Local Cowgirls: Cather and Cline
Spirit or Attitude Defines Hall of Fame Membership

By: F.C. Lowe
The Winchester Star

Sharing a birthplace is what Willa Cather and Patsy Cline have in common, but most people don’t realize they also both share the distinction of being named to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

Cowgirls may not seem the descriptive word that comes to mind when thinking of these two women, but Susan Fine, director of development of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, explains it is more of a “spirit or an attitude.”

“It means they did something unique and had the attitude needed to do these things,” added Fine.

The mission of the organization, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, is to honor and document women of the American West, said Fine, and no other place showcases these women.

Rudolf Kapustin, 76, Investigator Into Dozens of Airplane Crashes, Dies

By: MATTHEW L. WALD
New York Times

WASHINGTON, April 19 — Rudolf Kapustin, an air crash investigator whose career stretched from the 1963 crash that killed Patsy Cline to the A-300 crash in Queens last November, died on Wednesday at his home in Columbia, Md. He was 76.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, his family said.

As an investigator at the National Transportation Safety Board, Mr. Kapustin played an important role in more than three dozen major inquiries, and led the one into the crash of an Air Florida plane that took off from National Airport just outside Washington on a snowy day in January 1982 and hit the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River.

3 Items of Cline’s Clothing to Be Sold To Pay Estate Costs

By: Stephanie K. Moran
The Winchester Star

Another episode in the drama surrounding the estate of singing legend Patsy Cline’s mother was played out in Winchester Circuit Court Thursday.

Winchester Circuit Court Judge John E. Wetsel Jr. ordered that three items of Cline’s clothing that are part of the estate be sold to cover estate-related expenses.

Cline’s brother, Samuel L. Hensley, and her sister, Sylvia M. Wilt, have engaged in a court battle over the items since early 2001.

Their mother, Hilda V. Hensley, died Dec. 10, 1998.

On March 3, a civil jury found that Sylvia M. Wilt did not wrongfully take four items that her brother contended were part of the estate.

The jury’s decision stated that Wilt did not wrongfully possess a manuscript written by her mother, nor did she take a trunk that belonged to Hilda Hensley from the deceased woman’s home.

The jury also found that two dresses in dispute were not part of the estate.

Thursday’s actions were not part of the lawsuit in which Hensley claims Wilt wrongfully took 31 additional items from the estate. The actions were purely estate-related matters before the court.

Fees Threaten To Silence Web Radio

Some Shut Down Music As A Battle Forms Over New Royalty Rates That Could Drive Out Small Operators

By: Kim Campbell
The Christian Science Monitor

People who listened to the Sunday jazz and blues webcast from Mississippi's 91.1 WMSV woke up to silence on March 24. A few days earlier, the community station, based at Mississippi State University, decided new royalty rates for playing music on the Web were too high for them to continue.

It's a scenario playing out across the United States, as many small webcasters are realizing they could be on the hook for future and back royalties that run into the thousands of dollars, in some cases half or more of their revenue.

Some stations have stopped their webcasts, and others are asking legislators for help with the proposed rates, which were announced at the end of February as part of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

With the recording industry standing its ground and the webcasters lobbying for a reprieve, the battle is shaping up to be one that could determine whether online radio winds up in the hands of the many or the few. "This is a very important issue in terms of who gets to say what we listen to on the Internet," says Jessica Litman, author of the book "Digital Copyright" and a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.

For example, each time Patsy Cline's "Crazy" is played on the radio, Willie Nelson receives a royalty as the songwriter, but Ms. Cline's estate receives nothing. This will mark the first time that recording artists are paid royalties directly.

Cline Kin Talk Settlement of Estate

By: Stephanie K. Moran
The Winchester Star

The brother and sister of legendary singer and Winchester native Patsy Cline will have another day in court.

At a short appearance in Winchester Circuit Court Thursday, Stephen L. Pettler Jr., attorney for Cline’s brother Samuel L. Hensley, said his client and Cline’s sister, Sylvia M. Wilt, are in discussions that may prevent any further litigation.

Earlier this month, Wilt and Hensley engaged in a two-day court battle over Cline items included in the estate of their mother, the late Hilda V. Hensley.

