Monday, December 18, 2006 Rama: A list of wishes By Karlon N. Rama Stage five
OUR forays here being a Monday affair, and with the paper closed on the 25th and 26th, today will be the last chance I’ll get to greet you all a Merry Christmas.
And while the glitzy lights and jolly carols announcing midnight sales, special offers and mommy kissing Santa (or just some bearded, fair-skinned gentleman) under a tree last night may be a tad distracting, I sincerely hope we all have a blessed and prayerful celebration.
At home, we got the tree up and running as early as two weeks back. My mother omitted the series lights though, saying she’d rather not risk losing the house to faulty electrical wiring.
And things are about similarly situated at work, the blues that engulfed the newsroom after the postponement of the Asean Summit notwithstanding.
Late last week, almost everybody went agog over an inter-office décor contest that had has trying to make the newsroom look like something from a page of a safari magazine. Funny, I didn’t even know North African states celebrated yuletide cheer.
Santa baby. I want five things for Christmas. My wish lists normally contain a minimum of 10 items but never getting any in previous instances has left me scarred for life and has taught me to limit my expectations. So here they are from least to most important.
5. A nineteen-eleven pistol kit that contains the main parts–frame, slide and barrel – plus all the internals needed so I can hand fit my own match-grade gun. I’ll make it drive nails from as far as 30 meters, or die trying.
4. An Anschutz Model 8002 Compressed Air ALU Light target rifle with its anatomically perfect stock and the unique and versatile Anschutz aluminum butt plate. Of course, there should be nothing but the best to go with me and my foolish childhood fantasies.
3. The amendment of Republic Act 8249 and Presidential Decree 1866 in which firearm owners will be required to maintain only one license for all their guns, albeit enforcing a higher penalty if such guns are used in the commission of a crime.
2. The enactment of a law that recognizes the efforts of shooting athletes in both local and international competition circuits and facilitating, for and in behalf of these athletes, access to quality sporting equipment, firearms and ammunition.
1. That everyone adhere to the vow of responsible gun ownership this Christmas and every day thereafter. Let us all keep our guns secured and, in so doing, make communities safe. Please, no indiscriminate firing. Guns, after all, aren’t tools for revelry and merry-making.
Downrange. Shooters from the Kamagong Gun Club Inc., based inside the AFP Central Command Headquarters, held their annual Christmas gathering yesterday via a five-stage pistol match, with an optional two-stage shotgun event.
Over 50 club members were in attendance despite the fact that invitations were sent out rather late and December being a month of corporate events. A majority of club members are ordinary office workers and low to mid-level managers.
Still, said Col. Ceferino Layao, the club president, the turnout was more than adequate and that guests from Twin Pines Inc., led by branch manager Erlinda Pacaldo and Armscor Shooting Center, led by Joel Concepcion, even took the time to drop by.
Joel, who has served as liaison between Armscor and the gun club in many shooting events, even took part in the competition and landed third in the Production Division. The food was fit for a feast and the drinks were overflowing. The winners included Rick Buot and Atty. Bayani Atup in Open and Ramon Vidal and Ric Bono in the Modified.
In the Standard Division, the winners include Jimmy Yu, Nogie Biagan, Eleno Cong, Ray Atup, Edson Ang, Richard Buot, Pancho Ramirez, Tyrone Mercader, Maria Victoria Gonzales, Mario Caballes, Lito Gamboa, Jun Liao, Atty. Ervin Estandarte Dr. Allan Sacris and a third-year high school student from Sacred Heart, Vincent Garcia.
In the Production Division, the ranking shooters included Cliff Ediza of the Cebu City Police Office and Team Roble Shipping, John Melendrez, Joel, Dennis Panganiban, Rodolfo Quiseo, myself, Nicolas Nemenio, Junie Gipatulan and Fred Largosa.
