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CHAMPION—January 18, 2009

        Champion is one of the beautiful locations in the world and it is populated with good neighbors.  Good neighbors Wes and Pat Smith came down to the Krider’s house while they were gone and cleaned and restocked their refrigerator.  The power had gone out for an extended time during their absence.  That’s a neighborly thing to do.  The Kriders are home again.  On Saturday Wayne and Joanne Anderson came to visit and later came back with their son-in-law, Luke, to play a little music for Lonnie.  His spirits were lifted and those of the Andersons as well.  They have had their own family sorrows recently and it is much to be hoped that they were comforted in the process of comforting dear friends.  Loved ones, family and friends all yearn to lessen the burden of sadness connected with illness.

        The Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary met at Henson’s Store for its regular meeting on January 13^th.  They hammered out all the details for another successful Chili Supper, which will be held on February 28^th at the Skyline School.  The meeting was well attended.  The serious business was punctuated with much good humor and laughter.  To top it off Betty Henson had made the Southern Praline Pecan Cake the receipt for which appeared in The Herald on the 8^th of January.  The cake was very tasty and it was agreed that this receipt feature to the Herald is a good addition.

        The 13^th was one of those unusually cold evenings and so Esther Wrinkles did not make it out to the meeting.  Several of the other members called her to keep her in the loop about the goings on.  On another very cold day one stopped in to deliver some tickets for the quilt that will be part of the big Chili Supper fund-raiser.  The one the Auxiliary has chosen is one of the last quilted by the late Fay Chaney.  It is a queen sized quilt with printed blocks on an off white background.  It is very striking.  Esther has used a deep burgundy lining and the workmanship is excellent.  The quilt always produces some good revenue for the Fire Department.  Every one of them is a keepsake and nobody feels like it is gambling to donate a dollar for the chance to win what will become a family heirloom.  Esther had just finished another hand-pieced top and had it ready to show her visitor, but they became distracted by the conversation and before long the visitor left without getting to see it.  Next time—soon.  The next meeting will be at Esther’s house on February 10^th.

        A bluegrass version of “Stars and Stripes Forever” was on the radio the other day.  Listeners didn’t catch the name of the performers but the consensus of opinion was that it must have been Flat and Scruggs backed up with some fiddles in the hands of some tremendous musicians.  When the determination is made about who the artists are, arrangements will be made to include it on the website: www.championnews.us.  With the eagles flying through Champion at will and patriotism coursing through the Nation in an unprecedented fashion, the spirit of the place seems to be seeping out to the whole Country.  Everybody is Looking on the Bright Side!  Those who did not support the candidate who has now become the 44^th President of the United States still support the Office and still carry an abiding love for the Noblest of Nations—the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!  On the evening of the Inauguration a number of people gathered in Champion to celebrate a new era of hope.  There were orations describing optimism and ideas for repairing the economy, the infrastructure, and the reputation of the Country.  There were patriotic songs written especially for the occasion and old acquaintances renewed.

        The Inaugural Parade and other ceremonies gave Champions everywhere a chance to see many of the Nation’s Soldiers as they presented themselves in this formal review.  Each of them brings to mind the many who are serving in dangerous places in the world.  They have the Love and Gratitude of all Champions.  When their tours of duty are over and they are at last home, it will be time for the Nation to protect them and to acknowledge their service with decent treatment.

        “Cuostralee” is a French heirloom tomato.  It is an indeterminate variety, which means that it fruits continuously through its maturity.  The seed catalogue says, “This is the one if you want to grow your tomatoes like your pumpkins, as in BIG.  Fruits grow to three pounds and in large numbers on plants that are unusually large in size, probably dwarfing all the other tomatoes in the garden.  The flavor is very good, it strikes a nice balance between the sweet and the tart.”  For some old tomato loving Champions, a new variety on a regular basis keeps the tomato juices flowing.  There is always a chance that a new discovery will become one of the old standbys.  Linda is busy over at the Plant Place in Norwood.  Soon she’ll get the Cole crops started and the season will be in full swing again.

        Send favorite versions of “Stars and Stripes Forever” to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  “Be kind to your web footed friends, for a duck may be somebody’s Mother.  Be kind to your friends in the swamp, where the weather is very warm and damp.”  Those are not the words to the song.  Send the real words to the song to Champion News.  Hum it or any other upbeat, optimistic, sunny side song while standing around the stove at Henson’s Store on the North side of the Square in downtown Champion.  The first printing of Champion picture post cards sold out in record time so the second in the series, now available, was stocked in larger numbers.  Displaced Champions in dreary and dull parts of the world will benefit significantly by a Champion view…Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 12, 2009

        The good news in Champion is that Louise and Wilburn Hutchison are great grandparents Again!  Hanna Rose McGuire was born at Logan Regional Medical Center (Logan, West Virginia) on January 1, 2009!  She weighed 8 pounds 9½ ounces and is doing just fine.  Hanna Rose is the eighth great-grandchild of these Champions and just one of the many reasons that Champions are looking on the bright side.  As the first baby of the New Year there in Logan, she was given a number of excellent gifts including gift certificates, savings bonds, newspaper subscriptions and a new car seat.  She is a lucky girl and that good fortune spills over to Champion with every smile she has caused.  Photographs of her with her lovely mother, Amy, are circulating through the internet spreading smiles wherever they go.

