History.

The area was first settled in 1681 and a community was established near the Bound Brook stream of the same name, which flows into the Raritan River via the Green Brook on the eastern side of the borough. The brook, which was mentioned as a boundary in a Native American deed, provides the source of the borough's name.  The area was originally a Dutch community with apple orchards and just west peach orchards. The Abraham Staats House (c. 1740), located on the south side of Main Street, served as the headquarters of Baron Von Steuben during the American Revolutionary War. The house remained a private home until it was acquired by the Borough of South Bound Brook in 1999. It was placed on the New Jersey and National Registers in 2002. It is currently the headquarters for the Friends of Abraham Staats House, Inc. https://www.staatshouse.org, who maintain it as a museum.  A wooden bridge over the Raritan River was erected as early as 1761 and named Queen's Bridge in 1767. Later, it became a covered bridge. During the Revolutionary War, the bridge was used repeatedly by both sides including during the Battle of Bound Brook in 1777. In 1875, the wooden bridge was replaced by a steel pipe truss bridge. More than 100 years later, that bridge was itself replaced by a steel girder bridge in 1984, still using the old pillars. The bridge was renovated and paved in 2007.  At this spot in what on January 4, 1777, General Washington decided to move his troops to Morristown for the winter, thus ending the victorious Trenton-Princeton campaign, rather than attack New Brunswick.  The Battle of Bound Brook, one of the battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign during the American Revolutionary War, occurred on April 13, 1777, and resulted in a defeat for the Continental Army, who were routed by about 4,000 troops under British command.  At dawn on April 13, 1777, Hessian Captain Ewald's assault over the Queens Bridge spanning the Raritan River between South Bound Brook and Bound Brook was pinned down by "murderous fire" from the American soldiers stationed at half moon battery. Advancing North along present day Easton Avenue, Hessian Colonel Donop pushed aside American outposts and arrived 15 minutes after Ewald's attack had faltered. Advancing over the Queens Bridge, Donop's troops engaged the Americans causing them to retreat from the battery. Donop, Ewald's, and General Grant's troops pursued the American troops as they fought through the streets of Bound Brook.  The Reformed Church, also on Main Street (near borough hall) was built in 1848 and has been declared a local historical site by the borough council. Originally called the Dutch Reformed Church of Bound Brook, it has gone through very few changes over the years. A pipe organ received from Andrew Carnegie has been removed, and the stained glass windows, which had been added well after the original construction. The Reverend Thomas DeWitt Talmadge was a member and preached at the church.  Originally part of Franklin Township and named Bloomington, South Bound Brook was incorporated as a borough by the New Jersey Legislature in 1907.  In the mid-1970s a teen from the town created a plan for an environmental commission and presented it to the council. James Manley got his commission and the first order of business was to find out what the white piles of waste on the tow path between the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Raritan River consisted of. It turned out to be 17% crystal asbestos by volume. Since there was no New Jersey State regulation for the disposal, this became a landmark case. The waste was hauled in dump trucks through Bound Brook to the floodplain south of West Main Street and dumped. A trail of asbestos dust led from the old dump site to the new dump location.

Redevelopment.

The main downtown street in South Bound Brook, known as Main Street, has been refurbished with new sidewalks, lighting, signage and a number of newly renovated stores.  A roofing material manufacturing facility known as GAF Manufacturing was located in South Bound Brook for over a century along Main Street. The site was dormant for about two decades and sat as an eyesore and reminder of the town's industrial past. New townhomes have been built on the GAF Manufacturing site, along the Delaware and Raritan Canal, which provide the downtown area a new modern look and many new residents.  Part of the redevelopment is being held up by a lawsuit by John Fanaro of Fanaro Carpeting over the right of eminent domain, as the borough tried to seize property along Main Street that is in front of the new townhomes. The redevelopment plan called for the older stores to be razed and replaced with new stores that had parking in back and a dozen rental apartments on the second floor.  A new condominium development along Elizabeth Street in the central part of town was finished in 2010.

Geography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.755 square miles (1.955 km), including 0.658 square miles (1.704 km) of land and 0.097 square miles (0.250 km) of water (12.81%).  The borough borders the municipalities of Bound Brook, Bridgewater Township and Franklin Township in Somerset County; and both Middlesex Borough and Piscataway in Middlesex County.

Demographics.

Census 2010.

The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $78,427 (with a margin of error of +/- $6,959) and the median family income was $83,438 (+/- $13,065). Males had a median income of $61,042 (+/- $10,592) versus $44,063 (+/- $4,877) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $33,112 (+/- $3,774). About 1.0% of families and 1.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Census 2000.

As of the 2000 United States Census there were 4,492 people, 1,632 households, and 1,103 families residing in the borough. The population density was 5,765.3 people per square mile (2,223.6/km). There were 1,676 housing units at an average density of 2U.S. Census,151.1/sq mi (829.6/km). The racial makeup of the borough was 78.01% White, 7.77% African American, 0.27% Native American, 4.10% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 6.57% from other races, and 3.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.89% of the population.  There were 1,632 households, out of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.31.  In the borough the population was spread out, with 23.5% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 36.2% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.4 males.  The median income for a household in the borough was $48,984, and the median income for a family was $58,214. Males had a median income of $36,955 versus $30,082 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $21,131. About 3.6% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.

Parks and recreation.

The main attraction in South Bound Brook is the Delaware and Raritan Canal, which forms the northern and eastern boundaries of the town. The canal and its D&R Canal Trail are used for numerous recreational purposes from light boating to hiking and biking. Also of note is the Raritan River which lies on the far side of the canal and provides further recreational opportunities such as boating and fishing. The Queens Bridge crosses the canal and river, connecting to Bound Brook.  The Raritan River Greenway is a proposed path that would link Branchburg Township to the East Coast Greenway with the Delaware and Raritan Canal trail in South Bound Brook.

Government.

Local government.

South Bound Brook is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 of 565 municipalities statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey. The governing body is comprised of a Mayor and a Borough Council, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council is comprised of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle. The Borough form of government used by South Bound Brook is a "weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. , the Mayor of South Bound Brook is Democrat Caryl A. "Chris" Shoffner, whose term of office ends on December 31, 2023. Members of the Borough Council are Council President Richard Eickhorst (D, 2020), Kathleen Connor (D, 2022), Allison Fetten (D, 2021), Tony Gordon (D, 2020), Kathryn M. "Katie" Kelly (R, 2022) and Elizabeth Konkle (D, 2021).  In August 2015, the Borough Council selected Kathryn M. Kelly from three candidates nominated by the Republican municipal committee to fill the seat expiring in December 2016 that had been held by James Holmes until he resigned from office the previous month as he was moving out of the borough. Kelly served on an interim basis until the November 2015 general election, when she was elected to serve the one year remaining on the term of office.

Political corruption.

In 2005, Republican Mayor Jo-Anne Shubert resigned as Mayor of South Bound Brook a week before admitting that she had given a $35,000 no-bid computer contract to a company owned by her brother and where she was employed as an office manager.  In 2010 and 2011, Republican Mayor Terry Warrelmann, was involved in a controversy involving his family and the borough's refusal to release police reports surrounding the incident. On July 9, 2010, John Paff, filed a lawsuit seeking the release of the documents. On December 17, 2010, New Jersey Superior Court Assignment Judge Yolanda Ciccone, sitting in Somerville, New Jersey, conducted a hearing on Paff's lawsuit. On March 31, 2011, Paff received a 79-page file containing the redacted versions of documents within that investigative file. The records show that Mayor Warrelmann, along with his son Stephen, Nancy Santora and an unidentified juvenile, were suspects in an investigation of a November 21, 2009, burglary of a shed in South Bound Brook. No charges, however, were brought against any of the suspects.

Federal, state and county representation.

South Bound Brook is located in the 12th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 23rd state legislative district. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 Census, South Bound Brook had been in the 16th state legislative district. Prior to the 2010 Census, South Bound Brook had been part of the, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.

Politics.

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 2,354 registered voters in South Bound Brook, of which 655 (27.8% vs. 26.0% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 452 (19.2% vs. 25.7%) were registered as Republicans and 1,247 (53.0% vs. 48.2%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were no voters registered to other parties. Among the borough's 2010 Census population, 51.6% (vs. 60.4% in Somerset County) were registered to vote, including 65.6% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 80.4% countywide).  In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 60.6% of the vote (1,001 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 38.0% (627 votes), and other candidates with 1.4% (23 votes), among the 1,664 ballots cast by the borough's 2,531 registered voters (13 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 65.7%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 961 votes (55.4% vs. 52.1% countywide), ahead of Republican John McCain with 725 votes (41.8% vs. 46.1%) and other candidates with 28 votes (1.6% vs. 1.1%), among the 1,735 ballots cast by the borough's 2,233 registered voters, for a turnout of 77.7% (vs. 78.7% in Somerset County). In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 744 votes (51.3% vs. 51.5% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 679 votes (46.8% vs. 47.2%) and other candidates with 17 votes (1.2% vs. 0.9%), among the 1,450 ballots cast by the borough's 1,882 registered voters, for a turnout of 77.0% (vs. 81.7% in the whole county).  In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 67.0% of the vote (636 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 31.0% (294 votes), and other candidates with 2.0% (19 votes), among the 962 ballots cast by the borough's 2,583 registered voters (13 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 37.2%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 630 votes (56.0% vs. 55.8% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 371 votes (32.9% vs. 34.1%), Independent Chris Daggett with 102 votes (9.1% vs. 8.7%) and other candidates with 10 votes (0.9% vs. 0.7%), among the 1,126 ballots cast by the borough's 2,337 registered voters, yielding a 48.2% turnout (vs. 52.5% in the county).

