The Daily Times: Ireton, BOE Reach Agreement

Tentative agreement would allow mayoral candidate to work part time
By Laura D'Alessandro • Staff Writer • April 5, 2009

SALISBURY -- Mayoral candidate Jim Ireton and the Wicomico County Board of Education reached a tentative agreement last week to allow the candidate part-time hours if elected Salisbury's next mayor, according to the county's superintendent.

Ireton reportedly told Mallard Landing residents during a forum Friday about his new work schedule agreement with the Board of Education, but later denied speaking in detail about the issue with residents when interviewed by The Daily Times. He said he told residents who attended the forum that he had made a request and was awaiting approval.

Ireton is currently a full-time reading teacher at Westside Intermediate School in Hebron.

Fredrickson offered more details, saying Ireton's new work schedule would not go into effect until next fall, if finalized.

"It will be a system that works well for families, the educational system and the city of Salisbury," he said.

The position will amount to half time, but as long as Ireton works 17.5 hours per week, he will receive benefits and will still be required to participate in workshops, parent-teacher conferences and PTA meetings. Fredrickson said the only difference is that Ireton's salary will no longer cover all of his insurance deductions. But according to the superintendent, the procedure is common among about 10 percent of Wicomico County teachers and said Ireton was tentatively granted the request because of the interest he takes in the community.

"He has been one of our real strong reading teachers, and we want to have him for that," Fredrickson said. "He's got some real skills in getting children to increase their reading skills."

GO HERE to read the full story.

Frances Tilghman, Mother Of Matt Tilghman Passed Away Today

Frances Tilghman, Mother of Matt Tilghman, sadly passed away today. Let me tell you Folks, every single word and story I have heard over the years about this woman has been absolutely top shelf.

Frances was President of the Humane Society for 6 wonderful years and a member of the Salisbury Kennel Club forever. I can recall Matt Tilghman at the Salisbury Kennel Club Grand Opening speaking about his Mother and how much she loved what the Kennel Club had to offer.

One individual said something to me today about Frances I had never heard before and I'll enjoy sharing it with all of you. "Frances was a very classy woman, no bigger than a minute." I had heard she struggled with Alzheimer's for years. May she rest in peace and we're sorry for your loss Matt.

Another Update On Gary Comegys

"Joe:

I was with a high level official from the SHA today and asked some questions. He gave me the following. An investigation was started after complaints were received on several fronts. It is ceratinly much deeper than being at home during working hours. Currently Mr. Drewer has not been removed but that is a real possibility. Mr. Comegy choose to file his papers for retirement the day after he was interviewed by the investigators. Gary's immediate supervisor has been terminated. The investigation is ongoing and will cause more to fall. "

IntoxicGate III

I know we've promised to bring you a breaking news story and we will. However, this situation is much more serious than we had originally thought so we'll give you a beginning breakdown and come back at a later point with more details.

I have been working on this all day and quite frankly I'm being told one story after another, none of which are making any sense. In order to be fair I am going to take additional time and give you the full story at a later point tonight or tomorrow morning.

Here's the deal. We had received a call that the City and County have been dumping sludge into a drain on Citation Drive out in the County. We are trying to determine more details but we have confirmed the Wicomico County Landfill lagoons are full and "Garbage Juice" runoff directly from Trash Mountain is being pumped into these trucks and dumped into these drains.

The main questions are, why, is this a storm drain, is this a sewer drain, how much is this affecting the WWTP? We do know this is unfiltered material and we'll come back later and break down the details.

They key is, Citizens have not been made aware that this is happening and when we broke a story last year in February about the Landfill, we weren't given the straight scoop about what was going on.

The Landfill lagoons are full to capacity and the County can't either afford to build another one and or they don't have the room to build another one. It's one of the two. Now, that being said, whenever there's excessive rainfall, the trucker bringing 6,000 gallons per truck load, six times a day, seven days a week cannot completely take all the runoff overloading the Landfill and dump it down that drain, therefore much of it has to be making its way to the River.

More to come............

Stories from February of 2008.

IntoxicGate I
IntoxiGate II
Major Breaking Story

This Just In From Wicomico County.

The City and the County have had a long-standing agreement about the disposal of sludge cakes from the Sewage treatment Plant and leachate from the County Landfill.

CITY REMOVAL OF SLUDGE CAKES
The City trucks sludge cakes, which are solid, from the Treatment Plant to the Landfill. The cakes are put into the Landfill as solid waste. They are not removed. They are in the landfill with trash and other solid waste.

