By June Norvila
The final assembly for 2007/08 for the Bentley Elementary School was held in the elementary gymnasium on June 26 with family and friends invited. Many students were recognized for their work and participation over the term.
The Grade 3-6 intramural team winners were the Yellow Jackets team in a very close race over the Blue Barons, Green Warriors, and Red Devils. The trophy was accepted on behalf of the Yellow Jackets by Brianna Laplante and Reese Reid.
Four students had perfect attendance for the entire school year. They were Jakob Hamm, Bayleigh Franz (perfect attendance last year too), Etham Nickerson, and Chris Robie.
Musician of the Year from the Grade 6 band program was Emily Albers.
All of the school patrollers, those Grade 5/6 kids who help students cross to the busses safely during all kinds of weather throughout the whole school year, were recognized. Patroller of the Year was Etham Nickerson.
Individual award winners for each class were also recognized.
Honors in Grade 5 were earned by Clayton Allard and Ryan Bergeson and in Grade 6 by Elizabeth Keller and Cheryl Tudhope.
Honorable Mentions for Grade 5 went to Lyndsey Grutterink, Alyssa Hyink, Julie-Ann Johnson, and Savanna Spendiff.
Earning Honorable Mentions in Grade 6 were Hayley Bickford, Bayleigh Franz, Haleigh Reid, and Kylie Sargeant.
Year-end Academic Achievement Awards went to Kyle Gerrits, Quintin Jensen, Becca Forrester, Thomas Jasonson, Taylor Hand, Ryan Bergesen, Elizabeth Keller, and Haleigh Reid.
Year-end Citizenship Awards were presented to Lee Coulter, Gracie Whitfield, Julia Doll, Breanne Bickford, Harley Whitfield, Kai Poffenroth, Skylar Holdstock, Cassandra Ruud, and Ty Schneider.
Year-end Improvement Awards were given to Ryan Gyori, Quinn Millar, Wesley Nykolaishyn, Mataya Hansen, Ashley Cumming, Tyson Hueppelsheuser, Madison Olesiuk, Emily Rogers, and Danica Mazerolle.
Year-end Printing and Handwriting Awards were earned by Nathan Swartz, Kaitlin Swartz, Megan Ostrikoff, Davin Vig, Alyssa Sorenson, Hope Tress, Kylie Sargeant, Hayley Bickford, and Gary Keller.
A power point presentation of the 2007/08 school-year in review highlighted activities and showed student involvement.
Damron celebrates 50 years of recording music
This year marks 50 years since the first record released by county music legend Dick Damron who was born in Bentley in 1934. There have been many milestones for him and his music in that time.
Damron was inducted into the International Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001, has won almost every Canadian Country Music Award as well as five in Texas, was nominated for the Juno Awards, and has also been named the Foreign Artist of the Year in Europe twice.
He has performed throughout Canada, the US, Europe, and the UK and appeared in thousands places including country halls, clubs, Las Vegas casinos, the Calgary Stampede, the World’s Fair, and large country music festivals and has been on TV.
In 1958 Damron released his first record Gonna Have a Party.
In 1961 he produced his first chart record That’s What I Call Livin’ followed by his first number one recording Hitch Hikin’ in 1964 on RCA.
Many of his songs ranging from rock-a-billy to Christian country are well known and he gets requests for favorites such as Countified and Jesus It’s Me Again wherever he performs. Many of his songs have been recorded and performed by other country western singers including Charlie Pride, Wilf Carter, George Hamilton IV, Caroll Baker, and others, an accolade in itself.
Damron now has to his credit more than 30 CD’s, cassettes, and vinyl albums and has written more than 500 songs and even some books.
In 1998 he published, The Legend & The Legacy, an autobiography. In 2002 he published his first novel, Rock A Bye Baby Blues and a new novel, Pacific Coast Radio is just now being released.
Damron is back in his home stompin’ grounds of Bentley for the summer. He winters in Mexico where he still performs and loves doing it.