Winners compete next in the state event in Weston on March 4.

Bowling

Mens Tuesday Night Handicap Ten Pinners 18-2

J & J Pro Shop 14-6

Misfits 12-8

Dead Last 11-9

Hammertime 10-10

Gimps Are Us 10-10

Pure Luck 9-11

Power Rollers 8-12

Blue Ridge Carpentry 6-14

King Pinz 2-18

High Average: Brian Longerbeam-206.87, Troy Longerbeam-206.44

High Game: Rob Althoff-268, Troy Longerbeam-259, Sonny Bigg Sr.-256

High Series: Pork Barrow-710, Troy Longerbeam-681, Rob Althoff-677

High Team Game: Gimps Are Us-1055, Dead Last-1037, Misfits-1020

High Team Series: Gimps Are Us-3065, Misfits-3028, Dead Last-2885

Wednesday Night Handicappers Get

U Some, Split U Some 18-2

Goodwrench 13-7

Fun Bunch 13-7

Blind Strikes 13-7

Just Want to Bowl 13-7

Bang’n Da Hole 12-8

Mountain 4 11-9

Doc’s 10-10

24 Kt. 10-10

Older N Bowlder 10-10

“I Got Crabs” at Vista Tavern 9-11

It Is-What It Is 8-12

Bazinga 6-14

U Cant C Us 6-14

No Name Team 4-16

Vacancy Team 0-20

High Average Woman: Penny Jarbeau-190, Jackie Mayne-169

High Average Man: Brian Longerbeam-209, Joey Jarbeau-203

High Game Woman: Penny Jarbeau-243, Jackie Longerbeam-197

High Game Man: Kenny Fox-251, Tyrone Woodward-240, Joey Jarbeau-239

High Series Woman: Penny Jarbeau-658, Jackie Longerbeam-557

High Series Man: David Tumblin Jr.-661, Mike Cogle-647

High Team Game: Fun Bunch-818, Bang’n Da Hole-787, Bazinga-768

High Team Series: Fun Bunch-2304, Bang’n Da Hole-2197, Goodwrench-2144

“The modernization plan will protect public health, improve the efficiency of poultry inspections in the U.S., and reduce spending,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The new inspection system will reduce the risk of foodborne illness by focusing FSIS inspection activities on those tasks that advance our core mission of food safety. By revising current procedures and removing outdated regulatory requirements that do not help combat foodborne illness, the result will be a more efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars.”

Currently, some FSIS employees in poultry establishments perform several activities which are unrelated to food safety, such as identifying visual defects like bruising, while others conduct the critical inspection activities. Under the proposed plan, all FSIS inspection activities will focus on critical food safety tasks to ensure that agency resources are tied directly to protecting public health and reducing foodborne illnesses. Additionally, some outdated regulatory requirements are being removed and replaced with more flexible and effective testing and process control requirements. Finally, all poultry establishments will now have to ensure that their procedures prevent contamination in the production process and provide supporting data to FSIS personnel.

By focusing inspectors only on the areas that are crucial to food safety, these changes will not only enhance consumer safety but will improve efficiency saving taxpayers more than $90 million over three years and lower production costs at least $256.6 million per year.

FSIS will continue to conduct on-line carcass-by-carcass inspection as mandated by law. This rule will allow FSIS personnel to conduct a more efficient carcass-by-carcass inspection with agency resources focused on more effective food safety measures. Data collected by the Agency over the past several years suggests that offline inspection activities are more effective in improving food safety. Inspection activities conducted off the evisceration line include pathogen sampling, and verifying that establishments are maintaining sanitary conditions and controlling food safety hazards at critical points in the production process.

The proposal was posted on the FSIS website at www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Proposed_Rules/index.asp and soon will publish in the Federal Register. The comment period will end 90 days after the proposal publishes in the Federal Register and must be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov, or by mail to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), FSIS, OPPD, RIMD, Docket Clearance Unit, Patriots Plaza III, Room 8-164, 355 E Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-3221. All items submitted by mail or electronic mail must include the Agency name and docket number, which will be assigned when it is published in the Federal Register.

Over the past two years, FSIS has announced several new measures to safeguard the food supply, prevent foodborne illness, and improve consumers’ knowledge about the food they eat. These initiatives support the three core principles developed by the President’s Food Safety Working Group: prioritizing prevention; strengthening surveillance and enforcement; and improving response and recovery. Some of these actions include:

• Performance standards for poultry establishments for continued reductions in the occurrence of pathogens. After two years of enforcing the new standards, FSIS estimates that approximately 5,000 illnesses will be prevented each year under the new Campylobacter standards, and approximately 20,000 illnesses will be prevented under the revised Salmonella standards each year.

• Zero tolerance policy for six Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) serogroups. Raw ground beef, its components, and tenderized steaks found to contain E. coli O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 or O145 will be prohibited from sale to consumers. USDA will launch a testing program to detect these dangerous pathogens and prevent them from reaching consumers.

