Saturday, March 21, 1998

Reporter-News salutes

Encore, again

Abilene has once more made its mark in Make A Difference Day efforts nationwide, claiming two Encore Awards in the USA Weekend-sponsored annual day of doing good. In individual recognition, Abilene's Alisia Orosco and Tanya Gripton, students at Bassetti Elementary, have been honored for their work in purchasing and customizing hundreds of teddy bears for youngsters at the Noah Project, Hospice of Abilene and Lubbock's University Medical Center. Alisia, Abilenians will remember, won a national Make A Difference Day honor last year, met with first lady Hillary Clinton and attended the presidential summit on volunteerism in Philadelphia. In addition, the Abilene community received its third consecutive Encore Award for the accomplishments of the 50,000 volunteers who worked on Oct. 25 to improve the place we live in. Out of a total of 10 Encore Awards to be recognized in USA Weekend's April 19 edition, that's two for Abilene alone -- a remarkable showing. And in Goldthwaite, the Mills County Girl Scouts will receive an honorable mention for their beautification project that turned a vacant lot into a downtown park. In a nationwide endeavor such as Make A Difference Day, this concentration of awards puts Technicolor lights on our spot on the map.

Outstanding in their field

The number of farmers may be declining, but the ones still at it are top quality folks. Among them is the David Workman family of Ballinger, which was honored as the 1998 Runnels County Farm Family of the Year. Workman and his wife, Brenda, farm more than 1,000 acres of cotton, wheat, milo and sesame. His civic endeavors include serving on the Ballinger school board. In a related Agri-Plex Ag Day award, John Lange, general manager of Porter Henderson Implement of Ballinger, was named 1998 Agri-businessman of the Year. And in another county, John D. Montgomery was named the 1998 Conservation Rancher of Callahan County by the Callahan Divide Soil and Water Conservation District. Montgomery's 900-acre cow/calf spread, which he has owned and operated for more than 40 years, is about 6 miles northwest of Cross Plains. To such hard-working people the rest of us owe our ample food supply.