Greetings from the 'Burgh

I've traveled west for the weekend. Fortunately, everything here is going well! I thought I'd give you a little entertainment to make my absence go by a little quicker...

http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/news/2006/0221/2338668.html

(Also, take a look at Jerry & Tammy's new blog. It's the next best thing to my dream of them having their own reality show.)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Always be careful where you snorkel...

Following up on yesterday's "snorkeling" away message. Since when did Center become the ghetto??


Student teacher faces drug rap
Tom Fontaine And Bill Vidonic
02/19/2006

CENTER TWP.- A student teacher who started working at Center Area High School earlier this month was arrested Thursday, accused of snorting OxyContin in a classroom with students present.

Anthony D. Zuccaro, 30, of 113 Kara Place Road, Independence Township, was charged with one count each of drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Center Township police said Zuccaro also possessed painkillers hydrocodone and tramadol, and the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel.

"I believe he's going to have to rethink his career aspirations," said district Superintendent Daniel J. Matsook.

According to police reports, Zuccaro, who had been a student at Robert Morris University in Moon Township, was in a classroom full of students around 9:30 a.m. Thursday when he removed a pill bottle from one of his socks and took out an unknown number of pills.

Police said Zuccaro, who did not have a prescription for any of the medication, crushed the pills with his foot and then snorted the powder through a straw.

Center Police Chief Barry Kramer said he didn't think any students saw Zuccaro snorting the OxyContin. Instead, Kramer said, a teacher, whom he did not identify, apparently found some of the crushed drugs in the classroom and notified Center Principal Anthony Mendicino, who then informed the district's police resource officer.

The discovery of the powder confirmed suspicions that some staff members had had about the student teacher, Mendicino said.

"There was suspicion because (staff) had observed erratic behavior from him over the course of the week. Thank goodness our faculty was on guard and we were able to find out what was going on," Mendicino said.

In a closed-door meeting in Mendicino's office Thursday morning, Zuccaro said he had been snorting pills at the school for three days, police and school officials said.

Matsook said Zuccaro, who had been teaching in the high school's business department, told those in Mendicino's office that he was "under some stress keeping up with his responsibilities as a student teacher."

Zuccaro will no longer have that stress to deal with.Center school officials said Zuccaro's student-teaching stint, which was to run through April, has been terminated, and Robert Morris spokesman Mike Rick said Zuccaro is "no longer enrolled as a student" at the university. It was unclear whether Zuccaro was thrown out of the university or he withdrew on his own.

Mendicino said Zuccaro has bachelor's and master's degrees and was in the processing of seeking an additional teaching certification. In a prepared statement, Rick said that Robert Morris "regrets that this incident occurred" and would "cooperate fully with Center Township law enforcement officials on any investigation."

Charges will be mailed to Zuccaro. No one answered the door at his home Friday afternoon.

This is the second time within a week that someone has been arrested in the Center Area School District. On Feb. 9, police arrested Phillip D. Winkle, 32, of Center Township and charged him with four counts of invasion of privacy after fellow custodians found a hole drilled into a wall of a girls restroom in the middle school.

Center police said Winkle had been videotaping females since around the Christmas break through the hole in the wall.

Winkle is free on bond, awaiting a preliminary hearing, while police continue to view videotapes seized from his home last week, in an attempt to determine how many people are on them.

If you wanna buy me a late birthday present, you REALLY have a lot of options.

After I thought Bayside High offered the finest variety of t-shirts, Ryan passes along this site for me. So many shirts, so little money...

Kelly Kapowski, will you be my valentine?

While I could be blogging about Valentine's Day, I've got a lot more important business to discuss with you, the faithful blog reader.

As you may or may not be aware, I'm obsessed with Saved by the Bell. Obsessed enough that I watch it every morning. At least twice. So, when Val told me about this amazing Saved by the Bell trivia link, you knew I'd be hooked.

(Yes, I scored 9 out of 10 on the Kelly Kapowski quiz. And yes, I knew that Stacy's college boyfriend was Craig Strand. No wonder I'm doing this post on Valentine's Day. What's your point?)

Maybe even more importantly, I thought it'd be tough to top the shirt I've had my eye on for quite awhile, but, I think this site tops them all. My only reaction was, "OH. MY. GOD."

