Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A round-up of all things Clark County…

First, happy Thanksgiving!

If you can YouTube it, maybe watch the Walton’s Thanksgiving special. Heart warming. That show comes from the days when they made good television before things got all weird and woke.

For those who may not have seen the show, it featured a large family living in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. The long running television show embraced what’s best about America — a love of family and an embrace of friends and neighbors. Perhaps we need more of Walton’s Mountain values these days because sometimes it feels like we’ve lost that sense of family and community.

I must give a tip of the hat to Winchester First United Methodist Church for preparing more than a thousand meals for folks near and far throughout the community. Wednesday, a legion of dedicated volunteers cooked and sliced at least 60 turkeys, stirred big pots of stuffing, made the fixings and cut slices from dozens of delicious pumpkin pies.

Girl Scout Troop 2507 of Winchester lent a helping hand too. All told, more than 200 volunteers prepared and/or delivered warm meals so as to bring Thanksgiving joy to others.

As a longtime journalist, I’ve often worked on Thanksgiving because the news doesn’t take a break on holidays. Many times, I report on community gatherings at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Volunteers rise at the crack of dawn to cook turkeys and prepare meals for those less fortunate including struggling families with young children.

In years past, I’ve brought my own family to these shelters to help serve meals while I work reporting these stories so that we can spend the holiday together. I want my children to not only be able to talk to people from all walks of life without judging, but also to serve God and learn to appreciate their own blessings. The food was quite good too.
I must give a tip of the hat

In other news, longtime realtor Craig Bridgewater visited me at the office and offered to take me on a tour of the county. Much appreciated!

My daughter Samantha spent the week with me. She was very impressed with George Rogers Clark High School. When we rang the front doorbell, we didn’t expect anyone to answer since the school is closed for the holiday.

But by God’s hand, Assistant Principal Daren Snell was passing through at just the right moment and he gave us a quick tour of the building and an introduction to the school. Nice engineering department. Huge library! A very clean and well-kept school. Snell said most counties do not have one big high school like GRC which has 1,600+ students, but rather two schools or more. Snell said the school has top notch academics and sports programs. Very impressive!

One of the Winchester Sun’s most loyal readers Tim Janes sent me a kind note the other day welcoming me to the community. Thanks. Brenda Sipes sent me a nice email welcoming me to the community. She and her husband Jerry taught for the Clark County Schools for many years before retiring.

The newspaper is here to serve Clark County. Reach out to me via email at miles.layton@winchestersun.com or even via Facebook. I want to get to know everyone.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!