Texas town renames itself 'Dish' to get free TV Wed Nov 16, 1:36 PM ET
 
 
 
CHICAGO (AFP) - A Texas town has changed its name to DISH in exchange for 10 years of free satellite television service.  
 
 
   
All 125 residents of the town formerly known as Clark will get basic service and a free digital video recorder satellite TV receiver, a move that has some people joking that the Fort-Worth suburb will become a town of couch potatoes.
 
"We joke that in ten years everyone will come out and say wow when they see the light," said secretary Michelle Going, 32.
 
Going is not worried that her three boys will go square-eyed because she is going to stick to her old rules of only allowing two hours of television a day, and only after homework and dinner.
 
And the new system also has parental controls which will allow her to limit the channels the boys can watch.
 
Despite the jokes, the switch is incredibly popular, said Mayor Bill Merritt. The city council meeting to vote on the name was packed on Tuesday night and about 12 people -- 10 percent of the town's population -- stood up to support the name change, which passed unanimously.
 
"I'm sure there are some people who are attached to the name (Clark) like the man who founded the town and named it after himself," he told AFP Wednesday. "At the meeting last night we had no naysayers."
 
The town made the change for more than just a 50 dollar monthly savings per household, Merritt said. The hope is that publicity and a budget-neutral giveaway will lure new residents.
 
"The getting our name out there is working and the second part is really to market ourselves - come here and you get something out of it," he said.
 
The best part of the contract, Merritt said, is the free television will be extended to anyone who moves to Dish and any land that is later annexed by the town. The new town signs, designed and paid for by DISH Network, were a bonus.

Mom Makes Daughter Stand on Street Corner
Nov 16 2:14 PM US/Eastern
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By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
 
EDMOND, Okla.
 
 
Tasha Henderson got tired of her 14-year-old daughter's poor grades, her chronic lateness to class and her talking back to her teachers, so she decided to teach the girl a lesson.  
 
She made Coretha stand at a busy Oklahoma City intersection Nov. 4 with a cardboard sign that read: "I don't do my homework and I act up in school, so my parents are preparing me for my future. Will work for food."  
 
"This may not work. I'm not a professional," said Henderson, a 34- year-old mother of three. "But I felt I owed it to my child to at least try."  
 
In fact, Henderson has seen a turnaround in her daughter's behavior in the past week and a half. But the punishment prompted letters and calls to talk radio from people either praising the woman or blasting her for publicly humiliating her daughter.  
 
"The parents of that girl need more education than she does if they can't see that the worst scenario in this case is to kill their daughter psychologically," Suzanne Ball said in a letter to The Oklahoman.  
 
Marvin Lyle, 52, said in an interview: "I don't see anything wrong with it. I see the other extreme where parents don't care what the kids do, and at least she wants to help her kid."  
 
Coretha has been getting C's and D's as a freshman at Edmond Memorial High in this well-to-do Oklahoma City suburb. Edmond Memorial is considered one of the top high schools in the state in academics.  
 
While Henderson stood next to her daughter at the intersection, a passing motorist called police with a report of psychological abuse, and an Oklahoma City police officer took a report. Mother and daughter were asked to leave after about an hour, and no citation was issued. But the report was forwarded to the state Department of Human Services.  
 
"There wasn't any criminal act involved that the officer could see that would require any criminal investigation," Master Sgt. Charles Phillips said. "DHS may follow up."  
 
DHS spokesman Doug Doe would not comment on whether an investigation was opened, but suggested such a case would probably not be a high priority.  
 
Tasha Henderson said her daughter's attendance has been perfect and her behavior has been better since the incident.  
 
Coretha, a soft-spoken girl, acknowledged the punishment was humiliating but said it got her attention. "I won't talk back," she said quietly, hanging her head.  
 
She already has been forced by her parents to give up basketball and track because of slipping grades, and said she hopes to improve in school so she can play next year.  
 
Donald Wertlieb, a professor of child development at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University, warned that such punishment could do extreme emotional damage. He said rewarding positive behavior is more effective.  
 
"The trick is to catch them being good," he said. "It sounds like this mother has not had a chance to catch her child being good or is so upset over seeing her be bad, that's where the focus is."