My Sunday Carroll Eagle column for November 4th, 2007 column is on grits.I’ve already received some fun feedback.I’ll post it on Soundtrack, when I find a spare moment.
Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the TallahatchieBridge
November 1, 2007
My October 31, 2007 – Wednesday Westminster Eagle column is up on the Westminster Eagle web site and it pertains to one of my favorite forms of literature, Southern Gothic storytelling and one of my favorite songs from my teenage years, “Ode to Billie Joe” by Bobbie Gentry.
I lost most the following paragraphs to my word limit…
Ms. Gentry was born Roberta Streeter in nearby Chickasaw County, Mississippi, on July 27, 1944, where she grew up in severe poverty on her grandparents’ farm.Her grandmother facilitated her exploration of writing and music when she traded a family cow for a piano.At the age of seven, Ms. Streeter – Gentry wrote her first song, “My Dog Sergeant Is a Good Dog.”
When Ms. Gentry first released the song, it was the “B” side of a debut “forty-five” which featured a song, “Mississippi Delta.”Disk jockeys became more intrigued with “Ode to Billy Joe” and started giving it considerable airtime – and it crossed over from country music stations to “Top 40.”It topped the charts for four weeks in August 1967, sold three million copies, and won her three Grammy awards.
The narrator of the story is not identified in Ms. Gentry’s haunting and mysterious tale of a young man who commits suicide.The song comes to mind as Halloween is upon us and thoughts wonder to trick or treating or the community Halloween Parade - and ghost stories.CarrollCounty is awash in ghost stories for your enjoyment.That is of course, if you believe in ghosts.Do you believe in ghosts?
The column started out as an “evergreen,” an obligatory column for a particular seasonal event in the year.
Many of my colleagues who write for newspapers abhor “evergreens,” however I have always seen them as a challenge to come up with a different angle on a perennial topic, in this case, a piece on Halloween.
The piece started out very differently as when I neared deadline I jettisoned the customary tome on ghost stories in CarrollCounty with the standard fare on the origins of Halloween.
I got off on a tangent with a variation on the old “CrybabyBridge” standard and quickly left quite a bit of work on the cutting room floor.To wit, most of the following, along with an additional 400 words were killed off:
As with many of our customs, observances and holidays, Halloween evolved over many centuries as a combination of several non-Christian ancient harvest celebrations and rituals combined with religious celebrations.The roots of Halloween go back as far as the 5th century BC in Celtic Ireland, when October 31 was celebrated as “Samhain,” the Celtic New Year.
For the economic historian, it is widely accepted that Halloween came to America along with the significant Irish wave of immigrants as a result of the economic hardships brought on by the Irish potato famine from 1845 to 1851.
Halloween is upon and thoughts wonder to trick or treating or the community Halloween Parade.
And ghost stories.CarrollCounty is awash in ghost stories for your enjoyment.That is of course, if you believe in ghosts.
Do you believe in ghosts?
Among some of the old favorites in Carroll County are the Ghost of Furnace Hills; the Civil War soldier that roams around in Cockey’s Tavern; the ghost of the old Rebecca at the old jail, which now houses Junction, a drug abuse treatment center; and the headless apparition of Marshall Buell at the old Odd Fellows Hall in Westminster.
It was forty years ago in the late summer of 1967 that we first learned from “Mama” that the nice young preacher, Brother Taylor “said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge.And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the TallahatchieBridge.”
I first heard the song, “Ode to Billy Joe,” by Bobbie Gentry that summer on WCAO on the AM dial of the car radio.It was also in this time period that I became firmly hooked on the existential - “Southern Gothic” genre of storytelling.
Other examples of authors of the Southern gothic genre of writing include William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Truman Capote, and Harper Lee.Tennessee Williams once described the genre as stories that reflect “an intuition of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience.”
Who can forget: It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day…And mama hollered at the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet."And then she said she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge.Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the TallahatchieBridge.”
Of course another intriguing feature of the story is that it takes place in CarrollCounty: “And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy Joe put a frog down my back at the CarrollCounty picture show.”
Ms. Gentry has to this day remained circumspect about the haunting and mysterious tale of Mr. MacAllister, but one thing we do know is that the “CarrollCounty” she is referring to in the song is “Carroll County Mississippi.”Come to find out, there are approximately 13 places in the United States called “CarrollCounty.”
The song comes to mind as Halloween is upon us and thoughts wonder to ghost stories.CarrollCounty is awash in ghost stories for your enjoyment.
