Enjoy the nicer summer weather!
Anna & Andrew Ellinghouse, along with friend Cameron Bell, braved the triple-digit heat to work a lemonade stand in front of Hubbard's Jewelry, with proceeds going to benefit Give Kids The World, a charity sponsored by McKenzie Mitchell - also Anna & Andrew's cousin - in support of a national pageant.
According to the organization's website, Give Kids The World village is a 70-acre, nonprofit 'storybook' resort, located near Central Florida's most beloved attractions, where kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families are treated to weeklong, cost-free fantasy vacations at the world-famous attractions.
Mitchell was crowned Missouri Teen and a pageant held in March; she graduated this spring from Dexter High School and is the daughter of Dr. Kevin and Ann Marie Mitchell. She is scheduled to compete in the National Teen Pageant in Orlando, Fla., on July 17-21.
Photo above (from left): Dexter youth Anna Ellinghouse, McKenzie Mitchell, Cameron Bell, and Andrew Ellinghouse take a break during their lemonade sales on Friday afternoon (photo submitted by Ann-Marie Mitchell).
Your computer may not be infected. Far more computers are not infected than are actually infected. In fact, many popular websites have been working with the FBI behind the scenes to check computers to notify customers of a potential problem. Facebook, Apple, and other popular sites have been running diagnostic checks to help identify and notify customers that may have a problem with the computer.
The FBI has encouraged everyone to take a brief moment and check their computers to make sure their computers are not infected with this particular virus.
Website to check your computers quickly today:
Check My Computer Now!
Technically, this virus was built to steal Domain Name Systems (DNS) — the Internet service that changes the URLs (such as AOL.com or Yahoo.com) into numerical addresses that computers can read. Last November, FBI officials arrested creators of the virus after a two-year investigation called Operation Ghost Click.
Government officials temporarily took over the gained computer authorizations to deploy clean DNS servers, allowing infected machines to still access the Internet. But that stop-gap measure ends Monday morning, July 9.
On a national basis, authorities this week indicated 60,000-plus American laptops and desktops still were infected with the notorious DNSChanger Malware—a computer virus that was initiated five years ago by virus writers.
Malware is the generic term for destructive viruses and worms that alter the way computers work. This particular virus, reportedly created by six Estonian nationals to manipulate the Internet advertising industry, affected roughly four million computers in more than 100 countries—including individuals, businesses, and government agencies.
The malicious DNS servers gave fake answers, altering user searches and promoting fictitious and dangerous products. Because every web search starts with DNS, the malware showed users an altered version of the Internet.
Federal authorities and Georgia Tech security experts established a detection and repair website: http://www.dcwg.org/. By clicking on a link on the site’s Homepage, visitors can run a self-diagnostic test on their machine.
Two good rules of thumb to help avoid viruses are as follows:
- Never click on unknown links in emails.
- Don't click on unknown attachments.
Craig Duncan, owner of the business, has done a masterful job on all levels to create a business that brings positive impact to our area. From weddings, to reunions, to musical events, the Boat House has delivered entertainment at an exceptional level.
The grounds of the Boat House Wine Co have been developed over a period time. Beginning with a foundational base of a beautiful 3 acre lake, the owners have incrementally improved the overall properties with the addition of patio areas, event stages, and shoreline docks on the lake.
The beauty of the lake is complimented by a well groomed wooded area surrounding the main wine house eatery. During the winter months, the patio area is enclosed with glass panels and heating sources. Summer evenings area blanketed with shade from the trees. Of course, both the spring and the fall are superb times to enjoy the large schedule of events. The menu and food quality have continued to receive high reviews from customers. With a full commercial kitchen, the entrees are perfectly prepared and ample in size of the hardiest of appetites. From a light summer strawberry salad to great appetizers of chicken wings, you will always find something you love on the menu.
Boat House Wine Co offers a great wine list for those who wish to enjoy the vintage of the grapes, along with a variety of beers and soft drinks. Most reviews give the wines a strong thumbs up and are supplied by Crown Valley Winery of Ste. Genevieve, MO. Aside from a great destination, the greater impact to the area that Dave Duncan, Craig Duncan and Jason Bollinger have delivered is the venue of entertainment. Creating entertainment for others has long been a tradition in our country, but few individuals have the vision, talent and passion to make these events successful.
On a much higher note, the Boat House Wine Co. takes great pride in featuring area entertainment from local musicians. Again, you can find what you like at the Boat House, as entertainers provide all varieties of music from rock to country to the blues. Local groups and individuals to have taken the Boat House stage include; Maggie Thorn, THE BUZZ, Candy Coburn, Orin Lindman, just to name a few. Other area bands that can often be found on the stage are the Walker Brothers Band and John D. Hale Band.
With a strong line-up of events this summer and fall, you will certainly want to find your way to the Boat House Wine Co. You can find a list of events at the Boat House website located at www.http://boathousewineco.com. Directions to the facilities can also be found there.The Boat House Wine Co has a very active Facebook group located at https://www.facebook.com/groups/165970169392/. You will enjoy the pictures and will be able to keep up with all the events that are are up and coming.
Facebook Pages of interest are:
(SMT is has 982 Fans and we would love to break 1000 with this article.)
If you haven't had an opportunity to enjoy the hospitality and great times at the Boat House Wine Co, make your plan today to stop by and see them.
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evident truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
