Category Archives: Freedom

June 7, 2012 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom FLORENCE, KY- Offense was not much of a factor for the second straight night thanks to the pitching of the Freedom's Daniel DeSimone and the Rascals' Preston Vancil. Florence, however, scratched enough runs off of River City's pitching staff, taking the second game of the series, 2-1.

For the second game in a row, pitching and defense commanded the game, as the runs were very limited. Florence's Daniel DeSimone made his third start of the year and first start at home. He was very good, as he allowed just one run on four hits in five innings of work.

The Freedom scored first when CF Cole Miles led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a single. Miles then stole 2nd and came around to score on a single by RF Peter Fatse. The one run he allowed came in the top of the 4th inning when DH Jason Patton scored on a double by 3B Josh Workman.

Manager Fran Riordan wanted to get his bullpen some work after not calling to them once the night before. After only tossing 55 pitches, DeSimone was taken out as RHP Matt Kline entered the ballgame to start the bottom of the 6th. Kline tossed two scoreless innings, striking out two and giving up just one hit. River City's Preston Vancil, a righty that pitched for the freedom from 2009-2011, had a good outing as well, allowing just one run on five hits in seven innings.

Submarine RHP Nick Kennedy entered the game in the 8th. With the game tied at 1-1, Kennedy got a quick two outs as Peter Fatse reached first as he bounced into a fielder's choice. Fatse then stole 2nd as 1B Eddie Rodriguez was at bat. On a 1-0 count, Rodriguez swung at a high fastball and popped it straight up. All the infielders came rushing towards the pitcher's mound to catch the popup, but the ball ended up falling the turf as no one took charge. Running on the pitch, Fatse came all the way around to score as Rodriguez was credited with an RBI-single.

Closer Jorge Marban entered the game in the top of the 9th and earned his 4th save of the season as punched out two in the inning. Brennan Flick, who pitched a scoreless 8th, came away with the victory, while the losing pitcher was River City's Nick Kennedy.

The Freedom go for the sweep against the Rascals tomorrow night at 7:05 pm, as Maxx Catapano (1-0) will face River City's Chandler Barnard(0-0) at the Home of the Florence Freedom.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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Freedom Takes Second of Three from Rascals in Pitcher's Duel

And this could have not come at a better a time when the DAP talks of freedom of the press and speech. Do they practice what they say? It seems not.

I can't see why Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has to fear the New Straits Times and Utusan. Other states in Malaysia allow freedom to them. What is so unique about Penang? I am truly baffled.

I say to Guan Eng: take them on, debate with them. Correct them when they are wrong, but speak to them and allow them to report on what you do, why you do it and how you do it. The people want to hear that. Do not overlook these two important dailies.

You have to bear with the good and bad that they report. Others do. They have a duty to report to the best of their ability. They may sometimes make mistakes. Who does not? We aren't infallible.

This is how things are today. These newspapers can't be praising you all the way or simply criticising you when you do no wrong.

Just because they do not highlight you as they do others, it does not mean they dislike you. So take it in your stride.

As a state leader, you can't ignore these two newspapers. You will end up as the loser.

I say these newspapers matter. You, too, of course. So strike a fine balance so that there is a win-win situation.

You need them to serve the people. Why not make use of them?

You need them as much as they need you. It is reciprocal.

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PRESS FREEDOM: CM wrong to ignore dailies

Washington-based Freedom House think tank warned on Wednesday of rising antidemocratic tendencies in Hungary and Ukraine that have the potential to take root elsewhere in the region.

Negative developments in Hungary and Ukraine are at the forefront of an antidemocratic trend in Central and Eastern Europe that raises serious questions about the durability of the European Unions young democracies, Freedom House said in the Nations in Transit 2012 report.

According to the report, Ukraine, which saw a brief democratic opening after the Orange Revolution in 2004, has suffered significant decline in an alarmingly short period of time.

