My sister Lindsay wants her wedding to reflect their laid back and modern approach to life. She’s been searching for a location with a rustic barn-like atmosphere with great architecture with so far little luck. We will keep looking however!  (If any lovelies out there know of a great place in the S. Michigan/ N. Ohio area let me know.)  Despite this minor sad face, she had a fantastic find during a recent trip to our West Virginia farm. In the cellar she found several old 1976 Mason jars commemorating 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, symbolized by the Liberty Bell! Trust me, this is very exciting because Lindsay’s last name is Mason and her fiance’s last name is Bell 1976 also happens be the year she was born. How perfect is this! Even though we aren’t positive on how they will be used yet, just having them definitely highlights the fun in making this wedding all about bringing these two together in marriage! Big happy face:)

As I was browsing through my photo album from this summer’s pictures, I came across a few pictures that got me thinking.  I have written before about how my father-in-law and his siblings grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, but today I want to take the time to think about what it was like to celebrate the holidays during life there.

The homesite now.

 My FIL has told me stories about growing up in this little house.  There were many children raised here.  There were two bedrooms in the house- a boys’ bedroom and a girls’ bedroom.  I imagine there wasn’t much privacy, but I am also sure there were many memories formed to be cherished over the years.

The homesite then.

It takes us about an hour to drive our vehicle up the mountain, and that is in good weather.  I can only imagine what it was like in the winter.  I remember a story told to me about one of the brothers who acquired polio one winter.  The ground was covered by snow, and the only way down to reach a hospital was by sled!  Lo and behold, he did make it to the hospital and is with us today!

This leads me to the holidays.  My imagination creates an image very much like that of Little House on the Prairie.  I see a small Christmas tree that had been cut down from somewhere on the mountain.  This tree is standing in a small room  that is lit up by the light from the fireplace.  On Christmas Day I bet each of the children living in the house was very excited to surround the tree to see what treasure they may have been left by Santa.  But, most of all, I am certain that they must have been left with wonderful family memories.  When you are around my FIL’s family, you can feel the love between them even now.  I am so thankful that my children are part of such a wonderful family heritage!

After putting forth a monstrous performance last year, coupled with a mass exodus of talent to the NBA, the Big East Conference was expected to have a down year. With the conclusion of all the early season tournaments everyone is surprised at how well the Beasts of the East are performing (except me). In ESPN’s Dec. 30 poll:

Villanova – 3rd – 6-0
Syracuse – 7th – 6-0
West Virginia – 8th – 5-0
Connecticut – 13th – 4-1
Georgetown – 14th – 4-0
Louisville – 18th – 4-1
Cincinnati – 24th – 4-1

Thoughts:

Although they are not listed in the Top 25 this week Marquette has also had a stellar start at 6-1 with wins over Michigan and Xavier. They lost to FSU in the Old Spice Classic Championship by a single point.

The only elite team in the ACC this year will be Duke. UNC isn’t the championship team it was last year.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty but the sight of the stars make me dream.” Vincent van Gogh

After 16 months, I finally made it back home for Thanksgiving.  The first night on my father’s horse ranch in West Virginia, I went to the front porch of our house and sat in the dark alone for a couple of reasons.  First, I could not believe it took me that long to make it back to my loved ones considering I had traveled around Sicily a couple months back and I’m in Miami almost every month. Shame on me I thought.  Second, I wanted to inhale and absorb every inch of the blackness, peacefulness and quietness that surrounded me.  It is so quiet there at night, you can hear the stars sizzle, I swear.  We have no neighbors. There are no NYC lights or frustrated cabs that interrupt your moments (don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying after 4 days I wasn’t craving my  New York fix).  My Blackberry was turned on silent (hey that is a step up for me, “off” will be next”). I left it all for a moment and sat on the porch, alone, and in the dark.  My goal was to “just be,” to hear myself breath.

As I sat there, I stared into the luminous landscape above. I felt the wind politely brush my face. The shadows of the horses in the field in front of me slowly drifted further into the distance. I watched the smoke from the chimney as the sky pulled it up and over the roof in front of me. The stillness at times was so overwhelming, I felt a bit numb.

It was then as I was sitting there  that I realized you can see everything so much clearer in the dark rather in the light. How odd I thought?  We often turn on the lights to see better, clearer, and most likely more. But, then again, sometimes the greatest lessons and truths are proven and tested during our weakest or otherwise darkest moments.  Growing up, my parents would line the hallways with night lights to help us see. To guide us to where we were going safely.  However, sitting there in the dark, all my senses came together and did a little dance. I could see, smell, hear, feel, even taste (well, I was also eating red licorice at that moment) everything  all at once. All of it bundled together  so slightly moving I had to squint to make sure it wasn’t still. From the largest to the smallest things, all very much in motion.  I became clearer.  Less confused. No distractions. I watched nature second by second.  Observing its every move. I heard the voice within me speak a little louder of all the things it had been whispering to me for quite sometime.

At that second, I wondered if someone out there could see me?  What would they observe?  What would they say?  I was curious to know.

I thought of the Mother Goose poem Star Light Star Bright while sitting under the blanket of a million twinkle lights.

Star Light Star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

What do you wish for?

I made a couple of my own that night…..

CK

I belong to the King, I’m a child of His love,

I shall dwell in His palace so fair;

For He tells of its bliss in yon heaven above,

And His children its splendors shall share.

Refrain:

I belong to the King, I’m a child of His love,

And He never forsaketh His own;

He will call me some day to His palace above,

I shall dwell by His glorified throne.

I belong to the King, and He loves me I know,

For His mercy and kindness, so free,

Are unceasingly mine, wheresoever I go,

And my refuge unfailing is He.

 I belong to the King, and His promise is sure,

That we all shall be gathered at last

In His kingdom above, by life’s waters so pure,

When this life with its trials is past.

Ida Lilliard Reed was born this date, 11/30/1865, near Ar­den, Bar­bour Co., West Virginia.  It is reported that she penned some 2,000 hymns in her life­time – probably her best known today being, “I Belong to the King” (1896).  Reed died 7/8/1951, at Ar­den, West Virginia.

Percilla Ann KIGHT (Malinda Jane McRobie, John William) was born 29 Jun 1851 in Franklin, West Virginia. She died 14 Jun 1932 in Patterson Creek, Mineral County, West Virginia. She is buried with her husband in Gortner Union Church Cemetery in Gortner, Garrett County, Maryland.

Percilla married David Adam GOWER in 1868. David was born 2 Mar 1845 in Maryland. He died 19 Jul 1918 in Oakland, Garrett County, Maryland. He is buried with his wife in the Gortner Union Cemetery in Gortner, Garrett County, Maryland. He was a farmer.

Percilla and David had the following children:

Susan I GOWER was born in 1862 in Maryland.
Jacob Henry GOWER as born 4 Oct 1870 in Maryland.
Sarah A GOWER was born in 1871 in Maryland.
William Theodore GOWER, AKA Dorie, was born in 1872 in Maryland.
George GOWER was born in 1875 in Maryland.
John GOWER was born in 1877 in Maryland.
Hurley Johnson GOWER was born in 27 Nov 1880 in Maryland.
Charles Truman GOWER was born 24 Mar 1882 in Maryland.
Rosie May GOWER was born 10 Feb 1884 in Garrett County, Maryland. [Further notes below.]
Wilbert Newman GOWER was born 25 Nov 1885 in Maryland.
Bailey Carlton GOWER was born 22 Dec 1888 in Maryland. He died 20 Jun 1912.
Benjamin Markwood GOWER was born 21 Jun 1890 in Maryland.
Stella GOWER was born 19 Sep 1896 in Maryland.
Ettie F GOWER was born 31 Aug 1898 in Maryland.

Further information on Rosie May Gower:

Rosie May married Amos STRAWCUTTER in 1912. Amos was born in 1861 in Pennsylvania. He had two children with a previous wife: Guy (b. 1908) and Mildred (b. 1910). He worked with the railroad.

Rosie May has also been listed as “Ida May” in various sources. Regardless, she went by “May” throughout her adult life.

Rosie and Amos did not have any children together.

Notes on the last name:
I have seen the last name listed as both Gower and Gauer. It appears that David and Percilla kept with the Gower spelling, while some of the children spelled it Gauer. For my notes, I have chosen to stick with the Gower spelling in this post to keep it consistent.

I am still searching for information on:
Susan Gower
-This Susan Gower is not the Susan Gower/Gauer married to Truman Miller. It has been confirmed that that Susan Gower/Gauer was the daughter of Jacob and Susan Gauer, not David and Percilla.

Sarah A Gower
George Gower
John Gower
Charles Truman Gower
Stella Gower

If you have any information on these children, please email me at McRobieFamilyTree@gmail.com or fill out this form. Thank you!

Sources:
1870 Census
1880 Census
1900 Census
1920 Census
1930 Census
Death Certificate for Percy Ann Gower
Death Register for Percy A Gower
Obituary for Percy Ann Gower
Obituary for David Gower
Cemetery Listing

After a 6-6 season, Marshall let go head coach Mark Snyder today.

After a 6-6 season, Marshall demolished the respectability and stability that had developed in Huntington.

What the administration at Marshall failed to understand is that at a mid-major, rebuilding program, continuity is what will make the program better.

Snyder now is the same Snyder Marshall thought they had when the hired him away from Ohio State to be their head man. He just wasn’t given the time. Given a mandate to have a successful season, Snyder put together a 6-6 season. Considering the state of the program directly prior to Snyder’s arrival, I would deem a 6-6 season “on the right track.”

Now Marshall has to dip into a coaching search that will take some time. Players will lay in wait, unsure of what to do and how to improve.

The administration will have to come up with the money to land a solid coach. The administration will have to deal with concerns about job security, dealing with questions about how long the new coach will have to be successful? How much patience will they give the new coach?

For my money, Marshall would be smart to land Jeff Mullen, the offensive coordinator at West Virginia. Or maybe even John Shoop, the offensive coordinator at North Carolina. Both are terrific coaches.

The new coach will inherit a success-hungry fan base, improvement driven players, and a history that can be used to their advantage. They must capitalize on their recent history quickly though, as less and less high school recruits remember that Randy Moss, Chad Pennington, and Byron Leftwich all once roamed in Huntington.

As for who is roaming the sidelines? No one is sure. Mark Snyder should be.

He took Marshall two steps forward this season. Unfortuantely, the administration saw fit to move the program one step back.

