Wednesday night. Lady A was scheduled to perform during the show, but cancelled due to an unspecified family member being diagnosed with COVID. On her mother's passing, Susie said she had cancer. "I'm just glad she escaped all the things that have gone on since. She was very active in the political world, and she was up on all of that. I'm just glad she escaped the COVID pandemic. She's good. She's up with her Father and she's alright," Susie said. She is looking forward to returning to Warsaw. "We have friends there, and, of course, (concert organizer) Mike (Loher) comes back to Oklahoma and so does Pastor (Rob) Seewald, so it's like a reunion around Christmas time. It's something we've been doing for a long time and we've got lots of friends there and it's just like coming home," Susie said. With the addition of Davis, who used to tour on the road with Reba, Susie said she and her husband Mark Eaton will probably change up this year's concert a little bit. "Mark and I have a couple of new songs we want to do and it's just really going to be good," Susie said. "You've got staple songs you think, 'Oh, man, maybe I should do something different. Maybe I should do this and do that.' But it's Christmas and people expect to hear Christmas songs. And as long as I've been alive - I just celebrated my 63rd birthday - I want to hear Christmas songs at Christmas time. So we're going to do that, some with a little bit different twist, some with a little bit different flair, but it will be celebrated, the birth of Jesus Christ." She wouldn't give away what songs she was thinking of singing this year. Asked if she would sing "Does He Love You" with Davis, Susie said, "Oh, heck no. Are you kidding me? She could sing it, but I don't think I'd be able to sing it. That's a real rangy song, but ... it would knock my socks off if she thought that I could, so we'll see." Even if they don't perform that song together, Susie said she hoped she and Davis and their respective husbands, Mark Eaton and Lang Scott, would be able to share the stage to do something together. With the pandemic affect ing everything this year, including people's wallets and employment, Susie said the concert for Toys For Tots becomes even more impor tant. "It's very important because I think this year is going to be harder for people than ever to buy toys for these youngsters," Susie said. "I was thinking about this the other day. It's not necessarily the gift. It's the thought behind it. It's the thought that people had this concert. That Linda Davis and Susie McEntire and their husbands flew in to have it and help raise these kind of gifts. And it's the fact that Mike Loher's committee works so hard on the stage and they make room for us to be able to have a meet and greet and the school allows us to come in and have this concert. It's all the preparation that goes behind it. It's not just the gift, it's the thought behind the gift. It's the preparation, the care and everything like that. If we all did this individually, there wouldn't even be a Toys For Tots. If we looked around our community and said, 'Who in our community needs help?' We wouldn't have this need. But we don't. So, I just appreciated Mike and all of his committee and all the people who are work ing so hard to make this hap pen and let people know that there's people out there who care." Susie and Mark will be back at Leesburg United Methodist Church for the 9 a.m. service Dec. 13. She said she didn't know if Mark would be able to speak again this year, but they enjoyed last year's service "so much."
Talking With Linda
Wednesday in Nashville was a little gray, but Davis said the leaves on the trees were still pretty. "Normally, most of them would have already fallen off, but they're sticking on pretty tight, so (I'm) enjoying the view," she said. Before Davis and Reba had a hit with "Does He Love You," Davis said she had been working with her for a bit. "I had been doing demos in Nashville, and many of those demos Reba had heard, and it was sort of like we knew each other through mutual friends. And as far as the whole (McEntire) family, I did not know anyone until after Reba and I met and we started working together. She and her husband at the time were managing me, and that's when, if you're part of the Reba working/music family, you end up meeting all the sisters and mommies and daddies and nieces and nephews, and then it becomes a big family," Davis said. One thing Davis said she and Susie have in common is that they both come from musical families, as well as their spouses and their chil dren. "I'm very proud of my daughter, Hillary, and all that she's accomplished. We have a second daughter, Rylee, she's 20, and she's also very talented. It makes getting together and having family time even more fun because a lot of times music is involved. That's where we go to cele brate, that's where we go to grieve. Music is a big, big part of our family," Davis said. She said from her and her husband Lang's standpoint, "When we noticed Hillary's little voice being pure and on pitch and in good rhythm and timing, it was like, 'OK, she's definitely one of ours,' and now it's a matter of, does she like the same kind of music we enjoy? She seemed to just gravitate toward all the things we like." Hillary would take a song and sing the lead, while Davis would take a part and Lang would take the third. Hillary stuck to her part and they'd have a three part harmony before Hillary was even 6. "It was fun. It was a lot of our pastime for our little family. And then when Rylee came along - Rylee is 14 years younger than her big sister, so it's like having two only children - she found her voice and the rest is history. And she loves music as much as we all do. We all enjoy it. And now Hillary's got three children. Our grandchildren," Davis said. She said the oldest grand child seems to have a beauti ful voice with great pitch and great timing. "Here we go! The beat goes on!" Davis said. Davis, Lang and their two daughters recorded the album "Love Remains" together, which Ricky Skaggs produced. "We're very proud of that. If I never made anoth er record, that would be the way I would love ending it. Because I'm so happy with that. It was my whole family and we were singing songs to lift the name of Jesus. So that combination is my