Citizens Journal (Atlanta, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 25, 1983 Page: 2 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 18 x 13 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
PAGE 2-C1TIZENS JOURNAL, ATLANTA, TEXAS, AUGUST 25, 1983
FROM PAGE ONE
Silver Screen Cowboy
CLASSIC FILM BUFFS will recognize "Frontier Mar-
shall" Art Davis. Or maybe they remember him as the
singing, fiddling cowboy alongside Gene Autry. Davis
fiddling is second to none, although he would make an
exception for Jascha Heifetz. The plaques and
memorabilia line the walls of his studio house on the
outskirts of Bloomburg.
Elementary Teacher Earns Thanks
The first grader's mother called the
teacher when she heard her child's
report of the first day in class.
Whatever the mother heard caused
her to thank Sharon Magee.
There were two other phone calls.
One parent couldn't find the school
bus stop. Magee told her the changes
that had been made and gave the
parent the number of the bus that
would stop where it should.
The third phone call was from a
parent wondering how her child stood
up to a full day of first grade.
She could avoid bringing school pro-
blems home if only Sharon Magee
didn't write her phone number on the
board the first day.
There's a simple explanation.
"I love what I do," she said.
BEGINNING AT 8 a.m. 26 6-year-
olds were turned over to her class. At
mid-afternoon they were still hinged
on her voice, watching the screen
where numerals loomed, where the
shadow of her pointer touched dif-
ferent parts of numbers. The one, it
touched once, the two it touched twice,
the three three times and so on.
The first graders followed the
pointer's shadow from point to point on
the numbers, coloring in the proper
number of dots on each number.
Everybody but Magee worked at
their desk, a curious fact to a 6-year-
old.
"Why's your paper up there?" the
girl asking the question pointed to the
screen.
QUESTION, QUESTIONS, ques-
tions, and Magee is fair game for
anybody from administrators to
parents.
The school schedules her "con-
ference" period, 45 minutes when
parents have priority over any odd
jobs she could be handling.
The "parent priority" is her own in-
terpretation of a school board policy.
"They call it a 'conference' period,"
she said.
Often, she's more comfortable
scheduling parent conferences after
school.
"It's hard to fit all of your emotions
into a time block," she said.
HAVING HER OWN classroom in
the Atlanta school system is something
new to Magee this year. Last year,
because of a lack of classroom space,
she and her first graders spent their
days in a foyer open to hallways on
either side, the back door of the school
office emptied into their area from a
third side.
The traffic provided constant and
endless opportunity for distraction.
"I don't stop for interruptions," she
said. Magee's idea of teaching goes
hand in hand with a "new" concept of
"assertive discipline" incorporated in-
to Atlanta classrooms last year.
"Like today," she said, in reference
to the moment of day one at school
when a photographer strolled in, un-
announced, un-invited. "Nothing stops
me from teaching."
ONE THING MOST 6-vear-olds
recognize is a camera. They're en-
couraged to smirk, smile and play for
a camera. It's part of the culture.
But because she hadn't planned on a
photo session interruption, Magee kept
right on teaching. She didn't react, so
her kids didn't react. They kept right
on being students, she kept right on be-
ing a teacher.
With some teachers, there's no time
for anything but teaching.
Magee has a pair of goals for the
school year.
By May, first graders should be able
to handle addition and subtraction and
shouldn't back off from any number,
so long as it isn't more than 99.
She also hopes to produce a crop of
fluent readers.
"A lot of it depends on the child," she
said. "You don't always reach your
goal, but you must have it set."
There's no time to waste, not for
these first graders. Work starts the
first day.
Writes
alendar
f Events
This Week:
Thursday, A ug. 25
Sad Trash
Dear Editor:
I am very unhappy about the city
sanitation. For two weeks I've tried to
get them to pick up hedges that we've
cut down. I have a next-door neighbor
that has the same problem.
The city manager is always conve-
niently out of his office or can't be
reached.
Mrs. Houston Foster
The Atlanta school board will hold a
workshop at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to
consider the proposed budget for the
1983-84 school year.
The proposed budget calls for a
61-cent tax rate.
The board will take final action on
the budget at a 7:30 p.m. Aug. 29
meeting.
The board will take action that night
following a public hearing on the
budget.
School Board President Weldon Gib-
son requested the budget workshop
prior to the public hearing.
The Cass County Geneological Socie-
ty will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at
Atlanta Memorial Library.
J.J. Schefflin, a noted genealogist,
will be the speaker. He will discuss the
first Miller County.
