DreamWorks

CHAMPION—January 27, 2014

        The wild vicissitudes of the weather have had very little effect on Champion.  With more ups and downs in store before predictably constant warmth sets in, about all the astonishment and annoyance has been used up.  “Yep,” is the answer to “Is it cold enough for you?”  “Staying warm?”  It is figured by some that if you are able to complain it is because you are alive and are breathing wholesome fresh country air.  Champion!

        Ferly Lambert was the subject of much discussion around the ‘round’ table the other day.  The talk was about what a scrawny little guy he was and what a powerful individual.  He broke up bull fights with a pitchfork and saved a bunch of fox hunters from a rampaging bull threatening them at their campfire.  He just took a branch a beat him with it and ran the critter off.  Jerry Smith said that he could catch a wasp and pinch its head off and never get bit.  Wes Smith said he saw him do it many times.  Ferly told Jerry, who was a little kid at the time, that if a person held his breath the wasp would not sting.  That did not work for Jerry.  Ferly could snap the head off a black snake when he was young.  Later on, he had a hummingbird feeder that he enjoyed watching.  One fractious hummingbird was hogging the feed and not letting the others get at it.  Ferly addressed the offender with his 12 gauge shotgun.  Someone asked reckon he had enough firepower for the job.  Nothing was said about the condition of the hummingbird feeder.  Ferly’s older brother Clark Lambert had his picture taken for the National Geographic book on “Hidden Corners of America.”  A cold afternoon around the same stove Clark warmed by is a place for these great stories.  If you cannot make it down to the Historic Emporium, send your stories to Champion @ championnews.us or to The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.

        The weather has been such that Jerry has not opened his sawdust factory up in Seymour for a while.  He will be back at it one of these days.  He turns out some lovely pieces and has made a number of boxes, benches, and picture frames from some of the lumber that was the old Champion Store.  He grew up just over the hill and is lucky to have Champion cousins to visit.  Wes had arrived at the round table saying that he had just read The Champion News to Cowboy Jack.  That must have had something to do with the Polar Plunge Non-Event.  It seems to have been considered ‘over reported’ by some.  Wes and Pat have a new grandson to report.  He is a couple of weeks old now, a lad by the name of Miles.  He is a little Arkansawyer and the apple of several Champion eyes.

        Skyline School kindergarten student Kimberly Wallace is having a birthday on the 29^th.  Erika Strong is a first grade student.  Her birthday is on the 30^th.  She shares the day with Jenna and Jacob Brixey’s dad who was 40 in 2012!  He must be getting older now.  Speaking of old, that guy with the dachshund was born Feb 1, 1940!  Wow.  For a real wow, get acquainted with Zack Alexander!  He has Champion grandparents.  He is going to be in the neighborhood of seven years old on the first.  His Aunt Angie has her birthday on the 2^nd of February, together with Judy Sharon Parsons, and Charlene Dupre.  Great ladies all!

        A Champion asks about getting skunk smell out of a house.  There are several homemade remedies to be found on-line.  One says to put some small bowls of vinegar around to neutralize the smell.  Another says to mix 1 quart of hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup baking soda and one teaspoon liquid laundry soap or dish washing detergent.  They say the first two ingredients form an alkaline peroxide that chemically changes the skunk essence into an odorless chemical.  The soap breaks down that oily skunk essence and makes it more susceptible to the other chemicals.  They say the chemicals in this formula are harmless and can be used on people, clothing and pets.  Use immediately after mixing and they say not to store it because it will expand and can burst a closed container.  It is that time of the year when the skunks are busy being attractive for each other.  Love is in the air!  And of the air, a Champion writes about the articles in the electric co-op papers bewailing the ban on the use of coal for generating electricity.  She says she gets email requesting that she support the poisonous coal burning in order to “protect rates.”  She says there is never any mention of protecting life on Earth.  She likes the idea of heat-pumps for heating and cooling and solar and wind energy.  Hydroelectric plants probably have their shortcomings too, as do the nuclear power plants.  There have been some big changes in the world since the power lines reached Champion in the 1950’s.

        Douglas County Associate Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Bock was in charge of the arraignment of the Willow Springs man who is charged with stealing property valued at more than $500 but less than $25,000 on November 12, 2013.  (60 mature red and white oak trees)   He came to court on January 23^rd with his lawyer and it was determined that he will appear again on February 20^th in order for the date to be set for the preliminary hearing.  There was no indication that he had to look Bob Austin in the eye.  More than one tree hugging, property owner is following this case carefully.

        Some Champions have been so busy stacking firewood and hauling ashes that they let their Burn’s Night celebration slip by.  This Robert Burns was a hardworking farmer.  He plowed behind a horse and worked himself to death at a young age.  Like so many farms today, his was undercapitalized, so he and his brother worked to exhaustion.  He also is reported to have lived a dissolute lifestyle which together with the arduous toil took its toll and he passed away at the young age of 37.  Certain Champions are combining their Burns Night with Groundhog Day and will be celebrating on Super Bowl Sunday with Burns poetry, some lilting Scottish tunes and a little easy jazz when the crowd thins.  If the football stadium is belly deep in snow on that day and the game is postponed it is sure that the Champion Burns-Groundhog soirée will be well attended.  (RSVP) It might relieve the anxiety of the General who has been torn about his social calendar.  Apart of Auld Lang Syne, perhaps one of the most popular of Burn’s songs is one of the Generals favorite, The Silver Tassie.  “Go fetch to me a pint o wine, and fill it in a silver tassie; that I may drink, before I go a service to my bonnie lassie.”  He is headed off to war and hates to leave his sweetheart.  It is a timeless piece.  Find more Burn’s poetry and music at www.championnews.us.  Come down to the bottom of the hill at the end of the pavement on the wide wooly banks of Old Fox Creek to enjoy the timelessness.  Champion! Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 20, 2014

        Flash! This is the news from January 7, 2014:  The survivors of the first annual Champion Polar Plunge came scrambling up through the vortex of brush on the creek bank fully clothed and no wetter for the effort, the water being shallow and frozen hard.  It was all the idea of a prominent citizen who thought that the spectacle of scantily clad hillbilly boys would entice the beautiful KY3 Meteorologist Abby Dyer down to the broad banks of Old Fox Creek for a feature segment for the noon news.  Hoping for the best, co-conspirator Cowboy Jack stood at the ready with a warm horse blanket to enfold any shivering meteorologist or local plunger.  It had great potential but turned out to be a genuine non-event as the hillbilly boys most generally wait until early June for their bath and the Cowboy had his already over in the swift cold waters of the Rippee Access.  Alas!  Ms. Dyer was a no show.  That polar air is due to hit the country again later in the week so perhaps interested citizens might remount their efforts toward the plunge.  They may recall John Prine’s song “Dear Abby.”  He is writing to the advice columnist, not the meteorologist.  She responds that you have no complaint.  She says that you are what you are and you ain’t what you ain’t.  She admonishes him to “listen up, buster, and listen up good.”  And finally she says to stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood.  While it is good advice it hardly meets the expectations of the daydreamers around the stove in the chat lounge at the Historic Emporium where the weather is always a hot topic.  Meteorologists know all about the heavens.  They can probably tell you that the reason your wishes do not come true when you wish upon a star is because you are wishing upon a planet!  Those are the first bright things up there at night.  Live and learn.

