AREA • WORLD
L AWRENCE J OURNAL -WORLD
X Monday, April 25, 2011
| 7A.
Ex-racetrack announcer’s talent shared online Over 400 escaped AFGHANISTAN
By Sara Shepherd
sshepherd@theworldco.info
It’s Friday afternoon, and Randy Birch’s rollicking, radio voice is fast-talking dogs, dollars and the deliciousness of the cold Budweiser in his hand. Sluuuurrrpp. Aaahhhh. When the trumpet sounds and eight greyhounds explode from the chutes, Birch’s banter veers toward his favorite pup, who, in this particular race, is named Elvis Presley and happens to be winning. Oh, yes! He’s going after it like a good ol’ peanut butter and banana sandwich! Close your eyes, add a warm breeze, and you could be in the stands at Florida’s Hollywood Greyhound Track. Open them, and you realize you’re anywhere but. Sara Shepherd/Journal-World Photos Birch, a Shawnee resident and former announcer at the FROM INSIDE HIS SHAWNEE HOME, RANDY BIRCH provides the voice for the online radio show at Woodlands Race Park in BigJackpotBetting.com, designed to hype the sport of greyhound racing and bring in online bets. Kansas City, Kan., is the host BELOW, Birch keeps stat sheets handy to reference during the show. of the online radio show at BigJackpotBetting.com, love,” Birch said. “It fills a designed to hype Holly- void.” wood’s nightly races and bring in online bets for the ●●● track. Its founders say BigThe Odd Squad can hear JackpotBetting.com is the Birch, who uses Skype, first business of its kind — through their computers. while other sites offer online Players and guest speakers betting, this one creates a occasionally join Birch’s consocial experience to go with versation via Skype, but most it. sign in with screen names “We present a vehicle for and communicate through people to meet and chat like the website’s chatroom. a racetrack situation, but the Conversations involve the reality is, all these people are weather at the track, the at home on their computers,” weather in Shawnee, which Birch said. “It’s social media dogs the players are picking and business at the same and what “stlouiscindy” time.” looks like in person (appar- track announcer, pick dogs from Birch, Hollywood In reality, Birch isn’t ently, pretty good). and discuss as they go. Smith, agreed to fund BigJackpotaddressing the crowd from While the camaraderie who places bets during the Betting.com, which launched an announcer’s box, he can’t may be virtual, the gambling show based on their sugges- in December. Smith said the see Elvis Presley in person, is real. tions, said he’s turned $20 site’s growth was not pheand he’s also not drinking Gaming rules vary from into about $1,500 so far. nomenal but steady, adding a beer. state to state, but Kansas law few new players each week. ●●● He’s in his beige-carpeted prohibits residents from parSmith, one of the Wood●●● office on the ticipating in offThe Internet has proved a second floor track betting on lands’ original players, was a Racetracks around dog and horse professional gambler when new springboard for Birch. of a yellow His broadcast career house at the the country have races, said the track opened and moved end of a west closed, like the Patrick Martin, to Kansas City to be near it. includes more than 20 years Shawnee culchief counsel He got into the racing statis- at local radio stations, plus de-sac. He’s Woodlands, so these for the Kansas tics business and later joined game-day productions for the leaning into a people have an outlet Racing and TrackData Systems, which Kansas City Chiefs. He was the original tabletop Gaming Com- manages and distributes racfor what they love. It announcer at the Woodlands, microphone mission and ing data. Smith envisioned BigJack- where he worked off and on and peering at fills a void.” assistant attorthe race ney general. potBetting.com as a way to for 20 years and gained fame replay on one — Randy Birch, Shawnee resident However, Mar- promote the racing industry, for his signature “Heeeere of two com- and former announcer at the tin said, going and he knew Birch had the comes Woody!” holler. Birch was working fullputer screens Woodlands Race Park in Kansas online to watch voice he needed. “Every other announcer time for the Woodlands when at a big wood- City, Kan., who is the host of a and chat about en desk. The show at BigJackpotBetting.com racing was fine. talks at the people, and Randy the track closed in 2008, leavsqueeze botFor gamblers, talks to the people,” Smith ing him without a steady job. said. “You feel as though he’s Now, in addition to his Bigtle at his side BigJackpotBetis full of Diet Coke. ting.com offers pari-mutuel having a conversation with JackpotBetting.com show, Birch sells pre-recorded race Not that any of his