The Laws of the Twelve Tables () was the legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. Formally promulgated in 449 BC, the Tables consolidated earlier traditions into an enduring set of laws.

In the Forum, "The Twelve Tables" stated the rights and duties of the Roman citizen.  Their formulation was the result of considerable agitation by the plebeian class, who had hitherto been excluded from the higher benefits of the Republic.  The law had previously been unwritten and exclusively interpreted by upper-class priests, the pontifices.  Something of the regard with which later Romans came to view the Twelve Tables is captured in the remark of Cicero (106–43 BC) that the "Twelve Tables...seems to me, assuredly to surpass the libraries of all the philosophers, both in weight of authority, and in plenitude of utility".  Cicero scarcely exaggerated; the Twelve Tables formed the basis of Roman law for a thousand years.

The Twelve Tables are sufficiently comprehensive that their substance has been described as a 'code', although modern scholars consider this characterization exaggerated. The Tables are a sequence of definitions of various private rights and procedures. They generally took for granted such things as the institutions of the family and various rituals for formal transactions. The provisions were often highly specific and diverse.

Drafting and development

There is no scholarly agreement about the exact historical account of the creation and promulgation of the laws of the Twelve Tables. Ancient writers' stories about the Twelve Tables were recorded a couple of centuries later, in the second and first centuries BC. The first known publications of the text of the Twelve Tables were prepared by the first Roman jurists. Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus (consul in 198 BC) in his work on jurisprudence called Tripartita included a version of the laws of the Twelve Tables, his commentary on them and the legal formulas (legis actiones) to use them in trials. Lucius Acilius Sapiens was another early interpreter of the Twelve Tables in the middle of the second century BC. Meanwhile Roman historians Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus provided the most detailed accounts of the creation of the laws. In addition, different versions of the story are known from the works of Diodorus Siculus and Sextus Pomponius.

According to Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the laws of the Twelve Tables have come about as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians, in modern scholarship known as the conflict of the orders. After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, in 509 BC, the Republic was governed by a hierarchy of magistrates. Initially, only patricians were eligible to become magistrates and this, among other plebeian complaints, was a source of discontent for plebeians. In the context of this unequal status, plebeians would take action to secure concessions for themselves using the threat of secession. They would threaten to leave the city with the consequence that it would grind to a halt, as the plebeians were Rome's labor force. Tradition held that one of the most important concessions won in this class struggle was the establishment of the Twelve Tables, establishing basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens in relation to each other. The drafting of the Twelve Tables may have been fomented by a desire for self-regulation by the patricians, or for other reasons.

Around 450 BC, the first decemviri (decemvirate, board of "Ten Men") were appointed to draw up the first ten tables. According to Livy, they sent an embassy to Greece to study the legislative system of Athens, known as the Solonian Constitution, but also to find out about the legislation of other Greek cities. Some scholars deny that the Romans imitated the Greeks in this respect or suggest that they visited only the Greek cities of Southern Italy, and did not travel all the way to Greece. In 450 BC, the second decemviri started to work on the last two tables.

The first decemvirate completed the first ten codes in 450 BC. Here is how Livy describes their creation:

"...every citizen should quietly consider each point, then talk it over with his friends, and, finally, bring forward for public discussion any additions or subtractions which seemed desirable." (cf. Liv. III.34)

In 449 BC, the second decemvirate completed the last two codes, and after a secessio plebis (secession of the plebes, a plebeian protest) to force the Senate to consider them, the Law of the Twelve Tables was formally promulgated.  According to Livy (AUC 3.57.10) the Twelve Tables were inscribed on bronze (Pomponius (Dig. 1 tit. 2 s2 §4) alone says on ivory), and posted publicly, so all Romans could read and know them.

Laws of the Twelve Tables
The laws the Twelve Tables were a way to publicly display rights that each citizen had in the public and private sphere.  These Twelve Tables displayed what was previously understood in Roman society as the unwritten laws.  The public display of the copper tablets allowed for a more balanced society between the Roman patricians who were educated and understood the laws of legal transactions, and the Roman plebeians who had little education or experience in understanding law.  By revealing the unwritten rules of society to the public, the Twelve Tables provided a means of safeguard for Plebeians allowing them the opportunity to avoid financial exploitation and added balance to the Roman economy.

Some of the provisions are procedural to ensure fairness among all Romans in the courts, while other established legal terms dictating the legality of capital crimes, intentional homicide, treason, perjury, judicial corruption, and writing slanderous poems. The Romans valued keeping peace in the city and the Twelve Tables were a mechanism of establishing and continuing peace and equality.

Tables I & II: Procedure for Courts and Judges and Further Enactments on Trials
These two tables are concerned with the Roman court proceedings. Table I covers proceedings between the defendant and the plaintiff, with responses to potential situations such as when age or illness prevents the defendant from making appearance, then transportation has to be arranged to assist them. It also deals with:

 The failure of appearance by the defendant.
 If there is a failure to appear by either party, then after noon the judge must make judgement in favor of the one who is present.
 Provides a time-table for the trial (ends at sunset)

Table II sets the amount of financial stake for each party depending on the source of litigation, what to do in case of impairment of the judge, and rules of who must present evidence.

Table III: Execution of Judgment
Featured within the Twelve Tables are five rules about how to execute judgments, in terms of debtors and creditors. These rules show how the ancient Romans maintained peace with financial policy.

In the book, The Twelve Tables, written by an anonymous source due to its origins being collaborated through a series of translations of tablets and ancient references, P.R. Coleman-Norton arranged and translated many of the significant features of debt that the Twelve Tables enacted into law during the 5th century.  The translation of the legal features surrounding debt and derived from the known sources of the Twelve Tables are stated as such

"1. Of debt acknowledged and for matters judged in court (in iure) thirty days shall be allowed by law [for payment or for satisfaction].

2. After that [elapse of thirty days without payment] hand shall be laid on (Manus infection) [the debtor]. He shall be brought into court (in ius).

3. Unless he (the debtor) discharge the debtor unless someone appear in court (in iure) to guarantee payment for him, he (the creditor) shall take [the debtor] with him. He shall bind [him] either with thong or with fetters, of which the weight shall be not less than fifteen pounds or shall be more if he (the creditor) choose.

4. If he (the debtor) chooses, he shall live on his own [means]. If he lives not on his own [means], [the creditor,] who shall hold him in bonds, shall give [him] a pound of bread daily; if he (the creditor) shall so desire, he shall give [him] more.

5. Unless they (the debtors) make a compromise, they (the debtors) shall be held in bonds for sixty days. During those days they shall be brought to [the magistrate] into the comitia (meeting-place) on three successive markets […]"

The five mandates of the Twelve Tables encompassing debt created a new understanding within social classes in ancient Rome that ensured financial exploitation would be limited within legal business transactions.

Table IV: Right of Familial Heads
The fourth table of the Twelve Tables deals with the specific rights of Patriarchs of families. One of the first proclamations of the Table IV is that "dreadfully deformed" children must be quickly euthanized. It also explains that sons are born into inheritance of their family. Babies with physical and mental diseases must be killed by the father himself.  If a husband no longer wants to be married to his wife he can remove her from their household and "order her to mind her own affairs" Not all of the codes of table IV are to the benefit of only the patriarch. If a father attempts to sell his son three times then the son earns his freedom from the father.

Tables V, VI & X: Women
The Twelve Tables have three sections that pertain to women as they concern estates and guardianship, ownership and possession, and religion, which give a basic understanding as to the legal rights of females.
 Table V (Estates and Guardianship): "Female heirs should remain under guardianship even when they have attained the age of majority, but exception is made for the Vestal Virgins."
 Table VI (Ownership and Possession): "Where a woman, who has not been united to a man in marriage, lives with him for an entire year without interruption of three nights, she shall pass into his power as his legal wife."
 Table X (Religion): "Women shall not during a funeral lacerate their faces, or tear their cheeks with their nails; nor shall they utter loud cries bewailing the dead."
One of the aspects highlighted in the Twelve Tables is a woman's legal status and standing in society. Women were considered to be under a form of guardianship similar to that of minors, and sections on ownership and possession give the impression that women were considered to be akin to a piece of real estate or property due to the use of terms such as "ownership" and "possession".

Table VII: Land Rights and Crimes
This table outlines the attitudes towards property. The following are all rules about property:

 Boundary disputes are settled by third-parties.
 Road widths are eight feet wide on straight parts and double that on turns.
 People who live near the road are in charge of maintaining it; if a road is not well maintained then carts and animals can be ridden where the riders wish.
 Property owners can request removal of trees that have been blown onto their property
 Fruit that falls from a tree onto a neighbor's property still belongs to the original tree owner.

Table VIII: Torts and Delicts (Laws of Injury)
Torts are laws dealing with litigating wrongs that occur between citizens. One such situation is that of physical injury, retaliation for which can range from dealing the perpetrator an injury in kind, to monetary compensation to the injured. This table also establishes the legal ramifications for damage dealt to property by animals and damage dealt to crops by people or animals. The penalty for stealing crops is hanging as sacrifice to Ceres.

The table also describes several laws dealing with theft.

Table IX: Public Law
This section of the tables makes it illegal for anyone to define what a citizen of Rome is with the exception of the greatest assembly, or maximus comitatus. It also outlaws execution of those who are unconvicted, bribery of judges, and extradition of a citizen to enemy powers.

The Supplements: Tables XI & XII
 Table XI (Marriage Between Classes):  A person of a certain class shall not partake in marriage with a person of a lower class.
 Table XII (Binding into Law): If a slave shall have committed theft or done damage with his master's knowledge, the action for damages is in the slave's name.

Influence and significance

The Twelve Tables are often cited as the foundation for ancient Roman law. The Twelve Tables provided an early understanding of some key concepts such as justice, equality, and punishment.  Although legal reform occurred soon after the implementation of the Twelve Tables, these ancient laws provided social protection and civil rights for both the patricians and plebeians. At this time, there was extreme tension between the privileged class and the common people resulting in the need for some form of social order. While the existing laws had major flaws that were in need of reform, the Twelve Tables eased the civil tension and violence between the plebeians and patricians.

The Twelve Tables also heavily influenced and are referenced in later Roman Laws texts, especially The Digest of Justinian I. Such laws from The Digest that are derived from the Twelve Tables are the legal recompense for damage caused by an animal, protocol for inheritances, and also laws about structural property damage.

