eChaser: May 2001


	Society of Professional Journalists, Fort Worth Professional Chapter Public Relations Society of America, Greater Fort Worth Chapter International Association of Business Communicators, Fort Worth Chapter eChaser archive [graphics format] May 2001 MEETINGS Next at IABC ... Clearing the Clutter: A Primer on Organization If you feel more than a little disorganized in a super-organized world, then IABC/Fort Worth has a plan to help you deal with life's clutter. "The only sustainable advantage in the corporate world today is the ability to learn faster than your competition," says Dale Perryman, owner of The Center for Organizational Learning, and he'll give a glimpse of that advantage at the May meeting. Perryman has 11 years experience as a business trainer and consultant and has provided those services for major corporations across the country, including Johnson & Johnson, Comerica Bank, Motorola, Nokia, Lockheed, Neutrogena and Arco. He specializes in helping companies and individuals with facilitation training, alignment sessions, behavioral interviewing, leadership development, improving the effectiveness of meetings, and dealing with change. * Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, May 8 * Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor; garage is at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket stamped for discount) * Cost: $17 members, $22 nonmembers, $12 students * RSVP by May 4: Dan Frost at (817) 735-6157 or mailto:frostdg@c-b.com ----- Next at PRSA ... GFW PRSA Celebrates 15 Great Ones The Greater Fort Worth Chapter of PRSA is doing something completely different for its May meeting. To celebrate the organization's 15th anniversary, it will have an evening reception/reunion at Ridglea Country Club on May 9. The program will honor the group's past presidents and relive some of the highlights (and low points) of the past. If you've ever been a member of the chapter, you're welcome to come see old friends and reminisce. All the past presidents are still alive and plan to attend! * Time & date: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 9 * Place: Ridglea Country Club, 3700 Bernie Anderson Blvd., off Camp Bowie Boulevard near Bryant Irvin * Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students; free parking * RSVP by May 4: Elizabeth Eslick at mailto:elizabeth@stuartbacon.com ----- Next at SPJ ... For Scholarship Winners, a Big Night at Ben's Place Thirteen award recipients from seven Texas universities will be honored at Fort Worth SPJ's annual scholarship banquet Wednesday, May 2, at Shady Oaks Country Club, the legendary Ben Hogan's home club. Fort Worth Star-Telegram award-winning writer Tim Madigan will provide inspiration for the young journalists as the night's speaker. More than $10,000 will be handed out, much of it in the names of current and former leaders of the local journalism community -- Donna Darovich, Jack Tinsley, Staley and Beverly McBrayer, Al Panzera, Jerry Flemmons, Joe Holstead and Lina Davis. * Date: Wednesday, May 2 * Time: mingling 6:30 p.m., dinner 7 * Place: Shady Oaks Country Club, 320 Roaring Springs * Cost: $25 members, $15 students, honorees free * Menu: chicken "Saltinboca" (chicken breast wrapped in Black Forest ham with melted Swiss cheese inside), Boston lettuce salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, tomato parmesan, fresh asparagus and potatoes muchogusto; for dessert chocolate cherry cheesecake; tea and coffee; cash bar (beer and wine) * RSVP: (817) 877-1171 or mailto:doti1@aol.com ======================================= STRAIGHT STUFF Whitney Whiton, lead public relations manager for Microsoft Corp., will discuss the inner workings of Microsoft's high-tech public relations machine as the keynote speaker at the PRSA Southwest District Conference, May 10-12 in Oklahoma City. Other conference highlights will include Ross Levine of ePublic Relations, Ltd., on "Internet Activism and PR"; Dr. Anders Gronstedt, APR, on training and communicating with employees using "e-learning"; and Bob Frause, APR, Fellow PRSA, discussing the new code of ethics and its real-world applications. Frause wrote the new code. Kari Ferguson Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, will offer a tour of the memorial and