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CHAMPION—February 23, 2015

        The Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North side of the Square has been enjoying brisk business as is evidenced by the condition of the parking lot.  Frozen ruts of mud and ice give it a rollercoaster kind of feeling, but the pavement is dry and Champions do not seem to have been overly inconvenienced by the weather.

        Some ‘back’ roads are just now becoming navigable and then just between freezes as the muddy slush hardens up again and becomes first crunchy then slick.  What a luxury to be well stocked and secure with no need to go wandering about.  When the grand children come bounding through the doors with their racket and snowy boots leaving puddles everywhere, some old grandparents are just pleased that they come at all.  There will be plenty of time to clean up after they have gone and meanwhile the commotion and laughter is a great pause in the tranquility.  Endless cups of hot chocolate and “because we like this kind!” as an excuse for not having the marshmallow variety, plus wet gloves and mittens scorching on the wood stove keep the old folks hopping.  Exhausted parents sip their coffee in silence, glad to have a break, looking forward to school starting up again.  The uncluttered front yard, once a placid undisturbed sheet of white, now transformed in to a chaotic plot of snow dogs, snow horses/unicorns, snow dragons, snow men and ladies and snow chickens will be a reminder of the day’s romp.  A thoughtful son-in-law makes sure the wood box is full and hauls out the ashes, fills the bird feeders and takes out the compost.  Soon enough they are all gone again, leaving not too much of a mess behind and some contented old folks happy to resume their quiet routine and happy to have been included in the lives of their busy children.  “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

        A sweet story gleaned from the internet was written by Carolyn Nunn Harvey.  She said, “Sometime last fall, around Thanksgiving, I lost my wedding ring which, unnoticed, slipped off my finger while I was doing my outside chores without gloves on.  I searched for it in vain, and even bought a metal detector to help locate it.  No luck.  Then today, a ray of sunlight shining through the window of a chicken shed into a nest box at exactly the right time and angle, glittered on a mostly-buried fragment of metal and caught my attention.  There it was!  Didn’t take but a second to get it back on my finger, where hopefully it will remain another 33 years!  What a lucky day!”  More good news came on-line as The General expressed his gratitude to Deborah Barker for having made a Valentine’s huckleberry pie.  He said, “That this is the first huckleberry pie I’ve ever had and it is delicious!”  He is a lucky man.  The Thursday night Vanzant pot-luck and bluegrass jam was cancelled for February 19th.  The General did not want his many musical friends to jeopardize their safety in the hard winter weather.  Chances are good that the 26th will be fine for the regular musical Thursday.  Saturday, the 28th, is set aside for a community benefit pie supper and auction for Beverly Emery.  Dinner will be served at 5:30 and the auction will start at 7:00.  The Vanzant Community Building gets a lot of good use and hopes are that the weather will cooperate to allow for this lovely community gesture.

        “If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together, there is something you must always remember:  you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think, but the most important thing is, even if we’re apart, I’ll always be with you.  Happy Birthday,” said A.A. Milne.  He was born in 1882 and lived until 1956.  A prekindergarten student at Skyline School has her birthday on February 27th.  Her name is Mattalynn Hutsell.  Frankie Proctor will miss his birthday.  It is on the 29th of February and we are not having one of those this year.  Beatrice’s Dad, Leopold, up in Stroudsburg, PA will celebrate on the second of March.  Sixth grader Shaelyn Sarginson and resource teacher, Mrs. Barker (huckleberry pie), share the third for their birthday.  Linda up at The Plant Place in Norwood and Krenna Long of Norwood North, both celebrate on the fifth.  The sixth is the special day for kindergarten student Rylee Sartor.  Happy birthday to all you brave, strong, smart people.

        If Cletus Upshaw were still with us he could probably fill Diane Wilbanks in on some history of her place.  He knew stories about every nook and cranny, every hill and holler, and he is sorely missed.  The Wilbanks’ driveway was once called the Veracruz Road.  Diane says they have a new metal detector and have found a Civil War fox hole.  She is looking forward to spending some time in the Douglas County Museum and to some research time in the Court House to fill in the blanks.  It will be her good luck to meet Cinita Brown who knows the country well.  It is the good luck of the community to have new neighbors like Diane and Jerry.  They will be the couple in the wagon behind the pretty white mules when the next wagon train rolls through Champion.  She says that the first organized ride of the West Plains Wagon Club will be in June.  Meanwhile, there will be lots of good opportunities to get together.  The Skyline VFD Chili Supper will be an ideal time to meet up with old and new friends.  It is coming up in just a couple of weeks.  All the enforced isolation brought on by the weather will give way to the “Good bye Cabin Fever” party that this event provides.  A bowl of good chili and some blackberry cobbler or peach pie will be just the thing.  The music by Backyard Bluegrass, Lead Hill Players and Whetstone will be a relief from winter’s dreariness.  Toes will tap.  Word has it that the silent auction will be better than ever this year.  Ms. McCleary is a magician with it and is accumulating some great items!  In lieu of a quilt this time, the big drawing will be for a fancy cast garden bench.  It looks like a park bench, like it would accommodate an old couple holding hands or a young couple pitching woo.  There is a 42 inch fire pit that goes along with it.  It has a screen and tools to work the fire.  Someone will have an enhanced outdoor living space when the climate allows for such as that.  Check it out at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion.  This week members of the Skyline Volunteer Fire District will be adding pie making ingredients to their shopping lists and the desert table will reflect the appreciation the community has for the Fire Department that helps to keep us safe.

Inside and Out

        Every square foot of ground has its history going all the way back.  “Back to what?” inquires one.  “Back to when?”  An interesting point of view attributed to an anonyms Native American says, “Treat the earth well.  It was not given to you by your parents.  It was loaned to you by your children.  We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors.  We borrow it from our Children.”  Young farmers and stewards of the land are doing a good job of preserving a wholesome way of life for their young ones, but it is hard work and they have chores to do even when the snow is flying in Champion….Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—February 16, 2015

        Infrequent visitors to Champion are in for a surprise.  It will shock and sadden some to see that the ancient tree that served as home plate for ball players now in their nineties is suddenly a stump.  Granted, it is a 35 foot tall stump and the bees seem safe inside.  Chances are that it will have sprouted out by summertime to be a curious looking tree—a shrub on an enormous tall trunk.  Time will tell.  Its lean toward the old school building seemed more precarious in light of the flood of early August, 2013, and recent high winds.  September’s school reunion attendees might need to bring parasols if they want shade.  “The only constant is change,” says one.  Getting used to it might take some time.

A Champion Stump

        Wesley’s Mom, Trish, will have her birthday on the 17th.  Pete Proctor will celebrate on the 18th.  His Mother, dear Champion Ruby Hicks Proctor, was born February 19, 1925.  She had stories to tell about playing ball under that old tree.  At her last school reunion she named the girl who let go of the bat that hit her in the face one time.  She got over it and had a beautiful sweet smile.  Joanna Bell will be smiling on her birthday on the 21st.  Drayson and Carson Cline may help their Mom celebrate on the 24th.  That is the special day for Morell enthusiast, Judi Pennington, as well, and the next day is given over to celebrating Texas Ella Mae and Arne, the big Swedish Indian gardener of Farmer’s Market fame.  Happy days, all!

