Leasing News

Rob Day with two unidentified ladies at leasing convention
UAEL Magazine, 2000

Archive--February 24, 2003

On the Pawnee Website:
Twenty Years, a Perspective

By Rob Day, CEO

A few weeks ago we celebrated our 20th anniversary. My what a ride it has been. I am quite confident that when I founded Pawnee Leasing Corporation in July of 1982 that the Pawnee Leasing Corporation of 2002 was not the vision. But I expect that's how life is supposed to evolve; twists and turns along the way that polishes our dreams by making the necessary modifications along the way.

We began operations in July of 1982 providing computer leasing for an Apple Computer store in Sterling, Colorado that I had invested in. The company was capitalized by what I thought was a huge sum of money (about what we fund now in a typical day) and we obtained a line of credit from a local bank. You probably would be interested to know that Jerry Reeves, our present executive vice president and credit manager, was the loan officer. We had Bank of America's lease form, Apple Computer's lease rates and off we went with me as the sole employee. We bumped along leasing to the store customers, but that had a limited market and was going to be an eventual losing game plan.

In 1989 Pawnee and I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. Happily, we were able to continue our banking relationship as Jerry Reeves had been transferred there as well. During the next year or so we expanded our customer base by going outside of our computer stores (now 4) to provide leasing to other computer retailers in northern Colorado. It was a gentleman named Dave Malucky, a one-man lease brokerage in Denver, though, that provided us our next chapter by introducing us to the lease broker market in 1990. That introduction would change the face of Pawnee forever.

For the next year or so we did a little business with local Colorado lease brokers while continuing on with our in-house lease program. As the stores matured, however, it was becoming clear that our lease program would not be sufficient to service the needs of our customers. Computer systems were expanding which meant the cost was as well and the typical $10,000 lease was now $25,000 and going higher. We had neither the financial strength nor the knowledge to service our stores. By servicing the broker community we could more closely match our lease purchases with our cash flow. By 1991 the stores accounted for less than 10% of our volume and had faded completely by 1993. Pawnee was committed to the broker market and we have not looked back since.

Our first significant brush with extinction came in late 1993. Century Bank had been our only bank and we had a seven figure revolving line with them, our only significant credit facility. This was a time in Colorado banking history when the "Minnesota Twins" arrived on the scene. First Bank and Norwest, both of Minneapolis, started purchasing many of the banking assets in Colorado and their actions set off a buying binge by other national banks that feared missing out on the Colorado market. Unfortunately for us Century Bank was purchased by Key Bank and our type of business was no longer welcome with the new organization. We had 90 days to pay off the note.

I had met Sam Leeper, a senior executive with Affiliated Banks of Colorado in 1991 when they provided a small line of credit for a leasing partnership we had formed. By late 1993 his bank had been purchased by Bank One and they were my plan for survival. Fortunately for us, the transition from Affiliated to Bank One had been difficult and longer than anticipated but by late 1993 Bank One was ready to do business and needed to make up for some lost time. In less than 45 days Sam and his team came through with a credit facility to replace Key Bank and to provide funds for expansion.

We grew with Sam and Bank One into the golden era of specialty finance where leasing companies were highly sought after and premiums were high. Every company has capital issues and they are either solved internally or you sell out to a larger organization that can provide the external solution. Pawnee needed more capital to fuel the growth and we had a suitor in early 1997 that could do that. I agreed to a buyout contingent on both of us performing due diligence. As is so often the case with founders; as the due diligence progressed I began to question whether my buyer was the kind of company I really wanted my employees and me to join. I thought our business model was superior to theirs. I thought our team was better than theirs. That kind of thinking was not going to produce harmony and we had a mutual understanding to terminate the discussions. No deal and we were back to looking for capital like a coyote looking for his next meal.

Sam, as our banker, was in the loop of my thinking and the progression of the buyout discussions. When it became clear that the deal was going nowhere, I suggested to him that we get together and talk about him joining us and helping Pawnee find additional capital. In June of 1997, Sam joined us and introduced Dick Monfort to Pawnee. We have just completed our fifth year together and it is a combination that has led to substantial growth in our portfolio, systems, and our financial sophistication.

So what now? We are going to keep doing what we know how to do, but do more of it. We are going to continue to serve our broker-partners by being the kind of partner we want for ourselves. We are going to continue to support the leasing associations and encourage others to do the same. We are learning how to do business more efficiently and passing that knowledge onto our broker-partners. I don't know what the next 20 years will bring, but I know it will have challenges where only a nimble, creative, innovative, and ethical organization can thrive and prosper. Pawnee Leasing Corporation is committed to being that kind of partner.

Recent Pawnee Story:
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2010/2_22.htm#pawnee

Classified Ads---Operations/Marketing

N. Phoenix, Arizona
Kathleen Gibbons-Erler. Eleven years experience in all office operations, including but not limited to lease processing. Excellent follow up skills. References on Linkedin.com.
kgibbons-erler@cox.net
Resume

Acton, MA
Strong experience in lease accounting, operations, & systems.
Implemented lease plus, great plains, networks.
Excellent financial reporting and analysis skills. Looking for new opportunity.
LinkedIn
lexanderZLenz@gmail.com | Resume

Philadelphia/Wilmington, DE
Experienced new business development/marketing professional with expertise in document imaging leasing; Major Account and independent dealer channel activation a strength. Will travel/relocate.
susan0618@aol.com
Resume

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

Other e-Mail Posting Sites:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Posting_sites.htm

FDIC Fourth Quarterly Report
--Earnings Break Even+/Leasing-Loans Down

Total loan and lease balances declined for the sixth quarter in a row, falling by $128.8 billion (1.7 percent). (Many I can hear say, “Oh, I thought it was worse!” Editor)

On the positive side:
Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported an aggregate profit of $914 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, a $38.7 billion improvement from the $37.8 billion net loss the industry sustained in the fourth quarter of 2008.

More than half of all institutions (50.3 percent) reported year-over-year improvements in their quarterly net income.

Not Good, but Not Bad:
Almost one-third of all institutions (32.7 percent) reported net losses for the quarter, compared to 34.6 percent a year earlier.

On the negative Side:
Lending fell in 2009 to $587 billion, down 7.5 percent from 2008. It was the largest yearly decline in U.S. bank lending since the 1940s, The Washington Post reported. The number of banks designated as at risk of failure increased to 702 during 2009, a 64 percent increase over the number of troubled banks at the close of 2008.

Asset quality indicators worsened in the fourth quarter. Net charge-offs (NCOs) totaled $53.0 billion, an increase of $14.4 billion (37.2 percent) over the same period in 2008. The annualized net charge-off rate rose to 2.89 percent, up from 1.95 percent a year earlier and 2.72 percent in the third quarter of 2009. This is the highest quarterly NCO rate reported by the industry in the 26 years for which quarterly NCO data are available.

