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William Watkins (author)

William Watkins is an author and theatre producer currently residing in New York. Watkins is the author of the controversial 1999 novel Cassina Gambrel Was Missing for which he won the XXXXX award. Watkins was hailed for his "keen characteriziations and

As a member of the board of directors of New York's York Theatre Company, he was a co-producer of the XXXX Off-Broadway production of Thrill Me and lead producer of the 2008 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre (that year honoring theatre veteran George S. Irving).

He has been associated with the American Composer Series since it's founding in 2000 and continues the work of his life partner (cite obit) Earl Wentz through The Earl Wentz Projects, a not-for-profit organization founded in 2010. (citation)

James A. Mollison

James Alexander Mollison (1897-1970) was a Brigadier General of the United States Air Force during and immediately after World War II. Mollison was Chief of Staff of the Hawaiian Air Force, Hickam Field, Hawaii (serving under the overall command of Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short) at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He became Chief of Staff of the Seventh Air Force in 1942.

In October 1944, Mollison was sent to Europe and served as Commanding General Fifteenth Air Force, Bari, Italy and Commanding General of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF)from August 1945.

He was was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for "exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility" on August 28, 1945.

To Do

Clean up all references in existing articles I've created or worked on.

Winifred MacBride

Winifred MacBride was a Scottish-born concert pianist who achieved international acclaim in the first half of the twentieth century, particularly for her interpretations of the works of Beethoven and Tschaikowsky. Her 1924 concert at Queen's Hall, London, conducted by Sir Henry J. Wood, garnered critical raves for her technical virtuosity as well as the intelligence of her interpretive skills. MacBride was praised for her "intellectual serenity" and "radiance", the "elegance of her phrasing and touch," and her "unfailing technique". Others commented on her "spacious and sympathetic style," "admirable fire," and "her clear insight into the meaning of the music."

MacBride made her American debut in October 1924 at Aeolian Hall in New York.

MacBride married composer Christopher Thomas and subsequently moved to Charlotte, NC, where she taught piano privatetly and at Wingate College (now Wingate University). She continued to appear as a guest artist periodically with symphony orchestras, including the Charlotte symphony until her retirement.

Southland and West Memphis

Note this reference and incorporate: [[18]]

Southland yearns for dogs' glory days.

by Whitsett, Jack Arkansas Business • Jan 14, 2002 • ONCE ONE OF THE TWO largest and richest greyhound racing tracks in the nation, Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis now struggles merely to survive, General Manager Barry Baldwin said last week.

Mind you, Baldwin has a plan to resurrect at least a facsimile of the park's glory days. He just needs a little help from the state.

"Southland was always the Churchill Downs [home of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky.] of greyhound racing," Baldwin said.

Whether the head-shaking nostalgia surrounding Southland is genuine or just poor-mouthing in the best state-regulated business tradition, Baldwin can point to some concrete numbers to back his case. Southland attendance has dropped 67.5 percent since 1990. The handle, or amount bet by patrons, decreased 75.3 percent in the same period. The economic impact on the state's coffers is obvious; Southland pays a 3 percent privilege tax on the total wagered plus 1 percent on most simulcast wagering.

The main bogeyman for Southland would appear to be casino gambling in northern Mississippi. In 1991, the last full year before casinos started opening across the river, 1.55 million people attended Southland races, wagering $298.3 million, according to the track's figures. By 1994 attendance had dropped to 866,620 with a $125.4 million handle. In 2001, only 535,453 people tripped the turnstiles, betting just $53.8 million.

Southland's share of the take for the fiscal year that ended June 30,2000, was received $19.9 million, according to the most recent legislative audit.

"Everything has taken a lick as a result of the casinos," said state Rep. Steve Jones, D-West Memphis. "If you look at the numbers since the casinos came in, the revenues at Southland have been in steady decline."

Jones, whose district includes Southland, helped the track out last year with a bill that cut the simulcasting tax from 2 percent to the current 1 percent. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature and became Act 1837 on May 4, 2001.

