This Week in History

MARCH 2

1962 - Philadelphia Warriors' center, Wilt Chamberlain, scored an NBA-record 100 points in a basketball game.

2001- The Taliban began the destruction of ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan.

MARCH 3

Joseph Manno was born. Brian Blum was born. Katelyn Lawler was born.

Lee Ann Ferriola was born.

1845 - Florida became the 27th state.

1931 - The "Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem.

MARCH 4

Joan Roughneen Donohue was born. Ed Wilkinson was born.

1789- The Constitution of the United States went into effect.

1861 - Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated.

MARCH 5

1770 - The Boston Massacre, a pre-Revolutionary incident that grew out of anger towards British troops, occurred. Five anti-British rioters were killed.

1933 - In the last free elections in Germany until after World War II, the Nazi Party received 44% of the vote.

MARCH 6

Michelle Gunn was born. Mike McMahon was born.

1981 - Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," retired from the CBS Evening News and was replaced by Dan Rather.

1997 - Queen Elizabeth II launched the first royal website.

MARCH 7

Joe Miller was born. Kathy Stathis was born. Anna Wolfe was born. Lisa Kellachan was born.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone.

1945 - During World War II, U.S. troops crossed the bridge at Remagen, the first incursion into Germany by Allied forces.

MARCH 8

Gerry Casey was born. Sharon Powell was born. Patricia Murray was born.

1948 - The Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools violated the Constitution.

1950 - The Soviet Union claimed to be in possession of the atomic bomb.

1965 - First U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam.

Dear Editor: Mark Holmes, the former director of the Queens Bus Network Redesign for the MTA,told me that the lack of a local bus between these two areas is definitely a hole in the network. I proposed such a route between the Sheepshead Bay Station and Rockaway Park using the new shoulders on the Belt Parkway, including free parking in the Riis Park parking lot for bus users.

Let us see if this is included in the final plan and if the MTA still insists on removing buses from Newport Avenue, which have been proposed long before the redesign study and has been rejected four times by CB 14. How well has the MTA been listening? Anonymous

And another one. On Wednesday, March 1, Mario Cannariato was on his son’s boat when he spotted this dead humpback whale on the jetty at the Breezy Point tip.

A few days prior, on February 27, Clean Ocean Action reported about a dead whale that was spotted floating in the Ambrose Channel, just south of Breezy Point. It is not clear if that whale was the one that washed up on Wednesday. The whale appears to have several wounds. The

Rockaway Times reported the dead whale to the U.S. Park Police and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, which said it would report to the scene to investigate.

Also on Wednesday, it was reported that another dead humpback was spotted floating upside down in the waters off of Seaside Park, NJ. These would mark the 24th and 25th whales to wash up dead on the east coast since December 1 and the 13th and 14th to wash up dead in the NY/NJ area.