Burningtown News, Sunday, February 7, 2016


Good morning to all the people all over the world,

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please remember the following in your prayers this week.


Lucy Mason    Ken Shepherd    Nell Duvall Welch    Lori Impagliatelli    Harry Henry    Melba Martin    Melba West    Meredith Jones    Clarence Scott
Linda Campbell    Pamela West    Bob Bryson    Sue Martin    Oweila T F    Sue West    Beatrice Deweese    Wayne Powers    Charles West
Tom Needham    Nancy Lynch


ANNOUNCEMENTS

Rev. Brian Holland will bring the message on Sunday morning, February 14, 2016, at 11:00, at Burningtown Baptist Church.
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From Iotla Baptist Church



THe Inspirations… Will appear in gospel concert

Date: Thursday, February 25, 2016

Time: 6:00 PM

Place: Iotla Baptist Church of Franklin
For more information call 524-7167

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ARTICLES, LETTERS, POEMS, PICTURES AND THINGS



The above quote is a verse from a song by Matt Redman called 10,000 Reasons. I was listening to it yesterday and this verse just spoke to my heart. It can be compared to several different things. The morning can be the mountain and the evening the valley. The morning can be a child and the evening an old person. But what got me is actually comparing the morning to the evening. I don't believe anyone wakes up saying "I want to have a bad day today". Even if we know of something that's going to happen that day and dread it, we still hope for the best. No matter what situation you compare it to, the choice still lays in your hand as to how you choose to deal with things and your attitude about it. Psalm 30:5 says "....weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." I have no idea what problems are going to come but I know we've seemingly had our share of them and weeping lately but each time God has brought joy into the results. Today is a new day and I have a song in my heart. Evening is going to come, problems are going to come, my prayer is "God let me be singing when they do!" I hope you have a blessed week! Donna Mathis :)
Dear Mr. Fouts,

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I'd be much obliged if you would let me purchase a subscription for my long-suffering wife, Janet Jacobs Greene. Her birthday was just a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I'd better get around to getting her something. And what better gift than a subscription to the world's finest source of information, The Burningtown News! I want to make it a lifetime subscription so she'll see how much I love her. I'll need you to bill me by some sort of installment plan.
I know this will provide her untold hours of entertainment, plus an occasional sermon illustration.

With gratitude I am,
Your faithful reader,
Vic Greene

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GRANDPA AND GRANDMA ROPER
By: Nita Welch Owenby


My grandpa Cling Roper, as he was called, and Grandma Clemmie lived at the "very head" of Burningtown when I was just a child. Like all "towns," it has changed over the years, but I remember it from way back when, the way it used to be.

Going to visit Grandpa and Grandma's house was always an exciting adventure, as getting up to the head of Burningtown was a long trip then. The roads from Rose Creek to Burningtown were all graveled, and usually full of pot-holes you had to dodge when driving. Even on the gravel roads you had to drive carefully, because the gravel was rather thin in spots and if you got off the high spots, you could easily get stuck if there had been recent rain. The roads were narrow and folks had to blow their horns in the turns to make sure they didn't have a head-on collision. At the end of Upper Burningtown Road (as it is called today), we had to ford a creek, and the road on up to the old home place was actually an old creek bed. A vehicle that set up high off the road could drive to the house, but we usually walked from that point and left our car parked at Carroll and Mary Rowland's. And even when we got to Grandpa and Grandma's, we had to cross a foot log to get across the creek to the house.

Grandpa was already up in years when I was young, and the man I remember and loved was small built, with the whitest, curliest hair I had ever seen. He enjoyed chewing his tobacco, and never once missed the fireplace when he spit, regardless of where he was sitting in the room. But my Mom, Ethel Roper Welch, his second daughter, created the image of his youth in my mind. He was a handsome man, very well liked, and managed to make a living working at the sawmill and by somehow pulling up a few 'taters and a bit of corn from the rocky soil at the base of the mountain. I remember Mamma telling me of a winter when there was a very heavy snow. All the family but her and Uncle T.C. had the flu and were very sick. They ran out of firewood, so Grandpa told the two of them to crawl up in the loft where old stuff was stored. They found some old worn out leather shoes and boots, threw them down into the living room, burned them as wood and kept them from freezing to death. Some days later, neighbors came to check on them, and brought in wood and food.

