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Board index World War II and Inter-War Era Winter War & Continuation War
What If-Finland had been prepared for the Winter War?
Discussions on the Winter War and Continuation War, the wars between Finland and the USSR.
Hosted by Juha Tompuri
CanKiwi2
Financial supporter
Haltepunkt on Sign
Post by CanKiwi2 » 21 Jan 2011 21:16
Re the photo below:
The upper sign says in swedish "Ladugården", better know as "Latokartano" north-east from Helsinki. First clue is the railway. There used to be a railway in Viikki. Latokartano is a part of Viikki in Helsinki. So there are still traces of that old railway. Seek for Mendelinkuja on the map. Under that seems to be a small forest. Watch closely. Those lines cutting through the forest might be traces of the old railway. It used to be somewhere nearby. Then on the left side of that Mendelinkuja is a small (spots and lines) field. Here are two maps of railways. First from 1913 showing railways out of Helsinki.
And this one where you can see a building close to the railway just like in the picture
Clip from "Memories of 1918" TV Show
More recent photo of location
Second photo from the series, the house in the background to the right
Here is a link to a page where all Finnish places are translated to Swedish. There is only one Ladugården in the list and that is Latokartano in Helsinki.
kaino.kotus.fi/www/verkkojulkaisut/ortn ... ensklis...
Anyhow, there's a whole thread on this photo. Here's the link....might be worth copying the whole thing over.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65817306@N00/56972485/
ex Ngāti Tumatauenga ("Tribe of the Maori War God") aka the New Zealand Army
Juha Tompuri
Location: Mylsä
Re: What If - Finland had been prepared for the Winter War?
Post by Juha Tompuri » 21 Jan 2011 22:16
Baltasar wrote: Using Haltepunkt in context with a railstation would be... unfamiliar.
It's old (finnish)swedish term.
A railway stop.
Here a dictionary of official terms from 1883:
http://www.genealogia.fi/hakem/sanasto/sanastoh.htm
Seems that the finnish term there pysäkki is as more modern (railway) term a seisake
Regards, Juha
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Post by Baltasar » 21 Jan 2011 22:41
Thanks for the clarification guys. Haltpunkt would literally mean stop point in German, a term not used for railway stations in afore mentioned language. Just proofs that there's a lot of lended and familiar sounding words in those different languages.
Slon-76
Post by Slon-76 » 22 Jan 2011 00:16
CanKiwi2 wrote: Hi Slon-76
Ah-ha. Think about that a bit more.
I return to you your recommendation:
CanKiwi2 wrote: While the Soviet military enormously outnumbered Finland's, the USSR had to maintain forces along the frontier with the Germans (especially post-Sept 1939) and facing off the Japanese along the border with Manchukuo. Not inconsiderable forces either. The USSR could never afford to have other than a percentage of their forces facing off against Finland, which in the greater scheme of things was small change. The challenge Finland faced was to make themselves something similar to a porcupine. Yes, you can kill it, but it's gonna be damn painful to do it.
RKKA by the end of September, 1939 had more than 5 million person. Armies in the Far East in a reality practically did not touch. In a reality for war with Finland have involved hardly more one million. And two could.
The main trouble of the Finnish army was not arms, but small number. To solve this problem, it is necessary to force somehow the Finnish women in the beginning of 20th years to give birth in two - three times of more children.
CanKiwi2 wrote: A similar challenge faced the Swiss in WW2 - they were better prepared and hence survived.
Switzerland was not necessary Hitler is a unique reason on which it have not touched.
CanKiwi2 wrote: Also keep in mind that in 1939 the Red Army was woefully unprepared for a real war. Stalin's purges of the Officer Corps saw to that.
I a little bit more than you understand in this question. Believe me, reprisals were not the biggest problem of Red Army.
CanKiwi2 wrote: An unexpected advantage for the Finns. Also, the whole Winter War scenario. Stalin didn't expect the Finns to fight, the Red Army went in completely unprepared for winter warfare. In summer uniforms no less and at minus forty.
Yes - yes. And Finns used "cuckooes" and built rubber bunkers...
The problems described by you took place in separate parts the beginning of December, but in any way in January when strong frosts have begun.
CanKiwi2 wrote: Aircraft - look at the kill ratio the Ilmavoimat achieved against the Red Airforce with Fokker DXXI's and later with Brewster Buffaloes. Give the Ilmavoimat 100 P-35's and you're talking an advantage out of all proportion to what the numbers indicate.
Also what, it has strongly helped the Finnish army? The Finnish Air Forces created problems at impacts on rear objects, and Mannerheim's line bombed practically without counteraction. During Winter war of Air Forces of Red Army lost one plane on 110-115 starts, the Air Forces of Finland - one on 89 starts.
The Air Forces of Red Army have involved for war against Finland in total 58 air regiments + Fleet's Air Force. And could be 70. You seriously think, what one hundred Р-35 essentially would change something?
All told by you could prolong only war, but not change its result. Without open statement on the side of Finland of one of great powers, Finns do not have chance to win. It is possible only " to sell the life more dearly ".
Post by David Thompson » 22 Jan 2011 05:52
Two off-topic, no-content posts from Mika68* were removed by this moderator - DT.
Slon-76 wrote: In a reality for war with Finland have involved hardly more one million. And two could.
As Finnish army was about 340 000 men strong and the KIA rate in real Winter War between USSR and Finland was about 5.7 to 1 (or more), the two million army might or might not have been problematic for Finns in this scenario (Finns with more and better arms).
Slon-76 wrote: The main trouble of the Finnish army was not arms, but small number.
Finland barely had arms to the the number of men Finlad had in reality.
More and better arms (artillery and artillery ammo, armor piercing/incendiary rifle caliber ammo, 120mm mortars, at-weapons and -mines, AA-weapons, aircrafts, ice-mines etc)
Slon-76 wrote:
The purges and the a bit strange Soviet command system with included political elements in the decision making seemed to not to have encouraged the commanders in very initiative style of leading their units.
If you understand what I mean.
Slon, I know you know that the " summer uniforms no less and at minus forty" is true and ""cuckooes" and built rubber bunkers" is less true.
Slon-76 wrote: During Winter war of Air Forces of Red Army lost one plane on 110-115 starts, the Air Forces of Finland - one on 89 starts.
Does the Soviet/Finnish figures also include trainers or just combat planes?
Combat sorties or all sorties?
Slon-76 wrote: All told by you could prolong only war, but not change its result. Without open statement on the side of Finland of one of great powers, Finns do not have chance to win. It is possible only " to sell the life more dearly ".
Depending what the "win" is.
Soviet initial goal was to change the political system in Finland, and Finnish goal was to stay independent.
I think the outcome would have been the same.
Location: Stockholm,Sweden
Post by John T » 22 Jan 2011 10:21
Baltasar wrote: Thanks for the clarification guys. Haltpunkt would literally mean stop point in German, a term not used for railway stations in afore mentioned language. Just proofs that there's a lot of lended and familiar sounding words in those different languages.
Not the least when the concepts where imported like the railways, "the language came with the goods"
In Swedish express train where officially known as "snälltåg"(kind-trains) until 1980.
the point is that "Snäll" in Swedish means kind. but it was a "Swedification" of the german word schnell that lived on long after everyone knew it was a mistake.
In Finnland, Swedish speaking soldiers used the word "fågelsången" (birds song) for a german word,
I think it was Vor-stellung in the use as forward or lookout post.
my modern German dictionary does not list that meaning but it must been something similar to that in German ww1 language. I remember I read it in Jarl Gallens book on a Swedish language regiment during the Winter war and he attributed the use of German terms due to some officers Jäger training in Germany during ww1
/John
dcmatkins
Location: cleveland england
Post by dcmatkins » 22 Jan 2011 10:28
I think Stalin had hs eyes on Finland, from both a political and strategic point of view.
Russia likes to make its presence felt beyond its own boundaries, always have and always will.
The Finns no doubt were aware of the Russia threat. While the Phoney War was going on.
Fair credit must be given to the Finns for standing upto the Red Army like they did.
To be better prepared long term would have required assistance from elsewhere. In 1939 very few countries had the capability for a long drawn out campaign. Even Germany relied upon Blitzgrieg or "lighting war".
Did the Finns even before WW2 started seek any military alliances. To provide a bulwark against the Russians.
John Hilly
Location: Tampere, Finland, EU
Pysäkki-Seisake-Haltpunkt
Post by John Hilly » 22 Jan 2011 11:16
Pysäkki meant, that the train stopped only if there were passangers standing at the Haltpunkt, or passenger had told the conducter that he wants to leave there.
Seisake meant that the train always stopped there, but the was no ticket sale -as was in a station.
Juha-Pekka
"Die Blechtrommel trommelt noch!"
Re: Pysäkki-Seisake-Haltpunkt
Thanks everyone for the feedback on the railway signs. That was really interesting - I had no idea a photo could spark off all this information on the side . The original flickr thread I picked that up from was trying to pinpoint the actual location the photo was taken in. Quite a fascinating discussion all of its own that I reposted on the Winter War Forum.
..........Nigel
dcmatkins wrote: Did the Finns even before WW2 started seek any military alliances. To provide a bulwark against the Russians.
Yes indeed they did. I will get into that later in my what-if as I cover the politics and relationships with other countries for Finland in the 20s and 30s (but be aware I will add a few little ATL variations of my own as I go - like the upcoming involvement of a Finnish volunteer Division - named Pohjan Pojat perhaps - on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War). I am open to suggestions on what this unit would be called altho I have a couple of alternatives right now.
Seriously, Finland made numerous attempts to establish better security through alliances with other countries but they all came to nothing. Too long to go into here, but there have been other discussions on this and the history books available in English cover it fairly well too.
Cheers.............Nigel
Hi Slon-76
Finland DID win. They remained an independent country, even after the end of WW2. Helsinki one of only 3 European combatant capitals never occupied by the enemy (the other two being - ahem - Moscow, and of course London). For Finland, that WAS victory. Losses of territory were incidental to the overall outcome. Stalin did not get what he was initially after, which was a Soviet-controlled state - similar to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
My what-if is merely an alternative on that. How could Finland have achieved a better outcome. It IS a fictional what-if, feel free to pick holes in my posts as I make them. But the basic premise remains the same. No point in arguing that, what happened, happened. Anyhow, from your posts you have a pretty good knowledge of the Soviet military and I look forward to picking your brains for some contributions on that side of things once this what-if gets to that stage (which will be a while.......). In the meantime, lets just ...... wait and see
Cheers...............Nigel
Juha Tompuri wrote:
2 million - not a problem?!? Juha, I understand, that you are proud of armed forces of the country, but such words simply are not serious. If you at all do not count the Soviet infantry a problem, where you will put superiority RKKA in artillery, aircraft and tanks? All the same all this will shoot on the Finnish armies, only it will be much more, accordingly and losses in the Finnish army will be more.
The Red Army "would go through" also 600 thousand lost, and "would go through" Finnish, for example, 100-120 thousand killed and wounded?
The purges and the a bit strange Soviet command system with included political elements in the decision making seemed to not to have encouraged the commanders in very initiative style of leading their units. If you understand what I mean.
I think what yes. The red army most of all suffered from a low level of preparation of command structure of an average and lowest link.
It was are direct investigation of the general low level of literacy of the population getting " in the inheritance " from Russian Empire. "Political elements" were much a smaller problem, than this.
I think, that you know, that I do not do groundless applications. "Summer uniforms no less and at minus forty" - It is a myth, same as ""cuckooes" and built rubber bunkers".
I already spoke, that such situations took place in December. But at the end of a month the instruction of the Stavka, strictly forbidden to send an army on front without warm regimentals has left. In December somewhere there were frosts -40C?
By the way, " everyone know " that 44-n the division has arrived on front in the summer form.
I now work with documents of this division and I can approve, that it - lie. The only thing that was not at a division are "valenoks." Them gave out already on a place.
These are losses of warplanes in fighting sorties.
Primary task was to remove border, attempt of change of political system - investigation of decision-making on the military decision of this question. Generalizing: Time we shall be at war, it is possible to put wider tasks.
If to start with an initial task the USSR has executed it. And that Stalin wanted in a reality we can guess only.
Answered here: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 0#p1551490
/Juha
Be sure that when I get that far into this scenario, I will be sticking to the historically verifiable bits and pieces as far as the Soviet forces go. In the meantime, I am still back in the Russian Civil War days so lets put the 1939/40 Red Army stuff to one side until this scenario gets that far.
Cheers............Nigel
Finnish Volunteers in the Estonian War of Independence
Two groups of Finnish Volunteers took part in the Estonian War of Independence, I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko (1st Finnish Volunteer Corps) commanded by the Swedish Maj. Martin Ekström and Pohjan Pojat (The "Boys from the North") commanded by Colonel Hans Kalm. Finnish Army Major-General Martin Wetzer was the Commander-in-Chief of both units.
OTL Note: The last surviving Finnish volunteer who fought in the Estonian War of Independance, Paavo Takula, died in 2004.
Paavo Takula was one of 4,000 Finnish volunteers, 175 of whom were killed. Takula joined the Volunteers even though his mother asked him not too. "I went because my father and brothers went," he explained. The Takula family paid a heavy price fighting for Estonia's freedom. His father and older brother went missing and another brother was killed. "The Soviet Navy shot at us from a large warship, our bunker was hit by a shell, and Mikko was hit by a 12-inch shell fragment," recalled Takula. His brother lived for two weeks with a broken backbone before dying from his injuries. The attack also resulted in Paavo losing the hearing in one ear.
As can be seen from the map below, the front moved out of Estonia and east into Russia, nearing the outskirts of Petrograd and southwards into Latvia, reaching Riga. The Finnish volunteer units participated in much of the fighting before they were withdrawn or disbanded.
I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko / 1st Finnish Volunteer Corps
The 1st Finnish Volunteer Corps was a Finnish military volunteer group who participated in the Estonian War of Independence in 1918 - 1919. The 1,550 man-strong regiment was commanded by the Swedish Maj. Martin Ekström, formed up in Finland in December 1918 and was transported to Estonia on the 30th December 1918.
The Bolshevik forces had been making rapid progress up until the arrival of the battle-hardened and experienced Finnish troops. The arrival of the Finns triggered the arousal of the Estonians fighting spirit, and this together with the experience of the Finnish troops enabled the Estonians to achieve their first victories. Incidentally, the Bolshevik forces also included many Finns from the Red Guards and to a certain extent, the fighting turned into a continuation of the Finnish Civil War fought in northern Estonia. I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko attacked vigorously, capturing Rakvere on 12 January 1919. This was followed by a successful seaborne attack (transported by the Royal Navy) by 500 volunteers on Narva on 17 January.
The taking of Narva was the most important military achievement of I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko in the Estonian War of Independence. The volunteers lost ten men killed, two missing and thirty-forty wounded in the action against a Bolshevik force many times larger which fled in panic. Trotsky and the Estonian Communist leader Jaan Aanveltia were in Narva at the time and barely escaped capture. The remainder of the Finnish and Estonian forces arrived the next day and assisted in clearing the city of the enemy remnants. In the clearance operation, 27 Red Finns were captured and subsequently executed in front of the Narva City Hall. The capture of Narva was a humiliating defeat for the Red Army and an inspiration to the nascent Estonian forces. The capture of the city also captured the attention of the foreign press and made news around the world.
The C-in-C of the Estonian Army, Johan Laidoner, promoted Ekstrom to Colonel after the victory and requested that the Finns continue the attack into Western Ingria. However, the overall commander of the Finnish volunteers, Major General Wetzer did not want volunteer forces to exceed the Estonian national borders. The Estonian/Finnish forces therefore held the line of the Narva-Peipsi until the end of the war while Estonian and White Russian forces continued to advance further into Russia, reaching the approaches to St Petersburg and capturing Pskov, which was occupied by the Estonian army between February 1919 and July 1919
Estonian troops cross the Velikaya River taking over Pskov. Pastel by E. Brinkmann
After the capture of Narva, I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko was no longer involved in large operations and withdrew to a reserve position at Rakvere before being disbanded in March. Overall, I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko lost only 31 men, a very low number. Aside from skill and experience, the units advantages had been their unshakable faith in victory, and their ability to achieve the element of surprise in battle.
Pohjan Pojat (The "Boys from the North")
Pohjan Pojat (the "Boys from the North") were the second of the Finnish Volunteer Units to participate in the Estonian War of Independence. While the first Volunteer Unit (I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko / 1st Finnish Volunteer Corps) was larger and arrived in Estonia earlier, Pohjan Pojat achieved a legendary reputation, fighting on the Southern Front all the way to the Estonian border under the command of Colonel Hans Kalm.
Pohjan Poikien esikuntapäällikkö Elja Rihtniemi ja Pohjan Poikien päällikkö Hans Kalm (oikealla) / Pohjan Pojat's Commanders: Chief of Staff Elja Rihtniemi and Hans Kalm (right)
Hans Kalm was an officer with experience from serving in the Russian Army (he was drafted in 1914 as an NCO, promoted to Lieutenant in 1915, attended Hatsinan Aviation School as a trainee. From December 1915, Kalm had served on the Galcian Front and had acted as the Battalion Commander. He was wounded in action four times, awared decorations for bravery and was promoted to Staff Captain in July 1916. When the Bolshevik Revolution broke out, Kalm escaped with the assistance of Romanian Officers and reached Estonia in late October 1917. In Estonia, he worked to assist in setting up an Estonian Army but after "difficulties" with the Russians and local Estonian communists (his house was burnt down) he escaped to Finland, where he worked in Lapland and Northern Finland under the pseudonym John Kontiomäki, helping establish Suojeluskunta units.
