Showing posts with label US st Alaska. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US st Alaska. Show all posts

Friday, June 25, 2010

Dr. Douglas Chilcoat, 71, formerly of Westminster, dies in Alaska http://tinyurl.com/22t6qdu


Dr. Douglas Chilcoat, 71, formerly of Westminster, dies in Alaska http://tinyurl.com/22t6qdu

Longtime veterinarian had one of area's first 24/7 care centers

http://www.explorecarroll.com/news/4441/dr-douglas-chilcoat-71-formerly-westminster-dies-alaska/ http://tinyurl.com/22t6qdu

By Kevin Dayhoff, Posted 6/24/10 (686 words)

(Enlarge) 2009 photo of Dr. Douglas Chilcoat with a sled dog resting in his lap during the 2009 Iditarod Trail in Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Schultz/SchultzPhoto.com)

A photo of Chilcoat with a sled dog resting his head in his lap may be found on the “Alaska Stock Images website here: http://tinyurl.com/2bwcnx4: “Veterinarian Douglas Chilcoat from Talkeetna examines a David Sawatzky dog at Takotna during Iditarod 2009.”

Another photo of Chilcoat during the Iditarod may be found here: http://tinyurl.com/23q4lsx: “Veterinarian Douglas Chilcoat checks one of Wayne Curtis Siberian Huskies in Koyuk on Friday during Iditarod 2008.”

~~~~~~~

Dr. Douglas Chilcoat, 71, a longtime veterinarian in the Westminster area, died unexpectedly June 17, 2010, at his home in Talkeetna, Alaska.

Chilcoat began practicing veterinary medicine in the early 1970s in Westminster. For more than 30 years, he maintained a practice at the Westminster Veterinary Hospital at the intersection of New Windsor Road and West Main Street.

Chilcoat was one the first area vets to maintain a 24-hour emergency animal care service. A Baltimore Sun article from May 31, 1994, noted, “Starting tomorrow, pet owners won't have to worry about waking their regular veterinarian to rush to the office when an animal companion becomes seriously ill or is injured during the night….

Several years ago, Chilcoat relocated and started a new veterinary practice in Talkeetna, a small town of about 778 residents in the Upper Susitna Valley, where the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna Rivers come together, two-and-half hours north of Anchorage, Alaska. Mt. McKinley is nearby and the area is well known for salmon fishing and spectacular scenery.
[…]

“Cicely,” the fictional town from the television series “Northern Exposure” was “based on Talkeetna, a town on the rail line between Anchorage and Denali National Park, with plenty of its own quirks…,” according to a Sept. 30, 2007, article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

News of his death spread through the Carroll County community earlier in the week primarily by word of mouth. An article published by KTNA, a community radio station in Talkeetna, on June 17, included, “Dr Chilcoat was a practicing veterinarian in Talkeetna, and also served as a volunteer veterinarian in the Iditarod Trail sled dog race. He was well known by dog and other pet owners in the Upper Susitna Valley.”

Read the entire article here: http://www.explorecarroll.com/news/4441/dr-douglas-chilcoat-71-formerly-westminster-dies-alaska/

Labels: Animals veterinarians, Dayhoff Media Explore Carroll, Dayhoff writing essays, Media TV Northern Exposure, People Obituaries, People Tributes, US st Alaska

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/06/dr-douglas-chilcoat-71-formerly-of.html

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com


*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Alaska Daily News: Julia O’Malley Hey Truck Dude, some things are best left in the garage

Hey Truck Dude, some things are best left in the garage

SEPTEMBER 27, 2009 http://community.adn.com/adn/node/143778

Dear Truck Dude,

You were the one on 15th Avenue about two weeks ago on a Friday. I pulled up behind you around Karluk Street. I had a headache. You had plastic man parts hanging from your tow hitch.

It might not have bothered me, as I have seen this kind of thing before, but it wasn't just you, it was also the dude next to you. And so I was trapped, staring into a vortex of swinging truck junk until the light changed.

My aching brain filled with one alarming thought: Is this going to be a trend now?

I mentioned your bumper ornament to a coworker a few days later. He said, "Oh, you mean TruckNutz." And so I Googled. It was a trend. The Nutz, which are widely available online, became a big thing last year during the presidential election after someone suggested Barack Obama get some so he could better relate to rural America. And a few states moved to ban them from the roads. They were kind of 2008, but like every other thing that becomes a thing Outside, it appeared they were catching on here 2000-late.

