Austin Names New High School After Fallen Iraq Marine, Moonbat Lefties Go Insane, Try To Stop It
Just got word of this, went over and grabbed this from The Conservative Revolution:
A school district near Austin, TX wants to name a new high school there Vandegrift High School after a fallen Marine who graduated in 1999. He was killed in Iraq serving his country, and the local school board voted to name a new high school after him. This is a great gesture of appreciation. But unfortunately some lunatic leftists are protesting this decision. Please contact the Leander ISD to let them know you support their decision, despite what a vocal, anti-American minority of fringe activists think.
Call the school district at 512-434-5000. Fax a letter to them at 512-434-5398.
Email them:
don.mccall@leanderisd.org
don.hisle@leanderisd.org
elizabeth.frey@leanderisd.org
grace.jordan@leanderisd.org
russell.bundy@leanderisd.org
will.streit@leanderisd.org
jim.sneeringer@leanderisd.org
Superintendent@leanderisd.org
The local school board is scheduled to discuss the matter again Thursday evening. The resolution originally passed unanimously. Please support this school board and encourage them to honor this fallen hero.
UPDATE: Many of you have written the school board and superintendent. Thanks!
Here is the response I got from the Superintendent.
Mr. Steinhauser,
Thanks so much for your e-mail communication. The Leander ISD school board did indeed name our fifth high school “Vandegrift High School” at the June 19th meeting.
Matt Vandegrift was an honor student who exemplified the ethical behaviors that we teach and model for our students. In addition, he volunteered to defend you and me — and our nation — dying in this service. We, too, are proud of Matt, a feel that he will serve as an inspiration/role model for future Vandegrift High School students.
I believe that Vandegrift High School is a name that will inspire our young people, and a worthy choice.
Thanks, again, for your input.
Bret Champion
Bash here…below is a story that appeared July 4th in the Austin Statesman…
Friday, July 04, 2008
He was a top student and an athlete who excelled at almost everything he tried. Now, Matthew Vandegrift, a 28-year-old Marine first lieutenant who died April 21 from combat wounds he suffered in Iraq, will have a high school named after him.
The Leander school board voted unanimously last month to name the district’s fifth high school Lt. Matthew Vandegrift High School.
“Matthew was a very unassuming guy,” his father, John Vandegrift, said last week, reacting to the school district’s decision. “All he would have done was blush.”
Leander school board President Don McCall said: “He was the first of our graduates to die in the war on terror. This was the ideal way to honor him, the military and all the people who protect our freedom.”
As a teenager, Vandegrift made high grades at Leander High School, graduating with honors in 1999.
“Matthew loved the Leander area and had lots of friends here,” his father said. The family moved from the Steiner Ranch neighborhood to Colorado shortly after Vandegrift’s graduation. But Matthew and his younger brother, Barrett, who graduated from Cedar Park High School, frequently traveled back to Leander to visit their high school buddies.
“They were always going out to the lake (Lake Travis) and doing things,” said John Vandegrift, 63, a retired Xerox Corp. executive. “Their ties were very strong.”
After high school, Matthew Vandegrift enrolled at Texas A&M University, graduating again with honors and a degree in international business. His membership in the Aggie Corps of Cadets bolstered his interest in joining the Marines after graduation.
But a physical mishap threatened that dream.
An ardent outdoorsman and runner, he injured a knee ligament and had to have delicate surgery.
“It took Matthew about a year to recover from the surgery,” his father said. “He wanted to enter the Marines. The recruiters told him they had never seen a recruit pass the physical after having that type of injury.
“But Matthew told them, ‘This recruit is going to pass it,’ ” John Vandegrift said. Matthew Vandegrift underwent physical therapy, joined a health club and ran every day near the family’s home in Colorado to strengthen his knee.
“That determination was just a part of his character,” his father said.
Another important part of his son’s personality was the ability to analyze and make choices.
“When I was a kid, I got a lot of spankings from my father when I did something wrong,” John Vandegrift said. “So when I became a father, I decided to raise my boys by offering them choices. When Matthew and Barrett were fighting over a toy, for example, I would sit them down and tell them they had to figure out a way to share that toy. And after talking it over, they would come to me with the answer that one of them would play with it for 10 minutes and then the other would play with it for 10 minutes, and that way they could both enjoy it.”
Matthew Vandegrift’s carefully crafted regimen of rehabilitation paid off, and he was accepted into the Marines in 2005. In August 2007, he shipped out to Iraq as an infantry officer.
His father knew the worst had happened when two military officers appeared at the door of the family’s Colorado home in April.
“I told them, ‘Come in. I know why you’re here,’ ” his father recalled.
Vandegrift’s mother, Mary Jane, is a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. John Vandegrift met her at an airport in Houston, where she had landed after a flight from London.
“The minute Mary Jane saw me, she guessed what had happened,” John Vandegrift said. “She said, ‘Oh, no. Not Matthew. He was so special.’ And then she broke down.”
Matthew Vandegrift is buried in a military cemetery at Fort Logan, Colo., near Denver. The high school bearing his name is scheduled to open in 2010 near the intersection of RM 620 and RM 2222, south of 3M Co. headquarters.
Nods to Katie O’Malley.
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Only in Texas would they do such an honarble act as to name a school after a fallen hero. And only in America would some leftist liberal ass try to shoot it down.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:50 amI am sure the lefties would rather it be named for someone like Noam Chomsky, Norman Mailer or maybe Benedict Arnold. No, naming for a local kid who always (tried) to do the right thing and set a good example isn’t good enough.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:52 amNot suprising considering that an aquaintance from Texas once told me that Travis County is the most liberal county in the entire state.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:02 amthey would rather it be named after Judas.
