Williamson Connect

Indiana 2nd Amendment Rights Attacked

2008-05-09T15:25:00.001-05:00

There is already an attack in motion to further erode personal liberties in Indiana. One that was initiated in January 2008 with little publicity, as far as I know. That is Indiana House Bill 1260 which was proposed by House Representative Bill Crawford. This bill has one aim, to infringe on Hoosier rights to hunt and for personal protection.

No this bill isn't another attack on actual firearms (thank goodness), but instead its an attack on ammunition. If passed, a database would be setup to store information on ammunition purchases and buyers. It would also assess a penalty of $.05 per bullet for each round purchased. It would also require each round to be factory stamped with serial numbers which would be used to record information in the database about the purchases and buyers of the ammunition. It also specifies that if you own any of the un-registered, non-stamped ammunition after July 2011, you would be required to dispose of that ammunition.

Citations Affected: IC 10-13-7.

Synopsis:
Encoded ammunition. Requires ammunition manufacturers to encode all ammunition: (1) provided for retail sale in Indiana; and (2) used in handguns and assault weapons; by July 1, 2009. Prohibits a person from selling ammunition at retail after June 30, 2009, unless the ammunition has been encoded by a manufacturer. Requires the superintendent of the state police department to establish and maintain an encoded ammunition data base before July 1, 2009. Requires ammunition manufacturers and persons who sell ammunition at retail to provide certain information concerning encoded ammunition sales and persons who purchase encoded ammunition to the superintendent for inclusion in the data base. Imposes a fee of $0.05 per round on the sale of encoded ammunition that is sold at retail. Requires the fees to be deposited in the encoded ammunition data base fund to operate the data base. Requires a person who owns ammunition for a handgun or assault weapon that is not encoded ammunition to dispose of the ammunition before July 1, 2011. Makes an appropriation.

Effective: Upon passage; July 1, 2008.

This is a ridiculous attempt to:

Limit Hoosier Second Amendment Rights further by making the cost of ammunition for hunting, sport shooting, and personal protection rise significantly. These ridiculous stipulations would result in manufacturers either having to increase production costs (thus raising the prices to consumers) or cease sales in the state.

Sneak in tax revenue from a select group of law abiding, responsible Hoosiers. The extra $.05 per round ($2.50 per box of 50 rounds O.O ) to help fund the newly required database.

A round about way to start gun registration. Face it, "Requires ammunition manufacturers and persons who sell ammunition at retail to provide certain information concerning encoded ammunition sales and persons who purchase encoded ammunition to the superintendent for inclusion in the data base." simply means start making a record of the types of guns each buyer of ammunition has. What other possible "certain information" about persons ho purchase the ammunition mean?

Effectively stop the art of reloading, as you would obviously not be allowed to buy used brass or reload your own.

Rather than address the issue of criminals and the lack luster enforcement of the existing laws, our law makers are going to further erode the rights the law abiding citizens rather than deal with the real problems. Look out Indiana, unless common sense prevails and historically thats not always the case in Hoosier politics, we could be in for more right infringement.

Monroe County GOP - Sailing With No One At The Helm

2008-05-01T11:13:00.008-05:00

According to the Herald Times Online:

All officers of the Monroe County Republican Party have resigned, leaving the party without any official leadership going into Tuesday’s primary.

Interesting. Where do I sign up to replace them? That's what I want to know. As a disillusioned Monroe Republican, fed up with our local leadership, I cannot say I am sorry to hear that they have dissolved. The leadership in this county for the Republicans has long been lacking IMO. Pushing personal agenda's and handpicked puppet candidates to try and fill crucial offices, have long been detrimental to getting good Republican officials elected. Perhaps this will lead to a rejuvenation of the party locally, an infusion of fresh blood would be much appreciated.

So where do I apply to join the new officers and get things started towards positive change? Can you see it now?

Aaron Williamson for positive change in Monroe County!

A run for Mayor wouldn't be far off would it? :-P Something tells me they won't be knocking on my email ( amw575@gmail.com ) anytime soon. I just hope whomever they come up with, its a fresh outlook and helps the product into the right direction.

