The Homewood Star TheHomewoodStar.com
February 2014
Volume 3 | Issue 11 | February 2014
Oklahoma bound
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neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
Partnering for the course
Homewood High School senior Dwayne Orso is headed to Sooner country to play football. Learn more about his journey in this issue.
Sports page 23
Anchorage 2.0
Homewood continues tradition of supporting the Bell Center through Mercedes Marathon By MADOLINE MARKHAM
Find out how the Homewood DIner filled the niche for meat-and-three fare after longtime staple Anchorage closed.
Food page 11
INSIDE Sponsors ................. 2 City ........................... 4 Business .................. 8 Food ......................... 11 Community ............. 12 School House ......... 18 Sports ...................... 23 Calendar ................. 25 Opinion .................... 27
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Last year, 126 Homewood City Schools faculty and staff members ran the Mercedes Marathon. It was the largest participation in the school system’s history. Superintendent Bill Cleveland even ran both the half-marathon and a leg of the relay team event. This year, more than staff will be involved. Elementary, middle and high school runners have teamed up for the relay event to raise money for the Bell Center for Early Intervention programs. For this event, five participants complete a full 26.2-mile marathon together by splitting the distance: two 5Ks, two 10Ks and a 12K.
Patriot Partners runners gather at the Bell Center with Townes Beatty, one of the children for whom a relay team is running. Front row: Pierce Jackson, Alex Ngei with Townes Beatty, John Andress. Back row: Allison Putnam, Dr. Bill Cleveland, Mary Margaret Jackson. Photo by Madoline Markham.
“The nature of running is that it is a community that always finds a cause,” Homewood High School cross-country coach Lars Porter said. “We have kept our eyes open to how running fits with what our heart is, and the Bell Center was an obvious fit for us.” Each team is running for an individual child at the center, which provides special education, speech and physical therapy and other services to children up to age 3 who are at risk for developmental delay — all without receiving any outside funding. Porter was looking for an opportunity for his high school runners to get involved in the community when he connected with the Bell Center.
Taste of Homewood
returns this month Take a taste of your favorite restaurants around town at the annual Chamber of Commerce event set for this month. Community page 13
In talking with Homewood Middle School coach Eric Swope, they brainstormed a way to blend their teams so both middle and high schoolers could join in the experience together. The idea caught fire from there. “We were not trying to get together groups of five high schools boys that would win it,” Porter said. “We were trying to diversify.” High schools found middle schoolers they knew, and they built their own teams. The usual age minimum for the race is 12, but the organizers made an exception for fifthgraders since the program is raising money for
See BELL CENTER | page 24