read more »



*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

Monday, September 28, 2009

Anchorage Alaska Daily News columnist Julia O’Malley


Anchorage Alaska Daily News columnist Julia O’Malley

I have family in Anchorage, Alaska and it is by way of that connection that I follow the Anchorage Daily News. In that context I have come to really enjoy Ms. O’Malley’s columns. I think you will also.

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/jj0ey

http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2009/09/anchorage-alaska-daily-news-columnist.html http://tinyurl.com/ya472rd

Julia O'Malley: http://community.adn.com/adn/blog/106971/ http://tinyurl.com/y8c43co

Julia O'Malley writes a general interest column about life and politics in Anchorage and around Alaska. She grew up in Anchorage and has worked at the ADN on and off as a columnist and reporter since 1996. She came back full time as a reporter in 2005.

As a reporter, she covered the court system and wrote extensively about life in Anchorage, including big changes in the city's ethnic and minority communities.

In 2008, she won the Scripps-Howard Foundation's Ernie Pyle award for the best human-interest writing in America. She has also written for the Oregonian, the Juneau Empire and the Anchorage Press.

September 28, 2009

Recent columns by Julia O’Malley:

Hey Truck Dude, some things are best left in the garage - 9/27/2009 7:00 pm
Masek excuses sound hollow, sentence disappoints - 9/24/2009 11:54 pm
Losing a day or two on Kodiak Island - 9/22/2009 7:56 pm
Reaction to John Mayo's story - 9/21/2009 3:00 pm
I want to know more about Desirae Douglas - 9/21/2009 11:39 am
Damaged and discharged, a soldier on edge - 9/17/2009 12:17 am
Do you have a library card? - 9/16/2009 11:14 am
A president's speech, a lesson on civility - 9/8/2009 9:53 pm
When you see a fire truck, wave - 9/5/2009 8:41 pm
A food line grows, pantry shelves go empty - 8/26/2009 8:58 pm
Boomers: this is not personal, it's about statistics - 8/19/2009 2:42 pm
What decade is it again, Mayor Sullivan? - 8/18/2009 9:21 pm
When loving your dog isn't enough - 8/15/2009 10:28 pm
Tomato quest leads to Alison Arians, queen of things local and green - 8/14/2009 10:58 pm
Protesting the Feds on Fifth Avenue - 8/11/2009 8:27 pm
Mailbag: Seward Highway survivor stories - 8/11/2009 3:23 pm
All that rides on the center line - 8/8/2009 9:49 pm
Do you have a doctor? - 8/5/2009 1:59 pm
Bad dog heaven - 8/4/2009 4:11 pm
My dinner with Team Levi - 8/1/2009 11:18 pm
Seriously, breastfeeding isn't like public urination - 7/31/2009 1:53 pm
Highway stories - 7/29/2009 4:54 pm

Anchorage Alaska Daily News http://tinyurl.com/y8c43co columnist Julia O’Malley

Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff

http://twitpic.com/jj0ey Anchorage Alaska Daily News http://tinyurl.com/y8c43co columnist Julia O’Malley http://tinyurl.com/ya472rd




*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Sarah Palin: Who needs this crap?

Sarah Palin: Who needs this crap?

Media fear and loathing and Palin Derangement Syndrome on steroids.

July 3, 2009

On Friday afternoon, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced … that she was resigning her office later this month, a stunning decision that could free her to run for president more easily but also raises questions about her political standing at home,” wrote Jonathan Martin in Politico.

“Palin disclosed the surprise news Friday afternoon from her home in Wasilla with her husband, Todd, and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who the governor said would take over the state on Saturday, July 25.” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24497.html#ixzz0KGHArXOv&D

Well, I for one do not think that she is preparing herself for a presidential run in 2012. I think that many of the armchair pundits have it wrong, except Howard Kurtz – he got it right. http://tinyurl.com/l3sdtx

I have family in Alaska and as a result I have followed the career of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for many years – long before she was thrust into the nightmare of the national spotlight last fall.

I watched the video of her announcement (Friday) afternoon and my immediate reaction is that she has had enough – and who could blame her?

I hope for her sake and the sake of her family that she retires to being a private citizen.

Hopefully she can write a book or two, make some speeches, pay off her ginormous legal bills and go fishing and hunting for a long time away from the likes of the National Organization of (Liberal) Women types, the traditional elitist eastern establishment misogynistic press, and the liberal hate bloggers.

If one puts her tenure in the national glare in the context of how this nation, collectively, treated Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton in their bid for national office – and now Governor Palin; we should, as a nation, hang our heads in shame.

The scurrilous attacks have shown no signs of letting up. Since last fall, liberal lefties have launched one after another, silly vexatious ethic commission charges – all of which have proved to be essentially groundless.


They have got to have been an enormously time-consuming and expensive challenge – and a drain on Gov. Palin and her family.

Just recently there was the infamous Letterman incident in which he told what Howard Kurtz mentions in the following piece as “an insensitive joke about her daughter getting ‘knocked up’ by New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez."

Then there was the hit-job by what Mr. Kurtz refers to as a “hard-edged Vanity Fair piece, in which former McCain campaign strategists questioned her mental state and even wondered whether she was suffering from postpartum depression.” (http://tinyurl.com/krnbhk)

Of course, all the attacks have been made by “unnamed sources.”

Not to be overlooked was the recent incident in which Wonkette prominently posted an inappropriate photoshop of her child, who has downs syndrome.

If any of the above had happened to President Barack Obama of his family, for example, the “Katie Couric-s” of the world and the National Organization of (Liberal) Women types would have been up in arms. Yet the double-standards persist.

It’s Palin Derangement Syndrome on steroids.

On June 28, 2009, William A. Jacobson, on his blog, “Legal Insurrection,” noted:

“It really is hard to understand why some adults feel the need to make fun of Trig Palin, a one-year old who has Down Syndrome. Politics alone cannot explain it. If you don't like Sarah Palin, fine, but why go after Trig?

“The controversy regarding the photoshop of Trig by Alaskan blogger
Linda Biegel is only the tip of the iceberg. Ever since Sarah's nomination, Trig has been a target. Last fall, the popular DC-based ‘gossip’ website Wonkette joked how Trig must have wished he'd been aborted. Now Wonkette has taken Biegel's Photoshop antics as an excuse to go after Trig anew.

“In a recent
post, Wonkette promoted and joked about even cruder Photoshops of Trig at the Something Awful web forum, where people can post anonymously (examples below). Wonkette even included one of these photoshops in its post (above right) while mocking Trig as the ‘New Jesus,’ ‘Holy Infant’ and ‘Sacred One.’

“All the attacks on Trig are Sarah's fault, according to the Wonkette post, since Sarah had the audacity to bring Trig on stage at the Republican National Convention (where the original photo in question was taken), which Wonkette calls using Trig as a ‘cheap political prop.’ I guess that makes the Obama kids fair game according to Wonkette since they were brought
on stage at the Democratic National Convention…”

Mr. Jacobson continues, “Palin basically poked a stick in the world’s largest beehive filled with cheap & tireless insanity, and the SomethingAwful.com goons have unleashed a pack of Photoshop Dogs From Hell to make the most incredible collection of Sarah Palin Desecration Images in the History of Time, the end.

General Bullshit > Sarah Palin thinks photoshopping special needs babies is appalling [Something Awful]

“(At the top is one) of the milder Photoshops in the Something Awful forum which are Sarah's fault according to Wonkette:"


In the context of the non-stop character assassination by the lefty-haters and the elite media since Arizona Senator John McCain picked her for his vice presidential running mate last fall - - Who needs this crap?

Howard Kurtz got it right. Read “Maybe She Got Tired of the Full-Court Press
Will Palin, Plucked From Obscurity, Return to It?” By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, July 4, 2009

20090703 sdosm Palin Derangement Syndrome


*****


Sunday, November 9, 2008

Maybe it is time we all moved to Alaska




Bill Babylon
Direct: 907-273-7531
e-mail address: Billybabs AT gmail DOT com

Prudential Jack White/ Vista Real Estate
3801 Centerpoint Drive 200
Anchorage, AK 99503
Fax: 907-562-5485
Cell: 907-351-4762


Welcome to your one-stop source for real estate services covering the South Anchorage area. Real estate is one of the most exciting investments one can make, and it should be a fun and rewarding experience. Here you'll find everything you'll need to buy or sell a home, as well as learn about the market value of homes you may own in the area. It is my goal to provide you with superior service at all times, so please tell me more about you! Learn About Me.

