The Freer Free Press (Freer, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 3, 1982 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2-The Freer Free Press-Wednesday, Feb. 24,1982
Chalkmarks
by Jessye Hammack
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a notice in the trusty Trent Gazette that everyone interested
had one week to register, and that the eight teams’ rosters
..... • ■
Fourth, the group voted to let the commissioner decide
any and all disputes. On that note, the meeting closed, I
went home, and told wife Jackie to prepare to pack.
Next week -- The team
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We gathered around that hole and Jackie asked Lu to
pray.
Now, have you ever heard a grown person pray for a
frog? I tell you I was about to burst out laughing, but they
were so serious, I had to keep quiet.
Then to cap it off, Pat said, “Now we’ll sing.” Believe you
me, I don’t remember the song, but I’ll never forget us
having that, ’’frog funeral.”
It was buried in proper form, kind words about frog
Free Press
Box 567, Freer, Duval County, Texas 78357
Phone (512) 394-7402
Scot Wilcox Managing Editor/Publisher
Lataine Dillard News Editor
Tracy Adams Associate Editor
Doris Yates Office Manager
Lisa Shows Composition
“THE FREER FREE PRESS (Publication Number
Pending) is published weekly every Wednesday for $4.00
per year in Duval County, and $12.00 per year outside of
Duval County, by The Freer Free Press, 219 y4 S. Main
Street, Freer, TX 78357.
Application to Mail At Second-Class Postage Rates is
Pending At Freer, Texas.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE FREER
FREE PRESS, Box 567, Freer,
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inches. Volume rates are available upon request.
Open House and Thank Yous
Open House and Thank announcements are $5.00. Open
House announcements are those that precede the event.
Letters
We welcome all letters to the editor on any subject not of
libelous or obscene nature. Letters must be signed.
green grass, fresh pies, and liquid solutions to the upcoming
electricity on civilization as we now know it... .
Anyway, I’m one who thinks of baseball. But I’m also at
the age (and skill? level) where organizers of leagues and
such no longer deem me fit to play.
Fortunately, in a great historical achievement seldom
chronicled (worry not, that is not my intention - this time)
some fine fellows invented softball.
Of course, softball, once invented, had to be organized
too. I mean, the Tuesday Night League just isn’t an inherent
part of rural American life.
So let us reflect upon the probable occurrences of one
man’s crusade (and a newspaperman at that, by gosh) to
bring softball to his town. A bit of pre-nostalgia, if you will,
entitled, “The Old, Old, Bailgame.”
come.
All interested parties came.
Deadline for city election
Freddie, the meeting’s self-appointed chair, got every- filing IS 5 * 00 p.IYl. ThUPSdciy
ones attention. And then he got mine. For he conducted a
vote. And just two minutes into the meeting, I took over as The mayor and two aidermen will be up for election this
League Commissioner. I also vowed to quit having coffee city election to be held April 3. Deadline for filing for these
for awhile. Like forever, maybe. offices is 5:00 p.m., Thursday.
Anyway, I got up there, sounded very organized, and So far, the only man to file for mayor is Malloy Hamilton,
made about two thousand proposals, of which the good p u i
townsfolk agreed on about four RlliCS IOF 1915 SchOOlteaCherS
First, we decided there was enough interest to make Truly, the life-style of a schoolteacher has changed
about eight teams. So eight businessmen volunteered to radically in the last 50 or 60 years. For example, a 1915
sponsor them. Actually, seven volunteered. Freddie gra- teachers’magazine listed the following rules of conduct for
ciously volunteered the Trent Gazette. It wouldn’t do, don’t teachers of that day:
you know, to have an unsupportive commissioner. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
Second, we decided to play on the high school softball .You are n.ot t° keeP comPanY with
diamond. Mostly because it was the only one in town. We got *uu 111UbL
a quick okay, because the superintendent and half of the 11111683 a mg
“How about pride,” I said. “It’s not totally foreign today,
you know. Lots of guys with those contracts play hard.”