The influence of the Twelve Tables is still evident in the modern day. The Twelve Tables play a significant role in the basis of the early American legal system. Political theorists, such as James Madison have highlighted the importance of the Twelve Tables in crafting the United States Bill of Rights. The idea of property was also perpetuated in the Twelve Tables, including the different forms of money, land, and slaves. An additional example, the Twelve Tables are tied into the notion of Jus Commune, which translates as "common law", but is commonly referred to as "civil law" in English-speaking countries. Some countries including South Africa and San Marino still base their current legal system on aspects of jus commune. In addition, law school students throughout the world are still required to study the Twelve Tables as well as other facets of Roman Law in order to better understand the current legal system in place.

Ancient sources

The Twelve Tables are no longer extant: although they remained an important source through the Republic, they gradually became obsolete, eventually being only of historical interest.  The original tablets may have been destroyed when the Gauls under Brennus burned Rome in 387 BC. Cicero claimed that he learned them by heart as a boy in school but that no one did so any longer. Since the early second century BC, Roman Republican scholars wrote commentaries upon the Twelve Tables, such as Lucius Aelius Stilo, teacher of both Varro and Cicero.

Language

Parts of the text of the Twelve Tables were preserved in the brief excerpts and quotations from the original laws in other ancient authors. All Roman sources quote the Twelve Tables in a modernised form of Latin. It is likely that the extant quotations of the text contain a multiplicity of layers of modernisation. It is believed that the process of this interlingual translation began at some point during the third or second century BC when the text of the Twelve Tables was no longer understandable in its entirety. As such, though it cannot be determined whether the quoted fragments accurately preserve the original form of Latin, what is present gives some insight into the grammar of early Latin.

Even in the updated form, certain Latin terms used in the Twelve Tables were difficult to understand in the late Roman Republic. For instance, when Cicero reports that Roman commentators did not understand a particular point in the Twelve Tables, we should expect that his example was not unique. According to Cicero, the law of the Twelve Tables introduced limits on the expense of the funeral arrangements. One of those rules, Cicero explains, was subject to various interpretations because of the difficulty to understand the archaic Latin term of lessus:

After limiting the expense, then, to three veils, a small purple tunic, and ten pipers, the law [of the Twelve Tables] goes on to do away with lamentation: 'Women shall not scratch their cheeks or have a lessus on the occasion of a funeral'. The old interpreters, Sextus Aelius and Lucius Acilius, said they were not sure what this meant, but suspected it was some kind of funeral garment. Lucius Aelius takes lessus to be a mournful wailing, as the word itself suggests. I tend to believe this second explanation, since that is the very thing that Solon's law forbids.

Some claim that the text was written as such so plebeians could more easily memorize the laws, as literacy was not commonplace during early Rome.

Form and structure

According to ancient authors initially the Twelve Tables were recorded as an epigraphic text inscribed on twelve bronze tablets. It is believed that at some later stage the text of the Twelve Tables became a literary text. Some scholars suggest that the text at this time was rewritten and kept as a small ancient book. For instance, Cicero terms the laws 'a single booklet' (unus libelus in Latin). In the ancient world, the laws inscribed on bronze were often not easy to read but tended to serve a symbolic and religious purpose. It is likely that the law became literary text at some point during the fourth century BC. It was the time when the Roman civil law began to be administered by curule magistrates. It is likely that state administrators would have found it more convenient to consult the law in book form. Therefore, it is likely that the twelve bronze tables would have become obsolete.

Like most other early codes of law, the Twelve Tables were largely procedural, combining strict and rigorous penalties with equally strict and rigorous procedural forms. In most of the surviving quotations from these texts, the original table that held them is not given. Scholars have guessed where surviving fragments belong by comparing them with the few known attributions and records, many of which do not include the original lines, but paraphrases. It cannot be known with any certainty from what survives that the originals ever were organized this way, or even if they ever were organized by subject at all.

Modern reconstructions

In Roman historical and legal sources, ancient writers referenced and discussed the laws of the Twelve Tables in numerous fragments. However, during the Early Middle Ages the knowledge of the Twelve Tables was lost. The reconstruction of the text started with the rediscovery of  Corpus Iuris in the Late Middle Ages. The first attempt of the recovery of the laws was made by the French legal historian Aymar du Rivail in his Libri de Historia Juris Civilis et Pontificii (1515). His work was followed by more publications on the Twelve Tables by Alessandro d'Alessandro (1522) and Johannes Tacuinus (1525).

 The fundamental work of the reconstruction of the Twelve Tables appeared in Jacques Godefroy's publication of the law of the Twelve Tables in 1616. Godefroy's reconstruction was based on the order of Gaius' Ad legem XII tabularum (On the Law of the Twelve Tables), compiled in the Digest, from which many of the provisions of the Twelve Tables came to us. Godefroy believed that Gaius in his work followed the original order of the Twelve Tables. Since Gaius' work was divided into six books, Godefroy assumed that each book covered two tables and that each table focused on a certain matter.

The most important modern reconstruction of the Twelve Tables was published by the German legal historian Heinrich Eduard Dirksen in his work of A Review of the attempts hitherto made at the criticism and restoration of the text of the fragments of the Twelve Tables (Leipzig, 1824). Dirksen's work, based on the principles and discoveries of Godefroy, is now considered to be the most authoritative reconstructions of the Twelve Tables. In 1866 Rudolf Schöll reconstruction in Legis Duodecim Tabularum Reliquiae followed Dirksen's model. The first full English publication of the Dirksen's reconstruction was prepared and translated by Eric Herbert Warmington in the Remains of Old Latin, Volume III: Lucilius. The Twelve Tables in 1938 (No. 329 edition in the Loeb Classical Library).

In the last couple of decades, one of the most prominent reconstructions of the law of the Twelve Tables was Michael H. Crawford's work of Roman Statutes, vol. 2 (London, 1996). In this new version, Crawford and the team of specialists reconsidered the conventional arrangement of the laws based on Dirksen and his followers. They concluded that this conventional grouping of the rules was wrong and offered their new arrangement. For instance, the laws relating to iniuria  and furtum were moved from the eighth table (Tabula VIII) to the first table (Tabula I). Similarly, the law on the conditionally freed slaves was moved from Tabula IV to Tabula VI.

List of modern reconstructions

Godefroy, Jacques, 1616, Fragmenta XII. Tabularum, suis nunc primum tabulis restituta: probationibus, notis, & indice munita / Iacobo Gothofredo in Parlamento Parisiensi advocato auctore, Heidelbergae: Typis Johannis Lancelloti.
Dirksen, Heinrich Eduard, 1824, Übersicht der bisherigen Versuche zur Kritik und Herstellung des Textes der. Zwölf-Tafel-Fragmente, Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot.
Schöll, Rudolf, 1868, Leges XII tabularum reliquiae, Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot.
Voigt, Moritz, 1883, Die XII Tafeln: Geschichte und System des Civil-und Criminal-Rechtes, wie-Processes der XII Tafeln nebst deren Fragmenten, Leipzig: A.G. Liebeskind.
Riccobono, Salvatore, 1941, Fontes iuris romani antejustiniani I, Florence, 21-75.
Girard, Paul Frédéric et Senn, Félix, 1977, Les lois des Romains, septiéme édition par un groupe de romanistes, Paris and Naples: Jovene Editore, 25-73.
Crawford, Michael H. (ed.), 1996, Roman Statutes, vol. 2, London: Institute of Classical Studies, 555-722.
Flach, Dieter, 2004, Das Zwölftafelgesetz. Leges XII tabularum. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, (Texte zur Forschung. Band 83), Darmstadt, ISBN 3-534-15983-7.

Footnotes

Works cited

Further reading

 Cornell, T.J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 B.C.), London: Routledge, Routledge History of the Ancient World.
 Harries, Jill. 2007. "Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition". In Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World, Edited by Cairns, John W. and Du Plessis, Paul J. Edinburgh studies in law; 3, 85–104. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Pr.
 Tellegen-Couperus, Olga ed. 2011. Law and Religion in the Roman Republic, Mnemosyne supplements. History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity, 336. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
 Watson, Alan. 1976. Rome of the XII Tables. Persons and Property, Princeton and London: Princeton University Press.
 Watson, Alan. 1992.  The State, Law and Religion: Pagan Rome, University of Georgia Press.
 Westbrook, Raymond. 1988. "The Nature and Origins of the Twelve Tables." Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Romanistische Abteilung, CV, 74–121.

External links

Entry by George Long in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

5th-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic
Constitutions of ancient Rome
Roman law
Latin inscriptions
12 (number)

Twelve Tables


Robert D. Lenhard is a senior attorney in the Election and Political Law Practice Group of Covington & Burling.

He formerly served as Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, the United States government agency that administers and enforces the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. Lenhard was appointed to his FEC position via a recess appointment by George W. Bush on January 4, 2006.

Lenhard was an associate general counsel with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from 1991 until he became a member of the Federal Election Commission. At AFSCME, he was responsible for legal issues related to federal and state election laws. His work included counseling the union on federal and state campaign finance issues, litigating enforcement actions before the FEC and state agencies, and providing training to field staff on federal and state election law issues. Prior to becoming an Associate General Counsel at AFSCME, Lenhard was an associate at the law firm of Kirschner, Weinberg & Dempsey, where he represented AFSCME and other labor unions. Prior to that, Mr. Lenhard worked for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). After graduating from law school, Lenhard worked as an associate at the Los Angeles law firm of Grace, Neumeyer & Otto.

Lenhard is a 1981 graduate of the Johns Hopkins University where he earned a B.A. with Honors, and a 1984 graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

References

External links
 Biography from Covington & Burling

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees people
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Robert D. Lenhard


CKMI-DT (channel 15) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station maintains studios inside the Dominion Square Building in downtown Montreal. Its primary transmitter is located atop Mount Royal, with rebroadcasters in Quebec City and Sherbrooke.

CKMI was established as Quebec City's second station in 1957. Originally a private affiliate of the CBC Television network, It was the only English-language station in the heavily francophone city. It struggled to survive for most of its first four decades, in part because its potential audience was barely large enough to support it. In 1997, it was transformed into a regional Global station for Quebec with additional transmitters, including in Montreal. It moved most of its operations to Montreal that year, though it would nominally remain licensed to Quebec City until 2009. The station's local news broadcasts have typically struggled in the ratings, never advancing beyond a distant second place.

