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. 7 5 c e n t sF r i d a y , N o v e m b e r 2 2 , 2 0 1 3 S T E P H E N V I L L E , T E X A S ★ C I T Y O F C H A M P I O N S

EMPIRE-TRIBUNEEMPIRE-TRIBUNESTEPHENVILLE

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E-T DIGITALE-T SPORTS

GUESSING THE GRIDIRONWill Stephenville and Hico add to their trophy cases this weekend? Our panel of ‘footballogists’ certainly think so… page 7

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14 pages ★ Vol. 113, No. 211 ★ ©2013

Good morning,SubscriberMarcelle Gregory, Erath County, Texas

What does E-T Sports Editor Brad Keith think of this week’s playoff foot-ball games? Find out on the Blitz Bit, online now in the multimedia player at yourstephenvilletx.com

By JESSIE [email protected]

She was so busy looking at the stage, that Pat White said she couldn’t perform the pom routine she’d memorized weeks before.

“I know my hands weren’t doing the motions we learned. I don’t even know if I was in step,

but I didn’t care,” White recalled. “All I was doing as we drew near the stage where the president and his wife were, was watching and looking for the president.”

With the 50th anniversary of President

Local remembers marching in JFK’s inauguration parade

CONTRIBUTEDPat (Ray) White,

JoAnn (West) Bayley and Marilyn (Wag-ner) Stewart were three members of

the Southwest Texas State Strutters who, along with the band,

participated in the 1961 Presidential

Inaugural Parade in Washington.

“It was like everything and everyone

stopped. For not only that day, but for the whole following weekend. It was the end of something special and everyone knew it.”

— Pat White

JFKJFKREMEMBERING

By J. MICHAEL [email protected]

Five decades ago today an event

with historic national and global implica-tions played out in Dealey Plaza in Dallas when President John Fitzgerald Ken-nedy was assas-sinated.

In modern times, perhaps only the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that yanked America into World War II, and the horrors of 911 years later compare.

Untold questions re-main about the assas-sination and how things might have unfolded for America had it not taken place. Was it a conspiracy that was covered up? Would we have pursued the war in Viet Nam the way we did if Ken-nedy had been alive?

Those things we’ll probably never know, but for most of us who lived through it, we know what we re-member about Nov. 22, 1963. Here’s what some of our neighbors who live in Erath County had to say:

Arlis Parker: “It was very personal to me, a feeling much like when my brother was killed in World War II. I didn’t vote for Kennedy, but he was still our presi-dent, everybody’s. It was as if

Where were you when Kennedy was killed?

By J. MICHAEL [email protected]

On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, Ameri-cans were the children of unprecedented historic privilege, heirs to a grand legacy. We

were going to the moon and back. We were the “can do” people who knew we could do that

� e Kennedy Assassination:

SEE WHERE WERE YOU, A2

Who we were that day

By JESSIE [email protected]

Local attorney Blake � ompson, who announced his intention to run against Judge Bart McDougal earlier

this year, has made it o� cial by � ling paperwork to get his name on the Republican Party Primary ballot.

“I’ve been thinking about running for a while now,” � ompson said. “But my family and I had just moved

back to the area and I was growing a family and a business in the com-munity. Now, I feel like it’s the right time for a campaign and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve the people of this area further.”

� ompson, who spent much of his childhood in Stephenville, graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in public relations and a Juris Doctoral degree. A� er practicing law across the state in cities like

Dallas and Lubbock, � ompson and his family — wife, Paige, daughter Ava, 8, and son Brooks, 4, — moved back to Stephenville in 2007.

SEE WHO WE WERE, A2

ELECTION 2014

� ompson � les to run for County Court at Law judge

SEE ELECTION, A2

SEE WHITE, A2

The STephenville empire-Tribunewww.yourstephenvilletx.com Sunday, March 24, 2013 | B1

261 North Harbin • Stephenville, Texas 76401 254-968-2345 • Fax: 254-968-2352

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Lifestyles

BY JESSIE [email protected]

Brandon Allen Powell, a filmmaker from Gorman, has recently learned his no-budget feature “Trial by Self ” has been accepted to the St. Tropez International

Film Festival which will be held in May. According to officials, approximately 60 of

the best films are chosen out of thousands of features, shorts and documentaries that are submitted. “Trial by Self ” was given seven award nods by the committee. Of the 60 features, short films and documentaries ac-cepted to the festival, five are nominated for the Best Feature Film category and “Trial by Self ” is one of them. The film was also nominated for Best Lead Actor (James Byron Houser), Best Lead Actress (Cat Angle), Best Sup-porting Actress (Jessica Guess), Best Cinematog-raphy (Brandon Allen Powell) and Best Editing (Brandon Allen Powell).