This is a brief note about my trip to western Maryland in early June 2009.
–
Here are a couple pictures from the trip I took to western Maryland a couple weeks ago. The theme was the Civil War (as I stopped at the Antietam and Monocacy and Harper’s Ferry, WV battlefields), as well as the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick (our motto is “All Amputations Were Necessary and Carefully Done”). I had barbecue at Redneck Ribs in New Market, watched a Frederick Keys baseball game, and had my hair cut by Pete of Pete’s Barber Shop in Boonsboro. That’s 23 states for those keeping track.

A store in Boonsboro is advertised here as being open, but actually being demolished. Struck me as an ironic use of the term “open.” Is ironic the right word?

The states impacted are as follows:  AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SD, TX, WI, WV and WY.

To find the rate adjustments, go to our Resource Center (Log in Required):

• Company = AARP
• State = (Pick your State)
• Product = Medicare Supplement
• Resource = Rates

The Citadel went 2-2 on its recent road trip, just about as expected, losing to Missouri State and West Virginia, and winning neutral-site games against Eastern Michigan and Maryland-Eastern Shore.  A few comments on the four games:

• Against Maryland-Eastern Shore, Mike Groselle had a very active 13 minutes, scoring 14 points (4-4 FG and 6-6 FT) while pulling down 4 rebounds, and also committing 4 fouls.  Talk about an all-action player.
• UMES reserve frontcourt player Lyvann Obame Obame grabbed 10 rebounds in only 9 minutes of play but didn’t attempt a shot from the field…kind of a strange line.  Obame Obame is a 6′6″ native of Gabon, by the way.
• Austin Dahn was 3-5 from 3-point land in the UMES game.  Alas, in the other three games he was a combined 0-10 from beyond the arc.
• Conversely, Zach Urbanus made 12 of 21 three-pointers over the four-game span.  Joe Wolfinger was actually even better from outside (13-21), including a 5-5 night against UMES (The Citadel made 13 three-pointers in that game).
• Fifteen different Bulldogs played against UMES.  All of them played at least three minutes.
• The Citadel’s win over Eastern Michigan came down to winning the rebounding battle (33-24) while committing five fewer turnovers.  Cameron Wells’ 10-12 night from the line came in handy, too (he finished with 24 points).
• The Citadel led for much of the EMU game, but actually trailed by 2 with less than 5 minutes to play before rallying for a victory in what was in effect the “swing” game of the road trip.
• The Bulldogs lost by 17 points to Missouri State, but it was a three-point game (55-52) at the 4:32 mark of the second half before the Bears pulled away.  That game was more competitive than the final score suggests.
• Missouri State had a very efficient offensive game against Bulldogs, scoring 72 points in only 63 possessions, which is what happens when you shoot well from the field (including 9-18 from 3-land), the foul line, and only commit 8 turnovers.  The Citadel’s defensive stats took a hit in that game.
• West Virginia only committed four turnovers against The Citadel (the Bulldogs suffered 19 of their own).  Three of the four WVU turnovers were steals by Cameron Wells.
• The Citadel had 56 possessions against the Mountaineers, a very slow pace, even by the Bulldogs’ normal standards.  The 19 turnovers are an even bigger black mark in a game that with that few possessions, of course; without them, The Citadel fared well, shooting well from outside (9-16 from 3) and holding its own on the boards (30 rebounds for each school).  It’s just almost impossible to win, or even be in the game, when you turn the ball more than one of every three possessions.
• Incidentally, the Bulldogs’ pace of play for each of the four games was as follows:  EMU (60 possessions), Mizzou State (62), UMES (65), WVU (56).  That’s a little low for the WVU game, but generally those numbers indicate the tempo that favors The Citadel’s style of play.

Before anyone gets too disappointed with the Bulldogs’ 3-3 record, a little perspective.  By the time the turkey was being carved this year, The Citadel already had two Division I victories.  Two years ago, the Bulldogs had two D-1 wins all season…

—

Now it’s time for the CollegeInsider.com Skip Prosser Invitational, named for the late Wake Forest coach.  The Citadel will host Savannah State (although the Bulldogs will not play the Tigers), UVA-Wise (an NAIA Division II school) and Central Connecticut State (of the Northeast Conference).  There will be two games on Saturday and two on Sunday, all held at McAlister Field House.

The Citadel is hosting the event, I gather, primarily because head coach Ed Conroy was named the 2009 Skip Prosser Man of the Year.  I suspect that attendance will not be very high, given the field, and also because it’s the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Still, it’s two more games for the Bulldogs before beginning conference play, which probably counts for something.

As I noted above, The Citadel will not play Savannah State in the event — it’s an “invitational” as opposed to a true tournament.  The Bulldogs open with UVA-Wise on Saturday and face Central Connecticut State on Sunday.

—

UVA-Wise (officially “The University of Virginia’s College at Wise”) has been a four-year school since 1970; it was initially a junior college, founded in 1954.  Until 1999 the school was called Clinch Valley College, so if you aren’t familiar with UVA-Wise, perhaps you have heard of it under that name.  Of course, odds are you’ve never heard of Clinch Valley College either.

UVA-Wise has a little under 2,000 students and is located in the southwestern corner of Virginia, not too far away from Big Stone Gap.  Its most notable alum, according to Wikipedia, is Holly Kiser, who appeared (and was the first-season winner) on a reality TV show called Make Me A Supermodel.  I will admit I don’t know anything about this show, which evidently airs on Bravo.  At any rate, I suppose congratulations are in order to Ms. Kiser.

As for the basketball team, the Highland Cavaliers play in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, a league that includes schools like Milligan, Montreat, and Virginia Intermont.  UVA-Wise was 8-21 last season, and has averaged 18.5 losses per season over the last four years.

The Citadel is UVA-Wise’s first NCAA Division I opponent this season, but in past years the Highland Cavaliers have played (and lost to) schools such as VMI, Wofford, and Charleston Southern.  Last season UVA-Wise dropped games to Elon (92-65), Longwood (87-44), Gardner-Webb (74-47), and Coastal Carolina (90-51).

UVA-Wise comes into Saturday’s game with a record of 3-4, having lost on Tuesday in Pippa Passes, Kentucky, to Alice Lloyd College.  The Highland Cavaliers like an up-tempo game, averaging 81.6 possessions per contest.  This has led to some high-scoring games.  UVA-Wise shoots the ball fairly well (other than free throw shooting — the H-Cavs were an atrocious 9-31 from the charity stripe in a loss to Emory & Henry), but turns the ball over a lot and is not a particularly good defensive squad.

The Highland Cavaliers employ a 9- or 10-man rotation.  No player on the squad is taller than 6′6″, which may make guarding Joe Wolfinger a bit of a problem.

—

Central Connecticut State will be The Citadel’s opponent on Sunday.  CCSU is located in New Britain and has slightly under 10,000 students.  It has been around in various forms since 1849, attaining university status in 1983.  Notable alums of the school include two former NFL head coaches, Dave Campo and Mike Sherman, as well as the legendary Richard Grieco.

Howie Dickenman, a former assistant to Jim Calhoun, has been at Central Connecticut State since 1996.  Dickenman has had a good run at CCSU, which is also his alma mater.  The Blue Devils have made three NCAA appearances under Dickenman, most recently in 2007.  However, CCSU has had two straight losing seasons (going 13-17 last year).  The Devils were 8-10 in NEC play; CCSU hasn’t had a record in conference worst than that since joining the league in 1998.

Dickenman has a young team this season.  Only one senior has seen playing time thus far, and that player (Joe Seymore) has only played fourteen minutes in two games.  Of the six players who are averaging more than twenty minutes per game, two are freshmen, two are sophomores, and two are juniors, including hard-nosed point guard Shemik Thompson, who was the rookie of the year in the NEC in 2008 despite having a plate put into his head following a concussion.

In contrast to UVA-Wise, the Blue Devils like to play at a slower pace.  In the past two seasons, CCSU has averaged 65.9 and 67.2 possessions per game, but this season in two games Central Connecticut State is averaging just 59.5 possessions per contest.  Of course, two games is a decidedly small sample size.

The bigger issue for CCSU is that is has lost both games, against Fairfield (in a game played in Bridgeport) and at Savannah State.  Yes, Central Connecticut State is going to play consecutive games against Savannah State, which is a little odd.  The Tigers have actually played three games since the initial meeting with the Devils, while CCSU hasn’t played a game since the 16th of November.

CCSU simply hasn’t shot well from the field in either of the two games, shooting less than 38% from the field while its opponents have shot almost 46% from the field.  The Devils have also been crushed on the glass, to the tune of a -12 rebounding margin, particularly getting whipped on the offensive boards.  It’s hard to win games when you don’t shoot well and can’t rebound effectively.

Like UVA-Wise, CCSU has a 9- or 10-man rotation, and also like UVA-Wise, the Devils lack size.  The tallest player on the roster, freshman Joe Efese, is only 6′6″.

—

The Bulldogs should handle UVA-Wise fairly easily and will be a slight favorite against Central Connecticut State.  It would be nice to be over .500 when Davidson comes to town on December 3.

I didn’t realize there were early college football games on today otherwise I would have done this earlier and made some bets.  Unfortunately I was stuck at work.

I was going to play Rutgers -3 and Cincinnati -20.5, but the games started before I had a chance.  Other games that were playable include: Colorado State -3, Kent State +4, Tulsa -14.5, and Bowling Green -7. I got my Nebraska -10 pick in, but didn’t get to post here in time

 Here are my other picks:

Pittsburgh 0 (vs WVU)

Boise State -9.5 (buy 4pts) (vs Nevada)

The Boise spread opened at -10 which would may have been fine but now it’s up to -13.5 which is too close for comfort. Nevada is a good team with a strong offense. They are on an 8-0 run after losing their first 3 and have score more than 50 points in 5 of those 8 and more than 30 in all of them. Last year Nevada only lost by 7. I may just steer clear of this game, especially since my NCAAF system is so new and untested.

NBA:

DEN -12.5 (vs NY)

PHI +12.5 (buy 7) (vs ATL)

DAL +2.5 (buy 4) (vs IND)

I’ll play Denver straight, but the other two games I’ll have to work into a teaser if I want anything out of them.  I’d do PHI, DAL, and any other team I mentioned in the last post in a 7pt teaser if I were to play them.

