Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

313th day of the year

"People without firmness of character love to make up a 'fate' for themselves; that relieves them of the necessity of having their own will and of taking responsibility for themselves." — Ivan Turgenev

"A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals." — Spiro T. Agnew

"If the king’s English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!" — Ma Ferguson, first female governor of the state of Texas, explaining her state’s lack of interest in learning Spanish

1731 — Benjamin Banneker, Ellicott, Md., black mathematician and surveyor (Washington, D.C.)

1802 — Elijah P. Lovejoy, American newspaper publisher and abolitionist

1818 — Ivan Turgenev, Russian novelist, poet and playwright ("Fathers and Sons")

1825 — Ambrose P. Hill, lieutenant general (Commander 3rd Corps, ANV)

1841 — Edward VII, king of England (1901-10)

1918 — Spiro Theodore Agnew, 39th vice president (R) (1973-77)

1931 — Whitey Herzog baseball manager (St. Louis Cardinals)

1932 — Carl Perkins, singer ("Blue Suede Shoes")

1934 — Carl Sagan, New York City, astronomer, author and professor ("Cosmos," "Broca’s Brain")

1935 — Bob Gibson, Cardinal pitcher (Cy Young, NL MVP 1968)

1799 — Napoleon becomes dictator (1st consul) of France

1862 — U.S. Grant issues orders to bar Jews from serving under him

1864 — Sherman issues preliminary plans for his "March to the Sea"

1865 — Confederate Gen. Lee surrenders to Union Gen. Grant at Appomattox

1918 — Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in World War I

1923 — Beer Hall Putsch; Nazis fail to overthrow government in Germany

1924 — Miriam "Ma" Ferguson becomes first elected woman governor (of Texas)

1938 — "Kristallnacht" (Crystal Night) Nazi storm troopers attack Jews

1953 — Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa’ud, founder of Saudi Arabia, dies (born c. 1880)

1953 — Dylan Thomas, author and poet, dies in New York at 39

1970 — Charles DeGaulle, French president, dies at 79

1988 — John Mitchell, former attorney general, dies of heart attack in Washington

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

312th day of the year

"I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken — and I’d rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived." — Margaret Mitchell (Rhett Butler in "Gone With the Wind")

"I unconsciously decided that, even if it wasn’t an ideal world, it should be and so painted only the ideal aspects of it — pictures in which there are no drunken slatterns or self-centered mothers … only foxy grandpas who played baseball with the kids and boys who fished from logs and got up circuses in the backyard." — Norman Rockwell

1226 — Louis VIII, the Lion, King of France (1223-26), dies at 39

1656 — Sir Edmond Halley, first to calculate comet’s orbit (Halley’s comet)

1900 — Margaret Mitchell, writer ("Gone With the Wind")

1927 — Patti Page, Claremont, Okla., singer ("Tennessee Waltz")

1308 — Duns Scotus, who coined the word "dunce," dies

1789 — Bourbon whiskey first distilled from corn (by Elijah Craig, Bourbon, Ky.)

1793 — Louvre in Paris opens

1889 — Montana admitted as 41st state

1895 — Wilhelm Rontgen discovers X-rays

1933 — King Nadir Shah of Afghanistan assassinated by Abdul Khallig

1970 — Tom Dempsey of New Orleans Saints kicks NFL record 63-yard field goal

1978 — Norman Rockwell, artist, dies in Stockbridge, Mass., at 84

1979 — ABC broadcasts "Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage" with Frank Reynolds (the forerunner to "Nightline")

[NOV. 7, 2001]  They don’t build firetrucks the way they used to.

[to top of second column in this article]

[Joan Crabb]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Wednesday, Nov. 7

311th day of the year

"The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end." — Trotsky

"From the point of light within the mind of God, let light stream forth into the minds of men. Let light descend on earth. From the point of love within the heart of God, let love stream forth into the hearts of men." — Billy Graham

1867 — Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie, discovered radium (Nobel 1903, 1911)

1879 — Leon Trotsky, Russian Communist theorist, Bolshevik

1918 — Billy Graham, Charlotte, N.C., evangelist (Crusades)

1922 — Al Hirt, New Orleans, La., jazz trumpeter ("The Greatest Horn in the World")

1775 — Lord Dunmore promises freedom to male slaves who join British army

1805 — Lewis and Clark first sight Pacific Ocean

1811 — Battle of Tippecanoe, gave Harrison a presidential slogan

1837 — Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy murdered by mob at Alton, Ill.