Oh where have you gone, Kelly Kapowski...

We never wanted you anyway...

One last update to Beaver County's most infamous fan. Hope he's not going to Center...


Student in Broncos jersey switches schools
Monday, February 13, 2006

A Beaver Falls high school student who complained that a teacher forced him to sit on the floor during a midterm exam -- for wearing a Denver Broncos jersey -- has left the school district after what his father said was continued harassment and silence from students.

"He doesn't feel wanted," Brian Vannoy said of his son, Joshua. "I just want him to be happy in school."

Joshua Vannoy, 17, enrolled at a new school Friday, his father said. Brian Vannoy would not identify the school.

Big Beaver Falls Area School District officials could not be reached for comment.

Joshua, a junior, stopped going to Beaver Falls High School after he said his honors ethnic-relations teacher John Kelly, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, forced him to take the midterm sitting on the floor and encouraged other students to pelt him with wads of paper.

Joshua wore the jersey of retired Broncos quarterback John Elway to class Jan. 20, two days before the Steelers beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.

Vannoy returned Jan. 30 with an escort. He dropped Kelly's class for a study hall but he faced stony silence and some comments, though no threats of physical violence, his father said.

"He gave it a while," Brian Vannoy said. "But it just wasn't getting any better."

SUPER STEELERS!!!!!

Wow. After 25 years (and 1 week), I finally got to see my Steelers win the Super Bowl and get that one for the thumb! I made the trek through the snow back to the 'Burgh. A big thanks to the 'rents, Ben, Ryan, and Chris for making it a party that I'll never forget.

As a sports fan, it's always your dream to see your favorite team come through and win it all. I guess as a Steeler fan, when we've been so close so many times, you've always got hope that we'll pull through, but it's never come to be. I can't tell you how many times me & Ryan have talked about what it'd be like if the Steelers or Pirates actually won a championship. Everyone who's older was spoiled by winning all the time in the '70s, so there was kind of a disconnect there. I think I asked my dad about five times last night how any of them got through 4 championships when just 1 was so stressful. But now, that's gone, and we're the champions! After watching everyone else, now it's OUR guys holding the trophy, it's OUR guys going to Disney World, it's OUR city having the Super Bowl parade. It's hard to know how to react. All we can do is party!

Even as I'm sitting here with my Super Bowl championship shirt on, it's only starting to sink in. What happens now? Does this mean we don't have to worry about the 4 championship games anymore? Tom Brady? Neil O'Donnell? Larry Brown?

But the best part is there's plenty of time to figure all that out. And there's never gonna be one like this again. For now, it's time to celebrate the Bus, Big Ben, and Hines for giving me the highlight of my sports fan life.

So for one last time this year, HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!! And let's make it #6 next year!

Whatever happened to predictability?

Ex-Full House Star: I Was Hooked on Meth
Wednesday Feb 01, 2006 2:55pm EST

By Stephen M. Silverman

Former Full House actress Jodie Sweetin has made startling admission: she once had a daily methamphetamine habit.

The problems began when Full House ended its run in 1995, the actress told Good Morning America on Wednesday. "There is a certain sense of loss when a series ends. It is kind of hard to figure out who you are when you've lost your job at age 13, when that was basically how you identified yourself," says Sweetin, 24, who played Stephanie Tanner on the series.

Seeking a "normal" life, Sweetin attended high school and college, and was married by age 20 – to a Los Angeles policeman. But two years ago, feeling bored and being unemployed, she says she began experimenting with drugs and got hooked on meth.

After a three-day "lost" weekend, reportedly followed by an intervention staged by her former Full House costars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, John Stamos and Bob Saget, Sweetin checked herself in to the Promises rehab facility for six weeks of intense treatment.

Sweetin now owns up to "living a total double life," she tells GMA. "I was married to a police officer – we are going through a divorce right now – he had no idea."

As for the future? "I want to make movies, TV series, wherever the career takes me," she says. "I really hope this isn't the last people hear of me. In fact, I would like to make this a footnote in my career, not the end."


-- Where's DJ Tanner when you need her?

Go Phil!

3 MORE DAYS!