Champion News

 

“What’s that? What’s that?” cried the Wolf Pen cow farmer.  “It’s a woad grater!” replied his clever young daughter.  Sure enough, Bobby Emery guided the big machine up and down Cold Springs Road on Wednesday doing the best he could to make it better.  They are hard workers.  With much more than half of Douglas County’s 800 miles of gravel roads out on this end, it is a big job, and we are grateful for what little they can get done.  Give them a wave and a thumbs up when you see them out working, and some chocolate chip cookies if you catch them.

Ely Young is a seventh grader in our great Skyline R2 School.  He shares his birthday on September 8th with such notables as Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933), with Vermont’s loveable Senator Bernie Sanders, and with the charming Carol Tharp of Veracruz.  The 13th of September is the big day for native Champion Tanna Krider Wiseman, and the 14th is for Skyline third grader Ellie Strong and for a welcome Champion nephew, a newcomer to the Bright Side.

J.c. Owsley has visited Champion on a number of occasions.  He recently said that he never earned much money during his years as a teacher, but getting a lovely card with warm wishes from one of his school kids many years later is priceless.  This one came from a journalism student at Warsaw when he was teaching there in 1965.  He is dealing with serious health problems now  that have his students, friends, and family all wishing him well.  He shared some wisdom from his friend, John Swisher, who said, “It doesn’t matter how many times anyone says it, ‘woke’ doesn’t mean anything other than loving your neighbor, being empathetic to others seeking wholeness in your community, speaking truth about past, present and future, and broadening the table so that all people have a seat.  It is to name the truth of the past so that the future can be one of reconciliation and hope.”  J.C. has been planting turnips, taking care of his cows, spending some time in the saddle and being a voice of reason in these tumultuous times.

It is easy to spot country people in town with their dust and dirt coated rigs.  Maybe they will be splattered with mud one of these days if the hope for half an inch of rain every third day comes to fruition.  While it is late for prime gardening season, any amount of moisture will help reduce the fire danger.  Already the Sumac is bright red in spots along the roadways.  A neighbor, Ruth Hicks, quoted a poem, “When the goldenrod is yellow; The corn is turning brown; The trees in apple orchards With fruit are bending down.” (The internet told us the poem was written by Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885).  It captures a lot of September’s nature.  Look for the whole thing at “September”.  It takes some looking to see Orville’s old barn as vegetation and decay is taking hold.  Like the old Coffman place up on 76, you would miss it if you were not looking for it.

We looked up to see Kaitlyn McConnell at the Vanzant Jam Thursday.  She was just there for a little while, on her way somewhere from somewhere.  She had been at the Fruit Station in Mt. Grove that morning for a bag of apples and to share some of the great history of that place.  She gets around.  We are excited to know that her book “The Ozarks Pie Project Diary” is at the printers and will be available at The Great Ozarks Pie Potluck on October 11th in Mt. Vernon.  Chances are good that it will be available at the Historic Emporium in Downtown Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!