insights on building it and on the pending execution of Timothy McVeigh. Conference registration for members is $150; sign up online at http://prsaokc.com. Questions? Reach organizer Karen Halvorson at (405) 951-9362 or mailto:khalvorson@dcaweb.net. ... Bronze Quill update: Mark your calendars for June 12, when IABC/Fort Worth presents its annual Bronze Quill awards to top communicators in the area. The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Petroleum Club, 777 Main St., 39th floor. Cost is $25 for members, $30 nonmembers and $20 students. Entries will be on display. To make a reservation, contact Dan Frost, mailto:frostdg@c-b.com or (817) 735-6157. Adds BQ coordinator Debbie Young: "The chapter would especially like to thank its corporate sponsors: Texas-New Mexico Power Co., Markem Printing, Freese and Nichols, and Alcon." ... SPJ national update: 1 loss, 1 win. When Florida lawmakers blocked the Orlando Sentinel's request to view Dale Earnhardt autopsy photos, the paper filed an open records request so that a medical professional could assess the pictures and possibly shed light on how the NASCAR driver died. SPJ supported the request, with national president Ray Marcano appearing on television eight times in 10 days discussing the issue with the Earnhardt family attorney and Florida Sen. Jim King, who sponsored legislation exempting the photos from the state public records law. The Florida Legislature passed the exemption and Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law, which the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida have filed suit to block. Meanwhile, a University of Florida student newspaper filed a new request April 12 to see the photos, citing developments in the case that weren't present when the first request was filed last month, and six Florida news organizations -- The Tampa Tribune; its TV affiliate, WFLA-TV; the Gainesville Sun; The Ledger of Lakeland; the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Ocala Star-Banner -- have asked a Broward County judge to include them in the Orlando Sentinel/Sun-Sentinel suit. ... Following their victory in federal court, former University of Kentucky students Charles Kincaid and Capri Coffer settled with the university for $5,000 each, $60,000 in attorney fees and distribution of the confiscated 1993-94 Thorobred yearbooks. SPJ provided $4,000 in legal defense funds, which the students' lawyer reimbursed. ----- Dot.com or Dot.con: Print Journalists Learn the Hard Way -- All That Glitters Is Sometimes Mold by Frank Perkins Want to trade in your wing-tips, power suits, pantyhose and pumps for the no-dress-code informality and land-office cash of Internet commerce? Well, better think again, according to a couple of refugees from cyberspace. Former Star-Telegram staffers Worth Wren Jr. and Steve Smith went there and did that, but not for long. They passed along their war stories at the chapter meeting April 18. Wren had been with the Star-Telegram 23 years when he shifted to a dot.com that offered a whopping pay increase and great benefits. He thoroughly enjoyed his job writing news reports for independent grocers who use the company's software. Then the axe fell with no warning in January. "We were discussing coverage for an upcoming national grocery convention in Dallas, and five minutes later, we were told we no longer had jobs." The blow left Wren with a new home that he can barely afford and two teen-agers looking at college. He was philosophical about his fate. "It was the right business decision, but it hurt me like hell." He now is associate editor at the Fort Worth Business Press at far less pay than he enjoyed for a brief time. Smith was a Star-Telegram sports editor when he was lured away -- double his Star-T salary and a $10,000 signing bonus -- to join a dot.com start-up aimed at building Web sites for amateur sports. "They had to have it up and running by last April," he said. "They had wooed venture capitalists into investing in the project, but when the stock market began its slide, they pulled out." He lost his job on a Monday, put out his resume on Tuesday and was hired by another dot.com on Wednesday. The new company had a former Newsweek publisher as CEO, a former Texas Instruments executive and CIA brass hat as vice president