Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 155, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Page: 2 of 18
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COLUMNS
Page 2
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
EDITORIAL BOARD
Whitehead Enterprises Inc.
publisher
Marie Whitehead
editor
Terrie W. Gonzalez
managing editor
Texas' Oldest Continuously
Published Weekly Newspaper
Established as the
Cherokee Sentinel, Feb. 27,1850
Consolidation ofThe Cherokeean,
The Alto Herald and
the Wells News & Views
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Rates payable in advance:
Cherokee County $18 per year
Outside Cherokee County $21 per year
Outside Texas $25 per year
Cberokeeai) Herald
USPS 102-520
POSTMASTER:Send address changes to: CHEROKEEAN HERALD • P.O. BOX 475 • RUSK, TX 75785
Periodicals Postage Paid at Rusk, Texas 75785
Published weekly on Wednesday by
Whitehead Enterprises, Inc.
618 N. Main • Rusk. Texas • 75785
903-683-2257 • 903-586-7771 • herald@mediactr.com • FAX 903-683-5104
Jim Hogg
Historical Park,
Rusk
Caddoan Mounds
State Historical Site,
Alto
Texas State Railroad
State Historical Park,
Rusk
Scene In Passing
I t is that time again.
Where has the time gone?
Graduation is happening
all over this week and we can
only wish the very best in
the continuation of the young
students' lives. More than we,
they probably understand
that this is not an ending,
just another beginning.
A special young man is
wrapping it up at Jersey Vil-
lage High School in Hous-
ton May 29. He is Nicholas
Jordan Harris, the grandson
of our neighbor Opal Fitts.
Opal recently had a problem
with her
heart and a
procedure
was accom-
plished to get
her back on
the road to
good health.
Her daughter,
Kathy Harris,
was suddenly
in overload with her mom's
sickness and her son's gradu-
ation. And another son, Ben-
jamin, was trying to relocate
to a new apartment in Waco
where he attends Baylor. The
eldest of Opal's three grands
is Jonathan Harris who is
serving with our military
forces in the Middle East.
Now here is a family that is
seeing a lot of action.
As the youth of Class 2004
flex their wings and muscles
SL
Nicholas Harris
MARIE WHITEHEAD
editor@mediactr.com
to leave the nest, other grads
are busy with reunion plans
this summer. We had a call
from former Rusk High
Schooler Class of 1979, Brian
Dodd. He asked help with
a couple of addresses. They
are Patty Sheldon and Diane
Miller. He says Robin Parsons
at 903/683-5324 will be glad
to take the information. This
group has scheduled from
11 to 6 June 5 at Jim Hogg
Park for their gathering. A
hamburger event with lots of
visitation and picture taking
will head the agenda.
Another event for that
same day will honor Helen
Traylor on her birthday. Her
family will host a reception
from 2-4 p.m. at the Ponta
Baptist Church Fellowship
Hall. Friends and rela-
tives are invited, of course,
per her daughter Joyce
Beckham.This coming week-
fbp Memorial Pay viérc
visiting my cousins ab the
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end marks a special event
down at Alto for Nellie Dover.
She has owned and operated
Dover's Plant Farm many
years and it is a tradition
to stage her 1/2 price, end of
season sale on plants. That's
Friday and Saturday. She is
located just off US 69 South.
She recently celebrated a
birthday, one of those 39 and
holding. More hke go-plus.
Coming July 3-4 is a really
big Celebration at Jim Hogg
Historical Park. Superin-
tendent Mike Middleton is
eager to hear from vendors
who wish to come and par-
ticipate. Give him a call at
903/683-4850. He hopes to
have his miniature Village,
a re-creation of earlier days,
ready by then. The recently
built picnic pavilion, play-
ground equipment, plus the
abundance of nature trails
makes this park a dehghtful
place for spending quality
time. Mr. Middleton plans
to have soldiers and settlers
in costume for marching in
a parade in downtown Rusk.
He has musical entertain-
ment hned up, too. Blue grass
gospel, country gospel, lots
of fun. And there's no charge.
However, donations will be
accepted to benefit Veterans
and the City of Rusk. You will
be hearing more about this
event as the time approaches.
The big racing event
everybody is talking about at
the Cherokee Motors Sports
Park, south of Rusk, is set for
June 11-12. More than 20,000
persons are expected for the
nationally-known Lucas Oil
Drag Racing series. More on
this as time goes by.
