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Have You Forgotten?

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?-- Darryl Worley country music singer/songwriter. I never will.. September 11, 2001. Where were you when the world stopped turning?-- Alan Jackson country music singer/songwriter. The September 11 Digital Archive will help you remember.

You know sometimes it doesn't hit you until it is personal.

Remembering those that have served and those that are serving our country.

Clay Hubbard tells me that Allen Tucker is now in Iraq. I believe that Maricela (Marty) Siller is also in Iraq. Please pray for their safety and families while they are gone.

Connie (Culpepper) Massey, of Abilene, tells me that her nephew, Shane Watson son of Bill Watson and Bernidine Raines of Vernon, is serving in the Air Force and is currently stationed in Tucson Arizona.

Please remember these Santa Anna folks that are serving our country in combat, training, or support: Maricela (Marty) Siller, Eddie Dawson, Ike Garza, Clay Hubbard, James Watson, Austin Voss, Randy Casey, Mike Montgomery II, Mark Rutherford, Allen Tucker, James Culpepper, and Shane Watson.

1261 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.

Many service men and women return home safely. Operation Tribute to Freedom Homecoming Photographs. By now you may know that I enjoy listening to country music. I think that I get it from my late Grandad, Ernest Coder who played in an country band in the late 20's on WBAP in Ft. Worth, and also from my Dad, Dan Pelton who always listened to a lot of instrumental country and a lot of Marty Robbins' music of which El Paso was always one of my favorites, and also my Step Dad, Tex Wright who always listened to country music while he was driving.. he drove a truck for a living when he first met my Mom and up until we moved from Garland to Santa Anna in 1975. I used to go with him on Christmas and Summer Vacations from school and he would tap out the rhythm of the music as we rolled down the highway. WBAP was one of his favorite stations and the Louisiana Hayride was one of his favorite programs along with Mystery Theater.

Anyhow I think that the country music of today has really done a great job of portraying our country and what it stands for, with the exception of the Dixie Chicks which for all practical purposes are no longer in the country music business. I never did like the Chicks too much, but I really like the music of Shedaisy which resembles the Chicks and has taken up where the Chicks' left off. I was watching CMT on Sunday and there was an interview of Shedaisy and they told about one of their new songs, Come Home Soon, that is about those that are left at home when soldiers go off to war. The Shedaisy website has several letters from some that are left behind while their loved ones are defending our country.

Back to school?

Well you may not exactly think it is back to school time yet but it kind of is.. we had to return from our trip in New Mexico early so that Chrystal could get back to class at ASU on Monday morning. And you just thought I ran out of stuff to say about our trip!

When I first started SantaAnnaNews.com I tried to do a "Back to School/Off to College" article and asked for reader submissions from Santa Anna folks and did not receive a single one.

.. so I will just tell you about some that I know.. sure I will forget some (see "Gone to Hereafter" below). Going to college is something that I believe is very important to getting a good job or at least having a better chance at one and being able to support yourself and family with at least some quality of life.

My folks really could not afford to pay for me to go to college and I knew it from the get go. I wasn't a good enough athlete to get any kind of athletic scholarship but I had good grades and a pretty fair shot for some academic scholarships. I also had a chance to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland but chose to get married and raise a family instead, and of course live here in Santa Anna. I know you probably think I am crazy by now and I probably am! Getting into any of the service academies is not an easy task. You have to start early in your Junior year applying for a nomination.. usually by your US Congressman or US Senator, and then an appointment to the academy. I had a nomination from Congressman Marvin Leath and probably would have gotten an appointment based on my grades, athletic participation, and leadership through Scouting, but I just did not want to face the rigorous first year and the eight year commitment.

If I could change anything today I would probably have gone ahead and enlisted, tried to get into an officer program, and got my college paid for still. Certainly this is a good option for anyone that wants to go to college but can't afford it.

If I had done this, by now I would be retired and looking for something to do with my spare time!

But of course I took the rocky road.. we struggled and got Cindy through Ranger Beauty School in Brownwood which helped a lot. And I woke up after having three daughters and started thinking about how I was going to get them through school and into college! So I figured I would start back to school and try to at least be a better business man. In the Summer of 1987 after being out of school for exactly 5 years I told Cindy I wanted to take some classes at Howard Payne. It was a scary thought and at the time Jason Miller was helping me out at the service station or I would have never got started.

There were a few years in the 80's when you did not have to take four years of English in high school and I preferred math, science, and computers so I took Physics instead of English my Senior year. I had Mrs. Guthrie for Freshman English and believe me she knows her stuff. I had Ann Cross for high school English too and she was a very good teacher but English was just not my thing.

I had planned on being an aeronautical engineer at the Naval Academy and had tested pretty good for that area.. I figured that was as close to flying fighter jets as I could get with my less than 20-20 vision and English was not a high priority course. So when I actually did start back to school at Howard Payne College (yes, it was only a college back then) in the Summer of 87 I told Cindy I was going to take English first and if I passed I would keep going and if I didn't I would stop.

