'ROUND THE TABLE
with Sandra Pouland

Sue Johnson celebrated her 70th birthday with her husband, J.D., with a meal at Cheddar's. Taking them out for the special occasion were her nephews, Rocky Haney and Bo Haney and his wife, Cathy. Sue enjoys her retirement and does a lot of reading, crossword puzzles, sudoku, hunting, fishing, bowling and singing in her church choir.

Donald Capps also celebrated his 70th birthday on the 13th along with his younger sister in-law Ginger Capps who has reached that beneficial age that those of us in our sixties are looking forward to.

Enjoyed visiting with Jeff Johnson, a retiree from W. T. Carter Lumber Company in Camden. He lives near there and has worked for different members of the Carter family for more than 42 years. He was in buying seeds and has earned quite a reputation for his gardening skills in Polk County raising a 36" cucumber, a cantaloupe that weighed 36 pounds and a watermelon that weighed 109 pounds. We're anxious to see if he can beat that record this year.

It's hard to write news that does not include Vernon Burkhalter but seems he is always doing something that needs to be reported. Deer season is over but Vernon caught a deer on FM 1818 with the front of his brand new black Chevrolet pickup. He came very close to impacting a vehicle a few days later. Folks at the RT were wondering how long it would be before he got his first dent. Stories go that he had to replace three tailgates on his old pickup.

Jack and Gayle Beene have completed their new home in Jack's hometown of Mexia and have already moved back into their motor home headed toward California. Their last report came from 60 miles east of Los Angeles with a destination toward the wine country.

Bobby Cheshire was in buying a heat lamp and shavings for his daughter's Production Red baby chickens that were due the next day. 2-year-old Kaydee already has 18 Rhode Island Reds that lay six to eight dozen eggs a week and has customers waiting in line to buy eggs. Kaydee puts on her pink 'chicken' boots and lets dad help her gather the eggs everyday. She gives an offering every Sunday to her church and puts the rest of the money in a Mason jar. Kaydee traveled with her five-year-old brother Garrison and five-month-old sister Laycee and their parents, Chandra and Bobby Cheshire to her greatgrandmother's 80th birthday party in Corpus Christi.

Angelina County's new extension agent, Ryan Merrel, stopped by the RT. He will be working with all the 4H groups and be involved in youth development in Angelina County. Ryan grew up in Nacogdoches and is married to Dalene who is on maternity leave taking care of their two-month-old son, Rhett. She will return to teaching 9th grade algebra for Lufkin ISD. Ryan promised we would see more of him in the future.

Jimmy McClain stopped by and was proudly bringing us up to date on his son Wesley who will be playing in the American Junior Golf International Tournament at the Red Stone Golf Club in Houston. Only 15 qualified from Texas and other golfers will come from California to New York and nine other countries. Wesley, we wish you all the luck in the world and hope you put Diboll on the map.

Rebecca Herchman finally got a teacup Chihuahua. His name is Doodlebug and at almost five months weighs almost one pound. He was cute but he certainly wasn't impressed by the cold floors at the feed store.

Joe Denman stopped by for a cup of coffee and catch up on the news. He shared with us that he and Beth celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January. It's hard to believe they only had $142 between them when Beth married her soldier boy! Joe also reported that grandson Rich Warner celebrated his 21st birthday in Austin on February 12th. He is a student at the University of Texas and the son of Lisa and Richard Warner. John Denman, son of Trey and Sally Denman, has his picture on an Express Jet poster in airports around the United States.

JoNell Placker was concerned about her oldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Chapman, a student at Texas A&M and an experienced equestrian, was thrown from her horse this past weekend in Bullard. Thankfully, she wasn't seriously injured and didn't want to miss any school although the doctor recommended bed rest.

Norma Watts, secretary at the Diboll First Baptist, reported she had an encouraging email from Bro. Gary Fannon "doing well, some leg movement but not enough to stand or walk". He is in the TIRR unit in Houston and expected to return home in March. Keep him in your prayers. Norma's husband, Terry Watts got a good report following his recent surgery in Huntsville.

The 2008 graduating seniors at Diboll High School entertained the public with an "Enchanted Evening". They served a catered steak dinner from Moye's and provided good entertainment. Some of the folks that attended included: Stacy Cooke, Carol Mettlen, Tommy and Janice Farley, Judy and Cliff Stephenson, Dennis and Karon Lenderman, Randy and Debbie Prescott, Marty and Tom Harris, Jesse and Suzanne Bradford, David and Elaine Winfrey, Mike and Renae Waters, Donya and Jeff Stifle, Robin and Derek Lowe, Sam & Shirley Coleman. Denise and Richard McCary, Lena and Bill Rasbeary, Jesus and Gloria Meza, Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Vasquez, Leonard and Billie Robison, Dave and Deloris Martinez, Charlie and Loretta Cortines, Bruce Durham, Don and Sandy Hendrick, Janie and Pat McCann, R. A. and Barbara Brookshire, Angela Gordon, Milford Ruby with daughter and son-in-law, Brenda and Chip Seigman, Meridith Ruby, Bob Youngblood, Holly Mc- Cary. Terry Johnson sat alone as Manonne served as the Emcee. Samantha Johnson was home from A&M and sang a solo for the special event and her cousin who is a voice major also sang. More guests included Morris and Dianne Tate, Nathan and Lesa Terrell, Bill and Sharon Brown, Harry Medley, Gary Faircloth and Denise Wilson, Bobby and Gina Jones were sitting with their daughter Jodi and son-in-law, John Jordan. Betty Capps and Kym Capps and her mom, David and Connie Minshew and his parents, Nada & Donald Minshew, Mary Lou Havard, Geraldine Pouland. Sitting together were Mr. & Mrs. Jim McDonald, Mr. & Mrs. Charlie McClain and Mr. & Mrs. Bill Kellam. The seniors did a good job of serving the tables and the parents that volunteered worked hard in the back to make them all look good. I heard lots of good compliments. Thank you for an enchanting evening.

15-year-old Melvin Linton III is excited at catching a calf at the San Antonio Livestock show. He received an $800 voucher that will go toward purchasing a commercial heifer. Watching from the stands were his mom and dad, step-grandpaw Elroy Dieringer from Schulenburg and other grandparents, K.W. and Janie Arrington from George West. One of his Diboll high school ag teachers, Ted Eddins was also present.

Another one of Diboll's ag teachers, Kevin Swor, was also in San Antonio and excited that his daughter, Hiliary Cheyenne, placed 4th in her Hampshire class and is happy at making the sale. All the Diboll ag teachers are busy helping students get ready for the upcoming Angelina County Youth Fair which begins February 18-22. They need your support.

Now that I'm near the end of this first column in several months, I'm wondering, why did I commit to do this again? Our new editor, Jerry Gaulding, must have caught me at a very weak moment. I truly appreciate the many kind words from so many people who said they missed the news from the Round Table so, if this is going to work remember to come see us…'round the table.