Whitedeercafe

Inda Godda Da Vinci

2012-01-20T06:20:00.000-08:00

Da Vinci Rock Man

The discovery of a series of previously unknown drawings by Leonardo da Vinci have revealed that the famed artist/inventor/scientist was even more ahead of his time than anyone realized.

"We knew that da Vinci conceived ideas vastly ahead of his own time, including helicopters, tanks, calculators, solar power, and even the theory of plate tectonics," said da Vinci biographer Irwin Nicholl. "But who knew that list also included cellular phones, hair-metal rock ballads and the Rotisserie Barbeque Platinum 5000 series?"

The drawing titled "Vitruvian Rock Man" appears to be the crown jewel of the bunch.

http://www.headlineshirts.net/da-vinci-rock-man.html?gclid=CLnxo4Tl3q0CFUHc4Aoden7XmQ

Laughing Jesus

2012-01-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

The White Dog of the Ojibway Pays a Visit

2012-01-15T15:27:00.001-08:00

The White Dog of the Ojibway Pays a Visit

A women stood at the edge of the clearing pouring grain from one bark platter to another, and the loose chaff drifted off on the slight wind like smoke.

The old dog saw nothing of this, but his ear and nose supplied all that he needed to know; he could contain himself no longer and picked his way carefully own the hillside, for his shoulder still pained him. Halfway down he sneezed violently in an eddy of chaff. One of the boys by the fire looked up at the sound, his hands closing on a stone, but the women nearby spoke sharply, and he waited, watching intently.

The old dog limped out of the shadows and into the ring of firelight, confident, friendly, and sure of his welcome; his tail wagging his whole stern ingratiatingly, ears and limps laid back in his nightmarish grimace. There was a stunned silence – broken by a wail of terror from the smaller boy, who flung himself at his mother – and then a quick excited chatter from the Indians.

The old dog was rather offended and uncertain for a moment, but he made hopefully for the nearest boy, who retreated, nervously clutching his stone. But again the women rebuked her son, and at the sharpness of her tone the old dog stopped, crestfallen.

She laid down her basket then, and walked quickly across the ring of the firelight, stopping down to look more closely. She spoke some soft words of reassurance, then patted his head gently and smiled at him. The old dog leaned against her and whipped his tail against her black stockings, happy to be in contact with a human being again. She crouched down beside him to run her fingers lightly over his ears and back, and when he licked her fact appreciatively, she laughed.

At this, the two little boys drew nearer to the dog and the rest of the band gathered around. Soon the old dog was where he most loved to be – the center of attention among some human beings. He made the most of it and played to an appreciative audience; when one of the men tossed him a chunk of meat he sat up painfully on his hindquarters and begged for more, waving one paw in the air. This sent the Indians into paroxysms of laughter, and he had to repeat his performance time and time again, until he was tired and lay down, panting but happy.

The Indian women stroked him gently in reward, then ladled some of the meat from the pot onto the grass. The old dog limped towards it, but before he ate he looked up in the direction of the hillside where he had left his two companions.

A small stone rebounded from rock to rock, then rolled into the sudden silence that followed.

When a long-legged, blue-eyed cat appeared out of the darkness, paused, then filled the clearing with a strident plaintive voice before walking up to the dog and calmly taking a piece of meat from him, the Indians laughed until they were speechless and hiccupping. The two little boys rolled on the ground, kicking their heals in an abandonment of the mirth, while the cat chewed his meat unmoved; but this was the kind of behavior the bull terrier understood, and he joined in the fun. But he rolled so enthusiastically that the wounds reopened: when he got to his feet again his white coat was stained with blood.

All this time the young dog crouched on the hillside, motionless and watchful, although every driving, urgent nerve in his body fretted and strained at the delay. He watched the cat, well-fed and content, curl himself on the lap of one of the sleepy children by the fire; he heard the faint note of derision in some of the Indians’ voices as a little, bent, ancient crone addressed them in earnest and impassioned tones before hobbling over to the dog to examine his shoulder as he lay peacefully before the fire. She threw some cattails roots into a boiling pot of water, soaked some moss in the liquid, and pressed it against the dark gashes. The old dog did not move; only his tail beat slowly. When she had finished, she scooped some more meat onto a piece of birch bark and setit on the grass before the dog; and the silent watcher above licked his lips and sat up, but still he did not move from his place.

But when the fires began to burn low and the Indians made preparations for the night, and still his companions showed no signs of moving, the young dog grew restless. He skirted the camp, moving like a shadow throught he trees on the hill behind, until he came out upon the lake’s sure a quarter of a mile upwind of the camp. Then he barked sharply and imperatively several times.

The effect was like an alarm bell on the other two. The cat sprang from the arms of the sleepy little Indian boy and ran towards the old dog, who was already on his feet, blinking and peering around rather confusedly. The cat gave a guttural yowl, then deliberately ran ahead, looking back as he paused beyond the range of the firelight. The old dog shook himself resignedly and walked slowly after – reluctant to leave the warmth of the fire. The Indians watched impassively and silently and made no move to stop him. Only the women, who had first befriended him called out softly, in the tongue of her people, a farewell to the traveler.

The dog halted at the treeline beside the cat and looked back, but the commanding, summoning bark was heard again, and together the two passed out of sight and into the blackness of the night.

The night they became immortal, had they known or cared, for the ancient women had recognized the dog at once by his color and companion: he was the White Dog of the Ojibways, the virtuous White Dog of Omen, whose appearance heralds either disaster or good fortune. The Spirits had sent him, hungry and wounded to test tribal hospitality; and for benevolent proof to the skeptical they had chose a cat as his companion – for what mortal dog would suffer a cat to rob him of his meat? He had been made welcome, fed and succored: the omen would prove fortunate.

One stop on The Incredible Journey By Sheila Burnford

The Devil Went Down to the Jersey Pines

2012-01-10T02:58:00.001-08:00

The Piney's "Air Tune"

Similar folk legends appear in widely divergent areas and cultures, as is apparent in the song, “The Devil went Down to Georgia,” by the Charlie Daniels Band.

As a southern-country rock group, the Charlie Daniels Band has created a popular song that seems to appeal to people in a high state of inebriation.

The song is especially appropriate for dancing in a wild frenzy, with a story line that leads to extended fiddle solos.

It begins, “The devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin’ for a soul to steal…He was willin’ to make a deal.”

With a chorus that goes, “Fire on the mountain, run boys run – the Devil’s in the house of the rising sun,” which leads into the fiddle solos.

The story line of the song is what’s interesting – a fiddler and the devil compete in a fiddle contest. The musical duel that ensues ends with the devil losing out to a better musician.

The song takes on a sociological tone when compared to the story of the “Air Tune” of the Jersey Pineys as reported in John McPhees’s “The Pine Barrens” (Ballentine Books, 1967).

McPhee wrote: “Pineys once made violins out of red maple from the swamps. Sam Giberson (1808-1884), known throughout the pines as Fiddler Sammy Buck, one night told a group of people that he thought he could beat any competitor both as a fiddler and as a dancer.” Buck went on to claim that, “I think that I could beat the Devil.”

As the story goes, Giberson met the Devil on the way home that night. McPhee relates the story that, “The Devil told him to play his violin, and while Giberson played the Devil danced. Then the Devil played the violin while Giberson danced….but the Devil played the violin more sweetly. Giberson conceded defeat. The Devili then said that he was going to take Giberson to hell unless he could play a tune that the Devil had never heard.”

“Out of the air, by Giberson’s account, a tune came to him – a beautiful theme that neither Giberson nor the Devil had ever heard. The Devil let him go. That is what Giberson told people on the following day and for the rest of his life. The tune is known in the Pine Barrens as Sammy Giberson’s Air Tune. No one, of course, knows how it goes, but the Air Tune is there, everywhere, just beyond hearing.”

McPhee goes on to note that, “Giberson drank a lot, like many of the fiddlers of his time,” which is probably the one similar strain that runs through the backwoods of Georgia and the Jersey Pines.

Rudolph "Rudy" Plappert Nazi Submariner

2011-12-27T17:06:00.001-08:00

Rudolph "Rudy" Plappert Nazi Submariner
Rudy Plappert – German Submariner – Built Dolphin Motel in Strathmere

By William Kelly
(Originally published in the Atlantic City Sun newspaper, May, 1981)

From the moment he first saw the soft white sands of Whale Beach in Strathmere, Rudolph Plappert knew he wanted to live there.

His first visit was during the lazy, expectant, early days of World War II. The beach, the salt air, the fresh fish, were all special things to a man at war.

And Plappert’s perspective was unique because his first view of Cape May’s coast was though the periscope of his submarine.

As a German U-boat officer assigned to patrol America’s east coast waterway, Plappert helped keep Allied cargo and war ships pinned into the harbors. In the early days of the war, the battle of the Atlantic was fierce, with U-Boats taking their toll and recording their victories in the amount of tonnage sunk.

But the tides of war changed, and the silent and swift U-Boats became vulnerable. Like the Africa Corps and the Luftewaffa before them, the wolfpacks became lone wolves. With the aid of radar, and the ultra secret code breakers, the hunter became the hunted, and the seawolves became hot, sweaty deathboxs.

For one last time the periscope broke the water’s surface off Sea Isle City. Plappert threw open the iron hatch and took a breath of fresh air. He climbed the bridge, and while other men scampered around the deck he scanned the horizon with binoculars.

A small fishing boat that bobbed up and down with swells drifted closer. The fishermen waved, and as they drew closer, one of them threw a bag of fresh lobsters onto the deck of the sub. Plappert waved, smiled and yelled a polite, “danka.” Although the Italian-American fishermen didn’t understand his German pledge, Plappert also promised that he would one day return.

Rudolph “Ruddy” Plappert arrived in Sea Isle City in 1958 with his wife Englebert. He purchased some beachfront property near the end of the island in Strathmere and built the Dolphin Motel on the beach. The storm of ’62 wiped them out temporarily, and they rebuilt the motel across the street from the beach where it stands today.

“Rudy,” as he became known to the townspeople, was a man about town. A very well-liked, easy going gentleman, who was involved in civic affairs, Rudy lived out his life in an unobtrusive manner.

Than a small newspaper item mentioned that a former U-Boat commander who had patrolled the Jersey coast was living in Sea Isle. Ann and Charles Manolou, who purchased the Dolphin Motel from Rudy in 1976, began to receive phone calls from inquisitive reporters, including one from the National Enquirer. They all wanted to know about Rudy.

Today (1981), Charles is getting the Dolphin ready for the summer season, planting bushes by the driveway and doing the yearly repair work. “There’s not much to go on,” he said. “Rudy died of a heart attack shortly after we purchased the place and his wife is now living in Florida.”

“He was a very tall, broad shouldered fellow. A very husky strong man, who loved sailing his catamaran off the beach. Both him and his wife were quiet people who shunned publicity, but he was well known in town, and used to stop in Braca’s Café occasionally for a drink.”

Down at Braca’s Kim Giberson is also preparing for the oncoming season, loading up his stockroom. Although his Uncle Lou Braca knew Rudy better, Kim remembered the tall man who drank at the bar and talked in a deep and distinct German accent.

“He even looked German,” Kim said, “and used to run his two doberman pincher dogs along the beach.”

The bar is different now that when Plappert haunted the place. The giant mirror is still on the wall, but it doesn’t reflect the old seedy, shot and beer joint it used to. Kim cleaned up the place, and made it a refined restaurant.

Plappert would sit at the bar with a few of his friends, including Mayor Dominic Raffa and Commissioner Bill Kehner. Raffa, who was recently reelected to office, recalls Rudy drinking vodka on the rocks, but only infrequently did he tell about his war-time escapades.

“He said he liked the pretty beaches, and decided during the war that this is where he wanted to live,” recalled Raffa.

Kim recalls that besides the view, Plappert liked the people.

“When he surfaced off shore, he’d occasionally come across some rum runners and fishermen who’d wave at him like the fighter pilots of World War I. Near the end of the war some of the fishermen even gave him lobsters as a token of friendship. I think that’s really why he came back here,” he said.

Plappert’s gone now but the things that attracted him to the small seaside village are still there – the salt air, the sandy beach, the fresh fish and the friendly people, some of whom will always remember the U-Boat officer, their one-time enemy who became their neighbor and friend.

Weedman Busted (again) and Shut Down By Feds

2011-12-25T18:06:00.001-08:00

PW Exclusive: DEA Takes Down N.J. Weedman's California Pot Operation
By Michael Alan Goldberg

Posted Dec. 23, 2011

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/DEA-Takes-Down-Ed-Forchion-NJ-Weedman-California-Marijuana-Operation.html?page=2&comments=1&showAll=

The long, strange saga of Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion—marijuana folk hero and New Jersey weed activist-turned-California weed capitalist—has taken a turn for the worse.

On Tuesday, Dec. 13, Forchion was driving in Los Angeles on his way to sign a lease for a second location for his Liberty Bell Temple—the popular Hollywood Boulevard pot dispensary he's operated for more than three years—when he was pulled over by an LAPD squad car. Within a few moments, agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency joined in on the stop. Forchion was put in handcuffs and informed that the DEA was commencing a raid of the Liberty Bell Temple—as well as Forchion's apartment and his marijuana grow operation, located inside a nondescript Los Angeles warehouse—on suspicion of violating federal drug laws.

While California law allows medicinal marijuana dispensaries and related growing facilities (and Forchion was licensed by the state to operate such facilities), federal laws that prohibit such operations supercede state law, and the Obama administration has initiated a crackdown on medical marijuana facilities in California this year.

Federal authorities seized all of the marijuana, money, computers, phones, security cameras and paperwork at the Liberty Bell Temple and dismantled the entire shop; turned his apartment upside down and took more computers, cameras, phones, videotapes and paperwork; and removed 600 marijuana plants from Forchion's grow facility, in the process smashing lights and other grow equipment and seizing four dogs belonging to Forchion and sending them to the pound. The feds also froze his bank accounts. Forchion was detained for about five hours and then released without being charged.

"They told me I was lucky I didn't have 1,000 plants or I would've gotten an automatic federal charge, and I'd probably be sitting in jail for two years waiting for trial," says Forchion, calling PW on his girlfriend's phone from his trashed apartment, where he returned yesterday after "going off the grid" for a week following the raid.

Still, Forchion believes it's "just a matter of time" before he's arrested on federal charges. According to DEA marijuana trafficking penalties, a first-time offender convicted of possessing 1,000 plants is hit with a mandatory sentence of no less than 10 years in prison; a conviction on possession of 100 to 999 plants means a minimum of five years.
Forchion says that his whole marijuana operation—in which he says he'd invested more than $300,000 over the past three years—has gone up in smoke, and that as of last night he was down to his last 10 bucks after splurging on a Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's yesterday morning.

"I came here from Jersey [four years ago] with 500 bucks in my pocket and a promise from my mom that if I failed, she'd buy a plane ticket to come back," says Forchion, whose weed-fueled exploits over the last 15 years—as detailed in a PW cover story in October—earned him the title of "Superhero of the Potheads."

"I feel like I was doing really well," he sighs.

Last night, he was trying to come up with the $500 necessary to get his four dogs out of the pound. His long-running website, NJWeedman.com, had been down since the raid, replaced by a message from his service provider saying the site was “suspended," but it was back up as of yesterday afternoon—Forchion didn't know if the DEA had something to do with that. Meanwhile, he says, the 17 people he employed at the Liberty Bell Temple and grow site are now out of work—"right before Christmas, too"—but that none were detained because he called the shop as he was being pulled over to warn them of the impending raid, and everyone immediately evacuated the premises.

Forchion says that DEA officers who detained him last week told him they'd had him under surveillance since early November. According to the federal search warrant obtained by PW, DEA agents received a tip in August from a confidential informant about the whereabouts of Forchion's grow operation, which Forchion insists he's kept a secret from everyone except his closest business associates.

"Someone ratted on me," says Forchion. "I guess I have a hater amongst my people or something."

But Forchion believes he—and not the many hundreds of medical marijuana operations that continue to operate freely in Los Angeles—was specifically targeted for the raid because authorities in New Jersey "sicced the government on me." According to the warrant, Burlington County Assistant District Attorney Michael Luciano—who's prosecuting Forchion on a marijuana possession with intent to distribute charge in a trial slated for April—had multiple conversations with the DEA in September and November discussing the N.J. case against Forchion. Luciano also told the DEA that Forchion may be facing additional charges for mailing small vials of marijuana to Luciano, Gov. Chris Christie and more than a dozen other N.J. officials between April and September of this year. Forchion says it was a stunt aimed at encouraging the recipients to "chill out" over weed laws.

Forchion claims DEA agents told him the raid was politically motivated. "They didn't hide it," says Forchion. "[A DEA agent] said that I apparently pissed off New Jersey state officials and they called the Justice Department. He said, 'You should just shut down, you should close down, that's what the politicians want, they want you to shut up. Are you going to shut up?' There was no secret to it."

Neither the DEA nor Luciano's office responded to phone calls seeking comment.
"It's the whole squeaky wheel thing—I guess I was too squeaky," says Forchion, who says he has no regrets about mailing weed to the governor and others. "I know what I'm gonna hear: 'Well, what did you expect?' And to be honest with you, that may have played a little role in this," he laughs.

"I did kind of push the line, and I got some pushback," he continues. "But I'm still the Weedman, you know? I mean, without trying to sound goofy, I do feel like I'm the Martin Luther King of marijuana."

Potential federal charges aside, Forchion's also concerned that he's so broke at the moment that he won't be able to afford a plane ticket back to New Jersey for a mandatory Jan. 3 pre-trial hearing for his April court date—if he misses that, he fears, a warrant for his arrest could be issued. "I'm sure Luciano is gonna think, 'This is great—he doesn't have the money to fly back and forth,'" says Forchion. "He knows this was a big disruption in my life."

And beyond the immediate mess he's in, Forchion has no idea what he's going to do moving forward. "The way my life was last week is over. I'm the Weedman. I never wanted to be called the Weedless Man, and right now that's what I appear to be. I can't go back to New Jersey. What am I gonna do, go back to driving a truck? Nobody's gonna hire me, and I don't have money to get my own truck back on the road."

"After what happened [last week] I thought, should I quietly disappear?" he continues. "And then I thought, no. I have some people going, 'You gonna open back up?' I want to, but I don't know. I've been shut down and knocked off my high horse. There's gonna be people who are like, 'You idiot, you did it to yourself.' But either way, I'm still gonna have my day in Burlington County court [in April] and I'm gonna win, and if the government comes after me I'm gonna beat them, too. I still want to be the Roe v. Wade of marijuana legalization. I do feel that that's my destiny."

South Jersey Soul Singer Howard Tate RIP

2011-12-07T12:20:00.001-08:00

Soul singer Howard Tate dies in Burlington City apartment at 72

http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/burlington/soul-singer-howard-tate-dies-in-burlington-city-apartment-at/article_fae773d2-2255-5889-b096-065596c59ea0.html

TRENTON — Soul singer Howard Tate has died in his Burlington City apartment a decade after a career resurrection that followed years of tragedy and obscurity.

A spokesman for the Burlington County Medical Examiner’s Office said Tate died of natural causes Friday at age 72.

The son of a Baptist preacher, Tate was born in Macon, Ga., and grew up in Philadelphia singing gospel songs. In 2004, in a feature story published by the Burlington County Times, he was living in a home along the Rancocas Creek in Southampton.

In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Tate had three top 20 R&B hits, including “Get It While You Can,” written by his longtime producer, Jerry Ragovoy, and made more famous by Janis Joplin.
But his own album sales suffered, and Tate claimed that he received almost no royalties from his music.

“I’d go out on the road and come back home to my wife, who would say, ‘You’re on the charts, you’re working 300 days a year, how come there’s no money?’ “ he recalled in the 2004 article.
Depressed and frustrated, Tate left the music scene, vowing to never return.

In the late 1970s, Tate’s daughter died in a fire, his marriage ended and, to ease the pain, he turned to alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. He wound up homeless, living on the streets of Philadelphia for about 10 years. Ragovoy believed he had died.

“I’ve been hit in the mouth with a brick, been on the scene with knives and guns,” Tate remembered. “I could have lost my life out there.”

In 1994, Tate said he found God and created a church to help the homeless and drug-addicted. He made his musical comeback after a fellow musician saw him in a grocery store in 2001.

His 2003 release, “Rediscovered,” again with Ragovoy producing, was nominated for a Grammy for best contemporary blues album. His last work of new material was “Blue Day” in 2008.

Rare White Dolphin

2011-12-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

White Dolphin photographed off coast of South America

Unlike the white deer of the Jersey Pines, the dolphin is an albino.

Biologists find albino among Brazil dolphins
By JULIANA BARBASSA

http://news.yahoo.com/biologists-albino-among-brazil-dolphins-210442987.html

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian biologists have found an extremely rare example of an albino dolphin among an endangered species that lives off the southern coast of South America.

The research group, based at Univille university in Santa Catarina, said Thursday that it was the first recorded instance of an albino in the pontoporia blainvillei species, a very shy type of dolphin that rarely jumps out of the water. It's known in Brazil as Toninha and in Argentina and Uruguay as the La Plata or Franciscana dolphin.

Camilla Meirelles Sartori, the lead biologist of Project Toninhas, said she first saw the white calf with pinkish fins at the end of October. Her group photographed him in early November.
"We were surprised, shocked," Sartori said. "It's very small, and the color is really different. We didn't know what it was at first."

Sartori said the baby was with an adult, probably its mother. The young live on their mother's milk until they are six months old and remain dependent on the adult until they're a year old.

The species is endangered. Its dolphins have long, thin snouts and get easily tangled in fishing nets. They can drown or die of stress if not quickly released, Sartori said.

Since Herman Melville created the albino whale Moby Dick in 1851, rare albino marine mammals have held a special fascination.

Albinism is the lack of melanin pigments in the body, giving an individual very light or white skin and hair. Little is known about the genetic predisposition in dolphins because it's so unusual.

Sartori said the rarity of the baby spotted by her group only highlights the need to preserve the Bay of Babitonga in the southern Brazil state of Santa Catarina, where this population of endangered dolphins lives.

"Albino animals generally have fewer chances of survival because they have greater chances of being caught by predators," Sartori said. "Here, in this bay, they don't have natural predators.

But there is a lot of environmental degradation from two ports, industrial and residential sewage, tourism. This is an another argument for its protection."

East \ West Jersey Map

2011-11-29T20:50:00.001-08:00

The Sign on North Lakeshore

2011-11-29T15:38:00.001-08:00

This is the road as it approaches Turtle Log Bridge. The sign was just before this bridge.

The Sign Read:

Let No Man Say And Say With Shame
That All Was Beauty Here
Before You Came

That was what the old wood sign read, posted on the polls in the little park in front of the bench on north lakeshore drive, just across the Lakeshore drive road from Jack Gillespie’s house on Mirror Lake in Browns Mills (NJ).

Jack’s a story himself, but he must have had to look at that sign every day, while I only saw it when I was taking a ride around the lake. I don’t know how long it was there but I remember reading the sign for the first time when I was a kid in the back seat during an after dinner pop sickle ride into town.

But it wasn’t there one day, and when somebody else mentioned it, we promised each other that we would have it replaced, as the two wood poles were still there, it was just the sign that was missing.

TT found an old photo of the sign and somebody posted it on the Facebook page – You must be from Browns Mills if you remember....the sign that isn’t there anymore.

Muscovy Ducks

2011-11-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

While I took this photo a few years ago, the same group of Muscovys that live near the first lagoon on South Lake Shore Drive in Browns Mills just had another brood - in late November.

Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) is a large duck which is native to Mexico and Central and South America. A small wild population reaches into the United States in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. There also are feral breeding populations in North America in and around public parks in nearly every state of the USA and in the Canadian provinces; feral populations also exist in Europe. Although the Muscovy Duck is a tropical bird, it adapts to icy and snowy conditions down to –12°C (10°F) and below without ill effects.[2][3] In general, "Barbary Duck" is the usual term for C. moschata in a culinary context.

All Muscovy Ducks have long claws on their feet and a wide flat tail. In the domestic drake (male), length is about 86 cm (34 in) and weight is 4.6–6.8 kg (10–15 lb), while the domestic hen (female) is much smaller, at 64 cm (25 in) in length and 2.7–3.6 kg (6.0–7.9 lb) in weight. Large domesticated males often weigh up to 8 kg (18 lb), and large domesticated females up to 5 kg (11 lb). One male of an Australian breed weighed about 10 kg (22 lb).[4]
The true wild Muscovy Duck, from which all domesticated Muscovys originated, is blackish, with large white wing patches. Length can range from 66 to 84 cm (26 to 33 in), wingspan from 137 to 152 cm (54 to 60 in) and weight from 1.1–4.1 kg (2.4–9.0 lb) in wild Muscovys. On the head, the wild male has short crest on the nape. The bill is black with a speckling of pale pink. A blackish or dark red knob can be seen at the bill base, and the bare skin of the face is similar to that in color. The eyes are yellowish-brown. The legs and webbed feet are blackish. The wild female is similar in plumage, but is also much smaller, and she has feathered face and lacks the prominent knob. The juvenile is duller overall, with little or no white on the upperwing.[5] Domesticated birds may look similar; most are dark brown or black mixed with white, particularly on the head.[6] Other colors such as lavender or all-white are also seen. Both sexes have a nude black-and-red or all-red face; the drake also has pronounced caruncles at the base of the bill and a low erectile crest of feathers.[3]
C. moschata ducklings are mostly yellow with buff-brown markings on the tail and wings. Some domesticated ducklings have a dark head and blue eyes, others a light brown crown and dark markings on their nape. They are agile and speedy precocial birds.
The drake has a low breathy call, and the hen a quiet trilling coo.
The karyotype of the Muscovy Duck is 2n=80, consisting of three pairs of macrochromosomes, 36 pairs of microchromosomes, and a pair of sex chromosomes. The two largest macrochromosome pairs are submetacentric, while all other chromosomes are acrocentric or (for the smallest microchromosomes) probably telocentric. The submetacentric chromosomes and the Z (female) chromosome show rather little constitutive heterochromatin (C bands), while the W chromosomes are at least two-thirds heterochromatin.[7]
Male Muscovy Ducks have spiralled penises which can become erect to 20 cm in one third of a second. Females have cloacas that spiral in the opposite direction to try to limit forced copulation by males.[8]

The term "Muscovy" means "from the Moscow region", but these ducks are neither native there nor were they introduced there before they became known in Western Europe. It is not quite clear how the term came about; it very likely originated between 1550 and 1600, but did not become widespread until somewhat later.

In one suggestion, it has been claimed that the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands traded these ducks to Europe occasionally after 1550;[9] this chartered company became eventually known as the Muscovy Company or "Muscovite Company" so the ducks might thus have come to be called "Muscovite Ducks" or "Muscovy Ducks" in keeping with the common practice of attaching the importer's name to the products they sold.[9] But while the Muscovite Company initiated vigorous trade with Russia, they hardly, if at all, traded produce from the Americas; thus they are unlikely to have traded C. moschata to a significant extent.

Alternatively – just as in the "turkey" bird (which is also from America), or the "guineafowl" (which are not limited to Guinea) – "Muscovy" might be simply a generic term for a hard-to-reach and exotic place, in reference to the singular appearance of these birds. This is evidenced by other names suggesting the species came from lands where it is not actually native, but from where much "outlandish" produce was imported at that time (see below). A more recent parallel is the "Persian" cat, which resembles cats from Greater Khorasan and Ankara, but was actually bred in England.[10]

Yet another view – not incompatible with either of those discussed above – connects the species with the Muisca, a Native American nation in today's Colombia. The duck is native to these lands too, and it is likely that it was kept by the Muisca as a domestic animal to some extent. It is conceivable that a term like "Muisca duck", hard to comprehend for the average European of those times, would be corrupted into something more familiar.
The Miskito Indians of the Miskito Coast in Nicaragua and Honduras relied heavily on this domestic species. The ducks may have been named after this region.

The species was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema Naturae as Anas moschata,[11] literally meaning "musk duck". His description only consists of a curt but entirely unequivocal [Anas] facie nuda papillosa ("A duck with a naked and carunculated face"), and his primary reference is his earlier work Fauna Svecica.[12] But Linnaeus refers also to older sources, and therein much information on the origin of the common name is found.
Conrad Gessner is given by Linnaeus as a source, but the Historiae animalium mentions the Muscovy Duck only in passing.[13] Ulisse Aldrovandi[14] discusses the species in detail, referring to the wild birds and its domestic breeds variously as anas cairina, anas indica or anas libyca – "Duck from Cairo", "Indian Duck" (in reference to the West Indies) or "Libyan Duck". But his anas indica (based, like Gessner's brief discussion, ultimately on the reports of Christopher Columbus's travels) also seems to have included another species,[15] perhaps a whistling-duck (Dendrocygna). Already however the species is tied to some more or less nondescript "exotic" locality – "Libya" could still refer to any place in Northern Africa at that time – where it did not natively occur. Francis Willughby[16] discusses "The Muscovy Duck" as anas moschata and expresses his belief that Aldrovandi's and Gessner's anas cairina, anas indica and anas libyca (which he calls "The Guiny Duck", adding another mistaken place of origin to the list) refer to the very same species. Finally, John Ray clears up much of the misunderstanding by providing a contemporary explanation for the bird's etymology:
"In English, it is called The Muscovy-Duck, though this is not transferred from Muscovia [the New Latin name of Muscovy], but from the rather strong musk odour it exudes."[17]
Linnaeus came to witness the birds' "gamey" aroma first-hand, as he attests in the Fauna Svecica and again in the travelogue of this 1746 Västergötland excursion.[18] Similarly, the Russia

name of this species, muskusnaya utka (Мускусная утка), means "musk duck" – without any reference to Moscow – as do the Bokmål moskusand, Dutch muskuseend, Finnish myskisorsa, French canard musqué, German Moschusente, Italian anatra muschiata, Spanish pato almizclado and Swedish myskand. In English however, Musk Duck refers to the Australian species Biziura lobata.

In some regions the name Barbary Duck is used for domesticated and "Muscovy Duck" for wild birds; in other places "Barbary Duck" refers specifically to the dressed carcass, while "Muscovy Duck" applies to living C. moschata, regardless of whether they are wild or domesticated. In general, "Barbary Duck" is the usual term for C. moschata in a culinary context.

This species was formerly placed into the paraphyletic "perching duck" assemblage, but subsequently moved to the dabbling duck subfamily (Anatinae). Analysis of the mtDNA sequences of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes,[19] however, indicates that it might be closer to the genus Aix and better placed in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. In addition, the other species of Cairina, the rare White-winged Duck (C. scutulata), seems to belong into a distinct genus. The generic name Cairina, meanwhile, traces its origin to Aldr
Aldrovandi, and ultimately to the mistaken belief that the birds came from Egypt: translated, the current scientific name of the Muscovy Duck means "the musky one from Cairo".

[edit]Ecology

This non-migratory species normally inhabits forested swamps, lakes, streams and nearby grassland and farm crops,[20] and often roosts in trees at night. The Muscovy Duck's diet consists of plant material obtained by grazing or dabbling in shallow water, and small fish, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, insects, and millipedes. [21] This is a somewhat aggressive duck; males often fight over food, territory or mates. The females fight with each other less often. Some adults will peck at the ducklings if they are eating at the same food source.
The Muscovy Duck has benefited from nest boxes in Mexico, but is somewhat uncommon in much of the east of its range due to excessive hunting. It is not considered a globally threatened species by the IUCN however, as it is widely distributed.[22]

[edit]Reproduction
This species, like the Mallard, does not form stable pairs. They will mate on land or in water (note the submerged female in the image below). Domesticated Muscovy Ducks can breed up to three times each year.

