From The Files of The Seminole Producer

A new metal Star Building is being constructed by the Bedford Brewer Construction Co. on county property in Seminole and the building will be used as a distribution and storage facility for commodities.

Jim Whitt, Seminole commissioner, said the 30 ft. by 72 ft. structure will cost in the neighborhood of $5,000. “I checked several builders, and I got the most for the money from the local firm,” Whitt said.

The building, which is being built next to the county barn on West Strothers St., will be used as a storage and distribution facility for the county commodities issued to the Seminole district.

The Seminole district alone, according to Whitt, issues commodities to 640 families or a total of 1,585 persons every month. The district includes the city of Seminole, half of the city of Maud and the communities of Bowlegs, Wolf, and Little, and the rural areas surrounding these communities.

“We hope to have the building completed by the end of the month,” Whitt said. “We feel that we can make that deadline if the weather holds up. We’ll announce later where the families who get commodities can pick them up.

“If our building isn’t finished by April, we will issue them at our old building.”

The new building, which is being built with county funds, will take the place of the building at 400 State Street that the federal government has been renting for the county at a price of $200 a month to store the commodities.

“The federal government couldn’t build a building for us on county property so instead of renting the building they will now pay our employees that work with the commodities,” Whitt said.

In the past, according to Whitt, county employees – those that work on county roads and bridges – have had to work with issuing commodities two-and-a-half days a month.

“We’ll be able to keep our road crews working on the roads now,” Whitt said. “Since the federal government will pay the commodity personnel, we can hire new employees to work with the commodities two days a month.

“We’ve already got these new employees. They will strictly be working with commodities.”

The new building will have two walk-in doors and three large drive-in doors. It will be insulated, and will have a cement floor.

“If, for some reason, the commodity program was ever stopped by the federal government then we could use the building as a shop area,” Whitt said. “That’s one reason for the three drive-in doors. We could work on our trucks in the building.

“This new building will beat the old one in many ways. It will be heated better and we had trouble with squirrels getting into the food in the old building, but this will not happen in the new one.”

Whitt said the new building will be especially nice if a new self-service project of getting commodities is started by the federal government. The project is in the planning stages at this time.

The self-service project is where commodity recipients will use a shopping cart and pick up their own amount of food and then a checker will check the carts before they leave the building to see that a recipient has not taken over his allowed amount.

“We’re not sure if the self-service project will be started, but if it does the new building will work out real well with its two walk-in doors, one at each end of the building,” Whitt said. “This type of project also will cut down on the number of employees needed to handle the commodities.

“We’re using between 17 and 20 at this time and under the new project probably only two checkers would be needed.”

Seminole County is divided into three commissioner districts. The district at Wewoka issues commodities at a county fair grounds building and the district at Konawa issues commodities from a two-story building in the city park there. -oOo School Daze - The Student Council is sponsoring a Shamrocks for Dystrophy Drive. This will take place Friday, March 16. All the money received will go to the Muscular Dystrophy organization. This is a very worthwhile cause and everyone should bring an extra quarter or so Friday and donate. ~ The high school tennis teams went to Ada Monday. The boy’s tennis team defeated Ada 7-2. They lost only two of the singles matches and won all the doubles matches.

The girls’ team was defeated by Ada. ~ School Daze Slants – Delana West calling roll… Sherri Myers beginning to get a headache… Mark Cornelison losing a bet… Chiquita Jackson telling on people for skipping… Chez Evans pinching people… Dana Sanders giving a report… Dale Conn working after hours… Terry Devore coming out for spring … Steve Wells waking up in class… Dan Trammell trying to predict the future… Jeff Dees agreeing with a friend… Rosalee Robbins making some plans for this summer… Mark Reynolds needing luck… Will Cocke having perfume.