FOR YOUR INFORMATION

It was like a bee hive during the work in progress at Powell’s Barn Raising. Items from the loft were being cleaned, windows were being restored to be authentic, various wood projects were being scraped in readiness for finishing, along with painting and nail pulling. Bill and Tamara Pullman, Ken Breining, Marsha Freman and the Preservation Alliance were the forces behind the efforts. (No doubt there were others, these are the ones obvious to me.) Repairs were being made from a lift and continual cleaning, cleaning, cleaning was part of the action. Lunches were provided and the big push on Saturday ended with a community barbecue. A filming crew was there to make a documentary for a PBS presentation. Bill Powell said he was exhausted by bedtime on Saturday night. His wife, Rhoda, was in Orlando, Florida with Thad, Stasha and Joe, some special needs young adults, for a holiday at Disney World. Smart girl! However, she did lots of food preparation before she flew away.

Pinochle winners this week were: Mary Gustin, High; Lucile Buchanan, Second; Dee Panich, Low; and Michael Clark, Pinochle. Joyce Held did the hosting and Marion Poff will hostess next. Guests for the afternoon were Dee Panich, Erv Hedegaard and Norm Ridder.

Former owners of Clays in Calico, Tom and Karen Prischman, were in the area for a brief visit with Darleen Casebolt. Darleen moved back to Jefferson Island last year to their property first owned by Shadan Lahood as a tourist area. The original building is still in use, however, Darleen has a new home to enjoy.

Next Wednesday, the Cardwell students will be dismissed at 1:15 pm. Early out will be part of the curriculum throughout the school year.

As I write this the TV has been continuously broadcasting events from Las Vegas. The evil that mankind is capable of has been displayed in such a horrendous way. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light that his deeds should be exposed.” Under the darkness of night a gunman commits his evil. Remember, it isn’t the gun that is guilty. It can do nothing by itself. Pray for those hurting people.

Editor’s Note: The following addition was written by former Whitehall Ledger owner Glenn Marx.

Arcylle,

For baseball fans, the 2017 baseball season was - to quote Yogi Berra - the best of times and the worst of times. It was the best of times because the Minnesota Twins made the playoffs. It was the worst of times because the Yankees also made the playoffs.

It was also the best of times because Toby Marx (WHS Class of ‘06) won our fantasy baseball league this year. This is the first year Toby has ever won, and the first year he ever beat me, which means I beat him every single year from the dawn of time except this one.

It was also the worst of times because there are three scumbag Yankee-loving teams in our league: Bronx Boys, Team28 and Stripes. You may have heard of Team28 and Stripes, because they are your sons’ teams, Shane’s and Paul’s disrespectfully. This is Shane’s first year in the league, and he came in fifth place, way ahead of Paul and me. Shane had Aaron Judge on his team, and Aaron Judge hit about 921 home runs this year. Which is a lot. Still, I can sum up Shane’s team’s problem in one word: Too many Yankees. Of a total of 14 players on his team, six of them were Yankees. We had to talk him out of drafting Mickey Mantle.

Paul’s team had no Yankees. That’s because Shane had them all. Paul drafted Gary Sanchez, then dropped him. I know, I thought Paul was smarter than that, too. Gary Sanchez hit about 743 home runs this year, a lot of them one-handed. Next year you should have Paul call you and talk over any harebrained transactions he’s thinking of, so he doesn’t end up with shortstops like Jonathan Villar and catchers like Matt Wieters.

My team was the worst Outlaws fantasy baseball team in the history of the Outlaws. My pitching staff got 54 wins. That’s the worst number of pitching wins, by far, not only in the history of baseball, but in the history of numbers, since numbers were invented. Shane beat me by over 100 points, and one reason why is because I showed utterly ridiculous loyalty to Kyle Schwarber, who struck out about 432 times, a lot of them one-handed. Some day in the future, when Schwarber is a DH for either Tampa Bay or Oakland, he’ll lead the American League in home runs. When that happens, I guarantee he won’t be on my team. Unless he’s a Yankee.

In the real baseball world, the Twins and Yankees, as the fates would have it, will have played a playoff game between the time I write this (Sunday night) and the time you’ll read this (Wednesday or Thursday). For years, back on the glory days when the Twins were regular playoff contenders, their hopes and dreams were repeatedly and ruthlessly crushed by the Yankees. Odds are that’s what happened on Oct. 3. But you never know. Like Yogi always said, “Go Twins!”

Your friend,

Glenn