History

MI-5 in Quebec City
The station launched on March 17, 1957, and was the second privately owned station in Quebec. It was licensed to Quebec City and aired an analogue signal on VHF channel 5. CKMI was originally owned by Télévision du Québec, a consortium of cinema chain Famous Players and Quebec City's three privately owned radio stations, CHRC, CKCV and CJQC, along with the province's first private station, CFCM-TV. The station's studios were located alongside CFCM's facilities in Sainte-Foy, then a suburb of Quebec City; CKMI and CFCM shared the same antenna, the first setup of its kind in the world for television. This allowed CKMI to sign on several months sooner than would have been the case under the normal engineering practices of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

Upon signing on, CKMI became Quebec City's CBC Television affiliate, taking all English-language programming from CFCM. Télévision de Québec had applied for an English-language station when a policy change at the CBC the previous year restricted CFCM to programming from CBC's French-language network, Radio-Canada (now Ici Radio-Canada Télé), rather than selecting French- and English-language shows, as it had done since signing on in 1954. CFCM disaffiliated from Radio-Canada in 1964 when the network opened its own station, CBVT, but CKMI remained with CBC. In 1971, CFCM became a charter affiliate of a privately-owned French network, TVA.

Télévision de Québec was nearly forced to sell its stations in 1969 due to the Canadian Radio and Television Commission's (CRTC) new rules requiring radio and television stations to be 80% Canadian-owned. The largest shareholder, Famous Players, was a subsidiary of American film studio Paramount Pictures. The CRTC had additionally denied a 1968 bid to sell CFCM and CKMI to Teltron Communications Ltd. In 1970, the CRTC ordered Télévision de Québec to present a plan for restructuring its ownership in accordance with the law or else it would take bids for replacement licensees. As a result, Famous Players reduced its shares to 20 percent by selling off to three Quebec City firms, allowing Télévision de Québec to keep CKMI and CFCM. The company renamed itself Télé-Capitale in 1972. Télé-Capitale was bought in two phases by La Verendrye Management Corporation in 1979 and 1982; citing a high debt load, the firm sold the businesses to the Pathonic Corporation of Montreal in 1984. The firm then became known as the Pathonic Network in 1986 before being purchased by Télé-Metropole (which changed its name to TVA) in 1989 and 1990.

CKMI faced severe financial problems for much of its history as a CBC affiliate. This was largely because the area's anglophone population was just barely large enough for the station to be viable as a privately owned CBC affiliate; Quebec City, unlike Montreal, is a virtually monolingual francophone city. As early as 1962, during hearings before the Board of Broadcast Governors (forerunner of the CRTC) for a new French-language station in Quebec City, BBG counsel William Pearson described CKMI as one of the most unprofitable stations in the country. During licence renewal hearings in 1972, Télé-Capitale noted to the CRTC that it was keeping CKMI-TV going despite the lack of any path to profitability. This stood in contrast to its French-language sister station, CFCM, which was reported in 1973 to be the most profitable television station in Canada.

CKMI's three anchor-reporters, who produced the station's three hours a week of local output, were the only English speakers at CFCM-CKMI, reflected in the numerous gallicisms that pocked CKMI's newscasts. Indeed, CKMI's reporters often struggled to find anyone who could speak English well enough to conduct an interview. There were so few viewers that one CRTC licence renewal hearing for the station was met with no public comment whatsoever. At one point in 1981, its highest-rated program attracted only 31,000 viewers, a fraction of the viewership of CFCM's highest-rated program. It was not unheard of for French-language commercials originally produced for CFCM to air on CKMI when it was deemed too expensive to produce a separate English commercial. Despite this, Télé-Capitale had no qualms about keeping the station on the air, viewing it as a public service to Quebec City's anglophone community.

Over the years, the station served mostly as a semi-satellite of CBMT in Montreal. The only local program on the air by 1996 was a 30-minute weeknight newscast anchored by Karen McDonald, editor and co-owner of the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, the only English-language newspaper in the city. Many stories on the newscast, Inside Quebec, were in French because they were supplied by CFCM's newsroom; McDonald, who left the Chronicle-Telegraph to work for the station known as "MI-5" before also returning to the newspaper four years later, recalled that CFCM's reporters did not ask questions in English even when they were interviewing an anglophone. In the late 1980s, the newscast only attracted 5,000 viewers per statistics from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement; McDonald believed that most of those viewers were francophones.

Becoming a Global station
On June 13, 1995, Télé-Métropole and CanWest Global Communications announced a plan that would transform CKMI from a de facto rebroadcaster of CBMT into the third major English-language TV service in the province, providing the first private competition to CFCF-TV. Under the plan, Télé-Métropole and CanWest would form a joint venture, TVA CanWest, that would own CKMI, and it would apply to build transmitters in Montreal and Sherbrooke. CanWest would own a 51 percent controlling interest in the venture. Because of the nature of the Quebec City market and Montreal being one of Global's two major coverage gaps of the time (the other being Alberta, where it had affiliated stations), it was immediately evident that the primary goal of the venture was to get Global a foothold in Montreal, the country's third-largest anglophone market. According to Mike Boone, the television columnist for The Gazette, CanWest would have stood virtually no chance of getting a licence for a Quebec station on its own and joined forces with Télé-Métropole to lend "local clout" to its bid.

Global had spent almost a quarter-century trying to get a transmitter in Montreal. When the network originally launched in 1974 as an Ontario-based network, original plans called for a transmitter in Maxville, near Cornwall. While it would have primarily served Hawkesbury, it would have provided a strong grade B signal to Montreal. However, the CRTC did not approve the Maxville transmitter with the others because it had previously issued a moratorium on new TV stations in Montreal. One columnist noted that language and political considerations meant the CRTC would not entertain such a service before Montreal had three French-language TV stations.

The TVA CanWest deal would take some time to be approved because of another proposed transaction. CFCF and Vidéotron had proposed an asset swap that would have given CFCF control of TVA and TQS while leaving all of Montreal's cable systems with the latter company, and the CRTC announced it wanted to hear that proposal first. That logjam was resolved in April 1996, when Vidéotron acquired all of CFCF with an eye to spinning off its English-language holdings. It would not be until December of that year when the CRTC finally heard the CKMI application. TVA CanWest pledged a commitment of $165 million over seven years on new Canadian programming to the regulator if it won in Quebec City and proposed new stations for Calgary and Edmonton. Ahead of the hearings, CFCF vigorously fought the proposal, claiming any competition would reduce its value and jeopardize its community service initiatives; it called into question any pledge to produce regional programming, with CFCF weatherman Don McGowan noting that Quebec City was "where 42 anglophones live today". A full-page newspaper ad from CFCF blasted the idea of Global being "allowed to slip through the back door" into Montreal, ominously threatening that it would mean "no more CFCF 12 as we know it".

In November, the CRTC ruled against Global's Alberta stations bid. At the hearing the next month, Izzy Asper took the CRTC to task, noting that English-speaking Montrealers were higher-than-average viewers of American stations available on cable. The CRTC approved the CKMI Global bid on February 27, 1997; on the same day, it also approved Vidéotron's purchase of CFCF's business contingent on spinning off the English-language stations and TQS.

Over the course of 1997, changes were made in preparation for CKMI's relaunch. In Quebec City, CKMI would move from channel 5 to 20, to permit the CBC to take over the channel 5 facility for CBVE-TV, a full-time repeater of CBMT. The Montreal transmitter, originally assigned channel 67, was changed to 46. With the addition of CKMI, CanWest's station group, the CanWest Global System, would have over-the-air coverage in every province except Newfoundland. This led CanWest to announce that it would rebrand its stations as the Global Television Network.

On September 14, 1997, CKMI formally disaffiliated from CBC and joined Global. Full-time programming on the Sherbrooke and Montreal transmitters began on the same day. A number of popular American shows purchased by CFCF but to which Canadian rights were owned by CanWest moved from that station to CKMI, where they lost half or more of their audience. The Montreal rebroadcaster was criticized for poor reception and a low effective radiated power: 4.85 kW, compared to 697 and 1,334 kW at the two other UHF stations in the city. As a result, in April 1998, the effective radiated power was increased to 33,000 watts. In 2002, Global bought out TVA's remaining interest in CKMI.

The station shifted most of its operations, as well as the focus of its news coverage, to Montreal soon after the launch of the Montreal transmitter; however, it remained licensed to Quebec City, and its "official" main studio remained in Sainte-Foy. Over the course of the 2000s, Global cut back its presence in Quebec City and the Eastern Townships, leaving its Sherbrooke bureau unstaffed before closing it altogether in 2007. In 2009, reflecting what had already occurred in the preceding years, CRTC permitted CKMI to move its licence to Montreal, which also allowed the station to access local advertising in Montreal for the first time; the station changed its name from Global Quebec to Global Montreal at that time. CKMI's main production facilities and news operations then relocated from a building shared with TVA on De Maisonneuve Boulevard East in Montreal to the Dominion Square Building, home of The Gazette, in Downtown Montreal.

On October 27, 2010, Shaw Communications completed its purchase of Canwest's television assets after Canwest had entered into creditor bankruptcy protection in late 2009. As a result, Canwest's television division became Shaw Media.

News operation

Global entered the Montreal news market in direct competition with CFCF and its highly-rated Pulse newscasts. Benoît Aubin of TVA was tapped as the first news director for Global in Quebec, and Heather Hiscox was the first anchor for Global's supper-hour local news, which aired at 5:30 p.m. to contrast with the 6 p.m. Pulse. Reflecting the regional architecture of CKMI, the station originally had four reporters in Quebec City and one in the Eastern Townships. Mike Boone, television critic for the Montreal Gazette, criticized the newscast's lack of time for stories and felt that it was hampered by needing to provide regional stories not of much interest to Montreal.

In December 1997, CKMI debuted a daily entertainment magazine, Global Tonight, hosted by Jamie Orchard. However, in June, it axed those programs and its 11 p.m. news and sports programs, moving its evening news to 6 p.m. and reallocating resources to the creation of a longform morning show. The morning show, This Morning Live, debuted in 1998. It was another four years before Global began producing a late newscast again in Quebec. This Morning Live was canceled after a decade in 2008.

As part of Shaw Communications's offer to take over Canwest's television assets, Shaw promised to launch local morning newscasts on several Global stations, including CKMI. On January 28, 2013, CKMI-DT launched a three-hour weekday morning newscast, airing from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m.

While Global had gradually been introducing centralized newscast technical production, in 2015, it began to present entire local newscasts for Montreal from Toronto. Beginning that August, weekend newscasts were produced remotely from Toronto. Global Montreal also introduced a half-hour noon newscast, and extended its evening news to an hour.

As of May 2017, Global Montreal's 5:30 p.m. supper-time newscast ranked second in the Montreal English TV market, with 28,000 viewers tuning in compared to CTV Montreal's 189,000 viewers and CBC Montreal's 27,000 viewers. Although CKMI was still far behind CFCF, its viewership numbers had risen significantly since 2011, when it finished at the bottom of the ratings with only 6,900 viewers and a three percent share.

In August 2020, evening anchor Jamie Orchard was laid off. In September 2020, CKMI cancelled Focus Montreal and replaced Orchard with Tracy Tong, who anchors from Toronto; this left only the morning newscast as being presented from Montreal.

On September 6, 2022, presentation of the 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. newscasts returned to the Montreal studio after the station named Aalia Adam the new anchor of Global News at 5:30 and Global News at 6:30; Adam also anchors newscasts for the Maritimes.

Notable former on-air staff
 Heather Hiscox – news anchor (now on CBC News Network)
 Leslie Roberts – anchor (moved to CIII-DT in Toronto, resigned in January 2015)
 Jamie Orchard – weeknight anchor (laid off in August 2020)

Technical information

Subchannel

Analogue-to-digital conversion
In August 2011, CKMI converted all three of its transmitters to digital ahead of the conversion deadline of August 31. The main transmitter, CKMI-DT-1, began broadcasting its digital signal on UHF channel 15.

Transmitters

Semi-satellites are in bold italics.

Notes

References

External links
Global Montreal
CKMI-TV history at the Canadian Communications Foundation

KMI-DT
KMI-DT
KMI-DT
Television channels and stations established in 1957
English-language mass media in Quebec
Corus Entertainment
1957 establishments in Quebec

CKMI-DT


Serratia – genus of Gram-negative anaerobic rod-shaped bacteria, some species of which produce a red pigment, prodigiosin. Members of Serratia were initially considered harmless, however, they cause infections in animals, plants, humans, and insects. The diseases include pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, and wound infections. The most common species – Serratia marcescens, was found to be highly pathogenic to humans and animals. S. marcescens is included in hospital-acquired infections; found in urinary, respiratory, and gastrointestinal tracts. They cause disease mainly in individuals with weak immune system. Other species cause bone and cardiovascular system infections.

Habitat
Serratia genus occupies wide range of habitats, including water, both seawater and drinking water; plants, such as vegetables, mushrooms, grasses, mosses; and insects: healthy, diseased and dead.

History
The discovery of Serratia genus began with Serratia marcescens species colonised food in 1819. In the city of Padula, Italy, cornmeal dish, called polenta, of many people turned red. This phenomenon was called "bloody polenta" and was believed to have a diabolical origin. The investigation began, and Pietro Melo wrote a paper where he stated that it was spontaneous fermentation. For four years Bartolomeo Bizio, a Venetian pharmacist observed small red spots which got larger and subsequently merged into a red mass. Later, in 1823, he published a paper where he stated that the organism was a fungus and named him Serratia marcescens (after a Florentine physicist Serafino Serrati).

Transmission and treatment
Transmission occurs hand-to-hand, through hospital equipment, such as catheters, and also sinks, blood products and antiseptics.

S. marcescens species are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, they rapidly acquire resistant genes, which makes the infections difficult to treat. Gentamicin is the common antibiotic that was used to treat S. marcescens infections, however, bacteria became resistant to it. S. marcescens has the ability to produce beta-lactamase, which is the enzyme providing bacteria resistance to beta lactam antibiotics, such as penicillin. Now the treatment is more effective in a combination of different antibiotics5.

References

Gram-negative bacteria

Serratia


An inherent vowel is a vowel that must be spoken, even if it is not written down. Inherent vowels exist in abugidas, or alphabets centered around consonants. Most words in abugidas have consonants and vowels written in them, but even if a word if written without any vowels, a vowel must still be spoken.

For example, the word for "ant" in Thai มด would be written as md in the Roman alphabet, but it must be said as mót, with ó being the inherent, unwritten vowel in the word.

An example of a word in Thai with two or more syllables an an inherent vowel is สวัสดี, which would be written as swàtdee without spaces and s-wàt-dee with spaces, but it must be pronounced as sà-wàt-dee because even though the first syllable is only written as s, in must be spoken as sà because consonants may not be spoken without any vowels.

The names of Thai letters show how inherent vowels are used. In Thai, each letter's name has at least two syllables, with the first being the consonant with the inherent vowel and the second syllable being the word where the consonant is used. The letter ก is named ก ไก่, or gaw gài. The letter itself, the first syllable, is always pronounced with -aw after the consonant.

Writing systems with inherent vowels often use a special marking to silence the inherent vowel so that only a consonant is spoken, such as the virama found in many South Asian scripts. Other systems rely on the reader's knowledge of the language to know the difference between a consonant with the inherent vowel from a pure consonant (Hindi, Old Persian cuneiform) or to know a particular vowel-marked form from a pure consonant (Ge'ez and related scripts).

For example, the Hindi word कष is pronounced kaṣa, but क्‌ष is pronounced kṣa, because the virama symbol ् silences the inherent vowel in क ka.
Vowels
Alphabet

Inherent vowel


Tidal heating or tidal flexing is the heating resulting from a natural satellite or similar body being stretched and squeezed by a much larger body nearby. The flexing causes heat through friction. Liquid water layers, and so habitability, may happen beyond the traditional habitable zone of a solar system.

Heat
Astronomy

Tidal heating


Bosque Alemão (meaning German Wood) is a park built in Curitiba in honor of the German immigrants who begin to settle in the city in the early 19th century.

In the park visitors can walk on the trail of Hansel and Gretel (after the tale of Brothers Grimm) and reach the gingerbread and candy house, where usually on Saturday afternoons children listen to tales told by the crone that lives in the famous Brothers Grimm tale.

Parks in Curitiba

Bosque Alemão


Benny Powell (March 1, 1930 – June 26, 2010) was an American jazz trombonist. He played both standard (tenor) trombone and bass trombone.

Biography
Born Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr in New Orleans, Louisiana, he first played professionally at the age of 14, and at 18 began playing with Lionel Hampton. In 1951 he left Hampton's band and began playing with Count Basie, in whose orchestra he would remain until 1963. Powell takes the trombone solo in the bridge of Basie's 1955 recording of "April in Paris".

After leaving Basie, he freelanced in New York City. From 1966 to 1970 he was a member of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, playing on Monday nights at the Village Vanguard. Among other engagements, he played in the house band of the Merv Griffin Show, and when the show moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1970 Powell also relocated there. He did extensive work as a session musician, including with Abdullah Ibrahim, John Carter, and Randy Weston. Later in his career Powell worked as an educator, including as part of the Jazzmobile project. Having moved back to New York in the 1980s, he began teaching at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 1994.

He died in a Manhattan hospital at the age of 80, following back surgery.

Personal
Powell married Evelyn Jackson at St Bernard Catholic Church in New York in 1958.

Discography

As leader
 Coast to Coast (Trident, 1982)
 The Gift of Love (Faith, 2003)
 Nextep (Origin, 2008)

As sideman
With Pepper Adams
 Pepper Adams Plays the Compositions of Charlie Mingus (Workshop Jazz, 1964)
With Gene Ammons
 Free Again (Prestige, 1971)
With Count Basie
 The Count! (Clef, 1952 [1955])
 Basie Jazz (Clef, 1952 [1954])
 Dance Session (Clef, 1953)
 Dance Session Album #2 (Clef, 1954)
 Basie (Clef, 1954)
 Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Clef, 1955) with Joe Williams
 April in Paris (Verve, 1956)
 The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards with Joe Williams
 Metronome All-Stars 1956 (Clef, 1956) with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams
 Hall of Fame (Verve, 1956 [1959])
 Basie in London (Verve, 1956)
 One O'Clock Jump (Verve, 1957) with Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald
 Count Basie at Newport (Verve, 1957)
 The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette, 1957) aka Basie and E=MC2
 Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette, 1958)
 Sing Along with Basie (Roulette, 1958) with Joe Williams and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
 Basie One More Time (Roulette, 1959)
 Breakfast Dance and Barbecue (Roulette, 1959)
 Everyday I Have the Blues (Roulette, 1959) - with Joe Williams
 Dance Along with Basie (Roulette, 1959)
 String Along with Basie (Roulette, 1960)
 Not Now, I'll Tell You When (Roulette, 1960)
 The Count Basie Story (Roulette, 1960)
 Kansas City Suite (Roulette, 1960)
 The Legend (Roulette, 1961)
 Back with Basie (Roulette, 1962)
 Basie in Sweden (Roulette, 1962)
 On My Way & Shoutin' Again! (Verve, 1962)
 This Time by Basie! (Reprise, 1963)
 More Hits of the 50's and 60's (Verve, 1963)
With Donald Byrd
 Jazz Lab (Columbia, 1957) with Gigi Gryce
With Benny Carter
Harlem Renaissance (MusicMasters, 1992)
With John Carter
 Castles of Ghana (Gramavision, 1986)
 Dance of the Love Ghosts (Gramavision, 1987)
 Fields (Gramavision, 1988)
 Shadows on a Wall [Gramavision, 1989)
With Buck Clayton
 How Hi the Fi (Columbia, 1954)
With Hank Crawford
 Mr. Blues Plays Lady Soul (Atlantic, 1969)
With Frank Foster
No 'Count (Savoy, 1956)
With Al Grey
 The Last of the Big Plungers (Argo, 1959)
 The Thinking Man's Trombone (Argo, 1960)
With Eddie Harris
 Silver Cycles (Atlantic, 1968)
 How Can You Live Like That? (Atlantic, 1976)
With Jimmy Heath
 New Picture (Landmark, 1985)
 Little Man Big Band (Verve, 1992)
With Johnny Hodges
 Triple Play (RCA Victor, 1967)
With J. J. Johnson
 The Total J.J. Johnson (RCA Victor, 1967)
With Philly Joe Jones Dameronia
 Look Stop Listen (Uptown, 1983)
With Clifford Jordan
 Play What You Feel (Mapleshade, 1990 [1997])
With Bobby Bland and B.B. King
 Bobby Bland and B. B. King Together Again...Live (MCA, 1976)
with Melba Liston
 Melba Liston and Her 'Bones (MetroJazz, 1958)
With Herbie Mann
 Glory of Love (CTI, 1967)
With Les McCann
 Comment (Atlantic, 1970)
With David Newman
 Bigger & Better (Atlantic, 1968)
 The Many Facets of David Newman (Atlantic, 1969)
Cityscape (HighNote, 2006)
With Joe Newman
 The Count's Men (Jazztone, 1955)
 Salute to Satch (RCA Victor, 1956)
With Chico O'Farrill
 Nine Flags (Impulse!, 1966)
With Moacir Santos
 Saudade (Blue Note, 1974)
With Frank Wess
 North, South, East....Wess (Savoy 1956)
With Randy Weston
 Spirits of Our Ancestors (recorded 1991)
 Volcano Blues (recorded 1993)
 Saga (recorded 1995)
 Khepera (recorded 1998)
 Spirit! The Power of Music (recorded 1999)
 Live in St. Lucia (recorded 2002)
With Gerald Wilson
 New York, New Sound (Mack Avenue, 2003)
 In My Time (Mack Avenue, 2005)

References

American jazz trombonists
Male trombonists
1930 births
2010 deaths
Jazz musicians from New Orleans
American male jazz musicians
Dameronia members
The Capp-Pierce Juggernaut members
Statesmen of Jazz members

Benny Powell


The Lake Mungo remains are three sets of human fossils. They are Lake Mungo 1 (LM1, or Mungo Lady), Lake Mungo 2 (LM2), and Lake Mungo 3 (LM3, or Mungo Man). The sites are located near Lake Mungo, in New South Wales, Australia, in the World Heritage-listed Willandra Lakes Region. Pieces of skeletons have been found in this region. These pieces have been attributed to over forty human skeletons. The Lake Mungo remains are the most significant of these.