When the Finnish Civil War broke out in late February 1918, he gathered students and volunteers into the Northern Häme I Battalion, which he commanded. The battalion fought well under his leadership and towards the end of the Civil War he was promoted to Major in March 1918. Forces under his comman played an important role in the liberation of the city of Lahti. His battalion was somewhat notorious for the executions of Reds that were carried out during the Civil War. After the fighting was over, Kalm's battalion guarded a Prison Camp at Hennala for Red PoW's, where they executed some 500 Reds.
Writer and researcher Tauno Tukkinen has documented that of these executions, some 200 were women and children with an average age of 20 years (Tukkinen identified that the executed women ranged from 30 to 17 years old, including Nurses, with 25 girls younger than 17 executed. The youngest were 14 and 15-year old children). Kalm's unit executed more Reds that any other White unit in the Civil War and similarly, executed more women than any other White Force. Almost all the killings of women were in the first two weeks of May, after which Kalm's unit was transferred in late May to Hämeenlinna. Shortly after this the battalion was dissolved and Kalm resigned from the Finnish Army in July 1918 (he had been promoted to lieutenant colonel). He was promoted to full Colonel in August 1918 and received Finnish citizenship in 1918.
As soon as the Committee to Aid Estonia was set up and the decision was made to form Volunteer formations, Kalm began recuiting volunteers. Volunteers over the forst few weeks were assigned to I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko rather than to the more outspoken Kalm. On the 23rd Dec 1918 Kalm published a series of outspoken and emotional recruitment advertisements in Finnish newspapers in which he appealed to veterans of the Finnish Civil War, asking Finns to fight for humanity, justice, patriotism and to assist their brothers in Estonia. Meanwhile the Committee to Aid Estonia had decided that another thousand men should be sent to assist the Estonian forces under Kalm. Kalm however was not particularly interested in the force size limitation and recruited around 2,300 men, creating the equivalent of a strong Regiment or a small Brigade with two infantry battalions, three Artillery Batteries, Signals, Cavalry and Ski sections. The 1st Battalion was commanded by Jaeger Lieutenant Erkki Hannula while the 2nd Battalion was commanded by Captain Gustav Svinhufvud.
Pohjan Pohjat suffered from equipment and financing problems, which meant that while the first members of Pohjan Pohjat arrived in Estonia on 7 January 1919, the 1st Battalion did not complete arrival in Tallinn until 12 January 1919. They received a much warmer welcome than I Suomalainen Vapaajoukko due to the victories the earlier-arriving unit had achieved, being greeted on arrival by Estonian army chief Colonel Johan Laidoner, Estonia-Finland Volunteer Commander Maj. Gen. Martin Wetzer and the Estonian Minister of War, Konstantin Päts. Following their arrival, Pohjan Pohjat moved from Tallinn to Tartu on the southern front on 27 January 1919, which had been recently recaptured from the German Baltic Landswehr forces. Their first operation was against heavily armed Latvian Red Army forces on 31 January, where they fought together with the Estonian Julius Kuperjanov Partisan Battalion and Estonian armored trains in a bloody first battle at Paju Manor, during the course of which the 1st Battalion suffered heavy casualties, losing one officer, two NCO's and 21 soldiers.
The Battle of Paju Manor
In early January 1919, Estonian forces had started a full scale counterattack against invading Soviets. Their main objective was liberating north Estonia including Narva, which was achieved by January 17. They then started to advance into south Estonia. On January 14, the Tartumaa Partisan Battalion, organised and led by Lieutenant Julius Kuperjanov, and armoured trains liberated Tartu. At that time the only working railway connection to Riga, which the Red Army had captured on January 3rd, passed through Valga, so defending Valga (in southern Estonia) had strategic importance for Soviet Russia. The Red Army sent a number of units to defend Varga and halt the Estonian advance, including a large part of the elite Latvian Riflemen. Estonian Commander-in-chief, Johan Laidoner reinforced the Estonian advance in the south, sending Pohjan Pojat under the command of Colonel Hans Kalm. Finnish General Paul Martin Wetzer was appointed the commander of the southern front.
To liberate Valga, it was necessary to capture Paju Manor. On January 30, Estonian partisans had briefly captured it, but were soon pushed out. With his 300 men, 2 guns and 13 machineguns, Kuperjanov decided to recapture Paju on January 31. Armoured trains were unable to support Kuperjanov's unit, due to the destruction of the Sangaste railway bridge. The Latvian Riflemen holding Paju Estate had about 1,200 men with 4 guns and 32 machineguns. They were also supported by an armoured train and armoured cars. The Tartumaa Partisan Battalion attacked the estate directly over open fields. At 400 metres the Bolshevik troops opened fire, inflicting heavy casualties. Kuperjanov led the attack personally, as was his usual practice, and was fatally wounded, dying two days later. After Kuperjanov was hit, Lt. Johannes Soodla took command of the battalion.
Battle of Paju on January 31 1919. Watercolour by M. (Maksimilian) Maksolly
A little later in the day, Pohjan Pojat units with about 380 men arrived, bringing with them 4 guns and 9 machineguns. They also assaulted the estate in a frontal attack which caused heavy losses. In the evening the Estonians and Finns finally pushed into the park of the estate where heavy hand-to-hand combat took place, resulting in the defeat of the Bolsheviks and the capturing of the estate. The retreating Latvian Riflemen were subjected to heavy fire. On the next day the Estonians and Pohjan Pohjat units liberated Valga without resistance. The victory cut off the Soviets' railway supply line and denied them the use of armoured trains. Soon almost all southern Estonia was liberated and Estonian troops advanced into northern Latvia. The Battle of Paju was the fiercest battle in the early period of war. To honour Julius Kuperjanov who died of his wounds on February 2, Tartumaa Partisan Battalion was renamed Kuperjanov's Partisan Battalion.
Pohjan Pojat continued to fight the Latvian Red's at the side of the Estonians, but a number of the volunteers were instructed to remain in reserve at Valkiin until the command to move into northern Latvia was give. Kalm grew tired of waiting and ordered his soldiers to attack the northern Latvian city of Marienberg (Aluksne) on 16 Feb 1919. Finnish volunteers were not supposed to operate outside of Estonia's borders but despite this, Pohjan Pojat moved out on 19 Feb and arrived near Marienberg on the evening of Feb 20. At dawn on Feb 21st they started their attack without any support. Pohjan Pojat captured the city with the loss of 3 officers and 15 soldiers, after which some looting took place. Estonian armored trains arrived on 22 Feb and on the 23rd, Estonian troops took over the City. On Feb 24th a Victory Parade took place, subsequently Pohjan Pojat withdrew and returned to Estonia on Feb 26th, where they moved into the Reserve at Valkiin.
In mid-March 1919, Pohjan Pojat were sent to the St Petersburg front, where the Bolsheviks had begun a counter-attack. They fought there until the end of the month, then returned to Valkiin at the end of March. In this last major fight that the unit participated in, they lost 27 dead, eight missing and nearly 100 wounded. Kalm then wanted to commit Pohjan Pojat to the Ingrian cause but the majority of the soldiers at this stage wanted to return home to Finland. Most of the soldiers of Pohjan Pojat were repatriated back to Finland in early April 1919. Kalm remained in Estonia with 200 men, with whom he hoped to establish the beginnings of an Ingrian volunteer army. These 200 soldiers participated in the fighting of April-May but in the end did not move into Ingria and the Committee to Aid Estonia Päätoimikunta terminated Kalm's employment. Kalm disbanded the regiment on 29 May 1919. After dissolution some of the men continued to serve with the Ingrians's and some with the Estonian Army.
However, Kalm was not the only officer with ambitions towards Ingria. The region around St. Petersburg had been a historical gateway between Estonia and Finland, forming the easternmost part of the Finnic populations living around the Gulf of Finland. Like the Estonians and Finns, the Ingrians were Lutherian people who spoke a language that was classified as a dialect of Finnish. They were mostly descendants of immigrants that had moved from Finland during the time when the region had been under Swedish rule - after the establishment of St. Petersburg they had stayed on their old villages located to the countryside around the growing new capitol of Russia. Now this 200,000 strong community suddenly found itself living in the vicinity of the new center of Bolshevik power. After the Finnish Civil War the leaders of the failed revolution from Finland had fled to Petrograd, where they soon created the SKP (Communist Party of Finland). Lenin tasked this group to organize all the Finnic peoples of Russia to support the Soviet war effort, and naturally the organizers of SKP started their work from Petrograd and surrounding Ingria. Conservative elements in the Ingrian population resisted this development, and by spring 1918 small groups of armed Ingrian guerrillas had established their presence in the border parish of Kirjasalo next to the Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus.
This small local rebel band was soon swept away into a major conspiracy involving top levels of Finnish Government. During the stormy year of 1919 Finland had indeed held two elections that had dramatically changed the political situation within the country. On the insistence of United States, Britain and France, Finland was due to have "new, free parliamentary elections." That meant that the SDP was allowed to campaign as well. Despite the understandably icy and tense atmosphere of the election process, the elections (under international supervision) went off without major fraud and the SDP remarkably maintained the position of strongest party with 80 seats, despite the loss of twelve when compared to the previous election.
Even though the SDP was left in opposition, the new political situation in the country no longer enabled the Conservatives to conduct foreign policy as freely as during the previous year. When the decision to let the Eduskunta elect the first President of the country was approved and the election approached in summer 1919, the supporters of a more aggressive policy towards Russia began to conspire behind the scenes. These groups were based on the contacts of pre-independence Activists who were now aiming their activities against the growing threat posed by Bolshevik government and their presence in Petrograd. The conspirators knew that in order to gain support for their plans, they would have to support Mannerheim for President. The former commander of the White forces was however strongly opposed by the SDP, and would surely lose the summer elections unless something major took place near the borders of Finland. As the months went by, secret shipments of weapons and supplies begun to trickle through the border on the Isthmus to Kirjasalo, and recruiters were soon circulating in Ingria and Finland, gathering suitable men to join the newly established "Regiment of North Ingria." This force was led by a somewhat eccentric veteran officer of the Civil War, Georg Elfvengren, who had joined forces with the Activist plotters for his own reasons.
Georg Elfvengren and his North Ingrian Regiment in Kirjasalo, 1919
Like Hans Kalm in Estonia, Elfvengren was a former officer in the Russian Army and hated Bolsheviks like poison. He wanted to see them driven out from Petrograd, and figured that the fully mobilized Finnish Army could to the job. But a casus belli was needed to justify any intervention against the Bolshevik capitol, and here Elfvengren and his Ingrians came in to play. They were tasked to invade Ingria from the Isthmus, "encouraging the locals to join in a wide uprising" that would create similar feelings of empathy and calls for intervention as the Red Army invasion of Estonia had done. In this situation Mannerheim could win the elections, declare martial law, mobilize the Army and march to Petrograd.
Georg Elfvengren
Elfvengren gave the order to attack the day before the Eduskunta gathered to vote, and immediately afterwards he wired all the major Finnish newspapers and radio stations, declaring that "Ingria had arisen against the Bolshevik terror." The poorly armed and trained Ingrian volunteers who marched southwards in those critical days of June were opposed by Red Army units that were ironically composed of Finns of St. Petersburg and Ingrians from the surrounding countryside. Just as in Eastern Karelia and Estonia, the locals were fighting amongst themselves while the major powers played their own games at a higher level. The invasion failed miserably, and the public mood was more surprised than shocked. Mannerheim was still widely despised among the SDP members and distrusted by the Agrarian Union, he lost the election decisively to K. J. Ståhlberg on 26th of July 1919.
For the next year the North Ingrian Regiment and Elfvengren used the region of Kirjasalo as their base, fighting what was more or less a private war against the local Bolshevik Ingrian units defending Leningrad. By now the situation in Finland and more importantly in Russia was stabilizing somewhat, and attempts to change the borders in Eastern Karelia were looking increasingly unlikely due the fact that the Eduskunta was once again dominated by the SDP. Lenin wanted to secure his northern flank, while Finland wanted to solve the uncertain "undeclared war" status between Finland and the Bolsheviks. As border negotiations got underway, Ingria was not even among the discussed topics even though the Bolshevik government had stated that it would respect the local wishes for autonomy both in Eastern Karelia and in Ingria. As the Russo-Polish War was drawing to an end, Finland and the Bolshevik Government signed the Treaty of Tartu on 14 October 1920 after four months of complex negotiations. The North Ingrian Regiment withdrew to Finland to be disarmed and demilitarized, and the situation along the borders seemed to finally calm down.
The Influence of the Heimosodat on the development of Finnish Military Doctrine
The experiences of the Heimosodat had a strong influence on the evolution of the Finnish Army's strategy and tactics as they were developed through the 1920's and 1930's. Many of the writers of the first training manuals and future senior officers of the Army in the Winter War were men who had been trained through the German system, which emphasized the competence and initiative of the NCOs, while their war experience was a unique mixture of trench warfare on the Eastern Front followed by the experiences of the Finnish Civil War and the Heimosodat in Estonia, Ingria and Eastern Karelia.
Värväreitä ja etappimiehiä: vasemmalta ylhäältä: jääkärimajuri Kurt Wallenius (käytti nimeä Aarne Pursiainen), kapteeni Urho Sihvonen (Oravapoika), majuri Lennart Oesch (Johansson), vänrikki Väinö Sutinen (Blomberg), kapteeni Erkki Viitasalo (Torniaisen Ville), kapteeni Tauno Ilmoniemi (Möttönen) ja vänrikki Eino Koivisto (Aho); keskirivissä: kapteeni Friedel Jacobsson (metsänhoitaja Borg), maisteri H. Stenberg, vääpeli Väinö Heikkinen (Hallan Väinö) ja tohtori Valter Sivén, alarivissä: kapteeni Aarne Salminen (Virén), vääpeli Savolainen ja Vääpeli Vilkman. Kuva: Tukholma tammikuu 1917 / From top left: Major Kurt Wallenius (using the name of Aarne Pursiainen), Captain Urho Sihvonen (Oravapoika/Squirrel Boy), Major Lennart Oesch (Johansson), Lieutenant Väinö Sutinen (Blomberg), Captain Erkki Viitasalo (Torniaisen Ville), Captain Tauno Ilmoniemi (Möttönen) and Lieutenant Eino Koivisto (Aho), middle row: Captain Friedel Jacobsson (metsänhoitaja Borg), Mr. H. Stenberg, Warrant Officer Vaino Heikkinen (Halla Väinö) and Dr. Walter Sivén, bottom row: Captain Aarne Salminen (Viren), Sergeants Savolainen and Vilkman.
The fast-paced and relatively mobile (by WWI standards) small unit combat of the Finnish Civil War and the Heimosodat led to the stressing of the importance of a high standard of marksmanship, good use of camouflage and most importantly, the use of terrain. The ambushes, hit-and-run raids and constant maneuvers that had defined these conflicts were now taken and used in Army training plans. As noted before, the emphasis on flanking manouvres and seizing the initiative were deemed important. And as paradoxical it may sound, the legacy of the German-trained Jaeger officers ensured that tactical attack became the most favoured fighting style.
While this may seem to be a suicidal tactic for a nation of 3.5 million people bordering a superpower that was known to possess substantially more trained reserves than the total population of Finland, since the most expected scenario was that the enemy would launch a surprise attack, the ability to tactically harass and delay the advancing foe was deemed important. It was generally agreed that WWI-style attritional trench warfare was a situation that should be avoided at all costs, since it was precisely the type of combat where the potential opponent excelled and was able to use its material superiority to the fullest extend. Instead, the planners believed that bold attacks at the right time and place could lead to success. Delaying actions were planned to be executed in an active manner, whilst any passive defense was to be only temporary and something that had to be resorted to while preparing for an offense elsewhere.
Moving ahead somewhat, the role of the peacetime army was seen to be as a delaying force with the primary mission of buying time for the mobilization of the field army. Furthermore, as the majority of the the almost roadless Eastern Karelian border between Finland and the Soviet Union was considered to be terrain where division- or even regimental-sized formations would be unable to operate due the lack of necessary infrastructure to supply them, the defense of the borderzone north from the shores of Lake Laatokka (Ladoga) to the Arctic Sea became the task of 25 lightly armed and equipped Independent Battalions (Erillinen Pataljoona). In the event of a war, these units were to be sent into Soviet territory to conduct guerrilla warfare in Eastern Karelia, thus forcing the Red Army to divert men and material away from the Karelian Isthmus (which was always seems as the axis for the main enemy thrust) in order to defend the Murmansk Railway.
We will look at this in more detail later, but suffice it to say that the experiences of the Heimosodat had a strong influence on the evolving strategy and tactical doctrine of the Finnish Army through the 1920's and 1930's.
Sources (if you're interested):
There is relatively little research about the kinship wars available in English (or in Finnish for that matter):
In English (most of these books are peripheral to the Heimosodat but address aspects of primarily British involvement)
The King of Karelia. Col P.J. Woods and the British Intervention in North Russia 1918–1919. A History and Memoir by Nick Baron
Soldiers of Fortune – Swedish and Danish Volunteers in the Estonian Civil War 1918-1920 by Kaido Jaansen (Tallinn, 1988) – Note: although this book displays some of the worst characteristics of Soviet-era historiography, it does offer a wealth of data and includes some interesting photographes and facsimiles. Available as a free ebook.
Murmansk Venture by Maynard
Footprints in the Sea & Baltic Episode by Capt. Augustus Agar
The Kronstadt Operation by Harry Ferguson
Cowan's War by Geoffrey Bennett
Finland – Russia. Three unknown wars - by Alexander Shirokorad (2006)
The Boys from the North: The Nordic Volunteers in Estonia's War of Independence 1918-1920 by L Ericson, Vastervik, Ekbal & Co, 1993. A hard to find booklet which accompanied an exhibition by the State Archives in Tallinn and elsewhere, containing brief introductory surveys by Ericson and others, along with some interesting photographes and some general references.
In Finnish:
Heimosotien historia 1918-1922 ("The History of the Kinship Wars 1918-1922") by Jussi Niinistö. It's perspective is mostly that of the expeditionaries, based on their personal recollections
Nuorukaisten sota: Suomen sotaretki Aunukseen 1919, by Jouko Vahtola, Otava, Helsinki (1997)
Return to "Winter War & Continuation War"


