More Pictures From May

We found an old digital camera this week
that had a bunch of pictures from Mom's funeral.

We Love, and miss you Mom.

Have a Good Week

Daniel

More Family Pictures

I promised last week I would post more family pictures. My sister Debby had these, and I got digital pictures made a few weeks ago. I just love old pictures!






This is Eliza Wilcox Hays, who married Orville Crawford Word. She was my 2nd Great Grandmother. She was also the Great Grandaughter of Daniel Boone.












This is Nancy Caroline Gaddy. She is my Great Grandmother, who married Albert Pike Word.















This is Albert Pike Word who married Nancy Gaddy. He is my Great Grandfather.










This is Barbara Amelia McMehen. She is my Great Grandmother, who married Boone Rice.


















This is Boone Chastain Rice, who married Barbara McMehen. He was my Great Grandfather.







Have a Good Week
Daniel

Rice Reunion in 1939

Click on image to enlarge.

This is a picture of the Rice family reunion in 1939, at the home of Jerd and Tressa in Oklahoma City, Ok. It was probably around the 4th of July of 1939 that the picture was taken. I have had so much fun with this picture, trying to figure out who they all are. Jonnie McMehen Wells sent me this picture, and a list of those she recognizes. I will attempt to add who I also recognize. If you recognize any more of these folks, please let me know. Thank you Jonnie for sending this wonderful picture for all of our family to see.

Couples - starting on left
Uncle Dick, Aunt Gladys Rice and daughter Barbara seated
Uncle Max and Aunt Mildred
Don't recognize the next couple
Jerd, Tressa Pybas - Don't know young child
Aunt Marcia(seated next to her Aunt Ollie)-Don't Know Lady standing
Aunt Bess and Uncle Bowling - seated boy is Jay Pybas
Down on the ground, white t-shirt, is my father Kenneth(Pete) W. Rice, he was 16 years old.
Lloyd and Ira Rice
Seated Anna Jane McMehen Johnson - Jonnie's sister
Don't recognize next couple
Don't recognize next couple
Seated on ground is my Uncle Jack Rice, that may be his first wife seated next to him.
Seated Aunt Evaline - two boys in front - shirt and suits - Roberts brothers
Standing behind in stripped dress - Nell Jean Saylor Rice

I have more old pictures I will post next week.

Have a Good Week
Daniel

She's My Shining Star

Click on images to enlarge.

This week was so busy for us! We are so excited that Kayla is attending school in the Maize district, they have so many more activities for the kids, and the curriculum is more advanced. The school counselor administered a "group IQ" test on Kayla this week, and found that she came up with a lower score than what her IQ was last year in Kindergarten. We discussed that this is most likely because of the fact that other children were being tested at the same time. (The children all sat as a group and answered the questions, with other children they didn't know.) The counselor agreed and stated that she felt this test was completely inaccurate for determining her score this year, based on what she scored at last year. IQ's don't just drop like that. So, as of now, we are just kind of taking it a little at a time. I've decided that I'm not going to have her tested for gifted again until next year. She is flying through the work right now, and Grandma was right, she will always be ahead of the class. We'll see next year how things go, and right now we're focusing on fun activities for her. She is such a sweetheart, she deserves so much.

Friday was not only school picture day, but it was "Lil Cheer Workshop" night! This is where girls who sign up, get to stay after school and hang out with the high school cheerleaders! They ate pizza and learned a few cheers, then were shuttled to the high school and got to cheer at the football game!! You can only imagine how excited Kayla was. She was beaming! All of our friends showed up to watch and get pictures of course! I hope you enjoy these pictures of my shining star!

I miss my father severely and hope that I can visit him soon! Someday in the near future we'll be back in the same town. :) I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Amy

Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is a 284-feet tall neoclassical oolite limestone and bronze monument in the center of Indianapolis, Indiana (and Marion County, Indiana). It was erected to honor Hoosiers who were veterans of the American Revolution, territorial conflicts that partially led up to the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the US Civil War.



I moved to Indianapolis this week. What a beautiful city. The trees and the hills remind me of Missouri. Things are different here, but not much different than other places I have lived. This Thursday is opening night for the Super Bowl Colts. They are having a free concert at Monument Circle before the game, starring Faith Hill and Kelly Clarkson. We plan to be there, since everyone in Indianapolis will be there also.

This world we live in sometimes leaves us tossed up in the air, and suspended for awhile, turning and turning, bobbing and weaving, hoping for the best, wanting things better, only to be disappointed at what life has thrown you, and then you fall, backwards,all the way down. Then comes a change. Like a new flower that blossoms, or a spring that flows for the first time, you begin the struggle of starting all over again. Oh well, you just do what you have to do, pull your boot straps up, and get on down the road, and don't look back.

There are people that I belong to in this world. The blood that runs through their skin is the same as mine.

I am home with them now.

Have a Good Week
Daniel

The Legend of Thomas Lacy and the Pirate

Rev. David Rice and William Rice were 1st cousins, they descend from our common ancester, Thomas Rice the emmigrant. Thomas Lacy was the husband of our 1st cousin, Catherine Elizabeth Rice. Her Grandfather was Thomas Rice the emigrant. It was Thomas Lacy who won the King's Ransom for killing the pirate "Blackbeard". Blackbeard was born between 1680 and 1690, he died 22 November, 1718.


The Legend of Thomas Lacy and the Pirate
The story of Thomas Lacy capturing a pirate, reputedly Blackbeard, has come down through the generations. The furthest back it goes is to the Rev. William Sterling Lacy, a man of outstanding character and the source of much correct information on the family. This story has been suspect because of the claims that it was the pirate, Blackbeard, who was captured and slain. This could not possibly be because Edmond Drummond, a.k.a. Edward Teach a.k.a. "Blackbeard" was born 1680-1690 and was killed 22 November 1718 in a fight with Lieut. Robert Maynard and company.

The incredibly true story has now surfaced, much of it consistent with the important facts in William Sterling Lacy's version. It was found by Gene Lacy doing an on-line search in the Virginia Colonial Records Project on the Homepage of the Library of Virginia. The Library spent the years between 1955 and 1985 visiting more than one hundred libraries and archives in Great Britain, Ireland, and France to survey the collections. They subsequently obtained microfilm on 14,704 Survey Reports, and acquired 963 reels of microfilmed documents. It was among these documents that the story of Thomas Lacy and the pirate surfaced.
First we present the story as told by William Sterling Lacy. This is taken from Hubert Wesley Lacey's book, "The Thomas Lacy III Family of Hanover and Buckingham Counties, Virginia".

COPY OF OLD PAPER WRITTEN BY WILLIAM STERLING LACY, SON OF REV. DRURY LACY.
ORIGINAL IS IN THE POSSESSION OF ALFRED P. JONES, M..D. OF ROANOKE VA.

Passing through the upper end of Luta Prairie about the year 1828 or '29, I stopped at the house of old Mr. Wm. Rice; he said he was 85 or 86 years of age, and brother of Rev. David Rice, one of the first Presbyterian Ministers of Kentucky. His mind was unimpaired, his memory remarkable and he was esteemed a consistent Christian man. He told me that when a small boy, he saw my ancestor who emigrated from Wales, and was then residing in Hanover Co., Va., remarking that he was one of the oldest and tallest men he ever saw; his name was Thomas Lacy. He told me his history was very peculiar, that when a young man he embarked on board a vessel from Wales with other emigrants, with a view of settling in Virginia; that during the voyage he was captured by a notorious pirate who went under the familiar name of Black Beard, but whose name was Taike; that every passenger on board was made to walk the plank with the exception of Thomas Lacy, who the pirate swore was too fine a looking fellow to be drowned and that he would impress him into his service and make a noble pirate of him.