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John Goodman reports that sources have informed FoxSports.com that West Virginia’s Devin Ebanks is likely to play in tomorrows game.

What a wonderful gift I was given this afternoon. I am most thankful for it. In my mailbox was the usual, unwanted mail, magazines (excited to get the new NGS Magazine and New England Ancestors), but the best was a letter from Beckley, WV. As I looked at it, I was not sure what it was. I had recently been to Beckley, but did not remember anyone saying they would mail me something. As I stared at this letter, it occured to me that the envelop was one I addressed, months ago. I had sent a letter to the local Order of the Eastern Stars to see if they had any information on my Great Great Grandmother, Nettie Ann (Warden) Richmond. I had given up hope for a reply because it has been a few months. 

So I am extremely excited, I opened the letter before I even took my coat off and got comfortable. Inside was a letter, on OES letterhead from their current Secretary. It gives me the following bits of information:

• Nettie was initiated 20 May 1926
• Her husband, John E Richmond was a member of Beckley Lodge No 95, A.F & A.M, Beckley, WV
• Her petition shows address as Riley, WV and dues record shows address as Stanaford, WV
• She was the Chapter Worthy Matron 1 Jul 1939 – 30 June 1940
• Charles Tongue served as Worthy Patron with her.
• She was given life membership 26 Feb 1967

Nettie died 3 Feb 1968, almost a full year after she was given her life membership. 

I have recently spoken with a Granddaughter of Nettie, who referred to her as Granny, she said that the OES was very important to Granny and she thought she would not get into heaven without her OES ring she wore. Unfortunately, she was not buried with the ring. I look forward to more conversations with this cousin, she has shared many family stories and I hope with my urging she will commit these stories to paper. I have only been able to collect historical facts, and she has the personal, together we can create a wonderful history of the Richmond’s life.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and large-scale turkey consumption, we wish to acknowledge the impact of turkeys on forest history. How did a couple of turkeys change history? Well, a better question might be: How did a handful of angry turkey hunters in West Virginia upend U.S. Forest Service timber management policy and help usher the agency into the environmental era?

Around 1964, a handful of hunters went to their favorite spot on the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia to hunt turkey. There, they found no turkeys because the area had been clearcut by the Forest Service. Upset, they took their complaints to the agency, eventually getting a meeting with Chief Ed Cliff, and demanded an end to clearcutting as a timber management practice. As Cliff says in an excerpt from his oral history Half A Century in Forest Conservation, “It soon got beyond the turkey hunting issue.” Indeed, what started off as a disappointing hunting trip for some buddies eventually led to Congress rewriting the Forest Service’s Organic Act and forever changing the agency.

Gobble gobble hey! Any chance you guys are going to West Virginia? (FHS image #R9_492831)

After several years of studies and discussion that changed nothing, the hunters turned to the Izaak Walton League and other conservation groups, and together they filed a lawsuit to stop the use of clearcutting as a harvesting method. Ironically, the outrage wasn’t over clearcutting per se, but over the size of the clearcuts. Nonetheless, the plaintiffs asserted that the Forest Service was in violation of the Organic Act of 1897, which allowed the cutting of “dead, matured, or large growth” trees that had been “marked and designated” for sale. Clearcutting removed all trees; no one bothered marking individual trees since they’d all be removed. No matter, said the court. The law is the law. Izaak Walton League v. Earl Butz was found in favor of the hunters and overturned “the whole legal basis for timber management on the national forests.” Congress now had to write a new organic act for the agency. The resulting National Forest Management Act changed how the Forest Service managed the national forests. Things were never the same for the agency after its passage in 1976 — additional protests and lawsuits further shaped and influenced how the agency conducted management. Ultimately, this led to its turn away from emphasizing timber management and to its embrace of ecosystem management.

This gross oversimplification of a major turning point in forest history is explored in numerous articles and books, many of which we’ve published. But we thought we’d pull two nuggets from our U.S. Forest Service History Collection to share with you. The first PDF is a one-page excerpt from Ed Cliff’s oral history. The second is from The Monongahela National Forest, 1915-1990, which weaves together oral histories and secondary sources into a solid history of the forest. This lengthy excerpt delves into the background of clearcutting on national forests and does a great job of providing context for the controversy, as well as showing that the agency was not monolithic in its thinking. So, on Thanksgiving Day, just before you drift into that tryptophan coma after eating too much turkey, think about how different history would be if only some turkeys had been hanging around in that clearcut in West Virginia.

West Virginia’s Devin Ebanks was back with the team for Tuesday nights game, but did not play. West Virginia’s head coach, Bob Huggins, has now held his star sophomore out of the Mountaineers first two games for what he has referred to as, “personal issues.”

“I understand you all have a job to do,” Huggins said. “You also have to understand that if it was your kid, you don’t want your kid’s business all over the newspaper, radio and TV because it isn’t anybody’s business. My responsibility is to those kids.”

On Saturday Jonathan Givony from DraftExpress posted the following reason for Ebanks’ absense on his Twitter page…

“Was told that Devin Ebanks’ suspension at West Virginia was marijuana related. Supposedly failed second drug test. No comment from WVU SID.”

As I posted on Saturday, This incident will not be forgotten by NBA general managers come June. The longer West Virginia coach Bob Huggins decides to hold Ebanks out of the lineup, the more his stock will continue to drop.

We at Hatter & Beanz have thought of something interesting and, even though our idea may not be so unique it’s something for those who may be less fortunate or those that may have been hit hard by the economic downfall.  

So readers, as we give thanks for our families, our friends and the roofs over our heads we have built for you a list of soup kitchens and shelters and services in each of the 50 states. (Oh by the way, we personally checked each reference).

So here’s how this is going down, we’re going to sort this by state, and right now our goal is to list one or two organizations by per state for this year. At Christmas, we’ll add one or two more, per state.

Alabama

1 – Rose Of Sharon Soup Kitchen – 2412 Memorial PKWY NW – Huntsville, AL 35810 Ph: (256) 536-2970

2 – Anniston Soup Bowl – 1516 Moore Avenue – Anniston, AL  36201 – Ph: (256) 236-6794

Alaska

1 – Downtown Soup Kitchen – 434 East 4^th AVE – Anchorage, AK 99501 – Ph: (907) 277-4302

2 – Food Pantry of Palmer – 7805 East Palmer Wasilla HWY – Palmer, AK 99645 – Ph:  (907) 745-3635

Arizona

1 – Vista Colina Family Shelter – 1050 W. Mountain View Rd. – Phoenix, AZ 8501 -  Ph: (602) 944- 0960

2 – Gospel Rescue Mission – 1130 West Miracle Mile – Tucson, AZ 85705 – Ph: (520) 740-1501

Arkansas

1 – Food Bank of North Central Arkansas – 14215 Highway 5 South – Norfork, AR 72658 – Ph: (870) 499-7565

2 – Johnny’s Food Bank – 312 Church Street – Lake Village, AR 71653 – (870) 265 -2601

California

1 – TLC Soup Kitchen – 3904 High Street – Sacramento, CA 95838 – Ph: (916) 759-1806

2 – Hospitality Kitchen – 821 East 6^th Street – Los Angeles, CA 90013

Colorado

1 – Denver Rescue Mission – 1130 Park Ave West- Denver, CO 80205 – Ph: (303) 297-1815

2 – Soup Kitchen Inc. – 1675 Larimer Street – Denver, CO 80205 – Ph: (303) 629-6383

Connecticut

1 – Torrington Soup Kitchen – Trinity Church, 220 Prospect Street – Torrington, CT 06790 – Ph: (860) 482-0130

2 – Covenant Soup Kitchen – 220 Valley Street – Willimantic, CT 06226 – Ph: (860) 423-1643

Delaware

1 – Food Bank of Delaware – 1041 Mattlind Way – Milford, DE 19963 – Ph: (302) 424-3301

2 – Acorn, Inc. – 1607 Todds Lane – Wilmington, DE 190802 – Ph: (302) 762-4226

Florida

1 – Homestead Soup Kitchen – 105 Southwest 3^rd Ave – Homestead, FL 33090 – Ph: (305) 245-7448

2 – Bread of the Mighty – 325 Northeast 10^th Ave – Gainesville, FL 32601 – Ph: (352) 395-6570

Georgia

1 – Albany Rescue Mission – 604 North Monroe Street – Albany, GA 31701 – Ph: (229) 435-7615

2 – Feed America – 102 East 14^th Ave – Cordele, GA 31015 – Ph: (229) 273-0227

Hawaii

1 – Office of Social Ministry – 100 Kinoole Street – Hilo, HI 96720 Ph: (808) 935-3794

Idaho

1 – The Soup Kitchen – 301 South BLVD – Idaho Falls, ID 83401 Ph: (208) 557-5750

2 – St. Maries Food Bank – 416 Main Ave – Saint Mares, ID 83861 Ph: (208) 245-9090

Illinois

1 – Midwest Food Bank – 1703 So. Veterans PKWY – Bloomington, IL 61701 Ph: (309) 663-5350

2 – Cornucopia Food Pantry – 402 Market Street – Rockford, IL 61107 – Ph: (815) 962-1380

Indiana

1 – Backstreet Mission – 215 So Westplex Ave. – Bloomington, IN 47404 – Ph: (812) 333-6360

2 – Wells County Food Bank – 1254 So. Main Street – Bluffton, IN 46714- Ph: (260) 827-0053

Iowa

1 – Community of Concern – 203 North US Highway 71 – Carroll, IA 51401 – Ph: (712) 792-5150

2 – Mapleton Food Bank – 315 Main Street – Mapleton, IA 51034 – Ph: (712) 881-1128

Kansas

1 – Genesis – 350 So. Range Ave. – Colby, KS 67701 – Ph: (785) 460-7930

2 – Christian Food Bank – 111 West 4^th Street – Pratt, KS 67124 – Ph: (620) 672-5150

Kentucky

1 – God’s Pantry Food Bank – 1685 Jaggie Fox Way – Lexington, KY 40511 – Ph: (859)255-6592

2 – New Hope Food Bank – 880 J.T. Riggs Road – New Hope, KY 40052 – Ph: (502) 549-6015

Louisiana

1 – Food for Families – 245 Illinois Street – Delhi, LA 71232 – Ph: (318) 878-3869

2 – God’s Food Box – 711 Mahlon Street – Deridder, LA 70634 – Ph: (337) 463-4449

Maine

1 – Good Shepherd Food Bank – 3121 Hotel Road – Auburn, ME 04210 – Ph: (207) 782-3554

