By OSEYE T. BOYD
oboyd@muncie.gannett.com

The desperation of retailers to get shoppers into their stores is bordering on ridiculous. Not only have retailers had sales similar to those found on the-day-after-Thanksgiving since November began, but now some have announced stores will be open on Thanksgiving.
The changes are throwing off veteran Black Friday shopper Ashley Ranes.
“I saw that Meijer was having better deals on Thanksgiving than the day after, but I don’t have time for that,” Ranes said.
It’s not that Ranes, 25, isn’t keeping up with the changes. She’s so serious about her Black Friday shopping that she’s not waiting until the sales ads come in her newspaper on Thanksgiving Day to plan her strategy. That was so 2008. Her new strategy still includes looking at the newspaper, but now that some retailers are placing sales ads online days before Black Friday, she’s checking them out for a sneak peak. She also signed up for e-mail blasts that alert her to new sales items.
Ranes, of Muncie, and her mom have been shopping on Black Friday since Ranes was 13. Both she and her mom will shop in Indianapolis on Friday, probably hitting Kohl’s first.
If Ranes enjoys the hustle and bustle of Black Friday shopping, Angie Hart, Muncie, avoids it like the plague. Hart, 43, starts shopping in late September or October and buys items as they go on sale. The discounts this year have been comparable to Black Friday, Hart said.
“I figure there’s nothing out there that good that warrants me to get up at 2 a.m. and fight traffic,” Hart said.
Jennie Irving, 47, has done the whole Black Friday thing before and said it wasn’t for her. Having no desire to fight crowds, she tries to have her shopping done by Thanksgiving. Instead of hitting the stores on Friday, Irving, of Eaton, prefers to spend time baking and making crafts with her grandchildren.
The thought of shopping on Black Friday is exciting to Muncie resident Tari Bruner, but she’s never done it. Bruner, 48, is afraid. Stories of people stealing out of another’s cart, trampling people and fist fights, have turned her off. That type of behavior is contrary to a holiday about love and the birth of Jesus Christ, Bruner said.
If Bruner ever finds the nerve to go Black Friday shopping, however, Ranes has some advice for her (or any newbie):
“Be ready for all the crowds,” Ranes said. “Just get there early … that’s when you’re going to get your best deals.”
z Contact news reporter Oseye T. Boyd at 213-5830.

Click here for the interactive graphic.

Loops of Love

By: Peter Carr

For some crocheting may be a hobby or a way to make homemade gifts, but for Sidnee Fry it is a way to give back to the service men and women of the United States.

“It’s difficult to think that there is no way for me to thank the service men and women who are giving and sacrificing their life and to me this (making afghans) is a way to do that” Fry said.

Fry learned to crochet from her mother when she was in the fourth grade. Fry said that she has not always kept up with crocheting but still enjoys making handmade gifts. It was Fry’s sister that introduced her to the Handmade Afghan Project (HAP). Now Fry has more than 50 people in the Muncie community helping to make 6 by 9 squares to be part of the afghans.

How it started-

The Handmade Afghan Project was started in December 2004 by Deborah Starobin-Armstrong.  Armstrong started the organization because of her own experiences in the hospital. “Having spent some time in the hospital as a child, I know they can be cold and lonely and since I knit and crochet I also know that afghans can warm the body and soul,” Armstrong said.  “It seemed a natural combination to start making handmade afghans for those wounded in service to our country.”

Armstrong’s goal was to have as many people as possible work on each afghan. Each afghan has 49 different squares, and each represents time and effort that volunteers put into making the blanket. Attached to each afghan is a thank you note and a list of everyone who worked on the afghan.

Since that start of HAP the group has made 3,052 afghans, a number Armstrong could not dream of when it all began five years ago.  “I actually thought we would make 30 or so afghans and then folks would lose interest. People are amazingly generous,” Armstrong said.

HAP has more than 1,700 volunteers in all 50 states and several from other countries.

Indiana HAP –

Sidnee Fry has recruited members of her church and friends throughout east central Indiana. The group out Yorktown now has more than 50 members.  Fry’s group has helped create 126 afghans in the past year.

“It is wonderful how so many people like Sindee have stepped forward to take on leadership roles in HAP,” Armstrong said.

How you can help –

Fry said that she is always looking for more volunteers. “We have people that help that had never crocheted until they joined our group; we are willing to teach new volunteers,” Fry said.

Aside from volunteering Fry is looking for yarn donations, help covering the shipping cost, or even someone who drives trucks to Washington D. C. that would be willing to transport the afghans to HAP.

For more information about HAP checkout their website,  http://www.rectangle6×9.org/

Click here for the interactive graphic.

The exhibit at the Minnetrista Center in Muncie celebrates the many events that took place in 1968 and relates them to the City of Muncie.

1968 in America (September 5, 2009 – January 7, 2010)

• Exhibit Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. -5:30 p.m.

