Tyler Morning Telegraph from Tyler, Texas • 22

Tyler Morning Telegraph WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1 991 Sec. 3 WHAT AGUYI IPedDipDe Him TTcpuikbCii Sfiimc 953 rr' MY RECd. I WA5 RELEASED ON MY OWl RECOGNIZANCE. QLTTAQUE CAP) Whether he is in the lobby of a hospital, riding in a car or sitting in a hotel room, O.R. Stark strives to ensure that his occasional" newsletter never misses a month.

I started it in 1953, we were going to publish it occasionally," he said. "But I've only missed one month since then. Stark, president of First National Bank in Quitaque, said he began "Comings, Goings, Doings" as a way to keep in touch with bank customers. "At that time, people were not as mobile as they are today," he said. "We didn't see customers as often, so we wanted a method to contact them regularly." Stark's newsletter is not the usual company publication that accompanies the monthly statement His is a lgbUfelMgg GARFIELD "The Comancheros would trade their goods to the Indians for stolen cattle," Stark said.

"The name came from the captives the Indians sometimes took. You could hear the wails of the mothers and children a3 they were separated." The Valley of Tears was the largest trading spot, he said; Charles Goodnight estimated that the Indians traded more than 300,000 stolen head of cattle and more than 100,000 stolen horses to them over several years. Stark said he tries not to write too much on any one subject because readers' interests are so varied. "What interests one might not interest others," he saii "But there is just news everywhere, if you keep your eyes and ears open." 1 He needs only a pen and paper, scenery is not import-ant. "I usually do it late at night at home in longhand," he said.

"But I have written it in the lobbv of a hospital, while riding in a car, sitting in a field and while on vacation. But I have never written it at the bank. There's just not time to do it here." Stark dictates his scribbles to his secretary, who types it into a word processor and edits it. The copy is printed out and taken to the Briscoe County News, which prints about 3,000 copies of the newsletter. Besides the several hundred copies that are mailed to bank customers, Stark said another mailing list that goes to more than 20 states comprises the rest of the 3,000 letters printed.

"One of our customers found a copy of it in a library in Germany he said. "I have no idea how it got there. Stark, who majored in finance and minored in journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, said that when he began his job at the Quitaque bank, he thought he never would have an opportunity to use his writing de- gree. i i real newsletter one that contains state and local -information that might interest readers. "Comings, Goings, Doings" is just that and contains everything from slogans, local happenings and agriculture updates to chamber news and local history, he said.

"I get material from everywhere," he said. There are things we hear about here at the bank, and people tell us about other events. I always have more than I can put in." Bank customers have come up with so many slogans, Stark said, that he has several hundred of them back-logged for future newsletters. Because the slogans got such a favorable reaction from newsletter petrons, Stark created a small booklet titled "Mini Motivators" that contains several hundred of them. Stark said his first love in the monthly newsletters' content is local history.

"I really love to dig into the history of this area," he said. "I have to watch myself, or I put more of it in than I should." i 4 One famous Indian-Comanchero trading spot the Valley of Tears lies four miles southwest of Quitaque, he said. I have really enjoyed it over the years, he said. Hike to gather the information, and I like writing it, too, especially when it is of historical interest." Qa tfrodlemnl Mnnge V5ce Him Mglm Enll 6CINO LAZV HAS ONE Of WHICH 115 ADVANTAGES (NOT HAVING TO TELL LUANN I'VE DEVELOPEO A I HOW MAWV ElEPHAUT 6LW1Wee, I 1 QoMjr) 1 wit wanua. Viakt I cfftweoiNA 4at makes riiS pkuihe.) hear fwt 5ea MEAB A JOKE? PIO IWB0L3? 14 CLZ ABSOUKUlV 0M6 WA5 1 GETTING REAP "TO CALVIN AND HOBBES PT I AUOOF? I RIGHT THft WU.