Reserves for loan and lease losses increased by only $7.0 billion (3.2 percent) in the fourth quarter, as institutions added $8.1 billion more in loss provisions to their reserves than they took out in net charge-offs.

Slightly more than half of all insured institutions (52 percent) reported declining loan balances in the fourth quarter.

During the year, total industry assets declined by a net $731.7 billion (5.3 percent), the largest percentage decline in a year since the inception of the FDIC.

The economy may be in recovery, but many banks are not. FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair reported 140 banks failed last year and she expects more than that number will fail this year.

28 page Full Report:
http://leasingnews.org/PDF/Fourth_Quarter_Banking_Profile_FDIC.pdf

New Hires---Promotions

Brian Benz has joined First Business Capital Corp., Madison, Wisconsin, a part of First Business Financial Services as vice president – account executive. He has over 13 years of asset-based lending experience which includes four years at Bank of America Business Capital and five years at GE Capital. Brian received his Bachelor’s in Finance from Ball State University.

Deborah Brady was promoted to senior vice president and finance director, Key Equipment Finance, Boulder, Colorado.

She joined the company in 1988 as a senior accountant, becoming assistant accounting officer in 1990, pricing analyst in 1991, vice president and pricing manager in 1994, vice president of market development in 1997, and senior vice president of global pricing and economics in 2000. She earned her MBA in 2000 from the State University of New York at Albany, graduating there with a BS in accounting in 1988. She is a member of the LinkedIn Equipment Leasing Professionals and Women’s Vision Foundation.

Robin E. Dahlen, CAE, Meeting Expectations, was appointed executive director for the National Equipment Finance Association, Atlanta, Georgia. Meeting Expectations is the professional association management company hired to "provide service and support to NEFA members and the leadership team." Prior to joining Meeting Expectations, she worked in communications and marketing for several associations, including the Florida Podiatric Medical Association, the Florida Institute of CPAs and the State Bar of Georgia.

Ms. Dahlen has over 15 years of experience in association management and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Florida State University. She is also a member of the Georgia Society of Association Executives (GSAE) and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). In September 2007, she was named to GSAE’s list of "90 Movers & Shakers" for her participation and support of the association community in Georgia. She completed the Certified Association Executive (CAE) program in December 2008. The CAE credential is considered one of the highest professional credential in the association management profession and is administered by American Society of Association Executives.

Gary Murray has joined Creekridge Capital LLC, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Based in Dallas, Texas, he will be responsible for establishing relationships with manufacturers and dealers of healthcare and technology equipment in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas and Louisiana. He most recently with the Bank of the Ozarks and had previously been with De Lage Landen for nearly 20 years, where he served as district sales manager, specializing in Office Equipment solutions for dealers throughout the United States.

Kurts Strelnieks has joined First Business Capital Corp., Madison, Wisconsin, a part of First Business Financial Services as vice president – account executive. He has over 20 years of banking experience, primarily in asset-based lending. Past asset-based lending experience includes positions at Associated Commercial Finance, LaSalle Business Credit, Firstar Financial Services, and Norwest Business Credit. He graduated from Augsburg College with an accounting degree and the University of St. Thomas with an MBA. He has been a board member of local chapters of the Turnaround Management Association and Association for Corporate Growth.

Michael Valenti promoted to vice president of global pricing and economics, Key Equipment Finance, Boulder, Colorado.

He is located in Albany, New York. He joined Key Equipment Finance after graduating State University of New York at Albany in 2000 as an account manager, becoming senior pricing analyst in 2002 to director of domestic pricing and economics in 2006.

Sales makes it Happen

by Gerry Egan

“Listening to Zig Ziglar”

“Building a better you is the first step to building a better America.”
- Zig Ziglar

“Every choice you make has an end result.”
- Zig Ziglar

I don’t know about the younger folks among us but many salespeople of my vintage know, and grew up in sales listening to, Zig Ziglar. I listen to various sales and self-help podcasts each morning and right after I made my earlier post I sat down to do so today with my bagel and peanut butter, (yes, I know, but the 0.00001% of us in the world that like it REALLY like it!).

Serendipitously, one of Zig Ziglar’s classic messages about Respond vs. React came up on today’s rotation. It is SO worth listening to and is available absolutely free from his site. This has nothing to do with me or my business; I’m simply a beneficiary as I hope you can be too. Here’s a link to it:
http://zigziglar.libsyn.com/index.php?post_year=2009&post_month=02&post_day=04

The fact of the matter is we can’t do much about the funders like the one Dee sent her transaction to or anything else that’s going on at that level of the business. Decisions are being made that we’re unaware of but could be greatly impacted by. We can’t control them. All we can do is, as Zig Ziglar describes in that podcast, determine whether we react to them or whether we respond to them. His stories, always so entertaining, highlight the importance of controlling which we do as a way of controlling the impact things beyond our control have on us.

Personally, I’m trying daily to take that message to heart. I’m working hard these days learning whole new aspects of this business, whole new markets and ways of selling that I previously paid no attention to. I didn’t need to when things were going well. But many of the assumptions I labored under previously simply can’t be relied on right now. I’m not happy with that but it doesn’t appear I can change it, either. So, what I am trying to do is change how I look at things, change what I do each day so that I’m responding in a way that’s most favorable to me.

One thing that’s of invaluable help to me is things like the Zig Ziglar podcasts and many others that are freely available. If there’s not much activity going on, at least I can use some of my time to improve myself.

Take a listen to the one I listened to this morning. It’ll help. It’ll remind you that you do have control over the single most important aspect of our business –yourself.

…. Here’s a final thought. If you have links to other freely available audio, video, text self-help material that you find helpful, why not share them here?

See you in Atlanta!!!!!!!!

Gerry Egan
www.LearnLeasing.com
Phone: 919-790-1266
Email: GerryEgan@LearnLeasing.com

In sales we get paid the same for a maybe as we get paid for a no ---but a maybe takes longer to collect.

Gerry Egan since 1981 has been involved in Equipment Leasing training, education, and has written many articles. He is unique in his consulting profession as " We broker leases, hold our own leases and discount leases to local banks in addition to managing and servicing the leasing programs for a couple of small banks."