West Memphis Landmark

The nation's major east-west artery, Interstate 40, crosses Interstate 55, an important north-south freeway, at West Memphis. The city sprawls along the low delta across the Mississippi River from the storied bluffs upon which perches downtown Memphis. Subject to annual flooding, the Arkansas side is largely uninhabited for a mile or so, until the land rises somewhat to meet the truck stops, treeless housing developments and freeway interchanges that are West Memphis.

Sylvan, gracious neighborhoods lie just a couple of minutes off the highways, but they are no more noticed by motorists than is the crumbling commercial zone along Broadway or the overgrown wooded strip where three ghastly child-murders took place in 1993.

But you can't miss Southland Greyhound Park, a fixture since 1956 on Ingram Blvd. adjacent to I-55. West Memphis, perpetually stuck, it seems, at about 28,000 inhabitants since then, has retreated steadily in population ranking among Arkansas cities. Tenth in 1990, the city lost 2.1 percent of its citizens by 2000 and fell to 12th as Conway and Rogers zoomed past.

But West Memphis had, until the past decade, boasted an industry-leading facility in Southland. And even before Southland, Baldwin said, the sport carried on at the Riverside Kennel Club in the shadow of the old Mississippi Bridge through the Depression.

Quality Draws Bets

Though the track Web site touts "an impressive list of greyhounds and kennels," a chief symptom of what ails Southland is the declining quality of the dogs racing there, track management claims.

"The decline in the caliber of greyhounds racing at [the park] is a major reason for the decrease in attendance and handle and subsequent drop in wagering tax revenue for Arkansas," a Southland newsletter states.

Baldwin compares the situation to college football.

"People tend to bet more on the higher-quality animal," he said. "If you had a choice of watching Arkansas and Tennessee [or] Panhandle A&M versus Nicholls State ... you want to bet on the best greyhounds and the best horses."

But how to compete effectively against the casinos, thereby attracting better dogs, which will increase attendance, wagering and tax collections, allowing for more effective competition against the casinos? Baldwin has an uncomplicated answer: Bring the casinos, at least part of them, to the track.

Greyhound parks in Rhode Island, Iowa and, soon, New York, allow other forms of gambling such as slot machines and video lottery games, Baldwin said. Such operations produce 95-99 percent of the tax revenue at the greyhound tracks, while the tracks use their share to increase purses, luring the sought-after top kennels and dogs.

Glory Days

In the past, Baldwin said, Southland essentially monopolized U.S. greyhound racing along with Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Fla. Each was open only six months a year.

"The top 15 kennels ran at Southland in the summer, St. Petersburg in the winter," Baldwin said. The expense and toll on kennel employees' families resulting from two complete moves a year finally outweighed the cozy dual-track system.

"It became really beneficial to be open [year-round]," Baldwin said.

Southland is owned by Delaware North Companies Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y. A privately held corporation, DNC operates various companies, including the National Hockey League Boston Bruins; Fleet Center, the Bruins' arena; Sportsystems Corp., including Southland and several other greyhound tracks; and Delaware North Parks Services, which runs concession businesses in national parks. Southland Greyhound Park Attendance and Handle, 1990-2001 Year Attendance Handle 1990 1,646,714 $218,044,000 1991 1,546,751 $298,337,000 1992 1,464,819 $197,370,000 1993 1,202,400 $163,852,000 1994 866,620 $125,358,000 1995 814,145 $100,656,000 1996 772,788 $87,770,000 1997 686,456 $76,794,000 1998 648,687 $71,345,000 1999 594,176 $62,769,000 2000 573,121 $60,241,000 2001 535,453 $53,809,000

COPYRIGHT 2002 Journal Publishing, Inc. Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. Copyright 2002, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company. NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.

