Champion News

CHAMPION—October 20, 2014

        Autumn’s hues and migrating birds are conspiring to make Champion a brilliant place.  Add the colorful locals to the mix for a winning combination.  Prowlers along the country lanes are rewarded with postcard views around every turn and random high spots reveal distant vistas to remember.

        The Fall Festival at the Skyline School was a great success.  Look for pictures in the papers.  Queen Morgan Whitaker and King Waylon Moon were attended by Princess Hailey Hall and Prince Zackary Coon–the royal court having been elected by the school community.  The event was organized to help the school clubs and the school foundation raise funds for their various activities this fall, as well as an outlet for some prekindergarten to eighth grade seasonal energy.  There were some great bargains at the auction and Joy Beeler won the chili cook off.  Pie contest judges are thinking to make pies themselves next year so as to be eliminated as judges.  Some kind person made a generous $50.00 donation toward the water fountain project.  The fruit jar on the counter at Henson’s G & G is also getting some good attention toward that goal.  Drinking lots of clean water (delivered by a safe, hygienic drinking fountain) is one of those good-health lessons that benefit children for their lifetime.  Clean water and wellness cannot be separated.

        The first Tuesday of each month, the Douglas County Health Department comes to the school from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. to do free blood pressure readings for anyone in the community.  The last Tuesday of the month, the 28^th, Angela Souder of the DCHD will be in Champion from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.  She sets up back in the meeting room of the Historic Emporium and does free blood presser checks.  She can give you a reading of your body mass index—a very sophisticated diagnostic tool that helps identify health risks.  Angela can also test you for carbon monoxide.  She may be bringing a ‘lung age’ machine this time to evaluate the health of your lungs.  It is a good service to the area.

        Drayson Cline shares his birthday (August 23^rd) with his great grand-father, Charlie Cline.  Now he has to share is great-grandfather with a new little brother.  Carson Krider Cline arrived on Saturday the 18^th and came in at seven pounds plus.  So Kalyssa and Foster Wiseman, Teagan Krider, Eli and Emmy Oglesby and Dillon and Dakota Watts now have a new first cousin.  Madelyn and Shelby Ward have a new distant cousin (grandmother’s sister’s grandchildren) and the briar patch that is the community family tree has a welcome new addition.  Champion!

        Breauna (Teagan’s mom) Krider will share her birthday on the 24^th with Sandy Chapin, who is the grandfather of a young guy named Atticus Umba Fowler.  October 25^th is the birthday of Roger Miller.  He was born in 1936, and died in 1992.  He was responsible for a great deal of wonderful music including “Dang Me” and “King of the Road.”  Everyone has his favorite Roger Miller song.  Mishbucha, Brian Oglesby and Harley Krider share the 26^th as their birthday.  Now the distant Champion is older than a lot of people in the neighborhood again so he can enjoy their deference and respect once more.  Nicolas Georges is a preschool student at Skyline.  His birthday is the 28^th of October.  Royce Henson and Connie Lansdown share October 30^th and will have big family celebrations to mark their birthdays.  Two fifth grade students, Kimberly Carder and Cheyenne Hall, have Halloween birthdays.  They can share the day with Skyline Superintendent Jeannie Curtis.  Happy birthday, ladies, and “Boo!”  Austin friend, Felipe Heston, celebrates his birthday on Halloween too.  Felicidades, compadre!

        The Vanzant Community building is a busy place. The bluegrass jams on Thursdays are lovely—pot luck at 6:00 and music, music, music.  The Dobbs Family reunion will be there and will start at 11:00 a.m. on the 25^th.  Laine Sutherland posted that folks should bring their own table service and drinks along with their potluck contribution as well as their photos and stories of the Dobbs and associated families to share.  On the 8^th the Eastern Douglas County Fire Department will have its chili supper and auction there.  It is a nice place.  Betty Thomas reported that the East Dogwood School Reunion was a pleasant affair on Saturday over at the Evansdale Church.  Fred Follis had printed up a bunch of old songs, cartoons and poetry from his era of schooling there and it was most interesting.  She said there was not any singing, but a fine dinner, some good photographs taken and old acquaintances renewed.  Betty is still resting up from the Pioneer Gathering—a well-deserved rest.

        Legendary water researcher, author and emissary for peace, Dr. Masaru Emoto, passed away on Friday.  He was only 71.  That now seems young to some people who are approaching that age.  His documented research has shown that thoughts, words, emotions, prayer, and music have a direct effect on water-crystal formation, and since our bodies and our planet are mostly water, our thoughts and words affect not only ourselves, but also the world around us.  For over 30 years he shared his message of the power of Love and Gratitude in creating peace on our planet through his understanding of water’s true nature.  Many people in this area live here because of the quality of the water.  The old timers who migrated in from Kentucky and Tennessee settled near the rivers, creeks and springs.  Arrowhead and artifact collectors can attest to indigenous peoples having lived near these waters in centuries past.  The community is working toward providing clean, fresh drinking water for the school children.  Others are putting forth effort to bringing last August’s Amendment 1 back to the ballot, since the wording on the ballot did not reflect the content and intent of the amendment, and water quality may hang in the balance.  As Susan Needham conveyed in her letter, as few as 22% of the registered voters may show up for a given election and therefore as few as 11.1% of registered voters can control the outcome of elections that can affect the lives of everyone.  It takes some effort to become informed and good information is not always in the easiest place to find it.  Believe what people tell you or find out for yourself, but participate.  That way you will have the right to gripe if things do not go your way.  If they do go your way, it will be because you had a hand in it.  If you find out later that your way was the wrong way, you’ll be glad if it lost, and admonished if it won.

        Take that Sunday drive any day of the week down to the broad beautiful banks of Old Fox Creek.  The foliage is magnificent.  The broad veranda of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium provides a perfect perch for viewing and a suitable spot for visiting with friends and neighbors on a lovely fall day.  Sing Roger Miller’s “You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to!” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!