Last Thanksgiving Day, Deborah King of Muncie spent the day relaxing in flannel pants and other comfortable clothing.
Her husband, Craig, and son, Michael, were busy in the kitchen cooking the holiday meal.
“It was fantastic,” she recalled. “They even came and asked me and the other women in the family if we wanted some coffee or something cold to drink while we were waiting.”
Not your traditional Thanksgiving setting?
Read on:
Out of the kitchen came turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, greens, baked beans and various desserts. The feast was on, but not before Michael said Grace as the family stood and held hands.
The men had taken the helm in the kitchen when Deborah found herself barely able to walk because of Lupus disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
“I was just so proud of them,” she said. “They always come through for me at the most unexpected times. I think they did it better than I did. And they even cleaned up.”
This year, Michael and his fiancée, Regina Cox, will be making the meal at their house after Deborah volunteers with meals at the Feed My Sheep Thanksgiving Community Outreach at Central High School.
“In a year when so many have so few blessings, we have blessings we never expected,” she said. “Life is always going to throw us a curve ball, but there is always a blessing in it, somehow.”
Siblings play hosts
The five siblings in Micah Maxwell’s family have been giving their mother a break for about 10 years.
“Mom is still in charge of the menu, but we all share in making the food,” said the Muncie resident. “We then take turns having it at our houses. This has taken a lot of the pressure and responsibility off her.”
The family will have its holiday dinner after Thanksgiving at Nate Maxwell’s house in Carmel. Micah and others in his family will be busy volunteering at the Feed My Sheep Thanksgiving Community Outreach on Thanksgiving Day.
Their after-holiday menu will include turkey breast, pork tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, cornbread oyster dressing, green beans, spinach strawberry salad, cranberry relish, rolls and pumpkin pie.
“All of us have worked in the restaurant business, so we always try to mix the menu up a bit,” Micah said. “It’s not always traditional. In the past, we’ve had lamb or roast to add to the turkey.”
A joint effort
Kids like knowing they have made an important contribution to Thanksgiving dinner by helping to make the meal, according to Scott Hall, associate professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Ball State University.
“At our house, we have our children each take charge of a dish,” he said, “like green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing or sweet potato casserole. My wife and I and others do the rest. The kids like making a difference and also learn cooperation and teamwork.”
In Sharen Unroe’s home in Albany, Thanksgiving dinner also is a joint effort.
“I take care of the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry salad and homemade yeast rolls,” she said. “My husband, Dennis, makes hash brown casserole, green beans seasoned with jowl bacon, deviled eggs and the most amazing sugar cream pies. He also carries in the extra table and chairs and helps get everything ready and set up before the rest of the family arrives.”

By JOHN CARLSON
jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE — Lil’ Daddy’s Downtown Diner has a big challenge to meat, er, meet.

Located at 118 N. Walnut St., it’s in the site of the old Spot diner, a legendary eatery hereabouts that, in recent years, has seen owners come and go as though through a revolving door.

Natasha Martz, who co-owns the newly reincarnated restaurant with her dad, Keith Martz, said that’s not going to happen with them.

“It’s wonderful,” she said of the place, which has an ambiance that’s far more attractive than in The Spot’s smoky heyday, when it was the daily haunt of local power brokers and more than a few back-room gamblers. “We’ve got so many repeat customers already. … Our atmosphere is casual, family oriented. We like to get on a first-name basis with a lot of our customers.”

As Natasha talked, some customers were seated at tables, and others at the counter, while the cooks were busy back by the grill.

Before this venture, the Wapahani High School graduate worked for First Merchants Bank with food service and hospitality, learning the business from the ground up. Keith, in turn, is a local businessman whose résumé also includes stints in the restaurant business.

They figure that makes theirs a winning partnership.

“We’ve talked about it for some time,” he said, admitting these days aren’t the best for launching a new business. “It’s scary, and exciting at the same time.”

Natasha agreed.

“When you’ve had a dream,” she said, “you’ve got to make a go of it.”

Open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Lil’ Daddy’s has a breakfast menu that includes pancakes, French toast, biscuits and gravy, a “You Name It” breakfast sandwich and a variety of three-egg omelets, a couple of which were being enjoyed by the lunchtime diners.

The Chow Hound crew?

We went for more typical luncheon fare. Photographer Chris Bergin ordered a bacon cheeseburger that, at $4.50, looked huge and delicious. Videographer Lathay Pegues, meanwhile, went for the jumbo breaded tenderloin at $4.95, and enjoyed it, but couldn’t finish it.

At least, not along with his fries.

Me? Still weaning myself from anything served in a bun after our “10 Burgers in 10 Days” odyssey, I decided to try something that would give me practice at eating with a fork again. Consequently, I went for the meatloaf, which was the special of the day for $5.25.

The bad news? I kept poking myself in the face.

Ha-ha. Just kidding.

In fact, I got used to my fork right away, which was good, since Lil’ Daddy’s waitress Holly Gibson served me a hunk of tomato-saucy, green-pepper laced meatloaf that was as delicious as it was big. On the side, meanwhile, were buttery green beans with pieces of ham mixed in, and mashed potatoes — real ones, mind you — with a dark, tasty gravy.

It was a great dinner, and as down-home as food gets.

Nachos to die for

By the way, the loaded nachos at $5.25 were another head-turner, one that Lathay nearly forsook his beloved breaded tenderloin for.

At the counter, Heather Dobbs was happily putting away her pie-like tin of meaty nachos, beautifully topped with a thick layer of melted cheese. So, I wondered, was this the first time she’d ordered it?

“Are you kidding me?” she replied.

Guess she’d had it before.

Other items on the menu, by the way, include BLT and ham and cheese sandwiches, salads, chicken wings, and daily specials including beef and noodles and baked steak.

There are also desserts. In fact, while walking out, the triple fudge chocolate cake listed on the blackboard so diverted my attention, I nearly knocked some poor diner off his counter stool.

Anyway, a couple of other things we should note about Lil’ Daddy’s Downtown Diner are that it will host special after-hours events, having done so for the likes of Muncie Civic Theatre, and that they also offer free delivery downtown from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It’s this sort of service, coupled with good home cooking at reasonable prices, that the Martzes hope with give Lil’ Daddy’s the same kind of longevity that The Spot once enjoyed.

