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Dottie for Missouri

3 days ago

District #110 our best days lie ahead, be encouraged.

You may feel lost or afraid...

Our vaunted doctors and scientists look overwhelmed by a virus that emerged from China.

Our police and politicians seem frozen by an invasion of domestic terrorists who have taken over most major cities unchecked, unchallenged, and unafraid pushing aside the real protestors and grieved Americans wanting justice.

We have driven small businesses out of existence through a campaign of fear, then left the remaining businesses exposed to this "second wave" of anarchists.

You might be asking, "is this how America ends?" Well, our ancestors probably felt the same way about two hundred years ago.

We were then a young nation built on a strange notion that we, ordinary people, are endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit happiness.

We had just won a great and terrible war of independence to secure those rights and to establish that country.

We had just witnessed the doubling of our nation's size through the Louisiana Purchase. Missouri, which had been the possession of France, England, and Spain, was now, finally the symbol of that westward expansion.

The American economy coming out from under the heel of war debts. Our cities were growing and our farmers were thriving.

Americans had just settled into the idea of self-governance when war returned an threatened to sweep the American experiment into the ash-heap of history.

During the War of 1812, forces from Great Britain, Canada, and Native American nations attacked our fledgeling country from every side. The Great Lakes became unnavigable by American ships. New Orleans was under a prolonged siege. Washington DC was burned, along with the White House. The enemies were at the gate, and beyond.

As British troops advanced on the White House, one woman refused to yield our national heritage to the tyranny from which we had just escaped. At three in the morning, Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison, ordered that paintings of America's founding be preserved, even at the cost of lives. Even her own.

In the tiny hours of August 23, 1814, Dolley Madison wrote to here sister:

> Our kind friend Mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure, and in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. The process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out ... It is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New York for safe keeping. On handing the canvas to the gentlemen in question, Messrs. Barker and Depeyster, Mr. Sioussat cautioned them against rolling it up, saying that it would destroy the portrait. He was moved to this because Mr. Barker started to roll it up for greater convenience for carrying

However desperate our times seem, those who came before have seen far worse. Our grandfathers who stormed the beaches of Normandy. Our parents and grandparents who overcame the injustice of segregation. Our uncles who still travel to Washington to see the names of friends and comrades etched into the marble of the Vietnam Memorial.

America is a nation of stories, and they aren't all good. But they all end the same.

We were tested.

We responded.

We prevailed.

And, because we always pass these trials by fire and fury, we alway know that our best days lie before us.

Thank you to the Mayors, Firemen, Police, the many other leaders and Citizens in District #110. You are the best of the best....You have my Heart.

In Liberty,

Dottie ...

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Dottie for Missouri

2 weeks ago

The House of Pain gym before all this St. Louis County suing them nonsense had a food drive planned because that is who they are... Even though they had to close two days ago they had boxes outside the front doors to collect the items. Unfortunately, those boxes were stolen (even though the owner came twice a day to collect the donations). See his post below and if you can get to Chesterfield location to replenish what was stolen, it will help. Many thanks, Dottie. ...

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Dottie for Missouri

2 weeks ago

Profile PicturesThis is a picture of our hometown hero Riley Baker. He selflessly sacrificed his life on June 22, 2006 so that we may enjoy ours! Please have a safe Memorial Day weekend! ...