Memphis Biz Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2007/05/07/editorial1.html Friday, May 4, 2007 Editorial New games make Southland park more competitiveMemphis Business Journal Print Email Reprints RSS Feeds Add to Del.icio.us Digg This CommentsOther Matching Articles for "layoffs at Southland Greyhound Park" New games make Southland park more competitive [05/07/2007] A quick look inside the Top 100 private companies [06/19/2006] > More Search Results Southland Park Gaming and Racing is making a solid wager that new offerings will keep some area patrons from heading to Tunica.

The former Southland Greyhound Park still has its signature greyhound dog races, but now has 803 automated games of skill and a new digital poker room to compete for the casino crowd.

Unlike the gaming operations in Tunica, new games at Southland fall into the "games of skill" category, where players make choices on the way to what they hope will be positive outcomes.

Arkansas state legislators would not allow casino gambling, so Delaware North Cos., which owns Southland, and West Memphis leaders lobbied lawmakers and finally got a bill passed in 2005 that allowed residents to vote in favor of electronic wagering at both Southland and the Oaklawn Park horse track in Hot Springs.

Delaware North invested $40 million in the West Memphis park. In addition to the new gaming features, it added a live entertainment area, 450-seat event center and gift shop, and food services were expanded and upgraded. Southland already had pari-mutuel wagering areas featuring horse and dog races from other U.S. racing parks.

It is a significant victory not only for Delaware North, but the city as well. When the first casinos opened in Tunica in 1993, attendance at Southland dropped immediately and significantly. With more entertainment dollars heading to Tunica, Southland's future was looking cloudy unless it could find a way to compete with the casinos.

With the investment, Southland has added more than 300 new employees, making it the third largest employer in West Memphis with 660 employees. Those jobs would be hard to replace if attendance remained depressed and layoffs ensued, or worse, if Delaware North closed the park.

Time will tell, but attendance appears to be increasing. In March, 41,591 people came through the doors, a 10% spike compared to March 2006.

The state law enabling these games of skill puts a 20% tax on net wagering revenue. 18% of the proceeds will go to the state for scholarship programs. Another 1.5% goes to the cities where state parks are located, and .5% to the counties.

Southland has been a landmark entertainment venue in the Mid-South for many years and we're betting the changes will keep the park viable for many more.

ESHA

Easley High School Auditorium is a historic building built in 1909 in Easley, SC and now on the National Register of Historic Places. It is historically significant for its long association with education and civic life in Easley in the first half of the 20th century. The building served as Easley’s first and only high school from 1909 to 1940 and was central to the early experience and training of almost every local resident of that period.

Architecture

Architecturally, the load bearing masonry building in the Renaissance Revival style is significant for its early efforts to introduce steel trusses into traditional masonry-bearing wall and heavy timber construction. It has also been noted as an outstanding early example of the work of architects Frank H. and Joseph G. Cunningham. The building illustrates the early use of steel trusses to provide a clear-span auditorium with 18-foot ceilings.

At the time of construction, use of steel trusses was still in the experimental phase. The design of the building is an early example of “the gradual replacement of load-bearing masonry and heavy timber structures with steel frame construction.” The building has 86 tall windows with segmental arches, laid out like those in many textile mills in the region.

Later Use

When the building opened in the fall of 1909, its classrooms allowed the seventh through tenth grades to have their own rooms for the first time (an eleventh grade was added in the 1920-21 school year).

The school had outgrown the facility by 1938 and a new building was constructed on a different site in 1939-40. Following completion of the new school building, the auditorium was occupied by a shirt manufacturer until 1964.

From that time until its listing on the National Register, the building went through various periods of vacancy and occupation by a local furniture store for limited storage use.

Recent Restoration

The building had fallen into disrepair when the Easley Chamber of Commerce applied for its recognition as one of the most-endangered properties in the state. A period of planning on how to return it to a place of prominence within the community followed. In the early 2000s the building was rehabilitated and restored to private use as residential condominiums.

The building stands at 112 Russell Street and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History has additional pictures and information, and copies of the nomination forms..

