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Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
2012
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July , Town
4 Texas Conservative 7 @The Ranger Library 8 Good Neighbors 9 Treasure Hunters: History Series
10 Tumbleweed Smith 12 Treasure Hunters 14 Love Lessons Learned So Far
15 From the Mailbox 16 Breckenridge Community Page
18 Puzzle-Club.com 19 Rising Star Community Page
20 This Week In Texas History
21 Strange Stories 21 From The Backside 23 In Sickness and In Health
COVER ART: Jason Heuser’s artwork has been making news all across the nation in the last few weeks. He has been featured on CBS and theBlaze.com. He lives in San Francisco and offers his artwork for sale over the Internet. You can see his work at: http://sharpwriter.deviantart.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/sharpwriter
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vol.5 Issue 62
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“A TIMERonald FOR CHOOSING in 2012” - Part 1 Reagan gave this speech on October 27, 1964
In This Issue: 3 Growing Up Small
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If he were giving this speech today, perhaps it would go something like this. ~mwnorris
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hank you. Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn’t been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own words and discuss my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks. have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are that the richest 1% must pay their fair share, that our pursuit of self-sustaining energy must be restrained, that our position in the world’s economies must be diminished, and that our military stance in the world has worked contrary to the peace. The lines have been used, “Recovery is taking longer than we expected” and “It was the fault of the previous administration.” ut I have an uncomfortable feeling that our current state of affairs isn’t something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today, 33 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector’s share, and yet our government continues to spend $5.9 billion dollars a day more than the government takes in. We haven’t published an approved federal budget since President Obama took office. We’ve raised our debt limit more than 10 times in less than 10 years, and now our national debt has become greater in one presidency than all other presidents’ terms of office in our nation’s history – combined! We have communities all over this country experiencing double-digit unemployment with more than 23 million Americans out of work. s for our military stance in the world, I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in Iraq or in Afghanistan and ask them if they think that America should apologize for our willingness to fight for Freedom. Do they expect us to sit idly by and watch as innocent people endure the brutality of tyrants when we refused to do so ourselves? Shall we retreat from victory in the name of peace? There can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us. We’re at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it’s been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening. Well I think it’s time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers. ot too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, “We don’t know how lucky we are.” And the Cuban stopped and said, “How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to.” And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there’s no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth. nd this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. his is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for selfgovernment or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. To Be Continued in Next Issue!
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Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
3Growing Up Small Town
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, Mike W. Norris
by Mike W. Norris
Antonio to fly to Baltimore in order to attend the hearing and offer her testimony. Oddly enough, there was no mention of how she was able to actually board her plane without a **American Flags: BANNED!!!** photo id in the first place..... Did you know that a town in Massachusetts has issued a ban Perhaps this is just another example of how against flying the American Flag? incompetent the US Department of Justice The Town of Wrentham Housing Authority issued a letter has become under Eric Holder’s alleged to all of the residents in at least one of its two housing “leadership.” developments that residents will no longer be able to display the American Flag outside of their homes. Residents found **Another Un-American Executive Order** the letters attached to their doors on Wednesday, July 11, after On Thursday, July 12, Obama issued an unnamed tenant complained to the Massachusetts State Department of Housing and Community Development over another executive order – this one was aimed at reversing a huge problem (in Obama’s the July 4th holiday. eyes) with this nation’s basic welfare system. I’m sorry...this “order” is coming from a public housing The new “directive” counters President Bill authority which is supported through taxpayer funding as the Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform law which result of a single complaint by a single individual who we requires states to verify that welfare recipients must assume is a current resident at the facility. Does that are actively trying to get off the welfare merrymean that “of the people, by the people, for the people” is now go-round. becoming “of the people, by the people, for the ONE”? Under this new “directive”, the Department As far as I am concerned, ALL public housing buildings of Health and Human Services is allowed should be painted red, white and blue with huge American to waive the work requirement for welfare Flags flying over every entrance!!! If somebody doesn’t like recipients and states are allowed to redefine it, then they can get themselves out of the public housing the testing and qualification procedures used to facility and into a privately owned home or rental property. verify that welfare recipients are still eligible By the way, before the ink was even dry, the Massachusetts under the law to receive assistance. housing authority rescinded the order and tried to tap dance Obviously, once you get on welfare, this around the fact that somebody screwed up. You have to wonder: Did somebody screw up because such an un-American idea made it out the door, or because they got caught red-handed with their socialism exposed? Growing Up Small Town by Mike W. Norris
**Texas Voter ID Law** Maybe by the time you read this we will have the decision of the double-Democrat, single-Republican panel of judges in Washington D.C. who just heard arguments from Eric Holder’s DOJ and our own Texas Attorney General over the dispute about us poor Texas citizens who might have to cough up a photo id in order to vote this November. It seems that requiring Texas voters to have a photo id is going to force many voters in our state to stay at home and not cast their votes in future elections. What was even more surprising is that the US DOJ star witness testified that she does not have a photo id, nor does she have the required documentation in order to apply for a proper photo id, nor does she even have the time in her busy schedule to go by a DPS office in order to apply for a stateissued photo id. However, she did admit under cross examination that she did have a birth certificate, a social security card, and a voter registration card (any two of which constitutes the “required documentation” in order to apply for the state issued id card) and she did in fact have the time to board a plane from San
Growing Up Small Town
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Texas
It’s Like a Whole Other Country. President is more interested in keeping you on welfare rather than helping you find gainful employment on your own. As a matter of fact, after the 1996 law went into effect, Mr. Obama vowed “to do all he could to undo it.” Well I guess you can at least say that he is a man of his word. But I think this President has made it all too clear – he wants the American people eating out of his hand and subservient to the all-powerful nanny state. That’s about as un-American as you can get in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong – we all need help from time to time. But help me get back on my feet so that I will be able to help others. Don’t give me a fish, I don’t need a fish. I need a hook and a line and a grasshopper...I’ll catch my own fish! **LIBOR Banking Scandal** OK, this one is way above my pay grade, but even on the surface it causes some serious issues for concern – even if you don’t have a clue about how the banking industry works! If you’ve noticed lately, the banking institution known as Barclays has been making news lately...but if you’re like me, you generally skip over it and don’t pay it too Continued on page 11...
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
4Texas Conservative ■
www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ July 2012 v5.62 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline Texas Conservative
, Chuck Norris - The Man
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In God We Trust United We Stand
By Chuck Norris
Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. Obama, SCOTUS, Taxes and Your Freedoms TUESDAY, JULY 3, 2012
Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold Obamacare’s individual mandate (indictment) to collect more taxes from you and me. President Barack Obama’s taxation shell game, which flies in the face of the freedoms we celebrate this week, is just one more reason his presidency and Obamacare need to be overturned this November. Chief Justice John Roberts wasn’t kidding when he offered the commentary about the court’s ruling: “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” Obamacare is taxation unleashed! Despite the fact that in 2009, Obama repeatedly denied to ABC News correspondent George Stephanopoulos that Obamacare’s individual mandate was equated with increased taxes, the Supreme Court defined the legislation as just that -- more taxation. When Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked by a reporter whether the financial penalty for not complying with Obamacare’s individual mandate is, in fact, a tax, she retorted: “Call it what you will. ... This is a very good thing for the American people.” Pelosi, who helped Obama ramrod the legislation, and Obama were frolicking like two kids in a candy store when they learned about the hallmark SCOTUS decision. But I doubt that middle-class taxpayers will be so ecstatic when they are footing the bill every year for another socialized medicine program. On Thursday, CNN even confessed: “In 2014, the penalty (for not having medical insurance) will be no more than $285 per family or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. In 2015, the cap rises to $975 or 2 percent of income. And by 2016, the penalty would be up to $2,085 per family or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater.” Bloomberg reported: “Some of the largest levies and fees in the 2010 law take effect in 2013. In all, the law is projected to raise an estimated $813 billion in revenue over 10 years to help pay for the expansion of insurance coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That figure includes penalties under the individual mandate, which the court ruled is constitutional under Congress’ taxing power.” The fact is that behind closed doors with the Supreme Court justices and out of view of the public, the legal teams from the Obama administration pitched Obamacare as a tax. Obama and his legal eagles lied to the public to get the legislation passed on Capitol Hill and then described it as a tax to pass it before SCOTUS. They knew that the court knows that the Constitution gives Congress the power to tax in order to carry out its duties, and that was their ticket to manipulate their way to victory. On March 26, the first day of Obamacare arguments before the Supreme Court, Fox News reported that a top Obama lawyer was chided by the justices for calling the fine for not purchasing insurance both a “penalty” and a “tax.”
