Thanks to the many volunteers that sliced, marinated, cooked, served, and cleaned up for the senior class steak dinner Sunday. As usual a large crowd enjoyed the steak and baked potato menu not to mention the always obscene amount of delicious homemade desserts. Special thanks to all who purchased tickets and came out to eat the steaks. It is always a lot of work so thank you, thank you everybody. (Becky Riethmayer said the first senior class steak dinner was held in 1992.)
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Jo Carrol (Wiley) Czeizinger lives in Dover, Delaware, probably our farthest Friona Star subscriber. She sent her renewal this week with a note: "I still enjoy reading the Star. I enjoy reading about my cousin Connie Slagle. I did see my brother's name in the Star, James Wiley. Keep up the good work and God bless you."
Former residents Trell and Harold Taylor, now of Mineral Wells, Texas, sent a renewal. Trell said, "We enjoy the Friona news every week. Harold and I are doing well. Thanks, Trell." We appreciate hearing from our out-of-town readers.
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The 13th annual Fore Country Golf Scramble is set for Friday, June 3 at the John Pitman golf course in Hereford. It benefits scholarships for West Texas A&M students from Deaf Smith, Castro, Parmer, and Oldham counties. The Golf Scramble committee is Mike Mauldin and Scott Keeling of Hereford, Jayson Grimsley of Friona, Perry Kirkland of Vega, and Codi Cleavinger of Dimmitt.
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Love Funds are set up for Freddie Walker at the Friona Credit Union and the First National Bank. Freddie had a stroke and will be undergoing rehab in Amarillo. Donations will assist with his medical expenses.
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Benny and Mary Pryor sent in their renewal and said they will be married 65 years on August 18, 2016. Thought I would mention it now since I may forget before August gets here.
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County commissioners met Monday April 11 in Farwell. The agenda was light with regular items tended to such as accounts payable and treasurer's report. District Attorney Kathryn Gurley asked to use Forfeiture Funds to have a Forensic Crime Scene Academy for area law enforcement. It would be a three week course, 120 hours, for police and Sheriff deputies in Bailey and Parmer County. Commissioners approved the request.
Four requests to put a pipeline or waterline under a county road were granted. Sheriff Geries said the jail has 38 inmates, nine from Hutchinson County and several from Curry County. Judge Ellis told me that County Clerk Gerri Bowers is in Lubbock Covenant Hospital seriously ill. Our thoughts and prayers to Gerri.
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Apparently the Circus is stopping in Friona Thursday April 14 (today). I know that because there is a Circus poster taped to the front window of the Star office. They run around town taping posters on the buildings but we can be pretty sure they won't take them all down before they skip town. I think it is rude to tape the poster on our window without permission.
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Dana Jameson and I were asked to judge a 2A district UIL journalism competition at Amarillo College in Hereford last week. We judged and commented on news writing, feature writing, headline writing, and editorial writing. It was quite an interesting experience to see if the students could express themselves in sentences longer than 140 characters. We enjoyed a nice hamburger lunch from the Hereford Lions Club. Thanks to Joy Morton for recruiting us as judges.
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A huge announcement last week: Wal Mart will be selling only cage free eggs by 2025. Hopefully we will be able to remember that 10 years from now.
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I keep a scanner on at the Star office and at home in case some news happens to cover for the paper. Last Friday about 4:00 p.m. the Friona EMS was paged to transfer a patient to Amarillo. While they were gone the Bovina EMS was called to a medical emergency here in Friona. Bovina came over and hauled a patient to PMC. Then, the Friona EMS got back to town and was immediately called to PMC to transfer a patient to UMC in Lubbock. Let's be ever thankful for our first responders.
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Duncan Welch is the new manager at the Friona Farmers Co-Op Gin. Duncan is a Friona native and FHS graduate, the son of Kevin and Linda Welch. He will graduate from Texas Tech in May and has already assumed his role at the gin part time.
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Dana has a nice story this week about our 9-1-1 dispatchers, which are officially called telecommunicators. April is 9-1-1 Education Month. Our local dispatchers in the Sheriff's Office and the Friona Police Department are on duty 24/7/365. On page 10 is a list of do's and don'ts when you call 9-1-1. Often callers do not know exactly where they are. I've heard callers say they are west of Friona when they are actually east. Our Friona dispatchers are on the front page. Tell them thanks when you see them around town. P.S. Don't call 9-1-1 unless you have an emergency.
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We got some nice rain this week. Looks like the weekend might bring windy rainstorms. There is district track in Tulia Friday and baseball here Saturday. Both could have weather trouble. Oh well, we live in the Panhandle. See you around town. Until then!
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