dallashistory

Link to Article: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/d ... 8f26b.html

Article:
Former Director, Caretakers in War of Words over Alamo

02:07 PM CDT on Sunday, July 19, 2009
By MARJORIE KORN / The Dallas Morning News
mkorn@dallasnews.com

The Alamo, a revered home of Texas' fight for independence, is caught up in a modern-day clash over money, power and publicity.

Three of its top managers have quit since May, including the director who says the shrine's private guardians thwarted plans to bolster the Alamo's financial stability – which relies mostly on gift store sales.

David Stewart, who abruptly retired two months ago after seven years as director, said leaders of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas – longtime caretakers of the San Antonio landmark – suffer from a lack of business savvy that hinders decision-making and stalls innovations.

He said they derailed money-making efforts to enhance the Alamo's tourist appeals, build ties to national museums and expand a marketing, membership and licensing campaign.

Patti Atkins, president general of the Daughters, defended the group's management and said his concerns are overblown.

But Stewart said the lack of new revenue sources contributed to recent cuts of $500,000 in the Alamo's operating budget.

"That's what happens when you get too taken up in your own thoughts rather than the good of the organization, the good of the location, the good of the business, and that's part of lacking business sense," he said of the Daughters in an interview with The Dallas Morning News .

"You've got to continue to move forward; they tend to fall back instead of move forward," he said, a rare public rebuke of a group known for vigilantly protecting the Alamo as a memorial to Texas liberty.

Atkins acknowledged that some of Stewart's ideas were put on hold and others had unrealistic timetables.

"I feel like we're running it as a business," she said. "As long as it's operating adequately, I feel like we're keeping everything on track. I'm a bit surprised that Mr. Stewart would have anything negative to say about the DRT or the way the complex is being run."

Over the years, critics have assailed the Daughters as snobby, hidebound control freaks. Backers vehemently reject that, saying the all-volunteer group deserves high praise and respect for maintaining the Alamo for more than a century as one of the nation's most visited attractions – without charging admission or taking tax money.

"The last 105 years has pretty much spoken for itself," Atkins said of the group's work in preserving the site after it was neglected and exploited for much of its early history.

Unusual rebuke

Alamo staff members seldom cross the Daughters publicly. That's why Stewart's critique is so unusual, not only for its bluntness but also for the depiction of workplace tensions caused by the regular turnover in the Daughters' leadership that he said stanched some initiatives.

Stewart said he recognized the challenges in making changes to a Texas historical icon. But he said he grew weary of trying to persuade the Daughters to embrace multiple revenue opportunities.

"I just don't think the passion is there to move in the direction I wanted it to move," he said. The Alamo needs support beyond just paying its bills, he said, but the Daughters balked at some of the projects because they "thought they were losing control."

Atkins denied that. "I'm very disappointed Mr. Stewart would choose to comment about our relationship, because we felt like we had a professional relationship and we parted on good terms," she said.

Stewart, 70, who has Parkinson's, stepped down at the end of May, partly because of job-related stress, he said.

Within a week, Craig Stinson, who was poised to launch the Alamo's first-ever membership program, also quit. Stinson, the marketing and development manager for two years, declined to comment.

Another key staffer who left that month, Barbara Langford, supervised the retail shop. She cited health and personal reasons and said she stayed longer than she would have preferred out of loyalty to Stewart and her love of the Alamo.

Atkins said the gift store job has been filled, other staff members have been trained to assume the marketing duties and the Daughters are reviewing applications for a new director.

The Daughters, a nonprofit that must file financial reports with the governor's office, said that for fiscal year 2008, the Alamo had $2.9 million in net assets, retail sales of about $5.3 million and $609,800 in donations. The group declined to provide The News its full report.

Promotional efforts

Stewart is credited by many for business and promotional achievements.

He ushered in audio tours with music, sound effects and narration of the famed 13-day siege that ended March 6, 1836, with the fall of the Texas-defended Alamo to the Mexican army.

A month later, Texas loyalists rallied to the cry of "Remember the Alamo!" and defeated Mexican forces at the Battle of San Jacinto – securing Texas' independence.

Stewart, along with resident historian Richard Bruce Winders, expanded exhibits to add a more contemporary historical account of the fight.

And Stewart helped with the Alamo's largest expansion effort – $60 million in capital improvements for which donations are still being taken.