1865 — London Gazette, oldest surviving journal, is founded

1874 — First cartoon depicting elephant as Republican Party symbol, by T. Nast

1940 — Tacoma Narrows ("Galloping Gertie") Bridge collapses, Washington

1943 — Detroit Lions 0, New York Giants 0; last scoreless tie in NFL

1944 — FDR wins fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey (R)

1962 — Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady, dies at 78 in New York City

1962 — Glenn Hall set NHL record of 503 consecutive games as goalie

1962 — Richard Nixon quits politics; "You won’t have Nixon to kick around"

1978 — Gene Tunney, former heavyweight boxing champ, dies at 80

1980 — Steve McQueen, Slater, Mo., actor, dies at 50

[NOV. 6, 2001]  By an 8-2 vote, the Lincoln City Council agreed to vacate an unused alley so Casey’s General Store can build a facility at 314 S. Jefferson St., across from the Postville Courthouse. The store will face Fifth Street.

[to top of second column in this article]

[Joan Crabb]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

Tuesday, Nov. 6

310th day of the year

"All we ask is to be let alone." — Jefferson Davis

"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." — Abraham Lincoln

1832 — Joseph Smith, son of founder of Mormonism

1851 — Charles H. Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones and first editor of Wall Street Journal

1854 — John Philip Sousa, musician

1861 — James A. Naismith, inventor (basketball)

1932 — Don King, fight promoter

1948 — Glenn Frey, Detroit, Mich., rock vocalist (Eagles) ("Take it Easy")

1955 — Maria Shriver [Mrs. A. Schwarzenegger], Chicago, newscaster ("Sunday Today")

1632 — King Gustavus Aldophus of Sweden, dies in battle

1789 — Father John Carroll is appointed as the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States

1860 — Abraham Lincoln, representative, R-Ill., elected 16th president

1861 — Jefferson Davis elected to six-year term as Confederate president

1923 — Jacob Schick is granted a patent for the electric shaver

1947 — "Meet the Press" debuts on NBC-TV. The program becomes a weekly broadcast on Sept. 12, 1948.

[NOV. 5, 2001]  Sept. 11th has changed America. What has not — nor ever will be — changed is the great services of our veterans to their country. Once again, our veterans, deceased and living, will be remembered on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Old-timers will remember this as Armistice Day, when we stood in countrywide assemblies and programs and faced the east at 11 a.m.

An extra effort is being made to have a really special crowd attend the 2001 Veterans Day program at noon on Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Logan County Courthouse.

Countywide, all veterans — wartime or peacetime, men and women — are being urged to participate in a short parade from the Logan County Safety Complex to the courthouse. Those unable to walk in the parade are urged to be at the courthouse early. In case of inclement weather, the alternate site will be the gymnasium at Washington-Monroe School.

During these perilous and uncertain times, this is an opportunity to show for certain our appreciation for that most precious possession: freedom.

After giving thanks to God in our respective churches on Sunday, Nov. 11, plan a few minutes extra to go to the courthouse and say "thanks" for the freedoms we enjoy and so often take for granted.

[News release]

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

309th day of the year

"The anti-suffragist talk of sheltering women from the fierce storms of life is a lot of cant. I have no patience with it. These storms beat on woman just as fiercely as they do on man, and she is not trained to defend herself against them." — Susan B. Anthony

"One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say." — Will Durant

1885 — Will Durant, United States, author and historian ("The Story of Civilization")

1902 — Strom Thurmond, senator, R-S.C. (1955- )

1911 — Roy Rogers, Cincinnati, Ohio, cowboy ("Happy Trails," "The Roy Rogers Show")

1931 — Ike Turner, Mississippi, aka Mr. Tina Turner!, guitarist ("A Fool in Love")

1942 — Art Garfunkel, New York City, singer and actor ("Sounds of Silence," "Carnal Knowledge")

1942 — Elke Sommer [Elke Schletz], Berlin, Germany, actress (Oscar)

1952 — Bill Walton, NBA center (Portland Trailblazers, Boston Celtics)

1970 — Javier Lopez, Ponce, Puerto Rico, catcher (Atlanta Braves)

1492 — Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from Indians of Cuba

1605 — Gunpowder Plot: Catholics try to blow up English Parliament. Plot uncovered and leader Guy Fawkes hanged.