Halloween ghost stories are fascinating as often they involve aspects of unexplained historical events, enigmatic dialogue, and inexplicable characters.However, over the years, I have become much more enamored with Southern gothic storytelling, which is frequently more creative – and often more disturbing in the manner it which it peels away the layers of a community or society; yet does not tell a reader ‘what to think,’ but nevertheless causes the reader ‘to think.’
Just like Halloween stories, the song’s plot makes known several themes.The first of which is obvious in that just like many popular Carroll County Halloween stories, it reveals a snapshot of life in a particular period in history.
But it is the other prominent theme that is particularly disturbing as it peels away the layers of indifference that contemporary society shows towards our fellow human beings – or in the case of “Ode to Billy Joe,” the loss of life.
In present day CarrollCounty, every other public hearing is “Halloween” as this theme often manifests itself in the cavalier manner in which folks will often engage in character assassination in the pursuit of a particular agenda.
In the song the family of the narrator nonchalantly mentions the gentleman’s death: “Billy Joe never had a lick of sense/ pass the biscuits, please.”Of course the narrator of the story cares: “Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite.”Other than that, they may as well been having a dinner conversation about the weather.
Happy Halloween.By all means, please enjoy some of the old favorites in Carroll County like the Ghost of Furnace Hills; the Civil War soldier that roams around in Cockey’s Tavern; the ghost of the old Rebecca at the old jail, and the headless apparition of Marshall Buell at the old Odd Fellows Hall in Westminster.
Better yet, the next chance you get, go to the Carroll County Public Library and re-read Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” or Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”
Or, of course, you can attend a good ole’ CarrollCounty public hearing and really see a modern day horror story unfold in real time - “and watch she and Billy Bob throwing public officials off the Rt. 140 Bridge.”
News Briefs: Parade, trick-or-treating set in Westminster and other local events from the Westminster Eagle
10/25/07
Parade, trick-or-treating set in Westminster
The annual Halloween Parade in Westminster, hosted by American Legion Post 31, will be held Tuesday, Oct. 30, along Main Street.
The parade begins at 6 p.m. at DuttererFamilyPark on Monroe Street, continues to Pennsylvania Avenue and then down Main Street to Longwell Avenue.
For more details, call Junior Fisher at 410-848-1180.
Meanwhile, the Mayor and Common Council have designated the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 31 to be Halloween trick-or-treating night.
Trick-or-treating should be conducted between the hours of dusk and 8 p.m. and restricted to children age 12 and under. Children should be accompanied by parents or adult guardians.
Residents who wish to participate should turn on their outside lights. Children should wear light-colored clothing so as to be more visible, and only visit houses in their neighborhood that have outside lights on.
Motorists are asked to pay special care on the evening of Oct. 31.
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 CarrollCounty.For more information, please contact:
Beginning with next Sunday's editions, our Carroll County readers will be getting a new publication with expanded coverage of the news, people and events in one of Maryland's fastest-growing counties.
This new tabloid publication will be called the Sunday Carroll Eagle. It will be delivered with your Sunday Sun, and it also will be included in editions purchased at retail locations throughout CarrollCounty.
The Sunday Carroll Eagle will provide our readers with new and deeper local coverage than is currently contained in The Sun's Carroll section. It will be produced by Patuxent Publishing, part of The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which already publishes the weekly Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle newspapers.
With the arrival of this new publication, we will no longer publish the current Carroll section in the Sunday Sun.
Of course, our readers can continue to follow news about CarrollCounty in the pages of The Sun and on baltimoresun.com. We value your readership of The Sun, and we hope you enjoy this new publication.
Note: I write for the Westminster and Eldersburg Eagle…
baltimoresun.com: October 21, 2007
Beginning with next Sunday's editions, our Carroll County readers will be getting a new publication with expanded coverage of the news, people and events in one of Maryland's fastest-growing counties.
This new tabloid publication will be called the Sunday Carroll Eagle. It will be delivered with your Sunday Sun, and it also will be included in editions purchased at retail locations throughout CarrollCounty.
The Sunday Carroll Eagle will provide our readers with new and deeper local coverage than is currently contained in The Sun's Carroll section. It will be produced by Patuxent Publishing, part of The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which already publishes the weekly Westminster Eagle and Eldersburg Eagle newspapers.
With the arrival of this new publication, we will no longer publish the current Carroll section in the Sunday Sun.
Of course, our readers can continue to follow news about CarrollCounty in the pages of The Sun and on baltimoresun.com. We value your readership of The Sun, and we hope you enjoy this new publication.
