text:
NEW ENGLAND POWER CO. v. NEW HAMPSHIRE(1982)
Appellant New England Power Co., a public utility generating and transmitting electricity at wholesale, sells most of its power in Massachusetts and Rhode Island; its wholesale customers service less than 6% of New Hampshire's population. New England Power owns and operates hydroelectric units, some of which are located in New Hampshire. The units are licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to the Federal Power Act. A New Hampshire statute, enacted in 1913, prohibits a corporation engaged in the generation of electrical energy by water power from transmitting such energy out of the State unless approval is first obtained from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. The statute empowers that Commission to prohibit the exportation of such energy when it determines that the energy "is reasonably required for use within this state and that the public good requires that it be delivered for such use." Since 1926, New England Power or its predecessor periodically obtained the Commission's approval to transmit electricity produced in New Hampshire to points outside the State. However, in 1980, after an investigation and hearings, the Commission withdrew such approval and ordered New England Power to arrange to sell the previously exported hydroelectric energy within New Hampshire. New England Power, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Attorney General of Rhode Island appealed the Commission's order to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, contending that the order was pre-empted by the Federal Power Act and imposed impermissible burdens on interstate commerce. The court rejected those arguments, holding, inter alia, that the "saving clause" of 201(b) of the Federal Power Act granted New Hampshire authority to restrict the interstate transportation of hydroelectric power generated within the State. Section 201(b), which was enacted in 1935, provides that the Act's provisions delegating exclusive authority to the FERC to regulate the transmission and sale at wholesale of electric energy in [455 U.S. 331, 332] interstate commerce "shall not . . . deprive a State or State commission of its lawful authority now exercised over the exportation of hydroelectric energy which is transmitted across a State line."
New Hampshire has sought to restrict the flow of privately owned and produced electricity in interstate commerce in a manner inconsistent with the Commerce Clause. Section 201(b) of the Federal Power Act does not provide an affirmative grant of authority to the State to do so. Pp. 338-344.
BURGER, C. J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
[ Footnote * ] Together with No. 80-1471, Massachusetts et al. v. New Hampshire et al.; and No. 80-1610, Roberts, Attorney General of Rhode Island, et al. v. New Hampshire et al., also on appeal from the same court.
Samuel Huntington argued the cause for appellant in No. 80-1208. With him on the briefs were John F. Sherman III, Edward Berlin, Carmen D. Legato, and J. Phillip Jordan. Donald K. Stern, Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts, argued the cause for appellants in Nos. 80-1471 and 80-1610. With him on the brief for appellants in No. 80-1471 were Francis X. Bellotti, Attorney General, Thomas R. Kiley, First Assistant Attorney General, and Joan C. Stoddard, [455 U.S. 331, 333] E. Michael Sloman, and Alan Sherr, Assistant Attorneys General. Dennis J. Roberts II, Attorney General of Rhode Island, and John R. McDermott filed a brief for appellants in No. 80-1610.
Gregory H. Smith, Attorney General of New Hampshire, argued the cause for appellees. With him on the brief was Peter C. Scott, Assistant Attorney General.Fn
Fn [455 U.S. 331, 333] Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed by Acting Solicitor General Wallace, Stuart A. Smith, and Jerome M. Feit for the United States et al.; by Robert L. Baum and Ronald D. Jones for the Edison Electric Institute; by Joseph D. Alvaini for the New England Legal Foundation et al.; by James R. McIntosh and Allan B. Taylor for the New England Power Pool Executive Committee; and by Robert C. McDiarmid for the Unaffiliated Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Customers of New England Power Co.
CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER delivered the opinion of the Court.
These three consolidated appeals present the question whether a state can constitutionally prohibit the exportation of hydroelectric energy produced within its borders by a federally licensed facility, or otherwise reserve for its own citizens the "economic benefit" of such hydroelectric power.
Appellant New England Power Co. is a public utility which generates and transmits electricity at wholesale. It sells 75% of its power in Massachusetts and much of the remainder in Rhode Island; less than 6% of New Hampshire's population is serviced by New England Power's wholesale customers. New England Power owns and operates six hydroelectric generating stations on the Connecticut River, consisting of 27 generating units. Twenty-one of these units - with a capacity of 419.8 megawatts, or about 10% of New England Power's total generating capacity - are located within the State of New Hampshire. The units are licensed by the Federal Energy [455 U.S. 331, 334] Regulatory Commission pursuant to Part I of the Federal Power Act, 41 Stat. 1063, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 791a-823 (1976 ed. and Supp. IV). Since hydroelectric facilities operate without significant fuel consumption, these units can produce electricity at substantially lower cost than most other generating sources.
New England Power is a member of the New England Power Pool, whose utility-members own over 98% of the total generation capacity, and virtually all of the transmission facilities, in the six-state region. The objectives of the Power Pool, as described in the agreement among its members, are to assure the reliability of the region's bulk power supply and to attain "maximum practicable economy" through, inter alia, "joint planning, central dispatching . . . and coordinated construction, operation and maintenance of electric generation and transmission facilities owned or controlled by the Participants . . . ." New England Power Pool Agreement 4.1, App. 31a. All member-owned generating facilities are placed under the control of the Power Pool's Dispatch Center. A computer calculates the cost of generation for each generating unit and assigns each unit an operating schedule that will minimize the cost of the region's total power supply. Power generated at the various units, including New England Power's Connecticut River hydroelectric stations, flows freely through the Pool's regional transmission network, or "grid." The energy is dispatched to members' customers as their power needs arise, without regard to generating source. The Pool bills each member the amount it would have cost the utility to meet its customers' load using only its own generating sources, minus that member's share of the savings resulting from the centralized dispatch system. 1 [455 U.S. 331, 335]
A New Hampshire statute, enacted in 1913, provides:
Since 1926, New England Power or a predecessor company periodically applied for and obtained approval from the New Hampshire Commission to transmit electricity produced at the Connecticut River plants to points outside New Hampshire. However, on September 19, 1980, after an investigation and hearings, the Commission withdrew the authority formerly granted New England Power to export its hydroelectric energy, and ordered the company to "make arrangements to sell the previously exported hydroelectric energy to persons, utilities and municipalities within the State of New Hampshire . . . ." 2 In its report accompanying the order, [455 U.S. 331, 336] the Commission found that New Hampshire's population and energy needs were increasing rapidly; that, primarily because of its low "generating mix" of hydroelectric energy, the Public Service Company of New Hampshire, the State's largest electric utility, had generating costs about 25% higher than those of New England Power; and that if New England Power's hydroelectric energy were sold exclusively in New Hampshire, New Hampshire customers could save approximately $25 million a year. The Commission therefore concluded that New England Power's hydroelectric energy was "required for use within the State" of New Hampshire, and that discontinuation of its exportation would serve the "public good." App. to Juris. Statement in No. 80-1208, pp. 25-39.
The Commission did not, however, order New England Power to sever its connections with the Power Pool. So long as the electricity produced at New England Power's hydroelectric plants continues to flow through the Pool's regional transmission network, it will be impossible to contain that electricity within the State of New Hampshire in any physical sense. Although the precise contours of the Commission's order are unclear, it appears to require that New England Power sell electricity to New Hampshire utilities in an amount equal to the output of its in-state hydroelectric facilities, at special rates adjusted to reflect the entire savings attributable to the low-cost hydroelectric generation. 3 [455 U.S. 331, 337]
New England Power, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Dennis J. Roberts II, Attorney General of Rhode Island, appealed the Commission's order to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. They contended that the order was pre-empted by Parts I and II of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791a-824k (1976 ed. and Supp. IV), and imposed impermissible burdens on interstate commerce. The court rejected these arguments, concluding that the "saving clause" of 201(b) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 824(b) (1976 ed., Supp. IV), granted New Hampshire authority to restrict the interstate transportation of hydroelectric power generated within the State. Appeal of New England Power Co., 120 N. H. 866, 876-877, 424 A. 2d 807, 814 (1980). 4 The court further held that the New Hampshire Commission's order did not interfere with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's exclusive regulatory authority over rates charged for interstate sales of electricity at wholesale. It thus remanded the case to permit the parties to "develop the mechanics of implemention" of the New [455 U.S. 331, 338] Hampshire Commission's order, and mandated that New England Power "make appropriate adjustments and filings with the appropriate federal and State administrative agencies to enable New Hampshire to regain the benefit of its hydroelectric power." Id., at 878-879, 424 A. 2d, at 815. 5
We noted probable jurisdiction, 451 U.S. 981 (1981), and we reverse.
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire recognized that, absent authorizing federal legislation, it would be "questionable" whether a state could constitutionally restrict interstate trade in hydroelectric power. 120 N. H., at 876, 424 A. 2d, at 814. Our cases consistently have held that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, Art. I, 8, cl. 3, precludes a state from mandating that its residents be given a preferred right of access, over out-of-state consumers, to natural resources located within its borders or to the products derived therefrom. E. g., Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322 (1979); Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U.S. 553 (1923); West v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 221 U.S. 229 (1911). Only recently, in Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617, 627 (1978), we reiterated that "[t]hese cases stand for the basic principle that a `State is without power to prevent privately owned articles of trade from being shipped and sold in interstate commerce on the ground that they are required to satisfy local demands or because they are needed by the people of the State'" (quoting Foster-Fountain Packing Co. v. Haydel, 278 U.S. 1, 10 (1928)). 6 [455 U.S. 331, 339]
The order of the New Hampshire Commission, prohibiting New England Power from selling its hydroelectric energy outside the State of New Hampshire, is precisely the sort of protectionist regulation that the Commerce Clause declares off-limits to the states. The Commission has made clear that its order is designed to gain an economic advantage for New Hampshire citizens at the expense of New England Power's customers in neighboring states. Moreover, it cannot be disputed that the Commission's "exportation ban" places direct and substantial burdens on transactions in interstate commerce. See Public Utilities Comm'n v. Attleboro Steam & Electric Co., 273 U.S. 83 (1927). Such state-imposed burdens cannot be squared with the Commerce Clause when they serve only to advance "simple economic protectionism." Philadelphia v. New Jersey, supra, at 624.
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire nevertheless upheld the order of the New Hampshire Commission on the ground that 201(b) of the Federal Power Act expressly permits the State to prohibit the exportation of hydroelectric power produced within its borders. It is indeed well settled [455 U.S. 331, 340] that Congress may use its powers under the Commerce Clause to "[confer] upon the States an ability to restrict the flow of interstate commerce that they would not otherwise enjoy." Lewis v. BT Investment Managers, Inc., 447 U.S. 27, 44 (1980). See Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, 325 U.S. 761, 769 (1945). The dispositive question, however, is whether Congress in fact has authorized the states to impose restrictions of the sort at issue here.
The national concern for planning, development, and comprehensive utilization of the country's water resources was very early expressed by Congress under its Commerce Clause powers. The Federal Water Power Act, now Part I of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791a-823 (1976 ed. and Supp. IV), was enacted in 1920. The potential of water power as a source of electric energy led Congress to exercise its constitutional authority over navigable streams to regulate and encourage development of hydroelectric power generation "to meet the needs of an expanding economy." FPC v. Union Electric Co., 381 U.S. 90, 99 (1965).
In 1935, Congress enacted Part II of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 824-824k (1976 ed. and Supp. IV), which delegated to the Federal Power Commission, now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, exclusive authority to regulate the transmission and sale at wholesale of electric energy in interstate commerce, without regard to the source of production. United States v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California, 345 U.S. 295 (1953). The 1935 enactment was a "direct result" of this Court's holding in Public Utilities Comm'n v. Attleboro Steam & Electric Co., supra, that the states lacked power to regulate the rates governing interstate sales of electricity for resale. United States v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California, supra, at 311. Part II of the Act was intended to "fill the gap" created by Attleboro by establishing exclusive federal jurisdiction over such sales. 345 U.S., at 307 -311. [455 U.S. 331, 341]
Section 201(b) of the Act provides, inter alia, that the provisions of Part II "shall not . . . deprive a State or State commission of its lawful authority now exercised over the exportation of hydroelectric energy which is transmitted across a State line." However, this provision is in no sense an affirmative grant of power to the states to burden interstate commerce "in a manner which would otherwise not be permissible." Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona ex rel. Sullivan, supra, at 769. In 201(b), Congress did no more than leave standing whatever valid state laws then existed relating to the exportation of hydroelectric energy; by its plain terms, 201(b) simply saves from pre-emption under Part II of the Federal Power Act such state authority as was otherwise "lawful." The legislative history of the Act likewise indicates that Congress intended only that its legislation "tak[e] no authority from State commissions." H. R. Rep. No. 1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 8 (1935) (emphasis added). Nothing in the legislative history or language of the statute evinces a congressional intent "to alter the limits of state power otherwise imposed by the Commerce Clause," United States v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California, supra, at 304, or to modify the earlier holdings of this Court concerning the limits of state authority to restrain interstate trade. E. g., Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U.S. 553 (1923); West v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 221 U.S. 229 (1911). Rather, Congress' concern was simply "to define the extent of the federal legislation's pre-emptive effect on state law." Lewis v. BT Investment Managers, Inc., supra, at 49. 7
To support its argument to the contrary, New Hampshire relies on a single statement made on the floor of the House of [455 U.S. 331, 342] Representatives during the debates preceding enactment of Part II. Congressman Rogers of New Hampshire stated:
Reliance on such isolated fragments of legislative history in divining the intent of Congress is an exercise fraught with hazards, and "a step to be taken cautiously." Piper v. Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., 430 U.S. 1, 26 (1977); United States v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California, supra, at 319-321 (Jackson, J., concurring). However, even were we to accord significant weight to Congressman Rogers' statement, it would not support New Hampshire's contention that 201(b) was intended to permit states to regulate free from Commerce Clause restraint. Congressman Rogers simply urged his colleagues not to "deprive" the State of New Hampshire of "rights" it already possessed - i. e., to ensure that the Act itself would not be read as pre-empting otherwise valid state legislation.
To be sure, some Members of Congress may have thought that no further protection of state authority was needed. 8 [455 U.S. 331, 343] Indeed, given that the Commerce Clause - independently of the Federal Power Act - restricts the ability of the states to regulate matters affecting interstate trade in hydroelectric energy, 201(b) may in fact save little in the way of "lawful" state authority. 9 But when Congress has not "expressly stated its intent and policy" to sustain state legislation from attack under the Commerce Clause, Prudential Ins. Co. v. Benjamin, 328 U.S. 408, 427 , 431 (1946), we have no authority to rewrite its legislation based on mere speculation as to what Congress "probably had in mind." See United States v. Public Utilities Comm'n of California, 345 U.S., at 319 (Jackson, J., concurring); see also id., at 311. We must construe 201(b) as it is written, and as its legislative history indicates it was intended - as a standard "nonpre-emption" clause. 10 [455 U.S. 331, 344]
We conclude, therefore, that New Hampshire has sought to restrict the flow of privately owned and produced electricity in interstate commerce, in a manner inconsistent with the Commerce Clause. Section 201(b) of the Federal Power Act does not provide an affirmative grant of authority to the State to do so. For these reasons, the judgment of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
[ Footnote 2 ] The order reads: "ORDERED, that the permission granted New England Power Company (NEPCO) to transmit hydroelectric energy from within the boundaries of the State to outside the State is hereby withdrawn as of thirty (30) days from the date of this Order; and it is "FURTHER ORDERED, that NEPCO make arrangements to sell the previously exported hydroelectric energy to persons, utilities and municipalities [455 U.S. 331, 336] within the State of New Hampshire within thirty (30) days of the date of this Order; and it is "FURTHER ORDERED, that upon the completion of both units at Seabrook the Commission will again re-examine the issue of exportation."
[ Footnote 3 ] For example, the Commission's staff economist testified at the hearings that New England Power could "allocate the benefits of low-cost hydroelectric power to New Hampshire through billing mechanisms" pursuant to which the power would be sold in New Hampshire at "economic cost" - i. e., the cost of producing the power, including depreciation, plus a return on invested capital. App. 38a-39a. The economist's analysis of the [455 U.S. 331, 337] benefits which would ensue from restricting the "exportation" of hydroelectric energy in this manner - upon which the New Hampshire Commission relied heavily in its report - was based on the assumption that New England Power would simply enter into new unit power contracts with New Hampshire utilities for an amount of kilowatt hours equal to New England Power's average hydroelectric generation over the course of a number of years. 3 Tr. of Hearings before the N. H. Public Utilities Comm'n in DE 79-223, pp. 23-24, 1-35. Although the record is not entirely clear on this point, it appears that the "economic benefit," or "savings," attributable to New England Power's hydroelectric facilities is currently reflected in the company's general wholesale rates, and thus shared pro rata by its customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. App. 15a-18a. See also Brief for Appellant in No. 80-1208, p. 7.
[ Footnote 4 ] The court also dismissed several arguments advanced only by appellants Massachusetts and Roberts - that 201(b), as so interpreted, exceeded Congress' power under the Commerce Clause, Art. I, 8, cl. 3, and violated both the Privileges and Immunities Clause, Art. IV, 2, cl. 1, and the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution.
[ Footnote 5 ] The parties inform us that the New Hampshire Commission has refrained from acting on remand pending this Court's disposition of the appeals.
[ Footnote 6 ] We find no merit in New Hampshire's attempt to distinguish these cases on the ground that it "owns" the Connecticut River, the source of New England Power's hydroelectricity. Whatever the extent of the State's proprietary interest in the river, the pre-eminent authority to regulate [455 U.S. 331, 339] the flow of navigable waters resides with the Federal Government, United States v. Twin City Power Co., 350 U.S. 222 (1956), which has licensed New England Power to operate its Connecticut River hydroelectric plants pursuant to a determination that those facilities are "best adapted to a comprehensive plan for improving or developing a waterway or waterways for the use or benefit of interstate or foreign commerce," 16 U.S.C. 803(a). New Hampshire's purported "ownership" of the Connecticut River therefore provides no justification for restricting or conditioning the use of these federally licensed units. See First Iowa Hydro-Electric Co-operative v. FPC, 328 U.S. 152 (1946). Moreover, New Hampshire has done more than regulate use of the resource it assertedly owns; it has restricted the sale of electric energy, a product entirely distinct from the river waters used to produce it. See Utah Power & Light Co. v. Pfost, 286 U.S. 165, 179 -181 (1932). This product is manufactured by a private corporation using privately owned facilities. Thus, New Hampshire's reliance on Reeves, Inc. v. Stake, 447 U.S. 429 (1980) - holding that a state may confine to its residents the sale of products it produces - is misplaced.
[ Footnote 7 ] Indeed, had Congress intended 201(b) to confer upon the states powers which they would have lacked in the absence of the federal legislation, it would have been anomalous to speak in terms of "authority now exercised." This language plainly assumes the prior existence of valid state authority; in addition, it appears to limit the saving effect of the provision to those few States in which the authority was in fact "exercised" in 1935.
[ Footnote 8 ] On the other hand, it would not have been at all unusual had Congress taken care that the 1935 enactment not displace state authority in the area, [455 U.S. 331, 343] without consideration of the scope of that authority or the extent to which it might be constrained by other provisions of federal law. See Milwaukee v. Illinois, 451 U.S. 304, 329 , n. 22 (1981).
[ Footnote 9 ] We need not speculate here as to the precise contours of 201(b)'s saving effect.
[ Footnote 10 ] Even were we to conclude that Congress intended 201(b) to override restraints placed on state regulatory power by the Commerce Clause, there would remain a substantial question whether the order of the New Hampshire Commission was entitled to protection under that provision. Section 201(b) seeks to protect only state regulation relating to the "exportation" of hydroelectric power. However, New England Power cannot terminate its out-of-state transmission of hydroelectricity without substantial alterations in the regional transmission system to which its hydroelectric facilities are connected - alterations which the New Hampshire Commission did not appear to contemplate would be made. Appeal of New England Power Co., 120 N. H. 866, 876-877, 424 A. 2d 807, 814 (1980). The operative effect of the Commission's order would be to compel New England Power to enter into new wholesale contracts with New Hampshire utilities, at rates fixed by the New Hampshire Commission to reflect the "economic cost" of the company's hydroelectric production. See supra, at 336, and n. 3. Appellants argue that such state regulation is incompatible with Part II of the Federal Power Act - which vests in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission exclusive ratemaking jurisdiction [455 U.S. 331, 344] over "the sale of electric energy at wholesale in interstate commerce," 16 U.S.C. 824(b), 824d-824f (1976 ed. and Supp. IV) - and conflicts directly with 205(b) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 824d(b), which prohibits utilities from maintaining "any unreasonable difference in rates . . . as between localities" with respect to sales subject to federal jurisdiction. Given our holding that the New Hampshire Commission's order violates the Commerce Clause, we need not decide this issue. [455 U.S. 331, 345]


