family and I have been thinking for years. I am not sure why this is a daunting task for me as I make major decisions in my job every day. I think it is because it is a major investment; and a permanent one. If you buy a car and it turns out to be a lemon, you bring it back. If you make the wrong decision on which swimming pool contractors you use to build your dream, you will be looking at your mistakes every day. This decision requires a lot of research so I start my exhaustive search on the internet. I spend so much time there that I consider Google to be my best friend now. I start by researching the swimming pool contractors that are closest to me. Maybe it is because I think if the they are close in proximity; the job will get done faster. That is probably not the best criteria to base which swimming pool contractors you would like to bid on a huge project like this. So I take a step back and think that it may be best to see which swimming pool contractors rank high on the first page of Google (my new best friend). As we all know, Google only sends you to the most relevant websites. Companies have earned their way to the top of the first page of Google. I do my searches and pick the five of the top ten swimming pool contractor websites. I then decide to research them even further by going on social review sites to see what their customers have to say about their experiences. I quickly discover that I have to take these reviews with a grain of salt as this is a platform for the most disgruntled people to vent. One of the postings trashed some swimming pool contractors because they left a Taco Bell wrap in their backyard and another because a tractor ran over their azaleas. I am thinking that there are a few things that are more important when major construction is going on in your backyard. Plus, which one of us that has a great experience with a company thinks, "I can't wait to go home and do a posting telling the whole world how fabulous these people are and how great my experience was." To my surprise, there were some. Rather than use the internet as my sole basis for choosing swimming pool contractors to bid on our pool, I started to do the smart thing. I started asking everyone I knew that had a pool what their experience was like with their contractor; my friends, family, co-workers, neighbors...everyone. I asked the gal at the grocery store, my vet, and the mailman. I have to admit, this works very well. There is nothing better than a good referral to help you make your choice. It worked well for me and helped me narrow down my search. Now comes the task of interviewing my select group of swimming pool contractors. Whew! This is going to be a long road. phoenix pool contractors finding qualified phoenix pool contractors 983309find best pool contractors pools r us 197435pools r us renowned group pool contractors dubai 129444finding good designer dallas pool contractors 1451267 Getting a swimming pool for your family truly is a blessing from heaven yet that fantasy can transform into a bad dream in the event that you don't examine the pool developers that you welcome to offer on your occupation. Numerous Dallas Contractors workers have battled with these extreme financial times and despite the fact that you may think just the great pool developers have survived; this may not be the situation. The best way to guarantee that the Pool Builders you meeting are the ones to work with is by doing a great deal of exploration and getting some information about how monetarily secure they are, the manner by which stable is their business, how gifted are they, and how glad are their clients. To see whether pool temporary workers are fiscally secure, you can solicit to converse with some from their sellers and suppliers. Strong pool developers will have involved acquaintances with their merchants, through great financial times and awful, and their sellers are extremely faithful to them. They can likewise give you understanding on the Pool Builders themselves - their character, morals and gauges. A decent sign that developers are steady is that they will have a showroom or physical area that you can visit and look at their items, showcases, and workmanship. Tragically in a few expresses, the swimming Pool Builders industry isn't entirely controlled and you will regularly locate a maybe a couple man operation, working out of their trucks, attempting to make a brisk buck. This "portability" frequently makes it simple for these sorts of pool developers to up and leave town when they come up short on cash or get into money related or contractual issues; regularly leaving huge void gaps in individuals' terraces. On the off chance that you talk with littler Builders, ensure that they have the money related support and dependability of a bigger partnerships, and are either a franchisee or licensee of that organization. These partnerships have their notoriety and brand to ensure and regardless of the possibility that something happens locally with any of their pool developers, they will venture in and verify that issues are tended to and that their notoriety is secured. To check whether Developers have the right expertise sets to construct your custom swimming pool, you have to have them go up against you a voyage through swimming pools that they have assembled. Take a gander at the tile's craftsmanship, mortar, waterfalls, and decking. How unpredictable are the swimming pools? It is safe to say that they are basic "treat cutter" swimming pools or would they say they are custom pools with exceptional plans and many-sided building? Converse with the mortgage holders and get some information about their involvement with their pool developers. Would they prescribe them to their family and companions? In the event that they were to ever have another swimming pool manufactured, would they utilize the same pool developers? Other than conversing with proprietors on your visit, approach the Pool Builders for a complete rundown of referrals. It is definitely justified even despite your opportunity to call a few of them and discuss how the building procedure went. You ought to get some information about their association with the diverse groups, office staff, schedulers, and also the general nature of development. Additionally get some information about their involvement with any guarantee issues and if the developers gave the same correspondence and client administration after the pool was done, as some time recently. This will let you know what's in store after they have gotten all their