Daily Archives: February 19, 2012

Waupaca sectional

Freedom and Seymour led Fox Valley area schools with five and three state meet qualifiers, respectively.

Freedom's lone champion was at 182 pounds, where Ben Beyer decisioned Matthew Samsa of Oconto Falls 3-1.

Seymour's Mark Dessart defeated Mitchell Friedman of Oconto Falls 2-1 in overtime to capture first place at 132 pounds, with teammate Alex Schramm capturing first at 138 pounds with a 5-2 win over Little Chute's Brady Spierings.

Brett Buechler was Wrightstown's lone champion, defeating Seymour's Dylan Drephal in two overtimes 5-4 in the 126-pound championship match.

Winneconne's John Roycraft took first place at 120 pounds, defeating Dewey Krueger of Oconto Falls 4-0.

Winneconne's Bryce Chaney, a senior who was 40-0, did not wrestle because of a skin condition.

Teams and state qualifiers

LUXEMBURG-CASCO 9, OCONTO FALLS 7, FREEDOM 5, SEYMOUR 3, TWO RIVERS 3, WITTENBERG-BIRNAMWOOD 3, LITTLE CHUTE 2, WRIGHTSTOWN 2, WINNECONNE 1, WAUPACA 1, MOSINEE 1, STURGEON BAY 1, SOUTHERN DOOR 1, NEKOOSA/PORT EDWARDS 1, TOMAHAWK 1, WILD ROSE/WAUTOMA 1

106 ? First: Zach Sirny WR/W pinned Cody Walrath FR 1:21; Second-place wrestleback: Walrath FR dec. Ty Pelot TR 7-0. 113 ? First: Matthew Damp OF dec. Bobby Uttecht WB 5-0; Second-place wrestleback: Chris Yauch TR pinned Uttecht WB 3:01. 120 ? First: John Roycraft WIN dec. Dewey Krueger OF 4-0; Third: Bryce Zdanovec LITT dec. Jacob Veness PESHTIGO 11-7. 126 ? First: Brett Buechler WRI dec. Dylan Drephal 5-4 (2 OT); Third: Levi Petroske WAUP dec. Jared Pawlak OF 12-6. 132 ? First: Mark Dessart SEY dec. Mitchell Friedman OF 2-1 (OT); Second-place wrestleback: Friedman OF won by forfeit over Zach Skarda LUXC. 138 ? First: Alex Schramm SEY dec. Brady Spierings LITT 5-2; Third: Austin Worachek LUXC dec. Connor Avery WAUP 6-3. 145 ? First: Jordan Roosa MOS dec. Devin Bera FR 6-4 (OT); Second-place wrestleback: Bera FR dec. Cody Stephenson SB 7-4. 152 ? First: Mike Uliana LUXC dec. Nolan Wagner SD 14-2; Second-place wrestleback: Wagner pinned Austen Vosters FR 3:45. 160 ? First: Mitch Berceau LUXC dec. Cody Nielsen OF 3-2; Third: Jackson Fox WR pinned Adam Redman MOS 2:44. 170 ? First: Jacob Morrissey OF dec. Matt Zellner LUXC 14-3; Second-place wrestleback: Zellner LUXC pinned Bryce Lamont N/PE :55. 182 ? First: Ben Beyer FR dec. Matthew Samsa OF 3-1; Third: Jordan Pardowsky LUXC dec. Austin Bellile TOM 11-6. 195 ? First: Payton DuPlayee TOM dec. Levi Jozwiak WB 7-4; Third: Ethan Peters LUXC dec. John Kamps OF 9-4. 220 ? First: Riley Delzer OF pinned Reed Ambrosious 1:18; Third: Luke Desitche LUXC dec. Adam Kuehl KEWAUNEE 7-1. 285 ? First: Newton Smerchek LUXC dec. George White Wing WB 8-6; Third: Bo Skornicka TR pinned John Verhagen GILLETT/SURING :20.

Campbellsport sectional

Chilton advanced four wrestlers to the state meet, with Nic Adkins qualifying as a champion.

Adkins defeated Caleb Peck 6-5 in the championship match at 126 pounds. Adkins had advanced to the title match with a 7-4 win over Cody Chelminiak of Delavan-Darien and a 10-3 win over Beau Oestreich of Campbellsport.

