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Florida panhandle

The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a salient roughly 200 mi long, bordered by Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. It is defined by its southern culture and rural geography relative to the rest of Florida, as well as closer cultural links to French-influenced Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Its major communities include Pensacola, Navarre, Destin, Panama City Beach, and Tallahassee.

As is the case with the other eight U.S. states that have panhandles, the geographic meaning of the term is inexact and elastic. References to the Florida panhandle always include the ten counties west of the Apalachicola River, a natural geographic boundary, which was the historic dividing line between the British colonies of West Florida and East Florida. These western counties also lie in the Central Time Zone (with the exception of Gulf County, which is divided between the Eastern and Central Time zones), while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. References to the panhandle may also include some or all of eleven counties immediately east of the Apalachicola known as the Big Bend region, along the curve of Apalachee Bay.

Like the rest of North Florida, including North Central Florida, the panhandle is more similar in culture and climate to the Deep South than the rest of the state, particularly than Central Florida and South Florida in the lower peninsula. The Florida panhandle is known for its conservative politics, religious adherence, and "piney woods".

The largest city in the panhandle is Tallahassee, the state capital, population 196,169 (2020). However, the largest city west of the Appalachicola river is Pensacola, which has a population of 54,312 (2020) and also has the largest Metropolitan area in the entire panhandle with a population of 511,502 (2020). This metro area includes the second- and third-largest communities in the region, Pensacola and Navarre. The total population of the panhandle, as of the 2010 Census, was 1,407,925, just under 7.5% of Florida's total population as recorded in the same census. At roughly 70 persons per square mile, its population density is less than 20% of Florida's as a whole.

Emerald Coast

Emerald Coast, a term coined in 1983, refers in general to the beaches and coastal resorts from Pensacola to Port St. Joe, but is sometimes used to refer, by extension, to the panhandle as a whole, especially west of the Apalachicola. Earlier designations include "Playground of the Gulfcoast" and the "Miracle Strip", especially for the area between Fort Walton Beach and Panama City. Coastal regions of the following counties (if not the entirety of the counties themselves) are usually included when referring to the Emerald Coast:

 * Escambia County
 * Santa Rosa County
 * Okaloosa County
 * Walton County

Coastal portions of Bay County are also regularly included when referring to the Emerald Coast, but with somewhat less regularity than the four aforementioned counties listed above.

Forgotten Coast
The Forgotten Coast is a trademarked term coined in the early 1990s used to refer to the coastal portion of the Florida panhandle extending from Mexico Beach or southeastern Bay County on the Gulf of Mexico to St. Marks on Apalachee Bay. It is usually not considered a part of the Emerald Coast, which lies directly adjacent to the west. Coastal regions of the following counties (if not the entirety of the counties themselves) are usually included when referring to the Forgotten Coast:

 * Gulf County
 * Franklin County
 * Wakulla County
 * Small portions of Bay County

Physical features
The Apalachicola River is the largest river of the panhandle. It is formed by the junction of several rivers, including the Chattahoochee and the Flint, where the boundaries of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida meet. From there, it flows southward to the town of Apalachicola.

Major estuaries include, from west to east: Perdido Bay, fed by the Perdido River, which forms the western boundary of Florida; Escambia Bay and East Bay, fed by the Escambia River and Blackwater River, respectively; Choctawhatchee Bay, fed by the Choctawhatchee River; and St. Andrews Bay, fed by Econfina Creek. Pensacola Bay, a deepwater port, is formed by the joining of Escambia and East bays. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, completed in 1949, traverses the lower panhandle by means of bays, lagoons, sounds, and human-made canals. The barrier islands of Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island extend from the Pandhandle's western extremity through Fort Walton Beach to Destin.

Britton Hill is the highest natural point in the state at 345 ft above mean sea level.

19th century
Throughout the 19th century the panhandle was sparsely populated, dotted in places with small farming communities, none of which had as many as a thousand residents. Many panhandle residents had, in fact, migrated to the area from Alabama and had relatives there; it was also easier to trade with and travel to southern Alabama than to reach East Florida by slow, arduous journey across the thick cypress swamps and dense pine forests of the panhandle. It was natural for West Floridians to feel that they had more in common with their nearby neighbors in Alabama than with the residents of the peninsula, hundreds of miles away.

In 1821, Pensacola was the only city (in 19th-century terms) in West Florida, with a population estimated to be about 3,000. In the 1850 census, the enumerated population of Pensacola was 2,164 (including 741 slaves and 350 "free Negroes").

Alabama annexation proposals
During the course of the century, proposals for ceding the Florida counties west of the Apalachicola River to Alabama were often raised:
 * In 1811, while Florida was still a Spanish possession, American settlers in the territory sent a petition to Congress asking to be incorporated into the Mississippi Territory, which at that time included present-day Alabama. (See West Florida article.)
 * In 1819, the constitutional convention of Alabama asked Congress to include West Florida in their new state.
 * In 1822, only a year after the U.S. acquired the entire Florida territory from Spain, residents of West Florida sent a petition to the U.S. House of Representatives asking that their section be annexed to Alabama, and Alabama Senator John Williams Walker also promoted the idea.
 * In 1826, the Pensacola Gazette published a number of letters advocating annexation to Alabama, though the editor remarked that some Pensacolians opposed the idea.
 * In 1840, a public meeting in Pensacola produced a demand that West Florida be united with Alabama. In the same year, the territorial Legislature notified Congress that it opposed allowing Alabama to annex West Florida, but in 1844, the year before statehood, the Legislature reversed its stance and asked that West Florida be separated.
 * In 1856, advocates of annexation were able to get a bill passed by the Legislature authorizing a referendum on the issue, but Governor James E. Broome vetoed the measure. The Pensacola Gazette reported that "annexation is desired by a large majority of the people" of the area.
 * In 1858, the Alabama Legislature unsuccessfully tried to open negotiations with Florida on the subject.
 * The annexation issue was eclipsed by the Civil War and the war's effects on the region, but in 1868, with Pensacola now connected by the panhandle's sole railroad line to the Alabama cities of Mobile and Montgomery, the issue came to a head again and was finally put to a vote of the people. In that year, the Alabama Legislature approved a joint resolution authorizing their Governor to negotiate with the Governor of Florida about the annexation of West Florida. An offer of one million dollars in Alabama state bonds, paying 8 percent interest for thirty years, was included. Both states appointed commissioners to make detailed recommendations on the matter.
 * On November 2, 1869, a referendum was held in the West Florida counties (except Jackson, which was in the throes of bloody racial violence ), with a result of 1162 to 661 in favor of annexation. However, political objection developed in Alabama to the high price, and the Legislature took no action on the results of the referendum.
 * In 1873, a similar proposal was made in the Alabama Legislature, which the state senate approved, though it did not pass a separate proposal to finance the measure by selling all of Alabama's territory west of the Tombigbee River, including the city of Mobile, to Mississippi. However, nothing came of this action.
 * In 1901, Alabama made yet another offer when the Legislature appointed a commission to negotiate with Florida about annexation, but this attempt, too, was unsuccessful.

The building of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad, completed in 1883, finally linked Pensacola and the panhandle solidly with the rest of the state and ended the region's isolation, although from time to time during the twentieth century there were still occasional calls for annexation that generated some public discussion but no legislative action.

20th century
In the last quarter of the century, hurricanes that directly struck the area and caused significant damage included Hurricane Eloise in 1975, Hurricane Kate in 1985, and Hurricane Erin and Hurricane Opal, both in 1995.

The area was a prime target of the March 1993 Storm of the Century.

21st century
The panhandle suffered direct hits from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005. Ivan was the most disastrous, making landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, with 120 mile-per-hour (193 km/h) winds and a 14 ft storm surge that devastated Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island, wrecked the Interstate 10 bridge across Escambia Bay, and destroyed thousands of homes in the region, some as far away as 20 mi inland.

On June 23, 2010, oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill landed on Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, damaging the fishing and tourism industries, and prompting a massive clean-up effort.

On October 10, 2018, the panhandle suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Michael, with winds as high as 160 mph. Michael was one of only four category 5 hurricanes to ever hit the US mainland. Thousands of homes were destroyed, and apartment rents in Panama City increased, with a $500 apartment renting for $1000 in 2019. Recovery from Hurricane Michael was not complete in June 2019, and disaster relief for the panhandle remained stalled in Congress.

Economy
Historically, the economy of the panhandle depended mainly on farming, forestry and lumbering, paper mills, import/export shipping at Pensacola and to a lesser extent at Panama City, shipbuilding, and commercial fishing. After World War II, the economy was boosted by the numerous military bases established in the region, as well as the growth of tourism and the hospitality industry.

In addition to military bases, state and local governments, hospitals, schools, and colleges, major private employers in the second half of the twentieth century included Monsanto and Westinghouse plants at Pensacola, the St. Joe Paper Company in Port St. Joe, and Gulf Power, a major electric utility company.

Unlike central and southern Florida, the panhandle has never been a producer of citrus crops because the area is subject to regular frosts and freezes during winter, which destroy citrus fruits.

Road
Interstate 10 is the only interstate highway in the panhandle, connecting the extreme west with North Florida and Jacksonville. Other older east–west routes include U.S. Highway 90 and U.S. Highway 98. Important north–south routes west of the Apalachicola River include U.S. Highway 29, U.S. Highway 331, and U.S. Highway 231, all linking to Alabama and Interstate 65. State Road 20 stretches from Niceville to Tallahassee.