        Wilburn was grinning like a possum on Sunday when 40 or 50 people got together to celebrate his 75^th birthday.  It was a joint celebration with Bobby Page of Ava whose birthday is coming up very soon.  Wilburn lives about 200 yards from the exact spot where he was born.  Highway WW was a gravel road about like a goat trail back then.  When he was a youngster he said that he and his Uncle Hubert used horses to pull many a car out of the clay bank in the curve of the road just up hill from his house.  He went to the Banner School and could probably be persuaded to spin some yarns about those days.  Ask him about his Grandma Margie’s little dog, Peggy, the next time you see him.  Wilburn is a Champion not just because he was born there as a descendant of original settlers, but because he has that Bright Side attitude.  A conversation with him concerning the economy and current events reveals optimism that comes from experience.  “Times like these bring out the best in people.”  He went on to say that in the old days people drew close together in troubled times and extended themselves to help each other and it will have to get back to that because “We’re all in the same boat!”  As to his newest great granddaughter, he says, “That third crop is fine!”

        The Skyline VFD Ladies’ Auxiliary will have met at Henson’s Store in Downtown Champion by the time this is in print.  They will have distributed quilt tickets among themselves for sale to family and friends and will have made commitments for the activities surrounding the annual chili supper.  Details of the quilt, the chili, the ham and beans, the cornbread, the chicken and noodles, the pies and cobblers, the music, the silent auction, and various surprises will all have been hashed out.  By the time February 28^th gets here, cabin fever will the chief ailment of the area and folks will be ready for some fun.  That Auxiliary is a hardworking, well-organized, forward -looking group….on the Bright Side!

        Some Old Champions were very pleased to hear part of Charlie Haden’s new C.D. on the radio the other day.  He has had a sterling career as a jazz bassist and has won three Grammy awards and had many nominations.  Champion’s friend, Darrell Haden, from over in Tennessee has kept Champions informed about his cousin over the years.  This new ‘album’ is called “Rambling Boy.”  It finds him returning to songs made famous by the Carter Family, Hank Williams and other traditional country musicians.  Haden last performed these songs with his parents and siblings as the youngest member of the Haden Family band popular on the Midwest country circuit in the 1930s and 1940s.  Now he’s doing these songs with his wife, Ruth Cameron, son Josh, triplet daughters—Rachel, Petra and Tanya, and son-in-law actor Jack Black, as well as Elvis Costello, Vince Gill and Roseanne Cash.  Haden said, “I would consider it very authentic country music.  All the songs are extremely pure, and the arrangements are what I would consider very traditional.”  “Old Joe Clark” and “You Are My Sunshine” are a couple of tunes that deluged the Old Champions. Of course, Champions are generally music lovers.

        Many are also gardeners and are having to fight off the impulse to make too many purchases from the seed catalogues.  Those publications paint such a glorious picture of how things might be if the soil is right, the weather is right, and the right seeds are chosen.  Champions can just imagine themselves with such abundant produce that they have to give it away to keep it from going to waste.  They will have to make extra trips to town to get rid of it.

        More than 300,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe depression and other conditions that could require a lifetime of care.  Champions join all citizens of the Grateful Loving Nation in standing up for the wounded by urging elected officials to act for their benefit.  “Stand Up For Veterans.  They Stood Up For Us” is the motto of the Disabled American Veterans organization.  Go to www.dav.org on the internet for more good information about them.  They are Champions!

        Champion is the seat of much joy, community spirit, aesthetic diversity, agrarian lore and patriotic fervor.  It is also a place of deep reflection and appreciation of its dear natives.  Tragedy and illness are no respecters of Champions.  People who don’t regularly pray are saying prayers; extending heart felt desires for the best possible outcome in sad times.

        Express joy at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Predict bountiful harvests at Champion News.  Look in on Louise and her Champion thornless blackberries at www.championnews.us.  Stand around the stove at Henson’s Store in Downtown Champion where it is now possible to buy a stamped picture post card of Champion!  Even in distant and dreary places now there can be a view from Champion where they are forever Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 4, 2009

        In Champion New Year’s Day was still and sunny if a little cold.  After the parade, the black eyed peas and cornbread, after the phone calls and family visits and good wishes for the year ahead some Champions did one of their favorite things.  They took a long walk in the woods.  They traveled the slopes among the remaining tall pines to find that a huge white oak that had perched on the edge of a rocky cliff had come down, perhaps because of erosion or the strange strong winds that had come with the storm Ike.  So there it is–roots uphill from the brown leafy boughs now down and tangled among the lower pines–tangled with them and mangling some of them.  It might make a month’s firewood for next year if it could be brought out.  Investigating that possibility had the old couple maneuvering their way down the hill.  A foot wedged between a tree and a stone with forward momentum acting as a factor, the old girl narrowly averted the disaster of having her own weight leverage her into a compound fracture of her leg.  What a catastrophe that could have been!  The truth is there is a catastrophe waiting for any distracted and inattentive person Champion or not.  Coming out of the underbrush, she said, “You know this is the first time in a long time that I have just enjoyed the beauty of the woods without concentrating on the storm damage and the logging horrors.”  He remarked that it was her circuitous route that had steered them away from those ravaged spots.  Concentrating on the beauty is a Champion way to start a new year.

        Beauty indeed!  Emily and Megan, granddaughters of Vivian Floyd, were in Champion over the week-end.  They have grown and their advancing age (Emily now 13) is a reminder that time passes quickly up in the hills.

        Champion Sharon Sikes has sent out an email with some serious and valuable information.  It turns out that a person should never drive in the rain using cruise control.  The reason is that if the car begins to hydro-plane on wet roads and the tires loose contact with the pavement, the car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making it take off like an airplane!  So in any wet or icy conditions the cruise control should not be used.  Some cars will not engage cruise control if the windshield wipers are on.  Some old Champions are just now getting cars and trucks with cruise control so this is important news to them.

        Fortnight Bridge was an interesting game on Saturday.  The four played for more than five hours and the winner and looser each walked off with $0.65.  New Year’s advice from the winner was gleaned from a bridge publication that suggests that even when a player is dealt a poor hand it is still important to be alert to what is going on with all the other players.  Bidding is a language all by itself and a great deal can be learned even while passing.  Bridge seems to be one of those things that translates to other parts of life.

