The Journal News from Hamilton, Ohio • 25

www.journal-news.com Tuesday, July 3, 2007 Page D1 Life Area soldier giving help to students living in Iraq Matt Roche ready for college, or college ready for Matt Roche. said he needed a his mother Marti Boothe said. wanted to do something that would make him Added his stepfather, Darryl Boothe: said, got to So Roche put down his books, at least temporarily, and joined the U.S. Army. Roche, a 2002 Fenwick High School graduate, attended Bowling Green State University for two years, before switching from student to soldier.

Roche, though, get his mind off students, not the ones at BG, but those children in Iraq. In an e-mail to his parents, Roche said U.S. troops were working in a neighborhood lled with several elementary and high schools. He said the students wear uniforms to school, and most of them wave and give as the American soldiers drive by. The soldiers sometimes throw the children candy or hand out bottled water.

Roche, who was deployed to Iraq on March 12, told his parents that donating school supplies would be a great way to with the students. Members of the Knights of Columbus, students at Fenwick and area businesses exceeded exceptions by donating more than 60 boxes lled with school supplies. They were mailed last month, and Roche rmed he received them eight days later. Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, but their differences aside for the good of the soldiers. thought people would take their hard views against the war out on the Darryl Boothe said.

Then he added: was His mother said: shows that people Having a son ghting in Iraq where it seems American soldiers are killed almost daily has re-enforced the faith of the Boothe family. a parent, you have to believe God or a higher power, to be politically correct will take care of your Darryl Boothe said. Marti Boothe said she has and bad when she worries about the dangers her son faces. On those down days, like when the lead news story reports another killing, Marti said, she inevitably receives an e-mail or phone call from her son. takes care of me that she said.

gets me a message, comforts me, some Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or RICK MCCRABB TUESDAYS WITH RICK Fenwick High School graduate Matt Roche, now serving with the U.S. Army, is surrounded by Iraqi children. Contributed photo Teddy and Sissy are Yorki- mos, a mix of Yorkshire Terrier and American Eskimo. The brother and sister pair live on a minifarm near Gratis with Mary and Darrell Shields. are our babies and our best friends as well as our alarm clocks in the the couple wrote.

Share your perfect pet Each week, feature a local animal as our Pet of the Week in the newspaper and hundreds more online. Post your photos at 513pets.com, or on our newspaper Web site at www.middletownjournal.com Please include your name, the name and your city. If you do not have computer access, pet photos may be mailed to: Pets, 228 Court Hamilton, OH 45042. When mailing photos, please include a daytime phone number and an address. Pets of the week Teddy and Sissy make themselves comfortable at home.

Ever taken a foray into the wizarding world? If you have ever dressed up like Harry Potter, Hagrid, Dumbledore or any of the other denizens of Hogwarts, your chance to win a copy of Potter and the Deathly Upload your photos to by 4 p.m. July 12. select nalists and let readers vote for the winner, which will be announced July 20. BLOGGING, POSTING, EXPERT ADVICE, NEWS, EVENTS, ACTIVITIES MORE! Win the nal book in series 513Pets.com Network with other pet enthusiasts in the area on this new Web site. toys of the 1980s morph into high-priced collectibles and a $150-million full-length lm Optimus Prime a complex creature among the good guys.

Dreamworks photo By Dave Larsen Staff Writer fans have Ronald Reagan to thank. Under then-President Reagan, the Federal Communications Commission in 1984 eliminated commercial guidelines for television, allowing for program- length commercials such as and of the among others. were a direct result of Ronald deregulation of said Mark Bellomo author of Iden- cation and Price why we had all these licensed collectible Transformers toys released between 1984 and 1990 now command a fortune among collectors, especially if in mint condition and in their original packaging, Bellomo said. character called Soundwave back in or when he was released, I think he probably sold for Bellomo said. found a mint, in factory-sealed box Soundwave on eBay that was sold for The live-action movie that opens today in theaters will boost fan enthusiasm and prices.

The highly anticipated, $150-million action lm is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. going be a frenzy on eBay for a month or Bellomo said. of the prices will stay up there, particularly for the rarer pieces. giant robots that transform into cars and planes. What kid think Transformers were born in the early 1980s when Hasbro secured the rights to several lines of Japanese toys that unfolded like Cubes from familiar vehicles to robot action gures.

Transformers toy line was launched in 1984, along with an animated television series and a Marvel Comics four-issue comic book series. Marvel writers Jim Shooter and Dennis developed the basic back story behind the toy line, cartoons, comics and a 1986 animated feature. Transformers are sentient robots from Cybertron, a planet of machine life. Two opposing factions, the heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons, bring their civil war to Earth after a failed coup attempt by the Decepticons. For the most part, Autobots were cars in warm colors, while Decepticons were planes in cool colors.

In the rst year, Transformers made $100 million, according to Wired magazine. Within eight years, the toy line generated $1 billion in sales. a child, Transformers were secret Bellomo said. you could have 18 Transformers in your toy room and your dad would walk in and pick one up, and he would have no idea how to transform that thing. But you could do it in a Transformers toys continue to be manufactured and collected today.

In addition to the live-action lm, a new animated series will premiere in early 2008 on Cartoon Network. not 10-year-olds that are buying this stuff exclusively Bellomo said. looking at 25- to 40-year-old guys who have a disposable income of an extra $500 a month. So not afraid to pay $500 for a rare action gure. what astonishes Bellomo, 35, is a professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz and the gure columnist for Toy Shop magazine.

He also is the author of Guide to G.I. Joe and Figure Field Guide: Values and own about 90,000 comics and probably another 30,000 action Bellomo said. The more than 300 Generation One Transformers featured in book, published in May, are from his collection. Collectible toys such as Transformers are a touchstone and a Bellomo said. think going back and opening up one of these toys from your childhood actually brings you back to the time when you enjoyed that sort of Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or STAFF MA TT MCCALL SLUG: ddn070307lifetransformersmm EPS: Database, archive it SIZE: 2 col.

by 1980s form Movie mode Optimus PrimeFreightliner truckPeterbilt truck Bumblebee Volkswagon BeetleChevrolet Camar JazzPorsche 935 TurboPontiac Solstic IronhideNissan mini-vanGMC Topkick pick-up truck RatchetNissan ambulanceHummer H2 1980s form Movie mode Megatron Walther P-38 pistolExtraterrestrial jet StarscreamF-15 Eagle jetF-22 Raptor jet helicopterSikorsky MH-53 helicopter BrawlMilitary tankM1 Abrams tank BarricadeRace carFord Mustang police cruiser Frenz Cassette tapeCD boom bo BonecrusherBulldozerBuffalo mine-protected vehicle ScorponokMechanical scorpionMechanical scorpion appearing in the live-action feature film, their original vehicular form and their movie alternate mode Formerly Vor te Robots in Disguise See lm review on Page D4.