Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

By Lance Walheim, The National Gardening Association

Starting a lawn from seed is the least expensive way to transform your home or garden with a new lawn. Find information and step-by-step instructions on how to turn grass seed into a lush, beautiful lawn.

The best time to start lawns from seed, or by any means, is just prior to the grasss season of most vigorous growth.

First, you need to determine the type of grass that grows best in your climate whether you need cool-season or warm-season grass. Think of cool-season and warm-season grasses as the yin and yang of the turf world. Or better yet, when you think of cool season grasses, envision blue spruce. When you think of warm-season grasses, envision palm trees. Get the picture?

For cool-season grasses (which grow best in fall, spring, and, in some areas, winter), the best time to plant is late summer to early fall. At that time of year, the ground is still warm enough for quick germination, and the young grass plants have the entire upcoming cool season to become established.

Early spring is the second-best time to start a cool-season lawn from seed. The young grass has less time to become established before the onset of hot weather, but results are usually satisfactory as long as you start seeding early enough.

Warm-season grasses are best planted in late spring. At that time, the weather is still mild enough to let you get the grass established, but the hot weather of summer and the most vigorous growth are just around the corner.

The soil is ready, the site is level, and the watering system is in place now you can plant the seed.

Spread the seed.

Make sure that you properly set your spreader rate for sowing seed. (You can check the manufacturers instructions, but many times, the spreader has the necessary information printed on it.) Put half the grass seed in the spreader. Spread the first half of the seed by walking in one direction and then spread the second half crisscross to the first direction. This pattern ensures even coverage.

Dont forget to use a starter fertilizer. Starter fertilizers are high in the nutrient phosphorous, which is essential to seedlings.

Top-dress the seed to hold moisture.

Open the door of a peat spreader (or cage roller) and fill it with peat moss or other fine-textured organic matter. You may end up spilling some, so dont do this on the lawn surface; otherwise, you have to clean up the mess, disturbing the seedbed as you do.

Briskly push the cage roller back and forth over the lawn until you cover the entire area. Apply a very thin layer, 1/8- to 1/4-inch of mulch, no more. Adjust your speed until the roller applies about the right amount.

If you live in a windy area where the peat moss blows around or if youre trying to save a dime, you can lightly rake the seedbed instead of mulching. Use a stiff metal rake and just lightly push and pull the tines back and forth to make shallow grooves and cover the seed. Dont push too hard, or youll move the seed around or cover it too deeply.

Roll the surface.

To ensure good contact between seed and soil, roll the entire area with a roller that youve filled only halfway with water. Roll the perimeter first and then finish the entire area.

Water.

This may be the most important step. With the first watering, make sure that you apply enough water to wet the soil down to at least 6 to 8 inches. Apply the water gently so that you dont wash the seed away or create puddles.

You may have to water several times in short intervals until the bed is thoroughly wet. After that, water often enough to keep the top inch or so of the seedbed moist until the seed germinates. Remember, seeds get only one shot at germination. Let them dry out, and theyre dead.

Sprinkle the seedbed lightly with a handheld hose several times a day especially if its hot or windy to get even germination across the entire lawn. However, you dont want to overdo it. Too much water causes the seed to rot.

Watch the color of the soil surface. As the soil dries, the surface becomes lighter in color. When you notice about half to two-thirds of the surface lightening up, its about time to water.

Protect the seedbed.

Here comes the neighbors dog! Oh, no, what a muddy mess. To keep kids, pets, or whatever off your newly seeded, very wet lawn, encircle it with brightly colored string attached to small stakes.

However, that may not be enough for the dog. If the lawn is small, you can surround the whole area with some roll-out metal fencing available at hardware stores or at least tell the neighbor to keep her dog in her own yard.

As your new lawn becomes established, you can start easing up on the water, depending on the weather. If you continue your everyday watering routine, youre likely to overdo it and rot the young seedlings. Also, if the ground is too wet, you can inhibit root growth.

When you have a pretty even ground cover of new seedlings, try skipping a day of watering and see what happens. Watch the grass carefully. If the color starts to go from bright green to dull gray green, the grass needs water. You may have to water some quick-to-dry areas with a handheld hose.