text: An estimated one in 10 Americans suffer from depression, and other mood disorders are on the rise. Henry Acosta, 42, had been struggling with depression since he was a teenager. "At the age of 16 I was having thoughts of hurting myself and actually had a suicide attempt that ended up in a psychiatric hospitalization," Acosta said. "I've been through many headaches in my personal life because of the untreated depression; its manifested itself in many different ways." But a new technology is helping Acosta take control of his condition when symptoms arise. Dr. Gerald Hurowitz, a psychiatrist based in New York City, designed the MyM3 app, which measures the risk of mood and anxiety disorders--from the privacy of your own phone. Hurowitz said the screening tool is the first of its kind. "Never before has there been a single screen. One that is computerized, which can measure not just depression, but also anxiety disorders, PTSD, and bipolar disorder," he said. "So it's really revolutionary in that sense." By answering a series of questions about feelings and lifestyle, the patient is given a score. "And it's somewhat akin to trying to monitor cholesterol, which most of us now know should be below 200," Hurowitz said. "The M3 has a score, a total score of 33, above which you have a greater risk of having a mood or anxiety disorder." After recently dealing with some highly stressful personal issues, like a cancer scare, Acosta took the M3 test, and said it was a real eye-opener. "I scored pretty high for depression, pretty high for anxiety, and also the suicide risk was there because I had been having those thoughts, (and) seeing it on paper, really made me wake up," he said. After generating a score, the screening tool provides resources for help, and in extreme cases, a direct call button to a suicide hotline. Patients can then print out the results and bring them directly to their doctor. Acosta said he feels one of the best features of the MyM3 app is being able to use it privately. "I think it does remove that issue of the stigma because again you can take it from home, and then you can start that conversation with your primary care physician," Acosta said. Source