The hen lays a clutch of 8-16 white eggs, usually in a tree hole or hollow, which are incubated for 35 days. The sitting hen will leave the nest once a day from 20 minutes to one and a half hours, and will then defecate, drink water, eat and sometimes bathe. Once the eggs begin to hatch it may take 24 hours for all the chicks to break through their shells. When feral chicks are born they usually stay with their mother for about 10–12 weeks. Their bodies cannot produce all the heat they need, especially in temperate regions, so they will stay close to the mother especially at night.

Often, the drake will stay in close contact with the brood for several weeks. The male will walk with the young during their normal travels in search for food, providing protection. Anecdotal evidence from East Anglia, UK suggests that, in response to different environmental conditions, other adults assist in protecting chicks and providing warmth at night. It has been suggested that this is in response to local efforts to cull the eggs, which has led to an atypical distribution of males and females as well as young and mature birds.

For the first few weeks of their lives, Muscovy duckling feed on grains, corn, grass, insects, and almost anything that moves. Their mother instructs them at an early age how to feed.

Feral Muscovy Ducks can breed near urban and suburban lakes and on farms, nesting in tree cavities or on the ground, under shrubs in yards, on condominium balconies, or under roof overhangs. Some feral populations, such as that in Florida, have a reputation of becoming nuisance pests on occasion.[23] At night they often sleep at water, if there is a water source available, to flee quickly from predators if awoken. A small population of Muscovy Ducks can also be found in Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK, where they are considered a pest and culled by the local council.

In the US, Muscovy Duccks are considered an invasive species. An owner may raise them for food production only (not for hunting). Similarly, if the ducks have no owner, 50CFR Part 21 allows the removal or destruction of the Muscovy ducks, their eggs and nests anywhere in the United States outside of Hidalgo, Starr, and Zapata counties in Texas where they are considered indigenous. The population in southern Florida is considered, with a population in the several thousands, to established there enough be is considered "countable" for bird watchers.[24]

Legal methods to restrict breeding include not feeding these ducks, deterring them with noise or by chasing, and finding nests and vigorously shaking the eggs to render them non-viable. Returning the eggs to the nest will avoid re-laying as the female would if the clutch were removed.
Recent legislation in the USA prohibits trading of Muscovy Ducks and plans for eradication are in order to solve nuisance problems.[21]

Veterans Day in Browns Mills

2011-11-12T14:02:00.001-08:00

Do you recognize anyone in this photo?

Photo from Community News.

If you do, please contact me at Billkelly3@gmail.com

White Deer Fawn Sir Phineas Pinkerton aka Finn

2011-10-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Rose Shields/staff photographer

Assistant rehab manager Sara Walsh gets kisses from Finn, a male fawn that is recuperating at the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge

While we have many photos of white deer in the wild from around these parts, this is the first picture we've seen of a white deer in captivity. It is being cared for at the Woodfore Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford.

Posted: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
By Gail Boatman Special to the BCT |

http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/medford/a-day-in-the-life-animal-rehabilitation/article_ad3d0e6f-3561-5a78-9e72-2beebb94470e.html

MEDFORD — The arrival of injured and abandoned animals is not unusual at the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. Four thousand hurting creatures find their way to the refuge’s doorstep every year.

But this one was different.

One morning last month, a white fawn with blue eyes and pink hooves arrived, delivered by a concerned resident who had spotted him in her backyard. He was about 2 weeks old and had apparently been abandoned by his mother.

The woman who first saw him watched and waited for two days, hoping the herd would return for him. Finally, she called Cedar Run.

“She told us he was bleating and crying and couldn’t feed himself,’’ said Jeanne Gural, Cedar Run’s executive director.

The staff named him Sir Phineas Pinkerton, or Finn for short. Most fawns are born in the spring and have ample time to grow strong before winter sets in with its cold winds and scarce food supply.

This late-season fawn would not be so lucky.

Despite his coloring, Finn is not an albino, according to Gural.

“We know this because of his blue eyes,’’ she said.

But he lacks brown pigment, a condition that approximately one in 500 deer are born with.

The refuge’s policy is to return animals to the wild if there is a reasonable possibility they can survive.

“We’re good, but their mothers are better,’’ Gural said.

Finn’s chances of surviving were close to zero.

The coloring that makes him so exotic, almost mythic in appearance, also would make him a prized target for hunters.

And there is another factor.

Fawns quickly become accustomed to being around humans, a trait that would not serve Finn well in the wild. So, eventually he will become a resident of the 174-acre refuge.

“We will gradually integrate him with three other deer who live here,’’ said Sara Walsh, an animal rehabilitator and the assistant manager of the refuge’s hospital. “That’s so he will understand he’s a deer.’’

Until then, Finn is living in an enclosed area in the hospital and, as much as possible, being kept away from people.

Walsh and hospital manager Stephanie Stewart are involved in his day-to-day care, a schedule that many new mothers may recognize: feeding, sleeping and playing.

Walsh helps to bottle-feed him five times a day with a nutritious formula especially concocted for fawns. Finn is teething now, she said, and has been introduced to solid foods, apples and vegetables. He also is fond of the diamond-shaped leaves on a sassafras tree.

“It’s what he would eat in the wild,’’ Walsh said.

At first, Finn slept all day, but now, at nearly 6 weeks old, he is becoming more and more active. Last week, lured by the surrounding trees, he began to venture outside, wearing a secure harness.At about one year, Finn will begin to develop his antlers. Already there are small spots on his head where they will form.

Working hours for both women are 9 to 5, but they live on the premises and can be called in the middle of the night for an emergency.

Their days begin with food preparation for all the resident animals, about 20 now.

In summer, when that number can jump to 50 or 60, feeding can take up to half the day. Volunteers help, and during the summer months, three interns work with the women.

Walsh, a native of Colorado, started at Cedar Run as an intern after studying wildlife management at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa.

Most of the animals and birds that arrive at Cedar Run, injured or sick, eventually are released back into the wild.

They are prepared gradually, learning how to fend for themselves in the safety of the refuge before being released.

That is the moment Walsh and her colleagues look forward to.

“We watch them being wild animals,’’ she said.

Weapons of Mass Destruction in My Backyard

2011-10-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

WMD IN MY BACKYARD –

The search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq may have come up empty, but from where I’m sitting in the middle of New Jersey, it seems that there’s plenty of WMD right here in my backyard. It seems that I don’t have to go far to find such WMD as missing mice infected with biological warfare diseases, unaccounted for vials of liquid anthrax, nuke missile meltdowns and nuclear warheads missing offshore. It’s all right here. I couldn’t make this up, and we don’t need no terrorist to do it to us, it seems we shoot ourselves in the foot.

Not long ago, as detailed in the news, vials of anthrax are missing, along with three bubonic plague infested mice. Then there’s the BOMARC missile meltdown, complete with nuclear warheads, what they call a “Broken Arrow” incident that occurred at Fort Dix/McGuire AFB, which polluted the nearby ground and water. And there's also the two nuke warheads off the Coast of Cape May.

Know any terrorists looking for some nuclear warheads? There’s two in the water a few miles off Cape May, New Jersey, jetsoned during an emergency from a military plane out of Dover AFB in Delaware, and never recovered. Just like Ian Fleming’s fictional 007 adventure “Thunderball,” in which two nuclear bombs are hijacked by the terrorist organization SPECTRE – Special Executive for Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, for blackmail purposes.

Missing mice and anthrax, missile meltdown, nuke warheads lost offshore, we got it all. And each case study is a lesson in accidents that can get out of control. The most recent are the stories of the missing mice and anthrax.

MISSING INFECTED MICE AND ANTHRAX

Three bubonic plague infested mice went missing from a government lab in Newark in September, 2005, and not long after two-two inch tubes of liquid anthrax bacteria were reported unaccounted for at the New Jersey Public Health Environmental Laboratory in Trenton.

According to the Associated Press (Wayne Parry, Aril 26, 2006), “The mice were never located, and officials said the rodents might have been stolen, eaten by other lab animals or just misplaced in a paperwork error.” The three toxic mice were absent from their Newark lab affiliated with the University of Medicine and Denistry, where a scandal even more pressing than the missing mice forced the resignation of the director and sparked a federal financial probe.

“The Newark lab that lost track of the plague-infested mice conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government,” Wayne Parry Reported. “After the incident, the facility improved its video surveillance and stopped using contracted animal handlers. Before the incident, the center relied on a single security guard.”

The anthrax, kept at a more secure facility, was discovered missing during an inventory of more than 19,000 samples stored in a state laboratory, prior to their being relocated to an even more secure facility. 350 of 352 positive anthrax samples are accounted for.

According to Lauren O. Kidd of the Gannett newspapers, “The state is obliged by the FBI to store the positive samples as potential evidence if a suspect is charged in connection to the unsolved anthrax attacks that killed five and harmed at least 17 in October 2001. The U.S. Postal Service requires the state to store the thousands of negative samples as well, officials said.”

“In both cases, authorities say they think the items in question weren’t actually lost, but were simply unaccounted for due to clerical errors,” wrote Parry.

“It is likely that the discrepancy is an inventory or clerical error and not truly missing samples,” said state epidemiologist Eddy Bresnitz.

Rutgers University microbiologist Richard Ebright said, “The fact that they don’t know the answer means they’re not running a properly secured facility. The odds are that it was an accounting error, but it is very possible that one of the persons with access to the lab has removed the material.”

Of the 300 institutions in the country capable of safely handling such materials, 16,500 individuals are certified and cleared to handle and possess deadly bio-agents, and only eleven people have such clearance at the Trenton lab where the anthrax was stored. All were questioned and cleared.

“The Trenton lab has multiple levels of security,” writes Parry, “including a padlocked containment area requiring two different sets of identification for access,…video monitoring and 24-hour security guards.”

“Samples of anthrax have been stored at a Trenton lab since shortly after the October 2001 anthrax mailings that went through a Hamilton (N.J.) post office, killing four people across the country and sickening 17.”

“The chance that these two positive specimens are somewhere outside of the laboratory is very small,” said Bresnitz, noting the missing anthrax is, “not in a mode that we think could be used as weapons. The spores would have to be put into an aerosol form to be used as a weapon, which would take a high level of technical sophistication.”

Well, we know who has a high level of technical sophistication. As Rutgers professor Ebright says, “If an adversary of the United States, such as al-Quada, wanted to obtain this material, the most effective, simple procedure to do so is to plant a person in one of those numerous institutions that the administration has put in place working with this material. Because the number of those institutions has increased and because it happened without an increase in effective security, the risk to the United States has dramatically increased.”

Not rare in New Jersey, we apparently have an abundance of anthrax, as New Jersey’s Homeland Security director Richard Canas said, “I think the genesis was that they were inundated with samples. What I would like to see is bringing this number down. Let’s at least cull these down into something more manageable.”

Indeed. And if you see three lose mice running around that glow in the dark, please notify the office of Homeland Security that you found their missing rodents.

Then there’s the nuke missile meltdown, a “Broken Arrow” event.

BOMARC Missile Meltdown. June 7, 1960

The United States was in the mist of the Cold War in early June, 1960, when major cities and military bases were surrounded by batteries of anti-missile missiles, poised to be launched to defend the country against jet bomber or missile attack with thermonuclear weapons.

The BOMARC – was one such anti-missile system, and a battery of them were set up on the east edge of McGuire Air Force base in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Surrounded by scub pine forests, a public nature preserve was just across the two lane blacktop highway from the line of missiles nestled in the woods. The idea behind shooting a nuclear warhead as a defensive weapon depended upon an advance notice being given to launch the anti-missiles so they could detonate high in the atmosphere and take out the incoming bombers and missiles with them.

Set to be launched on two minutes notice, the BOMARC missiles were poised skyward, set in a row a few hundred yards apart. On June 7, 1960, a helium tank under high presure exploded, rupturing the fuel tank that caught fire.

It is what they call a “Broken Arrow” event, or “any accidental or unauthorized incident involving a possible detonation of a nuclear weapon by U.S. Forces (other than war risk); the non-nuclear detonation or burning of a nuclear weapon; radioactive contamination; the seizure, theft or loss of a nuclear weapon or component (including jettisoning); Public hazard, actual or implied.”

While McGuire AFB is now the home base to the state of New Jersey’s nuclear response strike team, they were a little less sophisticated in 1960.

The local, mainly volunteer fire and rescue squads from nearby town of New Egypt, in Ocean County, responded to the explosion, and fought the fire with traditional firefighting weapons – high pressure water.

With the rocket’s fuel feeding the fire, which burned out of control for awhile, the nuclear tipped missile burned completely, and while there was no nuclear explosion, the fire melted the nuclear materials, which combined with the water runoff and contaminated the ground and the ground water below, which fed into a local creek.

One official report reads: Table 5-1: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents, 1950-1980
June 7, 1960 / BOMARC / McGuire AFB, New Jersey (p. 228).

“A BOMARC air defense missile in ready storage condition (permitting launch in two minutes) was destroyed by explosion and fire after a high-pressure helium tank exploded and ruptured the missile’s fuel tanks. The warhead was also destroyed by the fire although the high explosives did not detonate. Nuclear safety devices acted as designed. Contamination was restricted to an area immediately beneath the weapon and an adjacent elongated area approximately 100 feet long, caused by drain off of firefighting water.’

Another source is: U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History, by Chuck Hansen (Orion Books, New York, N.Y., 10003, 1988.

Also see: “The Greenpeace Book of the Nuclear Age: The Hidden History, The Human Cost” by John May, (Pantheon Books, NY, NY, 1989)

While the event took place in 1960, on July 29, 1999 it was announced from McGuire AFB that, “Officials at McGure AFB say they have hired a South Carolina firm to clean up radioacative plutonium that leaked during a 1960 fire at a nuclear missile site. The Trentonian reported that the cleanup was announced a day after federal authorities added other McGuire dump areas to the Superfund list….but not the missile site in Plumstead Township, which was abandoned in 1972.”

Under “Completed Actions,” the DOD report notes that, “Following the explosion that occurred in 1960, paint was applied to the shelter and concrete was poured over the most heavily plutonium-contaminated portions of the asphalt apron and floor area of the shelter. An asphalt cover was placed in the drainage ditch that leads from the shelter to the nearby stream to impede erosion of contaminated soil. Access to the accident area is restricted by a 6 foot chain link fence topped with barb wire.”

The nearby Colliers Mill Wildlife Management Area, a nature park just across the highway from the accident site, is a popular public camping and recreational park.

A huge underground water drainage pipe was replaced in the 1970s and even though is highly contaminated, it has not been located.

From what I understand, having talked with residents of the area, a local piney with a truck was hired to haul some of the contaminated dirt and melted and contaminated metal away from the site.

And that's exactly what happened. In 2011 the Trentonian newspaper reported that they had located a living witness, a former Air Force enlisted man who said that he followed the contaminated metal that was taken away from the site and delivered to a West Trenton junk and scrap metal yard.

An extensive Public Health Assessment by the Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center – of the “Broken Arrow” event at the McGuire Missile, New Egypt, Ocean County, New Jersey, concluded, “No apparent health hazards are associated with an explosion and fire at the BOMARC site in 1960, which released radionuclides to the environment via smoke, dust and water runoff from fire-fighting efforts. Workers responding to the accident, downwind at the time of the accident, or involved in cleanup may have breathed in alpha radiation when they inhaled radionuclides, primarily plutonium, carried on smoke or attached to resuspended soil, or they could have been exposed to small amounts of external gamma radiation.”

The report continues, “Given the lack of information about the exposure conditions at the time of the accident, it is challenging to accurately assess workers intake and does. Conservative estimates, however, suggest that radiation dose received during or after the accident are not expected to cause harmful long term effects or cancer.”

NUKE WARHEADS MISSING OFFSHORE

JULY 28, 1957 – C-124 Globemaster Jettisons Cargo – 2 Plutonium-239 atomic warheads – within an area 100 miles southeast of the Naval Air Station, Pomona.

The Department of Defense has officially reported thirty-two serious accidents involving nuclear weapons, three of which occurred while transporting weapons from one place to another, using the C-124 “Globemaster” transport.

Destination Europe, the C-124 with three weapons aboard took off from Dover AFB in Delaware, but immediately began experiencing engine trouble. In order to avoid crashing into the water, the crew jettisoned two of the weapons into the water.

According to a 1981 report by the Center for Defense Information

[ Washington, D.C. #0195-6450 The Defense Monitor (Vol. X. Number 5) U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents: Danger In Our Midst – republished by MILNET – http://www.milnet.com/cdiart.htm ]

“On July 28, 1957, a C-124 jettisoned two weapons from a C-124 aircraft. There were three weapons and one nuclear capsule on board the aircraft, though nuclear components were not installed in the weapons. Enroute from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, “a loss of power from number one and number two engines [of four a major problem for this aircraft when carrying extremely heavy atomic bombs of this era ] was experienced.

Maximum power was applied to the remaining engines; however, level flight could not be maintained. At this point, the decision was made to jettison cargo in the interest of safety of the aircraft and crew. The first weapon was jettisoned at approximately 2,500 feet altitude. No detonation occurred from either weapon. Both weapons are presumed to have been damaged from impact with the ocean surface. Both weapons are presumed to have submerged almost instantly. The ocean varies in depth in the area of the jettisonings. The C-124 landed at an airfield in the vicinity of Atlantic City, New Jersey, with the remaining weapon and the nuclear capsule aboard. A search for the weapons or debris had negative results.”

[See: http://www.milnet.com/cdiart.html]

“The weapons were jettisoned within an area 100 miles southeast of the Naval Air Station, Pomona, N.J., where the aircraft landed,” the MILNET report notes. “The two weapons are still presumably in the area, somewhere east of Rehobeth Beach Delaware, Cape May and Wildwood, N.J.”

Even though this incident took place in 1957, you can be sure that bombs are still there. “Plutonium-239, an isotope used to fuel atomic bombs,” the report dryly notes, “has a half-life of 24,400 years and remains poisonous for at least half a million years.”
The problem is – who is looking for these lost nukes? Nobody. If we don’t keep looking for them until they are found, then the terrorists will one day most certainly go looking for them.

Nor do we know what long-term effects of these nuclear accidents if we don’t find out what happened to them and monitor the affected environment.

Under the DOD definition of a nuclear accident, the jettisoning of nuclear warheads is a “Broken Arrow” event #4 – “Seizure, theft, or loss of a nuclear weapon or component (including jettisoning);” a “Public hazard,” whether “actual or implied.”

The DOD report on nuclear weapons accidents concludes “the increased numbers of nuclear weapons suggest that more accidents and perhaps more serious accidents will occur in the future.”

William Kelly – billkelly3@gmail.com

White Deer Photos

2011-10-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Renae SunMoon for the photos.

THE STORY OF THE WHITE DEER

One night a few years ago I was driving home after visiting some friends on the other side of Mirror Lake from where I live.

Instead of going back to the damn I went around the far end of the lake, as I had done many times over the years.

As I was making a hard turn near the end of the lake, I came across a half dozen white deer that were standing in the middle of the road, forcing me to break hard and come to a complete stop in order to avoid hitting them. There was one big buck and four or five other smaller ones, but they were all white as sheets. The big one just stood there and looked at me as the others ran off and then meandeared into the woods behind them.

The next day at JC's, the local bar, I mentioned the herd of white deer I had seen the night before and everyone knew all about them. There were more, probably over a dozen all together, and a few mixed, brown and whites.

Not albinos, they are white deer.

I looked up white deer on the internet and found that there were a few out west, and a larger, protected herd of white deer on a military reservation in upstate New York. Still, they are a rarity.

Later on I went for a drive to the same area I had seen them before, just before the curve at the far southwest end of Mirror Lake, and about one block off Lakeshore Drive I saw what I thought was a white doberman standing on a sideroad. I stopped, backed up and sure enough, it was a small white doe. I drove up and it scooted off into the woods, but only about ten or fifteen yards and stopped to eat some more. I drove up to about twenty yards of it and it never ran off, just took its time eating some schrubs, so they are very used to people.

One of the regulars at JC's, Tommy, said his mom lives right along there and sees the white deer all the time in her back yard. She has pictures that Tommy let me make copies of that I'll post as soon as I figure out how to post pictures.

Then I found one photo already posted online at Roger Beckwith's wwwroadhousereport.com.

Roger lives in the same neighborhood and sees the white deer all the time too.

If you scroll down the Roadhouse pictures past the Asbury Park scenes, Billy and Roger at the Stone Poney, you come to a white deer in Roger's backyard.

http://www.angelfire.com/nj/Roadhouse51/pictures.html

Come last November, hunting season, and local hunter and JC regular Michael, was proud of the fact he bagged a white buck, as did his son, whose name is Hunter.

Both of these white deer were from a different herd that is located near 4 Mile Circle, about ten or fifteen miles away, but not that far.

Michael said that some hunters around 4 Mile told him that the white deer came from an overturned truck that crashed near the circle. The white deer, they said, came from China and were being transferred to a zoo somewhere when they were released in the accident.

Although I have yet to find any record of such a truck accident, I did Google White Deer China and came up with the White Deer Academy, an ancient school in China where white deer are legend.

Located in the Five Old Men Peak, the White-Deer Cave Academy is one of the earliest institutions of higher learning, and was named after Li Bo, who raised a white deer during his study here. Li later served as the Regional Chief of Jiangzhou (Jiujiang today). The academy is one of the four famous academies in China, along with Shigu in Yunnan, Suiyang in Henan, and Yulu in Hunan.

9/11 Air Defense Stand Down - How & Why it Happened

2011-09-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Todd Beamer and the "Let's Roll" motto on 177th F-16

9-11 AIR DEFENSE STAND DOWN – How and Why it happened.

By William Kelly - billkelly3@gmail.com

Shortly before 8:30 AM on Tuesday morning, September 11th 2001, the telephone rang at the Pomona, New Jersey headquarters of the 177th Air National Guard wing at the Atlantic City Airport.

The caller, from Boston Center of the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control, asked for jet fighters to be scrambled to intercept a hijacked airplane heading for New York City.

Unaware that the 177th New Jersey Air National Guard (NJANG) fighter wing was taken off alert status a few years earlier, the FAA Boston Center made the call, sending off one of the first warnings a few minutes after they realized there was a hijacking.

They were attempting to set off the first alarm to the last line of defense – the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), scrambling jet fighters to protect the skies, but instead, they were put on hold.

That call came in 18 minutes before the first hijacked plane hit the North tower of the World Trade Center, a full half hour before the second hijacked plane hit the South tower, an hour before the Pentagon would be attacked and a full hour and a half before the final hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. The significance of this misdirected emergency call has been overlooked, and what happened during those 18 minutes, before the world knew anything was wrong, has yet to be analytically examined.

The FAA officials at Boston Center, around the same time, also called Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, where two fighters were on alert that morning, but because the call came in outside the normal and official chain of command, they could not act on it.

As General Richard Meyers, USAF, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during the 9-11 Commission hearings in Washington, “We are the last line of defense,” and the air forces should only come into play after the failure of all other lines – including the penetration of the country, evading airport security, breaching the cockpit and hijacking the plane, so the air defense failures are magnified by the failures of those before it.

177th MISSION STATUS – OFF ALERT

First let’s address the changing of the mission status of the 177th New Jersey Air National Guard (NJANG) wing that for decades, always had two planes on alert status that could launch within minutes and form a protective umbrella from New York State to Virginia.

Historically, the 177th NJANG began in September 1917 as the 199th Aero Squadron, an active duty training unit during World War I. In 1958 the 199th Fighter Squadron moved to Egg Harbor Township, N.J. and in 1962 was re-designated the 177th Tactical Fighter Group. Activated in 1961 during the Berlin crisis and in 1968 during the Pueblo incident, the 177th also served during Desert Storm and in Panama, but were most proud of their active alert status protecting the skies.

With 17 single-seat F-16C “Fighting Falcon” aircraft, the wing maintains its base in building on a 296 acre tract at the Atlantic City International Airport, which is also the home of the William Hughes FAA Technical Center, and is cleared for landings for Air Force One.

At the height of the Cold War a typical mission would be to intercept and escort Russian aircraft heading for Cuba, or escort an errant private pilot astray over the ocean. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet Communism in Russia, the mission of the 177th changed and they were taken off alert status in October, 1998.

When the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Meyers testified before the 9-11 Commission in March, 2004, Commissioner Jamie Gorelick asked him, “…You know 20/20 hindsight is perfect, but if I were sitting at the Pentagon and seeing the kinds of threats that were coming in that summer, I would say to myself, is business as usual appropriate? I mean, the question I have is whether you thought to say: Should we have defenses pre-positioned in a way that we don’t? We know that our forces, that our aircraft from NORAD came too late to the Pentagon.”

“Meyers: Sure, we changed our whole air defense posture at the end of the Cold War. We went from about 22 sites [on alert status] down to about 7, I believe, between the U.S. and Canada, purposely and at the direction of our senior leadership.”

So a subtle but profound change in military and defense policy occurred in 1997-1998 when the Defense Reform Initiative was enacted, and “designed to streamline the organizational structure and business practices of the Department of Defense.”

At the time the Air Force removed the ANG fighter wings from air defense alert missions and made them part of the general-purpose fighter force, reducing the number of dedicated air defense units from 10 in 1997 to four in 2001. These cuts were made as part of the “Quadrennial Defense Review” proposals of May, 1997.

As reported in the 1998 177th Annual Report: “As a result of NORAD tasking, the 177th FW began conversion to the general purpose F-16 mission on October 1 (1998). This action ended the wing’s 25-year association as part of NORAD’s alert force. During that tenure, the wing’s NORAD responsibility included providing air sovereignty of the mid-Atlantic between Long Island, New York and the Virginia Capes.

As of October 1, the wing extended into its extensive period of general-purpose fighter retraining. In the general-purpose F-16 role, the 177th will be capable of assuming a variety of air force missions to include overseas deployments and assignments to one of the newly created Air Expeditionary Force.”

NORAD WAR GAME EXERCISES

In the months leading up to September 11th, 2001, the 177th ran simulated and real bombing runs, live and ran simulated air-to-air missile training at Tyndal Air Force Base in Florida, the home of the First Tactical Air Force and Headquarters of the NORAD defense of the Northeast Sector of the continental United States.

The 177th also participated in Operation Stand Down, a community effort to assist homeless veterans, THAT through its name, infers the non-alert status of the deactivated wing.

On the morning of September 11th, the 177th was not a part of the NORAD defense command, which was engaged that day in an annual exercise – VIGILANT GUARDIAN, which mimicked a Cold War response to attacking Russian bombers.

At least one other emergency defense drill was being enacted on September 11th at the Washington D.C. Headquarters of the National Recon Office (NRO), which simulated an airplane crashing into the building. The idea of hijacked planes being used as missile weapons was a planned NORAD war game exercise that had yet to be executed, but it was being considered.

As General Meyers later testified at the June 17th, 2004 9-11 Commission public hearing, “Another exercise scheduled for November 2001 portrayed a terrorist threat to the Pentagon requiring evacuation of the facility and conducting operations from a relocation site. Additionally, Assistant Secretary of Defense Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict has sponsored a series of tabletop-seminar exercises since 1992, focused on the coordinated interagency response to terrorist threats, including domestic scenarios.” AMALGAM VIRGO 01 was a multi-service exercise to test the defense and response capabilities to a cruise missile attack on Tyndall AFB in June, 2001, when the 177th was STILL engaged in air-to-air missile practice.

One “domestic scenario,” as outlined by Tom Clancy in one of his novels, ends with a hijacked airliner piloted by a Kamakazi suicide pilot who plows the plane into the Capitol, killing the President and many members of Congress.

On September 11th, because the NORAD command was engaged in the VIGILANT GUARDIAN war game exercise, most of their officers and commanders were at their battle stations, although as they later testified, their focus and their radar was aimed outwards, and not geared for a domestic terrorist air attack from within.

In addition, the FBI, FAA and domestic law enforcement agencies were tasked with the primary response to a terrorist attack, not NORAD, and the pilots were not trained to respond to such a situation as being ordered to shoot down an unarmed commercial airliner with Americans on board. An order to do so would have to originate with the President, and go down the official chain of command, opposite the way the early warnings of hijacked planes went up the chain of command.

On the morning of September 11th, the entire air defense of North America was in the hands of 14 fighter pilots on alert at seven sites in the continental United States. As General Myers testified, “In accordance with Department of Defense (DoD) directives in effect on 9/11, NORAD was to monitor and report the actions of any hijacked aircraft, as requested by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). We had procedures for potential air hijackings, which were based on the premise that a hijacked aircraft would be used for ransom or political purposes, not as a weapon.”

As for the official take on events, General Myers said, “On the morning of 9/11, we were conducting a NORAD command post exercise and our headquarters and regions were postured for ‘wartime conditions.’ Six minutes prior to the first attack on the World Trade Center, the FAA informed NORAD of the potential hijack of American Airlines Flight 11. As events unfolded throughout the morning, NORAD responded immediately with fighters and appropriate airspace control measures. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of time and distance, we were unable to influence the tragic circumstances.”

FAA – DoD POLICIES FOR RESPONSE TO HIJACK SITUATIONS

According to Jack White, the Former Facility Manger, Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center (FAA), “The only manner in which I can address this topic is to write how I believe coordination should have taken place on September 11. The hijackings should have been reported by the controllers up their management chain to the regional operations centers. The regional operations centers should have passed the information to the Washington Operations Center. The Operations center should have advised the FAA official assigned the responsibility of coordinating military assistance. I cannot say that during the attacks of 9/11 my personal understanding of the process was crystal clear, but I did know that the request for military assistance had to come from headquarters.”

As Monte Belger, Former Acting Deputy Administrator (FAA), “Prior to 9/11, FAA’s traditional communication channel with the military during a crisis had been though the National Military Command Center (NMCC). They were always included in the communication net that was used to manage a hijack incident. When a hijacking was reported, FAA security personal activated a command center in the Washington Operations Center and a senior executive from the FAA’s security organization was responsible for managing the situation and the communication network with other government and industry agencies. FAA would frequently ask the military, though the NMCC, for airborne surveillance of the hijacked aircraft to monitor movements. On 9/11 FAA did not have formal dedicated communication channels directly to NORAD. Although the FAA had letters of agreement with DoD and the FBI which defined procedures to follow and roles and responsibilities, it became clear that the events of 9/11 went far beyond the scope of those existing agreements. In the HQ and the FAA field facilities we were reacting to a real scenario that had not been practiced or modeled. Decision makers were reacting quickly, and in my opinion professionally in an untested environment.”

TIMELINES BEGIN AT HIJACKING – NOT MILITARY NOTIFICATION

While most of the official and unofficial timelines begin around 8:40 AM (0840), when the military was officially notified, Boston FAA Center realized that something was wrong with American Airlines Flight 11 much earlier, around 8:2? AM (8:14 IS when the transponder was turned off, the pilot failed to acknowledge a request for it to be recycled, and a stranger came over the radio saying, “We have planes….” While the FAA air traffic controllers in Boston requested that the tape of that transmission be reviewed to be sure it said, “planes,” as in plural, it was apparent to some Boston controllers that a hijacking was in progress.

The 9-11 Commission staff has been reviewing the records and issuing Staff Reports on various issues, and according to Staff Statement #17, “Improvising Homeland Defense,” released during the Commission’s last public hearing on June 17, as soon as Boston Center realized that AA Flight 11 was hijacked they made two misdirected telephone calls that were outside of the official procedures.

“Boston Center did not follow the routine protocol in seeking military assistance through the prescribed chain of command. In addition to making notification within the FAA , Boston Center took the initiative, at 8:34, to contact the military through the FAA’s Cape Cod facility. They also tried to obtain assistance from a former alert site in Atlantic City, unaware it had been phased out. At 8:37:52, Boston Center reached NEADS (North East Air Defense System). This was the first notification received by the military – at any level – that American 11 had been hijacked.”