About Gerry Egan:
http://forequipmentleasing.com/Joomla/content/view/25/45/

Previous Sales Makes it Happen Articles:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Legacy/index.html

Leasing Association 2010 Conferences

March 19-21
NEFA Spring Conference
The Fairmont
Dallas, Texas
Events:
http://www.nefa.affiniscape.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=67
Sessions:
http://www.nefa.affiniscape.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=68
Registration:
https://m360.nefassociation.org/event.aspx?eventID=12407

April 13-15
ELFA National Funding Conference
Fairmont Hotel Chicago
Chicago, IL
Details:
http://www.elfaonline.org/pub/events/2010/NFE/

April 15-17
2010 NAELB Annual Conference
Omni Hotel at CNN Center
100 CNN Center
Atlanta, Georgia
Brochure:
http://www.naelb.org/associations/2004/files/2010%20NAELB%20Annual%20Conference%
20Registration%20Brochure.pdf

May 5-7,
AGLF/ELFA Public Sector Finance Forum
Westin Hotel, Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois

September 24-25
2010 NAELB Eastern Regional Meeting
Atlanta, Georgia

October 15-17
NEFA Funding Symposium Fall 2010
The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead
Atlanta, Georgia

October 24-26
ELFA 49th Annual Convention
Boca Raton Resort & Club
Boca Raton, Florida

November 12-13, 2010
NAELB Western Regional Meeting
Costa Mesa, California

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

To view Leasing Association Events-Meetings Open to All, please click here.

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

The Alta Group Expands, Moves to New Headquarters
Firm Now Has 44 Consultants Worldwide

RENO, NEV, --The Alta Group, global advisors to the equipment leasing and finance industry, has expanded and relocated its headquarters to Reno, Nevada, John C. Deane, founding principal of the consultancy, reported this week. The consulting firm, with offices in North America, Europe, Latin America and China, added 10 consultants last year for a total of 44 professionals who cover these regions, as well the Middle East, South Africa and the Asia-Pacific.

John C. Deane, Founding Principal

Mr. Deane reported that the firm has grown in size and in number of engagements with clients currently representing 27 percent of the prominent Monitor 100 companies.

“This is a critical time for many of our clients who are re-assessing where they are taking their companies, seeking to add value to current offerings, or evaluating new markets,” he said, noting that Alta’s business activity increased by more than 20% even while the economy and our industry were down in 2009.

Alta expanded its merger and acquisition (M&A) activity last year after the 2008 addition of Bruce Kropschot, Leasing News Founding Advisory Director, and the re-commitment of Tom Wajnert, both well-known industry veterans with expansive industry connections and experience.

Alta now has 16 consultants in North America alone, with the addition of two professionals added at the end of last year–Hugh Swandel and Murray Derraugh in Winnipeg, Canada. In addition, the Latin American division also had several high-level appointments (http://www.thealtagroup.com/latin-america/about/bios), and Alta also added members who are posted in France, Germany, and South Africa.

For more than 18 years, the firm has provided specialized management consulting, legal services, professional development and M&A services. Typical projects originating in North America include:

Optimizing Operations & Governance
Evaluating Market Opportunities
Succeeding in Entering New Markets
Improving Risk Managements
Expanding Through M&As
Increasing Sales Force Efficiency

These projects are described at Alta’s new global website, http://www.thealtagroup.com.

The Alta Group’s quarterly newsletter provides insight can be obtained at the Alta website at http://www.thealtagroup.com. Alta also hosts exclusive forums for clients engaged by the group, where ideas and opinions on business strategy specific to equipment leasing and finance are shared. Mr. Deane can be reached at jdeane@thealtagroup.com

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

Winston-Salem, North Carolina---Adopt-a-Dog

Leo

"Leo is always smiling. He is a very friendly guy and just loves his people and giving them kisses. He is high energy. He is crate trained and working on potty training. He was an outside dog, but he would prefer to be inside where he can be loved on. He can jump a fence like a deer, so he will need an extra high fence or to be walked on a leash. Leo loves other dogs, but they do not always appreciate him. Leo is all around wonderful."

Type: Dog/Adult
Adoption Fee: $125.00
Gender: M
Status: Available
Age: 1.5 Year(s)
Breed: American Eskimo (Spitz) Mix
Color: White with Brown Freckles
Medical: Healthy
Spay/Neuter: Neutered
Vaccinations: Current on vaccinations and deworming
Comments: High Fence/Leash Walking, Regular Brushing/Grooming
Description: 1-1/2 years old, Spitz mix, White with Brown Freckles

Forsyth Humane Society
61 Miller Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
(336) 721-1303

Hours: 11:30a to 6:00p Mon-Wed-Thurs-Fri, Closed on Tuesdays, 10:00a to 4:00p - Saturday, 1:00p to 4:00p - Sunday

How to Adopt:
http://www.forsythhumane.org/how_to_adopt.asp
http://www.forsythhumane.org/

Adopt-a-Pet by Leasing Co. State/City
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Adopt_Pet.htm

Adopt a Pet
http://www.adoptapet.com/

SEATTLE

Meet and learn from Mr. Terry Winders, CLP

Leasing #102 columnist for Leasing News,
long time educator and trainer

Sales and Operations
click here for course information and to register

April 12th until Noon on the 14th
Seattle, Washington
Hosted by Financial Pacific

$395.00 Paid in Advance for first person from company
$345 with each additional attendee

"Certified Leasing Professionals attending this seminar will earn CPEs (Continuing Professional Education)
Credits toward their recertification"

“Gimme that Wine”

Why superstar West Coast vintners don't (or won't) put out inexpensive bottles
http://www.slate.com/id/2244439/

Off-Premise Wine Sales Increase 5.1 Percent in January
http://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=71610

NY'ers favor wine sales from grocers
http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2010/02/22/daily5.html

Wine Sales Soar at Premiere Napa Valley Barrel-Futures Auction
http://www.napavintners.com/trade/tm_3_release_detail.asp?ID_News=2421054