Rail
Freight service is provided by the Class III Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which acquired most of the CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1, 2019. (For the history of this line, see Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad.)

Passenger service ended with the creation of Amtrak in 1971, but was revived with the extension of the Sunset Limited to Orlando beginning in 1993; however, passenger service was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Other regional short-line railroads serving the panhandle are the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway (formerly BNSF Railway, ex-Frisco Railway), the Bay Line Railroad, and the AN Railway.

Air
Major airports include:
 * Pensacola International Airport
 * Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport
 * Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport
 * Tallahassee International Airport
 * Bob Sikes Airport
 * Destin Executive Airport
 * DeFuniak Springs Airport
 * Apalachicola Regional Airport
 * Perry-Foley Airport

Education
The following institutions of higher learning are located in the Florida panhandle.

State University System:
 * Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Tallahassee)
 * Florida State University (Tallahassee)
 * University of West Florida (Pensacola)

Florida College System:
 * Chipola College (Marianna)
 * Gulf Coast State College (Panama City)
 * Northwest Florida State College (Niceville)
 * Pensacola State College (Pensacola)
 * Tallahassee Community College (Tallahassee)

Religiously affiliated:
 * Baptist College of Florida (Graceville)
 * Pensacola Christian College (Pensacola)

Politics
The politics of the Florida panhandle vary considerably depending on location. The western panhandle, particularly the Emerald Coast, was one of the earliest areas to shake off its Yellow Dog Democrat roots, and since the 1990s has become the most Republican part of Florida. Fort Walton Beach, Destin and Panama City regularly give Republicans close to or over 70% margins in state and national elections. However, Tallahassee and Gadsden County tend to be strongly Democratic. In the 2008 presidential election, John McCain received 421,287 votes (60.1%) in the panhandle, while Barack Obama received 279,206 votes (39.9%).

Under the 2023-2033 decennial reapportionment, the Florida panhandle is split between the Florida's 1st congressional district, represented by Matt Gaetz (R–Niceville) and Florida's 2nd congressional district represented by Neal Dunn (R–Panama City).

Culture and sports

 * Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival
 * Florida A&M Rattlers
 * Florida State Seminoles
 * Pensacola Blue Wahoos
 * Pensacola Ice Flyers
 * Red Hills Horse Trials
 * Springtime Tallahassee
 * Tallahassee Wine and Food Festival

Counties
The following counties west of the Apalachicola River are always included in references to the panhandle:

 * Bay County
 * Calhoun County
 * Escambia County
 * Gulf County
 * Holmes County
 * Jackson County
 * Okaloosa County
 * Santa Rosa County
 * Walton County
 * Washington County

Some or all of the following counties east of the Apalachicola, in the Big Bend subregion, are sometimes considered part of the panhandle:

 * Dixie County
 * Franklin County
 * Gadsden County
 * Hamilton County
 * Jefferson County
 * Lafayette County
 * Leon County
 * Liberty County
 * Madison County
 * Taylor County
 * Wakulla County

Cities and towns
Places marked with an asterisk (*) lie east of the Apalachicola River, and may not be considered part of the panhandle by some residents or writers.

 * Apalachicola
 * Blountstown
 * Bonifay
 * Brent
 * Callaway
 * Carrabelle*
 * Cedar Grove
 * Century
 * Chipley
 * Crestview
 * Cross City*
 * DeFuniak Springs
 * Destin
 * Fort Walton Beach
 * Gulf Breeze
 * Jay
 * Lynn Haven
 * Madison*
 * Marianna
 * Mexico Beach
 * Milton
 * Niceville
 * Panama City
 * Panama City Beach
 * Paxton
 * Pensacola
 * Port St Joe
 * Quincy*
 * Springfield
 * Tallahassee*
 * Valparaiso

Population of the major metropolitan areas in the panhandle:
 * Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area – 455,102 (2009)
 * Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area – 180,822 (2010)
 * Panama City-Lynn Haven-Panama City Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area – 202,236 (2020)
 * Tallahassee Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area – 367,413 (2010)

Beaches
The panhandle is renowned for the white sand beaches and blue-green waters of its barrier islands fronting the Gulf of Mexico. According to the National Park Service:

"The stunning sugar-white beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore are composed of fine quartz eroded from granite in the Appalachian Mountains. The sand is carried seaward by rivers and creeks and deposited by currents along the shore."

The beach towns in the panhandle, many of which play host to college students during spring break, are sometimes derisively called the Redneck Riviera. The term was used as the title of a song by country music artist Tom T. Hall on his 1996 album Songs from Sopchoppy. The album takes its name from a town in rural Wakulla County, near Tallahassee.

Tourists have been drawn to the panhandle since the building of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad in the 1880s. Pensacola Beach has been a major tourist attraction since the building of bridges between the mainland and Santa Rosa Island in 1931. After World War II, an increase in both tourism and population of the area led to a proliferation of motels, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, and amusement parks along the coast, concentrated in Pensacola Beach, Fort Walton Beach, and Panama City Beach. Examples include the Gulfarium marine park and aquarium in Fort Walton Beach, and the former Miracle Strip Amusement Park (1963–2004) in Panama City Beach.

In 1971, the federal government acquired many acres of the coastal islands in Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties, preserving them from commercial development by establishing the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which also covers some islands off the Mississippi coast. Other beach areas protected by the state of Florida include

 * Perdido Key State Park
 * Big Lagoon State Park
 * Henderson Beach State Park
 * Grayton Beach State Park
 * St. Andrews State Park
 * St. Joseph Peninsula State Park
 * St. George Island State Park

Both state and federal parks offer facilities for camping, picnicking, and other recreational pursuits. In addition, some parts of the coastline are federal property belonging to Pensacola Naval Air Station, Eglin Air Force Base, and Tyndall Air Force Base, and so are likewise protected from commercial development.

In addition, seven state aquatic preserves, covering thousands of acres of submerged lands in coastal areas, are located in the panhandle. A number of other state parks, preserves, and forests are located inland.

The 1970s also saw the beginnings of a number of upscale beach resorts, condominium towers, vacation homes, and planned communities, such as Seaside and Sandestin, so that most of the privately owned areas of the coastline are now heavily developed.

Military bases
Major military bases include the Pensacola Naval Air Station (the home of Naval Aviation in the United States), Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field near Ft. Walton Beach, Naval Support Activity Panama City in Panama City Beach, and Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City. Smaller military bases in the Florida panhandle include the Center for Information Warfare Training in Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton and Duke Field near Crestview.

The 1983-84 television show Emerald Point N.A.S. was set in a naval air station somewhere in the American South, similar to Pensacola NAS. The 1997-2000 action/adventure series Pensacola: Wings of Gold was explicitly set there.

title: Florida panhandle


text: Category:Pulitzer Prizes

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Category:Pulitzer Prizes


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Filip Konowal

Filip Konowal VC (Пили́п Миронович Конова́л; Pylyp Myronovych Konoval; 25 March 1887 – 3 June 1959) was a highly decorated Ukrainian Canadian soldier. He is the first Canadian Corps member not born in the British Empire (and the only Ukrainian) to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces. He was also entitled to the Cross of St George, 4th Class.

He is the patron of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 (Konowal Branch) in Toronto.

First World War
Konowal was born to a peasant family on 25 March 1887 in Kutkivtsi, in the Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) near the border with Austria-Hungary. At an early age, he worked as a mason alongside his father. He married Hanna (?-1932/33) in 1908. They had a daughter, Marichka.

Soon after his marriage, he decided to join the Imperial Russian Army, where he served as an instructor in hand-to-hand combat. After demobilization, Konowal returned home and took up work as a feller in Siberia, before accepting a job with a Canadian company in 1913. Departing from Vladivostok, Konowal crossed the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver, British Columbia, and continued working as a feller, gradually making his way east. By the beginning of 1914, Konowal had lost his job as a feller and ended up working a series of odd jobs until the outbreak of World War I.

On 12 July 1915, Konowal enlisted in the 77th Canadian Infantry Battalion, and on 19 June 1916, left Halifax for Liverpool. After arriving in England, Konowal was promoted to acting corporal and was transferred to the 47th (British Columbia) Battalion of the 4th Canadian Division. In August 1916, the 4th Division arrived in France, and took part in the assault on Vimy Ridge in April 1917. From 22 to 24 August 1917, during the Battle of Hill 70 in Lens, France, he was recognized for conspicuous gallantry in the face of the enemy and awarded the Victoria Cross. Konowal's medal was personally presented by King George V, and he was promoted to sergeant.

Victoria Cross citation
The citation was published in a supplement to the London Gazette of 23 November 1917 (dated 26 November 1917):

No. 144039 A./Cpl. Filip Konowal, Can. Inf.

For most conspicuous bravery and leadership when in charge of a section in attack. His section had the difficult task of mopping up cellars, craters and machine-gun emplacements. Under his able direction all resistance was overcome successfully, and heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy. In one cellar he himself bayonetted three enemy and attacked single-handed seven others in a crater, killing them all.

On reaching the objective, a machine-gun was holding up the right flank, causing many casualties. Cpl. Konowal rushed forward and entered the emplacement, killed the crew, and brought the gun back to our lines.

The next day he again attacked single-handed another machine-gun emplacement, killed three of the crew, and destroyed the gun and emplacement with explosives.

This non-commissioned officer alone killed at least sixteen of the enemy, and during the two days' actual fighting carried on continuously his good work until severely wounded.

