By Sara Martino

May the \”Luck of the Irish\” come to every lad and lassie that visits the Lucky Star Gallery.

Michael and Amanda (Mandy) Little can pose you in an Irish setting and may even be able to make you look like a traditional leprechaun if you choose, as Mandy has a knack of making you look special and classy with her unique gift of putting you in the right setting. With her twelve years of experience, she will do your make-up and hair styling upon request in preparation for your photos.

\”After posing for their photos with special make-up and costumes, many of the women said they have gained confidence in themselves,\” said Mandy, which is surely a reason why the gallery has many repeat customers.

Customers may pose in retro outfits; including stockings from the 1950\’s complete with seams (remember them ladies?). If you prefer cheesecake, or pin-up style complete with black fish net stockings (remember them men?), no problem… Customers who are pursuing a modeling career use the talents of Mandy who can create bombshell pinups for their portfolios.

\”It is rewarding to see the expressions of the new mothers who sit for their pictures of themselves and their newborns in our \”Alice in Wonderland\” setting,\” said Mandy. \”Family photos can be a lot of fun.\”

Male customers are certainly welcome either with their special lady or by themselves to be photographed in vintage costumes or in regular clothing. Even Michael himself has posed and is quite taken with his partner\’s work.

Michael, a former Army paratrooper and Mandy, a blooming artist, met in an art gallery and have a son who is also an artist. Mandy is a self-taught artist and has always loved painting and the arts. On the walls of the Lucky Star Gallery, Mandy has exhibited colorful and unusual paintings of herself. In addition to her artiste talents, she is a classic songstress and a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.

One of the primary objects of the gallery owners is to attract local and regional artists and to encourage budding artists. \”This summer we will host an exhibit of gifted children\’s art, hoping to make them more aware of the exciting career in painting,\” Mandy said.

Mike and Mandy said they thank their lucky stars to have found their spot here at 531 Monmouth Street in Gloucester City. \”We were lucky to have the means to start our business and lucky to be of help to our customers and neighbors\”, they said. \”We hope our venture will attract many more arts and entertainment businesses and customers for the City.\”

Related: Buy Local/UEZ

Related: Buy Local/UEZ http://gloucestercitynews.typepad.com/clearysnotebook/buy_localuez/index.html

Cedar Rapids, Iowa… The 2008 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships get underway on Friday with The College of New Jersey sending four grapplers to the mat in their respective weight classes.

The Lions are coming off of their second straight Metropolitan Conference Championships and look to place in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships for the 35th straight year.

The NCAA Championships are being held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with Coe College, Cornell College and the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference serving as the hosts. The double-elimination tournament concludes on Saturday. The top eight place winners in each weight class will earn All-American honors.

TCNJ has a good mix of wrestlers competing as freshmen John Barnett (Oak Ridge, NJ/Jefferson Township) at 149 and Justin Bonitatis (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East) at 165 each earned automatic bids to the tournament by winning their weight class at the Met Championships, while senior Ray Sarinelli (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Hills) and junior Greg Osgoodby (Waldwick, NJ/Waldwick) received \”wild card\” spots to the championships. Sarinelli will wrestle at 133 and Osgoodby at 174.

Sarinelli, who is seeded seventh, is making his second straight trip to the NCAA Championship and will open against Zac Bartlett from Luther College. If Sarinelli wins that bout, he will face second-seeded and defending NCAA Champion Dave Morgan from King’s College. The Lion senior enters the tournament with a record of 27-5.

Osgoodby opens the tournament taking on fifth-seeded Brandon McWhinnie from Stevens Institute of Technology. The junior placed second at the Met Championships and earned a \”wild card\” for the second straight year. He enters the NCAA Championships with a record of 33-5.

Bonitatis has had a banner season thus far as he leads the team with a 34-4 record with eight wins by fall. The Met Champion makes his NCAA Championship debut taking on fifth-seeded Shaheim Bradshaw from SUNY Brockport.

Barnett is made the most of his first season at TCNJ winning his weight class at the Met Championship advancing to the national tournament. Barnett faces Jonathan Quist from Luther College with the winner of that bout moving on to take on seventh-seeded Frank Cammisa from Bridgewater State.

-30-

YES, I\’M A BAD AMERICAN by: George Carlin

I Am Your Worst Nightmare. I am a BAD American. I am George Carlin.