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/

    1761 - James Otis voices opposition to English colonial rule in a speech before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. In 1761 the merchants of Boston hired attorney James Otis to give a speech against the writs of assistance a general warrant which was issued for the life of the sovereign to search "any House, shop, Cellar, Warehouse or Room or other Place. Customs officers could ask anyone to help with the writ, which was the reason for its name. Young attorney John Adams, who later became the second President of the United States, heard the speech, and was so inspired by it that he wrote a provision for the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights based on the arguments Mr. Otis made. The language later formed the basic language of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The battle against the writs of assistance, and the Otis speech, was one of the major opening chapters in the American colonists' struggles against tax tyranny that led to the American Revolution. The speech generated much excitement.
    1786 - Charles Cornwallis, whose armies had surrendered to US at Yorktown, was appointed governor-general of India.
    1803- Supreme Court first rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury vs Madison) This 1803 decision marked the first time the United States Supreme Court declared a federal law unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion for the court. He held that it was the duty of the judicial branch to determine what the law is. His opinion established the power of judicial review—that is, the court's authority to declare laws unconstitutional
http://www.stanley2002.org/marbury.htm
http://www.jmu.edu/madison/marbury/background.htm
    1811-Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne, sixth Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and a founder of Ohio's Wilberforce University, was born to free black parents in Charleston, South Carolina. Named for English abolitionist Lord William Wilberforce, Wilberforce University in Xenia, Ohio, was the first black-owned college in the United States. Payne was named the university's president in 1863, becoming the nation's first black college president.
http://www.amecnet.org/payne.htm
http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/payne70/frontis.html
    1836-Home Winslow Birthday; American artist born at Boston, MA. Noted for the realism of his work, from the Civil war reportage to the highly regarded rugged outdoor scenes of hunting and fishing. Died at his home at Prout's Neck, ME, Sept. 29, 1920.
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/homer.html
    1836-Texan Colonel William Travis sends a desperate plea for help for the besieged defenders of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, sending the message with the famous last words, "Victory or Death." On March 6, the Alamo , where 182 Texans were garrisoned was captured by the Mexican leader Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who had led over 3000 troops across the Rio Grande. Every Texan except a mother, a child, and a servant was killed. “Remember the Alamo” became a battle cry that brought Texans and friends from neighboring states together that eventually formed the Republic of Texas. The movie in the 1950's “Davey Crockett,” would bring the event to worldwide attention as he died in the Alamo along with Colonel Travis, making the “Bowie” knife and coonskin cap famous ( as a point of history, Crockett never wore a coonskin cap. He was a former legislator and well-educated man for his time, not a hick or country bumpkin as the role Fess Parker made famous. )
1852 -the Susquehanna River ice bridge at Havre de Grace, Maryland began to break up after 40 days of use. A total of 1738 loaded freight cars were hauled along the rails laid on the ice.
    1857- Los Angeles Vineyard Society organized by two men in San Francisco named Charles Kohler and James Frohling, who were looking for an area to establish a vineyard colony. Kohler and Frohling, with a group of German immigrants, formed the Los Angeles Vineyard Society on February 24, 1857. George Hansen, a Los Angeles surveyor, was selected to find an ideal site for their planned community. He found it on the Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana, which was then in Los Angeles County. Plans were formed for the new town, which was named "Anaheim," but known to their Spanish-speaking neighbors as "Campo Aleman." Although the first settlers arrived in town in 1859, it was not until 1870 that the city was first organized as a municipality.
http://www.anaheim.net/depts_servc/police/history/intro.htm
    1860 -- Printer Daniel Berkeley Updike born, Providence, Rhode Island. (founder of Merrymount Press) he influences the world of typography with his two-volume Printing Types — Their History, Forms & Use.
http://www.oakknoll.com/pressrel/types.html
    1863-Arizona becomes its own territory.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb24.html
    1864- Battle of Tunnel Hill GA (Buzzard's Roost). This started as a skirmish on February 22 but grew into a battle that lasted until February 25
http://bachelorsgrove.com/archive/obituaries/info/jamfuller/stories/index4.html
http://www.northga.net/whitfield/tunnel.html
http://roadsidegeorgia.com/city/tunnelhill.html
http://www.ganet.org/civilwar/georgia.html#anchor221032
    1867-Impeach President Andrew Johnson: In a showdown over reconstruction policy following the Civil War, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson. During the two years following the end of the war, the Republican-controlled Congress had sought to severely punish the South. Congress passed the Reconstruction Act that divided the South into five military districts headed by officers who were to take their orders from General Grant, the head of the army, instead of from President Johnson. In addition, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which required Senate approval before Johnson could remove any official whose appointment was originally approved by the Senate. Johnson vetoed this act but the veto was overridden by Congress. To test the constitutionality of the act, Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, triggering the impeachment vote. While Johnson was not pro civil rights, he was pro South ( in fact, one of his last acts of office in December was to pardon Jefferson Davis, who was on trial for treason) . Stanton was very much anti-South and harbored many ill feelings, basically because of his blundering of military assignments to “society” generals. .On Mar 5,1868, the Senate convened as a court to hear the charges against the President. The Senate vote of 35—19 fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed for impeachment. Thus the South became Dixie Democrats until modern times. The 1868 presidential election was close, with Ulysses S. Grant's popular majority a scant 306,000 out of 5,7175,000 votes, although the electoral vote was 214 to Republican Horatio Seymour. The black vote, which totaled over 700,000, decided the election for Grant. In 1872, Grant beat Republican Candidate Horace Greely 3,597,132 to 2,384,124 for Greely; electoral votes 286 to 66. History changed and the Democratic Dixiecrat destroyed reconstruction and controlled the house with an inside deal to give. The election had been thrown back to congress before, such as the one between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson. This was the first time the nation faced a dispute over the results of a presidential election. A candidate needed 185 electoral votes to win and Samuel J. Tilden the Democratic candidate, clearly had 184. In dispute were the 19 electoral votes of three states till under carpetbag rule---Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina---plus one vote in Oregon. In Congress both parties agreed on January 29, 1877 to establish an electoral commission to decide the issue. The commission, with five members from each house of Congress, and five members from the Supreme Court, was made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats. All the commission's decisions were to fall along party lines. On March 2, Congress accepted the commission's decision, which awarded all the disputed votes to the Republican candidate , Rutherford B. Hayes, who thus received 185 electoral votes to Tilden's 184. The Republicans were accused of offering southern Democrats economic favors for their region if they supported Hayes's claim. In any event, the new president showed a conciliatory attitude toward the South: all the programs in place that had elected blacks to office, given them property and protection were removed, and the last federal troops were withdrawn and there was no further effort to protect the rights of blacks. Reconstruction was over.