A short time after the pirate put into Ocracoke Sound, and cast anchor on a desolate coast, where he was in the habit of trading with some lawless accomplices.
A man of suspicious character, I think by the name of Minnis, applied to the Governor of Virginia, then residing on Jamestown Island, to aid him in fitting out a large Merchant Vessel and collecting a large number of desperate adventurers with a view of capturing the pirate. He was induced to do this, from the fact that a very large reward had been offered by the British Government and several of her colonies for the capture of the pirate.

It seems that Minnis was acquainted with the habits of Black Beard and knew at what time he would be on the coast. The vessel was fitted and crew collected. Immediately on entering Ocracoke Inlet the vessel was so fitted to appear almost a wreck. Taking advantage of a favorable wind and tide she sailed slowly under ragged sailes and crippled masts to where the piratical vessel lay, only four or five men on deck making signals of distress as they approached the pirate. All the men, completely armed, hid under the hatches of the vessel. The pirate seemed amused at her slow approach, supposing they had her entirely in their power. The piratical vessel was anchored over a half mile from shore. At this time nearly half the crew were on shore trading as above mentioned. As soon as she reached the pirate she was grappled and drawn up alongside of her. Instantly all the hatches were thrown up and armed men in large numbers rushed on the deck of the pirate. At this instant Thomas Lacy drew his cutlass and shouting with trumpet-voice, "I am a true man. I am a prisoner", began to cut down the pirates on the right and left. This circumstance increased their panic and threw them into some confusion so that they were quickly overcome by superior numbers. Not one would surrender and every one was slain. Black Beard recognized Minnis and cursed him as a traitor and was soon after killed.
They then proceeded with their prize to Jamestown where the good Conduct of Thomas Lacy being reported to the Governor, he gave him a share of the prize money, and a tract of land on the frontier in which is now Hanover Co., saying he would make a fine Indian fighter. In a few years after Thomas Rice sailed from Wales and settled in the same neighborhood of Thomas Lacy. Thomas Lacy married his daughter to whom he had been engaged before leaving Wales.

This Thomas Rice was the ancestor of this William Rice who gave me the above narrative.

Signed: William S. Lacy

FROM THE COLONIAL RECORDS PROJECT-LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA


Song of the Week
This is one of Kayla's favorite songs, and yes...we all grew up with this song. The song..so old...so inspiring....giving hope to the hopeless. From the play "Annie", "The Sun Will Come Out Tommorrow".

Have a Good Week...No Blog Next Week!
Daniel

With Pen In Hand

Theres still a place in the old land
where rails have never ground.
Where vapor trails and rooster tails
have yet to be unwound.
Where muffler's drone and telephone
are still an unknown sound.
And the Big Nianqua River has never been to town.
By Pete Rice

My father was a journalist when he was younger. My Aunt Viginia said he would write and send in articles to the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, when he was twelve years old. They didn't know how old he was, but he would get paid for the articles. When he was older and after the War, he worked for the Daily Oklahoman, and wrote many articles. Most of these articles were sports. He covered a lot of baseball and football, and he also covered the boxing scene. It was also here that my Great Uncle George Tapscott, another writer and photogragher for the Daily Oklahoman, introduced my Mother to my Father. My father later worked for the newspaper in Enid, Oklahoma, and that is where I was born.

He quit the newspaper business, after awhile, and became a traveling salesman. He traveled eight states, and that is when we moved to Missouri, so he could be centrally located. It was here that my father fell in love with the Ozarks hardwood trees, the many rivers of Southwest Missouri, and the panorama of the dogwoods in bloom in the spring. My family camped and fished most of my childhood days. Every chance we got, we would escape the city to the wilds of the Ozarks Hills.

The "Missouri Conservationist" is a monthly magazine that the Missouri Conservation Commision publishes for residents and non residents. My father wrote two articles for the magazine back in the sixties. The first article "You Brought It.....You Carry It Home" was published September 1, 1966. The article was about littering our streams and rivers. He may have been a little ahead of his time talking about such issues in the mid-sixties. Although Ladybird Johnson and the President had enacted the "Beautification Program" in 1965. I don't think anyone was listening then, and our environment is a big issue now. Funny how things change.

The second article was called "Nianqua Patrol", published November 1, 1968. That was my birthday, and I was fourteen years old. My father was a friend of the Conservation Commision, although he was civilian, he rode with many Conservation Agents in Southwest Missouri. At times he was deputized during Deer or Turkey season, and helped the Agents with checking tags and licensing. The story is about my father and his friend, Conservation Agent Don Ross, making a float down the Nianqua River , some 60 miles in a day.

I can not post the entire stories here, but I have some highlights of each story for your musing.

You Brought It.....You Carry It Home - September 1966

My favorite time to fish Bennett Spring in the height of the season is, believe it or not, is Sunday afternoon. After the weekend hordes have departed for home, the rainbows seem to be so relieved by the sudden absence of all that hardware that they frolic in the fast water and boil the slicks of the deep holes to take almost any offering of a dry pattern or a small (size 16 or 20) unweighted drifting hackle fly. Sometimes the fish cooperate to the tune of 25 or 30 an hour. That's when I find a shady casting position and have fun. What Hatchery Superintendent Clarence Holland calls "giving the trout a sore mouth".

In just less than fifteen minutes, just circling the hole above and below the main bridge, I took a heaping tubfull of beer and soft drink cans, whiskey bottles, empty cigarette packages, motor oil cans, a mud flap off an ole jalopy, and two old shoes ( un-mated, incidentally).

When I returned to my fishing spot, I'd been joined by another fellow I hadn't seen on this stream before. He had a first-class outfit and cast a good dry fly. Like myself, he was releasing a fish about every other drift. Obviously he was no greenhorn at fly fishing for trout.

I'd learned he was a Fort Leonard Wood officer who had grown up on one of the delicate trout streams of New England and appreciated the rainbow for what he is......the most pleasurable fish in the world to outwit with a dry fly. The style he'd learned as a boy on the Beaverkill could still be cashed in on any trout stream in the world. But his attitude on litter was completely out of date.

We can sit around the mid-morning coffee and make jokes about Lady Bird Johnson's Beautification program, but lets face it: people are sometimes a bunch of hogs. And we have to start somewhere and sometime to improve the situation.

You're just one of thousands but remember the little girl on TV who preaches " Every Little Bit Hurts". Well, every little bit you pick up helps too.


Nianqua Patrol - November 1968

We're on the water before the sun gets over the ridges, three men in a 19 foot canoe heavy with the day's food and drink, plus five and a half H.P. motor. Our put-in is six miles above the Bennett Spring Branch on the Nianqua River in Dallas County.

This will be a long day. Resident Agent, Don Ross, is in the stern with Agent, Charley Guthrie, of Brookfield, on loan from the North Central District, riding his Bowman and me --- a civilian and friend of the Department, in midseat. We will check Permits of Floaters and Bank Fishermen, cut out illegal Trot Lines and keep an eye open for noodlers and evidence of Trammel Net and fish trap activity.

We glide under the big Bluff of the Christain Church Camp and no matter how often I go on this stream, I am always awed and inspired by the stark serenity of the surroundings. A huge Cross marks the Camp's outdoor Chapel a few hundred feet above us. What a place to meditate for those who come here from the concrete jungles and great Masonry Mausoleums of the Urban Communities.

Checking two boatloads of Floaters, I wonder to myself if they know how the Ozarks were formed by the leading edge of the Great Glacier in the Ice Age and whether they really appreciate the beauty that surrounds them even today in this age of man's destruction of his environment.

There is a downed Willow where I caught a three pound Smallmouth two weeks ago. I released him, as I do all the Brownies I'm fortunate enough to boat on my homemade Sassafras Lure (Buffalo Special). Largemouth are abundant here, too. On one weekend float last year, my 14 year old son and I caught 49 on Top-water Lures.

Bennett Spring Branch looms into view and we put in to eat Breakfast at my camp where my wife, Louise, has prepared Hot Cakes, Eggs, Bacon and lots of Coffee. We camp here as often as possible with our Teenagers and their friends. I can't think of a better place for them to be in this hully-gully era of sophisticated living.

