The Pentagon and I
By: Stan Jordan
Protests
The Pentagon became a focal point for protests against the Vietnam War during the late 1960s. A group of 2,500 women, organized by Women Strike for Peace, demonstrated outside of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara’s office at the Pentagon on February 15, 1967. In May 1967, a group of 20 demonstrators held a sit-in outside the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s office, which lasted four days before they were arrested. In one of the better known incidents, on October 21, 1967, some 35,000 anti-war protesters organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, gathered for a demonstration at the Defense Department (the “March on the Pentagon”), where they were confronted by some 2,500 armed soldiers. During the protest, a famous picture was taken, where George Harris placed carnations into the soldiers’ gun barrels. The march concluded with an attempt to “exorcise” the building.
On May 19, 1972, the American radicals known as the Weather Underground Organization successfully planted and detonated a bomb in a fourth-floor women’s restroom in the Pentagon. They announced it was in retaliation for the Nixon administration’s bombing attacks on Hanoi during the final stages of the Vietnam War.[38]
On March 17, 2007, 4,000 to 15,000 people (estimates vary significantly) protested against the Iraq War. The protesters marched from the Lincoln Memorial, down Washington Boulevard to the Pentagon’s north parking lot.
Renovation
From 1998 to 2011, the Pentagon underwent a major renovation, known as the Pentagon Renovation Program. This program, completed in June 2011, involved the complete gutting and reconstruction of the entire building in phases to bring the building up to modern standards, removing asbestos, improving security, providing greater efficiency for Pentagon tenants, and sealing of all office windows.
As originally built, most Pentagon office space consisted of open bays which spanned an entire ring. These offices used cross-ventilation from operable windows instead of air conditioning for cooling. Gradually, bays were subdivided into private offices with many using window air conditioning units. With renovations now complete, the new space includes a return to open office bays, a new Universal Space Plan of standardized office furniture and partitions developed by Studios Architecture.
September 11 attacks
On September 11, 2001, the 60th anniversary of the Pentagon’s groundbreaking, a team of five al-Qaeda affiliated hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, and deliberately crashed the Boeing 757 airliner into the western side of the Pentagon at 9:37 am EDT as part of the September 11 attacks. All 59 civilians and the 5 terrorists on the airliner were killed, as were 70 civilians and 55 military personnel who were in the building. The impact of the plane severely damaged the outer ring of one wing of the building and caused its partial collapse. At the time of the attacks, the Pentagon was under renovation and many offices were unoccupied, resulting in fewer casualties. Only 800 of 4,500 people who would have been in the area were there because of the work. Furthermore, the area hit, on the side of the Heliport facade, was the section best prepared for such an attack. The renovation there, improvements which resulted from the Oklahoma City bombing, had nearly been completed.
It was the only area of the Pentagon with a sprinkler system, and it had been reconstructed with a web of steel columns and bars to withstand bomb blasts. The steel reinforcement, bolted together to form a continuous structure through all of the Pentagon’s five floors, kept that section of the building from collapsing for 30 minutes—enough time for hundreds of people to crawl out to safety. The area struck by the plane also had blast-resistant windows—2 inches thick and 2,500 pounds each—that stayed intact during the crash and fire. It had fire doors that opened automatically and newly built exits that allowed people to get out.
Contractors already involved with the renovation were given the added task of rebuilding the sections damaged in the attacks. This additional project was named the “Phoenix Project,” and was charged with having the outermost offices of the damaged section occupied by September 11, 2002.
When the damaged section of the Pentagon was repaired, a small indoor memorial and chapel were included, located at the point of impact. For the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a memorial of 184 beams of light shone up from the center courtyard of the Pentagon, one light for each victim of the attack. In addition, an American flag is hung each year on the side of the Pentagon damaged in the attacks, and the side of the building is illuminated at night with blue lights. After the attacks, plans were developed for an outdoor memorial, with construction underway in 2006. This Pentagon Memorial consists of a park on 2 acres (8,100 m2) of land, containing 184 benches, one dedicated to each victim. The benches are aligned along the line of Flight 77 according to the victims’ ages, from 3 to 71. The park opened to the public on September 11, 2008.
I hate winter
By: Stan Jordan
Yesterday morning was 7 degrees below zero. This morning was 2 below zero. This is December 28th and I understand this weekend it will be 9 degrees below zero. I hate winter!
It hasn’t always been like that. When I was a mailman, neither the weather nor the road conditions didn’t bother me. I went about 70 miles with a couple hundred starts and stops but I always liked it. I guess when you’re young, that makes a difference.
Snow on the roads never bothered me, but now I hate winter and cold and snow. Everyone has their own dislikes and mine is, I hate winter. We had that beautiful fall weather and the summer was not that hot either and the spring was wet, but nice and warm.
I hate snow. I can tolerate it, but I don’t like it. Snow brings ice and danger and sometimes ruins some well made plans.
Yes, okay, I’ve settled down a bit. Some places off in the east got about a hundred inches of snow in a few hours. Yes, I know we here in the tri-state area have better winters than other areas, but I have the right to complain and I will. As soon as it warms up, I’ll be alright.
See ya!
News on the Eagles
By; Stan Jordan
The last few days, and over the holidays, I talked with a number of folks about the eagles here in the tri-state area.
I had an occasion to talk with Terri McCabe the other day and she was telling me about a new eagle’s nest that we can see because the leaves are all gone now.
You go east on the River Road or C.R. 192 all the way over into Crane Twp, past Bethel Church down to where C.R. 192 bangs into C.R. 230. You turn to the right and go a little distance and look off to the south across the Maumee River and you can see the big new eagle’s nest.
So if you start counting the nests back of Steve Derck’s house as number one and go east on the Maumee to the north end of Rd 51, that nest is number two; then on down to around Dead Man’s Curve to Barb Butzin’s, that is nest number three. Then on east on C.R. 192 to Terri McCabe’s new siting and that is number four and then on down till you come to the road called Mark Center Road and off to the right in the waste land is number five and we are still a mile or so from the Cecil bridge.
See ya!
Progress in 2017 in Antwerp
By: Stan Jordan
The Main Street railroad crossing was repaired and made less bumpy.
Pickle ball is getting pretty big down at the tennis court.
Tim Copsey is very busy at the MAC Gym with all kinds of sports contests.
Ground was broken for the building of the Paulding County Hospital Regional Health Center. It will be finished sometime this year.
Solar power panels were installed at the Antwerp High School.
The new broadcast booth at the football field was finished.
Two new houses were started in Oley’s addition.
The West Bend News added a new supply room and redecorated.
We renamed the park, it is now Riverside Veterans Memorial Park to honor all of our veterans.
A new house for Habitat For Humanity, at 204 Weber Street, was finished.
The flower shop is now owned and operated by Denise Coleman.
The restrooms at the park were repaired by the Rotary Club.
The city police obtained a new Ford Interceptor.
The Root Beer Stand changed hands and now has extended hours.
The Antwerp Exchange Bank has demolished the old Loves Market on Rd 37 in Harlan. This will be a full service bank, a branch of Antwerp Exchange Bank.
The bowling alley sold and there will be a new business there.
See ya!
