By Simone WicherS-VoSS

meridian TriBune

She is most known as the “lady of the letters,” because of the many let-ters she wrote to her former home-land Norway, about her new home-land Texas.

Elise Waerenskjold (1815-1895) was an intrepid Texas pio-neer woman; a trailblazer in both Norway and Texas, and is includ-ed in the University of Texas’ list Great Texas Women – women who shaped the state’s history.

Starting Sept. 19 with an opening

reception at 2:30 p.m. is a special exhibit devoted to this exception-al lady, her life’s history and accom-plishments, and her contributions to Bosque County history.

“Next to Cleng Peerson, she is the best known Texan Norwegian we have,” Museum Director George Larson said. ”The exhibit is about her life, her outlook and philoso-phy, which explains how she could persevere in the face of adversity. And she had more than most ad-versity, but also achieved more than

By Simone WicherS-VoSS

meridian TriBune

There are many phrases including sheep and goats – “the black sheep of the fami-ly,” “getting some one’s goat,” ”separating the sheep from the goats,” and “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” to name a few of the most com-mon.

But for quite a few area livestock ranch-ers sheep and goats are their staple, and it’s

serious business.The Bosque, Coryell and Somervell

County AgriLife Extension Offices host-ed their first Sheep and Goat Program Fri-day at the Meridian Civic Center, attract-ing over 45 interested ranchers and hobby livestock breeders.

Highlight of the program was a live herding demonstration by Tom and Tee, which broke the morning’s information-al sessions. Shepherd E.B. Francis and his

grand-daughter Sheryl Raley wowed the crowd with their impressive border collies, showing off their sheep herding skills.

“He does the program, I talk it,” Sher-yl said on introduction. “Tom is a six-year-old female, and I think she’s Paul’s favorite. She’ll stay with him forever I think. Tee is a six-year-old male, imported from Ire-land. Tom and Tee are short haired border

www.bosquecountytoday.comEmail: news@meridiantribune.com

Hometown Newspaper ofDavid Winkler

Volume 123 - Number 37September 16, 2015

Published Since 1893

2015 AWARD WINNING NEWSPAPERTEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION

All kidding asideAgriLife Service sheep & goat program well attended

see SHEPHERD, page 5A

Fish fry funWalnut Springs historical group hosts annual fundraiser dinner

see FUNDRAISER, page 11A see EXHIBIT, page 2A

Shaping TexasBosque Museum features Elise Waerenskjold

Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Tee the border collie herds sheep at the Sheep and Goat program Friday at the Meridian Civic Center.

elizabeTh deVereaux / meridian Tribune

Fry Boss Durwood Koonsman fishes out a fresh batch to Rob-ert Merchant at the Walnut Springs Historical Association fundraiser Saturday evening.

By melinda rouTh

meridian TriBune

All over America the terror-ist attack of 9-11 -the worst day in American history in fourteen years - was remembered in many ways. The security of the nation had been severely wounded.

Memories were shared with giv-ing one another reverent condo-lences and recollections of

Bosque County remembered that infamous day last Friday on the Courthouse Square in Merid-ian.

“We owe this memorial to the people that lost their lives, those bearing long term disabilities from the devastation and espe-cially to our youth so when they hear us tell the story of 9-11 they

may understand what unified pa-triotism and suffering tragedy really should mean to this Na-tion,” Bosque County’s Emergen-cy Management Coordinator Tim Jeske said.

A welcome to all and opening statement was given by the honor-able Bosque County Judge Dewey Ratliff, followed by the singing of the National Anthem, led by Lar-ry Davis on guitar.

”Time is passing. Yet , for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting Septem-ber the 11th,”Ratliff said when he shared the historical time line of the day and quoted President George W. Bush saying. “We will remember every rescuer who died

14 years later, Bosque County remembers 9-11

Not ForgotteN

melinda rouTh / meridian Tribune

Taps was played honoring those who lost their lives and were injured on and since 9-11-2001 at the Meridian Courthouse Square Friday (above); Clifton native Mike Brewer shared his memories of 9-11 at the Pentagon (below right).

see REMEMBER, page 2A

By carol Spicer

meridian TriBune

With all the glitz and glit-ter of a 30th annual party, the Bosque Arts Center’s Art Clas-sic filled the Tin Building The-atre, and the new addition, for the annual awards dinner.

After an hour-long opening, with patrons, guests, and artists collecting on the second floor to view the show and visit, approx-imately 275 folks went back to the atrium and the theatre for dinner and the presentation of the artists’ awards.

Many guests were amazed when they entered the theater, seeing the large expanded room for seating. BAC President Sal-ly Douglas welcomed every-one and spoke briefly about the newest addition to the theater and the newly covered walkway into the BAC – also mention-ing the upcoming Capital Cam-paign for the third floor audito-rium renovations.

During the introduction of the awards, Douglas made Judge Martin Grelle’s apology for not being on hand for the show, saying that he had prom-ised to be at the Eiteljorg Muse-um’s 2015 Quest For the West 10th anniversary show over a

year ago.She opened the awards pre-

sentation, with Betty Murdoch handing out the awards, by say-ing how proud the Art Center is to be celebrating the 30th annu-al show with the large number of high quality of paintings and art from all over the country.

Following the presentation of the gold and silver awards in the different mediums, Douglas announced the New Entrant Award ($1,000) sponsored by Jimmie and Karen Hughes which went to Don Oelze for “When Days Grow Short.”

The Art Patrons Purchase Award ($1,000) went to Mau-reen Killaby for “Look at the Tail Feathers on That One,” which was also the winner of the gold medal in drawing.

The Boren-Selvidge Award ($1,000) was presented to Jan Mapes for “Moutain Belles.”

Douglas then introduced Joyce Jones to present the pres-tigious John Steven Jones Pur-chase Award ($5,000).

“It’s hard to imagine it’s been 30 years since Joan Speiler first called me and said get down here, we’re going to open an art center in Clifton,” said Jones.

Atkinson grabs spotlight at BAC’s Art Classic with John Steven Jones award

Classic artistrycourTeSy phoTo / meridian Tribune

The Violin maker by Matt Atkinson, winner of the John Steven Jones award at the Bosque Arts Center Classic competition.

see BAC, page 3A

By elizaBeTh deVereaux

meridian TriBune

The 10th annual September fundraiser host-ed by the Walnut Springs Historical Association was declared a solid success by Treasurer Wil-liam Offutt who goes on to say that while atten-dance might have been down from years past the enthusiasm, donations and good food was any-thing but down.

A hundred and thirty tickets were sold and a few thousand dollars were raised to help fund the WSHA Scholarship Fund, complete local

Meridian Tribune

Community CalendarTo submit non-profit events to the

Meridian Community Calendar Email: news@meridiantribune.com

SUBJECT: Community Calendar Request

SEPTEMBER•Meridian Alcoholics Anonymous every Mon-day and Wednesday open discussion meet-ings, 106 N. Rudasil Street, Meridian, 7PM, meridiangroup.syntha -site.com•Cranfills Gap AA open discussion meeting every Monday noon, Tuesday and Thursday 6:30 PM, in a structure on Private Road 4208, just North of FM 219•Laguna Park Traditions Group open discussion meeting, every Wednes-day 8 PM, at the Admin-istrative Building of Our Lady of the Lake Episco-pal Church•Bosque County Recy-cle Center, 500 7th St., behind Courthouse An-nex Building, Meridian, open daily and on ev-ery first Saturday 8AM-4PM, closed on holidays. Phone 254-435-2940 16•Meridian EDC, Fire Station, 110 Bateman Street, noon16•Treasure Chest open, second hand shop bene-fiting nursing home resi-dents Hilltop on Main, entrance, located in the small building behind the nursing home on 1028 N. Bosque Street, 10AM-4PM. Donations are al-ways welcome.16•Story Time, Ship-wreck by Gordon Kor-man continued, Merid-ian Public Library, 118 N. Main Street 4:00-4:45PM17•Walnut Springs City Council Meeting, City Hall, 6 PM17•Meridian ISD Board Meeting, Admin. Build-ing, 204 2nd Street Board Room, 6:30 PM, 254-435-208117•Story Time: Choose your own adventure: Bliz-zard at Black Swan Inn by Susan Saunders, Me-ridian Public Library, 118 N. Main Street 4-4:45PM

18•Free movie, Aladdin, Meridian Public Library, 118 N. Main Street 4 –5:35PM19•Kopperl VFD fund-raiser breakfast, dona-tion only for eggs, ba-con, sausage, biscuits and gravy, 128 FM 1359. 19•Go Texan Horse-shoe and washer con-test, $10 per team, Lion’s Park, Meridian. 1PM. For info call Kenneth Schrank 254-253--044221•Cranfills Gap School Board, CGISD library, 6 PM•Morgan ISD School Board, 1306 Charles Street, Morgan, 6:30 PM, 254-635-231122•Story Time, Ship-wreck by Gordon Kor-man continued, Merid-ian Public Library, 118 N. Main Street 4:00-4:45PM23•Treasure Chest open, second hand shop bene-fiting nursing home resi-dents Hilltop on Main, entrance, located in the small building behind the nursing home on 1028 N. Bosque Street, 10AM-4PM. Donations are al-ways welcome24•Story Time: Choose your own adventure: Run-away Spaceship by Su-san Saunders, Meridian Public Library, 118 N. Main Street 4-4:45PM24•Senior Exploitation Prevention Program by Area Agency on Aging, Memorial Library build-ing, 201 N. Main, 1:30-2:30PM. Lunch reserva-tions at 254-978-1392.26•Market on the Square, Bosque County Courthouse, 201 Main, 9 AM-2 PM, 254-435-296626•Free movie, Space Cowboys, Meridian Pub-lic Library, 118 N. Main Street 11AM – 1:15PM27•Meal for Meridian, First Baptist Church on N. Hill Street, 5 PM

Meridian Tribune September 16, 2015 • Page 2A

Community Website: www.bosquecountytoday.comEmail: news@meridiantribune.comM-F 9am-5pm ~ Ofc. 254-435-6333

SUDOKU

rememberFrom page 1A

in honor. We will remember every fam-ily that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.”

Patriot’s Day, as 9-11 is called also re-members all Americans who lost their lives or were injured through acts of terrorism.

“And we must never forget the 6,853 Americans who have died and all those who have been injured in the war against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan since that day,” Ratliff continues. “We will never forget.”

County Poet Laureate Sherrod L. Fielden has written a new patriot-ic poem for the remembrance ceremo-ny for each of the past fourteen years. This year he recited his original piece of fourteen years ago.

It was a respectful, somber mo-ment was when departments from the Bosque County Sheriff ’s Office, coun-ty police officers, Emergency Manage-ment Technicians and Volunteer Fire Departments were called to attention as the Stars and Stripes were raised and lowered to half mast.

Many tears flowed as the “final call” and “tap out signal- tolling of the bell” silenced the Courthouse Square for a compassionate and dedicated moment from all in attendance while Taps were played in the near distance by a mem-ber of Clifton’s VFW.

The moment of silence was followed by everyone singing Amazing Grace in unison with Davis.

Bosque County was honored to have Clifton native Mike Brewer share his experiences of 9/11 in the closing re-marks. On that fateful day, he was as-signed to the Pentagon and was just above the point of impact when Flight 77 crashed into the building.

Brewer’s recollection was a fitting ex-ample of how he and so many others re-member that terrible day hour by hour as if it just happened recently as he de-scribed his daily routine and surround-ings and possible reasons to why he was a fortunate survivor of the Pentagon at-tack.

It was a beautiful, cloudless, crisp, fall day on the East Coast,” Brewer re-counted.” September 11 started off like any normal Tuesday morning checking email and reading the reports that came in overnight.”

Brewer served in numerous command and staff positions before he retired from the United States Army in 2006. He was a political-military analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Pro-gram Manager on the Army Staff at the Pentagon; and the Senior U.S. Advisor to the Multinational Division in Iraq. While in Iraq, he was the first Amer-ican to be awarded the Polish Army Gold Medal by the Polish Prime Min-ister.

He currently works at Fort Hood as the Chief of Operations.

“At 9:32 (Eastern Time), Flight Con-trollers at the Dulles Approach Control Center in Virginia observed ‘a radar tar-get tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed’ and the order was given to evacu-ate the White House,” Brewer recount-ed. “As news of the White House evac-uation broke, we speculated, almost in jest, what about the Pentagon? Mo-ments later (9:37) Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon at 530 miles an hour between the first and second floor directly beneath us, pene-trating through three of the five Penta-gon Rings.

“All that separated us from the infer-no below was a few inches of the con-crete floor. All 64 people on board the plane were killed, as well as 125 Pen-tagon personnel below and around us.

“If the plane had hit any other part of the building many more lives would have been lost along with much more destruction to the building.

“It has now been 14 years since the peace of an American morning was bro-ken. Fourteen years since nearly 3,000 lives were taken from us. Here, once more, we pray for the souls of those lost, for their families, and for a nation that has been inspired by their example. Today, we also celebrate our nation’s strength and resilience.

“As we are gathered here today, the names of the dead are being read at the Memorial Plaza in New York—it will take over 4 and a half hours to read all the names of those killed that day.

“At the Pentagon a private wreath laying ceremony is taking place for the families of the victims.

“In Shanksville Pennsylvania, at the Flight 93 National Memorial--which officially opened yesterday, Officials there will hold a remembrance ceremo-ny.

