The LuLac Edition #2676, June 16th, 2014

ARLINGTON @ 150

Arlington National Cemetery celebrated 150 years yesterday. That is worth noting since it has been a resting place for those who gave service to our country.
Ironic that the original grounds were the home of General Robert E. Lee who resigned his commission in 1861. Days after resigning from the U.S. Army on April 20, 1861, to take command of Virginian forces in the Civil War, Robert E. Lee left the Arlington estate where he had married Mary Lee and lived for 30 years. He would never return. After Virginia seceded from the Union on May 23, 1861, Union troops crossed the Potomac River from the national capital and occupied the 200-acre property and house that been built by George Washington Parke Custis, Mary’s father and the step-grandson of George Washington. After Mary Lee, confined to a wheelchair, sent a representative instead of appearing personally to pay a $92.07 tax bill, the government seized the property in 1864. With Washington, D.C., teeming with dead soldiers and out of burial space, Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs formally proposed Arlington as the location of a new military cemetery. On May 13, 1864, 21-year-old Private William Christman of Pennsylvania, who had died of peritonitis, became the first military man buried at Arlington.
Since then the war dead of every single conflict since then has been buried on what can be noted  as this nation’s most hallowed ground.
I was at Arlington twice and each time it was a moving experience. To truly understand the sheer magnitude of the cost of war, and service to it, you must experience Arlington.
150 years and a grateful nation is still sobered by the devotion to service and country.
Here’s the website link for information to visit:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/visitorinformation/
Partial Sources: Arlinton website, History.com.

CASEY KASEM

Casey Kasem in the early days. (Photo: CNN.COM)

Casey Kasem died Sunday at the age of 82. The death was not unexpected given the drama surrounding his last days. When you have a second wife and then children from a previous marriage, things can get problematic.
But let’s dwell on his career. America has always loved the countdowns. Starting with America’s Your Hit Parade on TV in the 50s to the top forty countdown shows on nearly every rock and roll station in the sixties, America and music lovers wanted to know where their favorite groups stood.
On Saturday night from 5 to 6pm I was glued to Ron Allen on WARM doing the final leg of the top 40 show. (It began at 1PM). By the time the late 60s rolled around, radio stations eschewed the top 40 countdown shows. Some just played  music, others did a top survey sheet. In our area, WARM, WSCR, WILK and WBAX at one time had printed survey sheets.
But by 1970, the kids who collected them were getting older. But there was still a need to see who was inching near the top. There was a void to fill and Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs filled that void. Their company was called Watermark Productions and Tom Rounds was responsible for getting pop music stalwart magazines like Bilboard, and Cashbox to promote it. In the spring of 1970 full page ads began to run in the music trades..
By 1970, American Top 40 launched and WILK was the station in this market to carry it on a Saturday night. (It moved to various times later on).
American Top 40 hosted by Kasem did three things:
1. It kept the countdown alive as the onslaught of album cuts and progressive music took hold in America. The program was diverse too giving various artists in every genre exposure.
2. It gave radio stations an opportunity to run syndicated rock and roll programming without doing an extra weekend hire. It also signaled the beginning of radio automation for the weekends. Now it is not uncommon for radio stations to have voice tracks on almost every radio station in America.
3. AT40 was so well done that it still can be heard on Sirius XM and locally on the GEM Oldies stations out of Tunkhannock. The creators put together a quality but more importantly time tested program that can easily last as long as this type of music remains popular.
Casey Kasem was born Kemal Amin Kasem in Detroit, Michigan. His American Top 40 show was also known for his long distance dedications. Before the internet, e mail, face boo,twitter and everything else we have today, Kasem would read a letter, tell a story and dedicate a song to a listener.
Our long distance dedication to Kasem is simply this: "Casey, thanks for the innovation, the information, entertainment and eloquent presentation of the music of our times. May you always hear the sweetness of that music for all eternity”.

CARTWRIGHT STATEMENT ON ENDA EXECUTIVE ORDER

Congressman Matt Cartwright. (LuLac archives).

Representative Matt Cartwright released the following statement after the White House announced that President Obama has ordered his staff to draft an executive order banning discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity:
“Discrimination has no place in our nation. President Obama’s executive order is an important step forward for LGBT Americans. We must continue to work to ensure that basic standards of fairness apply in all workplaces.”