Bragging Rights Put Texas Towns on a Collider Course

--It’s High Noon in Texas, as three towns load up for a showdown over the superconducting super collider. The atom smasher won’t be mashing protons until 1996 and ground breaking hasn’t even started, but already the communities--Waxahachie (pop. 18,150), Ennis (pop. 14,150) and Midlothian (pop. 5,000)--have printed bumper stickers, rented billboard space and adopted slogans in order to gain acceptance as the home of the multibillion-dollar project. However, the collider will not be part of any of the towns. Waxahachie, which already is encircled by the 53-mile collider ring, calls itself “The Center of Attention, Home of the Super Collider.” Ennis sees itself as “Super Collider Country” and Midlothian says that it is the “Gateway to the Super Collider.” Both Ennis and Midlothian are on the outskirts of the ring. “The only thing Waxahachie has is its name,” said Kipp Burnett, of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce. “It sticks. Even though it’s hard to say, you don’t forget it.” Bob Sokoll, Waxahachie city manager, said: “We are not going to let one peon city to the East, like Ennis, think they are the home of the super collider. The only thing Ennis does better than us is play football.”

--It took a certain amount of courage--as well as a court order--for four white people to make an appearance before about 60 members of a congregation in Adairville, Ky., to apologize for burning down their 116-year-old church, which was founded by freed slaves. Before their sentencing, the four paid $6,000 to rebuild the church, and charges were amended from felonies to misdemeanors. But the judge ordered them to offer their personal apologies to the parishioners. Bill Sircy, 22; Angela B. Estep, age unknown; Sherri Davenport, 19, and Danny Smith, 22, took their turns at expressing their sorrow in the new Smith Grove AME Zion Church. Sircy said: “We’re sorry, but I know that’s not enough.” The congregation responded: “Amen.” Sarah Garrick of Chicago, who grew up near the church, said: “I think what they did was a fantastic gesture.” After the service, Smith said: “There just wasn’t a whole lot we could say--just that we’re sorry.” As they left the church, the congregation gave them a round of applause.

--In a private ceremony on the porch of his summer residence, Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard married his secretary, Janet A. Fox. It was the second marriage for both Blanchard, 47, and Fox, 38. About 200 people outside the grounds of the mansion in Mackinac Island, Mich., gave rousing cheers for the first gubernatorial wedding at the governor’s official summer home.