Still asking what used to be ?there?

More and more I am think?ing we need to gather many of the long-time Hillsboro residents in a room and then pick their brains about what used to be ?there.?

Recently, I was thinking about the building that sits just north of ours and was trying to remember what was in it before the carpet business.

By looking in old phone books I determined it had been Cather Floor Cover?ing prior to being Hillsboro Carpet Center. I thought it was a Western Auto store at one time.

Then I saw Ray Franz downtown and figured he would know since he had a business across the street in those days.

He confirmed it once was a Western Auto store owned by Jake Loewen and later by Zeke Plenert. Before that it was a bowling alley run by Harvey Schultz. Harvey was the son of Julius Schultz, who also was a long-time Hillsboro businessman.

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The Trojan Classic was a lot of fun this past week. Both the girls? and boys? teams demonstrated that team ball works quite well.

Then throw in a player like Shaq Thiessen and some real excitement ensues. I can?t recall anyone who can run and jump and cover more ground in a short time than he can.

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Instead of receiving a wireless computer for my birthday, I received a computerless wire about 3 inches long.

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Double spaces between sentences in printed matter still drive me crazy. Always have and always will.

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Have you ever thought about how much money you would have if you didn?t have bills to pay? Some things are necessities but I?ll admit that many things are not.

We have grown accustomed to enjoying many things that aren?t really necessary. But then if we don?t spend money on some of these things, how does everyone make a living?

I say spend it if you have it to spare, but don?t spend it if you can?t afford it.

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One example would be the telephone situation at our house. For a couple of years now we have had phones that don?t allow both of us to be using them at the same time. Not good when the kids call unless we use the speaker phone. But the quality isn?t really acceptable.

This past Saturday night I ordered dinner from one of our close-by downtown restaurants, then went downstairs and bought new phones between the time I called it in and the time I picked up the food 20 minutes later.

It?s really neat to be able to do that without getting in the car. Oh, and we talked with both kids on Sunday. Great move.

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I don?t know if anyone cares, but this is the 700th consecutive week I have written this column. It started with the issue the Free Press when Don asked me to write one.

Maybe I?ll quit when I get to 1,000?or not.

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I have probably repeated myself several times by now but I sure don?t remember what it was. Sometimes I?ll do a search on our website, but if I don?t know the exact words to search it wouldn?t do any good anyway.

So if I have repeated myself it?s because I can?t remember. And I am not sorry.

If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@hillsborofreepress.com.

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