Armed Forces Day

Today is Armed Forces Day.

Curiously, Armed Forces Day seems over the years to have diminished in importance. There may be several reasons for that. It's on a Saturday, not a Monday, so people aren't as aware of it as they used to be. Then as security has gotten tighter, many military installations which formerly opened their doors to the public on Armed Forces Day either no longer do so, or do so with conditions and restrictions. Another factor is that with the increased use of the National Guard and the Reserves, communities are more engaged with the military than they were in the 1960's. And on the other hand, increased Reserve and Guard deployments mean that personnel who were once available for the displays and events of the day are no longer available.

As a kid, I lived at a semi-secret atomic weapons base on the southeast edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nearby was Kirtland Air Force Base, which hosted the region's Armed Forces Day celebrations. The gates of Kirtland were opened to the community and numerous static displays of aircraft were available to inspect. There usually was an air show, featuring the U.S. Air Force Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds. In those days, the Thunderbirds flew the F-100D SuperSabre, which I thought was the coolest airplane I'd ever seen.

The air shows and static displays had their intended effect on me: I was motivated to join the Air Force and I did.

If you missed Armed Forces Day this year, check it out next year. Go and mingle with military folks and find out what they're all about, especially if there are none in your neighborhood.

"Open" State Vital Records: The Bad and the Ugly

One of Several Posts about Open Government Laws and Genealogy

Previously, we spotlighted several states that are particularly "genealogy-friendly" concerning access to state vital records. Now we wade into the swamp of vital records-access horribles.

At the edge of the swamp are states that have unreasonably long (100 years or more for birth records; more than fifty years for death records; or any period for ordinary marriages and divorces) confidentiality periods. These states include:

• Alabama: 125 years for birth records!

• Alaska: 100 years for birth records; fifty years for marriage records

• Arkansas: 100 years for birth records

• Delaware: 100 years for birth records

• Hawaii: 75 years for death and marriage records

• Idaho: 100 years for birth records; 50 years for marriage and divorce records

• Iowa: 75 years for death, marriage and divorce records; even then, records are simply open for inspection and copying; no copies issued by the state except to persons of a certain relationship.

• Louisiana: 100 years for birth records

• Michigan: 100 years for birth records (on the other hand, anyone can have access to Michigan death records).

• New Jersey: 50 years for marriage records

• New Mexico: 100 years for birth records, but not prior to individual's death (but see below).
  

• New York: 50 years for marriage records AND both husband and wife are known to be deceased.

• Oregon: 100 years for birth records

• Rhode Island: 100 years for birth records

• Wyoming: 50 years for marriages and divorces

Vital Records Access Hell

• Georgia: Birth certificates appear to be available only to (1) the person whose record of birth is registered; (2) either parent, guardian, or temporary guardian of the person whose record of birth or death is registered; (3) the living legal spouse or next of kin or the legal representative of the person whose record of birth or death is registered; (4) a court of competent jurisdiction upon its order or subpoena; or (5) any governmental agency, state or federal, provided that such certificate shall be needed for official purposes. This is my reading of Georgia Code section 31-10-26(a) & (e). The law appears to prohibit the issuance of informational or uncertified copies of birth certificates and even abstracts or indices of birth records. If I'm reading this incorrectly, will some Georgia genealogist or lawyer please set me straight.

• Indiana: Birth and death records are closed to the public and may be disclosed only (1) to an applicant having a direct interest in the matter recorded; (2) when the information is necessary for the determination of personal or property rights or for compliance with state or federal law; or (3) in any extraordinary case that the state registrar determines is a direct tangible and legitimate public interest. That's my interpretation of Indiana Code section 16-37-1-10. If I'm reading this incorrectly, will some Indiana genealogist or lawyer please set me straight.
  

• Kansas: One of the worst! "Currently, the Office of Vital Statistics does allow requests for genealogical research. Pre-1940 records may be requested by an individual related as at least a cousin. Post 1940 records must be requested by an immediate family member." Kansas Department of Health and Environment vital statistics website (viewed 3/27/2008)
  

• Mississippi: "Vital Records are not considered public access documents. Certified copies of records in the custody of the Department of Health may be obtained by persons having a legitimate and tangible interest in such records." Mississippi State Department of Health Vital Records Rules and Regulations (viewed 3/27/2008). The statute says:
• Records in the possession of the Mississippi Department of Health, bureau of vital statistics, which would be of no legitimate and tangible interest to a person making a request for access to such records, shall be exempt from the provisions of the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983; provided, however, nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any person with a legitimate and tangible interest in such records from having access thereto. Miss.Code 1972, 41-57-2 (1983).
  