Even U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli repeatedly used the phrase “tax penalty” to describe noncompliance with the individual mandate. Then Justice Samuel Alito rebuffed, “General Verrilli, today you are arguing that the penalty is not a tax. Tomorrow you are going to be back, and you will be arguing that the penalty is a tax.” Verrilli answered Justice Elena Kagan’s question of whether noncompliance with the individual mandate would result in breaking the law by saying that if people “pay the tax, then they are in compliance with the law.” That reference caught the attention of Justice Stephen Breyer, who interjected, “Why do you keep saying tax?” To require people to pay a penalty for not buying health insurance is a tax. And I vehemently disagree with Pelosi that Obamacare’s new taxes are “a very good thing for the American people” -- in or out of a recession -- simply because more government regulations and taxation restrict our freedoms and pocketbooks. The actions of Obama’s federal government are diametrically opposed to those of America’s Framers, who adopted the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Thomas Jefferson, who penned the original draft of the
Declaration of Independence, wrote roughly 40 years later, in 1816, to Samuel Kercheval: “We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twentyfour, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.” Does that not describe Obama’s fundamental transformation of America to a T? Happy birthday, America! We still are celebrating and fighting for your founding principles and freedoms Another great summer patriotic gathering is the Patriot Academy, which is a six-day leadership and political training camp for students -- from age 16 -- and adults, too.
©CHUCK NORRIS DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM - Reprinted under license by Mike Norris
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
5Texas Conservative ■
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, Chuck Norris - The Man
Patriot Academy is held each summer in Austin, Texas, and the 2012 session -- its 10th anniversary -- will be held from July 30 to Aug. 4. Patriot Academy is hosted and sponsored by my friends Rick Green and David Barton from WallBuilders and also is taught by other insightful, inspirational leaders from around the country. Space is limited to only 100 students and 100 adults for the new adult track. For more information or to register today, go to http://www. patriotacademy.com. Obama: Anti-Founders DebtAccumulating Spendthrift - Part 1 TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2012
In 2007, when I began writing my New York Times best-seller “Black Belt Patriotism,” unemployment was less than 5 percent; the annual federal budget was about $2.9 trillion; the federal deficit was $161 billion; and the national debt was $9 trillion. Today unemployment is stuck at 8.2 percent; the federal budget is $3.8 trillion; the national deficit is $1.3 trillion; and the national debt quickly is approaching a staggering $16 trillion. And to add insult to injury, our vassalage to other countries deepens as they bankroll increasing amounts of U.S. debt, and more than 50 percent of our public debt is held by private investors in foreign lands. Last week, the International Business Times reported: “China overtook Japan as the largest holder of U.S. national debt in 2009. As of December (the most recent data available), it held about 23.1 percent, or $1.15 trillion, of all foreign investment in U.S. privately held federal debt, according to a newly released report
by the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO. ... Without monetary policy change, the CBO warned in its 2012 Long-Term Budget Outlook on June 5, the U.S. federal debt could be twice the size of the U.S. gross domestic product by 2037.” The national debt is not merely the result of excessive spending; it is also the result of revenues not being high enough to pay for government outlays. In other words, while the feds have spent trillions of dollars bailing out everyone from automotive businesses to zebra-loving environmental companies, they have done virtually nothing to build up Main Street business productivity. (Disturbingly, just a few days ago, Vice President Joe Biden again called for more government spending.) When the receipts don’t cover the outlays, it should be a sign that the U.S. government is in trouble, but that’s just another typical day of federal government operation. When the federal government wastes more than $100 million a year on minting pennies, which cost 2.41 cents each to make, and nickels, which cost 11.18 cents each, it should be the first to recognize that it runs the worst business in the world; but it is the last to admit it. (Between 2006 and 2011, the government’s production of pennies and nickels is estimated to have generated losses of nearly $360 million.) In 2008, the country elected Barack Obama to clean up Washington and lead the economic restoration of our country based upon his following campaign promises: “Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office.” (Spoken at the opening of the fiscal responsibility summit on Feb. 23, 2009.)
“We will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste, inefficiency and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov.” (Spoken in a speech Jan. 28, 2009.) “There is no doubt that we’ve been living beyond our means, and we’re going to have to make some adjustments. Now, what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.” (Spoken during a presidential debate Oct. 15, 2008.) “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase -- not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” (Spoken in September 2008 at a town hall meeting in Dover, N.H.) Last week, The Fact Checker, a service by The Washington Post, quoted Crossroads GPS’ itemization of the Obama administration’s fiscal debt record: “January 20, 2009: The National Debt Was $10,626,877,048,913.08 (Obama Takes Office). (Treasury Department, accessed 5/23/12) “May 22, 2012: The National Debt Was $15,721,218,607,447.09 (Most Recent). (Treasury Department, accessed 5/23/12) “Obama Has Been In Office For 1,219 Days (1/20/09-5/22/12). (Convert Units, accessed 5/17/12) “$5,094,341,558,534.01 (divided by) 1,219 Days (equals) $4,179,115,306/ Day.” And people want to re-elect President Obama? Why? It’s tragically unfortunate that President Obama turned a deaf
ear to the recommendations of the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission. Instead, while serially blaming his presidential predecessor for excessive spending, he skyrocketed the national budget, deficits and debt by trillions and trillions of dollars and, to boot, strapped upon our backs and those of our posterity trillions more for yet another socialized medicine program, called Obamacare. Is the White House even listening anymore to anyone or just running amok its own way? The actions of this White House remind me of an ancient proverb that says, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” Next time, I will discuss how the first eight presidents handled national debt and what I know they would say to Obama, whether he wants to hear it or not. Send Comments to: chuck@mycounty-line.com
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7@The Ranger Library ■
www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ July 2012 v5.62 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline @The Ranger Library
, Diana McCullough
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By Diana McCullough @ the Ranger Library…& More!
Here we are, right at the midpoint of summer vacation for so many students and teachers in our community. I like kids, and it’s a real good thing, because our library is a popular hang-out spot for so many. As usual, I feel conflict. On one hand, I want to “feed the hungry” and on the other hand, our children need “survivor skills” and not depend on handouts. One treat a day, at our library, should be just that—a TREAT. Several times lately I’ve reminded hungry kids, this is a LIBRARY—not a café. One treat doesn’t go far in an empty stomach of a growing boy or girl. Soon our kids will be back in school, and I will miss them, but I’ll also feel relieved to know that two meals each day are provided. Everyone has their temptations, and mine has never been stealing. I’ve usually had what I needed, and if I didn’t, I could do without. HOWEVER, some of you might remember Mrs. Perry, the mother of Steve Ashcraft. Mrs. Perry lived toward town, close to my childhood home, and she was the longtime Ranger City Librarian when I was a young girl. Mrs. Perry had a real nice pear tree in her front yard, close to the road, and I can remember many a time when I’d pick a juicy pear from her tree and eat along my walk back and forth to town. I’ve thought about that tree lately. Wishing for a tree like that for these hungry kids. My dad brought me a pretty peach on Monday. Several of the kids asked for it, and I’d growl, “Don’t you dare touch my peach!” Then when no one was looking, I slipped into the kitchen, washed my peach, and sliced it into about 10 thin slices onto a large plate, and about 10 of us got to share that one peach. A peach tree would be nice, too. My daughters still laugh about how they had to pick their own snacks. We had pecan trees for the winter time, and then blackberries and grapes and pears. Someone mentioned a “Community Garden” today--doesn’t THAT sound like a delicious idea? The very thought makes me smile. And lick my lips! A great BIG thanks to Jason and Ranger’s Shoppin’ Baskit for their generous donation of popsicles for our Texas Summer Reading Club. Our reading program will continue for two more Thursdays at 1:00 and all children, 6th grade and younger, are invited. Another big thank you to Ranger’s Lion Club for THEIR graciousness, our reading program is a bit of an inconvenience for them but they hide it well! For the record, just so you know, I don’t always get my way. At one point, back in March, our library was blessed with five new computers--one because I worked nearly like a dog for our PEARL Foundation Grant, and the other four because of the generosity of a Ranger couple. Our long-time Big Country Library System technician, Mack Skinner, said I’d be lucky to get $50 for each of our old computers. You might recall, I wrote in the newspaper that I’d ALWAYS been lucky. (Well, mostly!) I quickly sold three of them before Darwin Archer, our new City Administrator, put the brakes on. Because of the public outcry, I started a Silent Auction and the bids on one computer rose to $90 and the other one to $100. Unfortunately our “Silent Auction” was stifled and these computers and other disposed city equipment will be sold by Sealed Bids after a Public Notice. I’m still hoping for at least $190 for these two computers, I can’t help it—I’m the HOPING kind! Also in our mix, now at City Hall, is a large copy machine, a donation from Ranger’s Summit Staffing and ANOTHER “Thank you” that needs to be written. Inspired by tonight’s last hymn (sung softly, slowly), “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” I ask…do YOU think it’s possible to plant fruit trees for the pleasure of feeding the hungry? Just food for thought.