COUNTY REMOVAL OF LEACHATE
There are pipes under the landfill that collect water rundown. There is leachate in that water. Leachate is the material that drains off of the solid waste in the landfill as it is crushed.The water with leachate in it drains into two holding ponds. There is also storm water in the ponds. A county truck and driver pumps the liquid from the ponds as needed and transports it to a manhole near the airport. It is then dumped into the manhole and into the City sewage system. The site near the airport was chosen because it is the furthest point from the Treatment Plant. Dumping at this point provides maximum dilution.

It is not unusual for this operation to be done on a 7-days-a-week basis. The county driver is on-duty on weekends. No overtime is paid.

The County has been doing this for years.

The County and the City do not charge each other for the respective removal operations.

An official in County Public Works said that E.P.A. has been aware of this practice for "a long time" and that the County has a permit from MDE for this dumping.

Jim Fineran, County P.I.O.

This Just In - Major News Story Coming

Joe will be posting a major news story shortly. He is enroute from the scene at this time. A small hint. It has nothing to do with any of the candidates or the election. Standby.

Can the Barrie Comegys Ticket Deliver An Intelligent Response?

What kind of governance does Salisbury deserve? I would hope that it's citizens believe that it deserves a government run by people with the intelligence to address a panoply of problems.

Judging by the supporters of the Barrie Comegys ticket, they certainly can't deliver that. Case in point. We recently ran a post looking at the rhetoric vs. the reality of District 2 council candidate Muir Boda's campaign. What is the response from the unofficial blog of the Barrie Comegys ticket (where Muir Boda once proudly displayed his name)?

Having embarrassed GA once in public and outing him as an absolute liar today, he is now back stepping away from the statement that Muir Boda compared Debbie Campbell to Saddam Hussein. GA you are by far the most idiotic thing on the Eastern Shore. Honestly Joe is smarter than you because he acts like his education level of 6th grade, you on the other hand who want people to think your more than a porn obsessed Joe lover, went to college and are supposed to be intelligent so that doesn't say much for your college moron boy.. You act like people owe you an answer when you confront them and your a nothing . You are the biggest waste of time to reply to because you think your important and your an idiot. Spare us from your stupidity GA because I am gonna just keep embarrassing you. I appreciate all the mentions however you just keep driving my hits up. LOL
.

Civility? Knowledge? Leadership? HYPOCRISY!

I would just like to see a response rather than lies and name calling. Unfortunately, that appears too much to ask.

To add insult to injury, for the second time the Comegys-Boda-Shield attack blog has also published false information from public records, this time claiming that "my company" hadn't paid taxes. At least they were a little closer to reality this time. While it isn't "my company", I have done work for them in the past and will continue to do so.

As the clock ticks closer to Tuesday, we can expect to see more LIES, HATE, and FEAR from the Comegys - Boda - Shields camp.

Not So Welcomed Memories At Memories Bar In DelMar

Location of Incident: Memories Bar, US 13A in DelMar, Delaware, Sussex County

Date and Time of Occurrence: Sunday, April 05, 2009, at approximately 12:30 a.m.

Suspect(s):
Eddy Almonte, 24, of Salisbury, Maryland
Jamie Vari, 24, of New Castle, Delaware

Resume: Shortly after midnight this morning, Troopers were called to Memories Bar in Delmar in reference to a fight in the parking lot.

When officers arrived, they went thru the parking lot and located the group of about 20 to 30 people appearing to be getting ready to fight. One particular subject, later identified as Eddy Almonte, was seen carrying a baseball bat. He swinging the bar, inciting the other subjects to fight.

Officers approached the ‘slugger’ and found he was extremely intoxicated, refusing at first to drop the bat. When Almonte finally complied, Troopers began to handcuff him at which time Almonte’s girlfriend, Jamie Vari, approached the officers and began yelling at them. Ms. Vari was ordered to back away and to leave, however, she refused. Her rant continued and she continued to impede the Troopers investigation. At this point, Troopers had enough, and Vari was arrested too.

Eddy Almonte was formally charged with Possession of a Deadly Weapon during the Commission of a Felony (felony), Inciting a Riot (felony) and Disorderly Conduct (misdemeanor). He was ordered held by the Department of Corrections on a $7,000.00 cash only bond.

Jamie Vari was formally charged with the following misdemeanor offenses-Hindering Prosecution, Disorderly Conduct and Loitering. She was released on a $2,000.00 unsecured bond.

