Monday, June 26, 2006
Headlines--- Classified Ads-- Special Report : “Commercial Equipment Leasing in Community Banks” By Terry Winders, CLP
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1805 Historic barn of Alba Vineyard, Milford, New Jersey * Collector Collector: Boston, MA Collector: Jacksonville, E. Brunswick, FL Controller Controller: Chicago, IL Controller: Philadelphia, CA Controller: Seattle , WA Controller: Southeastern, MI Controller: Uniondale, NY Contract Administrator Contract Administrator: New York, NY For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to: To place a free “job wanted” ad, please go to: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Former CyberNET President pleaded guilty, faces 4 Felony charges (This was sent out by e-mail on Friday as an extra. If you would like to subscribe and get on our mailing list, contact: kitmenkin@leasingnews.org Our editions are free. No fees. Open to al in the equipment leasing industry. We don't share the list with anyone. It is basically for such notices and informing readers the latest edition of Leasing News is posted on our web site.) Editor If you missed the story last Friday, here it is: ----------------------------------------------------------------
HP Financial Internal Memo “To ALL HP Financial Services Colleagues “Organization Announcement “Keith Kendall “After seven years with HP Financial Services, most recently leading the Americas region, Keith Kendall has decided to lease the business to pursue other interest outside of the financial services industry. I'm sure you will join me in thanking Keith for his outstanding leadership and his many achievements at HPSC over the years, and wish him well in his new career. Doe to vacation commitments Keith's last day with HPFS will be Friday June 23rd. “Effective Monday June 26th: “I'm please to announce Tom Adams as the new Managing Director of the Americas region. Tom is a veteran of the global financial services industry and as CFO of HPFS has been critical member of the GLT since he joined us in February 2000. Tom's experience and industry knowledge will be a great asset to the regional team and will help us build on the progress and positive momentum being made in the region today. “Replacing Tom as CFO of HPFS is Rich Olson who is currently serving as CFO for the Americas region. Rich previously served as Acting CFO for HPFS when Tom was on an assignment in EMEA; this experience plus his track record of success makes him a natural choice for the CFO position. Tom and Rich will be working to ensure that a smooth transition takes place as they move into their new roles and will identify a successor to Rich in the region as soon as possible. “We all know that change is a constant business and that smart companies embrace at as an opportunity to grow and develop. So although it is always sad to see colleagues leave the business you can also look forward to achieving new goals and helping our business thrive under Tom's leadership. “Please join me in congratulating Tom and Rich and on their new assignments. “Irv” Note recent story on HP Financial Services Financial Performance: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Capital City Leasing joins “Broker/Lessor” list “Broker/Lessor” List Third Column: YES - Year Company Started | YELB - Years in equipment Leasing Business Business Reports: Companies listed may make any netiquette comment about their company or reports or other information in the footnote section of their listing. Leasing News recommends readers also view the footnote as well as the section itself or searching reports on the business. It also should be noted that if a BBB report listing is found by a reader, as there may not have been one when this was last up-dated, please send the link to maria@leasingnews.org so Leasing News may up-date this section. BBB - Better Business Report | CBB - Leasing News Complaint Bulletin Board A - City Business License | B- State License | C - Certified Leasing Professional |
To view full list, please go here: http://www.leasingnews.org/Brokers/broker_Lessor.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------- Story Credit Lessors ( for other "Funder", who do not specialize in “Story Credits,” click here These companies specialize in "C" and "D" credits, often news businesses, or businesses where the principal(s) have Beacon score around 600 or previous difficulties; meaning to become comfortable with the credit and financial situation you need to learn the "story" to make a positive decision, often requiring further security, shorter term, or additional guarantors. Many of these companies may also be a "B," but appear otherwise without the "story" to understand the full financial picture. (To qualify for this list, the company must be a funder and not a "Broker/Lessor" or "Super Broker/Lessor", along with an acceptable Better Business Bureau Rating and no history of complaints at Leasing News. We reserve the right to not list a company who does not meet these qualifications.) We encourage companies