Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Thursday, July 16, 2009

This week in The Tentacle

This week in The Tentacle

http://www.thetentacle.com/

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Remembering the Sacrifice of Vietnam
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Saturday, at 1 P.M., members of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop – the Black Horse Regiment, from all over the country – will pause to remember the fallen from the Vietnam War at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial Park at Willis and Court Streets in Westminster. The public is invited.

Travel Tales
Tom McLaughlin
Phuket Island Thailand – Every week I play a game I call “Air Asia” roulette. The local price buster airline offers weekly sales well below any advertised price. When I say “well below,” I mean deep ocean discounts where sometimes one can fly paying only the airport tax.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
See How They Run – Part 2
Roy Meachum
The numbers are intimidating: 20 candidates are contesting for five seats on the city's Board of Aldermen. That turns out eleven Republicans and nine Democrats. Most names ring no bells. With exactly nine weeks before voters march into the booths, many who filed can count on only their families and friends stepping up for them.

Looking at The Future
Farrell Keough
Been watching a local election with great interest recently. Noticed one very poignant aspect – there are two basic types of candidates: Fixers and Visionaries. It will be interesting to see who the voters decide on.

Monday, July 13, 2009
Becoming a Billionaire – Part 2
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks is a billionaire industrialist who lives in a grand mansion at 987 Fifth Avenue in New York City. He's gruff, focused, and intent on building his empire, in spite of the onset of the Great Depression. He has a great deal of affection for his large staff, especially his personal assistant, Grace Farrell, although he goes to great lengths to not let that be known.

Vigilance Is Our Saving Grace
Steven R. Berryman
I deny that I wrote this column. The problem is that the technology exists today to record electronically the very keystrokes emanating from my wireless keyboard, and – that as it happens – in “real time!”

Friday, July 10, 2009
See How They Run
Roy Meachum
Heave a great sigh of relief: Tuesday's primary election deadline has passed. Now we'll have no more speculation about Republican Alan Imhoff running again for the mayor's office. He lost an earlier race but he was a Democrat then. (In the next column, we'll discuss the aldermanic elections.)

“We The People” Rising Up
Joe Charlebois
We The People grant certain powers to the federal government. We as citizens of several independent states and commonwealths needed to establish ways to provide uniform justice, fair trade (between the states) and provide for national defense to protect the fledgling republic that had just been established. The founders established a document that protects the individual from the state.

Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Wave of the Future
Tony Soltero
During the ongoing Iranian election crisis, an expression that quickly evolved from inspired observation to hoary cliché was "The Revolution Will Be Twittered." But even though the phrase has become tiresome, it doesn't mean that it's not reflective of a profound and game-changing development in the communications capabilities of ordinary citizens.

Dear Michael Steele
Patricia A. Kelly
I just received the Republican National Committee 2009 Obama Agenda Survey. I answered, partially because I like you personally, and wish you success in your position. It does my heart good to see a moderate in a high level Republican role, for a change, as I really like feeling included.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Palin Derangement Syndrome
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last Friday the liberal hate machine gasped in collective horror at the very idea that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may not be around in the foreseeable future and be the object of anger looking for a safe victim.

What’s Up with Republican Governors?
Michael Kurtianyk
So what is it with these Republican governors these days? Is there some sort of Kool-Aid trough they’re drinking from that’s making them go wacko? In no particular order, let’s look at the Hall of Shame.

English Lessons
Tom McLaughlin
Kuching, Malaysia – “Sir! Sir!” the voice pealed behind me. I turned around and there was a very pretty young Malay girl trying to hail me. I was on a busy shopping street that had been closed to traffic and reverted into a pedestrian walk way in downtown Kuching.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sarah Palin's Bye-Bye
Roy Meachum
Resigning as Alaska's governor may have been the smartest move by Sarah Palin, a politician noted more for smarts than intelligence; it cheers her fans and confounds her enemies, including those in the media. Journalists have criticized their colleagues – never themselves – for being too hard on the ex-vice presidential nominee.