At 8:30 AM in Atlantic City, there are published reports [See: Mike Kelly, Bergen County, N.J. Record and James Bamford’s book ] that two F-16s were in the air, running practice bombing runs over the Jersey Pine Barrens. At the same time, two F-16s were on the tarmac, ready to take off for a bombing practice run at a target range in upstate New York.

A pilot known by his flying handle as “Gilligan” and his wingman were held at the end of the runway for an unusually long time, probably because the phone call from Boston Center began to circulate around their headquarters. The two pilots were ordered to return to base without having taken off, probably because of the Boston Center phone call.

NORAD General Paul Weaver officially explained that it didn’t scramble jet bases nearer to the hijacked planes because they used bases in the NORAD Defense network.

On the morning of September 11th, many of the top military command leaders were out of position to react properly. The President was enroute to a Florida elementary schoolroom, the General Shelton, the OUTGOING Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was flying to Europe, leaving his deputy, Air Force General Richard Myers in command. Myers was on Capitol Hill, meeting PRIVATELY with Congressman MAX CLELAND about his pending approval to take the chairman job.

At the National Military Command Center (NMCC), the War Room at the Pentagon, Brigadier General Montague “Que” Winfield, USA, had the day before requested to be relieved at 0830 on 9-11 by his deputy, Captain Charles J. Leidig, Jr., USN.

Because of the annual Vigilant Guardian command exercise being run that day, all of the other NORAD commanders were at their posts, General Ralph E. Eberhart, USAF at the Rome, New York headquarters of NEADS, Major General Larry Arnold, USAF (now retired) at the NORAD Region (CONR) at Tyndall AFB in Florida, and the principal NORAD commanders led by Gen Ralph E. Eberhart, in the Cheyenne Mountain battle center, Fort Peterson, Colorado.

At the FAA in Washington, as Jack White described to the 9-11 Commission, “Each business day, the ATCSSCC (Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center in Herndon, Virginia) operations and administrative managers conduct a review of the previous day’s operation. On September 11, 2001 this meeting was convened at 0830 EDT. At the time the meeting began, the ATCSSCC had already received reports of a hijacked aircraft. Subsequent, reports resulted in the termination of the meeting and the management team moving to the operations room.”

In the operations room at ATCSSCC near DC, White continued, “…I received a telephone call form the Deputy Director of Air Traffic. I took this call on the administrative phone at the first level supervisor position in the East area of specialization. During this call, I was ordered to remain on the line to facilitate instant communication. I remained on this ad hoc communication position for approximately five hours…”

Benedict Sliney reported in his statement to the 9-11 Commission, “At approximately 8:28 a.m. on September 11, 2001, I was informed by one of the supervisors on duty, that there existed the possibility that American Airlines Flight 11, Boston to Los Angeles, had been hijacked. Shortly after 8:30 a.m., I was further informed that the potential hijacking had been escalated by a report of violence to one of the crew members of the aircraft. A second possible hijack was then reported as United Airlines Flight 175, Boston to Los Angeles, was not responding to Boston Center. A report was received that a radio transmission, not attributed to a particular aircraft, on a Boston Center radio frequency was heard to the effect that, ‘…we have more planes.’…Initially and at the request of New York Center we issued a limited (first tier) ground stop for all traffic landing within or transitioning the New York Center airspace boundaries. Shortly thereafter this that ground stop was expanded to include all such traffic nationwide….”

After making fruitless calls to both Otis AFB in Cape Cod and the 177th NJANG at Atlantic City before 8:30 AM (probably at 8:24 AM), the FAA Boston Center air traffic controllers finally made the correct call to the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) of NORAD in Rome, New York, where Tech. Sgt. Jeremy W. Powell took the call. He notified the commander of the base, Col. Robert K. Marr, Jr., who was engaged in VIGILANT GUARDIAN, and thinking it might be part of the war games asked, “Is this real world or is it part of the exercise?” He was told that it was not an exercise, or a drill.

Marr called Air Force General Larry Arnold, commander of the Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONAR) at Tyndall AFB, Florida, told him of the suspected hijacked aircraft and suggested interceptors be scrambled. Arnold, a former pilot with the 177th in Atlantic City when it was on NORAD alert status, quickly ordered the alert jets at Otis to scramble, “we’ll get the approvals later,”

As Gen. Arnold later testified, “First thing that went through my mind was, ‘Is this part of the exercise?” Is this some kind of a screw-up?….I told them to scramble; we’ll get the clearances later.”

At the Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Lt. Col. Timothy “Duff” Duffy had already heard about the suspected hijackings from the errant phone call from the FAA Boston Center. Duffy and his wingman, Maj. Daniel “Nasty” Nash, had suited up and were walking to their planes, helmets in hand, when the order came in and the alarm was sounded.

As reported in Aviation Week [June 3, 2002 – William B. Scott, almost simultaneous with Marr’s call to Arnold at CONAR, the same hijack notification was being passed by phone to a NORAD command center deep inside Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, and the joint FAA/Defense Dept. Air Traffic Services Cell (ATS) co-located with the FAA’s ATC System Command Center in Herndon, Va.”

In the Pentagon at the National Military Command Center (NMCC), Navy Captain Charles J. Leidig, Jr. had taken over for Gen. Montague Winfield, USA, at 0830. He reported to the 9-11 Commission, “Shortly after assuming duty, I received the first report of a plane’s striking the World Trade Center. Some time after, I learned of the second plane’s collision with the World Trade Center. In response to these events, I convened a Significant Events Conference, which was subsequently upgraded to an Air Threat Conference. During the Air Threat Conference, Brigadier General Winfield relieved me [at approx. 1030] and reassumed duties as Deputy Director for Operations for the NMCC.”

Capt. Micahel H. Jellinek, a Canadian Navy officer was serving as NORAD command director that morning, with another Canadian, Maj. Gen. Eric A. Findley, who was working on the VIGILANT GUARDIAN exercise. Both approved the scramble of jet fighters

Unfortunately, due to the roll back in active alert bases, few planes were available. One non-alert ANG commander told Marr, “Give me 10 minutes and I can give you hot guns. Give me 30 minutes, and I’ll have heat-seekers (missiles). Give me an hour and I can give you slammers (Amraams).” Marr replied, “I want it all.”

Also offshore, were two Navy carriers in the North Atlantic, which were called and alerted by the deputy director to the mayor of New York City.

The official timeline and military response originally had the military notified at approximately 8:40 AM, with the scramble order issued at 0846, the precise time that AA11 impacted the North Tower of the World Trade Center and when the rest of the world suddenly became aware that something was happening.

However, at the 9-11 Commission public hearings in June in DC, a new scenario was introduced. Instead of the previous reports that the F-15s from Otis flew directly to New York City at supersonic speeds, it is now revealed that “Duffy” and “Nasty” had no set destination other than to a staging area over the ocean south of Long Island, New York, where they awaited further instructions.

Meanwhile, back on the ground at the Atlantic City International Airport HQ of the 177th NJANG, “Gilligan” and his wingmen reported in, and were called back from takeoff, both under the impression that a personal incident, a family accident or something had led to the order, something that had never occurred before. When they entered the HQ however, and saw the burning World Trade Center tower on television, their commander asked if they were willing to volunteer to go back up, once their planes had been properly rearmed with air-to-air missiles.

Both agreed, as did another pair of 177th pilots who were at the base. It was, according to “Gilligan,” one of the most frustrating and gut-wrenching experiences of his life.

On September 11th, 2001 Betsy Diaz, an armament specialist assigned to the 177th Fighter Wing was a part-time guardsman and civilian employee responsible for loading weapons. As she later reported to the Armed Forces Press Service, “It was weird. Our jets were on their way out to the flight line and, all of a sudden, they turned around. They called us on the radio and told us we had to come in. Then they told us what happened. We had to reconfigure our aircraft, started putting on live missiles.”

According to the story, “Everyone was in shock. People were excited. Things got hectic. ‘I personally tried not to pay attention to it because I didn’t want it to affect me while I was working. I just wanted to continue on my everyday mission. I didn’t want to think about what actually happened…It was amazing how everyone got together and there was no arguing. Everybody got straight, did what they had to do, and everything was set. We did it really fast and really smooth. It just went great.”

Except it wasn’t great for “Gilligan” and his wingman, who had to wait about 45 minutes for them to get the missiles, stored in an old nuclear bomb bunker at the other side of the 200 acre base, and lock them into position and the proper configuration on the planes.

In the meantime, United Airlines Flight 175 – Boston to Los Angeles was hijacked, FAA notified NEADS at 0840, additional Otis F-15s were scrambled,
and at 0902 (0905?) the South Tower of the World Trade Center was hit, making clear in no uncertain terms that the United States was under terrorist attack.

As detailed in the June 17th public hearing of the 9-11 Commission, UA Flight 175, once it was hijacked while heading west, was flown southeast, across the New Jersey Pine Barrens, four minutes from the 177th NJANG base, and within easy intercept range of the F-16s, had they been in the air.

At 0924, nearly an hour after Boston Center FAA called Otis and Atlantic City to put them on notice of the hijackings and requesting fighter jets be scrambled, the FAA notified NEADS that American Airlines Flight 175 Dulles to Los Angeles was hijacked, as well as United Flight 93 – Newark to San Francisco was in trouble.

At 9:37 AM, AA 77 hit the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Rumsfield was sitting at his desk, and at 10:03 AM, UA 93 crashed in Western Pennsylvania.

Once in the air, “Gilligan” and his wingman were sent vector west, towards Pennsylvania, possibly to intercept UF 93, however they were then ordered to New York, where they were the first non-alert status fighter planes to reach ground zero. Other 177th NJANG planes were sent to Washington, D.C., where they were also the first non-alert status jet fighters at the scene over the capital.

Since September 11, 2001, Air Force General Richard Myers was promoted to the position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Winfield was promoted to head the Joint POW/MP-CIL office, and Capt. Leidig has been promoted to admiral.

NORAD – FAA Timeline – per 911 Commission Final Report

06:00 am – Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al Omari board flight from Portland, Maine to Boston’s Logan International Airport.

06:45 am – Atta and Omari arrive in Boston.

06:45-07:40 – Atta (Business class 8D) and Omari (8G), w/ Satam al Suqami (10B), Wail al Shehri (1st class 2A) and Waleed al Shehri (1st class 2B), check in and board American Airline Flight 11 (AA11), Boston-LA, scheduled to deparat 7:45 am. At another terminal Shehhi (2B), Fayez Banihammad (2A), Mohamd al Shehri (6C), Ahmed al Ghamdi (9D) and Hamza al Ghamdi (9C) check in for United Airlines Flight 175, Boston-LA, set for 08:00 am departure.

06:52 am – Atta takes a 3 minute call from Marwan al Shehhi at another terminal at Logan.

07:15 am – Khalid al Mihdhar (12B) and Majed Moqed (12A) check in at the American Airlines ticket counter at Washington Dulles Airport for Flight 77 (AA77), DC-LA, followed shortly thereafter by Hani Hanjour (1st C 1B) and brothers Nawaf al Hazmi (5E) and Salem al Hazmi (5E).

07:35 am – Hani Hanjour places two carry on bags on the x-ray belt in the Main Terminal’s west checkpoint, followed by Nawaf and Salem al Hazmi to AA77.

07:58 am – UA175 departs gate at Logan Boston-LA; Captain Victor Saracini; First Officer Michael Horrocks, seven flight attendants, fifty-six passengers.

07:59 am – American Airlines Flight 11 (AA11) takes off - Boston – LA. Captain John Ogonowski; First Officer Thomas McGuinness; 9 flight attendants, full capacity 81 passengers.

08:01 am – United Airlines 93 (UA93) leaves gate at Newark- San Fran. 41 min. delay and doesn’t take off until 08:42, unaware of other hijacking.

08:10 am – AA77 scheduled to depart DC Dulles for LA. Captain Charles F. Burlingame pilot; David Charlebois First Officer; four flight attendants, fifty-eight passengers.

08:13 am – AA11 acknowledges instruction f/ FAA Boston Center (in New Hampshire)

08:13:30 am – AA11 hijacked. Pilot John Ogonowski activates talk-back button, enabling Boston controllers to hear cockpit conversations.

08:14 am – United Airlines 175 UA175 takes off for Logan Boston-LA.

08:14 am – Hijacking of AA11 begins, cruising altitude 29,000 feet. Daniel Lewin, seated behind Atta and Omari, is stabbed by hijacker, most likely Satam al Suqami, seated directly behind Lewin, an Israeli military officer.

08:15 am – AA11 fails to acknowledge FAA Boston Center

O8:19 am – Flight attendant Betty Ong calls [Vanessa Minter] the AA Southeastern Reservations Office in Cary, N.C., via ATT airphone to report an emergency aboard the flight: “The cockpit is not answering, somebody’s stabbed in business class, I think there’s Mace – that we can’t breath – I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” Also two flight attendants stabbed.

08:20 am – AA11 turns of IFF (identify friend or foe) beacon signal.

08:20 am – AA77 takes off from Dulles IA DC – LA.

08:21 am – Boston air traffic controller reports to supervisor that something is seriously wrong. Follow SOP for “no radio” contact. AA11 off radar.

08:21 am – Vanessa Minter at AA North Carolina relays info to Craig Marquis, manager of AA ops center, Fort Worth, Texas. FBI logs onto call and tapes it. AA11 Flight attendant Amy Sweeney calls AA ground manager Michael Woodward, who takes notes.
“Listen and listen to me very carefully. I’m on Flight 11. The airplane has been hijacked.” Gives seat numbers to four of five hijackers of Middle East descent and reports that two flight attendants have been stabbed and a passenger’s throat slashed. Woodward quickly identifies all four including Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari.

08:23 am – AA dispatcher unsuccessfully tires to contact AA11.

08:24:38 am – AA11 transmits “We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you’ll be okay. We are returning to the airport” Then after a pause, “….Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you’ll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.”

08:24:40 am – FAA Boston Center Air Traffic Control (BCATC) notifies superior that AA11 hijacked. Manager of BCATC orders the tape of transmission “pulled” to determine if the transmission said “Planes” – as in plural.

08:25 am - Amy Sweeney calls American Flight Services Office in Boston and reports someone aboard flight is hurt, but is cut off.

08:25 am – FAA BCATC, per protocol, begins notifying chain of command that AA11 hijacked.

08:26 am – Ong reports that the plane was “flying erratically.”

08:27 am – AA supervisor Nydia Gonzales begins to listen in to Ong-Minter call.

08:28 am – FAA Boston Center ATC notifies New York Center ATC that hijacked AA11 is entering it’s airspace, heading south.

08:29 am – AA11 fails to acknowledge AA Boston; AA dispatcher notifies FAA Boston Air Traffic Control Center, already aware of the problem, because of AA11 radio transmissions.

08:29 am – Amy Sweeney reconnected to the AA office and begins reports to manger Michael Woodward, including seat numbers of hijackers so he immediately obtains their names.

08:30 am – Brigadier Gen. Montague Winfield leaves the National Military Command Center (NMCC) – the War Room at the Pentagon, and is replaced by Navy Capt., per arrangement from the day before.

08:31 am – FAA Command Center tells FAA Operations Center at FAA HQ of possible hijackings.

08:31 am – FAA Boston Center notifies NORAD (Lt. Col. Dawne Deskins) of AA11 hijacking.

08:33 am – UA175 reaches cruising altitude of 31,000 feet. Flight attendants begin cabin service.

08:34 am – FAA Boston Center – Air traffic controller makes telephone calls outside of chain of command to Otis ANG and 177th NJANG in Atlantic City, requesting fighter interceptors, unaware that NJANG in Atlantic City had been taken off alert more than two years earlier.

8:34 am – Two F-16s from the 177th NJANG are reportedly in the air making making practice bombing runs over the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and two F-16s are on the tarmac ready to take off on a practice bombing mission in upstate New York. They are kept on the runway and eventually ordered not to take off and return to base. They arm with air-to-air missiles and prepare to go up once armed.

08:34 am – Third transmission from AA11: “Nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don’t try to make any stupid moves.”

08:37 – FAA Boston Center communicates with UA175 about AA11 and UA175 reports of suspicious transmissions. Last contact with UA175.

08:37:52 – FAA Boston Center notifies NORAD NEADS (North East Air Defense Sector) in Rome, New York : “Hi. Boston Center TMU, we have a problem here. We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New York, and we need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there, help us out.”

08:38 am – NEADS responds: “Is this real-world or exercise?”
FAA: “No, this is not an exercise, not a test.”

08:40 am – AA77 handed off routinely from DC to Indianapolis Center.

0840 am – NEADS senior tech. Jeremy Powell calls Otis ANG to upgrade their “readiness posture.” Maj. Daniel Nash (“Nasty”) and Lt. Col. Timothy Duffy (“Duff”) are notified “by colleague” about hijacking.

08:41 am – American Airline’s Operations Center declares AA11 a hijacking.

08:42 am – United 93 (UA93) takes off from Newark, N.J. to LA. Jason Dahl Captain; Leroy Homer First Officer; five flight attendants, thirty-seven passengers.

08:42 am – UA175 reports “suspicious transmissions” from another airliner were received while taking off at 08:14. Last communication with ground.

08:43 am – 08:46 – UA175 hijacked, stabbing both pilots, two passengers and a flight attendant.

08:44 am – Gonzalez loses phone contact with Ong. Sweeney reports to Woodward, “Something is wrong. We are in rapid descent…we are all over the place…We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low…Oh my God we are way too low.”

08:44 am – Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld at the Pentagon says of terrorism, “Let me tell ya, I’ve been around the block a few times. There will be another event. There will be another event.”

08:46 am – (approx.) UA93 hijacked.

08:46 am – AA77 reaches cruising altitude of 35,000 feet.

08:46:40 am – AA11 impacts World Trade Center 1 (WTC1 North Tower)

08:46 am – CIA Director Tenent is told of the WTC “attack” over breakfast with former Sen. David Boren. Tenent : “You know, this has bin Laden’s fingerprints all over it.”

08:46 am – Two F-15s scrambled Otis ANG, Falmouth, Mass (Cape Cod) 153 miles out.

08:46 am – Two F-16s assigned to Andrews AFB, flying bombing practice mission over North Carolina, recalled to DC, 207 miles away.

08:46 am – FAA opens telephone line with Secret Service.

08:46 am – NORAD Command Capt. Micahel Jellinek reports telephone links established with the National Military Command Center (NMCC)- the war room at the Pentagon, Canada command, theater commanders and federal emergency-response agencies.

08:47 am – UA175 changes transponder codes, which went unnoticed for several minutes

08:48 am – First news reports that plane has hit the WTC1. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, learns of WTC1 crash from TV report before entering a meeting with Sen. Max Cleland on Capitol Hill.

08:48 am – FAA New York Center reports to FAA HQ Command Center (Herndon, Va) that American Airlines (Dallas, Tx) reported in that one of their flight stewards was stabbed and hijackers in cockpit, unaware AA11 had crashed into WTC1.

08:50 am – FAA Indianapolis Center radios AA77. Acknowledged, last transmission.

08:51 am – FAA New York Center notices UA175 code changed. No radio response, and flight deviating from assigned altitude.

08:51 am – AA77 makes last routine transmission.

08:51:30 – 08:54 – AA77 hijacking takes place.

08:52 am – Fighters airborne from Otis, ordered to staging area south of Long Island, NY and into a holding pattern.

08:52 am – Lee Hanson, in Easton, Conn. Receives call form son Peter on UA175, “I think they’ve taken over the cockpit – An attendant has been stabbed, and someone else up front may have been killed. The plane is making strange moves. Call United Airlines – Tell them it’s Flight 175, Boston to LA.” Hanson then calls Easton PD. Flight attendant on UA175 calls United office in San Francisco and tells Marc Policastro the flight has been hijacked, both pilots killed and flight attendant stabbed, and hijackers flying the plane.

08:53 am – FAA NYC air traffic controller reports “we may have a hijack” re:US175.

08:54 am – FAA Indy notices AA77 deviates from flight plan.

08:54 am – Capt. Deborah Loewer, director of the White House Situation Room, traveling with Bush in Florida, receives message from WHSR about WTC1, and she informs Bush.

08:55 am – FAA NYC air traffic control (a women) notifies manager US175 probably hijacked, but FAA regional managers, discussing AA11, “refuse to be disturbed.”

08:56 am – AA77 transponder turned off, now off radar. No radio response.

08:58 am – UA175 turns around and heads for NYC.

08:59 am – UA175 passenger Brian David Sweeney calls wife and leaves message on her answering machine, calls mother, tells her plane hijacked.

09:00 am – Lee Hanson gets second call from son Peter on UA175. “It’s getting bad, Dad – A stewardess was stabbed – They seem to have knives and Mace – They said they have a bomb – It’s getting very bad on the plane – Passengers are throwing up and getting sick – The plane is making jerking movements – I don’t think the pilot is flying the plane – I think we are going down – I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building – Don’t worry Dad – If it happens it’ll be very fast – My God, my God.” Hanson heard a women scream before the phone call was cut off.

09:00 am – AA Ex. VP Geral Arpey learns that communication lost with AA77, the second AA plane in trouble. He orders all AA planes on the ground in the Northeast to remain on ground.

09:00 am – FAA Indy notifies other agencies AA77 missing, believed crashed.

09:00 am – Pentagon moves its alert status up one notch to Alpha, United warns all aircraft of potential cockpit intrusion, Flight 93 acknowledges.

09:01 am – NYC calls FAA HQ Command Center (Herndon) “We have several situations going on here. It’s escalating big, big time. We need to get the military involved with us….we’re, we’re involved with something else, we have other aircraft that may have a similar situation going on here.”

09:02 am – NYC Center: “Alright, heads up man, it looks like another one coming in.”

09:03:02 am – US175 impacts WTC2 (South Tower)

09:03 am – Bush enters Florida school.

09:03 am – Gen. M. Winfield, (absent from his station at NMCC) later said, “When the second aircraft flew into the second tower, it was at that point we realized that the seemingly unrelated hijackings that the FAA was dealing with were in fact a part of a coordinated terrorist attack on the United States.”

09:03 am – Secret Service agents carry VP Cheney into basement to underground bunker; calls Andrews AFB and requests F-16s CAP, but Andrews off alert, not battle ready and must arm planes with air-to-air missiles.

09:03 am – Boston Center reports they deciphered the transmission, “I’m gonna reconfirm with, with downstairs, but the, as far as the tape…seemed to think the guy said that ‘we have planes.’ Now I don’t know if it was the accent, or if there’s more than one, but I’m gonna reconfirm that for you, and I’ll get back to you real qick, Okay?”

09:03 – NORAD receives calls from fighter units, “What can we do to help?” Marr replies, “I want it all. Get to the phones. Call every major National Guard unit in the land. Prepare to put jets in the air. The nation is under attack!”

09:04 am - Boston Center: “A second one just hit the trade center.” New England Region: “Okay, yea, we gotta get – we gotta alert the military real quick on this.”

09:05 am – FAA New York Center declares ATC Zero, no aircraft permitted to depart from, arrive at or travel through New York Center airspace until further notice.

09:05 am – Boston Center radios all aircraft of New York situation and to secure cockpits

09:05 am – AA77 reemerges on FAA Indy Center radar, east of last known position.

09:07 am – FAA Boston ATC requests FAA Herndon Command Center “get messages to airborne aircraft to increase security for the cockpit.” No evidence Herndon did this.

09:08 am – FAA Indy Center notifies Langley and W.V. State PD of possible crash.

09:08 am – NEADS learns of WTC2 impact and sends F-16s to Manhattan. “This is what I forsee that we probably need to do. We need to talk to FAA. WE need to tell em’ if this stuff is gonna keep on going, we need to take those fighters, put ‘em over Manhattan. That’s the best thing, that’s the best play right now. So coordinate with the FAA. Tell ‘em if there’s more out there, which we don’t know, let’s get ‘em over Manhattan. At least we got some kind of play.”

09:09 am – Langley F-16s placed at battle stations.

09:10 am – AA77 reenters DC airspace.

09:10 am – AA orders all planes on the ground nationwide grounded.

09:12 am – Passenger Renee May calls mother, tells her to alert AA of hijacking.

09:16 am – FAA informs NORAD Flight 93 hijacked.

09:16 am – Passenger Barbara Olson calls her husband Ted Olson, solicitor general of US, reporting the flight AA77 has been hijacked. Call cut off.

09:20 am – FAA Indy learns of other hijacked aircraft.

09:21 am – FAA reports to NEADS “I just heard a report that AA77 is still in the air, and it’s on its way toward – heading towards Washington.”

09:21 am – NY Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in NYC.

09:23 am – UA93 notified to beef up cockpit security.

09:24 am – FAA HQ CC Notifies NEADS of hijacking of AA77 – Dulles – LA

09:24 am – Three F-16s scrambled from Langley AFB, Hampton, Va. Fly east to staging area over the ocean.

09:25 am – Combat Air Patrol (CAP) established over Manhattan. Fuel now low, Langley planes considered as back-up.

09:25 am – Barbara Olson, passenger on Flight 77, calls husband, Theodore Olson at Justice Dept. again, mentions hijackers used knives and box cutters. Ted Olson tells wife of other hijackings.

09:25 am – FAA orders grounding of all commercial air traffic.

09:27 am – Chaney and Rice, in WH bunker, are told that an airplane is 50 miles out, bearing in.

09:27 am – UA93 passenger Tom Burnett calls wife, “They already knifed a guy. There’s a bomb on board. Call the FBI.”

09:28 am – UA93 at 35,000 feet, drops 700 feet. “Mayday” broadcast amid sounds of physical struggle in the cockpit. “Hey get out of here – get out of here – get out of here.”

09:29 am – UA93 acknowledges ATC radio transmission. Last pilot contact.

09:29 am – AA77 auto-pilot disengaged at 7,000 feet, 38 miles west of Pentagon.

09:30 am – Radio transmission “Get out of here, get out of here!” Transponder from Flight 93 goes off.

09:30 am – Hijackers of Flight 77 tell the passengers to phone home because “they are all going to die,” by hitting the White House. Barbara Olson calls husband Ted a second time, five minutes after first call.

09:30 am – No radio response from UA93.

09:30 am – Radar tracks Flight 77 30 miles from DC.

09:30 am – FAA’s Emergency Operations Center is up and running.

09:30 am – Secret Service call Chris Stephenson, flight controller at Washington airport tower, re: unidentified plane heading for DC, and he makes visual contact as it flies by Crystal City, Virginia, 30 out of DC.

09:30 am – Three F-16s from the North Dakota ANG 119th fighter wing, stationed at Langley are airborne over the Atlantic Ocean – Maj. Brad Derrig, Capt. Craig Borgstrom and Maj. Dean Eckmann.

09:31 am – Flight 93 cockpit transmission of flight attendent “Don’t, Don’t Please, I don’t want to die,” shortly before she is stabbed.

09:32 am – UA93 radio transmission: (probably Jarrah) “Ladies and gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down and keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.” UA93’s flight data recorder that was recovered indicates the autopilot was instructed to turn the flight around and head east. Voice data recorder indicates a struggling female flight steward was killed in the cockpit at this time.

09:32 am – New York Stock Exchange closes.

09:32 am – FAA Dulles DC ATC observes target (later determined to be AA77) tracking eastbound at high rate of speed, notify Reagan airport and Secret Service.

09:33 am – C-130H military cargo plane, taking off from Reagan DC to Minnesota, identifies incoming unknown target as an American Airlines Boeing 757.

09:34 am – Tom Burnett calls wife a second time, “They’re in the cockpit,” he said, as he checked the pulse of the knifed, dead man in seat 5B (Mark Rothenberg). She tells him about the WTC. “Oh my God, it’s a suicide mission.”

09:34 – FAA Command Center tells FAA HQ that UA175 may have bomb on board.

09:34 am – NEADS contacts FAA CC DC re: AA11, and FAA reports AA77 missing.

09:34 am – Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport advises Secret Service of unknown aircraft heading in the direction of the White House; AA77 5 miles west-south-west of the Pentagon.

09:35 am – AA77 flys across Captitol Parkway at 400 + mph, crosses the Pentagon at 7,000 feet, makes a high speed descending turn, spirals in almost a complete circle and drops the final 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes.

09:36 am – FAA Boston calls NEADS “Latest report. Aircraft…six miles southeast of White House, deviating away.” NEADS: “Okay, we’re going to turn it, crank it up, run them to the White House.” When NEADS discovers that Langley F-16s staged over the ocean instead of heading north as expected, he ordered them to DC, “I don’t care how many windows you break, Damn it, Okay. Push them back.”

09:36 am – FAA Cleveland Center asks FAA Command Center whether someone had requested military to launch fighters to intercept UA93. Cleveland Center offers to contact nearby military base. “Command Center replies that FAA personnel well above them in the chain of command had to make that decision and were working on the issue.”

09:37 am – Flight 93 passenger Jeremy Glick calls wife, describes hijackers as Middle Eastern, Iranian looking, who put on read headbands and ran into the cockpit. She tells him about the WTC.

09:37 am – Radar image of AA77 disappears from screen, four minutes from White House, six miles from Pentagon.

09:37 am – Defense Secretary Rumsfield is in the Pentagon meeting with Rep. Cox, watching TV, and says, “Believe me, this isn’t over yet. There’s going to be another attack and it could be us.”

09:37:46 am – AA77 impacts Pentagon. (Langley fighters 150 miles away).

09:38:30 am – C-130H pilot : “Looks like that aircraft crashed into the Pentagon, sir.”

09:38 am – Secret Service calls Andrews, “Get in the air now!”

09:39 am – Rumsfield went downstairs, outside and sees a young women sitting on the ground, bleeding who says to him “she could see people holding, drips going into people, IV of some kind, and she said, something to the effect, if people would, if someone could bring that person over, I could hold it.” (huh?). (He helps people into ambulances until 10:30).

09:39 am – FAA’s Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center overhears second announcement about bomb on board and plane.

09:40 ? – F-16s from 177th NJANG are armed and scrambled, ordered vector West, towards Pennsylvania, then north to New York City. Others from the 177th are scrambled and sent to DC, the first non-alert air wing to arrive at both cities.

09:41am – UA93 transponder turned off. Lost on radar. Passengers and flight crew from UA93 make GET airphone and cellular phone calls to

09:41 am – Passenger on Flight 93 Marion Birtton calls a friend and reports that two people have been killed and the plane turned around.

09:42 am – Passenger Mark Bingham calls home.

09:42 am - FAA Command Center learns of Pentagon plane crash, FAA’s National Operations Manager Ben Sliney, orders nationwide shutdown of all commercial air traffic

09:43 am – Bush’s motorcade arrives at Sarasota airport AF1. He learns plane has hit Pentagon.

09:44 am - Three F-16s from Langley are five minutes out from DC, flying at 650 (top speed: 1500 mph), armed with Sidewinder heat seeking missles. The pilot “Honey” hears a garbled message about Flight 93, and “White House and important asset to protect.” Neither Honey nor another pilot, Lew, are never given shoot down orders.

09:45 am - Tom Burnett calls his wife a third time, she tells him about Pentagon. He doubts hijackers really have bomb, and “a group of us are making a plan.”

09:45 am - Passenger Tod Beamer speaks with phone operator Lisa Jefferson from the back of the plane and talks for about 15 minutes, with FBI listening in.

09:45 am – FAA National Operations Mgr. Ben Sliney orders nationwide commercial air traffic shutdown.

09:45 am – White House evacuated.

09:46 am –FAA Command Center updates FAA HQ that UA93 was “twenty-nine minutes out of Washington D.C.”

