| WPCNR MILESTONES. By John F. Bailey. June 25, 2020 Reprinted from the WPCNR archive: One hundred forty-four years ago today in the midsummer sweltering heat of the Dakota Badlands, Major General George Armstrong Custer and 600 Cavalrymen of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry were converging to attack a contingent of 2,000 Sioux and Cheyenne Indians encamped on the Little Big Horn River. Custer’s troops were in the lead. |
| Sighting the Enemy Custer, whose strength as a commander was willingness to engage the enemy by surprise has long been criticized by historians and military experts for disobeying the command of his superior General Alfred H. Terry, (commander of the Little Big Horn campaign), who warned Custer to wait until Terry’s forces arrived to join him before Custer launched any attack. At about 5 PM this afternoon today it was the waning afternoon, 144 years ago, 1876. 225 troopers, Custer, and Mark Kellogg, the Associated Press correspondent (one of the first “embedded correspondents”) lay dead strewn across the ridges of the Little Big Horn Valley. The Indians had so much respect for Reporter Kellogg’s talent, they left his body alone. To the Sioux, Mr. Kellogg was known as “The Man who could make paper talk.” Mr. Kellogg’s foolscap (copy paper) littered the horror of the battlefield. Kellogg was given a mule to ride by General Terry, and rode into battle with Custer. That afternoon, 144 years ago today, the superior Indian force had dealt the American military its most infamous defeat to date, which would be chronicled again and again. Custer’s accomplishments as a military commander though have suffered as a result of this alleged rash and ill-advised attack. However, the battle is instructive for all who command, (no matter what position of command they hold), to pay attention to their scouting reports, and above all conduct scouting forays, and not to ignore whatever personal gains might be achieved by a personally attractive course of action (if you are successful). Allegedly, Custer had seen a possible victory lead by himself over the Sioux as a stepping stone to national office. Instead, he died in action — one of the few U.S. Army Generals to do so. Few know today, as the statue of General Custer in his hometown of Monroe, Michigan, says how Custer was instrumental in forcing General Robert E. Lee to surrender by blocking Lee’s retreat at Appomattox in 1865. Custer’s defeat may have been inevitable but the actions of Major Reno’s premature breaking off his initial attack on the Indian encampment, a disastrous premature, cut-and-run retreat, did not help Custer’s chances. Reno’s retreat allowed the counterattacking indians to turn all their force on Custer’s force, getting behind him, surrounding Custer and his command and killing them all off within an hour. Custer’s glory achieved through his death is a sobering reminder every year for those who ignore facts confronting them, and underestimate adversaries, and discount adverse conditions. We should not forget though that Custer was attempting to achieve his mission. No one can say what really motivated him 144 years ago today in the early afternoon when he launched his attack. Second-guessing is the sport of the armchair historians and military strategists who have the evidence of the result. Blame is easily distributed. That is the loneliness of command. Combat. Decisions. Risks. Surprise. They are the stuff that leaders have to deal with. On this day, we should look back and remember the courage it took to engage. Remember the bravery the Seventh Calvary displayed in defeat (despite Indian reports of many committing suicide). Soldiers today demonstrate this courage every day. We need to admire that courage. I cannot fathom what it takes to be able to be courageous like this. Leading is not for everyone. |
WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. From the Governor’s Office. June 25, 2020:
Governor Andrew Cuomo provided details on how travelers from 9 states where coronavirus is spreading, will be checked to see if they quarrantine for 14 days after arrival in New York. He appeared on “New Day” on CNN this morning:
Alisyn Camerota: Joining us now is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Good morning, Governor. Great to see you. First, let me just ask you in practical terms, can you just explain how this is going to work? If there’s a driver driving up on I-95, from Florida, who is going to stop her at the border of New York?
Governor Cuomo: Good to be with you Alisyn. This is not a blockade. I don’t believe a blockade is legal. The federal government at one time threatened to blockade New York which means you couldn’t come in, you couldn’t go out. I don’t believe that’s constitutional, but states do have the authority to regulate their own public health.
The law is if you come in from another state you have to self-quarantine for 14 days. If you don’t, and you get caught, you will have violated the law. You can be fined. It’s like any other law, Alisyn.
You know, you can speed in your car and if you don’t get caught you’re fine. You can drink too much and get in a car and drive home, and if you don’t get caught you’re fine.
But if you fly in to New York, we’ll have your name, we’ll know where you’re supposed to be staying, there will be random checks. You get pulled over by a police officer and he looks at where your residence and says “How long have you been here?”
You get sick, Alisyn, and you go to a hospital from out of state and you test positive and you’ve been within the 14 days, you violated the law. You are going to have a problem.
Alisyn Camerota: But Governor what do you mean there will be random checks? At people’s homes, people’s workplaces? What does that look like?
Governor Cuomo: Well, we know people who fly in. You fly in here from another state, we know what flight you came in on. And we’ll have inspectors who are randomly looking at the names on the list and calling to follow up to make sure you’re quarantining. And if you’re not you’re in violation of the law and you will have a mandatory quarantine, and you’ll be fined. I think most people are going to honor it. You know, they understand why we’re doing this. We have one of the lowest infection rates in the United States right now. We had one of the highest as you know. We worked very hard in New York, and the people of New York sacrificed for the past three months. They closed down, they wear masks, they socially distance, we have the virus under control and we don’t want to see it go up again. It’s that simple and people understand that. So i think they’re going to honor it because people at the end of the day, they get it now. It took them too long to get it but this country gets it now.
