December 2001
A poker-playing baritone and a good, honest reporter:
TOM WHALEN, 1917-2001
In a lifetime of professional achievement, perhaps nothing stood out for Tom Whalen like covering the assassination of President Kennedy. He was part of the Channel 5 news team that won a Sigma Delta Chi award in 1963 for their work. Mr. Whalen died Nov. 22, 38 years to the day after his president. He was 84.
SPJ chapter president in 1959-60 and active in the Gridiron Show, Mr. Whalen came to Fort Worth after World War II and worked for the Star-Telegram as a reporter, then for WBAP radio, which broadcast from atop the Medical Arts Building downtown. When WBAP moved to east Fort Worth and expanded to television (now as KXAS), he fronted a morning news show and also was the anchor on what became a staple of North Texas television, "High Noon News." At his retirement from WBAP he was the radio news director.
Colleague Phil Record recalls Press Club poker games between Gridiron rehearsals, and Frank Perkins remembers an honest, forthright newsman who enjoyed a good argument. "He loved it so much that he would change sides in mid-argument and then giggle at the discomfiture of his opponent," Perkins said. "Some were moved to rage, but Tom never lost his good temper or quit his laughing, which was largely silent and shook his whole large body.
"I don't remember him during his heyday at Gridiron, except for seeing pictures. At that time it was all stag, and I will never forget one photo of him and the late Tony Slaughter dressed in rag-mop wigs, coconut bras and grass skirts for a skit. Apparently, a sure crowd pleaser in those days was Slaughter and Whalen, both tall, rotund men -- in drag!"
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MEETINGS
Next at PRSA/IABC/SPJ ...
Book Those Reservations: Holiday Party
Set to Benefit Hospitalized Children at JPS
Benevolent cheer will again fill the air as PRSA, IABC and SPJ gather Dec. 12 for the group Holiday Party and book benefit for the JPS Health Network children's library. Last year's affair collected around 150 books, plus $844 to buy more books. Anticipate more of the same this time around, plus the party's traditional silent auction.
An honest-to-goodness paper invitation is being mailed out. More than 200 good-cause revelers are anticipated, some coming no doubt for the step back in time evoked by the hops history -- an intriguing collection of beer-making hardware, bottle openers and serving trays, vintage photos and postcards -- that fills the Miller Brew Kettle Museum.
* Time & Date: 5:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12
* Place: Miller Marketplace and Brew Kettle Museum,
I-35 & Sycamore School Road exit
* Cost: $15 or the equivalent in children's books
* Menu: Spring Creek barbecue, soft drinks, beer, wine
* RSVP by Dec. 7: Elizabeth Eslick at elizabeth@stuartbacon.com
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Greater Fort Worth PRSA has taken its member directory online, with help from QuickSilver Interactive Group, which is contributing database services. To access the directory, go to fortworthprsa.org, click on "Membership Directory" and type in a user name and password (for November it was "turkey" and "dressing"). The user name and password will change the first Wednesday of each month, and a seven-day overlap will apply for the old and new passwords; members will be apprised of the changes by e-mail through the monthly luncheon reminder. The database can be searched by last name, business or city; information can be changed on the spot; and the display is customizable. To change information not listed, such as home address, e-mail Kristie Aylett, APR, at aylettk@yahoo.com. Roger Partridge, 2002 president-elect and membership chair, will handle the updates next year. Direct other questions to chapter online chairman Jerrod Resweber at (972) 830-2427 or jresweber@webershandwick.com. ... Managing litigation visibility is a high-stakes proposition requiring discipline and a game plan, and tips on both will be forthcoming at a PRSA-sponsored telephone seminar from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19. James E. Lukaszewski, APR, Fellow PRSA, and Douglas A. Cooper with Ruskin, Moscou, Evans & Faltischek, P.C., in New York will detail legal and public relations strategies for optimizing media coverage under stress. The seminar, billed as teaching how to "win in court legally and in the court of public opinion," costs $225 per site ($240 after Dec. 12), which includes a set of printed materials. The format is not unlike call-in radio, with participants encouraged to cluster around the office speaker-phone and share in a give-and-talk with others on the line. More information, including extensive biographies of the presenters, at krm.com/prsa. ...
Application deadline is Dec. 8 for high school and college students who wish to attend the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators' 12-week Urban Journalism Workshop beginning in January. The workshop will be at Lincoln High School in Dallas, with seasoned professionals in radio, television, print and public relations sharing their knowledge while helping the students hone their skills in writing, ethics, protocol and more. The students also will attend the National Association of Black Journalists Regional Conference in Baton Rouge, La., March 7-10 and the African-American Legislative Summit in Austin, in April. Workshop cost is $150 to cover the two trips; other costs will be absorbed by DFW/ABC and sponsors. Contact Cheryl Smith, (214) 376-9525 or penonfire@aol.com. ...