2 – Winthrop Food Pantry – 15 High Street – Winthrop, ME 04364

Maryland

1 – Movable Feast – 2620 Wilkins Ave – Baltimore, MD 21223 – Ph: (410) 327-3420

2 – Abundant Life Church – 110 Front Street – Pocomoke City, MD 21851 – Ph: (410) 957-4206

Massachusetts

1 – Beverly Bootstraps – 371 Cabot Street – Beverly, MA 01915 – Ph: (978) 927-1651

2 – Merrimack Valley Food Bank – 735 Broadway – Lowell, MA 01854 – Ph: (978) 454-7272

Michigan

1 – American Saucery – 10750 Capital St – Oak Park, MI 48237 – Ph: (248) 544-9485

2 – Manna Food Project – 8791McBride Park – Harbor Springs, MI – Ph: (231) 347-8852

Minnesota

1 – Fare for All – 8501 54^th Ave North – Minneapolis, MN 55428 – Ph: (763) 450-3860

2 – Pastor Paul’s Mission – 100 Oliver Ave North – Minneapolis, MN 55411 – Ph: (612) 521-4665

Mississippi

1 – Hartland Hands – 385 Stateline Road East – Southaven, MS 38671 – Ph: (662) 280-5365

2 – PBM Ministries – 639 Second South Street – Woodville, MS 39669 – Ph: (601) 888-3880

Missouri

1 – Arnold Food Pantry – 23 Village Plaza – Arnold, MO 63010 – Ph: (636) 467-5959

2 – Holy Spirit – 3128 Parkwood Lane – Maryland Heights, MO 63043 – Ph: (314) 739-9796

Montana

1 – Give Away House – 1058 2^nd Street North – Harve, MT 59501 – Ph: (406) 265-7741

2 – Sagebrush Food Pantry – 669 Park Ave – Shelby, MT 59474 – Ph: (406) 424-8287

Nebraska

1 – Arapahoe Area Food Pantry – 210 7^th Street – Arapahoe, NE 68922 – Ph: (308) 962-7296

2 – Western Nebraska Food Bank – 825 Hickory Street – Sidney, NE 69162 – Ph: (308) 254-1095

Nevada

1 – Food For Thought – 3579 US Highway 50 – East Carson City, NV 89029 – Ph: (775) 883-1011

2 – Colorado River Food Bank – 1575 South Casino Drive – Laughlin, NV 89410 – Ph: (775) 782-3711

New Hampshire

1 – Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter – 42 Chestnut Street – Nashua, NH 03061 – Ph: (603) 889-7770

2 – Sonshine Soup Kitchen – 4 Crustal Ave #4 – Derry, NH 03038 – Ph: (603) 437-2833

New Jersey

1 – Extra Helping – 31 Evans Terminal – Hillside, NJ 07205 – Ph: (908) 355-3663

2 – Interfaith Food Pantry – 540 West Hanover Ave – Morristown, NJ 07960 – Ph: (973) 538-8049

New Mexico

1 – The Food Depot – 1222 Silver Road – Santa Fe, NM 87507 – Ph: (505) 471-1633

2 – Los Alamos Community Food Bank – 77 Loma Vista St – Los Alomos, NM 87544

New York

1 – Masbia Soup Kitchen – 4114 14^th Ave – Brooklyn, NY 11219 – Ph: (718) 972-4446

2 – Project Hospitality – 100 Park Ave. – Staten Island, NY 10302 – Ph: (718) 448-1544

North Carolina

1 – Good Shepherd Ministries – 811 Martin Street – Wilmington, NC 28401 – Ph: (910) 763-4424

2 – Hallelujah Soup Kitchen – 1904 South Wilmington Street – Raleigh, NC 27603 – Ph: (919) 899-6498

North Dakota

1 – Amen Food Pantry – 1100 3^rd Ave West – Dickinson, ND 58601 – Ph: (701) 483-4344

2 – Carrington’s Daily Bread – 875 Main Street – Carrington, ND 58421 – Ph: (701) 652-2333

Ohio

1 – Zion Soup Kitchen – 2716 West 14^th Street – Cleveland, OH 44113 – Ph: (216) 861-2371

2 – From Darkness to Light – 1925 Stanford Road – Twinsburg, OH 44087 – Ph: (216) 744-7408

Oklahoma

1 – Salvation Army – 1306 SW Ave E – Lawton, OK 73501 – Ph: (580) 355-1802

2 – Ardmore Soup Kitchen – 2207 Ridgeway Street – Ardmore, OK 73401 – Ph: (580) 226-2870

Oregon

1 – Lebanon Soup Kitchen – 170 East Grant Street – Lebanon, OR 97355 – Ph: (541) 451-7667

2 – St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen – 820 Ellsworth Street SW – Albany, OR 97321 – Ph: (541) 926-8562

Pennsylvania

1 – Jubilee Kitchen – 2005 Wyandotte Street – Pittsburgh, PA 15219 – Ph: (412) 261-5417

2 – East Liberty Soup Kitchen – 1091 Pittsburgh Road – Valencia, PA 16059 – Ph: (724) 898-3503

Rhode Island

1 – Fall River Soup Kitchen – 783 Slade Street – Fall River, MA 02724 – Ph: (508) 324-1323

South Carolina

1 – Project Host Soup Kitchen – 525 So. Academy Street – Greenville, SC 29601 – Ph: (864) 235-3403

2 – The Soup Kitchen – 573 Meeting Street – Charleston, SC 29403 – Ph: (843) 723-2726

Tennessee

1 – Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen – 215 Foster Street – Clarksville, TN 37043 – Ph: (931) 645-9020

2 – Manna Day Ministry – 1186 Ft. Campbell Blvd. – Clarksville, TN 37042 – Ph: (931) 648-1324

Texas

1 – Star of Hope Homeless Shelter – 419 Dowling Street – Houston, TX 77003 – Ph: (713) 748-0700

2 – New Hope Housing, Inc. – 320 Hamilton Street – Houston, TX 77002 – Ph: (713) 223-1995

Utah

1 – Manila Food Pantry – 93 North 1 West – Manila, UT 84046 – Ph: (435) 784-3993

Virginia

1 –Central Virginia Food Bank – 1415 Rhoadmiller Street – Richmond, VA 23220 – Ph: (804) 521-2500

Washington

1 – University Street Ministries – 4740 University Way NE – Seattle, WA 98105 – Ph: (206) 522-4366

West Virginia

1 – Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling – 1610 Eoff Street – Wheeling, WV 26003 – Ph: (304) 233-2992

Wisconsin

1 – McCarthy-Hall Kitchen – 1100 Douglas Ave – Racine, WI 53402 – Ph: (262) 634-9336

Wyoming

1 – Community Soup Kitchen – 633 Bridger Ave – Rock Springs, WY 82901 – Ph: (307) 382-7383

Have A Happy & Safe Thanksgiving Holiday !!!!

-Hatter & Beanz

A Tuesday morning view of part of the Charleston cityscape around 6 a.m.

For the two in attendance, and the millions of you reading across the internet……Lets get ready for RIVALRIES!!!!!!!

The First game i bring to you is the Border War. Anyone who deals with a rivalry knows that its just a straight out fight, and what better to fight over then an Indian War Drum & the Lamar Hunt Trophy. Missouri and Kansas have been fighting this war since 1891. Dan George summed up the rivalry by stating “It’s more than the schools — it’s a state thing going back to the Civil War, when William Quantrill’s Confederate guerillas burned Lawrence and murdered nearly 200 people. Neither Missouri nor Kansas folks have forgotten it.” The series between to the two stands officially tied (going by NCAA, cant stand it when conferences make their own rules and try to change rules mid season to get things swinging their way) 54-54-9 even though there is some controversy over a player being disqualified due to a school booster using funds to persuade him to come to that school (Kansas was the school he played for). This just added more fuel to the fire of this rivalry, which, even though by request of the athletic directors of the schools not to be called this, is the Border War.

 Next on the list we have the  Iron Bowl. For those of you not around the south, the Iron Bowl is THE rivalry of rivalries. When people think of Alabama playing against Auburn, they equate it to things such as the North fighting against the South… The Axis versus the Allies… some even go as far as to compare it as the battle of good and evil. It gets intense around here and some people tend to get hurt while waiting for the weekend or in this horrid case because of CBS wanting to grab some ratings, Friday to come around for the game to be played to give the fans the bragging rights they have truly earned. The series originated in 1893 with the two schools playing against each other in Birmingham, Alabama (that’s where the iron came from) The Crimson Tide currently lead the rivalry 39-33-1. This year’s game will be played at Auburns site where Alabama has lost its last six visits.

Now I bring you “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate”. Words that could only be used to describe the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game. The rivalry between these two schools also began in 1893.  The heated rivalry goes all the way back to truthfully 1891 when UGA began to mock Tech for its choice of school colors. The fire only burned stronger as time passed by with UGA once again offending the Yellow Jackets in 1919 by having a parade celebrating UGA’s return to football while making fun of Georgia Tech students for continuing to play football during war time. With only 70 miles between the schools (UGA in Athens, and GA Tech in Atlanta) the schools are in constant competition against each other not only for recruits, but for state funding and for recognition from their home state as well. The winning school of the years football game receives the Governor’s Cup Finally, I just really like the name given to this rivalry.

Next up on the Rivalry list we have the Texas Longhorns, and the Texas A & M Aggies. These being the two oldest public schools in the state of Texas, their rivalry is a natural one. Texas and A & M have been competing against each other since 1894, but their rivalry has been adjusted to spread bragging rights based on all sports rather then just football. in 2004 a points system was introduced. Points are awarded for all sports in which both schools maintain an intercollegiate team. Each sport is worth one point, which is awarded to the winner of the head-to-head matchup between the two teams. If the head-to-head matchup ends in a tie, each team receives ½ point. In baseball, the team that wins the regular season three-game series is awarded one point. In sports where the teams meet twice during the season — currently softball, volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball — each contest is worth ½ point. If the universities do not compete in head-to-head regular season competition, the university that places higher at the Big 12 Conference Championship will earn the point. Should the universities tie in Big 12 Conference Championship competition the point will be split between the two schools. In the sport of track and field, multi-school meets do not count as head-to-head competition. There are a total of 19 possible points, with 10 points needed to win. In the event of a 9½ to 9½ tie, the winner of the previous year will retain the title for the following year. Texas currently leads the points run 3-2 with a possible tie of the series pending on the rivalry game this weekend. (if A & M manages to tie the points, according to the rules of point, they will retain the title since they were the previous years winner.)

