Hereford Brand looking for children's artwork

Hey kids, do you like to draw pictures? Do you want to see your artwork in the newspaper? If so, I’m here to help.
For the last several weeks I have been working hard deep in the dim, musty, catacombs of the Hereford Brand offices, putting in numerous overtime hours trying to create a new look for your favorite hometown newspaper.
Actually, I have been trying to keep my fantasy football team from sinking lower than my picks as one of the Fearless Forecasters, but that’s beside the point. (And yes, I even picked against my own fantasy team the first time I picked against the Herd.)
This is where you kids can get involved. As part of the new design, I want to include what I call “weather art” on the front page. I need you to draw pictures that show something to do with the weather, such as a sunny day, rain, snow, wind, tornadoes, and the like.
Maybe you can let your teacher know that it would make a good class project one day. I need your name, grade and school written on the back. You can bring it by the Hereford Brand (313 N. Lee), or, if your teacher has a bunch, I will come by your school and pick them up.
It’s that simple.
And teachers, I need your help as well. If you wouldn’t mind having your pupils draw some pictures for the paper, we’d really appreciate it. More than that, however, I need you to let me know when you have something interesting going on in your classroom or in your school. We are going to be revamping our education pages to include stories and photos of events that take place in the classrooms.
If you have a science project, play, guest speaker, book fair, costume contest, holiday party, dance, spelling bee or any other thing going on that people might want to know about, please shoot me an e-mail at editor@herefordbrand.com or call me at (806) 364-2030. I’ll do my best to be there.
The same thing goes for local businesses. If you’ve got new employees, promoted employees, fancy new products, an expansion, a new business or anything else that might be newsworthy, please let me know. I’ve created a new business page and it’s just waiting for some business news to put in it.
One of the things you’re going to notice about the Hereford Brand is that it involves a lot more reader participation. Those of you with cable television have probably seen news channels incorporate viewer input into their content. For example, CNN has its iReport segment where viewers send in news. We will have something similar to that in the Brand.
If you have taken a picture, whether it’s news or a feature, please send it in. If you have a news tip or a good idea for a feature story, please let us know. If you want to sound off on something, write a letter to the editor.
Don’t be shy. This is your hometown and this is your newspaper. We want you to be a part of it.
Oh, one more thing, if you’ve got any tips for picking games or selecting good back-ups on a fantasy football team, please be sure to include them.

Politics
I stand corrected. Some time ago I predicted the Sen. Barack Obama would not win the presidency. I still hope Sen. John McCain wins, but I now feel the White House is Obama’s to lose.
I have the same feeling now that I did at this point in 1996 when Sen. Bob Dole was up against President Clinton. It’s kind of like being down two touchdowns at the two-minute warning of a football game. You know that unless the other team fumbles really bad, the game is all but over.
Having watched most of the debates, I feel McCain has done a lousy job of positioning himself and explaining his policies. He has spent more time trying to tear down Obama than building himself up. I don’t believe in that kind of leadership.
If McCain wants to win, he needs to stop attacking Obama and start giving people a reason to believe in him. And he’d better do it soon.
On a side note, I had lunch the other day with U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer. He made an interesting point of how Obama has done a great job of branding himself. People are buying into the name and the mystique rather than the issues he stands for.
The Congressman said he has had people ask potential Obama voters if they agreed with his pro-life stance and his opposition to government-run health care, to which many said yes. The respondents were so fired up about Obama that they didn’t know – or care – that he stands for just the opposite.
Anyway, if you want to have your say about your favorite candidate, please write a letter to the editor. We’ll be glad to publish it (especially if you have any good tips for picking football games that you’d like to add).