More DE State Police Info:

Three Subjects Charged in Beating Robbery of Mentally Challenged Man

Location of Incident: Laurel Village Mobile Home Park, Laurel, Delaware, Sussex County

Date and Time of Occurrence: April 3rd, at approximately 10:30 p.m.

Suspect(s):
Jeffrey Chambers, 18, of Bethel, Delaware
James Walls, 17, of Laurel, Delaware
Frank Walls, 17, of Laurel, Delaware

Resume: State Police detectives have made an arrest in the robbery of a mentally challenged subject from Friday night.

The 31-year-old victim, who functions at a middle school level, was walking home from his brother’s house, after watching a movie, in the Laurel Village Mobile Home Park. He was on Cottonwood Road when he was approached by three subjects: Jeffrey Chambers, James Walls and Frank Walls. The three subjects allegedly assaulted the victim, drug him into a nearby wooded area and beat him. They took his keys and wallet and left him lying on the ground.

The victim got to his feet and made his way home. Once inside the residence, he collapsed and fell asleep. On the morning of April 4th, the victim’s mother woke up and found her son injured. She took him to the hospital where he was treated for a concussion, along with other superficial injuries.

Detectives who worked the case were able to generate three possible suspects and they were in turn apprehended.

The two brothers, James and Frank Walls, along with Jeffrey Chambers, were successfully implicated in this robbery and formally charged with the following felony offenses: Robbery, Assault 2nd and Conspiracy 2nd. All three subjects were each ordered held at the appropriate detention facility, in regards to their ages, on a $20,000.00 secured bond.

Sunday, April 05, 2009- Overturned Tanker on Route 1

Location of Incident: Route 1 southbound at the off-ramp for Lorewood Grove Road, Middletown, Delaware, New Castle County

Date and Time of Occurrence: Sunday, April 05, 2009, at approximately 9:15 a.m.

Resume: The Delaware State Police and emergency personnel are currently on the scene of a single vehicle crash on Route 1 southbound at the exit for Lorewood Grove Road.

In this case, a tractor tanker-trailer, was traveling southbound on Route 1 and traveled off of the roadway at the aforementioned exit. The vehicle overturned and the driver is reportedly trapped.

The tanker has a placard indicating the cargo is gasoline.

Route 1 southbound traffic is being diverted onto Route 72 at this time.

An additional release will be forthcoming when information is known and confirmed.

This was One Heck of a Shopping Spree

Location of Incident: Various locations… from the Northern part of Delaware to the beaches

Date and Time of Occurrence: Saturday, April 2, 2009

Suspect(s):
Neveah Akins, 15, of Philadelphia
Latoya Donaldson, 23, of Philadelphia
Porcha Love, 23, of Philadelphia
Nachiema Whitaker, 23, of Philadelphia

Resume: Yesterday afternoon, at about 5:00 p.m., Troopers were called to the Puma Store in the Tanger Outlets, Center 1, for a reported shoplifting.

Officers arrived on the scene and were advised four women had just shoplifted from their store and they were currently walking in the parking lot. Officers quickly took off after the bandits and located them getting into their vehicle. The four females were taken into custody without incident, but not before providing the officers with false names.

This investigation revealed the suspects, listed above, had responded to Puma, 9-West and Polo and stole merchandise. They committed their crimes by concealing goods in large bags they brought with them and also by placing items in ‘booster bags.’ Booster bags are commonly lined in a metallic substance with hinders the stores theft alarm. Also, the ladies cut away security devices, damaging some of the clothing.

A search of the suspect’s vehicle yielded additional stolen merchandise from the Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware. This theft occurred earlier in the day. This investigation is still pending.

The value of all of the stolen merchandise exceeded $1,000.00.

The four suspects were charged with the following offenses: two counts of Possession of Shoplifting Tools (felony), Shoplifting (felony), Conspiracy 2nd (felony), Criminal Impersonation (misdemeanor) and two counts of Criminal Mischief (misdemeanor).

All four suspects were turned over to the appropriate detention facility, due to their ages, in default of a $12,000.00 cash only bond. Their mug shots are not available.


Female Burglary Suspect Also Charged with Attempted Escape

Location of Incident: Fairview Boulevard in the Donovan Smith Mobile Home Park, Lewes, Delaware, Sussex County

Date and Time of Occurrence: Saturday, April 4, 2009, at approximately 5:30 p.m.

Suspect(s): Michelle Truitt, 22, of Lewes, Delaware

Resume: On April 4th 2009, Troopers responded to a trespassing complaint in the Donovan Smith Mobile Home Park in Lewes.

