# 315, March 26, 2004
COLUMBUS: John Kerry took me up on my idea to vacation for a week. He was skiing in Idaho, but now he’s back in Washington. The sign at the big party they threw for him last night said “Democrats United”. That’s such a novelty, it might work. It’s never been tried before.
All the former candidates were at his party, but most Democrats were watching basketball. Oklahoma State won their game. So did St. Joe. That little team from Philadelphia is everybody’s favorite (except in Oklahoma), and they go head to head tomorrow.
Last week I told you Saudia Arabia was cutting down on our oil supply. The way prices have been going I am about to believe it’s bin Ladin that has his hand on the spigot. A few years ago some folks in Washington wanted to raise the price of gasoline 50 cents. They sure got their wish, but you don’t hear any of them crowing about the achievement.
Ireland finished their spring celebration, and I was there to help crown a new King and Queen. Now there aren’t many places where folks get to vote on their royalty. Normally it just gets passed down to a relative no matter the qualifications, but in Ireland they hold an election. Raymond and Retta Blagg earned the crowns. They are both 89, and been married 69 years. Can you imagine a better way to spend your 70th year together.
This Ireland is in West Virginia, and it’s a small community that shows what spirit and hard work can do for a place. The county decided to bus their kids to town years ago, so they turned the old school house into a community center. Their Irish Spring Festival is just one of a whole bunch of fun things they organize to get people together. If you want to visit a friendly place in the country, go to Ireland. It’s worth the trip, even if gas is $2.00 a gallon.
In West Virginia, folks are proud of their state slogan, “Almost Heaven”. But the governor is upset at a new one, “It’s all relative in West Virginia”. See, this motto is being put on T-shirts by an “outsider”. I won’t tell you the name, but it’s one of those stores that specializes in overpriced apparel. This particular store perhaps has some questionable breeding among it’s own managers because they decided the best way to sell their brand of clothes was to show catalog models that refused to wear clothes. Our young folks buy their clothes regardless, so we may as well enjoy a laugh with them.
Folks in Ireland make you feel at home, even if you aren’t related to them.
The Supreme Court is pondering on the latest big issue to face the country. Regardless of what they announce, ninety-nine percent of us know we’re still one nation under God.
Historic quote from Will Rogers:
“I have been in twenty countries and the only place where American tourists are welcomed wholeheartedly is Ireland.” DT #3, Aug. 1, 1926.
Historic fact: Will’s great-great grandfather, Robert Rogers, an Irish-Scotchman came to America about 1800, settling in what is now West Virginia. He married Lucy Cordery, a half-blood Cherokee, they moved to Georgia, and had a son, Robert Rogers, Jr. in 1815. He grew up and married Sally Vann, a 3/8 Cherokee, and Clem was born 1839. He married Mary America Schrimsher, and their eighth child, born in 1879, was named William Penn Adair Rogers.
So if you can trace your roots back to West Virginia, and your name is Cordery, you and Will just might be cousins.