Show Millard The life and times of ‘Billy Bulbs’ by Bob Thomas (Editor’s note: The following story was published in the Chronicle Progress Thursday April 24 1986 We are reprinting it now because it illustrates a problem that teems to be growing year by year The problem is illiteracy W’e will discuss this problem in future issues in a variety of ways We look forward to your comments) (An article in a recent Sunday supplement written by Los Angeles Tunes columnist Jack Smith caused me to recall a man I had not thought about in 20 years Smith’s piece dealt with the tragic social problem of illiteracy) Everyone called him “Billy Bulbs” He was forever old and no one in our small town could remember a time when he wasn’t a potter at Wagner’s Green House and Nursery As children with our unconscious we teased and taunted his cruelty grotesque figure His back was bent from a lifetime of stoop labor His hands were gnarled and his fingers were like twisted twigs of sturdy oak and stained the color of rich brown loam He was always but always dressed in coarse denim bib overalls sturdy work shoes and a tattered and battered straw hat Only once would I see him wearing a shirt “Billy Bulbs” ignored our jeers He simply waved his hand smiled a grin that showed long yellow teeth and bade us the time of day After a time when we learned he would not play our We game we ceased our taunting merely waved and “Billy Bulbs” waved back grinned and uttered a cheery “Good Morning” Afternoon” or “Good I did not see him for a lot of years I would be sent to school in another state and then I would enter the Navy After that came college and the earliest pursuit of a career I was in my late 30s when I returned to that small Pennsylvania town I was surprised to learn that "Billy Bulbs” was still a potter at Wagner’s Green House and Nursery He had toiled for the grandfather then the son and now the grandson I went to see him and out of that afternoon and early evening came an interview and story that would appear in a Philadelphia magazine “Billy Bulbs” was bom Charles In Virginia he Alvin though! but he wasn't sure An aunt had raised him after his parents had died in an influenza epidrmk He though! he was about 10 years old when he walked away from his aunt’s home and wandered north to a little corner of northeast Pennsylvania Since then- -a full 80 years as he recollecte- d- be had never left the county The gloaming hours armed and “Billy Bulbs” asked me to join him in Tit evening repast W'e sal at a white 'Shipped porcelain table in one of the two rooms that had been fait home for half a century We dined on cheeses and crackers fresh com and mugs of hot coffee and when we were finished Thurs LAPS ounl May 4 1989 - Page 3 he asked if I preferred peaches or pears I chose pears I watched him rise from the table and followed his frail body as he shuffled to a countertop reached up to a shelf and then struggle with a mechanical can opener Of a sudden he stopped and his shoulders began to shake And then I heard his soft sobs I went to his side and saw his dilemma He had opened a can of small white potatoes “Billy Bulbs” never learned to read And he never had the need to learn to write His diet was all but dictated by pictured tables on cans of food And that I learned that right was never a sure thing “Billy Bulbs” is still back in that part of the world A small tombstone marks his final resting place It reads: CHARLES ALVIN PENNYPACKER “BILLY BULB” No more than that I once wondered if fate had seen fit to allow “Billy Bulbs” to waste his life I no longer wonder “Billy Bulbs” assisted God in His mirades nearly 100 times Such a life could not be termed wasted Still “Billy Bulbs” never knew the adventure of reading I must be a bit sorry about that Mormon Crickets close to Meadow by Evelyn Mallei Water master for the town of Meadow DeLynn La brum discovered a band of Mormon Crickets about mile northeast of the Meadow Cemetery Saturday morning April 27 In the 3rd stage these crickets are not easily identifiable and La brum was not sure of what they were He took a couple home with him for other people to see and h was established they were the hated crickets They were found on Earl Hunter’s property of Dry Creek Ranch Another small group was seen by DeLyle Betkstrand on his property also near the cemetery This means crickets were in these locations last summer laid their eggs which are now hatching Alarmed three ranchers Labrum Stott and Beckwrand immediately pur- - Reservist to take grad level classes in journalism Reserve Army Lt Colonel Frank Thomas Holden has been selected to attend a l journalism school this summer at the University of South Carolina The Army Chief of Public Affairs General Pat Brady selected Thomas as one of 20 military of Hers to attend the school “Hts office informed me the other day that I’m to be the clast leader down there” Thomas said Thomas has been a Held artillery officer for about 25 years He has been public affairs officer for hts