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Angeles City Sub Branch Philippines www.rslangelescity.com ‘Lest We Forget’ President Vice Presidents Secretary Treasurer
James Curtis-Smith Greg Mann Bob Barnes Dallas Drake Ron Parrott
Editor
Larry Smith
Email address’:
Clubhouse: Ponderosa Hotel president@rslangelescity.com
secretary@rslangelescity.com treasurer@rslangelescity.com
editor@rslangelescity.com
NEWSLETTER # 63 ** JUNE 2012 PRESIDENTS REPORT – June 2012 Over the last few months there have been a number of deaths of Australians living here in Angeles City. None are suspicious or involve anything but illness or old age, but why I mention this fact is that in so many cases the deceased has failed to pre plan ”what is to happen on his death and who is in charge”. My advice has often been sought by those left behind and in some cases the deceased had failed to make provision of funds easily accessed to provide for his death, burial or cremation, doctors or hospital accounts, and also funds to enable wife/partner and children to have funds to pay rent, utilities, etc. The Australian Embassy does not assist in these cases except to assist in notifying relatives in Australia. In some cases the money was there in a bank account, but not accessible without considerable legal work which in one case I assisted in, took over 3 years through the local regional Trial Court and cost over ₱290,000.00 in legal costs and death taxes! Yes there are death duties payable in the Philippines assessed by the BIR, and payable before you can access the bank account. I estimate that upon your passing, those you leave behind will need at least ₱200,000.00 immediately to provide for your funeral (about ₱75,000.00) and for sustenance, rent etc, until your estate can be administered and
2 dependent super or pensions kick in. Please look at your own situation and what would happen if you fell over tomorrow. A last Will is not a bad start. Our monthly medical missions resume on the 7th July, now that the universities are back and we can access our medical professionals and nurses upon whom we so much rely. The next mission is at EPZA resettlement area and a map of where it is, is attached to our web site. We need you and the WAGS (wives and girl-friends) and if you can come please be at Ponderosa Hotel at 7am on the morning of Saturday 7 th July. If you have a car please bring it so we can provide transport to and from the site and the Ponderosa for those without wheels. As in the past, we expect up to 2000 children at the next mission at EPZA. Finally this month I must report on the decisions of Branch Congress held last week in Canberra. I must thank Bob Barnes and Rob Rixon for attending as our delegates. Our motion to fix per capita fees for international Sub Branches at 25% of local ACT Sub Branches, was not successful. This means that our per capitas will increase from AUD$5.00 per head to at least AUD$24.00 per head, an increase of 480% for 2013 and payable to Canberra!! It means also that to renew or join our Sub Branch we will similarly have to increase our membership fees and the Committee will deal with this issue at the next meeting. Without predicting what the Committee will decide, it appears that in the future our Sub Branch maybe comprised of our life subscribers (you can still become one) where no further per capitas are paid to Canberra, and social members who are ex officio members of our Sub Branch as supporters, enjoying the privileges and obligations of members of the RSL, but not actually members of the RSL, and where no per capitas are paid to Canberra. The membership fee here for social members will be what it is now with perhaps a slight increase. Members other than life subscribers, can still remain full members of the RSL at a National and Branch level, but will be required to pay the very hefty increase. I predict the consequences of the decision of Branch Congress will be an almost nil remittance of funds to Canberra from Angeles City. JAMES E. CURTIS-SMITH President
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
WE welcome aboard the following new members: William Carmichael (A/C) * Thomas Preston (Tarlac Phils) * Ron Bindemann (A/C) * James Allen (A/C) * Roy Fisher (A/C) * Christopher Potts (A/C) * Martin Khera (A/C) * George Sawyer (A/C) New Social members * Leonard Mace (A/C)* DAY TRIP AWAY * CORREGIDOR ISLAND We have planned a trip for us on Wednesday July 11th. It will be a full day trip and most likely cost around ₱1,500.00 - ₱2,000.00 per head. Corregidor Island is a very good Military historical experience that everyone will thoroughly enjoy. We need to make up a party of more than 10 but less than 16 so we can use a larger boat to the Island and keep costs down. Malinta Tunnel is just one of dozens of points of interest on the island. We plan to leave Brass Knob hotel at 7.00am 11th July, using two vans. Suggest strongly take a hat, sunglasses, sun block cream, camera, shorts and flip flops For bookings, contact Secretary Dallas on 09165243084. Don’t miss out on a good day out.