subset: commoncrawl


text:
50°16' / 22°25'
Translation of Lizhansk chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Polin
Translation of Lizhansk chapter from
Published by Yad Vashem
Published in Jerusalem
Published in Jerusalem
Project Coordinator
Marc Zell
Translated and submitted to the Yizkor Book Project by Marc Zell
Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.
This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland,
Volume III, pages 232-236, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
[Pages 232-236]
Caption: Lezajsk The Mausoleum over the Grave of Rabbi Elimelech of Lezajsk,
which was erected in 1960 on its original site that was destroyed during the Second World War.
Caption: Nowi Sancz Front Page of the Weekly Newspaper Sandzer Zeitung, 6 May 1910
Lezajsk is located in the San River valley some six kilometers from the river. The place was known from the beginning of the 14th century as crown city. In 1397 Lezajsk was granted the status of a city under the Magdeburg Law. From the 15th to the 18th centuries the important commercial Lwow Sandomierz route made its way through Lezajsk. In the beginning Lezajsk was situated on both banks of the River San (in lieu of today's villages of Stary-Miasto and Korilowka), but after the Tartar invasion in 1524 King Sygmund the Elder moved the city to its present location, which was more easily fortified and defended. In the years afterwards permission was granted to build royal granaries in the city as well as boats and barges that carried goods to Gdansk. The city was also granted the privilege of warehousing transit goods and its residents were given a priority right to purchase the same and to hold annual trade fairs and weekly markets. Lezajsk was damaged along with the other cities of the region as the result of the many wars that beset the city (the war between the elders of Lezajsk and the lords of Lancut, 1607 1610; the Swedish wars in 1702-1704; World War I) and epidemics and fires (in 1906 alone more than 200 homes were destroyed by fire). Nevertheless the city learned how to recover from natural disasters and developed even more strongly in their wake. Its geographic location was among the factors that contributed to its survival and success.
Starting in the 17th century the Bernardine Monastery in Lezajsk held fixed festivals for the purpose of expiating sins. During these days masses of Catholic believers entered the city and the occasion was used to hold large trade fairs.
In the 18th and 19th centuries Lezajsk was a center for the manufacture of course wool fabrics. Many inhabitants of Lezajsk earned their living in the estate industries [?] of Count Potocki that were located in the vicinity of the town. Towards the end of the 19th century Lezajsk was connected to the Rzerzow Lublin railroad line.
From the end of the 18th century until 1939 Lezajsk was a pilgrimage destination for large numbers of Jews from Galicia and beyond, particularly on the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Elimelech of Lezajsk (21 Adar), which was also the occasion for local artisans and merchants, Jewish as well as Christian, to hold a kind of trade fair. They used to set up stalls next to the Jewish cemetery and sell goods and products as well as foodstuffs that were customary at fairs and that had been prepared weeks and even months prior to the Yahrzeit.
The first clear reference to Jews residing permanently in Lezajsk comes from the year 1521. In 1538 seven Jewish families paid a tax to the King's treasury for the homes they occupied. In 1633 Joel ben Yosef and his mother Esther submitted a petition to the King asking to be exempted from paying taxes after they returned and built their home which had been destroyed in the fires of the previous year. The King granted their petition and used this opportunity to confirm the long-standing right of the Jews of Lezajsk to build houses on the Jewish Street and to buy homes from the Christians. A tax exemption for the synagogue and the cemetery was also confirmed. The privileges of the Jews were reconfirmed by King Jan Sobieski III in 1685 and by the last King of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski in 1765. According to these privileges the Jews of Lezajsk were granted the right to purchase lots and to build homes on the market square, to trade on weekdays and on market days and to sell alcoholic beverages. Taxes similar to those levied on the Christian inhabitants were imposed on the Jews.
The Jewish community of Lezajsk already had organized institutions by the beginning of the 17th century. In the old section of the Jewish cemetery tombstones bearing dates from this period could still be found during the period between the two world wars. At first the Jewish community was subordinate to the Jewish community in Przemysl, but in 1718 it was liberated from the latter's control and became independent within the Przemysl District in the State of Reissin. That same year the Council of the Four Lands ruled that the Jewish community of Lezajsk and the surrounding areas subject to it had to pay 1,000 gold zlotys annually to the Council's treasury a sum of money that it was obligated to pay prior to its separation from Przemysl. The regulation was signed by Rabbi Shmuel ben Shimon Wolf of Lezajsk. It is possible that the latter served as Chief Rabbi of the city at the time or was the leader (parnas) of the community.
Among the first rabbis of Lezajsk known to us are Rabbi Yehoshua Kahana and Rabbi Ze'ev Wulf Eliezer, author of the Lashon Hazahav. The latter probably served in Lezajsk from about the middle of the 18th century to his death in 1793. During his tenure in Lezajsk, Rabbi Elimelekh ben Eliezer Lippman established his residence in the city around the year 1772. During his life Rabbi Elimelekh spread the reputation of the Jewish community of Lezajsk throughout Eastern European Jewry. After his death, the mausoleum that was erected over his grave became a destination for pilgrimages for masses of Jews until the Holocaust. Rabbi Elimelekh of Lezajsk (as he came to be known in the history of Hasidism) was a disciple of the Great Magid of Mezritch. He and his brother, Rabbi Meshullam-Zushe of Anapoli, wandered far and wide to spread Hasidism among the Jewish communities. After the death of his Rebbe, the Magid Dov-Ber, Rabbi Elimelekh settled in Lezajsk which then became an important center of Hasidism. His many disciples spread Hasidism throughout Galicia and Congress Poland, among them the Seer of Lublin, Rabbi Mendel of Rimanow, the Magid of Kozhnitz, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasow, Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel of Apta, Rabbi Naftali of Rofshitz and others. Rabbi Elimelekh's essay, Noam Elimelekh at the time stirred up considerable controversy. His opponents claimed that it contained blasphemous material while Hasidim were impressed by it. Rabbi Elimelekh died in 1787 and his place in Lezajsk was inherited by his son, Rabbi Eliezer who disseminated his father's teachings and published his writings. Rabbi Eliezer died in 1806 and was replaced by Rabbi Naftali Weissblum. The latter refused to become a Master (Admor) to his Hasidim and from this time onward the number of members of this Hasidic dynasty gradually decreased and its importance among the other Masters of the other Hasidic dynasties contracted. Rabbi Naftali dies in 1838.
During the early years of Austrian rule a very heavy tax burden was imposed on the Jews of Lezajsk along with the rest of the Jews of Galicia. In 1781 there were 527 Jewish taxpayers (i.e. wage-earners) in Lezajsk; 205 of them were obligated to pay less than 25 gulden per year. We can learn from these statistics that most of the Jews of Lezajsk were quite poor. 110 of them barely earned a livelihood and only 13, that is a negligible percentage of all the wage-earners could be counted as well-off. The Jews found it difficult to bear the tax burden and that very year they were unable to meet the property tax charge of 32 gulden. The response of the Jewish community to the government's plan to resettle Jews in the villages is of particular interest. Most of the Jewish communities avoided having to implement the program. But in 1789, the Lezajsk Jewish community submitted a petition to the Emperor's court in which it proposed 70 Jewish families from Lezajsk (probably the poorest member or sub-tenants) on lands adjacent to the city and even undertook to reimburse the expenses related to this resettlement activity. At first the resettlement was to take place in the village of Luchow which was rather distant from Lezajsk. The Jewish community of Lezajsk appealed this decision in an additional petition to the Emperor, on whose behalf land more closely situated to the city were designated for resettlement of the Jews. However, in the meantime, this area was occupied by German settlers and the Jewish community's initiative for the resettlement of Jews in the villages within the framework of the general program was never implemented. During the years 1775 1804 seven Jewish families out of a quota of nine that had been set for Lezajsk did relocate to villages in eastern Galicia.
In the first half of the 19th century the Jewish settlement in Lezajsk did not expand. The community was considered rather poor and the annual salary of the City Rabbi was fixed at only 60 florins by the government. However, the greatest development from the standpoint of the size of the population of the Jewish community occurred in the 1880s. In addition to minor commerce, trade in area trade fairs and work in the trades, several dozens of well-to-do Lezajsk Jews earned their living at that time by leasing the estates of Count Potocki in the city and its environs, especially in leasing the timber lands for lumber production and marketing of corn. The Jews built a saw-mill and several brick factories. Thus, many of Lezajsk's Jews, particularly the peddlers and the stall-owners, received income for a considerable time from providing services, such as supply of food and lodging to thousands of pilgrims to the tomb of Rabbi Elimelekh. The Yahrzeit of this Hasidic tzaddik (21 Adar) was a source of support for the poorest of the community for several months.
The decline in the size of the Jewish population of Lezajsk that began in the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was caused primarily by emigration overseas. This emigration also accelerated following the fire of 1906 in which 200 Jewish homes were destroyed by fire. Two Jews were killed in the fire and property damages was estimated at about 2 million crowns. During the period of Austrian rule the following Rabbis served in Lezajsk: Rabbi Naftali Hertz ben Sharol Harif; Rabbi David ben Shlomo Yitzhak Halperin-Weingarten (d. 1815); Rabbi Shmuel Nahum ben Kehat Gassenbauer, author of the Nevel Asor, Droshei Hefetz, and Migdal Shen, from 1856 to his death in 1857; Rabbi Yehoshua Ephraim ben Yehuda Tzvi Bombach, author of Pnei Efraim, from 1858 1863; Rabbi Joel-Moshe Landa and Rabbi Moshe Barzap. After the latter's death around the beginning of the 20th century a dispute broke out regarding the succession to the Chief Rabbinate of Lezajsk. It was only in 1910 that the grandson of Rabbi Joel Moshe, Rabbi Yehezkel Landa, was appointed Chief Rabbi; he was the last Rabbi of Lezajsk (d. 1937). In 1877 Rabbi Shmuel Yeshayahu (or Yehoshua) ben Shlomo-Zalman Birnbaum, known as the Tzicher, was accepted as the Judge and Teacher and later President of the Bet Din of Lezajsk. He served in this position for more than 60 years (d. 1938). At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the Admor Rabbi Elimelekh Weissblum (known as Rabbi Melekh Dubchis), grandson of Rabbi Naftali (grandson of the author of Noam Elimelekh) and his school settled in Lezajsk and held court there. Rabbi Hanna Weissblum who also had a school (kloyz) known as the Rabbi Hannah's Kloyz and later Rabbi Baruch's Kloyz also settled in Lezajsk. Rabbi Hanna died in 1923.