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Dottie for Missouri

2 weeks ago

(Long post but so worth it). To honor Memorial Day and those that have sacrificed their lives for the very freedoms and liberties we enjoy today, I have to repost again this speech (or really just a note) that a dear friend wrote to me. He simply but beautifully answered a question I asked him. My words (of the speech I wrote) became inert to his as he has lived it. It wasn’t a speech, he wrote the words that he would of wanted to say if he had not survived the many battles he faced defending America and the helpless under tyrannical regimes. He has 24 contacts in his phone that he can not delete, but they are in fact dead. They were his friends he loved, fighting for our freedoms and for those that had no chance at a life like we know it. For 1000 years I don’t know that I would ever be able to say anything even close to the words of this fine gentleman and defender of Liberty wrote to me last year for Memorial Day (I won’t try). Enjoy and enjoy this special holiday... and remember them always 🇺🇸.On this Veteran's Day, my mind wanders all over the globe thinking about present and past battles, wars and conflicts that our men and women step bravely into so I can sleep soundly with my family under a big beautiful blanket of Freedom. My words don't do it justice, nor will I try. This past Memorial Day I wrote a speech for the Laying of the Wreath at the local VFW in remembrance of those that have died fighting for our country. Moments before I left the house I checked my email. A response to an email I had sent a few days earlier arrived. It was from a friend who fought many years in the war on terror. I asked him in my email what Memorial Day meant to him and other questions. I read his response and quickly tore my speech up and threw it in the trash. I told the gatherers that day about his email and that I wanted to read it to them, rather than my speech. (I think they were relieved). So today, I do the same. I won't share the whole email, but a piece of it that I think every veteran living and deceased would agree with the sentiment. HAPPY VETERANS DAY, WE LOVE AND HONOR YOU.

(The first half of the email was his response to how many injuries, bullets, etc he had taken and friends lost. Below is the second half.)
"Thanks to the loving attention of my teammates, the amazing capacity of modern physicians, the very focused grace of God, and a stubbornness infused by loving parents I have cheated Memorial Day of another honoree more than once.

On one occasion, crumpled up in the rubble of a collapsed building shot in the left side of my abdomen and face and realizing my socks were squishy with the blood that had flowed down a broken body now not complying with my instructions to move, I had what seemed like an eternity to contemplate my own impending death. With all assurances, I did not think of wanting quiet reverence. I thought of my teammates and sent a silent prayer that they were ok. I thought of all the wonderful times, skydiving next to the blue ocean, bonfires on the beach, waterskiing behind Carlos’ boat and dodging the water filled beer cans thrown back at me by my teammates in a strange game for friends to play. I thought of the long philosophical talks over the grill in Jack’s backyard, climbing in the mountains skiing in California with Barry and Reed. I thought of hunting with my brother and cousins on my parents’ farm and the 4th of July and Christmas gatherings there with my family. I thought about the smell of fall and the sound of small-town football games. I believed that I would soon see my dad and grandfather again and ached knowing that my mother would grieve.
So, from the perspective of someone who was almost on the other side of this day, I would tell you don’t waste a moment of it in sadness. There are men who so valued what you now have that they were willing to give their very lives to preserve it. They knew and know the worst thing is not to die but to die in vain. So go to the backyard barbeque. Eat too much and let the sauce run down your chin. Swill some beers, take out your boat, watch your kids play in the sprinkler. Shoot guns and fireworks, make noise, turn on your pickups radio roll the windows down listen to anything but the Dixie Chicks while you toss a ball in the yard. Go buy that discounted King Sized mattress and snuggle your babies on it or break it in with your new girl. Get that new riding lawn mower for 25% off and cut your neighbor’s grass too. Help out someone who needs it. Welcome someone who isn’t. Wave the flag and give that old wrinkled veteran a big hug. Whatever you do today, absolutely swim in it! Dive deep into your freedom and this wonderful American life. And as you do just think of them. Let them live what they loved a little through you. Tell stories about them and their place in Valhalla is increased. Give some of your bounty if you can to support their families. You do not honor those men we lost with despondency, you honor them with memory and life. Love your Country. Love your family. Embrace the living. Celebrate the dead." ...

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Dottie for Missouri

2 weeks ago

Thank you Mayor Bowlin... Small businesses need this boost!Earlier today I authorized the suspension of Ordinances to allow our restaurants, pubs and coffee shops to expand outdoor seating to adjacent parking areas for the accommodation of social distancing, and to hold special events - like drive-in movie nights and outdoor musical entertainment. This was done pursuant to Emergency Resolution 2020-11, and will continue through at least October 1. It gives these Wildwood businesses the ability to better implement reopening, improves their prospects for success, and promotes the safety of our residents who take this opportunity to enjoy them. #GoWildwood #WildwoodMO #GoWildwoodMO ...

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