[meteorite-list] Greensburg meteorite raffle in the news

From: Mike Jensen <*meteoriteplaya_at_meteoritecentral.com*> Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:58:50 -0600 Message-ID: <6f9da8300706210758t7546c2beh21fe425b4a3237a7_at_mail.gmail.com> · meteoriteplaya_at_meteoritecentral.com

--
Mike Jensen
Jensen Meteorites
16730 E Ada PL
Aurora, CO 80017-3137
303-337-4361
IMCA 4264
website: www.jensenmeteorites.com
On 6/21/07, Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net> wrote:
> http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/158869.html
>
> Outer space rocks to the rescue
> $10,000 worth of meteorites will be part of a raffle for Greensburg recovery
> efforts.
> By LISA GUTIERREZ
> The Kansas City Star
> Before a tornado decimated Greensburg, Kan., last month, the south-central
> Kansas town was known for two things ? the world's largest hand-dug well and the
> half-ton "Space Wanderer" meteorite.
>
> Meteorite hunters and enthusiasts weren't surprised the Wanderer survived. They
> knew it would take more than a tornado to destroy a 1,000-pound rock that had
> endured a tortuous journey here from space.
>
> They were more shaken by the news of what the tornado had done to the rest of
> the town.
>
> Now they've joined the effort to rebuild Greensburg. To raise money for relief
> efforts they're holding a raffle of ? what else? ? meteorites.
>
> Winners will be announced at ? what else? ? a meteorite festival on July 7 in
> neighboring Haviland, Kan.
>
> "Greensburg is a historic meteorite town," said raffle organizer Geoff Notkin.
> "Now it's time to help the people who made it all possible."
>
> The May 4 tornado wasn't the first monster to roar out of the sky above what is
> now Kiowa County.
>
> About 10,000 years ago a meteor ? brighter than the sun and faster than a jet ?
> thundered through the layers of Earth's atmosphere over that part of Kansas.
>
> The fireball exploded and rained space rocks over a 6-mile area. The fury
> created the Brenham strewnfield ? "strewn" as in space rock shattered and
> blasted like gunshot into heaven only knows how many meteorites.
>
> Some pieces as big as large-screen TVs plunged 7 feet deep into the soft blanket
> of the plains. Smaller meteorites lay just below the surface, shallow enough to
> be exhumed centuries later by farmers' plows.
>
> During modern times the strewnfield became a mecca for meteorite hunters,
> including the granddaddy of them all, Kansas-born Harvey H. Nininger. The former
> Kansas science teacher scoured the strewnfield extensively and established the
> world's first meteorite museum in Arizona.
>
> Interest in the strewnfield had largely died off over the past 50 years until an
> Arkansas man named Steve Arnold came along in 2005. After two weeks of digging
> in a farmer's field near Greensburg, Arnold discovered "the mother lode" of the
> Brenham strewnfield ? a 1,430-pound meteorite now on display at Union Station.
>
> It was a cosmic trifecta. The meteorite was bigger than any other found in the
> strewnfield; it was of a scientifically desirable shape; and it was a pallasite,
> a rare type of meteorite seldom found in the U.S.
>
> The discovery fired up new interest in the strewnfield. An episode of the Travel
> Channel's "Cash and Treasures" was filmed there last year.
>
> Suddenly, Greensburg and the strewnfield were on the map again ? only to be
> nearly wiped off it in May.
>
> When Notkin, who lives in Tucson, Ariz., heard about the tornado on the day
> after the storm, he thought, That's my town.
>
> "We don't want to abandon Greensburg because it was flattened," he said.
> "Greensburg had real character ? lovely frontier-style buildings, the big water
> tower, big trees. It just felt like a lovely, idyllic American town. I remarked
> to Steve that as I walked to the hardware store I expected Norman Rockwell to
> step out and do another painting."
>
> The British-born Notkin is meteorite-hunting partners with Steve Arnold and one
> of the first people Arnold called when he found "the big one."
>
> For days after the find, they dug up and dragged other meteorites out of that
> wheat field and kept them on the floor of their room at Greensburg's J-Hawk
> Motel. They ate at the diner, bought supplies at the hardware store and
> purchased sandwich fixings at the convenience store.The two have hunted
> meteorites all over the world. But in the end, Arnold hit the scientific jackpot
> in his own backyard. The 41-year-old was born in Wichita, about 100 miles east
> of Greensburg.
>
> Arnold has hunted the strewnfield off and on since, unearthing about 30
> meteorites, ranging from 16-pounders to his back-breaking titan at Union
> Station.
>
> Because Arnold was spending so much time in the area, he bought a small house in
> Greensburg to use as a base of operations. That's where he was headed the day of
> the tornado ? before his wife summoned him home to Arkansas.
>
> "I kind of regret not being there," said Arnold, who arrived in Greensburg two
> days after the tornado to find part of his roof gone. "It would have been nice
> to help people. I got to know quite a few neighbors. The town has been extremely
> good to me and very friendly."
>
> Within hours of the tornado news, worried meteorite fans around the world began
> e-mailing each other. It didn't take long for Arnold and Notkin to decide what
> to do next.
>
> Because the Greensburg tragedy hit especially close to home, meteorite devotees
> have donated more than $10,000 worth of meteorites and meteorite-related
> collectibles for the Greensburg raffle.
>
> Arnold's record find is not among them, however. He hasn't decided what to do
> with a rock that some have valued at $3 million, so it's been traveling. When he
> called Science City to see if it would like to host the meteorite for a while,
> Executive Director Ray Shubinski didn't hesitate. Perhaps it had something to do
> with Shubinski's love of meteorites, a passion he wears not on his sleeve but
> around his neck in a meteorite pendant.
>
> Now Shubinski gets to showcase "The King of the Pallasites." Pallasites make up
> less than 1 percent of the meteorites discovered and are known for the olivine
> crystals that stud their iron mass. A couple of pockets of the tiny green
> gemstones shimmer on The King's bumpy backside, which still wears Kiowa County
> dirt.
>
> Standing next to the rock outside the planetarium at Union Station earlier this
> week, Shubinski drew a group of kids and grown-ups closer to the rock. Like an
> excited schoolboy, Shubinski announced: "It came from outer space!"
>
> Yep. Via Greensburg.
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