This isn’t the first festival “Trial by Self ” has been accepted to, and Powell said he is excited the film is getting so much buzz.

The film has already won Best Actor in a Female Role at the Sunset International Film Festival in Los Angeles for Brownwood’s Amanda Branham’s performance. She played the daughter of an alcoholic father. “Trial by Self ” was nominated for four awards at the World Music and Inde-pendent Film Festival in Washington, DC. It has also been accepted into the Gen Con Indy Film Festival in Indianapolis.

“Trial by Self ” was shot entirely in Gorman and the actors are mostly area residents. It may have taken Powell the better part of four years to get the 70-minute film complete, but it was a labor of love, he said. Most of the film was shot on weekends and served as a learn-ing exercise for Powell, who studied television, advertising and public relations at Howard Payne University.

“The movie is really an experiment,” Powell said. “Originally it was supposed to take only

two months. We found out a few months later that a lot of the footage was completely lost. It was as if someone had erased it completely. [Note: It is believed that the footage must have somehow come in contact with a strong magnetic field.] Every once in a while, there would be a scrambled or distorted image but in any case, a lot of the footage was unus-able. This meant we had to re-shoot much of the movie.”

The lost half of the movie was re-shot in a very piece-meal manner as the actors became available. In fact, some actors never became available and scenes had to be rewritten, often the night before they were shot. A few parts were even recast because the original actors were unable to reshoot their scenes.

“I knew we would have a very low budget while writing the movie so I wrote a script around the various locations I knew I could gain access to,” he said.

Securing the locations was easier than Powell expected. The town granted him permission to shoot at every location he requested.

Still, there were some scheduling mix-ups that led to some ‘behind the scenes’ drama. The city office had used two calendars to re-serve one of the locations and had accidentally booked a heavy metal festival at the same time it had been reserved for the movie shoot.

“It was a nightmare,” said Powell, “It was our last day at this awesome location. We had been shooting there for four days, and on the night before our last day, I received a phone call from Amanda (Branham) telling me about this flier that she saw for a heavy metal festival that was to be held while we were supposed

to shoot the climax to the scene we had been working on. Lauren Doxey (who was from Utah) and Jessica Guess (who lived in California) were sup-posed to fly home the next day. We had to shoot. I was furious. The next morning we called the city secretary and informed her of the problem. We had reserved the park first, but the man who was running the festival wanted us to let him have the park any-way because he had bands arriving from ‘almost Okla-homa.’ We told him that we had ac-tresses from California and Utah and

that we were not bending for him. So after an hour of aggressive negotia-tions, we promised to call after we finished shooting. This did not stop rain from slowing us down or heavy metal bands and fans from showing up and interrupting. One angry fan actually tried to run over one of our actresses. We called the police, and they held everyone off of us while we finished, but it felt rushed. We got the scene completed, but not with-out compromises. I have to say that a heavy metal festival was not one of the problems I had anticipated in a town like Gorman.”

This wasn’t the only obstacle the production had to overcome. One of the actors got injured and had to

quit the production only a day before he was due on the set. “We were actually really lucky,” said Powell. “Robert W. Powell did a better job on the part than the original actor would have. We had to change the character a bit to suit him, but the character is much stronger now. He is a lot more likable which makes him more layered. It was a blessing in disguise.”

Even with all of the problems that the production faced, Powell says he is happy he made the movie.

“Making this movie has taught me a lot,” he said. “I think I am a different person than I was before making this movie.”

The production company describes the plot as fol-lows: “Torn apart by seemingly trivial life events, Tony Fisher, who was once a loving father and husband, is now self-destructive, despondent and emotionally unavail-able. His daughter, Sarah, avoids being at home because of the awkward family situation, while his wife, Keri, tries her

best to reach Tony. Meanwhile, people around them are meeting violent ends, and this is taking a toll on the family. They are all in for a wild and violent ride on the way to a suspense-ful and thought-provoking conclusion.”

Powell said it is always great to find an audi-ence for a film that he’s worked so hard and long on.

“It is even better when a festival believes that your film has merit of some kind,” he said. “It validates your hard work. It also creates opportunity for you. When you make a film, no one even cares until you have that impor-tant festival exposure. It is pivotal in finding distribution. I also love that I have seen places that I would have otherwise never seen.”

The next step is distribution. Powell is hoping to gather enough interest that this becomes less of a chore. He is also currently writing two other screenplays that are very dif-ferent from this project.

While he is proud of the final product, he knows there is still work to be done. With the film being accepted to festivals, he hopes to use it as a springboard for his next project.

