Kitty Conley’s Scratching Post, May 31 – Post

By Kitty Conley

May 29, 2012 12:08PM

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Updated: May 29, 2012 1:29PM

Happy Birthday

May 31: Carrie Napoleon is 29 AGAIN!

June 2: Patti Olson, Crown Point clerk-treasurer

June 5: Kathy in the clerk-treasurer’s office

June 6: Cyndy in the clerk-treasurer’s office

A special thank you to all the men and women who served in Vietnam. This year starts the 50th anniversary of America’s involvement in the war. As a country we have to recognize to our joint shame the way we treated our own who were drafted and served our country with honor. As a nation we treated them horribly as they returned home. Soldiers did not come home to parades but to protests. Fifty years later some of these brave men and women are again suffering from what American did to them, as they develop cancer from Agent Orange sprayed above them in Vietnam to kill the vegetation.

These are the men and women who are making a great welcome home for our current vets. They are making sure that they get a better place to come home to than they did. God Bless you and keep you one and all. A long, safe life at home, and when it comes time to go, may you be in Heaven a half hour before the devil knows you’re dead.

Joy to all the boys and girls who already have made, or those who are making, their First Communion, or have been or are being Confirmed. Different parishes do this at different times. Congratulations to their parents and Godparents.

There are three young ladies that are very close and feel like part of our family. Katie McNamara is being Confirmed and Abby Long and Megan McNamara are making their First Communion. All three of you girls are a joy in our lives.

June 4 is time to celebrate the 19th Amendment. Congress passed this on June 4, 1919 but it was not ratified until Aug. 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. The ratification was certified by then Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby on Aug. 26, 1920. My grandmother Kitty Ross took my mother and my Aunt June on a train from Wisconsin to stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to await passage on June 4, 1919. My mother was 8 and my aunt was 7. This amendment gives women the right to vote. Carrying picket signs did not start with me, but was done by another Kitty, over 93 years ago. Thank you Grandmamma.

The amendment was first drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and first introduced in 1878. It took 41 years to pass.

The first states to ratify on June 10, 1919 were Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. Indiana came in as number 26 on January 16, 1920. It is interesting to note that Mississippi did not ratify the amendment until March 22, 1984. Alaska and Hawaii were not states when the 19th Amendment was ratified.

Just a thank you to Ryan Fleming who manages the building we are in on behalf of the building owner. He does a great job keeping clean all around the outside of the building. We didn’t have a lot of snow or ice this last winter, but when we did both the public and employee entrances were kept nice and clear.

Thank you to the city for taking care of the trees around the square. The one that had been in front of this building died. They put in a new ginkgo tree on May 23rd.

On June 5, Indiana Dunes state park is hosting a viewing program for the once-in-a-lifetime Venus transit. The next date it will be visible is 2117. Viewing starts at 7 p.m. at the Beach Pavilion. The normal gate fee of $5 per in-state vehicle and $7 per out-of-state vehicle will apply. There are 10 other state properties throughout the state with programs.

The Crown Point Fire Department’s Tech Rescue Team went to Calumet Township to assist the Lake Ridge Fire Department on Sunday, May 20, after the storm. The city’s TRT used its special equipment to check the fallen shopping center to make sure that there were no people trapped in the fallen building. There were none.

Congratulations to Scott Abraham for his 15 years of service to CPFD.