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THE VALLEY

STAR

Change is hard,change is scary,but in some

cases…change is good.

Recently, the ColemanDental signs were takendown to make room forthe new Valley Smilessigns. Our number onequestion since the newsigns were installed hasbeen, “Where did Dr.Coleman go?” The truthis, he didn’t go any-where. He is still at theoffice, Monday thru Fri-day, taking care of thesame patients and lotsof new ones too. Thesame amazing team isalso there. They’re stillfilling the office with anenergy of fun and family,loving life and loving theability to make yousmile.

So, if Dr. Coleman is stillthere, why the namechange?

“When we stepped out

into the dental community 30 plus years ago,we never dreamed we would be able to help asmany people as we have. Suddenly, we lookedup and we were so much more than just ‘Cole-man,’ we were a team of doctors, hygienists,

dental and business assistants. Each teammember was working toward the same goal, aunified goal of communication and education.

continued on page 6

The more things change…the more they stay the same

Coleman Dental is now Valley Smiles

Dr. Samuel Deatherage left, and Dr. Alan Coleman

THEVALLEYSTAR.NET July 8, 2016

The Athens Saturday Market held itsannual Patriotic Day at the Pavilionto celebrate the upcoming Fourth ofJuly holiday.

There was a children's parade withdecorated wagons, strollers and bi-cycles.

The Daughters of the American Rev-olution were the judges. DAR alsogave away many prizes to childrenwho could recite The Pledge.

Saturday Market patriotic winners

Publisher/Editor in ChiefSonny Turner

[email protected]

Co-Publisher/PhotographyDanny Johnson • [email protected]

256-874-7571

Copy EditorDebra Johnson • [email protected]

OwnerChris Shindorf

Advertising staff:Sonny Turner@256-431-5498,Danny Johnson@256-874-7571Kathy Thornton@256-777-1425

THE VALLEY

STAR

Winners of the Most Patriotic Award were

Bryant and Sutton Smith who

were in Revolutionary War era costumes.

Winners of the Most Patriotic Vehicle were

Tyler and Sissy Sampieri.

Time to get muddy againin the C.A.S.A. 2016mud volleyball event.

Don't miss out on the fun andopportunity to help a greatcommunity support group

C.A.S.A. In addition to being a funcommunity tradition, this

event enables CASA to con-tinue helping the elderly andhomebound.

July 8, 2016 THEVALLEYSTAR.NET

The Valley Star | feature

Casa Mud Volleyball set for July 16

Snap Shots from past mud volleyball contests


This may be one of the bestgarden crops ever harvestedby my wife, Debra, and my-

self. I started out by deep turningthe garden plot down to about 10inches. This process brings newsoil to the top for the plants togrow their root systems in withplenty of things necessary forgood root growth. Buying goodquality transplants from localgreenhouses are a must. Raisinga garden is a commitment thatstarts in early April and goes intothe fall months.

Once the seeds and transplantsare planted, the work load rampsup. Water is the life blood of a suc-cessful garden. Young plants arefaced with drought conditions,weeds, and insects that try to eatup your plants. We water our gar-den ever other day. A soaker hoselaid next to the plants do a greatdeep watering. I have a well, andthe available water supply is aheaven sent in dry times. Toma-toes, squash,and okra require a

lot of water to reach desiredgrowth and yields.

Deep turning also benefits in re-ducing unwanted weed growth.Surface weed seeds are flippedinto the soil by deep turning, re-ducing germinated rates. Chop-ping and tilling is a weekly eventattempting to control unwantedweed growth. Tomatoes have sev-

eral issues during the growingseason. Fungus can attack thefruit of the tomato causing rot andwilting foliage. The local CO-OPhas sprays that help control thiscondition.

The four legged predators can alsodeal havoc on watermelon, can-taloupe, and sweet-corn crops. Rac-coons love to eat fresh corn on the

cob. A couple of years ago, I lost allmy cantaloupes one night to a packof coyotes. I have also heard talesof coyotes eating watermelons inthe field. I had people to suggestplacing a scare crow in the gardento frighten off unwanted guests.This year crows were eating mycorn seed out of the ground afterplanting. A pair of mocking birdscame to my rescue and would runthe crows out of the garden on aregular basis.

Fresh harvested vegetables are adelight to eat and share withfriends, but boy does it take a lot ofwork.

This reminds me of one of the lategreat Bear Bryan’s sayings, “Theprice of success is often high, butso are the rewards.” When I sitdown to a meal of fried squash,buttered sweet corn, and a ripetomato, to name a few. it makesthe dirty feet and sweaty foreheadworth it.

The fruits of the yield is whatmakes us forget the negatives of agarden and inspires us to keep onplanting each year.

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Raising a bumper garden crop

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Educating our patients on how toachieve optimum dental health,showing them options for treat-ment and helping them avoid den-tal diseases. Our primary aim is tocommunicate a higher value forhealth in the minds of our pa-tients. That was ‘MY’ focus in1984 and now it’s ‘OUR’ focustoday,” said Dr. Coleman.

