Great weather for this time of year. This is our last Friona Star for 2013. We will not publish a Star next week. We are giving ourselves a rest before the New Year descends. Next Star will be the January 2, 2014 edition. We do appreciate all of the support we get from our advertisers and readers that make the Friona Star possible every week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
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Correction: On the Project Christmas Card list of donors is a typographical error. That section was printed early and we found the error after it was printed. The names are alphabetical and under the “S” it should read Dr. Dale and Donna Schueler. We apologize to Dale and Donna for the mistake.
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Anniversaries: Nathan and Mandy (Geries) Rigler 8 years. Joyce and Randy Dickson 48 years. Congratulations to all. Remember if you or someone you know has an anniversary we will share it in Town Talk.
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In the Booster Club drawing at the basketball game Tuesday night, Annette Loflin won the laptop computer from the volleyball girls and Tiffany DeLaO won the t-shirt quilt raffled by the Booster Club.
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Matt Lingle, manager of the Friona Farmers Co-Op Gin, said they completed ginning in 16 days this year and had a total of 3,512 bales ginned. It was a disappointing year with more than half of cotton acres damaged by bad weather. It is thought that more acres will be planted next season because the price of corn has fallen. As always our local producers will roll the dice again in 2014.
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Friona High School graduate Alex Wilkerson was killed in an accident last Thursday evening about seven miles south of Post, Texas on Hwy 84. He was 28 years-old. It was said he misjudged a curve, traveled across the median into the southbound lane where his cattle truck collided with another semi-. Both trucks burst into flames. Alex was pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver was taken to a Lubbock hospital. Alex lived in Muleshoe. He was a fine young man. Our sympathies to his family and friends.
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Congratulations to Alex Gurley who graduated from Texas Tech Saturday. He has accepted a job with Asarco in Amarillo. Congratulations to Deirdre Johnston Long who completed her student teaching in Friona last week and graduated from West Texas A&M Saturday. Other area graduates from WTAMU on Saturday were Debra Cooper-Friona, Andrew Chase Timms-Lazbuddie, and Yaniree Martinez-Bovina. All the best to each of you on a great accomplishment.
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Before returning to Friona in 2002, Andy and Julia Alexander were actor/singers at Disney World in Orlando. Last week they returned to Orlando with their two daughters for a reunion with some of their fellow entertainers. It was their first trip back since moving to Friona. Andy said they took the girls to most all of the Disney attractions and Universal Studios and enjoyed a couple of reunion parties. To get to Orlando they drove to Austin and flew non-stop to Orlando. On the return they landed in Austin about 6:30 p.m. Sunday and drove back to Friona, arriving about 3:30 a.m. Monday.
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Last week we mentioned that Tania Hand Raindl was having triplets in the spring, all three boys. We can also report that Tammy Spencer Fincher is having triplets too, one girl and twin boys. Tammy’s mom Cathy said Tammy is in the hospital this week and the little ones could come at any time although they are not officially due until February 8. Both families could use your thoughts and prayers for a positive outcome.
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The filing deadline for county offices was December 9. The only contested race in the March primary will be Steve Cockerham and Mitch Terry running for Precinct 2 County Commissioner. All other county incumbents are unopposed.
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In a special county commissioners meeting Monday, the commissioners approved sponsoring a state block grant for the Lazbuddie ISD to improve the district’s water supply. Lazbuddie ISD maintains 16 homes for teachers and staff. The district was advised they have only a 180 day water supply.
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Spotted a photo on Facebook of Hollis Gurley in a hospital bed in Vail, Colorado. The caption read “Vail 1, ACL 0.” The Gurleys were on a post-graduation ski trip in Vail. Hollis had on a hospital gown and an IV in place while giving the Tech guns up sign. Skiing can be hazardous to your health. We hope the ACL is not in serious shape. Get well sooner Hollis.
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We don’t have the stats from the Farwell basketball tournament but the Chiefs and Squaws both finished in 4th place. The teams host River Road Friday night Dec 20. Games are at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. They will participate in the Littlefield tournament December 26-28. Don’t forget district games will be broadcast on KNNK 100.5 FM and you can tune in to KNNK on WT Services channel 6.
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The Friona Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas lighting contest winner is the home of Rickey and Kathryn Rector. The Rector home is located four miles south of Friona on Hwy 214.
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Congratulations to Friona ISD superintendent Kenny Austin. At the high school choir Christmas concert Monday evening, Mr. Austin was presented with an award from the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) for consistently providing a quality music program in our Friona schools. We do indeed have a great choir program, over 100 kids participate. Our Chieftain band is super good and enthusiastic. Our band directors are Chris Rackley assisted by Benjamin Monk and Allison Johnston. Allison and Daniel Hutchins are the choir directors. Way to go Kenny and FISD music.
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Bobby Thompson and son Collin built a nice new scorer’s table for the high school gym. It is an elevated platform. The old scorer table sat on the floor. It is now being used in the new activity center gym. The new table is sponsored by First National Bank-Friona Banking Center. There is a photo of the new scorer table on the front page. It arrived just in time for district basketball to begin.
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Well 2013 came and went. We’ve had a successful year here at the newspaper thanks to our advertisers and readers. We very much appreciate your support. This is and will remain a local community newspaper. We like sharing news and photos we receive from our readers. Not everything we receive makes it into the newspaper but most does. We will see you back here in 2014. Until then!
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