The "MLK: I've Been To The Mountain Top - My Memories Part II" Story

Lancaster's Intelligencer Journal

It was an ordinary day.  The newspapers cried the news to the nation: "Martin Luther King Is Killed by Assassin at Memphis Motel!"  The Lancaster morning newspaper, the "Intelligencer Journal" covered the entire front page with stories about the shooting from telling that the shooter had eluded the police to a headline that said, "It Doesn't Matter What Happens Now."  The evening paper titled "Lancaster New Era" told of the memorial rites that will be held to a story saying "Assassination Starts Wave of Negro Violence."  At Lancaster city's Edward Hand Junior High the students heard noises outside the school right after noon.  Seems the African Americans at the local McCaskey High School had walked out of school and walked the mile or so to the Junior High where they began yelling.  The black leaders called all to the Crispus Attucks Center and to the Conestoga Elks to try and calm the students down and have someone talk with them to remind them how important it was to remember Dr. King's message of keeping the peace. But, there were other adults in the crowd who didn't want to keep the peace and they began burning buildings down as well as a food market in the southeastern end of Lancaster.  

Lancaster's mayor sets curfew for city.

Fire bombs were thrown at other homes and "trash riots" filled the intersections of city streets.  Dr. King preached peace, but many of the African Americans were fed up.  Dr. King was the hope for many blacks and now he was gone.  Much of Washington D.C. was ablaze by April 5 with clouds of smoke rising from the burning buildings and rioting throughout the city.  Army troops were brought in to quell the riots.  In Lancaster Mayor Thomas Monaghan ordered a curfew for the city with police patrolling the streets.  46 people died as riots broke out in 110 United States cities.  It took 23 months to find Dr. King's assassin who was James Earl Ray.  He was found in London after an airline ticket agent recognized his alias Ramon George Sneyd and notified authorities.  So, what has changed due to Dr. King's death, other than the holiday that bears his name as well as the memorial in Washington D.C. that  draws many visitors.  

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I must admit that I thought greater reform would come from his death, but I can't see that.  Why did it take almost 50 years before we elected our first African American President?  And why are so many young black men dying on the streets of our inner cities.  Dr. King's thoughts and teachings on justice, labor, race and peace need to be heard as much today as they did when he was alive. How can we better do that?   A few years after his death I decided to coach baseball and headed to the south end of the city to form a team.  The same area where I first joined a team at the age of 12 that was mostly young African American boys.  I talked the Hamilton Watch Company in Lancaster into sponsoring the team and we were one of the best teams in the county with a few of the boys becoming stars at Lancaster city's McCaskey High School. One young boy eventually was drafted by the Minnesota Twins.  The high school I attended is no longer entirely white children but has a variety of nationalities and ethnic groups as students.  I taught there for almost 35 years and still produce their yearbook and enjoy immensely walking the halls taking candid photos that show that feature in the yearbook.  

A panoramic view of the monument for Dr. King in Washington, D.C.

I recently made a visit to the Bethel AME Church in the predominately African American section of the city and wrote a story about my visit.  This was the same church that I wrote about yesterday telling about a white woman from my church, St. James Episcopal, who joined the NAACP and took youth groups from the Bethel AME church on trips to larger cities to hear speakers who spoke about African American issues.  The woman, Mrs. Betty Tompkins felt strongly that the minorities, the poor and the oppressed were being discriminated against by the legal system.  She ended up in debt to the county due to bail bond forfeitures incurred due to her beliefs.  St. James Episcopal Vestry members felt her style of witnessing to her beliefs was counterproductive, but did ask members of the church to help with donations to get her out of debt.  At times there are heroes of all colors who lead the way for all of us to follow by teaching not only civil rights, but Christianity.  Greater things must come to all communities if we expect to continue to thrive as a nation.  Let's hope Dr. King's legacy can come to fruition.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "MLK: I've Been To The Mountain Top - My Memories Part I" Story

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was an ordinary day.  April 4, 2018 and I'm trying to remember what I might have been doing 50 years ago on this date.  What were you doing 50 years ago today?  I must admit it seems a bit fuzzy to me, but I can remember a bit of the history and personal events that led up to this day 50 years ago  as well as a few moments and happenings that took place after this day 50 years ago.  It was on this date half century ago that Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  My wife and I had been married a few days over nine months.  She was busy with her job at a cancer detection office in the city of Lancaster, PA while I was busy teaching my first year at Manheim Township High School.  I can remember heading home and being glued to the TV with my wife as we watched all the horrible facts leading to the death of one of the apostles of nonviolence in the civil rights movement.  

