Sherri Bowers sent me an item about some "goings on" at Danburg. . . . Sherri"s husband, Steve Dobbs, is a retired herpetologist. (I had to look that up. My dictionary says that herpetology is the "scientific study of reptiles and amphibians" - SNAKES.) He's retired, but he still "deals with snakes." Sherri says that Steve has caught and relocated 16 different black rat snakes from their chicken nests this summer. Their three hens have become so accustomed to the snakes that they just squawk a few times to get Steve and Sherri's attention and then stand out of the way until Steve catches the snakes. A couple of times there have been two snakes at a time. This past Saturday night there were three. Steve caught two of them and would have got the third if Sherri hadn't been afraid to hold the snake bag open for him. "Sixty years of training to avoid snakes is very hard to override," Sherri says.

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Something happened over the weekend that's hard to believe. Somebody stole the dogfood from the Washington-Wilkes Animal Shelter! The Shelter constantly struggles financially and this is a real blow to the workers and the animals. Maybe we should find the thieves and put them under the jail, permanently. . . . Needless to say, monetary contributions or dogfood are needed immediately.

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We got more rain! And it was good rain - just the right amount and not too much like those poor folks in the Atlanta area. Estimates for portions of the Atlanta area have been 22-plus inches which they got in just a short time. . . . In Washington, Norris recorded 1.9 inches on Monday, and .9 of an inch Saturday night, for a total of 3.6 inches for the week; and a total of 7.5 inches for the month. . . . In the Tyrone area, Sonny reports 3.127 inches on Monday; 1.487 inches on Saturday, for a total of 4.6 inches for the week. He says that he has been "keeping the rain" since 1985 and expects September to be a record month of rainfall for his record. . . . Tuesday morning Preston Sanders came by The News-Reporter to report 16 inches of rain in five days at his cottage off Sandy Cross Road in the Tyrone area.

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As of Monday night (September 28), I know of just one rain-related trouble spot. About 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning a huge oak tree on East Robert Toombs Avenue near the homes of Henry and Shay Harris and Libby and Jeff Foster (across from the old Thornton's store) uprooted and fell across Highway 78.

Trevin Burriss on Water Street says that the fall shook his house. I'm sure it must have shaken others. The electric power was out for several hours while workers cleared the tree from the highway and repaired power lines.

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Fire destroyed a big hay barn at the home of Hoppy (Marvin) and Oleta McAvoy on Happy Hollow Road Monday night. The barn contained about 300 round bales of hay and 1000 square bales.

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After the new American flags were installed around The Square a couple of years ago, quite a few business owners and others brought their old flags to The News-Reporter for disposal. This was because at that time we had an organization that would periodically pick up the flags and have a ceremonial burning. Recently we have not had a way to dispose of them but have now found that VFW Post 5899 will take care of that for us. So if you have some you would like to get rid of, bring them to us here at The News-Reporter and we will get them to the VFW. Don't just throw them in a corner somewhere.

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Billy Hopkins is the current owner of the property of the late H.H. and Mary Frances Drinkard Barnett and of Harrison Barnett Jr. on Spring Street. A couple of weeks ago Billy had an auction for the contents of the house. Frances Hopkins, who with her husband, Dennis (Denny) Hopkins Jr., and their family had lived across the street from the Barnetts for a good many years, attended the auction and bought a beautiful "drum" table. When she got it home and opened the drawer there were some cards and letters in the drawer. A family member recognized the handwriting and said, "Frances, those letters are from you." And they were. They were written to Mary Frances in the 1980s when Frances and Denny lived in Taiwan.

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I'm sure many of you saw the man dressed in a long white robe and carrying a cross as he walked the streets in the downtown area and East and West Robert Toombs Avenue one day last week. He says he just wants people to notice him and stop and talk so that he can tell them about Jesus. I think he's from the Augusta area. . . . I read about him several weeks ago in The Augusta Chronicle and I think there was a picture.

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Saturday, October 3, is the time for the annual Rayle Ramble, and organizer Jason Echols says that there's a chance some folks may get lost in Rayle. A giant inflatable maze is being set up, so be careful, you could get lost. . . . Next on the agenda is Mule Day at Callaway Plantation on Saturday, October 10.

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Hall of Fame Sports Broadcaster

Ernie Harwell was featured in the September 23 issue of USA Today with almost two full pages of pictures and information on "the 91-year-old who charmed fans with his kind nature and a gentle Southern drawl while calling baseball games for 55 years, including 42 with the Detroit Tigers." A native of Wilkes County, Ernie has been diagnosed with incurable cancer and has just several months to live. The two pages included a picture of Ernie and his wife Lulu, who have been married for 68 years; and a picture of him being honored on the field at Ford Field in Camerica Park in Detroit. The 56,269 fans present gave him a "thunderous ovation."

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