Random News and Notes 21 September

On this date:

• 454 – In Italy, Flavius Aetius, the supreme army commander, is murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
• 1327 – Edward II of England is murdered by order of his wife.
• 1520 – Suleiman (the Magnificent), son of Selim, becomes Ottoman sultan in Constantinople.
• 1673 – James Needham returns to Virginia after exploring the land to the west, which would become Tennessee.
• 1745 – A Scottish Jacobite army commanded by Lord George Murray routs the Royalist army of General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans.
• 1780 – American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor.”
• 1863 – Union troops defeated at Chickamauga seek refuge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is then besieged by Confederate troops.
• 1904 – Exiled Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies of a “broken heart”.
• 1915 – Stonehenge is sold by auction for 6,600 pounds sterling ($11,500) to a Mr. Chubb, who buys it as a present for his wife. He presents it to the British nation three years later.
• 1929 – Fighting between China and the Soviet Union breaks out along the Manchurian border.
• 1936 – The German army holds its largest maneuvers since 1914.
• 1937 – J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit is published. The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began.

• 1938 – Without warning, a powerful Category 3 hurricane slams into Long Island and southern New England, causing 600 deaths and devastating coastal cities and towns. Also called the Long Island Express, the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was the most destructive storm to strike the region in the 20th century.
• 1939 – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appears before Congress and asks that the Neutrality Acts, a series of laws passed earlier in the decade, be amended. Roosevelt hoped to lift an embargo against sending military aid to countries in Europe facing the onslaught of Nazi aggression during World War II.
• 1941 – The German Army cuts off the Crimean Peninsula from the rest of the Soviet Union.
• 1942 – British forces attack the Japanese in Burma.
• 1942 – The Boeing B-29 makes its first flight in Seattle.
• 1944 – U.S. troops of the 7th Army, invading Southern France, cross the Meuse River.
• 1949 – At the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Peking, Mao Zedong announces that the new Chinese government will be “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.”
• 1981 – Belize granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1989 – General Colin Powell is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• 1991 – Armenia granted independence from USSR.
• 1999 – Earthquake in Taiwan kills more than 2,400, injures over 11,305, and causes $300 billion New Taiwan dollars ($10 billion in US dollars).
• 2008 – The last game is played in The House that Ruth built. In the finalein old Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3, as future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera closes the game with a perfect ninth inning.

We start the news in the DelMarVa where a Maryland man faces manslaughter charges after he allegedly accidentally gunned down a woman while hunting on Friday evening according to the Delaware State Police. Walter Moorhead, 74, of Salisbury, Maryland, was hunting deer from a ground blind near Ellendale DE, when he fatally shot Santos Maria Chilel Soto, 39 as she and 3 others –  a man and two children -walked through an open field around 1940 Friday.

So far, he has been charged with manslaughter, firearm possession during a felony, and three counts of reckless endangerment; he posted $43,000 bond and was released.

I got some issues with this one. Some big ones.

Let’s start with the time Moorehead took his shot. Today’s sunset in that part of Delaware is 1901 hrs and EENT (End Evening Nautical Twilight – the point it really becomes too dark to do anything without artificial light) is about 1950 hrs. Delaware allows you 30 minutes after official Sunday to shoot. The shot was taken 10 minutes past that. I don’t know the weather conditions in Delaware last Friday, but even if it was completely cloudless, it was too dark to be shooting.

Then there is the fact that the only legal implement for deer hunting anywhere in Delaware right now is a bow. The only way I can see rifle hunting – and Delaware requires straight walled pistol caliber rifles – being legal right now is if he was hunting on some sort of farm or management permit schema. I do not know enough about the Delaware regs to say one way or another.

I also have some issues with the people walking. The only description I have seen is that they were walking in an open field. All well and good, except – once again – it was dark. Am I saying they bear all the responsibility? Not even close, but they do bear some, especially if the field was private property.

I encourage all of you to become hunters. The skills you learn are a good way to provide protein for your families. However you need to be aware of your target.

This next one is a little old, but I just saw it this morning. Back on July 3, a veteran 911 dispatcher in the Chicagoland area was driving home in uniform in North Lawndale when another vehicle crashed into hers, leaving her seriously injured. Victoria Mesarina was trapped in her car with nine broken ribs, two fractured vertebrae, and a collapsed lung. As she waited for help, James Nelson and Mahogany Vann allegedly rifled through her belongings, taking credit cards and other valuables before fleeing.

 Both Nelson and Vann are charged with unlawful vehicular invasion, burglary and unlawful possession of credit cards.

President Donald Trump revealed plans for the U.S. to buy potash from Belarus at much lower prices than from Canada, calling it great news for farmers and ranchers. The U.S. currently depends heavily on Canadian supplies amid trade tensions, and this shift aims to deliver cost savings for agriculture.

Potash is used in everything from agriculture to glass making to water softening.

This sounds like a good deal on the surface, however there are serious issues with Belarus. The country is under US sanctions for their support of Russia. Those sanctions alone should be enough, but Belarus is also landlocked and has no access to any deep water ports. If you think the Baltics or Poland would be willing to ship anything for Lukashenko I got a bridge in the Keys to sell you.

So, I didn’t know people didn’t know this next one. That can of pumpkin puree in your pantry isn’t ‘pumpkin’ it is in fact a squash. Libby’s, maker of most U.S. canned pumpkin, uses tan, oblong Dickinson squash from the butternut family, labeling it 100% pure pumpkin with FDA approval since 1938. The agency allows this because pumpkin lacks a strict botanical definition and sweet, golden-fleshed squashes fit the bill.

Once, a long time ago, I attempted to make a pumpkin pie with actual pumpkins. It did not turn out well. Pie pumpkins are not the same ones you see come Hallowe’en. They are smaller, denser and contain fewer seeds. They also need a very specific preparation to be used in pies. I would rather open a can even if it is butternut squash.