The Front Page

In service to our country

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.

Eddie Dawson, Ike Garza, Clay Hubbard, James Watson, Austin Voss, Randy Casey, Mike Montgomery II, and Mark Rutherford. I hope that I have not made a mistake or left someone off the listing of these men from Santa Anna who are serving our country. If I have it is because I have only received a few e-mails regarding those from Santa Anna in service to our country. So this short list is my best effort.
You know sometimes it really doesn't hit you until it is personal.

1067 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.

Santa Anna High School Homecoming 2004

Well it is that time of year when we celebrate SAHS Homecoming. This year of course we will be honoring those classes ending in 4 with special recognition of the SAHS Class of 1954 celebrating their 50th year out of school and the Class of 1984 celebrating their 20th. This year's Homecoming Ex Student of the Year from the Class of 54 is Joe Gilbert Barnes of Grand Junction Colorado. This year's Coming Home King representing the Class of 84 is John Casey of Coleman.

The Homecoming activities begin with a Tail Gate Party at 8 PM Wednesday October 6th in the Perry Gym parking lot. For some of you old timers like me this fun event takes place of the Homecoming Bonfire.. I know it's hard for you to imagine not working your butt off hauling firewood all week just to watch it go up in smoke in an hour or so! But outside of all that fun this is a whole lot less work and a lot more practical for kids trying to go to school and play in games.

Just in case you missed the Tailgate Party or you were their and want to see it again I have made a SantaAnnaNews.com
Special Homecoming 2004 Tailgate Party page.

Friday October 8th beginning at 2 PM the Homecoming Parade followed by the Pep Rally will be in downtown Santa Anna.

The pre game ceremonies beginning at 7 PM on Friday will recognize the Ex Student of the Year and Homecoming King so be sure and show up early or you will miss it!

The game will feature the Santa Anna Mountaineers in District 11 action against the Novice Hornets. For those of you that have not been in touch in a while, Santa Anna has been playing Six Man football for the last couple of years. For those of you that have never seen a Six Man football game be ready for one of the most fast paced and exciting football games you have ever seen.

The halftime show will feature the crowning of the 2004 SAHS Homecoming Queen. This year's nominees are Angel DeLeon, Lexi DeLeon, Amanda Moreno, Micah Pritchard, and Montana Salazar all Seniors at SAHS.

The Santa Anna ISD has a picture of the Homecoming Queen Nominees and pictures of the homecoming week activities at school.

Saturday's Santa Anna Ex Student Association activities include the annual Business Meeting and recognition of classes. Registration and Coffee begin at 9 AM in the cafeteria followed by the meeting at 10 in the High School Auditorium. Following the business meeting will be a BBQ plate lunch served by the Booster Club for $7 per plate.

Several reunions are planned for Friday and Saturday.
Saturday night their is "Gathering" planned in place of the Homecoming Dance at the Civic Center (Armory).

I sure hope to see you in Santa Anna at these activities!

Lady Mountaineers Face Tough Road Fees

By: Coach Bob Libby

The Lady Mountaineers traveled on the road to visit Veribest on Tuesday. Veribest was rated as one of the favorites to win district and against Santa Anna pulled no punches winning 25-15; 25-15; and 25-20. The first two games Santa Anna had difficulty with Veribest's hitting game. In game three Santa Anna played hard and had begun to pull back together as a team but was unable to overcome the momentum Veribest had built up.

On Saturday the Lady Mountaineers visited another preseason favorite, Water Valley. The Lady Wildcats were sitting in first place before the game. Santa Anna started out on a good note in game one playing good defense and attacking Water Valley. A hot Water Valley server changed the momentum helping WV to a 25-7 win in game one. Game two was much the same as Santa Anna played tough until the very same server came up again. Even though she was not as dominating in game one, the momentum had carried over to Water Valley to where they came out on front with a 25-13 victory.

Game three was much different as Santa Anna came out and fought through a hostile crowd and difficult circumstances. Santa Anna was able to break through tough serves and attack Water Valley on the net. The Lady Mountaineers came extremely close to winning game three but fell 21-25. Santa Anna will be on the road on more time to visit Miles on Tuesday. Miles has recently fallen on hard times. The Lady Mountaineers showed a lot of character against Water Valley and if this trait continues, Santa Anna should come out with that elusive first district victory of the season

Lady Mountaineers take a time out at Veribest

Lady Mountaineers get ready to rumble with the Water Valley Lady Wildcats

More Veribest and Water Valley volleyball game pictures on the Sportspage.

Santa Anna Chamber of Commerce hosts guests in town on the Western Trail Ride

The Western Trail Ride from Bandera, Texas to Dodge City, Kansas arrived in Santa Anna on the afternoon of September 17, 2004. The ride was escorted into town by our Police Chief Carlos Torres, on horseback. The escort was from the City limits on the Brady Highway to the Junior Rodeo grounds West of town, on the San Angelo Highway.

Santa Anna Chief of Police Carlos Torres leads Western Trail Ride into town

(Photo by Tiffany Pinney)

The camp grounds were at the Junior Rodeo grounds and across the road on the Paul Martin land. Some of the motor homes and travel trailers camped at the Community Center.

This is the historic re-opening of the Western Trail and it is the hope that this trail will soon be marked with permanent markers identifying this trail from Bandera to Gallala, Nebraska as well as a life sized sculpture in Bandera.

The trail boss of this historic ride, Susie Heywood is a delightful 65 year-old grandma from Bandera who is full of energy and enthusiasm about this ride. She is the granddaughter of one of the legendary trail drivers who took three herds of Longhorns up the western Trail in 1876, 1881, and 1886.

Susie Heywood

(Photo by Tex Wright)

Local residents and Chamber of Commerce members lead by President Wanda Campbell treated the guests to an evening meal followed by visiting.

Santa Anna Chamber of Commerce President Wanda Campbell and others hard at work

(Photo by Tiffany Pinney)

I finally got around to getting some Trail Ride pictures rounded up and here they are on a SantaAnnaNews.com
Special Western Trail Ride page (a special "Thank you!" to Tex Wright and Tiffany Pinney for submitting the pictures)

Friday Night Lights

Don't forget this week is Homecoming!
The Mountaineers will be playing the Novice Hornets who will be dropping out of District varsity play, forfeiting the rest of their varsity schedule, and playing a JV schedule for the rest of this year. The younger Mountaineers should see a lot of playing time and it should be a good opportunity for our guys to heal up also. I have seen the JV boys play on one occasion and let me tell you they are a pretty salty bunch!

Last Friday the Mountaineers reversed the scoreboard from the past few weeks and came out on top over the Lohn Eagles 45 to 8 at Lohn. The Mountaineers had been picked to lose by 11 but made the trip ready to play.

And once again it was another beautiful West Texas night for football. It is kind of hard to miss the beautiful skies this time of year and as you may have noticed I love sunsets. I occasionally get to go for an evening ride on my motorcycle and I love to go around sunset. There are no prettier pictures than the ones that God paints for us. The last few weeks the sunrises have been just as beautiful too. This time of year when the days start getting shorter, the weather starts getting cooler, and the leaves start falling..