First off I want to congratulate the three Grand Prize winners in our “Holidays Cash in the Hills” contest.

As you probably saw on the front page, the winners are Walter Troy, $500; J.J. Johnson, $300; and Andrea Martinez, $200.

They all received their prizes in Fountain Hills Times dollars, which have to be used in any of the participating businesses by Jan 31, 2014.

Thanks to all of the businesses that participated and thank you to our readers who shopped and filled out coupons and dropped them in the entry boxes.

-------

This is a reminder about early deadlines for next week’s paper.

As was the case this week, The Times will be printed on Monday night with delivery following on Tuesday.

To meet that schedule, deadlines for advertising and editorial matter are changed. All display ads and copy changes are due by 10 a.m. Thursday. Classified deadline is Friday at 2 p.m.

All letters to the editor, press releases and meeting notices are to be submitted by 10 a.m. Friday. Normal deadlines and delivery schedules will resume with the Jan.8th edition.

--------

Well, it is officially winter. Saturday was the shortest day of the year in terms of sunlight. But we managed to squeeze a lot into it in preparation for our Christmas Eve gathering at our house.

That was a good soaking rain we had on Friday. I awoke to the sound of hail pounding on the roof at about 3 a.m.

Then I saw our version of a winter wonderland when the clouds lifted later that morning . . . Snow on The Mazatzals including a pretty good dusting on Four Peaks.

-------

My buddy, Frank Kainrath, is popping his buttons over the performance of his grandson, Dylan.

He is a senior running back on his Del Oro High School football team which played for the California State Championship last Friday night.

The team lost the game to Bakersfield High 56-26, but Dylan rushed for 198 yards on 35 carries and scored three touchdowns.

He had 2088 yards rushing for the season in leading his Division 3 small school from the little town of Loomis (near Sacramento) to the state championship game against the Division 1 powerhouse of Bakersfield High School.

Now get this . . . He played the game with a cast on his right hand and a brace on one knee. He broke his hand three games ago, but he did not tell his coach for fear of being benched.

The coach found out last week that Dylan had broken his hand. He insisted a cast be applied to it.

Even with running up these impressive rushing totals, he has no plans to play football at the college level. He is also an outstanding wrestler and that is the sport in which he shines and is going to compete in college.

Frank said he is a “determined kid” and will succeed in any sport he plays.

He is happy that Dylan doesn’t want to play college football. “With all these head injuries you hear about, I’m glad he wants to be a wrestler,” he said.