Of course we’re recycling it at as well, but the

The New York Times web site has a feature about skateboarders capitalizing on the mortgage crisis by finding, draining, and skating pools of houses that are in foreclosure. Skate and Annoy even gets mentioned due to our heads up on Billy Runaway’s photos of said pools. It seems like whenever we get quoted by the legitimate press, (Hard to believe, but it happens) they provide a link to web site, but never the article in question, so here is the original post for all our newfound friends from the New York Times. I wasn’t aware that we were a site “where skaters trade tips about how to find and drain abandoned pools.” Maybe they are rerring to Kent’s old article on how to drain a pool using existing plumbing in the DIY section. Aside from SnA being highlighted, it’s also intersting that the mainstream press picked up on this. There has to be a skateboarder on staff. -Thanks to Maureen, Pribble and Hass for tip.

A couple of recent news items. this Gloucester, England news item about someone burning a skatepark. Was it the kids, or something more sinister? How about this editorial from the Alamagordo Daily News about skateboarders desecrating a war memorial. I want my tombstone to have transition and coping. (Remember the Tony Hawk Vietnam Vet memorial fiasco? – k.ed)

Well, I just don’t know what more one could possibly say about that headline. Ha! They even botched the second headline (term anyone?) “MEANING A PUBLIC SKA8BOARD PARK IS FINALLY COMING TO MIAMI.” I hope somebody has a hard copy of this. The Biscayne Times has an article on a public skatepark for Miami that is in the conception stages. Familiar name Tito from Team Pain has the dubious honor of being quoted. I hope the suits in Miami making the decisions are little more in touch than the guy who wrote this article. So there you have it.

Officer Salvatore Rivieri, one of Baltimore’s finest, is in the news again. The results of Baltimore’s internal investigation have yet to be released. The family of the scrawny teenage skateboarder he abused sued Officer Salvatore Rivieri for assault, battery and violation of rights. There was a legal question about the statute of limitations, a paltry 180 days. The family sued after 10 months, but a judge ruled that statute didn’t apply to minors for some reason, and now the $6 million suit can proceed. I’m all for sticking it to this guy, especially since he has a history of being a dick, but $6 million is an absurd amount. Flame on! – Thanks to Stephanie Murdoch and Derek Krasauskas for the tip. [Source: Baltimore Sun]

Sherwood, Oregon is about to get “Oregon’s first sporting goods store for dogs.” Err… Does that mean other states already have sporting goods stores for dogs? Aren’t those just called Pet Smart? I guess not. They sell obstacle course setups and skijoring equipment too, but probably not skateboards. To show they are serious, they’ve hired Tilman the skateboarding Bulldog to appear at the grand opening November 1-2. Hold on, who is this Tilman? What happened to Tyson the skateboarding bulldog? I guess Tilman is doing a good job of riding on the coattails of Tyson. Tilman’s last appearance reportedly drew a crowd of 12,000 (?) people. Come on. that’s go to be a typo. People probably thought they were going to see Tyson anyway. I wonder whose dog was named first. They sound too simialr to be a coincidence.

Local Portland coffee roaster and media darlings Stumptown Coffee had an advert in the October 23rd issue of the Portland Mercury. Make a note of the location of the appendage holding the letter “T”. Stumptown is the coffee of choice in the tattooed crowd of Portland. When is Pabst going to get on the ball and shoot an advert at Burnside? They already runs ads with local bands. Donate that fee to the park. Larger after the jump.

I keep thinking this is a fake article, like something you’d find on the Onion, but it seems like it’s real. When I reported on it in June, it seemed like a bad idea, destined to go nowhere, but it popped up again in Denver’s Westworld News. Regardless of the plan to open a skatepark within an amusement park, I have to give him (Llewellyn Werner, the man behind the company) a little credit for advancing the sport. They are building four smaller “neighborhood” skateparks in Baghdad out of Freshpark Freshpark portable ramps to introduce kids to skateboarding free of charge. Is it working? The first park was finally installed on September 8. But since September also marks the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and daytime temperatures regularly reach into the 110s, no one has yet used the skatepark. So the official opening is planned for the second week of October. The mayor of Baghdad and Iraq’s Minister of Youth and Sport are expected to be in attendance. How did the the venture capital company come up with the idea? Jeff Wilson who is the “head of sport” has some sort of relationship with Grind King. It will be interesting to…

Alvie might be the original skateboarding dog. It predates Lance’s nemesis in the Powell vid and Tyson by a long shot. This photo of Alvie is from 1980, and I found it on the photo page of the 30 year reunion of Olympic Skatepark in Olympia, Washington, over at Northwest Skater. Olympic is long gone, so the reunion was held at Lower Woodland in Seattle.

Wrapping up some longboard-centric items. First up is fashion designer Adam Kimmel’s promo film Claremont consisting of a couple of beardos screaming downhill in suits we can only assume were designed by Adam Kimmel. I’m not exactly sure how the tie in works, but it seems to be getting people talking. The right people? I can’t make that call. I thought it was a hoax at first, as far as Adam Kimmel being in the fashion industry, but it would have to be an elaborate one. The downhill action looks insanely fast. These guys even pass a car as well as passing the camera between themselves and shooting backwards. I don’t know how they do it, but my helmet is off to them. They make a certain German downhiller look like a wuss in comparison. Supposedly, German police are on the lookout for a man assumed to be “a professional stuntman” in full leathers who reached 62 MPH on a two mile stretch of the Autobahn after getting a tow in by a motorcycle. Pfffft! Talk to me when you do it in light blue polyester. Lastly, there’s the L.A. Times article titled More skaters switching to longboards, from the…