THE OLD OWL'S TOOT

It has been much too long since paper issue #13 was published by Pat Busby Tomanovich back in April. It's just hard to get good help these days isn't it? We do, however, have a good excuse in that for the last five months we have been building and maintaining a website which has taken the place of the paper Toot…. That is unless you don't have access to a computer which brings us to the main subject of this issue. It appears that the same word processing technology that made the paper Toot feasible back in '95 is now partly responsible for it's demise due to the economy of using the same technology on the web and keeping it maintained on-line.

What we are trying to say, without being too awkward, is that this is the last paper issue of the Toot. That is… unless some of you would like to continue the tradition and start another paper media newsletter. If you do, we are sure that those who don't have access to a computer would greatly appreciate it and will support it in the same manner that they have supported the paper Toot since '95. All we ask is that if another paper newsletter is started, please rename it to something else…. We are kind of fond of the name "The Old Owl's Toot" and would like to retain the same name for our website.

THE OLD OWL'S TOOT WEBSITE

If you are receiving this last paper copy of the Toot, we are assuming that, since we don't have an email address for you, you don't have access to a computer. For those whom we have email addresses, we are assuming that they have access to a computer and that they know about the new website. For those in this latter category, we did not send this last paper copy of the Toot, because they can access it on the website. So, if or when you get access to a computer, The Old Owl's Toot website is at the following URL:

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/6634/

Since we assume that you have not had access to any RCHS Alumni news since the last paper toot, we are copying the latest news from the Toot website as follows:

Again we apologize for not keeping the site updated as we should. But again, we have been moving. After selling our country home of 10 years and moving into the rent house, we were undecided as to whether to move further out into the country or closer to Ft. Worth. So, we compromised and bought a small house in Cleburne, moved from the rent house into the new house, and are looking for a small house with land to go to on the weekends in the country (an el escondido). But enough of this domestic stuff... you want real news.... Right?

We just today Wed. 8 Sept. received the following message from Kay Weatherby Ellis '58 re. Pat Busby Tomanovich's husband, Pete…… "Pat called this morning and asked me to let everyone know that Pete is back in St. Luke's and is not responding to anything that the doctors do. He's on full oxygen and his white cells and platelets are very low. She is not at work for awhile so she can be with him. Bless her heart, she sounded so bad. Send your prayers their way.....Kay Ellis

As alerted by Cathryn (Cat) Cope Kessler, the Santa Rita Days celebration was held in Big Lake on 28 August. According to Cat, there were all kinds of festivities this year including a parade, arts & crafts competitions, a hot air balloon, skydivers, belly dancers, ugly truck contest, gunfights, etc. and lots of booths and food. We haven't received too much feedback on it yet, but we hear that there was a good turn out with many out of town visitors. Someone did say, however, that one of the heavy duty all terrain tough vehicles in the parade broke down and had to be towed... which makes us wonder... Was the cause the Big Lake streets or the vehicle?

You no doubt noticed the new banners above re. new RCHS Alumni funding schemes. Yeh, we know, both are pyramid deals, but what the heck... If they generate $5, it will be more than the $3 or $4 generated thus far by the other schemes which pay only if someone buys something (e.g. books from Amazon.com, flowers, etc). Anyway, we decided we would try them just to see what they will do. And too, the promotional material for the sites sound as if the work may be fun and both schemes have the potential of income for the participants. We will try to find more such schemes that will generate funding not only for the RCHS Alumni Fund, but the participants as well. So, check back weekly to see what we have found. Also, if you sign up for one of the programs, please let David know at country123@hotmail.com so that he will know what is working and what is not working. We feel that the special section on Other Sites To Generate Funds For RCHS Alumni has been used by some of the alumni, but we have not been notified by the sites of any crediting.

And Herbie Taylor, again, you need to select your Website Funding Audit Committee to monitor the records on any income that may be generated by the new schemes. We don't trust David Stewart on this... He is crazy enough to abscond with all the funds to Mexico.

When you visit this site, always go to the Guestbook Responses section to see other recent news and who has found us. We note in one of the responses that the next all school reunion will be held the weekend of 17 June 2000. We also notice that Roy Holmes '58 has invited us all to stop by in east Texas to see him.... We wonder if Roy would make the same offer if he lived somewhere like say San Angelo?

For those of you who frequented Lefty's Pool Hall in the old days, go to the end of the Poetry section and see the new poem by MT Whallete titled "The Hustler". We have heard that story many times, but never in prose form. MT is truly a genius for the way he can turn a story into poetry.

Please note that there is a new section in the CONTENTS to record funds that are available for distribution to publish the next paper issue of the Toot or to sponsor other RCHS Alumni projects. We know that some of you have been ordering books from the books section to generate commissions from Amazon.com and the commissions currently generated are $3.12 (whoopee!!). Although the site is receiving considerable visitation, the commissions generated to date have been a disappointment. That is the reason we are trying the new income schemes as described above. Also, regarding the ordering of books, Kay Weatherby Ellis says to tell everyone that the book, The Reagan County Story, can be purchased from the Big Lake Widcat without going through Amazon.com.

The photos of the Class of '59 are still in the photo section. Hopefully, soon we will have had time to download some more photos of the Salado Bash that have not previously been published.... Yes, we do have some more!!

IN CLOSING, THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT SINCE '95 AND-----

We are not saying goodbye because we know that sooner or later you will have access to a computer or we will be seeing you at the RCHS All School Reunion on the weekend of 17 June 2000.

The Staff of The Old Owl's Toot