Fledgling program gets shot in arm from Jenkins

Aurora Christian junior sprinter Ashura Jenkins is putting theschool on the Class A track map in its second season with a girlsteam.

Jenkins had her coming-out party at the Illinois Prep Top TimesClassic at the University of Illinois Armory in Champaign. Jenkinswon the 55- and 200-meter dashes and was named the outstanding femaleathlete.

Jenkins led the strongest performance for Aurora Christian's youngteam since coach Jeff Schutt started the program with Eagles footballcoach Don Beebe, a former NFL receiver. Schutt and Beebe are co-owners of the House of Speed training facility in Yorkville.

"Last year, [Jenkins] was our most valuable player," Schutt …

Baseball in the Bible

Corny Reimer, a minor Mennonite poet and a major baseball fanatic, once penciled the following verse: "The Bible days were not all sorrow and woe / The people laughed and danced and enjoyed divers sports / Moses, in Genesis, wrote of a big inning / And it is said that David once served in the courts."

Admittedly, his theological insight was probably no better than his facility with words. However, the stanza reminded me that people often seek biblical justification for their obsessions.

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Sports have always played a role in church life, at least as a source of metaphors: "the sermon went into overtime," and "the evangelist's talk hit the …

Perrin named Saint-Etienne coach

Alain Perrin will be named Saint-Etienne coach, the club's sporting director Damien Comolli said Tuesday.

The 10-time French champions fired Laurent Roussey on Monday after five straight league losses dropped Saint-Etienne into the relegation zone with just 10 points from 13 matches.

"An agreement was reached with Alain Perrin late into (Monday) night," Comolli told the club's Web site. "He will be at the club on Wednesday to finalize his contract."

Perrin was formerly coach at Marseille, Portsmouth and Lyon _ and was fired from all three jobs. Since leaving Lyon, he worked as a television pundit for Canal Plus.

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Spring '86 is sneezin' season

If spring is causing you to cough and sneeze instead of turningyour fancy to thoughts of love, welcome to the club.

Chicago allergists say this is one of the worst springs in 10years for sneeze-causing pollen and mold.

"A relatively mild winter and an early spring have caused veryhigh counts of grass and tree pollen and ground mold in the air,"said Dr. Donald W. Aaronson.

"It's at least 10 percent worse than last spring."

Aaronson, executive vice president of the Joint Council ofAllergy and Immunology, observed that those who become allergic toone thing may develop allergies to other things. Allergies increase

"Allergies tend to build …

Pa. Under Partial Government Shutdown

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The state museums didn't open Monday. State parks were closed to visitors at the height of the summer tourism season, and many state services were idle because of a government shutdown that kept about 24,000 workers off the job.

Gov. Ed Rendell shut down the Pennsylvania government late Sunday over a budget stalemate with the Legislature that partly hinges on his energy plan for the state.

"I sincerely hope that this will be a one-day furlough, and I have reason for optimism," Rendell said at a news conference Sunday night, though he declined to be more specific.

Monday morning, the shutdown set in as the partisan battle of wills between the …

Jury faults US hospital in sex abuse scandal

WATERBURY, Connecticut (AP) — A jury has found a Connecticut hospital at fault in a sex abuse scandal involving a doctor who worked there for decades and awarded a victim $2,750,000.

The Hartford Courant reports that the six-person jury on Friday found St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center failed in its duty to protect its patients from Dr. George Reardon.

Authorities believe Reardon molested …

Kurds in northern Iraq rally for help in Syria

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Hundreds of Kurds are rallying in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil calling for international intervention in neighboring Syria.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials said about 200 people from the Syrian opposition living in northern Iraq gathered in front of the U.N. offices in Irbil Monday …