When family heirlooms go astray.

You can’t take it with you. But sometimes, it would be nice to hold onto it a little bit longer.

I’m talking about possessions, specifically family heirlooms. An heirloom needn’t be valuable, it just needs to speak to your family’s history. I asked readers to share stories of the family treasures that got away.

[My family doesn’t have any heirlooms. Does that mean I can keep all my stuff?]

“I was not the one responsible for not holding on to a family treasure,” wrote Nancy Bowers of Bristow, Va. “It was my Grandmother who threw away my Grandfather’s baseball uniforms! Oh, to have the shirt he wore when pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1909 World Series! But her thought was ‘Who would want this stinky old shirt?’”

When Ann Hamann’s widowed mother went into a nursing home it was up to her to ready the house for sale and auction its contents. She regrets letting go of two things. One was a greeting card to her father signed by a teacher.

“Dad was born in 1900,” wrote Ann of Fairfax. “At the time I made the decision to get rid of it, it didn’t seem that important but I learned later to my surprise it did.”

The other was a set of flatware. It wasn’t valuable — just silver plate — but Ann remembered her mother telling the story of its acquisition. “She found the set in a jewelry store in a nearby town and when she came home and told my dad how excited she was about it he said she should just go get it,” Ann wrote. “I don’t have the things, but the memories don’t leave you.”

David Romanowski of Bethesda wishes he still had his parents’ clunky 1950s typewriter, “on which I tapped away many an evening, composing poems and stories and learning to write.”

Wrote David: “One of my sisters became the keeper of many of our family heirlooms, including the steamer trunk our grandmother brought to America. Sadly, all were lost when my sister’s home was reduced to ash by the Camp Fire.”

A reader named Denise from Elizabethtown, Pa., has been trying “the minimalist thing.” That can have its dangers. “In the midst of my cleaning out, I had two clear bins,” she wrote. “Each had dolls inside.”

One bin was full of her mother’s Cabbage Patch Kids and other inexpensive dolls. The other contained a china doll and an antique wax doll from her great Aunt Sadie. “Guess which box mistakenly went to the Community Aid Store?” Denise wrote. “I’m still sick about losing those dolls because I was so set on cleaning out. In the meantime, these other dolls have to go.”

Not all treasures are actually treasured. When Krista Box was growing, there was a cuckoo clock on the dining room wall. One day it stopped working. Her mother took it to be repaired but never picked it up.

“About eight years later, I stumbled across the ticket from the repair shop and thought it would be a grand surprise to reclaim the clock and hang it back up on the wall,” wrote Krista, of the District. “Looking back now, I can still see her reaction of surprise and faux happiness covering up what she was really thinking which was, ‘Oh no, not that damn clock again!’

“Shortly after that I left for my first semester of college, and when I returned a few months later, the clock was gone again, but this time to a destination unknown.”

Washington’s Vicki Boehm has never actually held the heirlooms she pines for. They belonged to her father’s parents, Amalia Hartmann and Nicolai Adamovich Boehm, ethnic Germans who escaped Russia and settled in Mandan, N.D., in 1905.

Her grandmother died in the flu epidemic of 1918, leaving five children, including Vicki’s then-6-year-old father.

“My grandfather left his children with a housekeeper while he went to Nebraska to earn a living,” Vicki wrote. The housekeeper stole almost everything of value and disappeared, leaving the children to fend for themselves.

“The kids sold family pieces their mom had brought from Russia, including a samovar, in order to eat,” Vicki wrote. (A samovar is a type of tea urn common in Russia.)

A few years ago, Vicki saw an episode of “Antiques Roadshow” filmed in Bismarck, N.D. “I found myself sitting on the edge of my chair watching actual appraisals, as well as people wandering in the background, thinking, ‘Is that my grandmother’s samovar? What about that one?’” she wrote.

“ ‘Antiques Roadshow’ is filming in West Fargo, N.D., this summer. When that segment airs, I will probably sit on the edge of my chair and wonder, ‘Is that it? Is that her samovar?’ I’d like that piece of my family’s immigration story returned.”

Sometimes, there’s a happy ending. When Karen Buglass’s husband, Ralph, cleaned out his parents’ home, he enlisted the help of a Kensington, Md., antiques dealer to decide what to sell.

