Anna Liisa Land

Brunswick Mystery: Buzzed by a Helo at 3 AM Sunday

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:23:55 -0400

OK, does anyone know why a helicopter was buzzing Brunswick--flying extremely low and making multiple passes at the city--at 3 AM last night?

I checked the Frederick News Post online but saw no mention of bad traffic accidents, barricade situations, or overturned rail cars.

The helicopter woke me up, it was so loud and so close...I literally thought it was going to land in the cemetery half a blockaway from our house.

Mysterious.

Edited to add:

My friend found out the helicopter was responding to an accident near the Maryland/West Virginia line. They needed a place to land.

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Brunswick Water Tower Light No Longer Blinding!

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:14:41 -0400

This past weekend I blogged about the blinding light on top of the new Brunswick water tower...tonight as I was driving home late from my job #2, I noticed the blinking, blinding, painful strobe light had been replaced by a steady red light. Sweet relief for tired eyes!

Maybe the blinking, blinding strobe light was some kind of temporary emergency beacon signaling a problem at the tower? Hmm. Mysterious.

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Happy 100th Birthday, Aune Kouki!

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:38:13 -0400

My great-Aunt Aune in Finland turned 100 years old today! She doesn't want to be photographed, though.

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Charity o' the Month: Playing Catch Up...

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:21:57 -0400

This being April, we have made four donations to charities so far this year. Here they are:

January 2008: Brunswick Volunteer Fire Company: http://http://bvfd5.org/

Living within a few blocks of the fire house as I do, I hear the siren go off all the time, so I know how often these volunteers go out there to help both Brunswick and other nearby towns combat fires, respond to car crashes and other emergencies, and help people in need. Brunswick's firehouse staff is an all volunteer force--Frederick County does not provide them with an annual budget, so they have to get funding from the citizenry. I have been helped out by firemen and firewomen before in my lifetime, so I like to contribute to my local fire hall to say thanks.

February 2008: Brunswick Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue

200 W Potomac St, Brunswick, MD 21716

(301) 834-8102

As with the fire hall, I live close enough to the ambulance and rescue company to know how often these folks go out there to help Brunswick and nearby towns address various emergencies. And again, Brunswick's rescue squad is an all-volunteer force so donations are always needed. Our ambulance company has a pretty swift and impressive cadre of well-rehearsed pancake bakers, so if you ever see a sign or an advertisement for one of their fundraiser pancake breakfasts, hustle yourself and your family down there for a yummy, inexpensive breakfast that helps fund our ambulance and rescue servcies.

March 2008: Tiger Haven Big Cat Rescue http://www.tigerhaven.org/

Everyone knows I am a sucker for cats, and that includes the big ones. When I heard how some of the residents of Tiger Haven came to live there--I was sickened and revolted by the cruelty that befell these creatures, but relieved that an organization like Tiger Haven exists to save them--I knew I had to donate immediately. Believe it or not, a lot of large cats end up imported into America as pets and then are either ignored, mistreated, starved, beaten, or abandoned when their owners find them to be too large or too complicated to care for, and there are still a lot of small "roadside attraction"-type petting zoos operating in America that are unregulated and force these animals to live in squalor. These practices have to stop--many of these large felines are endangered, and we have to stop treating them like objects that can be discarded.

April 2008: Betty Griffin House http://www.bettygriffinhouse.org/

This donation was made in honor of family friend Ms. Kathy Hudson, who passed away recently. Ms. Hudson was one of those wonderful, relentlessly cheerful and positive people who soldiered on even though she faced a lot of traumatic events in her life in recent years. Luckily, being in an abusive relationship was not one of them, but the Betty Griffin House--which shelters women and children who are escaping abusive family situations--was one of Ms. Hudson's favorite charities, so that's why this donation was made to honor her memory.

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Have You, Too, Been Blinded by the Brunswick Water Tower?

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:53:51 -0400

Brunswick has a new water tower, which is fantastic, because this is a growing town that needs more clean water to satisfy the needs of its expanding body of citizenry. No objection here.

The new water tower has a blinking light on top of it to alert low-flying helicopters and aircraft of its prescence, which is a safe and smart thing to do. No objection here either.

What I do object to is the fact that the light on top of the new water tower blinks at strobe light speed, and is very, very bright white like a strobe light, and, in fact, when driving late at night, is incredibly distracting and blinding, much like a strobe light. The first time I witnessed it, in fact, I thought it was the blink of an emergency vehicle, and I found that after looking at it for a second I could no longer see the road properly--all I could see was one of those blue sunspots that your eye generates as a warning as if to say "Hey! Stop looking at that bright thing! It's gonna hurt you!"

I also started to get the feeling that if I looked at the warning light on the water tower any longer, I'd go into a seizure.

Hmm, drivers going into seizures. Not good.

I suggest that Brunswick either make the light blink at a slower, less seizure-inducing pace, or else tone it down a few lumens, or both. I can imagine the residents of the new housing complex on the hill near the tower also want the throbbing disco light effect coming through their curtains at night to cease. Don't worry, guys, down at our end o' town you get to hear the blaring fire siren at 3 AM instead!*

* No, I am not the person who wrote to the firehall complaining about the siren and refusing to donate money to them until the siren stops. Check out my next post about charities and you will see that my family indeed gave the fire hall some money this year.

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