I thought it appropriate for the upcoming day of celebration on the official birth of our great nation.

A friend of mine forwarded this to me. I used to work under BT Collins when I was in the CCC's.

I still remember the day when he drank (diluted) Malathion during a press conference back in 1981. He did it to prove that Malathion was harmless.
So many people were up in arms over the first big Med-Fly infestation in the San Jose area and the aerial spraying of Malathion
and this was his way of saying "shut the hell up and let us deal with the problem".

Please follow the link to read the essay.
[url]http://www.ranger25.com/B%202%2012%20Kennedy%2011%2025%2063.htm[/url]

Essays On The Vietnam Conflict --
The Courage of Sam Bird
By B. T. Collins
Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000

THIS WONDERFUL PIECE below was forwarded to me this AM. It was written by the late, great, BT Collins, a one legged, one-armed
soldier--as a result of wounds in VN-- who, despite being a hawkish Republican, was Jerry Brown's Chief of Staff in Sacramento. BT also
served as Director of the California Conservation Corps, California Youth Authority, and Assemblyman. He was the main organizer in the drive to raise $3 Million for the CA Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. BT came to De Anza College to participate in this course (numbered as ELIT 30Z in those days) six times as a guest speaker. He beat up the antiwar students and was generally outrageous and inspiring. He was
an early leader in the drive to recognize the contribution of women in Viet Nam. Two days before he died, waiting to have lunch with
Colin Powell, I called BT and told him that he had been selected by the De Anza College students to be the guest speaker at graduation.
The irony of that, as I explained, was that the key in the student committee were two students who were members of De Anza College Students Against War whom BT had flailed in class--they loved his wit and his warmth. Gov. Jerry Brown filled in for BT that year as a substitute graduation speaker at De Anza College -- for BT Collins.
Both Bill Hunt and Michael Kelley also served on BT's Commission that raised the $3,000,000 for the CA VN Veteran's Memorial. Go and see it
trip to Sacramento. Thanks Bill, and Michael, and BT.
Regards, JKS

Note: At the time that this article was written, Mr. B.T. Collins had recovered from severe war wounds to become the highly acclaimed director of the California Conservation Corps and later chief of staff to the governor of California. He later became California's deputy state treasurer.
He is now deceased.
[img]http://www.ranger25.com/Images/B%202%2012%20sam%20BT.jpg[/img]