Hero of the Week – Army Vet Robin De Haven
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Feb. 19, 2010
Editor’s Note: Each Week we will be Honoring people or groups that are making a difference in helping others especially during this tough times in America.
When we as Americans are put through a test, we come out in flying colors on the other side.
We would like to know what you think. And if you know someone or group that we can Honor. You can contact us at dan@youngchronicle.com
This week we will be honoring: Robin De Haven. Here is his story:
By KELLEY SHANNON and JAY ROOT
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Robin De Haven was driving his truck to another job for the glass company he works for when he saw something that didn’t look right – a small plane, flying extremely low over a heavily congested area of Austin.
The 28-year-old Iraq war veteran recalled Friday that he then saw black smoke billowing from the office building and rushed to the scene. A pilot furious at the Internal Revenue Service had slammed his plane into the building Thursday where about 200 IRS employees worked, killing himself and one other person.
De Haven said when he pulled up to the burning building he saw five people peeking through the broken glass. He
hurled his 17-foot ladder off his truck and onto the building, helping to rescue them as thick smoke poured into the air.
“I wanted to go help,” De Haven told The Associated Press. “I thought, ‘I’m going to go ahead and do it.’ I thought my boss would understand.”
De Haven retold his rescue efforts outside the hulking black-glass Echelon 1 building Friday as police and fire investigators picked through the wreckage. Arson crews also inspected pilot Andrew Joseph Stack III’s red brick home about six miles away – which Stack apparently set on fire before taking off in his plane Thursday morning.
Stack posted an angry anti-government manifesto on a Web site registered to him before he flew a single engine plane into the building.
Stack, 53, apparently targeted the building’s lower floors, which housed the IRS offices. U.S. law enforcement officials said they were trying to determine if Stack put anything in the plane to worsen the damage caused by the impact and fire.
One law enforcement official also said investigators were trying to find out if a marital dispute precipitated Stack’s angry suicide mission. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Standing across the street from Stack’s fire-damaged home, a representative for Stack’s wife, Sheryl Stack, issued a statement on her behalf Friday. Rayford Walker said he had been asked by the family to distribute the statement.
“Words cannot adequately express my sorrow or the sympathy I feel for everyone affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” the statement read. “Due to the ongoing investigation related to this tragedy, I feel it is best to make no comment beyond this statement and to not respond to questions of any nature.”
Stack took off from an airport in Georgetown, about 30 miles from Austin, and flew low over the Austin skyline before plowing into the side of the building just before 10 a.m. Thursday. Flames shot from the building, windows exploded and terrified workers rushed to get out.
Emergency crews originally said people were missing inside the building, but later recovered two bodies. Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Palmer Buck declined to discuss the identities of those found, but said authorities had now “accounted for everybody.”
Thirteen people were injured, authorities said. One man remained hospitalized Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio with burns and was in stable condition, the hospital said.
Authorities have credited numerous stories of heroism for keeping the death toll so low in the crash. A glass workers union said Friday it wants to honor De Haven in Washington, D.C., and the company he works for said it has been flooded with phone calls and e-mails calling him a hero.
De Haven said after he extended his ladder and climbed to the second floor, he realized his ladder was unsteady and he couldn’t help people down on it. So, he said he climbed inside the building and helped find a better escape route.
Once inside, he found four men and a woman were trapped inside and smoke was seeping in from the hallway.
De Haven and another man in the office broke open a window with an iron rod and made their way to a lower ledge where the ladder would be more secure.
“I don’t feel like a hero,” he said. “I was just trying to help,” he said.
Some who knew Stack said he offered little hint of his anger toward the government and the IRS.
“He didn’t rant about anything,” said Pam Parker, an Austin attorney whose husband played in a band with Stack. “He wasn’t obsessed with the government or any of that. … Not a loner, not off in a corner. He had friends and conversation and ordinary stuff.”
But in his self-described “rant,” Stack fumed about the IRS and wrote, “Nothing changes unless there is a body count.” Stack also railed against “big brother,” the Catholic Church, the “unthinkable atrocities” committed by big business and the governments bailouts that followed.
In the note, signed “Joe Stack (1956-2010)” and dated Thursday, he said he slowly came to the conclusion that “violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.”
