Mongolia is well known for it’s rich and amazing culture and traditions while sampling the modern way of life. Mongolia is a place filled with history and some very amazing scenery, which provides an unmatched and unique experience.
Here are some best places which you must definitely visit in Mongolia before you die.
Rock Carvings on Yinshan Mountains
This is one of the largest rock craving and painting sites in Mongolia. The paintings and carvings are based on the themes of day to day life activities of the prehistoric nomads. You will find a lot of paintings of animals such as goat, argali, sheep, foxes, and rabbits. These vivid rock carvings provide a clear picture of how the ancient people used to live.
The western side of Mongolia is termed to be one of the most stunning, but less traveled places.It caters some very rare breed of wild animals, ethnic communities, and snowcapped mountains. The local residents of Kazakh are known for their generosity and hospitality.
This is one of the major monasteries in Mongolia which represents great craftsmanship and creative work of the 17th century. Mostly, all the old monasteries have been destroyed, so the restoration of this particular monastery was so viral in order to preserve the history of this area.
Orkhon valley is a cultural landscape which consists of a rich history and represents the traditions of nomadic pastoral communities which spanned here for over 2 millennia. If you wish to learn about the culture of the local people and understand their traditions, then this is a must visit place.
Genghis Khan Statue
The Genghis Khan Statue complex is currently the largest equestrian statue both in Mongolia and the whole world. This statue is located near Ulaanbaatar and it consists of a lot of souvenir shops, restaurants and an area of recreation.


It’s been a while … I’m good at this regular blogging idea!
Rest assured that I am still at my PhD, and that the world of ichthyosaurs is still full of fun and exciting things to see and do. It’s just that I’ve been heavily invested in a mountain of work that hasn’t left me too much time for anything else … aside from an occasional meal and some sleep.
But on the plus side:
Today is the 200th anniversary of the first description of a (recognisable) ichthyosaur by Sir Everard Home, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Surely that deserves a mention and some form of celebration? (I’m having t-shirts made.) The specimen was first discovered by Joseph and Mary Anning in 1811, then was sold and eventually made its way to London, where Home got his hands on it. I mention that it isn’t the first ichthyosaur as some specimens in the Oxford Natural history Museum that are almost certainly ichthyosaurian were figured by Lhwyd in 1699 (see pls 17–19).
I leave you with an inspirational (yeah, right!) drawing from Home’s description of what is now known as Temnodontosaurus platyodon. There is more to come soon.
Home, E. (1814). Some account of the fossil remains of an animal more nearly allied to fishes than any of the other classes of animals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, 104, 571–577.


- 11:43 am - Fri, Oct 4, 2013
- 714 notes
Janis Joplin was born in 1943 and grew up in Port Arthur, Texas. She began singing in bars and coffeehouses, first locally, then in Austin, where she spent most of a year at the University of Texas. In 1966, she went to San Francisco and got together with a rock band in search of a singer. Big Brother and the Holding Company. The following summer Big Brother performed at the Monterey Pop Festival; Janis got raves from the fans and the critics and from then on she was a star. ‘Cheap Thrills’, Big Brother’s first major album came out in July 1968. By then there were tensions between Janis and the group, and she left soon afterward. With her new backup band she made another album, ‘I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!’ But the band never quite jelled, and in the spring of 1970, Janis formed another, Full-Tilt Boogie. They spent most of the summer touring, then went to Los Angeles to record an album, ‘Pearl’. It was Janis’s last. On October 4th, 1970, she died of an overdose of heroin.
Janis Joplin died 43 years ago today. Look back at our 1976 cover story on the singer.


Here at Los Angeles Garage Door & Gates, garage technology is our bread and butter. Our expert technicians are skilled at the in’s and out’s of installing, repairing, and maintaining garage doors, garage door openers, and garage door accessories. While many people may not realize it, garage doors are actually quite history-spanning pieces of technology, with origins way back from the contemporary and high tech models that we professionally provide our customers. In this brief blog post, our expert garage door installation team will detail some of the storied history of garage door technology.
Origin of Garages
Garages were first invented when automobiles started becoming more widely utilized by families in the early 20th century. Families needed space to protect their new vehicles from the elements – and at the beginning, only the very rich owned cars which they stored in repurposed carriage houses, which were sometimes rented out. When cars became more affordable, there was more need for mass parking spaces, and the carriage houses became obsolete for holding all the new vehicles – not to mention the fact that they smelled from the domestic creatures and livestock that were often housed within them! This led to the beginning of the garage door industry.
First Home Garages
The beginning of home garages were modeled off carriage houses, with barn-like doors that would quickly wear out due to continued use. Soon, more durable garage doors were invented in order to keep garages secure – and garage doors were made more compact to save space. C.G. Johnson invented the first overhead garage door in 1921, a door that folded upwards like the contemporary overhead doors we know so well. These doors were initially manually lifted, and were very heavy – which is why Johnson created the electrical garage door opener in 1926. This was the start of his Overhead Garage Door Corporation, and his traveling across the country to promote his handy inventions – and his subsequent tendering of distributors across the nation, which in turn fostered competing companies like Wayne Door (the ancestor of the modern Wayne Dalton Garage Doors company) and Cornell Iron Works. Then, as time went on, these companies continued improving their own products utilizing modern technology and making doors more durable, strong, seamless, compact, and long-lasting; leading to the fantastically affordable and reliable garage doors that we at Los Angeles Garage Door & Gate provide to our valued community every day!


Race In Athletics - 1pm
Association of Black Sports Officials Presents: Race in Athletics
February 28, 2022 1p – 2p EST
New England Football League Championship
On October 9, 2021, history was made in Hartford, CT. Association of Black Sports Officials (ABSO) was task with putting a crew together for a New England Football League championship. ABSO was able to field an all black 7-man crew including a clock operator to officiate a semi-pro championship game between Hartford Colts and Vermont Ravens.
The crew members left to right Coree Moses - Clock Operator, Duane Marcellin - Line Judge, Terrence Burney - Side Judge, Keith Bryan - Referee, Greg Hudson - Head Line Judge, Qur-an Webb - Field Judge, Anrae Fevrier - Umpire, Linsie Esau lll - Back Judge. This crew consist of 50 plus years of experience on the field. They did an outstanding job, this was good for football, the league, and all boards across the country.
KBR, Inc. Training
In November 2019, the Association of Black Sports Officials provided basketball and flag football officiating training to KBR Inc. (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) staff at the U.S. Naval Base - Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa. Training included covering mechanics, penalties/fouls, enforcement(s) and an overview of characteristics to improve individual’s officiating.


HISTORY AND THE PRESENT
FRANTIŠKOVY LÁZNĚ – HEALTH IS AT HOME HEREWe are an inimitable spa town where everything has been focused on improving health for over 200 years. Františkovy Lázně is literally a spa oasis.
The spa atmosphere is felt in every step you take here, and compared to any other spa, is unmistakable. Thus, Františkovy Lázně has treasured its spa industry for centuries up to the present as its greatest gem, and so it never became a busy town or entertaining wellness centre. All is focused on the high-quality spa treatments and the improvement of the health of everyone who arrives to Františkovy Lázně for this purpose.
UNIQUE WORLD-WIDEToday, Františkovy Lázně is one of the most beautiful spa towns, which has retained its historical facades and architecture to a unique degree. It is no wonder that in 2005, it was awarded the prize “Most Beautiful Historical Town of the Czech Republic”. At the same time, it belongs to the group of 11 exceptional spa towns that is nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the common name Great Spas of Europe, along with the likes of Baden-Baden, Bath, or Vichy.
A TOWN BUILT OUT OF WATERWithout a doubt, Františkovy Lázně gained popularity thanks to its renowned therapeutic springs, especially thanks to its oldest, the František Spring. Rumours about the miraculous effects of the local water rapidly spread throughout the empire, just as the clay bottles in which the water was originally sold in and distributed wide and far did. Thus, beginning at the end of the 18th century under the lead of Dr Adler, the town gradually grew into a renowned global spa. The year 1793 is fundamental, as it is considered as the year the town was established. Many academic sources mistake in saying that the town was originally known as the Village of Emperor Franz (Kaiser Franzensdorf) or Franzensbrunn. In reality, however, it was given today’s name, Františkovy Lázně, already by court decree on 27 April 1793.
THE FIRST PEAT BOG SPA IN THE WORLDYes, it was actually in Františkovy Lázně that the therapeutic effects of peat baths were discovered for the good of mankind. And still today, the historical building of the Imperial Spa, which is a part of the Spa Resort PAWLIK–AQUAFORUM****, is the only place in the world where you can enjoy the beneficial effects of peat baths according to the original Františkovy Lázně recipe. For each separate bath, 80 kg of specially treated local peat is usually used.
MIRACULOUS SALTSAlong with the peat, therapeutic springs were also discovered in Františkovy Lázně more than 200 years ago. The most interesting spring, but far from being the only one, is surely the Glauber IV Spring, which contains the most decahydrate sodium sulphate in the world. Since the 17th century, it has been known as mirabilite, as well as Glauber Salts.
- 1502 – the first written mention of the mineral waters in the area around Františkovy Lázně
- 1793 – Foundation of the colony
- 1793 – Construction of the first spa hotel, Loimann-Badehaus (The Three Lilies)
- 1865 – Františkovy Lázně is promoted to a town
- 1992 – the town is declared a Municipal Heritage Reservation
- 1992 – the company Lázně Františkovy Lázně a.s. is established
- 1993 – the extensive reconstruction of the spa buildings commences
- 2005 – Aquaforum – The World of Water and Relaxation - is opened
- 2017 - opening of the Spa Clinic
- J. W. Goethe
- Franz I, Austrian Emperor
- Peer Metternich
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Johann Strauss
- Božena Němcová
- Vítězslav Nezval
- Franz Kafka
- Václav Havel
- Václav Klaus
Select a stay


