Carroll Wilson Telegram Managing Editor

For Jeff Parker of Belton it started with a hog. Then “from eighth grade on, I started showing steers and heifers,” said Parker, now 24, who has returned to the fair as a volunteer.

Sen. John McCain barnstormed through a skeptical South on Saturday, campaigning for a Super Tuesday knockout in the Republican presidential race. Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton worked the West on the final weekend before primaries and caucuses in more than 20 states. “I assume that I will get the nomination of the party,” McCain told reporters, the front-runner so confident that he decided to challenge rival Mitt Romney in his home state of Massachusetts.

CAMERON - When a Milam County sheriff´s candidate tosses his hat in the ring, it is a good bet that it will be a white Western-style chapeau. White cowboy hats are the favored fashion accessory for Milam County Democratic Party sheriff´s candidates. Not only did they toss their hats into the political arena, all three men hit the 2008 campaign trail wearing the headgear traditional in the Lone Star State among personages on the right side of the law.

CAMERON - Calvon Henderson raps to Lil´ Wayne and dreams of being NBA Cleveland Cavaliers luminary LeBron James´ equal. But when this C.H. Yoe High School senior gets real, he looks to Dr. Danny Roy Kelley to inspire him to academic and professional stardom. Kelley, dean of Prairie View A&M University´s College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 42 distinguished residents - including Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr., attorney Wayne Fisher and Cameron businessman Monroe Fuchs - recognized on the Milam County Community Foundation´s prestigious Hall of Honor at Yoe High School.

In June, local officials were thrilled when the governor signed the budget that included funding for the expansion of the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in Temple. In September, A&M announced it was planning to build a medical school in Round Rock, 50 miles south on Interstate 35, and local reaction wasn´t so positive.

School districts are fighting the battle between going green and saving green. But there are programs out there that allow for both. When speaking to school officials about going green, energy consumption is foremost on their minds because it is both a drain on resources and a drain on the environment. The state legislature has mandated that districts set a target of reducing energy consumption by 5 percent annually. That means installing energy– efficient lighting and air conditioning, and cutting kilowatt hours.

FORT HOOD - The famed 1st Cavalry Division is hardly ever a place for tears, but Friday a sense of pride and sadness gripped the soldiers as Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil uncased the division´s colors and relinquished command a little more than two years after he took charge. “This is perhaps the saddest day of my life,” Fil said just before he headed to Cooper Parade Field to say goodbye to his troops. “On a day we should be celebrating, I feel this deep sense of regret of having to leave this unit that I am just madly in love with.”

GLENDALE, Ariz. - This one is for history. The New England Patriots no longer can ignore it. Beat the New York Giants today and it means more than winning four Super Bowls in seven years. More than reaffirming their dynasty in a sport designed to even the playing field.

It´s been said that hitting a baseball is sports´ hardest skill, but it´s also a popular opinion that quarterback in the National Football League is sports´ most difficult position. If the New England Patriots beat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII today (they will, 27-17) to complete the NFL´s first 19-0 season, quarterback Tom Brady will have four Super Bowl championships in seven seasons as a starter. A Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award would be his third.

BELTON - In a matchup of two teams on opposite ends of the conference standings, No. 15-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor could have tried to take the day off. Instead, the Crusaders took care of business. And in doing so, they extended their home winning streak to 21 games and - as an added bonus - padded their lead in the American Southwest Conference West Division.

BELTON - The difference was like night and day. On one side was a Mary Hardin-Baylor team whose postseason chances remain bright. On the other was a Texas Lutheran squad that has already turned out the lights for the year.

AUSTIN - Damion James was aching to get off the bench. Baylor could only wish he had stayed there longer. Benched at the start after a bad game in a blowout loss to Texas A&M a few days earlier, James had 17 points and eight rebounds as No. 10 Texas rallied for an 80-72 victory Saturday, the Longhorns´ 21st straight win over the No. 25 Bears.

HOUSTON - The Temple College baseball team can´t catch a break so far this season, but coach Craig McMurtry says the Leopards need to make some breaks of their own. No. 26-ranked TC lost a pair of tight games against No. 8 San Jacinto on Saturday, with Andrew Riddick hitting a two-run walkoff home run for a 9-7 win in the seven-inning first game and Darren Crabtree´s line-drive bid for a two-run hit being caught by San Jac´s center fielder to end the Gators´ 4-3 victory for a doubleheader sweep.