“Sure,” Bud said. “But most don’t. Man, I’d give up the would be filled by the Tuck of”the draw?
store for a shot in the bigs.” That was what I liked about
Jackson. He was practical. Lots of guys wanted to give
away their right arms. But not Jackson. He liked his arms. I
didn’t - he had weird navy tatooes. But that’s beside the
point. He did run quite the decent hardward store. Jackson
must have wanted to play pretty bad. “Man, if I were in the
bigs, ” he said, “I’d run out every ground ball to the pitcher I
ever hit.”
“That,” I paused strategically, “I’d like to see.” Andi did
want to see it, too. Because Jackson was five-eight and
two-hundred pounds. Once he’d get going, he’d never be
able to stop. Not until the foie pole, anyway. “When do I get
to see you in action?” I asked.
“What’d’ya mean?” Jackson said.
“I mean, when’s your softball season start around here.
I’ve been waiting for somebody to bring something into the
paper, because I kind of want to get onto a team this year.”
“We don’t have a softball season,” Jackson said. And
then came the pause. A long pause. An awful pause. A pause
whose end I saw from a mile away. And I’m near-sighted.
Freddie Octun broke it. Five and Dime Freddie. He
owned the town variety store, and was president of the
Kiwanis Club. As a clever businessman, and all around
good citizen, Freddie was always looking to do something
for the community. Particularly when he could get someone
else to do it.
“Say,” he said, “Maybe a softball league’d be just the
thing to get folks involved this summer.” Everyone around
the table agreed. I just kind of nodded my head so nobody
would notice me. I looked out the window. It’d stopped
raining. About five minutes too late.
“Look gang, I gotta get going,” I said. “The news can’t
wait,” knowing that I for one, did not really care about the
news at this moment. I just wanted out. Soon.
“No way,” Freddie said. “What do you think about a
league?”
“Well, I don’t know.” A clever reply, that. But certainly
not one that was going to get me out of that mess.
“Sure you do,” Bud butted in. “You just said you wanted
to play for somebody.”
my great idea, and now that I've thought of it, let someone SZt I’ve dealt with Wore The Wy exS”cS“Tn ™ need just sitting here, wasting time whiTe they get ready
I couldn’t get away with that. Any time I had a thought, thTcity i^rn^rt^a^lcSi interested partiel to
which wasn’t too terribly infrequent, and I told somebody,
they’d harrass me until I put it in an editorial.
So not keen on having to back up everything I said, I got to
be rather good at not thinking in public. But once in awhile,
I slipped up. And that’s how I became the moulder of
physical fitness in Trent (our Everytown of this saga).
It was spring, that time of year with no snow, no green
grass, and not much of anything but mud and slush. And it
was raining again. So none of us particularly wanted to
leave the coffee shop. So we didn’t. Instead, we started
talking baseball. And when anyone talks baseball, there’s
no way I’m going to keep my ideas to myself.
But nowdays, baseball talk is free agency and renegot-
iated contracts, not homeruns and the hit and run. Or is it
the run and hit. Who knows? Who cares? Well, I’ve even
argued about that one for an hour.
And what about the RBI? Do you get two RBI or two
RBIs. Who cares? again. Not me certainly, but that never
TvZvfr°w/w±gn , • a.H Y°a must*home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
T'k v,-. a a starm£ ^e ram, and Bud a quick okay, because the superintendent and half of the m^ssa ing a sc ool function.
S i th ha(dware Jay’.tTnt mt° hlS W.v \ ade school board showed up at the meeting. They all wanted to , You ma? not lolter downtown in any of the ice cream
good season/’ h£ started. “One SaZZd you get ^ed M«* city limits unless you have
„ . , ., , ~ ~ ? You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any
Third, wc^dccidcd to draft teams by lottery. We published man unless he is your father or brother.
m n._4. 4. you may not smoke cigarettes.
You may not dress in bright colors.
You may under no circumstances dye your hair.
You must wear at least two petticoats.
Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches
above the ankle.
To keep the schoolroom neat and clean, you must.-sweep
1 thefloor at least once a week with hot, soapy water; clean
me blackboards at least once a day; and start the fire at 7
a.m;so the room will be warm by 8:00 a.m.
