Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

By Luzi Ann Javier - 2012-05-16T09:43:02Z

Xstrata Plc (XTA), the worlds fourth- biggest copper producer, risks missing a 2016 target to begin extracting about $60 billion of minerals from its project in the Philippines because of opposition from the Catholic Church.

The central government in January rejected the companys request for an environmental compliance certificate for the $5.9 billion Tampakan copper and gold project, citing a ban by regional lawmakers on open-pit mining. With local polls due next year, South Cotabato legislators are reluctant to amend the law because they risk the ire of the Church, said Arthur Pingoy, the regions governor.

There are petitions and resolutions to amend the local law pending, Pingoy said in an interview. No one dares touch them because they fear a backlash from the Church, with priests campaigning against their re-election next year.

Xstrata is running short of time to bring the copper project in Mindanao on line by its 2016 target, a feat that would help ease global shortages of the metal used in power transmission, plumbing and autos, as well as boost economic growth. Opposition from the Church and other groups on environmental grounds is compounded by threat of attack against mines and workers by armed communist and Islamic rebels.

The issues that this project face are illustrative of intensifying political, social and environmental challenges that miners are facing in growing production, Gayle Berry, a London-based metals analyst at Barclays Plc (BARC), said in a May 8 e- mailed response to questions. There is now a long list of projects that have been delayed or faced big increases in capital costs as a result.

Copper futures traded on the London Metal Exchange have gained 18 percent in the past two years to $7,650 a metric ton, as global production failed to keep up with demand for a third straight year. Worldwide copper stockpiles have fallen to 463,618 metric tons as of May 15, the lowest since Sept. 10, 2009, according to data from exchanges tracked by Bloomberg.

Shares in Xstrata fell for a fifth day, losing 3.5 percent to 964.9 pence at 9:57 a.m. London time, set for the lowest close since Dec. 28. Indophil Resources NL, a partner in the Philippine venture, lost 5.1 percent to 37 Australian cents, the biggest decline since March 1.

We will surely vote against those who favor this project, said Dinualdo Gutierrez, a bishop who leads the Catholic Church in South Cotabato and Saranggani, two of the provinces that need to approve the mine. The local elections are set for May 13.

There are about 400,000 Catholics in South Cotabato alone, Gutierrez said by phone yesterday. That compares with 736,884 registered voters in the province, according to the Commission on Elections. The Church has also gathered 106,000 signatures calling on President Benigno Aquino not to allow Xstrata to start mining in Tampakan, he said.

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Xstrata $60 Billion Philippine Mine May Stumble at Church’s Door

Disgraced Roman Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey has been stripped of clerical duties by the church because of a child pornography conviction.

The Catholic Church announced the decision regarding Raymond Lahey today.

"We have been informed that the Holy See has dismissed Raymond Lahey from the clerical state, one of the most serious penalties that the Church can impose," according to a news release from the office of the bishop, Diocese of Antigonish, N.S.

"This will mean that he will no longer function as a cleric, will no longer have the rights and duties of being a cleric, is not permitted to exercise any ecclesastical offices or functions and is not permitted to preside at any of the sacraments or religious services. However, any sacraments that he performed prior to this decision continue to be valid and effective."

Lahey, a Newfoundlander, was acting as bishop of the Nova Scotia diocese of Antigonish when he was stopped at the Ottawa airport in 2009.

Police found a large quantity of child pornography on the computer he was carrying.

Last January, Lahey was sentenced to 15 months in jail for possessing and importing the images.

The Crown's case against Lahey involved 588 photos and 63 videos, with the Crown pointing out that some involved adolescent boys engaged in sex acts while wearing a Crucifix and rosary beads.

Some of the images shown to the judge depicted scenes of bondage, featuring young men who were bound and on all fours.

At a sentencing hearing in December, Lahey apologized for his actions, describing himself as a man who became addicted to internet-based porn "on an indiscriminate basis."

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Catholic Church strips Raymond Lahey of duties

By Sean Dalton sdalton@heritage.com Twitter: @seankdalton

Webster Township'saltruistic activist congregation is making a second push for funds for its community outreach ministry in time for Memorial Day this year.

The church, at 5484 Webster Church Road, is offering provisions, including barbecued chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad and corn with dessert choice of cookies or cake, to those who want to eat on site or take their food on the go into the village for the Memorial Day parade, to another park area or a backyard.

The May 28 barbecue will cost $11 per adult and $6 for children 12 and under. The event will take place in the fellowship hall of the church near the FarrellRoad entrance. Weatherpermitting,organizerswill have picnic tables set up outside, picnic style, and inside as well.