1639 — First post office in the colonies is set up, in Massachusetts

1871 — Susan B. Anthony arrested trying to vote, in Rochester, N.Y.

1895 — George B. Selden receives the first U.S. patent for an automobile. He sold the rights for $200,000 four years later.

1935 — The game Monopoly is introduced by Parker Brothers Company

1940 — U.S. President Roosevelt wins an unprecedented third term in office

1967 — New Orleans Saints have first NFL victory, beat Philadelphia Eagles 31-24

1991 — Fred MacMurray, actor ("My Three Sons"), dies of pneumonia at 83

1998 — The United Nations announces that the Taliban militia killed up to 5,000 civilians in a takeover of an Afghani town

Today’s history

Compiled by Dave Francis

307th day of the year

Quote

"Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness — a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion." — William Cullen Bryant

Birthdays

1604 — Osman II, sultan of Turkey (1618-22)

1718 — John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich, inventor (sandwich)

1793 — Stephen Fuller Austin, colonized Texas

1794 — William Cullen Bryant, poet ("Thanatopsis")

1918 — Bob Feller, pitcher (Cleveland Indians, three no-hitters);  Russell B. Long, senator, D-La. (1948-86)

1920 — Charles Bronson [Buchinsky], Pennsylvania, actor ("Death Wish," "The Dirty Dozen")

1924 — Shirley Chisholm, representative, D-N.Y., first black congresswoman, first black presidential candidate

1933 — Michael S. Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts (D), presidential candidate (1988)

1952 — Roseanne [Barr Arnold], Salt Lake City, comedienne and TV star ("Roseanne")

1953 — Dennis Miller, Pittsburgh, Pa., comedian and TV host ("Saturday Night Live," "Dennis Miller Show")

1954 — Godzilla, Japanese monster ("Godzilla")

Events

1507 — Leonardo DaVinci is commissioned by the husband of Lisa Gherardini to paint her. The work is known as the "Mona Lisa." 

1534 — English Parliament accepts Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII church leader

1862 — Dr. Richard Gatling patents machine gun (Indianapolis)

1863 — Battle of Grand Coteau, Georgia

1868 — First black elected to Congress (John W. Menard, Louisiana)

1871 — Henry M. Stanley in Tanganyka says, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1934 — The first racetrack in California opens under a new pari-mutuel betting law

1941 — Japanese Ambassador John Grew warns that the Japanese might be planning a sudden attack on the United States

1948 — Chicago Tribune reports, "Dewey beats Truman"

1952 — Clarence Birdseye markets frozen peas

1992 — Carol Moseley-Braun becomes the first African-American woman U.S. senator

1994 — Susan Smith of Union, S.C., is arrested for drowning her two sons. Nine days earlier Smith claimed that the children had been abducted by a black carjacker

Sunday, Nov. 4

308th day of the year

Quotes

"You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time." — Abe Lincoln

"Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock." — Will Rogers

1879 — Will Rogers, Oologah Indian Territory (Oklahoma), humorist

1912 — Pauline Trigere, fashion designer (bell bottoms)

1916 — Walter Cronkite, St. Joseph, Mo., news anchor ("CBS Evening News," 1962-81)

1918 — Art Carney, Mount Vernon, N.Y., actor (Ed Norton in "The Honeymooners")

1937 — Loretta Swit, Passaic, N.J., actress (Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan in "M*A*S*H")

1841 — First wagon train arrives in California

1842 — Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill. 