Post-war
On 19 July 1919, Konowal accompanied Leontiy Diedek, a friend and fellow veteran, to a particularly rough area in Hull, Quebec. The two men went for dinner at a restaurant; Diedek left early in order to look at some bicycles at the home of William Artich, an 'Austrian' bootlegger and bicycle salesman. Konowal became aware of a commotion and went to investigate. A fight had started between Artich and Diedek. By the time Konowal arrived, Diedek had been viciously beaten and Artich was armed with a knife. Konowal managed to gain control over the weapon and killed Artich with a single stab to the chest. Konowal did not attempt to flee the scene; when police came, the First World War veteran stated, "I've killed fifty-two of them, that makes the fifty-third."

Veterans rallied to his cause and raised enough money to bail Konowal in October 1919; the trial ended up being postponed three times, finally beginning in 1921. After extensive tests, it was discovered that Konowal had serious medical problems stemming from his war wounds: pressure on his brain was increasing and his condition was continually deteriorating. Medical experts unanimously agreed that a wartime gunshot wound to the head was likely making Konowal mentally unstable, causing flashbacks to the war's battles. The jury agreed and he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, then institutionalized for seven years. By the end of this period, his condition had improved dramatically, and he was released from a Montreal mental hospital in 1928.

He eventually found employment as a caretaker at the House of Commons in Ottawa, with the help of a military associate. When Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King saw the colours of a Victoria Cross ribbon on Konowal while he was at work, King arranged for him to be reassigned to a lifetime job in King's personal office.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck once again when Konowal attempted to contact his family: his wife had died during the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 (the Holodomor) and his daughter was nowhere to be found, though it was later reported she survived and left descendants. Konowal married a French-Canadian woman, Juliette Leduc-Auger (1901–1987), in 1934 and adopted her two sons, Roland and Albert.

In 1956, he joined 300 other Victoria Cross recipients in London for events celebrating the honour's centennial, hosted by then British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Queen Elizabeth II.

Konowal died in 1959 at Hull, Quebec, aged 72. He was buried at Notre Dame de Lourdes Cemetery, Ottawa, under a headstone in section A, lot 502.

Honours

In addition to the Victoria Cross, he was also awarded the British War Medal (1914–1920), Victory Medal (1914–1919), George VI Coronation Medal (1937), Elizabeth II Coronation Medal (1953), and was entitled to the Cross of St George, 4th Class, from Russia.

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 (Konowal Branch) in Toronto made him its patron in 1953.

In 1996, Konowal's headstone was replaced by an upright marker, and memorial plaques were unveiled:

 * in the Cartier Square drill hall of the Governor General's Foot Guards in Ottawa
 * at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, 952 Green Valley Crescent in Ottawa
 * at Legion Branch 360 (Konowal Branch) in Toronto – transferred to the care of the Ukrainian National Federation, Toronto Branch in 2007 after Branch No. 360 was shut down by Dominion Command
 * at the Royal Westminster Regiment's armoury (Konowal's regiment) in New Westminster, B.C – stolen since replaced with a stone marker
 * on a cairn at Selo Ukraina Memorial Park, near Dauphin, Manitoba.
 * in 2000, at Konowal's place of birth, Kutkivtsi, Ukraine.
 * On 22 August 2005, a bas relief of Konowal was unveiled at Lens, France
 * On 8 April 2017 the Battle of Hill 70 Memorial was unveiled at Loos-en-Gohelle, France, the central pathway named the Konowal Walk.
 * On 10 May 2017, a feature documentary on Filip Konowal's life, Konowal: the man behind the medal, was premiered on Documentary Channel (Canada). It was produced and directed by James Motluk and received a Platinum Remi Award at the Houston Worldfest 2017

The Victoria Cross decoration

The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa purchased Konowal's Victoria Cross and other medals in 1969.

The decoration went missing sometime in the 1970s, apparently stolen, and was sold to an antique shop along with some Hawaiian coins in the mid-1990s. The shop owner believed the decoration was a fake, as it was inscribed with "For Valour" – evidently not realizing that all VCs awarded to Canadians had the English motto. (The source of confusion was the fact that a new Canadian VC was introduced into the Canadian Honours System in 1993, bearing the Latin motto Pro Valore). The decoration was rediscovered when the shop owner offered it to the Jeffrey Hoare Auction House in London, Ontario in April 2004. A British collector discovered the auction and notified Lubomyr Luciuk, co-author of a booklet about Konowal, who took steps to have the decoration secured. It was recovered by the police and returned to permanent display at the War Museum on 23 August 2004, 87 years after it was awarded.

title: Filip Konowal


text:
Mo Ostin

Mo Ostin (born Morris Meyer Ostrofsky; March 27, 1927 – July 31, 2022) was an American record executive who worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Warner/Reprise from 1972 to 1994, signing the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, and Van Halen to the label. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Early life
Ostin was born Morris Meyer Ostrofsky in New York City on March 27, 1927. His family was Jewish and fled Russia during the Russian Revolution. They eventually relocated to Los Angeles when Ostin was thirteen and operated a small grocery market close to the Fairfax Theatre. He attended Fairfax High School, before studying economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He subsequently commenced studies at the UCLA School of Law, but ultimately dropped out to support his family.

Career
Ostin began his career in the mid-1950s as comptroller at Clef Records, a record company started by Norman Granz, brother of friend and neighbor, Irving Granz. The company was soon renamed 'Verve', where he was involved with Jazz At The Philharmonic, a worldwide concert promotion operation that provided a live performance platform for the label's touring stars. Frank Sinatra tried and failed to buy Verve, which was eventually sold to MGM Records. Sinatra was reportedly so impressed by the company's artists and the management's style that he formed his own Reprise Records in 1960 and hired Ostin to head it. Three years later, Reprise joined forces with Warner Bros. The first rock act Ostin signed to Reprise was the Kinks. He signed Jimi Hendrix in the spring of 1967 based on hearing "Hey Joe", then was amazed after seeing him perform at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Ostin ultimately spent 31 years at Warner/Reprise from 1963 to 1994, serving as its chairman and CEO from 1972 onwards. He oversaw the signing of Prince, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, R.E.M., Madonna, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, the Grateful Dead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Halen, the Who, and Randy Newman. He was noted for giving artists creative freedom and creating a company geared towards artists, attributing this outlook to his time with Sinatra. Ostin later recounted how he trusted Prince to the point where he would only listen to his music once it was completed. Ostin was also instrumental in the acquisition of the independent Elektra label by Warner Communications, as well as the subsequent formation of WEA Corporation and WEA International. Recognized as an industry titan, he served as chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America for a two-year term. He left Warner acrimoniously in 1994 after they requested that he slash his payroll, turning down their offer of a three-year extension. He described the situation as "the toughest thing I've ever been through in the business", adding that "it shook [him] to the core".

After departing Warner Bros., Ostin went on to join the music division of the entertainment conglomerate DreamWorks SKG in October 1995. In 2003, Ostin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels. Three years later, he received The Recording Academy President's Merit Award at the 2006 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons.

Philanthropy
A graduate of UCLA, Ostin and his wife Evelyn donated $10 million and played a critical role in establishing the university's Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center, a state-of-the-art campus music facility. In March 2015, Ostin donated $10 million to UCLA for the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, a state-of-the-art training facility, which was opened in October 2017 and named in his honor. He also sat on the board of visitors for the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and supported the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance.

Personal life
Ostin was married to Evelyn for 55 years until her death in 2005. Together, they had three children, Randy, Kenny, and Michael Ostin. All three worked as Warner executives. Both Kenny and Randy predeceased him in 2004 and 2013, respectively.

Ostin died in his sleep on July 31, 2022, at the age of 95.

title: Mo Ostin


text:
People v. Collins

People v. Collins was a 1968 American robbery trial in California noted for its misuse of probability and as an example of the prosecutor's fallacy.

Trial
After a mathematics instructor testified about the multiplication rule for probability, though ignoring conditional probability, the prosecutor invited the jury to consider the probability that the accused (who fit a witness's description of a black male with a beard and mustache and a Caucasian female with a blond ponytail, fleeing in a yellow car) were not the robbers, suggesting that they estimated the probabilities as:

The jury returned a guilty verdict.

Appeal
The California Supreme Court set aside the conviction, criticizing the statistical reasoning for ignoring dependencies between the characteristics, e.g., bearded men commonly sport mustaches, and for drawing an incorrect statistical inference. This mistaken inference, commonly called the prosecutor's fallacy, incorrectly equates the probability that a random defendant has certain traits with the chance that the defendant is guilty.

The Court said of the fallacy "we think that the entire enterprise upon which the prosecution embarked, and which was directed to the objective of measuring the likelihood of a random couple possessing the characteristics allegedly distinguishing the robbers, was gravely misguided. At best, it might yield an estimate as to how infrequently bearded Negroes drive yellow cars in the company of blonde females with ponytails."

The court noted that the correct statistical inference would be the probability that no other couple who could have committed the robbery had the same traits as the defendants given that at least one couple had the identified traits. The court noted, in an appendix to its decision, that using this correct statistical inference, even if the prosecutor's statistics were all correct and independent as he assumed, the probability that the defendants were innocent would be over 40%.

The court asserted that mathematics, "...while assisting the trier of fact in the search of truth, must not cast a spell over him." In particular, the court expressed its concern that complex mathematics would distract the jury from weighing the credibility of witnesses and the reasonableness of their doubts. The court also expressed concern that if mathematics became common tools for prosecutors that there would not be enough defense attorneys skilled at mathematics to put on a skilled defense.

title: People v. Collins


text:
Elba Esther Gordillo

Elba Esther Gordillo Morales (6 February 1945) is a Mexican politician and trade unionist who has been the leader of the 1.4-million-strong National Education Workers' Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, or SNTE), the largest labor union in Latin America, since 1989. She was formerly affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI) until 2005, when she left and founded the New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza, or PANAL), which is currently led by Luis Castro Obregón.

