Gwendolyn Strong, a 20-month-old toddler, delighted in hearing the train whistles and taking photos in front of The Little Engine That Could™ at the Texas State Railroad Palestine Depot on Tuesday.

Gwendolyn's parents Bill and Victoria Strong of Santa Barbara, California brought their little girl to Palestine as part of their 5,000-mile round trip drive to raise awareness for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a paralyzing and terminal disease. The Strongs are making their trip across the country in an RV armed with banners, corporate sponsors and a call to action to end SMA.

More photos can be found on the Herald-Press Photo Gallery.




The “Sponsor-A-Mile to END SMA” drive (http://SponsorAMile.com), in which each mile driven is sponsored at $10 a mile, has a goal of raising $50,000. All proceeds will go to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation (http://gwendolynstrongfoundation.org), which seeks to shed light on this deadly childhood disease and to fund SMA medical research that specialists and the National Institute for Health (NIH) believe is within five years of a cure.

The community is invited to meet the Bill and Victoria Strong family of Santa Barbara, Calif. when they stop by the Texas State Railroad's Palestine Depot at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 30.

The Strongs will be in Palestine on Tuesday as part of their campaign to drive 5,000 miles with their 20-month-old daughter Gwendolyn who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a paralyzing and fatal disease, across the country in an RV armed with banners, corporate sponsors and a call to action to end SMA.

A special event for media and community supporters is planned. The Little Engine That Could™ will be displayed at the TSRR during the event. The Strongs will say a few words about their journey, pass out information regarding SMA, and be available to speak to media.

The Texas State Railroad Palestine Depot is located at Park Road 70 on U.S. 84 East in Palestine.

For information on Gwendolyn, visit GwendolynStrong Foundation.org

Also, read the full story about the family and their visit to Palestine here.

Be sure to read Sunday's newspaper for a touching story about an ordinary couple who are doing extraordinary things in the midst of personal crisis.

Santa Barbara, California residents Bill and Victoria Strong have made it their mission to drive 5,000 miles with their 20 month-old daughter, Gwendolyn, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a paralyzing and terminal disease, across the country in an RV armed with banners, corporate sponsors and a call to action -- To END SMA!

The Strongs will be rolling into Palestine on Tuesday. Why are they stopping in Palestine?

Victoria’s grandparents, Harry and Madge Gillespie, were formerly longtime residents of Palestine, as were her great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents.

Her grandfather Harry Gillespie is 104 years old and moved from Palestine to Mississippi in 1964.

“After our daughter was diagnosed we set a trip to see him but it was canceled due to her health,” Victoria Strong said via a phone interview while traveling in the RV on their way to New Mexico on Friday. “Gwendolyn can’t travel by plane so this was our last option. We got an ‘OK’ from her doctors. Gwendolyn is doing well and Harry is doing well, so now was the perfect time.”
Strong said her grandfather still associates his life a great deal to Palestine.

“He spent so much time in Palestine that it really is his home,” Strong said. “All of our ancestors are buried in Palestine. I’ve spent a lot of time there and I want to visit the cemetery and show my family the town because of our family roots.”

The "Sponsor-A-Mile to END SMA" drive (http://SponsorAMile.com), in which each mile driven is sponsored at $10 a mile, has a goal of raising $50,000. All proceeds will go to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation (http://gwendolynstrongfoundation.org), which seeks to shed light on this deadly childhood disease and to fund SMA medical research that specialists and the National Institute for Health (NIH) believe is within 5 years of a cure.

I know that Anderson County's Relay for Life was a few weeks ago, but I have just now had the time to finish getting this video ready. I had to cut it down so that YouTube would accept it. It's long, but for the couple of hundred of us who were there for Relay for Life, it's meaningful to see the whole thing. Thank you Corey for putting it together!

I really like the beginning of the video when Relay for Life Chair Sarah Jo McDonald explained why it's so important.

I was off work on Relay for Life night so that I could be on a team - a new one called Team Hope. We will be back next year to fight cancer with the other teams.

Sometimes black-and-white photos in the newspaper do not do photos justice. I couldn't resist putting this beautiful hydrangea photo here because of its color.

