OC, Ville Platte make strong runs in local track

OC also broke Southern Lab's 13-year streak in the 4x200 relay as Maggie Courville and the trio of Verdin sisters clocked a 1:49.13 for second place but moved up when Southern Lab was disqualified in the event. Meghan Curley won the 3200 meters for OC with a school record 12:19.17. She also finished fourth in the 800 meters. Team mate Taylor King was third in the 1600 and fourth in the 3200 meters. Other Class 1-A winners included Westminster's Sarah Milam's 300 meter hurdles first place performance with a 48.88 after finishing second in the 100 meter hurdles (16.53) WCA's Josh Redd won the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.08. In Class 2-A, the Ville Platte Bulldogs scored 56 points to finish second behind Newman's 71 points. Jacobby Gallow won the 200-meter dash in 22.26 seconds and was second in the 100 meters (11.19).

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Gran Plaza shopping centre to remain open

AFTER weeks of speculation following the Andalucian Superior Court of Justices decision to annul the opening licence of the Roquetas de Mar shopping centre, a magistrate has decreed that closure would be impossible from a legal perspective. In a very detailed decree, magistrate Jess Rivera put forward nine separate arguments in support of his contention. While the Junta de Andaluca would only say that they needed to carefully examine the magistrates decree, a spokesperson for the Pro Gran Plaza platform, which lobbied for the centre to remain open, spoke of relief amongst the 4,000 workers and over 100 business owners. However, the effect of the decree is to place the centre in somewhat of a legal limbo in that it will now be operating without a licence. It seems likely that Roquetas Town Council will have to apply for a new opening licence, and this could entail the debate continuing for some time.

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Japanese welcome new year at temples, shopping centers

Japanese flocked to shrines and temples, celebrated with rice wine and scrambled for "lucky bags" at shopping centers as 2007 began Monday. But one person who tired to scale the snowcapped Mount Fuji for a view of the year's first sunrise was missing in strong wind while another two were injured, according to national broadcaster NHK. The 3,776-meter (12,385-foot) mountain typically sees about 150 climbers in the first three days of the New Year. Elsewhere in the country, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines were expected to receive nearly 95 million visitors over those days, as people offer prayers for peace, health and prosperity in one of the few religious rites in which most Japanese regularly partake. New Year's tends to be a family-oriented affair, akin to Christmas in Western countries, when the workaholic country grinds to a halt and scattered family members return to parental homes and feast on special holiday foods, such as buckwheat noodles and rice cake soup.

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