NAMES IN THE NEWS : Waylon Jennings Revels in GED

Country music star Waylon Jennings is singing a different tune since gaining a high school eqivalency diploma: “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be dropouts.”

Jennings was scheduled to accept his General Educational Development certificate from Kentucky First Lady Martha Wilkinson at the Capitol in Frankfort today.

He enrolled in Kentucky Educational Television’s “GED on TV” program last fall after talking about it with Mrs. Wilkinson, the wife of Gov. Wallace Wilkinson. He passed the exam in December after studying tapes on his tour bus.

Mrs. Wilkinson said Jennings, whose hits include “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys” (with Willie Nelson) and the theme to “The Dukes of Hazzard” TV show, was ecstatic when he learned he had passed.

“I’ve got to admit, I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a teen-ager more excited,” Mrs. Wilkinson said. “He yelled on the phone, ‘I really did it!’ And it actually was a yell.”