Hail and Farewell, Sarah Palin
Patricia A. Kelly
Sarah Palin just announced her resignation as governor of Alaska, effective July 26, 2009.

Motorcycle Touring – Part 2
Nick Diaz
Summertime is motorcycle touring time. This year I’m headed for West Virginia, (heaven, not “almost…”), in late July, to meet with a bunch of friends from far and wide. Two weeks later I’m headed for northwestern Ohio for a high school reunion.

Monday, July 6, 2009
Becoming a Billionaire – Part 1
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
In the last few weeks, the transformation of my life from a relatively normal one to one of a 1920s industrial tycoon began.

The Take Back America Rally
Steven R. Berryman
It was my honor and pleasure to bear witness to the first annual rally in front of the Frederick County Courthouse on the 4th of July. Not a “tea party,” it was about taking back America.

Military Vietnam CC Memorial, Military Vietnam, Current Events, Dayhoff Media The Tentacle, Dayhoff writing essays, Dayhoff writing essays Vietnam, Dayhoff writing essays military,

20090715 sdosm This week in The Tentacle
*****

Uniontown Road through the rearview mirror



Uniontown Road through the rearview mirror

Uniontown Road, Westminster, MD through the rearview mirror

Kevin Dayhoff June 27, 2009 Enlarge this picture: http://twitpic.com/aipsu

20090627 sdosm UTR through rearview mirror

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Dayhoff The Tentacle Remembering the Sacrifice of Vietnam

Remembering the Sacrifice of Vietnam

Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, July 15, 2009 www.thetentacle.com

On Saturday, at 1 P.M., members of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop – the Black Horse Regiment, from all over the country – will pause to remember the fallen from the Vietnam War at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial Park at Willis and Court Streets in Westminster. The public is invited…

Read the entire column here: http://tinyurl.com/lkmphx

http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3264

Remembering 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop – the Black Horse Regiment in Vietnam
http://tinyurl.com/lkmphx

20090715 TT Remembering the Sacrifice of Vietnam ttked
*****

WaPo Politics News & Analysis Wednesday, July 15, 2009

WaPo Politics News & Analysis Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Sotomayor on 'Wise Latina' Comment
» Video Judge Sotomayor explained the context of her 2001 statement that was meant to inspire Latino students.
Sotomayor Emphasizes Objectivity Photos Full Coverage

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Powered by the Political Browser
The best political news and commentary:
Sotomayor Leaves Passion Behind in Her Testimony (New York Times)How Much Health Care for $1 Trillion? (USA Today)Pressure Grows for Obama to Leap Into Healthcare Fray (Boston Globe)Why is Steve Rattner Resigning From White House Auto Czar Post? (Politico)Media Jostled for Access to Sanford (The State)
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A message from your local fire department

A message from your local fire department

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_zzq8LPhdQ



20080619 sdosm A message from your local fire department
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Teabags and shoes

Teabags and shoes

July 15, 2009

Teabags and shoes.
The meaning of which,
I haven’t a clue.

Kevin Dayhoff

20090715 Teabags and shoes

*****

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Organizational Chart of the House Democrats' Health Plan

We have obtained from Congressman Kevin Brady, Ranking House Republican Member this chart showcasing the bureaucratic disaster that is the health care plan of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress:

CLICK HERE TO SEE CHART ENLARGED

This health care policy from Hades represents everything we must avoid as a nation when it comes to reforming health care. It is a big government, freedom-killing monstrosity that we will oppose during the upcoming Tea Party Express. For more information on how you can join our effort to fight back log on to: www.TeaPartyExpress.org

Please also support our efforts to defeat this socialistic health care plan by making a contribution to our conservative organization. You can contribute online – CLICK HERE to CONTRIBUTE.