Hello and thank you for visiting! It is my goal as your full service real estate company specializing in the South Anchorage area, to provide you with superior service at all times.


Here are some things you might like to know about my brother-in-law Bill Babylon:

An experienced leader and manager

Retired from active service with the US Army after 29 years. Managed a $50 Million business with 1200 employees during my last 7 years of service.

Experienced a dozen relocations during this career.

Reviewed construction progress on new homes for the last 3 years as a subcontractor to Northrim Bank’s Construction Loan Department, familiarizing me with the new home market in the Anchorage area.

An active member of the community

Currently serving as Treasurer of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church.

Served as Treasurer for Boy Scout Troop 209 in Anchorage, for 2 years. Still active on the Troop Committee. Conduct Scout training for the Personal Management Merit Badge.

An ethical real estate professional

Member of the Anchorage Board of Realtors®.

Acquired over 35 hours of continuing real estate education in the past 6 months.
As a holder of the Prudential Real Estate eCertified® designation, I apply the latest technology solutions to meet my clients' real estate needs.

I do what’s right for my clients—not what sells!

I am ready to help you find your next home!

Buying a home? I look forward to helping you select the home of your dreams by taking time to listen to your needs and desires.

Selling a home? My real estate expertise and many effective marketing programs will give you the exposure and edge you need to sell your home quickly for top dollar.

20081108 Maybe it is time we all moved to Alaska

Monday, December 31, 2007

Spiro Agnew the patron saint of Alaska


Spiro Agnew the patron saint of Alaska

December 31, 2008 © by Kevin Dayhoff


On Christmas morning I was treated to a white Christmas when I awakened in Anchorage Alaska. As a matter of fact, it was a white Christmas week as it snowed everyday the entire time I was there.

I stayed at the Captain Cook Hotel which is incidentally the same hotel where one of Alaska’s heroes, our own thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, stayed on an impromptu stopover in 1981.

Yes, you read that correctly, according to Anchorage Daily News columnist, Mike Dunham, who wrote a tribute to Mr. Agnew on the anniversary of his birthday in 1996; Mr. Agnew is considered to be “arguably the most important man in Alaska history after William Seward.” More on that in a minute…

As readers are aware I am not a fan of the cold or snow, but there I was looking out upon a beautiful city situated on a glacier silt plain in southeastern Alaska, picturesquely framed by the Chugach Mountain range and Cook Inlet.

The temperature averaged in the teens for the entire stay – and yes, the sun only shines for about four hours a day this time of the year in Anchorage. Even then, sunlight is only distinguishable as a brighter - lighter shade of gray.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful visiting a city I had only read about before in the context of oil exploration and politics, Native American struggles and public policy, Russian - Alaskan history, the globalization of American economic structure, and anomalies of municipal government.

For government geeks who study municipal governance, Anchorage is fascinating. Above and beyond the fact that there is no sales tax or income tax in Anchorage or Alaska for that matter, is the sheer geographic size of the municipality. The city limits of Anchorage encompasses 1,955 sq. miles or about the size of the state of Delaware. For a comparison, Carroll County is 452 square miles – and Westminster is about 6 square miles.

On December 28, I had a nice opportunity to talk with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich; a young and energetic rising star who will in the future make a name for himself on the national stage. For now I’ll leave that for a future column. Yes, he is the son of former Congressman Nick Begich. Congressman Nick Begich and Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana were the focus of a national tragedy on September 16, 1972. Who remembers the terrible circumstances?

Getting back to Spiro Agnew, according Mr. Dunham, Mr. Agnew he did not happen to visit Anchorage “on purpose. In 1981, he and 180 other passengers on a commercial jet to Korea were detained in Anchorage after an engine conked out. Spotted at the Hotel Captain Cook, Agnew shied from questions — ‘I’m not in politics anymore. I just don’t have time to fool with this anymore’ — lit his Marlboro and puffed quietly into history.”

It is that “history” that is so fascinating to congressional historians. Except as a peculiar footnote, history is befuddled as to what to do with the legacy of Mr. Agnew. For the most part, historians essentially ignore him. In what is otherwise the sordid and conflicted saga of an American politician from Maryland, then-Vice-President Agnew irrevocably changed the future of Alaska just months before he resigned as the United States vice-president on October 10th, 1973.

