Harrisburg, PA - Halfway across the continent from where Buffalo Bill roamed and Custer made his last stand, the mayor of this debt-ridden city spent millions in public money on everything from six-shooters to covered wagons for a museum about cowboys, Indians and the Wild West. And he did it without telling the City Council, whose members felt as if they had been hit by the swinging doors of a frontier saloon when they found out from a reporter in 2003.
On Saturday, the other dusty cowboy boot will drop when hundreds of the items go on the auction block in Dallas in a sell-off ordered by the City Council. With Harrisburg hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, city officials will be watching closely to see how much can be reclaimed from the roughly $6.5 million Mayor Stephen R. Reed said he spent on the Old West collectibles.
"If we get less, then it's just a big mistake and it's unfortunate for the people of Harrisburg," said Councilman Dan Miller.
For sale are covered wagons, marshal's badges, boots, chaps, saddles, "Wanted" posters, letters, photographs, maps, furniture, pottery, artwork, pistols, rifles, knives and more. One item expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars is a bright red Wells Fargo & Co. stagecoach, in working condition.
When Reed became mayor of this city of 47,000 in 1982, his dream was to transform the decaying, shrinking Harrisburg into a cultural destination. Under his leadership, hotels and restaurants have opened downtown and the number of businesses on the tax rolls has more than quadrupled. A minor-league baseball team now plays in a park that rose from a trash dump.
In 2001, Reed opened the National Civil War Museum, even though none of the war's major battles played out in the city. (Gettysburg, though, is 36 miles away.)
As for his dream of building the National Museum of the Old West, council members were outraged _ not only by the way he bypassed them and the amount of money spent, but by the seemingly ludicrous notion of a Wild West museum 1,400 miles east of Deadwood, S.D. "I was shocked," Councilwoman Linda Thompson said. "I was shocked that the mayor would even think that this was something that would generate tourism for Harrisburg."
Reed has defended his spending as perfectly legal. Asked in 2003 why a Western museum, he responded: "Why not?" As recently as Tuesday, he said, "I still think it's a good idea," but added: "We need the money right now." To buy the items, Reed tapped an account at the Harrisburg Authority, where his expenditures were approved by officials he had appointed. The agency oversees parts of the city's infrastructure and raises money by collecting fees on bond issues.
At least one Harrisburg Authority official appointed by the council earlier this year, Eric Papenfuse, said some of the money should have been off limits for the museums. And he questioned whether the mayor, in a shopping frenzy, paid bloated prices for items that could be fakes.Altogether, Reed shelled out close to $30 million on Old West, Civil War and other collectibles over 15 years _ he even bought an Egyptian mummy and a 12-gun schooner that was part of Benedict Arnold's fleet during the Revolutionary War _ while the city was sliding deeper into debt, said Papenfuse, who is the authority's treasurer.
The city is only beginning to catalog what Reed bought. "The spending is staggering," Papenfuse said. "It's unbelievable."
About 800 of the thousands of Old West items are scheduled to be auctioned in Dallas over the next two days. Another auction is set for April, and some items will be sold on eBay.
William W. Savage Jr., a professor of Western American history at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., laughed out loud when a reporter described the plans for the museum in Pennsylvania. But he acknowledged that Pennsylvania was something of a launching pad for explorers, being the birthplace of the Conestoga wagon and the Pennsylvania Rifle. "I wouldn't say it was the Wild West, but it certainly figures into frontier expansion," he said.
In a letter in the auction catalog, Reed says: "This is an auction like no other. ... Enjoy!"
#2
No and no. And Harrisburg is a pretty sad place where the residents could easily have had the money spent on improving their lives or at least lowering taxes. But they've re-elected him for nearly 30 years, so people do get the government they deserve.
#3
"Altogether, Reed shelled out close to $30 million on Old West, Civil War and other collectibles over 15 years -- he even bought an Egyptian mummy and a 12-gun schooner that was part of Benedict Arnold's fleet..."
This kind of stupidity is why they call our state, "Pennsylvania, Land of Giants." Jesus...
"Is this Murtha's area? Did he have a hand in it?"