• New Mexico: "New Mexico Vital Records are restricted access records and are only issued to immediate family members or individuals who demonstrate tangible legal interest," so says the New Mexico Department of Health's website. But, that seems to contradict the statute, which says that records may be disclosed 100 years after birth (but not before person's death) and 50 years after death. See N.M.Stat. 24-14-27. So the Land of Enchantment makes the hell list not only for being unreasonable, but for confusing people as well.

• Pennsylvania: Vital records are not open to the public. Eligible requestors are (1) person named on a birth record; (2) legal representative of decedent's estate; (3) immediate family members; (4) extended family members who indicate a direct relationship to the decedent. Pennsylvania Department of Health vital records website (viewed 3/27/2008).
  

• South Carolina: Entitled recipients: (1) the person named on a birth certificate (if eighteen (18) years of age); (2) the parent(s) named on the birth certificate; or the guardian, or a legal representative of one of these persons. On the other hand, any applicant may be provided a statement that a death occurred, including the date and county of death. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control vital records website (viewed 3/27/2008).

There are several states (some listed here, some not) that say that records are open to persons with "a direct and tangible interest," or a "legitimate interest," or words to that effect. Without some mitigating factors, this should be enough to consign a state to Vital Records Access Hell. These phrases frequently have no definition, leaving a requestor to the whims of a vital records clerk. It certainly seems to me that genealogical research is a "legitimate," "direct," or "tangible" interest!

Special Place in Hell for Online Records Sites

This series has not been focused on online records. A state can earn kudos without having online acess to its records. But if a jurisdiction is going to have on-line access, it should be convenient and affordable. Alas, such is not the case with the Caddo Parish (La.) Clerk of Court's office, so they are awarded this year's SPIHFORS. The Caddo clerk's online marriage records search function frequently doesn't work properly. And then there's the matter of fees for the other databases: a $100 "setup" fee and $30.00 a month to view images! Outrageous! Just about fifty miles west of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish, in Gregg County, Texas (much smaller in population than Caddo Parish), the County Clerk provides free online access to some of the same types of documents for which Caddo wants exorbitant fees.

Good-bye to A Great Friend

The Albuquerque Tribune died yesterday after a long illness. It was 86 years old. The Tribune was born in 1922 as Magee's Independent, a weekly sheet. Its midwife and first editor was an Oklahoma City transplant named Carlton Cole Magee (1873-1946). Magee was a lawyer who later invented the parking meter.

Magee went after government corruption aggressively. He wrote a column called "Turning On the Light." His editorial slogan, accompanied by a lighthouse logo, was "Give light and the people will find their own way." Soon after founding the paper, Magee wrote about corruption on the part of Interior Secretary Albert Bacon Fall. Secretary Fall had been one of New Mexico's first two U.S. senators. The subsequent investigations rocked President Warren G. Harding's administration as the Teapot Dome Scandal. Fall resigned and went to prison for accepting a bribe. [Ironically, Magee had purchased his first newspaper, The Albuquerque Morning Journal, from Fall!]

In 1923, Magee changed his paper's name to The New Mexico State Tribune and sold it to the E.W. Scripps Company. Magee remained as editor.

In 1933, the paper was renamed The Albuquerque Tribune. That same year, in the midst of the Depression, the Tribune and its rival, The Albuquerque Journal, created an innovative joint operating agreement (JOA) by which certain of their business operations were merged, but the papers remained editorially separate. This arrangement was the first of its sort in the nation; over the decades, a number of newspapers have had their lives extended, if not saved, by JOAs modeled on "The Albuquerque Plan."

I got to know The Tribune in 1961, when my family moved to Albuquerque. My father, an Army officer but newspaper man at heart (his degree was in journalism), subscribed to both of Albuquerque's major newspapers. The Journal, edited by the father of my schoolmate Mary Beth Brown, was the morning paper; The Tribune was the evening paper.

The Tribune and I got along just fine. My name even appeared in its pages from time to time for various reasons over the last 47 years. In April, 1966, I was a contestant in the Albuquerque City Spelling Bee, sponsored by The Tribune. (Successful contestants--not me--moved on to the National Spelling Bee, sponsored by Scripps-Howard Newspapers, the Tribune's parent company).