So what has changed other thanthe name? Lots! Valley Smiles isoffering new services, such as In-visalign, new technology that helpsus to detect oral cancer earlier andBOTOX for our migraine sufferers.Technology has been added in thebusiness department for patients,allowing them to make appoint-ment request and payments on-line. We also have extended hoursduring the week for working pa-tients and to help with the need toget those after school appoint-ments.

One change that we are excitedabout is our patient services team.Our telephones are now answeredfrom 7 am until 9 pm and even fora few hours on Sunday. Gone arethe days of being forced to leave amessage because you were un-able to call during regular busi-ness hours. Someone will be thereearly and late to schedule that ap-pointment for you.

Another change we are proud toannounce, Valley Smiles now hasa discount plan to help our pa-tients who no longer have dentalinsurance. “We saw a need andVantage One Dental Discount Planis helping us meet that need,” saidDr. Coleman.

With all the current changes andthe changes coming up in the fu-ture, some things will neverchange. Our dedication, our caringenvironment, and our desire tohelp you feel confident about your

oral health and your smile will con-tinue to be our priority.

We are simply expanding our abil-ity to care not only for Athens, butthe entire Tennessee Valley. Staytuned for more great changes atValley Smiles – your hometowndental team.

Valley Smiles“Where the Possibilitiesare STILL Wide Open”

256-232-0789www.ValleySmiles.com


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Coleman Dental is now Valley Sm:)les continued from page 1

Valley Smiles team members.


Earlier this month three boys didmore than damage the Pin-cham-Lincoln Center by break-

ing windows and spraying fireextinguishers. They shattered feelingsof accomplishment held by volunteerswho worked to create that facility.They drew the ire of our community,raising questions about the disre-spect of youth, boredom, andparental control.

As Youth Commissioners, it impactedus as you can see from the words ofYouth Commissioner Raven Warner:“As a teen very close to their age, I amashamed to be a part of a generationthat consists of young people withsuch a lack of morals because notonly does it affect them, it affects me,along with other teens, because it cancause others to put the ones for thegood into the same category with theones who choose to do evil. Yes, chil-dren and teens make mistakes some-times, but these children were at theage where they should know vandal-ism, to this extent, is a criminal actwith major consequences and shouldnot be taken lightly. Honestly, afterhearing about this, all I want to knowis why. Why would these young peoplestoop so low and disgrace their com-munity, family, and friends like theyhave? Why would they deface prop-erty on such a historic site as the Pin-cham-Lincoln Center where TrinityHigh School was located years ago?”

To our community we say that al-though we wonder why, we choose tonot speculate on their reasons for the

vandalism. We choose to lead by ex-ample, and we ask you to do thesame by involving youth in planning,decisions, and projects that benefitthe City of Athens.

Through our involvement with theAthens Mayor’s Youth Commission,we have learned not only govern-ment’s role, but our role as citizens.We have administered Dekko Foun-dation funding to worthwhile commu-nity projects. We have joined theLincoln-Bridgeforth Park Committee,Athens Police Department andAthens Fire and Rescue to distributebicycles and gifts to children at Christ-mas. We have held a mock City Coun-cil meeting to learn that process.

Please do not judge the youth ofAthens on the actions of three boys.We as youth are invested in this city.Our Youth Commission mentors areinvested in us. As citizens of Athens,what can you do to show your invest-ment in your community and itsyouth?

To the three boys, we offer thesewords from Youth CommissionerMolly Kirkpatrick: “Giving back isworth so much more than rebellion orpulling some prank just for the fun ofit. To be able to really make some-one’s day by just participating in com-munity events or helping out with aservice project is more rewardingthan anything else you do as ateenager. No rule breaking or rebel-lion could ever top being able to makepeople so happy by just giving themyour time and effort.”

To the Athens-Limestone CommunityAssociation, we offer more than wordsof sympathy and encouragement.Through the Athens Mayor’s YouthCommission some of us joinedAthens Rotary volunteers to help withlandscaping at your facility. We visitedthe Trinity/Fort Henderson site andwalked the 1930s era bridge used byTrinity students to cross the steam.We learned from author Charlotte Ful-ton how the site tells the story of slaveto soldier to student. We learned howTrinity graduates, association volun-teers, and the late Councilman JimmyGill did more than dream about re-claiming the deteriorating site. Theyacted. Through persistence, fundrais-ing and community outreach, theycreated a landmark that honors Trin-ity’s legacy and improves the city.

Your example teaches us we too mustact. The Youth Commission has $500left from Dekko funding for its ex-penses. We agree with Youth Com-missioner Kennedi Brown who said,

“If we can, we should give money tohelp with damages.”

We cannot replace the more than$18,000 in damages done by threeyouth from our community. The mem-bers of our Youth Commission can do-nate to you $250 toward yourdeductible and rental losses. We candemonstrate our faith in your mission,our commitment to our communityand our challenge to other youth to bea positive force in Athens.

