CHAMPION—October 22, 2018
 The Meadowbrook Cart
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Wednesday turned out to be a perfect day for Bud Hutchison’s Fall Champion Trail Ride. The previous days of chilly, dreary, damp and drab gave way to sparkling sun. By ten in the morning the Square was packed with horse trailers and trucks with several parked out along the road. Andrew Hardin did his homework, assigned by Wilma, to get all the riders’ names and the names of their mounts. There were twenty one riders and a number of onlookers who just like to come out to see the beautiful horses and the nice people who ride them. Wilma would have had them lined up tight and in order, but since she was not there with her great organization skills, the photograph may not be up to her historic high quality. Still, the fun was out on the trail. A number of the party made a short trip of it and came back to Champion for lunch. The group taking their lunch out on the Shannon ranch had some excitement when one rider found a nest of yellow jackets while tying her horse to a tree. The horse reared and bucked and knocked the rider to the ground. She was lucky, they said, not to have been trampled. Both she and the horse had several yellow jacket bites. It is still dangerous out on the dusty trail. They all made it back to the Historic Emporium for ice cream on the veranda. Bud would have had a great time. We finally learned the names of the mysterious cowboys from Mountain Grove. The tall one with the big hat made the whole ride. The good looking one had a pulled muscle and just came out to see his friend and the others off on their big adventure.
There are 43 students (prekindergarten through the second grade) in Skyline who want to go to The Wonders of Wildlife over in Springfield. Their trip will take place sometime during the spring. It will be a valuable learning experience for them and it will be an expensive trip, but they are excited about going and have already been working on a fund raising project. If you want to help out, contact Ms. Helen at Skyline (417-683-4874). They have a basket of fall goodies and a beautiful fall wreath that they will be awarding to a lucky ticket holder at the Halloween program that Wednesday morning. The nice folks at Meadowbrook Natural Foods in Mountain Grove shared some YumEarth Organic Pops for the giveaway on the parking lot at the school between 2 and 3 on Halloween. These lollipops have sugar, but not high-fructose sugar, and they are tart and tasty, but with no artificial colors. It is sweet to see local businesses engaged in support of our schools and helping our children learn about healthy choices. Meadowbrook joins all the business on the Champion Square in backing the kids who will soon be running the world. Get some tickets at Henson’s Downtown G & G. Help where you can.
A trillion seconds ago was 31,688 Years, 269 days, 1, hour and change ago. That is just a reference to help us understand the magnitude of the number—one trillion. These days those big numbers connected with the national debt, the deficit, tax cuts, Social Security and the like are dizzying. Meanwhile, austerity has consequences for public education and any number of our public institutions. Voters will just have to figure out what is important and how to fix it. The dramatic change in our weather has had an effect on the area foliage and a drive to town was just glorious in the sunshine on a clear day. Our charming MoDot workers have done some beautiful infrastructure work on our highways and our Douglas County road crews keep our country roads in good shape. We are lucky to live in this part of the world. Katelyn McConnell of the Ozarks Alive blog was in the neighborhood recently with a nice young videographer, Bobby. Her question about the focus of The Champion News elicited this response: “We hope to acknowledge the uniqueness of our area and at the same time point out our similarities and our connection with the rest of the world.”
 Up and over the hill!
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Thursday night was another enjoyable evening at the Vanzant Community Building. Corinne Rogers celebrated her 89th birthday with her friends and neighbors. Bonnie Rogers had had her party a couple of days before and she joined the chorus singing to Corinne. Up in Elmwood, Illinois, Champion Harley Krider celebrates his birthday on October 26th. Reports are that he is busy back in his routine, volunteering and helping people. What a Champion! His nephew-in-law, Brad Oglesby, shares the 26th as his birthday. Locally, Shala Clark, mother of a number of adorable Champion children, also enjoys that day as her own. Nicholas Georges is a second grade student at Skyline. His birthday is on October 28th. Royce Henson used to go to school at Champion. He lives in Springfield now, but makes it back to the country whenever he can. When he and Jody came down for the Pioneer Heritage Festival of the Ozarks a couple of weeks ago, their trip took them through Norwood where they were delayed for over an hour by a coal train stalled on the crossing. The finally turned back and came through Mansfield to Ava and then out to Chapel Grove—New Haven–for the event. They are an intrepid pair. Royce had his 80th birthday at Champion several years ago. The date is October 30th. The lovely Connie Lansdown also gets presents on that day—good ones, we hope. Skyline second grader, Addison Jeffrey, will also be getting birthday presents that day. Mrs. Curtis, Skyline’s illustrious Superintendent, has her birthday on October 31st. Felipe Heston, down in Austin, has always celebrated that day too. He thinks Halloween is the best day of the year for a birthday. Probably everyone thinks his own birthday is the best one. Many happy returns of the day to all you Champions! Happy Birthday!
Roger Miller’s birthday was October 25, 1935. He passed away in 1992 and left the music world missing him. Among his many hits were “King of the Road,” “Dang Me,” “Chug-a –Lug,” and another great favorite: “You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to. All you got to do is set your mind to it. Set your mind to it and do it, do it, do it…” in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!
A glorious day in the sunshine.
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