09:47 am – Flight 93 passenger Jeremy Glick is still on the phone with wife, and says that the passengers are taking a vote on whether to try to take back the plane, and all the men say yea.

09:48 am – Capitol building begins evacuation. House Speaker, third in line after Chaney, is still there.

09:49 am – Three F-16s from Langley arrive in DC airspace and set up a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the Capitol.

09:49 am – FAA Command Center suggests that someone at HQ should decide whether to request military assistance. FAA HQ : “…scrambling aircraft?…FAA CC: “Uh, God. I don’t know…Uh, that’s a decision somebody’s gonna have to make probably in the next ten minutes.” FAA HQ: “Uh, ya know, everybody just left the room.”

09:50 am – Three F-16s from Andrews (Maj. Billy Hutchison, Lt. Col. Marc H. “Sass” Sasseville, aka “Lucky” arrive to support CAP, but only one is armed.

09:50 am – Flight 93 passenger Sandra Bradshaw calls her husband. They are filling pitchers with hot water to use against the hijackers.

09:53 am – FAA HQ informs FAA CC that DD for ATS was talking to Dept. Adm. Monte Belger about scrambling aircraft. UA93 lost over Pittsburgh.

09:53 am – The National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts a phone call from a bin Laden operative in Afghanistan to the Republic of Georgia “heard good news,” and another target is to come.

09:54 am – FAA HQ informed that visual sighting of UA93 placed it 20 miles NW of Johnstown.

09:54 am – Tom Burnett calls wife fourth time. “I know we’re all going to die. There’s three of us who are going to do something about it. It’s up to us. I think we can do it. Don’t worry, we’re going to do something.” They were waiting until they were over a rural area.

09:56 am – Air Force One airborne – AF Col. Mark Tillman pilot. Bush talks to VP Cheney by phone. Cheney recommends that Bush authorize the military to shoot down any planes under the control of hijackers. “You bet.”

09:56 am – F-16 pilots are told over the radio by Secret Service “I want you to protect the White House at all costs.”

09:57 am - ? A military aid to VP Cheney asks, “There is a plane 80 miles out. There is a fighter in the area. Should we engage? Cheney, “Yes.”

09:57 am – Todd Beamer ends his phone conversation “You ready? Okay, Let’s roll.”

09:57 am – Passenger assault begins. Fighting reported outside the cockpit of Flight 93.

09:58 am – CeeCee Lyles on phone to husband tells him they are forcing their way into the cockpit. Sandy Bradshaw tells her husband, “Everyone’s running to first class, I’ve got to go, Bye.” Male passenger calls 911 from bathroom on the plane.

09:58 am – Two jet fighters from Selfridge Michigan ANG ordered after Flight 93, without any weapons.

09:59 am – The South Tower of the WTC collapses.

10:01 am – Visual contact with UA93 seen “waving wings,” radical gyrations.

10:01 am – FAA requests F-16s from Toledo, Ohio scrambled, though off alert.

10:02 am – Hijacker says “Pull it down! Pull it down!…Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.”

10:03:11 am – UF93 impacts the ground in Western Pennsylvania.

10:04 am – C-130H that witnessed Pentagon crash, reports black smoke from UA93 crash site.

10:05 am – Flight 93 begins breaking up before crashing.

10:06 am – NORAD diverts an unarmed Michigan ANG fighter to Pennsylvania.

10:07 am – Military liaison to FAA Cleveland Center notifies NEADS UA93 hijacked, unaware it had crashed.

10:08 am – Bush informed of crash of Flight 93. “Did we shoot it down or did it crash?”

10:08 am – White House surrounded by armed guards.

10:10 am – All military forces ordered to Defcon Three – Delta (highest alert in 30 years)

10:15 am – FAA Command Center advises FAA HQ that UA93 crashed.

10:16 am – Toledo fighters take off – 16 minutes after being called.

12:16 pm – Benjamin Sliney (FAA) announces that the air is clear of all commercial air traffic, and no additional hijacked planes aloft.

Billy Walton Band at Tara's in Cookstown Saturday Sept. 10

2011-09-09T11:23:00.001-07:00

Billy Walton Band at Tara's in Cookstown - Saturday Sept. 10 - 9:30 pm

Ned Kelly's Body Found

2011-09-02T05:58:00.001-07:00

Body of infamous Aussie outlaw Ned Kelly found

http://news.yahoo.com/body-infamous-aussie-bushranger-ned-kelly-found-002524804.html

The headless remains of the infamous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly have finally been identified, officials said Thursday, solving a mystery dating back more than 130 years.

Considered by some to be a cold-blooded killer, Kelly was also seen as a folk hero and symbol of Irish-Australian defiance against the British authorities.

After murdering three policemen, he was captured in Victoria state in 1880 and hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol in November of the same year. But his body went missing after it was thrown into a mass grave.

The bodies in the grave were transferred from the jail to Pentridge Prison in 1929 and then exhumed again in 2009. The investigation into Kelly began when a skull believed to be his -- and stolen in 1978 -- was rediscovered.

Doctors and scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine identified his body, found in a wooden axe box, after a DNA sample was taken from Melbourne teacher Leigh Olver, Kelly's sister Ellen's great-grandson.

"The wear and tear of the skeleton is a little bit more than would be expected for a 25-year-old today," said institute director Professor Stephen Cordner.

"But such was Ned's life, this is hardly surprising."

However, tests found that the skull believed to be Kelly's was in fact not his.
Victoria's Attorney-General Robert Clark said he was amazed by the work of the forensic scientists.

"This is an extraordinary achievement by our forensic team," he said.

"To think a group of scientists could identify the body of a man who was executed more than 130 years ago, moved and buried in a haphazard fashion among 33 other prisoners, most of whom are not identified, is amazing."

Believed to have been born in 1854 or 1855, Kelly became an outlaw two years before he was hanged, taking on corrupt police and greedy land barons.

He survived a shootout with police in 1878 that saw him, his brother Dan, and friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart slapped with an 8,000-pound bounty -- the largest reward ever offered in the British Empire -- for anyone who found them, dead or alive.

Over the next 18 months, the Kelly Gang held up country towns and robbed their banks, becoming folk heroes to the masses.

In a final gunbattle at Glenrowan, three of the gang members died and Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was wounded and arrested.

Photos of his skeletal remains clearly show a bullet hole in one of his leg bones.

Olver, who supplied the DNA, said he was relieved to finally have some closure.

"It's such a great relief to finally have this side of the story resolved," he told reporters, adding that he hoped a suitable resting place could be found for his colourful relative.

"A place of dignity, a place very appropriate. Where that is will be determined later," he said.

Victoria Police, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that while Kelly's life was "one of Australia's most iconic cultural stories", people should remember he "murdered three police officers in the course of their duty".

The exploits of Kelly and his gang have been the subject of numerous films and television series.

Rolling Stone Mick Jagger played the lead role in the 1970 movie "Ned Kelly" while Heath Ledger starred as the bandit in a 2003 remake that also featured Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush.

He has also been the inspiration for many books, most notably Peter Carey's novel "True History of the Kelly Gang", which won the 2001 Booker Prize.

Col. Richard Westcoat

2011-08-24T01:21:00.000-07:00

Brian Trainer

2011-08-23T03:11:00.000-07:00

Brian Trainor RIP

Brian Trainor World Class Pianist RIP 1950 - 2006

Brian Trainor was our Van Cliburn. A world class pianist from South Jersey, he could play Tchaikovsky and dabbed in rock and roll, but preferred jazz and reveled in it. Brian Trainor nailed the keys like nobody else, took the music to another level, then went on the road to Europe and Asia, where his genius was recognized and he was better appreciated than at home

It wasn’t until the early 1990s, at the second Cape May Jazz Festival, when we realized what an incredible wonder we had right in our midst. The first time he played Cape May was as a sideman, I think it was for singer Oscar Brown at the Rusty Nail. But Brian stood out, boy did he stand out. By the time he got to T. Monk’s "'Round Midnight," everybody was following him to the end, and he was invited back to many other festivals.'

Regardless of the song or who he was playing with, each Brian Trainor session started out the same, with him meticulously dressed, sometimes in a tuxedo, sipping a drink, quietly composed as he sat down at the piano. Beginning soft, and with an increasing fury, he would drag the whole room into the piano like it was a black hole you couldn’t escape. Before he was finished the jacket was off, the tie tossed and shirt unbuttoned. In the end there was a sudden silence and a sweat soaked, hair tossed Brian, with a ferocious grin on his face and roaring, appreciative crowd.

When Brian Trainor played the fledgling Somers Point Jazz Fest in 2004, the electric piano provided him didn’t work, so he pulled over an old standup piano from against the wall at Mac’s that was only used for weddings and hadn’t been tuned in years. He took parts off it, turned it around and sat down and wowed the crowd for two incredible sets, as everyone there will attest.

In Somers Point Brian met Jacque Major, who talked him into stopping by her Sunday afternoon rock & roll gig at the Bubba Mac Shack, where he sat in with the motley band of rockers and added his world class keys to the raucous, outrageous proceedings. From the Academy to the saloon, it didn’t matter, Brian fit in and the band had to keep up with him.

In the All Music Guide, Alex Henderson describes him as, "A melodic pianist/composer who was born and raised in Trenton, NJ, Brian Trainor has loved both jazz and classical since childhood. Trainor's interest in music was greatly encouraged by his father, Francis Trainor, Sr., a singer who had a ‘day gig’ as a meat cuttter and saw to it that his son was studying classical piano as early as kindergarten. Trainor (whose influences range from Bill Evans to Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell) was still a child when he studied jazz piano with Trenton pianist Alan Bosley, and he also had many conversations about jazz with his close friend and neighbor, alto saxman Richie Cole. It was Cole who introduced Trainor to another alto great, Phil Woods, with whom the pianist began studying at the age of 13. Trainor was still a teen-ager when he met his hero Evans, who wasn't teaching formally but took the time to give him advice and feedback. In the late 1960s, Trainor played some live dates with Booker Ervin and Jack DeJohnette. Though Trainor didn't become a huge name in jazz in the 1970s or 1980s, he played quite a few American gigs and spent many months touring Europe.”

As he came to Cape May, Brian first went to Europe to play the French Riveria as a sideman with Philly tenor sax grand daddy Bootsie Barnes, another Cape May Jazz Fest regular. In the 1990s,Trainor led his own piano trio with bassist Vince Fay and drummer Bill Jones, and performed or recorded with some of the best jazz artists in the world.

Becoming known as “the white T-Monk,” after the infamous Thelonious Monk, Trainor's own albums (on Tri-Art Records) include “Wind, Water, Stone” (1992), which was recognized by WRTI Temple Jazz Radio as one of the best albums of the year, “Portraits on Candid” (1994), “Monk & Me” (1996), “Portals” 2006), “Tangled Roots” (2003) and “Tranquillo” (2005).

Brian had also previously done “Take A Train” (1997), a unique collaborative recording with King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace, who recorded with Bob Dylan and did the drum back recording for The Traveling Wilburies (Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Roy Orbison).

On his internet Blog, Ian Wallace wrote about a Crimson reunion jam session he did inCalifornia in July (7th). "Whilst this was going down, my friend, pianist Brian Trainor was, unbeknownst to me, also in Simi Valley, up from Oceanside attending a dog show with his Mrs. Kelley. Brian is the Trainor from our CD "Take a Train" which sold about three copies in the late eighties. After the show, he and Kelley were driving back home when Brian complained of feeling dizzy. Kelley leaned over to him, put her fingers on his neck and jokingly said, ‘you must be bad, I don’t feel any pulse.’ At which point Brian jerked once and died. An aneurism. He was fifty-five. A great jolly bear of a man with a wonderfully infectious laugh. He called me "E" and I’m going to miss him."

Although I couldn’t find any local obituaries on line, a Spanish jazz magazine did a write up, though its in Spanish, but Brian’s sister responded in English saying, “On behalf of my father, my older brother, Francis and myself, I’d like to thank you for the beautiful write up concerning the life and works of my brother, Brian Trainor. He was an amazing musician which is something I believe one is born with. He was fortunate enough to be born to a household where music was the key ingredient. My late mother, Eleanora was a pianist and loved music, and my father was a singer who encouraged all creativity in his three kids and still does. Mom and Dad together gave Brian the understanding and patience he needed when other parents might have pulled him back. Brian went after music and pursued it with a love like no other. Whenever he could to go a concert or talk to a musician he would. He was even brought home as a teenager by a member of Ray Charles’ band on a number of occasions. It was his life. While others are mourning the loss of him music and creativity, his family is grieving on the loss of him. We ware very sad and shocked still.

His music is living one and his new CD is coming out soon. Thank you again for the great write up on Brian. Just when it is all about Brian, he is not here to gloat. Oh, how we miss him. He was a dear brother and friend. Sadly missed by his sister, Maureen and his family, father brother, brother-in-law, daughter, son and grandkids.”

The new CD, Brian Trainor & Friends’ "Why Try To Change Me Now" was just posthumously released (September 12 on Summit Records), and includes vocals by Cape May Jazz regular Lois Smith and Somers Point's own Jacque Major. When I saw Jacque and Brian collaborate so well, despite playing in different leagues, I thought Brian would play piano on Jacque’s next album, but instead Jacque sings on his.

The record liner notes mention, "The recording documents Trainer's finest and final playing (as well as Marcus). Trainer's excitement for this project was unlike anything he had done previously. Remembering Ray Charles, Shirley Horn and Nina Simone, Trainor was struck by the importance of the lyric in jazz and set out to document this with some of his favorite singers. Herein he has gone all the way back to the original sources and returned with some terrific stories, moving solos and marvelous vocals."

Besides locals Jacque Major and Lois Smith, other vocalists on the recording include Caribbean romance singer Jon Lucien, the legendary Little Jimmy Scott and Kelly Thompson Rodriguez from North Jersey. The man with a girl's voice, Little Jimmy Scott's "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" was a hit in 1950, the year Brian was born, and a testament to the variety of vocalists he has on this recording.

Backing Trainor on piano are his favorite drummer Billy Jones, longtime bassists Vince Fay and Tyrone Brown, Rowan jazz professor Dennis DiBlassio on bass flute, organist Joel Bryant and longtime friend alto saxman Richie Cole. Cole, also a Trenton native, played with Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton before forming Alto Madness and touring the world, sometimes with Trainor.

Steve Marcus, who plays tenor and soprano sax on this album, also died at the age of 66 last October, shortly after the recording was made. Marcus had helped merge jazz rock fusion with Larry Coryell and Gary Burton before doing straight out jazz with Buddy Rich. The recording was going to be dedicated to him.

Among the songs on "Why Try To Change Me Now?" there’s a lot of lovin’ going on with, "She Goes Home," "When She Loved Him," "I Got It Bad," "Feelin’ Good," "Everytime We Say Goodbye," an instrumental "Song for Island Girl," the crooner classic "I Got the World on a String," and the spiritual "Take My Hand Precious Lord," which I have a feeling Lois Smith sings as gospel.

Brian played and Lois Smith sang many songs together at various Cape May Jazz Festivals over the years, and with their new recording, this festival would have been a real special occasion. But it wasn’t meant to be as planned. Instead, the Cape May All Star Band, which Trainor himself organized, will play a special tribute to him during a memorial service at this fall’s festival at noon on Saturday, November 11th, at Cape May Convention Hall.

The festival program describes Trainor as “a man beyond description and world renowned musician who has deeply touched all involved and in attendance at previous jazz festivals. The Cape May All Star Band will perform in tribute to our sadly missed friend and mentor.”

This festival’s theme is "New Orleans Comes to Cape May," and it will be fitting to give Brian a traditional New Orleans style wake, with Lois Smith leading "When the Saints Come Marching In," just as they conclude every festival. Why try to change it now?

Island road by Snow

2011-08-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

How Music Brought the Wall Down

2011-08-14T04:26:00.000-07:00

Mstislav Rostropovich performs at the Wall

East Berlin Television Tower

2011-08-14T04:20:00.001-07:00

The Wall Comes Down

2011-08-14T04:19:00.002-07:00

Brandenberg Gate

2011-08-14T04:19:00.001-07:00

Lipsig Protests Brought Down the Wall

2011-08-14T04:17:00.000-07:00

Lipsig Church where German resistance began

2011-08-14T04:16:00.000-07:00

Did Jersey Shore Lose Striper Bass Record?

2011-08-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

Bucktail Lure

2011-08-14T04:12:00.000-07:00

How I Caught the 81 pound Striper

2011-08-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Talk about laid back.

http://weston-ct.patch.com/articles/angler-how-i-caught-that-81-pound-bass-3

Since last Friday, when news about Greg Myerson's apparent world-record striped bass started churning up the Internet, his cell phone and email in-box have been jammed with messages. His friends and people suddenly claiming to be his friends have been agog with talk of big money from endorsements.

Nevertheless, Greg Myerson started Monday morning knee-deep in the cold, clear water of Munger Brook, calmly adjusting rocks on a small spillway he constructed next to his North Branford house.

"I'm going to wait and see what happens," he says about the possibility of benefits and fame derived from the 81.88-pound fish he caught Aug. 4 in Long Island Sound, just beyond Outer Southwest Reef off Westbrook.

His wait-and-see attitude is pure wisdom, because the fish must first be certified as a record by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), which approves and keeps track of such things.

"Approval of a record is a rigorous process," says Jack Vitek, IGFA records coordinator.

Not only must appropriate documents be completed but the fishing line and leader used to catch the fish must be tested and the scale on which it was weighed certified. No action can be taken until at least 60 days from the catch day.

Still, says Vitek, "I've seen photos of the fish. It's pretty exciting."

Scoffing at rumors that he would not submit his fish to the IGFA, Myerson, 43, points to his house and says, "I've got the IGFA papers in there."

With that, he tosses a handful of feed pellets into the brook, bringing the water to a boil of hungry trout, fish he has stocked there for fun.

A few minutes later, shutting off his noisy cellphone, Myerson sits in an easy chair by a large window overlooking the brook.

"I can feed my trout out this window," he says.

The Catch That Changes Everything

The big—he's 6-feet-4-inches and 275-pounds—former linebacker at the University of Rhode Island seems almost unaware that, in the angling world, at least, he has become an instant celebrity.

Obviously, however, Myerson is planning ahead.

"I want to start a company that sells online," he says. "It would market T-shirts, caps, fishing rods and maybe reels."

As for endorsements, Myerson adds, he is open to offers but not looking for them.

After news of the catch went out, Myerson says he was called with advice and congratulations by former record-holder Albert McReynolds, who boated a 78.8-pound bass off South Jersey in 1982. McReynolds, formerly of New Jersey and now retired in Florida, made a ton of money but also was targeted by cranks as a hoaxster.

Myerson has already been subjected to similar treatment. One well-known fishing writer wrote in his blog that the fish had been caught by an "Al Stromski" and when the name was corrected, noted that Myerson had suffered a panic attack after being badgered about the fish.

Some posts on the Internet suggest something is fishy about the catch besides the fish itself. The burly Harley-Davidson rider laughs it all off.

Fishing Since Childhood

Many anglers who know Myerson say he's paid his dues and deserves the record.

"Better he catches it than some guy who just happened to toss his line in the water," says a buddy.

During the season, Myerson virtually lives on the water, fishing night after night. Big fish are not a novelty to him. He routinely catches and releases stripers that would be another angler's fish of a lifetime.

Myerson has been fishing for most of his life. He started at age 12, fly fishing on the Muddy River behind a friend's house in his native North Haven. About the same time, he caught his first striper when a family friend took him to the turbulent Race at the eastern end of Long Island Sound.

"From then on, I wanted to catch stripers, he says.

Myerson recounts how he trapped muskrats to earn money for a boat. Fittingly, he chose a salty 17-foot Brockway skiff, a wooden craft built by Old Saybrook's Richard Earle Brockway, a New England legend who produced more than 5,000 boats in his cluttered yard near the Connecticut River, working virtually until he died at age 76 in 1996.

Brockway used a rusted old Cadillac to hoist and tow his boats, which were favored by true watermen for fishing and utility use. Plans for one of his models were circulated to fishermen in developing countries by the United States Peace Corps.

"I watched my boat being built," says Myerson, speaking of the time he spent among the lumber, old tires and tools strewn about next to Brockway's ramshackle home.

"I kept the boat at a marina in Branford," says Myerson. "My parents told me not to go past the town dock. I'd go a lot further than that," he admits.

He now keeps his boat at Pier 76 Marina, north of the Singing Bridge over the Patchogue River in Westbrook.

The Fateful Night

Myerson left the marina with a friend aboard before dusk on Aug. 4 and, once near Southwest, stopped at a bouldery hole marked "22" on his GPS.

"It's my lucky number," he says of the hole's designation. The number is the same as the length in inches of a rainbow trout caught when he was young, still mounted on a wall in his home.

Myerson started his drift about 8 p.m. He favors slack tide at dark's approach for the biggest fish. His reel was a Quantum Cabo and his rod a short, stout St. Croix, at six-and-a-half feet. The eye at the tip of the rod had been removed and replaced with a roller. "I use braided line. It wears at the eye," he explains.

He used a three-way swivel rig with an eel, pretty standard except that he opts for super-size eels, figuring they attract super-size fish.

Reeling Her In

As the drift progressed, Myerson felt a powerful strike. He lost half an eel and the fish. He began the drift again.

"I expected the fish would be still there, especially if it was hungry, he says.

(Turns out it was, exploration of its stomach revealed only a sea star.) The fish slammed the eel again and Myerson hooked it -- or, rather, her. It was obvious he had a whopper at the other end of the line.

"I know what a big fish feels like," he says. "Towing the boat, the striper bottomed then streaked away as stripers are known to do, ripping off line."

Myerson waited for the fish to surface, as he knew it would when it finished its run.

"Crashing the surface, its dorsal fin was so big it looked like Batman's cape," he says.

As Myerson pumped his rod and fought the monster, he slipped on eel slime that coated the deck and bruised his ribs. Eventually the fish tired before Myerson did. At the boat, it edged under the swim platform, which snagged the net wielded by Myerson's companion.

"I use a huge net," says Myerson.

After a few anxious moments, they freed the net and boated the fish. From the broken-off leader in the fish's mouth, it was apparent that someone else had missed the chance at boating a record.

Even though he suspected he had something special, Myerson, laid back as ever, stayed out and continued catching stripers. After finally returning to the rock, he iced the fish, put it in his truck and relaxed for a while at a nearby seafood spot. Only after he returned home did he weigh it. Then he went to bed.

The next morning, a customer was having a reel spooled with line at Jack's Shoreline Bait & Tackle in Westbrook. The phone rang and owner Jack Katzenbach answered. After the call, he turned to the customer and another man who was hanging out and told them, "A big striper is coming in for weighing, more than 81 pounds."

And that is what it turned out to be, on Katzenbach's scale.

Editor's note: This article previously was published by Killingworth-Durham-Middlefield Patch.

New World Striper Record 81.88 lbs?

2011-08-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

(Photo Press of AC)

Kierran Broatch/On The Water Magazine

Greg Myerson of Westport, Conn., holds a striped bass that he caught in the Long Island Sound on Thursday night. The fish was weighed at 81.88 pounds, which if certified, would break the world record.

Posted: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 12:05 am | Updated: 8:26 am, Wed Aug 10, 2011.
By MIKE SHEPHERD, For The Press |

Greg Myerson said Tuesday he's sorry to take the world-record striped bass record from Atlantic City, but he is happy to have it in Westbrook, Conn.

Myerson caught an 81.88-pound striped bass last Thursday in the Long Island Sound that beats the existing record of 78 pounds, 8 ounces set by former Atlantic City resident Albert McReynolds on Sept. 21, 1982.

McReynolds, who caught his bass while fishing from an Atlantic City jetty, gave Myerson his congratulations, and some advice.

"I talked to him about five times," Myerson said. "He's been treating me with nothing but respect. He told me to lay low for a couple of days. Just enjoy it."

Myerson said McReynolds, who now lives in Naples, Fla., also advised him not to worry about what everybody says.

"He probably is the only person who knows what I was going through," Myerson said.
He said that he's been getting about a 100 calls a day "easy" about the fish. On Tuesday, he did an interview with The Fisherman magazine, which is putting his story on the front page. And he is setting up another interview for today with Coastal Angler magazine.
He spent another part of Tuesday filling out all the paperwork to certify the fish and the world record with the International Game Fish Association.

However, the demands on his time have not cut into his fishing. But that's mainly because the weather in Connecticut has been "crummy," he said.

"Everyone has been pretty cool," Myerson said. "Nothing has changed. I'm just going to keep on fishing."

He was headed out Tuesday night.

McReynolds said Tuesday that he gave Myerson a couple of tips based on his experience in 1982. According to an article in The Press in 2008, McReynolds referred to his catch as the "night he caught the devil."

He caught the fish during a rain storm, battling 25-knot winds and crashing waves off the jetty. He spent years defending the catch from others who claimed it was caught by a net instead of a rod and reel. He said he even received hate mail.

Two days after Myerson's catch, McReynolds called The Press to say that he was considering legal action for fraud. But when reached on Tuesday, the 64-year-old said that Myerson deserves the honor of the new world record because Myerson is a real fisherman who earned it.

McReynolds said it is not about the money or honors, but about the joy of fishing. That was his biggest advice for Myerson - just do whatever makes him happy.

"Keep fishing, get out of the house, stay focused on fishing," McReynolds said Tuesday.
Myerson said he took the advice. The only problem was that when he went out to his world-record fishing spot on the eastern end of Long Island, "It was like a parking lot ... I didn't go near my spot."

Myerson is a 43-year-old union electrician who lives in North Branford, Conn. He fishes just about every night he can.

He has a spot he likes with big underwater rocks. He says fishing is best there near slack tide at high water at night or evening, and the moon has got to be high in the sky. He says it's always like that when he catches the big ones.

The night he caught the world-record contender, Myerson said fishing partner Matt Farina caught a 48-pounder. He said the wind has to be right, too. That night, the wind came up and the fish were moving.

He weighed the fish last Friday morning at Jack's Shoreline Bait and Tackle in Westbrook. He weighed it on the boat with a digital scale and it was 82 pounds, which prompted him to call ahead when they were coming back.

By the time they arrived, the word had spread and a crowd was there to witness local history.

He was competing in the On The Water magazine's Striper Cup tournament when he caught the super-heavyweight. He was the On The Water angler of the year last year with three bass that weighed more than 60 pounds.

Jack Vitek, records coordinator for the IGFA, said Tuesday that the record could be confirmed as early as 60 days from the catch date, Aug. 4.

The IGFA has a set of rules for applying for a world record:
- the fish must be weighed on certified scales;
- an IGFA record application must be filled out and notarized
- photos of the angler and the fish, the scales and the rod and reel must be submitted with the application
- plus samples of the leader and a minimum of 50 yards of the line. They test the line for breakage point to determine line class records. In this case, it is an all-tackle application.

Vitek said he will put all the information into a database and meet with the IGFA president and conservation director to go over everything. They might request witness testimony.

Vitek said he is looking forward to getting the application.

Myerson has an Atlantic City connection. His father brought him here on vacations when he was a kid, staying at Boardwalk hotels. He also spent a few days at the Sen. Frank S. Farley Marina in Atlantic City riding out rough ocean when he took his uncle's boat from Greenport, Conn., to West Palm Beach, Fla.

He said that trip was memorable because he met golf legend Arnold Palmer. "I'm a golfer, so I was into that," he said.

Sean Fleming - Irish American

2011-08-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

Irish American Vol. 1 # xx

Fleming's Life "note" worthy
By Tom Mahon
Irish American Staff

Sean Fleming likes to play music. Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when.

Back in 1969, Fleming sat in a helicopter flying high above war-torn Vietnam. He and the pilot were trying to locate some troops that he was supposed to entertain.

As they searched, Fleming daydreamed of what could have been - what should have been.

Just a year and a half earlier his life was full of promise. He had appeared on the Merv Griffin show several times and had signed a record and a movie deal with MGM. With any luck, the talented musician and singer was on his way to fame and fortune.

And then it happened.

"I was a resident alien and back then you could be drafted if you had a green card," said Fleming, who hails from Country Kerry in Ireland. "I spent the next two years in the Army." Making the best of a bad situation, Fleming, who was already proficient on the accordion, learned to play the guitar while in the Army.

"I would play for guys in the MASH units from time to time," said Fleming. "One day, General Hayes, a woman who was the head of the Army Nurses Corp, saw me perform and told me that what I was doing [with the guitar] was more important than what I was doing with an M-16. So for the last five months or so I played for the troops. But even that was extremely dangerous. Often times it was just myself and a pilot in a helicopter flying around looking for US troops in places that you wouldn't think troops would be. We would radio ahead and ask them to send up smoke to let us know where they were located."

Fleming survived the war, but his budding career took a major hit.

"I was just glad to get out of there alive," Fleming said. "The first guy I shared a tent with never made it back. After I came out I had to start (my career) from scratch. Everything changes quickly in the entertainment business and when I got back things had changed dramatically."

The calendar told him it was 1971, just two years since he'd made the last of seven appearances on the Merv Griffin show. But in show business, two years is an eternity, and Fleming found himself starting over, trying to work his way back to where he was before he got drafted.

Once he had shared the stage with such notable performers as the Beach Boys, Della Reese and Rodney Dangerfield. Now, he found himself back in New York City performing a solo act. - just himself and an acoustic guitar - in small clubs and pubs. Eventually, he formed several bands and played several large venues including Carnegie Hall and Philadelphia's Robin Hood Dell.

You can catch The Sean Fleming Band at the Bucks County Irish Festival at the Phoenix Club in Feasterville on June 4, and at the annual 2000 Irish Festival on June 17 - 18 at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. Fleming who plays guitar, synthesizer and accordion heads up one of the most talented bands anywhere.

On drums is Steve Holley, who has backed up some of the biggest names in music, including Paul McCartney and Wings, Elton John, Kiki Dee, Joe Cocker and Julian Lennon. On guitar is Justin Jordan, who has played with the likes of the Turtles (Flo & Eddy), the Shirelles, Joey Dee and the Starlites and Frankie Ford.

And on bass is Bruce Gordon, who has recorded with Ray Davies of "The Kinks." Gordon, who started out playing blues and R&B in Buffalo, NY, has a diverse musical background. He was a member of the new wave band "The Screaming Honkers," which appeared in the movie "Ishtar," and has also performed in a country and western swing band called the Jazz Cowboys."

And, of course, there is Fleming, whose Irish roots help give the band a unique, hard-driving sound.

Those who knew Sean Fleming as a lad growing up in a golf club house on the shores of the Lakes of Killarney, could never have imagined that he would end up performing in a Celtic rock band.

A golf pro maybe. Fleming to this day is and avid duffer who has played some of the best courses in the world including Pine Valley in New Jersey.

But a Celtic rock performer?

Surely, he loved music, but in the beginning he played anything but rock and roll.

"I guess I was about 4 or 5 when I got interested in music," he said. "I got a harmonica every year for my birthday and I'd found an old accordion in the closet and learned how to play that too. I was amazed at how easy it was for me to get a sound out of it. I went from that to the piano accordion and was a member of the Killarney Monastery Accordion Band, a group run by Brother Finian [of the Christian Brothers order]. We would play marches, semiclassical, waltzes - music of that genre. But certainly no traditional Irish music. In my opinion, it's really impossible to learn traditional Irish music through notes. You have to play it by ear, you have to live it."

"I used to play a lot of traditional Irish music on the regular accordion. And when I came to New York I played for the dances and feises."

"Playing for feises isŠ. well you have to have the patience of Job," he continued with a laugh. "I'd play the same song, 35 times for a group of 4-5 and 6 year old dancers. But I think that it's wonderful that the youngsters today are involved in Irish dancing and I encourage it. It's nice to see them keep the traditions alive."