As Youth Commissioner RavenWarner further stated, “Hopefully thisincident was a lesson learned to thethree boys arrested for first-degreecriminal mischief, and the Pincham-Lincoln Center will be restored, creat-ing a stronger and more unifiedcommunity.”

Your association exemplifies yourmotto “Arise and Build.”

You will Arise and Build, and we willstand with you.

Athens moving forward after senseless vandalism

Youth Commission visiting the Trinity/Fort Henderson site earlier

this year as part of their Youth Commission program.

By Chuck Vessels

In April of this year I travelled toNew Zealand for a once in alifetime hunt primarily for Red

Stag with hopes of Bull Tahr,Chamois, Fallow Deer, and PacificMountain Goat. In part one wecovered the hunt for the RedStag. In this article we will dis-cuss the Bull Tahr. Before day-light a helicopter came to thebase camp and picked us up for alittle over an hour climb up a gla-cier mountain range. As the suncame up I was glad I had taken adouble dose of Dramamine.

We were flying in extremely steepand rugged terrain that if at allpossible (most was not possible)would have taken over a week toclimb. We were maneuvering inand out of cliffs, crevices, ava-lanche chutes, and walls that Iwas sure the helicopter rotorswould not fit. I have been inmany military and civilian helicop-ters, sometimes in extreme cir-cumstances, and have neverflown in these conditions. It re-quired a lot of deep breathing,praying, and hoping the pilot hada lot to live for.

During the safety briefing theguide told me that we would notload the rifles until we exited thehelicopter. That I was to get outand immediately hug the groundlow and wait on the helicopter topull away. The plan was to iden-tify the animals we wanted tostalk and the pilot would set usout on the ledges and we wouldwork in to position. Then theytold me that the skid on the heli-copter would be on a ledge orrock. We did this three times.Each time if we had slid underthe helicopter we would havefallen to our death. Two of thetimes we couldn’t walk ten stepsin any of three positions withoutfalling off the edge. We had tocrawl and climb in to the stalk.The first two stalks were unsuc-

cessful after getting close andjudging the animals.

The final stalk. The pilot put usout on a rock at the stop of an av-alanche chute that was about thesize of a full size pick-up truckbed. We laid in positon as thetwo bulls came over the edge ofthe mountain. The shot was 12yards! The Bull Tahr fell over aquarter of a mile down the chute.He had to be slung by rope underthe helicopter and lifted to a flatspot for us to take pictures andprepare for transport. In thebackground of the picture yousee Mt. Cook which is the tallestmountain in New Zealand.

I used a Blaser Professional Suc-cess rifle in 338 Winchester Mag-num. The Bull Tahr measured 13inches. A real nice trophy!!

New Zealand 2016 Hunt - Bull Tahr


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Chuck Vessels with his Bull Tahr.

Part 2

With temperatures risingand homeowners headingoutdoors for picnics, par-

ties and gatherings, insect-inducedrisks are fully in-season. With dis-ease-carrying bugs buzzing around,it’s time to take the proper steps inprotecting your lawn so that you canenjoy living life outside to the fullestand get the most out of your back-yard this summer.

Warm-weather bugs, such as fleasand ticks, offer risks that include ir-ritating bites and Lyme disease,which is transmitted by deer ticksand is typically accompanied byfever, headache, fatigue and a skinrash. If left untreated, Lyme diseasecan cause nervous system dam-age. Ticks can often be found inheavily wooded regions and natu-ralized areas with tall, un-mowedgrass and other plants. Pets andfamilies should be aware of tickproblems in these areas if left un-treated.

Fleas are also a problem for pets ifleft undetected. Fleas thrive inwarm, dry periods of summer andcan be difficult to control. Otherlawn pests including chiggers, antsand spiders can be an irritation forfamilies playing in their yard.

Taking proper preventive measurescan help protect your family andyour yard from these and other nui-sance pests. The National PestManagement Association and theCenters for Disease Control recom-mend the following tips:

Clear tall grass and brush.

Mow frequently and keep leavesraked.

Remove vegetation or trash fromaround any source of standingwater that cannot be changed,dumped or removed.

Screen windows, doors and otheropenings with fine mesh and keepdoors and windows shut to prevententry.

Have pets treated for flea and tickcontrol and keep them on a regularregimen.

When outdoors, use an insect re-pellent containing DEET, picaridinor oil of lemon-eucalyptus on ex-posed skin.

Concerned homeowners shouldalso consider contacting an out-door pest control professional whocan help reduce exposure to fleas,ticks and other pests, decreasingthe risks for pest-borne illnesses.

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DEB’S Delights by Debra Johnsonby Debra Johnsonby Debra Johnsonby Debra Johnson


2 cans (28 Ounce) Peaches InSyrup, Drained, Juice Reserved

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1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Seededand Diced Very Fine

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1/2 bunch Cilantro, Chopped

1/4 teaspoon Chili Powder(more To Taste)

Dash Of Salt

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Chop the peaches into smallpieces and throw them into abowl with all the other ingredi-ents. Stir and add a splash of thereserved juice. Taste and add alittle more salt and chili powder ifyou prefer.

