October 10, 2016
CHAMPION—October 10, 2016
A squirrel hulls walnuts getting ready for winter.
The Pioneer Descendants Gathering is now a part of history. Matt Byerley, son of Roy and Sue Walker Byerley, won the “Horse Country” quilt. Hosts, Betty and Dale Thomas, spent the Monday after the gathering at the bedside of a friend who had surgery. They came home to find that friends and neighbors, Matt Byerley and Bert Lehman among them, had done much of the clean-up work that always followed this great event. Because of that help, Betty and Dale were able to go over to the Goodhope community to Jim and Marge Voyles’ sorghum event for the first time. Fordland’s Wild West Days will be held the first weekend in October in the future. There will be any number of festivals and gatherings in the area to fill the calendar, but likely none will replicate the experience that so many have enjoyed on the Thomas Farm all these fifteen years.
Pete and Bonnie Mullins have just celebrated sixty-one years of marriage over in Wichita, Kansas. They live over there but consider this part of the world home. Champion granddaughter, Madelyn Ward was born on October 10, 2006. Happy Birthday! Janet Chapin will be driving the OATS bus on her birthday on the 12th. Cathy Baldwin will be wildly celebrated on the 13th. The 14th is the special day for a number of interesting people: a nurse–Eva Clark, a film-maker–Jillian Hall and a dairy farmer–Leslee Krider. Jo Moskaly shares his birthday on the 15th with Skyline kindergarten Keedien Curtis. Olivia Prock is an 8th grade student at Skyline. Her birthday is the 16th. She was probably at the Skyline Fall Festival on Friday night having a good time with her friends. The community of this great little rural school is busy providing a secure and encouraging environment for life time learners.
 Deer graze on persimmons as fall sets in.
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Off in the woods the dogwoods are beginning to turn purple and along the roads sumac is getting purple and red as a sign of the seasons changing. Some report that in previous years when the woods have stayed so lush and green, as they are now, right up until frost, the foliage just turns from green to brown without going through all the colorful autumnal gradations. For winter prognostications, persimmon seeds are telling disparate stories according to their location. Some have knives and some spoons. Woolly worms have appeared to be platinum blonde, light brown and black, some with sparse hair and some luxuriant and full. Champions are committed to observe carefully and to enjoy every subtle nuance of change as it happens from summer to fall to winter to spring–ad infinitum.
Some things change and some do not. Descendants of the brave immigrant souls who came over on the Mayflower and hundreds of other little ships and members of the Daughters of the American Revolution all have reason to revere our illustrious ancestors. We have built a beautiful Nation on these shores. It is not without its flaws and it is still very much a work in progress, but the rest of the world has recognized the United States of America for its great heart and character—an example for struggling democracies everywhere. In these tumultuous times it might set a good example for the rest of the world to admit that American history did not begin when Columbus set sail out of Europe. The indigenous people who met those pilgrims on the shore have been tricked, evicted and subjected to genocide most foul during these recent centuries. Even now private security companies working for the extraction industries have turned vicious dogs on Native people who are standing on their own land protecting their culture, their sacred sites, and their water. It was determined that the oil pipeline might pose a threat to the water supply of Bismarck, Dakota’s capital city, so it was rerouted over land that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designated appropriate without regard for the sacred sites, the graves, the homes and histories of the people who live there. It is eminent domain for private gain and the water of not just the Standing Rock people, but everyone downstream is at risk as the company plans to cross under the wide Missouri. Representatives of more than two hundred tribes from across the Americas and non-Native allies from around the world have been coming together for what is considered the largest gathering of native peoples in this country in a century. They stand to protest the intrusion into tribal land and to protect the water for all of us. Is it mocking to wish them good luck?
Thomas Paine who wrote that inflammatory pamphlet “Common Sense” advocating independence from Great Britain said, “To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Concerned neighbors are spooning out their various versions of reason to each other in hopes that they will come around. It does seem that our political health is fragile—tenuous at best.
The wild, wooly banks of Auld Fox Creek are enjoying beautiful weather. Bees are returning to the Behemoth Bee Tree. Friends and neighbors gather on the wide veranda of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square to share their histories and observations. The horse-shoe pitch is getting a good amount of use these days. Noting the temperament of some of the players, it may be a real example of sportsmanship that things do not get heated. Clanking ringers and the raucous shouts of spectators, however, do not interfere with the music or the visiting inside or out. Come join the fun in person or send your observations and Champion histories to The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717. Enjoy pictures of the beautiful place at www.championnews.us and hear some of the great music that is native to these parts. A version of an old song shared goes, “Hallelujah! Thine’s the glory. Hallelujah! Amen. Hallelujah! Give us a hand out to revive us again.” There are always songs in the hearts of Champions—Looking on the Bright Side!
The horseshoe pitch stays busy on Wednesdays.
