Welcome to the
Burns Flat Community Newsletter
Online Edition of What's Up! in Business Development for Burns Flat
May 2009
May is a very full month. Cinco de Mayo, the National Day of Prayer, Armed Forces Day, Prom, Baccalaureate, Graduation, and Memorial Day all packed into a single month. Please take just a few moments out of this jammed-packed month to give thanks to God for the abundant life that we enjoy in this nation.
Prayer Breakfast Tops List of
Community Activities
The Ministerial Alliance will host a Prayer Breakfast at the First Baptist
Church in Burns Flat at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, 7 May 2009. The guest speaker for
this event is state representative Ryan McMullen. Prayer requests may be
submitted to any pastor in the Alliance prior to the event. Alliance churches
will also have their
doors open from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the 7th so that people may stop and
pray in the sanctuary of their choice or come pray with their pastor. All are
encouraged to begin their day with prayer and pray throughout the day as
Americans all over our country pray with us.
Seating for this event is limited, but tickets
are still available. See Tom Spence, Robert Colston, Dwight Shephard,
Jimmie Prickett, or Ron Roskam. Tickets are also available at The Station
and at The Eagle's Nest. Ticket Price is $10. Proceeds go to support
the Ministerial Alliance.
Baccalaureate is just around the corner. The
last month of the school year has arrived. Join us as we send our BFDC seniors
into the world with a special worship service. The Baccalaureate Service begins
at 3:00 p.m. on the May 17th at the High School.
Mark Your Calendars!
Vacation Bible School Dates for area churches are:
First Baptist Church, Burns Flat – 1-5 June 2009
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Burns Flat – 13-17 July 2009.
Mozelles says that 2009 is Your Year to Shine! The tanning beds have new bulbs and we have new prices. Stop by and check out what we can do for you!
Next Chamber Meeting
11 May 2009
12:00 pm (Noon)
Eagles Nest
Community Egg Hunt was Eggstravagant Success.
By Becky Sander
The annual
Easter egg hunt sponsored by the Burns Flat Chamber
of Commerce was a success thanks to the local businesses and volunteers.
At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 11th, 60 children ranging from 3-months to
11-years old, scrambled for the brightly colored plastic eggs containing candy,
coins and prizes.
The businesses that provided prizes were the Eagles Nest that donated coupons for hamburgers, Washita State Bank and Great Plains National Bank donated gold dollar coins, the Chamber of Commerce donated candy and prizes; and Mozelles donated prizes and took on the massive task of stuffing all the eggs.
The weather provided a brief window that was sufficient for hunting and
finding these eggs and prizes. The next time that you are in one of these
sponsoring businesses, please pass on a hearty, Easter Egg lovin' Thank You!
Eagle’s
Nest May Special
Double Meat, Double Cheese Patti Melt
with fries.
$6.00 plus tax.
Bookmobile Schedule
for May-- Burns Flat
Wednesday: 6 & 20 May 2009
from 2:35-3:30 p.m.
For more info: bookmobile@wplibs.com
Diva Fashions joins The Station
Diva Fashions is the newest business at The Station—a mini mall—located at the traffic light in Burns Flat. The owner-manager is Kenya Lopez, a Burns Flat resident and a BF-DC Alumni. Her husband is Victor and they have a one-year old daughter, Alexis.
Kenya will be assisted by her mother, Mayra Lopez, also of Burns Flat. The business features high fashion shoes and clothing for women. New clothing will be added often. Summer clothing and flip flops will be here soon. Kenya is now featuring prom dresses at reasonable prices.
Come to The Station, where you can tan and tone at Twilla’s Foot Spa, find a beautiful outfit at Kenya’s, and accessorize with jewelry and a new purse at Jordan’s Grandma. Stop by and welcome Kenya and Mayra!
Share the Memories Behind the Moments
Have you ever said, “I’ve got the cutest picture of someone. You just have to see it!” Does it take you forever to sift through those boxes of pictures looking for it? Do you find yourself sticking your digital camera in someone’s face so they can make out that special someone’s face on a tiny screen—if you hold it at the right angle. Stop it!