If the grass doesnt dry out, keep stretching the intervals between watering until youre on a schedule of once or twice a week, or as needed. When you do water, dont forget to water deeply, getting the moisture down 6 to 8 inches. Dont be a light-sprinkling fool you end up with one lousy lawn.

But theres more to a new lawn than just watering. You need to mow the new lawn when it reaches 3 to 4 inches high, depending on the type of grass. Mow when the soil is on the dry side; otherwise, you might tear up the new turf.

You also need to make your first application of fertilizer about 4 to 6 weeks after germination. Young seedlings have a hefty appetite, so dont skip this important feeding. (After you have your grass growing, Keeping an Eco-Friendly Lawn can help you keep both the lawn and the environment healthy.)

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Planting a New Lawn from Seed - dummies

At Icon Building Group, our custom home builders bring experience, creativity and life to every project. Our talented design and production teams are committed to making sure your process is fun, collaborative, on time, on budget, and most importantly, that the finished product is everything you had imagined it would be.

Imagine your own personal home building resource center with the finest interior designers, architects, custom home builders, remodeling crew, and craftsmen, who understand the importance of professionalism, quality, and budgets as much as style, functionality, and flow. Imagine all of them devoted to making the realization of your vision a creative, fun, and positive experience. Imagine on time and on budget as more than just an empty promise it is your GUARANTEE that we do what we say we will do.

We are Icon Building Group. We are a design-build, full service, custom home builder, home addition, and home renovation company serving the Chicago area and Southern Wisconsin regions. Over the past fourteen years, our team members have collectively built, rehabbed, or renovated more than 2,000 homes. Icon provides ongoing support through every phase and every step of the process including conceptual design, architecture, construction, interior design, and post construction. In other words, were there for you before, during, and after the job.

We achieve this, in part, by matching you with the perfect professionals for your vision and project. These strategic partners have been hand-selected for the high quality of their work as well as their customer-centric focus. This means your next home custom home building project, bathroom remodeling project, or kitchen remodeling project will not only be done to your complete satisfaction, it will be more satisfying than you ever imagined possible.

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Icon Building Group Chicago Custom Home Builders

M.D. Custom Homes was founded in 1987 as M.D. Properties, Inc. as a partnership between Tim Doyle and Frank Madden serving the Waukesha county area.

Our team has expanded over the years to include members that share the same standards of impeccable quality and attention to detail. Touring any of our homes allows you to see the outstanding, uncommon details such as intricate framing, unique millwork, cabinetry and beams, stylish tile and stone, old world masonry as well as cutting edge energy saving components. Our team is devoted to actively working with every client through each of the important steps keeping a personalized, hands-on approach.

From guidance and designing & planning a custom home to new additions, remodeling and renovations; custom wine cellars, home theaters, golf rooms with simulators, gourmet kitchens and luxurious baths as well as green homes, we can handle all of your needs. We work with many of the top architects in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and match the project with the best talent.

We have established a solid reputation for integrity, reliability, quality and detail. We build homes of 1800 square feet to 10,000+ square feet and stress that its the quality of the home that is important and not the size. Whether you start with a rough sketch of your ideas on a cocktail napkin, or an existing set of plans; we help you design and build the home of your dreams.

It is our promise to build a trusting relationship and exceed your expectations.

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M.D. Custom Home Builders & Renovations

Tanna VillarrealBetter Homes and Gardens Real Estate-Gary Greene

A local realtor answers questions about trends and offers tips to homebuyers and sellers.

Tanna VillarrealBetter Homes and Gardens Real Estate-Gary Greene

What should homeowners know before deciding to remodel a kitchen in terms of cost?Typically, remodeling a kitchen and master bath provide a good return on investment, but with the escalating price of construction and limitless options for finishes and amenities, its important to know how much is too much. Before beginning the project, talk with a Realtor and ask for sold comparables in your area. This will help establish your budget and provide information on what to expect the value of your home to be once the work is completed.