I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family, not some mid level governmental functionary be it Democratic or Republican!

I\’m in touch with my feelings and I like it that way!

I think owning a gun doesn\’t make you a killer; it makes you a smart American.

I think being a minority does not make you noble or victimized, and does not entitle you to anything.

I believe that if you are selling me a Big Mac, do it in English.

I believe everyone has a right to pray to his or her God when and where they want to.

My heroes are John Wayne, Babe Ruth, Roy Rogers, and whoever canceled Jerry Springer.

I don\’t hate the rich. I don\’t pity the poor.

I know wrestling is fake and I don\’t waste my time watching or arguing about it.

I\’ve never owned a slave, or was a slave, I haven\’t burned any witches or been persecuted by the Turks and neither have you! So, shut up already.

I believe if you don\’t like the way things are here, go back to where you came from and change your own country! This is AMERICA.

I want to know which church is it exactly where the Reverend Jesse Jackson preaches, where he gets his money, and why he is always part of the problem and not the solution. Can I get an AMEN on that one?

I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry rear if you\’re running from them…

I also think they have the right to pull you over if you\’re breaking the law, regardless of what color you are.

And, no, I don\’t mind having my face shown on my driver\’s license. I think it\’s good….. And I\’m proud that \”God\” is written on my money.

I think if you are too stupid to know how a ballot works, I don\’t want you deciding who should be running the most powerful nation in the world for the next four years.

I dislike those people standing in the intersections trying to sell me stuff or trying to guilt me into making \”donations\” to their cause.

I believe that it doesn\’t take a village to raise a child, it takes two parents.

And what is going on with gas prices… again?

I believe \”illegal\” is illegal no matter what the lawyers think.

I believe the American flag should be the only one allowed in AMERICA!

If this makes me a BAD American, then yes, I\’m a BAD American.

source www.nj.com

Smith has come a long way since graduating from Deptford Township High School in 1964. She studied art at Rowan University then known as Glassboro State College for two and a half years before moving to New York City in 1967.

\”When I went to New York, I wanted to be an artist,\” Smith said. \”I got into music by accident.\”

Ever since that \”accident,\” Smith has left an indelible impression on the music world with the release of ten studio albums, two live albums, three compilations and two EPs. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2004 was counted 47th in Rolling Stone magazine\’s list of \”The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.\”

read more

: Distinguished Honors – Third grade; Helen Barrett, Cassidy Chambers, Amy Guldin, Alyssa Marszalek, Austin Rampolla and Kelsy Vespe. Fourth grade; Emily Calhoun, Victoria Milano.

 

Honors:Third grade; Sarah Beckett, Ariana Beebe, Richard Bonczak, Nevada DeFord, Angel Dougherty, Andrew Fehr, Holly Fitzberald, Kelsey Immendorf, Valerie LaMarra, Damon Meraz, Amanda Murphy, Lindsay Musselman, Cole Panek, Azalea Rosado, Nicholas Salamone, Michael Snyder, Casey Spadea, Alexis Staib, Georgana Stewart and Kaila White. Fourth grade; Mychaela Bilger, Courtney Bocchicchio, Dominick Cipolone, Kasey Gardner, Harry Harris, Eljah Lapp, Meghan McDonough, William Verzilli and Haley Woodington.

Commendable:Third grade; Anthony Cristino, Scott Fitzpatrick, Lucas Greenwood, Kaelyn Lahn, Zachary Pacetti, Matthew Sutton, Kenneth Zettlemoyer. Fourth grade; Christopher Blaylock, Maryellen Crain, Taylor Gavintlyn Stokes.

R.W. Kershaw School

Distinguished Honors: Fifth grade; Jessica Chambers. Sixth grade; Gabrielle Bocchicchio, Alison Guldin, Samantha Krieg, Brandon Lanchang, Matthew Massey, Trent Maxwell, Paul Milano. Seventh grade; Rachel Cosgrove, Eric Ingram. Eight grade; Matthew Goepel, Lauren Greenwood and Apryle Panyi.

Honors: Fifth grade; Allison Adolf, Jade Carson, Kelsey Coan, Gary Czerski, Samuel Czerski, Stephan Gravenor, Kirsten Hoffman, Zachary Holmes, Carlie McErlane, Natalie Price, Sage Rubeo, Justin Spadea, Jeanine Welsh, Kaitlyn Young.