        J. C.  Owsley lives over near Cross Timbers, Missouri.  He is a great supporter of The Champion News and has just had a birthday.  He likes getting over to Champion with Bud Hutchison’s trail rides and comes as often as he can.  When he is not trail riding he is teaching granddaughters how to ride and snapping great piles of green beans and building bottle trees.  His friends in this part of the country are wishing him well hoping to see him again soon.  Marybeth Shannon too!  Her birthday was the 18^th.  She has a dazzling smile and is a proponent of an ecologically sustainable culture.  She sets a good example of country living with a wide circle of interesting friends and a great appreciation of the beauty of the place.  She is a Champion even though she lives over there in Vanzant.  Sometimes a birthday on a Sunday gets passed right over or so it would seem.  Celebrating can happen anytime.  Mrs. Coonts teaches the first grade over at Skyline.  Her birthday will be on Saturday the 25^th so she might get that song sung to her on Friday.  Brook Johnson is in the second grade there.  She might get the song sung to her on Monday since her birthday is on Sunday.  Monday Kay Heffern Alexander will have to go back to work.  That is her birthday so she most likely will have celebrated on Sunday, probably Saturday too and, if true to form, really is most likely to have begun on Friday at the end of her work day.  She has a whole week to plan her fandango.  These ‘future perfect’ verb forms are a little confusing.  Kay’s family and friends will be sure it is present perfect for her.  She is a Champion, a Skyline alumnus and the essence of cool.

        Toes were tapping over at the Vanzant Community Building on Thursday evening.  Bluegrassers were out in numbers singing old familiar tunes and some almost forgotten ones.  It is joyful to hear an old melody resurface again after years.  Guitars, mandolins, banjos and fiddles make that joyful noise.  It all starts with a pot-luck at 6:00 p.m. every Thursday and blossoms into music immediately and delightfully.

        The Skyline VFD Auxiliary had its meeting in the meeting room at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion on the 15^th of January.  The meeting had been scheduled for the 8^th of January and was postponed because of the Polar Vortex.  It was well attended and well organized.  Details of the upcoming chili super were discussed.  Steve Moody has agreed to emcee again this year and the school is available on the designated date which is March 8^th.  President Betty Dye has produced a bright quilt in a jigsaw puzzle pattern that is sure to be a treasure for anyone.  The Jernigan folks over in Ava did a handsome job of the quilting.

Chris Dailey and President Betty Dye display the queen size Jigsaw Puzzle quilt that will be the centerpiece of the Skyline Chili Supper in March.  Betty pieced the brightly colored quilt and it was quilted by the folks at Jernigan’s in Ava.

The queen size beauty will be on display at the store starting in February.  The next meeting will be there on February 12^th.    Everyone is welcome to attend.  The Skyline VFD is the little outfit that allows home owners to buy insurance in this remote area.  It is also made up of well-trained first responders and good neighbors.  Champions all!

        Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that this is the month to rest up for busier times ahead and to make plans for the year’s operations.  It says to draw out a plan for your garden, order catalogs and select varieties.  Get your equipment in shape.  As days permit, clean up your garden area.  Spread manure and phosphate aids such as bone meal, wood ashes and fish wastes on garden areas, even on top of snow.  Correct highly acidic soils by adding lime.  Add oak leaf mold or pine needles for acid loving plants such as broad-leafed evergreens and dogwoods.  Start onion seeds indoors late this month.  Enjoy Linda’s Almanac at www.championnews.us.  It is up at the very top of the page on the right hand side.  That is also a good place to read the latest Champion News if you think there is a chance that pertinent information, music or things that are topical, controversial, or rhyming might have been edited out for the printed version.  An unedited printed version of the almanac is posted for perusal at Henson’s Downtown G & G.  Find quilt tickets there as well as applications to participate in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library which is sponsored by the Skyline School RII Foundation, affiliated with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.  Young Drayson Cline is already having some stories read to him.  He’s a charming four month old with a great singing voice.

        The arraignment of the timber thief of eastern Booger County is set for Thursday, the 23rd in the Douglas County Courthouse^.  Tree huggers and other property owners will be interested in the outcome.  Send any good news past, present or future to Champion Items, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to champion @ championnews.us.  Bring your appreciation of ecology, history and folklore, wood craft, gardening, swimming, meteorology, equine husbandry, the beautiful English language, or music of any kind down to the Recreation of the Historic Emporium on the North Side of the Square and share what you love.  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 13, 2014

        There is joy and sadness in Champion.  It is always like that.  Joy abounds in the excitement of young ones like Drayson, Taegan, Foster, Kalyssa, Jenna, Jacob, Faith Anne and more as they start their romp through their busy and blessed lives.  Sadness comes as dear ones slip away.  J.T. Shelton lost his brother Dennis “Red” Shelton back in December.  Dennis was born in Drury and grew up between there and Champion.  When he got out of the army in 1968, he went to work at a cement plant in Davenport and was there for thirty years.  He was only 66 when he passed away.  That seems young.

        On Sunday, Fae Krider pointed out the window of the little church up to the top of the hill to the northeast to the place where the foundation still remains of the house where Ruby Hicks was born.  Ruby grew up there and went to school in Champion.  She married Vasil Proctor and continued to live close by.  She and Esther Wrinkles were baptized the same day in June of 1943 right there in Fox Creek.  She was heartbroken over the loss of her dear friend just a year ago and now she leaves many feeling that same lonesomeness for herself.  Family and friends across the country and the internet are remembering her kindness and her wonderful smile.  Tracee Davis said, “My mother, Inez Laverne Proctor Davis, grew up as close as sisters with Ruby and treasures many fond memories that the two of them shared. My mother visits Ruby daily in her thoughts and prayers. She sends her love.”  Jewell Hall Elliott wrote, “A very sweet lady. She and my mother worked together in Mtn. Grove rode together many miles beside each other.  Their children attended East Fairview together.  She was a dear neighbor and friend.”  Angela Kelsay Barnes:  “A lot of my morning childhood memories have this beautiful lady in them! Heaven gained an angel!”  Laine Sutherland said that she had known this dear lady all her life and Mickey Reilly said that she had made a lasting impression on him.  Donna Smith:  “I only had the pleasure of meeting Aunt Ruby a handful of times but could tell she was an exceptional person and she will be dearly missed by those who knew or loved her.”  Judi Lynnie Waits-Funk:  “We visited my Dad’s Mom and Dad every year in Arkansas and we always stopped either on our way there or home and spent a night or two with Uncle Vasil and Aunt Ruby… Loved them both!”  It is amazing to know how many lives were touched in such a positive way by this one Champion. Her children and sisters and brother have the heartfelt sympathies of friends and family in the place she loved so well.  “A jewel on Earth, a jewel for Heaven.  She’ll brighten the kingdom around God’s great throne.”