“We’re hoping,” Keith said.

“Fingers crossed,” Natasha added with a laugh, “and full steam ahead.”

We will probably end up with our normal, run-of-the-mill turkey this Thanksgiving, not that I’m complaining.

After all, turkey is good!

This is especially true of leftover turkey, the white slices of which, when sandwiched between two slices of dark rye, along with a slice of cheddar and copious squirts of horseradish sauce, tend to make my eyes roll back inside my head … with giddiness, I mean.

It’s not Q.L.’s barbecued turkey, though.

Only Q.L.’s barbecued turkey is Q.L.’s barbecued turkey.

This brilliant deduction on my part came recently as I talked to B.J. Crumes about the Thanksgiving turkeys they barbecue in the eatery that his grandfather, Q.L. Stevens, started. I have been obsessed with the notion of their barbecued turkeys ever since.

Not that I have ever, personally, taken a turkey there to be barbecued.

I haven’t.

But I have been to parties where far more intelligent individuals than I have had the forethought to have their turkeys barbecued at Q.L.’s.

Usually, word of this arrives about the same time the scent does. Stepping through the door, then angling toward the kitchen, you look to where the de-boned turkey rests, glowing with heavenly radiance.

At this point, my first instinct is to grab the turkey, then begin eating it, aluminum serving tray and all, while flailing about with a spoon snatched from the nearest pasta bowl, warding off the host or hostess or anyone else stupid enough to try to take my, er, their turkey back.

Unfortunately, this sort of behavior tends to limit future party invitations.

No, when formulating ways to steal Q.L.’s barbecued turkey, classier is better.

For example, perhaps I could pocket my eyeglasses, lean over the tray for a look-see, then yell, “Rats! I have apparently lost a contact lens in the barbecued turkey! Pardon me, while I attempt to locate it.”

Then, using my face like the business end of a Hoover vacuum cleaner, I could start sucking up barbecue until I have covered the bottom of the tray with nose dents, at which point, whipping my eyeglasses from my pocket, I could then holler, “Oops! I totally forgot that I don’t wear contact lenses!”

Yeah, that’d go over well, at least with the vegetarians.

Of course, the smartest thing I could do is take my own turkey to Q.L.’s to have it barbecued, and maybe this year I will. Just in case I don’t, though, and we end up at somebody’s holiday party where Q.L.’s barbecued turkey is served, do yourself a favor.

Don’t get between me and the bird.

-
THURSDAY

Big party
The Ball State University Planetarium has again been selected by NASA for a national unveiling of a new multi-wavelength image. In celebration of 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy, NASA is collaborating with exclusive sites across the country. This is a composite view of the center of the Milky Way galaxy built from images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. You can be among the first in the country to see this  6-foot wide picture of the center of our home galaxy.

WHERE: BSU Planetarium, Cooper Science Building

WHEN: 7 and 8 p.m. today

COST: Free

In concert

The Ball State Symphony Orchestra will present music by Brahms and Korsakov in concert tonight. The concert will feature faculty soloists Anna Vayman, violin, and Peter Opie, cello. Brahms’ Double Concerto and Korsakov’s Capriccio Espanol will be performed.

WHERE: Sursa Performance Hall, BSU

WHEN: 8 p.m. today

TICKETS: 285-1539

SATURDAY

1968 Shindig
Minnetrista will celebrate all things 1968 during a party on Saturday. Activities will include karaoke, an Easy-Bake Oven snack bar, tie-dying and ride-a-roo races. You can also test your skills at “Beatles Guitar Hero.” Free McDonald’s Big Macs will be served from 1 to 1:30 p.m. and a dance party (with lessons) will be 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: Minnetrista

WHEN: Noon-4 p.m.

COST: $7 for adults and $4 for kids

INFO: 282-4848

Tweaksters

Tweak out with Tweaksters, a show that “blends balletic feats, juggling, acrobatics and choreography with odd objects in a rhythmic performance designed to delight audiences of all ages,” according to those in the know at Emens. Wow, that was a mouthful.

WHERE: Emens Auditorium

WHEN: 1 p.m. Saturday

COST: $10 in advance, $13 at the door for adults and $5 for kids.

INFO: 285-1539 or www.bsu.edu/emens.

MORE

• ALL MUSIC: Did you miss the Joan Osborne show. We’ve got a review.
• ALL VIDEO: Get Out before you go out.
• ALL ART: Find out which local show will feature a cast of more than 70, as well as two goats. Really.
• ALL MOVIES: Is Fantastic Mr. Fox really fantastic? We’ll tell you.
Find all of this and more at www.allaccessmuncie.com.

ALL ACCESS

Jerry would have a hard time toting around all the awards he’s snagged.

The indie film My Name Is Jerry recently walked away with three awards at the International Filmmakers’ Film Festival in Kent, England.

The film, directed by Morgan Mead, was shot last year by BSU students and industry pros on location at Muncie locales, including Dan’s Downtown Records and Doc’s. It was produced by Ball State’s College of Fine Arts, the Institute for Digital Entertainment and Education at Ball State and Clothespin Films.

The film won the Best Picture award, the Best Supporting Actress Award (for Katherine Hicks) and the Best Soundtrack award (for Rick DiGiallonardo of BSU).

Jerry, which stars BSU alum Doug Jones, was also nominated in the Best Director and Best Lead Actor categories.

“Jerry walked away with more awards than any other nominated film for the festival,” said Rodger Smith of IDEE. “They had over 400 submissions from around the world.”

Smith attended the festival.