Gordillo was arrested by the Mexican authorities on 26 February 2013 on charges of embezzlement and organized crime. She was included in a list of the "10 most corrupt Mexicans" published by Forbes in 2013.

Gordillo has held considerable influence over governments and individual presidents by persuading her union members to vote as a single bloc.

Early life
Elba Esther Gordillo was born on 6 February 1945, in Comitán, Chiapas.

Career
Gordillo joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1970, at the height of its "dirty war". She has occupied several PRI positions including Secretary of Organization of the National Executive Council (1986–1987), General Secretary of the Council of National Popular Organizations (1997–2002), and General Secretary of the National Executive Council, the second highest position within the party.

Gordillo then became one of the most powerful women in Mexican politics. She was the President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1987. She was the head of the PRI faction in the Chamber of Deputies, but after a political war with Roberto Madrazo, she lost that position when a slim majority of 118 PRI deputies voted to oust Gordillo as head of their 224-seat faction in the lower house. Gordillo was forced out of the congress leadership presumably because her political ambitions clashed with those of Madrazo regarding the presidential elections of 2006. Heightened political pressure and illness pushed Gordillo out from public life for about a year, though she did hold on to her post as the PRI secretary general.

In early 2005 Gordillo returned to public life and Roberto Madrazo greeted her with open arms. According to PRI rules, Gordillo, as secretary general of the party, should have replaced Madrazo when he stepped down; but, in a surprise move, Mariano Palacios Alcocer took Madrazo's position instead of Gordillo, who publicly broke with Madrazo just few days before Palacios Alcocer's election. Gordillo accused Madrazo of trying to bribe her with the party's presidency in exchange for supporting his candidacy; she also said that Madrazo had no respect for democracy and just wanted to assure himself of the nomination and was breaking party rules to impose a party leader of his own choosing.

The day that Mariano Palacios Alcocer was black, Gordillo filed a complaint with a federal electoral tribunal asking for protection of her political rights, but the tribunal ruled against her. On 19 September and as a result of the dispute with Madrazo, Gordillo resigned her Secretary General position in the PRI but decided to continue her affiliation with the party. On 13 July 2006, two weeks after the federal elections, the PRI announced her expulsion from its ranks for having supported the National Action Party and for attacking and slandering the PRI's leaders and candidates.

Corruption
Gordillo holds significant powers from the national public schools system dominated by Gordillo's union in which teaching positions could be sold or inherited. There are roughly 1.5 million teachers in this union which she has controlled since 1989. In 2008, she was reportedly caught on camera having bought 59 new Hummer vehicles to give her aides, only to raffle them off when the media brought the purchase to light.

Gordillo is notorious for wearing luxury brands such as Hermès and Chanel. She has allegedly spent US$2.1 million at a Neiman Marcus department store in San Diego between March 2009 and January 2012. Gordillo allegedly used the money on properties, including in the US, a private jet, art work and plastic surgeries. She has allegedly amassed some 10 properties, including a US$1.7 million home in San Diego and a $4 million water-front house in Coronado, California.

Gordillo allegedly set up a political party that followed principles of a patronage system in 2005 that became notorious for obtaining privileges and appointments in return of its support in key elections. It was widely speculated that she helped former president Felipe Calderón obtain his narrow victory for the presidency in 2006 as part of a deal that allowed her to place individuals in the government who held allegiances to her.

The former union leader was formally charged in February 2013 with embezzling US$200 million from the union to fund her lavish lifestyle. She is notorious for her expensive Hermès bags as well as numerous plastic surgeries from clinics in California. She is believed to own or be connected to three residences in California. One of these, where she spent most of her time before her arrest, was a $4.7 million house in Coronado Cays with a private dock, a boat, and Jet Ski.

Gordillo was arrested on corruption charges by the Mexican authorities on 26 February 2013 after her private jet in which she had travelled from California landed at the Toluca airport near the capital. She was arrested for allegedly embezzling 2 billion pesos (US$156,816,000 or €119,242,600) from the Mexican National Educational Workers Union (SNTE), according to Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam. She also allegedly wired large sums of money to Swiss bank accounts, while other funds were used for plastic surgeries or personal luxuries. Among other questionable expenditures, according to Karam, were the maintenance and rental expenses of a hangar and aircraft. Prosecutors argue she would not have been able to make several purchases on her salary. (31,398 pesos or US$2,459 per month. ) She has been charged with embezzlement and organized crime. To head her criminal defense, Gordillo hired prominent penal lawyer Marco Antonio del Toro Carazo who is also defending labor leader Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.

Liberation
Gordillo was liberated after a federal judge from the Primer Tribunal Unitario dismissed the trial on the grounds of not being able to prove Gordillo's responsibility for embezzlement.

title: Elba Esther Gordillo


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Talk:August 2004 in sports

Adding icon next to Olympics stories
66.167.253.66 22:14, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC): I added a 20-pixel rendering of the Olympic rings to stories about the Olympics. I wouldn't advocate a graphic for every story type, but it seems fair to highlight the Olympics given their global importance. I hope regular contributors to this page agree and continue the convention...

 * Excuse me, but dont mess up the page like that. Me and far other contributors have put in our two seconds of work for a new person like you, 66.167.253., to mess it up. As far as Olympics, I thought the Olympics were sports. They will have a separate page, but the news should be updated here too. Antonio Puerto Rico1 Puerto Rico! Martin

 * 66.167.253.66 04:07, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC): I know it might be fair to assume that I am new to Wikipedia because I wasn't logged in, but that isn't the case. If you take a look at contributions I made in today's session, you might notice some clues that I've been around Wikipedia for a while. Although, I must admit, I still haven't gotten around to doing a 100 famous women I'd do section like you have ...

 * Regardless, I take your indignant remarks and sloppy attempt to undo what I did as a vote against the convention I introduced. Fair enough.  I still think it's a visually clean way to highlighting the soon-to-be numerous Olympic sports stories scattered throughout this month's page while still keeping this article chronological.  What do other wikipedians think?

 * When I was reading this quibble mentioned on Talk:Current_events, I imagined a little icon indicating which sport was which - something like a stick figure doing the sport like . I don't know if that would be a good idea, but it's safe to say 66.167.253.66's contribution wasn't as bad as AntonioMartin made it out to be.  (I wonder if it mucked with the layout in one browser or another.)  The icon is helpful in sorting through the events.  I'd keep it. -- ke4roh 05:35, Aug 16, 2004 (UTC)

 * 66.167.253.13 20:24, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC): Good question about how it looks on other browsers (I'm a Mozilla user). If I get a chance to introduce it again as an experiment (see comments below), I will test it against IE too, at least.

 * I vote against the icon, for a couple of reasons. First (though this may be fixable) it doesn't work in Safari (I see only one icon on the current page, which appears below the two right-aligned boxes and looks very lonely indeed). Second, right-aligning a small icon on a (typically) short line of text isn't very visible. Chances are that many people won't even notice the icon - left-aligning it would be more effective, if your intention is to make Olympic-related items easily noticeable. Third, what's the point? It's an established convention on this page to prefix all (or almost all) items with the sport or event to which it relates. So what value does the icon add? -- Avaragado 07:52, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * 66.167.253.13 20:24, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC):The reason you see only one was that the sloppy attempt to remove them missed one. What I'd like to do is wait a bit for any other comments, then re-introduce them again, to give people a chance to see it.  I hope it could be tried for a day at least, to see what active readers of and contributors to the page think.

 * I agree that left-aligning might be more effective, but when I experimented with that it looked less clean. I'll try it again if I re-introduce it like I hope to do.

 * Your point about subject prefixes playing this role is a good point. The icon serves as a reinforcement of the prefix, to give you an "at-a-glance" way to find those stories quickly, without a sequential parsing of the text.

 * Regarding my first point: there is a difference between the icon positioning in Safari and Firefox - I just checked the revision in which you introduced the icon, using both browsers. In Safari, the icons float down below the existing right-aligned boxes. Just FYI. -- Avaragado 20:56, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * 66.167.253.13 04:11, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC): Thanks for checking. I guess I'll give up on the idea due to the formatting differences.

 * Olympic events are still sports news, User:66.167.253.66. Why dont you relveal your wikipedia user name? And, its good to see you paid attention to my list of women I'd like to do. Spare the bad words if you thought of that as being bad, any attention is good attention. You wouldnt have read it if you didnt care.
 * Antonio The Reporter Martin

Lleyton Hewitt's mad comeback used to be really bad in tennis now he is really good and biographies of the other tennis players i caN CONTRIBUTE SEND ME A MESSAGE ABOUT THAT AN REPLY ON Christopherhi

In use for three hours now
66.167.253.13 04:21, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC): Seems like a long time to hold a advisory lock on a current events page. Is is really being actively edited for that long? Please post a comment to the talk page confirming so and describing what you are doing. And please remove the remaining Olympic icon missed by the contributor who removed the others.

Linkifying dates
Greg K Nicholson 23:37, 2004 Aug 30 (UTC): On Current events, the dates are linkified, resulting in them being displayed in the user's preferred format. For consistency, they should also be on Current sports events. September 1, 2004 (practising what I preach there) might be a good time to begin this convention.
 * Greg K Nicholson 00:57, 2004 Sep 1 (UTC): I've linkified the present content of Current sports events, i.e. August; hopefully it'll catch on.

