• THE PONCHATOULA TIMES, JUNE 3, 2010 PAGE 2-A
S SU
Memorial Day
still tells the tale
By DAVE BERWICK
: Times Sports Columnist
: Last year I wrote a column
on Memorial Day entitled "Me-
i morial Day ells the Tale,"
: in which I wrote about an old
baseball saying that goes, 'WIe-
• morial Day tells the tale," which
means that by Memorial Day
• 'the teams that are in first place
usually are in the playoffs.
Last year the New York Yan-
kees were not in the picture on
Memorial Day and of course you
know the mighty Yankees won
the World Series, so don't bet
too heavily on the rest of this
article. With over 25 percent of
the season gone we find the fol-
lowing:
If the season ended today
: (June23, 2010), the Tampa Bay
Rays would go down in baseball
history because their winning
percentage is an amazing, as-
tounding, stupendous, electrify-
ing .721, one of the highest in
over 100 years.
Tampa has a five game lead
over the world champion New
York Yankees who are playing
at a respectable .605 percent,
which would put them in first
place in four of baseball's six
divisions.
The American League East
Division is clearly the best in
baseball. The American League
Central Division sees Minne-
sota with a two game lead over
the Detroit Tigers. In the West-
ern Division we find Texas with
a two game lead over Oakland.
In the National League we
find the Philadelphia Phillies
with the highest winning per-
centage of .619 percent, the
highest in the National League.
The Braves linger three games
back. Bobby Cox, thank God, is
in his last season as manager.
The National League Cen-
tral Division finds Cincinnati in
f rst place! Shockola! Thisis the
biggest surprise of the season.
St. Louis is one game back
and then the Cubs are their
usual five games back, playing
at a mediocre winning percent-
age of .455. I heard a new joke
about the Cubs. Here it goes:
An optimist sees a glass of
water and says it's half full, a
pessimist says its half empty,
and a Cubs fan says, "When is it
going to spill?"
In the Western Division of
the National League we find the
Los Angeles Dodgers are tied
with the San Diego Padres.
This is an overview of the
situation. Clearly, Tampa Bay
is the favorite in the American
League to make it to the World
Series.
In the National League the
favorite would have to be the
Philadelphia Phillies.
If it goes true to form, Tampa
will play Phil. I see Phil as hav-
ing a big edge because they were
there last year. Many times the
team that loses the World Se-
ries one year comes back and
wins the series the next year.
And you do know that Phil did
lose last year.
So this could be the Phillies
year.
I still like the old saying,
'WIemorial Day tells the tale."
"To have a right to do
a thing is not at all the
same as to be right in
doing it."
A Short History of England,
G.K. Chesterton
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BATON ROUGE - Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham, Secretary Alan
Levine of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
Secretary Peggy Hatch, Louisiana Department of Economic Development Secretary Steven Moret and Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, sent a letter to British Petroleum outlin-
ing their plan for a long-term seafood safety plan. In addition to sending a detailed proposal is for a 20-year,
multi-agency initiative, the state is also requesting BP make $457 million available for implementation of the
program.
The full text of the letter is
below:
Anniversary
June 3 - Robert & Cathe-
rine Allen, Charles Jr. & Leta
Branch, Charlie & Vicki Camp,
Jeff & Mary Peterson, Michael
& Esther Raiford, John Jr. &
Rhonda Schliegelmeyer, Jay
& Kathy Alost, Paul & Brenda
Dykes
June 4 - Ben & Melanie Da-
vis, Bill & Denise Homayoun,
Claude Sr. & Susan Fowler, Er-
rol & Virginia Bordelon, George
& Virgil McWiUiams, George
Sr. & Julie McKean, Stanley &
Madelyn Ragan,
June 5 - Harry J. & Audrey
Gabriel, Lawrence & Beulah
Kluka, Newman & Dolores
Watts, Jeffrey & Trish Alexan-
der
June 6 - Joseph & Stepha-
nie Ballard, Jeff & Keli Dan-
iels, Thomas & Barbara Van
Vrancken, Tommy & Jackie
Richardson
June 7 - Neal & Barbara
Alexander, Wayne & Lana Le-
Bourgeois, Sidney & Joanna
Garaudy, Garnett & Kathy Be-
denbaugh, Bruce & Dot Savoy
June 8- Andre & Sherrie
Majeau, Bobby & Laurie Allen,
David & Karla Wyld, Kevin &
Karen Raiford, Michael & Cheri
Seghers, Mike & Sandie Whit-
low, Mike & Stacey Schroeder,
Oscar & Carolyn Rieffel, Travis
& Linda Howes,
June 9 - Bret & Grace Gas-
away, Keith & Joan Fuselier,
Jim & Sandy Hoover, "Beans" &
Blanche Landry, Eddie & Jean-
nie Watts, Tony & Christine
Castjohn, Jim & Sandy Hoover,
George & Laura Fiegel
Happy Birthday
June 3 - Bonnie Jenkins,
Brenda Richard, Brenda Wolfe,
Greg Keaghey, Jody Ragan,
Johnny McGary Jr., Tammy
Ainsworth, Tyler Colkmire,
Sandra Joiner
June 4 - Byrd Corbett, Caro-
line Stevens, Deborah Barron,
Floyd Gegenheimer, Sandra
Flynn, Sandra Richard, Stepha-
nie Thompson,
June 5 - Clay Nepveux, Da-
vid DePaula, Gary Gonzalez,
James Traylor, John Robert
Pack, Kristen Fontenot, Larry
Trent, Mark A. Rock, Megan
Perrin, Trey Lasseigene, Hayen
Hutches
June 6 - Brittany Schanz-
bach, Diane Bankston, Dotsy
Eleser, Gail Derveloy, Ida
Steinacher, Jack Forrest, Lana
Eleser, Lawrence Boudreaux,
Lesley Palisi, Roy Navarra,
June 7 - Calyn Landaiche,
Chantal Guillaumot, Eugenia
Macaluso, Katie Molinari, Lois
Drury, Lois Newman, Mel Har-
ris, Rachel Lavigne, Steven
Johnson, Andy Duvic
June 8 - Becky Sylve, Eliza-
beth Etzkin, Gerry Heitmen,
Hunter Landaiche, Leighanna
Johnson, Michael Jacob, Yvette
Sylvie, Kathy Nicolosi
June 9 - CJ VanVrancken,
Danny St. Cyr, Duane M. Du-
Mr. Tony Hayward
Chief Executive Officer
British Petroleum
International Headquarters
1 St. James's Square
London, SWlY 4PDUK
Dear Mr. Hayward:
As you know, the Louisiana
seafood industry, for genera-
tions, has been one of Louisi-
ana's staple economic engines.
Collectively, the commercial
and recreational industries
represent $4 billion annually
in economic impact to our state
and coastal communities. Esti-
mates are that our seafood in-
dustry provides 30 percent of
the domestic seafood supply for
America's lower 48 states and
70 percent of all Gulf seafood.
In addition to our commercial
fishing industry, more than
4.1 million recreational fishing
trips originate from our coastal
marinas. Louisiana-harvested
seafood is a staple in restau-
rants in some of our nation's
largest markets.
The future of this industry is
in peril.
As the oil spill has impacted
our coastal areas, and as BP
has utilized efforts to disperse
the oil, the state has taken sev-
eral steps to both ensure the
safety of the product and instill
a sense of confidence among
consumers in the safety of the
product.
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