Latest news with #SonsofLiberty
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Yarmouth town meeting voters approve 34 articles. They got a town history lesson as well.
About 350 Yarmouth voters passed all 34 articles on the town meeting warrant with nearly unanimous votes but with plenty of discussion in just over three hours at the Dennis-Yarmouth Intermediate Middle School on Tuesday, April 29. However, before the voting started, the residents got some local and national history lessons in honor of the country's upcoming 250th anniversary. Town Moderator Ken Mudie reminded the residents that Yarmouth was a major home of the Sons of Liberty, who contributed more than 440 volunteers, ages 15 and over, for the Revolution. West Yarmouth resident Christine Greeley followed by reading the Declaration of Independence and President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The most discussed article was a request to OK a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion for $845,476 to hire four firefighters and a supervisor. Voters at the May 20 town election would also have to approve the debt exclusion. Financial watchdog resident Norman Holcomb asked why four firefighters were hired last year without an override. Town Administrator Robert Whritenour said the hiring is a two-year program to handle a staff shortage, but there isn't enough money to pay for it without the debt exclusion. Fire Chief Enrique Arrascue gave strong arguments for the extra staff, saying the department's calls have increased by 52% in two years and the extra work burden is leading to injuries to firefighters and hurting morale. Employees are going to other departments for better pay, he said. The chief explained that the impact of hiring five additional employees will be $54 a year for the average homeowner with a $680,000 house. 'The Fire Department is doing a really good job supporting itself,' Arrascue said, as it brought in $3 million in revenue the past year. 'We need to make sure we are not overworking and can respond to calls.' The article passed without dissent. Another challenged article was for a treatment system for perfluoro alkoxy alkanes, known as PFAS, in two wells that have exceeded maximum contaminant levels of the so-called 'forever chemicals' in drinking water. Well No. 10 off Forest Road was shut down about three years ago and a system design and construction is proposed for $5 million. Well No. 11 in the same area will remain open until 2028 when the Environmental Protection Agency regulations take effect. Elvio Rodrigues, who lives in that neighborhood, claimed that Well No. 11 shouldn't operate either because it contains high levels of PFAS and 'extremely high nitrogen' that can impact infant mortality. He also said wastewater from a proposed housing development on Forest Road could further contaminate the wells. 'All of us are drinking this water,' Rodrigues said. Another resident also recommended shutting down Well No. 11 and asked for further study on Well No. 10. Public Works Director Jeff Colby said the town doesn't have enough water to meet demand without bringing the two wells online. The article passed on a two-thirds majority vote with some opposed. An unexpected objection came late in the evening from resident Christopher George, who asked for reconsideration of an earlier vote to fund a Revolutionary War Monument that is to be placed at the Yarmouth Port playground in recognition of local soldiers. George did not explain the reason for his opposition to the project. The item was part of six of the Community Preservation Committee's recommended historical preservation projects totaling $872,133. A vote to reconsider was turned down quickly. An article to approve $200,000 for maintenance of the former Mattacheese Middle School drew a question on the building's current and future use. 'We need an explanation about the use,' resident Ann Goring said. Assistant Town Administrator William Scott said the building is being used extensively by the Recreation Department for youth and adult sports. A committee has been looking at future uses and will submit three proposals by January 2026, Scott said. Other approved funding articles at the meeting: $100,000 for a feasibility design study for a possible town common in the open area across from Town Hall on Route 28. $51.5 million for the municipal operating budget. $44.8 million for the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District budget with Yarmouth covering 70% of the assessment. $3.8 million for the town's share of the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School budget. $2 million for a new type of pumper fire truck. The town election is May 20. Susan Vaughn writes about transportation and other local community issues affecting Cape Cod residents and visitors. She can be reached at smharris@ This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Yarmouth town meeting: Treatment system for PFAS passed.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rally for workers' rights held in Quincy
Congressman Stephen Lynch rallied supporters on Saturday in Quincy to fight for the working class. Lynch says he's never seen so many people fighting for so many different causes in one place, calling it a direct response to President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. 'We come together, not simply to voice our protest, but to actually respond to pushback to fight back against the Trump administration,' said Rep. Lynch (D-8th Massachusetts). Signs advocating for unions, workers' rights, and immigrants. Messages pleading to save Medicare, veterans' benefits, and PBS. It was a rally for all kinds of issues that this group says are directly impacted by decisions in Washington. 'This is not just a political rally or a labor rally. This is really a pro-democracy rally for all of us,' said Lynch. 'We're used to hearing about pro-democracy rallies, and places like Iran or Moscow, and they usually don't end well. You know something serious is going wrong when you have to attend a pro-democracy rally in Quincy, Massachusetts.' The Trump administration has said they want to trim unnecessary spending, and they think that their cuts are going to help the American taxpayer. This group disagrees. Rep. Lynch was joined by labor union representatives, gold star families, and people who are asking him for help. They wanted to rally together and support each other, and do it in a place where so much history of Americans fighting tyranny came to fruition. 'On April 17, 1773, the Sons of Liberty pushed 340 of the King's Teslas into Boston Harbor,' Congressman Lynch laughed. 'They might've been boxes of tea, but you get my meaning.' The message to end the day was that these folks needed to extend their reach outside of Massachusetts and positively impact other elections and take back the house of representatives. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Epoch Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
How the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Ended the Siege of Boston
A grand dinner was coordinated for Aug. 14, 1769, in Dorchester, a suburb of Boston, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Stamp Act Riots. The dinner, held under a massive tent near the 'Liberty-Tree-Tavern' (Robinson's Tavern), hosted 300 Sons of Liberty. The cause of liberty, as well as the sound of music and cannon shots, filled the air. The Sons of Liberty made 45 toasts that early evening (this after 14 toasts earlier in the day), celebrating 'All true Patriots throughout the World' and cheering the 'Speedy Removal of all Task Masters.' In spite of so many toasts, John Adams, a member of the Sons of Liberty and an attendee of the dinner, A Host of Tea Parties Angry American colonists dressed up as Mohawk Indians while they destroyed hundreds of pounds of British tea, in an event known as the Boston Tea Party. Public Domain Four years later in December 1773 and seven months after the British Parliament passed another act that infuriated the American colonists, the Sons of Liberty eyed a different beverage: tea. The first of the five tea parties during that December took place in Charleston, South Carolina. The most famous, though, was the Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16. The last Tea Party took place a year later on Dec. 22, 1774, in Greenwich, New Jersey. During the course of the 17 Tea Parties, British Parliament and American colonists continued to butt heads. In retaliation of the Tea Parties, specifically the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts) on March 31, 1774. The Intolerable Acts included the Boston Port Act, which established a blockade of the Boston Harbor; the Massachusetts Government Act, which allowed the king to appoint the Massachusetts Council; the Administration of Justice Act, which removed the colonists' freedom of trial by a jury of one's peers; and the Quartering Act, empowering military officials to demand better accommodations at the expense of colonists. Additionally, the Quebec Act was passed, which extended the province of Quebec to the Ohio River, allowed the free exercise of Catholicism, and permitted French civil law. The First Continental Congress The legislative acts only inflamed the revolutionary fervor. In response, a congress was convened. Twelve of the 13 colonies (sans Georgia) sent 56 delegates to Philadelphia. Among the delegates from Massachusetts was John Adams, along with his firebrand cousin, Samuel Adams. The First Continental Congress began on Sept. 5, 1774, with delegates discussing and debating how to resolve the issues of taxation without representation, standing armies, the stranglehold on Boston, and the Canada problem. By Oct. 20, the delegates established its Related Stories 10/8/2024 3/30/2023 The First Continental Congress, 1848, by Henry Samuel Sadd. Public Domain On the final day of the congress, the delegates issued a petition to King George III that addressed their grievances, while being certain not to assign blame to the Crown. The delegates did Shortly after the delegates met in Philadelphia and well before Franklin presented the petition, King George III believed the crisis with the American colonies had already reached a point of no return. He Many in the colonies felt the same way, including the colonial governor of Massachusetts, Gen. Thomas Gage. He On Oct. 7, 1774, in The members of the First Continental Congress agreed to reassemble the following year, but by that time, war would have already broken out between the colonists and Great Britain, and the minutemen of Massachusetts would play the most significant role. Minutemen, Ethan Allen, and Benedict Arnold During the late night and early morning hours of April 18 and 19, 1775, three members of the Sons of Liberty would make one of the most significant contributions to the revolutionary cause. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott rode through the night alarming local villages and towns the British were coming. The 'Midnight Rides' of these three patriots enabled the militias around Boston to take up arms. On April 19 at 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., respectively, the opening battles of the Revolutionary War began at Lexington and Concord. When about 400 Minutemen faced approximately 220 British soldiers at the North Bridge in Concord, a return volley by the militia, which left three British soldiers dead and nine wounded, became known as the 'shot heard round the world.' The British began a long and bloody retreat back to Boston where they endured constant and heavy fire from local militia members. The British finally arrived in Boston, protected by the guns of the Royal Navy, but 73 had been killed and many more wounded. Thus began the 11-month Siege