Sunday, Aug. 28
There will be a gospel-singing get
together at the Smyrna Singing Center
at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Olen Endsley will
direct the singing.
...Singing Cowboy
him and his group. Between pictures
they would do musical tours. Autry
said he'd pay Davis *65 a week. $14.50
was what Davis was used to seeing in
his pay envelope.
"Mister, you've just hired yourself a
fiddle-player," Davis said.
He stayed with Autry for three and a
half years from 1935-1939.
"I cut my teeth doing extras and
stunts," Davis said.
"A group of us that played in the 'B'
westerns used to hang around Sunset
Blvd. and Gower - they called it
Gower Gulch - just hoping that so-
meone would come by needing some
extra riders or a stunt man.
"My sister associated with the
sophisticated crowd across the tracks.
She married George Stow, the musical
director at MGM who won an academy
award for 'The Wizard of Oz.' Through
her I met some of the actors in the 'A'
films. Everybody knew John Wayne.
He was one of the nicest guys you'd
ever want to meet."
If a newcomer cowboy actor could
get a "fall" in a picture, that was a
plum. They could earn $50 for a stunt,
but only $5 a day and a cold box lunch
for riding as an extra.
A big break for Davis came with the
movie "Gunga Din," starring Douglas
Fairbanks Jr.
"About that time my wife was preg-
nant with our son, and I didn't know
where the money was going to come
from to pay the hospital bills. Then I
got a part as an extra in 'Gunga Din.' I
was a British lancer in one scene, and
then in the next, they'd put a hot beard
on me and I'd go chase myself.
"There were elephants all over the
set.
"At night I used to go and play fiddle
tunes and Irish ditties with the people
in the tent next to mine. You got a
chance at some extra stunts that way.
But I never want to hear another
bagpipe as long as I live!"
The more fame and fortune comes to
a performer, the less time is really his
own.
Davis and Autry one time were on
their way to Chicago to do a show and
get some publicity pictures made when
they stopped for the night in Henrietta,
Okla.
"Man, I mean it was hot. We were so
tired we didn't even bring the suitcases
in, but crawled into one of those old
ironstead beds. Neither one of us
usually wore anything to sleep in.
"The next morning I woke up and
heard this buzz, buzz, buzz outside the
window. The shade was up a little, and
there we both were, laying in the nude.
Outside was a whole crowd of people
peering through the window and poin-
ting, saying 'That's him. No that's him
over there.' They were trying to figure
out which one of us was Autry."
THE CHANCE finally came for
Davis to star in a series of his own.
Tex Ritter made "Take Me Back To
Oklahoma" with Bob Wills, a friendly
rival and part-time co-worker of
Davis' since his early days in Dallas.
Davis worked for a time playing in
Wills' band "The Light Crust Dough
Boys." When the managers couldn't
find Wills for one reason or another,
Davis would stand in for him. Even-
tually Wills offered Davis 50 of his
show dates that conflicted with the rest
of his schedule.
Back in Hollywood, Wills had made
such a splash in Ritter's film, the pro-
ducers asked him who else they could
get from Oklahoma to do a picture.
"About that time I walked in another
door, and Wills pointed at me and said
'That fellow right there."'
Davis landed a co-star billing with
Col. Tim McCoy in "Texas Marshall."
"McCoy built me to high heaven. He
was looking for someone to take his
series. I agreed to take it and got Bill
Boyd and Lee Powell to star in it with
me.
"It wasn't hard remembering your
lines in these pictures. Basically it was
the same story over and over again
with a few changes here and there.
"The biggest problem was getting
your horse to stand still while you said
your speech. The other guys' horses
didn't want to stand still either, which
doubly complicated matters."
Davis made seven pictures in the
"Frontier Marshall" series, including
"Texas Marshall."
The titles have a ring to them like
spurs jingle-jangling over a sagebrush
desert and dangerous desperados
waiting in ambush for the guys in the
white hats: "Texas Man Hunt,"
"Raiders of the West," "Rolling Down
the Great Divide," "Tumbleweed
Trail," "Along the Sundown Trail,"
and "Prairie Pals."
"I used to fantasize like any kid. I'd
play hookey from school to see Tom
Mix and Buck Jones."
Not many years later, he was acting
right alongside his childhood heroes,
and became one himself.
THE SECOND World War changed
all that though, and he left Hollywood
to join the Navy.
Lee Powell asked him to join the
Marines with him, but Davis wanted to
be with his brother on the high seas.
Powell later was killed in Sai-Pan, and
Clayton Moore stepped behind the
mask of the Lone Ranger.
Davis never went back to Hollywood,
and he didn't miss it much.