Before he arrived, Stewart said, the Alamo had been too insulated from civic, business and political leaders, and he sought more interaction with them – exposure that he said rankled some Daughters.

The Alamo drew 2.5 million visitors last year, but its budget recently was cut to $5 million from $5.5 million in response to an expected drop in tourists this season, he said.

Stewart, a San Antonio native, said his added revenue proposals were in line with the tenor of the Alamo and he's worried that now they will founder.

Earlier this year, he and Stinson, the marketing manager, were prepared to kick off a paid membership program featuring invitations to onsite events, business discounts and a newsletter that could grow into a magazine with ad sales.

The membership drive also would have given the Alamo a database of potential donors. Stinson estimated it might reach half a million people – as many as the San Diego Zoo does with a similar offer.

In response, Atkins said the Daughters are developing "Allies of the Alamo," a plan identical to Stewart's. She said it has no projected rollout date and called Stewart's timetable premature.

An Austin advertising agency that's working on the Allies program said it may be presented to the Daughters later this summer.

As for external marketing, Stewart announced plans in March to unveil the Alamo's first proprietary logo in May. Using that, the Alamo could license its well-known image, like the NFL, tapping another profitable income stream. The logo, designed by an El Paso artist, has not been released.

Atkins said that the Daughters favor having an official logo but that Stewart had set an unattainable deadline. It will be made public after an internal review and the membership program goes live, she said.

Ultimately, said Stephen Hardin, an Alamo expert at McMurry University in Abilene, the Daughters are reluctant to make commercialized changes they may later have to undo. After all, he said, they are conservators of a shrine – not an amusement park.

"You don't want to pander to trends that might not stand the test of time," he said.

Stewart said he was frustrated that the Daughters rejected his recommendation to seek accreditation from the American Association of Museums, a national nonprofit whose seal of approval adds legitimacy and prestige to institutions. Members can share exhibits and refer to the accreditation in fundraising appeals.

"They stopped that process because they didn't need anyone to tell them how to run the Alamo," Stewart said.

Atkins said the Daughters' Board of Management declined to pursue accreditation because it was too costly and the Daughters consider the Alamo a historic site, not a museum.

Stewart said his proposals would have supplemented Alamo funding, heavily tied to the gift store. It usually provides more than 90 percent of its income, selling a bonanza of souvenirs – from cups to key chains, plastic Jim Bowie knives to Davy Crockett coonskin caps.

Langford, with 15 years of museum retail experience, took over the shop in 2005 and said she eliminated inefficiencies and elevated the quality of merchandise. After a year, gross profits rose to $5.5 million from $3.8 million, without a corresponding jump in tourists, she said.

"If it would have been a private company, it would have been out of business," she said of the way it had been run.

Atkins said the increase came from a boon in the economy.

Handling turnover

The Daughters, who descend from pre-statehood Texas pioneers, have overseen the state-owned Alamo for more than a century.

Stewart said they must approve all major decisions, and since the group's top ranks change every two years, Alamo staffers constantly must re-establish working relationships – sometimes with new leaders with different visions.

"It gets to be very difficult," he said.

Atkins, who is from Liberty, Texas, and works with an oil field company, said that in the past couple of years, the Daughters have used electronic meetings that allow its governing committees to meet more frequently to expedite decisions.

One of the Alamo gift store vendors, James Arnold of Frisco, who worked with the Daughters for 20 years before retiring, said they have "done a magnificent job" tending to the Alamo.

"There is nobody that has as much interest in protecting the Alamo image and protecting the shrine itself, maintaining it the way it needs to be," he said.

Erin Bowman, a member of the Daughters and a longtime San Antonio fundraiser, disagreed.

She secured a $1 million grant for the capital campaign last year, but the Daughters' management board dismissed her as a volunteer fundraiser because she didn't get the president general's signature on the grant application, Bowman said.

The San Antonio Area Foundation, a philanthropy group that helps charities and others, now holds the money, off-limits to the Daughters until they produce a viable business plan, Bowman said.

"They do not have expertise in a lot of areas and they refuse to listen to people who do," she said.

Atkins declined to comment about the incident.

Disputes over the Daughters' control of the Alamo have prompted calls before for changes. Bills have been introduced in the Legislature to remove them and give the state authority over its finances. The measures have failed each time.

