| Controversial 'Jane Austen' portrait fails to sell at auction
NEW YORK (AFP) - The painting, which depicts a young woman in a full-length white dress holding a green parasol, failed to reach its reserve price, Christie's auction house said. It had been expected to fetch between 400,000 and 800,000 dollars. The so-called Rice Portrait, described by Christie's as one of the world's most intriguing literary portraits, was believed to have been painted by British painter Ozias Humphry and is owned by Austen's direct descendants. The controversy over the portrait goes back to the 1940s, when leading Austen scholar R.W. Chapman said that the fashions in the picture dated from 1805 or later, and not from the late 1780s, when it was supposedly painted. Another debate has focused on the supplier's stamp on the reverse of the original canvas. Detractors say the merchant's mark does not fit with the period, while Christie's disputed both arguments.
Decatur receives 4 bids on building fire stations Apparent lowest ...
An apparent winning bid to build three fire stations in Decatur barely met Tuesday's deadline when the construction company's secretary slid the envelop through malfunctioning elevator doors. The elevator temporarily trapped Kim Tham, of Building Construction Associates, as she tried to join the 2 p.m. meeting on the seventh floor of City Hall. With the elevator doors only an inch or two apart, Fire Chief Charlie Johnson couldn't pry them open. "I told her to push the door-close button," Johnson said. "But she said no," slid the bid envelope through the door "and said 'just take this over there.' " Johnson took the bid and said, "someone should call the fire department." The doors opened about a minute later, and the meeting began with a chuckle. Building Construction Associates was the apparent low bidder among four companies, offering to build three fire stations for $4,009,700 in 395 consecutive calendar days.
Bakoteh Annex Bids Farewell to Mrs Jadama
Teachers and pupils of Bakoteh Annex Lower Basic School in Region One, on 10 April this year, bade farewell to their outgoing senior mistress for Grade Six department, Mrs Aja Kumba Drammeh Jadama, who has taken voluntary retirement after serving in the teaching profession for over 20 years. Speaking on the occasion, the headmistress of Bakoteh Annex Lower Basic School, Mrs Hanna P. Coker, described Mrs Jadama as someone who has the zeal, commitment and sense of belonging required of a good teacher. Mrs Jadama, she added, worked with her teachers closely and shared responsibilities with teachers in all the departments of the school without favour or ill will. Mrs Jadama was always willing to correctly administer her department, and her style of administration was always to promote cooperation among teachers in the school, she said.
Rare-plant auction boosts UBC garden
Where would the University of B.C. Botanical Garden be without its hard-working Friends of the Garden group, better known as the FOGs? Every year this group of volunteers raises more than $60,000 for the garden. They organize the hugely popular perennial plant sale on Mother's Day every year in May. They are responsible for the equally popular Apple Festival in October. Both events bring in mega-bucks for the botanical garden. .
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