Woman's collection grows as Barbie nears her 50th anniversary

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

To say she has a hundred Barbies would be an understatement.
Debra Miller keeps more than 1,000 Barbies on display in her North Bell County home. They're in a Barbie arena, a second-floor bedroom that's devoted to the collection.
The dolls that aren't waving from inside their original casing, stand at salute from within a series of glassed-in cubby shelves that decorate the back wall.
Larger items, like Barbie's Dream House, car, boat and motorcycle, sit on the tops of the room's dresser, buffet and bookcase.
Sitting inside drawers and underneath the bed and office desk are still more Barbie things: the board games, the outfits, collectors books, baseball caps and posters.
And yet Ms. Miller claims she is 'desperately seeking Barbie.' That's the phrase that titles the business card she gives to fellow Barbie collectors.

Butter inspires group to lose weight

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Butter is the diet's enemy. It's one of the first things on the do-not-eat list.
But, apparently, butter's not all bad.
It's the star of Sticks of Butter, a new weight-loss support group at Belton Church of Christ. Its leader and creator is Ed Wilks, a man who got inspired to drop some pounds when he opened a refrigerator.
'You can work hard all week, but when you get on the scale, you find out you only lost a ¼ pound,' Wilks said. 'And if that's all you lost, well, it's easy to get discouraged. But if you go to the fridge and get out a stick of butter and hold it up to your arm or waist, well, then you'll find out it's pretty big, pretty heavy. You see, a stick of butter is a ¼ pound.'
A light bulb flickered in his head, and the idea for Sticks of Butter was born.
The core principle is to maintain a close relationship to Jesus Christ while adhering to a self-chosen weight-loss program. Besides Wilks and Linda Cruz, group co-leader, five people are interested in participating. People from the community are welcome to join.

Making blankets, making friends

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

The ladies work their magic with yarn and crochet hooks.
Called the Circle of Friends, they meet once a week at Sammons Community Center to make afghans, shawls, hats and satchels for residents of area nursing homes.
'It's a strong, close-knit group. A real social group,' said Lisa Potts, director of the community center. 'They enjoy each other, and they enjoy what they do.'
Eva Brown didn't know much about crocheting when she first joined, but she figured she could learn what she needed to know.
'And I was right,' Ms. Brown said, smiling. 'What you don't know, somebody will show you.'
She's glad she got involved.
'For some of us, this is our only day out,' Ms. Brown said. 'It's an excuse to come out, visit and see other people.'

Car man remembers the Model T craze

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

A portrait of Henry Ford hangs in the garage.
It overlooks a multitude of Model T photographs, some Ford signs and a mechanic's set of tools.
The word 'Ford,' however, doesn't show up anywhere on the two cars parked inside.
'Yeah, I'm a Mercedes-Benz man now,' said John Flanagan of Temple. 'I've owned more than 10 Model Ts in my life, and I've worked on hundreds of Fords, but now I'm interested in the Mercedes-Benz.'
But that's no sin against Mr. Ford, said the 89-year-old retired GM mechanic.
'I admire him,' Flanagan said. 'They said he couldn't do it, but he did it. There's nothing but cars on the road today, and that's because of Henry Ford.'
Yes indeed, Mr. Ford's dream of mass producing the automobile came true.

Temple woman learns a new language to spread the Word

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Language is no barrier for the Mormon message.
The last decade has shown that Spanish speakers are among the majority of the Church's newest members.
Between 2000 and 2006, the number of Spanish-speaking congregations in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew by 64 percent, according to a recent Associated Press report.
The U.S. total was recalculated to 639.
Arizona was the state that experienced the highest increase of Spanish-speaking congregations, citing a total of 44. In 2000, there were only 20.
Texas didn't have that kind of growth, but the number of Spanish-speaking Mormons was high when the race began. Bilingual Houston already had an entire stake devoted to Spanish-speaking Mormons. (See the info box for definition of stake.)
The individual wards reported minimal increases.
For the Mormon church in Temple, that minimal increase meant the addition of a Spanish branch.
'In 2004, there were more Spanish people coming to meetings, about 30 of them,' said Holly Billings, Relief Society president of the Spanish branch. 'But they couldn't participate because of the language.'

Temple art professor adds color to history

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

They're both dead, but the story of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and foe Sitting Bull, leader of the Cheyenne tribe, isn't over.
Maps of the Battle of Little Bighorn are giving new insight to the infamous brawl, said Michael Donahue, local historian.
'Each map tells a story,' Donahue said. 'It's according to the person who drew it, how the map maker saw things happen.'
He's spent the last seven years sifting through and examining every map he could find that concerned the Battle of Little Bighorn. His work culminated two weeks ago with the publication of a four-inch thick book entitled, 'Drawing Battle Lines: The Map Testimony of Custer's Last Fight.'

God trains man like the cowboy trains his horse

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

The horse gets tamed, but it's not because of anything the cowboy whispers.
'It's a body language thing,' said Paul Daily, founder of Wild Horse Ministries. 'I guess they call me the horse whisperer because of the movie, to give it some glit and glam, but I ain't about that. I'm about God.'
In a one-man, one-horse show called, 'The Round Pen of Life,' Daily says he demonstrates how the horse-trainer relationship is the same as the man-God relationship.
'The way the horse kicks and fusses, that's me, and it's you too, if you'll be honest. A horse is a mirror with hair on it,' Daily said, explaining. 'He fights until he's sure he can trust you and then when he figures out you're not all that bad, he'll calm down and do as the trainer says.'
The roles of the trainer and God are therefore similar, Daily said. Both have nothing but love aimed at their student.