Congressman Alex X. Mooney and his wife live in Charles Town in Jefferson County with their three children. Their third child, Gabrielle, was born in Charleston, West Virginia in October 2014. The son of a Cuban refugee and Vietnam veteran, Alex grew up with a deep sense of appreciation for the American ideals of individual freedom and personal responsibility.

Alex’s mother, Lala, was born and raised in Fidel Castro’s Cuba, where she and other members of her family were thrown into jail for seven weeks for opposing Castro’s communist regime. When she was 21, Lala escaped Cuba and fled to America with barely a penny to her name.

Alex’s father, Vincent, was sent to Vietnam when Lala was expecting their first child. He served as an Engineering Captain and was awarded the Bronze Star.

Listening to his parents’ inspiring stories, Alex knew from a young age that he wanted to spend his life

The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America’s birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as ‘Flag Birthday’. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as ‘Flag Birthday’, or ‘Flag Day’.

On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on

Today, the Boys State Citizens were treated to a seminar on the American Flag. The session taught the proper way to treat and dispose of the American flag. The Citizens were also allowed to see a very moving ceremony in which grave markers from different time periods and different wars.

The lesson mainly taught about the Flag Code, which is a set of rules that dictates how the flag is to be treated. The flag code has many regulations which, when followed, ensures that the flag is displayed properly and treated with the upmost respect. One of the most important rules is that the flag should always be the highest flag on a flag pole, so it is the first flag raised and the last flag lowered. Another is that it should always be on the right of any other flags it is displayed with.

The ceremony that followed the lesson is

All 4 year Colleges and Universities, as well as, Potomac State College of WVU are invited to participate in the annual Career Day – College Fair for the Boys’ State program.

RSVP’s for Boys’ State should be directed to Chris Sharps by e-mail at: Chris.Sharps@wvlegion.org by Wednesday, June 8, 2011.