AT A GLANCE: PROTECTING THE ALAMO
For 13 days in 1836, Texas loyalists at the Alamo – including Jim Bowie, William Travis and Davy Crockett – staved off Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his well-armed troops. In the pre-dawn hours of March 6, Mexican forces overtook and killed most of those who remained.

Forty-six days later, in the Battle of San Jacinto, Gen. Sam Houston and his men, who coined the enduring phrase "Remember the Alamo," defeated the larger Mexican army – and the Republic of Texas was born. For 13 days in 1836, Texas loyalists at the Alamo – including Jim Bowie, William Travis and Davy Crockett – staved off Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his well-armed troops. In the pre-dawn hours of March 6, Mexican forces overtook and killed most of those who remained.

Forty-six days later, in the Battle of San Jacinto, Gen. Sam Houston and his men, who coined the enduring phrase "Remember the Alamo," defeated the larger Mexican army – and the Republic of Texas was born.

HISTORIC ICON: The state owns the Alamo, on 4 acres in downtown San Antonio. The all-volunteer Daughters of the Republic of Texas manage the site as a shrine to liberty.

EXCLUSIVE MEMBERS: The Daughters have about 6,600 members, women who must prove they're descendants of pre-statehood Texas pioneers.

EARLY DAYS: In 1903, two Daughters, Adina de Zavala and Clara Driscoll, helped acquire the Alamo from investors eyeing it for a hotel. The state reimbursed them in 1905 and put the complex in their care.

FUNDING: The Alamo's gift store sales make up the bulk of its funds. The Daughters, with about 85 employees and a $5 million budget, do not charge admission or take government money.

OPERATING RULES: The Daughters must each year relay the group's budget information to the governor's office, which has no control over the finances.

End of Article

Sour grapes, I think.

The Daughters have or used to have a family history library at the Alamo. The first member of my family to reach Texas got there a generation late for anyone to be considered for an organzation like the DRT. Nonetheless I had a few hours in San Antonio one time and thought to visit their library and see what they did have on my family. There were NOT any kind of signs at the door about entry by arrangement or appointment or with permission, but gosh, the lady who was the gatekeeper would have not acted any different if I had gone in unknown and unannounced from Commerce Street and asked her daughter for a date.

Shouldn't generalize, I know. But I'm not surprised at a report that the leadership is hard to deal with.

Bless 'em though. I hope they have find revenue to maintain the Alamo.

Link to Article: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/d ... 5b696.html

Article:
Alamo Caretakers' Audits Ignored, Not Required by Governor's Staff

07:17 AM CDT on Monday, August 10, 2009
By MARJORIE KORN / The Dallas Morning News
mkorn@dallasnews.com

For at least the past decade, the Texas governor's office has never reviewed financial reports submitted by the volunteer group running the Alamo – and in recent years, it has thrown away most of the records.

Gov. Rick Perry's staff said his office isn't responsible for keeping or examining the annual independent audits from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Alamo's longtime custodians.

That means no Texas official or agency oversees the Daughters' management of the state-owned landmark – a lack of scrutiny that concerns the Alamo's former director and the San Antonio mayor, who say more safeguards are needed.

"The DRT has done a laudable job preserving the Alamo, but oversight is always a good idea, particularly for a jewel like the Alamo that's historically significant and economically important," said Mayor Julián Castro. "I'm hopeful a more active role will be taken at the state level to ensure oversight."

The Alamo's operations have come under renewed focus after three of its top managers quit this spring, including the director, David Stewart, who said the Daughters stymied ideas to increase revenue.

Also, two rebellious Daughters, critical of the organization's leaders for resisting new business initiatives, have formed a separate nonprofit to raise money for the Alamo – outside the group's control.

The Daughters' president general, Patti Atkins, dismissed the complaints, saying the Alamo's financial stability is secure and its marketing and development plans are being sharpened.

For more than a century, the group has cared for the state's most popular tourist attraction – without charging admission or taking taxpayer money. The Alamo's latest budget is about $5 million, almost all from its gift store sales.

Atkins said the Daughters, apparently as part of their bylaws, have for years provided annual financial reports to the governor and will continue to do so, even though state statutes do not require it.

As for the reports being trashed without any evaluation, Atkins said it doesn't bother her. "What they do with them is up to them," she said.

