“Give me liberty or give me death.” Those impassioned words from Patrick Henry swayed the Congress of Virginia to join the Revolutionary War effort and fight to secure the birth of a free nation. Virginia was instrumental in providing troops and weaponry. This occurred in 1775 at the 2nd Virginia Congressional Convention, in attendance were future presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. That’s pretty darn good leadership within the Cavalier State. Think of how these men would feel today where the governor and Congress of Virginia would love to abolish the 2nd Amendment. Virginia’s well-armed Revolutionary militia would have shown up to battle the British without guns. That’s a story for another day, however.

The American soldier has been fighting for our freedom even before the United States of America was a sovereign nation. Since the founding of our Country in 1776, our Nation has been at war 225 years of our history. That means there have been less than 20 years our Country has been at complete peace. It has required the efforts of our servicemen and women here at home and around the world to preserve our precious freedom. It is estimated that over 1.1 million American soldiers have been lost in the line of battle.

On Memorial Day, say a prayer of thanks and peace for these true American Heroes and their families. Then go out in their honor and celebrate in true American fashion the Memorial Day weekend. Do not allow Governor Wolf or any of our leaders of today to desecrate your freedoms. If many of our current elected leaders were alive in 1775, they would have declared that the Revolutionary War was much too risky, and chose British tyranny over a future of American freedom.

For all you trolls, moles, and haters out there, this has nothing to do with the practicing of safe space, wearing a mask and common sense. This has everything to do with not giving our liberty, which has been signed for in blood, back to an overzealous beast of government.

Thank you to everyone that responded to my column “They’re Leading us Down a Primrose Path” in regards to what needs to be changed in government to secure our freedoms as intended by the Constitution for We the People. It will obviously take a few weeks to gather the information from as many who would like to respond. As stated last week, this has nothing to do with political affiliation.

The overwhelming number one response on what must change immediately is the implementation of term limits. Thank you to Mr. Burt Francis from Milton, who is 87 years young for sharing his thoughts. Mr. Francis was attending an industrial education seminar many years ago when he listened to then Penn State University Chancellor Milton Eisenhower’s belief that for the survival of our great Nation, we must initiate term limits. Chancellor Eisenhower believed at that time that there was a closing window of opportunity to slow the growth of government. That eventually, the idea of term limits would not be an option due to the corruption of the elected and lobbyists.

Chancellor Eisenhower was the brother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was during the Eisenhower administration that the brothers worked together to have the name Penn State College officially changed to The Pennsylvania State University. I wish the current administration at the University had the same mindset that Chancellor Eisenhower had about our government.

I 100% agree with Chancellor Eisenhower and Mr. Francis. The only way to begin changing government for the good is with term limits for every elected official. Just take a look at what’s going on currently in government; no one should be in there for over four decades, whether they’re Republican or Democratic. They legislate for the elected instead of for ‘We the People.” At no time should the American taxpayer be on the hook for anyone’s guaranteed pension. Remember the two things that are said to be guaranteed in life — death, and taxes. They have added a 3rd — the pension and benefits for the entitled.

Moving on to the fun stuff. Our Webb Weekly family business of the week is Rupert’s Specialty Meats. I have known the Rupert family my whole life, great people! I played Little League Baseball for Kings Motel — Coached by Bob English and Dick Whiteman — with brothers Mikey and Rob. My Father then coached us all in Senior League for Curchoe’s Market. Their Father Bob butchered the first buck I ever harvested and is just a salt of the Earth good guy. I could go on and on with stories. The Rupert’s story can be found on page 16.

Staying in Montoursville, our Star Senior of the week is lefty Logan Ott.

I’ve spent much time over the years with the Ott family. They don’t come any better. My sons and the older Ott boys competed against each other and were also on the same teams with travel ball. I especially enjoyed watching ball games with Grandfather Tom Ott. Him and I were always on the same page — especially when it came to evaluating umpires. Lefty Logan was everybody’s a little brother, it’s hard to believe he’s all grown up. I saw great things in him when he was just knee-high to a grasshopper and know he’ll do fantastic as a Maryland Terrapin. Go get ‘em Lefty Logan and make the West Branch Valley proud! Editor Steph has the full story on Page 4.

Be safe, stay healthy, and let’s get summer started.

God Bless America.