About Town

By Ida and Doris Lessenden

November 5, 2004

Camfel Productions presented a large three screen slide show accompanied by up-beat music last Thursday at the Eads Schools. The elementary students saw one show and Eads and Plainview high school students saw another. "Quest for Respect" was the theme this year illustrating good choices and the horrible and alarming choices that some people make. The performance ended with the statement that "all people want respect and it is a lifelong journey".

Buster and Frances Bowens’ daughter, Markie and husband, Roy Laughlin, of Wheeler, Texas, gave them a wonderful surprise and gift this fall, by renting Recreation Vehicle and wheelchairs. They took them to western New York to visit their son, Scott, and family. This was a real joy for all of them. One of the highlights for Buster was getting to tour the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.. Frances said, "I never thought I would get to see all those wonderful sights. We who know Frances knows how much she misses her family in the East.

Courtney Ferrall who was an Eads student a few years ago was riding in a pick-up with three other seniors from North Park High School in Walden, last week when they had a tragic accident. Courtney is the only survivor. The seniors were not wearing seatbelts while traveling about 83 mph on a 50 mph road according to the State Patrol. Courtney is in Children’s Hospital.

The Eads FBLA is hosting a Potato Bar supper Tuesday, November 9^th. Their sponsor, Shannon Ellenberger says they plan to give 75 % of the earnings to the American Red Cross for disaster relief assistance for hurricane victims in several states. What a worthy project. Let’s support the youth. Those who want to play Bingo sponsored by the Eads Lions may play at 7:00 p.m.

The Book Fair at Eads Schools is bringing a lot of joy to the students. We who have volunteered there have had a good time with the students and teachers.

The Red Hatter ladies had a delightful meeting Saturday at Our Place and then lunch. They are now a registered group on the web site. Their float won $75.00 at the Fair parade. They plan to go to C. DuVall’s Fine Restaurant later this month for dinner and the Elvis Presley Show. They also plan to have an oldies sing-a-long at the Nursing Home with the residents one evening soon.

Guy and Mary Shafer will be celebrating their 50^th Wedding Anniversary at the Haswell Community Building at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 7^th. They are such a dear couple and would enjoy having their friends stop by.

Our sincere sympathy to the family of Carl Peterson of Eads and his wife, Zelda. Carl had been unwell for several months and for the last few weeks his children have been here with their mother most of the time. Carl’s family will have a private service later when more relatives can come.

This year my young friend, Jose Ramos, said he didn’t want to go "Trick or Treating" and that he would rather stay at my home to open the door and greet the kids who came. Well, that was a real treat for me. It was fun to see the costumed youngsters, teenagers, and adults too. A "big thanks" goes to Sheriff Forrest Frazee and Captain Chad Ray who were on Maine Street giving out treats and neat green glow lights to carry. Chad had also talked to the elementary children and had given them pretty treat bags at school with protection statements written on them. Officer Danny Christie drove over to Haswell to distribute some glow sticks and Officer Randy Richardson was handing out treats in Sheridan Lake.

Ervin and Maria Mitchek of Kit Carson have been blessed with the birth of twin boys. Some of their Eads church friends spent much of Sunday with them to help care for the little ones and give their parents some time to "catch up on things".

The Haswell community had a costume party evening with games, a scavenger hunt, pie baking contest, and other carnival games. Bruce and Brenda Fickenscher droved over from Brandon to judge the pie contest. The adults and youth were divided in groups for the scavenger hunt which ended in dressing a team member up with the collected items. Glenda Stoker laid the basic plans and everyone as usual pitched in for a super time from the youngest to the oldest.

Rod Johnson and Bryant Will have offered the Hunter’s Safety classes. Rod has been teaching these classes for over 30 years. All Coloradoans born after 1950 are required to have a Hunter’s Safety Card. The course encompasses the whole spectrum of ethics, archery, guns, the landowner, the animals, and other topics. The students spent a long day Saturday completing the book work and demonstrating their skills. What a great service by these men and what a thrill for those students who earned their coveted gun safety card. "Thank You," to Rod and Bryant!

When we were reading the Kiowa Press advertisements, we noticed that one of our former students and resident, Frank (Stacy) and Sherri Crow have had a grand opening of their store, Reflections Plus, in the Pueblo Mall where they are the new owners. Frank is the son of Ray and Lucille Crow and the brother of the mysterious guest who mystified people at the Haswell costume party, Connie Shotton.

How exciting that there was a ground breaking of the new Assisted Living Center October 26^th. The work of our community leaders has come to fruition. I know that a tip of the hat goes to our county commissioners, Vern Harris, Rod Brown, and Dutch Eikenberg, and to the Kiowa County Economic Development Foundation, Janet Frederick, and other interested committee members.

It was fun to watch little children with their caretakers go into the Eads Senior Citizen’s Center Saturday afternoon where Jo Shoemaker and other center volunteers hosted a party with treats, costume prizes, a cupcake walk, and fish pond, pin the spider, and piñata games. A number of senior citizens stayed over or came later in the evening for supper and card playing.

Ladies and gentlemen connected with the Little Sprouts Day Care Center had a "Haunted House" for little sprouts Saturday night. I heard that it was a fun experience for the little ones with lots of fun and laughs.

The snow that hit us Monday morning increased with the fast moving winds. It was all white and clinging to trees and buildings in town. However, out at Chivington, Frances said the snow was blowing away and the same was true out north of Arlington according to my sister-in-law, Wanda.

One of our new residents who live on north Rittgers Street was amazed at the amount of "cactuses" that were surrounding her home and were up to the top of their neighbor’s home. After some confusion on my part I asked her, "Are they round?" "Yes," she said. "Oh, those are called tumble weeds." I told this pretty Ohioan that she gave me a good laugh for the day.

Clayton and Gloria Peck visited Kelly and Jane LuJan while they were in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the LCC baseball game.