EDITORIAL: 'This makes my heart full'

Jun. 25—We always take Sunday to look back on the good things happening in our area, and last week provided more examples.

Among those good things:

The Wyandotte Nation in Northeast Oklahoma held lacrosse camps for students. They also are using a $1 million Indian Community Development Block Grant to build lacrosse fields at the tribe's powwow grounds.

Lacrosse has deep roots in Native American culture, with Wyandotte National Chief Billy Friend telling us that the game dates to the 11th century in the St. Lawrence River Valley.

"With the removals (of Native peoples to other territories), a lot of our cultural aspects were put to the side because people were just trying to survive," Kim Garcia, the tribe's cultural preservation officer told us. "Now that we are thriving, we can work to bring back our culture. We are the ones who created (lacrosse), and we want to be the ones pushing it in this area."

"This is a big piece of our history," Friend also told us. "In our thinking, without history, there's no future."

We applaud the Wyandotte Nation's initiatives and hope other area tribes and schools will keep the momentum building.

Amanda Butcher, a member of the Wyandotte Cultural Committee, said both her son and daughter played for the Republic High School club lacrosse teams. Butcher said she's thrilled to see more students interested in the sport.

"As the late Chief Leaford Bearskin would say, 'This makes my heart full,'" Butcher said as she watched students practice.

Speaking things that make our hearts full:

How about Mudstock? Or should we say Sudstock?

This has been around for more than 20 years, when the Carthage police and fire departments created a mud obstacle course with an anti-drug theme. Soldiers with the local National Guard Armory dug the trenches and holes used for the event, and the Carthage Fire Department added the water for the mud. It drew hundreds of kids.

This year, the event was rebranded Sudstock, a "popup water park," with foam cannons that shoot suds 45 to 50 feet.

Caleb Stiles, one of the organizers of the event, recently told the Carthage City Council's Public Services Committee: "To me it seems like the next logical step from mud to the cleaner side."

Either way, sounds like fun.

A tip of the soapy hat to the people in Carthage who make this event happen every year.

Well done!