Education.

The South Bound Brook School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade at Robert Morris School, named after Robert Morris, a financier of the American Revolution. As of the 2017–18 school year, the district, comprising one school, had an enrollment of 449 students and 37.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1.  For ninth through twelfth grades, public school students attend Bound Brook High School in Bound Brook, as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Bound Brook School District. As of the 2017–18 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 601 students and 45.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.2:1.

Emergency services.

The South Bound Brook Police Department is a 13-person department consisting of one Chief, two Lieutenants, two Sergeants, and eight officers on patrol. The Chief is Jeff Titus. The Police Department does not have its own dispatchers; South Bound Brook currently uses Somerset County Communications for all 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls.  The South Bound Brook Fire Department has been in existence for over 100 years. They currently have four pieces of apparatus at their Edgewood Terrace Headquarters: One E-One Engine, one E-One 75-foot ladder, a new Seagrave Rescue/Pumper and one Chevy Suburban for a Chief's vehicle. Their Chief is currently Sean Lambertz.  The South Bound Brook First Aid Squad was incorporated by their current name, then in 1990 became South Bound Brook/Franklin Township Rescue Squad. In 2002 the service area was cut back to just South Bound Brook, and the squad's name reverted to South Bound Brook First Aid Squad. The squad operates two ambulances from their Garfield Avenue headquarters, two Ford Type III Ambulances. The squad's water rescue and extrication equipment was sold after the 2002 change. The Chief of the South Bound Brook First Aid Squad is Wendy Franzishen. The squad responds to calls for EMS service on nights and weekends. Somerset Medical Center EMS Units take calls in South Bound Brook during the workday and weekends due to lack of volunteer personnel available.  The South Bound Brook Office of Emergency Management was originally the Civil Defense Board, and then briefly called Disaster Control in the 1990s, the Office of Emergency Management is charged with Emergency Preparedness and Planning. They are also responsible for the emergency operations plan, which is updated yearly by all departments of the borough. During major emergencies, they play a significant role in recovery efforts. They are also charged with borough compliance in the National Incident Management System. The Emergency Management Director/Coordinator is Michael D. Allenovitch.

Points of interest.

The Abraham Staats House was built and served as the headquarters for General Baron von Steuben in 1779 during the second Middlebrook encampment of the American Revolutionary War. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and noted as representing "one of the finest remaining buildings from the second phase of Dutch immigration and settlement in the Raritan Valley".  Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA is headquartered in South Bound Brook. St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary, St. Andrew's Memorial Church, and a large Ukrainian Orthodox cemetery right behind the church, where graves of many politicians from the Ukrainian People's Republic era can be visited, are located on the south side of the town.

Flooding issues.

While South Bound Brook does not have the legacy of flooding that its sister town Bound Brook on the north bank of the Raritan River has, flooding can be a problem in South Bound Brook during major river flooding events, such as a 100-year flood event. In September 1999, the remnants of Hurricane Floyd caused a record flood crest on the Raritan River. While escaping the worst flooding, due to its elevated perch above the Raritan River, South Bound Brook did experience flood waters in the two- to three-foot range near the canal, including in portions of the downtown area along Main Street.

Transportation.

Roads and highways.

, the borough had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality and by Somerset County.  County Route 527 is the most significant road to pass through South Bound Brook. Interstate 287, which provides access and connections to large parts of New Jersey and New York City, passes just to the southwest of South Bound Brook in Franklin Township, with two interchanges providing quick access to South Bound Brook.

Public transportation.

NJ Transit provides frequent train service on the Raritan Valley Line to/from Penn Station Newark and Penn Station New York via the nearby Bound Brook Train Station, which is about a five- to ten-minute walk from downtown South Bound Brook.  NJ Transit bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan is provided on the 114 and 117 routes, with service to Newark available on the 65 bus line.

Notable people.

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with South Bound Brook include:

South Bound Brook is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,563, reflecting an increase of 71 (+1.6%) from the 4,492 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 307 (+7.3%) from the 4,185 counted in the 1990 Census.


Function.

Hammer drills have a cam-action or percussion hammering mechanism, in which two sets of toothed gears mechanically interact with each other to hammer while rotating the drill bit. With cam-action drills, the chuck has a mechanism whereby the entire chuck and bit move forward and backward on the axis of rotation. This type of drill is often used with or without the hammer action, but it is not possible to use the hammer action alone as it is the rotation over the cams which causes the hammer motion. A hammer drill has a specially designed clutch that allows it to not only spin the drill bit, but also to punch it in and out (along the axis of the bit). The actual distance the bit travels in and out and the force of its blow are both very small, and the hammering action is very rapid—thousands of "BPM" (blows per minute) or "IPM" (impacts per minute). Although each blow is of relatively low force, these thousands of blows per minute are more than adequate to break up concrete or brick, using the masonry drill bit's carbide wedge to pulverize it for the spiral flutes to whisk away. For this reason, a hammer drill drills much faster than a regular drill through concrete or brick. Hammer drills are increasingly powered by cordless technology.

Use.

Holes in hard materials are needed for anchor bolts, concrete screws and wall plugs. Hammer drills are not typically used for production construction drilling, but rather for occasional drilling of holes into concrete, masonry or stone. They are also used to drill holes in concrete footings to pin concrete wall forms and to drill holes in concrete floors to pin wall framing. Hammer drills almost always have a lever or switch that locks off the special "hammer clutch," turning the tool into a conventional drill for wood or metal work. Hammer drills are more expensive and more bulky than regular drills, but are preferable for applications where the material to be drilled—concrete block or wood studs—is unknown. For example, an electrician mounting an electrical box to a wall would be able to use the same hammer drill to drill into either wood studs (hammer disabled) or masonry walls (hammer enabled).

History.

Ancient China's principal drilling technique, percussive drilling, was invented during the Han dynasty. The process involved two to six men jumping on a level at rhythmic intervals to raise a heavy iron bit attached to long bamboo cables from a bamboo derrick. Utilizing cast iron bits and tools constructed of bamboo, the early Chinese were able to use percussion drilling to drill holes to a depth of. The construction of percussion drilling machines took more than two to three generations of workers. The cable tool drilling machines developed by the early Chinese involved raising and dropping a heavy string of drilling tools to crush through rocks into diminutive fragments. In addition, the Chinese also used a cutting head secured to bamboo rods to drill to depths of. The raising and dropping of the bamboo drill strings allowed the drilling machine to penetrate less denser and unconsolidated rock formations.  The origin of the first hammer drill is a matter of contention. German company Fein patented a ("drill with electro-pneumatic striking mechanism") in 1914. German company Bosch produced the first "Bosch-Hammer" around 1932 in mass production. The US company Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation states that in 1935, it was selling a lightweight electric hammer drill (cam-action).

A hammer drill, also known as a percussion drill or impact drill, is a power tool used chiefly for drilling in hard materials. It is a type of rotary drill with an impact mechanism that generates a hammering motion. The percussive mechanism provides a rapid succession of short hammer thrusts to pulverize the material to be bored, so as to provide quicker drilling with less effort. If a hammer drill's impact mechanism can be turned off, the tool can be used like a conventional drill to also perform tasks such as screwdriving.


History.

The community was established in 1901; it was named for the daughter of Captain Demarest, the founder of the village, which had formerly been known as Demarest on the Hill. Besides the Demarests, the first settlers included members of the Brown, Clark, Cooper, Crowell, Douglass, Edgar, and Thorpe families.

Community.

The Avenel Fire Company #1 celebrated its 100th Anniversary on June 8, 2013, with a parade and picnic. The area also has three public schools, Avenel Middle School, Avenel Street School #4&5 and Woodbine Avenue School #23.  Avenel is home to Woodbridge Developmental Center, a residential care facility for people with developmental disabilities.  Places of worship in Avenel include the First Presbyterian Church, St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, Central Baptist Church and Fellowship Bible Church.  Parks in Avenel include Mayor Frank Pelzman Memorial Park at Avenel, formerly Avenel Park, Eric LeGrand "Believe" Park, formerly Fifth District Park, and Prospect Avenue Park.  Sport teams in Avenel include the Avenel Warriors who currently play at their home field : Gatorade Park, soon to be Montesinos Complex in Iselin (Home to the Iselin Panthers) temporarily because they are building a new field for them to play on.