Texas Summer Reading Club participants thank Ranger’s Shoppin’ Baskit grocery store for providing cool refreshments--popsicles!
There’s no place like home, and I was happy to return to Ranger Monday evening, although saying goodbye to my daughter in Minnesota was a tearful occasion. Another “thank you” to my substitute, Bob Davis, for taking care of our library during my absence. Bob delighted me with his report of sixthgrader Hayden Morgan turning in a lost iPhone—which of course was the RIGHT thing to do. Our library kids are GOOD kids! In the Minneapolis airport, awaiting
my flight to Dallas, I noticed a father with a young daughter draped across him. I said, “You’d better hug her while you’ve got a chance--I had to leave my daughter,” and tears immediately streamed down my face. The dad told me that actually his ten-year old daughter, Kennedy, would be flying back alone to Tampa, Florida with a lay-over in Dallas. I immediately dried my eyes and smiled and reassured them both that she’d be fine and that flying was FUN! We visited a little, I
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
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, Diana McCullough
offered her a choice of snacks, and ended up giving him my business card with my cell phone number written on the back—“just in case”—“but you won’t need it!” Just coincidentally, Kennedy’s seat was one row in front of mine, perfect for looking out for her. Once seated on the plane, a young, attractive black man sat down in the seat next to mine. He asked if I liked my window seat, and I assured him that I did. Funny thing about “Byron”—he was a Ranger Junior College football player back in 2002, and is now a coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. Byron had been in Minnesota for a party honoring Marion Barber and asked if I knew who that was. “Maybe that name sounds familiar…” Byron said that I must not be a Dallas Cowboy fan, and I said, “Oh yes I am! There’s nothing better than napping on a Sunday afternoon during a football game—you know that all is right in America.” I pointed out ten-year old Kennedy in the row ahead of us and Byron told me that he, too, had flown
alone when he was ten years old, back in 1988, back when “people watched out for little kids”. I assured Byron that people STILL watch out for little kids! I also mentioned my daughter Lora to him, and I KNOW he rolled his eyes behind those dark Gucci sunglasses. And for the record, he and Kennedy BOTH chose the cheese cracker snacks, equally happy. I was touched by a story that I heard yesterday at our library. A young wife told several of us about her husband battling cancer and STILL working on yards for a living. He had borrowed a lawn mower and had left it in someone’s yard while he attended a family event, and returned to find that it had been stolen. Suddenly, their problems had worsened. The young wife said, “That steals food from MY kids!” The rightful owner of the mower was gracious and understanding and another Rangerite/ Good Samaritan BOUGHT and gifted her husband with a new mower from Sam’s Warehouse. The young wife was so humbled and grateful for this
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act of mercy, and I felt the same. Lots of good people in Ranger. Now it’s official! The Ranger City Library is in total compliance with the Texas State Library & Archives Commission and will remain accredited for another year. I thought we’d already jumped that hurdle, but that letter was not unappreciated. Two new books arrived while I was gone and have now been processed and checked-out: Risk Agent by Ridley Pearson (an author that I’ve met!) and Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich (an author that I’d LIKE to meet!). Best wishes to Mitch Riffle and to his family and praying for his full recovery. Mitch and Mike graduated in my class, back in 1979. As did… Greta Gohlke, Joy Weekes, Debbie Rose, Cynthia Walton, Carol Fambro, Karrol Williams, Caprice Scott, Clark McNabb, David Perrin, Frank Pearson, Travis Rodgers, Joe Gannon and a slew of others. We had a good class. EVERYONE liked Mitch and
still does! Oh! And by the way, I told my fellow passenger Byron that Ranger College no longer had a football program but now we had a Rodeo Program and a Nursing Program. Byron said, “Ranger doesn’t have enough to do to keep a college football team out of trouble. Ranger needs MORE for KIDS.” I told him that we were working on the town, but I spared him the details. Didn’t want his eyes rolling again! A great big thanks to Lisa Sisson and Kayla Hyde for helping out with our Summer Reading Club. They were NEEDED. We DO care about kids in Ranger. At 12:55 today, there was a mass exodus of kids—the City Pool opens at 1:00—and I am so glad. For LOTS of reasons! Here’s a last thought: “Live well… Laugh often…Love much…Life’s a Gift…Unwrap it!” Please take care, and as always… ENJOY READING! Send Comments to: rangerlibrary@mycounty-line.com
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Whether or not you know it’s coming, a used in unfamiliar settings can be dangerous power outage can be a major disturbance. It fire hazards. never hurts to be prepared and to know what Turn off or disconnect any appliances, to do once the lights go out. equipment, or electronics that were on when the power went out. When power comes back on, it may come back with Before Have a place in your home where momentary “surges” or “spikes”* that can flashlights, a battery-powered radio, and damage equipment such as computers and motors in appliances like the air conditioner, extra batteries can be easily found. refrigerator, washer, or furnace. If you know the outage is coming, set Leave one light on so you know when the aside extra water and buy or make extra ice. power returns. You can use the ice to keep perishable items Avoid opening the refrigerator and freezer. cool. This will help keep your food as fresh as Make sure the battery in your smoke possible. Be sure to check food for signs of detector is fresh. Test the smoke detector on spoilage. a monthly basis to make sure it’s working. Use generators safely. If you have a Keep an appliance thermometer in the portable generator, only run it outdoors with freezer. If the freezer is 40 degrees Fahrenheit adequate ventilation. Never use a generator or colder when the power returns, all the indoors or in attached garages. The exhaust food is safe. fumes contain carbon monoxide, which can be deadly if inhaled. During Listen to the radio for updates. If possible, use flashlights instead of Comments: neighbors@mycounty-line.com candles for emergency lighting. Candles
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
9Treasure Hunters: History Series
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www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ July 2012 v5.62 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline
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, Jerry Eckhart
Treasure Hunters: History Series
By Jerry Eckhart To see more of Jerry’s treasure finds, search Facebook for “Jerry Eckhart” Chapter Three --- Garnets In Greenland
Although this chapter primarily concerns my treasure hunting activities, I need to cover a few other things so it will all come together. Prior to our marriage, I had spent some time training under Olan Mills Studios as a portrait photographer, working in their Lawton, Oklahoma studio and learning my craft. I had also earned a $5,000 scholarship for college. At that time, $5,000 would almost pay for a four year stint at college. After we married, Barbara and I lived in several rather seedy apartments in Lawton, Oklahoma while I attended college. It was a fun time, being newlyweds and learning how to live with another person. In August of 1959, I was offered a chance to transfer to Phoenix, Arizona where I would work in one of Olan Mills’ larger studios and attend Arizona State University. We packed the car and headed west. Arizona was and still is a magic place, but we were just ignorant enough to expect it to be like Texas. Instead, we were greeted with such expanse that it was almost mind boggling. You could see forever. Some of the mountain ranges we saw as we traveled looked to be only a few miles away, yet it took two hours to reach them. Between the ranges was another wide expanse of desert, dotted with sage brush, greasewood and short brushy mesquite. As we neared the Arizona border, we saw pine forests and began to climb the mountains. We entered by way of northern Arizona near Flagstaff and then turned south. We first climbed the mountains and then began to wend our way south toward Phoenix. As we dropped lower and lower, the terrain changed. Salt River Canyon was the most frightening part of the trip. A narrow, two lane highway clung to the side of the canyon cliff. There was barely room for two cars to meet and pass. I drove my old Chevy slow and careful. I didn’t mind that there was a long line of cars behind me. I was being careful. It was especially mind freezing when I looked down into the canyon and saw burned out hulks of cars which had gone off the edge. It was several hundred feet to the bottom, and those crashed cars were small masses of blackened, twisted metal. No one could have survived. There were no guard rails to prevent such an accident. I was thankful that at least, I was on the inside of the road next to the cliff wall and not on that outside edge. I vowed then and there I would never drive that road again. I don’t know what Barbara
was doing because I was concentrating on my driving and tried not to take my eyes off the road. Occasionally, I heard a quick, sharp gasp from her, but no words. I think she was too frightened to even speak. The curves seemed endless. One would end and another would begin. Each time I hoped there would be a straight stretch so I could catch my breath. We gradually dropped further and further down the canyon until, at last we were on level ground. As soon as we pulled in to Globe, Arizona, I pulled the car over, stopped and took a long deep breath. Later, we had to ride that road again, only this time, my cousin, Wayne Cox, was driving and we were riding in the back seat. It was almost as frightening, especially as Wayne took the curves at a much higher speed than I had the nerve to do. We were also riding on the outside edge and the downward view was even more frightening. Never again, Barb and I told each other. Never again! From then on, when we had to make the drive, we took another, longer, slower, but much less nerve wracking road and avoided the Salt River Canyon. We survived the remainder of the trip with no problems. The next few days were spent in a motel until the studio provided a small mobile home for us to stay in. It was a cute Early American trailer which we
truly appreciated and enjoyed. I enrolled in ASU and began my work at the studio. Barbara enrolled in her senior year in high school. She was lonely for her family but stuck it out. There was little spare time, but what time we had was spent exploring the desert and picnicking in many of Phoenix’s beautiful parks. Although that was in late 1959, the weather was beautiful. The area was much less developed than it is now. We lived in a small town called Tempe in the Wigwam Trailer Court. Tempe is now part of the city of Phoenix. At that time, it was about ten miles away. When Christmas vacation rolled around, we made a trip back home. My cousin, Wayne, drove us back in his car. I told you already about the trip back. Christmas was nice, but Barbara wanted to spend more time with her folks, so she had withdrawn from school, packed her clothes and went back. I returned with Wayne to go back to school. It was only a few days into my second semester that I received an emergency phone call. Barbara had suffered a massive miscarriage and was hospitalized. I withdrew from college and rushed to her. This was midwinter and a time when blizzards swept down on the southwest with a sudden, unexpected fury. I made it about halfway to Texas when one of those hit. Snow fell with blizzard force. As a matter of fact, it was a blizzard. Foolish kid that I was, I continued driving, straining to see and barely making 20 miles an hour most of the time. The one fortunate thing was that the wind was blowing so hard that it kept the highways swept clean. It wasn’t until I almost made it home that snow piled up on the highway. When I arrived, it was bitter cold and the snow was nearly two feet deep on the level. I immediately went to the hospital and found Barb recovering, but quite weak. She remained in the hospital for several more days. By now, it was too late to enroll for the spring semester at Cameron College, so we rented another apartment and I tried to find a job. I had exhausted what funds remained from my scholarship and although I found a few part time jobs, we were pretty well broke. In June, 1960, I enlisted in the U.S. Continued on page 13...
