* And So They Say: John B. Smith: “The world is certainly getting smaller. I had a letter from Vietnam and one from Holland in the same mail. And neither had been on the way more than four days.” Harold Maddy: “I was pretty old when I had my first baby, but she was worth waiting for.” Myrna Kincaid: “Sometimes, after trying all the nationally advertised cleaners, you find that just plain old elbow grease works better than anything else.” Erma Jean Price: “There was no one at our house Thanksgiving except me and the turkey.”

SPOTLIGHTING THE YEAR…1967 * And So They Say: Shannon Krysl: “Doug DeRosear says real funny things. When I asked him why he smashed his rolls up at the dinner table, he said, ‘So I can get all the flavors in one bite.’” Red Hagan: “Any more you can’t tell which comes first, Thanksgiving or Christmas.” Bob Smith: “They call me the deer slayer now.” Lee Phelps: “Never hit your head on an electric transformer while you are holding a string of tinsel.

* And So They Say: Albert McCue: “Bob, who is stationed in Okinawa, writes that it just takes a little while to make us appreciate the United States. He says they have no sewers, just ditches on each side of the street, and often they are not even covered.” Merton Van Eaton: “This is the first time that I can remember that I never got a bird on the first day of pheasant season—and I only had one shot.” Stanley Krysl: “I’ve been here 20 years and this is the first year I haven’t gone pheasant hunting. Virgil Hagan: “Don’t people have any patriotism anymore? There were only eight flags out on Main Street on Veterans Day. I know things were closed up, but it wouldn’t have taken long to put the flags out.”

* And So They Say: Jo Carmichael: “Everyone sure laughed at me when I told them it was going to snow on November 2nd because my Farm Journal said so.” Mary Alice Boethin: “Yes, I know I went deer hunting, but I’m not just about to eat any of the meat.” Bill Gouldman: “The best thing about Vera’s trip to Hawaii was coming home and seeing me.” Pudy Larson: “Stockton is going to have to do something for itself. No one else is going to do anything for us.”

* And So They Say: Mrs. Mary Stewart: 'I saw a really beautiful sight Sunday morning. It was a deer standing up against an evergreen tree in our yard. It would have made a nice picture.' Rhada Hutton: 'The big news is that the fish are biting again at Webster.' Mrs. Verl Walker: 'Whoever left that package on my doorstep, I wish they had put their name on it as I would like to thank them for it.'

* And So They Say: Kenneth Medley: “Why don’t you leave the front page blank some week? That would cause a lot of excitement, as everyone would wonder what it was you left out.” Norma Maddy: “It takes four days to get a letter to my daughter Gloria, at Omaha, Nebraska, and only three days for a letter to reach my son Terry in Thailand. Jim Reidel: “We still have our antelope, and sometimes I wish we didn’t.” Clyde Grover: “If I have to pay 25¢ for a cup of coffee— then I’m going to have to have something a little stronger.

SPOTLIGHTING THE YEAR…1967 * And So They Say: Ruth Phelps: “I’m trying to get into the Christmas spirit even if it is a little early.” Dode Morrissey: “There can’t nobody take my place.” Charlie Baxter: “I shot off a homemade rocket down in Wichita on Sunday. I never saw the rocket again, but I think it brought down three planes.” Vic Jacobs: “We have to find a way to keep Coach Bob Becker here even if we have to put him in jail during the week and let him out on the weekends.” * Work was expected to begin on the 400-foot TV tower on the hill at the north edge of town near the city dump.

* And So They Say: Reid Baxter: “My wife knows all the gossip, but she never tells me anything.” Howard Wanamaker: “A man has a right to be in a bad humor if he spends half his Sunday working on a machine, and then can’t get it to operate.” Clarence Heiner: “I’m almost glad I don’t know anything, folks don’t expect so much of you that way.” Lucia Hamilton: “I don’t go to anyone’s house unless I have to.” Velma Bartlett: “I like my clothes to fit, but I don’t like to look like I’ve been stuffed into them.”

* And So They Say: Rev. James Williams: “Stockton people can be proud of the high school band and the football team, and the stadium is also extra fine.” Pudy Larson: “I can’t get excited over the World Series. I’m a football man.” Wilbur Doak: “I know it’s early, but I’m washing my windows so I can put my Christmas cards on display.” Dode Morrissey: “I had six good reasons for going to the circus on Sunday—five grandchildren and half the proceeds go to crippled children.”