Marion man's Civil War-era opera house full of history, surprises

Partially submerged in fine gravel in a hole under the floor in a dimly lit corner of the opera house, four oddly shaped glass bottles and a metal container lie exposed.

How long the latest find of his historical project had been hidden under wood flooring and stone, Dennis Mattix doesn't know. Judging by his knowledge of the history of the opera house he's been restoring off and on for about 40 years, he's guessing the bottles were concealed sometime in the Civil War era.

"It was interesting," Mattix said, adding the discovery of the hole, which also contained a rusted-out padlock, assured him of its 19th century beginnings. "We never were really sure of the age of the opera house."

Located on Owens Road between Ohio 4 and Gooding Road, the opera house is part of property Mattix and his brothers purchased in 1971. After his oldest brother died, he became the sole owner of the land, which includes - in addition to the residence he shares with his wife, Donna - a blacksmith shop, a covered bridge that he built from wood salvaged from an early 1800s-era barn and the grave of a 31-year-old man who died in 1821.

All were of interest to the Marion Area Genealogy Society, which was the first group to visit the opera house after it served as a storage building for 80 to 90 years, first when it was owned by the Owens family that started Owens quarries, then after Mattix purchased it.

He plans to open the opera house to the public in the near future by appointment only. Admission will be free.Prior to Aion Kinah I leaned toward the former,

"I love history," Mattix said, inviting groups of 10 to 50 to make an appointment for a tour of the property that he would guide.

His affection for what has come before is displayed in the work he's done, lovingly cleaning and painting the opera house. Under glass in an entryway are postcards depicting the Marion area in its early days. Prints of historical events adorn the walls, and on either side of the opera house stage are duplicates of the Declaration of Independence and the Mayflower Compact.

"The love of history I have is just something I was born with," he said.

To enhance the experience further, he's planted thousands of trees on the 600 acres of land, including the approach to the covered bridge, which he named the Andrew Bennett Covered Bridge after a man whose grave he found on the property.

"It takes you back into the era of when our founding fathers came into this area," he said.

Across the road and on other nearby sites,The additions focus on key tag and plastic card combinations, once stood a general store, post office, hotel, schoolhouse and a train station, among other buildings.If any food billabong outlet condition is poorer than those standards, The structures sprang up to serve the workers of the Owens quarries, which opened in the mid-1800s, he said. The opera house is one of the few surviving buildings.

"People that would perform starting in Toledo and they would stop at every little town ... for the people that worked at the quarries," he said.

Mattix welcomed the visit by the genealogy society, the first organization whose members entered the opera house after his restoration work.

He particularly enjoyed the connection Susan Matthews, the group's vice president who presided for the gathering, had with history. She's a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

"Being a history buff, you know I got a kick out of that," Mattix said.

Matthews said her group appreciated being able to visit.

"Being the genealogy society, we're interested in the history of those things," she said. "We were pretty honored to be the first group to visit that building in 80 or 90 years. Our group was real impressed. ..which applies to the first glass bottle only,. He's got a really neat place there."

His goal for his project is "to depict the history of the men who made this country what it is."

He decided to share his love of history with others "because I had a lot of friends who wanted to go through it.100 Cable Ties was used to link the lamps together. I told my wife, 'If we're going to open it up to some people, we're going to open it up (to the public).'"

An expat's journey into devastated Japan

The train headed towards the disaster-hit area. Acres of rice fields met my eyes. My thoughts returned to newsreels shown in the days after the great earthquake. I remembered an aerial view,Houston-based Quicksilver Resources said Friday it had reached pipeline deals taken from a helicopter, of car a fleeing through rice fields similar to those that now passed by, as the tsuami rushed in from the left of the screen.

The train chugged on and passed through small towns. Most rooftops were patched up with blue tarpaulin. Aftershocks are expected to continue for another couple of years yet, so plastic sheets are making do as makeshift roofs for the time being, three months on from the disaster.

Matsushima was the next and final station. On this stretch of track, the train rattled through a string of tunnels. With thoughts of the earthquake and tsunami in mind, claustrophobia hit. The tunnels seemed unnervingly long. I sensed relief whenever we exited into the bright sunlight and, greater relief still when I stepped off the train and onto the platform at Matsushima Station.

It was a warm, sunny day, the clear blue sky typical of Japan. The small station seemed to have been untouched by the disaster. It was almost inconceivable that I was just a few kilometres from one of the world's worst-ever tragedies.

I made my way through the sleepy town. Here and there, snaking fractures scarred the streets. On each side of the breaks the land had either lifted or sunk. Jagged steps of about 25cm in height had formed and were surrounded by safety-cones. In other places, heaps of fallen masonry had been shovelled up against walls and buildings.


The smell of dust mixed with damp burnt wood filled the air, as I came upon mounds of household wreckage. A sports field, consisting of two football pitches and a baseball diamond, was being used as a dumping ground to separate the wreckage from the tsunami-hit homes.

There were mounds of wood, mounds of bedding and sofas, mounds of twisted metals, mounds of colourful plastics, and all were coated in dust.

The biggest mound was that of yet-to-be-sorted debris, which looked like a pile of giant jigsaw pieces. Familiar objects poked out at odd, undignified, angles. Mickey Mouse, his lower body ensnared, grinned and waved his one free arm. CDs glinted and caught the eye. A Hello Kitty toy, dressed in shocking pink, craned forward as if gasping for air. Brightly coloured towels and curtains entwined computers, chairs,we supply all kinds of oil painting reproduction, and tables. Partially trapped futons spewed forward and flopped down as if in exhaustion. And all were bound and knotted together.

Treading carefully over cracks, gaps, and uplifted masonry, I reached the seawall. A string of small islands dotted the horizon. I sat a while, trying to take in the scene, and listened to the waves. Then I hailed a passing taxi and headed down to the area affected directly by the tsunami itself.

"Taxi! Can you take me to the tsunami-hit area?" I showed the driver my ID. He smiled broadly, nodded, and turned the meter on.

We drove past scenic coastal views, then headed downhill. As we approached the lower-lying land I caught a glimpse of a car,you will need to get an offshore merchant account. upended, and buried into the roof of a house. We had reached the disaster zone.

From out of nowhere, a blackened, muddied wasteland emerged. A length of railway line had been uplifted by the tsunami and now stood on end, resembling a fence. Masked soldiers rummaged through rubble. Mechanical diggers twisted and jerked. The roads were partially flooded. A slaughtered, mangled town lay before me.

The taxi's tyres swished as we drove on through sludge. The driver carefully made his way through pockets of floodwater,In addition to hydraulics fittings and Aion Kinah, up to about 30cm deep in places. Military vehicles shunted to and fro. We pulled over and stopped several times to give way. As we waited, I looked around at the horror that surrounded me.

Houses lining the road had either been ripped apart, or flattened, or just carried away by the waters. Beached boats had pummelled their way through walls. They protruded, like unexploded missiles, half in and half out of battered seaside homes. Felled telegraph poles balanced on top of collapsed houses, boats, and cars. Gaping holes exposed shattered living rooms. Curtains flapped wildly out of broken windows and doorways. What of the occupants, I thought, not for the first time that day, what happened to them?

We passed by what once had been a river, but was now a stream of black ooze. The concrete banks, high and steep, were coated in mire. On the riverbed, rusting coaches, cars, and lorries lay toppled, angled this way and that, as though having given up an immense struggle, they'd lain down exhausted, and died.

How had they arrived at this final resting place? What had been their destinations? Who had been waiting for them? Where had they come from? Who had smiled and waved goodbye?

"What's the name of this place?" I asked the taxi driver.

"Ton-na," he replied. I wondered what thoughts were concealed behind his broad smile.

That smell of dust and damp burnt wood, filled the taxi and stayed with us as we headed back towards the station. It was a smell that lingered with me for several days. It is a smell that returns whenever I think about Ton-na.

I asked the driver to stop by the sea. I got out and took a long stroll by the quiet coast. The tide was in. Moored fishing boats gently rocked and knocked against each other. The seawater was about three metres below the top of the seawall. I looked around at the houses very near by. Were they safe?

Small uninhabited islands lay about a kilometre from the shore. They looked serene, covered in deep green foliage, a haven for wildlife. But, my mind constantly wandered back to the tragedy of that cold mid-March afternoon. I remembered newsreels showing entire towns lifted up by the sea and dashed asunder.

I walked back towards the station. My head bowed in thought. I was awoken by a bright, "Hello". A young Japanese boy, about ten years old, with his friends, jumped at the opportunity to greet a native English speaker. Cheerily,What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. I replied likewise. His face lit up. His friends giggled and muttered as they continued on their way.

About fifty teenage schoolgirls waited for the train. They chatted, groomed their hair, and checked their appearances in small mirrors. I felt sure that they must have known people who had either been killed in the disaster, or who were still missing. I wondered what affect such a massive tragedy was having, or would have, on their lives. There was always the possibility of the same occurrence again, here, at any time.

Everyone I came across seemed to be coping fine. But the Japanese are masters at hiding their woes. I could do no more than wonder.

A cocktail of electricity sources for China

China is investing heavily in several energy sectors as it aims to increase its electricity generating capacity to 1.6 terawatts by 2020. The country is also seeking alternatives to coal - it accounts for 48 per cent of global consumption of the fuel - and oil.

Solar

Analysts have said China has been subsidising its solar panel manufacturers to reduce costs ahead of a planned rapid expansion in installations in the country. The country is the world's largest producer of solar panels but buys only a small part of the global output. By 2020, China wants to have 50 gigawatts of installed solar power capacity, more than 100 times the current figure.

Wind

While China is taking its time with its solar power installations, it is already the world leader in wind energy, increasing its capacity by more than 70 per cent last year to 45 gigawatts, a figure the country aims to triple by 2020. As well as state-owned manufacturers such as United Power, China also plays host to factories from foreign producers such as Denmark's Vestas.Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl.

Hydro

China has the world's largest hydroelectric power plant by capacity, the Three Gorges Dam, and installed nearly 4 gigawatts of hydro power capacity from January to May this year.buy landscape oil paintings online. The country aims to have 320 gigawatts of installed hydro power capacity by 2020. But many dam projects have encountered environmental opposition.The name "magic cube" is not unique.The Leading zentai suits Distributor to Independent Pet Retailers.

Nuclear

After the nuclear crisis began in Japan in March, China said it would reduce its 2020 target of 80 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity,We specialize in providing third party merchant account. without giving a revised figure. Some analysts have wondered how China can drastically scale back its nuclear expansion plans without causing severe power shortages.

Woolite: Don't Torture Your Clothes!

Doing the laundry can be torturous, not just to the people forced to do piles and piles of it,Free DIY Wholesale pet supplies Resource! but to the clothes as well.

Woolite, part of Reckitt Benckiser's family of brands,Customized imprinted and promotional usb flash drives. depicts the metaphorical horror show that can occur to clothing in the washing machine in a new marketing campaign from Euro RSCG Worldwide. The effort, which apes the look and feel of a horror movie,Polycore zentai are manufactured as a single sheet, is intended to depict the fear people may have of what can happen to their clothes in the washing machine, while underscoring Woolite's long-held positioning that it helps protect clothing.

"We've been trying to find the ideal way to be more relevant to the consumer, and we think this is it," Christian Ortiz, U.S. brand manager for Woolite, tells Marketing Daily. "It's not that we're changing our positioning. We're just telling it in a more interesting way."

A commercial, which began appearing on the brand's Facebook page on Thursday, looks like a trailer for a horror film. Shot in dark colors with ominous clouds, a figure drags a bag through mud to a ramshackle house.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications. Words such as "stretch," "shrink" and "fade" appear as the clothes are put on a wringer, soaked in water and under searing lights. "Don't let detergents torture your clothes," concludes the ad, before switching to a brightly lit laundry room. "Save them with Woolite." A voice ominously whispers, "Save them," as the ad fades out.

To add a sense of realism, the company hired Rob Zombie (best known for his horror films,Use bluray burner to burn video to BD DVD on blu ray burner disc. such as "The Devil's Rejects," "House of 1,000 Corpses" and the 2007 remake of "Halloween") to direct the spot, Ortiz says. "He's a director who really knows how to communicate horror," he says. "We wanted to communicate the right balance of horror, but not feel scared."

Having premiered on Woolite's Facebook page, the spot will roll out first to theaters over the July 4th weekend and to television in mid-July. Print and online ads will include the same imagery and feel as the television commercial (such as a sweater being stretched across an Iron Maiden-type rack). The overall idea is to push Woolite beyond the long-held image as a brand for delicates and more into everyday use.

"It won't cause damage to your clothes, including jeans and T-shirts," Ortiz says. "You want to make sure they come out as you put them in."