West Charlotte County Republican Club PRESIDENT`S

West Charlotte County
Republican Club
“One Nation Under God”
WCCRC * P.O. Box 271 * Placida, FL 33946
Editor – Peter J. Watson
2013 OFFICERS
President – Ray Corcoran
First V.P. – Doug Curtis
Second V.P. – Pete Watson
Secretary – Nina Stamoulis
Treasurer – Ross Witschonke
Director – Skip Conroy
Director – Ron Wozniak
Past President – Doug Tucker
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE for JANUARY, 2013
Dear Fellow Republicans,
I want to thank you for voting for me to be your Club President for 2013.
I am excited about our new dinner meeting move to the Gulf View Grill
and hope that you are also.
Now that Christmas and New Year’s is winding down, we can get settled
in and start planning our upcoming year.
A big issue will be Gun Control. Let’s remind our leaders that the N.R.A.
has a higher approval rating than both Congress and the White House
before they make an attempt to ban guns. Stay tuned. It will be
interesting.
Happy New Year,
Ray Corcoran, Pres.
Webmaster – Pete Watson
Newsletter – Pete Watson
Legislative – Ron Wozniak
LINK OF THE MONTH
Membership – Skip Conroy
R.P.O.F. 2012 REPORT
The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the West Charlotte County Republican Club, its Board,
Officers, or Members. They represent the views of individual writers who are solely responsible for the content. Not
responsible for typographical errors.
WCCRC DINNER MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2013
At The Gulf View Grill, 2095 North Beach Rd., Manasota Key
OUR GUEST SPEAKER WILL BE:
BILL FOLCHI
CHAIRMAN -­‐ CHARLOTTE COUNTY GOP
MEAL CHOICES FOR THIS MEETING ARE:
A Bistro Grilled Top Round Filet with Bearnaise Sauce, served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a
Parmesan Tomato ~ A Grilled / Sliced Chicken Caesar Salad with Garlic Toast, or Pasta Bolognese
Please reserve as early as possible by contacting Doug Curtis,
[email protected] or (941) 468-2949.
MONTHLY MEETING INFORMATION FOR ALL OF THE
CHARLOTTE COUNTY REPUBLICAN CLUBS
West Charlotte County Republican Club: A Cocktail Social Mixer.
The first Tuesday of every month at Johnny Leverocks Seafood House,
Placida Road, Cape Haze, 5-7 pm. $6 p/p - includes 2 drinks plus hors d’oeuvres.
No reservations required. Casual dress – dinner afterwards if you please.
West Charlotte County Republican Club: Dinner Meeting - 6:30 p.m.,
The third Tuesday of every month.
Gulf View Grill, 2095 North Beach Road, Manasota Key.
Contact Doug Curtis for reservations: (941) 697-6490 or [email protected]
Charlotte County Republican Club: Dinner Meeting - 6 p.m.
The second Monday of every month.
Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club, 4400 Lister Street, Port Charlotte.
Contact Peg Thompson for reservations:
(941) 391-6610 or [email protected]. Also ~
A Monthly Mixer on the fourth Monday of every month from 5 to 7pm.
Beginning July 23rd, the mixer is being hosted by the Laishley Crab House
in the Trabue Room (upstairs). A new price of $9 p/p has been established.
Mid Charlotte County Republican Club: Luncheon Meeting
The third Monday of every month at the Cultural Center of Charlotte County,
2280 Aaron St, Port Charlotte. Lunch 11:30am Meeting 12 til 1 PM.
Peace River Women's Forum: The second Wednesday of every month.
The Isles Yacht Club, 1780 W. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda
Social 11:30 am., Meeting 12 pm.
Contact Darlene Queener for reservations: 624-2185 or [email protected]
NEWTOWN SCHOOL SHOOTING IS JUST A MICROCOSM OF GOVERNMENT FAILURE
It has become axiomatic that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. In the case of the first
responders to the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, it was 20 minutes, to be exact.
