11 November 2010

alexandria, la. businessman, retired peabody magnet high teacher dickie sullivan dies


several clips obtained by wst... from the funeral service of richard john "dickie" sullivan, sr., held on 13 november 2010 from philadelphia baptist church, philadelphia community, rapides parish, louisiana.

rev. tom jordan with philadelphia baptist church quoted jesus from john the apostle chapter nineteen and cautioned the sons to take care of and love their mother.

rev. anthony mangun of the pentecostals of alexandria said that mr. sullivan fit the definition the prophet micah gave of what is a good man.

chaplain sheldon reed of the w.d. fisher masonic lodge and masonic fraternity at buckeye, louisiana, on when is a man a mason? (complete uncut audio)

mike sullivan delivers the funeral eulogy sermon for his uncle.
(complete uncut audio)

steve sullivan performs "daddy are we there yet?" a son sings one final time a song he wrote as a child to his father...

united states air force honor guard properly folds the casket flag.

eddie sullivan, a nephew, speaks a few words about his uncle and leads a prayer.

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united states air force honor guard
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Dickie Sullivan Obit
UPDATE: obituary
----ORIGINAL POST----
wst... is saddened to learn of the passing of richard j. "dickie" sullivan.

sullivan, was a native of holloway, louisiana and a retired longtime welding instructor at peabody magnet high school and businessman, died on 10 november 2010.

several of the businesses that sullivan -- together with his wife audette humbles sullivan are known for, include, sullivan enterprises, inc., the sullivan gun and knife show, a watkins distributorship, a cane syrup manufacturing/bottling operation, metal building fabrication and erection, as well as a truck farm.

sullivan was a veteran of the united states naval service before joining and then retiring from the united states air force.

besides his widow, audette, sullivan leaves behind three sons, rick of california, steve from the dallas texas area and cliff of alexandria, la., and many grandchildren.

services for richard j. "dickie" sullivan are tentatively set for 2:00 pm saturday, 13 november 2010 at philadelphia baptist church.

complete arraignments are expected to be announced shortly after 2:00 pm today from hixson brothers, funeral home.
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Posted by wst... at 08:04

Labels:

veterans day 2010

click picture to enlarge
United States Naval Warship BATTLESHIP NEW JERSEY BB-62
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Save the battlewagons
Oliver North
April 15, 2005


"There is no weapon system in the world that comes even close to the visible symbol of enormous power represented by the battleship." -- Retired Gen. P.X. Kelly, USMC

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Those words of the former Marine commandant resonate with me. In 1969, gunfire from the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) saved my rifle platoon in Vietnam. During her six months in-theater, the USS New Jersey's 16-inch guns were credited with saving more than 1,000 Marines' lives.

The North Vietnamese so feared the ship that they cited her as a roadblock to the Paris peace talks. Our leaders, as they did so often in that war, made the wrong choice and sent her home. Now, 36 years later, Washington is poised to make another battleship blunder.

After the USS Iowa (BB-61) and USS Wisconsin, (BB-64) were taken out of active service in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 104-106, a 1996 measure requiring that our last two battleships be kept ready for reactivation. But today's Navy brass wants Congress to repeal the law, strike the ships from Naval Vessel Register -- the official list of available ships -- and donate them to museums.

The Navy, focusing on a new "strategic vision" called "sea basing," claims that the battleships' proven firepower is no longer necessary for Naval Gun Fire Support (NGFS) -- the kind of mission that saved my Marines three decades ago.

Adm. Vernon Clark, the chief of naval operations, says that "Marines will be supported by combat air." That's great -- except when bad weather keeps the planes on deck instead of overhead. It also ignores the full range of support that is economically available from well-protected, highly mobile, gun and missile-firing battleships. This is not your grandfather's battlewagon.

In 1983, the USS New Jersey was the best support available to the Marines after their barracks were bombed in Beirut. During the "tanker war," in the mid-1980s, every time the USS Iowa steamed into the Persian Gulf, the Iranians ceased hostile action.

During Desert Storm, cruise missiles launched from both the USS Missouri (BB-63) and the USS Wisconsin attacked scores of targets deep inside Iraq; and an entire Iraqi Naval Infantry unit surrendered to one of the USS Wisconsin's unmanned aerial vehicles. Unlike any other naval vessel, battleships combine survivability, speed and immediate, heavy firepower.