Previous article draft

The Baron Hirsch Synagogue, founded more than one hundred forty years ago in Memphis, Tennessee, is a flagship of American Orthodox Judaism. In the 1950s, it emerged as the largest Orthodox congregation in the United States, a position it still holds.

The congregation is lead by Senior Rabbi Shai Finklestein.

History

Around 1884, a group of Jewish immigrants who wished to follow religious Orthodoxy began to pray together in rooms above various downtown Memphis stores, at private homes, and on the second floor of a modest hotel. In 1892, the group was chartered as the Baron Hirsch Benevolent Society, named in honor of the famed French Jewish philanthropist. That same year they purchased a former African American church at 4th Street and Washington Avenue for use as a synagogue, moving in in 1912. Rabbi I. Myerowitz was the congregation's first spiritual leader, serving from 1891 to 1893.

The Baron Hirsch congregation continued to grow and soon tore down their old building and built a new synagogue, at a cost of $35,000, on the same site in 1915. The new synagogue's sancturary could hold over 700 worshippers. The congregation built the Menorah Institute next to the synagogue in 1928, providing classrooms and space for congregation social activities.

The congregation struggled somewhat in the Depression years. However, by 1941, Baron Hirsch had 500 member households and 300 children in its religious school.

During World War II, it opened the Menorah Institute to soldiers stationed in the area, converting part of the building to a USO Center with sleeping quarters. The outside area between the synagogue and the Menorah Institute was paved for use in USO dances.

Flourishing in the post-War years under the leadership of Rabbi Isadore Goodman, by the late 1950s, it had grown to over 1000 households and 500 children in its school. This dramatic increase in membership coupled with the movement of Jews out of the downtown "Pinch" area, spurred the congregation to begin planning for a new synagogue. In 1957, its enormous new synagogue on the site of a former golf course at Vollintine Avenue and Evergreen Street in midtown Memphis was completed, with 2200 permanent seats in the sanctuary and accommodation for an additional 1000 worshippers. The $1,6000,00 rectilinear International style building was designed by architect George Awsumb with powerful gray limestone wall cladding enhancing its clean modern lines. Artisan Jac Grue designed the stained glass windows.

A testament to the strength of orthodox Judaism in Memphis, the congregation's membership doubled in the new synagogue, emerging as the largest Orthodox congregation in the United States.

In September 2007, The Tennessee Historical Commission announced that The Vollintine Hills Historic District, the neighborhood around what is now the former site of the synagogue, had been added to the National Register of Historic Places. A press release issued at the time stated, "The neighborhood represents the efforts of members of an Orthodox religious group to accommodate their beliefs by developing a synagogue and housing for the congregation within easy walking distance. The 78 houses in the district "are good examples of post World War II Minimal Traditional and ranch-style houses".

Recent Changes

Continual neighborhood transitions and the ongoing movement of members toward the east-lying Memphis suburbs, meant that the congregation again needed to find an additional location to remain within walking distance of most of its members.

Under the leadership of Rabbi Rafael G. Grossman (now Senior Rabbi, Emeritus) the congregation began a transition from its edifice in midtown Memphis.

Baron Hirsch acquired the estate of musician Isaac Hayes and converted the mansion for its use as a satellite campus. By the mid-1980’s, almost all Baron Hirsch members were in this area and it was determined that the entire synagogue complex would have to move as well. Additional land was purchased next to the satellite site, another building campaign was undertaken, and the magnificent new synagogue and campus on South Yates Road was completed in 1988.

The Congregation Today

Although it has declined somewhat from its post-World War II peak, Baron Hirsch continues to flourish.

Baron Hirsch is a modern Orthodox Zionist congregation that seeks to engage its membership in experiencing all aspects of Jewish life with a strong commitment to Am Yisroel, Eretz Yisroel and Torat Yisroel.

The Memphis Jewish community is a strong, stable, and vibrant one. As a result, Memphis is often referred to as "the Jerusalem of the South.”