The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Walter Cronkite opened the CBS news that evening with the news that  “Dr. Martin Luther King  had been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee.  Dr. King was a strong voice for the African-American citizens of our country as well as Lancaster.  The amount of African-Americans living in the city of Lancaster 50 years ago wasn't huge, but was growing, especially in the southeastern section of the city.  I grew up in an area of Lancaster where there were no African-Americans to be found.  My introduction to new friends, other than white, came when I was 12 years old.  I wanted to play organized baseball and my dad saw an advertisement in the local paper telling of tryouts for a youth team.  He took me to the tryouts in the southeast end of the city at a county park and I was one of just a few white players at the field.  I thought nothing of it and made the team along with perhaps 5 other white players and the rest black players. My coach, who I loved, was Mr. Joe Hawkins, an African-American.  Hey, I was there to play baseball and could have cared less as to the color of our skin.  I knew no difference, since my parents never said anything about skin color when I was a child.  Dad volunteered to pick up players from the African-American community on game days and we all loaded into the back of our big Buick stationwagon.  We had one of the best teams in the city during that summer and I gained many new friends, both black and white.  And, I thought nothing of it.  Years later I found out many people didn't think the same way!  When I entered high school I don't recall a single African-American classmate throughout my four years of high school.  I do remember during my high school years reading about a few of Lancaster's summer swimming pools not allowing blacks to swim at them and remembering black protesters marching near the pools to protest the practice.  "Why can't they swim there?" I remember asking my mom and dad, who never gave me an answer.  I can remember seeing two of my baseball team members in one of the photos and wondering if I should go and march with him, but never did.  Throughout this time period, Mr. King was speaking about segregation and I started to realize what he was talking about, both on the local and national levels.  But, Mr. King talked more than just about segregation, adding the Vietnam War as well as poverty issues to his agenda.  I must admit I was mesmerized many times while listening to him on television and radio.  

African-Americans marching at Rocky Springs swimming pool.

When I entered college at nearby Millersville State Teachers College it was quite a change from my all-white high school.  I can remember a group of people whom I got to know during that first year who were both black and white and we all ate lunch together at the "Rat Race."  I thought nothing about it and was beginning to wonder why it wasn't this way in high school.  One of my friends  at Millersville was a fellow by the name of Leroy Hopkins.  I recently read that he had made a trip with friends to Philadelphia as part of a group lead by Mrs. Betty Tompkins who was a member at St. James Episcopal Church where I was a member and sang in the church choir.

A true Hero!!

 While there they saw Dr. Martin Luther King speak and he said he knew he was in the presence of a great man.  Then it struck me; some people don't like the African-Americans since their skin is black!!  I read on and found Mrs. Tompkins was a member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) where she was the education secretary.  I began to realize that there was more to the black and white issue than I ever realized.  I was finally growing up!  Not long after I fell in love and got married and shortly April 4th, 1968 arrived.  Wow!  How could I not see what was happening.  How naive could one be?  How could someone shoot Dr. Martin Luther King...someone who a friend of mine though to be a great man; just because he was black!!  Tomorrow I will tell you a bit more about my life and how I began to understand the civil rights movement.  My head was finally pulled out of the hole it certainly must have been in since birth.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Whole Truth About Old Glory" Story

Flying Old Glory!

It was an ordinary day.  Opened the front door and unfurled our American Flag that had become twisted in the strong evening wind from the night before.  Quite a few neighbors fly the American Flag and they look so majestic as I drive down the street.  I guess you know that there are a variety of stories as to how we have the flag that we now fly as well as who made it.  Naturally, there is the Betsy Ross story about how she sewed our original flag, but is that really correct?  The story goes that around June 1st, 1776, she was sitting in her shop at 239 Arch Street in downtown Philadelphia when three men entered.  She recognized George Ross who was the uncle of her deceased husband as well as George Washington who she knew as a friend and a customer who would visit to have his shirt ruffles embroidered.  

The Betsy Ross Flag?

