Patriot Hopes to Take Wing With a Song From His Heart

A man from Oceanside says he’s written a song that could replace the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

He’s Francis Scott Kazerski. Actually, he’s Frank Kazerski, but he’s taken to calling himself Francis Scott (as in Key) Kazerski.

His song is called “Red, White and Blue, God Bless You.” He wrote it just after the Roseanne Barr outrage at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

He was sitting in a Denny’s restaurant having a Grand Slam breakfast (pancakes and eggs) when he had a vision of an American flag waving in the desert.

“I was inspired right there in Denny’s,” he says. “The Lord picked me to make this contribution to America.”

He was moved to commit verse. In part:

Across our land a flag is waving freely,

Above the sand, the deserts to the sea,

A living symbol of freedom blowing brightly,

A burning torch of our liberty.

She’s our flag for you and me.

She’s the emblem of the free,

Our flag for you and me.

He’s done a lot of things (including being a fund-raiser for United Way in Orange County before being fired). One of the things he hasn’t done is study singing.

He thinks his voice sounds like President Bush. I think it sounds so screechy that dogs might cover their ears.

Kazerski sang his song at the Orange County Fair. Disc jockeys started calling him. “I’ve been singing this song on radio shows from Boston to Guam.”

He sang his song at a rally in the San Fernando Valley for Bo Gritz, the unreconstructed Green Beret running as a super-patriot candidate for president.

From the disc jockeys, Kazerski picked up the idea of having his song replace the Francis Scott Key original. He figures his song is better-suited to modern times:

“It’d be great as a sing-along on a karaoke jukebox.”

On Saturday, Kazerski, 39, will sing his song in the parking lot of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium as part of a tailgate party sponsored by a Costa Mesa radio station.

He wears a red, white and blue jumpsuit. He has dreams:

“If this song ever becomes popular, my hope is that I could go to Disney World in Florida, Main Street USA. I’ve never been to Florida before.”

Aiming to Get Message Out

Politics, burglars and diplomas.

* One of the sharpest differences between Lynn Schenk and Judy Jarvis in the 49th Congressional District is over gun control.

Schenk is for it; Jarvis is against it.

Which may explain why there’s a big “Judy Jarvis, Republican for Congress” sign atop a defunct pistol range on India Street in Middletown.

Or maybe not.

* How brazen are burglars in Golden Hill?

While firefighters from the 25th Street station were gone for 20 minutes on an emergency call, someone pried open a window with a crowbar and stole $100.

* If mayoral candidate Peter Navarro is serious about his San Diego-for-the-San Diegans pledge, he might want to start with the alumni group from his alma mater.

The San Diego Harvard Club has invited ex-members of the Orange County chapter to join it for fun and intellectual stimulation now that the Orange County club is kaput.

* Speaking of college ties, Supervisor Susan Golding (Columbia, M.A., 1974) isn’t one to miss a politicking opportunity.

She’s set to address the Columbia alumni club in San Diego on Oct. 27. The invitation says Golding will explain the differences between her and Navarro on the free-trade agreement with Mexico.

(She’s for it. He’s a doubter.)

* Stuart L. Glassman of Rancho Bernardo reports a bumper sticker on Interstate 15: “The More Patience I Have/The More People Use It.”

Stop and Smell the Redwood

Money is tight and everybody is making do with less. But there are limits . . .

Jack Orr of Cardiff goes to the lumber store and picks up a few home improvement things. But he forgets to take a big bag of redwood chips out of the car.

So when he and his wife, Nancy, go out to the car later, the car smells like redwood.

Nancy figures he’s trying to pull something: “I suppose you going to tell me this is our trip to Yosemite.”