Austin Hephner, Patrick Breckheimer and Jordan Petrie also advanced for Chilton.

PORT WASHINGTON 7, DELAVAN-DARIEN 4, EAST TROY 4, VALDERS 4, CHILTON 4, SHEBOYGAN FALLS 4, KEWASKUM 3, PEWAUKEE 3, ST. JOHN'S NORTHWEST MILITARY ACADEMY 2, ST. LAWRENCE SEMINARY 1, CAMPBELLSPORT 1, NEW HOLSTEIN 1, WAUPUN 1, WISCONSIN LUTHERAN 1, BIG FOOT/WILLIAMS BAY 1, KIEL 1

113 ? Third: Patrick Breckheimer CH pinned Dakota Danner MAYVILLE :48. 126 ? First: Nic Adkins CH dec. Caleb Peck VAL 6-5. 170 ? Second-place wrestleback: Josh Meins POW dec. Jordan Petrie CH 11-3. 182 ? Second-place wrestleback: Austin Hephner dec. Bady Huenink WAUP 6-5.

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Freedom Irish, Seymour Thunder, Chilton Tigers lead the way in Division 2 wrestling

With so much attention focused on in highly restrictive countries such as China, Iran and Syria, the discussion of global Internet freedom often has tended to exclude the large class of more moderate nations with rapidly growing online populations with only a rudimentary set of laws and policies for the Web.

To the extent that the issue has received coverage in the mainstream press, the banner headlines have generally been reserved for the higher-profile flare-ups, recently seen in various Internet crackdowns amid the Arab spring uprisings or Google's 2010 standoff with China over online censorship.

But for Bob Boorstin, Google's director of corporate and policy communications, the greater uncertainty, both for U.S. businesses looking to new markets overseas and global Internet users, is found in the countries that have neither made forceful affirmations of online freedom nor implemented rigid, state-sanctioned censorship frameworks.

"The countries that I'm most concerned with in the next couple of years and that I think are most worth looking at are those in the middle -- the Brazils and the Indias and Argentinas and the Chiles and the North African countries and Southeast Asian [countries], like Indonesia, the Philippines. And the question I want to put on the table is which way are they going to go?" Boorstin said here at an event hosted by the Media Access Project, a nonprofit public-interest law firm and advocacy group. "That's the question that I'm focused on at the moment."

Clinton Shines Light on Internet Freedom

Shortly after Google went public with the revelations that it had been targeted by a series of cyber attacks emanating from China and announced that it would no longer comply with that country's Internet censorship rules, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made Internet freedom the subject of a major policy speech in January 2010, an issue she has revisited in subsequent remarks.

Secretary of State ClintonClinton cast the issue in terms of human rights and freedom of expression, and signaled that Internet freedom would become an integral part of U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic strategy.

Ben Scott, policy adviser for innovation at Clinton's office, called that speech a "sea change" that served to elevate Internet issues to a first-tier item on the global policy agenda.

"Virtually everyone has woken up to the fact that the Internet matters to foreign policy," Scott said on Tuesday. "This is an issue that no one can ignore anymore."

But that broad acceptance that the Internet matters is not to be mistaken for anything close to consensus on the subject, Scott said.

He acknowledged that there is a rudimentary understanding that "technology is a catalyst for economic growth" throughout the international community, but added that he regularly meets with senior government, academic and business leaders around the world who do not believe that the Internet represents a net good, a starting point that is bound to prescribe a policy framework very different from that found in the United States and other countries where the Web is a generally open platform for expression.

"I think we have an erroneous tendency to project our own assumptions and our own familiarities in this debate on other capital cities. And we forget the fact that in most of these middle countries it's really only in the last two years -- thanks to the smartphone -- that significant percentages of their populations are online," Scott said. "These are new questions in a lot of these countries."

In India, for instance, the percentage of residents using the Internet still numbers in the single digits, according to Scott. Yet that country, with the world's second largest population and a thriving tech economy in cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore, represents a hive of opportunities for U.S. tech firms. At the same time, it has exhibited some worrisome signs of heavy-handed oversight that could mute the enthusiasm with which businesses eye the market.

Google and Facebook Comply

Just this week, word surfaced that Google and Facebook had each taken down certain content on their domains in India to comply with a court ruling that upheld a lawsuit against a larger group of Internet companies seeking mechanisms to block sensitive religious material.

