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Marcus Dupree

Marcus L. Dupree (born May 22, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the United States Football League (USFL) and National Football League (NFL). He was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where his playing in high school attracted national attention. A highly touted and sought-after college football recruit, he played for the Oklahoma Sooners, earning Football News Freshman of the Year, second-team All-American and Big Eight Conference Newcomer of the Year honors. He left in the middle of his sophomore season and briefly attended the University of Southern Mississippi. Marcus played spring football for the Golden Eagles and finished college at the university.

He joined the USFL the following season and signed with the New Orleans Breakers in 1984. He played for the Breakers for two seasons before a knee injury forced him to leave the game. He returned to professional football in 1990, playing in 15 games over two seasons in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams before being waived prior to the 1992 season.

High school career
Dupree attended Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where he played for the Philadelphia Tornadoes high school football team from 1978 to 1981. He also competed in track & field, recording a 4.29 40-yard dash.

As a freshman in 1978, he scored five touchdowns as wide receiver and seven more as a kickoff and punt returner, including a 75-yard kickoff return touchdown on his first play in high school.

As a sophomore in 1979, he was switched to running back and rushed for 1,850 yards and scored 28 touchdowns. He also played on Philadelphia High's basketball team, which finished the year with a 33–4 record and reached the semifinals of the Mississippi state basketball tournament, and played first base and catcher for the baseball team, hitting for a .481 average.

As a junior in 1980, he rushed for 2,550 yards and scored 34 touchdowns (25 rushing, 9 by kick return).

As a senior in 1981, he rushed for 2,955 yards and scored 36 touchdowns. He finished his high school career with 7,355 rushing yards with an 8.3-yards-per-carry average. Dupree scored 87 touchdowns total during his playing time in high school, breaking the national high school record (set by Herschel Walker) by one. In 1981, Marcus's final high school football game was played on the Choctaw Indian Reservation's tribal high school's Warriors Stadium. Author Willie Morris described the audience at Dupree's final high school game as "the most distinctive crowds I had ever seen ... four thousand or so people seemed almost an equal of mix of whites, blacks, and Indians ... After Marcus scored his touchdown, Sid Salter saw Cecil Price Sr. (who was linked with the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Philadelphia, Miss.) who was ... 'jumping up and down and cheering as hard as anyone ... ain't that a kick in the pants?' "

Dupree was heavily recruited by the major college football programs, and during the final month of the recruiting period, his high school coach, Joe Wood, answered more than 100 phone calls a day from colleges. Oklahoma assistant coach Lucious Selmon spent six weeks in the Downtown Motor Inn in Philadelphia, and after Dupree verbally committed to Fred Akers and the Texas Longhorns while on his visit there, OU head coach Barry Switzer sent former Oklahoma Sooner and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims to the town by private plane to appeal to Dupree. On February 12, 1982, Dupree announced he would attend Oklahoma instead of the other finalists, Texas, UCLA, and Southern Miss.

College career
When Dupree arrived at the University of Oklahoma in 1982, head coach Barry Switzer said, "He was the best player on the field. Earl Campbell was the only other guy I ever saw who was like that—physically ready, as a true freshman, to be the best player on a great college team. Maybe even ready for the NFL at that age."

After the first three games of the season, Dupree had just twelve carries for 20 yards and the Sooners' record was 1–2. For the fourth game Switzer abandoned his favored wishbone offense and made Dupree the tailback in the I formation to take advantage of his skills. Dupree scored his first college touchdown against Texas on a 63-yard fake reverse.

On October 16, 1982, he ran for 158 yards against Kansas, including a 75-yard touchdown run. As a result, he was given the starting tailback position over Stanley Wilson and was named Big Eight Offensive Player of the Week. He made his first start against Oklahoma State and scored two touchdowns. Among all his other great runs, he also had a 77-yard punt return against Colorado, an 80-yard run against Kansas State, a 70-yard run against Missouri and an 86-yard run against Nebraska.

Despite not starting until the seventh game of the season, Dupree finished with 1,144 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. He was named second-team All-American, first-team all-Big Eight Conference and Big Eight Newcomer of the Year.

On January 1, 1983, Dupree's freshman season ended with a 32-21 Fiesta Bowl loss against Arizona State. Coming back from Christmas break, he was out of shape and 10–15 pounds overweight, for which Switzer publicly criticized him. He had to leave the game several times, participating in only 34 offensive plays. Even with these setbacks, he still managed to run the ball 17 times for a Fiesta Bowl record 239 yards, a record that still stands today. Switzer told Dupree, "If you'd have been in shape, you'd have rushed for 400 yards, and we'd have won the game."

Dupree's much-anticipated sophomore season did not turn out as planned. He reported to campus late, missed the team photo and put on considerable weight. Although Switzer was known for running a loose ship, Dupree's lackadaisical attitude was too much for him, and he called Dupree "lazy." Hampered by injuries, Dupree gained 369 yards on 61 carries with three touchdowns while playing in four of the first five games of the season. After suffering a concussion in a loss against Texas, he vanished for a week. When he resurfaced in Mississippi, he announced he was leaving OU and transferring to the University of Southern Mississippi. Upon being informed that because of NCAA rules, he would have to sit out both the remainder of the 1983 season and the 1984 season, he left after three months.

For every Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith, there's an Anthony Thompson, a Paul Palmer and a LeShon Johnson, guys who never matched their college success in the NFL. Some of the unfortunate ones were too small. Others were just a step too slow. But you'll also find a select few individuals who had all the tools. They're the ones who didn't achieve NFL success for reasons of circumstance. Such was the case with Marcus Dupree, a star running back who lit the college football scene on fire as a freshman in 1982.

USFL
Dupree was signed by the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League in 1984. The upstart league had initially sworn off underclassmen in hopes of appeasing college coaches and officials angered by the blockbuster signing of Herschel Walker after his junior year. However, after a federal judge ruled that the eligibility rule violated antitrust law, the Breakers–who had just moved from Boston–quickly persuaded the New Jersey Generals to give up their territorial rights to Dupree (OU was among the Generals' territorial schools) in return for their first-round pick in the 1985 USFL Draft.

He scored a touchdown on his first professional possession. Throughout the year, he was injured and often was on the bench watching Buford Jordan take his carries. He gained 684 yards on 145 carries with nine touchdowns for a 4.7 yards per carry average. He had two 100-yard rushing games. Breakers fans saw him as a local boy made good; the Superdome was packed with large crowds by USFL standards.

The Breakers moved to Portland, Oregon for the 1985 season. Dupree was late arriving at Breakers' training camp in San Dimas, California that season, but performed well enough to earn a starting position for the season opener at Sun Devil Stadium against the Arizona Outlaws. He got off to a good start, rushing 69 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. While he was carrying the ball early in the second half, he suffered a severe knee injury and was taken off on a stretcher.

He had surgery on the knee and recuperated in Portland, celebrating his 21st birthday with friends and teammates. However, he would never play another down for the Breakers.

NFL
After Dupree had been out of football for four years, he met with Walter Payton on some business ventures and Payton urged him to get back into shape to try out for the NFL again in 1990. Dupree agreed and began working out, losing 100 pounds in just over three months and going back to running a 4.3 40-yard dash. In October 1990, Dupree signed with the Los Angeles Rams, who had drafted him in the 12th of the 1986 NFL Draft, in case he became fit again after a five-and-a-half-year absence from the football field. In April that year, he asked his former USFL coach, Dick Coury, then the quarterbacks coach for the Rams, if he could work out for the team if he got into shape, and impressed Coury and head coach John Robinson enough to earn a contract. Dupree was placed on injured reserve, meaning he would have to sit out for four weeks before he could play for the Rams.

During week nine of the 1990 season, Dupree made his first appearance and rushed for 22 yards on four carries, wearing number 34 in honor of Payton instead of his usual 22. He started his first game in week 16 and rushed for 42 yards on 13 carries. He finished his first NFL season with 72 yards on 19 carries, in three games played.

In 1991, Dupree missed the first seven games due to a toe injury suffered in practice. Returning in week 8, he played more often and scored his only NFL touchdown that year. He finished the season with 179 yards on 49 carries with one touchdown, in eight games played.

The San Francisco 49ers brought Dupree into training camp in 1992 to play fullback, a position he had never played.

Before the 1992 season, Dupree led the Rams in rushing in the preseason, which included a 100-yard game in the final preseason game against the Los Angeles Raiders, but was one of the 14 players cut by coach Chuck Knox to trim the team down to the 47-player regular-season roster, and he retired shortly afterward. Knox, who had replaced John Robinson earlier that year, had told Dupree and the press that Dupree was not versatile enough for his one-back offense. He said he preferred running backs who "were a little more well-rounded, could catch the ball coming out of the backfield and could do some of the other things besides run with the football."

He finished his career with 251 yards on 68 carries during regular season play, for a 3.7 yards-per-carry average, rushing for one touchdown.

Post-football life
After he was released by the Rams, Dupree performed as a professional wrestler for the USWA in 1995. He also ran a sports bar and worked as a casino-greeter for a short period of time.

In 2011, Dupree was diagnosed with prostate cancer but recovered. Earlier in 2011, he was running a pro wrestling promotion organization, called Mid South Wrestling. Dupree is also a licensed truck driver with OTR experience.