        The sunshine and warmer weather lifts spirits all around.  Finally some are getting to hang a few things on the clothes line and hoping this is not the day neighbors decide to burn trash.  Everybody has a different idea about what is suitable to burn in the burning barrel.  For some it is just food wrappings, tissues, junk and personal mail.  Others think burning plastic and Styrofoam is ok.  As to that, one says, “If you can smell it, it’s getting in you.”  One Champion ignoramus thinks that recycling is a joke and that probably the recycling centers just take all that stuff to a dump somewhere and bury it after they burn it.  Solid waste disposal has always been a challenge in this part of the country and different people have different ways to deal with it.  Many just do what their parents did and think they are doing the right thing.  Others struggle to recycle and compost and they think they are doing the right thing.  One gripes continually about the litter on the side of the beautiful country lane and then gets all puffed up with her own goodness when she picks a little of it up.  River Brady spent some exciting years in the Ozarks.  She writes seriously about the environment and the world, “How do we stop the evil we see?  How can we be sure that the innocent are protected?  Does anyone really believe that putting your head in the sand will help?  That’s what those who want you think they’re in charge are banking on. Stand up where ever you are and be pro-active about what you believe.  Are you here to help create a better world or is your will already gone?”  On the way to the clothesline Champions are overjoyed at the beauty they see around them.  They have a lot to think about.  They get a whiff of wood smoke in the air and know that when they wear these clothes to town they will be identified as country folks—some of the best kind.

        Brooklyn Edwards is a kindergarten student at Skyline.  Her birthday is on the 17^th.  Then young Jacob Kyle Brixey will celebrate his very special day on the 18.  The 19^th is a Sunday.  Nathan Nava will have the day off from school to enjoy his birthday.  Several prominent people have that day as their birth anniversary including Robert E. Lee who was born in 1807, Edgar Allen Poe, Janis Joplin, and Dolly Parton.  Dolly is the only one living in that group and she shares it with another live wire in Champion.  Kyle Barker is a big first grade student now at Skyline.  His birthday is the 21^st.  He has a large family which includes a General for a grandfather and will probably have some homemade ice cream at his party.  They will be singing that song.

        Finally the weather may be just right for some to get over to the Bluegrass jam at the community building at Vanzant on Thursday.  Music is a healing component in life.  It soothes, comforts, inspires, exalts, encourages, tantalizes and emboldens.  The year ahead will have its trials and triumphs.  There will be a song appropriate for almost any situation.  Share examples of this with The Champion News on facebook, or with champion @ championnews.us.  Bring them with you down to the Recreation of the Historic Emporium, fittingly situated on Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive just on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—January 5, 2014

        The Polar Vortex is headed to Champion!  Business was ‘brisk’ at Henson’s Grocery and Gas on Saturday as prudent shoppers stocked up on what they might need if things are to get as bad as it is suggested they might.  The shopkeeper was kept busy all day with request for propane and diesel.  Shelves were stocked with a fresh supply of all the staples that Champions need to feel like they are ready for whatever comes.  J. T. Shelton came in for provisions.  Joseph Georges was there looking for duct tape and was glad to get it.  He is doing some tightening up to keep the cold out.  Some folks routinely use plastic grocery sacks as chinking in drafty places during extremely cold weather.  Big humidifiers or pots of water on the wood stove go a long way toward keeping the humidity up and that helps keeps things warm.  Bob Dylan said, “’It was the coldest winter in twenty seven years!’  I felt warmer then.”  There will be some interesting stories about how everybody got through it all.

Coon dogs just go about their everyday business
during the Polar Vortex in Champion.

        The New Year started off on January’s new moon.  That is a relatively rare occurrence; the last time was 19 years ago.  Folks interested in astrology say that New Moons are all about new beginnings and fresh starts.  A note on The Champion News facebook page says, “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new beginning.”  The statement came from Carolyn Gieseke Penner who shared it with Carolyn Nunn Harvey.  This reflects the bright side attitude that defines Champions no matter where they live.  A reader in the United Kingdom suggested that in the report concerning the timber thief, that the word ‘allusion’ should replace the word ‘illusion’ in the sentence, “Stay tuned for further updates (concerning the fate of the thief) and illusions to the pernicious effects of the lure of mammon on every part of society.”  He is clearly right.  Allusion is a part of speech that indicates a reference to some familiar concept, i.e. Greed is pervasive these days.  Illusion is something that can be seen which is not real, such as a card trick.  Greed is definitely real.  In an effort to start the year off with a clean slate, give me a break!  Or would that be brake?  It is definitely ‘break.’  That new “Champion” product line available at Henson’s Downtown G & G includes ‘brake’ fluid, not ‘break’ fluid.  Hydraulic fluid is also a good seller in the Champion line as well as the all-important antifreeze.  At the beginning of a New Year here now is an illusion of a clean slate!

        Birthdays have that new beginning feeling about them.  Sami McCleary had that feeling on Saturday.  Best wishes were left for her at the Celebrated Mercantile.  She will get them eventually if she is not too busy doing good deeds.  Good Champion friend, Rachel Evans, of Leicester, England will celebrate on the 8^th of January.  That is also Elvis’ birthday and a great fiddle tune that people recognize when they hear ‘The Battle of New Orleans.’  The Skyline VFD Auxiliary has a meeting scheduled in the Community Room at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium that evening and if the weather and road conditions allow it will be a good get together.  Elizabeth Johnston will be receiving many good wishes on the 9^th.  She has a host of friends and a great family who all love her tremendously.  Nephew Phillip Holden Moses over in Norman, Oklahoma has his birthday on the 9^th as well.  Hopes are that he and Oliver will make it over to Champion this year to get acquainted.  Tom Van Dyke has been to Champion.  He lives in Houston, TX but makes it up to the Bright Side as often as he can.  He is going to Cuba this month on a church mission.  Teeter Creek’s rock and roll, herbalist granddad will share his birthday with Wilburn Hutchison on the 11^th.  Wilburn will be 80!  It is a nice round number.  He and Louise are warm and cozy up there on the side of the hill.  Their niece, Margaret, is staying with them and they are perking along just fine.  Once Wilburn and Fleming Geer were over by Skyline when they were kids and they saw a dirigible go over.  Kids today probably have no idea what a dirigible might be.  Happy Birthday everyone!

