Residents are making plans for tomorrow night, but the Fourth of July is about more than just cookouts and fireworks. In this week's editorial, KAUZ General Manager, Mike DeLier hits at the heart of the special day.

Before the Declaration of Independence - before Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and the Boston Tea Party - the citizens of this country were British subjects. They paid their taxes to the Crown, served in the forces of the British Empire - and many led very comfortable lives, even by today's standards.

Yet they wanted more and some risked and sacrificed everything they had for themselves and their families - but also for us. We are living the future for those American patriots - and we should be ever mindful of their cause, their sacrifice and their hopes and dreams.

What was to become the United States of America was inhabited by roughly three million people. The population was scattered mostly up and down the East Coast. The rest unexplored wilderness for the most part. Yet these brave men and women risked everything for "freedom" They were and are American patriots. So too are the generations that followed them - and served on the home front and those in the service of this country that have stood guard over our way of life of freedom.

There have always been threats to our way of life - but every generation has met them head on and we continue to be the greatest and most successful social experiment in the history of mankind. This July 4th week, let's do more than just set off fire crackers. Let's remember the sacrifice of all those who gave us our declaration of independence - and those who protect these rights!

Happy Independence Day.

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