" I remember when I was growing up that people would go out on St. Bridget's Day. Guys would dress as girls and girls would dress as guys. And some people would put a little band together and go from house to house and sing a song. They'd get half a crown or whatever and take the money and have a Biddy Ball. That's where I got my traditional Irish music background."

That background has served Fleming and his band well as his legion of fans continues to grow.

Fleming, like many others, is quick to credit one man with the resurgence in the popularity of Irish music and dance. "Michael Flatley" Fleming said, referring to the originator of the wildly popular Riverdance. "There is certainly no doubt in my mind that Riverdance had a tremendous impact on Celtic music."

"Before that you had groups such as the Pogues and the Chieftains, but they didn't attract as large an audience. I know a guy I Washington, D.C. who teaches Irish dancing. When I first met him several years ago he had four or five students. Now, He has over 325 and he's thinking of building has own studio. "

"And it's not just Irish Americans that are involved. There are kids that have absolutely no affiliation with the Irish who are taking lessons. It's great."

That non-Irish people are interested in Celtic music and dance doesn't surprise Fleming, who likes to listen to all types of music.

If you were to see Fleming motoring about New York in his 1974 BMW 3.0 CS you might be surprised to hear what radio station he was tuned to.

"You can tell a lot about a person by the pre-sets on their car radio," said Fleming. "My No. 1 pre-set on AM is National Public Radio. My No. 1 pre-set on FM is Fordham University's station, which plays everything from Irish music, Celtic music, American Folk music and the Blues. "

"I also have a country pre-set, a cutting-edge rock and roll pre-set, a classical pre-set and a pre-set for the Fairleigh Dickinson University station which plays New Age music. I like a lot of different types of music because I an learn something from all of them."

To date, Fleming has released four albums and written about "10 to 12" original songs. He's married to Liselotte, an exercise physiologist who has taught at Queen's College, who has started the Preschool of the Nyacks. They have three children, Dillon, 8, Anders, 5 and Elin, 2 and live in a beautiful home on a hillside off the Hudson River near Tarrytown, NY, about 25 miles from Manhattan.

Fleming's career has taken him to just about every major city in the U.S. and he has played in Ireland, Japan , the Philippines and the Czech Republic.

Raising a family has forced him to take another look at his career. Fleming said he no longer thinks about making it big.

"If it happens, it happens," he said matter-of-factly. In the meantime, he's hoping to branch out into other areas.

"I'm thinking about doing a children's album," he said. "And I've begun to think about writing [songs] a lot more ad having someone else - or perhaps myself - record them. I'm also thinking about putting together an Atlantic City act that I would do on a semi-regular basis, a couple of weeks at a time.

"Sort of a Celtic-flavored Wayne Newton," he added with a laugh.

Sean Fleming in an Atlantic City casino act?

Don't bet against it.

"I'm a large procrastinator," he said. "So who knows what will happen?"

Certainly not Fleming.

His career has taken more left turns that a race car driver in the Indy 500.

Thirty-one years ago he flew in a helicopter over war-torn Vietnam looking for some troops to play for.

Now the troops come to him - an army of loyal fans that show up wherever he plays.

They listen to him and his band in spots such as Finnigan's Wake, Brittingham's and Callahan's. And at the Philadelphia Festival on Penn's Landing too.

Who knows? Maybe someday the venues will become bigger. Perhaps Fleming will see his name on the marquee of an Atlantic City casino or even the First Union Center.

For now, he's perfectly content, right where he is.

Sean Fleming, you see, likes to play music.

The Gillespie Gents

2011-08-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Jack Gillespie was a great guy, and the way he died reminds me of this poem.

Born in Donegal, my favorite town in all Irleand, Jack Gillespie came to America as a young boy, served in the military during WWII and moved to Browns Mills where he opened JC's - Jack & Connie's general store and later JC's Pub (now Belly Busters).

At some point in time Jack returned home to Ireland accompanied by his sons, and they played golf there.

I remember when Jack was dying and his family came back to Browns Mills to see him, which reminds me of this poem.

The Old Golfer Dies
By Edgar A. Guest

Old Andy was a dying man. The
Doctor shook his head.
“You’d better call the family in,”
unto the nurse he said.

“He tries to speak,” the nurse replied,
and bending low she heard:
“I want the boys, I want the boys –
for them I have a word.”

His loved ones gathered round his
Bed and watched him weaker grow.
“I must,” he gasped,’ say something
to the boys before I go.”

“They’re coming, Pa; they’ll soon be
here,” a daughter softly said.
“Give me the message you would
leave,” but Andy shook his head.

They wondered what he had to tell
And what was on his mind,
But none could guess the counsel
Which he wished to leave behind.
“The boys, the boys,” he spoke again,
“’tis them I wish to see,
I hope they will get here in time to
Hearken until me.”

Into the room they came at last,
The old man called them near.
“My boys,” said he in faltering tones,
“not long will I be here,
But this I want to say to you once
More before I die:
Never play your brassie when you
Have a down-hill lie!”

Philly Folk Fest

2011-07-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

Jude Burkhauser and the Cranberry Tapestry

2011-07-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Jude Burkhauser and her tapestry on the Indian legend of how the cranberrys got their color.

This tapestry and others based on the Lenni Lenape Inidan legend of the Walum Olum are on display at the Upper Township Library in Cape May County, NJ

Jeramiah Was A Whooumper!

2011-07-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

Slimetime – The Art of Fishing
By Robert “Barnsie” Barnes (aka the Cave Man)

Jeramiah Was A Whooumper!

My 51 Ford pickup coasted to a quiet stop. The lights had been shut off a hundred yards back as we needed to slip into the swamp without alerting the quarry. Plenty of bug spray applied liberally above the waste, a couple of flashlights with extra batteries, plenty of smokes and extra matches in a plastic bag, and back in those days, there would be a couple of sixpacks of Bud hanging on me like handgrenades.

We picked up our weapons and stepped into the cool water. I was with Frank and we were two of only the six people I met who were fortunate to engage in this great sport – bullfrogging.

There are many better restaurants which feature these fine eating criters as a delicacy and they sell on the street for $30 a pound. At those prices I could capture about $600 bucks worth on an average night. But I’d rather eat them myself.

I’ve never encountered anyone else in the swamp. No crowds, no Shoobies, no competition, no hassles, maybe another crazy like myself, and a hell of a lot of fun. A calm night, a small boat, or maybe a sneakbox, a burlap bag ad plenty of bug spray.

I don’t take small ones, cause the big ones have a lot more mean and are easier to detect. Amid all the other noise that about at night in the swamps, the unmiskabable sound of “Whooump, Whooump, Whooump,” tells me where the big ones are. They don’t “croak” they “Whooump!” I catch them and then they croak.

The stalk begins. They don’t just sit there and let you pick’em off. And even a small wave will send them to the bottom quick. I’ve don’t the best I can, I’ve ignored a couple of turtles that I’ve stepped on. I’ve ignored a dozen snakes and zillions of mosquitoes. He’s sitting on a Lilly pad, looking at the bugs, getting ready to strike.

Quiet, move slow, don’t move at all, then move quick, the hand is faster than the eye, and he’s in the bag. I’ve got my limit. I’ll be pigging out soon. A nice salad, maybe some fries, corn on the cob and bunch of frogs legs.

From The Native Guide Vol. 3 #4 April, 1999

Walt Whitman's Tomb Harleigh Cemetery Camden

2011-07-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

Uncle Jack's Painting

2011-07-21T08:52:00.001-07:00

Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack's Place

2011-07-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Kelly's Lagoon off Mirror Lake, Browns Mills NJ

2011-07-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

BACK TO THE LAKE

Browns Mills. Before the Jersey Shore it was always Browns Mills for the summer, and usually a late Friday afternoon when my family and friends would pile into my father’s car, leave our home in Camden and head for the small community nestled next to Mirror Lake in the middle of the Pine Barrens.

I knew every landmark on the 40 mile route from the city to the country, having traveled it so many times, and couldn’t wait for that roller coaster pitch in my stomach that would come when we got to the “hills,” actually just bumps in the road, not far from the Pine Barrens Commission headquarters that signified the entrance to the town that held some special magic for me.

Not far from Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base, Browns Mills is now famous as the home of Deborah Heart and Lung Hospital, but those institutions don’t reflect onMirror Lake, which you can’t see until you leave the main part of town and turn the corner past the bus station.

There was the Pig N’ Whistle Inn, a colonial era tavern and stagecoach stop, on one side of the road and a house on a hill that was Kay’s Gift Shop. Down a bit further there was a pizza restaurant next to the damn that flowed into a stream that, by canoe, would eventually carry you to the Delaware River.

The inn burned down years ago, and there’s a McDonald’s there today. The bus stop is gone too, and the gift shop is now a bank. But the lake is still there, and the places that meant something to me growing up haven’t changed all that much.

The road still winds around the lake that was once lined with private docks belonging to families with homes nearby. Most, like ours, were vacation homes, country retreats for those who wanted to escape the city in the summer. Our white stucco house, which my father and my uncle built with their own hands, brick by brick, is the last of a few small cottages at the end of a dirt road. It has a fireplace and a picture window facing the Little Lake, the small lagoon off the big lake, Mirror Lake, at the other end of the street.

In the winter, when there aren’t many leaves on the trees, you can see the house across the little lake where my Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack lived in the summer and holiday weekends. You could walk across the 100 yards if the lake was frozen, as it was much of the winter. My father was the biggest so if the ice would support him, it was good for everybody. A fire in the barbeque pit was good for hot dogs and marshmallows.
In the summer you visited them by row boat or canoe, or walk around to the bridge my uncle Babe built along the path through the woods they used to get to the dock on the big lake. You might pass aunt Jane on the trail, heading for the dock with a towl and a bar of Ivy soap, the kind that floats.

Uncle Jack always had something going on. He was either oil painting ships, putting up the hammock, tether ball pole, or badminton net, but always took a break to take us in his little Porsche to the bus stop market for ice cream and a ride around the lake. I don’t know how six cousins fit into that little car.

Then he’d drop us off at the dock where we’d dive or cannonball into the lake, driving Aunt Jane out of the water, and race to the neighbor’s floating pontoon platform out in the deep part. As we’d pull ourselves onto the bobbing float I’d swallow the brownish cedar water, and then lie in the sun until dry.

There were drownings all the time, and you thought about it when you heard an ambulance screaming around Lake Shore Drive, but they were usually city slickers out of their element. We had been baptized in this lake when we were born and felt invincible. But we did practice the buddy system, wouldn’t go swimming alone, and if you wanted to swim across the lake you had to follow a row boat.

Power boats weren’t allowed on the lake, so it was often filled with rowboats, canoes and sailboats in a soft breeze, gently floating nowhere.

We would take a canoe to explore the swampy source of the lake. Catching frogs and turtles with your bare hands is a patiently crafted skill, and dusk is the best time to catch fish. Rolled up pieces of wet bread make good bait for catfish, and you only feel squeamish the first time you learn to grab the flopping fish from behind the gills to remove the hook.. No matter what the size of the catch, the fish are thrown back to be caught another day.

Sometimes, on really dull days, we’d cast off a plastic model ship into the little lake, a toy that took hours to build and only a few minutes to sink with a BB gun.
Then there was the time a state Fish, Game & Wildlife agent came out of the woods behind our house and gave a ticket to my father for fishing without a license. Dad had his day in court, explained how he was teaching my brother to cast a line, and besides, the agent had to trespass on our property in order to catch him. Not guilty.

Breakfast with Uncle Jack meant blueberry pancakes, wild berries you had to go pick yourself.

After dinner we’d meet at Uncle Jack’s to play flashlight tag in the dark while the older folks played cards on the porch.

If you stayed overnight at Uncle Jack’s house, which was usually crowded, and didn’t get a bed, you had to sleep on the bathroom floor, which would earn you name painted in oil on the bathroom wall.

There were seven brothers and sisters in my father’s family, so there were always a lot of cousins running around, and their names are all on that wall.

We would sleep either in the bunk beds in the side room, or in the attic, where the stars would shine in the window through the pines, and we’d fall asleep to the sounds of crickets and frogs croaking into the night.

In the morning, a woodpecker would wake us up and we’d go outside to pick blueberries that Uncle Jack would put into the pancakes.

Then we’d have to wait for an hour before we could go down the path through the woods to the big lake for a dip in the lake, because one of the rules was you couldn’t go swimming on a full stomach.

We didn’t put our shoes on until Sunday, when we went to church – St. Ann’s in the Pines.

It went that way every day, all summer, from Memorial Day until Labor Day, for years, until we became teenagers, discovered girls and rock & roll, and started going down the shore where the action was.

And now I find myself sitting across the table from Uncle Jack, drinking his iced tea that tastes just like the big lake, saying how every time he runs into a cousin they say, “Browns Mills. Let’s go back there because they were the best days of my life.”

And Uncle Jack said, “We still go up there for weekends in the summer, but nobody comes to visit us anymore.. You’re welcome. It’s still the same. You can get everybody back there if you want to, but that was a special place at another time, and it’ll never happen again. That, I think, is what Thomas Wolfe meant when he said, ‘You can’t go home again’”

[Originally published in the column Kelly’s People – The SandPaper, Friday, Dec. 16, 1988]

Pittsburgh Paul on Kelly's Lagoon, Mirror Lake

2011-07-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh Paul at Mirror Lake

Pittsburgh Paul in Pittsburgh

2011-07-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hal O'Leary

2011-07-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

I met Hal O'Leary at Winterpark, Colorado in the winter of 1977 when I drove into town with Brien O'Keeney in his red TR7. We drove cross country from our winter rental beach house in Ocean City and had made stops in Pittsburgh to visit Marc Connally and in Boulder to visit Marc's sister Mary, and then headed into the Rockies.

Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" was playing on the radio, which mentions the Rockies, as we drove past the original Hard Rock Cafe and then turned off the highway and through Beaver Pass to get to Winterpark, a major ski area.

Brian pulled into a spot that was reserved for the handicapped and there, on the first door it read: Handicap Ski Office - Hal O'Leary.

Brien had come to America from Ireland with a friend, John Hassen, and they worked as house painters in Ocean City for awhile until one day when Brien was riding his motorcycle to work and an old man pulled out in front of him and hit him hard. He went down with his head hitting the sidewalk and putting a big crack in his helmet but it was his leg that was damaged. They didn't amputate right away and it got worse, and eventually they took it off, and he now walks with slight limp with a false leg prothesis.

I followed Brien in and we met Hal, who asked Brien if he was AK or BK - which means an above the knee amputee or below the knee amputee, and Brian said AK.

"Want to ski?" Hal asked.

Right now? Brien wanted to know.

Yea, right now, said O'Leary.

He handed Brien two outrigges and told him to go into the locker room and take off his prothesis, as he wouldn't need it to ski.

In the locker room Brien met another handicap skier, who was a double AK, double amputee above the knee, a Vietnam war vet who had stepped on a land mine.

Within the hour, Brien and Hal O'Leary were on the lift going up to the highest point on the mountain and they skied down together. While Hal is a normie, like me, he invented the three-track ski with two outriggers so one legged people can ski.

I waited for them at the bottom of the mountain and when they skiied up to me Brien had the biggest smile on his face that you wouldn't believe.

We ended up staying at Winterpark for awhile, and then returning after a trip to California, and spent St. Patrick's Day there, when the locals ski down the hill for the last time naked and end up in a big pool of water at the bottom of the hill.

We went back the next year, and learned that the International Handicap Ski Tournament was going to be held at Braniff, Calgary Canada, and with nothing else to do, drove up there for the tournament and met handicap skiers from all over the world.

Then the following year, while we were at Aspin, Brien was skiing Aspin Mountain when he came across another handicap skiier whose outrigger had broke - a young 17 year old Irish American, and helped him down the mountain. Teddy Kennedy had lost a leg to cancer, but that didn't stop him from skiing, and he wanted to know how Brien could shift gears in his TR7 with one leg. Brien showed him, and also showed him how to make a 160 degree in lane turn using the handbreak. That got the attention of the Aspin sheriff's deputies, who just said that we were on their radar and not to act up.

Teddy then met us at Winterpark one season and also met Hal O'Leary, a legend to all handicap skiers, and author of the book on handicap skiing.

He has also been recognized by Canada with a rightly deserved achievements award.

Belly Busters Bar Menu

2011-07-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

BELLY BUSTERS
98 Lakehurst Road, Browns Millls, NJ
(609) 893-7779

Kitchen Open 12 noon – 8 pm.
We Deliver – from 4pm

Now delivering to JBMDL – Fort Dix & McGuire

Chicken Packs

1) Snack Pack – dark meat 1 leg, 1 thigh, 1 roll, 3 potato logs - $4.49
2) Snack Pack – light meat 1 breast, 1 wing, 1 roll, 3 potato logs - $5,50
3) Lunch Box – 1 breast , 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 rolls, 6 logs - $7.69
4) Dinner Pack – 2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 legs, 3 thighs, 4 rolls, 8 logs - $13,75
5) Crowd Pleaser – 3 breast, 3 wings, 3 legs, 3 thighs, 6 rolls 12 logs - $16.99
6) Party Pack – 4 breats, 4 wings, 4 legs, 4 thighs, 8 rolls, 16 logs - $19.75
7) Chicken Fingers (4) w. fries - $ 5.29

Chicken Wings
(Buffalo Wingettes, BBQ)

6 pack $4.99
12 pack $6.49
18 pack $9.99
24 pack $12.99
30 pack $15.99
50 pack $27.99
100 pack $53.99

Xtra wing sauce and blue cheese $.50 and $1.75 and celery $.50

BELLY BUSTIN’ HOAGIES Half Whole

1, Ham and Cheese $4.95 $9.99
2. American
(Bologna, ham & cheese) $5.75 $9.95
3. Bologna & Cheese $4.25 $7.95
4. Italian $5.99 $10.99
5. Roast Beef & Cheese $6.50 $11.95
6. Turkey w/Cheese $6.25 $11.25
7. The “Belly Buster”
(Roast Beef, turkey w/Cheese) $6.99 $11.99
8. Tuna Salad $5.75 $9.99
9. Chicken Salad
(all white meat) $5.75 $9.99
Extra Meet $ .95 $2.25
Extra Cheese $1.25 $1.75
Extra Peppers $ .95 $1.00

(Make any ½ sub n a Hard Roll)

All subs include Lettuce, Tomato, Onions, our Secret Spices.
Request Mayo, Mustard, Oil & Vigegar

HOT SUBS Half Whole

Sausage $5.50 $9.99
w/Onions & Peppers $ 6.75 $10.49
Sausage Parm $5.79 $10.49
Meatball Parm $5.79 $10.49
Chicken Parm $5.79 $10.49
Chicken Steak $5.50 $8.99
w/Cheese $5.99 $9.99
Buffalo Chicken Cheese Steak $5.99 $9.99
Belly Buster Chicken Cheese Steak $6.49 $10.00
w/Letuce, tomato, onion, mayo
Philly Steak Sandwich $5.50 $8.99
w/Cheese $5.99 $9.99
Belly Buster Cheese Steak $6.49 $10.99
w/Lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo
Pizza Steak $5.99 $10.99

BURGERS & DOGS
All burgers and dogs served w/pickle and chips

Plain Burger $3.99
w/Cheese $4.49
Belly Buster Cheese Burger
w/lettuice, tomaton, onion & mayo $5.99
Pizza Burger $5.99
Jumbo Hot Dogs $2.50
Cheese & Chili, Sauerkraut $ .50

SANDWICHES
All sandwiches served w/pickle and chips

Grilled Cheese $2.95
Pork Roll w/Cheese $3.49
Fish Sandwich $5.99
BBQ Pulled Pork $5.95
Club Sandwich $5.69
Roast Beef Club $6.29
Reuben $5.95
Corned Beef Special $5.95

FRENCH BREAD PIZZA

Two 12” slices w/One Topping - $3.50

Extra cheese, sliced tomato, onions, ham, hot peppers, green peppers, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, additional toppings $1.50

ASK ABOUT OUR DAILY SPECIALS AND DESERTS!

SIDES
Small Large
Soup of the Day $2.00 $3.00
Chili $2.00 $3.00
Potato Logs $1.50 $3.00
Collard Greens $2.00 $3.00
Mac & Cheese $2.00 $3.00
Potato Salad $2.00 $3.00
Macaroni Salad $2.00 $3.00
Cole Slaw $2.00 $3.00

Chicken Fingers (5) $5.29
Onion Rings $1.69
Garlic Bread $1.49
Cheesy Garlic Bread $2.49
French Fries $1.99
Cheese Fries $2.99
Poppers $4.99
Mozzarella Sticks (6) $4.99
Pepper Shooters $1.10
Deli Pickle $1.29

ANTIPASTO SALAD (FOR TWO) $7.99

GRILLED CHICKEN SALAD $7.99

BREAKFAST SANDWICHES

Egg Sandwich (2 eggs) $2.25 w/cheese $2.75
Eggs, Pork Roll w/Cheese $3.95
Pork Roll w/Cheese $3.49

BELLY BUSTERS HAS A FULL SELECTION OF WINE, BEER, LIQUORS, LIQUOR, SODA AND SNACKS. WHEN PLACING YOUR FOOD ORDER, ORDER ANY BEVERAGESOR SNACKS AND EVERYTHING WILL BE READY FOR YOUR PICK-UP WITH YOUR ORDER.

BELLY BUSTERS IS A NEW JERSEY LOTTERY CLAIM CENTER

Billy Hector July Gigs

2011-06-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

This calendar of Fender Therapy brought to you by BILLY HECTOR

JULY

SUNDAYS - HARRIGAN’S, Rte 71, Sea Girt 732-449-8228 7:30pm
THURSDAYS – RAGIN’ CAJUN, Belmar, 732-280-6828 7pm

1– CRAB’S CLAW, Lavalette, 732-793-4447 9pm
2- JOHN & PETER’S, New Hope, PA 215-862-5981 9pm
3- HARRIGAN'S, Rte 71, Sea Girt 732-449-8228 7:30pm
8– BERNIE’S, Chester 908-879-7120 9pm
9– The BITTER END, NYC 212-673-7030 Midnight
15– HAT CITY KITCHEN, Orange 862-252-9147 9:30pm

Check out the band doin' Stray Cat at the Hat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5P1Wu-8YZQ&feature=related

17- LANGOSTA LOUNGE, Asbury Pk. Boardwalk 732-455-3275 1pm
21– The ACOUSTIC ARMADA at The RAGIN CAJUN, Belmar, 732-280-6828 7pm
22– SPARTA MUSIC FEST, Nicholson Performing Arts Pavillion., Sparta 7:30pm
23– BOARDWALK BAR, Pt Pleasant boardwalk 732-714-2241 9pm
29– CHICO’S House of Jazz, Asbury Pk 732-774-5299 9pm Chico's is a real Nightclub!!
30- BRIAN'S BLUES & BBQ, Middletown, NY 845-692-3227 9pm

BILLY’S BIRTHDAY BASH with The Midnight Horns is August 26th! -mark your calendar!

All Billy’s CDs, shirts n stuff available at: www.billyhector.com

Me and Rod Serling - Enter the Twilight Zone

2011-06-19T02:25:00.000-07:00

Rod Serling

Witness one Rod Serling – Standing alone, flesh, blood, muscle and mind. A frustrated actor turned writer, he stands forever in the nightmare of his own creation, pressed into service in the role of narrator for a weekly television drama – The Twilight Zone.

For those who watched and listened, he showed how thin a line separates that which we assume to be real and that which is a product of our own minds.

There is that hauntingly repetitious four-beat score that opens the show, as Serling, dressed conservatively in dark suit and tie, steps out of the shadows and stands in the starry night. With his hands clasped in front of him, he says in his distinctive voice, talking out of the side of his mouth:

“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is also an area we call the Twilight Zone.”

Marc Scott Zicree, in his book The Twilight Zone Companion (Bantam, 1982) tells us that the original music for the show was composed by Bernard Herman, who also did such classic film scores as Citizen Kane, Psycho and The Day The Earth Stood Still. Zicree describes it as, “a subtle and lonely piece scored for strings, harp, flute and brass,” but that was replaced after on season “by the more familiar rhythmic theme by French avant-guarde composer Marius Consant.”

As for the name of the show, Serling said, “I thought I’d made it up, but I’ve since heard that there is an Air Force term relating to a moment when a plane is coming down on approach and the pilot cannot see the horizon, it’s called the twilight zone, but it’s an obscure term which I had not heard before.”

Since then the lexicon should show that the CIA psychologists used the term to denote the state of mind of subjects to whom they administered LSD.

But from now on the term “Twilight Zone” will forever be associated with Serling, who conceived the idea for the TV show and wrote many if not most of the scripts. He made the show unique, parlaying an award wining TV drama into the half-hour weekly program that didn’t have the continuity that plots and characters give sit-coms and soap operas.

When word got out that the show would be scary, Serling rejected the advances of agents representing various monster and robot actors who monopolized other sci-fi shows, politely telling them he had something else “in mind.”

And indeed, the Twilight Zone would stimulate endless nightmares, portraying ordinary people in frightening predicaments. But it made people think, and come back for more.

Serling’s contract only called for him to write 80% of the shows, and for Orson Wells to do the narration, but when Orson Wells required more money than they were allocated, and others just didn’t seem right, Serling volunteered to do the narration himself. While it turned out to be the most familiar and endearing part of the series, it was also Serling’s own personal nightmare, as he had stage fright.

The producers and director were at first skeptical of Serling himself doing the opening dialog, but then, as Serling put it, “They looked at me and said, ‘Hell, at least he’s articulate and speaks English, so let’s use him.’ Only my laundress knows how frightened I was.”

According to Zicree, “Serling had more problems adjusting to his on screen role than just stumbling over the occasional word.”

Director Lamont Johnson said, “Rod was a very nervous man before the camera. When he had to do lead in time he would go through absolute hell. He would sweat and sputter and go pale. He was terribly ill at ease in front of a camera.”

Like all successful TV programs, they last only as long as the scripts maintain a certain quality, and writing is what Serling did best.

Born Rodman Edward Serling on Christmas day 1924 in Syracuse, New York, Serling was the second son of Ester and Samuel Serling, his father a wholesale meat dealer.

Popular, outspoken and confident, Serling read pulp paperback novels and mimicked movie actors as a kid. He went in for dramatics in high school, and served as a paratrooper in the Philippines during World War II. After the service he attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and started writing radio scripts and bad poetry.

His wife Carol, who published a Twilight Zone magazine that featured original short fiction, recalls that Rod’s writing habits got him up at dawn. After grabbing a cup of coffee, he would “dictate his scripts into a tape machine.” Often, if the weather was nice, he’d take the machine outside with him and sit by the pool.”

One friend noted, “He is the only person I knew who could get a tan and make money at the same time.”

After five seasons of the Twilight Zone, Serling hosted another TV weekly, The Night Gallery, which also developed short story themes.

Then, years after Serling’s death, they made The Twilight Zone movie, which adapted a few of the original shows to film. It partially succeeded, but the death of actor Vic Morrow and two children in its making put a stigma on the production.

While Serling wrote most of the Twilight Zone TV segments, only “It’s a Grand Life,” about a spoiled boy with supernatural powers, was written by Serling that is included in the film. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which originally stared William Shatner, was written by Richard Matheson, and first published in the Anthology “Alone By Night” (Ballentine, 1961), while “Kick the Can” was written by George Clayton Johnson.

Johnson once said, “On the Twilight Zone, there was an attempt to keep it literary, to keep it bright, to keep it good. No one in the show ever suggested that something would be good enough – although that’s common today in commercial television. Just to do it good enough. Quality control counted in the Twilight Zone.”

In his last published interview several months before his death, Serling said, “I just want them to remember me a hundred years from now. I don’t care that they’re not able to quote a single line that I’ve written. But just that they can say, ‘Oh, he was a writer,’ That’s sufficiently an honored position for me.”

In May, 1975, Serling suffered a mild heart attack while scheduled to give a lecture at a college in upstate New York, and had to have a coronary bypass operation.

When I read in the news papers that he was in the hospital, I sent him a small note, mentioning that I too had attended classes at Antioch College while a student at the University of Dayton, Ohio, and included a poem by William Bulter Yeats, from Supernatural Songs – The Four Ages of Man.

“He with body waged a fight, but body won, it walks upright.
Then he struggled with the heart, innocence and peace depart.
Then he struggled with the mind, his proud heart he left behind.
Now his war on God begins; at stroke of midnight, God shall win.”

A few days later, on June 28, 1975, after ten hours of open heart surgery, complications arose and Rod Serling died. I heard about it on television at home in Ocean City, and wondered if he ever got my note.

The next day I went out on the porch and took the mail from the mail box and was surprised to see one postmarked from upstate New York. The corner of the envelope said it was from Rod Serling.

I could hear the music from the Twilight Zone as I opened the envelop – Da da, da da, da, da, da da....

It was brief and to the point, typewritten, apparently dictated and signed, thanking me for the poem, and saying that he was really worse off than what the newspapers had let it out to be, and that he wouldn’t be working on any projects for awhile.

And now he’s stuck in that middle ground between light and shadow, and is remembered not as a writer, but as our host in his personal nightmare – the Twilight Zone.
Now whenever anything strange or unexpected happens, we hear the faint strains of that music, and quickly turn around, half-expecting to see him standing there, in dark suit and tie, hands clasped in front of him, welcoming us.

Hildreth House Ghost - Cape May County

2011-06-19T01:28:00.000-07:00

The Hildreth House Ghost

Something strange in your neighborhood? Who should you call if your house was haunted by a particularly pesky ghost?

When the Sawyer family became disturbed by the strange events that occurred at an old Cape May County farmhouse they bought and opened a store, they called the ASPR – the American Society for Psychical Research. It’s the closet thing you can get to real ghostbusters.

They are not quacks who try to convince others of the reality of the para-normal, the ASPR was founded in 1885 by eminent American scholars, including William James. They attempt, instead, to find rational explanations for reputed psychic phenomenon. Based in New York City, it is an off-shoot of an even older British Society for Psychical Research.

The ASPR dispatched a team to Cape May County that included Dr. Karl Osis to investigate the Sayer’s Cape May house, and they concluded that the house may actually be haunted, calling it, “a poltergeist case without an identifiable living agent.”

Built in 1772 by Joshua Hildreth, a New England whaler who relocated to this area and took up cattle raising, the house is one of the oldest structures in Cape May county. It has survived a fire, been enlarged several times, and was moved 100 yards down a hill to its present location about a century ago.

The house remained in the Hildreth family until 1976 when it was purchased by a women and her son, who sold it to the Sawyers in 1978.

Although the house was reputed to have been haunted for some time, the only witness to kenetic (the movement of objects) and poltergeist (unexplained noises) activity indicate the strange events only began to occur in the 1970s when the house was owned by the last of the Hildreth descendents.

One lady, a widow who reportedly saw apparitions, experienced flickering lights, saw objects move and heard footsteps, is said to have disliked staying in the house alone.

The next owner, a women and her son, reported to have seen apparitions, heard footsteps and had a burglar alarm continuously malfunction.

When the Sawyers bought the house in 1978 they made major renovations in converting it into a Christmas gift shop they named Winterwood. They found, through hundreds of incidents to dozens of people, that a particularly annoying spirit was in their midst. It seemed liked it came out of the woodwork and liked to play with the electrical system.

The history of the house, engraved on a plaque by the front entrance jokingly warns customers not to be disturbed by Hestor, “the resident ghost,” named after an old spinster who once lived there.