        The nurse did not get much business on her last trip to Champion.  There were colds and flu keeping people home around the fire.  She will be here on Tuesday the 24th, the last Tuesday of the month, helping to keep Champions healthy.  Her name is Angela Souder and she works for the Douglas County Health Department.  She sets up her station in the meeting room of Henson’s Grocery and Gas from 9:00 to 11:00 A.M. with her blood pressure checking equipment, her body mass index machine and the lung age test apparatus.  Now she is also doing blood sugar testing.  Angela, with her good humor and pleasant demeanor is providing a real gift to the community.

Elmer’s new truck.

        Valentine’s Day found one of Champion’s sweethearts out for a ride in his new bright orange Kubota RTV.  It is diesel powered all-wheel drive and has a dump bed.  It is about the cutest thing you ever saw.  It has a steel cab with doors, windshields, heat and air.  Elmer Banks and his son, Craig, brought it out on its maiden voyage to Champion to pick up some feed and to have a celebratory ice cream sandwich.  There will soon be a new set of ruts in the road and his friends will always be glad to see him coming.

        The Skyline Auxiliary had its pre-chili supper meeting at the store on Wednesday evening.  They are busy finalizing and refining plans for the big event.  It is everyone’s hope that snow will be history by then and that cabin fever will have the whole community ready for good food, good music and good fellowship all in support of the wonderful rural volunteer fire department.  The Skyline VFD is the reason homeowners are able to have insurance, and the reason that a serious health issue or an accident at home or on the road will get the speedy attention of trained first responders.  It is a little fire department, but a big part of the community.  Ticket sales have been brisk for the drawing for the garden bench and fire pit.  Pie pans are being readied and the excitement is building.  Set aside March 7th for a good time.  Backyard Bluegrass, The Lead Hill Players and Whetstone will be providing the music and Steve Moody will keep the fun moving along with his genial, good humor.

        Not everyone watches television.  Those who do are likely to have seen a message put out by the American Petroleum Institute wherein an attractive actress in a conservative business suit walks across a polished floor, pausing in front of charts and graphs that illustrate the point that “safe hydraulic fracturing techniques” are helping us to become energy independent.  The API does not talk about benzene in the Yellowstone River or the total loss of property value in Mayflower, Arkansas.  A local engineer says, “Pipelines are mechanical things.  Mechanical things break.  It is a given.”  So far the brave Native Americans and property owners of Nebraska have prevailed in a State Supreme Court ruling that says land seizures under eminent domain are unconstitutional if for the purpose of private gain.  It is a widely accepted fact that the Keystone Pipeline will provide fewer than 50 permanent jobs and the nasty Canadian tar-sands oil is to be sold to China after passing over the pristine Ogallala Aquafer that provides drinking water to millions of people, plants and animals in a broad area of the Midwestern United states.  The person you love is 72.8% water.

        Skyline School’s Lannie Hinote posed congratulations to individual placements in the Rogersville Cupid Shoot Archery Tournament on Valentine’s Day.  Gavin Sartor took fifth place, Shaelyn Sarginson took 4th place and Dylan Ford, eighth place in Middle School.  Levi Hicks took second place and Wyatt Hicks fifth place in the Elementary Division.  They are Champion competitors with a Champion coach.

        A good thing happened for our Veterans this last week with the signing of the Clay Hunt Act into law.  It requires collaboration on suicide prevention efforts between the Veteran’s Administration and non-profit mental health organizations.  Clay Hunt was a decorated Texas Marine who served with distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He struggled with depression and post-traumatic stress after he came home.  He committed suicide in 2011 at the age of 28.  Deaths by suicide appear to be increasing across Missouri.  It costs more lives that homicides and DWI accidents combined.  The Southeast Missourian reports that Missouri had a suicide rate of 15.9 persons per 100,000 in 2012.  The national average is 13 suicides per 100,000 people.  They did not say how many of those were Veterans.  It is hard to know what is going on with another person just by looking at him.  Despair can masquerade in a variety of ways.  Exclusion, particularly, is a lonesome, hard, sad feeling.  Be the friend you would like to have toward all your friends and especially those who have sacrificed at the behest of the Nation.

        Look for some pictures at www.championnews.us to see the tallest stump in Champion and Elmer’s tiny pick up.  Come on down to the Recreation of the Historic Emporium on the wide, wild and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek if you’ve got your snow shoes on–it looks 10 inches deep on Monday morning.  “I bless that happy day when Nelly lost her way and I found her little foot-prints in the snow” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION–February 9, 2015

        “There’ll come a day in February when a dog is looking for the shade.”  Oscar Krider’s saying proved true as Saturday was just that kind of day.  Sunday was wonderful too.  He and Ed Henson were good friends and neighbors and shared some legendary hunting adventures that are still talked about in Champion.  Oscar’s great granddaughters, Teagan and Luxe, live on the family farm where their father and grandfather grew up, in a new house sitting on the spot where Oscar and Goldie Krider lived all those years ago.  Their granddad, Lonnie Krider, said that when they would go to town on Saturday when he was a boy, his Dad would often have a hymn book in his back overall’s pocket, particularly if it was a new one.  He would meet up with friends on the street and they would sing the latest Brumley or work out a new harmony on an old song right on the street corner in Ava.  It might have been embarrassing to a kid back then, but if it was, he got over it.  Music has come down through the family just like farming.  Grandchildren Foster and Kalyssa are great singers, and their cousin Dillon Watts just teamed up with his Tennessee cousins for a nice performance of “Country Roads” on the internet.  The roads in and out of Champion are full of ties between the past and the future.

        Olga’s Ms. Sharon Shannon has been taking care of her chickens and taking advantage of the cold weather to do an independent study of Civil War history.  Her studies have taken her beyond the state approved text books and the conventional assessments of the causes of the conflict and the results of it and into some surprising territory.  The world over, people are finding out more about history than established purveyors necessarily make available.  It is reported that while history books in China and India do include a study of World War II, they hardly mention the Holocaust, if at all, considering it a minor event.  Over here, we have always had a pretty good opinion of Winston Churchill.  It turns out that he held some fairly harsh and racist views that would not be tolerable today.  When the First World War was over and veterans were returning home in Great Britain, the people of Glasgow were striking to establish a 40 hour work week that would make it possible for those returning veterans to find work.  Churchill turned military tanks onto the streets and routed the protesters.  Many lives were lost in addition to the damage done to collective bargaining.  Later Margaret Thatcher‘s approach to the trade unions supported by labor was not dissimilar to the current ‘right to work’ issue here which eliminates collective bargaining altogether and insures that the wealth stays in corporate hands as opposed to the hands of the people actually doing the work.  About the time Churchill was behaving badly in Scotland, President Herbert Hoover turned General Patton and mounted Calvary loose on 17,000 veterans and their families and supporters (46,000 people in all) who were camped outside of Washington D.C. looking for the sign up bonuses they were promised when they enlisted.  Someone says that a young person should work in a Veterans home or hospital for some time as a prerequisite to joining the service just to get an idea of what to expect.  Staying informed is an arduous task, but worth the trouble.  It is difficult to see all sides of any situation and hard to change your mind when facts support it.  “Consider the source” is a good adage and the more sources available, the better chance a person has of figuring it all out for himself.  It is a privilege to live in a society where disparate opinions can be discussed in a civil context.  Champion!