It was important enough to take the picture, now take the time to put it into a photo album. Creative Memories has a solution for the talented and non-talented alike. Traditional albums, digital albums, or the Picfolia Album provide a wide range of options. Call Becky Sander at 562-4764 or 799-3186, or visit her website at www.mycmsite.com/beckysander.
Summer Blast Begins Today!
You
know that the ministerial alliance is very active in the fall with food baskets
and angel tree gifts and often the alliance helps out families in other ways
during the year. This summer, the Burns Flat – Dill City Ministerial Alliance
is holding a summer blast food drive to help out those younger children that are
left home alone during the summer as both parents work. Unlike the fall food
drives where canned goods are often the mainstay of the food baskets; this month
we are asking for donations of peanut butter and jelly. Please drop off one jar
of each at a participating location: Cumberland Presbyterian Church, The
Eagle’s Nest, and The Station in Burns Flat. Churches in the Ministerial
Alliance will also take up food offerings for this special cause. Cash
donations may be made by calling Tom Spence at 515-2995 or by using the donation
jars placed around town. Pick up times for families with young children will be
announced in each month’s What’s Up, the first of which is 31 May
2009 from 2-5 p.m. at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Please make this
special food drive a Blast for our own kids this summer!
For the technology savvy among you,
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church now has a
Twitter
account. If you don’t know what that means, you probably don’t need to read any
farther...or perhaps you do.
I had heard all the chatter about twitter so I thought I would check
it out. I signed up for a
personal account to see what all the fuss
was about. It turns out that you just post stuff about yourself and
those people that choose to follow you get updates every time you
post. I thought, "what an exercise in vanity," but before I
discounted the whole thing as another part of our self-centered
culture, I asked my cousin, Darla, if she knew what this twitter
business was all about. She confirmed that it was just what I thought
it was, a way to tell people about yourself. I replied to her
confirming how useless I thought the whole thing was and she
countered, yes, unless you were a pastor that wanted to update those
in the church whenever and however they wanted updates. Yes, frequent
updates on the
Body of Christ would be in order. I received my dose
of humility for the month. If you would like a dose of technological
revelation, keep reading.
If you have heard about twitter or are already a member, you can keep
up with prayer requests,
updates, and key announcements by following
burnsflatcpc.
You can get these announcements in a variety of different ways,
including as sms
text messages to your cell phone or blackberry.
To use this service, you must first sign up with Twitter. Go to
http://twitter.com or
www.twitter.com and
this page will redirect you.
This may take some patience at first as Twitter has experienced
enormous success and is frequently busy.
Please forward this message as appropriate (other congregations may
want to give this a try).
Semper Fidelis,
Tom
National Day of Prayer to
kick off with breakfast at the First Baptist Church in Burns Flat.
The Burns Flat – Dill City Ministerial
Alliance will host a Prayer Breakfast at
7:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church in Burns Flat. The keynote speaker will
be State Representative Ryan McMullen, but the purpose of this gathering is kick
off a day for God’s people to set aside this day for prayer. Alliance churches
will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for those that wish to come to a
sanctuary and pray or to come and pray with their pastor. All families are
asked to make special efforts to pray throughout the day. We are God’s people.
Let us take this one special occasion and talk to our Creator all day long!
Prayer Breakfast Tickets
$10
Available Now
Limited Seating
Check with any Ministerial Alliance Church
Town-Wide Garage Sale set
for 13 June 2009. Start identifying those treasures
that need to go because June will be here before you know it. Look for
more in June’s newsletter.
I Don't Want to Sit in Front of My House to Sell My Stuff!
Do you have too much stuff? It’s too good to throw away, but you just don’t have either the room or a need for it any more. Then you will want to start preparing for the town-wide garage sale in June. Start cleaning out those closets now.
Don’t want to sit on your front porch all morning selling items for fifty cents? Donate your items to the Cumberland Presbyterian Youth. They will host a garage sale at the church on the 13th to raise money for church camp. Donations accepted beginning June 8th. Receipts provided upon request.