Buckeye Farm News
{Chamber
Chatter
by Scot Wilcox The Other night I was watching this politician on T.V. It ab°Ut eight yearS Ot age’
waS “I’m going to do this,” and “I’m going to do that,” and Pat) Lu s granddaughter,was about the same age and she
I’d had it and I knew it. But such is the state of the human his opponent was not worth killing. Sorry, so and so. Then he ™as visiting at Lu’s. The kids were outside playing and in a
mind to ignore the facts and make one last try. “Well, yes, got back on his soap box. He really had the vitamin I. I’m eT minutes, Jackie said, Mama, you and Aunt Lu came
but. ...” And that’s all I could come up with. ? the best. Well, you know how it is when the politicians Wp aro on,nrt n e"nn"n1 ”
Well, yes, but. Four years of college, two years in the “i* °f A® !ow"dru?1 d’at
newspaper biz, and a whole lifetime of doing nothing but *ed' “e*aa.T®a"’ ^a .h“ a"d klds’ ckasad °ther
playing around with words, and I come up with well, yes, wome-n. you nrrme it, he did it. Well, this preacher that was
,' Heaven by saying what a wonderful man, provider, and
I guess I deserved it. father he was. Right in the middle of all this, the man’s wife
It, of course, was total responsibility of starting up the got up and said, “Just a minute, Preacher!” She walks
Trent Summer Softball League. I was the most likely guy, down to where her husband’s body is, takes a long, hard
you see, because I could write an editorial about it. And it look, and says to the Preacher, “You can go ahead with
was my idea, too. Or so thought the coffee crew. They had your sermon. /" ” ’ ’
convinced themselves of that, anyway. And they coerced thought you had the wrong man, but I see it’s my ole’
me- ■: The judge ordered the man to be hanged for committing
So I dutifully wrote my little editorial, telling how a certain crime. The scaffold he was to be hanged on was
wonderful it would be for the community to get together in a not too far from his home. Everything was going on . * , ------ o
fun activity where we could get a little exercise along the schedule when the sheriff announced there would be a slight heaven an^ etc., even had a neat cross at head of it’s grave
way. It was very sincere, and very much a lie. delay of about fifteen minutes. This man’s wife had been W1^ lowers placed in the proper place.
A wnrd nf advion dnn’f odiF n „ un, Nothing can turn friend against friend quicker than a sitting on the front porch in a rocker taking everything in, so
a naner vnu tn ranXvJTT close PlaY at the Plate- Or called strike three (in SOftball> a3L’ She gOt UP t0 g° in the h°USe
Ln’tPhaW thpm Hka nvnrvhndv nt?IAm®a,l’ y°U remember). Or hitting him in the head with a throw from ^nd/^,1(;f,the.klds.sai1d’ T,Where are You g°ing’ Ma?” she
mv aroaHd^nd nnw w m here S outfield. And what’s more, in most small town leagues said> J P b.e r;ght back-1 m Just going to get my knitting,
2kpgdnif d ’ d th 11 e thought of ltj let someone that I’ve dealt with before, the only exercise consists in no need Just Slttin8 here> wasting time while they get ready
* .. hoisting the between innings brew. But I set up a meeting in to hang your pa. ’
. When my sister Lucille and her family lived at Benevides,
Jackie and I went to spend the day with them. Jackie was
What with spring training upon us, what else can your
thoughts turn to but baseball?
Well, the weather, I suppose. The garden, perhaps. And
heat. How about migrating birds, dinner, the effect of.
was my idea, too. Or so thought the coffee crew. They had your
outside. We are going to have a funeral.” We nearly tore
things up getting outside, not knowing whose funeral it
newspaf^r biz, and a whole lifetime of doing'nothing but ajea '|le ;;a;; 'a’tai!!’5*{a.':,n!S kicls'cnasecl ottler WOald „n v k
- ... -- s women, you name it, he did it. Well, this preacher that was We said, O.K., who is it! Jackie said, It s this frog.”
’ conducting the funeral was trying to get this fellow into They had it in a box and a hole dug, so we went along with it.
father he was. Right in the middle of all this, the man’s wife
Trent Summer Softball League. I was the most likely guy, down to where her husband’s body is, takes a long, hard
All the things you just said about him, I
’man.”
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Wilcox, Scot. The Freer Free Press (Freer, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 3, 1982, newspaper, March 3, 1982; Freer, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1304238/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .