* And So They Say: Pudy Larson: “The Stockton kids are sure lucky to have such a good swimming pool these hot days, and I hope they appreciate it.” Mabel Bartlett: “I do an awful lot of things, but don’t do anything very well.” Merton Van Eaton: “I didn’t catch any fish, and it didn’t rain, so I don’t have any news.” O. T. Meador: “Planting our garden in the right time of the moon isn’t of as much importance as giving it the right amount of good old city water.”

The Stockton area was again hit with a severe thunderstorm. Not only did we experience the usual heavy wind and small hail, but the city of Woodston saw firsthand the fury of a tornado. It felt like a storm was brewing all day long as the air was heavy with humidity and it was hot at 90 degrees. That evening we received another inch and a half of rain and small hail being thrown at us by very strong winds. North and west of town was hit harder with enough hail to look like snow drifts on some wheat fields, taking care of the harvest for their owners.

James Hunter. who has been working roads in Thomas County for some time, wrote to Stockton relatives that during work one day last week, the grading machine uncovered 32 quarts of hootch. It is the supposition that the liquor was transported by a rumrunner and fearing the law would nab him, buried the stuff. Plus, graders on a road near Densmore a few days ago unearthed a human skeleton. It is supposed to have been a member of the Buck party, sent out by the government in a very early day to make preliminary surveys. The party completely disappeared and years afterward the surveying instruments belonging to the party were accidently dug up not far from where the bones of the man were found.

THE STONE LETTERING and decorative work had been removed from the front of the old Stockton High School, which was built in 1922. It had served as the middle school building for many years and was soon to be torn down during the summer of 1994 to make way for a new building. The letters were preserved and now stand as a monument on the southwest corner of the school grounds.

* And So They Say: Susan Hamilton (age 4 after her first year at Bible School): “Mommy, how do you wash up God? I’ve heard this a dozen times at Bible School.” Leo McCue: “What does a man have to do to get his name in the paper? I cut my finger and had to have stitches in it last week—but didn’t read a thing about it in the paper.” Florence Coolbaugh (Nevada, Mo.): “The Record prints more local news than any weekly paper I know of.”

The memories of June 9, 2005 came back over the previous weekend in May, 2008, with the arrival of strong storms on Thursday and Friday nights. While we were spared a tornado’s damage, straight-line winds and over 6.5 inches of rain brought their own brand of damage. Wind was measured at 90 mph in rural areas, with huge trees and powerlines falling into the roadways. However, Stockton was fortunate to never have lost power in the storm. The field at Tiger Stadium looked more like a swimming pool than a football field following the heavy rain. The county road was washed away from the culvert at N and 12 Road, just west of the John Hance residence. The spillway at the Woodston Diversion Dam was wildly rushing with flood water and debris.

The agricultural progress train of the Missouri Pacific proved of considerable benefit and amusement to the people of the county last Thursday. Hundreds of the citizens attended. The visitors were much interested in the exhibit and took time to study them. These exhibits were loaned to the Missouri Pacific through the U. S. Department of Agriculture. These exhibits, which are carried in four cars, are said to be the best arranged and most instructive agricultural and educational of its kind installed in railroad cars.

Stockton High School held its 113th graduation ceremony on May 17th at 3:00 p.m. Daniel Riffel was Valedictorian, and Chelsey Kriley was Salutatorian. Don Jenkins, Jr., who was football and wrestling coach to many of the boys in the graduating class, gave the Closing Speech and wished the graduates the very best in their future. “Wrestlers and football players who have participated under me know there are two words that I hate to hear: I can’t. As you follow the path you have chosen, always say ‘I can’ and ‘I will’.”

IN 1994, the Kansas Highway Patrol had purchased ten Jeep Cherokees to use in patrol work around the state. Three of the vehicles were assigned to western Kansas and local trooper Whitey Pfannenstiel was one of the lucky ones who was set to start putting miles on one of the vehicles.

* And So They Say: Tony Kreller: “I’m the kind of guy who will sneak in any place where they leave the gate open.” Harry Brewer: “Why doesn’t someone do something about this lack of rain business? It seems they don’t listen to me.” Irma Renner: “I wish I knew just half as much as I thought I knew when I graduate from high school.”