And for the next big game, we have Virginia Tech at Virginia playing for the Commonwealth Cup. This match up rolls back to 1895 when the schools started playing each other. From what I’ve gathered, aside from just a game between people from really close places to each other, there’s not much to this. With the Va Tech Shooting, the rivalry became even less intense. Many fans on both sides of the rivalry have reported a lessening of hostilities between the two universities while maintaining the same intensity of the rivalry in the wake of the Virginia Tech Massacre. According to The Washington Post “students in both camps are more apt to think of themselves as simply Virginians.” UVa students were amongst the first university students to lend support to the comrades at Virginia Tech in the wake of the shootings. Likewise, the connections between the two university’s populations are often very close. Prior to the 2007 football contest in Charlottesville both college’s bands participated in a joint performance. However, the intensity of the rivalry was still as spirited as ever, with both sides cheering passionately for their own team as a berth to the ACC Championship game was on the line. “…there was the sense among Tech students that fans of U-Va. – an institution founded by none other than Thomas Jefferson – looked down their noses at the mountain-ensconced Hokies of Blacksburg. Hokies were “hicks”; Cavaliers were “snobs.” But after the shootings in April, something changed. U-Va. students and faculty members wrote condolence letters, held a candlelight vigil and even painted the campus’s fabled Beta Bridge with a pro-Hokies phrase.” — Jonathan Mummolo, The Washington Post U-Va.’s student newspaper reported that students in Charlottesville were even sporting Hokie sweatshirts on occasion in observance of the tragedy. The University’s Z Society went so far as unveiling a 65′ x 120′ Virginia Pride flag featuring both UVA and VT logos on it during the annual football game, and it was noted that the two fan bases had never been so close as they were after the shootings. “Since the tragedy, it hasn’t been so odd to see a Wahoo wearing a Virginia Tech sweatshirt. Since April, transfer students haven’t felt so awkward saying they used to attend school in Blacksburg. Truly, Hokies and Wahoos have never been so together.” — Eric Kolenich, The Cavalier Daily.

Next up on the list is Pittsburgh playing at West Virginia in The Backyard Brawl. This rivalry rolls back to 1895 when the first game was played. The rivalry basically exists because, you guessed it, the schools are basically in each other’s back yard. Pittsburgh currently leads the series 61-37-3. The 1921 edition of The Backyard Brawl was the first football game to be broadcast over the radio airwaves. Other then the 2007 Pitt team knocking the then number two ranked West Virginia out of the BCS National Championship game, there hasnt really been much to fuel this rivalry then, they’re competing for the same stuff as GA-GA tech.

Another heated rivalry taking place this weekend is the Holy War. The fierce rivalry between the Utah Utes and the Brigham Young Cougars. The big thing that fuels this fire is…..dum dum dum… religion.  Utah is the Mormon capital of the world, so to no surprise, BYU is a Mormon owned school. Utah, being a state owned school, is non-secular. BYU fans accuse Utah fans of being drunks, although many of Utah’s fans are also Mormons, and alcohol is against the Mormon code. Many non Mormon Utes fans love to mess with BYU fans by drinking lots of coffee, swearing and generally going against the Mormon code. The series started in 1895 ( or 1922 according to BYU) Utah leads the series 53-33-4 (or 50-30-4 depending on when it started).  The two schools are approximately 50 miles apart, so its not uncommon for them to constantly compete over recruits, fans and funding. The rivalry began to change in 1993, during Ron McBride’s fourth season as head coach, the Utes won their first game in Provo in twenty-two seasons and their first since LaVell Edwards became BYU head coach. Utah’s kicker, Chris Yergensen, had already missed two out of three field goals on the day. This time, however, Yergensen did not miss and kicked the game-winning 55-yard field goal (the longest of his career) as time expired.After the win, Utah fans and players attempted to tear down the north end zone goalpost at what was then Cougar Stadium. Cougar players returned to the field to protect the goalpost from being torn down. About the incident, Lenny Gomes, a BYU nose guard, said, “Typical Utah bullshit. All those guys think that’s all there is to life. But when I’m making $50–60,000 a year, they’ll be pumping my gas. They’re low-class losers.” The remark is still remembered in rivalry history today.The 1994 season was McBride’s best, as he led the Utes to a 10–2 record and a top-10 finish in national rankings. The Utes and Cougars also staged one of the best matchups in the rivalry’s history, meeting for the first time as top-25 ranked teams. The Utes won the game 34–31, which was coincidentally the same score of their meeting a year before. Utah ran its rivalry winning streak up to three games a year later, with a 34–17 win at BYU. The Utes and Cougars would trade wins and losses the next couple of years, before the 2000 season. During the 1999 edition of the Holy War, Utah recorded its fourth consecutive win in Provo. Early in the fourth quarter, Utah scored a touchdown when quarterback T.D. Crowshaw completed a four-yard-pass to Donny Utu to put Utah up 20–10. In celebration, Utah cheerleader Billy Priddis ran along the visitor’s sideline with a large “U” flag. An unidentified BYU fan ran onto the sideline and tackled Priddis from behind. Priddis turned around and started punching the fan. He landed seven or eight punches before security separated them. About the incident, Priddis said, “”There’s 65,000 fans here, does he think I’m not going to retaliate?” Utah had another undefeated season in 2008 and defeated BYU 48–24. By doing so, they captured another invitation to a BCS game, where they were matched up with the highly favored Alabama. Utah beat Alabama 31–17 for their second BCS victory in five years. BYU’s team slogan in 2008 was “Quest for Perfection,” and T-shirts bearing that slogan were made widely available. However, BYU’s quest for a perfect season ended at TCU, and Utah, who did finish with a perfect record, created red shirts bearing the Utah logo and the slogan “The Quest Perfected.”

This next rivalry is near and dear to my heart as I have an ex-girlfriend who is a big Clemson fan. Naturally I pull for South Carolina (Shout out to my boy Darian Stewart #24) every year since then in the Battle of the Palmetto State. Stick with me people because the next might get long and boring, but it is needed to completely understand where it all came from. Unlike most major college rivalries, the Carolina-Clemson rivalry did not start innocently. In fact, the seeds of bitterness were planted even before Clemson became a college. The two institutions were founded 88 years apart: South Carolina College in 1801 and Clemson Agricultural College in 1889.South Carolina College was founded in 1801 to unite and promote harmony between the Lowcountry and the Upcountry. It closed during the Civil War when its students aided the Southern cause, but the closure gave the politicians an opportunity to reorganize it to their liking. The Radical Republicans in charge of state government during Reconstruction opened the school to blacks and appropriated generous funds to the University, much of which was embezzled. These actions caused the white citizens of the state to withdraw their support for the University and view it as a symbol of the worst aspects of Reconstruction. The Democrats returned to power in 1877 following their decisive electoral victory over the Radical Republicans and promptly proceeded to close the University. Sentiment in the state favored opening an agriculture college so the University was reorganized as the South Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. In 1882, the college was renamed to its antebellum name, South Carolina College, which infuriated the farmers because they felt that the politicians had frustrated the will of the people by deemphasizing agriculture education, even though the school still retained the department of agriculture. Benjamin Tillman emerged in the 1880s as a leader of the agrarian movement in South Carolina and demanded that the South Carolina College take agricultural education more seriously by expanding the agriculture department. In 1885, Tillman was convinced of the superiority of a separate agricultural college by Stephen D. Lee, then the President of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi, and subsequently Tillman would accept nothing less than a separate agriculture college in South Carolina. He offered the following reasons why he felt that it was necessary to have a separate agriculture college outside the confines of Columbia:

Mississippi A&M featured practical training without unnecessary studying of the liberal arts.

Mississippi A&M provided poor students work-scholarships so that they could attend the college.

There were too few students who studied agriculture at the College to justify an agriculture college there.

The College was a place “for the sons of lawyers and of the well-to-do” who sneered at the agriculture students as if they were hayseeds.

The students at the College lived a life of luxury as compared with the sweat and toil endured by students at Mississippi A&M.

There was not enough farm land near the College to allow for proper agriculture study.

The Conservatives, who held the reins of power in South Carolina from 1877 to 1890, replied to each point made by Tillman:

The most advanced agriculture educational research was being conducted at the University of California and at Cornell University, both of which combined agriculture colleges with liberal arts colleges. Additionally, a separate agriculture college would be more expensive and result in an inferior product.

The work scholarships attracted the lowest quality of students who only cared about obtaining a college degree, not about an education in agriculture or mechanical studies. Furthermore, there was little advantage of attending a college only to pitch manure and grub stumps.