heart." During her career, Davis won Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Christian Music song for "Thy Will" from "Love Remains;" Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for "Love Remains;" and Best Country Vocal Collaboration for "Does He Love You" with Reba. "Does He Love You" also won a CMA Award for Vocal Event of the Year and a TNN Music City News Award for Vocal Collaboration of the Year. She was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Her albums include Best of Linda Davis, Young at Heart, I Have Arrived, Linda Davis Family Christmas, I'm Yours, Some Things Are Meant To Be, Shoot for the Moon, Linda Davis and In A Different Light. Davis has appeared on everything from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Show with David Letterman" to "Diagnosis Murder" and "Phil Donahue." She'd had national jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dr. Pepper and Mug Root Beer, and toured with Garth Brooks, Reba, Kenny Rogers and George Strait. The Warsaw concert will be one of the few Davis has been able to do this year because of COVID. "It's so funny because Hillary, at the level they are, Lady A, they have just been shut down. The shows we had on books were all can celled except for just a hand ful after March. Our daughter Rylee is the youngest, she has a job at Tractor Supply. We laugh because she's the only one that's employed," Davis said, laughing. "So it's kind of like, you've got another red vest? Momma might have to go put her application in." She said you've just got to keep going and not stop. "I know that music heals. Music has a way of lifting the spirit of an individual, a group, a nation. And if the lyrics have something to say, whether it tells a story, whether it makes you laugh, no matter what, if it's a good song and it's delivered well, that can just really lift you out of a rut, and that's what I know Dec. 12 Susie is going to do and what we're going to do." events need approval of the local health department. For counties in "red," gatherings are limited to 25 people, and gatherings with over 25 peo ple need approval from the local health department. The restrictions will be in place for at least the next month. For the Country Christmas concert, Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver put restrictions on it so the event wouldn't have to be cancelled. He said Thursday, "One of the reasons I did this is because they had booked people and organized this for a long time." The concert will be limit ed to 350 people. Organizer Mike Loher said since the concert is limited to 350 in the auditorium, there will be overflow seating available with a video screen in the gym or commons area, and the same restrictions as the auditorium will apply. Everyone must wear a mask and keep it on the entire time. A family unit can sit together in adjoining seats, but the next family has to sit 6 feet away. Weaver said Loher told him they'd have the emer gency exit doors open at the end of the show so that everyone wouldn't have to leave through the same door. "I know a lot of churches are doing that," he said. On Wednesday, before Holcomb made his announcement, Loher said the worst case scenario, other than the event being cancelled, would be requir ing masks, seating in every other row and the "normal" stuff people are used to doing when they go places now. "One thing that I do want people to know that is differ ent this year, other than the virus, is ServPro of Kosciusko and Noble County has offered to disinfect the entire venue before the show. So it will be fogged and disinfected before the doors open for everybody to come in," Loher said. For past concerts, he sent out invitations to assisted liv ing facilities, group homes and hospice. "That's all changed this year, too. They're all (high risk). Can't go out, can't go in. So Blue River Digital is help ing me come up with a way that we can actually record the show and there will be a link that these facilities can go to and show it to their res idents. And we're also includ ing Kosciusko County Home Care & Hospice, so hospice patients and their families can see the show also," Loher stated. He said the website with the concert will have a secu rity code for the facilities to use that he will provide to them. Loher said he didn't want to do a Facebook Live or streaming concert because the music artists could do that from their homes in Oklahoma and Tennessee. "Our goal is to bring toys in for Toys For Tots. But we're going to do a special thing for these residents that can't get out, and I'm pretty excited about that," he said. Davis' appearance at the show also came about as a safety measure. "For the last couple of years, I've wanted to bring another artist in to open the show for (Susie). We've had the Christian school kids choir, we've had Deb Collier's Dance Troupe in there. They've all done a great job. But, this year, with the virus and everything, I don't know how much the kids have actually gotten to practice together and do we really want to figure out how that's all going to work in a small backstage area? And, I thought, this might be a good year to try to bring another artist in that's not a full band. It'll be a lot like Susie, it'll be Linda and her husband, no big band," Loher said. McEntire and her hus band, Mark Eaton, also will be at Leesburg United Methodist Church at 9 a.m. Dec. 13 for services. Sponsors for this year's concert include Leesburg United Methodist Church; Stookey Construction; Bishop Farms; Rabb Kinetico Water Systems; Everest Excavating; Bailey Moore Foundation; Kosciusko REMC Operation Round Up Fund, a component of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation; Sandra Zartman Johnston; Windstar Park; Robinson Construction; Lewis Salvage; Jim and Melanie Rooney; Jacob Polk Family; Rob and Amy Seewald; Stacy's Restaurant; Horizon Bank; Grossnickle Eye Center; American Concrete Pumping; Oswego Mini Mart; Core Mechanical; State Farm agent Beth Harrison; Metzger Trucking; Stafford Solid Waste; Ramsey and Wiggins; Center Street Partners; LDP Excavating; Eagle Outdoor Advertising; Willie 103.5; TIMES-UNION ; Allegra; Warsaw Wyndham Garden; Lakeview Middle School; ServPro of Kosciusko and Noble County; and Blue River Digital. For more information, call 574 376 0193.
