Eight hour workdays and forty hour weeks are a couple of the accommodations to the Nation’s workers due to the efforts of the labor movement begun back in the late 19th century. It took a while, and it did not come easy. The Fair Labor Standards Act and the Social Security Act were largely due to the hard work of Frances Perkins. Take a day off and thank Ms. Perkins and Labor Unions. Nabisco workers are currently striking as the company is requiring double shifts and week end work without overtime pay, while moving much of the production to Mexico, amid great a great rise in revenue due to the pandemic. So the struggle for workers rights is ongoing. Farmers never take a day off but can celebrate anyway.

There is a big yellow stripe right down the middle of scenic Highway C that runs from Evans in the south to Norwood. Fog lines, those white lines on the edge, flank the thoroughfare. They are new to this road and most welcome. New air-conditioned school busses sail up and down that road to the intersection with 76 Highway to our Skyline R2 School. The Champion News recently enjoyed a tour of the summer’s construction projects and improvements, which are substantial and impressive. Promethean boards in the classrooms are a high tech innovation that replaced the white boards that replaced the blackboards that were the norm for a previous generation. Significant upgrades in the kitchen make it easier to feed 85 kids two meals a day. The new basketball backboards will see action on September 16th for the first game of the season. The 6th to 8th grade basketball players are teamed up with players from Norwood and will be competing against Mark Twain. The game starts at 5:30. The community is welcome to come enjoy the game and the concessions and to see some of the improvements for yourself. The Skyline PTO is looking for fund raising ideas and music teacher, Cheyenne McIntosh, is hoping for donations of guitars to get our youngsters picking and grinning. A couple of Champions have already committed to sharing their extra guitars. If you have ideas or guitars to share call Tabatha Hurt at 417-683-4874.

The Champion News is celebrating birthdays again. They make us smile. Betty Thomas, Larry Wrinkles and Wilma Hutchison all celebrate their birthday on September first. Smiling on the second of September is Luke Hall, a prekindergartner at Skyline. The third is for third grader Serenity Merryman and for Phoebe Ward. Dailey Upshaw celebrates on the forth, along with his uncle, Vernon Upshaw. Kindergartner Brayden Ellingsworth has the fifth of September for his birthday and Caleb Harden, sixth grader, had his on August 5th. The next day, August 6th, was a big day for second grader Jaxton Harley. Happy birthday to all you friends, family, neighbors, and students. Consider yourselves celebrated and appreciated.

“News Break: From the Fox Creek Foul Fowl Bird Sanctuary and Flyway. A comprehensive three minute study of hummingbirds (flapping their wings really fast) over the last five months by the aforementioned sanctuary laboratory specialists have come to this conclusion: Their wings can also make a humming sound.” That quote comes direct from The General Vanzant Bugle Express. An Old Champion comes up with the information that hummingbirds do not walk. Nevertheless, our hummingbirds seem to be loading up for their southern trip. If, on their rest stop in Louisiana on their way to the Yucatan, they could somehow convey our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Ida, it would fulfill the desires of many Champions, Looking on the Bright Side!


 
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