Even Madison County’s rural charms cannot always halt the advance of new technology, which has its own allure. However, with the amount of products and services available it becomes challenging to determine what is the latest “gadget” and what is a fun, or useful device.

The Madison County Lions Club is seeking nominations for its 2010 Madison Award for outstanding community service. April 7 is the deadline for receiving nominations.

For some Madison County teachers, retirement does not mean an end to an interest in students. Though the Madison-Greene Retired Teachers Association is a nonprofit organization that helps its members manage retirement accounts and healthcare options, its members – former teachers – still talk about their classroom days and the changes they have witnessed throughout the years.

Ray Goodall Sr. is a Madison County native who enjoys the local wildlife and staying busy. His home office, which he shares with his wife, Lois Goodall, is full of family pictures and plans for new projects. “I’m getting too busy right now,” Goodall joked of his schedule. “You volunteer and work with the church trying to increase the membership (and) you can do something everyday that doesn’t have to do with running a business.”

Music has been one of the few constants in Madison County organist Judy Maxwell’s life. Her mother was a piano teacher and she started her daughter playing when she was 7 years old. However, even in those days the pipe organ was a captivating instrument for her.

Our friends, who are private pilots, say that “going solo” is one of the greatest feats a pilot can achieve. There are many people who take ground school and lessons, but they never solo. To actually take the controls and lift the plane off the ground by yourself is an expression of self-confidence, pride and courage that few people possess.

A Madison County couple has found a new way to beat the winter grays. They are creating their own flock of butterfly sculptures and this spring they will be sharing them with the public in a free, living butterfly sanctuary behind Harvest Church off South Seminole Trail (U.S. 29) in Rochelle. The garden, which will include butterfly sculptures, living butterflies and the native plants that feed butterflies, is the pet project of Rochelle artists Bonnie Fernández, who paints, and her sculptor husband, Tomas Fernández. The couple has lived in the county for 14 years and previously helped operate the Archangel Arts Center.

As an added incentive to potential adopters, the Madison County Animal Shelter has reduced its $45 adoption fee by half for the month. The staff has some concern that the adoption rate will not be as high this holiday season because of the lingering economic problems, according to Madison County Animal Control Officer Greg Cave.

Mary Slusser embodies the idea that a person can never be too old to stop learning. The 91-year-old Syria resident is taking time away from her third book to work on a paper that she describes as being “too complicated” to put in her book on the history of artwork in Nepal. She spoke to The Eagle while getting ready to return to her office at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. so she could get back to her computer and her notes. 

On Sunday, Nov. 15, Chairman Eddie Dean of the Madison County Board of Supervisors cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the newly restored slave quarters behind the Kemper Residence on North Main Street in downtown Madison. The restoration was a two-year effort undertaken by the Madison County Historical Society. Mr. Dean expressed his gratitude to the historical society for their efforts in preserving this important historical structure.

(Editor’s note: The following history of the school in Criglersville was written by Criglersville native Marion Rosser Homza, 87, shortly before heart failure claimed her life on July 24. It was submitted by her cousin, Lucy Ellen Thompson of Arlington, who said with all the attention focused recently on the county’s Criglerville site, folks might enjoy learning more about its rich history. Also, regular Eagle readers may recall the paper running a photo last year showing a small gravestone in the cemetery behind the Criglersville site. The gravestone read “Fido Rosser” and referred to a dog owned by Homza’s father, who arranged to have his beloved pet buried next to him, overlooking the school that meant so much to several generations of his family.)

Despite the continuing recession, Madison County’s citizens raised $9,700 for the Madison County Library during its auction earlier this month. The event is the library’s major fund-raiser of the year. Because Madison’s library is an independent, nonprofit entity, it does not receive the bulk of its funding from the commonwealth, according to Nancy Demarest, a previous head of the Madison County Library Board.

Crisp cool days bring sweaters, thoughts of Halloween costumes and afternoons spent raking leaves and walnuts out of the yard. But it’s the changing of the leaves from summer green to various amber hues that vividly illustrates the change of season in a way cooler temperatures alone do not. In addition to the foliage, autumn brings an increase in tourist traffic to Madison County, according to Madison County Chamber of Commerce Director Tracey Gardner.

Many consider Ireland to be a “land of poets,” but for Rochelle resident and artist Krissy Lavin it was the country that inspired her work in watercolors. She has continued to paint in watercolors since moving to Madison County with her family two years ago.