"That's the kind of thing that we're going to run up against all the time. The question is will they come out in the defense of an open Internet," Boorstin said of his company's situation in India.

He explained that he is hopeful that countries still developing the building blocks of their Internet policy will ultimately land on the side of openness. Even if they are not compelled by a philosophical allegiance to free expression, the pragmatic understanding that a cross-border flow of communication through social media and cloud computing technologies will be an essential piece of the 21st century economy should be motivation enough to loosen their Internet policies.

"They will recognize that without that free flow of information they're going to stifle if not strangle their growth," he said.

Kenneth Corbin is a Washington, D.C.-based writer who covers government and regulatory issues for CIO.com.

Read more about government in CIO's Government Drilldown.

See original here:
Internet Freedom: Next Battlefields

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire -02/17/12)- Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz addressed the Western Barley Growers Association's 2012 Annual General Meeting today to highlight the economic benefits of marketing freedom for the barley industry.

"Our government has delivered on our long-standing commitment to give western Canadian barley farmers the marketing freedom they want and deserve," said Minister Ritz. "With the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, western Canadian farmers can now decide how to market the crop based on what is best for their own business, all the while strengthening Canada's economy."

The Government of Canada remains focused on the economy, and strengthening Canada's barley industry will help create jobs and keep our economy strong. An open grain market attracts investment, encourages innovation, creates value-added jobs, and builds a stronger economy for all Canadians.

"The Harper Government's top priority continues to be the economy, in which the barley industry plays a vital role," said Minister Ritz. "With the global economy still very fragile, we continue to work on strengthening the agriculture industry, a significant driver of jobs and economic growth."

The Canadian Wheat Board is preparing for an open market and will be a viable marketing option for farmers. Western Canadian farmers now have the freedom to choose how to sell their products, whether that means selling on an open market or to the Canadian Wheat Board.

The Western Barley Growers Association has been a leader within the Canadian agricultural sector in support of marketing freedom and continues to work toward strengthening the barley sector.

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Western Barley Growers Welcome Marketing Freedom

The Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival Celebration of Freedom Fireworks are launched from May's Island in downtown Cedar Rapids on Monday July 4, 2011. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Freedom Festival, which last year experienced its largest turnout in 6 years, is hoping to build on that momentum during this summer’s events.

Organizers say the festival, which will run from June 21-July 4, will have more to offer, with perhaps the biggest addition being a second location to spend the Fourth of July.

Nearly 105,000 people turned out to watch fireworks along the Cedar River last year, and festival organizers said they saw an opportunity to accommodate more people.

“On the Fourth of July this year, we won’t just be downtown, we will also be at the Kernel’s stadium,” said Erika Elles, vice president of the Freedom Festival Board of Directors.

The festival also will offer a range of new activities leading up to the fireworks that day.

“We are going to start out the Fourth with a pancake breakfast, then a concert,” said Robyn Rieckhoff, the festival’s new executive director. “Then there will be the baseball game which will be followed by another concert.”

The festival also will last two weeks instead of three weeks this year, but organizers will still hold the flag-raising event on Flag Day, June 14.

“That was based on feedback we received from volunteers, people on the board, citizens of Cedar Rapids that attended the events,” Elles said.

Organizers have been using that feedback to decide what to include in the festival, and what to leave out.

“We are going to have a couple more bands coming, but we are not ready to release who that is going to be yet,” Rieckhoff said.

Elles said that organizers have decided not to hold events that had low attendance, like the cardboard regatta, this year.

But events like the Balloon Glow and the Firefighter Challenge drew so much interest, organizers are expanding them. The Firefighter Challenge will now be a two-day event where children can also compete.

“One of the comments we got from people who attended that event was ‘you have to bring this back, we just loved it,’” Elles said.

Rieckhoff said organizers still want to hear from the public about what they would like to see at this year’s festival. She said residents can leave feedback on the festival’s Facebook page or on their web site.

Excerpt from:
Freedom Festival organizers prepare for 2012

Reporting from Istanbul, Turkey—

One ofTurkey'sbest known publishers and human rights activists is sitting in prison — again — waiting for a court case that appears to be at a virtual standstill. He is far from alone.