The third man was Robert Morris who along with Mr. Ross was a member of Congress.  They arrived to ask her if she could make a flag according to a rough drawing they carried with them.  Being modest as she was, after seeing the drawing they presented, said she could try to make the flag, but suggested the stars they had pictured on the drawing as having six points, be changed to have five points to save on material.  

Painting showing Betsy Ross and a committee of Congress.

They doubted she could do that until she showed them how she could fold material and make a five-pointed star with no difficulty.  Washington was said to redraw his design in pencil in her back parlor to employ the five points instead of six, and Betsy made the flag.  94 years later one of her grandsons presented this story at a meeting of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  And, they believed it!  In later years numerous historians have conducted searches into the story and none were able to verify the claims of the grandson, William J. Canby.  One of the few accounts they found was that a Naval official commissioned Elizabeth Ross for fourteen pounds, twelve shillings and two pence to make ship's colors which she did for Pennsylvania state ships.  So why do so many people accept the legend that Betsy Ross sewed the United State's first flag?  Seems that a painting by Charles H. Weisgerber depicted a meeting between a committee of Congress and Betsy Ross titled "Birth of Our Nations Flag".  

This painting was made into a postage stamp.

Could that be why people believe it happened the way Mr. Canby stated?  But, some claim that the artist took liberties and painted the flag into the picture.  It is said that careful historians do not accept the Betsy Ross legend and urge others not to either.  But, then along came President Woodrow Wilson and he said this about the controversy,  "Would that it were true!"  Some historians attribute the design of the first flag to Francis Hopkinson who was a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence.  

Flag designed by Francis Hopkinson.

He sought payment from the Board of Admiralty for his design of the "flag of the United States of America."  And then there is the story of U.S. Navy Captain Samuel Chester Reid who was said to have designed the first flag as we know it today with 15 stars and 15 stripes, one for each state at the time the flag was adopted in 1795.  This flag was the one that flew over Baltimore's Fort McHenry and became immortalized as the "Star Spangled Banner."  It is said that Reid's wife Mary is reputed to have sewn the first version which was flown from the Capitol dome on April 13, 1818.  So, what do you think?  And, what do I believe after finding all these different versions?  I'm not sure!  I really want to believe that it was Betsy Ross, since George Ross was a member of the church where I am a member. And, I lived a block from Ross Street in the city and knew where George Ross lived when he lived in Lancaster, PA. And, I played basketball most every Sunday afternoon at Ross Elementary School which was near my home.  And someone as important as George Ross just had to have a relative who designed a flag as important as the US Flag.  And, who else could come up with a better story about how it was easier to make a 5 pointed star than a 6 pointed one?  Have you ever tried to do that?   I have and she is absolutely right!!  So, I vote for Betsy Ross as the maker of our first flag.  And, since this is my story, I'm right!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Future Of Housing In A Technological World" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Visiting a website that I knew years ago would eventually offer something to the general public that would have a big impact on housing.   Today the website shows affordable houses that have been made with the use of a 3D printer.  It was five years ago that I wrote a story telling of my visit to the high school where I taught for over 30 years.  I had found that they had a 3D printer and was excited to see how it worked.  They used a CAD (Computer Aided Design) program to print a small car on their new 3D printer.  Wow!  It was so interesting watching the students program the computer and print the car which to them was no big deal.  What a difference it is for someone who has grown up in a high tech society such as they have compared to me whose biggest technological item while growing up was a transistor radio.  Well, today, as I looked at page after page of 3D printed houses on my computer I said to myself, "I knew it was going to happen someday."  But, I wasn't sure if it would be in my lifetime.   Well, either I have lived a lot longer than I thought I would or technology is progressing at a rate I never thought possible.  Can you imagine making a house on a printer that you can live in!  I'm not sure, even after seeing it, that I really believe it has happened.  And, the houses that I'm looking at are remarkable.  One is a two-story villa that was printed on-site and was 400-square meters in size that only took 45 days to print.  I'm not sure how long they may last in comparison to traditional construction, but its certainly a start.  Following are a few of the homes I viewed and a small story about each one.

• A 3D home in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  It is 8 square meters in floor space and is 25 cubic meters in volume.  It is referred to as an Urban Cabin which is part of a research project that focused on compact and sustainable housing in urban environments.  It is printed using sustainable bio-plastic materials.
  
