KILGOROUND

YOU'RE SO impressed by the renovation und erway downtown that you'd like to help film a TV commercial, right?

SHOW up at the World's Richest Acre park on Commerce Street at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 16.

MAIN STREET coordinator Fallon Burns will be looking for volunteers to be "extras" in a commercial touting downtown businesses.

IT'LL still be summer, so we recommend bringing cool, potable water with you. And bring a lawn chair; these things often involve waiting.

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1 p.m. ThursdayTO PARAPHRASE THE old Honda commercial, "You meet the nicest people at a Pump Jacks game."

Last week, when the concession stand ran short of mustard, Michael Edwards was prepared. He kept our section supplied with mustard, relish and - even - Tabasco sauce.

+++ IT'S hard for us to understand why people who pro-

fess to like baseball don't attend the Pump Jacks games.

MANY of these athletes have been drafted by professional teams but have chosen to stay in college, hoping to work up to a higher draft position or simply to be sure they earn their degree. Some haven't been drafted but hope to be; others play college ball knowing it will likely be their last competitive effort.

AS the marketing folks would say, "They put a pretty good product on the field."

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THE Alan Fox Band put a pretty good product on the stage at World's Richest Acre Park last Friday night, too.

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THURSDAY night, July 16, Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation brings Wally Fowler and his son Chris to "The Acre."

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OH, sure, we had that hot streak, but it hasn't been all that bad. By the time you went to bed on July 4, the mercury had only hit 100 degrees 10 times this summer. (As of Thursday, we'd not seen triple digits again. Yet.)

BUT, it was a dry heat… Longview weather station receives an average of 4.92 inches of rain in June, according to the National Weather Service. Last month, we received only 1.27 inches.

THROUGH the first six days of July, our average temperature was 3.6 degrees above normal.

+++ A REPORT on the traffic at kilgorenewsherald.com is fascinating. Well, it's fascinating to us.

OF the 5,591 visitors to the News Herald's website last week, 5,319 were from the U.S. The remainder came from 56 countries and territories. That includes 53 from the United Kingdom and 47 from Canada, but it also includes three visitors from Iran, three from Portugal, five from Nigeria and 15 from Australia. There was only one from Macedonia, though.

THOSE visitors read 16.270 pages with the front page getting the most traffic, followed by classifieds and obituaries.

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Those celebrating birthdays for the next few days are Jalayna Bass Davis, Lila Pearce, Christian Tucker, Peggy Howard, Carter Thomas Grooms, Kay Wallace, Melainie Bass, Richard Fowler, Kay Wren Michel, Andrew Simon, Angie Taylor, Tommy Swanson, James Hawley, Jim Wylie, Mary Morrison, Sheila Washington, Teresa Kingsbury, Doris Oglesby, Alec Stone, Karissa Lemly, Rev. E.L. Warren, Wendi Ann Baker, Daniel Garcia, Diane Biggs, Emily Ivins, Alley Marie Davis.

John Graham, Van Cliburn, Mrs. Dorris Wilson, Sandy Moreno, Ramona Richardson, Corey Adams, Amy Lynn Pounders, Martha Smith, Evan Dinger, Margaret Crim, Mike Kerr, Pam Lewis, Debi Conrad, Darrell Gleghorn, Candace Callahan, Mark Lockhart, Heath Witt, Tonie Stanley, Drew Clements, Makala Cornett.

Arlene McDonald, Virginia Long, Mrs. A.P. Merritt Jr., Betty Jo Jeter, Blair Phillips, J. Phillips, Sylvia Bolding, Eva Mae Mills, Jack Coombs, Nicole Kidwell, Gloria Jones, Jenna Warlick, Jennifer Johnson, Sammy Henley Sr., Sam Mallett, Michell Fout, Bret Hedrick, Kelly Brown, David Pentecost Jr., Sara Lugeanbeal, Mrs. Denny M. Smith, Michelle Daniels, Chad Lundgreen, Angela Price.

Dr. John C. Austin, Addie B. Smith, Fannie Smith, Jason Shafer, Kara Camille Lacy, Mary Ann Russell, Linda Melton, Cecilia Johnson, Lindsey Waldrop, Jill Harton, Catherine Collins, Martha Rorschach, Kathy Morgan, Karen Patterson, Kenny Nail, Denise Camp, Randall Clark, Johnny Walker Sr., Donald Badger, Jamar Murphy.

Celebrating anniversaries in the next few days are Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dees, Mr. and Mrs. Brad Dent.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Graham, Chris and Melissa Kirbow.

Albert and Scarlet Chitwood, Mr. and Mrs.Billy Billingsley, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Sanders