When officers arrived they contacted a subject who advised he was having an ongoing dispute with a neighbor identified as Michelle Truitt. He said that he saw Michelle outside today and the two had words. He advised he later left home for about 30-minutes, and when he returned, his daughter said Michelle unlawfully entered their home, cursed at them and was disorderly.

Troopers responded to Ms. Truitt’s home and took her into custody. She was transported back to Troop 7 for processing. While the investigating officer was completing the arrest warrant, Michelle Truitt wiggled her way out of her handcuffs and tried to flee out of the back door of the Troop. Instead of pressing an exit button, Truitt activated a Troop alarm. She ran back to her seat and tried put the handcuff back on… but it was too late. The gig was up.

Michelle Truitt was formally charged with Burglary (felony), Attempted Escape (misdemeanor), Harassment (misdemeanor) and Disorderly Conduct (misdemeanor). She was turned over to the Department of Corrections in lieu of a $6,500.00 secured bond.

WMDT Hosts Mayoral Debate To Air 10:00 TODAY

WMDT taped a Mayoral Debate yesterday to be aired this Sunday at 10:00 AM. Katherine Amenta will be your Host and once again WMDT has come through for the citizens of Salisbury bringing you a first class Debate.

Folks, I strongly urge you to watch this debate and judge for yourself who your best Candidate for Mayor is. Salisbury News would like to thank WMDT for bringing this fine public service to our community.

Dear Mom & Dad

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written but things have been extremely busy here at SU. Studying late into the night and getting up so early in the morning has never been so difficult.

The new place is fantastic. It allows me more quiet time and oh, thank Grandma for me for the rocking chair! Some of the neighbors are really cool but can be loud at times. I guess you can't expect much less but this is a whole lot better than dorm living.

I joined the recycling club. You guys should really start recycling. You have no idea what aluminum brings in these days. We have Coke and Pepsi cans being collected by almost every student here and we donate it all to a local Church. We really need to do more for our environment.

Anyhow, it's time to get back to studying. Oh, you'll be really happy to see that I've actually gained a few pounds this semester.

Your Son,

Bluto

A Thing Of Beauty

How Many People Are Boycotting The Shorebirds This Year

There's been a lot of talk about people not going to the Shorebirds Games this year because of the additional $3.00 impact fee for parking. This would be the perfect place to send your message to the Shorebirds to let them know that you either understand they have to charge something in order to pay for the new blacktop paving or you're simply not going to go to the games at all.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

This photo comes from an ad in the Metropolitan Magazine. Do you think it's a bit misleading, the river? Boy, it's no wonder Salisbury is winning the top 100 Cities in America. For a second there I thought they were in the Florida Keys!

Was Bubba Fired Or Forced Into Retirement?

I have spoken to three SHA Employees who have reported to us that Gary Comegys, (aka Bubba) was being followed for three weeks by a state ethics board and after their investigation he was given an ultimatum, retire or get fired.

It turns out Bubba was getting too much Press and the ethics board felt it necessary to follow old Bubba around and see for themselves just what the man was up to. We were also told auditors were in the facility investigating misappropriation of funds as it has been reported that contractors were being paid off before work was being completed. I'm sure there's more details to it but quite frankly it's my feeling that Gary Comegys had a cushy job and could have easily lasted another 20 years there if he so chose.

Now what makes things so suspicious about his quick retirement is just how fast things fell apart for him. I'll be the first to admit that I submitted photos to the authorities of numerous occasions in which his SHA vehicle was parked during business hours in suspicious places, recorded and documented and it happened frequently enough that the authorities felt it necessary to take the case to Annapolis where it would be heard by the proper authorities and not here locally.

We believe this is the exact pressure that brought in the auditor and ethics board locally to investigate Mr. Comegys and Drewer. We have been told that Mr. Drewer had been terminated but Mr. Comegys strongly suggested this wasn't true, yet my sources say it is true. Your guess is as good as mine on that one. Someone isn't telling the truth.

So why all of a sudden would a guy with a cushy job, (Comegys) just up and retire when he's got it made. I mean, does Gary Comegys actually believe he's going to win as Mayor with such confidence that he just decided he was going to call it quits BEFORE the election? Heck No, he's full of crap! ANYONE with a good head on their shoulders would say, IF I WIN this election, I'll retire from SHA.