of Boston, where thousands of militia surrounded the city. Shortly after the battles of Lexington and Concord and the start of the siege, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, from what is now Vermont, were commissioned by New England colonial leaders to capture Fort Ticonderoga. The fort held a strategic position between Albany and Montreal on Lake Champlain. With a garrison of only 50 British soldiers, it seemed ripe for the taking. Allen, along with his brothers Levi and Ira, and cousins Ebenezer Allen, Seth Warner, and Remember Baker, began their march to Fort Ticonderoga. At about this same time, Col. Benedict Arnold, a member of the Sons of Liberty, presented his idea to take Fort Ticonderoga to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress's Committee of Safety. The committee commissioned Arnold to lead the capture of the strategic fort. Taking the Ticonderoga and Crown Point When Allen and Arnold finally met, the latter claimed his official orders gave him the right to lead the expedition. The Green Mountain Boys, however, were adamant they would follow orders from no one but Allen. Arnold and Allen compromised on a dual command with Arnold leading his Massachusetts and Connecticut militia members and Allen leading his men. The combined force accounted for approximately 250 soldiers—more than enough to take the fort. But on the morning of the attack, a lack of boats enabled them to only take a fraction. It was during this week in history, during the early morning hours of May 10, 1775, and with only two scow boats capable of carrying about 40 men each, that Allen and Arnold piled 83 men on the boats and sailed across Lake Champlain. Arriving about half a mile from the fort, the attacking force captured Fort Ticonderoga with only a single shot being fired by a British sentry, which missed high. An 1875 engraving depicting the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen on May 10, 1775. Public Domain When British Lt. Jocelyn Feltham demanded to know by whose authority were they conducting this attack, Allen is said to have leveled his sword at Feltham's throat and Two days later on May 12, Warner, Allen's cousin, led the Green Mountain Boys who were not involved in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on an attack to capture the nearby Crown Point fortification. The capture of these two locations was immensely important, not so much because of their strategic locations, but because of the large cache of artillery. The militia surrounding Boston were in great need of gunpowder and artillery, and the actions of the Allen and Arnold-led force would prove absolutely necessary. Washington and the Knox Expedition On the same day as the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, the delegates from the colonies reassembled in Philadelphia to begin the Second Continental Congress. A month later, on June 14, Congress established the Continental Army (three days before the costly British victory at Bunker Hill). John Adams nominated George Washington to lead the force. Washington took command on July 3 after arriving in Cambridge. As the months wore on in Boston, Washington was addressed by the young, newly commissioned colonel, Henry Knox, who had been a witness to the Boston Massacre and, as a member of the Sons of Liberty, was on guard duty during the Boston Tea Party. Knox suggested using the captured artillery from Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point against the British Army and Navy. Washington agreed and ordered Knox to lead the expedition. In 1776, Col. Henry Knox, Washington's chief of artillery brought guns and mortars from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. Engraving by Van Ingen. MPI/Getty Images Knox and his men left Cambridge on Nov. 16 and arrived at Fort Ticonderoga on Dec. 5, gathered the 58 pieces of artillery, weighing at least 120,000 pounds, and covered 300 miles across the snow-covered Berkshire Mountains back to Boston. A number of guns were placed along the siege line at Roxbury, Cobble Hill, and Lechmere Point. A council of war was held on Feb. 16 with Washington calling for an attack on Boston. The council of officers rejected the idea, but the idea of 'drawing out the enemy' to a particular spot, as had been done at Bunker Hill was accepted. The spot would be at a familiar location: Dorchester Heights. The Guns of Dorchester Washington decided to utilize nighttime bombardments from the guns at Roxbury, Cobble Hill, and Lechmere Point, while soldiers, under the guidance of engineer Col. Richard Gridley, built up breastworks to eventually place upon Dorchester Heights. Three thousand soldiers worked to fortify the Heights, while thousands more prepared for an amphibious assault once the British made their move. Once completed, the prebuilt fortifications were scheduled to be maneuvered to the Heights on the night of March 4 and completed by early morning March 5—the anniversary of the Boston Massacre. The objective was completed with the use of more than 1,200 soldiers and volunteers, as well as 360 oxcarts. On the morning of March 5, a vast assortment of mortars and cannons loomed over the Boston Harbor pointing at the British Army and Navy. The commander of the British Army, Gen. William Howe, peered up at the guns and earthworks at Dorchester Heights and exclaimed, 'My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in three months.' There would be no attack by the British on Dorchester Heights. The British evacuated Boston on March 17, thus ending the siege and claiming a momentous victory for the new Continental Army. Never miss a This Week in History story! Sign up for the American History newsletter What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Rich and storied history': Liberty Tree planting connects Johnstown region to nation's 250th anniversary
