KILGOROUND
MITCH LUCAS

THE ANNUAL spring band concert, normally held at city park, has been moved to the high school gym because of the threat of rain.

THE SHOW starts tonight at 6:30 p.m.

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I HAVEN'T HAD THE OPPORTUNITY to do this, since they didn't get back until after my Kilgoround last week, but I wanted to say thank you and welcome home to the 56th Infantry Brigade combat team of the Kilgore National Guard. These folks did our area proud, served their country in Iraq and were recognized for that service in a ceremony last week.

Some of them, as I understand, may be returning to Iraq, but no matter what, we appreciate your service and the commitments you've made to helping keep this country the very best in the world.

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THIS IS THE TIME of year when being a sports writer for a newspaper is kind of like being a May-

tag repairman in those old TV commercials - you don't have a lot to do.

With the athletic school year now done, I do have a few things to wrap up, some signings that we'll be announcing over the next few days. There will be a few major golf tournaments here this summer that will be here before we know it (the Meadowbrook Classic in July, for instance). The Kilgore Boys Baseball Association's allstar teams will be traveling before long, and a couple of important tournaments will be played here.

And fortunately for me, there's also the East Texas Pump Jacks this year.

If you haven't heard, or if you're passing through and just happened to buy a copy of the paper, the Texas Collegiate League, a wooden-bat baseball league which uses college players between their seasons, has decided to locate a franchise here. They will play home games at Driller Park, and open the season on the road June 10, with the first home game scheduled for June 12. They're signing players right now.

It should be some good baseball, and I'm looking forward to it.

If you want to find out more, they have a website: it's pumpjacksbaseball.com. There, you can do more than just read a little about the team. You can read more on the players they've signed so far, see the team's colors and logos, and even order season tickets.

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THE ATHLETIC SCHOOL YEAR is not over for the Overton High School baseball team. They're still swinging in the UIL Class 1A playoffs, and go again on Friday, a best-of-three-game series against McCleod in Harmony. Game 1 of the series will begin Friday night in Harmony at 6 p.m., and Game 2 will be Saturday, also in Harmony, a 2 p.m. start.

If a Game 3 is needed, it'll follow Game 2.

Here's hoping the Mustangs keep it going.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL those involved in the Kilgore area Relay for Life effort, which raises funds to help fight cancer, and also honors those who passed from the disease and those who are cancer survivors. Kilgore's Relay for Life has raised $84,600 this year, a very, very good total.

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ALSO A CONGRATULATIONS to local businessman A.P. Merritt, who was named Small Business Person of the Year for the Dallas/Fort Worth branch of the Small Business Administration. That's quite a feather in the cap of not just Mr. Merritt, but the Kilgore business community.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY to T.H. Anderson III, Judy Hill, Jeana Phipott, Mrs. L.E. Foster, Woodrow Drennan, Elaine Berkley, Truman Lee Taylor, Jessie Jones, Charles Driver, Johnny C. Moore, Rexanna McCubbin, Danny Goodwin, Anne Turk, Marchale Glasco Clark, Chloe Reeves, Mildred L. Brittain.

In the way of celebrity birthdays today, we don't have quantity, but we have quality. Celebrating today are singer Stevie Wonder (58), actor Buck Taylor (of "Gunsmoke" fame; he's 70), actor Harvey Keitel (69), and country singer Lari White (43).