Collectors Wrentham, Mass. Growing Leasing Collection Division for 25+ year estab. business. Must have exceptional, creative negotiation skills,  ability to thrive in high volume, fast paced environment. Click here for more info:

www.nasset.com

Monday, December 17, 2007

Please click on the Kettle for an up-date

Headlines---

Leah Marks' Passing
    Clarification: ELFA Conference Call
        Classified Ad---Senior Management
Curt Lysne now at PFSC--- along with "Zep"
    Balboa Capital—Broker Division
        Does ELFA promote Evergreen Clauses?
Cartoon—Partner’s Lounge
    Classified ads—Help Wanted
        Top Stories --- December 10-14
Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
“Depreciation”
    Roads hazardous-Great Lakes to New England
        Greenspan: Give homeowners financial aid
    Subprime Lending with Criminal Intent?
News Briefs---
    You May have Missed---
        Sports Briefs---
    "Gimme that Wine"
Most expensive restaurants in the USA
    Calendar Events
        Snapple Real Facts
Today's Top Event in History
    This Day in American History
        Football Poem
SuDoku
    Daily Puzzle
        GasBuddy
News on Line---Internet Newspapers
Portland, Oregon

######## surrounding the article denotes it is a “press release”

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Leah Marks' Passing

“Fellow National Association of Equipment Leasing Broker members,

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Leah Marks; daughter of Barry Marks, past NAELB legal counsel, honorary lifetime member, poet and author, mentor and friend.

“Many may not realize that Barry was a major driving force of success during the infancy of the NAELB. As Barry gave of his time to our association, he dedicated his life as a father to his daughter. As he watched one family grow, he watched the other blossom into a beautiful young lady. As he offered counsel to our members, so he counseled his daughter on the important things in life. As he watched with pride as each grew and matured and gained their independence, he took solace in knowing that he could be proud of the results.

“It is this dedication to both his families that brings us as family members to share in his pain, his sorrow, and his tears, as he lays his Leah to rest.

“Our group is and shall remain a family. On behalf of our family, we offer our condolences and heart felt prayers and thank each of you for joining us in doing so.

“Barry has asked only one thing of each of us and that is to share the importance of wearing a seat belt when riding in the car, no matter where you are seated.”

Brian Montgomery, NAELB President

(Services were held Sunday, December 16th at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham)

“In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that donations be considered to The Leah Marks Memorial Fund that has been established at Regions Bank, 1900 5th Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203. Donations may be made at any Regions Bank branch and may also be made by mail to The Leah Marks Memorial Fund, Post Office Box 11386, Birmingham, Alabama 35202 or directly to the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, 4400 Montclair Road, Birmingham, AL 35213.”

With kindest regards,

The NAELB Board of Directors & Staff
mharper@hqtrs.com

[headlines]

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Clarification: ELFA Conference Call

The telephone conference on Tuesday for the “U.S. Equipment Finance Market Study,” billed as the most accurate picture of the $600 billion leasing industry is for the "media only."

When Diane Helyne Zyats, Vice President/Communications, Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, sent the release to the Business Wire, it was headlined "Media Only," but for some reason the Business Wire deleted it (they told her it didn’t fit their format.) When informed of the confusion regarding the Wednesday telephone conference and the media conference, Leasing News pulled the story from its web site regarding the Tuesday telephone conference.

To help clear up the matter, as we normally do not run "member only" announcements, Leasing News is printing the following. Please note the headline:

*** Member and Donor Advisory ***

(This means any member of ELFA or donor to ELFF)

WHAT: Announcement of groundbreaking findings of the most accurate picture yet of the $600 billion equipment finance sector.

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, a trade association representing financial services companies and manufacturers, and its affiliate the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation will announce groundbreaking findings from a new study conducted by Global Insight, the “U.S. Equipment Finance Market Study.”

WHEN: The teleconference will take place on Wednesday, December 19, 2007, 11:00 a.m. – Noon, EST. Following the brief presentation by experts will be a Q&A session.

WHO: Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., ELFA and Foundation President, Joseph C. Lane, Immediate Past Chairman, Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation and Mark Lauritano, Managing Director of Global Insight’s Lending & Payments Practice will present the findings. The commercial equipment finance sector contributes to capital formation in the U.S. and abroad and plays a vital role in supporting the continued expansion of the U.S. economy by facilitating the exchange of capital for purposes of equipment investment.

WHERE: By conference call. To register for the FREE briefing, please contact Ashley Lowe at alowe@elfaonline.org. Ashley will forward you Dial-Instructions for the call. The Study will be available to download on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2008 at
www.LeaseFoundation.org.

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association is the trade association that represents companies in the $600 billion equipment finance sector which includes financial services companies and manufacturers engaged in financing the utilization and investment of and in capital goods. The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to providing future-oriented research about the equipment leasing and finance industry. Global Insight, Inc. is a privately held company that brought together the two most respected economic information companies in the world, DRI and WEFA. Global Insight is recognized as the most consistently accurate forecasting company in the world.

[headlines]

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Classified Ad---Senior Management

Atlanta, GA
Strong sales and leadership skills; demonstrated with sales training and sales performance. Lead team in both regional and national operations and developed marking programs.
Email: mll1946@comcast.net

Europe
25+ yrs exper. management roles Chase, AT&T Capital, Heller Financial, SFS. Develop biz from “scratch to success”. Looking for challenging & pioneering job.
Email: frans@alliedproperty.net

Northern California
CLP - Director of Customer Finance for Fortune 500 manufacturer. Program development, credit, closing, sales training, portfolio mgt.
email: drdawkins@mac.com"

Philadelphia, PA
27 yrs. exp. sales, ops., credit, strategy, P&L mngmet. Most recently created & executed the biz plans for 2 highly successful Bank-owned small ticket leasing subsidiaries.
email: mccarthy2020@comcast.net

To place a free “job wanted” ad here, please go to:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted-post.htm

For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

[headlines]

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### Press Release ###########################

Curt Lysne now at PFSC--- along with "Zep"

Portfolio Financial Servicing Company (“PFSC”) is pleased to announce the appointment of two new key personnel to the company’s sales efforts.

Curt Lysne

Curt Lysne, CLP has been hired to lead the sales and marketing efforts of PFSC as Vice President, National Sales and Marketing. Curt has an extensive background in the leasing industry spanning over 25 years and has held leadership positions in Sales, Credit and Funding for large and midsize leasing company’s during his tenure. He spent 14 years at GE Capital-Colonial Pacific Leasing in various roles including Credit Manager, Sales Manager, Portfolio Acquisition Manager, Chief Risk Officer and Vice President, Sales. Most recently, Curt founded and built a third party origination channel for a large lessor in California.

