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Sales Makes It Happen by Jim Acee

Cold calling tips for Leasing Sales Reps

Let’s face it, cold calling for new business is one of the most emotionally draining activities you must do as a leasing sales rep and that’s why it so easy to avoid. It’s akin to a Girl Scouts selling cookies at the Adkins Diet Clinic: you are going to hear a whole lot of ‘No’ before you will ever get a ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to secure a meeting with a dealer principal as an outside sales rep, or gain the commitment to get a look at a deal as an inside rep. Cold calling is the most important thing you must do as a leasing sales rep, yet it is the easiest to avoid. We always have customer problems to handle, deals to document or some report our boss wants by the end of the day as excuses to put off the cold calling until tomorrow. No matter how you slice it, cold calling should be a regular part of your day to day or weekly activities, and like it or not, you’ve must do it to be successful at your job.

One of the best tips I have received is to deliver the check to the vendor and/or signed documents to the lessee. Then, after doing so, visit the neighbors and let them know you just delivered a check to so and so, their neighbor , and ask, “Can I be of any help.” It gives you creditability, plus a recommendation, and as important, if they know the neighbor well and ask about you, you should be more welcome on your next visit.

The first step to being good at cold calling is to get through to the right person. Below are a few of the techniques I coached my sales teams to use when cold calling:

Schedule a daily/weekly appointment on your Outlook or CRM calendar for a cold calling session, and make sure to keep the appointment!
Most experts agree that cold calling on Mondays and Fridays are unproductive. I have found that the best time to catch owners and sales managers in the office is before 8 AM or after 4 PM when they tend to be in the office.
Have your cold call list ready with the company name, prospect name and the phone numbers of all the people you are going to call during that session. Don’t get side tracked looking up phone numbers and contact names or just scrolling through your CRM. Take the time to do research on your targets beforehand.
Have a script with a list of questions to ask your prospective customer. This is especially important for new sales reps, as it will help you not sound like you just fell off the turnip truck.
Use ‘transferred credibility’ – prospective customers’ defenses will be lowered if you reference other current customers they may know, or better yet, get a referral from one of your loyal customers. Customer referrals can be generated by asking “Are there any other companies you know of that would benefit from our service?” If you don’t ask for referrals you will never get any.
You will invariably get your prospect’s voice mail. Assume that your prospect will not call you back. Leaving a message just gives the prospect the heads up to block you the next time they see your number pop up on their phone.
Just assume that you are going to get blocked by your prospect’s administrative assistant. It’s their job to filter out the myriad of junk calls their boss gets each day. I advise you to always be up front and tell them why you are calling. Treat them with the utmost respect, they are the lock on the door you are trying to open.
If your prospect is always ‘in a meeting’, I suggest you try reaching them early in the morning before their assistant gets to their desk. Typically, the phone will ring directly to the boss when their assistant is not there first thing in the morning.
Another technique to get directly to your prospect is call into the company receptionist and ask for accounts receivable. You will always get transferred, as the receptionist assumes you have questions on your invoice. When accounts receivable answers the phone, tell them that you were transferred to them by mistake and are looking for your prospect. Ask them to transfer you.
Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. If you’ve called the same person a half dozen times and get the proverbial ‘they’re in a meeting, would you like to leave a message’ it may just be time to target someone else in the company. Try the VP of Sales or the CFO.

Jim Acee
(m) 484-883-9618
jjacee@verizon.net
He has a rich background, serving as
DLL Country Sales Manager;
Vice President, Syndication Buy Desk;
Vice President, Field Sales, Wells Fargo Capital Finance;
Managing Director, Vendor Leasing, US Bank;
Director of Sales, US Bancorp (formerly BCL). https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-acee-578a03b

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Leasing News Advisor
Shari L. Lipski, CLFP

Shari L. Lipski, CLFP
ECS Financial Services
3400 Dundee Road, Suite 180
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
847.897.1711
SLipski@ECSFinancial.com

Shari L. Lipski, a Certified Lease and Finance Professional, has over 25 years of experience in lease portfolio management and lease originations. Shari joined ECS Financial Services, Inc. in 1999 and was promoted to principal in 2004.