Samuel Hensley and Charles R. Alton, administrator of Hilda Hensley’s estate — both represented by Pettler — claimed that Wilt was withholding items that should be considered part of the estate.

Those items included a manuscript written by Hilda Hensley and some clothes owned by Cline.

A civil jury found in Wilt’s favor on four items, stating that Wilt did not wrongfully own the manuscript, a trunk that was in her mother’s home, and two dresses the plaintiffs claimed were part of the estate.

Hilda Hensley died in December 1998.

Another 30 items remain in dispute.

Songwriter Harlan Howard Dies At 74

By: ROBERT K. OERMANN
Special to The Tennessean

Country Music Hall of Fame member Harlan Howard, known as "Mr. Songwriter," died yesterday at age 74.

Details of his death and funeral arrangements were not available last night.

The man behind such timeless songs as I Fall to Pieces, Busted, I've Got a Tiger by the Tail and Heartaches by the Number was once dubbed ''the Irving Berlin of country music'' because of the size of his catalog of classics. Mr. Howard provided hit songs to several generations of stars, from Kitty Wells to Patty Loveless, from Johnny Cash to Rodney Crowell, from Patsy Cline to Reba McEntire. He wrote for Mel Tillis, then endured to write for second-generation star Pam Tillis. In a career that spanned six decades, Mr. Howard penned more than 100 top-10 hits.

His name became so legendary on Music Row that for 12 years, 1983-95, the community celebrated the Harlan Howard Birthday Bash, an all-star concert and outdoor picnic. A who's who of the country music world has sung his compositions — George Jones, Buck Owens, Glen Campbell, Ricky Van Shelton, The Judds, Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price and Conway Twitty, to name just a few. But Mr. Howard's songs have also been interpreted by such R&B greats as Ray Charles, Joe Simon, Shirley Caesar and Candi Staton. Artists including Brenda Lee, The Kingston Trio, Kay Starr and Burl Ives have had pop hits with his songs, as well.

Siblings Fight Over Cline Items
Jury Believes Sister’s Explanation Over Brother’s Story

By: Stephanie K. Moran
The Winchester Star

The sister of Patsy Cline did no wrong in relation to some property that allegedly belonged to her mother’s estate.

That’s the decision of a Winchester Circuit Court civil jury after two hours of deliberations Friday night which followed a two-day trial over four items.

Wilt hugged her children and her attorney shortly after the verdict was read, breaking into short bursts of tears as her family prepared to leave the courtroom.

Wilt’s brother, Samuel L. Hensley, and the administrator of Hilda V. Hensley’s estate, Charles R. Alton, had sued Wilt, claiming that she had wrongly taken a manuscript, a trunk containing Cline items, and two dresses from the estate around the time of Hilda Hensley’s death.

The four women and three men were asked to make a number of decisions during their deliberations.

Who Owns Patsy Cline’s Clothes?

By: Stephanie K. Moran
The Winchester Star

A manuscript, a trunk, and two dresses.

Those four items are the subject of a two-day civil trial that started in Winchester Circuit Court on Thursday.

Why so long for so little? The items allegedly belonged to Patsy Cline’s mother, Hilda V. Hensley, and some were supposedly owned by the legendary singer herself.

The suit dealing with the items came from Cline’s brother, Samuel L. Hensley of Bunker Hill, W.Va., and the administrator of Hilda Hensley’s estate, Charles R. Alton of Winchester.

The two, through their attorney, Stephen L. Pettler Jr. of Winchester, contend all of the items are part of Hilda Hensley’s estate.

As the plaintiffs in the case, they allege that Cline’s sister, Sylvia M. Wilt, took the trunk and dresses from Hilda Hensley’s home at 133 Monmouth St. in Winchester around the time of Hensley’s death in December 1998.

Patsy Cline

By: Roseanne Cash

Honky Tonk Angel

My mother said her name with slightly pursed lips: "Patsy ..." - no last name needed, vowels squeezed a little by disapproval but the tight mouth holding back a barely contained thrill. Patsy Cline was wicked and fabulous when both qualities really meant something, before they were cheap ideas used to market more flaccid talents. She was a source of fascination, distrust and raw, if hidden, admiration. But not judgment: there was nothing to attach judgment to because she, