Fellow Americans, I hope you are having a great day as we celebrate the birth of our country. The Declaration of Independence spelled out our concerns to King George III, a mentally ill monarch with good intentions. He felt that his government had the right to tax the Colonies because that is what he was doing worldwide. Great Britain had put a tremendous amount of money into our war with the French. He wanted to get that money back several fold.

But our forefathers wanted their freedom. That is why they left England in the first place. My kin were on the Mayflower and the Nina and my ancestor, George Soule, the 35th signer of the Mayflower Compact was willing to work as an indentured servant a number of years to buy his passage to this country. Many others did the same thing. From this start, the country was populated. My great grandfather was born on the Sweetwater River in Wyoming in September of 1847. His family along with many of my relatives moved into the Salt Lake Valley a month later. They spread out from there and settled much of the Mountain West.

Each of us has an ancestry that provided what we have inherited. Through their blood, sweat and tears we have gained a life in a free country. Our forefathers had the incite to form a great nation. Although our county has tremendous problems from too many wars and too many crooks in high places, we have always been able to overcome them. Let's hope that we can make that happen again.

Have a Save and Enjoyable Day!

John