Under the Yanukovych government, Ukraines Nations in Transit ratings worsened in five categories year on year, with a steep decline in judicial framework and independence and an overall democracy score that is rapidly approaching its preOrange Revolution level, the report said.

Freedom House warned that the negative trend in Ukraine, along with a steep decline of the overall democracy score in a number of EU aspirants in the Balkans, may jeopardize the prospects for widening the circle of democratic states in Europe.

The details of the report will be released later on Wednesday at the Legatum Institute in London, and on June 7 in Brussels in cooperation with the German Marshall Fund.

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

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Freedom House Blasts Hungary, Ukraine for Poor Democracy

Freedom-South Ridings dizzying season of firsts might have been done in by an odd play at third Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss to Kellam in the Virginia AAA baseball quarterfinals at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.

The Eagles had the potential tying run on third with one out in the top of the sixth, and Coach Jason Treon was about to send senior pinch runner Nick Plesce home on a one-out sacrifice fly to left. But Treon touched Plesce, an interference call that resulted in an automatic out that ended the inning.

It would have been bang-bang at the plate, Treon said. Nick went back to tag right away. I got a little too close communication-wise and got tangled up.

Freedom, the first Loudoun County team to advance to the state tournament, went down in order in the seventh.

We have a group of seven seniors who should be proud of themselves for helping put our program on the map, said Treon, whose team won the Cedar Run District regular season and tournament championships in its first year of AAA competition.

The Eagles (18-8) won nine straight games before ending their season with consecutive losses, to Hylton in the Northwest Region final and then to Kellam, a team they out-hit, 7-3.

Freedom took a 1-0 lead on the Eastern Region champions in the top of the first on an RBI double by junior Colin Dean. The Eagles squandered a leadoff double by senior Matt Malacane in the top of the fourth when he was retired at third on a sacrifice bunt, but they got another double by Malacane with one out in the sixth. Junior Zach Newell then walked and junior Kevin Dean singled to make it 3-2.

Kellam (25-2) advanced to face James River (19-7) in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Westfield. Lake Braddock (24-3) and Hylton (21-4) will meet in a semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday.

The championship is at 3 p.m. Saturday at Westfield.

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Virginia AAA baseball tournament: Freedom-South Riding falls to Kellam after unusual interference call

Source: Tanjug

PRAGUE -- The latest Nations in Transit report by Freedom House notes that Serbia saw positive progress in democracy but its ranking remained unchanged from 2011.

"At the close of 2011, Serbias progress was also viewed positively by the EU, which linked the countrys candidacy status to cooperation in the pursuit of accused war criminals, particularly the last remaining fugitives sought by the international tribunal, Ratko Mladi and Goran Hadi, both of whom were arrested during the year," says the report.

However, neither Serbia nor Montenegro registered any score changes in Nations in Transit for 2011.

Most countries in the Balkans fall into the group of semi-consolidated democracies. Croatia leads the way with a 3.61 rating, followed by Serbia (3.64), Montenegro (3.82) and Macedonia (3.89). Bulgaria and Romania are also in this group.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is ranked among transitional governments or hybrid regimes with a 4.36 rating. Also in this group are Albania, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

Kosovo is in the group of semi-consolidated authoritarian regimes, along with Armenia, Radio Free Europe reported.

The best rated countries, i.e. consolidated democracies, are Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary.

The bottom of the list is populated by the consolidated authoritarian regimes of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Freedom House is an independent organization which supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights around the world.

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Freedom House: Serbia made significant progress

Freedom High School's 459-member class of 2012 graduated tonight at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena in Bethlehem.

The valedictorian was Alexa S. Curto, daughter of Carl and Karen Curto, of Bethlehem Township. Alexa plans to attend Johns Hopkins University.

Tonight's student speakers were Paul Skersis, son of Victor and Mary Skersis, of Bethlehem, and senior class President John Buchner, son of Thomas and Diane Buchner, of Bethlehem Township. Paul plans to attend Lehigh University in the fall. John will attend the University of Pittsburgh.