"A lot of people like me usually end up working in the yard all day and the last thing you're thinking about is making food," saidWebster Church of Christorganizer Judy Bemis. "We expect that a lot of people who have the day off and will be at the Dexter parade would rather have someone else do the cooking."

The congregation has held a barbecue with takeout option in the past and has brought the tradition back from five years ago to build on the $2,000 raised earlier this year with a live concert fundraiser held earlier this year to fund the efforts of the various ministries within the church.

Bemis said her congregation is attempting to aid Camp Take Notice, as well as fund upkeep of camp grounds that the church board have considered selling to the Department of Natural Resources at one point, but church members decided that the camp ground had too many good memories and potential for more in the future to let go for any sum of money.

"We have a lot of people who say they have good memories and there were many good events from their childhood there," Bemis said.

Webster Church of Christ also sponsors Habitat for Humanity houses, raises fresh vegetables for Food Gatherers and is looking for a replacement for the Ghana ministry that is winding down in the final time of the 10-year period of commitment that the church initially committed to. That ministry has resulted in the construction of a dozen water wells, aiding villages and refugee camps, and providing school and scholarship money to better the lives of several African children.

"Our community outreach efforts have been very successful," Bemis said. "We have had many peoplefrom the community who weren't members or regular church goers or friends of Webster, but they showed up because they wanted to support the camp."

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WEBSTER TOWNSHIP: Webster United Church of Christ to hold barbecue fundraiser after Memorial Day parade

Hiland Park Baptist Church asked, and it received: The Bay County Commission on Tuesday unanimously agreed to abandon two rights of way so the church can embark on a $7.9 million expansion project, despite objections from neighborhood residents.

From a general perspective, the Commission did the right thing. The church owns the land on either side of the alleys in question. It has complied with county regulations. It was not seeking a rezoning of the property.

Some residents who live near the church oppose the expansion, arguing that the increase in paved parking will create stormwater runoff problems. Others expressed concern about additional lighting, fewer trees and having to drive through a construction area and between stormwater ponds.

The church did make one concession Tuesday. It offered a permanent easement to the residents that runs through the parking lot, and commissioners required it as a condition of approving the abandonment.

The church played by the rules. As Commissioner Mike Thomas said, It appears to me the things they are obliged to do, theyve done.

Hiland Park Baptist followed the letter of the law. But it perhaps could have done more in the way of following unwritten protocols.

One common complaint residents lodged was that they were caught unaware of the churchs expansion plants and desired an opportunity to discuss it with Hiland Park Baptist officials before breaking ground. This seems to happen a lot projects proceed without reaching out to those who might be affected by them.

Those snubs can stiffen peoples opposition. They feel picked on, ignored, powerless. Sometimes you can modify plans to satisfy their concerns. Other times, just listening and explaining things to them cools things down, even if the project isnt changed. People at least feel like they were taken seriously. (Of course, theres always some who wont be satisfied unless they get their way, period). This is especially important when dealing with residential neighborhoods.

Its the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Although Hiland Park Baptist has been planning to expand for several years, residents say the latest project is different than initial plans that were discussed in 2007. And this time, they say they werent briefed by the church beforehand.

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Church outreach

Augustus Conant was a man with a purpose even if it meant drifting away from the family business.

Conant was born Oct. 16, 1811, in Brandon, Vt., to Ebenezer Conant and Fanny Clifford. He later went on to help form the First Christian Congregation of Geneva, later known as the Unitarian Church in Geneva and now the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva. The church is part of the Central Geneva Historical District, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Kane County Chronicle is taking a look at area buildings on the register this week.

The soon-to-be minister had aspirations of a liberal education and profession, wrote Robert Collyer in the 1905 biography Augustus Conant: Illinois Pioneer and Preacher. Conants father, Ebenezer, wanted him to stay as a farmer in Vermont. He left behind his family in Vermont in September 1832 for what was then called the far west the prairies of Illinois. He kept a daily journal of his travels that he continued writing in even after he came to live on his own in the state.

When Conant finally made it to Chicago, Collyer writes: [Conant] found nothing worth his notice except Fort Dearborn. He thought the town was so situated that it would eventually become a place of considerable importance. Conant spent only an hour in what is now the city limits of Chicago. After traveling throughout the state, he settled in Des Plaines.

He actually went back to farming, the family business, once he the found the perfect land parcel. His family joined him shortly thereafter after Conant discovered that the soil was great for farming.

Conants diary entries, obtained through the Geneva History Center, continued, including this one dated Feb. 25, 1840: Preached at Geneva. Read Norton on the Trinity. Made soap. Boiled sugar. Wrote a sermon on the Aim of Life.