He later was found to have had a role in the Mississippi welfare funds scandal.

Personal life
Dupree has three sons, Marquez, Landon and Rashad. He also has a grandson.

Representation in other media

 * Willie Morris' book titled The Courting of Marcus Dupree explored colleges' recruiting Dupree to play.
 * ESPN had a film documentary on Dupree, titled "The Best That Never Was" (2010), directed by Jonathan Hock. It aired on November 9, 2010, as part of the 30 for 30 series of 30 films celebrating ESPN's 30th anniversary.
 * [Clarion-Ledger] On March 13, 2020, an article in the Jackson Mississippi newspaper Clarion-Ledger identified $104,974 in allegedly misappropriated TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) that was paid to Dupree for his role as a spokesperson for the charity Families First. These and other payments are now under criminal investigation.

title: Marcus Dupree


text:
User talk:Ludovic Sesim~enwiki

Welcome to the Wikipedia
I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
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For more information click  here . You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

Sam Spade 17:21, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Ludovic Sesim. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Ludovic Sesim~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 01:26, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 15:38, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Ludovic Sesim~enwiki


text:
User talk:Perpetualstroll

Welcome
Hello , and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! --Spinboy 17:21, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * How to edit a page
 * Editing tutorial
 * Picture tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

title: User talk:Perpetualstroll


text:
Adam LaVorgna

Adam Lavorgna (born March 1, 1981) is an American actor, known for his role on the television series Brooklyn Bridge, and in the films Milk Money, The Beautician and the Beast, and I'll Be Home for Christmas, and as Robbie Palmer on 7th Heaven.

Early life
Lavorgna was born near New Haven, in North Branford, Connecticut, the son of Sandra (née Schnepf), a college professor, and Joseph LaVorgna, a high school assistant principal.

Lavorgna attended high school at Avon Old Farms in Avon, Connecticut. He also enrolled at Boston College, prior to leaving the school after his freshman year to pursue acting, specifically, 7th Heaven.

Career
Lavorgna starred as Nicholas Scamperelli in the series Brooklyn Bridge, for which he received the 1993 Youth in Film Award for Best Actor. In 1998, he joined the movie I'll Be Home for Christmas with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jessica Biel. In 1999, he then joined 7th Heaven as a series regular portraying Robbie Palmer, Mary's (Jessica Biel) troubled ex-boyfriend who has moved into the family home. He left the show in 2002. LaVorgna recalled his choice to leave was due to having a hard time managing his way around Hollywood, California, in addition to missing his family, mutually agreeing with the staff of 7th Heaven for a dismissal. He returned to the East Coast of the US subsequently.

Personal life
Lavorgna said he was raised in Catholicism by his grandmother but became distant from the faith with age: "I got away from church at 15–16, and by my mid-20s, I was lost."

LaVorgna went to rehab for opioid and heroin addiction multiple times. The first rehab was paid by 7th Heaven producer, Aaron Spelling. In October 2001, he was at Promises rehab in Malibu.

title: Adam LaVorgna


text: Category:Unsolved crimes

title: Category:Unsolved crimes


text:
User:GregRobson/sandpit

On this page you will find lots of things I'm tinkering with (new templates and styles), if you have any ideas, leave them on the talk page — thanks :)

Template:ElectionResultHeader
{| ! colspan="6"| ! style="width: 3px"| !Name !Party !Votes !% !±%

Template:ElectionResultFooter
|-
 * colspan="3" align="right"|Majority||||||
 * colspan="3" align="right"|Turnout||||||
 * }
 * }

Full example

 * style="background-color: #000099"| ||John Maples||Conservative||27,606||50.3||+2.0
 * style="background-color: #FF9900"| ||Susan Juned||Liberal Democrat||15,804||28.8||+3.3
 * style="background-color: #CC0000"| ||Mushtaq Hussain||Labour||9,164||16.7||-3.8
 * style="background-color: #663366"| ||Ron Mole||UK Independence||1,184||2.2||+1.3
 * style="background-color: #339933"| ||Mick Davies||Green||1,156||2.1||
 * style="background-color: #663366"| ||Ron Mole||UK Independence||1,184||2.2||+1.3
 * style="background-color: #339933"| ||Mick Davies||Green||1,156||2.1||
 * style="background-color: #339933"| ||Mick Davies||Green||1,156||2.1||
 * style="background-color: #339933"| ||Mick Davies||Green||1,156||2.1||

title: User:GregRobson/sandpit


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Zapfino

Zapfino is a calligraphic typeface designed for Linotype by typeface designer Hermann Zapf in 1998. It is based on an alphabet Zapf originally penned in 1944. As a font, it makes extensive use of ligatures and character variations (for example, the lower case letter d has nine variations).

History
In 1983, Zapf had completed the typeface AMS Euler with Donald Knuth and David Siegel of Stanford University for the American Mathematical Society, a typeface for mathematical composition including fraktur and Greek letters. David Siegel had recently finished his studies at Stanford and was interested in entering the field of typography. He told Zapf his idea of making a typeface with a large number of glyph variations; he wanted to start with an example of Zapf's calligraphy that was reproduced in a publication by the Society of Typographical Arts in Chicago.

Zapf was concerned that this was the wrong way to go, and while he was interested in creating a complicated program, he was worried about starting something new. However, Zapf remembered a page of calligraphy from his sketchbook from 1944, and considered the possibility of making a typeface from it. He had previously tried to create a calligraphic typeface for Stempel in 1948, but hot metal composition was too limiting on the freedom of swash characters. Such a result could only be achieved using modern digital technology, and so Zapf and Siegel began work on the complicated software necessary. Siegel also hired Gino Lee, a type designer from Boston, Massachusetts, to render the extensive character set. (The "ino" in "Zapfino" refers to Gino.)

However, just before the project was completed, Siegel wrote a letter to Zapf, saying that his girlfriend had left him and that he had lost all interest in anything. Siegel abandoned the project and started a new life, working on bringing color to Macintosh computers and later becoming an Internet design expert.

Zapfino's development had become seriously delayed, until Zapf presented the project to Linotype. They were prepared to complete it and reorganized the project. Zapf worked with Linotype to create four alphabets and various ornaments, flourishes, and other dingbats. Zapfino was released in 1998 as a Type 1 font.

Availability
Apple Inc. includes Zapfino in macOS and iOS, partly to demonstrate its advanced typographic features. The font includes over 1,400 glyphs as of the most recent version, and contains much bigger letters than the Zapfino fonts Linotype sells in retail channel. Since then, Linotype has extended Zapfino to include an additional Forte weight in their Zapfino Extra family which Apple has not licensed for distribution with macOS.

Zapfino Extra (2003)
In 2003, Hermann Zapf completely reworked the Zapfino design, creating Zapfino Extra, a large expansion of the Zapfino family designed in close collaboration with Akira Kobayashi. This font family uses Apple Advanced Typography and OpenType technologies, allowing automatic ligatures and contextual glyph substitutions, accurately reflecting the fluid and dynamic nature of Zapf's calligraphy. This font family comes in 2 font weights, with 3 fonts in Forte weight and total of 12 fonts in the family. The Pro fonts contain glyphs found in other fonts of their respective weights.

Zapfino Extra W1G (2010)
It is a version Zapfino Extra with support of Greek and Cyrillic characters. The family includes Zapfino Extra Paneuropean W1G One font.

OpenType features include access all alternates, fractions, standard ligatures, localized forms, ordinals, scientific inferiors, superscript/subscript, discretionary ligatures.

Zapfino Extra Cyrillic One (2010)
It is a subset of Zapfino Extra Paneuropean W1G One font with only support of Cyrillic characters.

Additional OpenType features include ornaments.

Zapfino Extra X (2003)
Linotype also created Zapfino Extra X, which was based on the 1998 Zapfino fonts included with macOS. This font family, like the Zapfino in macOS, features letters four times larger than the Linotype counterpart.

Zapfino Arabic (2014–2015)
Designed by Nadine Chahine of Monotype Imaging, it is an Arabic version of Zapfino combining Naskh and Nastaaliq calligraphic styles. The character proportions refer to Naskh manuscript traditions but the isolated and final forms bring with them an exaggerated swash-like movement that references the extravagant ascenders and descenders of Zapfino. Work on Zapfino Arabic started in the summer of 2012, and after a meeting with Hermann Zapf in Darmstadt in August to look at early sketches, the project was approved and ready to start.

The family includes only 1 font in regular weight, with font leaning right as the original Zapfino fonts designed by Hermann Zapf. OpenType features include 10 stylistic sets.

Atheism symbol
In various online communities, a scarlet-colored capital A in the Zapfino font has been used as an unofficial symbol representing atheism. Officially, the "scarlet A" is used as the logo of the Out Campaign, a public awareness initiative for freethought and atheism, which has been endorsed by Richard Dawkins.

title: Zapfino


text:
H. B. Robinson Nuclear Generating Station

The H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, also known as Robinson Nuclear Plant, is a nuclear power plant located near Hartsville, South Carolina. The plant consists of one Westinghouse 759 MW pressurized water reactor. The site once included a coal-fired unit that generated 174 MW (which was retired in October 2012 and demolished 2016) and a combustion turbine unit that generated 15 MW.