• Test and hold policy that will significantly reduce consumer exposure to unsafe meat products, should the policy become final, because products cannot be released into commerce until Agency test results for dangerous contaminants are known.

• Labeling requirements that provide better information to consumers about their food by requiring nutrition information for single-ingredient raw meat and poultry products and ground or chopped products.

• Public Health Information System, a modernized, comprehensive database about public health trends and food safety violations at the nearly 6,100 plants FSIS regulates.

Amanda Smith displays her plaque for winning the Zoology Division of the Agriscience Fair at FFA Convention.

“In his State of the Union address, President Obama was clear that we need to do more to create jobs and promote economic growth. These projects will provide financial returns and help create jobs for agricultural producers, businesses and families across the country,” Merrigan said. “This funding will promote small business expansion and entrepreneurship opportunities by providing local businesses with access capital, technical assistance and new markets for products and services.”

For example, Bloomery Plantation Distillery, LLC, of Charles Town, will utilize a $49,000 grant, leveraged with an applicant contribution, as working capital to produce and market hand-crafted, artisan fruit cordials using farm-grown produce. Value-Added Producer Grants are made available to agricultural producers seeking to establish or expand markets for their value-added agricultural products.

For a complete list of recipients receiving grants, go to http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/rd-vapg012012.pdf. Funding of individual recipients is contingent upon their meeting the conditions of the grant agreement.

Each month, the hospital’s Service Award Committee selects an employee to receive the Quality Service Award. Northcraft, a security officer, was nominated by his manager, Steve Canby, for his recent heroic efforts to assist an unconscious male found on the hospital grounds.

Canby wrote, “At approximately 2:35 am, Security received a call regarding a male lying outside the north employee door. Justin Northcraft and Archie Houck, a newly hired guard still in orientation, responded and were the first to arrive on the scene. Justin found a male unconscious and in cardiac arrest. He called for assistance and started CPR which he continued until the Code Blue staff arrived.”

Criteria for selection as a Quality Service Award recipient includes: demonstrating a consistently high level of productivity and quality of work along with a high degree of initiative in performing work responsibilities, displaying exceptional dependability, exhibiting effective relationships with others, displaying a commitment to service and serving the City Hospital community, and meeting the criteria for the WVUH-East mission, vision and values.

Turner, a nurse on the second flood oncology unit at City Hospital, was presented the award during a recent ceremony at the hospital. She received a certificate along with a sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Africa.

The DAISY award was established nationally to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day. Nurses at WVUH-East’s City Hospital and Jefferson Memorial Hospital are being honored throughout the year with the DAISY Award. The WVUH-East awards are being sponsored by the City Hospital Foundation and the Jefferson Health Care Foundation.

The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, CA and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an auto-immune disease. The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

I know, it’s still too early in the year to be discussing taxes. By April 15, though, the sap will have risen and spring (and that mysterious barbecue fragrance mentioned in our first installment) will be in the air and we’ll find more important things to talk about.

Around this date in 2000, I was notified that my business had been randomly selected for a tax audit by West Virginia. There are many emotions associated with receiving this news. Some of us who are in business here have a tax skeleton in the closet — usually a small one. These little discrepancies are why West Virginia offered a onetime tax amnesty and created an elaborate and expensive brochure to announce it.

If all of us were to wake up as tax accountants tomorrow, the state tax people would be out of a job and we wouldn’t want that. Civil War era history shows that West Virginia was agreed upon by Congress while the Virginia delegation was occupied elsewhere. Federal law requires that all representatives be present for such decisions so, in the strictest sense, West Virginia doesn’t really exist.

The reasons for the founding of West Virginia no longer exist, either. It may be just a matter of time before Virginia exercises its right to our sovereignty and we move our eastern border to the Ohio River. We’ll be sending our taxes to Richmond, from our “Virginia (West)” addresses so we don’t want to make trouble for these people since their job security is so shaky to begin with.

But who “dropped the dime” and called the tax department on me? I’ve known competitors to do this in other businesses but my occupation doesn’t have any competition. There’s plenty of work to go around simply because there are very few of us crazy enough to do it.

“Think of someone who really hates you,” one old building contractor suggested.

Well, that’s pretty easy for most of us if we know anyone who is so inclined. Such persons may be our friends right now but these poor souls eventually wind up hating just about everyone sooner or later — so give them about a week. The only problem with this theory is that since these pitiable, unhappy creatures (whose ancestry can often be traced to a root vegetable) engage in petty gossip about almost everybody, they only have credibility amongst themselves. The tax department simply wouldn‘t believe them and are under no obligation to politely humor them as we are. Their correspondence would wind up in the wacko (circular) file.

After much worry and speculation, I eventually concluded that the selection for an audit was totally random. Well, what a ya know — just like it says in the notice — (duh).

But what about penalties? Remember that “used furniture dealer” in Chicago? They couldn’t find enough evidence to convict him of his other, more shady business operations so they used charges of income tax evasion to put Mr. Alfonse Capone away. Heavy stuff. Like many former New Jersey residents, I’ve probably benefited in some small way from organized crime activity. Hiking on the lovely Gambino estate was one of these benefits that I enjoyed until the “gardeners” invited me to leave. (Their “garden tools” weren’t Smith and Hawken but a similar brand name.) But I’m no Capone. Still, I found myself wondering if the state penitentiary issued a minimum security travel brochure.