Baccalaureate
is Just Around the Corner. The last two months of the school year
are jammed packed with activities and seem to fly by. Here is one to mark on
your calendar—Baccalaureate! Join us as we send our seniors into the world with
a special worship service for our BFDC Senior Class. The Baccalaureate Service
begins at 3:00 p.m. on the May 17th at the High School.
Mark Your Calendars! Vacation Bible School Dates for area churches are:
First Baptist Church, Burns Flat – 1-5 June 2009
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Burns Flat – 13-17 July 2009
Shelter from Storms Requires Knowledge, Compliance, Patience, and Thanksgiving! (Re-run from last month's edition)
When the storm sirens are blaring don’t head
to either the high school or elementary school. They will not be open. The
designated community shelter is the basement of the John Ross building. For
those not familiar with this location, it is the old school building on the
north end of town. It is the brick building just north of the county road on
the west side. Paved parking is limited and a healthy dose of the golden rule
will be necessary to make this a viable shelter.
This year rules designed for the safety, health, and welfare of all people seeking shelter will be enforced. No pets of any kind will be allowed in the building. Only designated areas are available when the building is open. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the building. These will be cramped quarters, but safety not comfort must take precedence in extreme circumstances.
While the facility may not be optimal, it is available. The school system not the city owns this property. The school board must balance appropriate use of public school facilities against potential liability and use of the John Ross building as a community shelter is the community solution for 2009.
Let’s cut to the quick on this storm safety business. This is an individual responsibility. Personal shelters, in home saferooms, timely evacuation to an available facility or other measures should be thought through in advance. If you choose to use the shelter at John Ross, please remember that it is provided for the use of many so be considerate, be helpful to others, be what we are known for here in western Oklahoma—just plain, old fashioned friendly. Oh yes, be thankful that this shelter is available.
Volunteers Needed! Stacy Cloyd needs volunteers to help with emergency readiness. If you would be willing to take a turn at opening the storm shelter at John Ross, helping people once they get there—children, elderly, disabled—then stop by Mozelles and talk with Stacy or call her at 580 445 5291.
Burns Flat Disaster Recover Plan: View the plan online
PROMISE KEEPERS
Saturday
23 May
9:00 a.m.
Eagle's Nest
$5
Men of Integrity
You do not want to miss this meeting!
Until we get our own pharmacy again...
Grandview Pharmacy has been making weekly deliveries to Burns Flat. The pharmacy has multiple ways to contact them. You may want to find out if this is a good option for you.
Phone: 580 225 5550
Emergency: 580 799 4434
Fax: 580 225 6658
Editorial
Put a lid on it. If nobody told you, the wind blows in Oklahoma. Perhaps a dozen days each year, there isn't much wind in Western Oklahoma, but the rest of the time, it's blowing, and mainly from the South.
I live on the north end of Burns Flat and every Monday night as I drive home I get a preview of the trash that is going to end up in my yard over the next few days. It gets there not because the wind blows, but because trash is piled two or three feet on top of the blue residential containers or just piled in the general vicinity of the curb as if it will sit patiently like a well trained dog. It doesn't. It blows away. A few years ago, I began paying for a second container at my house to put the town's trash in.
On the lighter side, if you have forgotten your social security number, your bank balance, or who you called last month on your cell phone; just stop by an ask me. Chances are that I might have seen that information as I pulled it out of my flower bed and put it in my second dumpster. If you want to know how your kid did on that test, ask me. Yes, his teacher did give it back to him, it just got thrown away in that empty lot on his way home. If you want to know what sort of notes boys and girls are passing to each other during class, call me. Yes, washing your son or daughter's mouth out with soap is appropriate for most that blow my way. If you want to know how many twelve packs of beer were consumed the previous week, I can tell you, and give you the breakdown by brand name if you want.
On the less than lighter side, how much more effort does it take to bag what won't fit in the big blue container? How much more effort does it take to break down that cardboard box so that it doesn't become a box kite? How many minutes does it take to take care of keeping our hometown a hometown that we want to live in.
I understand that sometimes the wind just throws more at us than we can handle, but most of the time we just are not taking the time to take care of very simple business. Does it not sicken you that our Oklahoma roadways were once known for the beautiful wildflowers that lined them and now they are best know for their garbage. Litter has become our state flower and we need to become responsible as individuals once again. The next time you discard something, find a way to make it fit in the big blue dumpster and put the lid on it.