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RSL EVENTS SCHEDULE – JULY 2012 Weekly Raffle NOW EVERY Wednesday at Emotions Nite Club at 6.00 PM. Phillies Sports & Grill Raffle every Saturday at 6.00 PM.
SUNDAY 1ST JULY * PONDEROSA HOTEL WILL HOST USA INDEPENDENCE DAY PARTY *COMMENCES AT 11.00 AM *ARRANGED BY US VIETNAM VETERANS. Tuesday 3rd JULY * General Committee 1.30pm* Ponderosa * 4.00pm GECKOS* LOLLIPOP * La BAMBA Saturday 7th JULY * Medical Mission EPSA. Departs Ponderosa 0715 am. Tuesday 10th JULY * 2.00PM Ponderosa * Social Tuesday 3.00pm * 4.OOpm LOST IN ASIA* BLIND BEGGAR*SILLY HAT Wednesday 11th JULY *CORREGIDOR ISLAND TRIP * 0700hrs Departing Brass Knob. Bookings required (see Dallas ) Tuesday 17th JULY * Monthly General Meeting * 2.00pm Ponderosa * Social Tuesday * HONEY LO’S * THIGH HIGH. Tuesday 24TH JULY * 2.00PM* Social Tuesday Ponderosa * 4.00PM * T & A* FOXY. Tuesday JULY 31st * 2.00PM* Social Tuesday Ponderosa * 4.00PM GATFIELDS * DRILL SHACK* PSB.
COMPUTER PASSWORDS Last month I advised readers that my email address and password had been compromised by a very smart hacker, causing me heaps of inconvenience. I passed onto readers a suggestion from our webmaster about construction of good passwords, and I have since then had another piece of advice from a member who used to work in the US Defence Department. His suggestion was to make up a password at least 8 characters in length, one of which must be a number, one must be a symbol and one must be a capital letter. An example-
Bhy&oky6
Much tougher to crack.
(a bit harder to remember
but a hacker cannot see it written down in a book hidden in a drawer of your computer desk) Ed
4 MAP TO THE MEDICAL MISSION AT EPZA ON
7TH
JULY This is the route to the next Medical Mission located this time at EPZA. This is the best reproduction I get for publication so I hope not too many get lost. As always, a convoy leaves Ponderosa on the day at 7am, so a ‘tag along’ will get you there. Ed
ACT RSL CONGRESS- CANBERRA (REPORT) We asked Vice President Bob Barnes and Rob Rixon to represent our Sub Branch at the recent ACT Congress. Under the constitution we may have two members representing us or have a proxy or both. (I would love to attach the Congress agenda to this newsletter, however it runs to 20 pages and it is not practicable. If any member wishes to view it, email me at: tassiedevil47@gmail.com and I will send you a copy). Our Sub Branch had submitted many motions to be discussed at the congress, specific to the difference between management of overseas sub branches to those in a local area in Australia. These had been submitted as agenda items, Bob Barnes and Rob Rixon had been nominated as our attendees and tow proxies had been appointed. Not all went well for us as Bob Barnes reports below. Not one of our motions were passed or even seriously considered. One nominated proxy voted against our motions as he had an executive position with-in the structure of the Branch. From the report it appears that ACT Branch have no intention of considering our concerns and bulldozed our motions aside, even not following conventions of discussion at times when it suited them. Here is in essence Bob’s report on the congress as it concerned him:
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When I arrived in Canberra I spoke to Peter Collas who held one of our proxy votes about the email he sent to Sec Dallas, and went through our motions and what we wanted to do. I did not agree with his comment on our motion in regards to capitation fees where we pay 25% of the Australia based fees. I believe that he had a second agenda as Deputy President of the A.C.T. Branch, as the Branch Executive had two motions that were in direct conflict too ours. Peter seconded these Motions as President of Woden, and in my view, he should have had another Woden member to second the Branch Motions as he is a member of the Executive. Motion No 6 from Branch was for the membership fees for 2013 to be $30.00 for service & affiliate members. THESE MEMBERSHIP FEES ARE TO BE APPLICABLE TO ALL SUB BRANCHES UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP OF THE A.C.T. BRANCH, INCLUDING THOSE SUB BRANCHES WHICH ARE BASED OUTSIDE THE CONFINES OF THE A.C.T. THEIR RATIONALE The Branch is of the opinion that all branch members are entitled to be considered recipients of the benefits of membership of the R.S.L of Australia. In terms of the Constitution they are therefore deemed to be equally responsible for membership fees as approved by the Branch Congress. This motion was in direct conflict to our motion No 9 which was for overseas Sub Branches to pay 25%. When I moved this they begrudgingly suspended motion 6 to hear our motion. When I was asked to speak for the motion, I was told by the President John King that there was no need to go through the rationale (even though all other motions were allowed ) because the delegates had it in front of them and did I have any more comments to add, which I did add a few more. One of our proxies, Peter Collas then rose and spoke against the motion. OUR MOTION WAS LOST ON A VOTE. The Branch Executive then had motion 7 which once again was seconded by Peter Collas. This motion was to INCREASE THE MEMBERSHIP FEES. I rose and spoke that this motion was negated by the previous motion in so far as the wording negated it. This was ignored and the Treasurer was called upon to speak on the rational which was an excuse to justify the treasurers report, (which was presented and no one was asked if they had any questions on the report). This motion was LOST on a vote. Our Motions 8,10,11,12,13,14,15,and 16 were withdrawn by me as the by-laws and the constitution we had used to form them were out of date. (Apparently the by-laws are available on the website but un-accessible to us) Ed
So there you go members, ACT Branch democracy in action. According to Bob, the Branch was openly hostile to our attendees as they did some time ago when we were represented by Col Whelan. We have a good case for seceding from them and asking National HQ to transfer us to another Branch for administrative purposes or appoint us as a Branch on our own as we can then have Subic as a Sub Branch. A better idea would be seeking the disbandment of the branch and all sub branches being transferred to Victoria or Tasmania. As we have pointed out in previous newsletters, if you plan to remain an RSL members, become a Life Subscriber NOW and thwart Branch intention to increase fees where we members receive zero benefits for the outrageous capitation fees demanded. (see also President Jim’s comments in his report). And why does Branch need to increase fees, to pay the salaries etc for their bloated staffing levels. Why aren’t they like our sub branch where everyone is a volunteer. (These words are the words of the editor and not necessarily those of our sub branch committee. Ed) In line with the pathetic treatment by Branch, we are offering Life Subscriptions according to current age. A few age and costs are shown on the next page:
6 EXAMPLES are based on age, rates available for every age. AGE 50 = ₱15,840 51 = ₱ 15,235
55 = ₱12,815
60 = ₱9,790
65 = ₱8,360 69 = ₱6,160 75 = ₱3,410 $AU Rates also 63 =$204.12 AGE 72 = $107.70 Interested members should contact Secretary Dallas for more information.