A couple short years and a Harvard ordination later, he began preaching in Geneva full time. On May 8, 1842, he wrote, We had our first meeting to day [sic] on the subject of forming a religious society in Geneva but there was a doubt as to whether the right time had come to begin and a declaration of principles that had been circulated and signed by twenty persons was reserved for further consideration.

That day was the first preliminary meeting to plan what is now the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva. On June 12, 1842, the First Christian Congregation of Geneva was formed, according to a church document obtained at the Geneva History Center through the Des Plaines Historical Society.

The name was chosen because Conant teamed up with other denominations, including Unitarians, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, according to church records. The congregations members met in various locations throughout Geneva, including the old courthouse.

In a letter to the Christian Register dated March 18, 1843, Conant said, The Court House, in which we have held meetings in the summer, is out of repair and without a stove. He also noted how the church needed its own building. A fair was later held in May 1843 with the help of one of Genevas leading merchants at the time, Polly Patten, and her brother, Charles Patten, to raise money to build the church.

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History Made: Church keeps history alive every Sunday

Viking appliances will now be offering Sub-Zero authorized appliance repairman to customers nationwide. To celebrate Viking Appliances is slashing prices on all appliance repair from now until June.

(PRWEB) May 15, 2012

Viking appliances will now be offering Sub-Zero authorized appliance repairman to customers nationwide. To celebrate Viking Appliances is slashing prices on all appliance repair from now until June. Sub-Zero offers some of thew finest high-end appliances available anywhere. Sub-Zero manufactures two series of built-in refrigeration as well as wine storage and undercounter units. Each refrigerator model usually comes in two variations, namely a stainless steel exterior or a customizable exterior in an overlay version. The latter option allows the buyer to install kitchen cabinet panels on the door(s) to match with the rest of the kitchen. Its refrigerators are designed with a 24-inch (61 cm) depth and can be installed flush with kitchen cabinets of the same standard depth to provide an integrated look. This kind of built-in refrigerator is usually wider than normal to compensate for the shallower depth in order to maintain acceptable storage volume.

The Sub-Zero 424 Wine Cooler has held virtually the same design since the early 90's. It is the only under-counter wine cooler in its class to be able to keep wine as low as 38 F (3 C). It has two temperature zones and can be hooked up to a house alarm.

A Sub-Zero refrigerator is heavier than most refrigerators offered by GE, Frigidaire, or LG. An average refrigerator weighs 250300 pounds (110140 kg), but a Sub-Zero can weigh as much as 800 pounds (360 kg) and can require four delivery men to move the refrigerator unit into a kitchen, while most refrigerators usually only require two delivery men. Also, a typical Sub-Zero unit is bigger than the basic home refrigerator. Some Sub-Zero full-size models are 84 inches (2.1 m) tall and 48 inches (120 cm) wide.

Along with many other major prestige appliance brands, Sub-Zero follows a practice of restricting dissemination of the prices of their refrigerators. Their dealers are strictly vetted and must closely follow advertising and pricing procedures supplied by the manufacturer in order maintain the ability to distribute their products.

For Sub-Zero appliance repair visit our website at http://www.vikingappliances.us

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/5/prweb9503776.htm

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Viking Appliance Repair Company Will Now be Offering Sub-Zero Authorized Appliance Repairman to Customers Nationwide ...

After years of planning and organization, developers are poised to move forward with construction of Camellia Park Apartment Homes on the land known as Camellia Commons on the south side of Boll Weevil Circle.

Developer Bill Ware attended the May 15 Enterprise City Council meeting to update councilmembers on the project that is more than five years in the making.

Camellia Commons originally broke ground in 2008, however the downward economy slowed building projects on the site that at the time was expecting a full retail center within seven years.

In a 2009 interview, Enterprise Mayor Boswell said Enterprise is "poised to take advantage of the upswing when it curves."

The presentation regarding the impending construction of Camellia Park is a promising sign that the economy is indeed on the upswing.

Boswell said this project will add to the quality of life for residents in Enterprise and would hopefully help accelerate the development of other retailers on the Camellia Commons property.

Camellia Park is a large gated apartment complex planned between Bellwood Road and Highway 167 South. It is the first of six phases planned for the Camellia Commons area.

The area, Ware said, is the "growth corridor" for continued growth in Enterprise.

"We're happy and excited about being a part of that growth," he said.

The $13 million project will sit on 16.88 acres of land and include 11 residential buildings with one, two and three bedroom apartments, for a total of 144 apartments.

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Construction of Camellia Park planned by end of year

Enlarge Damian Dovarganes/AP

The increase in housing starts, along with rising builder confidence and stronger job growth, is a hopeful sign that the home market may be starting to recover.