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Note: This is the third in a seriesof articles sharing the stories be-hind the names of some localstreets.

It is no coincidence that PryorStreet runs past the big whiteantebellum home and over the

railroad tracks on the north sideof the city of Athens. After all, thehome and the tracks both owetheir existence, at least in part, tothe street’s namesake, LukePryor.

Pryor’s was born July 5, 1820, inMadison County. His familymoved to Mooresville when hewas 2, and as soon as Pryorcould saw a fiddle and push anoxcart full of wood to sell, he wasdoing both to help bring home thebacon for his parents. As a youngman he learned law in the officeof Athens attorney Daniel Cole-man, a former Mooresville neigh-

bor. His admission to the bar atage 21 began a 40-year legal ca-reer that ultimately culminated inservice as a U.S. Senator.

One year before Pryor was firstelected to the Alabama Legisla-ture in 1855, Pryor moved intothe home, built in 1836 by JamesMurrah, that still stands on thecorner of Pryor Street and Jeffer-son Street in Athens, two blocksfrom the railroad.

As soon as Pryor set foot in thestatehouse, he took on thebiggest fight of the day – the ef-fort to pass a $200,000 tax bill tofund railroad constructionthrough Limestone County. Thegovernor vetoed the bill as soonas the legislature passed it, butthanks to the moxy and grass-roots lobbying of Luke Pryor andThomas H. Hobbs, the legislatureoverrode the veto.

Pryor was such a friend and fanof the railroad – which cut traveltime from Athens to the statecapitol down from three days tojust a few hours – that he cameback home and lobbied for therailroad to pass right through themiddle of town, as originally sur-veyed, instead of moving east oftown, close to present-day U.S.Highway 31. When the first loco-motive rolled through town in1858, the engine was namedLuke Pryor in his honor, andwhen his daughter, Memory, mar-ried William Peebles at his homein 1871, the railway lent Pryor alocomotive headlight that lit upthe grounds and Jefferson Streetall the way down to the Squarefor the occasion.

Pryor wasn’t the only railroad fanin the family, and in 1859, thatgot him in trouble. At the time,Pryor’s property included all thecity lots from the home to the rail-road. His mother, Anne, was livingwith him by then, and one day hecame home and informed herthat he had sold one of those lotsto his friend Haywood Jones tobuild a house.

“Will that mean that I can’t sit onthe porch and watch the trainspass anymore?” Mrs. Pryorasked.

“I’m afraid so, Mother,” he said.

“Luke, don’t let him do it, don’tlet him do it,” she pleaded.

That’s all she had to say. Pryorwent to Jones the very next dayand asked him to deed back theproperty, and his mother wasable to sit and enjoy the trainsuntil she died in 1865.

In 1880, Pryor was appointed tofill U.S. Senate seat of his friend,George Houston, who had died inoffice. Following that term, hewas elected to a term as a U.S.Representative, but he retiredfrom politics at the end of theterm and spent the remainder ofhis days mostly on his frontporch, dispensing wisdom to visit-ing political leaders and water-melons to neighborhood children.

In 1876, his friend John Tannerwrote of Pryor: “He cares nothingfor external show; you might righim with the finest suit of clothesin New York, and before night hewould have some of it on ‘wrongside up;’ he spends money fasterthan a gov’t press can make it,but never runs short… he is myneighbor, my friend, my attorney;we have been together in sun-shine and storm, in peace and inwar, in dangers seen and unseen,in smash up on railroads, enjoyedapple toddies, champagne, frol-ics, etc., but now we are both‘growing old,’ let us prepare tolive together in the life to come.”

Note: Much of the information forthis article was taken from MaryMason’s Scrapbook.

YEARS AGO IN LIMESTONE COUNTYYEARS AGO IN LIMESTONE COUNTY by Rebekah DavisLimestone County Archivist

by Rebekah DavisLimestone County Archivist

by Rebekah DavisLimestone County Archivist

About the Archives:

Limestone County Department ofHistory and Archives

Established: 1980

Staff: Archivist Rebekah Davisand Assistant Archivist April Davis

Location: 102 W. Washington St.,in the 1905 L&N Passenger

Depot

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mon-day through Friday

Phone: 256-233-6404

E-mail: [email protected]

Web:www.limestonearchives.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/limestonecountyarchives

Driving Forces: Pryor was political leader, railroad man, and mama’s boy

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1806 Wilkinson Street Athens, AL 35611

256-242-1444



By DAVID RAINERAlabama Department of

Conservation and Natural Resources

Don’t be surprised if a sight-ing that occurred recently inOxford, Ala., becomes more

commonplace. A young, maleblack bear strolled through severalneighborhoods in the Oxford areaand created somewhat of a stir.

Thomas Harms, the AlabamaWildlife and Freshwater Fisheries(WFF) Division’s Large CarnivoreCoordinator, said the state’s blackbear population is expanding andsightings will likely increase.

That is not a cause for alarm, ac-cording to Harms, as long as yougive the bear plenty of room.

“It’s not uncommon to see one thistime of year,” Harms said. “Thereare a lot of young males movingaround this time of year. Usuallywhen you see one in a populatedarea, it’s a young male that hasbeen pushed out by his motherand is looking for a new homerange.”

Wildlife and law enforcement offi-cials looked for the bear in the Ox-ford area but never saw it again.Harms said that is because ayoung male may travel a great dis-tance before he finds suitablehabitat to call home.

“He will keep pushing out until hecomes to a place that meets hisneeds,” he said. “We had one thatwent from Georgia, across Ala-bama and into Mississippi. We hadsightings of that bear all the wayacross. So there’s no telling wherethat bear that was seen in Oxfordwill end up.”

When the public spots a blackbear near a residential area,Harms says to report the sightingto the district WFF office and stayout of its way.

“Just give the bear its space andlet it move through,” he said. “Iknow people want to take pictures,but keep your distance and let itbe a bear and let it move on. Usu-ally in those situations, by the nextday, you’re not going to see itagain.”

Harms said the main concentra-

tion of black bears is in Mobile andWashington counties and the Mo-bile-Tensaw Delta.

I was the outdoors editor at theMobile newspaper for 14 yearsand never spotted a black bear. Ifound bear tracks but never laideyes on a live one.

“They’re pretty hard to see,”Harms said. “They make it theirbusiness not to be seen. Even asbig as they are and leaving tracks,they do a really good job of notbeing found.”

Harms said other areas of Ala-bama have some bears, but thereare only a few breeding popula-tions. He said there are bears inthe Little River area in northeastAlabama, but those are a differentsubspecies (Ursus americanusamericanus) of bears migratingfrom north Georgia. A small groupof bears lives in Conecuh NationalForest and, like those bears insouthwest Alabama, are theFlorida subspecies. Mature femalebears average about 200 pounds.Males average about 300 pounds.

Harms said WFF is working withAuburn University to study the

black bears in Alabama and try todetermine the population num-bers.

“We’re still working on the data totry to determine the number,” hesaid. “We’re processing hair sam-ples and we have a few bears col-lared. We’re probably talkingaround 450 bears statewide. Itcould be a little more or a littleless.

“We don’t count transient malespassing through. They’re not partof the population. Once they ma-ture and find a breeding female,they become part of an actualbreeding population.”

Harms said there are eight col-lared bears in south Alabama andtwo in north Alabama. The collarsare designed to stay on the bearsfor 14-15 months and then dropoff. Biologists then recover the col-lars to download a full year of data.He also said plans are to trap andcollar several more bears thissummer.

From the data on hand, Harmssaid it appears female bears insouth Alabama have a home rangeof 7 to 8 square miles, althoughthere is some overlap with the fe-males. In north Alabama, the fe-male home range is about 12square miles.

“We’re talking about two com-pletely different habitats,” he said.“Up north, it’s more of a moun-tainous range and the bears haveto cover more ground to find food.In south Alabama, just abouteverything grows year-round andthe bears don’t have to travel asfar to forage. Plus, there is adenser population in south Ala-bama, so that may have some-thing to do with it.

“As far as males, it looks like theyhave a home range of about 20square miles. It’s just like a buckcovers more area, trying to covermore than one female at one time.And the males do protect theirhome range, their breeding area.They prefer not to fight, but theywill. Most of the time the smallerbear will just run off.”

Harms said Alabama is not alone

in an expanding population ofblack bears. He said the trend ex-tends to the entire Southeast.

In Alabama, black bear is a gamespecies but there is no open sea-son.

“There’s a pretty good fine forkilling one,” Harms said. “So what-ever you do, don’t shoot one. Be-cause they haven’t been hunted indecades, the population is slowlyexpanding. Being a predatoryspecies, their growth is a lot slowerthan a deer or anything like that.So it’s going to take them a lotlonger to rebound.

“But we’re seeing sows with threecubs pretty often and sometimeseven four. That means they’re eat-ing better and reproducing better.If you’re seeing multiple young,that usually means that populationis in good health.”

Harms asks anyone who spots ablack bear to go online to www.al-abamablackbearalliance.org/ andfill out a report, which will end upin Harms’ data. The public canalso contact any of the WFF districtoffices and report the sighting viaemail or by telephone.

“If they have photos, we would liketo see them,” he said. “If they givepermission, we want to post themon Wildlife and Freshwater Fish-eries’ Facebook page.”

Because the bulk of the bear pop-ulation is in southwest Alabama,Harms has held outreach and ed-ucation meetings recently.

