If you think it's bad elsewhere...

With all the complaints about alleged racial profiling, brutality, and the odd stupid story that actually does happen, people might get the impression that law enforcement in the US of A is incompetant.  And they would be wrong.  Our PDs do a ggreat job, handling difficult situations by and large by the book and by and large staying out of politics.  We who have everything at our fingertips sometimes fail to appreciate that.  Here's a story from South Korea that reminds us to be glad we have what we do:

Police Under Fire for Slow Response to Murder Victim's Call

Police are under fire for their slow response to a desperate call for help from a woman in her 20s in Suwon who was raped and eventually brutally murdered. The incident reveals serious weaknesses in the police response to emergency calls.

The victim, who was abducted, gave police a detailed description of where she was being held, but officers still searched in the wrong area.
On the evening of April 1, the victim was abducted by Wu Yuanchun (42), an ethnic Korean from China, and dragged into his home. But she managed to call police on her mobile phone. According to police, the woman was dragged into Wu's home at around 10:50 p.m. When he told her to take her clothes off, the woman laid her coat on his bed to make him believe she was following his orders. When Wu stepped in the bathroom, the woman locked the room door and made the call to police for help.

But she was unable to escape because the entrance to the room she was holed up in was connected to the bathroom. The woman dropped her phone on the floor when Wu broke through the bedroom door but did not switch it off. A police spokesman said, "The emergency call was recorded vividly even after she dropped the phone. It looks like her last attempt to let police know just how desperate she was."

The suspect in a recent rape-murder in Suwon is taken to a detention cell questioning at a police station in the city on Saturday.

The suspect told police he murdered the woman in his room at around 5 a.m. on April 2. That means police had a full six hours to rescue her.
Officers initially claimed the woman's call last only one minute when it actually lasted for seven minutes and 36 seconds.
After murdering the woman, Wu chopped her body into pieces. A forensic expert who conducted an autopsy on the woman described the condition of her body as "too horrific for words." The National Forensic Service received 14 plastic bags filled with altogether 280 body parts. "He butchered her," the official added.

Police on Sunday told reporters, "Based on Wu's testimony, it looks like he tried to rape her but failed. At times, such a horrific murder is an expression of frustration with being unable to rape someone."

More Police Bungling Revealed in Suwon Murder

An official briefing session has revealed further blunders by police in the murder of a young woman in Suwon, who was alive for six hours after placing a desperate emergency call providing the location where she was being held. She was abducted by Korean-Chinese Wu Yuanchan and dragged into his home on the evening of April 1.

The briefing was held on Thursday to explain why it took police more than two hours to arrest the killer after it was given specific directions to the killer's house by a resident in the neighborhood. It turned out that the police went to the crime scene but spent an hour knocking on the door of the next-door neighbor
Gyeonggi provincial police said officers were given the information by the witness at 9:30 a.m. on April 2. An elderly woman lives across a little alley from the shop run by the witness. Wu lived next door, but officers knocked on her door for an hour.

Critics say it is incomprehensible that in a situation where police had already failed to respond to a desperate seven-minute call from the victim crying for help while she was being raped, they would then waste an hour the following morning in front of the house next door.

Suh Jung-bum, a law professor at the Korean National Police University, said, "Someone's life was at stake in this case. Police should simply have broken in if there was no answer."

Police stand accused of spending more time covering up their disastrous handling of the crime than investigating it. A member of the victim's family said in a telephone interview with the Chosun Ilbo, "When we met with police, they tried to haggle, telling us to stop demanding they publish the recording of the victim’s call and let the matter drop."

Late Thursday night police in a statement finally agreed to make the recording available to the bereaved family, but did not say when.

Prosecutors have now started investigating the case all over again as the police's line of investigation is too unreliable.
President Lee Myung-bak on Monday accepted the resignation of National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Hyun-oh over a bungled murder investigation.

Cho said he would take responsibility for accusations that the police carelessly dealt with a desperate phone call from the victim in which she reported her exact whereabouts. But it took 13 hours for police to locate the 28-year-old woman in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, by which time she had been raped, killed and mutilated.

According to the presidential office, Lee will appoint a new commissioner after the general election on Wednesday.


All right, when have you known your police department to bungle something THAT badly?  If I can make a reference for the benefit of Fort Wayne followers, you could deputize the residents of Eden Green apartments and not fubar the investigation that badly.  Perhaps the Suwon police should do away with their police vehicles and take cabs to crime scenes.


