Spelling Bee

Charity should be its own reward, according to Shel Feldman, a 51-year-old Swarthmore resident serving his fifth year on the W allingford-Swarthmore school board. So when he read of prizes being awarded to district schoolchildren for their participation in charity events, he became concerned. As a result, Feldman drafted a school district charity reward policy that will be voted on tomorrow during the monthly school board meeting. "For several years when I would read the monthly administration report about what the kids were doing in school, I would read about prizes given to children who collected the most donations for various charities," Feldman said.

Gene Shipley stands 6-9, weighs 243 pounds and wears size 19 shoes that must be specially ordered. Aside from a sneaker contract, his mother could use a milk and cereal contract. "When we sit down to eat in the morning, it's an interesting sight," Bonnie Shipley said. "My daughter (Asia) and I eat out of the regular bowls. Gene eats out of a mixing bowl. " Gene Shipley, who turned 14 last month, is an eighth-grade basketball star at Eisenhower Middle School in Norristown, where this season he averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds and led the team in free throw percentage.

Yo! Did that get your attention? Do you blanch at the very sound? No matter the reaction, you recognize the word. It says "Philly. " Which is where the third annual YO! festival will take place Sunday and Monday. The bulk of this event is a musical riot for grown-ups (see Page 17 for lineup), with a separate sports activities area (keep an eye out for the Phillie Phanatic and the Sixers' Big Shot mascots) and abundant pig-out opportunities. But organizers, considering the two days a family occasion, have wisely included tons for kids to do and see in their own YO!

Guess you could say Doc Hart's vocation in life started with that spelling bee in Sister Marie Antoinette's classroom "a long, long time ago. " Being as it was a long, long time ago - almost 60 years to be exact - Doc doesn't remember too much about it. All Doc knows is that he was the last one standing and that he had a grin a mile wide when Sister Marie Antoinette ("a real battle-ax") handed Doc his prize, two tickets to the then-traditional Thanksgiving Day football game between St. Joe's Prep and Roman Catholic.

About 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, 14-year-old Joel Pease of Wyomissing Hills, outside Reading, was sitting in his parents' kitchen, eating lasagna, drinking milk and discussing his schoolwork with his mother. Hours later, young Joel was violating federal law. Joel Pease is a bat boy for the Reading Phillies. Every time the double-A baseball team plays a night game, Pease unwittingly fails to comply with federal labor laws designed to protect children. Under the law, 14- and 15- year-olds are required to finish work by 7 o'clock on school nights and 9 o'clock on weekends.

From: Gonzalez, John  It's NCAA tourney time. On the list of big sporting events - the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Nathan's hot-dog-eating competition - where do you rank March Madness? And any fun stories to share about NCAA tournaments you've covered? I like it the best, to be honest. For one thing, it's the only big, big event anymore where you can actually get a day game or a reasonable starting time. If you ever had to write on deadline, Gonzolounger, you'd know how important that is. Memories?

Move over, Jay Leno. Heeeeeere's William Figueroa. You know, the Trenton kid who spelled "potato" correctly until Vice President Quayle ordered him to put an "e" on the end, for "potatoe. " Just like Leno, the 12-year-old gained national visibility on Late Night with David Letterman. That's right, he was the first guest last night, and he had the audience howling. "A few days ago, boy oh boy, listen to this," Letterman said in his you- won't-believe-this-one tone as he prepared the crowd for William's debut.

Avon Grove school board member Ronald Reyburn doesn't think his district would do well in a spelling bee. It's not the kids he's worried about, though. It's the school district's administrators. Reyburn voiced his frustration recently over the number of misspelled words and typing mistakes in correspondence from school administrators. The spelling errors were found in memos, requests for funds, status reports and endorsements for new programs, he said. In an effort to get administrators to improve their spelling, Reyburn recommended at last month's meeting that the board not consider any request that contained more than three misspelled words.

The Chester County Health Department is inviting fifth-grade classes in public, private and parochial schools in the county to enter its second annual environmental photo contest. The contest is designed to educate young people about environmental health issues that affect their communities, and challenges classes to identify environmental threats through the lens. In addition, each classroom must compile an essay that describes the threat to the community and identifies solutions for its eradication.

A Collegeville 13-year-old sealed first place with the word hermetically in a Montgomery County spelling bee Friday night. Allison Newkirk went one-on-one with Rayna Mills, 13, of Norristown, in the auditorium of Norristown Area High School until Mills' spelling of logarithmic didn't add up. Newkirk, a Perkiomen Valley Middle School seventh grader, is the second Montgomery County student to win a local spelling bee. A competition for parts...