The Robinson plant is named for H. Burton Robinson, a former executive vice president of Carolina Power & Light. The plant is located adjacent to the 2250 acre Lake Robinson. The Robinson nuclear unit was the first commercial nuclear power plant in the southeastern United States and was then the largest such in the world.

Surrounding population
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 mi, concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 mi, concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 mi of Robinson was 32,675, an increase of 2.6 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 mi was 893,536, an increase of 10.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Columbia (49 miles to city center).

Environmental Impact Statement
NUREG-1437, "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants," Supplement 13, Regarding H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit No. 2, was published by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in December 2003.

This supplement documents the NRC staff's review of the environmental issues at Robinson, Unit 2 in support of Carolina Power & Light Company's (CP&L) application for license renewal of that facility. The supplement was prepared in accordance with 10 CFR 51.71. This supplemental environmental impact statement includes the staff's analysis that considers and weighs the environmental effects of the proposed action, the environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed action, and alternatives available for reducing or avoiding adverse impacts. It also includes the staff's recommendation regarding the proposed actions.

Safety Evaluation Report
The NRC staff reviewed the Robinson license renewal application for compliance with the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 54, "Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants," and prepared this report to document its findings. The document was first issued in August 2003, as "Safety Evaluation Report with Open Items Related to the License Renewal of H.B. Robinson, Unit 2". The report is available in ADAMS under accession number ML032370382.

In March 2004, the report "Safety Evaluation Report - Related to the License Renewal of the H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2," was issued as NUREG-1785. The report is also available in ADAMS under accession number ML040200981.

Ownership
The operator and owner is Duke Energy Progress, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy. Formerly the plant was owned and operated by Progress Energy Inc and Carolina Power & Light.

Seismic risk
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Robinson was 1 in 66,667, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.


text: User talk:201.9.238.38

title: User talk:201.9.238.38


text:
Prunus japonica

Prunus japonica (also Cerasus japonica), also called Japanese bush cherry, Oriental bush cherry, or Korean bush cherry is a shrub species in the genus Prunus that is widely cultivated for ornamental use. Its native range extends from Central China through to the Korean peninsula.

Description
The shrub reaches 1.5 m by 1.5 m. Its flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by insects. The plant blossoms in May. Its fruit reaches about 14 mm and has an agreeably sweet flavor, therefore it is used in making pies, but its taste is quite sour, reminiscent of that of sour cherry.

Each fruit has one seed. The plant usually grows from seed but can also be propagated through cutting or layering.

Habitat
The plant thrives on well-drained and moist loamy soil and prefers little shade or no shade at all. The plant prefers some lime in the soil but not too much. It is mostly found at woodlands or sunny places.

Other uses
The leaves of this plant procure a green dye, while the fruit procures a greenish to grayish dye.

Varieties
There are several varieties:
 * P. japonica eujaponica
 * P. japonica gracillima
 * P. kerii
 * P. japonica nakaii, originated from Manchuria, which gives bigger plums (up to 50 mm in diameter).

title: Prunus japonica


text: Talk:Ear tunnel

title: Talk:Ear tunnel


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Cool bounce

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was delete. — Xezbeth 09:36, May 2, 2005 (UTC)

Cool bounce
Non notable neologism. Delete. - Marcika 17:29, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * (Note: this VfD page was then blanked by User:65.82.170.79, the creator of the "cool bounce" article, who also removed the VfD notice from the article itself.) -- The Anome 20:06, Apr 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * The same user has come back, and replaced the whole text with the message "Not worth this. Delete it. -- Author". Then somebody (possibly the same person, but using a different IP) came back and changed it twice, first to blank out the previous message, then to link WP:bite. I think somebody's feelings have been hurt! ---Isaac R 04:07, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Not notable. Delete. -- The Anome 20:06, Apr 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. I mean, duh, it's a word coined in the last 4 months by a 5-year-old (according to the article). Isn't this a candidate for speedy deletion? ---Isaac R 22:05, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, neologism. Megan1967 03:52, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, neologism. Master Thief Garrett 11:50, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Neologism Dsmdgold 14:45, Apr 25, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete as per above. Zscout370 22:48, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. It may be cool, but it's really neologism. Zzyzx11 | Talk 22:50, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment. The article has been tagged as speedy since the original author has now requested it to be deleted. Zzyzx11 | Talk 22:58, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
User talk:ChiveDreams

Welcome to the Wikipedia
I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

 * Tutorial
 * Help desk
 * Foundation issues
 * Policy Library

For more information click  here . You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~.

Sam Spade 17:29, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I don't understand what you were trying to do on User talk:Ta bu shi da yu. Were you impersonating a banned user? --MarkSweep 05:30, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Hmmm. I don't think this is an impersonation. Incidently, uh, ChiveDreams, I don't care! So long as distorted opinion and pieces that can't be NPOVed are not on Wikipedia, that's all I care about. HTH. HAND. - Ta bu shi da yu 23:10, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Further: that's an old copy, no longer really endorsed by Wikipedia. If, you (CheeseDreams) wants (after your ban), you could always edit History of Christianity/Jesus, pre-4th century Christianity, and syncretism and merge it into that article, as was suggested on Votes for deletion/Jesus, pre-4th century Christianity, and syncretism. - Ta bu shi da yu 23:17, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:ChiveDreams


text:
LGBT rights in Poland

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Poland face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. According to ILGA-Europe's 2024 report, the status of LGBTQ rights in Poland is the worst among the European Union countries.

Both male and female same-sex sexual activity were decriminalized in 1932, when the country introduced an equal age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals, which was set at 15. Poland provides LGBT people with the same rights as heterosexuals in certain areas: gay and bisexual men are allowed to donate blood, gays and bisexuals are allowed to serve openly in the Polish Armed Forces, and transgender people are allowed to change their legal gender following certain requirements, which include undergoing hormone replacement therapy. Polish law bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, although such protections may not be effective in practice. No protections for health services and hate crimes exist.[citation needed] In 2019, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the provision of Polish Petty Offence Code, which made it illegal to deny goods and services without "a just cause", was unconstitutional.

Polish society tends to hold conservative views about issues dealing with LGBT rights. A majority of the Polish population is affiliated with the Catholic Church, and as such, public perception and acceptance of the LGBT community are strongly influenced by Catholic moral doctrines. Article 18 of the Polish Constitution states that "Marriage, as a union of a man and a woman, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland." According to several jurists, this article bans same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Administrative Court have ruled that Article 18 of the Constitution limits the institution of marriage to opposite-sex couples, and that the legalization of same-sex marriage would require a constitutional amendment. Poland does not recognise civil unions either, though discussion on this issue is ongoing. While ahead of the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party had taken an anti-migrant stance, and in the run-up to the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, PiS focused on countering alleged Western "LGBT ideology". Encouraged by national PiS politicians,, 100 municipalities (including five voivodships), encompassing about a third of the country, informally declared themselves "LGBT-free zones". However, on the 6th February 2024 Warsaw Voivodship Administrative Court repealed the last "LGBT-free zone" in Poland.

Acceptance for LGBT people in Polish society increased in the 1990s and the early 2000s, mainly amongst younger people and those living in larger cities such as Warsaw and Kraków. There is a visible gay scene with clubs all around the country, most of them located in large urban areas. There are also several gay rights organizations, the two biggest ones being the Campaign Against Homophobia and Lambda Warszawa. Opinion polls on the public perception of LGBTQ rights in Poland have been contradictory, with many showing large support for registered partnerships, and some indicating a majority of opponents. The general trend however is an increase in the support for registered partnerships and same-sex marriage. Many left-wing and liberal political parties, namely the New Left, Labour Union, the Social Democratic Party, Modern, Together and Spring, have expressed support for the gay rights movement. Legalization of same-sex partnerships is also a part of political programme of Civic Coalition and the Third Way for the 2023 parliamentary elections. In November 2023, a same-sex married couple issued Polish courts to rectify the legality of same-sex marriages.

Legality of same-sex sexual activity
During the Partitions of Poland (1795–1918) and the German occupation of Poland (1939–1945), laws prohibiting homosexuality were imposed on the territory that makes up the current Polish state.

Following World War I, same-sex activity continued to be formally criminalized in now-independent Poland, because the penal codes of the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austria-Hungarian Empire remained in power. They mostly criminalized male same-sex acts, though the Austrian code included broader provisions against so-called "same-sex fornication" and was also used against women.

The new Polish Penal Code of 1932 (Kodeks karny) decriminalized consensual same-sex acts. The decision had already been taken in the early 1920s and represented the success of long-lasting transnational advocacy. Homosexual prostitution remained illegal. According to lawyer Monika Płatek, these provisions were applied very broadly to homosexual couples to prevent them living together; any type of gift or paying for a partner's food, clothing, or lodging could be interpreted as prostitution.

In 1948 during the Polish People's Republic, age of consent was set to 15, equal to that of heterosexual partners. Homosexual prostitution was legalized in 1969. Homosexuality was removed from the list of diseases in 1991.

