Month: August 2024

Sometimes one has to just roll with the punches…

Good Morning 🙏, Happy Tuesday !

I wanted to take the time to share a thought about Life and Facebook. Anyone who reads my writing ✍ on a regular basis knows that I believe that the 24/7 World 🌎 that we live in isn’t healthy and I believe Social Media is at the root of a great deal of it.

Sadly, for me anyway, I understand that it is here to stay. My days of trying to fight a battle that I can’t win are numbered now so that helps a little bit.

The idea 💡 to offer $10,000.00 to our High School administrators for the sole purpose of raising the bar on education was something special to Linda and I. The next step 🚶‍♂️ in the process was to take the idea to Allen Worrell at the Carroll News and our friend did a great job with it.

One of the reasons that the story read so well was Kristen Quesenberry is a bright and articulate young Lady. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon when it was announced that the Football team would be selling off their old uniforms for $10.00 each to raise money 💰 (Great idea, by the way).

It’s easy for anyone who isn’t part of the Football program to feel slighted in regards to their children or their passions. At my last count, 27 people had shared a Post about the old jerseys and 4 people had shared the news about the $10,000.00 for everything not involving. I wish I was making that up….

Why is it important that people know about the program that we started with the help of the School 🏫 staff?

The hope is that others might choose to follow the same path. We live in a time where someone is needing funding for something every minute of every day. That’s just a non-disputable fact. Doesn’t matter which side of the political landscape one stands on, we need money to do everything. Every club, every ball team and everything in between, needs funding to keep the wheels spinning.

We will continue to do our Best at shining a Positive Light on as many people and efforts as possible. We will continue to pray 🙏 for our Administration and our Facility to do the best job possible with our Youth!

[The story about how the parking lot at Cavalier Park is getting paved is a great story because of the inner workings and the people involved. Sadly, it doesn’t hold the interest of many people because it lacks POP.]

Laurel Fork Night 🌙with Ethan Richardson and his Father 👨❤

Ethan Richardson just recently returned from a Mission Trip to South Africa 🇿🇦 and we finally found enough time to sit down with the next Father & Son duo on our list.

We started with Greg and Jabin Talley, followed up with Eddie and Dakota Walls before sitting down with the Richardsons. It would be easy to write ✍ about Ethan the Tennis player, Ethan the Swimmer or Ethan the Hoopster but we are going to talk with Ethan about his journey to the Far Side of the World (Name of an old Jimmy Buffett album).

Any opportunity to get to interact with this pair is as good as it gets. The fact that Ethan shows love and respect for his Father but at the same time jumps at any opportunity to compete with him is priceless.

Taking a minute to break the ice 🧊 before sitting down and diving into a life changing journey, Kris and Ethan agreed to square off in a game of Table Top Corn Hole. Ethan raced out to a quick 10-0 lead but Dad 👨 would rally back for the victory.

Watching 👀 the pair was worth the price of admission (insert laughter here) and it made the transition from a light moment into discussing the Mission Trip.

The story will be in the works for the next couple of days and I hope that I can do it justice ⚖🙏.

Here is Ethan when he returned to our Village shortly after 1am. Notice the shirt 👕, it fits into the story !

Samantha Reed is One Very Impressive Lady 👩 and she has pretty Cool people on her team !

Photo 📷 from Carroll County Special Olympics Basketball 🏀.

The Carroll County Athletic Association is led by one of the most determined people I have met during my time here in Carroll County. I can still remember the very first time I met Samantha and it was Kevin DeHaven that introduced her to me.

To this day Mrs. Reed is in my cellphone as Kevin’s friend Sam. It wasn’t until my first time inside Hillsville Elementary School that I realized Sam was also known as Dr. Samantha Reed.

Here is the post 📫 on the recent upgrades just completed at the Football Concession Stand. I love everything about it, the work that was accomplished and the attention to detail in saying Thank You to everyone who contributed to the effort.

It was a flash back to one of our earlier conversations, right after the upgrades were done on the Concession Stand outside the Gymnasium. Community Pride should be the focus point every chance possible and that is very clear with the efforts of the CCAA. The day will come when Sam and I can get together for a few minutes and she can further educate me about everything her team does behind the scenes. Until then, I didn’t think just sharing the Post 📫 on Facebook was enough. I wanted to say that life in Carroll County is better because we have folks like Kevin’s friend Sam watching out for us !

Thank You Ma’am and Thank You 🙏 to your team !

Good Monday Morning to All of our Teachers getting ready to head to School 🏫

Without a doubt, the thing that makes working with the Sports Marketing team down at App State so meaningful to me is its as close as I will get to being a teacher / instructor.

