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.

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* And So They Say: Georgie Riffel (age 5) to Santa Claus after being asked by Santa what his name was: “You ought to know. You saw me last year.” Irene Cabbage: “The last time I had some news, I couldn’t get anyone to believe it.” Robert Osborn (after paying taxes): “They used to give us something to drink after giving blood.” Gene Miller: “Yes, I’ve finished my Christmas shopping because I’m not doing any.” George Riffel: “The trouble is too many hunters don’t know the difference between a deer and cow.” Johnnie Locke: “That was the best team on Friday night I ever had out on the floor.”

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.

SPOTLIGHTING THE YEAR…1966 * And So They Say: James Gilbert (Monday): “It may look as if it is going to snow, but I don’t think it will. We need it too bad.” Ferrel Stoutimore: “Buster gets me into enough trouble here, so I don’t know what I’ll do with him in Kansas City.” Glenn Conn: “Live turkeys are certainly getting mighty hard to find these days.” Dean King: “People keep asking me why I never wear a coat.

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.

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* And So They Say: Gib Suhr: “I’m like the Hillbillies— I put on my shoes when it gets cold outside.” Fern McDonald: “I think we should all be mighty proud of the way our Main Street looks.” Joanna Stewart: “When I was a kid I couldn’t figure out why all the grown people were in such a turmoil before Christmas. I know now.” Butch Ostmeyer: “If our entire fair board was composed of members like Charlie Hance when he was able to serve, we’d have no troubles.” Velma Bedore: “All I had for my Thanksgiving dinner was a sandwich, but I think I felt a lot better than most folks the next day.”

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.