for operations, and advertising on the books, but its technology was flawed. "Built on sand," Smith recalled. "We switched our Web services and couldn't do a thing for a month after that. We had projected revenues of $7 million for the first quarter of 2001, but we weren't making a dime. By now, I knew what canaries in the coal mine to watch, and when they began dropping, it was time to start looking for another job." As he expected, he was cut loose. He now is an independent consultant and free-lance writer. And what lessons were learned? "Hold out for an employment contract," Wren said. "Be careful of dot.com recruiters and their claims," Smith added. "It seems like that's where used car salesmen wind up." ======================================== PEOPLE & PLACES Singing those Blue Pig blues: Archer City bookstore hoss Larry McMurtry and primary donor Louise Thomas, miffed over new Midwestern State University President Henry Moon's making changes to the Larry McMurtry Center for the Arts and Humanities without their consent, have hauled the center off the Wichita Falls school's campus, although it will continue to operate independently. A summer program at the center brings in award-winning authors and actors to instruct high school students interested in writing or the stage as a career. McMurtry's used-book operation, Booked Up (formerly the 'Pig), consumes the pulsing core of Archer City, pop. 1,800, 16 miles south of Wichita Falls. ... Julie Wilson has resigned as president and chief executive of Grey Worldwide/Dallas-Fort Worth. John Duban, who joined the company in June as senior vice president of client services, replaces her. Formed in 1980 as Regian & Wilson, the agency was sold to New York-based Grey Worldwide in November '98. ... Baby daze! Wayne and Jennifer Carter welcomed a second son, Joshua Michael, into their family at 4:17 p.m. March 26. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20.5 inches long, exactly the same size at birth as his big brother, Andy, who will be 2 in May. Kudos & Contracts ... Baseball scholar, erudite saloon keeper and all-around good guy Joe Dulle has received the American Advertising Federation's Silver Medal Award, the highest national ad award presented on a local level. A former Witherspoon & Associates vice president, TCU grad Dulle has been involved in the community for nearly 30 years, playing a vital role in the redevelopment of the Stockyards National Historic District (he owns the White Elephant Saloon on Exchange Avenue). A past chairman of the board of the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau, he currently serves on half a dozen boards of directors, from Historic Fort Worth, to the Fort Worth Sports Authority, to Jubilee Theatre. ======================================== COMINGS & GOINGS Additions ... U. of Kansas grad Umut Newbury, a native of Turkey with experience at papers in Georgia, Iowa and Kansas, now a Wise County Messenger reporter in Decatur; she and her musician husband, Bryan, live in nearby Greenwood ... at the S-T: Maryjane O'Halloran (master's degree in library science, UNT; B.A. in English and history, UTA), librarian downtown Sunday through Wednesday evenings; she has worked as a librarian for several years, plus taught school in Arlington and Mansfield ... Anna Tinsley, Fort Worth city hall reporter; for two years a reporter in Corpus Christi before advancing to the Scripps Howard Austin bureau in 1995, she has covered state government in Corpus Christi, Abilene, San Angelo and Wichita Falls Exits ... at the S-T: former photo editor Mike Fernandez to dfw.com as managing editor ======================================== A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT Mary Dulle, GFW PRSA Thanks to all who made our annual Pro-Am Day a success. The morning sessions, superbly organized by Carroll Cole, really helped the students understand the process of finding gainful employment in their chosen profession. The lucky ones who had a chance to shadow a professional in the afternoon learned a lot about the actual practice of public relations. It's always both a joy and a bit depressing to see those fresh young faces. We have a great crop of youngsters to work with over the next few years. But it also reminds me of when I was at that