In some news from 1974 Mrs. Ezelle Sinquefield chaired a large New Year’s celebration for Atmore’s Golden Citizen Club. Quite a few members attended this affair as this kind lady was recognized for her many church and civic accomplishments. The group, which held monthly meetings, did crochet work, made creative arts and crafts and performed many services to our community. This club was organized in 1972.

Sharon’s Curl Country, owned by Sharon Major, was featured in a December, 1973 issue of Modern Beauty Shop. This is a national magazine for beauty shop operators. In that issue the unique interior of Sharon’s shop was one of the highlights of the article.

Rob Faircloth and Ken Whitaker were honored with an American flag for their merits in Boy Scout Troop 26. The event was sponsored by Woodman of The World.

In 1975 Mr. Larenza Conway was feted with his 99th birthday. The party drew over 100 friends and relatives.

In that same year Bert Shell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Shell was selected a Junior Varsity Cheerleader at the University of Alabama. The ECHS grad was a sophomore at the Capstone.

In some current political news following that recent gambling trial in Montgomery some are of the opinion that Milton McGregor will try to set up another casino operation. This is only speculation, however.

The non guilty verdict surprised a lot of people. But, David White of the Birmingham News wrote on March 7 that Governor Robert Bentley agreed with the verdict. The Governor was quoted in another internet story that he was “personally against all forms of gambling in Alabama due to his personal religious convictions”. Paul Hamaker of the Birmingham Top News Examiner wrote that story March 6. I am inclined to agree with Hamaker’s article even though I believe the Governor is looking for ways to bring in more money to the state in light of short funding in his budgets.

You can “bet on it” that the private casino advocates will be sounding off that their casinos would bring big tax money into the state. I’m sure they would like to see another vote on this non-dying matter.

Speaking of casinos I wish the state would pass a law that prevents casinos, dog tracks, horse tracks and betting parlors from cashing payroll checks. It is such a shame to see people get their payroll checks cashed at these institutions for the purpose of gambling. Seeing their children and entire families being deprived is very hurtful in my opinion.I am not sure of WindCreeks’s policy of cashing payroll checks. I do value their role in providing employment for so many local and area residents.

There also should be a law that denies big disbursements from ATM machines located in these firms. I say if you are going to gamble don’t take your paycheck or your debit card. For the sake of your family leave these at home.

For those of you who traveled in our southern states back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s you probably saw those roof top signs “See Rock City”. They were seen just about everywhere.

Some of you may recall those Burma Shave signs. Several signs using only a couple of words per sign would unfold as you traveled down the highway until you passed the last sign. You may travel a half mile to get the complete message.

But here of late I have been impressed by church signs.

I first noticed this when I saw a church sign in Georgia in 1958. That sign read “I have never watched the Ed Sullivan Show. Of course this meant everyone should be in church each Sunday night when that showed aired.

My nephew David Cooper emailed me some church signs I thought were witty but had good meaning. These signs were observed at various churches across the country.

Here are some of them….There are some questions that cannot be answered by Google ..Honk if you love Jesus, text while driving if you want to meet him.. Read the Bible- it’s user friendly- plus we offer tech support on Sundays… Every day above ground is a good one …The best vitamin for being a Christian is B1 ..Aspire to inspire before you expire ..Where will you be sitting in eternity? Smoking or non smoking?.. Under same management for over 2000 years.

I appreciate pastors who have wit and I feel sure these signs were initiated by some devoted and talented church pastors.

Speaking of pastors I was talking to my former pastor Arnold Hendrix after voting last week. In his kind and professional manner our friend Gordon Everette, who was on duty in the voting arena, told Arnold his wife and I that we would have to step into the adjacent lobby to continue our conversation. We got a big chuckle out of this and jokenly told Gordon he should run for sheriff. He was very diplomatic and he was doing his job correctly. So we took his advice and continued our conversation in the library lobby.

Have you noticed the nice stories al.com have used recently taken from the Advance website featuring excellent writings of Blake, Kerry, Lisa, Lydia and Chandler? Our diverse staff of writers is second to none.

Writing gas and oil stories can sometimes be difficult as there is a knack to this writing style. For me I learned it after founding The Tri City Ledger in 1971 when gas and oil was on the minds of every reader. I received a lot of help and advice from friends in the gas and oil industry. My two semesters of geology was also a tremendous help. And, now our entire staff has become experts in this area.

One final thing. I learned this week that soon there will possibly be no more cell phone allowed on school buses. This does not include the driver, however. More about this as news is released.

Wow, such a potpourri of subjects we had today. Some controversial, some highly opiniated.

Next week we will take a look at people, places and events from years gone by.

 

“….yes…it always whispers to me…those days of long ago…”

 

Lowell McGill can be reached at exam@frontiernet.net