“Among the items relinquished were an original Louisville Slugger bat and a rocking horse built by his dad,” wrote Karen, of Rockville, Md. “A few weeks passed — after which he stepped into that Kensington shop and bought back those very items!”

Twitter: @johnkelly

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.

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Debt of Krobo Odumase residents wasn’t waived – PDS

Regional News of Monday, 27 May 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-05-27

There was unrest in the area last week as the residents protested against PDS

Power Distribution Services (PDS) has described as ‘inaccurate’ reports that it has waived over GH¢100 million of the debt owed the company by residents of Krobo Odumase in the Eastern Region.

The company in a statement said the downward review of the debt owed by the residents was as a result of a “data cleansing and reconciliation” process it embarked upon.

In the statement, it explained that “the initial debt of GH¢195,725,500.29 was as a result of estimated bills of accumulated consumption due to challenges beyond the control of the then ECG… However in 2017, upon a series of engagements and negotiations, with the residents, the Company was granted access to capture their actual electricity consumption which led to the process of ‘data cleansing and reconciliation’ of their bills. This is a normal process of correcting billing anomalies. This exercise, therefore, revealed the actual amount owed by the Krobo residents to the tune of GH¢ 84,625,624.87, which is a reduction of the initial stated estimated debt.”

There was unrest in the area last week as the residents protested against PDS claiming they were being overbilled by the power company.

A meeting between assembly members of the municipality, PDS and the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) culminated in an agreed roadmap to address the recurring clashes over non-payment of bills.

The PDS after a data cleaning exercise reviewed the 195 million cedi arrears owed it to 84 million cedis.

The parties among other things also agreed on a rescheduling payment plan for customers.

However, in an interview with Citi News, the Head of Public Relations for PDS, William Boateng said installing prepaid meters will be the best solution going forward.

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Booze, transfers among eight discussion points at the 2019 SEC spring meetings

On a spit of white sand beach, the SEC will decide the current and future state of the league. In other words, it’s time for the annual spring meetings in Destin, Florida.

The league conducts these meetings at resort on the Florida Panhandle with a view of the Gulf of Mexico. Those meetings begin formally on Tuesday with an ocean breeze and a full agenda. Focus, boys and girls, paradise can wait until the end of business hours.

Here are eight things you should keep an eye on as the SEC spring meetings go down this week in Destin.

1. Name, image and likeness: Hard liners gasped a little when the NCAA, two weeks ago, established a working group to look at athletes’ ability to control their name, image and likeness. The moving target that is amateurism will be a key discussion point in Destin. The basic argument is whether student-athletes — like their Olympic counterparts — can profit from their basic sense of self.

The Olympics decided 30 years ago that its athletes could still be considered amateurs despite allowing them to do commercials. Those ratings-grabbing figure skaters, gymnasts and skiers didn’t turn off a soul because they appeared in an airline commercial.

What does that look like in the college space? Think of Tua Tagovailoa doing a local car commercial or DeAndre Swift getting a little somethin’, somethin’ for his autograph. You’d better believe the SEC will begin significant discussions on what it all means. This is a league that lost its collective mind in 2015 when cost of attendance was implemented. Back then, the concern was, God forbid, Auburn players get $100 more per month than their Alabama counterparts — or vice versa.

2. Auburn sadness: The loss of Auburn football play-by-play voice Rod Bramblett will no doubt hang over the meetings. Bramblett and his wife were killed in a car accident over the weekend, leaving a school and a conference in mourning. Bramblett had been the football “Voice of the Tigers” since 2003. He leaves behind two wonderful children, Shelby and Joshua. There have been many great voices of SEC football. Their shared contribution is to those who have no other way to follow their teams except through those unique voices. We should never forget Bramblett’s famous call of the Pick Six.

3. Athletic director musical chairs: The SEC West is apparently the place to be for administrators, too. Scott Woodward and Ross Bjork will be at their first SEC meetings since changing jobs within the West Division. Woodward, a New Orleans native, came “home” to LSU from Texas A&M. On Friday, Bjork left Ole Miss — where he had been for eight years — to take the opening at TAMU. For those of you scoring at home, that leaves the latest SEC West opening at Ole Miss.

4. Big Ten becomes king of the (monetary) hill: If it’s all about money — and frequently it is all about money — the SEC has some work to do. The Big Ten earlier this month announced a 48 percent increase in revenue, making the Large 14 the richest conference in history — by far. This means a lot to the SEC, if only from a pride standpoint. The two leagues have separated themselves from the rest of college sports in terms of money … and championships. The leagues have combined for 10 of the last 13 football national titles. (OK, the SEC has nine of those.)