stage, and I feel soooooo old now! Maybe it's just the weight of experience, or maybe it's spring fever settling in. We hope to have a new Web site up and running again soon. Our page disappeared March 31 when the provider shut down. We didn't have a lot of notice, but Jerrod Resweber, our Webmaster, has been researching possibilities. We hadn't finalized anything by deadline but may have the site back by the time you read this. Our next big thing is the May 9 anniversary party. If you've ever been a part of PRSA, please join us for a "reunion" as we honor our past presidents, the folks who guided us through some scary times and got us to the level we enjoy today. It'll be great fun to see old friends and have a bit of time to socialize for a change. We also have a professional development seminar coming up in June; watch for details next month. Congratulations to GFW PRSA scholarship winner Ashley Abshire from TCU. This is the first scholarship we've given. And thanks to Andra Bennett for agreeing to chair our special interest group for solo practitioners/ independents/freelancers. The ever-organized Andra will do an outstanding job making a reality of this splendid idea, which grew out of our January panel discussion. ----- PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Arden Dufilho, IABC/Fort Worth It's spring and a young president's thoughts turn to board succession. Our chapter has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past year. I give the lion's share of credit to Pat McCombs for setting up a year of great programs. But to ensure that we continue to grow and provide enlightening programming, it is urgent that we get our 2001-02 board in place. Because Cecilia Jacobs has stepped up at the last minute to take over for Pat as incoming president, she will not have had a year to prepare for her term as I did. And we need someone willing to become president-elect for the 2002-03 term. It's great to have all these new members, but we must also have some new board members. If you have an interest in working with the premier professional organization for communicators, this is your chance. Several current board members have indicated their desire to remain on the board and a couple of others say they want to get involved, but we still need more member input. Not only is it a great chance to learn more about the organization, but it is also a chance to work with some great people. Hey, it also looks good on the resume. We'll need help with next year's Bronze Quill awards, the Web site, programming and membership. You can work with others who have been there and know the ropes and who can give you direction. I hope that all of you will look at your schedules and find a little time to help us make IABC/Fort Worth even better. Numbers are nice, but substance is what it's all about. ----- OVER & OUT John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ Love it when we can make an ex-prez happy. Donna Darovich writes: "Thanks for the E-Chaser tip about Paula LaRocque's book. As expected, it was as fun to read as it was informing. Vintage Paula. I think she would be okay with the preceding sentence fragment." You, too, can experience bliss with 50 of the Dallas Morning News copy cop's best Quill columns. Go to http://spjfw.org/legacy and click the top-of-the-page banner. ... It's a second edition for "I Knew Rufe Snow Before He Was a Road" ("No. 1 selling book in North Richland Hills!") by the S-T's Dave Lieber and illustrator Tim Bedison. "We sold 250 copies in the one bookstore we were in, Barnes & Noble in North Richland Hills, and I sold the remaining 750 at speeches and events," Lieber reports. "So we figure it's worth it to keep going and actually place in more stores. We're getting a bar code and everything! Who would have thought I'd be more successful as a cartoonist than as a columnist? I know the answer: readers who think I'm a [marginal] columnist!" First-printing proceeds -- $3,500 -- went to the charity Summer Santa. ... SPJ PressNotes are fascinating, informative and free. The daily e-mail briefs package, edited by David Carlson at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, exists through a Sigma Delta Chi Foundation grant. To subscribe send your e-mail address and name to mailto:carlson@spj.org.

