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New volunteers are always needed, program officials say. Previous tax preparation knowledge and experience is desired but not necessary. However, the tax course material is covered rapidly, and without previous knowledge could be difficult due to its complexity. Some aspects of tax preparation are limited, not covered by the course, and cannot be done for tax payers with large stock portfolios, stock day traders, small businesses, and those with K-1 reports as part of their corporation holdings. Some volunteers serve as receptionist and assistants which does not require testing.
People who wish to volunteer for the Winter Haven's AARP Tax-Aide program may contact Shirley Rafool at 863-294-4542 or for other locations, contact AARP 1-888-687-2277.
Tipmont REMC has acquired Wintek Corporation.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Tipmont REMC has acquired Wintek Corporation.
Together, the two companies will deploy residential fiber internet access to Tipmont's current 23,000 customers in eight counties over the next eight years. The acquisition will give those who live out of the city limits better internet speeds and access.
Tipmont President and CEO, Ron Holcomb, spoke about how the acquisition and improving internet access goes hand in hand with Tipmont's mission of providing service to as many people as possible.
A local small business owner, Susan Benedict, attended the press conference this morning to give a brief testimony about how her experience with Wintek. She also shared her excitement about the merge and the opportunities it will lend to the community.
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, and the joint organization plans to unveil a corporate rebrand and naming convention in the coming months.
Don Keough thinks Ireland should have a Diaspora Minister, saying it would transform Diaspora/Irish relations.
He also wants to see Notre Dame back in Dublin playing football in the next couple of years. Tourism leaders will surely salivate after 30,000 US fans showed up the last time they played.
He has just helped raise $3 million for a world class 1916 Rising documentary prepared at Notre Dame and already bought by RTE Public Television in the US and the BBC.
He also believes that Ireland faced the worst crisis any western government had after the economic collapse and that American business leaders are keenly aware of how well they have handled it.
He is the man who brought Notre Dame and Coca-Cola to Ireland. He also brought Bill Gates and Warren Buffett his lifelong friend too, hosting them at the K Club on their first ever visit. He serves on Berkshire Hathaway’s board with Buffett and is still an advisor to the board of Coca-Cola, the company he served for 40 years.
As president of Coca-Cola he blazed the multinational trail to Ireland in the 1970s. As Chairman of the Board at Notre Dame he created the Keough-Naughton Irish Institute in 1994 and their Dublin campus and laid the groundwork for the university to play in Dublin in September 2012.
At 86 he is far from a back number. He is Chairman of the Board of Allen and Company, the New York investment bank, and co-hosts their annual Sun Valley retreat attended by world business leaders such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch.
He divides his time still between New York and Atlanta, his home, and keeps a schedule a younger man would surely tire of. Every year he visits his beloved Ireland with his family and recently paid a visit to New Ross in Wexford and the famine-era replica ship like the one his great-grandfather Michael embarked on back in the 1840s.
He has come a long way from Michael’s lonely journey. Warren Buffet once stated that two men he met in business, Jack Welch and Don Keough, could have become president of the United States if they had chosen a political rather than a business career.
Keough demurs, but there is little doubt that he has been Ireland’s greatest advocate in America for decades now. His sense of the potential of the Diaspora was uppermost in his mind during our New York interview.
How would you approach the Diaspora if you were the Irish government?
If a person wants to be part of that Diaspora the Irish government needs to acknowledge that. A good start would be a Minister for the Diaspora, who would be charged with creating that welcome and outreach.
I know when you become an Irish citizen in Ireland there is an event around it. If you announce you are of the Diaspora and coming to Ireland that is important too.
Israel has a minister of the Diaspora, I read in the New York Times, where and I quote, “Over the next five years the Israeli government will spend $1.4 billion on a range of initiatives to strengthen Jewish identity abroad and Jewish connections to Israel and vice versa.” That is the kind of thinking we need.
There should be someone as Minister who is a constant part of the Diaspora, who is reporting back to cabinet.
It is an asset that needs to be used. Just to announce that minister would be huge all over the world.