        “Twas summer in the winter and the snowflakes fell like glass and the barefoot boy with his shoes on stood sitting in the grass.”  The Arkansas Barefoot Boys have an album called Echoes of the Ozarks and on it is a wonderful version of “The Eighth of January.”  Champions know this to be the tune to “The Battle of New Orleans.”  The 8^th of January is also the birthday of Elvis Presley!  “Happy Birthday dear Elvis!”  Bob Liebert of Teeter creek will have his on the 11^th.  He’s a rock and roll herbalist and Uncle Al’s favorite son, Buckshot, will have his birthday on the 14^th.  Music promotes healing and enhances the quality of life.  Champions always keep a little song handy.

        January’s is the Wolf Moon.  It is the time to warm by the fire and plan the spring garden.  Elva Ragland likes the Henry Fields Seed Company and makes her order early enough in the year to earn a nice discount.  She is a long time Champion though she married a rail-road man and lived off in California for seventeen years!  She has been back on her old home place now for some while and is excited about her next garden.  Linda’s Almanac will be available at the Plant Place again soon and she is busy getting cuttings made and starting her perennial seeds.  The year 2009 stretches out before Champions with every promise of being a good one.

        A note has come from a distant Champion reader who says, “Thank you so much for always remembering our soldiers serving around the world.  Some join the service for adventure, some out of patriotism, and some are looking for a way to earn a living.  Many who have died in the current wars were Reservist and National Guard soldiers who joined to augment their income.  People who think that the National Guard is there to help out in natural disasters and bad circumstances at home just don’t know how it works.  Not only are the soldiers sent to the wars of the world, but their equipment is sent too.  The trucks and guns and planes and supplies that are property of the various states are going across oceans and not coming back either.  It is a hidden drain on the economy.  Sears is one of the few companies I’ve heard of that continues to support its employees who are deployed to the wars.  Sears maintains their insurance and benefits and pays the difference between their military pay and their income with the company and guarantees their jobs if they are fortunate enough to return home.  Everybody who can buy something from Sears this year will be supporting real patriotism.  Sincerely, E. Jasmin.”  Champions appreciate the astute observations of distant friends.

        Send favorite little Champion songs and examples of patriotism to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO.  Describe narrowly averted disasters and thwarted catastrophes at Champion News.  Browse through the archives at www.championnews.us to see what’s gone before.  Go stand around the stove in Henson’s Store on the North side of the square in beautiful downtown Champion where warmth radiates from the heart and folks are always Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 28, 2008

        In Champion New Years Resolutions are much the same as those across the Nation.  Research shows that the following ten resolutions are the most common in the United States:  Spend more time with friends and family; Be more fit; Loose weight; Quit smoking; Enjoy life more; Quit drinking; Get out of debt; Learn something new; Help others; Get organized.  In Champion the list is more like:  Spend more time with friends and family; Help others; Enjoy life more; Learn something new; Keep a little song handy; Get out of debt; Be more fit; Eat better; Get organized; Look on the Bright Side!  As to the smoking and drinking and loosing weight…people either will opt to live better and longer or not.  No use taking up good resolutions with that stuff!  One old Champion remembers a dear friend, Buff Manion.  He was an extraordinary musician with one of the sweetest smiles ever smeared across a mug.  His perennial resolution was, “I’m just gonna treat people a little better.”  How can that be beat?

        Some of the wonderful news in the paper last week was the news that Yolanda F. Hinote of Norwood, graduated in December from William Woods University with a master of education degree!  That’s Lannie Hinote!  Lannie is a stalwart, irrepressible, inspiration to Champions everywhere, an 8^th grade teacher at Skyline School!  Champion congratulations to her!  Some of the sad news lately has to do with the destruction of the Senior Center in Mountain Grove by fire last week.  It was good fortune that no one was injured in the fire, but it will take a while to get things back to order.  Neighbors are reaching out to help neighbors and it will all work out in the long run.  In the mean time there is ample opportunity to be of service to each other.  It’s a Champion notion.

        The end of the year finds Champion full of welcome visitors.  Those Tennessee boys, Dakota and Dillon, have been here with their folks visiting with their grandparents.  Kalyssa and Foster were there too with their parents and both sets of grandparents.  Eva Powell’s twin great grandsons, Troy and Theo were in the neighborhood visiting.  They are just a little younger than Kalyssa and are a couple of rough and tumble enthusiastic young fellows.  Marty Watts spotted a squirrel that had lost most of its tail.  It can be seen in the big trees around Champion proper.  It must have had some good luck escaping whatever got its tail and perhaps the good luck extends to a well-made nest occupied by compassionate fuzzy family members.

        Imagine a birthday on New Year’s Day!  The whole world celebrates!  Grandma Jan Liebert of Teeter Creek is rocking out on her special day and her Champion friends and neighbors salute her!  Robert Burns words are used to celebrate long friendships in the traditional New Year’s song Auld Lang Syne.  “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?”  That’s not the way of it in Champion!  Even when the song is mistakenly called “Ol Hank’s High” or “Old Langs Sign” or even “Old Hag Sighs” which is a song that incorporates the slurred words of a weary wife who says “You’ve taken me for granted because I please you!”  She’ll get over it and cook up that mess of black-eyed peas with a slab of side meat and a big skillet of corn bread.  Vittles fit for a king!  The reason for this humble fare on the first of the year is to suggest that with luck they will eat at least this well all year.  Toward that end the seed catalogues are being dog-eared and discussed.  It’s too wet to plow…too early too…still the garden, like an old friend, calls.

        Last week the Looking Backwards section had the author of 100 years ago asking if readers felt that they had done anything in the previous year toward the uplifting of humanity.  Lofty sentiments were expressed concerning fair and honorable dealings with fellowmen.  “Have our hearts been constantly filled with love for our surroundings?  Are we living or just merely existing?”  Champions are uniformly able to answer in the affirmative.  Over the past year more than 500 US Soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq.  Champions live the year around with Love and Gratitude for their service.