If I had 50 Million Dollars, I'd buy up this long downstream stretch and the adjoining Timberland as Missouri's first State Scenic River and Forest Preserve.

This is truly wildnerness in the affluent society of today. Dallas County has never had a railroad, has no lakes for speedboaters to chrun, no hard service airplane runways, no super highways. Just a priceless heritage of hardwood forest and cold, clear spring-fed streams.

The water has cleared fast since we left Bennett and as we motor through the eddys, you can see dark forms run in all directions from beneath the speeding canoe. Fresh timber is down in every hole of water, another example of what an excellent job nature can do if we just leave the chores to her.

Here come Big Guthrie Bluff, where not only gear, but canoes and boats are frequent casualties. A steep, swift riffle catches a craft, the occupants lean the wrong direction, and before you can say square-stern, it is filled with water and wrapped around the huge boulder blocking the outlet where tons of water rush by hourly.

We sail for hours now with little evidence of civilization. Lush, green hardwoods line the banks of deep eddys flowing placidly past stark, sentinal limestone bluffs. Coon, possum, fox and deer water here and man in canoe is but a curiosity to a bonanza of birds. Too bad we can't load up the "God is Dead" advocates and bring them here where He still lives, performing daily miracles just as since the beginning of time.

A recap of the day's activity shows more than 100 Fishermen checked where but a couple of years ago, 25 would have been a big day. The people-explosion is everywhere.

When our Parks are paved with asphalt
and our streams have all been damned,
When each wondrous woodland acre
has been raped by human hand.
Oh, where will we take our children
when they ask if they can go
To see old Mother Nature
And the wonders of her show?
I dont know. But it bugs me!
By Pete Rice

Song of the Week
I think that my father and Cat Stevens had the same vision. "Where do the Children Play", song and lyrics.

Where Do The Children Play?

Well I think it’s fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, ’cause you can get anything.

I know we’ve come a long way,
We’re changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas.
And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can’t get off.

Oh, I know we’ve come a long way,
We’re changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you’ve cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air.
But will you keep on building higher
’til there’s no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?

I know we’ve come a long way,
We’re changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Have a Great Week
Daniel

Sick and Tired

The big story this week is the collapse of the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis, MN. I can't remember in my lifetime a bridge collapsing here in the United States, without knowing exactly what made it collapse. We have had bridges fall after earthquakes in California, and the bridge in Oklahoma collapsed after being hit by a barge. At this point it is still a mystery.

Hard to believe that this could happen in America. Where is the money for these bridges that are defecient? Why did they not have sensors on these bridges to measure weight and stress?

I read where some states have been categorized with having more bad bridges than other states. Oklahoma, for instance, is the worst. But now let's look at the facts. Most of Oklahoma is considered rural. There are only two big towns in Oklahoma, and most of the bridges there are Interstate, and well maintained by federal money. I know this for fact, because I-35 has been under construction in Oklahoma since I was 14 years old. There is only one main river that runs through Oklahoma, most of the bridges that cross that river are also maintained by federal money. There are alot of creek beds, with bridges, and most of these creeks don't have but a trickle of water in them for most of the year. This is the similar siuation in Kansas. There are alot of wood bridges, railroad tie bridges, some of these bridges built many years ago, but only the locals use them.

Some are saying we can spend all this money on the War in Iraq, but here in America our bridges are falling down. I wish that was the only problem we have in America. I have a long laundry list, just like every other American.

There was the movie "Network" (1976)...........the classic line was "I'm sick and tired, and I'm not going to take it anymore".

I'm sick and tired of Americans not able to afford healthcare, or buy there medicines, while healthcare and pharmaceutical companies enjoy windfall profits from high margins.
I'm sick and tired of Americans going hungry, especially our American children.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who keep voting for politicians that talk out of both sides of their mouths.
I'm sick and tired of Americans fighting Wars for the rich folks.
I'm sick and tired of Americans being spat on from other countries.
I'm sick and tired of Americans listening to this nasty music called Rap.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who don't like each other because of their race. Get over it...we are all in this together.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who don't speak english.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who continually want to sue somebody for something.
I'm sick and tired of Americans being reactive instead of being proactive.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who say they are American, but continue to fly their own flags.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who call themselves Gangsta's, who think they can go around killing others.
I'm sick and tired of Americans who are in power, who think they are above the law.
I'm sick and tired of Americans in the workplace wanting something for nothing.

Something is wrong!!....I'm standing straight up and the world is turned upside down!

There is a local story of a 13 year old boy who patted his girlfriend on the butt at school. He is being charged as a sexual offender.......WHAT?.....What about those guys in the NFL??

"I'm sick and tired, and I'm not going to take it anymore".


Song of the Week

Rufus Wainwright has put out some great music. This weeks song is one of my favorites from the Shriek Soundtrack, "Hallelujah".

Have a Good Week
Daniel

My 4th Great Grandfather William Hays

William Ranney's 1849 painting "Boone's First View of Kentucky" is among those currently on exhibit at the Speed Museum in Louisville.


William Hays b. 1754, and Susannah Boone b.1760, Daniel's daughter, were my 4th Great Grandparents. He was a soldier, and a pioneer, and taught his father in law Daniel Boone to read and write. After drinking and quarrelling with his son in law, he met his death in 1804.


Biography of William Hays

Of the ancestry of William HAYS little is known except he was of Irish descent. William Hays was born and raised in Ireland, and came to America with his mother and grandfather when he was about 16 years old . His mother being a widow.He was a weaver by trade, and probably had a better education than most of his associates, for we are told that while living on the Clinch River, he taught Daniel Boone "some in writing and improved hand" and kept Boone's accounts.

They were married just before Susannah's father, Daniel Boone, set out on his expedition for the Henderson Co. to mark and cut the road into Kentucky. He accompanied Daniel Boone on his first expedition to cut “The Wilderness Road” into Kentucky. William was a soldier and was well educated. He became a Captain in Captain John Holder's company at Boonesborough in 1779. He and Susannah moved with her parents to Missouri in 1799. In Kentucky, Daniel Boone and his party put up a few cabins, which were the foundation of Boonesborough, after which Boone returned to Virginia for his family. On April 30,1776, Boone took his family and started again over the new road to Kentucky where he planned to make his future home. In the party were his daughter Susannah and her husband William Hays. The trip through the forest and over the mountains occupied over a month. When they got within four miles of the fort, as night was approaching, the entire party camped, except William Hays and his wife, who hurried on to Boonesborough. That night, in the crude fort, Susannah Hays gave birth to her first child, on June 12,1776, one month and 12 days after leaving North Carolinas. This child, Elizabeth Hays, was without doubt the first white child born in Kentucky. On Feb.7,1778, Daniel Boone was captured by Indians and carried away into captivity. While he was a prisoner of the Indians and English, his wife Rebecca Boone and her children, accompanied by William Hays and his wife Susannah, went back to Mrs. Boone's father's (Joseph Bryan's), on the Yadkin River in North Carolina. In the spring the Hays returned to Kentucky, during which journey Elizabeth Hays, their eldest daughter, was carried on a horse by George Bryan, son of Morgan Bryan, jr. William Hays took part in the Siege of Fort Boonesborough. At that time, seeing an Indian sitting behind a tree, Hays took a shot at him, breaking the red man's knee and splintering one of his thigh bones. It is said that the Indian lived some 3 weeks but finally died of his wounds.

William Hays was enrolled as a pioneer soldier of Kentucky, on June 10, 1779 to 1783, Hays was a Captain at Bryan's Station under Colonels Levi Todd and Daniel Boone. When on Aug. 15, 1782, the Indians attacked Bryan's Station, Captain William Hays raised, probably on the second day of the siege, a party of about twelve men at Boone's Station, and hurried to their relief. Somewhere on the way they met the men from Lexington, and all went on to Bryan's Station together. During the siege Hays, who was on horseback, received a bullet wound in the back of the neck. He was so severely stunned that he was almost insensible, but managed to stay on his horse and escaped. Later Capt. Hays was detailed to attend to the building of canoes and collecting provisions for Gen. George Rogers Clark's Army in 1781.