SPJ national update: 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 pending. Electronic messages between state agencies and local governments are subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said in a groundbreaking legal opinion announced Nov. 9 at the First Amendment Conference at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. ... Indiana lawmakers called off plans to override Gov. Frank O'Bannon's veto of a bill that would exempt them from the state's open records laws. House Speaker John Gregg postponed the vote in hope that supporters and opponents can reach a compromise. He said he did not favor any action that would hurt the government's credibility, particularly in light of the war on terrorism. ... Vanessa Leggett will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case. The 33-year-old writing lecturer at the University of Houston, jailed since July 20 for defying a federal grand jury subpoena demanding her notes about a murder case, made her decision after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to rehear her case before the full bench. The Fifth Circuit also said Leggett will remain held without bond. ... Lawmakers from both parties urged President Bush to rethink his executive order that gives former presidents more authority to claim executive privilege to keep some of their papers sealed. After a Nov. 6 hearing, the White House said the president had no intention of rescinding it. ... SPJ, the First Amendment Foundation, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Student Press Law Center joined a friend-of-the-court legal brief filed last month by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors asserting that the state's Earnhardt Family Protection Act violates the Florida Constitution. The Florida Legislature enacted the law in March at the urging of Dale Earnhardt's family when the NASCAR legend's autopsy photographs became the center of an open records battle. The law prevents anyone from seeing autopsy photographs unless he convinces a judge that there is good cause to view them. "The Florida Constitution and its Sunshine Amendment provide a remarkable opportunity to defend the public's right to hold the government accountable," said SPJ president Al Cross, a political reporter and columnist for The Courier-Journal in Louisville. "We hope that the appellate judges will recognize the importance of this principle." ...
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Robert Darden on Writing: Just Do It
Well-traveled Robert Darden, senior editor of The Door religious satire magazine, a teacher of professional and technical writing at Baylor University and the author of two dozen books and hundreds of periodical articles, brought an eminently useful message to the 40-odd members and guests of IABC/Fort Worth in November. At its core: "You can write, and you should write."
The rules of the game are not complex, he said, the first being do the homework. "If you research the publication before you write, and present needed material in the preferred length and format, you'll be up against very few other writers," he said. He further advised:
* Write every day, and have something to say.
* Focus on nonfiction. These markets are growing, and most magazines are desperate for articles.
* Ignorance is no handicap to a writer. You don't have to be an expert on a subject to write about it.
* Do a great query letter. It may scoot your submission past secretaries and first readers and straight to the editor.
"Writing gives power and independence -- when you're writing for yourself, you are in complete control," Darden said. "And keep your material circulating. Set yourself a goal of a rejection letter a week, and you will succeed."
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Your Jowls Are Making Me Jumpy, Dear,
But Your Irises Keep Saying, 'Woo-hoo!'
by Frank Perkins
Almost 50 members and guests found themselves reading a new type of map at the Fort Worth SPJ meeting last month. Attorney Mac Fulfer introduced them to reading faces, interpreting what is revealed in this most public and personal chart of a human being. "Face reading is not mind reading, it is a method of interpreting a person's mental outlook," he told the entranced crowd. "Every single place and feature of your face points to your past experiences."
Fulfer, a Fort Worth native and author of an illustrated book on facial geography (amazingfacereading.com), began studying faces to enhance jury selection. He soon discovered that not only could he see the life behind the facade, but he could better connect with the person behind the face. He devoured material on the subject and now can "interpret what people are feeling and thinking as they talk with me," he said, based on their facial traits.
"I look at the whole face, then I divide it down the middle. The right side shows a person's rational thought processes -- the weighing, figuring, show-me-the-facts aspect," he explained. "The left side reflects a person's relationships and interior personal life."
The eyes, he said, are strong indicators of character and stress. "If the bottom eyelids are straight, the person is guarded. This person constantly screens information he gets from the world; he may be shy, but once he accepts a person, he is very loyal." Curved bottom lids indicate a receptive, nonjudgmental personality, but bottom lids that bisect the iris are danger signals. "People with such bottom lids do not think like the rest of us," Fulfer said. "They can be diabolical."
To prove his point, he held up two pictures of Timothy McVeigh, the man executed for the federal building bombing in Oklahoma City. In the first, apparently a yearbook picture, McVeigh has a round face and his bottom eyelids are curved, indicating an openness and agreeability. In the next picture, after his conviction, his face is more triangular, and the yearbook smile has vanished. "His face has changed shape, and notice his bottom eyelids -- they now bisect the iris of his eyes!" Fulfer said. "He no longer thinks like the rest of us."