Nope. Murtha's district is a good hundred miles from Harrisburg. This is one fuckup he can't be blamed for.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/10/2007 9:28 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds like the Mayor is in serious communication with his inner packrat.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/10/2007 9:29 Comments ||
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#5
The Rantburg Navy could use a 12-gun schooner...
7:10 PM - Radio transmission between the Anderson and the Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald is still being followed by the Arthur M. Anderson. They are about 10 miles behind the Fitzgerald.
Anderson: "Fitzgerald, this is the Anderson. Have you checked down?"
Fitzgerald: "Yes we have."
Anderson: "Fitzgerald, we are about 10 miles behind you, and gaining about 1 1/2 miles per hour. Fitzgerald, there is a target 19 miles ahead of us. So the target would be 9 miles on ahead of you."
Fitzgerald: "Well, am I going to clear?"
Anderson: "Yes. He is going to pass to the west of you."
Fitzgerald: "Well, fine."
Anderson: "By the way, Fitzgerald, how are you making out with your problem?"
Fitzgerald: "We are holding our own."
Anderson: "Okay, fine. I'll be talking to you later."
They never did speak later...The 29 men onboard the Fitzgerald will never again speak with anyone outside of the ship.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/10/2007 09:32 ||
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#1
FARK has this Youtube tribute video with the infamous Gordon Lightfoot song as the soundtrack.
WARNING - have a few Kleenex handy before watching...
#2
Slightly off topic, the release 'Gord's Gold' is my favorite and most played LP in my modest collection, a powerhouse collection of songs - had "If you could read my mind" as our wedding song. Now, I know a little more about the Edmond Fitzgereld and the song.
#6
And the second greatest generation are those kids right now engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan doing historically incredible work. And they VOLUNTEERED for it.
#9
Well, it could be us Boomers (although some of us tried ....)
But the generation who were too young for WWII and too old to be Boomers had a lot more negative influence than they get public scorn for. Lots of alcohol, wife-swapping, lefty politics without consequences & destruction of the West from the Peyton Place generation.
#10
1968:
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed into law.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In debuted on NBC.
Sony introduced the Trinitron color television set.
The FCC ruled that anyone could make devices to attach to the phone network.
Mattel introduced Hot Wheels.
Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act.
The Boeing 747 made its maiden flight.
The first 911 emergency phone system went into service.
Legoland opened.
Intel incorporated.
Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrated his pioneering hypertext system, NLS.
The Jacuzzi Whirlpool bath was introduced.
The crew of Apollo 8 orbited the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so.
Cost pressures, shorter product life cycles and regulatory challenges are forcing leading multinationals to move their R&D base to developing nations, especially China and India. Frost and Sullivan estimates that the R&D outsourcing market in India will grow from $1.3 billion to about $9 billion by the year 2010.
The latest entrant into this happening sector is a science and technology laboratory behemoth in the US - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). It is setting up its India operations in collaboration with Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram.
ORNL is a multi-programme science and technology laboratory managed for the US Department of Energy by University of Tennessee and Battelle. Scientists and engineers at ORNL conduct basic and applied research and development to create scientific knowledge and technological solutions that strengthen US leadership in key areas of science; increase the availability of clean, abundant energy; restore and protect the environment; and contribute to national security.
ORNL also performs other work for the Department of Energy (DOE), including isotope production, information management, and technical program management, and provides research and technical assistance to other organisations.
ORNL is the Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory. It was established in 1943 as a part of the secret Manhattan Project to pioneer a method for producing and separating plutonium.
During the 1950s and 1960s and with the creation of DOE in the 1970s, it became an international centre for the study of nuclear energy and related research in the physical and life sciences. By the turn of the century, the laboratory supported the nation with a peacetime science and technology mission that was just as important as, but very different from, the days of the Manhattan Project.
ORNL has staff of more than 4,200 and annually hosts approximately 3,000 guest researchers who spend two weeks or longer in Oak Ridge. Its funding exceeds $1 billion.
