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In service to our country

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

There is a new name on my list of service men, and now women, serving our country. Lane Guthrie sent me an e-mail a couple of months ago about one of the Siller girls that was serving but was not sure of her first name. And his big brother Montie sent me an e-mail this week letting me know that Maricela (Marty) Siller is in Iraq. To my knowledge she and Clay Hubbard may be the only ones that are serving active duty and not in some sort of training. I understand that the Third grade class has taken her on as a pen pal. I hope that we can get some more information about all of these folks and how they are doing. I went to school with some of her older sisters, Grace, Nellie, Eva, and Liz and they were always very quiet, but really nice and polite girls.. Mrs. Siller sure did a great job of raising these ladies.

Maricela (Marty) Siller, Eddie Dawson, Ike Garza, Clay Hubbard, James Watson, Austin Voss, Randy Casey, Mike Montgomery II, Mark Rutherford, and Allen Tucker.

1110 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, our leaders, and our soldiers and sailors.

Many service men and women return home safely. Operation Tribute to Freedom Homecoming Photographs.

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.

SAHS Class of 1954 Reunion

The Santa Anna High School Class of 1954 recently had their 50th class reunion in Santa Anna. The Class was featured on a float in the Homecoming parade, the Ex Student of the Year from the class recognized at Homecoming pregame, and the Class was recognized at the Annual Ex Student Association meeting.

I have put together a special SAHS Class Of 54 - Fifty Year Reunion page for some photos of their get togethers.

District Leaders Prevail

Coach Bob Libby

The Lady Mountaineers hosted two of the top three teams in district this week. Tuesday pitted the ladies against top ranked Water Valley. Santa Anna played one of its best volleyball matches of the season but it was not enough to topple the Lady Wildcats. In all three games Santa Anna displayed hustle and teamwork but Water Valley was able to overcome the Lady Mountaineers by scores of 25-16, 25-15; and 25-19.

The districts' second rated team, Miles, played Santa Anna in a parents evening contest. Game one was played well as both teams see-sawed back and forth for the lead. Miles was able to prevail with a 25-21 victory. Santa Anna played extremely well in the opening of game two jumping out to an 11-0 lead. Miles was able to regain their composure and slowly worked their way back into the game and came out with a 25-20 victory. Santa Anna played hard in game three but was unable to change the momentum and lost 25-19. Santa Anna's final game will be against Sterling City who is currently tied for first place with Water Valley.

The Santa Anna junior varsity girls won their first district match of the season over Water Valley. At Water Valley the girls played poorly and this is what made the victory so much sweeter. The hustle and teamwork the girls displayed were the keys to winning the match. Santa Anna won in split matches 25-16; and 25-23.

vs Water Valley L-R: Mayra Dean, Micah Pritchard, Jesse Hensley, passing the ball Chaplin DelaRosa, and Raelee Watson	vs Water Valley L-R: Passing the ball Tasha Zarate, Jesse Hensley, Amanda Moreno, Bianca Dean, Mayra Dean, Micah Pritchard
vs Miles L-R: Amanda Moreno, spiking the ball is Jessica Pelton, Bianca Dean, Tasha Zarate, Mayra Dean, and Jesse Hensley	vs Miles L-R: Bianca Dean, Micah Pritchard, Amada Moreno, setting the ball Mayra Dean, Jesse Hensley, and partially shown Tasha Zarate
vs Miles L-R: Mayra Dean, Jessica Pelton, Jesse Hensley, Kristle DeLeon and sending the ball over to Miles is Chaplin DelaRosa	vs Miles L-R: Kristle DeLeon spiking the ball to Miles is Jesse Hensley, Micah Pritchard, Mayra Dean, and Tasha Zarate
JV vs Water Valley	JV vs Water Valley

Cindy and I planted a couple of SweetGum trees in our yard this past Spring. One is in the front yard and the other is in the back. We have never have planted any trees in our yard before except for a Chinquapin Oak last Fall, which is also in the back yard. We chose these two types of trees for their beautiful Fall shows of color. The really funny thing is that the one Sweetgum in the front is the only one changing colors so far.. maybe because it is on the North side of the house..

Check out the new Funnies Page.. when I was a kid we called the Comic section of the newspaper "The Funnies".. Cindy always says "The Comedies" or something like that.

Which reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw on the way home the other day that said, "My wife says that I never listen to her anymore, or something like that!"

Friday Night Lights

The Santa Anna Varsity Mountaineers ran away with the game 45-0 in the rain this last Friday against the Brooksmith Mustangs in Santa Anna.

Cindy and I got to go to the movies this past weekend to see the Billy Bob Thornton true story entitled "Friday Night Lights" about the State Finalist 1988 Odessa Permian Panthers. It is only the second time we have gone to the new theatre in Brownwood and we really enjoyed the movie and the theatre is really state of the art with it's stadium seating and comfortable chairs.

The movie was pretty moving for me as it covered the Mojo traditions of Permian, and the struggles of a couple of the players, the community, and their head coach.

It really makes me proud to be able to say that Santa Anna is really not one of those towns or schools where so much emphasis is placed on it's football and athletic programs. Some of those people, towns, and schools put so much pressure on the kids and coaches to win at all costs that it is just an all around bad deal for everybody.

Sure going to the State Finals in football is a once in a lifetime experience for most atheletes and coaches and what a feeling it must be! And I would bet that there is nothing that can get a community spirit built up faster than going the state championship football game; nor is there anything that can make it fall as fast as losing it.

This week's game is going to take everything our boys can give if they want to win.. AND THEY CAN IF THEY WANT TOO! They have played Richland Springs before in scrimmages and really done well against them. Strawn beat them last year as an underdog in the Semi-Finals.

This is really directed at our football players as I have said before, "Boys play your best, help each other up, help your opponents up when you knock them down, jump up and tell them "Good Hit" when they knock you down, listen to your coaches, respect the officials, celebrate together when you win because it was a team effort, and keep your head up when you lose because somebody loses every game."

And this is for the Mountaineer fans: wear your Black and Gold with pride; yell for your team, it's players, coaches, cheerleaders, mascot, and band; yell for your favorite players when they do good but not at them when they don't because they know when they make a mistake, cheer along with the cheerleaders if you like, but let them lead the cheers even if you think you can do better, respect the officials and their decisons and never boo them.. it doesn't help their next decision and makes you sound like a fool.
Thanks for reading and we will see ya at the game!

Another beautiful Sunday evening in Santa Anna..