Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Officers' fund-raiser pays for presents
Few things seem sadder than a little boy or girl that must go without gifts on Christmas because the money to buy presents just isn't there.

Hospital field bans some vehicles
Motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles are off-limits on Doctors Hospital's field behind the Evans Kroger.

Residents give legislators an earful
Foreign-language classes in the county's schools to protecting Medicaid services, area residents made it known what projects they want the state to protect funding for next year.

Schools request stat funding increase
School officials met with state legislators Thursday and asked them to increase funding for schools.

Business gets rolling with gift-giving
Finding gifts for children was easy for the management of Augusta Harley-Davidson - they bought bicycles.

Groups to sponsor tree-recycling event
After the ornaments come off and the branches start turning brown, another season will have passed for area Christmas trees. After a season of brightening up the holidays, all that's left is find somewhere to dispose of them.

Harlem business goes nuts during busy holiday season
The Tracy-Luckey pecan company has been a major element of Harlem's economy and culture for nearly sixty years.

Santa Claus, volunteers bring gifts to day care
Santa Claus took a couple hours out of his busy schedule Friday to hand out presents to more than 30 children at the Harlem Neighborhood Development Authority Day Care Academy.

Mistletoe is enduring Christmas greenery
In a holiday season filled with tradition, few Christmas customs are as popular as kissing someone under the mistletoe. But the origins of the plant's uses and the word itself are steeped in history and mystery.

Get up and go
Offices closed

Grin for the Grinch
Kylie Baudoin, 3, and her sister Haley, 6 months, pose with the Grinch during Lunch with the Grinch at Patriots Park on Saturday.

Time capsule
As reported 49 years ago in The Columbia News, Thursday, Dec. 23, 1954:

Menorah makers
Moyshe Onion (left), Yitzchak Onion and Emma Calhoun join friends at the Augusta Jewish Community Center at its annual Hanukkah Fair, at which children made clay menorahs.

Away in a manger
Marvin United Methodist Church members Sarah Gowber, 13, and Jillyan Thompson, 11, play Mary and Joseph in the church's Nativity scene.

Christmas calendar
Julia Foley Morgan, formerly of the Augusta Ballet, will perform a new, original ballet solo, Shining in the Dark, as a sermon in dance based on St. John's gospel, at Church of the Holy Comforter 10:30 a.m. Sunday as part of the worship service. The church meets at Savannah Rapids Pavilion, 3300 Evans-to-Locks Road. Call 210-1133 for information.

Golden Wolves
Ed Williams (top) and Tyler Dent (right) read stories to first- and second-grade pupils at Greenbrier Elementary School during Children's Book Week.

Police blotter
A deputy jailer with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office reported her husband missing only to discover that he had spent the night in his broken-down car.

Making the case for the portly elf
With seven words - Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus - Francis P. Church made editorial history. His short piece, only 492 words, is the most-reproduced editorial in the history of the Ame

Nine seasonal lessons
On this Christmas Eve, as weve done so often in the past, our church will observe the traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols. With appropriate Scripture readings interspersed with anthems and familiar carols, our pastor, choir and congregation will proclaim together the story of The Long-Expected Jesus.

Teens' songs lift weary soul
The workshop was chilly and drafty and dusty, the implements of artistry and craftery pulled from pegs and lifted from shelves and piled into boxes. Coming at the end of all the moving, the shop was the last room emptied to make way for the homes new owners.

Celebrate an angelic Christmas
Angels play a key role in the unfolding of the story of Christmas. The book of Luke tells us the archangel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and foretold the birth of his son, John, whose task was to prepare the way for Jesus minist

The original Christmas
A full-color ad for Dell computers is an intensely vivid portrayal of what Christmas has become. Get a free printer, scanner or webcam, the ad shouts. Hurry, before the spirit of giving leaves us. You buy our product before the spirit of giving leaves us!

Lakeside High School football awards
Lakeside High School football team honors went to:

Athlete Spotlight: Mrs. Claus
It was nearly a year ago that certified personal trainer Marcia Adair of Martinez heard a rare public presentation by Mrs. Claus, but the memory is still strong.

Evans assistant goes the extra mile
It takes a special breed to serve as an assistant high-school basketball coach for 11 years.

Santa Claus, take note: The Bottom Line Christmas wish list
This time of year I usually play Santa and send out my Christmas wishes for Columbia County's athletic programs.

Greenbrier wins fifth Christmas Tournament in eight years
The traditional colors of the holiday season were on display last week in the Columbia County Christmas Tournament.