Civil War

Adrian Chia won the Rosemont Golf Tournament, a fundraiser for the American Freedom Tour. Every year, Rosemont Middle School students have an opportunity to discover history up close and personal as they trace the steps of the Union and Confederate soldiers of the Civil War or, like this year, retrace the birth of the United States. Students will be traveling to Massachusetts in the “Boston Birth of the Revolution” tour during spring break next year. The trip is exciting, educational and expensive.

This election is more important than any other presidential election I have seen. I no longer take my freedoms for granted -- and I most certainly don't want to lose any of them! I've never gotten involved in political campaigns -- until this year. The difference between what we "have" and what we "need" is too big to ignore. There are simply too many reliable sources "out there" who say that the war in Iraq could end up a civil war, and that Bush runs his office like a dictatorship -- you are either in (or silent)

The Rosemont Middle School third annual golf tournament, the "Back to School Open" will be held Oct. 2 at Verdugo Hills Golf Course. Proceeds from the event will help fund the eighth grade students' spring break trip to Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas of historical interest, says Rosemont history teacher Lynn McGinnis, who is leading the tour. The week-long trip will take students to the homes of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and former Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.

In one of the more stunning midterm elections in the last two decades, American voters called for a change of direction, especially with respect to the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq. As Americans have watched the escalating sectarian violence there ? the car bombings, mass kidnappings and gangland-style executions ? and agonized over the terrible loss of life, they have grown increasingly concerned with the policy of "stay the course." Notwithstanding the incredible courage and dedication of our troops, the violence in Iraq has grown worse not better, and this has caused not only the public, but many senior military officers (current and retired)

Faces of Freedom: Exhibit Faces of Freedom will open Sunday, March 19 with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. at Bolton Hall Museum. The new exhibit is devoted to the men and women of Sunland/Tujunga who have served this country from the Civil War to the present. Veterans are asked to bring in photographs, documents, and artifacts for the exhibit. A veteran registry will be created for the Sunland/Tujunga community. Local veterans may register for themselves, or families may register veterans no longer here.

Joseph Adamian does not have the right to demand a monument be erected for him or anyone else for something that might have happened 100 years ago. The people and citizens of Glendale do not want their taxes to go for something he will either brag or complain about. As for the lowering of the great flag of the United States, how can he say it is only a local issue? If he considers that only a local issue, then he must reconsider the genocide as being local issue, leaving it on another continent.

Big 'Little' Production "Little Women -- The Broadway Musical" opens at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, the production tells the story of four sisters at the end of the Civil War. The Orange County Performing Arts Center is at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. For more information, call (714) 556-2787. Winged Migration Help our most delicate winged friends by volunteering to renovate the butterfly habitat at the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve.

EVENTS — Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Kiwanis Club of Glendale and the California Highway Patrol are sponsoring "Child Seat Checkup Day." Participants will have their child's car safety seat inspected to determine whether it is installed and being used properly. Individuals with unsafe car seats will have a new safety seat installed in their vehicle at no charge. The event will be held at Edison Elementary School, 435 S. Pacific Ave. Open to all L.A. County residents.

The quaint lakeside township of Benzonia is the birthplace of noted civil war historian Bruce Catton. His favorite place to write was a summer home perched on a bluff overlooking the sparkling waters of Crystal Lake. A glance to the north offered a spectacular panorama of Lake Michigan, wooded hills and sandy bluffs. Catton's interest in the Civil War was inspired by the presence of Grand Army of the Republic veterans, whose faded blue uniforms, bedecked with medals, were the center of attraction at local patriotic celebrations.

Civil War has enough material without WWII Regarding James Nelson's response to my piece published June 23: We began earlier this year with a discourse on the subject of Robert E. Lee and whether or not he should be considered a great American hero. This, quite naturally, has led to a healthy discussion of the Civil War, its causes and outcome -- Abraham Lincoln, slavery, and whether the end justifies the means, among other things. History is not just an accumulation of facts, but an interpretation of those facts.