The Jewish community in those days was entirely Hasidic in its orientation and thus it is no wonder that there was no place there for the development of the Zionist movement. It is reported though that in 1912 a local committee of the General Zionist Federation of Western Galicia existed in the city, but we have no record of its activities. At that time several members of the learned professions (attorneys and doctors) settled in Lezajsk. One of them, Advocate Arnold Berger, founded a Jewish library in 1900, but few were able to take advantage of it. In 1909 it is reported that courses in the Hebrew language were offered in the town, but two years later it was reported to the General Zionist Federation in Jaroslavl that there was no Jewish school in Lezajsk because most of the city's Jews are ultra-orthodox and very conservative.
In the first years after the end of the war, the Joint Distribution Committee arrived to assist the Jews. Food and clothing were distributed, especially for the children, a public kitchen was set up and medicine was handed out free of charge to those in need. The Joint gave financial support to the consumer cooperative, The Association, which was established by Jewish tradesmen and workers. The Cooperative had 396 members and distributed foodstuffs and clothing at low prices to needy Jews.
In 1921 some 58 Jewish-owned workshops and light industry were operating in Lezajsk, employing 106 people, including 76 proprietors and family members, the rest being paid workers, 24 of whom were Jews. There were 23 enterprises in the clothing sector tailors, hatters and shoemakers and 17 in the food sector. A negligible percentage of the those engaged in these enterprises were paid workers. During the same period almost all commerce was in the hands of the Jews. With the exception of several stores and taverns, most of the Jewish merchants earned their living from grocery stores while still more made a living from stalls or peddling in the villages. Among the more well-to-do in the Jewish community were, in addition to several wholesalers, lessees of Count Potocki's steam plant and saw-mill. In these enterprises the tenants also hired Jewish clerks and workers. Among the Jewish professional intelligentsia who settled in Lezajsk between the wars were eight attorneys, two physicians, three dentists or dental clinicians and one veterinarian.
About half of the Jewish population in Lezajsk barely was able to earn a livelihood and many needed public assistance. From 1927 the Gemilut Hasadim Fund which had existed for some time was supported by funds from the Joint. In 1929 this Fund made 60 loans totaling 5,238 zlotys. In 1938 the Fund received a grant of $150 from the Lezajsk Landsmanschaft in the United States. A Jewish Bank operated for some time in Lezajsk, which extended credit to more well off Jewish wage-earners. A very special fund was established in Lezajsk in the first years following World War I, known as Anfertig Gelt. This fund distributed gifts and food stamps to the flotsam and jetsam so that they would not harass local residents when they returned home. But the problem of beggars was not solved. The latter flooded Lezajsk during the festivities for Rabbi Elimelekh, crowded into the Jewish cemetery and asked for handouts from pilgrims. In the period between the wars branches of all the various streams of the Zionist Federation in Poland were established in Lezajsk. The most powerful of these branches were the General Zionists followed by the Mizrachi organization. The oldest of the Zionist youth organizations was the Shomer Hatzair(established in 1924) and the largest of them in terms of numbers was the Akiva organization set up in 1932 after the chapter of the Noar Ha'ivri split into the Noar Hazioni and the Akiva. Besides these the following youth organizations also were active in Lezajsk: Tz'irei Ha-Mizrachi, Hashomer Hadati, Beitar, and Gordonia. Tz'irei Ha-Mizrachi organized a small training kibbutz in Lezajsk in the 1930s. The Mizrachi organization had its own prayer house. In the elections to the Zionist Congress in 1935 the votes were as follows: General Zionists 170; Mizrachi 79; Eretz Yisrael Ovedet 54; Miflagat Hamedina 4. A branch of Agudat Yisrael was also active in Lezajsk and its own prayer house. There was a constant battle between the Zionists, Agudat Yisrael and the various Hasidic sects in the Jewish Community Council. In 1924 the Zionist prevailed in the elections, but the lobbying efforts of the Admor Rabbi Menashe Horowitz prevented the Council from forming and the government had to appoint a commissioner. In the 1930 elections the members of the Agudat Yisrael and the Hasidim prevailed and a chairman of the Council representing them was elected. In 1938 the Zionists returned and prevailed, but in 1939 the Council was dissolved and the government had to appoint a commissioner. There was an almost permanent Jewish representation on the City Council of four persons. The representation consisted of three attorneys and one merchant.
After the death of Rabbi Yehezkel Landa in 1937 no Chief Rabbi for the city was chosen. The position of Bet Din President Rabbi Shmuel Birnbaum was inherited by Menashe Frankel after the former's death in 1938. From 1923 Rabbi Baruch ben Naftali Horowitz was Admor of the Miletz Chasidim, having taken over from his father-in-law Rabbi Hana Weissblum. During the Second World War Rabbi Baruch was deported to Siberia and afterwards made his way to the United States where he died in 1954. In 1930 Admor Rabbi Menashe ben Tzi Hirsh Horowitz relocated to Lezajsk. Rabbi Menashe administered his community of Hasidim from his Kloyz in the Rozvadow House. He was killed in 1942.
In the inter-War period four Jewish educational institutions functioned in Lezajsk. The Talmud Torah was established before the First World War and had more than 100 pupils. At the end of the War a complementary public school known as Hasharon was founded by Tarbut. In 1923 it had 108 boy and girl pupils, taught by two teachers in two classrooms. By 1926 the number of pupils had risen to 165, learning in four classrooms under six teachers. The Mizrachi opened its Yavneh School in Lezajsk and Agudat Yisrael opened its Beit Yaakov school for girls.
In addition to the library which was opened in 1900 by Dr. Berger, a Public Library was opened in 1926 under the auspices of The Association. The reading rooms of this library served also as locations for various cultural activities such as: lectures, amateur theater productions and others.
On the second day of Rosh Hashana 5700 soldiers of the Wehrmacht broke into the great synagogue and kidnapped Jews for forced labor. On the evening of the same day, the Germans burned down the synagogue along with prayer-houses in its vicinity.
The days afterwards were marked by the theft of Jewish property by German soldiers and by the local rabble. The movement of Jews was restricted. There were ordered to wear a white ribbon with a Star of David on their arm. The condition of the ultra-orthodox and Jews with beards was especially difficult. They became the objects of abuse by the Germans.
On the eve of Sukkot of the same year the German authorities ordered the deportation of the Jews from the city. All members of the Jewish community were required to congregate in the market square and those who did not report were removed from their homes by the Germans and brought to the assembly square. Nevertheless, several families did not show up. They were in hiding in nearby villages. The march of the Jews of Lezajsk began at the market square towards the San. A few of them hired wagons to make it easier for the sick, old and the children, but most made their way on foot. The German guards were cruel to those in the procession. On the way and before they reached Soviet territory the Germans searched all the possessions of the Jews and robbed them of their remaining property. The Jews were brought to the river to the place where a bridge had stood before September and which had been demolished by the retreating Polish army. There the deportees from Lezajsk had to look for other means of crossing to the eastern bank of the River San. Some of them hired barges from Ukrainian farmers and were transported to the Soviet side for large sums of money which they had succeeded in concealing. There were those who crossed the water on foot and by swimming. In Eastern Galicia the Lezajsk refugees were scattered to different towns and in the summer of 1940 they were deported throughout the Soviet Union.
In January 1940 about 40 Jewish families had gathered in Lezajsk. These had managed to escape at the time of the deportation from the city and were augmented by Jews from the nearby villages who had been brought to Lezajsk at the direction of the Germans. These remnants were concentrated by the Germans on Boznica Street, the street on which the synagogue had once been located and became a kind of Jewish Quarter where the Jews were permitted at least temporarily to leave during the morning hours to provision themselves with food. Jewish homes which had been left vacant after the vast majority of the Jewish community had been expelled to the other side of the San were now occupied by Poles. The nicest homes were seized by the Germans.
A Judenrat was formed in the Jewish Quarter headed by Feivel Wagner and assisted by Shmuel Ozer and Leibele Katz. The Juderat was charged with supplying people for forced labor. The Germans also required the Judenrat to dig up tombstones from the Jewish cemetery and use them to pave the market square. During the course of 1941 the Jewish Quarter was transformed into a sealed ghetto from which exit was permitted only with special permits and then only for purposes of labor. Jews caught outside the ghetto without a permit were imprisoned in the city jail. It is known that six Jews were executed in the jail yard.
In September 1942 the ghetto was liquidated. Its residents were transferred to the ghetto at Tarnogrod and the fate of the Jews there became their fate as well. Many of these met their end in the death camp at Belżec.
During the liquidation of the ghetto several families went into hiding with their Christian acquaintances, but some of them were discovered by informants and executed. Among the Poles who hid Jews were: D. Zawilski. The hunt for the hidden Jews continued until the final days of the occupation. The Germans murdered on the spot anyone they discovered. Graves of those who had been murdered scattered all over the city. After the liberation several Jews returned to Lezajsk (according to one source there were nine such returnees). They were living in one house. One night a grenade was thrown into the house and several of the Jewish survivors were killed. It is likely that the act was perpetrated by local residents who were afraid that the survivors would demand the return of their homes and property.
Archive of the Gordonia-Maccabi Youth, Hulda: 28/6
Archive of Yad Vashem: JM/1823; JM/1824; M-1/E 1547/1433; M-1/E 2061/1864; M-1/E2297/2329; M-1/Q 1420/201; M-1/Q 1539/1297; M-1/Q 1942/448; 03/3433; 012/50; 021/17.
Archive of YIVO: ADRP 49 E.
Central Archive of the History of the Jewish People: HM/7099; HM/7101; HM/7102; HM/7921; HM/2/703-1
Central Zionist Archive: A/214-6; Z-3/152; Z-3/820; Z-4/234; Z-6/2181.
AJDC Archives: Countries: Poland, Cult Rel. 342, 344a; Localities 222;Reconstruction 319.
Memorial Book for the Martyrs of Lezajsk Killed in the Shoah, Tel-Aviv, 1970.
Tagblatt: 10 Apr. 1922; 3 Oct. 1924; 25 Dec. 1924;
Morgen: 10 Feb. 1921;
Mahzikei Hadat: 7 Feb. 1908; 21 Feb. 1908;
Hamitzpeh: 8 Jul 1904; 17 Aug. 1904; 6 Jan. 1905; 9 Feb. 1906; 27 Apr. 1906; 3 Aug. 1906;
Di Zionistishe Woch: 21 Apr. 1933.
Diwreij Akiva grudzien: 1933;
Hanoar grudzien 1931, styczen 1932, listopad 1932
Hanoar Hacijoni, 15 May 1935; 15 May 1936
Nasz Glos: 15 Jan. 1935
Nowy Dziennik 1 Jan. 1920; 27 May 1925; 30 Apr. 1926; 17 Feb. 1927; 16 May 1927; 11 Nov. 1922; 1 Mar. 1935; 17 Aug. 1939
S³owo Mod³ych: listopad 1938
Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page
Copyright © 1999-2023 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 3 May 2008 by MGH


