January 2023

School Board Meets The Corning School Board met on January 16, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. with all members present.

Like the rest of the world, I could tell there was something off with Lisa Marie Presley during last week’s Golden Globes. Walking with the support of her father’s most trusted friend, Jerry Schilling, Lisa Marie slightly stumbled when she walked and had a slight hesitation in her speech. But that gleam in her eye was there. When Austin Butler accepted the award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Elvis in the highly successful Elvis biopic, Lisa Marie radiated pride.

The holidays are officially behind us. We had family members who were not able to get together until this weekend, so we had the final chapter with a January Christmas. Such fun. I had a small ceramic Christmas tree set up and told them if they would come in December, they would then get the full Christmas experience but since they waited until January, this is it. Ha Ha! We did have a wonderful time now the small tree is in its place til next year and I am officially on strike. No more cooking!!! Who am I kidding? When morning comes, I’ll probably get hungry and find myself in the kitchen again. Let me share with you a couple of breakfast ideas. I made the following casserole this morning. It’s fast and easy and a very welcoming breakfast.

LITTLE ROCK – The 2023 legislative session got off to a smooth start. The full Senate confirmed the governor’s secretarial nominations, and Senate committees got their initial organizational meetings out of the way.

The 2023 Regular Session is now underway. The session began on Monday, January 9 when members of the 94th General Assembly took the oath of office.

I love music. It all started with the singing in church and the monthly ‘singing conventions’ in the rural churches. The sounds of music were uplifting, even to a young lad. Then, sometime in the early ‘50’s, Mr. Culver came to French Grove Methodist, our local church, and gave singing lessons. I learned to sing the scale, though it is nothing that you would wish to record, LOL. I learned how to read measure and scale, and it helped, but I was far from talented in that way. Every Saturday night was spent listening to the Grand Ol’ Opry! from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. I loved all those old talents - Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline - the list would go on forever. But after beginning High School, about 1954 or so, a thing happened, new sound was born. It was born a bit earlier than that, but I was coming of age, and those beats and those voices penetrated my soul. They excited me! They called to me to grow up and start living. They leaked out of every corner of my world and haunted me. One afternoon I got on the school bus at Corning High School and the radio was on in the school bus. Out of that speaker a voice grew, and echoed into my soul. “Well, my baby left me. I found a new place to dwell, down at the end of Lonely Street at Heartbreak Hotel.” I thought it was beautiful and sad and heartbreaking, and I became a fan of Elvis. Yeah, that Elvis Presley. Then, as I would get in our family car, I would start my search, and rock and roll became my obsession. I tried for several years to learn guitar, but never seemed to have that talent. Sad, because I would have loved to have been a singer and musician. I think I grew up in the greatest period that I could have with the jazz and the blues of the ‘30’s and ‘40’s coupled with the mentality that happened at the end of WWII, all of which gave birth to a movement in the youth of the world that was reflected in their music. It grew and developed through the ‘50’s, chang