Not quite as bad, but just as bungled, is this news item from the Obama circle:

Cartagena, Colombia (CNN) -- Twelve Secret Service agents sent to Colombia ahead of President Barack Obama were relieved of duty and returned home amid allegations of misconduct that involved prostitution, the man who tipped news agencies to the investigation told CNN Saturday.

The incident in Cartagena -- one of two security issues that occurred Friday -- overshadowed the start of the sixth Summit of the Americas, where the president was to focus on trade, energy and regional security with 33 of the hemisphere's 35 leaders.

"One of the agents did not pay one of the prostitutes, and she complained to the police," said Ronald Kessler, a former Washington Post reporter and author of "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect."

The Washington Post, which was the first to report the story, said it was alerted to the investigation by Kessler.

What, we're back in the Clinton administration now?  Luckily for Obama they weren't procuring for him.  Michelle Obama is no politically-ambitious closet bisexual who's willing to play "the good wife"; and if he did, she'd be negotiating arms reduction of a rather personal nature with him.  In the meantime, can we have Jim Bakker out here to remind the Secret Service what PTL stands for:

"PAY THE LADY!!"



In the meantime, work proceeds apace on the Great Eighties Countdown, and I suspect I'll be kicking it off in the next week or three.  Unlike I said previously, it may not be shorter; it will be both rockier and more diverse.  And Keep your prayers ready for those folks in Oklahoma and the area about to kick of a day of VERY severe thunderstorms.  How severe?  Did you see this yesterday?

That, my friends, is four-foot high drifts of ping-pong-to-golf-ball-sized HAIL.  No lie.  Tornadoes are on the agenda for today, the NWS says.  And whatever you do, beware the rainbow at the end of the storm.  Because...

I survived Friday the 13th...

...but ya hadda wonder with a start like this:

4:30 AM: Awakened by skunk out the back window- so strong I was gagging trying to get Scrappy his breakfast.  Tried a good loud fart to freshen the air, but it was swiftly overwhelmed.

5:10 AM:  Mr. Raccoon was just climbing out of the dumpster as I staggered to the car.  He listened attentively as I scolded him about his neighbor, Mr. Skunk.  Laurie came out, said, "Hi, Mr. Raccoon!"  And he ran away.

5:40 AM:  Ground hog going about 10 MPH at a diagonal to SR 3 meets corner of Chevy Impala doing sixty north on SR 3.  Slight crack to lower part of driver's side front bumper.  I suspect Mr. G. Hog came out with at least a splitting headache, I suspect.

Once inside work, though, the attack of Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom abated, and I was confident enough after work to go for a Scrappy walk.

Here's a cute little guy.

And another white one.

River's really dry now.

Usually, this spot we were exploring is an exercise in muck.  Not so much now.

"The grass is always greener on the other side..." I don't know about the grass, but that bush was certainly whiter.

Cute yellow guys... and a booogle to boot.

Scrappy, oddly enough, spent most of the time trying to drag me out of the trails.  Here's one he drug me into...

...along with the one he drug me back out through.  Thanks a heap!

Different little white guys.

Everything else has greened up nicely... the trees, though, seem a bit tardy.

Did I say dry?  Here's the "duck pond"...

And here we are in our favorite place that we haven't given a name yet.  Note how deep the muck is, and the dirty legs.  Fortunately he can walk most of the mess off.

Jet contrails.  I vividly remember how empty the sky was without them after 9/11.  Nowadays, just seeing one has a calming effect.

And while I relax, here comes Scrappy, saying, "GET YER ASS UP AND WALK ME!"

Time Machine week eleven

Well, as you might expect on a Friday the 13th, I have a bit of a challenge with this week’s chart.  With the exception of #s 8 and 10 flipping places, NOBODY MOVED in the top 10.  Now, I know you might be tempted to say, “Well, then, let’s just look at last week’s TM, transpose, and go read Al Penwasser's blog.  Good idea, but before you do, why not hang out here and give me the chance to tell a couple really good stories, and give you the Time Machine Name Game.

The Name Game works like this- I’m going to give you four real names, and you have until I hit them in the stories to guess!  Here’s those names, ready?  Joseph Alfred Souter; Asa Yoelson; Gayle Peck; Bill Robinson; and Carmine Granito.