I read about these events in The Tribune: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; the Cuban Missile Crisis; Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech;" John Glenn's orbital flight; the murders of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon; and the death of our neighbor, Major John F.
Stoneburner, the first casualty of the Vietnam War connected to New Mexico. I continued to read the paper long after I had left Albuquerque.

The Tribune was one of the few daily papers with a regular genealogy columnist, Mary Penner.
(Others include the Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News [James M. Beidler] and the News-Messenger of Fremont, Ohio [Terry Snyder]).

But when print journalism caught the new media sniffles in the 1970's, afternoon papers caught pneumonia. The Tribune was no exception. Its circulation declined precipitously. The decline continued even after the paper won a 1994 Pulitzer for its story on people injected, without consent, with radioactive plutonium by government scientists. Its website, more accessible than that of the Journal, apparently failed to attract sufficient revenue.

In August of 2007, the Scripps Company put "The Trib," as it had become known in its latter days, up for sale. Its paid subscriber base had fallen to an anemic 9,200 in a metropolitan area of nearly 900,000. A bid by local buyers to acquire the paper failed.

It once was said that newspapers were "the first draft of history." Genealogists appreciate what is meant by this, though we might find a number of other "first drafts." Increasingly, however, electronic media are playing this role, even in genealogy. I'm not sure it's quite as elegant, though.

One little reminder of The Albuquerque Tribune will live on: Carl Magee's slogan, "Give light and the people will find their own way" and a stylized version of The Tribune's lighthouse logo
now appear in in Scripps newspapers, television stations, cable networks, and websites around the world.

Goodnight, great friend.


Lighthouse image copyright The E.W. Scripps Co.

My Trilingual Christmases

Geneablogger footnoteMaven has started a Christmas caroling meme.

I've mentioned before that part of my childhood was spent in Germany. I went to a German school for part of that time and we had a German nanny. I was immersed in the culture and language at an early age. And Christmas in Germany became one of my favorite times and some of my best memories. This my favorite German carol because of its history:

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht

Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
Nur das traute hoch heilige Paar.
Holder Knab' im lockigen Haar,
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh!

2. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb' aus deinem göttlichen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund'.
Jesus in deiner Geburt!

3. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Die der Welt Heil gebracht,
Aus des Himmels goldenen Höhn,
Uns der Gnaden Fülle läßt sehn,
Jesum in Menschengestalt!

4. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Wo sich heut alle Macht
Väterlicher Liebe ergoß,
Und als Bruder huldvoll umschloß
Jesus die Völker der Welt!

5. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Lange schon uns bedacht,
Als der Herr vom Grimme befreit
In der Väter urgrauer Zeit
Aller Welt Schonung verhieß!

6. Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht!
Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Alleluja,
Tönt es laut bei Ferne und Nah:
"Jesus der Retter ist da!"

This one is a close second for my favorite German song of the season, because it was the first one I learned in Germany:

O Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie grün sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie grün sind deine Blätter!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat schon zur Winterszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Dein Kleid will mich was lehren:
Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit
Gibt Mut und Kraft zu jeder Zeit!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Dein Kleid will mich was lehren!

After three years in Germany, the tides of history swept us to New Mexico. A new set of cultural experiences we found there. At the time, Spanish was a required course in the Albuquerque Public Schools. Once again, as a youngster, I was immersed in a foreign language. And once again, Christmas traditions were my favorite.

In New Mexico, the people honored a Mexican tradition called Las Posadas. This is a nine day event celebrated from December 16 to December 24 ("Buena Noche"). Every night, there is a live dramatization of Mary and Joseph's search for lodging in Bethlehem. A couple portraying Mary and Joseph go from house to house for shelter and are turned away, until finally they are admitted. There are songs that go with this dramatization--some of which I remember to this day. The songs are sung by los peregrinos, begging for shelter, and are answered by los hosteleros. At the place where they are finally admitted, there is a great party. One feature of the party usually is la pinata for the children. A pinata is a papier-mache effigy on a string, dangled above the ground. It is filled with candies, fruits, nuts and other goodies. A child who is blindfolded (con los ojos cubiertos) holds a stick (en los manos un baston) and swings at the pinata to break it (ya se romper la pinata). An adult usually controls the location of the pinata by the string. The other children sing cantos para romper la pinata (songs for breaking the pinata).

Los peregrinos:

En el nombre del cielo os pido posada pues no puede andar mi esposa amada.