        Insulated houses and energy efficient heating systems go a long way toward making this brutal winter bearable.  It is hard to imagine how difficult a hard winter might have been for folks around here when Wilburn and Fleming were boys.  Ruby Proctor said one time that when she was a girl there would be snow on the ground from Thanksgiving to Easter.  That may not be exactly what she said, but it was something similar to that.  Her friends miss her and are determined to get up to Cabool to see her when the weather breaks. Ruby is a true Champion whose sweet smile brightens the pathway to good memories.  “Around the corner, beneath the berry tree, along the footpath, behind the bush, looking for Emily.  I told my Emily to go away, but now I’m sad she didn’t stay.  And tomorrow night if she comes a looking round for me, I’ll be sittin’ ‘neath the bitter berry tree.  Around the corner, beneath the berry tree, along the footpath behind the bush, looking for Emily!”  That is a song that smacks of optimism.

        Send epic tales of survival in the howling wind of the Polar Vortex to Champion @ championnews.us.  Triumphant songs of jubilation and heroic perseverance are welcome at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Sad songs that might cause a person to feel better for having sung them, are as welcome there as are slate cleaning allusions/illusions.  Look in at www.championnews for images of the place in warmer times.  Bring any uplifting, happy, enthusiastic optimistic songs with you in your heart down to the wide and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek there at the junction of country roads and the beginning/end of the pavement.  Break for a brake or brake for a break anytime in Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 28, 2013

        Those few days between Christmas and New Year’s Day are typically busy ones in Champion.  Bright sunshine and warmer temperatures have encouraged gardeners and other industrious people to finish up a few projects, to get done some of those things that were going to be accomplished before the year was out.  The year is just about out and all the friends and family who are still loitering about depleting the pantry can easily enough be Tom Sawyered into helping out.  “Here, get a hold of the other end of that, would you?”  The hobnobbing, guffawing, knee slapping, singing and yodeling do not have to stop just because the old vines and stakes have to come out of the tomato patch or some stalls need mucking.  Many hands make the work lighter.  The law of ‘centergy’ says that two people working together can accomplish more than two individuals working alone.  Whether it has to do with competition or companionship, the time certainly goes faster with help.  Near Downtown Champion, there are forty-four identical sheets of good tin, twelve foot long, just lying there for the taking.  A couple of sturdy, enthusiastic fellows with hammers, crowbars, hoof pincers, fencing tools and magnets could make short work of it.  The tin has only been nailed down one time and only into oak.  Inquire at the Emporium if you have a truck and a trailer and nothing better to do.

Parking on the Champion Square on Boxing Day.

        Activity around the Facebook page The Champion News (like it) is connecting Champions in unexpected ways.  Sharon Tate Williamson said, “There’s no place like home!  I claim Drury and Champion.”  She lived here during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  “My daddy, Amos Tate, taught school a few years there before he carried the mail out of Drury for many years.  I went to Champion in the 2^nd and 3^rd grade and lived either there by Champion or over closer to Drury until I graduated from high school.  I get to Champion usually a time or two a year.”  Sarah Cloud writes, “Enjoying the views and the news of one of my favorite childhood places.  In all the grandeur that is Southern Utah, it just doesn’t hold a candle to the Ozarks.  Love to all.” Connie Sue Coonts Riddell refers to a photo of the interior of the Mercantile  and  asks “Where’s the old timers spitting and chewing and whittling?   I don’t see any Coonts there having coffee.”  She was assured by return message that one of that ilk is routinely there, more often than once a week.  Connie Sue would most likely really appreciate that epic poem “The Near Drowning of Cowboy Jack.”

        It was lovely to read a hand written note in their Christmas card that Bonnie and Pete Mullens had a good holiday and are hoping to get to Champion one day soon to see the New Store. (She can go online to the Champion Snapshots on the sidebar at www.championnews.us to see Henson’s Grand Opening 2011.  David Richardson from Norwood did a great video of the event.)  Bonnie wrote to say they have lost several loved ones this year yet they feel blessed by the addition of three great grandchildren:  Miles Perry Mullens, October 26^th, Lexie Rae Niblack, November 5^th, Korbin Blake Gunther, December 7^th.  The 27^th of December is the birthday of Corinne Zappler.  Big parties were being planned for her in Austin, TX with fireworks off the 360 Bridge and a bonfire at home after a sumptuous feast.  Warm wishes go out to a sweet niece—a grandniece really.  Champion grandson, Eli Oglesby, celebrates his birthday on December 30^th.  These young Champion boys and girls grow at an incredible rate.  His great uncle, The General will again see the old year out as he seemingly effortlessly accomplishes three score and eleven.  The birthday calendar flips to 2014, and the first of January celebrates sweet Jan Liebert, the electric bass playing rock and roll grandmother of Teeter Creek fame.  Arne Coon enjoys that day as his special one too and his son, Jacob, a fifth grader at Skyline will have his party on the third.  Jacob was one of the shining stars vocalizing at the Skyline Christmas Program.  He shares his day with Champion nephew Leland Isley, a wailing guitar player and an excellent fellow all round.  “May your days be merry and bright and may all your birthdays be a delight!”

        Timber thieves beware!  An update from public records available at the Court House and online informs interested parties that a date has been set for the arraignment of the individual charged with the recent theft of 90 oak trees from private property adjacent to the Mark Twain Nation Forest in Eastern Douglas County.  The arraignment will be held on January 23rd at the Douglas County Court House.  At that time the accused will be able to plead guilty or not guilty and will be given the opportunity to secure the services of an attorney.  The machinations of the Justice System are an interesting study for any citizen, tree hugger or not.  Stay tuned for further updates and illusions to the pernicious effects of the lure of mammon on every part of society.

        Champions gathered on Boxing Day for some quality post-Christmas socializing in the meeting room at the Historic Emporium.  Mr. and Mrs. Portell of Far North Clever Creek, chatting with a conspicuous regular at the table, were joined by an old guy in a bright plaid shirt with a dachshund.  The absentee farmer came in and then others.  Bob and Ethel Leach, prominent Champions of the West West Branch of North Fox Creek made a regular visit to brighten up the already bright place.  When asked if they had been affected by the great August 8th flood, Ethel said that their place is higher and that branch was not so full, but her sister who lives further down the creek came within about an inch of having water in her house.  Her dog almost drowned until she could get him untied. The conversation continued among the group with more adventures of narrow escapes and great feats.  A great feat had been accomplished on Christmas Eve by Drayson’s old Dad, home for the holidays, as he parked that long, long trailer truck on the South East side of the Square.  It is a magnificent machine, red with lots of shiny chrome.  While it was being admired, the ever effervescent Ms. McCleary arrived with her own sparkly new wheels to show off.  Santa must have been impressed.