Recognition of same-sex relationships
There is no legal recognition of same-sex couples in Poland, though cohabiting same-sex couples do enjoy certain limited benefits, namely in the tenancy of a shared household, the right not to testify against the partner and residency rights under EU law. Same-sex marriage is not recognized, and Article 18 of the Constitution of Poland states that "Marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland." This has led to much debate over whether or not it is a definitive ban on same-sex marriage. A ruling in 2019 from an administrative court concluded that the language in Article 18 does not explicitly ban same-sex marriage. The justification of the ruling regarding the meaning of Article 18 is not binding. The sentence is binding only on the parties in the proceedings. Earlier judgments of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Administrative Court have found the Constitution bans same-sex marriage by defining marriage as a heterosexual-only institution.

Historian Kamil Karczewski has documented a homosexual relationship that could be considered the first known case of a same-sex marriage in Poland's history. This union involved Marian Kuleszyński and Stefan Góralski, residents of the Suwałki region in the early 1920s. Although kept secret and devoid of legal recognition, their commitment was founded on loyalty, the presumption of permanence, and a 'friendship for life oath' that included vows never to separate, to defend and support each other, and to maintain the confidentiality of their relationship. This discovery marks a significant milestone in Poland's LGBTQ+ history, offering insights into the complexities of same-sex relationships in earlier times.

A civil union bill was first proposed in 2003. In 2004, under a left-wing Government, the Senate approved the bill allowing gay and lesbian couples to register their relationship. Parties to a civil union under the bill would have been given a great range of benefits, protections and responsibilities (e.g. pension funds, joint tax and death-related benefits), currently granted only to spouses in a marriage, although they would not have been allowed to adopt children. The bill lapsed in the 2005 general election, however.

The major opposition to introducing same-sex marriages or civil unions comes from the Roman Catholic Church, which is influential politically, holding a considerable degree of influence in the state. The Church also enjoys immense social prestige. The Church holds that homosexuality is a deviation. In 2012, the nation was 95% Roman Catholic, with 54% practicing every week.

In January 2013, the Sejm voted to reject five proposed bills that would have introduced civil partnerships for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. The High Court later issued an opinion stating that the bills proposed by the Democratic Left Alliance, Your Movement and Civic Platform were all unconstitutional, as Article 18 of the Constitution protects marriage. In December 2014, the Sejm refused to deal with a civil partnership bill proposed by Your Movement, with 235 MPs voting against debating the bill, and 185 MPs voting for. In May 2015, the Sejm again refused to deal with the topic, with 215 MPs voting against and only 146 for. Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said that civil partnerships were an issue for the next Parliament to deal with. A new partnership bill was proposed on 12 February 2018 by the Modern party.

In June 2018, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU members states must grant married same-sex couples, where at least one partner is an EU citizen, full residency rights and recognise their freedom of movement.

Poland did not implement this ruling, and in July 2020, the European Court of Human Rights notified the Polish government of cases filed by Polish same-sex couples, inviting the Polish government to present its position on the issue (Andersen v. Poland).

During Polish re-elections in September 2023, Donald Tusk proposed recognition for same-sex civil partnerships. Opposition parties won most seats in the parliament and senate, giving hope to the LGBT community that the bill might be approved. But some analysts say that even if the bill is passed, it may still get vetoed by conservative president Andrzej Duda, who previously described the LGBT movement as "a foreign ideology" and comparing it to indoctrination in the Soviet Union. In November 2023, a Polish same-sex married couple (wed by Germany's marriage law) asked Poland's top court to overturn the nation's ban on same-sex marriage.

Limited cohabitation rights
On 23 February 2007, the Appeals Court in Białystok recognized a same-sex cohabitation. On 6 December 2007, this ruling was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Warsaw.

While Poland possesses no specific law on cohabitation, it does have a few provisions in different legal acts or Supreme Court rulings that recognise relations between unmarried partners and provides said partners specific rights and obligations. For example, Article 115(11) of the Penal Code (Kodeks karny) uses the term "the closest person", which covers romantic relations that are not legally formalised. The status of "the closest person" gives the right of refusal to testify against the partner. The term "partner" includes same-sex couples.

A resolution of the Supreme Court from 28 November 2012 (III CZP 65/12) on the interpretation of the term "a person who has lived actually in cohabitation with the tenant" was issued with regard to the case of a gay man who was the partner of a deceased person, the main tenant of the apartment. The Court interpreted the law in a way that recognised the surviving partner as authorised to take over the right to tenancy. The Court stated that the person actually remaining in cohabitation with the tenant - in the meaning of Article 691 § 1 of the Civil Code - is a person connected with the tenant by a bond of emotional, physical and economic nature. This also includes a person of the same sex. Previously, in March 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, in the case of Kozak v. Poland, that LGBT people have the right to inherit from their partners.

Adoption and parenting
Same-sex couples are unable to legally adopt in Poland. Furthermore, lesbian couples do not have access to IVF.

In October 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a lesbian couple may register their 4-year-old boy as their child. Polish media described the case as "the first of its kind in Poland".

In July 2020 the President of Poland formally proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would ban adoption by a person in a same-sex relationship.

In November 2020 a law was proposed to only allow married couples to adopt. This would make it impossible for same-sex couples to adopt, due to same-sex marriage not being allowed in Poland. Demonstrations were unable to be held, due to the COVID-19 virus.

In March 2021, the Polish government announced a new law that banned the adoption of children by same-sex couples. The law will also require authorities to vet candidates applying for adoption as a single parent to ensure that they are not cohabitating with someone of the same sex.

Discrimination protections
Anti-discrimination provisions were added to the Labour Code (Kodeks pracy) in 2003. The Polish Constitution guarantees equality in accordance with the law and prohibits discrimination based on "any reason". The proposal to include a prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the Constitution was rejected in 1995, after strong Catholic Church objections.

In 2007, an anti-discrimination law was under preparation by the Ministry of Labour that would prohibit discrimination on different grounds, including sexual orientation, not only in work and employment, but also in social security and social protection, health care, and education, although the provision of and access to goods and services would only be subject to a prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic origin. On 1 January 2011, a new law on equal treatment entered into force. It prohibits sexual orientation discrimination in employment only. In September 2015, Amnesty International concluded that "the LGBTI community in Poland faces widespread and ingrained discrimination across the country" and that "Poland's legal system falls dangerously short when it comes to protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and other minority groups from hate crimes".

Between 2015 and 2020, the Polish government has worked to reduce the effectiveness of the anti-discriminatory protections granted to LGBT people under EU law. Examining recent anti-discrimination cases, legal scholar Marcin Górski found that "the principle of equal treatment in Poland appears generally ineffective".

In June 2018, the Polish Supreme Court ruled that a Łódź printer acted illegally when he refused to print banners for an LGBT business group. The court argued that the principle of equality meant the printer did not have the right to withhold services from the business. The court also ruled that sexual orientation, race or other features of a person cannot be the basis for refusal to offer a service, but that freedom of conscience and religion must also be taken into account. The Campaign Against Homophobia welcomed the ruling, but it was condemned by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro who called the ruling "against freedom" and "state violence in service of the ideology of homosexual activists". Ziobro filed a case with the Constitutional Tribunal to recognize the provision on the basis of which the printer was convicted as unconstitutional. On 26 June 2019, the Tribunal issued a judgment in which it found that the provision was incompatible with the Polish Constitution.

In July 2020 the government of Poland sued IKEA for firing an employee for severe homophobic remarks he made on the company's internal website. Poland's justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro called the dismissal, "absolutely scandalous". The Polish ministry of Justice is funding a campaign for "counteracting crimes related to the violation of freedom of conscience committed under the influence of LGBT ideology", which is meant to protect people who "suffer under the pressure of new leftist ideologies".

Hate crime laws
As of 2019, a bill is pending in Parliament to provide penalty enhancements if a crime is motivated by the victim's gender, gender identity, age, disability or sexual orientation.

Gender identity and expression
Legal gender changes have been performed since the 1960s. Transgender people seeking to change their legal gender must receive a medical diagnosis. Only after the legal gender has been changed does a transgender individual gain the right to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The reason for this is because any surgery resulting in infertility is prohibited by Polish law (as stated in Polish Penal Code: Kodeks Karny art. 156 §1), with a few exceptions in cases such as uterine cancer or myoma. That is, castration on request is illegal and transgender individual must first seek a legal change, since just a medical diagnosis from a doctor is not enough.

A transgender individual must face a number of obstacles before having their legal gender changed, such as suing their parents. On the basis of offered further evidence (such as a medical diagnosis, medical records, witness/parental statements, etc.) a court may either pass sentence or refuse to do so.

In July 2015, the Polish Sejm approved a transgender recognition bill. Under the bill, transgender people would have been able to change gender without any physical interventions, but would have required statements from mental health experts that they are suffering from gender dysphoria. The bill was approved 252 to 158. The Senate proceeded to approve the bill in August, but President Andrzej Duda vetoed it in October. The Parliament failed to override his veto.

Military service
Since the 1990s, lesbian, gay and bisexual people are not banned from military service and discrimination against them is officially forbidden. However, there is an unwritten rule of "don't ask, don't tell" and most gay Polish soldiers conceal their sexual orientation. In 2013, military personnel told NaTemat.pl portal that openly gay personnel would face social difficulty, especially for higher ranks, as for "commanding staff - officers and high-ranking NCOs - admitting to same-sex attraction would mean losing respect - qualities without which you simply cannot be a commander".