Sources please!
Everyone: please remember to include source links for all events you add to the page. Or they might start to be deleted. (Policy on this page follows policy for current events, which states that stories without source links may be removed.) Thanks! -- Avaragado 16:05, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hopefully, I'll have a source by morning on the David Holmes clip. Mike Hackney

Likewise, hopefully I will have the NBA.com source about the Tom Gugliotta and Valde Divac news I just posted, by midnight today. "Antonio Michael Montana Martin" 19:39 (MST), Nov 23, 2004

NBA scores
I just wanted to note that I will only put the games that are of some special significance, games won or lost with seconds to go, or games that go to overtime. That way, we wont have all 1,500 (ok that might be exagerated but you know what I mean) NBA scores for the season...:)

God bless you all!

"Antonio Tony Corleone Martin" 19:42 (MST) Nov 23, 2004

title: Talk:August 2004 in sports


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Ireland (disambiguation)

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Ireland may also refer to:

Polities currently located on Ireland

 * Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state
 * Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom

Former political arrangements of Ireland

 * Gaelic Ireland, the political order that existed in Ireland before the Norman invasion
 * Lordship of Ireland, a nominally all-island state created in the wake of the Norman invasion of the east coast of Ireland in 1169
 * Kingdom of Ireland, a state from 1541 to 1800, in personal union with England and Scotland
 * Confederate Ireland (1642–1649), an Irish government that controlled about two thirds of Ireland during the Commonwealth (or Interregnum)
 * Irish Republic (1798), a short-lived French client republic proclaimed during the Irish Rebellion of 1798
 * Ireland (1801–1921), a constituent country of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1921
 * Irish Republic (1916), a short-lived unrecognised independent state that existed in parts of Dublin during Easter Week
 * Irish Republic, an unrecognised independent state declared between 1919 and 1922
 * Southern Ireland (1921–22), a constituent country of the United Kingdom from 1921 to 1922, established on the same day as Northern Ireland
 * Irish Free State, a dominion from 1922 to 1937, comprising briefly all of Ireland and thereafter 26 of the island's 32 counties, ending when the state adopted the name "Ireland" in December 1937

Other places

 * Ireland Island, Bermuda
 * Ireland, Nova Scotia, Canada
 * Ireland, Bedfordshire, England
 * Ireland Wood, West Yorkshire, England
 * Ireland, Indiana, United States
 * Ireland, Texas, United States
 * Ireland, West Virginia, United States
 * New Ireland (island), Papua New Guinea
 * New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea
 * Island of Ireland, part of the failed World Islands development in Dubai

People

 * Ireland Baldwin (born 1995), American fashion model
 * Ireland (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)

Other uses

 * Justice Ireland (disambiguation)
 * RMS Empress of Ireland, an ocean liner that sank in May 1914 after a collision
 * United Ireland, a current political movement

title: Ireland (disambiguation)


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Peter Crampton

Vanity article, non-notable figure. Geogre 22:15, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Well, a member of the European Parliament seems potentially noteworthy, but there's almost no useful information on this page. If there's really nothing significant that can be added then I'll agree it's deletable . Or if there's some sort of list of members of the European Parliament then perhaps redirect there. -R. fiend 23:49, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep, parliamentarians are encyclopedic. - SimonP 00:12, Aug 16, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep, or else we'll also have to go through and dozens of articles on U.S. Congresspeople, Australian and Canadian MPs, and etc. Stubmark and cleanup as appropriate. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 02:23, 2004 Aug 16 (UTC)
 * Keep. Ambi 03:37, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * OK, keep, but still I would like to think this can be made more informative, or at least less trivial. SimonP's addition of the years served in Parliament were already a substantial improvement, but this stuff about where he had a summer internship to me seems pretty pointless. But then again I really don't think this article is worth much effort on anyone's part. -R. fiend 04:16, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Sure it can, and most likely will -- that's the way Wikipedia works. "It could be better" is not a reason to list a page on vfd.  Oh, and keep, clearly.  Jgm 06:54, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep the important bits (since he actually won an election to a reasonably significant body) - should also note which party (Labour I believe). The rubbish (i.e. everything but the first line at the moment) can be deleted. Average Earthman 09:56, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: I strongly suspect this Peter Crampton and the former MEP Peter Crampton are not one and the same person. The MEP Peter Crampton was born in 1932 and I don't think European parliamentary pensions are that dire that he needs to take up a traineeship at a bank. Also note that the original poster seems to have deleted the MEP reference. I also added the vfd notice. --Ianb 17:09, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, vanity. --Ianb 17:09, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * comment: I've nothing against an entry on the MEP though. --Ianb 18:12, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Yep. I was wondering who was hallucinating, me, when I nominated it, or the folks who were keeping it.  When I nominated the article, it was a college kid's vanity.  Then I saw that this was an MEP?  I was stunned that the article didn't originally indicate that.  I think your explanation, Ianb, is the best one.  There is a kid now upset that we're making him an MEP and a MEP who hasn't needed an internship.  We are, therefore, at a jam.  We don't need to disambig a vanity article from the MEP.  I suggest that we make a new MEP article by a different name, go ahead with deleting this, and not redirect, as there isn't much point in that.  Or do redirect, but be prepared for our college friend to come back and change the MEP article some more to make it "accurate" to him. Geogre 17:18, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: I notice, alas, that the MEP is known only as "Peter Crampton" anywhere I've looked, so we can't make him unique with his name and will have to try Peter Crampton, MEP or similar. I placed a "Disputed" tag on the (now back to vanity) article & left a comment on the talk page for our new user.  Geogre 17:21, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * comment: how about Peter Duncan Crampton as listed here? --Ianb 18:12, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Well that explains alot. I was wondering what the hell the deal was with these internships. Can't we just make this an article about the MEP, restoring that part and deleting everything about our college friend? That's basically what Average Earthman and I were suggesting, unbeknownst to us. Clearly it will be a substub, but the consensus has already established that MEP's are notable. If it gets reverted again I'm sure some admin will give him a warning, and a temporary ban if he persists. -R. fiend 17:39, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete - the article seems to be quite confused about which Peter Frampton Crampton it's about. An article about the MEP would benefit from starting over. -- Cyrius|✎ 01:34, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete the vanity. Keep the MEP. If theres not MEP info, then delete the article entirely. Stbalbach 02:17, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep with the MEP information only. If any other Peter Cramptons of minor notablity appear they can share the page. Any non-notable Peter Cramptons later added can be deleted from this page by any editor. Jallan 14:06, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Turn this into an article on MEP. Either by rewriting it or by deleting vanity article and creating a stub on MEP. Andris 11:50, Aug 20, 2004 (UTC)


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USS McKean (DD-90)

USS McKean (DD-90/APD-5) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first ship named in honor of William Wister McKean.

McKean was laid down by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California on 12 February 1918. The ship was launched on 4 July 1918, sponsored by Miss Helen La Monte Ely. The ship was commissioned at San Francisco on 25 February 1919.

Service history
McKean served in the Atlantic from 1919 to 1922, made a cruise to European waters between May and July 1919, operated primarily out of New York and Charleston. The ship was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 19 June 1922. Reclassified as a high speed transport, APD-5 on 2 August 1940, she recommissioned at Norfolk on 11 December 1940 and resumed duty with the fleet.

World War II
Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific on 7 December 1941, McKean departed the east coast on 10 May 1942 and reached the South Pacific on 20 July to prepare for the invasion of the Solomons. She landed troops at Tulagi on 7 August and during the next several months made escort and supply runs from bases in New Caledonia and the New Hebrides to American positions in the southern Solomons in support of the Guadalcanal campaign. She departed the South Pacific on 31 January 1943, and after completing a cruise to the west coast for overhaul, she resumed escort and patrol operations between the New Hebrides and the Solomons on 21 June. Between July and November, she took part in amphibious operations in the central Solomons, landing troops at beachheads on New Georgia and Rendova. In addition she patrolled the waters off Guadalcanal and up the Slot to New Georgia.

In October, she completed preparations for operations in the Treasury Islands and Bougainville. She landed fighting men on Mono Island 27 October, including a construction team which installed a vital search radar in less than a week's time. Following the American naval victory over Japanese forces in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay during the darkness of 2 November, McKean steamed with a reinforcement convoy to Bougainville and on the 6th landed Marines near Cape Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay. She carried additional troops to Bougainville 11 November, thence returned to Guadalcanal for yet another troop run.

With 185 marines embarked, McKean sailed up the slot on 15 November. As she approached Empress Augusta Bay on the 17th, she was attacked by a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" torpedo plane of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's 702 Kōkūtai, which launched a torpedo off the starboard quarter. McKean turned to avoid the weapon; but at 0350 the torpedo struck the starboard side, exploding the after magazine and depth charge spaces and rupturing fuel oil tanks. Flaming oil engulfed McKean aft of the No. 1 stack, and she lost all power and communications. Burning oil on the water killed men who were blown or jumped overboard. Her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Ralph L. Ramey, ordered her abandoned at 0355; at 0400 she began to sink by the stern. He went over the side 12 minutes later; her forward magazine and oil tank exploded at 0415; and her stacks disappeared at 0418. 64 of her complement and 52 of her embarked troops died from the explosions or flames. The survivors were picked up by rescuing destroyers, the USS Sigourney (DD-643) and USS Talbot (APD-7) which were alongside for approximately two hours trying to rescue survivors.