Stack’s father-in-law, Jack Cook, told The New York Times that he knew Stack had a “hang-up” with the IRS and his marriage had been strained. His wife had taken her daughter to a hotel to get away from Stack on Wednesday night, the newspaper said.
A few hundred people had joined Facebook pages by Friday honoring Stack, including one that said while it didn’t agree with Stack’s actions, it sympathizes with his thoughts on the government.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: AT&T
Editor’s Note: Associated Press writers April Castro and Jim Vertuno in Austin; Michelle Roberts in Georgetown; Linda Stewart Ball, Danny Robbins, Jeff Carlton and John McFarland in Dallas; Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report, along with the AP News Research Center.
Special Handwriting on the Wall
February 15, 2010 by Dan
Filed under Encouragement
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Feb. 15, 2010
Do you know what “Joylogy” means? It is the study of caring, sharing, and listening and Sacrifice.
This was written by Mr. Jeineke in 1975
We would like to know what you think: dan@youngchronicle.com
What is a Joyologist? A joyologist then would be one who studies joy logy. Frankly our world could use a great many joyologists whose mission in life is to actively research the effects of discussing and sharing joy.
The research could branch out into how joy affects our careers, family lives, and friendships. The very act of doing the active research should spread jubilation throughout the world and bring about positive results. What a fun job!
All one needs to start with is to share the words joyism, joy logy, and joyologis with others. Use the words daily and make them a part of the world’s vocabulary.
The upcoming year is going to challenge us all. Here is something we need to think, this is from an unknown reader. It is called: Special Handwriting on the Wall
By Unknown
A weary mother returned from the store,
Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.
Awaiting her arrival was her 8 year old son,
Anxious to relate what his younger brother had done.
“While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,
T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!
It’s on the new paper you just hung in the den.
I told him you’d be mad at having to do it again.”
She let out a moan and furrowed her brow,
“Where is your little brother right now?”
She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.
She called his full name as she entered his room.
He trembled with fear–he knew that meant doom!
For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.
Lamenting all the work it would take to repair,
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.
The more she scolded, the madder she got,
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!
She headed for the den to confirm her fears.
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.
The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.
It said, “I love Mommy,” surrounded by a heart.
Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.
A reminder to her, and indeed to all,
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall
Source: Joyology
Remove Obama Statue
February 15, 2010 by Dan
Filed under Human Interest
by Rod McGuirk
Feb. 15, 2010
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Authorities removed a statue of Barack Obama from a park in the Indonesian capital due to a public backlash and moved it Monday to a nearby elementary school that the U.S. president attended as a child.
The bronze statue, inspired by a childhood photograph of a 10-year-old Obama in shorts with a butterfly perched on an outstretched thumb, had been targeted by critics since it was erected in the Jakarta park last December. Detractors argued that an Indonesian hero should have been honored instead, noting that Obama still could pursue policies that hurt Indonesia’s interests.
Obama, whose American mother married an Indonesian after divorcing his Kenyan father, went to school in the capital from 1967 to 1971 and is regarded fondly by most Indonesians.
Edi Kusyanto, a teacher at the affluent government school Obama attended, said the 43-inch (110-centimeter) statue would be standing in the school grounds by the time the president visits Jakarta from March 20-22.
“There is no controversy about the statue being here. Everyone at the school welcomes it,” Kusyanto said.
The statue was erected with private funds raised by the Jakarta-based nonprofit group Friends of Obama Foundation, but Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo is paying for its relocation.
Ron Mullers, an American living in Jakarta who came up with the idea for the statue and raised money for it, declined to say whether he thought moving it was an overreaction.
“It’s a beautiful statue and it had become a tourist attraction,” Mullers said.
“My feeling is that the park is a place where more Indonesian people can see it,” he said.
Still, he said he was happy that the statue might inspire the school’s students to follow their dreams.
Heru Nugroho, leader of a Facebook campaign to remove the statue, welcomed the move but added that the decision had taken too long. He said he would now drop court action seeking the statue’s removal.
Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population and many here believe Obama will improve relations with the West.
Source: Yahoo News
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Need a Degree to be President?
