4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial I was pleasantly surprised by secrets revealed in Berlin, Germany


Volume 13 Number 1


October 2018


Checkpoint Charlie during the day in 1963 Checkpoint Charlie at night in 2018 BY ANGELA JONES


My daughter and I traveled to


Germany recently. She has a goal of traveling to at least 10 countries every year. What makes this difficult is the fact that we are not retired. Although I can usually work from anywhere that has internet access, we have to try to plan our trips around her school breaks. We managed to fit a trip to Berlin between her internship with Google Brain and her returning to school for the Fall quarter. Once again, we found a great


last minute deal on a flight to Europe on WOW Air. We quickly booked it one week before our departure. Our original intent was to travel to Greece but the direct flights to Greece from the US were three times the cost of our flight to Berlin, Germany. WOW Air is a low-cost airline operating between Iceland, Europe and North America. Te airline is based at Keflavík International Airport in Reykjavík, Iceland. I love this airport. I do not typically like long layovers but I welcome a long layover at the Keflavik Airport. It is very clean and modern and it offers a variety of healthy refreshments including freshly made juices. I usually can grab a juice made with kale, carrots, celery and apples even with a short layover. Adding to the excitement of trip, we


arriving in Iceland on this


saw the Northern Lights (the Aurora Borealis) from the airplane. We thought we would have to go to Iceland during the winter to see them but the flight attendant said that it is possible to see the colorful dancing lights from the air at night sometimes. Tey do not appear to be as colorful or active from the air as they are on the ground. Of course we arrived in Europe


without hotel reservations, again. We always have such a difficult time committing to hotels when they do not have familiar names like Marriott or Sheraton. We finally made reservations at the Angle Terre Hotel in Berlin for one night so we could see how we liked it before we committed to staying there


for additional nights. Te hotel could not have


been better. It was close to several attractions including a landmark from the Cold War era called Checkpoint Charlie. Also called "Checkpoint C", Checkpoint Charlie was


the name


created by the Western Allies for the best crossing point of the Berlin Wall between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War from 1947 until 1991.


When I returned to the US,


one of my uncles, who was stationed in Germany during the Cold War, was excited to hear that we visited Checkpoint Charlie. He had fond memories of being stationed in Berlin. Berlin is a huge city on the scale of New York but there are not as many people per square mile. In 2015, the population of Germany’s capital was 3.47 million people. We took a boat tour of the city


that lasted an hour and thirty minutes and featured views of some of the grandest architectural marvels in the world. One definitely has to see them for themselves. We also visited two museums in


Berlin. While I was looking through my purse the other day, I came across a piece of paper that read, “Burn aſter reading.”


It took a minute before I


realized that it was the ticket to the Spy Museum Berlin. Our visit to the spy museum was enlightening; not only did I discover that Josephine Baker was a spy for during World War II, while she lived in France I learned that aſter the war, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French military, and was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by General Charles de Gaulle. I also discovered that the Greek


leader Alexander the Great, who was born in 356 BC and was considered one


of history’s greatest military


commanders, was a person of color. Te image of him that was on display at the spy museum showed him with brown skin and dreadlocks. Alexander


A piece of the Berlin Wall


the Great was tutored in his youth by Aristotle. He created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the age of thirty. His empire stretched from Greece to northwestern India. Another


interesting aspect


Alexander the Great of


the spy museum was a room that was peppered with “bugs.” Tese listening devices were hidden throughout the room and a wand-like device was provided to help detect where the bugs were. Upon entering the area that was set up like an office, the visitor is instructed to pick up the telephone to receive a message. Te voice on the other end of the phone tells them how many bugs are in the room. I was told that there were five but I was only able to find two of them, by using the wand, before the allotted time expired. I was given an opportunity to test


my Bond-like skills (James Bond, that is) at this museum by maneuvering through a room filled with lasers. Te goal was to make it to the other side of the room without triggering the alarm that would engage if any of the lasers were touched. My daughter and I also visited the


Game Science Center in Berlin. It is a small museum startup run by computer game developers. At the center, I had an opportunity to have the Virtual Reality experience where I was in the woods with a gigantic rabbit. Te museum was


very FROM PAGE 1


SSOs. Grant applications were reviewed by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, housed within DCJS.


“The value of SROs and SSOs has been lauded by school and law enforcement professionals across the Commonwealth time and time again,” said Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran. “We know SROs are integral to maintaining safer environments for our students to learn. They also serve as mentors and educators that foster positive relationships between law enforcement and our youth.”


In response to a solicitation issued


Established 2006 A. J. Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Sarah Parks, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer Sales and Information: info@hamptonroadsmessenger.com Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


in July, DCJS and the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety received 52 grant applications from 48 localities requesting over $2.6 million in grant funds. The 33 grants approved by the Board will fund 30 new SROs and 3 new SSOs in local schools throughout the state: 18 positions at middle and high schools, and 15 positions at elementary schools.


As a recipient of the grant, SROs


and SSOs are required to attend a 4 ½ day training on the roles and responsibilities of an SRO/SSO, legal issues in schools, adolescent


brain


development and trauma, mental health issues, students with disabilities, and more.


“It is my hope that school


administrators will attend basic training with their new SRO/SSO,” said Secretary of Education Atif Qarni. “This training will be helpful and informative for both leadership and school officers as they work together to ensure their schools continue to be safe and supportive learning communities for all students and staff.”


“The Center will continue to


do all that it can to support the SRO/ SSO programs in the Commonwealth,” said DCJS Director Shannon Dion. “This grant program is just one of many resources available from the Center to SROs, SSOs, and their schools. The Center also provides multi-disciplinary assistance,


and


training, materials,


the interactive School Officer and oozing


with the latest gaming technology including technology that detects eye movement and has the ability to annihilate enemy spaceships in whichever direction you look.


I would definitely recommend


visiting Berlin, Germany because of its history, its architecture and its warm and friendly people. One need not worry about needing to know how to speak German. Most Germans speak English and one can use Google Translate when they run across someone who does not. We used Uber in Germany when we did not want to wait for the train; although, Berlin has excellent subway and above ground train service for public transportation. As always, we took full advantage of all of the transportation options at our disposal.


until you land in Berlin


I would not recommend waiting to make


reservations for accommodations. It is a popular city for conferences and expos. When we arrived in Berlin, a big marathon was wrapping up and a couple of days later a huge technology conference caused many of the hotels to triple the price that we paid when we arrived. Luckily we only had to pay the exorbitant price for one night. Te next night we were in beautiful Crete, Greece!


technical like


Virginia School-Law Enforcement Partnership Model Memorandum of Understanding, to schools and law enforcement agencies.”


Information on the Virginia


Center for School and Campus Safety and the localities receiving funding is available on the DCJS website, at www.dcjs.virginia.gov.


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