who are listed to contact us for any change or addition they would like to make. Adding further information as an "attachment" or clarification of what they have to offer would be helpful to readers is very much encouraged. Business Reports: Companies listed may make any netiquette comment about their company or reports or other information in the footnote section of their listing. Leasing News recommends readers also view the footnote as well as the section itself or searching reports on the business. It also should be noted that if a BBB report listing is found by a reader, as there may not have been one when this was last up-dated, please send the link to maria@leasingnews.org so Leasing News may up-date this section. BBB - Better Business Report | CBB - Leasing News Complaint Bulletin Board ( To apply to be listed, please fill in this form and fax to 408.374.3843 or you
Business Reports: Companies listed may make any netiquette comment about their company or reports or other information in the footnote section of their listing. Leasing News recommends readers also view the footnote as well as the section itself or searching reports on the business. It also should be noted that if a BBB report listing is found by a reader, as there may not have been one when this was last up-dated, please send the link to maria@leasingnews.org so Leasing News may up-date this section. BBB - Better Business Report | CBB - Leasing News Complaint Bulletin Board --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (A) Pawnee Leasing Corporation; Some times we go higher than $30,000, but our marketplace is from $1,000 to $30,000. Broker Qualify - One year time in business (B) * Allegiant Partners has expanded their maximum transaction size from $250,000 to $500,000 for the 5 western states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona. (C) Mesa Leasing, Inc., Industries served: Titled vehicles (Trucks, trailers, OTR, etc.), Construction, Restaurants, and all the other "hard to get approved" industries. Broker Qualify - NAELB Members preferred but not required (D) ABCO Leasing, Inc. in Seattle area has been operating since 1974 serving the broker community. We required full financial disclosure on every transaction. We do story transaction, but do not like to refer to them as "C" of "D" credits. We think of therm as "A" type credits that have not been discovered yet. In actuallity, we do not really like to look at what most describes as "D" credits. Broker Qualify - Broker Qualification, contact: Rowan Clark, Credit Manager (E) Black Rock Capital comment: We book anywhere between $15 to 20 million per year. We do no "app only" business and require a full financial package for each transaction. Our average size transaction is approximately $250k and, although, we concentrate in printing, packaging (steel rule die industry) and road construction equipment we do not rule out anything that makes sense. More information can be found at www.blackrockcapital.com. Broker Qualify - Please Call (F) Black Rock Capital (Ireland) Limited and Black Rock Capital (UK) Limited provide the same services for small to middle market corporations in the European Economic Community and the United Kingdom. (G) Cobra Capital, LLC. Comments: Our registered trademark "Making impossible possible" is our central marketing tagline for both strong and weak credits. I have developed a 10 year history, (from Cobra and my prior company GALCO), with specialty, non-conforming transactions (story credits) and have a solid reputation for candidly responding to our originators and lessees and working diligently to mitigate deal risk rather than making excuses to turn deals down. Our originators prefer our underwriting approach to non-conforming transactions since unlike most non-conforming funders, we prefer to mitigate risk versus jacking our return. Both Originators and Lessee's prefer our candid approach as we are also frequently asked to advise lessee's and lessors on the best way to structure their bank loans and raise capital due to our 25+ year banking and accounting backgrounds as my partner and I are both former bankers and CPA's. (H) Barrett Capital Corporatio: Broker Qualify - Please Call (I) Sunrise International Leasing Corporation Comment: The broker program is "...an informal program as our primary business is still vendor leasing." Broker Qualify - One year time in business (J) Boston Financial & Equity Corporation, most of our leases are venture capital backed startups and turnarounds. We require full financial disclosures, CPA and internal statements, no tax returns. We do not required additional collateral, no PG's or RE needed. Do not send deals with large tax liens, especially if they are payroll taxes. Broker Qualify - A deal in hand and a full package (L) IFC Credit Corporation also services on a regular basis "A" and "B" credits, but it also considers "story credits." "As you say, we need to become comfortable with the credit and financial situation and learn the "story" to make a positive decision, often requiring