    1868- 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile AL)
http://www.fabuloustravel.com/usa/mardigras/almardigras.html
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/6483/mg1.html
http://www.mglinks.com/mg101.htm
http://www.mglinks.com/
    1891 -The term "honky tonk" introduced, appearing in an Oklahoma paper, The Daily Ardorite, which reports "the honk-a-tonk last night was well attended." The word is most likely a Creole derivative, but could not find a definitive source. “Honkey” or "Honkie" might be its original source or a “spin-off.”
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/199703/1997.03.05.06.html
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/216.html
    1895- Cuban war of independence begins.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/1895/chronology.htm
http://www.autentico.org/oa09313.html
http://www.historyofcuba.com/cuba.htm
    1897- Emile Berliner took out a Canadian patent on his gramophone talking machine. Manufacturing facilities were set up in Montreal. Berliner had built a crude model of his machine ten years earlier at his home laboratory in Washington, DC, and he applied for a US patent on it on September 26th, 1887. Today the terms "gramophone" and "phonograph" mean the same thing. But in Berliner's day this was not so. "Gramophone" referred to a talking machine employing lateral-cut discs, while the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison, used vertical-cut cylinders. Berliner's discs eventually made Edison's cylinders obsolete. Berliner also invented the microphone, which we still use today.
http://www.invention.org/electronic-music/berliner.html
    1905 -the temperature at Valley Head, Alabama fell to 18 degrees below zero. This was the coldest temperature ever recorded in Alabama until January 30, 1966 when it reached -27 at New Market.
    1909-The Hudson Motor Car Company, founded by Joseph Hudson, in Detroit, Michigan, was incorporated. Hudson is perhaps most famous for its impact on NASCAR racing, which it accomplished thanks to a revolutionary design innovation.
    1910-Arranger/Pianist Clyde Hart born Baltimore, MD, died March,1945
http://www.centrohd.com/biogra/h1/clyde_hart_b.htm
(Ben Webster talks about Clyde Hart:
http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/BenWebster.htm
http://www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/ww2/1939/jive_txt.htm
(CD had Clyde Hart All-stars with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie)
http://www.geocities.com/ladenso1/RBird/RepliestoKLONBird3_2_.html
Una Mae Carlise Orchestra
http://www.welwyn11.freeserve.co.uk/LY_smallgps.htm
    1912-Hadassah: Twelve members of the Daughters of Zion Study Circle met at New York City under the leadership of Nerietta Szoid. A constitution was drafted to expand the study group into a national organization called Hadassah (Hebrew for “myrtle” ) and the biblical name of Queen Esther) to foster Jewish education in America and to create public health nursing and nurses training in Palestine. Hadassah is now the largest women's volunteer organization in the US with 1,500 chapters rooted in health care delivery, education and vocational training, children's villages and services and land reclamation in Israel.
    1912 -- Labor activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn heads "Bread & Roses" Lawrence Textile Strike of 20,000 women in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Police attack 150 children & their parents at the town railroad station. Many strikers are sending their kids to safe homes with friendly families in other cities. The exodus has generated so much publicity that Lawrence authorities have resolved to crush it. Today they force 35 women & their children into patrol wagons. After charging the women with neglect & handing jail sentences & fines to the organizers, the town fathers send 10 of the kids to the Lawrence poor farm. This prompts only more publicity, forcing Congress to investigate the strike. Sixteen children will testify, describing the poverty that led them to leave school & take jobs in the mill. The American Woolen Company will have no choice but to yield to the strikers' demands.
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5202/rebelgirl.html
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45b/index-a.html
    1921-Abe Vigoda birthday, actor ( “Barney Miller,” “Fish.”), born New York, NY.
http://www.zxcproductions.com/web/Abe/abe.html
http://www.tvland.com/shows/barneymiller/actor1.jhtml
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800022099&cf=biog&intl=us
    1927-West Coast bassist Ralph Pena born Jarbridge, NV. He played with Pete Jolly and was also popular at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California, where we saw him play often with many jazz groups. Died, 1969.
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,478135,00.html?artist=Ralph+Pena
    1928 -- In its first show to feature a Black artist, the New Gallery of New York exhibits works of Archibald Motley.
    1932-composer Michel Legrand born Paris, France
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Legrand,+Michel
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005YW0W/inktomi-musicasin-20/
102-1682336-8966565
    1933-Tenor Sax David “Fathead” Newman Birthday
http://www.davidfatheadnewman.com/
http://www.interneted.com/Reviewpages/newmandaviddaveyblue.htm
http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/ah/fathead/david_fathead.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000333E/avsearch-df1-9-20/
102-1682336-8966565
    1933-Tenor Sax David “Fathead” Newman Birthday
http://www.davidfatheadnewman.com/
http://www.interneted.com/Reviewpages/newmandaviddaveyblue.htm
http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/ah/fathead/david_fathead.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000333E/avsearch-df1-9-20/
102-1682336-8966565
    1936 - Vermont and New Hampshire received brown snow due to dust from storms in the Great Plains Region. A muddy rain fell across parts of northern New York State. (24th-25th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
    1940 - On Decca Records, Frances Langford recorded "When You Wish Upon a Star" during a session held in Los Angeles, California. Many artists have recorded that particular song, including Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra in the early 1980s. The song can also be heard in the opening credits of any Disney movie, video or television program.
    1941- '60s pop singer Joanie Sommers birthday.
http://www.grillecloth.com/sommers/sommers.html
http://www.homestead.com/joaniesommers/
    1942- Harry James records “Trumpet Blues( and Cantabile)-Col. 36549
    1942 -- The Army, mistaking a weather balloon that strayed over Los Angeles for a Japanese bomber, unleashes a saturation antiaircraft barrage. Three civilians are trampled to death in the attending panic, and dozens more injured by falling shrapnel. The Japanese later in the war deployed large balloons with bombs, most landed in Oregon and Northern California, causing damage, but was kept out of the news, and the Japanese thinking they were not effective, ended the program. The press was told not to print any stories as if the Japanesse learned how effective and inexpensive it was for them to release balloons with bombs in the jet stream, it may have destroyed many cities on the West Coast.
    1943 - The Human Comedy, a novel written by William Saroyan, was published on this date in New York.
