Guns Save Life defends your right to defend yourself. We also defend those who have fought to defend our lives – our veterans.
We are a staunch supporter of America’s current and former armed forces members. We honor their service and sacrifice, made to protect and defend freedom, liberty and our way of life.
So it doesn’t sit well with us when veterans are ill-treated by people who would lie about them, steal from them or cheat them out of what’s due to them.
In Champaign County, IL, it seems there’s a little of all three going on if you listen to the guys who have been running the beer sales tent at the Champaign County Fair since around the end of World War II.
Local veterans volunteer to serve beer at the roughly 10-day event as a fundraiser to benefit the Disabled American Veterans’ local chapter. These vets have operated their beer garden without significant issues relating to rowdiness or drunkenness for decades as their primary money-maker, earning them upwards of $25,000 that’s used for local disabled vets and their families.
Back in the day, the local fair board would get $.25 per beer sold.
But since Barack Obama’s inauguration, local political appointees to the Fair Board (Democrats?) have made life rough for the DAV members and their fundraiser at the fairgrounds.
They began by increasing their take on each beer. It went to $.50 per beer, and more recently, 50% of the net proceeds after they charged all sorts of expenses towards the beer tent (and opened a second beer tent near the grandstand which the fair board operated, keeping 100% of the revenues from that tent).
Last year, despite the second beer tent at the grandstands, the vets still managed to sell $23,340 in beer.
Months and months later, after repeatedly hounding the fair board for their money, they got a check for less than $3400, and a notice that they were out as the beer sellers. 14 cents on the dollar.
Their eviction was despite the infrastructure the veterans donated (and constructed) for the beer garden over the decades.
If you can spell raw deal, you’re on the right track.
It’s not sitting well with the vets and it doesn’t sit well with us.
They are launching nightly protests at this year’s Champaign County Fair, picketing from 5p-7p each night on the sidewalks near the entrances to publicize what’s happened – and to encourage folks to boycott alcohol sales at the fair. In fact, if people stayed away from the Champaign County Fair altogether this year, it wouldn’t break the veterans’ hearts.
The local newspaper is covering the story, too.
URBANA (News-Gazette) — In three days, the beer war between the Champaign County Fair and the local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans will come to a frosty head.
Fair organizers say it will be business as usual when the annual event opens Friday with the return of stock car racing.
But DAV members are calling for chaos — a boycott on beer sales by all fairgoers. It’s a message they plan to spread all nine days, months after the fair board cut its decade-long ties to an outfit that had relied on fair beer sales to keep it afloat.
“We are going to be everywhere there is a sidewalk and where the traffic flows,” local DAV Commander Marty Poling said. “The police have told us we can picket and express our views everywhere there is a sidewalk and where traffic flows.”
This isn’t the first run-in the DAV members have had with the local fair board.
In 2013, during the Grandstand Concert night, the announcers noted that all beer sales proceeds would go to the local Disabled American Veterans chapter, according to vets who were there.
That money never appeared, according to the DAV.
If this doesn’t sit well with you, make yourself a sign or grab an American flag (or a “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag) and come out to the Champaign County Fairgrounds tonight, or on subsequent nights.
The ground rules: Stay on the sidewalks, try not to obstruct traffic by crossing the street too often, and don’t loiter. You must keep moving. Because this is not a “permitted” rally, concealed carry is welcome for licensed individuals. Lastly, have a good time while expressing your First Amendment rights to support our troops.
Rest assured, I will advise any and all I meet to refrain from attending the Champaign County Fair, or at a minimum, all beer tents.
Sounds like it is time to unseat some of the local fair board members.
The Social Security Administration and the VA are both putting people in the NICS database for normal “aging issues.”
This is just wrong on so many levels. I wish I was able to be there for one of the protest nights, but work and personal obligations conflict. Made some signs for those that are going to be there to carry. Hope this gets some big media attention and that beer sales are down. I urge anyone that has an hour to spare to grab a sign and walk around. Or make a sign and drop it off. Shame on you, Champaign County Fair Board.
I can’t join the protest, but I sure won’t be attending the fair this year.
Make it convenient for us… Would someone please post a list of board members and their phone numbers so we can register our personal complaints.
I have a special place in my heart for people who say they support our troops but then try to crap on (or spit upon) them when they think nobody’s looking.
A special place indeed.
What can you use a democrap for ? Nothing.
A boat anchor
They are all so full of hot air and bovine dung that they wouldn’t sink, they would float beside your boat polluting and smelling up the area drawing flies and mosquitos so that the EPA would haul you off to jail.
… really dirty jobs.
Work, that’s too funny. Useless, worthless libs get into jobs like that so they DON’T have to work. Just dictate to others.
…a bad example of hipocracy in action.
The Fair board is on record as saying they support other local Veterans’ organizations, how about they produce the data as to how much and which organizations received their “support”. Talk is cheap, actions and factual information speak volumes.
I haven’t attended the county fair for years now. Your not missing anything.
I always enjoyed the demo derby with the wife.
We took a pass on it this year, in support of the veterans.
Wendy and I weren’t all the fond of literally going out of our way to continue to support leadership that stabs veterans in the back when nobody’s looking.
I truely think that ALL the Champ Co fair board members Names and phone numbers should be posted for all to view and make their lives a lot more difficult,maybe then they’ll get their head out of their rectum.
They seem to be standing behind their choice, so they shouldn’t mind explaining their logic.
http://www.co.champaign.il.us/COUNTYBD/cbmembers.pdf
The DAV are the ones that started the beer tent. The greedy fair boards president, Mike Kobel’s decision to take away they’re only fundraiser was not only cruel but a disgusting show of total disrespect for them! They are the ones that should receive the profits from the beer tent. Not any other organizations and not the fair board either! For the fair board to donate the money to other ones is just another slap in the face!If you look at the last 3 or 4 yrs since the new fair board president took over they have gradually been taking $money$ away from the DAV. He also got rid of the American Legions fish stand. It’s all about money and the fair board wants it! We need a fair board that is for the people not profits.