further security, shorter term, or additional guarantors. I would describe the B and C type credits we fund as companies having 'checkered earnings'." Broker Qualify - Please Call (M) Creative Capital Leasing Group: "We are able to fund tough deals, bad credits, BK's, past tax liens, start ups, used equipment, etc., because we look outside the transaction for real estate, and marketable securities to take as additional collateral." Broker Qualify - Please call Broker Manager, Todd or Jason (N) Blackstone Capital Partners, L.P. lends up to 50% of verified auction value for working capital and/or equipment financing requests (we of course include equipment to be acquired in our valuation). Using this formula, allows Blackstone to approve deals on the assets rather than the credit or cash flow that other lenders desire. Also being an asset lender, we are looking for hard assets i.e. yellow iron, machine tool, manufacturing lines, textile etc... We do not care for soft assets such as computers, furniture, restaurant, or "white elephants" (equipment that is too specific to the clients needs and was specially built for them - there would be no resell available and our liquidity if repossessed would be in jeopardy). If you have any questions, please feel free to call, we will do our best to help or seek the answer for you. Broker Qualify - Please Call (O) Bankers Capital " We will do ANY Type of Equipment, in ANY industry, in ANY state. We especially like 6-figure transactions with full financial packages no matter how good or bad they look. We look to structure the story C&D credits with any kind of additional collateral that makes sense. It could be with 2nd or 3rd mortgages on residential or commercial Real Estate, additional equipment, cash value life insurance, security deposits, vendor agreements. We look for any way to make the deal work instead of looking for any way to decline the deal." Broker Qualify - Please contact Larry LaChance (P) Financial Pacific Leasing supports a nationwide network of Brokers and Lessors. We specialize in "B" and "C" credits for established companies as well as companies under two years in business. Broker Qualify - Please Call or see "Prospective Broker" section on website (Q) American Leasefund, Inc. funds small hard to do transactions under $50,000.00. Most of the transactions are "app only". We look for additional collateral or larger first payments to help the weaker credits. We maintain and service our own portfolio. All of our lessee billings are done via ACH. Broker Qualify - Please Call (R) Dolsen Leasing has served the 11 Western States since 1958 and specializes in B & C Credits for established and new companies. We require a full financial package and offer both leases and financing for new and used equipment in the range of $10,000.00 to $250,000.00. Specialties include titled vehicles for both existing and new owner operators. Story credits are considered as long as credit has been reestablished and trends are positive. Credit decisions are based on old fashioned common sense, not credit scores, allowing us a very quick turnaround-often the same day. We accept broker business and also have in house salesmen. Broker Qualify - Please call or visit www.dolsenleasing.com (S) We at Summit Leasing consider ourselves to be primarily "B" credit lenders, working almost exclusively through brokers. Broker Qualify - Contact us (T) TechLease - due to previous experiences, TechLease is vertically focused on three primary sectors: Semiconductor, Media and Aerospace. We fund all deals and hold paper an all equipment under $250,000. Deals over $150,000 we typically want to meet the Lessee face-to-face. We prefer business in California, however we will fund nationwide. Broker Qualify - Please Call (U) Radiance Capital, LLC specializes in start-up business. These are the northern states we do business in AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, OR, WA. Click here to read our (V) Agility Solutions; we fund all equipment used by Wireless Internet Service Providers. (W) Forum Financial Services, Inc., prefer venture capital backed start-ups and middle market to large corporate turnaround companies including companies in bankruptcy and post bankruptcy. Our absolute minimum sales for an established business with financial problems are $10.0 million. (this does not include venture capital backed start-ups). Broker Qualify - Please visit our website at www.forumleasing.com or call 972-690-9444 ext. 225 (X) Advantage Funding - While we also consider quality equipment leasing as a funder, in the title vehicle leasing business, we consider all types of situations and credits and speciality vehicles for commercial use. We have a history of understanding all types of title vehicle leasing. Broker Qualify - Please Call (Y) Gonor Funding specializes in hard to fund leases with D credit. Collateral based with good rates and commission program. Broker Qualify - Please Call(Z) "TEAM Equipment Leasing is a structured lender for brand new businesses or for older companies with previous credit problems. We do not credit score. The secret to producing an approval for C-Credits starts with interviewing your customer." Broker Qualify - Click here for Broker Enrollment Form ---------------------------------------------------------------- Classified Ads---Help Wanted Account Executive