She serves the firm by heading up business development with a direct focus on the Equipment Lease and Loan Portfolio Management Division and project development for the Tax Compliance and Accounting Divisions. Shari also serves the firm’s clients by offering an expertise in many areas including marketing and managing a lease/loan portfolio, back-office leasing company operations, business process outsourcing processing, sales and personal property tax compliance, and consulting. She has also written articles for multiple trade publications and has served as an educational instructor for several associations including the Certified Leasing and Finance Professional Foundation.

Previously Shari was Vice President of Public Funding Corporation, 1989 – 1997, a financer of small-ticket governmental equipment leases. While employed with Public Funding, she held various positions including Lease Administrator, Corporate Secretary, and Vice President. In 1997, Public Funding was sold to First Sierra Financial, Inc., where she was responsible for managing operations in the Chicago branch office, as well as a portfolio of vendor relationships.

OFFICES/POSITIONS HELD:

2017-present, ELFA Service Providers Business Council Committee Member
2017-present, CFA-Midwest Leadership Committee

Membership Committee, Co-Chair
Women’s Committee
Community Service Committee

2016-present, Leasing News Advisory Board
2013-Advisory Committee Member, Rockford Career College
2012-Conference Committee, NEFA Funding Symposium
2011-Conference Chairperson, NEFA Finance Summit
2010-2012 - NEFA Conference Committee Member
2008-2012 - ELFA Service Providers Business Council Committee Member

State Government Relations Committee Member
Annual Convention Review Committee

2005-2008 - Director, EAEL
2006-2008 - Director, CLP Foundation
2004-present - Principal, ECS Financial Services, Inc.
2007-Conference Chairperson, EAEL, Fall Expo
2003-2005 - Leasing News Advisory Board
2003-Conference Chairperson, NAELB
2002-2003 - Marketing Committee Chairperson, CLP Foundation
2001-2004 - Director, Mid-America Association of Equipment Lessors
1998 -Illinois Regional Chairperson, UAEL
1993-1997 - Vice President, Public Funding Corporation

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Leasing/Finance Conferences –- Updated Information
To Obtain Early Bird and Hotel Savings, Register Now

March 6-7
LendIt USA
Javits Convention Center
New York, NY
Registration
https://register.lendit.com/events/lendit-usa-2017/registration-2524df4551b143b6bafa14778d6b73d7.aspx?ct=96a6325c-3567-4ebc-9d29-6bcbae1279d3

Please use the code “Yodlee17VIP” at checkout to receive a 25% discount.

Pricing Increases to $2995 after February 10th, $500 Increase

Finalists for First Annual LendIt Industry Awards

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/lendit/usa/2017/LendIt+Finalist+
Press+Release+1.19.17.pdf

LendIt Forum Schedule
http://www.lendit.com/forums?_ga=1.117931276.481458787.1487277764

Includes, "Learn how the world of lending is being transformed by partnerships between banks and marketplace lending platforms. Discover how these platforms are using technology and big data to expand their underwriting capabilities. This webinar will be valuable for commercial and regional banking executives, bank analysts and emerging platforms."

"Since the first P2P securitization in 2013, over 40 securitizations totaling roughly $8.5 billion have occurred. The loan originators have been a mix of FinTech companies like Lending Club, Prosper, SoFi, OnDeck, and Kabbage. The issuers have been institutional fund managers, who have purchased loans off these origination platforms, converted them into securities, and subsequently sold the securities to insurance companies and pension funds -- thereby providing institutional access to this new asset class."

"High yield, short duration and low volatility are a great mix offered by marketplace lending platforms. Learn how technology and finance come together to open a new asset class for financial advisors and their clients."

March 15, 2017 - March 17, 2017
2017 National Equipment Finance Summit
Renaissance Long Beach Hotel
Long Beach, California

Conference Chairperson: Frank Pretore, Esq.
Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi, PC

Agenda
https://eventmobi.com/summit2017/agenda/209134/day/all

Speakers
https://eventmobi.com/summit2017/speakers/209136

Exhibitors
https://eventmobi.com/summit2017/companies/211879

Registered Attendees (211 as of Feb. 15, 2017)
http://www.nefassociation.org/events/RSVPlist.aspx?id=827092

Reid Raykovich, CLFP, Exec. Dir. CLFP Foundation, to receive
Leasing News Person of the Year 2016 Award

Announcement from Women in Leasing

The Women in Leasing LinkedIn Group would like to cordially invite you to our March luncheon at Parker’s Lighthouse in Long Beach, California on Wednesday, March 15th from 11:30pm – 2:30pm.

