Flu and you: Don't panic - use common sense

Flu or allergies? Allergies or flu?
Seems to me both share some - not all - symptoms.
Is your head all stopped up? Sore throat? Headache? Kind of a yucky, "blehck" feeling? (yeah, I made that spelling up - we've all said it or something like to describe feeling bad but how do you spell that???)
I feel that way all the time.
When I first read the swine flu symptoms, I thought, "Dang, I'm really sick." Then I thought about it some more. I don't have fever. I'm not throwing up. I don't feel run over. I'm tired because I'm a mom and I work weird hours. I feel like this because I live with a cat, kids who don't pick up after themselves and create science experiments with half-eaten bowls of cereal hidden under the couch (Fruit Loops create blue milk....ewwwwwww......) and it's spring in East Texas.
We have yet to have any cases - confirmed or otherwise - of swine flu in this region. Before we panic and assume we've got the flu, let's take a deep, wheezy breath and double-check the list of symptoms.

• Nasal congestion
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Dry cough
• Tiredness
  
• Vomiting or diarrhea
• Fever over 100.5
• Achiness

According to the health officials I've spoken with, the fever is the big red flag. If you've got any doubt that what you're feeling is more than your normal allergies, call your doctor or call 2-1-1.
2-1-1 is a toll-free information line that can provide more info on the swine flu.
In the meantime, if you want to play it safe, do what you normally would in a flu outbreak.

• Wash your hands with warm water and soap. Like we learned in Girl Scouts, warm water kills germs better than cold. Carry a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket and rub it on your hands occasionally.
  
• Clean your work area or home with a good disinfectant. Wipe off door handles, faucets, refrigerator doors, TV remote controls, telephones, steering wheels - whatever your hands and mouth might come in contact with on a very regular basis that we normally don't think about. It wouldn't hurt to clean them once in awhile anyway.
• Sneeze or cough into a tissue if possible, then throw it in the trash. If you can't grab one in time, try the crook of your elbow. Most people don't shake hands there.
• Wear a mask if you're feeling sick and you're going to the doctor's office or the hospital. That way you don't pass along germs to other people, and you don't get theirs.
  
• If you are sick, stay home. Don't put yourself around a lot of other people unless it's to seek medical attention. Think of it this way - do you want to get what somebody else has?
  

But like with anything, if you think you're sick, use common sense. Call your doctor and let the professionals figure it out. That's why we have them.

And another thing: Texas State Railroad in Texas Highways

While I was at Kroger's this morning buying milk, I picked up a copy of the current Texas Highways magazine. It's easy to spot - Engine 201 of the Texas State Railroad is steaming toward you on the cover. The railroad is the cover story of the May 2009 issue, with the story and beautiful photos beginning on 24 with a cool double-page photo similar to the cover shot. The story details the railroad's passage from state park to American Heritage Railways and mentions some of the unique events that AHR owner Al Harper has brought in to boost ridership. Written by Randy Mallory, a talented freelance writer/photographer in Tyler and photographed by Erich Schlegel, an award-winning Dallas Morning News photographer, it's a nice read and wonderful publicity statewide for the railroad.

Videos, more photos from FSB's 100th anniversary

Seems like troubled, faltering banks have been in the news a lot over the past few months. They could take a lesson from one based here in Anderson County. First State Bank of Frankston celebrated 100 years in the banking business yesterday at its Frankston home. Several representatives from banking organizations and the state spoke and presented framed certificates, and bank president Russ Gideon presented each member of the bank's founding family, the Austins, with a commorative clock. The Austins are still very much an intregral part of the bank and the Frankston community. The bank must be doing something right by its customers and employees. Jim and Mary Johnson have kept their money there for over 50 years, and Lella Tipton worked for the bank for 48 years before retiring. Today, the bank is holding a reception at its Noonday branch, with another reception scheduled for the Palestine branch on S. Loop 256 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday).

Check out our story in today's paper, "Centennial Celebration: First State Bank of Frankston marks 100 years," and check our web site later today or tomorrow for video clips and photos in the H-P photo gallery. (They're coming. I haven't had a chance to edit and upload them yet, though.)

