It is a festive time of year. Pumpkins, fall colors, leaves turning, weather getting cooler, and Thanksgiving and Christmas straight ahead. Online shopping has already begun. Let's approach the coming season with peace and patience.
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Wednesday November 11 is Veterans Day. The Friona Friends of the Library will have a Veterans breakfast from 7:00-9:00 a.m. at the Redeemer Center on 13th St. Veterans and family are invited. I'll be dropping by. Been before. Good breakfast. Then at 10:00 a.m. the annual Veterans Day program will be held at the high school gym. This is a great tribute to our veterans from the students, staff, and band. Very moving. The public is invited to attend and honor our veterans.
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The annual Community Thanksgiving Service will be Sunday November 22 at 6:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church. This service is hosted by the Friona Christian Ministries. An offering is taken to help people throughout the year in our community with basic needs.
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The resident of the month at Prairie Acres is Randy Baize. The employee of the month is Kaylyn Gaussoin. She has been employed in the housekeeping department since May. Administrator Billy Ray Johnston says the census is low at Prairie Acres but Heritage Estates is doing well. The new management company, Diakonos, is adjusting well with the employees. The Heritage Estates Thanksgiving dinner is Thursday November 12 with turkey, ham, dressing, and rolls. Families are asked to bring side dishes and desserts.
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I stopped in at city hall Monday and got in the middle of a big mess. They are installing tile throughout the office plus some other work. City employees were working in the midst of the noise and dust. Like all other remodel jobs it is going to look great once it is finished.
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Our Friona police officers experienced the business end of tasers last week. New officer Rodney Stevens is a certified taser instructor. As a part of the training each officer was tasered in the back. It lasts for five seconds but feels like a lot longer one officer said.
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Victory Family Worship Center held its annual free coat event last Wednesday October 28. The church distributes free coats and gloves to needy children in the community. Adults that accompanied the children could sign up with name and address and the church would send them a $50 gift certificate. It was good to see the many teens there helping the children find coats, pouring coffee and hot chocolate and handing out cups of candy. Thanks you Victory for providing this ministry to the community.
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A happy 44th anniversary to Coach Rex Cumpton and Connie. Rex is a former Chieftain football and track coach, well liked by all. He is retired and living in Amarillo these days. One of my all time favorite coaches.
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Holy Family Church in Nazareth is having its Thanksgiving dinner, raffle, and arts and crafts show Sunday November 22. The bazaar is 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Turkey dinner is 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for $10.
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At today's blood drive (11/5) our local Subway is furnishing sandwiches for donors and the Noon Lions are providing cobbler. I believe we get the cobbler from the ladies at Headquarters Restaurant. Thanks to Subway for their community support.
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We have some huge stacks of leftover newspapers here at the office. Anybody need some please come by. If anyone or organization wants to have our old newspapers and haul them to a paper recycler to make a few bucks let us know. We'll donate them.
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Food trucks seem to be popular in the big cities. Soon there might be food trucks on the Friona scene. Nothing certain yet but I heard two different folks indicate they were going to start up a food truck business here. That's all I can say right now but we will keep you posted.
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Elementary parents are invited to eat a Thanksgiving lunch with their children on Friday November 13.
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The Holiday Bazaar in Clovis will be held Saturday and Sunday November 14-15 at the Clovis Civic Center, 801 Schepps Blvd. See the ad in this Star for more details. 'Tis the season for bazaars and arts and crafts shows. Enjoy.
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The Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the annual Light Up the Park for Christmas. Go by the Chamber and pick out a tree to decorate. The choice locations go first so hurry for the best location. Trees will have to be decorated before December 7 which is Christmas in the Park. The tree with the most 16 oz peanut butter and Pop Tarts for SnakPak4Kids will win the traveling trophy. Call the Chamber at 250-3491 for more details.
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The Allen, Texas, high school band will be marching in the Rose Parade January 1. They will take 725 band members. Counting chaperones and band directors they will have 800 people. A report I saw said it will take 17 or 18 buses and 6 airplanes and cost $1.2 million, much of which was raised from boosters and private sources. The parade route is 7.2 miles long. Can you imagine the logistics of uniforms, band instruments, and feeding and lodging all the kids then make sure you don't leave any behind. The band actually has 780 members, the largest high school band in America.
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The Squaw basketball season opens Tuesday November 10 here vs. Lubbock Christ the King according to head coach Darrel Ray. Games are JV 5:30 p.m., varsity 6:30 p.m. Coach Ray says he has enough girls to start the season without the girls that may still be playing volleyball. The Chieftains first basketball game will be a week later, November 17, at Hale Center.
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Went to Randall to watch the Squaws sweep Childress 3-0 for the bi-district championship. Then we went to Feldman's Wrong Way Diner to eat. We got there about two minutes before their closing time but they let us in anyway. The three of us enjoyed chicken fried steak, one of the best in the area. My friend Rick from Hereford said it was the best he had ever had. The Feldman's folks were polite and friendly even if we did get there at closing time. Good luck Squaws Saturday in the area volleyball match. Until then!
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