        The Cowboy had his birthday on Saturday the 7th and it was surely a doozy.  He knows how lucky he was not to have burned his house down recently, and not to have drowned when his horse dumped him in the creek a while back.  He is a walking example of good luck and his Champion friends hope his birthday was just right.  Champion grandchildren, Zoey Louise and Alexandra Jean, had the pleasure of celebrating their Mother’s birthday on Sunday.  Champion Skyline Archer Cheyenne Baker celebrates her birthday on February 11th.  The 13th is the day for second grader Joshua Garner to have his party.  Sandra Powell, Champion daughter, has that day as her own also.  Shelby Ward always has her birthday on Valentine’s Day.  Her sister Madelyn will help her celebrate as will her Champion grandparents who have moved off but come home frequently.  Madison Bradshaw is a first grade student at Skyline celebrating a birthday on the 16th.  That will be a Monday, which is always a good day for a party.

        Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood is up on the www.championnews.us website and on the bulletin board by the back door at Henson’s Grocery and Gas.  A few warm days have some excited about the garden again and seed orders are arriving in the mail, manure is being shoveled by the truck load and one old Champion gardener is looking for a stout young fellow to help her with some heavy work in her garden.  She will not pay in turnips, but in cold hard cash.  Soon enough, people will be getting their potatoes in the ground.  Ed Henson said to be sure and wrap them in newspaper “so the dirt won’t get in their eyes.”

Clever Creek

        Tina Base has been looking at The Champion News facebook page and asked if the Clever Creek is dry.  TCN responded that it is dry at its southern extremes but it does not take much of a rain to get it going and sometimes in a big way.  There are always a few pools and puddles up toward Cold Springs.  Ms. Base says she is thinking about moving to the area and was wondering what it is like living there.  “Being in a very rural area, what do you do for fun and entertainment?  Where do you go for medical, jobs, home supplies, church etc?”  Perhaps the lady can make a visit to see if it suits her here.  Meanwhile, TCN will do its best to answer her questions.  Perhaps she can attend the Skyline VFD Auxiliary meeting down at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion on Wednesday the 11th.  She will meet some fine folks and see the workings of a great community.  Everyone is welcome.

        Valentine’s Day is full of sweet stuff to eat and to hear.  “Roses are red and violets are purple, sugar is sweet and so is maple surple,” says Roger Miller.  Romance is in the air and it can take many forms.  Arguing turns out to be one.  Arguing with an engineer can be a losing proposition.  They say that it is like mud wrestling with a pig.  After a while, a person discovers that the pig is having fun.  He will know more about the subject of the disagreement than a jack rabbit knows about running.  A good argument can be stimulating and winning and losing can be considered subjective in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—February 2, 2015

        Cardinals, finches, blue jays, woodpeckers, titmice and chickadees cavorted in the short lived, wispy Monday morning snow and local observers were pleased to see a beautiful mountain bluebird here and there.  Little patches of blue sky over on the horizon, just behind the hill took over to make a glorious day, if a little chilly.  Champion!

        The General says, “Ground Hog Day has been cancelled this year because of the nor’easter, and especially because of the Super “Deflatgate” Bowl.  The winter weather forecasting pig has moved and has his hide well hidden.  He has heard footballs are going to be made out of groundhog skin because once inflated it is impossible to remove the air from them.”  Ground Hog Day is the day when a fix can be made on the arrival of Spring and so we like it.  People who especially like the day are celebrating birthdays, Judy Parsons, Charlene Dupre, Angie Heffern, Connie Grand and Catherine Mallernee.  Zack Alexander had his birthday on the 1st as did a Champion regular with a nice little dog and a birthday in 1940!  Angle Parkes is an eighth grader at Skyline School and celebrates her birthday on February 6th.

        Lannie Hinote wrote, “Such a great turnout for the Skyline Archery State Qualifier . . . great sportsmanship by all and great shooting . . . I want to thank my entire archery team for all their hard work preparing for the tournament as well as helping run the tournament today.  Thank you to Missouri Department of Conservation Outdoor Specialist Larry Lindeman for helping us on the range, as well as Terry Prock, Rachel Brown, and Debra Helmick Shearer.  You all made it look so easy.  Thank you to Crystal Potter Emery, Crystal Sartor and Bridget Seabert Hicks for keeping up with all the scoring, to Ms. Curtis for helping with registration, and to all the PTO members that help keeping the kids and adults well fed.  Oh, yes, I do not want to forget one specific 8th grader for doing the sunshine dance every day for us so the snow and ice would not interfere….that was epic.”  Passersby were amazed at the crowd.  Local papers should be full of pictures this week.  Congratulations to Skyline on a job well done!

A Champion Reflection

        Justin Britt plays offensive tackle for the Seahawks.  He is a local boy from Lebanon, six foot six inches tall, 325 pounds and 23 years old.  That is a good enough reason to favor one team over another.  In an unusual move, guests at the North Champion Super Bowl Soirée (once again The General demurred) asked that the sound be turned on for the replay of that spectacular spiraling fumbling bumbling catch that seemed to be the turning point for the boys in blue.  Alas!  Their hopes were thwarted when a clever young man among their opponents found himself at exactly that right place, with only seconds on the clock, to intercept, on the very goal line, what was going to have been the winning pass.  Fortunes are won and lost in a heartbeat.  Ms. Ayn Thrope vocalized her steady stream of criticism without shouting, which was a relief to hosts and other guests alike.  “The twenty new NFL stadiums since 1997 cost taxpayers $4.7 billion.  Stadium construction is financed with tax-free bonds intended for school and roads, saving the NFL team another $4 billion.  Teams sell luxury seating to corporate clients worth $2 billion a year—all tax-deductible.  Super bowl commercials cost $4.5million for a 30 second spot—all tax-deductible.  The NFL makes $10 billion in revenue annually but has paid ZERO federal income taxes in 50 years.”  She goes on to say, “Then there is the gambling—millions of dollars change hands in legal above board gambling and estimates are $4.3 billion in illegal betting.”  She cited several sources for her information one being Zack’s Mom.  She did like the pepper jelly on the baked brie, the bacon candy and persimmon cookies.

        Sharon Shannon from over at Olga always has excellent reports to make about the wildlife in her area, the squirrels and foxes and all the things that nose around the chicken coop at night.  She is raising chickens and doing what she loves which she says is “no work at all.”  Roger Wall is presumably doing what he likes these days which includes writing the Notes from Hunter Creek.  He too has some interesting wild life observations.  Champion Deward Henson’s daughter, living up in Springfield  these days, is a great fan of the eagle and will enjoy this exciting reading about how it is possible for a salmon to drown an eagle.  She is politically astute and will appreciate the way Wall explains how “Abe Lincoln became the first elected Republican President in the nation, but without a majority of the vote.”