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---------------------------------------------------------------- Top Stories--June 19-23
Here are the top ten stories most "opened" by readers last week. (1) Leasing News Major Policy Change (2) Bob Fisher has “Wholesale Financing” (3) Lease Agreement/Commitment Letters (4) Why I Became a CLP (5) Correction: Steve Dinkelaker (6) Greystone Equipment Finance joins "Funder list" (7) Oracle pays $130M dump RE lease (8) Sales Makes it Happen-by Linda Kester (9) Imperial Capital merges with Maverick Leasing (10) Classified Ads---Senior Management -----Not included
---------------------------------------------------------------- Leasing Association Conference 2006
Wyndham Orange County Hotel To learn more, please call: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006 EXPO: Innovative Ideas! Mark your calendars: Monday, September 18 at the Glenpointe Marriott with Keynote Speakers: Christine Todd Whitman and EconomistsL Jonathan and David McMurray. Our Chairman Scott Wheeler promises this year will be the best ever! Please call the EAEL office at 212-809-1602 or alison@eael.org for pricing and registration form. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
UAEL Annual Conference & Exhibition
One of the most popular UAEL events as it is the Grand Opening of the International Balloon Festival, titled: "Out of the Blue." UAEL will provide early morning transportation between the Embassy Suites Hotel and the mass ascension of hundreds of hot air baloons from 7am to 10am. The Funding Source and Service Provider Expositon will be held Friday, October 6, after the event. Educational sessions and the Annual Business Meeting will be held on Saturday, October 7. You will become a Balloon Fiesta "VIP" and enjoy the International Balloon Festival from a private reserved area, away form the crowds and with comfortable seating indoors and out. Enjoy this exclusive setting that includes delicious food and a private tent during the Mass Ascension, which is famous for being a top draw of the Festival. UAEL is also providing transportation and admission to the event with paid registration so sign up ASAP to reserve your place at this exciting event . Annual Conference & Exhibiton More information at: www.uael.org Schedule of the International Ballon Festival: You can see the balloons from the Embassy Hotel, where UAEL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment Leasing Association 45th Annual Convention
LA Convention Registration Available Online! For equipment lessors, the era of "business as usual" has ended. We face a future marked by some hard realities--a mature product, more competitive financing alternatives, greater regulation, greater transparency, less tolerance for certain traditional practices, and fewer opportunities for tax and accounting structures. Those are the realities, but it's what you do with them that matters. Companies willing to ask the tough questions, to discard outmoded ideas, to innovate and to take responsibility for the image and reputation of the industry will create their own place. The future belongs to those willing to create a whole new beginning for their company. The 45th Annual ELA Convention will address these issues. Registration and all information about the Annual Convention are now available on-line at Don't Wait! Register today for this premier industry event! --------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------- “Commercial Equipment Leasing in Community Banks” By Terry Winders, CLP (This article originally appeared in Bank News, and with the permission of the author is reproduced in full here. editor) Commercial equipment leasing has been around for many years but until recently it required community banks to make a fairly large capital investment in accounting software, structuring/pricing programs, and proper legal documents. This is no longer the case. Now, thanks to the internet, some outside service providers have put together programs that allow banks to offer leasing on their own, with a pay-as-you-go program. There currently are service providers that will provide all the necessary offer back office support and training that allows the bank to offer leasing with all the skills of a money center bank. This includes compliance for GAAP accounting, equipment studies, legal documentation, lease training, and software programs for lease structuring. This means that the bank retains the customer and the income instead of seeking out help from other banks and leasing companies that require them to surrender there customer base. One of the advantages of the service companies is the ability of offering a complete set of lease types. One of the old difficulties with leasing