“I have no fantasies about this film making me the next big movie director,” he said. “But I hope it can lead to work in the industry in some way.”

To learn more about the movie, visit the film’s Facebook page and watch the trailer at www.tinyurl.com/trialbyself.

Local film maker gets festival acclaim

“Trial by Self” was nominated for four awards at the World Music and Indepen-dent Film Festival in Washington, DC. It has also been accepted into the Gen Con Indy Film Festival in Indianapolis. The film has already won Best Actor in a Female Role at the Sunset International Film Festival in Los Angeles for Brownwood’s Amanda Branham’s (shown above) per-formance. She played the daughter of the alcoholic father.

THE STEPHENVILLE EMPIRE-TRIBUNEA4 | Sunday, September 1, 2013 www.yourstephenvilletx.com

On Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan’s death sentence

To some, death is not the ultimate punishment, are you sure this is the worst thing that can be done to him? Would life in solitary confi nement where he slowly goes crazy (even more so than he already is) be worse? — Justin Catherine Pittman

Yes of course you are right Justin, but I agree to just get the slime bag off the tax roll & move on. I hate to think of having to house & feed him & give him medical care for the next 20 yrs. he will fi nd out what a Muslim “martyr” REALLY IS. — Hilda Swindle

He’s lived in his crazy world for 5 years too long already... the victims and their families need peace and closure. — Deb Dyer

I agree he needs to die but the death penalty is not the way to go. In his mind

and culture/religion/etc. it makes him a martyr. Which just fuels others like him. — Lauryn Loftin

In his mind he thinks it makes him a martyr. But boy, is he in for a rude awakening when he gets to where he’s going. It’s a little hot there! — Gayla Tibbitts

Texas justice fi nally served. — Eric Quirl

Oh he has a long military appeals process to suffer through. He’s not go-ing anywhere anytime soon. Just long enough for his “friends” to forget about him And him die miserable and alone with regrets. (Ok yeah probably not.. But that’d be nice) — Cathi Guy

They should put him in front of a fi ring squad forget lethal injection! —

Theresa Hutchins

Should be a fi ring squad consisting of the family members of those the ter-rorist killed! — Trey Small

He should get the same baptism in to Christianity that Bin Laden got. Colt M4 wielded by the Navy Seals — Steven Carr

I can’t for the life of me think of why Texas is thought so poorly of. — Matt Gower

Thou shalt not kill. Means everyone. What would Jesus do? What we do with him is about us, not him. Who are we now? How will we be punished? — James Huse

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Viewpoint

EMPIRE-TRIBUNESTEPHENVILLE

YOUR E-T STAFFJerry Pye, publisher: [email protected] Vanden Berge, managing editor: [email protected] Bauer, advertising manager: [email protected] Robinson, circulation manager: [email protected] Keith, sports editor: [email protected] Horton, staff writer: [email protected] MCaig, staff writer: [email protected] Downs, creative services: [email protected]

FOR YOUR INFORMATION Address: 590 South Loop, PO Box 958, Stephenville, TX 76401Phone: 254-965-3124 (Subscription and service) | Fax: (254) 965-4269Website: www.yourstephenvilletx.com

The Stephenville Empire-Tribune is published 5 days a week, all rights reserved. Member, Associated Press, Texas Press Association, Inland Press Association.

POLICIES Corrections: The Empire-Tribune will gladly correct any error or clarify any information that is unclear or misleading that is published in the newspaper or website. To request a correction, call the newspaper offi ce between 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Letters: All letters must be signed and include a valid phone number and home-town of the author for verifi cation purposes. Names of businesses will be omitted. The newspaper has the right to edit for grammar and style. Please limit letters to 400 words. One letter per month per writer, please.

SERVICES To subscribe: To get the newspaper delivered to your home, or make a change in service, call the circulation department 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at 254-965-3124.

Delivery deadline: Stephenville and Dublin, 6 a.m.; Rural areas, 8 a.m.

POSTMASTER(USPS 521-320)

Send address changes to:Empire-Tribune, PO Box 958

Stephenville, TX, 76401Periodicals paid at

Stephenville, TX 76401

OUR VIEW

READER FEEDBACK


� at foam � nger deserves an apology

SARA VANDEN BERGE

FROM THE EDITOR

� e thought of a new school year is o� en damp-ened for parents dreading those morning and a� er-noon commutes. Tra� c is o� en di� cult to navigate in areas surrounding school zones, causing a spike in blood pressure for motorists.

But Stephenville police o� cers directing tra� c at busy intersections kept things running smoothly and blood pressure in check during the � rst week of school.

