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Our annual
picnic falls on September 11th this year. This will be an
open-house event again to try and build a greater relationship with our
community and to increase membership across our American Legion family.
If you haven’t been to one, I’m sure you’ve heard about it. It’s always
tons of fun with games, prizes, face painting, moon bounce, etc… (Too
much to list) and most of all IT”S FREE You can visit last years
Annual Picnic on our web
site www.valegion162.org and see what you’ve been missing. We’re always
looking for extra hands to help out and make it a success. If you’re
interested please contact 2nd Vice Cmdr. Alan Amos, 1st Vice Cmdr. Bill
Strawsburg, or myself.
The 1st Vice Cmdr. has informed me that our membership total is the best
it has been in years. We are coming up on 60% in a little over a month!
Keep the renewals rolling in and by all means, keep bringing in the new
members. Eligibility is increasing every day.
Some of the projects mentioned in the last newsletter are a little
behind schedule due to injuries and illnesses. As many of you know our
Club Manager, Ann Kuntz has injured her knee and after a month of
operations and bed rest, (and still getting some work in) she’ll be
playing catch up. Hopefully we can get back on track soon.
Sometimes it’s difficult to project all of the upcoming events via the
newsletter calendar, but we do try. If you have web access, our
‘on-line’ calendar gets refreshed on a frequent basis and will reflect
any last minute changes corrections, or additions. We will continue to
post these items at the Post Home as well. Some things around the corner
are of course, the Annual Picnic, Halloween party, and Fall Conference.
(Applications for the Fall Conference will be available in the Social
Quarters.)
Reminder:
Stay up to date and / or get involved. General membership meeting on the
3rd Saturday of the month @ 10:00. Show your support. Also, September
starts football season. Come on down cheer on the Redskins on the big
screen. Don’t forget we have Monday nights too.
For God and Country
Steve Leo, Commander
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Manassas, VA 17 August –
After winning their division in the Prince William County Coed Softball
League with a 17-3 record, Post 162 won the county championship by
outlasting their western division rivals 11-10 in a one game playoff.
Post 162 won the coin toss for home team which proved advantageous in
the 7th inning. West scored 7 runs in the top of the 3rdand 162
only answered with 1 in the bottom of the inning. 162 held west
scoreless for the next three innings while inching back to tie the game
at 7 through the 6th inning. Unfortunately, West scored 3 runs in
the top of the 7th. 162 had their work cut out for them.
Dave Surin lead off with a single and young outfielder Nana Harbison
drew a walk. Next up Tommy Castaldo drove a hard grounder to
West’s shortstop who bobbled the ball and the bases were loaded.
Crystal Harbison (Nana’s mom) hit a single to make the score 10-9.
Coach Robbie DaCosta then inserted himself as a pinch runner for
Castaldo to increase speed (Tommy’s not as fast as he used to be).
Tom Hansen was next up and hit a line single scoring DaCosta with the
tying run. After two sacrifice flys, Rob Shallcross comes up with
Hansen on third and hits the game winning single giving 162 the crown.
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· South
County Federation of
Communities (Parade)
$1,000.00
· Marlins
Little League
$250.00
· Virginia/USA
Wrestling
$500.00
· American
Legion Baseball
$1,950.00
Total Donations
to Date:
$8,419.50
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Thanks to
everyone that helped out on the 3rd of July for the Parade and Picnic.
I am sorry that I was physically unable to be here.
Ralph
“Pizza Man” West couldn’t be here on Friday, 6 August. So Bill
Strawsburg and I took over. I made the pies and Bill baked and
delivered them to the table. All I know is that everyone partook
of the pies and no one got sick. Someone asked “What do you want
on your tombstone? ”We’re sure glad Ralph was back the following
week.
We are trying
out a new board on the bar that tells you which games still have
unclaimed winners. Hope it makes it simpler. We will try to
improve on its looks. There is a lot of things happening at your
Post. Not the least of which is that we are all happy to have Joe
Gibbs back at the helm of the Redskins. Just like last year, we’ll
start happy hour at kickoff until 15 minutes past end of game. We
will also be open late for their night games.
Also,
don’t forget to check the calendar for Karaoke, Betty’s Juke Box Night
and Megan’s Chili Night. In addition, the bartenders are getting
together to come up with some ideas to attract more of our members.