Each fall I commit to 10 trips to and from Boone, North Carolina to take part in the production of a Field Hockey 🏑 game. This past Saturday was the first of the ten which meant meeting up with this years group of folks that will be part of the process.

I imagine that the average College student would be skeptical about working directly with someone old enough to be their Grandfather. But once again, this years group were a treat to work with.

The first thing that would be a surprise to hear is that we have somewhere in the area of 20 people that all have a role to play in the production of a College GameDay. Yes, even for Field Hockey 🏑, App State is producing a product worthy of the Sun Belt Conference.

Ironically, the Mountaineers compete in the MAC for our sport as the Sun Belt doesn’t have enough teams playing the sport yet. My responsibility is to lend my voice to the day and at the same time lead by example. As I said, its as close as I will get to being a teacher and the thought of having an opportunity to work with younger people in that manner is enlightening.

This morning, here in Carroll County alone, we have Teachers heading out to Elementary schools, Middle School, High Schools 🏫 and a few others that cannot be labeled quite as easily.

Teachers come in all shapes, ages and sizes, each with their own style. We are fortunate that we have the quality of instructors that are in place in our Community.

So while I have zero Authority to name anything, outside of my own Brain 🧠, let’s call today – We have wonderful Teachers that we are fortunate to have Day !

Not sure if its going to read well on a T-Shirt but it feels good to say it.

Teachers, Have Yourself a Great Week !

Eddie and Dakota Walls is a story about a Father who Loves his Son that happens to involve a Late Model Race 🏁 Car 🚗.

Dakota Walls is just one of many, many Carroll County High School Freshman. The one thing that might set him apart is that Walls drives his own race 🏁 car.

Let that sink in for a moment and it becomes easy to jump to 1,000 different directions. Must be nice, how rich does someone have to be to buy their child a race car ? Way to spoil a child, couldn’t stop at a pony ?

Eddie Walls works for a living and the Carroll County High School graduate 🎓 is trying hard to raise a child in a very challenging environment. We weren’t very deep into our initial conversation when the logic involved in creating this opportunity for his teenage Son became clear.

See, Dakota doesn’t just drive the #11 car on the weekends. Dad set up the opportunity for his Son with the running of the business involving the car, including getting sponsors for his team.

That part of the process is what led Linda and I to the Franklin County Speedway last night. It was our second time this year that we carved out the time to take in a night at the track over in Calloway.

The very first time that I had a discussion with Dakota he was still in Middle School 🏫. Realizing that I was talking to someone that was the same age as the oldest of our nine grandchildren made me smile.

We were trying to search out ways through our Non-profit organization, OneofUs.Care, to see if we could possibly help someone in our Community persue a lifetime changing dream.

You hear the stories about how old Jeff Gordon or Jimmy Johnson were when they started their racing careers. Dale Junior was destined to drive while still in the delivery room.

Finding success at the next level is not foreign in our neck of the woods. Just across Lovers Leap is where the Wood Brothers operation started its journey and while the main part of the operation is no longer in Stuart, the museum is worth a visit.

Carroll County High School just recently graduated 🎓 a group of over achieving Student Athletes that are now headed off to College. Mike Montgomery made it the Show that is Major League Baseball.

Alyssa Ervin is just a few months away from lacing up her sneakers 👟 at Elon University. Nobody knows where her journey will end. Mason Crockett is set to play football at Virginia Tech and Addie Greene clearly has the “It Factor “. Let’s not forget about Trace Reavis on the Golf course. This list can go on and on with the thought process being if we have Youth that have the desire to chase a dream, we should be lining up to encourage them.

There is no guarantees in the process for anyone of us but more often than not, encouraging people comes at little to no cost. Does Dakota Walls have the ability to make it to the point where Jeff Gordon is doing commentary about him ? Not sure but its been a pleasure learning more about the Father – Son duo and getting the pleasure of watching our Logo zip around the oval track a couple of times has been an absolute blast.

For 30 of the scheduled 58 Laps Saturday night Walls was out there, bumper to bumper racing 🏎 like he knew what he was doing. After a collision while racing for fourth place damaged the car enough to make it impossible to finish the race so our night ended just after 10pm.

Racing 🏎 a Late Model Race car while in Middle School is not a every day occurrence. Sadly, there’s no after School club for drivers and its not a story big enough to make the Newspaper. The goal here is to help spread the word about a hard charging Freshman and a Father 👨 that loves him !

Here is Dakota Walls and our Volleyball 🏐 team in the photo 📷, shoot for the team !