Openly transgender people are officially barred from military service on the medical grounds. Diagnosis of gender dysphoria results in being automatically assigned as "permanently and completely unfit for military service, both in the time of conflict and peace".

Conversion therapy
In February 2019, Modern MPs alongside Campaign Against Homophobia activists submitted a draft bill to the Sejm to ban gay conversion therapy. The draft bill aims to ban using, promoting or advertising conversion practices. It will also prohibit promoting people or entities that offer, use, advertize or promote the pseudoscientific practice. The MPs plan to introduce the bill to the Polish Parliament where it will have its first reading in the upcoming months. Such a ban would implement the recommendation of the European Parliament and United Nations Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In August 2020, the Polish Episcopal Conference released a document which recommended the creation of counseling centres "to help people who want to regain their sexual health and natural sexual orientation". It insists that the scientific consensus that conversion therapy is ineffective and potentially harmful to be "political correctness".

Blood donation
In 2005 the Ministry of Health has changed the laws regarding blood donation, eliminating the "risk groups" that included gay men, and replaced them with "risk behaviours" such as frequent changes in sexual partners, or having sexual relations with a HIV-positive persons. As "risk behaviours" can be performed by a person regardless of gender or sexuality, that ensured legal right for queer people to donate blood as long as they have met other requirements.

Despite that, as late as in August 2007 Regional Blood Donation and Treatment Center in Bydgoszcz (pl.: Regionalne Centrum Krwiodawstwa i Krwiolecznictwa w Bydgoszczy, or RCKiK Bydgoszcz) has included questions about same sex relations among both men and women in their mandatory questionaries, as brought to attention in a letter by Campaign Against Homophobia. In a response letter later the same month RCKiK Bydgoszcz has made a choice to reevaluate their questionaries in favour of more non discriminatory language.

In 2008, the National Blood Center proposed regulations banning blood donation by gay and bisexual men, and addition of a question "Have you, as a man, ever had any sexual relations with another men?" into the mandatory pre-donation questionaries. The proposal was quickly rejected by the Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine.

Social attitudes and public opinion
According to Gregory E. Czarnecki, there are some similarities between antisemitism and homophobia in Polish nationalist discourse, especially that both groups are seen as deviant and diseased as well as a threat to the nation.

2000–2010
A survey from 2005 found that 89% of the population considered homosexuality an unnatural activity. Nevertheless, half believed homosexuality should be tolerated.

An opinion poll conducted in late 2006 at the request of the European Commission indicated that Polish public opinion was overwhelmingly opposed to same-sex marriage and to adoption by same-sex couples. A 2006 Eurobarometer poll found that 74% and 89% of Poles respectively were opposed to same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. Of the EU member states surveyed, only Latvia and Greece had higher levels of opposition. A poll in July 2009 showed that 87% of Poles were against gay adoption. A poll from 23 December 2009 for Newsweek Poland reported another shift towards more positive attitudes. Sixty percent of respondents stated that they would have no objections to having an openly gay minister or a head of government.

A 2008 study revealed that 66% of Poles believed that gay people should not have the right to organize public demonstrations, 69% of Poles believed that gay people should not have the right to show their way of life. Also, 37% of Poles believed that gay people should have the right to engage in sexual activity, with 37% believing they should not.

In 2010, an IIBR opinion poll conducted for Newsweek Poland found that 43% of Poles agreed that openly gay people should be banned from military service. 38% thought that such a ban should not exist in the Polish military.

2011–2020
In 2011, according to a poll by TNS Polska, 54% of Poles supported same-sex partnerships, while 27% supported same-sex marriage.

In a 2013 opinion poll conducted by CBOS, 68% of Poles were against gays and lesbians publicly showing their way of life, 65% of Poles were against same-sex civil unions, 72% were against same-sex marriage and 88% were against adoption by same-sex couples.

In a CBOS opinion poll from August 2013, a majority (56%) of respondents stated that "homosexuality is always wrong and can never be justified". 26% stated that there is nothing wrong with it and can always be justified". 12% were indifferent.

A CBOS opinion poll from February 2014 found that 70% of Poles believed that same-sex sexual activity "is morally unacceptable", while only 22% believed it "is morally acceptable".

An Ipsos survey in October 2019 found that a majority of Polish men under 40 believe that "the LGBT movement and gender ideology" is the "biggest threat facing them in the 21st century".

Public opinion

A GLOBSEC survey conducted in March 2023 showed that 54% of Poles supported LGBT rights, such as same-sex marriage, while 38% were opposed.

According to Polish respondents to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 2019 EU LGBTI survey II:

 * 83% often or always avoid holding hands with their same-sex partner (61% in the EU at large) — second-highest rate in the EU
 * 51% often or always avoid certain locations for fear of being assaulted (33%) — the highest rate in the EU
 * 27% are often or always open about being LGBT (47%)
 * 26% felt discriminated against at work in the past year (21%)
 * 47% felt discriminated against in at least one area of life in the past year (42%)
 * 42% were harassed in the past year (38%)
 * 15% have been attacked in the past 5 years (11%) — the highest rate in the EU
 * 1 in 5 trans and intersex people were physically or sexually attacked in the past five years
 * 19% say that LGBTI prejudice and intolerance has dropped in their country in the last five years (40%); 68% say they have risen (36%)
 * 4% believe that their national government effectively combats prejudice and intolerance against LGBTI people (33%) — the lowest rate in the EU

According to the survey, Poland has the largest gap in the EU between life satisfaction of LGBTI people and the general population.

The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 50% of Polish people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe (45% disagreed), and 55% agreed that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex".

An Ipsos poll in June 2024 have found that 67% of Poles support the right of same-sex couples to marry or legally register their relationship.

A poll conducted in April 2024 by United Surveys showed growing support for recognition of same-sex families in Poland with 50% of respondents supported same-sex marriage and 66% supported same-sex civil partnership. 86% of supporters of the ruling coalition supported same-sex marriage and 97% supported same-sex civil partnership.

Politics
The parties on the left of the political scene generally approve of the postulates of the gay rights movement and vote in favour of LGBT legislation. The New Left, Modern, Labor United, and Your Movement, are supporters of LGBT rights. More socially right-wing parties, such as PiS, Confederation, Agreement and PSL, are generally against any changes in legislation. Out of these, PiS takes the strongest oppositional stance on homosexual issues.

While the current opposition, the Civic Platform was strongly disapproving towards LGBT legislation when it was the ruling party in Poland, as of late its leaders have started expressing more favourable stances towards the community.

In 2013, former President and Nobel prize winner Lech Wałęsa said that gay MPs should sit at the back of the Parliament or even behind a wall and should not have important positions in Parliament. He also said that pride parades should not take place in the city centres, but in the suburbs of cities. The former president also stated that minorities should not impose themselves upon the majority. Wałęsa could not have been accused of inciting to hatred because the Polish Penal Code does not include inciting to hatred against sexual orientation.

The Council of Europe has highlighted "homophobic statements by leading public figures, creating an atmosphere of hate and intolerance" since 2007. In December 2020, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, stated that she was "deeply concerned about the propagation of negative and inflammatory homophobic narratives by many public officials in Poland, including people in the highest ranks of government... Stigmatisation and hate directed at certain individuals or groups of people carry a real risk of legitimising violence, sometimes with fatal consequences."

Law and Justice
After the 2005 elections, the Law and Justice party (PiS) came to power. They formed a coalition government with the League of Polish Families (LPR) and the Self-Defence Party (Samoobrona). The politicians of these parties have often been labelled as "homophobic" by LGBT rights activists, both before and after the 2005 elections. Prominent government figures have made several homophobic and unscientific comments with regards to homosexuality, and have tried to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for LGBT people: "'Let's not be misled by the brutal propaganda of homosexuals' postures of tolerance. It is a kind of madness, and for that madness, our rule will indeed be for them a dark night'" "'If a person tries to infect others with their homosexuality, then the state must intervene in this violation of freedom.'" "'If deviants begin to demonstrate, they should be hit with batons.'"

On 5 July 2006, Mayor of Warsaw Miroslaw Kochalski stated, in relation to the Parada Równości, that the march was "immoral and a danger to the inhabitants of Warsaw."

On 7 August 2006, Paweł Zyzak, editor in chief of a PiS magazine, Right Turn!, wrote that homosexuals were "animals" and "the emissaries of Satan sent to destroy the Catholic Church".

In the city of Koscierzyna, Waldemar Bonkowski, a leading member of PiS, hung up a banner that read, "Today it’s gays and lesbians – what’s next, zoophilia? Is that liberty and democracy? No, that’s syphilisation! Our Polish pope is looking down from the sky and asking, 'Whither goest thou, Poland?'" on the wall of the local party headquarters.

During the presidential campaign before the 2005 election, Lech Kaczyński, who won the election, stated that he would continue to ban LGBT demonstrations, as he did while Mayor of Warsaw, and that "public promotion of homosexuality will not be allowed".

On 17 March 2008, Kaczyński delivered a presidential address to the nation on public television, in which he described same-sex marriage as an institution contrary to the widely accepted moral order in Poland and the moral beliefs of the majority of the population. The address featured a wedding photograph of an Irish gay rights activist, Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton, which Kaczyński had not sought permission to use. The presidential address outraged left-wing political parties and gay rights activists, who subsequently invited the two to Poland and demanded apologies from the President, which he did not issue.

