PAGE 4 December 2022
Lynn's Ledger Devotional Column By Denise Lynn Oh Christmas Tree!
DOUGLAS AREA SENIORS - The Douglas Senior Center offers fellowship with area senior citizens, games and a nutritious meal each weekday. The Senior Center is located at 335 Stadium Circle in Douglas, which is across from the High School. The senior center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. for those age 60 and older. In addition to food and games, the facility has exercise equipment, quilting facilities, and a pool table. A computer and sewing machines are also available. For more information call 256-840-1440. SPRING REGISTRATION - Registration at Gadsden State Community College for spring semester is ongoing through Jan. 13. Classes begin Jan. 9 for the full spring semester and spring mini 1 term. Classes begin March 3 for the spring mini 2 term. For more information email admissions@gadsdenstate.edu. START STRONG SCHOLARSHIP - Gadsden State Community College is awarding Start Strong Scholarships for the 2023-24 academic year. The scholarship covers up to six hours of tuition and fees for the 2023 fall semester and 2024 spring semester. It is open to graduating high school seniors. Applications are due March 1. Full- time, eligible students can get a combined 12 hours of credit paid for through the Start Strong Scholarship Program. The scholarship is not limited to those living within the Gadsden State service area. The Start Strong Scholarship will pay in-state tuition for out-of-state students. This is Gadsden State’s second year to award these scholarships worth almost $2,000 each. CRAPPIE TOURNAMENT - The Cedar Bluff Baseball program will be hosting its annual Crappie Fishing Tournament on April 1, 2023. The event starts at 6:30 a.m. For more information call 256-927-1750. AWARD WINNERS - Winners of the 2022 Chancellor’s Awards from Gadsden State Community College were recognized during the Alabama Community College Association Conference Nov. 20 in Birmingham. The winners were recognized also locally in September at the Spring Convocation held at Gadsden State Cherokee. Two members of faculty were selected for the award. They are Dr. Danetta McCurley and Elise Harbin. The support staff award went to Kathy Brown, and the administrator award winner was Jessica Slaten. CASTING CROWNS - Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheater has announced it's 2023 concert season opener, which will include the Christian Rock band Casting Crowns. The band will be making SMPA a part of their 2023 Tour, as the Multi-platinum selling Grammy winners group will in Albertville on Saturday, April 15. Casting Crowns has many featured hit songs from the band’s current chart-topping Healer album (“Scars In Heaven,” “Crazy People”), The band has sold more than 12 million albums and they have won multiple Grammy, Dove and American Music Awards. There will be additional performances by special guests We Are Messengers and Ben Fuller. EAGLEAWARENESS - America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, will be celebrated in January and February when Lake Guntersville State Park hosts the annual Eagle Awareness Weekends, giving wildlife enthusiasts a chance to learn more about the magnificent creatures in their natural habitat. The popular weekend event attracts people of all ages from all over the United States who come to Guntersville to spend a winter getaway in one of Alabama’s most popular state parks immersed in nature-based learning. In 2023, Eagle Awareness will be held every weekend from January 20 through February 5. The 2023 dates and presentation programs are Jan. 20-22 (Wings to SOAR, Anniston Museum of Natural History and Alabama Wildlife Center), Jan. 27-29 (David Haggard, Raptor Ridge and Alabama Wildlife Center) and Feb. 3-5 (Auburn University, Rice Raptor Project and Alabama Wildlife Center). Activities get underway at 5:30 p.m. Friday, with activities throughout the day on Saturday and wraps up Sunday following the 11:30 a.m. program. Sessions typically fill up quickly and participants are encouraged to reserve a weekend by calling 256-505-6621. Lodging packages start at $324 and include lodging, two breakfasts, one dinner, a welcome packet, VIP access to presentations, discounts at the restaurant and gift shop, photo opportunities with birds of prey, activities for children, engagement with featured sponsors and one-on-one access with the naturalists. Day passes for programs only are $15/adults and $5/children 12 years old and under .