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The History of Misspelling Georgia O'Keeffe's Name Continues With New Tribute in Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal
Museum Alliance and Directors Group Issue Open Letter Criticizing Berkshire Museum's Deaccession Plan
By Alex Greenberger
Senior Editor, ARTnews
More Stories by Alex
July 25, 2017 4:38pm
The Berkshire Museum.
VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Following the Berkshire Museum's decision to deaccession 40 works from its collection, the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Art Museum Directors have issued an open letter to the institution. The news comes ahead of a planned sale at Sotheby's, where paintings and sculptures by Frederic Edwin Church, Alexander Calder, and others from the museum's collection will hit the auction block later this year.
On Monday, a Berkshire Eagle article revealed previously undisclosed details about the sale. Of the deaccessioned objects, the most controversial have been two Norman Rockwell works considered to be of particular importance given Rockwell's looming status in the area. (The Norman Rockwell Museum is located in the idyllic Berkshire mountain town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.).
Van Shields, the Berkshire Museum's executive director, said in that report that proceeds from works sold at Sotheby's will go toward the institution's $60 million "reinvention plan." Included in those designs are a new lobby and a revamped business model.
The Berkshire Museum is a member of the American Alliance of Museums; selling its holdings for capital gains goes against the AAM's ethical code, which recommends against considering "potential monetary value" when "determining whether or not to deaccession" artwork.
The AAM and AAMD's letter follows in full below.
The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), an organization representing the entire scope of the museum community, and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), an organization representing 243 directors of North America's leading art museums, are deeply opposed to the Berkshire Museum's plans to sell works from its collection to provide funds for its endowment, to make capital investments, and to pay for daily operations.
One of the most fundamental and long-standing principles of the museum field is that a collection is held in the public trust and must not be treated as a disposable financial asset. This prohibition is upheld by both AAMD and by AAM, which sets accreditation standards for art museums, science centers, natural history museums, and historical museums.
AAM and AAMD are communities of museum professionals founded to support museums, large and small, and the diverse communities they serve. Actions such as those being proposed by the Berkshire Museum undermine the public's trust in the mission of nonprofit museums—and museums' ability to collect, teach, study, and preserve works for their communities now and into the future.
Two of the works the Museum is currently planning to sell are important paintings by Norman Rockwell, given by the artist to the people of Pittsfield. These works were entrusted by Rockwell to the Museum for safe-keeping and to share with the public. The other works proposed for sale are by many noted artists from America and around the world. If these works are indeed sold, it would be an irredeemable loss for the present and for generations to come.
Selling from the collection for purposes such as capital projects or operating funds not only diminishes the core of works available to the public, it erodes the future fundraising ability of museums nationwide. Such a sale sends a message to existing and prospective donors that museums can raise funds by selling parts of their collection, thereby discouraging not only financial supporters, who may feel that their support isn't needed, but also donors of artworks and artifacts, who may fear that their cherished objects could be sold at any time to the highest bidder to make up for a museum's budget shortfalls. That cuts to the heart not only of the Berkshire Museum, but every museum in the United States.
The Berkshire Museum contends that in order to be a good steward of their institution they must be a poor steward of their collection. We believe those two responsibilities are not mutually exclusive. We are sympathetic to the financial challenges museums of all sizes may face. And we are heartened by the many creative solutions that museums across the country have developed to meet those challenges and uphold the professional standards of the field.
We have been in communication with the Berkshire Museum leadership and we continue to hope that they will reconsider their decision. We stand ready to assist, in any way we are able, to find other solutions to the institution's needs without resorting to the selling of works that can never be recovered.
Association of Art Museum Directors
Berkshire Museum
This New 139-Foot Hybrid Superyacht Can Cruise on Electric Power 90% of the Time

