Latest news with #Motte
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Chambers County: Man, teen grandson killed in Hankamer plane crash, officials say
The Brief A man and grandson were on a small plane in Baytown on Saturday when their signal was lost. The plane was found Sunday in a wooded area near FM 1724. Federal officials are investigating this incident. HANKAMER, Texas - A La Porte man and his young grandson are dead after their small plane crashed in Chambers County, according to the sheriff's office. What we know Officials say they were notified at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday about a possible downed aircraft near FM 1724 and I-10 in Hankamer. They say Larry Motte from La Porte was flying with his grandson, who a Texas DPS sergeant says was a 14-year-old visiting from Austin. According to the DPS sergeant, the two were flying a single-engine Rockwell Commander 114 aircraft out of the Baytown area. The plane last transmitted data at about 5 p.m., showing a loss of altitude. A citizen alerted officials about the aircraft not coming back. Chambers County officials launched a search for the aircraft with Texas Game Wardens, Texas DPS, and the U.S. Coast Guard. At about 11 a.m. on Sunday, officials say the aircraft was found in a remote wooded area near FM 1724. Motte and his grandson were found deceased. What we don't know There is no information at this time about where the plane was going or why it went down. What's next Chambers County officials say the crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. The Source Facebook post from the Chambers County Sheriff's Office
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Founding Mothers' Day recognizes SC women's contributions to Revolutionary War
Retired Gen. Will Grimsley, chairman of the SC250 commission, speaks in front of a stone showing where Rebecca Motte's home once stood on Monday, May 12, 2025. (Photo by Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette) FORT MOTTE — When Patriots told Rebecca Brewton Motte on May 12, 1781, they needed to set fire to her house, which British soldiers had turned into a supply depot, she gave them the arrows to do so, historian Peggy Pickett told about two dozen history buffs, neighbors and scholars gathered this week at the site of the house. Motte's story was the focus of the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission's inaugural Founding Mothers event. Members of the commission, which goes by SC250 for short, hope to create an annual tradition of recognizing the women who contributed to America's founding as the country enters its 250th year. Luther and Doraine Wannamaker, who own the property about 40 miles south of Columbia that once included the Motte home, offered to host the first Founding Mothers event on the anniversary of the day the British surrendered the fort. That just so happened to be the day after Mother's Day. Gov. Henry McMaster proclaimed Monday to be Founding Mothers' Day. Commissioners are aiming higher: They want state law changed to designate Founding Mothers' Day as the Monday after Mother's Day every year. They have the backing of at least one legislator, Sen. Jeff Zell, a Sumter Republican who said Monday he'd be interested in sponsoring a resolution when legislators return to Columbia next year. Putting the day in state law would be a permanent recognition of the role women played in the Revolution, a role that often gets overlooked, said retired Gen. Will Grimsley, chairman of the SC250 commission. 'We need to constantly go back and tell everybody's story,' Grimsley said. 'But a really undertold part of the story, quite frankly, are women.' The Wannamakers have done reenactments of the siege, with men on horses riding from what would have been Fort Motte to the farmhouse where Motte herself had been exiled to tell her their plan of laying siege to her home, said Doraine Wannamaker. The family hosts private tours of the spot, showing off the stone marker surrounded by dirt where the house once stood. An archaeologist from the University of South Carolina has visited repeatedly to dig up artifacts, including a cannonball and shot used by the British and Patriots. But Monday was the first official event the Wannamakers have hosted alongside the commission responsible for highlighting South Carolina's role in the Revolutionary War. By the time British troops reached Motte's home in what is now Calhoun County, on a bluff that overlooks what is now Congaree National Park, she had already been forced out of one home because of the war. Motte's original home in Charleston was selected as a headquarters for Loyalist lieutenant colonels and their company of 30 soldiers when British troops captured the coastal city. Motte, widowed not long before, fled inland to the property once owned by her brother, who had died several years earlier, according to the American Battlefield Trust. Only a couple of months after Motte moved into the house, the British again came for her home. The house, located near the Congaree and Wateree rivers, was an ideal location for supplies coming from Charleston and headed to Camden and Ninety-Six, said Pickett, who has researched women's contributions to the war effort. In January 1781, British troops, led by Lt. Donald McPherson, took over the house, called it Fort Motte and surrounded it with fortifications. Motte and her three children fled to a nearby farmhouse on the property, according to the American Battlefield Trust. Patriots took interest in Fort Motte in May of that year, after taking out several other British posts. Forcing the British to surrender Motte's house would take out a crucial supply line for the British. As the Patriots, led by Brig. Gen. Francis Marion — known as the 'Swamp Fox' — began the siege on Fort Motte, McPherson refused to surrender, correctly guessing reinforcements were approaching, Pickett said. It was then that Motte, approached by either Marion or Lt. Colonel Henry Lee, agreed to let the Patriots burn down her house and destroy the supply depot altogether. According to some historical accounts, Motte gave the Americans combustible arrows to help them. 