When installing new appliances or cabinets, what designs will add appeal to a home?I think its important for cabinetry to have clean lines and simple finishes. When cabinets are flocked with ornate designs and heavy finishes, they feel outdated and will more adversely affect the sellers ability to sell their home. When selecting appliances, try to splurge where possible. Find that signature piece and make it your centerpiece.What are current popular kitchen design trends homeowners should be aware of?Trends are nice, but try to avoid them. Many of todays styles are updated versions of classic designs. As a homeowner, its important to convey your style without going so far into whats trending that you have to remodel again in five years. Keep your finishes clean and decor simple. For many, this means nixing the greenery. Get it out of there because nothing dates your home faster.

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3 tips for remodeling a kitchen in the Tomball, Magnolia areas - Community Impact Newspaper

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

RAYNHAM Theres nothing like a fire to speed up a remodeling job in a restaurant.

They planned to remodel in August, but this kind of pushed it up a month or so, said Dawn Souto, who works as a waitress at the IHOP at 235 Route 44.

The restaurant recently reopened after closing for nearly three months due to a fire that broke out May 31 in the kitchen area.

Assistant manager Nicole Rolls said there was a soft opening with shorter hours of operation on Saturday, Aug. 26.

Management since then, she said, has conducted interviews to fill a handful of positions.

The fire was the second fire within a span of a year to damage the building, which before becoming an International House of Pancakes in 2006 had been a Bickford's Family Restaurant.

A fire in August 2016 damaged a rear portion of the IHOP building and led to water and smoke damage. The IHOP reopened days after that fire.

Rolls said the cause of the May 31 overnight fire was a piece of floor-mat carpet that an employee placed too closely to the pilot light of a hot-water heater in the kitchen.

The non-stick rug piece, which typically is placed in front of the restaurant's entrance, ignited. No one at the time was in the building, she said.

The silver lining, Rolls and Souto say, is a newly designed IHOP with a centrally situated, blue-tiled hostess booth; new seating accommodations for customers waiting for a booth; and a washable faux-tile floor taking the place of old carpeting.

Rolls says dining room seating has expanded from 132 to at least 162 seats.

Customer reaction, she says, has been encouraging. "The first thing they notice is, 'Wow, it's been redone,'" Rolls said.

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Raynham IHOP reopens nearly three months after kitchen-area fire - Wicked Local Taunton

ORLEANS In recent years, the town has been marching down the field toward its goal of cleaning its waters. At next month's special town meeting, selectmen will ask voters to support grinding out a few more yards now to set up a full-scale attack on the end zone at annual town meeting in May.

Some members had higher ambitions for the Oct. 16 meeting, but with four positive votes required to put borrowing questions on the ballot, the board compromised Aug. 30 on a handful of smaller-scale initiatives.

Voters will be asked next month to support building a section of the collection system for the proposed downtown sewer system under Main Street between Routes 6A and 28. The small step forward was prompted by ongoing state department of transportation reconstruction of the two major intersections; when that work is finished, the pavement may not be dug up again for five years. That would delay the town's sewer project well into the next decade.

Contractor Lawrence-Lynch, which is doing the road work for the state, would install the hybrid gravity-low pressure system. An estimate for the job was expected by yesterday's (Sept. 6) selectmen's meeting, when the board was scheduled to approve a debt exclusion vote on the Oct. 24 special election ballot.

With a trio of decisions to make on collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater selectmen were able to agree to ask town meeting for authority to negotiate a long-term lease with the state for land at Route 6's Exit 12 cloverleaf as a discharge site for effluent (treated wastewater). Others the type of collection system and whether the town would process waste from septic systems as well as the sewer were deferred. Also set aside was pursuit of either a design-bid-build or design-build-operate track for creating the system.

Meeting without the familiar cadre of consultants in a work session, the board heard positive news about the Exit 12 site from Selectman Alan McClennen, who guided Lt. Gov Karyn Polio and state Rep. Sarah Peake on a tour of the location. She got right into this and understood the issues, McClennen said of Polito. My impression was that this is moving in a very positive way.

