New Balance's latest Wanted Pack - a 580

They are not, they insist, realworld versions of the Jeff Spicoli character in the teen movie classic, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." They don't arrive in battered VW buses and spill out, coughing, in a plume of blueblack smoke.They write code, run Internet service providers, practice law. They do concede a weakness for Cheetos, but only after smoking. And that is, of course, exactly what they did yesterday, April 20 (4/20), the unofficial holiday that contains the hour of unity for the cannabis culture."That Spicoli guy, before he ever smoked marijuana, was stupid," said , 36, sitting in his Capitol Hill home, a blue Victorian with tulips and camellias on the outside and marijuana on the kitchen table."If pot made you stupid, you wouldn't have software, half the lawyers wouldn't pass the bar and restaurants wouldn't be staffed."Behind him, friends rolled joints. The group planned to light up at 4:20, the same time as thousands of other pot smokers around the world. For the past 25 years or so, the numbers first as a time of day and later as a date have grown to symbolize a shared experience of those who smoke the illegal drug.There are Web sites, Tshirts, coffee mugs and songs with the numbers. Pot devotees use derivatives of 4:20 for personal passwords and secret codes. For Holden, yesterday also marked the day his divorce became final. He planned that.It's not exactly Independence Day, Easter or or even a wellknown number such as 411. And to recreational drug opponents, any celebration of a drug they say leads to harder drugs is unacceptable.But to pot smokers devoted to their counterculture pursuit, at least it's something they can call their own."The date aspect of it certainly this year is bigger than ever," said , editor of High Times, a 200,000circulation glossy magazine devoted to pot culture. "If it brings more attention to the pot legalization movement, great."According to the magazine, which investigated 4:20's disputed origin, it likely began at in California in 1971 when a group of friends regularly scheduled a time to meet in front of a campus statue of and smoke dope. The term "to 4:20" spread within the high school and eventually seeped into the lexicon of Dead Heads, the 's most devoted fans.From there, with the help of the Internet, it spread across cultures, timelines and borders."We've been swamped since we opened today," said manager , 26. "Fourtwenty is internationally known, and Vancouver is known for its easy smoking atmosphere. People came in from out of the city."In Capitol Hill, three blocks away from Holden's house, Capt. with Seattle's narcotic unit said he didn't plan anything special for 4:20. Small quantity, personal marijuana use typically hasn't been a focus for the , he said, even before Initiative 75, the voterapproved Low Enforcement Priority measure.Generally, personaluse possession pot busts happen when the cop is looking for something else, he said. "I've heard it was some sort of day, but to be honest misdemeanor possession of marijuana is a low priority for us," he said, sitting in the lobby of the East precinct. "It's always been a low priority."When the minute struck, Holden, who writes open access computer code, his brother Dominic and a group of others filed outside to the porch with a couple of joints.After lighting up, they acknowledged that while some pot smokers treasure the illegal, counterculture nature of pot smoking, they would be happy to trade the loss of their underground community for pot's mainstream acceptance through legalization although none of them are holding their breath waiting for that to happen.

8th Balance Center to open in Kansas

"When you look at the aging population, one of the more difficult diagnoses is dizziness," Keller says. "It's a complex issue. That's because a person's dizziness could be the result of so many different things."

It could be visual, neurological, a musculoskeletal issue or an inner ear issue, he says.

"As more research and advances come, hopefully the balance centers can be helping in guiding a physician," Keller says. "From the centers, (patients) go from there to one of the specialties."

The first center opened within a Midwest Hearing Aids office in Chanute late last year.

"It takes kind of a leap of faith to do this," Brewster says of the investment in the offices. "So we finally opened one up."

He says he knows the centers are meeting a need, though.

"It's servicing a population that really needs servicing."

Brewster says a lot of patients in areas like Chanute used to have to drive to Joplin or Wichita for testing but now can be tested and treated in the same place.

"That's a quality of life issue."

The centers also are in Midwest Hearing Aids offices in Andover, Dodge City, Great Bend, Liberal, Newton, Salina and Winfield.

Brewster isn't sure how quickly he might expand the centers.

"We'll see how this goes."

The trifecta

Developer Robert Eyster has purchased another downtown building.

Michael Ramsey, who is working with Eyster on several downtown projects, says Eyster has acquired the more than 20,000squarefoot, twostory building at 100 S. Market.

24 heures plus tard

(Qubec) MarcAntoine BeaudoinCloutier a d attendre 24 heures de plus que son coquipier Samuel Fournier, mais l'ailier dfensif du Rouge et Or aura aussi une place dans un camp d'entranement de la Ligue canadienne de football. Les Eskimos d'Edmonton l'ont plac sur leur liste de protection complmentaire.

Danny Maciocia m'a appel ce matin [hier], alors je vais partir en juin pour un petit tour Edmonton! s'est rjoui BeaudoinCloutier, qui n'tait pas parmi les 47 joueurs amateurs canadiens slectionns dimanche par les huit formations de la LCF. Du lot, les Eskimos et Maciocia, leur directeur gnral, en ont choisi quatre aux 6e, 12e, 35e et 43e rangs. Les heures qui suivent le repchage annuel constituent toutefois des espces de rondes fantmes au cours desquelles chaque club a le droit de s'accaparer deux joueurs amateurs canadiens de plus, sans leur donner l'tiquette de repchs.

C'est sr que je n'ai pas le statut de choix au repchage, mais une fois avec le casque et les crampons, sur le terrain, ce sera moi de prouver que je mrite d'tre l, a indiqu l'athlte de 6'3'' et 237 lb natif de SaintBasile de Portneuf.