Stewart said that like the Texas Historical Commission that vets plans to make physical changes to the Alamo, the state should be as active in reviewing its financial practices.

"It's nice to give someone the responsibility to manage one of your properties, but you have to care enough to make sure it's being managed right," he said.

The Daughters' backers say they deserve much credit for their work in protecting the Alamo, where Texas loyalists fell to the Mexican Army in 1836. The Daughters, who trace their family lineage to Texas' revolutionary era, have about 6,000 members.

No requirement

The Dallas Morning News asked the governor's office for copies of all financial documents from the Daughters since 2000. It found audits up until 2006, when the office apparently started tossing them, said Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.

"There's no statutory requirement, there's no contractual requirement, for them to submit it, or for us to keep it ... so we don't," she said.

The Daughters' 2006 audit was far less specific than those from previous years. It did not include line-by-line spending, expenses or assets of its nonprofit Alamo Fund, the account used for Alamo transactions.

Other documents in the governor's office were summaries of the Daughters' proceeds from the sale of Native Texan license plates – about $65,000 last year.

The only recovered records from this year, said Perry's office, were the first three sheets of a 16-page audit of the Alamo Fund, dated March 31, by Tsakopulos Brown Schott & Anchors, a San Antonio accounting firm.

One page includes a handwritten note, apparently from a Perry staffer: "Gov. office does not need to receive this. We can throw away – (from non profit organ.)"

The Daughters so far have declined to give The News a full copy of its March audit. Because the governor's office discards the audits, the public's access to the documents is limited.

Stewart left in May after seven years as director, frustrated with the Daughters for blocking some of his efforts to boost income beyond the retail store. He wanted to run the Alamo more like a modern museum, with membership drives, licensing deals and national accreditation.

Atkins said some of Stewart's proposals had unrealistic timetables, needed more work or were too costly to enact.

Changes sought

A few group members are pushing for deeper changes.

Diane MacDiarmid and Erin Bowman of San Antonio have started the Alamo Endowment, a nonprofit to raise money for preservation and educational programs.

MacDiarmid said that in a tough economy, the Daughters should be open to more revenue opportunities – and state oversight.

"Everybody should have some accountability to someone," MacDiarmid said. Plus, she said, the Daughters' leadership changes frequently and only a few know the day-to-day financials.

Atkins said the Daughters have shown they have the expertise to run the Alamo, and the group's attorney has called on Bowman to stop her rival fundraising campaign.

The Legislature has considered bills to give the state more control, but none came close to being passed.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, a Democrat whose district includes the Alamo, said she plans to meet with the Daughters this week to discuss the historic site's structural soundness.

But, she said, the Daughters have been excellent stewards and the Legislature is not interested in getting involved in its finances.

"We don't want to meddle," she said.

End of Article

Lege doesn't want to meddle? Probably more like "If we get involved, it is gonna turn into a deal like Battleship Texas, with a need to spend much money and a lot of upset people (some of whom have money and stroke) when we don't. Or do and they they don't like how we did it", I'd guess.

A more recent article from the Wall Street Journal....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1250715 ... b_page_one

Just an excerpt from the article....

SAN ANTONIO -- There's a new battle under way for control of the Alamo -- and just like the Texas legend, neither side shows any sign of surrender.

For more than a century, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas -- nearly 7,000 women who trace their pedigrees back to the origins of the Texas Republic -- have had total control of the Alamo, the state's most revered historic site. They maintain what's left of the old mission, manage its historic exhibits and run the gift shop. They don't charge admission, and the site doesn't cost the state government a penny.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for posting the WSJ article Fred I was going to follow up with the article, but got busy else where.

Getting ugly - DRT is apparently trying to kick a couple of members out for talking too much. Or maybe not too much, but saying the wrong things. Story in our local rag this morning.

Link to Article: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/d ... e60b1.html

Article:

Hutchison, Part of Group That Runs Alamo, Says State Needs Bigger Role in Shrine's Finances

09:49 AM CDT on Sunday, August 23, 2009
By MARJORIE KORN / The Dallas Morning News
mkorn@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a member of the volunteer group that runs the Alamo, says the governor's office should take a more active role in reviewing the state-owned shrine's finances.