** FORWARD TO A FRIEND - CLICK HERE **

** VIEW EMAIL AS A WEB PAGE - CLICK HERE **

Organizational Chart of the House Democrats' Health Plan

*****

Westminster MD Skate Park Documentary

If I am not mistaken, at the Westminster mayor and common council meeting last Monday, it was councilmember Tony Chiavacci that suggested I put this up on the Westminster Community Web site…

The Westminster Skateboard Park is one of the many successes in Westminster. Part of the great success story that is Westminster is the many private-public partnerships and out-of-the-box cutting-edge thinking to make it happen. Enjoy the videos.
Oh, a special hats-off goes to Ron Schroers, the Westminster Recreation director, and Councilman Chiavacci’s Dad, former Council president Roy Chiavacci, for their tireless work on behalf of recreation and parks in Westminster.

For more on the Westminster skateboard story see: 20020408 “Skate parks fill the void” Boris E. Hartl, Carroll County Times Staff Writer
See also: “First Flights for new Westminster Skate Park - Fans and supporters take to the air.” Posted on http://www.explorecarroll.com/ 6/21/09 http://explorecarroll.com/news/3051/first-flights/
Westminster MD Skate Park Documentary Part 1 http://bit.ly/15ESjz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1gmuVsazwQ



Westminster MD Skate Park Documentary 2 http://bit.ly/ilglw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4sUP3fzGDA



20090713 drft sdosm Westminster MD Skate Park Documentary


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Teleprompter One is down. Code Red Teleprompter one is Down



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Franken & Sotomayor Discuss 'Perry Mason' Episodes During Hearing

Franken & Sotomayor Discuss 'Perry Mason' Episodes During Hearing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJNsfXtYgCY



20090715 sdosm YT Franken Sotomayor Discuss Perry Mason
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Westminster videos and Jeff’s giant lava lamp


Westminster videos and Jeff’s giant lava lamp

The Westminster mayor and common council meeting this evening was a lot of fun. It was upbeat, positive, and informative.

In this evening’s Westminster mayor and council meeting, city administrator Marge Wolf announced that the city has purchased 4 video cameras. Soon, various city employees will be trained, by the Community Media Center, to operate the cameras so that the city can get the word out better about all the great work the city is doing.

Of course it is a smart move on the part of the city and the effort is to be applauded.

After the meeting several of us were talking about my “Westminster News” playlist - http://tinyurl.com/lubncg - on my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindayhoff

In particular, “20071008 Jeff and Joe discover a giant lava lamp” http://bit.ly/MQoOd. Please enjoy.




http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindayhoff#play/user/686F580EC3B58588

20090713 sdosm Westminster videos and Jeffs giant lava lamp

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Flashback: Ted Kennedy 'Borking' Bork (1987)

Flashback: Ted Kennedy 'Borking' Bork (1987)

Related: Sotomayor – Break Her and You Die

Watching the Judge Sotomayor confirmation hearings today made me nauseous. It was a Kum Ba Ya love fest, at its worst.

Long forgotten is when the Democrats routinely assassinated the character of any candidate for the judiciary for whom they perceived they disagreed with ideologically.

It has particularly disconcerting to witness folks who stood by silently when President Bush nominated Miguel Estrada, whom NPR identified as “a Honduran immigrant and former associate solicitor general in the Bush administration, was blocked by Democrats when he refused to release paperwork from his time as a government lawyer” but applying double standards for the uber-liberal Judge Sotomayor.

NPR wrote, “But Hispanic leaders who filled the rows behind Sotomayor cautioned Republicans from going too far with the Estrada comparison.

“‘If there are hard feelings harbored about that, well, she had nothing to do with it,’ says Carlos Ortiz, former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association.

“‘Miguel Estrada didn't make it to the D.C. District Court,’ Ortiz says. ‘It is not a fair comparison.’”

Oh please – I’m going to be sick.

What sheer hypocrisy.