The Navy claims that the "firepower problem" -- Marines call it "steel on target" -- will be solved by new, 5-inch Extended Range Guided Munitions (ERGM). Under development at great cost since 1996, the Government Accountability Office said in 2004 that the ERGM program is rife with cost overruns and that "its problems have led to test failures and delays."

In truth, the ERGM should have been scrubbed in March 2000, when the Marines told Congress that neither ERGM nor any other 5-inch round would meet Marines' lethality requirements. Worse still, a May 2001 internal Navy report admitted that ERGM won't meet Marines' volume of fire requirements, either. Both needs can easily be met by existing 16-inch guns on the battleships.

Navy planners insist that a new DD(X)-class of ships -- also still in development -- will surpass battleships' NGFS capabilities. But on April 1, 2003, Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee testified that our nation's expeditionary forces "will remain at considerable risk" for want of NGFS until the DD(X) joins the fleet "in significant numbers." Since then, the Navy has reduced the DD(X) buy from 24 ships to five. This leaves Marines high and dry unless Iowa and Wisconsin are available for rapid reactivation.

Even if the Navy ordered more of the DD(X) class -- at $2 billion to $3.5 billion each -- these small, thin-skinned vessels are highly vulnerable to "sea skimmer" missiles. And a terrorist action, like the 2000 attack on the USS Cole -- which crippled the destroyer and killed 17 -- would do similar damage to a DD(X).

Naval officers admit that heavily armored battleships are practically impervious to such strikes, but claim that what the DD(X) lacks in armor it will make up in stealth and speed. To embattled Marines that just means their nearest naval gunfire support will be far out at sea and traveling at high speed -- neither of which contribute to accurate "steel on target" for troops fighting ashore.

Our Navy currently has no capability for providing the lethal, high-volume firepower that would be required if -- God forbid -- we should have to land Marines on the coasts of Iran or North Korea, or in defense of Taiwan.

When the Marines assaulted Um Qasr at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, they had to rely on naval gunfire from an Australian frigate.

The Navy's answer is to wait six years for the costly, unproven ERGM system and a half-dozen or fewer, yet-to-be-built DD(X) ships. But America's enemies may not wait that long. And America's taxpayers may not want to pay the price -- in blood or treasure. The DD(X)-ERGM experiments are estimated to cost between $12 billion and $16 billion.

It would take less than two years to reactivate the Iowa and Wisconsin. The battleships are 10 percent faster than the still-conceptual DD(X). They each bring to bear 12 5-inch and nine 16-inch guns -- capable, with new munitions, of firing accurately to nearly 100 miles. The two battleships can also carry nearly twice as many cruise missiles as all the DD(X) hulls combined. All that firepower is available for $2 billion -- the cost of one DD(X).

Sometimes, as I tell my grandchildren, older is better. In the case of the two battlewagons, older is not only superior, it's also a lot less expensive.

Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist and the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.
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Posted by wst... at 06:50

09 November 2010

wood ducks


look fast. a glimpse is all you're going to get of migratory wood ducks hightailing it into rapides parish, louisiana.

unfortunately, right now many of these fine creatures are going to be disappointed to learn that most of their regular roosting areas are dry as a bone and water sufficient to dabble in is very scarce.

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related posts
  • louisiana drought 2010

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    Posted by wst... at 06:52

    06 November 2010

    fall back & 11-6-10 meme


    national geographic
    excerpt:

    For most Americans, daylight saving time ends in 2010 at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 7, when most states fall back to standard time.

    Time will spring forward again on March 13, 2011, when daylight saving time resumes.

    The federal government doesn't require U.S. states or territories to observe daylight saving time, which is why residents of Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands won't need to turn back their clocks this weekend.

    Where it is observed, daylight savings has been known to cause some problems....read more
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    Posted by wst... at 08:33

    05 November 2010

    cenla news: departure slated for chief tully

    very, very interesting.

    EXTERNAL LINK

    Posted by wst... at 13:55

    mike magnoli: thomas steven sanders sought in lexis kaye roberts catahoula parish, la. murder investigation

    UPDATE 15 november 2010 body of suellen roberts believed found in arizona.

