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It won't officially be dedicated until Monday,
February 21st, but workers are busy putting the
finishing touches on the new statue of former
President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The statue is
located at exit 67 on U.S. Highway 75 in Denison. It is
eighteen feet tall and carved from pure white granite.
The 34th President of the United States was born
in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890, becoming
the last President born in the 19th century. The
Eisenhower family moved from Denison to Kansas
when Ike was a small boy. He was also the Supreme
Commander of all Allied forces in Europe during
World War II and planned the Normandy invasion
of France on June 6, 1944. After the war he was named
President of Columbia University and became President
from 1953 to 1961. He followed Harry S. Truman into the
White House, and was succeeded by John F. Kennedy.
Ike died March 28th, 1969.
The 2011 edition of the Daytona 500 will
be Sunday, February 20th. It will mark ten
years since the sport of NASCAR lost it's
brightest star...and I remember it like it was
yesterday. Running in third place was the big
black #3 Monte Carlo of Earnhardt as the cars
entered the final lap of the race. Earnhardt
only had two cars in front of him,..and he owned
both of them. In first place was Michael Waltrip, a lifelong friend, and behind him was son Dale Earnhardt, Junior, pushing Waltrip to the front. Dale must have been filled with mixed emotions on that last lap. Frustrated that maybe a couple of seconds off one
of the pit stops might have put him up front, but
also proud of the fact his son was just ahead of
him heading into the final turn of the race. Earnhardt, who never asked for any quarter, nor gave any,
lost a little traction in that final turn and slide up toward Sterling Marlin's car. The two cars touched and
Marlin's car inadvertently turned Earnhardt ninety
degrees. The black Chevrolet hit the concrete
retaining wall at better than 190 miles per hour. Safety
personnel did their best, but Earnhardt suffered
massive head injuries and was proclaimed dead before
he got to the infield medical facilities. He would leave
a sport with seven Championship seasons behind him at the age of 49. NASCAR President Bill France, a man not known for superlatives, might have expressed it best that day, saying, 'NASCAR has lost it's best driver ever.' I have been a fan of Dale Earnhardt since 1980 and still get misty when I think about him. NASCAR has made a lot of changes since his death, and one of the best is the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device. Of course, Dale would never have used it! He was opposed to wearing seat belts, but NASCAR made it mandatory, as they have the HANS device since his death. The rules have been altered over the past ten years, and you can bet Dale would have been against any and all changes. He had one favorite quotation he used when arguing over who would be in the race each week, "Let the fastest 43 cars make the race regardless of previous champions, big names, or big sponsors." When NASCAR installed restrictor plates on the cars to slow them down, Earnhardt replied, "If they have lace on their panties, they are in the wrong sport." I still miss Dale Earnhardt.....
This has been a week to remember for the
North Texas area... On Monday night/Tuesday
morning we received ice and sleet with about
four inches of snow on top. The weather guru
promised it would be gone by Friday.....He lied!
Today is Friday and we awoke to another 4-5
inches of snow on top of the old stuff.. I know
it is nothing like the snow the Midwest and Northeast
is receiving, but Texas is not suppose to get
this much snow and ice....AND to top it off...We
are expected to get more snow Sunday night
into Monday.. I say we get a lynching party together
for Punxsutawney Phil
I live in Denison, Texas,...right on the Red River
between Texas and Oklahoma. We received 4-5
inches of snow on top of sleet and ice Monday
night/Tuesday morning,...and it won't go away.
The last two nights have seen temperatures drop
into the single digits...but during the daytime the
sun has helped out to clear up parts of the streets.
.... Just when you think you have it bad,..consider
the plight of others.. About half of the country is
under this storm and the Midwest and Northeast
have really taken the brunt of this mess..
I used to drive the Chicago area and I really have
concern for them. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago is
a major highway for the commuters and the storm
was so bad on Tuesday that drivers were stranded
in their cars for 6-7 hours. Authorities rescued drivers
with snowmobiles and took them to safety. The cars
are still on Lake Shore Drive and may not be moved
until Thursday.....or whenever the snow can be removed.
I have had a couple of people ask me 'who
do you like in the Super Bowl?'...and my reply
is always 'neither one.' I don't like the Green
Bay Packers ...and I don't like the Pittsburgh
Steelers! The reasoning behind this is...first
and foremost,..I am a Dallas Cowboy fan!
