Dayhoff Soundtrack

Friday, August 19, 2005

20050819 Lifting Material from the Blog World

August 19th, 2005

http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2005/08/ok-there-are-two-possibilities-here.html

No More Mister Nice Blog calls out Washington Times columnist John McCaslin for retailing an anecdote, sans attribution and with lightly mussed word changes, from a conservative blog Libertas.

The column concerns an incident at a film-festival screening of the Ronald Reagan vehicle The Killers, in which the audience burst out into spontaneous applause when Reagan's character was shot and killed. One can cluck--oh, can one cluck--about journalistic ethics and whatnot, but we sort of take this as a positive sign:

Clearly the professionally indignant conservative pundits are running out of things to be operatically outraged about if they're lifting ideas from blog entries about film revivals. What's next, after all? Complaints that Harry Reid's manner is curt, or that Ted Kennedy is red-complexioned and bulbous? That the peanut bags you get on airlines are hard to open?

Though we do of course look askance at the MSM's unacknowledged lifting of material from blogs. That's bloggers' work: Step off, Mr. Salaried Columnist Man! -- HOLLY MARTINS

UPDATE - - Okay _ _ I finally found it:

There Are Two Possibilities Here

[NMMNB, via Romenseko]

No More Mister Nice Blog

It's Karl Rove's world. We just live in it.

http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2005/08/ok-there-are-two-possibilities-here.html

Thursday, August 18, 2005

OK, there are two possibilities here: either John McCaslin, the "Inside the Beltway" columnist for The Washington Times, e-mails rough drafts of some of his work to right-wing blogs and then spends a week revising the e-mailed items before putting them in the paper -- or he's not above reading such blogs and doing a little unacknowledged "borrowing."

On August 8, Libertas, the blog of the right-wing Liberty Film Festival, ran an item about a screening of The Killers, Ronald Reagan's last movie. Reagan is shot in the movie; at the screening, this shooting was cheered. The Libertas item is prefaced with "I received this email this morning from a friend of mine," then the e-mail begins:

I have a report of a bizarre, disturbing incident....

Yesterday -- nine days later -- McCaslin's column led with an item on the same incident. McCaslin's column begins:

We're here to report a rather bizarre, if not disturbing incident....

The Libertas e-mail continues:

The crowd at the screening of The Killers, on Thursday night erupted in cheers when Reagan was shot and killed. The crowd was comprised of Hollywood people – film preservationists, reviewers, scholars, researchers, actors and actresses, writers. L.A. Confidential director Curtis Hanson was also in the crowd for the movie.

McCaslin's item continues:

Well – read the entire piece here: There Are Two Possibilities Here

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Thursday, August 18, 2005

20050817 Dedication of the Westminster Airport in 1943

1943 Dedication of Westminster Airport

Westminster Advocate

August 17^th, 2005 by Kevin Dayhoff (528 words)

On June 22, 2005, The Carroll County Regional Airport (CCRA) was honored as the Maryland Airport of the Year by the Maryland Aviation Administration.

The airport, renamed as the CCRA in 1979 on Route 97 near Westminster has a long history. The airport supported military airlifts during the Korean and Vietnam War and still supports the Air National Guard and Maryland Civil Air Patrol.

Although I have failed to find any published accounts, folklore has it that barnstormers were using the cow pasture, that was located at what we now know as the CCRA, as early as the 1920s. In those days a pilot or flock of pilots would fly over a small rural town, attract attention and then land in a nearby farm field, sell tickets and perform stunts with their newfangled flying machines.

There are also no accounts available as to how the cows felt about this activity. Although I can only imagine, they may have a made a mess out of the fields at seeing “extra large flies with propellers” landing in the grass nearby.

Sometimes barnstormers came by invitation. The June 25, 1920, Union Bridge Pilot, reports “Captain Otto Swoboda, in charge of the US Army Recruiting office, has… arranged to send two aeroplanes for our Fourth of July celebration…”

According to the June 11, 1943 issue of the Westminster Democratic Advocate, “Westminster's new airport was dedicated with a two-day event beginning” at 3:15 PM on Saturday, June 5, 1943, by Westminster Mayor Joseph L. Matthias. 600 folks and 50 aeroplanes attended. “Several rode horseback, some came on bicycles and many walked…” Scott S. Bair, Sr., and Carroll Crawford organized the dedication. In 1943, the airport was about 50 acres.

“The station was in charge of Miss Anne Reifsnider, assisted by Mrs. Belle Fringer…” (Mrs. Fringer was my first grade teacher at East End Elementary School at the corner of Green and Center Streets.)

“The Carroll County Canteen committee… Miss Adeline Hoffman and Mrs. Milson Raver…served the luncheon…sandwiches, baked beans, radishes, carrots, ice cream and coffee.”

Mayor Mathias…said, "Today we have assembled for [the] purpose of officially dedicating a new airport, a project which will play an important part in the service of our community, state and Nation. In this time of war, when everything must be done to advance the important science of aviation, Westminster is proud to have a part in this great development…This event is a milestone in the history of this community. May it greatly promote the War effort, and when the war is won may this airport be a valuable asset to the commercial life of a better tomorrow."

In 1946, Pan-Maryland Airways, Inc. selected Westminster Airport as one of its stops in a service authorized by the Public Service Commission to “operate scheduled flights between Baltimore, Annapolis, Easton, Cambridge, Crisfield, Chestertown, Westminster, Frederick, College Park, Havre de Grace, Bel Air, Elkton, Centreville and Brandywine.” Democratic Advocate, September 6, 1946.

The airport has been an integral part of Carroll County’s economic development strategy ever since. Today, the CCRA has a 5100-foot runway and handles about 100,000 flights a year. In my next column, we’ll pick the story up here.

Cross posted

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff(at)carr.org

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