online wagering on win bets. A you.” Smith recalled Birch chat- day broadcasts that play at friends, whom he’s affec- licensed pari-mutuel service tionately dubbed the Odd provider in North Dakota ting up patrons he passed on nine other dog tracks across Squad, will ever see him in operates the site and man- his way to the Woodlands’ the country. The podcasts are at person. ages accounts and wagering, announcer’s station. He’d online On this day, they include according to the site’s terms later work their names into BigJackpotBetting.com and his announcing, highlighting at trackinfo.com. “milehiroller” from Denver, and conditions. He also gathers headlines “UncleB” from California and It’s simple — all you have someone’s first visit to the “Nowso,” a regular who lives to do is pick the winning dog track or someone celebrating and broadcasts morning news for 15 radio stations a in Ireland. Other players have — and it’s a pool bet so a birthday. “I’d never seen that week through AudienceBaksigned on from Argentina, returns are high, said Birch’s Australia, England, Canada executive producer, Jimmy before,” Smith said. “He ery.com. “I love living in Shawnee, and Mexico. Smith of Boynton Beach, Fla. always calls it the ‘Cheers’ and I love working out of my Many participants, like Winners get all the money approach.” Even online, Birch notices home,” Birch said. “Because Birch, miss the personal except a commission charged interaction from their days at by the dog track, which is new players and greets them of the Internet, the possibilia live track. lower at Hollywood than by name, prompting them to ties are just endless.” “Racetracks around the other tracks nationwide, tell the group about them— Sara Shepherd, news editor at the selves and join the conversacountry have closed, like the Smith said. Shawnee Dispatch, can be reached Woodlands, so these people Birch and Ramon tion. at 913-962-3000, ext. 111. Thanks to an audition tape have an outlet for what they Cadavieco, Hollywood’s live
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On Easter, pope urges diplomacy in Middle East By Frances D’Emilio Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI offered an Easter prayer Sunday for diplomacy to prevail over warfare in Libya and for citizens of the Middle East to build a new society based on respect. He also called on Europeans to welcome refugees from North Africa. “In heaven, all is peace and gladness. But, alas, all is not so on earth!” the pope lamented as he delivered the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” message from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to a crowd of more than 100,000 that overflowed from St. Peter’s Square. “In the current conflict in Libya, may diplomacy and dialogue replace arms, and may those who suffer as a result of the conflict be given access to humanitarian aid,” he said. Referring to North Africa and the Middle East, the pope prayed that all citizens, especially young people, would
L'Osservatore Romano/AP Photo
POPE BENEDICT XVI HOLDS HIS PASTORAL STAFF during the “Urbi et Orbi” (Latin for “to the City and to the World”) message from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, at the end of the Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday. “work to promote the common good and to build a society where poverty is defeated and every political choice is inspired by respect for the human person.” Uprisings, repression and civil warfare have triggered an exodus of people to Italian
shores as well as other countries in the region. Europe has been split over whether to accept or deport tens of thousands of migrants, many of them from Libya and elsewhere in northern Africa. Benedict rallied to the side of refugees, urging people of
good will to “open their hearts to welcome them.” “Here, in this world of ours, the Easter alleluia still contrasts with the cries and laments that arise from so many painful situations: deprivation, hunger, disease, war, violence,” said the pontiff, resplendent in gold-colored robes as he sat on a chair and read his speech in Italian. This year, Easter fell on the same day in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church calendars, and in Jerusalem, both Orthodox and Catholics worshiped at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus’ Good Friday crucifixion and burial and of his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Protestants held their own ceremonies outside the walled Old City at the Garden Tomb, which some identify as the site of Jesus’ burial. The 84-year-old Benedict’s voice cracked at times during the Mass, but he ended his two-hour appearance Sunday by reading aloud holiday greetings in 65 languages.