text:
Kurt Nimmo
Police may solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States, but this is increasingly a meaningless formality for many of them.
For instance, a couple cops in Dallas County, Texas, arrived at Jon Locke's home to serve an arrest warrant on his brother, who wasn't there. Mr. Locke wasn't home either, but instead of coming back at a later time when somebody was home and asking about the brother, the police took it upon themselves to violate the Fourth Amendment and rifle through the homeowner's possessions. They went so far as to enter his home without a search warrant.
According to WFAA News in Dallas-Forth Worth, the homeowner no longer trusts the police and has decided to sell his house and move out of the area. "I don't feel safe here at all," he said. "We lost that trust in GPD [the Garland Police Department]. It's time for us to go,"
Prior to the Revolution, British officialdom used general warrants under Writs of Assistance to search the property of colonists for contraband, a practice that so outraged the founders they made certain the Fourth Amendment became a bedrock principle of the Bill of Rights. English common law of the period considered it trespass when officials and soldiers invaded homes without legal authorization. "The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defense against injury and violence as for his repose," Sir Edward Cooke declared in 1604, nearly two hundred years before the American Revolution.
Nowadays, instead of upholding constitutional law and respecting the principle of individual rights and British common law, the state is engaged in an organized fleecing of the public and conducts revenue enhancement operations often violating the Fourth Amendment with arrogant impunity. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are all but meaningless for federal, state and local government today.
Officer Friendly has been replaced with Officer Thug who not only violates the Constitution he is supposedly sworn to uphold, but also freely engages in sadistic and occasionally homicidal behavior when his petty power is challenged by citizens.


text:
Eldon RM 471, Saskatchewan, S0M, Canada
Charlow (Shiloh) Baptist Church and CemeteryShiloh Baptist Church & CemeteryShiloh Baptist Church
1912/01/01 to 1912/12/31
Charlow (Shiloh) Baptist Church and Cemetery is a Municipal Heritage Property occupying approximately one hectare of land in the Rural Municipality of Eldon No. 471, about 30 kilometres north of the Town of Maidstone. Nestled in a small grove of trees and shrubs, the property features a one-room log building, constructed in 1912, and an adjoining cemetery.
The heritage value of Charlow (Shiloh) Baptist Church and Cemetery resides in its association with the first Black community in Saskatchewan, which arrived from Oklahoma in 1910. Following the American Civil War, tens of thousands of former slaves began migrating to Oklahoma Territory, where they could vote, study, and live in relative freedom. The political situation changed in 1907 when Oklahoma achieved statehood and elected a segregationist state government. As a result, a small Black Baptist congregation from Oklahoma was drawn to Saskatchewan in search of a life free from segregation and racism. In 1910, with the promise of free land in Canada's west, about 12 Black families, many of whom were former slaves or descendants of former slaves, arrived in Saskatchewan and settled in the Eldon district. These original 12 founding families were the seeds around which a community of over fifty families would grow. In 1912, they constructed their one-room log church, which they named Shiloh Baptist Church. Constructed of dovetailed, hand-hewn square poplar logs hauled by ox cart from the North Saskatchewan river, and furnished with hand-made benches and a pulpit, the church was the focal point of community life and a vital social and religious centre for the close-knit Shiloh community. The only log church built by Black pioneers in Saskatchewan, it remained in active use until the mid-1940s, by which time the community had largely moved away.
Heritage value also lies in the property's status as the only African American cemetery in Saskatchewan. Used from 1913 to 1945, the cemetery holds what is believed to be 37 graves from the Shiloh community, which, according to custom, were originally marked by large stones at the head and foot of each grave. Today, marked by white wooden crosses, the cemetery remains an important bond between the original Shiloh community and its descendants.
Nestled in a grove of trees and shrubs, Charlow (Shiloh) Baptist Church and Cemetery stands as a symbol of the Black pioneers' faith, and desire to build a better life.
Rural Municipality of Eldon No. 471 Bylaw No. 114.
The heritage value of Charlow (Shiloh) Church and Cemetery resides in the following character-defining elements: -those elements that speak to the building's simple vernacular construction, including its one-room layout constructed of square logs, dove-tailed corner joints, fieldstone foundation, hip roof, and original hand-hewn benches; -the cemetery, with its arrangement of graves and grave markers, including any remaining original stone markers;-its original location in a small grove of trees and shrubs on a pastoral tract of land.
Local Governments (SK)
Heritage Property Act, s. 11(1)(a)
Municipal Heritage Property
1913/01/01 to 1945/12/31
Saskatchewan Ministry of Tourism, Parks, Culture and Sport
Heritage Resources Branch
1919 Saskatchewan Drive Regina, SK
File: MHP 439
Main Street and Second Avenue, St. Walburg, Saskatchewan
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church is a Municipal Heritage Property located at the…
937 East Railway Avenue, Edam, Saskatchewan
The Edam Café is a Municipal Heritage Property comprising a large commercial lot located on East…
Railway Avenue, Edam, Saskatchewan
The Canadian National Railways Station is a Municipal Heritage Property located on a large urban…
Administered by Parks Canada


text:
1-Mattis Justo Quam
1-consectetur. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit.
Climate Change and Evolution
Location: John S. Toll Science Center
CHESTERTOWN, MD—On Monday evening, April 8, the Joseph H. McLain Program in Environmental Studies will present "Climate Change – The Long & Short of It," a lecture by Washington College alumna Eileen D. Grogan '84. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall of the Toll Science Center. It is free and open to the public.
Through her informed evaluation as a university educator, evolutionary-developmental biologist and field researcher, Grogan approaches climate change with an understanding of both the short- and long-term data surrounding this controversial issue. She will explore the evidence of climate change in the history of life on earth and how it has been a factor in evolutionary change.
Grogan is a Professor of Biology at Saint Joseph's University, where she has taught courses in environmental and sustainability studies and environmental science. She received her B.A. in biology from Washington College, then went on to earn a master's in biology from Adelphi University, and Ph.D. in marine science from the College of William and Mary.