So today is April 13th, 1970- a Black Monday rather than a Friday.  Today, Mission Control will hear the chilling words- “Houston, we have a problem,” as three tiny humans floating in the vastness of space find themselves with a blown O2 tank and a LOOOONG way from home.   Also, Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, known for the movie scores to Zorba The Greek and Serpico, was released from the concentration camp the Army junta had slammed him into, and sent him into exile in Paris.  And my lovely Oakland A’s tried out gold colored bases for the first time.  And MLB made sure it was the last time.

And in music, 16 songs hit the hot 100 this week.  Notables among them include White Plains featuring lead singer Tony Burrows (who is one of two guys this week with two songs under different names in the hot 100) at #97 with My Baby Loves Loving.  The Sandpipers come in at 86 with Come Saturday Morning.  The Who come in at #80 with The Seeker.  And at 71, Simon and Garfunkel hit with Cecilia.

Our birthday list is a bit sparse too.  Turning 30 this week are Paul and Stevie with Ebony And Ivory; turning 40, Wayne Newton’s Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast; and turning 50, Tony Bennett’s I Left My Heart In San Francisco.  (the Vegas crew, eh?) Blow out the candles…

The big dropper this week is Who’s Your Baby? by the Archies, led by Ron Dante (real name Carmine Granito) dropping 15 to 44.  Dante will be returning- under another group name- later on in the top 40.  The big climber is No Sugar Tonight, the flip side of The Guess Who’s American Woman, shooting from 73 to #41.

Today’s look back in time took me to a man whose name I knew, but shamefully knew little about him.  He was on top of the charts three times on this date- in 1921 with O-H-I-O (Oh-My!-O!); the next year with April Showers; and in 1926 with I’m Sitting On Top Of The World.  He was named Asa Yoelson, born in 1886 in Russian Lithuania.  You know him better as Al Jolson.


Al Jolson was world famous the blackfaced, singing Gus.  But he started out singing and doing burlesque to keep his family alive after his mom died.  in 1902 he landed a paying gig at the Walter L. Mann circus- initially as an usher till Mann heard him sing- which folded the next year.  He then had a succession of short term jobs in the biz, until producer JJ Schubert, a fellow eastern European Jew, discovered him and made him first a recording act and then a legend.  As Al Jolson, he racked up 83 top 40 hits, with all but five making the top ten ( the last hit of his main career- ironically- was 1933’s Hallelujah, I’m A Bum which hit #19) and an incredible 21 #1s.

But the amazing thing about Jolson was the man himself.  He used the blackface “mask” he wore to bring exposure to African-American talent.  In 1927, he made a conscious effort to override DW Griffith’s racist The Birth Of A Nation with his great movie The Jazz Singer.  Bringing black music to the big screen in order to help break down the barriers in society between black and white.  But he didn’t stop there-  he found out about a pair of black songwriters, for example, who’d been thrown out of a “whites only” restaurant, and invited them to dinner with him, threatening anyone who’d evict them with “a punch in the nose”.  He was good friends with many of the age’s black artists, including Bill Robinson, better known as Mr. Bojangles.

He was also an indefatigable supporter of our troops, not only hounding his way into performing in the Pacific theatre in WWII (where he lost a lung to malaria), but paid his own way to Korea when he was informed that the USO “had been disbanded”, virtually re-starting it single-handedly.  Unfortunately, the dust of Korea took a toll on his single lung; he died the same year (1950), suffering a massive heart attack whilst playing cards.  His last words were, reportedly, “Boys, I’m going…”

This whole story just scratched the surface of a life which even in the glance I took at it last night utterly astounded me.   Perhaps in a later TM I’ll do Al Jolson part II.

That brings us to #50 and the Where Are They Now segment.  And at #50 this week is Mr. Joe South (born Joseph Alfred Souter) with the song Children.  Joe had quite a name for himself both before and after he hit the big time with Games People Play.  Among the hits he wrote for others were Chain Of Fools (Aretha Franklin, #2), Sheila (Tommy Roe, #1), Down In The Boondocks (Billy Joe Royal, #9), I Knew You When (Royal again, #14), Yo-Yo ( the Osmonds, #3), Hush (Deep Purple, #4), and I Never Promised You A Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson, #3).  But tragedy struck in 1971; his brother Tommy committed suicide.  Joe became reclusive; after a last album, the darkly introspective Midnight Rainbows in 1975, he moved to Hawaii and disappeared from the spotlight altogether.  He battled drug and alcohol problems for years, finally kicking them with the help of wife Jan, whom he married in 1987.  Since then he’s popped his head out irregularly, such as when he was elected to the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame in 2004.  But the appearances have been few and far between, and his fan site hasn’t been updated since 2007. 

