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Above left, Peter Krause and Susan English read the Declatation of Independence as part of the July 4th kickoff. Right, Russell Haas, Frank Brommenschenkel, Jim McCoy and Dave Lagesse cook up the pancakes for the annual July 4th Pancake Breakfast.

July 4th celebration kicks off with Pancake breakfast

July 08, 2005
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula TimesThe 4th of July started and ended with a bang as the day started with a Pancake Breakfast that brought hundreds of hungry celebrants to the Depot and ended with a 30-minute fireworks’ spectacular at Harding Park that was visible throughout the city.“They just keep coming and going,” said Jim McCoy who was a volunteer at the 2nd Annual Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast.“I’m just waiting for the sun to come out!” noted Supervisor Kathy Long of the overcast morning.Long added that she would not be speaking during the program but “I’m going to wave!”The Depot was festooned with red, white and blue bunting and flags as the Optimist Club and other volunteers kept the pancakes, sausage and orange juice coming for the crowd.Former Mayor Don Johnson led the Pledge of Allegiance before City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz welcomed the crowd and introduced Mayor Mary Ann Krause.“I wanted to welcome all of you and tell you what a privilege it was to represent Santa Paula,” on a recent trip to Washington, D.C. noted Krause.
“It was my first trip,” to the nation’s Capital and Krause said she met with various elected officials and their staffs, but the “Highpoint for me was meeting up with the students from Isbell Middle School,” touring Washington. “They are the future of Santa Paula. They also learned that Washington is not just about history” but also that they can put a face on a community’s name through their visit.Krause asked each in the crowd that “You dedicate your day to the repressed people and how to win their freedom...”During Krause’s visit to Washington she visited the FDR Memorial, and found that it was “very moving...”Krause noted that in a 1941 address to Washington correspondents, President Roosevelt said that “Unless the peace that follows recognizes that the whole world is one neighborhood and does justice to the whole human race, the germs of another world war will remain a constant threat to mankind.”Susan English and Peter Krause - respectively the stage manager and star of the Santa Paula Theater Center’s “The Drawer Boy” - read the Declaration of Independence which brought cheers from the crowd.Pancake Breakfast organizer Ron Merson said that the event would not be possible without the help of “All my friends and members of the Optimists and Oddfellows...a lot people came down and helped. It’s a great event but what’s hard is not knowing how many will be here, but we always manage to take care of everybody.”