KILGOROUND
BILL WOODALL

WE LOOK FORWARD to Brian Bittick's leadership at the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce over the next year, but we're disappointed that we don't get the benefit of Roland Velvin's year as chairman.

IF Roland could have but stayed the year, we would have had his leadership this year and Brian's next. Kind of a two-fer, if you will.

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WE KNOW you're ready for a real springtime, but put yourself for a moment in the place of sports photographers.

WHEN you sit out in the cold for a soccer match, it's because you've got a child or a grandchild on the field and you're excited -- or should be -- about the game.

WHEN the sports photographer stands along the sideline, bouncing up and down on cold feet, it's not because he has children or grandchildren in the game.

FANS of Texas high school soccer have learned to be tough. They're watching an outdoor sport in mid-winter.

To cope, they now carry propane heaters into the stands with them.

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JUST when you got to thinking that maybe politics aren't strange...

SEN. JOHN Cornyn was in town last week to present a ceremonial check for $1 million to fund a tutoring program, TRIO-Upward Bound, at Kilgore College. The Senator, as it turns out, actually voted against the bill which provided the money.

THE program was included in a bill which restored education funding that had been eliminated in the president's budget. Sen. Cornyn, in many things a supporter of the president and his policies, voted not to restore the funding the president had eliminated, but the bill passed anyway.

SO Sen. Cornyn joined Rep. Louie Gohmert in the limelight, helping hand over the million dollars he voted against.

SEN. Cornyn would tell you, correctly, that he voted against the entire bill -- not just against TRIO-Upward Bound.

POLITICS are still strange.

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THE city is probably going to spend a bunch of money to build a new station for the ambulance crew now housed at fire station #3. Fire station #3 -- the one out Stone Road -- will then be remodeled and re-opened as a fire station.

MUCH of the conversation leading up to the re-opening of the station has said that it will improve your insurance rating and, as a result, your homeowners insurance premiums will go down.

WE will try to remember to keep an eye on our insurance premiums. We'll let you know how much they actually go down.

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HAPPY birthday today (Sunday) to Bubba Pritchett, Tammy Medford, Danny Ross, Lori Wylie Davila, Marilyn Applegate, Rory Dukes, Connie Peralez, Charla Hopkins, Stephanie Ransom, Elisha Griffin, Johnnie R. Davidson, Caroline Alexander, Lindsey Shields, Melanie Northcutt, Dee Dee Sherrod, Dustin Packer, Lynn Welch, Mike Edney, Lisa McGaw, Richard Squick, John Paul Roby, Scottie Robertson, Mildred Hooker, Barbara Wallace, Angie Hogue, Sandra Shelburne, Robert A. Mitchell Jr., Carter Bennett, Suzanne Williams Tomasene Coleman

CELEBRATING wedding anniversaries today are Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Medford, Earl and Betty Petty

MONDAY'S birthday celebrants include Roger Fowler, Weslie Thurston, Anne McElroy, Amanda May, Mrs. J.J. Sale, Jason Hounsel, Mary Sabrina McAlister, M.L. Walker, Clinton Loar, Dennis Edington, Amber Curnutt, Derek Adams, Laura Aquier, Fran Boyle, Mark Fredrick, Ashley Laird, Angelina Devona, Raven Still, Kendall Foster, Krista Small, Cassie Small, Timalon Isaac, Marlana Brittain

HAPPY anniversary Monday

to David and Debbie Chustz, Liz and Brad Bryant