The success of that unit’s growth was the catalyst for his promotion to Chief Sales Officer for the Direct and Commercial origination channels as well as leadership of the Marketing and Sales Training departments.

“It is my belief Curt can assist PFSC through new account penetration and effective sales strategies to grow the PFSC organization, “said
John Enyart, President of PFSC.

John Enyart

“Curt’s reputation and knowledge in the leasing industry is invaluable to PFSC as we continue to expand,” Enyard stated. “

Lysne has been a Certified Lease Professional since 1998 and has been active in the United Association of Equipment Leasing and National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers leasing associations through board involvement, Conference Chairman and as a speaker and panel participant. He has a degree in Accounting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Curt is located in San Clemente, California.

Alan Zeppenfield

Alan Zeppenfield, has also been added to the newly formed sales team as Vice President, Sales.

Alan has been in the portfolio management/outsourcing business for over 30 years. Alan worked at Xerox for 23 years in a key role for their outsourcing initiative. He held positions of increasing responsibility including, Manager of Asset Control, Manager of the Administrative Services Business, and Manager of Third Party Originations and Operations. Alan spent three years at Lanier Worldwide where he was Director of Asset Management. Most recently Alan has been Director of Operations and Business Development for JDR Solutions.

Alan has been active with the UAEL serving on the board and with the Lessors Network as a contributing speaker. Alan received his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Gannon University in Pennsylvania. Alan is located in Gainesville, Georgia.

“These two individuals add significant strength and expertise to the PFSC management team. I have every confidence that Curt and Alan will make significant contributions to our Company in the years to come, and we are very fortunate that they have agreed to assume these critical positions with PFSC.” states John Enyart, President.
About PFSC

Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Portfolio Financial Servicing Company is the largest independent third party lease and loan servicer in the U.S. Founded in 1992, PFSC provides a broad range of servicing solutions for leases, loans, and other financial assets. PFSC also provides back-up servicing as well as ala carte services such as sales and property tax reporting and compliance, multi-state vehicle titling, insurance tracking, document and title custodian services, and more. You may visit their web site at www.pfsc.com

[headlines]

### Press Release ###########################
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Balboa Capital, Irvine, California—Broker Division

by Christopher Menkin

Well, now we know where Curt Lysne, CLP, has gone. My old friend Alan Zeppenfield, he served on the United Association of Equipment Leasing Committee that I was chairman for several years, told me he was going to PFSC. I asked him for a press release, and he said it would come from the company.
He never told me about Lysne.

Nor to Balboa Capital President Pat “Evergreen” Byrne after numerous telephone calls and eMails. He still hasn’t responded to whether what readers are telling Leasing News that Balboa Capital is closing down their broker division.

Many readers continue to comment and the story itself made the top ten most read last week. The tenure has been the press release announcing Patrick Ontal to also run the broker department
is a joke.

Several insiders told Leasing News any statement that the vendor department has been 'successfully launched' (by Phil Silva / Patrick Ontal which frees Ontal up to run broker) is flat wrong. Reportedly the vendor group has had three highly paid outsiders brought in try to make it work and it's failed every time.

These have been high-profile people Leasing News was told with lots of talk, lots of time spent planning the launch...and no production.

One of the officers is known by his previous companies as a person who takes credit for everything, but does nothing. One person who reportedly there for a couple of days a week is because he spends the other time running a leasing consulting company in Seattle.
Byrnes evidently doesn’t know about it.

Morale is dropping, and perhaps the broker division is not being cut off purposely. Many of the people Leasing News has communicated with believes the division will fail on its own.

One of the most serious problems reported to Leasing News is internally, “...the ops head openly dislikes brokers. externally there is a lot of pressure from competing funders. With Lysne gone, there is no one there to advocate for the brokers or manage the key relationships. some of the direct guys didn't like Lysne very much but respected him because the channel produced. direct dept. is way behind for the year and now broker is in big trouble. vendor does nothing. guess a lot of people are looking for other jobs.”

It also appears the 20% commission is not attracting the brokers who are able to obtain a high rate from prime lessees.

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Does ELFA promote Evergreen Clauses?

First, Evergreen clauses are part of lease contracts where the initial term of the contract calls for continued lease payments ( often 12 months or 24 months ) if the lessee does not notify the lessor
( whoever is collecting the lease payments at the time, or sometimes the original lessor) that they would like to exercise the purchase option. Often the residual is a $1.00 or a nominal fee. It is the practice of several funders to split extra payments with lease brokers or pay them in advance as part of the commission for the extra revenue.

It is legal in all states but two ( Illinois for consumers and Massachusetts for commercial.)

The Equipment Leasing and Finance State Government Relations Committee as well as the Equipment Leasing and Regulatory Subcommittee are opposing a Senate companion bill to Wisconsin Assembly Bill 432 restricting automatic renewal clauses. The bill is being backed by the Wisconsin Independent Businesses Association ( http://www.wibiz.org/ ) to end Evergreen clauses in credit cards, finance, lease agreements, as well as real estate rentals.

The Senate companion bill to Wisconsin Assembly Bill 432 the ELFA has filed testimony in opposition to Senate Bill 212 which. the “Small Wisconsin Businesses” association advocates.

The proponents contend: “The bill protects small firms from being trapped by hidden automatic renewal clauses in equipment and service contracts. The hidden clauses are used by big businesses to trick small businesses who sign contracts for credit card processing services & machines, business uniform services, waste hauling, specialized computer equipment & software services, telephone system & telephone services, cash transaction machines and industry-specific diagnostic equipment.”

Accordingly, Attorney Gary Antoniewicz of The Boardman Law Firm,
corporate counsel to “Wisconsin Independent Businesses,” has said that SB 212 "does not prohibit automatic renewal but simply makes a requirement for those seeking to enforce them that they must provide a reminder notice of the automatic renewal clause.”

Originally Dennis Brown, VP, State Government Relations
for the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association, told Leasing News the committee and ELFA "... Objecting to a bill often means certain provisions are unacceptable. ELFA opposes the application of real estate statutes to business personal property leases. The two transaction types vary widely. For example, the number of leases and the dollar amount of the lease payment varies significantly from a real estate contract. A lease for a single computer may have a lease payment of $100, whereas a real estate lease could have a payment of several thousand dollars. In addition, a leasing company may have upwards of 20,000 leases, whereas a real estate agent would be limited by the number of buildings owned.