Switchover From Insight To Comcast

2008-03-28T12:51:00.004-05:00

Well as many of you know, Insight (InsightBB) was aquired by Comcast and now we are in the middle of transitioning everything from insigtbb.com accounts to new comcast.net accounts. This may be a learning process. ;-)

As for the current status, all email accounts should be forwarding to the accounts (which have changed for those who know and use them). Therefore new updates to your address books may be in order. For the record, we plan on shifting to a more permanent G-mail account so we don't have to worry about changing things in the future.

Also that means forced changes to http://awilliamson.home.insightbb.com are on the horizon. The process has already begun to switch over to http://amw575.home.comcast.net but it will be slow. In fact, due to my lack of formal site design training ( ;-) ), many links pointing back to the old site will need re-written. I may just scrap the whole thing and start over pretty soon. For now both sites are up with then new site only being a home page pointing back to the old one.

I think what I may plan on doing in the near future, is migrating this blog and the website over to a Wordpress.com blog/site. I have seen that to be a very easy and updateable platform for transmitting the type of information we normally do now. It may actually mean that we update this site more regularly for the family members not seeing the boys everday. :-D

Anyway, just wanted to drop a fresh post on here to bring everyone up to speed. Hope everyone is safe and doing well!

Regards,
AW

Family Loss

2008-01-07T11:47:00.000-05:00

Today the Williamson family is mourning the loss of our Mother, Grandmother, and Great-Grandmother - Martha Williamson.

You will be forever loved and always remembered.

Hearld Times Online Obituary - PDF Viewable/Download

Martha Sue Williamson, 87

SEPT. 19, 1920 — JAN. 5, 2008

Martha Sue Williamson of Bloomington died Saturday, January 5, 2008, at her residence. She was 87 years old.

Born September 19, 1920, in Bloomington, she was the daughter of Frank and Nell (Sparks) Goodman. She was a 1938 graduate of Bloomington High School. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star Lodge #223 in Bloomington and a member of the Fairview United Methodist Church.

Martha is survived by three sons, Kip Williamson and his wife, Judy, of Bloomington, Dennis Williamson and his wife, Sherry, of Ocala, FL, and Randy Williamson and his wife, Melinda, of Bloomington; eight grandchildren, Aaron Williamson and his wife, Jennifer, Adam Williamson, Christopher Williamson and his wife, Rachel, and Brett Williamson and his wife, Amanda, all of Bloomington, Scott Williamson and his wife, Beth, of Tennessee, Kelli Hoff and her husband, Matt, Leslie Batcho and her husband, Jim, and Justin Williamson. all of Bloomington; and 11 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Edgar E. Williamson, in 1978; and a sister, Betty Jane Goodman.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, January 10, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. at Allen Funeral Home, with Rev. Curtis Hurley officiating. Interment will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. at the funeral home and one hour prior to the service on Thursday. Memorial Contributions may be made to the Fairview United Methodist Church.

Ian's Dental Work

2007-10-30T09:45:00.001-05:00

Well yesterday was a long day for mom and dad. Ian however came through unscathed and with flying colors. All went very well and Ian was a very brave and good boy!

Our day started early, as we needed to get Sean going to go to daycare. Ian woke up around 4 a.m. and didn't make it to the potty-got his pj's a little damp. He went right back to sleep though and allowed us to get in the shower and cleaned up to start the day. When time rolled around to get Sean going, neither of us had the heart. :-) He was so zonked out, we didn't want to wake him. I decided that I could keep both of them out of school (daycare) and with me, even if Ian wasn't feeling well. Jennifer was to go back to work after she was sure Ian was good.

We got everyone dressed and breakfast in them and headed out to the dentists office. Ian knew he was going to be seeing the dentist, but also knew if he was really brave he was going to be able to go shopping for a new toy afterwards if he felt like it. We arrived at the 9 a.m. appointment about 10 minutes early. Both boys were doing very well, and around 9 a.m. Ian was called. They said that parents weren't allowed in during the procedure, and Ian was a little upset-he really wanted his daddy and mommy. They allowed mommy to walk him back and once he was back there he was fine and mommy returned to us in the waiting room.