   
• A 3D home in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  It is 240-square meters and was designed as a printed office.  This "Office of the Future" is a fully functional building featuring electricity, water, and telecommunications as well as air-conditioning.  It was printed in Shanghai, China and then shipped to Dubai.  The reason for doing that was to cut costs on labor.
  
• A 3D printed house in Russia which is 38 square meters or 400 square feet.  The home was printed onsite with concrete material.  It took about 24 hours to print.  It is made using a mixture of solid elements and liquid polyurethane.  It then was painted yellow.  It cost $10,134 to create.  Would be great for low-income housing.
  
• This is a 3D printed two-story villa that was printed on-site in China.  The entire 400-square meter villa took only 45 days to print.  It is printed concrete over the framing material.  The walls are made with printed concrete measuring 250mm in thickness.  
  
• This impressive building was printed in Province Jiangsu, China and is 1,100 square meters.  I was impressed when I read it was constructed in 2014.  The structural components were 3D printed off-site and moved to this location.  Recyclable waste with a hardening agent was used for this project.  That's just amazing to me!
  
• 3D printed house that was 2,400 square feet and printed in New York.  This estate is built with the help of Italian 3D printing pioneer Enrico Dini.  The property also has a swimming pool, jacuzzi and a garage.  The printing process begins by collecting sand, dust and gravel which are mixed with a magnesium-based binding agent to concoct a printable material.  The printer could make 6x6 meter cubes.  
  
• This 3D 600-800 square foot home is in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The 28 different panels were printed off-site and assembled to create two exterior walls, roof and interior.   
  

The buildings posted here were printed by use of a program on a computer.  Just blows my mind what is happening through technology today.  It seems that anything can be done by using technology.  If only we could return to 2018 in a century see what has been done since then through technology.  Don't you just love it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Are You Ready For The Easter Bunny?" Story

My favorites: milk, white and dark chocolate.

It was an ordinary day.  Shopping for a few pieces of chocolate to give to our grand- children for Easter.  Our oldest is 16 and youngest 12, but they all still love to hunt for plastic Easter eggs filled with money and treats as well as enjoy a few Easter baskets filled with chocolate treats.  I must admit I enjoy shopping for the chocolate, since there always seems to be some left over that doesn't fit into the baskets and I naturally have to eat it so it won't go to waste.  Living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania we get some of the best chocolate in the world right in our area.  We are less than half and hour from Hershey Chocolate Company and 20 minutes from both Wilbur Chocolate in Lititz and M&M Mars Chocolate in Elizabethtown.  And, if we get real hungry, we can walk about 5 minutes to the nearby Miesse's Chocolate and get our favorite sea salt chocolate caramels.  Well, a few facts about chocolate for you are:  

(1) Chocolate comes from the Aztec word "Xocolati" which means bitter water.  It was an unsweetened drink that the Aztecs used to  imbibe.  (2) Chocolate is made from the cocoa beans of cacao trees which are cultivated in Hawaii and in the areas of the world 20 degrees north and south of the equator.  (3) Cocoa beans, which are seeds, and pulp are fermented together and then those beans are dried in the sun before they are moved to chocolate factories.  (4)  The beans are then sorted, cleaned, roasted and then the husks are removed by blowing air onto them so the roasted beans shatter into fragments called cacao nibs.  (5)  These nibs are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor which is used as the base for chocolate products.  When you buy chocolate items, check to see if they have at least 54% cacao which is considered good chocolate for recipes needing chocolate.  A few more things about chocolate are:  

Check out this 1940's advertisement for chocolate.

