Lots of turkeys collecting for Carson City's needy families

Lots of folks are gathering turkeys for the needy this season and this week saw the end of two drives conducted by local businesses in time for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

More than 1,000 turkeys were donated through Mike's Pharmacy's sixth annual Turkey Drop, according to Loreen Hautekeet.

"It's been six years since we started the turkey drop," she said. "We like helping out at this time of year."

Since their ad says they don't take any live turkeys, I had to ask Loreen if they've ever had one.

"No, but people have called because they wanted to drop off their husbands or wives," she said.

The Turkey Drop was born with Rusty Humphries Feed Nevada Challenge in 1998.

"It started off with the 'WKRP in Cincinnati' episode where they dropped live turkeys from a helicopter," she said. "The only time I've dropped a turkey has been on my toe."

Several KOH radio personalities were on hand Wednesday to help the Hautekeets as well as Channel 8.

Loreen said this year, for the first time, they had a refrigerated trailer, thanks to Model Dairy, to keep the turkeys cold rather than pulling them out of a freezer.

Mike and Loreen have been married for 18 years and have lived in Carson City for 11. Their daughter Monique was born in Carson City and is a fifth-grader at Bethlehem Lutheran.

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Lance Sims of Intreadable Auto Care said his crew is counting up the turkey dinners gathered in their Thanksgiving Turkey Race.

He points out that if you're too poor to afford a turkey, then chances are you'll have trouble affording all the trimmings.

"We want to provide a full turkey dinner," he said. "This is the fourth year we've done this. My wife asked me why we don't just donate turkeys. I told her we're giving to someone who isn't making good decisions about their lives. We can make sure the kids in that house have one good meal a year."

Lance said he estimates they have enough for 75-100 dinners.

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Armand Arnett was honored Thursday by Lyon County commissioners for his volunteer work at the Dayton Cemetery.

Armand, who is cemetery superintendent, and his wife, Jessie, have taken care of one of the oldest places in Nevada history for 14 years.

When commission chairman David Fulstone called Armand's name, the Korean War veteran was a little shy about coming forward. "I accept this award for my wife who is not well," he said, his voice choking with emotion. "The cemetery is the most historical piece of property in Nevada and no one can dispute that."

Commissioners also honored Elaine Milz, who has served as the school crossing guard in Dayton for many years. Elaine said that when she couldn't make it out to help the children across she drafted her husband, commissioner Bob.

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Girl scout leader Kathleen Mikel called Monday to say Troop 464 received three garbage bags full of hats, mittens and snow boots for the mitten tree.

Two girls were sorting through the material to see what they had on Friday.

"It was one person, because all the garbage bags are the same color," she said.

The mitten tree is up at the Carson City Library and the scouts will be taking donations of mittens and hats through Dec. 15.

Kurt Hildebrand is city editor at the Nevada Appeal. Reach him at hildebrand@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.