A golden mask unearthed in the No. 5 sacrificial pit at the ruins. (Image credit: SCHA)
Underneath the cooperation, Tencent will assist archaeological researchers to perform digital archaeology and multi-dimensional electronic research on the Sanxingdui website making use of new-generation digital technologies, this kind of as Synthetic Intelligence (AI), massive facts, cloud computing, and knowledge graphs. A electronic archive will be founded to store Sanxingdui’s archaeological information, contributing to advertising the electronic interpretation and conversion of the archaeological research achievements, and diversifying the public’s technique to encountering the web site.
Sanxingdui is situated on the financial institutions of the Yazi River in Southwest China, and its record dates back additional than 3,000 years. Initial uncovered in 1929, it was not right up until the 1980s that the importance of the web page grew to become more apparent.
The electronic answers utilized in the archaeological excavation of the Sanxingdui web site implies a new product for the foreseeable future progress of archaeology. The apps will be essential in the two organizations’ prolonged-term initiatives in archaeological excavation and study with the new-era digital technological know-how.
Fixing a large selection of unearthed relics that are ruined has usually been a big job in archaeological get the job done. The slicing-edge laptop eyesight technological innovation can enjoy a vital role in aiding the restoration of unearthed relic fragments and the electronic reconstruction of their first kinds, according to Zhang Zhengyou, chief scientist of Tencent and director of Tencent AI Lab.
Also, by establishing a databases for relic fragments via 3D scanning, the chance of repairing can be calculated applying facts such as coloration, texture, and condition of the segment of utensils by using AI. This boosts the effectiveness appreciably.
Additionally, the computer system vision technological know-how is also anticipated in the labeled research of relics and the comparative research of objects unearthed from different websites. Relics identical in condition, framework, and community texture can be efficiently determined via personal computer eyesight know-how.
What is far more, if archaeological knowledge can be labeled with info these kinds of as age or cultural home in a massive quantity, which will be a regular sample recognition issue for AI, contributing to the archaeological and cultural investigation through swift comparison.
Tencent has been devoted to the digitalization of lifestyle for quite a few decades. The corporation has assisted the enhancement of digitization for the Forbidden Metropolis, one of the world’s largest palaces, the most frequented museum in China.
The enterprise also served set up a digital tour for Dunhuang, a buying and selling crossroads in between East and West on the historical Silk Highway, and was involved in the conservation endeavours of the Great Wall.
Considering the fact that the establishment of Tencent’s Sustainable Social Benefit Firm final yr, a digital society laboratory was established up to advertise the sustainable safety, inheritance and modern progress of cultural heritage. Tencent will leverage its tech ecosystem, experience, and strengths for further cooperation with the SCHA.
Resource website link


The car was a successor to the 308 GTB and GTS of Ferrari, and the mechanics were based on the 308 GTB and GTS with some upgrades to the body and engine. The engine was improved to 3.2 L and an improved torque. That time, 7,400 Ferraris’ were produced for the 328 model which was later replaced by the new 348 which was considered more reliable Ferraris. This GTB model was referred to the Gran Turismo Berlinetta, this was retailed in the range of $58,400-$62,500 in the United States. The 328 GTS model was also introduced with more developments including the V8 engine. The 328 model was referred having a 3.2 litres, and 8 cylinders. For having a detailed look you can visit Supercar Videos and express your Ferrari reaction.
The 328 GTS was introduced for the Europe having a tubular chassis, Disc brakes, coil springs, and shock absorbers and also front and rear anti-roll bars. Several models launched having a different side of drive available as either right or left-hand drive. This 328 GTS continued the production until it was replaced by the 348 ts model.
The engine was a 3.2-litre V8, with 4-valve-per-cylinder layout. The car introduced a 270 horsepower and 313 Nm of torque. It has the maximum speed of 166 mph and capacity of covering 60 mph in 5.5 seconds.
Ferrari launched turbocharged variant of the 328 and the series was known as GTB Turbo and GTS Turbo, it was a replacement of the non-intercooler, Ferrari 208 GTB/GTS Turbo. This series was specifically for the Italian market for the tax purposes. The turbocharged included a V8 engine,an intercooler feature with the turbocharger. Other than the engine, the two-litre Turbo and the regular 328 were introduced with having almost same specs, so have a view on the car and share your supercar reaction.


Hurricane Katrina Chicanery
New Orleans, LA
2010 - 2018
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, then-mayor Ray Nagin’s office granted NobleOutReach—a company founded by Maryland residents William Bart Hungerford and Colonel Timothy Milbrath—exclusive rights to raise funds through EB-5 investments for new construction and job creation to aid with the city’s recovery following the devastating storm.
Pitching a hotel and conference center project to include a WOW Café & Wingery, Hungerford and Milbrath raised $15.5 million from 31 foreign investors. However, after an ostentatious ground-breaking ceremony, no further progress on the project was made and no jobs were created.
Reportedly, Hungerford and Milbrath paid themselves and their wives exorbitant salaries with the investment money and moved additional funds through other business they established outside of Louisiana. In May 2018, federal prosecutors indicted the two men on several counts of fraud and money laundering.
Cronyism connection: Milbrath is a retired Air Force Colonel who served as White House Military Office’s Chief of Staff under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
Bonus: Former Mayor Nagin was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 10 years in prison.


Salt and brine, saltern- and bathing history are inseparably connected with Bad Rappenau. The town owes its development to its first honorary citizen - saltern inspector Rosentritt, who executed the first successful brine drilling in the grand duchy Baden in 1822. At the “Bohrloch 1” he happened upon the “white gold” and thereby laid the foundations for the spa businesses. Only 12 years later, in 1834, the “Sophienbad” opened its doors, the first brine bathhouse in the grand duchy Baden. The saltern and spa business have been shaping the economic and social life in Bad Rappenau for over 150 years, and made sure that an inconspicuous farming village with then just 592 inhabitants would grow to become a modern spa- and bathing town.
An impressive history ...
The Hotel Saline 1822
Keeping Memories alive
And integrating them
Inspired by the history of Bad Rappenau, shaped by salt and saltern, our architect enveloped our building in a curtain of salt crystals, thus defining our image on the outside. 1822, the year in which Mister Rosentritt discovered the salt deposits, was immortalised in the name of our hotel. Thereby, we want to forge a bridge between the past and present.
An inviting architecture, a modern, comfortable interior, good food, and employees with a passion for individual service.
The Creative Head of the Kitchen
The Soul of the House


MARTIAL ARTS are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced for a number of reasons: as self-defense, military and law enforcement applications, mental and spiritual development.
MORE TO DISCOVER
THE beginning of MARTIAL ARTS
Although the earliest evidence of martial arts goes back millennia, the true roots are difficult to reconstruct. Inherent patterns of human aggression which inspire practice of mock combat (in particular wrestling) and optimization of serious close combat as cultural universals are doubtlessly inherited from the pre-human stage and were made into an "art" from the earliest emergence of that concept. Indeed, many universals of martial art are fixed by the specifics of human physiology and not dependent on a specific tradition or era. Specific martial traditions become identifiable in Classical Antiquity, with disciplines such as shuai jiao, Greek wrestling or those described in the Indian epics or the Spring and Autumn Annals of China.
Types of Martial Arts:


4 edition of The standing stones of Europe found in the catalog.
The standing stones of Europe
|Statement||Alastair Service and Jean Bradbery.|
|The Physical Object|
|Number of Pages||287|
Standing Stones is a nicely put together volume in the best Thames and Hudson tradition. It has little about specific sites, even Stonehenge and Carnac, and is of no use as a guidebook, but it makes a lively and attractive introduction to the megaliths of western Europe. February External links: buy from or Maria Wheatley joins Dr. Rita Louise on Just Energy Radio where she discusses some insights into the natures of the standing stones in Europe, .
The closest standing stones to London are Stonehenge and the others are hours or more drive away and there are none in Kent near Down House. Bodiam Castle (National Trust) in East Sussex is a great place to visit, which could be combined with Down House in a day trip. These stones reach up to 22ft high, the height of three men standing on top of each other, and surpass anything at Stonehenge. The town they reside in, Boroughbridge, doesn’t make enough of a fuss about these prehistoric monuments, but they can be visited in the west and east side of Roecleffe Lane.
They mirror exactly the larger multiple-stone circles, just with fewer stones – an efficient variation requiring fewer resources to erect but accomplishing the same outcomes. Unfortunately, this five-stone circle has been filled with field debris, creating the appearance of a mound. We also passed numerous ringforts and several standing stones. Standing stones, menhirs, all manner of megaliths; such stones are discarded playthings of the jetins. Rock-throwing was not the only pastime the jetins enjoyed. They were also fond of tying knots in horse tails and releasing livestock, and, like any good fairy, they .
Jackson County road & street guide
The encyclopedia of sharks
The White Death
life of Knut Wicksell.
Three collections of English poetry, of the latter part of the sixteenth century.
Anaerobic treatment of aircraft deicing wastes
GIS Financial Planner
Introduction to tropical agriculture
Beautiful climbers of India.
College readings in the modern short story
The Standing Stones of Europe book. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers.4/5. Since seeing his first photographs of Stonehenge as a young boy living in northern California, Patrick has been fascinated by the standing stones of Europe.
His first actual experience of walking among the stones did not occur untilwhen he was in his mid 30’s. Standing Stones (The McDonnell Clan Book 1) - Kindle edition by Camp, Beth. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, The standing stones of Europe book, phones or tablets.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Standing Stones (The McDonnell Clan Book 1)/5(). Standing stones or menhirs are stones set into the ground vertically. They were put there by Neolithic people in the British Isles and Brittany, and they also occur elsewhere in the world.
There may be single standing stones, circles, lines or groups of them. Their dates are mostly from BC to 1, BC. Standing Stones of Europe: A Guide to the Great Megalithic Monuments [Service, Alastair, Bradbery, Jean] on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.
Standing Stones of Europe: A Guide to the Great Megalithic Monuments/5(4). The Israelites erected standing stones to remember their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River (Joshua). Joshua built a standing stone when the covenant was renewed at Shechem (Joshua ). New Testament.
In the New Testament, Peter builds on standing stone imagery when he describes believers as "living stones" (1 Peter ). Standing stones facts and myths The 12 Apostles. The 12 Apostles near Dumfries is the largest stone circle in mainland Scotland, and the seventh largest in Britain.
Calanais Standing Stones. The Calanais Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis are believed to be - years old. In the 17th century, the people of Lewis called the stones.
Standing Stones book. Read 61 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. InLord Gordon claims his new estate in Northern Scotland and /5. The Standing Stones are upright magical stones located throughout the province of Skyrim. Legend tells of the stones granting special powers to heroes of old, giving them the ability to rewrite their fate.
Standing at approximately 3 meters in height, the ancient menhir-shaped stones each display a different Tamrielic constellation carved into its body. A total of 13 stones are dotted across. COVID Resources. Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID) is available from the World Health Organization (current situation, international travel).Numerous and frequently-updated resource results are available from this ’s WebJunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus.
Now, we invite you to enjoy the STANDING WITH STONES PODCAST; discussing all things megalithic, from Britain, Europe and beyond.
SUPPORT US ON PATREON FOR ACCESS TO EXTRA CONTENT and to help us achieve our goals of MORE MEGALITHIC FILMMAKING, you can make monthly donations to our podcast on our Patreon page. ‘Standing with Stones, a photographic journey through megalithic Britain & Ireland’ is an enthusiast’s guide to many of the lesser known megalithic sites of the UK and Ireland.
We had always planned to produce a book alongside the film and Rupert was thrilled when Thames & Hudson agreed to publish it – and even more so when Timothy. A megalith is a large pre-historic stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones.
There are o in Europe alone, ranging from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The word was first used in by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert in reference to Stonehenge and derives from the Ancient Greek.
Get this from a library. The standing stones of Europe: a guide to the great megalithic monuments. [Alastair Service; Jean Bradbery]. Standing Stones of Europe: A Guide to the Great Megalithic Monuments - Alastair Service, Jean Bradbery Reissue Edition, Paperback, Published by Trafalgar Square, Publication date: February Stonehenge: A New Interpretation of Prehistoric Man and the Cosmos - John David North.
Stonehenge, stone circles, dolmens, ancient standing stones, cairns, barrows, hillforts and archaeology of megalithic Europe. The Stone Pages is the first web guide of this kind of ancient monuments and presents images, descriptions, folklore, panoramic views, forums, news, weblinks and tours.
With its rows of standing stones, Carnac, on the south coast of Brittany, has long fascinated man. Along the northern side of the town, around three thousand standing stones, called menhirs in French, stretch in alignments for several kilometres.
Standing Stones of Stenness: Oldest standing stones in Europe - See traveler reviews, candid photos, and great deals for Stenness, UK, at Tripadvisor.5/5(). The Modern Antiquarian by Julian Cope is published by Thorsons.
In October ce Julian Cope published The Megalithic European, a landmark guide to the stones of ancient Europe.
Buy The Modern Antiquarian from ; Buy The Megalithic European from The majority of standing stones are concentrated in North and West Europe and on the British Isles.
But as you move eastwards, there are still remnants of Europe’s oldest history to be seen in lonesome fields and faraway places. Standing with Stones is a personal voyage of discovery, taking the reader to over a hundred megalithic sites in a photographic journey through the British Isles. The book is divided into regions, and each site featured is given its Ordnance Survey grid reference/5(41).
Standing on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, overlooking the chill waters of Loch Roag, the cruciform arrangement of megaliths has a stone circle at its axis, all aligned to view the heavens. Most Author: Rupert Soskin.
Thom proposed that standing stones served as observatories: places to best watch the stars Soon after, Neolithic farmers started to create places to .


Both trials included the hardliners who had fueled the conflict, resulting in deals that also froze sectarian identity as part of the settlement, thus persevering in the underlying conflict. In both cases, the hope was dashed that the passage of time and public pressure would lead to a development of political arrangements far from their sectarian roots. The 1998 agreement came at a time when the post-Cold War era was very optimistic about the prospects for a solution to the long-standing political conflict, from the Middle East to the Balkans to Colombia. The passage of time has boosted these hopes, as many conflicts have been relentlessly against a solution, and even agreements that have remained intact have largely proved disappointing in achieving true reconciliation. .


In 1972 Novosel Instrument Shop, INC. was established as a family business. In 1980, we purchased property and built a new facility due to the growth of NIS. While there, we purchased our first two CNC’s. With the machining business continuing to grow, we had the need to purchase additional CNC’s, and needed to expand our facility again. So, in May of 2001, the family moved their business to Pleasant Gap, PA – only 5 minutes from State College – HOME of Penn State NITTANY LIONS.


Providing Exceptional Heating and Cooling Services since 1914.
In 1911 15-year old Elroy L. Payne dropped out of high school and left Lincoln, Nebraska to seek his fortune in Los Angeles, California. One year later he convinced his father to move with his mother and seven brothers and sisters to California. On July 4, 1914 Elroy and his Father opened up their sheet metal and plumbing shop in downtown Los Angeles and within a few short years were manufacturing gas-fired furnaces to be installed in homes throughout southern California. By 1933 Payne Furnace and Supply Company was the largest manufacturer of gas-fired furnaces in the western United States.
The Origin of our “Omaha Orange” Vehicles
Elroy Payne loved California and in 1933 decided to paint all Payne Company trucks to match the color of the State flower, the California poppy. Elroy went to Chevrolet and they had him work with their pain shop to custom mix that particular color orange. They also allowed him to name this new color, which remained in the Chevy line for 60-years. Elroy named the color, “Omaha Orange” in honor of the State of his birth. Today E.L. Payne Company trucks are still Omaha Orange.
From Engineering to Full Service Heating and Air Conditioning
The most unique aspect of Payne’s history is that while Elroy and his father made and sold quality furnaces, the company also engineered system installations, installed new central heating systems, and provided maintenance and repair service on those systems. In 1949 Elroy sold his manufacturing divisions to Dresser Industries, who at the time owned Bryant and Day & Night Companies, which was later sold to the Carrier Corporation. Elroy and his son Gordon re-named the Company E.L. Payne and continued in the air conditioning contracting and service business.
The Legacy of Building Relationships with Clients Continues
Today we are the largest and oldest family owned residential heating & air conditioning Service Company in Southern California. Thousands of our homeowner-customers have been with us more that 40-years, and many of those relationships are multi-generational.