When we visited Grandpa and Grandma, it was always fun playing in the creek and hunting hen nests. They didn't have a chicken house, so the few hens they had made their nests in random places, and it was like a game of treasure hunting to us kids to look for them. Also, Grandma had some dry land ducks. I thought all ducks liked water, so I threw one of her ducks in the creek and almost drowned it. But Grandma never raised her voice to me, and gently explained. I've not heard of a dry land duck since, but it's a fact that she had some.

And I never understood until I was probably eight or nine years old that Grandma Clemmie was my step-grandma. But, it didn't matter to me when I learned, because I didn't know what step-grandma meant, and I loved her. She was the only grandma I ever knew on Mamma's side of the family. Later Mom told me about my Grandma Sally Sara Owenby who died when Mom was age ten. But Grandma Clemmie loved all of us kids dearly, and it was always a joy to her to have children in the house.

Grandpa was married three times. He lost his first two wives in early death, leaving him with small children. Uncle Bronce and Aunt Maude were from his first marriage. Uncle Bronce married Aunt Edna, and she was Lucille's (that's LF) older sister. Then Grandpa married Sally Sara Owenby, my grandma, and they had my mom and Uncle T.C. (Thomas Clingman). Later, after Grandma passed away, he married Grandma Clemmie and had my additional aunts and uncles, Cora, Bert, R.L., C.B., and Shirley. This may sound like the begets in the Old Testament, but somehow the kids of all three wives just blended into one caring family.

I wanted to write this information since I feel that Grandpa Cling was one of the original people who put Burningtown on the map. Uncle C.B. and his wife, Marilyn, still live at the head of Burningtown across the creek from the old home place. He's a Deacon of the Oakdale Church, and a much respected member of the community. Uncle R.L. and his wife Willie Mae, restored the old home place quite a few years ago, and used to spend time up there in the summer.

Today there are three Burningtowns: Upper, Middle and Lower. At least that's how the roads are named. It's a large community. And I like to think that Grandpa Cling was one of the originals, and I am proud to be his and Grandma Clemmie's grandchild.

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EC: There are four roads in Burningtown with the name of Burningtown, One is Burningtown, Upper Burningtown, Middle Burningtown, and Lower Burningtown. I live on Lower Burningtown. Jim lives on Burningtown. I think that happened because of 911.

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THEY LIVE AMONG US
By: Roy Owenby

Anytime I want information about the latest conspiracy theories, I usually stop off at an Army/Navy store somewhere in Western North Carolina. That pretty much applies to anywhere, but I have more opportunities in WNC. Almost to a man, these wingnuts are convinced that it's just a matter of time before the United States is attacked by some group. Strangely, they never mention the countries most able to attack the U.S., like Russia or China. The one I hear most often is a takeover by the United Nations. Other possible takeovers are by African Americans, Arabs, Jews or Catholics. I even heard one about a Native American uprising. Of course, they've found a better way. They just build casinos and separate the well-heeled and foolish from their money. That sure beats hand-to-hand combat, especially if you're outnumbered sixty to one. Now, because it's an Army/Navy store, one would think the people who frequent that particular business would be veterans, but that's often not the case. The most militant of those people never served a day in their lives. As Brother Dave Gardner used to say, "Ain't that weird?"

I was in one of the above mentioned stores near Waynesville a couple weeks ago. I usually pretend that I'm looking at old ammunition boxes or something similar so I can listen reasonably unnoticed. In this case, there were four of them near the front window discussing whether they had enough arms and ammunition laid away to ward off the coming attack. One guy said he had twenty guns and fifty cases of ammunition buried up in his pasture. That left me wondering if he had enough sense to waterproof his stash. Another guy had several hundred boxes of ammo hidden behind a false door in his basement. Another blowhard kept his guns and ammo at his mother's house because he was afraid the cops would show up and take his guns away. I couldn't tell if he had a criminal record or if he was just paranoid. It's patently obvious that guns are the most important things in their lives, and their purchase comes before clothes, medicine and food. If I can believe what they say, they'll let their kids go hungry in order to prepare for the coming takeover.