Geography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Avenel had a total area of 3.532 square miles (9.148 km), including 3.517 square miles (9.109 km) of land and 0.015 square miles (0.039 km) of water (0.42%).

Demographics.

Census 2000.

As of the 2000 United States Census there were 17,552 people, 5,233 households, and 3,799 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,970.0/km (5,099.2/mi). There were 5,353 housing units at an average density of 600.8/km (1,555.2/mi). The racial makeup of the CDP was 53.52% White, 19.66% African American, 0.35% Native American, 18.90% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.65% from other races, and 3.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.85% of the population.  There were 5,233 households, out of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.4% were non-families. 21.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.23.  In the CDP the population was spread out, with 20.8% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 42.8% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 134.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 145.2 males.  The median income for a household in the CDP was $54,929, and the median income for a family was $61,029. Males had a median income of $48,000 versus $31,804 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,794. About 6.1% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.  As part of the 2000 Census, 13.65% of Avenel's residents identified themselves as being Indian American. This was the fifth highest percentage of Indian people in any place in the United States with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry.

Economy.

Avenel was the flagship location of Bradco Supply, founded in 1966, one of the country's leading distributors of building products. The company had grown to over 130 locations in more than 30 states.  Amazon.com operates a fulfillment center in Avenel. The facility, which opened in June 2013 covers.

Transportation.

The Avenel station provides service on NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line. In the wake of the creation of a 500-unit development transit village near the station and requests from passengers, NJ Transit announced that there would be new weekday stops at the station starting in September 2019 and that weekend service would resume for the first time since 1985.  NJ Transit 115 to PABT originates/terminates in Avenel.

Notable people.

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Avenel include:

Avenel is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Woodbridge Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population was 17,011.


Early years.

McWilliams was born December 13, 1905 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He first came to California in 1922, after a collapse in the cattle market ruined his father's health and his family's finances.  McWilliams attended the University of Southern California from which he obtained a law degree in 1927.  From 1927 to 1938, McWilliams practiced law in Los Angeles at Black, Hammock & Black. Some of his cases, including his defense of striking Mexican citrus workers, prefigured his later writing.  During the 1920s and early 1930s, McWilliams joined a loose network of mostly Southern California writers that included Robinson Jeffers, John Fante, Louis Adamic, and Upton Sinclair. His literary career also benefited greatly from his relationships with Mary Austin and H.L. Mencken. Mencken provided an outlet for McWilliams's early journalism and floated the idea for his first book, a 1929 biography of popular writer and sometime Californian Ambrose Bierce.

Political activity.

The Depression and the rise of European fascism in the 1930s radicalized McWilliams. He began working with left-wing political and legal organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild. He also wrote for "Pacific Weekly," "Controversy," "The Nation", and other progressive magazines. He continued to represent workers in and around Los Angeles, helped organize unions and guilds, and served as a trial examiner for the new National Labor Relations Board.  His first bestseller, "Factories in the Field", appeared in 1939 and ranks among his most enduring works. Published within months of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", it examines the lives of migrant farm workers in California and condemns the politics and consequences of large-scale agribusiness. Shortly before its publication, McWilliams accepted an offer from incoming Governor Culbert Olson to head California's Division of Immigration and Housing. Over his four-year term (1938-1942), he focused on improving agricultural working conditions and wages, but his hopes for major reform deteriorated with the advent of World War II.  During the 1940s, McWilliams lived in Echo Park, California, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. He owned his home at 2041 Alvarado Street until the 1970s, well after he moved to New York in 1951.  McWilliams left his government post in 1942, when incoming Governor Earl Warren promised campaign audiences that his first official act would be to fire him. McWilliams was a sharp critic of Warren, whom he described as "the personification of Smart Reaction," but he became an enthusiastic admirer after Warren joined the US Supreme Court the following decade. No such conversion occurred in his attitude toward another California politician, Richard Nixon, whom McWilliams described in 1950 as "a dapper little man with an astonishing capacity for petty malice."  After leaving the state government, McWilliams continued to write prolifically. He turned his attention to issues of racial and ethnic equality, writing a series of important books (including "Brothers Under the Skin", "Prejudice", "North from Mexico", and "A Mask for Privilege") that dealt with the treatment of immigrant and minority groups. He also produced two regional portraits, "Southern California Country: An Island on the Land" (1946, American Folkways series) and "California: The Great Exception" (1949), which many aficionados still regard as the finest interpretive histories of those areas. Decades after its publication, "Southern California Country" inspired Robert Towne's Oscar-winning original screenplay for "Chinatown" (1974).

Accusations of communist sympathies.

"Witch Hunt" (1950) was an early attempt to combat McCarthyism, which McWilliams considered a grave threat to civil liberties and healthy politics. Although he was never a member of the Communist Party, he was a frequent target of anticommunist attacks. In the 1940s, he was called before the Committee on Un-American Activities in California. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover placed him on the Custodial Detention List, making him a candidate for detention in case of national emergency even though McWilliams was serving in the state government at the time.  His activism took many forms. In the early 1940s, he helped overturn the convictions of mostly Latino youths following the so-called Sleepy Lagoon murder trial. He also helped cool the city's temperature during the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, when scuffles between servicemen and Latino youths spun out of control.  Once out of government, he became an outspoken critic of the removal and internment of Japanese American citizens and almost immediately began writing an exposé on the topic. Published in 1944, "Prejudice: Japanese-Americans: Symbol of Race Hatred" was cited repeatedly in the sole dissenting opinion in "Korematsu v. United States", the Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion.  Several years later, a group of Los Angeles screenwriters, directors, and producers known as the Hollywood Ten was cited for contempt of Congress after refusing to answer a House committee's questions about Communist Party membership. McWilliams drafted a Supreme Court amicus brief for two of them, John Howard Lawson and Dalton Trumbo. (The Court declined to hear their appeal.)  In 1951, McWilliams moved to New York City to work at "The Nation" under editor Freda Kirchwey. For the next decade, he helped shepherd the magazine through its most difficult period. Taking over as editor in 1955, he stayed until 1975 and is credited with strengthening the magazine's investigative reporting. He also published the early work of Ralph Nader, Howard Zinn, Theodore Roszak, and Hunter S. Thompson, who credited McWilliams with the idea for his first bestselling book, "" (1966).

McWilliams and Bay of Pigs story.

McWilliams was the first American reporter to reveal that the CIA was training a group of Cuban exiles in Guatemala for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. His article for "The Nation", "Are We Training Cuban Guerrillas?", was published in November 1960, five months before the invasion occurred, during the Eisenhower Administration.  The story was largely ignored by major newspapers like "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post". Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., an aide to President John F. Kennedy, pressured "The New Republic" not to run a story about the guerrilla force. Following the failure of the invasion, Kennedy expressed regret that more information about the invasion plan was not published by telling "Times" reporter Turner Catledge, "If you had printed more about the operation, you would have saved us from a colossal mistake."

Death and legacy.

He died in New York City on June 27, 1980, at 74. Since his death, his critical fortunes have risen steadily. The American Political Science Association gives an annual Carey McWilliams Award "to honor a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics." In "Embattled Dreams" (2002), California historian Kevin Starr calls McWilliams "the single finest nonfiction on California–ever," and biographer Peter Richardson maintains that McWilliams might be the most versatile American public intellectual of the twentieth century.  His first son, Wilson Carey McWilliams, was a noted political scientist who taught at Rutgers University. His second son, Jerry McWilliams, was an expert on vinyl disc records preservation. McWilliams had two grandchildren: Susan McWilliams Barndt, a professor of politics at Pomona College, and Helen McWilliams, the lead singer of VAGIANT Boston.  His papers are housed in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley and at Special Collections at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Carey McWilliams (December 13, 1905 – June 27, 1980) was an American author, editor, and lawyer. He is best known for his writings about California politics and culture, including the condition of migrant farm workers and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. From 1955 to 1975, he edited "The Nation" magazine.


Biography.

