The extra strong winds in the area Saturday seem to have

brought a beautiful and interesting visitor to the home of Chrean and Archie Brown on Court Street. With other family members, they were finishing dinner when they heard a thump. Chrean went all around the house trying to see if the wind had knocked something over or broken something but she didn’t see anything amiss. When her daughter-in-law went upstairs to bed, she called down to tell Chrean to come see the beautiful white bird sitting on the highest peak of the roof. At first they thought it was a dove, but then realized it was a homing pigeon, complete with pink band on its leg. Chrean says the bird was still there Sunday morning, sitting on the picnic table on the patio and sometimes on the windowsill as if it wanted to be invited in. At about 8:30, the bird flew away and they thought that was the end of its visit, but at 10:30, it returned. It left again but at 3:30, it was back on the picnic table. Chrean says that the bird leaves at 8:30 in the morning; comes back at 10:30, pecks at the window; then flies off again and returns at 3:30 for the night. She tried to locate somebody that knew about homing pigeons. Wilkes County Extension Agent Rick Smith contacted Roger Wyatt in the Poultry Science Department at the University of Georgia. He was out-of-town until next Monday, but says if the bird is still with Chrean and nobody claims it when he gets home, he will take care of it.

Before Christmas I mentioned here that four-week-old Henry Townsend was Baby Jesus for the children’s Christmas program at the First Baptist Church. Mildred and Jerry Hackney’s granddaughter, who was three weeks old at the time, was the Baby Jesus for the Christmas program at the First Baptist Church in Smyrna. Her name is Lauren Elizabeth and she is the daughter of Jim and Christy Hackney of Marietta.

China, a Chinese restaurant will be opening in the old Cofer Sales and Service building across the street from the Tupper-Barnett house on West Robert Toombs Avenue on January 24. . . . Land is mostly cleared for the KFC-Taco Bell facility on the Ansley property near CVS and the main office of Farmers and Merchants Bank. It really makes that part of the area look different.

Did you hear two big “booms” about 10:30 Monday morning and think we were being attacked? I heard them but thought they were two big loads of newsprint being unloaded in the back of The NewsReporter. A bomb detonation squad from Richmond County came to Wilkes County Monday to give Wilkes County emergency and law enforcement personnel training in bomb detonation. They detonated two bombs on Harris Road near the old International Paper Co. plant. The boom was heard at a long distance and some buildings got a little shaking. . . . . I hope I’m never the victim of a bombing.

A cottage that has been a favorite of my granddaughter and daughterin law for several years is being restored and they are elated! You probably have seen it. It’s on Alexander Drive which runs from North Alexander Avenue (at the home of Mildred and Paul Peeler) through to the Tignall Road. It’s near the base of the old water tank and has just looked so sad. But now Lottie Wright, who owns the cottage, has secured the services of Jerry Garrison and his sons and they have already begun work. It will take almost a miracle to restore it but Jerry says they think they can do it. It will be interesting to watch. . . . After checking with Smythe Newsome and Steve Blackmon, I think we have decided that it was at one time the home of the Hugh Bernards. (How about it, Hugh. Are we right?)

Dr. Douglas Giles has returned to Southern Chiropractic in the Pitner House on East Robert Toombs Avenue. Tim and Deanne Crook are partners in the business and have added x-ray as a service to clients.

One of the rock houses in what used to be called (in the 1940s and 1950s) simply Russells burned Sunday night. The house is in the complex of several rock houses; a brick building that began as a restaurant; and a shed for a trucking business, east of Washington just before you get to Wayne’s. I’m pretty sure the restaurant, at least two of the rock houses, and the shed were built in the 1940s and the restaurant was a popular place for Sunday dinner, truckers, and teenage gatherings after football games. It was probably built by Mr. Jim Russell, the patriarch in the Russell family, and continued by his son and grandson, the late John Thomas Russell and John Thomas Russell Jr.

Norris says that the only measurable rain we’ve had since Tuesday of last week came with that brief storm we had about six o’clock Friday evening. It measured .65 of an inch in about 30 minutes. Total for the month is 1.75.

Alice Green, a super supporter of the Washington-Wilkes Animal Shelter, tells me that Darrell and Ruth Adams of Sharon had friends from California visiting with them during the holidays. They visited the animal shelter and were impressed with it and especially with “Flower,” a Shelter dog whose picture was in The News-Reporter. They couldn’t adopt Flower but they are sending money for “upkeep and care.” Alice says she’s sending pictures.

The Washington-Wilkes Arts Foundation will hold its annual meeting January 31, at the Washington Jockey Club at 5:30 p.m. All members are urged to attend. For more information, contact Debbie Wells at 706-678-2243.