“And all across America, communities like this one, are remembering those events. Today we recall, and we cele-brate, what we learned about ourselves on September 11, 2001. We recall, and we celebrate, how we acted that day.

“We remember once again how or-dinary human beings, living their or-dinary lives, reacted with extraordi-nary heroism. We saw ordinary people choose duty in the face of death. We saw loyalty to friends overwhelm all sense of danger. On September 11, we saw ordinary people choose self-sac-rifice for the good of strangers, as the passengers on the plane over Pennsyl-vania refused to allow the hijackers to succeed.

“It is important to point out that since 2001, nearly 7000 American pa-triots have made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefields of distant lands to keep America safe.

“We also cannot forget the countless other veterans who have received both visible and not so visible wounds.

“It is important that Americans meet like this every September 11, to re-fresh our national memory of what we learned that day in 2001.

“And as proven by the remembrance ceremony on the Courthouse Square, the county is committed to showing reverence to the human loss and first responder sacrifices given to almost 3000 Americans had fell victim during the airplane strikes and aftermath on New York City’s World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon in Shanks-ville, Pennsylvania.”

exhibitFrom page 1A

most.”Waerenskjold’s numerous

letters from the late 1840s through the mid-1890s re-main an invaluable source of information on Norwegian immigrant life in Texas.

The exhibit is held in con-junctions with the Cleng Peer-son Legacy Conference sched-uled in mid-October.

File phoTo / meridian Tribune

Elise Waerenskjold marker.

September 16, 2015 • Page 3Aonline at www.bosquecountytoday.comcommunity

Meridian Tribune

Meridian Tribune

What’s Going On

DAR to celebrate Constitution

Kopperl VFD fundraiser Sept. 19

Annual MHS reunion on Oct. 3

bACFrom page 1A

Morgan all-class reunion set

Senior exploitation program

“I responded by telling her she shouldn’t be drinking in the af-ternoon.” Which drew an appre-ciative laugh from the audience.

“She told me that the new art center would be in the old Clif-ton College, and I said Mr. Ol-sen owns that – what would make you think that we could put an art center there – again telling her she shouldn’t be drinking in the afternoon,” Jones said with a laugh.

Jones said that Joan respond-ed by saying that Olsen would give it to them.

“Well, it took a year and a half, but he did – for a dollar,” said Jones.

Jones talked about the work that went into the building – scrubbing floors and walls, mov-ing panels to hold paintings, hanging lights, and figuring out how to put on the first art show.

“If someone had come into the first show with a shotgun, they might have hit four peo-ple – and two of them would have been Roland and myself. It was not what you’d call a roar-ing success.”

As usual, Joyce brought her humor and her love for fine art to the show with everything she said leading up to the presen-tation. She closed by speaking to all the artists that have en-tered the show throughout the years, saying “without you, there would be not show.”

Jones then introduced Matt Atkinson of Oklahoma City as the winner of the John Steven Jones Purchase Award for his oil painting on linen entitled, “Vio-lin Maker.”

Atkinson gave a brief speech, thanking the Arts Center and the Jones’, than adding “West-

ern Art is not a decorative lux-ury – it is a way of life. It makes us remember to be respectful of what came before us.”

Following the presentation, Roland Jones said that she nev-er prepares a speech – she just gets up there and talks from the heart.

This year’s beautiful art cat-alog of the 30th annual Art Classic was dedicated to Ro-land and Joyce Jones on their 62 wedding anniversary.

Others winning the gold and silver awards in the six medi-ums were:

Mixed Media – Gold med-al ($1,000), sponsored by Mechelle slaughter and Phyl-lis Gamble, to Arlene Steinberg for “Lemonade.” Silver medal ($500), sponsored by Treaty

Oak Gallery, to Mikel Dona-hue for “Driftin’ Along.”

Pastel – Gold medal ($1,000), sponsored by JJ Frambes and Cecil Sedberry, to Lynda Con-ley for “The Morning Pair.” Sil-ver medal ($500), sponsored by Tom and Joanne Freeman Blos-som, to William Schneider for “Above the Moors.”

Sculpture – Gold med-al ($1,000), sponsored by Bob and Billie Black, to Jan Mapes for “Mountain Belles.” Silver medal ($500), sponsored by Vern and Carla Sigler, to HR Heather Kaiser for “Blackbull.”

Water Media – Gold medal ($1,000), sponsored by Steve and Judy Wells, to Marlin Rotach for “Thinkin’ Outside the Box.” Silver medal ($500), sponsored by Bob and Marge

Schafer, to E.M Sutherlan for “North Street – Uvalde, TX.”

Drawing – Gold medal ($1,000), sponsored by Rich-ard and Susan Frazier, to Mau-reen Killaby for “Look at the Tail Feathers on That One.” Sil-ver medal ($500), sponsored by Richard and Susan Frazier, to Daniel Feldhauser for “Fly-boys.”

Oil and Acrylic – Gold med-al ($1,000), sponsored by BCP Real Estate, to Matt Atkinson for “Violin Maker.” Silver medal ($500), sponsored by Bob and Marge Schafer, to Don Oelze for “Hidden.”

Following the award presen-tations, everyone drifted back up to the galleries to view the winners, and share conversa-tions and refreshments.

The Kopperl Volunteer Fire Department is serving a full breakfast on Sat. Sept. 19 from 7 – 10 a.m.

Guests can expect eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gra-vy and all the other fixin’s at this fundraiser.

“A donation is all it takes to partake,” KVFD Treasurer Lloyd Kuykendall said. “Come and help us out.”

The breakfast will be at the fire hall at 128 FM 1859.

On Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2:30 p.m. Bosque River Val-ley DAR Chapter will celebrate Constitution Week with guest speaker Mr. Bill Covington, an authority on the Rev-olutionary War. Mr. Covington presents a very interesting and informative program. 

The Chapter meeting is in fellowship hall of First Pres-byterian Church at 211 S. Ave. G in Clifton. Visitors are welcome.

Together with the Area Agency on Aging, the Meridian Police Department will be hosting a program on Senior Exploitation Prevention.

This program on Sept. 24, will be held at the Meridi-an Senior Center located at 201 N Main from 1:30- 2:30 p.m. is aimed at educating local senior citizens on some of the scams currently going around.

Topics covered will include: Medicare fraud, medical identity theft; current information on scams targeting se-niors.

While this class is geared towards senior citizens anyone can attend.

“This will be a great program for our local senior citizens because they are targeted by these scams the most,” Merid-ian Police Officer Tabetha Harrison said.

If you are a senior citizen and plan to eat lunch, please contact the Senior Center ahead of time and let them know. You can contact them at 254-978-1392.

Every year alumni flock back to their hometown Morgan to celebrate their alma mater.

Morgan Independent School District All Class Reunion is set for Sept. 26. The event is at the Morgan High School Cafeteria and starts at 10 a.m. until whenever everybody is ready to go home. All Morgan ISD Alumni are invite to attend.

Please bring a covered dish, since the event will not be ca-tered this year. If you have questions, please contact Rose-mary Johns at Morgan ISD at 254-635-2311.

The annual Meridian High School reunion on the first Saturday in October always draws scores of alumni to the Meridian Civic Center.

The event is from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Oct. 3.For information, please contact Clyde Herzog at 254-

978-2543.

In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain led a multi-na-tion effort to allow Adolf Hitler to seize a part of Czechoslovakia. The Munich Agreement, as it was called, was signed to avoid what the prime minister believed was the only alternative: war.

The following day, Chamberlain applauded the deal in a speech ironi-cally titled “Peace for Our Time.” He promised a renewed friendship be-tween Germany and Britain — “a desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.”

One year later, Germany invaded Poland. World War II claimed the lives of nearly a half-million British civilians and military personnel. In hindsight, Chamberlain fed an insatiable beast. He capitulated.

No one is capable of predicting the future; but I believe history and patterns of behavior are our most reliable guides.

This week, Congress will vote on a previously agreed to multi-nation deal with Iran.

First and foremost, any deal with Iran — a nation that the United States cut off diplomatic ties with 35 years ago — must protect Ameri-ca’s interests at home and abroad. This deal does not.

While the Obama administration claims the Iran deal is the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the agreement relies too heavily on trust.

The terms of the deal allow Iran to use its own inspectors. As the for-mer Democratic Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, the agreement is “the equivalent of having an athlete accused of using performance-enhancing drugs submit an unsupervised urine sample.”

Iran’s historical patterns of bad behavior demonstrate why self-inspec-tion is a problem.

Iran has previously violated the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has denied the International Atomic Energy Agency access to docu-ments, individuals and locations relevant to its military and enrichment activities.

Despite previous claims by White House officials, the deal does not authorize “anytime, anywhere” inspections. According to the agreement, Iran must be given advance notice before inspections are conducted.

Meridian Tribune

OpinionSeptember 16, 2015 • Page 4A

Website: www.bosquecountytoday.comEmail: news@meridiantribune.com

M-F 9am-5pm ~ 254-435-6333

Buck brings ‘em back alive

Making a case for opposing the Iran deal

Neighbors agree to work on trade, energy projects

Meridian Tribune

Editorial PolicyThe Meridian Tribune opinion pages will publish staff produced editorials

and columns, as well as letters to the editor from readers. We will welcome, read and consider all letters from readers for publication, and we salute those people willing to sign their names to their opinions. The letters chosen for publication must be a representative sampling of the opinions shared with us from citizens throughout Bosque County. We will publish selected letters in this publication and encourage readers to engage in a civil debate. But the Meridian Tribune asks readers to debate ideas and policies, not criticize one another personally. Let-ters political in nature will not be printed the week prior to an election. Two weeks must pass between subsequent letters by the same author. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number for verification. Unsigned letters will not be published. We reserve the right to refuse or edit all material submitted for publication due to space, language or legal requirements.

RusticRamblings

Genie Ellis Zacharias

Retrained brain

CapitolHighlights

Ed SterlingPolitical Columnist

Columnist

see STERLING, page 5A

Columnist

TexasTales

Mike Cox

Meridian TribuneOffice Hours: Monday – Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM

Phone: (254)435-6333 Fax (254) 435-6348 Email: news@meridiantribune.com

Meridian Tribune (USPS 009-017) is published weekly by Bosque County Publishing, LP., 114 N. Main St.., Meridian, Tex-as 76665-0343 for $39 per year for Bosque County subscribers, $49 per year elsewhere in Texas and $56 per year for subscribers outside of Texas. Second class postage paid at Meridian, Texas.

Publisher/Managing Editor Brett VossNews Editor Simone Wichers-VossBusiness Manager Joyce RineyAdvertising Director Carol SpicerGraphic Designer Alyson StanleySales Representative Katie Britain Office Assistant Laura YeakeyCirculation Manager Clinton Kent

Writers: Simone Wichers-Voss, Brett Voss, Carol Spicer, Genie Ellis Zacharias, Melinda Routh, Mike Cox & Ed Sterling Photographers: Simone Wichers-Voss, Carol Spicer, Kelli PurcellCirculation: Georgia Bell, Jeffrey Bible, Cindy Kent, Michael Parlette, Linda Warren & Carole Smith

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC: All editorial material copyrighted by the Meridi-an Tribune. Meridian Tribune is dedicated to serving the needs of the community and local advertisers. All correspondence for the Meridian Tribune should be sent to the mailing address above. The entire content of each issue of the Meridian Tri-bune is protected under the Federal Copyright Act. Reproduction of any portion of any issue of any issue will not be permitted without written permission from the Meridian Tribune. Any erroneous reflection cast upon the character, reputa-tion or community standing of a person, firm or organization appearing in the columns of this newspaper will be duly corrected when brought to the attention of the editor in writing. Meridian Tribune assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors in advertisements or copy but will publish without charge, a correction in the next issue, or republish any portion of the advertisement that is incorrect. All news items, meeting notices and civic activities are free of charge on a space available basis. Letters regarding political candidates and/or issues are con-sidered political advertising and may be ran at current political advertising rates. General deadline for all copy, both news and advertising is 12:00 noon on Friday prior to publication. You cooperation in meeting these deadlines is appreciated. Meridian Tribune reserves the right to edit or refuse any copy, announcements or advertisements. The Meridian Tribune and meridiantribune.com, as well as any reasonable derivative of these names, are trademarks of Bosque County Pub-lishing, LP and use of these trademarks without the express written consent of Bosque County Publishing, LP is strictly prohibited. The entire contents of each issue of The Meridian Tribune and www.meridiantribune.com are protected under the Federal Copyright Act. Reproduction of any portion of any issue will not be permitted without the express permission of Bosque County Publishing, LP. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Meridian Tribune, P.O. Box 343, Meridian, Texas 76665.

www.bosquecountytoday.com

see EDITORIAL, page 5A

AUSTIN - Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Mexico last week to meet with President En-rique Peña Nieto and other officials in Mexi-co City.

On Sept. 8, the governor’s office announced an agreement between the Texas Department of Transportation and the Ministry of Com-munications and Transportation of the United Mexican States “to promote and increase bilat-eral collaboration on future border infrastruc-ture projects.”

Also announced was the creation of an en-ergy task force “to foster economic growth on both sides of the border by finding new and in-novative energy solutions.”

Abbott said the agreements signify Texas’ and Mexico’s “intent to expand highway infrastruc-ture, encourage economic development and fa-cilitate bilateral trade on both sides of the bor-der.”

