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www.newsofkingspoint.com
December, 2012
The Cart Parade is Comin’ to Town
By Phyllis Hodges The annual Sun City Center Christmas Golf Cart Parade is only one week away! December 8 promises to be a fun addition to Sun City Center’s holiday season. The parade begins at 10 AM and will be followed by a Winter Festival sponsored by Minto Communities beginning at 11 AM. The Festival will run until 2:30 PM. The SCC Community Association Central Campus will be brimming with entertainment, a car show and vendors offering food and other wares. The parade starts at the Central Campus parking lot on N. Pebble Beach Blvd. and continues right on La Jolla, right on El Rancho, right on Ojai, and left on Cherry
H i l l s back to the Campus Bandstand. Residents along those streets should plan accordingly if they need to leave their homes during the parade hours. The committee has been hard at work encouraging entries, inviting government officials and soliciting sponsors to cover expenses. Dave Birkett, committee chair, said, “The overall goal is to make this an enjoyable community event. We have no doubt that will be the case. At press time, entries had well exceeded the 42 carts
which participated last year.” Each year the parade entries have reflected the fun, creativity and variety represented in our community. From towering snow globes to houses on wheels, tropical Santas and pink mobiles, the SCC Christmas Cart Parade has always been a great way to kick of the holiday season and get into the Christmas spirit. And we expect this year to be better than ever! Of course, the $5,000 golf cart prize money donated by Minto is adding to the excitement! You read that right - $5,000 in prize money! But the committee has been emphasizing that carts do not have to be elaborately decorated to join in the fun. A cart can be adorned with a lot or a little of something that reflects either the holiday or some aspect of life in Florida. The theme of the parade—‘Tis the Sea-Sun—offers a wide spectrum of opportunities. Entries will be accepted anytime, including the day of the parade.
The Golf Cart Parade Committee is stressing that community participation is the goal. Entries can be decorated minimally, as is this one.
Registrations can be picked up at the Community Association office, Kings Point clubhouses, or Freedom Plaza marketing office. Information contacts: Dave Birkett (dmbirkett@yahoo.com) or the Kings Point representative, Chris Robinson (crobin1940@ yahoo.com) NOKP Staff contributed to this report. Collage of past parade entries on pages 8 & 9.
CIA Blackbird mission results revealed The Silver Osprey Squadron members and guests had a real treat for their monthly luncheon meeting on November 9 at the Plaza Club, Sun City Center. Aeronautical engineer William J. Fox told them about the design and development of the Lockheed A-12 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, and Don Vining, MD explained his part in enabling the pilots to cope with the extreme altitudes and speeds. Bill’s talk can be summarized as “An inside story on the high speed, high altitude spy plane successor to the U-2 and its covert flights over North Viet Nam and North Korea in the late 1960s.” The first flight of the A-12 Blackbird was in April 1962. Two years later, equipped with Pratt & Whitney J-58s, rated at 32,000 lbs of thrust each, the A-12 cruised at Mach 3.2 and 83,000 ft. Bill Fox first got involved with the A-12 as a young engineer for Honeywell, and helped design its flight simulator. This was crucial for training the six CIA pilots to fly 29
Spotlight .......................... 5 Where In The World ...... 6 CARE................................ 7 Golf.........................10 - 13 Debbie Caneen 33573 .................... 15 - 18
Don Vining and Bill Fox.
very successful combat missions over North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and North Korea. In response to the USS Pueblo crisis in January 1968, pilot Frank Murray quickly found the Pueblo in Wonson harbor only one day after the North Koreans boarded it. He was able to photograph the whole of North Korea from the DMZ to the Yalu River in less than eighteen minutes without
Dixon’s Destinations..... 20 Bulletin................... 22 - 25 Faith Bulletin.................. 26 Poem ............................ 27 Military .......................... 28 Hard Knox ..................... 29
being detected. He brought back photos showing some of the American captives on deck. This was the proof the US needed, showing our ship and our men were being held. Negotiations began immediately. The CIA connection with the A-12 Blackbird ended in 1968. The US Air Force continued with the two-seat SR-71 until 1989, and NASA flew three of them until 1996.
Inside
Crossword & Sudoku.... 29 Contract Bridge............ 29 Horoscopes................... 31 Solutions to Puzzles....... 31
Don Vining MD, was a US Air Force Flight Surgeon based at Groom Lake (Area 51) at the same time Bill Fox was there (1965-1967). Don made sure the CIA pilots were healthy enough to fly. For part of his training, he spent time at the David Clark Company of Worcester, MA, to learn how to wear and use the pressure suit. This enabled him to go through the same 90,000 Continued on Page 3
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