Hutchison, a Republican trying to unseat GOP Gov. Rick Perry, admonished his office for not examining the independent audits it receives annually from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Alamo's custodians since 1905.

"The governor's office, for sure, should be looking at the audits, instead of throwing them away and saying, 'We don't need to look at this,' " Hutchison said last week.

Perry countered, saying that instead of having his office or the Legislature intercede, the city of San Antonio and the Daughters should work together to ensure proper scrutiny. He said he favors more transparency, but stopped short of intervention.

"The state has no direct oversight or authority. And frankly, us trying to force ourselves into that without the appropriate legislative oversight and the appropriate legislative debate might be a little presumptuous," Perry said.

The Alamo's former director and a few group members have complained that the Daughters squelched efforts to boost on-site revenue. The Daughters' leaders say the Alamo is financially secure and well-run.

For at least the past decade, the governor's office has never examined the financial reports from the Daughters – and in recent years, it has thrown away most of the records. That means no Texas agency oversees the Daughters' finances.

"We all hold the Alamo very dear," Perry said. If there are "some questions about the finances, I would hope the Daughters would be very forthcoming with those documents."

Hutchison said "there is a fiduciary responsibility on the governor's part to make sure that somebody is looking at the audits."

Her call for greater state involvement is in line with San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, who earlier said more safeguards are needed.

The Alamo, where Texas loyalists fell to the Mexican Army in 1836, is a revered icon. The Daughters, who trace their family lineage to Texas' revolutionary era, have about 6,000 members, including Hutchison, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles S. Taylor, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

The Alamo's latest budget is about $5 million, almost all from its gift store sales. The Daughters do not charge admission or take taxpayer money.

End of Article

A photo of the Alamo would seem appropriate for this sub.

Ummm.... The Alamo operation is not funded by the taxpayers of Texas. So, why does KBH attack Perry for not reviewing the finances of the DTR which are not subject to purview of the State? ..........KBH is acting like a Senate Democrat in trying to sling any mud she can grab.

Fred Ragsdale wrote:Ummm.... The Alamo operation is not funded by the taxpayers of Texas. So, why does KBH attack Perry for not reviewing the finances of the DTR which are not subject to purview of the State? ..........KBH is acting like a Senate Democrat in trying to sling any mud she can grab.

OK - the Alamo is owned by the State of Texas, and operated, on behalf of the State and its people by DRT, essentially as trustees.

The operation is self-funded, but the audits are provided to the Governor. It is NOT mud-slinging to suggest that the Governor's office review those and make problems revealed public. If nothing else, that keeps the DRT honest (and before you suggest that means I think they aren't, no, that isn't what i think. But - Quis cusdodiet ipsos custodes, eh?).


Beyond which, Rick P is a villain and is already so covered in mud from wallowing in the mire you can hardly see him. So - If it was mud-slinging, you'd never be able to tell.

Though left unsaid by the parties involved, I feel that the DRT is probably also feeling the heat for not being multi-cultural enough for contemporary Texas. The roots of this situation extend back deeper in time than is the case for most lineage societies, due to the conflict between Adina De Zavala and Clara Driscoll, which occurred with its organization. But I wonder whether we'd have an Alamo 'shrine' to visit -- today -- if it had not been for the Daughters.

The DRT represents an old-fashioned and bigoted womanhood. Do I agree with that? Yes and no. Do I and others need to apply to join the Daughters if we are able? Yes

PS. The Alamo gift shop is said to be haunted, so maybe that had something to do with the manager's skedaddling (not that I believe in ghosts)

Holly, I agree with you that MANY Mexicans chose to stay in the new Republic of Texas, where they had lived for many years, and descendant females from those families should also be permitted as members of the DRT. ....There were very few slaves or freedmen in the area at the time.