I was delighted to see Irish President Higgins mention and dedicate his trip to the Irish Diaspora in Britain in his remarks during the state visit.
We are everywhere across this world, this Irish army waiting to help this small country their people left from.
Think of it – 70 million people worldwide, millions of whom are seeking a relationship with their ancestral home. What an opportunity!
If the Notre Dame game can bring 35,000 people to Ireland what could a massive outreach do? The Notre Dame game demonstrated what was possible. It was the ultimate power of the Diaspora that they didn’t just come to the game – they captured the country.
I was at church last week in Atlanta. A couple who came to the game came up and told me they were returning again, they fell utterly in love with Ireland. They are just one small example of what I’m saying.
What is the upside potential for the Diaspora do you think?
I think within a matter of five years you would double the number of people who would visit Ireland. That would be my goal.
It needs preparation; Diaspora packages need to be put together. A self-proclaimed member of the Diaspora should feel like Notre Dame fans do, part of something bigger, greater than the sum of its parts. There should be special discounts, meetings, and outreach.
Look what we did with Notre Dame – 35,000 came and there was a massive range of activities.
The visit to Ireland is always enjoyable, despite the weather sometimes. Ireland and what it continues to represent is the best argument for itself.
What brought you there first to your Irish roots?
Well, I wanted to bring my children to Ireland. My father had gone late in his life and he was deeply moved by it. I’ll never forget how proud he was to go.
It was the memory of my father. It was the happiest trip of his life, and he said he was so upset he didn’t go when he was younger so that was always on my mind. So the first time I went was when I could afford it. My father touched Ireland for me.
I brought my children and we drove everywhere. This was the early 1970s. I was so excited. I wanted to get involved. I remember years later reading your magazine Irish America and saying, finally, someone gets it.
You first created the links between the University of Notre Dame and Ireland. There was very little connection until you came along. What made you want to do it?
Well, Notre Dame had an extraordinary Irish background. Almost all the presidents had Irish connections. It was just waiting to be connected into Ireland.
What made me do the Keough-Naughton Irish Institute was Professor Chris Fox, who I had met, and he told me we had an amazing Irish collection of books and major historical links and he had a deep interest in Ireland. I said, “Why don’t you do something?” Then the issue was how do we get it started.
So I talked to Seamus and said, “You have some amazing ideas about what an Irish studies program should be like we’ll give you the blank canvas and the paints and you paint the Irish studies program you want at the home of the Irish in America.” By golly, that was what exactly he did.
One of the most exciting things in my life has been to see it develop the way it has. It was perfect timing and Chris was a great leader, and the university supported it totally.
Some 10,000 students have studied there in the past 20 years and thousands go to Ireland. Then Martin Naughton came on board as my partner. He has been amazing.
Martin and his family played a massive role in the success of Notre Dame game. It became a happening because of Martin and it was great that the Taoiseach was fully involved, and we even got the weather!
I always remember telling Martin about the idea of the game and really getting the Irish involved. He asked, “What took you so long?” It was a huge boost to the institute and we have enlarged our efforts and numbers in Ireland since.
You have a great new Irish project as well.
Yes, the 1916 landmark documentary series. BBC, RTE and PBS will show a three-part landmark documentary about the 1916 Rising and we have raised the money, almost $3 million for it. We are very excited about that. The series will run to coincide with the centenary of the Easter Rising.
What has Ireland meant to you overall?
Ireland has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. To have such an involvement there is a privilege. My family loves it and we have all spent amazing times there. I wanted to buy a house there, but my wife Mickie said I’d never leave it.
How is Ireland doing now in your opinion?
So the Kenny government had no easy way to solve the problems, and so they had the toughest job of any country in the world.
They have done well. You hear a lot of respect for Ireland now over here. They faced the toughest problems and were the first to demonstrate that they were working their way out of it.
I look on what happened with a lot of pride on how they have done it. It has been very tough on the Irish people I know, but you have to give them credit. I’m very optimistic about what is going to happen. A lot of smart Americans are getting involved there now, guys like John Malone.
Will you bring Notre Dame football back to Ireland?
