Harrington news

"Studio 1 on South 3rd St." has announced its entrance to the business district of Harrington where Paula and Ray Harrington will look forward to seeing the community at large at their opening in mid-September. They will elicit customers looking for creative home decor, wood products, quilts, gifts and custom embroidery. Those who know Paula assume that it will be even more diverse than her list here.

Last week the Harrington School BBQ served about 200 meals. Brad Simpson and the new Superintendent, Mr Massie grilled hotdogs and burgers while the school cook Tracey Simpson (Director of Nutrition) and assistant cook, Tammy Sperline, served potato salad, watermelon and lemonade along with all the fixings for the burgers. After parents and students enjoyed the meal they were able to tour the classrooms, drop off school supplies and meet and greet the new teachers, Principal and Superintendent for the 2018-19 school year. The Back to School meet and greet was sponsored by the school and this information graciously provided by the PTA.

The staff for the 2018-19 school year is as follows: On entering the school premises visitors will meet with office personnel, Kelli Tanke, Office manager and Jane Talkington, Administrative Assistant. Superintendent Wayne Massie will lead the Panthers as a new resident to Harrington. Tiffany Clouse will be Principal. Ginny Lathem returns as school counselor. The Special Education positions are filled by Will Christianson, teacher/director and Brent Coffman, Ashley Schenk and Derel Edwards, paraprofessionals. Pre-kindergarten teacher is Susan Larmer with Kindergarten taught by Taunya Sanford. First Grace is taught by Sarah Comella. Charlie King is the Second Grade teacher. The combined 3rd and 4th grade classes will be taught by Jessica Lauber. LaMarr Larmer is returning as instructor for the combined 5th and 6th grade classes.Denise Hoffman is the PE teacher and Art for P-12. Similarly, Sharon Kruger is the instructor for computers and Business Technology, P-12. Teachers for the 7th through 12th grades include: Michael Cronrath, Social Studies; Betty Warner, Agriculture; Ben Edwards, Math; Justin Ikehara, Science; Maria Preston, English/Language. The school board members are Darren Mattozzi (Chair), Mark Kramer (Vice Chair), Cade Clarke, Linda Mielke and Shannon Sewall. For those interested in the web site: https://www.harringtonsd.org/staff

The Harrington Area Chamber of Commerce Newsletter is out highlighting the Fall Festival's schedule of events and activities: The FFA pancake feed is the start of the event, opening at 8 a.m. through 10 a.m. Harrington FBLA's Fun Run begins at 9 a.m. with the Harrington Opera House Society's Rummage occurring throughout the day, continuing from its early start Friday. The Hotel Lincoln and the Opera House will be giving tours. The parade begins at 11 a.m. which is organized by Fire District #6. Following the parade, the focus is at the park with the Lions Club BBQ, raffles, bingo and vendors of many types. At 4 p.m. the Studebaker Garage is throwing its first Pinewood Derby. The Harrington Alumni dinner at the school has scheduled visiting to begin at 5 p.m. with dinner at 5:30.

"Letters from Odessa and Lamona correspondents last week were carried by on the train and did not reach here until Sunday. The Odessa letter had been over on the Washington Central, although the inscription was as plain as print. Some careless railway mail clerk was probably responsible for the miscarriage." Front page, Citizen: 3/16/1900.

"Odessa News (delayed in transmission through the mails). The firm of Trantum & Schoonover have been enlarged by the adoption of James Hull as partner. This firm have recently added a new supply of implements to their stock and now have an assortment that will compare favorably even with some of Spokane's houses. They also expect soon to put in a line of hardware. ** Frank Ardolf has moved on his ranch, southwest of town. ** Mrs Woodson Mitchell has a new organ, which was presented by her husband in the form of a surprise. *Messrs Stanfield, Irby and Mitchell made a business trip to Spokane this week. **One of the head organizers of the German Lutheran church made a trip to Odessa relative to the securing of ground for a church. ** Mrs W R Kemp is building an addition to her restaurant, which will enable her to accommodate lodgers as well as boarders. ** Messrs Crawford and Hollinberg returned from California Tuesday, where they had been to spend the winter. * Found.-A black cur with long, mulish ears, with a can tied to his tail, found Monday morning, the 5th inst. --tearing through Odessa; said cur very swift of foot and speaks in a loud voice. Owner please call and get your property and reward. ** Hoboes at the ir last meeting across the track decided by a unanimous vote that Star shingles were ahead of posts and cordwood for quick fires. 'Hang the expense!' say then." Back page, Citizen: 3/16/1900.

Peter Davenport, Harrington resident, just returned this past week from a week-long trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a 40th-year reunion of a group 35-40 young Americans, who used to work together in the former Soviet Union during 1978-79. The members of the group, all of whom spoke Russian, worked as guides and agricultural specialists on a traveling cultural exhibit, entitled "Agriculture in the United States," which toured six major cities in the USSR over the course of a year and a half. Davenport worked on the second half of the exhibit, during which time it made six-week long appearances in the cities of Kishinev (Moldavia), Moscow and Rostov (on the Don River). The principal duty of the guides was to engage in conversation with the Soviet citizens who visited the exhibit. On occasion, up to 25,000 people per day would attend the exhibit.

The exhibit program, administered by the U. S. International Communications Agency (formerly, the U. S. Information Service) was begun in the late 1950's, and was part of a bilateral cultural exchange program between the U. S. and the USSR, the intent of which was to foster better understanding of each other's respective cultures by the American and Soviet citizens. Other elements of the cultural agreement included the exchange of both technical specialists, who would travel and lecture on various, generally apolitical, topics and printed magazines, designed to reflect various aspects of the U. S. and Soviet cultures.

One interesting sidelight of the exhibit exchange program is the celebrated so-called "Kitchen Debate," which took place in 1959 at the first U. S. exhibit to the USSR, between then Vice President Richard Nixon and First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev. The debate is so named because it took place in the kitchen area of a model American home, which had been designed to portray how a typical American family lived, at the time.

The U. S. Director of the exhibit was Mr. Thomas L. Craig, who had served as the Director of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and who oversaw the construction of the Seattle "Space Needle."

Attendees to the three-day reunion event traveled to Washington, D.C., from as far as Moscow, Russia; Ukraine; Swaziland (Africa); Los Angeles; Seattle; North Dakota; Illinois; Massachusetts; and Harrington. The gathering included a Friday night soiree at a downtown restaurant in Washington, D.C., followed by a day-long barbecue at the home of two former exhibit guides, who are now retired from careers with the U. S. Department of State, and who currently reside in rural northern Virginia.

Davenport took the opportunity, while on the East Coast, to visit a brother and sister-in-law, who reside in Charlotte, North Carolina. Davenport will be making a presentation on UFO activity at the Harrington Opera House on October 27, at 6 p.m.

Submitted by Peter Davenport