As I mentioned years ago, I had folks in East Texas (Tyler area) that were there in the 1820s when the land was still Mexico. They had to swear allegiance to Mexico and adopt the Catholic religion. The oldest, George Pollitt, became a first rigodor (like a top city or area judge in the area for Mexico?). I'm descended from him and Edgar, who may have been a nephew or a son of George. As the article from the TSHA below shows, there are conflicting data out there about George and Edgar and their relationship. It's just ANOTHER kink in my family tree. Some of Edgar's land was essentially "stolen" to create the new County Seat for a new Smith County....Tyler. I have an old newspaper article that shows how a town committee of less than a handfull of guys railroaded him in to accepting less than value for land that created the center of the town of Tyler. (Sounds like the plot for one of the old black & white oater films, doesn't it! )
--------------------------------------------

POLLITT, GEORGE (1797-1840). George Pollitt, first regidor of the ayuntamiento of Nacogdoches, was probably born in Maryland in 1797. He moved to Nacogdoches before 1826 and applied for Mexican citizenship in 1827. The 1830 Nacogdoches census lists him as a single man, age thirty-five, a tanner by profession. Other records indicate that he was married to a woman named Martha and had two children when he arrived in Texas. He bought the mercantile houses of Thomas F. McKinney in 1830. On April 10, 1835, Pollitt received title to twelve labors, and on September 10, 1835, he received title to eleven leagues. The first grant was in territory that later became part of Nacogdoches County, the second in what became Upshur County. Pollitt became the first regidor of Nacogdoches in 1836. The 1840 census shows him as owner of half a town lot and 1,476 acres, and as guardian of another 1,476 acres for Edgar Pollitt. Pollitt was a Presbyterian. After the Texas Revolution he sold his mercantile business, and in August 1840 he sold his tanyard and his home to Frost Thorn. N. Adolphus Sterne recorded in his diary in November 1840 that he "had heard that George Pollitt had died."

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carolyn Reeves Ericson, Nacogdoches, Gateway to Texas: A Biographical Directory (2 vols., Fort Worth: Arrow-Curtis Printing, 1974, 1987). Virginia H. Taylor, The Spanish Archives of the General Land Office of Texas (Austin: Lone Star, 1955). Gifford E. White, 1830 Citizens of Texas (Austin: Eakin, 1983). Gifford E. White, 1840 Citizens of Texas (2 vols., Austin, 1983-84). Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938-43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970).

Scott Bacon

Fred, you have a fascinating and colorful family history. I can see it playing as a multi-episode epic on big-screen TV ... beginning with little Godfrey just after Jamestown and ending with you (and yours). Some of it could be filmed in black and white -- even be silent, maybe -- but a lot of it should be in technicolor, too

Thanks, Holly!

I wish I could close several gaps in my family history, just so I could write a complete storyline on how they all meshed together. It would be a small booklet (without all of the genealogy that wasn't pertinent). ....I can't trace my Crawfords before 1818, and they were a wild bunch that came to Texas in the late 1890s, supposedly to escape the hanging tree. Camped, hunted and probably bootlegged in the Big Thicket in the 1900s.

Fred, when we lived in Texas City the editor of the paper (The Texas City Sun) was named Clyde Ragsdale, Do you know if you have a connection with him?

Could be, Clyde, since (supposedly) all of us Ragsdales descend from Godfrey Ragsdale, the baby who survived the Indian massacre at Olde Towne (Jamestown VA) that survived the raid led by the uncle of Pocahontas.

Thanks for the info. I'll do some searchin' and see what turns up regarding the Clyde Ragsdale in Texas City.

Be interesting to see what you turn up. I did a real quick look, and discovered the individual refeenced was Clyde B. Ragsdale and wrote a book (THE BIG FIST) in 1952, in addition to his newspaper day job.

The new/splinter group, 'Friends of the Alamo,' have an active page on Facebook which I joined not long ago. I'm still not sure what to think about this fissure, though long have felt that the whole of Mission San Antonio de Valero's past should be better-represented at the shrine (and the Friends are more inclusive ~ honoring both Anglo and Tejano sacrifices and contributions). At the same time, many men gave their lives here for a cause which many more men and women really can't relate to today ... because we live such cushy lives, imho. We can afford to be armchair generals and 'enlightened souls.' So, watch, wait, meditate and join up, perhaps. At least these two sides care enough to argue and fight over the Alamo (and $$$)!

http://www.friendsofthealamo.org/home.aspx

Shared by the Friends:

http://tinyurl.com/ybf3aqu

http://tinyurl.com/y8tbehg

http://tinyurl.com/yb2tdqe

PS. Maybe a new group - Heart of the Alamo - should be founded. Members have to go barefoot, sing or chant every day, practice overt kindness and forgiveness, and carry on even when the roof of the Shrine caves in and the powers-that-be have forgotten you.