France expels Gypsies

PARIS — About 100 Gypsies, or Roma, were put on a charter flight headed to their native Romania on Friday, the second day in a row that France has expelled Roma in a much criticized government crackdown.

Associated Press Television News saw at least 100 Gypsy men, women and children arrive by bus at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport Friday. After checking in at the charter flight terminal, they were transported by bus to the waiting plane.

The flight's final destination was reportedly Timisoara, a city in western Romania.

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the crackdown on Roma in late July as part of a larger "war" on delinquency. It is increasingly criticized as discriminatory because it singles out a particular community — even though France proudly boasts of its long-standing policy of being officially colorblind, that is, not differentiating between ethnic groups.

"We're moving toward an official racism," Socialist lawmaker Arnaud Montebourg charged on French TV.

Daniel Vasile, of the Partida Romilor, a party in Romania representing the Roma, has called the expulsions a "black stain on .... the history of France, but also of Romania" where Roma, a minority there, too, are particularly vulnerable.

France can repatriate Roma, even though they hail from EU-member states Romania and Bulgaria, if they are unable to prove they can support themselves.

French authorities have said the majority return on a voluntary basis, given small sums of money — euro300 ($386) for each adult and euro100 for children — to help them re-establish themselves at home.

However, it is an open secret that many quickly make their way back to France after pocketing the cash.

Since Sarkozy's July 28 announcement of a crackdown, police have dismantled dozens of illegally installed Gypsy camps, checked the situations of each inhabitant and prepared to whisk them to their Romanian homeland.

Nearly 100 Gypsies were sent to Romania on two flights Thursday,Two flights left for Romania on Thursday. Similar flights were expected later this month and into September.

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John Randle

John Anthony Randle,

(born December 12, 1967 in Mumford, Texas) played defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. On February 6, 2010 he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Born in Mumford, Texas, Randle was raised poor, and worked odd jobs when he was young. His brother Ervin Randle played as a linebacker for eight years.




Randle played high school football in Hearne, Texas. He started his college playing career at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, before transferring to Texas A&I University–Kingsville. He currently lives in Medina, Minnesota with his wife and children.

Randle went undrafted; he tried out for his brother's team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but was thought to be too small, and was not signed to a contract. The 6'1" 287-Lbs defensive linemen was picked up by the Vikings during training camp, playing his first season in 1990. He went to his first Pro Bowl in 1993 after recording 11.5 sacks, and was quickly becoming one of the dominant defensive tackles of his era. Once Henry Thomas left the Vikings, Randle increased his training regimen, and became well known for his disarming on-field heckling of opposing players. Randle would record double digit sacks during eight different seasons, including a career-high and league-leading 15.5 sacks in 1997. He had an ongoing rivalry with Packers quarterback Brett Favre, whom he sacked more than any other quarterback; Favre said that Randle was the toughest defensive player he faced and "on artificial turf he's unblockable". To play off the rivalry with Brett Favre, Randle starred in a commercial which featured himself sewing a miniature version of Favre's #4 jersey which he put on a live chicken. The commercial then showed Randle chasing the chicken around what was supposed to be Randle's backyard and ended with Randle cooking chicken on his BBQ, leading to fierce protests from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Like fellow Minnesota Viking Chris Hovan, Randle was known for eccentric face painting as well as trash talking on the field.

At the end of the 2000 season, Randle signed with the Seattle Seahawks, and retired in March 2004. He had planned to retire a year earlier, but Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren convinced him to stay one more year.

Randle left the NFL tied with Richard Dent for 5th in number of career sacks, and his 137.5 career sacks is the most by a defensive tackle in NFL history. Over his career he was named to seven Pro Bowl squads. He was named All Tackle Machine of 1999 by Tackle The Magazine.

Randle was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and inducted into the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor in 2008. He was eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame starting in 2009, and was elected in his second year of eligibility in 2010.