Semper Fidelis,
Tom Spence
New Milestones
Last month, What's Up passed an editorial milestone. Someone asked me what you had to do to get something listed in the community newsletter. After recovering from the shock of someone actually wanting to bring me news (most months resemble tooth-pulling without painkillers), I realized that What's Up needed a Letter to the Editor policy. Here it is.
If your submission has community value and is in good taste (No OSU jokes), then
I
will
try to find a spot for it. If you would like to have it published in the
hard copy edition, then you need to refine your thoughts to no more than 75
words. I can include longer comments online, but to get your remarks to
the newsstand, concision is essential.
Email submission is preferred. No pseudonyms or anonymous submissions will be considered. Other factors involved will be space available, timeliness of the submission, and the ability to verify the author. Emails and letters need the name and phone number of the person submitting the commentary for verification. Ads will not be accepted as letters to the editor; however, business information for Chamber of Commerce members is generally given priority and included in What's Up without charge.
Contact Tom Spence or Kathy Carlisle about ads for non-Chamber businesses.
Join the Chamber
You
do not have to own or manage a business to be a member of the Burns Flat Chamber
of Commerce, but if you do have a business in town, you need to belong to this
group. Why? There is no other group looking out for business
interests in Burns Flat. While there may be some competition among local
businesses; most are generally hoping that all succeed.
Successful business begets successful business and means more revenue stays in
and comes into town. Successful businesses also mean more local jobs.
But what can the chamber do for me? Give you visibility in this newsletter for one thing. Single copy distribution for Burns Flat averages 275 per month. Online readership is not tracked, but the online version is easily forwarded. If you have an online ad, you can paste the url of that ad into all of your emails--even the bazillion forwards you get each week.
Much attention has been given in this year's meetings to leveraging the Chamber to help local businesses. A group working for the common good is going to make some progress. A group working with only a handful of businesses makes much less progress.
Don't
sit on the sidelines complaining that business isn't good. Get on the
playing field with the Chamber and make something happen.
Got News?
Call Tom Spence
580 515 2995
or stop by the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Problems with Addiction?
The New Leaf Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Group meets Tuesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Stay clean, stay sober, encourage each other to live an abundant life without drugs or alcohol.
—a 12 Steps Recovery Program—
What's Happening in our School System? Check it out!
or follow this link: http://www.bfdc.k12.ok.us/
Chamber Publishes Important Phone Numbers!
Jerry Mertz compiled a list of local business, service, and generally useful phone numbers. Pick one up from your local business or follow the link to the list on the electronic version of this newsletter. Updates and new information are always appreciated.
AA Groups Meet
Newcomers and old-timers welcomed!
New Leaf Group: Tuesdays @ 7pm at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Broad Highway Group: Wednesdays @ 8pm at 310 Pueblo Street.
Got News?
If you have some business, school, government, or information of general interest to the community of Burns Flat, please email it to Tom Spence for consideration to be included in this newsletter.
What's Happening in our School System? Check it out!
or follow this link: http://www.bfdc.k12.ok.us/
DIDJANO
Didjano (did you know) that most Fridays at 7:45 a.m. young Christian men and women meet in the High School music room? The group is called Youth Alive. They were the group that ran the See You at the Pole event this year. See You at the Pole was held from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. at the BF-DC High School on 24 September 2008. The five churches of the Burns Flat - Dill City Ministerial Alliance are providing supporting services to Youth Alive in accordance with the following schedule.
Follow this link for important dates and updates at the Western Technology Center.
http://www.wtc.tec.ok.us for
more information.
The Super Bowl is over. March Madness is nearly over. Ouch! What am I supposed to do with myself??? Check out the short term classes offered at the Western Technology Center. Learn a skill that doesn't involve a remote control.
Remember, that you may pick up a hard copy newsletter at Chamber of Commerce businesses and other high traffic locations around town. Print and online versions vary somewhat based on deadlines, space limitations, and updates provided by community members (updates available online only).
See you next month!
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