APRIL 29 — 1992 LAPD get off punishment for beating Rodney King; 1998 Ed Brassard lights up world record for largest matchbook collection; 1776 Nate Greene takes command of Long Island
APRIL 29
1992-Three out of four white police officers for the LAPD
…were acquitted for the beating of Rodney king. My goodness what a mess that was.
On March 3, 1991, King was stopped by police after a high speed chase and was severely beaten. A local witness videotaped much of it from his balcony and sent the footage to a local station, and when the nation saw five police officers surrounding King, anger over racial tension were ignited.
The jury consisted of 10 whites, one Hispanic, and one Filipino, made their announcement on April 29th, and the South Central L.A. instantly lit up in flames. For three days the riots and arson ensued, finally requiring military force. The acquittal also led to the federal government’s obtaining grand jury indictments for violations of King’s civil rights, and two of the officers were found guilty and then I imprisoned.
For the remainder of his life, Rodney King continued to get in trouble with law enforcement for driving while intoxicated, hitting his wife with his car, and more violations of reckless driving and failing to stop for police officers.
In May 2008, King checked himself into rehab and was filmed as a cast member of TV show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and Sober House. He won a celebrity boxing match against a police officer in 2009, and eventually died in the bottom of his pool. The autopsy showed the cause of drowning may have been induced by alcohol, cocain, marijuana, and PCP found in his system.
1863 – Happy Birthday, The Chief. William Randolph Hearst,
…perfector of yellow journalism. His dad George was a wealthy miner in San Francisco. William went to private schools and toured Europe, and later went to Harvard where he was expelled for huge beer parties and sending pudding pots used as chamber pots to his professors, with their images depicted within the bowls.
He was inspired by The New York World newspaper and its publisher, Joseph Pulitzer. Through his wealthy father, William started running The San Francisco Examiner newspaper to promote his political career. He hired writers such as Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, and Jack London. He filled his newspaper with half truths and sensationalism and it was a big hit. He purchased New York Journal, both Morning and Evening, and eventually took the New York newspaper market away from Pulitzer.
Hearst is well known for convincing America to go to war with Spain in the late 1890s. He got into politics but couldn’t get elected for anything higher than House of Representatives. These days, his giant California castle is a State Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark, open for public tours. If you haven’t been already, I suggest you check it out.
1998 – Philumenist Ed Brassard burns the world’s record of matchbook collecting, and he has yet been unable to meet his “match”.
Del Mar in SoCal, 17 year old Ed Brassard decided matchbook collecting was cheaper than stamp collecting, and off he went. Smoke em if you got em! 3,259,119 books that would equal 40 miles if each match were lined up end to end. Ed is certainly far from being the only philuemenist or lover of light as they are called. The San Diego chapter of AMCAL, or Association of Match cover Clubs of California has lit up with over 100 members, of which Brassard is part.
Strikingly (see what I did there) the club has met once a year for the last 57 years and show off their books and covers. Brassard, a technician at General Atomics in La Jolla CA, has been to 44 countries just to get matchbooks. He once almost got hit by a truck running in the middle of the street to pick up a matchbook on the ground. Whatever lights his fire, right? He went to Yosemite just to get a matchbook. Why? Because his favorite category of matches is national landmarks.
I imagine it’s a beautiful set Brassard has.
Actually, my parents have a matchbook collection from a long time ago, the coolest one I recall seeing is one that said I Like Ike. But getting back to Brassard. He’s never really been a smoker; he says he just likes the matches. The era of 1920-1940 has the best matchbooks he states, and one of his personal favorites is a wooden block from 1862 that split into sticks that were dipped in Sulphur and phosphorous.
Because of the waning popularity of smoking, matches have not become easier to find, in fact toothpick collection has become somewhat of a replacement. But that only makes the matches of the past more luxurious and enjoyable.
1776-Nathanial Greene takes command of Long Island.
And he held onto it for a few months until August when the British easily came in and took it back. Greene would later take command in the Southern Campoaign, where he forced British general Charles Cornwallis to abandon the Carolinas and head for Virginia. Greene. These days, America has cities, counties and parks named in honor of Nathanial Greene.