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Van Horn Advocate

Opinion

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997

Mac McKinnon

OBSERVATIONS

By Mac McKinnon

Papers launch campaigns
to encourage reading


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This past Monday, newspapers across the country, including the Pecos
Enterprise, launched a campaign designed to encourage people to read
newspapers.

Theme of the campaign, developed by the Newspaper Association of
America, is "It All Starts With Newspapers." You'll see a series of
advertisements in this newspaper and almost all others as well on
television, radio, magazines and billboards encouraging people to read a
newspaper every day.

NAA has used a number of well known personalities to act as
spokespersons for this campaign including former Presidents George Bush
and Jimmy Carter along with Barbara Bush, General "Storming" Norman
Schwarzkopf, Denver Bronco Quarterback John Elway, Rapper L L Cool J,
and MTV star Tabitha Soren.
"Our aim is to promote reading, education and literacy and thereby
showcase newspapers as a vital, vigorous and valued medium, " said NAA
Persident and CEO John F. Sturm.

It's not just a campaign to promote newspapers, but a battle in the war
on illiteracy. "Read For Life," is also a central theme with parents
being encouraged to read the newspaper regularly, talk with children
about what you're reading, read aloud to your children, read together
and let children choose what they want to read.

Part of all this is Newspapers in Education (NIE) which the Pecos
Enterprise participates in along with a number of local businesses and
industries in cooperation with the local school district. Between 2,000
and 2,200 Pecos Enterprises' go into local schools each week with
teachers using the paper as part of their curriculum. The paper that
goes into the school is the Monday edition which includes the Mini-Page
with its many activities as well as educational information for all ages.

Illiteracy is one of the biggest problems in our country. As one person
in a television commercial states, "What you don't know can hurt you and
what you don't know can be found in the paper."

Consider these statistics: one in five adult Americans today reads at a
fifth grade level or lower; three out of four unemployed adults have
reading or writing difficulties; six out of 10 front-line workers in
goods-producing industries can't match written informatin to a task if
inference is involved; seven out of 10 people in prison read and write
at the lowest levels and workers who lack a high school diploma earn a
mean monthly income of $452 a month, compared to $1,829 for those with a
college bachelor's degree.

Those are, in my mind, some very convincing statistics on the importance
of reading. And as the campaign states, "It All Starts With Newspapers."
Newspapers are very pertinent to what's going on now, locally, in the
state, nation and world.

There was a very interesting piece during the Miss American pageant
Saturday night when Miss America 1997, Tara Dawn Holland, discussed her
platform for the past year, which was literacy.

She visited all over the country promoting literacy and named Barbara
Bush to receive an award as one of her guiding lights in the fight
against illiteracy.

It's interesting that the wife of Texas Gov. Geroge Bush has an ongoing
campaign to encourage reading.

Obviously, being in this business I enjoy reading. I want to encourage
everyone to get involved in reading, anything and everything. Not only
can it be informative, but entertaining as well as educational.

Mac McKinnon is the Pecos Enterprise editor and can be reached at his e-mail address, bigmac@bitstreet.net. See Mac's web page at Mac

Reader thanks paper
for putting it on-line


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To the Editor:

Thank you so much for putting the Monahans News on line. My room mates
and I were going to buy it and have it sent here, but now we can simply
enjoy our pure reading satisfaction on line.

Once I tell all the kids that go to school here at UTPB I'm sure we will
all call home and tell them to stop sending it to us when we can get it
on our computers.

What a wonderfull idea. Most other papers would, more than likely, make
us pay for the newspaper. Which I could see the Monahans News doing.
After all it is a small community and every nickle counts. However,
instead of making more money they are giving papers away for free. THANK
YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

With the money we save we can pick up other newspapers around town.
Thanks again
BILLY JO BOB

School counselors can
help with information


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To the Editor:

As a graduate from Pecos High School, I cannot stress the importance or
the need for Seniors to take advantage of what Mrs. Cobos and Mr. Adams
are offering as well as the knowledge they can gain from the teachers at
PHS.

As a freshman in a college of about 35,000 students I have seen how
students struggle because they lack the tools necessary to be
successful, tools which I have gained through the faculty at PHS.

Even though Pecos High School is a small school it offers all a student
needs to be successful in college. I advise seniors to take advantage of
all that PHS has to offer because what they learn will be vital to a
successful future.

SCOTT RANBY

Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
We support Newspapers in Education

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