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
10Tumbleweed Smith ■
www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ July 2012 v5.62 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline Tumbleweed Smith
, Bob Lewis
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By Bob Lewis BANKER WITH A GUN
When I ventured into the bank in Chappell Hill, bank president Ed Smith gave me a little history. “You’re in the oldest bank in the United States that has never been closed. We didn’t close for Roosevelt’s bank holiday in 1933. Our establishing date is April 1, 1907. There’s a lot of banks that are older, but they closed. We didn’t. So we were here before the Federal Reserve and I hope we’ll be here after it’s gone.” Edward Smith likes guns. A sign in gold letters on the bank’s front door reads: In respect to the second amendment if you have a concealed carry license, feel free and we encourage you to bring your firearm into the bank. Ed says his is the only bank in the country that allows guns to be brought onto the premises. “When we put the sign on the door, the first person to come in here to talk about the sign was a woman who has been a client of the bank for a long time. She told me she was so thankful I did that because she had been carrying a gun into the bank for fifteen years but never said anything about it. Another woman came in a couple of days later and thanked me, saying she was tired of taking her pistol out of her purse and leaving it on the car seat when she came into the bank.” The sign has been up two years and has brought comments from around the world. “I have heard from people I haven’t seen in thirty years, one in Portugal who told me I was all over the internet over there. They talk about that crazy Texan allowing guns in the bank.” Edward believes strongly that people should have the right to own guns. “I can name a lot of people who don’t want you to have guns. Their names are Stalin, Hitler and Communists who want to disarm us. During World War Two, Japanese leaders said their country would never attack the US because there was a gun behind every blade of grass.” Mr. Smith has been a gun advocate for a long time. “My father was a hunter and gave me my first gun when I was nine. Texas is gun country, you know. Recently they put a man in California under psychiatric observation because he had a hundred guns in his house and maybe a million rounds of ammunition. In Texas he’d just be called a good ol’ deer hunter.” Once Ed was interviewed on national radio and mentioned he had heard from everywhere but the left coast. Within an hour he had a call from a man who said he wanted to put a ten thousand dollar CD in the bank. He wanted to make sure Smith knew the bank was getting some left coast money. The call was from Hollywood.
The Chappell Hill Bank has been robbed six times. “The first four were Yankees. Next a woman robbed the bank with a knife, then a guy who robbed the bank stabbed the driver of the car he was in and the car crashed. All the robbers were caught. I was told years ago you don’t rob a bank with a firearm, you use a fountain pen. You make a loan and don’t pay it back.” BODY SHOP SCULPTURES
During his eight years as mayor of Stamford, Johnny Anders has worked to clean up and beautify the city. He has added his own personal touch by creating sculptures from car parts. He has made six giant pieces, most of them on property he owns. “Everybody loves them,” says Johnny. “It’s fun to see kids out there playing on them and having their picture made. People come from all over to look at them. It’s been a dream of mine for sometime to put something on the highway bypass that would be an eye-catcher to draw people into town.” He turned some car wheels into a giant centipede across the street from a city park. “We had a bunch of wheels stacked up and I got to looking at them one day and I thought I could make something out of those.” Near the centipede is a giant praying mantis. He’s been tinkering with his whimsical art since 1980. Johnny owns Anders Paint and Body Shop in Stamford. Just outside the door to his business stands a giant T-Rex. “It’s made mostly out of leaf springs, oil pans, rocker arms and control arms out of various pickups and cars. We don’t like to throw anything away if we don’t have to. All those parts on the dinosaur could have been hauled off for junk, but they made something people can enjoy.” It’s one of two dinosaurs he has built. He built a giant spider that looks spooky at night. “The spider is actually drill stem pipe. We had to use heavy stuff to support the little 1957 or 58 Isetta car that serves as the spider body. We put some LED lights on it so it glows red at night. It looks like a UFO up there.” His latest creation is a sort of metal Stonehenge made of pickup beds. “We did twelve of them in a circle, trying to make it like the face of a clock. Most of them were damaged beds that had been discarded. We buried them eighteen inches in the ground and poured in
concrete so they wouldn’t turn over. We wanted to make it like a sundial but I’m not smart enough to figure out just how to do that so we just set it up for people to look at.” He says it took just a day for him and some helpers to build the pickup bed monument. “We let anybody who wants to come out and sign their name or write something on them. The senior class of 2013 has taken over one of the beds and painted it up. It’s fun and gives the kids a place to spray paint without putting it on something they don’t need to.” A tall cross made of chrome wheels stands in the middle of the pickup beds. Johnny has no art experience and says he just sits down and figures out things. He is planning to make a black beetle from an old Volkswagen. He’ll build legs from drive shafts and feet from brake shoes. Stamford is home to Johnny. He lives a hundred yards from where he was born. He was elected to the city council in 1996 and became mayor in 2004. He loves his town and says he wouldn’t live anywhere else.
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
11Growing Up Small Town
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, Continued...