Please re-read: Sotomayor – Break Her and You Die

And oh, remember, “Ted Kennedy 'Borking' Bork?”
*****

Sotomayor Break her and you die

Sotomayor Break her and you die

Sotomayor – Break Her and You Die June 3, 2009 http://www.thetentacle.com/ by Kevin E. Dayhoff
At 10:13 A.M. on May 26, President Barack Obama introduced to a breathless nation, a fawning audience, and a mesmerized press, his selection to replace retiring U. S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter – Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of New York.

By sheer happenstance, I was wandering by the television set just as I heard the president empathetically praise “…her own extraordinary journey... she was raised in a housing project … her mother as part of the Women's Army Corps… Sonia's father was a factory worker with a third-grade education who didn't speak English… When Sonia was nine, her father passed away. And her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to provide for Sonia and her brother…”

As I paused for a moment to sing “America the Beautiful” and study the television screen through my tears, to my bewilderment, I noticed that the words at the bottom of the screen said that the object of the president’s saccharin, tear-jerking acclamation was his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court – and – indeed – not a successor to Mother Theresa.

Well, let there be no doubt that barring someone coming up with “photos of Sonia Sotomayor abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, she will almost certainly be the next Supreme Court justice,” to paraphrase Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.
Read the rest of my column here: Sotomayor – Break Her and You Die

20090713 sdosm Sotomayor Break her and you die
http://www.thetentacle.com/ http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3191
*****

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Early morning Westminster fire sends two the hospital four rescued



Early morning Westminster fire sends two the hospital four rescued

By Kevin Dayhoff July 12, 2009

Shortly after 3 AM, Westminster city police responded to reports of an apartment fire at 500 Robin’s Way. Officers quickly went from door-to-door in the apartment complex, pounding on doors to awaken residents and help evacuate the building.

Units of the Westminster fire department responded shortly after the initial alarm was sounded at 3:07 am and found heavy fire in the second floor apartment that was spreading rapidly to the third floor.

Fire fighters from the Reese fire department quickly responded to the back of the building where there were reports that people were trapped and rescued four out the upper story windows.

Two people were subsequently taken to Carroll Hospital Center for smoke inhalation and exposure and were later released. Two others refused treatment.

A second alarm was sounded at 3:14 am, followed quickly by a third alarm, as firefighters from Reese, Pleasant Valley, New Windsor, Hampstead, Taneytown, Lineboro, Union Bridge, and Manchester responded to the fire that affected a total of twelve families from the fourteen apartment units that were damaged. Two of the apartments were unoccupied at the time.

Over 80 firefighters with 27 fire-fighting pieces of equipment contained the fire by 3:24 am and the fire was declared under control by 3:44 am; however firefighters remained on the scene until approximately 8:45 in the morning.

No firefighters were hurt.

Westminster police officers and the Maryland State Fire Marshall’s office remained on the scene for several more hours. The fire is under investigation by the Westminster Police and the Fire Marshall’s office.




















20090712 WEArt Early morning Westminster fire


*****


1816 Frankenstein and the Year Without Summer

1816 Frankenstein and the Year Without Summer

'Year without summer' killed crops ... and created a monster

(This is the long – unedited version of the column that appeared in the) EAGLE ARCHIVE By Kevin Dayhoff Posted on www.explorecarroll.com 6/21/09

Well, it’s half-way through June and for those of us who love Maryland’s stultifying heat and humidity many are wondering “where’s summer?”

For me, my thoughts wander to the birth of Frankenstein.

Perhaps I need to explain.

So far all we have seen is below average temperatures and above average precipitation. Yeah, we need the rain all right – but enough already.

“News” circulating on the Internet recently has been forecasting that 2009 is going to be the year without summer. While attempting to track down the story at its source, My research led me to I came across an article on livescience.com, “Year Without Summer? Don’t Believe It,” by Robert Roy Britt.

