November 4, 2002

Football rivals pass the torch together
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___BROWNWOOD--Stephenville and Brownwood are perennial football rivals, but men from both communities tackled the same task recently in an effort to help Heart of Texas Baptist Encampment.
___They didn't don football helmets, but welding visors, as they joined trusses for the roof of an expansion to the camp's maintenance building.
___The encampment, located a few miles outside of Brownwood, had only a small maintenance shed. Clarence Horner, president of Erath Baptist Men, thought bringing a group of Stephenville men to Brownwood might help soothe some of the fall football rivalry.
___Thirty-eight men worked a Friday evening and Saturday to weld support rods and apply sheet metal to more than double the size of the maintenance building. The additional size is something the camp has needed for a while, Camp Manager Rhonda O'Banion said.
___O'Banion estimated the work the men performed saved the camp about $4,000, since they also held a concert to raise the money to pay for their materials.
___"It's something we maybe could have handled financially, but so many other things always seemed to take priority, like the buildings our campers stay in," she explained. "It's kind of like maintenance on your house--it's something that needs to be done, but often other things take priority."
___Men came from a number of churches to join in the project--Valley Mills Baptist Church and Rocky Point Baptist Church in Stephenville; First Baptist Church, Green's Creek Baptist Church and Cottonwood Baptist Church in Dublin; Morgan Mill Baptist Church in Morgan Mill; First Baptist Church in Early; and First Baptist Church in Brownwood. Volunteers from the Baptist Student Ministry at Tarleton State University also joined the effort. Lingleville Baptist Church in Lingleville contributed financially to the effort.

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