 

Sixth grade; Joshua Beck, Tyler Capner, Chelsea Cassar, Michael Gaglianone, Erica Gilmore, Lisa Harris, Taylor Kennedy, Emily Massi, Amber NcNally, Destinee Meeser, Leyla Ozer, Alexis Venere, Morgan Zielinski.

 

Seventh grade: Jacob Bell, Stephen Severance, Brian Watson Jr., Kristyn Young. Eight grade; Kyle Adams, Kaitlyn Alibrando, Dominic Bocchicchio, Michael Colgan, Tammy Doyle, Nicholas Duffy, Leia Hall, Ryan McErlane, Gina Michael, Miranda Mistalski, Keith Michalski, Jennifer Papa, Amanda Pescatore, Jessica Pescatore, Rebecca Rosetti, Alisha Sarno, Cianca Sciamanna, Gordon Smith and Meleia Wetmore.

 

Commendable:Fifth Grade; Nicholas Alexander, Timothy Alexander, Steafan Barrett, Steven Baxter and Conor Beckas. Sixth Grade; Courtney Angelastro, Sevda Ozer and Andrew Rosetti. Seventh Grade; David Baxter, IV, Emily DiPopolo, Joshua Ferrer and Nusrat Jahan. Eight Grade; Stephanie Dolan, Jessica Gigantino, John Gugel, Matthew Henderson and Zachary Pallotta.

Link to complete poll and release

Pitman, NJ—The College of New Jersey baseball team has been tapped to finish in fourth in the race for the 2008 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship in the league\’s pre-season coaches\’ poll.

The 2008 Lions return 24 letter winners from last year’s team that captured the program’s third straight New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship. The Lions have already received pre-season acclaim for the upcoming year as TCNJ has been picked No. 14 in the ABCA Division III Pre-Season poll as well as D3baseball.com’s pre-season national poll.

The 2007 squad finished the year having also earned the program’s 17th NCAA Tournament appearance and posted a 34-11 record. Over the course of the season, TCNJ also ranked nationally among the statistical leaders in Division III. Among the categories the Lions were ranked in a year ago were homeruns per game (13th, 0.82 per game), triples per game (13th, 0.51 per game), win percentage (16th, .756), runs scored per game (45th, 7.8 per game), and stolen bases (28th, 2.31 per game). Defensively, the Lions were ranked 26th in field percentage with a .963 average, while turning 0.93 double plays per game, which was 45th best in 2007. TCNJ’s pitching staff ranked 26th in Division III with a 3.34 team ERA and was ranked 25th in strikeouts per game having averaged 7.5 per nine innings.

source http://www.sctimes.com
March 2, 2008

Photos courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Aerial surveys conducted in February on Minnesota’s two elk herds indicate that population numbers are on the rise. Elk numbers in the Grygla heard totaled 55 and the Kittson County herd, which roams back and forth from Manitoba, reflected 60 animals. That was the most ever counted on the Minnesota side.

GRYGLA — When you think of elk and places to hunt them, most thoughts turn to states such as Colorado, Montana, Idaho or New Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Minnesota DNR Another aerial elk photo.

Each is rich with robust elk populations that annually attract thousands of hunters from across the country.

There’s a long history of elk populations in MInnesota, once covering two-thirds of the state, but they now reside in only two areas of northern Minnesota. Many Minnesotans aren’t aware that elk herds still exist in the state and they might be even more surprised that we have a hunting season for them.

Minnesota, on the other hand, isn’t known as a premier elk hunting state. In fact, many Minnesotans don’t even know wild elk exist here.

Photo courtesy of Minnesota DNR

They do, and the state has a hunting season for them.

There’s a long history of elk populations in Minnesota dating back more than 200 years. The current herd has shown an upward population trend in recent years, according to Department of Natural Resources officials.

read more

ClearysNoteBook is preparing our February Cheer and Jeer column otherwise known as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

If you have anyone/anything that you feel deserves a Cheer or a Jeer now is the time to speak up.

Send your remarks to B[email protected].

A signature along with your comment would be nice but not necessary.

Everyone can participate. You need not be from Gloucester City. So come on Brooklawn, Bellmawr, Mt. Ephraim, Westville, Collingswood, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Cherry Hill, Camden……South Jersey get involved.

Send in your suggestions. Cut off date is Thursday, March 6th.

Related: Bill\’s Point of View