Media Release WARREN SNOWDON MP Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Minister for Defence Science and Personnel Minister for Indigenous Health 14 June 2012
HOUSEHOLD ASSISTANCE FOR VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon, announced from today more than 200,000 service pensioners and war widows will receive a household assistance advance payment of $250 for singles or $380 for couples combined. Veterans and war widows will receive these payments straight into their bank accounts, ahead of the carbon price introduction on 1 July. In addition, more than 110,000 veterans and their families, including eligible DVA Disability pensioners and Seniors Supplement recipients, will also receive a lump sum payment of up to $380 (ranging from $30 to $380). From March next year eligible members of the veteran and defence community will receive an ongoing boost to their payments. Mr Snowdon said these payments will help veterans and their families meet cost of living pressures. “The Gillard Labor Government understands how hard it is for our veterans and their families to make ends meet. That’s why from today extra assistance will be rolling into bank accounts across the country.” Already millions of Australians, including pensioners, families and students have received household assistance. For more information on household assistance to the veteran and defence community, visit ww.dva.gov.au/householdassistance or call 133 254 (or 1800 555 254 for regional callers).
AND ANOTHER ONE Minister for Veterans' Affairs media release Wednesday, 20 June 2012
EDUCATION SUPPORT FOR VETERAN FAMILIES More than 1,900 primary and secondary school students in the veteran community will receive education payments from the Australian Government this week to help keep more money in parents’ pockets. Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Warren Snowdon said the Australian Government was introducing a new Schoolkids Bonus to assist with education costs for all primary and secondary students for eligible families.
7 “Students in receipt of DVA education allowances under the Veterans' Children Education Scheme (VCES) or the Military, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme (MRCAETS) will benefit from the support,” he said. Mr Snowdon said payments would assist with the cost of additional education expenses like purchasing school books and uniforms or towards the cost of school excursions and camps. “The Australian Government recognises how expensive the start of each school year can be for working families and these payments will help ensure they have extra money in their pockets when they need it most,” he said. “Families will receive $409 for each primary school student and $818 for each full-time secondary school student in nominated bank accounts this week.” Mr Snowdon said the June payments marked the transition from the Education Tax Refund, previously administered by the Australian Taxation Office, to the new Schoolkids Bonus. “The Schoolkids Bonus will begin in 2013 with instalments in January and July. Eligible families will receive an annual amount of $410 for each primary school student and $820 for each full-time secondary school student,” he said. Payments will be made into the nominated bank account where the recipients’ current DVA education allowance is paid. Families with shared custody arrangements will receive an amount of the payment in line with existing arrangements for the split of their benefit/allowance. Payments are automatic and no claim is required or receipts needed. Payments are tax-free, do not count as income for income support purposes and will be indexed annually from 2014-15 in line with the Consumer Price Index. For more information, clarification or other assistance regarding education allowance payments visit www.dva.gov.au or call DVA on 133 254 or, for non-metropolitan callers, 1800 555 254.
Friday, 22 June 2012 UPDATE ON LATEST VANDAL ATTACK ON LIBYAN WAR GRAVES Reports last week of further vandalism attacks at a war cemetery in Benghazi, Libya have now been investigated. The damage has been confirmed at the Benghazi British Military Cemetery, not the Benghazi War Cemetery, as initially reported. There are no Australian graves in the Benghazi British Military Cemetery. The damaged headstone at the British Military Cemetery was that of a British citizen. This cemetery was also damaged in the same attacks that affected the Benghazi War Cemetery in February. ***** ****** ******
8 Minister for Veterans’Affairs subscription list. Sunday, 24 June2012
VA051
BOMBER COMMAND VETERANS SET OFF TO LONDON The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon, has bid farewell to a group of Australian veterans of Bomber Command, as they embark on a journey to London to honour all those who served in Australia’s costliest combat action of the Second World War. Mr Snowdon said the veterans will join mates from other Commonwealth nations at the dedication of the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park and will visit other sites of wartime significance across London. “For many of these men – who 70 years ago were pilots and navigators, gunners and aircrewmen – this will be the first time they have returned to London to pay tribute to those who died during those dangerous missions over Italy and Germany. “This will be an emotional journey and I wish all Australian veterans making this trip a memorable experience. “Joining the veterans on this journey will be young men and women of the Royal Australian Air Force and Australia’s Federation Guard,” he said. “I want to acknowledge the support of the Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown AO, and his team. Air Marshal Brown will attend the dedication this week.” Mr Snowdon said more than 100 Australian veterans are going to London to attend the 70thanniversary commemorations with support provided by the Australian Government. This includes an official Australian Government delegation of 31 veterans and more than 70 travelling independently with assistance from the Government, Defence Health, the Royal Australian Air Force Association and the Bomber Command Commemoration Day Foundation. The Australians will join veterans from Canada, Britain and New Zealand at the dedication of the Bomber Command Memorial by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on June 28. Australian commemorative services will also be held at the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial and Australian Memorial at Hyde Park. Some 10,000 Australian airmen served with the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command during the Second World War. Of these, almost 3500 were killed in action and some 650 died in training accidents. Mr Snowdon has thanked the Bomber Command Association, QANTAS, Chartis, Flight Centre and Defence Housing Australia, for their generous assistance and support to the Bomber Command veterans. “Finally, I want to express my appreciation to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, for its outstanding efforts in ensuring this will be an extraordinary and memorable occasion for our Bomber Command veterans, ”Mr Snowdon said.