The mayoral forum and newspaper deadlines

I attended the first half or so of last night's mayoral forum, held at Old Magnolia Sandwich Shop and sponsored by the Palestine Young Professionals Network. All three candidates - incumbent Mayor Carolyn Salter and challengers Dan Bochsler and Bob Herrington - participated in the event, which was attended by approximately two dozen people. The way it worked was like this: Candidates were asked 12 questions, which were written by the PYPN, with order of answer rotated for fairness. Each person was given plenty of time to respond. Also, before the forum began, Palestine High School principal Shon Joseph spoke for several minutes to urge those present to vote for the PISD school bond in the upcoming election on May 9.

It was interesting to listen to what the three candidates had to say, and to observe reactions to each others' responses. You can learn a lot through body language and tone of voice. I won't tout one over another - it's not my job to do so - but I will say that each comes across as smart, successful and well qualified, with different personalities. They obviously care enough about the town in which they live to give up their personal time and money to serve. Regardless of who wins, they're all to be applauded for that.

But I'm chasing rabbits now and need to get back to the point, which is this: I had to leave well before the forum ended, due to our change in deadlines and print times. Just a few weeks ago, I could have stayed for the entire thing, written my story at 1 a.m. if I wanted to, and still made deadline. Our last pages were due to the production people by 8 a.m., with printing mid-morning. Now, our last pages are due by 11:30 p.m. with some built-in "wiggle room" and they're printed a little after midnight. That's why some of you are getting your paper at 6 a.m. now. That's great for getting fresh news on the street when people get up in the morning. However, it means we've got to have a cutoff point in the evening to have time to get stories written and edited and the pages built and checked. It also means, instead of writing an overview of the entire forum, I had to choose something out of what I heard and go with that. Because of the economy and job concerns, I chose to focus on the candidates' responses to the question about the Palestine Economic Development Corporation and its future. Some people like the PEDC, some people don't, but with director Brian Malone officially resigned to take a similar job in Athens, the corporation's future is very much a timely topic and something to continue to watch.

One more note on our candidate coverage: We try not to appear to favor one person over another. That's why the photo from the forum shows all three people, although only one is answering a question. As much as reasonably possible, we try to keep the number and length of quotes about the same, for the same reason. Obviously, incumbents have an advantage in, say, a meeting story because they're already on the council or commissioners court or school board. We also try to run candidate announcement stories and Q&A's at the same place on the front page, with as close to the same size headline as possible. With early voting beginning April 27, we'll begin the Q&A's soon. Keep watching.

Mayoral candidate forum set for Tuesday

If you're interested in what the three candidates for Mayor of Palestine have to say about their candidacies and their ideas for the city, head over to Old Magnolia Sandwich Shop in downtown Palestine at 120 W. Oak St. The event starts at 7 p.m. Those running for mayor include incumbent Dr. Carolyn Salter, who is seeking a third consecutive two-year term, and challengers Dan Bochsler, who is president of the Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce, and Bob Herrington, who heads the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Preserving your past

Cheril's devastating house fire and Scott's near-miss house fire have me convinced that I need to get busy digitizing our Foley family photos. Cheril lost nearly everything when her mobile home burned a couple of months ago, while Scott was far more fortunate - he and his wife Lauren were in the middle of moving, with everything packed already, when a fire started in the kitchen ceiling. They didn't lose anything but got a hefty scare.

So I've begun scanning family photos, creating labeled folders in My Pictures on the computer and naming each photo with pertinent info, such as who's in it and when it was taken. I intend to burn CDs and lock them in a safe deposit box. In the meantime, though, I've created an account with a free online photo service, Flickr.com, and I've begun uploading to it. My goal with that is to link my Flickr account to our family blog. That way, not only can the extended family post info about what we're doing, we can also swap family photos and information about who's in the ones already posted. Seems like it take a funeral to pull us all together, so I'm hoping this blog and photo account will help improve that.

To anyone who's been thinking about doing something like this with their own photos but hasn't yet, it was pretty easy to set up the Flickr account and to upload photos from our computer to the website. You have options about who can view your photos - everyone or only those who you invite. I like that. Same thing with our family blog, which is also hosted on Blogger.com (also called blogspot). If you already have an email account with Yahoo.com, you can use your Yahoo user name and password for Flickr, since Flickr is affiliated with Yahoo. Likewise, Blogger.com is affiliated with Google.com.