A builder with Madison County ties — Anthony Clatterbuck — spent a week in August spreading what he calls the “Madison spirit” of helpfulness and community. He volunteered to help build a new big city community center through the popular ABC television program, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

While shuffling through some of her late mother-in-law’s papers and photo albums recently, Madison County resident Helen Robertson (mother of County Administrator Lisa Robertson) came across an old ledger listing the farming family’s expenses.

Courthouse Mountain resident Oliver Utz’s history in Madison County goes back more than eight decades. The locally well-known figure can give first-hand accounts of big Madison events through the years – as a boy he even attended then-President Herbert Hoover’s 1929 speech at what is now called Hoover Ridge. He stopped by The Madison County Eagle’s office recently to share another little bit of history – he found some interesting postcards from the early- and mid-1900s.

The “Journey of Death” doesn’t sound like a welcoming route. The trail – a 100-mile waterless stretch through the desert that was used by early Spanish travelers heading north into New Mexico – got its name from the many that have perished along the way. “I can’t imagine how it was like back then not knowing when you’d get water again,” Syria resident David Londrey told The Eagle, soon after he had successfully made the trek riding his horse “Indiana.”

Pratts-based Flock Church has become a host site of Angel Food Ministries, a nonprofit organization that provides discounted groceries to all. At just $30 for a medium box filled with food, the church is providing a helping hand as well as a bargain to all in this tough economy.

In photos and television broadcasts of first lady Michelle Obama’s trip to Moscow in early July, a woman with brown curly hair is often seen quietly standing nearby. When a group of student nurses present Obama with a Russian nesting doll, the unidentified woman whispers to her, pointing out details about the souvenir. Most who saw depictions of the event, likely did not recognize the woman standing beside the first lady. But Madison County residents who live in the Aylor area, frequent local contra dances and yoga classes and make it a point to enjoy the music of area banjo players, would have immediately identified the woman – Madison County resident Carolyn Smith.

Madison County High School graduate Hollie Soutter was in class at Germanna Community College when she received a text message from a friend on her cell phone. “CNN just said Michael Jackson is dead,” a friend had written. “I was like, ‘That’s not funny, you shouldn’t joke about that,’” Soutter recalled.

Two Madison County High School graduates are among the chosen few randomly selected to attend this week’s memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Cindy Pattie – who was initially considered for the honor after being chosen by her fellow teachers as Madison Primary School’s teacher of the year – was awarded the district-wide recognition by a special three-person committee of publicly unnamed local school administrators.

As workers disassemble the logs of a small building to the east of downtown Madison’s Kemper Residence, a bent fork sparkles between the boards. Although there’s no way to know for sure, those who work in the field of archaeology doubt the fork mistakenly found its way into the wall during a mid-meal argument. Rather, the curved fork was likely a “magic charm” deliberately placed in a small crevice to “push evil away,” according to Madison County native Carole Nash.

Most “kids” would be scared to trot along a 15-foot high wooden walkway. But the young goats – also known as “kids” – at Yoder’s Country Market in Pratts are natural climbers and enjoy any opportunity to ascend into the sky, according to Owner Michael Yoder.

When you log on to Madison County veterinarian Patrick Comyn’s Web site, English isn’t the only option. Those who speak German or Italian (and eventually, Spanish and French) can easily view an area of his business’ Web site in their native language.

What are you most looking forward to about school being out and summer vacation starting? (This question was asked at Wetsel Middle School’s June 4 field day event.)

U.S. Navy Reserve Cmdr. Scott Seeberger – who grew up in Madison County and is currently serving at New Al Muthana Air Base in Iraq – is the chief of the group of U.S. combat air advisors who have been training these pilots “to become a westernized performing airpower,” according to Seeberger. 

Chris Skinner was only 750 feet from safety when his life changed forever. “That’s like here,” – Skinner said from the stage in front of Madison County High School’s auditorium – “to the back of the room,” he explained to a group of Wetsel Middle School students May 14.

Diehard bluegrass fans first started filing into Madison County’s Syria community in mid May. The visitors - in Syria to enjoy Graves Mountain Lodge’s 17th annual Festival of Music, which starts Thursday, May 28 - set up camp in an open field on the resort’s property, since some arrived as much as a week before the campground was set to open.