Alisyn Camerota: Remember when Florida did this to New Yorkers, and I remember you being not so pleased and calling it political at that time. So what’s different now?
Governor Cuomo: Oh, it’s still highly political. Look, I said the same thing for three months. You can just play the tape. I was listening to Sanjay on the section before. Three months ago I said we’re playing politics with the virus and the virus is going to win. It was all politics. And the virus – you can’t beat a virus with politics. The virus isn’t Democratic or Republican. We were in political denial. And people were saying “Don’t worry about it. It’s only the flu. Go about your business, open the economy. Lberate, liberate, liberate New York. We took a different track in this state, but I said it’s going to catch up with us, and you’re going to see that virus go up and you’re going to lose Americans you don’t need to lose – and it’s actually going to hurt the economy. It’s not going to help the economy. You open up the economy too fast, the virus goes up, the stock market is going to go down. That’s right where we are and we can’t deny it anymore. We played politics and we lost. Now follow the science. That’s what it’s been about from day one. What we’re saying in New York, look, we did the right thing and New Yorkers paid a terrible cost as you know, Alisyn. They have been locked up. They have been closing their businesses. We have the virus under control finally. We had to flatten the curve. We don’t want to go back.
Alisyn Camerota: Remember back in May when Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida had talked about how basically blocking people from hot spots, at that time New York, had been very effective for Florida. So let me play that for you to remind you.
Governor DeSantis audio: I quarantined them in March and everyone in the New York media was blowing a gasket. That was the right decision. That was the number one landing pad. Had we not done the quarantine you would have had way more cases, the hospitalizations, the whole nine yards. I have no doubt that that quarantine saved lives.
Alisyn Camerota: So, what do you say to him today, now that the tables have turned?
Governor Cuomo: Oh, I say to them all look at the numbers. You played politics with this virus and you lost. You told the people of your state and you told the people of this country, White House, “Don’t worry about it. Just open up, go about your business, this is all Democratic hyperbole.” Oh, really? Now you see 27 states with the numbers going up. You see the death projections going up. You see the economy going down. It was never politics. It was always science. And they were in denial, and denial is not a life strategy. You see now they’re saying, don’t worry, it’s not really that the virus is going up. Just the testing numbers are going up. I don’t even know what that means mathematically. And forget that. Your hospital beds are filling up. You know what that means when your hospital beds fill up, it means more people are getting sick. That’s what’s happening. And it’s now undeniable. This country paid a terrible price. We today, Alisyn, have the lowest hospitalization rates since this started.
Alisyn Camerota: Today. You’re saying New York today is setting a record?
Governor Cuomo: Yes. I’m going to announce the numbers later this morning. But the lowest hospitalization rate since we started. We’re under 1,000 people hospitalized for coronavirus. 996. That is the lowest number since we started. We have 17 deaths today which is one of the lowest numbers since we started.
Alisyn Camerota: Wow.
Governor Cuomo: So, this is after three months, Alisyn, of everyone working hard and doing the right thing and taking this seriously. I got lambasted by everyone saying, “Just open up the economy. You’re overreacting. Don’t listen to all these scientists who are saying the virus could go up. That’s just fear mongering.” It wasn’t. They were facts, and facts are facts, even in this crazy political environment. Even at this crazy political time.
Alisyn Camerota: Yeah.
Governor Cuomo: And the people who played politics now are causing this nation great havoc. You’re seeing it all across the country. You’re seeing the deaths numbers go up. We’ll lose tens of thousands more Americans – it’s a real American tragedy we’re living through.
WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. June 25, 2020:
After 13 years overlooking Renaissance Square, The Ritz-Carlton White Plains,will close September 10, to upgrade the Ritz to a “contemporary, luxurious” Marriott International Autograph Collection Hotel in early 2021.
Glacier Capital Partners of Montana, the owners, (an equity fund company) published plans to renovate the hotel into a Marriott International Autograph Collection Hotel early in 2021 this week.
For about 10 months, White Plains will be without the major upscale hotel attraction that has delivered, style and chic to the central downtown.
When White Plains put on the Ritz in 2007, it was the crown jewel of the Louis Cappelli-envisioned Renaissance Square complex that coronated the White Plains Renaissance period of 2003-2007. Mr. Cappelli envisioned and bult the City Center complex and then the twin glass towers of the Ritz-Carlton palace, that distinguish the Westchester County skyline from the Hudson to the Sound. (You can see the towers in the signature skyline of White Plains New York USA at the top of this page.)
The 5 years of construction by Cappelli Enterprises (from start to finish of both complexes in sequential order, made White Plains the talk of the County. The two projects have sustained White Plains for 13 years through the slow recovery from the Wall Street/ derivatives crash of 2008, and still do that during the current slowdown of building projects lagging for lack of financing across the city. Only Mr. Cappelli’s construction of 55 Bank Street is nearing completion of the half dozen projects approved by the city since 2007.
Marriott describes the Autograph Hotel experience as “inspired by a clear vision, soul and story.” It currently has 192 hotels in operation worldwide.
The Notice of Closing filed by Glacier with the New York Department of Labor, stated 183 employees would be laid off as a result of the closure for reimagining the vision of a contemporary luxury destination.