Michener wrote that he did not know who his biological parents were, or exactly when or where he was born. He was raised a Quaker by an adoptive mother, Mabel Michener, in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  Michener graduated from Doylestown High School in 1925. He attended Swarthmore College, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where he played basketball and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. After graduating summa cum laude in 1929, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History, he traveled and studied in Scotland at the University of St Andrews in the medieval town of St. Andrews, Fife on the coast of the North Sea for two years.  Michener took a job as a high school English teacher at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. From 1933 to 1936, he taught English at George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. He attended Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley, Colorado, (in 1970 renamed the University of Northern Colorado), where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Education. After graduation, he taught at the university and at College High School (the University Lab School) for several years. The library at the University of Northern Colorado was named after him in October 1972.  In 1935, Michener married Patti Koon. He accepted a Guest Lecturer position at Harvard, from 1939 to 1940, but left to join Macmillan Publishers as their social studies education editor.  Although as a Quaker he could have qualified as a conscientious objector and not been drafted into the military, Michener enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II (1941–1945). He traveled throughout the South Pacific Ocean on various assignments which he gained because his base commanders mistakenly thought his father was Admiral Marc Mitscher. His experiences during these travels inspired the stories published in his breakout work "Tales of the South Pacific".  In 1960, Michener was chairman of the Bucks County committee to elect Democrat John F. Kennedy as the 35th President. In 1962, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic Party candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, a decision he later considered a misstep. "My mistake was to run in 1962 as a Democratic candidate for Congress. [My wife] kept saying, 'Don't do it, don't do it.' I lost and went back to writing books."  In 1968, Michener served as the campaign manager for the third-term run of the twice-elected U.S. Senator Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania. Michener later served as Secretary for the 1967–1968 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. Also that year, Michener was a member of the Electoral College, serving as a Pennsylvania Democrat. He wrote about that experience in a political science text "", which was published the following year. In it, he suggested alternate systems, including using a direct popular vote by majority for the office of President of the United States and other more creative solutions.

Writing career.

Michener began his writing career during World War II, when as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy he was assigned to the South Pacific as a naval historian. He later turned his notes and impressions into "Tales of the South Pacific" (1947), his first book, published when he was age 40. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948, and Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it as the hit Broadway musical "South Pacific", which premiered on Broadway in New York City in 1949. The musical was also adapted as eponymous feature films in 1958 and 2001.  In the late 1950s, Michener began working as a roving editor for the "Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature". He gave up that work in 1970.  Michener tried television writing but was unsuccessful. American television producer Bob Mann wanted Michener to co-create a weekly anthology series from "Tales of the South Pacific" and serve as narrator. Rodgers and Hammerstein, however, had bought all dramatic rights to the novel and did not relinquish their ownership. Michener did lend his name to a different television series, "Adventures in Paradise", in 1959, starring Gardner McKay as Captain Adam Troy in the sailing ship "Tiki III".  Michener was a popular writer during his lifetime; his novels sold an estimated 75 million copies worldwide. His novel "Hawaii" (1959), well-timed on its publication when Hawaii became the 50th state, was based on extensive research. He used this approach for nearly all of his subsequent novels, which were based on detailed historical, cultural, and even geological research. "Centennial" (1974), which documented several generations of families in the Rocky Mountains of the American West, was adapted as a popular 12-part television miniseries of the same name and aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC television network) from October 1978 through February 1979.  In 1996, State House Press published "James A. Michener: A Bibliography", compiled by David A. Groseclose. Its more than 2,500 entries from 1923 to 1995 include magazine articles, forewords, and other works.  Michener's prodigious output made for lengthy novels, several of which run more than 1,000 pages. The author states in "My Lost Mexico" (1992) that at times he would spend 12 to 15 hours per day at his typewriter for weeks on end, and that he used so much paper, his filing system had trouble keeping up.

Marriages.

Michener was married three times. In 1935, he married Patti Koon. In 1948, they divorced, and the same year Michener married his second wife, Vange Nord.  Michener met his third wife, Mari Yoriko Sabusawa, at a luncheon in Chicago. An American, she and her Japanese parents were interned in western camps that the U.S. government set up during the early years of World War II to hold ethnic Japanese from West Coast / Pacific communities. Michener divorced Nord in 1955 and married Sabusawa the same year. Sabusawa died in 1994.  Michener's novel "Sayonara" (1954) is quasi-autobiographical. Set during the early 1950s, it tells the story of Major Lloyd Gruver, a United States Air Force ace jet pilot in the Korean War (1950–1953), now stationed in Japan, who falls in love with Hana-Ogi, a Japanese woman. The novel follows their cross-cultural romance and illuminates the racism of the post-World War II time period. In 1957 it was adapted into the highly successful movie "Sayonara" which starred Marlon Brando, James Garner, Miiko Taka, and Red Buttons; Buttons won the 1958 Academy Award ("Oscar") for best supporting actor for his performance.

Philanthropist.

Michener became a major philanthropist, donating more than $100 million to educational, cultural, and writing institutions, including his "alma mater", Swarthmore College, the Iowa Writers Workshop, and the James A. Michener Art Museum, and more than $37 million to University of Texas at Austin. By 1992, his gifts made him UT Austin's largest single donor to that time. Over the years, Mari Michener played a major role in helping direct his donations.  In 1989, Michener donated the royalty earnings from the Canadian edition of his novel "Journey" (1989), published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart, to create the Journey Prize, an annual Canadian literary prize worth $10,000 (CDN) that is awarded for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer.

Final years and death.

In the Micheners' final years, he and his wife lived in Austin, Texas, and they endowed the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. The Center provides three-year Michener Fellowships in fiction, poetry, playwriting and screenwriting to a small number of students.  Suffering from terminal kidney disease, in October 1997, Michener ended the daily dialysis treatment that had kept him alive for four years. He said he had accomplished what he wanted and did not want further physical complications. On October 16, 1997, he died of kidney failure, at age 90. Michener was cremated, and his ashes were placed next to those of his wife at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery in Austin, Texas.

Bequests.

Michener left most of his estate and book copyrights to Swarthmore College, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He had donated his papers to the University of Northern Colorado, where he earned his master's degree.

Honors.

Many of the fondest memories of my travels stem back to my years of military service in the New Hebrides – (now Vanuatu) – during the Pacific War years of the early 1940s...While those beautiful islands have changed much with progress in the ensuing years, I know from subsequent visits that the friendliness of the peoples, their infectious smiles and their open-heartedness will remain forever one of life's treasures.

James A. Michener Art Museum.

Opened in 1988, in Michener's hometown of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the James A. Michener Art Museum houses collections of local and well-known artists. Michener pledged $5.5 million to the museum in 1996. Constructed from the remains of an old state prison, the museum is a non-profit organization with both permanent and rotating collections. Two prominent permanent fixtures are the James A. Michener display room and the Nakashima Reading Room, constructed in honor of his third wife's Japanese heritage. The museum is known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings.

James A. Michener Society.

The James A. Michener Society was formed in the fall of 1998. It comprises people who share a common interest and admirers of Michener's life and work. The society sponsors a variety of activities and publishes an electronic internet newsletter. Annual meetings of members are held at locations closely associated with Michener's life. The society's purpose is to:

Works.

In addition to writing novels, short stories, and non-fiction, Michener was very involved with movies, TV series, and radio. The following is only a selection of the listings in the Library of Congress files.

James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American author. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were lengthy, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. Michener had numerous bestsellers and works selected for Book of the Month Club, and was known for his meticulous research behind the books.


Geography.

The town of Rodenberg lies between the Deister, Süntel and Bückeberg ridges. The Rodenberger Aue and Steinaue streams flow through the town. The "old Rodenberg" hill, which gives the town its name, with its landmark windmill, rises to the west of the town. Since 1974, the parish of Rodenberg includes the formerly independent parish of Algesdorf. The neighbouring village of Grove, with its church, was amalgamated with Rodenberg in 1834.

History.

The neighbourhood of Rodenberg was already settled in prehistoric times, inter alia by the Celts and Saxons. This is also witnessed by some barrows in the vicinity. The name Rodenberg refers to a hill to the west of the town, and the name does not refer to a clearing but to the red colour of the hill: "roter Berg".  According to the earliest record of the town, the predecessors of the Counts of Schaumburg erected a castle or peel tower here in 930; unfortunately no more details are known.  It is presumed that the moated castle was established by Adolf IV, Count of Schaumburg between 1228 and 1240, and that the previous castle of 930 was located on the so-called "old Rodenberg" to the west of the town.  The current spelling of Rodenberg was first used in 1632. A wide variety of other spellings are recorded between 1317 and 1586.  The town was legally recognised as a settlement in 1250, and in 1615 as a town by Ernest, Count of Schaumburg. The line of Counts of Schaumburg was extinguished in 1640 on the death of Count Otto V, and in 1647 the town was absorbed by the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) - a position that was formally consolidated by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.  A widely known spa was established in 1718 and was very popular until 1787 when Landgrave William IX established a spa at the sulphur springs in neighbouring Bad Nenndorf.  In 1859 much of the town burned down. In the years that followed, the stones from the fortifications were recycled to various new buildings in the town and also in Bad Nenndorf.  When Hesse was annexed by Prussia in 1866, the Rinteln district (as it was called between 1866–1904) became part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, as it remained until it was incorporated into the province of Hanover following the local government reforms of 1932.  This part of Schaumburg also belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church district of Hanover.  Prior to the abolition of Government Districts in Lower Saxony in 2004, Rodenberg belonged to the district of Hanover.

