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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNewsletter City_July 2014Mayor’s Message M AR K YO U R C AL E N D AR J U L Y 2 0 1 4 City Council Meeting July 2nd @ 7am & 16th @ 7pm in the council chambers Household Hazard- ous Waste Collection Days July 8 & 9 August 5 & 6 Rexburg Rapids opened June 14 Farmers Market Every Friday 4-8pm All City offices will be closed July 4th for Independence Day The Fourth of July Wow, what a time it was in my youth. The smell of fireworks, the sound of cap-guns and firecrackers. The smells, the sights and the sounds were a cacophony of excitement and anticipation. The Fourth of July parades were magnificent. I remember the World I Veterans, some marching, some on floats. What an exciting time. After the parade there was the annual family picnic in the park. My Uncle Bill would go early in the morning and reserve some tables in the shade. The ladies would bring such wonderful food. They knew how to cook! Fried chicken, hams, potato salad, baked beans, and much, much more. I remember that on one Fourth of July my mom wanted to make a chicken salad. She was very good at it and always received compliments on it. “Bernice that’s the best chicken salad I’ve ever tasted,” that was incentive enough. People in those days seemed to want to please on another. So mom told my dad to go kill the boss rooster. He was an obnoxious beast and would attack me when I went into the hen yard to gather eggs. He would become the main ingredient in the chicken salad. Now you who grew up on farms know that it is hard to catch a chicken in the middle of the day. You also know that when you throw out feed or scratch that the rooster will run in first, driving the hens and younger roosters away and take first choice or pick. My dad, understanding the nature of roosters selected a fire cracker, not a large one, walked into the chicken yard, he with a pail full of scratch and a lit firecracker. He threw the lit fire cracker; the rooster rushed in, driving the other chickens off, picked up the firecracker in his beak and ran off. Well, the rooster lost his mind, and became chicken salad. It is amazing what kind of trouble greed and selfishness can get us into. I miss those days when life was simpler, when we celebrated the birth of this great nation. It didn’t just start on the Fourth of July. It started much earlier with the arrival of people seeking religious freedom. It continued until “We the People” declared ourselves to be independent, with Freedom and Justice for All. It took a long time to achieve that stated goal. Slavery was finally abolished nearly one hundred years later. Religious freedom was not extended to all. My ancestors were driven from Missouri with the loss of loved ones. Yet some of them served with the United States Army in the “Mormon Battalion”, served for a government that had not protected them, nor protected their right to worship. They be- came part of a massive migration in search of religious freedom. They established what became Deseret in present day Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, with colonies in Canada and Mexico. They were once invaded by an Army of the United States. The conflict was finally resolved without actual combat, but those were precarious times. Interestingly enough, one of their first celebrations as a people was The Fourth of July. This July as we celebrate our forefather’s contributions on the Fourth and the Twenty Fourth, let us resolve to honor our Veterans, living and dead. Let us resolve to protect the Constitution, our Free- doms, and our Rights as Citizens so that their sacrifice will not be in vain. -Richard S. Woodland 35 N 1st E Rexburg, Idaho 83440 208.359.3020 / fax 208.359.3022 customerservices@rexburg.org Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Household Hazardous Waste Collection Days: July 8th & 9th August 5th & 6th September 2nd & 3rd Madison County Transfer Station 7:30-5:30pm Contact DeeDee with questions 372-2337 Wednesday Summer Concerts Tabernacle @ 7:30 p.m. Every Friday through October 7 4-8pm College Ave Join racers from across the area for the 11th annual Rush Triathlon to be held Saturday, August 17th. Reg- istration is currently ongoing at www.rushtriathlon.com . Remember, life is simple; swim, bike, run, eat, sleep.