General News

LDS Church's Donations To Timor Helps Troubled land East Timorese president-elect Xanana Gusmao intervened by cutting through government red tape the week before Christmas and arranged for the delivery of seven 24-foot containers to be delivered to the needy people of troubled East Timor. The containers were to arrive in Timor on December 18, following the symbolic handover of a cheque to East Timorese representatives at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' farm in New South Wales.

Local News

Washington DC Temple Anchors Avenue of Religious Architecture An article in the Washington Post looks at the architecture of the many Churches along the avenue in the area best known for Churches, upper New Hampshire avenue. The Washington DC Temple, one of the buildings mentioned in the article, can be seen from the avenue where it crosses the capital Beltway. A later article in the Post mentions that the Temple's annual Festival of Lights was an inspiration for a Manassas, Virginia family.

Sports

Mission Teaches LDS RM Wallin Something About Sports While ASU was going to the Rose Bowl, Arizona State's Kurt Wallin was serving a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rochester, N.Y. "I watched them beat Nebraska on TV, and when they played in the Rose Bowl, I was at a church member's house watching," he said. "The people had a baby who was asleep, so I had to hold back on my emotions whenever they did something. I knew almost all of 'em, and I was proud. I sort of wished I was there, but I knew the importance of being where I was," Wallin said.

Politics

Some Say Missionaries Could Have Given Utah Additional US House Seat The US Census Bureau released its initial tally of the 2000 census and Utah missed getting an additional representative in the U.S. House of Representatives by just 856 people. Under the U.S. Constitution the 435 seats in the House are reapportioned between the states according to population every ten years. But some in Utah are claiming that if LDS missionaries serving overseas had been counted, Utah would have taken a seat away from North Carolina.

People

LDS Activist Seeks To Reverse Circumcisions If you happen to see a license plate in the parking lot of the Concord, Calif. Mormon church that reads, "NORM.ORG," it will belong to R. Wayne Griffiths, an impassioned, "intactivist" activist. The license is the web address of the National Organization of Restoring Men. Griffiths is one of the principal founders of the foreskin-restoration movement. "This is not absurd at all," Griffiths claims.

Arts & Entertainment

Diminutive Mormon Entertainer Billy Barty Dead At 76 Billy Barty, the diminutive entertainer who turned the ability to spin on his head into a seven-decade career in show business, died on Saturday, December 23 at the Glendale Memorial Hospital. The 3-foot, 9-inch actor had been hospitalized since November 30, with heart and lung problems. A memorial service was held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in North Hollywood, where Barty was a member.

Business

LDS Businessman McFerson's Affect on Columbus Retiring LDS businessman Dimon McFerson has had a substantial impact on both his company and community. McFerson was Chairman and CEO of Nationwide Financial Services until his November retirement, shifting the company's focus significantly during his eight-year term. But McFerson also made a difference in the Columbus community, leaving the city with a new building for its Center of Science and Industry and with an arena for the city's new National Hockey League expansion franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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