Rodenberg is a town in the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the Deister hills, approx. 10 km east of Stadthagen, and 27 km west of Hanover.


Life.

Early years.

Czepuck trained as an insurance salesman. Between 1944 and 1945 he served in the army, being captured by the Soviets near Halbe, and becoming a prisoner of war detained, initially, by the Soviets and subsequently by the Poles until 1949. In January 1949 he became editor of "Die Brücke", a German prisoners of war newspaper.

Party membership and a career in journalism.

By now the frontier between Germany and Poland had moved westward along with millions of Germans. As part of this process Breslau was now a Polish city. In June 1949 Czepuck was released from imprisonment not in his former home district but in the Soviet occupation zone which was in the process of mutating into the German Democratic Republic. He lost no time in joining the new country's newly formed ruling SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany/"Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands"). He started work, initially as a volunteer, for Neues Deutschland, a leading national newspaper, and progressed through a succession of positions in the editorial department, as a department head and as the newspaper's correspondent in Bonn. In January 1966 he was appointed Deputy Chief Editor. However, at the start of October 1971 he lost the position on account of conflicts with, the editor in chief. This freed him up to spend more time on Union business.  In July 1967 Czepuck was at the top of a list of the first twelve East German journalists in many years to be permitted to attend the party conference of the West German SPD (moderate socialist party).

Beyond journalism.

Between 1967 and 1971 he served on the "West Commission" of the Party Central Committee's politburo. Between 1967 and January 1981 he was President of the German Journalists' Union (which in June 1972 renamed itself "Union of Journalists in the German Democratic Republic" / VDJ). At the same time he was also Vice-president of the Prague based "International Organisation of Journalists" (IOJ) between 1971 and 1981. In 1984 he retired on an invalidity pension although he continued to write as a freelance journalist.  In 1990 Czepuck joined the PDS which was setting itself up in the newly reunited Germany as a successor to the rather different SED which had in effect been the only party under the one party dictatorship of East Germany. During the twenty-first century he remained a member of "Die Linke" / ""The Left"" which was in effect a further developed and repackaged version of the PDS that was relaunched in 2007.  He was also a founding member of the Society for good neighbourly relations between German and Poland ("Gesellschaft für gute Nachbarschaft mit Polen").

Harri Czepuck (30 July 1927 – 14 June 2015) was a German journalist. In 1967 he was appointed President of the Journalists' Union in the German Democratic Republic.


History.

Eggerberg is first mentioned in 1307 as "Eccun".

Geography.

Eggerberg has an area,, of. Of this area, 15.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 56.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 5.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 22.9% is unproductive land.  The municipality is located on the slopes above the northern Rhone valley, near Visp. It consists of the village of Eggerberg and the hamlets of Mühlackern, Wirmschland, Berg, Eggen and summer only settlement of Finnen.  The proposed merger of the municipalities of Eggerberg, Ausserberg, Bürchen, Baltschieder, Visp and Visperterminen was rejected by the residents.

Coat of arms.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Azure, issuant from Coupeaux Vert a Latin Cross Argent between in chief dexter a Moon Or and sinister a Sun of the Same."

Demographics.

Eggerberg has a population () of., 1.7% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -13.6%. It has changed at a rate of -7.1% due to migration and at a rate of -3.3% due to births and deaths.  Most of the population () speaks German (378 or 99.0%) as their first language, French is the second most common (2 or 0.5%) and Italian is the third (1 or 0.3%). , the gender distribution of the population was 47.8% male and 52.2% female. The population was made up of 157 Swiss men (45.8% of the population) and 7 (2.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 172 Swiss women (50.1%) and 7 (2.0%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality 269 or about 70.4% were born in Eggerberg and lived there in 2000. There were 83 or 21.7% who were born in the same canton, while 16 or 4.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 5 or 1.3% were born outside of Switzerland. The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 27.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 58.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 14.4%. , there were 159 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 193 married individuals, 25 widows or widowers and 5 individuals who are divorced. , there were 135 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. There were 35 households that consist of only one person and 17 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 147 households that answered this question, 23.8% were households made up of just one person and there were 4 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 26 married couples without children, 61 married couples with children There were 6 single parents with a child or children. There were 3 households that were made up of unrelated people and 12 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing. , a total of 115 apartments (48.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 105 apartments (44.3%) were seasonally occupied and 17 apartments (7.2%) were empty.  The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 66.73% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (16.87%), the SP (13.66%) and the FDP (1.71%). In the federal election, a total of 216 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 74.7%.  In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 172 votes were cast, of which 6 or about 3.5% were invalid. The voter participation was 60.6%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 212 votes were cast, of which 3 or about 1.4% were invalid. The voter participation was 73.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Economy.

, Eggerberg had an unemployment rate of 0.7%., there were 32 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 5 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 2 businesses in this sector. 45 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 10 businesses in this sector. There were 192 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.1% of the workforce. , there were 17 workers who commuted into the municipality and 159 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 9.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 35.4% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.6% used a private car.

Transport.

Eggerberg railway station, on the Lötschberg line, is adjacent to the village of Eggerberg. It is served by trains to Bern, Thun and Brig. A PostAuto bus service links Finnen, Eggen, Eggerberg, Baltschieder and Visp.

Religion.

From the, 354 or 92.7% were Roman Catholic, while 6 or 1.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 22 individuals (or about 5.76% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 3 (or about 0.79% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 7 individuals (or about 1.83% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education.

In Eggerberg about 134 or (35.1%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 11 or (2.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Of the 11 who completed tertiary schooling, 90.9% were Swiss men, 9.1% were Swiss women.  During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 10 students in the Eggerberg school system. The education system in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten. During that school year, there were no kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and there were no kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Eggerberg there was one class and 10 students in the primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Eggerberg attend their school in a neighboring municipality. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality. , there was one student in Eggerberg who came from another municipality, while 15 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Eggerberg is a village and municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Besides the village of Eggerberg, the municipality includes the settlements of Berg, Eggen, Finnen, Mühlackern and Wirmschland.


Types of stunt effects.

Practical effects.

One of the most-frequently used practical stunts is stage combat. Although contact is normally avoided, many elements of stage combat, such as sword fighting, martial arts, and acrobatics required contact between performers in order to facilitate the creation of a particular effect, such as noise or physical interaction. Stunt performances are highly choreographed and may be rigorously rehearsed for hours, days and sometimes weeks before a performance. Seasoned professionals will commonly treat a performance as if they have never done it before, since the risks in stunt work are high, every move and position must be correct to reduce risk of injury from accidents. Examples of practical effects include tripping and falling down, high jumps, extreme sporting moves, acrobatics and high diving, spins, gainer falls, "suicide backflips," and other martial arts stunts. Stunt airbags (or "stunt mats"), large deep airbags that may be the size of a small swimming pool, are typically used by professional stunt performers to cushion their landings from staged falls from heights.

Mechanical effects.

A physical stunt is usually performed with help of mechanics. For example, if the plot requires the hero to jump to a high place, the film crew could put the actor in a special harness, and use aircraft high tension wire to pull him up. Piano wire is sometimes used to fly objects, but an actor is never suspended from it as it is brittle and can break under shock impacts. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) is a kung-fu film that was heavily reliant on wire stunts.

Vehicular stunts.

Performers of vehicular stunts require extensive training and may employ specially adapted vehicles. Stunts can be as simple as a handbrake turn, also known as the bootleg turn, or as advanced as car chases, jumps and crashes involving dozens of vehicles. Rémy Julienne is a well known pioneering automotive stunt performer and coordinator. Another well known vehicular stunt specialist is Englishman Ian Walton, who was the helicopter stunt pilot and stunt designer for many 1980s films, notably the Bond film "Never Say Never Again". A Guinness Book of World Records holder stunt driver, Bobby Ore, performed in numerous movies and events and holds a World Record for longest distance driven on two wheels in a London double decker bus (810 feet). Streetbike stunts, also known as "stunting" gained widespread popularity in the early 2000s and continues to grow. It is based on wheelies but now goes much further than that.

Computer-generated effects.

In the late 20th century stunt men were often placed in dangerous situations less and less as filmmakers turned to relatively inexpensive (and much safer) computer graphics effects using harnesses, fans, blue- or green screens, and a huge array of other devices and digital effects. "The Matrix" (1999) is an example for a film that extensively "enhanced" real stunts through CGI post production. The "Lord of the Rings" film series and the "Star Wars" prequel films often display stunts that are entirely computer generated. Examples of computer-generated effects include face replacement and wire removal.

Hong Kong action cinema.