text:
To those who don't believe that BDS and other forms anti-Zionist agitation often lead to racism, here's a video posted today at the site of the Oxford University Student Union.
The Respect MP (and 'Comment is Free' contributor) had just begun to debate Eylon Aslan-Levy, a student at Brasenose, a constituent college of Oxford, on the motion 'Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank'.
Here's what transpired next.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzIXdQiaRBc&w=560&h=315]
Galloway had been "misled". He wouldn't have agreed to participate if he knew he was debating an Israeli. He said:
"I don't recognize Israel and I don't debate with Israelis.
(I guess we can assume his policy of exclusion doesn't extend to Muslim and Arab citizens of the state.)
So, out of a population of roughly 13.5 million Jews in the world, 6 million live in Israel.
George Galloway, who has paid homage to Saddam Hussein, "glorified" Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and even praised the Syrian butcher, Bashar al-Assad, doesn't respect 44% of the world's Jews.
Whilst there is always the danger of using gratuitous political analogies in even the most sincere attempts to characterize the extreme malevolence of the BDS movement, there is a passage in a book about European Jewish history I read a while back which used a darkly evocative term that seems, at least in this context, historically apt.
The book, 'The fate of European Jews', by Leni Yahil, characterized the effects of the Nuremberg Laws and other antisemitic measures enacted by Germany in the 1930s as condemning the nation's Jews to a "social death" – an idea which resonates at least when contextualizing the political objectives of some of the most extreme anti-Israel activists.
George Galloway, by, in effect, boycotting and refusing to recognize the moral legitimacy of Israelis (and not merely the state or its institutions), is attempting to consign six million Jewish men, women and children to pariah status, and social exclusion from the international community.
This is the hideously racist moral place the malign obsession with the Jewish state – often the sine qua non of the BDS movement – inevitably leads.
Related articles
- The Guardian deploys Tony Greenstein 'as-a-Jew' to defend the morally indefensible (cifwatch.com)
- An open letter to Harriet Sherwood, by Dr. Yakov Nagen (cifwatch.com)
- David Ward's Bulldozer (cifwatch.com)


text:
Brighton's i360 is facing yet more problems today as over 70 passengers demanded their money back after they were forced to endure 20 minutes in the enclosed pod with a man with severe and nauseating 'wind breaking' tendencies.
In a week which has seen the newly opened ride get stuck in the air and subsequently stay closed for two days this new incident could not have come at a worse time for the problem hit attraction. Passengers confronted staff and refused to leave the site until they were given compensation after their trip was ruined by a mans constant dropping of his guts. Order was only restored after the disgruntled passengers were offered a voucher for another ride and a free drink.
Louise Sunsil had traveled with her husband and two kids from Eastbourne as a treat for her birthday. She describes how the celebration, and the air, quickly turned sour, 'All was going fine, we boarded the pod and we were all really excited but about a minute in I noticed a horrible smell. To be honest I thought it was my husband but he protested his innocence, he thought it was funny at first but he soon changed his tune as it got worse. By about halfway up it was unbearable, I was constantly gagging, the kids were crying, my hubbies eyes were watering, one woman was physically sick on the floor. It was obvious who it was coming from there was this one guy who was smirking away to himself and no one would go near him. We were all packed over one side with our hands over our noses and he was on the other just letting rip at will. We begged the staff to take us back down but they said they couldn't, to be fair they were struggling just as much us. I have honestly never smelt anything like it, you could almost see it as it was so thick, I can still taste it at the back of my throat now' she said.
The Bulletin managed to track down man who subjected the passengers to the misery. The man from Croydon who asked not to named provided us the following statement – 'I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to all the passengers who had to put up with my arse blasts, I will admit they were some real crowd splitters, definitely the strongest I can ever remember doing. Me and my mates had been for a curry and then down to Brewdog for a skin full. F*** me that craft ale doesn't half play havoc with your guts. The next day they were all in bed being hungover but I didn't want to waste the day so I though feck it lets give that new tall thing a go. As soon as I stepped on I knew I had made a mistake, I tried to hold it in but it was no good. I was quite proud of the first couple but when people started to notice I did feel a bit bad especially when the woman was sick but by that point I was too far gone and I just couldn't stop them. When it finally came back down I thought I was going to be lynched so I got out of there sharpish and pegged it back to my hotel. I'm gutted I missed out on the free ride and drink to be fair.'
Staff on the i360 spent an hour going around the attraction with Glade air fresheners and it is now back open to the public.


text:
Researching one of the most significant employers and entities in the history of El Paso, Texas, was a challenge for University of Houston assistant professor Monica Perales. Despite the fact that generations of families had worked for the American Smelting and Refining Co., and that residents had created their own vibrant community around it, history books all but ignored its presence of nearly a century. Perales book "Smeltertown: Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community" aims to tell its important story.
"When you read the history of El Paso, it tends to be focused on the big movers and shakers, politicians and characters," Perales said. "This book is about what kind of history gets told. A history of El Paso and Smeltertown allows us to see an important role Mexicans played in developing the urban West."
Smeltertown (or La Esmelda) was the name residents gave to the area surrounding the smelter grounds in El Paso, established in the 1800s. Located on the banks of the Rio Grande River, generations of ethnic Mexicans came from various cities to labor as skimmers, punchers, machinists and other positions, all while building homes, raising families, worshiping God and establishing businesses in the shadow of the factory. Perales says what emerged over time was an sense of permanence, meaning and identity independent of the company, the city of El Paso, public schools and even the Catholic church (early residents referred to the local Smeltertown church not always by its formal name, but as Santa Rosalia to reflect their connection to the Mexican town from which many of them hailed).
"These were hard lives and an industry that, at times, was unpleasant to say the least, but it was also a place where people developed an attachment," she said. "The smelter has been closed for some time, but the stories people tell about it are strikingly positive, which says something deeper-that this place also provided support, identity and connectedness."
Perales relied heavily on oral histories, some from her own family, who told of working "in the bowels of Hell" in the factory smelting rooms, of planting flowers around their porch that overlooked the smokestacks, or how factory officials employed the local priest to help with misbehaving children. Additionally, Perales used newspaper articles, Census data, and papers from legal proceedings to piece together the story of Smeltertown. Information from employee records helped her mark job trends, pay scales, employee and employer residences and hometowns.
"The company gave me access to records from 1900-1960, and one resident had parish newsletters from the 1920s and 30s," she said. "I'd interview one person who would then put me in touch with a handful of other people. Smeltertown tells the story of who they are-then and now."
"This story reorients us in terms of what we think about borderland history and how these people played an integral role in the development of the industrial West," Perales said. "I see the people of Smeltertown as important historical actors. They're not presidents, popes or royalty, but everyday people who also made history. It's a big story. It's inspiring, and I'm humbled by it."


text:
Spotlight Article:
How to Future-Proof a Museum Collection
Larry Weingarten, longtime friend and contributor to Home Energy magazine, recently moved his Water Heater Museum from his home in Salinas, California, to a very special place on the East Coast. The museum had enjoyed ...
Keep Reading
How to Future-Proof a Museum Collection
Larry Weingarten, longtime friend and contributor to Home Energy magazine, recently moved his Water Heater Museum from his home in Salinas, California, to a very special place on the East Coast. The museum had enjoyed ... [continue reading]
If You Were Plumbing, How Much Beer Would You Hold?
You open the hot-water tap. Then you wait for the hot water to flow. How long? (Too long, according to most people, I say.) The time depends on flow rate, the amount of water in ... [continue reading]
A Solar-Assisted Heat Pump Water Heater
Water heating in residential buildings has become more important as the overall efficiency of buildings has improved over the last decade, with energy efficiency code requirements for A/C, lighting, and the building envelope. Modest ... [continue reading]
Heat Pump Water Heaters: Bring Them Upstairs?
Heat pump water heaters are seeing increasing use in homes. They go well with solar PV and so support strategic electrification to reduce carbon emissions. And they are more efficient than electric-resistance water heaters. Several ... [continue reading]
Builder-Installed Electrical Loads
Parts of the House That Stay On [continue reading]
Choices in PEX Manifold Systems
There are a number of ways to combine PEX tubing with manifolds to get better-than-normal hot-water delivery in a home. In the old days, manifolds were sometimes used with soft copper tubing, but as copper ... [continue reading]
Measured Performance of Ducted and Space-Coupled Heat Pump Water Heaters in a Cooling-Dominated Climate
The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, led by the Florida Solar Energy Center, investigated the effect of ducted and interior-located heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) on space-conditioning energy use and water-heating energy use ... [continue reading]
Water Heating in All-Electric Homes
When I started working in the home energy field (in the mid-1990s), I never imagined I'd be suggesting that all-electric homes could be among the most efficient, sustainable, and practical choices in ... [continue reading]
Building Performance Journal Editors
Our Blog Has Moved
Thanks for your interest in contributing a blog to the Building Performance Journal (formerly Home Energy magazine). We're ...
Jim Gunshinan
Is Energy Efficiency an American Value?
Energy efficiency is good for the economy, good for families, good for workers, and good for the environment.


text: [Andyk75] has done some fantastic work documenting his timelapse addition to his digital camera. Most of the more expensive models of cameras have a remote shutter release, but the point and shoot jobs usually don't. He decided to add the ability to turn the camera on, then shoot a picture, then turn it back off. Pretty smart, since these things tend to eat batteries pretty quickly if left on. He is using an ATtiny24 for the brains, but the circuit should be pretty adaptable to others. The final piece has several features, like the ability to change the length of time between shots and automatically shut down when it gets too dark outside to continue. He has posted the schematics as well as the board layouts if you can find them amongst the ads in instructibles. You can check out a video of a sunset taken with this camera after the break.