“Thank Goodness It’s Friday” will be arriving a day early this week as I am on the road much of Friday this week…
This is something right up the alley of Attila over at the Pillage Idiot, but then again considering the amount of talent in the Maryland Blogosphere, I can only imagine – worry – what many of ya will come up with as for suitable caption for the photo above.
The photo was e-mailed to me by “King Harold II” of Westminster.This gentleman, who is otherwise a pillar of the community, great husband, and family man, is otherwise a rather sick and depraved individual.But that is the fodder for another column – at another time.I do not know whom owns the photo – or the circumstances.
“Happy Anniversary Attila! Luv ya man,” praised an effusive Ms. Couric as news of the Pillage Idiot’s third anniversary was received with accolades from all over the globe.
According a newly-leaked top-secret document published in The New York Times ‘Classified’ section today, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has employed controversial methods to extract information from terror suspects, including threats to put the detainee in front of a Senate committee for further interrogation.
If true, it means that U.S. agents may be using a technique “tantamount to torture,” an unnamed source told the Times.
“I’ve seen those Senate hearings on TV,” the source said. “I’d rather be waterboarded, slapped about the head and assaulted with high-volume Britney Spears music while confined to a meat locker.
I just watched it again and I’m still shaking my head…If you missed the Worcester Right’s post the first time around, here’s a second chance – don’t blow it.
It reminded me of a photo - posted above - that made the e-mail rounds a number of years ago.I have it in my files from September of 2000 – and I just found it: “Winner of the Not My Job Award.”
Recently folks around town have taken notice of one of the several talented writers for the Carroll County Times - Kathryn Leiter.
I’d post her web site picture, but when I had a chance to talk with her at a community function some time ago, she told me she hates the picture…
I just checked the web site and the same photo she hates is still up on the site…
If I am not mistaken, I was told that she is a former copy editor.Which may explain why her pieces are written so tightly?As opposed to that of an old short story writer such as myself, who all too often goes rambling-on in this and that direction.(There’s a reason I write columns – and only a few articles…)
And – as an added bonus, she is from the area - Catonsville, so she knows the lay of the land and has some insight into our community traditions – and history…
I’m not quite sure when she first started writing articles, but recently many appreciated her articles on disaster preparedness, local governments’ web sites becoming more customer-friendly, the Monarch butterflies, or the non-profits – a subject near and dear to the hearts of many Carroll Countians.
And who can forget the great piece on the vaccination clinic at the Ag Center:
“It’s raining cats and dogs and ferrets. The Carroll County Agriculture Center’s riding barn was filled with hundreds of cats, dogs and ferrets, as owners took advantage of the Anti-Rabies Vaccination Clinic Sunday….”
But her recent “Sunday package” published in the Sunday, September 30th, 2007 edition of the paper, on our youngest generation beginning to assume leadership roles in the community, really caught the attention of the community.
Ultimately, if one is not academically schooled in the matter of “community leadership succession”; even the most unsophisticated in our community understands that our youth are the folks who will need to take over the reins one day.
If not for any other reason than the fact that at some point, us older folks want to retire and let someone else take on the responsibilities (read: headaches and opportunities) of maintaining our community as a great place to live – and grow old.
Personally I have had the pleasure of working with Manchester town councilmember Ryan Warner for several years and it is about time he got the attention that he deserves.Whether one agrees with him or disagrees with him – and I have done both over the years – he is a perfect gentleman and always has what is in the best interests of the community at heart.
And what else can be said about Dr. Herb Smith, he has now been selflessly tutoring future leaders for several decades and it was nice to see him get the attention he deserves.
So the next time you go to the Carroll County Times web site or pick up a copy of the newspaper at the newsstand, be sure to look for her byline, along with my other favorites these days, Ryan Marshall, Carrie Ann Knauer and Jordan Bartel – to mention a few.