From what I’ve heard so far, I think you will enjoy all of the new
things to come. Thanks, ladies.
Ann Kuntz
Manager
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Well ladies,
it’s that time of year again – time to put away the sun screen and beach
towels and get the school shopping done. Our first Unit meeting
will resume on September 9th @ 7:00 p.m. sharp. Please remember to
bring in some school supplies. Also remember who signed up when
for hostess.
The holidays
are fast approaching: Labor Day, Halloween, Veterans Day,
Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Party for the Veterans from the
Old Soldiers home has already been scheduled for December 1st.
President Cindy will be heading it up.
We want
to thank those of you who went to the Department Convention. We
understand you all had a great time and learned a lot about the American
Legion Auxiliary.
Also, a
special thanks to those of you who have kept “pizza night” alive and
well over the summer.
Happy Birthday to our September and
October birthday girls. And Remember that your membership dues are
now due and payable. We have straightened out the problems from
last year and now see that our ladies are getting their cards with in 3
– 5 days after they are received at the Post.
Respectfully
yours
Linda Salgado
Unit Secretary |
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AH yes, the sweet nectar of the NexTel Cup
Gods----High Performance fuel. And that’s the way our mid-season
party was done----High Performance. There’s no other way to
explain it.
How did it begin? Well, It started with my
decision to have a full dinner during the midseason party instead of
just finger foods. Now, being as I’m no dummy, I went to Helen (my
sweetie) and screamed “HELP”. And check it out: she put it together
while I was snoring away.
Now, just before I dozed off, I went to Bill
Stawsburg and said Strawberry, I need some top of the line Cowhide
Vittles. What he must have done is gone straight to the cow and
said “I want your best.” He brought us the finest. Thickest
Ribeyes I’ve ever seen. Then, I went to sleep.
Well, Helen Stepped up. She put a game plan
together, did all the shopping, did all the inside cooking and clean-up
(even brought dessert.) But the smartest thing she did was
incorporate the two best camp cooks known to man. Wendy Card and
Laura Johnson.
Now, these girls put together some beer can
chicken and grilled chicken halves that tasted so good it made your
tongue beat your brains to death trying to get some more. Now there’s
some poultry to die for.
Course, we have our very own NASCAR steak cook
Extraordinaire, Rodney Grimes. Unfortunately, he had other
commitments. Now, I’m a fair hand with a piece of red meat, but
only Mediocre compared to others. In steps “Jim Byrne”. This guy
made an art form of longhorn cooking. Only, this time he out did
himself. The quality of steaks and expertise of cooking matched
with the perfectly cooked spuds and veggies, highlighted by salad and
rolls and topped with golden grilled birds, made for the best dinner
we’ve had. Wow, I’m salivating just remembering it.
One last thing I must
mention is my deep appreciation to Dewitt for keeping the League going
smoothly when I was busy or sick. His help has sure been needed
when I was burdened.
The NASCAR Paper Keeping Dude,
Dennis LaPorte
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On Thursday, 5 August, President Bush signed the Fiscal Year 2005
Defense Appropriations Bill into law. The overall budget
represented a 5% increase in Defense spending, which has been an
American Legion priority. Among other things, it included a 3.5%
increase in pay for our service men and women, which has been sorely
needed. Bill Strawsburg, from Post 162 and 5 other members of the
17th District were in attendance for the signing.
On
Saturday, 7 August, Arlington County dedicated its Purple Heat Memorial
in Gateway Gardens which overlooks the Potomac River. This event
was jointly hosted by Arlington County and the Military Order of the
Purple Heart. 7 August is the Anniversary of the date that General
George Washington created the “Badge of Military Merit” which was
renamed to the Purple Heart by General Douglas MacArthur. Bill
Strawsburg, Post 162 and others representing the 17th District were in
attendance.
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Leadership College
Lynchburg, VA, 14 August – Over 200 members of the American Legion
Family graduated from the Virginia American Legion Leadership
College this weekend. Subjects taught included Americanism,
Children and Youth, Oratorical, Boys and Girls State, Poppy Program,
Scouting, Junior Shooting Sports and a class for Adjutants, among
others.
Ron
Manning and Bill Strawsburg from Post 162 were in attendance.
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