I also really love the photos from the Grapeland Safari! Notice the food falling out of the little girl's cup while she is feeding it. So cute!

The Gardens at the Palestine Public Library will be dedicated Thursday, June 25 at 9 a.m. at Palestine Public Library.

An “adventure” that began with water mysteriously flooding the Youth Department concluded with beautiful gardens welcoming visitors to Palestine Public Library.

The designs were created by Anderson County Master Gardeners. Installation was performed by Jo Ann Pigeon Landscaping, Anderson County Master Gardeners, members of the community, and Blackstone Irrigation. Prep work and paving work was provided by community work crews from The Gurney Unit of TDCJ with supervision of the Palestine Public Works Department.

Funding was provided by a matching grant from Palestine Economic Development Corporation, Palestine Library Friends, and Palestine Library Memorial. Benches are being provided by donations from Pionette Garden Club, Palestine Library Friends, Palestine Library Memorial, and friends and family of Janeene Kiely.

Here are more photos from the garden:

Did you know the Palestine Herald-Press has a YouTube channel? This is where we put the videos that we take. We also put them on our website and sometimes our blogs, but if you ever wanted to go back in look at them all together, the link above is a good place to go (and to bookmark).

Here's our newest video taken at the British Soccer Camp at the YMCA soccer field on Friday:

Be sure to read the British Soccer Camp story in Tuesday's edition.

Local photographer Stuart Whitaker took TONS (like more than 300) photos at Southside's graduation ceremony for its students. The photos are accessible at his Shutterfly account: http://etxphotojunkie.shutterfly.com/

You are going to need to bookmark his site because he takes lots of local photos, so you will want to keep checking back.

He took SEVERAL photos of kids getting their diplomas:

Here are a few Father's Day videos:

Here's also Alan Jackson's "Drive"
and Brad Paisley's "He Didn't Have to Be."

Here's a few more videos for fun:

My friend Tammy Campos has just started a new website for lost/found pets called Lost Tails.

I had just wrote a story in the Friday paper about Fuzz, a black and white dog, who escaped from a local vet clinic. Fuzz's owners were frantic, as they had been dealing with a death in the family, and losing their dog on top of that, was just hard. The newspaper story did the trick. Someone saw it in the newspaper this morning and called the Browns and Fuzz is now home safe this evening!

But why not help more people who have lost/found pets? This new Lost Tails website can be utilized by someone who is looking for their lost pet as another avenue to try. It also can be used by those who find a pet.

I'm not saying this is the only way to find a pet. Obviously, you should call the animal shelter (903-729-8074) to see if your lost pet might be there. You should also put signs up by the last place you saw your pet. You also can put an ad in the newspaper for a lost/found pet. The more things you can try, the better.

Live performances from our favorite country music performers, priceless. Seeing our favorites win awards for the best country music videos of the year, priceless.

Watching the opening skit about dreams with Taylor Swift and host actor/comedian Bill Engvall for the 2009 CMT Music Awards on Tuesday night in Nashville – hilarious.

Swift really brought this year’s awards show to a whole new water-cooler level. Her Star Trek skit (especially when she vaporized Engvall and asked Spock about MySpace and Twitter) was fantastic. As if that couldn’t be topped, her rapping video skit with rap star T-Pain called “Thug Story” was an awesome play on her “Love Story” song and Swift really played the part. Swift is the “It Girl” of country music right now, but at the same time comes across so sweet and modest, and always seems grateful for her fans.

Besides bringing comic relief to the show, Swift also won two awards ¬— video of the year for “Love Story,” which also won female video of the year.

But that’s not all. Swift performed “You Belong With Me” with a whole slew of cheerleaders on stage (similar to her video for the song) and closed the show with Def Leppard in a collaboration of the band’s mega hit from the ‘80s, “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” She worked with Def Leppard recently on a CMT “Crossroads” special.

In her acceptance speech for female video of the year, she thanked CMT.

“I want to thank CMT for letting me live so many of my dreams this year. I got to sing with my heroes. Def Leppard. I love you guys so much.”

