Melodymoments

Home Coming!

Lots of tears, claps and cheers over the past week for all the service men who have come home.  Two weeks ago, I was there when three soldiers came home. Two were in uniform and one was home for good.  It was great to see other people who were on the flight stop and clap for the heroes.  Last Saturday, 2.15, I had the pleasure of welcoming five soldiers home.  I went to welcome Jeff Moody home but when we arrived there was another soldier's family waiting.  There were banners and balloons and great t-shirts. While standing there waiting, we discovered that there were three other heroes on that flight. So at the same time, we cheered for five of them. It was great to shake their hands and thank them for what they are doing.

On Sunday, February 24, the Blue Star Mothers, Capital Region Chapter #2 is holding their First Annual Blue Jean Ball.  It will be a great event for them and a wonderful way to celebrate their one year anniversary.  They started last year in early February with five members and now are over 100 members strong.  They will be giving out their Patriot Awards and the Freedom Awards.  I have the honor of being a recipient of one of the three Freedom Awards.  I should be giving each of them an award for what they are doing for us! 

Here's a picture of Mom, Dad and wife greeting their soldier!

Next week I will be my first meeting as Chair of the Bethlehem Republican Committee. I'm looking forward to rebuilding the committee and getting us ready for a  big year in 2009.  One of our first projects is completing our bylaws and hosting a fund raiser on May 15. We have two speakers scheduled for that event and they will be great. It will be an exciting year for the Bethlehem GOP!

been a long time

Wow, hard to beleive it has been months since I posted but it has!  Fall came and I lost the election by under 1,000 votes, the holidays came and went and now January is almost gone.  Today I had a rewarding experience...I attended the home coming of a young man who has been in Iraq for a few months.  Jeff is home for a few weeks to spend time with his Mom and family.  What a proud moment it was for all of them as he walked through the gate - in his camos.  I shook his hand and thanked him for serving.  He said thank you to me for being there. This is not the first arrival I've attended, but each time I go, there is the same feeling of excitment.  Great to see the family unit back in shape and everyone happy.  I like to listen to the remarks of other passenagers who walk in front of the soldier.  They make sure to tell us that he/she is coming.  I guess because they too want to be a part of the excitment. I wish Jeff and his family the best and hope he has a great two weeks home.  He is heading back for a few months and is proud of what he has accomplished so far. 

busy week

This week I had the pleasure of sitting in on the Hudson Valley Economic Summitt in Ulster County and listened to plans for Stewart Airport.  There was an all-male panel discussion about the benefits of the changes to the airport. The new NYS Port Authority Director was the keynote speaker and spoke about their plans for the facility.  I was not sure how many of the members of the audience were there for the networking or the econmic impact. It seemed to me, many were there to find out what environmental impact the changes would have. 

As I listented to the discussion, I could not help but wonder what the impact Stewart will have on the Albany airport. If Stewart is to become the 4th jetport in New York State will it not become a large hub for cargo and an ideal location for "cheaper" airlines?  Location seems to be everything and since Stewart is so close to the City and easy to get to from anywhere, what is there to prevent people from the capital region catching their flights out of Stewart if they could save money.  The trip down the Thruway is easy and painless, I can't say the same about the trip up the northway and the congestion at Wolf Road.

The planners on the panel were also singing the "tech company praises", how is that going to affect what is going on here, in Tech Valley? 

give me a break

How could this happen, all of a sudden the conditions at VA hospitals are deplorable. Talk about jump on the bandwagon to get press.  All of these "politicals" now saying how terrible conditions are and they never knew anything about it.  How about the number of reps from both parties who have been to Walter Reed Hospital for photos ops over the last two years, they didn't notice then that the place was in disrepair and falling apart?  Shame on all of them to only speak about an issue when it becomes popular.  The soldiers who have been in the VA hospitals have been complaining for years about the conditions and treatment.  Now that it is a popular topic on the main stream media, do our vets, who by the way protect all of us so we can create blogs and read them, actually get any attention.  Reminds me of a politicians who uses someone's tragedy to increase his or her face value.