The faculty chosen speaker was Courtney Barrow, daughter of Thomas and Audrey Barrow, of Bethlehem Township. Courtney will be attending Penn State University.

Here is a list of the Freedom 2012 graduates:

Crystal Abreu Daphne Abreu Teshanna Kiyona Adams Haroon Ahmad Charles J. Alercia Tyler Richard Alicea Nicole Elizabeth Allen Okezie Justin Alozie Alexa Britton Alpaugh Karina Daliz Anaya Hailey Noelle Anderegg Chelsea Irene Andreadis Diana Marie Andujar NTashia Ariel Arzola-Dorsey Jordan Eric Asteak Taylor Jean Autenrieth Tiana Lynette Baker David Barylski Courtney Lynn Barrow Victoria Kay Bast Dedrea K. Becker Joshua Rui Melo-Becker Ryan Christopher Bell Jorge Armando Berberena Jennifer Christine Betzler Uriel Bibiano Adam T. Bieniek Sarah Elizabeth Bilheimer Cameron Blake Joseph Anthony Bonavita Victoria Darlene Bonners Erik Peter Bornako Janine Marie Boye Jack Phineas Boylan Julie Michelle Boylan Lisa Nicole Brinker Ayana Marie Brown Sydney Shanelle Brown Kirk Douglas Bryant John Thomas Buchner Frank Joseph Bucsi Robert Earl Buller Kayla Nicole Burgess Trasonya Janell Burton Erika G. Bustos Brendan Carl Buttillo Carol Ann Byrnes Sasha Estyvalis Calderon Kayree Adara Cannon Alayla Cantres Molly Elizabeth Capuano Jose Miguel Caraballo Amanda Catherine Ann Carman Nicole Danielle Caronia Matthew Robert Carraghan Carlos Manuel Carvalho Daniela F. Carvalho Harrison Clark Case Jason-Tadd Bernardo Catelo Valeria Jackeline Ceron Jordan Marie Chandler Kory Raynard Cherry Anthony Joseph Chiz Jacqueline June Clarke Sad Monique Cole Robyn Marie Collette Angelene Noelle Colon Edwin J. Colon Jessiel R. Colon Joel Lee Coln Reynaldo Coln Kristina Renee Conaway William Robert Cook III Abigail Frances Cooke Quentin Thomas Cornelius David Philip Corvino Mariely Cosme Resto Dalilah Janese Cotto Jahad Tariq Crowell Alexis Danielle Cruz Christian A. Cruz Samuel Alexander Cruz Yaritza E. Cruz Daniel James Csakai Bryan K. Cuadra Shannon Kiyoko Curran Alexa S. Curto Steven Joseph DAprile Sean Kenneth Dahlinger Keith Richard Davies Cal Stephan Davis Cody Jack Davis Abigail E. Deely Kyle Deon Dees Angel Luis DeJesus Jr. Rotceh Marie DeJesus-Mndez Leo Patrick Delima Lauren DeLorenzo Joseph DeMarco Caitlyn Marie Denson John Daniel Saldajeno DePadua Derek John Detweiler Angie Elisa Diaz Francisco J. Diaz Brianna Chanel Dickey Brandon Dilts Jarrod Michael Dilts Jonathan Tyler Dobyan Cheyna Tatiana Dodson Alison Marie Dody Krystal Nicole Domin Isaac Dones-Medina Kelsey Barbara Dorrity Shanice Adrian Dowridge Leslie A. Duarte Joseph Darrill Dupree Demira Shannon Dwyer Alicia Joyce Eckhoff Eric Thomas Edmonds Kellee Rie Edmund Robert Joseph Edwards Zachary Thomas Ehret Ashley Amanda Eichlin Alexis Chantee Elicier Kaitlyn Elizabeth Eller Eddie Clayton Elliott II Hassan Elsayed Alexander Joon Erney Juwan Evander Ernst Ali Erkon Eser Terrence James Etheridge Elizabeth Charlotte Evans Lexy Marie Evans

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Freedom High School graduates class of 2012

PROVO -- The Freedom Festival is offering for the first time a limited-edition Freedom Festival Pin, at the cost of $2. It will also provide buyers with hundreds of dollars of discounts and coupons from businesses throughout Utah Valley.