That’s the picture that is emerging from the 911 calls from that terrible day. Twenty minutes. I have tried in vain to
imagine my 7-year-old grandson, his defenseless classmates and their equally defenseless teacher being shot to
death one by one while waiting 20 minutes for police to arrive. It is a scenario too terrible to conjure in my mind. To
imagine local law enforcement personnel taking a full one-third of an hour to respond to such a monstrous event is
infuriating. And yet, there it is. Those who wish to protect themselves and their loved ones in almost any situation
should not depend on government. How many times have we seen it before?
On September 11, 2001, government failed to protect the unsuspecting victims on those four airplanes, as well as
those on the ground. On Flight 93, it was courageous passengers, taking matters into their own hands, who stopped
those Islamist monsters from making that day even more infamous.
In September 2005, government — federal, state and local — completely failed the people of New Orleans when
Hurricane Katrina flooded the city’s poorest section. Those who were willing and able to take care of themselves and
their families were spared. Many of those who counted on government simply perished. Even the attack on the U.S.
consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last September, was a case study in brave volunteers, not government — especially
not this government — making a difference. And in every mass shooting, in every school or other public place, in
every corner of this country, government has betrayed the very people it is sworn to protect, usually by declaring a
“gun-free zone” or some other absurd control on the right of private citizens to render protection for themselves, their
families and their neighbors.
On October 16, 1991, in Killeen, Texas, an assailant drove his pickup truck through the front window of the Luby’s
Cafeteria. He then shot 50 people, killing 23 of them, before turning the gun on himself. Two of those victims were the
elderly parents of Suzanna Hupp, whose revolver was useless to her because it was 100 feet away in the glove
compartment of her car. Hupp later was elected to the Texas Legislature on a platform of allowing Texans to carry
concealed handguns, legislation she successfully pushed through and which then-Governor George W. Bush signed
into law.
On April 20, 1999, in Littleton, Colorado, two misfit high school students decided to murder as many of their teachers
and classmates as possible. Their subsequent rampage — again carried out in gun-free zone — left 13 innocent
victims dead.
On April 16, 2007, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), a lone gunman shot and killed 32 people, wounding
17 others. Another school, another gun-free zone.
A few months later, just before Christmas, on December 5, 2007, in Omaha, Nebraska, a 19-year-old loner walked
into the Von Maur department store at the Westroads Shopping Center and murdered eight innocent shoppers. As I
wrote in a column at the time, “This individual looked at the ‘no concealed weapons’ sign and read, ‘Murderers
welcome here. Please come in and shoot as many people as you like. No one here is capable of stopping you. Even
our mall security officers are not armed.’”
January 8, 2011, at a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket, 6 people were murdered and 13 others wounded, including
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who miraculously survived a bullet through her brain.
July 20, 2012, Aurora, Colorado, in a movie theater that does not allow law-abiding citizens to carry their licensed,
concealed firearms, 70 people were shot, 12 of them fatally, by a single shooter.
And now, most recently, we have Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, with its horrendous toll of
26 dead — 20 of them 6 and 7-year-old children. As usual, no one there was allowed the tools to protect them. One
of the teachers reportedly huddled with her students in hiding and assured them, “The bad guys are here now. We
just have to wait for the good guys to get here.” Sadly, the good guys didn’t arrive for 20 minutes.
WITH THE STRONGEST GUN LAWS IN THE COUNTRY, 446 SCHOOL AGE
CHILDREN WERE SHOT IN CHICAGO SO FAR THIS YEAR!
NOTHING FROM THE CORRUPT MEDIA, AND NO OBAMA CROCODILE TEARS!
The cesspool known as Chicago, Illinois has the toughest gun laws in the country, yet despite all the
shootings, murders, and bloodshed, you never hear a peep about this from the corrupt state run media.
