Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Bolsa Chica, Midway City, Milford Zornes & cannons

Today's photo shows the Midway City Volunteer Fire Department in about 1936. Thanks to Tim Castroreale for the many Midway City images he's collected and shared.
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You may remember my recent post about artist Milford Zornes' 100th birthday. Sadly, I have to report that Mr. Zornes died Feb. 24th. I was glad I got the chance to meet him and learn from him. He lived a long, full life, and he leaves an enormous legacy of art and inspired students.
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Civil War historian Charles Beal asks a good question about this photo in today's Register. Namely, what's the story behind the cannon? In fact, there are two cannons at Savanna High School in Anaheim. Does anyone know their history?
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Of course, the big history story in today's Register was actually a pre-history story. See "Unearthed Bones Reignite Dispute." In an email I received today, fellow Huntington Beach resident Marinka Horack expands on the story. She writes...

"Flossie Horgan, executive director of the BCLT [Bolsa Chica Land Trust] broke this story to the Register. She discovered this scandal while in Sacramento a couple of weeks ago when she had a meeting with Dave Singleton of the Native American Heritage Commission.

“Apparently, Hearthside Homes has dug up dozens of ancient human remains in this past year of construction on the Upper Bolsa Chica Mesa. They did not report them right away to the O.C. Coroner as they are required to do. Some 174 human remains have been found on the construction site which is directly over ORA 83, a Native American site that has been dated to go back as much as 8,500 years ago.

Dr. Daniel Rogers of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has stated that ‘ORA 83 is the kind of site that could significantly broaden our understanding of human cultural history with implications that extend far beyond California.’

“Despite this, Hearthside was allowed to build on top of ORA 83…

“The two Native American moderators quoted in the article are paid very well by the developer to observe the archaeological work and approve of the developer's procedures...”

2 comments:

Chris Jepsen said...

I just heard from Charles Beal, who tells me the Savannah High School cannons are replicas. The school's team name is the "Rebels," which explains both the cannons and the bronze civil war soldier on their campus.

Anonymous said...

Hey Chris,
I just found your blog...very cool. Let me know if you or anyone else out there has any historical photos of Midway City, Westminster or Huntington Beach.

Tim
www.OCLiving.com
www.MidwayCity.com