Gretchen Abernathy-Kuck The Archer Public Library is excited to participate in Texoma Gives again on September 8th! We are raising money for next year's Summer Reading Program to help the kids of Archer County fight the Summer Slide, the loss of reading proficiency in the summer months. We hire educational performers, host arts and crafts events, and hold a reading contest with prizes for the participants to encourage kids to read all summer long! All these events are free to the children of Archer County so that we may help kids of all income levels.

Gretchen Abernathy-Kuck The Archer Public Library is excited to participate in Texoma Gives again on September 8th! We are raising money for next year's Summer Reading Program to help the kids of Archer County fight the Summer Slide, the loss of reading proficiency in the summer months. We hire educational performers, host arts and crafts events, and hold a reading contest with prizes for the participants to encourage kids to read all summer long! All these events are free to the children of Archer County so that we may help kids of all income levels.

The beginning of a new hunting season is quickly approaching and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) reminds hunters and anglers to purchase their new licenses for 2022-23. Texas hunting and fishing licenses (except the Year-from-Purchase All-Water Fishing Package) for the current year expire at the end of August. The new licenses for the 2022-23 season go on sale Aug. 15. Annually, Texans purchase more than 2.7 million hunting and fishing licenses and directly fund a multitude of conservation efforts and recreational opportunities, helping make Texas one of the best places in the country to hunt and fish. Some of the many projects made possible by license sales include fish stocking, wildlife management, habitat restoration, public hunting leases, river fishing access and Texas Game Wardens.

Pa Ferguson was one of the most controversial governors in the history of Texas. The consequences of his administration would be felt for years. As a result of his actions, in 1917, Ferguson became the only Texas governor impeached and removed from office. James Edward Ferguson, also called “Farmer Jim” or “Pa,” was born in Bell County in 1871. His father died when he was four. He was kicked out of a local prep school, Salado College, at age 12 for misbehavior. He left home at 16, traveling and taking odd jobs until he returned to farm in Bell County. He became a lawyer in 1897, married Miriam A. Wallace in 1899, and expanded into real estate, insurance, and banking. He was elected governor in 1914, his first election. He was a popular figure, singing laws protecting sharecroppers and providing state funding for rural schools. He was re-elected in 1916. Though he had signed legislation creating three new colleges, he found himself in a feud with professors at the University of Texas. Angry that two professors had openly criticized his administration, Ferguson demanded that the Board of Regents fire them. The Regents refused. In retaliation, Ferguson vetoed the entire appropriation for the university. he fight with the university touched off a massive scandal. At the same time, officials had begun looking into Ferguson’s finances. A grand jury in Travis County learned that in 1915, Ferguson had transferred $5,600 (more than $164,000 in 2022 dollars) from the state to a bank in Austin and then to his bank in Temple that he used to pay off a private debt. In July 1917, he was indicted for misappropriation of funds. The legislature then came back into session to consider impeachment, an attempt Ferguson immediately condemned.

Halfway through the month. Things are improving slowly. I appears as if this week we are remaining hot until midweek when we see one more of those slow moving fronts that will bring more hit-or-miss T’storms. Next week the forecasters say we are in for some significant changes.

The Archer Public Library is excited to participate in Texoma Gives again on September 8th! We are raising money for next year's Summer Reading Program to help the kids of Archer County fight the Summer Slide, the loss of reading proficiency in the summer months. We hire educational performers, host arts and crafts events, and hold a reading contest with prizes for the participants to encourage kids to read all summer long! All these events are free to the children of Archer County so that we may help kids of all income levels. Please help us reach our goal by visiting https://www.texomagives. org/organizations/ archerpubliclibrary on Thursday, September 8th. Thank you for your support!

Dr. Ken Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor.

Paul and Nila Dowlearn-Owners of Wichita Valley Nursery. Paul’s recent books, “The Lazy Man’s Garden” and “Touch the Earth” are available at the Nursery, 5314 S.W. Pkwy, Wichita Fall, Texas.

County The Sheriff’s Office received 165 calls for service in the past week. As this report is being written there are 33 inmates and 2 being female in the Archer County Jail.

One of the most misunderstood scriptures in God’s Word is in I Corinthians 10:13 “he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” People twist that passage and say that God will never give us more than what we can manage. Really? Is that right? Wait a minute. Look around at our world. Look at the holocaust, death, murder, cancer, wars. People are always given burdens they can’t handle. Looking at the accounts of people in the Bible, God rarely interrupts someone’s life and asks them to do something easy or keeps them free from hardships. God did not ask Moses over to the burning bush and ask him to take on more sheep. He did not ask Noah to construct a rowboat. In Hebrews, an entire chapter (chapter 11) is about to a series of encounters where God asks people to take on highrisk assignments. God asked Noah to build an ark in the face of great ridicule; not even sure Noah had experience in boat building before this task. Read for a moment how the writer of Hebrews describes the people who God called to do something He required. “I do not have time to tell about (those) who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies…there were others who were tortured, refusing to be released..some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword...they (were) destitute, persecuted, and mistreated, the world was not worthy of them” (Hebrews 11:33-38). God wants to use us but doesn’t seem terribly interested in making sure we are comfortable, or that our life will be easy. He certainly didn’t make it easy for those who He called in Hebrews 11. They were asked to defy Pharaoh, take on the Midianites, spend a night in a lion’s den, walked in a fiery furnace, married a pregnant girl who claimed to be still a virgin, faced floggings, chains, and prisons. How does these experiences compare with people who say hat God will never ask them to something that is dangerous or scary, or things they cannot manage? Do you think that these people might have been scared? Probably. People also will feel fear when presented with the challenges that God may hand to us. In fact, if you have never felt fear, or doubts, you may have been sitting in your pew too long. God has promised us: “Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Like the Apostle Paul, we can say:” I can do all things in him that strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). What really matters about when God calls us to do something is not whether you feel adequate to do it. Of course, you will not feel adequate. That is why God promised that He will be with us in whatever we do for Him. Remember, we can do “all things through him who gives us strength.”