Swift also gave credit to singers who came before her – including Shania Twain and Garth Brooks.

"I want to thank Shania Twain for always making such theatrical videos, and Garth Brooks for always putting the fans first. I take my cues from you," Swift said when she accepted the video of the year award. "I thank the fans for giving me video of the year when my whole family is here watching."

Trey Fanjoy, who directed Swift's award-winning "Love Story" video, was named video director of the year.

Also having a big night at the 2009 CMT Music Awards was Brad Paisley, who won best male video for “Waitin’ on a Woman,” which featured the appearance of veteran actor Andy Griffith. During his acceptance speech, Paisley expressed how proud he was to work on “Waitin’ in a Woman” with director Jim Shead and Griffith.

“Jim and I agree that this was the perfect man to pass wisdom,” Paisley said. “He has passed wisdom his whole life to us….”

Paisley also shared the collaborative video award with Keith Urban for “Start a Band.”

Both Paisley and Urban joked on stage to young guys everywhere. Urban told guys to “learn guitar, kids. Get the real thing.”

Paisley added, “Rock Band never got anybody a date. Never.”


For the CMT performance of the year award, Paisley was honored along with Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson and George Strait for their “Country Boy” performance during the TV special “CMT Giants: Alan Jackson.”

Jackson accepted the award with Paisley and Bentley.

Paisley also performed his current hit, "Then" during the show.

Sugarland’s “All I Want to Do” won a CMT award for duo video of the year. Sugarland also performed the B-52’s “Love Shack” during the show — surprising the audience by having the B-52’s join them on stage to finish the song.

Rascal Flatts won the group video award for “Every Day,” and performed “Summer Nights” from their latest album.

Kid Rock won the Wide Open Country video award for “All Summer Long,” while The Zac Brown Band took home the USA Weekend breakthrough artist of the year award for their first big hit, “Chicken Fried.”

Urban performed current hit “Sweet Thing” and joined Jasons Aldean on “She’s Country.” Other performances included Kellie Pickler (“Best Days of Your Life”), Toby Keith (“God Love Her”), Bentley (“Sideways”), Trace Adkins (“You’re Gonna Miss This”) and Darius Rucker (“Alright”).

Here is the complete list of 2009 CMT Music Awards winners:

• Duo Video of the Year: Sugarland, “All I Want to Do”
• Group Video of the Year: Rascal Flatts, “Everybody”
• CMT Performance of the Year: Alan Jackson featuring Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and George Strait, “Country Boy” from CMT Giants: Alan Jackson
• Collaborative Video of the Year: Brad Paisley with Keith Urban, “Start a Band”
Male Video of the Year: Brad Paisley, “Waitin' on a Woman”
• Video of the Year: Taylor Swift, “Love Story”
• Female Video of the Year: Taylor Swift, “Love Story”
• USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year: Zac Brown Band, “Chicken Fried”
• Wide Open Country Video of the Year: Kid Rock, “All Summer Long”
• Video Director of the Year: Trey Fanjoy for Taylor Swift’s video “Love Story”

Here is KLTV's video of Adrian Peterson Day in Palestine.

Read the Adrian Peterson Day story here in the Herald-Press.

You are going to LOVE this video! These guys were nice enough to volunteer to dress in drag for their team to raise money for the American Cancer Society during the Anderson County Relay for Life on Friday, June 12.

Some of the "dudes" really get into it and play it up. In the second part of the video, they see who can collect the most donations for their Relay for Life team. The winner (the guy in the black dress on the far left at the beginning of the video) won. He's from the Dragonslayer team.

I just think it's cool that these guys did this to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

The guy on the right even performs on a unicycle!

Local cancer survivors take the first lap around the track during the Anderson County Relay for Life event on Friday at Westwood High School's track.

Relay for Life team participants, family members and the community cheered the survivors on as they walked their first lap to the song "I Will Survive."

Be sure to read the Little Mexico Blog to find out about the renovations since the fire. There's been progress!

Herald-Press News Editor Beth Foley was at Palestine High School's graduation ceremony Friday and uploaded 57 photos to the PHP Photo Gallery.