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Ring returned after 50 plus years
A Red Bud High School alumni received a hero’s welcome back
to the school last Friday. And even though this was his
first time back to the school since he joined the service,
the whole affair was to reunite him with something he had
lost over 50 years ago.
RBHS Principal Jonathan Tallman started off an assembly
Friday morning before the whole school and some guests by
telling them a story. This story was about pride and people
he said. “And it all started right here with a young man.”
Tallman noted that Orville Dumstorff was a graduate of Red
Bud in 1953, which was the first class that graduated out of
the current building. “And he had enough pride to buy a
class ring and wear it every day,” he continued.
After graduation, Dumstorff enlisted in the Marines. In
1956, while stationed at Camp Pendleton in California, he
and a few fellow Marines decided to go visit the nearby
Palomar Mountain Observatory to visit the Hale Telescope.
Unfortunately, it was snowing that day and the telescope was
closed.
The Marines decided, though, to have an impromptu snowball
fight. When they returned to the base of the mountain,
Dumstorff’s class ring was gone.
“It turned out to be a bummer day,” Dumstorff said. “I
figured it was gone and a thing of the past.”
People flock to see Snow Owl visiting east of town
The ghost of Hedwig, Harry Potter’s faithful friend, has
arrived in Red Bud. The Snowy Owl was spotted hanging around
Pumpkin Blossom Hill over the weekend, just east of town
along Highway 154.
Dan Peck of Sparta was heading home last Thursday afternoon
when he noticed an unusual white owl-looking bird on a power
pole. He called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
(IDNR) District Wildlife Biologist Brian Mahan to see if he
knew what it could be. Mahan alerted Clifftop’s Carl and Pen
DauBach; they called Red Bud Master Naturalist and Clifftop
volunteer Jim Gilpatrick. All converged on Blossom Hill at
sunset to behold the region’s first Snowy Owl sighting in
more than three decades.
Early Friday morning, Clifftop board member and professional
photographer Tom Rollins captured several stunning images of
the owl.
Snowy Owls live and breed along the Arctic Circle in the
tundra of northernmost Canada. Every so often, the owls
disburse far from their normal winter range. These
“irruption” events, Clifftop’s Carl DauBach said, are due to
uncertain reasons, “perhaps an increase in owl numbers, a
decrease in available food sources or a combination of these
and other factors.”
While their winter range does extend into the northern U.S.,
every few winters, Snowy Owls move much further south.
Usually single birds, such as the one in Randolph County,
are seen.
Liefers are national runners-up
After being named winner of the Young Leader Achievement
Award during the Illinois State Fair in August 2011, Kirk
and Stephanie Liefer of Red Bud can add national Achievement
Award finalists to their list of awards and honors.
The Liefers were named runners-up in the Young Farmers and
Ranchers Achievement Award contest, held during the American
Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting, Jan. 8-11 in
Honolulu, Hawaii.
“We felt honored making the top ten, let alone being named
national runners-up,” Stephanie said.
As runners-up, the Liefers will receive a Case IH Farmall
65A utility tractor, courtesy of Case IH, a $5,000 savings
bond and a STIHL Farm Boss chainsaw, courtesy of STIHL.
“Competing with the other contestants and getting to know
them, we quickly learned they were all successful in their
operations and passionate about what they do,” Stephanie
said. “It’s really an active group of young farmers and
ranchers that want to be an effective voice for
agriculture.”
Hines named Teacher of the Month
Michelle Hines was named the Teacher of the Month for the
month of January by Brian Guebert of Edward Jones
Investments in Red Bud, sponsor of the program.
Hines is a teacher at St. John’s Lutheran School and has
been teaching there for six years. She teaches the seventh
grade homeroom, as well as sixth, seventh and eighth grade
math. |