It is not up to me but my own view is they will be back. The call to Ireland for Notre Dame is very strong. Maybe within the next couple of years.
Are you still bullish on US?
When I talk about the US I say never bet against it, these are the most resilient people in the world.
We have an amazing gene pool a collection of people from all over the world who came not to exploit but to find a new way to grow and develop, many of them were running away from poverty and oppression.
They could see hope here those that came. It took enormous courage for people to get up and leave in the first place.
I’m an absolute optimist; my own journey proves it from a small farm in Iowa to the presidency of Coca-Cola.
Who do you consider inspirational figures?
Father Ted Hesburgh at Notre Dame. He is an absolute inspiration; still a simple priest. His most important moment in his life is when he says Mass.
I took him to Latin America once. We called on several heads of state. The minute I brought him in there they paid no attention to me. He spoke to them in Portuguese, Spanish and charmed them all.
He was an incredible visionary who served six presidents on issues such as civil rights and immigration and built one of the great universities. There were those who said a Catholic university could never reach the heights of academic excellence, but Father Hesburgh knew differently.
Warren Buffet still tap dances to work every day. He has arranged to give all his wealth away, but he’d be rich in every important way with or without it.
He lives a very simple life. We have been friends for decades. I lived across the street from him in Omaha many years ago and he still lives there, in a modest house, like the man.
Outside of my own father, of the people I have worked with Warren Buffett stands out. He is a learning machine, a great philanthropist. He has kept an amazing sense of humility.
What is the best life lesson you have learned?
The life lesson I have learned is that wealth has nothing to do with money. It has to do with family, with friendships, with knowing and learning from interesting people, people who make a difference. If I didn’t have ten dollars I’d consider myself one of the wealthiest people in the world with the friends and family I have had.
I say to my grandkids, you need to be an interesting person, and not just learn how to move your thumbs around an iPhone or iPad. No one wants to be around uninteresting people I tell them. Young people today don’t want to be vulnerable. They want to be cool, the worst possible thing to be.
I tell them you need to go through life saying this is who I am comfortable in my skin, for better or worse. Take me for what I am.
World Series of Fighting on Tuesday announced that Alexandre has inked “an exclusive, multi-year agreement” to compete for the Las Vegas-based organization. Specifics of the deal were not disclosed.
A decorated muay Thai practitioner, Alexandre began his mixed martial arts career in 2011 and ran up a 5-1 record inside the Bellator cage in the span of 13 months, including a rematch win against the only man to beat him, Josh Quayhagen. The 33-year-old was absent from MMA for more than a year before returning to knock out Rey Trujillo in his most recent bout under the banner of Texas’ Legacy Fighting Championship.
Alexandre has focused mainly on kickboxing in the past two years, most recently defeating John Wayne Parr for the Lion Fight super middleweight title in October.
The date and opponent for Alexandre’s promotional debut “will be announced soon,” according to a release. WSOF has two events on its slate for the end of the year: WSOF 25 on Nov. 20 in Phoenix and WSOF 26 on Dec. 18 in Las Vegas.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said on Monday that the United States wanted a ceasefire in Afghanistan during Eidul Azha because this was also the desire of the Afghan people.
The Afghan government announced on Sunday that it wanted a ceasefire in the country during this Eid like the one that was observed during Eidul Fitr, which allowed rival Afghan factions, particularly the Taliban, to celebrate the religious festival peacefully with their families.
But Mr Pompeo and Afghan officials both said that for this ceasefire to happen, it was necessary for the Taliban to desire it as well.
“This plan responds to the clear and continued call of the Afghan people for peace,” Mr Pompeo said.
He noted that the last ceasefire in Afghanistan revealed the deep desire of the Afghan people to end the conflict. “And we hope another ceasefire will move the country closer to sustainable security,” the chief US diplomat said.
Mr Pompeo said the US supported this initiative because “it is our hope and that of the international community that the Afghan people may celebrate Eidul Azha this year in peace, free from fear”. He said the US also supported Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer for comprehensive negotiations with the Taliban on a mutually agreed agenda. “We remain ready to support, facilitate, and participate in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban,” said the US diplomat.
