Advice for partiers, gratitude for patriots

Editorials about Memorial Day are always a tough call.

One has to admit that as a day to honor fallen servicemen and women that also happens to create the first long weekend of the summer, the holiday is usually a pretty schizophrenic one.

What do we want to say? Do we want to thank the men and women of the armed services who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend us? Or do we want to plea for slower drivers and safe boating?

This year, let’s do both.

To the patriots who served, we offer our heartfelt thanks. To the families of those who perished, we have no words. Instead, we pledge to take their sacrifice as a call to arms, to serve our community, nation and countrymen wherever we see the need arise. We will be there when our neighbors gathers on Sunday and Monday for Memorial Day ceremonies. Such solemn gatherings at graveyards and monuments clarify for us the precious nature of life and freedom.

We would also say a word of gratitude to our Valley neighbors. Those events are always well attended. Military service runs deep in the Valley and we are thankful to live in a place that honors its heroes.

To the partiers we say be safe.

If you plan to be on the roads, know that cops and troopers plan to be out in force handing out tickets. And that’s the least important reason you should wear a seat belt on the roads this weekend.

Every year the weekend’s trooper dispatches are filled with car wrecks and injuries. Please don’t add to it. If you plan to be on the water, wear a life jacket. Kids don’t float. And nobody can breath underwater. If, like so many of our neighbors, you plan to wash down your grub with a frosty beverage, don’t drink and drive.

Those troopers might be looking for seat belt violators, but drunken drivers take priority.

Also, if you’ve brought a gun along on your campout, when the booze comes out, put it away. It’s illegal to handle one while drunk and there’s a darn good reason for that.

Locally, there are a couple of opportunities to be part of a Memorial Day ceremony:

A ceremony is planned at 2 p.m., Sunday at the Alaska Veterans Memorial at Byer’s Lake, Mile 147.1, Parks Highway.

VFW Post 9365 will lead a parade from the Wasilla Post Office to the Wasilla Aurora Cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m., Monday. People will meet at the Post Office in Wasilla at 10:15 a.m. and leave for the cemetery at 10:40 a.m.

American Legion Post No 15 in Palmer will conduct an honor ceremony at 1 p.m., Monday at the Veterans Wall of Honor next to the Mat-Su Visitors Center, Mile 35.5, Parks Highway.

But if you can’t attend a formal ceremony, take some time to reflect on the soldiers, sailors and pilots who risked their lives in the name of service to their country.