It wasn’t funny at first. So many bizarre and unexplained incidents occurred that the Sawyers contacted ASPR at their 73rd Street offices in New York. With the cooperation of the Sawyer family, Dr. Osis and his associates undertook an objective investigation. Making several visits to Cape May county, Dr. Osis and his team took statements from witnesses and neighbors, searched local historical society records and even tried to acoustically record the poltergeist phenomenon in the best ghostbuster fashion.

In August 1980 Dr. Osis gathered his findings and gave a lecture on the Hildreth House ghost to the twenty-third annual convention of the Parapsychilogical Association in Reykjavik, Iceland, and published his report in the June 1982 issue of the Journal of the ASPR.

Osis and his associate Donna McCormic called their report, “A Poltergeist Case Without Identifiable Living Agent.”

The word poltergeist is from the German – polter – which means noise – and geist, or ghost, and refers to a particularly noisy ghost or “a spirit assumed to be explanation of rapping and unexplained noises.”

In his report, Dr. Osis said that after talking with 31 people, “Twenty-four of the persons interviewed reported observations of the phenomenon.” He made sure that it was not merely a concocted practical joke or an attempt by the Sawyer family to increase their business by exaggerating the existence of the ghost.

Their trust in the Sawyer’s sincerity was boosted by the fact that one witness included a former employee who was not on good terms with the family, and Mr. Sawyer’s embarrassment at not being able to control the electrical malfunctions because he also owned an electrical company.

Osis also said that he took pains to ensure the accuracy of statements and that he, “inquired into the attitudes and possible bias of observers regarding the paranormal.”

“For the most part,” Osis said, “they told us of an initial, healthy skepticism about such matters and expressed belief in some logical explanations for the disturbances. However, subsequent personal observations usually changed their views.”

One of the first bizarre incidents occurred to one electrician who was working overtime in the house shortly after 11 pm. “I was installing recepticals,” the worker said, “and needed more recepticals, so I went out to my truck to get them. When I came back, the tools I had left on the table were scattered over the floor. They were scattered as if somebody had thrown them on the floor.”

Other kenectic activity almost became routine. A file cabinet drawer kept sliding open repeatedly as a book keeper kept closing it, an adding machine suddenly switched on and began punching out zeros, an unwound grandfather clock chimes frequently and customers have been startled by music boxes that suddenly start to play for no apparent reason.

A light socket fell off the ceiling a few seconds before a door slammed shut. When they opened the store one morning they found dolls placed in a circle on the floor with their shoes off as if they were having a séance.

When the Sawyers decided to have a séance of their own in an attempt to communicate with the restless spirit a tile came dislodged from a fireplace, slid across the floor and struck a participant.

Mrs. Sand Sawyer’s daughter Cindi was skeptical until she was spooked one night after work when she lost her keys and her and her boyfriend were accidently locked inside the store. The keys were later found stashed on a shelf where no one would have put them on purpose.

Now convinced it is a friendly ghost, she shows inquiring visitors around the house that has been converted into a retail store lined with display items – small Christmas knickknacks, china, linen and the like. In a backroom she points to a fireplace, the mantle of which was carved by a Hessian soldier who was harbored by Joshia Hildreth after defecting from the British army during the revolutionary war.

“Some people even say that the soldier is the ghost,” Cindi says, “because footsteps have been heard going up the steps to the bedroom. Then there’s two thuds as if he took his boots off and threw them on the floor.”

But she is quick to add that, “other people have heard women’s voices talk, not laughing, but in a serious discussion,” so they’re not sure of the gender of the spirit, or whether it is a number of different spirits.

She talks of Hester as if it’s a member of the family rather than an unwelcome guest, err ghost. “It adds personality to the house,” she says, “and likes electrical stuff, lights, alarms, video cameras, the sterio, things like that.”

Burglar and fire alarms would malfunction, be replaced, and break down again. A video camera used to monitor the backroom would move so it faced the wall, and more than one employee has experienced the music system click on without any physical manipulation. When a sewing machine began running automatically a gift shop manager said, “we had to pull the plug to stop it. It was very strange.”

Osis investigated and found that the sewing machine had a “triple switching mechanism, so before it will operate it has to be switched on, then the appropriate button pushed for switch density, and finally the foot pedal depressed. The machine will not function if any one of these switches is not activated.”

Each time he visited the house, Dr. Osis brought along a different psychic, supposedly “sensitive” to such spirits for the purpose of “identifying a deceased agent.” According to Osis, “The impressions they received in the house were tape recorded before they had any contact with gift shop personnel. We evaluated these impressions by submitting them to persons who had knowledge of the history of the house and its former occupants. Only one of the sensitives, Ingid Beckman reported impressions about a possible deceased agent which tallied with verifiable history.”

She described a women who was identified as Hestor, “the more active of two sisters who lived in the house all their lives.” Hestor was born in 1859 and died in 1949.

Beckman described a women who was, “proud of her family heritage, they were leading citizens and she feels that they sank very, very low. She was left very much to herself,…she was very degraded in the end. She had to go for subsidies…”

This women, according to the psychic, was an active member of a prestigious organization, “more than the community, it’s like a state group or a national group, and has something to do with history.” The impression the psychic had of her motives was that she was “lingering” in the house to defend her family name and the integrity of the house.

Osis said that, “We found out from those who had known Hestor that she was indeed quite proud, especially of her family name; and they had in fact been leading citizens in the community – one of the oldest families, may of whom held public office…(but) towards the end of her life she was forced to accept financial help, which was quite embarrassing for her.”

Hestor was also a member, an official “Master” of the local chapter of the Grange, the national farmer’s organization.

This psychic according to Osis, “gave a fairly detailed and accurate description of Hestor’s physical appearance, and also of her personality and lifestyle.

“In conclusion,” Osis said in his report, “we can say that our investigation of the various explanations for the individual events and our analysis of the data obtained in interviews with witnesses failed to reveal any living poltergeist agent. But the data do seem to suggest – though they do not definitely identify – a deceased agent.”

Tara's Tavern Cookstown NJ

2011-05-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

The closed Cookstown Diner is what you see from the front door of Tara's Tavern.

It used to be Mike's, a biker bar with a juke box and pool table and motorcycles parked outside.

Now it's the new, totally renovated Tara's Tavern, with an upscale brass and glass and mohagany panelled rustic motif.

Technically it is 1 Cookstown-New Egypt Road, in New Hanover, and is owned by Tara D. Bruni, Tara's American Bar and Grill is located on the crossroads corner where the roads to Wrightstown (Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakeurst - JBMDL) and New Egypt and Browns Mills.

It's in the heart of the Jersey Pines, on the north side of the sprawling military base but has easy access from all three directions.

Open for lunch and dinner every day except Tuesdays (11 AM - 10 PM), the menu is upscale, with heafty portions and though a bit pricy, it is really good, and they give a 15% military discount on food on Monday-Wednesday and Thursday.

Rumor on the street however, has Howard the tall, thin bartender from Clarke's in Mt. Holly (now John & Molly's), behind the bar at Tara's. A real professional bartender with interests in music and sports, Howard is very personable and definately an asset.

Samples from the menu:

Garden Fresh Salads

House Salad - $6.99
Spinach Salad - $8.99 \
Signature Waldorf Vinaigrette - $9.99
Classic Caesar - $7.99

All American Favorites

Turkey Club Sandwich with Chips - $7.99
Pork Roll with Chips - $6.99
All-American Hot Dog with Chips - $5.99
Fried Chicken Fingers with Fries - $7.99
Fried Shrip Basket with Fries - $8.99

CHEF'S SELECTION

Italian Sausage and Peppers Sandwich - $7.99
Homemade Chicken Salad Sandwich - $6.99\

BEST BURGHERS EVER

1/2 Pound Fresh Grilled USDA Ground Beef - $6.99
Also available as Turkey or Veggie Burger

Mushroom Swiss Burger - $7.99
Bacon Blue Cheese Burger - $7.99
Jersey Burger - $7.99

Grilled Chicken Sandwichs $7.99
(Ranch, Buffalo, Tara's Favorite - cajun spices, BBQ, fried onions, Monterey Jack, with Fries)

ENTREES

Hearty Beef Stew - $13.99
Lemon Chciken $12.99
BBQ Saint Louis Ribs - $15.99
Homemade Maryland Style Crab Cakes - $18.99

16 oz New York Sirloin - $18.99
16 oz Rib Eye - $17.99
Tilapia - $15.99
Cheese Ravioli w/ vodka sauce - $10.99

CHEF's SELECTION

8 oz Filet Mignon - $15.99
Savoy White Bolognese (Sausage) $16.99
Grilled Salmon - $16.99

APPS -

Buffalo WIngs - $6.99
BB or Cajun WIngs - $6.99
Cajun Angels shrimp - $8.99
Mussels Marinara - $9.99
Chicken Fingers - $6.99
Roasted Clams - $8.99
Grilled Veggie Platter - $8.99
Nachos Supreme - $8.99
Sizzlin' Potato Skins - $6.99

Homemade Baked Maryland Crab Dip - $9.99

Clams Rockefeller - $9.99

Soups

New England Clam Chowder - $2.99 -$3.99
Crock of French Onion - $3.99
Beef Chile - $3.99

CHILDREN'S Menu - $4.99

MORE TO COME ON TARA'S -

BK

BOMARC Broken Arrow Witness Checks In

2011-05-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

BOMARC Nuke Missle Broken Arrow Witness Checks In

When I first discovered the White Deer an old Piney told me that they were contaminated by radiation from the BOMARC missle meltdown. While I know that is now a Piney Myth, I looked into the BOMARC story and found that on June 7, 1960, a fire errputed at the BOMARC base on the far northeast side of Fort Dix/McGuire AFB, now Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst - JBMDL.

I learned what happned from news reports, but couldn't locate any witnesses who were actually there at the time, and wrote up what I learned in an article posted here:
WMD - Weapons of Mass Destruction In My Backyard, that as far as I know, noone has ever read.

In any case, the 60th anniversary of the event came and went on June 7, 2010, with scant notice in the media, but I did attend a public briefing of the clean up efforts then still being undertaken at the Cookstown Municiple building.

I think I was the only reporter present among the dozen there, and I sat next to Col. Grasso, now General Grasso and the Commander of JBMDL on one side, and a young, twenty something guy on my other side, who I later learned was actually responsible for the cleanup of the contamination itself.

The fire that consumed one of the missles totally destroyed the missle itself, and melted the nuke tipped bomb, which everyone would have known about if it exploded.

The local New Egypt Volunteer Fire Department and others put out the fire the best way they knew how - by pouring water on it, which then dissipitated through the sandy soil or flowed out in concrete drainage ditches and under the highway 557 to the Colliers Wildlife Refuage across the street.

As was explained in the briefing and slide show, much of the debree and top soil was removed and trucked away, by pineys to who knows where, but the recent effort focused on the radioactive contamination in the remaining soil that they said was easy to locate and remove - which they did with paint brushes and spoons. The radioactive elements were very heavey, and large, so they could be recognized and scooped up by the brushes into the spoons and then combined so they knew exactly how much they retreived and how much was still missing.

In the end, the most disturbing aspect of the whole briefing was the fact that they acknowledged they didn't know what became of the large, metal rocket launcher, a 47 foot long metal girder that weighed a ton, or a large water drainage pipe that ran under the road and was removed sometime after the incident, but who knows where?

Well now, thanks to Jim Fridley, we know where the rocket launcher went - to a Trenton junk yard.

According to an Editoral in the (Sunday, May 1, 2011) Trentonian newspaper (By Dave Neese), Jim Fridley, who now lives in Nixa, Mo., in the Ozark Mountains, looked up the BOMARC meltdown on the internet, and came across some articles published in The Trentonian and contacted them.

Fridley, at the time of the incident, was an 18 year old in the Air Force, who was working very close to the missle that exploded.

According to the offical report, "The missle launcher is believed to have been moved...shorlty after the accident. However, its location remains unknown, and no verified record indicating the method of disposal is known to exist."

Well Fridley recalls that they placed the launcher on the back of a truck and he escourted it to a scrapyard in West Trenton.

It shouldn't be hard to find a 1960 junk yard in West Trenton where it was taken and see if they have any records.

And now, with that mystery solved, the Army Corp of Engineers or the Ocean County Roads Department should be able to determine what became of the missing dranage pipe that ran under the road.

JBMDL Restaurant Guide - Browns Mills

2010-12-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

JBMDL Restaurant Guide

Joint Base McGuire/Dix/Lakehurst

Restaurant Guide to Browns Mills, New Jersey

ALBAS PIZZA – Acme Shopping Center – 893-6808 / 893-6809. (Since 1976) Italian – Pizza – Hoagies – Cheesesteaks, lunch specials, salads, antipastas, lasange, Sicilian specials.

BELLY BUSTERS (Formerly J.C.’s) – 98 Lakehurst Road. 893-7779. Delivers. Under new management, customers take over kitchen. Fresh soups, fried chicken, wings, ribs, hoagies, cheesteaks, poppers, potato logs, ¼ pound hot dogs, chili, French fries, burgers.

BEST BUFFET – Pine Grove Plaza (New Acme Shopping Center) – 735-9300. Chinese. Visa/MC.

BOBO’S CHINESE – Lakehurst Road. 893-1797. Country Lakes Shopping Center. Visa/MC. 11am – 10 pm.

BROTHER’S DINER – 127 Trenton Road – 893-5500. From 6am – 12 midnight. BYOB. Visa/MC. Sam & Cavit prop. [www.brothersdiner.com]

BURGER KING – Pemberton-Browns Mills-Lakehurst Road – 893-988.

CAROL’S SOUL FOOD – WaWa Shopping Center, Lakehurst Road. Take out Southern chicken, oxtail, collar greens, pies, baked beans, salads, fish, catfish.

CHINA KING – Midtown Plaza Shopping Center. Lakehurst Road. Take out.

CINCO DEMAYO – Pemberton-Browns Mills Road – Old Shopping Center – 735-9904. Mexican take out.

COUNTRY LAKES WAWA – Country Lakes Shopping Center.

COUNTRY LAKES PUB – Chris’ Irish Pub, beer and booze to go, cigars, grill, pool tables, English darts, heated outside smoke deck, spots on TV.

CROWN CHICKEN – Pemberton-Browns Mills Road – Old Shopping Center – 893-9500.

DOMINO’S PIZZA – 100 Lakehurst Road. 893-1600. Deliver.

DUNKIN’DONUTS – Trenton Road. Donuts. Breakfast, Coffee by the pound.

FAMILY PIZZA – Lakehurst Road. 735-0500. Italian pizza, wings, sandwiches. Delivers.

GREAT WALL – Browns Mills Shopping Center – Pemberton-Browns Mills Road . 893-1783

HORNETS NEST – Steak & Seafood House. Lakehurst Road.

JU JU’S – 7 Julistown Road (Wa Wa Shopping Center) Seafood & Soul food Take-Out. 893-2020

KO KO’S – Midtown Plaza Shopping Center – Breakfast, lunch grill. No Hurries here. Food is good and cheap. Service until 2pm. Closed Wednesdays.

LAKESIDE GRILL – (Formally Sonja’s) – Trenton Road. 893-03629. Breakfast Grill. German. Across from St. Ann’s “In the Pines” Catholic Church; Martucci family.

LEVILLA - Browns Mills Shopping Center, Pemberton-Browns Mills Road – 893-7760. Delivers. Visa/MC. Panzoritti.

MARTUCCI’S DELI – 396 Lakehurst Road. (Since 1979). 893-2400/Fax 893-2152. Homemade salads, Boar’s Head cold cuts, coffee, burgers, fried chicken, subs, seafood.

MCDONALDS – Trenton Road – 893-6992. Eat in Take Out, open late, drive through, hot spot for lap tops. Breakfast til ’11.

NO. 1 CHINESE – Mill Village Shopping Center (behind WaWa) 893-8868/893-1960 – (Visa, MC) 11am-10:30pm. Lunch specials.

PAPI’S PIZZA – 558 Lakehurst Road, Country Lakes Shopping Center. 893-5447. Fax. 893-3984. Delivers. Visa/MC/Disc. 11am-10pm.

PIG & WHISTLE – Cold beer and booze to go; Wa Wa Shoping Center – Lakehurst Road, Browns Mills.

QUICK STOP – HUNGRY PINEY DELI – 13 Browns Mills-Pemberton Road. 893-0555/893-0005. Fax 893-0559. Booze and Sandwiches. Delivers.

RICCARDO’S – 567 B Lakehurst Road (Country Lakes) 735-0162 /fax-735-1582. Visa/MC/Ax/Disc. Italian. Pizza, salads, pasta, club sandwiches, hoagies, cheesesteaks, oven baked grinders, wraps, Stromboli, calzones. Fish, veal.

SOPRANO’S PIZZA – Midtown Shopping Center, 519 B. Lakehurst Road. 735-9900. Deliver. Original Panzarotti.

SUBWAY – Lakehurst Road. Eat Fresh Franchise.

TOWN DELI – 336 Lakehurst Road. 893-3889. ATM. Phonecards. NJ Lottery. Best Italian hoagies in town.

PEMBERTON

BERGER KING – Eat in Take out. Rt. 38 and Bypass Road.
CHARLIE’S OTHER BROTHER – (Four Stars).
COUNTRY HOUSE – Anapa’s – (Five Stars)
DUNKIN’DONUTS – Rt. 38. And Bypass Road.
JAMESON’S – Bar & Grill.
SUPER WA WA –

MT. HOLLY
BUZZ’S TAVERN – Grill, draft beer, outside café, near courthouse.
CHARLIE BROWN’S – Burlington Road, 541.
DADZ BAR - & GRILL – Rt. 38. Classic bar, indoor outdoor.
DEMPSTER’S – Sports Bar & Grill. Rt. 38.
MILL STREET SALOON – (Oldest bar in NJ) -
JOHN & MOLLY’S – Bar & Grill. (Formerly Clarkes). Draft beer, good food. Live music on Friday nights.

CHESTERFIELD
CHESTERFIELD INN – (1710) 300 year old neighborhood tavern, bar Louisiana grill, fine dining, friendly ghost, former waitress.

COLUMBUS
CORNER HOUSE BAR – Grill -
COLUMBUS HOUSE – Historic

WRIGHTSTOWN

KELLY’S BAR & GRILL /SUBWAY
KFC – Kentucky Fried Chicken –
PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA –
SNITCHELHOUSE – German -
SUBWAY – (At KELLY’s BAR & GRILL)
TACO BELL
WENDYS
YARDONAS – Main Street – Italian.

NEW EGYPT –

AMERICA HOUSE BAR -
BROTHER’S DINER – (Old Plumbstead).
TOOTIE’S – Dining Inside. Best icecream, eat in, take out.
WA WA -

Sensory Deprevation Experiments at Stockton

2010-12-17T00:30:00.000-08:00

SENSORY DEPREVATION EXPERIMENTS AT STOCKTON – By William Kelly ]

Astronauts do it to prepare for space flight, casino workers do it to relax, athletes do it to refine their concentration, trainers use it to relieve muscle pressure and mental stress, doctors prescribe it to elevate pain, and students do it for college credit.

Originally called sensory deprivation, it has been a scientific research device for decades, and is now being marketed for public use at floatation-relaxation centers.

It is a coffin-like tank with a heavy concentration of Epson salts in a few inches of water that makes for a buoyancy that’s a close to weightlessness as you can get at sea level.

The Philadelphia Eagles used to have one in their locker room to take pressure off the muscles of injured players. Stockton students and teachers built one or academic studies, and Ken Bolis opened the “Float Center” in Atlantic City where most of his clients were anxiety riddled casino workers who have to cut off their sensory input before they short circuit.

Developed in the early 1950s in response to Korean Cold War communist brain washing techniques, isolation tanks were looked upon as a “magic box” cure-al for a number of maladys.

Dr. John C. Lilly began studying sensory deprivation after a Canadian researcher, Donald Habb, discovered that the brain begins to play tricks when a person stops receiving signals from the senses. Solitary confinement has always been recognized as an effective tool in brainwashing and punishment, and Habb’s subjects, lying in bed with their eyes, ears, hands and nose covered, began to hallucinate and became disoriented from laying four days without sensory input.

Lilly’s experiments however, were conducted in tanks of his own devising, with the subject sitting face up floating in a heavily salinated layer of water, which resulted in a not totally unpleasant experience. Subjects who cut off their senses and endured prolonged periods in “Lilly’s Pond” still suffered hallucinations, but durations of short terms were found to produce various positive effects that could be theroputic.

Lilly, a neurophysiologist, biophysicist and psychoanalyst, is better known for his work with dolphins. After performing an autopsy on a dolphin that washed ashore on the east coast, Lilly noticed how similar the marine mammal’s brain was in size and shape to the human brain. That explained the animal’s remarkable intelligence, and stimulated research into its language and inter-species communication.

But Lilly’s sensory deprivation experiments predated his dolphin research, and his theories went against the commonly held belief that sensory deprivation led to terrifying results, mental disturbance and disorientation. Lilly maintained that the hallucinations resulted from the brain trying to maintain an active level while being cut off from stimuli, and in the absence of direct stimuli, programed material stored away in memory banks were called up in the mind’s eye.

Rather than a threat to man’s reason and sanity, he saw it as an opportunity to study the brain and the sub-conscious mind, and possibly use the techniques in therapy, learning and liberating the spirit rather than destroying or controlling it for evil purposes.

Dr. Shelby Broughton, of Ocean City, New Jersey, a chemistry professor at Stockton State College in the 70s and 80s, studied with Lilly and conducted academic research on the effects of isolation at Stockton years ago.

In an interview with Broughton at the time, he said that, “Basically we found that a person gets out of the tank what he expects before he gets into it. What a person wants to get out of the experience , and their predisposition Is important.”

Shelby Broughton first became acquainted with Lilly’s work in the early 1970’s while engaged in inter-disciplinary studies at Stockton when Marine biology students mentioned Lilly’s work with dolphins. “Quite by coincidence,” Broughton explained, “I was sent an application to attend a workshop-seminar with Lilly at the University of California, Berkley that was sponsored by the Esalan Institute.”

Broughton sent it off and was one of 40 participants selected to work with Lilly in the use of the tank, construction methodology and devising possible applications. He returned to Stockton and started a study group of select students who constructed an isolation tank for about $500. “The most expensive component was a water heater,” he said, comparing it to today’s state-of-the-art tanks that cost over $2,000.

While long term sensory deprivation may lead the mind to wander into subconscious crevices in some dark corner of the brain, short periods of time in the tank, or “the box” as the Stockton community came to call it, could be therapeutic.

“The tank is an awareness tool,” Lilly said, “like meditation, like Gestalt, like psychotherapy, like a hammer or a saw,...the tank assists us in a very simple function: it allows us to expand our awareness of our internal state of being.”

Saint Rubin Amaro, Jr.

2010-12-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

Rubin Amaro, Jr.

The Four Aces

Not Al Alberts and his acapella group from Philly who sang schmaltz songs through the fifties and sixties, but Cliff Lee, Roy Halliday, Roy Oswaldt and Cole Hammels. Now there's Four Aces for you.

As everybody who lives in New Jersey knows and understands, those who live in North Jersey are New York sports fans and support the Yankees, Giants, Mets, Knicks and Devils, while those who live in South Jersey are Philadelphia sports fans, who root for the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and 76ers.

So the news that filtered out of offices of the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers was that they were notified late Monday night that they lost in their bidding war for free agent starting pitcher Cliff Lee, which was surprising because as far as anybody knew they were the only teams in the running for the top prized ace.

To the surprise of practically everybody, Lee turned down six and seven year deals with the Yankees and Rangers for over a hundred and fifty million dollars in order to signe with the Philadelphia Phillies for fifty millions and two years less.

There should be an exclamation point after that statement, but in retrospect, it should be so surprsing since Lee didn't wanted to be traded after helping the Phillies get back to the World Series, only to lose to the Yankees in six games, with Lee winning two.

Lee went to Seatle and then to the Rangers, where he performed similar duties for the Rangers, getting them to the World Series only to lose to the San Fran Giants.

After mentioning more than once that the best time he ever had in baseball was to play for the Phillies and pitch against the Yankees in the World Series, and knowing that his wife had expressed displeasure at having been spit on by Yankee fans, she too pulled some weight in expressing her fondness for Philadelphia.

What's with Philadelphia that would have someone turn down fifty million dollars in order to work and play there?

Cheesesteaks. Tastycakes. Scrapple. South Street. The Four Aces.

Al Alberts and the Four Aces adaquetly represent the schmaltz nature of Philadelphia, where do wop singers can be found singing on street corners outside walk way cheesteak grills.

And for some reason, Cliff Lee, the guy Rubin Amaro, Jr. gave up to get Roy Halliday, has redeemed himself and pulled off the most remarkable deal of the century, bringing Cliff Lee back to Philadelpia.

Oh, yea, Rubin Amaro, Jr., the son of Rubin, Sr., fan favorite, Cuban born shortstop for popular Phillies championship team, later coach while his son was a bat boy, Stanford national champion as leadoff batter, professonal player with three teams, including Phillies, so when he retired from playing, he quickly found a job in the Phillies front office. There he stayed for ten years before taking over the General Manager job shortly after the Phillies won the World Series.

After swinging the deal for Lee, the Philly fans turned on Amaro, questioning his judgements in trading Lee in order to get Halliday, but now, after acquring Oswaldt, and now signing Cliff Lee, Amaro has achieved Saint Status in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

God Bless Rubin Amaro, Jr.

Steve & Moni

2010-08-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

Steve & Moni

Moon Shot

2010-08-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

Chesterfield Inn 1710-2010

2010-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Dick Russell on the State of the Striped Bass

2010-03-07T22:05:00.000-08:00

TESTIMONY OF DICK RUSSELL

Author, Striper Wars

H796, An Act relative to the conservation of Atlantic striped bass
Massachusetts Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture
January 14, 2010

I thank you for allowing me to testify today on what I believe is an urgent conservation measure, vital to preserving for our children and grand-children the most magnificent fish that swims our near-shore waters. I am an environmental journalist and the author of six books, including one called Striper Wars, about the fish that is the subject of this hearing. And today I hope to offer some historical perspective, along with the reasons why H796 needs to be passed during the current legislative session.

Striped bass have been called the aquatic equivalent of the American bald eagle. Without Native Americans having taught the Pilgrims about how to take striped bass, they would not have survived their first difficult winters in the Plymouth Colony. Protection of striped bass was the reason for America’s very first conservation law, in 1639, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony general court ruled they were too valuable to be ground up and used for fertilizer. The first fishery management measures, in 1776, were also drawn up on the striper’s behalf.

I have been fishing recreationally for striped bass off Martha’s Vineyard for almost four decades now. In the early 1980s, I became deeply involved in what became a coastwide campaign to try to save them from the Endangered Species List, organizing petition drives and a national conference. At the time, federal scientists trying to pinpoint a cause for why striped bass were disappearing from our waters cited pollution in the Chesapeake Bay spawning grounds as one reason. The other factor was clearly overfishing, and only this could be addressed immediately. There was a management plan in place, but it obviously didn’t go far enough. There were fewer and fewer striped bass around. That was why a grassroots effort of concerned fishermen was needed, and eventually we saw some incredible results. After Maryland declared a five-year moratorium on striper fishing and other states followed with similarly strong measures, the fish made an amazing comeback. In 1995, Scientific American magazine wrote: “The resurgence of striped bass along the eastern coast of the U.S. is probably the best example in the world of a species that was allowed to recoup through tough management and an intelligent rebuilding plan.”

I wish I could say that was the start of a success story we are still witnessing today. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. I’m afraid we are on the verge of seeing another population crash, as serious as the one that almost wiped out the striped bass fishery two decades ago. For the past several years, landings have been down all along the coast. A graph compiled by the Coastal Conservation Association shows that the number of striped bass encountered by recreational fishermen has decreased by more than 50 percent since 2006. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s winter tagging cruise, conducted in the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina for many years, came across the fewest striped bass ever. Every year since the mid-fifties, fishery scientists have sampled the water in a number of places in the Chesapeake Bay to see how many fish were spawned that spring. It’s called the striped bass young-of-the-year index, and there has been a steady decline over the past decade. 2007 saw the lowest number of juveniles since 1990, when the population was just emerging from near-total collapse.

So what is going on? Part of it, we know, has to do with what’s happening in the Chesapeake, where at least 75 percent of the migrating striped bass originate. In 2008, scientists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science published a study showing that a chronic disease called mycobacteriosis is now at epidemic proportions. It’s been detected in sixty percent of the Chesapeake’s striped bass – and it eventually kills them. The disease began showing up a decade ago, sometimes in the form of skin lesions and often eating away at the fish from within. For humans handling infected fish with an open wound, scientists advise wearing gloves to avoid “fish handler’s disease” that can lead to arthritis-like joint problems. Mycobacteriosis has now spread to the Delaware Bay system, and has been seen in striped bass all along the coast, including here in Massachusetts.

The latest scientific study calls it a “stress disease.” Many of the diseased fish are also emaciated. So what seems to be happening is that the striped bass aren’t getting enough to eat. The Chesapeake Bay Ecological Foundation recently determined that malnutrition observed in more than 5,000 stripers is a consequence of what’s called “ecological depletion.” Menhaden, a small bony fish that swims in huge schools, is the striped bass’ primary food of choice. But its numbers are way down in the Chesapeake Bay. A single company, Omega Protein out of Reedville, Virginia is netting millions of menhaden annually to be ground up into fish meal and fish oil. A cap on the harvest that was first put in place in 2006 has not proved effective, because menhaden landings since then have averaged 30 percent below the cap. Things have gotten desperate enough for striped bass, bluefish, and other larger predators in the Bay that federal legislation for a complete moratorium on taking menhaden in Chesapeake waters has been introduced.

That probably needs to happen. So does what scientists call “ecosystem management,” taking into account not only pollution and climate change but that big fish need to eat smaller fish to survive. We must do that in Massachusetts, too, where the river herring are being eliminated by the big trawling ships. But when it comes to striped bass, we need to act, and soon, to stave off another crisis. It’s all too similar to the situation in the 1980s, when the only immediate thing to do was to cut back on the fishing pressure.

You will hear from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that the resource is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. Yet the allowable catch levels and quotas are still based on a theoretical abundance of fish from the Nineties – and that abundance no longer exists. At the same time, illegal black market fishing is rampant. In February 2009, five watermen in the Chesapeake Bay region pleaded guilty to poaching more than $2 million of striped bass – something like 600,000 fish – and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Until recently, I resisted supporting a ban on commercial sale of wild striped bass in our state. But I have come to the conclusion that this is necessary, for the fish’s sake. And there is a strong precedent for it. Already the majority of coastal states through which the bass migrate have made striped bass a gamefish, including Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC and South Carolina. New York allows no commercial sale because of high levels of PCB’s in the fish’s flesh. Many of these measures, I might add, were done by state legislatures.

By far the biggest commercial harvest of striped bass along the coast occurs off Massachusetts, where half the fish’s population spend their summers. In 2009, Massachusetts commercial striped bass fishermen landed 1,160,453 pounds of fish. But this is not a significant portion of yearly income for any commercial fisherman. Only a very small number of commercial striped bass permit holders rely on sale of the fish to help support their families. The majority of these license holders sell stripers to help support their hobby.

I am in favor of a dedicated fund to buy back commercial striped bass permits on an amortized basis. And there is no reason that should not come from a saltwater license fee on recreational fishermen. We need to do our share, and the measures outlined in this bill – one fish a day instead of two, and only at a fixed minimum or maximum size limit in order to protect the most spawning female fish – would achieve that.