In 1923, at the age of 28, Madame Alexander founded the Alexander Doll Company,. Learning to identify dolls made by the Alexander company enables
Identify Madame Alexander dolls by Alexander signatures, construction materials and designs. Use online doll catalogues and antique doll books to identify .
From antique to present the Madame Alexander Doll Company was founded in 1923 and is still in. operation today making dolls cherished by collectors of all .
Madame Alexander herself 1984 doll. Madame Alexander doll mark AX, Alex., circle X 13, Mme Alexander. The Alexander Doll Company was founded in 1923,
The prices given in Madame Alexander price and identification guides are the current retail values of the dolls at the time the book was published. There are .
Dolls Price Guide Madame Alexander Dolls This Guide will help you identify and value your dolls–start here when you have an identification or valuation .
My Pinterest Collection See more ideas about Hello dolly, Barbie and Beautiful dolls.
Proudly upholding the tradition of quality in design and craftsmanship, Madame Alexander dolls are meant to be treasured and played with for years to come.


Welcome to the San Juan Islands
There is magic to be found throughout the San Juan Islands.
Even a complete stranger to the San Juan Islands can thumb through here and quickly realize that these islands, anchored off the Washington coast near Canada, are among the most beautiful island groups in the world.
The western and northern boundaries of the San Juan Islands follow the Canadian border along Haro Strait and Boundary Pass, respectively. Resources vary about which islands constitute the eastern boundary. Even though they are not in San Juan County, we are going to include Cypress and Sinclair Islands in this publication, defining the eastern boundary of the San Juan Islands from Rosario Strait up through Bellingham Channel. The San Juan archipelago, a geological description, includes Canadian Gulf Islands and the offshore islands of several mainland counties.
There are 172 islands in San Juan County, with people residing on 50 of them. The county has about 175 square miles of territory above the high-tide line shared by a little more than 14,000 residents. With the deep cleft of East Sound nearly dividing Orcas Island in half, it is easy to see how there can be over 375 miles of ocean waterfront in the county.
In keeping with the manner of our nations growth, the history of the San Juan Islands is quite colorful. To pick a point of beginning, Lt. Charles Wilkes was commander of The U.S. Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838-1842, now commonly referred to as the Wilkes Expedition. He is credited with the idea of calling the San Juans the Navy Archipelago and as may be expected with his interest in history of the US Navy and the War of 1812, named its principal features for the famous men, ships and battles of the US Navy. As Lt. Wilkes left his mark so to speak, so did Captain George Richards, a surveyor for the British Admiralty and originator of nearly a hundred names appearing on charts of the islands.
In the late 1800s, the US Navy sought to develop harbors of refuge for the purpose of protecting commercial and military vessels should the waterways become blocked by enemy forces. Points on San Juan, Lopez and Shaw Islands were designated for this purpose, with many more planned. As military strategy changed, many of these holdings were sold or transferred to government agencies; some parks on Lopez and Cattle Point on San Juan are the result.
What is missing from this short description of the San Juans is the magic. You might see it first from the deck of a boat, watching the sunset reflected in still waters, or the cry of a bald eagle soaring over Friday Harbor, or the quiet hiss of kayak paddles through a school of salmon at dawn, riding the tide toward a new adventure. But while words fall short, theres no question of their allure.


Situated in the centre of Romania, in the depression of the Barsa-county of the Carpathians, Brasov is the second city as size and population. The biggest mountain-city in Romania, 550 m above the sea-level, Brasov is guarded by three hills: Tampa, Sprenghi and Warthe; at the north side there is the Barsa-county.
From the surrounding hills you can admire the sharp roofs of the houses built in the past centuries.
The archeological discoveries certify that the zone was already populated in the Neolithic period and in the Iron Age here were thriving geto-dacic settlements. Brasov was documentary certified in the XIIIth century, as Brassovia, But also known as Corona, Barassu and Brasov.
Lying at the crossroad of several commercial roads, Brasov made during the centuries the connection between Transylvania, Tara Romaneasca and Moldavia, and it became a prosperous commercial centre.
As the ottoman threat increased, the town has been surrounded in the XVth century with defending walls consolidated with towers and bastions. The Saxon population,wich was preponderant in the medieval citadel, was organized in guilds.
The quarter of Schei, one of the oldest of the city, lies outside the city walls and has old houses and narrow streets. The oldest Romanian School was built in Schei in the XVI th century, and the lessons in Romanian were held here beginning with 1599. Now the First Romanian School is a museum whose exponates attest the fact that Brasov is an ancient center of Romanian culture. The first Romanian books, printed by the Deacon Coresi in the XVI th century, are also exhibited here.
The St.Nicholas church, standing in the same square near the First Romanian School, was built between 1518-1598 with the substantial aid of the wallachian and moldavian princes.
In this district, there is another important monument to be visited, The Schei Gate, built in 1827 as triumphal arch with three archways.
The Black Church
The center of the town is dominated by a church built in late gothic style, with elegant lines and impressive dimensions: The Black Church. The name derives from a devastating fire wich over weld the whole town in the year of 1689, blackening the walls. The entire woodwork and the old organ were destroyed then and it is told that the bells mold under the heat.
The construction of the church has begun at the end of the XIV th century, on the place of an old church in Romanic style, and it ended about 1477. Three bells were lifted in the 65m high tower, one of them being the biggest in Romania (6.300 kg). The only part conserved is the mural painting from the southern entrance hall. The organ, one of the biggest in south-eastern Europe, is known for its sonority realized by 4.000 pipes and 76 stops and 4 manuals. It has been built in 1836-1839 by master Buchholz from Berlin. Organ concerts are held here.
In front of the church you can admire the statue of Johannes Honterus, humanist of the XVI th century, promoter of the reforming ideas of Luther and founder of the first printing shops in Transylvania—1535. The school in the yard of the church is named after this illuminist.
Town Hall and Town Hall Square
Along the centuries, the Town Hall Square was the centre of the citadel, hosting the most important bargains, where comerciants and craftsmen from all the Romanian were present. In older times, the square was surrounded by houses built in the Renaissance, Provincial and Neoclassic Baroque style, houses in wich shops and warehouses were accommodated.
In modern times reintroduced since 1992 (after 20 years of interruption) the international music contest “The Golden Stag” take’s place every year.
The Town Hall Square, dated in the first half of the XV th century, is dominated by the Town Hall, a building wich combines several architectural styles. On the facade you can see the coat of arms representing a crown on a tree stump with 13 roots—symbolizing the 13 villages of the Barsa-county. During the centuries, this building has been the residence of the administration and the Court of the city, but now the History Museum of Brasov is established here.
"Bartolomeu" Church is a former Catholic church built in the Roman style with broken arches and pointed vaults and grit stone-made decorative motifs reminding of the Gothic style. It became a Lutheran church in the 16th century.
The founder of this church was Herman von Salza, the leader of the German knights` Order. The church is 55 metres long and it proves to be one of the oldest and most representative buildings in Brasov. The columns are supported by strong pedestals and end in pre-Gothic capitals. The paintings impress us by the Roman and Gothic patterns.
After the 1833 earthquake the altar was rebuilt in the classic style, a new organ with 25 registers was installed. The clock tower was installed in 1923.
"Bartolomeu" Church is situated in the old part of the city and it was built in the 13th century. The church still preserves elements belonging to the Roman style, but the Gothic elements prevail. "Bartolomeu" Church is one of the fortified churches in Brasov County.
The health resort Poiana Brasov is situated on a plateau at the foot of the Postavarul Mountain. It offers you many possibilities of spending your holidays in summertime and in wintertime.
You can spend unforgettable holidays by practicing different sports: swimming in pools, tennis and table tennis, riding, bow shooting, minigolf, badminton, ski, cross-country ski, skating, drives with the carriage or the sledge. Two cable railways and a gondola lead you from Poiana to the peak of the Postavarul.
Bran, a beautiful mountain village, is guarded by an imposing medieval castle, built near the road on the peak of a rock. In the Middle Age, the castle has protected the pass through wich the wares were traded between Transylvania and the other Wallachian counties.
In ancient times, on the place where the castle stands now, stood a fortress. In 1377, the citizens of Brasov built in here the castle to defend their town. The castle stood up to many storms and it was repaired several times. In the first half of the XX th century the Royal Family of Romania, Ferdinand and Maria of Hohenzollern, temporary lived in the castle. In 1958 the castle became a museum where a rich collection of weapons, helmets, manuscripts, wood carvings, icons and furniture of the Feudal Epoch can be admired.