(source:wikipedia)

Floyd Little

Floyd Douglas Little,

(born July 4, 1942 in New Haven, Connecticut) is a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, and was a three-time American football All-American running back at Syracuse University, following in the footsteps of many great running backs at Syracuse such as Jim Brown and Ernie Davis. In 1967 Floyd Little was the 6th selection of the first common AFL-NFL draft. He was the first ever first-round draft pick to sign with the American Football League's Denver Broncos where he was known simply as "The Franchise" for saving the team from certain relocation by forcing the expansion of Mile High Stadium and generating a string of sellouts that lasts today.

Little led Professional Football in rushing for the six-year period from 1968 to 1973. He retired as the 7th leading rusher in Professional Football history with 6,323 yards rushing and 54 touchdowns.

Legend has it that he was "fired" by coach Lou Saban after a fumble that led to a late-game lead for the Buffalo Bills in 1968. Little, after refusing to leave the huddle, asked QB Marlin Briscoe to "throw the ball as far as you can and I'll catch it." Briscoe threw it, Little caught it, and the Broncos kicked a winning field goal.

Little became a charter member of the Broncos' Ring of Fame in 1984; he was the first Bronco to win the rushing title in the new AFC in 1970, with 901 yards; the following year he became the first Bronco to eclipse 1,000 yards, gaining 1,133, to lead the entire NFL. He was an American Football League All-Star in 1968, named first-team "All-AFL" in 1969, and made the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl in 1970, 1971 and 1973. At just 5'10" and 195 pounds, Little was a pioneer who became the smallest back to lead the league in rushing since before World War II. He was as versatile as he was exciting. He led the league in combined yards in 1967 & 68 and was the only player to return punts for TDs in both seasons. During his prime, 1968–73, he led the NFL in both yards Rushing and Yards from Scrimmage (rushing and receiving). Little was voted "Running Back of the year" in 1972 by the Professional Football Writers of America, and was 1 of just 7 players to total more than 100 yards (104) per game. Incredibly, despite spending most of his career as the lone offensive threat on a losing team, he was one of the most explosive offensive threats of his time.

Despite retiring as the 7th leading rusher in Pro Football history, Little had not yet been admitted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while the first six were in the Hall of Fame. This was typical of players who played or started their careers in the old American Football League, which to this day is still some what under-represented in the Hall of Fame. In the summer of 2009, Little was nominated and became a finalist for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was finally rewarded for his career in Professional Football and was voted in on February 6, 2010, his induction took place in Canton, OH on August 7, 2010. Little was the first Bronco to have his jersey number "44" officially retired.

Little also coached at the University of California, Santa Barbara, when the university briefly reinstated NCAA football in the mid-eighties.

He briefly served as a Football analyst for NBC in the late 1970s, and was featured as a contestant on the Richard Karn era of Family Feud in the mid-2000's.

Little is a member of The Pigskin Club Of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll. In 1983 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Little formerly owned automobile dealerships in Denver, the Seattle area and Santa Barbara, though he is said to now be retired.

He was portrayed in the 2008 Ernie Davis biopic The Express by Chadwick Boseman.

Inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame alongside Floyd on August 7, 2010 are Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, John Randle, and Dick LeBeau.

Statistics

Year	Team	Games	Rushing				Receiving
			Attempts	Yards	Y/A	TDs	Rec	Yards	Y/R	TDs
1967	Denver Broncos	13	130	381	2.9	1	7	11	1.6	0
1968	Denver Broncos	11	158	584	3.7	3	19	331	17.4	1
1969	Denver Broncos	9	146	729	5.0	6	19	218	11.5	1
1970	Denver Broncos	14	209	901	4.3	3	17	161	9.5	0
1971	Denver Broncos	13	284	1133	4.0	6	26	255	9.8	0
1972	Denver Broncos	14	216	859	4.0	9	28	367	13.1	4
1973	Denver Broncos	14	256	979	3.8	12	41	423	10.3	1
1974	Denver Broncos	14	117	312	2.7	1	29	344	11.9	0
1975	Denver Broncos	14	125	445	3.6	2	29	308	10.6	2
Career	Denver Broncos	117	1641	6323	3.9	43	215	2418	11.2	9

(source:wikipedia)