The governor’s office quoted Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, who said “such a deep and diverse relationship as the one Mexico and Texas share flourishes when there is communication and mutual un-derstanding. Governor Abbott´s visit reflects the will to take that path.”

On Sept. 6, the governor’s office announced that in 2014, Texas exported more than $100 billion in machinery, technology and other commodities to Mexico, about 35 percent of the state’s total exports. And, it was said, those exports “sustain tens of thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses in Texas and more than 1.1 million jobs.”

Perry suspends campaignRick Perry suspended his campaign for the

presidency on Sept. 11.Perry, who served as governor of Texas from

2001 to 2015, made the announcement at a ral-ly of the conservative Eagle Forum in Missouri. 

Perry’s first run for the presidency was in 2012. Mitt Romney, a former governor of Mas-sachusetts, won the Republican Party’s nomi-nation and lost to Democrat Barack Obama in the general election.

Comptroller begins tourTexas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Sept.

8 announced plans for a 27-city, two-month “Good For Texas” tour, during which he will meet with local officials and citizens to talk about the future of the Texas economy.

First stops were in New Braunfels and Kerr-ville on Sept. 9. Plans are for Hegar to visit ev-ery economic region of the state before his last stop in El Paso on Nov. 9.

Hegar said that since taking office on Jan. 2 he has “emphasized efforts to increase trans-parency and accountability at the state’s chief financial agency, while improving customer ser-vice. The town hall tour is intended to facilitate those efforts and help keep Texans informed of economic issues in their own backyards.”

Sales tax revenue downComptroller Hegar on Sept. 10 reported

state sales tax revenue in August was $2.6 bil-lion, down 0.4 percent compared to August 2014.

“The slight decline in sales tax revenue was due to reduced receipts from oil and gas-re-lated sectors, offset by growth from other sec-tors,” Hegar explained. Higher collections from retail trade, restaurants and services indicated continued growth in consumer spending, while receipts from construction also grew, he added.

Cities, counties, transit systems and special

No, really, Frank Buck wasn’t a car-toon character.

Maybe his unusual if particularly fit-ting surname – given that he became world renowned as a pith helmet-wearing-big-game hunter from Tex-as who “brought ‘em back alive” from Africa and other exotic locales -- is what led to a mistaken perception that Buck was only a fictional hero like the Green Hornet, Superman, Batman, or the Incredible Hulk.  

But for three decades of the 20th cen-tury, no confusion clouded the pub-lic’s awareness of Frank Buck, as big a name as Babe Ruth, Charles Lindber-gh or Mae West.

True, Buck’s life story does read like one of those giant 25 cent comic books that publishers used to put out for summer reading just before schools let out. The only difference is a bit of mildly adult content centering on a succession of trophy wives.  

Buck was born in a Gainesville wag-on yard on March 17, 1884, but his family moved to Dallas when he was five. Early on, he became interested in birds, snakes and other critters. He didn’t do very well in school, except for geography. That’s how he learned about African lions and jungle crea-tures from orangutans to giant py-thons. He dropped out of school af-ter the seventh grade back when high school ended after the 11th grade.

Around 1900, Buck hired on as a cowboy in San Angelo. By then, how-ever, the romantic days of horseback drovers pushing a herd of cattle up the trail to market had ended. Buck’s “trail drive” took him from West Texas to Chicago via a railroad cattle car.

The 17-year-old decided to stay in Chicago, soon landing a job as a bell-hop at the plush, 400-room “absolutely fire proof ” Virginia Hotel. The 10-sto-ry hotel also rented rooms to perma-nent residents, one of whom was Amy Leslie (her real name was Lillie West), the 46-year-old drama critic for the Chicago Daily News. Somehow, the animal magnetism that would make Buck so successful in dealing with as-sorted African and Asian species at-tracted the lady journalist, and after a

courtship that must have moved fast-er than a hungry cheetah chasing a ga-zelle, they were married.

How long that May-December ro-mance remained blissful can only be a matter of conjecture, but when Buck won $3,500 in a poker game in 1911, he used the money to go to Brazil without Mrs. Buck. In South America he captured assorted exot-ic birds and long before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cared about such things, he brought them to New York and made good money selling them to zoos and circuses. Soon, he was off to Singapore and much of the rest of the world. Within two years, he was di-vorced and married to a Chicago sec-retary who did join him on his oversea expeditions in search of wildlife and adventure.

The second Mrs. Buck must have been game at first, but after their di-vorce, she declared to a reporter: “As long as I live, I don’t want to see any animals wilder or bigger than a kitten.”

While Buck had no qualms about making money off the wild animals he captured for sale to zoos and collec-tors, he didn’t have any desire to kill them. In fact, the only animal he ever shot was a large python that could not otherwise be discouraged from eating his hand.

“I have made it my business to bring them back alive,” he said, “for I have only feelings of kindness for every creature that breathes on this Earth.”

Whether his reluctance to kill was based on true sentiment for the an-imals or simply to make his business model work, he went on to capitalize on that reputation. And he did it with humanely designed traps and snares before tranquilizer darts made captur-ing game much easier.

By 1928, Buck had captured the heart of his third and final wife and bought a house in Encino, CA. Being a bloodless big game hunter had made him financially well off, but as was the case for millions of Americans, the Great Depression changed that.

Having been married initially to a

see COX, page 5A

Upon seeing a wall of full shelves above ourkitch-en stove, a visitor once re-marked, “Who does all this cooking?”

The wall of spices, bot-tled condiments and food-stuffs caught my guest’s eye. My brain thought, “Who doesn’t cook?” My mouth answered, “We both do”, true before Zack’s paralysis seven years ago.

He’s a wonderful cook, but most of the food prep now falls to me. With Zack’srecovery came a de-sire for big, outdoor proj-ects. Small motor skills never completely retur-nedafter Guillain-Barre.

I cook because I love to eat- good, basic, healthy food. Dining out occasion-ally is pleasant. One grows weary of one’s own cook-ing, a mundane chore day after day.

But eating out as a steady diet --- pun intend-ed--- can be expensive and sometimes unhealthy--- as in “Supersize It”.

Perhaps I’m simply ac-customed to my own cook-ing--- described once as “unbelievably bland” by an old friend who got away with the blunt, unvar-nished truth. Mostly I pre-fer it.

If I had a five-star chef on retainer, I’d sing a dif-ferent tune. Spices and hot sauce may be added to ac-

commodate more exotic palates. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.

Along the road to “ripe maturity”, my body muti-nied on me. Certain things formerly enjoyed with wild abandon in my youth don’t agree with me now- or add unwanted pounds.

I didn’t-don’t appreci-ate this change, but firmly believing--- from my late father’s example--- that adaptation is a key to suc-cessful aging--- I tailor my diet to special needs by cooking at home.

My father’s mantra “moderation in all things” didn’t apply only to food.

Dad was, is, and always will bea major role model. He lived actively and inde-pendently to a healthy and hearty 98. His idea of diet-ing was pushing away from the table before full.

So he managed to eat a varied diet--- including sweets--- and stayed slim all his life. Being active didn’t hurt. He mowed the lawn into his eighties--- and rode a stationary bike daily, past his mid-nineties.

Here was a man who en-joyed and indulged in reg-ular desserts but didn’t OD on them.

But Dad was never a middle-aged woman. I don’t care what anyone

see ZACHARIAS, page 5A

U.S. Representative - Texas District 25

At Your ServiceRoger Williams

online at www.bosquecountytoday.com September 16, 2015 • Page 5A

countyMeridian Tribune

sterlingFrom page 4A

eDitOriAlFrom page 4A

COxFrom page 4A

shepherDFrom page 1A

zAChAriAsFrom page 4A

Rather than preventing Iran from getting the bomb, this deal kicks the can down the road for future world leaders to deal with.

In 15 years, restrictions on Iran’s uranium enrichment ac-tivities will be lifted, putting Iran on a smoother path to a nuclear weapon. In 10 years, the Unit-ed Nations’ ability to reimpose sanctions will expire.

The Iran deal was brokered with a supreme leader who shouts “Death to America” and calls the United States the “Great Satan.” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, said this week that Israel would not exist in 25 years. In my opinion, that statement alone is enough to give us pause.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in his address to Congress ear-lier this year, “Iran’s regime pos-es a grave threat, not only to Is-rael, but also to the peace of the entire world.” I agree with his as-sessment.

While I personally believe the

United States has a moral obli-gation to defend Israel, I also be-lieve the U.S. has a strategic ob-ligation to protect its greatest friend in the Middle East. The benefits of a secure, stable and trustworthy ally in a very vola-tile and tumultuous region are obvious.

Despite warnings from those within President Barack Obama’s own party and lead-ers of ally nations, I am afraid this president is more concerned with leaving a lasting legacy than guaranteeing the safety of America, Israel and the world.

This Iran deal, I believe, is Obama’s Chamberlain moment. Right now, Obama, like the for-mer British prime minister, is leading the charge in surrender-ing to a dictator in a policy of ap-peasement.

I will vote to oppose this deal — and I encourage my col-leagues to do the same.

Roger Williams, a Republican, serves on the Financial Services Committee, an Iran deal com-mittee of jurisdiction in the U.S. House of Representatives.

purpose taxing districts will receive $638.1 million in local sales tax allocations for Sep-tember, an increase of 1.7 percent compared to September 2014.

Texas’ fiscal year ended Aug. 31. Hegar said “All Funds” revenue for the year fin-ished at $109.5 billion, slightly less than the $109.7 billion projected in the comptroller’s Biennial Revenue Estimate. Also, sales tax revenue for the year was 0.6 percent below estimate, at $28.9 billion. The forecast was $29.07 billion.

Energy chief applauds rulingDavid Porter, chair of the Texas Railroad

Commission, applauded a ruling last week by U.S. District Court for the Western Dis-trict of Texas that overturned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing of the lesser prairie chicken as threatened under the En-dangered Species Act.

Two months ago, the U.S. Fish and Wild-life Service reported an abundance of spring rainfall and ongoing management efforts helped increase the lesser prairie chicken’s population about 25 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Cucumber warning issuedTexas Department of State Health Ser-

vices on Sept. 4 warned that recalled cucum-bers may be contaminated with Salmonella. Certain cucumbers that entered the market in various states including Texas were sold under the brand name  “Limited Edition.”

“This type of cucumber is dark green, typ-ically seven to 10 inches long and usually sold in bulk bins and may not be easily iden-tified by label or sticker. People should talk to their retailer or supplier about whether their cucumbers were part of the recall,” the health department suggested

newspaperwoman, Buck clearly realized the value of publicity. The world traveler from Texas told his story to Edward An-thony, who turned Buck’s adventures into “Bring ‘Em Back Alive,” published in 1930. The book became a best seller, with a suc-cessful movie version released two years later. Seven additional books and seven movies – in some of which he played him-self – made him a cultural icon during the Depression and on into the 1940s.   

The handsome, mustachioed Texan had traveled much of the world, but in his 60s, Buck came home to Texas. Not to Gaines-ville or Dallas, but back to where his ad-venture had begun, San Angelo. (His older brother, Walter Buck, lived there.)

In 1948, he enjoyed a hero’s return to Gainesville for the dedication of a zoo named in his honor.  A year later, he pro-duced his final film, an Abbott and Costello comedy, “Africa Screams.”

Just when he found out his smoker’s cough was actually lung cancer is lost in medical records that probably no longer ex-ist, but he died in a Houston hospital on March 25, 1950. As he had earlier written, and obviously knew better than most, “Life in the jungle is a constant struggle for the survival of the fittest.”

says; men and women are different. I’ve studied enough biology, psychology, medicine, anatomy

and physiology to insist without a shadow of doubt that the two sexes aren’t the same. LGBT and all that aside --- and admitting that there are many variations in sexuality in the animal king-dom as a whole--- the male body is simply different from the fe-male body, and vive la difference.

So when a male like Zack gives up sugar for a week and drops ten pounds, I scratch my head and stomp my feet in frustration. Not that it helps. Not enough sustained cardio there.

More serious measures are called for. And here’s where cook-ing comes in. You knew I’d return to the original topic if you hung around long enough.

I’m still on the diet I described a few weeks ago. Down eight pounds and holding. Still making my own chocolate candy with honey instead of sugar. Still avoiding starches like potatoes, cookies, cakes, prepared food and bread---usually. I’m eating protein and avoiding dairy, which doesn’t agree with me anyway.

Eating out isn’t easy, but it can be adapted. At the Italian restaurant, I order eggplant or chicken parmigiana without the parmigiana and pasta. You’d be surprised how good it tastes. I can manage with Chinese or Mexican food, and order only meat at the BBQ place. I cheat on the bread restriction only if I en-counter good, naked hamburgers in dire need of cover.

Fruits and veggies are relatively low cal. There’s always baked salmon in my fridge, andI prefer it cold. Ground beef ’s a staple, and can be combined with most veggies for a low-cal, high pro-tein snack or meal.

I also keep turkey bacon on hand. Six or seven slices between paper towels --- on a microwave appropriate plate---- takes four-five minutes. Baked, homemade tofu sticks are my power bars. Steak’s always good if I find it on sale.

I’m addicted to Snapea Crisps—similar to potato chips but-made of intact, sugar snap peas. These and homemade choco-late are my treats. A local grocery orders the Crisps for me, and they’re available online - like everything else these days.