Probably about 1785, William and Susannah Hays came into possession of Daniel Boone's Marble Creek farm, five miles west of Boone's Station, and remained there until the fall of 1799, when they moved with Daniel Boone's party to Missouri. Hays and his son, William Hays, Jr., joined that section of the party which went overland from Limestone or some point below, adding their livestock to the rest. Their route was through Lexington, Louisville, Vincennes, and St. Louis. The Hays family settled in St. Charles Co., Missouri.

William Hays was killed by James Davis, his son-in-law, on 13 December 1804 in St. Charles County. William Hays had quarreled with James Davis and had told him not to come on his place, but he did anyway. Mr. T.P. Davis of Wright City, Missouri, a descendant of James Davis, said in 1958, that the argument was over a land dispute. William Hays was said to have been a heavy drinker and prone to fights and disturbances. Apparently because of his 'rough reputation' sympathy seems to have been with James Davis. In fact it is said that even though Daniel Boone, as Commandant of the Femme Osage District, was the one who arrested James Davis and delivered him to the "calabazo" in St. Charles, he spoke up on his behalf and believed that William Hays had pulled a pistol on James Davis first. The shooting was eventually determined to be "self defense." This occurred at Femme Osage, in the district of St. Charles in the Territory of Louisiana , in what is now Missouri.

Timmy Travolta's Disco Inferno

Tonight I am paying tribute to my brother, who happens to love the BeeGees. SO............Get your MOJO on, and go listen to some BeeGee's.

Stayin Alive
I started a Joke
Mend a broken Heart
More Than A Woman
Should be Dancin
Jive Talkin

Have a Good Week
Daniel

In The News

The Hardy Boys series began in 1927, when Grosset & Dunlap released the first three volumes, known as "breeders." At first, the books were bound in a plain cloth cover, with cover art printed on the paper dust jacket. In 1962, Grosset & Dunlap dropped the dust jackets and switched to the more durable "picture cover" format, in which the cover art was printed directly on the book's cover. Over the years, the graphic design of the covers has changed several times.

Potter Party
Everyone is having their "Potter Parties" tonight, after the release of the new book, "Deathly Hallow". I for one, have not even read the first book, much less the others. I used to read the Hardy Boy's.......is it the same? We used to call it "Party Hardy".

Obama: I’d walk picket line as president

I'm sure that this was a strategic gesture on his part to promise the Labor Unions. However, I also think it would be against the law. The President has the power to order any Labor Union in America back to work. Failure to do so, is a felony. Would this not be a conflict of interest for him to walk a picket line?..............The real question is "does he really have to promise these kinds of things to get elected?".....Is there a Lawyer in the house that can answer this question?

OxyContin makers fined for downplaying addiction risk

OxyContin was ordered to pay 634 million dollars in fines for misleading the public about the painkillers risk of addiction.

This would be the remnant of the fines inflicted on the Tobacco industry for misleading the public of cigarette addiction. While tobacco companies deserve their fair share of blame, there's plenty to go around. A large portion of the tobacco company payments will flow to the states to help cover their health care costs, the very same states that have been collecting billions of dollars of excise and sales taxes on the sales of tobacco products to their people.

The state of Florida -- which will receive a relatively healthy share of the payments -- at one time actually produced unfiltered cigarettes in its prisons to give to inmates and to sell to municipalities.

Even the federal government shares some of the blame. They weren't above selling cut-rate cigarettes on military bases.

Nevertheless, big tobacco must now pay the price of its success. The companies have signed an agreement to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in fines, drastically cut their product's advertising, and pay even more fines if consumers don't actually use less of their product. If underage smoking does not fall by 30% in five years, 50% in seven, and 60% in ten years, tobacco companies will pay as much as $2 billion a year in penalties. And the tobacco growers are lining up too -- they want $6 billion to help them switch to other crops and/or a protectionist requirement that a higher percentage of American tobacco be used in cigarettes.

Let's not forget that from the year 1609, the first Americans grew Tobacco. We have supplied the rest world with Tobacco products for over 200 years. It is, in a sense, what built this country to what it is.

Taliban says killed two Germans in Afghanistan

Taliban says they have killed thier hostages, while another Taliban says one is still alive. For Gods Sake!..........I thought the Taliban was disbanded, and we had won this war long ago. That was when our President strolled across the deck of that Aircraft Carrier in his jumpsuit, declaring victory.......Remember!

Do fish suffer from exposure to Uriah Heep?

A Finnish researcher is to study fish in an aquarium while a rock group performs nearby, to see if the sound causes any ill-effects or distress.

Which brings us to The Song of the Week!
I attended a Uriah Heep concert in Anahiem, CA, in 1971. All I ever remember was there was alot of smoke, and the song "July Morning".

Have a Good Week

Daniel

Home of the Assassins and the "Old Man of the Mountain"

I have always been fascinated by Castles. I never knew there were so many Castles in the Middle East. There are Castles in Syria, Iran, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Israel. In Iran alone there over 80 Castles, most were built by the Pershians. Most of the Castles in the Middle East were built during the Byzantine Empire, from the years 950 to 1200 AD. While many others were built by Muslims, and Crusaders.

While browsing the internet this week I found another group. The Hashshashin , was a religious sect of Ismaili Muslims from the Nizari sub-sect. They had a militant basis which was employed in various political or religious purposes. They were thought to be active from 1090 to 1272. This mystic secret society was known to specialize in terrorising the crusaders with fearlessly executed, politically motivated assassinations.

The name "assassin" is commonly believed to be a mutation of the Arabic "haššāšīn" (حشّاشين). However, there are those who dispute this etymology, arguing that it originates from Marco Polo's account of his visit to Alamut in 1273, in which he describes a drug whose effects are more like those of alcohol than of hashish. It is suggested by some writers that assassin simply means 'followers of Al-Hassan' (or Hassan-i-Sabah, the Sheikh of Alamut). Others suggest that since hashish-eaters were generally ostracized in the Middle Ages the word "Hashshashin" had become a common synonym for "outlaws". So the attribution of Hassan's Ismaili sect with this term is not necessarily a clue for drug usage. Some common accounts of their connection with hashish are that these "assassins" would take hashish before missions in order to calm themselves; others say that it helped to boost their strength, and turned them into madmen in battle.

Bernard Lewis notes in his book, "The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam", by the thirteenth century, the word Assassin, in various forms, had already passed into European usage in the general sense of hired professional murderer. The Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani, who died in 1348, tells how the lord of Lucca sent "his assassins" to Pisa to kill a troublesome enemy there.Even earlier, Dante, in a passing reference in the 19th canto of the Inferno, speaks of "the treacherous assassin"; and his fourteenth-century commentator Fancesco da Buti, explaining a term which for some readers at the time may still have been strange and obscure, remarked: "An assassin is one who kills others for money." Since then "assassin" has become a common noun in most European languages. It means a murderer or, more particularly, one who kills by stealth or treachery, whose victim is a public figure and whose motive is fanaticism or greed."Assassin" is now a common noun in most European languages, but it first came to the West from Arabic around the time of the Crusades, when it was the name of a secretive Muslim sect feared by the Crusaders and the Muslim establishment alike. Bernard Lewis traces the origins of the Assassin sect to the Shiite branch of Islam whereby the Assassins were to the first group to make planned, systematic and long term use of murder as a political weapon. They were history's first terrorists.

MASYAF CASTLE , SYRIA, Home of the Assassins and the "Old Man of the Mountain", made news this week. Secrets of Assassins' fort unearthed in Syria. Restoration of this Castle has begun in the last year, and authorities hope it will become a popular tourist attraction. Saladin, the great Muslim leader, laid siege to Masyaf castle in the 12th century. But he thought twice before launching an assault on the Assassins, who had a reputation for mounting daring operations to slay their foes. "Anyone who tried to take the Assassins' castle would be dead the next day," said Haytham Ali Hasan, an archaeologist involved in the restoration project.

