THE
VETERAN’S VOICE
Volume 24 Issue 4 www.post639.com April 2004
Easter is a
very interesting Holiday. Easter
falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the
Vernal Equinox (so it could fall anywhere between the dates March 22 and April
26). We all know the story of Jesus’ trial, scourging,
crucifixion, death and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
This is one of the stalwarts of the Christian Religion and one of the most holy days of the year. This is especially true this year with Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” and all the controversy surrounding it. Jewish believers also celebrate a holy day around this time - Passover. Passover is the celebration of God’s intervention with the Egyptian Pharaoh’s keeping the “Children of Israel” as slaves. The Israelites put lambs blood on their doorways and the “Angel of Death” passed over their homes, while taking the first born child of all other families.
But the
word Easter really comes from a much earlier time, taken from the word
“Eastre” who was the pagan goddess of fertility and whose earthly
representative was the rabbit. The
pagan’s celebration was after the Equinox and since the days became longer it
meant that it would bring a re-birth of the earth (and you thought the bunny was
a modern commercialization tactic). The pagans also used the egg as a symbol of re-birth from the
earliest recorded time and their leaders sometimes covered them with gold leaf.
The peasants could not afford this, but they would put the eggs into
boiling water with leaves and certain flowers that would give them bright
colors, so this is also an ancient ritual.
The children would then give them as gifts and eat the eggs as part of
their celebration. When the early
Christians converted the pagans to Christianity, they felt it would be easier to
allow them to have their traditional celebration, while gradually changing the
meaning of the holiday to the more Christian one.
Spring means many things to many people, but to men of our era it means baseball. The great American pastime is sometimes mentioned with Mom and apple pie as totally American. Most boys in the age prior to video games knew that the first of April was when Baseball season started and they kept constant vigil until after the World Series was over in the fall. Boys from all social strata and economic groups had one thing in common – Baseball. From sand lots in the city to cornfields in the Midwest to beaches on the coasts and everywhere in between, when boys got together they played baseball. The first rules of the game were published in 1834 and the first professional baseball game was played 5/4/1871. The National League was formed and the first game was played on 4/22/1876 between the Red Stockings (6) and the Athletics (5). The American League was formed and in 1884 their champion played the National League champion, which was the equivalent of the World Series way back then.
A lot of boys started out playing “Little League” baseball, then moved to “Pony League”, then they played for their school and high school teams and if they were very good, they moved on to American Legion Baseball. Most of us first knew of the American Legion because we were introduced to it playing baseball or we knew some other kid that was good enough to make “The Legion Team”. American Legion Baseball started in 1925 and has been sponsoring boys’ baseball ever since.
Legion baseball is the oldest and largest teen baseball program in the country and over 10 million boys have participated since its inception. In 2003 over 5,400 teams registered for tournament play in direct sponsorship of The American Legion Baseball program. In addition, American Legion Posts sponsored another 2,500 teams playing Little League, Babe Ruth, Pony League and Dixie League baseball. In all, well over 100,000 teenage boys were involved with Legion Baseball in 2003. An astounding 80 percent of college baseball players and over 50 percent of Major League Players played American Legion Baseball as teenagers.
Post 639 has honored that tradition for most of our existence.
We are currently sponsoring the team from Willard and would like for all who are able to help us with that sponsorship. We have a fund goal of $2,500, which is only a small part of the cost of putting a quality team on the field. If you would like to assist us with this endeavor, make out a check to Post 639 Baseball Fund, or put a check or cash in the ammo box in the Post lounge. If you would like to attend a game, you may get free admittance by showing your Post 639 membership card. We are listed as the official sponsor and would really appreciate your backing.
Together
Then,
Together Now!!
Page 2
The Veteran’s Voice
Plans
for the Post Birthday Party and Remembrance Day are in full swing and proceeding
well. Please Mark your calendars
with a big red circle around May 22, 2004 when we’re going to have the biggest
bash of the year and maybe the biggest in a few years.
We have commitments from 2 bands for sure and possibly a third one. We
are also planning on karaoke so start getting your vocal chords in good shape.
We also have a commitment from KKLH to be on site to tape interviews with
families of the troops that are stationed in the Middle East. They will then use
the tapes to broadcast the interviews to them at a later date.
We are researching a number of other possibilities that will make this
event and that day, one that will be remembered; not only by the charter
members, but also by every member of our post and by all who attend our
celebration. If you have ideas that you think will help to get more people
to attend our special event, please talk to one of the E-Board members, the
sons, the Ladies Auxiliary or me, all of which are actively involved in the
planning.