The increase in housing starts, along with rising builder confidence and stronger job growth, is a hopeful sign that the home market may be starting to recover.

U.S. builders began work on more homes last month, evidence that the battered housing market is slowly healing.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 717,000 homes in April from March. That's 2.6 percent more than March's total, which was revised higher. Construction rose for both single-family homes and apartments.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, fell last month from a 3 year high to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 715,000. But that was because of a 23 percent drop in the volatile apartment category. Permits for single-family homes rose almost 2 percent.

Even with the gains, the rate of construction and the level of permits requested remain roughly half the pace considered healthy. But the increase, along with rising builder confidence and stronger job growth, is a hopeful sign that the home market may finally be starting to recover nearly five years after the housing bubble burst.

Builders have grown more confident since last fall, in part because more people have expressed interest in buying a home. In May, builder optimism rose to the highest level in five years, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index.

Seasonally adjusted annual rate, in thousands

Homebuilders reported improving sales and higher traffic from prospective buyers, the survey showed. A gauge measuring confidence in sales over the next six months also rose to 34 from 31.

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Housing Construction Up 2.6 Percent In April

Todd Maisel/New York Daily News

A construction worker plunged 40 several stories from a scaffolding on a building under construction at 450 Broome St. in Manhattan Thursday afternoon.

A Brooklyn construction worker packing up to head home from his first day on the job was killed Thursday in a two-story fall from scaffolding on a Manhattan building family and coworkers said.

Adrian Zamora, 32, was alone on the scaffolding - not wearing a harness - on the Mercer St. side of 450 Broome St. in SoHo when he plummeted 40 feet onto a sidewalk shed around 5 p.m., colleague Emerson Bicalho said.

The workers were restoring the facade of the 11-story luxury loft apartment building.

We were cleaning up to go home, Bicalho, 35, of Newark said. He fell on his head. ... He was bleeding from the nose and mouth.

The paramedics were pumping his chest. He wasnt responding, the shaken-up coworker said.

Hes a nice guy. Hes a real joker. He was a working guy just trying to make some money to keep his family good.

An EMT source at the scene said the man suffered massive head trauma and went into cardiac arrest.

Zamora, an immigrant from Mexico who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children, died at Bellevue Hospital, his family and police said.

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Construction worker dies in Manhattan fall

Since the housing meltdown, more South Floridians are renting a place to live because the financial reality is that they cant buy.

A lot of other people simply prefer to rent.

The two groups are spawning a fundamental shift in housing and a fledgling boom in the construction of new apartments for the first time in years. It is a national trend that is crystallizing in South Florida with rental apartment projects in the works in cities ranging from Plantation and Davie to Doral and Coral Gables.

Rentals will be in demand for a while. The pendulum has swung, said Mahesh Pattabhiraman, chief lending officer for Miami-based Apollo Bank, which this month made a land-acquisition loan to Miamis Adler Group, a major commercial developer that plans to build two 20-story rental apartment towers near the west end of 79th Street Causeway in a joint venture with ECI Group of Atlanta.

A lot of people with bad credit wont qualify to buy a home. And because of the crisis, some people are not convinced its the right time to buy, added Pattabhiraman.

Like Adler, other major South Florida developers with specialties in areas such as luxury condominiums and industrial parks are refocusing on rental apartments to capitalize on the strong demand and the availability of financing.

Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon, said Armando Codina, a prominent Miami developer of industrial parks and commercial projects who has turned his attention in a big way to rental apartments, with projects in various stages from Doral to Davie. The fundamentals are right. This is not a trendy thing, said Codina.

On Wednesday, Codina announced his Coral Gables-based CC Residential has formed a partnership with AREA Property Partners, a New York real estate investment giant, to develop rental apartment projects in South Florida. The alliance includes two projects in which Codina has already broken ground: a 352-unit project renamed The Signature at Doral, at Doral Boulevard (NW 41st Street) and the Homestead Extension of Floridas Turnpike, and a 350-apartment project on Davie Road between SW 29th Street and SW 31st Street, renamed The Signature at Davie.

AREAs CEO for North America, Richard Mack, said his firms recent success in acquiring a troubled condo project and turning it into an apartment complex on the Miami River called Terrazas River Park Village reinforced his view that the time is right for multifamily rental development. It led us to conclude that rents are going to continue to rise and demand is going to continue to rise in a way to sustain new development, Mack said.

Fueling the demand is the dearth of professionally managed apartment buildings in the wake of the condo-conversion mania of the last decade. Many multifamily rental apartments in the region were snapped up by developers, converted into condos and sold for quick profits.

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Rental, sweet rental: Shift toward apartment living spurs new construction