Letters, we get letters - Westfall checks the mail

Time to open the mailbag - both snail and email varieties - and share some letters.

By far the best assortment of letters I've gotten in quite some time came from the second-grade class at East Olive Elementary School, thanking me for talking with them about the 'newspaper' business.

It was truly my pleasure - I do appreciate the thank-you letters and pictures that the students drew.

Even better was the debut issue of the Second Grade Gazette that was included in the folder of letters. The four-page newspaper is filled with stories written by the students that was part of a writing assignment following my visit - there are definitely some future journalists in Mrs. Pingel's room.

If Anthony Peele was just a little older, he could help us out right now as a sports writer. Here’s his story in the Gazette.

News flash! Falcons take the mat and bring home medals. St. Johns Falcons teams competed in their own tournament March 29-30 and came away with a truck load of medals. The St. Johns Falcons wrestling team traveled to Fowlerville March 23 and came home with a busload of top four finishers. First place was Rory Bender, Jeff Schaffer, Chandler Reed and Spencer Speerbrecker.

To Anthony and all the other East Olive journalists - thanks for the thanks, and keep on writing.

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A tidbit from one of the Back Through the Years articles that we carry from time to time brought about an email from a former St. Johns resident. Gerald Benedict commented on the piece about the Clinton County Country Club taken from the 1931 bound volume of the Clinton County Republican News that mentioned his father, Gerald Benedict, who was greens keeper at that time.

It seems that maintaining golf courses runs in the family.

"Interestingly enough, his grandson, (my son Jeff,) is the greens keeper (they call them 'course superintendents' now) for the largest 36-hole course in Kentucky - the UK course in Lexington," Jerry writes.

Thanks for the update.

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Finally, I have to admit that I've misplaced a message from someone who called asking about the book club that I participate in - sorry about the lack of response on my part. The person wondered what the latest book was that the group was reading.

The answer to that question is "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell - which got high marks from most of us. There's some great stuff in the book - subtitled, "How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference - that is applicable at a variety of levels and should be extremely useful in addressing all sorts of issues.

Want to find out about Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen; how the Stickiness Factor made Sesame Street and Blue's Clues so popular; or get a different view on the failing battle to reduce teen smoking? Gladwell's easy-to-read style provides the answers.

Check it out.