5 songs hit the top 40 this week.  The Cuff Links- that other act headed by Ron Dante on the charts this week- move up one to #40 with Run Sally Run.  Gladys Knight and the Pips hit with their new song You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You).  BJ Thomas finally cracks the top with a former WATN feature, Everybody’s Out Of Town, climbing 10 to #35.  Another WATN feature is another ten-spot climber- Bobbi Martin’s For The Love Of Him, rising to #32.  And driving up a quick 20 notches to 24 are the Ides Of March with Vehicle.

A tip of the Almost But Not Quite hat to Three Dog Night, who peaked last week at 12 with Celebrate and falls to 15 this time around.  The horn section of Chicago played on this one, written by Gary Bonneal and Alan Gordon, who wrote most of the Turtles big hits, including the #1 Happy Together; as well as a list of others culminating in Barbra Streisand’s 1977 hit My Heart Belongs To Me.

No body dropped out.  Sorry.

The top 10 starts out with one of the 2 songs that actually moved- the Hollies’ He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, slipping 2.  Badfinger at 9 with Come And Get It; Bobby Sherman is the other flip-flopper, going up to #8 with Easy Come, Easy Go.  #7 was and is Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters.  #6 is Frijid Pink’s House Of The Rising Sun.  Norman Greenbaum sits at 5 with Spirit In The Sky.  #4 finds Tony Burrows in his other guise as Edison Lighthouse with Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes.  John Lennon imagines himself still at #3 with Instant Karma.  And that brings us to our six degrees victim- ABC by the Jackson 5, stuck at #2.

One of the band members backing the boys was bassist/sax man Wilton Felder.  Felder was an original member of the Crusaders, a jazz outfit who had to wait until 1979 for their first taste of mainstream success.  That’s when they hit the top 40 with the title track to the lp Street Life.  This particular song was used for a handful of movie soundtracks, including Burt Reynolds’ Sharkey’s Machine.  That particular sound track had two versions of the classic My Funny Valentine, one of them by a lady born Gayle Peck.  You know her better as singer/actress Julie London.  And you know Julie London best as Nurse Dixie McCall on the drama Emergency- a TV show that featured her best friend Robert Fuller as Dr. Kelly Brackett, her husband Bobby Troup as Dr. Joe Early, and ex-husband Jack Webb as producer.  Small world ain’t it?

And finally, to the unnecessary roll of drums, we have the Beatles at #1 for the third week with Let It Be.  Now, see, didn’t I tell you it would be worth it?  Okay, now go read Penwasser, and tell him I sent you!

How to win at baseball

Yes, I've been under the radar due to: research on Time Machine (today), Deadliest Catch (last night), and exhaustion (Monday).  Rest assured, I have been reading, if the comments have been sparse.  But here's one I just have to share.

Those of you who care to know, know that my first loyalty in baseball is to the A's of Oakland.  Most of the free world know that the A's purged the pitching staff this off-season, meaning that we have to find some imaginative ways to win.  And today went twelve innings to prove the point.

The Royals had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the 12th, and brought in former Dodger closer Jonathon Broxton.   Broxton got off to a good start, striking out Daric Barton looking at a 3-2 pitch.  Pinch-hitter Seth Smith came up next, and he reached when SS Alcides Escobar couldn't get the throw on his grounder to first for an E-6.  Jemile Weeks then walked on four pitches, and Eric Sogard walked to load the bases on a 3-2 pitch.  Coco Crisp grounded out to second, scoring Smith to tie the game with 2 outs.

And then, the A's won the game on the next 2 pitches.  The first pitch hit rookie OF Yoenis Cespedes.  The second hit former Red Jhonny Gomes.  That's right, two pitches, two hit by pitches, and the A's win 5-4.

23 pitches for Broxton, and his line reads 2/3 of an inning, no hits, 2 unearned runs, 2 walks, a strikeout, and 2 HBPs.  Blown save #1, loss, 0-1 record.  In 2 months, the Royals will send him to the A's for a player to be named- wait and see.

"YEAH!!! I can't believe we found someone who loses dumber than we do!!!"