Mungo Lady (LM1)
LM1 are the fossilised, cremated remains of a young woman. They were found in 1969 by James Bowler with the University of Melbourne. Radiocarbon dating of pieces of bone from the burial put LM1 between 24,700 and 19,030 years old. Charcoal from a hearth 15 cm above the burial was dated at 26,250 years old (plus or minus 1,120 years). Reconstruction and study of the remains were mainly done by Alan Thorne at the Australian National University. The patterns of burn marks on the bones suggest that the body was first burned, then smashed, then burned a second time, before being buried.

Research published by Bowler in 2003 rejected previous estimates for all of remains at the site. Optical dating concluded that both LM1 and LM3 were buried around 40,000 years ago (plus or minus 2,000 years). This makes it the earliest evidence of human cremation that has been found. It suggests that ancient indigenous Australians in this region had their own complicated burial rituals.

The bones were returned in 1992 to the area's traditional owners: the Paakantji (Barkindji), the Mathi Mathi and the Ngiyampaa. LM1 is now in a locked vault at the Mungo National Park visitor centre.

Mungo Man (LM3)
LM3 was found by James Bowler on 26 February 1974, when shifting sand dunes exposed the remains. It is located 500 m east of the LM1 site. The body was covered with red ochre, in the earliest known example of such a complicated and artistic burial practice. Like the cremation of LM1, this indicates that certain cultural traditions have existed on the Australian continent for much longer than previously thought.

Description

The skeleton was of a slender individual, quite different to the build of modern indigenous Australians. The skeleton was badly preserved: large pieces of the skull were missing, and most of the bones in the limbs were damaged. Usually, the gender of a  skeleton is determined using the bones in the skull and the pelvis. The problem is that these bones are in a very bad state in LM3, or they are missing altogether; in other words, the "normal" method of gender determination cannot be used with LM3. Since LM3 was discovered, other features were studied; most of these studies agree that LM3 was probably a male.

LM3 was buried lying on his back, with his hands joined together covering the groin. Some of the bones show evidence of osteoarthritis and eburnation, and the teeth are well worn. Based on this, it is likely that LM3 was quite old (around 50 years old) when he died. New studies show that, using the length of his limb bones, it is possible to estimate LM3's height at 196 centimetres (77 inches or 6 ft 5 in), unusually tall for an Aboriginal.

Age
The first estimate of LM3's age was made in 1976 by the team of scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) who excavated LM3. They estimated that LM3 was between 28,000 and 32,000 years old. They did not test LM3's remains directly; instead, they made their estimate through stratigraphic comparison with LM1. In 1987, an electron spin resonance test was done on pieces of bone from LM3's skeleton. This gave an estimate of his age at 31,000 years, plus or minus 7,000 years. In 1999, optical dating work was done on quartz from the LM3 burial site. The results indicated a burial older than 24,600 years (± 2,400) and younger than 43,300 years (± 3,800).

Later in the same year, research led by Alan Thorne gave a new estimate of 62,000 years old (plus or minus 6,000 years). This estimate was made by combining data from uranium-thorium dating, electron spin resonance dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the remains and the soil in the grave. This estimate was very controversial, and some of the techniques used to get this estimate were criticised.

In 2003, several Australian groups came to an agreement that LM3 is about 40,000 years old. A team led by Bowler did 25 more OSL tests that suggested that LM3 can not be older than 50,000 years. This age roughly agrees with stratigraphic evidence using four different dating methods. The age of 40,000 years is now the most widely accepted age for the LM3. This makes it the second oldest human fossil east of India, and the oldest in Australia. In addition to this, the study published in 2003 found that LM1 and LM3 are similar in age, and that humans were present at Lake Mungo as early as 50,000 to 46,000 years ago.

Other discoveries of remains
In 1998, the remains of a child were discovered. These are believed to have roughly the same age as Mungo Man and Mungo Lady. In 2005, erosion exposed another adult skeleton. Because it was not protected, this skeleton was destroyed by wind and rain about a year later.

How Australia was settled
The main idea is the Out of Africa hypothesis: It says that humans developed on the African continent, and spread from there. Another important site is called Kow Swamp, in the northern part of Victoria. It consists of about twenty skeletons, which are between 5,000 and 10,000 years old. The morphology of Mungo Man is noticeably different from these skeletons. For this reason, some researchers have said that Australia was probably settled twice. The settlers were probably descendants of Homo erectus and came from the Asian mainland. This theory is based on the analysis of mitochondrial DNA. If this is true, the two lines, that of Mungo Man and that of modern humans, separated a long time ago. This would also mean that Mitochondrial Eve of this line and that of modern humans would be older than mitochondrial Eve of all living humans.

References

More reading

Archaeological sites in Australia
Origin hypotheses of ethnic groups
New South Wales
Burials
Fossils
Indigenous Australian history

Lake Mungo remains


Kieron Owen Timothy Quinn (born 26 July 1949, Ipswich, Queensland) is a former Australian politician.

Quinn was a teacher who entered local politics in 1985 as the alderman for The Gabba ward at an election the Harvey Labor administration lost. He served in opposition for two terms before rising to civic cabinet in the 1991 Soorley Labor election victory, with Labor achieving an 18% swing against incumbent Lord Mayor Liberal Sallyanne Atkinson.

Quinn took the reins in Civic Cabinet of Development and Planning and continued in this role for the next 12 years, playing an important role during this period of dramatic transformation in Brisbane. Urban Renewal of the inner city commenced, Local Area Plans were established in conjunction with character housing protection provision to retain Brisbane's distinctive "tin and timber' character. Ugly "six pack" units were banned with design guidelines overhauled and Suburban Centre Improvement Schemes were also commenced in 1996 to revitalise traditional local shopping strips and are now widespread throughout the city.

Quinn became Lord Mayor of Brisbane following Lord Mayor Jim Soorley's retirement from politics in 2003 after serving as deputy mayor since 1997.

Quinn, part of the left wing faction of the Labor Party, was subsequently defeated by Campbell Newman in March 2004.

Community

Quinn was appointed (2006–12) as a board director of the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award – Australia and during this period was the Queensland chair for the award. He also served as the chair of the National IT Committee 2010–2012.

References

Australian Labor Party mayors
Mayors and Lord Mayors of Brisbane
Living people
1949 births

Tim Quinn


Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle given the number plate.

Law
According to Polish law, the registration plate is tied to the vehicle, not the owner. There is no possibility for the owner to keep the licence number for use on a different car, even if it's a cherished registration. The licence plates are issued by the powiat (county) of the vehicle owner's registered address of residence, in the case of a natural person. If it is owned by a legal person, the place of registration is determined by the person's address. Vehicles leased under operating leases and many de facto finance leases will be registered at the address of the lessor. When a vehicle changes hands, the new owner must apply for new vehicle registration document bearing their name and registered address. The new owner may obtain a new licence plate although it is not necessary.  In such a situation the licence plates are usually carried over to the new owner, because the change carries an additional cost. Upon purchasing a vehicle from another person, if the vehicle has an EU plate, the new owner must replace it with a registration for their address and area, and give the EU plate to their powiat licensing authority to free up numbers in the future. If the car has a plate dated before May 1, 2006, the owner is free to do whatever they wish with it, as long as it is legal under Polish law. The plaque cannot be replaced if destroyed. The change of the whole set is required.

The change in system shown below in 2001 is related to the reduction in the previous year of the number of voivodeships in Poland from 49 to 16, based on the country's historic regions. The pre-2001 licence plates (white letters on black background) can be used indefinitely, but since they are obsolete they have to be replaced in case of change of vehicle's ownership.

In the pre-2001 model, there were not sufficient letters in the Polish alphabet for each of the old voivodeships to have a single letter. Only the standard latin alphabet was used (excluding Q), and the specific Polish characters with diacritics were excluded in order to make the plates fully internationally readable. Therefore, two letters had to be used to indicate the vehicle's origin (the middle administrative level of powiat was not introduced until 1999). Since the change, the first letter has always denoted the new voivodeship. One additional letter is used in cities with rights of powiat (this applies to 47 of 49 capitals of the old voivodeships, the exceptions being Ciechanów and Sieradz, and numerous major cities). Two additional letters are used in any other powiat.

It is not necessary for EU citizens to immediately re-register the vehicles they have brought with them if they are duly registered and taxed elsewhere in the EU, when living in Poland. This emerges from European law, although local regulations have to date not been changed to reflect the law, leading to officials locally sometimes giving incorrect advice on this point. When in doubt, motorists are recommended to refer to their respective embassies.

Format

Stickers and security measures
The licence plates are invalid without two adhesive stickers with holograms placed on the license plates, and, before 2022, an adhesive plaque bearing the same number as the plates inside the windshield. If the vehicle uses only one licence plate then the second sticker must be attached to the registration documents.

Licence plate types and combinations

Each powiat uses a unique two or three letter code, with the first letter denoting the voivodeship. The number pools listed below are not used in any particular order, although one pool is usually depleted before the next one is used. A visible gap exists between the area code and series, but there is no possibility of confusion if the number is written down without it.

The following characters are used in licence plate examples:
 X – voivodeship code
 XY, XYZ – powiat code
 J, K, L – any allowed letter
 digits

The letters used in licence plates include all standard Latin alphabet letters outside of Q (not used at all in the Polish language). The letters B, D, I, O, and Z cannot be used in series area (on the right, after the gap), because they could be confused with similarly-looking digits. Custom plates are allowed to include these letters though. The leading 0 in numbers is part of the code and is never omitted.

