KILGOROUND
KATHRYN MARTINEZ

When Kilgore lost Homer Dempsey, VFW Post 6524 commander, we not only lost a WWII veteran, we lost a charitable man who worked his fingers to the bone for the veterans of our community and for those in need.

Friends remember Dempsey as the man who ran BINGO, giving all he could and never asking for anything in return.

He and his wife Toma Dempsey wrote out checks from the struggling VFW Post to Kilgore Crisis Center and Helping Hands every month; each Thanksgiving and Christmas the couple ran annual charity BINGO games to benefit the two organizations.

Helping Hands received $1,700 last Christmas from one such game.

When Homer's health started to decline the VFW closed. No more BINGO and no more charity bingo.

If someone needs a reason to share, or give a special gift, they may remember Homer Dempsey

and pay one forward for him.

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Patterson Chevrolet invites members of Kilgore Chamber of Commerce out as they host Business After Hours. The Chamber of Commerce hopes this is the first of many meet and greets hosted in the business community; Hopes are that one business each month will pick up the ball and run with it.

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Kilgore Boys and Girls Club got off the ground and up and running in less than a year. The club hosts its grand opening and ribbon cutting 4:45 p.m. Wednesday March 26 at 724 E. Harris Street.

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The count down is on for Party in the Patch. Merlyn Holmes, East Texas Treatment Center marketing director and PIP coordinator, has been counting dow for about 350 days. I figure we should start getting excited about now, as April 4th approaches and the Rod Run, and Street Dance near. Don't forget to register for events like horseshoes, dominoes at East Texas Treatment Center, located at 1200 Dudley Road.

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If you see Brian Johnston on Easter Sunday tell him Happy Birthday! He told me last night he is feeling his age and I promised him a friendly reminder for Sunday. How old could he possibly be?

+++ Today is Good Friday.

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On this day in: 1928 - Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight; 1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama; and in 1980 - US President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

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Born on this day in: 1806 - Benito Juárez, Mexican statesman and national hero (d. 1872); 1904 - Forrest Mars Sr., American candymaker (d. 1999); and in 1949 - Eddie Money, American musician.

Blowing out the candles on this Good Friday are (our coworker) Charlotte Smith, Amy Watson, Vera Nix, David Farrar, Joe Dickerson, Jim Maxwell, Stevie Wallace, Stacey Morris, Jeremy Ferguson, Judy Morgan, Travis Crews Jr., Wendy Brock, Annece Smith, Ida Roberson, Greg Hogue, Brian Weaver, Stanley Burton, Judy Sanders, Shelly Gounah, Nikki Hamilton, Chuckie Stafford, Betty Ormes, Mumphrey McArthur, Larry Massenburge, Stacy Morris, and someone close to my heart, my son Michael O. Mills.

Celebrating another year together today are Gary and Barbara Hassell, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Thomas Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Fonzell Jackson, Maxey and Cathy Cerliano, Robbi and Joseph Heard.

And celebrating a birthday on Saturday are Jadean Roberts, Diane Patterson, Renee Fernandez, Mrs. J.C. Arthur, Sam Powe, Jim Hedrick, Larry Peterson, Toyon Elkedre Powe, Jenny Johns, Kelly Brightwell, Mike Bean, Bo Bolding, Elizabeth Fite, Lucenthia Farste, Kim Meadows, Julia Kenney, James Thompson, Kiara Janay Roberson, McKinnon White, Sarah Lee Barela, Kiara Roberson.

Happy Anniversary on Saturday to Mr. and Mrs. Odis W. Kirk.