        The beauty of the holidays has to do with family and friends drawing close and saying right out loud what they feel all year.  Sweet memories of Christmases past make the present a precious commodity as thoughts of dear ones missing from the table this year add the solemnity that gratitude requires.  The year ahead will hold what it holds. Happiness is the byproduct of doing what you like.  Make up your own songs and sing them out loud to whosoever will listen.  Love and Gratitude are the by words in Champion—Happy New Year from the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 21, 2013

        The shortest day of the year is overflowing with good news in Champion.  The aquifer is being replenished with the stuff that makes cold springs gush and spirits are being replenished with the Love and Gratitude that is so freely shared this time of the year.  No amount of gloom seems to dampen the Champion.

        The young Tigers of Skyline performed admirably at their Christmas program.  There were some real stand outs, bright spots, sure to be stars in the bunch.  Their parents and grandparents can tell you who they are.  The Youth Empowerment Program kids made some quite clever snowmen which they sold to help them finish the greenhouse they are building.  They have a grant to get them started with the project and they are working hard to raise the rest of what will be needed.  This greenhouse promises to be a great learning tool.  After the program some great community spirits officiated over the pie auction.  More than one observed that this particular auctioneering grandmother might take it up as a profession.  She is that good and the funds she helped raise will help the greenhouse grow.  More good news came concerning the Skyline-R2 School Foundation.  Teri Ryan has written to the board, “It’s been wonderful when reading with preschoolers to hear them talk about getting the DPIL books at home. Several parents have mentioned how much they enjoy getting the books to read with their children. They seem surprised that they are such good books. The program should give our students a good foundation in literacy.”  The excited board member passing the news along shouts, “I THINK WE’RE DOING SOME GOOD!!!!”  The DPIL is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library which sends a free book every month to a child from newborn to five years of age.  Pick up applications for the program at Henson’s Grocery and Gas in Champion or at the school.  Support the Foundation anytime with a donation in any amount to The Skyline R2 School Foundation, Rt. 72, Box 486 Norwood, Mo 65717.  How often do you hear anyone shout, “I THINK WE’RE DOING SOME GOOD!!!”?

        Champion tree-huggers of all kinds will be pleased to know that the timber thieves of Eastern Booger County have been brought to task!  The Forest Service received an anonymous tip that timber was being harvested.  A stalwart Forest Ranger blocked the exit of the loaded semi-tractor trailer truck and held it at bay until arrived Sargent Vernon Johnson.  Investigation ensued which has culminated in charges being brought against lumber businessman Bobby Davis of Willow Springs (not R.D. Davis of Ava).  The three men who were found working with Davis at the scene on December 13^th were not charged as the Sheriff determined that they were only showing up for work.  This is not the only timber related case that Prosecutor Wall has pursued recently and the efforts of the entire team are much appreciated by land owners, preservationists and Champion tree huggers at large who will continue to follow the story.  Davis will be in court on Monday.  It would be interesting to see if he could look Bob Austin, the owner of those 90 big old oak trees, in the eye.  Santa knows.

        Management at Henson’s Downtown G & G are pleased to announce a new product line available on shelves there.  Champion Hydraulic Fluid, Champion Brake Fluid, and Champion Antifreeze are now part of the standard inventory and in addition to sharing the splendid moniker they have the added advantage of being less expensive on account of the good business practices of said management!  This is not a seasonal gimmick, dear patrons.  It is the everyday best practices in Champion!

        The General and his lovely Missus were front row center for the Skyline Christmas Program.  Attending too was Danny Hull, somehow acquainted with the General.  He grew up over north of Mountain Grove and had high school chums in the audience and grandchildren performing.  He was sporting a letter dated 1938.  It was a receipt written to Mr. Chester Wright indicating that his 540 pound calf had sold at auction in St. Louis for 3.5 cents a pound, netting him $16.45 after the deduction of the $.80 commission paid to Fred C. Carter.  Mr. Carter wrote, “Cow steady.  Thanks a lot.”  The price of beef has gone up.  Quite a number of folks at the school program would ordinarily have been enjoying the Vanzant bluegrass jam.  Mandolinist/chanteuse, Sue Murphy, said that the jam still had a good crowd and that everyone had an enjoyable time.  They will be there again on the day after Christmas.  Pot luck at 6:00 p.m. and then the music begins.  The Vanzant Community building is on W Highway off of 95 right there by Esther’s house way over in the far suburbs of East Champion.

        “The Way I Heard It” is the name of a CD put out by the State of The Ozarks String Band some while back.  It has 25 tunes, everything from Midnight on the Water to Redwing.  It was a gift that will keep on giving.  When Linda was a young girl living in Australia she and other 12 year olds would sneak out at night and meet up on the school ground where they would sing, “Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon, all I want is loving you and music, music, music!”  This time of the year is full reminiscence.  Christmas Day, in addition to the deep religious significance for many, is held in esteem as the best day of the year.  It is the day that people choose to remember in detail.  The music, the food, the hugs and kisses, the stories shared and all the Christmas ties that bind go a long way toward making the rest of the year palatable sometimes.  Sunday is the birthday of Pat Metroplos.  Her friends and family will acknowledge that starting on her birthday every year the days get a little longer and the nights a little shorter.  What a gift!

        Enumerate your gifts by mail at Champion Items, Rt. 72, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or by email at champion @ championnews.us.  Look in at www.championnews.us and like The Champion News on Facebook.  Come down to the Re-creation of the Historic Emporium.  Climb the grand staircase where many a family photo has been snapped, up to the broad veranda overlooking the scenic square and the wide wooly banks of Old Fox Creek.  Recite your many blessings there or hum some nostalgic ditty softly to yourself.  You could just take a moment away from the holiday jingle jangle to be quiet and still in one of the world’s peaceful places—Champion!  Merry Christmas from the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 16, 2013

        As dazzling sunshine and warmer temperatures turn pristine snow to nitrogen rich ground water, homebound Champions are looking forward to getting out in the brief respite between snow and the deep mud that the week end’s promised rain will bring.  There are adventure stories being told of narrow escapes and odd slips and slides that are topped off with great gobs of gratitude that bones are yet intact and rigs still roll.  Champion!