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François de Montmorency (1530. július 17. – Écouen, 1579. május 6.) saját jogán Montmorency hercege, Dammartin grófja, Châteaubriant bárója és L'Isle-Adam hűbérura, Franciaország pairje és nagymestere, felesége révén pedig Châtellerault és Étampes hercege volt.

Életpályája

Anne de Montmorency, a számos királyt szolgáló connétable és Madeleine de Savoie elsőszülött fia volt, tőle örökölte hercegi, grófi és pairi címét 1567-es halála után. A családi hagyományoknak megfelelően katonai pályára állt, először 1551-ben fogott fegyvert a piemonti Lenz ostrománál. Ezt követően részt vett az V. Károly elleni harcokban. Hamarosan csatlakozott II. Henrik hadaihoz a német-római határon, ahol részt vett Damvillers és Ivoy, majd 1552-ben Metz atyja által irányított bevételében.

Ezt követően rábízták Thérouanne védelmét, amelyet sokáig hősiesen tartott, majd a császári túlerővel szemben 1553. május 30-án kénytelen volt kapitulálni, és fogságba esett. Kiváltását követően a Szent Mihály-rend tagja lett, 1556-ban Párizs és Île-de-France kormányzójává nevezték ki, 1557-ben pedig II. Henrik törvénytelen lányát, Diane de France későbbi angoulême-i hercegnőt vehette feleségül. A frigy azonban akarata ellenére jött létre, ezért megakadályozandó először titokban valaki mással kötött házassági szerződést, ám az atyai harag jobb belátásra kényszerítette.

