KILGOROUND

AN OLD FRIEND, a former newspaper editor gone on to a more honorable profession, and I used to laugh about the odd ways in which East Texans build their businesses.

IF you're going to run a business in East Texas and you're going to survive the lean years, Bill Owney used to say you'd best be prepared to diversify.

NEAR Pittsburg was the furniture and used tire store. Up in Cass County (home of the now-defunct Miss Marion-Cass Water Conservation District pageant) there was the funeral home that also offered tax service.

RECENTLY I passed a pickup truck with this sign painted on the door: "Graves Bail Bonds and Tire Service."

IF you need to get out of jail and on the road, these are surely the guys to see.

WE think Graves was the family name rather than one of the business services.

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WHEN four-month-old Wyatt Patrick Hurton of Kilgore visited relatives in Red Bluff, Calif., last week the family gathered for one of those unusual Five Generation Photographs.

HE and his mom, Larie Beasley Hurton, visited his grandparents Patrick and D'Lorah Hurton, greatgrandparents Pat and Charleen Hurton and great-great-grandmother Betty Maschinot.

ALMOST as interesting: about 150 miles up I-5 from Red Bluff, the Shakespeare Festival was getting cranked up at Ashland, Ore. And now, back home, the Texas Shakespeare Festival is underway. Young Hurton will come of age thinking all cities have Shakespeare festivals.

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M.D. ANDERSON hospital in Houston suggests grilling vegetables for the fourth of July. Two-thirds of the meal ought to be plant-based, because fruits and vegetables are less likely to cause cancer.

THEY recommend onions, zucchini, asparagus and pineapple. Slice them, brush them with olive or canola oil, add some salt, pepper and vinegar (to bring out the flavor) and throw them on the grill. But don't leave them on the grill too long.

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WITH a special session of the legislature on the horizon, you should be aware your governor's chief of staff, Ray Sullivan, was until recently a lobbyist for HTNB, the senior engineering firm working on the Trans-Texas Corridor.

THAT corridor, you'll recall, was the statespanning toll road the governor wanted built and owned by a private construction firm.

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Blowing birthday candles in the coming days are Olivia Barnes, Corey Blake Valdetero, Mrs. J.T. Bingham, Jamie Woolley, Rudy Roberts, Doris Campbell, Kelsey Clayton, Gwen Ward, Frankie Griffin, Marie Rentz, Mrs. J.R. Thompson, Sandy Sanches, Jay Calvin Williams, Lesa Madden, Ty Cundieff, Buruk Mitchel David Holbrook, Kelly Custer.

Mary Ann Sellers, Susan Wright, Mac Blackstone, Paula Kneeland, Debbie Northcutt, Ed E. Hughes Jr., Teresa Anderson, Bill Joiner, Barbara Ashberry, Frank Baggett Sr., Denise Perry, Mary Hendrix, Jim Mac Wood, Mrs. Britt Dozier, Evelyn Thurmond, Tanya McCarty, James Christopher Baker, Jeane Linthicum.

Caitlin Quinlan, Mickea Anne Smith, Yvette Craig, Billie Lee, Sean Kennedy, Lynn Haily, Leticia Ortiz, Cindi Michelle Wade, Margaret Wilson, April Ward Johnson, Dan Taylor, Max Neel, Elmer Leighton, Wayne Honnsel, Mrs. Pearlie Rossum, Donnie Paul Franklin, Danny Presley, Reggie Daniels, Rachael Lindsey, Adrian Williams, Carson James Lenoir, Jonn Pool, Kelby Free, Antonio Laredo.

Lillian Spinks, Mrs. H.L. Pyle, Ronnie Moore, Tod Hayman, Clay Reagan, Michael Dean Jordan, Danny Taylor, Kathy Majors, Johnnie Ruth Henderson, Freda Rodgers, Troy Johnson, Dianne Morris, Lori Sanders, Eloise Walker, Joe Taylor, Christi Lawler, Tracey Savell, Jacob Dunaway, Tate Nicks, Ray Linthicum, Deborah Varnett, Blayne William Risinger, Ashley Garcia.

Celebrating anniversaries in the coming days are Lee and Debbie Layman.

Mr. and Mrs. B.T. Cherry, David and Shelly Nixon.

Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Monroe, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Merritt.

Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Mendez, Mr. and Mrs.

C.E. Ligon, Roger and Nancy Patterson. Report