KILGOROUND
LESTER MURRAY

Your opportunity to name your very own team is about over.

East Texas Sports Entertainment needs help from the community in naming East Texas' new baseball franchise. And the deadline for submitting a name is Friday.

Be as creative as you like, since minor league and summer collegiate teams are well known for their fun and quirky nicknames. (For example, Kilgore's Jess Todd played with the Batavia, new York Muck Dogs last summer. We're not making that up.)

The best names capture the essence of the area - apparently Batavia is well known for its muck - and identify with the local community, so give it your best shot!

The fan that submits the winning entry will not only win a pair of season tickets for the 2008 season, but also an official team jersey and cap featuring that fan's winning nickname. The winner will also be invited to throw out

a ceremonial first pitch during the inaugural season. If more than one fan submits the chosen name, a winner will be randomly selected from those entries.

The contest will run through Friday and there is no limit to the number of suggestions a fan may submit.

To enter, please submit your suggestion by e-mail to contest@newbaseballteam.c om. You may also mail us your entry to Name Your Team Contest, c/o Kilgore Chamber of Commerce, 813 North Kilgore Street, Kilgore, TX 75663.

And even though the team will play its home games at Driller Park, don't suggest Drillers as a name. That name is taken by a minor league team in Tulsa.

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HAPPY birthday today to Mrs. C.C. Hensley, Jr., Bert KinKaid, Tom McDonald, Lewes I Edwards, Jr., Curtis Wayne Howard, L.G. Morgan, Mrs. James Harvey, Al Riddlesperger, Patricia Rossum Hamilton, Russell Barnhill, Adonnis Centers, Jerome M. Towns III, Lois Johnson, Barry Stone, Amy Dorsey, Marilyn Applegate, Iva Van Meter, Kim Etheridge, Dee Samford.

CELEBRATING wedding anniversaries today are Joe and Peggy Welch, Randy and Dee Williams, Eric and Gina Honzell.