I’ve retrained my brain to believe these healthy foods are fun for snacking and meals. They actually are. And this is why I cook.

collies. Border collies are herders, they do not keep away predators.”

Sheryl is the Ag agent for Belton.E.B., or Paul as his granddaughter calls

him, got into training border collies in 1980 as therapy after a heart attack. He had always been a horse trader and veter-inarian health product sales man, but the heart attack forced him to slow down.

E.B. and his wife Frances played a sig-nificant role in revitalizing the Texas Sheep Dog Association, and Frances is the association’s secretary to this day. The purposes of the Association are to pro-mote sheep and cattle dog trials in an or-ganized manner, as well as to provide uni-form rules and regulations. From humble beginnings sheepdog trials have spread throughout Texas including fairs and ro-deos. Several smaller trials support bene-ficial causes.

On average the family has about six dogs in training and some litters for sale. The Raleys prefer the black and white col-oration in their dogs, saying they show up well against the Texas country side.

“There are no standards for border col-lies,” E.B. said, explaining the range in col-ors and sizes. “But I have never seen an ugly dog in the winners’ circle at a show.”

Tom is a smaller, short-haired collie, with a black eye patch is super quick and crouches low to the ground as she ap-proaches the five St. Croix sheep in the Bosque Bottoms pasture. She is so fast, she can outrun the sheep. Tee, with more black, is less partial to humans, but is all the more set on his task of herding the sheep.

An uncle helps with training sessions, which are two-three times a day for a few minutes each time.

In general E.B. teaches his dogs 10-

12 commands, with the most basic be-ing “Way to me,” which is a right turn for the dog; and “Come by me,” which is a left turn for the dog; “stand,” and “that’ll do” which calls the dog back to the shepherd. E.B. uses his voice and a special whistle, or just whistles commands through his teeth.

As long as the sheep are in the pasture, the dogs demonstrated their natural abili-ty to wait, even though they are complete-ly focused and on point to carry out the next command.

E.B. has attended many shows, nation-ally and in England. He even has his dogs herd ducks for show – moving them up and down little ramps – which calls for much dexterity in his dog handling.

The informational topics included Sheep and Goat 101: Predator Control, Health, Nutrition and Reproduction by Texas Agriculture and Military Universi-ty Sheep & Goat Specialist Dr. Reid Red-den, and Insects and Parasite Control by TAMU Extension Livestock Entomolo-gist.

During the presentations those attend-ing posed a lot of questions relative to their own situation or experiences, which provided extra value for the ranchers.

The choice between raising sheep or goats is a very personal choice. As they say a sheep is born looking for a place to die – so they need some extra love and attention; whereas a goat is born, look-ing for a way to escape the enclosure – so they need extremely good fencing and pa-tience.

“We’re here to learn a few things,” lo-cal sheep raisers Cynthia and Byron Lee said. They regularly come to programs the Bosque County AgriLife Extension Of-fice offers, like rainwater harvesting.

Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Sheep gather near their shepherd E.B. Raley during a herding trial with Tom the border collie at the Sheep and Goat program Friday at the Meridian Civic Center.

BirthsMeridian Tribune

Page 6A • September 16, 2015 online at www.bosquecountytoday.comcommunity

Meridian Tribune

Meridian Tribune

Loved Ones Remembered

James O. Larson, 77, of Gause, Tex-as passed away Sept. 5, 2015. A Me-morial Service will be held Sept. 19, at 2 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church in Rockdale. Pastor Ed Truelson will be leading a celebration of the life and music of James. Recordings of his stu-dent’s performances in Bryan, Wel-lington, and Dulles High School will be heard.

A private graveside service will be held at the Clifton, Texas cemetery at a later time.

James was born to Arnel and Opal Larson in a farmhouse outside Clifton, on Oct. 30, 1937. He graduated from Clifton High School and continued his education at John Tarleton Agriculture College in Stephenville, Texas, North Texas State University in Denton, Texas and received his Bachelor of Mu-sic Education Degree at Midwestern University in Wichita Falls. He went on to earn a Master of Education Degree while attending West Texas State University in Canyon, and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. He also earned his Supervisory Certification at Sam Houston.

He married Doyce Neal Larson, Friday, Oct. 13, 1959 in Ar-dmore, OK and was married for 56 years.

James was a diligent worker. While in high school, he was as he described, “a soda jerk” at the Clifton Corner Drug Store. He also worked as a service station attendant while in High School and College. He worked as a farm hand and drove wheat com-bines on summer harvest from Oklahoma to the Canadian bor-der while attending Tarleton College.

He was very proud to have earned the rank of Eagle Scout while he was in High School. He was also awarded member-ship in the “Order of the Arrow. As an adult he helped organize and served as Scoutmaster for a troop in Snyder, OK.

James teaching career spanned 35 years, teaching in all lev-els of schools from junior high to the college level. He served as a Band Director in the Era, Muenster, Valley View, Snyder, OK, Wellington, Fort Bend ( John Foster Dulles High School), Wharton, College Station and Bryan school districts. James also taught three years at Tarleton State University. After re-tirement, James continued teaching part time at Allen Acade-my in Bryan and in Gause.

Between his teaching years at Wharton and College Station, he owned a music and appliance business for nine years in Brenham known as Navratil’s Music Store.

James was an accomplished music educator. His bands won

James O. Larson numerous First Divisions in Marching, Concert and Sight-read-ing as well as gaining Sweepstakes recognition at UIL Compe-titions. His Wellington Band was awarded the Outstanding Award at the Six Flags over Texas Competition and was a Re-gion Honor Band. In Wellington, the Jazz Band won its clas-sification at the Doc Severinson National Stage Band Contest in Pampa. His Wharton Band won the Outstanding Award at the Six Flags in Arlington, over Mid-America Competition in Saint Louis, MO. His students were awarded many individual awards for top ratings at Regional and State Solo and Ensem-ble Contest, All-Region and All-State competitions.

When he had a time to relax, James enjoyed working in his yard. He loved landscaping, gardening, trimming and mow-ing. He also enjoyed fishing. Although, he never attended the University of Arkansas, James was an avid Razorback fan and would give a “Woo pig sooie”, whenever it was needed.

James had membership in the Texas Music Educators As-sociation and the Texas Bandmasters Association and was in-volved in his church, the Texas Retired Teachers Association and served as an officer in the Milam County Retired Teachers. He was named to “Who’s who in American Education” three times and when he was a student at Tarleton College, he was a member of “Lords and Commoners”.

James was preceded in death by his father, Arnel Larson, stepfather, Otto Schrader, mother, Opal Schrader, brothers Charles Larson and Robert (Bob) Schrader, and a daughter, D’Aun Tucker.

He is survived by his wife, Doyce, sons, Jamie and wife, Susan, Terry and wife, Tracy, and Mark; eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He also leaves a brother Arnel and wife, Carolyn Larson of Waco; and a sister, Karen Sadler and husband, Jerry of Clifton. He also leaves many nieces and nephews.

James also leaves the many students that made music under his years of teaching. The music was his tool to help mold lives of his young students. In his final days he was asked, “what do you hope you have left.” His answer was: “I hope that I have taught my students about what life expects of them.”

The Larson family would like to thank Standards Hospice and the wonderful Nurse angels that helped so gracefully and beautifully.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to: Abiding Savior Lutheran Church 806 E. 12th St., Cameron, Texas 76520; or the Texas Retired Teachers Foundation 313 E. 12th Street, Suite 200, Austin, Texas 78701

Arrangements are under the direction of Green-Patterson Funeral Home in Cameron. Condolences for the family may be sent at www.green-pattersonfuneralhome.com.

Meridian Tribune

Bosque County Arrest & Jail ReportRecent arrests made by various law enforcement

agencies in Bosque County include (alphabetically) and made between 9/4/15 and 9/10/15, include:

• Ginger Lee Allbright, DOB 1/5/77, of Living-ston, charged with driving while intoxicated 2nd/MTR, arrested September 8.

• Donald D Zachary Barrow, DOB 2/19/96, of Cleburne, charged with minor in consumption of alcohol, arrested September 7.

• Joann Rene Case, DOB 12/15/79, of Waco, charged with purchasing/furnishing alcohol to a minor, arrested September 5.

• Darius Philip Creppel, DOB 3/31/91, of Pop-larbille, charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, arrested September 10.

• Obie Owen Dove, DOB 1/27/74, of Clifton, charged with possession of controlled substance PG 1 under one gram, arrested September 4.

• Tiffany Lynn Finstad, DOB 8/21/96, of Chi-na Springs, charged with driving while intoxicated 2nd/MTR, arrested September 7.

• Richard Duane Jr. Good, DOB 1/13/75, of

Walnut Springs, charged with bench warrant, ar-rested September 9.

• Victor M Gudino-Quintero, DOB 6/21/74, of Waco, charged with sexual assault, arrested Sep-tember 4.

• Harris Samuel Owens, DOB 3/26/96, of Clif-ton, charged with aggravated sexual assault, arrest-ed September 10.

• Robert William Rench, DOB 8/23/84, of Mt Vernon, charged with bench warrant, arrested September 10.

• Austin Travis Shupp, DOB 8/6/96, of Cle-burne, charged with possession of drug parapher-nalia, minor in consumption of alcohol, arrested September 7.

• Jared Ray Spain, DOB 11/15/95, of Itasca, charged with driving while intoxicated BAC over or equal to 0.15, arrested September 8.

• Matthew Taylor Whitt, DOB 2/21/88, of Dallas, charged with possession of marijuana un-der two ounces, bond forfeiture, arrested Septem-ber 4.

Food For ThoughtMeridian Tribune

Number one in my lifeBy Will Sharemeridian TriBune

Three plus decades ago, I stood at the front of the church waiting for the love of my life to be escorted down the aisle by her fa-ther. 

Tic, tic, tic, tic… the time passed tormentingly slow as I stood at the front of the church wondering… Where is she?  Do I have a runaway bride?  Then sud-denly, I heard her voice. 

As my eyes searched the room, I found her standing in the balcony next to her father.  There she was, in her beautiful wedding dress singing, “Jesus is number one in my life, so second place will have to do for you.”  

Little did I realize, with tears streaming down my face, that we would build our life around these lyrics.

The first marriage oc-curred in the Garden of Eden. 

Marriage was created for us, male and female, by God in a perfect world, where the inhabitants, Adam and Eve, walked dai-ly with God in the midst of God’s creation.  Everything was perfect.  Love was per-fect. Adam was perfect for Eve and likewise Eve for Adam. 

Then something hap-pened.  

The next thing we know Eve is trying to tell Adam what to do and Adam is striving to make Eve do what he wants. 

“To the woman he (God) said, “…You will want to

control your husband, but he will dominate you.” (Genesis 3:16, NET) 

The Bible does not tell us what the first argument was nor does it matter. We just know it was a clash of wills and desires.

In our marriage I cannot tell you what our first dis-agreement, argument, or fight was about. But just like with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, after sin had entered the world, we knew it had occurred.

Sin crept in with the ser-pent, (Satan), thus the first marriage was set up for con-flict and challenges. Why? Because the first couple no longer communed and walked daily with their cre-ator. 

Their eyes had been taken off of God because of sin.

Marriage was created in a perfect world, by a perfect God, for His sinless cre-ation.  

The closest we can come to this perfect marriage is for Jesus to be number one in our life and our spouse to be number two. 

Like my wife sang, “Jesus is number one in my life, so second place will have to do for you, because I’m plan-ning on spending the rest of my life in love with the two of you.” 

Remember, God created marriage for us, male and female, and marriage meets its perfect design when the married couple walks and communicates daily with God. 

PUBLIC NOTICE

CITY of WALNUT SPRINGS

Notice is hereby given to all interested persons that a Public Hearing will be conducted by the City of Walnut Springs, Bosque County, Texas, at the City Hall, 4126 3rd Street, September 17th, 2015 at 7:30

p.m. for discussing the proposed budget for all funds for �scal year 2015-2016. A copy of the proposed budget will be available for review during regular business hours in the City O�ce.

SMALL TAXING UNIT NOTICE

The City of Walnut Springs will hold a meeting at 7:45 p.m. at 4126 3rd Street, Walnut Springs, TX to consider adopting a proposed tax rate for tax year 2015. The proposed tax rate is 0.4162 per $100.00 of value.

The proposed tax rate would increase total taxes in the City of Walnut Springs by 0.0022

Bottles and RV's �lled @ our New Location 3324 State Hwy 22 Hillsboro, TX 76645

O�ce # 254-580-9772. Home, Farm & Commercial

PUBLIC NOTICE

The City Council of the City of Meridian will hold a public hearing concerning the 2015-2016 Fiscal Year Budget on Monday, September 28, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at the Meridian Fire Station, 110 Bateman,

Meridian, Texas. All those interested are urged to attend.

/s/Marie Garland, Administrator

online at www.bosquecountytoday.com September 16, 2015 • Page 7A

devotionalMeridian Tribune

Weekly Scripture Reading

Scriptures Selected by the American Bible Society

©2015, Keister-Williams Newspaper Services, P.O. Box 8187, Charlottesville, VA 22906, www.kwnews.com

1 Cor. 1:1-17

1 Cor.1:18-31

Proverbs8:1-36

Proverbs9:1-18

Proverbs10:1-32

Proverbs13:1-25

Proverbs14:1-35

Each new season reminds us that we can’t hold onto time…how do we let go of one season and successfully move onto the next? We can share the joys and sorrows with others on the same journey. With help, we can embrace each phase of our life and prepare for the next. God’s wisdom can guide us through our seasons and help us be prepared. Worship at His house this week and find fellowship and faith to help you on your way.