Beginning June 18, the pins will be available at participating sponsor locations. The Freedom Festival is starting with only 5,000 pins that will come in a package with other coupons and discounts. However, the Freedom Festival also is making 150 special gold pins. And like Willy Wonka and the Golden Ticket, anyone purchasing a $2 pin may find one of the gold pins in their packet. That gold pin will provide the lucky winners with two tickets to the Stadium of Fire redeemable at the Freedom Festival offices.

Local realtor Bill Freeze introduced the idea from his experience several years ago when he worked with the Kentucky Derby Festival.

"The Kentucky Derby Festival is very similar to the type of festival ours is," Freeze said. He noted that they started doing the collectible pins in 1973 for 50 cents each and sold 5,000.

"Over the years it became popular. Last year they sold a half a million for $5 apiece," Freeze said. "It is a tremendous revenue boost to them for their non-revenue events."

Freeze, who is a board member of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, indicated the chamber has partnered with the Freedom Festival on the project. Freedom Festival executive director Paul Warner said, "We're extremely excited about it. We appreciate the fact the chamber has joined in this. It's one of the ways we can stretch out into the community."

Freeze hopes the people who come from throughout the country will pick up a pin and wear it in their hometowns.

Pins will be available at a number of sponsoring companies including several stores in the Shops at Riverwoods, The Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, Freedom Festival office, Larry Miller Auto Group showrooms in Provo, the Daily Herald, Utah County Realtors Association and in the customer service lobby at the Provo city center.

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Freedom Fest introduces collectible pins

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 26 February 2007 P. Bhaksaran, the veteran filmmaker, poet, lyricist and freedom fighter, died here yesterday afternoon at the age of 83. He leaves behind his wife and four children. He was suffering from acute Alzheimers disease and was taking rest at his city home. Yesterday morning he developed chest pain. He was taken to a hospital but passed away soon.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said Bhaskarans demise was a great loss to the cultural sphere. Several leaders, including former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran and state ministers, were among the early visitors to his house as the news spread.

A freedom fighter who attracted youngsters to the freedom movement and later to the communist party through his popular poetry and songs, he was imprisoned for six months during the British rule.

Author of several books, he has directed some 50 films including Neelakkuyil, the first neorealistic film in Malayalam that won the Presidents medal in 1954. He was also chairman of the Asianet, the first private television channel in Malayalam.

Bhaskaran, who dominated Malayalam cinema along with Vayalar Ramavarma as top-notch lyricist for long, had penned hundreds of songs known for their romantic charm and soft lyrical touch most of which are hugely popular still.

He was instrumental in freeing Malayalam film music from the influence of the Hindi and Tamil playback styles in the 1950s, by writing simple and lucid lines set to original music by veteran directors. Still, many of his widely appreciated scores are hailed for their ghazal touch. Bhaskarans vintage numbers, most of them composed by K. Raghavan and M.S. Baburaj, form part of the Malayali nostalgia.

His songs in the 1960s launched careers of top singers including K.J. Jesudas and Jayachandran, and made S. Janaki one of the most favorite female voices in Malayalam.

Hailing from Kodungallur in Thrissur district in Kerala, Bhaskarans early writings were inspired by the freedom struggle and the leftist agitations to create an egalitarian society. One of his early popular poems was Vayalar Garjikkunnu, penned as a literary tribute to the revolutionaries of the Punnapra-Vayalar peasant uprising.

Later, he distanced himself from the communist party and its ideology and his subsequent poems are known for their humanism and romanticism.

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Freedom Fighter P. Bhaskaran Passes Away

The media market of the Republic of Moldova is quite rich, although there are some issues regarding it. The most difficult part can be found in Moldovas separatist region of Transnistria which does not administrate the zone.