The lunch is being co-hosted by ECS Financial Services and Financial Pacific Leasing, an Umpqua Bank company.

The restaurant is located within walking distance from the 2017 NEFA Spring Summit host hotel.

If you would like to attend

You'll Find Everything Your Need to Know

Electronic Docs & Implementation
Current Market Trends and Changes
Marketing -5 Need-to-Know Tips
Collections - Best Practices
Cyber Security- Prevention is Key
Top Sales Training Techniques
Backend Operations - Untapped Revenue
Transitioning from Broker to Lessor
Transportation Financing & State Regulation
T-Value Software & Capabilities

You'll Find it All at the Finance Summit

Early Bird Pricing Available

Details:
http://www.nefassociation.org/events/EventDetails.
aspx?id=827092&group=

March 22, 2017
16th Annual IMN/ELFA
Investor Conference
New York, New York

Agenda
https://www.imn.org/structured-finance/conference/Investors-Conference-on-Equipment-Finance-2017/Agenda.html

Registration
https://www.imn.org/structured-finance/conference/Investors-Conference-on-Equipment-Finance-2017/Register.html

Speakers
https://www.imn.org/structured-finance/conference/Investors-Conference-on-Equipment-Finance-2017/Speakers.html

April 4 - April 6, 2017
29th Annual National Funding Conference
Swissotel
Chicago, Illinois

PLEASE NOTE: As of 01-24-2017 all new registrations for Funding Source Suites will be placed in hotel meeting rooms. Actual hotel suites at the Swissotel for funding sources are sold out.

Brochure:
http://www.elfaonline.org/cvweb_elfa/cgi-bin/documentdll.dll/view?DOCUMENTNUM=1499

Lite Attendee Listing-A

April 5, 2017 – April 7, 2017
National Vehicle Leasing Association
Hilton Nashville Downtown
121 Fourth Avenue South
Nashville, Tennessee 37201

Contact: Elizabeth Schlicht
eschlicht@nvla.org
414-533-3300

April 27, 2017 - April 29, 2017
NAELB 2017 Annual Conferences
Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel
& Memphis Cook Convention Center
Memphis, Tennessee

Agenda
http://iwantmy.naelb.org/events/events-agenda

Speakers
http://iwantmy.naelb.org/events/event-speakers

Pricing
http://iwantmy.naelb.org/events/events-pricing

Hotel
http://iwantmy.naelb.org/events/events-hotel

Conference Information
http://iwantmy.naelb.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=d1aee2bb-e740-4e78-8967-eac8da75e4fe&Home=%2fhome

May 3, 2017 - May 5, 2017
37th Annual AGLF Conference
Omni Interlocken Resort
Broomfield, Colorado

Conference Information:
http://www.aglf.org/conference-landing-page

October 4, 2017 - October, 6
2017 Funding Symposium
JW Marriott Buckhead
Atlanta, Georgia

October 11, 2017 - October 13, 2017
Lend360
Fairmount Dallas, Texas
http://www.lend360.org/

October 17, 2017 - October 19, 2017
Third Annual Conference

October 22, 2017 - October 24, 2017
2017 56th Annual Convention
Orlando, Florida

October 22, 2017 - October, 26, 2017
The Palazzo and Sands Convention Center
Venetian Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Existing-home sales jump to a 10-year high
by Akin Oyedele, Business Insider

US existing-home sales in January rose more than expected to their highest level in nearly a decade, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sales of existing condos, co-ops, townhomes, and single-family houses increased by 3.3%, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million, the highest since February 2007. Economists had estimated that sales rose 1.1%, at a rate of 5.55 million, according to Bloomberg.

Sales in December were revised higher.

The data, like other data on the housing market, is quite volatile from month to month and tends to be revised often. Still, it continues to expose a shortfall in housing inventory that has contributed to price increases.

"Market challenges remain, but the housing market is off to a prosperous start as homebuyers staved off inventory levels that are far from adequate and deteriorating affordability conditions," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR chief economist.

In January, inventory fell year-on-year for a 20th straight month, to a 3.6-month supply at the pace of sales. The median price of homes rose year-on-year for a 59th straight month, by 7.1%, to $228,900.

Rising interest rates present another challenge for the housing market. Homeowners, who are accustomed to an environment of falling rates, may be reluctant to list their homes so they can retain the lower rates they locked in and avoid the costs associated with selling.