Ragip Zarakolu was arrested in October along with dozens of other people suspected of having links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, also known as the PKK.

While he sits in a high-security prison in northwest Turkey, dozens more journalists are in jail around the country on orders of the nation's judicial system. Some say the number of those incarcerated is as high as 100.

"Everything is proceeding in an exceedingly Kafkaesque manner since the start," Zarakolu, 63, wrote in a letter to the Hurriyet Daily News in late December. "If lies pass as the truth, and denials have replaced apologies, then everything is rotten."

Turkey is often held up in the United States and Europe as a model of how democracy can work in a Muslim country. But human rights activists say the arrests of journalists is putting a damper on press freedoms that have been steadily eroding in recent years.

Zarakolu is a veteran of Turks' battle with censorship. He began in the early 1970s by publishing controversial works by Kurdish, Armenian and Greek authors. He was jailed in 1971 for three years on charges of belonging to a communist organization, and was barred from leaving the country until 1991. His office was bombed in 1995, and he has been charged over the years with many violations of censorship laws.

He is not the only prominent journalist arrested in recent months. Others include investigative reporter Nedim Sener, who has been writing about government corruption for 20 years, and Ahmet Sik, who has written about how a cult-like Islamic movement has found its way into the state security forces.

Last month, tens of thousands of people took to the street to remember ethnic Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was gunned down five years ago by an ultranationalist teenager. The number of people who turned out underscored the level of discontent about how the media are treated in Turkey.

"Without belittling the achievements of the government, the roof has fallen in on freedom of expression," said Hurriyet columnist David Judson.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders recently published its annual press freedom index, which dropped Turkey 10 places to 148th in the world, just behind countries such as Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The unprecedented extension of the range of arrests, the massive phone taps and the contempt shown for the confidentiality of journalists' sources, have helped to reintroduce a climate of intimidation in the media," the organization said.

Last month, noted American author Paul Auster said he would not visit Turkey as long as so many journalists and writers remained behind bars.

The issue goes well beyond the arrest of journalists and writers. Over the last year, hundreds of people, among them politicians and high-ranking members of the military, have been arrested as suspects in a plot to overthrow the government.

The arrest of journalists has drawn the attention of the European Union, which Turkey for years has been trying to join.

"The right of freedom of expression is undermined by the large number of legal cases and investigations against journalists, writers, academics and human rights defenders," Stefan Fule, the commissioner overseeing EU expansion, recently wrote to the president of the European Federation of Journalists. "This leads to self-censorship and, together with undue pressure on the media, raises serious concerns."

Until recently, the response of the Turkish government has generally been to dismiss the criticism. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan characterized it as nothing more than a "smear campaign" to discredit the judicial system.

"We have a situation here that Western intellectuals have never experienced," Erdogan recently told a group of media executives. "In the West, journalists do not take part in coup plots, they do not write books to lay the ground for coups."

Ozgur Ogret, an Istanbul journalist who has written extensively about the crackdown, said much of the problem lies in Turkey's anti-terrorism law, which gives the judiciary a free hand in deciding who might be an enemy of the state. Those jailed can spend months, even years, not knowing what charges have been leveled against them, he said.

Because of Turkey's robust economy and emerging role as a regional leader, Ogret said, the government, has been less inclined to bow to outside pressure.

"They don't think they need support anymore," he said.

But there are signs that Turkey is beginning to take the criticism more seriously. The parliament is scheduled in coming days to take up the question of pretrial detention of journalists. And Erdogan said last month that he would consider dismissing cases against journalists accused of crimes that would have sentences of less than five years.

As for Zarakolu, his lawyers are challenging his detention in a suit filed with the European Court of Human Rights. Meanwhile, he has been able to win one small victory behind bars. At the time of his arrest, his 36-year-old son, Deniz, was also taken into custody on suspicion of having links to the PKK, but he was sent to a different prison. The elder Zarakolu campaigned to be confined in the same prison, and that wish was granted.

Ogret said there are many other journalists with equally compelling stories.

"I can give you dozens of people who would also be a symbol," he said.

Kennedy is a special correspondent.

See original here:
Jailed journalists a sign of declining press freedom in Turkey

Benji Kimble never pushed Edgar Zepeda about it. But anytime the first-year Freedom High School boys soccer coach had a chance, he’d ask Zepeda the same question that everyone involved with the Eagles’ soccer program wanted an answer to: Was Zepeda going to play this season?