Britt explains that the “year without summer” hype began with a news story on Accuweather.com, and “involves a misconstrued quote” from a long-range forecaster. What the Accuweather article meant was that summer would behas been delayed because the “jet stream has been farther to the south than normal this spring.

In the article, Accuweather Ssenior meteorologist Henry Margusity explained a “‘cold pool of air over Canada for the past two months has delayed summer… We will see some moderation happening…’ meaning summer will get here, but “‘it won't be a real hot summer…’”

In the annals of weather history, in 1816, there really was a “year without summer.” The phenomenon event is known by various names such as “the poverty year.”

In the book, “Legacy of the Land,” by Carol Lee; she explains that “the year without summer” caused quite a bit of hardship in Carroll County. According to Lee: “Farmers in Maryland and elsewhere would remember 1816 as… ‘eighteen hundred and starve-to-death,’” and there were freezing temperatures well into June.

For Carroll County the year without summer followed the equally disastrous economic collapse caused by the “War of 1812,” with Great Britain, which witnessed the naval blockade of the Chesapeake Bay which “cut off trade, stopped the mill wheels, and left the plow still in its furrow.

“Then in 1815, after the Treaty of Ghent restored peace between Britain and the United States, England enacted “Corn Laws” that placed (a) prohibitive tariff on American wheat products… The export market virtually disappeared.”

So you may ask, what in the world caused the year without summer? Well, according to a July 2002 article in Smithsonian magazine, “Blast from the Past,” by Robert Evans; he quoted historian John D. Post to identify that year as the “last great subsistence crisis in the Western world.”

The agricultural and economic catastrophe of 1816 was a volcanic winter, caused by the April 5 – 15, 1815 eruptions of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa, in what we now know as Indonesia.

Evans describes the eruption as the “most destructive explosion on earth in the past 10,000 years” which “blasted 12 cubic miles of gases, dust and rock into the atmosphere,” and killed an “estimated 90,000 people on Sumbawa and neighboring Lombok.”

This caused “Pharaoh Chesney, of Virginia,” notes Evans, to recall that in June, the following year, “another snowfall came and folk went sleighing… On July 4, water froze in cisterns and snow fell again…”

In addition to the resulting crop failure, famine, and economic collapse; the volcanic winter had widespread psychological and sociological impacts that are still felt, to a certain degree, to this very day.

Thomas Jefferson, reports Evans, “having retired to Monticello after completing his second term as President, had such a poor corn crop that year that he applied for a $1,000 loan.”

For one thing, the volcanic winter spurred the westward expansion of the United States: “Thousands left New England for what they hoped would be a more hospitable climate west of the Ohio River. Partly as a result of such migration, Indiana became a state in 1816 and Illinois in 1818.”

In Europe, Great Britain – and Ireland, the disastrous weather caused widespread crop failures and prompted many folks to pack up and leave – for America.

“It rained nonstop in Ireland for eight weeks. The potato crop failed. Famine ensued,” says Evans.

Meanwhile in Switzerland, in 1816, “Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and his soon-to-be wife, Mary Wollstonecraft … sat out a June storm reading a collection of German ghost stories…”

“The mood was captured in Byron’s “Darkness,” a narrative poem set when the ‘bright sun was extinguish’d’… John Polidori wrote The Vampyre, and the future Mary Shelley… began work on her novel, Frankenstein, about a well-meaning scientist who creates a nameless monster from body parts and brings it to life by a jolt of laboratory-harnessed lightning.”

Evans notes that Frankenstein has long-since served as a cautionary allegory that serves “as a warning not to overlook the consequences of humanity’s tampering with nature.” Think about it.