Although he was one of four votes to support using the site (Selectman David Currier, who owns two businesses in the downtown area, is sitting out meetings on the first phase of the project to avoid a potential conflict of interest), Selectman Mark Mathison said two alternative sites (the transfer station and a nearby water tower location) recently brought to the board's attention by McClennen should be investigated by consultants. The board voted unanimously to have AECOM look into both additional sites.

A previous board of selectmen voted to discharge no treated wastewater into the Namskaket and Little Namskaket marshes, but some current members say the very low projected percentages of infiltration show a total ban isn't necessary.

Our wastewater is flowing now through all our coastline and bays and estuaries, Selectman Mefford Runyon said. They all deserve our careful stewardship and care, but I'm not prepared to bestow special status on any of them. I think all the watersheds are part of what we need.

Noting studies that showed the majority of effluent from the now-closed tri-town treatment plant going under the marsh, not into it, Selectman Jon Fuller said a good rainy day puts more fresh water into the marsh than any treatment water. The last five-incher, probably a trillion gallons went into the marsh and there wasn't a perceptible change.

Mathison said selectmen have to consider that the board in the past has made a commitment that some people will now look as being unfulfilled, and that's going to cost votes. We can't afford to lose any of those votes.

Exit 12 is our first site, not our last site, said McClennen. We're working on other sites. Earlier, he had said his personal hope is that as we move ahead in phases we continue to find other disposal sites so what's collected and cleansed is discharged in different watersheds.

The site at the back of the landfill is under the selectmen's control, but the board of water and sewer commissioners would have to give its approval for testing and any other subsequent work at the water tower site. The boards are already scheduled for an Oct. 4 meeting.

Selectmen were unable to move forward on AECOM's recommendation to go to 100 percent design for a hybrid gravity-low pressure collection system for the downtown area. The consultants identified that option after completing a 25 percent design of the system, which jibed with those from several other engineering firms over the last decades.

But Mathison said there's a perception among some in town that the consultants are not unbiased. The concern is you hire a firm whose expertise is in building gravity systems and their recommendation is you build a gravity sewer system. He said leaders can't ignore public interest in smaller cluster systems such as those in use at Shaw's and the Community of Jesus. They work, he said. They're less expensive.

Fuller said he doesn't believe small cluster systems are less expensive in the long run. They may be less expensive to put in. At the Wequassett Inn (in Harwich), a third of their maintenance budget is for their wastewater treatment plant. They spent a lot of money after they put it in. It was required for their expansion.

McClennen noted that every small treatment plant needs a disposal site. He said that a Cape Cod Commission study of various collection systems found that a centralized system could remove nitrogen at the lowest cost per pound. Downtown is particularly well-suited for a gravity system, McClennen said, because the grade changes from eight to 104 feet above sea level.

Noting that a gravity system has the fewest possible moving parts, Runyon said that, in my perfect world, the sewer system goes into the ground and I never have to think about it again. I certainly hope I never have to be engaged in conversation about it again.

I don't dispute those kinds of things, Mathison said, but expressed again his disappointment that the town's consultants had said completion of a 25 percent design could lead to a number of design-build-operate companies bringing competing visions of a system before the town. Recently, the board was told that d-b-o would not work in Orleans.

The town is trying to get out from under its approved comprehensive wastewater management plan, which would see 52 percent of the community sewered. Non-traditional approaches such as using oysters to remove nitrogen from ponds and installing permeable reactive barriers to contain pollutants could limit traditional sewering to less than 15 percent, but such methods are still being tested and have yet to be approved by regulators.

In short, Mathison argued, there are too many questions to be answered. You're putting a train on a track and there are no sidings, he said. You keep throwing fuel into the boiler and the train keeps going faster and faster. I want to know where it's going and how much it's going to cost me before I get on that train.

We understand what the current cost is for downtown, McClennen said. The voters

by petition last time took Meetinghouse Pond off the table, so we know what the downtown system collection, treatment and disposal will cost. We don't know what non-traditionals will cost, but we do know a couple of things. If they don't work, we're looking at a project of $247 million, not $148.5, not $117 million. That scares the hell out of me.

The board discussed having a consultant do a peer review of the plan to date. Selectmen planned to vote on remaining warrant articles for the Oct. 16 special town meeting last night.

