[Vision2020] For spring break, there's nothing, and then there's Mao Tosi's w

Sat Mar 24 15:38:37 PDT 2007

I liked it both times, and didn't think the first version suffered from your 
fatigue.

Sunil

>From: "Pat Kraut" <pkraut at moscow.com>
>To: "vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] For spring break, there's nothing,and then 
>there's Mao Tosi's world
>Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 08:29:28 -0800
>
>Obviously it was late last night when I sent this and I was not in good
>form. Please accept this altered version. I had been at the relay for life
>and was worn out.
>
>
>My youngest son and some friends from Troy took a break from an FFA meeting
>at the UI and went to Mosocw high school to play some BB. Some girls were
>there and
>they decided to challenge the girls to a pick up game. Very soon it was
>obvious the two other girls were feeding the ball to one of the girls and
>she didn't miss. After a short time one of the guys said they had to get
>back to the meetings and then they did the introductions and yes it was
>Andrea who was not giving the guys any break at all. The guys got back into
>the car and decided that next time they would do the intros first and then
>play if they still wanted to!! He likes to tell people he played with her
>and did well but the truth is that they got their collective clocks
>cleaned...by a girl.
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com>
>To: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>; <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 1:04 PM
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] For spring break, there's nothing,and then 
>there's
>Mao Tosi's world
>
>
>..   And remember Moscow's Andrea Lloyd, who played on the U of Texas NCAA
>Women's championship team, then later won a gold in the Olympics.  She
>played in Europe and in the WNBA for for Minnesota.  She's now a sports
>commentator.  Well anyway she will be inducted into the WNBA Hall of
>Fame--in June, I think it is.
>
>Sue
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 9:38 AM
>Subject: [Vision2020] For spring break, there's nothing,and then there's 
>Mao
>Tosi's world
>
>
> > >From today's (March 23, 2007) Anchorage Daily News at:
> >
> > http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/beth_bragg/story/
> >
> > Remember the 1996-2000 Vandals' All-American 6'8", 280-pound defensive 
>end
> > Mao Tosi?  I am sure that former WSU QB Steve Birnbaum does.  After
> > graduation he went on to play professional football for a few years with
> > the
> > Arizona Cardinals.
> >
> > Where is he now, you ask?  Well . . .
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > For spring break, there's nothing, and then there's Mao Tosi's world
> >
> > BETH BRAGG
> > COMMENT
> >
> > (Published: March 23, 2007)
> > Spring break, and it's chaos at the Spenard Rec Center. Controlled 
>chaos.
> >
> > The gymnasium is filled with kids that society calls "at risk," but the
> > only
> > thing at risk here is that gym time will end before the kids are ready 
>to
> > go
> > home.
> >
> > Six basketball hoops hang from the ceiling, and four-on-four games are
> > being
> > played at three of them. Clusters of kids shoot baskets and collect
> > rebounds
> > at the others. Dozens more sit on small sets of bleachers, watching the
> > action or waiting their turn. Astonishingly, only one person is wearing
> > earbuds, and no one is talking on a cell phone.
> >
> > In the middle of it all sits Mao Tosi, the giant-sized man responsible 
>for
> > all this activity. He's the West High security guard who responded to 
>the
> > city's spike in youth violence last fall by starting after-school clubs 
>at
> > West and East high schools.
> >
> > Tosi is cutting up four bags of oranges with a paring knife, and the 
>kids
> > are eating them as fast as he can slice them.
> >
> > "We're trying to keep them all occupied," Tosi says as he jokingly
> > admonishes a teenage boy trying to sneak up from behind and snatch a 
>whole
> > orange. "Keep 'em playing. Keep 'em busy."
> >
> > Tosi, 30, didn't learn until late last week that he could use the 
>Spenard
> > Rec Center and the Cellular One Sports Center for this week's three-day
> > camp. There was little time to spread the word. But spread it did.
> >
> > "The gym doesn't open till 9," Tosi said, "and at 8:30 there were 20 
>kids
> > sitting outside waiting. Some of them didn't even have coats."
> >
> > Ola Vaivai, a 17-year-old from West High, was among those who showed up.
> > His
> > spring break alternative?
> >
> > "Nothing," he said. "I got parents that's working, and some of us don't
> > have
> > cars, don't have transportation. Mao got us our ride.
> >
> > "Everybody here's for the same reason. He got everybody interested 
>because
> > it's free. Some of us can't afford five dollars, or even one dollar. 
>It's
> > a
> > good thing."
> >
> > It is a good thing.
> >
> > And it's getting even better. People in town -- important people, people
> > who
> > can make things happen -- have seen Tosi at work, and they're ready to
> > help
> > him help kids.
> >
> > Tosi will soon leave his job as a security guard for a job running youth
> > programs for Communities in Schools of Alaska. The position will let him
> > work full-time with kids in the city's middle and high schools.
> >
> > Tom Morgan, state director of CIS-Alaska, made the change possible by
> > raising money from a variety of sources impressed with Tosi's work. The
> > state's Department of Juvenile Justice says it will help. CIRI and Taco
> > Bell
> > each donated $10,000, and the city added a one-time contribution of
> > $60,000,
> > half from the police, half from the mayor's office.
> >
> > "You pay it one way or another," city manager Denis LeBlanc said. "If we
> > can
> > keep the kids out of trouble, then the police aren't making police 
>calls.
> > We're convinced this will pay dividends to the city."
> >
> > The show of support for Tosi's work is one of the best, most tangible
> > results of the city's increased focus on youth and gang violence since a
> > number of shootings and killings in the last year.
> >
> > Tosi, a former NFL player who graduated from East High, isn't taking 
>guns
> > or
> > drugs away from kids. But he's diverting kids from those kinds of things
> > by
> > giving them somewhere to go and something to do.
> >
> > It might seem like bribery when he tells kids that if they participate 
>in
> > a
> > poetry workshop, they can win digital cameras or T-shirts. But Tosi 
>knows
> > such offerings are a valuable currency. They buy him a kid's time and
> > attention.
> >
> > The scene this week at the Spenard Rec Center was amazing. Kids of all
> > sizes, ages and colors shot baskets, ate snacks, showed off their beat
> > boxing skills and even tried a little poetry. There wasn't a hint of
> > friction, a hint of bullying, a hint of trouble.
> >
> > "Look at the different race groups and ages,'' said 16-year-old Nicole
> > Suapaia of East High as she watched a group of older boys play an 
>intense
> > yet friendly game of basketball. "This is good."
> >
> > It is good.
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Seeya round town, Moscow.
> >
> > Came a tribe from the north brave and bold . . .
> >
> > "Here We Have Idaho"
> > http://www.tomandrodna.com/HWHI.mp3
> >
> > "I-D-A-H-O Idaho Idaho Go Go Go"
> > http://www.tomandrodna.com/Vandals.mp3
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > =======================================================
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> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
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> > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.17/731 - Release Date: 
>3/23/2007
> > 3:27 PM
> >
>
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>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
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>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.17/730 - Release Date: 3/22/07
>7:44 AM
>
>=======================================================
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>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
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>=======================================================
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>--
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>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.17/731 - Release Date: 3/23/07
>3:27 PM
>
>=======================================================
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>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>=======================================================