Howard Aircraft Corporation was a small USA aircraft manufacturer in the 30's and 40's. The factory was initially on the south side of Chicago Midway airport; during World War II a second plant was opened at Dupage County airport west of Chicago, high-wing light monoplanes built by the Howard Aircraft Corporation, Chicago, Illinois., and were built and sold in parallel to each other. Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junio was purportedly the fastest four-seat civil aircraft of the late 1930s,These aircraft were a direct developments of the famous Howard racing plane Mister Mulligan. Designer/pilot Ben Howard's "DGA" prefix stood for "Damn Good Airplane"; it was not hyperbole.
The Super Kraft Howard DGA-12 is a vintage 1/4 scale model, the fuselage and flying surfaces are hand-made from select balsa, high quality light ply, the professionally finished fiberglass cowl, wheel pants and gear fairings are the best we’ve ever produced. With an average wing loading of 21.5-oz/sq. ft. the Howard DGA-12 is an extremely gentle flyer. The working flaps provide a short takeoff roll, and a slow, rock-stable final approach. To complete the package we have include an exceptionally sturdy pre-painted aluminum main gear, custom-made active wing struts, functional tail wires, a complete hardware kit, and a detailed instruction booklet. Attractively priced, this beauty is a real head turner!


Also known as the Miami Showband massacre, was carried out on 31 July 1975 by the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were one of Ireland’s most popular cabaret bands.
The band was travelling home to Dublin late at night after a performance in Banbridge. Halfway to Newry, on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland, their minibus was stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint where gunmen in British Army uniforms ordered them to line up by the roadside.
At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), and all were members of the UVF. Two of the gunmen, both soldiers, died when a time bomb they were hiding on the minibus exploded prematurely. The other gunmen then started shooting the dazed band members, killing three and wounding two. It has been suggested that the bomb was meant to explode en route so that the victim band members would appear to be IRA bomb smugglers and stricter security measures would be established at the border.
Two serving UDR soldiers and one former UDR soldier were found guilty of the murders and received life sentences; they were released in 1998. Those responsible for the attack belonged to the Glenanne gang, a secret alliance of loyalist militants, RUC police officers, and UDR soldiers. There are also allegations that British military intelligence agents were involved. According to former Intelligence Corps agent Captain Fred Holroyd, the killings were organised by British intelligence officer Robert Nairac, together with the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade and its commander Robin “the Jackal” Jackson. The Historical Enquiries Team investigated the killings and released their report to the victims’ families in December 2011. It confirmed that Jackson was linked to the attack by fingerprints.
The Miami Showband
The Miami Showband was a popular Dublin-based Irish showband, enjoying fame and, according to journalist Peter Taylor, “Beatle-like devotion” from fans on both sides of the Irish border. A typical Irish showband was based on the popular six- or seven-member dance band. Its basic repertoire included cover versions of pop songs that were currently in the charts and standard dance numbers. The music ranged from rock and country and western to Dixieland jazz. Sometimes the showbands played traditional Irish music at their performances.
Originally called the Downbeats Quartet, the Miami Showband was reformed in 1962 by rock promoter Tom Doherty, who gave them their new name. With Dublin-born singer [Jimmy Harte] as frontman followed by Dickie Rock as frontman, the Miami Showband underwent many personnel changes over the years. In December 1972, Rock left the band to be briefly replaced by two brothers, Frankie and Johnny Simon. That same year, keyboardist Francis (Fran) O’Toole (from Bray, County Wicklow) won the Gold Star Award on RTÉ’s Reach For the Stars television programme. In early 1973, Billy MacDonald (a.k.a. “Billy Mac”) took over as the group’s frontman when the Simon brothers quit the band. The following year, Fran O’Toole became the band’s lead vocalist after Mick Roche (Billy Mac’s replacement) was sacked. O’Toole was noted for his good looks and popularity with female fans and was described by the Miami Showband’s former bass guitarist, Paul Ashford, as having been the “greatest soul singer” in Ireland. Ashford had been asked to leave the band in 1973, for complaining that performing in Northern Ireland put their lives at risk. He was replaced by Johnny Brown, who in turn was replaced by Dave Monks until Stephen Travers eventually became the band’s permanent bass player. In late 1974, the Miami Showband’s song “Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet” (featuring O’Toole on lead vocals) reached no. 8 in the Irish charts.
The 1975 line-up comprised four Catholics and two Protestants. They were: lead vocalist and keyboard player Fran O’Toole, 28, Catholic; guitarist Anthony (Tony) Geraghty, 24, Catholic, from Dublin; trumpeter Brian McCoy, 32, Protestant, from Caledon, County Tyrone; saxophonist Des McAlea (a.k.a. “Des Lee”), 24, Catholic, from Belfast; bassist Stephen Travers, 24, Catholic, from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary; and drummer Ray Millar, Protestant, from Antrim. O’Toole and McCoy were both married; each had two children. Geraghty was engaged to be married.
Their music was described as “contemporary and trans-Atlantic”, with no reference to the Northern Ireland conflict. By 1975, they had gained a large following, playing to crowds of people in dance halls and ballrooms across the island. The band had no overt interest in politics nor in the religious beliefs of the people who made up their audience. They were prepared to travel anywhere in Ireland to perform for their fans.
According to the Irish Times, at the height of Irish showbands’ popularity (from the 1950s to the 1970s), up to as many as 700 bands travelled to venues all over Ireland on a nightly basis.
Five members of the Dublin-based band were travelling home after a performance at the Castle Ballroom in Banbridge, County Down, on Thursday 31 July 1975. Ray Millar, the band’s drummer, was not with them as he had chosen to go to his hometown of Antrim to spend the night with his parents. The band’s road manager, Brian Maguire, had already gone ahead a few minutes earlier in the equipment van. At about 2:30 am, when the band was seven miles (11 km) north of Newry on the main A1 road, their Volkswagen minibus (driven by trumpeter Brian McCoy with bassist Stephen Travers in the front seat beside him) reached the townland of Buskhill. Near the junction with Buskhill Road they were flagged down by armed men dressed in British Army uniforms waving a red torch in a circular motion. During “The Troubles” it was normal for the British Army to set up checkpoints at any time.
Assuming it was a legitimate checkpoint, McCoy informed the others inside the minibus of a military checkpoint up ahead and pulled in at the lay-by as directed by the armed men. As McCoy rolled down the window and produced his driving licence, gunmen came up to the minibus and one of them said in a Northern Irish accent, “Goodnight, fellas. How are things? Can you step out of the van for a few minutes and we’ll just do a check”. The unsuspecting band members got out and were politely told to line up facing the ditch at the rear of the minibus with their hands on their heads. More uniformed men appeared from out of the darkness, their guns pointed at the minibus. About 10 gunmen were at the checkpoint, according to the author and journalist Martin Dillon.
After McCoy told them they were the Miami Showband, Thomas Crozier (who had a notebook) asked the band members for their names and addresses, while the others bantered with them about the success of their performance that night playfully asking which one was Dickie Rock. As Crozier took down the information, a car pulled up and another uniformed man appeared on the scene. He wore a uniform and beret noticeably different from the others. He spoke with an educated English accent and immediately took charge, ordering a man who appeared to have been the leader of the patrol to tell Crozier to obtain their names and dates of birth instead of addresses.
The jocular mood of the gunmen abruptly ceased. At no time did this new soldier speak to any of the band members nor did he directly address Crozier. He relayed all his instructions to the gunman in command. Travers, the band’s new bass player, assumed he was a British Army officer, an opinion shared by McCoy. Just after the arrival of this mysterious soldier, McCoy nudged Travers, who was standing beside him, and reassured him by saying “Don’t worry Stephen, this is British Army”. Travers thought that McCoy, a Protestant from Northern Ireland, was familiar with security checkpoints and had reckoned the regular British Army would be more efficient than the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), who had a reputation for unprofessional and unpredictable behaviour, especially toward people from the Republic.
McCoy, son of the Orange Order’s Grand Master for County Tyrone, had close relatives in the security forces; his brother-in-law was a former member of the B Specials which had been disbanded in 1970. Travers described McCoy as a “sophisticated, father-type figure. Everybody was respectful to Brian”. McCoy’s words, therefore, were taken seriously by the other band members, and anything he said was considered to be accurate.
At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the UDR, the locally recruited infantry regiment of the British Army in Northern Ireland. Martin Dillon suggested in The Dirty War that at least five serving UDR soldiers were present at the checkpoint. All the gunmen were members of the UVF’s Mid-Ulster Brigade and had been lying in wait to ambush the band, having set up the checkpoint just minutes before.
