Category: 6 Things to Consider

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky. His father, Thomas, was a Kentucky frontiersman, his mother Nancy, died when he was ten.

He married Mary Todd after a long courtship on November 4, 1842. They had four boys, but only one lived to adulthood.

On May 22, 1849 Lincoln was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,469 for BUOYING VESSELS OVER SHOALS.

In the 1860 election he received only 40% of the popular votes, but was awarded 180 of the 303 electoral votes. The other candidates were Northern Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge.

The Portrait used as basis for the Five Dollar Bill was taken by photographer Matthew Brady in February of 1864.

On April 14, 1865, while attending the production of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre, he was shot John Wilkes Booth. He died at 7:22 the next morning

Nearly 100 years ago James Ramon Jones was born in Robinson, Illinois on November 6, 1921. He was the second son of Ramon and Ada Jones. His older brother his older brother was George W, He also had a younger sister, Mary Ann.

On November 10, 1939, three days after his eighteenth birthday he enlisted in the United States Army. One of his first assignments was with the air corps (it later became the US Air Force) and was shipped to Hickman field in Hawaii. In 1940 he transferred to 27th Infantry, which was at Schofield Barracks, also located in Hawaii. He was at Schofield when Japan attacked in December 7, 1941, just a month after his 20th birthday.

He left Hawaii on December 6, 1942 to be stationed on Guadalcanal. He was there during the Japanese attack and from those experiences he wrote The Thin Red Line. To many it is the best book about WWII.

Even before the war he had dreams of being a writer. After the war he was able to work with Maxwell Perkins, Thomas Wolfe’s editor. Jones admired the work of Wolfe. His first novel was From Here to Eternity, based on his experiences in Hawaii prior to the attack of December 7, 1941. It was published in 1951 and made into a movie in 1953. The movie won Best Picture Oscar.

Jones went on to complete what he called his WWII trilogy with The Thin Red Line in 1961 and Whistle in 1978. The central characters are actually the same in all three books, though their names were somewhat altered. From Here to Eternity features Warden and Prewitt, who become Welsh and Witt in The Thin Red Line and Mart Winch and Bobby Prell in Whistle. Similarly, Corporal Fife in The Thin Red Line reappears as Marion Landers in Whistle, as does the cook, Storm, who becomes Johnny “Mother” Strange.

While working to finish Whistle, Jones died of congestive heart failure on May 9, 1977. Knowing that he had little time remaining, but wanting to finish the novel at time he worked 14 hours a day on it. When he died he had completed all but the final three chapters. Those chapters were completed by Willie Morris based on notes and taped conversation that Jones had already written.

Betterton is a small town of under 400 on the Chesapeake Bay. Looking at it today one would not know that during the 1st half of the 20th Century it was a summer resort with arcades and amusements for people to escape the heat of the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia. There were daily scheduled steamship service by several lines including the Ericsson Steamship Line.

The town sits where the Sassafras River meets the Chesapeake Bay. First founded as a fishing village in the mid 1700’s by the end of the 19th century it was a point ideally situated for shipment of produce from the Eastern Shore to markets in Baltimore and through the C&D Canal to Philadelphia.

With the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and travel by automobile increased, fewer people traveled by the steamships causing the decline of many of the tourist towns of the early 20th Century. Towns that were easy to get to via water were less convenient by road, Betterton included.

While the town relishes its tourist roots, the tourist economy is now nearly non-existent. However the current public beach still gives a glimmer of its grand days. It’s a place for swimming and family picnics. It is equipped with a bathhouse with public restrooms and 500 feet of boardwalk, with benches, lighting and handicap access.

Located where the Sassafras and Elk Rivers meets the Chesapeake Bay the lower salinity of the upper Chesapeake keeps Betterton”s waters nearly free of sea nettles.

Annually on the first Saturday of August each year, cancelled this year due to Covid, the town hosts its Betterton Day Celebration. The highlight of the day is a parade down main street.

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A 6 Things to Consider Post

At 12:22 on Monday May 4, 1970, 29 members of a group of 77 National Guard troops from A Company and Troop G fired shots towards a group of students at Kent State. 13 seconds and about 67 shots later it ended. Some shots were in the air as warnings, others to induce injury and not kill. The outcome was 4 deaths and another 9 receiving injuries.

The National Guard had been called to the campus after a war protest of May 1st got out of hand. They arrived on campus on the morning of May 2nd. At the time of the shooting they were in the process of clearing a scheduled but a campus declared unauthorized protest.

The students who died as a result of the wounds they suffered that day were:
(Name, distance from Guard, Injury)
Jeffrey Glen Miller, 265 ft, shot through the mouth – killed instantly
Allison Krause, 343 ft, fatal left chest wound
William Knox Schroeder, 382 ft, fatal chest wound
Sandra Lee Scheuer, 390 ft, fatal neck wound

The Wounded:
Joseph Lewis Jr., 71 ft, hit twice in the right abdomen and left lower leg
John R. Cleary, 110 ft, upper left chest wound
Thomas Mark Grace, 225 ft, struck in left ankle
Alan Canfora, 225 ft, hit in his right wrist
Dean Kahler, 300 ft, back wound fracturing the vertebrae – permanently paralyzed from the chest down
Douglas A. Wrentmore, 329 ft, hit in his right knee
James Dennis Russell, 375 ft, hit in his right thigh from a bullet and in the right forehead by birdshot – both wounds minor
Robert F. Stamps, 495 ft, hit in his right buttock
Donald Scott MacKenzie, 750 ft, neck wound

Even now 50 years later the reason for the shooting has not been fully determined. It may have been that the Guardsmen felt in danger. Some students were approaching them throwing objects and one reports has it that a sniper fired upon the guard.

