DIBOLL, ANGELINA COUNTY AND BEYOND

Congratulations to DHS senior Rochelle Miranda for being accepted to the East Texas Baptist University Invitational Honor Band. She plays clarinet and the concert was Feb. 23. Rochelle is daughter of Camille and Leonard Robison Jr.

Dave and Delorse Martinez hosted a birthday party in their home in South Meadows. Marina Martinez, Dave's mother, celebrated her 80th birthday with nearly 40 members of her family and close friends. Also hosting and helping with the party were her other two children, Richard and Barbara Martinez. Everyone enjoyed Tom Harris' delicious hamburgers and hot dogs. Happy Birthday to a sweet lady!

Lots of folks are getting excited about planting their gardens. Ray Paulsey is one of them; he was in looking for Red Lasoda seed potatoes. His method of planting potatoes came from talking with veteran gardener Laymon Gossett. For his potatoes Ray uses raised beds. He cuts and broadcasts the potato seedlings on top of six inches of bedding material and covers them with leaves and pine straw. After awhile when he's hungry for potatoes, he lifts the leaves and pine straw and chooses which size potato he wants and then recovers the rest until he's hungry again.

Concerning tomatoes, Ray plants only Celebrity tomatoes in five-gallon buckets filled with gravel and potting soil. He believes in Miracle Gro for fertilizer and is building his own tomato cages this year because he couldn't find any large enough last year. In one day Ray picked 110 tomatoes from 10 plants last year; he has 12 plants this year.

According to an article in Saturday's Houston Chronicle (which is personally delivered to the RT compliments of Woody Ingram) Big Boy and Celebrity tomatoes are two of the most popular tomatoes. The article also enlightens the reader to other interesting information: Tomatoes are "determinate" and "indeterminate." Big Boy tomato is an indeterminate plant, these are more compact plants and because they grow before fruit sets, their tomatoes tend to ripen all at once. Celebrity is a dependable semideterminate; these vines continue to grow after the first fruit and tomatoes ripen at different times, allowing for a longer harvest.

Two ladies came in for Anasazi beans. They were Mary Lee Biven from Lufkin and her daughter, Lynne Nagy from Athens, Ga. Mary Lee is married to Richard Biven who retired from Lufkin Industries. His mom was Nettie B. who owned The Bluebonnet Beauty Shop. Mary Lee grew up in Nacogdoches and was a favorite cousin of Martha Jenkins. The Bivens have lived in Lufkin for 45 years. She taught first grade at Peter Pan and then completed 17 years teaching at St. Cyprian's. After retiring from teaching she worked another 10 years at Sherwin Williams as a decorator. She continues to use her talent to design yarn creations woven into Indian looking baskets with feather and beads. She sells her designs at Heritage Village in Woodville.

The Bivens' daughter, Lynne, works for the Regional Medical Center in Athens and is a member of five different choirs. Lynne and Mary Lee were glad that Jack Jenkins could stop by and visit with them. They all joined us for a country dinner of ham, okra-tomato gumbo (thanks to Roy Lyles for the fresh okra from Theresa's freezer), big lima beans and hot cornbread. After lunch, Jack got the guitar down and the girls joined him on several songs.

The Herchmans, Randy and Rebecca, have a new grandchild. Number 7 is Abygale Elizabeth. Her parents are Tim and Rebecca Hamilton, who live in Central with Abygale's brothers, Zachary, Jacob and Benjamin. Another grandchild is due in June.

While Janice Dover was in we learned that her father-in-law, Carrol Dover, will have had knee surgery by the time you read this. Sue Johnson visited Sue Stanford and Dorothy Scarborough in the hospital. Mrs. Scarborough is home now and Sue is improving in Memorial's Specialty unit. Joe Parish stopped by the store. He came in from Lockhart for the Youth Fair and to visit with his brother Butch and Ada Lee.

Beware and be warned. The northern and southern red lights in Diboll have had cameras installed and should be up and running around March 3, according to Chief Kent Havard. Kent says the cameras have computers that can calculate your speed within so many feet of the intersection. If you run the red light the cameras will flash and take a picture of the front and rear of your vehicle. If you should want to "fight it" with the excuse "there was an 18-wheeler or ambulance approaching and I couldn't stop," you'll be OK IF the truck or whatever is in the picture with your vehicle.

After receiving so many complaints from trucks running the red lights, the city of Diboll had a study done. During an eight-hour period during the middle of the week between 3 and 5 p.m. there were 180 violations. Safety was the determining factor to install the cameras, not revenue.

Jean Young was in getting cattle cubes to feed her cows near Forest. Her daughter Necia had come home from Tyler for the weekend. With her degrees in psychology and biology, she works in a micro lab that is a branch of East Texas Medical Center. Necia and Jean had attended a memorial service for Selman Young at the First Missionary Baptist Church in Lufkin. Jean retired from Diboll ISD and stays busy volunteering at Love Inc. where she works with director Jerry Stann and Debbie Mitchell from Diboll. Jean also works for the Diboll Christian Outreach on Thursday and in between times takes care of one horse and their cows.

Mark Hafernick was in buying feed and had a beautiful red and white border collie named Joe riding in the back of his pickup. His kids bought him the collie after Mark lost his faithful 15-year-old fox terrier. Mark says Joe gets along fine with the barn cat, has lots of energy and is real obedient. What more could you ask from man's best friend?

Veteran gardener Freeland White has already planted onions, potatoes and cabbage. He also has tomato and squash seeds planted. He'll be one of the first to have a crop of vegetables to harvest.

A good friend of ours, Gertrude Thigpin, has moved from Diboll to Corcicana to live near her sister. We prepared lunch for her oneday and she brought her neighbor Loucille Bishop with her. Joining them were Gerry Dunkin, Mary Lou Havard, Geraldine Pouland, Billie and Leonard Robison. Mary Lou's two daughters, Mary Beth and Debbie, also enjoyed the tasty lunch of roast beef, carrots and potatoes, chicken and rice, grape salad, green beans and rolls. Gertrude leaves some big shoes to fill with all the kind deeds she did.

Our pastor Gary Fannon is back home from a stay at TIRR in Houston. If you remember he fell in a hunting accident last October. Gary says he is doing well, has learned how to handle himself in a wheelchair and looking forward to moving on with life. He plans to be back in the pulpit Easter Sunday morning. We believe in miracles so continue to keep him and his family in your prayers.

Also remember Doug Baldree and his family. Doug is seriously ill in the ICU unit at Woodland Heights hospital.

Take care and come see us … round the table.