Dear Editor:
Mark Bruenger really knows how to hurt a guy, but in keeping with the spirit of Christmas I forgive him and commend him for taking the time from his busy day to give us his opinions on Social Security.
As for being called a slaver, my mother's grandfather fought with the Grand Army of the Republic to get freedom and rights for the slaves. She was disappointed that she had to wait until 53 years after that war to get the right to vote that black men got in 1867. She worked, paid her taxes and still did not get representation. If she could have voted and gotten equal opportunity she might have become a wealthy CEO.
I feel I deserve reparations. My mother's grandfather may have shot at my father's forebearers. There were three Beattys who were lieutenants in Sterling Price's army.
Enlisted men were not mentioned so there may have been lots of Beattys. My forebearers were the earliest settlers just north of Steedman. There is only one large flagpole in town. It has the stars and bars flag proudly flying. The official logo of Callaway County is the stars and bars with a small federal shield where they intersect.
To be a slaver like our founding fathers would put a person in the proud company of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others. The 1830 census lists 965 blacks in South Carolina who owned 2,715 slaves. The Five Nations Indian Confederation of Oklahoma endorsed slavery saying "slavery is necessary for the progress and prosperity of the country."
Thousands of Indians served under Gen. Albert Pike. Their largest battle was at Pea Ridge, Ark., where they fought with such ferocity and savagery that England threatened to halt trade with the Confederacy. Gen. Pike must have been an honorable man as he was Grand Master of the Freemason from 1859-1895.
During the Civil War Jefferson City was occupied by the Union Army of mostly German liberals from St. Louis. A Union captain in St. Louis played a remarkable role in the war.
Gov. Jackson ordered the sectional police chief of St. Louis to arrest him but he arrested the chief instead. He then seized the steamboat SWAN that had come up from Arkansas loaded with arms that had been seized from federal arsenals that was intended to arm 10,000 Rebs at a camp where Lyons park is now. His actions kept Missouri in the Union. He was killed in the battle of Wilson's Creek.
Al Capp, though born in Connecticut, used this area as his inspiration for Dogpatch. His character Jack S. Phogbound was a takeoff on Go. Jackson. In the 1930s I saw a lot of local places reminiscent of Dogpatch.
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