"The aforementioned explains why ELFA objected to the provision requiring notice by certified mail. The cost is over $4 per letter, and requires time-intensive processing. A lessor can have several hundred extensions per month. This section of the legislation taken from landlord-tenant statute do not take into account the difficulty of completing the invoicing process within a tight notification period or take account of a lessee that may make quarterly or annual payments. Additionally, a customer with automatic withdrawals will not receive an invoice. This legislation would require notice must be “at least 15 days but not more than 45 days before the deadline”. Often, the lessee will need to go through a lengthy approval process to determine if the contract should be extended or not. Additionally, the lessor needs time to review the sale, extension, or return option the lessee chooses."

According to the ELFA announcement on Friday, “the 2007 Survey of Industry Activity, operating leases as a percentage of new business volume was 12.1%.” Taking the number of 20,000, this may mean then that almost 88% of the leases were not operating leases, and either were $1.00 or perhaps a nominal percentage, but capital leases. This is 17,600 leases that may be subject to automatic renewal without notification to the lessee.

It was not the idea of the cost of maintaining “good will” with a customer, or insuring your “purchase upon terms” residual, about spending $4.00 for a certified letter, but the ethics involved that brought the question by Leasing News about Evergreen clauses, particularly since ELFA makes every member sign such a pact regarding ethics. It is designed to end trickery, cheating, and lying to customers as well as being ethical, and I guess that means, whatever you can get away with is an acceptable
business practice.

Leasing News asked the honorable Ken Bentsen, Jr., president of ELFA, as well as other officers, about the opposition to the Wisconsin bill and whether they favored Evergreen lease clauses, particularly regarding their first requirement of ethics, the “transparency of a lease.”

A spokesperson for the leasing association responded in their behalf:

“The ELFA believes that all contract terms, including automatic renewal terms, should be properly and adequately disclosed. In fact, our Principles of Fair Business Practices states that while ‘different companies appropriately employ different business practices depending on a variety of factors … ELFA Members believe that all business agreements, arrangements and transactions should be conducted with transparency with respect to the roles and responsibilities of all parties. Full disclosure in and clarity of transaction documentation is a key element of such transparency.’ Further, our Code of Fair Business Practices states ‘[m]embers shall conduct their activities in the spirit of full disclosure. All relevant information as to the terms and conditions of a transaction, relationship or service that may affect … the customer's ongoing obligations under the contract, shall be disclosed clearly to the customer prior to closing. Notice, return and end of term provisions of a lease shall be reasonable in light of the structure of the transaction, the type and use of equipment leased and the secondary market….’

“The ELFA opposes Wisconsin Senate Bill 212 because it imposes real estate like notice provisions that we believe are unworkable due to the distinct nature of equipment lease transactions. We do not object to the intent of the legislation and in fact explicitly endorse strong disclosure, rather we object to the form and process imposed by the legislation that we believe is inconsistent with equipment finance.”

Listed on the ELFA position are:

ELFA State Government Relations Committee

Chair
Valerie L. Pfeiffer
Vice President - Tax Services
CIT

Mark E. Holcomb
Attorney
HOLLAND & KNIGHT, LLP

Jeffrey L. Hyde
Sr. Tax Counsel
GE COMMERCIAL FINANCE

Christine Jensen
Vice President
M&I EQUIPMENT FINANCE

Michael A. Leichtling Esq.
Partner
TROUTMAN SANDERS LLP

Peter W. Michaels Esq.
Partner
COOPER, WHITE & COOPER LLP

Wayne R. Ownby CPA
Vice President - Senior Tax Manager
RBS ASSET FINANCE, INC.

Julia R. Pierce
Leasing Mgr, US State & Local Government
CISCO SYSTEMS CAPITAL CORPORATION

Bruce Reid
Senior Director – State Taxes
MICROSOFT CAPITAL

Douglas Stevens
Principal
DOUGLAS M. STEVENS, ATTORNEY AT LAW

Beth L. Weicman
SVP & Director of Finance
OVERLAND CAPITAL GROUP, INC.

Kelley Winslow
VP, Tax Services
KEY EQUIPMENT FINANCE

Michael Wojciechowicz
Manager
DELOITTE

--------------------------

ELFA Legislative and Regulatory Subcommittee

(no listing found)

Please find enclosed Dennis Brown’s complete statement to Leasing News:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Pages/Dennis_Brown-email.htm

Please find enclosed the press release from the Wisconsin Independent Businesses:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Pages/Wisc-biz-press-release.htm

Evergreen articles:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Evergreen.htm

[headlines]

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[headlines]

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Leasing Industry Help Wanted

Collectors

Collectors Wrentham, Mass. Growing Leasing Collection Division for 25+ year estab. business. Must have exceptional, creative negotiation skills,  ability to thrive in high volume, fast paced environment. Click here for more info:

www.nasset.com

Lease Officer

LEASE OFFICER SMALL TICKET LESSOR, providing superior service for 35+years Transactions- $10Kto $1MM, Seeks seasoned sales professionals To learn more: sandyspringbank.tms or contact Scott Wheeler at SWheeler@SandySpringBank.com

www.sandyspringbank.com

[headlines]

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Top Stories --- December 10-14

Here are the top ten stories most “opened” by readers last week:

(1) Balboa Capital to exit Broker Business?
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-12-07.htm#balboa

(2) Balboa Capital: Broker Division and Pat Ontal
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-14-07.htm#balboa

(3) Archives--December 11, 2000
UniCapital/BSB Leasing
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-10-07.htm#arch

(4) As predicted, more changes at CIT
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-12-07.htm#cit

(5) Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
“Depreciation”
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-10-07.htm#102

(6) GE loses bid container-leasing firm
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/scn-sa-nor.ge2dec08,0,
3297488.story?track=rss

(7) (Tie)
Anatomy of a Fraud, a short story
By Bernie Boettigheimer, CLP
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-14-07.htm#fraud

(7) (Tie)
GE chief sees growth opportunities in 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-12-13-immelt-ge_N.htm

(8) Sales makes it Happen—by Adrian Miller
How to end the year with more revenue---
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-12-07.htm#sales

(9) Scott Wheeler, CLP-The Perfect Holiday Gift
for Generation Y and Generation X
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-10-07.htm#gift

(10) Some say not enough
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/December%202007/12-12-07.htm#say

[headlines]

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Leasing 102

by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP

“Depreciation”

