Official weather guy John Gurley reports Friona received 0.69" of rain Monday and a 1.35" total for the month of April.
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Congratulations to Shanna Peeples, a teacher at Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, for being named National Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief State School Offices. She was also Secondary Teacher of the Year in Texas for the 2014-2015 school year. The best thing about it is she is an English teacher. Yay for English and way to go Mrs. Peeples. She was formally recognized by President Obama at the White House Wednesday of this week.
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A Life Celebration Service honoring Brandi Magee will be held Friday May 1 at 10:00 a.m. at Calvary Baptist Church.
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Sunday May 3 is my son Zac's 26th birthday. Sunday May 10 is Mother's Day. Better go get your momma something and I better send my son Zac a birthday surprise. The St. Ann's Catholic Church youth group in Bovina is sponsoring a fried chicken dinner at the church on Mother's Day.
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Alcohol sales for off-premises consumption will be on the ballot May 9 in Bovina. Hard to tell what the turnout might be. It would be the first time in several hundred years that booze would be available in Parmer County.
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We are in the process of having all of our past issues of the Friona Star digitized by Texas Tech. They will scan our newspapers and make them available online. We have copies of all of our Friona Stars back to the 50s and copies of many papers back into the 30s. When the process is completed (hasn't started yet) we will advise and let you know how to access them. This is a good service provided to area newspapers by the university. Many of our older issues are pretty fragile.
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A 15-year-old juvenile male burglarized a residence in Castro County Sunday evening, stealing a shotgun and rifle and ammo plus a Ford F350 diesel pickup. The youngster was traveling west in the pickup on Hwy 86 into Parmer County when spotted by a Sheriff's deputy. A chase ensued, joined by Sheriff Geries and Friona and Bovina police.
The pickup turned north on Hwy 214 at Hub and entered Friona briefly. Sheriff Geries put down spike strips on the Hwy 214 overpass bridge which managed to flatten the right front tire but the pickup eventually turned back south on 214 and drove about 25 miles on the brake rim until being cornered near Clay's Corner after the youngster drove out into a wheat field for some reason. Sheriff Geries said two Sheriff vehicles were damaged and a Bovina police vehicle blew a transmission during the chase.
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The baseball Chieftains beat Littlefield last Friday 2-0 to improve their district record to 3-4 with one game left Wednesday evening with Dimmitt here at the Chieftain Ball Park. The game was moved to Wednesday because of a wet field Tuesday. The Chiefs swept Littlefield in district and look to sweep Dimmitt also. I've been told by more than one person that the Chieftains have never won a baseball playoff game. Let's hope this is the year. The common thought is the Chiefs would meet River Road in the first playoff round.
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The clothes closet at First Baptist Church will be open Saturday May 2 at 10:00 a.m. Everyone is invited. All items are free.
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Looks like Channel 10 will be visiting Bovina this summer as a part of their Celebration in the Park series at various Panhandle cities. Exact date available later.
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Sharon White and Elizabeth McLellan were in the Star office this week looking back at some old newspapers gathering info for the all-school reunion coming up September 19 during the Maize Days celebration. Each class is supposed to send notices to their members. For more info contact Sharon or Elizabeth.
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It appears the Hometown Hardware location on Main St. has closed. There has not been any activity there in some time and the local phone has been disconnected.
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Cleanup day at the Friona Cemetery will be Thursday May 14 beginning at 5:00 p.m. Volunteers are needed to help out and snacks and drinks will be provided. Come help pickup trash, old faded flowers and other items on the grounds of the cemetery to get it cleaned up in advance of the Memorial Day weekend.
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Javier Correa of Friona is on the heart transplant list. The Correa family is holding a fundraising dinner Sunday May 17 in the junior high cafeteria at 11:00 a.m. Tickets are $8 and the dinner is Mexican pile-on with dessert and drink. Tickets are available at the junior high cafeteria, the Hi-Pro Feeds sales office, or from any family member. Take-outs will be available too.
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Four senior class banquets down and one to go. The seniors enjoyed food and fellowship at the Methodist Church this week and their final banquet is Monday May 4 at Victory Family Worship Center. May is here and it is a horse race now to May 29 graduation.
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The jam-packed May school calendar is in this Star. Thanks again to Superintendent Kenny Austin, the FISD school board, and especially to the superintendent's secretary Kathy Sandoval for putting the monthly activity calendars together for publication.
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One of my favorite events is coming up this weekend. The Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs will be run Saturday and I hope to be watching. I enjoy all of the lead-up hype and checking the odds and then the race itself is always exciting. Fun to watch the owners of the winning horse jump around and hug everybody in sight. We will move on to May now. You can come along too. Until then!
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