NEWS FROM THE HUT by John Hamilton

This past couple of weeks has been a real trial for Hominy as well as the entire state of Oklahoma. The below zero temperatures caught many Oklahomans and especially the Hominy residents and the Hominy management personnel. The residents of Hominy, including 28 Post 142 Legionnaires, have had to conserve water after letting the water drip to keep the pipes from freezing. After the pipes froze rendering some hot water heaters became inoperable, showers, laundry, and dishwashing were nonexistent except with cold water if available. The Hut also had to let their faucets drip to prevent the pipes from freezing and possibly bursting.

During this entire winter fiasco, we all had to deal with the trash not being picked up due to unsafe road conditions, but the mail carriers did not miss their appointed rounds. The city management and repair crews, led by Jimmie Ratliff, worked tirelessly to find and repair leaks throughout the city. The volume of city water in our reservoirs dropped to a dangerous level in terms of the ability to provide continuous water service to Hominy residents. Jimmie did a fantastic job of keeping Hominy up to date on the status of the water situation and the water leak identification, with the help of many Hominy residents, and the leak repairs as well as updates on the water plant and its volume of production and the reasons for any nonproduction.

The new normally scheduled American Legion meeting at the Hut for February 18, 2021 was postponed due to weather conditions and rescheduled for this week, February 25, 2021. This change was made because of the severe weather. I say new normally scheduled because normally the Post 142 meetings are scheduled for the first and third Thursdays of each month. For a while, after the COVID-19 situation started, we postponed all meetings due to the ages and medical issues for most of our members. We cancelled meetings during April and May and then changed the meeting schedule to just the third Thursday of each month until this COVID pandemic improves.

An additional Post 142 event that was cancelled due to our recent severe weather was the deployment of the flags up and down Main Street for Presidents Day on February 15^th due to the severe icy conditions that was extremely dangerous for old veterans with hip and knee replacements and just the lack of stability for all senior citizens in general. Now that the ice and snow has subsided, we are going to attempt to hold a meeting this month on Thursday. February 25^th if weather will permit it to happen. According to Weather.com, it looks like the weather will be accommodating except for some possible rain showers. But like they say here in Oklahoma, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change.”

Until further notice, our regular Legion meeting will be the third Thursday of each month. Due to current weather issues our next meeting will be on Thursday, February the 25th. at 7:00 PM. The Sons of the American Legion meetings have been suspended until further notice, depending on the future COVID-19 situation. All dinners have been cancelled until further notice. The Monday morning Koffee Klatch meetings have been postponed as well for the same reason. If you are a veteran, come by for our monthly meeting, and if you have a good story, it may end up in print. Also keep up with us at the Post 142 website “americanlegion142.org” and Hominy Legion on Facebook.