If you feel more than a little disorganized in a super-organized world, then IABC/Fort Worth has a plan to help you deal with life's clutter. "The only sustainable advantage in the corporate world today is the ability to learn faster than your competition," says Dale Perryman, owner of The Center for Organizational Learning, and he'll give a glimpse of that advantage at the May meeting.

Perryman has 11 years experience as a business trainer and consultant and has provided those services for major corporations across the country, including Johnson & Johnson, Comerica Bank, Motorola, Nokia, Lockheed, Neutrogena and Arco. He specializes in helping companies and individuals with facilitation training, alignment sessions, behavioral interviewing, leadership development, improving the effectiveness of meetings, and dealing with change.

* Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, May 8

* Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor; garage is at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket stamped for discount)

* Cost: $17 members, $22 nonmembers, $12 students

* RSVP by May 4: Dan Frost at (817) 735-6157 or mailto:frostdg@c-b.com

GFW PRSA Celebrates 15 Great Ones

The Greater Fort Worth Chapter of PRSA is doing something completely different for its May meeting. To celebrate the organization's 15th anniversary, it will have an evening reception/reunion at Ridglea Country Club on May 9. The program will honor the group's past presidents and relive some of the highlights (and low points) of the past.

* Time & date: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 9

* Place: Ridglea Country Club, 3700 Bernie Anderson Blvd., off Camp Bowie Boulevard near Bryant Irvin

* Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students; free parking

* RSVP by May 4: Elizabeth Eslick at mailto:elizabeth@stuartbacon.com

For Scholarship Winners, a Big Night at Ben's Place

Thirteen award recipients from seven Texas universities will be honored at Fort Worth SPJ's annual scholarship banquet Wednesday, May 2, at Shady Oaks Country Club, the legendary Ben Hogan's home club. Fort Worth Star-Telegram award-winning writer Tim Madigan will provide inspiration for the young journalists as the night's speaker.

* Date: Wednesday, May 2

* Time: mingling 6:30 p.m., dinner 7

* Place: Shady Oaks Country Club, 320 Roaring Springs * Cost: $25 members, $15 students, honorees free

* Menu: chicken "Saltinboca" (chicken breast wrapped in Black Forest ham with melted Swiss cheese inside), Boston lettuce salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, tomato parmesan, fresh asparagus and potatoes muchogusto; for dessert chocolate cherry cheesecake; tea and coffee; cash bar (beer and wine)

* RSVP: (817) 877-1171 or mailto:doti1@aol.com

=======================================

Whitney Whiton, lead public relations manager for Microsoft Corp., will discuss the inner workings of Microsoft's high-tech public relations machine as the keynote speaker at the PRSA Southwest District Conference, May 10-12 in Oklahoma City. Other conference highlights will include Ross Levine of ePublic Relations, Ltd., on "Internet Activism and PR"; Dr. Anders Gronstedt, APR, on training and communicating with employees using "e-learning"; and Bob Frause, APR, Fellow PRSA, discussing the new code of ethics and its real-world applications. Frause wrote the new code. Kari Ferguson Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, will offer a tour of the memorial and insights on building it and on the pending execution of Timothy McVeigh. Conference registration for members is $150; sign up online at http://prsaokc.com. Questions? Reach organizer Karen Halvorson at (405) 951-9362 or mailto:khalvorson@dcaweb.net. ...

Bronze Quill update: Mark your calendars for June 12, when IABC/Fort Worth presents its annual Bronze Quill awards to top communicators in the area. The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Petroleum Club, 777 Main St., 39th floor. Cost is $25 for members, $30 nonmembers and $20 students. Entries will be on display. To make a reservation, contact Dan Frost, mailto:frostdg@c-b.com or (817) 735-6157. Adds BQ coordinator Debbie Young: "The chapter would especially like to thank its corporate sponsors: Texas-New Mexico Power Co., Markem Printing, Freese and Nichols, and Alcon." ...

SPJ national update: 1 loss, 1 win. When Florida lawmakers blocked the Orlando Sentinel's request to view Dale Earnhardt autopsy photos, the paper filed an open records request so that a medical professional could assess the pictures and possibly shed light on how the NASCAR driver died. SPJ supported the request, with national president Ray Marcano appearing on television eight times in 10 days discussing the issue with the Earnhardt family attorney and Florida Sen. Jim King, who sponsored legislation exempting the photos from the state public records law. The Florida Legislature passed the exemption and Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law, which the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida have filed suit to block. Meanwhile, a University of Florida student newspaper filed a new request April 12 to see the photos, citing developments in the case that weren't present when the first request was filed last month, and six Florida news organizations -- The Tampa Tribune; its TV affiliate, WFLA-TV; the Gainesville Sun; The Ledger of Lakeland; the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Ocala Star-Banner -- have asked a Broward County judge to include them in the Orlando Sentinel/Sun-Sentinel suit. ... Following their victory in federal court, former University of Kentucky students Charles Kincaid and Capri Coffer settled with the university for $5,000 each, $60,000 in attorney fees and distribution of the confiscated 1993-94 Thorobred yearbooks. SPJ provided $4,000 in legal defense funds, which the students' lawyer reimbursed.

