The Snoop 11.1.2012

Tom Boak, of Ava, brought us a copy of the Mineral County Independent-News (Hawthorne, Nev.) a couple of weeks ago with an article that he thought might be of interest to some of our readers. The story is about the moving of a gun from the USS Missouri from the Hawthorne Army Base in Nevada to Golden Gate National Recreation Area for public display.
Referring to this piece of equipment as a “gun” is like referring to the USS Missouri as a boat.
The weapon is 68 feet long, and weighs 236,000 pounds. It was capable of firing 2,700-pound projectiles 25 miles out to sea.
Some of the guns had been sitting in the depot, and some had been sent to scrap, 67 years after witnessing the end of World War II, according to the article written by Heidi Bunch of the MCIN staff. They had been stored since the end of the Korean War when the USS Missouri was refurbished.
This gun, to be displayed, will be painted, refurbished and displayed so she may tell her story.
General MacArthur presided over the ceremony on the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945, after the surrender of Japan where officials from the Japanese government signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.
Another article said the massive gun had to be transported by night on special 32-wheel trailers, to its final resting place at the Battery Townsley Fortification in San Francisco.
Another thing I found interesting, in that same newspaper, was the story of a brown bear that visited the townsite of Walker Lake.
The black bears that made a public display here a few weeks ago attracted a lot of attention just by showing up along a busy roadway. This brown bear in Nevada came into town, foraged people’s trash and became quite a nuisance before Division of Wildlife personnel captured it and returned it to its natural habitat.
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Now, I enjoy reading other people’s newspapers like Hershell Letsinger likes to drive along and view other farmland, or Oren Alcorn enjoys visiting another church occasionally to see how they do their services. So I was happy some time ago to receive a copy of the Hannibal Courier-Post that someone brought to me. It’s all about Mark Twain, because Hannibal was celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Actor Hal Halbrook, who has often portrayed Mark Twain in live performances, was to receive the first Mark Twain Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented in conjunction with the 100th anniversary celebration.
The Hannibal newspaper is published by David Stringer, with Mary Lou Montgomery serving as editor.
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The latest edition of Publishers’ Auxiliary arrived in the mail Tuesday morning. The front page headline says, “Grenade Brings Paper’s Office to a Screeching Halt.” Jody Porter and I agreed that a grenade on either of our desks would not bring us to halt. His comment was the same as mine. It would cause me to RUN! As it turns out, the grenade was harmless and had been left on a worker’s desk as an innocent gift. But it sure got a lot of attention and was a good training exercise for the local police and fire department, the state bomb squad and the FBI.
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When Nick Helm first mentioned disc golf a few months ago I thought he was crazy. I couldn’t imagine grown men going out to the park and throwing Frisbees at a target of some sort. Was I ever wrong!
Disc golf is the latest sports craze, and it is becoming very popular.
Bear Hollow Disc Golf kicked off at the Ava City Park Saturday morning with a large group of participants present for the intial rounds of competition. I was surprised to see each player carrying a bag of various discs, designed for distance, wind conditions, etc., just like golf as we know it.
Disc golf is an excellent form of exercise — until somebody gets the idea to design a disc golf cart.