Top Stories for Tuesday December 25, 2012

Middlebrook Friesian Farm: Where Farm Family & Friesians Come Together
By Cookie Steponaitis
  There are three addictions in Jan Deboer’s life that he simply cannot live without and are in order: family, farming and Friesians. Growing up a part of a farming family of seventeen children in the Netherlands, Jan simply cannot speak of a time in his life where farms, animals and the land were not a part of his world. He gained from his mother what he jokingly termed, “an early addiction to horses,” and watched many of his neighbors use them for work and in competition. His dad’s friend who lived in town used a horse to collect compost from all the neighboring farms.         [ more ]

The Heilen Curse Showcases Local Talent of Teen Thespians
By Stephanie Anderson
The Addison Repertory Theater (A.R.T), a program at Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center taught by Steve Small and Jess Krol, is an opportunity for both high school students and adult learns to learn the skills of theater and can focus on either Technical Theater or Performance, or a combination of both. The program provides a hands-on, active education in theatrical careers including costuming, acting, play writing, set construction, lighting, sound, community relations, promotions, and prop design. The program also helps students learn skills they would need to succeed in any field they may want to pursue such as public speaking, analytical reading, research, and professional writing.

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Holiday Ode from the Staff of the Valley Voice 2012

(Set to the tune of Jingle Bells)
Dashing through the snow,
With pen and paper in hand,
Or the town we go,
Looking for stories to tell.
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