On 30 August 2006, during a visit to the European Commission, Lech's twin brother, Jarosław Kaczyński, as the Prime Minister of Poland, stated that "people with such preferences have full rights in Poland, there is no tradition in Poland of persecuting such people". He also asked the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso "not to believe in the myth of Poland as an anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic country".

Jarosław Kaczyński has been less harsh in his descriptions of homosexuality. In one interview, he stated that he had always been "in favour of tolerance" and that "the issue of intolerance towards gay people had never been a Polish problem". He said he did not recall gays being persecuted in the Polish People's Republic more severely than other minority groups and acknowledged that many eminent Polish celebrities and public figures of that era were widely known to be homosexual. Jarosław Kaczyński also remarked that there are a lot of gay clubs in Poland and that there is a substantial amount of gay press and literature. In another interview abroad, he invited the interviewer to Warsaw to visit one of the many gay clubs in the capital. He also confirmed that there are some homosexuals in his own party, but said they would rather not open their private lives to the public. This was also confirmed by the Member of the European Parliament from PiS, Tadeusz Cymański.

In a 2009 interview for Gazeta Wyborcza, former Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz stated that his opinion about homosexual people changed when he met a Polish gay emigrant in London. The man stated that he "fled from Poland because he was gay and would not have freedom in his country". Marcinkiewicz concluded that he would not want anyone to flee from Poland.

In a 2015 interview, President-elect, Andrzej Duda, originally from the PiS party, was asked if he would hire a homosexual. He answered that he would not care about personal relationships, as long as the person who was to be hired was not running around half-naked. Andrzej Duda also stated that "matters that are vital for society are not dealt with while others, undoubtedly connected with the leftist ideology, are being pushed forward. They are, in my view, destroying the traditional family which, since the dawn of mankind, has assured its development and endurance."

In November 2018, it was reported that President Andrzej Duda would support a ban on "homosexual propaganda", based on the Russian gay propaganda law. He said: "I think that this kind of propaganda should not take place in schools, it has to be calmly and consistently opposed", and that "[i]f such a law was created and would be well written, I do not exclude that I would approach it seriously." Such a law would violate the Polish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

In November 2018, following government pressure and threats, more than 200 schools cancelled a planned anti-bullying campaign called "Rainbow Friday", which the Campaign Against Homophobia had promoted in hopes of building greater acceptance for LGBT students in Poland and fighting hatred and homophobia in schools. The Minister of Education, Anna Zalewska, had warned that any principals who allowed such events to take place could face negative consequences. She also asked parents to report any such activities to authorities, however it was reported that many students defied the ban and turned up to school in rainbow colors regardless, and that many schools also refused to comply with the warnings.

In April 2019, Conservative party chairman Jarosław Kaczyński called the LGBT rights movement a "foreign imported threat to the nation". During a lecture on patriotism, Kaczynski also said "everyone must accept Christianity". That same month, after an activist displayed posters of the Black Madonna with a rainbow halo, Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski denounced the posters as "cultural barbarism". The activist was subsequently arrested by the police on charges of "offending religious feelings". Amnesty International condemned the arrest as "just another example of the constant harassment" and said that the activist "now faces up to two years in prison if found guilty under these absurd charges".

In June 2019, the newly appointed Minister of National Education, Dariusz Piontkowski, criticised an LGBT rights declaration that Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski had signed, saying that it was "an attempt to sexualize children by force" and "raise children who will be given away to pedophiles at some point".

League of Polish Families
In the 2005 election, the League of Polish Families (LPR) won 8% of the vote and 34 seats in the Sejm. They entered into a coalition government with PiS and Samoobrona. On 19 May 2006, Mirosław Orzechowski, Deputy Minister of Education, stated that an international project organized by LGBT NGOs and financially supported by the European Commission Youth Programme would lead to the "depravity of young people". Wojciech Wierzejski was a Member of the European Parliament, and then a Deputy of the Sejm from the League of Polish Families. In June 2005, while in the European Parliament, he called for "no tolerance for homosexuals and deviants".

On 11 May 2006, while an MP, Wierzejski condemned the Warsaw Parada Równości. While condemning the parade, he stated the "deviants" should be "hit with batons". He also commented on the possible presence of German politicians at the parade, saying that "they are not serious politicians, but just gays and a couple of baton strikes will deter them from coming again. Gays are cowards by definition." A day later, he wrote a letter to the Minister of the Interior and Administration and the Minister of Justice, in which he called for law enforcement agencies to check the legal and illegal sources of financing of the organizations of homosexual activists. He accused LGBT organisations of being involved with paedophiles and the illegal drug trade. He also wished to check if homosexual organisations penetrated Polish schools. In response to this, the State Prosecutor ordered all prosecutors to carefully check the financing of LGBT organizations, their alleged connections to criminal movements and their presence in schools. On 2 June 2006, a complaint about Wierzejski's statements had been rejected by the Warsaw district prosecutor, because "the statements cannot be treated as threatening or encouraging to crime".

On 8 June 2006, Roman Giertych, the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Education, dismissed Mirosław Sielatycki, the director of the National In-Service Teacher Training Centre, because "a lot of books were encouraging teachers to organize meetings with LGBT non-governmental organizations such as Campaign Against Homophobia or Lambda" and because "these books were criticising the legal situation in most European countries, including Poland, in relation to non-recognition of gay marriage as being a form of discrimination". The new director of the centre said that "homosexual practices lead to drama, emptiness and degeneracy."

On 21 May 2006, Roman Giertych said that "LGBT organizations are sending transsexuals to kindergartens and asking children to change their sex".

In March 2007, Roman Giertych proposed a bill that would have banned homosexual people from the teaching profession and would also have allowed sacking those teachers who promote "the culture of homosexual lifestyle". At that time, Giertych was the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and the Minister of Education. The proposition gained a lot of attention in the media and was widely condemned by the European Commission, by Human Rights Watch, as well as by the Union of Polish Teachers, who organized a march through Warsaw (attended by 10,000 people) condemning the Ministry's policy. The bill was not voted on, and the Government soon failed, leading to new parliamentary elections in which the League of Polish Families won no parliamentary seats.

In 2007, PBS conducted an opinion poll associated with Roman Giertych's speech at a meeting of EU education ministers in Heidelberg. The pollster asked respondents if they agreed with Minister Giertych's statements:
 * "Homosexual propaganda is growing in Europe, is reaching the younger children and is weakening the family." – 40% agreed, 56% disagreed.
 * "Homosexual propaganda needs to be limited, so children will not have an improper perspective on the family." – 56% agreed, 44% disagreed.
 * "Homosexuality is a deviation, we cannot promote as a normal relationship one between persons of the same sex in teaching young people, because objectively they are deviations from the natural law." – 44% agreed, 52% disagreed.

Civic Platform
In February 2019, Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, member of the Civic Platform, signed a 12-point LGBT declaration. Proposed actions range from providing shelter to LGBT teenagers rejected by their families, the introduction of local crisis intervention helplines, and providing access to anti-discrimination and sex education at city schools.

Your Movement
Your Movement supports LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage and civil unions. A prominent party member is a gay activist, former member of the Sejm (2011–2014) and former Mayor of Słupsk (2014–2018) Robert Biedroń. He has been described as a young, rising political star in Poland, and is viewed as a frontrunner for the presidency. Former President Aleksander Kwasniewski has urged him to run for president in 2020. Opinion polls currently put him in third place, behind Andrzej Duda and Donald Tusk.

Biedroń has spoken of significant societal change towards homosexuality and LGBT people. He had occasionally been publicly beaten on the streets and insulted, but said in 2018 that residents now smile and greet him. As a mayor, Biedroń marries local couples. "I’m extremely jealous because I see their happiness. I’m 15 years with my partner and it’s still a dream. It’s not fair that in 2018 two adults cannot get married if they love each other and are committed to each other.", he said.

Spring
In February 2019, LGBT activist Robert Biedroń launched Spring, a new progressive political party proposing to introduce civil partnerships for opposite-sex and same-sex couples, and the legalisation of same-sex marriage. As of August 2019, the party has three MEPs. The party is now a member of the New Left coalition, which currently serves in government.

"LGBT-free zones"
While ahead of the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party took an anti-migrant stance, in the run-up to the 2019 Polish parliamentary election the party has focused on countering Western "LGBT ideology". Several Polish municipalities and four Voivodeships made so-called "LGBT-free zone" declarations, partly in response to the signing of a declaration in support of LGBT rights by Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski. While only symbolic, the declared zones signal exclusion of the LGBT community. The right wing Gazeta Polska newspaper issued "LGBT-free zone" stickers to readers. The Polish opposition and diplomats, including US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, condemned the stickers. The Warsaw District Court ordered that distribution of the stickers should halt pending the resolution of a court case. However, Gazeta's editor dismissed the ruling saying it was "fake news" and censorship, and that the paper would continue distributing the sticker. Gazeta continued with the distribution of the stickers, but modified the decal to read "LGBT Ideology-Free Zone".

In August 2019, LGBT community members stated that they feel unsafe in Poland. The All Out organization launched a campaign to counter the attacks. Some 10,000 people signed a petition shortly after the campaign launch.