Photo Credit Istockphoto.com/sedmak

Our Changing Lives

Voice of AgriculturAl & rurAl u.S.A.

Center PointBarber Shop

Come SeeKris

The Barber“Someone You Know

and Trust”

(928) 246-3167207 N. Main St. Meridian, TX

One block North from the square.

Tue. - Fri.10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Walk - Ins

Only$10 Hair Cuts

Help Preserve Our Unique County History

Support the Bosque County Collection

101 N. Main Street, MeridianFor info: Ruth Crawford

254-435-6182

Page 8A • September 16, 2015 online at www.bosquecountytoday.comschoolsMeridian Tribune

Homecoming 2015

Homecoming 2015

phoToS by Kelli purcell / meridian Tribune2015 Homecoming Queen Amelia Ruhmann crowned by 2014 Homecoming Queen Selina Perez (top left); Cranfills Gap seniors and their parents line up to be presented during the Homecoming festivities Friday (top right); Cranfills Gap football Coach Kyle Doty and as-sistant Coach Sarah Doty (left); Homecoming court Karina Lira-Moreno, Tina Gonzalez and Katelin Twarowski and their escorts at the Cranfills Gap Homecoming game Friday (above); 2015 Homecoming Queen Amelia Ruhmann and her mother Amy Healy (right).

phoToS by Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian TribuneThe Homecoming Court included junior Robin Ragland, escorted by her father Reg; freshman Haley Cormier escorted by her grandfather Dwayne Boris; and Zayda Hernandez, escorted by fellow student Jakob Wood (top left); Lily Bolyer received the crown from Britny Waller who was standing in for the 2014 Homecoming Queen who could not attend the ceremony (top right); Lily Bolyer presented as Kopperl High School 2015 Homecoming Queen, escorted by her uncle Destin (left); Future nominee Makenzi Humphries sitting on her mother Alix’s lap, stole the show (right).

Meridian Tribune September 16, 2015 • Page 9A

Sports Website: www.meridiantribune.comEmail: news@meridiantribune.comM-F 9am-5pm ~ Ofc. 254-435-6333

America’s pasttime in Texas

By BreTT VoSS

puBliSher / meridian TriBune

Smell

the

graSS

see RUNNERS, page 10A

Epic implications inAstros-Rangers series

File phoTo / meridian Tribune

The Astros-Rangers Silver Boot trophy.

Jackets, Lady Jackets open at highly competitive Hico Bluebonnet Invitational

oFF & ruNNiNg

Meridian cross country takes off

Jackets return after open weekUndefeated Meridian host winless DeLeon at Jacket Stadium Friday

Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Meridian freshman Danny Cassidy, sophomore Matthew Martin, freshman Riley Dirkse, senior Latham Hensley take off the Bluebonnet Invitational.

Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Meridian’s Sydney Purcell pushes toward the finish line in Hico.

Bosque County continues winning waysIredell, Cranfills Gap, Valley Mills post key victories

Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Iredell freshman Morgan Whitfield in the open field.see COUNTY, page 10Asee VOSS, page 10A

see JACKETS, page 10ASimone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Meridian players line up for national anthem.

In the state of Texas, baseball has nev-er been this big and has never centerstage like this.

What we have here is a rivalry in the making as big as Texas itself. And finally, playing for the Silver Boot means some-thing.

For three decades, the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros would play a few games against one another every year in Spring Training. These games meant virtually nothing, and no one on either side pretended otherwise.

To try and spice things up, they start-ed awarding something called the “Silver Boot” to the team that owns the spring series.

Meaningless.Needless to say, it wasn’t quite Texas vs.

Oklahoma yet. Finally, in 2001, as part of interleague

play, the Rangers and the Astros began playing six regular-season games a year against one another. With the Rangers in the American League and the Astros in the National League it didn’t mean all that much other than state bragging rights.

Besides, they were never any good at the same time.

Times have changed.It has been 11 years since the Astros

and Rangers both had winning records in the same season (2004) and 16 years since both made the postseason (1999). Neither club made it past the Division Series that year, so any dreams of a Rang-ers-Astros World Series were quickly dashed.

For a few seasons, they kept awarding the Silver Boot to the team that won the interleague series. But to be honest, no one cared.

We all do now.This week, the Texas Rangers and the

Houston Astros are playing a four-game series that really matters, and everyone in Texas, not to mention the entire baseball world have their eyes on the Lone Star State.

For the first time in the 44 seasons that Texas has had two Major League Base-ball teams, the two clubs will be play-ing huge, important September games against each other.

The first-place Astros, who’ve been atop the American League West for 139 days, came to Arlington Monday for a four-game series against the second-place Rangers that could go a long way toward deciding a division championship. Af-ter all, the Astros lead entered the series leading the Rangers by 1 1/2 games, with the third-place Angels 4 1/2 games out.

The Rangers and the Astros will play seven times over the next 14 days. The Astros also have three home games re-maining against the Angels, and the Rangers finish the regular season with four games against the Angels in Arling-ton.

This is exactly the kind of thing some looked forward to when the Astros switched from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013. If the Astros and the Rangers were ever both competitive in the same season, there would be the pos-sibility of a September series that might

By BreTT VoSS

meridian TriBune

An open date in the schedule came at a good time for the Meridian Yellowjackets. And after opening the season with back-to-back victories, they were able to enjoy it as well.

But now, the Jackets go back to work, host-ing the DeLeon Bearcats at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Jacket Stadium in hopes of starting the season with three straight wins for the first time since 2008.

“Our focus was to get a little bit better each day during the bye week,” Meridian head oach Chris Roberts said. “The practices were very specific this week. We kept practice pretty short

because we wanted to work on a few things at a good tempo. We used the week to heal up some bangs and bruises and continue to get ourselves into shape.”

Even with the week off, the Jackets (2-0) will not be back at full strength for DeLeon (0-3). Junior linebacker Josh Ramsey still awaits clear-ance as he recovers from last year’s knee surgery. In the meantime, senior running back Dion Es-trada recovering from a hand injury, and senior wide receiver Josh Smith dealing with a shoul-der injury remain questionable.

“Ramsey will be a few more weeks,” Roberts said. “We’ll know more about Dion and Smith

By BreTT VoSS

meridian TriBune

After qualifying for regionals in cross country three consecutive years, Meridian senior cross coun-try runner Latham Hensley dreams of finally making it to state. And this season, he has a few running part-ners to push him along the way.

The Meridian boys and girls cross country teams began their quest at the Hico Bluebonnet Invitiational meet last week. And in the process, Meridian cross country head coach Kathy Finstad got a glimpse of the immediate promise as well as the po-tential for the future.

Meridian produced five medalists as Hensley placed 20th in the var-sity boys division, Dakota Cassidy captured third and Reese Errington placed 17th in the 8th grade girls division, while Nora Lira finished 13th and Elyse Herrera 15th in the 7th grade girls divisions.

“It was a hot and humid afternoon, but the kids performed very well,” Finstad said. “Hico is always one of the hardest courses to run with

many hills, and I was very pleased with all the athletes’ performances.”

For the Lady Jackets, returning high school runners include Ashlee Hooks, Mackenzie Errington, Car-son Gebhardt, and Emma Hooks, who will be joined by senior Sydney Purcell and freshman Katy Dulaney.

“They have been a hard working, dedicated team this year,” Finstad said. “I feel like our strength is in ‘the team’ and am excited about the sea-son.”

Although Hensley has qualifed for regionals individually in the past, the Jacket boys may send a team to dis-trict this season with returner Mat-thew Martin, along with newcom-ers Danny Cassidy, Riley Dirkse and Isai Lovaton.

“I think we have a good chance of having a team at the district meet this year,” Finstad said. “Matthew and Latham have been working overtime this year. They have been very good role models for the fresh-men runners.

“Riley Dirkse has been recover-

By BreTT VoSS

meridian TriBune

Three weeks into the 2015 Texas high school football season, the Bosque County teams continue to show promise as they begin to wrap up their non-district schedules and look ahead to district.

ireDell 44KOpperl 41

In the first head-to-head clash of two Bosque County teams, the Iredell Dragons fought their way to an exciting 44-41 victory over the winless Kopperl Eagles to spoil homecoming night last Friday.

Colton Fowler and Garrett Fletcher passed for two touchdowns apiece to help the Drag-ons (3-0) remain undefeated.

“It was a hard fought game by both teams,” Iredell head coach Luis Guereca said. “Both teams deserved to win this game. Fortunately, we were able get the win.

“It was a total team effort came into play to-night for us. Different players kept stepping up and making big plays. Coach Johnston and the defense made the biggest stop in the end to seal us the win.”

On the other side of the field, Kopperl (0-3)

Page 10A • September 16, 2015 online at www.bosquecountytoday.comsports

Meridian Tribune

vOssFrom page 9A

COUntYFrom page 9A

DefenseDEFENSE Tackles INT FumR SacksHesston Jermstad 17.0 0 0 0Dallas Anderson 13.0 3 0 0Logan Malott 11.0 0 0 0Clayton Pinkerton 7.0 0 0 0 Ethan Hightower 7.0 0 0 0Edgar Lovaton 7.0 0 0 0Jason Dashner 7.0 0 0 0Jimmy Duarte 6.0 0 0 0Latham Hensley 6.0 0 1 0Marcos Anaya 5.0 0 0 0TJ Malott 5.0 0 0 0Colt Litteken 4.0 0 0 0Dion Estrada 4.0 0 0 0Chase Aikens 2.0 0 0 0Jaime Reynoso 2.0 0 2 0John Anderson 2.0 1 0 0Josh Smith 1.0 0 1 0

OffenseRUSHING Att Yards Avg TDs Dion Estrada 45 314 7.0 3John Anderson 21 149 7.1 4Jaime Reynoso 17 102 6.0 2Dallas Anderson 7 76 10.9 1Total 90 641 7.1 10RECEIVING No Yards Avg TDsJason Dashner 6 120 20.0 2Dallas Anderson 11 112 10.2 1TJ Malott 2 30 15.0 0Hesston Jermstad 3 21 7.0 0Clayton Pinkerton 1 9 9.0 0Total 23 292 12.7 3PASSING Com Att Yds Int TDsJohn Anderson 23 35 292 0 3SCORING RuTD ReTD Ret FG 2pt PAT TPsJohn Anderson 4 0 0 0 3 0 30Dion Estada 3 0 0 0 0 0 18Dallas Anderson 2 0 0 0 1 0 14Jaime Reynoso 2 0 0 0 0 0 12Jason Dashner 2 0 0 0 0 0 12Wyatt Litteken 0 0 0 0 0 3 3TJ Malott 0 0 0 0 1 0 2

Meridian Yellowjackets 2015 Season Statistics

Meridian 58 Itasca 33Meridian 33 Riesel 28

Results (2-0)

ScheduleDate Opponent Site TimeSept. 11 OpenSept. 18 DeLeon Meridian 7:30Sept. 25 *Wortham Meridian 7:30Oct. 2 *Italy Ìtaly 7:30Oct. 9 *Frost Meridian** 7:30Oct. 16 *Dallas Gateway Meridian 7:30Oct. 23 *Dawson Dawson 7:30Oct. 30 *Chilton Meridian 7:30Nov. 6 *Hubbard Hubbard 7:30*District game **Homecoming

BreTT VoSS

puBliSher

Bo BoWman

Gridiron Guru

Clifton at McGregor Clifton McGregor Clifton Clifton McGregorDeLeon at Meridian Meridian Meridian Meridian Meridian MeridianRiesel at Valley Mills Valley Mills Valley Mills Valley Mills Valley Mills Valley MillsIredell at Lingleville Iredell Iredell Iredell Lingleville IredellSidney at Morgan Morgan Morgan Morgan Morgan MorganWalnut Springs at Kopperl Walnut Springs Walnut Springs Walnut Springs Kopperl Walnut SpringsCalifornia at Texas Texas Texas Texas California CaliforniaSMU at TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCUNevada at Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&MTexas Tech at Arkansas Arkansas Texas Tech Arkansas Arkansas Texas TechRice at North Texas Rice North Texas Rice Rice RiceUTSA at Oklahoma St. Oklahoma St. Oklahoma St. Oklahoma St. Oklahoma St. Oklahoma St.UTEP at New Mexico St. UTEP UTEP UTEP New Mexico St. UTEPSouthern Miss at Texas St. Texas St. Southern Miss Texas St. Texas St. Southern MissTexans at Carolina Texans Carolina Carolina Texans Carolina Cowboys at Philadelphia Cowboys Cowboys Philadelphia Cowboys CowboysOpen dates: Cranfills Gap, Baylor, UH

Last Week’s Record 11- 3 .786 10- 4 .714 10- 4 .714 10- 4 .714 12- 2 .857Last Year’s Record 28- 7 .800 23-12 .657 27- 8 .771 24-11 .686 33- 2 .943