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and its great that they did this. naming a school after this fallen hero is well deserved.
these lefties can shove their anti-American opinions up their ass for all i care
July 16th, 2008 at 10:22 amI called and was directed to the Superintended by the name of Kathy. Very nice woman who was thankful for my call and my voice of support. It was worth my effort and I am proud of my state.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:24 amIt’s Texas, they’ll stick to their guns. The question now is, what will the school mascot be? I know “Devil Dog” has somehow become controversial in the Corps lately. How about “Recruits”? Nah…that may be pushing it.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:43 amVandegrift Eagles….
July 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pmVandegrift is definitely a Marine’s name: Alexander Vandegrift was the 18th Commandant of the USMC!
He graduated from the only Senior Military College larger than my beloved Tech: Texas A&M. Rest in peace, Lieutenant.
Fuck the leftists, good for the school.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pmYep. Unfortunately my former home town - Austin - is incredibly liberal. Once you get outside of the Austin city limits, though, it gets conservative rather quickly.
Good for the school district.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pmHey, Arizona named a whole mountain, Piestewa Peak in the middle of Phoenix, after Army Spc. Lori Ann Piestewa, the first Native American(Hopi) woman to die in combat in 2003. It was originally called Squaw Peak and was to be renamed Goldwater Peak but it was decided that it should honor someone who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:02 pmAfter all … It IS the left that is responsible for the hold-up on the rebuilding down at NYCity’s Ground Zero.
Fuck! It’s the left that is responsible for no domestic drilling or new refineries in this country.
Hey, it’s the left who is responsible for … pretty much EVERYTHING wrong or failed in this country.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pmThe lefties support the troops HOW?
July 16th, 2008 at 2:57 pmIt is literally time to destroy liberals. They are a cancer upon America.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
To his family RIP. I agree, he deserves to have a school named after him. An honors student and good guy it seems. I hate it when we lose those like him… 
July 16th, 2008 at 5:37 pmdid they give a reason for why they were protesting it?
im kinda curious to see what they possibly could have said in opposition.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:39 pmBut hey , those lefty’s are still supporting the troops!
July 16th, 2008 at 6:00 pm“After high school, Matthew Vandegrift enrolled at Texas A&M University, graduating again with honors and a degree in international business. His membership in the Aggie Corps of Cadets bolstered his interest in joining the Marines after graduation.” (Austin Statesman)
Wasn’t it Garrison Keller who denigrated the U.S. military recently while speaking to high school students? He said that recruits are dipsticks with no education, and if the kids don’t get good grades in school, that’s all they’d be good for.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:33 pmi talked to a friend fm austin and she knew of the new school and its name,,, she also had not heard of a single negative comment about it.. the city seems very gratefull for the MARINE and his service…
July 17th, 2008 at 4:42 amHere is part of an e-mail the Board received:
“Naming the school after someone who
July 17th, 2008 at 5:39 amsigned up
to serve in an illegal war promotes the board’s political pro-war
message.Both my sons will attend this school. Both of them will know that it
was named after someone who willingly signed up to take part in an illegal
war defending, mainly, business interests.”
Also:
http://www.williamsonrepublic.com/
and
http://www.williamsonrepublic.com/
For those who were curious about the extent of the lefties
July 17th, 2008 at 5:44 am[…] are some friendly blog posts from Gathering of Eagles and Pat Dollard. And here is a posting on Free […]
July 17th, 2008 at 6:00 amI bet the leftys are just pissed because Boone has named a school in Texas after a quitter. Erin Wantada High School….. anyone????
July 17th, 2008 at 9:09 amFrom what I’ve seen about Austin (my children grew up there) is that it can be as liberal as The People Republics of Boulder and Berkely, by outside of Travis county it is about as conservative as you can get.
Full round of applause for the School District.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:11 amI am sure the school district will end up sticking with the original decision. This Marine’s family and friends will enlist like minded patriots. People who understand faith and honor and committment. These people will set aside their own interests and schedules and show up. They will have to do this because these whiners couldn’t be bothered to participate when they were supposed to. Just like liberals and those suffering BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) they were irresonsible and didn’t pay attention to this process. Nor did they follow the rules. There was a period of public commentary. Where were those protesters? Did they participate and offer something positive to the process? No. They let other people carry the load, as always, and now that it’s done they want special consideration.
The end result won’t change, it will just give some loons a chance to re-re-re-redebate the Global War on Terror.
BZ to those who have handled this up to this point and came up with the great idea of honoring this Marine.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:41 amThere isn’t some fringe leftie conspiracy to change the school’s name - that’s just propaganda from people who don’t know why there’s a movement to change/augment the name.
The movement is to honor ALL of the soldier’s who have died. The soldier who they are honoring wasn’t the only one to die in Iraq. There was another young hero who also died (the first one from the area, in fact), and his family is sad that there son is being COMPLETELY ignored - all because he left school early to enlist. Why can’t both young heroes be honored equally? Why should one young man who died for our country be ignored, and the other one praised? They were both equally decorated by the military. We should honor both of them equally. I, for one, support Spc. Matthew Troy Morris - KIA Balad, Iraq 4-6-08, and would like to honor him as well. He died, too. We shouldn’t ignore him or his family, and shame on anyone who thinks he ought to be forgotten.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:04 pm