Out of sight of the band members, two of the gunmen placed a ten-pound (4.5 kg) time bomb that was inside a briefcase under the driver’s seat of the minibus. The UVF’s plan was that the bomb would explode once the minibus had reached Newry, killing all on board. However, Martin Dillon alleged that the bomb was meant to go off in the Irish Republic. He suggested that had all gone according to plan, the loyalist extremists would have been able to clandestinely bomb the Republic of Ireland, yet claim that the band was republican bomb smugglers carrying explosives on behalf of the IRA. They had hoped to embarrass the Government of Ireland, as well as to draw attention to its level of control of the border.
This might have resulted in the Irish authorities enforcing tighter controls over the border, thus restricting IRA operations. Dillon opined that another reason the UVF decided to target the Miami Showband was that Irish nationalists held them in high regard; to attack the band was to strike the nationalists indirectly.
Des McAlea and Stephen Travers heard two of the gunmen rummaging in the back of the minibus, where they both kept their respective instruments. Concerned they might be damaged, McAlea first approached the two gunmen and asked if he could remove his saxophone. When they agreed he placed it on the ground, opened its case, and then went back into line; however this time he stood first in the line-up closest to the minibus when previously he had been third. Travers also stepped up to the gunmen and told them to be careful with his guitar. Asked whether he had anything valuable inside the case, Travers replied no. The gunman turned him round, punched him hard in the back, and pushed him on the shoulder back into the line-up. Meanwhile, two other gunmen at the front of the minibus were placing the briefcase containing the bomb under the driver’s seat.
When the device was tilted on its side, clumsy soldering on the clock used as a timer caused the bomb to explode prematurely, blowing the minibus apart and killing UVF men Harris Boyle (aged 22, a telephone wireman from Portadown) and Wesley Somerville (aged 34, a textile worker from Moygashel) instantly. Hurled in opposite directions, they were both decapitated and their bodies dismembered. What little that remained intact of their bodies was burnt beyond recognition; one of the limbless torsos was completely charred.
Following the explosion pandemonium broke out among the remaining gunmen; shouting obscenities, they started shooting the dazed band members, who had all been blown down into the field below the level of the road from the force of the blast. According to Martin Dillon, the order to shoot was given by the patrol’s apparent leader, James McDowell, to eliminate witnesses to the bogus checkpoint and subsequent bombing. Three of the musicians were killed: lead singer Fran O’Toole, trumpeter Brian McCoy, and guitarist Tony Geraghty.
Brian McCoy was the first to die, having been hit in the back and neck by nine rounds from a 9mm Luger pistol in the initial volley of gunfire. Despite the heavy gunfire, Tony Geraghty and Fran O’Toole attempted to carry a severely injured Stephen Travers to safety but were unable to move him far. Fran O’Toole attempted to run away but was quickly chased down by the gunmen who had immediately jumped down into the field in pursuit. He was then machine-gunned 22 times, mostly in the face, as he lay supine on the ground. Almost his entire head was destroyed. Tony Geraghty also attempted to escape, but he was caught by the gunmen and shot twice in the back of his head and a number of times in the back. Both men had pleaded for their lives before they were shot; one had cried out, “Please don’t shoot me — don’t kill me”.
Bassist Stephen Travers was seriously wounded by a dum-dum bullet that had struck him when the gunmen had first begun shooting. He survived by pretending he was dead, as he lay beside the body of McCoy. Saxophone player Des McAlea, who had been standing closest to the minibus, was hit by its door when it was blown off in the explosion but was not badly wounded. He lay hidden in thick undergrowth, face down, undetected by the gunmen. He also survived by remaining silent, pretending he was dead. However, the flames from the burning hedge (which had been set on fire by the explosion) soon came dangerously close to where he lay; he was forced to leave his hiding spot. By this time the gunmen had left the scene, assuming everyone else had been killed. Travers later recalled hearing one of the departing gunmen tell his comrade who had kicked McCoy’s body to make sure he was not alive: “Come on, those bastards are dead. I got them with dum-dums”. McAlea made his way up the embankment to the main road where he hitched a lift to alert the RUC at their barracks in Newry.
Forensic and ballistic evidence
When the RUC arrived at the site they found five dead bodies, a seriously injured Stephen Travers, body parts, the smouldering remains of the destroyed minibus, debris from the bomb blast, bullets, spent cartridges, and the band members’ personal possessions, including clothing, shoes, and a photograph of the group, strewn across the area. They also discovered a stolen white Ford Escort, registration number 4933 LZ, which had been left behind by the gunmen, along with two guns, ammunition, green UDR berets and a pair of glasses later traced to James McDowell, the gunman who had allegedly ordered the shootings.
One of the first RUC men who arrived at Buskhill in the wake of the killings was scenes of crime officer James O’Neill. He described the scene as having “just the smell of utterly death about the place … burning blood, burning tyres”. He also added that “that bomb was definitely placed there with a view to killing all in that band”.
The only identifiable body part from the bombers to survive the blast (which had been heard up to four miles away) was a severed arm belonging to Wesley Somerville. It was found 100 yards from the site with a “UVF Portadown” tattoo on it. The RUC’s investigative unit, the Assassination or “A” Squad of detectives, was set up to investigate the crime and to discover the identities of the UVF gunmen who perpetrated the killings. Afterward, as Travers recovered in hospital, the other survivor Des McAlea gave the police a description of McDowell as the gunman with a moustache and wearing dark glasses who appeared to have been the leader of the patrol. Some time after the attack, RUC officers questioned Stephen Travers at Dublin Castle. He subsequently stated they refused to accept his description of the different-coloured beret worn by the soldier with the English accent. The UVF gunmen had worn green UDR berets, whereas the other man’s had been lighter in colour.
The dead bombers were named by the UVF, in a statement issued within 12 hours of the attack. Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were UDR soldiers as well as holding the rank of major and lieutenant, respectively, in the UVF. In 1993, Boyle was named by The Hidden Hand programme as one of the Dublin car bombers.
The stolen Ford Escort belonged to a man from Portadown, who according to Captain Fred Holroyd, had links with one of the UVF bombers and David Alexander Mulholland the driver of the bomb car which had been left to explode in Parnell Street, Dublin, on 17 May 1974. He was also one of the prime suspects in the sectarian killing of Dorothy Traynor on 1 April 1975 in Portadown.
Ballistic evidence indicates that the 10-member gang took at least six guns with them on the attack. An independent panel of an inquiry commissioned by the Pat Finucane Centre has established that among the weapons actually used in the killings were two Sterling 9 mm submachine guns and a 9 mm Luger pistol serial no. U 4. The submachine guns, which had been stolen years earlier from a former member of the B Specials, were linked to prior and later sectarian killings, whereas the Luger had been used to kill leading IRA member John Francis Green the previous January. In a letter to the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Bombing of Kay’s Tavern dated 22 February 2004, the Northern Ireland Office stated that: “The PSNI has confirmed that a 9 mm Luger pistol was ballistically traced both to the murder of John Francis Green and to the Miami Showband murders.” In May 1976, Robin Jackson’s fingerprints were discovered on the metal barrel of a homemade silencer constructed for a Luger. Both the silencer and pistol – which was later established to have been the same one used in the Miami Showband killings – were found by the security forces at the home of Edward Sinclair. Jackson was charged with possession of the silencer but not convicted, the trial judge having reportedly said: “At the end of the day I find that the accused somehow touched the silencer, but the Crown evidence has left me completely in the dark as to whether he did that wittingly or unwittingly, willingly or unwillingly”. The Luger was destroyed by the RUC on 28 August 1978.
Within 12 hours of the attack, the UVF’s Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership based on the Shankill Road) issued a statement. It was released under the heading Ulster Central Intelligence Agency – Miami Showband Incident Report:
A UVF patrol led by Major Boyle was suspicious of two vehicles, a minibus and a car parked near the border. Major Boyle ordered his patrol to apprehend the occupants for questioning. As they were being questioned, Major Boyle and Lieutenant Somerville began to search the minibus. As they began to enter the vehicle, a bomb was detonated and both men were killed outright. At the precise moment of the explosion, the patrol came under intense automatic fire from the occupants of the other vehicle. The patrol sergeant immediately ordered the patrol to shoot back. Using self-loading rifles and sub-machine guns, the patrol shot back, killing three of their attackers and wounding another. The patrol later recovered two Armalite rifles and a pistol. The UVF maintains regular border patrols due to the continued activity of the Provisional IRA. The Mid-Ulster Battalion has been assisting the South Down-South Armagh units since the IRA Forkhill boobytrap which killed four British soldiers. Three UVF members are being treated for gunshot wounds after last night but not in hospital.