1846 — Patent for the artificial leg granted to Benjamin Palmer

1880 — James and John Ritty patent the first cash register

1922 — In Egypt, archaeologist Howard Carter discovers the entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb. The Egyptian child-king became pharaoh at age 9 and died when he was 19. 

1924 — Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming is elected America’s first woman governor so she can serve out the remaining term of her late husband, William B. Ross

1939 — First air-conditioned automobile (Packard) exhibited, Chicago

1979 — Five hundred Iranian "students" seize U.S. embassy, take 90 hostages (444 days)

1995 — Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, assassinated at 73

It’s on the radio, TV, in all the media. You hear it in the office, on the street and maybe at home — threats of terrorism. America is on high alert. Here in central Illinois, away from any supposed practical target areas, perhaps we feel a little less threatened, but we are still concerned. So how concerned should we be, and how prepared are we for the types of situations that could occur?

Whether the threat is domestic or foreign, violent, biological or chemical, our public health and rescue agencies have been preparing to respond to the situations. Lincoln Daily News has been at meetings where all the agencies gather together as the Logan County Emergency Planning Committee to strategize for just such a time. Our reports have not even provided every detail that every agency has reported; i.e., a number of representatives from differing agencies such as the health and fire departments, CILCO and ESDA went to a bioterrorism and hazmat (hazardous materials) seminar this past August.

Here are some of the articles that LDN has posted pre- and post-Tuesday, Sept. 11. Hopefully you will see in them that WE ARE WELL PREPARED. At least as much as any area can be. Every agency has been planning, training, submitting for grants to buy equipment long before Sept. 11. We can be thankful for all of the dedicated, insightful leaders we have in this community.

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• LEPC hears plans for annual exercise

• U.S. under terrorist attack
  How is Logan County affected?

• The day after ‘Attack on America’
  Area leaders respond to national tragedy

• ESDA and LEPC conduct successful hazardous materials exercise at water treatment plant 

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs - Part 1

• Logan County ready for action if terrorist event occurs – Part 2

• Clinton nuclear power plant safety measures in place

• Logan County agencies meet to discuss protocol for suspicious mail

As promised, the United States led an attack on Afghanistan. The attack began Sunday, Oct. 7. American and British military forces made 30 hits on air defenses, military airfields and terrorist training camps, destroying aircraft and radar systems. The strike was made targeting only terrorists.

More than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East have pledged their cooperation and support the U.S. initiative.

Online news links

Other countries

Afghanistan

http://www.afghandaily.com/ 

http://www.myafghan.com/  

http://www.afghan-web.com/aop/ 

China

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/

Germany

http://www.faz.com/

India

http://www.dailypioneer.com/ 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/ 

http://www.timesofindia.com/ 

Israel

http://www.jpost.com/ 

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/ 

England

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/

Pakistan

http://www.dawn.com/

http://frontierpost.com.pk/ 

Russia

http://english.pravda.ru/

http://www.sptimesrussia.com/ 

Saudi Arabia

http://www.arabnews.com/ 

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United States

Illinois

http://www.suntimes.com/index/ 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/ 

http://www.pantagraph.com/ 

http://www.qconline.com/ 

http://www.pjstar.com/

http://www.sj-r.com/ 

http://www.herald-review.com/

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/ 

New York

http://www.nypost.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/

Stars and Stripes
(serving the U.S. military community)

http://www.estripes.com/ 

Washington, D.C.

Announcements

[OCT. 29, 2001]  The schedule for railroad crossing closings in downtown Lincoln to allow Union Pacific to install new crossings has been set, according to Donnie Osborne, street superintendent. In order for five crossings to be repaired yet this year, two will be closed at one time, but they will not be adjacent, he said. Each closing will be for one week only, unless weather conditions delay the work.

• Pekin and Clinton streets — Closed week of Oct. 29

• Decatur and Pulaski streets — Closed week of Nov. 5

• Broadway Street — Closed week of Nov. 12

[Joan Crabb]

[OCT. 12, 2001]  The city landfill on Broadwell Drive will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for leaf and brush disposal, beginning on Oct. 15, according to Donnie Osborne, street superintendent. Plans are to keep the new schedule in place until Dec. 15, he said. 

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