When he is not playing with laboratory-harnessed lightning, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at kevindayhoff AT gmail.com or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff

www.explorecarroll.com 1816: 'Year without summer' killed crops - created a monster - K Dayhoff http://tinyurl.com/krpqny

http://explorecarroll.com/community/3036/year-without-summer-killed-crops-created-monster/ http://tinyurl.com/krpqny

------
For other recent columns in Explore Carroll by Kevin Dayhoff:

Bringing Corbit's Charge, and Douglass, back to Westminster
Published July 5, 2009 by Carroll Eagle http://tinyurl.com/mxbkjp
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3099/bringing-corbits-charge-douglass-back-westminster/

DAYHOFF: Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind
Published July 2, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... And that is all I know for right now. Hope you and your family have a great Fourth of July weekend. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. …visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

Westminster was all abuzz for the great fly roundup of 1914
Published June 28, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... reminds me that it was Groucho Marx who once said, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." When he is not swatting flies, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at … or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

DAYHOFF: Hoffa Field and the Sheathing of the Sword
Published June 23, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... . Lightner and the June 1922 American Sentinel newspaper article have left us with an extensive and fascinating account of the “The Sheathing of the Sword.” … visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

'Year without summer' killed crops ... and created a monster
Published June 21, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... village folk that it's not a bad idea to keep a torch handy on these cool summer nights. When he is not playing with laboratory-harnessed lightning, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at … or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net. ...

Historic Blue Ridge College bell dedicated In Union Bridge
Published June 20, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
UNION BRIDGE — Several hundred folks braved threatening weather June 20 to witness the unveiling and dedication of the historic 1900 Blue Ridge College bell in Lehigh Square, the original site of the college which had thrived in Union Bridge from 1898 to ... ...

When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration
Published June 14, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... be the guest speaker. There will be a retirement ceremony for worn flags. Guests may bring old flags for retirement. When he is not waving the flag, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at… or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

Remember when you could walk to work in Westminster?
Published June 7, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... . When he's not on a "walk-about" in Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached …

Company H: from the Frizellburg greenhouses to the sands of Omaha Beach
Published June 3, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
… (have) come a long way from the old parade field in Frizellburg.” Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

Dayhoff: New councilmember tackles alleged hit and run driver
Published June 1, 2009 by Westminster Eagle, Carroll Eagle
... Westminster city police arrived and took control of the situation The accident is under investigation. All in a day’s work. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

20090705 sdosm Recent columns in Explore Carroll by Kevin Dayhoff
20090621 SDOSM KED SCE Year without summer created a monster.
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When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration

When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration

(The long – unedited version of the column) Published June 14, 2009 by Carroll Eagle

A Carroll County cause for celebration in the perilous 1920s

A May 29, 1925 Westminster newspaper described in great detail a huge parade and a daylong celebration to mark the occasion of the opening of the Newark Shoe Factory plant on East Green Street, “an enterprise that is running in full blast and employees over 200 men, women and boys…”

Attracting jobs and economic development in 1925 was considered critical to the future of Westminster and Carroll County. Commuting out of the county for meaningful employment was not a viable option.

Carol Lee observed in her book on the history of agriculture in Carroll County, “Legacy of the Land:” “During World War 1, Carroll County had only 69 miles of paved roads, by 1935 it had 240 miles…”

After the First World War ended, agriculture commodity prices plummeted in the county and Lee reports that “Throughout the 1920s, agriculture got into an increasingly perilous condition.”

The economic decline of the business of agriculture had a far-reaching impact on all businesses in the county. Younger citizens simply moved-out of the county to find work. Not only was the local economy in bad shape, but now the exodus of the younger generation caused social and cultural turmoil to add insult to injury.

It was with this context that one may understand that the opening of a shoe factory in Westminster was greeted with celebration. The now out-of-print Democratic Advocate newspaper described that the “crowd resembled a gathering for a circus that came to witness the parade and visit the Shoe factory…

“The celebration closed with a meeting in the Firemen's hall at 8 p.m., when addresses were made by Congressman Millard E. Tydings, Mayor Howard E. Koontz, Senator Daniel J. Hesson, Guy W. Steele and Dwight M. Burroughs, president of the Better Business Bureau of Baltimore and publicity manager of the United Railways of Baltimore...”

