Friday news

By tk
Friday, May 23, 2003

*Crabber admits to tampering with more traps
*200 expected to challenge harbor waters in Lowcountry Splash
-Charleston Post and Courier, 5-23-03

*The lighthouse at Hunting Island State Park is closed while work is done to fix some structural problems
*Man pleads guilty to tampering with crab traps
*Gullah Festival under way in Beaufort's Waterfront Park
-Carolina Morning News, Low Country Now, 5-23-03

*Annual celebration commemorates historic sailing of SS Savannah in 1819
-Savannah Morning News, 5-23-03

*Tourist season hits St Simons Island with full force
-Brunswick News, 5-22-03

*A unit of the U.S. Coast Guard will be making St. Marys their new home as early as September
-Camden County Tribune, 5-23-03

*Research could help tame danger of rip currents
*Alligator at Panhandle beach eludes capture
-Daytona News Jounral, 5-23-03

*Beach ready for hordes of holiday visitors
-Pensacola News Journal, 5-23-03

Visit to US Capitol and the Senate. Washington D.C. Thursday the 12th. of May 2000.

In 2000, when staying with our friend Captain Frank Costagliola USN R'td. at his home in Alexandria Virginia, it was suggested we might like to visit the Capitol, the home of government in the United States. Post war, Frank had been appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the Atomic Energy Commission of the United States, and later held the appointment of Atomic Energy Advisor to Congress.

Design Contest.
In March of 1792 a design contest was set up for the US Capitol, although 16 designs were submitted, all were subjected to rejection, then a late entry from William Thornton, an amateur architect hailing from the British West Indies caught the eye of President Washington who liked its:" Grandeur, Simplicity and Commonsense."  it was selected in the fall of that year.

The white iron dome is surmounted by a statue of a woman representing Freedom, the height from the base at the eastern front to the top of this statue is 87.6 metres or 287.5 feet.

Our Visit.
We duly drove to the Capitol where a huge queue confronted us, many waiting were school children who had travelled from all over the US. Instead of waiting patiently in this queue, Frank, with us in his wake, quickly strode to its head to confront an official there. He obviously still retained his credentials to allow access to this area, he explained his two guests were visitors from Australia, and we were wisked inside to go through the security check and enter the precincts of the Capitol.

We visited the Rotunda, the magnificent and spacious area beneath the huge dome, which of course has been replicated in architecture around the globe. It has an amazing frieze around its periphery towards the top of this structure, one ponders on how the large dome came to be lifted into place when the Capitol was built, no modern electric cranes available to the builders in those days.

As the Senate was in session, we were able to find seats in the Visitors Gallery and observe some of the well known law makers of the United States in action. Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy being two of them, quite an experience to sit, watch, and listen to the Senators of the world's richest and most powerful nation debating a bill associated with the health care of their people.

The Capitol is a popular destination on the tourist trail in Washington for the many citizens who come to visit here, drawn from all the States that go to make up this great nation. As outsiders, we too were grateful to join this throng, and be able to visit this historic place and also see the Senate in action, it was a most rewarding visit that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you Frank.

Celebration of Summer
The Morningside Lenox Park Association's annual Celebration of Summer WILL be held rain or shine today, Friday, May 23, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.  Due to persistently rainy weather of late the event has been moved across Rock Springs Road from Sunken Garden Park to the Haygood Methodist Church parking lot.  Many thanks go to Rev. Jim Higgins and his staff for their community spirit and flexibility to make this shift possible.  Enjoy live music, face painting, pony rides, clowns and much, much more.  Come enjoy traditional fare for the entire family, but this year please bring a lawn chair as soggy, muddy turf has forced us onto paved surfaces.  We hope to see you there for a great start to the summer season! (Parking is available on West Sussex along the parks and other adjoining streets.)

Millage rate hearings
Home owners concerned about potential property tax increases (in light of recent assessed valuations vs. prior years) are encouraged to attend upcoming millage rate hearings.  Councilmember Anne Fauver's office has advised of the following meeting:

ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS:  Thurs May 29 at noon. Walden Middle School at 320 Irwin Street.  I-75/I-85 south to J.W. Dobbs Avenue exit (#248D).  Turn left onto Dobbs and take to Irwin Street.  APS has other meetings planned.  Call the main office for details.

MLPA has been advised at recent meetings that Fulton County/City of Atlanta property tax dollars go roughly as follows:  50% Atlanta Public Schools, 30% Fulton County and 20% City of Atlanta.