text:
"Lannon Stone" is a building material that is commonly used in the Milwaukee area. It was used extensively in Milwaukee County Parks during depression era construction projects for structures of all kinds, many of them were WPA projects.
From tiny control buildings to arch bridges to structures of many kinds, Lannon Stone is ubiquitous, even moreso than Cream City Brick, also a common building material in the area. Many county golf course buildings are constructed of the attractive, white stone, including clubhouses. For example, the impressive club house that overlooks the golf course, right here in Brown Deer Park, is constructed of Lannon Stone. Brown Deer Park is the location of a PGA golf tournament, formerly known as the Greater Milwaukee Open.
The stone is actually dolomite but takes its name from the area, northwest of Milwaukee, from which it is quarried.
This bridge uses "Lannon Stone" for facing.


text:
I thought I'd give my students a bit of a challenge this time: during one of my recent workshops, we covered a bit of motorsport and documentary photography at the VW Scirocco Cup at the Sepang International Circuit. The assignment was to tell the story of race weekend in 10 images with a compact – with the exception of the moving cars, of course. Of course there was some serious equipment involved, but I'm a big fan of teaching with compact cameras for several reasons:
1. They force you to focus on composition only, and not rely on depth of field or perspective (most of the time) as a crutch;
2. The lag forces you to work on your anticipation skills; it's impossible to capture a moment when you're only beginning to react at the instant of the moment itself
3. Very limited dynamic range forces you to think about metering: on your subject, or the scene? What's going to blow out, and does it matter?
4. Working the files afterwards is both a good test of your photoshop skills, as well as the opportunity to learn some new ones.
There are a number of the images which made it into the reader pool, but I thought I'd contribute a few of my own here. I think this might well become a recurring theme for future workshops…
Forming up before the parade lap
Meanwhile, in the hospitality box…
*not the same race
Obligatory unusual workshop group portrait
The observant of you will note that a) there are some key moments missing in the action, like the start and finish; b) there are no photos of moving cars; c) not all of the scenes appear to be from the same race. There's a simple answer to all of those: race circuits are huge places to be, and pros do not aim to cover every part of the track at once, much less over a race that only lasts 10 laps.
We used the compacts to gather b-roll and documentary material around the main shooting sessions with the big guns; the start of the race and actual race itself were shot from Turn One at the end of the main straight, which tends to be where most of the action happens – both at the start of the race when everybody is jostling for position, as well as during the race when drivers use the long run to try and make up places under braking. At Sepang, Turn One is actually a right hairpin followed by a left chicane; the complex of corners means the cars both travel slowly and close to the barriers, which make it an ideal area for photography.
Note that we did have the requisite pit, paddock and circuit media passes for the event. Also, motorsports is a very dangerous environment to shoot in – plenty of fast moving objects, people rushing around, hot surfaces, spilled oil and various other hazards. Safety always comes before getting the shot – unless of course you're a journalist on assignment 🙂 MT
If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting the site via Paypal (email@example.com); Ming Thein's Email School of Photography – learn exactly what you want to learn, when you want to learn it or learn how to achieve a similar look with our Photoshop workflow DVDs. You can also get your gear from Amazon.com via this referral link. Prices are the same as normal, however a small portion of your purchase value is referred back to me. Thanks!
Don't forget to like us on Facebook and join the Flickr group!
Images and content copyright Ming Thein | mingthein.com 2012 onwards. All rights reserved


text:
Black Diamond Express Ice Screw
Field Test results for the Black Diamond Express Ice Screw.
Black Diamond Express | $59.95 |
In lengths of 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 cm
In hard ice, you can place a Black Diamond 22 cm Express Ice Screw in under 20 seconds, and sometimes half that. The Express Screws with aggressive teeth that are longer and sharper than those of a piranha, are easy to stab into the ice to get them started. Once you've set the screw, you unfold the small coffee-grinder handle that is integrated within the hanger, and spin in the screw. When you are done, you fold the knob back up and clip the stainless steel hanger. Color coding on the handle makes it easy to visually identify each length. After you remove a screw, a puff through the tube usually suffices to clear the ice core. The Express Screws are standard on my ice rack, and are what I measure all other ice screws against. On Colorado water ice I find the 16 cm length the most useful. The 22 cm are long, but good in funky conditions, and I've used the 10 cm—and gladly—on super thin and otherwise unprotectable ice.


text:
Ask yourself this - what games have Game Freak actually developed? Many people will probably only answer with "Pokémon," but the truth is, before Pokémon was even created, Game Freak was responsible for a handful of unique titles of their own.
Pulseman was strangely only released in Japan originally. It was temporarily available on the "Sega Channel," a sort of download service for the Mega Drive/Genesis, but despite this was never released as a retail game outside Japan.
In the game you take the role of the titular Pulseman. The world-famous scientist Dr. Yoshiyama created him by entering the world inside computers, and merging his DNA with an Artificial Intelligence (don't ask!), thus resulting in a half-human, half-robotic boy. Eventually, living inside computers took its toll on Dr. Yoshiyama and corrupted his brain, turning him into the evil Dr. Waruyama. Dr. Waruyama decides to take over the world like any other good villain usually tries to do, and he has a whole gang of "cyber-terrorists" to help him.
Pulseman pretty much plays just like any other platformer. You make your way through various stages, defeating or avoiding enemies, collecting items and defeating a boss at the end of each one. Pulseman's moves make this game somewhat unique: his speciality is electricity, which means he stores energy and releases an electric discharge in the form of a ball-shaped projectile. Energy is stored by running, but you can also instantly charge up by simply dashing forward once. This is slightly more risky though, as you never know what's coming up! When you're not charged, your only means of defending yourself are a close-range slash attack and a kick. Be careful with these attacks though - it's hard to hit with them, and Pulseman can only take three hits before dying, and any extra health is pretty rare!
When charged, you can also jump into the air and then dash in any direction you want instead of only being able to dash along the ground. This move is called the "Volteccer", and can be used to reach higher platforms and thus possibly items, but be careful: if you hit a wall while doing a Volteccer, you will bounce off like a pinball! The Volteccer can also be used to travel along electricity lines, which is a cool feature. One thing you'll really want to look for are items such as computer monitors: jumping into these will take you to a virtual mini-stage inside. Once you make it to the end you will reappear in the main stage at a much further point.
There's only seven stages total in the game, but each of them is quite long. The first level takes place in a simple city environment, but after that you'll visit slightly more varied locations like jungles, casinos and even the inside of an arcade game, complete with a score display! For the first six stages, you always get a choice of which one you want to tackle next, like the Mega Man titles, but eventually you'll have to do all of them. The seventh, final stage always comes last, for obvious reasons!
The most surprisingly good things about the game are the graphics and music. Pulseman is one of the nicest-looking Mega Drive/Genesis games, with big, detailed sprites, colourful environments and some really creative designs. The game has a large amount of different music, and almost all of it is very upbeat and catchy, which means you'll almost always have a nice beat to go along with the action. The game also includes a surprising amount of voice acting, which is all in English! That means that you can easily tell what's going on, even though there are also Japanese subtitles to go along with it.
It's a mystery why Pulseman was never released on cartridge outside Japan. Even with the Japanese text you can understand everything that's going on, and it definitely seems like a game that would've appealed to western audiences. Its fun, challenging, and decently-sized, looks and sounds great and is just an all-around great game. Now that it's finally available to everybody, do yourself a favour and check out what Game Freak made before Pokémon - you won't regret it!


text:
Indian prime minister hopeful, L.K. Advani, prides himself as a former journalist, having worked at the journal Organiser, published by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), where for seven years he wrote film reviews.
Former Mid-Day editor Aakar Patel uses Advani's memoirs My country, My life to assess the man credited with the "when-asked-to-bend, the-Indian-media-crawled" quote during the Emergency years.
"His writing is lazy and he leans on clichés and stock phrases. He describes a criminal as "dreaded gangster". He uses too many adjectives and likes hyperbole. He calls Indira Gandhi's Emergency the "darkest period in Indian history", but then reports its years wrong in three places (pages 259, 266 and 270).
"I edited newspapers for 10 years and I can place Advani as a journalist immediately. He would not have risen beyond middle rank."
Read the full article: Advani the party man


text:
- This event has passed.
Red Wine Glass Paint Party @ TGI Fridays – Bowie
August 22, 2017 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm$25.00
It's our Owner's Birthday month, so we are pulling out the bigger and more beautiful glasses for you to paint! Come out and enjoy painting our Red Wine Glasses for the same low price.
At this Wine Glass Paint Class guest will paint 2 red wine glasses during a two-hours hands-on class. We supply all the materials including patrons. You create your own design on your glasses. Tip and techniques will be provided to help you make your wine glasses beautiful. This is a free style paint class, you paint on your glasses whatever design you like.


text:
'Biggest Loser' Castoff -- Contestants on Strike Are Sabotaging Their Lives
'Biggest Loser' Castoff Contestants on Strike Are Sabotaging Their Lives
The oldest person ever to compete on "Biggest Loser" has some wise words for the contestants currently on strike -- the weight loss show is NOT about the prize money ... it's about saving your life.
TMZ broke the story ... nearly all of the remaining contestants on the current season have walked off the show and are threatening to quit -- after learning that producers were considering bringing back previous contestants to compete for the $250,000 grand prize.
The contestants are striking because they feel it's unfair to bring back old contestants -- which would hurt their chances at winning the money.
But 66-year-old John Forger (above) -- who competed on Season 12 -- tells TMZ, "It's not about [money]. What it's really about, for most of us, is the change in our lifestyle, and being able to get rid of obesity."
John adds, "For most of us, it's about health. Would I walk off the show for the money? ABSOLUTELY NOT."
John was eliminated in the second week of Season 12 -- but he tells us, he has no regrets ... losing 97 pounds while he was on the show, and an additional 15 afterwards.