However, builder confidence has increased since the November election, meaning the shortfall of inventory could start correcting. Lighter regulations under the new administration could also make it easier for prospective homebuyers to get mortgages.

"Thus far, we have little concrete evidence regarding which of these forces is stronger," Michelle Meyer, a US economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a note on Wednesday.

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Fernando's View

Academy Awards Edition
By Fernando Croce

As the cream of Hollywood get ready to parade in pricey gowns and sit through goofy musical numbers, the question remains: Who will take home the gold on Oscar night this Sunday night? For the benefit of movie-lovers and audiences, we’ve put together this list of predictions for the main categories of American cinema’s top award.

Best Picture

La La Land

Nominees: "Arrival," "Fences," "Hacksaw Ridge," "Hell or High Water," "Hidden Figures," "La La Land," "Lion," "Manchester by the Sea," “Moonlight”

Prediction: Running the gamut from science-fiction to musicals to wrenching drama, this year’s field is a strikingly varied one. Though many of the nominees (such as “Arrival,” “Hell or High Water” and “Manchester by the Sea”) ended up on critics’ best-of-the-year lists, the key competition seems to have boiled down to between “Moonlight” and “La La Land.” The former is a piercing and often challenging study in identity while the latter is a meticulously old-fashioned success story filled with big musical numbers. Knowing the Academy’s yen for splashy tributes to Hollywood (see also: “The Artist”), expect “La La Land” to walk off with the top prize.

Overlooked: "Paterson," “Silence,” "Certain Women," "Sully," "Love & Friendship."

Best Director:
Nominees: Dennis Villeneuve (“Arrival”), Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge"), Damien Chazelle ("La La Land"), Kenneth Lonergan ("Manchester by the Sea"), Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight”).

Prediction: This year’s field seems sharply divided in terms of direction between subtlety and bombast, with the equally booming battlefields of “Hacksaw Ridge” and musical numbers of “La La Land” contrasted with the muted anguish of “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight.” (Villeneuve’s style in “Arrival” shrewdly combines elements from the two fields.) In a category largely filled with first-time nominees (with the exception of Gibson, whose nomination marks something of a comeback for the industry), it looks like Chazelle’s wizardly technical facility will make him the surest bet.

Overlooked: Martin Scorsese ("Silence"), Clint Eastwood ("Sully"), Jim Jarmusch ("Paterson"), Whit Stillman ("Love & Friendship"), Maren Ade (“Toni Erdmann”).

Best Actor:
Nominees: Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”), Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Ryan Gosling (“La La Land"), Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic"), Denzel Washington (“Fences”).

Prediction: Somewhat echoing the director’s nominations in the contrast between loud and soft, the best-actor race rests mainly between Affleck’s portrait of numbed emotional pain and Washington’s boisterous recreation of his acclaimed stage performance. (To judge from the recent string of awards from critical circles, it looks like this will be Affleck’s year.) Notable on the sidelines are Garfield’s aw-shucks earnestness, Mortensen’s paterfamilias fierceness, and Gosling’s canny impersonation of Gene Kelly.

Overlooked: Tom Hanks (“Sully”), Adam Driver ("Paterson"), Trevante Rhodes ("Moonlight"), Chris Pine ("Hell or High Water"), Josh Brolin (“Hail, Caesar!”).

Best Actress:
Nominees: Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”), Natalie Portman (“Jackie”), Emma Stone (“La La Land”), Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”).

Prediction: Despite the presence of many talented actress (including perennial Oscar staple Streep and talented first-timer Negga), the two favorites for this field are Huppert and Stone—a situation rather similar to the French veteran vs. American ingenué 2013 competition of Emmanuelle Riva and Jennifer Lawrence. Stone seems to have the slight edge for her combination of dreaminess and grit, though Huppert is most deserving of the award for her audacious, darkly comedic performance in a difficult and provocative part.

Overlooked: Annette Benning (“20th-Century Women”), Sandra Huller (“Toni Erdmann”), Sonia Braga (“Aquarius”), Zhao Tao (“Mountains May Depart”), Blake Lively (“The Shallows”).

Best Supporting Actor:

Nominees: Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”), Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”), Dev Patel (“Lion”), Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”).

