GOOD MORNING FRANKLIN COUNTY

By Staff
Today is Friday, March 4, 2005. Eat hardy because today is National Pound Cake Day. Expect partly cloudy skies today with a high of 60 degrees. On this day in history:
1861 – Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th president of the United States.
1902 – The American Automobile Association (AAA) is founded in Chicago.
1917 – Jeannette Rankin becomes the first female member of Congress.
1924 – The song "Happy Birthday To You" is published by Claydon Sunny.
1936 – The Hindenburg flies for the first time.
1952 – Ronald Reagan marries Nancy Davis.
1966 – The final production of the Studebaker automobile takes place in Canada.
1994 – Actor John Candy dies from a heart attack at the age of 43.
BAD SPORTS
Schools in Alabama are required to teach character education each day and one of the twenty-five character traits on the list is sportsmanship. John Chaney, head basketball coach of the Temple Owls, should have read one of those lessons.
Last week during a game with league rival Saint Joseph, Chaney felt his team was being fouled a bit too hard by the other team. The coach sent a seldom used big man, Nehemiah Ingram, into the game with specific instructions to "rough up" the other team.
Ingram fouled out in four minutes with his last foul sending Saint Joseph's John Bryant crashing to the floor, a fall which broke his arm and ended his senior season.
Chaney voluntarily stepped away from his coaching duties for the rest of the regular season and for the league tournament. If Temple goes to the NCAA tournament he will coach the Owls. Some people are calling for Chaney to resign while others say this one incident should not end his illustrious career.
No matter what the outcome, Chaney's actions will forever brand him as a poor sport, much like Ohio State's former football coach Woody Hayes.
They say one rotten apple can spoil the bunch. Unfortunately one rotten action can spoil a career.
GOOD SPORTS
On the afternoon of the Super Bowl one month ago, most players were doing their pre-game routines. Deon Branch of the New England Patriots spent a good part of the day on the phone. He wasn't setting up endorsement deals or making plans for post-game parties, he was calling his former coaches to say thank you. Branch called elementary school coaches, junior high coaches, high school coaches, and college coaches. His conversation was very simple because he just said "thank you for believing in me, thank you for pushing me, and thank you for helping me get to where I am."
Deon Branch went on to have a pretty good game that day. He caught 11 passes for 133 yards, his team won the game, and Branch was named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player. Who said nice guys finish last?
PARTING SHOTS
On Sunday a tornado hit Palm Bay, Florida, and damaged many homes in the area including one owned by Bill Lawton. Two days ago police arrested George Knight and Alejandro Londono for stealing jewelry, a fax machine, and some televisions from the Lawton home, which had been declared unlivable. The crooks got into the home by breaking through a window, the only window that wasn't broken by the tornado.
Lawton told reporters that the fact that the thieves broke his only good window "made me more angry than the tornado."
AND FINALLY
Police in Aurora, Colorado, were called to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant when a manager suspected a man had helped himself to the salad bar without paying. Danon Gale was eating with his two children, ages three and seven, when officers approached him about the allegation. A struggle ensued and officers tasered Gale twice with a stun gun in front of his kids and other screaming children. The store manager had no comment but Chuck E. Cheese said, "You steal my salad and you're going down."
Richard Parker is Minister of Students and Education at First Baptist Church in Russellville. You can e-mail him your comments at RParker@russellvilleFBC.org.