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From: "Ernest Everett Blevins" <>
Subject: [SUVCW] Congress and the National Anthem Legacy Kit
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 10:51:41 -0500


This came over the SAR-Talk. Being a patriotic theme I think its
appropriate to pass it on to the membership here.

Ernie
List Adminstrator
Commander, Kennesaw Mountain #3, Georgia
Patriotic Instructor, Elias Moon #2, Georgia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joseph M. Prell <>
Date: Mar 6, 2007 7:03 AM
Subject: [SAR-TALK] I need your help with Congress & NAP
To: SAR Talk <>

Compatriots,

This is a very important bill. Please read and fax or call your congress
person because letters will be too late. The words and history of the "Star
Spangled Banner" are important to pass on to our children.

Rhonda Shappert has been running around to all the schools that will invite
her to explain the words to the "Star Spangled Banner". She stopped by my
children's school after I had initiated the call. It is a shame that many do
not know the words or who wrote it anymore.

Thank you, kindly.
Joseph M. Prell
Webmaster
Cincinnati Local Chapter SAR
Ohio SAR Society

____

From: Stephen Shappert [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 1:18 AM
To:
Subject: Urgent: I need your help with Congress & NAP

My friends,

We have a very narrow window of opportunity to have our voices heard in DC
for a national project that is historical, educational and patriotic but we
need to work together VERY quickly.

Last Wednesday, the National Music Educators Association (MENC) flew me out
to Washington DC to speak with Ohio Congresspeople that sit on the Committee
of Appropriations to ask for a special appropriation for FY2008 in the
amount of $2.9 million dollars. This money will be used to create and
disseminate a standards-based national anthem curriculum kit to be
distributed to every public school in the nation as a lasting legacy to
ensure every child learns our national anthem. It will teach the history,
words and music to our beloved Star Spangled Banner.

This is where I need your immediate help if you feel passionate about this
cause. Congress is working on the budget RIGHT NOW and they will have to
have their numbers turned in by next week (the last the 15th).
Congresspeople will only listen to the people within their district even
though this is a national project. I am humbly urging everyone I know to
call, email or fax a letter to their congress people voicing their personal
stories of support for the importance of teaching the national anthem to our
young people. Do not mail a letter as they will not receive them in time.
Because time is of the essence, first phone. Then fax a letter and finally
email. This is a networking project. Even though your Congressperson may
not be on the appropriations committee, THEY ARE ALL CONNECTED . Ask them
to reach out to their fellow legislators and support this effort. Also
contact your senators.

I have attached the letter I sent to my Congressman as a sample. Use your
own words and speak from the heart but the important information is that it
is a special $2.9 million set aside appropriation for the year 2008 from
the Labor, HHS and Education subcommittee for the National Anthem Project
legacy school kits.

Email everyone you know across the country to phone and email Congress.
Congressman Obey of Wisconsin is the Chairperson of the Labor, HHS and
Education Subcommittee that will decide this budget. If any of you know him
or are in his district, please contact him. Those of you in Ohio, I have
listed the key Ohio appropriators to contact. If you do not know who your
Congressperson is, I have include the web address
<http://www.house.gov/writerep/>; http://www.house.gov/writerep/ for you.
All you do is type in your zip code and it will tell you who your rep is.
Once you know who your rep is, you can search that representative's name on
the www.house.gov <http://www.house.gov/>; website and their contact info
will come up.

I deeply appreciate your help and support in any capacity. Writing
editorial in your local papers listing the phone numbers of your congress
people will also get their attention.

Sincerely,
Rhonda Shappert

Dear Congressman Hobson,

As you are heading into appropriation hearings, I would like to once again
voice my support for the special appropriations request from the Labor-HHS
and Education Subcommittee in the amount of $2.9 million dollars that the
MENC is seeking to fund the legacy kits for the National Anthem Project.

Last year I did assemblies for 5000 students in 31 schools in our district
teaching the history and the words to our national anthem. Because of the
budget cuts, music teachers do not have the time nor the tools to teach our
nation's patriotic songs. I knew this was a huge problem when I asked the
question, "who wrote the words to our national anthem" and the response I
got was "Alisha Keyes". My mouth about hit the floor. We have a whole
generation of people that are so in tune with the pop culture that our
nation's heritage and respect for our forefathers and veterans is fading.

And it isn't just the children. At first when I heard the Harris Poll that
two-thirds of Americans do not know the song title or words, I thought that
couldn't possibly be correct. But after giving 120 thirty-minute
presentations last year to over 12,000 people in the Buckeye State, I have
seen and HEARD first hand that people do not know the Star Spangled Banner.

As mayor of Commercial Point in Pickaway County, just miles south of
Rickenbacker, I understand all the requests public servants receive for
appropriations. I also understand that most of the time, the money we
appropriate has a temporal effect on problems.

This national project is different. With the $2.9 million dollars, every
public school in America will receive a standards-based national anthem
curriculum kit that will teach the words, music and history to the national
anthem. This will ensure that our music teachers will have the tools they
need to make sure the next generations of leaders do not forget one of our
most important national symbols.

I thank you for your time and humbly ask that you use your influence to help
make this project a reality and to ensure a lasting legacy to our nation's
schoolchildren.

Sincerely,
Mayor Rhonda Shappert
Mrs. Ohio America 2005

<http://www.house.gov/writerep/>; http://www.house.gov/writerep/
<http://appropriations.house.gov/>; Committee on Appropriations
<http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml>; Labor, HHS,
Education

Congressman Dave Hobson Ph #202-225-4324
<http://www.house.gov/hobson/formmail.htm>;
http://www.house.gov/hobson/formmail.htm

Congressman Ralph Regula Ph # 202-225-3876
<http://wwwc.house.gov/regula/zipauth.htm>;
http://wwwc.house.gov/regula/zipauth.htm

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Ph# 202-225-4146
<http://kaptur.house.gov/Library/contact.aspx>;
http://kaptur.house.gov/Library/contact.aspx

Congressman John Boehner Ph#202-225-6205
<http://johnboehner.house.gov/contact.asp>;
http://johnboehner.house.gov/contact.asp

Congressman Tim Ryan Ph#202-225-5261 <http://timryan.house.gov/>;
http://timryan.house.gov

Congressman Dave Obey (WI) Ph#202-225-3365
<http://obey.house.gov/hor/wi07/>; http://obey.house.gov/hor/wi07/


-------------------------------

Ernest Everett Blevins, MFA
Blevins Historical Research
110 Evergreen Way
Villa Rica, Georgia 30180
770-456-1876

Save the Old Villa Rica Library! Write the mayor at
and City officials listed on
http://villarica.org/council_members.php. Tell them the benefits of keeping
National Register Eligible Properties.

Historic Preservation Consultant -- Historical and Architectural Research --
Genealogical (Family) Research -- Preservation Planning and Documentation --
House History

Member: American Planning Association, Ambassador of the New England
Historic Genealogical Society, Historian: Casimir Pulaski SAR, Registrar:
Georgia Society of Founders & Patriots, and member of numerous other
lineage and heritage societies.

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