Prediction: Another good mix of veterans and first-timers (showcasing Bridges’ salty experience and Hedges’ affecting youth), the Supporting Oscar this year is predicted to go to Ali, who in “Moonlight” brought a lovely and grave depth to a role seldom seen on screens. But special mention should go as well to “Nocturnal Animals’” Shannon, who lent a rare intensity and human desperation to a movie that, frankly, was not worthy of it.

Overlooked: Andre Holland (“Moonlight”), Tom Bennett (“Love & Friendship”), Aaron Eckhart (“Sully”), Glenn Powell (“Everybody Wants Some!!”), Stephen Lang (“Don’t Breathe”).

Best Supporting Actress:

Nominees: Viola Davis (“Fences”), Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”), Nicole Kidman (“Lion”), Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”), Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”).

Prediction: Mirroring last year’s slight controversy, the frontrunner in this supporting category is more like a leading role—Davis in “Fences,” an emotional turn that is actually the most important female part in the picture. Her main competition comes from Williams in “Manchester by the Sea”; as good as Williams was, however, this is clearly the year for Davis, a powerhouse actress receiving much overdue recognition from the Academy.

Overlooked: Lily Gladstone (“Certain Women”), Jena Malone (“Neon Demon”), Michelle Williams (“Certain Women”), Aubrey Plaza (“Dirty Grandpa”).