Due to the pool of license plates combinations possibly running out in some areas, in 2022 the Ministry of Infrastructure issued a directive under which extra leading characters were introduced for several of the voivodeships:
 V for Lower Silesian (originally D)
 J for Lesser Poland (originally K)
 A for Masovian (originally W)
 Y for Subcarpathian (originally R)
 X for Pomeranian (originally G)
 I for Silesian (originally S)
 M for Greater Poland (originally P)
Reportedly, the Warsaw district of Mokotów was the first to start issuing AE registration plates following the new directive.

Cars, trucks, and buses
Format:
 XY 12345
 XY 1234J
 XY 123JK
 XY 1J345
 XY 1JK45
 XYZ J234
 XYZ 12JK
 XYZ 1J34 (first digit cannot be 0)
 XYZ 12J4 (last digit cannot be 0)
 XYZ 1JK4 (neither digit can be 0)
 XYZ JK34
 XYZ 12345
 XYZ 1234J
 XYZ 123JK

The number of available unique numbers with these mentioned formats is 1,100,000 for each two-letter powiat code, and 872,400 for each three-letter powiat code. The combinations "XYZ 1234" and "XYZ 123J" are not used, because they would lead to creation of numbers identical to these in the old system. Also, the two-letter powiat codes must be followed by a leading digit, "XY 1...", to avoid confusion with the "XYZ ..." scheme, as the gap is not significant. Electric vehicles have green background on their license plates.

Motorcycles, mopeds, and agricultural vehicles

Format:
 XY 1234
 XY 123J
 XY 1J34 (first digit cannot be 0)
 XY 12J4 (last digit cannot be 0)
 XY 12JK
 XY JK12
 XYZ J234
 XYZ 12JK
 XYZ 1J34 (first digit cannot be 0)
 XYZ 12J4 (last digit cannot be 0)
 XYZ 1JK4 (neither digit can be 0)
 XYZ JK34
 XYZ J23K
 XYZ J2KL (a digit cannot be 0)
Cars – reduced sizeFormat:

 X 123
 X 12J
 X 1J2
 X J12
 X 1JK
 X JK1
 X J1K

The plates are designed for cars imported from USA and Japan. Reduced size plates are the same width as US plates.

Classic cars

Format:
 XY 12J
 XY 123
 XYZ 1J
 XYZ 12
 XYZ J1

These plates use black text on yellow background with an additional picture of a vintage car on the right side. Vehicles are required to meet three criteria:

 manufactured at least 30 years ago
 the particular model must be out of production for at least 15 years
 consist of at least 75% of original parts

These criteria, however, can be waived for special cases, such as prototype vehicles that were never mass-produced, cars of considerable historical value, or models representing technological breakthroughts. As such, issuing of these plates is always handled on a case-by-case basis by the conservation officer. Registered classic cars are not required to undergo yearly technical checkup unless used for transportation services, such as taxi.

Temporary and export plates

Format:
 X1 2345
 X1 234J

These plates use red text on a white background. The plates wear a seal with month and year of validation. The windshield plaque is not issued with it.

Electric car plates

Introduced on 1 January 2020, they are issued to battery-electric and hydrogen vehicles. They are similar to regular plates but the background colour is light green instead of white. Such vehicles are allowed to drive on bus lanes, therefore visibly different registration plates allow the police to establish whether a vehicle is doing so legally. Electric plates are also used in "American" plates with reduced space.

Testing vehicles

Format:
 X1 234 B

These plates use red text on a white background. The last character is always the letter B (which stands for badawcza, or "research type"). Only car manufacturers and automobile R&D centres are issued these plates.

Custom plates

Format:
 X1 JKLMN

These plates use standard black letters on a white background. Each custom number starts with the letter denoting voivodeship and a single digit, followed by the gap. This digit and next characters can be picked by the owner. Outside the availability the following constrains are used:
 after the gap between 3 and 5 characters can be used
 the first character must be a letter
 no more than 2 last characters can be digits
 all letters come before digits (i.e. they cannot be intermixed)
 any standard Latin letter outside Q can be used (unlike common licence plates)
 resulting plate must not contain or resemble offensive contents

Professional plates
Format:
 X12 34P56 (second letter is always "P")

Since July 2019 dealers of new cars can apply for special number plates with green letters on white background specifically for doing test drives. Those plates are issued exclusively for the company itself and not for a specific vehicle. This means they can be applied to multiple vehicles when needed. Only car retailers can obtain these and such cars can be driven only by the car dealer, owner of the company, their employees or customers, but only when accompanied by an employee.

Diplomatic plates

Format:
 X 123456

White symbols on dark blue background. The leading character is reserved for voivodeship, but in practice all vehicles are issued W and registered by the Masovian voivode no matter the physical location of the mission. The first three digits indicate a country or organization as listed in the table below.

On top of the origin of the diplomatic mission, the vehicle's function can also be determined by the latter three digits:

 001–199 – embassy diplomatic personnel private vehicles
 200–299 – military attaché private vehicles
 300–499 – embassy non-diplomatic personnel private vehicles
 500–501 – chief of mission official vehicles
 502–699 – embassy's other official vehicles
 700–799 – consulate's diplomatic personnel private vehicles
 801 – consul official vehicles
 800, 802–899 – consulate diplomatic personnel official vehicles
 900–999 – consulate's other official vehicles

Diplomatic vehicles are also required to carry a sticker with CD (corps diplomatique) or CC (corps consulaire).

Service plates

Format:
 H#J K234
 H#J 12KL
Vehicles utilised used by the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration use licence plates beginning with "H", instead of the voivodeship code. The second letter denotes the service, for example "HP" is used by the Polish Police. Any standard Latin letter outside Q can be used (unlike common licence plates). These services are also allowed to use common licence plates.

Codes:
HA# – Central Bureau of Anticorruption
HB# – Government Protection Bureau
HC# – Customs Service
HK# – Internal Security Agency, Foreign Intelligence Agency
HM# – Military Counterintelligence Agency, Military Intelligence Agency
HP# – Police
HS# – Fiscal Control
HW# – Border Guard

Military plates

Format:
 U# 12345
 UC 1234T
 UK 1234
The Polish military uses licence plates beginning with "U" instead of the voivodeship code. The following letter denotes the usage of the vehicle. For example, military trucks have licence plates beginning with "UC". The trailing T in the number denotes a tracked vehicle. The military are not obliged to use the standard licence plates on tracked vehicles, armoured cars and armoured personnel carriers — they can be painted on the vehicle itself or applied as a sticker.

Codes:
UA# – Cars, offroad vehicles and specialistic vehicles based on cars or off-roaders
UB# – Armoured personnel carriers
UC# – Military trucks
UD# – Buses
UE# – Trucks
UG# – Special trucks
UI# – Transport trailers
UJ# – Special trailers
UK# – Motorcycles

Cost of purchasing registration plates
 Regular: 80 PLN
 Motorcycles: 40 PLN
 Mopeds: 30 PLN
 Custom Regular: 1000 PLN
 Custom Motorcycles: 500 PLN
 Classic Cars: 100 PLN
 Temporary: 30 PLN

District indicators

History

1922–1937
From July 1922 Polish car number plates had two letters denoting voivodeship (being an abbreviation of its name), or single letter W denoting capital city of Warsaw, and up to five digits. Except for letter identifier, each voivodeship had own range of numbers (except for autonomic Silesian Voivodeship, which used ŚL identifier and own numbers from 1). Plates were white, with red letters and black digits, separated with red dash.

There were also temporary plates with PR letters and presidential plates with WZK letters (for President of Poland chancellery). Military plates had only four white digits on black background.

1937–1939
From 1937 there was a new different system of registration numbers introduced, with white letters on black plates. There was one letter denoting vehicle type, two-digit number denoting voivodeship, and three-digit individual number after a dash. Letters A, B, C, D, E, H, K, L, X, Y, Z were used for cars, trucks and buses, T for taxicabs, M, N, P, R, S, U for motorcycles and W for military vehicles. A range of numbers 00 to 19 meant capital city of Warsaw, 20 to 24 indicated Białostok Voivodeship, and so on, in alphabetical order, up to 95 to 99 for Wołyńskie Voivodeship.

During World War II there were plates introduced by occupants.

1944–1956
From 1946 Polish car number plates had the LNN-NNN format, with L being a letter and N being a digit. The full name of the province was located at the bottom.

1956–1976

From June 19, 1956, Polish car number plates had 2 letters and 4 digits, and after May 13, 1964, letters could stand after digits.

Individual elements meant:
 first letter: code of voivodeship,
 second letter: code of powiat,
 digits: code of vehicle.

Codes of voivodeships:
 A – Białystok Voivodeship
 B – Bydgoszcz Voivodeship
 C – Kielce Voivodeship
 E – Koszalin Voivodeship
 F – Łódź Voivodeship
 G – Gdańsk Voivodeship
 H – Opole Voivodeship
 I – city of Łódź
 K – Kraków Voivodeship
 L – Lublin Voivodeship
 M – Szczecin Voivodeship
 O – Olsztyn Voivodeship
 P – Poznań Voivodeship
 R – Rzeszów Voivodeship
 S – Katowice Voivodeship
 T – Warsaw Voivodeship
 W – capital city of Warsaw
 X – Wrocław Voivodeship
 Z – Zielona Góra Voivodeship

Codes of special forces:
 Y – Citizen's Militia
 D – army (cars)
 U – army (other vehicles)
 N – Border Guard

1976–2000

Plates from the 1976–2000 series are still valid. They have white letters on black background. The coding used was three letters and four digits (XYZ 1234) or three letters, three digits and one letter (XYZ 123A), although at the beginning the configuration with a letter in the end was used for public cars only.