Howard Payne was pretty expensive back then, as it is now for a private school, but it was close by and convenient for me to go. That first English course was pretty basic, but it was being taught by the Head of the English Department, Dr. Edgar Dass. Dr. Dass was from India and graduated from Punjab University in Pakistan. Dr. Dass also spoke the "Queen's English" with a distinct British sound amongst all of the Texas drawls from his students. I really enjoyed his classes and so did a lot of the "kids" as I called of some of the spoiled, rich, Baptist kids. It was easy to get him off subject and into a discussion of his youth and his native country. He also had an appreciation for non-traditional students as I was considered to be by then. I made a good grade and went on to go to the second Summer session. When I saw that Dr. Dass was teaching English II I signed up right away. I really just wanted to get it out of the way of learning the "real" stuff.. just kidding Mrs. Guthrie.. I would have never made it had Mrs. Guthrie and Mrs. Cross not been so tough! I did pretty good again and decided to continue on as a full time student. Since I needed a lot of basic classes scheduling was not a problem and I signed up for four Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes from 8-12 each day. That Fall Dr. Dass was teaching British Literature, which he had a passion for, and it was a required course choice with American Literature as the other so I signed up for Dr. Dass's class of course. I made pretty good grades that Fall semester and continued on in the Spring full time with a similar schedule.

Classes started getting harder to schedule and afford so I started going part time - 6 hours a semester going at night. I did this for a couple more years and stopped for while when I started driving a truck for Pepsi in Brownwood. After a promotion to a supervisor job I took another shot at going at night and was able to knock out a couple more classes here and there. As the kids and I got older it was harder to schedule and I haven't gone too much in the last few years. I have picked up a class or two at Howard College and Angelo State University in San Angelo, and Texas State Technical College in Brownwood.

I used to say I wanted to get out before I was thirty, and then forty, and before Chrystal got out of college, and then before Jessica got out, but now I just want to get out before I die! Just kidding again.. I am shooting for fifty now... the big five oh, half century mark. What I guess what I am trying to say here is take advantage of whatever opportunites you are given or you may never get a second chance.

I am very proud that mine and Cindy's oldest daughter, Chrystal, is nearly there. She is almost halfway through her Senior year at Angelo State University in San Angelo. She is studying to be a registered nurse and her and her husband, Jason Titsworth live in Ballinger. It has not been easy for us getting her through school either and it doesn't hurt that she is pretty smart and still studies here butt off.

There are some others that I know that are going to college: My good friend JR Salazar's boys, Seth and Jaryd Salazar are going to school. Seth is a student at Cisco Junior College in Cisco, and Jaryd is going to ASU. I am not sure what they are majoring in.. probably anatomy and brewing if they are like their Dad.. just kidding JR! And Jessica and Jennifer's "adopted" sister, Kindi Cloer, is going to Tarleton State University in Stephenville. I think her and Jennifer are planning on going to Cisco Junior College in Abilene this Spring and studying nursing together. Makes me want to stay healthy! Seriously these girls will do a good job at whatever they choose to do.

Well enough of all this.. what I am trying to say is if you are a young person in high school start thinking about college RIGHT NOW! If you are a parent of one and haven't already started thinking about it is not too late. If you need help contact the school counselor, Montie Guthrie, and he can help. If you are an old folk like me it is not too late either. I will share just a little more about this later but that's it for now.

BRRR!

I think that the cold weather and wind followed us home from New Mexico..

I am not sure where it came from but I poured another half inch of rain out of my gauge Wednesday night. Or maybe my neighbor, Curtis, is putting some of his in my gauge. Just kidding! We share a fence with Curtis and Janice Fellers and our rain gauges are right beside each others on the fence.

There was a joke or maybe I heard a story from one of my friends.. probably Bobby Morgan or Lane Guthrie, about how one guy was bragging to the other about how good his gas mileage was on his new vehicle and they got kind of a friendly competition going. Well one of the guys started adding gas to the others' tank so that his mileage would be really good. After a few tanks of this he started siphoning gas from the tank so that the gas mileage was really bad.. so bad that he thought something was wrong with his vehicle so he took it in for service!

Bobby and Lane have told me so many stories over the years that I can't remember them anymore.. where I used to tell them just as good as they could. Another one of my good friends and Pastor of Northside Baptist Church, Marvin Hale, used to say when we worked together and he was trying to figure out what he was doing or looking for that he had "Gone to the Hereafter".. when he forgot what he was here after!

The older I get the harder it is getting to remember things.. and yes I had another birthday last week and was hoping I could get by without mentioning it! Anyhow much to my wife Cindy's and my kids' frustration I am just plain forgetful nowadays and it is frustrating for me too. I tell everyone that I have to forget something to learn something!

Now back to one of the things I was trying to get at.. on our trip to New Mexico this past week we were, or at least I was, glad to see the price of gas a little lower in some places along the way. The cheapest we saw on the way was $1.76.9 in Hereford at a Town and Country on US 385. On the way back we bought some at a Toot'N Totem Shell in Amarillo for $1.74.9 just off Interstate 27. A couple of blocks away we saw a Love's at $1.73.9 for the cheapest of the trip. The highest we saw was $2.09.9 in one of the little towns on the way up 385. In most places the price was around $1.89.9 on average.