Awards
McKean received four battle stars for World War II service. McKean received the Navy Unit Commendation award. Four US Coast Guard sailors, assigned to serve as coxswains of four landing craft working from the McKean earned Silver Stars during the amphibious assault on Tulagi.

title: USS McKean (DD-90)


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Erzurum Province

Erzurum Province (Erzurum ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Its area is 25,006 km2, and its population is 749,754 (2022). The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It’s the fourth largest province in all of Turkey. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to the south, Erzincan and Bayburt to the west, Rize and Artvin to the north and Ardahan to the northeast. The governor of the province is Mustafa Çiftçi, appointed in August 2023. The province has an overall Turkish-majority.

Geography
The surface area of the province of Erzurum is the fourth biggest in Turkey. The majority of the province is elevated. Most plateaus are about 2,000 m above sea level, and the mountainous regions beyond the plateaus are 3,000 m and higher. Depression plains are located between the mountains and plateaus. The southern mountain ranges include the Palandöken Mountains (highest peak Büyük Ejder 3,176 m high) and the Şahveled Mountains (highest peak Çakmak Mountain 3,063 m high). The northern mountain ranges are the second row elevations of the North Anatolian Mountains, i.e. Mescit Mountains (highest peak 3,239 m high), Kargapazarı Mountains (highest peak 3,169 m high) and Allahuekber Mountains. The two depression plains between these mountainous areas are Erzurum Plains and Hasankale Plains. Aras Mountains starts first in Erzurum. Then it extends towards the borders of Ağrı and Kars. Erzurum province is surrounded by Bingöl and Akdoğan Mountains from the south.

Continental climate rules in the province with long and harsh winters, and short and mild summers.

Steppe formations are prevalent geographic features of this province, occupying about 60% of the surface area, much of it fertile. Forested areas are small, mainly consisting of scots pines and oaks.

The eastern part of the province lies in the basin of the Aras river, the western part in the Karasu (Euphrates) basin, and the northern part in the Çoruh basin.

There are few natural lakes in the province, the major one being Lake Tortum (approximately 8 km2) fed by the Tortum (Uzundere) Falls. The Tortum hydroelectric power plant built in 1963 is situated on the inlet of this lake. There are three artificial lakes in the province.

Districts

Greater Erzurum • Palandöken

• Yakutiye

Area: 1,612 sq km, Population: 370,000 (2022)

Rest of Erzurum Province • Aşkale

• Aziziye

• Çat

• Hınıs

• Horasan

• İspir

• Karaçoban

• Karayazı

• Köprüköy

• Narman

• Oltu

• Olur

• Pasinler

• Pazaryolu

• Şenkaya

• Tekman

• Tortum

• Uzundere

History

Known as Karanitis (Καρανῖτις/Καρηνῖτις), Arzen, Erzen, and (Armenian:Էրզրում նահանգ, Կարին ) Karin or Garin, most of the province was incorporated into the Roman Empire in the 4th century (after the first split of Kingdom of Armenia in 387 between Romans and Iran), and a small mountain city called Karin or Carana (Կարին, lang-grc) was fortified. It became an important border fortress. This city was later (A.D. 415) renamed to Theodosiopolis (Θεοδοσιούπολις), in honour of Emperor Theodosius I. Standing on the crossroads of main trade routes in Asia Minor, the area was a centre of importance for Greeks, with Armenian majority and minorities like Syriac Christians, Jews, Assyrians and other. From the mid 3rd century AD and afterwards, the territory was dominated by and incorporated into the Sasanian Empire, although it occasionally briefly fell under the rule of the neighboring Byzantine Empire as well. From the mid 7th century AD, the Arabs frequently clashed with the Byzantine Empire, including over the region Between the seventh and eight centuries Arabs and Byzantines alternately held the region in their power, local Armenian rulers played a significant role in these events. The city (present day Erzurum) was alternatively held by the Arabs and Byzantines during the 7-10th centuries it was also part of the Georgian kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti in the 10th century. Threatened and later devastated and looted by the Seljuk Turks in 1049, the old city of Erzen was conquered, but Theodosiopolis survived the invasion until it was captured some time later. From the year 1101 onward it is documented that the ruling dynasty of the Saltukids held the town and much of the surrounding area in their power. Theodosiopolis repelled many attacks and military campaigns by the Seljuks of Rum and Georgians (the latter knew the city as Karnu-Kalaki) until 1201 when the city and province were conquered by the Seljuk sultan Süleiman II of Rüm. Erzen-Erzurum fell to the Mongol siege in 1242, and the city was looted and devastated. After the fall of the Seljuk Sultanate of Anatolia (Rum) in the early 14th century, it became an administrative province of the Ilkhanate, and after their fall, became part of the Çoban beylik, Black Sheep Turkmen, Mongols led by Timur Lenk, the White Sheep Turkmen and the rising Iranian Safavids captured the town in 1502 from the Aq Qoyunlu.

In the Ottoman Empire
In 1514, the region was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I following the Battle of Chaldiran. During the Ottoman reign, the city Erzurum served as the main base of Ottoman military power in the region and as the capital of the province. Early in the 17th century, the province was threatened again and taken by Safavid Iran while enduring also a revolt by the province governor Abaza Mehmed Pasha. This revolt was combined with Jelali Revolts (the uprising of the provincial musketeers called the Celali), backed by Safavid Iran and lasted until 1628. However, Iran would reconquered it again, only this time under Nader Shah in the first half of the 18th century. The Ottomans were routed by the Iranian Qajars in the 1821 battle at the city of Erzurum. The city was conquered by the Russian army in 1829, given back to the Ottoman Empire with the Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne). The poet Alexander Pushkin accompanied the Russian commander-in-chief, Ivan Paskevich, during that expedition and penned a brief account of the campaign. The city was again assaulted by the Russian army in the last Russo-Turkish War in 1877.

Beginning in late 1914 and picking up in the summer of 1915, the province saw the wholesale extermination of the Armenian population by state-sponsored forces as part of the Armenian genocide.

The province was the site of the major fighting during Caucasus Campaign of World War I between Russian and Ottoman forces including the key confrontation of the campaign, Battle of Erzurum which resulted in capture of Erzurum by Russian army under the command of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich on 16 February 1916. It was returned to the Ottomans with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918. Erzurum was also a main Turkish base during the Turkish War of Independence and the Erzurum congress of Turkish nationalists was held here in 1919. It was declared a province of Turkey in 1924.

In Turkey
In September 1935 the third Inspectorate General (Umumi Müfettişlik, UM) was created. The third UM span over the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Rize, Trabzon, Kars Gümüşhane, Erzincan and Ağrı. Its capital was to be in the city of Erzurum and it was governed by an Inspector General. The Inspectorate General was dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the Democrat Party.

Economy
Historically, Erzurum produced wheat and linseed; as of 1920, annual production of linseed grossed between 1,000 and 1,500 tons. Honey was also produced for local use.

Approximately 18.5% of the total surface area is arable land, of which about 75% has permanent crops. A large portion of the agricultural produce comprises cereals. Forested areas occupy 8.8% of the total surface area, with forestry a local industry. Industries largely consist of manufacturing of forestry, agriculture, husbandry, chemistry, textile and mining products. There are 81 active industrial plants in the province, most of them located at the central district of Erzurum, and are small and medium enterprises. Due to their relatively small sizes, these industries mainly serve local markets causing lower capacity usage, low productivity and unemployment. About 40 plants are currently out of use, mostly due to high operating costs.

The province of Erzurum has the highest ratio of meadows and pastures in Turkey, ideal for livestock. However, once the main occupation, animal husbandry lost its importance in the 1980s with the introduction of a liberal economy and the importation of animal products. A large organized industrial park concentrating on processing meat is being built with the hope of reviving this sector. Food industries include beekeeping and trout farming.

Mining resources include lead, copper, chromium, and zinc, the reserves of which are almost exhausted. There is a considerable amount of lignite, however because its ash and sulfur ratios are high, it suitable only for industrial use. Magnesite, fire clay, gypsum, manganese, diatomite, marble, rock salt and perlite are also present. The few natural geothermal resources, except one, are not suitable for economic investments, and they are used as natural springs.

The gross domestic product GDP of Erzurum is US$1.16 billion, constituting less than 1% of the total and ranking 40th among Turkish provinces (1997 values).

Transportation is possible via paved and unpaved highways. The Erzurum international airport is open for commercial flights and is also used by the Turkish Air Force. The runways of this airport are the second longest in Turkey. Erzurum is also the main railroad hub in the Eastern Anatolia Region.

The largest contributor to the provincial economy, in recent years, has been Atatürk University, which is also one of the largest universities in Turkey, having more than forty thousand students. Tourist activities, which include skiing, rafting, and mountaineering, also provide a substantial proportion of the province's income. Skiing is centered on Palandöken Mountain.

Places of Interest

 * Öşvank (Oshk Vank) Historical Georgian Monastery church, Uzundere.
 * Bana cathedral, also known as the Penek cathedral
 * Oltu Russian cathedral, also known as Oltu Rus Kilisesi
 * Haho Khakhuli Monastery, also known as Haho Bağbaşı Kilisesi, is a Georgian Orthodox monastery in historical Medieval Georgian Kingdom of Tao, located in Tortum.