        Bob and Ethel Leach have had the flu and Lee Ray has too, so Wednesday’s gathering at the Famed Emporium was a little subdued.  Lee Ray might say that if you pat your foot just right you could make that sound like a poem.  He has been in the business of issuing “Poetic Licenses” lately.  He does not charge a fee.  The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering was going on over the last few days up in Elko, Nevada. It is the Super Bowl of Cowboy Poetry.  Next year, just about the time cabin fever sets in, Champions might sponsor a trip for Lee Ray up to Elko for a week.  It would give him a chance to immerse himself in poetry and still be manly.  It is a subject up for discussion.  It might be interesting to find out what the Cowboy and Indian Poets are writing about the pipeline over and through their water and their sacred lands.  There is probably someone chanting, “No eminent domain for private gain!”  Will Rogers, cowboy and Indian, poet and humorist addressed the economy thusly:  “The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy.  Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up.  Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow.  But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.”  He said that in November, 1932.  A week in Elko and Almartha’s Best might sound like that.  Hopefully everyone will be on the mend and back around the stove soon to talk it all over.  The Native American Council is offering amnesty to two hundred forty million undocumented whites.

        Myron Jackson of KZ88 writes in to ask if the date has been set for the Fire Department fundraiser this year.  “As always we’d love to give it some publicity and I may have an item or two for the silent auction.”  The date is set for March 7th and there will be some great music there.  Whetstone, Lead Hill Players, and Back Yard Bluegrass will all be there.  Dennis and D.J. Shumate were on hand in Vanzant on Saturday morning providing music for the funeral of a much loved good neighbor and genuinely nice man, Bill Emory.  He passed away on Wednesday and was buried there in Vanzant where he had lived most of his life.  Beverly and all those left behind are in the warmest thoughts of Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 26, 2015

        One of the many lovely things about living in Champion is that it is just not very crowded out here.  Almost everyone can find a spot where there is no other person to be seen.  For some the favored way to live is in solitude and for others solitude is a place of refuge from the cares and worries of the world if only for a few minutes every so once in a while.  Henry David Thoreau, who had much to say about nature and human existence, lived for a couple of years near Walden Pond to experience a Spartan kind of deliberate living.  The property belonged to his friend, R.W. Emerson, so he probably did not have to pay rent and recently some historian revealed that Henry’s mother did his laundry and brought his meals to him.  That does not detract from the value of his observations but perhaps speaks to the leisure he was given to observe.  It is nice to have a meeting place, like Henson’s Downtown G & G, where keenly observant folks can share at their leisure what they have seen and what they think about it with people who will share what they remember and with those who predict how it will all be in the future.  That is society and a pleasant thing to think about particularly on the way back to the peace and quiet of home.  Champion!

        Atmospheric conditions seem to be providing some spectacular sunsets these days.  The spectacular part might be that it is warm enough to step out and enjoy them.  While so many favorite trees just resemble vertical brush piles this time of the year, little things are swelling and beginning anew.   The ‘wild’ flowering quince is growing little dots of color and soon the witch-hazel will be decorating the creek banks with its delicate flowers and scent.  Meanwhile it is a treat to notice all the big nests high in the trees.  They will soon disappear in the foliage again.  Seed catalogues, almanacs, truckloads of manure and rafts of garden lore will soon be the topics of most conversations around the stove.

        The Skyline School parking lot was full of parents waiting for the school bus Saturday night as the Skyline Archery Team made its triumphant trip home from Skyline Urbana and the Archery Tournament there.  Congratulations to Skyline Archer Dylan Ford for shooting a career high and taking 2nd place.  Coach Lannie Hinote puts a lot of good effort into the team and the results are clear.  What an asset to have such a dedicated, hard-working, fun loving educator guiding the young people about to take over the running of the world.  A note into champion@championnews.us is from an excited 14 year old who says, “Ours is the voice of the climate change generation.  In the light of a collapsing world, what better time to be born than now?  Because this generation gets to rewrite history, gets to leave our mark on this earth.… We will be known as the generation, as the people on the planet that brought forth a healthy, just, sustainable world for every generation to come. … We are the generation of change.”  The Greatest Generation was followed by the Baby Boomers, then Generations X, Y, and Z.  Now comes along the Generation of Change.  It is to be hoped that they will have learned something from history.  Will Durant said, “Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.”  Good luck!

        “We’re not ‘hills.’  We are an eroded plateau:”  This says an Old Champion who, while as much an admirer of Abby Dyer as anybody in the Ozarks, is aggravated that she and other weather people say 37° when it is only 31° or they say 92° when it is 98°.  It aggravates him.  The old woman says, “You know where you live.  Add or subtract for yourself and don’t blame Abby and her bunch for being inaccurate when they live up on the plateau and clearly we live in the eroded area….6°s of erosion.”  He would like a more personalized weather report from the charming Ms. Dyer, one more spot-on accurate for the south and west sides of a couple of hills on which he pays the taxes.  Various invitations are being sent in the hopes that she will make an appearance at the Skyline Auxiliary Chili Supper in March.  One suggested she might do a weather report from the Veranda of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  The Auxiliary is excited about their fund raiser this year.  Plans are well underway and the prize to be awarded this time is a fire pit and a cast garden bench that will give some lucky person a place to enjoy some solitude or if he is even luckier the place to share some solitude.

        The big oil spill in the Yellowstone River is a tragic thing.  The beautiful clear natural water is what makes this part of the world such a treasure.  Not having oil seems to be a gift here.  There will be no fracking unless that is a way to access our considerable lead deposits.  They are still not altogether cleaned up from the Exxon Valdese spill in Alaska years ago, and the Gulf Coast is still a mess out in the areas where the tourists do not go.  Had it not been for a teenage girl with a cell phone, the disaster in Mayflower, Arkansas two years ago in March might not have been known.  It did not get much publicity.  Many people who were able to have left the area and the rest will be dealing with the health effects and economic disruption for generations.  The Canadian tar sands oil that spilled out of the pipeline there in Arkansas is another gift from Exxon.  Enough.  Thank you.

Mother

Exer Lynnie Hector Masters

        The United States Census U.S. and World Population Clock indicates that in the world there is a birth every 8 seconds and a death every 12 seconds.  That means that every 16 seconds the world gets a net gain of one new person.  Today the world population is 7,220,411,000+.  There are plenty of people, but the new ones do not replace the old ones.  Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759.  He was a hard working farmer, a great poet and passionate lover.  He died at the age of 37, leaving a large body of well-loved poetry, quite a number of children and several untidy personal relationships.  People come and go.  One left on January 25, 1975—a lifetime ago.  Forty years and one still misses her dear Mother.  Exer Lynnie Hector Masters was her name.

        The tune “Once More” was recorded at the Skyline VFD Picnic in August 2007.  It featured Lonnie Krider on mandolin, Wayne Anderson on banjo, Linda Clark-vocals, Brenda Dartt-bass, and Luke Dartt-guitar.  The Champion News is pleased to report that the YouTube video can be seen on line at www.championnews.us.  It appears on the post for January 25, 2015 and is accessible from a number of links over on the right hand side of the page—under “Music”  “Lonnie and Wayne” and under “Champion Videos.”  It is a gift that the musicians and their families will share these happy memories and, for all the aggravations associated with it, technology is also a gift.  “Once more I’d give a fortune if I could see you once more”…in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 19, 2015

        This whole global warming thing has become a hit with some locals.  They like a 63°F Sunday on the 18th of January.  Thinking back over last summer, it seems that there were really only a couple of weeks when extra cooling was necessary here.  It was a relatively mild summer for the Ozarks, but other parts of the country registered their highest temperatures ever.  Worldwide it was the warmest year ever and every year has been like that for some while now.  The natural cycles and events that are known to influence climate do not account for the amount and pattern of warming that has been measured in the last twenty and more years according to the hundreds of scientist reporting to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change formed by the United Nations.  They say the only way to explain the pattern is to include the effect of greenhouses gasses emitted by humans.  Deforestation is another culprit.  Champions will do their part to help the situation by being informed and by finding an alternative to throwing a tire on a brush fire to keep it going.  Moreover, they will enjoy every beautiful day no matter what the cause.  Champion!

