Kids say write the darndest things

KIDS SAY THE _ WRITE DARNDEST THINGS

City Council celebrates winners of the Sheri Capehart Animal Essay contest • By Donna Darovich

“M ikey, our pet red-eared slider turtle talks to me in the weirdest way,” fourth grader Lucas Douglas noted in his entry for the 20th annual Sheri Capehart Animal Essay Spring Creek Barbeque) and a Kindle Fire. Promoting responsible pet ownership is the focus of the competition, but it has also been a source of fnancial knowledge for contest, as he tackled the assigned topic, “How do you think animals student winners and often their families. communicate with humans?” Part of the process has been for the students and their parents

“When I drop 2 pellets of food or guardians to come to the down in his tank, he looks at me,” EECU to receive and deposit he continued. “He doesn’t say a THE WINNERS’ CIRCLE their $100 winnings in a savings thing, then, at the corner of his account. Often, Capehart says, the eye, he sees some food, swims to it Third Grade Division parents had not been in a bank (and) then says to me “food, food, 1st place: Zoe Wolfe, Little Elementary 2nd place: Reagan Capps, Little Elementary environment, and many opened a food, gimme, gimme, gimme!” 3rd place: Cambry Lavigne, Little Elementary checking or savings account for the He gets very excited. I used frst time. Temptations treats to test how my Fourth Grade Division “It is a signifcant ripple efect,” cats talk to me. Most of them follow 1st place: Lucas Douglas, Homeschooled she says. “We want to get the kids me, but my cat Mary kept running 2nd place: Abby Tettleton, Wood Elementary 3rd place: Ryder Whitehead, Mary Moore Elementary to think about what they might do away playing. The cats mostly after high school.” ignore us, but they do like to meow Fifth Grade Division The essays were not graded, and be petted, but only when they 1st place: Nicole Wagner, Mary Moore Elementary but judged on the elements of want to be.” 2nd place: Riley Babb-Corley, Homeschooled “efective writing and responsible

Other topics dealt with a 3rd place: Margot Shaffer, Mary Moore Elementary pet ownership.” worldwide rule for dealing with Sixth Grade Division The contest was sponsored animals, how would having their 1st place: Madeleine Moore, Wood Elementary by Spring Creek Barbecue, the own holiday work, and what might 2nd place: Adler Michener, Wood Elementary Educational Employees Credit animal shelters look like in 2060? 3rd place: Liam Allen, Wood Elementary Union, UT Arlington Trio, the

On the latter, Wood Elementary City of Arlington, and the city’s sixth grader Liam Allen suggested communications department. three new inventions, including an injection of “Old B Gone,” which The City of Arlington Animal Services Center Advisory Board will make an animal that is old for its breed fve years younger. He selected fnalists for each grade and fnal judging was done by guest calls it “Youthanization.” judges Tabatha Knickerbocker and Carole Hoyer and Capehart.

First, second and third place winners receive a $100 savings account The essays are all available to read on the City of Arlington website, ($50 from Educational Employee Credit Union (EECU) and $50 from arlington-tx.gov.

CLASSIC CAR COLLECTION = STRESS RELIEF

• By Richard Greene

Photos: Richard Greene

Bob Sherwood’s ‘55 Chevy Bel Air convertible was, is, and always will be a classic

Dr. Ed Jordan stands with his 1972 El Camino, which has served Dr. Ed Jordan stands with his 1972 El Camino, which has served him and his family well over a number of decades. him and his family well over a number of decades.

Retired orthodontist Dr. Ed Jordan once enjoyed a classic car collection of 28 vehicles, ranging from models all the way back to the early 1900s.

“I got into collecting basically as a stress reliever,” he explains. “After returning home from my ofce and following dinner with the family, I would spend time working on my cars, often past midnight.

“Then, I would head to the bedroom, lay down and go to sleep immediately and get up the next morning fresh, meet the day with a smile, having gotten rid of every problem that existed the day before.

“It cleared my mind, and when I walked out of the garage, having done what I wanted to do, I was relaxed.”

There’s evidence, reported by physicians Mehmnet Oz and Mike Roizen, that Ed’s experience is confrmed by studies of people caring for things evoking calm

Photos: Richard Greene

The 1972 El Camino gained fans because of its hybrid qualities – not in today’s sense of “hybrid,” but because it could be a car for some and a truck for others. For Dr. Ed Jordan, it’s also a source of respite; while restoring it during the evening hours, he found a great way to relax and forget about the troubles of the day.

and providing a sense of purpose, exercise for brain power, and entertainment.

Today he has just this handsome 1972 El Camino that he says he kept from his holdings because it was the most practical of all he once owned.

While he talks fondly of the memories of caring for them all in that garage that grew to more than 4,000 square feet in size, there may be reasons he kept this one beyond just its practicality.

It involved family and the fact that he restored it twice before making it, as he says, “just as I wanted it.”

The family involvement with the El Camino spanned almost a dozen years, during which his wife and kids used the vehicle that some have described as one that couldn’t decide if it was a car or a truck.

Ed insists that it is, in the way he and his family used it, really a truck. “They had to go to horse riding and jumping lessons twice a week, and that was the tow vehicle.”

The restoration journey developed in two phases. “It came as a GMC coupe utility/pickup for the 1971-77 model years sold by GMC Truck dealers,” he says. “It had an original 350-cubic- inch engine, air-conditioning, power brakes, and power steering.

“I bought a 1975 Caprice four-door hardtop that had a 402 engine and turbo 400 transmission that I swapped into it and restored it as an El Camino Super Sport.”

But, still wanting it to be more, he restored it a second time.

“Then, in the late ‘90s, I put a 454 engine in it to make it as I had originally wanted, including fnding the perfect color for it – a Cadillac blue.”

All the while, relieving stress and gaining the relaxation that made him ready to face whatever came his way.

Although the El Camino may be the most-remembered version of a truck built on a station wagon platform, the concept of such a vehicle actually began in the United States in 1920 as a Chevrolet Roadster Utility. The frst generation of the “modern” version was introduced in 1959. By 1968, a third generation like Ed’s was launched with a longer body based on the Chevelle station wagon. The interior was revamped with cloth and vinyl or all-vinyl bench seats and deep-twist carpeting.

El Camino production came to a conclusion with the 1987 model. But, its history includes, according to AutoInfuence.com, a rumor that Mattel’s designer spotted one in the company’s parking lot and reportedly commented, “Those are some hot wheels,” coining the new name for Mattel’s line of toy cars.

Dr. Jordan, now enjoying his retirement years in the mountains of Western North Carolina, reminiscing about his once big collection of classics, including his 1919 Jurden Touring Car, a 1925 Rolls Royce Roadster, a 1930 Packard and a 1956 Corvette.

Today those and the rest of them are in the hands of new owners, but the “practical” El Camino with its family connections and history of multiple restorations, still belongs to Ed.

Dr. Ed Jordan has gotten a lot of miles – both literally and fguratively – out of his 1972 El Camino, which has been noted as a model that can’t decide whether it’s a truck or a car. Because of its versatility and practicality, Ed and his family have used it to taxi the kids to riding lessons, as well as haul other precious cargo. Plus, it’s the lone holdover from a collection that once included 28 vehicles.