Archive for April 24th, 2011

April 24th, 2011

Good Friday 1984: The Cold War turned hot

by DickH

For two years in the early 1980s I was assigned to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment as an intelligence officer. The unit’s peacetime mission was to patrol the border between West Germany and Czechoslovakia/East Germany. The patrols were conducted by troops on foot, in vehicles and in helicopters like the AH-1 Cobra (shown above). I left Germany in the fall of 1983 but given the staggered assignment pattern of the army at the time, many of my good friends were still in the unit the following spring when a little-known but very dangerous incident occurred.

On Good Friday (April 20, 1984) a 2nd ACR Cobra helicopter that was flying along the heavily wooded, lightly populated and very hilly border with Czechoslovakia unknowingly strayed into that country’s airspace. The pilots realized there was something wrong when they were attacked by two Czech Su-27 Floggers with cannon fire. The Cobra evaded and retreated back into West Germany, escaping without any damage.

The initial reports from the American pilots to their headquarters (where my friends were working) was that the Czechs had attacked them while in West German airspace. This caused quite a stir that quickly reached all the way to the Situation Room at the White House while the soldiers on the ground began breaking open boxes of live ammo. Soon a West German Border Police official called his US counterpart and asked “Why did one of your helicopters just fly into Czechoslovakia?” In an age before GPS devices, that was the first indication our side had that the helicopter had been on the wrong side of the border.

The crisis quickly deescalated. Supposedly President Reagan passed along a discreet apology to the Czech government for the incursion. A recent email from a friend who remained in the military through the end of the Cold War put the incident in a historical perspective. Here’s part of what he wrote:

And retrospect puts this all in a bigger perspective. Allegedly Andropov, in 1983, thought that Reagan was preparing a decisive first strike on the USSR, and in the West we didn’t know how close the Soviets were to being completely overcome with paranoia from border incidents and other actions that really weren’t intended to be hostile.

April 24th, 2011

Easter Dinner

by PaulM

We were fortunate to have a full table for the family Easter dinner at home this afternoon. We had ham from Alpine Butcher, small red potatoes, green beans, and pineapple on the side. For dessert there was an apple pie and vanilla ice cream, plus assorted homemade cookies and a box of fancy chocolates. Everything began with a champagne toast.  I hope our readers enjoyed their day. Sometimes you have to tune out the news for a few hours and be happy about what you’ve got. This was the first morning that we had windows open all over the house. I opened up the upstairs back porch and re-established our cat’s living quarters there. It feels like we’ve turned the seasonal page.

April 24th, 2011

Community Briefing on Pawtucket Falls Area Projects, Sat. 4/30

by PaulM
What?
“A Community Briefing on Pawtucket Falls Overlook/Spalding House Park Developments.”
 Learn about exciting plans for improvements and upgrades that will enhance public access to and visibility of these significant historic locations on both sides of the Merrimack River at the falls.
 
Who?
Speakers from City of Lowell, Lowell National Historical Park, Lowell Heritage Partnership, and others. Featured presentation by historic architect Charles Parrott of the National Park Service about development plans for both the Pawtucket Falls Overlook on the north bank of the Merrimack River near the intersection of Mammoth Road and Pawtucket Boulevard and Spalding House Park on the south bank adjacent to the Pawtucket Falls Gatehouse.
 
Where?
Spalding House Park behind the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust’s 18th-century Spalding House at 383 Pawtucket Street. Park in former Red Cross building lot next door.
 
When?
Saturday, April 30, 10 am to 11.30 am
Show up and show your support for these developments!
April 24th, 2011

from ‘Easter’ by Galway Kinnell

by PaulM

.

Easter

.

To get to church you have to cross the river,

First breadwinner for the town, its wide

Mud-colored currents cleansing forever

The swill-making villages at its side.

The disinfected voice of the minister

For a moment is one of the clues,

But he is talking of nothing but Easter,

Dying so on the wood, He rose.

Some of us daydream of the morning news,

Some of us lament we rose at all,

A child beside me comforts her doll,

We are dying on the hard wood of the pews.

Death is everywhere, in the extensive

Sermon, the outcry of the inaudible

Prayer, the nickels, the dimes the poor give,

And outside, at last, in the gusts of April.

Upon the river, its Walden calm,

With wire hooks the little boats are fishing.

Those who can wait to get home

Line up, lean on the railing, wishing.

. . . .

—Galway Kinnell, from “The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World: Poems 1953 – 1964″

April 24th, 2011

Big Ideas – New Technology For Lowell’s Future

by Marie

In the Boston Herald this morning – writer Donna Goodison puts the spotlight on Lowell’s future in the new industrial revolution.  The state-of-the-art UMass Lowell Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center – opening in the fall of 2012 – is the focus for the future.

Just as its famous mills are a symbol of the Industrial Revolution, Lowell officials hope the state-of-the-art UMass Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center — set to open in fall 2012 — will put the struggling city back on the map and at the forefront of the coming revolution in high-tech manufacturing.

“We’re looking forward to this center being able to expand the breadth of the university’s ability to do research that spins off new companies, as well as the depth and sophistication of their ability to do that in certain fields,” said Adam Baacke, Lowell’s assistant city manager for planning and development. “We definitely think that it bodes well for the city.”

The center is a building that will “serve big ideas,” according to University of Massachusetts at Lowell’s Chancellor Marty Meehan.

 

“We believe the next industrial revolution will be fueled by the work that goes on at the Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center,” he said.

Read the full article here at the BostonHerald.com.