Hawthorne to honor military with weeklong celebration for 53rd year

Thursday, April 24, 2003 | 9:13 a.m.

"I was country, when country wasn't cool." So goes the refrain from a popular song by Barbara Mandrell many years ago.

The city of Hawthorne, about 300 miles northwest of Las Vegas on U.S. 95, has a similar boast. Hawthorne was patriotic and supportive of men and women in uniform when that wasn't cool or hip or boss or rad, or any other slang used over the last five decades.

According to parade chairwoman Carol Mitchell of Hawthorne, when the community holds its annual Armed Forces Day celebration the entire week leading up to May 17, it will be the 53rd year the community has rolled out the carpet in honor of men and women serving in the armed forces.

Hawthorne actually dedicates more than a week to commemorate Armed Forces Day. The celebration begins with a Miss Armed Forces Day pageant on May 9. A vintage air show and fly-in breakfast is scheduled for May 10-11. A chili cook-off, fireworks display and stock car races are planned for May 16, and the big parade, with a planned military fly-over is slated for May 17, with a full day of activities at Lions Park to follow.

Hawthorne is one of only two communities nationwide that regularly has an Armed Forces Day celebration of such a scope, Mitchell said. The other is Chattanooga, Tenn. Hawthorne's celebrations has the distinction of being the oldest, she said.

Organizations wishing to be a part of Hawthorne's 2003 celebration as participants in the annual Armed Forces Day parade still have a chance to enter. The deadline is May 9. Parade categories include a horses, marching units, bands, floats, cars and miscellaneous. Interested organizations can call Mitchell at (775) 945-8031 or (775) 945-5259.

UNLV grad in intelligence

Stephanie Murphy, Eldorado High School class of 1993, has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

Murphy, the daughter of Timothy and Bessie Murphy of Las Vegas, is an intelligence officer and will be assigned to Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

She received a bachelor's degree in 1997 from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a master's degree from the university in 2002.

In brief