You can browse many of the Castles of the Middle East here.

Song of the Week

The Rob Thomas album "Something to Be" was an amazing album, released in 2005. It was his first solo album, and immediately went to number one. It was also the first album by a solo artist, from a rock group, to hit the U.S. Billboard #1 in 50 years. It features the top ten hit "Lonely No More". It also features John Mayer's guitar on the single "Street Corner Symphony." One of my favorite songs on the album, ironically, is the cover song " Something to Be". The song was never played on the radio.........why?.........because the "S" word is used in the fourth verse.

Rob Thomas
Something To Be

Hey man

I don't wanna hear about love no more

I don't wanna talk about how I feel

I don't really wanna be me no more

Dress down now I look a little too

Boy next door

Maybe I should try to find a downtown whore

That'll make me look hardcore

I need you to tell me what to stand for

I've been looking for something

Something I've never seen

We're all looking for something

Something to be

Hey man

Play another one of those heartbreak songs

Tell another story how things go wrong

And they never get back

My pain is a platinum stack

Take that shit back

You don't wanna be me when it all goes wrong

You don't wanna see me with the houselights on

I'm a little too headstrong

Stand tall

I don't wanna get walked on

I can't stand what I'm starting to be

I can't stand the people that I'm starting to need

There's so much now

That can go wrong

And I don't need somebody

Trying to help it alongIt's the same old song

Everybody says you've been away too long

Everybody wanna take you what went wrong

Wanna make you like an icon

Will you believe that they're right

Have a Good Week

Daniel

Boot's is his name..SAX is his game

Tonight I thought I would tribute a couple of musicians, one young, and one old that just passed away this week at the age of 80.

Boots Randolph was a wonderful musician. He played in a variety of bands throughout his career. You will probably remember him from his big hit in the early sixties, "Yakety Sax". That song later became the theme song for the Benny Hill show. Boots Randolph was the first to ever play sax on recordings with Elvis, and the only one to ever play solo with him, in addition to recording on the soundtracks for 8 of his movies. Boots also played on such diverse recordings as Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman", Al Hirt's "Java", REO Speedwagon's "Little Queenie", and Brenda Lee's "Rockin' 'Round The Christmas Tree". In fact, he has a 30-year history of playing on records with her, including "I Want To Be Wanted" and "I'm Sorry". An array of other artists who have added the Yakety Sax touch to their recordings include Chet Atkins, Buddy Holly, Floyd Cramer, Alabama, Johnny Cash, Richie Cole, Pete Fountain, Tommy Newsom and Doc Severinsen.

His final solo studio album "A Whole New Ballgame" was released June 12, 2007. Boot's passed away July 3, 2007, at his hometown of Nashville, TN.

Please enjoy these songs, by one of the greatest Sax players of all time!

Yakety Sax

Sweet Georgia Brown

Sleep Walk

Cracklin Sax

Sentimental Journey



Blue-eyed soul music has got a new crown prince...and he's on a crusade.






Mark Broussard has a new album out called SOS - Save Our Soul. This is a wonderful album of words and music that will touch your soul. He has done his own renditions of some of the old school soul music of the sixties and seventies. Songs by Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and others.

You can listen to his interview with NPR Radio this week at this link. Go to his MySpace page to hear Al Green's hit "Love and Happiness".

Broussard was born into a musical family, so his "ownership" goes back to his days as a boy hearing his father, Louisiana Hall of Fame guitarist Ted Broussard, (member of the legendary Gulf Coast blue eyed soul band The Boogie Kings) tear through soul nuggets with bands around suburban Carencro. And Marc was singing like the style's founders by the time he was in his teens.

"Years before I made my first album" - 2002's surprisingly mature Momentary Setback - "my uncle told me I needed to form my own music by using all of my influences along the way and combining them with my own perspective on life. 'Then,' he said, 'you'll have a great package to call your own.' I think I achieved that with Carencro. Now I've been touring behind that album nearly three years, and I want to share a new message. Not just that real soul music still has a place in our lives, but that we need to have more social consciousness. I don't want to lecture anybody about that. I want them to feel it through the positive vibes of this music."

I failed to mention that Mark is 20 something, and from Louisiana Cajun Country. Good Luck Mark, your destined for greatness in your career.

Have a Good Week

Daniel

Dirty Laundry

On June 21, 2007, the CIA released hundreds of documents pertaining to the agency's Violation of Charter for 25 years. It includes the wire tapping of journalists and dissidents, covert mail opening, assassination of Fidel Castro and Congo Leader Patrice Lumumba. The movie "Conspiracy Theory" with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts is really true. They have admitted to giving experimental drugs to individuals without their consent. There was also a lot of spying on anti-war activists in the late 60's and early 70's.

I have read through some 380 pages of these documents. Here is my opinion:
It seems to me that the CIA spends a good 70% of their time trying to cover up their own secrets. They spend endless time, money and memos planning and contigency planning. If a secret is found out by the public...... what are they going to do? Denial is the best and most powerful word that can be used. This latest release of files, names everyone who was involved in the Watergate Investigation - Howard Hunt, John Mitchell, James McCord, Richard Helms, William Colby. It seems to me that now that all of these men involved in Watergate have spent time in prison, these papers have been released. Some of these documents are trivial.

Lyndon Johnson made a speech about Cambodia. He wanted to reply personally to all letters sent to the White House about his speech. The letters were identified pro and con. The Justice Dept. took all of the con letters. The White House and CIA took all of the pro letters. This amounts to about 200,000 letters that would have been sent out from the White House. The expenditure for CIA was about $30,000. The problem here is how were they going to get reimbursed the $30,000 for White House stationary, envelope stuffing, postage, etc. from the White House? They were trying to dodge the radar of the GAO (General Accounting Office). This also was not a part of the CIA Charter. Who cares, the president ordered it............and so it shall be done!

I guess everyone remembers the case of Valerie Plume and the subsequent conviction of VP Cheney's assistant, Louis Libby? Howard Hunt retired in April of 1970; although, he had done contracted work for the CIA after that.

MORl DoclD: l45l843 23 January 1973:Executive Director noted that the terminal secrecy agreement which Howard Hunt signed said that he will be acknowledged as an agency employee. His assertion that he is not bound by the agreement because we did in fact acknowledge his employment here is therefore ill-advised.

I guess Howard Hunt decided that he was not bound by their agreement because he did contract work after retirement as a CIA Operative, and they gave away his identity after Watergate. They violated thier own agreement.

The Castro assassination plot was to poison him. Jack Anderson had found out about this plot and published it in the Washington Post in May of 1971. The CIA had recruited a mobster named Johnny Roselli. He had ties to several Cubans close to Castro. So the plan was made, he would recriut someone to poison Castro with these lethal capsules provided by the CIA. Well....the plot fell through, why, nobody knows. But the most interesting part of this whole story is the poison capsules were returned to the CIA. For what?.........to be used at a later date? As evidence that we tried, but really did not do it? I don't get it! Maybe Castro found out about the plot and sent the capsules back with listening devices......lol!!!.........I can see the CIA now, after 40 years, scrambling to go get those capsules to check..........hahaha!!

The Family Jewels Documents is a very interesting read for those who are interested. Some have said that this has not been a really good time to release these documents. The CIA accused recently of foreign prisons, kidnapping in Italy, wiretapping, torture at GITMO, the list goes on. Then last year we found out that their was spying on Iraq, anti-war organizations, one of which my niece works for.

I have one thing to say before I end this story, just so you know, in case you did not know.

IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR OUR GOVERNMENT TO SPY ON UNITED STATES CITIZENS.

