Balukas was angry about the fine. She did not pay it. She turned down offers by others to pay the fine for her. Balukas explained that "It wasn’t the $200... [Women] pool players, who were ranked three and six and five, were the ones who decided I should be fined. I felt it should have been done by an outside panel, not by my competitors". The sides were deadlocked. Balukas to pay and the WPBA refused to cancel the fine. They would not allow Balukas to play again until she paid. "Just because she was our premier player does not mean she was above the rules", said Vicki Paski in 1992, then president of the WPBA. Another professional named Loree Jon Jones was also interviewed. Her feelings were more mixed: "Her not playing is, I guess, sad", but she also said that without Balukas playing, "we've all learned how to win".
Balukas had faced other problems before she stopped competing. When she had tried to compete against men as the only woman she heard insults from some men. For example, one said "I’m gonna put on a dress and go play with the women". Balukas heard many complaints from the men upon her entry to a Chicago tournament in 1988. They said it was not fair that she got to play on both the men's and women's side, when the men could only play on their own side. She agreed not to play. However, after she traveled to the tournament she learned she had been tricked: "I found out that the first- and second-place winners in the women’s event were going to be invited to play in the men’s event. I was stabbed in the back".
Balukas also admits having been under great pressure, much of it that she placed on herself. After she reached the very top of her profession, "That's when I started getting nervous... that’s when I started putting a lot of pressure on myself". "Playing against the men, I learned to lose... but [losing] hurt with the women because I was expected to win all the time". Balukas later said that leaving the sport was a combination of many things, including: stress, fatigue, frustration, and anger at the professional pool industry. She said, "You know, you're going to fine me? Well, see you later. That was my excuse to finally say I need a break".
After leaving the sport, Balukas returned to Bay Ridge. She took over management of her family's pool hall, Hall of Fame Billiards on Ovington Avenue in Brooklyn. She says "I'm enjoying my life immensely... I have moved on". In summing up these events in a 1992 article, "The New York Times" stated, "So America's greatest woman pool player competes only for the odd soda. If you're feeling lucky, drop by her poolroom...If you're thirsty...go elsewhere".
In 1975, when she was fifteen years old, Balukas was already described as the "best female pool player in the world". Announcers had stopped calling Balukas "the Little Princess", but introduced her to audiences as "the Queen". By that time she had won the World Straight Pool Championship women's division eight of the last nine years. During those same years, she also won sixteen women's professional tournaments. She had been named the Billiard Congress of America Player of the Year five times. In 1985, Balukas became the second woman (after Dorothy Wise) to enter the BCA Hall of Fame. She was the youngest person ever to receive the honor, at just under 27 years of age. In 1999, Balukas was ranked number fifteen on "Billiard Digest's" Fifty Greatest Players of the Century.
New York State Route 308
New York State Route 308 (NY 308, Route 308) is a short road in Dutchess County, New York. The highway is long. It goes through mostly rural areas, and is usually used as a shortcut from U.S. Route 9 (US 9) to New York State Route 9G. The road passes several landmarks along its path. The road began its history in about 1685, when a group of Native Americans built the Sepasco Trail. This trail went from the Hudson River to Lake Sepasco, and followed the same path that currently exists as Route 308. The trail was there until 1802, when part of the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike was built over it. Route 308 was officially formed in 1930.
Part of NY 308 is in the Rhinebeck Village Historic District, which is a area that has 272 historical buildings. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. A well-known attraction is the Beekman Arms Inn, which is located at the corner of NY 308 and US 9. The inn was started in 1776, and says it is one of the oldest inns within the United States.
The road begins at US 9 in the village of Rhinebeck, which is above sea level. To the south of here is a park, a small lake, and a cemetery. At this point, the Dutchess County Fairgrounds are north of Route 308. The highway goes to the east, and is called East Market Street. It soon leaves Rhinebeck, while it runs next to a small creek sometimes known as the Landsman Kill.
The road intersects with County Route 101 and then turns to the north. It also intersects with Route 9G before it turns to the east into a rural area. In this area, Route 308 carries about 6,400 vehicles each day. There are many small lakes around the road as it intersects with County Route 52 and turns to the northeast. NY 308 then travels west of Sepasco Lake before turning east again. It ends at NY 199 in the town of Milan.
The earliest people that lived in northern Dutchess County were the Mohicans. They were a Native American nation that came to the area about 3,000 years ago. There were around 8,000 Mohicans during the time they first saw the Europeans. However, there were only 800 after the American Revolution. Artifacts were found along the shore of Lake Sepasco, which is a small lake near NY 308. The artifacts included very old arrowheads, and are now being shown at a local museum.
A smaller group of these Native Americans were known as the Sepasco Indians. This name was used for Native Americans in the Sepasco area, which is now known as Rhinebeck. The word "Sepasco" probably came from the tribe's word for "little river" or "stream", which is "sepuus". After the Civil War, only a few of the Sepasco were left. The last Sepasco Indian died in 1867 in a hut near Lake Sepasco. By 1685, a trail known as the Sepasco Trail was formed by the Sepasco people. This trail started at the Hudson River and went east through the village of Rhinebeck. It ended at Lake Sepasco. Part of the trail from Rhinebeck to Lake Sepasco follows about the same path that is today taken by Route 308.
The trail was there until 1802, when a turnpike, a type of road, was built over it "for improving and making a road from the west line of the Town of Salisbury in the State of Connecticut to the Susquehannah River at or near the Town of Jericho". The part of the new turnpike east of the Hudson River was sometimes known as the "Ulster and Salisbury Turnpike". A plaque was placed in November 1922 at the Beekman Arms Inn. The sign marked the crossing of the Kings Highway (now called US 9) and the Ulster and Salisbury Turnpike.
NY 308 itself was officially made during 1930. The path of the road was changed a bit in the 1960s.
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT) — often called Grand Central Station or simply Grand Central — is a train station in New York City. Located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, it is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms.
The first station at this site was built in 1871 by the New York Central Railroad at a time when there were many long-distance passenger trains in the United States which most people took to move across the country. Back then it was called "Grand Central Depot". In 1913 the station was rebuilt and given its current name, "Grand Central Terminal", but today many people call it "Grand Central Station". In fact, "Grand Central Station" is the name of the nearby post office, and of a New York City Subway station underneath.