Monday, February 19, 2007

Presidents Day Post

Anyone who watches the news or reads the paper around here will recognize our local civic leader Georgia Verdier. Ms. Verdier is a frequent writer for the Star-Gazette and president of the Elmira-Corning chapter of the NAACP. So it was with great anticipation that I began to read her oped piece.

I was not disappointed. The penultimate paragraph (almost saving the best for last!) deals with our own local history makers. Naturally Verdier mentions my personal hero (practically a patron saint!), John W. Jones. But in a sweet sidelight, she touches on Henry Washington, who brought his mother Mary Ann here, who became a cook at Quarry Farm, where Mark Twain wrote a few of his novels.

If you follow this link, it will open a PDF (takes a few seconds)--go all the way down to 1868, where the story is highlighted in blue.

Finally, in a separate block on our oped page, there's a short piece on golfers William and Renee Powell. William Powell was the developer (design, construction, proprietor and operator) of Clearview, the first course specifically for African-Americans, and his daughter Renee became one of only three blacks to play on the LPGA tour. While the Powells are not Elmirans, but this is a huge golfing area, so we surely can claim them as heros, too. More information on the Powells here.

This is a great town to live in during Black History Month for any history buff.

pb

Little Pond

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Pat! This is Lynzie, Em's friend. I'm on a diet called Eat right for your type, based on blood type, and I was reading a blog and came across something I thought you might be interested in. Here's the site: http://www.dadamo.com/bloggers/31/archives/00000010.htm

I've been on the diet (a bit loosely!) for 3 weeks and I feel great! More energy, clearer thoughts, etc. I hope this helps!!! If this link doesn't work for you, please let me know and I'll get it to you, though this one should be correct. My email is lnelson5@stny.rr.com

pb said...

"Em" is MammaDog, and Lynzie is the minister that married her to PoppaDog in the Great Wedding Weekend last October.

I'm all for any diet that people can follow. The one that works is the one that is right for you. At present I am doing well by counting calories. I lost my metabolism about a decade ago, and it's comforting know I can at least keep a lid on weight problems.

Good for you, Lynzie! God bless and lots of love.

Anonymous said...

The woman who's blog I sent you the link to used the diet to control her MS symptoms, I don't want you to think I was saying you have weight issues! I've found many physical benefits with this routine, including no more heartburn (YAY!!!). I thought you might want to give it a shot. If you do, I have the book; let me know if you'd like to borrow it.