much attention. Well here’s the rub: It’s easy to skip over something that you don’t know anything about...but let me just interject a little tidbit of information here for you and see if it sparks your interest – literally! LIBOR stands for “London Interbank Offered Rate” and is basically the average interest rate that London banks pay to each other when borrowing money between banks. It is basically the same thing as our “Federal Funds Rate” which is the basis for the Prime Rate used here in America. So as you can see, the LIBOR is the cornerstone of the English banking and loan industry just like the Federal Funds Rate and Prime Rate are the cornerstones of our banking and loan industry. Well Barclays is Europe’s equivalent of our JPMorgan Chase. They are a huge, multinational banking institution. OK, so now that you have the background, here’s the scandal – Barclays has been lieing on their financial reports in order to control the LIBOR loan rate. In simple terms, for the past seven or so years, every time Barclays has borrowed money from other European banks, it has lied on its loan application! OK, so what’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is that when you’re a global financial institution, your actions have global impact. And when a bunch of global financial institutions are borrowing and lending money to each other, it involves every sovereign nation on the planet – and that means US TOO!!! And here’s the icing on the cake.... Our Federal Reserve boys KNEW ABOUT IT ALL ALONG! Which I
don’t know about you, but that would imply to me that our Federal Reserve boys were also in on the plot....let’s face it...if you know something bad is going down and you don’t blow the whistle on it, then that makes you an accessory – you’re in on it! Remember the TARP bailout? When America decided to flood the financial markets with trillions upon trillions of dollars...yea, that little thing right at the end of Bush’s term in office and right at the beginning of Obama’s... does that ring a bell now? You better start paying attention to this one, cause it may reach all the way into our own back pockets. **President Obama: “If you own a business, you didn’t build that! Somebody else made that!”** I guess what President Obama is trying to say is that there is no “I” in “TEAM”...and the implication is that Americans are not a society based on the power of individuals, but rather we are a society based on the interwoven dependencies of family, community and government. In his own particular way, he tried to impress upon us poor, misguided individuals that we would not be where we are today were it not for the collective contributions of government for the benefit of the people. In other words....if government didn’t exist, then our communities would not have any paved streets. I believe he specifically used “roads and bridges” as his key examples. Well I’m about to blow a serious hole in that boy’s argument! Let’s say for example, that I am a filthy rich dude! I have so much money rolling out of ears that I can’t imagine enough ways to spend it all! (Gee, wouldn’t that be nice?!?!) We I can tell you right now that if that were
the case, one of the first things I would do is fix the huge gaping hole in my driveway that I hit every single time I drive my truck into my carport. And if I’m just pouring money around on improving things, I would go ahead and hire somebody to actually PAVE the gravel pot-holeridden street that I live on...at least from my driveway down to the corner! And then, since I have even more money to spend, I would have that same company repave the street from my corner all the way down to Main Street here in Eastland because I am so sick and tired of bouncing my way down the road. Hell, I might as well be riding in an old covered wagon!!!! Now the only reason I don’t do that is because I don’t have that kind of money! But I swear to you, that if I did, you better bet your bottom dollar that I would be driving on some some nice smooth paved streets to and from my house! Screw the city, why bother arguing with those guys, they think they have too much other stuff to worry about. If I were made of money I would do it myself! Same goes for making sure that the local fire department has plenty of operating capital! If we all were as rich as Bill Gates, we wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for the city or the county to fix a problem that we would have within our power to fix. That’s because when individuals are able to provide for themselves, they have no dependency on government. That’s completely opposite of what President Obama wants for the American people. If the American people had no dependency on the government to survive, then Obama’s entire political philosophy crumbles! The more Independent we are, the less powerful the Federal government is! If Obama’s reelection is dependent
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on his ability to make the American people believe that they cannot survive without the help of the Democrat party, then everything that is going to come out of his mouth will be an example of what government can do for you...and you will not hear him say anything about what you can do for yourself WITHOUT the need for government. There is no room for individualism in Obama’s quest for power. Either you are one of his little dependent children or you are in his way. I say that Obama can take his little government handout and stick it! Stop trying to take over my life and just let me live it on my own. I don’t need Pappy Obama telling me how to invest my money, how to chose my doctor, how to care for my family, or how to run my business. The only thing I need Pappy Obama to do is to protect these United States of America from those who would do us harm and from those who break our sovereign laws. In other words, get the government out of the economy and back into national security and border enforcement like it says in the United States Constitution. If Pappy Obama doesn’t know how to do that, may I direct his attention to Article 1, Sections 7,8,9 & 10 of the US Constitution which outlines all the powers of Congress. And then he can look into Article 2, Sections 2 & 3 which is his very own job description. And if he can’t grasp those limited powers, which he has demonstrated consistently that he doesn’t, then I say his time to sit in the Oval Office has come to an end! Vote Romney in November and let’s retire Pappy Obama back to community organizing! Send Comments to: smalltown@mycounty-line.com
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
12Treasure Hunters ■
www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ July 2012 v5.62 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline Treasure Hunters
, Jerry Eckhart
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By Jerry Eckhart To see more of Jerry’s treasure finds, search Facebook for “Jerry Eckhart”
Summer time is here and in full swing, or perhaps I should say full blast. Temperatures have climbed into the 100’s and it looks as if they will stay there for awhile. For treasure hunters, that means their activities will be limited either to the early morning hours or the after sunset dusk. Neither one of those will give them much time to get out and do their searching. A lot of hunters will concentrate on the freshwater beaches and will quickly become frustrated with the vast amount of trash our populace has left behind. No doubt there will be numerous coins lost and a large amount of jewelry, but the abundance of metallic trash will negate any large accumulation of coins. I am amazed at what I see when I visit one of the lakes, such as Lake Leon. That lake has what could be a beautiful swimming area. It is large, and relatively free of natural obstructions. The bottom is a mixture of sand and gravel, with a little mud mixed in for good measure. It is also home to cast away beer cans, thousands of aluminum pull tabs, and soiled diapers. If that is not enough, broken glass prevails from deliberately smashed bottles and lost fishing hooks. I often wonder how parents can allow their children to play and swim in such a dangerous area. Although garbage cans and dumpsters are provided by the city, they are usually overflowing and paper waste litters the area. I realize that the city does provide garbage pickup at Lake Leon and the other lakes, however, they seem to be overwhelmed by the amount. Many of those who love to chase their metal detector up and down the swimming areas simply shake their heads and move on. That really is no surprise because even with the sophistication of today’s new metal detectors, the job of rejecting that abundance of trash and still making finds is daunting. Most folks simply will not take the time to work through it. If we, as metal detector users and concerned citizens wish to overcome this problem, we must take matters into our own hands. We must make an effort to not only pick up what trash we originate, but some of that others carelessly toss aside. We must also make an effort to educate non-metal detector users about the physical and health dangers of a littered public area. That can only come about by a grass roots campaign to do so. A few years ago, a pastor took a young man out to one of the lakes to be baptized. It was not because there was no other place, but because the young man wished to be baptized in the lake. They had to walk around soiled diapers to get into the water, as well as wear canvas shoes to prevent glass cuts to their feet. Another man I know took his family to Lake Leon for a family outing. Five minutes into the outing, he heard his five year old daughter scream. When he rushed to her and picked her up, blood was gushing from a two inch cut to the sole of her foot. She had cut her foot on a piece of broken glass. It required several stitches to close the cut. Their outing was ruined. Last year, when the lake water was so low, I decided to see just how much trash I could pick up in an hour. I took a large cardboard box, one which toilet paper comes in, and began to pick up trash. I made one trip down the beach. This was actually a short trip of perhaps a 150 feet but the box was filled with cans, can lids, rotted plastic
bags, and beer can boxes. By the time I made that short trip, I was exhausted from all the bending over to pick up things and dragging that box behind me. Unfortunately, all my good efforts did not even make a dent in the debris. Now, don’t misunderstand. I and my fellow treasure hunters do pick up and carry off the debris we dig up. We do fill in our holes we dig so no one will step into one and turn their ankle, but is truly is not enough. It doesn’t matter whether you search for coins or whether you simply go to one of the lakes for a little rest and relaxation, it is absolutely necessary that these places be cared for and respected. Otherwise they may soon be closed simply because they cannot be kept clean. Is there an answer? In my opinion, there are several answers. First, discount the efforts of the city or county to properly maintain the lakes. They do not have the time or manpower to do so. Unless you are willing to pay a great increase in your taxes so they can hire more personnel and spend more time at the lakes, that is a lost cause. Instead of depending on a governmental agency to do what we as individuals should be doing for ourselves, we must take the lead. First, we can all pick up our own trash and carry it home, or deposit it into a dumpster. With the abundance of plastic grocery bags we all have, there is no reason not to carry a few with us on our outing to stow our cast away items in rather than just leave them on the ground.
