Spotlight Briefs: Hamburger festival in Athens Saturday

Published 10:48 pm Thursday, September 24, 2015

Hamburger festival in Athens Saturday

Athens will celebrate its claim as being the place where the hamburger was first created during the Uncle Fletch Hamburger Festival on Saturday.

Festivities, including a burger cookoff, are set from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the downtown square.

Tradition has it that “Uncle Fletch” Davis served the then-unnamed sandwich at a cafe on the Athens square in the late 1880s. Then in 1904, he traveled to the St. Louis World’s Fair, where a reporter from the New York Tribune wrote a story about the hamburger.

“I get so excited about Uncle Fletch that it is hard for me to keep myself in check,” said festival committee chairman Jeff Weinstein in a news release. “This year is going to be even better than last year, it’s going to be spectacular.”

Events will include a McDonald’s burger eating contest, a Whataburger “bobbing for burgers” event and the Weinstein Team mooing contest.

Teams will be firing up grills to compete for the $600 top prize in the burger cookoff. The Uncle Fletch Spirit Trophy also will be awarded for best decorated station.

Several Athens organizations will be represented with booths at the festival.

-Danny Mogle

ET theater groups staging shows

Lindale Community Theater, 109 W. Hubbard St., Lindale, is staging “These Shining Lives” at 7:30 p.m.  Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Performances continue next weekend. For tickets, go to lindalecommunitytheater.org or call 903-638-0402.

Lake Country Playhouse is presenting “The Count Will Rise Again” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in Select Theatre, 114 N. Johnson St., Mineola. Performances continue next weekend. For tickets call 903-569-2300 or log on to lakecountryplayhouse.com.

Henderson Civic Theatre, 122 E. Main, Henderson, is presenting “Of Mice and Men” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. For tickets, call 903-657-2968 or order through its website, hendersoncivicthe atre.org. The show continues next week.

Henderson County Performing Arts Center, 400 Gibson Road, Athens, will stage “9 to 5: The Musical” in performances beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are available by calling 903-675-3908 or ordering on its website, hcpac.org.

Palestine Community Theatre performing in Texas Theater, 213 W. Crawford, Palestine, will stage “Dixie Swim Club” in performances beginning Oct. 2. Tickets are available through outhouse tickets.com.

-Danny Mogle

ETSO’s season opener debuts new shell

The East Texas Symphony Orchestra will begin its 2015-2016 season with a concert Saturday night at The University of Texas at Tyler’s Cowan Center.

The concert will mark the debut of the ensemble’s shell, a wall designed to help direct the sound out into the audience.

Lee selected three masterworks pieces to showcase the improved acoustics. The program includes Prokofiev’s Piano Concert No. 1, Schumann’s Cello Concerto and Saint-Saens’s Symphony No. 3, Organ Symphony.

The featured soloists will be pianist Lucille Chung and cellist Desmond Hoebig.

The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $56 to $10 and can be purchased through the venue’s website, cowancen ter.org.

The ETSO’s next performance will be Nov. 14, when it plays the soundtrack to Charlie Chaplin’s silent movie masterpiece “City Lights” while the movie is shown at the Cowan Center.

-Danny Mogle

Universities rescind Cosby’s degrees

NEW YORK (AP) – Fordham and Marquette universities on Thursday rescinded from Bill Cosby honorary degrees amid allegations from women accusing the comedian of sexual assault.

In Milwaukee, Marquette’s Board of Trustees approved a resolution rescinding an honorary degree presented to Cosby in 2013. The degree was immediately rescinded, the school said.

Fordham’s Board of Trustees also voted to take back an honorary doctor of fine arts degree given to him in 2001.

Both Jesuit schools said it is the first time they have rescinded an honorary degree.

Cosby admitted having extramarital relationships with several women, including some who now accuse him of sexual assault. He has never been charged with a crime.

“As a Jesuit university, Fordham could no longer stand behind the degree it had bestowed upon Mr. Cosby, hence this unprecedented action,” the New York City university said.

Marquette President Michael Lovell and Provost Daniel Myers issued a letter to the university community after the vote that said, “By his own admission, Mr. Cosby engaged in behaviors that go entirely against our university’s mission and the Guiding Values we have worked so hard to instill on our campus.”

Fordham and Marquette are the latest schools to distance themselves from the comedian, joining Central State University, Temple University and Spelman College.