In the name of Heaven I beg you for lodging, for she cannot walk, my beloved wife.

Los hosteleros:

Aquí no es mesón, sigan adelante. Yo no debo abrir, no sea algún tunante.

This is not an inn so keep going. I cannot open; you may be a rogue.

Los peregrinos:

No seas inhumano, tennos caridad, que el Dios de los cielos te lo premiará.

Don't be inhuman; Have mercy on us.The God of the heavens will reward you for it.

Los hosteleros:

Ya se pueden iry no molestar porque si me enfadoos voy a apalear.

You can go on now and don't bother us, because if I become annoyed I'll give you a thrashing.

Los peregrinos:

Venimos rendidosdesde Nazarét, yo soy carpintero de nombre José.

We are worn out coming from Nazareth. I am a carpenter, Joseph by name.

Los hosteleros:

No me importa el nombre, déjenme dormir, pues que yo les digo que no hemos de abrir.

I don't care about your name: Let me sleep, because I already told you we shall not open up.

Los peregrinos:

Posada te pide, amado casero, por sólo una noche la Reina del Cielo.

I'm asking you for lodging dear man of the house Just for one night for the Queen of Heaven.

Los hosteleros:

Pues si es una reina quien lo solicita, ¿cómo es que de noche anda tan solita?

Well, if it's a queen who solicits it, why is it at night that she travels so alone?

Los peregrinos:

Mi esposa es María, es Reina del Cielo y madre va a serdel Divino Verbo.

My wife is Mary. She's the Queen of Heaven and she's going to be the mother of the Divine Word.

Los hosteleros:

¿Eres tú José? ¿Tu esposa es María? Entren, peregrinos, no los conocía.

Are you Joseph? Your wife is Mary? Enter, pilgrims; I did not recognize you.

Los peregrinos:

Dios pague, señores, vuestra caridad, y que os colme el cielo de felicidad.

May God pay, gentle folks, your charity, and thus heaven heap happiness upon you.

¡Dichosa la casa que alberga este día a la Viren pura.la hermosa María!

Blessed is the house that shelters this day the pure Virgin, the beautiful Mary.

Todos:

Entren, Santos Peregrinos, reciban este rincón, que aunque es pobre la morada, os la doy de corazón.

Enter, holy pilgrims, receive this corner, for though this dwelling is poor, I offer it with all my heart.

Oh, peregrina madre, oh, bellísima María. Yo te ofrezco el alma mía para que tengáis posada.

Oh, graced pilgrim, oh, most beautiful Mary. I offer you my soul so you may have lodging.

Humildes peregrinos Jesús, María y José, el alma doy por ellos,mi corazón también.

Humble pilgrims, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give my soul for them and my heart as well.

Cantemos con alegría todos al considerarque Jesús, José y Maríanos vinieron a honrar.

Let us sing with joy, all bearing in mind that Jesus, Joseph and Mary honor us by having come.

And then on the way to the great party, the throng might sing:

Marchemos cantando
Let us march singing
marchemos cantando
Let us march singing
con gozo y fervor
With joy and fervor
para ir saludando
To go greet
las glorias de Dios!
the Glories of God!

One version of the pinata song is this:

Andale, nino,
No pierdas el tino,
Mide la distancia
Que hay en el camino

Dale, dale, dale,
No pierdas el tino,
porque si lo pierdes
pierdes el camino

No quiero oro
No quiero plata
yo lo que quiero
es romper la piñata

Echen confites
y canelones
pa’ los muchachos
que son muy tragones.

La piñata tiene caca,
tiene caca,
tiene caca,
cacahuates de a montón

Hit, boy!
Don’t lose your aim,
Measure the distance
That’s on the way.

Hit, hit, hit,
Don’t lose your aim,
Because if you lose it,
You lose the way.

I don’t want gold
I don’t want silver
What I want is
To break the piñata

Throw candies
And mints
For the kids
Who are very greedy

The piñata has pee,
Pee,
Pee…
Peanuts by the ton!

After eight years in New Mexico, we moved to Monterey, California. That first Christmas in Monterey, I missed the Spanish and Mexican pageantry of New Mexico. Despite the lack of "traditional" Christmas symbolism like snow, there was caroling in Monterey. This is my favorite carol<auf Englisch><en ingles>: (ironically, based on a French poem)

O Holy Night

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;

Oh night divine, Oh night, Oh night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Behold your King.

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.