A lessee must classify a lease for GAAP accounting based on four qualifications that approach the true meaning of “economics”. This means that the four qualifications ignore legal implications or federal income tax requirements. On many occasions a capital lease looks like a loan to an accountant but its structure makes it a true lease for federal income tax purposes. Also the word “depreciation” gets confusing because we use it in both accounting and income tax but very differently. For accounting; depreciation amortizes the equipment cost, minus a salvage value, over the useful life of the equipment to the firm, on a straight line basis. For Federal income tax; depreciation is called “capital recovery” where our tax laws allow us to take an accelerated expense called the “modified accelerated cost recovery system” (MACRS) over a defined term. The MACRS is actually a method to allow business to recover capital investment by allowing business to have tax free income equal the percentage of equipment cost allowed year under the MACRS system. So depreciation is the amortizing of an expense for accounting and capital recovery for tax.
When a lessee says they want to depreciate the equipment they are usually talking about the need to take MACRS depreciation for federal income tax. However, you should ask just to be sure. Depreciation for GAAP accounting is taking in two forms and three different ways. The two forms are straight line depreciation of the net present value of the total lease rental stream for capital lease accounting and expensing the lease payments as paid for operating lease accounting providing the rentals follow the use otherwise it will be expensed on a straight line basis.
Lessee depreciation for capital lease accounting depends on if an automatic title transfer or a bargain purchase option exists at termination. If so then the term of straight line depreciation must be the actual useful life of the equipment to the firm regardless of the lease term. If the purchase option is not a bargain but the lease fails the 90% test then the term of depreciation is limited to the term of the lease.
I know accounting appears complex and boring to some lease sales personnel but it is important to understand the impact of loans and leases on the financials of our customers to properly provide lease structures that enhance our product and not detract from it.

Mr. Terry Winders, CLP, has been a teacher, consultant, expert witness for the leasing industry for thirty years and can be reached at leaseconsulting@msn.com or 502-327-8666.
He invites your questions and queries.

Previous #102 Columns:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Leasing_102/Index.htm

[headlines]

### Press Release ###########################
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News Briefs----

Roads hazardous as snow, sleet, freezing rain fall across Great Lakes to New England
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071216-1415-winterstorm.html

Greenspan: Give homeowners financial aid
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2007-12-16-greenspan-housing_N.htm

Subprime Lending with Criminal Intent?
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/10312929/c_10310494?f=home_todayinfinance

[headlines]

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You May have Missed---

U.S. Businesses Invest Trillions in the Future
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/26072/

[headlines]

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Sports Briefs----

Falcons catch no breaks, lose fifth straight
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/12/16/falcons_1217.
html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Romo, Dallas Cowboys offense stall in loss
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/
121707dnspocowlede.1b2b10f.html

Raiders expose Colts' weaknesses
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/16/SP4ETVIIR.DTL

Don't tell Kiffin, but Raiders show progress
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_7738086?nclick_check=1

Hawks offense a no-show in 13-10 loss to Panthers
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2004076923_webhawks16.html

Gore's Got Goals
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/16/SPITTVOTQ.DTL

No Lion: Chargers cruise to AFC West title
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20071216-1637-fbn-lions-chargers.html

For Giants, Shockey Is Biggest Loss
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/index.html

Patriots (14-0) Win Again; The Jets Have New Intrigue
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/sports/football/17jets.html?_r=
1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

[headlines]

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“Gimme that Wine”

Can this wine be saved? Methods of preserving an open bottle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/14/WITMSPVM8.DTL

Sipping through the next great wine region in California: Paso Robles
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/14/travel/14american.php

Sip into great sparkling wine from New Mexico
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22252813/

Macari Vineyards buys Galluccio winery
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzwine1213,0,6861497.story

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/
US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/
Winery Atlas
http://www.carterhouse.com/atlas
Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm
The London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex) is an electronic exchange for fine wine.
http://www.liv-ex.com/

[headlines]

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Restaurant Review

Most expensive restaurants in the USA
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-12-14-priciest-us-restaurants-forbe
s_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/rstrnt.htm

[headlines]

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Calendar Events This Day

National Maple Syrup Day
http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/December/maplesyrupday.htm
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/ss/maplesyrupprint.htm

Saturnalia
A major ancient Roman festival honoring Saturnus, the god of agriculture. It was a time of merriment at the end of harvesting and wine making. Presents were exchanged, sacrifices offered and masters served their salves. Approximately the winter solstice. Some say that the date of the observance of the nativity of Jesus was selected by the early Christian church leaders to fall on December 25 partly to counteract the popular but disapproved-of-pre-Christian Roman festival of Saturnalia. For sure, the Gods of Rome and Greece must no longer be around, as the gods of the Norse and Aztecs, too, as they are not worshipped by many, perhaps only a few, and have disappeared except from our language.

Wright Brothers Day
Presidential Proclamation always issued for December 17, since 1963. On this date in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright, achieved the first documented successful powered and controlled flights of an airplane.

Saint feast Days

• St. Begga
• St. John of Martha
• St. Olympias
• St. Briarch
• St. Wivina
• St. Tydecho
• St. Eigil
• St. Florian
• St. Maxentiolus

http://www.catholic.org/saints/f_day/dec.php

[headlines]

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Jamie Farr (who played Klinger on M*A*S*H) was the only member of the cast who actually served as a soldier in the Korean War.

http://www.jamiefarr.com/bio.htm

[headlines]

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Today's Top Event in History

1955 - Carl Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes", which he was recording, less than 48 hours later, at the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The song became one of the first records to have simultaneous popularity on rock, country and rhythm & blues charts.

[headlines]
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This Day in American History

