The "News" thread.

[Unorthodox]

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=35589266&nid=1284&title=former-lds-church-building-to-become-haunted-house-mdash-temporarily

IDAHO FALLS — Some people think old, abandoned buildings have ghosts haunting the halls.

But for the old brick building on the corner of 13th Street and Lee Avenue in Idaho Falls, those who have haunted it have been solid flesh and blood.

When Idaho Falls business owner Tyler Price first toured the building, evidence of vandalism was rampant. Graffiti, broken windows, shattered light fixtures and singed carpet from fires set inside were apparent all over the building.

Price, who owns the Austin Kade Academy cosmetology schools in both Idaho Falls and Pocatello, is looking to purchase the building to open a culinary arts school, but the structure requires extensive repairs.

"As it stands, it works perfectly for the culinary academy," Price said. "There isn't anything I want to change. I just want to restore."

To fund the renovation, Price came up with the idea of turning the building into a haunted attraction. The profits generated from the attraction would fund the creation of the culinary school.

He is seeking a three-year conditional use permit to make it a haunted attraction.

Price also wants to ensure the history of the building is preserved. The structure is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Price's goal is to preserve the original architecture and repair materials damaged from neglect and abuse, while meeting current building safety codes. Contractor estimates say it will take about $1 million to bring the building back to its historic condition, Price said.

The efforts are already gaining some ground in city government. On July 7 the Idaho Falls Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that City Council approve rezoning the building. The three-year conditional use permit was also recommended by a 4-3 vote.

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Generally, dissenting board members are in favor of the culinary school, but are concerned about any negative impacts to the neighborhood existing for the three years granted by the permit, said Brad Cramer, community development services director for the city of Idaho Falls.

The proposal now goes to the City Council for consideration at the August 27 meeting.

A number of residents attended the July 7 meeting both in support and in opposition of the proposed zoning change.

Yon Scott, who lives on 14th Street, is concerned about the potential increases in traffic, noise and trash that could occur during the five weeks the haunted attraction would operate each year.

I think the building is going downhill fast, and I think it's pulling that section of the neighborhood down with it. It's like a sinking ship.
–Stephanie Rose, local historical preservationist
"I want to know what is going to protect us," Scott said at the meeting. "I would love to see this church be restored, but I want some reassurance that my quiet street stays quiet."

Others have raised concerns about parking, since the building's small parking lot provides fewer than half the stalls the new zoning requires. For the haunted attraction to open, the conditional use permit must also include a parking variance.

Some proposed solutions to the parking shortage could include a shuttle between public parking near the railroad tracks, or using on-street parking on nearby streets.

Local historical preservationist Stephanie Rose has lived in the neighborhood for 31 years, owning several homes, which she and her husband Bill Bauer have rehabilitated in that time. Rose supports Price's vision.



EASTIDAHONEWS

"I think the building is going downhill fast, and I think it's pulling that section of the neighborhood down with it," Rose said. "It's like a sinking ship."

Rose sees Idaho Falls' numbered streets as having the potential to mirror the successfully revitalized Hyde Park neighborhood in Boise.

"I'm strongly in favor of the mixed-use traditional neighborhood. I think they are vibrant, and they are my favorite places to visit when we go to other cities," Rose said. "We need stores — little markets, cafes, cool bookstores. This city is ripe for all those things to happen."

The building was originally built as a chapel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1920s.

Afterwards, the building housed a dance studio, and the Cornerstone Assembly of God congregation. Most recently, Odyssey Charter School petitioned to move into the building, but that proposal was abandoned in March 2013.

Longtime 12th Street resident Betty Conrad said the proposed culinary arts school is a much better fit.

"For any of the neighbors I've talked to, the concept is great and there's a lot of enthusiasm for it," Conrad said. "Having somebody in there and having it renovated is better than having it empty and vandalized."

Bad idea...

[Buster's Uncle]

Because LDS, property damage, or what?

[Unorthodox]

Haunted house as a get money quick scheme is BAD NEWS. 

[Unorthodox]

! No longer available

La Entrada, Honduras — A family in Honduras apparently smashed the tomb of their pregnant 16-year-old daughter after she reportedly woke up screaming and banging inside her coffin one day after she was buried.

A day after Neysi Perez’s funeral, her husband was visiting the gravesite when he heard banging and screams from inside the coffin. He spoke to Primer Impacto:

“As I put my hand on her grave, I could hear noises inside. I heard banging, then I heard her voice. She was screaming for help. It had already been a day since we buried her. I couldn’t believe it. I was ecstatic, full of hope.”

A cemetery worker also said he heard screams coming from inside the coffin.

Video shows Perez’s family using a hammer to break the concrete tomb holding the teen’s coffin in an attempt to save the girl.

Relatives told Primer Impacto the tips of Perez’s fingers were bruised and the viewing window on her coffin had been smashed.

Perez, still inside her coffin, was taken to a local hospital where she was declared clinically dead.