The notice said that the inquisitor — I mean auditor — would be in touch with me to set up an appointment. Weeks went by and I started to entertain the notion that the state had forgotten about me and that I might fall blissfully through the blessed cracks. But then it occurred to me that they might just be letting me sweat it out so that I would confess or engage the services of a barrister to plead my case.

At last, the call came. As it turns out, these auditors were given an expense account in order to conduct these audits at public venues such as restaurants and libraries. He said that the choice of location was up to me — I tried to imagine a place with the slowest response time for law enforcement. He nixed doing the audit in Virginia — I was probably considered an escape risk if I was charged with my crimes outside the jurisdiction of the Mountain State.

He mentioned that he would be coming from Keyser and that we might construct our plans around that. I mentioned that my oldest daughter and her husband also lived there and we discovered that they were close neighbors. We decided to conduct the audit at his home and I would haul a mess of my daughter’s belongings that way to further justify the trip. I think that this dual purposing impressed him — auditors are like that, you know — efficient.

We conducted the audit at his kitchen table and, as expected, my discrepancy was found. He suggested that I take care of it as soon as possible and even offered to call the field office in Martinsburg to smooth things over and even set up a payment plan. No sooner had the audit begun — it was over.

As I was leaving, he noticed that my attention had been drawn to a row of small diameter iron gas pipes, complete with shutoff valves, protruding from the ground along the backyard fence. He explained that this was his hot pepper garden and that the pipes were some old scrap that he had found and was using them to stake the vines. He asked if I would like to take some dried hot peppers along. I’m not crazy about hot peppers but my wife and daughters like them. I also thought that it might still be in my best interest to flatter him, so I accepted.

Carrying the open flat box heaped with assorted dried peppers, I walked around the corner to my daughter’s place where I had left my truck. Much to her delight, I was still carrying the box when I entered the house. Apparently, some of these peppers were quite rare and sought after by pepper connoisseurs.

“Where did you get them?” she asked.

For a moment, I was still speechless. I was expecting prison — I got produce. I hope that their policy hasn’t changed.

Dr. Holt graduated from the WV School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg. She completed a residency in pediatrics at WVU School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics in Morgantown. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in biology from Emory and Henry College in Emory, Va.

In addition to patient care services, Dr. Holt will help to train resident physicians and medical students as an assistant professor for the WVU Department of Family Medicine, Eastern Division.

Harpers Ferry Family Medicine has been serving patients in Jefferson County since 1982. They provide a full range of adult and pediatric care services. Dr. Holt is one of three pediatricians on staff. Harpers Ferry Family Medicine and its providers are committed to providing University-quality and accessible health services to all. They participate with most commercial insurances and will bill insurance for their patients. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Holt, or another physician at Harpers Ferry Family Medicine, please call 304-535-6343.

None of the eggs were sold directly to retail consumers, but they may have been used in products that were sold to retail outlets or used in food service settings. The eggs were produced by Michael Foods, Inc., and distributed in 10- and 25-pound pails under the Columbia Valley Farms, GFS, Glenview Farms, Papetti’s, Silverbrook and Wholesome Farms brand names.

“Human health is the primary mission of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture,” said Commissioner Douglass. “Food-borne pathogens can turn up anywhere, and we are working diligently to make improvements to our food safety laboratories. Hopefully we will be able to move them to more appropriate facilities in the coming year.”

The recalled products have lot codes of 1 LOT 1350W through 1 LOT 2025W, and expiration dates ranging from 1/30/2012 to 3/10/2012. Only lot codes immediately preceded by a “1” AND ending in a “W” are affected.

Michael Foods is working with customers who purchased eggs from these lots to ensure that affected product is removed from the market. Wholesale buyers who believe they might have purchased recalled eggs or those who are unsure should contact the original place of purchase.

There have been no confirmed reports of illness associated with this recall, but Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. It can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths. However, healthy individuals generally suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea from Listeria infection.

For more information regarding this recall, call Michael Foods at 877-367-3447, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. EST.

The first four finishers in each event qualify to participate in the 2013 National Senior games to be held in Cleveland. The states qualifying events are the only way to qualify for the National games.

Participation is by age group in five year increments such as 50 − 54, 55 − 59 and on up; so one will be competing with athletes in one’s own age group.

The racquetball event will be held at the new state of the art Shepherd University Wellness Center on June 23. This is the only event not held in the Charleston area.

One can sign up for any event at the WVSSC web site at www.wvssc.com.

The racquetball event is not listed on the official entry form; write “Racquetball” on your entry form. For questions about the Racquetball event, contact Bill Cummings at bill@cdawv.com or 304-886-9075.

Contact information for all other events is on the WVSSC web site www.wvssc.com National Senior Games or www.nsga.com.