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KEN' IF EPWIE HAS I IVlJ V. WHEN VOuVE SCREWED DONALD DUCK WANT SOME VtXJ MAKE (T I rOl? 7 171 KNOCK OFF THE HELP LIFTING 1 SOUND UKEfM 1 NOiSES. THAT BOX, TOO OLD TO DO lUi AvTOs W16E GUYV WJJ' BLONDIE 7 LOOK BIS I rT ISN'T I I THAT'S RI0HT, MR XPOBTTH6 FOOT I TOE'S TURNED AU. -I IT'S BUJB ITS IS 06T I GASOLINE ALLEY cpsh! Lookout! Nobody uses brakes Not to worry f-y- -r- Everyone drives like the JUDGE PARKER YOUR SON GOES TO NIGHT YES MEANWHILE tmpv fiAV TTMAT'fi RiFti-fT COURT SOON, MR. DUNCAN DRIVER 1 YOU HElSTED A CHURCH, I "DUDE" NOW WHY DID YOU REACH igg SAID HE DUDE YOU MUST BELL.

DON'T YOU JUST AN ATTORNEY? 17 WOULD I REALLY TOUOH A ilBACK OFF BEFORE JWOr. REGULAR ENEMY rTTH, YOU GET US ALL jpg dents to speak in public," said Prin- cipal J.B. Wilson. "This helps them do that." Ms. Smith, the assistant treasurer and a devoted listener, agrees.

"When they first start out, they're all really nervous," Ms. Smith said. "By the end of the year, they sound more comfortable on the air. Adds Ms. Crawford, who also teaches Spanish and senior English: "It also gives the kids exposure to something they don't get a lot of exposure to.

A lot of kids in bigger cities don't get that kind of (educational) exposure." Radio work also teaches the students responsibility, Wilson said the students decide what to play and what to say. That's a Crawford innovation. In the past, radio teachers have mandated an all-country play list or limited rock music to a few hours a day. Students say half their classmates like country; the other half, rock. "I give them the freedom to play what they want," said Ms.

Crawford, also a country fan. "Some of that (rock) stuff is all right, but I really don't like it when it gets too twan- By- The only on-the-air rules: no obscenities or controversial topics. There is no minute-by-minute faculty supervision of daily broadcasts, so students are expected to censor themselves. Wilson, to show his support, keeps the music on in his office, regardless of what's being played. He may be Texas' only public school official listening to ACDC and Motley Crue at work.

Day-to-day operation typically goes smoothly, with little dead air time and only a few gaffes on the air, Crawford said. One student sheepishly admitted saying "what the nell while the studio microphone was on. Most of the students stumble through the required news readings, fulfilling those class requirements with little enthusiasm. Dwane Talley, 17, a towering player for the Plains Cowboys football team, doesn't speak on the air. Never has.

"I just like music," he says. A great deal of KPLN music comes from an assembled tape of country and softer rock called "the lunch tape," since that's when it's intended to be played. The lunch tape gets a lot of play throughout the day. During a recent visit to the school, the tape was played at least four times between 8:30 a.m. and noon.

Hill, like a couple of other DJs, brings his own music, which can best be classified as "just-this-side-of-heavy-metal." Unlike the others. Hill doesn't read news over the air, nor does he keep the log. Three others in the PLAINS (AP) In a tiny room behind the trophy case at Plains High School, student disc jockey Mark Hill is ready to rock. "It was either this or wood shop," he said, explaining how he ended up on KPLN, Texas' only high school radio station and the state's smallest licensed broadcast facility. The FM station, with a signal that barely reaches beyond the city limits, is an anomaly in the radio world non-commercial, non-competitive and non-programmed.

Take a typical afternoon on 90.3, for example. "Hill, a 19-year-old senior, reached into his cassette case, pulled out Def Leppard's "Hysteria," and shoved it into the tape player. "Most oi the adults here like country music," he said with a smirk, leaning back in his chair. "I like rock." Across the street at the Yoakum County Courthouse, the first strains of another frenetic rocker came through desktop radios in a half-dozen offices. "I like to listen to the kids and hear what's going on at the school, what the kids are doing," said Debbie Smith, assistant county treasurer.

Student disc jockeys say their most loyal listeners are at the courthouse. And rock music, say grinning students, really hits a nerve with the women who work there. Like How. As Ms. Smith speaks, a shrieking guitar solo comes over the radio.

She sighs and turns down the volume. "Most of the time, I like the music," she said with her own smirk. Music disagreements aside, the 200-watt station has a devoted audience. At the 138-student school, it's played at a low level over the public address system into any classroom that wants to listen. Other stations are available to Plains radio fans, but KPLN remains popular locally it can be heard playing in the few local businesses and, of course, at the courthouse.

From 8 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. the length of the school day students taking Janie Crawford's radio class file into the makeshift control booth to take their turn in the chair. To earn their grade, they gather stories from the school's own Associated Press news wire machine and read a few over the air. Thev search through the station's recora collection, which hasn't been updated for two years, and play a few old albums on the slightly off-speed turntables.

And they're required, by federal law and class policy, to keep a log of everything that goes on the air. Administrators say the radio station serves a purpose. "It's really difficult for some stu class do it for him, he says with teenage bravado. It affects his grade, but he doesn't seem to care. "If I do everything, I get a 97," he said matter-of-factly.

"If I do nothing, I get a 90. can live with a 90." Weirdest on-the-air occurrence? Several years ago, students and teachers say, seniors were interviewed on the air about their future plans when one young man, apparently at a loss for a legitimate an- swer, said he'd probably end up assassinating the president. That prompted a swift response from the district's assistant superintendent, who bolted from his office and ran to the station from an adjacent building to take charge of the situation. The student was disciplined. But the station stayed on the air.

Terry Isaacs, a former Plains history teacher and KPLN's first general manager, said the station started in 1977 when a high school math teacher with an electronics hobby pitched the idea to the school board. Trustees liked the idea and bought equipment. The math teacher assembled the control room. Isaacs, who worked his way through Texas Tech University working at Lubbock radio stations, selected students for the staff. Things have gone smoothly for the most part.

Richie Cullins, another math teacher who served as radio teacher in the early '80s, said one brush with disaster occurred when he noticed the station was operating at half the power level for which it was licensed. He dutifully brought it to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission, the national regulatory agency for television and radio broadcast stations. "They asked me if I had legal representation," Cullins said with a laugh. The station boosted its signal and the FCC was satisfied. After the first few years of operation, costs for the station have Deen low, Wilson said.

Now, the district's only major expense is $150 a month for inspection and maintenance of the equipment. A few former student DJs have used the KPLN experience as a springboard for their careers. Irma Lazos, a KPLN disc jockey in 1982-83, now works at ABC's 2020 news program as a production assistant. "It gave me the feeling of what the business was," she said. "It was good experience." Lydia Jimenez, a city utility department clerk and mass communications major at nearby South Plains College, said working on the radio station helped her overcome a fear of public speaking and reinforced her desire to study journalism.

South Texas Boxer Sets Sights llii WSBtiD Bantamweight Crown LAREDO (AP) Like two old fa-miliar dance partners cutting across the floor to a well-known tune, Gaby Canizales and trainer Reynaldo Infante prepare for glory. Jose "Gaby" Canizales meets Miguel "Happy" Lora for the World Boxing Organization's bantamweight crown March 12 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills. Infante helped Canizales through some paces here in Laredo before the 30-year-old boxer went to Detroit last week to finish preparations for his fifth title shot. During a workout in Laredo, Infante stayed in, front of Canizales, calling out steps, jabs, bobs, ducks and various moves that are not only intended to inflict more hits upon Lora but avoid punches with natural motion. "Las piernas, Gaby," Infante reminds Canizales to move his legs as he works over the sped bag in the Laredo Boxing Club's Canizales gym in an old fire station on Guadalupe Street.

"It makes you more alert," Canizales said smiling of the lower-body oriented workouts under Infante. "I'm gonna be ready for this fight." Canizales, 46-8-1, is coming off a draw and split decision in a pair of recent Arizona bouts. He has said that this might be his last attempt, to take a title. He previously held a world's title (World Boxing Association) in 1986 when he knocked out Californian Richard Sandoval in a Las Vegas bout. Canizales only held that title for a few months.

Lora and Canizales have never met in the ring but have a common opponent in Tyuana, Mexico's Raul "Jibaro" Perez. Perez took his current World Boxing Council bantamweight title away from Lora, a Colombian living in Miami, and Canizales fell short in an attempt to take that same crown away from Perez early last year. Lora is a year or two older than Canizales. "He is probably an inch or two taller than me," said Canizales who has seen Lora fight. "He's not that big.

Not that tall. From what I remember he uses a lot of the ring. I haven't seen one of his fights in a while. 'Tve seen him down several times. I think that was against Jibaro and Wilfredo Vasquez put him down.".