        Jacob Kyle Brixey, Skyline prekindergarten student, and Mary Beth Shannon share their birthday on the 18th.  Each can charm you with a beautiful smile.  J.C. Owsley shares his birthday on the 19th with a most prominent Champion.  J.C. has a new horse which he says will be 20 when he is 80.  He has years to go to get there and mostly likely will get there in the saddle.  Champions will hope he ambles on over this way one of these days.  Another prekindergarten guy is Jacob Johnson.  He has his birthday on January 23rd.  So does handsome great nephew, Oliver Holden-Moses, an aspiring and accomplished percussionist over in Oklahoma.  Prekindergarten teacher, Mrs. Doni Coonts celebrates her birthday on the 25th and third grader, Brook Johnson has her party on the 26th.  Skyline alumnus K Heffern Alexander will have begun her partying last week and will still be celebrating the week after her birthday on the 27th.  First grader Kimberly Wallace has her birthday on the 29th and Ericka Strong, second grade, has her big day on the 30th.  Talking about big days, James Brixey was 40 on the 30th in 2012.

        The Skyline VFD Auxiliary had a meeting on Wednesday, the 14th.  Preparations for the annual Chili Supper have begun.  It is always a fine get-together because of the good planning.  Proceeds from the Chili Supper go toward providing equipment and training for the Volunteer Firefighters.  Diane and Jerry Wilbanks had a grass/brush fire at their house last year sometime and were most complimentary of the efficiency and speed with which the Skyline Volunteer Firefighters saved their house.  After an extended absence caring for ailing family, their Champion friends are glad to have Diane and Jerry home again.  They have been enjoying these gorgeous days riding in their wagon behind their beautiful white mules down by the creek.  Diane just had her birthday on the 13th and had planned to come to Champion for ice cream as a celebration.  Something got in her way but she will get her ice cream next time she comes this way.  Last year her wonderful apple pies were the hit of the Chili Supper and her Auxiliary friends will be looking for her at the next meeting February 11, 6:30 at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion.  Everyone is welcome to attend, particularly if you are in the Skyline Area Volunteer Fire District.  Get Cowboy Jack to tell you how a flue fire did not take his home recently.  Support your VFD!

        The Boys of Summer are daydreaming now about baseball.  It will be nice to be warming up in the bullpen or up on the mound, nice to run the bases or to catch a high fly out in right field, or to slide into home.  This is brought to mind by recently posted pictures of General Fast Pitch and the fellows, wearing the uniform of the Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming Fastpitch Softball Team of 1973.  The no-hitters attributed to the pitcher were mostly the times when he managed not to hit the batter.  He blamed the wild Wyoming wind.  There was a nice picture of Upshaw boys skating on the family’s frozen pond over south of Denlow.  General Erudite said, “Had we fallen, we surely would have broken through.”  Sunday, February 1st, he is planning to attend a formal soiree where the Patriots and Seahawks will battle it out on the flat screen.  He will enjoy cultured speculative conversation concerning the game, and sports oriented modern poetry to the tune of Miles and Monk on the HiFi, Chablis, truffles and brie—XLIX.  He will probably wear his turtleneck and a tweed sports coat.  Such a cool guy.  This is not the side of him you see at the Thursday evening Vanzant Blue Grass Jam—a multifaceted individual indeed.

        Ms. Ayn Throp writes in to champion@championnews.us to say that the reason rhetoric gets so out of hand and people seem to be crazier and more radical all over the world is that when people are only around other people who believe exactly the same thing they believe, a person wanting to get attention has to speak louder or say more outrageous and crazy things.  Her point seems to be that it is a good thing to learn what other people think and to respect the rights of people to believe as they do.  Another Champion writes, “…America has actually been self-correcting on a pretty steady pace,(we haven’t even been around that long in the scheme of things).  Of course there’s still a ways to go, but a lot more divisiveness is being promoted than I think there really is.  I have even seen quite a few changes in the backwoods Ozarks in my time here in the acceptance department.”  Mr. Cipriano had a good point the other day when he said that flip-flopping is often the result of education.  You believe one thing, learn the truth and change your mind.  It is what happened to Paul on the way to Damascus.

        Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 21st through the 26th will be a good time to prune to discourage growth.  Children in need of chores can always cut sprouts.  Old folks missing having young people to order around just have to hobble out and cut their own sprouts or let them grow.  Young Luxe Krider has made her debut at The Recreation of the Historic Emporium.  She is a real beauty and her older sister Teagan is quite fond of her.  They are destined to become great singers.  One day they will be entertaining out on the wide veranda.  Reports are that the Wednesday Morning Club is growing in numbers and enjoyment.  A pleasant time can be had almost any day, but Wednesdays are special.  “Through all kinds of weather, what if the sky should fall?  As long as we’re together, it really doesn’t matter at all” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 12, 2015

        This time last year the Polar Vortex was battering the community and it wore out its welcome quickly.  Frozen pipes and polar plunges meant aggravation, hard work, and a little fun.  Joking about adversity is a proven coping mechanism.  On Sunday some cold people over east of Champion began dragging out old similes and making up new ones to the effect that the roads were as slick as various substances smeared across various surfaces, one being a glass door knob.  It would have been enough to say, “The roads are slick.”  Those nice gents from MODOT had been down to Champion early, sprinkling their special stuff on the road.  Conditions can change so fast this time of the year, Champions are alert to the possibility of black ice and proceed with caution.

        Norris Woods’ birthday is on the 13th of January and the family had a musical evening over the week end.  Buzz said, “Pickin’ and grinnin’ with my brother, sister, and dad.  Can’t get any better than this!” The video that was posted on line had a nice version of “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey?” and Grannie Sharron dancing with her little grandchildren.  Happy Birthday, Norris!  The same goes to Skyline prekindergarten student, Jacob Brixey.  His birthday is on the 18th.  Nathan Nava works at the school and celebrates his birthday on the 19th together with Robert E. Lee (1807), Edgar Allen Poe(1809), Janis Joplin (1943), Dolly Parton (1946) and another charming lady, a younger Champion.  Kyle Barker is a second grader now at Skyline and his birthday is on the 21st.  He has a General for a grandpa and an interesting life ahead of him.

        Jody and Royce Henson sent a Happy New Year card out to Champion from their home in Springfield.  They had been on a shopping spree for antiques.  Actually, the card said “Just two antiques out shopping!”  They looked like they were having a good time in the pictures, but that is their standard look.  They were standing by a green and white 1955, Chevy two door hard top, maybe a Bellaire.  Maybe some pleasant set of circumstances yet unknown will bring them back to Champion before the school reunion in September.  They are always welcome.  Another always welcome visitor is Bernice Wiseman.  She and Wayne are grandparents to Champion grandchildren Foster and Kalyssa.  Bernice is having some delicate health issues and her Champion friends send her their best wishes.