for community banks was the fact that they began by partnering with leasing companies and looked at the leases like loans. This caused them to offer leases that were, in fact, disguised sales contracts. Leases that contain bargain purchase options, some as low as $1, fail to pass legal, income tax, or accounting standards and are therefore treated like loans. To do “True Leasing” that contains all the reported advantages of leasing for income tax, and GAAP accounting requires more sophistication than disguised sales contacts offer. Some customers were not sophisticated enough to tell these were not leases which leads to improper deductions on their federal income tax return. In 2001 the United States Commerce Department reported that leasing had grown to represent 31% and by 2005 it was up to 37% of the capital goods market. This means that over one third of all equipment, acquired for business use, is leased. That is a very large market for a bank to avoid. Last year the national trade association for Lessor's, “The Equipment Leasing Association” (ELA) in Arlington Virginia, reported that leasing in banks accounted for an average return on assets of 1.7% and their average return on equity was 16 –18%. However, just because the bank made more money it did not cause the customer to pay more. In fact, a properly structured lease causes the customer to pay less, because of the tax and accounting incentives. A community bank that wants to offer leasing has a variety of options available to them but each has its cost and limitations. One of the options is to acquire the tools and hire an experienced lease salesperson. Actually, I think this is like jumping out of an airplane and hoping to learn how to fly on the way down. Leasing is not lending and it requires a thorough understanding of the accounting requirements, income tax considerations and proper legal documentation. This does not usually come with a commercial officer training in lease sales. Lease sales are a talent unto itself but back office requirements require many different tasks. It would be best to contact the ELA and take one of their introductory courses on Equipment leasing. Learn the fundamentals and understand the differences between lending and leasing and learn the proper way to get started. The question is how to offer leasing correctly at a minimum cost. Currently there are four different alternatives: 1) Use an outside service provider that provides support on a pay as you go basis; 2) Purchase or obtain the capability to do leasing and look for a leasing consultant to teach you the ropes; 3) Acquire a leasing company; 4) Partner with a local leasing company. Start up costs would require the purchase of an accounting software package for around sixty five thousand dollars, a front-end marketing, pricing, and document software program at $150 per transaction, plus twenty thousand dollars for a complete lease legal document package. In addition it will require a trained lease salesperson and an inside administrative assistant. You can expect additional work for the tax department and the data processing departments. All in all, it can cost about eighty thousand dollars to enter leasing correctly if you do it on your own. But, please, also expect to take about eighteen to twenty four months to show a profit if you can book over twenty million dollars in leases in that time frame. Outside Service Providers: If your bank is familiar with leasing but fears that volume would not cover the startup costs there are outside service providers that will support the early efforts by providing their services on an individual fee basis. Bookkeeping support including sales tax and property tax reports can be obtained from ECS Financial Services in Chicago Illinois. Structuring and pricing can be obtained from Ivory Associates in Walnut Creek, California and documents can be purchased from any number of attorneys who specialize in leasing. Their names and addresses can be obtained from the ELA in Arlington, Virginia. These outside service providers' usually only offers training on their products so additional training in leasing would still are necessary but there are a few good lease consultants that will help you get started. TIB, The Independent BankersBank in Dallas Texas is also offering their members and customers back office support and are doing their normal function of acting as a participant or purchaser of leases that do not fit into a bank's own portfolio. They also offer lease training and support on residual assumptions combined with good lease legal documentation. The usual effect of the cost is about fifty basis points of the return. This complete service is Internet-based allowing a community bank to have an expert guide them through the steps necessary to complete the lease and learn how to explain the benefits to the customer without the upfront start-up costs. They also use some outside service providers, but can lower the costs because of volume discounts. Consultants: There are many lease consultants that help banks learn