(1) It takes 400 cocoa beans to make a pound of chocolate, (2) Cacao trees can live for more than 200 years, but only produce marketable beans from about 5 years of age and until they are 25 years of age. (3) Most cocoa farmers only raise the beans and don't make the chocolate, (4) Benjamin Franklin sold chocolate in his print shop in Philadelphia, (5) It takes 2-4 days to make a single-serving chocolate bar, (6) German chocolate cake was named for Sam German who developed a sweet bar for Baker's Chocolate.  He wasn't from Germany. (6) Champagne and sparkling wines are too acidic to mix with milk or dark chocolate, but sweet bubbly mixes well with white chocolate and red wine with dark chocolate.  (7) Finally, the French celebrate April Fool's Day with chocolate-shaped fish known as "Poisson d'Avril."  Now that's something I think needs to be done in my house starting this year!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Jobs You May Have Never Knew Existed" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking some of my desktop files I have saved over the years that had material I thought I might want to write about some time.  Wasn't long ago that I wrote a story telling of the jobs that existed when I was growing up in Lancaster County which have been fazed out by technology or were no longer necessary.  I used photos from one of the files to illustrate these jobs.  Well, I also found a file I had saved which had photographs and job descriptions of occupations that existed before I was born.  Never used it and was going to trash it until I realized I saved it since the jobs depicted in the photos were so interesting and in the case of two of the jobs, really unusual.  So, rather than trash the file I decided to use the material.  And, today you will get the chance to see what I at one time thought was interesting enough to keep. In case you may not have any idea what is depicted in each photo, I have given a brief explanation of what the job is that you are viewing. The older you are, the more you may remember the job or occupation. 

The job of the ice cutter was a tough one.  Large saws, similar to saws used to cut timber, were used to cut ice blocks that would be transported to ice factories for either crushing or selling for refrigeration.

These are ice blocks that are sold for ice boxes which were similar to our refrigerators, but not electrified.

A Knocker-upper was essentially an alarm clock.  They were hired to ensure that people would wake up on time for their jobs.  They would use sticks, clubs or pebbles to strike a client's window or door.

Lamplighters used long poles to light, extinguish and refuel street lamps - until electric lamps were introduced. 

This illustrates the job of the Lector.  A lector was someone who would read to you.  They were hired to read to large rooms full of manual laborers to keep them entertained.  This lector sits high above the workers.

Before radar, troops used acoustic mirrors and listening devices like these to focus and detect the sound of engines from approaching aircraft.

Rat catchers were employed in cities to control the rat population.  They ran high risks of suffering bites and infections, but helped prevent rodents from taking over a city.

Resurrectionists or body snatchers were hired in the 19th century to remove corpses from graves for universities to use as cadavers.  Cadavers from legal means were rare and difficult to obtain, so universities had to resort to other means to procure cadavers for their students.

This is a street railway car that was electrified.  Many towns had cars such as this and may have called them trolley cars.  This really neat car is from Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, Mass.

This is a bit older method of transportation since horses were used to pull the cars rather than being electrified.  This photograph is dated 1924 and is from Toronto.

Now, I'm sure there were many other jobs that were common in past years that I didn't post, but this should give you an idea of what occupations existed years ago.  Some are very interesting while others are just plain gross.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Time You Have In Jelly Beans!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Preparing for the arrival of the Easter Bunny at our household.  Our grandkids are all as tall as my wife, but she insists that we have an egg hunt so they can hunt for plastic eggs that are hid in our back yard.  And, what's funny is the grandkids still enjoy and expect us to have the egg hunt.  Could be all the candy and treats, as well as the dollar bills, that we put in the plastic eggs.  The 50 to 60 eggs are hid under bushes, behind fences, under flower pots, and around the rear porch.  Every summer I always seem to mow over one or two that had not been found during the egg hunt.  So, what do we put in the eggs?  Why, sugar treats, naturally!  All the good things that their parents don't want them to have.  Small pre-packaged bags as well as a variety of other treats and naturally jelly beans.  