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    UPDATE: 15 november 2010 thomas steven sanders caught sunday 14 november 2010 at the flying j truck stop in gulfport, mississippi.
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    thomas steven sanders
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    katc's mike magnoli reports on the catahoula parish sheriff - fbi joint press conference held at alexandria, la. yesterday, concerning the investigation into the death of lexis kaye roberts a twelve year old girl whose remains were recently found by hunters in a rural area of catahoula parish, la.

    if you have any information about thomas steven sanders and/or the 2001 kia spectra with damage to the passenger side contact:
    Catahoula Parish Sheriff
    301 Bushley Street
    Harrisonburg, LA 71340

    Phone: (318) 744-5411

    Fax: (318) 744-5568

    or the fbi at

    1800-225-5324

    or https://tips.fbi.gov

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    Posted by wst... at 12:48

    the dead pelican down

    UPDATE: 2:11 pm the dead pelican is back up.

    hmm this looks like it could be serious. we have an email in to chad if we hear back we'll update.

    EXTERNAL LINK

    Posted by wst... at 12:06

    04 November 2010

    tropical storm tomas forecast to head into the atlantic between cuba and hispaniola

    UPDATE: HURRICANE TOMAS ADVISORY NUMBER 29
    500 AM EDT FRI NOV 05 2010

    ...AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE FINDS THAT TOMAS HAS BECOME A HURRICANE...

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    BULLETIN
    NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL212010
    500 PM EDT THU NOV 04 2010

    ...TOMAS STILL A TROPICAL STORM WITH RAINBANDS AFFECTING HAITI...JAMAICA...AND SOUTHEASTERN CUBA...

    SUMMARY OF 500 PM EDT...2100 UTC...INFORMATION

    LOCATION...16.6N 76.0W
    ABOUT 110 MI...175 KM SSE OF KINGSTON JAMAICA
    ABOUT 280 MI...450 KM WSW OF PORT AU PRINCE HAITI
    MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...50 MPH...85 KM/HR
    PRESENT MOVEMENT...N OR 350 DEGREES AT 5 MPH...7 KM/HR
    MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...995 MB...29.38 INCHES
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    Posted by wst... at 16:22

    Labels:

    03 November 2010

    black copter

    sometimes when the weather is cloudy & overcast w/ low visibility, like it is today, the louisiana air national guard or someone, will route flights in to camp beauregard lower to the ground and a bit faster than usual.

    they fly back and forth all the time. under the most favorable conditions a lot higher and in formation.


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    Posted by wst... at 18:15

    flash back: handy speed checker device at libuse la

    UPDATE: via the dead pelican we learn from katc that they are called a "mobile speed monitoring trailer" and that the st. landry, parish sheriff is getting them too:

    Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz said, "The trailer will be placed on parish roads to monitor and record all traffic passing during a specific time period.

    The trailer is powered by solar panels and has a board computer that logs speed, time and date of all vehicles passing it.

    The trailer is also equipped with a message board to display messages during the speed monitoring or during emergencies.

    The trailer's computer can be downloaded to computers at the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office.

    The trailer's on board computer breaks down the number of vehicles passing by percent speeding and percent not speeding but also gives exact numbers on what time and date the vehicle passed the trailer."
    each trailer costs $18,389.00 to purchase katc reported.
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    there may be other machines like this around the parish but this is the only one we've seen.

    located just east of the bank of jena, highway 28 east at libuse, louisiana.
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    originally posted 10 september 2010
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    Posted by wst... at 13:16

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    state of la v christopher bryan chenevert 3rd circuit reverses conviction; orders acquital in gun rights case

    while mr. chenevert was wrong to have had a few "toddies" and shot off his pistol at three o'clock in the morning -- especially when there are elderly neighbors around who frighten easily -- the greater sin was the rapides parish sheriff's office + the rapides parish district attorney and 9th jdc judge john c. davidson's much ado about nothing prosecution.

    what the rpso should have done was taken otis mr. chenevert and tossed him in the tank to sleep it off then around noon booted him out on the street. that would have been the end of it. no one, except maybe mr. chenevert, but especially the taxpayers, would have been out much..

    with this case you can see how they are willing to squander tons of taxpayer dollars and time, the resources of our police and court system over nothing -- while all the while casting a blind eye at all the political, governmental and elite white collar criminals and corruption which continue unabated and unchallenged.

    State of La. v. Chenevert 2nd Amendment Case 03 November 2010

    source link 3rd circuit court of appeal
    www.la3circuit.org/opinions/2010/11/1103/10-0396opi.pdf

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    Posted by wst... at 11:00

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