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10th Anniversary of the Fall of "The Old Man of the Mountain" May 3, 2003

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New Hampshire's iconic Old Man of the Mountain fell to the ground 10 years ago on May 3, 2003.

The Old Man of the Mountain, was a series of granite ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch.

The Old Man was first observed, in modern times, in 1805. Referring to the sighting, Daniel Webster wrote, "Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

In 1832, Nathaniel Hawthorne visited the formation and dubbed it, "The Great Stone Face."

The Old Man became a symbol of New Hampshire, as depicted on a 1955 stamp.

The Old Man was also featured on the New Hampshire State quarter in 2000, three years before its collapse.

At least two presidents have visited the Old Man: President Ulysses S. Grant in 1869 and President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1955, the 150th "anniversary" of the Old Man's discovery.

Throughout the 1900's, efforts were made to keep the Old Man intact.

Freezing and thawing opened fissures in the Old Man's forehead. By the 1920s, the crack was wide enough to be mended with chains, and in 1957 the state legislature passed a $25,000 appropriation for a more elaborate weatherproofing, using 20 tons of fast-drying cement, plastic covering, and steel rods and turnbuckles, plus a concrete gutter to divert runoff from above.  In 1958, the Old Man underwent it's major repair work as part of the $25,000 appropriation from the state for improved weatherproofing.  A team from the state highway and park divisions maintained the patchwork each summer.

Nevertheless, the formation collapsed to the ground between midnight and 2 a.m., May 3, 2003. Dismay over the collapse was so great that people left flowers at the base of the cliffs in tribute. In 2004, the state legislature considered a proposal to change New Hampshire's state flag to include the profile, an idea that was eventually shelved.

The Profile Plaza was later built. The plaza includes seven profilers, which allow visitors to view the image of the Old Man back on the side of Cannon Mountain.

TIMELINE OF THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN

17th millennium BC–6th millennium BC — An ice sheet recedes from North America, substantially reshaping the mountains, rerouting the rivers, and creating lakes and ponds found on the northern part of the continent.

8th millennium BC — New England undergoes the Wisconsin glaciation, the most recent ice age. Glaciers cover New England and post-glacial erosion creates the cliff which would subsequently erode into the Old Man of the Mountain at Franconia Notch.

1805 — Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks, part of a Franconia surveying crew, are the first white settlers to record observing the Old Man, according to the official New Hampshire history.

1832 — Author Nathaniel Hawthorne visits the area and later publishes a story called "The Great Stone Face".

1866 — The "Old Man of the Mountain,"-- A Daring and Ingenious Deaf Mute. - View Article - NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/kIREr

1869 — President Ulysses S. Grant visits the formation.

1906 — The Reverend Guy Roberts of Massachusetts is the first to publicize signs of deterioration of the formation.

1916 — New Hampshire Governor Rolland H. Spaulding begins a concerted state effort to preserve the formation.

1945 — The Old Man is made the New Hampshire State Emblem.

1955 — President Dwight D. Eisenhower visits the profile as part of the Old Man's 150th "birthday" celebration.

1958 — Major repair work to the Old Man's forehead as a result of a legislative appropriation the previous year.

1965 — Niels Nielsen, a state highway worker, becomes unofficial guardian of the profile, in an effort to protect the formation from vandalism and the ravages of the weather.[10]

1973 — U.S. Senator Norris Cotton (R-NH) proposes a "parkway" instead of an interstate highway through Franconia Notch. Fear that blasting for the interstate would bring down the Old Man was one of the main reasons for the proposal.

1986 — Vandalizing the Old Man is classified as a crime under the state criminal mischief law. Under the law (RSA 634:2 VI) it is a misdemeanor for any person to vandalize, deface or destroy any part of the Old Man, with a penalty of a fine of between $1,000 and $3,000 and restitution to the state for any damage caused.[11]

1987 — Nielsen is named the official caretaker of the Old Man by the state of New Hampshire.

1988 — A 12-mile (19 km) stretch of Interstate 93 (which also runs jointly with U.S. Route 3 through the notch) opens below Cannon Mountain. The $56 million project, which took 30 years to build, was a compromise between the government's desire for a four-lane interstate and environmentalists who sought to limit impact on the notch.

1991 — David Nielsen, son of Niels Nielsen, becomes the official caretaker of the Old Man.

2000 — The Old Man is featured on the state quarter of New Hampshire.

2003 — The Old Man collapses.

2004 — Coin-operated viewfinders are installed to show how the Old Man looked before its collapse.

2007 — Design of an Old Man of the Mountain memorial announced.

2010 — First phase of the state-sanctioned "Old Man of the Mountain Memorial" is unveiled.

COWARDS One Dead and One Captured #BostonMarathon #BostonStrong

Suspect #1 - DEAD 3/18/13

Suspect #1 - CAPTURED 3/19/13

1-800-CALL-FBI

These are the main two suspects that the FBI has identified as the main players in the Boston Marathon bombing.  

They are to be considered ARMED and DANGEROUS and should not be approached under any circumstances.  

