A Spencer Adams Christmas

The greatest part of living in Bertie County is the important role which family plays in our lives. Cities are where we make our living, but family is what keeps us connected, and what brings our kids back home to our rural area each year for the celebrations. I hear stories about the great Christmas celebrations that everyone has in our area, however my step-father's family does this Christmas thing as well as any I have heard about.

Every year they gather at the family homestead here in Bertie County a day or two after Christmas, a tradition started by Spencer Adams. That way all the parents can have Christmas for their kids at home and the family can still get together. And every year the gathering is better than ever. Let me tell you about a Spencer Adams Christmas.

The homestead is always innundated with Christmas trimings that set the mood.

Bonnie Fixes Up The Homestead Like A Christmas Fantasyland

Early In The Day There Is A Constant Stream Of Arrivals, Welcomed With Love

Each Car Is Unloaded And The Presents Placed Beneath The Tree

After Each Group Is Greeted, Everyone Returns To Finding A Seat And Sharing Stories, Some Of Them . . Uh . . Exaggerations, About What Has Happened Since Last Year.

The Crowd Always Overflows From The Living Room And Covers The House

First Time Arrivals Are Always The Center Of Attention

The Kitchen Is Jammed With Those Who Prepare The Meal

While Waiting For The Meal, We Go Outside To Compete In Annual Games, Always Including Skeet And Showing Off Newly Acquired Rifles And Pistols!




New Games Are Also Shared, Anything To Compete! This Is A New Variation Of Horse Shoes Played With Corn Bags Thrown At Holes In A Wood Target.

After A While The Meal Is Ready, Lots Of Hands Make The Work Easy

After The Fabulous Meal The Traditional "Adams Family" Festivities Are About To Start

Christmas Carols Are Sung . . Many Christmas Carols . . . Ending With The Famous Adams Family Rendition Of Dancing To The "Twelve Days Of Christmas".

Even The "Guys" Get Into It Before The End

Presents Are Passed Out To Everyone Before The Traditional Opening Of the Presents Starts, As Always With The Youngest Opening Their Presents First.

Grandmomma Nancy Loves Handmade Gifts

Two Traditions Are Maintained, The Names On The Boxes Inside The Wrapping Rarely Represent What Is Inside The Box!

In Addition The Annual Challenge To See Who Can Make It Hardest To Open The Present Is Held.

(This wooden box with seven screws was inside 3 boxes, each with wrapping paper that had to be removed in turn to find the next box inside. When the effort to remove the very long screws was done and the last screw removed, Larry was offered a power screw drill . . but carefully too late to help . . . leaving the whole crowd roaring with laughter! At least it was a nice present.)




This Package Was Glued Together, Making It Really Tough To Get The Paper Off.

After Each Present Is Opened, The "Prize" Must Be Shared And Passed Around For All To See. This Is The Most Fun Of All!

The Attention Is Sincere

Some Gifts Get Better Reactions Than Others

New Games Are Always Tried Out Immediately

To End The Day, Special Pictures Are Made Of The People That Came To Visit. This Is The "Cousins", The Next Generation Being Trained In A Spencer Adams Christmas

The Group Pictures Memorialize Another Special Time

The Christmas Tree Was Real And The Only Thing That Would Have Made The Entire Day Better Would Have Been A Real Kris Kringle!

It Was A Long Day . . And Fun. As We Leave We Take A Last Look Back At The Homestead With Its Decorations And Lights.

What a great time for all. It always is. Laughter and special feelings are the order of the day. This is what family and Christmas are meant to be. Spencer Adams was a great guy. Everyone who knew him thought of him as their best friend. He loved Christmas. His spirit is still alive with this special group of people maintaining what both family and Christmas mean . . . . here in Bertie County North Carolina.

Spencer Adams Will Always Live In Our Hearts

Thank you Spencer.

Christmas Light Extravaganza

Dalton Drive, Windsor, North Carolina

Head out of Windsor towards Edenton, go past the hospital on your right, turn left into the road immediately after the gas station on your left, and you can drive through one of the most beautiful Christmas Light Displays anywhere in the world. Herman and Therman Hoggard claim they have one quarter million lights. It sure looks like it. Spectacular!




Approaching the display (above).

Powellsville Annual Christmas Appreciation Luncheon

The Town of Powellsville held its Annual Christmas Appreciation Dinner yesterday and the turnout was impressive. As I arrived there were already a number of dignitaries gathered, talking outside the church were the event was held. That Church is the Powellsville First Missionary Baptist Church next to the old C.G. White School. As they gathered everyone was catching up on old friendships and making new ones.




Commissioner Wallace Perry, Lt. David Tarkington, Officer Marty Swett, Senator Ed Jones, Sgt Russell Wheeler, Officer Gene Tunstall and Mayor Tom Asbell


As the crowd continued to arrive it filled the fellowship hall in the church, A number of the crowd wore Santa hats (shown below) in the spirit of the occasion.







