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Rehab Center Has New Appearance Floydada Rehab and Care Center has taken on a whole new look and "atmosphere". Gone is the "hospital" aura when you walk in the door. Now visitors are greeted with a beautiful colorful aquarium, luxurious furniture, and a relaxed nurse's "study". The staff of Floydada Rehab have been in the "redecorating mode" since October 2002, and want to show off their work at an Open House, May 16th, from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The staff has worked hard at creating a "home atmosphere" for residents--starting with the residents input on how they wanted their hallways, rooms, and bathrooms decorated. Hallways are now decorated in "themes". One hallway, now called Rosewood Lane, is decorated with floral motif with matching wallpaper borders and "nick-knacks". Instead of room numbers, residents now have addresses of "One Rosewood Lane", etc. Bathrooms are also fully decorated in themes and bright colors. One resident likes to fish and his bathroom was decorated in a nautical theme, with sailboats and red and white stripes. Another resident loved "Betty Boop", so her bathroom has a "Betty Boop" theme. A resident donated her husband's "cowboy" collection which was used to decorate a hallway into the "Western Star" boulevard. The walls are full of brands, saws, and a variety of cowboy paraphernalia. The specialty Alzheimer's unit is now called "Cottage Acres" and is decorated to reflect that theme. The dining area, now called Kountry Kitchen, feels more at home with a steam "serving table". "We now let them make their choices on what they would like to eat after they view the choices in the steam table," said Administrator Sandra Seago. "We serve them their choices at their table." The specialty unit also has a newly remodeled "Country Diner". The large shower room has been redone to reflect a "warmer look--not hospital look", said Seago. The small, but cozy, beauty shop is now decorated in a wall to wall "Americana" theme. Individual residents rooms now resemble what your own room at home could resemble. Besides the inside changes--the outside is going through some changes too. Residents are now getting into growing their own food. A "raised" garden has been installed with the help of the City of Floydada who hauled in the dirt, and Lighthouse Electric who donated the framing poles. Interested residents are given a "plot" to grow their own vegetables. When the vegetables are ready to eat they will be served to the residents. "We have not just changed the look," said Seago. "We have changed our language. We refer to the center as a "home", instead of a facility. We let the residents make their own decisions. We know longer 'tell' them they have to take a bath at a certain time. We ask them when they would like to take their bath. We ask when would they like to get up and when would they like to go to bed, and when they would like to eat. We are here to serve the residents." The "home" will be branching out into a new look in the front of their building soon. "So many of our residents enjoy sitting outside and they have commented on the fact that all they have to look at is car bumpers," said Seago. "We are going to pull up the concrete parking lot closest to the front door and put in a fountain, trees, and bushes. There will be a sidewalk to stroll around the garden." Seago is currently seeking a grant to help with expenses. Anyone wishing to help with this project either with labor or a donation of money, plants, or trees, etc., should call Seago at the Rehab Center. "We hope we have a lot of visitors at our Open House," said Seago. "The residents love our changes and they would be tickled to death to show off their rooms and bathrooms. "We want the community to feel welcome here and we would enjoy having them come and join us in our 'Home Sweet Home Celebration, May 16th.'" Nance Retires After 32 Years at Providence Farm Supply Friends gathered last week to celebrate the retirement of Joe Nance, who has managed Providence Farm Supply for 32 years. A plaque was presented to Nance which read, "For 32 Years of Exemplary Service Operating Providence Farm Supply and Farmers Day Care Facility". "The job got to be just as much of a Day Care as it was an elevator," laughs Nance, who is known for his sense of humor. "The farmers would sit around every day in the office and dole out advice. "That advice was worth as much