unit based in Stuttgart Germany for the past two years Not only does be write re s releases for the public but Thomas writes research papers for distribution within the military “When I was in Germany last March just a year ago” he said “I put together a secret level paper on NATO countries” He hat alto written field manualt “My wife talked me into putting in for ihtt course when it was offered last year” he said “plus k required a military research paper which wrote and I got selected" The assignment runs J une through Aug 10 “It entails about 70 days of active duty" Thomas sad “and it'll end up gning roe about nine semester hours o( graduate level credit" Thomas tt a graduate of the Defense Information School of Journalism at Frank Thomas Fort Benjamin Indiana which is a course l Thomas teaches art at Delia Hgh School Meeting TV Millard County Republican Party County Convention will be held at the M E Bird Center 245 W 100 So at 730 pna cm May 8th chased bait from the Extension Service Office in Fillmore and distributed it by hand A meeting with a group of Meadow farmers and residents was held Sunday morning and the plans were formulated as to eradicating the insects from the Meadow area They decided if all terested residents would donate S500 towards purchasing bait they would have enough of it on hand to disperse wherever groups of the crickets could The be found in Meadow locations money is to be taken to Gilbert Stott DeLyle Betkstrand was appointed for buying the bait and the organization of the men to disperse it DeLynn Labrum asked that all farmers and outlying residents be aware and watch for any movement of the crickets and report it immediately The bait being used for private land o ners is a rolled barley and Sevin mixture and is distributed by the Utah of Agriculture and is Department available at the Extension Offices in Fillmore and Delta Sevin is an insecticide that potent enough for killing crickets and grasshoppers and yet not cause a great deal of environmental damage areas such For spreading m at in brush and trees the amount is high and should be 40 to 48 lbs per acre However Jody Gale of the Exit tension Service Office cautioned should be spread ONLY where the crickets are or where expected and not on places where they are im seen Thus the bait will go further Since a great number of grasshoppers have already been sited this bail can also be used for them The fammal plant health inspection) people are spravir g by airplane in the Cove fort and Beaver areas for a large and early festation of grasshoppers If there is a Federal land area of 12000 acres of festation they will spray by airplane If anyone is not sure of idemfyirg the crickets correctly the Forest Service office in Fillmore has a good display of the insects in their various stages of life The Extension Office in Delta has moved to 8J So Manzamta Ave and is open Mon Wed and Fri from 8 am to 5 p m Fillmore's office it in the courthouse basement wch hours 8 to 5 or Tues arid Thurt This guzlr-- r on the east side of the But kskin these West Millard Conservationists Hills gels a facelift from West Desert guzzlers fixed Several members of rie rieii formed V eu Mllard W ildlfe Avvxa'ior re a red some arelope chukar gjzlen m 'he Ve-- ' Desert lav etierd The project wav the fir:’ for ' formed in ft conduced ‘a'urday April 29 a' foBureau of land Managemef!’ guzle't SI rt the Corger Mouram in specifically 'he ti'et ae around 'he Bu'vkikm Htli north of Hghay and east of da'c “There re some a gc m out there in d trepa g'op spokesman Shane Wood ta d "and we wen' oj there to mart 'hem i ' Wood said the guzzle:' were orgr ally ir tailed by ’he Bf M “ f 'o just haven't had he r maji'air hem” he wsd APHlS Wood vaJ anJ ma’eriaS tre B1 M supplied look for 'he task while ho ‘he 'irre and labor A gzle a a'er cohesion unit s a vjrirg for Wood said Ar arelope and a for cohtvs snow and rainfall channel: r g a pie 'o an storage tank I rom ’here i' o pped to a drinking 'rough "We bud' j four frames rh some ga'vanzed fading to keep the wjvJ from blowing rie wafer off before it tan get down into he storage tank" W ood cad " I ht wind ges blowing so hard ou- t 'ait 'fit wa'er ngh' o'f and we dor t ge a muh jto 'tit "ai as e About a dozer members and 'fiend: pa- ijpated W ooJ said stnea fcaer he Sc a td g'oup Lt don r” oi tj' f‘ "’ys1 That’s what thev said f when a little band of colonists Vrff" I i took on the British Empire -n 1 sV ' f in 1775 And won That’s what they’re saying 1 'if-'- ' today about AL Williams In 1977 this brand new company ufvix took on the largest most v : powerful industry in America — the life insurance industry 'A And won In 1988: $923 billion of individual life insurance placed in force through MILICO $2579 billion total in force (more than any other life insurance company in America) Our competition calls it “a fluke We call it a revolution rS ¥ AX WILLIAMS Representing MILICO J’lw 41 V'ilhattfr 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