"People get so mesmerized by
famous stars and all the glitter of
fame. Just remember it's 90 percent
B.S. When big stars get together it's
always I, I, L me, me, me, mine, mine,
mine.
"Like one fellow said who'd been a
producer for so many years, he'd
heard so much bull for so many years
it wasn't hard to recognize honesty
when he heard it."
Nevertheless, Davis' name became
well-known in the music business and
among classic film buffs.
When Davis picks up a fiddle and
begins to play, his fingers are smooth
and agile running up and down the str-
ings. He can make it purr softly and
quietly, or make it ping and reel with
right-on-the-money tones.
There is only one artist in the whole
line-up he has ever paid $25 to see.
That was Russian violinist Jascha
Heifetz.
"I've always had enormous respect
for Heifetz. I don't think there is
anyone in the world who is a better
violinist than he is. I got the chance to
meet him backstage. Here I was a
country fiddler. I was in awe. I asked
him how long he warmed up before a
concert. He said he runs an hour of
chromatic scales before each perfor-
mance. That just goes to show you that
no matter how good you get, you're
never so good you can just stop prac-
ticing."
Davis, supposedly, is retired. But it's
not second nature to him.
"Oh, I like sometimes to be able to
sit back and not have to do anything.
I'm probably one of the laziest fellows
I know. But every once in a while when
Saturday night rolls around, I get this
feeling that I need to be going
somewhere, getting ready for a gig.
"If I had the chance I'd do it all over
again. It has been a real pleasure."
Enough Guilt Without This
By ERMA BOMBECK
I had enough guilt this week without
reading that because I have a high
school education and a white-collar
job, I am increasing my husband's risk
of a heart attack.
The
survey
that was
done at the
University
of North
Carolina
really
puzzles
me. If
education
and a good
job are a
lethal com-
bination
for men,
then how
come I
didn't get a
heart at-
tack when
my hus-
band had a Ph.D and a white-collar job
to which I contributed nothing but a
ring on my finger and another one
around his collar?
Besides, it wasn't more than two
years ago that another survey came
out that said since the return of so
many women to the work force, there
had been a definite increase in heart
attacks among women because in in-
Erma Bombeck
Wit's
vading a man's world we fell suscepti-
ble to their business pressures and
anxieties.
So it would seem that the family that
matriculates and escalates
together...hyperventilates together.
The amazing thing about these
surveys are the mysteries no one has
answered. Why are women both the
carriers and the victims of these heart
attacks?
Why, if holding down a job outside
the home makes you sick, would men
want to keep it to themselves and ex-
clude women?
If housework is such a healthy job,
then how come we can't lure more men
to it?
I asked my husband this the other
night and he said, "Nonsense. I know a
lot of men who would jump at the
chance to stay home, raise children,
cook, do the laundry and not have
management breathing down their
necks."
As we turned on the TV set, I kept
that thought. During the next three
hours, there were 38 commercials
geared toward keeping house and rais-
ing children. There were women
fighting "disgusting roaches," wax
build-up, peeling paint, corroded
ovens, oily peanut butter, lazy laundry
detergents, stinking kitchen odors,
pesky termites, backed-up sinks, ten-
sion headaches induced by dogs and
kids, cars that wouldn't run, too much
caffeine, deodorants that let down,
garbage tumbling out of weak bags,
grease that clung to the walls, hand-
prints that wouldn't come off, toilets
that smelled and clothes stains that
would take the sight out of a good eye.
As we clicked off the set, I said to
him, "I just realized how selfish I have
been staying home having fun and let-
ting you go out to work. 'One of these
days' is now! All of this is yours!"
"Sweetheart," he said, "I love you
too much to allow you to make that
kind of a sacrifice and jeopardize your
health."
The answer is apparent. Maybe if
both of us shared in the giddiness of
housework and the body-destructing
job outside the household, we could
reduce the risk from a heart attack to
simple heartburn. There's a cure for
that!
Obituaries
Simmons
Funeral services for Ruby Ilene Sim-
mons, 74, of Linden, who died Wednes-
day, Aug. 17,1983, in a Linden hospital
of natural causes, were 2 p.m. Friday
at New Colony Baptist Church, near
Linden, with the Rev. Harmon Smith,
the Rev. Jim Smith, the Rev. E.J.
Kearney and the Rev. Tommy Cowgill
officiating. Burial was in New Colony
Cemetery under the direction of
Hanner-Caver Funeral Home.
Mrs. Simmons was born Aug. 9,1909,
at Linden. She was a member of the
New Colony Baptist Church.