In 1982, Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences in "Dragon Lord", which featured a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes required for a single scene, with 2900 takes, and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a loft and falls to the lower ground. In 1983, "Project A" saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and added elaborate, dangerous stunts to the fights and typical slapstick humor (at one point, Chan falls from the top of a clock tower through a series of fabric canopies).  "Police Story" (1985) contained many large-scale action scenes, including an opening sequence featuring a car chase through a shanty town, Chan stopping a double-decker bus with his service revolver and a climactic fight scene in a shopping mall. This final scene earned the film the nickname "Glass Story" by the crew, due to the huge number of panes of sugar glass that were broken. During a stunt in this last scene, in which Chan slides down a pole from several stories up, the lights covering the pole had heated it considerably, resulting in Chan suffering second-degree burns, particularly to his hands, as well as a back injury and dislocation of his pelvis upon landing. Chan performed similarly elaborate stunts in numerous other films, such as several "Police Story" sequels, "Project A Part II", the "Armor of God" series, "Dragons Forever", "Drunken Master II", "Rumble in the Bronx", and the "Rush Hour" series, among others.  Other Hong Kong action movie stars who became known for performing elaborate stunts include Chan's Peking Opera School friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, as well as "girls with guns" stars such as Michelle Yeoh and Moon Lee. Other Asian cinema stars also known for performing elaborate stunts including Thai actor Tony Jaa, Indonesian actors Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, and Indian actors Jayan, Akshay Kumar, Vidyut Jammwal and Tiger Shroff.

Stunt-based television shows.

Reality competition television shows such as "Fear Factor" and "Going Straight" have required contestants to complete stunts to win prize money.

Recognition of stunt performers.

Films such as "Hooper" and "The Stunt Man" and the 1980s television show "The Fall Guy" sought to raise the profile of the stunt performer and debunk the myth that film stars perform all their own stunts. Noted stunt coordinators Hal Needham, Craig R. Baxley, and Vic Armstrong went on to direct the action films "The Cannonball Run", "Action Jackson", and "Joshua Tree". Vic Armstrong became the first stuntman to win both an Academy Award (for developing a descender rig as a safe alternative to airbags) and a BAFTA award (for lifetime achievement in film). But the status of stuntmen in Hollywood is still low; despite the fact that few films of any genre or type could be made without them, stunt performers are still seen as working mainly in action films. Repeated campaigns for a "Best Stunts" Academy Award have been rejected.  In 2001, the first "World Stunt Awards" were presented in Los Angeles by actor Alec Baldwin. The event had A-list stars presenting the statues to Hollywood's unsung heroes. Arnold Schwarzenegger was presented with the first "Lifetime Achievement" award. He presented the awards in 2001. The awards show hands out eight awards: Best Fight, Best Fire Stunt, Best High Work, Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Man, Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman, Best Speciality Stunt, Best Work with a Vehicle and Best Stunt Coordinator and/or 2nd Unit Director.

Equality in stunts.

In past Hollywood films it was common for men to double for women and White American stunt performers to double for African-American performers. Veteran stunt man Dave Sharpe, a man of shorter than average height, often doubled for women in film serials of the 1930s and '40s. It is now against union rules for stunt performers to double an actor of a different gender or race unless the stunt is so dangerous that there are no other volunteers, for example when B.J. Worth doubled for the black Jamaican actress Grace Jones who parachuted off the Eiffel Tower in "A View to a Kill". The rise of action heroines like Angelina Jolie and African-American stars like Will Smith has offered wider opportunities for stunt performers from diverse backgrounds.

The future of stuntwork.

A backlash against dangerous stunts following the fatal 42 foot backward fall of Sonja Davis off a building on the set of "Vampire in Brooklyn", coinciding with developments in computer-generated imagery (CGI) that make such stunts unnecessary threatens to reduce stunt performers to the status of body doubles. And yet a backlash against films that resemble video games could lead to a resurrection in pure stuntwork. Films such as "The Matrix" and "" have shown how CGI and stunts can be integrated for maximum effect. But—if for no other reason than safety—it is doubtful that the records established by "Hooper" and "Sharky's Machine" will be broken anytime soon. A new subgenre of eastern martial arts films exists which emphasize the actors performing their own stunts, deliberately using wide angles and unbroken shots to show each stunt in its entirety. Examples of actors doing their own stunts include Jackie Chan and Tony Jaa.

A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery special effects, these effects were limited to the use of models, false perspective and other in-camera effects, unless the creator could find someone willing to jump from car to car or hang from the edge of a skyscraper: the stunt performer or stunt double.


Geography.

Location.

The municipality lies on the "Deutsche Edelsteinstraße" (“German Gem Road”) in the southern Hunsrück between the Idar Forest in the north and the town of Idar-Oberstein in the south.

Constituent communities.

Also belonging to Kempfeld are the hamlet of Katzenloch and the outlying homesteads of Auf dem Steinberg, Herrenflur and Wildenburg.

Village’s name.

Kempfeld was originally settled by a man named Campo. On the other hand, other researchers derive the name from the Latin "campus", meaning field (and since "Feld" means the same, the name would therefore mean “Field Field”). This hypothesis is, however, contradicted by the dialectal name “Käfelt” and the mediaeval name "cempinvelt" from 1319.

History.

In a copy of the "Liber Aureus" (St. Maximin's Abbey's “Golden Book”), which came into being about 1200, Kempfeld had its first documentary mention.  Matched by the extensive network of paths was relatively heavy settlement in individual homesteads, which belonged mostly to local people, but in almost every municipality in the Kempfeld area, traces of habitation from Roman times (roughly 50 BC to AD 375) can be found. The Romans built their houses from stone, put their dead in stone chests and built memorials to them, and monuments to their gods, out of stone. In 1901, one of these cist graves was unearthed 500 m south of the village on the way to Katzenloch. This, however, yielded no further knowledge.  About 950, the Emichones sat as the "Graugrafen" (“Gau Counts”) in the Nahegau. They were related to the Salian Imperial house. In the 11th century, they already held the Gau in hereditary ownership, and also, they were naming themselves after castles: in 1107 the Counts of Schmidtburg, in 1098 the Counts of Flonheim, in 1128 the Counts of Kyrburg and in 1103 "Comites silvestres", later the Waldgraves (or "Wildgrafen" in German).  Towards the late 12th century, three lines of the Emichones had arisen as two new ones split away from the main one: the Counts of Veldenz in 1129 and the Raugraves in 1140.  In 1263, the Waldgraviate was partitioned, with the Schmidtburg and Kyrburg going to Emich, and Dhaun and Grumbach to Gottfried. The so-called Landgraviate, however, remained undivided and in common ownership. Only nineteen years later, in 1282, came another partition between members of the house's main line: Konrad kept Schmidtburg while Gottfried got Kyrburg and the paternal rights to Bruchweiler, Kempfeld, Breitenthal and Oberhosenbach. High jurisdiction and woodlands remained commonly held. In 1319, the communal high jurisdiction over "Raide" (Veitsrodt), "Horbure" (Herborn), "Bruchwilre" (Bruchweiler), "Schuren" (Schauren), "Kempvelt" (Kempfeld), "Huisinbach" (Niederhosenbach), "Breidendail" (Breitenthal) and three villages that have since vanished, "Dudinsbach" (Diedesbach), "Vockinhusen" (Fuckenhausen) and "Dyfenbach", was documented.  In 1330, the last count of the Schmidtburg line died. He had been in a longstanding feud with his cousin Friedrich von der Kyrburg. So that Friedrich could not get the inheritance to which he was entitled by lawful, written documents, the late count had arranged for Archbishop of Trier Baldwin to be enfeoffed with the Schmidtburg (castle) and its appurtenances, and also Bundenbach. In 1328, Friedrich had built a castle of his own, the Wildenburg, but by 1330 he was forced to enfeoff Archbishop Baldwin with this.  Kempfeld formed together with Veitsrodt in the Middle Ages a lordship of St. Maximin's Abbey in Trier. A letter of enfeoffment from 1483 for the Waldgraves of Dhaun still exists.  Within Kempfeld's municipal limits lie two sites on which once stood now vanished villages. Schalwen, or Schalben, lay below the road leading to Wildenburg and Katzenloch. On the other side of this road once lay the execution place, where the gallows could be set up as needed. After the 1574 boundary-defining "Grenzweistum" (a "Weistum" – cognate with English "wisdom" – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times), not only Kempfeld's municipal area along with the Wildenburg belonged to the High Court of Wildenburg, but so did Asbach, Herborn, Veitsrodt, the woods of Wenzel and Vitsruth, the now vanished village of Fuckenhausen and part of Kirschweiler. The local hangman, who was also a knacker, lived outside the village of Schalben. The hangman played a role in the people's lives and thoughts. As a knacker he handled, among other things, hides, skins and leather. Both trades were regarded as dishonest, and their practitioners as unclean, hence the reason for his living outside the village rather than in it. He also had to set up his sales stall at markets apart from the rest.  The other vanished village within Kempfeld's municipal limits was Baalsbach, or Badelsbach. Bearing witness to this place is a cadastral name “Auf Baalsbach”.  A report from the time after the Thirty Years' War about Kempfeld mentions both "Schalwen" and "Baalßpach", but by that time, they had both already been forsaken, and their lands conceded to Kempfeld. At that time, though, there were still remnants to be seen of both villages. Even as early as 1514, a "Weistum" had described Baalsbach as "vergangen" (“past” or “bygone”), meaning that it was no longer there.  The last Amtmann of the Wildenburg, Johann Karl Ruppenthal (1767–1798), managed to get himself into the villagers’ bad books. As Ruppenthal rode through the village late one evening with his riflemen, the night watchman apparently blew the wrong signal on his horn. As punishment, the watchman was made to practise the right signal the whole night long, which almost drove the Kempfelders to uncontainable fury. They complained about this inconsiderate disturbance of their usual nighttime quiet at once in Kirn, but nothing was done about Ruppenthal's behaviour.  Another time, the Amtmann happened upon the Kempfelders as they were arguing with a tithe official. Ruppenthal flew into such a rage over the peasants’ supposed stubbornness that without further ado he had his riflemen lock them all up in the church. This, however, only angered the imprisoned men's wives and, arming themselves with brooms and threshing flails, they then drove Ruppenthal out of the village. This scene is still remembered today by a fountain at the square on Allenberger Weg.  In 1529, a church was built in Kempfeld, which was renovated in the 18th century. On 25 August 1911, the church was utterly destroyed in a great fire in which the bells also melted. The plan for reconstructing the church was delivered by the Mayor of Cologne at that time, Senz, who had also headed reconstruction efforts for the church in Hottenbach in 1903.  The whole village was stricken by the fire. It broke out in the afternoon in the Stumm Brewery's stables. That summer's drought made the fire impossible to contain. Within half an hour, all houses and barns near the source of the fire were in flames. Besides the church, five houses, six barns, the brewery and one slaughterhouse were burnt down. The fire came almost exactly a century after another, similar great fire raged in the same place in August 1811.  On 1 August 1914, after the First World War had broken out, 11 Landsturm personnel, 10 Landwehr men, 10 reservists from Kempfeld had to go to war, and 15 recruits from the village found themselves in training. Even by early August, four men from Kempfeld had fallen; by Christmas it was seven.  On Sunday 17 October 1926, a memorial was dedicated at the village graveyard to the 21 who had fallen in the Great War.  During the Second World War, too, Kempfeld suffered heavily, and many local men fell. Moreover, several bombs fell on the village, in which 200 evacuees had taken refuge.  On 30 August 1975, yet another great fire struck Kempfeld, destroying, once again, the church, and also three houses. It broke out in a small house on Hauptstraße towards 10:45. Despite a large contingent from the fire brigade, the fire could not be stopped from spreading to the neighbouring house. A house once owned by a lordship and two, smaller servant's houses burnt right down. Most of the household belongings could be removed before the fire consumed the houses, but these were then kept “safe” in the church, as had been done during the 1911 fire. The householders then had to watch helplessly as their chattels, too, went up in smoke along with the church when the fire reached it.