“It was a great festival and we are pleased to have been selected for awards and for the opportunity to introduce the city of Muncie and the support we had here to the world,” he said.

Jerry’s other recent awards include Best Feature Comedy at this year’s Route 66 Festival and a feature spot at this year’s Heartland Film Festival in Indy. ]]> http://starpress.ballstateimedia.org/2009/11/12/jerry-awards/feed/ 0 thumbnail http://starpress.ballstateimedia.org/2009/11/12/play-opens/ http://starpress.ballstateimedia.org/2009/11/12/play-opens/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:18:34 +0000 starpress http://starpress.ballstateimedia.org/?p=1353

ALL ACCESS

MUNCIE — What do you get when you gather four of the city’s top actors and put them on stage together?

You get Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which opens Friday night at Muncie Civic’s Studio Theatre.

The actors are Tom Cherry, Lisa Etchison, Ryan Lash and Erica Dumond. Director is Bill Wilkison.

The dark Edward Albee play tells the story of an embittered academic couple (Cherry and Etchison) who gradually draw a younger couple (Lash and Dumond), freshly arrived from the Midwest, into their games of marital love-hatred. The play is a dramatic blood sport fought with words rather than weapons and is a powerful display of human nature.

Show times are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, as well as 2 p.m. Sunday. The show continues with performances Nov. 20-21. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students.

For tickets and more info, call 288-PLAY.

By JOHN CARLSON
jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE — He seems calm now, but B.J. Crumes is steeling himself for the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
That’s when this son of local barbecue legend Q.L. Stevens, aided by his mother, Paula Crumes, will shut himself into the place that carries his grandfather’s given name and face down the incoming hordes.
Hordes of turkeys, that is.
“We’ll get about 420 to 450 turkeys those three days,” he said, describing how customers will drive up to the nondescript white building with the barbecue scents wafting from it, then hand their holiday birds through the window.
“Just bring it, we’ll cook it,” said the soft-spoken 27-year-old Crumes, his grandfather’s heir apparent. “And we’ll have it for you the next day.”
Each bird is smoked in the brick pit that Stevens built with his own two hands.
“Most of the time with turkey, the oak cooks the best,” Crumes said, noting that after it’s done, it’s doused with Q.L.’s own famous sauce. “If people want it de-boned, we cut it up in bite-sized pieces. Most of the time now, people want it de-boned.
He’ll smoke and barbecue your turkey for $17.
For $25, he’ll smoke it, barbecue it and de-bone it.
“We don’t care the size,” he added.
So how do his customers react to their mouth-watering birds when he’s through with them?
Very enthusiastically.
“Especially the first-timers,” he said, smiling. “That wood taste, and that pit taste, just gives it a different flavor.”
Of course, if your Thanksgiving tastes run to other birds, he’ll smoke and barbecue them, too, even if he has to hold his nose.
“We’ve had an ostrich come through,” he recalled with a grin, then a grimace. “It was terrible smelling, but I cooked it for ’em.”
Smoked or otherwise?
Of course, most likely you’ll have a hand in preparing your own turkey for Thanksgiving.
Greg Fisher, owner of Fisher Meats, says that means you’ll likely eat your basic baked bird, unless you happen to be reading this is Portland. There, the folks buy their turkeys smoked by a rate of about 10 to one.
Why not here?
“They haven’t had very good ones in Muncie,” he said.
Fisher’s roots, of course, go back to that Jay County city, where they have been cooking and smoking their turkeys for years.
“I’m 31,” Fisher said, “and I don’t ever remember Thanksgiving not doing it.”
Once Fisher and company cure and smoke a bird, it’s cooked. To cure a turkey, it is injected with water, salt and sugar, then rested for 48 hours. After that, it’s smoked for 14 to 15 hours, until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Once that’s done, after the bird is chilled down, a couple of hours in the oven heats it through and makes it ready for eating.
His family’s personal Thanksgiving menu?
“We do each. We do smoked, we do fresh,” he said, adding they also serve up a spiral-sliced ham.

That personal touch
Cooking your turkey from scratch? Then Ron Lahody of Lahody Meats has some advice.
“I try to cook real simple,” he said. “When you eat beef, you want to taste beef.”
Ditto for turkey.
First, he lets his bird sit, unstuffed, at room temperature for an hour-and-a-half.
“No more than that,” he cautioned.
Next, tuck the wings and tie the drumsticks, then put in a 400-degree oven, but here’s the kicker.
“Breast side down for the first 45 minutes,” Lahody said.
Then he turns it over, sets it on its back and roasts it at 325 degrees until it’s done. All that time, by the way, it’s uncovered.
It’s done, he added, when the thigh meat is 180 degrees. If it’s stuffed, he added, the stuffing needs to hit 165 degrees.
As for rubs and such, he uses a little oil, salt and pepper on the outside, and lightly salts and peppers the inside of the turkey, too.
Let it rest 20 minutes before carving, Lahody added.
As for amounts required, he added, figure a pound-and-a-quarter for each guest. That’ll feed them dinner.
“And there’ll be some left over,” continued.
By the way, he added, owning a meat market is tantamount to running a cooking school.
“Fifty percent of the people that come in here,” Lahody said, “want to know how to cook something.”