about leasing and direct them to the best service providers. They offer guidance in creating a lease policy and training all of your commercial officers how to recognize a lease opportunity and handle it properly. One problem does exist however; leases do not come to the bank the way loans do. To obtain leases the bank officers need to call on customers and vendors of equipment much the same way car paper is obtained from car dealers. Leasing is so popular that every equipment distributor offers three leasing alternatives with the equipment making it very convenient for your customer to choose one rather than contact the bank. Therefore, lease sales training for your commercial officers is a major requirement. Acquire a Leasing Company: One-Way to gain leasing capability is to buy a local leasing company to obtain the knowledge. This has worked for many banks but remember that the differences need to be addressed so the controls placed on the new company after purchase do not destroy the market they have established. Leasing is 100% financing and true leases will compete with other bank departments for income tax shelter. The capital requirements will require a separate accounting system and bank policy will have to change to adapt to the new requirements of different types of leases. A new auditing procedure will need to be established and residual assumptions may require a separate authority. If the leasing company remains local and handles tax, legal, and accounting requirements correctly it could be an excellent way to reach your target market with leasing. A few banks decided to partner up with a leasing company. This opened the door for a few leasing companies to offer a leasing program where they would handle the lease and offer the bank a commercial loan opportunity. The leasing company used the lease as collateral for the commercial loan on a non-recourse basis. This allowed the bank to make the credit decision on the customer and have an earning asset while relying on the leasing company for servicing and expertise. Because of the non-recourse nature of the loans most bank regulations require a lockbox system to control the cash. These programs work well within a limited product mix. However, some of the most popular leases and those with the highest return for the bank require reductions in lease payments equal to the value of residuals and income tax reductions due to accelerated depreciation. These values cannot be past on with the commercial loan/lease program because the lease payments would not amortize the loan. It would also require the leasing company to have an equity position in the lease and have to have a large tax bill to offset for those values to be passed on. Theses leases are not usually available from small leasing companies. An example of a loan compared to two types of leases is below to show the differences. The only lease offered by a loan/lease program is the one without a residual or a tax value pass through. Also the leases have a 9% return versus the loan at 7%. Example: Loan: $100,000 Loan/Lease: $100,000 Term: 60 months Term: 60 months A Commercial loan on a non-recourse basis is equal to present value of 60 payments of $2,075.84 is $104,833.83 so the bank will collect all payments and leasing company retains the purchase option and the up front fee of $4,833.83 to pay for the servicing. If a customer requested a tax/legal lease and the Lessor was able to assume a 15% residual value to the equipment at lease termination the payments will be reduced by these values. Example: True Lease: $100,000 Term: 60 months September, 1st Delivery This lease provides a total bank income equal to 9% and costs the customer only 3.02%. The customer takes the rent expense for income tax deductions which most of the time is more advantageous than depreciation and interest. Handled properly, leasing has one of the highest returns for the bank while saving the customer money. Too often banks compare interest rates to lease yields and think leasing is more expensive when, in fact, a properly structured lease usually gives the lessee a better income tax position and a method to control expenses on the income sheet that transcends just interest rate comparisons. A lease can also offer irregular payments to match seasonally of revenue or to offset high maintenance costs. It is one of the most flexible products a bank can offer to support its customer base and should be strongly considered if not currently offered. Currently there is a large amount of interest in ways to offer equipment leasing in Community Banks but before taking one of the alternatives mentioned above please learn all you can on the differences leasing represents. I would also suggest contacting vendors of business equipment in your market area to determine what type of competition exists and what type of leases are being offered. Then plan your approach carefully and speak with other peer bankers or your banking trade organizations for guidance and suggestions. Author: Terry Winders, CLP, of Louisville Kentucky has been a bank lease consultant for over thirty years. He has taught the senior examiners for the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and has authored two text books on Commercial Equipment Leasing for Banks. He is the teacher of the Principles of Leasing Classes and the Advanced Leasing offered by the Equipment Leasing Association. He is a regular contributor to several bank, financial, and leasing trade publications. --------------------------------------------------------------
