Here is another one of those "small world after all" situations that seem to be so common concerning Washington- Wilkes. Gary and Dean Mansfield of Washington have some friends from their South Carolina days. Their names are Troy and Deli Sulton. The Sultons now live in Elyria, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cleveland. They are members of Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church and their pastor is Darrell Meyer. On a recent Sunday, Darrell's fatherin law, Dr. Bill Perry, who was pastor in Statesboro, Georgia, for 24 years, brought the Sunday morning message. After the service, Troy spoke to him and mentioned that he is familiar with Statesboro because he had lived for a number of years in the Augusta area and continues to visit in Washington-Wilkes each year with Gary and Dean for deer hunting.. It was at that point that Dr. Perry told Troy that his wife, the former Margaret Huyck, has a brother who lives in Tignall and was pastor of the Washington First Baptist Church for many years. Of course, this was Albert W. Huyck Jr. who was pastor here for 24 years. Troy then told Dr. Perry, "Well, I would bet that I am the ONLY person in this congregation who knows where Tignall Georgia, is." Dr. Perry agreed.

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Along that same line of meeting people from Washington-Wilkes, here is another coincidence. Daniel Newsome lives on Peachtree Creek Circle in Atlanta. Friday, as he and a friend turned into a nearby street, who should be sitting there waiting to turn onto the street they were on but Chris Townsend, First Baptist's Minister of Students, and his mom,

Sandy Townsend, who lives in Atlanta! They stopped and visited for a while.

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Simpson Corner Day Care, made popular by Mary B. Harris as a place for parents to leave their children while they worked, has been sold. Mary was owner and operator of the center for 15 years, but has retired and sold the business to Mary Acuna.

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Casey Nickels of Washington- Wilkes has received a scholarship at the University of Georgia. Georgia Football Coach Mark Richt announced Saturday that the UGA junior has been awarded a scholarship for the 2009 season. Casey is a 6 ft. 4 inch, 274 lb. offensive tackle with the Bulldogs and was named Most Improved Offensive Lineman and Oustanding Walk-on Lineman at the end of spring drills. Casey was a member of the scout team in 2006 and 2007 and appeared in one game last season. He was a member of the 2008 SEC Academic Honor Roll and Directors Honor Roll for the fall semester. He is the son of Troy and Becki Nickels of Tignall.

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Because of the Wills Memorial Hospital expansion which has begun, Serenity Behavioral Health Systems has announced that the Wilkes County Mental Health and Addiction Disease Treatment Center is moving from its location at 124 Gordon Street, Washington, to 119 Gordon Street, in the building with Dr. Kirk Dodson's offices.

. When Shari Bryson read Peggy Barnett's book review of Little Heathens in a July issue of The News-Reporter, it reminded her of how she grew up in Iowa. The book told of "Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression." Shari says that her family's farm where her dad and his siblings grew up is 10 miles from the setting of the book, and that her dad and two of his sisters taught in Garrison, Iowa, the small town featured in the book. Shari also says that there is a story in the book about a horsehair robe which could have been her family's story. "Many of the things the author tells about were still done as late as the early 1950s," Shari says.

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I've had a couple of calls from readers who have heard and seen cicadas in the area in the past week or so. I, too, have seen them and heard them. I don't know what kind they are. They are larger than ones that I have seen before. I touched with my toe what I thought was a dead one, but when I turned it over, it flew away on wings about two inches long and a half-inch wide. . . . An article in Sunday's Augusta Chronicle had a picture of one which is the same as the one I saw. They're rather pretty. The article called them "male cicada killer wasps" and says that they look intimidating but because it can't sting, it is all bluff. The female, according to the article, can sting but won't unless provoked. They are black with yellow markings across the abdomen, with yellowish legs and dusky wings. The writer of the article says fortunately they are "more buzz than bite."

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If we've got to pay for something, I'd rather have colored lights on The Square than artificial snow.

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Just as in years past, The News- Reporter will be having the annual football supplement in the paper. This year's will be in the August 27th issue and will feature everything there is to know about Tiger football. The supplement is made possible by advertisements. If you haven't been contacted but would like to have an advertisement, call

Tara Townsend at 706-401-9300 by Tuesday, August 18. . . . It looks like a great year coming up for the Tigers.

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To get back to the old school programs that Jean Newsome Casey sent me and which I featured here last week, here is some information on the Washington High School Glee Club and Band Concert in May 1953. Richard Bissett had not been on the scene as band director for long, nor had Sherwood Stewart been around long as glee club director. The glee club opened with "Come to Me" by Beethoven and continued with "I Had A Dream" and a Robert Shaw arrangement of "Set Down Servant." A boys quartet made up of Jackie Wynne, Bucky Green, Cliff Patterson, and Jimmy Davis, sang Romberg's "The Riff Song. Then there were some Rogers and Hammerstein selections and a medley from the musical "Oklahoma" as a finale. . . . The glee club piano accompanists were Lu Ann Koger and Choyce (Doodle Bug) Jackson. . . . I'm sure everybody in the audience sat up and listened when the band began with "King Cotton," a rousing march by

John Philip Sousa. The program also ended with a Sousa march, "Stars and Stripes Forever." In between were selections by Edmond Avon, Paul Yoder and Clare E. Grundman, and a clarinet quintet featuring Billy Willis, Barksdale Thomas, Joanne David, Terry Bennett, and George Armstrong. . . . What fun!