To refresh your memory, the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Theodore Agnew, passed away on September 17th, 1996. He was born on November 9, 1918 Spiro Anagnostopoulos, the son of Greek immigrants, and grew up in Baltimore.

While serving his country in World War II, he earned the Bronze Star in France. Upon returning home he began practicing law in 1949 and entered politics in 1957, eventually being elected Baltimore County Executive in 1962.

In an extraordinary twist of fate, Mr. Agnew, a Republican, really burst on the scene in 1966 as a courtesy of the Democratic Party. Who can remember the circumstances?

On November 8, 1966, the day before his 48th birthday, Mr. Agnew, defeated his Democratic-Dixiecrat opponent, by a margin of 81,775 votes in a three-way race. Who can name his Dixiecrat opponent or the third prominent politician in the 1966 Maryland gubernatorial election?

Presidential candidate Richard Nixon picked the nationally unknown Maryland governor as his running mate two years later. Most all Marylanders were proud when then-Governor Agnew was elected Vice-President of the United States in 1968.

In the fall of 1973, as the Watergate scandal mounted, the prospect of Vice-President Agnew succeeding President Nixon became a matter of profound concern to political elites. An investigation into the Baltimore County payoffs provided a suitable pretext as he eventually became the focus of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland for financial irregularities while he held state office. Rather than face trial, Agnew resigned and entered a plea of no contest to charges of evading income tax.

Years earlier, Mr. Agnew made a campaign stop in Anchorage in 1968, according to Mr. Dunham. It was the first of his three visits to Alaska. The second visit occurred during the re-election campaign of 1972 – in addition to his last visit, mentioned earlier, in 1981.

In 1968, a few months before Mr. Agnew’s first visit, oil had been discovered on the North – Arctic Slope north of the Brooks Mountain Range. The Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was proposed in 1969, but it was greeted met with tremendous opposition from environmentalists.

By July 17, 1973, the Trans-Alaska Authorization Act which cleared the way for the 800-mile pipeline had passed the House of Representatives, but was deadlocked in the Senate – 49 to 49.

Vice-President Agnew, in his constitutional capacity as President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote, “for” the pipeline.

Mr. Agnew was many different things to many folks, however, today, few Marylanders are aware of him, except that he was once a Maryland governor and a United States vice-president.

In Alaska, the former governor of Maryland is known to keen historians as the reason there is no sales tax or income tax in the 49th state. Additionally, he is one of the reasons why the Anchorage of today, poised as the gateway to northern North America and the vast economics of the Pacific Rim, is a modern and exciting city. It is far different from the boom-to-bust, “small, dirty, hardscrabble place,” as described by Mr. Dunham, “with more bars than churches when Agnew flew in on a campaign swing in 1968.”

I did find a statue of Captain James Cook who sailed into the area in 1778, but on my visit, I found no statue for Spiro Agnew. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Mr. Dunham, he may have picked pockets in Maryland, but he made Alaskans rich.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org
####


20071231 Spiro Agnew The Patron Saint of Alaska

Spiro Agnew the patron saint of Alaska


Spiro Agnew the patron saint of Alaska

December 31, 2008 © by Kevin Dayhoff


On Christmas morning I was treated to a white Christmas when I awakened in Anchorage Alaska. As a matter of fact, it was a white Christmas week as it snowed everyday the entire time I was there.

I stayed at the Captain Cook Hotel which is incidentally the same hotel where one of Alaska’s heroes, our own thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, stayed on an impromptu stopover in 1981.

Yes, you read that correctly, according to Anchorage Daily News columnist, Mike Dunham, who wrote a tribute to Mr. Agnew on the anniversary of his birthday in 1996; Mr. Agnew is considered to be “arguably the most important man in Alaska history after William Seward.” More on that in a minute…

As readers are aware I am not a fan of the cold or snow, but there I was looking out upon a beautiful city situated on a glacier silt plain in southeastern Alaska, picturesquely framed by the Chugach Mountain range and Cook Inlet.

The temperature averaged in the teens for the entire stay – and yes, the sun only shines for about four hours a day this time of the year in Anchorage. Even then, sunlight is only distinguishable as a brighter - lighter shade of gray.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful visiting a city I had only read about before in the context of oil exploration and politics, Native American struggles and public policy, Russian - Alaskan history, the globalization of American economic structure, and anomalies of municipal government.