Jamie Wehler recently wrote to me that as a result of her research into the opening of the shoe factory, she was proud to see that the Westminster (Municipal) Band took part in the parade.

The newspaper article also noted that other participants in the parade included: “R. O. T. C. Western Maryland College, Mayor Koontz, Common Council, Officials of Chamber Of Commerce, School Children, Boy Scouts, Union Bridge Fire Company, Taneytown Fire Company, Westminster Fire Company…”

Meanwhile at the other end of Westminster, last week’s Carroll Eagle history trivia question was: “What was the name of the shoe factory at the far end of Pennsylvania Avenue near Vetville? Or, who can tell me the name of the car dealership and garage at 56 Pennsylvania Avenue?”

To my surprise many folks knew the answers. Among the readers that responded was this week’s winner of the Carroll Eagle mug, Gertrude Robertson, who wrote that she once worked in the office at the Kessler Shoe Factory.

Wayne Wrightson wrote from WTTR that “My fiancée’s father Bill Kuhn, a Westminster native of 84+ years seems to remember the shoe factory by Vetville was Kessler's Shoes… This man has an amazing memory for any age.

After a break from the Westminster world of the 1920s, we will go over the many other reader responses about the shoe factories and Wilson’s Garage, the “Willys-Overland” dealership on Pennsylvania Avenue – in a future column.

We will resume the history trivia quiz next Sunday. Meanwhile, please remember that today is Flag Day. It is always heartwarming to see so many flags proudly displayed throughout the county.

------
For other recent columns in Explore Carroll by Kevin Dayhoff:

Bringing Corbit's Charge, and Douglass, back to Westminster
Published July 5, 2009 by Carroll Eagle http://tinyurl.com/mxbkjp
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3099/bringing-corbits-charge-douglass-back-westminster/

DAYHOFF: Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind
Published July 2, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... And that is all I know for right now. Hope you and your family have a great Fourth of July weekend. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. …visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

Westminster was all abuzz for the great fly roundup of 1914
Published June 28, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... reminds me that it was Groucho Marx who once said, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." When he is not swatting flies, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at … or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

DAYHOFF: Hoffa Field and the Sheathing of the Sword
Published June 23, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... . Lightner and the June 1922 American Sentinel newspaper article have left us with an extensive and fascinating account of the “The Sheathing of the Sword.” … visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

'Year without summer' killed crops ... and created a monster
Published June 21, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... village folk that it's not a bad idea to keep a torch handy on these cool summer nights. When he is not playing with laboratory-harnessed lightning, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at … or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net. ...

Historic Blue Ridge College bell dedicated In Union Bridge
Published June 20, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
UNION BRIDGE — Several hundred folks braved threatening weather June 20 to witness the unveiling and dedication of the historic 1900 Blue Ridge College bell in Lehigh Square, the original site of the college which had thrived in Union Bridge from 1898 to ... ...

When city got 'sole' in the 1920s, it was cause for a celebration
Published June 14, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... be the guest speaker. There will be a retirement ceremony for worn flags. Guests may bring old flags for retirement. When he is not waving the flag, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at… or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

Remember when you could walk to work in Westminster?
Published June 7, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... . When he's not on a "walk-about" in Westminster, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached …

Company H: from the Frizellburg greenhouses to the sands of Omaha Beach
Published June 3, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
… (have) come a long way from the old parade field in Frizellburg.” Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

Dayhoff: New councilmember tackles alleged hit and run driver
Published June 1, 2009 by Westminster Eagle, Carroll Eagle
... Westminster city police arrived and took control of the situation The accident is under investigation. All in a day’s work. Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster.

20090705 sdosm Recent columns in Explore Carroll by Kevin Dayhoff
20090614 sdosm KED SCE A CC cause for celebration 1920s
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