Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: John Roush & Spring Miller from the RF American Legion

Transcript

Talk Line: John Roush & Spring Miller from the RF American Legion · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Suck Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five to one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It's eight fifteen on your Monday morning, and you know
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: what that means. It's time for talk line and I'm
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joined in the booth for the first time for our
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: good friends from the Rock Falls American Legion Commander John
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Rausch and WECE Commander Spring Miller. Thank you both for
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: coming in. How you doing it this morning?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Doing good? We're we're excited to talk about what we offer. Great.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it looks like you guys have quite
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: a bit down at the Legion and are going to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: be quite busy. You're open to the public and kind
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of looking for new members right.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, always, our membership over the years has gone down,
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  Speaker 3: but we're on a kind of going uphill now and
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: as we just need people in there, especially the younger
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  Speaker 3: Vets because the older Vets are starting to die off.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Hate to say that, but they are. It is hard
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: to get things done.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you're you're absolutely right.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: During my time as a journalist, I'd speak to a
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  Speaker 1: lot of Legions and you'd hear the same thing, and
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  Speaker 1: it's really getting that next generation in to keep that
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: torch going and keep things alive. And so you guys
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  Speaker 1: kind of have a bunch of events and things that
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you're doing going on.
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  Speaker 3: Right, Yes, we do, and a lot of times we
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: work directly with tourism from the Rockfalls Tourism with Melinda
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Jones over there, and we try to get something going
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: every week to bring the people in. People coming in
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  Speaker 3: and spend a little bit of money on food or
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: beverages is what keeps the lights on, and that's it's
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: rather a very large hall. I think we can our
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: Bingo Hall, which we haven't used for a while for bingo,
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  Speaker 3: but it holds about six or forty people according to the
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: fire marshalls, so there's plenty of room for events in there.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: They can rent the hall out if it's available on
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: that day and that helps us out too.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: When the bar's open six days a week. So we
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: have an amazing bartender bar there. She tends to know
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: most of our regulars there and we have quite a
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  Speaker 4: few folks who come in on a daily basis. We
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: have some daily daily specials that happen. So yeah, we
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: look forward to seeing you folks come in from the
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: public and visit us throughout our days starting on Monday. John,
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: you want to talk a little bit about you.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, prior to COVID, they used to have yuker tournaments
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: at the Legion and they just didn't start back up.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: We're on our fifth week right now, when it's getting
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: bigger and bigger, and there's a lot of people that
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: really enjoyed it. We've had people coming there last week
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: that never played it and had a ball. So and
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  Speaker 3: it's open to the public, like all these events are
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: open to the public, and you should come on out
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  Speaker 3: six pm every Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely get out there. I love community. I love things
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  Speaker 1: that get people together. It's that thing that we've been
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  Speaker 1: missing and that it looks like we're slowly, you know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: have been going back to. And I think people really
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  Speaker 1: realize this and this is a great way to jump
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: in and it was spring. How long have you been
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: associated with the Legion, you know, speaking of getting the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: younger generation in, I mean.
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  Speaker 4: I've been in for what now a year, year and
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: a half. I just ended up coming in one day
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  Speaker 4: and my uncle actually was the BFW commander and Dixon
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: and I have been a part of the Air Force
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  Speaker 4: for nineteen and a half years, so I thought why
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: not join something. So when I moved to off Balls,
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: I ended up coming into the American Legion and said, hey,
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: why not be a member? And John got me into
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  Speaker 4: one of the meetings the very next week, and here
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  Speaker 4: I am now as the vice commander.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm going on your second time.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, just voted in the second time as the vice commander.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, we definitely look forward to getting in some
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  Speaker 4: of the younger generation in here, as I'm pretty much
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  Speaker 4: the youngest member in here, so I look forward to
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  Speaker 4: somebody beating that that one out. So if anybody wants
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  Speaker 4: to come in and join, we would greatly appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, take take springs, lead, get on, get involved. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: these are the kind of things that are that are
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  Speaker 1: important for again for community, for service, for keeping these
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  Speaker 1: things and then showing that the younger generation continually bringing
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: that in. So so good on you. I know those
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: of you who are only listening, you'll be able to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: check out a video of our conversation letter later. But John,
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  Speaker 1: you bring some great style to the Legion with with
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  Speaker 1: that Boston scally cap people often I told you, you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: before we got started, I got a collection of these,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: and so you like usually see me with a different
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: one all the time on there. So time I see
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: another another Boston scalley man somewhere, you gotta you gotta
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  Speaker 1: you know kind of nod the hat.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you do you.
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  Speaker 1: Do Tuesdays though, Taco Taco Tuesday. Look, hey guys, that
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  Speaker 1: what do we got going on?