        Some are looking at the New Year with trepidation.  The world seems to be in such turmoil and it’s difficult to make sense of it.  Everyone has a different idea about how to fix things.  One old Champion girl says that ‘quid pro quo’ is the answer.  That is Latin for ‘something for something,’ indicating a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services.  “If’n you’ll scratch my back, I’ll scratch your’n” is a concept well understood in Champion.  Most generally any Champion can find a door jamb to wriggle his itch against or a stick of kindling to reach just that spot and so that is self reliance at its best.  As for the spirit of cooperation and the willingness to combine efforts for the overall good of the community, Champion is Champion!  The year ahead will be just like the ones past, full of triumphs and failures.  Champions will move ahead as they always have with generosity of spirit and good humor.

        Happy New Year to Champions everywhere—you know who you are!  Send examples of good humor to Champion Items, Rt.2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  E-mail versions of “Old Lanks Eye” to Champion News Savor the archives at www.championnews.us  Lean up against a porch post at Henson’s Store on the North side of the Square in Historic Downtown Champion to soak in the beauty of the place—the tranquility.  Visitors there need not feel compelled to beller out their favorite, toe tapping, uplifting, sunny-side song, but they are welcome to do so.  It’s quid pro quo in Champion where they’re always Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 22, 2008

        Anyone who has been to Champion knows it to be a peaceful and pleasant place—“laid back” is the term in current vernacular.  Yet, when crises arise, when there is work to be done, or a neighbor is in a bind, Champions are ready for action.  This condition of being completely relaxed and completely alert simultaneously is knows as “equipoise.”  It is a Champion notion—one that covers the mischievous child teetering along the brink of goodness and badness with Santa as both nudge and judge.  It covers the volunteer firefighters who leap from their own warm beds to rush to a medical emergency, an auto accident or a fire.  It covers neighbors helping neighbors in countless little and big ways and often enough anonymously—Champion.

        Brava!  Ole!  Felicitacio¢nes!  Champions are delighted to congratulate Breauna Krider on having just competed her degree at MSU.  The perseverance and dedication that is required to accomplish this goal is significant.  She has the support of a large and loving extended family, but when it comes right down to the work involved, Breauna did it!  She is a remarkable young woman in many ways and is gifted with a remarkable singing voice.  It is velvety smooth, wonderfully pitched and she knows how to use it.  Her husband, Leslie Krider, also sings beautifully and their voices blend so sweetly that some friends imagine that they must be singing in their kitchen every evening and every time they go for a ride.  Music—Champion!

        Another wonderful voice is that of Tom Waits.  It is not beautiful, but gravely and raspy with a hard overtone.  So when he uses it to sing a tender ballad or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” it is somehow more poignant.  A line from one of his original songs is “It’s hard to say grace and to sit in the place of someone missing from the table..”  It is a sad song of tragic loss.  Music is so often the balm that suffering people use to soothe their aching hearts.  Songs associated with those ‘missing from the table’ can pull them close again.  The magic and joy of music is a gift.

        Ruby Proctor has a high clear voice that sounds like a pure crystal bell ringing.  She is a welcome addition to any choir.  She said that her grandson, Bryan Proctor, who is serving in Afghanistan, called his Mom and Dad recently to let them know he is doing fine and that he will be coming home in March.  He and thousands of others will be spending their holidays away from home.  Champions are Grateful for their Service and hope they all get home safely and soon.  Many will return with obvious wounds.  Many are wounded in ways that are not apparent to the eye.  They all will require compassion and understanding and Love in return from the Nation they have Loved and Served.

        George Orwell was a Champion sort of fellow.  He wrote the novel, 1984, back in 1949 and it seemed very far-fetched at the time.  One of the things he had to say was that the people who control the past are the ones who control the future.  In this part of the country reminiscing is a way of life.  It is not that Champions live in the past, but holding on to the good memories of family and friends and retelling those stories of how things were back then is a way to hold on to the solid good qualities that make family and community and home where the Heart is.  Quite a few years ago the National Geographic Society included Champion in its book America’s Hidden Corners, Places Off the Beaten Path.  There were some great pictures of Henson’s Store, Ed Henson, and Clark Lambert.  “Eighty-three years of Ozark living etch the face of Clark Lambert, who pauses at his blacksmith shop in Douglas County, Missouri.  Lambert began teaching himself his trade at age 16.  He also farms, and he has been a minister for 50 years.  Both lifelong Ozarkers, Lambert and his wife raised ten children.”  Being off the beaten path is the best place to be and a strong sense of the past may be what protects the Nation in rough days ahead.  When the government of South Africa finally did away with apartheid there was a system established to heal the wounds.  It was called Truth and Reconciliation Committee.  Despite some flaws, it is generally thought to have been successful.  Shedding some light on the truth of recent history may be the best way to heal it up the damage done to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and move on to better days.

        Christmas cards have come from Bob Conrad and Ethel McCallie and other Champions!  Merry Christmas back at you!  Charlene Dupre has taken off for a Christmas visit with her granddaughter, Olivia, who lives over in Virginia.  Wherever there are granddaughters there is fun!  One old Champion grandmother is poring over her Vermont Bean Seed Company catalogue and deciding on some special seeds for next year.  “King of the Garden, 88 Day Pole Lima:  Rich, honey-like taste.  Very vigorous and reliable grower, bearing uniform, dark green pods 5-8” long filled with 4-6 large lima beans of excellent quality.  Beans shell very easily and cook exceptionally well.  Produces continually to the end of the season and will bear a large amount in a very limited area.  Excellent shelled or frozen.”  On the shortest day of the year after the longest and coldest night of the year, her heart is warmed by thoughts of the garden.  Linda’s Almanac will soon be advising on planting dates for the Spring and the years roll around and around.

        “The music goes round and round…..ooooooo….and it comes out here!” in Champion!  Describe favorite lima beans, favorite old Champions, favorite songs, favorite New Year’s Resolutions at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Send them to Champion News.  Sing a Christmas Carol on the porch at Henson’s Store.  Whatever you do in Champion, Look on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 14, 2008

        Champions have put a lot of good thought into preparing for the bad weather that is in the forecast.  There are big heaps of firewood and plenty of candles and lamp oil on hand.  Some folks have drawn up buckets of water in case the power goes out.  Folks with generators have fuel to run them and are well versed in all the procedures to operate them safely.  The last ice storm reminded people that the old fashioned telephones are still good to have around.  A person can pick one up in a garage sale for a quarter.  The sound is better on the old phones than on many of the new ones anyway, though they have that pesky cord that keeps the user tied to the wall.  Some Champions remember a time that a long distance phone call made a person want to talk really loud.  Those things are funny to think about now.  Folks up in the northeast have been struggling with their worst ice storm in many years.  Champions wish them well.  In spite of good preparations accidents can happen.  A few years ago Cletus Upshaw was out on his regular mail route when he hit a slick spot and slid into a snow bank.  When he was unable to get his truck going again, he took off walking.  He slipped on the ice and hit his head.  He fell several times before neighbors who were checking on some cattle happened to spot him walking around in a daze.  It was his good luck to be found, but the injuries he sustained that day stayed with him until his recent death.  A long time after the accident he was heard to remark that had he stopped to take his socks off and put them on the outside of his tennis shoes he would have had better traction to walk.  Hopefully no one will find himself in that situation, but that is the kind of good information that could come in handy.  Cletus hailed from Denlow, but he was a real Champion.

        When the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire Department Ladies’ Auxiliary came to Champion on Wednesday evening for their scheduled meeting they were just dazzled by the festive Christmas decorations.  Auxiliary President, Betty Dye, runs a good meeting and soon got the group down to business.  This was the first planning meeting for the annual chili supper, which is scheduled for February 28, 2009.  Determinations were made about the menu and entertainment.  While Esther Wrinkles was unable to attend the meeting, it was revealed that she will be providing a quilt for the fund raiser.  Items are already being gathered for the silent auction and it promises to be another delightful event.  In other business, the Auxiliary unanimously agreed to purchase a compressor for the firefighters to use with their cascade system.  This will allow them to refill their oxygen equipment quickly.  This is a substantial purchase that represents a significant improvement in the way the firefighters go about keeping the community safe.

        The cold weather is a hardship on people with livestock.  There is an extra burden to be sure the animals have water and feed.  Those are not things that people routinely consider when they are standing at the meat counter in the grocery store.  It is easy to take conveniences for granted.  Sometimes it looks like the weather stops at the borders of the country—like the tropical storm that moved up through the Caribbean didn’t really go through Mexico, or the frigid temperatures that sink down from the North only got cold when they crossed the border from Canada.  It’s cold on the other side of the world too—where the U.S. Service Personnel are serving at the behest of their Nation.  Since the war began March 19, 2003, four thousand two hundred and nine of those people have lost their lives in Iraq.  Six hundred twenty eight have perished in Afghanistan.  The official number of wounded in Iraq is 30,852.  The actual number is estimated to be over 100,000.  As of December 10, 2008 it is reported that 18 veterans take their own lives each day.  These are just numbers and words.  The Love and Gratitude that Champions extend to all those who serve is real and heartfelt.

        This is the busiest time of the year for the Post Office.  Mailmen everywhere are weighed down with packages and cards and holiday sales brochures.  They are a good natured lot and Champions appreciate that poem about “Neither hail, nor sleet, nor snow, nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!”  Thanks Bob!  Merry Christmas.  Iva Johnson and her crowd were the folks taking pictures on the porch at Henson’s Store the other day.  Ms. Johnson used to carry the mail as a substitute on the Rt. 2, Norwood route.  She had family visiting from New Mexico and part of taking in the sights included a foray to Champion.  Memory making is a Champion enterprise!

        Phone lines stay busy this time of the year too.  Champion Granddaughter Emily spends time chatting up her Grandmother, Ms. Eva Powell, on a regular basis.  Closeness is not always about geography.  Ms. Powell has some very nice things to say about some of her neighbors lately, including Robert Hamilton, who discovered that the problem with her car was that the light under the hood was not going out so it was draining her battery!

        Alexandra Jean called her Grannie the other day to tell her that she was eating chicken nuggets with catsup!  For a two year old, she carries on a pretty good phone conversation.

        Champion grandchildren Ethan and Zack have their pictures on the family Christmas card so everyone can see why Bob and Sue are so proud!

        The bright red cardinals perching in the drab brown brush lift a spirit on the coldest day.  A quick trip to The Gift Corner in Norwood reveals a variety of cardinals in the form of pictures, figurines, and Christmas ornaments.  Charlene Dupre, the proprietor, has gathered a wonderful collection of all sorts of interesting things from all over the country at decidedly affordable prices.  Family owned and operated business are becoming an endangered species and it is a delight to be able to support them.  Charlene will be headed over to Virginia to see her Granddaughter, Olivia, for the holiday.  Fortunately her sister, Linda, will be there to look after the shop.  Linda is busy with her seed catalogues and the planning that it takes to keep the community growing.  Her Granddaughter, Danniel, will be wearing out the phone lines with her too.  Ah! Granddaughters!  Champion!

        Good Christmas Wishes have come from Ms. Ethel McCallie from Oklahoma.  She extends her best regards to all of Champion!  Back at you, Lady!  She reports that her cousin, Darrell Haden, from over in Tennessee is having some health problems.  Champions wish him the best as well as a number of dear Champions who are struggling with illness at this time.  Some are having to do a lot of traveling and their Champion neighbors keep them in their best thoughts and prayers for safe travel and a return to their much needed good health.

