On Dec. 13, 1928, George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” premiered in New York.
In 1974, former Beatle George Harrison visited the White House at the invitation of Jack Ford, the president’s son. Harrison was the first rock musician to be invited to the White House.
In 1985, singer Phil Collins made his TV acting debut in the U.S. with an episode of “Miami Vice.”
In 1988, singer Bruce Springsteen and model-actor Julianne Phillips divorced after three years of marriage.
In 1992, an estimated 150,000 people showed up for a free Scorpions concert in Frankfurt, Germany. The concert was aimed at protesting violence by radical rightists.
In 2022, singer Jin became the first member of BTS to report for mandatory military duty in South Korea.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Dick Van Dyke is 99. Country singer Buck White of The Whites is 94. Actor-singer John Davidson is 83. Actor Kathy Garver (“Family Affair”) is 79. Guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan) is 76. Singer Ted Nugent is 76. Country singer-guitarist Randy Owen of Alabama is 75. Actor Wendie Malick (“Hot in Cleveland,” ″Just Shoot Me”) is 74. Country singer John Anderson is 70. Singer Steve Forbert is 70. Singer Morris Day of The Time is 68. Actor Steve Buscemi is 67. Actor Johnny Whitaker (“Family Affair”) is 65. Bassist John Munson of Semisonic is 62. Reality TV star NeNe Leakes (“The New Normal,” ″The Real Housewives of Atlanta”) is 58. Actor-comedian Jamie Foxx is 57. Actor Lusia Strus (“50 First Dates”) is 57. TV personality Debbie Matenopoulos is 50. Singer-guitarist Tom Delonge of Blink-182 (and Angels and Airwaves) is 49. Actor James Kyson Lee (“Heroes”) is 49. Actor Kimee Balmilero (“Hawaii Five-0″) is 45. Actor Chelsea Hertford (“Major Dad”) is 43. Singer Amy Lee of Evanescence is 43. Trumpeter Wesley Watkins of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats is 37. Actor Marcel Spears (“The Mayor”) is 36. Singer Taylor Swift is 35. Actor Maisy Stella (“Nashville”) is 21.
The 71st annual St. Lucia Breakfast at First Lutheran Church in Litchfield will be on Saturday, from 6-to-9 a.m. It’s a traditional Swedish breakfast with proceeds going to the Women of the E-L-C-A.
Nicole Geffre has been serving as chair for the event – with lots of co-chairs – and decorations put together by Chris Cervin, and she says it takes a lot of preparation. She says they have several young ladies who serve as St. Lucia queens.
Geffre says the menu includes toast topped with white sauce and powdered egg yolks or scrambled eggs, sausage, cranberries, tea ring and cookies. She says the tradition goes back centuries to celebrate St. Lucia who brought food to Christians hiding in catacombs while wearing a wreath of candles on her head to light the way. The suggested donation for the breakfast is $10 for adults, $5 for children 6-to-10, and free for children under 6.
2024 has marked 30 years since Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze has been with the Sheriff’s Office. Cruze started as a part-time deputy back in 1994 and has seen lots of changes since then.
Sheriff Cruze says he was a patrol deputy for 6 years, then joined the CEE-VI Drug Task Force in 2000, and was elected Sheriff in 2014. He says the Jacob Wetterling abduction in 1989 helped to bring computers into the forefront of law enforcement, and technology – including computers in each squad car – has probably been the biggest change over the past 30 years.
Sheriff Cruze says the portable radios they used years ago were hit or miss sometimes when trying to communicate with the dispatch center and there were no cell phones. He says technology costs a lot of money, but it has really improved law enforcement.
Sheriff Cruze says when he started there were hundreds of applicants for just one job opening and now, it’s the other way around. He says the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office is just one deputy short, but there are still 5 openings in the jail.
The Grove City Area CARE program held its annual Volunteer & Friends Appreciation event on Tuesday evening in the South Grove dining room. Two volunteers of the year were recognized.
Ann Peterka and Rosie Chastek were recognized with the special award for their volunteer work in 2024. Program Director Andrea Dallmann and Volunteer Coordinator Rosemary Dilley spoke about all of the volunteer efforts that took place this past year.
The meals-on-wheels and congregate dining resulted in 3,423 meals being served as of the end of November. Fifty-five clients have participated in the foot clinic each month. Several volunteer drivers have helped elderly residents in the community get to medical appointments and to pick up groceries, prescriptions and other items. Dilley reported that, after expenses, the CARE fundraising events in 2024 helped to raise over $6,000 for the program. For more information about Grove City Area CARE, call 857-2274.