Dot.com or Dot.con: Print Journalists Learn the

Hard Way -- All That Glitters Is Sometimes Mold

Want to trade in your wing-tips, power suits, pantyhose and pumps for the no-dress-code informality and land-office cash of Internet commerce? Well, better think again, according to a couple of refugees from cyberspace. Former Star-Telegram staffers Worth Wren Jr. and Steve Smith went there and did that, but not for long. They passed along their war stories at the chapter meeting April 18.

Wren had been with the Star-Telegram 23 years when he shifted to a dot.com that offered a whopping pay increase and great benefits. He thoroughly enjoyed his job writing news reports for independent grocers who use the company's software. Then the axe fell with no warning in January. "We were discussing coverage for an upcoming national grocery convention in Dallas, and five minutes later, we were told we no longer had jobs."

Smith was a Star-Telegram sports editor when he was lured away -- double his Star-T salary and a $10,000 signing bonus -- to join a dot.com start-up aimed at building Web sites for amateur sports. "They had to have it up and running by last April," he said. "They had wooed venture capitalists into investing in the project, but when the stock market began its slide, they pulled out."

He lost his job on a Monday, put out his resume on Tuesday and was hired by another dot.com on Wednesday. The new company had a former Newsweek publisher as CEO, a former Texas Instruments executive and CIA brass hat as vice president for operations, and advertising on the books, but its technology was flawed. "Built on sand," Smith recalled.

"We switched our Web services and couldn't do a thing for a month after that. We had projected revenues of $7 million for the first quarter of 2001, but we weren't making a dime. By now, I knew what canaries in the coal mine to watch, and when they began dropping, it was time to start looking for another job." As he expected, he was cut loose. He now is an independent consultant and free-lance writer.

========================================

Singing those Blue Pig blues: Archer City bookstore hoss Larry McMurtry and primary donor Louise Thomas, miffed over new Midwestern State University President Henry Moon's making changes to the Larry McMurtry Center for the Arts and Humanities without their consent, have hauled the center off the Wichita Falls school's campus, although it will continue to operate independently. A summer program at the center brings in award-winning authors and actors to instruct high school students interested in writing or the stage as a career. McMurtry's used-book operation, Booked Up (formerly the 'Pig), consumes the pulsing core of Archer City, pop. 1,800, 16 miles south of Wichita Falls. ... Julie Wilson has resigned as president and chief executive of Grey Worldwide/Dallas-Fort Worth. John Duban, who joined the company in June as senior vice president of client services, replaces her. Formed in 1980 as Regian & Wilson, the agency was sold to New York-based Grey Worldwide in November '98. ... Baby daze! Wayne and Jennifer Carter welcomed a second son, Joshua Michael, into their family at 4:17 p.m. March 26. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20.5 inches long, exactly the same size at birth as his big brother, Andy, who will be 2 in May.

Kudos & Contracts ... Baseball scholar, erudite saloon keeper and all-around good guy Joe Dulle has received the American Advertising Federation's Silver Medal Award, the highest national ad award presented on a local level. A former Witherspoon & Associates vice president, TCU grad Dulle has been involved in the community for nearly 30 years, playing a vital role in the redevelopment of the Stockyards National Historic District (he owns the White Elephant Saloon on Exchange Avenue). A past chairman of the board of the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau, he currently serves on half a dozen boards of directors, from Historic Fort Worth, to the Fort Worth Sports Authority, to Jubilee Theatre.