Politics.

Municipal council.

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Mayor.

Kempfeld's mayor is Wolfgang Wannemacher, and his deputies are Horst Albohr and Antje Louis.

Coat of arms.

The German blazon reads: "In schräggeteiltem Schild vorn in Grün ein goldener gezinnter Turm auf einem silbernen Dreiberg, hinten in Gold ein blaubewehrter und -gezungter roter Löwe."  The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Per bend vert a tower embattled Or on a mount of three in base argent and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure.  The tower on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side refers to the former keep on the Wildenburgkopf. The mount of three, a charge called a "Dreiberg" in German heraldry, symbolizes the Wildenburgkopf – a mountain – itself, which is under conservational protection. The lion on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is a reference to the village's former allegiance to the Waldgraviate-Rhinegraviate.

Culture and sightseeing.

Buildings.

Kempfeld (main centre).

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

Katzenloch.

Also found in the municipality are an open game reserve on the Wildenburger Kopf, and Germany's only gemstone garden on Schulstraße.

Economy and infrastructure.

Education.

Kempfeld has one kindergarten, one primary school and one regional school on the way out of the village going towards the Wildenburg.

Kempfeld is an "Ortsgemeinde" – a municipality belonging to a "Verbandsgemeinde", a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the "Verbandsgemeinde" Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.


Definitions.

Many organizations may interpret community capacity building differently than others. Some methods of capacity building include fundraising, training centres, exposure visits, office and documentation support, on-job training, learning centres, and consultations. Developing nations are adopting strategies in the form of capacity building, to avoid becoming perpetually dependent on international aid.  The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was one of the forerunners in developing an understanding of community capacity building and development. Since the early 1970s, the UNDP offered guidance to its staff and governments on what was considered "institution-building".  The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), formerly the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), defines capacity development in the DRR domain as "the process by which people, organizations and society systematically stimulate and develop their capability over time to achieve social and economic goals, including through improvement of knowledge, skills, systems, and institutions – within a wider social and cultural enabling environment."  In 1991, the term evolved to be "community capacity building". The UNDP defines community capacity building as a long-term continual process of development that involves all stakeholders. This includes ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organizations, professionals, community members, academics and more. Community capacity building uses a country's human, scientific, technological, organizational, institutional, and resource potentiality. The goal of community capacity building is to tackle problems related to policy and methods of development while considering the potential limits and needs of the people concerned. The UNDP outlines that community capacity building takes place at an individual, an institutional, societal level and non-training level.  Patrick Wakely (1997) from the University College London held similar views to the UNDP about systems nature of capacity. He believed that thinking about capacity building as simple training or human resource development was too limiting and that there needed to be a shift from that mindset. He also believed that increasing the capacity of the individual was not enough to contribute to the advancement of sustainable development alone, and needed to be paired with a supportive institutional and organizational environment. The three aspects of capacity building that Wakely believed to be essential to creating better cities are human resource development, organizational development, and institutional development. Human resource development is defined as "the process of equipping people with the understanding and skills, and access to the information and knowledge to perform effectively". It is where Wakely believes too much emphasis and efforts are focused here. Organizational development involves the processes of how things get done within an organization and require examining how and why an organization does something and what could be improved. Institutional development is the "legal and regulatory changes" that must be made in order for organizations to enhance their capacities.  Community capacity building is defined as the "process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in the fast-changing world."  Community capacity building is the element that gives fluidity, flexibility and functionality of a program/organization to adapt to the changing needs of the population that is served.  Infrastructure development has been considered "economic capacity building" because it increases the capacity of any developed or developing society to improve trade, employment, economic development and quality of life.

History.

The term "community capacity building" has evolved from past terms such as institutional building and organizational development.  In the 1950s and 1960s, these terms referred to community development that focused on enhancing the technological and self-help capacities of individuals in rural areas.  In the 1970s, following a series of reports on international development, an emphasis was placed on building capacity for technical skills in rural areas, and also in the administrative sectors of developing countries. In the 1980s the concept of institutional development expanded even more. Institutional development was viewed as a long-term process of building up a developing country's government, public and private sector institutions, and NGOs.  Though precursors to capacity building existed before, they were not crucial topics in international development like capacity building became during the 1990s.  The emergence of capacity building as a leading development concept in the 1990s occurred due to a confluence of factors:

Capacity building as path to sustainable development.

With increasing concerns about environmental issues such as climate change, there has been a focus on achieving sustainable development, or development that maximizes social, economic, and environmental benefit in the long run while protecting the earth. During debates about how to achieve sustainable development. It has become commonplace to include discussions about local community empowerment as well as "related concepts of participation, ownership, agency, and bottom-up planning." In order to empower local communities to be self-sustaining, capacity building has become a crucial part of achieving sustainable development. Many NGOs and developmental organizations end up inducing chronic aid dependency within communities by doing developmental projects for the communities rather than in partnership with them.  Reports like the and ideas like those of Freire's from earlier decades emphasized that "no one could develop anyone else" and development had to be participatory. These arguments questioned the effectiveness of "service delivery programs" for achieving sustainable development, thus leading the way for a new emphasis on capacity building.  In September 2000, a commitment was sealed at the Millennium Declaration in New York by 190 countries with the aim of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This commitment, which helped the nations, particularly the developing countries to effectively and speedily respond to the current global economic recession, climate change and other crises, has sparked renewed interest and engagement in capacity building.

In developing societies.

Under the UNDP's 2008–2013 "strategic plan for development", capacity building is the "organization's core contribution to development." The UNDP promotes a capacity-building approach to development in the 166 countries it is active in. It focuses on building capacity at an institutional level and offers a six-step process for systematic capacity building.  The steps are:  The UNDP integrates this capacity-building system into its work on reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The UNDP focuses on building capacity at the institutional level because it believes that "institutions are at the heart of human development, and that when they are able to perform better, sustain that performance over time, and manage'shocks' to the system, they can contribute more meaningfully to the achievement of national human development goals."  Capacity building in developing countries is explained by Lant Pritchett, Michael Woolcock, and Matt Andrews as a fourfold modernization process in the areas of:  Under this theory, called Modernization Theory, growth over time in these four areas leads to a state becoming developed. The underlying idea behind this theory is that development agencies are tasked with facilitating growth, in these four areas in order to speed up the process of development or make the process more equitable.