More on the eyes: "A small amount of white showing below the iris indicates the onset of mental or emotional stress, perhaps fear or worry. If the amount of white showing is more pronounced in the left eye, then the stress is caused by something in the person's personal life; if it's more pronounced in the right eye, the stress is related to business or professional concerns." If the white shows above the iris, the person is stressed to the point of violence. White showing all around the iris portends a mental disconnect. Call the Office of Homeland Security.
Inverted-V eyebrows are intimidating. Jowls bestow authority. Strong jaws, large ears, square chins -- all alert the face reader to how people think and feel. Fulfer told of one woman whose life took a dramatic upswing after a plastic surgeon sculpted her a more pronounced chin. "She now looked like someone who must be obeyed, someone who is strong and competent."
Fulfer shares his art with all sorts of groups, from car wash executives to educators, stress counselors and attorneys. He read the faces of several people at the meeting, and most agreed that he hit their personalities and life experiences on the mark. Meanwhile, it was immediately discernible that he graduated from TCU. Was it the personable demeanor that gave him away, the inquisitive nature, the intellectual brow?
Nah, it was the Horned Frog tie pin.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
SPJ executive director Jim Gray resigned Nov. 2, saying it was time for new challenges. He was instrumental in moving headquarters from rented space in Greencastle, Ind., to the new Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Center in Indianapolis, SPJ's first piece of real estate. He oversaw successful national conventions in Indianapolis, Columbus and Seattle and laid the groundwork for the 2002 convention in Fort Worth. Julie Grimes is acting executive director while a search is conducted. ...
Nancy Monson has retired as executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (reporters.net/foift), a position she held since 1987. Her leadership was instrumental in establishing the National Freedom of Information Coalition and in fostering state FOI groups nationwide. The Texas FOI foundation established a First Amendment award bearing her name. Writes interim director Katherine Garner: "The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas would like to say thank you to Nancy Monson for her years of dedicated service. Nancy fought for more than 14 years to keep access to government information and meetings open to the public. It was her vision that enabled the FOIFT to succeed. She encouraged the public to understand and act upon their rights and responsibilities as citizens. She played a critical role in developing the FOIFT's most recognizable programs, including the annual state conference and The First Amendment Institute. Her dedication helped form the National Freedom of Information Coalition and helped more than 15 states start FOI organizations in their communities. Nancy will be greatly missed by everyone dedicated to protecting open government and the First Amendment." ...
Under the heading "How the Once Mighty Have Fallen," former SPJ chapter president Doug Jumper updates from Jonestown, where he's an alderman and also the public information officer. He restarted the Chamber of Commerce and served three years as president ("beware of a mayor talking about what 'we' need to do"). He just completed his first year as the stadium announcer and sports information director for the mighty Vikings of nearby Lago Vista High School and will become the radio play-by-play guy next year ("Joe Holstead always said I had a face that was made for radio"). He says he tries not to let his day job as publications coordinator for the Texas Department of Health limit his volunteering.. "Kirsten is doing great and says hi to everyone back in Cowtown. We miss seeing the Fort Worth SPJ gang and are looking forward to the national convention in 2002."
Kudos & Contracts ... The tally was Star-Telegram six, Fort Worth Weekly five and UTA Shorthorn four at the Dallas Press Club Katie Awards ceremony last month. Max Baker, Linda P. Campbell, Jeff Claassen, Mitch Schnurman, Andrea Ahles, Ginger Richardson, Rick Press, Julie Porter, Sharon Steinman and the sports staff won for the Star-T, and Betty Brink, Jeff Prince and former staffer Megan Hall won at FWW. UTA was represented by the Star-Telegram's Campbell, a former editor, and by Helen Jau and Jamie Huckaby at The Dallas Morning News and current reporter Matt Stiles, who snagged a statue for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times for a story he did as an intern last summer.
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NEW MEMBERS, WELCOME
SPJ ... native Texan Phil Harvey lists several "random, demeaning part-time jobs" before beginning his journalism career, which has led to his current position of senior editor at Light Reading (lightreading.com), an online trade publication that covers optical networking; a former marketing projects manager for Internet America and staff writer for two magazines, he and wife Shannon moved to Fort Worth from San Francisco
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Exits ... at the S-T: night business editor Stan Russell, known for his wit and the candy dish on his desk, suffered a stroke this summer and has taken a disability leave
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A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Mary Dulle, GFW PRSA
Back in January, December seemed so far away. Then all of a sudden, here I am, writing my final president's column for this newsletter. I didn't believe the past presidents when they said my year would fly by, but now I understand. I feel like Old Father Time, ready to hand off the hourglass to fresh, new Kristie.