    1728 -Congregation Shearith Israel of New York purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan, to build New York's 1st synagogue. Construction is completed in 1730.
    1734-Birthday of William Floyd, signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of Congress, born at Brookhaven, Long Island. Die at Westernville, NY, Aug 4,1821
    1750 - Deborah Sampson, was born. She fought in the American Revolution as a man under the alias Robert Shurtleff.
    1760-Birthday of Deborah Sampson, born at Plympton, MA. She spent her childhood as an indentured servant. In 1782, wishing to participate in the Revolutionary War, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army’s 4th Massachusetts Regiment under the name Robert Shurtleff. She received both musket and sword wounds, but it was an attack of fever that unmasked her identity and led to her dismissal from the army in 1783. In 1802- Sampson became perhaps the first woman to lecture professionally in the US when she began giving public speeches on her experiences. Full military pension was provided for her heirs by an act of Congress in 1838. Deborah Sampson died Apr 29, 1827, at Sharon, MA.
    1777-General George Washington, after losing several battles to superior forces, professional soldiers, well-equipped and fortified, re-groups his farmers and volunteer fighting force by retiring with them to Valley Forge, Pa., for the brutal cold winter. The war was not going well and officers worked their hardest to not only train the troops, but to halt them from deserting.
http://www.jim-frizzell.com/valley_forge_washington_headquarters.htm
http://www.valleyforge.org/vfpark.asp
http://www.soupsong.com/rtripe.html
    1788-Poet Robert Burns wrote his version of a old Scottish song to Mrs. Dunlap; the words for “Auld Lang Syne...”( "times gone by.") He sent a copy of his song to his publisher Mr. Johnson, who later published it. http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/AuldLangSyne.5.html
    1790-One of the wonders of the western hemisphere—the Aztec Calendar or Solar Stone—was found beneath the ground by workmen repairing Mexico City’s Central Plaza. The centuries-old, intricately carved stone lift, 8 inches in diameter and weighing nearly 25 tons, proved to be a highly developed calendar monument to the sun Believed to have been carved in the year 1479, this extraordinary time-counting basalt tablet originally stood in the Great Temple of the Aztecs. Buried along with other Aztec idols, soon after the Spanish conquest in 1521, it remained hidden until 1790. Its 52-year cycle had regulated many Aztec ceremonies, including grisly human sacrifices to save the world from destruction by the gods.
    1797- Scientist Joseph Henry was born at Albany, NY. One of his great discoveries was the principle of self-induction; the unit used in the measure of electrical inductance was named the Henry in his honor. In 331 Henry constructed the first model of an electric telegraph with an audible signal. This formed the basis of nearly all later work on commercial wire telegraphy. In 1832 Henry was named professor of natural philosophy at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Henry was involved in the planning of the Smithsonian Institution and became its first secretary in 1846. president Lincoln named Henry as ore of the original 50 scientists to make up the National Academy of Sciences in 1863. He served as that organization’s president from 1868 until his death May 13, 1878, at Washington, DC.
    1807-Birthday of John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and abolitionist, born at Haverhill, Essex County, MA. Whittier’s books of poetry include Legends of New England and Snowbound. Died at Hampton Falls, NH, Sept 7,1892.
    1821-Kentucy was the first state to abolish imprisonment for debt. There were no bankruptcy laws, and prior to this. those individuals who got into debt, would be sentenced to prison, no matter the cause of the insolvency.
    1874-Birthday of W.L. MacKenzie, former Canadian prime minister, born at Berlin, Ontario. Served 21 years, the longest term of any prim minister in the English-speaking world. Died at Kingsmere, July 22,1950
    1862-Union General Ulysses S. Grant lashes out at cotton speculators when he expels all Jews from his department in the west. At the time, Grant was trying to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. Grant's army now effectively controlled much territory in western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and parts of Kentucky and Arkansas. As in other parts of the South, Grant was dealing with thousands of escaped slaves. John Eaton, a chaplain, devised a program through which the freed slaves picked cotton from abandoned fields and received part of the proceeds when it was sold by the government. Grant also had to deal with numerous speculators who followed his army in search of cotton. Cotton supplies were very short in the North, and these speculators could buy bales in the captured territories and sell it quickly for a good profit. In December, Grant's father arrived for a visit with two friends from Cincinnati. Grant soon realized that the friends, who were Jews, were speculators hoping to gain access to captured cotton. Grant was furious and fired off his notorious Order No. 11: "The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from receipt of this order." The fallout from his action was swift. Among 30 Jewish families expelled from Paducah, Kentucky, was Cesar Kaskel, who rallied support in Congress against the order. Shortly after the uproar, President Lincoln ordered Grant to rescind the order. Grant later admitted to his wife that the criticism of his hasty action was well deserved. As Julia Grant put it, the general had "no right to make an order against any special sect."
    1895- George Loomis, Brownell of Worcester, MA, patented a paper twine machine. It twisted strips or ribbons of paper into cord that was as strong as any known steel.
    1889-Rosemary "Silver Dollar" Tabor, the second daughter of Horace and Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor, is born. The Tabors were one of Colorado's wealthiest families of the time. Silver's mother, Elizabeth Doe, came west from Wisconsin with her husband, Harvey, in 1877; the couple hoped to make a fortune in the booming gold and silver mines of Colorado. Harvey Doe proved to be an inept and lazy miner, though, so Elizabeth divorced him and moved to the mining town of Leadville in 1881, where she performed on the stage and was nicknamed "Baby Doe" by admiring miners. During a chance encounter, Baby Doe won the affections of Horace Tabor, an emigrant from Vermont who made millions in the silver mines. Although Tabor was a married man, he moved Baby Doe into an elegant hotel in Denver and began a not-so-secret affair that scandalized the Colorado gentry. Ignoring the wagging tongues, Tabor divorced his wife and married the beautiful Baby Doe, who was nearly a quarter-century younger than he. For a time, the couple lived a life of extraordinary opulence and pleasure, and Baby Doe had two daughters nicknamed "Lillie" and "Silver Dollar," the latter in recognition of the source of the family's wealth. During the early 1890s, the good times started to slow as some of Tabor's investments went sour and his mines began to decline. The fatal blow came in 1893, when the U.S. Congress repealed the Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which had kept silver prices high through government investment. Without these large purchases of silver by the U.S treasury, prices plummeted and Tabor's once valuable mines were suddenly nearly worthless. In a matter of months, Tabor was bankrupt and the family was reduced to living on the modest income he earned as Denver's postmaster. When Tabor died in 1899 of appendicitis, Baby Doe and her young daughters were left penniless, and moved back to Chicago to live with relatives. Eventually, Baby Doe left Lillie in Chicago and returned to Leadville with Silver Dollar. The decision was disastrous: mired in poverty, Baby Doe and Silver eked out a threadbare existence, living in a small shack near one of the worthless silver mines they inherited from Horace Tabor. As Silver grew older she drank heavily and used drugs. She moved to Chicago, where she was murdered in 1925 at 36 years old. Baby Doe survived for another decade, an impoverished recluse who used old gunny sacks for shoes and doctored herself with turpentine and lard. During a severe blizzard that hit Leadville for several days in February 1935, Baby Doe--who had once been one of the richest people on earth--died cold and alone at 81 years old.
