Ottie Cline Powell ~Thanksgiving Day 2007~

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“This is the exact spot Little Ottie Cline Powell’s body was found April 5, 1891 After straying from Tower Hill School House Nov. 9. A distance of 7 miles. Age 4 Years, 11 Months“…

After spending some quality time this Thanksgiving day morning with the Nephew and Niece, two and four years old, I decided to change my ritual Thanksgiving day hike to a part of the Appalachian Trail near Buena Vista.
Had a great time with the sister’s kids and as I thought how fortunate we are to have children in a country where their futures are almost unlimited as far as they wish to go, it reminded me of the story of Ottie Cline Powell.





The Appalachian trail crosses over the Blue Ridge Parkway at 51.5 mile marker to the Western side of the mountain range after climbing 1,200 feet in about 2 miles you come to the top of Bluff Mountain. Located near the peak of Bluff Mountain is the above marker dedicated to Ottie Cline Powell…



Back in 1891 a small boy named Ottie Cline Powell went to his local school and wandered off into the woods while looking for firewood with other classmates never to return.



A school teacher from a school in nearby Buena Vista wrote of this incident in 1925 and the story was published. Here are selected sections of this published story to describe the incident.



http://www.jcpinkerton.com/people/ottie.html

“As the boys went hurrying out for a romp and jump, the kind teacher requested they bring back a small armful of dry wood for the morning’s fire.
The school house was located about seven miles east of the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near the foot of the hills“

The story goes on to describe the intense search by approximately 1,500 locals from all over who responded once they heard of the missing boy. One of these volunteers who knew Ottie well thought to use his dog who also knew Ottie well…

“Mr. Wood went home and brought the dog and put him on the little boy’s track where he had dropped his pole of wood. The dog seemed at once to know something had happened to little Ottie. Mr. Wood said that the dog at once took the trail and went toward the high peaks of the main ridge. The dog was gone so long that they thought he had left the trail and had gone off hunting for something else. For they did not think the little boy had gone so far and in that direction, and for this reason they did not follow the dog closely“.

“Mr. Wood told me that he believed the dog went to him that very night, as he was gone so long. I have no doubt from what Mr. Wood told me that the faithful old dog did go to little Ottie and wag his tail and lick his face, having found him asleep returned to his owner who sent him on the trail“.

About six months later four young men crossed over Bluff Mountain…

“But on the Sunday of April the 5th, as they approached this high peak, their dog having gone on ahead of them and was barking at something on top of this high peak, they thought they would go on to the top and see what the dog had found to bark at“.

Again with the dogs…



“As they walked up to him they could hardly believe their own eyes. It was the long-sought-for little Ottie Powell. This part of it seemed providential. These young men just seemed to be led this way, as they had no particular business to be traveling this rough trail on this Sunday“.








In search and rescue it is stressed to pinpoint the last known exact location of the missing person and concentrate on this area. In Scuba Search and Rescue victims are often found within 100 feet of the last confirmed known location. For small Ottie to travel over 7 miles is incredible and the arrow in the above photo shows the location of Buena Vista as seen from the peak of Bluff Mountain where Ottie was found. A distance of 5.75 miles…




"What seemed to puzzle them was how a little fellow like him, less than five years of age, climbed over such rocks, hedges and cliffs to this lofty peak. The altitude is 3350 feet on the line of Rockbridge and Amherst County. From this peak can be seen three county seats, Amherst, Lexington, and Bedford city. Also the city of Buena Vista and Lynchburg“.

It is commomn practice for hikers along the Appalachian Trail to leave Toys and items for Ottie at the marker. This story and landmark appears in many of the trail guides and hikers have been known to carry items for long distances to leave "Something for Ottie" at the marker...

There is power in that Pachyderm watching over Ottie's marker...

Hillary's "Strategic" Energy Plan\Solution...

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Potential Democratic Party presidential nominee and possible(?) 44th President of the United States Hillary Clinton called on actual President Bush to release oil from the strategic reserve to “ease concerns about low crude stocks”.

"I urge the President to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve to send a signal to the market and ease concerns about low crude oil stocks that are driving prices higher,"

Unfortunately it appears the possible(?) next President does not understand that the reason for the strategic reserve is to provide valuable crude during major supply disruptions and would rather use it to get valuable votes for a primary election. Like her Hubby and prior co-president “Slick Willie”, Hillary would use our strategic reserves to appear she is providing relief to Americans who are paying high fuel prices when in fact she is ignoring the real problem.

“Former President Bill Clinton ordered the release of up to 30 million barrels from the crude oil reserve in September 2000 to boost available heating fuel supplies heading into the winter.”

