I find that writing the President is good for me and the exchange of views - since the Credit Card Bill of Rights is approved and the President is proud of it I wanted him to say he was proud to sign the same bill and allow loaded weapons in the Parks - like he knows that responsible gun toting adults will be up to the concern of the ones that aren't competent enough to trust themselves and their neighbors with loaded weapons. Do you think he will listen? Nah, me neither.Normally, we average receiving 2,000 - 3,000 sales orders per month
and ship an order in 2-3 weeks. However, these are not normal times.
Since October, 2008 we have been receiving 5,000 - 10,000 orders per
month, which is several times normal. As a result, we are very back-
logged and running several weeks behind on processing orders. Our
staff is working up to 12 hours per day 7 days a week, and only to-
day finished the 4,000 orders we received on 1 December alone (except
for those 1 Dec orders with credit card or other problems).
Christmas Poem
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts…
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said, "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.”
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."
Written by: Michael Marks
~~~~~
Veteran's Spotlight:
Luan Vu , Library and Archives Professional
By Jose Cortez
Communications Consultant
Luan Vu’s voyage to the Department of Corrections took him through the Special Forces in Vietnam, a Communist re-education camp, a high seas rendezvous with a ship and then an immigration center in the Philippines.
Now he provides legal resources to offenders for their research on appeals to state or federal courts at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) and McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC).
Vu started his professional career in 1965 as a high school teacher teaching chemistry, biology and physics in Vietnam. After the war broke out, Vu was recruited from local militia by the United States Special Forces in 1970 where he served as Platoon Leader until the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975.
He spent the next seven and-a-half years in a communist re-education camp until his release in 1982 when he joined his family’s bakery in Vietnam. He saved enough money to buy a ride on a fishing boat that rendezvoused at sea with an American natural gas tanker heading to Japan from Indonesia.
Luckily for Vu, he spoke English and convinced the captain (who was also a Vietnam veteran) to take him and his family to Japan. From there, they went to an immigration processing center in the Philippines.
He then joined his in-laws who already had set up a life in Olympia. He has lived in Olympia for 23 years.
“We provide a meaningful legal access to incarcerated persons,” says Vu. “I try to be nice to everyone, including offenders.”
Jane Parnell, Associate Superintendent, says that Vu is a very hard worker and doesn’t get caught up in politics.
“He is very knowledgeable about the law. He works at two very different institutions so he has to adjust to the different populations and he really works to meet the needs of offenders,” she adds. “He’s very into family, and he’s a real solid citizen.”
She also says that Vu is so adaptable and changes his schedule to meet the requirements of the law libraries at the two prisons.
Before coming to the Department of Corrections, he was a youth counselor at a group home from 1987 to 1997 and then worked at the Washington State Supreme Court Law Library in Olympia.
“The field I was in before I came to DOC was very limited and I as soon as I heard there was an opening at McNeil Island I applied and got the job,” Vu says.
Soon after, he became the librarian at both MICC and WCCW.
“I love working here because it’s a change every day and I like the staff. They are all very nice people.”
Vu has been married for 35 years and has three children. Outside of work he enjoys photography, traveling and reading. He eventually wants to write a history of how he came to the United States for his descendents.
“I want them to know where they came from and how their family got here,” He explains.