Az ifjabbik Montmorency-t ezután Itáliába küldték IV. Pál pápa megsegítésére küldték a spanyolok ellen, akiktől sikeresen elfoglalt több települést Róma körül, így Ostiát. 1557. augusztus 10-én jelen volt a vesztes Saint-Quentin-i csatában, ahol a franciák komoly vereséget szenvedtek II. Fülöp erőitől, és számos előkelőség – köztük atyja – is fogságba esett.

1558-ban Angliába küldték, hogy tárgyaljon Erzsébet királynővel a spanyolokkal kötendő, végül 1559-ben aláírt cateau-cambrésis-i békeszerződés kapcsán. Még ebben az évben, II. Ferenc trónra lépésekor a Montmorency-család befolyása jelentősen lecsökkent a lotaringiai Guise-ekkel szemben, mindazonáltal François elnyerte a marsalli rangot.

1560-ban ismét fordult a kocka, mert II. Ferenc halálát követően öccse, IX. Károly került trónra, őt pedig a Guise-ekkel szemben a Montmorency-klánra támaszkodó Medici Katalin anyakirályné tartotta kezében. Ugyanebben az évben részt vett az Orléans-ban összehívott rendi gyűlésen.

1562-ben kitörtek a francia vallásháborúk. A köztük feszülő ellentétek ellenére a mérsékelt katolikus Montmorency-család és a szélsőséges Guise-ek összefogtak a hugenották ellen. François atyja oldalán részt vett a királyi győzelemmel végződő dreux-i csatában 1562-ben, majd 1563-ban Le Havre angoloktól történő visszafoglalásában és az 1567-es Saint-Denis-i csatában is – édesapja ez utóbbiban szerzett halálos sérülést.

Azzal, hogy François vált a családfővé, a Guise-ekkel szembeni rivalizálás elmélyült – még Párizs kormányzójaként, 1565-ben egy utcai csetepaté során emberei majdnem meggyilkolták Charles de Guise bíborost, és a Medici Katalin követelésére kötött látványos megbékélés egyáltalán nem bizonyult őszintének.

Montmorencyra hárult a feladat, hogy a fanatikus katolikus párizsi népességet békében megőrizze, amikor megköttetett a szerintük megengedhetetlenül toleráns 1570-es saint-germaini béke a király és Coligny admirális – François de Montmorency unokatestvére, a hugenották vezére – között. Pierre de Brantôme szerint az érdemdús, bölcs kapitány és politikus "vendôme-i bőrkesztyűhöz hasonlatosan hajlékonnyá és engedelmessé" tette a forrongó, rebellis párizsiakat a király nagy megelégedésére.

1572-ben Angliában járt, hogy aláírassa I. Erzsébettel a Franciaországgal kötendő szövetségi szerződést, ekkor lett a térdszalagrend kitüntetettje. Hazatérve a Guise-ek intrikái és a "politikus" mérsékeltségét elutasító egyháziak prédikációi hatására Párizsban rendkívül népszerűtlenné vált, és képtelen volt lecsillapítani a kedélyeket. Lemondott, és néhány nappal Szent Bertalan éjszakája előtt elhagyta a várost. Állítólag ő is szerepelt a legyilkolásra kiszemelt előkelőségek között, de távozásával megmentette életét. Később ő gondoskodott róla, hogy Coligny megszégyenített holttestét a Montfauconról elvigyék és méltó végtisztességben részesítsék.

1574-ben térhetett vissza az udvarba, de csak rövid időre, mert a Guise-ház kiűzte a királyi kegyekből. Helyzetébe nem kívánt belenyugodni, ezért még abban az évben részt vett az ún. elégedetlenek összeesküvésében, amelynek Medici Katalin hatalomból való kiszorítása, Navarrai Henrik és Condé hercegének kiszabadítása, valamint a velük szimpatizáló Ferenc alençoni herceg trónörökössé tétele volt a lengyel királlyá választott anjoui herceg helyett. Az összeesküvést 1574 áprilisában felszámolták a királyi erők. Montmorencyt a Bastille-ba zárták Artus de Cossé-Brissac marsallal együtt.

1575 áprilisában az új uralkodó, III. Henrik a parlament által elfogadott pátensben nyilvánította ki ártatlanságát. A kiszabaduló marsall a továbbiakban nem vállalt politikai szerepet, 1579-ben családi kastélyában, Écouenban érte a halál. Földi maradványait a montmorencyi Szent Márton templomban helyezték örök nyugalomra. A hercegség élén Henri, az öccse követte, aki maga is a "politikusok" közé tartozott.

Házassága, utódai

Ellenérzéseit legyőzve 1557. május 3-án II. Henrik Villers-Cotterêts-ben összeházasította házasságon kívül, Filippa Duci piemonti kurtizántól származó, törvényesített lányával, az 1538-as születésű Diane de France-szal, aki 1563-ban Châtellerault, 1573-ban pedig Étampes hercegnője lett. Ez utóbbinak második házassága volt ez, hiszen korábban Orazio Farnese felesége volt. Montmorencytól két gyermeke született, de Anne lánya és François fia korán elhunyt. Megözvegyülve Diane később békéltető szerepet játszott, és IV. Henrik rábízta fia, XIII. Lajos nevelését.

Kapcsolódó szócikk
 Montmorency család

Jegyzetek

Francois
Francia hadvezérek
Franciaországi politikusok
Francia vallásháborúk
1530-ban született személyek
1579-ben elhunyt személyek
Franciaország marsalljai
A Szent Mihály-rend lovagjai

