JIM BRINK: Julie Brink Hamilton fills in the details of her
brother’s connection to the moon landing.
She writes, “I am writing about the story in today’s Round the
Square (10/10/09). Hal Harmon wrote about my brother Jim Brink and
his part in the construction of the flagpole that eventually went
to the moon.”
“Jim was working for Brown & Root Construction at the NASA
base in Houston where he was asked to construct a flag pole that
could be opened like an umbrella to hold the American flag when we
(the USA) landed on the moon because there wasn’t any wind up there
to keep it open. Jim wasn’t alone in this project but it was great
for the family to get a personal connection to something this
historical. Thanks to Hal Harmon for remembering his old friend,
Jim.”
WOOLY WORD: M.T. Ahrens also has a follow-up to an RTS, one on
the “invention” of Wooly Willie in Smethport: “Seeing this article
brought back many memories. I remember Mr. Mackowski working on
Wooly Willie in his home on Jackson Avenue. His daughter, Ann, was
a friend and one day he had us hold the magnet and drew our hands
to use on the back of the toy to demonstrate how to use it.”
GAS PAIN: Tom Wilkinson sends an e-mail: “Just paid (Saturday,
Oct. 3) $2.19 for gas in Chillicothe, Ohio!” As of Tuesday of this
week, gas prices in Bradford were at the $2.55 mark.
We are chronic whiners, we know, but this inequity bugs us
particularly as the gap between Bradford and virtually everywhere
else widens to such a large extent. It’s one thing when it just a
couple cents or even a dime. But in this case we’re talking 36
cents differential. That’s a lot.
Why can none of our politicians or economic development experts
see the big picture when it comes to this price disparity which
goes back literally decades in the Bradford area? Not only does it
effect the cost of doing business but has an impact on our standard
of living.
Gas prices in a rural area such as ours, where the entire
population is heavily dependent on their cars, is essentially a
monopoly. We can’t substitute another product and it wouldn’t pay
(obviously) to get gas somewhere else.