The waiting room was painted like the inside of the giant's castle from Jack and the Beanstalk. It was really neat and they had cartoons playing. Sean was awesome! He normally gets bored then cranky, but was really good. Jennifer decided to call work and tell them she couldn't leave her boy, and they gladly allowed her to take the whole day off. About 30 minutes later, Ian called us up and let us know Ian was done and he was picking out his toy for being such a good boy! Ian then came out all smiles with a new toy, a numbed cheek, and a shiny silver tooth to show off. They said he took the nitrous gas very well and was just awesome getting his defective tooth grinded and capped.

We went and got some groceries and Ian and Sean each got a new toy for both being so good! Then we went home and mommy and daddy finally got to eat, before the boys decided the park was calling. We were happy that Ian's numbness was wearing off and he didn't seem to be in any discomfort. We gave him his recommended dose of Ibuprofen and headed to their favorite big slides at the park. They played for a couple of hours at the park and had a blast. Ian showing no signs of slowing down. Afterwards we got the boys some lunch and decided to go see grandma at work, so Ian could show her his new shiny tooth. Turns out, grandma has a gold tooth ;-), and had gotten Ian a special toy from her for being a brave boy! Wow thats three toys in one day, and for something that was more traumatic to mom and dad than to him.

We finished the day by having a pizza, where Grandpa bought him a 'golden egg' (one of those $.25 machines with the cheap spider rings, etc inside Easter eggs) from the vending machine. 'Golden eggs' are his favorite. He showed no signs of pain all day and even though I was up all night waiting on him, he never woke up in any pain. :-) This morning all returned to normal and everyone woke up happy (well Sean is always cranky in the morning ;-) ), and Ian had a neat story and shiny tooth to show everyone at school.

Poor Ian

2007-10-26T10:37:00.001-05:00

Wow! Has it really been this long since I last posted? Sheeez, better fire the webmaster. :-)

Poor Ian, what's with the title you ask? Well poor Ian has inherited his fathers teeth apparently. I have had a couple of problems requireing fillings, and one exploding tooth that required half the tooth to be silver. All these were accredited to defects/flaws in my teeth by my dentist. On Ian's last check-up it was discovered that he too has a flawed tooth. This one was not hardening properly.

Now the dentist said if he were older it wouldn't be an issue, as it would be falling out soon. However since its still going to be with him for some time, he unfortunately is going to require a cap of some sort. From what I understand they are going to have to knock him out and perform the procedure, so yet another scary parent moment. Any way that should be this upcoming Monday morning, so if all goes well we can update this next week to let everyone know he is better.

Be safe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN!!

2007-07-05T12:19:00.001-05:00

Today is the Big Day! Our little boy turns 2. Ain't he sweet? Sunglasses and fast cars is what Sean is all about. Things have never been the same since July 5, 2005. Sean is all attitude, just as these pictures illustrate. He is growing like a weed but boy does he have a temper. :-)

We spent Tuesday night at Grandma and Grandpa's shooting off some old, left over fireworks. Sean particularly liked throwing the spent sparkler sticks in the swimming pool. Yesterday (4th of July) we spent at Grandma and Grandpa's as well. We had a cookout and poor Sean was still worn out from the previous nights long evening. He slept most of the afternoon and woke up cranky. Fortunately he settled down somewhat and by the time, bedtime rolled around he was easy to get to bed. On his birthday, Sean woke up happy as could be and was a very good boy getting ready, and going to school today.

We love him so much! Happy Birthday Sean!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Ian

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IAN!!

2007-06-20T07:31:00.000-05:00

Today is the day! The day our big boy turns 4. Every day since June 20, 2003 has been an adventure and last night was no different. Daddy was watching TV and mommy was putting Ian to bed when he spilled some water in his bed. Luckily it wasn't much and mommy got it cleaned up pretty quickly but poor Ian wouldn't sleep on a damp sheet. ;-) So he spread out his comforter and laid on top of it. Then he decided he missed daddy and wanted me to put him to sleep.

