People, Places & Events

Chamber hears history of Coast Guard Auxiliary
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY–The U.S. Coast Guard name goes back to 1915, but the Coast Guard, under other titles, has been around a long time.
“Our local Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 5-14 was established in 1973,” Bill Fackler, Flotilla commander said.
Fackler was the speaker at the May 8 Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Fackler served in the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1959. He has been married for 56 years, has three grown children and 10 grandchildren, he said.
Fackler said not all lakes have Coast Guard Auxiliary fleets, and very few have their own headquarters buildings.
“Our Flotilla has about 17 privately owned boats, and we do search and rescue on the lake,” he said.
The Auxiliary is now a part of Homeland Security, but the major mission at this time is to teach safe boating classes (March through September).
“People under the age of 13 may not operate a boat (includes personal water craft) by themselves – period,” he said.
Those ages 13-18 must have the safe boating course, he added.
“Our main problem on the lake are the 20- to 30-year-olds who have not had the boating course,” Fackler said.
Another serious problem concerns guests who come for visits, borrow or rent a PWC and don’t know the rules or the lake.
“If you loan your PWC to a friend or visitor, be sure it has a map with a big X on it where you live and a phone number where you can be called,” he said.
Some things that should always be carried are flares, flashlights and fresh batteries, a fully-charged cell phone.
“It would be nice if all boats had a VHF radios. All of our do,” he said.
In other business, chamber members:
• heard Teague Enterprises was named May Business of the Month.
Representatives were not available for a picture.
• heard Main Place Cinema sponsored the May Chamber luncheon.
Summer is the busy time of the year, staff explained.
Tickets can be purchased by companies and organizations in bulk at a reduced cost.
• heard 83 people attended the luncheon.


Monitor Photo/Barbara Gartman
Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 5-14 Commander
Bill Fackler spoke to Chamber members and guests
 about boating safety at the May 8 luncheon.

Rotary Sunshine Day deemed a success
Monitor Staff Reports
SEVEN POINTS– It was a fun day of pizza, cold drinks and lots of challenges for approximately 60 special needs students from local schools.
Climbing the rock wall, playing laser tag, lots of pinball games, air hockey and skeet ball kept the kids challenged, busy and entertained.
May 6 was deemed Sunshine Day and hosted by the Rotary Club of Cedar Creek Lake.
The club voted several months back to host the event at Whatz Up Family Fun Park in Seven Points.
The club held the event as a community service project at no charge to the students, their parents and the teachers who accompanied them.


Sunshine Day was a day for Rotary Club of Cedar Creek Lake volunteers to have
fun and help kids have fun too. Pictured are (from left) Rotarians Karen Kelso,
Barbara Turner, Glenda Holbrook and one of the approximately 60 special needs
kids who showed up for Rotary Sunshine Day at Whatz Up Family Fun Park in Seven Points.

Hughes and Martin win Fulbright Scholarships
By Ashley Killough
The Lariot reporter
Special to The Monitor
WACO–As the school year ends, at Baylor University, a journey begins for two seniors who won prestigeous scholarships.
Cleyera Martin of Kemp and Lauren Hughes, a Mabank High School graduate, have both been invited to serve as Fulbright Scholars in Germany next year.
Since 2001, 14 Baylor students have received the honor.
Hughes, the daughter of Kathy and Dr. Mark Hughes of Seven Points, will work as an English teaching assistant in Germany from September to June.
According to its website, the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and was established in 1946 to “enable the government to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
It offers opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to pursue graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide.
Along with teaching 12 to 20 hours in a classroom, Hughes also will be organizing social and learning activities outside the classroom where students can actively learn and practice English.
In her spare time, she plans to write and illustrate children’s books, a passion she hopes to continue as a career path.
“I want to write books that enable youth to embrace what is ‘different’ and diffuse the ‘us-versus-them’ mentality,” Hughes said in an e-mail to The Baylor Lariat, as she is currently staying in Germany.
In addition, Hughes will be translating a book into English.
She also plans to work on another project that focuses on recycling lightly-used household items for resale, since Germany doesn’t have garage sales. Hughes said the profits will be donated to an organization that cares for mentally handicapped people.
“In combination with my knowledge of the German language, culture and international studies, it’s an ideal step toward my specific trajectory of publishing culturally-educational children’s books and taking an active role in international education advocacy,” she said.
Applying for a Fulbright Scholarship was a big decision, Hughes said, as the process is thorough and time-consuming.
“The main thing I had to decide was do I really want to do this, because it’s not a process where you can halfway apply yourself,” Hughes said.
Martin also found out she had won a teaching grant to Germany via e-mail while at work in the Crouch Fine Arts Library.
“I got really excited for a few minutes, but no one was around to share it with. Then I called my mom,” Martin said. “She didn’t answer, so I called my dad and was finally able to tell someone.”
Martin’s parents are Ardis and Les Martin of Kemp. Cleyera graduated in 2004 from Lighthouse Christian Academy, a home education program.
After deciding to major in German and spending a semester studying abroad at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, Germany, Martin fell in love with the idea of teaching German as a professor one day. She believes the Fulbright experience will be an important step to achieving her goal.
“I almost didn’t apply for it at first, because I thought the chances were slim. I knew it required a lot of work and time that I didn’t have,” Martin said. “But I’m so glad I did.”
Martin said she was attracted to the program’s objective of intercultural understanding.
“Many professors in German worked closely with both of these studetns and were exceedingly committed to supporting them in their bids for these awards,” Baylor’s Fulbright representative and dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Elizabeth Vardaman said.


Courtesy photo
Lauren Hughes
Fulbright Scholar


Courtesy photo
Cleyera Martin
Fulbright Scholar