The Gilmer Mirror, Gilmer, Texas May 25, 2013 — Page 5A

By MARY JOHNSON • 903-762-1444 • mjohn@etex.net

Bettie-Oak Hill NewsBETTIE-OAK HILL, May

22 — We received almost two inches of rain on Tuesday evening.

The rain was welcome, but the storms that came with it were not so welcome.

I had driven to Gilmer about 3:30 p.m. to pick up a few things and received a call from Douglas before I had finished my errand. Douglas reported that a storm was over Quitman and was travel-ing toward Bettie, so I imme-diately headed home.

When I started this way I could see all of the dark clouds in the north and west, and thought “why am I headed into this storm?”

The wind was gusting, and it was difficult to steer the car at times. The trees were bend-ing and twisting and I became afraid that one of them was going to break and fall in the roadway. I did make it home before the rain began and without a tree falling.

The Secret Pals of Oak Hill Baptist Church met Sat-urday to exchange gifts for this quarter and reveal their Secret Pal.

The group enjoyed brunch and visiting with each other. It was decided at the meeting to not draw names for the sum-mer months. The group will meet in August to draw names for the fall months.

The Bettie Volunteer Fire Department was on alert Tuesday night during the bad weather. They only had to remove a few limbs from roadways.

Several of the firefighters attended the Jaws Of Life Training in Ore City re-cently, and are now certified to operate the Jaws of Life equipment.

The department has also

received an oxygen mask for pets. (See Page 1 story in Wednesday’s Gilmer Mirror: “Breathing Masks Give Pets Chance to Survive Fires.”) They received certifications on using the mask recently when attending Farm Equip-ment Training School.

Safe Haven equine rescue recently received a miniature horse from Gregg County, which was found near I-20. The horse is in good health and ads have been placed in the paper to find the owner, but so far no owner has come forward. The horse will be available for adoption soon.

The Girl Scout Training at Safe Haven was a great success. They had about 100 people for the training. They are making plans for another training session in the future.

I think I have picked the English peas for the last time this year. They were great as long as they lasted. The green beans have finally bloomed, but it sure seems late. Nor-mally at this time of spring, we are picking beans.

Gerald and Joyce Payne’s garden is doing great this year. They always have a successful garden. Joyce said they have several rows of pinto beans, and they have lots of beans on them.

The Paynes are planning to attend the Legends of West-ern Swing Music Festival in Wichita Falls. The event will be three days of great music, dancing and fun. Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys will be among 12 groups who will perform at the festival this year. I look forward to hearing about their trip this year.

My youngest brother, Jim Winn of Diana, spent last weekend in the hospital, going

through numerous tests. Jim was in Harleton last

Friday and had entered a cafe for lunch, when he felt light-headed. He reached for the counter in the cafe, but didn’t get a hand on it before he passed out. He didn’t know he had passed out until he hit his head on the floor.

He hurt his wrist and cut his head during the fall, and was able to get back on his feet with help. He drove himself home, and then went to the emer-gency room in Longview.

Every test they performed on him for two days came back negative. He returned home on Sunday night.

On Monday morning, he had two more spells and went to the doctor’s office. They are

now running more tests. Pray for him, as the doctor’s are still trying to find out what could be wrong.

I hope you have a fun and safe Memorial Day Monday. Remember the brave men and women who have fought for your freedom and mine.

Joyce Payne prepared sup-per for her brother James Duncan and his wife Lynn Thursday evening, and the meal she served sounded so good I have decided to print hers instead of mine. What’s for dinner? Purple-hull peas, fried okra, fresh corn, squash casserole, and a choice of chocolate or coconut pie!

Joyce has also shared with me how she fries squash that is so good.

Dylan Bowman selecteD to play in all star game

A CELL TOWER’S GOING UP NEXT DOOROR HADN’T YOU HEARD?

Governments are required to publish their decisions in the newspaper – including their intent to build a structure nearby that you might not want. But some officials want to bury public notices on little seen, rarely visited government websites.

If it is not in the newspaper, how will you know?

By DUB MOWERYPROBABLY every one of

us from time to time goes back in our mind’s eye envisioning the period and area of our youth. Indeed the expression, “My old stomping ground”

generally ap-plies to where and when one grew up. It is there where one’s senti-ments lay. As we grow older probably most

of us bring back to our memo-ries of days gone by.

Many a young person looks forward to when he or she can, so to speak, flap their wings and leave the nest of one’s youth. Some of them who spent their formative years living in a ru-ral area longs for the “bright lights” of the big city. As time goes by while living away from the area of one’s youth it is natural for thoughts of days long past to spring forth.

They began to realize how well they were off during their care free days. It is not unusual for many of them to think about returning to their

Courtesy PhotoMRS. JO (KNIGHT) YOUNG of Longview hosted a festive get together on Saturday, May 18. Those attending were her sisters Sarah Jobe, Gilmer; Kay Pittmon, Nacogdoches; Lucille Prun-nenger, Mount Pleasant; Wanda Knight, Pittsburg; Dianne McGrede, Spring Hill. Also attending were Doyal Pittmon, Bobby and Olene Pittmon; Jeremy and Cody and Lori Erwin; and Johnny Pittmon and Jimmy McGrede. After barbecue and banana pudding, ice tea and Jimmy McGrede’s famous butter pecan cake, they all enjoyed a white elephant party, with many exchanges of gifts, laughter and memories of the past and their childhood. Mrs. Young is holding a picture of herself from her childhood.

Stomping ground“old stomping ground” after retiring and spend the rest of their days there.

IT IS MY understanding that in the United Kingdom the phrase “stomping ground” has reference to where a person loves to hang out, not necessar-ily to where one lived during their formative years.

Here in America it is be-lieved that the phrase “stomp-ing ground” was coined con-cerning a herd of buffalo in an area of Kentucky. A small town in the western county of Scott in Kentucky was named Stamping Ground because of herds of buffalo in that area. For many years the expres-sion has taken on a figurative meaning concerning where one grew up. Others, like the British, use it of their favorite place to hang out.

Dub Mowery is a Gospel preacher in the Church of Christ. Presently he serves as full time evangelist for the Pittsburg Church of Christ. A native of Southeast Oklahoma, he is the author of Colloquial Sayings & Expressions (Morris Publishing, 2008)nativeheritage@hotmail.com

Continued from Page 4has been chased out. Therefore no matter what is done, it is done without God and cannot succeed.

If there is a true conservative movement in America it must be based on Christianity. Christianity and God cannot be in the closet in a true conservative movement, but must be at its forefront. We cannot pretend that because we love God, our policies will be perfect. But, we can know that our policies will be designed to invite God back into our nation, to rely on Him for solution and resolve. If neoconservatives, libertarians or other so called conservatives cannot accept God’s role in governance, than we cannot accept them in a new Christian Conservative party.

There are only two ways out of our present condition. One is to continue on the course we presently hold and lose our sovereignty and place as a nation. The second way is to go back to the beginning, where the American Dream, and American Way were created.

For those who have not read my articles before, (America Today at www.nolanchart.com ) or who don’t want to search through them to find the history Christianity and the American government, I point you to The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, by Benjamin Moore, published during the great American Civil War in 1864. It is here, through 1000 pages, you can be introduced to the Christian founding of America and God’s original place in governing our nation.

Mark Vogl is a resident of the Latch community in Upshur County.

Vogl

Dylan Bowman, a senior at Gilmer High School, was just notified that he was selected to play in the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association All Star game. The game will be played at Dell Diamond, home of the Texas Rangers Triple A team, in Round Rock, on Saturday, June 15. Bowman is one of 20 play-ers selected to represent the North team, in a North vs. South game for the State of Texas.

"When Coach Henry called to tell me, I was kind of shocked, but excited at the same time," said Bowman. "Honestly, I think it is a great compliment to my teammates and coaches and I will to rep-resent Gilmer baseball and Gilmer ISD in a positive way. This will be a fun way to end my high school career, then start getting ready to play baseball at ETBU."

Bowman, the lead-off hit-ter for Gilmer, was a four year letterman for the Buckeyes and a three year starter. The Buckeyes were defeated this past weekend in the third round of the state playoffs, after finishing the regular season as the District Cham-pions in 16-3A.

"This is a huge honor for

DYLAN BOWMAN

Dylan and for the Buckeye program," said Coach Lon-nie Henry. "Dylan had a great four year career and it was exciting to see the other coaches across the state rec-ognize his hard work on and off the field. I look forward to going down with my family to watch him and be there when his high school career comes to an end."

Bowman finished his senior year with a .364 batting aver-age, .453 on base percentage, 40 hits, 36 runs and 15 stolen bases, while also having a 95 percent fielding percentage from 2nd base.

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Seven Upshur County youth recently competed in the 4-H District 5 Shotgun Competition at The Pines Gun Club in Lufkin.

Three Upshur 4-H Shot-gunners brought home high honors with Dawson Jones (Novice) 1st in Trap, Cody East (Sr. I) 4th in Tower, and Avery Painter (Sr. I) High Over-all 4-H District 5 Shooter including 1st in Trap, 1st in Tower, 2nd in Skeet, and 2nd in Sporting Clays.

Additionally, Avery Paint-er will be competing in the 4-H

UpshUr 4-h shotgUnners compete in lUfkin event

State Competition at the Na-tional Shooting Complex in San Antonio this summer.

The 4-H District 5 Shotgun Competition showcased the skills and talents of youth from 22 East Texas coun-ties.

If you have a 3rd-12th grader interested in 4-H Shotgun Sports, or if you or your company would like to sponsor Upshur County’s 4-H Shotgunners, contact the Upshur County Exten-sion Office at 903-843-4019 for more information.

Continued from Page 1country’s future. Recognizing schools that are performing well and providing them as models to other schools will in-spire educators and communi-ties to do better and will enable parents across the country to be armed with information to help them make better-informed decisions about their child’s education.”

GHS