as it cost. We could run everybody's business except our own. I don't know why people didn't hire us to advise them." Nance is sincere when he says he will miss the job and the company of his "advisors". His friends are also sincere when they reflect on how much they will miss Nance in his familiar office. Nance says that through the years he has seen the elevator handle 75,000,000 lbs. of grain, and better, per year--and as little as 20,000,000 lbs. per year. "When I started we had about 30-40 customers," said Nance. "The number of farmers has decreased, but the same amount of farms are being farmed." Nance grew up in the Lone Star Community and graduated Lockney High School in 1952. He moved to Lockney and lived there for 17 years while raising his family. Joe and his wife, Peggy, now live in Plainview. They have three daughters: Jody Stamps, Tonya James, and Amy Singh; and two granddaughters, Sarah and Shanna. Nance said he was custom spraying before he started working at Providence. "I stopped by the elevator one day and mentioned that I was going to quit spraying. The manager, Wayne Chiddix, offered me a job. Five years later Nance was the manager, and "the rest is history," says Nance. "It all just sort of fell into place--I guess it was meant to be." Loyal customers and friends surprised Nance with a "retirement party", Wednesday, April 30, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Providence. Nance was brought to the party after being "arrested" by Constable Ray Macha. Nance was "delivered" to the church.When he spotted all the cars parked outside, the surprised Nance remarked, "I didn't know I owed this many people money." Grilled burgers were served and presents were handed out. Besides the plaque Nance received gift certificates and a money jar. He was also presented with a straw hat with an embroidered band that said, "Chevo" on one side, and "Old Fart", on the other. Nance explained the hat. "There was a Mexican man that used to work for the Stoerners. He couldn't speak very much English but he used to call me "Chevo", which is the Spanish word for goat. I was dubbed that because of my whiskers I think. The phrase got picked up by the Mexicans in the area because they thought I looked like an 'old goat'----or smelled like one--I'm not sure which." Nance was also presented with the old clock that hung on the office wall, because as friends said, "He was always watching the clock!" When asked what he was going to do while enjoying his retirement, Nance said, "Whatever she (Peggy) tells me to! She handed me a list of things to do and I thought it was the Sears and Roebuck Catalog!" Voters Return Hospital and School Incumbents to Office Incumbents were returned to office in Floydada and Lockney elections, Saturday, May 3. The Caprock Hospital District races drew the most voters to the polls, however the turnout was low in all the races. The current Caprock Hospital District Board of Directors were returned to office. Incumbent Tom Farris received 189 votes; Kyle Smith, 190 votes; and Denice Payne, received 175. Challengers Craig Dubois and Mark Whittle garnered 102 and 124 votes respectively. In the Floydada ISD election, Pct. #2 incumbent William (Bill) Dean beat out Jerry Battey Jr., 74 votes to 58 votes. Pct. #1 FISD Trustee Kerry Pratt ran unopposed and that election was cancelled. In the Lockney ISD, Pct. #1 incumbent Jesse Garza received 13 votes and Ricard Zavala got 9 votes. Jeff Don Terrell, Pct. #1 incumbent, ran unopposed and received 3 votes.
Obituaries RAYFORD CUMBIE Services for Rayford Cumbie, 71, of Lockney were held Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at the First Baptist Church in Lockney. The Reverend Harold Abney officiated. Burial was in the Lockney Cemetery under the direction of Moore-Rose-White Funeral Home of Lockney. Mr. Cumbie died Saturday, April 26, 2003 in Plainview. He was born on August 26, 1931 in Athens, Texas to the late Joe B. and Emma Cumbie. He attended schools in Lockney and was a lifelong resident. He was a veteran of the United States Navy, having served during the Korean Conflict as a 3rd Class Aviation Machinist. He was a retired farmer and a member of First Baptist Church in Lockney. Survivors include one daughter, Kimberley Cumbie of Amarillo; one brother, Wayne Cumbie of Plainview; and one sister, Nadine Davis of St. Louis, Missouri. The family suggests memorials to the First Baptist Church, 401 S. Main, Lockney, Texas 79241.