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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SEVERANCE PACKAGE: What's In YOUR Wallet?
Even actor Samuel L. Jackson (Captial One's "Now tell me; what's in your wallet?" commercial spokesman) couldn't successfully pry the truth out of this former charter school CEO.
The website, CT News Junkie, reported that former Jumoke Academy CEO Michael Sharpe abruptly resigned last week from the award-winning charter middle school in Hartford's troubled North End. It seems that Sharpe spent two-and-half-years in jail after pleading guilty to embezzling $125,000 from California's Bay Area Rapid Transit, where he was employed as BART's former Real Estate Manager.
The embezzlement charge covered 17 thefts between March 1986 and March 1988 in which Sharpe took kickbacks from two contractors and a building inspector. Sharpe also pleaded guilty to conspiring with one of the building inspectors, David W. Collins, to defraud BART. The sorry saga continued as Sharpe returned to the slammer a few years later after violating probation.
However, Connecticut school and state officials professed ignorance of Sharpe's criminal past. To make matters worse, FUSE, the management group that runs the publicly-funded Jumoke, last week refused to disclose the terms of Sharpe's departure, arguing—reportedly with a straight face—that any severance package is "considered a private personnel matter."
Now tell me; what's left in your wallet?
Posted by Miss Fortune at 1:04 PM No comments:
PURGE? Grand Traverse Academy Board Considers Cutting Ties
Looks like the folks at the Record-Eagle may be reading this blog after all!
At 6:57am this past Friday, June 27, I published a heads-up, alerting my readers
to a special meeting of the Grand Traverse Academy Board scheduled for 12:30pm that afternoon.
Record-Eagle reporter Michelle Merlin attended the meeting, and filed a story revealing the Academy's Board "met for about three hours in a closed session Friday afternoon to discuss a resolution to further distance themselves from Smart Schools."
The Record-Eagle article explained the resolution urged former Board President Mark Noss (head of the Academy's recently-formed Full Spectrum Management, LLC) to "reconsider any employees, especially those in management, with close ties to Smart Schools." The resolution singled out Kaye Mentley, the Academy's current director, as a potential target of "appropriate action", while acknowledging "ambiguities" among the school and its former and current management company.
The Record-Eagle story did not, however, delve into the "degree of separation" required to be "reconsidered". Regular readers of this blog already know of the close ties to Smart Schools within Noss's immediate family, and Noss's longtime personal and professional history with Ingersoll. It appears "ambiguity" is not enough to make you a target.
Let's step back for a moment and savor the ironies that abound in the resolution.
While I have to give it up to the Board for going there (publicly acknowledging—even if by a small degree—the self-fulfilling conflicts of interests running rampant in this market-based, publicly funded school), in my opinion it still can't see the forest for the trees.
Kerry Morgan, the Wyandotte-based attorney identified in the Record-Eagle story as retained to "handle the matter" of Mentley, specializes in "wrongful termination" as one of his chief areas of practice. Morgan's website indicates significant experience in both employment and educational law.
Although Michigan's current charter school laws don't allow letting much sunshine in, an observer could deduce that Mentley has an iron-clad termination clause in her contract with Smart Schools Management, Inc. Without seeing the contract, it's impossible to know the length of the contract and or size of the severance package Mentley could receive if Smart Schools was summarily cut loose. [UPDATE July 3: Mentley, who announced her departure from the Grand Traverse Academy on July 2 via email, had apparently been under contract with Full Spectrum Management, not Smart Schools Management, Inc., at the time of her firing.]
From the facts already known, I suspect Mentley's legal representative and the Academy's Board are negotiating her termination, tiptoeing around the "what did she know and when did she know it" controversy still surrounding Ingersoll's $2.38 million dollar management fee overpayment—still firmly lodged in the middle of the room like that proverbial elephant.
And while it's unclear from the Record-Eagle story if the resolution was approved by the Academy's Board, the interlocking "ambiguities" replete within the Board (and its former and current management companies) are its remaining "pain points"—areas of unpleasantness that need to be fixed, yet continue to be avoided.
Posted by Miss Fortune at 9:44 AM No comments:
POULTRY IN MOTION: How Traverse City's Chicken-S**t Media Deliberately Missed The Area's Biggest News Story In Years
Why does a chicken cross the road?
Because it's not a media watchdog, that's why!
The news media's role as watchdog is vital in smaller communities, especially when exposing organizations with a long-standing culture of corruption. I figured I'd get a backlash for my reporting on Steven Ingersoll and the Grand Traverse Academy, which was far more aggressive than most small-town papers are willing to stomach.
And I did.
In truth, it appears that many people likely had known something wasn't right. But not many were willing to do anything about it—until this blog started pushing the issue.
Here's what I did: I started by asking tough questions that no one else asked.
The first one centered on the allegation in Steven Ingersoll's federal indictment that claimed Ingersoll had used some of the nearly $1.0 million dollars he'd diverted from a bank loan to "repay an indebtedness to the Grand Traverse Academy".
Knowing that I likely wouldn't be able to find the evidence the feds had developed, I still looked to see if I could find why Ingersoll was "indebted" to the Academy.
I didn't find my answer. Instead, I found the story of the year—hiding in plain sight, and nestled within the pages of the Grand Traverse Academy's 2013 financial audit report.
The bombshell exploded off the pages of the audit report, which detailed how Steven Ingersoll had overpaid himself nearly $2.5 million dollars—of taxpayer money—and "withheld repayment".
The certified public accounting firm Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth raised several troubling internal financial control and compliance issues in its 2013 audit report to the Academy.
But the Academy Board did nothing—except provide Ingersoll with a method to "work off" his nearly $2.5 million dollar debt by "partially reducing cash transfers for future management fees through June 2016".
Although the audit report was publicly available online for anyone who cared to look for it, it appears that the Academy Board did not report the potential fraud to the Michigan Department of Education as required by law.
I published my first story three days after Ingersoll's indictment was unsealed and revealed what I believed to be at the very least a massive misappropriation of public funds.
The next day, I sent an email to Academy spokesperson, attorney Doug Bishop, asking for a statement on the allegations I'd published in the previous day's story. Even though I published the email on my blog, I never received a response from Bishop.
Although the Traverse City Record-Eagle published a story on April 11 about Ingersoll's indictment, and finally followed up with a short piece on the Grand Traverse Academy's missing millions on April 26, it's clear that, like Sergeant Frank Drebin in the spoof "Naked Gun", its editorial management staff feels there's "nothing to see here...move along!"
But there was ample opportunity for follow up—and not just by the newspaper.
For example, the Record-Eagle's April 11 story indicated Bishop and Grand Traverse Academy Board President Brad Habermehl were not singing from the same hymnal when discussing Ingersoll's departure as the Academy's management provider.
While a quote attributed to Bishop indicated that Ingersoll "probably thought his situation might be a distraction", Habermehl claimed instead that "declining MEAP scores prompted board members' decision to leave Smart Schools, not because of anything related to Ingersoll's legal woes."
Nothing to see here...move along!
Did everyone miss that...or were they just repeating "la, la, la" with fingers firmly stuffed in ears?
And finally, I don't know how anyone can read Kaye Mentley's airy, dismissive statement in the April 26 Record-Eagle referring to the missing millions and not do a major spit-take: Mentley was quoted saying "she's not concerned about the $1.6 million owed by Ingersoll and Smart Schools."
"At this time the payment schedule that was arranged has been kept," she said.
Why was Mentley, formerly employed by Steven Ingersoll's Smart Schools, representing the Academy?
Shouldn't an Academy Board member—with a fiduciary duty to put the public's interest before their own— have fielded those questions?
And shouldn't someone have figured out that the specious "payment schedule" mouthpiece Mentley referred to was toast on March 19 when the Academy booted Ingersoll to the curb and ushered in former Board President Mark Noss and his new management company?
GRAND TRAVERSE ACADEMY: Special Meeting Today!
There's a "Special Meeting" of the Grand Traverse Academy's Board of Education scheduled for 12:30pm this afternoon in the school's Elementary Computer Lab.
It's likely that the Academy's Board will be reviewing budget projections and staffing for the next school year, as 2014-2015 appropriations were approved during the Board's last meeting on June 6.
As I reported on this blog, the Academy's March 19 contract with Noss set Full Spectrum's "minimum annual compensation" at $650,000 and capped it at $2,000.000.
You will note in the excerpt shown below that former Board President Mark Noss and his Full Spectrum Management, LLC ("Executive Administration") has been appropriated 12 percent of the Academy's gross revenues—or just under $100,000 per month.
DETROIT FREE PRESS BLOCKBUSTER CHARTER SCHOOL INVESTIGATIVE SERIES: First Installment
Michigan taxpayers pour nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools—but state laws regulating charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated.
A yearlong investigation by the Detroit Free Press reveals that Michigan's lax oversight has enabled a range of abuses in a system now responsible for more than 140,000 Michigan children.
Miss Fortune has long been aware this series was in development, and is pleased to share a link to the first in an eight-part series:
http://www.freep.com/article/20140622/NEWS06/306220096/Michigan-charters-1-billion-taxpayer-dollars.
So, who else wants to sue me for defamation now?
For those just joining the party, here's a reprint of my "60 Days" Ingersoll/Grand Traverse Academy Board fraud recap:
With the story breaking nationally on Diane Ravitch's blog, here is Miss Fortune's list of "Ten Most Wanted" facts (in no particular order) about the growing financial scandal threatening the Grand Traverse Academy.
THE $2.38 MILLION DOLLAR MANAGEMENT FEE OVERPAYMENT...AND ITS SOLUTION
On April 13, this blog broke the news that federally-indicted charter school manager Steven Ingersoll had racked up a $2,338,980 "prepaid expense/expenditure balance" for overpayments he made from the Grand Traverse Academy's bank accounts to his Smart Schools Management, Inc. The story has never been publicly refuted by either the Academy board or Steven Ingersoll. The Academy's June 2013 audit report revealed that Smart Schools Management agreed that it "owed Grand Traverse Academy an amount classified as a prepaid balance" ($2,338,980), and worked out a repayment plan with the Academy. The plan called for Smart Schools to "work off the prepayment" by "partially reducing cash transfers for future management fees through June 2016".
THE INGERSOLL INDICTMENT
On April 10 Ingersoll, his wife Deborah M. Ingersoll, his brother Gayle R. Ingersoll, Roy C. Bradley Sr. and his wife Tammy S. Bradley were each charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Steve Ingersoll, Roy Bradley and Gayle Ingersoll were also charged with conspiracy to evade federal income tax laws. (The bank conspiracy charge alone carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.)
The indictment, unsealed April 11 in U. S. District Court in
Bay City, alleged that Ingersoll, and the four others named, diverted about $934,000 from a school construction project, converting it into personal income for Steven and Deborah Ingersoll.
Steven Ingersoll allegedly used part of the construction loan proceeds, backed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and diverted to his joint, personal Fifth-Third Bank account, to "reduce his indebtedness to his Traverse City charter school, the Grand Traverse Academy".
Those thirteen words were the impetus for my investigation, which revealed Ingersoll's fee overpayment and the Academy Board's complicity.
THE FULL SPECTRUM SELECTION: FORMER ACADEMY BOARD PRESIDENT CHOSEN TO RECEIVE $4.0 MILLION DOLLAR, NO-BID, MULTI-YEAR "URGENT" CONTRACT
As this blog reported on April 17, the seat Traverse City optometrist Mark Noss used in his role as President of the Grand Traverse Academy's Board of Directors had barely cooled before he began heating up a new perch—head of the Academy's new education service provider, Full Spectrum Management, LLC (FSM).
Full Spectrum came kicking and screaming into the world on March 19 at 4:31pm when Traverse City attorney David Rowe faxed the incorporation paperwork to Lansing. By awarding a multi-year contract to FSM on March 19, formed by recent Academy Board President Mark Noss expressly for the purpose of entering into this management agreement, it appears that the Academy has merely made a change in form and not substance.
Among the highlights, detailed extensively in an earlier post on this blog, are:
-annual compensation (termed "reasonable compensation" in the contract) ranges from $650,000 to $2,000,000 per year.
-prepaid fees: while the Michigan Revised School Code prohibits local school districts, including public school academies, from advancing monies to private entities, the Academy's contract with FSM includes a clause that enables the Board to continue that prohibited practice.
-arms-length negotiation.
MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATING GRAND TRAVERSE ACADEMY'S MISSING MILLIONS
As this blog reported on May 21, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is conducting an "ongoing investigation" into the alleged misappropriation of federal and state money from the Grand Traverse Academy by Steven Ingersoll's Smart Schools Management, Inc.
Confirmation of the investigation was delivered in an email from Michigan Department of Education spokesman, Bill DeSessa, who responded to my inquiry seeking to determine if the Academy filed a "report on finding of suspected fraud and/or embezzlement" relating to its June 2013 audit of financial statements.
It appears the answer to my question may be "no".
THE GRAND TRAVERSE ACADEMY 2012/2013 AUDIT
A close examination by Miss Fortune of the Grand Traverse Academy's financial report for the year ending June 30, 2013 (issued on November 7, 2013 by Traverse City certified public accounting firm Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth) revealed the Academy was "out of compliance" with the Michigan Uniform Accounting and Budget Act in several critical areas.
The Traverse City certified public accounting firm Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth raised several troubling internal financial control and compliance issues in its 2013 audit report to the Academy.
Among its major concerns were the advance by the Academy of prepaid fees to SSM, the possible "abuse" of Smart Schools Management in their "access to public funds" and the negative unassigned balance in the Academy's General Fund.
The auditor's report bluntly informed the Grand Traverse Academy that SSM's ability to "prepay their fee and withhold payment of overpaid fees" enabled SSM to "abuse their access to public funds".
By allowing Ingersoll to "advance monies" to his private entity, Smart Schools Management, Inc., the Grand Traverse Academy was "out of compliance" with Michigan's Revised School code.
And the Board is still doing the same thing with Mark Noss.
CONFLICTS OF DISINTEREST: LET'S GET OUR STORIES STRAIGHTISH
A Traverse City Record-Eagle report, published nearly two weeks after this blog broke the $2.38 million dollar overpayment story, revealed that Academy officials claimed they severed ties with Ingersoll at his suggestion to prevent his pending case from casting a shadow over the school.
Mark Noss was quoted as saying he "knew nothing of the transactions that placed Ingersoll on federal prosecutors' radar". And Kaye Mentley said she was "not concerned" about the $1.6 million owed by Ingersoll and Smart Schools.
In an April 11 Record-Eagle story, Doug Bishop, the attorney for Grand Traverse Academy, said Ingersoll suggested the school switch management companies. "I don't know exactly, but I think he probably thought his situation might be a distraction," Bishop said.
But if you scan down a few graphs in the same article, you'll read that new Grand Traverse Academy Board President Brad Habermehl said he learned of the charges against Ingersoll on April 11. Habermehl claimed that "declining MEAP scores prompted board members' decision to leave Smart Schools, not because of anything related to Ingersoll's legal woes."
"The board felt the direction we were heading in was not the direction that brought success to the school. We just started seeing where Smart Schools were taking on other projects and some other schools," the Record-Eagle quotes Habermehl. "We wanted a little bit more of an active role, active support in management of the school where we would see implementation of structure that brought that school its notoriety."
Habermehl became President after serving as the Board's Secretary.
But in the same story, Academy Superintendent Kaye Mentley said Smart Schools handled the school's financial and human resources duties, and had little to do with the school's curriculum.
However, Mentley did not explain why the Academy paid Ingersoll's Smart Schools Management, Inc. a $300,000 fee for "curriculum materials" in 2013.
"Our audits indicate all our procedures and finances are appropriate and in order," Mentley said.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: THE SON-IN-LAW ALSO RISES
In an April 23 post, Miss Fortune introduced Brian T. Lynch, recently named by Steven Ingersoll to serve as the Bay City Academy's new Superintendent and President of Instructional Services by its board of directors.
Lynch, a Traverse City resident, married Dr. Rebekah Noss in 2009. Rebekah is an optometrist at Full Spectrum Eyecare, sharing the practice with her father, Dr. Mark Noss.
While visiting Bay City, Lynch stays in a stately bed-and-breakfast, courtesy of its owner—Steven Ingersoll.
LACK OF LOCAL MEDIA INTEREST
Embezzlement (call it misappropriation if you're squeamish) doesn't happen by accident, particularly in a small group where many people have been working together for years.
It's fostered by a culture of concentrated power, secrecy and financial negligence, sometimes dating back years.
It's stunning that none of the local Traverse City media picked up this story and ran with it, instead leaving the heavy lifting to an "anonymous blogger" who's been threatened with a defamation suit.
The entire situation may have been discovered much sooner, or perhaps even been prevented altogether, if anyone had lifted even one finger to investigate this culture of complicity.
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES
As English satirist Jonathan Swift, author of 'Gulliver's Travels', famously said: "When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him." Traverse City—a beautiful town with sophisticated big-city cultural and food scenes—has to have more geniuses than dunces.
Miss Fortune would like to hear from you—even if you use an anonymous email address. You can reach me at tcmissfortune@yahoo.com.
For more on this story, go "back to school" with a convenient study guide—my 30 day update.
PSST! Taxes, Schmaxes! Only The Little People Pay 'Em!
ANSWER: THE LAST NAME IS SPELLED N-O-S-S!
July 5 Update: Lein released after State of Michigan receives payment from Noss
Miss Fortune has discovered that a prominent Grand Traverse Academy power couple (hint: not the Ingersolls) was slapped with a tax lien by the State of Michigan on April 24 for not paying the $3,120.51 they owe.
Must have have slipped through the financial diligence gill net.
(Post originally appeared on June 2; this updated June 21 version replaces the original.)
Posted by Miss Fortune at 10:52 AM No comments:
Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy!
STAR-SPANGLED BANTER: Miss Fortune Takes Her Own Advice
6/19 UPDATE: In addition to Schuette, I've alerted Michael Flanagan (Michigan's Superintendent of Public Instruction), Motoko Rich of the New York Times, Peter Payette of Interlochen Public Radio, and investigative reporters for both the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.
Last week, I posted a story exploring the inherent conflict of interest in the choice by Steve Ingersoll's Smart Schools Management, Inc. of Luke Noss as the organization's 401(K) investment advisor/broker.
After revealing the information, I urged my readers to "speak out", knowing that I would soon be adding my voice.
A few minutes ago, I did just that.
Here is the header and an excerpt from an email I sent to Bill Schuette, Michigan's Attorney General. Written under my own name (redacted), I revealed my involvement in the story and requested that Schuette make his investigation public.
In addition to revealing that my blog first published the news of Ingersoll's "overpayment", my letter was an in-depth look at the handling of the issue by the Grand Traverse Academy's Board (past and present members), the abortive "repayment plan", and the shotgun-wedding style management contract awarded to Board insider, Mark Noss.
But here's what I didn't reveal to Attorney General Schuette: my efforts to ensure that this story gets the national scrutiny it deserves.
I suspect that when Schuette's office starts hearing from the New York Times, national broadcast and cable news departments, and various members of the Education Writers Association he may decide to sit up...and do something.
It's a star-spangled summer—let's all take a page from the Tea Party's handbook and speak out!
Trust me...it feels great.
Posted by Miss Fortune at 3:00 PM 2 comments:
PURGE? Grand Traverse Academy Board Considers Cutt...
POULTRY IN MOTION: How Traverse City's Chicken-S**...
DETROIT FREE PRESS BLOCKBUSTER CHARTER SCHOOL INVE...
PSST! Taxes, Schmaxes! Only The Little People Pay ...
STAR-SPANGLED BANTER: Miss Fortune Takes Her Own A...
INVESTMENT FUNDS, VENTURE CAPITAL & PRIVATE EQUITY...
HUMP DAY HMMM: Wonder What Happened With This Comp...
PSST! Did You Hear This?
JOB CLUB: Cleaning Toilets and Developing Character
MORE NATIONAL INGERSOLL COVERAGE: Daily Kos Diaris...
D-I-V-O-R-C-E: Moore Accuses Glynn Of Wasting "Ma...
CASHING IN ON KIDS: More National Exposure for Ste...
60 DAYS: The Steven Ingersoll/Grand Traverse Acade...
AIN'T 'MISSBEHAVIN': Miss Fortune's Ingersoll Cove...
A 'MISS FORTUNE' EXCLUSIVE: The Full Spectrum/Gran...
WHITE-CHALK CRIME: Charter Cheaters & Their Unregu...
CONSTITUTION 101: Look What I Learned Today!
IL SERVITORE DI DUE PADRONI: Anything Goes?