If Zepeda chose not to play this spring for Freedom and focus only on competing with D.C. United Academy like he did a year ago as a junior, Kimble would have been disappointed, but supportive of Zepeda’s decision.

Time, though, was becoming an issue as the starting date for spring sports season crept closer and quite honestly, Freedom needed Zepeda perhaps more than he needed them.

Although one kid on the soccer field may not make an entire difference between a win or a loss, Zepeda came darn close. When Zepeda anchored his team’s defense from his sweeper position as a sophomore, the Eagles had their best season in school history, going 7-7-2.

Without him last year, Freedom went winless. Granted, the Eagles lost some other key players from that 2010 team, but it was clear Zepeda’s loss made a huge impact, enough that the coaching staff believed Zepeda’s presence could have easily resulted in at least six wins in 2011. He was that important.

So the question remained: Was Zepeda going to play or not?

After a few weeks of checking in with Zepeda, Kimble finally got his answer.

“He said, ‘I’m playing for you,’ ” Kimble said.

Still to ensure everyone was on the same page, Kimble wanted to make sure Zepeda was in this for the long haul and that Freedom soccer would be the priority, even though he’d still have his academy commitments when the spring high school sports season begins Tuesday with tryouts.

“If we start making exceptions at Freedom, we’re running into problems,” Kimble said.

Zepeda assured Kimble Freedom was No. 1. He’d talked to his academy coaches about it and even his coaches at George Mason University, the college he signed with for men’s soccer earlier this month.

No one had an issue with it.

“My sophomore year when I did play, I had an impact,” Zepeda said. “This year, it’s going to be fun. I hope we can make progress.”

Besides his desire to enjoy his final year of high school, Zepeda’s decision to play for Freedom was aided in large part by the fact he had made his college decision already. One of the major factors for Zepeda playing for D.C. United Academy was to get more exposure, especially from colleges.

He was spotted at a tournament one day by someone from the academy and was brought in for a tryout. He earned a spot, but realized that between his studies (he was taking three AP classes at the time) and his academy commitments, there would be no time for high school soccer.

His coach then, Chris Valenti, understood Zepeda’s decision. But he’s glad to see him back on the field this season for the Eagles.

“I am very happy to see Edgar had decided to help us lead the team this season during his senior year,” said Valenti, who stepped down as head coach to work with an after-school credit recovery program, but will still serve as the head junior varsity coach. “I guess we will have to wait and see how the season goes, but I guarantee that a lot of the teams this year will have a hard time getting past him on defense.”

Beyond his soccer abilities, Zepeda is held up by Freedom coaches to other students and players as an example of how to conduct yourself. Zepeda is only the second Division I signee in the school’s history with the other one being basketball player Cam Long, who starred at George Mason.

“It’s something you can aspire to,” Kimble said. “He’s never led so much with his mouth, but he always does the right thing. That’s a great thing to hang your hat on. If you are not sure what to do, look at Edgar and think WWED, ‘What would Edgar do?’ ” Kimble said.

While he missed last year’s high school soccer season, Zepeda, who carries a 3.5 grade point average, did his best to keep tabs on the team. He’d come to a few games when he could and would always check in with the coaches when he saw them at school to offer words of encouragement.

But he has no regrets about missing last season. Beyond the college interest, Zepeda got the opportunity to play in Brazil and Holland. The one-year cost to participate in the D.C. United Academy program is $1,100, but to Zepeda the trade off was worth it.

“Technically, he’s so much better,” said Nolan Sheldon, Zepeda’s D.C. United Academy U-18 coach.

Last Wednesday inside the Freedom gym after school, Kimble held an informational meeting with those boys and girls interested in playing soccer for the Eagles. Zepeda was in the first row of bleachers, listening to his coach speak.

Later that evening, he’d have an academy game up in Arlington. But the good thing was there was time to do both. And Zepeda is glad for that, especially since this is his final year of high school.

“I kind of want to have fun,” Zepeda said. “I’ve made all my decisions. I’m kind of on the backburner.”

Sports editor David Fawcett can be reached at 703-530-3911

The rest is here:
Freedom's soccer program receives big lift with Edgar Zepeda's return