        Mary Brown-Davis reported that she was very proud of Cheyenne Baker who had taken second place in the Parkview High School Archery Tournament on Saturday.  Cheyenne has shot in three tournaments and has taken third place in two of them and now a second place.  Lannie Hinote is coaching the Skyline Archery Team and doing a wonderful job with them.  Champions!

        Laine Southerland wrote the other day that Tom Cooley and Leo Stouffer had been over to the Southerland place and split up a huge stack of logs.  Laine said, “These guys are my heroes today.”  She said that Tom hurt his hand and she hoped that he was ok.  Champions hope so too and will be looking for an update from Laine.  She keeps the neighborhood in good music, good information and good thoughts.  Thanks, Laine.

        The meeting room was full to overflowing on Wednesday and everyone seemed in good spirits.  Ethel Leach was wearing her Elvis Week hat and looking glamorous as ever.  She has a winning smile.  Ethel reported that Anne Smith, the pleasant, friendly blonde who has been working at the window in Mountain Grove’s MFA for years, had taken a bad fall and suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung.  She is in Cox hospital and will be for a little while.  Her Champion friends wish her a speedy good recovery.  This news sparked several stories of bad falls and near misses.  A subject has not been adequately addressed and cannot be retired or changed until the aging poetaster of Almartha has given it a thorough working over.  Between collecting signatures on his birthday card, one that showed a broken down, bowlegged cowboy on the outside with his hat crumpled and his elbows sticking out in every direction and something about becoming a “geezer” on the inside, he told of having recently taken a walk in the woods.  He was all by himself, not a dog at his heels, not a cell phone in his pocket, his wife, bless her heart, in town working for a living, just him out for a ramble in the woods.  He did not say how far away from home he was or just what he was really doing out there, but he made it out to sound like it was a far piece, when he stepped in a hole/slipped on some wet leaves or down a slick bank/got his toe under a root/ had to dodge some brambles, or something like that and just not being as surefooted and quick as he used to be on account of getting old, he wound up taking a hard fall.  Just before the end of the story, he revealed that when he fell, he fell on his knees.  It was at this point in the story that at least one and probably a couple of the women in the room thought that would have been the perfect time for the chronic disparager of the fair sex to have repented of his incessant misogyny and anti-suffrage haranguing.  It was, alas, not an opportunity that he recognized or was willing to seize.  He finally finished his story, the gist of which seemed to be that things can happen in the blink of an eye.  He continued with his theatrical, bombastic, and maligning pronouncements until she wearied of it and left.  On her way home the woman thought about what she should have said, as is so often the case when the moment is long past.  She thought she should have said just what the Erstwhile Barber said to her one time right out loud in a public place—the Skyline Chili Supper about 2010—he walked up to her with a grin and said, “I’m surprised ain’t nobody’s shot you yet.”  No use starting a brawl when everyone was having such a nice time.

        “Hot corn, cold corn, bring a long a demijohn!  Yes, Sir!”  Bring that demijohn on down to the wide and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek, walk across the muddy Square, climb that graceful set of steps up to the veranda of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium.  Wipe your feet before you go in and enjoy the warmth of a big wood stove that has been taking the chill off for generations.  Seed catalogues are starting to show up everywhere, so there will be gardening to discuss.  Share your good news there or at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at champion@championnews.us.  Spin your yarn and enjoy the company of farmers and firemen and Champions of all sorts—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 5, 2015

        The big full Wolf Moon rose late and rode high through the clear night sky setting just at dawn.  Of course, the rise and set may vary depending upon how high the surrounding hills are, but what a joy to see the big golden thing again and Monday’s brilliant sunshine brings smiles even with the deep cold.  “Sitting in front of my window drinking coffee and watching the snow’s lazy descent to the earth.  Occasionally the snow makes a last ditch effort to head back to the heavens on a wayward gust of air.  Beautiful.  Good Morning Friends.”  This was snagged from the internet, authored by Champion K.H. Alexander, living now off in the big town.

        Another posting had to do with pumping gas after dark at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion.  Sometimes, particularly when a person is cold, the sound of liquid pouring and the feel of it going through the gas pump can have a sudden, urgent physiological effect that cannot be ignored.  A much loved nurse experienced this phenomenon recently and was relieved to find an obvious solution.  She, however, was not observed and laughed, “…hehe…Yes, I did that!  It was very daring….living on the wild side….”

        January 5th marks the birthday of Georgie Anne Pendergraft Masters.  The only child of George Pendegraft and Margaret Henson Pendergraft.  Margaret died while her daughter was an infant and George married Malvernia Henson, Margaret’s sister.  She and George had a number of other children.  When Georgie Anne wanted to marry J.W. Masters, her dad refused and when she married him anyway she was forbidden to return home.  Malvernia, her step mother, made a little bundle of her other clothes and stashed them on the back side of the barn so that she was able to come by on the sly and get them.  In those days one change of clothes might be all a person had.  This was over in McDonald county just before the turn of the last century.

        The Eighth of January is a favorite old tune in these parts.  Elvis Presley was born that day in 1935.  Fair Rachel Evans was born in England on that day and has since made a cozy spot with many friends in Fair Edina.  Elizabeth Johnston celebrates the next day and her extended loving family will tell her in words and actions how pleased they are to have her in their lives.  She shares that date with a favorite Champion nephew, Dr. Phillip Holden-Schmeckle, another Brit, a gourmet raconteur, and an excellent purveyor of Humanism.  The tenth is given over to Sir Tom Van Dyke.  This do-gooder (in the extreme) stops in Champion every so once in a while and leaves it much improved.  A wake of improvement follows him.  Reports of mission trips to Kenya, Cuba, Guatemala, and Oklahoma come in welcome postcards.  The next day Teeter Creek Herb’s own herbalist, Bob Liebert, celebrates his birthday.  He is the author of “Common Medicinal Herbs of the Ozark” and “Osage Life and Legends.”  He co-authored with Louis Two Ravens Irwin “Two Ravens:  The Life and Teachings of a Spiritual Warrior.”  Many Native American readers accept this as an accurate portrayal of life for a Native American over the past several decades.  He and Wilburn Hutchison have shared a birthday all of Bob’s life.  Connie Lansdown reported a funny phone conversation with Wilburn the other day after the sad news of the passing of actress Donna Douglas.  Connie and her mother were both named after Ellie Mae Clampett.  “’Elle May,’ I say to Dad, ‘she was 81, Dad, and still cute as a button!’  He says, ‘Me too.  I’m 81 and cuter than a button too.’  Then goes on to elaborate and says, ‘Sis, where you think you get your good looks from?  That’s right, your handsome Dad.’ I so love my funny and humorous Daddy!”  His Champion friends do too.