Please use the contact information at the bottom of this post if you can contribute any information.








Other photo's are available at:  FBI — Photos http://ow.ly/kcM6T

Resources

To Provide Tips in the Investigation If you have visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere, submit them on https://bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov/. No piece of information or detail is too small.  You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information. All media inquiries should be directed to the FBI’s National Press Office at (202) 324-3691. - Boston FBI - Boston Police Depart

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) - Lifting days of anxiety for a city and a nation on edge, police captured the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, found bloodied in a backyard boat Friday night less than 24 hours after a wild car chase and gun battle that left his older brother dead and Boston and its suburbs sealed in an extraordinary dragnet.

"We got him," Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted. A cheer erupted from a crowd gathered near the scene.

"CAPTURED!!!" police added later. "The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

During a long night of violence Thursday and into Friday, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a desperate getaway attempt, authorities said.

Late Friday, less than an hour after authorities said the search for Dzhokhar had proved fruitless, they tracked down the 19-year-old college student holed up in the boat, weakened by a gunshot wound after fleeing on foot from the overnight shootout with police that left 200 spent rounds behind.

He was hospitalized in serious condition, unable to be questioned about his motives.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in the shootout early in the day. At one point, he was run over by his younger brother in a car as he lay wounded, according to investigators.

The violent endgame unfolded four days after the bombing and just a day after the FBI released surveillance-camera images of two young men suspected of planting the pressure-cooker explosives that ripped through the crowd at the marathon finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 180.

The two men were identified by authorities and relatives as ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who had been in the U.S. for about a decade and were believed to be living in Cambridge, Mass. But investigators gave no details on the motive for the attack.

President Barack Obama said the nation owes a debt of gratitude to law enforcement officials and the people of Boston for their help in the search. But he said there are many unanswered questions about the Boston bombings, including whether the two men had help from others. He urged people not to rush judgment about their motivations.

The breakthrough came when a man in a Watertown neighborhood saw blood on a boat parked in a yard and pulled back the tarp to see a man covered in blood, authorities said. The resident called 911 and when police arrived, they tried to talk the suspect into getting out of the boat, said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.

"He was not communicative," Davis said.

Instead, he said, there was an exchange of gunfire - the final volley of one of the biggest manhunts in American history.

Watertown residents who had been told in the morning to stay inside behind locked doors poured out of their homes and lined the streets to cheer police vehicles as they rolled away from the scene.

Celebratory bells rang from a church tower. Teenagers waved American flags. Drivers honked. Every time an emergency vehicle went by, people cheered loudly.

"They finally caught the jerk," said nurse Cindy Boyle. "It was scary. It was tense."

Police said three other people were taken into custody for questioning at an off-campus housing complex at the University of the Massachusetts at Dartmouth where the younger man may have lived.

"Tonight, our family applauds the entire law enforcement community for a job well done, and trust that our justice system will now do its job," said the family of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombing.

The FBI was swamped with tips - 300,000 per minute - after the release of the surveillance-camera photos, but what role those played in the overnight clash was unclear. State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said police realized they were dealing with the bombing suspects based on what the two men told a carjacking victim during their night of crime.

The search by thousands of law enforcement officers all but paralyzed the Boston area for much of the day. Officials shut down all mass transit, including Amtrak trains to New York, advised businesses not to open, and warned close to 1 million people in the entire city and some of its suburbs to unlock their doors only for uniformed police.

Around midday, the suspects' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., pleaded on television: "Dzhokhar, if you are alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness."

Until the younger man's capture, it was looking like a grim day for police. As night fell, they announced that they were scaling back the hunt and lifting the stay-indoors order across Boston and some of its suburbs because they had come up empty-handed.

But then the break came and within a couple of hours, the four-day ordeal was over. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured about a mile from the site of the shootout that killed his brother.

Chechnya has been the scene of two wars between Russian forces and separatists since 1994, in which tens of thousands were killed in heavy Russian bombing. That spawned an Islamic insurgency that has carried out deadly bombings in Russia and the region, although not in the West.

The older brother had strong political views about the United States, said Albrecht Ammon, 18, a downstairs-apartment neighbor in Cambridge. Ammon quoted Tsarnaev as saying that the U.S. uses the Bible as "an excuse for invading other countries."

Also, the FBI interviewed the older brother at the request of a foreign government in 2011, and nothing derogatory was found, according to a federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official did not identify the foreign country or say why it made the request.

Authorities said the man dubbed Suspect No. 1 - the one in sunglasses and a dark baseball cap in the surveillance-camera pictures - was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, while Suspect No. 2, the one in a white baseball cap worn backward, was his younger brother.

Exactly how the long night of crime began was unclear. But police said the brothers carjacked a man in a Mercedes-Benz in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston, then released him unharmed at a gas station.

They also shot to death a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, 26-year-old Sean Collier, while he was responding to a report of a disturbance, investigators said.