Hete's a request that may
take some searching. Rusk
High School Coach Rich-
ard Tucker has unearthed
something unknown to your
writer. He says that in 1915
a Rusk athlete brought home
a gold medal from the state
meet winning in the 440
dash. He believes the young
man's last name was McRin-
non and possibly a first name
of David. Can you help? The
Rusk student was a fresh-
man when he won the gold
medal with a time of 56.0
seconds. At that time Rusk
was a Class B school. Coach
Tucker would hke to have
as much info as possible.
There have been two other
gold medals brought home
by Rusk athletes. Crystal
Ward earned one with her
high jump in 1997-98 and in
1994-95, the 1600 meter relay
team brought home the first
place win and gold medal for
Rusk. How about that. Coach
Tucker and a lot of other folks
want to know what you know.
A long awaited event is
now just around the corner.
It's the formal opening of the
ETMC medical facility on US
69 North of Rusk. A special
showing for patrons is get for
5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, June 3)
LffvenerT-,
and a public viewing is slated
for Sunday afternoon, June 6.
from 1-3 p.m.
This leads us to a skimpy
report on the folks' state of
health. As we say. no news is
good news, so we can believe
most folks are mending
rapidly That list includes
the already mentioned Opal
Fitts, Bro Don Copeland, Jim
Turner, Sharon Bowling, Glen
Stanley, Madehne Sharp.
From the B. E. Lannom
collection of sketches at the
Norman Museum in down-
town Rusk, we submit this
one entitled "Rusk Eagles."
Some of you who remember
the approximate years of Mr.
From the Sum-
mers Norman
Museum in
downtown
Rusk, the late
B.E. Lannom
sketched a
cartoon logo
of the Rusk
Eagles. Hover-
ing above the
Eagle are mos-
quito opponents
Arp. Carlisle and
Overton. Tossed
aside are old
bones represent-
ing victories over
Salem, Lindale,
Troup, Teague,
Leverett's Chapel
and New London.
Lannom's drawings may be
able to help me determine
more about this. I thank you
in advance. If you wish to see
the entire collection and all
the other interesting histori-
cal memorabilia, take a tour
3-5 p.m Saturdays and Sun-
days or by special appoint-
ment with 903/683-2366.
Here are words of wisdom,
courtesy of an almost
Cherokee County native, Levi
Smallwood: "No act of kind-
ness, no matter how small, is
ever wasted.'' Keep smiling
as you wave goodbye to your
favorite grad.
High Points From El Camino Real
Folks along El Camino
Real were blessed with
another beautiful week
and when this happens I
always begin to worry that
folks up north are going to
find out about this place and
start trying to move down
here. I wouldn't mind them
coming, but they are going
to have to learn to speak our
language if they want to stay.
I don't think I'd be able to
write four bits worth of news
in two different languages.
On Friday, Bob Wallace was
treated with a big retirement
party at Rusk High School.
Bob has been the assistant
superintendent in Rusk for 22
years. He was my principal
in Alto when I went to high
school. He was nick-named
"Gator'' when he was here,
but he must have mellowed
out after going to Rusk
because they couldn't under-
stand why we hung such a
nice guy as Bob with a name
like that.
He has worked in the busi-
ness of education for 42 years.
A big crowd of family, former
students, staff and friends
showed up to wish him their
best as he embarks on his
retirement. He'll be donating
a lot more time to his cows
and deer farm now that he
doesn't have a school full of
teachers and kids to worry
about. Congratulations and a
big thanks to Bob Wallace for
his 42 years of service to the
children of our area.
Marie Murphy called me
Sunday morning to tell me
about a little party she was
throwing for her friend, Mrs.
Jessie Ash. Mrs. Ash turned
96 years young on Sunday,
May 23 and Marie decided
to have a few friends over to
help her celebrate. I dropped
in to make sure the party
didn't get too wild and enjoy
CHRIS DAVIS
ELCAMINOREAL@TXUCOM.NET
some of the great refresh-
ments that were prepared.
Several of Mrs. Ash's long-
time friends and members
of her church were present
to help her celebrate. Mrs.
Ash and I talked about the
good old days of camping
and fishing down in the Cold
Springs Hunting Club where
she and her late husband,
Milburn Ash, spent a great
deal of their free time. Mrs.
