FEBRUARY 1969::::: 2-1-00: Mid Feb? Late Feb? :So I dropped out of IU and was back in York,Pa. At some point my third floor room had been redone with a new huge bed up there. I do recall lugging it up and i also recall being in some store on West Market street but I dont know if it was in 1968 or 1969. My room was really middle class at last- right when my parents had given up their middle-class jobs to be here. It was a huge twin double bed with posts and multi-colored lights on polelamps and my own huge TV. Later I would get cable the moment it came in. I recall my father insisting I keep it in the middle of the room rather than push the bed off to one side like I normally did as it looked so nice. The house was in perfect condition then, unlike now when its a shambles. _________________ MARCH 1969:::::: I think it was in mid or late March 1969 that I finally decided to read SHERLOCK HOLMES, the character I read a little about in that Classics? Comic I read when they sent us to another classroom way back in Elementary School. I had a big hardcover somehow and I would lay on my fancy bed and read it while letting my ulcer heal. I became a big fan. ,,,,,, I followed the Spring Training of the METS and it would be the very first year that my father and I were not in NYC where since they were created we could go to the games for free (So naturally they became World Champions in 1969)_____________ APRIL 1969:::::: _____ DRAFT PHYSICAL::: I got my draft physical notice as I was expecting and waited for the day. That was a huge story in itself.
MAY 1969:::: I dont recall anything about May 1969 as all I did was relax, walk the streets, and go to the hospital every time my ulcer flared up,,, ___________ JUNE 1969:::: Here I also just walked around, went to some York Pirate games (They would be Eastern League champs that year), and go to the York Hospital for my ulcer. Downtown York was still very nice, very middle or upper middle class, the nights very safe.,,,, NY TIMES, June 27,1969: "York,Pa curfew imposed after 2 nights of false fire alarms and firebombings" I absolutely do not recall the preceding taking place in June. I thought it all took place in July. ________ JULY 1969:::: I dont recall July 4, 1969 but I kept following the NY METS and went to York Pirates games, walked around a great deal, went downtown, went to hospital about my ulcer. I know that my parents and i went to the GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD together via car one day. I was really depressed and my ulcer was bad and I lay in the back seat. On the way I noticed us go by some sort of big statue on a store between York and gettyburg and I didnt get up in time to see what it was. At Gettysburg we first stopped at the diner along the rr tracks in the middle of town. Then I recall walking up the metal observation tower they had even though I hated heights and how our car was right below. I also recall being at the Eternal Light and waking around. And there was a bust of an officer at the place behind the rocks where the Union line was (Little round top?) and it had a shiny nose from everyone touching it and I told my mother she should use her powder on it and my father said we shouldnt do that as it was disrespectful. We also went to Lees HQ which was all by itself and sold books. I think there now are huge ugly bldgs on each side now,,, 2-1-00 THE YORK RIOTS: NY TIMES, July 19, 1969 (Day it happened, paper was 7/20): " City council bans sale of gasoline, guns, and alcohol after policeman is wounded, JULY 21: " Negro woman killed by sniper while driving car through disorder area, curfew imposed, state of emergency declared by Mayor Snyder (The same little smiling quiet mayor I stood next to in 1965), JULY 22: " Governor Shafer calls out National Guard to quell mounting racila violence, injuries now total 37, 19 persons convicted thus far for curfew violations, most of those convicted are whites, City council bars all but law enforcement authorities from carrying firearms or explosives, police officials link disorders to Negro youth falsely accusing whites to setting fire to his clothing, JULY 23: Natl Guard, state and city police patrol streets to maintain calm, state of emergency continues, JULY 24: calm continues as Guard continues to patrol streets, JULY 26: Shafer orders phased withdrawl of Guard as disorders ease, police, guarded by Guardsmen, search 8 houses in Negro section and seize 21 weapons and 893 rounds of ammunition, Negor community leader IA Kittrell says without Guard protection police probably would have been greeted with gunfire from 'black militants' , claims Negro community has to arm itself against white gangs which terrorize area because police provide no protection, JULY 28: state police and Guard units leave, JULY 31: PTL H. SCHAAD dies of wounds recd during recent incidents of sniper fire."______ Note that the sudden death of my little nice town of York,Pa that my parents gave up everything to move to took place just about 8 months after they moved there. AND when I dropped out of college to relax in a peaceful town. AND during the MOON LANDING which I waited for since I was a little kid. What I recall was sitting on Skips front steps with him on South George street watching a HALFTRACK go by and knowing that it was getting close to CURFEW. Curfew started at something like 7pm when the Sun was still way up in the Summer. Id then go home from his place down to Cottage and Right to home. Later that year I would work with the girl whose father was the cop who died). This July destroyed York. Whites left in droves after this. They would not go out at night anymore. Downtown began to die. I still meet people who say that they have NEVER returned to downtown York since the riots of 1969. 2-1-2000,,,
AUGUST 1969:::::: I kept following the METS, went to the hospital about my ulcer, walked, walked, walked around,,, Aunt Vi was still rude to my mother and to me as she could hide behind my father, Cousin Loralee was a bitch as always who was only nice to people to get something from them and neither one of them gave a damn about how they mistreated others. They remained two bitches who only cared about greed and mistreating others,,,,, I dont know if it was July or August that I was walking up towards the area between North York and Roosevelt Avenue where his girlfriend Roxanne was,,, Right about the time I was walking north with Dennis I went up there by myself a couple of times as it was a new area to me and I kept going until I hit the new US 30 they were building. The sun was going down and I was walking right along the middle of it until I reached North George Street and the Northgate Shopping Center. Really lonely, quiet walk with no human life around. ,,,,, They were also building the bigger YORK MALL at this time way out east of town beyond the York County Shopping Center,,,,, York still had a lot of people downtown during the Summer BUT now they rushed home before sundown. I recall an old man asking me to escort him home from the center of town down to where he lived on South George as he feared it. It was getting close to sundown on a Friday night.,,,, Young blacks would wander about in the daytime looking for Whites to pick on,,,,, I got a one-day job at the new BON-TON that was opening up at the new YORK MALL they were building along the new US 30 that was simultaneously being built beside it. __________ SEPTEMBER 1969::::::________ OCTOBER 1969:::::: In either October or November 1969 the NORTH MALL OPENED.________
NOVEMBER 1969::::::________ DECEMBER 1969::::::________ JANUARY 1970::::::________