Smoke ’em if you got ’em
Feel like smoking your own turkey? Amateur chef John Pinckney does so.
After working his way through charcoal and propane smokers, he has settled on an electric one, with great results.
“They say don’t put things in the (turkey’s) cavity, but I’ll put in maybe an orange or an onion, or both,” he said.
He’s also been known to inject the turkey with some seasonings, or soak it in a special brine before smoking it. Another thing he does is rub it with olive oil, garlic and salt.
Then, of course, he adds wood.
“I like to use applewood,” he said, noting he smokes it at a temperature of 220 degrees.
Next?
“Don’t get in a hurry,” he advised.
Pinckney smokes it until his digital thermometer, stuck deeply in the breast, shows it has reached the recommended temperature on the cooking instructions, then takes the bird out and lets it rest a while.
“Then slice away,” he continued, with a sense of relish that came through the phone lines. “Or let it fall off the bone. Oh, it is wonderful.”

By KATHY KIRBY
kkirby@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE — Hazel Poole admits to being a ham.

That’s why her role as a model in the second annual Senior Style Show on Saturday will be “au naturel” even in Harley Davidson pajamas and full leathers.

“I want to be different. I don’t want to wear the normal stuff,” said the petite but feisty 82-year-old Muncie woman.

There will be 18 models ages 56-90 on the runway during “Beauty From Within,” set for 4-5:30 p.m. in Ball Auditorium in Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Fashions will come from Benson Motorcycles, Kohl’s, Elder-Beerman, Catherines and Fords Men’s Wear.

Tickets are $5 to the event, an effort of the Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology, Community Center for Vital Aging and the fashion department, all at Ball State.

“Beauty on the inside comes out so much more when you’re past (age) 50,” said Judy Elton, program coordinator at Community Center for Vital Aging. “You can be stylish at any age.”

Poole is expected to take the spotlight to the song, Bad to the Bone.

“This woman is absolutely amazing,” Elton said. “She was a huge hit last year and is our poster girl this year. She’s tiny in body, but she’s huge in spirit.”

Poole wanted to get a temporary tattoo for the style show. Instead, she’ll be wearing a Harley Davidson long-sleeved shirt with its own tattoo embellishments.

She also will be wearing Harley Davidson leather chaps.

“They feel very close to the skin. I think they’re pretty sexy,” she said in an ornery tone.

Poole also will be wearing Harley Davidson high-heeled boots, a leather jacket, fingerless gloves, a head wrap, a purse with chains, sunglasses, a necklace and a bracelet.

The clothing fits “my cutting edge personality,” Poole said with a snicker.

Jennifer Benson, marketing, advertising and events coordinator at Benson Motorcycles, and Annie Poole, Poole’s daughter, helped her pick out her attire.

“She’s a hoot,” Benson said. “She knows what she wants. She’s so cute.”

What is Poole’s secret for her endless energy?

“I keep busy, even if I’m tired,” she said. “After my husband died, I was lost. But then I started volunteering and can’t stop.”

During the week, she can be seen around the city at various places, including Christian Ministries of Delaware County, Minnetrista Cultural Center, Meals on Wheels, Muncie Children’s Museum, Muncie Civic Theatre, and the Back to School Teachers Store.

She also loves to go whitewater rafting and zip-lining.

“I’m glad to be alive,” she said. “I’m in good health, I eat good, I’m happy and I just enjoy life.

BY JOHN CARLSON

There is nothing like pre-planning your funeral to gain the peace of mind that then allows one to concentrate on other important quality-of-life issues, like eating as many Hostess Ding Dongs as possible between now and the time when …
Well, you know.
Besides, when my time comes — and something tells me that it will — pre-planning will keep my family members from needlessly buying me some incredibly snazzy send-off, simply to assuage their numbing sense of loss and grief.
On the other hand, if their sense of loss and grief is less numbing than I had anticipated, this will also prevent me from ending up as a visual aid down at Skip’s School of the Mortuary Arts.
This is not to say that I have pre-planned my own funeral, however.
After all, being only 59, I figure I have a good 80 or 90 years left, so what’s the rush?
Besides, I can’t escape the feeling that once you walk out that funeral home door, a check mark appears alongside your name on some cosmic order blank marked, “Ready for delivery.”
Then a piano falls on you.
Still, I occasionally find myself in the pre-planning mode, driving past some beautiful little country cemetery and thinking, “Now there’s a nifty spot!”
Then I remember that, unless death is considerably more interesting than I suspect it is, niftiness is liable to be less of a priority for me then than it is now.
That’s when I think, OK. Just bury me with my relatives up in northern Ohio, or my wife’s relatives out in Illinois. But then I think, why? Are we going to be getting together for pinochle games?
Finally, I remember that old self-development mantra, “Bloom where you are planted.” Bury me anywhere convenient and I’ll be as happy as can be, under the circumstances.
After awhile, though, all that seems like lots to worry about, so I switch over to the lighter side of pre-planning funerals — my fantasy memorial service.
I want music by George Jones and the Kinks.
Also, I want my coffin lid hinged by a standard spiral binder, like a professional reporter’s notebook.
As for the ceremony itself, I wish to be carried through the newsroom by ranks of wailing editors, who will line up with their pens drawn to give me the ultimate newspaperman’s tribute — the 21 Bic salute.
Also, I want the minister to sprinkle newspaper terms throughout my eulogy, ending with, “How about that? He finally met a deadline that even he couldn’t miss.”
John Carlson is a features writer for The Star Press.

“We’re trying to make a change in the social infrastructure, in the human infrastructure.” Webster said.