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Selectmen Limit Water Projects At Upcoming Special Town Meeting - Cape Cod Chronicle

Melrose-Mindoro hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for their new $24.7 million consolidated campus project, which is slated be completed by next school year.

The consolidated campus project will bring together all students in the Melrose-Mindoro School District under one roof at the current high school location. Voting on the referendum took place last November.

After residents were surprised at their property tax bills earlier in the year due to the consolidated campus project, months of contentious debates at school board meetings began.

The Melrose-Mindoro School Board decided to move forward with stage one June 12, which has neared completion, and have now begun stage two.

It has been a long time coming and Im very excited. I think its going to be a good move for the district, school board president Marlane Anderson said.

Melrose-Mindoro Superintendent Del DeBerg is excited about this opportunity to bring the two communities together, something he said was the original plan when the two school districts originally merged.

The goal was to recognize the fact that 53 years ago when both school districts of Mindoro and Melrose agreed to co-op, that one day they would have all grade levels at one site. We only get one opportunity to do this and we want to do it right, DeBerg said.

Most of stage one was completed over the summer including remodeling the high school music rooms, office area, entrance area and two English rooms. The only thing left to complete in stage one is to install the receptionist desk, which is set to be completed on Sept. 15.

Stage two recently began with the completion of the new septic system and removal of trees for a drainage pond. This stage is expected to go throughout the school year and be completed after next summer, includes connecting the existing tech ed building and high school, adding a cafeteria and classroom addition for the middle school and adding a two-story elementary addition.

It has been an exciting challenge to get the design ready, and now we are ready to start the actual construction and that brings a new challenge and a new level of excitement, so now we can really see the design come into play, DeBerg said.

To kick off the second stage of the project, many students from across several grades got to participate in the groundbreaking by participating in the groundbreaking themselves by throwing some dirt with gold-plated shovels.

We really wanted the focus on having students involved in some capacity, school superintendent Del DeBerg said.

The fact that students were able to pitch in was a great thing to see for Anderson. The young people coming up are getting a chance to be involved from the ground level.

The construction management company for the project, Market and Johnson, was at the groundbreaking and is excited about the consolidated campus project.

It is a great opportunity for us. We appreciate the trust the Melrose-Mindoro School District has put in us to help them with the project, Craig Namyst, project manager with Market and Johnson, said.

As a part of the project, Market and Johnson works to find local subcontractors to do parts of the project.

When we put these projects out for bids, we look for local talent as it were to help out with the project, Namyst said. ACT Concrete is doing all of the concrete work for the project. They are based out of this area. A lot of their kids go to school here. We just work hard to try to pull whatever talent we can out of the area.

With the groundbreaking complete, DeBerg is excited for the open house planned for next year once the upgrades to the school have been completed.

Continued here:
Mel-Min breaks ground on new consolidated campus project | Local ... - Jacksoncountychronicle

Jason Heller is a Hugo Award-winning editor and author of the forthcoming book Strange Stars (Melville House). Twitter: @jason_m_heller

The term "economic inequality" has been used so often over the past few years, it can start to blend into the background. The same thing happens with economic equality itself the poverty and injustice that's too often accepted as a fact of life. Tales of Two Americas seeks to rectify that. This collection of 36 essays, poems, and short stories puts the focus squarely on inequality, from hunger and homelessness to racism and the treatment of immigrants. Rather than speaking academically or in the abstract, however, the book's impressive roster of contributing authors push their pens toward the personal.

Many of the essays pivot around travel. In "Mobility," by Julia Alvarez, a routine layover in the Atlanta airport becomes a quest to help a lost young Mexican woman find her way to Tulsa an ordeal that sheds light on everything from America's linguistic barriers to the luxuries many Americans take for granted. Karen Russell's piece, "Looking for a Home," details the author's 2014 relocation to Portland, Ore., where she winds up renting an apartment directly above a homeless shelter and experience that causes her to reassess the effects of gentrification on longstanding neighborhoods and those less fortunate, as well as her own unwitting role in this upheaval. And in "The Worthless Servant," by Ann Patchett, a road trip to Nashville uncovers the plight of a group of homeless men striving to put down domestic roots. Delivered with varying shades of color and candor, these pieces form an anthology within an anthology a gripping triptych of American displacement and transience.

