Other BCS bowls say their policies prevent misdeeds
by Craig Harris – Apr. 28, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic
NEW ORLEANS – Two of the Fiesta Bowl’s fellow members in the Bowl Championship Series say they have long had and followed policies to prevent the kind of problems that hurt the Arizona-based college football game.
The Fiesta Bowl is implementing changes and fighting to stay in the BCS after disclosing last month that employees were reimbursed for political contributions, a potential felony, and that funds were used to pay for trips to strip clubs and out-of-state junkets.
The Fiesta Bowl today will make its case to keep its operating license with the NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, during the BCS annual meetings here. Last Saturday, Fiesta Bowl officials traveled to Chicago to explain to a special BCS task force the governing changes it had made. The BCS determines which bowls host the top post-season college football games.
Other BCS bowls say their policies prevent misdeeds
by Craig Harris – Apr. 28, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic
NEW ORLEANS – Two of the Fiesta Bowl’s fellow members in the Bowl Championship Series say they have long had and followed policies to prevent the kind of problems that hurt the Arizona-based college football game.
The Fiesta Bowl is implementing changes and fighting to stay in the BCS after disclosing last month that employees were reimbursed for political contributions, a potential felony, and that funds were used to pay for trips to strip clubs and out-of-state junkets.
The Fiesta Bowl today will make its case to keep its operating license with the NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, during the BCS annual meetings here. Last Saturday, Fiesta Bowl officials traveled to Chicago to explain to a special BCS task force the governing changes it had made. The BCS determines which bowls host the top post-season college football games.
… The Fiesta Bowl people were forthright,” Hancock said. “It was a very good exchange, mirroring what happened in Chicago.”
Fiesta Bowl officials, who also run the Insight Bowl, were scheduled to meet on Thursday with the NCAA’s Postseason Bowl Licensing Subcommittee.
The subcommittee has said it will delay its decision on licensing the Fiesta and Insight bowls until it can gather more information and review the findings of the BCS task force that is examining related financial and political improprieties.
In March, an internal investigation by a three-member panel made up of two Fiesta Bowl board members and a retired Arizona Supreme Court justice uncovered widespread lavish spending, including $33,188 for a Pebble Beach, Calif., birthday bash for CEO and president John Junker, $13,000 for the wedding and honeymoon of an aide, and a $1,200 strip club tab.
… The Fiesta Bowl people were forthright,” Hancock said. “It was a very good exchange, mirroring what happened in Chicago.”
Fiesta Bowl officials, who also run the Insight Bowl, were scheduled to meet on Thursday with the NCAA’s Postseason Bowl Licensing Subcommittee.
The subcommittee has said it will delay its decision on licensing the Fiesta and Insight bowls until it can gather more information and review the findings of the BCS task force that is examining related financial and political improprieties.
In March, an internal investigation by a three-member panel made up of two Fiesta Bowl board members and a retired
Arizona Supreme Court justice uncovered widespread lavish spending, including $33,188 for a Pebble Beach, Calif., birthday bash for CEO and president John Junker, $13,000 for the wedding and honeymoon of an aide, and a $1,200 strip club tab.
Phone records linked the junior senator in 2007 to a prostitution ring in the nation’s capitol. This year, he was criticized for keeping an aide on the Senate payroll for years after the man was arrested and charged with attacking his ex-girlfriend with a knife.
Melancon was viewed unfavorably by about half of the voters surveyed in the exit poll. It showed him with strong leads in New Orleans and the Baton Rouge area, both of which have large African-American populations. Melancon received about nine in 10 black votes, while Vitter got about seven in 10 white votes, according to the exit poll.
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Cindy Gremillion, 53, and her daughter, Angelina, 21, said they were bothered by the attitude of Vitter, who ducked media questions about his own controversy but had harshly criticized President Bill Clinton following the Monica Lewinsky scandal. “We don’t think it’s so bad that he had a thing with a prostitute, but he’s such a hypocrite for wanting to impeach Bill Clinton.”
After his very specific headline, I particularly had to cover Treme in bars. Also because we don’t have HBO. Gathering with the locals for viewing parties makes sense, it’s probably what the vampires do for True Blood.
Treme Brass Band at the Treme Premiere (pictured above). Photo by Jeff Beninato
This week we watched the show from The R Bar in the Marigny. The bar has personable service and a tattered brothel look with dark walls and antique chandeliers. It’s also the epicenter of Mardi Gras morning, so the bar seemed like a good place to kick off season two. The crowd started off at a high volume, but was completely shushed by opening credits. It’s always the strongest shusher who gets loud later, but that came up toward the end of the episode.
New Orleans Strip Clubs: CUE Tips
April 19, 2011
Best known for her platinum pixie cut and ruthlessly honest television persona, Australian hair stylist Tabatha Coffey has taken to the bookshelves with the release of her autobiography It’s Not Really About The Hair: The Honest Truth About Life, Love, and the Business of Beauty. Fans of Tabatha’s Salon Takeover on Bravo might be surprised to learn of the sharp-tongued beauty maven’s unorthodox origins. Coffey spent her childhood in the strip clubs her parents owned in Adelaide, Australia, and she openly discusses her struggles with obesity and self-image. “I learned from a very young age that it was OK to be yourself,” she says. “Not only has this made me more sensitive to people who don’t fit the current ideal of beauty, it has given me the openness to see beauty in everyone, regardless of their appearance.”
Take prostitution, for example. Sure, most religions tend to frown upon the flesh trade, but it was most likely the threat of a more immediate burning sensation rather than the fear of fire and brimstone in the afterlife that led most jurisdictions to outlaw the practice.
The man listed on many government records as the top executive at both PrimeTel and National A-1, Richard Cohen, declined interview requests. A lawyer for both companies, Charles Helein, would not discuss their business dealings in detail but said PrimeTel isn’t breaking any rules or engaging in prohibited practices such as selling numbers or obtaining ones it doesn’t intend to use.
“They are extremely sensitive to the FCC. … They wouldn’t have them if they didn’t need them,” Helein said of PrimeTel’s huge pool of numbers. He said the company’s large share hasn’t caused any shortages: “Everybody’s got all the numbers they need.”
Helein said the raid last fall was not aimed at PrimeTel. National A-1 and its owners have a variety of business enterprises headquartered at the same address, including a website sometimes used by prostitutes to advertise their services.
See the full article from “WFMJ”
… I guess enough people go for it that it makes business sense,” said Aelea Christofferson, president of ATL Communications, another company that specializes in toll-free services. Capturing callers who have reached the wrong number – whether because they punched an incorrect digit or dialed a number without realizing it had changed hands – is a “big new industry,” she said.
Founded in 1995, PrimeTel is one of around 400 companies registered as toll-free service providers for the U.S. and Canada. That gives it the same power to reserve and assign unused toll-free numbers as big phone companies with millions of customers. But PrimeTel appears to be amassing numbers predominantly for one closely related partner, National A-1.
There is nothing illegal about using toll-free phone services to promote adult entertainment, and callers aren’t charged unless they supply their credit card information.
See the full article from “WFMJ”