We will not be publishing wire services on Friday in observance of Independence Day. Several readers have told us they have a family tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence to their families each July 4. We think it altogether appropriate to read and consider that document especially in light of last week's upholding of the Second Amendment as an individual right.

In our efforts to help you establish this Independence Day tradition, we offer the text to the Declaration of Independence. The preamble is below with a link to the entire text.

Happy Independence Day- we'll be back next Monday, July 7.

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Read the Declaration of Independence

Fresh from a team win in the IGFA Offshore World Championship in Mexico, Robert Collins won the IGFA Inshore World Championship while defending his Grand Champion title accumulating the most points for five targeted species. It was his third championship title in the eight years of the inshore tournament.

Educators from around the country will convene in Traverse City, Michigan July 6 - 10 for a one-of-a-kind training program to learn how to use fishing as a means to connect textbook learning to real world skills. The Future Fisherman Foundation, the angling education arm of the American Sportfishing Association, is conducting its 6th annual Physh EdNational Education Grants training at the Northwestern Michigan College campus.

The Berkley Experience Trailer is headed to the Sportsman's Warehouse store in Lexington, Kentucky. The trailer will roll in July 11-13 and will offer demonstrations and interactive games for kids and adults.

Sally Stoner and Deb Cox, authors of "Shared Treasures - A Journal of Friendship and Fly Fishing" and master instructors are instructing a Becoming and Outdoors-Woman, California workshop August 15-17 at Tejon Ranch in southern Kern County, California.

Fish Harder has acquired the rights to be the sole distributor of Youvella-USA, LLC products in the United States and Canada. Tim Norman, head of Sales and Marketing for Fish Harder Companies, has been named president of the new company, Youvella-USA, LLC.

John Caulfield joins the Bass Angler's Guide magazine as its advertising manager.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is seeking citizens interested in salmon recovery to serve on a board that oversees the state's Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group (RFEG) program. The RFEG program was created in 1990 by the Washington State Legislature to involve local communities, citizen volunteers, and landowners in the state's salmon recovery efforts.

Tune in Sunday, July 13, to "FLW Outdoors" on FSN for the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake in Rogers, Arkansas. The $1.5 million tournament awarded the winning bass pro a cash prize of $200,000.

The Under Armour College Bass National Championship, the nation's most prestigious collegiate bass fishing tournament, today announces the launch of their new, community-focused initiative to be held on July 7, prior to the start of the 2008 championship. Anglers of Tomorrow presented by Costa Del Mar will allow local youth to learn from the country's top young anglers at a free fishing and conservation clinic taught by the collegiate competitors themselves.