The Flo News

The Flo News Jan. 7, 2007

Reprinted by permission of the Buffalo Press

Welcome to the Flo News in the Buffalo Press. This column is going to be a combination of the old with the new. There will be community news, interviews, historical stories, comments and photographs in the new Flo News. The Flo News ran in the Buffalo Press for many years and in this sense this is a revival of something old.

This column will define Flo as widely as possible. From the crossroads of F.M. 831 and F.M. 1511 as a starting point, currents from Oakwood, North Creek, Hopewell, Corinth, Midway, Keechi, Nineveh, Timesville, Saint Paul, Sand Flats, The Star Route and other locations will be included as they are available. In other words, Precinct 2 in Leon County will be the home country for The Flo News.

You can submit items for The Flo News by sending a card or letter to;

The Flo News at FM 831 &,

Post Office Box 1511

Buffalo, TX 75831.

Items will be used depending on space available and at our discretion of course.

While The Flo News is intended to be far more about the community than about the author, and I am more interested in hearing and reporting your opinions than telling you mine, it is only fair that you know a little about me. Although I have been a full time resident of Flo only since June, 2005, my roots go way back in Flo and in Leon County. All of my grandparents and both my parents were born in Leon County, my mother; Mary (Moore) Shadix was born across the creek from Parker Cemetery to J.L. (Jack) and Eva (Shaw) Moore. My father, Ellis B. Shadix, was born in the Pleasant Ridge community, (between Centerville and Midway) to Clark and Helen (Sherman) Shadix. The property where I live has been in my family since the 1880’s and I have had some form of dwelling on it since my uncle Edell Moore helped me build a small house there in 1975.

It is my firm hope that the warm and inclusive spirit of community as evidenced by the Flo Christmas Party sponsored by the Barnett Family and the history and friendship as evidenced at Evan Moore’s birthday party will be continued in this column. These events among others held recently here at Flo’s Lone Star Community Center were genuine expressions of community spirit that is rarely evidenced in modern America.

Eight year old Lee Sadler of Fort Worth who was visiting his grandfather, Leon Moore and wife Margie, along with his twelve year old sister, Riley, and mom and dad, Amy and Curtis Sadler went fishing in a Flo pond last week and Lee proved to be a great fisherman, hauling in five catfish that seemed almost as big as he was, and threatened to drag him in. To make matters even better, it was all witnessed by his sister, and parents. Riley says that she is a deer hunter, not a fisherperson.

Four year old Jude Caldwell and his six year old sister Jepia, from Teague are visiting Flo this week and staying with their grandmother, Debra Sue Richardson. Jepia is looking forward to school reopening on next Thursday.

After a lad from Oakwood (who I promised not to name) slid off FM831 at my gate, several passersby stopped to offer assistance. Among them was Gary Bell, local rancher and president of the Flo Water Supply Corp. and game warden Dwight Meyers. The young man was taken to the hospital by his father and I haven’t heard of any serious injuries to him but he sure ripped a post oak out of the ground, roots and all and damaged the truck he was driving and the fertilizer spreader he was pulling for Dudley Brewer’s ranch back toward Highway 75.

The most recent meeting of the Flo Water Supply Corporation at the Lone Star Community Center was something that every member should have witnessed. They meet in regular meetings the first Thursday of each month and there is no admission fee for citizens who wish to attend. There is always free coffee, and Norma Moore had baked a pineapple cake for the meeting. I didn’t try it, because of the calories, but it sure looked delicious.