During the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, several LGBT activists began handing out rainbow facemasks within certain of the concerned local government areas as a direct protest of the "LGBT-free zoning".

In July 2020, the town council of Nieuwegein, a Dutch city south of Utrecht, voted to end its friendship with Puławy in eastern Poland, citing "gay free zones" as the reason.

Since July 2020, the European Union has started denying funds to municipalities that adopted "LGBT-free" declarations.

In September 2020, ambassadors from 50 countries stationed in Poland published an open letter "[paying] tribute to the hard work of LGBTI and other communities in Poland and around the world" and calling to "end discrimination in particular on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity". Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki rejected the call, saying that "tolerance belongs to Polish DNA... Nobody needs to teach us tolerance, because we are a nation that has learned such tolerance for centuries", while senior politician Joachim Brudzinski tweeted that "we are waiting with hope for the next letter, this time in defense of murdered Christians, imprisoned #ProLife activists, people dismissed from work and persecuted for quoting the Bible, [and] people subjected to euthanasia against their will."

According to a December 2020 report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, "Far from being merely words on paper, these declarations and charters directly impact the lives of LGBTI people in Poland."

Equality marches
The largest aspect of the LGBT movement in Poland is the equality parade held in Warsaw every year since 2001.

In 2004 and 2005, Warsaw officials denied permission to organize it, because of various reasons including the likelihood of counter-demonstrations, interference with religious or national holidays, and the lack of a permit. Despite this, about 2,500 people marched illegally on 11 June 2005. Ten people were arrested. The ban has been declared illegal by the Bączkowski v Poland ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in 2007.

The parade was condemned by the Mayor of Warsaw Lech Kaczyński, who said that allowing an official pride event in Warsaw would promote a "homosexual lifestyle".

The Parada Równości events have continued regularly since 2006, attracting crowds of less than 10,000 every year, until 2015 when the parade attracted 18 thousand attendees. Since then, attendance has increased dramatically, culminating in the 2018 parade which attracted 45,000 attendees. On 8 June 2019, around 50,000 people marched in the event. Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski participated in the event for the first time and said that he wanted Warsaw to remain "open" and "tolerant."

In 2005, 33% of the Warsaw population were for the organisation of the Parada Równości. In 2008, that figure fell to 25%.

A 2010 opinion poll, conducted by PBS for Gazeta Wyborcza, showed that 45% of Warsaw residents supported the parade.

In recent years, the parade has attracted widespread support from corporations and regional governments. The main partner of the 2018 parade was the regional Government of the Masovian Voivodeship, of which Warsaw is a part.

Public opinion
In a 2014 survey, conducted by CBOS for Dr. Natalia Zimniewicz, 30% of Poles wanted a ban on public promotion of gay content, and 17.3% would not support that ban, but would want another form of limiting the freedom of promotion of such information.

52.5% thought that the current scale of promotion of gay content is excessive, 27.9% thought that pictures of gay parades or practices disgust them, 22.3% thought that the media blur the true image of homosexuality and 29.3% thought that gay content is not a private matter of the homosexual community, but affect children and other citizens.

title: LGBT rights in Poland


text:
Ribatejo Province

The Ribatejo is the most central of the traditional provinces of Portugal, with no coastline or border with Spain. The region is crossed by the Tagus river (Ribatejo translates to "upper Tagus", or more precisely, "up the Tagus" relative to Lisbon at its mouth). The region contains some of the nation's richest agricultural land, and it produces most of the animals used in the Portuguese style of bullfighting.

Ribatejo Province was formally created in 1936. It contained the municipalities of Abrantes, Alcanena, Almeirim, Alpiarça, Azambuja, Benavente, Cartaxo, Chamusca, Constância, Coruche, Entroncamento, Ferreira do Zêzere, Golegã, Rio Maior, Salvaterra de Magos, Santarém, Sardoal, Tomar, Torres Novas, Vila Franca de Xira and Vila Nova da Barquinha. The largest towns were Santarém and Tomar.

In 1976 the Ribatejo Province was dissolved. Most of the area belongs to the Santarém District.

For EU statistical purposes, it was divided between the Lezíria do Tejo, Médio Tejo, Lisbon metropolitan area and Alto Alentejo subregions (NUTS III), belonging to the Centro, Lisbon and Alentejo EU statistical regions (NUTS II).

Municipalities

 * Lisboa District: Arruda dos Vinhos, Azambuja and Vila Franca de Xira municipalities
 * Portalegre District: Ponte de Sor municipality
 * Santarém District: Abrantes, Alcanena, Almeirim, Alpiarça, Benavente, Cartaxo, Chamusca, Constância, Coruche, Ferreira do Zêzere, Golegã, Rio Maior, Salvaterra de Magos, Santarém, Sardoal, Tomar, Torres Novas and Vila Nova da Barquinha municipalities

title: Ribatejo Province


text:
Kurówka

The Kurówka is a river in South-East Poland, and a right tributary of Vistula River. Its length is approximately 50 kilometres and its basin covers roughly 395.4 km2. Its source is located near the village of Piotrowice Wielkie and it joins the Vistula in Puławy. Among the notable villages located along the river are Garbów, Markuszów, Kurów and Końskowola.

Because the nitrogen production plant in Puławy uses the river as the main source of water, it has been canalized and separated from the Vistula by a system of dams and water gates. Apart from smaller streams, the river has two main tributaries: right tributary named Białka (sometimes referred to as Bielkowa), and left tributary named Garbówka (sometimes referred to as Struga Kurowska).

title: Kurówka


text:
Flowering almond

Flowering almond is a common name for several plants and may refer to:

 * Prunus glandulosa, native to China and present in Japan
 * Prunus jacquemontii, native to Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Tibet
 * Prunus triloba

title: Flowering almond


text:
Byron Nuclear Generating Station

The Byron Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located in Ogle County, Illinois, 2 mi east of the Rock River. The reactor buildings were constructed by Commonwealth Edison and house two Westinghouse Four-Loop pressurized water reactors, Unit 1 and Unit 2, which began operation in September 1985 and August 1987 respectively. The plant is owned and operated by Constellation Energy.

The plant provides electricity to northern Illinois and the city of Chicago. In 2005 it generated on average about 2,450 MWe, enough power to supply about 2 million average American homes. The station employs over 600 people, mostly from Ogle and Winnebago counties, and features two prominent 495 ft cooling towers.

The Byron plant has been subject to some controversy with respect to a lawsuit in 1981 with concerns over tritium contamination in groundwater. Tritium contamination at Byron and other Illinois nuclear power plants led the state of Illinois to pass legislation requiring plants to report such contamination to the state within 24 hours.

History
Construction on Byron Nuclear Generating Station began in 1975, at a 1,782-acre (7.2 km$2$) site, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Rockford, Illinois, south of the city of Byron in Ogle County. The firm of Sargent & Lundy acted as consulting engineer during construction and Babcock & Wilcox oversaw the completion of the reactor vessels. Before construction was completed on the reactor vessels and facilities, at least three groups joined in a 1981 lawsuit to halt Byron Nuclear Generating Station's completion. The League of Women Voters, DeKalb Area Alliance for Responsible Energy, and others were involved in the lawsuit over the safety of and need for the plant. In 1984 the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a division of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), stopped the planned nuclear station at Byron by refusing its owners, then Commonwealth Edison, permission to begin operation. The decision stemmed from concerns about the quality control of independent contractors hired during construction. Ultimately, the board overturned its decision in October 1984 and permission was granted to operate after a re-inspection of over 200,000 items and components within the plant.

Byron Station consists of two pressurized water reactors, termed Byron Unit One and Byron Unit Two, and the surrounding grounds and facilities. Byron Unit One received its operating license from the NRC on February 14, 1985 and Unit Two received its license on January 30, 1987. On September 16, 1985, Unit One entered commercial service and power began to be generated at Byron. The operating licenses for the two reactors are set to expire two years apart: Initially, Unit One's license expired on October 31, 2024, and Unit Two's on November 6, 2026. On May 29, 2013 Exelon Generation Co. applied to renew the licences and on November 19, 2015, based on a final safety evaluation report (July 6, 2015) and a supplemental environmental impact statement (July 15, 2015), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission renewed both operating licenses for an additional 20 years. The renewed licenses authorize Unit One to operate through October 31, 2044, and Unit Two through Nov. 6, 2046.

In August 2020, Exelon decided to close the plant in September 2021 for economic reasons, despite the plant having licenses to operate for another 20 years. Exelon stated it would continue discussions with policymakers to try to obtain support to prevent the closure. In August 2021, Exelon stated a proposed $15/MWh federal production tax credit (PTC) would not be legislated in time to avoid closing Byron and Dresden. However, by September 13, 2021, the Illinois Senate approved a bill containing nearly $700 million in subsidies for the state's nuclear plants, including Byron, causing Exelon to reverse the shutdown order.

Facilities and output
The two Westinghouse four-loop pressurized-water reactors each have an electrical output of over 1,000 MWe. Byron has 2 units capable of generating 2347 net megawatts (MW) of electricity. In 2009 the reactors operated at 96.4% capacity and produced 19.7 million MWh of electricity; enough power for 2 million average American households. The two cooling towers at Byron rise 495 feet (151 m) over the site. The plant utilizes non-contact cooling water from the Rock River, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west. The water used in the process of generating electricity is cooled in the station's two cooling towers and recirculated via the plant's blowdown line back into the Rock River. Other water, from Byron's Radioactive Waste Treatment system, is transferred to the Refueling Water Storage Tank (RWST), where it is analyzed and sampled for contamination. Once it passes through analysis, the water is discharged down the blowdown line into the river.

