Crescens Lodge is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Brother Donald McCullough on January 4th. Pythian Memorial Services were not requested. A memorial contribution was made to the McCullough Center in Hagerstown in his Memory. The charter was draped for 30 days.

Knight news - Wow, just when we thought we were sailing through the winter, POW...we get hit with the biggest snow storm in over a decade! 11 inches officially fell in New castle, pretty well shutting down the county. We will have to get the Castle cleaned out so business can resume at ‘Tis The Season as well as at the Grand lodge office and the lodge itself.....The 19^th Annual Holiday Festival went off without a major hitch. As reported in the last Crusader, the car show grew from 21 to 93 cars and the chili cook-off exploded in sales! The New Castle Firefighters told us that they were able to buy Christmas for nearly 100 kids this year, thanks to our $1,000 donation! It was awesome to have our national officers here for our Christmas parade, even though it did rain on it for the first time in parade history. Crescens Lodge is very proud of this parade as we believe this is the only Pythian sponsored parade in the country! A great time was had by all and a good crowd stood under their umbrellas to watch it. Following the parade, Ruthann and Ralph Willis put on a beautiful spread to feed us all, which included a surprise 60^th birthday party for Supreme Chief Sheila Stooksberry. It was cool to have Supreme Chancellor Dan Cowan and our own Howard Woods (Imperial Prince) and Angie Woods (Most Gracious Maharani) all in attendance! A great Pythian celebration was enjoyed by all in attendance! Sheila’s birthday was highlighted by Bobby Simmons singing happy birthday on a speaker phone from Florida! The Kris Kringle Run, although hampered by near freezing temps and some snow and ice, saw a great crowd of 80+ participants from two states competing on the challenging course in Memorial Park created by Brother Tom Hiner. This is annually sponsored by GOODWIN BROTHERS AUTO COMPANY at 3 & 38 in New Castle. Please remember them the next time you need a new or used set of wheels! We were also assisted by ANYTIME FITNESS, SR#3 South in New Castle. Thanks for all of the help and product on race day! For fitness training ANYTIME, 24 hours a day...remember ANYTIME FITNESS! The Courier Times again co-sponsored our lighting contest and gave us great coverage in the paper! Nearly 70 people attended our awards ceremony, held this year in the beautiful New Castle Library Auditorium. The lodge also held it’s Christmas party there. Both return there this year. We have been traveling some as weather and time permits. We have visited Welcome, Frankton & Orestes lodges. We plan on taking in the Rathbone Celebration at Morocco Lodge on February 14^th. Look at the upcoming dates on the enclosed calendar. Remember they are subject to change. Changes in between editions of the Crusader can be found on the lodge website. If you have not paid your dues yet, why not do it TODAY! It only costs 6 cents a day to be a Pythian! The best deal in the country! We hope to see you at lodge! Attendance is booming! Come up and join the fun! We are here every Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. Coming up in March is the Annual Table Lodge on the 24^th. This is for Knights only. Put that on the must do calendar! Hope to see you real soon!

Website - For those of you who are on line, you can keep up to date in between editions of the Crusader on our exciting website which is: www.knightsofpythiasofnewcastle.com. Make sure you check it out today! Remember, we DO NOT have a search engine!

E-mail - If you have an e-mail address, why not let the Lodge or Temple know what it is! We send out many e-mail messages and reminders about upcoming events. Please send your e-mail address to Lodge Secretary Denny Adams at: dennyvoiceofandersonspeedway@msn.com and we will put you in our address book. That way, when we have a death notice or something that we need to get out quickly, we can contact you right away.

Sister sass - Just a reminder that we are dark in the months of January and February due to the bad winter weather. We will be back again on the fourth Wednesday in March with a pitch-in supper and the installation of Officers. Our November, 2008 meeting was held with Muncie Temple #28 at the Sirloin Stockade in Muncie on November 12^th. It was a fun evening! Our December/Christmas Party was held jointly with Muncie and Frankton at the Hutson House on December 3^rd. Again, a very enjoyable time was had by all who attended!

Dokey Dope - Al Hilal Temple #33's meetings are in New Castle for the winter. At our January meeting the following were installed as officers for 2009: Royal Vizier Ralph Willis; Grand Emir Jerry Weilenman; Sheik LaRue Cross; Secretary/Treasurer Denny Adams; Mahadi Tom Alexander; Satrap Jess Adams; Sahib Richard Messer. CONGRATULATIONS to Wes Hutson on becoming a Royal Prince! We are busy making plans to make sure that the 2009 Imperial Palace Convention is successful as it will be happening at the Holiday Inn at the Pyramids in Indianapolis.. It will only happen with a UNIFIED effort. We will be going to the Indianapolis Indians Baseball game on August 10^th at 7:00 pm and to Beef ‘N Boards Dinner Theater on August 11^th at 6:00 pm to see "Smoke On The Mountain". These are just a couple of the events planned for an exciting convention! Let us ALL bond together to make this successful. Hope to see you at the next meeting!

Nomad news - Our Santha meets at Welcome lodge hall in Muncie, usually on the first Sunday of the month. Hope to see you at our next Darbar. We are also planning for Imperial in 2009. We need your help!

Our Sympathy -Is extended to several Brothers and Sisters who have lost loved ones during the fall and winter months. May the peace of God be with you all.

Congratulations - To an awesome "team" that made our 19^th annual Holiday Festival such a huge success! You know if you helped in any way. If you did...THANK YOU!!

Donations - We have recently made the following donations: NC/HC Public Library - $7-; Christian Love Help Center - $50; Westminister Community Center - $50; Make-A-Wish Foundation - $50; Hope Children’s Home (India) - $60; Tipton Marching Band - $550; Knightstown Marching Band - $450; Salvation Army - $50; Memorial Park - $120; Flynn’s Carriage - $200(carriage rides for downtown Christmas walk promo); Everything Engraving - (Festival Awards) - $862; Festival Cash Prizes - $515; Sheriff Reserves - $125; Sulphur Springs Christian Church Youth (banner carriers) - $540; a special case of relief - $870; Total for 2008 - $8531.50 So far in 2009 donations are: The McCullough Center (in memory of Brother Don) - $50; Chamber of Commerce - $93.50; New Castle CHS Thespians - $200; American Cancer Society - $100 with a 2009 total so far of $443.50 THANK YOU to Brothers John Francisco and Charles Rodgers for your recent donation to the benefit fund!

Sickness and Distress - Please remember the following Brothers and Sisters in your prayers:

rathbone celebration - Calling ALL Brothers! It is time for our annual gathering to celebrate our founding! Let us gather in the name of Friendship, Charity and Benevolence on Saturday, February 14^th for the Rathbone Celebration at Morocco Lodge #492. Rank works starts at 11 am (10 Morocco time). Bring your candidates to make this a nice class. Obligations will be taken on the Rathbone Bible, the same bible used in 1864 by Justus Rathbone to start our great Order! You can be re-obligated if you so desire. Ritualists will be need for the day. Hope to see you there!

Crescens table lodge - Again, calling all Knights! Crescens lodge will be conducting it’s annual Table Lodge on Tuesday, March 24^th at 7:00 pm. If you have never attended a table lodge, you have a treat in store for you. We have dinner served right in the middle of our meeting. Toasts are made. It is a wonderful celebration of our lodge and our country! So that we may prepare enough food, we ask that you RSVP your attendance to lodge Secretary by mail, phone or e-mail by March 20^th. Hope you will join us for this special lodge meeting. Sorry, Knights only!