In governments.

One of the most fundamental ideas associated with capacity building is the idea of building the capacities of governments in developing countries so they are able to handle the problems associated with environmental, economic and social transformations. Developing a government's capacity whether, at the local, regional or national level will allow for better governance that can lead to sustainable development and democracy. To avoid authoritarianism in developing nations, a focus has been placed on developing the abilities and skills of national and local governments so power can be diffused across a state. Capacity building in governments often involves providing the tools to help them best fulfil their responsibilities. These include building up a government's ability to budget, collect revenue, create and implement laws, promote civic engagement, be transparent and accountable and fight corruption.  Joel S. Migdal explains that governments can strengthen weak states by building capacity through changing land tenure patterns, adjusting methods of taxation, and improving modes of transportation. Migdal cites Mexico's passing of Ley de desamortización in 1856 as an example of establishing property rights as a means to strengthen a government's capacity for rule by establishing order. This establishes a social structure to reduce citizen conflict within the state, and a means to organize agricultural production for optimal output. Adjusting methods of taxation is another way to consolidate power in a weak state's government. This can be done through increasing government revenue through increased taxation and also formalizing tax collection by collecting taxes in cash instead of in kind. Migdal cites the example of 19th Century Egypt's declaration of cash taxes only as of the reason for increased economic capacity as farmers were forced into more market relations, pushing them to produce crops for export to increase cash revenue. This gave the state more liquid income. Also, Migdal explains that new modes of transportation can strengthen a state's capacity through decreased isolation leading to increasing economic opportunity by regional trade, increased accessibility, and reduced cost of transporting goods. Migdal cites the example of the railroad in India in 1853 as a means of growing the cotton export industry by 500%.  Below are examples of capacity building in governments of developing countries:

Isomorphic mimicry.

One approach that some developing countries have attempted to foster capacity building is through isomorphic mimicry. Similar to the concept of mimetic isomorphism used in organizational theory. Isomorphic mimicry refers to the tendency of government to mimic other governments' successes, by replicating methods and policy designs deemed successful in other countries. While such an approach can be effective for solving certain development problems that have "a universal technical solution", it often ignores the political and organizational realities on the ground and produces little benefits to those using it. An example of a failed mimicry relates to the legal reform in Melanesia. In response to a major international assistance mission to improve the quality of the justice system, a jail and a courthouse were built, costing millions of dollars. However, the new justice infrastructure has been rarely used since its establishment, because there has been a lack of bureaucracy and financial sources to support the expensive justice system. As summarized by Haggard et al., accelerated modernization is an entirely inappropriate strategy for enhancing the functionality of the legal system as solutions like this often require state capacities that developing countries do not have. Another example took place in Argentina. During the economic crisis in late 1980s, the government implemented a series of fiscal policies as recommended by IMF to regulate high point inflation affecting the country's economy. However, rather than constraining aggregate spending, the fiscal rule merely shifted spending from the central and to provincial governments. Adopting international best practices do not often translate into positive changes; in the case of Argentina, the mimicry produced little change to the vulnerable economy.

In local communities.

The capacity-building approach is used at many levels, including local, regional, national and international. Capacity building can be used to reorganize and capacitate governments or individuals. International donors like USAID often include capacity building as a form of assistance for developing governments or NGOs working in developing areas. Historically this has been through a US contractor identifying an in-country NGO and supporting its financial, monitoring & evaluation and technical systems. The NGO's capacity is developed as a sub-implementer of the donor. However, many NGOs participate in a form of capacity building that is aimed toward individuals and the building of local capacity. In a recent report commissioned by UNAIDS and the Global Fund, individual NGOs voiced their needs and preference for broader capacity development inputs by donors and governments. For individuals and in-country NGOs, capacity building may relate to leadership development, advocacy skills, training/speaking abilities, technical skills, organizing skills, and other areas of personal and professional development. One of the most difficult problems with building capacity on a local level is the lack of higher education in developing countries. Only between 2 and 5 percent of Africans have been to tertiary school. Damtew Teferra of Boston College's Center for African Higher Education argues that local capacity builders are needed now more than ever and increased resources should be provided for programs that focus on developing local expertise and skills.  The development sector, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa has many decades of 'international technical advisors' working with and mentoring government officials and national non-government organisations. In health service delivery, whether maternal care or HIV related, community organisations have been started and often grown through the strength of their staff and commitment to be national and even regional leaders in their technical fields. Whilst higher education is still an under-served demand, there are significant resources of experienced staff. More recent donor initiatives, including The Global Fund's Community Systems Strengthening and the US PEPFAR Technical Assistance to the New Partners Initiative begins to address the organisation capacity needs and stronger skills to be recognised as part of the national response to health needs in a country. To complete the capacity development cycle, the Global Fund and UNAIDS Technical Support Facility and the TA teams for CSO funded by the New Partners Initiative are staffed and managed by residents and nationals of those same developing countries.  Below are some examples of NGOs and programs that use the term "capacity building" to describe their activities on a local scale:  The first example depicts capacity building as a tool to deliver individuals the skills they need to work effectively in civil society. In the case of Mercy Ships, the capacity building is delivering the capacity for individuals to be stakeholders and participants in defined activities, such as health care.

In NGOs.

Societal development in poorer nations is often contingent upon the efficiency of organizations working within that nation. Organizational capacity building focuses on developing the capacities of organizations, specifically NGOs, so they are better equipped to accomplish the missions they have set out to fulfil. Failures in development can often be traced back to an organization's inability to deliver on the service promises it has pledged to keep. Capacity building in NGOs often involves building up skills and abilities, such as decision making, policy-formulation, appraisal, and learning. It is not uncommon for donors in the global north to fund capacity building for NGOs themselves. For organizations, capacity building may relate to almost any aspect of its work: improved governance, leadership, mission and strategy, administration (including human resources, financial management, and legal matters), program development and implementation, fund-raising and income generation, diversity, partnerships and collaboration, evaluation, advocacy and policy change, marketing, positioning, planning. Capacity building in NGOs is a way to strengthen an organization so that it can perform the specific mission it has set out to do and thus survive as an organization. It is an ongoing process that incites organizations to continually reflect on their work, organization, and leadership and ensure that they are fulfilling the mission and goals they originally set out to do.  Alan Kaplan, an international development practitioner and leading NGO scholar, asserts that capacity development of organizations involves the build-up of an organization's tangible and intangible assets. He argues that for NGOs to be effective facilitators of capacity building in developing areas, they must first focus on developing their organization. Kaplan argues that capacity building and organizational development in organizations should first focus on intangible qualities such as:  Kaplan argues that NGOs who focus on developing a conceptual framework, an organizational attitude, vision and strategy are more adept at being self-reflective and critical, two qualities that enable more effective capacity building. Though he asserts that these intangible qualities are of utmost importance – Kaplan says that tangible qualities such as skills, training and material resources such as tools, handbooks, manuals, advisories, primers, guidelines, etc. are also imperative.  Another aspect of organizational capacity building is an organization's ability to assess, examine and change according to what is most needed and what will be the most effective.

Evaluation.

Since the arrival of community capacity building as a dominant subject in international aid, donors and practitioners have struggled to create a concise mechanism for determining the effectiveness of capacity building initiatives. In 2007, David Watson developed specific criteria for effective evaluation and monitoring of the capacity building. Watson complained that the traditional method of monitoring NGOs based primarily on a linear results-based framework is not enough for capacity building. He argues that evaluating the capacity building ability of NGOs should be based on a combination of monitoring the results of their activities and also a more open flexible way of monitoring that also takes into consideration, self-improvement and cooperation. Watson observed 18 case studies of capacity building evaluations and concluded that certain specific themes were visible:  In 2007, USAID published a report on its approach to monitoring and evaluating the capacity building. According to the report, USAID monitors program objectives, the links between projects and activities of an organization and its objectives, a program or organization's measurable indicators, data collection, and progress reports. USAID evaluates why objectives were achieved, or why they were not, and the overall contributions of projects. It examines qualifiable results that are more difficult to measure, looks at unintended results or consequences, and reviews reports on lessons learned. USAID uses two types of indicators for progress: "output indicators" and "outcome indicators." Output indicators measure immediate changes or results such as the number of people trained. Outcome indicators measure the impact, such as laws changed due to trained advocates.

Capacity building (or capacity development) is the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, tools, equipment, and other resources needed to do their jobs competently. It allows individuals and organizations to perform at a greater capacity (larger scale, larger audience, larger impact, etc). "Capacity building" and "Capacity development" are often used interchangeably. This term indexes a series of initiatives from the 1950s in which the active participation of local communities’ members in social and economic development was encouraged via national and subnational plans.