I'm sure you'll all give Kristie the same fabulous cooperation I experienced, and I'm sure her tenure will be smashingly successful. She has a big challenge ahead with the Southwest District Conference coming up in February (I'll still be working on that, Kristie, I promise), but with the board and committee chairs she's working with, it should go very well.
I want to say a special thanks to the board and committee chairs who served with me this year: Kristie Aylett, APR; Laura Squires, APR; Julie Neal; Jade Hoffman; Pamela Smith; Beth Park, APR; Paul Sturiale, APR; Carolyn Hodge, APR; Carolyn Bobo, APR; Roger Partridge; Kim Speairs; LaTonyie Jarrett-Taylor; Beth Solomon; Elizabeth Eslick; Ann Genett-Schrader, APR; Joan Scott; Jerrod Resweber; Holly Ellman; Heather Senter; Carroll Cole; and Carol Murray. It was so comforting to know you'd all come through with minimal nagging! Each of you did a fine job, and you have my sincere gratitude.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the IABC/PRSA/ SPJ Holiday Party on Dec. 12. Remember, it's at the Miller Marketplace and Brew Kettle Museum on the South Freeway, 5:30-8 p.m., admission $15 or the equivalent in children's books. The raffle prizes are grand, including a night at the Renaissance Worthington and three hours of team building at Camp Carter (for 15 people!), so bring some bucks and help us help the kids at John Peter Smith Hospital by adding to the library.
I hope each of you has a peaceful and blessed holiday, that family and friends surround you, and you find warmth and joy in the season. And take a moment of prayer or thought for those fighting for our freedom and democratic way of life.
Oh, boy! Past president! I can hardly wait!!
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Cecilia Jacobs, IABC/Fort Worth
The holiday season is always a time to reflect on the year past, and, in doing so, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to IABC/Fort Worth's 2001 successes. There were many. To name one, the chapter was honored at the October District 5 conference as having the greatest increase in membership -- almost 50 percent. IABC/Fort Worth not only is known for its fast growth and networking opportunities, but for the kind of professional communicators who make up its membership. People like you are the greatest assets any group can have.
I am confident that 2002 will be another great year. Fantastic speakers are lined up for our monthly luncheons, and the annual Bronze Quill competition promises to be better than ever. After-work get-togethers are being organized, a spring workshop is in the making, and efforts to recruit student members are under way.
As 2001 comes to a close, it only seems natural to offer sincere wishes for happy holidays and a prosperous and wonderful new year to each of you. God bless.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
You will not have a better time (just seeing that 9.25-pound Nestle Crunch bar makes me smile) for a better cause than the JPS book benefit Dec. 12. The raffle items are so snazzy, one chance-happy SPJ member converts her winnings into Christmas gifts. I second Mary Dulle's invitation and join her in thanking the usual suspects -- Cliff Amos at Miller, Spring Creek Barbeque, Eagle Audio. See you at the Brew Kettle bash. ... The sharp-memoried will note the advance on p. 1 for its striking (verbatim, in places) similarity to the one last December. Hey, we'll keep using it until Miller trots out fresh Clydesdales for that TV-commercial lope through the snow to Granny's. ... Speaking still of 'meisters, a Utah brewer took a shot to the temple when a Salt Lake City billboard company declined to rent space in 2002 Winter Olympics prime time for the promotion of a euphonious libation called polygamy porter (slogan: "Take some home for the wives"), whose label pictures a man with several women and declares, "Why have just one!" Mormon-gigger Greg Schirf previously touted his brews as "Utah's other local religion" while urging drinkers to "Baptize your taste buds." Burp. ... Actually, it would've been a reeeeally cold night in Bridgeport, Texas, before you found beer in my grandmother's refrigerator. I'm thinking that sleigh is headed to Uncle Larry's. ...
The latest from prolific scribe Dave Lieber and brains-of-the-outfit Tim Bedison -- 80-page, funny, thoughtful "Give Us a Big Hug" -- draws its title from when Dave's dad, Stan, walked around the corner to his New York City firehouse to express his gratitude after Sept. 11. Division 3, Ladder Company 25 lost nine men. When Stan thanked one firefighter, the man reached out and said, "Give me a hug!" You don't need any more reasons to buy it than that, do you? Reach Dave at (817) 685-3830 or dlieber@star-telegram.com. ... Belo's purge of the multimillion-dollar hemorrhage that was the cue dog may be complete with the memo inside the fortress last month that ":Cue Cat & software is being removed from all computers." And just when I had learned to capitalize it and put a colon in front.