text:
Milwaukee elementary, middle schools do away with letter grades
The state's largest school district is replacing its letter grade system for K-8 students with a broader evaluation system that separates academic progress from behavioral issues.
Milwaukee Public Schools will offer an updated report card that identifies the skills students need to master in each grade level.
The corresponding letter grades will be replaced with an AD for advanced, PR for proficient, BA for basic and MI for minimal.
Students will still be judged on work habits, behavior and effort, such as following rules or arriving to class prepared. But that feedback will be separated into a different measure and rated on a scale of 1 to 4.
The so-called "standards-based" method of grading has been implemented more widely in recent years, including at schools in Oak Creek and Kettle Moraine.
Some skeptics accuse MPS of eliminating letter grades to avoid being compared unfavorably to other districts. But district spokesman Tony Tagliavia said students are still being graded, just without traditional letter grades.
"This is a better way to assess how well students are learning, so they stay on track to be successful in college and careers," he said.
It's harder for letter grades to be eliminated at high schools because those grades are commonly tied to grade-point averages required for many college applications. Letter grades from elementary and middle school aren't factored into a student's high school GPA.
Other districts have also shifted their grading policies as well, directing teachers to evaluate students solely on learning and academic performance.
"The concept behind this is that we really want the grade to reflect the academic performance of the student versus whether the student brought the assignment, did extra credit or talked in class," said Dave Dentinger, who supervises secondary education in the Wauwatosa School District.
Some high schools have also adjusted the way they apply grades. Oak Creek High School, for example, still uses letter grades but the grades are based only on academics, not behavior.


text:
Science isn't sure whether fear can kill but several courts have been convinced and have convicted people for murder on the basis that they caused death through fright. An article just published in the American Journal of Cardiology summarises the eight murder trials.
The cases are not, as I first suspected, where someone had deliberately tried to kill someone else using fright as a 'weapon' (like in the infamous scene in Belgian serial killer mockumentary Man Bites Dog – clip here – warning: not pleasant).
Instead, they typically describe where someone has died of a heart attack in the midst of an armed robbery or assault, despite not being mortally wounded.
In a similar case, State v. Edwards,10 the defendant and his accomplices entered a bar in Tucson, Arizona and committed a robbery at gunpoint. Shortly after the robbers had fled, the proprietor experienced a heart attack and died. The defendant argued that the victim's death was accidental and unintended and could not constitute murder. Moreover, the defendant maintained that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the robbery actually caused the victim's death.
The court disagreed on both counts, finding first that accidental, unintended consequences could form the basis of a murder conviction. Second, the court pointed to the testimony of a pathologist that the death was caused by anxiety resulting from the robbery at gunpoint. The court held that this provided adequate evidence to support causation.
However, this is not the only area where supposedly being 'frightened to death' has caught the interest of psychologists. There is a small psychological literature on 'psychogenic death' that attempts to explore reports of death after curses, spells or violation of cultural taboos.
This is from an excellent brief article from 2003, published in the journal Mental Health, Religion & Culture:
Landy (1977, p. 327) describes the phenomenon as follows: 'a process is set in motion, usually by a supposed religious or social transgression that results in the transgressor being marked out for death by a sorcerer acting on behalf of society through a ritual of accusation and condemnation; then death occurs within a brief span, usually 24 to 48 hours'. Ellenberger (1965) distinguishes acute from slow psychogenic death. In some cases, the death can be rapid, in other cases the process occurs over several weeks where the patient sickens and dies. There has been some doubt expressed as to whether voodoo death is part of 'colonial folklore' only based on anecdotal reports (Williams, 1928).
Lewis (1977, p. 11) asks, 'Is it really the case that healthy people have died in a day or three days because they know they were victims of sorcery? Who has seen this happen with his own eyes? Is there no explanation for it but sorcery?' Yap (1977) calls for concrete findings from anthropologists and medical field workers that can be appraised critically. Questions have arisen as to whether or not these victims had pre-existent pathological conditions predisposing them to death. There is however some direct evidence for its occurrence.
The evidence is not people just dropping dead, but from several documented cases where perfectly healthy people rapidly give up eating and drinking after being 'cursed' and dehydration leads to death.
Link to PubMed entry for 'Homicide by fright' article.
Link to DOI entry and summary for 'psychogenic death' article.


text:
Louie Vega (US)
A godfather of global dance music, Louie Vega has painted an award-winning career from a palette mixed with everything from salsa and afro-beat, to jazz, hip-hop and soul. What distinguishes the Grammy winner and 4-time nominee as one of the best living house music deejays is his ability to evolve alongside the times, distill the current musical landscape through his unique taste and put his own timeless spin on it. "Little" Louie Vega, as he is sometimes affectionately known, was born in the Bronx into a musically gifted family (his father, a jazz saxophonist, and his uncle, Salsa King Héctor Lavoe). The "Little" moniker is ironic, given the fact that by the 80s he was deejaying at clubs he wasn't even old enough to attend, holding residencies at Studio 54, Devil's Nest, Hearthrob, Roseland, and the Palladium. Soon Vega was producing his own remixes, which included Information Society's "Running", Noel's "Silent Morning" and Debbie Gibson's "Only in my Dreams". Then in 1991 he joined Atlantic Records—and hit the mainstream. Teaming with an-up-and-coming Marc Anthony, he helped to produce "Ride on the Rhythm". An immediate hit, the single put Vega and Anthony on the map. The duo would rock the club circuit, with their success culminating when they opened for Tito Puente at his 100 Album concert at Madison Square Garden. One of the keys to Vega's success is his knack for refusing to being boxed into any one category, not only reflected in the various music styles his songs play with, but by his fruitful collaborations with other artists. And so more success came in 1991 from the production team he created with Brooklyn-based deejay Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. Masters at Work, as they were called, were responsible for the critically acclaimed albums "Nuyorican Soul" and "Masters At Work – Our Time is Coming". Not to mention the duo found the time to remix and or produce for Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Madonna, Jamiroquai, Tito Puente, India, Janet Jackson, Tania Maria, George Benson, Black Eyed Peas, Jocelyn Brown, Los Amigos Invisibles, Bebe Winans, and Earth Wind & Fire. Vega has always been hungry for a challenge, and the aughts saw him move into new roles that expanded on his artistry; first up, that of record label owner. Featuring a roster that included Anané Vega, Luisito Quintero, Elements Of Life (his live band), Mr. V, Boddhi Satva, Hugh Masekela, Roberto Roena, Lisa Fischer, and Cindy Mizelle, Vega Records has released over 130 singles and 9 Full Length CD / Albums. In addition, Louie Vega has released over 25 compilations (with over 2 million cds sold) on the industry's most revered imprints, including Ministry of Sound Recordings, Defected Records, Kingstreet, Azuli, Division (Italy), Concept, & Strictly Rhythm records. In his other venture he joined with world-renowned NYC-based jewelry designer Kenny Hwang to create a signature line of hats, jewelry, t-shirts, and additional memorabilia. As these businesses flourished, so did Vega's music, and in 2006 he received a Grammy Award for his remix of Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" on Rhino Records. Then, not more than a year later, Cirque Du Soleil approached him and the house-music group Blaze to compose and produce a song for a once in a lifetime event. And so Anané Vega and Elements Of life performed the song "One Dream" to the acrobatics of Cirque Du Soleil during the 2007 Super Bowl Pre-Game Show to over 70,000 people at Dolphin Stadium in Florida and were seen by 145 million television viewers. Yet as we move through the twenty-tens, Louie shows no signs of slowing down. The past four years since April 2010 have brought forth yet another outlet for Vega. Hosted by Vega and Kevin Hedge, the Roots NYC LIVE Radio Show airs on WBLS 107.5 (New York's longest running R&B and soul radio station). Rated the #3 radio show in New York on Friday night, they air every Friday from 10PM – Midnight (stream live www.wbls.com). To keep the music flowing on all the continents, Vega can also be heard every Saturday from 5pm – 6pm over IBIZA SONICA on the Sunset Ritual Radio show with Anane Vega in Spain (www.ibizasonica.com), and every Saturday at 10pm via KAYA FM's Dance Ritual with Louie Vega (www.kayafm.co.za) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ever the music innovator, in 2013 Vega released Elements of Life – Eclipse on the legendary Fania records. The record, 4 ½ years in the making, keeps the style of Vega's earlier albums (African, Jazz, Latin, World), but injects it with Soul, R&B, Gospel and Blues. Featured artists on the album include Anané Vega, Lisa Fischer, Cindy Mizelle, Ursula Rucker, Josh Milan, Luisito Quintero, Oveus Maximus and an all-star cast of musicians. The occasion was momentous not only because it was the first new artist album Fania had released in years. In Vega's words, "…[It] really comes full circle now, being able to be on the label my uncle Héctor Lavoe was on and the Fania All Stars who are all great inspirations for me. Fania Records is to Latin music what Motown is to R&B and Soul, so to even be a small page in this encyclopedia of music is a dream come true for me." With all the good fortune he's received, Vega finds it crucial to give back. During most of his free time he donates Vega Memorabilia to auctions, deejays at fundraisers and serves as a good will ambassador for the Christian Rivera Foundation. Currently, Vega and Anané are headlining their Sunset Ritual brand, an outdoor party held at prestigious beach clubs around the world and drenched in the sounds of House, Global Disco, Afro tech and Old School. Sunset Ritual has toured the Mediterranean every summer since 2010, including a two-year residency at the Blue Marlin beach club in Ibiza. Just this past year, from the 21st of June until the 20th of September 2013, the Sunset Ritual's good vibes were back in Ibiza, this time at the famed Ushuaïa Hotel. In 2014, Anané and Louie will release the first Sunset Ritual cd/dvd. Then in the summer Sunset Ritual will resume across beaches of Ibiza, Formentera, Italy, and Greece. In 2014, Masters At Work will reunite with a full blown project and Anthology on the House Masters Defected Release #21. Louie Vega & Kenny Dope will once again come together to create music and do what they do best, produce and make you dance!Breaking down musical barriers and bringing people together through a love of music has always been Vega's aim; after more than 20 years in the game his contributions continue to positively influence the global house and world music. Listen closely as the best has yet to come from Louie Vega!
Read more
Previous editions –
2017 & 2016
Artist & Speaker Program
Jackies presents Louie Vega ADE SpecialSUPPER cruise 19:30 View Event
Louie Vega, Piem House
BEATPORT presents Nervous RecordsW Amsterdam 19:00 View Event
feat LOUIE VEGA & Friends Deep House / Disco / House