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Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art One-half Banana Stems
Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art One-half Banana Stems - www.kevindayhoff.com Address: PO Box 124, Westminster MD 21158 410-259-6403 kevindayhoff@gmail.com Runner, writer, artist, fire & police chaplain Mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist & artist: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, technology, music, culture, opera... National & International politics www.kevindayhoff.net For community: www.kevindayhoff.org For art, technology, writing, & travel: www.kevindayhoff.com
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Historical Society of Carroll Co to celebrate Carroll County’s 175 birthday Jan. 19
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Sunday, June 19, 2011
Kevin Dayhoff Eldersburg Patch: Juneteenth Independence Day and Slavery's History in Carroll County
Juneteenth Independence Day and Slavery's History in Carroll County
Annual Juneteenth, History, History Carroll Co., Diversity Civil Rights, Diversity, Diversity African-American, Dayhoff Media Eldersburg Patch,
LABELS: ANNUAL JUNETEENTH, DAYHOFF MEDIA ELDERSBURG PATCH,DIVERSITY, DIVERSITY AFRICAN-AMERICAN, DIVERSITY CIVIL RIGHTS,HISTORY, HISTORY CARROLL CO.
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http://eldersburg.patch.com/articles/juneteenth-independence-day-and-slaverys-history-in-carroll-county#c
Friday, June 06, 2008
20080606 D-Day, Carroll County, and the famed 29th Division
D-Day,
(c) By
29th Div shoulder patch: Nicknamed "Blue and Gray,” the division's motto is "29, Let's Go!" The shoulder patch is a half-blue, half-gray Chinese taijitu; this patch was approved December 14, 1917 and was designed by Maj. James A. Ulio.
Writer’s note: Excerpts of this column appeared in my column in The Sunday Carroll Eagle on June 1st, 2008
Today is the anniversary of “D-Day.” It was at 6:30 in the morning on June 6, 1944 that Allied forces began the campaign to retake
The D-Day campaign began with what historians consider to be one of the largest single-day military operations in history. Over 130,000 troops landed on five beaches along 50 miles of
The amphibious landings portion of D-Day was given the codename “Operation Overlord.” It was divided into five operational zones which were identified by the codenames Gold, Juno,
American troops landed on the two western beaches,
Many Carroll countians fought with the 29th Division, who along with V Corps and the 1st Infantry Division made up the total of 34,250 troops, 3,300 vehicles, who landed at “
The
The 29th Division’s responsibilities were the Able, Baker, Charlie, and Dog Green sectors the western half of the five-mile
According to numerous historical accounts, assessments of the defenses located in the
One account of the events indicate that Company A of the 116th Regimental Combat Team comprised of approximately 240 soldiers had 50 percent casualties within 15 minutes of landing at Dog Green and were almost hopelessly pinned down at the water’s edge.
Several hours later the assessment of the operation was so dire that the First Army commander, Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley actually considered withdrawing the soldiers off the beachhead.
Valor and heroic action on the part of the Carroll countians who fought that day prevailed. The beach that stretched before them was at the most, 200 yards wide but was mined, and fenced with multiple lines of barbed wire, among many other deadly obstacles.
At the other end were steep banks from anywhere from 100 to 170 foot tall, upon which the German defenders manned machine gun nests which dominated the beachhead with interlocking fields of fire.
The 29th Division went on to see 242 days of combat as they progressed from Normandy, crossed the Elle River, engaged in combat from hedgerow to hedgerow to overtake St. Lo, fought across the Rhineland and into Central Europe.
As a result, two soldiers in the 29th Division were awarded the Medal of Honor, 44 were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, one Distinguished Service Medal, 854 Silver Stars, 17 Legion of Merit, 24 Soldier’s Medal and 6,308 Bronze Stars.
After the war, the 29th Division finally returned home on January 4, 1946.
One column certainly does not do justice to the storied history of the 29th Division. More of the origins and history of the 29th Division can be addressed in later columns. Meanwhile, we’d like to hear from veterans who served in the 29th Division. If you or someone you know served; please be in touch so that we may include your stories in later columns…
*****
20080606 D-Day,
Sunday, March 23, 2008
20080316 The Carroll Sunday Eagle: Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety by Kevin Dayhoff
Palm Sunday 1942 was a time of high snow and higher anxiety
03/16/08 by
Many people have been commenting about how early Easter is this year. In fact, the last time Easter was as early as March 23 was 1913.
(I think they had wooden jelly beans back then.)
But a later Easter doesn't ensure good weather for Holy Week. I wonder how many readers remember the Palm Sunday blizzard of 1942. It was the fifth worse snowstorm in
It also included an important "first," as noted in a newspaper article: "Our municipal authorities, for the first time, saw fit to clear the greater portion of
"Whatever the cost, we would say it certainly was an important step. ... The work was done by Thomas, Bennett and Hunter, road contractors, using their large road graders. The removal was rapid and proved to be a most successful method."
