She sure "is" cute wasn't she?
The Front Page
Happy Birthday SantaAnnaNews.com and Happy Birthday Cindy!
It was one year ago, August the 12th, that SantaAnnaNews.com all started with me wishing my wife Cindy a "Happy Birthday!". I e-mailed it to exactly four family members, two friends, and told probably two more about it that I didn't have addresses for and a couple of friends at work. Cindy also e-mailed it to exactly fourteen others, one of which I had already sent it to.
For it to spread only by e-mail and word of mouth and for all the great responses I can only be thankful. Your kind words of encouragement have sometimes been the only fuel that I have. I would especially like to thank all of you who have sent me news items and notes. A big thank you to Mike Hartman and Clay Stewardson for making me laugh and laughing with me.
As I have told many of you, it has been a lot of fun and a lot of work too! I figure I have somewhere between four and five hundred hours of work in SantaAnnaAnnaNews.com at an average rate of about two hours per day and five days per week. I have added some things and taken some things away over time but will continue to build on some of the key things that I have worked on like the Business Page, "Whatever Happened to..?", "You might be from Santa Anna if..", and school activities.
I will also be recruiting someone or "some ones" to report on SAISD activities, High School Sports, Junior High Sports, and a "Teacher of the Month" by nomination. I will be concentrating on City, Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development.
Last, and certainly the most important to me, I want to say thanks to my most faithful readers: Cindy, Chrystal, Jennifer, Jessica, my Mom, and Tex. Without your support I never could have done this.
As always, Thanks for coming by SantaAnnaNews.com and come back soon!
Well almost last! Happy Birthday to my girlfriend for life - Cindy!
The Risk is Real - Serving our Country
Remembering those that have served and those that are serving our country.
You know sometimes it doesn't hit you until it is personal.
Please remember these Santa Anna folks that are serving our country in military combat, training, or support: Maricela (Marty) Siller, Clay Stewardson, Eddie Dawson, Ike Garza, James Watson, Austin Voss, Randy Casey, Mike Montgomery II, Mark Rutherford, Allen Tucker, James Culpepper, Shane Watson, Brandon Beloat, Glen Donham, and Jeffrey Watson.
1844 American soldiers or sailors have died in Operation Enduring Freedom as reported by the Department of Defense and the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. Pray for our country, its' leaders, and our soldiers and sailors.Please remember the many serving as volunteers for various groups and those that may be working for the media or one of the many Department of Defense contractors that have employees in support roles in Iraq including Santa Anna's Jason Dane. These folks are serving an important part in the rebuilding of Iraq and the danger is just as great if not more for them as it is for soldiers.
The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count has also tracked the deaths of 91 American contractors working in Iraq so the risk is real.
Many service men and women return home safely. Operation Tribute to Freedom Homecoming Photographs.
We must never forget the sacrifices of men and women serving our country from all generations. Tex Wright recently sent me this information:
The Coleman County Historical Commission has started work on a new project.
Since this year is the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, we (Texas Historical Commission statewide) have started a project to honor the ones who served.
We (I) have set up a Web Page to keep people posted on what is being done and to ask for their help in remembering those Men and Women.
The Web Page is:Coleman County Historical Comm.
WW2 Commemorative Activities
Recent Deaths
It is with great sadness that I tell you of the passing of Gwendolyn Walker. Mrs. Walker passed away earlier this week and I have not seen any funeral details.
She was a long time employee of West Texas Utilities. She also kept up with the deaths of ex students, former teachers, and administrators from Santa Anna. The memorial list was read at the annual meeting of the Santa Anna Ex Student's Association during Homecoming.
Willard Allen also passed away this week and I believe his funeral is Saturday at the Presbyterian Church. A complete obituary is available on ColemanCDV.com or ColemanNews.com.
Willard was a farmer and rancher. The only one of his children that I knew was Melody and she was in my sister Danna's class I think. I remember once when her car caught on fire in the school parking lot one day. It was pretty funny as some of the high school boys put it out I think. Willard was the same way... he always had a story to tell, often humorous, but usually about his grandchildren of which he was very proud.
Gone but not forgotten - Gwendolyn Walker and Willard Allen.
