Hourglass 08-19-06 .Indd
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Cpl. David Yadon, left and Pvt. Tim Vecchione volunteered to work on the Enniburr School as part of a humanitarian assistance project funded by U.S. Pacifi c Command. For more, see Page 4. ((PhotoPhoto bbyy NNellell DDrumheller)rumheller) wwww.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/hourglass.htmlww.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/hourglass.html COMMENTARY Now I know why there’s a ‘delete’ key Since I wrote a column in the July terrorist organizations are really great 19 issue of The Hourglass defend- guys. They’re just misunderstood by us ing Israel in their fi ght with Hezbollah bad people in America and Europe. and saying that I’m part Jewish, I’ve Apparently, he believes America and received several e-mails from a person Europe are racists against all the Arabs I don’t know and really don’t care to and that’s why we support Israel. know. She says she sends this stuff I guess it couldn’t have anything to because we (meaning me I guess) at do with the fact that Israel is the only The Hourglass are misinformed about real democratic country in that part the Middle East. of the world where other religions are 750 resolutions, more than 450 have Now, my pen pal has just sent anoth- tolerated and where women have condemned Israel for one thing or er e-mail with an attached article writ- rights, aren’t treated like cattle and their another. ten by an ‘informed’ man who doesn’t husband, father or brother isn’t allowed I don’t recall that six million Arab appear to me to be living in reality. to beat or kill them with impunity. men, women and children were slaugh- I won’t give the writer’s name or the I suppose it couldn’t have anything tered by the Nazis as were the Jews publication he writes for. He sounds like to do with the suicide bombers that Oh, wait, according to many people, he’s the kind who would sue me. But if have blown up busses, restaurants, especially that cuddly president of anyone out there would like a copy of nightclubs and even weddings and Iran who wants nuclear weapons, and the publication that was sent to me, I’d killed thousands of innocent people. whose goal is to destroy Israel and be happy to give you one. I’ve never No, it couldn’t have anything to do with the western world, all that killing of the heard of this guy before and I wish it that. Jews never happened. had stayed that way. When I read what And it sure couldn’t have anything The writer goes on to say that Presi- he had written, it pushed most every to do with the fact that Israelis have dent George W. Bush is a hypocrite button I have. contributed to the world with science, because he talks about wanting de- My fi rst inclination was to dismiss medicine, technology and art while mocracy in the Middle East, yet when it out of hand, but then I thought that Hamas and Hezbollah have contributed the Palestinian people elected Hamas, since I’ve infl icted my opinions on mostly terror, death and hatred. he refused to talk to them and cut off people, I should be willing to subject Geez, we must be out of our minds to all aid. myself to someone else’s (even if they support Israel. The writer seems to forget that are totally wrong). And as far as Europe and the world Hamas fi rst refused to recognize So let’s examine the writer’s opin- being racist against Arabs, let’s get Israel’s right to exist, continued to vow ions. real. The United Nations has passed Israel’s destruction and declined to He seems to think the folks in some 750 resolutions concerning the Hamas, Hezbollah and other Islamic Palestinians and the Israelis. Of those See DELETE, Page 6 LLetteretter ttoo tthehe eeditorditor Former resident enjoyed Kwaj Kids article Hello! I just read J.J. Klein’s article about teens leaving the community. Particularly true is the statement about the island for college in the states. I wanted to reiterate sports...on Kwaj you could do all of them regardless of skill, that almost everything in the article is so true to even us and have fun. In the states, you do have to be very good to adults. I lived on Kwaj for fi ve years, and I’ve been back be included. Good article! for four, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss something about Kwajalein life..the friends, the lifestyle, —Julia Olson TThehe KwajaleinKwajalein HHourglassourglass The Kwajalein Hourglass is named for the or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department Printed circulation: 2,000 insignia of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division, of Defense, Department of the Army or USAKA. E-mail: [email protected] which liberated the island from the forces of Im- It is published Wednesdays and Saturdays in ac- Commanding Offi cer......Col. Stevenson Reed perial Japan on Feb. 4, 1944. cordance with Army Regulation 360-1 and using a Public Affairs Offi cer......................Sandy Miller network printer by Kwajalein Range Services edito- The Kwajalein Hourglass is an authorized pub- Editor......................................Nell Drumheller lication for military personnel, federal employees, rial staff. contractor workers and their families assigned P.O. Box 23, APO AP 96555 Graphics Designer..........................Dan Adler to U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll. Contents of the Phone: Defense Switching Network 254-3539; Reporter............................................J.J. Klein Hourglass are not necessarily offi cial views of, Local phone: 53539 Distribution...................................C.J. Kemen The Kwajalein Hourglass 2 Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006 Hello again, our old friends Buck family visits Kwajalein after Bible dedication By J.J. Klein Unfortunately, Alice was Reporter unable to experience the completed work. She fi n- The laughter of one person was missing when the ished revising the spelling Buck family stopped on Kwajalein after participating in March and was almost in the dedication of the completed fi nished with the glossary translation of the Kosraean Bible when she died of stomach on Kosrae, Aug. 9. That person cancer in June, 2004. was Alice Buck, the same “She worked at her woman instrumental in get- computer up until four ting the Bible translated into days before she died, try- the Kosrae language. ing to complete the glos- Elden Buck, Alice’s hus- sary. I walked into her band and the Kwajalein offi ce and she was shak- Protestant chaplain for 18 ing. She was very, very ill. years, and 19 family members I told her that I thought she should rest,” said El- of the Buck clan were treated Elden Buck signs his book, to a dinner in their honor by the den. “And she turned to Island of Angels, at the Protestant Chapel congregation me and said something Religious Education Building which she had never said on Monday. Monday evening. (Photo by J.J. Klein) “When I was here two years before, and that was, ‘You ago several of you said, ‘Why know Elden, I think you can fi nish this.’ don’t you stop on Kwaj with “We were just thrown for a loop when she died,” con- your family,’” Elden said, tinued Elden. “It was a sad time for the whole family, laughing. “When I mentioned and the Kosraean church.” Having worked together for it to Lisa and Lauren they all of the 49 years they were married, Buck agreed to were ecstatic because they had pick up where Alice left off when the Kosraeans asked for his help. He continued work on the glossary by e-mail Alice Buck been here all through school…it was just too important a place to from his computer in Claremont, Calif. land and then take off again.” Although 9,000 copies of the translated Bible have Alice and Elden are beloved people on Kwajalein and been printed, only 96 Bibles made it to Kosrae. The on Ebeye, where Alice worked 18 years translating the Bible Society could not guarantee to have the Bibles Marshallese Bible and Elden pastored and headed up the ready and shipped in time for the dedication. Only after church school. The Buck family spent Tuesday evening a little prodding from Elden, was a shipment airmailed to on Ebeye, touring the island and showing the youngest Kosarae where they arrived the day before the event. family members where they grew up. A 1,000 people attended the dedication service that But the sole purpose of their trip was to celebrate the was both exciting and bittersweet for the Buck family. On dedication of the completed translated Kosraean Bible, that day Lisa Haley, Alice’s daughter, hung her mother’s a project Alice had nurtured and guided since 1992. necklace around her neck, while her sister wore one of Twenty-one family members and friends made the trip Alice’s rings. to Kosarae together to witness the completion of Alice’s “Part of me was thinking she should have been here to painstaking work. hear all of these accolades and the joy and experience, “Because Alice had been so concerned and excited but really she was in very many ways. She was smack about the whole family being in Kosrae, and when she in the middle of it, not just being mentioned by name died so suddenly, the family wanted very much to honor but in our hearts,” said Lauren Buck-Medeiros, another her by going ahead with what she had hoped for,” said daughter.