Where Patchett's story is a seamless blend of first-person and hard reporting, Rebecca Solnit's essay "Death by Gentrification: The Killing of Alex Nieto and the Savaging of San Francisco" goes more journalistic. Precisely told and chilling in detail, it relates the shooting death of 28-year old security guard Alex Nieto at the hands of San Francisco police in 2014. Solnit masterfully weaves together two narratives: how Nieto's past and Latino identity were used against him in the ensuing investigation, and how San Francisco's melting-pot ideals have yielded less-than-perfect results.

As impactful as its essays are, the book's fiction and poetry lend it even more flesh and soul. "Dosas," a short story by Edwidge Danticat, explores her own background as a Haitian immigrant through the character of Elsie, a home-care nurse whose former friend Olivia has been kidnapped for ransom back in Port-au-Prince. Urgent and gripping, it's spiked with the struggles of those caught up in a web of diaspora, documentation, and disparity. Roxanne Gay's short story "How" hauntingly conveys the desperation of a disadvantaged family in small-town Michigan, while Joyce Carol Oates' "Leander" unflinchingly examines the motivations and regrets of a white woman at a Black Lives Matter meeting, a portrait of guilt rendered in muted tones.

As impactful as its essays are, the book's fiction and poetry lend it even more flesh and soul.

Poems like Juan Felipe Herrera's "For the Ones Who Put Their Name on the Wall" and Ricky Laurentiis' "Visible City" probe border control and Hurricane Katrina with emotion and eloquence. There's also a comic: "Invisible Wounds" is an excerpt from Jess Ruliffson's forthcoming graphic novel, a stark meditation on the cost of war based on interviews with veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both fiery and nuanced, Tales of Two Americas was edited by John Freeman, a founder of the literary journal Freeman's and a prolific essayist himself. His introduction to the book is one of its most impassioned entries. In it, he observes how the act of walking through an American city with eyes wide open can radically expand our capacity for empathy, or as Freeman calls it, our "bandwidth of care" not to mention our resolve to work toward something better.

Cities, he says, have become "meccas for luxury and creative economy work" that still "depend on service labor to run their dream machines," places where the nation's widespread inequality coalesces yet often goes ignored. Looking toward his own creative-economy profession with a critical eye, he also notes, "The way systems of oppression have entrenched themselves in the United States calls out for a new framework for writing about inequality." Poignant and profound, Tales of Two Americas is exactly such a framework one that unites a multiplicity of voices into a powerful rallying cry.

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Fiery And Nuanced, 'Tales Of Two Americas' Sheds Light On ... - NPR - NPR

Judi Currie jcurrie@fosters.com @ReporterJCurrie

SOMERSWORTH As one city councilor was moved to tears about the plight of immigrants facing deportation, the Somersworth City Council voted to affirm its commitment to the role immigrants play in the community.

The Somersworth City Council on Tuesday voted to approve a resolution that reaffirms a commitment to immigration and cultural diversity. As the council discussed the measure, City Councilor Jennifer Soldati cried as she recounted her own family's immigrant history.

Soldati became very emotional as she talked about the deportations of Somersworth Indonesians who have recently been told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to buy plane tickets and get out of the country.

In 1911 my grandfather fled from Italy looking for work. He came to this community and was one of two Italian families living here, Soldati said. He came here and America welcomed him.

Soldati said her grandfather named just one of his children with an American name, Lincoln, because he thought Abraham Lincoln epitomized America.

Soldati contrasted her family's immigrant experience to the harsh treatment Indonesians are receiving now. She urged the community to come out in support of local Indonesians by attending Saturday's Indonesian Fair at Somersworth High School. "Show your support, these people are suffering a tremendous amount.

Soldati was the executive director of the Greater Somersworth Chamber of Commerce when the first fair was held five years ago to welcome and celebrate the Indonesian newcomers.

Soldati said many of the Indonesians living in Somersworth are Christians, who were not wanted in Indonesia and faced persecution and worse.