Co-Publishers Chandler M. Williams Erin L. Williams General Manager David Hays Managing Editor David Slone Consultant Gary Gerard Comptroller Jessica Rodriguez Advertising Mgr. Paul Smith Composing & Spotlight Mgr. Deb Swick Prod. Director Gary Kunkle Pressroom Super. Andi Stroup Sports Editor Drew Fritz Associate Eds. Jackie Gorski Amanda Bridgman Teresa Carrano Photographer Gary Nieter
DIGEST
Weekend, November 14 & 15, 2020 Warsaw, Indiana
TIMES-UNION 2A
Times-Union
Warsaw Union Northern Indianian Founded 1854 Founded 1856
The Times-Union is an Independent Republican newspaper founded as the Northern Indianian by General Reub Williams on Jan. 10, 1856. It is published daily, except Sunday and certain holidays, with four quarterly special issues at The Times Building, Indiana and Market streets by High-Key Enterprises LLC, P.O. Box 1448, (574) 267-3111. Periodical class postage paid at Post Office, Warsaw, IN., 46580 (USPS-666-680) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Times-Union, P.O. Box 1448, Warsaw, IN., 46581-1448.
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Gliding over significant chal lenges still to come, President Donald Trump on Friday offered a rosy update on the race for a vaccine for the resurgent coronavirus as he delivered his first public remarks since his defeat by President elect Joe Biden. He still did not concede the elec tion. Trump spoke from the Rose Garden as the nation sets records for confirmed cases of COVID 19, and as hospitalizations near critical levels and fatalities climb to the highest levels since the spring. He said a vaccine would ship in "a matter of weeks" to vulnerable popula tions, though the Food and Drug Administration has not yet been asked to grant the necessary emergency approvals. Public health experts worry that Trump's refusal to take aggressive action on the pandemic or to coordinate with the Biden team during the final two months of his presidency will only worsen the effects of the virus and hinder the nation's ability to swiftly distribute a vaccine next year. As states impose new restrictions in the face of ris ing caseloads, Trump asked all Americans to remain "vig ilant." But he ruled out a nationwide "lockdown" and appeared to acknowledge that the decision won't be his much longer. "This administration will not be going to a lockdown," he said. "Hopefully whatever happens in the future, who knows, which administration it will be I guess time will tell, but I can tell you this admin istration will not go to a lock down." Biden, for his part, has not endorsed a nationwide shut down, but he appealed for Trump to take "urgent action" to curtail the spread of the virus. "The crisis does not respect dates on the cal endar, it is accelerating right now," he said in a statement Friday. Trump said vaccines would "arrive within a few weeks," saying they were ready and merely awaiting approval - and would be given "to high risk individu als right away." In fact, there's no guarantee that Pfizer's shot, the front runner, will get rapid authorization for emergency use. Even if it does, there's no information yet indicating if the vaccine works in older adults or just younger, healthier adults. Nor does Pfizer have a large commercial stockpile already poised to ship; initial batches of shots would be small and targeted to certain still to be determined populations. Trump took no questions Friday from reporters. He hasn't answered questions since before Election Day. Meanwhile, his campaign prediction that the U.S. was "rounding the turn" on the pandemic has met a harsh reality, with his own White House becoming the focus of yet another outbreak. Trump's aggressive travel despite the virus has taken its toll on his protectors as well. The U.S. Secret Service is experiencing a significant number of cases, many believed to be linked to his rallies in the closing days of the campaign, according to one official. White House press secre tary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, said Trump is "not even at that point yet" when it comes to conceding to Biden. Trump has leveled baseless allegations of wide spread voter fraud, even as his own administration has said there is no evidence to support the claims. His aides suggest he is merely trying to keep his base of supporters on his side in defeat. Trump spoke with conser vative media on Friday, including Fox News' Geraldo Rivera, suggesting he would acknowledge the loss only after exhausting his legal options. "You know, he told me he was a realist," Rivera said. "He told me he would do the right thing." With more than 100,000 new confirmed U.S. cases reported daily for more than a week, Trump has been more focused on tracking the rollout of a vaccine, which won't be widely available for months. He has fumed that Pfizer intentionally withheld an announcement about progress on its vaccine trial until after Election Day, according to a White House
President Trump Trumpets Vaccine Progress
President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House Friday in Washington.
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