Reece Gardner: It's all about love!

I plan to talk today about Valentine's Day, and I will do so, but first I want to open my Column with a huge salute to our Lenoir County Health Department for the superb job it is doing in administering the Covid-19 Vaccine to multitudes of people in our area and beyond.

The Lenoir County Sheriff's Department, The Kinston Police Department, The County Manager's Office, and many other outstanding "People Who Care" have joined with our Health Department in administering this Vaccine in a very organized and highly professional manner. Health Care Director Pamela Brown deserves our praise and appreciation for the leadership she has provided in this effort.

The Fairgrounds and The Livestock Arena have been literally packed with continuous crowds of Vaccine receivers, with the whole procedure being handled with clock-like precision. THANK YOU!!

Now for a brief update on what is happening in the effort to put back into operation the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline. More than 80 members of the U.S. House and a growing number of U.S. Senators are making the effort to override the recent Executive Order, which, if allowed to stand, would shut down this $8 Billion oil conduit. These Representatives and Senators have stepped forward and introduced the "Keystone XL Pipeline & Construction Act," which they say would eliminate the NEED for a Presidential permit.

Before Pres. Biden even took office on January 20, he had already pledged to revoke this Permit for the Pipeline set to cross 316 miles of South Dakota countryside in shipping oil toward the Gulf Coast, a distance of 1,700 miles, with the capacity to carry approximately 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas & Oklahoma, creating thousands of high-paying jobs along the way and giving us Energy Independence! The effort to keep this Project alive is definitely underway!

Now, let's talk about Valentine's Day, which occurs every February 14 across the U.S. and in other places around the world. It's all about love and the importance of sharing that love with someone special. It is ETERNAL, and I want to send this message today to My Emma, who ascended into Heaven on Dec. 7, but who remains forever in my heart..

To My Emma:
I believe that in years to come, when the mountains have turned to dust, and all the oceans have run dry, and the cars in the street turn to rust, OUR LOVE WILL STILL BE THERE.
When the rain from the sky doesn't fall, and the stars no longer shine at night, when all the nations have had their wars, and the soldiers have all had their fight, OUR LOVE WILL STILL BE THERE.
I will always love you, no matter what comes in our path, I'll always need you, like I always needed you in the past; I'll always be there in your ups and in your downs, and I'll always love you, even if the world stops going around.
So when days and nights are joined, and the babies no longer cry, when man has been to the ocean depths and reached his arms to the sky, OUR LOVE WILL STILL BE THERE!! ALWAYS!