Alexander Hamilton hadn’t even reached 20 when he first showed interest in politics. James Madison and Edmund Randolph joined the political arena in their early 20s. Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth held political office in their early 30s....Sep. 30, 2007;
Many CarrollCounty council members are retired from their careers, giving them the time to put in to the community. When Ryan Warner was 24, he decided he didn’t want to wait until he retired. Warner was first elected to the Manchester Town Co...Sep. 30, 2007;
Herb Smith has been a political science professor at McDanielCollege in Westminster since 1971 and has been involved in politics since he was 14 years old. Q: What do you think attracts younger people to politics? A: Well, there’s always the a...Sep. 30, 2007;
Hampstead residents will be able to save their stamps the next time their water bills arrive as the town becomes the first in the county to allow residents to pay their water bills online. The addition to the town’s Web site launched Tuesday, a...Oct. 1, 2007;
It’s raining cats and dogs and ferrets. The CarrollCountyAgricultureCenter’s riding barn was filled with hundreds of cats, dogs and ferrets, as owners took advantage of the Anti-Rabies Vaccination Clinic Sunday. “It’s a g...Oct. 1, 2007;
When life handed them lemons, even the Victorians made lemonade. At the CarrollCountyFarmMuseum’s final Learning Lunch for the year, food historian Pat Reber gave a group of 17 the history on the summertime drink. The British or European ver..Oct. 2, 2007;
The carnival rides don’t open until Thursday, but Westminster Fall-fest starts today with a fundraising event. Festivities officially begin with Dine Out Westminster, an event where 10 percent of all food sales benefit four Fallfest groups: Car...Sep. 25, 2007;
Jennifer Jaco delicately handles a monarch butterfly, placing it on the tip of a child’s nose. As the butterfly flutters away, children cheer and parents take pictures. However, this isn’t your average butterfly. This butterfly has a smal... Sep. 24, 2007;
As fall approaches, residents will delve into their wardrobes and don warmer clothes. With the switch from shorts to jeans, residents are cleaning out their closets and donating more to area charity organizations, according to Wayne Hatcher, director...Sep. 20, 2007;
Public input sought for emergency plans The public will soon get an opportunity to weigh in on county plans to prevent and manage disasters. A public hearing on a revised Emergency Operations Plan and new Hazard Mitigation Plan is expected to be sche...Sep. 26, 2007; scored 249.0
Sixty years ago, on October 5, 1947, an American president delivered a speech live on television.
History reflects that the speech delivered by President Harry S Truman was hardly memorable. According to an article on the event in "American Heritage," by Christine Gibson, "the October 5 broadcast did have a large effect on the free world, just not in a way Truman, or anyone at the time, could have predicted."
Today, most people take for granted a world dominated by cell phones, instant messaging, computers, and cable TV. News and entertainment travels around the world in minutes, if not seconds; but in 1947 much of the news was disseminated by way of the radio or newspapers.
Ever since, television has played an integral role in politics, especially presidential politics. By around 1960, more people got their news from television broadcasts than newspapers - or the radio.
It has only been as recent as the 2000 presidential election that television's stranglehold on maintaining the dominant narrative which shapes much of public opinion on national politics has been slowly but surely replaced by the Internet.
In a parallel dynamic, television and the Internet - and newspapers - are slowly but surely merging. However it was President Truman's 1947 speech which set the political landscape on its head.
A funny thing happened on the way to the Editorial Store. I got replies to my inquiries and did not have to make a purchase. No really, there is an Editorial Store! But they are expensive and have terrible business hours.
The place is like walking into a hospital. It is soooooooo clean. There is a hefty fine for depositing a piece of paper or cigarette remains. One cannot buy chewing gum. Drug runners receive the mandatory death sentence.
One of the perquisites of being hors de combat for many months is preoccupation with what ails you. Henry David Thoreau would have penned his musings in solitude - not an option here. Somehow the recovery room's Zenith found the Frederick County Board of Commissioners on COMCAST.
The end of September brings a lot of excitement to major league baseball fans for the long (162 game) schedule is coming to an end. Wishful hopes abound that their team will win the division or capture the wild card slot. Their team would then make the play-offs with a chance to win the Fall Classic in Sports, the World Series.
This evening is the "All-American Presidential Forum" at MorganStateUniversity, hosted by Tavis Smiley and broadcast on PBS. Outside of those of us directly involved with this production, and the students at Morgan, the anticipation of the event is like waiting in line for a viewing at a funeral home.
Here we go again with the issue of race surfacing over the last couple of weeks. It is not enough that much attention was given to shock jock Don Imus and his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. The outrage that those comments garnered caused Mr. Imus to lose his national morning radio program.
It has certainly been an interesting week for the exercise of our sacred right to freedom of speech in the United States. Various recent developments in this most cherished of rights provided a rich target environment for the news media, constitutional scholars, and pundits alike.
Our blue-eyed, blonde-hair culture becomes more antagonistic as our numbers decrease as a proportion of the population. There are those among us who hate all those darker-hair, brown-eyes who are popping up everywhere.
Global Warming, Global Cooling, Climate Change, et al are the headlines of the crisis de jour. Most people do not involve themselves in this debate as it seems too complicated and all the scientists agree, so it must be true.
I really wanted to write about the Great Frederick Fair, but Patricia Kelly did such a great job on last Thursday's Tentacle, I wouldn't pretend to try.
