Manassas Council to spend $100K on Civil War Anniversary

MoonHowler

The Manassas City Council voted Wednesday to spend $100,000 on the upcoming 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas.  The 150th anniversary of the first major engagement of the Civil War will take place around the week of July 21, 2011. 

The City hopes to bring in revenue and position itself for long term tourism.   Creston M. Owen, chairman of the board of Virginia Civil War Events Inc. plans to organize 9 days worth of events.  He came before the board on Wednesday to ask for money. 

According to the News and Messenger:

Owen’s outfit of volunteers is poised to begin organizing the nine-day commemoration that is set to include a Blue and Gray Ball at the Candy Factory, a re-enactment of the First Manassas, breakfast with the troops and concerts on the lawn of the Manassas Museum and at the Battlefield.

Owen told the council that it’s time to get started if the aim is to educate and attract the crowds that will generate income and put the area on the map.

“We’re only 18 months away. If we don’t start beating the drum now, we won’t get people here,” Owen told the council.

Owen has also met with the Prince William delegation of the Virginia General Assembly and hopes to get a million dollars from the state for this 9-day event.  To date nothing has been heard publically about the Prince William County involvement in the commemoration of the sesquicentennial or about their plans to infuse money into this venture.

Already citizens are cheering for their home town.  However, an equally strong set of boos are being heard because of the recession,  extremely tight municiple budgets, and basically, a Tea Party mentality.  Is this something that the local governments ought to be supporting or is this an event better handled by private enterprise?

Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago Nov. 8, 1989.

MoonHowler

Perhaps nothing symbolized the Iron Curtain more than the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier that completely surrounded West Germany and separated it from East Germany.  Prior to the Berlin Wall’s erection in 1961, many, perhaps millions of East Germans had immigrated to West Germany and thus to freedom.   The wall seriously halted immigration and many East Germans lost their life attempting to escape communism for nearly a quarter of a century.  

In 1962, one of the top 40 songs on the hit parade dealt with Berlin Wall.  Hardly a dance song.   The visuals are excellent, even though you might want to turn your sound down:

 

 

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, along the Berlin Wall and declared:

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

While Reagan said those words, and is generally thought of as the impetus behind the wall coming down, it actually happened during the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush.

On Novemeber 9, 1989, After a series of internal revolutionary movements swept through the eatern block, East Germany announced it would tear down the wall. Citizens from both cities came out in force and tore down the wall with great joy while armed guards watched.

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