Everyone knows I will be placing jelly beans in the eggs I prepare, since they are one of my favorite sweets.  For Christmas I usually get a container or two of cashews as well as a container or two of jelly beans.  Used to be Jelly Belly brand, but when they found they can buy store brand jelly beans at Costco and BJs stores, they opted for them.  And, I can't tell the difference anyway.  And the flavors; I just love the variety of flavors that come in those big containers.  They even put photos of the different varieties so I can guess and see if I'm right.  Do you know the origin of the jelly bean?  Seems it is a bit of a mystery.  Some believe it is a combination of the soft, chewy Middle Eastern sweet called Turkish Delight that was around for thousands of years and the hard candy shell of Jordan Almonds which are a product of the 17th Century.  Candy maker William Schrafft advertised that people should send his treat called a jelly bean to Union Soldiers fighting in the Civil War.  When penny candy was popular at the candy store, containers of jelly beans were one of the treats you could get for a penny.  Then someone decided to push the jelly bean during Easter season and our culture thought it to be a great idea.  The fact that they are shaped like an egg made sense to most who already associated the egg shape with Easter.  Then on Febuary 7, 1964 the Beatles landed on US soil and someone got the idea they loved jelly beans.  Their real treat was called a jelly baby which was much softer than the hard jelly bean. Fans began to throw jelly beans at them during concerts, not realizing how much it must have hurt when they landed on them.  And in the 1960s Ronald Reagan took to eating the treat to help him wean himself from smoking.  Worked and for his 1981 presidential inauguration, the Jelly Belly company sent him 5,000 pounds of jelly beans as a gift.  They were all colored red, white and blue.  Too bad someone didn't ask him his favorite, since the black licorice jellybean was it.  Well, I will make sure that after I have filled the colored Easter eggs, I will have a couple of handfuls left for myself to snack on for a few days.   While searching for a few facts about the jelly bean, I came across an amazing YouTube video titled "The Time You Have - In Jelly Beans".  The video, created by Ze Frank, depicts the average lifespan of a human being, which is 28,835 days, in jelly beans.  You don't have to love jelly beans to enjoy it, but it helps.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Milestone: The Road Side Survivor" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got back in the car after walking back and forth along Rt. 30E searching for a stone marker, aka milestone, telling me the distance I am from Philadelphia as well as the distance I am from my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

 A few years ago I added a small note to one of my stories telling about milestones and I recently learned of the location of a few more and began a search for them.  I posted a note to a local Facebook page asking for help finding local milestones and when I got a few responses I began my search.  

A beautiful Lancaster County scene along busy US Rt. 30E in Lancaster
County. This is known as the Willows Bridge which is a combination of
two bridges.  The Miller's Farm Bridge linking Providence and Strasburg
Townships built in 1871 and the Goods Ford Bridge that crossed the
Pequea Creek and was built in 1855.  Both bridges were slated for demo
in 1962, but Mr. Adolph Neuber, who owned the Amish Farm and House
was given the Miller's bridge to preserve and he purchased the Goods
bridge to use to repair the Miller's bridge.  Both bridges were used to
restore the Willows Bridge.  Mr. Neuber's restaurant, which stood closeby,
was called The Willows and stood from 1931-1996.  I can remember eating
there on many occasions while growing up.  Today there are less than 30
covered bridges remaining in Lancaster County.

Today I was trying to find one that was said to be near the Amish Farm and House, the Target store and the Ameri- can Music Theatre along Rt. 30E.  I parked the car nearby and told my wife I'd be back in a minute or two as I walked toward the busy highway.  Walked through  the old covered bridge that at one time carried all the traffic that now flows on six lane highway near me.  I looked along both sides of Rt. 30 as well as near the covered bridge, but with no success.  

The milestone in front of the Amish Farm
House.  It reads 51 M to P - 5 to L.

After getting back in the car I told Carol of my failure and she told me to drive past the entrance to the nearby Amish Farm and House, since the poster on Facebook  suggested that to be the location.  The Lancaster County tourist attraction is close to 100 yards from the busy highway, but I gave it a try anyway.  As we approached the bus lane in front of the attraction, Carol pointed to her right and said, "There it is in front of the place."  I guess it only made sense since the current highway was moved to the south years ago when it changed from the two-lane road to the 6-lane road that it is today.  The stone appeared to show etched lines that read 51 M to P, 5 to L which would be 51 miles to Philadelphia, 5 miles to Lancaster.  

Another Lancaster Turnpike milestone
is in front of Lancaster's prison.  It says
62 M to P by the Turnpike.

After some searching online I found that there were originally 13 stones that were placed on the north side of the Philadelphia to Lancaster Highway in 1795 by Joseph Price.  These milestones marked the distance from the Market Street Bridge (30th Street) in Philadelphia to Lancaster.  I found that GoogleEarth was used to check the distances and the longer distance measured 53 miles, but the 5 miles to Lancaster was accurate.  Reading more I found that there were 10 historic turnpikes that ran from Lancaster to cities or towns such as Lititz, New Holland, Oregon, Marietta, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Manheim, Columbia, Millersville and Strasburg.  These locations were connected with a "pike" or a "turnpike", thus Oregon Pike, New Holland Pike, etc.  

This stone stands in front of the Country Patches Bed &
Breakfast at 3157 Lincoln Highway East.  It reads 53 M(iles)
to P(hiladelphia) 9 M to L(ancaster).