We are Americans, protected by our Constitution. This is a government for the people, and of the people. I'm sure that my 4th Great Grandfathers , Mathew Wallis, and James Rice, both Revolutionary War veterans will attest to the blood that was shed over this constitution.

Have A Good Week

Daniel

Mathew Wallis was a Fifer

I wanted to make a short note tonight about my 4th Great Grandfather Mathew Wallis. This week has been a terrible lose for US troops. Lets all please remember them.

Mathew Wallis was in the Revolutionary War, he was not a soldier, he was a fifer. Which I think is pretty cool. I have seen those old movies where the fifers lead the soldiers into battle, drums and flutes. This was to inspire the troops, motivate them into battle. As talent would have it, this was the mission of young Wallis. He is remembered on this blog tonight, fought as a Patriot for our freedom, so many years ago.

Our ancestry to Mathew Wallis, as follows:
Ira Belle Word - Grandmother
Nancy Caroline Gaddy - Great Grandmother
Violet Susan Roberts - 2nd Great Grandmother
Sarah Susan Wallis - 3rd Great Grandmother
Mathew Wallis who married Sarah Sneed 4th Great Grandfather/Grandmother

Mathew Wallis was born Jan 8, 1756, and died 26 Sept, 1821. He married Sarah Sneed, 5 Jan, 1787 in Wake County, NC.

Source: FAMILY BIBLE OF MATTHEW AND SARAH
Matthew F. Wallis, who was a Fifer in the war of the Revolution. That said Matthew Wallis entered the Service of the United States Army as a Fifer on the 1st of March One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty One from Amelia County, Virginia Under Captain Overstreet and was immediately marched on to Fuilford County, North Carolina and he was present at the Battle of Guilford under General Green. Soon after which he was transfered into the first Regiment of North Carolina State Troops under Captain Dunahoe and Col. Dixon and continued under said officers as Fifer until the 1st of August 1782. That soon after said Wallis entered said Service the Regiment to which he belonged was marched on from Orange County, North Carolina to join General Green near Camden, South Carolina. That from there they were marched to the Siege of ______six and then to the high hills of ____________ and remained there until the Battle of the Eutaw Springs in September, 1781. That they were marched back to the high hills of __________and then to a place called "Four Holes" or Orangeberg and Dorchester where they remained.

Source: Facts about this person:
Fact 1 September 26, 1821
VERIFIED BY REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION
Source: World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1 Author: Brderbund Software, Inc.Pub. Facts: Release date: November 29, 1995
Medium: Family Archive CD
Comments: Customer pedigree.
Pages(s): Tree #1585
Date of Import: Sep 7, 1997
Sarah SMEED was born 11 Feb 1759 in Amelia Co, VA. She died 13 Jul 1847 in Greene Co, MO.

Song of the Week

Thought I would play some Military/War songs.

From the Civil War soundtrack "Ashokan Farewell"

US Military Band "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"

US Marine Corp Band "Taps"

Have A Good Week

Daniel

THE REIGN OF THE REGULATORS

After the Civil War, there was alot of lawlessness. Afterall, if you had a horse stolen, it could take up to a week for the Sheriff to make it to the scene of the crime. People had to fiend for themselves, and stick together as nieghbors, to protect one another.

It should be noted that the Rice School sat on the NE corner of the Rice property. On this old map of the Jackson Township, the Rice's are located on the left side of page above the 2nd railroad tracks. northeast of Walnut Grove. If you enlarge this picture you will see that the Rice School is noted.



Tonights story concerns the Township of Jackson, in Polk County Missouri. "The Reign of the Regulators" was published by R. I. Holcombe, Editing Historian, History of Greene County, Missouri, 1883. It is probably by no coincidence that the Rice School is mentioned here as a meeting place in Walnut Grove. No doubt my Great Grandfather, Boone Rice, and his brothers, were present for these endeavers.

During the spring and summer of this year there was much excitement throughout the country occasioned by the doings of the "Regulators." For some time there had been a great deal of lawlessness in this county and in Southwest Missouri generally. Robberies and horse stealings were so common as to be every day occurrences, and even murders were not rare. It seemed that there was an organized band responsible for these depredations, since there was something of method and system about their perpetration, indicating deliberation and much wise planning. Few of the rogues were caught; fewer still were punished. Courts of justice seemed powerless to afford relief; the legal officers were unable to give protection.

At this crisis there was organized in this county, with headquarters at and about Walnut Grove, a band of men called the "Regulators," or "Honest Men's League," whose avowed object was the repression and punishment of crime of all sorts, and by any means. This organization was composed of men of both political parties and of all of the reputable classes. It may have contained some bad men, but it had many good men in it. Ex-Federal and ex-Confederate soldiers were numbered among its members, and, indeed, among its victims. Some of the best citizens of Boone, Cass, Robberson and Walnut Grove townships were "Regulators," and it was publicly and openly announced that the object of their organization was to rid the country of thieves and robbers, through the forms of law if possible, but if necessary to execute justice on the guilty in its own way, on the grounds of necessity and in self-defense.

About the last of May the "Regulators" began to move in earnest, taking the law in their own hands. Their first victim was Capt. Green B. Phillips, of Cass township. Capt. Phillips had been a prominent citizen of Greene, and had been in the Federal service during the war in this county. He was a captain in the 74th E. M. M., and did valiant and valuable service at the defense of Springfield as is noted on other pages of this volume. But he incurred the suspicion and fell under the ban of the "Regulators," as a sympathizer with and an aider and abettor of crime and criminals, and was taken from his family and made to yield up his life as a penalty.

Capt. Phillips lived about two miles northeast of Cave Springs. Early one morning about the 23d of May, in this year (1866) he was at his corn-crib getting corn to feed his stock. A night or two before, the "Regulators" had met in secret conclave, passed sentence of death upon him and detailed three men to carry it out. These three men had come to the captain's premises about daylight and secreted themselves near the stable, where they knew he would come early to attend to his "chores." The particulars here given have been obtained from a man, a resident of Cass township, and who says he knows they are true!

About sunrise Capt. Phillips appeared, and, entering his crib, began husking corn. He was unarmed, and the first intimation he received of danger was when, on looking up, he saw three formidable looking revolvers covering him through the cracks between the logs of the crib. Two of the "destroying angels" kept him covered, while the third went to the crib door and ordered him out. He obeyed and was placed between two of the men, each of whom held him by an arm, while the other followed in the rear. They had proceeded only about twenty feet toward the gate leading to the timber, whither they were carrying him, when Capt. Phillips, who was a man of great strength, jerked loose from his captors and started to run. He ran about thirty feet and stumbled and fell over a hog that chanced to lie in his way. As he rose to his feet he was shot by two of the "Regulators," one of the bullets passing through his body, making three, distinct bullet holes. As a stable stood between the crib and the house, none of the captain's family could see and identify the assassins.

There have always been those who asserted that Capt. Phillips was put to death without just cause or provocation; that through friendship he had befriended certain men accused of crime, but that he hid never committed himself or induced others to commit a crime of which he ever shared the profits. This may be true—it may be true.

But the "Regulators" were not yet satisfied. Other victims were demanded, and so a few days later, or on the 26th of May, they visited Walnut Grove, and made prisoners of two men named John Rush and Charlie Gorsuch, who, it was said, were among the thieves and robbers that had so long terrorized the country. The two accused were taken out and in less than an hour their dead bodies swung and swayed in the soft May breezes, and there were but few who cared to honor their memory or express regret either at the fact or the manner of their taking off.

From members of the "Regulators" willing to give information for the purposes of history, it has been learned that Rush and Gorsuch were ex-members of the Federal militia. Gorsuch had married, Rush's daughter. A day or two after the killing of Capt. Phillips, they went to Walnut Grove and in denouncing the murder made threats against two of the "Regulators," who, they asserted, were the assassins.

