Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 15

TELEVISION, COMICS INSIDE SECTION TT TV MARK YOUR CALENDARS I Service opportunities abound in this month's i Outreach Calendar5B 1 I Hv TPENSACOLA January winds down from the holidays, but there are i -A Jq3J still plenty of art exhibits, plays and other activities3B Pensacola, Florida TO REPORT A LIFE STORY: 435-8566 Monday, January 1,1996 Donna Freckmann infrairii nan Good News a a a Angels give foster kids gifts, love Unity Angels of the Unity Church of Christianity of Pensacola entertained and gave gifts to 65 foster children who are housed and currently cared for by the Children's Home Society. The minister, the Rev. Terry Ware, along with Ken Shugart, Lil Saulich and Katie Kissel, were key helpers along with members of the congregation. 1 ii ri'lKij 3, TIT li.rt.ili inr 1. 1 1 1 iii 11,1 1 1 ill.

-il I niir- in 111 in 1 Starting today, there's a new comic to make you laugh at life's little things AFTER THE STORM: WFGX TV-35 donated more than $11,000 to the Salvation Army to help in the continuing recovery from Hurricane Opal. The money raised came from phenomenal growth period. Fifty-five newspapers ran the comic in 1990. That number more than doubled, toll8, by 1993. By 1995, more than 250 newspapers were carrying the strip, which drew rave reviews from people of all ages and genders in the News Journal poll.

Rick Baney, 31, said he is glad his favorite strip won the balloting. "It's a great strip," he said. "I read it all the time when I lived in San the sales of the two-hour documentary video, "Hurricane Opal By Mark Bradley News Journal staff writer Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott tried for years to develop a comic strip that would make people laugh and bring them national attention. They tried "Hide and Seek," which was about a miner looking for gold. It didn't pan out.

They faired a bit better in the late 1970s with a strip called "Copps and Robberts." It was about two policemen and made its way into 35 papers. But in the and Robberts" didn't arrest the public's attention well enough to keep their badges. Then the two Arizona men decided to write about something they knew a bit about parenthood. Kirkman and Scott struck pay dirt chronicling the lives of a 30-something couple who are first-time parents in the strip "Baby Aftermath. Air Products and Chemicals in Pace recently donated $10,000 to the American Red Cross Disas-ter Relief Fund to help with J- 1 If I rr-r-m i Diego." Emily Marsaw, 17, describes the strip as "cute." "It was funny how the parents didn't know what the kid was thinking," she said.

And, in a time when comic strips seem to be taking on a more politically and socially aware attitude, Marsaw said it's nice to read a comic that is recovery enorts tor victims. "We are pleased to assist the Red Cross so families and businesses in our community affected by Opal will be able to rebuild," said Brian Gebbia, nlnnt. mnnacer. Marsaw GREATTEACHERS: Donald Johnson, a teacher at Pine Forest High School, was chosen Escambia County's Outstanding Blues." Nationally syndicated in nearly 300 papers, the strip debuts in the Pensacola News Journal today after a readers' poll helped to select a strip to replace the retiring "Calvin and Hobbes." You could say that Kirkman, 42, and Scott, 40, searched, well, Hi and Lo(is) for a successful formula before realizing that it was cooking on the Year in a contest sponsored by the Pensacola Chapter of Daughters of the American iiCVUlULlUll. Mrs.

L. L. Mabie. chapter committee chair, announced the winner, saving Johnson's dossier Viaa Kaon cnnf tho ctafo pnn simply "fun and relaxing." Kirkman and Scott said they feel they stumbled onto a good idea at a great time. "It was pretty accidental that we decided to do this about parenting," Scott said.

"There is kind of a renewed baby boom going on." Plus, Kirkman is more of a focus on the family." Baby talk In the early years, "Baby Blues" was more of a reflection of the Kirkman household. "It is -sort of a mosaic from things we know and -people we know," said Scott, who writes the "gags" at his home in Cave Creek, and faxes them to Kirkman, who draws the strip in his Phoenix studio. "Since my daughter was born, probably a lot more of it is from directly what goes on in my house," Scott said. "In the very beginning (when they lived near each other) I used our sessions together as therapy," said Kirkman, whose children are now 11 and 8. Scott's daughter is 2.

The two men say the reason the comic -appeals to such a wide range of people is that there is an entry point for everyone. Children relate to Zoe. Parents and wannabe See NEW, 4B SEE FOR YOURSELF: Get familiar with Darryl, Wanda and Zoe6B i', test tor juaging. Johnson was chosen Outstand- ing Teacher at Pine Forest in 1990. "The teaching of American history is critical if we are to think critically, set goals and make decisions that will benefit ourselves, our society and the world," Johnson said.

i. i stove right under their noses. In 1988, Kirkman and his wife Sukey were adjusting to life after the birth of their second child. Brainstorming sessions for the new strip often turned into Scott playing therapist to a venting Kirkman. "We'd go down to his office with the premise of coming up with the new strip, and all he could talk about was the new baby and what an incredible amount of work it was," Scott said.

"One day we finally said, let's give up on coming up with a great idea and let's take what's right in front of us," Kirkman said. Whoa, baby! Since 199p, "Baby Blues," which features parents Darryl and Wanda MacPherson and their daughter, Zoe, has gone through a yjKi micaies ui uppi eviauuu trom the signea Dy I Charles Kemper, president general, and Mrs. Curtis Kohr, Pensacola chapter regent, were given to 19 other teachers participating in the contest including Katherine Pomeroy, rtaiiKV iviiuuic oiuuui. tt iiiicuu Malov Jr Bellview Middle: Thomas Crowson, Brentwood Middle; Helen Ruth Towns, Brown Barge Middle; Mary Facemire. Brownsville Middle: Here's the news: Network switch means more news 1 1 i ll luiisiau, wai ver Middle; Anita Yarbrough, Ferry Pass Middle; Margaret Edmisten, Ransom Middle; THE SWITCH THE NEWS uanna uicKey, crnesi wara Middle; Olivia Cruz, Warrington Middle; Wendy Middle and Wendy Zirkin, Workman Middle.