Second, we can make a game out of it for our children and at the same time, teach them responsibility of their environment. Give each child a plastic garbage bag and a ten minute race out of it. Encourage them to pick up as much trash as they can in that time limit. When the time is up, call them all in and give each one a treat for doing such a good job. They will look at it as fun, especially if there is a reward at the end. Third, church youth groups are always looking for public service projects. A clean up the beach afternoon, followed by a picnic should be a way for these young people to learn just how important it is to keep areas clean. It will amaze you as to how much trash a youth group can collect in a short time. Fourth, treasure hunters, when you go to the beach to search for lost coins, before you begin your search, spend a few minutes picking up surface trash, and when you dig up a buried can, put it into a sack instead of just tossing it on to the beach. I am surprised that so many folks are picking up cast off aluminum drink cans today in order to cash them in for the scrap metal price. I am also surprised that I seen few can collectors working the beach. I would think these areas would be a bonanza for them. I realize that it takes everyone to do their part, but if we do, these beaches will become clean again. We will be able to picnic, swim and yes, even metal detect without fighting someone else’s garbage. Send Comments to: treasure@mycounty-line.com
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
13Treasure Hunters: History Series
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Army. Barbara returned to live with her folks while I was in basic training. Basic training was at Fort Hood, Texas. It was in the middle of the Texas prairie with little around to stimulate the imagination. I had no time to even look for arrowheads while there. Barbara was once again pregnant and we were concerned about her carrying this child full term. By this time, she had experienced three miscarriages. In spite of that, she braved the 200 mile trip from Fort Worth where her parents lived to Fort Hood just to be with me for a short time. When I completed basic training, I was shipped to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. We rented a small two room apartment in Long Branch, New Jersey. The apartment was a second floor walk up, but was only a block from the boardwalk and beach in Long Branch. We spent most of our spare time walking, swimming or playing on the beach. It wasn’t a pretty beach, but it was the first one I had seen. Although I had hunted for treasure all over, I never thought to look on that beach for lost coins. I had no metal detector at that time, and really never gave them much thought. I was always on the lookout for lost money around the cafes that lined the boardwalk, but it wasn’t until much later that I considered the fact there might have been coins lost in the sand where we spread our blankets. Barbara was doing well in her pregnancy, and on February 11, 1961, our son, Timothy, was born. We had a big time, playing and caring for him. He was the shining star of our lives. The only problem was the fact that I told my wife that I thought he looked like a spider monkey, all arms and legs. I don’t think she ever forgave me for that. As it turned out, he has been tall and gangly all his life. Of course, we wanted another child, a little girl if possible. About a month before I was notified I was being shipped to Greenland for a year, we learned that my wife was expecting again. I was devastated. Not that she was expecting, but that I would not be there when the baby was born. It didn’t help because the Army was firm. I was going and there was nothing I could do about it. We made arrangements for Barb and our son
, Jerry Eckhart
Tim to move back to Texas and live with parents. I took leave and we made the move. Immediately after the move, I was shipped to Fort Huachuca, Arizona for Arctic Training. I never did understand the reasoning the Army had for having Arctic training in the middle of the desert, but that is the way they did it. Fort Huachuca was located near the U.S. and Mexico border and was right in the middle of the desert. My days were filled with all kinds of classroom training. During the evening hours and weekends, I roamed the outskirts of the fort, looking into little hidden spots. I looked at rock samples of all kinds, found a couple of filled in mines and generally had a big time. Barb came to see me once. She stayed at the guest house, where her bus ticket was stolen. Had it not been for another woman who loaned her enough money to get another one, I don’t know what we would have done. There were quite a lot of legends of lost treasure around Fort Huachuca, but the thirty days I had there were not enough to begin exploring. When I left the fort, I was disappointed simply because I could not stay more and explore more. I flew directly to Fort Dix, New Jersey where within an hour, I was on another plane bound for Greenland. That flight took sixteen hours, non- stop. Box lunches for noon and dinner simply were not sufficient and I was starved when I stepped into the deep freeze known as Thule Air Force Base, Greenland. (more about that in another book) Our team sergeant met my team at the airport and immediately transported us to an air force mess hall, where we satisfied our starvation. Although it was after midnight, the sun was still up and bright, clear skies greeted us. We would adapt to this everlasting daylight within a few days. Our team was located at a spot some 26 miles out on the ice cap. It was called Camp Tuto West and set on top of a tall, rocky hill. Every direction I looked showed nothing but snow. It first seemed to be a depressing site, but as I settled in, things improved. Every minute my buddies and I had free, we explored the
surrounding area. Spring was not too far off, and everything changed. We began to experience normal days and warmer temperatures. Much of the snow evaporated. It didn’t melt, although temperatures climbed into the forties. It just simply disappeared, evaporating in the dry Arctic air. That meant I could get out and look for rocks and treasures. I soon had a small pile of interesting rocks, but kept tripping over them in my sleeping area so I had to move them outside. Fourteen miles north, was the main research camp, called Camp Tuto. As we visited that several times a week for supplies and reports, I had time to prowl around. About a hundred yards from the camp, I discovered a small deposit of Arctic garnets. They were embedded in chunks of fist-sized rock. I collected quite a collection of those and during my spare time, slowly chipped the garnets from them. When I got home, and visited my dad, he was fascinated by them and the rock material they were embedded in. I gave him most of them that I had not chipped from their matrix. The stones themselves, I kept. I gave away many as samples to my rock hunting friends, but
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even today (2012) have a few left. I got an early reprieve from Greenland’s icy terrain, when in August, 1962, I got a call from the Red Cross, saying that Barbara had given birth early to a baby girl, KimberlyAnn. Somehow, my father had contacted them and convinced them to get me an early release. Within a few hours, I was packed and on a C130 transport, headed for home. Back at the base, I packed most of my military clothing, and with only a winter uniform to wear, I caught the first bus for Oklahoma. Three days later, I walked into my father’s house and was home. Mother and daughter were doing well, and after 9 months of being half frozen, I finally thawed out. I have never liked cold weather since.
To Be Continued... Pick up our next issue for more of Jerry Eckhart’s biography and treasure hunting stories.
Send Comments to: treasure@mycounty-line.com
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
14Love Lessons Learned So Far
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, Vicki Stiefer
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Love Lessons Learned So Far
By Vicki Stiefer Gut Check on Key Roles in Marriage
Disclaimer: I am an old fashioned kind of girl. I want to say that immediately. I am a Christian and one of those dreaded conservatives. I believe in traditional values. I will never tell you how to run your household, but I have the great privilege to write about how I run mine. With that in mind, I offer the following: My husband and I have some couple friends who are getting ready to tie the knot. After many congratulations they are starting their pre-marriage counseling. At a celebratory dinner the discussion turned to roles in marriage. It turns out there is some confusion on what the roles of a husband and wife are in a marriage. A lot of people were giving the advice that marriage is a 50/50 partnership. I am sure that billions of couples swear by this particular percentage. When I got married 3 out of 5 couples gave us this advice. The 50/50 percentage theory is flawed. If I only gave my husband and my household 50% , I would only get things halfway done. I might unload the dishwasher but not load it back. I would take the kids to football practice but not pick them up. What I am saying may sound crazy but just think about it. Now if my husband provided the other 50% he would come behind me and load the dishwasher and then pick up the kids from practice, but what about his duties within the household. They get neglected and vice versa. What if a couple were to each give 100%? That sounds a whole lot better to me to get daily things done, but what about the big decisions? I know every woman has heard of the bible verse that says women are the weaker sex. Millions of women burned their bras and Helen Reddy sang, “I am woman...” to prove this verse wrong. The one thing all of these women were missing is that they are the weaker sex but it is not a bad thing. Women are to be celebrated! Men cannot live without us and the world as a whole needs the analytical feminine touch. So armed with what my husband and I know about roles in a marriage and the information our couple friends came up with, here are the roles in marriage that celebrate women and provide men with the strength they need to be successful. Men need to do 3 things in their lives and in their marriage. First, they should provide. The basics are the first things that come to mind. A man should provide shelter, food and be the spiritual leader of the household. He should also be able to make serious decisions and be the wise referee to keep peace. Second, he should have recreation with and without his family. A man who cannot maintain friendships with other men has a serious problem. He
needs a hobby and guy friends to relax with. Finally, for a man he needs to be able to please his wife and have the ability to communicate. He does not have to be Dr. Phil but he should be able to form a sentence. With these tools he will be successful and raise a positive God-fearing household. His wife and kids will respect him. But he is not the only one who plays a key function in a winning household. If a wife wants to receive the admiration of her husband and kids she also has 3 things that she can do that are integral. First for her, she should also provide. She should provide an inviting home life. A man doesn’t need stress at work and stress at home. She can handle the food, the laundry, and organize the activities. Second, she should also have female friends
and a hobby to help her relax. Lastly, she should also be able to please her man and communicate. Some women have a hard time being honest and just saying out loud what they want and need. Women have to learn to break out of this. If you do not ask for what you want then you will never get it. It is always a good idea to keep God first and you will never go wrong. Look over the big 3 listed above. Here is your gut check: If there is something more you could be bringing to your marriage then that is wonderful, but these 3 areas should be the foundation that your relationship is built on. Send Comments to: lovelessons@mycounty-line.com
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15From the Mailbox ■
www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ July 2012 v5.62 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline , by Michael Hennech, Texas Author, Photographer & Conservative
From the Mailbox
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By Michael C. Hennech, Texas Author, Photographer & Conservative U.S. Reverses Stance on Treaty to Regulate Arms Trade
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto. The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better. On Wednesday Obama Took the First Major Step in a Plan to Ban All Firearms in the United States . The Obama administration intends to force gun control and a complete ban on all weapons for US citizens through the signing of international treaties with foreign nations. By signing international treaties on gun control, the Obama administration can use the US State Department to bypass the normal legislative process in Congress. Once the US Government signs these international treaties, all US citizens will be subject to those gun laws created by foreign governments. These are laws that have been developed and promoted by organizations such as the United Nations and individuals such as George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. The laws are designed and intended to lead to the complete ban and confiscation of all firearms. The Obama administration is attempting to use tactics and methods of gun control that will inflict major damage to our 2nd Amendment before US citizens even understand what has happened. Obama can appear before the public and tell them that he does not intend to pursue any legislation (in the United States) that will lead to new gun control laws, while cloaked in secrecy, his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is committing the US to international treaties and foreign gun control laws. Does that mean Obama is telling the truth? What it means is that there will be no publicized gun control debates in the media or votes in Congress. We will wake up one morning and find that the United States has signed a treaty that prohibits firearm and ammunition manufacturers from selling to the public. We will wake up another morning and find that the US has signed a treaty that prohibits any transfer of firearm ownership. And then, we will wake up yet another morning and find that the US has signed a treaty that requires US citizens to deliver any firearm they own to the local government collection and destruction center or face imprisonment. This is not a joke nor a false warning. As sure as government health care will be forced on us by the Obama administration through whatever means necessary, so will gun control. Please forward this message to others who may be concerned about the direction in which our country is headed. We are being led like a lamb to the slaughter (Socialism/Dictatorship).
