We attended Joe’s Viewing today at the funeral home. I talked to his brother and he told me that the whole family wrote his obituary for the Local Paper, The Daily Camera in Boulder.
Here is the link:
And the text:
Joseph Albert Mangus, 36, died unexpectedly in Louisville early Tuesday morning. April 10, 2007.
He was born July 26th 1970, in Leadville CO. to Gerald Hoffman and Ruth (Fillerup) Mangus. He graduated from Centaurus high school in 1989. He enlisted in the Army in 1990 and is a veteran of the first Gulf war, Desert Shield. He had recently returned home from his second tour in Iraq with B Company 2/300 Field Artillery battalion of the Wyoming National Guard. He had volunteered for his second tour in Iraq because he strongly believed that the people in Iraq deserved the same freedoms he had.
He was a deputy for the Fremont County Sheriff’s department in Lander, Wyoming
Joseph married Rhonda Bring 1990 and they had two children, they later divorced. He was later married and subsequently divorced from Karla Davis.
He is survived by his daughter Ashley L. Mangus, of Tucson, Arizona. His mother Ruth F. Mangus, of Louisville, CO, and his siblings, Ruth Anne Merrick, Gerald Mangus, Vennie Mangus, and Camilla Moyer. He was a hero and their “copper soldier” for his nieces and nephews, Charlotte, Frederick, Orion, Cheyenne, Danille, and Sean and a step-son Nick. Joseph also was survived by numerous aunts, uncle and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his father Gerald H. Mangus and his son Allen R. Mangus.
There will be a public viewing at the Darrell Howe Mortuary, Lafayette CO. on Sunday April 15th from 4pm-6pm., funeral services will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Louisville CO. at 10am Monday April 16th, with a viewing from 9 to 9:45.
Burial will be in the Penrose Cemetery, Lovell, Wyoming beside his father.
Wyoming services are pending.
Contributions may be made to the Wyoming Wild Mustang Rescue or to the charity of your choice in honor of his memory.
Published in the Daily Camera on 4/13/2007.
Paul and I rehearsed our song this afternoon. We are going to sing Jesus Lover of my Soul for the funeral tomorow.
Here is the text of the hymn: Charles Wesley wrote it
Jesus, Lover of My Soul
Reverently
31243, Hymns, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, no. 102
1. Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past.
Safe into the haven guide;
Oh, receive my soul at last.
2. Other refuge have I none;
Hangs my helpless soul on thee.
Leave, oh, leave me not alone;
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed;
All my help from thee I bring.
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of thy wing.
Text: Charles Wesley, 1707–1788
Music: Joseph P. Holbrook, 1822–1888
Isaiah 25:4
Psalm 62:1–2, 7–8
I asked our daughter Michelle to come out and take a video of our last run through of the song. We have decided to sing it acapella. Here is the clip:

Hot Air: Letting the Troops Speak for themselves
Jenny Hatch

The resurgence of break dancing
A new documentary at the New York film festival…
OK, true confessions, I broke my thumb break dancing at a chuch dance in 1984. We had formed a circle and everyone was going into the middle one at a time and doing their thing, and I decided to do a worm, where you roll up onto your shoulder and then come down onto your stomach, and landed squarely on my thumb and it cracked in two.
I loved break dancing and organized a group dance to a Michael Jackson song (if I remember right it was wanna be startin somethin’) for our school talent show in 84. I did the breathtaking pop up from flat on your back and land on your feet. One night made it up, and the next night could not get the momentum and rolled back down onto my back and felt really stupid.
In 1985 my mom directed a Stake Dance Festival and I’ll never forget being at the audition for a break dancing group from Detroit. Five guys doing some of the most cool moves I had ever seen. They were not able to be in the show however, at the last minute they quit to be in a dance competition or something, but it was really fun to see them dancing at the audition.
I continued to break dance and met my two best friends in high school at a school dance, Janice and Audie, when they came up to me and asked me to teach them a dance sequence I had performed previously and was doing at the dance.
Jenny Hatch
Break Dancer – even writing that I feel like laughing. Those were the days

Still The best feature on his blog:
PORKBUSTERS UPDATE:
PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: A recent National Journal article (sorry, link is subscriber-only) suggests that lobbyists are worried:
But beneath the surface there was a feeling of anxiety among the lobbyists gathered at Pentagon City’s Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Va. They had their minds on a rule adopted by the House in January that toughens the process for winning — and will likely restrict — appropriations earmarks. Those are special-interest provisions, ubiquitous in recent years, in which members of Congress direct money to specific projects by inserting narrow, targeted language into spending bills.
Lobbying for earmarks has become a profitable business for many K Street firms. Weapons makers, colleges and universities, hospitals, municipalities, and many other clients pay lobbyists big fees to persuade the right lawmaker to include a pet project or favorite program in an appropriations measure.
The new rule is causing heartburn because it requires lobbyists and members to submit additional paperwork explaining and justifying their earmark requests. At the Murtha bash, said one lobbyist who attended, there was a lot of chatter about the “onerous documentation” now required of those seeking earmarks.
Beyond that, the lobbyist added, 2007 is shaping up as “a perfect storm for defense earmarks.” In addition to the tougher rule — intended to stop ethical abuses that have given earmarks a bad name — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are forcing budget constraints that are sure to reduce the number of defense earmarks in this year’s spending bills.
This is a time of uncertainty for lobbyists who have prospered by capitalizing on the booming earmark business in defense as well as other industries and economic sectors. “We’re warning all our clients that they have to be realistic in their requests in terms of dollars,” said Stewart Van Scoyoc, who attended the Murtha event and is the founder of the 17-year-old firm whose name is often linked with earmark lobbying.
This is music to my ears. Let’s hope the “perfect storm” is as perfect as we can make it.
Very Cool Indeed!
Jenny Hatch

The Military’s Media Problem

Jenny Hatch