By NORRIS BURKES
Florida Today

On a cold January day in 1999, my family and I made a windy crossing of Israel’s Sea of Galilee.
During the turbulent ride, the boat stopped long enough to allow my wife Becky to read aloud the Biblical story about Jesus stilling the angry sea and calming the fear-struck disciples with the famous phrase: “Peace! Be still.”
Scripture says the wind and the waves obeyed Jesus’ command, but my wife had no such luck. My peace was coming from Dramamine.
After the boat ride, we went for a sunset walk along the windswept shore in hopes of regaining our land legs. Suddenly, our 13-year-old daughter cried out, “I’ve lost my $20!”
“Where?” my wife asked.
“There!” she exclaimed with a wave of her arm that encompassed our entire 30-minute walk. With decreasing daylight and increasing wind speed, the situation faded to hopeless.
“It’s gone now,” I said with an accusing “let-this-be-a-lesson-to-you” tone.
Tears erupted quickly.
“Dad, please, we’ve got to find it.”
“It’s pointless. It’s probably blown into the sea.”
When her siblings pledged their willingness to mount a grid search for the lost treasure, my wife suggested a limited 10-minute search. Always happy to delay bedtime, her siblings jumped on the compromise.
Between the sand and the tears, I had no idea how my daughter could see. She had saved her allowance for weeks. All day, she tightly clutched the bill, hoping to find that one special purchase. Now, it seemed hopelessly blown out to sea.
This wasn’t just a monetary value; this $20 bill had spiritual value to her. This money represented her hard work and preparation. She now grieved the loss of that hard work. Her anguish was something that hurt us more than it hurt her.
Jesus told a parable about a woman who had only 10 gold coins, and she lost one. The woman scoured her house, looking in every nook and cranny. When she finally found it, she called her friends and neighbors: “Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!”
“Count on it,” Jesus said, “this is the kind of party that God throws every time one lost soul turns to God.”
Jesus was making the point that if money is so important to people that they’d mount a search for a lost $20 bill in a sandstorm, how much more valuable are those who are lost from God?
As we looked along the shore for the money and saw how desperately she searched, our hearts softened. I even pulled a $20 from my wallet and suggested to my wife that we plant the bill between a few rocks and coach her toward the find, just the way we’d done for her preschool Easter egg hunts.
Just as we began to think that we should stop supporting her denial and work on helping her to grieve this loss, she cried out.
“I found it!” she announced as she removed the wet bill from the lapping waves of the shore.
“Who wants hot chocolate?” my wife asked to celebrate this find. Incredulous, we all returned to the cabin to celebrate. “For what was lost, now was found.”
I discreetly returned my $20 to my wallet.
“I knew we’d find it,” I told my wife. “The Bible promised we would.”
Pointing out to the sea and recalling the days when we used to call money bread, I cryptically said, “Yeah, in Ecclesiastes 11:1”
“What?”
“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.”
She let out a groan and then said, “It’s a good thing we’re visiting the Dead Sea tomorrow.”
“Oh, why is that?” I asked.
“Because that’s where we’re going to lose you.” she promised.
Norris Burkes is a former civilian hospital chaplain and an Air National Guard chaplain. Write norris@thechaplain.net or visit www.thechaplain.net. You can also follow him on Twitter — username is “chaplain.”
— or on Facebook at facebook.com/norrisburkes.

By JOHN CARLSON
jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com
Passing the window looking into The Hideout’s tiny kitchen Monday night, you might have stopped, squinted, then wondered what those pointy green things sizzling on the grill were.
The answer: Asparagus spears.
The question: In a tavern?
The reason: It was Jeff’s Kitchen night.
That being the case, the grilled asparagus was soon served to somebody on a bed of rice pilaf with orzo pasta alongside “Kiev Style chicken,” in a dinner not at all reminiscent of typical Hoosier bar fare such as tenderloins, French fries and cheeseburgers.
“Random inspiration,” answered Jeff Richey, The Hideout’s cook, when asked how he comes up with the special menus featured at his namesake, Jeff’s Kitchen, the first Monday and Thursday of each month.
All this can be traced a while back to when, one night a week, he and another cook there brought their own special ingredients to the tavern and whipped up some unexpected culinary delights.
“They did their own Hell’s Kitchen,” joked Rick Turner, who owns The Hideout with his wife, Barbara.
Now that Jeff’s Kitchen is firmly set on the schedule, Jeff is planning the menus on his own, Rick’s only stipulation being that meals be reasonably priced, selling for between $10.99 and $12.99.
“We’ve had some great dishes,” the co-owner continued. “We’re trying to get something that you’re not gonna find normally around here. … It’s fun to watch (Jeff) do this. Looking at his size, you know he likes to eat.”
So far, the special dinners have included chicken scaloppini served with an apple/gorgonzola salad; a bacon-wrapped, applewood-smoked boneless pork chop served with grilled corn on the cob, Caesar butter and a slaw salad, and sliced steak with a savory sauce, seasoned corn and deep-fried mashed potatoes.
“It’s gone real well so far,” said Rick. “Probably the best one has been the pork chop.”
Indeed, mention that pork chop to the regulars and they sort of swoon, describing how that night their noses sniffed the air as the waitresses passed, carrying the dishes to the tables.
“The pork chops, they were delicious,” recalled Jama Batthauer, who had just finished dinner and was now sharing apple pie a la mode with her husband, Joe. “Everything we’ve had here has been really good.”
Back in the cramped kitchen, a space made all the smaller by Jeff’s considerable size, the shaven-headed cook was working on two other diners’ dinners.
A 38-year-old Daleville native, he had been employed in jobs such as a parts guy and a building maintenance engineer before coming here two years ago, his previous cooking experience limited to what he made in the kitchen at home.
Somehow, once he began working at The Hideout, the cooking bug bit.
“I would actually love to go to culinary school,” he declared. “I really can’t see myself doing anything but cooking for the rest of my life.”
Naturally, in the meantime, he has embraced the Jeff’s Kitchen concept.
“I thought it was a great idea,” he said. “It was (Rick’s) idea, but it didn’t take me long to get on board.”
Now, the smallest thing sparks visions of new culinary endeavors.
The other day, for example, he spotted some Greek vinaigrette dressing in storage, and soon was envisioning a Greek vinaigrette salad with all the trimmings, right down to the fancy olives and feta cheese.
As for the main course, gyro sandwiches sounded good to him, but then he thought maybe he’d forsake the lamb for, say, beef tips.
“That’s the way every dish has been,” he said.
Other plans?
“I love the pastas, I love the sauces,” he said, before adding, “and then there’s Cajun. Cajun is definitely in the works.”
As he talked and plated his fare, he dodged Kim Johnson, who smiled happily as the work went on.
“I’m his sous chef,” she said, laughing as she shared the kitchen. “We get very excited. I feed off his excitement.”
Also feeding off the excitement is Barbara Turner, the other aforementioned co-owner.
“We talk about it all month long,” she said, discussing upcoming Jeff’s Kitchen meals. “People are excited. They tell us, ‘Oh, we’ll be there.’ I’ll suggest a few things. Today we got to talking about chicken cordon bleu.”
What was that conversation like?
“I never thought that would happen here,” she said.
Meanwhile, while Dean Martin crooned That’s Amore over the jukebox speakers, Jeff left his tiny kitchen to visit his customers at their tables.
“You’re a great cook,” one woman told him, then waffled. “Er, chef?”
He just laughed.
“Tonight,” Jeff said, happily, “I’m a chef.”
z Contact John Carlson at 213-5824.