The following coding was used for the 49 regions of the country:

Biała Podlaska: BP, BA, BS
Białystok: BK, BT, BI
Bielsko-Biała: BB, BL, BO
Bydgoszcz: BY, BG, BD, BC
Chełm: CH, CM, CU
Ciechanów: CI, CN, CA
Częstochowa: CZ, CE, CO
Elbląg: EL, EG, EB
Gdańsk: GD, GK, GA, GN
Gorzów Wlkp.: GO, GW, GR
Jelenia Góra: JG, JE, JA
Kalisz: KL, KZ, KP
Katowice: KA, KT, KB, KC, KD, KX
Kielce: KI, KE, KJ
Konin: KN, KM, KF
Koszalin: KO, KG, KY
Kraków (Cracow): KR, KK, KW, KV
Krosno: KS, KU, KH
Legnica: LG, LC, LI
Leszno: LE, LS, LN
Lublin: LU, LL, LB
Łomża: LO, LM, LA
Łódź: LD, LZ, LF, LW
Nowy Sącz: NS, NO, NA
Olsztyn: OL, ON, OT
Opole: OP, OE, OD
Ostrołęka: OS, OK, OR
Piła: PI, PA, PY
Piotrków Tryb.: PT, PK, PU
Płock: PL, PC, PB
Poznań: PO, PN, PZ, PW
Przemyśl: PR, PM, PE
Radom: RA, RO, RD
Rzeszów: RZ, RE, RW
Siedlce: SE, SD, ST
Sieradz: SI, SA, SB
Skierniewice: SK, SN, SF
Słupsk: SL, SP, SG
Suwałki: SU, SW, SO
Szczecin: SZ, SC, SM
Tarnobrzeg: TG, TB, TE
Tarnów: TA, TN, TW
Toruń: TO, TU, TY
Wałbrzych: WB, WY, WH
Warsaw: WA, WS, WI, WU, WG, WF, WX, WZ, WM, WT, WP, WV
Włocławek: WL, WK, WE
Wrocław: WR, WO, WC, WW
Zamość: ZA, ZM, ZC
Zielona Góra: ZG, ZE, ZN

The following codes were used for special forces:
Militia/Police: MO
Military: U
Border Guard: HW
"Nadwislanskie" Troops of the Interior Ministry: HN
Foreigner plates (in green background): I
Test plates (in red background): X

Special plates:
Diplomatic: XY 12 345, The first two numbers are denoting the region of ambassador (e.g. 02 - Germany) and blue background.
Temporary: X 12 34 56, with yellow font.

2000–present
Since the year 2000 Polish car plates have black letters pressed onto white reflective blanks with an EU stripe and country code. The switch was made to conform with other EU countries and to increase visibility. The licence plates issued until May 1, 2006, bear a Polish national flag. Plates issued after that date have the 12 EU stars instead of the flag.

See also
 European license plates

References

External links

 Reference aid for looking up Polish registrations issued between 1976-2000 (Mac OS X)
 Details about plates in Warsaw

Road transport in Poland
Poland
Poland transport-related lists
 Registration plates

Vehicle registration plates of Poland


Eileen Malone (August 16, 1906 – 1999) was an American harpist and music educator.

Life and career
Malone was born in Victor, New York, and studied harp at Eastman School of Music, graduating in 1928. She continued her studies at the Paris Conservatoire with Marcel Tournier and at the Juilliard School with Marcel Grandjany. In 1930 she joined the faculty of Eastman's Preparatory Department and in 1936 became a Professor of Harp at Eastman School of Music.

She continued to teach at Eastman until her retirement in 1989. She performed widely as a harpist and served for forty-three years as principal harpist for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, also performing on a number of recordings. In 1962 Malone was a founding member of the American Harp Society, and served on the board of directors from 1967–73 and from 1977–81.

After her retirement, Malone worked to foster music in the public schools. She died after a stroke at age 92. A memorial scholarship was established at Eastman in her name. Notable students include Patrizia Tassini, harpist/composer Jessica Suchy-Pilalis, and Gretchen Van Hoesen (principle harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra).

Honors and awards
 Honorary doctorate from Nazareth College, 1992
 Musician of the Year, Rochester Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon, 1985
 Fanfare Award from the Rochester Philharmonic League, 1991

References

1906 births
1999 deaths
American harpists
Eastman School of Music alumni
Juilliard School alumni
Eastman School of Music faculty
20th-century American musicians
People from Victor, New York

Eileen Malone


Glenn Charles Adams (born October 4, 1947) is an American former designated hitter and corner outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, and Toronto Blue Jays in a career spanning eight seasons.

Amateur career
Adams attended and played college baseball at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1967, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star. Adams was the first-round pick in the 1968 amateur draft of the Houston Astros (fourth pick overall).

Professional career
After four seasons in the Astros minor league system, Adams reached AAA but was released in January 1972. He missed the 1972 season but signed with the San Francisco Giants after the 1972 season ended. He remained in the minor leagues for two more seasons, and ended up breaking into the major leagues with the Giants in 1975.

Adams played on the bay through the end of the 1976 season, after which he signed with the Minnesota Twins. He spent five seasons with Minnesota, hitting .338 in 1977 and .301 in 1979. After the 1981 season, he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays organization.  He opened the season with the AAA Syracuse Chiefs, before getting called up to the Blue Jays on July 30.  He played the rest of the season for Toronto, retiring at the conclusion of the year.  During his career, Adams appeared in 373 games as a designated hitter and 145 games as an outfielder.

References

External links

1947 births
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Baseball players from Worcester County, Massachusetts
Living people
Major League Baseball left fielders
Springfield Pride baseball players
San Francisco Giants players
Minnesota Twins players
Toronto Blue Jays players
Syracuse Chiefs players
Savannah Senators players
Phoenix Giants players
Columbus Astros players
Oklahoma City 89ers players
Peninsula Astros players
Greensboro Patriots players
Harwich Mariners players
Minor league baseball managers
People from Northbridge, Massachusetts

Glenn Adams


Prince Christian of Hesse (; ) (14 August 1776 – 14 November 1814) was a German prince and member of the House of Hesse-Kassel. As a son of the Danish Field Marshal Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Louise of Denmark, he was a member of the extended Danish Royal Family and spent his entire life in Denmark.

Early life
Prince Christian was born at Gottorp Castle, Schleswig as the third son of Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel, royal governor of the twin duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and Princess Louise of Denmark, herself a daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark.

As a member of the extended Danish Royal Family, Christian was destined for a military career in Denmark from a young age. He was appointed Colonel in 1783, Major General in 1789 and in 1790 Commander of a Regiment. In 1803 he was appointed knight of the Order of the Elephant. In 1805 he was put in charge of a cavalry brigade in Holstein, and as such accompanied his cousin King Frederick VI of Denmark to Copenhagen. In 1808 he assisted in suppressing the unrest of the Spanish auxiliary troops in Roskilde and was appointed Lieutenant General the following year. In 1809 he was appointed commanding General on the island of Funen. Finally, in 1812 he was made a General in the cavalry.

Engagement
In September 1812, Christian was engaged to his niece, Princess Caroline of Denmark, daughter of King Frederick VI of Denmark and Christian's sister, Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel.

Death
Already at the time of his engagement, Prince Christian was weakened. A year after the engagement, he suffered a breakdown in Odense Palace. Shortly after it became clear that he was mentally ill, suffering from frequent fits. He died on 14 November 1814 at the age of 38 in Odense Palace, Denmark. He was buried in the Church of Saint John in Odense, but in 1862 his remains were transferred to Schleswig Cathedral.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

1776 births
1814 deaths
House of Hesse-Kassel
Danish generals
Danish military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Prince Christian of Hesse


Ernest Richard Kouma (November 23, 1919 – December 19, 1993) was a soldier in the United States Army during World War II and the Korean War. He rose to the rank of master sergeant and received the Medal of Honor for his actions on August 31 and September 1, 1950, during the Second Battle of Naktong Bulge in South Korea.

Born in Nebraska, Kouma grew up on a family farm before enlisting in the Army in 1940. Kouma served as a tank commander during World War II, seeing combat in Germany with the 9th Armored Division from 1944 to 1945. After that war, Kouma served as part of the occupation force in South Korea and Japan.

On the outbreak of the Korean War, Kouma commanded an M26 Pershing tank in the 2nd Infantry Division. While fighting during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter along the Naktong River, Kouma commanded his tank as it single-handedly fended off repeated North Korean attempts to cross the river after units around it had withdrawn. Wounded twice, Kouma killed 250 North Korean troops in this action.

After receiving the medal, Kouma served as a recruiter and remained in the Army for 31 years, retiring in 1971. He lived in Kentucky until his death, and is buried in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Biography
Ernest Richard Kouma was born on November 23, 1919, in Dwight, Nebraska, to a farming family. He spent much of his early life on the family farm before enlisting in the United States Army in June 1940.

World War II
When the United States entered World War II, Kouma was trained as an armor crewman. He was assigned to the 9th Armored Division. The division landed in Normandy late in September 1944 and moved to the front lines on October 23. Its first mission was patrol duty in a quiet sector along the Luxembourg-German frontier. When the Germans launched their winter offensive, the 9th Armored Division was quickly involved in the Battle of the Bulge with next to no experience. The division saw very heavy action at St. Vith, Echternach and Bastogne, its units, unprepared to counter the offensive, fighting in widely separated areas.

The 9th Armored Division made a stand at Bastogne and held off the Germans long enough to enable the 101st Airborne Division to dig in for a defense of the city, resulting in the Battle of Bastogne. After a rest period in January 1945, the 9th Armored Division made preparations for a drive across the Roer River. The offensive was launched on February 28, and the unit smashed across the Roer to Rheinbach, sending patrols into Remagen. The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen was found intact, and was seized by elements of the 9th Armored minutes before demolition charges were set to explode on March 7, 1945. The division exploited the bridgehead, moving south and east across the Lahn River toward Limburg, where thousands of Allied prisoners were liberated. The division drove on to Frankfurt and then turned to assist in the closing of the Ruhr Pocket. In April, it continued east, encircled Leipzig and secured a line along the Mulde River. The division was shifting south to Czechoslovakia when the war in Europe ended on V-E Day in May 1945.

Following the end of the war, Kouma decided to stay in the Army. He was moved to South Korea for occupation duties before being moved to Japan for the post-war occupation of that country. Eventually, Kouma was assigned as a tank commander in A Company, 72nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, which was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. By this time, he had a home in Penobscot County, Maine, when he was not at Fort Lewis.

Korean War
Following the outbreak of war between North Korea and South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United States mobilized a large contingent of troops to send into the beleaguered country. Initially, units occupying Japan were sent, but forces were eventually dispatched from the United States. In August 1950, Kouma, who was then a sergeant first class, sailed for Korea along with much of the 2nd Infantry Division. It arrived there in late August and was moved into the line at the Pusan Perimeter, where American troops were holding a tight defensive line around the port city of Pusan.