Growing Pains
As communities grow and new business's open up, other businesses sometimes close. There have been several recent openings and closing around town but it is not just here in Santa Anna. In Brownwood and Early one of the latest trends seems to be to open and close as well and now even tear down and rebuild. For example They open a new Chili's and close down Golden Corral. Cindy and I like to go to Chili's in Abilene on occasion and have enjoyed going to the one in Brownwood a few times now. We had gone to Golden Corral a few times over the years but I must admit that it was not one of our regular places to go. Cindy never has much liked buffet style eating... I think she doesn't like to fight for food too much!
Anyhow, in case you haven't been to Brownwood lately, Golden Corral was recently bull dozed and apparently from the signs is going to be a new Auto Zone location. I am surprised by that because I figured as hard as it is to get them to take your money at Auto Zone they would be out of business because of the new O'Reilly's Auto Parts in Early. Maybe Auto Zone will hire some more people at their new store..?
Taco Bueno came to Brownwood and forced Taco Bell to build a new location. Early is home of the new Comfort Inn which was built pretty fast compared to the new Hampton Inn which is being finished up behind the Taco Bueno. But Prima Pasta is moving from Commerce Square to just in front of the Comfort Inn.
And the Burger King has closed as they construct a new Wendy's by the new Home Depot. And Home Depot may have put the Higginbotham's in Early out of business. Home Depot evidently scared Lowes out of Early too. Lowes was planning on building a new store on the old Johnson and Ross location. They got new Chicken Express instead. I think it was probably not as good a source of tax revenue but they sure make good chicken tenders, gravy, and sweet tea! And they built a very nice white stone building also.
And most recently they have begun tearing down some of the highway frontage buildings of Johnson and Ross and the old Gore Brothers Feed Store to make room for something else I guess.
And that is similar to what we have been experiencing in Santa Anna as the availability of buildings suitable for business is scarce. Another of the projects of the Santa Anna Economic Development Board has been to tear down old homes that are in a state of disrepair and no longer suitable for habitation. Sure it has made for some vacant lots but hopefully someone will want to build a new home on some of them
Growing Pains - Part II
My Step Dad, Tex Wright, tells me that Higginbothams moved to the old Bowman's Lumber location near the Truman Harlow Overpass and is now called HBC or Higginbotham Brothers and Company.
Brownwood also landed a Starbuck's Coffee at the old Taco Bell location.
Coleman County Historical Commission
The WW2 committee will be having a planning meeting for the Sept. 2 memorial for WW2 veterans. We would like to invite anyone who served in that war and anyone who has information about people who served.
We will also be putting together a display of WW2 memorabilia on Saturday Sept 3 at the Coleman airport. We would like to invite anyone who has such collections to contact us or come to the planning meeting.
We will meet Aug 16 at 6:00PM in the Heritage Hall.
Light News
I know the news has been light the past few days but I have been working some early, late, and long hours, but I hope top catch up later this week.
The weather certainly hasn't been light though.. sometime during all this work I got four inches of rain in my gauge!
Thanks for coming by SantaAnnaNews.com!
James
Off to College
Please send your "Off to College" and other news about Santa Anna folks to news@santaannanews.com.
52nd Annual Meeting of Coleman County Telephone Cooperative
The 52nd Annual Meeting of the members of Coleman County Telephone Cooperative, Inc. will be held on Friday, August 19, 2005 at the Santa Anna Civic Center (armory), located at 303 S. Houston in Santa Anna. Registration and voting will begin at 6:00 P.M., followed by the business meeting at 7:00 P.M.
All attending members will receive door prizes as they register, and will also be eligible for other prizes to be awarded during the drawing to be held at the conclusion of the business meeting. Children will also be eligible for special prizes.
The agenda for the meeting includes a report of officers and the annual financial report, along with the presentation of three $1,000 Tom Kingsbery Memorial Scholarships and the election of two directors of the Cooperative.
The two Board members to be elected will represent Santa Anna and Santa Anna Rural (North). Candidates for the Santa Anna position are incumbent, Stanley Hartman and Lois Ann Harper. The nominees for the Santa Anna Rural (North) area are Rodney W. (Roddy) Dean and Jeff Jacobs. The Cooperative would like to remind all members that it does not matter which exchange you live in, you should vote each year for the candidates of your choice.
Those currently serving on the Board are President, Jerry Allen, Vice-President, Stanley Hartman, Secretary, Thomas Rutherford, and other board members Barbara Kingsbery Jones, Glenda Gassiot and Rickey Adams. The manager of Coleman County Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Michael Walton, and the Board of Directors encourage all members to attend the Annual Meeting.
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