By Chris Kyle
Feb. 15, 2010
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, once suggested that we “remember that our nation’s first great leaders were also our first great scholars.”
Case in point: Five of our first six U.S. presidents received a college degree and the sixth, George Washington, received a surveyor’s certificate from The College of William and Mary.
In honor of President’s Day and the 43 men who have held the job, let’s take a look at some certificate and degrees available today, and the presidents who earned them.
TEACHING CERTIFICATES
Lyndon B. Johnson earned his teaching certificate from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930 (now Texas State University-San Marcos) and worked as a teacher before and after graduation.
Woodrow Wilson served as president of Princeton University and worked as a teacher prior to becoming President of the United States. John Adams taught before he went into politics, as did Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland (who landed an assistant teacher position through the help of his brother William).
ASSOCIATE’S DEGREES
Harry Truman attended Kansas City Law School (now the University of Missouri-Kansas City). Though he didn’t complete his Juris Doctor (JD) degree, his two years of schooling would have been enough time to earn an associate’s degree in paralegal studies or court reporting.
Barack Obama has been very vocal about the power of an associate’s degree. “In an economy where jobs requiring at least an associate’s degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, ” he says. “It’s never been more essential to continue education and training after high school.”
BACHELOR’S DEGREES
Most of our presidents – 34 to be exact – have earned a bachelor’s degree.
Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover studied engineering in college and earned bachelor’s of science degrees. They are the only two presidents to have found work as engineers.
Ronald Reagan studied sociology and economics at Eureka College in Illinois, becoming an actor and sportscaster before launching his career in politics.
MBA DEGREES
When he was elected in 2000, George W. Bush became the first U.S. President to have earned his master’s in business administration (MBA), though this fact isn’t so surprising when you consider that the world’s first MBA program wasn’t established until 1908.
Today, online MBA programs are redefining the business school model, perhaps paving the way for the very first president with an online MBA degree.
LAW DEGREES
More than half of our 44 presidents (23 total) have been lawyers, including Obama, which is a trend that began with John Adams, our second president.
Obama earned his JD from Harvard, where he served as the first black president of the school’s law review.
William Howard Taft is the only president who also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He received his bachelor of laws, a precursor to the JD, at the University of Cincinnati.
If our presidents have taught us anything, it’s that many different degrees can lead to greatness.
So look into online degree and certificate programs today and who knows… We could be celebrating you on a future Presidents’ Day.
Source: Yahoo News
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Honor Presidents’ Day – A Prayer from Ronald Wilson Reagan
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Feb. 15, 2010
To honor Presidents’ Day, I would like to share a prayer from one of the greatest Presidents of all time. In his own words, he made this speech to the American People on Feb. 6, 1986.
By President Ronald Reagan
To preserve our blessed land we must look to God… It is time to realize that we need God more than He needs us… We also have His promise that we could take to heart with regard to our country, that “If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the first step, in humble heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the love of God and His great goodness, in search of His guidance and the grace of repentance, in seeking His blessings, His peace, and the resting of His kind and holy hands on ourselves, our nation, our friends in the defense of freedom, and all mankind, now and always.
The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America… Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal. Today, we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on Earth.
If I had a prayer for you today, among those that have all been uttered, it is that one we’re so familiar with: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace….” And God bless you all.
Editor’s Note: Lets honor this day and never forget all those past Presidents that has served us during good and bad times.
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Teachable Moments
February 13, 2010 by Dan
Filed under Human Interest
By Time to Talk
Feb. 8, 2010
The kitchen offers endless opportunities for getting together, so while you’re checking out recipes, mixing and baking chocolate treats together, you can catch up on your children’s busy lives, and also talk about some serious subjects in a relaxed setting.
Parents and caregivers can turn baking delicious desserts with their families into Teachable Moments that encourage children to make good choices for themselves.
While it’s important to talk to your children about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse in order to safeguard them from these risky behaviors, the best recipe for open honest communication with your kids is equal parts listening and learning from the cues your children give you.
Here are some Teachable moments:
(1) Learn From Your Child By Listening To Them:
Listening to your children can be the best lesson for parents.
