This presentation is dedicated to the late General John Rossi.
Slide Show
Editorials • Photography • Slide Show
One hundred and sixty-eight people died in the blast including 19 children who were in a first floor daycare. Some reports indicate that 680 people were injured and, according to Wikipedia: “The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 16-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, causing at least an estimated $652 million worth of damage.”
Editorials • Photography • Slide Show
Which really just leaves a bunch of unanswered questions. Who owns the property? Is there even any hope of restoring the building? How can the City ignore what has become not just an eyesore, but an extremely dangerous attractive nuisance? (There was a death in the building recently, about 2 years ago, that was investigated as a suicide.) Early Works recently indicated that funding has been received in order to do major renovations to Constitution Hall Park, but no mention of the Historic Huntsville Freight Building was made.
Huntsville • Life • Photography • Slide Show
So, I decided to go to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephant walk last week when they were in town. I had photos from ten years ago that had been lost in a computer crash of some kind, and I wanted to get some new shots while the elephants are still around! You probably already heard that the Circus has decided, because of public pressure being incited by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), to phase out the elephants in the show by 2018. For Huntsville, that might mean one more show in a couple of years, but even though they come around on a regular schedule, there is some variation and you never know.
Unlike The Cannon Ball Run, which almost certainly indicates prescient knowledge by city planners on some level (of the impending Lee High Bus Massacre) this street was probably named before the massacre was orchestrated… maybe. Unfortunately, it does appear that the reflective concept ultimately provided inspiration to extend the event.