Obamacare
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS: At age 76 when you most need it, you are not eligible for cancer treatment--see page 272 What Nancy Pelosi didn’t want us to know until after the healthcare bill was passed. Remember she said, “We have to pass the Bill so that we can see what’s in it.” Well, here it is. THE CARE BILL HB 3200 JUDGE KITHIL IS THE 2ND OFFICIAL WHO HAS OUTLINED THESE PARTS OF THE CARE BILL. Judge Kithil of Marble Falls, TX - highlighted some of the most egregious pages of HB3200 Especially the reference to pages 58 & 59 JUDGE KITHIL wrote: “Page 50/section 152: The bill will provide insurance to all nonU.S. residents, even if they are here illegally. Page 58 and 59: The government will have real-time access to an individual’s bank account and will have the authority to make electronic fund transfers from those accounts. Page 65/section 164: The plan will be subsidized (by the government) for all union members, union retirees and for community organizations (such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – ACORN). Page 203/line 14-15: The tax imposed under this section will not be treated as a tax. (How could anybody in their right mind come up with that?)
Page 241 and 253: Doctors will all be paid the same regardless of specialty, and the government will set all doctors’ fees. Page 272. section 1145: Cancer hospital will ration care according to the patient’s age. Page 317 and 321: The government will impose a prohibition on hospital expansion; however, communities may petition for an exception. Page 425, line 4-12: The government mandates advance-care planning consultations. Those on Social Security will be required to attend an “end-of-life planning” seminar every five years. (Death counseling..) Page 429, line 13-25: The government will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order.” HEARD ENOUGH? Judge Kithil then goes on to identify: “Finally, it is specifically stated that this bill will not apply to members of Congress. Members of Congress are already exempt from the Social Security system, and have a wellfunded private plan that covers their retirement needs. If they were on our Social Security plan, I believe they would find a very quick ‘fix’ to make the plan financially sound for their future.” - Honorable David Kithil of Marble Falls, Texas Send Comments to: mailbox@mycounty-line.com
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Breckenridge Community Page
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HELP WANTED The County Line is looking for parttime, work from home sales person(s) to help expand our marketing and advertising sales territory. Responsibilities will include making face-to-face sales calls and developing ongoing relationships with current and future advertisers and clients as well as participating in monthly billing and collections procedures and paper deliveries as needed. Computer and Internet experience and access is required. Good reliable transportation, excellent phone and communication skills are highly beneficial. Sales experience is a plus but not required. Graphic Design experience is a plus. Excellent opportunity for enthusiastic individuals and self-starters. If you want to become part of the greatest little newspaper in Texas, then send your resume to: County Line PO Box 1156, Eastland TX 76448 -orVisit our website at: www.MyCounty-Line.com No phone calls please.
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18The County Line
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■ , Mike W. Norris The County Line Distribution Area
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Rising Star Community Page
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20This Week In Texas History
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, by Bartee Haile
This Week In Texas History
By Bartee Haile INDIAN FIGHTER SAVES ENDANGERED SPECIES – THE FRONTIER SETTLER
by Bartee Haile
On Jul. 11, 1855, the Governor of Texas gave an experienced Indian fighter the no-questions-asked job of saving an endangered species -- the frontier settler. After nine years of the Potomac politicians going back on their word, nothing Washington did should have surprised the citizens of the biggest state in the Union. But Texans never dreamed the United States government would leave the Lone Star frontier unprotected. As a key condition of annexation, congress promised in 1846 to keep the hostile tribes in check. Nevertheless, the Army broke that pledge in the summer of 1855 by transferring cavalry units from Texas to Kansas to referee the violent debate over slavery in that troubled territory. From sanctuaries south of the Rio Grande, bands of red renegades attacked isolated farms and hamlets penetrating as far as the San Antonio city limits. Acutely aware the cavalry would not be riding to the rescue anytime soon, Gov. E.M. Pease took the bull by the horns. The mission impossible of beating the raiders at their own game was assigned to James Callahan. A hard-bitten Georgian, who escaped the Goliad Massacre by the skin of his teeth, he never had lost an encounter with any warriors on the warpath. Assembling a single company of 88 volunteers, the majority from his hometown of Seguin, Callahan began patrolling the Indian-infested frontier. Pease’s orders not only authorized the pursuit of “any marauding parties” but also allowed him to “follow them up and chastise them wherever they may be found.” Callahan took the governor at his word. Hot on the trail of a band of Lipans, he forded the Rio Grande on the last day of September 1855. To evade detection by the Army garrison at Fort Duncan, the Texans crossed the rain-swollen river three miles south of Eagle Pass. Three days later, Callahan and his men laughed off a peasant’s dire prediction that they were riding right into an ambush. Sure enough, in a matter of minutes the foreigners were fighting for their lives against a superior force of Mexican soldiers. The Texans managed to slip away under the cover of night. By mid-morning, they reached Piedras Negras, Eagle Pass’ sister city, and seized control of the town. Callahan carried his wounded to Fort Duncan and talked far into the night with the sympathetic commander. The officer offered his assistance upon the visitor’s return to American soil, but Callahan refused to call off his private invasion. News the next day that 1,400 Mexican regular troops were marching on Piedras Negras caused him to curse his stubborn streak. Forced to buy time for a painfully slow retreat through the swirling floodwaters of the Rio Grande, he ordered his companions to set fire to the border town.
With the enemy column, which actually numbered 800, blinded by the thick smoke, Callahan successfully withdrew that evening. His new friend at Fort Duncan covered the retreat by aiming his four cannons at the frustrated Mexicans. The governor and public opinion wholeheartedly endorsed the controversial expedition. In a message to the state legislature, which included critics that condemned Callahan for going off half-cocked, Pease backed him to the hilt. Mass meetings and newspaper editorials applauded the adventure and made no apology for the burning of Piedras Negras. To the astonishment of most Texans, the U.S. secretary of state also spoke out in strong support of Callahan. Replying to a protest from the government of Mexico, he castigated the Mexicans for their complicity in Indian atrocities and the unprovoked ambush of the Texas volunteers. James Callahan hopefully made the most of his moment in the limelight because it was destined to be his last. The 44 year old frontiersman was shot to death six months later not by Indians but by a white rancher and his son.
Callahan moved west from Seguin to Pittsburg, which later changed its name to Blanco, where he became embroiled in a nasty feud with a neighbor named Blasingame. Never one to back down from a fight, the fearless frontiersman and two companions rode out to the Blasingame place. For the first and final time, James Callahan underestimated an opponent. The conversation had hardly started, when the rancher and his grown offspring went for their guns. In the uneven exchange, the famed Indian fighter was killed instantly. Shock exploded into rage at Seguin, and 50 men mounted up for a merciless mission to avenge the murder of their hometown hero. Galloping into Pittsburg in the middle of the night, the posse dragged father and son out of bed. As the horrified wife and mother looked on helplessly, the vigilantes shot her menfolk to pieces. Bartee Haile welcomes your comments, questions and suggestions at P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549 or haile@pdq.net. Send Comments to: texashistory@mycounty-line.com
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21Strange Stories ■
Strange , Stories by County Line Readers & Other Texas Sources
From The Backside ■ From The Backside , Henry J. Clevicepin
By Robert Stogsdill Lost Mountain Part 2
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by Robert Stogsdill Last issue I told the story of Lost Mountain, the completely round hill with a lake at the top. This is a true story from the last descendant of the family that lived there so many years ago. It is on ranch land now, and cannot be reached, except by stealth on a moonlit night. The family, who lived there waiting for the end of the world, is long gone, but the mysterious happenings continue. There is a muddy boggy creak flowing around the base of the mountain that is just as spooky as the top. It is always dark and gloomy, even during the day, and there are no insects at all, the wind does not blow, and the silence is almost deafening. There is an ancient cabin, built long before anybody’s memory, built with its back to the hill, and a cave that branches off in all directions, with the dripping of water echoing from deep within. It is said that Texas Rangers used it to hide from Indians, but abandoned it. It was said that they could hear voices calling to them at
By Henry J. Clevicepin Collaborated by Nellie Frecklebelly and Agnes & Ophilia Fudpucker
night, and the horses would not go in. It was so still you could hear your heart beat, and the air was hard to breathe. A dim yellow candle lantern was seen to slowly move across the window at night. The dog whined and tried to hide itself, the two chickens they had outside in a heavy wire cage suddenly screamed like hell itself was after them, then one of the Rangers screwed up his courage and peaked out the door. There were two red eyes glowing, and then disappeared. In the morning they found that the heavy wire cage had been ripped open and pulled outward, and no chickens were found. A place where there is no growing thing, no insects, no sound, and the feeling that the ghosts of the Indians or worse is waiting for you, and may call your name. You better hope that you do not chance upon the cabin at the foot of Lost Mountain, “the mountain will get you.” Send Comments and Strange Stories to: strange@mycounty-line.com
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** Preacher Sellin’ Horse ** Horse Business is a Wreck
& kickin ol Dobbin out. And a lot of these parks don’t have any thing for them to eat. Now, I’m sure them animal rights folks feel good about ol Dobbin wondering around out there slowly starving to death rather than have someone take him to a kill plant & get him out of his misery. I still think that every one of them congressmen that voted to stop the inspections before should have to keep a horse in their back yard for a year or two. Now, they have finally agreed to go back to paying for inspectors, but from what I hear from the killer buyers that everyone is afraid to go back in & spend 2 or 3 million getting a plant back open because they don’t trust Obama & the gang. They are afraid about the time they get it going they will change their mind & shut it down again. Why don’t they just listen to the people in the horse business, like the American Quarter Horse Association & other organizations that tried to tell them not to shut it down in the first place? Have you ever thought about the effect this has had on zoos all over American since this was where they got a lot of the meat they feed their animals. They have totally wrecked the horse market & killed no tellin how many jobs….but that is what Obama has been good at. Now, folks we got this election coming up in November and it is goin to be an important one….we need to clean house up there….the White House, the House of Representative & the Senate too. Whew…now that I got that off of my chest, me & ol Estee K are goin down to the Buzzard Roost Bar & Grill & have a cold one.
