James Gibson

James Gibson, 90, a former New York state appellate judge who wrote the decision validating the use of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Gibson was an associate justice of the state Appellate Division in 1964 when he wrote his decision defending the religious reference. The ruling was affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the case. Gibson was elected to the state Supreme Court, a trial-level court, in 1952.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, bigger is still often mistaken for better in the theater. One would have thought that the colossal debacle known as "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," which finally had its official opening in June, would have settled the matter, but the show continues to draw crowds even after all the bad press and withering pans. Still, this season is memorable less for its grandiose spectacles than for its smaller offbeat offerings, of which there has been an unusual bounty.

The boy, 11 years old, slams a shell into a double-barrel 12-gauge, swivels, and shoots from the hip. Out in Lytle Creek wash, a battered plastic milk jug jolts and skitters. Before the chalky dust has settled, the boy reloads and fires again. And again. Despite the shotgun's roar, his pink-cheeked face remains a blank slate of sang-froid.

Susie Potts Gibson, the youngest of three U.S. women verified to be 115, died Thursday, according to Nancy Paetz, a granddaughter. Gibson died of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Tuscumbia, Ala., where she was a resident from about 106, Paetz said. For many years before that, Gibson lived alone in the house that had been her home for about 80 years. She died three days after another 115-year-old woman, Bettie Wilson, died in New Albany, Miss.

Susie Potts Gibson, the youngest of three U.S. women verified to be 115, died Thursday, according to Nancy Paetz, a granddaughter. Gibson died of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Tuscumbia, Ala., where she was a resident from about 106, Paetz said. For many years before that, Gibson lived alone in the house that had been her home for about 80 years. She died three days after another 115-year-old woman, Bettie Wilson, died in New Albany, Miss.

For James Gibson, a black college dropout in the 1950s, the future seemed dreary. Gibson, living here in what was an outpost of the Jim Crow South, saw few opportunities besides hard, monotonous work on the railroad, or picking oranges and grapefruit. Then a friend told him of a lucrative, if improbable, alternative to menial labor. Paint a Florida outdoor scene, then sell it, the friend told Gibson. It was advice -- and it was a dare.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, bigger is still often mistaken for better in the theater. One would have thought that the colossal debacle known as "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," which finally had its official opening in June, would have settled the matter, but the show continues to draw crowds even after all the bad press and withering pans. Still, this season is memorable less for its grandiose spectacles than for its smaller offbeat offerings, of which there has been an unusual bounty.

We speak of military culture, as we do of military justice or music, only warily. Neither warfare's brute force nor its daunting precision seems to qualify it for such elevation. Yet we as a nation are fascinated by it. For one thing, America is good at making war--methodically, reassuringly (or for some, frighteningly) good at it. Newsweek correspondent Douglas Waller is among the reassured. He has written an up-to-date, strikingly well-informed recent history of the nation's increasingly essential "secret soldiers," its commandos.

U.S. International made five errors, which contributed to the Gulls' 8-2 loss to host Cal Poly Pomona. James Gibson hit a home run in the fifth inning for USIU (0-2). Cal Poly is 1-1.

La Jolla Playhouse will premiere "Jersey Boys," a musical about the rock 'n' roll group the Four Seasons, Oct. 10 to Nov. 14, in a production to be staged by the playhouse's artistic director, Des McAnuff. Former Four Seasons songwriter and member Bob Gaudio is writing the score, which will include Four Seasons hits. The book is by Marshall Brickman, a former screenwriting collaborator with Woody Allen, and Rick Elice.

For James Gibson, a black college dropout in the 1950s, the future seemed dreary. Gibson, living here in what was an outpost of the Jim Crow South, saw few opportunities besides hard, monotonous work on the railroad, or picking oranges and grapefruit. Then a friend told him of a lucrative, if improbable, alternative to menial labor. Paint a Florida outdoor scene, then sell it, the friend told Gibson. It was advice -- and it was a dare.

The boy, 11 years old, slams a shell into a double-barrel 12-gauge, swivels, and shoots from the hip. Out in Lytle Creek wash, a battered plastic milk jug jolts and skitters. Before the chalky dust has settled, the boy reloads and fires again. And again. Despite the shotgun's roar, his pink-cheeked face remains a blank slate of sang-froid.

We speak of military culture, as we do of military justice or music, only warily. Neither warfare's brute force nor its daunting precision seems to qualify it for such elevation. Yet we as a nation are fascinated by it. For one thing, America is good at making war--methodically, reassuringly (or for some, frighteningly) good at it. Newsweek correspondent Douglas Waller is among the reassured. He has written an up-to-date, strikingly well-informed recent history of the nation's increasingly essential "secret soldiers," its commandos.

James Gibson, 90, a former New York state appellate judge who wrote the decision validating the use of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Gibson was an associate justice of the state Appellate Division in 1964 when he wrote his decision defending the religious reference. The ruling was affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the case. Gibson was elected to the state Supreme Court, a trial-level court, in 1952.

Ernest Henry James Gibson, 102, honored in recent years as the last surviving member of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, died Jan. 20 in Comox on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, of pneumonia and complications from a broken pelvis. Gibson joined the force in 1919, one year before it merged with the Dominion Police to become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He served in the Port Arthur-Fort William area, now Thunder Bay, Ontario, for more than three years.

The discovery of seven skeletons in a rugged forest known as Executioner's Drop has set off the biggest hunt for a killer in Australian history. All seven victims are believed to have been young hitchhikers; the first two were reported missing three years ago. The investigation was stepped up Thursday when police found two bodies, believed to be those of German backpackers, half a mile from where the remains of German tourist Simone Schmidl were discovered three days before.