The statement also said:
It would appear that the UVF patrol surprised members of a terrorist organisation transferring weapons to the Miami Showband minibus and that an explosive device of some description was being carried by the Showband for an unlawful purpose. It is obvious, therefore, that the UVF patrol was justified in taking the action it did and that the killing of the three Showband members should be regarded as justifiable homicide. The Officers and Agents of the Ulster Central Intelligence Agency commend the UVF on their actions and tender their deepest sympathy to the relatives of the two Officers who died while attempting to remove the bomb from the minibus.
Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were given UVF paramilitary funerals conducted by Free Presbyterian minister William McCrea, a Democratic Unionist Party politician.
The killings shocked both Northern Ireland and Ireland and put a serious strain on Anglo-Irish relations. The Irish Times reported that on the night following the attack, the British ambassador Sir Arthur Galsworthy was summoned to hear the Government of Ireland’s strong feelings regarding the murder of the three band members. The government held the view that the British Government had not done enough to stop sectarian assassinations in Northern Ireland.
Following the post-mortems, funerals were held for the three slain musicians; they received televised news coverage by RTÉ, Ireland’s public service broadcaster. According to RTÉ, “Their families were in deep mourning and Ireland mourned with them”.
According to Peter Taylor, the Provisional IRA’s gun and bomb attack on the loyalist Bayardo Bar in Belfast’s Shankill Road on 13 August was in retaliation for the Miami Showband ambush. Four Protestant civilians (two men and two women) and UVF member Hugh Harris were killed in the attack. Two days later, Portadown disc jockey Norman “Mooch” Kerr, aged 28, was shot dead by the IRA as he packed up his equipment after a show at the Camrick Bar in Armagh. Although not a member of any loyalist paramilitary group, he was a close friend of Harris Boyle and the two were often seen together. The IRA said it killed him because of an alleged association with British Army officer and member of 14th Intelligence Company, Captain Robert Nairac, and claimed it was in possession of his diary, which had been stolen in Portadown.
A number of suspects were arrested by the RUC in early August 1975. One of these men, Lance-Corporal Thomas Raymond Crozier (aged 25, a painting contractor from Lurgan) of C Company, 11th Battalion UDR was charged with the Miami killings. It was believed he had been betrayed to the RUC by a member of the gang.
Thomas Crozier recounted that on the night of the killings, he had driven to the grounds of a school in Lurgan where he had picked up two men. He then drove to a lay-by on the Newry-Banbridge dual carriageway and met up with another five men, who were all wearing British Army uniforms. They subsequently set up a roadblock with “all the trappings of a regular military checkpoint”. Crozier told police, and later a court, that he had not played a large part in the attack. He refused to name his accomplices, as he felt that to do so would put the lives of his family in danger.
On 22 January 1976, a second UDR soldier, Sergeant James Roderick Shane McDowell (aged 29, an optical worker, also from Lurgan) was arrested and charged with the Miami killings. He served in C Company, 11th Battalion UDR. The RUC was led to him through his glasses which had been found at the murder scene. Tests done on the glasses, which were eventually traced back to McDowell, revealed that the lenses were of a prescription worn by just 1 in 500,000 of the population.
McDowell’s statement of admission was published in David McKittrick’s book Lost Lives:
There was very little planning. I only came into it because of my UDR connection and the fact that I had a uniform. I was given a sub-machine gun but I had never fired it. I passed out when the explosion happened and that was when I lost the gun, the glasses, and a UDR beret.
On 15 October 1976, Crozier and McDowell both received life sentences for the Miami Showband murders. McDowell had pleaded guilty. Crozier had pleaded not guilty. The judge, by sentencing McDowell and Crozier to 35 years imprisonment each, had handed down the longest life sentences in the history of Northern Ireland; he commented that “killings like the Miami Showband must be stopped”. He added that had the death penalty not been abolished, it would have been imposed in this case. During the trial, Des McAlea received death threats which made him fear for the safety of his family; this caused him to eventually leave Northern Ireland.
A third person, former UDR soldier John James Somerville (aged 37, a lorry-helper and the brother of Wesley), was arrested following an RUC raid in Dungannon on 26 September 1980. He was charged with the Miami Showband murders, the attempted murder of Stephen Travers, and the murder of Patrick Falls in 1974. He was given a total of four life sentences (three for the murders of the Miami Showband members and one for the Falls murder) on 9 November 1981; he had pleaded not guilty. The three convicted UVF men, although admitting to having been at the scene, denied having shot anyone. None of the men ever named their accomplices, and the other UVF gunmen were never caught. The three men were sent to serve their sentence in the Maze Prison, on the outskirts of Lisburn. Fortnight Magazine reported that on 1 June 1982, John James Somerville began a hunger strike at the Maze to obtain special category status. Crozier, McDowell, and Somerville were released after 1998 under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
A continued allegation in the case has been the presence of Captain Robert Nairac at the scene. Former serving Secret Intelligence Service agent Captain Fred Holroyd, and others, suggested that Nairac had organised the attack in cooperation with Robin Jackson and the Mid-Ulster UVF. In his first parliamentary speech on 7 July 1987, Ken Livingstone MP told the House of Commons, that “it was likely” that Nairac had organised the attack. Surviving band members Stephen Travers and Des McAlea told police and later testified in court that a British Army officer with a “crisp, clipped English accent” oversaw the Buskhill attack, the implication being that this was Nairac. In his book The Dirty War, Martin Dillon adamantly dismissed the allegation that Nairac had been present. He believed it was based on the erroneous linkage of Nairac to the earlier murder of IRA man John Francis Green in County Monaghan – the same pistol was used in both attacks. Regarding the soldier with the English accent, Dillon wrote:
it is to say the least highly dubious, if not absurd to conclude from such superficial factors that Nairac was present at the Miami murders. I was told by a source close to “Mr. A” and another loyalist hitman that Nairac was not present at either murder [Miami Showband and John Francis Green].
Travers had described the English-accented man as having been of normal height and thought he had fair hair but was not certain. Travers was not able to positively identify Nairac, from his photograph, as having been the man at Buskhill. The RTÉ programme Today Tonight aired a documentary in 1987 in which it claimed that former UVF associates of Harris Boyle revealed to the programme’s researchers that Nairac had deliberately detonated the bomb to eliminate Boyle, with whom he had carried out the Green killing. Journalist Emily O’Reilly noted in the Sunday Tribune that none of the three men convicted of the massacre ever implicated Nairac in the attack or accused him of causing Boyle’s death. Retired diplomat Alistair Kerr wrote a biography of Nairac entitled “Betrayal: the Murder of Robert Nairac” published in 2015, which offers documentary evidence that clears Nairac of having been at Buskhill overseeing the attack. According to Kerr, on 31 July 1975 at 4 am Nairac had started out on a road journey from London to Scotland for a fishing holiday. He also provides other alibis for Nairac precluding his presence at the scenes of both the John Francis Green killing and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. However, Ministry of Defence documents released in 2020 contain suggestions that Nairac acquired equipment and uniforms for the Miami Showband killers, and that he was responsible for the planning and execution of the attack itself.
The band’s road manager, Brian Maguire stated that when he drove away from Banbridge in the lead, a few minutes ahead of the band’s minibus, he passed through security barriers manned by the RUC. As Maguire continued ahead, up the by-pass toward Newry, he noticed a blue Triumph 2000 pulling out from where it had been parked in a lay-by. Maguire recalled that the car first slowed down, then accelerated, flashing its lights. Two men had been observed acting suspiciously inside the Castle Ballroom during the band’s performance that night, suggesting that the Miami Showband’s movements were being carefully monitored.