Earlier this week, Mr Pompeo telephoned the Saudi crown prince and also asked him to help arrange a ceasefire during Eidul Azha. The United States hopes that the ceasefire will enable the Taliban to experience the blessings of peace while celebrating the festival with their families.
Mr Pompeo, who will be arriving in Islamabad after the ceasefire, is expected to urge the new Pakistani government to back its efforts for bringing a durable peace in Afgha­nistan. In return for Pakistan’s support in Afghanistan, Washington may drop its opposition to a $12 billion aid package with the IMF and consider restoring its security assistance to Pakistan.
Afghanistan was on Monday awaiting the Taliban’s response to President Ghani’s proposal for a three-month ceasefire, an offer welcomed by the US and Nato after nearly 17 years of war, according to AFP.
The president said his office had cleared “all obstacles” to peace with the announcement following consultations with religious scholars, political parties and civil society groups.
The Taliban did not immediately respond to President Ghani’s truce offer, but vowed to release “hundreds” of “enemy prisoners” to mark the Eidul Azha holiday. A Taliban member told AFP that the leadership had yet to issue a formal response to the ceasefire, but suggested fighting might be restrained during Eid even if no announcement was made.
SANOK, POLAND — In the far southeast corner of Poland, the warm summer air is resounding with the rasp of old-fashioned iron saws and the satisfying twack-twack-twack of ax blades on wood.
Here, in the foothills of the Carpathians, an international crew of master timber craftsmen and students has been working on an intensely hands-on project that combines history, art and education. They are building a replica of the tall peaked roof and inner cupola of an ornate wooden synagogue that stood for 300 years in the town of Gwozdziec, now in Ukraine.
The replica, which will be 85 percent of the original size of the building, will be installed as one of the key components of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, currently under construction in Warsaw and scheduled to open in 2013.
Its elaborate structure and the intricate painted decoration on the cupola ceiling will reproduce a form of architectural and artistic expression that was wiped out in World War II, when the Nazis put the torch to some 200 wooden synagogues in Eastern Europe. Many of them, like that in Gwozdziec, were centuries old and extraordinarily elaborate, with tiered roofs and richly decorative interior painting.
The Gwozdziec Synagogue, built in the 17th and 18th centuries, was a “truly resplendent synagogue that exemplified a high point in Jewish architectural art and religious painting,” the architectural historian Thomas C. Hubka, an expert on the building, has written.
Constructing the replica is a joint project of the museum in Warsaw and the Handshouse Studio, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization that emphasizes learning by building, particularly the reconstruction of historical structures and other objects.
The Browns conducted years of research on Eastern Europe’s lost wooden synagogues before embarking on construction of the Gwozdziec replica in Sanok in May. They studied prewar photographs, drawings and other documentation, built models and made on-site investigations of wooden churches and other buildings still found in Poland and Ukraine.
There are also several impressive masonry synagogues within an easy drive of Sanok. The 18th-century synagogue in Lancut, now a museum, has beautifully restored interior painting and other decoration. One in Rymanow stood for decades as a ruin but has been partially rebuilt, with a tall peaked roof now protecting the vigorous but sadly fading frescoes of Biblical animals and Jerusalem that grace its walls.
In Lesko, the 17th-century synagogue was rebuilt in the 1960s and today houses a gallery of local arts and crafts. Lesko’s vast Jewish cemetery, just a short walk away, is one of the oldest in Poland, with massive tombstones dating to the 16th century.
For the Gwozdziec project, an international team of nearly 30 master craftsmen from the Timber Framers Guild are being joined by groups of students from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where the Browns teach.
Timber framers came from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Belgium and Japan to lend their skills, all on a volunteer basis.
All the work is being carried out using techniques and tools that the builders of the original synagogue would have used: axes, saws, mallets and other hand-held implements. The aim is to gain an understanding of just what went into the building of the synagogue and how its construction would have been envisaged and carried out — and also to lend authenticity to the replica.
“It brings back the lost story of the synagogue, the town, this culture,” said Patrick Goguen, a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.