Monday, November 15, 1999
Golf enthusiasts may cross party lines for
a good cause
By Bill Whitaker
If politics makes strange bedfellows, so do charity auctions
— and nowhere is that becoming more so than the upcoming
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Abilene auction dinner.
Although Republicans far and near have long targeted the seat
of U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, Shannel Woodard — one of the
prettier faces among the local GOP — is looking longingly
instead at a golfing vacation package the longtime Democratic
congressman has offered for the big Nov. 29 auction.
Golfers of all political persuasions will understand the dilemma.
Rep. Stenholm and his wife Cindy kindly offered a weekend of
golf for four at the exclusive Robert Trent Jones Golf Course
in Manassas, Va., complete with airline accommodations, lavish
lodgings and a belt-busting dinner — a package, all totaled,
that comes to about $3,000.
The congressman also offered a congressional cookbook signed
by himself. However, all comers are likely to be green with envy
over whoever wins the big weekend of golf.
“This has nothing to do with politics,” insisted
Shannel, an artist and single mom who mans the local office of
state Sen. Tom Haywood but is, for the second year, helping chair
this year’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters auction dinner, marking
the nonprofit’s 21st anniversary. “When it comes to
this organization — and, of course, golf — we’re
strictly non-partisan!”
The 7 p.m. auction offers other unusual items, including a
hand-painted lamp by Nancy Archibald, an eye-catching cross necklace
by Dodge Hubbard and two tickets anywhere Southwest Airlines flies.
Plus, organizers were surprised when famed Dallas chef Stephan
Pyles offered not only copies of his best-selling cookbooks but
quietly slipped in a free pass to his restaurant.
All of which should make it an interesting evening for speaker
Rev. Tony Campbell, Colin Powell’s right-hand man at America’s
Promise, the youth alliance Powell has championed in recent years.
After all, how will the reverend keep everyone’s mind on
the greater good of Big Brothers/Big Sisters with all that loot
out there? (For information about tickets, call 677-7839.)
Undaunted by Rep. Stenholm’s big golf package, Shannel
— a Big Sister when she’s not aiding and abetting Republicans
— is offering one of her limited-edition prints of the state
capitol for the auction, signed by Texas Gov. George W. Bush and
Lt. Gov. Rick Perry. That might not seem quite as special, but
Big Brothers/Big Sisters executive director Janet Ardoyno says
just wait.
“Some day soon that’s going to be very valuable,”
she quipped, “because it’ll not only have the signature
of a future president but a future Texas governor.”
Of course, talk like that sure won’t have Democrats —
what few there are in these parts — bidding much.
Veterans salute
While some folks were still arguing over the simultaneous playing
of school fight songs during the cross-town football clash between
Abilene High and Cooper more than a week ago, AHS students got
down to more serious business with their Veterans Day salute.
Just as planned, 800 social studies students investigated the
military backgrounds of their families, then set up approximately
450 placards for a Veterans Day ceremony in front of the school.
During the salute, Junior ROTC students assembled in uniform and
KTXS-TV weatherman Charlie Jordan waxed eloquent about valiant
causes and valiant men.
But with its array of memorial placards, the campus attracted
plenty of attention well before the afternoon ceremony began.
In a salute to “Uncle” Leonard Knight, no less than
AHS football standout Sneezy Beltran put aside thoughts of football
contests and wrote: “Dear Leonard Knight. Over the years,
many people have fought over many minor and major problems. Sometimes
people criticize others because of this. You, however, are very
special to me.
“Thank you for fighting, so I don’t have to.”
And one detected a certain mischievous pride at the memorial
that student Matt McBride set up as he noted how his granddad,
Earl McBride, lied about his age to get into the Army Air Force
in World War II. Certainly it left in awe Navy veteran Charlie
Jordan, who admitted that when he was lectured about Armistice
Day during his own youth, it “almost bored me to tears.”
Grandfathers, uncles, brothers, aunts and even one ancestor
going back to the Mexican Revolution were saluted, obviously impressing
the many who stopped by. Spectators ranged from Connell Taylor,
who suffered as a prisoner-of-war during World War II, to Vietnam
War veterans such as Robert Rubio and Bill Cowan, who annually
speak to AHS classes about that conflict.
“We’ve had people driving by and stopping all day,
people who have no affiliation with our school at all,” a
very proud Abilene High principal Royce Curtis remarked late in
the day. “They get out, walk among all this and feel like
we’ve done something really big.”
In a sense, maybe they have.
Bill Whitaker can be reached at 676-6732 or whitakerb@abinews.com.
whitakerb@abinews.com.
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