That Sunday, just months after
One newspaper editorial explained: "1942 will enter in the midst of the (most) destructive war the world has ever known. The picture is a dark one, filled with doubts, uncertainties, a year that will test the mettle of our citizens, our men in service, but there is no doubt that all will stand the test and unite in the defense of our country, our flag and our president."
During that Palm Sunday of 1942, peace on Earth was, unfortunately, not in the minds of all. One fear on the minds of local folks was, "What to do in the event of an air raid?"
At the end of 1941, the "Air Raid Warden for
It was a different time and a different era.
How many of us can remember the "Civil Defense Shelters" scattered through the county? How many had air raid shelters in the basement of their homes?
The air raid instructions began with advice that, alas, could be useful even today:
"Above all, keep cool.
Don't lose your head.
Do not crowd the streets, avoid chaos, prevent disorder and havoc.
You can fool the enemy.
If planes come over, stay where you are.
Don't phone unnecessarily.
The chance you will be hit is small."
Of course, the anxieties of the 1940s have been replaced by the anxieties of 2008, including rapidly increasing prices for essentials, taxes and concerns about the economy.
Yet one challenge Carroll did not have in 1942 was debt. An historical reference to a Jan. 2, 1942 article in The Sun touted that the Board of County Commissioners "paid off $25,000 to make
"
***
Today, Palm Sunday is here and many of us can't wait for spring.
Christians celebrate today as "Passion Sunday" -- the day that Jesus entered
Palm Sunday can appear anywhere on the calendar from March 15 to April 18. If you're like me, you wonder why the dates vary from year to year.
It's because Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the "Paschal Full Moon." To make it even more a mystery, the Paschal Full Moon is not an astronomical event, but a date calculated by folks with a huge Excel spreadsheet in 325 AD.
Really.
Of course, I don't bother remembering when Palm Sunday and Easter occur on the calendar -- I just ask my wife. Women have mysterious powers that allow them to know these things.
Hope springs eternal
Heading back to 1942 again, Bob Hope hosted the 14th Academy Awards at the Biltmore Hotel in
OK, movie buffs, for this week's Sunday Carroll Eagle coffee mug, what was the other famous movie from 1941, often heralded as perhaps the best film ever made -- yet it did not win the Academy Award for best picture? Here's a hint: In the spirit of spring, think of the word, "Rosebud."
Think you know? Send me an e-mail at kdayhoff@carr.org and we'll draw one winner from the magic hat.
Heck, I'll even fill the mug with jelly beans. (Not the wooden kind.)
When he's not dreaming of spring,
www.kevindayhoff.net http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff http://www.livejournal.com/
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com
His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com, Winchester Report and The Sunday Carroll Eagle – in the Sunday Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun. Get Westminster Eagle RSS Feed
*****
The Sunday Carroll Eagle: October 28, 2007 - On October 28th, 2007 the publication for which I write, The Westminster Eagle and The Eldersburg Eagle, (which is published by Patuxent Newspapers and owned by Baltimore Sun); took over the Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun.
“The Sunday Carroll Eagle ” is inserted into the newspaper for distribution in
Mr. Jim Joyner, Editor, The
(410) 386-0334 ext. 5004
Jjoyner AT Patuxent DOT com
For more posts on “Soundtrack” click on: Sunday Carroll Eagle
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Carroll%20Eagle
20071028 The Sunday Carroll Eagle introduction
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/10/20071028-sunday-carroll-eagle.html
Also see: Monday, October 22, 2007: 20071021 Baltimore Sun: “To our readers”
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/10/20071021-baltimore-sun-to-our-readers.html
Friday, March 09, 2007
20070308 Winchester Report: “A Sordid Saga.”
“Union Mills reservoir and the pumpkin patch”
As appeared in my “Winchester Report” blog on the Westminster Eagle web site:
A sordid saga of communists, reservoirs, congressman, and pumpkins
Note: see also, “20070307 A sordid saga of communists, reservoirs, congressman, and pumpkins
By
Contrary to what is being circulated; the Union Mills reservoir project in
Recently the old Whittaker Chambers “pumpkin patch&...[Read full story
_____
A sordid saga of communists, reservoirs, congressman, and pumpkins
03/08/07
By
Contrary to what is being circulated; the Union Mills reservoir project in
Recently the old Whittaker Chambers “pumpkin patch” farm just north of
The Chambers’ Pipe Creek Farm was the scene of the “pumpkin papers” incident in which a former communist spy; Whittaker Chambers, defected to become a champion of the anti-communist cause at the beginnings of the cold war in 1948.
