“This hometown event was extremely successful last year. In these tough economic times, it’s more important than ever to have fun, free events for our residents and their families,” said City Manager Frank Ragan. “This is truly a hometown, community event to celebrate the most important civic holiday, and what we have planned will make it special for everyone attending.”
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The meeting sponsored by the Fannin County Historical Commission and Bonham Public Library on Friday, June 26, was near standing room only in attendance. Randy Farmer, former Fannin County resident, spoke on “Crime, the Underground Economy and Revolution in the 19th century Fannin County."
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Start out your Independence Day holiday with the 14th annual Killis Melton Ice Cream Crank-off presented by Chestnut Square Historic Village and McKinney Main Street. From 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on July 4th, visitors to the Chestnut Square Historic Village can sample fresh, unique and homemade ice cream.
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There will be parades all across America on Saturday to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th, but one group of young patriots in Bonham just couldn't wait that long.
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For the first time, scientists working on NASA's Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn's outermost ring.
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1886 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen – the first purpose-built automobile. The Karl Benz Patent Motorwagen (or motorcar), built in 1885, is widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor. After developing a successful gasoline-powered two-stroke piston engine in 1873, Benz focused on developing a motorized vehicle while maintaining a career as a designer and manufacturer of stationary engines and their associated parts. The Benz Patent Motorwagen was a three-wheeled automobile with a rear-mounted engine. The vehicle contained many new inventions. It was constructed of steel tubing with woodwork panels. The steel-spoked wheels and solid rubber tires were Benz's own design. Steering was by way of a toothed rack that pivoted the unsprung front wheel. Fully-elliptic springs were used at the back along with a live axle and chain drive on both sides. A simple belt system served as a single-speed transmission, varying torque between an open disc and drive disc. Bertha Benz, the wife of the inventor, chose to publicize the Patent Motorwagen in a unique manner -— she took the automobile, supposedly without her husband's knowledge, and drove it on the first long-distance automobile trip to demonstrate its feasibility as a means to travel long distances. That trip occurred on August 5, 1888, when Bertha Benz drove her sons Eugen and Richard (fifteen and fourteen years old) from Mannheim through Weinheim, Heidelberg, Wiesloch, and Durlach, to her hometown of Pforzheim. As well as being the driver, she acted as mechanic on the drive, cleaning the carburetor (First model of Motorwagen had not been built with a carburetor, rather a basin of fuel soaked fibers that supplied fuel to the cylinder by evaporation) with her hat pin and using a garter to insulate a wire. She refueled in Wiesloch and replaced the brake lining several times along the journey. After sending a telegraph message to her husband of her arrival in Pforzheim, she spent the night at the home of her mother and returned home the next day. The trip covered 112 miles in total. The historic drive by Bertha Benz is celebrated annually in the Mannheim region in Germany with a parade of antique automobiles on a special holiday.
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The Internal Revenue Service reminds taxpayers that many energy-saving steps taken this year may result in bigger tax savings next year.
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Expert recommends more care in handling, preparation and storage
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Water pollution is an environmental issue that affects many water bodies. This photograph shows foam on the New River as it enters the United States from Mexico.
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Like its mythical namesake, Ulysses has ventured into unexplored territory, seeking knowledge of the world around us. (Artwork by David Hardy)
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The 2007 census data indicates 52.5 percent of Texas farm operations have Internet access, up from 49.6 percent in the 2002 census. For all U.S. farms, 57 percent had Internet access in 2007 and 58 percent of those reported having a high-speed connection.
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1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight. Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing July 2, 1937, declared dead January 5, 1939) was a noted American aviation pioneer, and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan departed Miami on June 1 and after numerous stops in South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, arrived at Lae, New Guinea on June 29, 1937. At this stage about 22,000 miles of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles would all be over the Pacific. During Earhart and Noonan's approach to Howland Island the Itasca received strong and clear voice transmissions from Earhart identifying as KHAQQ but she apparently was unable to hear voice transmissions from the ship. At 7:42 a.m. Earhart radioed, "We must be on you, but cannot see you -- but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Her 7:58 a.m. transmission said she couldn't hear the Itasca and asked them to send voice signals so she could try to take a radio bearing (this transmission was reported by the Itasca as the loudest possible signal, indicating Earhart and Noonan were in the immediate area). They couldn't send voice at the frequency she asked for, so Morse code signals were sent instead. Earhart acknowledged receiving these but said she was unable to determine their direction. Many researchers believe the Electra ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan ditched at sea. David Jourdan, a former Navy submariner and ocean engineer specializing in deep-sea recoveries, has claimed any transmissions attributed to Gardner Island were false. Through his company Nauticos he extensively searched a 1,200-square-mile (3,100 km2) quadrant north and west of Howland Island during two deep-sea sonar expeditions (2002 and 2006, total cost $4.5 million) and found nothing. The search locations were derived from the line of position (157-337) broadcast by Earhart on July 2, 1937. Nevertheless, Elgen Long's interpretations have led Jourdan to conclude, "The analysis of all the data we have – the fuel analysis, the radio calls, other things – tells me she went into the water off Howland." Earhart's stepson George Palmer Putnam Jr. has been quoted as saying he believes "the plane just ran out of gas." Thomas Crouch, Senior Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, has said the Earhart/Noonan Electra is "18,000 ft. down" and may even yield a range of artifacts that could rival the finds of the Titanic, adding, "...the mystery is part of what keeps us interested. In part, we remember her because she's our favorite missing person."
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