http://www.housecollectibles.com/highschool/catalog/display.pperl?0440339332
http://www.cilicia.com/armo22_william_saroyan_3.html
    1943 - George Harrison Birthday: (Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer, former Beatle: My Sweet Lord, Isn't It a Pity, What is Life?, All Those Years Ago, Concert for Bangla-Desh; actor: A Hard Day's Night, Help!, The Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, Let It Be, The Concert for Bangladesh, Shanghai Surprise, You Can't Do That! The Making of ‘A Hard Day's Night'; Harrison believed for most of his life his birthday was Feb 25 but a family birth record has his birth at near 11:50 p.m. Feb 24; died Nov 29, 2001)
    1944 --"Merrill's Marauders" hit Burma The Marauders' mission began with a 1,000-mile walk through dense jungle, without artillery support, into Burma. On February 24, 1944, they began their Burmese campaign, which, when done, consisted of five major and 30 minor engagements with a far more numerous Japanese enemy. They had to carry their supplies on their backs and on pack mules, and were resupplied only with airdrops in the middle of the jungle. Merrill's Marauders succeeded in maneuvering behind Japanese forces to cause the disruptions necessary to throw the enemy into confusion. They were so successful, the Marauders managed even to capture the Myitkyina Airfield in northern Burma.
    1947-Bass player Bob Magnusson born New York City, NY,
http://www.theiceberg.com/artist/24649/bob_magnusson/
http://www.emusic.com/cd/10600/10600220.html?fref=148694
    1949-First rocket to reach outer space was a two-stage rocked consisting of a Wac Corporal set in the nose of a captured German V-2. It was fired from the White Sands Proving Ground, NM, by a team of scientists under Dr. Wernher von Braun. It reached an altitude of 250 miles.
    1951—Top Hits
If - Perry Como
My Heart Cries for You - Guy Mitchell
Tennessee Waltz - Patti Page
There's Been a Change in Me - Eddy Arnold
    1955 - Ike Eisenhower met with newspaper publisher Roy Howard and expressed his resistance under pressure to commit American troops to Vietnam. The conversation was recorded on a dictabelt machine that Eisenhower had secretly installed in the president’s office.
    1955-Steven Jobs birthday, co-founder of Apple Computer company, born Los Altos, CA. Jobs, the controversial co-founder of Apple Computer, started out selling his friend Stephen Wozniak's computers door-to-door at electronic hobbyist shops. By 1979, Apple Computer had become the fastest growing company in history, worth more than $1 billion. That year, Jobs led a team of several Apple developers, working on a new project called Lisa, on a visit to Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where the team saw the Alto, an early computer with a graphical user interface using icons, a mouse, and built-in networking capacity. Both the Lisa and the Macintosh adopted key elements of the Alto. Jobs, whose impulsive personal style irritated some of Apple's key managers, was forced to leave Apple in 1985. He formed NeXT Inc., became president of Pixar animation studios, and returned to Apple in 1997 as acting president. He turned both ventures into giant money making companies, winning awards, dominating the music market with the iPod. The company changed their name to Apple to reflect their diversification.
    Jobs is credited with the company's tremendous success. Under his direction the company grew from computers to portable music players, portable wireless telephones, and now the IPAD, which will revolutionize the printing industry as Jobs did to both the music industry and telephone/web industry. The Apple computer is considered the finest by architects, graphic designers, and web designers, as well as other aficionados’. Jobs was also the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios until it was acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 2006. Jobs is currently the Walt Disney Company's largest individual shareholder and a member of its Board of Directors.
    1956- Need an adult to dance in Cleveland: Now the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, invoked a 1931 law barring people under 18 from dancing publicly without an adult guardian.
    1959---Top Hits
Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price
Donna - Ritchie Valens
The All American Boy - Bill Parsons
Don't Take Your Guns to Town - Johnny Cash
    1963-The Rolling Stones take over as the Sunday house band at the Station Hotel, near London. They are paid £24 ($67) to entertain a crowd of 66 people.
    1967--WILBANKS, HILLIARD A. Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Air Force, 21st. Tactical Air Support Squadron, Nha Trang AFB, RVN. Place and date: Near Dalat, Republic of Vietnam, 24 February 1967. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 26 July 1933, Cornelia, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. As a forward air controller Capt. Wilbanks was pilot of an unarmed, light aircraft flying visual reconnaissance ahead of a South Vietnam Army Ranger Battalion. His intensive search revealed a well-concealed and numerically superior hostile force poised to ambush the advancing rangers. The Viet Cong, realizing that Capt. Wilbanks' discovery had compromised their position and ability to launch a surprise attack, immediately fired on the small aircraft with all available firepower. The enemy then began advancing against the exposed forward elements of the ranger force which were pinned down by devastating fire. Capt. Wilbanks recognized that close support aircraft could not arrive in time to enable the rangers to withstand the advancing enemy, onslaught. With full knowledge of the limitations of his unarmed, unarmored, light reconnaissance aircraft, and the great danger imposed by the enemy's vast firepower, he unhesitatingly assumed a covering, close support role. Flying through a hail of withering fire at treetop level, Capt. Wilbanks passed directly over the advancing enemy and inflicted many casualties by firing his rifle out of the side window of his aircraft. Despite increasingly intense antiaircraft fire, Capt. Wilbanks continued to completely disregard his own safety and made repeated low passes over the enemy to divert their fire away from the rangers. His daring tactics successfully interrupted the enemy advance, allowing the rangers to withdraw to safety from their perilous position. During his final courageous attack to protect the withdrawing forces, Capt. Wilbanks was mortally wounded and his bullet-riddled aircraft crashed between the opposing forces. Capt. Wilbanks' magnificent action saved numerous friendly personnel from certain injury or death. His unparalleled concern for his fellow man and his extraordinary heroism were in the highest traditions of the military service, and have reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.
    1967 -Top Hits
Kind of a Drag - The Buckinghams
Love is Here and Now You're Gone - The Supremes
The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher
Where Does the Good Times Go - Buck Owens
    1969--LEVITOW, JOHN L. Medal of Honor
    Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, 3d Special Operations Squadron. place and date: Long Binh Army post, Republic of Vietnam, 24 February 1969. Entered service at: New Haven, Conn. Born: 1 November 1945, Hartford, Conn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Levitow (then A1c.), U.S. Air Force, distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while assigned as a loadmaster aboard an AC-47 aircraft flying a night mission in support of Long Binh Army post. Sgt. Levitow's aircraft was struck by a hostile mortar round. The resulting explosion ripped a hole 2 feet in diameter through the wing and fragments made over 3,500 holes in the fuselage. All occupants of the cargo compartment were wounded and helplessly slammed against the floor and fuselage. The explosion tore an activated flare from the grasp of a crewmember who had been launching flares to provide illumination for Army ground troops engaged in combat. Sgt. Levitow, though stunned by the concussion of the blast and suffering from over 40 fragment wounds in the back and legs, staggered to his feet and turned to assist the man nearest to him who had been knocked down and was bleeding heavily. As he was moving his wounded comrade forward and away from the opened cargo compartment door, he saw the smoking flare ahead of him in the aisle. Realizing the danger involved and completely disregarding his own wounds, Sgt. Levitow started toward the burning flare. The aircraft was partially out of control and the flare was rolling wildly from side to side. Sgt. Levitow struggled forward despite the loss of blood from his many wounds and the partial loss of feeling in his right leg. Unable to grasp the rolling flare with his hands, he threw himself bodily upon the burning flare. Hugging the deadly device to his body, he dragged himself back to the rear of the aircraft and hurled the flare through the open cargo door. At that instant the flare separated and ignited in the air, but clear of the aircraft. Sgt. Levitow, by his selfless and heroic actions, saved the aircraft and its entire crew from certain death and destruction. Sgt. Levitow's gallantry, his profound concern for his fellowmen, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.