When He Returns

When He Returns
don’t expect soldiers
to lead Him away,
or accusations of blasphemy
to hold any sway

When He returns
don’t expect logic
to argue its case
or reason of science
to stand in His place.

When He returns
don’t look to the law
or governor’s command
to lessen the fall
or stay His Right Hand

When He returns
don’t expect tombs
to get in His way,
or rely upon great stones;
they’ve all rolled away.

When He returns
don’t hope to hide
behind unbelieving
or cling to a certainty that
will be swiftly receding

When He returns
don’t resist with the scourge,
the cross, or the grave;
they’ve already been tried,
and did not delay.

The women sought Him out
Peter ran to His side
John saw and believed
and the Magdalene cried

at Emmaus they heard Him
and opened the door
Thomas, he doubted, ‘til
he could no more.

The guard shook and fainted
the priests lied and paid
but none of them saw Him
in the spot He was laid

Death found its hands empty,
its prize ripped away
and Hell, it's gates broken,
its master afraid.

For despite his convincing
of the “wise” and the weak
from his great victory sprung
his greatest defeat
when He returned.

Eurohockey update

Two new champions this week as things wind down in the northern hemisphere's hockey world.  Things are just beginning to ramp up down under, though, as the Aussie hockey season opens April 28th with Adelaide hosting Canberra, Melbourne hosting Mustangs IHC, Newcastle hosting Gold Coast, and the battle of Sydney between the Ice Dogs and the Bears.

First off, those that are yet in the semis include the German teams I mentioned last week which kick off today; in Finland, #4 JYP and #6 Jokerit, along with #2 Lahti Penguines vs giant killer Espoo Blues (#8) kicked off last week with both JYP and Lahti holdiung 2-0 leads. 

Everybody else has at least reached their finals.  The Czech Extraliga features Pardubice vs Kometa Brno, who added the scalp of #2 Plsen to their belt- a 7-2 game 5 win giving Brno the win after previously knocking out #1 Sparta Praha in the quarters. 

In Denmark, the long awaited finals between Blue Fox Herning and the Odensee Bulldogs starts today.

In France, the home teams have one all games; Rouen is up 3-2 with today's game in Grenoble.

In Italy, #2 Bolzano took game one Thursday, 3-2 over #1 Val Pusteria.

In Norway, the top 2 teams- Stavenger and Lorenskog- are tied at a game apiece.  The KHL's finals were established earlier today when Avangard Omsk beat Traktor 1-0 for a 4-1 victory.  Traktor won the opener, but only scored once in the last three games.  They'll face upstart Dynamo Moscow, who tore through West Champ SKA St. Petersburg 5-4 OT, 2-1, 3-1, and 6-1.

The Slovak finals are set, with #1 Kosice facing #3 Slovan Bratislava.

In Sweden, #2 Skelleftea beat AIK 5-3 today to advance to the finals against #4 Brynas.

Switzerland features a #5 vs #7 final.  The 5, defending champ SC Bern, took out #3 Freibourg to face Zurich, who topped their quarterfinal win over #2 Davos by taking top seed Zug in the semis 4 games to one.  The final has been split by the home teams after two games.

In the UK, Belfast celebrated tearing through Dundee in the first round (5-0, 9-0) by Losing to 3-seed Cardiff 4-3 in the single game eliminations.  Cardiff goes to the finals against today's Nottingham-Hull winner.

And that brings us two our two newly crowned Champions.  First, one of the new follows for us is the Belarus Extraliga, where Mettalurg Zhlobin beat Neman Grodno 1-0 in a decisive game six to win their first BXL championship in the 19-year old league.  Zhlobin finishes the year at 51-9-4.
Zhlobin itself is a small town of around 75,000 in the south-central area of the country.  Described by their unofficial website as "519 years, 9 months, and 4 days old", it's main claim to fame is being the home of giant steel maker BMZ.

The other winner is Austria's Black Wings Linz (42-16-9) who swept KAC 3-2, 6-2, 4-1, and 3-1 after Klagenfurt won the opener.  For BWL, celebrating their 20th season, it is their second EBEL title.

Linz, in the north of Austria, was founded by the Romans as Lentia, and was first mentioned as Linz in 799 AD.  At one point in the 1400's the most powerful city in Central Europe, it was recently most noted- and not positively- as the home town of both Adolph Hitler and Adolph Eichmann.