Mr. Chambers hid U.S. State Department documents in hollowed-out pumpkins on his
The “pumpkin papers” named a local Baltimorean and
The national, if not international story of intrigue, spies, and the beginnings of the cold war all took place in
It is now almost 60 years later and intrigue and conspiracy continue to abound.
Since January,
The misinformation seems to continue to grow legs and is about as far from the position of
I attended what appears to be the genesis of the misinformation; the December 14th, 2006 “Public Hearing ~ Carroll County Water & Sewerage Master Plan.”
The public hearing was poorly attended except for a couple of gentleman who politely and eloquently expressed concern for their property which seemed to be involved in the proposed reservoir. Anyone can understand that. However, assurances were made by county officials that they were sensitive to the concerns of the citizens.
Somehow, from there, the alarm was quickly spread that the county was about to begin “seizing” land for the project even though that has not been the practice and policy of past commissioners and there seems to be no indication by the present Carroll County Board of Commissioners to go in that direction.
But, the casual reader and any person seriously interested in this aspect of our national history could read certain news accounts and walk away with the impression that the pumpkin patch will cease to exist as a result of the reservoir project. This is not true.
In the Internet age, where news is 24/seven, there is an epidemic of misinformation getting legs and if it is repeated often enough “it becomes true.”
Folks who have been “had” by the great “seizing” conspiracy are in good company - with ah, count them, 12 members of Congress who wrote to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners on January 12th, 2007.
They wrote, in part;
“We are writing to express our support for continued preservation of an important National Historic Landmark located within
So far – so good. From what I am aware of the attitude of
So what is the problem?
It’s in the next paragraph:
“We understand that the
The letter is signed by Members of Congress, Ros-Lehtine,
Well, it is true that the Commissioners are considering the creation of a Union Mills Reservoir. As has been considered since the mid 1970s when the City of
As I wrote on February 28th, 2007 in my Westminster Eagle column titled, “Recalling when B's Coffee Shoppe was all abuzz:”
In line with expanding the city's water supplies, in the mid-1970s, plans were made for
When the $5 million dollar reservoir was presented to the public, the public rose up in arms saying the city did not need the water and that the project was a waste of ratepayer money.
By September 1976, the project was shelved.
History, of course, has proven that the council was correct in pursuing the project and we would be in a lot different position today if it had been allowed to go forward.
However, fast forwarding to today, the waters of the proposed reservoir will hardly come within a mile of the present day unmarked location of the “pumpkin patch” which now rests in an otherwise nondescript field.
The Carroll County officials who are in a decision making role in this matter are keenly, and personally, interested in preserving the integrity of the site of the “pumpkin papers” – so it is simply baffling as to how this matter got all wound around the axles of misinformation.
Why didn’t the gang of 12 Congressmen contact
Unfortunately another one of the Congressman who has been “had” in this saga was Congressman Roscoe Bartlett who wrote to the Carroll County Board of Commissioners on January 3rd, 2007.
Congressman Bartlett wrote in part:
“It is my hope that the Commissioners of Carroll County will value, even treasure, this very special farm, that you will do all in your power to keep it whole, and protect its integrity for this and future generations to study and know.”
And here lies the really bizarre part of the story. Contrary to what is being circulated, the Union Mills reservoir project will add another layer of historic protection to the site of the “pumpkin papers,” which is already in agricultural preservation -- and preserve the site in perpetuity.
This is a good thing. The county wants a watershed protection easement which will concurrently give the site addition historic protection.
The “lake” area of the Union Mills reservoir will only encompass approximately 325 acres. The balance of the 2,200 acres needed by the County that surround the “lake” are for the purposes of watershed protection. The county commissioners have reported that the county already owns 1500 acres of the needed watershed protection area – to be preserved in perpetuity.
Nevertheless, in situations like the Chambers Pipe Creek Farm, where the county can get a watershed protection easement on the property, rather than purchasing it, this is a good thing.
This watershed protection will add an additional layer of protection for the historic “pumpkin papers” site, which again, is almost a mile from the waterline.
In a response to Congressman Bartlett’s January 3rd, 2007 letter, which he penned in addition to the gang of twelve Congressmen’s January 12, 2007 letter, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners wrote on January 18th, 2007:
“With regard to the Pipe Creek Farm specifically,
The Pipe Creek farm is already protected from future residential development by easement sold to the
On a final note, the Union Mills reservoir was needed and should have been built in the 1970s. The need for water in
To not go forward with the Union Mills reservoir would be an abrogation of one of the basic responsibilities of elected officials to
In their January 18th, 2007 letter, the Carroll County Board of commissioners wrote:
“The need for a surface water supply for communities in northern
Our reservoir concept, with minimal impact to the Pipe Creek Farm, satisfies both of these fundamental principles of government: protecting our past while planning for our future.”
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