I went to his room and he wouldn't cover up, can't say I blame him it was quite warm in there at the time so I laid down in his spare bed and said good night. 10 minutes later he was standing beside me asking to sleep in the big bed with me. Now usually he climbs in lays there a few minutes and goes back to his own bed. Last night was different. He snuggled up to me and laid there wide awake for about an hour. Then he nodded off and I awoke this morning still snuggled up with my birthday boy. Sometimes he is rotten, mostly he is sweet.

We love him so much! Happy Birthday Ian!

Love Mommy, Daddy and Sean.

Website and Blog Work

2007-06-08T14:40:00.000-05:00

I finally found a few minutes to update our website and this Blog, I know its been a long time coming. I updated our site's main page and added photo links to this blog. I also updated our photo albums, and fixed up the links you see on the left. I am interested in getting any pictures that anyone else would like to submit from family gatherings up as well, so if you have some you want me to publish just let me know. I am also still looking from additional contributors who want to have posting access to update the rest of us on their lives.
If anyone has any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them for us. I am still working on a guest book system (I am not the most talented, but am the most under-funded web builder you know :) ) but until then, comments left on posts would be great to show us you were here.

Take care,
Aaron

New Photo's Added

2007-05-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

Well, finally I was able to go through and update the site with some new photographs. We have lots of photos (over 180) dating back from Christmas that I haven't had time to add. I managed to find some time this morning to squeeze in a few of the better ones. Check out the links to the left titled "Recent Pictures" and you will find pictures taken in March from our Trip to Grandma J's and also the Portage, Indiana Bass Pro Shop. Also, I have added a few backyard pool pictures we took yesterday of the boys in their new little 8 foot pool.
The kids are swimming (or should I say water) fanatics. The love nothing more than to just splash around and get everything as wet as possible. Whether its squirt guns, swimming pools, or lawn sprinklers, getting in the water is what they want to do. We have more photographs and I will try to add more later if time permits.

Until next time, take care and be safe!

Spring Is Here!

2007-04-13T21:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, has it really been two months since I last posted? Man I need to get busy. Spring is finally here, or so they say. Indianapolis is expecting an inch or more of snow tomorrow and I believe we are under a Freeze advisory again tonight.

The kids are growing like weeds! They have also been doing well in school, although both are having trouble staying "Green" which is the grading scale given on their behavior. It kind of works like the terror alerts you see everywhere : Green is good, Yellow is borderline, Orange is having some bad tendencies and Red is Ian usually ;-) . They are generally good boys, but they both seem to be stuck in the terrible two's at this point which makes for a fun house hold.

Only other news of note is that we traded in our old Mercury Village Estate mini-van and bought a semi-new (2005) Dodge Dakota Quad-Cab pickup. Daddy finally got his truck back :-). I lost it when we traded it in our Chevy Impala and when it was time for a new car we went the mini-van route with Sean on the way. Now my beater S-10 really is just parked in the corner.

That's all for now, hopefully more later.

Take care and be safe!

~AW

Let It Snow

2007-02-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

Well finally got some snow in Bloomington. We got about 2 inches last week, a light dusting this week, and its been flurrying all day today. Sean got to build his first snowman, albeit only about 8 inches tall. It has been just bitterly cold mainly.
Beyond that not much else going on. It had just been a few week since my last post, thought I would add a little hello. Should be more in a couple of weeks as Jennifer is heading to Florida on business (yeah right, a dental conference in Downtown Disney? She will be partying with Goofy :-)) and the boys and I will be on our own for a few days. Should be interesting.

Take care, be safe!

~Aaron

Holidays

2007-01-02T10:52:00.000-05:00

Well the holidays are behind us, and a New Year has dawned. This Christmas has been a good one, the weather has been pleasant although some snow would be nice and could do without all the rain. The kids had a great Christmas, pictures will be available as soon as we can get the film developed (we somehow managed to forget our digital camera for our trip to the Jursic Family Christmas) and I can get them scanned into my PC.
Sean was still a bit too young, I think to understand the whole Christmas thing although he loves to say "wow, lights" each time we pass a decorated house. I think he had a good time, just hasn't figured out what to do with the presents that he received. Ian on the other hand is just hitting his prime Christmas season age. He had a great time opening his presents, my presents and his brothers. I would guess that his favorite is the Lightning McQueen Power Wheel that Santa brought him. he hasn't figured out exactly how to accelerate and steer at the same time yet, but had a great time driving in circles.

