On Wednesday i will be going to Gulfport and Biloxi Miss. to work for a few days. It will be intresting to see how the people have fared since Katrina. I realize there those who are still unsettled and trying their best to make better a very tragic disaster
On my way back home i planto come back through my childhood area and look at a few things. I plan to go by my dad's grave one more time since this will probably be my last chance. My dad never had tombstone on his grave until the early 60's. My father in law worked for a foundry in Little Rock. When he learned my Dad had no grave marker, he made a casting and had a marker made in bronze. The bronze plate was then set in concrete and finished. It was a great marker and meant a lot to me because of who he was and thought enough to have the foundry do the bronze work. Will show pictures when i return and will finish some articles on my childhood.

Today, a Democrat appointed judge in Detroit sided with the ACLU and ordered an immediate halt to the terroist surveillance program. This decision is a reminder of what is at stake this year 2006. We need to use every tool in our arsenal to respond to the emerging threats, we should not embrace the Democrat-ACLU position that just made it harder for our intelligence agencies to detect terroist plots inside the United States

I firmly support the Patriot Act to disrupt terroist plots., Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid bragged about "killing" the Patriot Act.

I also am not opposed to racial profileing. We have been catergorizing people for over two centuries and thought nothing of it. I an not talking about a black or white issue, but am concerned about mid-easterners seeking ways to destroy us. Keep up the wire tapping and other methods to detect plots to harm America. Radical Islam is a great threat to the world and should be dealt with. We sit back and say this is not the christian way to do things. Well, I believe God expects us to protect ourselves and stand for the truth. There are too many in the U.S. who want to let things go and not do what is necessary to protect our people. We need judges with backbone who will not try to rewrite the Constitution, as we see in these cases of Democrat appointed judges and the ACLU.

You may already know the answer to this but if you don't take a guess.

A man wanted to get married. He was having trouble choosing among three lilely candidates. He gives each woman a present of $5.ooo and watches to see what they do with the money.

The first gets a total makeover. She goes to a fancy beauty salon and gets her hair done, new make up and buys several new outfits and dresses up very nicely for the man. She tells him she has done this to be more attractive for him because she loves him so much.

The man was impressed.

The second goes shopping to buy the man gifts. She gets him a new set of golf clubs, some new gizmos for his computer, and some expensive clothes. As she presents these gifts, she tells him she has spent all the money on him because she loves him so much.

Again the man is impressed.

The third invest the money in the stock market. She earns several times the $5.000. She gives him back his $5.000 and reenvests the remainder in a joint account. She tells him that she wants to save for their future because she loves him so much.

Obviously, the man was impressed.

The man thought fora long time about what each woman had done with the money he'd given her.

Which do you suppose he chose. Let me know.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, i want people to know "why" i look this way. I've traveled a long way and a lot of the roads were not paved.

Tonight, i was disapointed that Joe Lieberman lost in Ct. I believe he is a good sound gentleman who stands on principles that are good for this country. Then i saw about a minute of Lamonts acceptance speech. When i heard his ranting and saw Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton standing behind him, that was all i could stand. What a bunch of far left radicals and i really believe anti-americans,

Living on the farm is very intresting. There are a lot of things that happen that makes life as not being so dull. For instance,
there was the time that Johnny had been plowing with a turning plow. I was with him at the end of the day when he was ready to take the mule back to Mr Wrights barn. I had a file in my hand and there is a certain way you can throw a file or wood slat and make it hum. I threw the file over the mules head while he was still hooked to the plow. The mule took off toward the barn pulling the plow and tearing down just about every fence post with the plow. I don't recall anyone ever knowing what happened.
There was a time that i really got into trouble. There had been a play at school and one Saturday several of us kids that lived close was helping clean up. Two of us was carrying some things to the Principal's house. There was some money on a table so we decided to take it. We went to the store down the road and bought candy with it. The Principal found out and told my mom and brother Bennie. My brother took the razor strap and blistered my bottom. I will never forget that whipping. It was one of the few that i ever received. There was one other time that i got a paddling by the principal for leaving some jump ropes on the playground and they disappeard.
For the most part school proved to be beneficial and i suppose what i learned at school and on the farm would prove to be an asset in later years. I remember one occasion when i was in the second grade and my brother Johnny was in the seventh grade. The seventh grade teacher sent word to the second grade teacher that she needed to use one of her students from the second grade. I was sent and the teacher gave me an illustration on tenths in math. After the illustration she ask me to give the answer and i did. She then told the class, "See i told you a second grader could answer the question." This embarassed my brother that i could solve the problem.
Sometimes there were tragedies as well. I stood on our front porch one night and watched as one of our school mates burned to death. I really did not know what happened then but my brother went up to the church building to see what was happening but he made me stay back. They were apparently pumping up a lantern of some sort and it exploded catching this boy on fire.