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Meridian Tribune

AREA FOOTBALL STANDINGSDistrict 10-3A, Div. II

District Season W L W L PF PAJARRELL Cougars 0 0 3 0 98 47CLIFTON Cubs 0 0 1 2 77 84BRUCEVILLE-EDDY Eagles 0 0 1 2 56 62 DUBLIN Lions 0 0 1 2 34 78MARLIN Bulldogs 0 0 1 2 42 92ROGERS Eagles 0 0 0 3 20 139

Last Week’s ResultsCrawford 34 Clifton 20 Valley Mills 18 Bruceville-Eddy 14 Rio Vista 26 Dublin 7Jarrell 24 Hico 23Marlin 20 Centerville 14Troy 47 Rogers 20

This Week’s GamesClifton vs McGregor, 7:30 PM Friday Bruceville-Eddy vs Moody, 7:30 PM FridayDublin vs Crawford, 7:30 PM FridayJarrell vs Rosebud-Lott, 7:30 PM FridayMarlin vs Franklin, 7:30 PM FridayRogers vs Austin Hyde Park Baptist, 7:30 PM Friday

District 10-2A, Div. II District Season W L W L PF PAMERIDIAN Yellowjackets 0 0 2 0 91 61WORTHAM Bulldogs 0 0 2 1 52 75 HUBBARD Jaguars 0 0 1 2 50 102CHILTON Pirates 0 0 0 2 33 54DALLAS GATEWAY Gators 0 0 0 2 26 61DAWSON Bulldogs 0 0 0 2 39 76ITALY Gladiators 0 0 0 3 31 121FROST Polar Bears 0 0 0 3 46 128

Last Week’s ResultsMeridian Open Chilton Open Dallas Gateway OpenDawson OpenAxtell 50 Frost 19Bremond 53 Hubbard 8Blooming Grove 46 at Italy 7Dallas Life Oak Cliff 48 Wortham 7

This Week’s GamesMeridian vs DeLeon, 7:30 PM FridayChilton vs Bosqueville, 7:30 PM FridayDallas Gateway vs Cistercian, 7:30 PM Friday Dawson vs Texas Wind, 7:30 PM Friday Frost Open Hubbard Open Italy Open Wortham Open

District 8-2A, Div. I District Season W L W L PF PACRAWFORD Pirates 0 0 3 0 95 41MART Panthers 0 0 3 0 119 74AXTELL Longhorns 0 0 3 0 110 69 BOSQUEVILLE Bulldogs 0 0 2 1 105 26VALLEY MILLS Eagles 0 0 2 1 50 47ITASCA Wampus Cats 0 0 1 2 79 126

Last Week’s ResultsValley Mills 18 Bruceville-Eddy 14Tolar 20 Bosqueville 7Crawford 34 Clifton 20Itasca 46 Millsap 16Mart 27 McGregor 24Axtell 50 Frost 19

This Week’s GamesAxtell vs Tolar, 7:30 PM FridayBosqueville vs Chilton, 7:30 PM FridayCrawford vs Dublin, 7:30 PM FridayItasca vs Fort Worth Southwest Christian, 7:30 PM FridayMart vs Thorndale, 7:30 PM FridayValley Mills vs Riesel, 7:30 PM Friday

District 13-1A, Div. I District Season W L W L PF PABLUM Bobcats 0 0 3 0 209 94GHOLSON Wildcats 0 0 2 1 143 109KOPPERL Eagles 0 0 0 3 95 173AQUILLA Cougars 0 0 0 3 20 128COVINGTON Owls 0 0 0 3 28 152

Last Week’s ResultsIredell 44 Kopperl 41 Mount Calm 45 Aquilla 0Blum 59 Joshua Johnson County 12Avalon 54 Covington 8Milford 55 Gholson 34

This Week’s GamesAquilla vs Bynum, 7:30 PM FridayBlum vs Abbott, 7:30 PM FridayCovington vs. Moran, 7:30 PM FridayGholson vs Avalon, 7:30 PM FridayKopperl vs. Walnut Springs, 7:30 PM Saturday

District 14-1A, Div. II District Season W L W L PF PAIREDELL Dragons 0 0 3 0 149 79WALNUT SPRINGS Hornets 0 0 2 0 102 6JONESBORO Eagles 0 0 2 0 115 38CRANFILLS GAP Lions 0 0 1 1 111 142MORGAN Eagles 0 0 1 1 101 131OGLESBY Tigers 0 0 1 2 109 125

Last Week’s ResultsWalnut Springs Open Jonesboro OpenCranfills Gap 89 Sidney 69 Iredell 44 Kopperl 41Waco Vanguard 64 Morgan 14Oglesby 55 Killeen Memorial 14

This Week’s GamesCranfills Gap OpenMorgan Open Jonesboro vs Zephyr, 7:30 PM FridayOglesby vs. Mullin, 7:30 PM FridayWalnut Springs vs Kopperl, 7:30 PM SaturdayIredell vs Lingleville, 7:30 PM Saturday

** Homecoming

get the attention of the entire state.

That’s exactly what we have now.

And no matter which team

we root for, it’s going to be fun to see Houston and Texas play September games that are meaningful – to both teams.

And all of baseball.

this week.”Although DeLeon has

opened the 2015 season with three consecutive losses, Rob-erts insists the Bearcats will be better than their record indi-cates. After opening the sea-son with a 29-6 loss to Per-rin-Whitt, DeLeon lost to Mason, 35-0, before falling to Cross Plains, 28-9, last week.

“Defensively they look pret-ty good, offensively they are inconsistent,” Roberts said.

“They gave Mason all they wanted for a half, they are get-ting better each week. I know they will come in here focused and ready to play. We have to focus on this game and not let the last two wins get us cocky. We’ve still got a long way to go, to get where we want to be.

“Confidence, execution, con-ditioning and healthy is what we need to be after this game. Our district schedule is a grind, so we better be ready.”

jACKetsFrom page 9Aing from being sick and is cur-

rently just trying to get back into running shape. Isai Lova-ton and Danny Cassidy have have also been running in the mornings, but are still unde-cided as to how many meets they will run in.

“It is my hope that they will all be ready by the district meet.”

Hensley and Martin got a head start on the season by running in the Hamilton Dove Festival 5K. Hensley won first

place overall with a time of 18:33 and while Martin ran a personal best of 22.57 to place 17th.

This week, Meridian will be competing at 3 p.m. in Hamil-ton Wednesday.

“I’m excited about the sea-son and the potential this group of kids have,” Finstad said. “I thought the kids all did a good job last week and I’m looking forward to seeing how much they can improve each week.”

rUnnersFrom page 9A

continues to search for its first victory despite the strong perfor-mance.

“We started of slow Friday night, and Iredell ran the opening kick off back,” Kopperl head coach Derek Ahearn said. “But we started to get on track and scored then held Iredell. Suddenly, we had a ball game.”

Chris Morrow rushed for 149 yards and Ethan Scallion add-ed 127 on the ground for Kopperl. Collin Bachhofer also threw two touchdown passes

“The game was back and forth the whole time. We have got to clean up on a lot of our special teams, and our defense as well. The offense looked good blocking wise, but our backs need to be hitting the whole faster.”

CrAnFills gAp 89siDneY 69

Despite taking the field with only six players suited up, the Cranfills Gap Lions rose to the occasion on homecoming night to hand Sidney an 89-69 loss last Friday night.

“The Cranfills Gap Lions played a heck of a game Friday night,” Cranfills Gap head coach Kyle Doty said. “The six guys played every play as hard as they could for each other.”

Keaton Smith scored 12 touchdowns, rushing for eight and catching four touchdown passes while rushing for 420 yards and hauling in four catches for 183 yards to lead the Lions (1-1).

“Keaton had a crazy good game all over the field. Jon was re-ally good and stepped up big on defense for us. Troy had key blocks and an interception and fumble recovery. AJ stepped up and made some key tackles. Ricardo had some important plays on both sides of the ball. Saul made some key receptions.”

Jon Haley completed seven of 11 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, Smith and Haley led Cranfills Gap with 17 tackles each.

“It was a total effort from everyone on the field and i could not be any more proud of the way they played all night,” Doty said. “It was also a great win for our two seniors, Jon and Keaton, on their last homecoming game.”

vAlleY mills 18brUCeville-eDDY 14

The Valley Mills Eagles came from behind to knock off Brucev-ille-Eddy, 18-14, last Friday night.

“We did a good job of playing defense all night,”Valley Mills head coach Eric Blenden said. “We got a huge turnover with 2:30 left in game to turn the game in our favor. But we must get more consistent with our offense to win games in the future.”

Mason Sexton rushed for two touchdowns as Valley Mills (2-1) rolled up 211 yards on 54 carries to control the ball and the clock. Defensively, Lane Montgomery, Uriel Cruz and Kevin Herrera led the Eagles with seven tackles apiece.

“Overall, I feel that we are getting better each week, and we must continue that if we want to get into the playoffs in a very competive district,” Blenden said. “We are very happy about our defense where it is, but offense must put more points on the board. We want to just continue to play Eagle football these next two games to have the best momentum going into the dis-trict part of our schedule.”

WACO vAngUArD 64mOrgAn 14

After opening the season with a win, the Morgan Eagles fell flat on the road, losing to Waco Vanguard, 64-14, last Friday.

“For starters we just came out extremely flat,” Morgan head coach John Hughes said. “We dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of. The score doesn’t show it, but from second quarter on we play better. It’s one of those growing pains with youth. You have to take your bumps, learn from them, and get better.

“We have homecoming this week. We are playing a Sydney team who is coming off a tough loss to Cranfills Gap.”

FUnDrAiserFrom page 1A

Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian Tribune

Meridian 8th grader Nathan Lira (22) puts up a jump shot Monday against Bosqueville (top); Jacket 7th grader Matt Rosas (11) makes a big move un-der the basket (middle); Meridian 7th grader Carlos Sarinana (32) drives for the layup (bottom). Meridian 7th graders won 38-8, 8th grade lost, 20-16.

Simone WicherS-VoSS & Kelli purcell / meridian Tribune

Kopperl’s Ethan Scallion (8) tries to run past the diving tackle of Iredell’s Angel Argott (top); Iredell’s Garrett Fletcher (13) scrambles under pressure (top middle); Cranfill Gap’s Keaton Smith looks to pass (bottom middle left); Lion John Haley (7) scores (bottom middle right); Keaton Smith (42) turns the corner.

online at www.bosquecountytoday.com September 16, 2015 • Page 11A

sportsMeridian Tribune

improvement projects and supplement ed-ucational programs at the school and in the community. 

Precinct 2 Commissioner Durwood Koon-sman, with his son Ricky and several others outdid themselves at the annual Fish Fry and Auction Saturday evening.

Folks came from miles around to enjoy the 150 pounds of catfish and 60 pounds each of taters and hush puppies that fry chief Durwood and his crew fried up.

Vice President of the Historical Associa-tion Garland Morrison was active in making sure everything was in its allotted place and ran smoothly.

Tickets for the dinner and the 50/50 draw-ing were handled at the door by Margaret Riley while Mildred Morrison graciously directed people to the serving window af-ter taking meal tickets. It’s no secret that lo-cal businessman Jake Powell’s Secret Tartar Sauce, eagerly anticipated as accompaniment to the fish and chips, did not disappoint.

Debbie Herring, Sara McCombs, Paula

Ruth Jones and Benny Damron made sure everyone’s plates were generously piled high with crispy, breaded catfish, jalapeno hush puppies, seasoned French fries, pinto beans and creamy coleslaw.

Out back in the heat of the day behind the Community Center and squaring off with gallons of hot oil were Ricky Koonsman, Harvey Galindo, Joe Herring, Danny Allen, Robert Merchant and several others.

Assisting Jerry Smith and Mike McCarty were Kay Offutt, Shauna Herring and Chris-ty Halbert whose efforts ensured that the ac-tion went on without a hitch. Both during and after the auction Donna Edwards and Randy Pullin were hard at work in the ac-counting area keeping track of bidders, num-bers and amounts. Among the items up for bid were Larry and Lana Jackson’s framed print, “Raising the Flag”, patio table and chairs, and a handmade hunting knife donat-ed by Wayne Halbert that brought a good price from Todd Clift.

It was Bramlett Implement’s donation of

several John Deere die-cast toys for the sand-box thatwent to our youngest attendee, two-year old Eli, son of Clint and Brandy Pullin. He’ll be thanking his grandmother, Randyfor years to come.

Donna Edwards, retired long-time County Extension Agent from Walnut Springs,do-nated her famous cream cheese Bundt cake that, according to the well-known and be-loved Auctioneer Jerry Smith, will “tighten your clutch and put a smileon your face”.

Lucky number 7, Tracy Whitt won that bid and did indeed have a smile on her face.

The fish that was left after the fry was auc-tioned off for fifteen dollars a bag and taken home to be enjoyed.

In addition to the auction there was a $100 door prize that went to a delighted guest.

The 50/50 draw was won by Tyler Yunek. All proceeds of the dinner/auction go to

fund the Texas Independence Day program, the scholarship for a worthy high school se-nior, educational programs at the museum and preservation efforts.Last year’s recipient

of the scholarship was Lauren Halbert, who is now a freshman at Tarleton State.

The most recent preservation effort was the renovation of the spring house in the city’s Katy Park.

The Historical Association maintains the building which houses local artifacts of the community and surrounding area for all to enjoy. Mayor Kay Moore confirms that the museum is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Walnut Springs Historical Society has hosted several speakers, including Mr. Bryan Sowell who recently spoke at the Indepen-dence Day event about the history of Bosque County in the early years.