5. Here’s to the next 10, Nick: It was 10 years ago that Nick Saban won his first national championship at Alabama. That started a run of five titles in a decade. Is 2019, will it be a continuation of the same, or was the Clemson game a sign of things to come?

6. NCAA transfer portal: Among coaches, the 7-month-old transfer portal has hardly been a hit. It isn’t going away, but that won’t stop the league’s coaches from weighing in. A couple of years ago, anticipating more transfer freedom, Saban said, “Am I going to have to change the way I coach?” The answer is the same for all coaches: Yeah, maybe. At least check 106 SEC football players had put their name in the portal. That’s an average of more than 7.5 per school.

7. Stadium alcohol policy: Schools long ago began serving alcohol at sporting events nationwide. The total now stands at approximately 55 FBS schools that serve alcohol at games. The SEC remains an outlier. It is the only major conference that has a policy against alcohol sales to the general public. Social mores have loosened. The NCAA now allows drinkage at its championship events. The SEC — in the heart of the Bible Belt — has been slow to change, but truths have emerged.

Alcohol is a significant revenue source that can be controlled. Former West Virginia AD Oliver Luck proved it when he argued that limiting beer and wine inside the stadium (two drinks per visit) were better than fans binge-drinking at halftime. The West Virginia model is 8 years old. (Security officials actually used to have a “Code Vomit” to identify out-of-control drinking in the stands before it was regulated.)  The SEC’s no-booze policy dates back to at least 1978, according to Sports Illustrated. There will be significant discussion this week in Destin about opening up the spigots. Time for a toast?

8. The SEC is not just for football anymore: With four teams in college basketball’s Sweet 16, the SEC continued its image makeover. If nothing else, the league will celebrate its hoops  success in Destin. Having one-quarter of the Sweet 16 hadn’t happened in the SEC in 22 years. Auburn made a Cinderella run to the Final Four.

The general upgrade in basketball fortunes means more pressure to win. Six of the 14 SEC schools have changed coaches in the last two seasons — four in the last couple of months. Alabama snagged up-and-comer Nate Oates from Buffalo. Veteran NBA (and Nevada) coach Eric Musselman will make his Power Five debut at Arkansas. Buzz Williams left Virginia Tech for Texas A&M. Jerry Stackhouse takes over at Vanderbilt after the surprising firing of Bryce Drew.

That’s not counting Will Wade, who snagged an SEC title (and lots of FBI attention) in his second year at LSU. Kentucky remains the team to beat, but it definitely has some competition. 

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Last of Its Kind Battleship Hosts Memorial Day Event

SAN PEDRO, Calif. – The USS Iowa is the only remaining battleship on the continental West Coast of the United States.

After three wars and decades of service, the Iowa was retired in 1990. It has a lot to show for its decades of service and historian Dave Way knows all about it.

Way has been working on the museum ship for almost eight years. He’s given countless tours, some to Navy veterans.

“Oh we love it. We absolutely love keeping the ship open for them. It’s almost like a sacred duty so to speak,” said Way.

The Iowa was one of the last battleships ever made. They stopped manufacturing them after World War II.

But if it weren’t for Way’s efforts, the Iowa might have ended up in the scrap yard. In 2011 he turned in a nearly 1,200-page proposal to convince the Navy the decommissioned battleship would be better off as a museum. A year later it opened to the public.

You could say Way has spent his whole life preparing for this job. He’s always loved building model ships and studying their history.

He grew up in Long Beach and used to work on the Queen Mary. His love for these huge ships started young.

“The one and only time my parents pulled me out of school when I was in junior high school was when the New Jersey came out for the Vietnam war and I was pulled out of school to watch her come in,” said Way.

Each Memorial Day, the war ship transforms into a place for tribute and celebration. There’s a commemoration ceremony to honor those who have served starting at 10:00 a.m.  Then dancing and music lasts until 3:00 p.m.

It’s going to be a busy day for this vessel, but she’s seen plenty of action in the past and should be up to the task.

For Way meanwhile, it’s another chance to share the compelling story of the USS Iowa, the last great remaining battleship on the continental West Coast.

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