The good folks of Friona donated 62 units of blood at the February 14 blood drive. The 62 donations from a town the size of Friona is above average according to Coffee Blood Center officials. Friona is consistently above 60 donations. Thanks to everyone who continue to give the gift of life. Bessie Holt made cookies, Mary Ford and Glenna Holt helped with registration, donors got t-shirts, Hunan II provided lunch for the Coffee Blood Center employees, and Renee Jameson won the drawing for lunch for two at Headquarters Restaurant. Thanks again to all.
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The Chieftains baseball team is in a four-team district with Bushland, Boys Ranch, Sanford-Fritch, and Friona. According to the baseball schedule the Chiefs will play each team three times, beginning with Bushland March 23. I went down to the baseball field Saturday to watch the Chiefs scrimmage Dimmitt. Nathaniel Gonzales took over pitching in the second inning and pitched the rest of the game. Good hitting by Brayden Pope, Mason Loflin, Hunter Sundre, and Brad Stowers led to a 9-2 Friona win. The boys looked good. This could be a playoff year.
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Tom Sawyer in Clovis? Clovis Area Home Educators (and area homeschoolers) presents The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at the Lyceum Theater on Main St. in Clovis. Dates are March 1 at 8 p.m. and March 2 at 3 p.m. (Texas times). Admission is free but donations are welcome.
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Former Friona resident Conrad Renner had triple bypass surgery Wednesday February 13 at BSA in Amarillo. Reports are he is recovering well.
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A one-vehicle rollover occurred about 5:30 a.m. Thursday February 14 east of Friona near Black. A woman was on the way to work at Cargill. Cause of the accident is not known. She was transported to the Friona hospital by EMS. Friona volunteer firemen also responded and extricated the woman from the vehicle.
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A fire call on Thursday February 14 at 11 a.m. turned out to be a false alarm. Someone reported a fire west of town but it was a controlled burn. The burn ban was lifted last week only from Tuesday to Friday at midnight but not everyone got the word.
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Congratulations to Darla and Rex Bracken on their 43rd anniversary February 14. Also, former residents Bill and Ruthie Hardin celebrated their 40th anniversary in Amarillo by having dinner with their kids. Joe and Helen McWhorter will be celebrating their 63rd anniversary February 24. A big ‘attaboy’ to all of these folks. If you or someone you know will be observing an anniversary let us know. We would like to mention it.
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At the Prairie Acres Valentine’s Day party last Thursday, residents Leroy Widner and Dixie White were crowned Valentine King and Queen. Tom Parsons is a new resident at Prairie Acres. The Heritage Estates residents also had some Valentine party fun and named Margaret Parsons and administrator Billy Ray Johnston as King and Queen.
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Gertie Murphree had a fall at Heritage Estates and suffered a vertebrae fracture. She is recovering at PMC. My mom, Hannah Lookingbill, came home Friday after over two weeks at PMC, also recovering from fractured vertebrae. She is still weak but recovering. Thanks to all for your concerns.
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News from Floyd Reeve is not good. He is still on a ventilator and running fever and mostly unresponsive to doctors and family. Floyd had a heart transplant Christmas Eve at Baylor Hospital in Dallas and has been there ever since. He has been battling viral infections. His farm hands and friends here in Friona are selling all of Floyd’s cattle and taking care of his farming operations.
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Better get by the Chamber of Commerce and pick up your Chamber banquet tickets. They are $25 and sold only in advance. The highlight of this year’s banquet will be a live auction. Kevin Welch will be the auctioneer. If you have items to donate for the auction contact the Chamber at 250-3491. The Cargill crew will be cooking prime rib and all the trimmings. Parmer County Implement once again is donating the steak knives which folks can use then take home with them. The theme is Western so polish your boots and come have fun.
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Don Spring is re-elected as president of the Bovina Chamber of Commerce. Larry Mitchell is vice-president, Martha Tyler treasurer, and Suezy Smith secretary. The group is planning a Cinco de Mayo celebration on Saturday May 4.
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Pam Lockmiller, 36 years, and Betty Rich, 46 years, will be retiring from Bovina Schools at the end of the school year. Had the pleasure of working with both ladies back when I was covering Bovina for the newspaper. Good luck on a well-deserved retirement.
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The St. Ann’s Catholic Church Youth Organization in Bovina will be selling breakfast burritos Sunday February 24 from 7:30 a.m. to 12 noon to raise money for a summer trip. They will have bacon, sausage, and barbacoa. They are $2.00 each. Help support these young people and have some great burritos.
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Tyler Hough caught a calf during the calf scramble at the San Antonio Livestock Show & Rodeo. His mom Renee said 24 youngsters are in the scramble during each rodeo event and there are 12 winners. The calves are 300-400 pounds and they have to catch the calf and put a halter on it. He received a certificate for $800 to be used to purchase his show animals next year. You might recall Tyler lost his 7 show goats in a barn fire just before the Parmer County Livestock Show in January. Good job Tyler.
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The Hunan II Chinese food restaurant has new operators. The Hunans moved back to Hereford. They have leased the restaurant to Senh Ou and his wife Aire Rasachack. Senh stopped by the Star office this week to get acquainted. He came to the U.S. from Laos when he was 10-years-old. He graduated from Palo Duro High School in Amarillo. Most of his family now live in California but Senh and Aire live in Friona and are excited about their new venture. He says Aire is the head chef.
They want to get involved in Friona activities and last week they furnished food for the Coffee Memorial Blood Center staff during the blood drive here. He is a friendly young man. Stop by and meet them and give their food a try. They are anxious to build their business and have menus to handout in case you want to call for carryout. The phone number is 250-2300.
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The Patel family and the Friona Inn is the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Month for February. Since purchasing the Inn in 1997 they have made many upgrades and improvements. The rooms are nice sized with flat screen TVs and Wi-Fi connections, plus queen and king sized beds. Some of my kids and family have stayed there during visits to Friona. Glad to have Jay, Julie, Sajal, Trushar, and Rhea as an asset to the community. The recognition is well deserved.
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Misty Jayne Turbeville received a Masters Degree of Education with emphasis in secondary education from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Misty is the daughter of Owen and Melody Drake.
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As of Wednesday, February 20, here are the candidates so far signed up for the May 11 city/school elections. For mayor, Rick White and Ross Paiz. Charlie Pope has signed up for re-election to the city council. Three terms are expiring: Mark Osborn, Jim Atwell, and Charlie Pope.
For the two school board seats, incumbent Ricky Barnett, Victor Guerrero, and Jose Cigarroa have signed up. The terms of Barnett and Loraine Anthony are expiring. It looks like there will be an election on May 11 at the council chambers on Main St. The deadline for submitting an application to run for city council or school board is Friday, March 1.
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We have an article from the DPS in this paper reporting a new website that lists unsolved cold case murders in Texas. If you are a CSI, 48 Hours, or The First 48 crime junkie like me you will want to take a look at these real life crimes. Interesting.
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As we went to press Wednesday they were predicting precipitation in the form of rain or snow or both. It was cold and cloudy. Hope we received some much needed moisture out of it. Check out the free puppies ad in the classifieds. Thanks for reading the Star. See you next time. Until then!
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