It was a crowd that was filled with local dignitaries.






Mayor Tom Asbell (shown above) was master of ceremonies for the event, and he introduced some of the dignitaries present, to make a few comments.






Bertie County Chairman of County Commissioners, Norman Cherry, gave a welcome to all those present, including Mike Freeman, Senator Ed Jones and Representative Ann Mobley (seated at table).




Commisioners Ernie Carter, James Peele and Buck Carter, with Mayor Tom Asbell, Commissioner J.T. Watson (not shown)


Final introductions included the town council of Powellsville (behind Mayor Asbell above) who were hosting the event.

The food was great and the company even better. It was a great success.

NC Commission Wants To Loosen Charter School Cap

by Gary D. Robertson - December 19th, 2007 - Associated Press (Herald Sun)

A state panel examining North Carolina's charter schools recommended Wednesday that lawmakers loosen the current law that limits the number of these alternative schools to 100.

In a compromise among members, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Charter Schools agreed that the number of charters be increased by up to six annually, with more permitted as existing charter students at those schools perform well on standardized tests.

[snip]

The cap also wouldn't apply to a charter school if it's the first built in a county. About half of the counties don't have a charter now.

This is good news for Bertie County. I can't think of anything that would accelerate the ability of our schools to improve the education of our children than any act that increases the competition for excellence the way the best charter schools have done. It gives parents concerned about the education of their children options to make real progress in conjunction with teachers who care. I think that is the real value of charter schools. It allows teachers who care to partner with parents who care to dramatically improve the education we provide to our children.

Outer Banks Sunrise

Academic Slums

by Walter E. Williams - December 19, 2007 - Townhall.com

Every three years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA is a set of tests that measure 15-year-olds' performance in mathematics, science and reading [. . from all the major nations of the world].

American students ranked 33rd among industrialized countries in math literacy, and in science literacy, they ranked 27th. Reading literacy was not reported for the U.S. because of an error in the test instruction booklets. [That says as much as anything else about the competency of our educators!]

Click here for the complete report.

This is a great article and has much useful information but it also has some accurate statements that can still mislead. When you read the article, Walter takes some shots at the truth that many of the current students who study education are themselves extremely poor students who score horribly on tests for math and science. I agree that is true in general, however that does not tell the whole story. Many education students are extremely good and quite intelligent.

However many of the very good teachers who choose to make teaching their career, are rapidly taken out of the classroom by the new focus on moving our best teachers into higher paid jobs in central administration.

It is the combination of a large number of poor students who go into education with removal of the best from the classroom, while granting tenure to the poor teachers who stay in the classroom, that has contributed significantly to our current horrible situation. The teachers are then encouraged to use teaching techniques that border on stupid; like "whole language" reading and "everyday math". These systems are so useless they border on criminal.

One point that Walter does make is that it is not a problem of money. We throw more money at the problem of education than almost any country in the world. Our socialist bureaucrats are never shy at insisting we throw more money at the problem, and conscientious and concerned parents and taxpayers have accommodated this goal for three generations. Throwing more money at a system which is overpopulated by poor teachers, where the best are not allowed to teach and where the teachers use incompetent politically motivated teaching processes, will NEVER solve this problem.

There is little aspect of competition in our current system and what little exists is competition to remove the best teachers from the classroom. We need competition to teach our children if the school systems are to be any good. Our athletes are the best in the world because in athletics winners are still chosen by competition. In school tenure ends competition. Teacher's unions have fought to assure that the poor and middle class parents cannot opt out of our system. They have even tried in places to end the ability of the rich to take their children out of failing schools. Our children have essentially become slaves to the teacher's unions. Unless the parents are rich, or are willing to take extraordinary efforts to home school, the children are trapped. Even then teacher's unions make certain that these poor and middle class parents who home school still pay their taxes into the failing public schools, even though the schools do NOTHING for their children.

The current system is totally unjust and creates rage among many who see what it does. This system does not damage the children of the rich. They always have options. It damages the middle class some but mostly the poor. It is time the poor had options to get out of this system which is destroying their chance at the American Dream. Education is the first step to accomplishing the American Dream.

We are the richest nation on earth. However this problem is not about money. It is about a stupid process that fills our classrooms with teachers who will not . . . in many cases cannot . . teach our kids. Parents and taxpayers need to demand that school systems shut down the useless central administrations and put our best teachers back into classrooms that teach our children. Give parents of the poor the ability to take their children and the money and go to schools that have proven they can teach. Then end tenure so we can purge our systems of those who cannot teach. This three pronged approach will quickly fix the problem. In one generation we will not be behind 26 other nations. We will be back to number ONE.

Windsor Christmas Parade