Historical Association monthly meetings are held the first Monday of every month in the Annex building at 6 p.m.

The popular fish fry event brings much-needed funds for the Association’s many on-going efforts to store, record, doc-ument and inform people about the history of the area.

Page 12A • September 16, 2015 online at www.bosquecountytoday.comsecond front

Meridian Tribune

2015 FOOTBALLFRONT ROW: Danny Cassidy, Bryson Laughlin, Gonzalo Santibanez, Nathan Lira,

Bob Johnson, Victor Garza, Derek Malott, Blaine Taylor, Adrian Garza, Riley Dirkse, Xavier Nunez, Manuel Acevedo.

SECOND ROW: Dion Estrada, TJ Malott, John Anderson, Jason Dashner, Josh Ramsey, Jaime Reynoso, Latham Hensley, Cody Harris, Josh Smith, Dallas Anderson,

Ethan Bankston, Logan Malott, Trainer Sydney Purcell. THIRD ROW: Stephen McNaught, Justin Noland, Jimmy Duarte, Victor Rabago,

Chase Aikens, Tillmon Johnson, William Edwards, Edgar Lovaton, Michael Crawford, Hesston Jermstad, Brendan Machac, Marcos Anaya, Trainer Andi Booth, Trainer Emily Speer.

BACK ROW: Colt Litteken, Wyatt Litteken, Ethan Hightower, Coach Theo Bogney, Coach Darrell Selke, Coach Ryan Moreau, Head Coach Chris Roberts,

Coach Robert Harper, Coach Joe O’Hearn, Dakota Ivey, Clayton Pinkerton, Joseph Nolan. NOT PICTURED: Jose Maldonado, Pablo Rodriguez.

2015 CHEERLEADERSFRONT ROW: Jamie Duarte, Lauren Butler, Elizabeth Chavez, Ashley Feagley.

BACK ROW: Darci Gann, Alex Taylor, Randa Norton, Awesome, Ricki Dashner, Lauren Tweedle, Krista Warren.

SPONSOR: Shelly Carpenter.

Go Jackets!Go Jackets!

SUPPLY LIMITEDThe Official

2015MERIDIAN

YELLOWJACKETFootball Poster

AVAILABLE FREE FRIDAY NIGHTat JACKET STADIUM

BE SURE TO GET ONE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

melinda rouTh / meridian Tribune

Meridian Volunteer Fire Depart-ment Quince did duty as an hon-orary flag pole at the Patriot day ceremony at the Meridian Court-house Square Friday (top left); Volunteer Fire Departments came from all over the county to remember 9-11 (left); A musical tribute performed by Larry Davis (above).

rememBering SePt. 11, 2001

Raising The scholaRly BaRwww.bosquecountytoday.com Bosque County today 1B

Farm & ranChSeptember 16, 2015

By Simone Wichers-VossMeridian Tribune

Before the bull weevil, before the great depression in the 1930s, cotton used to be queen in Bosque County. It all but disappeared from the land in the 50s.

In recent years though, some farm-ers are devoting some of their land back to cotton. One of them is Com-missioner pct 4, Ronnie Liardon.

There used to be a tradition, a com-petition if you will, with surrounding counties Hill and Ellis to gin the first bail of that year’s cotton harvest. It’s all about the bragging rights.

Liardon who has several plots around Clifton, and other Bosque County cotton farmers want to bring that tradition back.

With today’s advanced technology the harvest is much simplified -bails are formed intobig plastic covered modules and carried to the gin on a truck.

Cotton is an excellent crop and will serve as wild hog deterrent because they are allergic to cottonseed oil and will not destroy the cotton crop like they do grain crops.

The cotton is ginned in abbot and this year’s first run has been ginned.

“There was not competition real-ly,” Liardon said. “Mine was ready early.”

Liardon brought the 500 pound bail to the Meridian Courthouse steps Friday, to have it photographed with anybody who wanted to be in the pic-ture. And there were plenty people, because they attended the Patriot Day ceremony that morning.

The bail’s market proceeds – mar-ket price varies, but it is expected to be $300 – will be donated to the Bosque County Cowboy Church.

BRinging Back TRadiTionFirst ginned cotton bail of the season brought to the Bosque County Courthouse

Bringing back a traditionFirst ginned cotton bail brought to courthouse

Simone Wichers-Voss

By Melinda Routh / MeRidian tRiBune

Commissioner Ronnie Liardon, Bosque County Judge Dewey Ratliff, Pas-tor Tater Paschal and lots of county dignitaries pictured with the first ginned bail of cotton in 2015 (top); Bosque County Deputy Josh Duren assists Commissioner Ronnie Liardon, Bosque County Judge Dewey Rat-liff in reloading bail of cotton (above); Back when cotton was queen in Bosque County, farmers brought their cotton to the Rymer gin (right, pho-to courtesy of the Bosque Collection).

Farm & RanchPage 2B s September 16, 2015 www.bosquecountytoday.com

Ten practical lessons learned growing up on a farm

By Simone Wichers-VossMeridian Tribune

The Bosque County Hay Show annually provides an opportunity to compare different samples of hay and help producers evaluate what makes high quality hay.

Hay is a major portion of the roughage diet of many ruminant animals, and with many producers purchasing hay, the evaluation of food value and protein content can help de-termine hay quality more easily so that live-stock can be fed according to hay value.

The Thirty-Seventh Annual Bosque Coun-ty Hay Show will be held on Oct. 19 at the Bosque Bottoms Pavilion in Meridian, ac-cording to Jason Whitney and Troy Webb of Clifton, Co-Chairmen of the Hay Show Committee.

An individual entering a hay sample will know the value of his hay when the show is over. Samples will have a protein analysis run and be physically evaluated as to leafi-ness, steminess, color, foreign material, and maturity.

Webb said, “Sampling hay can take a lot of the guess-work out of livestock feeding, with livestock producers knowing if their hay is adequate to meet animal needs or if supplements are needed”.

The deadline for entering hay in the 2015 show is Sept. 18.

Round bales as well as conventional small square bales can be entered. Producers with round bales may enter the entire bale or just a sample of the bale. Those who wish to have hay in the show are asked to take their con-ventional bales or samples from their round bales to their Vo-Ag Instructor by Sept. 17 or bring their square bales, round bales or round bale samples to the Hay Show sam-pling location at the Clifton Ag Building be-tween 9 a.m. and noon on Sept. 18.

Samples will be taken from the conven-

tional bales and round bales on the 18th so that the protein analysis can be made.

Hay probes are located at various loca-tions around the county for use in taking

samples. The locations are Keith Morrison and

Tommy Webb in Walnut Springs, Iredell High School Ag Shop – Bradley Fletch-er in Iredell, Brad Obenhaus - Valley Mills High School Ag Shop, Jim Bob Webb and Bob Viertel in Cranfills Gap; Natural Re-sources Conservation Service, Bosque County AgriLife Extension Service and Ken Schrank in Meridian; Jason Whitney – Clif-ton Vo-Ag Department and Bosque County Farm Bureau – Grant Dietiker, in Clifton.

There will be a $10 entry fee (no limit on number of bales entered) for bales entered in this year’s hay show. Two tickets for a Bar-becue meal will be provided at no cost to the producer. Entrants will receive a forage test, $10 meal, and a chance for $100.

For information on the upcoming hay show contact a member of the hay show commit-tee: Bradley Fletcher, Curtis Wilkerson, Casey Sweat and Mickey Burns of Iredell; Tommy Webb, Keith Morrison and Greg Ei-lers of Walnut Springs; Jim Bob Webb, Terry Finstad, Drew Leigh and Bobby Viertel of Cranfills Gap; Mike Gann, David Winkler and Kenneth Schrank of Meridian; Roger Parks, David Bevels, Ronny Liardon, Jus-tin Kelly, Troy Webb and Jason Whitney of Clifton; Roy Henry of Kopperl; Phillip Mun-den of Morgan; Raymond Whitney, Weldon Bartels, Jerry Smith and Brad Obenhaus of Valley Mills; or the Natural Resources Con-servation Service or Bosque County – Texas AgriLife Extension Office in Meridian.

The 2015 Hay Show is being sponsored by the Bosque County Hay Show Committee, Bosque Soil and Water Conservation District and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service – Bosque County.

Gather your samplesBosque County hay show deadline Sept. 18

By Julie TomascikTexas FarM bureau

Lessons are planned. New school clothes have been bought. Practices have started.

It’s time. Summer is coming to an end and students are getting ready to head back to school. To the classroom. Where they learn textbook essentials—math, sci-ence and reading. Things they’ll use for years to come.

But agriculture’s classroom taught me skills beyond the books.

Handy tricks, life lessons and how to think outside of the box.

Those lessons learned growing up on a farm can be boiled down to these 10 things:

10. Reuse and recycle. Old bath-tubs make stylish water troughs. Not that the cows really care about style.

9. Always be aware of your sur-roundings. Don’t get in between a momma cow and her calf. It’s a mistake you only make once.

8. Improvising. Caught out in the rain without a jacket? Use a

feed sack for shelter from Mother Nature.

7. Punishments were painful. You preferred a spanking to fixing fence for hours in the scorching Texas heat.

6. You reap what you sow. Ex-tra effort in the beginning often means a better end result.

5. There are no excuses. A job is a job. And it needs to be done.

4. You learn to toughen up. Or else. There’s no crying in baseball. And there’s no crying in farming. Roll up those sleeves. Get dirty.

Get greasy. And get going until the job’s done.

3. Duct tape. It has a special place on the farm. And it’s right next to baling wire. It can fix anything. Holds together stronger than glue. And makes a darn good Band-Aid.

2. Parents might actually know what they’re talking about. Mom and Dad are right. Almost all of the time. Chalk up your pride and take their advice. It saves you time.

1. The power of prayer. We

prayed for rain. For the crops and pastures. For our neighbors, fam-ily and friends. For strength and guidance. Because farming and ranching takes a lot of faith.

Sometimes the lessons were tough. Sometimes funny. But al-ways valuable.

As a third generation rancher, I prefer the outdoors to the kitchen. After all, there’s no better feel-ing than dirt under my feet and wind whipping through my hair. But I’m slowly learning my way around the kitchen.

Help Preserve Our Unique County History

Support the Bosque County Collection

101 N. Main Street, MeridianFor info: Ruth Crawford

254-435-6182

By Simone WicherS-VoSS / meridian TriBune

Round bales as well as conventional small square bales can be entered in the 37th Annual Bosque County Hay Show to be held on Oct. 19 at the Bosque Bottoms Pavilion in Meridian

Farm & Ranch September 16, 2015 s Page 3Bwww.bosquecountytoday.com

By Blair FanninTexas a&M agriLife exTension service

COLLEGE STATION – Declining cow numbers have led to consolidation in Texas livestock auction markets following devas-tating droughts the past decade, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service study.

Dr. David Anderson, AgriLife Extension Service livestock marketing economist, pro-vided an overview recently at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course in College Station.

Things change over time, but we were in-terested in the changes in the beef industry’s infrastructure, particularly livestock auction markets,” Anderson said. “Obviously we’ve experienced changes in cattle cycles, inven-tory numbers and how we trade. We have the Internet, video auctions and direct sales. All of that has played a part in how we trade and market cattle.”

Other authors on the study were Dr. Andy Herring, associate professor in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University, and graduate student Trent Hester and assis-tant professor Ariun Ishdorj – all based in College Station.

Data was collected using sources such as the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Agricultural Statistics Service and other U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Anderson noted during the mid-1970s Texas beef cow numbers peaked at about 7 million head. Cur-rently, Texas has approximately 4.2 million cows. Anderson said before starting the study, there was an expectation that there were few-

Examining Texas livestock auction market decline

By Blair Fannin / a&M agriliFe extension Dr. David Anderson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service livestock economist, College Station, discusses findings from a recent study evaluating Texas livestock auc-tion markets at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course.

er auction markets than when data first began being compiled in 1969.

The study proved their hypothesis correct, he said. Texas had 167 auction markets in 1969 and only 92 auction markets were left in the state by 2013. The study indicated that the decline could be attributed to a number of factors, such as producers using other means to market their cattle, “or overall, there being fewer cattle to market in the state, requiring

fewer markets to sell fewer cattle.”“That’s exactly what we saw,” Anderson

said. “Then we wanted to know if these fewer auction markets are handling more volume. Overall, the markets haven’t declined as fast as the number of animals. Drought will do that as producers sell cattle at an incredibly fast rate. Over time, the auction markets ad-just to that at a much slower pace.”

“The implied animal revenue keeps going

up as drought occurs,” Anderson said. “The more animals are sold, the higher that reve-nue is. But that doesn’t account for inflation. Overall, we found there are fewer markets and declining real implied value when you factor inflation into the equation.”

Anderson noted the study did not account for video or Internet auctions or other market-ing services. Also, sheep, goats and hogs were not part of the study.

By Blair FanninTexas a&M agriLife service

COLLEGE STATION – Key performance indicators have been used in business applications for many years, but not so much in cattle op-erations.

Stan Bevers, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist in Vernon, dis-cussed 13 key performance indicators, also known as KPIs, at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course in College Station recently.