    1901--Birthday of Janet G. Travell, first woman physician to hold the post of personal physician to the President of the United States (John F. Kennedy). JGT was a specialist in the study and treatment of musculoskeletal pain. She was firm believer in rocking chairs as mild muscular exercisers and believed that every person should choose their particular chair to fit their bodies. I bet she knew a lot about JFK.
    1903-Birthday of bandleader Ray Noble, Brighton, England
http://www.nobello.com/ray.htm
1903 -- American author Erskine Caldwell lives, Coweta County, Georgia. Unadorned novels & stories (Tobacco Road, God's Little Acre) about rural poor of the American South mix violence and sex in grotesque tragicomedy -- & he is particularly esteemed in France & the former Soviet Union. He struggled with censorship more than any other writer in his time. He died in Paradise Valley, Arizona on April 11, 1987
http://www.libs.uga.edu/gawriters/caldwell.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/caldwell.htm
http://www.newnan.com/ec/
    1903- Orville and Wilbur Wright, brothers, bicycle shop operators, inventors and aviation pioneers, after three years of experimentation with kites and gliders, achieved the first documented successful powered and controlled flights of an airplane. The plane, which weighed 745 pounds and hand a four-cylinder, 12-horsepower engine, was launched from a monorail after a 35-to-40 foot run. It remained aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three subsequent flights took place that day, of which the longest covered 852 feet in 59 seconds. The average speed was 31 miles per hour. Some historians respect the claim of Gustave Whitehead, who is said to have made four flights, one of which covered a distance of 1.5 miles, in his airplane “No. 21” on August 14, 1901, near Bridgeport.
The Wright Brothers promoted their launching with press on hand and the event has been celebrated every year at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, NC, with wreaths, flyover and other observances—regardless of weather.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec17.html
    1904 – Birthday of artist Paul Cadmus, well respected homosexual paint. His notorious erotic painting The Fleet's In! launched his career as a full-time artist. Died 1999
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/cadmus_paul.html
http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/cadmus/cadmus.htm
http://www.davidsutherland.com/films_cadmus.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0915829681/inktomi-bkasin-20/
104-3547695-1517507
    1908-Birthday of Willard Frank Libby, American educator, chemist, atomic scientist and Nobel Prize winner was born at Grand Valley, CO. He was the inventor of the carbon-14 “atomic clock” method for dating ancient and prehistoric plant and animal remains and minerals. Died at Los Angeles, CA, Sept 8,1980.
( lower half of: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec17.html )
    1910—Birthday of composer/bandleader 1910 Sy Oliver Birthday
http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/micro/437/64.html
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/oliver_sy/bio.jhtml
http://trumpetjazz.netfirms.com/Artists/Sy_Oliver.html
    1920-The first orphanage founded by the Church of God opened in Cleveland, Tennessee. Its establishment was the result of the vision and efforts of Church of God pioneer, A.J. Tomlinson.
    1925-Birthday of drummer Walter Bolden, Hartford, CT Died February 19,2002
http://www.jazztimes.com/JazzNews/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=516
    1925-- Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell court-martial for insubordination Served in the U.S. Army during World War I; salesman; member of West Virginia state senate 6th District, 1941-60. Episcopalian. Member, American Legion; Elks.
It was President Coolidge himself who ordered Mitchell's court-martial under charges of insubordination under the 96th Article of War ("conduct of a nature to bring discredit on the military service"). The trial lasted seven weeks, most of which was devoted to a discussion of Mitchell's concept of airpower. The verdict of guilty was a foregone conclusion, and Mitchell was sentenced to be suspended from rank, command, and duty, with a forfeiture of all pay and allowances for five years. President Coolidge, in an uncharacteristic fit of generosity, later reduced this to forfeiture of half his pay and allowances.
Billy Mitchell refused the offer and resigned on February 1, 1926. All through the court-martial proceedings, Mitchell had the staunch support of "Hap" Arnold and such officers as Carl Spaatz, Herbert Dargue, Robert Olds, William Gillmore, Horace Hickam, and others. Each put his career on the line for Mitchell even though they knew he would be convicted. After the trial, Arnold was exiled to become commanding officer of the 16th Observation Squadron, Fort Riley, Kan. The assignment was intended to be the end of his career.
Mitchell continued to campaign in speeches and articles. "Hap" Arnold, for his part, soldiered on, his leadership qualities inevitably propelling him to the top, regardless of residual resentment about his unflagging support for Mitchell. More important than Arnold's loyalty, however, was his comprehension of Mitchell's fascination with technology. Early in his tour as Army Air Corps Chief, Arnold began soliciting the ideas and the company of the top scientists in the country.
Eventually, he enlisted the assistance of such stellar names as Theodore von Kármán, Hugh L. Dryden, Frank Wattendorf, Hsue-shen Tsien, Vladimir K. Zworykin, and many others for the Scientific Advisory Group, later transformed into the Scientific Advisory Board. These men and others created first "Where We Stand" and then "Toward New Horizons," studies that addressed state-of-the-art technology and put forth a blueprint for the development of the postwar Air Force.
It is important to note that neither Mitchell nor Arnold had the scientific competence to write such reports; they had, instead, the far more vital ability to see that the reports were needed, recognize who could produce them, and sympathetically enlist their support. The officers Arnold picked to work with the scientists were equally well chosen, among them such men as James H. Doolittle, Donald L. Putt, and Laurence C. Craigie. They knew the importance of science and of scientists.
Again in the spirit of Billy Mitchell, Arnold picked promising young officers who understood the requirements of technology and saw that they were given a track to top positions. Doing so cost him friends. Comrades who had served with him, and who were now passed over, resented his choices. But Arnold knew he was not running a popularity contest; he was building an independent Air Force.
The constructive culture created by Mitchell and Arnold
    1927 - A tornado cut a seventeen mile path across Alexandria and southeastern Washington, DC, injuring 31 persons. The tornado struck the Naval Air Station where a wind gust of 93 mph was recorded. A waterspout was seen over the Potomac River ninety minutes later.
    1932-Birthday of sax player Sonny “Red” Kyner, Detroit, MI
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r1100_096.htm