Police Chief Pat Bridges

and his sta� should be commended for making school safety and tra� c control a priority.

With all the construc-tion surrounding busy school zones, tra� c could have been much worse. Instead, it � owed easily, quickly and safely thanks to good planning on the part of our police depart-ment.

- � e Stephenville Empire-TribuneFollow the Empire-Tribune on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/empiretribune

Police keep school tra� c � owing

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?Whether your agree or disagree with us, we want to know your opinion. Email us your feedback at [email protected], or submit your letter using our submission buttons on the homepage of yourstephenvilletx.com.

Surely by now you’ve heard the good news: Miley Cyrus is all

grown up.� at in-your-face revela-

tion was made during last Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards where the once adorable Hannah Mon-tana put on a jaw dropping performance that had us all wishing our innocence back.

For the purpose of full disclosure, I did not watch the performance in its live glory. I’m usually overcome with narcolepsy about 9 p.m. most nights, and almost always miss prime-time TV.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up the next morning and found out Hannah Montana had turned into a hood rat.

Surely, they jest, I told myself. So out of sheer cu-riosity I watched the video on YouTube and found no jesting had been involved.

Indeed, there was Miley, scantily clad in a strange little getup with two devil-like horns protruding from her head and showing o� an unusually long tongue.

I can’t bear to talk about what she did with that poor foam � nger, but she no doubt owes it an apology.

And the twerking? Need I say more? For a middle-aged woman who just recently learned what twerking is (and a� er a little chardon-nay and girl time realized I’m no good at it), I blushed.

� en I wondered what you wondered. Where’s mom?

Miley may want to be all grown up, but her maturity seems stunted by a pre-pu-bescent mind. Surely there is an adult in her life that could have told her such a performance was a bad idea.

As a mother of three — two of whom are now in college and another who will begin driving Wednesday — there has been no shortage of bad decisions in our

household.When those occur, I tend

to step in and o� er advice when needed.

Poor Miley seems to be missing that.

Entertainers no doubt need to be outrageous at times. And it helps if they are sexy. But Miley’s perfor-mance was neither. It doesn’t take a prude to understand it was repulsive.

But there is good news.Despite the usual tsk-tsk-

ing about the performance by the talking heads, the outrage seems to be di� erent this time.

Have people � nally had enough? Could it be that average, main stream folks are � nally saying enough is enough.

I’m holding out hope that’s true.

Meanwhile, like other moms across America who watched the Disney starlet grow up, the emotion many of us are feeling has more to do with pity than outrage.

Pity for a 20-year-old young woman doing what young people sometimes do: Make poor decisions.

Although I have done my fair share of tsk-tsking the performance, what I really want to do is smear Miley’s face with Clearasil, pour her a glass of milk and tuck her into bed.

And once she falls asleep, I will hide that foam � nger in a place that will never be discovered.

Sara Vanden Berge is the managing editor of the Empire-Tribune. She can be reached at 968-2379 ext. 240. Follow her on Twitter @ETeditor.

EMPIRE-TRIBUNEEMPIRE-TRIBUNESTEPHENVILLE

YOUR E-T STAFFJerry Pye, publisher: [email protected] Vanden Berge, managing editor: [email protected] Bauer, advertising manager: [email protected] Robinson, circulation manager: [email protected] Keith, sports editor: [email protected] Horton, staff writer: [email protected] MCaig, staff writer: [email protected] Downs, creative services: [email protected]

FOR YOUR INFORMATION Address: 590 South Loop, PO Box 958, Stephenville, TX 76401Phone: 254-965-3124 (Subscription and service) | Fax: (254) 965-4269Website: www.yourstephenvilletx.com

The Stephenville Empire-Tribune is published 5 days a week, all rights reserved. Member, Associated Press, Texas Press Association, Inland Press Association.

POLICIES Corrections: The Empire-Tribune will gladly correct any error or clarify any information that is unclear or misleading that is published in the newspaper or website. To request a correction, call the newspaper offi ce between 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Letters: All letters must be signed and include a valid phone number and home-town of the author for verifi cation purposes. Names of businesses will be omitted. The newspaper has the right to edit for grammar and style. Please limit letters to 400 words. One letter per month per writer, please.

SERVICES To subscribe: To get the newspaper delivered to your home, or make a change in service, call the circulation department 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at 254-965-3124.

Delivery deadline: Stephenville and Dublin, 6 a.m.; Rural areas, 8 a.m.

POSTMASTER(USPS 521-320)

Send address changes to:Empire-Tribune, PO Box 958

Stephenville, TX, 76401Periodicals paid at

Stephenville, TX 76401


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