“Key performance indi-cators are measurements to evaluate factors that are cru-cial to the success of an op-eration,” Bevers said. “They provide a rancher with an analysis of the operation and detail whether the operation is fulfilling the goals of own-ership.”

Bevers said KPIs can be-come a report card for a cattle operation and provide “targets” that can be met to maintain profits. KPIs in-clude the following:

– Pounds weaned per ex-posed female.

– Revenue per breeding female.

– Nutrition base expense as a percent of total expens-es.

– Labor and management expense as a percent of total revenue.

– Operating expense as a

percentage of total revenue.– Net income ratio.– Cost per hundredweight

of weaned calf.– Current ratio.– Total investment per

breeding female.– Debt per breeding fe-

male.– Equity-to- asset ratio or

market basis.– Asset turnover ratio on

cost basis.– Rate of return on assets

on market basis.“KPIs identify activities

that are incredibly important to the success of an opera-tion,” Bevers said.

The KPIs are developed from standardized perfor-mance analysis of actual ranch data, he said.

During his beef cattle short course presentation, Bevers emphasized the most expen-sive operational costs for a ranch are depreciation, labor and feed.

“They tend to move around a bit,” Bevers said. “We hear all the time feed is the most expensive cost. But that’s not necessarily true. It’s labor and depreciation. A lot of times we don’t even count or factor in our labor. Now, we are paying twice as much as what we used to for bulls. Depreciation has really jumped up in terms of costs.”

Bevers said 2017 is the tar-get year to be watching for cattle prices to come down.

“We’ve had this record run up in calf prices,” Bev-ers said. “From an econom-ic standpoint, we know that expenses follow commodity prices. Now that calf pric-es have kind of been going sideways, we know that in 2016 they could be lower and in 2017 could be lower still. That’s the market side of it, but when we look at the financial side of it, expenses always follow commodity prices and they always lag.

“The point is expenses won’t come down as fast as commodity prices. Cow-calf expenses won’t come down as fast as cow-calf prices. 2016 will have lower calf prices but not to the extent it will affect these higher expenses. During 2017, ex-penses still will not be com-ing down, where calf prices will be in their second year of decline. That’s what con-cerns me.”

Bevers said if ranchers still need things done in an oper-ation, such as putting in new corrals, new fences, paying down debt or buying a new vehicle, now might be the best time.

“If there is something in the form of a capital asset, get it done in the next 18 months,” Bevers said. “Go-ing into 2017, cash flow could be an issue as calf pric-es are anticipated to continue to come down.”

Key performance indicators can lead to cattle profits

By siMone Wichers-Voss / Meridian triBune Key performance indicators track pounds weaned, total investment per female and other metrics.

Open �rst Saturday of every month. 9am-1pm9am-1pm

Located: 500 N. Hwy. 174, behind courthouse annex building

254-435-2940

AgriculturePage 4B s September 16, 2015 www.bosquecountytoday.com

Ranch Tails by Genie & Zack Zacharias

Bosque Hay Show, CenTex Beef Cattle entries dueBy Chelsea Dorward

AgriLife extension service

Two upcoming agriculture programs are being sponsored by the Texas A&M AgriL-ife Extension Office – Bosque County.

The first program includes a partnership with the Bosque County Hay Show Commit-tee and Bosque Soil and Water Conservation District for the 37th Annual Bosque County Hay Show.

If you are interested in submitting hay sample into this year’s contest, entries may-be dropped off at the Bosque County Ex-tension Office - located at 104 S Fuller in Meridian - or at your local FFA Chapter by Sept. 17.

You may also bring your square bales and/or round bale samples to the Hay Show sam-pling location, located at the Clifton FFA Building, between 9 a.m.-Noon on Sept. 18.

Samples will be taken from the conven-tional bales and and/or round bales on the 18th so that the protein analysis can be made.

Cost is $10, no limit to the number of bales entered and this cost will give you two meal tickets to the Hay Show, Awards Program and Hay Auction that will be held on Oct.19.

The second upcoming program is the 7th Annual CenTex Beef Cattle Symposium.

This nine-County AgriLife Program ro-tates through Coryell, McLennan, Bell, Bosque, Falls, Limestone, Hamilton, John-son and Hill counties.

This year the program will be held on Sept. 24 at the Regan Community Center lo-cated at 118 CR 234 in Regan, Falls County.

This year’s program will include presen-tations that will cover proper herd man-agement and vaccine protocol; the value in buying versus growing hay and quality in storage; cattle market economics: where we are and where we are going; noxious weeds

that are becoming an increasing problem in our forage pastures and how to control them, and we will wrap up the program with a demonstration on difficult calving & neona-tal care of calves.

Registration fee is $25 and RSVP is re-quired for meal planning prior to Sept. 21.

There will be one TDA CEU offered at this program which includes a trade show.

By RoBeRt BuRns / texas a&M agRiLife extension seRvice

After plentiful rain, cattle grazed in the fields throughout Bosque County last Spring.

Farm & Ranch September 16, 2015 s Page 5Bwww.bosquecountytoday.com

Bosque County Farm & ranCh

Photos courtesy of the Bosque collection Slaughtering a hog in Clifton in the 1920s (top left); Lunch for the harvest workers at the Olli Bronstad farm (top right); Children posing with their farm’s harvest – sugar cane and turnips (middle left); Neil Nelson’s thresher on the Frazier Farm between Morgan and Kopperl (mid-dle right); Grinding sugar cane in the early 1900s (below).

SchoolPage 6B s September 16, 2015 www.bosquecountytoday.com

cliftonrecord.com

The Runaway WindmillIn a flash of movement,

we took up our positions for barking the rabbit out of our log. Drover took the south side and I took the north.

When we were both in place, I gave the order to begin. “Okay, initiate Front End Drop!” We dropped our front ends on the ground. “Commence Hiney Lift!” In perfect unison, we raised our respective hineys in the air. “This is looking good. Activate Frenzied Wiggles and Vigorous Wags!” Our respective tails came to life and began transmitting Wiggles and Wags. “Okay, Drover, this is it. Put your nose into the log and cut loose with your best bark-ing!”

Boy, you should have seen us. We did everything by the book and I don’t think it could have gone any bet-ter or smoother. Maybe you think it was a simple job and that any ordinary dog could have done it. Ha. No, it was a very complex operation that required an awesome display of teamwork and mental discipline.

Well, the whole complex maneuver went off without a hitching post, and the rab-bit should have been blown right out of that log, but for some reason...well, he didn’t come out. After several minutes of intense barking, I went to Nose Retract and shut down the barking pro-cedure. Something wasn’t working and I needed to...

It was then that I felt a shiver of dread and realized that we had company...and we were being watched. Very slowly, I turned my head and…

HUH?Holy smokes, you won’t

believe what I saw just then. It wasn’t Drover and it wasn’t the bunny. I found myself staring right into the hungry yellow eyes of...two coyotes! Yes, they were the notorious outlaw broth-ers, Rip and Snort, and I couldn’t think of anyone I would rather NOT see at

that very moment. I tried to put on a pleasant

face. “Oh, well, by George, Rip and Snort! Hey, this is great. Why, I was just telling Drover...”

Snort cut me off. “Rip and Snort check for message at windmill tower and got stu-pid message from dummy ranch dog.”

“Message? Dummy ranch...oh, that? Ha, ha. It was a joke, Snort. Hon-est. No kidding. We just thought...that is, Drover thought it would be fun-ny to, uh, you know, leave a funny little message for you guys. A practical joke. Ha, ha.”

The brothers didn’t smile. “Not funny message. Mes-sage talk about beat up coy-ote brothers.”

“Well, sure, but that’s what made it funny. I mean, it was so outrageous...look, we were just trying to brighten your day. Honest.”

“Message make Rip and Snort madder and maddest.”

“Oops. Well, it’s obvious that we, uh, made a little error in judgment, because I can assure you that—”

Snort clubbed me over the head with his paw. “Hunk talk too much. What two dogs doing with hollow log?”

“Hollow log? Oh, that log?”

“Dogs had heads stuck in log.”

“Oh, that, yes. Well, we were trying to, uh, pump it up with air. We wanted to see if we could make it...float, you might say.”

Snort gave me an empty yellow stare. “Float? Like float in water?”

“Right, only we…uh…didn’t have any water.” I studied Snort’s eyes to see if my story was selling.

He raised his lips, ex-posing a bear trap of sharp fangs. “Hunk tell big stupid lie, make Rip and Snort mad enough to tear up whole world and eat ranch dogs!”

Yipes! Now we knew for sure that Snort had no

Chapter Fifteen: Cannibals Arrive

sense of humor, and things were looking bad. But just then Drover leaned over and whispered something in my

ear. Since it changed our sit-uation entirely, you’d proba-bly like to know what he said.

Heh heh. You’ll find out,

but you’ll have to read the next chapter.

This is Chapter 15 from Hank The Cowdog: The Run-

away Windmill. Copyright 2005 by John R. Erickson. All Rights Reserved. Visit www.hankthecowdog.com.

The Arts September 16, 2015 s Page 7Bwww.bosquecountytoday.com

By Carol SpiCer / The ClifTon reCord

From art collectors, to Bosque Arts Center patrons and the artists themselves, the 30th Annual Art Classic drew hundreds on Saturday night to enjoy an evening of vis-iting, dinner, and of course the special awards presentations to the winners.

ClassifiedsPage 8B s September 16, 2015 www.bosquecountytoday.com

SERVICES

SERVICES

REAL ESTATE REAL ESTATEREAL ESTATE

SERVICES

FOR RENT MISCELLANEOUS

EMPLOYMENT

GARAGE SALE

Deadline forClassified Ads

5 pm Friday

Bosque County Elec-tions Administrator. Go to website: Bosquec-ounty.us for full informa-tion and application un-der the “How do I” tab.

FOR SALE: Lowrey Pi-ano for sale $2500 ne-gotiable. Pecan finish, good condition. Call 615-3374104MOVING SALE – 927 CR 3110 Clifton – Fri-Sat 18-19 – Dressers, Hide-Away Bed, Antique Hutch w/matching ta-bles, Cedar Hutch, Twin Mattresses, and Much More.HUGE SALE – Saturday 19th – CLEARING OUT WAREHOUSE - @ 104 4th St./Hwy56, Valley Mills – 9AM - ?. Dress-ers, Bedroom Suits, Tables & Chairs, Bar-stools, Glassware, Art-work, Linens, Dearborn Heaters, and lots more!*INSIDE* GARAGE SALE: 611 N Ave J, Clifotn, TX Friday Sept 18th - Sat 19th 8:00am -6:00pm. Tables & 4 chairs, Cabinets, pic-tures, Sterling Jewelry and costume jewelry, antiques, coats, clothes. shoes, purses. To much to list. Price to SELL!

ALL CLASSES OF MHS REUNION Former stu-dents of Meridian High School will celebrate their annual reunion on Saturday Oct. 3, 2015. “Good Times” will be shared by all at the Me-ridian Civic Center from 10 A.M. till 3P.M. with a “Pot Luck” lunch served at 12 o’clock. The MHS class of 1965 will be cel-ebrating their 50 year reunion. For more in-formation contact Clyde Herzog 254-978-2543

FOR RENT- 2 Bdrm 1 Bath, Fenced yard and corner lot.Freshly paint-ed Hardwood floors.Live Oak St Meridian. Call Debbie 817-404-9098, $ 650 monthly - $ 650 DepositFOR RENT- 2BR, 1BA with Loft, Gated, Yard Kept, No Pets, No Smok-ing. $575/mo, $350dep. (832) 309-0476 or (254) 675-0075FOR RENT: Efficency Apartment for Rent, All bills paid 615-337-4101. Leave a message.

ROCKY TOP SHRED-DING - $11/ACRE, 20 ACRE MINIMUM. LESS THAN NEGOTIABLE. HOLLAR AT ME ANY-TIME. (254) 405-2625

SERVICES

Classifieds September 16, 2015 s Page 9Bwww.bosquecountytoday.com

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT

SEEKINGReporter/Photographer:

The Clifton Record & Meridian Tribune are looking for a full-time and/or part-time reporter/photographer to cover a variety of

assignments for our Bosque County weekly newspapers in Central Texas. Experience is preferred. We are looking for

someone who can cover a variety of events, write news and features, as well as someone who has experience shooting

photos. Skill using Microsoft O�ce is required, while experience using Adobe Creative Suite, including InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop would be helpful. Some night and weekend work

will be required. Bene�ts include health insurance, vacation and sick/personal leave and mileage reimbursement. To apply,

email a resume along with a cover letter, along with writing and photography samples to:

Publisher Brett Voss at bvoss@cliftonrecord.com.

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The Back PagePage 10B s September 16, 2015 www.bosquecountytoday.com

By Melinda Routh / the Clifton ReCoRd

Just Smoke it barbecue crew Rhonda and Kenny Terrel, Brent Presscher and David Jones take time off cooking (top left); Cranfills Gap Girl Scouts in the Septemberfest parade before manning their dunking booth (right); Several civic organizations promote their work at Septemberfest, including Court Appointed Special Advocates (below); Kids having fun on one of the many bounce houses (below center); Septemberfest parade Honor Guard is Cranfill’s Gap fire truck #401 driven by Justin Witte (below right); Kids enjoy the sand pile that should have been a bocche ball pit (bottom left); Septemberfest Parade Marshalls Larry and Darla Kinney (bottom right).