One of the widely read book about the shootings is James Michener Kent State: What Happened and Why published in 1971. The book does contain a number of errors probably because it was produced so quickly and release so soon after the event. The Kent May 4 Center does list this as a non-recommended book. T

Neil Young after seeing pictures of the shooting wrote the song Ohio. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded the song on May 15 and released it as a single in June. The song became to many an anthem for the times giving a tribute that may last forever to the ‘Four dead in Ohio’.

Today is April 20th. 420 is a text code to signify illegal drug use or more specifically the use of marijuana. From that April 20th has counterculture holiday.

But where did the term come from.

According to snopes.com it started to be used by a group of students at San Rafael High School in California as the time, 4:20 in the afternoon, that they would get together to smoke some weed. This was way back in the early 1970s. 1971.

Also on snopes it is said not to have any relationship to police codes for marijuana use in progress

The California Bill that legalized the use of medical marijuana is Senate Bill 420, but it was signed in 2004, long after the term was in use. Although I suppose some may have started using the bill number without realizing that the term was already being used by others.

April 20th is also the birthday of one of the most despised man in History. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889.

On October 27, 1810 President James Madison declared parts of the region known as West Florida as part of the United States. His reason for the annexation was he claimed it was part of the Louisiana Purchase. On December 10, 1810, the Republic of West Florida’s lone star came down and the Stars and Stripes took its place. This ended the existence of the Republic of West Florida.

Beginning in the 17th century through 1763 the French, the Spanish and the English each laid claim, at different times, to the region that now includes parts of the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

At the conclusion of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Year War) Great Britain received from the French portion of Louisiana between the Mississippi and Perdidio Rivers and the Spanish Colony of Florida. The British divided the region into East and West Florida. Boundaries of West Florida were the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee Rivers and North at the 31st parallel. The Gulf of Mexico was the Southern Boundary.

The colony had been invited to the 1st Continental Congress, but did not send representatives. They were one of 5 continental colonies that did not send representatives, the others being East Florida, Quebec, St. John’s Isle, and Nova Scotia.

The Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, the British set the American Boundary at the 31st Parallel and ceded both Florida Colonies to the Spanish. This was just the beginning of a number of border disagreements between the United States, Spain and France.

In 1810, American’s who had settled in the region resented the Spanish Rule. This lead to a rebellion and on September 23 when the rebellion took the Spanish fort at Baton Rouge the Republic of West Florida was born.

First Published at Steve Atkinson’s “6 Thing to Consider”

April Fools’ Day, which is sometimes called All Fools’ Day, is one of the most lighthearted days of the year. While its origins are uncertain some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it comes from the adoption of a new year. Many cultures celebrated the beginning of the year on or around the spring equinox.

One theory deals with the switch in 1852 from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Among the changes was that the year would begin on January 1st. Under the Julian calendar the first day of the year was April 1st. Various jokes were played upon those who clung to the old calendar system.

Another possible origin of April Fools’ Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

It also is seen as occurring because of turning of the season, winter to spring leads itself to lighthearted celebrations.  Many different cultures have had days or weeks of foolishness around the beginning of spring.

Practices include sending someone on a “fool’s errand,” looking for things that don’t exist; playing pranks; and trying to get people to believe ridiculous things.

One superstition says that the pranking period shall end at 12 noon on April 1st. Any jokes after that time will call bad luck to those who breaks the rule.

Note:
This year it seems as if nature has pulled a huge April Fool’s plank on us. We are needing a little lighthearted pleasure, but please let’s make it fun and nothing dangerous.

When I was doing “6 Things to Consider” I put together pieces on each of the NFL teams. I did the baseball teams as well.

Since today is the Anniversary of the Colts leaving Baltimore, I thought I’d republish the one I did for the Colts.

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The Baltimore Colts were created in 1953 out of the failed NFL franchise Dallas Texans. There were two other football teams in Baltimore prior to 1953 to use the name Colts. In 1947 the Miami Seahawks of the All-American Football Conference moved to Baltimore and took the name Colts. In 1950 the AAFC merged with the NFL and played for one NFL season before folding.

In 1958 the team led by Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas won the NFL championship 23-17 over the New York Giants.  It was an overtime contest that many call ‘the greatest game ever played’.  This game is credited with helping to make football the game it is today.

The Baltimore Colts were in 2 of the first 5 Super Bowls. They lost to the AFL New York Jets, a team with much less talent, but led by Joe Namath, in Super Bowl III.  After the AFL merged with the NFL after Super Bowl IV, they moved to the AFC and won Super Bowl V against the Dallas Cowboys.

On July 13, 1972 Carroll Rosenbloom, owner of the Colts, exchanged ownership of franchises with Robert Irsay, owner of the Los Angeles Rams.

At the end of the 1982 season, the Baltimore Colts had the number 1 draft pick and selected John Elway.  Elway refused to talk with the Colts, threatening to play baseball instead. They traded Elway to the Denver Broncos for 2 players and Denver’s 1984 1st round draft choice.

On March 28,1984, on a snowy morning, the Colts packed their belongings into Mayflower trucks and moved to Indianapolis. The Baltimore region was so angered with the move that many fans and former players completely disassociated themselves from the Colts.