Leonard at large

The Mary A. McGennis Agricultural Park and Youth Center board held their annual meeting Thursday evening at the Faming Lantern in Butler.

Board members represent Vernon, Bates, St. Clair, and Henry Counties, and the board has the responsibility of maintaining and developing the McGennis Youth Center located north of Metz in Vernon County.

Three of the officers were re-elected to serve another term -- Bonnie Teel, Vernon County, president; Virginia Habjan, Vernon County, vice president; and Carl Steiger, treasurer, Bates County. Robert Wills, Bates County, was elected secretary replacing Ellen Bell, who has served in the position for 12 years.

Ellen has never been a member of the board, but she has given help and support to her husband, Randy, as well as being of service to the board. Randy has been a board member for a long period of time. Special recognition was given to Ellen in appreciation for her long tenure as secretary.

One of the best things that we as a community have going for us is the youth center. It will continue to grow in importance. The fiscal year for the center is from March 1 to February 29, and it appears the best way to give a summary of the many events and accomplishment is to share a report that Bonnie Teel gave to the board and friends.

Bonnie said, "This has been a year of great and noble tasks and many small tasks, accomplished due to your hard work and generous gifts. When I stopped and looked back at the center's year, I was surprised to realize the number of accomplishments. Thanks to the gift from the estate of Mary Griffin the long hoped for tennis court was finished. Now we have the new basketball goals installed and ready for the court painting.

Thanks to the generous gifts of the board members we were able to purchase and install playground equipment this spring. Cabins and the bathhouse got new roofs, again done by our board members.

"Our summer was a good time had by all. Mike and Kendra (Ledom, caretakers) gave us a beautiful and safe spot for the local youth to play. The swimming season went well thanks to the crew of lifeguards. The Fourth of July was a resounding success as was the annual barbecue. All the work behind the scenes makes all our projects seem to just happen with such ease, what an amazing board. Rhonda Headley wowed us again with a fun and successful 'Barn players' musical. It's one of the best draws to the youth center.

As you can see we have had an amazing year. In the year to come we will once again strive to make McGennis Youth Center a beautiful, fun and safe place to visit."

Mike and Kendra Ledom have served as caretakers for a year. They had a busy summer and were given credit for keeping things running smoothly and keeping the center looking great.

Mike and Kendra reported, "This summer was our first summer at the center and it was an enjoyable year. We got to meet a lot of wonderful families. We would like to say thanks to all of the Board members for all their support. Once again we would like to say thanks to Deems for supplying us with a nice tractor to keep the grounds looking nice.

We want to say thanks to Dean Cannon and Greg Brocka for putting up the new jungle gym, swing sets and the basketball goals. They look great. This past summer the center held a fishing derby and we had about 40 kids. We want to thank everyone who helped at the derby."

They also expressed thanks to everyone who helped to make last summer such a success, saying, "Last summer the number of reservations for the facilities were, barn and kitchen, 12; chapel, six --and the chapel is used almost very Sunday to hold services; cabins, five; West Shelter, nine, East shelter, 18. We had two trail rides, four family reunions, two birthday parties and two weddings. We also had around 576 swimmers this past summer."

Among the accomplishments for 2003 was the 33rd annual barbecue, held on the first Sunday in August. This year's barbecue is scheduled for Sunday August 1.

The Auction raised $4,000 for the center. The late Charlie Ensor, was to ill to do the auction. He had started auctioning for the auction at the beginning. Larry Hacker was the auctioneer for the past auction. The Fourth of July foodstand at the Rich Hill celebration made $4,000.

The 20th production was held on the McGennis Stage with "crowds far and near."

The production, directed by Rhonda Headly, was held on three nights with over 200 attending on Saturday night.

One of the sources of income is from donations. It is a challenge to have the income to meet the expenses. A major cost which other organization also face is liability insurance, and it keeps getting higher. Each donation and each deed given as a volunteer helps the center to be successful.

The board set May 15 for a work day to get the center ready for the summer.

The session is to begin at 8:00 a.m. with a "carry-in dinner." The board members from Vernon County are Greg Brocka, Jennifer Byers, Scott Byers, Paula Sage, Candi Dahmer, Debbie Balk, Warren Hargus, and Susan Burns.

* Oops -- I goofed. Last week the paper containing my column had hardly been delivered before one reader called our house to say that I was wrong. I could say that I did it on purpose to see how many would catch it -- but that is not true. I could ignore it and not admit my mistake.

I told you that I could not remember which is which relating to LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. I did get them backwards. The reader said that her physician had told her that the way to remember it is that the "L" stands for lousy, the "H" for healthy.

Hey, that makes sense. To make it correct, my HDL cholesterol was up and the LDL cholesterol was down -- the way that is desirable.