Word: towering
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There are many haunting questions about Berg and his odyssey in Iraq, which came to a tragic close last week when his body was found and a video of his horrific execution was circulated on the Internet. Why was this communications-tower repairman imprisoned for 13 days this spring in the city of Mosul--and who had custody of him there? After his release, why did he refuse offers of help to get home? And perhaps the biggest mystery of all: How did a former Boy Scout, who had spent time doing humanitarian work in Africa, stumble into the path...
Berg, who was 26 when he died, was one of a small number of free-lancers in Baghdad hoping to make a buck and, his family recalled, do some good. A "tower guy," he figured he could earn as much as $20,000 a month repairing antennas in Iraq, a job that sometimes involved climbing hundreds of feet of latticework in 120° heat, according to business consultant and fellow free-lancer Andy Duke, who says he drank some beers with Berg the night before he disappeared...
Berg embarked on his first trip to Baghdad in December. Friends say he assumed he could find work the same way he had launched his tower-repair shop in a Philadelphia suburb: by cold-calling potential clients and sweet-talking his way into assignments. He came home in February to West Chester, Pa., with some promising leads as well as rich tales of his adventures in the war-scarred land. "He had a comfort level in Iraq that is beyond our comprehension," says colleague Dave Skalish, a technical supervisor at a Philadelphia radio station...
...very little signage," says Renier Milan, the hotel's general manager. "Unless you're part of the In crowd, you won't know it's there." The just-opened Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, also caters to customers who demand the best, with its Lone Star Tower, a separate entity from two more moderately priced sections. In Bangkok, the Pan Pacific is one of several hotels that offer executive-level floors as "hotels within hotels." The 83 rooms on the Pacific Floor are designed to create a "bubble of luxury" within the property...
...long check-in desk, though, a quieter enclave awaits. There, in a hallway accented with deep cherrywood and mirrored walls, three elevators whisk guests to a more intimate check-in area on the 10th floor of the resort's newest addition: the $275 million, 12-story Venezia hotel tower, opened last June and billed as "an oasis of tranquility." As incongruous as it sounds for a Vegas hotel, the Venezia's elegant lobby--framed by a private garden--is downright peaceful...