    1969- Johnny Cash recorded his second live prison performance, this one at San Quentin, Marin County, California. It followed a concert the previous year at Folsom Prison. The LP "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" topped the Billboard pop and country charts. It also contained the hit single "A Boy Named Sue."
http://www.canoe.ca/JamAlbumsC/cash_johnny_sanquentin.html
    1970- Quarterback Jeff Garcia birthday, born Gilroy, CA.
    1971--Janis Joplin's "Pearl" goes gold.
    1972-Birthday Manon Rheaume - The first woman to play in a professional hockey game. MR was goaltender when Canada won the 1992 and '94, world championships as a member of Canada's women's national team and was MVP of both tournaments. In 1986 she goaled the national team to the Olympic silver. " In 1992, Rheaume made sports history by appearing in an NHL exhibition game for the Tampa Bay Lightning, thus becoming the first female to play in a major professional sport. She continued her pro hockey career with various men's minor league teams but in 1995, she turned to professional roller hockey playing for the New Jersey Rock 'n Rollers." Small for her position, she is 5' 6" with a playing weight of 130 lbs.
    1973-With Roger McGuinn remaining the only original member, The Byrds made their final live appearance when they played at The Capitol Theatre, in Passaic, New Jersey.
    1973 - Roberta Flack's “Killing Me Softly With His Song” jumped to Number 1 on Billboard's hit record charts, and remained there for 5 weeks. It was rumored that the subject of her song was folk singer Don McLean. Actually it was not, as the original singer was “inspired” by the song and got the songwriter to make a few changes, but it was Roberta Flack who heard the song and decided she wanted to also record it.
http://www.superseventies.com/1973_9singles.html
    1975---Top Hits
Pick Up the Pieces - AWB
Best of My Love - The Eagles
Some Kind of Wonderful - Grand Funk
I Care - Tom T. Hall
    1976- the Eagles "Greatest Hits" became the first LP in the US to be certified platinum - two-million copies sold.
    1979-The Jefferson Starship releases the greatest hits LP "Gold" which eventually makes the top-20 on Billboard's LP chart.
    1980—Hockey Teams Wins Gold: Two days after defeating the Soviet Union 4-3, the US hockey team won the gold medal at the XIIIth Winter Olympic Games by beating Finland, 4-2.
    1981-School Headmistress and Socialite Jean Harris is convicted of murdering "The Scarsdale Diet" doctor, Herman Tarnower. Harris and Tarnower had been a couple since they met in 1966. However, Tarnower was a notorious womanizer who never followed through on his vague promises to marry the 56-year-old Harris. In the late 1970s, Harris discovered that Tarnower was having an affair with a younger woman. Nonetheless, she assisted him in writing and editing The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet, which became a surprise sensation, earning Tarnower wealth and fame. Harris later claimed that she went there with suicidal intentions. However, the fact that Tarnower was shot four times seemed to belie her defense. Rather than maintain that she had killed in the heat of the moment, which would have dealt a manslaughter conviction, Harris insisted that the shooting was an accident. Her gamble (or insistence on principle) failed when the jury convicted her of murder and gave her a life sentence. Harris was a model prisoner who used every opportunity to bring attention to the plight of women prisoners. She wrote the well- received “They Always Call Us Ladies” in 1988, and finally won parole in 1993.
    1981 -Boston Celtics begin 18 NBA game win streak
http://www.pataky.net/NBAFinals.asp
http://sporting.oneofakindantiques.com/2085_boston_celtics_basketball_from
_1980_to_1981_4.htm
http://members.tripod.com/opey3/celtics.html
    1982-Wayne Gretzky, 21-year-old center for the Edmonton Oilers, scored his 77 th goal of the season against the Buffalo Sabres to break Phil Esposito's single-season goal-scoring record. With Esposite, who had scored 76 goals in the 1970-71 season, in attendance, Gretzky stole the puck and broke a 3-3 tie with seven minutes to play. He added two more goals in the game's final two minutes and finished the season with 92 goals.
    1982-The 1981 Grammy Award winners are announced. Kim Carnes wins Record and Song of the Year with "Bette Davis Eyes," while John Lennon and Yoko Ono win Album of the Year with "Double Fantasy."
    1983 – Dow Jones average for the first time closed above the 1100 mark, after the stock market moved 24.87 points to close at 1121.81. In 1972, the 1100 plateau had been reached, but a rally could not keep the benchmark high at that point until the end of the trading day.
    1983---Top Hits
Baby, Come to Me - Patti Austin with James Ingram
Shame on the Moon - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Stray Cat Strut - Stray Cats
Faking Love - T.G. Sheppard & Karen Brooks
    1985 - Quarterback Doug Flutie played his first professional game, leading the New Jersey Generals against Birmingham, to a 38-28 loss. The former Boston College star had a rough start in his USFL debut, but completed 12 of 18 passes in the game's fourth quarter. I bring this up as he is my double cousin on my mother's side ( son of my mother's sister's son.)
http://www.dougflutiejrfoundation.org/
http://members.aol.com/Argonuter/
    1985 - Yul Brynner reprised his "The King and I" role, setting an all-time box office weekly receipt record when the show took in $520,920.
    1987-Not a Welk Tune: A spokeswoman for bandleader Lawrence Welk said some Welk fans who bought his "Polka Party" compact disc ended up with the punk rock soundtrack to the movie "Sid and Nancy." The Welk Enterprises office in Los Angeles fielded several telephone calls from upset fans. The CD's apparently were mislabeled at the factory in Japan.
    1987 - The Los Angeles Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, got his first three-point shot. At this date, the leading scorer in NBA history had reached 36,000 points, but until now, Kareem never scored over two at a time.
    1987-The 1986 Grammys are awarded: Paul Simon's "Graceland" wins Best Album; Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" wins Best Record and Bruce Hornsby and the Range win Best New Artist.
    1987-the massive winter storm continued to pound the western US In southern California, Big Bear was blanketed with 17 inches of snow and Lake Hughes reported 4 inches in one hour. Snow pellets whitened coastal areas of Orange and San Diego counties with 3 inches falling at Huntington Beach. Thunderstorms producing hail and waterspouts also occurred. In Colorado, Purgatory was buried under 62 inches of snow over a 4 day period and Colorado Springs had 14.8 inches in 24 hours to set a 24 hour snowfall record for February.
    1988 - Strong winds produced snow squalls in the Great Lakes Region which created "white-out" conditions in eastern Upper Michigan. Squalls produced up to 14 inches of snow in Geauga County of northeastern Ohio.