Contestants from countv hieh schools were Dorothy Kendall, Beggs Educational Center; Julia McShane, Escambia; it back to the studio and doing the broadcasts. The only thing we haven't done is hit the Ai? button." WALA, with an established news staff of 50, will increase its local news from three hours to five hours each weekday as a Fox affiliate. WALA was sold in August by Burnham Broadcasting Co. to SF Broadcasting of Mobile, a joint venture of Savoy Pictures Entertainment and Fox Television Stations. The sale was part of a $280 million package which included the sale of three other Burnham stations.

The sale left WPMI, owned by Clear Channel Communications in Texas, without a network and NBC without an area affiliate, so the NBC-WTMI union was a natural one, Comegys said. broadcast will focus exclusively on Pensacola news, said Andy Comegys, WPMI general manager. WPMI news anchors Annette Falwell, a former weekend anchor for WEAR, Channel 3, and Gary Mattingly, formerly a news anchor for New Orleans' NBC affiliate, will also anchor the WJTC newscast. WALA will keep its current news anchors, said general manager Joe Cook. "We're ready to go with the same people and even be stronger in 1996," Cook said.

Comegys said his upstart news crew has been practicing for the real thing. "We've been rehearsing for a couple of weeks," he said. "We've been gathering news and bringing By Troy Moon News Journal staff writer The big news is more news today as Fox and NBC networks move to new stations on your television. At 11:30 p.m. Sunday, WALA, Channel 10, NBC's local affiliate for 42 years, became a Fox station, while former Fox affiliate WPMI, 1 Channel 15, teamed with NBC.

Both stations promise heavy emphasis on local coverage, and the result will be 12 more weekday hours of news. WPMI, which as a Fox affiliate didn't have a news team or news broadcast, will now use its 43-person news staff to produce a Monday-through-Friday nightly newscast for WJTC, Channel 44, which is operated by WPMI. WJTC's 9 p.m. half-hour news Noon to 12:30 p.m., with anchors Eric Reynolds and Nancy Pierce 5 to 6 p.m., with anchors Bob Grip, Nancy Pierce and Dave Daughtry 6 to 6:30 p.m., with anchors Bob Grip and Deiah Foster 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., with anchors Bob Grip, Deiah Foster and Dave Daughtry WJTC, channel 44, weekday local news broadcast: 9 to 9:30 p.m., with anchors 1 Annette Falwell and Gary Mattingly WPMI, Channel 15, weekday local news broadcasts: 6 to 7 a.m., with anchors Alan Lyle and Kristen McFann 5 to 5:30 p.m., with anchors Annette Fatwell and Gary Mattingly 6 to 6:30 p.m., with anchors Annette Falwell and Gary Mattingly 10 to 10:30 p.m with anchors Annette Falwell and Gary Mattingly WALA, Channel 10, weekday local news broadcasts: 6 to 8 a.m., with anchors Eric and Eleanor Reynolds Northview; Kent Rettig, I Pensacola; Gene Creighton, i Washington; and Bill Willis, Woodham.

TW U.rnAl lmMA all rniWnn- tn 1 1 TO ixowa uuuinai 11 ivhd an loauoia iv contribute special events or notes. Write to Good News, Pensacola News Journal, P.O. Box 1 271 0, Pensacola, FL 32574. or to the electronic mail auuitro ufiiiiwwaui.vum. 11 jsffcjj(ii CZSS21EZ3.

Football Widows Game Day: Noon today, the American Legion Post 340, 8890 Ashland Ave. 477-8094. Tijuana, Mexitlan Dec. 12, 1995 --j Did my Christmas shopping at border town of Tijuana, Mexico, last month. C.

Meyers The top 10 country albums of 1995: 1. DwightYoakam. "Gone" (Reprise). 2. Emmylou Harris, "Wrecking Ball" (Asylum).

3. Trisha Yearwood, Thinkin' About You" (MCA). 4. Dale Watson, "Cheatin' Heart Attack" (Hlghtone). 5.

Shelby Lynne, "Restless" (Magnatone) 6. Guy Clark, Dublin Blues" (Asylum). 7. Kevin Welch, "Life Down Here on (Dead Reckoning). 1 8.

Rosie Flores, "Rockabilly Filly" (High- I tone). 9. George Jones Tammy Wynette, "One. (MCA). 10.

Heather Myles, "Untamed" (Hightone). Knight-Ridder Innovative Thinking Month Diet Month March of Dimes Birth Defects Prevention Month National Be On-Purpose Month National Careers in Cosmetology Month National Eye Care Month National Hot Tea Month Oatmeal Month This week Is: Diet Resolution Week Universal Letter-Writing Week Intention deficit disorder: Are you going to keep those resolutions this time around? "If you are serious about making and keeping your New Year's resolutions, take one step further and ask yourself why you have the habit," says Widener university psychology professor Robert L. Myers. "It might help you keep your resolutions and, in the end, feel better about yourself." Tijuana is located just across the border, about 10 miles south of San Diego. Ten everyone what you've discovered in your travels by sending a postcard to: Life.

P.O. Box 12710, Pensacola. FL 32574. We'll share one each week with our readers. I 1 A i I 1 II- i w.c"" i i.