If your son or daughter tells you about a friend who got in trouble at school for smoking, drinking or using drugs, use this opportunity to reinforce why drugs are dangerous and why you want your kids to avoid making the same mistakes their friend made.
Let them know they can always be honest with you, come to you with any questions and that you love them and want to protect them.
(2) Learn From Others Mistakes:
Your teen’s favorite movie star or musician has just entered drug/alcohol rehab for the third time. You and your child have seen the reports on TV and have read stories on the internet about how this popular star is constantly in trouble with the law.
Use this as a perfect opportunity to reinforce the point that role models should also be those who behave responsibly, don’t do drugs or have taken the initiative to get help for a drug or alcohol problem.
(3) Healthy Bodies, Healthy Lives:
Encourage your kids to play sports and participate in outdoor activities or join afterschool clubs in order to keep them active.
Reinforce the importance of health and taking good care of our bodies in addition to remaining active and making good choices for themselves.
Remind your son or daughter that using drugs and drinking is not only dangerous to their health, but can have lasting consequences that will prevent them from doing the fun things they enjoy in the future.
Source: Time to Talk
Editor’s Note: we would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
NFL Texans Cheerleaders Put Show for Troops Overseas
Indoctrinating Kids: Obama-Terrorists, No Difference
by Audrey Russo
YC/Staff
Feb. 11, 2010
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” A solid principle that can be used for good…OR for evil….
Terrorist crud got this a long time ago. Taint the kids while they’re young. Carefully saturate their minds with hatred…and you will have killer-bots for life, however short that life may be…
And guess who else got it…yes, that’s right…good old Barry…
Organizing for America (OFA), formerly Obama for America, is up to no good in our public schools.
They have been busy handing out Internships in organizing. Something Obama’s idol, Saul Alinsky, would have been plotzing (exploding from excitement) about.
In Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals, he focused on the 1960s generation of radicals, drafting his views on organizing for mass power.
The Obama weekly internship curriculum is Alinsky paraphrased and can be seen here.
This is Obama’s model. And he knows, as Alinsky did…that you need to train the children well and early. Funny thing is…Jihadists see it the same way.
In the Islamic world, children as young as 3 years of age are indoctrinated with the hateful ideology that Islam offers.
Their curriculum is not concerned with the future and potential of these children, but rather with accomplishing their vicious agenda toward Jews…and the rest of the infidel world.
If you’re thinking that the Obama-Terrorist analogy is off…I beg to differ. Obama’s socialist agenda is a cruel enslavement of the people, an interminable lingering death of the individual. Jihadists instruct to achieve a quick terrorizing death of the individual…and as the Muslim world indoctrinates to achieve their goals, so does O and his ilk.
(And neither is willing to live under what they require the children to. So there’s hypocrisy to boot…).
The brainwashing by both of these entities results in the death of the individual…and therefore, the cessation of liberty. Is THIS what we dreamed for our posterity?
Shalom through strength…
Editor’s Note: we would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Sign Language
February 10, 2010 by Dan
Filed under Parent's Advice
by Lexi Walters
Feb. 8, 2010
Why teach children sign language? It helps babies learn to communicate before they can talk, and teaches kids to appreciate a language used by some of the deaf community. Start with these easy signs for words about food and eating.
Drink
1. Hold your hand up to your mouth as if you were drinking from a glass.
2. Tilt head back, as if taking a sip.
carolinaemay says:
what happens when babies get so used to signs that they don’t want to talk?
Eat
1. Squeeze the tips of your fingers together to form a point, and place that hand in front of pursed lips.
2. Bring your hand away from your mouth, then back to it.
Cheese
1. Place your hands, palms touching, in front of you.
2. With heels of palms touching, rotate your hands back and forth.
Cookie
1. Put one hand in front of you, palm facing up.
2. Cup your other hand and place your fingertips on top of the other palm.
3. Rotate your hand back and forth.
Spoon
1. Cup one hand, palm facing up, in front of you.
2. Using the pointer and middle fingers of your other hand, pretend to scoop out of your cupped hand.
Apple
1. Make your hand into a fist, keeping the knuckle of your pointer finger extended a little farther than the other fingers.