I can see some of you laughing and hoo-hawing
over the dismal season the Cowboys just
completed...but they were 6-10 this year. I
loved the Cowboys when they went 0-11-1 in
1960.. Fans on each coast just don't get the
loyalty of Cowboy fans. The media is always
hyping the teams on the east and west coast.
Green Bay and Chicago have done their share
of sticking it to the coastal teams, but Dallas is
the one that New Yorkers, Bostonians, and those
freaks from the left coast, love to hate. Dallas
represents everything new and good...from those
shiny silver helmets with the Lone Star on the
sides,..to always wearing those white jerseys ( In
the NFL the home team usually wears their colored
uniforms and the visitors wears white, but Dallas
requests the white at home forcing the visitors to
wear their colored uniform, thus they wear their white
jerseys 90% of the time.)...BUT the real reason I
don't like this years Super Bowl teams is...they have
beaten my Cowboys in Championship Games in the
past. I was at the Cotton Bowl when Dallas had a
chance to beat Green Bay when Jim Bocky jumped
offside at the three yard line with seconds to go.. and
then the next year in the 'ice bowl' at Green Bay when
Bart Starr sneaked into the end zone to ice the victory.
..And I watched in disbelief when Bradshaw to Swain
made my Cowboys second-best, not once but twice.
Both of this years participants have known what is like
to lose..and to win. So while I can't really 'pull' for
either one of these teams, I can issue a warning. Be
ready in August of 2011.. the Dallas Cowboys will be
back and hungry to make amends for this past season.
Good Luck to both the Packers and the Steelers!!
I knew the old homestead was a top
achiever in many fields, BUT this was a
new one on me..
Denison, Texas was always a pioneer
when it came to advances in Texas.. The
first city in Texas to have free mail delivery
to individual homes.. the first ice factory in
Texas..the tallest building in the state in 1875
was the 'Security Exchange' located on the
corner of Main & Burnett... Denison was the
first city in Texas with free public schools...
the very first interurban electric transportation
line between Denison & Sherman was a
first in the state when completed in 1896..
and of course, the first place the railroads
came to Texas. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas
(later to be named the Katy Railroad) line
liked Denison so much they made it their
statewide headquarters.. It was the presence
of so many railroad workers that brought
Denison another milestone. From 1840-1865
the city of San Antonio had always been the
top spot in Texas when it came to prostitution.
I guess the cowboys had a thing for all the
senoritas there. When the railroad and all of its
construction crews congested in North Texas
the ladies migrated also. Denison became #1
in Texas from 1870-1890 when it came to
prostitution. Girls as young as twelve worked
the streets (and hotels) of Denison, plying
their trade for as little as twenty-five cents
per encounter. That brings me to the photos
in this posting. I have always been interested
in the building at the corner of Rusk & Burnett
in Denison. Rumor has it, it was a former (brothel)
house of prostitution back in the 1800's..and
the architecture of the building would seem to
back that up. There are obvious likeness's of
the male penis all around the top of the building.
If you disagree, tell me what else it could be..
It was truly a great game for the NCAA
National Championship last night in Phoenix.
The game fittingly came down to the number
one and number two teams in the polls. Last
year's game was a disappointment as the
injury to Colt McCoy put Texas out of the game
against Alabama and made it a one-sided affair.
Last nights game was a match of Auburn's defense
against the highly acclaimed offense of Oregon.
The Ducks of Oregon came into the game averaging
forty points per game, but Auburn seemed to have
the answer to their every play. This game was about
as even as they come, as Oregon scored to tie the
game at 19 with two minutes to play. The Auburn
offense is built around quarterback Cam Newton,
but despite running for 65 yards, and passing for
267 yards and two touchdowns, the Heisman Award
winner was overshadowed by his freshman running
back Mark Dyer. He ran for over 120 yards and was
named the Offensive MVP of the game. On the final
drive, Dyer ran off tackle and was thought to be downed,
but his knee never hit the ground and coaches along
the sideline shouted for him to continue to run. Dyer
carried it down close and Auburn kicked a last-second
field goal to win the game 22-19. For Newton, it is his
3rd National Championship in a row. In 2008 he was a
freshman on the title team of Florida and Tim Tebow, in
2009 he played on the Blinn Junior College national
title team, and now with Auburn. Chances are he will be playing on Sunday next season.
