KILGOROUND

THURSDAY NIGHT will be a busy one in Kilgore. We’ve got: Christmas in the Patch, sponsored by the Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation, at the World’s Richest Acre Park at 6 p.m.; the Kilgore Community Concert Association will host piano prodigy Rudolf Budginas at Dodson Auditorium at 7; and the KC Drama Department’s production of “Steel Magnolias” in the Van Cliburn Auditorium begins at 7:30.

The KHPF gathering is free; look inside this edition for all of the details.

Admission to the KCCA concert is by season ticket, available at the door for $45 for adults (this price includes other concerts, as well). Students are admitted free. For ticket info call 903-983- 2834 or 903-984-7753.

Admission to the KC play is $6 for adults, $5 for students and $4 with a KC ID card. The box office will open one hour prior to each performance and nobody will be admitted after the pro- duction begins.

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Speaking of the KCCA concert at Dodson Auditorium, Claud Wallace called the office Tuesday to say a shuttle bus will be available to concert-goers beginning at 6 p.m. The bus will ferry folks from the big parking lot south of the East Texas Oil Museum (across Broadway Street from Christ the King Catholic Church) to the auditorium.

The concert begins at 7 so students may attend and be home in plenty of time to do homework and/or get some shuteye, Claud added.

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THE SWEETEST little girl dropped off her “Turkey Scramble” entry at our office Monday afternoon and told us she really, really, really, REALLY hopes she wins a turkey so her dad will stay home for Thanksgiving instead of going hunting.

The way she said it absolutely broke our hearts. I don’t know her name, but hunting dads everywhere might want to reconsider their plans for the upcoming holiday.

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SOMETHING INCREDIBLE happened a couple of weeks ago and Friday will be my last day at the Kilgore News Herald as I was offered the position of publisher of the Citizens Journal in Atlanta and the Cass County Sun in Linden. It’s one of only two offers I can think of that would spur me to leave Kilgore (the other is to work for the New Orleans Times-Picayune because I love NOLA and they have the absolute juiciest news!).

Atlanta is my hometown. I began my newspaper career in the Citizens Journal business office when I was in high school and then went on to do several other jobs at the Journal and the Sun before and after I got my journalism degree.

I never thought I would go home but after my beloved father died in May 2008 I became terribly homesick and prayed that somehow, someday I could return to be near my mother and my many relatives in Cass County, a place my dad’s family has called home for more than 100 years.

I leave Kilgore and Gladewater, where I have lived for the past 18 years, with heavy heart. The past 14 months have been a wonderful experience and I have been so impressed with this thriving little city, its leaders and, most of all, its people. I’m grateful to Bill Woodall for giving me the opportunity to work for the News Herald and Kilgore will forever hold a special place in my heart.

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Celebrating birthdays in the coming days are Tony Moore, Jean Austin, Anthony Coleman, Lisa Ann Ancelet, Dollie Mae Luster, Casey D, Cooper, Laurie Comer, Brandon Welch, Mary Caddell, Darnetta Strong, H.J. Holland, Charlotte Rhodes, Christopher Hinton, Carlos SanJuan.

Rick Jones, Brandy Patton, Betty Fowler, Kaye Watson, Barbara Young, Joe Johnson, Robert Garcia, Chris Mount, Irene Shepard, Joe Beall, Phyllis Nelson, Daniel Samford, Barbara Thurmand, James E. Ware, Nora Jo Fox, Anissa Tomlinson, Mark Gaudet, Jimmy Smith, Mark Killingsworth, Billy Clarke, David F. Hooker, Dianne Lyle.

Alma Nell Farmer, Daniel Chappell, Bill Brantley, Darryl Wright, Cliff Yowell, Judy Johnson, Mrs. Clarence Matthews, Brad Barnhart, Troy Jones, Jean Anderson, Harold Burkett, Ernie Paul, John E. Daniels, Derek Muckleroy, Herbert Hale, Timothy Hilburn, Wilson Dickson, Kelly Laird, Collin Clower, Rene Terry, J.R. Aman, Tracey Blackman, Stephanie Batson, Sammie Lewis, Cathy Arnold, Ricki Overman, Natasha Webster, Tea Andrews, Willie Brown, Alex Shockley, Payton Evans, Nadia Gilliam, Kirk Hagg, Docia Bamberg, McKenna Marler, Rene’ Clark.

Celebrating anniversaries in the coming days are Mr. and Mrs. Roger Timms, Roger and Patty Fowler.

Mr. and Mrs. Gary Moore.