        “Oh the weather outside is frightful!  But the snow is so delightful!  And since we’ve no place to go….”  Champions will just head over to Henson’s Store on the Square in Downtown Champion to gawk at the dazzling decorations.  They might stand around on the porch there and bellow out a carol or two.  Send favorite holiday recipies for fun to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or e-mail them to Champion News.  Look in on www.championnews.us just for the picture of the beautiful place in warm sunshine.  Champion…always Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 8, 2008

        Champion’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was an ephemeral affair this year.  Expressions of Gratitude were ubiquitous together with turkey, dressing, cranberry goo of all kinds and giblet gravy.  A new version of “The New Gravy Waltz” has been done by Vassar Clements on Hillbilly Jazz, which might be an ‘album,’ a radio station, or a genre:  “Mr. Weeping Willow, I’m through with all my faults ‘cause my baby is ready to do the ever new gravy waltz.”  (The song was written by Steve Allen and Ray Brown a long time ago.)  Some distant Champions won’t eat ‘gut gravy.’  Another Old Champion says, “The older I get, the more I realize that nothing is as good as it used to be.”  Imagine the inspiration and deep conviction it takes for the Old Champion spouse to Look on the Bright Side!  Uncle Al Masters–the Lonesome Plowboy has a grandson, Glen, who says, “Happiness is a choice!”  He doesn’t claim that to be an original point of view, but it is one to which he easily adheres.  His sons Jack and Jake are the beneficiaries of some good upbringing, as was Glen himself and his own Dear Old Dad, who is a nice man with a penchant for trouble with ladders.

        A bright and brisk Sunday found some tourists getting their picture taken on the porch at Henson’s Store in downtown Champion.  Perhaps it was the fugacious nature of the Parade that peaked their curiosity or perhaps they had old family ties to the place.  There they were, lined up three on the top step and three below facing a fancy camera on a tripod.  Whether they were making talkies or just ‘gawkies,’ it was clear from a distance that they were making memories and it was sweet to see whoever they are.

        A note came recently from Champion’s own Hovey, now a Texan.  He said, “Sorry to read of the death of Cletus.  Before television and air conditioning there was a softball league in Mtn. Grove that drew big crowds.  One of the teams was Douglas County, made up mostly of men from the Denlow community.  Cletus was probably the last of those men that played on that team.  There were some heated rivalries.  There is a story of one game that the umpire made a call in Douglas County’s favor then reversed his call.  He was chased from the field by Douglas County fans, into the concession stand.  The police had to be called to rescue the man.”  If the stories start pouring in about Cletus Upshaw this column will become a more interesting read!

        Many Champions are celebrating birthdays this month.  It seems unfair to some to have their birthday so close to Christmas.  One said she always had to spend her birthday money on Christmas presents for other people.  Another one had his birthday spoiled by the attack on Pearl Harbor.  An illustrious lawyer and judge has to share his birthday with a prosecuting attorney and a mean spirited rival.  One particularly good natured fellow from over by Vera Cruz celebrates on the 8^th and those who join him for refreshments are always in for a treat.  There is another who shares her birthday with Spike Jones!  Some may be too young to remember his music full of gargling, hiccups, cow bells and slide whistles.  A person can’t be glum with a Spike Jones tune in the background.  Wilburn and Louise’s neighbor is most likely enjoying seeing those bald eagles back in the neighborhood.  She is famous for Looking on the Bright Side!

        Dr. Amanda Zappler, a prominent clinical audiologist with the University of Texas, is spending some time these days with young Veterans of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She says that while many have suffered profound and irreversible hearing loss due to the explosions to which they were exposed, many others have ‘temporal lobe’ damage.  They can hear sound, but the brain damage that they have experienced keeps them from being able to make sense of it.  In some cases they are being able to retrain some individuals to recognize sounds again.  Because they can still read they are able to communicate, but the relearning process is a slow and difficult one.  Others suffer from tinnitus.  That is the ringing in the ears that many people know about, particularly people with anxiety or high blood pressure.  The ringing gets loud, which makes them anxious which makes it louder and it becomes a progressively worsening situation.  Dr. Zappler says that these young Veterans are destined to spend the rest of their lives battling these difficult conditions.  Statistics are showing the suicide rate among the Veterans of these conflicts is higher than any other group ever.  The machismo of service will cause many not to report their difficulties, but they will be suffering none the less and Champions everywhere need to keep them in their best good thoughts and to extend the Love and Gratitude that they have coming from their Nation.

        This time of the year when the weather has decided to be so cold not much is going on out in the garden.  The seed catalogues are already showing up and the day dreaming about next year’s garden has begun.  Linda, from over at the Plant Place in Norwood, is spending time making cuttings of house plants and doing general tidying and organizing in the greenhouses.  Charlene’s shop is providing some delightful one-of-a-kind gifts for people on small Christmas budgets.  While it seems that most folks on those shopping lists already have everything they really need it is wonderful to be able to choose something carefully, no matter how small, to let them know that attention is being paid to what they like and what interests them.  The chance to give is a Gift itself!  When so many these days are dealing with ill health and loss of loved ones, easing burdens and lifting spirits is a challenge Champions take on willingly.