Notable People

 * İbrahim Hakkı Erzurumi, Ottoman poet and writer of the Marifetname poetry book
 * Erzurumlu Emrah, ashik and poet
 * Mehmed Kırkıncı, student of Said Nursi and leader of the Nur movement
 * İbrahim Erkal, bestselling Turkish classical music and Fantezi music artist, composer, songwriter and oud player

title: Erzurum Province


text:
UMass Chan Medical School

UMass Chan Medical School is a public medical school in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is part of the University of Massachusetts system. It is home to three schools: the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, as well as a biomedical research enterprise and a range of public-service initiatives throughout the state.

History
The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) was established by the 162nd Massachusetts General Court in 1962 to provide residents of the commonwealth an opportunity to study medicine at an affordable cost and to increase the number of primary-care physicians practicing in the commonwealth's under-served areas. The legislation was signed into law by Massachusetts Governor John Volpe. The School of Medicine accepted its first class of 16 students in 1970. Six years later a 371-bed hospital opened on campus; the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences opened in 1979, and the Graduate School of Nursing opened in 1986.

In 1998 the UMMS system of hospitals and clinics merged with Memorial Health Care to form UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health-care provider in Central Massachusetts and clinical partner of UMMS.

Name change
In 2021 an unrestricted $175 million gift from the family of Hong Kong real estate developer Chan Tseng-hsi resulted in the name of the medical school, along with the biosciences and nursing schools, to be changed.

Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
The research mission at UMMS was augmented in 1997 with the acquisition of the financially ailing Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research, the Shrewsbury, Massachusetts institution where researchers developed the combined oral contraceptive pill during the early 1960s.

School of Medicine
Accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the T.H. Chan School of Medicine grants the MD degree to its graduates. With the exception of MD/PhD students, degree candidates were formerly required to be Massachusetts residents, a policy which has changed beginning with the entering class of 2016. Approximately 165 students enroll annually, and more than 4,350 students have received medical degrees from UMMS. The School of Medicine has gained a national reputation for its primary-care program and consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of schools in the annual U.S. News & World Report guide, "America’s Best Graduate Schools". SCImago Journal Rank listed the university at No. 74 in the US and No. 248 globally. Over half of each graduating class enters primary-care residencies, a trend underscoring the school's founding mission, though that figure has decreased in recent years. In addition, a high number of graduates practice throughout the state. UMass Medical is also accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) is a PhD-granting program that trains scientists in a specialty area with a broad background in the basic medical sciences in preparation for conducting research with direct relevance to human disease. According to the GSBS website, the school offers students a multidisciplinary program of study, in which they have freedom of choice in curriculum and in the selection of mentors for their graduate-thesis research. Since the first class of seven students enrolled in 1979, more than 1000 students have earned PhDs from the GSBS.

Graduate School of Nursing
Since the opening of the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) in 1986, more than 600 students have obtained a nursing master's, post-master's or doctoral degree from the school. The GSN prepares professional and advanced practice nurses, nurse scientists and educators as leaders in nursing and health-care delivery to diverse populations through education, research, practice and service (according to the GSN website).

Research
UMMS researchers have made advances in a broad range of disease families, from HIV and infectious diseases to cancer, genetic disorders, diabetes and immune disease. UMMS faculty discovered the link between the immune system and type-1 diabetes, found the genetic cause underlying the third-most-common form of the muscular dystrophies, and established the fundamental difference between HIV and other retroviruses.

In the 1990s. UMMS Professor of Medicine Shan Lu, leader of the UMMS DNA-based flu vaccine efforts, worked to advance the development of a potential avian-flu vaccine. Lu's team has also been recognized for its work in the creation of an HIV vaccine, which in Phase I testing was found to generate antibody and T-cell responses in otherwise healthy people not infected with HIV. In 1998, UMMS researcher Craig Mello (an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) and his colleague Andrew Fire (of Stanford University, then of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C.) discovered RNA interference (RNAi). They demonstrated that small pieces of double-stranded RNA had interfered with the expression of a gene whose coding sequence of DNA was similar to that of the RNA they tested. Mello and Fire received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries related to RNA interference.

Federal and private research grants and contracts at UMCMS rose from about $2 million in 1977 to more than $322 million in 2022 an increase of over 16,000% over forty-five years.

MassBiologics
MassBiologics is the only publicly owned, non-profit FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccine and other biologic products in the United States. First established in 1894, the University of Massachusetts Biologic Laboratory was re-established in 1997 by the Massachusetts legislature, and oversight was transferred from the Department of Public Health to UMMS.

In recent years, MassBiologics has been called upon to respond to the threat of SARS, avian flu, and rabies. MassBiologics has developed or collaborated on five “orphan products” over the past twenty years. MassBiologics continues to market its FDA-licensed Td (tetanus and diphtheria) vaccine, providing a substantial proportion of the U.S. requirement for this vaccine. MassBiologics participates in the discovery, production and clinical testing of monoclonal antibodies (including antibodies to Clostridium difficile), antibodies now known as actoxumab and bezlotoxumab In 2005, the firm opened an $80 million facility for monoclonal-antibody production. Co-developed with Serum Institute of India, it invented a fast-acting anti-Rabies drug called Rabies Human Monoclonal Antibody (RMAb).

UMMS is extending its mission of public service through its Commonwealth Medicine initiative.

Faculty
Notable faculty members include:
 * Victor Ambros, discovered the first microRNA.
 * Job Dekker, developer of the chromosome conformation capture method.
 * Katherine A. Fitzgerald, molecular biologist and virologist, finalist for the 2011 Vilcek Prize
 * Craig C. Mello, Nobel Prize laureate for the discovery of RNA interference.
 * Phillip D. Zamore, biochemist of small RNAs.

Affiliates and clinical partners
The hospital and clinical components of UMMS are part of UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC). UMass Memorial is a multibillion-dollar health-care system consisting of acute-care hospitals, ambulatory clinics and a network of primary care physicians and specialists throughout central Massachusetts. With approximately 13,000 employees (including 1,500 physicians), UMMHC is the largest health-care provider in central Massachusetts. Its flagship hospital (UMass Memorial Medical Center) straddles two campuses along Route 9 in Worcester, Massachusetts and is designated by the American College of Surgeons as a Level I Trauma Center.

Its largest publicly funded affiliate in the field of cancer research is the Quality Assurance Review Center (QARC), located in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), QARC receives radiotherapy data from around 1,000 hospitals in the United States.

UMMHC also maintains three community hospitals:

 * Clinton Hospital in Clinton
 * HealthAlliance Hospital in Fitchburg and Leominster
 * Marlborough Hospital in Marlborough

Albert Sherman Center
The Albert Sherman Center, a 512,000 square foot biomedical research and education facility, was unveiled to the public on January 30, 2013, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Gov. Deval Patrick.

Lamar Soutter Library
Named in honor of Lamar Soutter (founding dean of the School of Medicine), the Lamar Soutter Library at UMMS contains more than 288,000 volumes and is the state's leading source of biomedical information for inter‑library loan. The only public medical library in the state, it is the regional medical library for New England and one of eight regional libraries comprising the National Library of Medicine.

Aaron Lazare Medical Research Building
To support the more than 260 investigators working on advancements in the treatment of disease and injury, the Aaron Lazare Medical Research Building (a 360000 sqft research facility) opened in October 2001. The 10-story structure, named for the chancellor emeritus, expanded upon the medical school's existing 600000 sqft of campus buildings and 83000 sqft in the adjacent Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park.

Extended campus
The UMMS extended campus includes the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, labs and offices in the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park in Worcester; sites in Shrewsbury and Auburn; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center in Waltham and the New England Newborn Screening Program and Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories in Jamaica Plain and Mattapan.

title: UMass Chan Medical School


text:
Within the Woods

Within the Woods is an 1978 horror short film written, directed and produced by Sam Raimi. Raimi drew inspiration from his earlier short film Clockwork, deciding to produce a proof of concept horror film to help build the interest of potential investors. Raimi cast his friends Bruce Campbell and Ellen Sandweiss as the two protagonists and produced the film for $1,600. Shot on location in a remote cabin in the woods, production was a difficult process because of the low budget. Several of the special effects presented in the film were done in a severely low budget manner, some of which were improvised on set. The film centers around demonic possession and mysterious forces originating from the woods.

Raimi convinced a local theater manager to screen the film alongside The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which sparked minor interest. Initially a meagre success, the film screened well to test audiences and inspired a larger budget remake directed by Raimi, called The Evil Dead (1981). The film was the first in the Evil Dead franchise, and launched the careers of both Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi. Several of the aesthetic qualities found in Within the Woods later defined Raimi's films.

Plot
Two romantic couples, consisting of four teenagers, decide to spend a weekend together located in a remote cabin found in the woods. An unseen force stalks and watches the group without their knowledge. Ellen and her boyfriend Bruce enter the woods to have a picnic lunch. The other couple, Scotty and Shelly, remain at the cabin, playing Monopoly to pass the time. During their lunch, Bruce announces to Ellen that they're camping on an Indian burial ground. Ellen is concerned, but Bruce assures her that they will be fine as long as they don't disturb the graves of the dead. Bruce then explores the area and discovers an ancient dagger belonging to the Native Americans. Ignoring his own advice, he takes the dagger with him.