And this was just in time before the Gore 2000 Presidential election…

Like “Slick-Willie”, Hillary is ignoring the real problem of a shrinking supply of world crude by calling for a “feel-good” tactic which will do little but attract favorable votes from a simple bloc of voters who are not able to comprehend simple economics and national security. What would the potential(?) 44th President do in a major disruption of world crude when she turned to our strategic reserve and found a low inventory due to her “political” tactics?

Bill Clinton prevented exploration and increased national independence from foreign suppliers of crude when he was the President during his term.

“In 1995, co-President William Jefferson Clinton vetoed a budget bill containing language that would have opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration“.

If President Clinton and the Democratic Party members of Congress understood world supply\demand issues and looked towards the future back during Willie’s term in office it would be a different situation now.

“If President Clinton in 1995 hadn't blocked drilling in a few thousand acres of frozen tundra in an area the size of South Carolina, ANWR would today be delivering more than a million barrels of American oil daily“.

Imagine if the 42nd President of the United States had the vision and understanding to provide the needed actions to ensure greater national security and less dependence on foreign sources of crude? The argument then and now is the potential damage to a “Pristine” environment with little returns in supply of American crude\energy. Both of these reasons have been proved false over time and leaves us in the situation we now have. One argument was that ANWR would have provided only a six month supply of crude. Remember what they said about the other drilling project in Alaska?

“But Prudhoe recently observed its 30th anniversary, during which it has delivered its 15 billionth barrel of oil. At its peak, it produced 2 million barrels a day as the migrating caribou herds increased in size“.

The “Clintons” and their Democratic party continue to claim that potential damage to environments are not acceptable and that drilling for known oil reserves off our shores should be prevented. But yet they believe it is alright for countries such as Cuba & China to drill for oil 50 miles off the shores of the Florida Keys.

“Cuba recently granted China's state-owned oil company permission to explore for oil within 50 miles of the Florida coast on Cuba's side of the Florida Strait. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the North Cuban Basin, accessible from U.S. waters, may contain 4.6 billion barrels of oil“.

The Clinton’s and the Democratic Party seems more interested in the energy security of two countries with documented poor environment practices then the energy security of the United States. They claim that we must expand into alternative energy sources as a solution and favor the practice of ethanol production. Yet when other countries who have a developed program of alternative fuel sources and look towards utilizing known reserves of crude the Clintons and their party remain silent.

“Yes, Brazil has a robust ethanol program, as advocates of that alternative energy regularly point out. But the country still explores for oil. And last Thursday, it announced a major discovery in waters off Rio de Janeiro. The Tupi field is estimated to contain as many as 8 billion barrels of recoverable light crude“.

What would the possible(?) 44th President and her Democratic party do when she looked at her depleted strategic oil reserve after a major supply disruption? Who will they blame when the oil starts washing up on the reefs and beaches of the Florida Keys after Cuba & China continue with their poor environmental practices?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071108/pl_nm/clinton_oil_dc_2

Iowa gets Interesting...

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Poll 20 November 2007

Mainstream Media on thin ice?...

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The mainstream media once again was called on their published claims of doom & gloom, pending end of the world, and one sided support of environmental scare tactics without presenting all of the facts…

Remember back six or seven years ago when the N.Y. Times reported that there was open water and melted ice at the North Pole only to be told the facts by the scientific community?

“This isn't the first time that real science has exposed hyperbole concerning melting ice at the North Pole. In August 2000, the New York Times ran an apocalyptic story that said the pole was free of ice for the first time in 50 million years.”

http://ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=280022622136550

"It was retracted three weeks later as a barrage of scientists protested that open water is common at or near the pole at the end of summer,"writes environmental scientist Pat Michaels. "Further, it's common knowledge in the scientific community that there has been no net change in Arctic temperatures in the last 70 years."

Those nasty little facts getting in the way of the story again…

The Timesonline website recently reported that Polar Bears are drowning in the ocean due to global warming melting the icebergs they live(?) on. This after four polar bears were found dead from drowning. Now it is unfortunate that these polar bears drowned but example data of four bears probably does not secure a definite trend when you provide all of the facts.

“So how to explain the increase in the polar bear population from 5,000 in 1950 to 25,000 today, as documented by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service? The alarmists are noticeably quiet. Could it be that the facts don't fit with their campaign of exaggerations, half-truths and outright lies?”

It is safe to say that the global temperature has risen a bit but nothing like the “Scientific models” provided and quoted by some media outlets that promote the Doom & Gloom agenda. Still waiting to see them explain why the temperature on Mars has also risen without a large population of SUV vehicles roaming the martian landscape and how it relates with the increased activity of our shared Sun? Or why has the caribou population increased several times over the years with that nasty oil pipeline running thru their backyard…