Karnes Co. TX - NEWS - Youngsters and horned toads mix during Kenedy fun event 

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Copyright 2003 Victoria Advocate Online (http://victoriaadvocate.com)

The Victoria Advocate - http://TheVictoriaAdvocate.com 
Youngsters and horned toads mix during Kenedy fun event 
ANN RUNDLE
Victoria Advocate 
Sunday, August 31st, 2003 

KENEDY - Ormajean Yearby was born in Kenedy but lives now in Wetumpka, 
Ala. She and her grandson Drew Davis, a lively 4-year-old, had caught a glimpse 
of a horned toad while visiting great-great-aunt Clara Audilet, who's in a nursing 
home in Karnes City.  It was the first time Drew had seen a live horned toad, but 
he knew about them from the movie "Old Yeller." 

"We walked and looked, looked, looked all day yesterday," Yearby said. Unable 
to find one on their own, Yearby brought her grandson to the Texas Horned Toad 
Fun event Saturday at the City Hall in Kenedy, the Horned Toad Capital of the World.

The event included games, arts and crafts, talks about wildlife, a horned toad quiz bowl, 
a stick horse parade and a survey, which gave folks a chance to go looking for horned 
toads.

Wade Phelps, president of the Kenedy Horned Toad Club, said, "The locals don't have 
an appreciation for what they already have, and we are trying to maybe upgrade that. 
Visitors from out of town already have an appreciation for it, and we want to share that."

Drew got to touch a horned toad on display by Saundra Schultz, a member of Horned 
Toad Club and owner of Finpetals pet shop.

Schultz was educating folks about reptiles and amphibians "and the difference between 
the two."

Earlier in the day, she walked kids ages 4 to 10 through a life-sized version of a game 
about a horned toad's life that was created last year by Mary Phelps.

A portion of the game's board, outlined with blue tape in the hallway leading to the 
auditorium inside city hall, resembles a winding road. The children themselves were 
the game pieces, and they rolled a large red die made out of foam to determine how 
many spaces they should move.

If they landed on a space that said "almost caught by cat," they had to go backwards 
a few spaces, and, if they landed on a space that said "saved baby brother from fire 
ants," they got to go forward a few spaces. The winner was the child who landed 
on the space marked "finish" with an exact roll of the die.

Sarah Barkley, 9, of Kenedy, was one of the children playing the game.

Her mother, Tina Sczepanik, said her daughter likes horned toads.

"We have horned toads in our yard. We catch them, and we take pictures, and we 
let them go," Sczepanik said. "The kids always want to keep them as pets."

Kai de Sequera, 7, of Karnes City, meanwhile, was taking the small stuffed animals 
that resembled horned toads from his mother Karin and comparing them to the 
models on display courtesy of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society.

The display included a large stuffed horned toad.

"I want to have this one," Kai joked as he slowly picked up the display.

Kai shook his head no when asked if he'd ever caught a horned toad.

"I try to. Whenever I see any I try to catch them," he said with a smile.


Ann Rundle is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate. 
Contact her at 361-277-6319 or by e-mail at cueroadv@txcr.net.