There is nothing like pre-planning your funeral to gain the peace of mind that then allows one to concentrate on other important quality-of-life issues, like eating as many Hostess Ding Dongs as possible between now and the time when …

Well, you know.

Besides, when my time comes — and something tells me that it will — pre-planning will keep my family members from needlessly buying me some incredibly snazzy send-off, simply to assuage their numbing sense of loss and grief.

On the other hand, if their sense of loss and grief is less numbing than I had anticipated, this will also prevent me from ending up as a visual aid down at Skip’s School of the Mortuary Arts.

This is not to say that I have pre-planned my own funeral, however.

After all, being only 59, I figure I have a good 80 or 90 years left, so what’s the rush?

Besides, I can’t escape the feeling that once you walk out that funeral home door, a check mark appears alongside your name on some cosmic order blank marked, “Ready for delivery.”

Then a piano falls on you.

Still, I occasionally find myself in the pre-planning mode, driving past some beautiful little country cemetery and thinking, “Now there’s a nifty spot!”

Then I remember that, unless death is considerably more interesting than I suspect it is, niftiness is liable to be less of a priority for me then than it is now.

That’s when I think, OK. Just bury me with my relatives up in northern Ohio, or my wife’s relatives out in Illinois. But then I think, why? Are we going to be getting together for pinochle games?

Finally, I remember that old self-development mantra, “Bloom where you are planted.” Bury me anywhere convenient and I’ll be as happy as can be, under the circumstances.

After awhile, though, all that seems like lots to worry about, so I switch over to the lighter side of pre-planning funerals — my fantasy memorial service.

I want music by George Jones and the Kinks.

Also, I want my coffin lid hinged by a standard spiral binder, like a professional reporter’s notebook.
As for the ceremony itself, I wish to be carried through the newsroom by ranks of wailing editors, who will line up with their pens drawn to give me the ultimate newspaperman’s tribute — the 21 Bic salute.

Also, I want the minister to sprinkle newspaper terms throughout my eulogy, ending with, “How about that? He finally met a deadline that even he couldn’t miss.”

John Carlson is a features writer for The Star Press.

By JOHN CARLSON
jcarlson@muncie.gannett.com

Even back when he was a kid growing up in the country, Phil Peckinpaugh knew he had a special affinity for animals.

“I’ve always had a really big place in my heart for them,” he recalled with a smile, discussing the stray dogs and cats that he would sneak home. “I would hide them from my parents. At one point, I had a litter of six kittens in my closet.”

Now, the has 140 pets.

“We can house 140, and that’s cats and dogs,” said the 24-year-old Springport native, who later went to Central High School before studying communications at Ball State University.

Speaking in ARF’s kitchen, Peckinpaugh talked over the humming and thumping of a nearby washing machine in which soiled blankets and dog beds were being cleaned. Around his feet, a cadre of small, adoring dogs circled, offering themselves for hugs or a scratch behind the ears.

Back home with his wife, Melissa, and baby daughter, Ruthie, five more dogs and three cats round out the family.

“They are all rescued,” he said of his pets, which might be slightly woebegone, or a little cranky, or socially awkward, but are also loved. “I kind of pride myself in taking dogs that are non-adoptable. I try to leave the real adoptable ones for people to adopt.”

Moving here as a teenager, he became aware of ARF, in part, because he played on the Bearcat football team with Cody Panzi, son of ARF founder Terri Panzi. For Peckinpaugh, the place proved irresistible.

“Any moment I had extra,” he recalled, “I was there.”

By the time he left BSU, he had long since decided he wanted a career working with animals, and drew up a five-year improvement plan for the Muncie Animal Shelter that he figured would catapult him to its directorship.

“I didn’t even get an interview,” he confessed.

Having worked at the pet care-facility Happy, Clean and Smart while in college, he was instead hired by its owner, Kathie Onieal, as a trainee in a family brokerage firm.