Ash is in great shape for
her years and only uses the
beautiful walking stick that
Coach Moore made her to
stay steady as she goes about
her business. Alto is lucky to
be blessed with so many fine
senior citizens. Happy birth-
day to Mrs. Jessie Ash.
Just across the way from
Ms. Ash another lady was
celebrating a big birthday
on May 23. Nelda Holcomb
turned 50 and unlike Ms.
Ash, she was not willing to
give in and grow old grace-
fully. On Saturday morning
Nelda's husband Brett, her
sons Eric and Peter Faulk,
her daughter Regina Faulk,
and her daughter-in-law. Amy
Hagensick, had a limo pick
up Nelda, Edie Jones, Teddy
Pearman, Joane Hunter and
Sandy Holcomb and bring
them over to the house for a
breakfast of made-to-order
omelets. The girls were then
treated to a spa day complete
with massages, manicures,
pedicures and the works.
After a day by the pool, the
laches were served a six-
course dinner. Happy fiftieth
birthday to Nelda Holcomb!
Graduation time is here
again and students are get-
ting ready to take that big
step out of school and into the
workforce or to college. This
is a stressful time for many
young graduates — they not
only have to face the idea of
stepping into a new world,
but they also have to think
about what they are going to
look hke in those silly little
hats in front of all those
people on graduation day.
I've often wondered who
came up with the design of
those graduation hats and
what is the deal with the
little tassels hanging down? I
know this has been the way it
has been for years because I
remember wearing the exact
same thing.
When Governor Perry
called the special session on
school finance a few weeks
ago and introduced the $5
topless bar tax to pay for
education, I remembered
that tassels are sometimes
worn by dancers in burlesque
shows.
If we don't know why
tassels were put on gradua-
tion hats in the beginning,
maybe we can give them a
new meaning and say they
are being worn to honor the
topless dancers across the
state who are doing their
part to educate our youth.
I'm certainly proud that they
all came home from Austin
before this idea took flight.
I'm extremely proud of all our
area graduates and I know
that we will continue to stand
behind them as they cross
this milestone in their lives.
It's time to buy those gradu-
Garrett Davis was recog-
nized at the All Sports Ban-
quet as the "most valuable
player" in golf.
ation gifts and ever since
Boyd's Drugstore closed, we
haven't had a place where
we could go and pay on gifts
for our graduates, That was
a convenience that I really
miss. Congratulations to all
the students who are gradu-
ating and an even bigger con-
gratulations to the parents
and grandparents who have
been getting them up and off
to school every morning for
the past 12 or 13 years. Best
wishes on your journey to
achieve new goals.
Alto honored its athletes
Saturday night with a special
luau banquet at the high
school cafeteria.
Be sure and check out this
issue of the Cherokeean
Herald on pgs. 12-13, and
see all the kids who Were
recognized for their athletic
prowess.
My neighbor Virgil
Schochler s daughter Ginger
came home this weekend
after spending several weeks
in Houston getting her back
worked on. She still has
Nelda Holcomb's family surprised her with a limousine on
her birthday. From left are Sandy Holcomb, Teddy Pear-
man, Brett Holcomb, Nelda Holcomb, Joane Hunter, Edie
Jones.
some more therapy to go
through so she could only
stay for the weekend, but she
had to make the trip in order
to see what kind of mess that
Virgil had gotten the house
into in her absence.
Virgil turned a deaf ear
to most of her complaints,
of course at 93 years of age,
both of his ears are deaf. It
didn't take Virgil long to
reahze that he'd be better
off outside giving me orders
than inside taking them, and
he made his way over to my
house with his list of garden-
ing complaints.
Thanks to my hard work
both of our gardens are in
excellent shape and all we
are waiting for is another
good shower of rain. I told
him that the only thing that I
was worried about was where
people Were going to park
when they came to get all the
stuff we were growing. He
said that they wouldn't come
if we made them pick it.
I can't think of anything
else that needs telling for
now.
Drop by one of our local
cafes when the coffee drink-
ers are gathered up if you
want to hear some more.
I'll see ya next week! And
remember. You can't sink
someone else's end of the
boat and still keep your end
floating.
0
Jessie Ash's family and
friends gathered in Alto
recently to help hercelebrate
her 96th birthday.
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 155, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 26, 2004, newspaper, May 26, 2004; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152626/m1/2/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.