The laboratory is in the final stages of a $350-million project to provide a modern campus for the next generation of `great science.' A combination of federal, state, and private funds is supporting the construction of 13 new facilities. Included in these new facilities are the Laboratory for Comparative and Functional Genomics, the Nanoscience Centre, the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, the Office of Science's Leadership Computing Facility for unclassified high-performance computing, and the State-funded joint institutes for computational sciences, biological sciences, and neutron sciences.
The ORNL and software companies in Technopark have formed a Technology Collaboration Council (TCC) based on an initiative taken by the travel-transportation-logistics player IBS Software. The TCC intends to progressively explore areas of potential collaboration.
Both parties will identify areas of common interest for research and development and focus on opportunities to exchange personnel to work on technically challenging projects, and participate in lecturers and seminars.
V. K. Mathews, Chairman and Managing Director, IBS Group, says research is an integral part of the plan that Technopark companies use to create solutions and provide services for their clients. There are potential areas of synergy between ORNL and Technopark. The purpose of the TCC is to empower Technopark companies to harness the potential that ORNL offers.
According to Jeffrey Wadsworth, Director, ORNL, this alliance will significantly enhance research and development capabilities. "Besides, this will open new avenues in the way we conduct our research and manage projects by adopting the remote operations methodology practised at Technopark."
eWorld spoke to Billy Stair, Director, Communications and External Relations, ORNL, on the lab's plans for India. Excerpts:
What has drawn ORNL to India?
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, a partnership between the University of Tennessee and Battelle, America's largest not-for-profit research institution. UT-Battelle is attracted to India by a number of factors.
Perhaps most important, India is a democracy that places a high value on individual freedoms, intellectual property and the free market system. As in America, this culture of freedom is reflected in the creativity of the Indian entrepreneur and makes it easier to establish lasting business relationships.
During their visit to India, the UT-Battelle delegation met several individuals who had worked at ORNL in the past. A combination of these factors, added to a common language, makes a partnership between India and UT-Battelle a natural one.
In retrospect, do you think the anti-outsourcing campaign was overdone?
The growing integration of the world's economy will continue to bring about the movement of jobs, which in turn will create anxiety in areas where jobs are lost. This will not change, either in America or India. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing new technologies that will generate new products, new companies and new jobs. So long as this process continues, both nations can look forward to continued economic expansion.
Outsourcing agencies are said to be worried about probable loss of control in processes and proprietary knowledge. How does ORNL propose to deal with this?
Battelle has operated research laboratories and other business operations around the world for more than 50 years. The ability to manage both operations and proprietary knowledge is a challenge that Battelle has met successfully in a variety of nations in both Europe and Asia.
Going forward, would you look at alliances with local companies, contractual outsourcing arrangements or even establishing local subsidiaries?
UT-Battelle is evaluating a number of options and opportunities. It is impossible at this stage to predict a particular business model until more fundamental decisions have been reached about the nature of UT-Battelle's investment.
Is transfer of technology in the realm of things at all, especially in the context of ORNL leadership in energy-related technology?
Some technologies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are "classified" by the US Government, meaning that they cannot be shared with other nations. The laboratory also has a broad range of research and technologies that is not classified.
Perhaps more important, it is possible that teams of ORNL and Indian scientists can work together on problems of mutual interest. We have been quietly exploring some of these issues since our return from India.
Do you think the prevailing regulatory environment in India favours the growth of R&D outsourcing?
This is an area that we need to understand better than we do at present. Regulatory systems vary greatly from country to country. The regulatory system is a gap in our current understanding of India's economy.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/10/2007 09:16 ||
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National Laboratories were set up in support of national defense. Couldn't pay the good minds the salaries of civil servants and retain them. However, since the End of the Cold War[tm], you've seen your military slashed by about 50%, yet the laboratories are still [earmarked/porked] at pretty close to the old levels. While line divisions in the Army have deactivated, all the labs are still around. We've gone through the period of seeking alternate rationales to keep them funded [earmarked/porked], but that's becoming a wee bit thin. Now it appears they're getting into the outsourcing game just to stay in business. Really, it's way past time that the entire network of labs be rationalized [efficiently reorganized] and downsized to support the reason they were created in the first place.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
