130 Years

On a sultry summer morning at Arlington National Cemetery, Erwin Henry Shupp was buried on a grassy knoll as a bugler played taps and soldiers fired a rifle volley at the sky. At 9 a.m., just after the bell tolled in a faraway cemetery clock tower, seven white horses pulled a gun carriage carrying a flag-covered casket with Shupp's cremated remains along a cemetery road, under the oak and magnolia trees, to his waiting grave.

A man convicted of residential burglary was sentenced Friday to a minimum of 130 years in prison, apparently the stiffest term imposed in Orange County under the "three strikes" law. Angel Martinez, 34, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon to 25 years to life on five burglary counts and ordered to serve them consecutively. Because the Orange County district attorney's office deemed Martinez a "career criminal," the judge was allowed to add another five years.

On March 17, 1860, the Kamrin-Maru entered San Francisco Bay, the first known Japanese vessel to cross the Pacific and visit the United States. The ship, navigated with the help of some American sailors, brought a Japanese delegation to this country to establish trade relations and sign the first bilateral friendship treaty.

The original--five fragile sheets of paper--is on display only through today in Washington, D.C. But 130 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the feelings it still stirs were vivid and durable in Pacoima on Sunday, as more than 250 people celebrated the anniversary of the document that ended slavery in the American South, and paved the way to outlawing slavery altogether.

When the Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was given those well-deserved accolades last season, it was in part because he had been a pro for more than 20 years. But that's just a start for some golfers. Now that the Senior PGA Tour is established and growing, a good player can have a career of 40 years or more.

The French left won control of Paris City Hall on Sunday in municipal elections that spelled the end of 130 years of right-wing rule over the capital and shook the power base of conservative President Jacques Chirac. The Socialist Party candidate for mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, clasped his hands over his head and called his historic victory the "renewal of democracy" in Paris. "I'll be the mayor of all Parisians," he promised.

A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt -- more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2 -inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated at 115 to 130 years old. "No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

The crowds usually come to the fairground exhibition hall for trade shows or to get a peek at the fancy horses. But on display here Sunday was the new face of Georgia politics. Nearly a month after a staggering electoral upset by Georgia Republicans, hundreds of them flocked to the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter to greet Sonny Perdue, who is about to become the first GOP governor here in 130 years.

Consider the mid-1800s plight of the three Mahan children of Camarillo: They would hop on their horses, plod through cactus and chaparral, dart around the occasional rattlesnake and ford the Santa Clara at its narrowest point just to get to school in Ventura. That is, unless it rained and the swollen river blocked passage altogether.

Nineteenth century sea captains gratefully followed its piercing ray through inky nights to find safe harbor in Los Angeles and to avoid foundering on the rocky coastline. The ornate wooden Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, whose beacon was extinguished decades ago, now beckons those who want a peek at a forgotten profession and a quaint lifestyle.