    1933-Birthday of bass player Walter Booker, Jr., Prairie View, TX,
died 1982. 1933- the Chicago Bears of the Western Division won the National Football League’s first championship game, defeating the New York Giants of the Eastern Division., 23-21. The Bears scored the winning touchdown on a pas-and lateral play begun by Bronko Nagurski. The purse was divided, with 60 percent going to the players, 15 percent to each club, and 10 percent to the league. Shares for individual players were $210 for the Bears and $140 for the Giants.
    1939-Birthday of pianist James Booker, New Orleans, LA
http://www.thejukejoint.com/jamesbooker.html
    1939-Birthdy of Eddie Kendricks, lead, The Temptations, Union Springs, Al
http://www.alamhof.org/kendrick.htm
    1940 - United States President Franklin Roosevelt outlined his plan for "lend-leasing" arms and equipment to Britain during World War II.
    1941-Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel was relieved of his command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet as part of a shake-up of officers in the wake of the Pearl Harbor disaster. Admiral Kimmel had enjoyed a successful military career, beginning in 1915 as an aide to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He served admirably on battleships in World War I, winning command of several in the interwar period. At the outbreak of World War II, Kimmel had already attained the rank of rear admiral and was commanding the cruiser forces at Pearl Harbor. In January 1941, he was promoted to commander of the Pacific Fleet, replacing James Richardson, who FDR relieved of duty after Richardson objected to basing the fleet at Pearl Harbor. If Kimmel had a weakness, it was that he was a creature of habit, of routine. He knew only what had been done before, and lacked imagination-and therefore insight-regarding the unprecedented. So, even as word was out that Japan was likely to make a first strike against the United States as the negotiations in Washington floundered, Kimmel took no extraordinary actions at Pearl Harbor. In fact, he believed that a sneak attack was more likely at Wake Island or Midway Island, and requested from Lieutenant General Walter Short, Commander of the Army at Pearl Harbor, extra antiaircraft artillery for support there (none could be spared). Kimmel's predictability was extremely easy to read by Japanese military observers and made his fleet highly vulnerable. As a result, Kimmel was held accountable, to a certain degree, for the absolute devastation wrought on December 7. Although he had no more reason than anyone else to believe Pearl Harbor was a possible Japanese target, a scapegoat had to be found to appease public outrage. He avoided a probable court-martial when he requested early retirement. When Admiral Kimmel's Story, an "as told to" autobiography, was published in 1955, Kimmel made it plain that he believed FDR sacrificed him-and his career-to take suspicion off himself; Kimmel believed Roosevelt knew Pearl Harbor was going to be bombed, although no evidence has ever been adduced to support his allegation. The only intelligence at the time talked about a possible invasion of Indochina. There was speculation that Wake Island in Midway might be a target, but it was thought at the time the Japanese were more interested in the China mainland and its surrounding countries, their century old enemies.
    1944 -- US: Japanese-Americans released from detention camps. US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast
http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/justice_postwar.html
    1944--LOPEZ, JOSE M. Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 23d Infantry, 2d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Krinkelt, Belgium, 17 December 1944. Entered service at: Brownsville, Tex. Birth: Mission, Tex. G.O. No.: 47, 18 June 1945. Citation: On his own initiative, he carried his heavy machinegun from Company K's right flank to its left, in order to protect that flank which was in danger of being overrun by advancing enemy infantry supported by tanks. Occupying a shallow hole offering no protection above his waist, he cut down a group of 10 Germans. Ignoring enemy fire from an advancing tank, he held his position and cut down 25 more enemy infantry attempting to turn his flank. Glancing to his right, he saw a large number of infantry swarming in from the front. Although dazed and shaken from enemy artillery fire which had crashed into the ground only a few yards away, he realized that his position soon would be outflanked. Again, alone, he carried his machinegun to a position to the right rear of the sector; enemy tanks and infantry were forcing a withdrawal. Blown over backward by the concussion of enemy fire, he immediately reset his gun and continued his fire. Single-handed he held off the German horde until he was satisfied his company had effected its retirement. Again he loaded his gun on his back and in a hail of small arms fire he ran to a point where a few of his comrades were attempting to set up another defense against the onrushing enemy. He fired from this position until his ammunition was exhausted. Still carrying his gun, he fell back with his small group to Krinkelt. Sgt. Lopez's gallantry and intrepidity, on seemingly suicidal missions in which he killed at least 100 of the enemy, were almost solely responsible for allowing Company K to avoid being enveloped, to withdraw successfully and to give other forces coming up in support time to build a line which repelled the enemy drive.
    1944--SODERMAN, WILLIAM A. Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company K, 9th Infantry, 2d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Rocherath, Belgium, 17 December 1944. Entered service at: West Haven, Conn. Birth: West Haven, Conn. G.O. No.: 97, 1 November 1945. Citation: Armed with a bazooka, he defended a key road junction near Rocherath, Belgium, on 17 December 1944, during the German Ardennes counteroffensive. After a heavy artillery barrage had wounded and forced the withdrawal of his assistant, he heard enemy tanks approaching the position where he calmly waited in the gathering darkness of early evening until the 5 Mark V tanks which made up the hostile force were within pointblank range. He then stood up, completely disregarding the firepower that could be brought to bear upon him, and launched a rocket into the lead tank, setting it afire and forcing its crew to abandon it as the other tanks pressed on before Pfc. Soderman could reload. The daring bazookaman remained at his post all night under severe artillery, mortar, and machinegun fire, awaiting the next onslaught, which was made shortly after dawn by 5 more tanks Running along a ditch to meet them, he reached an advantageous point and there leaped to the road in full view of the tank gunners, deliberately aimed his weapon and disabled the lead tank. The other vehicles, thwarted by a deep ditch in their attempt to go around the crippled machine, withdrew. While returning to his post Pfc. Soderman, braving heavy fire to attack an enemy infantry platoon from close range, killed at least 3 Germans and wounded several others with a round from his bazooka. By this time, enemy pressure had made Company K's position untenable. Orders were issued for withdrawal to an assembly area, where Pfc. Soderman was located when he once more heard enemy tanks approaching. Knowing that elements of the company had not completed their disengaging maneuver and were consequently extremely vulnerable to an armored attack, he hurried from his comparatively safe position to meet the tanks. Once more he disabled the lead tank with a single rocket, his last; but before he could reach cover, machinegun bullets from the tank ripped into his right shoulder. Unarmed and seriously wounded he dragged himself along a ditch to the American lines and was evacuated. Through his unfaltering courage against overwhelming odds, Pfc. Soderman contributed in great measure to the defense of Rocherath, exhibiting to a superlative degree the intrepidity and heroism with which American soldiers met and smashed the savage power of the last great German offensive.