It chanced that a meeting of the "Regulators" was being held on that day at the Rice school house northeast of Walnut Grove. Some parties bore word to the meeting of the presence of the two men in Walnut Grove, and their threats were repeated. The "Regulators" immediately went into executive session, passed a sentence of death on Rush and Gorsuch, and straightway proceeded to Walnut Grove to carry it out. They entered the village from four different directions, found their victims in a store, made them prisoners, carried them about a mile southwest of town, and hung them to a red-bud tree.

Other work of the "Regulators" was the assisting of Deputy Sheriff Isaac Jones in the arrest of some parties near Walnut Grove, who were charged with stealing. Seven of those arrested were confined in jail. The names of all arrested were Joseph Mullinax, Jackson Smith, Samuel Richards, Jasper Fly, James Davis, John Perryman, Donnell Cochran, and Marion Fortune. These men were arrested about the 6th of June. Some of them were afterwards bailed out, whereupon the "Regulators" published the following card, being determined that the accused should be brought to trial, without any nonsense about change of venue, continuances, and other devices incident to the " law's delay." As published, the card read:

Headquarters Regulators, Walnut Grove, June 16, 1866To the Citizens of Southwest Missouri:We, the Regulators, organized to assist in the enforcement of the civil law, and to put down an extensive thieving organization, known to exist in our midst, having succeeded in arresting and commuting to jail a number of persons charged with grand larceny, robbing and general lawlessness, whom we believe to be bad men; and finding several of them have been bailed out, thereby extending to them all opportunity of again putting into execution their diabolical purposes of robbing, plundering and murdering their neighbors: Therefore, we hereby give notice, that all persons bailing such parties out of jail will be regarded as in sympathy if not in full cooperation with such, and will be held strictly responsible for the conduct and personal appearance at court for trial, of all persons thus bailed out of jail.Emphatically by the Regulators.

After the banning of Rush and Gorsuch the "Regulators" concluded to make a display of their force and an open defense of their action. About the 1st of June 280 of them rode into Springfield, formed in a hollow square, in front of the court-house, on the public square, and organized a meeting. Speeches were made by Rev. Mr. Brown, a Presbyterian minister; Major Downing, Col. James H. Baker, and Senator J. A. Mack, sympathizing with the purposes and justifying the action of the "Honest Men's League" or "Regulators," although deploring the necessity for such an organization. On the other hand Hon. John M. Richardson and Col. John S. Phelps spoke discountenancing the "League," and condemning its action. They asserted that the civil law was all-powerful for the prevention and punishment of whatever of lawlessness there was in the country, and that all that was needed was its vigorous enforcement. They added that if the laws were not enforced by those whose duty it was to enforce them, the remedy lay in electing men who would do their duty, and not in taking upon themselves the province of court, jury, and executioner.

The meeting adjourned, but the organization existed for some time, and it is claimed did far more good than harm, though in principle it may have been far wrong. Indeed, there are those who have since expressed a wish for the re-organization of the "Regulators."


Song of the Week
After reading this story, one song comes to mind. It is a old favorite from the Eagles, recorded back in the 70's. "Outlaw Man"

Have a Good Week, and a Great Fathers Day!
Daniel

On The Edge

I guess you could say I lived on the edge during my stay as a Marine.

I ran recon missions into Vietnam, 1970. We had this crazy Captain, who had spent 3 years in Vietnam. He taught us self defense, he was a black belt 8th degree. It took every night for three months, but we were all trained when it was over. He had this theory, we should be able to kill a man in 5 seconds, with our bare hands. An ear, an eye, it did not matter, if you were fast enough, you graduated. Everyday I thought I was going to die. We learn to walk at night, with the ball of our feet, so we would not make any noise. We were silent and deadly. We would travel to our missions in three man teams. We would map and document everything we did and had seen in our missions. We would sleep during the day and travel at night. You just did not have to be physically fit to do this, but you had to be mentally strong.

I then guarded nuclear bombs after leaving Vietnam . First on ship, then we also ran them cross country. Where there is one bomb, there is also one Marine. Do not come within 50ft. of his perimeter. After warning a 2nd Lt. not to enter my perimeter one day, I broke his chops! He was later court martialed. This is a very lonely job!

I worked in the brigg for awhile, and ran hard labor prisoners. We ran the Brigg on ship for awhile, and then we ran hard labor prisoners in the Phillipines. I had a prisoner who had shot his own Company Commander in Vietnam. He turned on me one day. I now, where a scare above my right eye. I like to killed him with my nightstick when I was done with him. I guess you could say I never trusted anyone after that.

I guarded Nixon in San Clemente. I guarded an Admiral, and then a General, called orderly duty in the Marines. Presidential Guard is not fun work. The equation for this is...........you die before he does! I drank alot back then. I had made it through Vietnam, and then assigned this duty.......and again......Everyday I thought I was going to die.

I later went AWOL, working in the oil fields in west Texas, losing all my rank and spent 45 days at Treasure Island brigg in San Francisco. I actually had fun for once in my life. Working the oil rigs. You show up at 3 am in the morning with your sack lunch. If they like you, they pick you to work all day. After 10 or 12 hours you made $150 cash. That was alot of money back in 1972. Spending time in the brigg was easy work compared to everything else, it was like a holiday. We played basketball, watch TV. We would line 50 guys on one side, and 50 guys on the other, and play football, full contact, in a gravel parking lot. We were all bleeding when we finished the game. I still have scares from those games. When I left Treasure Island, they paid me 2 months pay....Cash! WE went to the Playboy Club, and had Steak and Ale.

I was later assigned to a Battalion of Vietnam Veterans at Camp Pendleton, CA. After about 4 months there, I was recruited into the "top squad in the Marine Corp" in 1972. That is the top 13 men out of 220,000 Marines. This was a squad competition among all Marines. I made back all my rank meritoriously, all of the ranks were presented by the Commanding General, 1st Marine Division. The training for this competition took 10 months. We would start our day with a brisk 20 mile run starting at 4 am. Anyway, we won this competition. I was given a gold medal for this.........but I don't know where it is!

Every person should have a chance to redeem themselves......don’t you agree? I went from this highly intriguing and thrilling lifestyle to become a nightman at a convenience store. The adjustment was hard and I was bored to death. I still am!

Next time you meet a War Veteran, you better hug him with all your might. You may not know what hell he has been through. But.....one thing is to be sure......he did it all for you!

I am so proud of my niece, Amber, who is serving at the Pentagon. We love you!

For many years I have struggled with my War experience. I think it is time to share with you some of my thoughts and feelings of that experience. For most of my life, I have lived day to day, never knowing what would happen, or how I would feel. I have come to grips with, and resolved alot of the way I feel. But.....the War will never be over for me. I will now share with you a poem I wrote some 15 years ago, this was also 20 years after Vietnam.

Old Joe

Choppered a long flight, I was dropped down at night
Scurried two clicks that night, didn't move during daylight
When morning came, wet and quiet, time to sleep the day
Three day mission 1st day routine, but I was gonna pay

Almost asleep, I heard a pop, it was far away
Boots on a branch, rustle of jungle, knew I couldn't stay
Gathered my thoughts, not to get caught, I ran...ran...ran
I'd been spotted, gun in my hand, but I was told not to stand

Twenty two miles, I ran that day, he followed me all the way
Thoughts of killing him, was on my mind, it weighed
He could run farther than me, ahead in my mind, I was not kind
Came to a clearing, I'd had enough, I let the chamber slide

Locked and loaded I sat ready, hoping his hands not steady
Dawned on me, the noise I'd make, fix bayounet, now I was ready
Intended swift and deadly, didn't know my mortal enemy
Hope he came hard and fast, time to kill, I was more savvy

I lurked out, blade in his belly, a tear in his face, I could see
My rifle butt to his face, not a word spoken, to the ground he lay be
Checked his pulse, this courageous man, dead...at peace he may be
I stayed for hours, sorting my mind, why this happened to me.