Our Kitchen was inspected
earlier this month and there were no critical or non-critical items found,
thanks to a lot of hard work by Bob Wilson, Mike and Terri Chandler, Bob and
Betty Weeks, Kim Boler and anyone else that contributed.
The kitchen is remaining that way so far because the people that use it
have been doing a good job of cleaning it after they use it.
Keep up the good work. Thanks
to Lee Boler for cleaning the walk-in cooler, the popcorn machine and the logo
carpet. Thanks to all of you that
help to keep our post going.
The Nathaniel Greene party
will be held at our post on April 2nd. There are going to be a lot of submariners and other veterans
for that very special memorial attending, so please come out and show them your
support.
Bingo has been doing much
better since we moved to Friday nights. The
job our Bingo workers do can’t be praised enough; they do an outstanding
service for our post. Show your
gratitude by just saying thanks to them. Look
at our schedule of events for April and come out and support them and our post.
As President of the
Ladies’ Auxiliary, I would like to extend an invitation to all families of
members to come and join our post. Spouses,
children, stepchildren, grandchildren and step-grandchildren are all eligible.
Come out and help us support our post family.
Luanne Spradling
First
I would like to ask everyone to pray for our troops and civilians that are in
harms way in Iraq and throughout the rest of the world.
We ask for God’s help and guidance as our representatives attempt to
make the world a better place.
Secondly I would like to
express our sadness and condolences to the families of Linda Fee, wife of Bill
Fee who passed away on March 19, and also Jerry Levitt (Chief) that passed away
earlier in March. Chief was a
fixture at the post for many years and Linda died way to young.
We will all miss them both very much.
Due
to an issue with our web host, we have changed the address of our web site to
www.post639.com. On the negative
side we will now have to get the search engines to find the new address; and all
our members to start using the new address, but on the positive side, it is
really a lot easier to remember than to old one.
Make sure to delete the old one from your favorites and add
www.post639.com to your favorites and/or toolbar. You will now be able to access
it without any delay.
Check out the pictures of
the Cobra being installed and dedicated, it is located in the post history page,
just click on the Cobra link. Also
on the history page is a link to some pictures of our building being built and a
meeting before the dry wall was in place. Betty
Weeks gave up some pictures from 2003 and Harvey took some at our March Birthday
Party; thanks to both of them. As
soon as we get all the information together, we will get the “Post
Everlasting” page assembled and posted. We
have contacted the state and national web pages by email to include a link to
our web site. If anyone knows of
other links that would be appropriate, let us know by email at
information@post639.com or leave the information with Angel in the bar.
We are still looking for stories and experiences from our members to post
to our site and opinions to be given for The Forum.
I know our members have issues that are important to them (all you have
to do is listen at the bar), so please write them down with your name and
we’ll make sure they get published.
Some of our members would
like to see us get “Web TV” in the bar so they could visit the web site
anytime they want. If you think it
is a good idea, mention it to one of the board members.
The next big project for the site is to create a “site map” that
would make finding information a little easier.
When you see “site map” on the bottom of the first page, give it a
click and see how it works. Well,
Burman told me to keep it brief. So
from the web, keep clicking.
We
are getting closer to our 100% goal for membership renewals.
If you have not renewed yet please do so.
I would like to thank J.C. Ponder for stepping up and
running for Adjutant this year, he knows the job and he will be an asset to the
post. It will give me more time to
concentrate on Bingo.
Bingo is doing very well
right now. In the last 30 days
Bingo has donated over $9000.00 to the general account and all our supply bills
are completely paid. We sure could use some more help!!! We have been averaging about 14 workers a week, but we could
use some new blood to give some of the “old-timers” a little relief.
Come on down and give it a try, you might find out you enjoy it.
Remember bingo contributions are our biggest Post fundraiser and it helps
to keep our doors open.
Editorial Brief:
The American Legion’s
National organization has recently backed The Boy Scouts of America in its legal
fight, mainly with the ACLU and “liberal” judges especially in California.
The Legion is backing them with legal aid and money to cover their costs
to fight some of the most outlandish charges imaginable.
The whole issue started with The National Council of Boy Scouts refusal
to allow homosexuals to become Scout Leaders. In 2000 the Supreme Court of the
United States re-affirmed the Scouts right to their First Amendment right to
“freedom of association” and the Scouts have been a target of the ACLU since
then. If you would like more
information about this fight, there will be links posted on www.post639.com that
will take you to those locations. In
the meantime here is the Scout Oath that is apparently so wrong to some people,
but most of us feel it has been a great approach for almost 100 years.
“On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my Country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help others at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake and morally straight.”
The Boy Scouts have said
they will not allow the attacks to sway them from their mission:
“to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their
lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the scout oath and the scout
law.”