One thing to note: If you create a blog or photo account and want to keep it private for only those whom you invite and not the rest of the world, the people whom you invite will have to have an account (ex., Google mail for Blogger.com, Yahoo for Flickr) to open your blog and to post to it. This doesn't seem to be a big deal to people who are online a lot, but for people who do very little on the Internet, it could take some hand-holding to walk them through the initial set-up process.

Heartbreaking loss for Elkhart

My condolences and my heart go out to the family and friends of Leonard Grabs. Losing anyone is difficult and painful, but when it's a young person, the pain and the hole carved out in your heart are that much worse. I didn't know Leonard but from covering several Elkhart football games over the past three seasons I certainly remember him. He may not have been the biggest or the fastest player, but he always hustled and gave 110 percent for his Elks, no matter the score. He was a leader with the way he played. To Leonard's family and to Elkhart High School, you are in my prayers and thoughts. God be with you.

Little Mexico fire blog now up and running

Richard Keller, longtime host at Little Mexico, has started a blog to keep customers and friends updated on the progress of the popular eatery. The restaurant on W. Oak Street was damaged by fire on March 25, most heavily in the kitchen area. Richard's blog includes photos from fire, as well as photos taken since of the work being done to stabilize the ceiling/roof and remove equipment from the roof. Check it out at www.littlemexico.wordpress.com.

Local NASA mission making big splash

The NCAA March Madness has evolved into a cultural event around the country, drawing millions of viewers to watch 65 college basketball teams battle to see who's the best.
Taking a page out of the NCAA's playbook, NASA this year posted its own version of March Madness. Dubbed Mission Madness, the online game pits 64 NASA missions against each other to see which will come out on top as being the favorite of space program followers.
Mission Madness began on March 19 and has whittled its way down to the final two missions, one of which originated right here in Palestine at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility.
The Superpressure Balloon, or SPB, is a pumpkin-shaped balloon designed to carry 1,000 pounds of scientific payload into orbit above the Earth for up to 100 days at a time.
Its challenger is SOHO, or Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a spacecraft created to investigate the outer layer of the sun, make observations of solar wind and probe the interior of the sun.
Voting is online and open today and tomorrow, until midnight Tuesday. According to Danny Ball of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, anyone with an Internet connection can go to www.nasa.gov, scroll down the page and click the link for Mission Madness. A "tournament" bracket will appear and you can cast your vote by clicking on either SPB or SOHO, then clicking "Submit Vote" and re-typing the code that appears (it keeps spammers from getting involved).
I just did. As of 1:20 p.m., SOHO holds a slim lead, 7,819 votes to 7,431 for SPB.
According to the website, you can vote as often as you'd like, kind of like the old adage, "Vote early, vote often," except that it's legal here.

Proud Louisville alum tonight

Not news-related but....
I'm wearing my somewhat faded red University of Louisville sweatshirt with pride tonight in support of the UofL women's basketball team. The Lady Cards are playing in their first-ever NCAA championship game Tuesday night against unbeaten Connecticut, making it an all-Big East Conference final. They beat Oklahoma and Courtney Paris in the semifinals earlier tonight, as well as Baylor in the Sweet 16. I'm thrilled to see the program reach this point. When I was in middle and high school and going to basketball camp at UofL, the program drew fans by the hands full, not the thousands. I can remember going to a few games at Freedom Hall, buying tickets and being able to sit a few rows back from the court. If you shouted, you'd be heard clearly. Now they're playing for a national title. Wow. Even if it is against unbeaten UConn, which handed UofL two of its four losses. Wow. You go, ladies! Give 'em L!

Back in the office today

I'm back to work today (Monday) after being out since Tuesday morning with my mother-in-law's death. For those who emailed condolences, thanks! Betty's funeral was Friday afternoon. We seem to be doing as well as could be expected. Kids and Bill are headed back to school today (well, they should be -- it's nearly midnight Sunday night, so I'm jumping the gun a bit).

A note to anyone who has tried to contact me over the time I was out: I had been summoned for jury duty in 349th district court but when I called the number on the card to check the status, the scheduled jury duty had been canceled so I'll be at work in the morning. I'll be sifting through my accumulated emails and any voice mails when I get in and I'll contact any who need contacting as soon as possible. I'm probably going to be the only one in on Monday, due to there being fewer of us these days and mandatory time off, so if anything comes up, tag, I'm it.

Thanks for your understanding and patience over these past few days. My family appreciates it!