FROM THE DESK OF DON
Hello, here we are already at the first of July. We have been busy and it looks like we have more work to do in the future. The election of officers will be in July with installations in August. August is fair time and we have more need to show off our Box Car this year than ever. The sheet to work the fair has been passed one time and at the July meeting it will be passed again. Working 4 hours at the box car, (with free admission) is one way you can help 333. This will be our last big push for help in restoration of the box car before we actually start work. November will soon be here also and we are in charge of the 11-11-11 ceremony at the court house this year. I have already talked with Sgt. Major Woods and the parade is already taking shape. Let us hope for good weather this year. Please keep these dates open. I am looking forward to being in Springfield for the State Meeting on July 2. Ernie and I will represent 333. No matter how the elections go in July I just want all to know I have been proud to serve Voiture 333 and will be a big backer in the future.
FROM THE DESK OF SUSAN
We have had a busy year and look forward to continuing to assist the Voiture in their activities. Several of us are at the Warrensburg Veterans Home the 1st Monday of every month for Bingo. The Memorial Day picnic was a big success and we were instrumental in food line running smoothly. Sharon Fulton continues to send out birthday cards to veterans at the Veterans Home.
If you know of anyone who would like to join our Cabane ask them to come to our next monthly breakfast meeting. A member must have an affiliation with a Voyageur; a spouse, family member, significant other or friend. Applicants fill out a short form and pay dues of $18. Dues for our members are payable now. Please send them to Carolyn Miller as soon as possible. Thank you.
Susan Parker, Cabane President
GI BILL ARCHITECT
IMMORTALIZED IN KANSAS
Harry W. Colmery changed the world. The American Legion past national commander from Topeka, Kan., can be credited for such phenomena as averting economic disaster when millions of U.S. troops returned home from World War II, democratizing higher education, making home ownership affordable for average Americans, driving forward racial equality, establishing an all-volunteer military, revolutionizing health care for veterans, and turning the American dream into an American reality for generations. He drafted the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – the GI Bill – which propelled the United States to superpower status, launching an era of U.S. prosperity that continues today.
Until 2013, however, Colmery’s legacy was hardly remembered in Topeka, Kan., where he lived and worked for more than 60 years. On June 22, 72 years after he watched President Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the GI Bill into law, Colmery was immortalized. More than 200 veterans, military personnel, family members and business leaders attended dedication ceremonies for the Harry ColmeryMemorial Plaza near the the Kansas state capitol building. The plaza features a statue of Colmery saluting men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, with a panel of bronzefigures Behind him depicting the civilian professions they would assume after discharge.
STATUS OF RESTORATION PROJECT
Jody Heck is our Directeur of Boxcar and will be leading our restoration project to bring the 40&8 boxcar back to its original condition.
This restoration process is going to be involved and time consuming. We need help from the entire Voiture membership. We are going to need a committee of dedicated individuals who will brainstorm ideas and establish a blueprint for the process. While we plan on contracting out the paint removal and painting /powder coating, we will still need to accomplish some part of the labor ourselves. We will need volunteers for that and will be requesting volunteers from outside the Voiture. Please be a part of this project, even if it is only providing suggestions and/or moral support. Many of us have physical limitations but we all have thoughts and ideas about how to accomplish the various steps in this process.
Our fund raising has been successful but we are still short of our initial $20,000.00 goal. We have not truly received bids for any of the restoration work and do not know if that amount is excessive or insufficient but it does give us a starting point. With around $5000.00 more to raise, we are selling sponsorships of the plaques to individuals or businesses who donate $250.00 or more. The sponsors' names will be posted inside the boxcar under the shield they are sponsoring. So far, 16 of the 42 shields have sponsors. Those contributors are American Legion Post 558, Albert Arnold, Jr., Ernest Arnold, Country Kitchen-Sedalia, Bill & Katherine Hanna, John & Sue Ann Irving,
Doug and Connie Kiburz, Richard & Mimi Kraus, Cliff McBride, Bob and Sharon McElroy, Orscheln Farm and Home, Ernest and Susan Parker, David & Myldred Rouchka, Barbara Smith, Voiture 1292 and Voiture 1541. We will have information for these sponsorships and hope to have many more sold before and during the fair. Also, we will sell sponsorships of the stripe on each side of the car for $1000.00 each. If we sell sponsorships of all the shields and stripes, we will far exceed our initial $20,000.00 goal.
The website has information by state on each boxcar. Of the 49 original boxcars, the ones delivered to Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska and New jersey have been lost or destroyed. Looking at pictures of the boxcars from other states, many of the boxcars appear to be far from their original look from 1949. Colors range from white to red instead of the original gray (ours is a darker shade from original ), not all have shields in the proper number and alignment and a couple are even displayed with all the running gear removed. We have received input from various boxcar historians and they are unanimous in their praise to us concerning our desire to restore Missouri's boxcar as close to original as possible and have provided assistance, both monetarily and in terms of information concerning originality. John and Sue Ann Irving and Bob and Sharon McElroy from Oregon have visited our boxcar and put us in contact with other experts. We welcome their input and eagerly anticipate continued support and information from them. Dr. Wayne Wingfield from Colorado has done extensive research on the plaques/shields and is providing the results of his research to insure we get the position and order of the plaques correct. We have found we are missing plaques for 2 provinces (by the way, these plaques indicate French provinces which existed prior to 1640) and at least one was misspelled. Also, we are missing the plaques for the French Boxcar Commission and we will be having those recreated. The 2 duplicate plaques we have will be replaced by the 2 missing plaques. Dr. Wingfield also has the correct colors of all the plaques.
Limited research has been done concerning removal of the paint from the metal and we are working to determine if sandblasting or solvent will be the best solution. We will have to remove all the metal parts from the main frame. This means the top, side pieces, running gear and all attachments on each end.
Each board will have to be numbered and removed. As we remove all the boards we will have to determine if they are salvageable or need to be replaced. Jody has been in contact with a vendor who says he can recreate the boards exactly.
We are researching to determine if we can find an oven large enough to have the main frame powder coated. We know the smaller pieces can be and that powder coating will last much longer than normal painting.
Following the State Fair, we will move into high gear and start the actual work on the restoration. We hope to have warehouse space donated so we can have the boxcar moved into an inside environment so we are not limited on our work by weather. When we decide how we are going to accomplish each step of the restoration, we will solicit competitive bids and also ask for assistance from various contractors and volunteers.
Once we have the restoration completed, we would like to have some way to preserve the work. This is just another step of the overall restoration process.
Please step up and get involved in the restoration. Don't let the work fall on the backs of just a handful of our members.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a bill on June 27 that would eliminate the need for a permit, training and background checks for persons who want to carry a concealed weapon in the state.
The Republican-led bill passed the Missouri House and Senate this spring with enough votes to override the veto when lawmakers convene in September. Two-thirds majority is required.
I cannot support the extreme step of throwing out that process entirely, eliminating sensible protections like background checks and training requirements, and taking away the ability of sheriffs to protect their communities," Nixon said.
Nixon, who cannot seek re-election this year due to term limits, said the law would allow people with criminal records, such as misdemeanor assault and drug possession, to automatically carry a concealed weapon.
"Allowing currently prohibited individuals to automatically be able to carry concealed would make Missouri less safe," Nixon said.
Lawmakers and other supporters of the bill have said the law is an important step forward in gun rights and will not make the state less safe. Nine other states allow concealed carry without permits and associated training and background checks.