Another persistent allegation is the direct involvement of Mid-Ulster UVF leader Robin Jackson, a native of Donaghmore, County Down, one and a half miles away from Buskhill. He was one of the men taken in by the RUC in August 1975 and questioned as a suspect in the killings, but was released without charge. The independent panel of an inquiry commissioned by the Pat Finucane Centre concluded that there was “credible evidence that the principal perpetrator [of the Miami Showband attack] was a man who was not prosecuted – alleged RUC Special Branch agent Robin Jackson”. The same panel revealed that about six weeks before the attack, Thomas Crozier, Jackson, and the latter’s brother-in-law Samuel Fulton Neill, were arrested for the possession of four shotguns. Neill’s car was one of those allegedly used in the Buskhill attack. He was later shot dead in Portadown on 25 January 1976, allegedly by Jackson for having informed the RUC about Thomas Crozier’s participation in the attack. The panel stated that it was unclear why Crozier, Jackson, and Neill were not in police custody at the time the Miami Showband killings took place. Martin Dillon maintained in The Dirty War that the Miami Showband attack was planned weeks before at a house in Portadown, and the person in charge of the overall operation was a former UDR man, whom Dillon referred to for legal reasons as “Mr. A”. Dillon also opined in God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism that the dead bombers, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, had actually led the UVF gang at Buskhill. Journalists Kevin Dowling and Liam Collins in the Irish Independent, however, suggested in their respective articles that Jackson had been the leader of the unit.
Former British soldier and writer Ken Wharton published in his book Wasted Years, Wasted Lives, Volume 1, an alternative theory that was suggested to him by loyalist paramilitarism researcher Jeanne Griffin; this was that the ambush was planned by Robin Jackson as an elaborate means of eliminating trumpet player Brian McCoy. Griffin suggests that McCoy, who originally came from Caledon, County Tyrone, and had strong UDR and Orange Order family connections, was possibly approached at some stage by Jackson with a view of securing his help in carrying out UVF attacks in the Irish Republic. When McCoy refused, Jackson then hatched his plan to murder McCoy and his bandmates in retaliation for what he viewed as having betrayed the loyalist cause, even macabrely choosing Buskhill as the ambush site due to its similarity to Bus-kill. Griffin goes on to add that the bogus checkpoint was set up not only to plant the bomb on board the van but to ensure the presence of McCoy which would have been confirmed when he handed over his driving licence to the gunmen. She also thinks that had everything gone to plan once the bomb was planted in the van McCoy would have been instructed to drive through Newry where the bomb would have gone off and the UVF could then afterwards portray the Miami Showband as IRA members on a mission to blow up the local RUC barracks. Griffin based her theory on the nine bullets that were fired from a Luger into McCoy’s body and that Jackson’s fingerprints were found on the silencer used for a Luger. She furthermore opined that Jackson was the man Travers saw kicking McCoy’s body to make sure he was dead.
The Pat Finucane Centre has named the Miami Showband killings as one of the 87 violent attacks perpetrated by the Glenanne gang against the Irish nationalist community in the 1970s. The Glenanne gang was a loose alliance of loyalist extremists allegedly operating under the command of British Military Intelligence and/or RUC Special Branch. It comprised elements of the British security forces who, together with the UVF, carried out sectarian killings in the Mid-Ulster/County Armagh area. Their name comes from a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh, which was owned by RUC reservist James Mitchell; according to ex-RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir, it was used as a UVF arms dump and bomb-making site. Weir alleged the bomb used in the Miami Showband attack came from Mitchell’s farm. Weir’s affidavit implicating Robin Jackson in a number of attacks including the 1974 Dublin bombings was published in the 2003 Barron Report; the findings of an official investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Judge Henry Barron.
During the six years from the onset of “the Troubles” until the July 1975 attack, there had never been an incident involving any of the showbands. The incident had an adverse effect on the Irish showband scene, with many of the bands afraid to play in Northern Ireland. The emergence of discos later in the decade meant that ballrooms were converted into nightclubs, leaving the showbands with few venues available in which to perform. By the mid-1980s, the showbands had lost their appeal to the Irish public; although The Miami Showband, albeit with a series of different line-ups, did not disband until 1986. The Miami Showband reformed in 2008, with Stephen Travers, Des McAlea, and Ray Millar, plus new members. It is fronted by McAlea, who returned to Northern Ireland the same year after living in South Africa since about 1982.
In 1994, Eric Smyth, a former UDR member and the husband of Brian McCoy’s sister, Sheila, was killed by the IRA.
Travers travelled to Belfast in 2006 for a secret meeting with the second-in-command of the UVF’s Brigade Staff, in an attempt to come to terms with the killing of his former colleagues and friends. The meeting was arranged by Rev. Chris Hudson, a former intermediary between the government of Ireland and the UVF, whose role was crucial to the Northern Ireland peace process. Hudson, a Unitarian minister, had been a close friend of Fran O’Toole. The encounter took place inside Hudson’s church, All Souls Belfast. The UVF man, who identified himself only as “the Craftsman”, apologised to Travers for the attack, and explained that the UVF gunmen shot the band because they “had panicked” that night. It was revealed in Peter Taylor’s book Loyalists that “the Craftsman” had been instrumental in bringing about the 1994 Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) ceasefire.
Travers also visited the home of Thomas Crozier, hoping to meet with him but the latter did not come to the door. He presently resides near Craigavon. James McDowell lives in Lurgan, and John James Somerville became an evangelical minister in Belfast. The UVF had cut all ties with Somerville after he had opposed the 1994 ceasefire. In January 2015, he was found dead in his Shankill Road flat. Aged 70, he died of cancer of the kidney.
A monument dedicated to the dead Miami Showband members was unveiled at a ceremony at Parnell Square North, Dublin, on 10 December 2007. Survivors Stephen Travers and Des McAlea were both present at the unveiling, as was the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who made a tribute. The monument, entitled Let’s Dance is made of limestone, bronze and granite, by County Donegal sculptor Redmond Herrity, and is at the site of the old National Ballroom, where the band often played.
A mural and memorial plaque to Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville are in the Killycomain Estate in Portadown, where Boyle had lived. The plaque describes them as having been “killed in action”.
In a report on Nairac’s alleged involvement in the massacre, published in the Sunday Mirror newspaper on 16 May 1999, Colin Wills called the ambush “one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles”. Irish Times diarist, Frank McNally, summed up the massacre as “an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time”. In 2011, Journalist Kevin Myers denounced the attack with the following statement: “in its diabolical inventiveness against such a group of harmless and naïve young men, it is easily one of the most depraved [of the Troubles]”.
A stamp was issued in Ireland on 22 September 2010 commemorating the Miami Showband. The 55-cent stamp, designed with a 1967 publicity photograph of the band, included two of the slain members, Fran O’Toole and Brian McCoy, as part of the line-up when Dickie Rock was the frontman. It was one of a series of four stamps issued by An Post, celebrating the “golden age of the Irish showband era from the 1950s to the 1970s”.
Near the anniversary of the killings, a temporary plaque is placed at the location of the killings. It allows for commemoration and leaving of flowers at the location itself.
The band is remembered in the song “The Miami” by English folk singer-songwriter Jez Lowe on his album Jack Common’s Anthem.
The HET Report
The Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which was set up to investigate the more controversial Troubles-related deaths, released its report on the Miami Showband killings to the victims’ families in December 2011. The HET said the killings raised “disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour”.
The findings noted in the report confirmed Mid-Ulster UVF leader Robin Jackson’s involvement and identified him as an RUC Special Branch agent. According to the report, Jackson had claimed during police interrogations that after the shootings, a senior RUC officer had advised him to “lie low”. Although this information was passed on to RUC headquarters, nothing was done about it. In a police statement made following his arrest for possession of the silencer and Luger on 31 May 1976, Jackson maintained that a week before he was taken into custody, two RUC officers had tipped him off about the discovery of his fingerprints on the silencer; he also claimed they had forewarned him: “I should clear as there was a wee job up the country that I would be done for and there was no way out of it for me”. Although ballistic testing had linked the Luger (for which the silencer had been specifically made) to the Miami Showband attack, Jackson was never questioned about the killings after his fingerprints had been discovered on the silencer, and the Miami inquiry team was never informed about these developments. Robin Jackson died of cancer on 30 May 1998, aged 49.
The families held a press conference in Dublin after the report was released. When asked to comment about the report, Des McAlea replied: “It’s been a long time but we’ve got justice at last”. He did, however, express his concern over the fact that nobody was ever charged with his attempted murder. and that none of the perpetrators ever offered him an apology. Stephen Travers decried: “We believe the only conclusion possible arising from the HET report is that one of the most prolific loyalist murderers of the conflict was an RUC Special Branch agent and was involved in the Miami Showband attack”.