Bill Weber -
A subpeano from the Attorney Generals Office in New York that I report there April 6th to testify against a number of people arrested in a stock scam resulted in an interesting weekend.
We (my wife, Thema, accompanied me) left LaCrosse on American Airlines at 11:00 am April 5, a lovely warm spring day. In Chicago we changed to a larger AA plane and arrived at LaGaurdia airport in New York at about 4:00 pm EDT . Took a taxi from the airport to the Mariott hotel where we had a lovely room on the 27th floor that over looked the east river. The prosecuting attorney met with us about 5:30 that evening where we went over the testimony that I would be presenting at the trial the next day.
It had been nearly 50 years since I was last in New York and a lot has changed for the better. Back fifty years ago, I remember NYC as being sort of drab, dingy and dirty. This was not the case this time. Perhaps because we were located in a different environment than back fifty years ago but I think also that things are much better.
Monday morning prior to my testimony, we walked around the business district, in which we were located,. visiting the next to the tallest building in America, THE WORLD TRADE CENTER : http://www.theinsider.com/NYC/photos/worldfin.htm
| Skyscrapers of the world listed by Height |
|---|
| Name | City | Height | Flr | Year Info |
| Sears Tower | Chicago | 443m | 110 | 1974 |
| World Trade Center 1 | New York | 417m | 110 | 1972 |
At about 2:00 pm Monday afternoon a New York State car picked us up at our Hotel and took us to the State Supreme Court building where I would be testifying. It was not until about four o'clock that I was sworn in to testify and I then spent a little over an hour on the stand. It was the first time in my life that I have ever been subpeanoed to testify at a criminal trial and found it very interesting and not as stressful as I imagined it was going to be. After the testimony we decided to take the NYC subway back to our hotel. Thema, had never experienced riding the subway in NYC. It was at the height of the daily traffic so the subway was packed. She was not impressed.
After supper at our Hotel that evening, we went out to visit some more interesting places in the area. About two blocks north of our Hotel was the: THE WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER http://www.theinsider.com/NYC/attractions/2worldfi.htm It is comprised of four towers with eight-million square feet of office, retail and public space located on fourteen acres of land in the center of Battery Park City. The WFC is the site of the world headquarters of the American Express Company, Merrill Lynch, Dow Jones, Deloitte & Touche and Oppenheimer, accommodating over 39,000 employees from prestigious companies, retail shops and restaurants. It was very impressive and since it was after 8:00 pm there was not a lot of activity going on so we had a chance to walk through a lot of the complex without any difficulty. We visited the WINTER GARDEN area with its many restaurants and shops located in a most beautiful plaza area with artificial palm trees, fountains and with a huge staircase from that area to the second floor.
On Tuesday our plane home was scheduled to leave at noon from
LaGaurdia., so again we
took a walk around the area going over to Broadway and we visited the:
TRINITY CHURCH
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/
Trinity Church, founded in 1697, is one of the oldest religious institutions in New York. Located on Broadway at Wall Street in the heart of the financial district. Trinity has grown into a major intellectual and cultural center in the city. The church building is one of the earliest and finest examples of gothic revival architecture in America
1696 Governor Benjamin Fletcher grants his approval for the Anglican community in Manhattan to purchase land for a new church.
May 6, 1697 Trinity receives its charter and a land grant from King William III of England. An annual rent of "one peppercorne" to the English crown. . (Peppercorne: a spice that was once so valuable and rare it was sometimes used as currency. Its merit was so high that many of the European sailing expeditions during the 15th century were undertaken with the main purpose of finding alternate trade routes to the Far East, the primary source of the prized peppercorn and other spices.)
1698 The first building to house Trinity's worshipers was a modest rectangular structure with a gambrel roof and small porch. According to historical records, Captain Kidd lent his runner and tackle for hoisting the stones.
1705 Queen Anne of England grants Trinity valuable acreage, increasing Trinity's holdings to 215 acres. In the centuries that follow, Trinity divests most of this land to establish and endow other churches and institutions, including what is now Columbia University.
We visited Trinity, the third church that has been erected on this site since 1696 President George Washington had also attended one of the earlier churches on this site on the day of his inaugration as our First President.of the United States. We went through the cemetery and observed graves of people many of you may remember from history, Robert Fulton, the inventor of the Steamship, Alexander Hamilton, an aid to General Washington during the Revolutionary war, one of the framers of the constitution and in a duel with Aaron Burr and was killed.in 1804. For more info on that duel go to : http://www.tcr.org/advpl_5.html There was also a plot marked for the unknown soldiers and sailors of the Revolutionary war. There are many other names, for more information go to the WEB site above to get address to send for their literature. They have a nice, "Guide to Trinity Church" with a lot of info for only 25 cents. It is a unique setting in an area only a block or so from the World Trade center buildings. We had hoped to get down to see the Statue of Liberty but time went by so fast we were not able to do so.
We flew out of New York at noon, on a lovely warm spring day April 7th, but as we neared Chicago, we were forced north by a storm in Indiana . We arrived in Chicago about 2:49 pm, our plane to LaCrosse got us there about 5:00 pm. having traveled through a lot of clouds and some rain.
It was indeed a nice trip and if we were younger I think we would go back to NYC again. We would have like to have seen the stage play, MISS SAIGON, which was playing on Broadway not far from our Hotel. Prices were a bit higher ($42.00 per person) than our local AREA COMMUNITY THEATER charges. By the way, they open this Friday night April 17th.with the play CRIMES OF THE HEART, directed by Rocky Shutter. All in all it was a great trip. The downside was that it probably will result in sending a few people to prison for some years. But then again one the purpose of our judicial system. is to see that those who would harm others spend time in prison for so doing.