In Lancaster's newspaper is a column each week called "The Scribbler."  Jack Brubaker is known as such and he writes a weekly column on newsworthy or historical topics.  He recently wrote of a fellow named David LeRoy who has written a book called "Roadside Survivors: Historic Milestones on the Old Turnpikes and Post Roads of the Northeast."  

This Historical marker tells the story of the Philadelphia & Lancaster Turnpike Road.

In the book he says that Lancaster County is "A hub for markers."  Mr. LeRoy discovered his first milestone about 40 years ago and he hasn't been the same ever since.  

This book is interesting and can be found
on Amazon.com.  Author is David LeRoy.

The book is interesting and tells many stories of his discoveries as well as the size of milestones.  Most are 5 feet, 6 inches tall with approximately half buried underground.  Most are stone with a few being concrete, wood or iron.  Lancaster's turnpike from Philadelphia to Lancaster actually ran to our neighboring town to the west, Columbia which borders the Susquehanna River.  The milestones were used to determine postal charges as well as distances.  Mr. LeRoy has discovered more than 400 milestones which makes the dozen or so that I have found a very minor feat.  That's OK with me since I still had fun driving around the county with my wife discovering places we hadn't seen for years.  One very familiar place though, St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, brought a smile when, as passing by it, I reminded her that's where we were married.  "I don't remember that!" she said with a questioning look on her face.  "I must have forgotten that when I had my amnesia a few weeks ago."  Then we both had a good laugh.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This milestone is on the Lititz Pike near the town of Lititz.  You can see the distances to both places on the stone.  The Lititz Pike runs north-south.

This milestone is on the Marietta Pike to the west of Lancaster.  3 L - 22 M.

Another milestone on the Harrisburg Pike.  The cable company was using it to hold the excess cable from the above line in place.  It reads 1 L - 24 M to H.

The "You Expect Me To Eat That!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I are heading to the local Giant Supermarket to do the weekly grocery shopping.  I always look for a parking space across from or very close to the cart return so when we are finishing loading our groceries into the car it will be easy to return the cart.  Cold winter day with the high expected to reach the low 20s.  I grab a cart as we enter the store, making sure it doesn't have one of those plastic thingamajiggers on it that you use to place the unit to keep track of your purchases.  I can keep track just fine in my head and the thingamajigger always get in my way.  I usually put the shopping list and coupons in my pocket when we leave home, so I pull them out and pass them to my wife.  In case I forgot to put them in my pocket, I just tell her, "I thought you said you would get them."  Never works, but I still keep on trying.  Now for the important part of my story...how to shop without poisoning yourself or at least really making yourself sick.  

Make sure the fruit isn't bruised and nicked.

The produce section can be a killer.  If you see fruit flies as you examine the fresh fruit, pass by and forget it.  Usually means the food is leaking and breaking down, wilting or moldy.  If you need a plastic bag to place your produce in make sure that the person in front of you hasn't licked their fingers before reaching for their bag to pry open an off-the-roll plastic bag and then begin to pick through the produce.  Their germs will be all over each piece of fruit they touch and not place into their bag.  Make sure that cut fruit that is packaged is kept on ice or refrigerated to shield it from bacteria.  If you notice nicks or bruises on the skin of fruit, remember that bacteria can enter the fruit much easier through a nick or bruise.  Organic fruits and veggies aren't exempt from all these warnings because pathogens don't care how or where the fruit and vegetables are grown.  

The deli counter attendant should be wearing gloves.

Now, did I scare you enough that you'll bypass the produce section?  We head to the deli section next where you should check out the attendant to make sure they put on gloves before helping you and don't wipe those gloves on their dirty apron before reaching for your cheese or lunch meat.  The next thing I have to tell you may be tough to find out, but food slicers are supposed to be cleaned every four hours.  Also best if they cut meat on one and cheese on another to reduce cross-contamination risks.  When you buy store sliced meat it is much easier for deadly Listeria bacteria to get on your meat.  Better to buy it already pre-packaged, but I hate to buy it that way.  As we leave the counter we usually pass someone handing out free samples.  

Once again, make sure they wear gloves.