        An old Champion woman says, “I liked Ike because he was a Texan…because the first television I saw was the 1952 Republican convention.  (I got to watch a lot of the McCarthy hearings too.) And because he was a soldier who had the nerve and the willingness to warn against the ‘industrial-military complex.’  Now Senator Sanders of Vermont suggest that military spending and national priorities ought to be the subject of national discussion.  He quotes President Eisenhower, ‘The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this:  a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.  It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.  It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.  It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.’  Of course this need for concrete highway is why a person cannot go to Norwood and get on a train to go anywhere in the country.  Public transportation sucks in America.”  There are plenty of people around who can say what all is wrong with America.  While Pollyanna blithely keeps her focus close at hand and just sees the good and pleasant, Ms. Ayn Thrope can rail endlessly about what all needs fixing.  She is currently outraged about the Wounded Warrior Project.  In her letter she says that she loves the Veterans and thinks the Wounded Warrior Project is a beautiful thing, but that it is criminal that it has to exist.  “Is there no contract that provides for the care of those who have served?”  She wonders why a young person would consider joining the military when they are so poorly treated once their sacrifice of limb, cognition, and/or spirit has been made.  “That any Veteran is homeless or neglected is a crime when private companies in the war machine are making billions, and Veteran benefits are considered ‘entitlements.’”  It is a Champion balance to stay informed and optimistic.

        A prominent psychologist asks, “When you were growing up, who loved you?”  The question is posed to cause a person to reflect.  Chances are that one person stands out in anyone’s memory, or it could be that a lucky person in a big family can say, “Everyone!”  Reflection is a good way to start a new year.  By this time many resolutions have already been abandoned and the best a person can do is to learn the good lessons from the past and apply them to the future.  Julian Barnes writes in “The Sense of an Ending” that what you end up remembering is not always the same as what you have witnessed.  Come reflect around the big wood stove and get your story straight in the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  Sing your favorite Elvis song there (“A Little Less Conversation, and a Little More Action, Please!”) or check out the latest ‘Linda’s Almanac’ on the bulletin board.  It is also available at www.championnews.us and informs that the birthstone for January is the garnet and the flower is the white carnation, in case anyone is buying gifts for January ladies.  There was a good turn-out for Douglas County Health Department nurse Angela Souder on Tuesday.  She is not the gas-pumping nurse of paragraph two, but the one who is helping Champions take better care of their health.  Any morning of the week will find a lively discourse going on the wide, wild and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek, being made more wooly by those fellows from Southern Construction as they clear out the electric right of way.  Harley was here for a few days and livened up the chatter.  He is home chatting with Barbara now and their friends and neighbors here look forward to seeing them again soon.  Elvis says, “That’s alright! Any way you want to do” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 29, 2014

        December 25th found people standing still, wrapped in their coats and shawls, eyes closed and faces turned up to the sun, their lips sagging into smiles of relief.  The long grayness had passed, if temporarily, and hope bloomed again.  Champion!

        Among the many kind greetings Wesley and Karen (Suzie) Freeman, hillbillies down in McKinney, Texas, say they are still kicking (“Don’t know how high”), “Read your items every week in the paper.  Hope you and people down Champion Way have a very Happy Christmas and New Year!”  Bonna Mullens sends her good wishes for the season and the New Year along with her welcome support to TCN-on–line (www.championnews.us).  Champion friends and family look forward to seeing her and Pete in Denlow on Memorial Day.  It will be here soon.  Pat Metroplos has been off in Seattle enjoying her birthday which was on the 22nd of December.  She will be home soon with adventures to share.  Birthday greetings include salutations to Teeter Creek Herbs’ own rocking grandma, Jan Liebert, on the first day of the year.  That day also was for Jacob Wellington Masters, a long gone rascal of a moon shine drinking, brush arbor preaching grandfather over in McDonald County.  Jacob Coon’s dad has his birthday on the first.  Jacob is a 6th grader at Skyline now and has his birthday on the third.  Music man, Leland Isley, will be in the company of the fair Amanda for his birthday that day.  He is a lucky man and he knows it.  Then comes the 4th of January, the first Sunday of the New Year, with big time celebrations in store for the lovely Sami McCleary.  This dynamo of a Champion girlfriend will probably start her partying on New Year’s Eve and carry it on through the following week.  She makes smiles happen.  Congratulations on the anniversary of another trip around the sun, whether or not it is out.

        Champion Richard Heffern has generously shared some timely observations with The Champion News.  “We spent last week in the Missouri Ozarks, in our little house in Mad Dog Hollow.  It’s, of course, the darkest time of year, and it was very, very dark as soon as the sun, which had perched all day in among the oaks and pines very low in the southern sky, set in a modest blaze of wanly-lit grey cloud.  Then… the dark swallowed up the world.  We’re 20 miles from the nearest small town, seventy from the nearest city, and for most of the night there was no moon.  Clouds obscured the stars, and it was cold.  Stoking up the wood stove was the least we could do to ward off this solstice-time assault by darkness.  Later, lying in bed, I placed my hand in front of my eyes and realized I couldn’t see it.  And I thought this was the experience of most of humanity for hundreds of thousands of years—just up until the last few generations.  For so long, we huddled around fires and chimneys and told stories into the long, long nights.  Feeling this kind of darkness down in your bones and deep in your psyche, one realizes how much, at this time of year, we need….well, each other, stories of light, hope that the sun will indeed return and not continue its descent toward the horizon permanently.  No wonder this time of year is time for closeness with family and friends, for celebration—Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Yule.  Season’s greetings!“

        Herr Dr. Schmeckle writes in part, “I worry about the stress that Xmas puts on poor families – and yes, I know, the spirit of Xmas moves through the poor as well as the wealthy.  It doesn’t stop me from thinking about the adults who put themselves into debt because consumer consumption has taken the place of holiday’s spiritual core.  I worry about those, young and old, who wake up with the feeling that they are missing out – missing out on gifts, missing out on family or, most commonly I suspect, missing out on happiness.  Mental health is fragile at best; around the holidays it takes one hell of a pummeling.  I want peace and love in the world.  I want you to accept me as I am, just as I will accept you.  I want everyone to work together for the benefit of the greater good – you know- healthcare, education, housing etc.  These are concrete manifestations of things that religions (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever) strive for at their very core.”  Well said, Doc!  A note in the paper from 125 years ago says, “A man’s debts always overtake him.  He can never out run them or hide from them.  Debt has sharper eyes than justice.”  This is comforting thought for some who feel a debt is owed them.

        The Friday morning before Christmas Cowboy Jack and Mrs. Cowboy were thinking about going to town, but decided against it.  A little while later they became aware that their flu was on fire.  Skyline Volunteer Fire Fighters were summoned and extinguished the fire by depriving it of oxygen.  They were quick to the scene with the requisite equipment and skill and so the Cowboy and his Mrs. still have a nice roof over their heads and a Happy New Year ahead thanks to the Skyline VFD!

        A note from Tim Scrivner of the Skyline R2 School Foundation says, “At the last School board meeting Jeanne Curtis handed me a donation of a $100 bill from someone and also a check from the School for $237 from a fund raiser the parents/students had done.  We’ve also learned that the remains of a Wellness grant we received last year has been approved to buy drinking fountains!  I don’t have the details yet, but I understand that the fountains will be the latest and greatest. Our funds (now totaling over $1500) can be used to pay for installation, etc.”  This is great news.  Clean water=healthy children!