Some people say, what will restaurants and supermarkets do that depend on striped bass to help with income in the summertime? The fact is that farm-raised striped bass already comprise more than 60 percent of the market. The taste, and the price, is comparable to that of wild-caught fish. Fish raised in ponds or other enclosed systems are not tainted with mercury, PCBs and other contaminants found at levels high enough in ocean stripers to warrant health advisories against consuming them in many states. The Environmental Defense Fund recommends that people eat only farm-raised stripers, and this legislation would require any that are sold to bear a tag from the grower or distributor.

A century ago, market hunting drove many species of game birds and animals almost to extinction until the practice was outlawed. In recent years, we have seen red drum become a recreational-only species in Florida, and sea trout and redfish in Texas, because there weren’t enough fish to also support a commercial industry. Given all the problems striped bass are facing today, I don’t feel there is any choice but to follow such precedents. We are seeing all the same warning signs that appeared during the near-catastrophic decline of the 1980s. They are signs that weren’t reacted to, until it was almost too late. This time, the coming crash would be worse than before, because there are more fishermen with much more deadly fishing techniques. We cannot afford to wait until it takes intervention from the U.S. Congress and a moratorium to save and then restore the fishery. Massachusetts was a leader in striped bass conservation once. We need to be so again. Thank you.

Upper Rancocus near Mt. Misery

2010-03-01T02:39:00.000-08:00

Artic Snow Swans at Whitesbog

2010-03-01T02:35:00.000-08:00

Browns Mills Well 11 Contaminated with Radium 88Ra

2010-01-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

Browns Mills Well Contaminated

Well Closed for safety concerns in Pemberton

By Mark Zimmaro
Burlington County Times

PEMBERTOWN TOWNSHIP – Township officials said they are taking a cautious approach in shutting down the main drinking water well in the Browns Mills section.

Well No. 11 off Trenton Road showed a level of radium that tested above the state Department of Environmental Protection’s standards for safe drinking water.

Though township officials were not required to shut down the well they decided to pull the plug shortly before Christmas as a precaution after the Dec. 16 testing. The well is one of six that were in service in December.

Officials said that the chances of health risks because of the well are minuscule and the demand for water is much less during the winter months.

“We’re taking proactive steps not required of us that we feel are in the best interest of the residents,” Mayor David Patriarca said Wednesday. “We figured we can shut down this well down at this time of year when we don’t really need it and not jeopardize anything, just to be safe.”

Patriarca said residents affected by Well No. 11 will be notified by Jan. 21. The township’s wells are tested annually. This was the first occurrence of radium in Well No. 11, officials said.

It is important for the residents of the water system to note that this is not an immediate risk,” municipal engineer Chris Rehmann said in a report to the Township Council. “However, certain minerals are radioactive and may emit a form of radiation known as alpha radiation. Some people who drink water containing alpha emitters in excess of the maximum contaminant levels over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets drinking water standards and has determined that radium poses health concerns at certain levels of exposure. The EPA determined that the lifetime risk associated with drinking water containing radium affects 1 in 10,000 people.

This means that if 10,000 people were to consume 2 liters of this water per day for 70 years, we would expect to see one additional concern in the 10,000 people exposed,” Rehmann said.

The township is looking into alternatives to compensate for the loss of the water source, such as cleaning Well No. 11 or revisiting wells that were shut down in the past because the township no longer needed their serviceds.

BCT staff writer Mark Zimmaro can be reached at 609-871-8059 or at mzimmaro@phillyBurbs.com

January 8, 2010 12:09 PM

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/92/2010/january/08/well-closed-for-safety-concerns-in-pemberton.html

Radium (pronounced /ˈreɪdiəm/, RAY-dee-əm) is a radioactive chemical element which has the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. Its appearance is almost pure white, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, turning black. Radium is an alkaline earth metal that is found in trace amounts in uranium ores. It is extremely radioactive. Its most stable isotope, 226Ra, has a half-life of 1602 years and decays into radon gas

The heaviest of the alkaline earth metals, radium is intensely radioactive and resembles barium in its chemical behavior. This metal is found in tiny quantities in the uranium ore pitchblende, and various other uranium minerals. Radium preparations are remarkable for maintaining themselves at a higher temperature than their surroundings, and for their radiations, which are of three kinds: alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays.

When freshly prepared, pure radium metal is brilliant white, but blackens when exposed to air (probably due to nitride formation). Radium is luminescent (giving a faint blue color), reacts violently with water and oil to form radium hydroxide and is slightly more volatile than barium. The normal phase of radium is a solid.

Radium (Latin radius, ray) was discovered by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre in 1898 in pitchblende coming from North Bohemia, in the Czech Republic (area around Jáchymov). While studying pitchblende the Curies removed uranium from it and found that the remaining material was still radioactive. They then separated out a radioactive mixture consisting mostly of barium which gave a brilliant green flame color and crimson carmine spectral lines which had never been documented before. The Curies announced their discovery to the French Academy of Sciences on 26 December 1898.[5]

In 1910, radium was isolated as a pure metal by Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radium chloride solution by using a mercury cathode and distilling in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas.[6]
Radium was first industrially produced in the beginning of the 20th Century by Biraco, a subsidiary company of Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK) in its Olen plant in Belgium. UMHK offered to Marie Curie her first gramme of radium.

Radium is a decay product of uranium and is therefore found in all uranium-bearing ores. (One ton of pitchblende yields one seventh of a gram of radium).[8

Radium is over one million times more radioactive than the same mass of uranium. Its decay occurs in at least seven stages; the successive main products have been studied and were called radium emanation or exradio (now identified as radon), radium A (polonium), radium B (lead), radium C (bismuth), etc. Radon is a heavy gas and the later products are solids. These products are themselves radioactive elements, each with an atomic weight a little lower than its predecessor.
Radium loses about 1% of its activity in 25 years, being transformed into elements of lower atomic weight with lead being the final product of disintegration.
The SI unit of radioactivity is the becquerel (Bq), equal to one disintegration per second. The Curie is a non-SI unit defined as that amount of radioactivity which has the same disintegration rate as 1 gram of Ra-226 (3.7 x 1010 disintegrations per second, or 37 GBq).

Handling of radium has been blamed for Marie Curie's premature death.

• Radium is highly radioactive and its decay product, radon gas, is also radioactive. Since radium is chemically similar to calcium, it has the potential to cause great harm by replacing it in bones. Inhalation, injection, ingestion or body exposure to radium can cause cancer and other disorders. Stored radium should be ventilated to prevent accumulation of radon.

• Emitted energy from the decay of radium ionizes gases, affects photographic plates, causes sores on the skin, and produces many other detrimental effects.

Barnsey & Friend

2009-12-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

Robert A. Barnes, 64

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. Robert A. "Barnesy" "Caveman" Barnes, 64, of this community and Ocean City (NJ) died Aug 7 in the veterans' home in Grand Junction, Colo. He was born in Somers Point, NJ.

Mr. Barnes attended Ocean City High School, served in the U.S. Air Force (1956-58) and worked as a carpenter, craftsman, boat builder and in other trades. He spent most of his time fishing, particularly in the Great Egg Harbor and in the Florida Keys and Colorado.

He wrote an, as yet unpublished manuscript "Into the Slime: The Art of Fishing."

Mr. Barnes was a member of the Praise Tabernacle Church in Egg Harbor Township and Sonlight Foursquare Gospel Church in Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Memorial services will be held at noon Sunday, Oct. 13 on the 12th Street pavilion on the bay in Ocean City and at 1 p.m. at the Tight End Fishing Club at Gregory's Restaurant in Somers Point.

Burrial was in Western Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Grand Junction, Colo. Arrangments by Rifle Funeral Home in Rifle, Colorado.

St. Nicholas Church Leipzig

2009-11-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig was ground zero and the first domino in the protest movement that ultimately resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

St. Nicholas Leipzig October 1989

2009-11-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

In Berlin on November 9, 2009 - the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, they used giant dominoes falling in a line to illustrate the chain of events that led to the opening of the wall and end of the Cold War.

In that case, the first domino was St. Nicholas Church in Liepsig, East Berlin, where the daily Monday Prayers for Peace sessions grew from a few dozen people to tens of thousands of people, and spread to other churches in other cities.

Of course you won't read about it or hear about it in the mainstream media for some reason, and I have found only a few references to it on the internet, but with the 20th anniversary more people are being reminded of what really happened over those revolutionary days in Communist East Germany.

I first heard about it from an East German Intourist guide in Berlin in July, 1990, who explained the amazing story of how the Liepsig Church became a refuge for street musicians being harassed by the police and the Church prayer group that was harrased by the Stassi secret police.

Before I get into how I got to Berlin in the summer of 1990, and what happened there, here's a few articles I found that tell the story of St. Nichs.

Instead of Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev and Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it should have gone to the Pastor at St. Nichs Christian Fuhrer, who instigated the Monday Prayer for Peace sessions, and told the developing crowds to "put down your rocks," and sing, "We shall overcome," in English.

"We were prepared for anything, except prayers and candles."
- Leipzig Security Chief

City of Heroes'

Of course the city, dating from the 11th Century, is no stranger to change.

Back in 1989, the Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas's Church) in Leipzig was the focus for the first protests against the communist regime, with thousands of people gathering to march after Monday prayers.

As other cities followed their lead, the Monday demonstrations became the centre of a call for freedom that eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Since the reunification of former East and West Germany in 1990, the city has seen rapid economic growth for many and a boom in construction.

Its streets, bombed during World War II, now present a striking mix of stark Soviet-era buildings, Baroque, Art Nouveau and modernist architecture.

But, as Leipzig's Mayor Burkhard Jung told the BBC News website, the courage that earned Leipzig the name "City of Heroes" is far from forgotten.

"The events of 1989 have left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of all Leipzigers. And they are still visible," he said.

Visitors can take in a monument to the peaceful protests in the square next to Nikolaikirche, he says.

"But above all it is the people that matter. Ask any of our citizens who are old enough to remember and they will tell you their story."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_5013000/5013728.stm

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/tag/communist/

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2009/11/06/some-east-german-protestants-feel-overlooked-as-wall-recalled/

Reuters Blogs
FaithWorld

Some east German Protestants feel overlooked as Wall Recalled

Posted by: Tom Heneghan

As Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, some Protestants feel the crucial role their church played in shepharding the democracy movement to success is quietly being overlooked. This seems strange to someone like myself who reported on those eventsback then. Any reporter in Berlin in the tense weeks before Nov. 9, 1989 knew the Protestant (mostly Lutheran) churches sheltered dissidents and was working for reform. But the idea that this was fading from public view came up during my recent visit to Leipzig when, at an organ recital in Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche), the pastor mentioned the point in a sermon.

When I later went up to Berlin, I ran the idea past a leading east German Protestant theologian and a pastor and two parish council members from the Gethsemane Church (Gethsemanekirche). That church in eastern Berlin was one of the most active centres of protest in the tense months before demonstrators forced open the Wall on Nov. 9, 1989. They all agreed.

The many anniversary celebrations, documentaries and discussions now underway across Germany seem to focus mostly on how fearless street protesters and astute politicians pulled off the “peaceful revolution” that ended communism. Films and photos of dissidents packed into the Gethsemane Church in East Berlin or Leipzig’sSt. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche), the leading houses of worship that sheltered them until the Wall opened , are among the trademark images. But those crowded “peace prayer” evenings were only the tip of the iceberg of behind-the-scenes work by pastors and lay people who considered it their Christian duty to promote civil rights and human dignity in a rigid communist society.

At the organ recital, Rev. Christian Wolff illustrated the point by mentioning a recent commemoration in Leipzig attended by German President Horst Köhler, Chancellor Angela Merkel and other dignitaries. “At the ceremony, Werner Schulz spoke of the role of the churches — nobody else did,” he noted, referring to a former East German dissident who is now a European Parliament deputy. Köhler didn’t go into it in his speech, the main address of the day. While the Protestant churches didn’t claim all the credit for the success of the protests, Wolff said, “it wasn’t just a quirk of history that Christians took leading roles in the late 1980s.” They acted out of their religious convictions that each person had God-given dignity and rights that the communists were denying them.

Richard Schröder, the East German theologian who was a Social Democratic politician in the transition period and then headed the theology faculty at Berlin’s Humboldt University, agreed the churches’ role was being overlooked. “In the media reporting now, the Wall seems to have fallen without any pre-history,” he told me during an interview at his home south of the capital. “Western German public opinion doesn’t have a clear perception of the churches’ role.” He thought the dynamics of politics and the media in united Germany played a part in changing the public perception of 1989. Most politicians and journalists come from western Germany, he said, and had no experience of the underground activity bubbling below East Germany’s calm surface during the 1980s. Because 3/4 of eastern Germans belong to no church, the westerners underestimate the influence the churches had, even among the non-religious. This is the image that is now being repeated in speeches and television documentaries around Germany, Schröder said.

The pre-history to the Wall’s fall goes back at least to the early 1980s, when underground groups opposed to the superpower arms race linked up with activist pastors increasingly critical of the regimentation of life under the communists. In 1982, Leipzig’s St. Nicholas Church launched weekly “peace prayers” mixing Gospel readings with political debates. Police did not break up church services, so these sessions gave dissidents a freedom of speech and assembly they could find nowhere else.

Similar alliances emerged in many cities, aided by the large network of parishes maintained by the Protestants, who far outnumbered the cautious Catholic minority. By 1988, the Stasi secret police counted 160 such groups, almost all connected to the churches. In the debates, pastors sometimes cited models such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran theologian executed for resisting the Nazis, and the non-violent strategy of U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King. In guidelines for participants at his Monday evening “peace prayers,” St. Nicholas Church pastor Rev. Christian Führer laid down the rule that “participants and their contributions to the debate may not contradict the Gospel of the crucified Christ and its message of reconciliation and must be based on the commandments of God insofar as they aim to preserve life.”

Such activist pastors were a minority among the clergy, but became a majority in the political parties that formed in the autumn of 1989. The speaking and organisational skills developed in their church careers, one of the few areas of East German life not controlled by the communists, clearly helped them to take charge.

As Werner Schulz put it in the speech that Pastor Wolff cited,“the peaceful revolution was, at its core, also a Protestant revolution … Its pioneering motto ‘no violence’ was the essence of the Sermon on the Mount, the most revolutionary passage in the Gospel… Protestant churches were base camps of this revolution… People went from peace prayers to street protests with a serious Protestant manner, disarming reasonableness and discipline.”

The gap in perception of 1989 emerged clearly at a forum I attended in eastern Berlin where the Gethsemane Church showed a film about its role in 1989 and invited comments from audience, which was about 2/3 Ossis (easterners) and 1/3 Wessis(westerners) who’d settled there since the government moved from Bonn in 1999. One Wessi criticised a section on the “Round Table” — a church-moderated public panel that helped oversee the transition to democracy between December 1989 and March 1990 — as not lively enough to show the real drama of that period.

The Ossis promptly and unanimously disagreed. They found it thrilling to see clips of civil rights activists politely grilling once untouchable communist officials, uncovering their corruption and insisting they take responsibility for their misuse of power. This showed the new democracy in action, they said.

The film, Ende der Eiszeit (End of the Ice Age), also showed the central role of the churches in shielding the dissidents and encouraging them to embrace non-violence and transparency. “Without the churches, this openness couldn’t have come about,” said Rev. Heinz-Otto Seidenschnur of the Gethsemane Church. A parish council member there, archeologist Ursula Kästner, said the church stepped into a vacuum to ensure a peaceful transition. “This was the church’s synodal principle at work,” she told me. “Otherwise, we would have had violence like in Romania.”

Dieter Wendland, a graphic designer and veteran member of the parish council, said the phenomenon of packed churches burst like a balloon when the Wall opened. “On the first Sunday, almost all the pews were empty. About 10 people were sitting there and that was it. It was a bit depressing, but I said we’ve achieved what we were struggling for. Now we can do the work we’re called to do, that is, organise church life and preach the Gospel.”

Published: Mon, November 9, 2009 @ 12:00 a.m.

A tale of two wallshttp://www.vindy.com/news/2009/nov/09/a-tale-of-two-walls/

EDITOR: Something there is that doesn’t like a wall. Those immortal words from a Robert Frost poem came to full life 20 years ago with the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989. By then, almost no one still liked that wall, but its sudden fall took just about everyone by great surprise. Everyone, that is, but a small group of devout Christians in the East German city of Leipzig, where this miraculous revolution of our times germinated.

Under the prophetic leadership of the pastor of Leipzig’s St. Nicholas Church, a humble man with the remarkable name of Christian Fuehrer, a small group of Christians formed a prayer circle called “Swords into Plowshares” a decade before the wall fell. Every Monday beginning at 5 p.m. sharp, members of Swords into Plowshares gathered in the church sanctuary for prayer and discussion. Attendance in the early years remained low, and participation in these prayers was, like everything else in the former German Democratic Republic, monitored by the Stasi (the secret police). Yet since the prayers and discussions were strictly for and about peace, hardly a subversive theme in the GDR, nothing was officially done to stop them, until it was too late.

By fall 1989, it was too late.

Hundreds of people, many in a church for the first time, packed the sanctuary of St. Nicholas every Monday evening during September and October of that historic year. The critical mass was reached on Oct. 25, when the church was packed to capacity and thousands more stood outside holding candles in the night. Also packed, albeit with heavily armed troops and police, was the adjoining Opera Plaza.

A bloody suppression of nonviolent protest, like what happened in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square or on Kent State’s campus, seemed unavoidable. Thousands of participants, singing “We Shall Overcome” in English, took to the streets of Leipzig in an unauthorized demonstration following the prayer service. The order to shoot them was given. It was not followed. No one knows exactly why.

Perhaps it was the courageous intervention of Kurt Masur, the highly respected conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, who passionately pleaded with troops not to open fire. Perhaps it was an intervention of a different and higher sort, one that no army can overcome.

Leipzig, after all, is the city of Bach, who gave life to some of the most divine music every composed. The in-breaking of divine forces through the social ministry of Martin Luther led to the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation not far from Leipzig. That same power was planted, like a mustard seed, in the heart of this heroic city within the confines of that Monday peace prayer circle. It burst out in a nonviolent revolution of candles on that fateful October evening, and within the following weeks it accomplished that which the mightiest armies in human history could not: the Fall of the Wall, the end of the Cold War, and the re-unification of Europe.

WERNER LANGE
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
The author was an exchange professor at the University of Leipzig in 1983 and conducted extensive interviews with Leipzig residents during 1990s.

http://yesmagazine.org/blogs/sarah-van-gelder/people-power-brought-down-the-berlin-wall

People Power Brought Down the Berlin Wall

Posted by Sarah van Gelder at Nov 09, 2009 09:45 AM | Permalink

Some say it was Ronald Reagan's toughness that forced down the wall. But detente between East and West and grassroots people's movements deserve the credit.

What brought about the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago?

Some argue that it was the Cold War and the escalation of military spending that was justtoo costly for the Soviet empire to maintain.

If that was the case, that should be a cautionary tale for the United States as we struggle to maintain a nuclear arsenal, support over 700 military bases around the world, developexpensive new weapons systems, and, of course, fight two wars - including one in a country where the USSR, also, met its match.

But military over-spending was only part of the reason the people of East Germany were able to bring down the wall, according to an article in Forbes by Konrad H. Jarausch, professor of European Civilization at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. "Ultimately it was the spread of detente, helped by his personal rapport with the U.S. president that allowed [Soviet President Mikhail] Gorbachev to ... set the satellites free," he says.

Another factor was just as important. The wall couldn't have come down without a nonviolent people power uprising.

A recent account from the Geneva-based Ecumenical News International (ENI) tells of thechurch-based protests exactly a month before the Berlin Wall's opening, that followed earlier days of protests:

"After the 9 October services in Leipzig, an estimated 70,000 people poured into thecity centre, connecting in a full circle on a ring road around the downtown area. 'There were too many of us that night to arrest, the prisons were already full,' Jochen Lassig, a Leipzig reporter, told ENI."

According to the article, there had been warnings in the communist-run media that force would be used to suppress demonstrations. "Local doctors and nurses reported that hospitals were building up blood reserves and being put on alert to deal with bullet wounds."

"Pastor Christian Fuhrer of Leipzig's St Nicholas' Church gave this account:
'More than 2,000 people leaving the church were welcomed by tens of thousands waiting outside with candles in their hands—an unforgettable moment. Two hands are necessary to carry a candle and to protect it from extinguishing so that you can not carry stones or clubs at the same time.'

In front of the Leipzig headquarters of the Stasi—the East German secret police—demonstrators gathered, laid candles on the steps, and sang songs. What few knew at the time was that inside the darkened building, most Stasi members were present and armed with live ammunition. They had orders to defend a strategic building. They had sandbags under the windows, still displayed today as it is now a museum.
Irmtraut Hollitzer, once curator of the museum, said: 'One stone through thewindow would have been enough to set off a bloodbath.'"

Professor Jarausch concurs that it was people power that made the difference:
"It took a transnational grass roots movement of courageous Polish workers, Hungarian activists, German refugees and Czech dissidents braving considerable risks in order to revive civil society and regain space for public protest. ... The fall of the Wall was magical because it signaled the peaceful triumph of people's power over a regime that commanded enormous repressive force."

The combination of a leader who understood the need for change—President Gorbachev—with a popular uprising allowed change to proceed without violence, and much more quickly than anyone could have imagined.

So the question this anniversary raises for me: Can we build such a people power movement today, strong enough to overcome the power of global corporations and wise enough to collaborate across our many differences? Because that's what it will take to get on with theurgent business of stopping climate catastrophe, building sustainable economies, reorienting our societies away from violence and militarism and towards a world that works for all.

We have a forward-thinking president, but he—and we—can't get much done without powerful people's movements creating real change.

http://www.pres-outlook.com/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/9277-pastor-honored-for-role-in-protests-that-felled-the-berlin-wall.html

Pastor honored for role in protests that felled the Berlin Wall

Written by Frauke Brauns
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 00:12

(ENI) — Leipzig Protestant pastor Christian Führer has been honored for his autobiography that recounts how the weekly peace prayers in his parish led to the 1989 protests that contributed to the fall of communism in East Germany.

Führer was awarded a special prize by the Protestant Literature Portal for his book, "Und wir sind dabei gewesen: Die Revolution, die aus der Kirche kam" ("And we were there. The revolution that came from the Church").

On October 9, Leipzig in eastern Germany marks the 20th anniversary of tens of thousands of people taking to the streets after the prayers for what turned out to be a peaceful demonstration for change, despite fears of a Beijing-style Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The peaceful outcome of the Leipzig demonstration marked a turning point in the democracy protests that led to the opening of the Berlin Wall exactly one month later, on November 9, 1989. Führer's autobiography recounts the spirit of optimism people felt during that year and what is left of it today.

Führer was pastor of the church of St Nicholas in Leipzig where the weekly prayers for peace began in 1982 when Europe faced the deployment of nuclear missiles in West and in East and at a time of the growth of an independent peace movement in East Germany

The award was made during a gathering in Kassel organized by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country's biggest Protestant grouping.

"The peaceful revolution of 1989/1990 was formed by the Protestant church and has deep roots there," said the EKD's Eckhart von Vietinghoff in his tribute. "Recounting the story of his contribution and exceptional life, Christian Führer, who was for more than 30 years pastor at St Nicholas' in Leipzig, brings this experience back to life."

The meeting in Kassel marked a step in the process that EKD started in January 2007 to prepare for the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation in 2017.

During the meeting, other awards were given to outstanding missionary work.

The "fantasy of faith" award of the Association of Missionary Services (AMD) was given to a small Christian community in Essen called e/motion. The community was founded in 1999 and now has 90 members aged between 20 and 30. They share daily life and organize evening services each Sunday. "E/motion is the answer to the question as to how the Church will look when money is short," said Axel Noack, presenting the award.

The Protestant Youth in Germany (AEJ) presented an award for the "Move your life" project in Laatzen, near Hanover. This encourages young people to use physical exercise and sport in urban settings.

By James M. Wall

Twenty years ago, October 9, 1989, East German citizens marched to a prayer service at Leipzig’s St. Nicholas (Lutheran) Church. In a ritual they had repeated many nights before, they marched to the church holding lighted candles.

There were 70,000 marchers in the streets of Leipzig that night. Communist East German officials waited for the signal from Berlin and Moscow to disperse the crowd by force. The signal never came. Two weeks later, the Berlin Wall fell, and the Soviet Union began its total collapse.

The Leipzig Communist security chief wanted very much to subdue the rebellion. His police force was well armed. Soldiers with machine guns stood on top of nearby buildings.

In a final scene from the East German movie, Nikolaikirche, the security chief stares out at the crowd, his defiance now gone, and says, “We planned everything. We were prepared for everything, except for candles and prayers.”

I attended the premier showing of Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival. Thirteen years later, Nikolaikircheremains for me one of strongest cinematic demonstrations I have ever seen of the power of peaceful, non violent protest against an occupying force.

I opened my Berlin Film Festival report by placing Leipzig in a religious context:
One could not visit Berlin in the 450th anniversary year of Martin Luther’s death without making a pilgrimage to Wittenberg, the city in which Luther began the Protestant Reformation.

His tomb lies in a place of honor in the Schlosskirche, where Luther posted his 95 defiant challenges to the pope’s authority. To reach Wittenberg from Berlin, one travels south on the autobahn past now-empty Soviet army barracks, passing at highway speed through areas where border crossings once delayed travelers for hours.
After an hour and a half on the autobahn, a smaller highway takes the pilgrim to the Elbe River, not far from the spot where American and Soviet troops met in the final days of World War II. One passes outmoded, nearly vacant chemical plants in what was once East Germany’s thriving industrial region. The more efficient factories in the western part of the country have replaced many of these plants.

At one operation near Wittenberg, the number of employees has been cut from 8,000 to 700. Wandering through Luther’s city and reflecting on the strife in Luther’s career, I saw similarities to more recent struggles in Germany that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

In Luther’s life, religion regularly interacted with politics. His initial success in reforming the church was possible in part because he cultivated the support of political leaders who protected him, and who eventually separated their states from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. . . .Nikolaikirche, directed by Frank Beyer and based on a highly respected novel by East German author Erich Loest, records some decisive moments in “Die Wende”, the “turning” from communism to freedom. The movie re-creates events at Leipzig’s St. Nicholas (Lutheran) Church during the peaceful revolution of 1989.

Communist officials in Leipzig came very close to applying the “Chinese solution”–using massive force to put down public demonstrations. Those demonstrations began as prayer meetings across the city. . . .Many if not most of those who prayed in the churches and then walked the streets with lighted candles to express opposition to communist policies were not committed Christians. But they found in the church a place where opposition to oppression could be voiced. The pastor at St. Nicholas acknowledged that the church was open to nonbelievers as well as believers.

On one occasion, the pews were filled with government officials and university students who had been sent to foil the demonstration. But the pastor shrewdly “reserved” the balconies for the demonstrators.

On the night of October 9, 1989, more than 70,000 citizens mobilized in the streets of Leipzig. Before the march, the St. Nicholas pastor admonished the demonstrators to be nonviolent: “Put down your rocks.”

Meanwhile, security officials waited for instructions from Moscow and Berlin on using force to subdue the demonstrators. The orders never came, and the police gave up. A month later the Berlin Wall fell. The security chief who wanted to subdue the rebellion is shown in the film staring out at the crowd in front of his headquarters.
“We planned everything,” he says. “We were prepared for everything, except for candles and prayers.”

Berlin Wall November 9 1989

2009-11-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

Most people remember November 9, 1989, the day they opened the Berlin Wall, by the vision of people climbing on the wall and dancing and cheering, an unbelievable scene and one that few people ever envisioned.

The CIA were caught off guard, not having anticipated such a thing from happening, and even the local news media in Berlin were unprepared and failed to anticipate such a thing from happening.

Eight months later, when I was in Berlin for the Wall concert, me and Jack were hanging out at the hotel bar when two of the rock band the Scorpions came in and sat next to us at the bar. They recalled that they were playing in a club when they saw the scene at the Wall on the bar TV, and everybody began crying.

They had grown up in West Berlin, and lived within a few blocks of the wall, and so it was a very personal experience for them, and thus they were honored to open the concert of the rock opera the Wall in July, 1990.

They were also inspired to write a hit song and made a video of "Changes."

When they released the album of the Wall concert in America, at an album release party on the USS Intrepid in New York City, the Scorpions came into the large, crowded room, and recognized me and Jack and came right up to us, apparently glad to see us.

East Berlin TV Tower

2009-11-11T03:44:00.000-08:00

When we got to Berlin in July, 1990, the gates were open and people were constantly chipping away at the Wall, taking pieces as souveniers, there was still an East and West Germany, though they were collaborating on the concert and other cultural projects.

Jack Snyder, my friend from Ocean City, had met an East German Intourist Guide, who took us over to East Germany and to lunch at the rotating restaurant on top of the TV tower.

Like the rotating tower in Dallas and I presume in the Seatle needle, you sit at a table against the window and the room slowly rotates slowly so that you get to view the entire city 360 degrees within the hour, without even noticing you are moving.

It was there that the Intourist Guide explained to us the events that led to the November 9, 1989 opening of the Wall.

At the Wall Berlin Nov. 9, 1989

2009-11-11T03:43:00.000-08:00

Music Brought the Wall Down

2009-11-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

The Wall Nov 9 1990

2009-11-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

The Wall Berlin 1990

2009-11-09T20:31:00.000-08:00

White Deer in Roger's Backyard

2009-10-26T01:52:00.000-07:00

White Deer in Roger Beckwith's Backyard

Check out Roger's Roadhouse Report

The White Deer pix is from the photo section of Roger's Web Site, where you can get weekly updates on where the best bands are playing.

http://www.angelfire.com/nj/Roadhouse51/pictures.html

Bill Fallon

2009-10-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Kelly at Key West

2009-10-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Jude Burkhauser & the Walum Olum

2009-10-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

Judge Burkhauser, was an artist and weaver from Cape May.

She fought to get the State of New Jersey to include a percentage of all major building projects be allocated for art - and she got the commission to add the art to the public library in Upper Township in Cape May County.

Judge did three tapestries that now hang on the back wall of the library, weaved images that reflect images from the Walum Olum - or "Red Score," the ancient legend of the Lenni Lenape Indians native to New Jersey.

The pattern of the tapestry Judge is photographed with is one of the legends of the Lenape - how the cranberries got their red color.

As Jude related the story to me, the Indians, who arrived in New Jersey about 12,000 years ago, just as the last of the elephant sized tusked mammoths were killed off, tell the myth of a battle in the mountains among the mammoths and the saber tooth tigers, and in the end they killed each other off, their blood flowed down the mountains and died the cranberries red.

The cranberries provided the Indians with the red die used to draw the pictographs of the Walum Olum on the backs of tree barks.

There were over a hundred pictographs to the Walum Olum, each with a meaning and a story behind it.

Two Indians, Talking Wood and Dancing Bear were entrusted with the sacred Walum Olum, and traveled among the different tribal communities of the Lenni Lenape, including the Wolf Tribe of the North, the Turkey Tribe and the Turtle Tribe, each with its own totum.

While Talking Wood read the story of the symbols of the Walum Olum on the tree bark, Dancing Bear would act out the saga in a dance around a fire.

When Jude went to Europe to research a book she wrote "Glassgow Girls," about the weavers of Scotland, I stayed in her apartment above the pharmacy across the Washington Street Mall from the Ugly Mug.

Before she lived there, Jude stayed in an apartment above the carriage house at the Physick Estate, and ran the Cape May County Art League.

Jude waged a tremendous battle before dying of cancer, leaving behind her legacy of art and her book "Glassgow Girls."

Lowell George at Browns Mills

2009-10-19T17:19:00.000-07:00

Lowell George at Alexanders in Browns Mills, N.J.

Lowell George and Little Feat played Alexanders in Browns Mills in 1979.