For government geeks who study municipal governance, Anchorage is fascinating. Above and beyond the fact that there is no sales tax or income tax in Anchorage or Alaska for that matter, is the sheer geographic size of the municipality. The city limits of Anchorage encompasses 1,955 sq. miles or about the size of the state of Delaware. For a comparison, Carroll County is 452 square miles – and Westminster is about 6 square miles.

On December 28, I had a nice opportunity to talk with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich; a young and energetic rising star who will in the future make a name for himself on the national stage. For now I’ll leave that for a future column. Yes, he is the son of former Congressman Nick Begich. Congressman Nick Begich and Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana were the focus of a national tragedy on September 16, 1972. Who remembers the terrible circumstances?

Getting back to Spiro Agnew, according Mr. Dunham, Mr. Agnew he did not happen to visit Anchorage “on purpose. In 1981, he and 180 other passengers on a commercial jet to Korea were detained in Anchorage after an engine conked out. Spotted at the Hotel Captain Cook, Agnew shied from questions — ‘I’m not in politics anymore. I just don’t have time to fool with this anymore’ — lit his Marlboro and puffed quietly into history.”

It is that “history” that is so fascinating to congressional historians. Except as a peculiar footnote, history is befuddled as to what to do with the legacy of Mr. Agnew. For the most part, historians essentially ignore him. In what is otherwise the sordid and conflicted saga of an American politician from Maryland, then-Vice-President Agnew irrevocably changed the future of Alaska just months before he resigned as the United States vice-president on October 10th, 1973.

To refresh your memory, the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Theodore Agnew, passed away on September 17th, 1996. He was born on November 9, 1918 Spiro Anagnostopoulos, the son of Greek immigrants, and grew up in Baltimore.

While serving his country in World War II, he earned the Bronze Star in France. Upon returning home he began practicing law in 1949 and entered politics in 1957, eventually being elected Baltimore County Executive in 1962.

In an extraordinary twist of fate, Mr. Agnew, a Republican, really burst on the scene in 1966 as a courtesy of the Democratic Party. Who can remember the circumstances?

On November 8, 1966, the day before his 48th birthday, Mr. Agnew, defeated his Democratic-Dixiecrat opponent, by a margin of 81,775 votes in a three-way race. Who can name his Dixiecrat opponent or the third prominent politician in the 1966 Maryland gubernatorial election?

Presidential candidate Richard Nixon picked the nationally unknown Maryland governor as his running mate two years later. Most all Marylanders were proud when then-Governor Agnew was elected Vice-President of the United States in 1968.

In the fall of 1973, as the Watergate scandal mounted, the prospect of Vice-President Agnew succeeding President Nixon became a matter of profound concern to political elites. An investigation into the Baltimore County payoffs provided a suitable pretext as he eventually became the focus of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland for financial irregularities while he held state office. Rather than face trial, Agnew resigned and entered a plea of no contest to charges of evading income tax.

Years earlier, Mr. Agnew made a campaign stop in Anchorage in 1968, according to Mr. Dunham. It was the first of his three visits to Alaska. The second visit occurred during the re-election campaign of 1972 – in addition to his last visit, mentioned earlier, in 1981.

In 1968, a few months before Mr. Agnew’s first visit, oil had been discovered on the North – Arctic Slope north of the Brooks Mountain Range. The Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was proposed in 1969, but it was greeted met with tremendous opposition from environmentalists.

By July 17, 1973, the Trans-Alaska Authorization Act which cleared the way for the 800-mile pipeline had passed the House of Representatives, but was deadlocked in the Senate – 49 to 49.

Vice-President Agnew, in his constitutional capacity as President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote, “for” the pipeline.

Mr. Agnew was many different things to many folks, however, today, few Marylanders are aware of him, except that he was once a Maryland governor and a United States vice-president.

In Alaska, the former governor of Maryland is known to keen historians as the reason there is no sales tax or income tax in the 49th state. Additionally, he is one of the reasons why the Anchorage of today, poised as the gateway to northern North America and the vast economics of the Pacific Rim, is a modern and exciting city. It is far different from the boom-to-bust, “small, dirty, hardscrabble place,” as described by Mr. Dunham, “with more bars than churches when Agnew flew in on a campaign swing in 1968.”