========================================

Additions ... U. of Kansas grad Umut Newbury, a native of Turkey with experience at papers in Georgia, Iowa and Kansas, now a Wise County Messenger reporter in Decatur; she and her musician husband, Bryan, live in nearby Greenwood ... at the S-T: Maryjane O'Halloran (master's degree in library science, UNT; B.A. in English and history, UTA), librarian downtown Sunday through Wednesday evenings; she has worked as a librarian for several years, plus taught school in Arlington and Mansfield ... Anna Tinsley, Fort Worth city hall reporter; for two years a reporter in Corpus Christi before advancing to the Scripps Howard Austin bureau in 1995, she has covered state government in Corpus Christi, Abilene, San Angelo and Wichita Falls

Exits ... at the S-T: former photo editor Mike Fernandez to dfw.com as managing editor

========================================

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Mary Dulle, GFW PRSA

Thanks to all who made our annual Pro-Am Day a success. The morning sessions, superbly organized by Carroll Cole, really helped the students understand the process of finding gainful employment in their chosen profession. The lucky ones who had a chance to shadow a professional in the afternoon learned a lot about the actual practice of public relations. It's always both a joy and a bit depressing to see those fresh young faces. We have a great crop of youngsters to work with over the next few years. But it also reminds me of when I was at that stage, and I feel soooooo old now! Maybe it's just the weight of experience, or maybe it's spring fever settling in.

We hope to have a new Web site up and running again soon. Our page disappeared March 31 when the provider shut down. We didn't have a lot of notice, but Jerrod Resweber, our Webmaster, has been researching possibilities. We hadn't finalized anything by deadline but may have the site back by the time you read this.

Our next big thing is the May 9 anniversary party. If you've ever been a part of PRSA, please join us for a "reunion" as we honor our past presidents, the folks who guided us through some scary times and got us to the level we enjoy today. It'll be great fun to see old friends and have a bit of time to socialize for a change. We also have a professional development seminar coming up in June; watch for details next month.

Congratulations to GFW PRSA scholarship winner Ashley Abshire from TCU. This is the first scholarship we've given. And thanks to Andra Bennett for agreeing to chair our special interest group for solo practitioners/ independents/freelancers. The ever-organized Andra will do an outstanding job making a reality of this splendid idea, which grew out of our January panel discussion.

Arden Dufilho, IABC/Fort Worth

It's spring and a young president's thoughts turn to board succession. Our chapter has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past year. I give the lion's share of credit to Pat McCombs for setting up a year of great programs. But to ensure that we continue to grow and provide enlightening programming, it is urgent that we get our 2001-02 board in place. Because Cecilia Jacobs has stepped up at the last minute to take over for Pat as incoming president, she will not have had a year to prepare for her term as I did. And we need someone willing to become president-elect for the 2002-03 term.

It's great to have all these new members, but we must also have some new board members. If you have an interest in working with the premier professional organization for communicators, this is your chance. Several current board members have indicated their desire to remain on the board and a couple of others say they want to get involved, but we still need more member input. Not only is it a great chance to learn more about the organization, but it is also a chance to work with some great people. Hey, it also looks good on the resume.

We'll need help with next year's Bronze Quill awards, the Web site, programming and membership. You can work with others who have been there and know the ropes and who can give you direction. I hope that all of you will look at your schedules and find a little time to help us make IABC/Fort Worth even better. Numbers are nice, but substance is what it's all about.

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Love it when we can make an ex-prez happy. Donna Darovich writes: "Thanks for the E-Chaser tip about Paula LaRocque's book. As expected, it was as fun to read as it was informing. Vintage Paula. I think she would be okay with the preceding sentence fragment." You, too, can experience bliss with 50 of the Dallas Morning News copy cop's best Quill columns. Go to http://spjfw.org/legacy and click the top-of-the-page banner. ... It's a second edition for "I Knew Rufe Snow Before He Was a Road" ("No. 1 selling book in North Richland Hills!") by the S-T's Dave Lieber and illustrator Tim Bedison. "We sold 250 copies in the one bookstore we were in, Barnes & Noble in North Richland Hills, and I sold the remaining 750 at speeches and events," Lieber reports. "So we figure it's worth it to keep going and actually place in more stores. We're getting a bar code and everything! Who would have thought I'd be more successful as a cartoonist than as a columnist? I know the answer: readers who think I'm a [marginal] columnist!" First-printing proceeds -- $3,500 -- went to the charity Summer Santa. ...