Time Machine (and can you believe it? Already) week 10

So today is April 6th, also known as New Beer's Eve (prohibition was lifted conditionally on April 7th).  However, this is yet another Friday work day, so for me I'm still about 24 hours away from celebrating.  Among the things that happened today in 1970 was an incident called the Newhall Massacre.  If you want the full story, you can wiki it here, but the ten cent version goes like this- two ex-cons got together in the LA area for mayhem, and found themselves in a vicious shootout with no less than 4 policemen (all of whom were killed) and a heroic former Marine who tried and failed to help them.  Eventually the ringleader took his own life in a hostage situation and the other surrendered when he at last ran out of loaded weapons.  The aftermath led to better shotgun traing for officers, training officers with the same ammo that they are issued  ( the four young cops, were trained with .38 special ammo and sent to the streets with more powerful .357 mag ammo, and lack of being used to it led to several misses by the fallen officers), and the issuance of speedloader weaponry instead of having to load each shot individually ( a handicap the killers didn't share).

Also this day in 1970, Dr. Sam Sheppard passed away at the age of 46.  Sheppard was accused of killing his wife and did 10 years hard time before the conviction was thrown out in a retrial; his story became the basis of The Fugitive.  And yes, there was music, sweet music, as well.

Today, we'll see what Peter O'Toole's first movie role and the Beatles have in common; the artist that had so many sales that he asked his record label to stop keeping count; what really brought down Rick Nelson's plane; and a far calmer top ten than the last two weeks.  Shall we...?

Nine songs debut in the hot 100 this week, three of them of note.  The Gentrys- remember, the band led by Jimmy Hart?  -come in at 95 with their cover (and a very decent one) of Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl.  Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders comes in at 84 with Miss America.  And way up at 72 lies Steppenwolf and Hey Lawdy Mama.  42 years old this week, and now let's look at this week's other birthdays.

Turning 30 this week is Dan Fogelberg's Kentucky Derby tribute, Run For The Roses.  Hitting 35 this week are Dean Friedman's Ariel, The Trammps' Disco Inferno, and Pablo Cruise's debut Whatcha Gonna Do?  Turning 40 is the heart-tugging Oh, Girl by the Chi-Lites, as well as David Bowie's Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.  A buttload of songs turn 45 this week: The Supremes' The Happening; The Happenings' (like how that worked?) I Got Rhythm; Happy Jack from the Who (Lorraine, give Rex my regards); the best of all Neil Diamond songs- Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon; Jefferson Airplane's Somebody To Love; and last but not least, Engelbert Humperdink's Please Release Me (which was much better than my Mom's version). And hitting the big 5-0, Elvis' All Shook Up (coming in at #13) and the flip side Peace In The Valley, as well as Chuck Berry's School Day.  B-b-b-blow out the candles...

The big mover is in the top 40; the big dropper is Smith's Take A Look Around, dropping 23 to #58.  Which takes us to #50 and our Where Are They Now victim- Rick Nelson who was at 50 with Easy To Be Free.  We all know what happened with him- and most of us heard the rumor that he and his gal-pal blew up the plane free-basing coke.  But that wasn't the exact story. Read on:

When questioned by the NTSB, Pilots Brad Rank and Ken Ferguson had diversely different accounts of key events. According to co-pilot Ferguson, the cabin heater was acting up after the plane took off. Ferguson continued that Rank kept going back to the back of the plane to see if he could get the heater to function correctly and that Rank told Ferguson several times to turn the heater back on. "One of the times, I refused to turn it on," said Ferguson. He continued, "I was getting more nervous. I didn't think we should be messing with that heater en-route." After the plane crashed, Ferguson and Rank climbed out the windows, suffering from extensive burns. They shouted to the passenger cabin, but there was no response. Ferguson and Rank backed away from the plane, fearing explosion. Ferguson stated that Rank told him, "Don't tell anyone about the heater, don't tell anyone about the heater."
Pilot Rank, however, told a different story: Rank said that he was checking on the passengers when he noticed smoke in the middle of the cabin, where Rick Nelson and Helen Blair were sitting. Even though he never mentioned a problematic heater, Rank stated that he went to the rear of the plane to check the heater, saw no smoke, and found the heater was cool to the touch. After activating an automatic fire extinguisher and opening the cabin's fresh air inlets, Rank said that he returned to the cockpit where Ferguson was already asking traffic controllers for directions to the nearest airfield.
Rank was criticized by the NTSB for not following the in-flight fire checklist; opening the fresh air vents instead of leaving them closed, not instructing the passengers to use supplemental oxygen, and not attempting to fight the fire with the hand-held fire extinguisher that was in the cockpit. The board said that while these steps might not have prevented the crash, "they would have enhanced the potential for survival of the passengers." The words of the NTSB seem to echo that of firefighter, Lewis Glover, who was one of the first on the scene. Glover stated,"All the bodies are there at the front of the plane. Apparently, they were trying to escape the fire."