I did find a statue of Captain James Cook who sailed into the area in 1778, but on my visit, I found no statue for Spiro Agnew. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Mr. Dunham, he may have picked pockets in Maryland, but he made Alaskans rich.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org
####


, , , , ,

20071231 Spiro Agnew The Patron Saint of Alaska

Spiro Agnew the patron saint of Alaska



Spiro Agnew the patron saint of Alaska

December 31, 2008 © by Kevin Dayhoff



On Christmas morning I was treated to a white Christmas when I awakened in Anchorage Alaska. As a matter of fact, it was a white Christmas week as it snowed everyday the entire time I was there.

I stayed at the Captain Cook Hotel which is incidentally the same hotel where one of Alaska’s heroes, our own thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, stayed on an impromptu stopover in 1981.

Yes, you read that correctly, according to Anchorage Daily News columnist, Mike Dunham, who wrote a tribute to Mr. Agnew on the anniversary of his birthday in 1996; Mr. Agnew is considered to be “arguably the most important man in Alaska history after William Seward.” More on that in a minute…

As readers are aware I am not a fan of the cold or snow, but there I was looking out upon a beautiful city situated on a glacier silt plain in southeastern Alaska, picturesquely framed by the Chugach Mountain range and Cook Inlet.

The temperature averaged in the teens for the entire stay – and yes, the sun only shines for about four hours a day this time of the year in Anchorage. Even then, sunlight is only distinguishable as a brighter - lighter shade of gray.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful visiting a city I had only read about before in the context of oil exploration and politics, Native American struggles and public policy, Russian - Alaskan history, the globalization of American economic structure, and anomalies of municipal government.

For government geeks who study municipal governance, Anchorage is fascinating. Above and beyond the fact that there is no sales tax or income tax in Anchorage or Alaska for that matter, is the sheer geographic size of the municipality. The city limits of Anchorage encompasses 1,955 sq. miles or about the size of the state of Delaware. For a comparison, Carroll County is 452 square miles – and Westminster is about 6 square miles.

On December 28, I had a nice opportunity to talk with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich; a young and energetic rising star who will in the future make a name for himself on the national stage. For now I’ll leave that for a future column. Yes, he is the son of former Congressman Nick Begich. Congressman Nick Begich and Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana were the focus of a national tragedy on September 16, 1972. Who remembers the terrible circumstances?

Getting back to Spiro Agnew, according Mr. Dunham, Mr. Agnew he did not happen to visit Anchorage “on purpose. In 1981, he and 180 other passengers on a commercial jet to Korea were detained in Anchorage after an engine conked out. Spotted at the Hotel Captain Cook, Agnew shied from questions — ‘I’m not in politics anymore. I just don’t have time to fool with this anymore’ — lit his Marlboro and puffed quietly into history.”

It is that “history” that is so fascinating to congressional historians. Except as a peculiar footnote, history is befuddled as to what to do with the legacy of Mr. Agnew. For the most part, historians essentially ignore him. In what is otherwise the sordid and conflicted saga of an American politician from Maryland, then-Vice-President Agnew irrevocably changed the future of Alaska just months before he resigned as the United States vice-president on October 10th, 1973.

To refresh your memory, the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Theodore Agnew, passed away on September 17th, 1996. He was born on November 9, 1918 Spiro Anagnostopoulos, the son of Greek immigrants, and grew up in Baltimore.

While serving his country in World War II, he earned the Bronze Star in France. Upon returning home he began practicing law in 1949 and entered politics in 1957, eventually being elected Baltimore County Executive in 1962.

In an extraordinary twist of fate, Mr. Agnew, a Republican, really burst on the scene in 1966 as a courtesy of the Democratic Party. Who can remember the circumstances?

On November 8, 1966, the day before his 48th birthday, Mr. Agnew, defeated his Democratic-Dixiecrat opponent, by a margin of 81,775 votes in a three-way race. Who can name his Dixiecrat opponent or the third prominent politician in the 1966 Maryland gubernatorial election?

Presidential candidate Richard Nixon picked the nationally unknown Maryland governor as his running mate two years later. Most all Marylanders were proud when then-Governor Agnew was elected Vice-President of the United States in 1968.