This government has chosen to deport people who came seeking the same thing my grandfather came here for, an opportunity to be productive, work hard and succeed, Soldati said.

The City Council passed the resolution unanimously on a 6-0 vote, with three council members absent. The resolution said the city was founded through the dedication of immigrant groups and has become known for celebrating and honoring diversity.

The City of Somersworth stands with pride, honor and commitment by all of its immigrants and urges the current federal administration to reverse its un-American policy of deportation and honor the foundation this nation was built upon, the resolution reads.

Mayor Dana Hilliard, who drafted the resolution, said that although the actions of the president and ICE are not illegal, they go against what the nation has stood for since its founding.

It is the promise of chance, combined with the respect for human dignity and yearning for freedom that has brought our nation into the status of world super power, Hilliard said. By standing strong to our commitment of freedom and liberty for all who seek it, our nation had become in the words of President Ronald Regan, the last best hope of man on earth.

Hilliard said he is deeply troubled, not only by the deportations, but the rise of hate groups as well.

Since our founding, our nation has continued to work toward developing a society where all would be celebrated and honored. For the past two decades we have made tremendous strides, Hilliard said. But over the last nine months our nation is once again struggling with the demons which threaten our existence, Hilliard said. The venom of intolerance and lack of understanding have led to failures throughout history.

Councilor Marty Dumont said there is not a lot of comfort that can be given to the people who have to face the day-to-day concern of whether they can stay or go.

I think of the days when Somersworth was at its best, when the shoe shops were going and the mills and the tannery over in Berwick, Dumont said. Where would they have been if they could not count on the people that wanted to experience the American dream? Dumont said. This town was founded with a lot more immigration than most.

Dumont said one cannot go very far today without seeing a help wanted sign, adding that he has seen first-hand how hard immigrants work.

Our leadership at the federal level has lost all perspective of what it is to be American. It seems like money is the driver and not the concern for human beings. It doesnt matter what side of the fence you are on, we all deserve respect, Dumont said. I am proud of this resolution and I am proud of the people that have given of their time in our community and hope to continue to call this home. I ache for them and pray for them."

The resolution serves as a gesture by Somersworth elected officials, but Councilor David Witham hopes the sentiment spreads. "I support this resolution and I think it would be appropriate to share it. Your message is a powerful one."

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Somersworth councilor sheds tears for immigrants - Fosters - Foster's Daily Democrat

EuropaCorp, the French studio headed by director Luc Besson, has pushed out a top executive following the box office disappointment of its big-budget sci-fi movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

The company said in an announcement Monday that its board of directors had terminated Edouard De Vsinne, who was named deputy chief executive last year and who previously served as co-president of the companys television division.

The board said De Vsinne is leaving his post immediately, adding that the film and TV output of his production company, Incognita, was no longer compatible with his role as deputy CEO.

However, the board said that EuropaCorp will continue to maintain a relationship with Incognita. De Vsinne was appointed to his position in 2016 by CEO Marc Shmuger, who joined the company the same year following his tenure at Universal Pictures.

The shake-up comes as the financially struggling EuropaCorp deals with the fallout from Valerian, its most expensive feature film. The Besson-directed movie cost an estimated $180 million to make but has grossed just under $40 million in the U.S. since it opened July 21, making it one of the biggest flops of the summer.

The movie was released in the U.S. by STX Entertainment, which has a distribution deal with EuropaCorp.

Valerian has fared better overseas, especially in China, where it opened last month and has grossed more than $58 million. But the English-language movie, starring Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne and pop singer Rihanna, is expected to be a money loser for the European entertainment giant.

EuropaCorp, based in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, has dealt with several recent theatrical flops, including The Circle, starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks. The company posted an annual loss of about $136 million for the fiscal year that ended in March. Valerian and The Circle were both released in the current fiscal year.

The companys string of bad luck includes the collapse earlier this year of its U.S. distribution venture RED, with Relativity Media.

david.ng@latimes.com

@DavidNgLAT

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EuropaCorp sheds a top executive following box office disappointment of 'Valerian' - Los Angeles Times