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A sapling holding the nearly 250-year legacy of the United States in its roots and leaves has been planted in Johnstown. The tree that was planted Saturday at Sandyvale Memorial Gardens and Conservancy in the city's Hornerstown section is a graft from the last remaining Liberty Tree in the nation. The original Liberty Tree was a famous tree that stood near Boston Common in Boston in the years before the American Revolution. In 1765, patriots in Boston staged the first act of defiance against the British government and its Stamp Act tax policy. The tree became a central gathering place for protesters and a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of Britain over the American colonies. When the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, townspeople gathered at the Liberty Tree to celebrate, and it was subsequently pruned by order of the Sons of Liberty. Soon, colonists in other towns began naming their own liberty trees, and the Tree of Liberty became a symbol of the American Revolution. The Pennsylvania Freemasons, in partnership with the Pennsylvania commission for the United States' 250th anniversary next year, launched an effort to plant one descendant of a Liberty Tree in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. The tree planted in Johnstown is a descendant from the nation's last Liberty Tree, which stood in Annapolis, Maryland. Sandyvale Memorial Gardens and Conservancy, 80 Hickory St., was the site selected for Cambria County's tree because four veterans of the Revolutionary War are buried there, said Nicki Waligora, Cambria County's appointed representative to the advisory committee of America250PA, Pennsylvania's commission for the United States' 250th anniversary. A couple dozen people, including state, county and local government officials, gathered around the small tulip poplar Saturday morning for a dedication ceremony. State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Richland Township, delivered opening remarks. 'There is a rich and storied history behind this Liberty Tree, and it's fitting that we are here at Sandyvale to dedicate it,' Langerholc said. 'As this tree will grow over time – good things take time – and as its roots establish a strong foundation and its leaves reach to heaven, it will withstand the storms that come and stand as a testament to the nation.' State Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township; Cambria County Commissioners Scott Hunt, Thomas Chernisky and Keith Rager; and Johnstown City Councilwoman Laura Huchel attended the ceremony, as well as Freemasons of Greater Johnstown Lodge No. 538. Rager, who is also a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said the moment was a powerful way to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. The little tree, Rager said, is a reminder that 'liberty must be defended.' The anniversary will officially begin July 4, 2026, with the commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Paso school board member Kenney Enney defends boycotting class over trans policies
On April 21, 2025, the headline on a letter to the editor from H. K. Davie of Templeton asked the question: 'Are Moms for Liberty breaking the law if they keep SLO County students home?' The simple answer is no, primarily because they are not behind the proposed grassroots school boycott. But to play along, let's say that boycotting schools is breaking the law. Opinion Civil disobedience has been a time-honored tradition in our republic since its founding, whether it was the Sons of Liberty tossing tea into Boston Harbor or civil rights marchers fighting against segregationists by sitting at 'whites only' lunch counters. Whether it's refusing to sit in the back of the bus or boycotting schools, breaking the law for what is good, right and true is sometimes necessary. Leftists usually celebrate boycotts and sickouts. I don't recall any objections in San Luis Obispo County about breaking the law when left-wing teachers organized sickouts to oppose immigration policies or spending cuts. Why is it that H. K. Davie and leftists are now so concerned about a sickout in support of protecting girls' rights under Title IX? I don't recall any outrage over the fact that California has openly violated federal immigration laws for almost 10 years. Yet when parents and students protest the fact that their civil rights are being violated, the left is suddenly concerned? Article VI clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution states: 'This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.' When state law and federal law are in conflict, federal law is supreme. California laws allowing boys in girls' spaces or permitting boys to compete in girls' sporting events is in conflict with federal law (Title IX) and President Trumps' executive order regarding the protection of girls' private spaces and sports. California laws allowing school officials to lie to parents regarding the health and welfare of their children is a violation of parents' rights under Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Fourteenth Amendment. The fact that officials in Sacramento and school districts in San Luis Obispo County refuse to abide by their oaths of office and protect the civil rights of those girls attending the public schools of this county has created this situation. Brave young ladies like Celeste Duyst at Arroyo Grande High School are speaking out and 70% of Californians polled agree that Celeste's rights and the rights of tens of thousands of girls throughout the state are being violated. If leftists are concerned about violating the law, then I recommend they contact their school board trustees and demand that they abide by President Trump's Executive Orders and all aspects of Title IX. Kenney Enney, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, represents trustee area 7 on the Paso Robles school board.