Oh Christmas Tree, how Iʼve ignored you. After the passing of my mom, building a house and moving, I just was not into putting up a Christmas Tree. It was a choice to put it on the back-burner. For the past eight seasons, I have been super busy being busy. Donʼt get me wrong, busy is good sometimes, especially in the grieving process. I will say it matters what your busy doing. I chose to step towards a dream of mine to open my own store, but somehow help people at the same time. I knew it was Gods will and He opened that door wide open, but that's a story for another day. We also decided to build our dream home, something the Lord gave my husband and I a vision for nearly 16 years prior when we took some time to discuss what our future would look like and our end goals. Also very much in Godʼs will as He opened that door wide open too, yet another miracle story to tell another day. Every Christmas since my mom's passing, I have been super busy. Blessed for sure with a beautiful home on the prettiest piece of property full of birds and critters, and the most amazing view. Also a house full of rooms to decorate for every holiday, and no matter how busy, I have managed to decorate with joy. So why did I ignore the tree? I didnʼt completely ignore it. The tree got put up eventually, but never decorated. I put a Charlie Brown tree up on Christmas Eve one year, and all the others were put up without their normal garland and ornaments. Very basic, it served a purpose and had a job, which was a place to put presents. Decorating a tree is personal for me. I am not that girl who searches Pinterest for the latest ideas and trends on ways to make my tree the most photo worthy shot on Facebook or Instagram. My tree could be described as hodge-podge. A giant melting pot of past styles I liked, different financial budgets, handmade and sentimental ornaments, and things I love. My tree tells a story over and over again. One ornament is a cross-stitched penguin hanging on a paperclip made by a little girl named Molly who was living at the children's home I worked and lived at. There's a mason jar lid with nail hole punches spelling “Christmas 1984” with ric-rack glued around the edges and a ribbon tie that my sweet grandmother made me for Christmas the year I graduated high school. Some of the other decorations I bought and picked out with people on shopping trips at the store, including my husband and all my kids. Then there are the few things that survived from my first apartment as a single gal at age 21. A time when I was feeling very proud to be putting up my very own tree, and sprung to spend $20 to get some really cute decorations. There are also the decades, the seasons of liking “kitschy style” (aka pre Pioneer woman style) garland, then
onto anything sparkly, sometimes silver, sometimes gold. Then I went through a big pink spell where every year my daughter and I carefully inserted the pink berry twigs, one of the few trends that I thought looked pretty cool. Then there's the star. Some do angels, others do the trendy bows, the gnome heads, the list goes on and on. However, I am still doing the star from my first adult Christmas. I inherited my mom's gold tree topper, but I decorate a display in the house with it and it sparkles so pretty. When I was younger mom always had an angel with the cotton band at the bottom that needed repairing every year. I still have that Angel somewhere safe. Christmas tree decorating was something fun for me and something my mom did every year. She always surprised me because she lived in a world of vanilla, tone- on tone and she was as monochromatic as they come. I however was born in full color and destined to enjoy and explore my rainbow world full of millions of colors. Pretty fitting that I live in a town called Rainbow City! Every Christmas was a small miracle as she strayed from her usual and wanted only multi-color lights. I was so happy about this! The lights were beautiful to me, so full of excitement, and definitely more festive in my opinion. My mom was very predictable for the most part, but I so enjoyed watching her face light up when she stretched herself and did what she wanted and realized she could stray away from the norm and still be as happy as punch. And she was. Precious memories, and that's something no one can ever take away from you. As far as my light choice, its non-blinking plain white because I need something neutral in my rainbow tree world. But make no mistake the small trees on my front porch for all the world to see (or at least those driving by) will always have multi-colored lights on them as the memory of my mom lives on, bringing me joy every time I see them. I was blessed last July driving home from work when I saw a man carrying a very large tree out to the side of the road. I did a U-turn and to my surprise it was a 10 foot flocked tree, exactly what I was praying for and thinking if I had one like that I might decorate it. Another God wink. The man helped me load it and it fits perfectly in our new house. God was telling me it's time. Time to decorate the tree and relive the stories, experience the flood of emotions, both good and bad. Iʼve been very busy decorating my Christmas tree and experiencing a new level of healing in my heart. Decorating my hodge-podge tree this season has brought me great joy and I think the old gal looks pretty good. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. ( From John 16:22)
Fake Prescription Pills May Contain Lethal Dose of Fentanyal
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is alerting the public of a sharp nationwide increase in the lethality of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills. The DEA Laboratory has found that, of the fentanyl- laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022, six out of ten now contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. This is an increase from DEA’s previous announcement in 2021 that four out of ten fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills were found to contain a potentially lethal dose. “More than half of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills being trafficked in communities across the country now contain a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. This marks a dramatic increase – from four out of ten to six out of ten – in the number of pills that can kill,” said Administrator Anne Milgram. “These pills are being mass-produced by the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel in Mexico. Never take a pill that wasn’t prescribed directly to you. Never take a pill from a friend. Never take a pill bought on social media. Just one pill is dangerous and one pill can kill.” Last year, the DEA issued a Public Safety Alert on the widespread drug trafficking of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills in American communities. These pills are largely made by two Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa
Cartel and the Jalisco (CJNG) Cartel, to look identical to real prescription medications, including OxyContin®, Percocet®, and Xanax®, and they are often deadly. In 2021, the DEA seized more than 20.4 million fake prescription pills. Earlier this year, the DEA conducted a nationwide operational surge to target the trafficking of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills and, in just over three months, seized 10.2 million fake pills in all 50 states. Through its One Pill Can Kill campaign, the DEA is working to alert the American public of the dangers of fake prescription pills. Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing this country. It is a highly addictive synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, the small amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially deadly dose. According to the CDC, 107,622 Americans died of drug poisoning in 2021, with 66 percent of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl. The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel in Mexico, using chemicals largely sourced from China, are primarily responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in communities across the United States. For more information on the dangers of fentanyl, please visit Fentanyl Awareness (dea.gov).
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