Saturday, April 25, 1998

Reporter-News salutes

And back again

Abilene welcomes the return of Bill and Laurie Stevens, former residents who left here in 1990 to take over management of the Gage Hotel near Big Bend National Park. Bill has been named new executive director of the West Central Texas Oil and Gas Association, replacing longtime WeCTOGA chief Morris Burns. An Abilene native and McMurry graduate, Stevens was active in many local industry organizations in the 1980s and was founder and first chairman of WeCTOGA's Energy Forum. Laurie hosted a popular local television show, "Mid-Day with Laurie," and served as executive director of the Paramount Theater. We expect they'll soon make their presence known in a variety of positive ways.

Governor's Award

Former Make a Difference Day coordinator Janet Ardoyno has been mentioned many times in this column for her far-flung volunteer efforts that have helped a multitude of Abilenians and also brought the city honor and distinction as a place where people care about others. Janet, obviously, hasn't done all that on her own, and by singling her out we've never meant to slight the collective actions that have involved literally tens of thousands of local residents. But anyone who has been engaged in volunteerism in Abilene knows Janet has been a spark -- and a bright one. And so we congratulate her again on the occasion of being one of the 10 Texans honored with the 1998 Governor's Volunteer Awards as part of National Volunteer Week. Also honored in Austin was Stephenville's Dr. Nathan Cedars, 82, the driving force behind that city's free medical clinic, which administers to the poor. Such individuals exemplify the good of which human beings are capable.