The school at Liddieville was Ogden school. It contained elementary and high school. I was in the second grade when i started there. What seems odd now is basketball was played on a dirt court outside. There was no gym but a couple of years later they built a gym. My lunch from home would usually consist of a biscuit with a fried egg. We would normally eat lunch outside unless it was raining. Our outside play activities were very minimal. I liked to play marbles and would play for keeps. That meant if you knocked another player's marble outside the ring you kept it. My mom would really get upset with this because i kept the knees of my overalls dirt or worn out. It reached the point where she would search my pockets before i went to school. I had some overalls that had a side pocket down on the leg and she never got wise to where i hid them each day. I got to be really good at keeps.

During this time was our first time to hear a radio. We had a neighbor who owned the farm and had bought a radio. Sometimes we would go there and listen to fights. This was in the days of Schmelling, Braddock,Farr, Louis and others. Also this was the first time we saw what was called an alladin lamp. One neighbor had one of these and boy was it brighter than our regular coal oil lamp. I recall someone explaining how radio worked. He said if you had a dog that reached from New York to Chicago, if you stepped on its tail in New York, it would bark in Chicago. It was here also that i had my first experience with firecrackers. Our neighbor(farm owner) got some for his son.We were there when he started firing them. One did not go off so i picked it up and put it in my pocket, it did go off and i had a pocket that was bottomless.

My sister Audrey got married while we were living on this farm. She married Oliver Womack who worked at the school. They lived across from the school in a home owned by the local doctor. Some days in the winter i would go over there and she would feed me lunch. Also at christmas time we would get an apple and an orange from the school. We never celebrated Christmas or give gifts because of having no money for this. I don't recall ever being hungry because we always had something to eat. My favorite time was when i could get a Big Little book to read. I liked Dick Tracy and Gene Autry. Looking back on those years of my youth and the experiences, i believe it taught me how to be humble more so than in later years.

Well, here we go again with some happenings during my childhood days. My sister Lillian and husband Bud had moved to Louisiana to a place called Lone Cedar. They suggested that we move to La. as well. My brother found a place in Liddieville where they needed someone to sharecrop. This was about 10 miles from my sister. I remember the move very well and especially the ferry at Natchez. I was scared when we went down to the river and driving onto the ferry.This was several years prior to the bridge being built.

We settled into the old farm house which was less than a half mile from the school house. Farming there seemed to work out better for the family. I was still too young to do much but pester the rest of the family. The main crop was cotton. They did make me carry water to the field for my brothers to drink. Sometimes, i would throw dirt clods at Leo and Johnny and end up with dirt in the water. They would make me go back and get clean water. Sometimes, life is not fun on the farm when you have to work. They constantly wanted water and i would have to pump it and keep going back and forth.

Someone told my mother when we moved to La. that she should put us kids on chill tonic. Boy, that stuff was horrible. My best estimate of how much she poured down me was the equivelent to a 55 gallon drum of that stuff. It didn't work because i did get malaria fever. They put a bed on our front porch where i stayed until i was well. Had to stay under a mosquito net. The reason for the porch bed was they thought it was cooler there. I suppose it was. I do recall that the medicine they gave me would turn the sheets yellow where i lay and would sweat. We never had the luxury of ice on the farm. A grocery truck would come down the road about every two weeks and i always enjoyed it when Mom would buy some bologna and light bread. Now that was some good eaten. On the farm it was called cotton choppers ham or some called it round steak. Anyway, we survived and did the best we could under those circumstances. My mom was a very special person and i regret not telling her in her later years how much she meant to me.