by Alice Gilroy
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by Ken Towery If the Lord is willing, and the creeks don't rise, to high, we will try our luck at writing again. The doctors seem to think the mental exercise won't upset their plans, so we shall see what we shall see. Anyhow, it was not the best of times to be under the weather. A great deal of water has gone under the bridge since we last commented on matters, and the matters were things that should have been commented on. The war in Iraq, the trouble throughout the Middle East, the Korean mess, the Texas legislature meeting in Austin, the pending (and continuing) battles over taxation, education and whatever, all provided useful fodder for comment. But the surgeons' priorities took precedent, as they always do, so we had to await their pleasure. We have written a long (2,600 word) piece for the web page concerning the possible future of matters in the Middle East. It turned out to be too long for a column in the paper, so we have asked Alice to put it on the web page, where it can be accessed by those who might be interested. Just go to the Hesperian website and follow instructions. As always, we welcome responses. Meanwhile, back at the ranch. The Texas Legislature is faced with the usual problem. Too many demands for money and too little money to go around. What to do? Raise taxes? Cut spending? Hold the line? We have our thoughts, which we will get to shortly. For many years we have railed about the Texas tax structure. It is not the worst in the nation, by any means, but it could, in our opinion, be made better. It could be made a lot better. One of the ways it could be made better is to change things so huge corporations like the Austin American-Statesman would have to pay franchise taxes just like small businesses who do not have the luxury of being advised by tax lawyers. On any given Sunday, the Austin paper pulls over a million dollars from local businesses and sends the profit off to Atlanta, Georgia, but when it comes time to pay the corporate franchise tax, they are missing in action. They have formed themselves into a "partnership" for the express purpose of avoiding certain taxes. There are other large hypocritical media conglomerates in Texas doing the same, taking advantage of a law designed to aid the formation of small businesses in the state. That does not keep them, or course, from writing thundering, unsigned, editorials advising everyone else just how the cow ate the cabbage. And then there's the matter of the sales tax. In city after city across Texas we have the spectacle of municipalities "beggaring their neighbors" by granting all sorts of tax incentives to certain large retail outlets, knowing full well that because of their actions, many small businesses in surrounding smaller towns will go under, and the smaller towns themselves will suffer accordingly. The small businesses, and the small communities, do not have the money to grease the palms of important legislators. Any time the Legislature begins considering the tax situation, you can rest assured that certain voices will be heard more loudly, and more clearly, than others. The loudest voices will be those with the most money to hire lobbyists. They have every right to do just that, but if the Legislature really wants to tackle the tax thing, and we can think of no better time to do it, the matter of sales tax rebates will be, or should be, front and center. We have written of this particular problem, and solution, many years ago. One very simple change in the tax laws would solve the problem once and for all. The sales tax rebate ought to be apportioned out to communities in this state on the basis of how much sales tax the citizens of those communities pay into state coffers, regardless of where they live, rather than to that community where the collection box calls home. A citizen in Hale Center, for instance, who goes to Wal-Mart in Plainview to buy some nuts and bolts would see that portion of his sales tax normally rebated to the city where the giant retailer holds forth, go instead to his hometown of Hale Center. The pot holes that might get fixed, or the policeman who might get paid, would be in Hale Center, instead of Plainview. That one simple change would be of tremendous value to small communities. It would not cost any legislator any votes, since he represents a certain number of votes, no matter where they live within his district. But to be honest about it, the vote might cost him some campaign contributions, since the major retail outlets might see the accounting procedure as an added burden, one they do not wish to endure. But we see no real problem. Computers can now figure rebate destinations in the blink of an eye. The only real objection ought to come from those city councilmen who gave away their citizens' tax dollars in the first place, in incentives that should not have been granted. We are under no illusion that the change would be easy for legislators. But the big need would be in legislative courage, a commodity usually in short supply around Austin. The word around Austin is that Gov. Rick Perry does not want the legislature to get itself tied in knots this session, with many other issues needing to be handled. But sooner or later the legislature will have to address the entire tax issue, and when it does we hope someone is around who has enough intestinal fortitude to make the right calls.
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