The case of Ernest Vardanean is the most resonant incident which deals with freedom of press. Journalist Vardanean was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charge of spying for Moldova. He was pardoned one year later by the so-called president of Transnistria, at that time Igor Smirnov. Ernest Vardanean was in prison since April 2010.

The worst incidents the Moldovan media experienced took place during the violent riots of April 2009, when thousands of people took to the streets contesting the result of the elections. The protesters, mainly teenagers, organized the protest on the internet. When the number of demonstrators increased significantly, the leadership shut down the main social networks, such as FaceBook, Twitter, Odnoklassniki (a popular Russian social network).

During the protests, which turned violent, several bloggers were beaten up, local and foreign journalists detained and the transmission of some opposition TV channels has been cut off. Their websites were suspended and the access to internet was restricted in some places.

Moldovas well known Pro TV channel had their broadcasting cut off and the website unavailable, because it was an important criticizer of the leadership. They had to switch their updates on the website of Pro TV Bucharest (Romania) during the demonstrations.

Other media outlets, such as UNIMEDIA news portal launched an English version of the website providing live updates from the ground in two languages (Romanian and English). They were also supposed to change the domain because the previous version was temporarily blocked by the Security Service of Moldova.

International correspondents from AP, AFP, and Reuters were barred from entering the country, while others were expelled from Moldova.

According to Reporters without Borders, Moldova ranks the 53rd level out of 179 in the latest worldwide index on freedom of press. Moldova scored 3 points and a status of partly free press for 2011 from Freedom House.

The United Nations Mission to Moldova believes that the country still deals with serious issues, such as threats to journalists for reporting fairly, the freedom of the media to broadcast on difficult thematic issues is violated, and sometimes there is no respect for diversity of opinion, including as a regulatory issue.

We have been supporting a number of efforts in the area of freedom of the media, such as expert international law advice in the matter of a ban on Moldova 1 broadcasting a film on LGBT rights, as well as support for the reform of the public broadcaster TeleRadio Moldova, Claude Cahn, the UN Human Rights Advisor told Moldova.ORG.

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Freedom of Press in Moldova still a matter of concern

Kelly Armstrong beamed during her daughter's kindergarten graduation, celebrating the finale to her first year of elementary school.

But in the back of her mind, she was thinking about another young girl, a teenager rescued by law enforcement officials during a child pornography bust, who might be able to have a new beginning.

Armstrong, the executive director of Freedom Place, Texas' first and only safe house for domestic victims of sex trafficking, had been trading messages and phone calls with officials from the Texas Attorney General's Office all afternoon about the girl. Officials were offering her a safe place to stay, a place where she could get counseling.

"We knew we needed to act quickly," she said.

That evening, as she watched her daughter, Armstrong continued to check her cell phone, anxiously waiting to hear from authorities and hoping that teen would agree to come to Freedom Place.

Until last week, there was no place in Houston - or anywhere in Texas - dedicated to helping domestic trafficking victims. Often the options for the girls were incarceration in a juvenile facility, treatment programs that didn't meet their needs, or being placed back into the same unstable homes that may have led to them the streets in the first place, authorities said.

Even more difficult, many of the girls don't feel that they are victims, making them vulnerable to falling back into familiar patterns with abusers, said Associate Harris County Juvenile judge Angela Ellis.

"What we know is that they will return to the system if we don't offer them therapeutic services," Ellis said. She runs a "girls court," designed specifically for young girls who are sex-trafficking victims, offering them intensive supervision and therapeutic services as an alternative to placing them in detention facilities. The court has already referred three girls to Freedom Place, including one who became the program's first arrival.

"Telling someone they are a victim and then being able to do nothing but place them in a lock-down facility is not something we wanted," Ellis said. "So it's a big day."

6 horses and 2 dogs

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Girls victimized by sex trafficking find healing at Freedom Place