Boy, did I surprise Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher when we published a photo and cutline about his new Vernon County mounted patrol. So he called Kimball to find out where we got the info. I didn’t have a clue, All I knew was that I found it on the internet while I was looking for items to put in the paper.

I did a search and found it again. Right after Vernon County, in much smaller type was a WI. So there is a Vernon County in Wisconsin, I apologize for my error. I could blame Monday night fatigue, but a mistake is a mistake.

I was looking for a county in Arkansas once and learned that there are several Arkansas counties with the same name.

• I had a nice long chat with the Cedar County Coroner, Nora Powell, on Thursday. She told me, and I 100% agree, that she doesn’t put out a press release on suicides. We think grieving families should have their privacy. I remember once maybe 10 years ago, a reporter interviewed the father of a young person who had committed suicide. I just couldn’t do that, And the gruesome probable cause statement that was published, Nora and I agree that should not have happened. We also agreed that if some sicko did things like that to one of our grandchildren, we might be in more trouble than the “perpetrator.”  Jeanne Hoagland said her late mother would have said, “There are some things you just don’t do.”

• Kimball learned from Rep. Warren Love that a number of students from El Dorado Springs received the National FFA Degree at the national convention.  When the actual degrees arrive, Ag Teacher Jay Martin will take photos and send them to us.

• I put in  a call to NEVC Supt. Charles Naas to see if they had any recipients and asked for photos. His mother-in-law had passed away so he wasn’t in the office, but he will have someone get me the info.

• I remember when Paul Tinsley was the only local FFA student who had received the National Farmer FFA degree back in the 40s I think. He and Dad grew up together.

• Now they have taken “Farmer” off of the title. It’s just National FFA Degree, State FFA degree. Chapter FFA degree. And back in the old days, no girls were in FFA. Now about half the FFA members are girls and they earn about half or more of the honors.

I’d call that progress.

• We just received our first Christmas card of the year. It was postmarked Baton Rouge and addressed to Kimmie and Poppee. The card has a snapshot of Van (3) and Snider (1) obviously taken in warm weather.

• Shirley Simmons, wife of Bo who gave Kimball the welding gloves to handle scratching cats, came to the front counter and told Kimball to tell me not to shock them any more with news of my impending demise.

I apologize for the shock but that is how I felt. I had a major bladder infection and either wasn’t getting the correct drug or not in high enough dosage. Kimball insisted the I go to the CCMH emergency room and I listened. Relief was almost instant. It took me 12 hours to write that installment of the Rock Wall because I couldn’t run the computer.

I was so sick that I was getting “loopy” Kimball called it. I’ve never taken a drug that didn’t come from the pharmacy but I surely understand what a drug imbalance can do to your mind. I was seeing writing on the wall and thinking crazy stuff.

Oh, you can tell Bo that Kimball gave up on bathing the cats so she doesn’t have to use the welding gloves to handle them anymore.

I heard another good one from Moody’s family. Her granddaughter, Jami, told us that after her dad, Jerry Carpenter, stepped backward off the high side of his roof, he went to the doctor, of course. He had evidently filled out some paperwork. When he went to see the doctors, two of them got together with him. The fall may have warped Jerry’s sense of humor and caused him to fill out the forms differently. The doctors told him that they recommended he stop parachuting off of houses. KL