The constant attacks by Tillman on the College caused many to doubt whether state support for the institution would continue. As a result, the enrollment numbers were not impressive, although the numbers of students taking agriculture and mechanical classes increased from 34 in 1887 to 83 in 1889. Over half of the students at the College were the sons of farmers, though most did not study agriculture as Tillman wished. John McLaren McBryde, President of the College, correctly predicted that most students of an agriculture college would not go back to work the farm after graduation. While some students at the College were the sons of the well-to-do, the majority were poor.Tillman was bolstered in 1886 when Thomas Green Clemson agreed to will his Fort Hill estate for the establishment of an agriculture college. Yet, Tillman did not want to wait until Clemson died to start a separate agriculture college so he pushed the General Assembly to use the Morrill funds and Hatch funds for that purpose. Instead, the legislature gave those funds to the South Carolina College in 1887 which would use them along with a greater state appropriation to reorganize itself as the second University of South Carolina and to also greatly expand the agriculture department. After this victory for South Carolina, in January 1888 Tillman wrote a letter to the News and Courier that he was retiring from public life.It was less than ninety days when Tillman reemerged on the scene upon the death of Thomas Green Clemson in April 1888. Tillman advocated that the state accept the gift by Clemson, but the Conservatives in power opposed the move and an all out war for power in the state commenced. The opening salvo was fired by Gideon Lee, the father of Clemson’s granddaughter and John C. Calhoun’s great granddaughter Floride Isabella Lee, who wrote a letter on her behalf to the News and Courier in May that she was being denied as Calhoun’s rightful heir. Furthermore, he stated that Clemson was egotistical and “only wanted to erect a monument to his own name.”In November, Lee filed a lawsuit in Federal Court to contest the will which ultimately ruled against him in May of 1889.The election of 1888 afforded Tillman an opportunity to convince the politicians to accept the Clemson bequest or face the possibility of being voted out of office. He demanded that the Democratic party nominate its candidates by the primary system, which was denied, but they did accept his request that the candidates for statewide office canvass the state. Tillman proved excellent on the stump, by far superior than his Conservative opponents, and as the Democratic convention neared there was a clear groundswell of support for the acceptance of Clemson’s estate. He was so effective because of his “ability to awaken popular passion and prejudice” when the populace by and large mistook “prejudice for truth, passion for reason, and invective for documentation.” Tillman pitted “the poor against the rich, tenant against landowner, hireling against employer, country against town, all of South Carolina against Charleston and Columbia, upcountry against lowcountry, white against black, do-somethings against do-nothings, and outs against those in power” so that “he could rile them up and then appear as their champion.” In addition, the Conservative leadership was aging and its appeal to the past glories of South Carolina during the antebellum period meant little to the emerging younger generation.Tillman explained his justification for an independently controlled agriculture college by pointing to the mismanagement and political interference of the University of South Carolina as had occurred during Reconstruction. The agriculture college, as specified in Clemson’s will, was to be privately controlled and thus would be able to prevent any “possible invasion by the negroes”. With declining cotton prices, Tillman preyed upon the farmer’s desperation by stating that the salaries of the college professors were exorbitant and it must be a sign of corruption. Consequently, the legislature was compelled to pass the bill to accept Clemson’s bequest in December of 1888, albeit with the tie-breaking vote in the state Senate from Lieutenant Governor William L. Mauldin. Thus was reborn the antagonistic feelings of regional bitterness and class division that would plague the state for decades. Having achieved his agriculture college, Tillman was not content to sit idly by because what he really desired was power and political office. After winning the 1890 election and becoming Governor, Tillman renewed the attacks on the Conservatives and those who had thwarted his agriculture college. He saved the coup de grâce for Senator Wade Hampton III, a South Carolina College graduate and Confederate General during the Civil War, who “invoked Confederate service and honor as a barrier to Tillmanism.” Tillman directed the legislature to defeat Hampton’s renomination for another term in December of 1890, thereby finishing what Sherman had left undone in 1865.While campaigning for Governor in 1890, Tillman leveled his harshest criticism towards the University of South Carolina and threatened to close it along with The Citadel, which he called a “dude factory.” Despite the rhetoric, Tillman only succeeded in reorganizing the University of South Carolina into a liberal arts college while in office. It would eventually be rechartered for the last time in 1906 as the University of South Carolina. However, Clemson Agricultural College held sway over the state legislature for decades and was generally the more popular college during the first half of the 20th century in South Carolina. The rivalry started in 1896. after 106 meetings, Clemson leads, 65-37-4.

Next up, the Colorado State – Wyoming Border War. Nothing is really special about this rival aside from rivalry based on location. Colorado State leads the series 55-40-4. In 1968, the ROTC detachments of the respective schools initiated the Bronze Boot, a traveling trophy awarded to the winner of the “Border War” each year. The boot was worn in the Vietnam War by Cpt. Jeff Romero, Sr., a Colorado State graduate and Army ROTC instructor at CSU between 1967 and 1969. Each year leading up to the Wyoming-Colorado State game, the game ball is carried in a running shuttle relay by the ROTC detachment of the visiting team down US 287 to the Wyoming-Colorado state border, where the home team’s ROTC detachment receives it and runs the game ball to the stadium hosting the game. The trophy is guarded by the ROTC unit of the past year’s winning school during the game. Colorado State University leads the trophy series at 21-20.

Off now to the Duel in the Desert and the Territorial Cup. The “Territorial Cup” also known as the “Duel in the Desert” is the rivalry between ASU and UA and is among the nation’s oldest and most heated rivalries, including the oldest trophy in college football. The winner of the game is then given possession of the Territorial Cup until the game is played the next year. In the modern era of the game, it is played on the day after Thanksgiving (and in recent years on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to accommodate network television coverage). The rivalry dates back to before Arizona was admitted as a state, and was a U.S. Territory. In the early history of Arizona, a resentment between the cities of Phoenix and Tucson emerged. The University of Arizona was founded in 1885 as the state’s first university. The same year, Tempe Normal School was founded as a small teacher’s college in the farming community of Tempe, just east of Phoenix. Over the years, Tempe Normal School evolved into Arizona State Teacher’s College, then Arizona State College at Tempe, and eventually Arizona State University. Although both athletic programs have been consistently in the top 20 in the Director’s Cup standings for the past decade, the two schools have featured a difference in athletic strengths. The rivalry started in 1899. University of Arizona currently leads the cup series 45-36-1.

The Bedlam Series is, like most other intrastate rivalries, a rivalry that goes beyond one or two sports. Both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have rivalries with other schools, though most of those rivalries are limited to one or two sports at the most. When the Bedlam Series gained Ford and the Bank of Oklahoma as corporate sponsors, the series became much more formalized. A points system was adopted in order to award a winner of the all athletic competitions combined between the two schools. A crystal bell trophy is awarded to individual Bedlam game winners (such as football), in addition to a trophy for the overall series champion for that year. The “Bedlam Bell” is modeled after the bell clapper in Old Central, the oldest building on Oklahoma State’s campus. For a time, the actual bell clapper was a traveling trophy for the two schools, until the popularity of this tradition waned. Oklahoma currently leads the series 79-15-8 which started in 1904.

Moving on, we have the Washington-Washington State rivalry. This one seems so boring that I’m just going to use the Apple Cup Wikipedia entry to fill this slot in. The Apple Cup is the annual college football rivalry game between the two largest universities in the U.S. state of Washington; the University of Washington (UW) Huskies and the Washington State University (WSU) Cougars. It is traditionally the final game of the regular season and takes place on the Saturday preceding Thanksgiving at Husky Stadium in Seattle during odd years, and WSU’s Martin Stadium in Pullman during even years. From 1950-80 (except for 1954), WSU hosted the game at Spokane’s Joe Albi Stadium. The WSU Cougars won three of these fifteen games in Spokane (1958, 1968, 1972), and have won six of the fourteen played at Martin Stadium (1982, 1988, 1992, 1994, 2004, 2008).Before 1962, the teams played for the “Governor’s Trophy.” The game was renamed the “Apple Cup” in 1962 because of Washington’s famous apple crop. The Apple Cup trophy has been awarded to the winning team ever since. With the recent lengthening of the regular season schedule to 12 games, there was a movement change the date of the Apple Cup from the weekend before Thanksgiving to the weekend following. This would have allowed a bye week sometime during the season. In the 2006 season, both teams played 12 straight weeks without a break, leaving the two teams noticeably fatigued. For the first time, the 2007 edition of the Apple Cup was played two days after Thanksgiving. The Apple Cup has been sponsored by Boeing since 2007.The first rivalry game was held in 1900 and resulted in a tie between UW and WSU. From 1900 to 2008, there have been 101 games between the schools. The Huskies hold a 64-31-6 advantage. UW’s longest winning streak has been eight games, achieved twice: (1959-66 and 1974-81). WSU has never won more than two consecutive Apple Cups, but the Cougars have won back-to-back games on eight separate occasions: (1929-30, 1953-54, 1957-58, 1967-68, 1972-73, 1982-83, 2004-05 and 2007-08). Although Washington currently leads the overall series, the Cougars have taken four of the past five meetings including a double-overtime win in the 2008 meeting. Washington leads the series 64-31-6.

With the Mississippi State vs. Mississippi Egg Bowl I was expecting more of a feud to have started the rivalry then anything else. So, with the same boring info I bring you more Wiki info. Early in the series, Mississippi State dominated, and had only lost five times in the first twenty-three contests. When Ole Miss beat MSU, then known as Mississippi A&M College, 7-6, the Ole Miss fans rushed the field, some trying to tear the goalposts down. A&M fans did not take well to the Ole Miss fans celebrations, and fights broke out. Some A&M fans defended the goal posts with wooden chairs, and several injuries were reported. To prevent such events in the future, students of the two schools created the “Golden Egg”, a large trophy which has been awarded to the winning team each year since 1927. The trophy is a large football-shaped brass piece mounted to a wooden base and traditionally symbolizes supremacy in college football in the state of Mississippi for the year. The footballs used in American football in the 1920s were considerably more ovoid and blunter than those in use today and similar to the balls still used in rugby; the trophy thus, to modern eyes, more resembles an egg than a football. The awarding of the “Golden Egg” was instituted in 1927 by joint agreement between the two schools’ student bodies. Ole Miss leads the rivalry that started in 1901 60–39–6.

Next up we got the Toledo – Bowling Green Battle of I-75. This one is a little more interesting then the last ones (enough that I’m not just going to give you stuff from the Wiki then be done with it.) These two schools are only about 20 miles apart from each other, making the pressure to get recruits and fans from the local area much harder then some others. The winner of the battle is awarded the Peace Pipe Trophy (yep that’s right, a Native American peace pipe). The rivalry between UT and BGSU goes back to 1919. The games were (and to an extent still are) marked by a passionate fan following and a hatred for the respective opponent. In 1935, fans rioted following a 63-0 blowout win by UT and as a result, BGSU removed the Rockets from their athletic schedule until 1947. That year, the smoking of a six-foot peace pipe was instated as a gesture of goodwill between the two teams at half-time of their annual basketball match. The peace pipe would be kept by the winning university until the teams played again the following season. The tradition came to an abrupt and unpleasant end in 1969 when the pipe was stolen from the UT offices. It was never recovered and the thief never caught. In 1980, the Peace Pipe trophy was reinstated when a scale-down replica was fashioned and placed on top of a trophy created by former UT football player Frank Kralik. Kralik donated the trophy to the university to be given to the winner of each year’s football game, which like many other college football rivalries is usually the last game of the regular season for both teams. Nowadays, ESPN annually broadcasts the Peace Pipe game, allowing it to reach a wide audience outside of northwest Ohio. Though the two schools play in different divisions in the Mid-American Conference, they have yet to meet in the MAC Championship Game. Toledo leads the series since the reinstatement of the trophy, 15-14.

