January 23, 2017
CHAMPION—January 23, 2017
Dense fog in Champion on Thursday
After a couple of days of much enjoyed sunshine, Champions were blessed with a gentle all day rain, the kind that soaks in and trickles right down through the limestone into the aquifer. It is the kind of rain that combines with a brisk wind at 47 degrees that smacks of winter but is just followed by the promise of a few moderately seasonable days. What Champion complains?
Reminiscence comes to The Champion News from Hovey Henson. He writes, “When reading about Hannah Kelly being sworn as a Mo. State Rep., I was reminded of the time her grandfather, Garnett Kelly, Douglas County tax assessor, would come by and ask the farmers how many cows they owned, without making a count himself. I guess the farmers were somewhat honest. Working in the North Sea my favorite food was fish and chips. You had to pay extra to have a seat in the restaurant. I would go outside to eat. It was called curbside dining. Love, Hovey.” Fried fish and fried potatoes, with enough salt, wrapped in paper and enjoyed on the street makes a tasty memory. It is also nice to think that people we actually know are in the public service of government. All our elected people are here to serve us. Yea! Democracy! They want to hear from us on every important issue. Governor Eric Greitens, (573) 751-3222, might want to hear that cuts to the school bus fund and to teacher support would be hard on rural communities. Whatever your issue, you can contact Roy Blunt (202) 224-5721, Claire McCaskill (202) 224-6154, Billy Long (202) 225-6536, and Jason Smith (202)225-4404. In case you want to contact Speaker Paul Ryan about anything, you can send a postcard to Speaker Paul Ryan, 700 St. Laurence Ave., Janesville, WI 53545. If you want to address the White House, call 202-456-1111 to leave comments or get to the switchboard 202-456-1414. It is advisable to look at your phone plan to decide how often you want to make these long distance calls. Also, a Champion friend suggests keeping a note of the names of the people with whom you speak, the dates and times and the subject of the conversation. For example, “Spoke with Heather in Jason Smith’s office on 01-20-17 about single payer health insurance” or whatever. It is also to be noted that local representatives have local offices and welcome visitors. It will take a little effort to be an involved citizen, but what a privilege! Only in America! (Well, not really. There are a number of well-functioning democracies in the world.)
Neighbor Brenda Coffman Massey spent the part of Sunday the 22nd in thanking friends and family for good birthday wishes. She has a great smile and is routinely busy in her own neighborhood and neighboring ones doing good works. The last Tuesday of the month on the 31st will find Nannette Hirsch at Champion again taking blood pressure readings and giving good health advice to people with questions. The 31st is also the day Skyline will have a basketball game at Plainview.
The Thursday night bluegrass jam at Vanzant was well attended in spite of a heavy fog. After a great pot luck supper, forty or so folks sat back to hear music produced by singers and players of 8 guitars, 3 mandolins, 1 banjo, 1 fiddle, and 1 bass fiddle. The lead went around and around the circle for a couple of hours until 32 songs had been sung and played. Sherry Bennett coaxed a gentleman from the audience, Mr. Ed Kimbrell, to sing “I Saw the Light” and the crowd joined in with enthusiasm. He said that it had been a long time since he had sung into a microphone. He lives over near the old Richville Store on W Highway and hopes are that he will be a regular at the jam in the future. Music is a gift.
Some of the good news that reaches Champion comes from Nickelville, Missouri. Enbridge Energy says that 365 barrels of crude oil that spilled out onto farm land when electronic monitors failed to detect the leak, well, they did not say it was cleaned up but they did say that oil was flowing again and that the company is monitoring local wells and ground water in the area. Highway M, which was closed south of Highway Z in rural northeast Lawrence County on Tuesday, reopened to traffic Thursday. These things happen. That is the concern of the Standing Rock Reservation folks, still occupying land they own as they attempt to protect their water and the water of millions downstream. Other indigenous peoples around the Nation and around the world are having similar struggles as they try to protect their land and water.
“The Bill of Rights Still Matters!” “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” “Protect the ACA” “Make America Tolerant Again!” These were some of the signs at the women’s march in Willow Springs on Saturday. The thirty or so participants did not so much march as stand out on the sidewalk by the Star Theatre and entreat passersby to honk for health care or to signify that they love women. Nationwide they say that one out of every hundred people were engaged in the women’s march. There were no reports of violence anywhere. In 673 such marches around the world they say there were 4,814,000 global participants. This has been a well-reported event and is certainly one of the largest gatherings of our times. Back in 2003, between January and April of that year, thirty six million (36,000,000) people worldwide protested the bombing of Baghdad. News coverage was not nearly so attentive to that and local television reporting consisted of, “Oh, and there were some protests.” The internet was not such a big part of the lives of average citizens then as it is today. The chances of getting accurate information are better if it is gathered from a variety of sources. “Trust, but verify” was a popular saying back in the Reagan administration. From every side it is advisable to step outside your particular comfort zone of preconceptions to see what friends, neighbors, and kin-folks consider to be the truth. It might be eye-opening—Champion.
Look back over the past decade of The Champion News at www.championnews.us and look out over the wide, wild, wooly banks of Auld Fox Creek for a view of one of the world’s truly beautiful places. “Wait till the darkness is over. Wait till the tempest is done. Hope for the sunshine tomorrow after the darkness is gone. Whispering hope, Oh! How welcome Thy voice–making my heart in its sorrow rejoice” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!
The Women’s March in Willow Springs