In my look back at the #1s on this date in history, my eye settled on Mr. Perry Como, who was #1 three times on this date:  1957 with Round And Round; 1954 with Wanted; and 1951 with If.  Como racked up an incredible 108 top 40 hits ( the last was And I Love You So in 1974), 48 top tens (the last It's Impossible in 1970) and 14 #1s from 1945's Till The End Of Time to 1958's Catch A Falling Star.  That's 14 #1s in thirteen years- one in '45, 3 in '46; then a mini-slump in 1947-8 (a slump that included 3 #2s and 2 #3s); then 2 in '49 followed by one each in '50-'54, '56-'58. But so humble a man was the multi-award-winning Como, that he asked his label to stop keeping track of his sales- and refused gold record certification on several of his hits.  Though he died in his sleep 6 days short of his 89th birthday in 2001, he lived to see several tributes to himself- as well as fellow residents Bobby Vinton and the Four Coins- in their home town of Cannonsburg, PA.

5 songs debut in the top 40 this week.  Climbing nine spots to 40 are Crosby Stills Nash And Young with their take on Joni Mitchell's Woodstock. Also up 9 is Tyrone Davis with Turn Back The Hands Of Time. Our big mover this week, up 26 notches to 36, are the country duo of Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan with their one substantial hit, the Tennessee Bird Walk.  Up 15 to #27 comes Michael Parks with Long Lonesome Highway- the theme song of the TV show Then Came Bronson from the star of Then Came Bronson.  And up 21 spots to 22 are the Guess Who with American Woman, the high debut in the 40 this week.

Raindrops have fallen off the charts, so we have two acts fighting over the grandpa chair at 16 weeks on the chart.  Eddie Holman pauses on his way down at 46 with Hey There Lonely Girl, and Lulu at 33 with Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby).

Well, I think I've hit all the specials except the six degrees, so I'll just say that two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  The droppers are The Rapper (6 to 11), and Evil Ways (10 to 13).

Bobby Sherman enters the top 10 at the leadoff spot, up 3 with Easy Come Easy Go. Badfinger climbs from 14 to 9 with Come And Get It.  The Hollies hold at 8 with He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother.  Simon And Garfunkel drop another 3 to #7 with Bridge Over Troubled Water (still trying to dope out how to work a "water under the bridge" joke).  Frijid Pink moves up one to #6 with House Of The Rising Sun.  Norman Greenbaum moves up 4 to #5 with Spirit In The Sky.  Edison Lighthouse sneaks up one to #4 with Love Grows etc. etc. (I wouldn't do that to you people if you'd keep your title to six words or less!)  And that brings us to our six degrees segment.

Instant Karma, holding at #3 this week, took John Lennon 10 days- count 'em, ten- from writing the song to the single in stores.  One of the members of the Plastic Ono Band (which always made me wonder- if he had a human Ono, why did he need a plastic one?) was Klaus Voorman, who had met the boys when they were still the Quarrymen and Stuart Sutcliffe was the leader.  In fact, there was talk of replacing McCartney with Voorman in a band tentatively named the Ladders.  Voorman was involved in a lot of stuff between and betwixt, including being the bassist for Manfred Mann from '66-'69, including on The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo).  The Mighty Quinn was written by Bob Dylan (who, BTW, covered House Of The Rising Sun before the Animals did) after he watched the movie The Savage Innocents.  In the film, Anthony Quinn played an Innuit ("eskimo") who got into trouble trying to deal with 'civilization' and ended up being trailed by a mountie played by Peter O'Toole.  It was O'Toole's first film role; but he had his name taken off the credits when he found out that the producer had dubbed over his voice.  And there you are.

No change at the top;  The Jackson 5 remain #2 with ABC, and the Beatles remain our top dog with Let It Be.

No great countdown Saturday... watch this space for details on the upcoming 80s countdown.