The search for the Mercedes led to a chase that ended in Watertown, where authorities said the suspects threw explosive devices from the car and exchanged gunfire with police. A transit police officer, 33-year-old Richard Donohue, was shot and critically wounded, authorities said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev somehow slipped away. He ran over his already wounded brother as he fled, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. At some point, he abandoned his car and ran away.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died at a Boston hospital after suffering what doctors said were multiple gunshot wounds and a possible blast injury.

The brothers had built an arsenal of pipe bombs, grenades and improvised explosive devices and used some of the weapons in trying to make their getaway, said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Watertown resident Kayla Dipaolo said she was woken up overnight by gunfire and a large explosion that sounded "like it was right next to my head ... and shook the whole house."

She said she was looking at the front door when a bullet came through the side paneling. SWAT team officers were running all over her yard, she said.

"It was very scary," she said. "There are two bullet holes in the side of my house, and by the front door there is another."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev had studied accounting as a part-time student at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston for three semesters from 2006 to 2008, the school said.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was registered as a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Students said he was on campus this week after the Boston Marathon bombing. The campus closed down Friday along with colleges around the Boston area.

The men's father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said in a telephone interview with AP from the Russian city of Makhachkala that his younger son, Dzhokhar, is "a true angel." He said his son was studying medicine.

"He is such an intelligent boy," the father said. "We expected him to come on holidays here."

The city of Cambridge announced two years ago that it had awarded a $2,500 scholarship to him. At the time, he was a senior at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, a highly regarded public school whose alumni include Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.

Tsarni, the men's uncle, said the brothers traveled here together from Russia. He called his nephews "losers" and said they had struggled to settle in the U.S. and ended up "thereby just hating everyone."

Art the osprey touches down in NH

Art the osprey touches down in NH | Local News - WMUR Home

Squam Lakes Natural Science Center

BRIDGEWATER, N.H. —Art, an 8-year-old osprey rigged with a global tracking device, has touched down at its summer nest in Bridgewater.

With a mix of high-pitched chirps and swooping dives, Art announced its arrival to its mate at their home atop an old, wooden electrical pole along the Pemigewasset River.

 Last year, researchers from the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center were able to attach a GPS tracking system to the bird that allowed them to study its winter migration.

 The osprey left its Bridgewater nest in September and traveled south to Florida, across the ocean to Cuba, then Haiti, then 400 miles over the Caribbean Ocean to South America, until finally landing in Brazil.

The trip lasted 38 days and covered almost 5,000 miles.

 Art's journey back to New Hampshire was 21 days and ended Wednesday morning with what experts call a "sky dance" just before 10 a.m.

Art's mate was waiting, and the two quickly got reacquainted with each other before Art went off to catch a fish.

Osprey expert Ian MacLeod said the two will mate hundreds of times in the next couple weeks before the female lays three to four eggs.

Art will provide the family with food during that time. By the end of the summer, the young will leave the nest, and a short time later, the pair will part, with Art heading back down to Brazil, where he'll spend the winter before his return trip to the same New Hampshire nest next spring.

Acadia National Park's Spring Opening Delayed By Budget Cuts

Spring will arrive a month later than normal at Acadia National Park, as budget cuts necessitated by the federal sequestration have forced park officials to delay opening roads and facilities.

In a bid to trim $390,000 from the park's $7.8 million budget, officials decided to extend the winter closure of park facilities for one month. Typically, the Park Loop Road and the Hulls Cove Visitor Center open on April 15. This year the Park Loop Road, including the Cadillac Summit Road, and Hulls Cove Visitor Center will not open until May 19. The Sieur de Monts Nature Center will not open until May 25.

Additionally, the cuts mean five permanent positions will not be filled this year, bringing to 23 the number of vacant permanent positions that funding reductions have forced the park staff to do without in recent years, park officials said in a release. On top of that, a dozen seasonal positions will not be hired this year, and 32 seasonal positions will have their appointments reduced between two and six weeks each.

The reduction imposed by sequestration is in addition to budget reductions realized in 2011 and 2012. To compensate for the decreased funding in 2011 and 2012, the park has reduced spending for travel, training, overtime and supply purchases. Additionally the park reduced the number of permanent employees, which left few options to compensate for the 2013 budget cuts. The only remaining alternative to achieve the 5 percent sequester cut is to reduce the level of visitor services that can be delivered this year.

Along with the delayed opening and staffing redutions, the number of free ranger-led programs will be reduced by 30 programs/week this year. Programs for which a fee is charged will continue unchanged from 2012 levels.

Seasonal staffing will be reduced across all operations. That means there will be fewer employees to provide visitor services and operate and maintain park facilities. As a result, there will be reduced hours of operation at the visitor center and Islesford Historical Museum; fewer school education programs; and fewer rangers to respond to emergencies, to provide visitor services, and to answer visitor questions.

Acadia officials say the direct impact to park visitors will be much less by opening facilities later in the season as compared to the alternative of closing facilities earlier in the fall. Visitation in April and May is approximately 220,000 visitors while visitation in September and October is 650,000.