I didn't stay for the whole show, but took this photo, along with a few others I can't find. In any case, I remember telling Bill Vitka at WMMR about seeing Lowell George a few nights before he died, and Vitka said that he interviewed George at the MMR studios in Philly the day after he did the Browns Mills show. He died the next day or shortly thereafter.

Flashback 1979 - Alexanders

From Atlantic City Sun newspaper (September 28, 1979)

Rockin' in the Pines

By William E. Kelly

The quiet hamlet near Mirror Lake is known as Browns Mills "in the Pines," but today it is better known as the rock music capitol of South Jersey.

Alexander's Sunset Inn has put Browns Mills on the map as the area's only showcase of traveling rock bands.

Some years ago, the old Sunset Inn was refurbished and renamed Alexander's. The large dance hall was closed off from the side bar by a sliding wall. With the wall closed, Alexander's has the appearance of a typical small, local tavern, complete with electronic games, pool table and a small stage for go-go dancers.

The dancers were the club's biggest attraction as they gyrated before lonely soldiers on leave from nearby Fort Dix.

Then, last January, owner Butch Lupinetti let Steve Benson produce a few shows in the huge back room dance hall. The sliding doors were folded back, another bar opened, and a traveling rock show performed on stage. It was such a success that they are now doing it as regularly as a couple a nights a week. The acts that perform aren't local talents but rather top recording acts.

The popular acts from the Tower Theater and the Bijou Cafe in Philadelphia were persuaded to come to Browns Mills for a one night stand at Alexander's - just far enough outside Philadelphia not to bother the Electric Factory concert promoters, yet close enough to attract the 18 - 20 year olds who are not old enough to drink legally at home, but are old enough to drive to Browns Mills.

Alexanders and Browns Mills became Philadelphia household names when Steve Benson and Lee Stulman placed radio ads on the popular FM rock stations that beckoned you to go out of your way to see and hear a great show. The ads gave directions from Philadelphia: take the Ben Franklin Bridge to Rt. 38 east to Pemberton, then Rt. 530 past Burlington County College to Browns Mills. If you got lost you were instructed to call 893-6174. Browns Mills is only 40 miles from center city Philadelphia and 60 miles from Atlantic City.

By sunset, the large parking lot is full of cars, most with out-of-state plates - Pennsylvania, Delaware and even New York.

It's not the club, but the music that packs them in. The bands that play Alexander's are top recording acts usually out on the road promoting a new album. The cover charge is typical for a concert, with tickets available from Ticketron, and a dollar more at the door.

Last summer Johnny Winter, Steve Forbert, George Thoroughgood and the Delaware Destroyers, the Average White Band, James Cotton Blues Band, John Lee Hooker and Jorma Kaukonen all made their first South Jersey appearance. Those who follow Jorma's entourage to New York say that his three-hour Alexander show, which he did solo, was by far the best performance of the tour. But the best act last summer had to be by the late Lowell George.

Last June 26, two days before he died of a heart attack, the former leader of Little Feat put on one of his last concerts at Alexander's. Although he was popular for the album, "Feat Don't Fail Me Now," and the song, "Dixie Chicken," Lowell George was more respected by his peers. After he died, the largest benefit since Bangladesh took place at the LA Forum, with Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, Ricki Lee Jones and the rest of the California rock fraternity. Lowell was more influential than popular. His Alexander's concert was a classic.

The lineup of shows for this fall is even better. Edgar Winter and the Nighthawks were at Alexander's on September 21, followed the next night by the Greatful Dead ofshoot, the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Steve Forbert did a one-night engagement on September 26. Tonight, the Philadelphia area's own Nan Mancini and Johnny's Dance Band take the stage.

The big name attractions slated for the fall include Hall and Oats on Saturday, October 13, and Arlo Gunthrie on Sunday, November 11.

Alexander's is not really that hard to find from Atlantic City. To get to Browns Mills take the White Horse Pike to Rt. 206 towards Trenton. From 206 take Rt. 38 east to Pemberton and Rt. 530 to Alexander's. And remember, if you get lost, call Steve at 893-6174 and ask for directions.

Interview with Admiral Fallon

2009-10-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is an edited transcript of the interview. Do you think he's a little gun shy of interviews? - BK

When Retired Adm. William Fallon came back to Jacksonville for an award ceremony Saturday night, much had changed since the days when he was aide to the commander of Fleet Air Jacksonville.

Fallon rose from that position to become a four-star admiral, eventually running Central Command, overseeing military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, Horn of Africa and combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired and was replaced by Gen. David Petraeus after an article in Esquire magazine painted him as at odds with President George Bush over Iran.

The admiral was in town to receive the Distinguished Sea Service Award from the Naval Order of the United States.

He sat down with the Times-Union before the ceremony. This is an edited transcript of the interview.

Q: Why is it important to look at the history and the heritage of the Navy?

The U.S. became first and foremost a maritime power, and in that time, we have become the guarantor of this vast commercial enterprise. ... I think it's well we remember we wouldn't be where we are without their services and sacrifices.

Q: Where do you see Afghanistan going, based on your experience?

First, we ought to remind ourselves how quickly things change. ...It's difficult for people who are not there ... experiencing these changes to actually distinguish that ... I would say very similar things are occurring in Afghanistan. It's not Iraq; it's very different. But things have changed.

Q: Do you see a need for more troops going to Afghanistan?

Certainly, for training. The time I was there, I had a need for more troops that we could muster and the primary need was for training.

Q: Do you regret the interview with Esquire?

The problem was the author wrote it in the way that it was a direct challenge to the commander in chief, my boss, daring him to fire me for insubordination.

Q: You were the first admiral to hold your position at Central Command.

Despite the fact that we're involved in ground wars, there's a number of admirals in key positions, including heading up European Command and Pacific Command.

Q: What does that say about what the Navy brings to the fight?

(W)e put a lot of responsibility on people and we have them often operate in situations where they don't have a lot of help. They make tough decisions on their own.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-10-18/story/admiral_in_town_for_award_interviews
timothy.gibbons@jacksonville. com, (904) 359-4103

Fallon Lecture on Strategic Energy

2009-10-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Former head of U.S. Central Command: Energy use, foreign policy closely tied

http://www.missoulian.com/news/article_042bc48a-acb8-11de-94f5-001cc4c002e0.html

The launch of an Iranian missile doesn't threaten the United States nearly as much as the energy Americans waste at home each day, according to the man who used to oversee U.S military operations in that part of the world.

Retired Adm. William Fallon warned Monday that energy - its production and its use - underpins most of today's major challenges and opportunities in world security. The University of Montana president's lecturer said reducing the United States' own energy consumption would help its international relations while boosting its domestic economic health.

Fallon led the U.S. Central Command during 2007-08, directing all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, focusing on combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired last year amid controversy that developed over his criticism of American policies and attitudes regarding Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

He is now a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research and development center serving the Navy and other defense agencies.
"He has demonstrated expertise in how power is organized, particularly soft and hard power," former UM President James Koch said in introducing Fallon. That also extended to the ideas of power as military force, political control and energy resources, Koch said.

All three must come together to get a better understanding of world affairs today, Fallon argued. For instance, Russia has found its natural gas wealth a more effective negotiating tool than its military strength, having captured much of the energy market for Western Europe and its former satellite nations.

That, in turn, has inclined Russia's leaders to push for "our way or no way" relationships with its energy-dependent neighbors. While this doesn't directly affect U.S. security, Fallon said, it does make Russia less willing to help U.S. efforts in places where it has influence, like Iran.

Misunderstandings about energy can also have global impacts. Fallon said this played out in the Strait of Malacca, between Indonesia and Malaysia. Several years ago, this major shipping route became infamous for high levels of piracy. Even though oil tankers were virtually never pirate targets there, the insurance companies that covered the ships increased their rates enough to affect energy prices worldwide.
The United States proposed increased military patrols in the area, but Fallon said local governments did not welcome the idea. Instead, they devised a local response to the pirates, which essentially eliminated the threat to shipping.

Empowering and assisting such local responses plays into the United States' long-term interest, Fallon said. Places like Afghanistan and Pakistan have the potential to become successful trading partners with the growing economies of India and China. But the region clings to a habit of assuming big decisions are made elsewhere, in places like Moscow or Washington, D.C. Fostering more trade security and opportunity could reduce the need for military presence, he said.

We must look in the mirror for some energy solutions, however, he said. As the world's biggest energy consumer per person, the United States has a heavy responsibility to cut back its consumption or innovate in alternative energy sources. Doing so, Fallon said, would both increase our own economic security (by lowering dependence on foreign energy suppliers) and divert the rest of the developing world from multiplying past pollution and consumption mistakes.

"This is really a pretty good investment for government," Fallon said of alternative energy development. While renewable energy systems still don't make economic sense, the long-term payoff for both people and the planet are unmistakable.

A year and a half ago, it was hard for U.S. solar energy companies to get attention, Fallon said. That's changed dramatically as individual state governments have gotten involved with incentive programs and research opportunities. Much of that stemmed from the energy shock of the last couple of years.

"The politics of the energy embargo of 1973 was our first real wake-up call, but we didn't wake up very long," Fallon said. "A lot of that same kind of politics is at play today."

Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
Posted in News on Monday, September 28, 2009

The Fighting Race by J.I.C. Clarke

2009-09-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

THE FIGHTING RACE.; J.I.C. Clarke's Poem, Recited by Him at President Roosevelt's Request

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9807E5D7133EE733A2575AC1A9659C946497D6CF

March 19, 1905, Sunday
Page 8, 562 words

The President led the applause that followed the reading. Then there was some whispering between him and Judge Fitzgerald, resulting in the announcement from the latter that Mr. Clarke, in direct response to the President's request, would recite "Kelly, Burke, and Shea," which was done to the evident enjoyment of Mr. Roosovelt……

http://www.robert-e-howard.org/IronHarp4.html - fighting

The Fighting Race
by Joseph I.C. Clarke

"Read out the names!" and Burke sat back,
And Kelly drooped his head,
While Shea -- they called him Scholar Jack --
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal passers -- all.

Then, knocking the ashes from out his pipe,
Said Burke in an offhand way:
"We're all in that dead man's list, by Cripe!
Kelly and Burke and Shea."
"Well, here's to the Maine, and I'm sorry for Spain,"
Said Kelly and Burke and Shea.

"Wherever there's Kellys there's trouble," said Burke.
"Wherever fighting's the game,
Or a spice of danger in grown man's work,"
Said Kelly, "you'll find my name."
"And do we fall short," said Burke, getting mad,
"When it's touch and go for life?"
Said Shea, "It's thirty-odd years, bedad,
Since I charged to drum and fife
Up Marye's Heights, and my old canteen
Stopped a rebel ball on its way.
There were blossoms of blood on our sprigs of green --
Kelly and Burke and Shea --
And the dead didn't brag." "Well, here's to the flag!"
Said Kelly and Burke and Shea.

"I wish 'twas in Ireland, for there's the place,"
Said Burke, "that we'd die by right,
In the cradle of our soldier race,
After one good stand-up fight.
My grandfather fell on Vinegar Hill,
And fighting was not his trade;
But his rusty pike's in the cabin still,
With Hessian blood on the blade."

"Aye, aye," said Kelly, "the pikes were great
When the word was 'clear the way!'
We were thick on the roll in ninety-eight --
Kelly and Burke and Shea."
"Well, here's to the pike and the sword and the like!"
Said Kelly and Burke and Shea.

And Shea, the scholar, with rising joy,
Said, "We were at Ramillies.
We left our bones at Fontenoy
And up in the Pyrenees.
Before Dunkirk, on Landen's plain,
Cremona, Lille and Ghent,
We're all over Austria, France and Spain,
Wherever they pitched a tent.
We've died for England from Waterloo
To Egypt and Dargai;
And still there's enough for a corps or a crew,
Kelly and Burke and Shea."
"Well, here is to good honest fighting blood!"
Said Kelly and Burke and Shea.

"Oh, the fighting races don't die out,
If they seldom die in bed,
For love is first in their hearts, no doubt,"
Said Burke; then Kelly said:
"When Michael, the Irish Archangel, stands,
The angel with the sword,
And the battle-dead from a hundred lands
Are ranged in one big horde,
Our line, that for Gabriel's trumpet waits,
Will stretch three deep that day,
From Jehoshaphat to the Golden Gates --
Kelly and Burke and Shea."

"Well, here's thank God for the race and the sod!"
Said Kelly and Burke and Shea.

1898

A note at the end of the poem states the date of composition as March 16, 1898: about a month after the sinking of the Maine, and before the declaration of war with Spain (April 11).

Several of the poems in the book's first section, "Songs of the Celt," relate to the Spanish-American War (which apparently got Clarke's Irish fighting blood up); there are three more in which Kelly, Burke and Shea figure.

I won't bother with a point-by-point rundown of all the references to major battles and military engagements to which the trio refer in "The Fighting Race," merely note that, in the passage to which Moore evidently referred, Howard would have well known that Vinegar Hill was the decisive battle of the 1798 United Irishmen rising. At the time, Hessians comprised the bulk of Britain's mercenary troops -- as, indeed, they had done in America.

UN Security Council Adjurns to P. J. Clarke's

2009-09-24T00:43:00.000-07:00

President Obama sat at the UN Security Council meeting with Col. Kadaffi, the Irish delegate sitting between them, and the Isralie delegate sitting next to him, so Obama suggested they continue their discussions off the records over a few beers at P.J. Clarke’s.

This is a partial transcript of an NSA intercept of what was said.

Obama: “I don’t think we can solve all the world’s problems over a few beers, but we can get to know each other better, share our opinions, have a good time, and maybe change each other a little bit so we can learn to compromise and solve problems without resorting to violence and war.”

Khadafi: “You call sitting around drinking beer and having to go outside to smoke is having a good time? My son, you let me set my tent up in your backyard and I show you a good time.”

Irish delegate: “You smoke in your tent? You come visit us in Ireland and you can set up your tent, mate. And bring a lot of money because we want reparations for all the maiming, death and destruction you caused by giving the IRA plastic explosives.”

Isralie: “Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. The Irish get plastic explosives from the Libyans, blow themselves up with it, and now they want the Libyans to pay them restitution and reparations for providing the weapons they used to kill each other? I should have been a lawyer.”
Gadhafi: “Yes. Exactly. That’s exactly what I mean. We like the idea of restitutions, because we intend to seek restitution from the British Imperalists, Italian barbarians, and Nazis invaders for their wonton destruction of Lyba and the Americans for enslaving Africans and providing us with the plastic explosives that we gave to the Irish. So ask for millions, whatever you want, and we’ll pay it because we’ll get even more from the British, Italians, Germans and Americans, who owe us trillions in restitution.”

Obama: “Now wait a minute guys, you can’t always look to me to bail you out. That wasn’t my CIA who gave Khadafi the plastic explosives. You can’t hold me responsible for that, or we’ll have to seek restitution from the Swiss, who made the plastic explosives.”

Qaddafi: “Ah, yes, the Swiss. There are No Swiss. They’re all either French, Italian or German, nobody’s Swiss. Swiss should be done away with, dissolved, broken up and given to the French, Italians and Germans.”

Obama: “But then we couldn’t seek restitution from them, and the whole scheme falls apart.”

Irish delegate: “Kadaffi, you really got a kid named Hanibal, who beats his servants?”

Obama: “Well as you know, I have two daughters, who I’m sure will be giving me plenty of trouble when they get to be teenagers too.”

Irish delegate: “So in retaliation for your son Hanibal being embarrassed at a Swiss hotel, you cut off all oil shipments to Switzerland, bring the country to its knees, and they kiss your arse to be friends again? That’s awesome. Did your son learn that at the London School of Economics?”

Isralie: “I hope you tought your son some manners, or to be more gentle with his servants and slaves, at least in public.”

Kaddafi: “Manners! You talk to me about Manners, after you killed JFK because he wanted to stop you from making a nuclear weapon.”

Isralie: “Nuclear weapon? We don’t have any such thing. You’re a lunatic. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Obama: “Gentlemen, gentle men, settle down now. Let’s go out in the alley, share a butt, and let things calm down a little bit before they get out of hand.”

Qhadafi: “See, if we were in my tent, we wouldn’t have to go outside for a smoke, and we could solve all the world’s problems while having a really good time.”

Ted Kennedy RIP

2009-08-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

Ted Kennedy RIP

I met Ted Kennedy on two occasions, once when I was a kid, I guess I was nine in 1960 when Teddy was campaigning for his brother for President in downtown Camden and the nuns let us out of school to go see him.

It was at the Walt Whitman Hotel, which isn't there anymore, but at one time was a grand old hotel, and I was walking next to TK down the grand staircase, while he scribbled his name on a piece of paper for me.

I don't know what ever happened to that relic, but years later I met him again, this time at his home in McLean, Virginia, in the spring of 1977 or 78.

My friend Brian had lost a leg in a motorcycle accident in Ocean City (NJ), and with the insurance money he bought a little red TR7 sports car and asked me to join him on a cross country road trip. We lived in a seasonal-winter rental beach house at the time, with two other guys, and literally drove from coast to coast. My brother Leo gave us his CB radio and we were "Red 7" on a cross country trip to Long Beach, California, where we would attend the US Grand Prix auto race, which like Monaco, was through the streets of the town.

On the way we stopped to visit friends of mine from college, and in Colorado, stopped at Winterpark, where we met Hal O'Leary, who invented three-track skiing for one-legged handicapped people, like Brian. They ski without a prothesis, on one leg, with outriggers on the poles. After awhile you don't consider them handicaped, as Brian quickly became a better skier than me, a "normie."

A week or so later, on the other side of the Rockies, we put into Aspin, where we met another three-track skier on Ajax, Aspin Mountain. One of his outriggers was broken, so Brian helped him down the mountain and at the base bar, where our waitress was Nancy, who we knew from Ocean City. Nancy worked on the boardwalk at Irenes, near where I worked in the summmers, Mack & Manco's Pizza. Nancy is now married to Ed Devlin, then the owner of Irenes. So we introduce Nancy to our new friend, who we jus met on the mountain, Ted Kennedy, Jr.

Teddy was then seventeen, and had just lost his leg to cancer, but was clean now, and learning how to ski three track, and a few other things. Brian took Teddy out for a spin in the TR7 and showed him how to shift gears with one leg, and do a handbreak turn 360.

Teddy wanted to go to California with us, but the car only held two people, but he gave us his phone number and said when we got back to the East Coast to give him a call and tell him how the rest of our trip went.

We drove to California, went straight to Santa Monica Pier and then to Long Beach for the Grand Prix, and to Mexico, a little further down the coast to Ensenada, where Brian got arrested with another one-legged skier we met in Colorado. They had turned the street lights switch out and were arrested, put in a Paddy Wagon, taken to court, where the judge was working, and were fined whatever they had on them. They were out of there by the time I walked down the street.

Before we left town I grabbed a couple of $5 Cuban cigars, Montecristos, that you can't buy in the USA, figuring I'd give one to my father's boss, the county prosecutor, and the other to George McGonigle, the long time bartender at Gregory's our local bar in Somers Point. (Ocean City, NJ being dry).

Well, to cut to the chase, on the way home we stopped in Columbia, South Carolina, where we visited our good friends Scott and Duncan MacRae, who had worked with me at Mack & Manco's. They had opened a college bar/restaurant called Yesterdays, at Five Points, and are really successful. Leaving there, we were about two hours out of DC when Brian called Teddy and told him we were in the neighborhood.

Teddy said to come by his house, we could still make dinner if we hurried. We didn't hurry, and got tied up in traffic and lost, and it was about 8pm at night when we pulled into a gas station in McLean, not far from the CIA. Teddy gave us directions to his house, and young Patrick answered the door. It's hard to imagine Patrick is now a Congressman from Rhode Island, but then was just a kid.

Teddy was glad to see us, and introduced us to his sister Kara, and then took us into the library where his father was on the phone. There was a fire in the fireplace, and a sterio was playing a reel to reel tape of a speech by RFK that Teddy, Sr. was apparently listening to. Although he was at home in his own study, Ted Kennedy wore his tie tight up on his neck, and yet seemed comfortable.

Senator Kennedy handed the phone to young Patrick, saying "Talk to your aunt Ethel," while Teddy, Jr. introduced us, "Dad, these are the guys from Jersey I was telling you about."

As the Senator shook our hands, and asked how our trip was, I noticed he was smoking a cigar, which he was holding in his other hand, a cigar that was down to a roach, as they say.

While he wanted to hear some stories of our adventures on the road, I said that while in Mexico I had bought a couple of Cuban cigars, and asked if he would like one. Sure. So I went out to the car and got one of the cigars, and as I gave it to him I told him that I had bought two, one for my father's boss, the prosecutor, and the other for our local bartender, George McGonigle.

Then he wanted to know which one I was giving him?

He was getting the one I was going to give my father's boss.

"That shows whose more important in your life," Kennedy said laughing.

I then remarked about how there is the story of "your brother ordered a case of Cuban cigars before he signed the trade embargo," which Kennedy said, "was something Jack would do."

Young Teddy then showed us around the house, his pin ball machine in the basement, and his bedroom, where on the wall was a framed page from a yellow legal pad, with notes and scribbles and dated April 17, 1961, the day of the Bay of Pigs.

I later saw that a book was published on presidential doodles, and thought about that page and what was on it.

We didn't stay long, an hour or so, but we got to know young Teddy better, skiing with him again in Colorado a few times, and he visited the Jersey Shore.

I also got to know Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who stayed overnight at my family's house at 819 Wesley Ave. in Ocean City, while on the 1980 campaign trail when Teddy Sr. ran for President. I drove Bobby around to radio stations and meetings and hooked up with his brother Michael. I then drove Bobby and Michael to New York City, where the major argument was to have dinner at 21 or pizza. We ate pizza.

Having met young Teddy skiing, and the Senator and his family at their home, and knowing Robert and Michael from the campaign trail, I can say that I found the Kennedys to be a fairly typical Irish American family.

And now Big Teddy is gone, and the younger generation must step up. Hey, that's us.

Les Paul RIP

2009-08-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Charlie Carney, one of the last of the old time bartenders, insisted that I check out this guy John Coliani, a pianist who used to play at Steve & Cookies - the old Strotbecks club. John is indeed a terrific musician who then introduced me to his mentor, Carlton Drinkard, Billy Holiday's pianist.

One night I accompanied Carney and Drinkard to Philly to see a Billy Holiday show, a night to remember.

More recently I heard a recording of John Coliani on the radio and was inspired to write my first Nightbeat Blog about him, and how he was playing every Monday night in New York City at a nightclub with the Les Paul trio.

After exchanging a few emails with John, I promised him I'd check out his show with Les Paul.

Well, now I guess I can't keep that promise.

http://jerseyshorenightbeat.blogspot.com/2008/02/john-coliani-with-les-paul.html

Les Paul, Jazz-Guitar Virtuoso and Inventor, Dies at 94

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/13/ST2009081301806.html

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 13, 2009; 1:40 PM

Les Paul, 94, a Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuoso and inventor who helped bring his instrument, typically assigned to chug along rhythmically and compliantly, to the forefront of jazz performance, died today at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y. He had pneumonia.

Mr. Paul first came to prominence for his fast and flashy jazz-guitar style. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he and singer Mary Ford, his wife, had hits with "How High the Moon," "The Tennessee Waltz," "Vaya con Dios" and "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise."

All along, he refined musical inventions in his workshop. He was an early designer of an electric guitar that had a solid body, and his model managed to reduce sound distortions common to acoustic instruments.

He actively promoting such guitars for the Gibson company, and the Les Paul line of guitars became commonplace among such musicians as bluesman Eric Clapton, jazzman Wes Montgomery and rocker Pete Townshend.

Mr. Paul called his first solid-body guitar "the Log." It was made of a four-inch thick piece of wood from a nearby railroad track, a neck he borrowed from an Epiphone guitar and two pickups to give it the electric pulse. Audiences and music executives laughed at the ungainly device, and he spent years honing its visual appeal.

He said his efforts were toward one goal: to change the way people saw the guitar.

"I wanted people to hear me," he told the publication Guitar Player in 2002. "That's where the whole idea of a solid-body guitar came from. In the '30s, the archtop electric was such an apologetic instrument. On the bandstand, it was so difficult battling with a drummer, the horns, and all the instruments that had so much power.

"With a solid-body, guitarists could get louder and express themselves," he said. "Instead of being wimps, we'd become one of the most powerful people in the band. We could turn that mother up and do what we couldn't do before."

He played a key role in developing the eight-track tape recorder, and used the device to play many parts on the same recording, a process now called multitracking. Such early work in overlaying sound contributed to the richness and distinctiveness of his recordings.

Mr. Paul earned the nickname "the wizard of Waukesha," after the town in Wisconsin where he was born Lester William Polfuss on June 9, 1915. His father was an auto-garage mechanic.

As a boy, Mr. Paul taught himself music on his mother's player piano, mimicking the notes with his own hands. An admirer of the blues and country troubadours he heard on the radio, he imitated their songs with his own harmonica and mail-order guitar. He played both instruments simultaneously by making his own harmonica holder.

As a teenager, he played dates at a drive-in restaurant, where he experimenting with amplified sound to reach the open-air audience. He stuck a phonograph needle inside his acoustic guitar and wired it to a radio speaker.

Adopting the moniker "Rhubarb Red," he left high school and joined a traveling cowboy band and later played on the "Barn Dance" program on WLS radio in Chicago. He named one of his early groups the Original Ozark Apple Knockers.

Not wishing for a career in hillbilly music, he convinced two friends -- guitarist Jimmy Atkins (Chet's brother) and bassist Ernie Newton -- that he knew Paul Whiteman, the prominent big-band leader. The trio went to New York in 1937, only to be kicked out of Whiteman's office.

They were waiting for the elevator back down when they saw bandleader Fred Waring next to them. He already had dozens of musicians, but Mr. Paul insisted he hear the trio's lightning-fast tempo -- timed to please Waring before the elevator arrived. He was hooked, and they got a job on his NBC show.

Around this time, Mr. Paul also became a consultant to the Gibson company, testing its new models. Not until a decade later, in 1952, and after a rival company developed a similar model, did Gibson see the selling potential of Mr. Paul's solid-body electric guitar. They sought his endorsement on their own design.

Meanwhile, he had disagreements with Waring about the continued use of the electric guitar. He announced he wanted to be the accompanist for Bing Crosby, one of the most popular singers in the country.

It took Mr. Paul two years to meet Crosby and worked as musical director for two Chicago radio stations before impressing the crooner during a musical date at a Los Angeles club.

Crosby arranged for a recording session at Decca records, where they made "It's Been a Long, Long Time," "Tiger Rag" and other titles that were best-sellers.

In the early 1940s, Mr. Paul worked for Armed Forced Radio Service and became a staff musician at NBC, accompanying the Andrews Sisters and other pop singers.

He jammed the blues with pianist Nat "King" Cole in Norman Granz's first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series in 1944. Their quicksilver note-for-note matching of solos created howls of approval from the audience.

He also had musical dates worldwide, once meeting his idol, Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt.

On Crosby's advice, Mr. Paul created his own recording studio, both to help his guitar career and his interest in electronics. He began to take advantage of new, still bulky, tape-recording machine technology. Facing initial skepticism, he persuaded Ampex to market his eight-track tape recorder.

After hundreds of false starts, he began recording with these new devices in the late 1940s and can be heard on such standard and novelty numbers as "Nola," "Josephine," "Whispering" and "Meet Mister Callahan."

His version of "Lover" boasted him playing eight electric guitar parts, which he electronically wove into a single record. It was a sensation.

Married at the time, he also had been seeing Ford, whom he had hired as a singer and guitarist. Both were in the auto wreck, on an icy patch of road in Chandler, Okla., that almost killed Mr. Paul in 1948.

Mr. Paul's right arm was crushed, and one doctor suggested amputation. Instead, he had it fixed at a right angle so he could play his instrument.

The next year, Mr. Paul divorced his first wife, Virginia Webb Paul, and married Ford. The new couple settled in Mahwah, N.J., and continued to work together on a series of albums for Capitol and Columbia in the 1950s, including "The New Sound" and "Time to Dream."

The rigorous touring schedule and Ford's alcohol addiction damaged their marriage. Meanwhile the public demand for rock 'n' roll harmed their careers.

They divorced in 1964. Survivors include a companion, Arlene Palmer; two sons from his first marriage; and a son and daughter from his second marriage; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A daughter from his second marriage died in infancy in 1954.

Mr. Paul, who had long ago made his fortune, tried to settle into retirement in the 1960s as the popularity of rock-and-roll music grew. He made occasional recordings, notably the album "Chester and Lester," for which he shared a 1976 Grammy for best country instrumental performance with Chet Atkins. Mr. Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and won two more Grammys, in 2006, for his album "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played."

He gradually reentered public performance, obtaining a regular date at Fat Tuesday's in New York through the 1990s. For fans and fellow musicians, including Billy Joel, catching Mr. Ford at Fat Tuesday's was a Monday-night must. He was a sprightly presence at the club, even after he developed arthritis that left him with use of only two fingers in his left hand.

"If you're stubborn, it can be done," he once told The Washington Post. "I've been playing with what fingers I have left. If they'll put up with it, I can put up with it."

Bill DeMain's 2006 interview with Les Paul:

http://www.puremusic.com/pdf/les.pdf

Adml. William Fallon, USN (Ret.)

2009-08-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/08/prweb2700424.htm

All Press Releases for August 1, 2009

Admiral William J. Fallon, U.S. Navy (Retired), Former Commander of U.S. Central Command, joins Tilwell Petroleum LLC.

Tilwell Petroleum LLC is pleased to announce that Admiral William J. Fallon, U. S. Navy (Retired), former commander of U.S. Central Command, has joined Tilwell Petroleum as a partner and advisor for the company's strategic business development program.

We are excited to have Admiral Fallon join our team at Tilwell
Mystic, CT (PRWEB) August 1, 2009 -- Tilwell Petroleum LLC is pleased to announce that Admiral William J. Fallon, U. S. Navy (Retired), former commander of U.S. Central Command, has joined Tilwell Petroleum as a partner and advisor for the company's strategic business development program.

Admiral William J. Fallon, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
"We are excited to have Admiral Fallon join our team at Tilwell," said Tony Cardwell, Managing Member of Tilwell. "Admiral Fallon's extensive experience in the Navy and his work with government and non-governmental agencies is a great addition to Tilwell as we continue to expand our customer base and support for both military and commercial applications."

Admiral Fallon spent 41 years in the U.S. Navy where his career began as a naval flight officer flying combat missions in Vietnam. Prior to becoming CENTCOM commander, he served in numerous high level positions, including Commander of U.S. Pacific Command (2005-2007), Commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Atlantic Fleet (2003-2005), and Vice Chief of the Navy (2000-2003). Admiral Fallon, recently completed a year as a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies, has a private consulting and advisory business and serves on several corporate and university Boards.

Admiral Fallon is a graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, RI, the National War College in Washington, D.C., Old Dominion University, and Villanova University, where he presented the commencement address to the graduating class of 2009 and received an honorary Ph. D.

About Tilwell Petroleum:
Headquartered in Mystic, Connecticut., Tilwell Petroleum LLC supplies fuels, standards, and solvents to the Aerospace and Defense Industries. The company offers the unique ability to supply customers with products in a variety of quantities to fit their specific requirements. Tilwell also prides itself on delivering a high level of service and support that its customers are finding unique within the industry. More about Tilwell Petroleum and a current product offering will be found at tilwellpetroleum.com.

Tilwell Petroleum LLC
Peter M. Tilton, Media Relations
Ph. 860-536-4777
Fax 860-536-3638

http://tilwellpetroleum.com/

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