THIS IS SURRATTS FOUNDATION E-NOTICE 2011-2 OF FEBRUARY 1, 2011

Hello Hornets:

Here are some items that might be of interest:

1.  ACHIEVEMENT AWARD NOMINEES SOUGHT.  This is the time of year when the Foundation Board seeks nominees for the Foundation's annual Achievement Awards.  Photos and bios of past years' absolutely outstanding Achievement Award recipients can be found on the Foundation's web site at http://www.surrattsville.org/achievement/index.shtml.  If you know of a member of the Surrattsville community who you would like to nominate for a 2010 Award, please send me an email at hsmith@smithdowney.com.

2.  MEMORIES OF MARLOW HEIGHTS, CON’T.   We received this frank (and funny!) email in response to our stories about Marlow Heights memories in the most recent e-Notice:  “Hi Henry:  After reading the "Marlow Heights Saga" it reminded me that where Iverson Mall is now used to be the ball field for the Silver Hill Boy's Club.  At the time, around 1958 or 1959, I think, I still lived in Kentland.  We played the Silver Hill team there.  The field was located at what is now Iverson Street and Branch Avenue.  It was just a sandlot ball field with a backstop, and very dusty.  It was not one of my most memorable games in right field, and there were no bathroom facilities.  Yes, it happened: the game was too long for my bladder.  I was glad the uniforms were a cream color. A few years later we moved to Clinton.  Also, although I’m not sure of the year, we played the Morningside Boys' Club in a little league baseball lot across from AFB at what is now the intersection of Allentown Road and Maxwell Drive.  Again, just a backstop and a lot of dust.  The main attraction for me in Marlow Heights was the Jr. Hot Shoppe. I loved that two-napkin – or, for us guys, one long sleeve shirt -- Royal Burger.  Be safe out there gang.  Ed McMahan (66)”

And Wayne Coryell and Mike Johnson (77) sent this interesting link to the past: http://www.marlowheights60sand70s.com.

[Ed Note:  We realize that our less-senior readers might not appreciate that, for many of our readers, Marlow Heights was "the big city" when they were growing up out in the boondocks of Clinton.  As I recall, one had to go either to Marlow Heights or District Heights to find the nearest "shopping center" to Clinton.]

3.    SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT HONORED BY FASHION WORLD.  We just learned that Foundation scholarship recipient Brene Carrington (07) won a contest called "Pantene Woman" sponsored by Ebony Magazine, and recently visited Chicago for her official photo shoot.  A Pantene ad featuring Brene's photos will appear in the April edition of Ebony.  Congratulations, Brene!

4.  64 BOOMERANG SOUGHT.  Elliott Jones (64) is looking for a copy of the 1964 Boomering.  Please contact Elliott at ejones9265@yahoo.com if you have any information that might be helpful.

5.  MARY SURRATT MOVIE SET TO OPEN APRIL 15.  This interesting article by Jonathan Crow appeared last month on yahoo.com:

"Redford Talks About 'The Conspirator'."  Robert Redford's latest movie, "The Conspirator," stars James McAvoy and Robin Wright and tackles an overlooked footnote of American history: the case of Mary Surratt, the first woman ever executed by the federal government.

"It's a story that's not really been told," he told me during the Sundance Film Festival. "Very few people know about what this story's about, and yet the story is connected to one of the greatest events in our history, the assassination of Lincoln."  The movie is a legal potboiler set during the uneasy days following the surrender of the Confederacy.  Screenwriter James Solomon spent 14 years researching the story, pulling much of the dialogue from actual trial transcripts.  That historical accuracy was critically important to Redford, who previously directed such period films as "A River Runs Through It" and "Quiz Show."

"You have to be authentic," Redford said. "There's no way I can go into something like this without knowing that the facts I had assembled to tell the story were accurate."  As you no doubt learned in grade school, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by famed actor John Wilkes Booth in a box seat at Ford's Theatre.  Booth was eventually tracked down and killed in a burning barn in Virginia.  In the aftermath of the assassination, the government rounded up scores of suspects. Eight people were ultimately tried and convicted in a military tribunal.  One was Mary Surratt, whose son was Booth's right-hand man and who ran a boarding house where Booth and company met to plan the attack.

Whether or not Surratt was part of the conspiracy has long been the subject of historical debate. "There was no guarantee she was involved. They were not able to prove it," said Redford. "She was stoic in the defense of herself. And they put her in a military tribunal, which should have been a civic trial."  Enter Frederick Aiken, a decorated Union officer. Through politics, fate, and dumb luck, he ended up with the career-killing assignment of representing one of the most hated people in America.  "The story was about this man having to defend this woman he didn't want to defend, who went from not wanting to have anything to do with it to totally believing that this was an unjust situation. That to me is what the film's about," said Redford.

The lengths to which the government went to ensure a conviction were, even in this post-9/11 world, shocking. There were patently partial judges at the tribunal, flagrant jury tampering, and ultimately a presidential directive.  Was Redford conscious of any resonances between this historical case and modern-day America when he made the movie?  Redford grew cagey.   "This is tricky territory. When I got the script, I thought, uh oh. There are obvious parallels with how this country is today. We're not making something up here to make a political point. It's there. It's up to the audience to find it and say 'Wow, how have we progressed?  Have we?  Or are we repeating ourselves?' But I can't talk about that."

(A trailer for the film can be seen at http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/495-redford-talks-about-the-conspirator.  Some of the rural scenery looks awfully familiar, but the pronunciation of "Sir –Ott" sounds a bit odd to Hornet ears!)

6.  SEEKING LOST HORNETS.  Dick Duke (47) is trying to get in touch with members of the Classes of 46, 47 and 48.  Please contact Dick at 734-769-0467, or dickduke@umich.edu, if you have any info that might be helpful.