The Long Hunter's Journal
The newsletter of the Utah ALRA
November 2005
Lieutenants Message
It seems that winter has finally arrived and I am relieved to see the end of outside duties. I am looking forward to a little time to work on long ignored projects. I hope that this season finds you warm and comfortable. I wish to thank those who attended the November service project. We provided a good service to the Fort and accumulated 28 service hours towards our use of the fort. I am looking forward to the Christmas party and seeing many of you again.
November Service Project
Ten people showed up to help with the project on Saturday. Present were Trent Isaacson, Lynn Kalan, John McCann, Ole Jensen, Terry Pendley, Steve Gish, James Stone, Gregg Hansen, Kevin McCarthy, and Grant Davis. Weber County had kits for 25 aluminum picnic tables that needed to be assembled. We worked from 9a.m. until noon and assembled 21 tables. Four table kits were missing essential parts and could not be completed. We logged 28 man-hours towards our use of the Fort. The County was very appreciative of the work we completed. The final man-hours log for 2005 was submitted to County in November. The Utah ALRA provided 124 man-hours of service to the Fort in 2005. That is a good accomplishment for a group of our size, lets hope we can do even more next year.
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November Camp
Six hardy soles came to camp at what started out to be a somewhat cool but pleasant evening; Terry, Gregg, Lynn, Trent, Grant and myself. Three pitched their flys and the rest had bedrolls and tarps. Meals were prepared and the usual joking took place. Later in the evening, a light rain started that sent everyone to their blankets.
What happened next could easily be forgotten, but I'll share it with you because I learned a lesson. I forgot my main bedroll, but that's not the lesson. I did have one blanket and plenty of clothes so I was warm. I happened to bring a newly painted tarp that fit the full space created under my fly. I put it down thinking it would keep the leaves out of my bed and besides it looked nice…like a big carpet!
Well, guess what! The rain lasted for about three hours and it didn't come straight down, seldom does. I felt it hit my face as it splattered on the tarp. With sugarplums dancing in my head, I fell asleep. Some time later, I awoke and felt my elbow wet. I brushed away the puddle that had form on the tarp and went back to sleep. The next time I woke, my hip was wet and I had a pressing urge to go to the bathroom. Seems the meal I had earlier in the day didn't agree with me. Thanks heaven for a heated bathroom.
Enough of this, here's the lesson. I won' be putting down a full size tarp under my fly anymore. Instead, I'll use the tarp under and over my bedroll the same as I do when not using a fly.
Christmas Party
The 2005 ALRA Christmas Party will be held at the home of Grant's In-laws in Centerville on December 10, 2005. There will be socializing from 6-7p.m. Dinner will be served at 7p.m. Please bring a potluck item to share along with a period gift to exchange with a note attached alluding to its contents.
Directions
494 W. Old Farm Circle (1400 N) (801)718-9982 LINK TO MAP
Take the Centerville Parrish Lane exit off of I-15 and turn east onto Parrish lane. Turn left onto the frontage road and head north for 1.2 miles. Turn right onto Willow Wood Drive and then take your first right onto Willow Valley Dr. Willow Valley Dr. bends to the left and becomes Pony Express Way. Old Farm Circle will be the first circle on the right after the bend.
2006 Calendar
We will be discussing the 2006 calendar at the January meeting. Please be thinking of ideas of things you would like to do in 2006. We will be doing demos again at the Fort Buenaventura spring rendezvous. Please start thinking and planning for demos we can do at that event.
Partisan Amendment
The Lieutenant encourages any Patriot members to endorse the Partisan Amendment as outlined in the last Gazette. This amendment is to separate ALRA voting rights for Eastern and Western Partisan to their specific regions. Currently votes from Eastern members are counted in the election of the Western Partisan and vice versa. Please send your endorsements via mail or email to the Factor:
Roy Katz
229 W. 36th Street, 4th FL
New York, NY 10018
ALRA Western Gathering
There is discussion currently of having an ALRA Western Gathering in 2006. The likely location for this gathering would be our own Fort Buenaventura. More information will be forthcoming as plans are solidified.
Elections
In January the positions of Sergeant at Arms and Scribe will be up for election. Please give some thought to whether you would be interested in running for either of these positions and let your intentions be known for the December journal.
Historical Notes
I thought I would include some references to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Of course, references to Thanksgiving, as we know it, would be sparse for the time period we recognize. In 1759, "a day of publick Thanksgiving" was recognized for the defeat of the French and "for the Common Safety of our Realms." (Pennsylvania Archives, Series 1, Volume III, Page 690)
It was not until 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George Washington, that America celebrated its first Day of Thanksgiving to God under its new constitution. That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which President Washington was a member, announced that the first Thursday in November would become its regular day for giving thanks, "unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities." Yet, despite these early national proclamations, official Thanksgiving observances usually occurred only at the State level. Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday. The Battle of Trenton (Dec. 26, 1776) was a crucial early victory for the American forces in the American Revolution. On Christmas night 1776, Gen. George Washington and about 2,500 Continental soldiers crossed the ice-clogged Delaware River from Pennsylvania; early the next morning they surprised Hessian mercenaries in the British service encamped at Trenton, N.J.
When reviewing Jeremiah Greenman's "Diary of a Common Soldier in the American Revolution" I found no remarks about the significance of the day. Between 1775 and 1780, if there was an entry on December 25th, it referred to common daily activities. In 1781, he did say, "Spent the day very agreeable & the Evening the Same."
Contribution from Rex Ward
In his journal entry for September 15, 1748, Swedish botanist Peter Kalm wrote: "Mr. Benjamin Franklin, to whom Pennsylvania is indebted for its welfare and the learned world for many new discoveries in electricity, was the first to take notice of me and introduced me to many of his friends. He gave me all necessary instruction and showed me kindness on many occasions."
In his entry for the 16th, Mr. Kalm undertook a description of Philadelphia, part of which was dedicated to the many churches in Philadelphia, of which he observed the following: The English Church, the Swedish Church, the German Luthern Church, the Old Presbyterian Church, the New Presbyterian (New Lights) Church, the Old German Reformed Church (Calvinistic), the New Reformed Church, the Quakers, the Anabaptists, the Roman Catholics, and the Moravian or Zinzendorfian Brethren.
Several pages later, after making this observation, he had this to say under the heading of Freedom: "Everyone who acknowledges God to be the Creator, preserver and ruler of all things, and teaches or undertakes nothing against the state or against the common peace, is at liberty to settle, stay and carry on his trade here, be his religious principles ever so strange. No one here is molested because of misleading principles of doctrine which he may follow, if he does not exceed the above-mentioned bounds. And he is so well secured by the laws, both as to person and property, and enjoys such liberties that a citizen here may, in a manner, be said to live in his house like a king. It would be difficult to find anyone who could wish for and obtain greater freedom."