With the next teams and their rivalry, I hold little interest in. The fact that they are 12 miles apart and both in the same city, I find entertaining, aside from that, more Wiki read. The UCLA–USC rivalry is the college rivalry between two universities located in Los Angeles, California: the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California.The athletic competition rivalry between the two schools is among the more notable in NCAA Division I sports because both schools are located within the same city. The campuses are only 12 miles apart. The sheer proximity of both alumni and students, and the likelihood of encountering each other and interacting on a daily basis make this one of the most intense college rivalries in the United States. USC is one of the top teams in the country in college football, and recognizes 11 of its teams as National Champions. UCLA has only one team recognized as a National Champion.Quite often, the winner of the football game has won or shared the Pacific Ten Conference title in football. A berth in the Rose Bowl game has been on the line many times as well for both schools. Since the formation of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1916, USC has won or shared 37 conference titles and UCLA has won or shared 17 titles.Washington is third in overall conference titles with 15.Since the 1959 season, when the Pacific 10 Conference was formed as the Athletic Association of Western Universities, through the 2007 season, the schools have won or shared 33 of the 48 conference titles. USC has won 17 championships outright, shared eight and gone to the Rose Bowl or BCS bowl 21 times. UCLA has won six championships outright, shared five and gone to the Rose Bowl eight times. The schools have shared the championship between them three times. Both teams have spoiled conference and national championship runs for the other. USC was already an established national football power under Howard Jones and had begun a major rivalry with Notre Dame when UCLA joined the Pacific Coast Conference in 1929. Los Angeles Times Sportswriter Braven Dyer predicted on the day of the first football meeting on September 28, 1929, “In years to come, this game will probably be one of the football spectacles of the West” USC dominated the early games (so much so, that after the first two games, the series was suspended for five years and they did not play each other from 1931-1935) until UCLA established itself. By the late 1930s, star players such as Kenny Washington, Jackie Robinson, and Bob Waterfield enabled UCLA to be competitive. With the hiring of Hall of Fame Coach Henry “Red” Sanders, UCLA became the more dominant program in the 1950s, culminating in their 1954 National Championship. A famous quote was attributed to Sanders regarding the rivalry, “Beating ‘SC is not a matter of life or death, it’s more important than that.” But Sanders died suddenly of a heart attack, and shortly thereafter, John McKay took over a struggling USC program and returned it to national prominence. For most seasons from the mid 1960s to the end of the 1970s, the two schools were the top powers on the west coast. In the 15 Rose Bowls played from 1966 to 1980, USC or UCLA played in 12 of them. Even with the rise of Don James’ Washington Huskies in the 1980s and early 90s, UCLA or USC still went to the Rose Bowl seven times between 1981 and 1995. In the 1990s and until the hiring of Pete Carroll by USC, UCLA was the dominant team, winning 8 straight from USC from 1991-1998, before USC then won 7 in a row from 1999-2005. The 13-9 win in 2006 at the Rose Bowl allowed the Bruins to keep the record for consecutive wins in the rivalry.

Florida vs. Florida State is the next rivalry on the list. Not much going on here aside from state pushed interstate rivalry. here’s the history: The University of Florida has been fielding an officially sanctioned football team since 1906. Though Florida State University (then known as “Florida State College”) played football for several years around 1900, it became a women’s college in 1905 and remained so until 1947, when the football team was re-established. Almost immediately, pressure began building for the Gators to play the new team in-state. Some believe that it took an act of the Florida state legislature to force the contest to take place. This is not exactly true – a bill demanding a UF vs. FSU football series was proposed in 1955 but was voted down. However, the schools bowed to pressure from state leaders and agreed to schedule a yearly series starting in 1958.One of the conditions that the University of Florida put on the agreement was that the contest must always be held in their home stadium, Florida Field in Gainesville. Since 1964, however, the game site has alternated yearly between the Gators’ field and the Seminoles’ home turf of Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Since 1958 Florida currently leads the series 32-19-2.

Rice and Houston are the next match up in their competition to take home the Bayou Bucket. The Houston–Rice rivalry (also referred to as the UH–Rice rivalry, Rice–Houston rivalry, or the Rice–UH rivalry) is a cross-town college rivalry between the University of Houston and Rice University. The universities are located approximately five miles from each other in Houston’s “Inner loop” area. It is one of the few NCAA Division I cross-town rivalries, especially between institutions that field Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams. The rivalry has existed in a more official capacity since Houston joined the now-defunct Southwest Conference in 1971, in which Rice was a charter member. Since the breakup of that conference in 1995, the rivalry has continued. In 2005, Rice joined Conference USA, of which Houston was a member, and has again made the rivalry more relevant for conference titles as well. Football is the largest focus of the rivalry and is the sport in which the competition between the two institutions has run the longest. Both teams are part of the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and have both been part of the Conference USA athletic conference since 2005. The competition includes an annual regular-season football game between the schools. It has existed since 1971, when Houston joined the now-defunct Southwest Conference, of which Rice was also a member. The winner of the game wins the Bayou Bucket. Houston leads this series 24–9. Although the last Southwest Conference football game was part of the series, the teams did not compete against each other in football from 1996 to 1998 as the universities realigned themselves with other conferences. Although the first official meeting between the teams in football didn’t take place until 1971, a scrimmage took place between the inaugural 1946 Houston Cougars team and the Rice Owls. The Owls, having played football since 1914 and being a part of the Southwest Conference, were a much more experienced and accomplished team than the Cougars. In a front of a crowd of thousands, the Owls easily defeated the Cougars. Made famous from football games between the two rivals, University of Houston students often wear red shirts with the words “Ruck Fice” to UH-Rice games. 5 miles apart from each other.. does that not say, “hey I wanna mess with you and take your recruits fans and basis of how you exist” to you?

Notre Dame and Stanford are next on the list. This rivalry is young and not really considered a major rivalry so there’s not much to it. The Irish have a minor rivalry with the Stanford Cardinal (for the Legends Trophy, a combination of Irish crystal with California redwood). The two teams first met in the 1925 Rose Bowl, then played each other in 1942 and again in 1963-64. The modern series began in 1988 and has been played annually except in 1995-96. Notre Dame leads the series 17-6. When the game is played in Palo Alto, it is usually the last game on Stanford’s schedule (as has been the case since 1999), one week after the Cardinal plays archrival Cal in The Big Game.

I finish up with Arkansas and LSU in the Battle for the Golden Boot, an aged old tradition since 1996. I myself was unaware that this was even a rivalry, but I guess everyone needs a rival. Here’s the background on the two teams playing each other. The Arkansas–LSU rivalry, now known as The Battle for the Golden Boot, is the annual college football sports rivalry game between the teams of the University of Arkansas, the Razorbacks, and Louisiana State University, the Tigers. Although the first game between the two teams occurred in 1901, the rivalry between the teams intensified after Arkansas’ entrance into the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1992, and later in 1996 with the first awarding of the “Golden Boot” and the official titling of the game “The Battle for the Golden Boot”. The game is now generally played on the day after Thanksgiving. The two teams have played 53 times since 1901, and as of the 2008 contest, 17 consecutive times after Arkansas’ induction into the SEC. During that time, LSU has won 33 games of the series while Arkansas has won 19, including the latest meeting in 2008, between the two teams. Arkansas and LSU have twice ended the game in a tie, in 1906 and the 1947 Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas and LSU began playing each other in 1901, when LSU claimed a 15-0 victory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Between 1906-1936 (with the exception of 1918) and 1953-1956, the two teams played each other during regular seasons on a yearly basis. In addition, the two teams have played each other at the end of the regular season in the Cotton Bowl Classic twice, on January 1 of 1947 and 1966, the former being the second tie in the series while the latter ended in a 14-7 LSU victory. In 1992, LSU and Arkansas resumed their annual rivalry when Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference after leaving the Southwest Conference. The teams played each other four times in the conference before the introduction of the Golden Boot trophy in 1996. Beginning in 1996, the victor in the rivalry between Arkansas and LSU received the Golden Boot, a trophy that weighs approximately 175 pounds and is generally considered the heaviest “trophy” awarded in all of college football. The trophy itself stands a little over 4 feet tall, is molded out of 24-karat gold, and resembles the outline of the states of Arkansas and Louisiana connected, thus making a boot shape. Since 1996, the game has been set on the day after Thanksgiving, and has been played on alternating years in Little Rock, Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium, which is the secondary home stadium for the Razorbacks, and in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at Tiger Stadium. The series has generally represented an important battle in the SEC Western Division, with either Arkansas or LSU representing the division in the SEC Football Championship Game in many seasons. LSU won the inaugural “trophy meeting” in 1996, 17–7, and for the next six years, the trophy changed hands every meeting, beginning with LSU in 1997. After Arkansas’ “Miracle on Markham” victory in 2002, LSU won the rivalry and the Golden Boot four consecutive times from 2003 to 2006. The trophy returned to Arkansas’ possession on November 23, 2007 when the Razorbacks beat then top-ranked and eventual BCS National Championship game winner LSU 50-48 in three overtimes in Baton Rouge; the victory was the first for former Razorback coach Houston Nutt in five tries in Tiger Stadium. Arkansas successfully defended the Golden Boot again in 2008 with a spectacular come-from-behind victory in the last minute of game play.

OFFICIAL ‘UKRAINE CRISIS’ NUMBERS 11/24/09

1,679,237 SICK

99,661 HOSPITALIZED

397 DEAD

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Ukraine H1N1 mutation now HIGHLY SUSPECTED in Houston, Texas – YouTube

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Troubling Reports Out Of Iowa And North Carolina Raise Fears That Deadly H1N1 Swine Flu Mutations Have Already Reached The United States

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Iowa: Polk County Coroner – We’re Seeing Hemorrhagic Lungs – YouTube

Dr. Niman On Swine Flu D225G ‘Perfect Cytokine Storms’

Ukraine H1N1 Mutation now in Iowa, USA – State Officials LIE to stop panic – Media Blackout Soon? – YouTube

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NYTimes CHANGES story to downplay H1N1 mutation – YouTube

1918 RBD D225G In Lung Cases In The US

1918 Spanish Flu Has Been Recreated and is around the World in Cases – great ‘big-picture’ article

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6 SoCal Schools Closed – 4 Confirmed H1N1, 17 Suspected

H274Y Tamiflu Resistance Explodes In The US

West Virginia Judge rules kids must take swine flu jab at school – No matter what the parents want

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What Really Happened In Ukraine?

