October 14, 2016
CHAMPION—October 14, 2016
 Wagon-Master Clifton Luna
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The sad news came to Champion that Clifton Luna has passed away. He was 91. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He and his wife of 67 years lived on their Dora farm where he continued to operate his father’s saw mill. For many years he hitched up his mules and led a train of other wagons and horseback riders through the Ozarks. He brought the wagon train through Champion every October on their way from West Plains to Mansfield and it was always a highlight of the year for this community. This was the first year that he was unable to make this trip. He will be much missed and long remembered by his many friends in the West Plains Wagon Club, the Gee Haw folks of Arkansas, and all the folks along the trail. He had a big family and a big place in the heart of this part of the world.
Dick and Coleen Danham live in Highlandville. They had read about the Squires Store in the Rural Missouri publication and then happen to see Kaitlyn McConnell’s facebook page, Ozarks Alive, where Champion had been featured recently. They made a day of it and visited both these thriving commercial centers. The next Wednesday Alice and Austin Reynolds of Springfield decided to visit the Bright Side, also as a result of seeing the story on Kaitlyn’s page. Alice said that they stopped in Norwood to ask directions and no one seemed to know how to find Champion. She called Henson’s Store for directions, thanks to Kaitlyn having included the phone number in her article. Champions are considering the notion of getting some signs up in various places. Perhaps a committee should be formed.
 Happy Birthday Eva!
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A Champion couple both have birthdays in October–seven days apart. Who is older? Do they party the whole week long? Carson Cline has his second birthday on October 18th. He is a Champion grandson with a groovy big brother. Wyatt Shannon is a prekindergarten student at Skyline. His birthday is the 19th. Betty Swain celebrated her 90th birthday several years ago on October 20th. She is an avid bridge player whose favorite bid is ‘three no trump.’ Marty Watts is a Champion son-in-law who lives in Tennessee. His birthday is the 20th. Cyanna Davis is a sixth grader at Skyline. She also celebrates on the 20th. The 21st belongs to the late Anna Henson of downtown Champion and Cidneye Godkin over on the Colorado River in Texas. Donna Moskaly, Ava Art Guild winner of many awards, shares her birthday on the 22nd with Haylee Surface, a second grade student at Skyline, and with Skyline’s cook, Mrs. Beth. Birthdays are the best days of the year for some people. Eva Clark was just honored with a surprise party by her family, friends and colleagues. Donita Virtue shared her beautiful home for the event and Eva’s family and friends put the good effort in to make a lovely day for a lovely lady. She had birthday greetings from around the country and from friends she made in Eastern Europe when she worked with Doctors Without Borders. She is still working as a nurse and being an amazing grandmother. It is a joy to celebrate so many dynamic Champions!
Amy Goodman is a journalist who has been looking into the ongoning historic gathering of Native Americans and their many allies out on the Great Plains. Those folks are struggling to protect their land, their cemeteries, their history and their water, as well as the water of all the people who live downstream on the Missouri River. Deia Schlosberg is a documentary film maker. Both she and Amy Goodman are exercising their First Amendment rights as journalists and have both been subject to arrest and prosecution for doing nothing more than reporting on what they see, which is a great and growing number of non-violent people praying on their own land. They have gathered to express their opposition to a well-funded, under vetted pipeline project—eminent domain for private gain–and have been met with violent attacks by private security companies hired by the commercial interest. The Wall Street Journal reported that there were 1,400 pipeline spills and accidents in the U.S. just between 2010 and 2013. According to the Journal reviews, four in every five pipeline accidents are discovered by local residents, not the companies that own the pipelines. Recent spills in Alabama and Arkansas are yet to be resolved environmentally or financially. Little wonder the Standing Rock people are concerned. Meanwhile Nestle corporate agents and those of similar companies continue to find ways to legally appropriate natural water. “Water! Water! All day we faced the barren waste without a taste of water. Cool, clear water. Oh! Dan, can’t you see that big green tree where the water’s flowing free and it’s waiting there for you and me?”
A political advertisement on television these days features half a dozen fresh faced ten year old youngsters enthusiastically touting Proposition 3 on the November ballot. They are most appealing, indicating that if you care about children you must approve this proposition. The children are actors with promising careers ahead of them. The promise of the proposition is that only the smaller cigarette manufacturers, those that poor people can afford, will be taxed while the big companies like R.J. Reynolds will have nothing changed. It is a ploy to gain more of the market share. Worse yet, the money from these taxes is to be dispersed among private and religious schools, again drawing funds from public education. Little rural schools like our wonderful Skyline R2 School could use some support, but do not believe that this proposition will help any more than the “Right to Work” or “Right to Farm” actually helps workers or farmers. Politics are tricky. They are also dishearteningly dirty. The obsession with unpleasant personalities draws attention away from the important issues. Alas! Suffragettes who finally won the vote in 1920, might have said, “Grab ‘em by the ballot box!”
Sunday night’s full moon, the Hunter’s Moon, sailed high across the sky, setting the world below aglow and lingering on the horizon until the sun took over. It is a treasure to live in a part of the world with so little light pollution—where it can get really dark. That is when the night sky can sing its celestial song. Music lovers over in Vanzant are sure to have some interesting opinions about Bob Dylan having won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year. (The nominating committee has neglected The Champion News once again. Alas!) Dylan and Johnny Cash had a long time friendship and recorded quite a number of songs together including “Girl From the North Country.” Young Chace Cauthron is about to start a band out on the wide veranda at the Historic Emporium. His enthusiasm for music is an inspiration. Come be inspired down on the wide, wild wooly banks of Auld Fox Creek. The horseshoe pitch is available without charge for anyone stout enough to play. To get to this tranquil spot, go to the bottom of several hills where country roads meet the pavement. You will have passed through some beautiful country with the fall foliage morphing right before your eyes. Ah! “The times they are a changing!” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!
Oh! The seasons they are a-changing!