        Skyline Tigers are ready to roar.  Not everyone is back in school yet because some of the dirt roads are still too tricky to navigate and “safe” is well known to be far better than “sorry.”  The warm up is just in time to give the students a few days to rehearse the Christmas program that has been rescheduled for Thursday, December 19^th.  The program starts at 7:00 p.m. Batteries in cameras are being checked because the program only happens once a year and for some parents and grandparents of prekindergarten and kindergarten students it is a milestone.  Hearts will be swelling and little unexplained catches will occur in the back of throats as precious offspring transition into big school kids.  Last year the General was almost inconsolable.  This year, before the program, the Y.E.P. kids will be selling some cute snowmen that they have made.  After the performance there will be an auction of homemade pies and baked goods to benefit the Youth Empowerment Program.  It is shaping up to be a splendid affair.   Go Tigers!  Christmas break is scheduled to be from December 23^rd until January 3^rd.  They will be ready to get back on the books by that time.

        Young people named Leo and Olivia will be eating cake and singing to their mother on the 16^th.  The 18^th is set aside to celebrate Jesse David Ing.  He is a world citizen, a bright exciting appreciator and advocate of all that is good and tasty.  He learned how to be that way from his own dear mother, a comadre for all time.  Destiny Surface, Skyline first grader, shares her birthday with the lovely Mary Goolsby who may make an appearance at the Skyline VFD Auxiliary chili supper in March.  Her many friends hope it happens and that she will bring Bob with her.  Auxiliary members, Chris Dailey and Sharon Sikes are celebrating birthdays on the 21^st and the 23^rd.  Chris shares her day with sixth grader Logan Brown as the world celebrates the ‘beginning’ of winter with them.  Sixth grader, Willard Hall, gets to have his birthday on Christmas.  Lucky guy!  Probably his folks do something for him in July just so he knows how special he really is.  Special is the word for Corinne Zappler.  She spent a happy month in Champion during the summer and her old auntie and uncle miss her still.  Her birthday is on the 27^th.  She keeps rosin on her bow and music in her heart.  She is a natural Champion that way.  Logan Hull has his birthday on December 29^th.  He will be in the first grade group at the Skyline Christmas program.  Eli Oglesby will be nine years old on the 30^th of the month.  Some grandmothers and friends are wondering just how that happened.  It is the swift passage of time that gets swifter as time goes by.  The General is in a blur for sure, as he marks the accumulation his three score and eleven years on the last day of December.  Happy Birthday to all and to the General, good night!

        Elizabeth Johnston will soon have one foot in a cast if all goes well.  Her friends and family are thinking about her with their best thoughts.  Meanwhile, that other foot can still pat and it is the suggestion of some that she spend part of this down time with rosin on her bow and scales on the fingerboard of that fiddle.  Music is said to have healing properties.  At the very least it has a distracting element that allows a sufferer some respite.  Dr. Terry Harville of Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical School says that for as long as there has been music, and medicine, people have noticed that when patients listen to music—or better yet, play it—they are calmer, complain less about pain and are more receptive to doing the things they need to do to get better.  Researchers regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s because of its unique capacity to organize or reorganize cerebral function when it has been damaged.  Some music lovers are trying to get a head start and say, “Let the reorganization begin!”

        Champions do not take the wonderful rural mail delivery for granted.  It was just such weather as this recent bout that set dear Cletus Upshaw on his downward slide.  He never fully recovered from falls on the ice out on old Route 2.  He was a fountain of historic information and good humor.  Good humor is the hallmark of Karen Ross as she deftly navigates new Route 72.  In the most ideal conditions any job that requires driving the twists and turns of these State and county roads is a dangerous one.  Postal patrons keep their flags up as they send out Christmas greetings to family and friends.  Champions extend greetings to the messenger as well to express appreciation and good wishes for safe travels.  Young Drayson Cline has hit the road again.  He has gone a’truckin with his Pappy and his beautiful Mom.  His Aunt Tanna was rocking him the other day and singing, “I been everywhere, man” since he has already been to Wichita and Nashville.  Some folks never get to Nashville!  He will spend some time over on Cripple Creek with cousins who will start him on his banjo lessons right away.  He definitely has rhythm and his Grammy says he laughs right out loud now.  He will be home for Christmas.

        A new batch of Champion post cards has just been delivered to Henson’s Downtown G & G.  There are four in this series and they are available at a very nominal price.  The improved quality of these cards is the result of doing business locally.  The folks at Precision Graphics really know their business.  It is always a pleasure to find just what is needed close to home.  Bring your Christmas cheer, your exciting tales of near misses and other wintry escapades down to the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square.  It is not too late to get on the ‘nice’ list for Santa.  “Ho ho ho, who wouldn’t go?….“ down to the magnificent wild and woolly banks of Old Fox Creek to Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 9, 2013

        A prominent Champion reported a temperature of three degrees Fahrenheit.  The report was made Saturday though by the time this is in ink he may have lowered his bragging rights.  That sounds contrary to the Champion credo of looking on the bright side.  He is, by some reports, at least as contrary as he is prominent and unpredictable.  One time Ruby Proctor said that the winters used to be colder here.  She said that there would be snow on the ground from just after Thanksgiving almost until Easter.  The amount and duration of this snow cover is not unprecedented it just has not happened this way in a long time.  A charming neighbor who lives on ancestral property over the hill says in her lovely Christmas card that no two days are alike.  She has no livestock to tend now.  It is the first time in 250 years that her family land has not had a cattle operation.  “Before that,” she said, “The Indians and buffalo roamed.  Before that probably the dinosaurs and trilobites.”  For others of us unacquainted with the trilobite, it is a fossil group of extinct marine arthropods, distant relatives of the lobster and the tick.  Distant relatives and friends, now hillbillies in North Texas, Wesley and Suzie Freeman, write to say “Hello and Merry Christmas to all the Champions!”

        The Wednesday morning barbershop jam had banjo and guitar music interspersed with hunting stories.  Wayne Anderson told a story about turkey hunting and being crouched down low behind an old log, sitting very still while he called.  Directly he sensed rather than heard something behind him and turning slowly discovered a Shetland pony about two feet from him.  The good looking young guitar player (Wayne is also very good looking.) had a number of very exciting bobcat, fox, coon, and turkey hunting stories, some of which included llamas and goats.  The music was terrific with The Cherokee Shuffle, among others.  Both these fellows have beautiful instruments.  It is likely that their skill could produce wonderful music on about any kind of instrument.  It is sure that the most incredible and valuable of instruments is held sad hostage by an inept player.  Practice! Practice!  That may not be so much fun for a music lover snowed in with a neophyte string player.  Sherry Bennett said that her good neighbor, Dennis Shumate, plowed her driveway.  Musicians are often some of the nicest people around.  Champions!