After lunch, Ellen takes a nap. When she awakes, she finds Bruce missing and wanders into the woods looking for him. To her horror, she finds Bruce's dead body, horribly mutilated with apparent knife wounds. She is then startled by the presence of a demonic entity hiding within the woods, and quickly runs back to the cabin. While fleeing, she is attacked by unseen forces. Running back to the cabin, she screams to be let in immediately and bursts through the door just as the entity is closing in. Ellen tells her friends that Bruce has been murdered, but Scotty dismisses the whole thing as a joke and goes to find Bruce. Shelly and Ellen are concerned when Scotty doesn't return right away. Shelly walks outside to begin a search for the missing men, but a possessed Bruce assaults and strangles her, eventually stabbing her in the neck and killing her with the dagger that he found, moaning "join us."

Ellen encounters her possessed friend and flees into another room, grabbing knives to protect her. Something attempts to enter the room where Ellen is hiding, and she blindly lashes out with a knife - mistakenly stabbing Scotty who had just returned to the cabin. While horrified, Ellen is then attacked by the possessed Bruce. Ellen manages to trap Bruce outside, stabbing Bruce's hand several times in the process. The bleeding Scotty tells Ellen to look into the cellar for the gun they brought along. While walking down the stairs to the cellar, she trips on a broken step and injures herself. After finding the gun, she goes back up stairs and discovers that Scotty had been stabbed to death while she was downstairs. The demonic Bruce then attacks her, but she manages to cut off his hand.

Ellen attempts to flee but is severely beaten by the possessed Bruce, who throws her around the cabin. While being strangled, Ellen picks up Bruce's mutilated hand which is still holding the dagger found from before, and she uses it to stab Bruce. Gushing blood, Bruce lies motionless for a moment, only to recommence his assault on Ellen. Ellen mutilates Bruce's body even further with an axe, chopping off nearly every limb from the writhing body. Severely disturbed by the things she has witnessed, Ellen rocks back and forth, muttering to herself. The corpse of Scotty suddenly springs up, before turning towards the oblivious Ellen, ready to attack. The screen then cuts to black, leaving the fate of Ellen ambiguous.

Cast

 * Bruce Campbell as Bruce
 * Ellen Sandweiss as Ellen
 * Scott Spiegel as Scotty
 * Mary Valenti as Shelly

Background
Before the development stages of Within the Woods, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell were long-time friends who had grown up together. The duo had produced several low-budget films with super 8 mm film during their youth. During the early parts of Raimi's career, he directed films that were mostly classified as comedies, such as Booby Bartenders, Shemp Eats the Moon and The Great Bogus Monkey Pignut Swindle. While those films were described as "goofy" and primitive by members of the cast and crew, Raimi eventually produced the short film It's Murder!, which featured mostly comedic moments. One of the sequences of the film involved a suspenseful moment where a criminal jumped on an unsuspecting individual. Raimi later dismissed the short film, but complimented that scene, stating that it was "the only part of It's Murder! that really worked well.

While working on the film, it inspired Raimi to approach the horror genre with more enthusiasm, leading to the conception of his next short film Clockwork. The film featured a woman being stalked by a demented man, and launched an interest in Raimi to pursue working on more horror films. While both Raimi and Campbell expressed a positive opinion on the genre, they admitted they had little experience with the genre and went to drive-in theaters to research various science fiction and horror films. Raimi developed the motto "the gore the merrier" during these sessions at the drive-in, and quickly developed an interest in films featuring high levels of blood. Raimi gained an appeal in B movie cinema, which led him to want to pursue the production of a more ambitious film for his next project. In order to gain the interest of producers, Raimi and Campbell set out to produce a "prototype" film that would serve as a showcase of their talents. The film would work as a trailer to help promote further cinematic productions.

The prototype film was called Within the Woods. In addition to Raimi's interest in various horror films, one of the main inspirations came in the writing of H. P. Lovecraft, who introduced the concept of the "book of the dead" to Raimi. Raimi studied the concept of magical books, in particular the Necronomicon, which formed the basis of the film. Campbell described the film as a combination of "creative writing and ancient history". In order to flesh out of the idea, Raimi came up with a concept where a group of teenagers went into the woods and were attacked by demonic spirits, summoned by the disturbance of an Indian burial ground. The book of the dead concept was not present in the finished film, but appeared extensively in later films by Raimi.

Filming
Raimi was able to secure $1,600 to produce the film. Raimi and Campbell collected a group of their friends and family who were interested in participating in the production of the film. The film was primarily shot at a farm house belonging to one of Raimi's friends located in Marshall, Michigan. One of the regular actors involved with Raimi's early short films, Ellen Sandweiss, was cast as the film's protagonist. This decision stemmed from the notion that most horror films at the time involved female leads, who were more enjoyable to watch terrorized. The current boyfriend of Sandweiss was cast as the film's antagonist, a demon who threatens the cast. Campbell was cast as one of the protagonists, though he initially was not familiar with horror cinema and instead identified as a fan of comedies. One of the films that inspired Campbell's interest in the genre was John Carpenter's film Halloween. Another Raimi regular, Scott Spiegel, was also cast as a protagonist based on his prior collaborations with the group.

The effects of the film were entirely low-budget. Nearly every effect in the film was done via things picked up at a make-up and Halloween store located close to where the film was shot. The effects in the film were notably more intricate than the simple ones featured in Raimi's prior projects, and contained mutilated bodies, stabbed body parts and demonic possession skin-attachments. Tom Sullivan was one of the primary make-up supervisors on set, and he found it difficult working presentable effects out of such low budgets. One notable example involved a chest stabbing rig that had to be attached to Spiegel's chest by straps and duct tape.

Campbell had to sleep wearing his make-up. Because of several scenes that required to be shot in both the day and the night, it was considered easiest to have Campbell sleep all night wearing his make-up, since removing it was too complicated. When Campbell eventually had the effect removed, he was alarmed to notice that his face had actually "changed shape" because of how long the make-up had been applied, though it returned to normal after an extended amount of time. This serves as one of several moments where the film-makers had to be creative to make the film considering the low budget. Other examples include blacking out the windows to make scenes darker and shooting all night long to make the filming schedule. Raimi had to get increasingly inventive during production, often coming up with "bizarre" ideas while shooting scenes. This led to him experimenting with camera moves and camera speeds, "taking it a little further than we had gone before, recording synch-sound at a third slower for a more monstrous effect.

Post-production
Though production was difficult for many of the actors involved, especially Campbell, the film was eventually completed within acceptable budget limits. Raimi had completed the filming of his "prototype" and sought out to develop and edit the film as cheaply as possible. Though at the time it was unknown how the film was going to be distributed. Raimi had shot the film in the same style as many of his earlier films, with 8 mm film. He intended to blow the footage up after filming to the industry standard of 35mm in order to save money, though Campbell noted that the idea was without precedent. Though the request was "obscure" in nature, a company in San Francisco managed to accommodate the task with little difficulty. At a test screening at a local movie theater, the footage appeared to be mostly acceptable, though further tests showed it to be grainy and difficult to make out.

Distribution and reception
After production, Raimi virtually had no idea how the film was going to be distributed and what would come of it. The main idea behind shooting the film was to make a trailer to show to future investors, but even that was proving to be difficult. Eventually, Raimi got in contact with a manager at a movie theater in Detroit who was "open and flexible". The same theater played The Rocky Horror Picture Show every single week and was open to more unusual cinema. To Raimi's shock, the manager agreed to screen Within the Woods right before a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The premiere of the film received a positive reception by the audience, and the cast and crew was paid just over $10, all of which was donated to the American Cancer Society. The film, however, was never commercially released.

While critics mostly ignored the locally distributed, low-budget horror film, local The Detroit News critic Michael McWilliams, who attended the film's premiere, wrote that "it will probably never be advertised alongside the glossy, big-budget horror movies of our time, but you won't easily forget a locally produced little film called Within the Woods". He compared the low-budget film to the blockbuster The Amityville Horror, writing that it provided more scares. Tom Sulivan, the make-up supervisor of the film, stated that the film "really packs a punch", and expressed a positive opinion of working on the project.

Aftermath

In order to produce a follow-up picture, Raimi needed nearly $150,000. Raimi approached Phil Gillis, a lawyer to one of his friends, asking if he wanted to invest money into the production of a remake. Gillis was unimpressed with Within the Woods, but offered Raimi legal advice on how to approach further productions. Raimi approached several investors, "begging" for money, and eventually acquired nearly $90,000 of the funds needed and set out to make the movie anyway. Within the Woods was later retooled by Raimi with a vastly higher production value and a full-length running time as the 1981 film The Evil Dead. The Evil Dead would go on to be the first installment of a film franchise spawning two sequels, Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992), both of which were directed by Raimi and featured Campbell as Ash Williams. A remake/sequel, known as Evil Dead, was released in 2013 with Raimi and Campbell as producers and creative consultants. In 2015, the Starz television network began airing the comedy horror series Ash vs Evil Dead, which featured Bruce Campbell returning as an older Ash Williams. Another movie in the series, Evil Dead Rise, was released in 2023, with Raimi and Campbell serving as executive producers.

Several aspects of Within the Woods were later presented in future Raimi films, including the use of the "Raimi-cam", a camera rig that creates a fluent flow of camera movement. Other elements, such as graphic imagery, bleak endings, and mutilations, defined many of Raimi's other films. Campbell made cameo appearances in all three of Raimi's Spider-Man films, as well as several other films for Raimi.

Academy Award winning film-making duo the Coen brothers were inspired by Raimi's decision to produce a short film as a trailer, utilizing the concept to produce funding for their debut Blood Simple (1984). The Coen brothers served as editors for The Evil Dead, and developed a friendship with Raimi. The duo has cast Campbell in some of their films such as The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and Fargo (1996), the former of which was co-written by Raimi.

title: Within the Woods