News Briefs---- Gates Foundation to Get Bulk of Buffett's Fortune America's population to hit 300 million this fall ---------------------------------------------------------------
You May have Missed--- Top 10 wine movies ----------------------------------------------------------------
“Gimme that Wine” Jackson to buy Murphy-Goode Randy Lynch& Bennett Lane: mixes race cars and wine Winemaking enjoys a comeback in San Diego County
http://www.taste3.com/images/newbanner.jpg TASTE³ brings together more than forty of the most compelling writers, thinkers, chefs, winemakers, journalists, artisans, and executives as speakers and hosts, joining 300 attendees who are every bit as tapped-in as the speakers presenting. TASTE³ will thrill, tantalize, engage, intrigue, provoke, and inspire both its audience and its speakers. The single-track program is broken into themed sessions that will be filled with hard-hitting, engaging short-format presentations. Sessions will be interwoven with breaks with networking opportunities and interactive exploration. www.taste3.com Wine Prices by vintage US/International Wine Events Winery Atlas Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page ----------------------------------------------------------------
Calendar Events This Day Canada: Newfoundland Discovery Day Madagascar: Independence Day Please Take My Children to Work Day United National: International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking United Nations: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
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Today's Top Event in History 1870-The Atlantic City, NJ, Boardwalk was dedicated. To finance it, $5,000 was obtained by the sale, at a 10 percent discount, of scrip which could be used to pay taxes. The boardwalk was eight feet wide a mile long. It was built in eight-foot-collapsible sections, which for 18 years were removed in September and stored for the winter. The idea for the boardwalk was conceived by a hotel man, Jacob Keim of the Chester County House, and Alexander Boardman, a railroad conductor on the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun26.html ----------------------------------------------------------------
This Day in American History 1819- birthday of Abner Doubleday, who served in the US Army during the Mexican War and the Seminole War in Florida prior to his service in the American Civil War. He was stationed at Charleston, SC, where he manned the first of Fort Sumter's guns to fire back at the Confederates. His service found him at the battle of Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and as a major general commanding a division at Gettysburg. A commission set up to investigate the origins of baseball by sporting goods manufacturer Albert Spaulding credited Doubleday with inventing the game in the year 1839. Subsequent research has debunked the commission's finding. In researching the letter from a person who later was committed to an insane asylum, Doubleday would have been 18 years old and the writer five years old at the time the writer claimed he witnessed Doubleday “invent” baseball. Alexander Joy Cartwright, an umpire and member of the New York Knickerbockers team set up the first formal rules, laid out the diamond-shaped field and established its nine playing positions. Early versions of baseball, based on the English games of rounders and crickett, were played in the English Colonies of American as far back as the early 1700's. It can be considered America's oldest sport. The History Channel has a documentary on Spaulding, who was quite a promoter and businessman. --------------------------------------------------------------
Baseball Poem “In the family pictures, (with permission of the author from his book: Tim Peeler celebrates with candor and wit both the overlooked and the standout as he merges the topics of personal and baseball rediscovery. The poet reconsiders events and people from his adolescence, offering the reader new takes on old memories, gracefully relating the foibles of family and friends, and cataloging the heroic feats and tragic flaws of players he watched, read about — or merely imagined. English lecturer, journal editor, essayist and poet, TlM PEELER lives in Hickory, North Carolina. He is a winner of the Jim Harrison Award for his contributions to baseball poetry. -------------------------------------------------------------- SuDoku The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. What could be simpler? |
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