Our Valley Home 4-H'ers are very proud to announce the 2012 Grand Marshall for our "Old Tyme Christmas Parade". Our 2012 Grand Marshal is Mr. Marcel Dickens and his lovely wife, Kathy. Marcel was a Valley Home 4-H community leader several years ago. He and his wife have been very active in their Valley home community. At present, their grandson, Austin is very involved in Valley Home 4-H and also very active within the community. Marcel and Kathy have raised sons in Valley Home and now enjoy being the grandparents of very active and successful grandchildren. The Dickens’ are avid supporters of their grandchildren. Valley Home 4-H is proud to honor Marcel and Kathy Dickens.
We are all looking forward to a dazzling lighted Christmas parade this Saturday including the Oakdale Historic Society's Van Pelt Fire Engine all decked out in Christmas spirit. This is a RAIN or SHINE parade and if it happens to rain, the beautiful lights will just glisten and sparkle all the more!
Immediately following the parade, please join your Valley Home 4-H'ers at the Valley Home Community Park where we will watch our little Community Christmas tree come to life with beautiful colored lights.
Following the tree lighting, the doors of the Valley Home School Gym will open up to welcome all to the community potluck! The 4-H'ers will be providing roasted turkey, ham, table service, frosty Christmas punch, coffee and hot cinnamon cider. Please bring your favorite dish and join our Valley Home 4-H'ers in sharing this very special evening!
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It was also a very busy time this past weekend for our Valley Home 4-H'ers! Cooper and Cody Bartholomew, Jenna Heaton, Luke Pouncey, Garret Bryhni and Austin Dickens did a super job helping out at the weekend's Festival of Trees in Oakdale. The 4-H'ers were invited by the Oakdale Garden Club to be a part of this exciting downtown event. The Garden club donated a tree to honor the Valley Home 4-H and the kids had a blast decorating it after school on Friday afternoon. Even though it was a wild and wet Saturday, the vendors, the beautiful tree lighting, the Christmas wagon drawn by two Percheron horses giving rides to the crowd and the OHS's historic Van Pelt fire engine decked out for Christmas were wonderful sights to behold!
Valley Home 4-H wishes to thank the Oakdale Garden Club for inviting them, they enjoyed meeting the club members and vendors and are looking forward to next year!
This reporter has been requested to pass along a LARGE THANK YOU to the Valley Home 4H for their outstanding help in support of this event.
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Just a reminder that our PTC sponsored Holiday/Christmas Store will be open for student shoppers December 18th through the 20th at which they can purchase surprise gifts for their families. The event is always exciting for the student, which allows them to purchase a special gift which is wrapped by Santa's helpers and returned to the student.
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We have just received word that a neighbor walked in on a burglary in progress on his property on Saturday around 2:30-3:00 p.m. in the area of Cometa and Henry Roads. The burglars were in the process of loading up scrap metal and tools from an outbuilding and a trailer. The victim apparently convinced them to unload what he was able to see in their vehicle, but realized later that more had been taken from another barn. He called the San Joaquin County Sheriff Department and the men fled. The suspects are described as two Caucasian males, early to mid-twenties, short hair, one thin, one heavier, driving a 1998-1999 blue Chevrolet 1/2 ton, two door, short bed pickup truck with a "4x4" painted on the sides and NO front or rear license plates. They reportedly fled on Dodds Road East towards the reservoir and the Oakdale area.
It occurs to me that last summer another neighbor reported having observed men in a blue pickup watching a home, around the same time, a vehicle theft was reported on Lone Tree near Henry.
Please be observant, call 911 or your local Sheriff's department if you observe this vehicle in your area.
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We wish to send Marla Malby a Happy Birthday salute this week.