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— Because of a ceaseless campaign by Cinema Critic Dennis Hatfield, 8, Arlington theater owners have increased their bookings of G-rated films by 30% in the past five months. Hatfield also devised his own rating system: "GG, an authentic G movie; GR, objectionable aspects; GX, watch out, kids, they're putting us on—i.e. Airport." Theaters have adopted these ratings in their ads. Recently Hatfield was forced to write a TV column because "I haven't seen a movie around worth writing about." Then he ruefully noted, "You can rust your brain with all of the garbage they put on the tube. Some people think there's enough kid shows around. They're not kids."
— A historic cabin, slated to be razed, was saved by Hoot Owl after two daily papers failed in their attempts to raise funds to have it moved. A Hoot Owl staffer phoned the owner of a house-moving firm and got him to do the $4,400 job free.
> Sports Editor Tommy O'Hare, 10, embarrassed the Arlington Optimist Club into keeping its promise that the Pee-wee League's championship football game be played at the University of Texas stadium instead of the usual city park.
Hoot Owl has carried unrelenting independence into advertising policies. In Naderesque form, Roving Editor Lonnie Ginn, 12, attacked the cereal industry for its nutritional shortcomings. When Kellogg's, as a prospective advertiser, asked for a copy of the paper, Edwards refused. "We would not accept their ads until they improved their products," he says.
Financially Hoot Owl is doing about as well as Kids. Word-of-mouth popularity has helped boost circulation to 15,000. But at $800 per printing, Edwards admits that "it's costing us more money to fulfill our circulation than we bring in." One problem is that Edwards and his wife run Hoot Owl as "a hobby" and constantly trade out ad space in return for benefits for the kids. They do not go out of their way to solicit for subscriptions or advertisers. "I guess we could have hired a high-pressure ad salesman and made a bundle by now," he says. "But then, I'm afraid we would lose sight of why we started Hoot Owl—to help kids and teach them to depend on people, not money. Even if we go down, we will have taught the kids to stand behind their principles."
Sports Editor O'Hare, one of the most candid kids on Hoot Owl's staff, is the kind of guy Edwards has in mind. "I'm not the best sportswriter in the area," he says, "but I'm the best predictor of any I know. Some weeks I hit 80% of the games I pick. I've learned enough about sportswriting to know that I don't want to be one. I want to be a baseball player."