        Send any song about any kind of groovy grub or gravy to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion News.  Keep an eye on the website at www.championnews.us just to see what shows up there.  Sing “The New Gravy Waltz” or “Baby It’s Cold Outside” out on the porch at Henson’s Store in Downtown Champion where “Good Gravy!” they’re always Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 28, 2008

In Champion New Years Resolutions are much the same as those across the Nation.  Research shows that the following ten resolutions are the most common in the United States:  Spend more time with friends and family; Be more fit; Loose weight; Quit smoking; Enjoy life more; Quit drinking; Get out of debt; Learn something new; Help others; Get organized.  In Champion the list is more like:  Spend more time with friends and family; Help others; Enjoy life more; Learn something new; Keep a little song handy; Get out of debt; Be more fit; Eat better; Get organized; Look on the Bright Side!  As to the smoking and drinking and loosing weight…people either will opt to live better and longer or not.  No use taking up good resolutions with that stuff!  One old Champion remembers a dear friend, Buff Manion.  He was an extraordinary musician with one of the sweetest smiles ever smeared across a mug.  His perennial resolution was, “I’m just gonna treat people a little better.”  How can that be beat?

Some of the wonderful news in the paper last week was the news that Yolanda F. Hinote of Norwood, graduated in December from William Woods University with a master of education degree!  That’s Lannie Hinote!  Lannie is a stalwart, irrepressible, inspiration to Champions everywhere, an 8^th grade teacher at Skyline School!  Champion congratulations to her!  Some of the sad news lately has to do with the destruction of the Senior Center in Mountain Grove by fire last week.  It was good fortune that no one was injured in the fire, but it will take a while to get things back to order.  Neighbors are reaching out to help neighbors and it will all work out in the long run.  In the mean time there is ample opportunity to be of service to each other.  It’s a Champion notion.

The end of the year finds Champion full of welcome visitors.  Those Tennessee boys, Dakota and Dillon, have been here with their folks visiting with their grandparents.  Kalyssa and Foster were there too with their parents and both sets of grandparents.  Eva Powell’s twin great grandsons, Troy and Theo were in the neighborhood visiting.  They are just a little younger than Kalyssa and are a couple of rough and tumble enthusiastic young fellows. Marty Watts spotted a squirrel that had lost most of its tail.  It can be seen in the big trees around Champion proper.  It must have had some good luck escaping whatever got its tail and perhaps the good luck extends to a well-made nest occupied by compassionate fuzzy family members.

Imagine a birthday on New Year’s Day!  The whole world celebrates! Grandma Jan Liebert of Teeter Creek is rocking out on her special day and her Champion friends and neighbors salute her!  Robert Burns words are used to celebrate long friendships in the traditional New Year’s song Auld Lang Syne.  “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?”  That’s not the way of it in Champion!  Even when the song is mistakenly called “Ol Hank’s High” or “Old Langs Sign” or even “Old Hag Sighs” which is a song that incorporates the slurred words of a weary wife who says “You’ve taken me for granted because I please you!”  She’ll get over it and cook up that mess of black-eyed peas with a slab of side meat and a big skillet of corn bread.  Vittles fit for a king!  The reason for this humble fare on the first of the year is to suggest that with luck they will eat at least this well all year.  Toward that end the seed catalogues are being dog-eared and discussed.  It’s too wet to plow…too early too…still the garden, like an old friend, calls. 

Last week the Looking Backwards section had the author of 100 years ago asking if readers felt that they had done anything in the previous year toward the uplifting of humanity.  Lofty sentiments were expressed concerning fair and honorable dealings with fellowmen.  “Have our hearts been constantly filled with love for our surroundings?  Are we living or just merely existing?”   Champions are uniformly able to answer in the affirmative.  Over the past year more than 500 US Soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq.  Champions live the year around with Love and Gratitude for their service.

Some are looking at the New Year with trepidation.  The world seems to be in such turmoil and it’s difficult to make sense of it.  Everyone has a different idea about how to fix things.  One old Champion girl says that ‘quid pro quo’ is the answer.  That is Latin for ‘something for something,’ indicating a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services.  “If’n you’ll scratch my back, I’ll scratch your’n” is a concept well understood in Champion.  Most generally any Champion can find a door jamb to wriggle his itch against or a stick of kindling to reach just that spot and so that is self reliance at its best.  As for the spirit of cooperation and the willingness to combine efforts for the overall good of the community, Champion is Champion!  The year ahead will be just like the ones past, full of triumphs and failures.  Champions will move ahead as they always have with generosity of spirit and good humor. 

Happy New Year to Champions everywhere—you know who you are!  Send examples of good humor to Champion Items, Rt.2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  E-mail versions of “Old Lanks Eye” to Championatgetgoin.net.  Savor the archives at www.championnews.us.   Lean up against a porch post at Henson’s Store on the North side of the Square in Historic Downtown Champion to soak in the beauty of the place—the tranquility.   Visitors there need not feel compelled to beller out their favorite, toe tapping, uplifting, sunny-side song, but they are welcome to do so. It’s quid pro quo in Champion where they’re always Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—November 23, 2008

        Saying that Gratitude is a Champion sentiment is like saying Tom Turkeys gobble!  This time last year Champions led by Sharon Woods were getting ready to hold a chili supper to help Lannie Hinote with medical expenses.  These days a person headed toward Norwood on any week day morning is liable to meet Lannie as she heads to work still riding heard on those Skyline R. II 8^th graders.  They love her and she is an inspiration to anybody who might be thinking times are rough.  Times are rough, however, on any number of folks for one reason and another.  Champions are full of encouragement and support where they can.

        There is not much to be done about one unexpected calamity over on Mt. Buzzard in near North Champion.  The worst of it found a new truck balanced high center on a concrete foundation wall with the front wheels dangling out over a corn planter.  Some hours later with a tow truck and various tractors and expertise the truck was extricated from the side of the barn.  The barn needs six pieces of tin and a new truss.  The truck which was parked with the brake on and in four wheel low, with the key off and no one inside may need a good looking over to figure out what caused it to take off against all odds and the brake!  No one was hurt and everyone is grateful for that!

