European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Charles Kuralt knows All about life on the Road a life on the rond by Charles kurnell pull no 253 pp., $19.95 Steve Courtney Hartford Conn Couran join rules Kuralt who became cd so youngest news correspondent at 23 in 1959, suffered the Fate of Many wunderkinder a few years later he was t quite so  anymore lint the virtue he made of fic Cassity a he was. Taken off breaking news after he was blamed for. Cd so lagging 26 minutes behind Abc in covering the 1964 Alaska earthquake a has enriched the. United slates for More than two decades. Thai virtue was Kuralt a Quot on the Road series and this autobiography like that series is bursting with the author s fascination with Ordinary peo Pic with amiable foot looseness and with the love of a Good Story. \ oddly two motorcycles Mark the beginning and end of Kuralt a fast track through the lbs news department. In 1959 he hitched a ride on one through stalled traffic to provide the first Broad East f rom t he see tic o f a m Ajo r p i a be c rash. Two weeks later he was Given the Curre Spon dents position. Kuralt spent the nest years in most of the worlds trouble spots a Cuba South r Vietnam Laos Brazil and the Congo. By 1964, Kui Alt was the networks West coast correspondent and he arranged for a motorcycle Charles Kuralt prefers life in the slow Lane. Courier to transport film of the Alaska earthquake from the Seattle Airport to the local lbs Clevi Sion station neck and neck with no cd a motorcycle a a a a a a a / a a a a. The lbs motorcycle ran out of Gas and Kuralt was recalled to new York to work on documentaries and features. In 1967,30,000 Feci Over Ohio in a moment of insight heightened by airline whiskey Kuralt and cameraman Jim Wilson hit on an idea for finding the thousands of stories they saw represented by the lights of the Small towns below a a a by god a 1 shift a next time we go somewhere we ought to drive and find put what a really going on in this country a Quot Kuralt writes. The Book tells stories of what he found the Quot Lemon and Scarlet and Gold Quot of a new Hamp Shire autumn in the first a on the Road Quot segment the Way the death of the Rev. Marlin Luther King jr., inspired a Reno nev., woman to organize her town to build a Park and of . Pinkstaff the Roadside poet of Gordon Junction 111., proprietor of Pink staffs two pump Gas station am poem factory who sold Iris gasoline for 39 cent avg a Loti and his poems on local topics for 10 cents  wont find a lot of gossip about network politics Here and you la find Only a Little about Kutaitis personal life. His first wife could not take being married to a rambling reporter his second a fellow lbs employee agreed before the marriage that that a the Way it would be. But there Are endless stories an encounter with a South vietnamese army officer whom Kuralt knew for a Day until he was shot before the astounded Young correspondent s eyes a profile of George Black who started Brick making in 1889 and was chosen by the state department to teach the Craft in Guyana after Kuralt a segment on Black aired in the Early 1970s and the Story of an aging world War ii Veteran Kuralt met in Moscow in the 1980s who was desperate to thank american Gas who had saved his and other russians lives in a German prison Camp. He tells wonderful stories of the mechanical problems his recreational vehicle suffered along the Road of his companions particularly longtime cameraman Isadore Fec Imam and travel tips such As a when you go out to dinner leave the television on and a a do not disturb sign on the door. This May keep the maids Boyfriend from entering and stealing your  and finally his Best advice Quot the interstate Highway system is a wonderful thing. It makes it possible to go from coast to coast without seeing anything or meeting anybody. If the United states interests you stay off the interstates.�?�. The Book is available at stars and stripes bookstores Friday night football a Friday night lights a town a team and a dream by Ilg Bis Singer Addison it ves Ley $19.95. .0. Charles. Richards associated Pross a a  prize winning reporter . Bis to Singer went to a Small Texas town to discover How High school sports can bid a Community. Whai  was a town where racism was rampant football received More support than English and school District lines wer Diawn to make sure that the Best athletes went to the Best school.  ,tuwn1-.a team and a a dream became a Best seller but not in Odessa Texas w Het c threats were made to two Bop stores carrying the volume the author said. D i singe r give s a or a p h in of k ins i to e t h e pm r in i an High so Looi huddle and Field House and into the Friday night spectacle of packed stadiums and screaming fans. Quot i went in search of the Friday right lights to find a town where they brightly blazed and that Lay beyond the East coast and the grip of the big cities a place that people had to pull out an Atlas to find and had seen better times a real amen Ca a writes Bissinger who won a pulitzer prize in 1987 with two other Philadelphia inquirer reporters for a six part investigative series exposing corruption in the Philadelphia court system. He now works for the Chicago Tribune a Bissinger said lie found those lights in Odessa and they burned with More intensity than he bad a like thousands of others i got caught up in them Quot he said a so did my wife. So did Mychail Dren. As someone later described it those lights become an addiction if you live in a place like Odessa the Friday night  a Friday night lights Quot describes a City hit hard when Oil prices plummeted in the Early 1980s, ruining a Region that depends upon Petroleum. The City a obsession with Ope of the nations most successful High school football programs enabled residents to keep their Heads High and remain upbeat no matter How Bleak the Economy. The permian High panthers have been in nine state finals since 1965, winning five championships three in the �?T80s. Bissinger gradually became troubled by How Many people in Odessa traced the City s troubles to a judges desegregation order in 1982. The order forced the closing of Odessa a predominantly Black Ector High school and divided its students Between permian and Odessa High schools with District lines suspiciously drawn so the top Black athletes would go to permian. He claimed that despite the Black players skills permian a coaches were openly derisive of them when none was around and forced players to compete when injured., needless to say not everyone agreed with Bis singers views.  a / a a Quot i was extremely disappointed. There were so Many things he could have written that were positive that weren to focused on a said theh coach Gary Gaines who gave Bissinger unrestricted Access to permian during 1988,what stings the most said Gaines now a College coach is the books portrayal of him and his coaches As racists.  that hurts because Luu certainly is not what we based our program on Quot he said. Quot we done to talk like that and did no to Quot Bissinger says he made nothing up and his plans to write one kind of Story lost out to the facts. He said he told Gaines parts of the the Book would be positive but a lot of unexpected things made it impossible for the whole Book to be positive. A a a a a a a a. And he says he stands by what he has written the both is available at stars and stripes bookstores a. To plus. Sunday.  30,1990