        Ms. Ayn Thrope suggests reading for next year to start with “Savage Anxieties,” by Robert A. Williams Jr., a professor specializing in American Indian law.  She says it is an eye-opening harrowing read made current as Congress passed a measure in December to give sacred American Indian lands in Arizona to a foreign company—2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest destined to be the largest copper mine in the world.  She quotes Williams as saying, “These are folks that have been fighting the federal government over their land rights and cultural rights for a long time, and here you have this little, small tribe of Apaches, one of the poorest tribes, trying to stop this.”  Thrope speaks about logging in an area of Brazil where there were forty indigenous tribes and now only six of them are left after a period of just ten years.  She says, turning attention back home, “And while we are at it, Merry Christmas to Louis Peltier rotting in jail, framed by the FBI.”  Ax grinding might be Ms. Ayn Thorpe’s forte—a real country girl.

        Dakota and Dillon Watts used to be called ‘those Tennessee boys,’ but are now are being referred to as those nice young men from Tennessee.  They were in town over the week end together with eight of their Champion cousins, four aunts and four uncles, their Grandmother Krider, and various great aunts and uncles.  It was a momentous kind of memorable occasion where many photographs were taken, many hugs shared around.  That is the Champion Way!  Happy New Year from The Bright Side!

CHAMPION–December 22, 2014

The busy Saturday before Christmas found the Strong family stopping in at The Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in Down Town Champion. Billy and Leigh Strong are the parents of eleven year old Alyssa, a sixth grade student at Skyline, eight year old Heidi who is in the third grade, and Billy who is six and a kindergarten student. Heidi and Billy reported that they had done some good Christmas shopping at school with Tiger Bucks that they had earned for good behavior. Billy was particularly excited about a gift he has for his Dad. The days ahead promised to be busy ones for them as there was baking to do and popcorn yet to string. They planned to enjoy Christmas Eve with one grandmother, Christmas day at home, and the following Sunday with their other grandmother. Their parents were almost as excited as the children knowing the surprises in store. Merry Christmas to the Champion Strong family!

        In the way that home is the most beloved of all human concepts, so Christmas is held up by much of the world as the best day of the year.  It is the much longed for day when expectations are sure to be met, when families are gathered and memories are made to go along with the photographs that are taken for proof.  It is the reference point for family milestones:  “It was that year when thus and such happened…, you remember…our last Christmas with Mother.” There is a lot of room in the Champion heart for sentimentality and nostalgia with plenty to spare for being mindful of the moment as it happens.  The smells and tastes, the racket and music, the laughter, hugs and tears add weight to the reverence of the acknowledgement of the special day.  “God bless us, every one” on the Bright Side!  This year the DC Herald has made arrangements with a talented local potter, Louise Walker of the Crystal Lake neighborhood, to provide gifts to all the community correspondents.  Like the communities themselves, each piece is unique, beautiful and useful.  Thank you from Champion!

        Christmas is a perfect time for fence mending and forgiveness.  Sometimes those fences are mended not because the injured party has become forgiving, but, as often as not, because he is weary of carrying the burdens of grievances and remembering his injury.  The grudge is surely the heaviest of all loads.  Time can be a factor in forgiveness.  Blows can be softened or hardened in memory.  Some may be motivated to forgiveness by a magnanimous righteousness that comes with perceived vindication.  “See?  I was not wrong.”  It may be that a person eventually has to say, “I was wrong,” and adjust his countenance and tone accordingly.  The human being is an inscrutable creature.  However it comes to be, the warm embrace of renewed filial feeling is a preciousness….a gift for forgiver and forgiven alike.  If some postpone that reconciliation beyond the grave or eschew it altogether, it may just indicate that they are at peace with themselves living a conscious life.

        Skyline archer, Morgan Whitacre had a perfect score at the recent tournament in Crane.  Congratulations, Morgan!  Pope Francis had his birthday on December 10th.  He gave 400 well-made sleeping bags to homeless people in Rome.  What a guy.  Second grader Destiny Surface shares her birthday with Mary Goolsby.  Mary and her sweetie, Bob Berry, have moved away from the area, but they are much and pleasantly remembered by the many friends they left behind.  Logan Brown is a 7th grade student at Skyline who shares his birthday with Skyline VFD Auxiliary’s Chris Dailey on the Winter Solstice.  Days are already getting longer by the 23rd when the dynamic and beautiful Sharon Sikes celebrates her birthday.  Willard Hall is in the 7th grade.  His birthday is on Christmas Day.  He has probably figured out how to deal with that.  The 27th is the birthday of Corinne Zappler, a most loved and appreciated Champion great niece.  Logan Hull is in the second grade at Skyline.  His birthday is on the 29th.  He can stretch the giving season out for a few more days.  Eli Oglesby is a Champion grandson who celebrates on the 30th and will be 10 years old.  His little sister, Emerson Rose, and all his Champion cousins will be singing that song to him.  The year ends with the birthday of Denlow and Vanzant’s most transformational personality, sage, philanthropist, world traveler, ambassador of Ozark culture to a confused and hungry world…The General Himself!  Around the globe people will be raising a glass.  Salutations! Cheers!  Slange i va!  Happy New Year!

        Ms. Ayn Thrope includes a dire warning in with her Christmas card.  (Notice that she is spelling her name Ayn now like Ayn Rand.)  She addresses those she calls ‘sedentary sofa loafers’ and suggests that they get up and get involved in the ‘orenda.’  She explains that that is the mystical force present in all people that empowers them to affect the world or to effect change in their own lives.  “Oli Garkey’s robber barons will have a pig farm on top of your spring before you know it as a result of ‘The Right to Farm.’  What nonsense!   Now ‘The Right to Work’ is another shameful thing.  It is a corporate scam to control the worker by keeping wages low, work places less safe and keeping benefits and insurance out of reach.  Surely someone will introduce the ‘Right to Stay Uninformed.’”  To her credit, she does think that by paying attention and being willing to engage in some productive dialogue a general raising of consciousness will be an improvement.  She thinks Winter Soldier Hearings might be appropriate about now.  Other seasons’ greetings in the champion@championnews.us mail box are full of optimism for the year ahead and reminders of all the reasons for the celebrations.  Merry Christmas back at all you lovely well–wishers!

        The last Tuesday of the month will be the 30th and Angela Souder with the Douglas County Health Department will be at Henson’s Grocery and Gas from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. checking blood pressures and doing body mass index readings.  She brings the lung age machine with her and this time she will be doing blood sugar tests as well.  It is a free service and a valuable one.

        Christmas in the kitchen has one old Champion offering advice and instruction to young cooks who are about to put their hands in the dough.  “Blow your nose.  Wash your face and comb your hair.  Secure your sleeves and wash your hands and dry them.  Then you can knead the pizza or bread dough, cut out the cookies, or ice the cake.”  Julia Child suggested that a cook should never do anything in the kitchen by himself that he would not do with people watching.  That way you will never embarrass yourself and the people you are feeding will have no reason to not enjoy their food.  That means if you taste the soup for seasoning, do not put your face over the pot and please use a clean spoon every time.  Some great cooking has been going on in the neighborhood and the many holiday recipes circulating on the internet are causing a few old Champions to be gaining cyber weight.  The Cowboy, the barber, Chad’s dad, the farmer, various Smiths and Stones, Bob and Ethel, strays from Almartha, Elmer and the gang are joining prominent Champions and prominent girlfriends around the stove and cookie jar for seasonal stories and fun.  The Christmas tree in the meeting room is festive and cheerful.  “Tis the season to be jolly” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!