Letter To The Editor:

National Identification, everyone carrying papers to move around? It should never happen. We should learn from the "Boot" Russia has on her people... and what Hitler tried.
I would hate to think the good souls who to a man signed the Declaration of Independence and gave their lives, families and possessions for doing so, were forgotten when national ID is more of a threat than trumped up terrorists.
If there is a problem, a special ID for immigrants is all that is needed to separate the new ones we do not know about. The power that exists to do the job of knowing the background of all people new to this country should do some homework, not make us all prove our innocence or standing as citizens.
What happened to social security numbers, bank, credit, drivers license, library records, school reports, etc..etc. The leaders have more than enough ways to pin us down if needed. If they cannot, then they sure are not looking!
As a citizen and heir to some of the promised land via a long line of pioneers who bled for this country and built the first homes in the wilderness, I take umbrage when it comes to putting chains on me ..and believe this, National ID would be chains.

Dora Gorton, Cleveland.

[Also submitted by Dora Gorton]

With the 4th of July coming up, we should observe those who served this country from all who wanted to claim after the hard part was nearly over.

Paying the Price of Freedom.

The fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence paid the supreme price for all of us and saved us from British rule. Their fate is as follows: 1. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and plantation owners. All were men of means and well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing that the penalty would be death if captured.
Carter Braxton, a ship owner, planter and trader saw his ships swept from the seas and his lands go pay all debts and he died in rags.
Thomas McKean, had to move constantly and kept his family hidden. He served the Congress without pay. His positions were taken and poverty was his reward. Vandals raided the homes and possessions of Ellery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnette, Heyward, Rutledge and Middelton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted that the British had taken over his plantation home for their headquarters. He quietly urged General Washington to open fire. All was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.
The home of Francis Lewis was destroyed, his wife jailed and she died soon after.
John Hart was driven from the bedside of his dying wife, their thirteen children were hiding, his grist mills and fields were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in the forests and caves and  returning home found his wife dead and no trace of the children. He died heartbroken. Morris and Livingston suffered the same fate.
They gave us a free and independent America. We were British subjects at the time and fought against our own government. Too often, we now take these liberties for granted. The Revolutionary War was far more important than security. They were soft spoken decent men and not ruffians or rabble-rousers as painted. They gave their all right down to life itself.
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