Perez mysteriously collapsed inside her Honduras home. The teen began foaming at the mouth, leading her religious parents to believe she was “possessed,” according to Primer Impacto. After a priest attempted to perform an exorcism, her body became “lifeless” and she was declared dead.

Doctors said Perez may have suffered a panic attack after hearing gunfire near her home, which could have temporarily stopped her heart, according to AOL.

Oh, there's a movie there somewhere. 

[Rusty Edge]

Haunted house as a get money quick scheme is BAD NEWS.

I would think so. Start up and overhead costs and getting your audience to find you.

Apparently a pop-up Halloween costume store is a better business model from what I can see. Is this true?

[Unorthodox]

Haunted house as a get money quick scheme is BAD NEWS.

I would think so. Start up and overhead costs and getting your audience to find you.

Apparently a pop-up Halloween costume store is a better business model from what I can see. Is this true?

I only can offer anecdotal experience of a friend of mine on this, I haven't studied the business model. 

SPEAKING SPECIFICALLY ON "SPIRIT" STORES:

The franchising agreements to set these up are not very friendly to the local owners, allowing another store VERY close (10 miles), and can make it VERY difficult if you're in a crowded market (and can't afford to license the whole area).  The store owner is getting 20% on the prop/decor sales, which is also not great, but far better than the 5% costume sales.  Now, if you're the only store in a city, it can be a great $ producer, provided you know how to manage the business. 

Now, my friend has managed, mostly because all us wierdos know him, so we shop there, specifically when buying any big props from Spirit (which I do practically never)

Given the franchise license situation LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!  Figure that out BEFORE you even think about it.  You're not going to just slap one up in some out of the way cheap place and be successful lest you have no competition. 

Minimum starting getting location ready: July.
Target Opening:  Labor Day

Realise everyone can go buy online as well.  USE THIS!  Have the damn website up IN YOUR STORE.  Have display models of EVERYTHING in house, because a lot of us want to SEE it before we go buy it.  You don't neccessarily stock it, offer free ship-to-store.  (this IS a manager decision)  This way, you don't have to store a bunch of inventory that may or may not sell, you're still getting the commission on the items from people ordering, and they're getting free shipping so saving $.

Another big draw my friend has pulled that is rather unusual:

Makeup classes.  Cheap/free depending on what they're teaching.  Get those kids that have an interest in the store and bugging their parents to buy them supplies. 

[Unorthodox]

http://www.ibtimes.com/world-going-end-september-mormon-apocalypse-2015-prediction-has-people-stocking-food-2096361

Sales of freeze-dried food, flashlights, blankets and tents have soared in Utah in recent weeks as some Mormons have begun to prepare for the end of the world. The so-called preppers believe the world is ending this month based on biblical prophecies, the Hebrew calendar, an unstable economy, world politics and astronomical occurrences, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Sunday.

“There is a sense of urgency, like something is up. A lot of people are mentioning things about September, like a financial collapse," said customer service representative Ricardo Aranda at American Fork’s Thrive Life, which sells mostly freeze-dried food.

The Mormon apocalypse believers claim the Jewish High Holy Days that began this week will trigger a financial crisis based on the United States’ “wickedness.” They predict the full moon Sept. 28 is the next sign the world is ending.

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Some of these speculations stem from Julie Rowe’s books, “A Greater Tomorrow: My Journey Beyond the Veil” and “The Time Is Now.” Rowe, a Mormon mother of three, published the books in 2014 to detail a “near-death experience." Her two books have sold more than 20,000 copies each.

Officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said they do not endorse the books or their teachings. The late Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer said in a 2011 LDS General Conference that the end was not near and called on young Mormons to plan for long, productive lives.

“You can look forward to doing it right,” Packer said, "getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren.”

Officials have had to debunk end-of-days predictions in the past. Last month, NASA confirmed the world would not end in September because of an imminent asteroid strike.

“There is no scientific basis – not one shred of evidence – that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates,” said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s near-Earth object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, at the time. “If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now.”

 

 

(If any of my neighbors are those effected, they're keeping it to themselves)

[Unorthodox]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-some-mormons-are-preparing-for-doomsday_55f35fa2e4b077ca094f3ebf

SALT LAKE CITY – Mixing a brew of biblical prophecies, the Hebrew calendar, a volatile economy, world politics, and astronomical occurrences, hordes of Utahns have become convinced that calamitous events are imminent — maybe by month’s end — and are taking every precaution.

They are called “preppers” and are buying up food-storage kits, flashlights, blankets and tents. Some are even bracing to leave their homes, if need be.

At American Fork’s Thrive Life, which sells mostly freeze-dried food, sales have shot up by “500 percent or more in the past couple of months,” says customer-service representative Ricardo Aranda. “There is a sense of urgency, like something is up. A lot of people are mentioning things about September, like a financial collapse.”

Jordan Jensen, a salesman at Emergency Essentials, said his Bountiful store has been “crazy busy, sales up by definitely a large amount.”

Those 72-hour emergency kits are “almost impossible to keep on the shelves,” Jensen says, “and we get a shipment every day.”

