By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2012 – Supporting troops, veterans and their families as they’ve supported the nation is a charge that will define America’s next generation of leaders, the vice president’s wife said today.
Dr. Jill Biden cited the importance of enduring military family support to about 200 aspiring young leaders attending the 2012 National 4-H Youth Conference, sponsored by the Agriculture Department’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, in Chevy Chase, Md.
“You are all here today because of your extraordinary leadership and your commitment to service,” Biden, a longtime educator, told the audience. “You are role models and mentors. As you continue to achieve, we will look to you to keep making a difference in your communities and across the country.”
The 4-H, the nation’s largest youth development organization, has a long-standing history of military family support, Biden said in her prepared remarks. She cited the Military 4-H Club Program, which serves children on military installations, and Operation: Military Kids, which supports children impacted by deployment.
“4-H has provided a sense of community for military-connected children for decades,” she said. “4-H has given military-connected children an outlet — a chance to use their talents — and helped them reach their full potential, even while they face some unique and difficult challenges.”
As a military mom, Biden said, she’s all too familiar with these challenges. The Bidens’ son, Beau Biden, is a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. She recalled when their son deployed to Iraq for a year, leaving his two young children behind.
“They missed their dad terribly,” Biden said, noting it was a “tough” year. “But one of the most wonderful things that happened to them that year was the support and love they got — from family, from friends, from teachers and neighbors. Our family knows firsthand just how important it is for children to have that kind of support when a parent is deployed.”
For more than a decade, hundreds of thousands of service members have served multiple deployments in Iraq, Biden said, and troops still are serving in Afghanistan.
“As a nation, we have asked so much of them and their families, while they ask so little of us,” she said. “They and their families should always feel they are just a handshake away from a caring and supportive neighbor or friend who has their back.”
Generating this type of support was the driving force behind the Joining Forces initiative, Biden explained. She and First Lady Michelle Obama launched this campaign a year ago to rally the nation around troops, veterans and their families.
Over the past year, “individuals, groups and businesses have risen to the challenge in so many wonderful ways,” she said, also citing the “tremendous work” of the 4-H.
“The work of 4-H is a perfect example of what we hope people all across our country will do,” she said.
Biden noted a specific need to support children of reservists. These families typically live in civilian communities where their neighbors may not even be aware they have a military family in their midst.
“That is why I am so pleased that 4-H is focusing some attention on children in the National Guard by helping them develop leadership and communications skills,” she said.
Biden pointed out several National Guard youth participants in the audience, including Kirsten Morris of Georgia. Last year, she explained, Morris met with her state school superintendent to explain military children’s unique challenges, such as frequent moves and school transitions.
She saw a need and stepped up to address it, Biden said, and is in good company.
“All of you share a very important trait with our troops and veterans — the desire to serve your country,” she told the audience. “It is as deeply ingrained in them as it is in all of you.”
Nearly 6 million young people, ages 5 to 19, participate in 4-H youth development programs in all 50 states, territories and military installations worldwide, according to the 4-H website.
Roadshow: CHP has to see people putting up signs on freeway to cite them. go to site bike trailer
San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA) May 15, 2006 Byline: Gary Richards May 15–Q Recently a local radio station put dozens of banners on the Tully and Story road overpasses over the 101. A few days later, I saw Caltrans workers removing the banners. Please tell me the radio station is being fined $500 per banner for littering in order to cover the cleanup costs and to discourage it from doing it again. Larry Johnson San Jose A You wish, I wish. Alas, no fines are being imposed. The Highway Patrol has to see people to cite them. And most likely if police did spot someone putting up these banners, they would probably just order them removed. Another big problem are campaign signs. Groups that put these signs up along freeways and city streets need to remove them. But often no one does. Q Is my disabled parking placard also valid in Europe? George Skoda Santa Clara A Yes. A resolution passed in 1997 by the European Conference of Ministers of Transportation allows European countries to honor disabled parking placards from the United States and Canada. They must display the international symbol for disability and state the name of the document holder (California issues an ID card with the placard that contains this information). The placard must be prominently displayed inside the windshield. Q On southbound I-880 at Highway 237, the lanes pull sharply to the left and back to the right. Can’t they be straightened out a bit so that the curve is not so sharp?
Carlos L.
Campbell A Alas, the lanes will not be straightened out anytime soon. The bend in the road was made to fit in the carpool-to-carpool ramps connecting I-880 with 237. There are long-range plans to extend the carpool lane on I-880 to 101. When that happens — a decade or more? — the curve may be straightened. Q When will the northbound access from San Carlos Street to Highway 87 reopen? Bora Akyol San Jose A Early next year. Q I have noticed a fair number of adults riding their bikes with children in a bike trailer without helmets. Is this legal? The children seem just as vulnerable as if they were riding on the back of the bike, where I know a helmet is required. Polly Jensen Mountain View A No, it’s not legal for parents to pull their children in a bike trailer without the kids wearing a helmet. The same rule applies to a child in a bicycle baby seat. Q I have a problem with one of these “Your Tax Dollars At Work” signs that I pass every morning on I-880 just before 101. It states that the scheduled completion date is 2005. Its 2006 now and this typo is killing me. Any chance they plan to take this down soon? Norman Cevallos A Yep, soon as landscaping at the 880-101 interchange finishes. It’s the final piece of work remaining to the widening of I-880. Winter rains delayed everything.
Q I saw the cutest police car in Santa Clara — a Volkswagen Bug with black-white paint and the usual Police SCPD logo on it, plus the word DARE. I smiled at the officer and said “Wow!” He smiled back and waved. I smiled all the way to my destination. It made my day! Bobbie Jean Santa Clara A Santa Clara cops use two vehicles as educational and public relations tools to increase the awareness of drug, alcohol and cigarette use during DARE instruction with students in city elementary schools. Santa Clara’s other DARE car is a PT cruiser. While both are outfitted for patrol work, neither is used for daily beat duties. Part of the cost of the DARE cars was provided by money seized in drug arrests. this web site bike trailer
WILLOW GLEN WAY: This San Jose street will be closed starting today between Creek Drive and Northern Road to replace the bridge over the Guadalupe River. The road should reopen in March 2007. The bridge replacement is part of a future flood protection project on the Guadalupe River from where the downtown flood protection project ended at Interstate 280 to Blossom Hill Road. Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@mercurynews .com or (408) 920-5335.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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