        It was great to get a note of support for The Champion News Online from Bonna Mullins over in Wichita, Kansas.  She and Pete get over to this part of the country as often as they can.  They come to the Denlow School reunions, all the Brixey family reunions and sometimes just for the fun of it.  They had their 58^th wedding anniversary back in October.  They went sight-seeing in some of their old stomping grounds and spent the day in Eureka Springs.  They get around.  They have grandchildren who write to them, “Thank you for setting such a good example!”  Bonna is some kind of briar patch kin to Richard Johnston, who has a birthday on the 9^th of December.  He and Kaye are hosting Elizabeth while she recuperates from a surgery on her leg.  They are probably all having a good time enjoying the weather together.  Congratulations and good luck!

        Emily Dickinson was a major American poet known for her reclusive lifestyle and her brilliant, posthumously published poems.  She was born in Massachusetts on December 10, 1830.  She wrote close to eighteen hundred poems during her relatively short lifetime of only fifty-five years.  Many of these, including “Because I could not stop for Death,” dealt with the theme of mortality.  She lived in seclusion and never married.   Ms. Dickinson would probably not have liked having her birthday celebrated.  Some people are like that.  Then, some people are lawyers.  Steven Wright says that 99% of them give the rest a bad name.  Ava has three prominent barristers celebrating birthdays on the 11^th of December.  The contentiousness of their profession probably keeps them from carousing , though as one assumes the mantel of ‘Grandfather’ perhaps mellowness will ensue.  It is sure that Eva Coyote (Kai) Parsons Fouke will be partying down out there in sunny and warm California.  Her Mama and Papa over west of Ava will sit in their warm kitchen looking out at the snow and remember their little girl so precious then, precious still.  Royce and Jo Henson have their wedding anniversary on the 15^th of December.  They’ve been together years and years and still are smiling!  The fourteenth winds out a week of celebration.  The day belongs to the living Shannon Alexander.  He is a great photographer, father, spouse, son-in-law and fun lover.  That day also posthumously goes to Spike Jones, born in 1911.  As Spike Jones and his City Slickers, he toured the country with “The Musical Depreciation Review” and punctuated his versions of popular ballads and classical works with gunshots, whistles, cowbells and gargles.  A great Texas woman, Judy Gale Terry-Ing, the dearest friend one could have, was born the fourteenth and left the world much too soon.

        Recent world events, the coldness of the weather and the nature of the season might have all hearts a little more open and compassionate.  A news bulletin was reported from Washington recently to the effect that a 45 minute video posted on Tibetan websites had a Buddhist extremist group threatening to “soon inflict a wave of peace and tranquillity on the West.”  Champions stand ready!  Bring it on!

        Look for some good pictures of Champion in the Snow on line at www.championnews.us.  Send your ideas about a compassionate look at world events to Champion @ championnews.us or to Champion News, Rt.72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  When the roads clear up, come down to the bottom of the lovely hills where country roads meet on the wide banks of Old Fox Creek.  Sing “I traced her little footprints in the snow.”  She was headed to Champion to Look on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—December 2, 2013

        Those wonderful hugs among friends and kin are the core of the holidays.  Heart to heart they say, “I love you.”  Old Champion tree hugger friends gathered once again down under the hill and feasted mightily.  One stately gent wearing a dynamite antique geometric tie with a diamond stickpin as big as your thumb, graciously opened doors, retrieved dropped items and contributed panache to the affair as well as a glorious salad.  His brother brought roast leg of lamb and roast beef with homemade horseradish sauce.  There were two enormous turkeys cooked to succulent perfection together with all the trimmings that one might imagine all the way to pumpkin and pecan pies.  Twenty or so revelers caught up with friends they had not seen since the Fourth of July or longer and new friendships were discovered.  Some tall young men were just kids a couple of years ago –students now embarking on exciting lives. Young Zack Alexander, who is seven, was everywhere, not underfoot, just everywhere seizing the day.  Olivia, who is about ten, and the hostess (gracious and sweet) yanked on a big wishbone but were not able to get it to break.  Perhaps they will let it dry out and try again.  The youngest attending this year was Olivia’s brother, a two year old named Leo. Their Grandfather, Toby Masten, was not present due to ill health.  He has since passed away.  Many of those gathered were well acquainted with him and there was much conversation about him that day.  One day maybe the grandchildren will hear a recording of the Abandoned Cadillac band.  It was comprised of a couple of guitars, a bass, a drummer and Toby on saxophone.  He had music in his heart and a great zest for living.  For the gratitude part of Thanksgiving, his friends are grateful to have known him.

Champion Tree Hugger Friends

        Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade made for exciting background noise to people who were busy cleaning house and cooking.  On Black Friday the local community radio station did a live broadcast of the 5^th Annual Black Friday Parade in downtown Cabool.  Colorful descriptions of the floats mixed in with many local high school and middle school band and choir performances made the radio some nice background for a day’s activities.  The “Roots and Branches” radio host told a funny story about his holiday with an old friend down in Arkansas.  Reports were that the Krider festivities up in Rogersville with Vivian Floyd were well attended.  Donald and Rita Krider came down from Illinois to join Harley.  Fae Krider was nursing a sprained ankle and did not attend, but was happy with leftovers and good reports of family fun.  Foster and Kalyssa went to see their grandparents Wayne and Bernice Wiseman.  Steve and Darlene Connor had a yard full of people visiting as travelers passed by.  Mark and Gretchen up at the Cobb house at the New East Dogwood School site had cars in the yard from Kentucky. Others postponed the celebration to the week end and made a nice two day affair of it.  Champions are thankful year around.

        December the tooth (second) is the birthday of Bostonian Charley Burlile.  His ornery sister, Jeanne, is spreading the news because this it is a significant milestone. (60!)  It is a long way to Boston and he does not get down this way often.  When he was here early last spring he remarked on the beauty of the area at a time when the fields green from hill to hill.  He liked the pleasant far views before the foliage fills in.  He would like it now too as the leaves are mostly gone and the underlying topography is revealed with its undulations and surprising number of habitations. He will forgive his sister for snitching about his birthday because her particular brand of orneriness is part of what makes her an asset to the community at large.  The fourth of December belonged to another great asset.  Lonnie Krider was born on that day in 1941.  He has been gone for some while now, but he is well remembered and missed.  He sang, “Precious Memories, how they linger!”  Businesswoman A.B. Spivey is the kind of grandmother who will let a granddaughter bake chocolate barbeque pie while she is wearing her new princess dress.  Her birthday is on the fifth and her many friends say, “Have a great one!”  Philosopher and musician, Big Ed Bell will have Friday to enjoy his birthday.  He was born in 1958 and has in-laws living in Downtown Champion.  Skyline School’s invaluable Paul Boyd will get to celebrate on Saturday when school is out.  Sunday the 8^th will be a big one for Veracruzer Chris Tharp, but he is one of those guys who celebrates year round.  Happy days one and all!

