The Chatter Box
By Deborah Bennett

The Millen News will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Please bring your news items for the Wednesday, Nov. 29, edition of the newspaper to us no later than 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 27.

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Here are some "turkey" facts to go along with your Thanksgiving meal.

What many regard as the nation's first Thanksgiving took place in December 1621 as the religious separatist Pilgrims held a threeday feast to celebrate a bountiful harvest. The day did not become a national holiday until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt clarified that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping, never on the occasional fifth Thursday.

The preliminary estimate of the number of turkeys raised in the United States in 2005 was 256 million. That's down 3 percent from 2004. The turkeys produced in 2004 weighed 7.3 billion pounds altogether and were valued at $3.1 billion.

Number of places in the United States named after the holiday's traditional main course. Turkey, Texas, was the most populous in 2004, with 496 residents; followed by Turkey Creek, La. (357); and Turkey, N.C. (267). There also are 16 townships around the country named "Turkey," three in Kansas.

Only male turkeys gobble. Female turkeys make a clicking noise. Turkeys can see movement almost 100 yards away and they see in color. A grown turkey is covered in more than 3,500 feathers. Wild turkeys can run at 15 miles per hour. The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed 86 pounds. Forty-five million turkeys are eaten each year at Thanksgiving - and one of them will be on my table. I wish a "Happy Thanksgiving" to all.

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Happy birthday this week to: Tracy Lambert, Larry Adams, C.J. Waters, Christen Hooks, Larry Johnson, Sherry Smith, Donnie Saxon, Rhonda Godbee, Jacob Burke, Joyce Ann Jones, Richard Lockhart Jr., John Kenneth Bragg and Sally Kirkland.

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Celebrating wedding anniversaries this week are: Mr. and Mrs. Phil Cowart and Mr. and Mrs. Don Burke.

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Military Active Duty List: Capt. Donald Slade Burke, Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, Calif.; SPC Grade E4 Arthur Lamont Milton Jr., HHC 1-36 Infantry Support, Friedberg, Germany; Staff Sgt. Gilbert C. Sheppard III, 48th Brigade, 118th Field Artillery, Ft. Stewart; Petty Officer 2nd Class Jamie A. Yager, U.S. Navy, Maryland; Petty Chief Officer Andy D. Crosby, U.S. Navy, Elroy Destroyer, Norfolk, Va.; Stephanie Crosby, R.N., U.S. Navy, Lafayette Destroyer; LCPL Dwain "Cade" Lee, 1st Marine Division Combat Service Support Group II Security Element, ArRamadi, Iraq; Jimmy Cooper, U.S. Army National Guard, 878th Engineering Battalion-Augusta, Persian Gulf ; 1st Lt. J.R. Taylor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Iraq; SPC. Daniel Stuart, 18th MEDCOM, 121 General Hospital, Seoul, Korea; SFC Floyd Bolton Jr., 7th Battalion, 159th Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Ft. Campbell, Kentucky; SFC Maria Bolton, 61st Medical Detachment, 21st Combat Support Hospital, 4th Medical Brigade, Ft. Campbell, Kentucky; 1st Lt. Andrew P. Thomas, U.S. Marines, 2nd Marine Division, F.A.S.T. Company, Yorktown, VA; Sgt. 1st Class Steven Yager, 362nd Sig. Company, Korea; MM3 Jeffrey Sweat, U.S. Navy, USS Kauffman, MM3 59/E-Division, A-Gang, Norfolk, Va.; Cpl. Larry Lamont Clark, U.S. Marine Corp, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. Bagdad, Iraq; Khan Young, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Persian Gulf; Robert Milton Jr., E-3, U.S. Army, Ft. Stewart, Hinesville, Ga., Mission Kuwait; SFC Ronnie Perryman, E-7, Georgia Army National Guard, Battery A, 118th Field Artillery Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team; Arnold R. Mosley, 2nd Lt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas; and Debra A. Mosley, Tech. Sgt., U.S. Air Force, Randolph AFB, Texas.