Make sure they have gloves on their hands and if you see another customer take a sample and put it back, keep on going.  We usually hit the meat section last to make sure that cold items say cold until we get home.  Make sure that all refrigerated units are 40 degrees or colder.  How can you tell?  Just take the thermometer out of you pocket to check.   What?  You didn't bring a thermometer?  Geez ... I thought everyone did that.  If you see plastic bags along the meat counter so that you can place each item in a separate bag you know the store values sanitary conditions.  In our meat department there are many open air refrigerated units which is OK as long as they don't overload the case and block airflow.  Fresh fish should always be on ice or refrigerated.  I don't know if I ever saw it any other way.  If the fish did have a mild smell of ammonia, pass on it since it has begun to decay.  My last bit of information deals with my favorite spot in the store, the salad bar.  Since we usually shop late morning, we tend to take home a salad for lunch.  

All containers should have their own utensil.

If you see an attendant bringing out fresh greens or other supplies for the salad bar, make sure they are wearing gloves and make sure they don't dump the new supplies on top of the old.  Stuff on the bottom will most certainly go bad doing it that way and if the salad greens are wilted, their refrigeration unit probably isn't working very well.  Also should be separate spoons or utensils in every bowl.  And, my final warning is not to eat the sprouts since they are grown in a warm, moist environment and may be spoiled by the time you get them on the salad bar.  Well, time to check out.  I love to bag the groceries.  Makes me feel like I am back in my teen years once again and bagging groceries at the Acme Supermarket where I worked for a few years.  And, there really is a science to it you know.  I'll have to make a video of it some time to show you. Grocery shopping is very tough and by now I'm exhausted.  How about you?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Deafness In The Vineyard" Story

Logo used on my favorite show on the Travel Channel

It was an ordinary day.  Watching one of my favorite TV shows, Mysteries at the Museum, which features Don Wildman who visits museums around the world and picks one item in the museum and tells a tale about the item.  Now who wouldn't love a tale of deceit, destruction, war, love, death or even someone who was deaf!  One of the segments on the show I watched today talked about a deaf Utopia where everyone would know how to communicate in sign language.  Well, there actually was a place such as that off the coast of Massachusetts on the small island known as Martha's Vineyard.  

The island of Martha's Vineyard.

You've heard of the island I assume.  One of the greatest scary movies of my lifetime, Jaws, the story about a great white shark who closed the beaches in Martha's Vineyard, made the island well known.  But, evidently, the island is just as well known for being an island with a high deaf population at one point in time.  It was in the 19th century that the Vineyard population began to grow with deaf people.  In 1817 two families had deaf members with a total of seven deaf.  Ten years later the number had risen to 11 deaf.  Then in 1850 the small town of Chilmark had 17 deaf in six households.  Five more years showed 21 deaf in nearby Tisbury.  

The cover of a book that has been written
dealing with the deafness on Martha's Vineyard.

In Chilmark there were 19 more deaf.  On the nearby mainland in Massachusetts the frequency of deafness was 1 in 6,000 while on the Vineyard it was 1 in 155 people with Chilmark leading the way with 1 in 25 with a section of the town called Squibnocket having 1 in 4 deaf.   For much of my adult life after the 1970s I too had a small degree of deafness, but that was due to coaching the rifle team at the high school where I taught and not knowing I should be wearing ear protection.  My loss has been corrected with hearing aides, but in the case of the people on the Vineyard, they suffered a type of deafness at birth that was of the nerve type and couldn't be corrected with medical or mechanical means as mine was.  Many of the early settlers on Martha's Vineyard carried a gene for deafness and through marriage, generation after generation, their children were born with hearing loss.  There were so many deaf people on the vineyard that the residents developed a sign language called Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) or Chilmark Sign Language which has its roots in County Kent in southern England.  MVSL seems to have had a role in the American Sign Language when residents began attending the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.  

The sign language known as MVSL.

Children with deafness received a longer education on the Vineyard due to their hearing loss.  This led to a higher literacy rate among deaf students.  As children and young adults married and moved off the island, the deaf population of the Vineyard decreased.  The last deaf Vineyard native died in the 1950s.  Today there are no fluent signers of MVSL.  There are still a few residents of Martha's Vineyard today that can still remember the use of sign language.  Seems that linguists are working to try and save the rare language, but the lack of use anymore is making it very difficult.  As for me, I seem to learn something new every time I watch Don Wildman of Mysteries at the Museum.  Shows you that you're never too old to learn.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.