'Instead of being upset when told, she replied, according to Lee's memoirs, that she was grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the good of her country, and she would watch the approaching scene with delight,' Pickett said. After setting fire to the house's roof, the Patriots fired grapeshot at any British soldiers who tried to put it out. McPherson surrendered, and the Patriots took back the burned Fort Motte. Patriots and British soldiers then dined together in the farmhouse where Motte and her family had been staying, Pickett said. 'Now, the capture of Fort Motte was not a grand, epic battle,' Pickett said. 'It was a small, relatively bloodless engagement, but it was a significant victory for the Americans because it changed the momentum of the war in their favor.' Not much remains of the site of the siege. A large stone that shows where the house once stood reads, 'Site of Rebecca Motte's home, sacrificed for her country, May 12, 1781.' As historians told the story of the battle, flags waved in blustery wind behind them, one British and several representing the Patriots, including the Gadsden flag. Most women's contributions to the war were small but meaningful. They managed farms and plantations while their husbands and sons were fighting in the war, sent food and provisions to the army and gathered information to pass along. They took sick and wounded soldiers into their homes and either nursed them back to health or buried them when they died, Pickett said. 'None of these things were very easy for them to do,' Pickett said. Others had more active roles in thwarting British troops and helping the Patriots claim victory. Take, for instance, Dorothy Sinkler Richardson, who historians credit with saving Marion's life in 1780. When British Col. Banastre Tarleton set up a decoy campsite near Richardson's plantation meant to lure Marion for an attack, Richardson sent a messenger to warn Marion, according to SC250. 'Thanks to Dorothy Sinkler Richardson, Francis Marion remained at liberty to continue to make life difficult for the British,' Pickett said. Jane Thomas, who lived in what is now Spartanburg, similarly foiled a plot to surprise American troops after overhearing two women talking about a plot to surprise Patriot soldiers near Thomas' house. Thomas, who was 60 miles from home, rode back straight away to warn the men, allowing them to instead surprise the British troops, Pickett said. Emily Geiger, at 18 years old, volunteered to deliver a message to Gen. Thomas Sumter ('The Gamecock') to meet Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, believing a young woman would be able to get through enemy lines where a man would not. She was successful and helped join the two battalions, Pickett said. In coming years, the commission plans to host similar events in other parts of the state, highlighting the stories of different women, said Molly Fortune, executive director of SC250. Telling these stories is a major step forward, but there's more work to be done, Pickett said. Designating a day to remember the ways in which women contributed to the country's foundation is a way of ensuring their stories remain in the public eye instead of being lost to history, she said. 'We are just beginning to explore the activities performed by Native American women and women of African descent,' Pickett said. 'We need to do the research to bring their stories to light, because the more stories we bring to light, the more attention we bring to the important role that South Carolina played in winning our independence.'


Reuters
12-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Wings rally, top Lightning in OT to extend playoff hopes
April 12 - Detroit rookie Marco Kasper netted the tying and winning goals, and the Red Wings stayed alive in the playoff race with a 4-3 overtime win over the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. After leveling the score at 3-3 with a goal at 12:59 of the third period, Kasper collected the puck in the neutral zone in OT and sped in from the left side to beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy at 3:22. The Red Wings (37-35-7, 81 points) ended a two-game skid, but their only hope of reaching the postseason is to win their last three games while the Montreal Canadiens drop their final three. Detroit's Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Motte also tallied. William Lagesson recorded his first point with the Red Wings, an assist, and goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 18 shots. Gage Goncalves posted his first career two-goal game and Anthony Cirelli notched a goal and an assist for the Atlantic Division's second-place Lightning (45-26-8, 98 points), who moved within two points of the idle Toronto Maple Leafs. Brandon Hagel had two assists, and Vasilevskiy stopped 22 shots. Right winger Nikita Kucherov played in his 800th game, becoming the sixth Lightning player to do so. After Cirelli scored 61 seconds into the game. Four minutes into the second period, Kane buried his 492nd career goal to level the score. That marker put him 51st in NHL history as he passed Jean Ratelle. Motte took advantage of a strange carom off a long shot to give Detroit its first lead. The puck bounced off the end board and back into the blue paint between Vasilevskiy's legs, and Motte poked it home at 16:37 of the second. Goncalves evened it 2-2 just 75 seconds later when he went to the net as Lyon had similar trouble in the crease trying to gather a bouncing puck. The forward got a piece of it for the second tie. Goncalves notched his second tally 1:38 into the final period for a 3-2 lead. He took a feed from Hagel after Moritz Seider had to leave the ice following his helmet coming off after a battle with Hagel.