There have been 446 school aged children shot in this leftist utopia run by Rahm Emanuel; the same city
that produced Obama, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, etc. 62 school aged children have actually been
killed by crazed nuts in Chicago, as of December 24th, 2012. So why isn’t this newsworthy?
Is it because it would embarrass those anti second amendment nuts who brag about Chicago’s tough gun
laws? Is it because most of the kids who were shot and killed were minorities? Or is it because the
corrupt media doesn’t want to show Chicago in a bad light?
For those of you too dense to get the point of this, it’s to make the point about gun laws. No matter how
tough the gun laws are, the violent criminal nut jobs will find a way to get them, and if they so chose, use
them. No draconian law can stop this, no matter how well intentioned the law is.
This is really just about leftists grabbing power from citizens and taking away their constitutional rights
that guaranty individual sovereignty, and creating gun free zones where only the government has power.
The killing is caused by the moral decline of our society, especially among the younger generation. Guns
don’t kill people, people kill people, especially when aided and abetted by a corrupt government. A
government that is more intent on suppressing political dissent than providing security for our most
vulnerable citizens.
62 SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN WERE MURDERED IN 2012 IN CHICAGO
18 YEARS OLD - 110 KILLED
17 YEARS OLD - 16 KILLED
16 YEARS OLD - 16 KILLED
15 YEARS OLD - 6 KILLED
14 YEARS OLD - 4 KILLED
13 YEARS OLD - 2 KILLED
12 YEARS OLD - 1 KILLED
7 YEARS OLD - 1 KILLED
6 YEARS OLD - 1 KILLED
446 SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN WERE SHOT IN 2012 IN CHICAGO
18 years old - 110 Shot
17 years old - 99 Shot
16 years old - 89 Shot
15 years old - 62 Shot
14 years old - 39 Shot
13 years old - 21 Shot
12 years old - 10 Shot
11 years old - 2 Shot
10 years old - 3 Shot
9 years old - 1 Shot
7 years old - 3 Shot
6 years old - 2 Shot
5 years old - 1 Shot
4 years old - 1 Shot
3 years old - 1 Shot
1 year old - 2 Shot
A CANDID VIEW
by: Bill Folchi
Chairman, Charlotte County GOP
The tragedy of Newtown will go down in history as an event that we will mourn in perpetuity.
It was wrong, it was horrific, give it any adjective you would like, and let's all respect the poor helpless
victims whose lives were abbreviated by a deranged monster who lived among us.
However let us also remember that the tragedy of Newtown should be considered a horrible anomaly and
dealt with accordingly.
Perhaps we should be more aware of individuals whose thought process leads them to come to totally
uncivilized conclusions that can have the most grotesque consequences. But let us also remember that,
as horrible as these results are, they are not in any way related to the right specifically guaranteed to
American citizens by the 2nd amendment of the U.S Constitution.
The constitution and the 2nd amendment were designed to protect us from an oppressive government.
They guarantee us the right to have the same degree of defensive protection as the government has
aggressive capacity. The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with improper psychopathic use of firearms.
It is designed to protect us from a government that would take our rights away by force if it has more
physical power than the citizens do.
This Government and this President, have been actively seeking an excuse to prevent citizens from
owning weapons and have already begun making statements about the ban of firearms as a cure for the
horrible events at Newtown.
Be assured that the government that can take away the right to bear arms is capable of far more
egregious acts than were committed in Newtown. The only sure protection the citizens of this country
ultimately have is the certainty that they can defend themselves from an oppressive government.
This president has already arrived at Newtown with his simulated tears to begin his assault on assault
weapons. Remember that the 2nd amendment was designed to protect us from the government. It does
not have anything to do with hunting or sports or criminal activities. The first move any dictator makes is
to confiscate firearms from the citizens.
Let us mourn the events of Newtown, but let us not be deluded into thinking the solution to Newtown is to
repeal the 2nd amendment.
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PETER J. WATSON
WCCRC Second Vice President
Newsletter Editor
Webmaster