“Kathie was a terrific boss,” he said, noting his time at the firm taught him something about management, and something else, thanks to an aptitude test trainees were required to pass — namely, that he would never, ever make it as a broker.

A call, and a calling
Having just gotten married and bought a house, this news was initially tough to take.

“I lost this job and I was devastated,” he recalled, chuckling.

But just about then, Terri — a woman he regards with something like awe — called, urging him to apply to be ARF’s director.

“And here I am,” said Peckinpaugh, who was hired in March after a four-month training period. “It’s been great. I have a great staff. I have a great support system here.”

That’s good, because it’s also a great challenge.

Money is a regular issue.

“We’ve had a few scares this year,” he said. “I don’t mean of closing, but we’ve been close to running out of money.”

Meanwhile, he is committed to growing ARF’s Community Foundation endowment fund, which is now at $200,000, with a goal of eventually reaching a lofty $1 million, plus a sense of financial security.

“The more money we have in that endowment,” he said, sounding a little like a broker, “the longer we’ll be here.”

Two other goals: Expand the spay-neuter assistance program, and put a veterinarian on staff.
“That would take the weight of the world off our shoulders,” said Peckinpaugh of the latter, noting that vet John Boyce, who he described as “a true angel to ARF,” has provided the bulk of such care.

A goal for growth
Another goal is to expand. As already noted, 140 animals is ARF’s present capacity.

“We have to know our limitations,” said Peckinpaugh, who was wearing an ARF T-shirt. “That’s something that the public has a hard time understanding.”

It’s tough for him, too, something that spurs a recurrent, bothersome question.

“What are they going to do with that animal I said ‘no’ to?” he asked, discussing those he must turn away. “At first I took it really hard. But I try not to dwell on the bad things, because I see so many good things. I help the ones I can, and I can’t dwell on the ones I can’t.”

Since Terri first launched what would become ARF in 1996, he added, more than 7,000 animals have been placed in loving homes.

“That’s what I take home with me at night,” he said. “Our adoption base is huge. I adopted out a cat all the way to California, and a dog to Connecticut.”

Other poor animals will never be adopted, but they are safe at ARF.

“It is a great home,” he continued. “If they had to go to another shelter, they would be euthanized immediately.”

That sad truth is what makes him grateful for this place, and his own role here.

“It’s not a job,” Peckinpaugh said. “It definitely has to be a way of life.”

By KATHY KIRBY
kkirby@muncie.gannett.com
Music and dance lift our spirits, energizing us to carry on in good times and bad.
Various churches and members in the community will come together at 3 p.m. Sunday during the 29th annual

Thanks-Singing Festival in Hazelwood Christian Church, 1400 W. University Ave.

Sponsored by Christian Ministries of Delaware County, the public is invited free of charge. However, patrons are asked to take donations of canned goods and non-perishable boxed food items for the Christian Ministries Food Pantry.

Monetary donations also will be collected for Christian Ministries shelters.
The need is even greater than last year.

“We are just inundated with people needing food and shelter,” said Becki Clock, executive director of Christian Ministries of Delaware County. “We have almost doubled from last year the number of clients we serve at the food pantry. And our shelters are just bulging.”

Monetary offerings and donations of canned goods will help both efforts.
“We are serving people unemployed, but also working people whose hours have been cut or who are working for minimum wage,” Clock said. “And there are people who had been staying with family and friends, but can’t any longer, because their family and friends can’t support them any longer.”
But amid the dire economic times, it’s important to give thanks, Clock said.

“There is something about the community and all of the different faiths gathering together to give thanks for what we do have and what we can share with other people,” she said.

“It reinforces and strengthens us. And we need to remember that there are people who are giving who also are going through hard times.”

Barb Eidson, one of the coordinators of the event, agrees.

“Music is a universal language,” she said. “I believe it lifts our spirits and unites us.”

New this year will be the choir from East Washington Academy, a new school in the Muncie Community School Corp.

“This is a very special premiere performance as it will be the very first time that our East Washington Academy Wildcat choir will be singing for our community,” said Michelle Bade, music director. “It is wonderful for the students to share their talents and learn to give to our community. I really enjoy working with these kids and I am very proud of their efforts.”

The 76-member choir will sing Share the Good Gifts and This World is Ours.

The Thanks-Singing Combined Adult Choir will sing Halle, Halle, Halle, a Caribbean song, Soon and Very Soon, a spiritual song, and Jubilant Song, a joyful song.

Hymn of Praise will be presented by the First Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir and He Never Failed Me Yet will be sung by the College Avenue United Methodist Church Choir and Planet Earth Singers.

The Magic City Music Men Quarter, “The Expressions,” will sing Jesus Hold My Hand and I’ll Fly Away and the Muncie Women of Worship will perform.

This year’s event is in memory of Doris Faulkner Stewart, who died May 19 at the Lynd House where she had lived for several years.

She was one of the founders of the Thanks-Singing Festival, receiving an award from Mayor Dan Canan in 2005 for its 25th anniversary.

During her teaching career in Muncie Community Schools, she also was known for directing the Muncie Community Christmas Sing, which she did for 12 years.

If you go
What: 29th annual Thanks-Singing Festival, a celebration of music, faith and community.
When: 3 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Hazelwood Christian Church, 1400 W. University Ave.
Cost: Donations of canned goods and non-perishable boxed food items for the Christian Ministries of Delaware County Food Pantry. Monetary donations for Christian Ministries shelters also will be accepted.
Information: Barb Eidson, 284-4825.

More online
Check out a photo gallery of a rehearsal from the festival online at www.thestarpress.com