This will probably be my last post on my Mississippi childhood. Pictured is my grandmother and my mom on the right. I am in the back and this is my sister Lillian's son, Ivy Dewitt whom we all called Sonny. My grandmother lived until 1941. She was 89 years old. My granddad died in 1933 and he was 80 years old. I have a vague memory of his death since i was almost 6. I do not know anything about my grandparents on my Fathers side of the family.
I suppose the older you get the more you want to know about family history. During the years trying to trace down information about my Dad's family we learned that the court house burned where all records were stored so i was unable to find out much. We left this area when i was in the first grade and moved to Louisiana. I supposed if we had stayed in Miss. i would have met and known some of my dad's family. There were a lot of Freemans in that area but all were not related. My mom's sister, Aunt Athan also married a Freeman but no relation to my dad. In later years this became confusing to me since i never knew which clan my relatives were talking about.

I would like your meaning of this poem

I built a bridge
Out of nowhere accross nothingness
and i wondered if there would be something
on the other side.
I built a bridge
out of fog accross darkness
and hoped there would be light on
the other side.
I built a bridge
out of despair accross oblivian
I knew there would be hope
on the other side.
I built a bridge
out of helplessness accross chaos
and trusted that there would be
strenght on the other side.
I built a bridge
out of hell accross terror
and it was a good bridge,
a strong bridge,
a beautiful bridge.
I built it myself
with only my hands for tools
my obstinancy for supports
my faith for spans and my
blood for rivets.
I built a bridge and crossed it
But there was no one to meet me
on the other side.

Your thoughts on this, I found this in one of my old bibles

Pictured here are the five boys or shall i say two men and three boys. My brother Jack is the oldest. He was twenty years old when i was born. He is on the left and my bro. Benny on the right. Benny was eighteen when i was born. Johnny is on the left and Leo on the right. I'm the squirt in the middle. My brother Jack married shortly after dad died and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.

It was during the year of 1927 when the big flood hit the south. I suppose the only good thing about the flood was that it must have washed me in. When we lived on the Peterson farm my sister Lillian always lived close to us. She was married to Bud Williams and they also farmed. I remember going to their house which was several miles away and was fascinated with yoked oxen pulling logs out of the woods by their house. In those days that was the only way to get the timber out i suppose. I remember one time when Bud got on to me about something and they were not looking i left and walked the 7 or 8 miles through the woods back home. That did not go over too good but i managed not to get whipped. I suppose i had reached the age when i became more daring, or it may have been that i was eating too many potatoes and blackeyed peas. I also got into trouble with my sister Audrey because i questioned why she was shaped different at the chest level. Another incident was my getting real good with my sling shot(we didn't call them sling shots then). Mom and i were on the back porch and i had a marble in my sling shot. A mocking bird lit in the fig tree and i started to shoot it. My mom said i had better not shoot that bird. I remember saying that i couldn't hit that bird but he didn't fly any more but i sure took off.

A PAUSE FOR REMEMBRANCE
Today, we pause and express our love and appreciation for another great Arkansan. Having just lost our great LT. Governor Win Rockerfeller, we now suffer the loss of one of the greatest men ever associated with Arkansas Sports. Paul Eells had become one of the most loved and respected people in the state. Last night, his life was taken in a tragic auto accident on I-40 near Russellville Ar. I had the privelege of meeting Paul on two occassions. Back in the late 80's i took Bob Lilly to channel 7 for an interview with Paul. Bob Lilly was a star himself having established a brillant career with the Dallas Cowboys and was here as a guest speaker at Central Arkansas Christian school. Sadly enough another great sports announcer for the Razorbacks, Bud Campbell lost his life in a similar situation in Little Rock. I also visited with Paul when Jeff Wingfield was with Cannnel 7. I still have the picture Paul gave me on that visit.
I don't believe Paul Eells can be replaced. Sure someone will take his place, but there was something about Paul that unless you are a real hog fan you know what i mean. "TOUCHDOWN ARKANSAS, OH MY."