A lot of customers, he says, believe “this is the month it will all happen — with a ‘blood moon’ and a currency collapse and everything.”

Here’s how the doomsday scenario plays out: History, some preppers believe, is divided into seven-year periods — like the Hebrew notion of “shemitah” or Sabbath. In 2008, seven years after 9/11, the stock market crashed, a harbinger of a devastating recession. It’s been seven years since then and Wall Street has been fluctuating wildly in recent weeks in the wake of China devaluing its currency.

Thus, they believe, starting Sept. 13, the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days, there will be another, even larger financial crisis, based on the United States’ “wickedness.” That will launch the “days of tribulation” — as described in the Bible.

Sept. 28 will see a full, red or “blood moon” and a major earthquake in or near Utah. Some anticipate an invasion by U.N. troops, technological disruptions and decline, chaos and hysteria.

Some of these speculations stem from Julie Rowe’s books, “A Greater Tomorrow: My Journey Beyond the Veil” and “The Time Is Now.”

Rowe, a Mormon mother of three, published the books in 2014 to detail a “near-death experience” in 2004, when the author says she visited the afterlife and was shown visions of the past and future.

Though Rowe rarely gives specific dates for predicted events, she did describe in a Fox News Radio interview “cities of light,” including scores of white tents where people will live in the mountains and sometimes be fed heavenly “manna.” She she saw a “bomb from Libya landing in Israel, but Iran will take credit.”

And “Gadianton robbers” of Book of Mormon infamy, meaning secret and corrupt leaders, are “already here.”

Her purpose in speaking out, Rowe told interviewer Kate Dalley, was “to wake more of us up. … We need each other as we unify in righteousness and continue to build a righteous army. When we need to defend the [U.S.] Constitution, we will be ready.”

For the past year, the popular writer has been sharing her experience and visions at Mormon venues nationwide, drawing crowds of eager — and worried — listeners. Her two books have sold more than 20,000 copies apiece.

In a rare move, officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent a memo to administrators and teachers in the Church Educational System, saying, that although Sister Rowe is an active member of the LDS Church, “her book is not endorsed by the church and should not be recommended to students or used as a resource in teaching them. The experiences … do not necessarily reflect church doctrine or they may distort doctrine.”

The late Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer said in a 2011 LDS General Conference that the “end” was not near and urged young Latter-day Saints to plan to live long, productive lives.

“You can look forward to doing it right.” Packer said, ” — getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren.”

[Unorthodox]

The earthquake I can kinda understand.  Utah's due for "the big one" any time now.  But UN invasion? 

[Buster's Uncle]

...It was my understanding that a year's worth of survival supplies was SOP for Saints, which sorta makes sense given LDS' early history.  The Mormons my dad knew at work allegedly all did this back in the 70s...

[Unorthodox]

The doctrine doesn't specifically give a number, but most writings I've seen focus on a 3 month supply, which includes food, water, and financial supply.  After that, longer term storage of staples is recommended where possible. 

From the website:

"We encourage members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise, and do not go to extremes. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve." (See All Is Safely Gathered In.)

[Buster's Uncle]

Again, I think that's everything to do with LDS history -which dovetails nicely with Christianity's obsolete lingering persecution complex- and nothing to do with the spiritual, and not so much with the 'end times' junk, for all that even some Saints are that dumb, and gentiles tend to definitely read it as doomsday prepping.

It's really just good sense to have savings and some emergency supplies - we do that at my house without a Bishop telling us to.

[Unorthodox]

A lot of it is common sense, and just another version of saving for a rainy day.  One of the things that allowed us to handle my unemployment as well as we did was preperations before it happened. 

I think the LDS church focused more on actual food storage in the past, but have grown to include the financial aspect relatively recently as fewer members have time/space to grow and can their own food. 

[Buster's Uncle]

When we mess up on staying ahead on coffee fixin's -Mom ain't one to make a special trip to the store just for a few things- I'm always glad of those emergency supplies.  (I told her once or twice that ruff-n-tuff full of rice would be a cheap thing to add, in case we had an actual survival disaster, that would make a big difference.)

[Unorthodox]

http://www.wtae.com/news/police-investigate-report-of-razor-blade-in-candy-girl-treated-at-hospital/36229772

MARION CENTER, Pa. —State police say the 16-year-old western Pennsylvania girl, who reported finding a razor blade in her Halloween candy, admitted to lying about the incident.

Troopers from the Indiana, Pennsylvania, barracks say the girl was treated Monday for cuts in her mouth.

VIDEO: Watch Ashlie Hardway's report
   
Trooper Mark McMahan said Tuesday the girl reported receiving the razor in a piece of bubble gum she received during a community event in the Marion Center area. That's about 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

She later told officials the injuries were self-inflicted and that no one else was involved in the incident.
   
The event called 'Trunk-or-Treat' involved 22 people who registered to hand out Halloween treats out of their vehicles at a school parking lot in East Mahoning Township.
   
More than 300 children received treats, and nobody else reported that anything was tainted.
   
The teen said the candy she received from the even was safe and the incident happened at her home.