2. Place that hand on your cheek near your mouth and rotate that hand back and forth.
Source: Parents
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com. Photos by Dean Schoeppner
We Should Honor Stay-at-Home Dads
by Gary Drevitch
Feb. 10, 2010
Every Father’s Day, grandparents honor the dads in their grandchildren’s lives, with an array of ties, robes, fishing lures, and colognes.
For grandparents whose grandchildren are being raised primarily by at-home dads, though, there may be some lingering doubts in their gift boxes as well.
While the number of at-home dads is surging nationwide, it remains an uncommon choice for a father to put his career on hold for diaper and playground duty — and it was virtually unheard of when many of today’s grandparents raised their own kids.
In 2006, the Census Bureau estimated there were about 159,000 stay-at-home dads in the United States, a 60 percent increase from 2004, but demographic experts say those numbers have almost certainly risen since then, as families react to two trends — the tightened job market nationwide, and the increase in the number of couples in which the wife out earns her husband, currently between a quarter and a third of all marriages, according to various estimates.
How are at-home dads handling their role? The evidence suggests that they, and their kids, are not only surviving but thriving.
According to a research by University of Texas psychology professor Aaron Rochlen, at-home dads not only report higher overall satisfaction with their lives than the general parenting population, they also report greater job satisfaction than they had when they last worked full-time.
Here are a few more reasons to celebrate the at-home dads in your lives:
His Kids Get More Attention
Parenting researchers have found that children with at-home dads may actually get more overall parenting attention than other kids. That’s because full-time working dads are more likely to sacrifice time with their children for their jobs than are working moms, who remain reluctant to let go of time with the kids.
“If there’s a choice between the mom staying at home and the dad staying at home,” says Joan Williams, director of the Center for Work Life Law at the University of California-Hastings law school, “the child ends up with more parental attention when dad stays home.”
It’s the Best of Both Worlds
As should be obvious to any grandparent who has spent significant time in a playground, moms and dads parent differently. In general, dads are a little more rough-and-tumble, a little more “challenging” than most moms. And that’s great for the kids, says Scott Coltrane, associate director of the Center for Family Studies at the University of California-Riverside.
“It’s important for children to be exposed to different parenting styles, and men and women parent somewhat differently.” Even though some moms may criticize dads for their non-verbal tendencies, that benefits kids too, Coltrane says.
“A father might be less verbal and more physical than a mother. And so children learn to read people differently, and develop greater emotional and communication competence.”
He May Just Be Better at It
Before Mark Haskett married his wife, Christine, they talked about how they’d raise their kids. Neither wanted to hire a nanny or place children in full-time day care. But while Christine, now a partner at a San Francisco law firm, had no desire to stay home full-time, Mark, a photographer at the time, said he’d have no problem with it.
Now an at-home father of two, Mark has never looked back. His mother, Grandparents.com contributor Kathleen Curtis Wilson of Alameda, Calif., admits, “I would never have thought this would work out way back when he was 18, but it’s worked out very well.
He’s absolutely the one in the family who should be at home. He goes with the flow much easier, and it’s amazing how much the kids have bonded with him. I’d never seen a stay-at-home dad firsthand before. They’re raising two wonderful children.”
Kathleen Wilson writes of her efforts to find more time to spend with her at-home dad son and his children.
But He Still Needs Your Support
As fulfilling as at-home dads find their role, a skeptical or critical parent or in-law can still cast a cloud over their homes. “For a lot of guys I’ve met, getting their parents to understand the decision to be an at-home dad was one of the tougher parts of making the transition,” says Brian Reid, who produces Rebel Dad, a nationally recognized website for at-home fathers.
“I think that fatherhood has changed enough in the last generation that the new crop of grandparents doesn’t always get it at first. The fathers who have sat down and explained exactly what they’re doing and why tend to be able to get their parents’ support more quickly,” Reid adds.
“If there’s one thing that grandparents understand, it’s the well-being of their grandkids — a happy dad raising happy kids goes a long way toward getting grandparents on board.”
Source: Grandparents
Editor’s Note: Columnist Beverly Beckham’s son has spent time as an at-home dad. “The time he has spent with his daughter has been the best of times, harder than he anticipated,” she writes.
We would like to hear your story if you are a stay at home dad. dan@goldcoastchronicle.com