“We talk about bear reproduction,how to understand the bears andhow to live with them,” he said.“What most people know aboutbears is what they see in stories oron TV or in the movies, and theycan draw the wrong conclusions.We want to give them the latest in-formation on black bears and whatto expect when they live in areaswith bear populations. Eventually,we’ll be hosting these meetings ona statewide basis.”PHOTO: (Karin Harms) Personnel from theAlabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fish-eries Division and Auburn University cap-tured a black bear in Washington County.The bear was sedated and fitted with eartags and a data collar.

Black Bear Sightings Likely to Increase in Alabama


UNCLE BONDEE’S ADVENTURES by Uncle Bondeeby Uncle Bondee

Kimber FosterLoan Officer

NMLS: 883454

8694 Madison Blvd.Suite DMadison, AL 35758

Email: [email protected]/kfoster

Direct 256.280.1154Office 256.325.4577Fax 256.325.4571Lender ID 4664

Country living has its advan-tages when it comes to natureproviding a source of free food.

The blackberry briars line the hills ofLimestone County. These tastyberries are sought by many andknown for making delicious jelliesand jams. My favorite use for theberry is to use in making a black-berry pie.

Grandma Minnie could make thebest pie I ever put in my mouth. Thearoma of a pie cooking could besmelled a 100 yards from thekitchen. The wood cook stove cookedpies slow, and their flavor couldn’tbe matched. By late June and earlyJuly the tasty fruit was ripe for thepicking. Grandma Minnie said, “ Bo,go pick some blackberries and I willmake some pies.” We didn’t have tobe told a second time, we were soonon our way with our berry picking

buckets. Grandma would alwayswarn us to be careful and on the lookout for them ole copperhead snakes.Snakes liked to lay in the shade ofthe briar vines in the heat of the day.

Another pesty thing to deal withwhile picking blackberries was thetiny, but aggravating chigger . Theselittle insects would load up on a per-son and get in some precious places.Our only defense against this tinybug was a coal-oil rag tied around

the top of our boots. The oil helpedkeep the troublesome pest off you.

This day we walked a couple of milesto a spot we called the basin. Theblackberry briars had berries as bigas your thumb. In a couple of hourswe had a milk bucket full of blackber-ries and was also getting pretty hot.Dalton said, “ Let’s go by the SawMill holler and get a cold drink ofwater from the spring located there.This was the coldest water withinmiles and would quench your thirston a hot July day. Humpy replied, “It’spretty snaky in that holler.” We hadBlackie, our hound with us, and hecould smell a snake well before wegot close to it. We started our walk tothe cold springand was almost there when Blackiebayed a snake in a stump. Daltonsaid, “Get that dog before he getsbit by a snake.” A 3 foot copper-

head as big as your arm was coiledready to strike in the top of the rottenout stump. The dog had agitated thereptile, and we could smell thevenom as we neared the stump. Thesnake struck at the dog barely miss-ing it’s head. Humpy said, “ A snakethat big will kill a dog. “ We tookmatters in our own hands, and thesnake was now longer a threat.

After getting a good drink of water,we made it back home with theberries. Gramdma Minnie met us onthe front porch and said, “What abucket of big berries!” I will have youboys a pie for supper. This was musicto our ears, and we could hardly waittill supper. We were surprised at sup-per when 2 blackberry pies werecooling on the window sill. Humpysaid, “ There is nothing any betterthan a glass of cow’s milk and aslice of blackberry pie.”

Chiggers, snakes and picking blackberries


Athens Lions

Club Kiddie Car-

nival-Thursdays,Fridays, and Sat-urdays in July309 East ForrestStreet Athens, ALJoin the Athens

Lions Club Thursday, Friday andSaturday from 6:30PM-9:30PM for10 rides including a small ferriswheel, rocket ships, swings,carousel, train, roller coaster, para-chute rides, bigger swings and thescrambler. Also we have bingo anddelicious concessions are available.We serve sandwiches, french fries,popcorn, sno cones, funnel cakesand drinks. Tokens to ride are just$.50 each and all monies go to localcharities.

Jul 8th — Fridays

After Five AthensDowntown Athens,AL Enjoy an eveningof shopping, dining,arts, antiques, musicand more as the doors stay openlater. More details to come.

Jul 9th — Athens Saturday Mar-

kets Limestone Co Farmers Mar-ket Pavilion 409 West Green Street

Athens, AL Join the Athens Satur-day Market from 8:00AM to12:00PM Noon for local growers,producers and artisans. Activitiesfor the kids. Live music.AthensSaturdayMarket.com

Jul 9th — Saturday Supper with

Belle Chevre Belle ChevreCheese Shop and Tasting Room18849 Upper Fort Hampton RoadElkmont, AL Back by popular de-mand, Belle Chevre is again offer-ing their Saturday Suppers cookedby our award-winning Chief CheeseTasia Malakasis and Chef de Cui-sine Rick Vonk. Saturday Suppersare inspired by fresh, local ingredi-ents, including Belle Chevre’s fineartisanal goat cheeses made in Ala-bama. Southern-made 5 Coursemeals that reflect Southern heritageand our passion for spreading lovearound meals. Two Seatings op-tions: 5:30PM and 7:30PM.$75/person To view menu or makereservation: http://www.bel-lechevre.com/creamery-tours-events/saturday-suppers-2/

