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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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I stayed for about an hour and left just as the mall was starting to get busy. I was told by the event organizer that they would be staying until every flag was given out.
The kids that came by really liked getting the flags.
I had to leave early so I get ready to attend the Support the Troops Rally in Lynchburg, Virginia
It's not often you get to attend two Pro-American, Pro-Troops events in one day.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Sorry the pictures didn't post the first time.
but I gotta say, I'm getting a little burned out on the yellow ribbons...
and while I'm talking about it, if you do display an American Flag, please take the time to do so correctly...
and remember an American Flag is not to be left out all night unless it is lighted...
further please replace them and dispose properly of the old one when they become soiled and no longer fit for display!
You should have posted a "tin foil hat" alert. Good job Virginny Freemasons!
Apr 10, 2003
No war protests in Gate City
BY MARSHA MERCER
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
GATE CITY, Va. - In town hall, the small TV on the counter plays only Fox News because of its upbeat coverage. Yellow ribbons flutter from most lampposts, and signs ask for prayers for "our troops.''
Iraq may be a world away, but war has captured the heart of Gate City, a town of 2,200 in far Southwest Virginia near the Tennessee line.
All four local Army National Guard units have been activated. The first, with about 150 soldiers - green recruits to Vietnam vets - left Monday for Kuwait. Altogether, some 400 troops from the Gate City armory have gone on active duty since January.
"You can't walk down the street without running into somebody whose father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin or classmate has gone - or who knows somebody who has,'' said Staff Sgt. John McArthur, who's in charge of family and dependent support for the absent 1030th Engineering Battalion.
The town has knitted its support like a warm sweater. The town said Godspeed to the soldiers with breakfasts and parades. They send care packages from churches.
And now, even though the TV brings hopeful images from Baghdad, anxiety tempers hope on the home front.
"It would be one thing if they definitely say Saddam is dead,'' Town Manager Matt Horton said yesterday. He and Mayor Charlie Dougherty are planning a townwide yard sale to buy long-distance phone cards for local soldiers.
"Once they take the whole country, they've still got to occupy it for a long time,'' Horton said.
The town collected $2,000 in donations practically overnight last month to buy phone cards for departing troops. Churches and schools are collecting personal supplies and gum and candy for care packages.
"Everybody wants to do something,'' Dougherty said.
And yet, the ordinary patterns of life are disrupted. Familiar faces are missed on the street, and some merchants report that business has slowed.
At Chris', a store that sells everything from quilting supplies to cowboy boots, Camellia Carrico says people aren't buying the way they used to. Her father started the store in 1952, and Carrico and her mother run the shop.
Carrico's husband, Ray, 48, deployed with a transportation unit. Her nephew is also in the military. Ray Carrico served in Desert Storm, as did a dozen or so fellow members of his unit.
"I was pregnant when he was gone before, and my son Zach was born with six different heart defects that required surgery. If we can get through that, we can get through this,'' Camellia Carrico said. But, she said, it is hard on a 12-year-old boy who misses his dad.
Mark "Bo'' Taylor has four cousins who've gone to the war, including one who's also the pastor of his church.
Taylor's computer screensaver in his office in the Scott County Courthouse shows war jets and other military aircraft. While not a veteran himself, Taylor comes from a military background. His "grandfather's grandfather'' was in the Confederate Army.
As the circuit court clerk, Taylor performs civil marriages. He has lost track of how many times he tied the knot during the National Guard call-ups.
Ministers typically require the couple to participate in premarital counseling, as does the state of Tennessee, he explained. Plus, a marriage license in Virginia costs only $30, compared with about $100 across the state line.
"These people didn't want to wait,'' Taylor said.
At his church, where the pastor has been deployed, people help out with babysitting, lawn-mowing, and shopping, Taylor said.
"You won't find any anti-war protests here,'' he said.
RTD