    1988-Matt Nykanen of Finland, having already finished first in the 70-and 90-meter ski jumping events, won an unprecedented third gold medal in Nordic skiing when the Finnish team won the new 90-meter team jumping competition.
    1989-Jerry Jones Buys Dallas Cowboys: Jerry Jones announced the he had reached an agreement to buy the Dallas Cowboys from H.R. “Bum” Bright and that he had replaced Tom Landry, the only head coach in Dallas history, with University of Miami coach Jimmy Johnson.
    1989 - A total of thirty-three cities in the eastern U.S. reported new record low temperatures for the date, and an Atlantic coast storm spread heavy snow from Georgia to southern New England. Snowfall totals in New Jersey ranged up to 24 inches in May County, with 19 inches reported at Atlantic City. Totals in North Carolina ranged up to 18 inches in Gates County, and winds along the coast of North Carolina gusted to 70 mph at Duck Pier. Strong winds gusting to 52 mph created blizzard conditions at Chatham MA.
    1990 - Strong northerly winds prevailed from Illinois to the Southern and Central Appalachians. Winds gusted to 68 mph at Sewickley Heights PA. High winds caused considerable blowing and drifting of snow across northern and central Indiana through the day. Wind gusts to 47 mph and 6 to 8 inches of snow created white-out conditions around South Bend IN. Traffic accidents resulted in two deaths and 130 injuries. Sixty-five persons were injured in one accident along Interstate 69 in Huntington County. Wind gusts to 60 mph and 4 to 8 inches of snow created blizzard conditions in eastern and northern Ohio. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
    1991 - In the Gulf War, the ground campaign began with an allied night attack. More than 14,000 Iraqis were captured in the first 24 hours of fighting. The Persian Gulf War, codenamed Operation Desert Storm, authorized by the U.N. and led by the U.S. began with an all-out air war against Iraq on January 15, 1991. Its objective was to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, which Iraq had occupied since August 2, 1990. Ground action began February 24 and three days later President George Bush halted the fighting with Iraqi forces routed. Iraq agreed to destroy its facilities for making chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons, but stalled the actual carrying out of the relevant UN resolution American casualties were 146 dead and 467 wounded. Iraq set fires to all the oil wells, gutted the hospitals, stole jewelry, automobiles, anything they could carry or drive. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey, all US allies in the Persian Gulf War, wanted the US presence out of the area as soon as possible.
    1991—Top Hits
All the Man that I Need - Whitney Houston
One More Try - Timmy -T-
Someday - Mariah Carey
Walk on Faith - Mike Reid
    1992-- GM loses $4.45 billion: The greatest loss by a US company was suffered by the world's largest industrial company, General Motors Corporation, who announced they had a $4.45 billion loss for the year 1991.
    1992-The U.S. Postal Service unveils 2 versions of its proposed Elvis stamp for fans to vote on. Eventually, the younger Elvis wins and is issued on January 8, 1993
    1992 -as of 2:45 am CST, International Falls, Minnesota had recorded 29.5 inches of snow for the month with snow still falling. This set a new monthly snowfall record for February. The old record was 29.0 inches set back in 1911. A new record was also set for winter season snowfall (Dec-Feb) with 68.5 inches. The old record was 67.9 inches.
    1993- British rock legend Eric Clapton, who had been virtually ignored in the Grammy Awards for most of his career, won six Grammys, including the music industry's three major awards - record, album and song of the year. Clapton was honored for his album "Unplugged," and the song "Tears in Heaven." Clapton wrote "Tears in Heaven" as a tribute to his infant son Conor, who died in 1991 when he fell out a window in Clapton's 53rd floor New York apartment.
    1998-Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in front of his parents and his partner David Furnish.
    1998 – Andrew Boccelli, already an international singing sensation, released his second album, Bocelli, by Sugar Music. The album achieved double- platinum in Italy, sextuple platinum in Belgium, and quadruple platinum in both Germany and the Netherlands. His single song "Con te Partiro" topped the charts for 6 weeks in France, earning a triple-gold sales award. In Belgium, it became the biggest hit of all time, with 12 weeks at the top.
    1998 – Henny Youngman, legendary comedian, at age 91, died in Manhattan following a debilitating bout of flu. Youngman, often called "King of the One-Liners" was best known for his trademark "Take my wife, please!" Using that line since the 1930's, he continued after his beloved wife Sadie died in 1987.
http://www.iei.net/~liz/young.htm
http://www.comedycity.com/henny_youngman/
    1999 - Radio shock jock Doug Tracht, known as "Greaseman", was suspended indefinitely and then ultimately fired for a race-related remark made on station WARW-FM in Washington, D.C. On that morning's radio show, Tracht had noted that the Grammy Awards ceremony were scheduled for that evening and played a portion of a song by Lauryn Hill, a young black hip-hop artist nominated for 10 Grammys. Then he commented, "No wonder people drag them behind trucks." The reference was to the torture and death in Texas of James Byrd, Jr., a black man decapitated while being dragged behind a pickup truck. John William King, a white supremacist, was convicted of murder the previous day in the case. Tracht faxed a one-paragraph statement: "I'm truly sorry for the pain and hurt I have caused with my unfeeling comment. I have no excuse for my remark, and regret it. If I could take it back I would. In the course of my show, split second judgment is made over ad-libs. This remark was a grave error in my judgment." A statement from the station announcing Tracht's firing apologized to listeners who were offended. "While we will always strongly support the right of our on-air artists to express a wide range of opinions, even those that are unpopular or offensive to some, WARW cannot be associated with the trivialization of an unspeakable act of violence," the statement read.
    1999-- At the annual Grammy awards ceremony in the Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, hip- hop star Lauryn Hill broke a record for female artists, winning five Grammy Awards for her album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hill's five wins in one night - album of the year, best new artist, female rhythm and blues vocal, R & B song for Doo Wop (That Thing), and R & B album - topped the four Grammys won by Carole King in 1971 for Tapestry.
    2002- XIX winter Olympics closes in Salt Lake City UT/Québec City
http://www.utah.com/olympics/http://www.saltlake2002.com/
http://anythingkiss.tripod.com/xix_olympics.html

Winter Poem

An Alabama Christmas Wish

by Barry S. Marks, Esq.

There should be snow
because we live apart.
There should be snow so
it will be more like Christmas.

There should be snow to
fur the trees with cold crystal down
and let us keep track of our steps,
to dust our heads and give
substance to the air,
to make walking an adventure.

There should be snow for the sake
of 4-wheel drive SUV’s
and as an insult to the other ones.
There should be snow to make people
put down shopping bags and use their arms
for better things.

There should be snow so that my daughters
will have a hot chocolate/comic book
day off from school, so that the city will be
Currier and Ived, a happy postcard
where cars don’t work, chimneys smoke,
and the 21st Century gives it a rest.

There should be snow
for snowmen
and snow angels
and snowball wars
and it tastes good, too.

There should be snow to shrink
our overbig world
of too many options,
too many miles,
too many differences between your Christian
and my Jew, your tree and my menorah
to one warm welcome home,
one room, one fireplace
and the Christmas we make
in each other’s arms.

Barry Poems and readings are available at this
web site: www.churndashpress.com

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