Each year the U.S. Army All-American Bowl travels around the United States to find America’s best high school football players for its annual January game. The players, in turn, choose a Soldier Hero to accompany them to the game in San Antonio, Texas. This process had been done for several years and would have gone relatively unnoticed this year, except that while reading the December issue of “Sports Illustrated,” Doug Bigge, Plainville, saw a familiar name. Bryce Brown of Wichita East High School, who had rushed for more than 7,000 yards in his career, had been selected to be part of the East team as a running back. Brown chose Cpt. Rob Ukleya of Kansas City, Mo., a twice-honored Bronze Star Medal recipient, to be his Soldier Hero. Ukleya had ties with Stockton since he is married to the former Vicki Odle, daughter of Larry and Lana Odle, Stockton. Ukleya had served two tours of duty working with the medical units. One tour was to Afghanistan, and the other was in Iraq.

What Was Going On 14 Years Ago Connie Conyac presented the Rooks County Commissioners a list with information deal-ing with all of the grants, funding and projects she was either directly or indirectly responsible for. Conyac asked whether the commissioners would reconsider her employment agreements as she had presented at the meeting two weeks prior.

What Was Going On 14 Years Ago 2008 tax figures showed an increase of nearly $1.8 million, largely due to oil as the Oil category was the only one showing a significant increase in tax revenue to be collected. Except for modest increases in the Personal Property and Severed Minerals columns, every other category showed a decrease in taxes, with $107,899 less to be collected in Real Estate taxes.

What Was Going On 14 Years Ago The Stockton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Olde Tyme Christmas was scheduled for the coming Friday, Nov. 28, 2008.

Nila Denton of Stockton had graciously lent her many lovely Nativities to the Stockton Public Library for public viewing during the months of November and December. The Nativities come from all over the world.

An electrical short was the probable cause of a house fire at 413 N. Third on Sunday night. The owner of the house, Brook Dix, was unaware of the fire until his neighbor from across the street, Gloria Harris, was banging on his door. Stockton fire personnel quickly responded and had the blaze under control in a little over an hour.

The area fall harvest got off to a slow start thanks to Mother Nature showering the area with some rainfall, but as soon as the sun came out the farmers were in the fields taking care of business. As of November 3, 2008, the Woodston Coop had received 103,000 bushels of corn; 73,000 bushels of milo; and 113,000 bushels of soybeans. The Farmers Union Elevator in Stockton had taken in 13,000 bushels of corn; 43,000 bushels of milo, and 157,000 bushels of soybeans.

On Oct. 19, 2008, when Melvin Bain of Stockton walked up to Main Street Christian Church for services, he saw a bat lying on the outside steps of the building. Bain thought he would remove the bat before more people arrived, so he secured it in a plastic container, thinking he would dispose of the creature later in the day. That evening, when Bain, who had put gloves on to handle the bat, took it out of its container, the bat immediately hooked on to one of the gloves. Bain tried to flick the bat off a few times, and when that didn’t work with the heavy gloves on, Bain took the glove off of his free hand. As quick as Bain tried again to brush the bat free from the glove, it bit Bain on the exposed finger. Bain was able to contain the bat again and took it down to Central Veterinary Services. The bat was sent to Kansas State University for rabies diagnostic testing. It was confirmed on Oct. 21st that the bat had rabies. Bain was notified immediately by the Rooks County Health Department and began his series of five rabies shots on Oct. 22nd. Bain wanted to have his encounter with the bat in the newspaper, even though he knew how stupid it was to have taken off the glove. He wanted to make sure the public is aware they are not to mess with bats that they find. Also, he wanted people to know that the incubation period for rabies lasts up to five years.

What Was Going On 14 Years Ago Larry and Narine Barnett of Stockton were host parents of Seonjin Na, from the city of Guang-ju, in the town of Unnam Dong Country, in the country of South Korea. Seonjin comes from a city with a very large population, so her first impression of Stockton was one that is quiet and comfortable since there is such a small population and not a lot of buildings.