The North Korean People's Army, meanwhile, was preparing for a September offensive by capturing the Miryang and Samnangjin areas to cut off the 2nd Division's route of supply and withdrawal between Daegu and Busan. However, the North Koreans were unaware that the 2nd Infantry Division had recently replaced the 24th Infantry Division in positions along the Naktong River. Consequently, they expected lighter resistance; the troops of the 24th were exhausted from months of fighting, but the men of the 2nd Division were fresh and newly arrived in Korea. They had only established their lines shortly before the North Koreans began their attack. The North Koreans began crossing the Naktong River under cover of darkness at certain points. On the southernmost flank of the US 9th Infantry Regiment river line, just above the junction of the Nam River with the Naktong, A Company of the 1st Battalion was dug in on a long finger ridge paralleling the Naktong that terminates in Hill 94 at the Kihang ferry site. The river road from Namji-ri running west along the Naktong passes the southern tip of this ridge and crosses to the west side of the river at the ferry. A small village called Agok lay at the base of Hill 94 and  from the river. A patrol of tanks and armored vehicles, together with two infantry squads of A Company, 9th Infantry, held a roadblock near the ferry and close to Agok. On the evening of August 31, A Company moved from its ridge positions overlooking Agok and the river to new positions along the river below the ridge line.

Medal of Honor action

That evening, Kouma led the patrol of two M26 Pershing tanks and two M19 Gun Motor Carriages in Agok, along the Naktong River. Kouma placed his patrol on the west side of Agok near the Kihang ferry. At 20:00, a heavy fog covered the river, and at 22:00 mortar shells began falling on the American-held side of the river. By 22:15, this strike intensified and North Korean mortar preparation struck A Company's positions. American mortars and artillery began responding with counter-battery fire. Some of A Company's men reported hearing noises on the opposite side of the river and splashes in the water.

At 22:30, the fog lifted and Kouma saw that a North Korean pontoon bridge was being laid across the river directly in front of his position. Kouma's four vehicles attacked this structure, with Kouma manning the M2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun atop the tank. As the gunner fired the tank's main cannon, Kouma sank many of the boats attempting to cross the river with his machine gun. At 23:00, a small arms fight flared around the left side of A Company north of the tanks. This gunfire had lasted only two or three minutes when the A Company roadblock squads near the tanks heard over the field telephone that the company was withdrawing and that they should do likewise. Kouma instead opted to act as a rearguard to cover the infantry. He was wounded shortly thereafter in the foot reloading the tank's ammunition. He quickly fought off another North Korean attack across the river with his machine gun.

Kouma's force was then ambushed by a group of North Koreans dressed in US military uniforms. Kouma was wounded a second time, in the shoulder, as he beat back repeated North Korean crossings with his machine gun. Several strong attacks came within meters of the tank, but Kouma was able to drive them back despite his wounds. Eventually, the other three vehicles withdrew or were neutralized, and Kouma held the Agok crossing site until 07:30 the next morning with just his tank. At one point, the tank was surrounded and Kouma had to engage the North Koreans from outside the tank with machine gun fire at point blank range. After the tank gun's ammunition was expended, Kouma used his pistol and grenades to hold off the North Koreans. The tank then withdrew  to the newly established American lines, destroying three North Korean machine gun positions along the way. During his action, Kouma had killed an estimated 250 North Korean troops. His actions in this fight alone surpassed the highly decorated US Army soldier Audie Murphy, who was credited with 240 kills during World War II, and who had been the second most decorated US soldier in the war. His single-handed heroic battle may have served as a seed for the fictional  WWII movie, Fury (2014 film).

Once he returned to his unit, Kouma attempted to resupply his tank and return to the front lines. Instead, the wounded Kouma was ordered to evacuate for medical treatment. As he was being evacuated, Kouma again requested to return to the front lines.

Subsequent career and retirement
Kouma was returned to duty three days later. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to master sergeant, and evacuated to the United States to be presented with the Medal of Honor. Originally, Kouma had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, but that award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

On May 19, 1951, Kouma was presented the Medal of Honor by US President Harry S. Truman in a ceremony at the White House. He got his medal alongside Carl Dodd and John Pittman, two other 2nd Infantry Division soldiers who were awarded the medal. Afterward, Kouma served as a recruiter in Omaha, Nebraska. Kouma then spent the remainder of the Korean War as a tank gunnery instructor for the US Army Armor School at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Following the end of the war, Kouma remained in the Army. He served a second tour of duty as a recruiter, and then two tours as a tank commander, first at a unit in Fort Carson, Colorado, and then with a second unit in Germany. Though he remained in the Army for 31 years, Kouma did not see combat after his time in Korea.

Kouma retired in 1971 at the age of 52, and lived a quiet life in McDaniels, Kentucky, after retirement.

Kouma died on December 19, 1993, and was buried in the Fort Knox post cemetery. The Tank Platoon Gunnery Excellence competition at Fort Knox was subsequently named in Kouma's honor. There is also a dining facility named in his honor at Fort Knox on Eisenhower Road and a dining facility at Fort Benning.

Awards and decorations
Kouma was decorated several times during World War II. His decorations included the following medals:

Medal of Honor citation
Kouma, along with Dodd and Pittman, were the first soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor in the Korean War who were present for the presentation of their medals. It was reported the other nine soldiers who were awarded the medal, were done so posthumously. Unbeknownst to the public, Major General William F. Dean, who had been awarded the medal for actions in the Battle of Taejon, was actually a prisoner of war in North Korea.

See also

List of Medal of Honor recipients
List of Korean War Medal of Honor recipients

Citations

Notes

References

Sources

External links

1919 births
1993 deaths
United States Army soldiers
Korean War recipients of the Medal of Honor
United States Army Medal of Honor recipients
United States Army personnel of World War II
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
People from Butler County, Nebraska

Ernest R. Kouma


Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico (commonly referred to as simply Total Overdose) is an open world third-person shooter video game developed by Deadline Games and published by SCi Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game received generally mixed reviews, with the combat often being praised while the graphics and storyline were frequently criticized.

Synopsis

Plot
In 1989, Ernesto Cruz, a deep-cover DEA agent, leads a troop of DEA agents against a militia in a jungle to take some information on Papa Muerte. After the attack, Ernesto is thrown from a plane and killed: his C.O. Colonel Trust believes it's a drug overdose. Ernesto's son Tommy, a high-ranking DEA agent, goes to Mexico and finds Marco, who is his primary contact with Morales Cartel. Tommy destroys a Virgillo gang convoy and their gas station but is seriously wounded by a grenade explosion. With no alternative, Tommy calls his younger brother Ramiro, an imprisoned criminal, to take the job.

Ramiro saves Marco from a group of Virgillos who want to kill him because he was winning too much in the game of poker and Marco refers him to Cesar Morales, a local gang boss who had bragged of knowing Ernesto's murderer. Morales sends Ramiro to steal the Virgillo's prized car, only to blow it up. Afterwards, Ramiro is enlisted the task of recovering three stolen trucks that will be used for Morales's trafficking deal. Ramiro successfully steals the trucks, as well as blowing up the Virgillos' ship. Morales's chauffeur Angel overhears Ramiro talking to Tommy, and finds out his identity. Ramiro then accompanies the trucks through Virgillo country, enabling the trucks to pass through: he hides in one of the trucks and follows them to Morales' meat factory. Ramiro opens the gate for the DEA agents, but Morales, aware of his plan, ambushes them: Ramiro narrowly escapes with the help of Angel, who is revealed to be a Mexican undercover police officer. Ramiro infiltrates a meeting of the Virgillos in which he finds out that Morales was just a puppet with someone pulling the strings.

Ramiro engages and dispatches Morales' henchmen, finally killing Morales, obtaining a letter from Morales' safe. He finds out that the letter was sent to Morales by a man named PM (probably Papa Muerte). The letter said that PM's DEA informant The Eagle had forewarned him of the DEA ambush. PM had supplied Morales' men with weapons and artillery through Elvez Autos. Ramiro infiltrates Elvez Autos and finds a bunch of papers depicting coffins and enough ammunition for a small army: he infiltrates Elvez's Villa through the sea and finds bodies of DEA agent Pierson and the other agents in coffins. Interrogating Elvez, Ramiro learns that Papa Muerte had ordered him to supply Cesar Morales with guns to get rid of the DEA agents; General Montanez was to deliver the payment and had done so. Ramiro kills Elvez and escapes the villa with the police and the military in pursuit.

Ramiro then goes to the jungle to Montanez's military base, extracting information about Papa Muerte and the DEA spy. Ram engages and kills Montanez, escaping the jungle. Trust finds out that Papa Muerte had planned to sneak into the DEA and steal the contraband cocaine which the DEA had seized, leaving a bomb to cover their tracks. Ramiro waits at Angel's apartment for extraction, only to find Papa Muerte's henchmen trying to kill him: meanwhile, Agent Johnson reveals himself as the Eagle and induces Tommy and Trust with a lethal drug overdose, although Tommy is able to patch Ramiro in to hear that Johnson had kidnapped Angel and killed their father. Ramiro returns to the DEA, fighting through Muerte's henchmen to save Tommy and Trust with an antidote while Johnson escapes on an armored train with Angel. Using a locomotive to carry the bomb away, Ramiro pursues and boards Johnson's train. Johnson, separating the coaches from the engine, battles Ramiro until Trust sends air support to destroy a canyon bridge ahead: Ramiro rescues Angel, and they jump over the broken rail on a dirtbike as the train falls into the canyon, dragging a trapped Johnson to his doom.

Gameplay

Total Overdose is a third-person shooter open world action/adventure game. Players assume control of Ramiro, Tommy and Ernesto. The most playable character in the game is Ramiro, while Tommy and Ernesto can be played only in the two beginning missions. The game parodies Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy. Throughout the game, players can run and dive and have the ability to use weapons including shotguns, rifles, handguns and rocket launchers. While outside the missions the player can explore the open world of the game, but some regions will be available only during certain missions. The game features cheap and special cars. The special cars include "Conquistador", Orange Dirtbike, Purple and Flame Pickup, Tow Truck, DEA and Military SUVs. Players have the ability to shot dodge, during which the player dives in any direction with a slow motion effect. This move gives players more accuracy in shooting enemies in combat. Loco moves are special attacks which players can pick up by scoring large numbers of points and combo kills. These moves can be used for eliminating heavy and a group of enemies. Players can perform seven different kinds of loco moves: Golden Gun, Tornado, El Toro, El Mariachi, Sombrero of Death, Explosive Piñata and Mad Wrestler/Mysterioso.

Reception

Total Overdose received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Cancelled sequel
A sequel was originally planned named Total Overdose 2: Tequila Gunrise. It would have featured the entire map of Mexico, but was cancelled after Eidos Interactive pulled out of it.

See also
 Chili Con Carnage

Notes

References

External links
 Official website

2005 video games
Deadline Games games
Open-world video games
Organized crime video games
PlayStation 2 games
RenderWare games
SCi Games games
Single-player video games
Video games about police officers
Video games about the illegal drug trade
Video games developed in Denmark
Video games set in 1989
Video games set in Mexico
Video games with time manipulation
Windows games
Works about Mexican drug cartels
Xbox games

Total Overdose