New Year 2073 is about to come, reach out to all your friends. Wish joy, peace and prosperity in 2073. Say goodbye to a old year and hello to 2073.
Happy New Years to all of you. May new year brings new insight on you and in your life.
Kamana 6 ki aaune bala barsa tapai ko lagi zabardast hos.


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Minnesota counties, service providers, needy…
Minnesota counties, service providers, needy all wait and worry
By Frederick Melo | fmelo@pioneerpress.com and Sarah Horner | shorner@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: June 29, 2011 at 11:01 pm | UPDATED: November 12, 2015 at 11:27 pm
Sharon O'Boyle, a licensed home day care provider in Washington County's Grey Cloud Island Township, already lives a frugal life, relying on food shelves to make ends meet.
She said she worries about the impact a Minnesota state government shutdown would have on the working poor, including herself. One of her clients pays for her day care services through a state-administered child care assistance program.
If that payment were frozen during a shutdown, O'Boyle, 58, said, she would not be able to make her mortgage payment this month.
She received a letter from the Minnesota Department of Human Services last week that left her with more questions than answers.
"They don't know what the policy is going to be – if we'll be paid late or not at all," O'Boyle said.
With the likelihood of a shutdown Friday growing, small-business owners, construction contractors, nonprofit agencies and some of the Twin Cities' most vulnerable residents are among the many bracing for the consequences.
"There's going to be a lot of workers laid off, probably in the thousands of workers that are working on state highway and building projects," said Dave Semerad, CEO for the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota, a St. Paul-based contractors association. "Other private projects will be affected also, because there will not be permits and inspections.
"Not every project will require a state inspection right away, but usually at some point in the construction, they will. And depending on how long this lasts, the project may or may not be affected."
With the help of an advance from the United Way, the Neighborhood House community center in St. Paul will continue to offer federally funded English classes to adults, resettlement services for refugees and rental assistance. The state, which administers federal funding for those programs, would not do so during a shutdown.
"We can't sustain this for longer than a two-week period," said Armando Camacho, president of Neighborhood House. "We have the largest single-site food shelf in Ramsey County….The shutdown has the greatest impact on our most vulnerable citizens across Minnesota."
No county will be immune from the immediate effects of a shutdown if Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled Legislature fail to break a budget impasse by 12:01 a.m. Friday.
Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt said the county board on Tuesday decided to dip into reserve funds to continue work on the $243 million Union Depot restoration project in St. Paul and the Rice Street/Minnesota 36 interchange, which is about a month from completion. That's despite official notice from the state to cease work on the interchange project.
Reinhardt, the county board chairwoman, said that following the state's directive would leave the county open to lawsuits from contractors expecting to be paid and that the expense of dealing with those suits would exceed the cost of hiring private firms to fill in for state inspectors on the project.
Moving off schedule also could risk federal funding for both projects, she said.
"Are we opening ourselves up to the state coming after us? Yes," Reinhardt said.
In Washington County, officials said they were relieved to have at least some clarity about what services can continue.
"County government in Minnesota is really the entity that delivers a lot of the health, public safety and safety net services for residents," county administrator Jim Schug said. "So we're glad that that's been clarified and it's going to be reimbursed."
Questions remain about whether federal "pass-through" dollars administered by state offices will still come to the county and "if the county provides services that aren't specifically mentioned, will they be reimbursed once the shutdown is over?" Schug said.
Riverplace Counseling Center in Anoka County is one of those places in the balance after Wednesday's judicial ruling.
The private chemical dependency treatment provider – with locations in Anoka, Sherburne and Itasca counties – serves about 125 patients with drug and alcohol problems, said Heather Leopold, a manager at the Anoka location.
About 50 percent of them are covered by state funding, she added.
Without those dollars, Leopold said, many staff members would be at risk of layoff and many patients would have to go elsewhere.
Jerry Soma, county administrator for Anoka County, said patients served at the Anoka County Regional Treatment Center would not be affected.
In Dakota County, leaders are still working to clearly understand Wednesday's ruling, said County Administrator Brandt Richardson.
Dakota County staff have been assessing more than 154 state-funded programs to determine the financial impact of continuing those services and the potential effect of freezing them, said Kelly Harder, the county's community services division director.
Child protection was deemed a core function, but it's unclear if protection for vulnerable adults is essential too, Harder said.
Staff writers Elizabeth Mohr and Maricella Miranda contributed to this report.
Frederick Melo
Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.
Follow Frederick Melo	@FrederickMelo
Sarah Horner
Sarah Horner joined the Pioneer Press in 2011. She covers legal affairs in St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs.
Follow Sarah Horner	@hornsarah


Corsica - the birthplace of Napoleon - is a Mediterranean island with a culture owing as much to Italy as to France. But Corsicans, who have long had a difficult relationship with France, consider themselves unique. The result is a distinctive culture on a rugged, wild island.
The magnificent coastline has fine beaches and some of the most varied landscapes in Europe. The climate is benign and the island is not spoiled by tourism. The hike follows the coastal path through Mediterranean flora. In spring rose colored cistus flowers and the white blaze of Asphodels cover the hills.
The warm sun on the maquis brings forth the invigorating smell of wild myrtle, thyme and rosemary. There are wonderful views across the sea and towards the mountains. Walk to Corsica's highest village and take a picturesque train ride. The best part of this trip is the wonderful scenery highlighting the contrast between the coastline and the mountain regions. There are many good local wines and meals as well as countless magnificent views.