The search found pictures, wife and kids, smiling for daddy
His legs scarred and scabbed, from fighting in rice paddys
Rice and water, was all he had, this was hell
Tougher than nails, I cried, his sorrow, I didn't feel well

I killed a man, face to face, it hurt me way down inside
Leaving me like a small child, with no place to hide
I think about that man, his family and life, more today than back then
His courage and honor, I took away, left me wondering what he would have been

The blood, the sorrow, the pain, I felt then
Still hurts my mind, left hanging, like leaves on a limb
Somehow I know, and my pain shows, either he or I had to go
But time will not forget, this man I spend my life with, he's called Joe

Song of the Week

This has been one of my favorites for a long time, from the movie "Platoon", and "Adagio for Strings".

Have a Good Week

Daniel

Brother Ali

This week, NPR radio interviewed "Brother Ali". Brother Ali is a Hip Hop Rap artist, he recently released a new album "The Undisputed Truth". This story is not about his music. Although his music and words, are synonomous with other Black Hip Hop artist. The real story here is Brother Ali is a white man, not just any white man, he is Albino. Although he enjoyed "white privelege" while growing up, he does not identify with being white. "I was taken in, early on, by black folks," he says. "Those are the people who taught me the things that I needed to know to survive being who and what I am."

I found this interview quite interesting. I remember when I was in High School, we had an Albino in our classes. He was such a loner, I never saw him talk much to others. I think some, thought of him as some freak. Then later when I was in the Marines, we had a Albino in our detachement. He shun the white Marines and ran around with the Black Marines. I guess Racism and Disrimination comes in many forms. His story I found so odd!...I wish him success with his new album.

The following is a speech from Robert Kennedy, 1966. He was so brilliant, he had such perception and vision of the days that have past, and what the future must hold for all of us. This short speech highlighting rascism, slavery, war, and how we must all live together as "ONE".


Robert F. Kennedy
From the Address of Senator Robert F. Kennedy: Day of AffirmationUniversity of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966
I come here this evening because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which was once the importer of slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.
In a few hours, the plane that brought me to this country crossed over oceans and countries which have been a crucible of human history. In minutes we traced migrations of men over thousands of years; seconds, the briefest glimpse, and we passed battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died. We could see no national boundaries, no vast gulfs or high walls dividing people from people; only nature and the works of man -- homes and factories and farms -- everywhere reflecting man's common effort to enrich his life. Everywhere, new technology and communications brings men and nations closer together, the concerns of one inevitably become the concerns of all. And our new closeness is stripping away the false masks, the illusion of differences, which is at the root of injustice and hate and war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ends at river's shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town or his views and the color of his skin.
It is your job, the task of the young people in this world to strip the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of man.
Of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people across the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspiration and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs -- that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities -- no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hard-headed to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgement, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief; forces ultimately more powerful than all the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.
It is this new idealism which is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation which has learned that while efficiency can lead to the camps at Auschwitz, or the streets of Budapest, only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hills of the Acropolis.

Song of the Week

Speaking of "ONE". VH1 has rated this song in the top 10 of softsensational songs of all time. Darryl Hall and John Oates - "One on One".

Have a Good Week

Daniel

Mother Has Passed On

My Mother passed away last Sunday night, May 20, at 10:42 PM. She waited till my little sister Abby, driving from New Orleans, arrived at 10:30 PM. All of the siblings were at her bedside when she passed away. Although my mother was 82 years old, and lived a good life, she will be missed by all of us kids, Grandkids and Great Grandkids.

I would like to thank those that took part in the service. The service was held in a small chapel. Those that wanted to speak about Mother were invited to come forward. Special thanks to my nephew and nieces, Evan, Erin, Ericka, Ashley, Jessica, and Jackie. They spoke of what Mother mean't to them, things Mother liked, quoted some of the most beautiful poems ever written. My sisters Becky, Debby, and Abby, spoke of their life experience with Mother, the love that mother gave to all us kids. I would like to thank my sisters for planning such a wonderful service for Mother. My love for my sisters has grown even stronger after this ordeal in our lives.

Most of us take life for granted, and sometimes things are not what they seem. My older brother lived with my Mother for some twenty years. My Mother help raise his two children. I would like to thank my sisters for relocating my brother. Yes, these things are hard, and when tragedy strikes, no one is immune from it's ripple effect, not even my brother, who I love very much. A special thank you to Thorn and Tony, for helping move the belongings to storage, and for your moral support throughout this ordeal. My cousins Martha and Marsha, summed this up, and was repeated to me from my sister Debby. "Both of our parents have passed on, and now we are the elders, it is our responsibility to keep everyone in touch with family". We should have a family reunion every other year. Why?..........because everyone who attended Mothers service loves each other, and loves their family. Her legacy of unselfish love should be passed down to generations.

A big thank you goes out to my Uncle Rick and Aunt Marsha. Rick is my Mothers brother. They opened their house, and their hearts, to all who attended the services. We ate food, visited, and remembered Mother.

My Grandaughter Kayla, who will be seven years old in September. Has a story to tell. The night Grandma died, at about 10:30 PM, she was rummaging through her dresser drawers, and began to see this foggy looking thing against the wall. Then she heard Grandma say to her "I Love You". Kayla also attended the services for Mother.

A very special thank you to my brother-in-law, Bruce Brink. He stood in for me and spoke on my behalf, gave the introduction at the service, and read the poem "Mother", from this Blog that I had published on Mothers Day. There is no way I could have even gotten three words out without breaking down and crying. And so...................These are the words that I would have said.

Yes....you were my friend. I watched over the years that you would give your love to others, while only thinking of yourself. My heart is broken that you are gone. I can not speak, I can only cry. You have been my pillar for so many years, when my own heart aches from these journeys we call life. I remember being in so much trouble when I was a kid. But you loved me unconditionally no matter what I did wrong. When I was in Vietnam I would think about you, and that somehow gave me strength to make it through the day. When I lost a loved one, or lost a job, or lost my sense of direction, you were always there to show me the way, and how to retain my sense of humor. If you could see me now, my heart so heavy, curled up like a small child wondering on my own. Do you see me now..........I can't let go!..........these tears I cry for you..........I hope you are safe and you walk the path for everlasting life with "the old man with the long white whiskers". Please Lord, take her hand, and let her walk with you........... Go now Mother and see our "God Almighty".........I love you Mother, and I will miss you.

As she requested, my Mothers ashes were tossed off the Nianqua River Bridge(pictured above), at Bennett Springs State Park, in Missouri. This is a very special place among my brother and sisters. We grew up there, camping and fishing when we were just kids. A special place for Mother too, away from the drama of everyday life.

Songs of the Week

These were some of the songs played at the service for Mother. Please enjoy!

Allison Krausse - I'll Fly Away

Jeff Carson - I Can Only Imagine

My little sisters request with lyrics, by Blake Shelton.

The Baby

My brother said that I was rotten to the core. I was the youngest child, so I got by with more. I guess she was tired by the time I came along. She'd laugh until she cried: I could do no wrong. She would always save me, because I was her baby.

I worked a factory in Ohio, A shrimp boat in the Bayou, I drove a truck in Birmingham. Turned twenty-one in Cincinnati, I called home to Mom and Daddy, I said: "Your boy is now a man." She said: "I don't care if you're 80, "You'll always be my baby."

She loved that photograph of our whole family. She'd always point us out, for all her friends to see. "That's Greg he's doing great. He really loves his job. "And Ronnie with his two kids. How 'bout that wife he's got. "And that one's kinda crazy, but that one is my baby."

I got a call in Alabama, Said: "Come on home to Louisianna, "And come as fast as you can fly. "'Cause your momma really needs you, "And says she's got to see you. "An' she might not make it through the night." The whole way I drove 80, So she could see her baby.

She looked like she was sleepin', And my family had been weepin', By the time that I got to her side. And I knew that she'd been taken, And my heart, it was breakin', I never got to say goodbye. I softly kissed that lady, And cried just like a baby.

Have a Wonderful Week

Daniel