KILGOROUND

A ONCEPOPULAR phrase that has fallen completely out of fashion?:

"PLAYING" the stock market.

APPARENTLY the fun has gone out of it.

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THE CROWD at the downtown derrick lighting ceremonies has grown steadily each of the last several years. If that's not actually the case, it is certainly true that the back row gets progressively further from the stage each season.

AND if that's not true, my eyesight is failing faster than I thought.

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WHICHEVER, we down here give credit to Deana Covin, the organizer of the event on behalf of the sponsoring organization, Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation.

THE former director of the World-Famous Rangerettes each year pulls together an hour's-worth of local entertainment and

some spiffy group of celebrities to throw the ceremonial switch and light the derricks.

SOME credit has to go to Mark Fried. Word is surely getting around East Texas that Mark, the music director at Forest Home, is a confident master of ceremonies and a superlative singer.

MAYBE the turnout was helped a little by Thursday night's perfect weather.

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NOW that the season is officially underway - as officially as it can be until Thanksgiving has come and gone - it's time to remind your small children that it's time to mail their letters to Santa Claus.

Letters may be mailed to North Pole Express, Kilgore, Texas 75662-9998. Or you may drop them in the Santa Drop in the lobby of the Kilgore post office.

IF YOUR young charges are techno-savvy, they may e-mail them to Santa at: knhedit@kilgorenewsherald. com

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IF their letter puts you in a generous mood, take their letter to the drop box and, on your way home, deposit some food at Helping Hands.

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AND, finally, we've been assured that there is substance to the rumor about a coming Denny's.

DR. J.T. Roberts, whose company owns the travel plaza at Hwy. 41 and the Interstate, says he's preparing an adjacent tract for a Denny's Restaurant.

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BIRTHDAY celebrants today (Sunday, if you've waited that long to read your newspaper) include Dale McBride, Luke Lockman, Alice Dillon, Trent Ricardson, Cory Swinderman, Collin, Patrick Rice, Vana Callahan, Patrick Williams, Joseph Marzana, Mrs. James Duncan, Donald Wallace, Justin Ross, Scott Vowell, Jenny Waldron, Jody Bittick, Earl Loyd, Jerry Grafton, Lillian Custer, Azzile, Jones, Stefanie Jones, Juanita Dorsey, Lisa Turner, Tony Marote, Jameshia Giddings, Sean Michael Burns.

HAPPY wedding anniversary today to Robert and Carolyn Milton, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Pirtle, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Thompson.

BLOWING out birthday candles on Monday are Taylor McElyea, Mark Rossum, Annette Hunter, Kathryn Lawrence, Michael Adams, Charles Myrick, Sue Courmier, Jerome Collins, Kitty Tennison, Ronald McIntosh, Donald McIntosh, Brandi Barnhart, Wayne Dupree, Charetta Vickery, Susie Snow, Nadia Jinks.

CELEBRATING wedding anniversaries Monday are Jimmy and Pat Adams.