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AlJazeera: H1N1 vaccinations under scrutiny – YouTube

Euro Swine Flu Deaths Doubling Every Two Weeks

First UK Swine Flu Vaccine Death Reported

Uzbekistan closes border with Kazakhstan due to swine flu

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Ukraine H1N1 Mutation: Oracle software and the Reverse-Engineered 1918 Spanish Flu – YouTube

Oracle Corporation: Founded by CIA and friends – YouTube

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Reported flu stats by country

(courtesy of Flu News Network)

Canada
•  Newfoundland confirms 8th death, 40 yr old woman from Labrador West (Link)
•  ’Second week of November’ had ‘more deaths than entire spring’ (Link)

•  Overuse of antivirals risking ‘resistance’ (Link)

China
•  Hong Kong SAR: Monitoring of human swine influenza virus (Link and link)
•  More than 20 mln people vaccinated against A/H1N1 flu in China (Link)

Costa Rica
•  Two More Swine Flu Deaths, Bringing Total to 40 (Link)

Czech Republic

•  Confirmation of 5th death (Link)

Egypt
•  Egypt reports 10th death case of A/H1N1 flu (Link)

Greece
•  2 new deaths confirmed from H1N1 (Link)

India
•  2 more deaths confirmed in Rajasthan (Link)

Japan
•  Teenager Yamaguchi girl died Saturday of confirmed H1N1, 70th deceased (Link)

Maldives Islands
•  Maldives Islands confirm local H2H spread of H1N1, 1 death, 3 more cases (Link)

Saudi Arabia

•  Braving flu threat, Muslim faithful descend on Mecca (Link)
•  Hajj pilgrims in Saudi unfazed by swine flu (Link)

Sri Lanka
•  Confirmation of 8 deaths, 260 patients with H1N1 so far (Link)
•  Polonnaruwa confirms surge of cases there (Link)

Sweden
•  Sweden confirms 14 swine flu deaths (Link)

Ukraine
•  Panic over hundreds of flu deaths exploited by Ukraine’s politicians (Link)

United Kingdom
•  5yo boy dies from suspected swine flu (Link)

United States

•  US: New flu plant to open (Link)
•  US: Vaccine system remains antiquated (Link)
•  IA: Polk Coroner: H1N1 Deaths Understated (Link)
•  MA: 15 Needham firefighters, 32 others got wrong vaccine (Link)
•  ME: 7 Confirmed H1N1 Deaths In Maine (Link)
•  MI: In the news today: What’s happening with H1N1 flu (Link)
•  OR: 3 new deaths, 7 new hospitalizations (Link)
•  PA: New Death on PA DOH Website 11.22.09 (Link)
•  SD: South Dakota confirms 12 yr old boy was 20th death from H1N1 (Link)
•  NC: As state battles H1N1, syphilis cases rising (Link)
•  SC: 6 more deaths last week in South Carolina, 56 new cases (Link)

Uzbekistan
•  Border closed with Kazakhstan to all but citizens (Link)

General
•  Can your doctor spot H1N1?  (Link)

•  ECDC situation report on outbreak of influenza A(H1N1) 23 Nov 2009 (Link)

Commentary
•  Effect Measure: Trying to understand the Norwegian swine flu mutations (Link)

One of the few advantages of getting pandemic flu is that you are won’t get it again. Or will you? Many members of the PFI forum have claimed to have been infected more than once with swine flu. In most cases, they were not tested for the new H1N1 with RT-PCR so we cannot be certain that both infections were really pandemic flu.

But a doctor in West Virginia was tested. She had it twice.

From The Charleston Daily Mail, November 24, 2009

Dr. Debra Parsons, a pediatrician at Kid Care West in Cross Lanes, was met with reactions of doubt from local health officials last month when she said two flu tests had come back positive for H1N1, or swine flu.

Parsons first came down with the virus, complete with all the telltale symptoms, in August.

Her son became ill at the same time with the same symptoms. Figuring they had the same bug, Parsons tested herself to see what it was.

The test came back positive for Influenza A, so the lab at Charleston Area Medical Center sent it to be sub-typed. Parsons was positive for H1N1.

Parsons and her son recovered, but in October they started having the same symptoms, but they became much worse.

They were both tested this time, and the results were the same — they were positive for Influenza A and then H1N1.

“It was swine flu both times,” Parsons said.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, and John Law, spokesman for the West Virginia Division of Health and Human Resources, were skeptical of Parsons’ claim.

Law said the possibility of getting the flu twice was “very, very, very rare.” Gupta said he was “aware of no data or scientific body of research or case reports” that indicated someone could contract H1N1 more than once.

So the specimen from the Parsons’ second flu test was sent to the CDC in Atlanta, where it underwent a preliminary strain reaction test. Parsons says that test is the “gold standard” in differentiating between seasonal and swine flu.

That sample came back a couple weeks ago, and it was positive for H1N1. The CDC then requested a specimen from Parsons’ August flu test.

Last Friday, the results of that test came back positive for H1N1.

There are very few explanations for this result. One possibility is that for some reason Dr. Parsons did not mount an immune response to the virus the first time she was infected. However, it is not clear why this would be the case. She has no immune deficiency and clearly showed signs of being ill. Many of the symptoms of flu are associated with the immune response, not direct viral damage. Hence, the fact that she had felt sick the first time indicates that her immune system was responding appropriately to the virus. The fact that she was even more ill the second time suggests that there are multiple strains of the new H1N1 with differing abilities to cause serious illness.

People who were sick earlier in the year should not assume that they are safe from a bad outcome from pandemic flu now. They aren’t.

In West Virginia, this is a week of great significance.

Although the rest of the country experiences the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of this week, rural West Virginia begins its yearly ritual on the Monday of this week.

Of course, I am talking about the beginning of the modern firearms season for antlered deer. This holiday has always eclipsed Thanksgiving. Because we always got the whole week off from school, most school children and nearly all adults from this part of the state call this break “Deer Season.”  Thanksgiving is an afterthought. Deer hunting is far more important.

In the halcyon days of the Northeast Ohio industrial economy, many people from West Virginia  wandered up “Route 21″ (now I-77) to the land of high wage union jobs. With that disposable income and good vacation times from their jobs, they would return home for Deer Season. I remember those years when the small rural county where I grew up would virtually double its population on the weekend before the first bucks could be legally shot.

In that one week, these urban workers got a chance to reconnect with their rural pasts, meet again with old friends, and shoot guns.

Many people would join hunt clubs that set up “primitive” hunting cabins, where the bullshit and booze tended to flow rather freely. Some people were always more interested in “beer hunting.” The song may have been The Second Week of Deer Camp, but for some sportsmen, it was more likely the Second Day or maybe the Second Hour.

Those days of large hunt clubs have mostly passed. The industrial economy has faded away.  The incomes that once sustained the deer camp ritual have gone. The deer are now so numerous that they can be shot off the front porch (albeit illegally).

But I’m sure that in those remaining deer camps, the traditions are still going strong. Maybe someone will actually get that Thirty Point Buck.  (I promise this will be the last cheesy deer hunting song! The deer in that video have far bigger antlers than any I’ve ever seen!)

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Virtually every small business around here caters to deer hunters. I checked out the weekly paper, I saw a big full page ad with a list of all the official game checking stations, as well as the businesses that were offering deer hunter specials.

I laughed when I saw the two photos of cervids that were posted at the top of the ad.  Neither species could be shot in the county. In fact, they couldn’t even be shot illegally.

On the left hand side was a photo of three mule deer, one of which had its twisty, black-tipped tail raised. There have never been any mule deer in West Virginia. The other was that deer from the genus Cervus that we call elk. Those once ranged here, and they could potentially move up from Eastern Kentucky, where a healthy population of these animals now exists all the way up to the West Virginia border. Of course, we’re a long way from Kentucky, and I doubt those big deer are going to make their way up here any time soon.

Although you may have not been able to shoot an elk, you could eat an elk burger. That’s because on Saturday night, the local cafe had a big game special on which you could have an elk or bison burger with steak fries.

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The internet daily news report for my county will have the opening day kill totals from the checking stations. I will update this post with a link to the report.

With a poor mast this year, it is likely that a lot of deer will be killed. The deer will be out in the open foraging, simply because there are not enough acorns and other nuts to feed them all.

For many locals, venison will be the main protein source for this winter. This will be particularly true with this bad economy.

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As noted earlier, Deer Season tends to eclipse Thanksgiving.

On that day, the hunters typically go out in the morning, and then return home around noon. They then wash-up for dinner and settle in front of the TV for the Thanksgiving football games.

By the weekend, the guns start to draw silent. Only those truly die-hard hunters who have yet to kill their limit go into the woods.

Because Sunday hunting was voted down in a referendum, Deer Season week is usually done by Saturday evening. Buck season with modern firearms lasts another week,  but because it doesn’t coincide with a federal holiday, the number of hunters in the woods is but a mere fraction of what it was on opening day.

I hope that I haven’t bored you with this little account of a rural American custom that is slowly disappearing.  There are better states to hunt deer than West Virginia, and so we really don’t get the big trophy hunters coming here. And West Virginia’s population continues to get smaller, and the collapse of the Midwestern industrial economy means that large numbers of West Virginia transplants won’t be coming down the interstate to blast a few bucks.

The deer have no significant predators here other than people. Bears and coyotes might take the odd deer, but they do very little to reduce deer numbers. Even with the presence of coyotes, we now have more deer per square mile than we have ever had.

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Having such large numbers of deer is a relatively recent phenomenon.

In the old days, those people who lived in the Allegheny Plateau and Ohio Valley regions of West Virginia had to travel into the High Alleghenies to find deer that they could legally shoot. This part of the state is associated with spruce forests and bogs. This area gives one the impression that one is in the Canada or Maine. Only the trademark dense thickets of Rhododendron that grow on the mountainsides give the location away.

Centuries of unregulated hunting and then market hunting had reduced the population of white-tails significantly. The only parts of their range where they were able to survive was in the high mountains.  The Alleghenies had largest populations of white-tails in the East. It is partially from these deer that the other parts of the East were restocked with white-tails.

So if the deer are eating your flowers in parts of the the East or Midwest, you can partly blame West Virginia for your troubles.

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Here’s a really good analysis of what deer season means to this part of West Virginia.

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Update: Does can be taken during this this time, but most people are gunning for bucks. That’s why this year’s first day totals look like this.

Only one human fatality and one injury to report statewide.