    1946---Top Hits
Ole Buttermilk Sky - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The Campus Kids)
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
The Whole World is Singing My Song - The Les Brown Orchestra (vocal: Doris Day)
Divorce Me C.O.D. - Merle Travis
    1946- President Harry S. Truman received the first coin bearing the likeness of an African-American, the 50 cent commemorative honoring Booker T. Washington,, the founder of Tuskegee Institute. It was authorized on August 7, 1946. The obverse showed the head of Washington and the reverse a stylized Hall of Fame, under which were the words “ From Slave Cabin to Hall of Fame.” Centered under this wording was a slave cabin, to the left of which was the inscription, “ In God We Trust,” and to the right, “ Franklin County, VA.” Around the rime was the inscription “ Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial---Liberty. The coin was designed by Isaac Scott Hathaway.
    1947- New York struck by a blizzard, resulting with 27" of snow.
http://manhattan.about.com/library/weekly/aa010101a.htm
http://www-nsidc.colorado.edu/snow/shovel.html
    1948- vowing this day to not “subvert” his music, Stan Kenton breaks up his band, New York City ( he came back in 1950 with his biggest band yet: )
    1953 - The temperature at Minneapolis, MN, reached 71 degrees, their warmest reading of record for so late in the autumn.
    1954---Top Hits
Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
Count Your Blessings - Eddie Fisher
Let Me Go, Lover! - Teresa Brewer
More and More - Webb Pierce
    1955- Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons" hits #1 pop and country.
    1955- The Platters' "The Great Pretender" enters the R&B charts.
    1955 - Carl Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes", which he was recording, less than 48 hours later, at the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The song became one of the first records to have simultaneous popularity on rock, country and rhythm & blues charts.
    1956-The first pilot on a scheduled passenger line who was African-American was Perry H. Young of Orangeburg, SC, he was hired as a flight crewman by New York Airways, New York City. He started regular passenger flights on Fe4bruary 1, 1957, as a copilot in a 12-passenger S-58 helicopter between New York International, La Guardia, and Newark, NJ, airports.
    1957- Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" enters the pop charts
    1958 - Mike Mills of R.E.M. is born. The group's best selling album is 1991's ``Out of Time,'' which sells more than 3 million copies.
    1959 - On the Beach, the gripping post-nuclear war film starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Tony Perkins, premiered in New York.
    1962---Top Hits
Big Girls Don’t Cry - The 4 Seasons
Return to Sender - Elvis Presley
Bobby’s Girl - Marcie Blane
Don’t Let Me Cross Over - Carl Butler & Pearl (Dee Jones)
    1963- the US Congress passed the “Clean Air Act,” a sweeping set of laws passed to protect the nation from air pollution. This was the first legislation to p1 pollution controls on the automobile industry. It authorized $93 million in matching grants for state-funded air pollution prevention and control programs.
The Clean Air Act of 1970, signed into law on December 31, 1970, was the first to set national standards for air polluting emissions for motor vehicles.
    1966 -- Death & Rebirth of the Haight-Ashbury (Hairy Henry & Fyllis busted). Home of the anarchist Bound Together Books Collective.
http://www.cnsproductions.com/cocaine.html
    1966- The Four Tops' "Standing in the Shadows of Love" enters the pop charts
    1969 -- USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.
http://www.roswell-online.com/clipart/ufoclip1.htm
    1969 - The soprano-voiced, ukulele-playing Tiny Tim married the lovely Miss Vickie on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show on this date before a huge viewing audience. The NBC-TV program earned the second-highest, all-time audience rating; second only to Neil Armstrong's walking on the moon. The unlikely couple later divorced in 1977, but not before Miss Vickie gave birth to daughter Tulip.
    1969 - Chicago Transit Authority earned a gold record for the group of the same name, who would later become simply "Chicago". The album's release by Columbia Records marked the first time an artist's debut LP was a double record.
    1969 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: ``Leaving on a Jet Plane,'' Peter, Paul & Mary. The song is the final single from the group and the only to top the pop chart.
    1970---Top Hits
The Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
One Less Bell to Answer - The 5th Dimension
My Sweet Lord/Isn’t It a Pity - George Harrison
Endlessly - Sonny James
    1976 - The Ted Turner owned WTCG-TV, Atlanta, Georgia, changed its call letters to WTBS, and was unlinked via satellite, making it the first commercial television station to cover the entire United States. WTBS began on only four cable systems, available in 24,000 homes.
    1977 - Elvis Costello & the Attractions appear on NBC-TV "Saturday Night Live" in place of the Sex Pistols, who can't get a visa to enter the country. Producer Lorne Michaels refuses to allow Costello to perform "Radio, Radio" (because of the song's criticism of the broadcasting industry), but a few measures into "Less than Zero," Costello halts his group & goes into "Radio, Radio." He will never be invited back.
    1978---Top Hits
You Don’t Bring Me Flowers - Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond
Too Much Heaven - Bee Gees
My Life - Billy Joel
The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
    1979- “ House Calls” premiered on TV. This half-hour sitcom set in Kensington General Hospital starred Wayne Rogers as Dr. Charley Michaels and Lynn Redgrave as Ann Anderson, assistant administrator and Michaels’s love interest. Also featured was David Wayne as flaky chief of surgery Dr. Amos Wetherby. After a dispute with the producers, Redgrave was dropped in 1982 and replaced by Sharon Gless (as assistant Jane Jeffries
    1984- “Run-D.M.C.” went gold, the first Rap album to attract a mass audience, recorded by the rap group of the same name. Run-D.M.C’s members were “Jam Master” Jason Mizell, Joseph “ Run” Simmons, and “MC” Darryle “D” McDaniels, all of New York City. The album was released by Profile Records in June,1984, and Rap was the music of this generation. 1986 - A federal jury in Las Vegas ruled on this date that NBC falsely linked entertainer Wayne Newton to organized crime in 1980 and 1981 telecasts. Newton was awarded $19.2 million in defamation damages
    1984 - For the first time in 14 matches, John McEnroe and Peter Fleming lost a doubles tennis match in the Davis Cup competition. Anders Jarryd and Stefan Edberg lead the Swedish team to win the title, marking the worst defeat since 1973 for the United States team
    1986---Top Hits
The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby & The Range
Walk Like an Egyptian - Bangles
Everybody Have Fun Tonight - Wang Chung
Hell and High Water - T. Graham Brown
    1989- “ TV’s animated family, “The Simpsons,” premiered as a half-hour weekly sitcom. The originator of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie is cartoonist Mall Groening. The Simpsons' inaugural episode was "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”. For the full story, go here:
    2000 — San Francisco wide receiver Terrell Owens sets a new NFL single-game receiving record with 20 catches in the 49ers' 17-0 win over Chicago. Owens totaled 283 yards and a touchdown while topping Tom Fears' mark of 18 receptions which had stood since 1950.
    2000-Jerry Rice played his last football game for the SF 49ers.

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