According to former plant owner Exelon, the Byron station is operated by about 850 Exelon employees and another 50 permanent contractors. Most of Byron's employees reside in Ogle and Winnebago Counties in northern Illinois. The plant paid US$31.1 million in taxes in 2009 to various local taxing bodies.

Two power uprates have been approved by the NRC for each reactor since inception. The first uprate was approved on May 4, 2001 allowing for additional 175.6 MWt for each reactor and the second occurring on February 7, 2014 allowing for an increased 58.4 MWt. These uprates represented a 5% and 1.6% percentage increase in capacity, respectively.

Surrounding Groundwater and Elevated Levels of Tritium
There are two underground aquifers within the first 230 feet (70.1 m) below the power station: the upper aquifer is known as the Galena-Platteville Aquifer and the lower aquifer is known as the St. Peter Sandstone Aquifer. The two bodies of water are separated by a layer of shale and thus not connected.

In February 2006, Exelon reported elevated tritium levels in the groundwater beneath the site. Tritium levels were elevated in two of six test wells, according to an Exelon release in February which noted that tritium concentrations of 86,000 pCi/L (2.3 MBq/L) were detected in standing water in underground concrete vaults along the plant's blowdown line. The company stated that the levels posed no risk to public or employee safety. The report coincided with ongoing tritium concerns at the Exelon-owned Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station near Braceville, Illinois. In September, elevated tritium levels were found at Byron in three monitoring wells adjacent to vacuum breaker vaults along the blowdown line. Two of the areas with elevated tritium were found in the shallow portions of the Galena-Platteville Aquifer, while the third location contained elevated tritium levels at the bottom of the same aquifer.

Tritium is a very low level beta emitter with an approximate half-life of 12.3 years and it cannot penetrate the outer dead layer of skin. The main concern with this isotope is inhalation or ingestion. None of the September levels exceeded the 20,000 pCi/L U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standard.

On April 12, 2006 the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) issued a violation notice to Exelon concerning Byron Nuclear Generating Station. The notice cited the company for violations of state environmental laws related to the "impairment of resource groundwater", discharging waste-containing contaminants from areas other than the permitted points, and violations of other requirements of the plant's discharge permit.

Due to the tritium contamination at Byron, Braidwood and Dresden nuclear power plants in Illinois, the state government passed a law requiring power plants to report the release of radioactive contaminants into the soil, surface water or ground water to the state within 24 hours. Before the law was passed, companies operating nuclear plants were only required to report such releases to the federal NRC. The law was introduced by Illinois State Representative Careen Gordon and State Senator Gary Dahl, and was signed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on June 11, 2006 and became effective immediately upon his signature. The state government only found out about the tritium releases at the Exelon-owned plants after local officials near the Braidwood plant informed them. Following that revelation, other information about spills at Braidwood, Byron, and Dresden came to light. The state of Illinois contended that it was not informed of the leaks by Exelon in a timely manner. The law also required all Illinois nuclear power plants to submit to quarterly inspections by the IEPA and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

Safety
As of the second quarter of 2007, Byron Nuclear Generating Station scored in the "green" in every Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection category but one. The NRC has four levels of inspection findings; the levels are color-coded and the colors equate with risk levels. Green inspection findings represent very low risk significance. Higher levels, from white, to yellow, to red, show increasing levels of risk. For any inspection findings greater than green, the NRC conducts follow-up inspections. Unit One scored "green" in every category, while Unit Two scored "white", a step down from "green", on the inspection of the heat removal system. The inspection covered several other significant areas, including unplanned scrams, the alert and notification system and the emergency AC power system. From 2001–2005, no inspections of Byron Nuclear Generating Station found any condition that merited a greater than "green" designation, during the same time period inspection found 71 green conditions at the Byron plant.

Byron, like most U.S. nuclear plants, has been the subject of various actions by the NRC. Escalated Enforcement Actions represent one type. From 1997–2007 the Byron plant has received five such actions, two of which resulted in a total of $150,000 in fines. A $100,000 fine was issued on February 27, 1997 due to problems with excessive silt build up in two separate locations at the Byron facility; the NRC fined the plant $50,000 for each problem. The NRC levied an additional $55,000 in fines in October 1997 when the plant failed technical specifications surveillance guidelines. Specifically, they violated rules that require the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) pump casing and discharge piping high points be vented once every 31 days. The potential safety consequence of the violation affiliated with the second fine was considered "low." As of 2007, the last NRC Escalated Enforcement Action against the Bryon Station came in 2005 when an engineer deliberately falsified surveillance reports to show he had completed work that was incomplete; though the plant could have been fined up to $60,000 the NRC chose not to impose the fine.

A small fire occurred at the plant on the morning of February 24, 2006. The fire was confined to the Unit 1 Refueling Water Storage Tank (RWST) heater. Initial attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, following those attempts a breaker was opened and the heater was allowed to deenergize which extinguished the fire. Units 1 and 2 were operating at 100%, but neither reactor was shut down as a result of the fire. As a result of the fire the plant declared an "unusual event", the least serious of the four categories of emergency declarations by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

On January 30, 2012, the Byron Unit 2 was shut down and depressurized after a failed insulator in the plant's switchyard caused the loss of one phase to the plant's startup transformers. This caused low voltage conditions on the plant's emergency power buses and also for two of the reactor coolant pumps to trip which caused the plant to shut down. The trip of the plant then caused the other two reactor coolant pumps to trip (as they had been receiving power directly from the main generator) and natural circulation had to be used during the shutdown. When operators discovered the loss of the single phase, they manually tripped the breaker feeding the startup transformers, allowing the emergency diesel generators to start and restore normal voltages to the safety buses. Steam was vented from the non-radioactive, secondary side of the plant to aid in the cooling process while the turbines remained offline. A small amount of radioactive tritium was released into the local environment during the initial venting procedure, but was deemed no threat to the public by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A similar insulator failure occurred at Unit 1 on February 29 again affecting the unit's startup transformers. In this case the breaker feeding the transformers tripped automatically and the emergency diesel generators immediately started up to restore power to the safety buses. Additionally, all of the non-safety power generation buses transferred to the unit auxiliary transformers, which receive power from the plant's turbine generator, preventing a trip of the plant. After this second failed insulator event, Exelon took both units offline and replaced all of the insulators in the plant's switchyard.

Surrounding population
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 mi, concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 mi, concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 mi of Byron was 25,679, an increase of 5.9 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 mi was 1,273,771, an increase of 14.5 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Rockford (17 miles to city center).

Security
Security at Byron was provided by The Wackenhut Corporation (now G4S Secure Solutions) until a story broke in late 2007 involving videotape that captured Wackenhut security guards asleep at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania. Security is now handled in-house by Exelon which owns and operates the power plant. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, a "security zone" was established by the United States Coast Guard around the Byron Nuclear Generating Station as part of a broader effort to secure nuclear facilities in the U.S. On December 10, 2004, the security zone at Byron was removed to allow for a security zone around the Hammond Intake Crib on Lake Michigan.

Seismic risk
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Byron was 1 in 172,414, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

title: Byron Nuclear Generating Station


text:
1996 Quebec student protests

The 1996 Quebec student protests were a result of an increase in post-secondary tuition fees. Between the early 1980s and 1990s, average Canadian university tuition fees more than doubled. Before this time, there had been talk of eliminating tuition fees altogether. In 1976, the Canadian government signed the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. This promised free education at all levels. However, in 1995, the Liberal Government announced a $7 billion funding cut to provincial programs, which includes tuition. Between this time, it was decided by Canadian government and education officials that free education was not feasible, and that to provide free education would mean providing nothing else for its citizens. In 1996, it was announced that over a period of four years, tuition was going to be raised $280 from its current $500 rate. Students organized themselves into student unions, and fought against this increase by protesting in the streets. There were also several 'walk-outs' performed by high school students. As a result of these protests, the tuition freeze remained in effect. However, a $500 penalty was placed on students who failed more than five classes.

title: 1996 Quebec student protests


text:
User:RickGriffin

Rick Griffin is Awesome
Because this is his user page. I mean look at it. I'll probably get up some pictures or something. I dunno.

title: User:RickGriffin


text:
User:Navins

Articles working on : Music (Bizet)...

title: User:Navins


text:
Talk:English Plus

disputed
I did a google search on this, and the hits I got were all from other uses of this term. And the source for this is someone's personal web page. I'm not sure if the (brief) text of this article is remotely accurate. --Xyzzyplugh 14:15, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Even though "English Plus" it is not very well known, it exists. I did a research on that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.84.48.33 (talk • contribs)

 * Well, you could help out this article by presenting reliable sources that discuss it. The Jade Knight 06:45, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on English Plus. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080724024953/http://www.cal.org/resources/archive/digest/1992englishplus.html to http://www.cal.org/resources/archive/digest/1992englishplus.html

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Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 02:19, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:English Plus