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  Speaker 3: Okay, this is our fifth week with Carlos Tacos. He's
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  Speaker 3: cooks out of the Legion kitchen and we don't make
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  Speaker 3: anything out of it. We just get the people to
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: come in and learn something about the American Legion's working out.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 3: The crowds are getting bigger and bigger, and it's from
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  Speaker 3: five thirty seven thirty every Tuesday, so that would be
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: great if you all came along. Also on Tuesdays we
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  Speaker 3: do the Queen of Hearts. We're up to about sixty
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  Speaker 3: five hundred dollars on this round and we rather ticket
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  Speaker 3: at seven thirty need not be present to win, So
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  Speaker 3: you can buy tickets six days a week there, and
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  Speaker 3: we also do a fifty to fifty that helps support
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  Speaker 3: the Queen of Hearts because I hand out extra money
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  Speaker 3: all the time.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Carlos actually he offers a little bit more than
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  Speaker 4: just taco, so he has a variety of Mexican cuisine
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  Speaker 4: going on, so you can get there's usually Nacho's burritos,
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  Speaker 4: he has I think he's had cave sadillas at times,
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  Speaker 4: so he's had toastatas. So yeah, come in and visit
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  Speaker 4: us during that time, and prices are great. There's rice
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  Speaker 4: and beans usually involved with it, so there's a meal
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  Speaker 4: usually with it, and then of course the bar is
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  Speaker 4: completely open. So yeah, with the Queen of Hearts going on,
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  Speaker 4: and then also the fifty to fifty, we're usually we're
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  Speaker 4: usually pretty busy, but we always look forward to being busier.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean, good food will usually get me anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: But I really like those Queen of Heart strawings. I
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: won't play the lotto because I'm like, I'm never gonna win,
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  Speaker 1: but Queen of Hearts, I actually feel like.
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  Speaker 2: I've got a chance.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we have six slot machines and poll tabs in
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  Speaker 3: there too, and the pole tabs a lot of people.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they really do. My brother's really good at
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: that stuff. I'm not the guy with the luck on that,
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  Speaker 1: but my brother, man, he makes it look easy.
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  Speaker 3: A couple other things we got going on Thursday. They
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  Speaker 3: have been doing this for years. Every Thursday night we
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: have live music and it's usually the same guys. Sometimes
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  Speaker 3: we get different musicians in there, but it's all free
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  Speaker 3: to the public. It kind of starts about seven o'clock,
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  Speaker 3: but get there about six and goes to nine thirty.
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  Speaker 2: They play some really good country.
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  Speaker 3: Music and once again that's all free. It's always good
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  Speaker 3: crowd there in a good time, and we do with
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  Speaker 3: fifty to fifty during the live dancing, and that money
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  Speaker 3: funds the Rock Falls American Legion Scholarship Fund. We usually
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: hand out about five thousand somewhere around five thousand dollars
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  Speaker 3: a year in scholarships to our local community, mostly all
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  Speaker 3: Rock Falls.
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  Speaker 2: And so that's something to think about.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean, that's a that's a great way. You're
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: not only giving back to the you know, giving back
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  Speaker 1: to the community twice, so you're giving them something fun
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  Speaker 1: to do.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: I've entertainment. It's something is that I always advocate for.
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  Speaker 1: One of the few things I'll spend my money on.
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  Speaker 1: It's an experience that you always forget. But then, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you guys are turning around and I mean those scholarships
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  Speaker 1: that are that are helping local students. That's a great
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  Speaker 1: way to make sure that you're you know, you're not
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  Speaker 1: only getting a good time, but you'r your money staying local.
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  Speaker 2: So I love that. What else you got coming up?
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  Speaker 2: All right? Uh?
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  Speaker 4: Well, actually today we're getting ready to head to Mount
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  Speaker 4: Mourency and we're going to do one of those scholarships.
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  Speaker 3: Correct, it's called the American Legion Awards, and and what
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  Speaker 3: it is is the top Uh we do it to
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  Speaker 3: all the Rockball school schools, high school and elementary schools.
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  Speaker 3: Eighth graders, top Girl, top Boy, they get an American
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  Speaker 3: Legion Award, which is a medallion, and then the second
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  Speaker 3: one gets a honorable mention. Unfortunately, this year is the
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  Speaker 3: first year. I ordered the medallions over a month ago
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  Speaker 3: and they're still not here, so I'm gonna probably have
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: to mail them back to them. But we have guys
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  Speaker 3: that go out put on an American Legion uniform and talk.
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  Speaker 2: To the schools every year.