This man is so full of BS it isn't funny! He's up against a candidate he just can't beat, hence all the trash mail against Ireton the last few days of the election process. So what happens if he doesn't win. Well, the Slumlords are in deep crap, aren't they. Code violations will be enforced and the Slumlords will actually have to clean up their act and spend millions of dollars making the properties legal. Comegys, (like Barrie Tilghman) would simply look the other way. Boards would be restructured where landlords/slumlords would be thrown off of housing boards and finally slumlords would be held accountable.

Comegys had no choice with the SHA, it was retire or be fired. Here's what I think is so funny about the whole thing. Everyone in the City loves Jim Ireton. He's that breath of fresh air everyone has been waiting for and once Comegys loses this election he'll be filling out applications for work and with his reputation for being a lazy sh!t, he'll be running the Flea Market taking over Michael Day's job of collecting CASH and we can only hope and pray all of it gets reported.

Oh, that's right, Ireton will be Mayor so Comegys can't even have that job. Rome is tumbling Folks and they're desperate. Mr. I don't know who sent out these letters Comegys is full of crap. He's another Ray Lewis of the SHA and if it wasn't for his 35 years with them the ending would have been much different.

Vote for Jim Ireton Folks and watch what happens. They'll be running for the hills so fast it isn't funny. Why do you think Barrie shoved that shredding documents down the Council's throat a few months ago. Get rid of that paper trail, JUST IN CASE!

You know what I love the most about all of this. I live in Delmar, DE. where life is so much better. We get to sit on the outside and look in and my God, if the Citizens of Salisbury actually vote for Comegys and want 4 more years of all the crap Barrie Tilghman delivered these past 12 years, well, you have to be the dumbest people I have ever seen in my entire life. It will prove once and for all that Donald Schaefer was exactly right about the Eastern Shore being an Outhouse.

The ONLY way I'll be convinced people actually have their heads on straight is if Ireton wins by a landslide. If he doesn't, well, I can only hope that people from other areas continue to move here and see the stupidity like I have seen for so many years and outsiders, (COME HERE'S) take over the Eastern Shore and get rid of the stupid people. Sorry Folks, you know me, I call it as I see it. Get out there and vote for once in your life and make a difference.

I'll close with this. Today we were reviewing the Alexa, (sp?) numbers, whatever you call it. It seems the Daily Times is about 1/2 of what Salisbury News is. To better understand what I'm trying to say, the lower your number the better you're doing. So The Daily Times is a little more than 50% better than Salisbury News. OK, here's the deal though. First of all, Salisbury News hasn't been around for 50 years, or however long the Daily Times has been around. Secondly, when you come to Salisbury News, we have TWO DAYS worth of Posts up one ONE PAGE.

Can you imagine if we only had ONE article up on each page and every time you wanted to read MORE you had to click on the title. Then the article was broken up into three pages. Our Page Views would be out of this world per day. You know how the Daily Times Website works. If you click on a title it's a second hit. Then you click on page 2, then page three and then if you click on a comment, guess what, it's another page view. Then when you're done with that article and go on to another one, oh yeah, it's another hit! So if you go to the Daily Times and click on multiple articles, you probably provide them with 10 to 50 hits per day. At Salisbury News you're one or two. So considering we're all on one page and out numbers are almost 50% of the Daily Times, we're kicking their A$$!

So Barrie = Gary, don't you ever think we don't have the kind of readership the Daily Times does because you'd be wrong. To all the nay sayers out there who want to challenge these facts, look it up yourself and you'll see that because of Barrie's fat trap, she's self promoted Salisbury News to actually become more read than the Daily Times and we have never advertised anywhere. Now open that bottle and have one on me because it's enough to make anyone drink!

Gary Comegys, YOU'VE BEEN BLOGGED!

HAPPY 50TH BARBIE:

It's about time this happened to her....

More On Obama Bowing

A Reader said, "Are you sure he is not a Muslum? I did not see him bowing to the Queen."

So You Want To Be A Cowboy

Socialism - Good on Paper, Not in Reality

An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had failed very few students www.ebaumsworld.com/jokes/read/80594237 but had, once, failed an entire class . That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "Ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism."

"All grades will be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade meaning, obviously, no one will receive an A." They all agreed to this. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a C. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great dismay the professor failed them all. Then he sent all of them this note: "A socialistic government will also ultimately fail - because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed."

New Preamble & Articles To The Constitution

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes. (This one is my pet peeve...get an education and go to work....don't expect everyone else to take care of you!)

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful. (AMEN!) (AMEN, AGAIN)

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from! (lastly....)

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!! --- ("Do I hear an AMEN" )