The other day, I was waiting to provide blood and pee to the lab at the hospital. There were two guys there who were obviously part of the conspiracy bunch. I'll call them Bill and Bob for clarity of reading. Bill appeared to be in poor physical condition, but there wasn't anything wrong with his mouth. The guy who came in last, Bob, said to Bill, "What did you do yesterday?" The answer made me think I was in an Army/Navy store. Bill replied, "The little voice in my head told me I should clean guns so I stayed home and did that." There were a couple other people waiting besides me, and these guys apparently didn't care who heard them. The next question from Bob was, "How many guns do you have?" Bill replied, "Oh, I used to have more, but I'm down to thirty-six now." Naturally Bob wanted to know how long it took Bill to clean all those guns. Bill said, "Well, I started at daylight, and I finished just before dark."

Bob's next question, "Do you really need that many guns?" Bill replied, "Actually, I need more, but right now that's all I can afford." I figured out why Bill needed all that firepower when he made the following statement. "People better wake up. The takeover is coming soon, and we'd better be ready." Bob should have known who was going to take over, but he either didn't know, or he just wanted it said for the benefit of the rest of us. Bill replied, "The Vatican, of course, surely you know that." Surprisingly, Bob didn't know. "Why them?" The answer, of course, everyone should know. "They ran the world for several hundred years, before the good people backed them off, and now they're planning a major takeover next year.

From Bob, "How do you think they plan to take over?" Bill's answer; "Well, you know, the Vatican has that machine in that big building, and they're going to use it." Bob again; "I'm not sure which machine you're talking about." Bill looked exasperated. "You know, that big atom smasher. All they have to do is push the wrong button, and the whole world goes up in smoke and fire."

After several more verbal exchanges, it finally dawned on me. Bill, with the thirty-six guns, had seen "The Da Vinci Code" and believed every word of it. (Never mind that the particle accelerator is 17 miles in circumference and the Vatican covers only 109 acres.) Finally, Bob says, "You've convinced me. I have plenty of guns, but I need a BAR (Browning automatic rifle). Do you have one you'd be willing to sell me?" Bill rolls his eyes. "Of course I do. I have three of them. They're all .30 caliber M1918s." Just then, the nurse calls his name to go take his tests. As he walks out, he says to Bob, "Come by the house tomorrow, and we'll see if you can afford one." As Bill disappears into the lab, I had a depressing thought. "Those two can vote."
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ACTIVITIES OF THE WEEK

The Burningtown News is late this week because I'm just lazy I guess. I am sorry about it being late and it is my fault. We had company for the Super Bowl and I just kept putting it off.

Money received:

From Jim, one twenty dollar bill, four one dollar bills six quarters, eight dimes, two nickels, and eight pennies. People who had put money in were Tom Welch, Benard Huggins, Bill Fouts, Marilyn Roper, Mitchell Owenby, Jim Fouts, and others whose name I did not get

I was lucky when I went to Ingles Friday. The first person I saw was Barbara Wilson who handed me a five dollar bill. She said her husband; Bruce was not doing too well. She also gave me a poster about the singing at Iotla Church. Be sure to check the poster as shown above.

Mary Green sent me a quarter she had found someplace in Georgia. Ed Simonds brought it to me Wednesday night when he, Terry Land, and Jim Clements came up here to see me. They came in, sat down and stayed about 45 minutes. It shore was nice of them to visit and for Ed to bring me the quarter.

LF went to church Wednesday night but I did not go. She did not go for supper so I do not know what they had.

Carin, Grayson, and (Sherlock who is a puppy) Trost came by here Saturday afternoon. Carin brought me a loaf of banana bread that she had baked. We ate some of it this morning for breakfast. It was very good.

The picture below is from GT and ST. I do not know which of them sent it. I think it is something they had for breakfast. I do not know what the pills are for or who is taking them.





The picture below is of the Falls below Ruth's home. I do not know exactly what they are called. They are for sale. If you would like to purchase the Falls and about one acre of land, contact Ruth Simonds.



The cake below is LF's birthday cake. We celebrated it Thursday, February 4, by eating at LG's home. She had corned beef. She had done a good job with it. LF and her sister had a big time as shown by the picture below. Well we all had a very good time.



We hope you have a wonderful and blessed New Year through out 2016.
Remember the poor man and his wonderful little wife on Lower Burningtown.


MF, Editor
LF, Operations Editor
ST, Circulations Manager
RO, Feature Story Author
NWO, Feature Story Author
AM, Arts Illustration Editor
RP, Photographic Editor
JK, Assistant Photographic Editor
DB, Copier
JB, Assistant Photographic Editor