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     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 – In Marbury v. Madison, the United States Supreme Court declared a federal law unconstitutional for the first time. 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 (d. 1893), 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
    1831 - The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, was proclaimed, having been signed on September 27, 1830. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede about 11 million acres in exchange for about 15 million acres in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma.
    1836 - Home Winslow (d. 1920) was born at Boston. American artist noted for the realism of his work, from the Civil War reportage to the highly regarded rugged outdoor scenes of hunting and fishing.
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, 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 formed the Society with a group of German immigrants. 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
    1863 - Arizona was recognized as a US territory. It was first organized as a Confederate territory on Feb. 14, 1862.
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. This was the second of four major Civil War battles here as the location includes a nearby 1,497 feet long railroad tunnel through Chetoogeta Mountain. The railroad tunnel was the first to be completed south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
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 - 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 5,717,500 votes, although the electoral vote was 214 Grant to 80 for 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. The electoral vote was 286 to 66. History changed and the Democratic Dixiecrats destroyed reconstruction and controlled the house with an inside deal to give. [Is this related to 1868 or 1872???]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/
    1874 – Birthday of Honus Wagner (d. 1955), born Johannes Peter Wagner in Chartiers (now Carnegie), PA. He played 21 seasons in the Majors from 1897 to 1917, almost entirely for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wagner won eight batting titles, tied for the most in National League history with Tony Gwinn. He also led the league in slugging six times, and in stolen bases five times. Wagner was nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman" due to his superb speed and German heritage ("Dutch" in this instance being an alteration of "Deutsch"). In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the five charter members. He received the second-highest vote total, behind Ty Cobb and tied with Babe Ruth. Although Cobb is frequently cited as the greatest player of the dead-ball era, some contemporaries regarded Wagner as the better all-around player, and most baseball historians consider Wagner to be the greatest shortstop ever. Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond."
    1885 - Birthday of Chester Nimitz (d. 1966), Fredericksburg, TX. Admiral who was Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II. Nimitz signed for the United States when Japan formally surrendered on board the USS Missouri. On October 5, 1945, which had been officially designated as "Nimitz Day" in Washington, DC, Admiral Nimitz was personally presented a Gold Star for the third award of the Distinguished Service Meal by President Harry Truman "for exceptionally meritorious service as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from June 1944 to August 1945...."
    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 – Revolution broke out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence, that ended with the Spanish-American War in 1898.
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. Hudson's strong, light-weight bodies, combined with its high-torque inline six-cylinder engine technology, made the company's 1951–54 Hornet an auto-racing champion, dominating NASCAR in 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954. Some NASCAR records set by Hudson in the 1950s (e.g. consecutive wins in one racing season) still stand even today. The company made Hudson, Essex and Triplane brands from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American motors (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued.
    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. They forced 35 women and their children into patrol wagons. After charging the women with neglect and handing jail sentences and 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 and 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 (d. 2016) was born in Brooklyn. He was known for a number of roles, especially his portrayals of Salvatore Tessio in “The Godfather” and Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom “Barney Miller” from 1975 to 1977 and its spinoff show “Fish” from 1977 to 1978. 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 (d. 1969) was born in 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.
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.
    1930 - Ted Lewis records, "On the Sunny Side of the Street"
    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 (d. 2009) 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)
    1938 – Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, was born in Portland, OR. In November, 2015, Forbes named Knight the 15th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $28.1 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. A graduate of the University of Oregon and Stanford Graduate School of Business, he has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to both schools; Knight gave the largest donation in history at the time to Stanford's business school in 2006. A native Oregonian, he ran track under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon, with whom he would co-found Nike.
    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 was born Joan Drost in Buffalo, NY. Once billed as "The Voice of the Sixties", and associated with top-notch arrangers, song-writers and producers, Sommers' popular reputation became closely tied to her biggest, yet most uncharacteristic, hit song "Johnny Get Angry," in 1962, which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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 Japanese 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 (d. 2001) was born in Liverpool, England. As a member of The Beatles, he achieved international fame as the lead guitarist. In June, 1965, Harrison and the other Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire. They received their insignia from Queen Elizabeth at an investiture at Buckingham Palace. In 1971, the Beatles received an Academy Award for the best Original Song Score for the film “Let It Be.”   In December, 1992, he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award, an honor presented to music artists for significant bodies of work. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 11 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2004, Harrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame in 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh. On 14 April 2009, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Harrison a star on the Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol records Building. Among his songs: “My Sweet Lord,” “Isn't It a Pity,” “What is Life?,” “All Those Years Ago.” As an 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.
    1944 - "Merrill's Marauders" hit Burma. The Marauders' mission began with a 1,000-mile walk through dense jungle, without artillery support, consisting 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
    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 – President Dwight 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 (d. 2011), co-founder of Apple Computer, was born Los Altos, CA. Jobs 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 Inc. 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 revolutionized the computer 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 was the Walt Disney Company's largest individual shareholder and a member of its Board of Directors. Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor in 2003 and died of respiratory arrest related to the tumor
    1956 - Need an adult to dance in Cleveland: Now the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland 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 – Former Niners and Eagles QB Jeff Garcia was born Gilroy, CA.
    1970 - Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" hits #1
    1971 - Janis Joplin's "Pearl" goes gold.
    1972 - Birthday of Manon Rheaume, Beauport, Quebec. She is the first woman to play in a professional hockey game. Rheaume was goaltender when Canada won the 1992 and 1994 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, Lori Leiberman, was “inspired” by a McLean song and got a songwriter, Norman Gabriel, to make a few changes.
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 with two-million copies sold.
    1976 - At the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Paul Simon picks up Best Pop Vocal and Best Album awards for “Still Crazy After All These Years,” leading him to famously remark, in his acceptance speech, "I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album this year."
    1976 - Rhythm Heritage's "Theme From S.W.A.T." hits #1
    1978 - Barry Manilow shared the stage with Ray Charles during The Second Barry Manilow Special, dueting on "It's a Miracle". Manilow had just enjoyed a Top Ten hit with "Looks Like We Made It" and would follow with "Can't Smile Without You", "Even Now", "Copacabana" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again" during the next few months.
    1978 - The Pointer Sisters, now down to a trio after Bonnie Pointer had left for a solo career, enjoy their biggest US hit when the Bruce Springsteen written "Fire" tops out at Billboard's #2.
    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 XIII 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 77th goal of the season against the Buffalo Sabres to break Phil Esposito's single-season goal-scoring record. With Esposito, 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
    1983 - A special commission of Congress released a report that condemned the internment of Japanese during World War II. It was silent on the same treatment of Italians and Germans.
    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 made 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 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 and former University of Arkansas teammate, Jimmy Johnson. Johnson coached the Cowboys from 1989 through 1993. He is one of only six men in NFL history to coach consecutive Super Bowl winners, winning in 1992 and 1993.
    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 Cape 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.
    1989 – United flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, ripped open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.
    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 H. W. 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 – Andrea 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.”
    1999 – Arizona executed Karl LeGrand, a German national convicted of murder during a botched bank robbery, in spite of Germany's legal action to attempt to save him.
    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
    2004 - Heavy snows blanket wide areas of northern New Mexico, closing schools and highways. The mountains east of Santa Fe receive 20 inches. Sandia Park, east of Albuquerque, measures 11 inches. 8 inches falls at Los Alamos
    2010 - The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver ends with, among other things, a surprise appearance by Canadian native Neil Young, who sings "Long May You Run" as the torch is put out.

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