Survivors include her husband
Luther Simmons of Linden; one
daughter Martha Williams of Linden;
three sons William Lynn Simmons of
Manchester, Tenn., Byron Simmons of
Marshall and Jimmy Simmons of
Linden; one brother Marion Jones of
Linden; and nine grandchildren and
one great-grandchild.
73, of Bloomburg, who died Sunday,
Aug. 21, 1983, in an Atlanta hospital
after a lengthy illness, were 2 p.m.
Tuesday at Hanner Funeral Home
Chapel, Atlanta, with the Rev. J.D.
Graham officiating. Burial was in
Macedonia Cemetery.
Mr. Hooper was bom June 13, 1910,
in Arkansas. He was a Mason and a
Baptist.
Survivors include his wife Irene
Hooper of Bloomburg.
Gladewater, Ann Williams of Bivins,
Doris Ponder of Texarkana, Christine
Terry of Vivian, La., and
Billie Hilliard of Rodessa, La.
Pallbearers were Billy Ray Turner,
Charles Dean Turner, Bobby Heldt,
Don Tury, Monte Hilliard and Danny
Ponder.
White
Ruley
Sanders
Hooper
Funeral services for Kermit Hooper,
Funeral services for Clarence E.
Sanders, 64, who died Friday, Aug. 19,
1983, at his home were held 2 p.m. Aug.
21, at the Hanner Funeral Chapel in
Atlanta with the Rev. J.W. Crow of-
ficiating. Burial was in the Antioch
Cemetery.
Mr. Sanders was born Sept. 24,1918,
in Cass County.
Survivors include two brothers, H.A.
Sanders of Marshall and Lester
Sanders of Vivian, La.; seven sisters,
Lillian Turner of Atlanta, Mrs. Peat
Heldt of Atlanta, Mamie Wilkinson of
Funeral services for Samuel E.
Ruley, 62, of Atlanta who died in a Tex-
arkana hospital after a long illness,
were 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, at the
Hanner Funeral Chapel. Burial was in
the Center Grove Cemetery under the
direction of Hanner Funeral Service.
Mr. Ruley was a Baptist, a veteran
of World War II and a member of the
VFW Hall 6968. He lived in Atlanta for
nine years.
Survivors include his wife Wanda
Ruley of Atlanta; one daughter Sam-
mye Swanson of Atlanta; one son
Gary Ruley of Atlanta; one sister
Ruby Smith of Houston; two brothers
Harold and Leon Ruley of Houston and
two grandchildren.
Funeral services for Charles A.
White, 62, of Tyler who died Thursday,
Aug. 18,1983, in his home of a long il-
lness were held 10 a.m. Saturday at the
Burks-Walker-Tippet Funeral Home
Chapel in Tyler with Dr. Wayne Mc-
Cleskey officiating.
Graveside services were 3 p.m.
Saturday at Pinecrest Cemetery in
Atlanta.
Mr. White was born in Bivins Nov.
28,1920, and moved to Tyler in 1957. He
was a veteran of World War II in the
Army Air Corps. He was a member of
the Atlanta Masonic Lodge and retired
from Broadway Insurance Co. in
Tyler.
He is survived by his wife Jacquie of
Tyler; his mother Mrs. T.E. White of
Atlanta; two daughters Julie White
and Ann Daugherty, both of Dallas;
one son Trey Judd of Tyler; one sister
Mrs. Tom King of Sudan: five grand-
children and two nephews.
(Silttens Awrtutl
Since 1879
$15 per year in Cass County, Texas.
$18 per year in adjoining Texas
counties of Bowie, Marion and
Morris plus Arkansas cities of
Texarkana, Doddridge and
Fouke and Louisiana cities of
Rodessa, Vivian and Ida.
$26 per year elsewhere.
BILL TURNER
PUBLISHER
The Newspaper
People Read
1983 ATLANTA CITIZENS JOURNAL
All Rights Reserved
All property rights, including any copyright interests to any advertisements
produced by THE CITIZENS JOURNAL, using art work and or typography furnished of
arranged for by us, shall be the property of THE CITIZENS JOURNAL. No such ad or any
part thereof may be reproduced without the prior written consent of THE CITIZENS
JOURNAL.
Stcani eta pottage paid at Atbnta. Texas. 7S561.
POSTMASTER: Send addrnt change* to The
Citizens Journal. Boa HOB. Atlanta. Taxaa
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
1983
NATIONAL
NEWSPAPER
undauo*;
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Citizens Journal (Atlanta, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 25, 1983, newspaper, August 25, 1983; Atlanta, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth336087/m1/2/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Atlanta Public Library.