There were three categories in this year’s Pumpkin Contest during the Stockton Pumpkin Patch held on the first weekend of October at the City Park. Winners were Linda and Phil Conyac for Most Unusual; and Doug Bigge winning in both the Largest Circumference and People’s Choice categories.

During the Stockton USD 271 Board of Education meeting held on Monday, October 11th, the members voted to approve the bid from Dan Knoll Roofing in the amount of $9,319.89 for repairs to the back portion of the District Office roof. They also received a facility review report from Kelly McMurphy who identified the maintenance areas the District will need to address in the next few years. He noted that the middle school windows as well as the lobby atrium area windows will need to be replaced in the near future as one of the first projects for the District. He will work with High Plains Roofing to develop a budget for the middle school and high school roofs, and was to send in his final assessment on the vo ag and grade school buildings to the District by the end of the week. He addressed some sewer and plumbing issues as well, but stated that the facilities are in some of the best condition he has seen for the age of the buildings. He asked that the Board members contact him if there are things that are not in his report that they would like him to look at. They will then develop short term and long term maintenance and budget plans for the District, noting that one of the desires of the District is to install HVAC in the high school gym.

There were nine entries in the Stockton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Scarecrow Contest this year. Residential winners were Mike and Lavinia Haines placing first; Dale and Deb Boucher placing second, and Henry and Chris Sander placing third. Business winners were Chamber placing first, Farm Service Agency placing second, and Solutions North Bank and the City of Stockton tying for third place.

The Stockton Sentinel announces that it’s time to choose your favorite family photo to be included in the 25th year of our Christmas feature, Santa’s ‘Deer Ones. The Santa’s ‘Deer Ones photo submission form can be found in this issue to help the process run more smoothly for the elves that help put the edition together at the Stockton Sentinel.

Charles C. Smith Co.

We currently have eight active cases of COVID-19 in the county and three individuals in the hospital. Rooks County has a two-week positivity rate of 15.4 % as of October 11th, 2021.

TOP RESIDENTIAL SCARECROW went to Mike and Lavinia Haines. TOP BUSINESS SCARECROW went to Stockton Chamber..

Dan Melton, Walton, arrived late Saturday night to attend Cedar Church services on Sunday morning with us and help with cattle Sunday afternoon. Dan had attended the wedding reception and dance for Raegan Kats at Phillipsburg fair building Saturday evening. On Saturday morning, the Walton 150th Celebration parade lined up in front of Dan and Michele’s home. The parade was an entire BLOCK long!

This week, we decided to ask our teachers, “Why did you choose to become a teacher?” We were curious about their answers and wanted to know more about them. When asked why she wanted to be a teacher, Mrs.

SOWING & REAPING. There's certainly no moss growing under the feet of farmers these days as they drill and harvest and do a bajillion other things. Despite long days and short nights, the blessing of reaping the corn, beans, and milo sown earlier this year and the future expectation of reaping the wheat sown now keeps them going. What I find amazing is that each wheat seed that germinates will, in round numbers, produce 100 seeds. That's a God thing. Even more amazing is that God can grow an apple tree from one seed which will produce hundreds of apples every year for decades. God promises that "whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7). We can't reap what we don't sow, but we will reap what we do sow. Bible examples abound. Solomon sowed sinful lust for heathen women and in the end reaped an idolatrous life which led God to bring division among His covenant people and to them eventually being conquered and led away into captivity in Assyria and Babylon. The walls of Jerusalem, along with God's Temple that Solomon built, were totally destroyed in 586 BC. And today, there's no archeological evidence that the Temple ever existed. As shameful and sinful as was Solomon's unbridled lust, so far more was the reaping of God's judgment upon his sin. Not only do we reap what we sow, but God, according to His sovereign purposes, causes us to reap far more than we sow. This is not only true negatively in reaping judgment for sin, but also positively in our reaping of blessings for obedience. The Apostle Paul sowed obedience and reaped heaps of blessings. God used Paul to plant multiple churches throughout the Roman empire, to write 13 of the 27 NT books, and to not only strongly rebuke false teachers, but to greatly encourage Christians through the ages. And untold millions have come to genuine faith in Jesus due to Paul’s writings. Two questions— What are WE sowing? ... and ... What will WE reap?