cash. Great Pool Builders rely on upon referrals to develop their business and they don't get them if their client administration closes when pool development does. swimming pool contractors choose best one 1350425swimming pool contractors complete guide 1319955ask swimming pool contractors brisbane cement swimming pools 1314254 Swimming pools are a great addition to have in your home. It gives you a good place to lounge, have parties and a good place for the kids to splash around. A quality pool is also a useful asset to acquire as it makes a great selling point. You will find many swimming pool contractors in Brisbane who can help you add this feature to your house. Although fiberglass is increasingly becoming a popular choice for swimming pools because it offers quick and easy installation, it cannot be termed as the best option. In some respects cement can actually trump the fiberglass. If you have trusted cement to be the component in shed slabs of Brisbane, you can trust the swimming pool contractors of Brisbane to build you a dream pool as well. swimming pool contractors brisbane other factors consider before building pool 1303282 When you think of building a pool in your home, there are a few things that you need to consider. The most important among them is choosing the swimming pool contractors in Brisbane. If the contractor isn't skilled or experienced, it is highly likely that the end result will be way less than satisfactory. So, how do you choose the right contractors, it's simple. Just follow these few tips and you will find a competent contractor. Now, once you have found the right swimming pool contractors in Brisbane, your next decision is the type of pool. Most homeowners have difficulty choosing between fiberglass pools and gunite pools. Gunite is nothing but concrete. Unfortunately, an unbiased opinion is never available. Most concreting in Brisbane professionals install only one type of pool but there are professionals who specialize in both. Don't fall for partiality from the contractor's side. Decide for yourself. Evaluate the pros and cons of each. The pros and cons of both the pools are as follows:Pros and Cons After deciding on the kind of pool you want, let's take a brief look at indoor swimming pools. Should you decide to have an indoor pool, here's some information that would help you. Indoor pools really beautify your home. Though they can be expensive, they come with several advantages. They can be used throughout the year, do not cost much to maintain, and do not require a cover like outdoor pools. So they are definitely a good choice. But if you have space in your property, it is more fun to have an outdoor pool. Ask your concreting in Brisbane professional about which one you should choose. swimming pool contractors vs do yourself 1100312you know about swimming pool contractors lighting 1048782houston pool contractors we have provides chip best pool services 841274pool contractors near me 1743095water saving tips pool owners 1542486swimming pool maintenance contractors maintain right levels chlorine better service 1528320flipping and estimating bundle ultimate?utm_source=searchresultPool ContractorsJust how To Pick A Pool Cover? End of the swimming period? Currently you need to cover your swimming pool with a swimming pool cover as well as state a really farewell to the swimming times. But the biggest issue that accompanies you after the end of the swimming season is exactly how to maintain the pool. The direct solution is 'utilize swimming pool covers to preserve your swimming pool in good problems. For, pool covers shield the pool as well as secure it from undesirable debris and rain water. So, selecting one appropriate swimming pool cover comes to be a have to for you. Likewise, you require swimming pool covers to block the swimming pool while you are far from house to make sure that the kids might not attempt swimming alone. Let's take a peep right into just how can you shop at convenience for swimming pool covers. There are various sorts of pool covers in the marketplace place today. Firstly plainly construct out your needs prior to you take a look around for a swimming pool cover. The regular swimming pool covers are the plastic covers that are laid on the swimming pool as well as fixed with the assistance of sand bags or some other heavy things on the corners of the pool. They are short-term swimming pool covers which can be eliminated quickly as they are lightweight. Though, safety and security covers are among one of the most reputable covers when it comes to a season long covering for your pool. They resemble a barrier to the pool. These covers avoid your kids from getting on the pool. Generally the short-term swimming pool covers leave a little gap in between the deck as well as the cover. It gets simple for the children to slide with that gap and dive inside. If you obtain safeguard covers from the market for you pool, it would permit you to have a full sight of the water inside the swimming pool. It would make you delight in the setting that pool has actually created in your yard. The net of pool cover is a solid steel web that is carefully woven into a swimming pool cover. Furthermore, the cover can be gotten rid of with in 10 mins. The automatic covers run along with the sides of the swimming pool as well as obtain rolled inside package on their own. You just have to press a button to do all this. You can additionally make use of opaque pool covers too. However one of the significant problems faced while making use of a nontransparent swimming pool cover is standing water. The rain water does not go inside the swimming pool however it gets accumulated on the swimming pool cover. So, you can make use of unique swimming pool covers with pumping system with it. For, the pump would efficiently eliminate the water from your pool cover. So make your selection after thinking about all the various swimming pool covers on the market. As a swimming pool proprietor, you can additionally engage a pool developer for your swimming pool cover. He will certainly lay out the needs of your pool according to the decor of your residence. So you would certainly get the called for defense for your pool and also a pretty back yard having pool in your home.Pool Services - Building, Cleaning, Decks, Heater, Installation, Plastering, Renovations, Repair, Resurfacing | +1 (833) 631-0557Contact Us Today!+1 (833) 631-0557USAhttps://sites.google.com/site/bestpoolservices24/http://poolservices24.s3-website.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/