9 OPERATION OVERLORD 6
TH
JUNE 1944
The 6th of June 2012 marked the 68th anniversary of operation OVERLORD which led to Victory in Europe (VE). We cannot forget this very important date and day in our history, so here is a reminder, complements of Wikipedia. Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day). A 12,000-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving almost 7,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June; more than three million troops were in France by the end of August. ďƒŠ Tank landing ships unloading supplies on Omaha Beach, building up for the breakout from Normandy. Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on D-Day itself came from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Free French Forces and Poland also participated in the battle after the assault phase, and there were also minor contingents from Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway. Other Allied nations participated in the naval and air forces. Once the beachheads were secured, a three-week military buildup occurred on the beaches before Operation Cobra, the operation to break out from the Normandy beachhead, began. The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, with campaigns to expand the foothold on France, and concluded with the closing of the Falaise pocket on 24 August, the Liberation of Paris on 25 August, and the German retreat across the Seine which was completed on 30 August 1944 For the full Wikipedia article, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Overlord A LOOK INTO OUR PAST (Cyclone Tracey part 1 of 2 parts) Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974. It is the most compact cyclone or equivalent-strength hurricane on record in the Australian basin, with gale-force winds extending only 48 kilometres (30 mi) from the centre and was the most compact system worldwide until 2008 when Tropical Storm Marco of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season broke the record, with gale-force winds extending only 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the centre. After forming over the Arafura Sea, the storm moved southwards and affected the city with Category 4 winds on the Australian cyclone intensity scale, while there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale when it made landfall. Tracy killed 71 people, caused $837 million in damage (1974 AUD) and destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of houses. Tracy left more than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people. Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to the city. After the storm
10 passed, the city was rebuilt using more modern materials and updated building techniques. Bruce Stannard of The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy was a "disaster of the first magnitude ... without parallel in Australia's history." Darwin had been severely battered by cyclones before; in January 1897 and again in March 1937. However, in the 20 years leading up to Cyclone Tracy, the city had undergone a period of rapid expansion. E.P. Milliken estimated that on the eve of the cyclone there were 43,500 people living in 12,000 dwellings in the Darwin area. Though building standards required that some attention be given to the possibility of cyclones, most buildings were not capable of withstanding the force of a cyclone's direct hit. On the day of the cyclone, most residents of Darwin believed that the cyclone would not cause any damage to the city. Cyclone Selma had been predicted to hit Darwin earlier in the month, but it instead went north and dissipated without affecting Darwin in any way. As a result, Cyclone Tracy took most Darwin residents by surprise. Despite several warnings the people of Darwin did not evacuate or prepare for the cyclone. Many residents continued to prepare for Christmas, and many attended Christmas parties, despite the increasing winds and heavy rain. Journalist Bill Bunbury interviewed the residents of Darwin some time later and recorded the experiences of the survivors of the cyclone in his book Cyclone Tracy, picking up the pieces. Resident Dawn Lawrie, a 1971 independent candidate for the electorate of Nightcliff, told him: “ We’d had a cyclone warning only 10 days before Tracey that another Cyclone was coming, it was coming, and it never came. So when we started hearing about Tracey we were all a little bit blasé” Another resident, Barbara Langkrens, said:
“
And you started to almost think that it would never happen to Darwin even though we had cyclone warnings on the radio all the time ... most of the people who had lived here for quite some time didn't really believe the warnings.”
