Local Weather Forecast
Today: Current:80	Friday: 92/71	Saturday: 93/73
Complete Forecast for  Aug 21 2008

TOP JOBS

Memorial Day comes a little early this year because it is on that long weekend holiday lineup Congress approved a few years ago before the gasoline price crisis.

Even with the three-day weekend, reports say Memorial Day travel will be down this time because at close to $4 a gallon it gets pretty costly to make those holiday trips.

For those who still think May 30 still ought to be Memorial Day, there still would be a long weekend involved this time because that date falls on Friday.

Over the years people have become accustomed to Memorial Day also signifying that May is almost over. This year, there still will be several more days in the month but June will arrive next Sunday and a couple of interesting events are on the schedule.

One promotion is for the appearance of the “World’s Most Famous Pig” which has scheduled a visit to the Tyler Public Library.

If you guessed “Babe” the talking pig of movie fame you would be wrong. This pig is named Daisy and while it might not be able to talk, it is an effective campaigner for reading. She and Farmer Minor share the billing for an appearance Saturday, June 21, in Taylor Auditorium of the Tyler Library.

“How many pigs love books?” is the question posed in an article in Tyler Public Library, published by Friends of the Library. “Daisy does,” the report adds.

“Her mission is to encourage youngsters to develop a love for reading as she and Farmer Minor ‘Pig Out on Reading’ across the United States, the report continues. The duo comes from Minor’s Farm, the oldest continuously operating farm at Bristol, Conn.

Daisy is billed as the first pig ever invited inside the U.S. Capitol while on her first national tour in 2002. She also received her own letter from first lady Laura Bush.

Something else that makes her unique is that Daisy is the only pig to have hundreds of library cards from libraries and schools across the nation.

“Babe” might have had a couple of movies, but Daisy has been in newspapers and on TV around the world, the report notes, and appeared in Weekly Reader

and Time For Kids

.

She also has been kissed by a countless number of school principals, teachers, librarians, business executives, mayors, celebrities and hundreds of thousands of school children.

At any rate, the public is welcome to come and meet Daisy and Farmer Minor at the Tyler Public Library at 2 p.m. June 21. You might even be able to squeeze into the “Kiss a Pig” line.

——

If the warming trend of late May continues, the June meeting of the Smith County Historical Society could become even more inviting than usual.

It is the annual “ice cream social.”

The meeting will be held June 3 at 7 p.m. at the Chilton-Taylor House, 727 S. Chilton Ave. in Tyler.

Joan and Ellen Musselman, owners of the house, again will host the annual event.

The house was built in 1888 by Horace and Mary Chilton. Chilton was the first native-born Texan to serve as a U.S. senator. The Gus Taylor family, who purchased the house in 1910, was the last to use it as a home, and did so for 45 years. Next, the house was used as Caldwell Playschool No. 2 for almost 50 years until it was closed in 1998.

In January 2005, the Musslemans bought the property to use as home of Southwest Operating Company offices. Its inclusion on the Tyler Register of Historic Places was unanimously approved by the City Council in January.

Society meetings are open to members, their guests and interested members of the public. Those attending June 3 will be able to visit, enjoy some ice cream and admire the interior restoration the house has received from the Musslemans, a report in the Society’s Newsletter

notes.