Miss Betty and the Kitchen Crew did it again! We had spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and Texas toast. The Ladies Auxiliary provided the cake for our American Legion Birthday. There were nearly a hundred of you in attendance and the extra food went to the Valdosta Police Department and Fire Department. We had our first Swearing In Ceremony at our Post of the newest Army 2nd Lieutenant Chante Greene. She had her family there to cheer her on and the staff from the Valdosta Recruiting Station were also present. SFC Michael Wiggins made sure everything was ready and the ceremony executed flawlessly, with the exception of my own stumbling around! As an old Army Commander, I really appreciate professionalism and execution. Thank you, SFC Wiggins! As a side note, I know where Michael gets his devotion to duty and attention to detail from….our Adjutant and his father, Billy Wiggins. That same night, thanks to Billy, we were honored to have Fireman Marcus Haynes presented the Post Firefighter of the Year Award and Officer Vernotis Williams presented the Post Police Officer of the Year Award. Both of these great men brought their bosses and families with them as well. Police Chief Frank Simmons and Lieutenant Kirk Aaron, Fire Battalion Commander Ralph Catlett and Captain Brian Boutwell were present to support their officer. We also thank them for their attendance! On March 19th - 20th our Post Delegation attended the American Legion Spring Conference in Marietta. The delegates will be giving the membership a brief on what the Department and National is addressing. We’ll also be selecting the Nomination Committee for our elections of 2011 Post Officers. If you’re interested in running for an office, please get your name in the hat! We are also asking for everyone to bring another “Covered Dish” meal to the next meeting on April 13th. The last one was so good and I can’t wait to see what comes in with this one! Please get the word out to all members to come to the meetings. With over 740 members, we should have the walls bulging each meeting. We’ll be planning for the Memorial Day Ceremony again. We’ve already touched base with Steve Priest at the Sunset Hills Cemetery. He and his crew are helping with seating. We just need to get the flags out. We’ll have more on this either at this meeting or at our next one. Our District meeting was held on Mar 28th at the Post Home. We had the Department Commander Butch Adams, the Department Senior Vice Commander Charlie Tucker and the Department Service Officer Dan Cravey. Miss Betty and the Kitchen Crew once again did a fantastic job presenting the hors d’ oeuvres, desert and drinks! After much discussion, the District Constitution and By-Laws were disapproved unanimously by the 20 members present. The point of discussion was the fact that Posts have NO say so in the District Commander appointees. Someone who has done nothing with their Post and contributed nothing to the health and welfare of their members can serve at the discretion of the Commander and the Post has nothing to say. I had previously proposed a statement be added that gave the Post approval/disapproval of potential appointees. That was completely ignored. I brought this up again during discussion and as a result 14 of the 20 present voted not to accept the Constitution and By-Laws. It had to go back to Committee. I feel that this is an important element in the governing of our American Legion. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome and we’ll present the new District Constitution and By-Laws when they’re ready. A note regarding Agent Orange diseases. The three new diseases are Ischemic Heart Disease, Parkinson’s and “Hairy-celled” Leukemia. If you have hypertension, ask your doctor to address it as Ischemic Heart Disease, if this is the proper designation. Some claims have been denied because of this technicality. If you have any questions, get in touch with Post Service Officer Jim Bolduc or me or Janet Pajerowski at my office, 333-2178. Again, as I’ve said in the past, if you know of any widow’s or survivors whose Veteran died of one of these diseases, they need to file a claim! Pass the word on. Lastly, our next Post Executive Board will meet on April 19th at 1730 hours unless there’s a change. Please call the Post for any change to the meeting. All members are welcome! As always, from the Post Executive Committee and I, thank you for your continued support.

 "For God and Country,"  Ed Kent