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  Speaker 3: And so that's happening tonight for Mount Moreency towards the
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  Speaker 3: end of the year. And another thing we got coming
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  Speaker 3: up to His Boys State And if everybody knows anything
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  Speaker 3: about the American Legion. American Legion sponsors boys in high
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  Speaker 3: school going from eleven to the twelfth grade, and what
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  Speaker 3: they do is they'll spend a week down in Springfield
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  Speaker 3: and they'll learn all kinds of stuff campaigning for electrical
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: elected officers. It's just it's a great thing. We paid
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: for it all. We asked for donations from the public,
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  Speaker 3: and we're lucky enough that we did get enough donations.
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  Speaker 2: Here.
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  Speaker 3: We got three of them going this year. We had
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  Speaker 3: three boys going last year. It's all paid for the
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  Speaker 3: trip down there. And uh, in fact, we have a
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  Speaker 3: meeting here coming up next week with the parents and
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  Speaker 3: the three boys.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a big thing.
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  Speaker 3: If anybody wants to involve more information on Illinois's premier
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  Speaker 3: boy state, just go to the American Legion website.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's good, and uh.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, head on over. Yeah, no, head on over to
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  Speaker 1: the website. I always tell people get your kids involved
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  Speaker 1: in some of these things early. I mean, this is
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: on track with like the Whiteside Area Career Center that
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you know, even if your kid isn't going to, you know,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: consider going into in one of these things. They learn
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  Speaker 1: a skill, they learn a trade, it's the same thing
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: with developing themselves and learning to get in there, get involved,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: have that mindset early. They often graduate high school and
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  Speaker 1: then the Sauk Valley has the under forty group that
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: continues at an early age to get get them involved.
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  Speaker 1: And it's all online. You guys are trying to get
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: young people involved, you know, with bettering themselves becoming part
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: of the community.
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  Speaker 2: So this is just a great way to do that.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I like hearing that.
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  Speaker 3: And I will say that Ladies Auxiliary does sponsor Girls
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: State and that's at a different time and that's thet
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: of thing. But if you want to hear something about
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: that once again, get online.
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  Speaker 2: We do have a Facebook page. It's called the Rock Falls.
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  Speaker 3: American Legion Post nine ozer two official page and all
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: the events that are coming up are on there. I
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: would like to talk really quickly about Memorial Day. At
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: nine am, we'll partner up with the Stirling American Legion
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: and we'll go down to the lower Dam. We do
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: a rifle volley down there and taps and if people
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: have a wreath or something they want to throw into
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: the river, that's when we do it. At eleven o'clock
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: we're doing a ceremony at the Rock Falls. What's the
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: cemetery over there, the Colonna Township Cemetery. We'll have a
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  Speaker 3: guest speaker, Pastor Meeks. He's done it in the last
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: couple of years. Great speaker. We post all the colors
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: of all the military services and we also do taps
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  Speaker 3: a rifle valley there and this year is something special,
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: being the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. The tourism off
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: has got a hold of me. We're doing taps across
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Americas at fifteen at three pm on Memorial Day at
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: the Veterans Park or Triangle Park and Rock Falls. They
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: are in the process of paint a new mural on
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: that up there on the band stand up there, and
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: at three o'clock across America, everyone is requested to blow
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  Speaker 3: taps to out of the fallen veterans for the past
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty years.
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  Speaker 2: So that's open to the public. And would love to
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  Speaker 2: see you out there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, i'd I'd love to hear you participating. You don't
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: another mark that down participate with that.
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: We just got a couple of minutes left, guys, anything
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: else you want to share, we do.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Honor Guard funerals all the time and we do approximately.
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  Speaker 2: Forty a year for veterans.
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  Speaker 3: We'll go to the cemeteries and do a rifle valley,
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  Speaker 3: fold the flag presented to the family and do taps too.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: We do have that two hundred and fiftieth anniversary coming
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: up that's on June thirteenth where we'll be actually cooking
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: out there so at the rb yeah, which we're looking
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: forward to everybody coming and visiting us during that time.
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  Speaker 4: We'll also be raffling off some tickets to for a
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: lawnmower as well, so myself, John will be there, John's
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: wife Lisa, and many of our volunteers also some of
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: our other officers will we'll be there. So we're looking
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: to do butterfly porch chops, some barbecue beans and then
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: also some hot dogs for the chips, so you know,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: normal cookout food.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, I lout and coincides with what the RBNW
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: is doing for that weekend because of the two and
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: fiftieth anniversary.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Following day, we will be posting.
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  Speaker 3: The colors for the Army band that's coming into play
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: down there too.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: So yeah, big, big, big of events coming with the
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: with the two hundred and fiftieth love that you guys.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously we're going to be a part of
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: it and have all these great things going on. Thank
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you so much, John and Spring for coming on sharing
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: this information that all you do for the community throughout
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the Legion. If anyone has you know needs any more information,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: please check out the Legion's website their Facebook page. Thank
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you both so much. I appreciate it.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for having us would be working to
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: do this for a while.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Thanks so appreciate it.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: God bless