        Champions of a certain age are well acquainted with Frank Cappra’s movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life.”  It will probably be seen many times through the holidays as it is a favorite.  In it Uncle Billy, mistakenly hands over the weekly bank deposit of the Bailey Building and Loan to old man Potter.  Potter realizes soon enough that he has $8,000.00 that does not belong to him, but he holds on to it and the story plays out.  It ends with the townspeople coming up with the money to save George Bailey from disgrace and ruin.  Everybody feels good about George being hailed as ‘the richest man in town.’  Potter did not give back the money.  The story is reminiscent of current banking shenanigans as well as the behavior of certain large corporations whose employees are eligible for food stamps because they earn so little even working on Thanksgiving Day.  Then there is the matter of the great timber thievery in eastern Douglas County.  A National Forrest Ranger blocked the big logging truck from leaving through the Mark Twain Forest the other day with a load of 40 and 50 foot red and white oak logs.  They were cut without the permission of the owner of the land.  Who knows how many loads went out before they were discovered?  What about the money for those logs?  Where did it go?  Who hired the loggers?  There are canceled checks somewhere or do sawmills pay out in big wads of cash?  Bamboozlers seem to be running amok in rural areas as well as in the big towns.

        Come down to the end of the pavement with your tales of deeps woods bamboozlement and find sympathizers.  Share grievances, gratitude, joie de vivre, and appropriate music at Champion @ championnews.us  Sit around in the meeting room at the recreation of the Historic Emporium just off Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive and discuss the pros and cons of being an ‘enlightened’ populace.  “Let the light from the lighthouse shine on me” over here in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—November 25, 2013

        Champions understand gratitude.  Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday in these parts.  Feasting with family and friends is ideal any time but the idea that people across the whole Nation are doing it at the same time seems to make it special.  “It’s hard to say grace and sit in the place of someone missing at the table.”  That is a line from a song that sums up the difficulties that arise when the first holiday rolls around after losing a loved one.  Larry and Teresa Wrinkles and Lonnie and Vera Mears are experiencing the first Thanksgiving without Larry and Lonnie’s Mother, Esther Wrinkles.  Irene Dooms is missing her sister and Ruby Proctor is missing her dear friend.  That is the way it is for people everywhere.  On the special feast days a moment apart to remember dear ones past is a moment well spent.  Esther shared a pink Christmas cactus with a Champion friend, but it always starts blooming just before Thanksgiving.  She was a Champion and Ruby is yet.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Patricia Metroplos has nice things to say about Myron Jackson and KZ88 radio out of Cabool.  The station produced a memorial tribute to her son, Geoff.  Her daughter, Joanne Metroplos, who lives in Seattle, contacted Jackson and made arrangements for the memorial to be presented on the first anniversary of the day her brother passed away, November 16, 2012.  Family members and friends submitted their memories and thoughts about him which Jackson read, interspersed with Geoff’s favorite music.  Pat was pleased with way it turned out and will be getting a CD of the program for a remembrance.  Geoff had an eclectic appreciation of music.  He played guitar for his own enjoyment.  Champions remember him as a fun loving, hardworking, energetic man with a gravelly voice and a large skill set.  He could do about anything.  Had illness not already overtaken him, Geoff would have been the one to climb the tower when the radio station suffered storm damage last year and needed some maintenance.  He was a fearless kind of guy, a fan of Community Radio and expanded thinking.

        Skyline School promotes expanded thinking.  In addition to being the wonderful rural school that is shaping the future Champions of democracy, it provides some excellent community services.  Secretary Helen Batten writes that the Douglas County Health Department comes to the school the first Tuesday of each month and has free screenings available to the public.  She says they always do BMI, blood pressure and carbon monoxide.  If they have the kits, they do sugar and cholesterol screenings but not every time.  They are at the school from 8:30 until 11:00 in the cafeteria.  Area residents appreciate access to these amenities. The little school is a treasure even for people who do not have children at home any more.  Some of them will be looking forward to the school holiday programs just for the chance to see what the future holds in store and to remember their own long past youth.

        Mark Twain was born November 30, 1835.  The many acres of National Forest that bear his name in this part the country keep him in mind as people drive almost anywhere through a spectacular countryside.  He was born in Missouri and Champions are proud to call him one of our own.  Champion is the kind of place where one can easily imagine Samuel Clemens standing around the stove spinning yarns, spreading news and philosophy all over the place the way Lee Ray, Elmer Banks and other prominent citizens do.  What would he have to say about timber thieves winding their big old semi double clutching e-flat trailer trucks and monster tiger-cat dual arch grapple log skidders through his pristine, Federally protected woods to make off with 40 and 50 foot oak trees that clearly belong to someone else?  There will doubtlessly be some lively discussion about the practice down at the Recreation of the Historic Emporium.  They say the identity of the thieves will be disclosed when they are indicted.  Champions will be watching the papers.  Twain said those who do not read the newspaper are uninformed and those who do are misinformed.  Who knows what he would have had to say about the World Wide Web and the mingling of real and unreal information in both venues?  Words are important.

        Cold, wet weather might be making hunting season more memorable for some Champions.  They will have stories to tell when their teeth stop chattering.  Hopes are that all the wounded critters will be found out in the woods and that all the holiday travelers will safely reach their destinations.  The Underhills of Champion South will host a grand banquet of unrelated people.  Vivian Floyd will have the Krider bunch at her place again and young Drayson will be the center of attention for family who have not yet had the pleasure of meeting him.  Some households will be singing together and dusty instruments will be coming out from under beds to get tuned up again after a long silence.  They say that Dillon Watts is being conscientious about his banjo practice and playing and that he has potential to be very good.  It looks like he is line for the musical talent of both his grandfathers.  Perhaps his next trip over from Tennessee will find him playing with his late Granddad’s friend, Wayne Anderson.  His great uncle, the General, met up with him at the store last spring and the lad was already showing great promise.  It is reassuring to old folks when young folks like the old fashioned stuff that was new when they were the young ones.  Tune into “Roots and Branches” on Thursday mornings, 10:00 a.m. to noon to enjoy some of the oldest and most obscure old time country, folk and bluegrass music that you will ever hear.  Find a link to Listen Live KZ88.org on the website at www.championnews.us.  Toes will be tapping.

        Send examples of expanded thinking, favorite tunes and reminiscences of old time Thanksgivings to Champion Items, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to champion @ championnews.us.  When the roads dry up and the sun comes out drive down to one of the world’s truly beautiful places.  It is over the river and through the woods at the bottom of several hills, where the pavement ends and country roads converge on the wild, wide, wooly banks of Old Fox Creek—Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!