Well, Buzzard Roost is back that old hunnerd degree weather & no rain. We are just about to the point to where we may have to break out ol Nellie Frecklebelly & have her do one them naked rain dances up behind the Buzzard Roost Bar & Grill. When she gets to shaking all of that booty & doing that rain chant it’s better than the 4th of July fireworks show. Now, my mulebarn partner, Estee K Bibbles, was telling me about an old preacher who was trying to sell his horse. A man stopped by to see how the horse rode. The preacher told the man that instead of saying, “walk", say, “praise the Lord,” and instead of saying, “whoa,” say, “amen.” So the man got on the horse and said, “praise the Lord,” and the horse started to walk. The man then said, “praise the Lord,” again and the horse started to trot. He said it a few more times, then the horse started galloping. Suddenly a cliff appeared. The man yelled "Whoa!". The horse didn't stop. He tried yelling al sorts of things, and he tried to pull the horse up, but it wouldn't stop. Then suddenly he remembered what to say. The man said, “amen.” The horse stopped right before they fell off. The man was so relieved that he put his hand on his forehead and then said, ”Praise the Lord.” Now, speaking of horses. Since they stopped the horse slaughter deal a few years back we have got horses running out our ears. Our illustrious sapsuckers up in Washington figured out since they bowed to the ding a ling animal rights activist & stopped paying for inspections Words of wisdom from Henry J : “The of the meat, which shut down the slaughter plants, that all of the animal refuges are enemy isn’t conservatism. The enemy full, & people can’t pay for high priced isn’t liberalism. The enemy is bulls**t." feed & hay, so they are just turning them loose. The State & Federal Parks are full of horses now from people just driving in there at night & opening their trailer gate Send Comments to:
backside@mycounty-line.com
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In last month’s issue, we were trying to come to terms with the news that Ruthie’s transplant kidney was experiencing chronic rejection. The doctors had told us that the road ahead was going to be a little rough. Well, that rough road quickly and unexpectedly took a turn for the worse. Once she was released from Dallas, we came home and went back to business as usual. Ruthie had another biopsy done on the transplant kidney just before we left Dallas and she was supposed to follow up with DTI the following week. Well before she could get settled into her regular routine, DTI had received the results from her biopsy and they contacted Ruth’s doctor in Abilene. We received an unexpected call from Dr. Al’s office and they wanted Ruth to report to Hendrick’s as soon as possible. The biopsy results were a great concern and Dr. Al was actually somewhat out of the loop and was trying to get up to speed. He wanted to see Ruth as soon as possible and run his own battery of tests. Well, we reported to Hendrick’s as ordered and there we found out that Dr. Al did not have all the information from Dallas and that there had been a break down in communication between DTI and Abilene. He kept Ruthie over the weekend while he waited on data from Dallas and ran a few blood tests. In a repeat of Ruthie’s first weekend of learning that her kidneys had failed, Ruthie found out her transplant kidney had succumbed to rejection and that she would once again be forced to go on dialysis. On Monday, July 2nd, Ruth went back on dialysis for her first hemo dialysis treatment in over two years. She was released from Hendrick’s that evening and we came back home to Eastland with broken spirits. On Tuesday, July 3rd, Ruth and I returned to Abilene so she could check into the Fresenius Dialysis Center on the Hendrick’s campus and get assigned to her dialysis schedule and get back acquainted with her social workers and nurses. Everyone was really glad to see her, but many tears were shed as they all wished it were under different circumstances. Ruth is now on a typical dialysis treatment schedule – 3 dialysis sessions per week, 4 hours each session. We’ve had many people ask us if this is temporary or permanent. This is permanent. We’ve had several people ask us if she can get back on the transplant list for another kidney. The simple answer is yes...but the truth of the matter is that we
don’t know where the money would come from and we don’t know if she wants to go back through the process again. You can only imagine how stressful the last two years have been...so as far as we’re concerned, at least for now, a second transplant is not on our minds. In a few months, we might look at these options.... but for right now, we’re just going to try to settle into a routine and shed as much stress as possible. The Eastland Dialysis Center is still in the works and we are looking forward to checking into that as an option for Ruthie’s treatment. Her insurance options will be instrumental in that decision and of course the center isn’t even scheduled for completion or to be open for business until much later in the year. So for the next few months, we have no choice but scrape together the extra gas money needed to get us back and forth to Abilene 3-times a week and still be able to keep food on the table and lights on in the house. We will be putting together another bake sale or yard sale as soon as we can get things ironed out. We’ve also been talking about other ideas for fund raising...but right now, we just want a little time off. We’re planning to spend a weekend in San Antonio just to get away from things for a couple days. That has to be done pretty quickly because Ruthie has to go in for surgery to have a permanent dialysis access placed in her arm. It’s called a fistula...and must be done as soon as possible so that it can heal before they can use it. It takes maybe 6 to 8 weeks for the procedure to heal and she will have limited use of the arm during that time. That’s pretty much where we are now. We were hoping that this would be a little further down the road, but it has caught us off-guard, if not entirely by surprise. We knew it was coming, but we were hoping it might be later in the year, or even next year before she had to go back on dialysis. Unfortunately, the timing was not for us to decide and that’s the plain and simple truth of it. It’s been very emotional...one day filled with hope and joy, the next filled with sadness and fear. A true roller coaster ride. But Ruthie is strong and she is in generally good spirits. She has many close friends who have offered to drive her to Abilene and spend the day with her and she will definitely be taking them up on those offers as she can. I have freed up as much of my time as I can to spend those time taking Ruthie back and forth to Abilene as well...it gets me out of the house and has sparked my interest in one of my old hobbies. Sherrie has been working two part-time jobs this summer so she has kept herself very busy and is turning into a very responsible, young woman – very independent
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www.PeachyTurtle.org just like her mother. I’m a proud husband and a proud father... and even with the troubles and life experiences that we have shared with you these past few years, I still feel that we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to do, and we are striving every day to be happy in doing so. Thank you all for your support, and may God bless you and yours.
Mike, Ruth is & Sherrie Norr
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The owners of The County Line Newspaper wish to encourage our readers to help the Riffle Family of Eastland and show them the same Love, Care and Support as you have shown us over the last few years. Mitch Riffle was a passenger in a rollover, hit-and-run accident on Interstate-20 on Ranger Hill in mid-June and suffered several major injuries and is still hospitalized undergoing continuous medical care. The Riffle Family has asked for your thoughts and prayers as Mitch continues on his long road to recovery and encourages anyone who might have information regarding a grey or blue Chevrolet pick-up truck which suffered frontend damage on or near June 14th, to please contact their local law enforcement with any information. A Garage Sale Fund Raiser is being organized for August 4th at the Eastland Higginbothams location. The family is asking for donations to be dropped off at Higginbothams or you can contact them for pick up. (254)433-0244 or (254)629-1311 Cash donations can be made online via: www.YouCaring.com Search for “Mitch Riffle”
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com