inmates include Taliban insurgents
By Mirwais Khan Associated Press Writer
KANDAHAR , A FGHANISTAN — More than 400 inmates — many of them Taliban insurgents — escaped from the main prison in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar overnight through an underground tunnel, an official said today. The massive jailbreak in Kandahar, the focus of much of the international military effort to defeat the insurgency, is a reminder that the Afghan government is still weak and easily thwarted in the south, despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. The escape comes after years of security upgrades and tightened procedures at the 1,200-inmate Sarposa Prison following a brazen 2008 Taliban attack that freed 900 prisoners. On Sunday night, about 476 prisoners streamed out of a tunnel dug between the prison and the outside and disappeared into Kandahar
city, prison supervisor Ghulam Dastagir Mayar said. He said many of the missing were Taliban militants. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgents on the outside dug the 1 ,050-foot tunnel to the prison over f ive months, bypassing government checkpoints. The tunnel finally reached the prison cells Sunday night, and the inmates were led through it to freedom by three prisoners who had been informed of the plan, Mujahid said. About 100 of those who escaped were Taliban commanders, and most of the others were fighters with the insurgency, he said. In the 2008 attack, dozens of militants on motorbikes and two suicide bombers assaulted the prison. One suicide bomber set off an explosives-laden tanker truck at the prison gate while a second bomber blew up an escape route through a back wall. About 900 inmates escaped, including 400 Taliban fighters.
Giffords’ doctors clear her to attend shuttle launch, husband says H O U S T O N ( A P ) — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend husband Mark Kelly’s space shuttle launch in Florida on Friday, Kelly said, allowing the Arizona congresswoman to travel for the first time since she was flown from Tucson to Houston more than three months ago to recover Giffords from a gunshot wound to the head. In an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, Kelly said Giffords’ doctors had given her permission to travel to Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the launch of Endeavour, which is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. Friday. Kelly is the commander of the shuttle mission. CBS released excerpts of the interview Sunday, and it was scheduled to air today on “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,” according to a network statement. “I’ve met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon and her doctors, and ... they’ve given us permission to take her down to the launch,” Kelly said in the interview in Houston. The network statement did not specify when the interview occurred. James Harsf ield, spokesman for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, referred all questions about Giffords to the congresswoman’s office, where there was no immediate comment. President Barack Obama and the first family also are scheduled to watch the launch, although it’s unclear if they will watch it with Giffords. Families view launches at Kennedy Space Center from a restricted area, and there are no plans for Giffords to make a public appearance. It will be the first time Giffords has traveled since she was flown from Tucson, Ariz., to Houston on Jan. 21 for rehab. The Democrat was shot in the head Jan. 8 in a shooting in Tucson that killed six people and injured 12 others. Giffords’ spokesman, C.J. Karamargin, and her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, plan to hold a news conference after the launch to discuss the congresswoman’s reaction, but Giffords will not go to the news conference because it could be an emotional moment for her, Karamargin said. Giffords went to Kelly’s last launch in 2008, when he commanded the space shuttle Discovery. The two married in 2007. Obama last saw Giffords on Jan. 12, just four days after the
J. Scott Applewhite/AP File photo
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA EMBRACES MARK KELLY, right, the husband of critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., at the end of a ceremony honoring the victims of a shooting rampage in this Jan. 12 file photo. Kelly said his wife has received permission from doctors to attend the launch of the Endeavour on Friday, the last trip for the shuttle and the next-to-last shuttle mission. shooting, when he visited her intensive care hospital room in Tucson and reported that she opened her eyes for the first time a few minutes after he left. More recently, he wrote a tribute about the congresswoman in Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world, saying that she wasn’t known before the shooting, but now “she’s got the prayers of a nation rooting for her.” The shooting happened as Giffords was holding a community outreach event in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center. A gunman shot her in the head. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack and is in custody. Giffords has not been seen publicly since the shooting and has spent the last three months relearning how to speak, walk and take care of herself. She has been singing — as part of musical therapy — asking for her favorite foods and visiting with family, friends and her rabbi. Kelly returned to training for the shuttle launch in February after taking time off to be at his wife’s hospital bedside. Endeavour ’s two-week trip will be the last for that shuttle and the next-to-last shuttle mission. Shuttle Atlantis will close out the 30-year shuttle program this summer. Kelly and f ive crewmates will deliver a $2 billion physics experiment to the International Space Station, as well as critical spare parts to keep the orbiting outpost running for another decade.