Jul 11th — Chess Camp Centerfor Lifelong Learning 121 SouthMarion Street Athens, AL Let’s playchess!! If you have ever wanted tolearn about chess gaming strate-

gies, this camp is for you! Learnhow the different chess piecesmove, the point value of the chesspieces, how the squares on theboard are named, and the best wayto “checkmate” your opponent! Thiscamp will include all chess materi-als (but you may also bring yourown chess board, if you like). Classis limited to 30 students. Pre-regis-tration required. Register>http://www.athens.edu/cll/courses/chess-camp/

Jul 12th — Cow Appreciation Day

Chick-fil-A of Athens 1291 U.S.Highway 72E Athens, AL Dresslike a cow on July 12th from6:00AM-7:00PM, visit Chick-fil-A,get a free entree and have anudder-ly good time.

Jul 14th, 15th & 16th — Family

Fun Days at the Donnell House

Donnell House 601 North ClintonStreet Athens, AL The historic Don-nell House will be open for familiesto enjoy each evening from4:00PM-6:00PM for free.

July 15th - 16th — Read-A-Thon

Athens-Limestone County Public Li-brary 603 South Jefferson StreetAthens, AL Join the library for 24hours dedicated to reading from4:00PM on June 15th to 4:00PM onJune 16th. Join the fun in the Li-brary Community Wing. All ageswelcome! Comfy chairs and snackswill be provided.

Jul 16th — CASA Mud Volleyball

Tournament Swan Creek Park100 U.S. Highway 31N Athens, ALJoin CASA for a little mudslingingduring their annual fundraiser mudvolleyball tournament starting at9:00AM. $20.00 per person. Reg-ister individuals or teams at: Ac-tive.com

I recently read an article abouthow many teens are leaving thechurch. The statistics left mespeechless. In a recent studydone by Lifeway Research, it wasstated over 70% of teens willleave the church after they gradu-ate from high school. That meansif you have ten children attendingyou local congregation, seven ofthem will fall away from the faithafter high school. Of those 70%, itis said that 80% never plannedon falling away, but life experi-ences became to tempting andthey decided to give their lives tothe world instead of God.

This scares me. Why are so manyof our children and teens leavingthe church? Why are so manypeople deciding to forget abouttheir faith? Why are so manyteens turning their backs onGod? Too many people will lookat those statistics and quicklyblame the church for not doingtheir jobs. They will blame theBible class programs, the preach-ers, the elders, etc. They will saythat there wasn’t enough enter-tainment to keep the kids en-gaged at a younger age. However,I want to notice what the Biblesays about where kids and teens

get their teaching.

In Deuteronomy 11:19, whentalking about the Law of God, itsays, “ you shall teach then toyour children, talking of themwhen you sit in your house andwhen you walk along the roadand when you lie down and whenyou rise up.” Notice the responsi-bility is on the parents to teachtheir children. They are to talkabout God in their house andwhen they are casually walkingdown the road. When you liedown and when you rise up is away of saying, “talk about God allday.” God gave the parents theresponsibility to teach their chil-dren.

Ephesians 6:4 tells the “Fathers,do not provoke your children toanger, instead, bring them up inthe discipline and instruction ofthe Lord.” Again, the responsibil-ity was given to the fathers. Teach(bring them up) to be disciplinedin the Lord. Teach them the in-structions of the Lord. Teach themto love and respect the Lord.When a parent has done theirGod-given responsibility of teach-ing their children, then you will seewhat Solomon meant when hesaid, “Train up a child in the way

he should go, and when he is oldhe will not depart from it.”

We wonder why 70% of our teensare leaving the church? I don’tthink it’s the churches fault. Wespend less than 1% of our lives ina church building. Unfortunately,when kids are leaving the church,a lot of times (not all the time),it’s because the parents did notfollow their God-given commandto teach, instruct, and discipline.

I have two young boys of my own.It scares me to think that one orboth of them could grow up to notfollow God. If I don’t want that tohappen, I am going to make surethat I am doing my job now teach,instruct, and discipline them forthe Lord. I want to be able to saythat my kids are in the 30% ofteens who stayed faithful. How-ever, that will only happen if I domy job as a parent.


SEARCHING FOR TRUTH by Kevin Harrington, Marion Street Chuch of Christby Kevin Harrington, Marion Street Chuch of Christ

Kevin Harrington

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by Flo Doughtyby Flo Doughtyby Flo Doughty


Iam excited to share this monthabout a recent article I read inthe May 2016 issue of IDEA Fit-

ness Journal. As a youth fitnessprofessional I am always lookingfor ways to help kids get and stayfit and eat healthy! We are all onthe go and rushing to the next“event” is so common we don’tevent think much about it any-more. The problem is eating in ahurry is unintentionally causingsome bad eating habits to form inour kids and we need to slow itdown! We need to help them de-velop healthier habits that willserve them for a lifetime.