Check back later for more pictures as soon as I can get them developed.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

Well gearing up for the X-mas travel season, as always it is very busy around the old homestead. Work schedule will be normal this week, working all the way through Friday night. The fun begins on Saturday with getting the kids up and car ride north. Our plan is to be out of the house by 8 or so, grab a quick breakfast and be on the road by late morning. That would put us at our hotel in Portage, IN early afternoon and would allow for a few stops along the way. I know the boys would be excited to go for a quick swim in the hotel pool when we arrive so we may try and squeeze that in before heading to visit family in Hobart, IN. Sunday (Christmas Eve) will be spent at Pam and Ron's for the Jursic family Christmas and the boys can play with their cousins. Monday morning the plan is to be up and out by about 7-8am-ish and headed home. We hope to be back in Bloomington for the Williamson Family Christmas by 12 noon at Mom and Dad's (err Grandma and Grandpa's) house and afterwards will proceed to our own house to see if/what Santa brought for the the boys!
Not sure if time will permit me to post anything else before Christmas. If not, everyone please have a safe and happy holiday!

~Aaron

Williamson Christmas

2006-12-11T12:33:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I added some new photographs over the weekend that include Halloween, Fall, and Christmas related ones. I particularly like the "Ian with Gingerbread House". Ian and I worked on building that gingerbread house on Saturday. It could have had some more decorations but Ian ate most of the spiced gummies before we could decorate with them :-) . We got the idea for a gingerbread house from the 'Other Features' on one of his favorite DVD movies - "Hansel and Gretel". Which is a really cute movie for kids, that stars Howie Mandel, Gerald McRaney, Delta Burke, and Lynn Redgrave. In the "Special Features" section they have a chef demonstrating the creation of the Gingerbread Houses and Ian wanted to make one. What a fun time we had. After Ian and Mommy decorated our Christmas Tree, Ian and I started working on our Gingerbread House. It was a battle keeping Sean and Ian from eating it all before we were finished. We partially succeeded, Ian ate most of the spiced gummies and the kit we used included some cookie ornaments we could decorate and hang on the tree which Sean ate all of them before we could decorate. The house turned out surprisingly well though and as you can see from the photo, Ian was very proud!
Well hopefully we will get a "Southern" Williamson input here, as Cousin Scott down in Tennessee has agreed to author some news letters about life with his family in Tennessee. Scott was a great contributor to our old newsletter before it went kaput, so we look forward to his family updates when he has time to send them in! If anyone else wants to participate or has any ideas to add, please feel free to let me know. This is for us all, so all ideas are welcome and appreciated. Well thats all for now so be safe and take care.

Aaron

First Greeting

2006-12-06T14:42:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone from frigid Bloomington. Ok, so its only mid 30's and its December so we can't really consider it 'frigid', but given that it's been in the mid 50's and 60's all winter it really does spoil you a bit. It's been quite a while since I have had any sort of "news letter" available. Since my ISP decided to 'upgrad' my service I have lost many of the features I used before. I could reclaim them if I wanted to use one of their silly little templates but I chose to go with a custom site instead so I hope this blog can serve as a news letter for transmitting information.
The boys are growing like weeds! Ian is almost 1/2 as tall as mommy, and Sean is catching him. Nothing really new to report at the moment on the boys, but they are really getting in to Christmas (at least Ian is) this year. They love the lights, decorations and can't wait until we get time to put our X-mas tree up. Sean is fascinated with the Moon and loves to point it out and tell us what it is. He also is 'pa-paws' side kick and can't wait until grandpa get in the door before trying to climb him. Ian right now is more interested in cars, including the movie "Cars". He also loves watching "Harry Potter", "Monster House" and "Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown".

Well hope every ones Thanksgiving was a good. Thanks for stopping by.

Regards,
Aaron