In the fall of 1973, as the Watergate scandal mounted, the prospect of Vice-President Agnew succeeding President Nixon became a matter of profound concern to political elites. An investigation into the Baltimore County payoffs provided a suitable pretext as he eventually became the focus of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland for financial irregularities while he held state office. Rather than face trial, Agnew resigned and entered a plea of no contest to charges of evading income tax.

Years earlier, Mr. Agnew made a campaign stop in Anchorage in 1968, according to Mr. Dunham. It was the first of his three visits to Alaska. The second visit occurred during the re-election campaign of 1972 – in addition to his last visit, mentioned earlier, in 1981.

In 1968, a few months before Mr. Agnew’s first visit, oil had been discovered on the North – Arctic Slope north of the Brooks Mountain Range. The Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was proposed in 1969, but it was greeted met with tremendous opposition from environmentalists.

By July 17, 1973, the Trans-Alaska Authorization Act which cleared the way for the 800-mile pipeline had passed the House of Representatives, but was deadlocked in the Senate – 49 to 49.

Vice-President Agnew, in his constitutional capacity as President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote, “for” the pipeline.

Mr. Agnew was many different things to many folks, however, today, few Marylanders are aware of him, except that he was once a Maryland governor and a United States vice-president.

In Alaska, the former governor of Maryland is known to keen historians as the reason there is no sales tax or income tax in the 49th state. Additionally, he is one of the reasons why the Anchorage of today, poised as the gateway to northern North America and the vast economics of the Pacific Rim, is a modern and exciting city. It is far different from the boom-to-bust, “small, dirty, hardscrabble place,” as described by Mr. Dunham, “with more bars than churches when Agnew flew in on a campaign swing in 1968.”

I did find a statue of Captain James Cook who sailed into the area in 1778, but on my visit, I found no statue for Spiro Agnew. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Mr. Dunham, he may have picked pockets in Maryland, but he made Alaskans rich.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org
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20071231 Spiro Agnew The Patron Saint of Alaska

An interview with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich


An interview with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich

December 30, 2008 © Kevin Dayhoff http://www.kevindayhoff.net/


On December 28, I had a nice opportunity to talk with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich; a young and energetic rising star who will in the future make a name for himself on the national stage.

For now I’ll leave that for a future column.

Yes, he is the son of former Congressman Nick Begich. Congressman Nick Begich and Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana were the focus of a national tragedy on September 16, 1972.

Who remembers the terrible circumstances?

I was in Anchorage Alaska from December 22 – 29, 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

As readers are aware I am not a fan of the cold or snow, but there I was looking out upon a beautiful city situated on a glacier silt plain in southeastern Alaska, picturesquely framed by the Chugach Mountain range and Cook Inlet.

On Christmas morning I was treated to a white Christmas when I awakened in Anchorage Alaska. As a matter of fact, it was a white Christmas week as it snowed everyday the entire time I was there.

I stayed at the Captain Cook Hotel which is incidentally the same hotel where one of Alaska’s heroes, our own thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, and the 55th governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, stayed on an impromptu stopover in 1981.

Yes, you read that correctly, according to Anchorage Daily News columnist, Mike Dunham, who wrote a tribute to Mr. Agnew on the anniversary of his birthday in 1996; Mr. Agnew is considered to be “arguably the most important man in Alaska history after William Seward.” More on that in another column…

The temperature averaged in the teens for the entire stay – and yes, the sun only shines for about four hours a day this time of the year in Anchorage. Even then, sunlight is only distinguishable as a brighter - lighter shade of gray.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful visiting a city I had only read about before in the context of oil exploration and politics, Native American struggles and public policy, Russian - Alaskan history, the globalization of American economic structure, and anomalies of municipal government.

For government geeks who study municipal governance, Anchorage is fascinating. Above and beyond the fact that there is no sales tax or income tax in Anchorage or Alaska for that matter, is the sheer geographic size of the municipality. The city limits of Anchorage encompasses 1,955 sq. miles or about the size of the state of Delaware. For a comparison, Carroll County is 452 square miles – and Westminster is about 6 square miles.

Meanwhile, keep an eye out for Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. Of course, as a member of the “Mayors’ Club;” those of us who are currently serving or former mayors will have a propensity to circle the wagons and close ranks around another mayor.

That said, I was extremely impressed with Mayor Begich and chances are he will eventually succeed Alaska Senator Ted Stevens some day.


20081230 An interview with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich