Published: November 05, 2009 12:18 am      

Mark Maynard: Tank was memorable to many: 11/05/09

The story in the newspaper on Tuesday about the tank that once sat in Central Park being moved to Armco Park in time for Veterans Day probably struck a chord with many my age and even older.

I can remember playing on that old piece of Army artillery many times when its home was in Central Park. I’m sure others can relate, too.

We’ve had a few calls from veterans who say it is not officially a tank because it’s not enclosed. But that’s what we called it when we crawled around on it way back when.

It’s actually an anti-tank gun because it’s not enclosed and the crew is not protected. A true tank is enclosed completely.

The Vietnam era M56 Scorpion is being spruced up with the help of local businesses Whayne Supply Co., which was doing the refurbishing, and Huntington Steel, which donated the aluminum for the project. The National Guard donated the olive drab paint.

I’m glad the “tank” will have a new home and is going to be shiny again. It sure served a lot of us well when it was in Central Park.

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The health care debate has been raging for months.

I found this bit of information where recently the Senate Health Services Committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment, written by Sen. Tom Coburn, which would require all members of Congress and their staff members to enroll in any new government-run health plan.

From the other side of the building, Rep. John Fleming from Louisiana proposed an amendment requiring congressmen and senators to take the same health care plan they would place on the general public.

Under the current legislation that is moving through Congress, all those elected officials and staff are exempt.

Fleming, who is a physician, is asking people to go to his Web site and sign a petition in favor of including Congress into any plan adopted. If you want to sign the petition, go to http://fleming.house.gov/index.html.

It sure makes sense to me that Congress should have the same coverage they impose on the rest of us.

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Local author Cathie Shaffer, the executive editor of the Greenup News, has penned a vampire romance book series that will be published next year by Respendence Publishing and offered in both electronic and print formats.

“Out of the Shadows,” the first book in the series, will be released next March. There are three books total.

Cathie is writing under the name Cammie Eicher.

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Author Allan W. Eckert will be at Ashland Community and Technical College at noon today for a talk and at the Jesse Stuart Foundation from 3 to 6 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to noon Friday to sign books.

The author of numerous books about the history of the region, Eckert wrote biographies of Tecumseh, Simon Kenton, Blue Jacket and others. He will speak in the Teleconference Room at ACTC.

Eckert will sign copies of his recent release, “Dark Journey: The Tragic Tale of the Donner Party,” at the foundation. JSF published the book and has re-released some of Eckert’s earlier works.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.