        Kalyssa Wiseman had her belated birthday party on Friday night.  The General’s lovely wife had celebrated her birthday on the 6^th of November so it was a grand celebration for a family that likes to get together.  It was just a year ago that Kalyssa’s big brother Foster was bounding around with a cast on his leg.  He has made a good recovery and his family is grateful for that!  A year slips by quickly.

        Champions are grateful for the opportunity to say good-bye to long time Champion Cletis Upshaw.  He was a native of Denlow and had an interesting life.  He worked for the post office for 42 years and much of that time he was the rural carrier for Rt. 2, Norwood.  A person could set his clock by Cletis and could always count on him for good humor.  He was a genuine historian and a genial good natured person.  So Champions are grateful to have had him in their lives and are glad that he knew that the community held him in high esteem.  A U.S. Marine color guard gave him a beautiful send off at the Denlow Cemetery on Friday.  He was a Veteran of the Korean War.  It was a cold day, but bright and sunny—just right.

        “Thank God for dirty dishes!  They have a tale to tell.  While others may go hungry we’re eating very well.  With home and health and happiness, I wouldn’t want to fuss.  By the stack of evidence, God’s been very good to us.”  That is the legacy of one Old Champion’s Mother.  She is long gone, but close the way family stays.

        Friends and family will be gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  There will be feasting, reminiscing, and merry making of all sorts.  Champions in Douglas County and US Military Personnel serving in dangerous places around the world will be singing, “God Bless America!  Land that I love!  Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above.  From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam God bless America, My home sweet home.”  Champions will be singing that song and Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—November 16, 2008

        Champions were delighted with the week-end weather that greeted the hunters this year.  Brutal cold wind, brief hard snow and enough rain to make things perfectly miserable are the elements that set the stage for significant memories.  In Champion it often happens that “pure minds are stirred up with remembrance.”  This will be one of those years when a young person’s first deer or turkey came with enough discomfort to make the event truly memorable.

        A young fellow named Connor Ash made his first trip to Champion on Sunday.  He came with his older sister Selina and their parents Victor and Emily to visit Emily’s grandmother, Ms. Eva Powell.  Foster and Kalyssa Wisemen were also visiting grandparents and so the whole place was full of wonderful kid racket.  The day could only have been made brighter by Chante’s presence, so maybe that will happen next time when she is in Champion with her grandparents.  Grandparents are some of the most interesting and venerable residents in Champion.

        Harley & Barbara are in town for a while.  It may be that they will stay all the way through the Thanksgiving holiday.  Champion will certainly be jolly place if that is true.  The General’s remarks last year about Barbara’s parade outfit were completely uncalled for.  Not too much has been heard from him for a while, but that only indicates that he is laying low for some reason.  As yet no word has come from the Champion Parade Committee concerning this year’s Champion Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Last year the group decided to hold a special meeting to discuss the shameful incident that had left the square in such a frightful condition and to allocate responsibility for the veterinary bills.  (Don’t ask.)  It was determined that at the very least a moratorium should be in place to prohibit the participation of all pigs in future Champion Parades.  It had been hoped that once tempers cooled and the square was back to normal that some of the hurt feelings would be assuaged and a more moderate approach to the problem could be found.  Still no word has come.

        As the woods thin of foliage it is interesting to see more of the topography of the land immerge and houses reappear that had been obscured from view a few days earlier.  Lush spring and summer growth had softened the devastation of some of the predatory logging done in the area.  A short term, absentee land owner from a few counties north hired loggers not local to the area and their slipshod and careless methods left a wretched mess that is once again heartbreakingly visible.  Spring will come again and summer growth will help the place heal.  A dozen years from now it will still be ugly, but better and the Champions who care will have become accustomed to the place as it changes while treasuring their memories.

        The 19^th of November all the way through Sunday the 23^rd will be excellent days to destroy weeds according to Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood.  Tell that to Elva Ragland who will be 71 on the 19^th.  Most likely she will not be out killing weeds on her birthday.  Sue Needham will be old enough to know better (finally) on the 23^rd and will most likely not be out pulling weeds either.  The Almanac will not be getting much use in Champion this week, but Charlene’s Gift Corner will be getting lots of traffic as people look for interesting and reasonably priced Christmas presents there.  A nice visit with Esther Wrinkles the other day revealed that she unexpectedly has extra quilts!  Arrangements that she had made to sell a couple of her beauties fell through so she has some to spare.  What luck for someone!

        Esther was in good spirits and said that she had enjoyed the Herald’s fish fry the other day.

        Champion Pete Proctor’s picture made the papers last week at the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action table for the Veteran’s Day Celebration by VFW Post 3770.  He is such a Veteran!  His son Bryan is serving currently in Afghanistan.  Pete and all Champions know that the U.S. Service Personnel are due the Love and Gratitude of the Nation now and in the years to come.

         A musical note came from Champion’s Tennessee Friend, Darrell Haden, the other day.  He talked about the song that is currently on the www.championnews.us site.  “We live in two different worlds, dear That’s why we’re so far apart……If you stay over in your world, Oh, how my poor heart will pine.  Darling, someday when your memories wander, Won’t you come over to mine?”   He said, “Have you heard my cousin Charlie’s “Ramblin’ Boy” on Decca?  Charlie’s grandfather ‘Buss’ Haden grew up with my grandpa Haden at Smallett before ‘Buss’ married Cora German of Squires 107 years ago and moved to Springfield.”  He had some nice things to say about the column and said “Please continue to quote the good old songs!”  Administrators of the website plan to make available more of the songs from the CD made by Wayne Anderson, Luke Dartt and Lonnie Krider soon.  Meanwhile there are some good versions of When Johnny Comes Marching Home and America the Beautiful that can be heard there.  Send any musical suggestion to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion News.  Sing any good song out on the porch at Henson’s Store.  Singing is good for the overall health of the person singing and for others if the singing is any good!  On or off key, Champions are Looking on the Bright Side!