Cyclone Tracy killed 71 people, 49 of whom were on land and 22 were out at sea. Two RAN sailors died when HMAS Arrow, an Attack class patrol boat, sank at Stokes Hill Wharf. The storm also caused the substantial destruction of the city of Darwin. At Darwin Airport, thirty-one aircraft were destroyed and another twenty-five badly damaged. The initial estimate put the reported death toll at 65, but it was revised upwards in March 2005, when the Northern Territory Coroner proclaimed that those who still remained listed as missing had "perished at sea". Several factors delayed the dissemination of the news of the cyclone's impact. The destruction of transportation infrastructure and the distance between Darwin and the rest of the Australian population played a role, as did the fact the storm made landfall on Christmas Day and most media outlets had only a skeleton crew rostered on at best. Most Australians were not aware of the cyclone until late in the afternoon. In order to provide the initial emergency response, a committee was created. The committee, composed of several high-level public servants and police, stated that, "Darwin had, for the time being, ceased to exist as a city". Gough Whitlam, the Australian Prime Minister, was touring Syracuse at the time but flew to Darwin upon hearing of the disaster. Additionally, the Australian government began a mass evacuation by road and air; all of the Defence Force personnel throughout Australia, along with the entire Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of transport planes, were
11 recalled from holiday leave and deployed to evacuate civilians from Darwin, as well as to bring essential relief supplies to the area. Thirteen ships of the Royal Australian Navy were used to transport supplies to the area as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin; the largest humanitarian or disaster relief operation ever performed by the Navy Final part next month
Australian War Memorials (a continuing series)
The Royal Australian Regiment Memorial is located at Regimental Square, (Wynyard Street) opposite Martin Place, SYDNEY. Memorial for those who will serve, who have served and those who have fallen in Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Malaysia, Vietnam, Somalia, Solomon Islands, Iraq, Timor LestĂŠ and Afghanistan. The memorial has recently been updated to include post Vietnam deployments.
This memorial commemorates the foundation of Australia's first regular operational infantry regiment. In the past Australia has had permanent military units with special functions, such as coastal artillery batteries and earlier, other units seconded from the British Army. The first three battalions of The Royal Australian Regiment were formed in 1945 from volunteers from the second A.I.F. and served in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth occupation force. Since that time, infantrymen of The Royal Australian Regiment have served in various theatres of war to safeguard our nation.
www.beyondtheblackstump.com
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I put the quiz below in a newsletter way back in 2009, but since then we have had many new members sign up, so I bring it back for them. Here it is: Here is an English 9 letter word, which, when you remove a letter at a time and keep doing that, it is still a word until it has only one letter left. That word is STARTLING. So let’s remove a letter at a time.
STARTLING remove the L and we are left with STARTING remove the T and we are left with STARING remove the A and we are left with STRING remove the R and we are left with STING remove the T and we are left with SING remove the G and we are left with SIN remove the S and we are left with IN remove the N and we are left with I I BET YOU KNEW THAT FROM THE START. Ed
THE VISIT TO CLINT’S FARM From all reports, the visit to Clint’s farm was a real success. There were many activities for all who attended, but the children got the most out of the visit. That was the main reason for the visit, entertainment for the kids. That is not to say that the BIG kids didn’t have a great time either, as the accompanying pictures show. We would like to publicly THANK Clint and his family for letting us run amok at his farm. Everyone had a great time. If we didn’t scare the animals too much, and didn’t deplete your dams of fish, we would like to re-visit sometime in the future.
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Likely fishermen
See, even the big kids had a whale of a time
Did someone bring a relative….
Confirmation of a good time
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance” Lest we forget