In a study in the online edition ofPediatric Obesity (dol: 10.111/ijpo.12091)it was concluded that waiting 30seconds between bites of foodhelps to allow the “satiety reflex”which tells our brains when ourstomachs are full to kick in. They

studied 54 children ages 10-14.They divided the children into twogroups: those that ate slowly andthose who didn’t. What theyfound was that children whowaited 30 seconds between bitesof food had a 2% +/- 5.7% de-crease in weight in six monthsand 3.4% +/- 4.8% in one year.The kids who did not eat slowlyincreased their weight by 5.8%+/- 4.4% in six months and by12.3% +/- 8.3% in one year.

Geert Schmid-Schonbein, PhD,study co-author and bioengineer-ing professor at University of Cali-fornia at San Diego said that theslow eating approach has the ad-vantage of being sustainable overtime because it doesn’t require achange in what they actually eat.The good news is if kids learn thiswhile they are young they can notonly sustain it over the course of

their lives but they can teach it totheir children as well! How didthey manage to teach the kids todo this? The study utilized 30second hourglass timers. Whenchildren took a bite they turnedover the timer and waited untilthe sand ran out to take theirnext bite. Thus, giving the satietyreflex time to kick in and get themessage to the brain that thestomach is full. I am thinking thiswould help us parents if we im-plemented on our own eating aswell.

So where does one get a 30 sec-ond hourglass timer? Easy, Ama-zon has a wide assortment ofthem and they are very afford-able! I know because I orderedmine today!

Helping kids eat slowly to reduce weight

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Lots of times we hear thisterm, Pressure and Releaseand don’t really understand

what it means.

This is the third part of a series ofarticles I am writ-ing about myteaching conceptsfor horses. That’sright; they are con-cepts, not tech-niques ormethods. Teach-

ing horses concepts to moveaway from pressure and notagainst it. These concepts trans-fer to the saddle.

Some tools you will need forthese teaching concepts are asoft rope halter, a 12’ yachtingbraid lead rope, a 4’ communica-tion stick with a 6’ string.

These concepts are begun withthe horse with us on the ground.We call it ‘Ground Concepts’.Once the horse learns the GroundConcepts it will understand themwhen we are in the saddle.

As you may remember, if you readthe last article about the con-cepts of moving off pressure, webegan with the hindquarters ofthe horse because the hindquar-ters are easier for the horse tomove because 60% of the weightof the horse is on the front quar-ters.

Now we begin to ask the frontquarters to step over without thehindquarter moving. This is a littlemore difficult for the horse to un-derstand, but take your time andit will work out.

So we begin:OK, let’s assume the position. Iwant you to stand facing thesame direction of the body partyou are asking to move. In thiscase it’s the head or the frontquarters of the horse and you willbe standing in front of or right atthe drive line. The drive line is thepoint of the shoulders. You willplace the end of the stick in the

jugular groove just behind thejawbone. You will be sure youhave given your horse enoughrope so when it moves away fromthe pressure the rope won’t pullon it and you are telling the horsethe wrong thing and confusing it.

When you add pressure at thispoint, take your time, as I said,this is more difficult for the horseto understand. You will slowly addpressure, we call it; Hair, Skin,Muscle, Bone. So you know howmuch pressure to put. Eachphase of pressure should bearound 3-4 seconds. Give thehorse time to think about what itis you are asking.

Once the horse yields from thispressure release immediately;allow the horse to think aboutwhat just happened. We call it,waiting on the ‘Lick and Chew’.You want to eventually have thehorse stepping the front feetacross and turning in a circlewithout moving the hindquarters.

There are some pitfalls here. Yourhorse will try to understand whatit is you are asking, but, It maywalk forward or it may walk back-wards. In this case, you have tostay with your horse until it yieldsin the direction you are asking, ifnot, you will be teaching thewrong thing.

There are a lot of variables tothese concepts and it is very diffi-cult to put all of them in an arti-cle. We are working on someteaching booklets that will be alittle more in-depth with these

teachings. You can also get ahands on approach with a one-on-one teaching session with meat K-I-N Stables for your particularhorse. As, all horses are differentand need to be handled different.

I haven’t seen these conceptsfail, when done the right way.Once your horse learns theseconcepts, you’ll have a thinkinghorse and a dancing horse. Ahorse you have a communicationsystem with. An understanding;It’s an awesome thing.

Next article will be #4 Pressureand Release, getting a betterbackup from pressure and re-lease.

Thank you for reading. For moreinformation contact us at

[email protected] or call256.874.6781.

HORSE SENSEHORSE SENSEHORSE SENSE by Jim Swannerby Jim Swannerby Jim Swanner


Jim Swanner

#3 Pressure and Release The Concept Continues

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