Hebron Crossroads 03-21-04
By Jeff Gill

Prime Producers 4-H Club has elected their officers for 2004.
Lexi Messenger is the new president, Christian Slater vice-president, Joey Cormican treasurer, and Whitney Mason as secretary.
Also elected were Drew Cable as health officer, David Cable safety officer, Josh Halter news reporter, and Alden Gowdy was tapped for recreation leader after a great nomination speech which the presidential candidates could take notes from!
Many thanks to the outgoing officers, Joey Cormican, Aaron Dunkle, David Cable, and Lexi Messenger as the “top four” last year. David Cable has also moved on to work on the Junior Fair Board for out at Hartford, with quite a bit of work upcoming in running some of the orientations for those bringing livestock projects.
As David’s mom Martha reminded the whole club, “those doing market livestock projects are raising food for America, and that’s an awesome responsibility.” Every livestock participant, from cattle to rabbits, must learn ethical, healthy, and appropriate methods to raise market animals for 4-H fair competition.
Watch the Booster for news of Prime Producers’ trip to the Hebron Fish Hatchery, where the crop is already “out in the field” so to speak; the club’s next meeting is March 28 at Hebron Christian Church, and they’ll have a service project out at Evans Park on Refugee Road April 25.

Saturday April 3 can be a full service Methodist meal day, if you plan your schedule correctly. In the morning, starting at 7 am, you can breakfast at Jacksontown United Methodist Church as always for a first Saturday. Then, beginning around 4:30 pm, Hebron United Methodist Church on East Main has their next baked steak dinner, with carryouts available. Cost is $5.50, $2 for children.
What about lunch, you ask? You haven’t been to the J-town breakfast, then. Eat up there, and you’ll be fine ‘til 5 pm or so. Trust me.

Lakewood High’s band program has no fundraisers planned this week at all: that’s because they’re all in Florida for Spring Break and marching at Disney World. Mickey may take over as drum major (sorry, Josh) when they march down Main Street, USA. We look forward to their tales of the Magic Kingdom when they return later this week!

The high school bands will be a big part of the Crossroads Festival planned for Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. Along with the rides and games starting May 28 at Canal Park behind Bowman’s truck lot and Hayman’s Dairy Bar, the jazz band will be part of the gazebo schedule Saturday, along with some other local musical talent, plus the symphonic band concert on Sunday afternoon May 30 at Evans Park.
And part of the gazebo events Friday through Saturday is the “Crossroads Storytelling Festival,” with tales of history, stories for kids, and a tall tale competition, which is not to say a “Biggest Liar in Ohio” award might be given, but it just might. What story would you tell at the “historic crossroads of Ohio”?

Stories are still being told of “The Passion” both around our crossroads and far beyond. . . Bruce Feirstein, a Hollywood reporter for the New York Observer, wrote last week “So I’m sitting in a restaurant in Santa Monica on the Sunday night that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ clocked through $200 million at the box office, after only 11 days in the theaters. Not one of the other 10 people sitting at our table had actually seen the film, despite offering vociferous opinions about it. Then the Hispanic waiter spoke up. "I loved it. I usually don’t go to movies, but I went to a matinee, on the second day." In Hollywood, the real question of the age isn’t "Why does a movie do $200 million at the box office?", but rather "Why do so few of them do $200 million?" From The Passion of the Christ to My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Something’s Gotta Give, how many audiences—how many groups of people—does Hollywood overlook, or miss completely.” A very good question, says your columnist.

Cub Scout Pack 141 had their Blue & Gold Banquet down at Etna UMC last week, and the turnout this winter at Scouting events in Licking County has truly been stupendous. Scouting is really on a roll in our area, thanks to youth interest and adult leaders like Ric & Angie Eader and our area’s Ed & Rexana Fuentes with Pack 33.
It was a century ago this summer that Robert Baden-Powell, British hero of the Boer War, sat down to start writing “Scouting for Boys,” the first manual that led to the World Scouting Movment. But the interest that led him to write that work grew out of the popularity of a book B-P wrote during the 1890’s that wasn’t aimed at youth at all, but started being read by young boys and youth leaders during B-P’s exploits in South Africa.
“Aids To Scouting” was a manual for soldiers that the man who became Lord Baden-Powell wrote as a colonel while serving on what the British used to call “the Northwest Frontier,” that is, of India. Before parts of the Punjab, Afghanistan, and Kashmir were split off of India to form Pakistan (P…A…K…I. . .get it? Geographic trivia for the day…), the tribal groups of the region kept the British hopping Baden-Powell wrote the first draft of “Aids To Scouting,” the forerunner of “Scouting for Boys” and the inspiration for the entire Scouting movement, while on a “working vacation” in the area of Kandahar and Quetta and Kabul.
We’ll see how my prediction streak keeps up, but that area B-P traveled and wrote in will be the area that I think we’ll hear shortly from, when the capture of Osama bin Laden is announced. Remember, you read it first in at the Crossroads. . .

Are you familiar with the Beloit College annual Mindset List, given to professors to help them get a sense of the worldview of incoming freshmen?
This is a bit late, but it hasn’t been much of year for filler; so here are some excerpts from the list illustrating the perspective of students born in 1983.

-- From their point of view, Ronald Reagan is an airport.
-- Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Martin Sheen are the only presidents they have ever known.
-- Dinner with the family happens only in the minivan.
-- Elections determine who gets kicked off the island.
-- Since Oprah has not yet recommended their books, today's freshmen don't know the names Alexis de Tocqueville or Adam Smith.
-- Although they've never heard of Ozzie and Harriet, they think Ozzy and Sharon are the ideal parents.
-- Everybody remembers where they were when they heard that John F. Kennedy's plane had crashed into the ocean.
-- They have never sprayed on deodorant.

Jeff Gill is pastor of Hebron Christian Church and given to wild speculation; if you have a shot in the dark or random guess to share, or better yet, news of local interest, call 928-4066 or e-mail disciple@voyager.net.