When we first went into the service station business in Santa Anna gas was less than a $1 a gallon and I remember the old pumps would not register over a $1 per gallon so we had to put the price at half and double the dollar amount when the pump finished. Of course there were a couple of times when somebody from out of town would think they were getting cheated for the pump showing $5 and they had to pay $10. Back then all pumps were tested by the Department of Agriculture and had an annual seal affixed to the pump. Now I think they test only after a complaint.

At the time there were also 5 other full service gas stations in town and two convenience stores (what I called and still call inconvenient stores). Oh for the good old days when you could actually get some air or water for your car. Of course we have Allsup's still which now has free air.. it hasn't been that long ago when they had a 50 cent air machine.

Which brings up another issue that was recently brought up to me by someone here in town. Have you tried to use a public restroom here in town lately? Dairy Queen or Allsup's and that is about it. One of my pet peeves when I was in the business was when someone would buy their gas at Allsup's and then pull up to my place and want to use the restroom. At the time Allsup's didn't have a public restroom which to us old timers was just another way they ripped people off. And all this just lead to "Customer Only" and locked restrooms in places like mine. On out trip to New Mexico at the only inconvenient store on the South side of Lubbock the restroom was right across from the cash register but was locked which I thought was kind of weird.

On a similar note, I remember when I first moved into the old Exxon station (now the Tire Shop) finding it odd that there were three restroom doors on the building.. a Ladies and Mens on the side and what used to be "Colored" at the back. It had been turned into storage a long time before I took it over but it was hard for me to imagine its' purpose or place in our town. I want to talk a little more about racism in Santa Anna but this is not the right time or place.

Well enough of all this for now I hope you got a laugh or something out of all this rambling!

Santa Anna Mountaineer and Lady Mountaineer Basketball

Update on the Blackwell Tournament: The Girls and Boys both fell to the Westbrook teams in the first round of play and will play back to back again on Friday against the teams from Miles starting with the Girls at 9:30.

The Santa Anna boys and girls varsity teams played the Mullin Bulldog and Lady Bulldog teams in Mullin Tuesday night. Both teams came out and played low scoring sloppy basketball at first but they both came around in the second quarters to run away with victories. The girls won 72-29 and the boys score was 50-33. More Mullin Basketball action to come as I have time. Both teams will be playing in the Blackwell Tournament later this week. Game photo albums are on the Sports Page.

Thanksgiving 2004

Well I hope that you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving 2004!

Cindy and I spent Sunday, the 20th, giving thanks with our family. As you may have noticed I did not do too much with SantaAnnaNews.com over the holiday. On Wednesday, Cindy and I traveled to her Dad and Step-Mom's, Jack and Davida Pierce's, in Raton New Mexico along with our oldest daughter Chrystal and her husband Jason Titsworth of Ballinger. We had a great trip and the weather was pretty good except for the wind blowing some of the time. Our other daughters, Jennifer and Jessica, along with Josh, Jayden, and Dawson Rambo, met up with a bunch of the Robinetts at Cindy's Mom's and Step-Dad's, Linda and Jimmy White's for Thanksgiving at their house in Robinson.

Cindy and I have a new little step niece and nephew, and another little step niece that we had not got to meet yet but got to see over Thanksgiving. We haven't gone to New Mexico to see them all for three or four years so it was a very special Thanksgiving for us. We returned late Sunday so that did not leave me too much time to work on the page especially after the ten hour drive.

The weather was really pretty good considering that the Texas Panhandle had several inches of snow last the first part of the week. You could see snow still piled up on the side of the road from the snow plows, especially around Dalhart. There was also a good bit of snow from Clayton New Mexico to Raton, but not much in Raton except for in the higher mountainous elevations.

Thanksgiving Day we awoke to a beautiful Fall day in New Mexico. Jack and Davida really have a nice place just South of Raton where they raise horses and cattle on around 600 acres. Occasionally a few elk or deer come down off the high country to graze their pasture land or drink from the beaver dammed stream that runs across their place. One year when we were visiting there were as many as one hundred elk in a herd.

Friday we went up Yankee Canyon from Raton. This particular canyon was originally home for early coal miners that came to Raton in the late 1800's. Cindy's Step Great Great Grandfather was an Irish youngster from the East and worked in the coal mine mule barn that is now part of Sugarite Canyon State. The Berry descendants now own most of the upper Yankee Canyon and most of the high country mesa where fertile Summer cattle grazing is known to put 4-5 pounds per day on young cattle. Several years ago on a similar Thanksgiving trip we helped drive some straggler cows down from Mesa to one of the canyons know as Bear Canyon for its' Bear population. We have never seen any bears but Cindy's step brother, Casey, guides bear, elk, and deer hunts, and her dad, Jack, said that several years ago the bears came into town a lot during a drought.

Saturday we traveled up the Raton Pass to Trinidad, Colorado which is about 18 miles from Raton. From Trinidad there is a nice view of the Rockies.