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Groups & Schedule for the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup Announced
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) announced that Curaçao, El Salvador, Guyana, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago will join the Honduras, Jamaica and the United States as the eight teams vying to advance to the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinal doubleheader hosted at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on June 30.
"The love for football is demonstrated with every passing edition of the Concacaf Gold Cup," said Concacaf President Victor Montagliani. "Bringing the 16-team Gold Cup to Costa Rica, Jamaica and the United States is a watershed moment for football in our Confederation. This 15th edition will make the tournament more competitive and compelling for players and fans, while showcasing our region's unity, passion for football and talent on the field."
To view and download the complete 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup schedule, visit this link
Tickets to all Gold Cup matches are available by visiting www.GoldCup.org or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000
The announcement came at a special event at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles and included the Concacaf NextPlay social responsibility program, a specialized training from Concacaf officials for coaches to deliver the NextPlay methodology in their local communities, followed by a football clinic with children and young adults.
Inspired by the diverse communities served by the organization, as well as its mission and values, Concacaf NextPlay emphasizes the Confederation's commitment to social responsibility by promoting access to football within the region, while leveraging the power of the game to drive social change.
The 2019 Gold Cup will be the biggest-ever edition of the event, with more participating nations (16 up from 12 in 2017), more host countries and more stadiums (17 up from 14 in 2017). Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field is one of eight stadiums hosting this year's Gold Cup that is in contention to become a 2026 FIFA World Cup venue.
The June 30 quarterfinal doubleheader at Lincoln Financial Field kicks off at 5:30 pm with the winner of Group C facing the Group D runner up. The nightcap at 8:00 pm will feature the winner of Group D vs. the second-place team from Group C. The order of matches is subject to change.
Previously, Concacaf announced that Group C will open with the first Gold Cup matches played in the Caribbean as Jamaica hosts Honduras and Curaçao faces El Salvador in Kingston, Jamaica.
To defend its 2017 title, the United States first must advance out of Group D against Guyana, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago. Group D opens play on June 18 in Minnesota's Allianz Field and continues through Cleveland (June 22) and Kansas City (June 26).
The 15th edition of the continental championship opens with a match from the other side of the bracket as Group A gets underway with Canada facing Martinique and Cuba facing Mexico at the Rose Bowl on June 15.
As part of this expanded format, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Haiti and Nicaragua begin Group B play on Sunday, June 16, in Costa Rica's Estadio Nacional, marking the first-time the tournament is played in Central America.
Houston's NRG Stadium will host the first quarterfinal match day on June 29. The winners out of Houston and Philadelphia advance to State Farm Stadium in Phoenix and Nissan Stadium in Nashville, respectively, for the Semifinal. The Grand Final is scheduled to be played on July 7, in Chicago's iconic Soldier Field.
Buy your tickets at www.GoldCup.org or by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000
Follow the tournament news at the event's official Twitter account and Facebook page
Fans can learn more about pre-game hospitality and travel packages for Gold Cup games by visiting www.Primesport.com
The 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup is sponsored by Allstate Insurance Company, Cerveza Modelo, Nike, Scotiabank, Sprint, and Toyota. The tournament will be broadcast nationally on the Univision and FOX family of networks and transmitted on radio in Spanish by Fútbol de Primera Radio Network, and broadcast by television partners in over 180 countries around the world.


JULY UPDATE: The State House will address this bill this month.
this 1913 law was put on the books to prevent interracial marriages.
if not more.....Now let's address the national gay marriage scene.
weeks in California they'll allow out-of-state gay couples to marry.
Memorial Day Weekend brings thousands of young lesbian hotties to Provincetown. In this audio byte Humorist Kate Clinton refers to it as the "Bud Lite Weekend" & compares the partying to the infamous Dinah Shore Weekend in Palm Springs.
They're hot, proud, absolutely adorable & stylishly trendy.....:) Update from Kate Clinton: "And the style this year seems to be bikini tops, with low slung multipocketed pants, lots of belly button accessorizing, red drinking cups and baseball caps. It's 58 degrees and rainy, but they are undaunted, and blue lipped. And cute - and I know they want me......;)....."
Have a Fabulous & Safe Holiday!!
www.azleg.gov & look up bill # SCR 1042 . Now onto the Senate!!!"
Health Committee & Higher Education Committee.
& to support equality for LGBT residents.
Don't Miss the Historic Gay Wedding on Network TV!!
Happy Mother's Day to our LGBT community & their families!!


Nothing feels higher than REVENGE.
When Knox and I catch our respective plus ones making out, all hell breaks free. So we do the one factor we will—date each other to drive our exes to the brink. What higher option to keep away from a rebound than to take management and take one another for the summer season?
And on the finish of the summer season—all the pieces involves an explosive finish. We transfer on. At the very least that's what we deliberate.
However Knox is constructed for pace each on and off the sphere with a physique sculpted of pure metal. These eyes, that soiled kissable mouth of his have me on the sting of my quivering seat. So what if we let issues go too far one night time? So what if he's really managed to do issues with my physique that my ex would by no means have even conceived? There isn't something actual between us—that is nothing however a stunt.
Issues are getting messy, and one other damaged coronary heart is the very last thing I want. My coronary heart is actually feeling one thing, and now I'm not even positive what the hell I signed up for anymore. It's time to get out—even when it does really feel a little bit too late.


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Dating Behavior Research: It's not the cool women who are into bad boys - quite the opposite
When you think of bad boys and their women, you often picture a couple like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the movie "Mr.
A dissertation by DeBuse called "Do Bad Boys Finish First? An Examination of a Lay Theory of Straight Women's Mating Preferences" explored the phenomenon of why so many women are attracted to bad boys. In a multi-stage model, the researchers examined why exactly a so-called bad boy can exert such a fascination on women.
The male stereotypes that had to be assigned were: the hero, the bad boy, the nice guy and the loser. You should now be assigned three properties. The results were:
Then DeBuse checked the characteristics: sexual partner or relationship partner and had the women again assign male stereotypes from the categories just defined. Overall, women preferred heroes both as sexual and relationship partners. In contrast, losers were the least preferred as both partner types. After all, bad boys and nice guys fell somewhere in between - depending on each woman's preferences.
However, the researcher was not satisfied with this almost predictable result and now analyzed the character of the women who like heroes, bad boys and nice guys.
Bad Boys: Women who like bad boys often undersell themselves. They typically have low self-esteem and avoid prolonged commitment, whether consciously or unconsciously. More often than not, these women have trouble trusting anyone. Either the usually very attractive appearance of a bad boy is all they want or they think that they don't deserve more.
Nice Guys: Women who like nice guys tend to have good self-esteem and confidence. They are specifically looking for a long-term relationship, are interested in both sexuality and emotional support. All in all, they are the opposite of women who are into bad boys.Heroes: Women who seek out heroes are usually looking for the complete package - dominance, support and attractiveness in a single partner. Although they are somewhat fearful at times (hence the attraction of a dominant "hero"), they have high self-esteem. You also have an interest in passionate and companionable love with a partner. As other studies have found, it is mostly women who want everything but also play in the same league themselves. Therefore, they are more likely to be able to attract the heroic partner they desire as well.
Overall, the study came to the conclusion that there is a fair distribution in dating. Only those who are an almost perfect complete package can also bind an equally heroic partner. Anyone looking for long-term love and intimacy should date a nice guy, and those who still fancy the so-called bad boy will probably be left forever and only have to settle for good times.
Quellen: Psychology Today, Scholarworks
1 Award: Reiner Calmund is honored with the Emperor... 2 Ukraine War: Torture camp discovered in liberated... 3 Protest: Last Generation group continues to use road... 4 Dispute: shot from a police service weapon: one injured 5 Labor market: number of employed at record level 6 Only with Ouwejan as a left-back: Schalke is taking... 7 Transfers: Kasper Dolberg's move to TSG Hoffenheim... 8 Farewell to Benedict XVI: TV stations show funeral... 9 Benedict XVI: This is how the funeral ceremonies proceed 10 Taxes: Lindner promotes the abolition of the solidarity...
Award: Reiner Calmund is honored with the Emperor...


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Sherwin Kershman, D.D.S.
Past away August 27, 2014 at age 72 in Caesarea, Israel. He was known for his quiet and generous nature, sharp wit, and ever-expanding intellect. Dr. Kershman opened his oral surgery practice in Houston in 1971. He was a highly skilled surgeon, but it was his warmth, compassion and personal charm that drew patients to him. He had a great love of his profession, and his patients, staff, and colleagues returned the love. Israel had a special place in his heart, which is why he and his wife, Louise, had a second home in Netanya, by the Mediterranean Sea, and why his family chose as his final resting place Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim, outside of Jerusalem. But his greatest love was his family. He met Louise when they were in high school in University City, Mo. They married in college and enjoyed 51 years together. He is survived by his wife Louise, daughters Francine Hazan (Reuven) and Becky Kershman (Kim Hartley), grandsons Yona, Shai, and Jake, and sisters Sharyn Rich (Lloyd) and Melanie Mann (Rob). Services were held in Mevaseret Zion, Israel and Houston, Texas. Donations in memory of Sherwin may be made to American Friends of Hebrew University (AFHU.org) or The ERJCC's Jewish Book and Arts Fair (ERJCCHouston.org).
Learn more about Meet Dr. Diaz Learn more about Meet Dr. Kershman Learn more about Meet the Staff Learn more about Office Tour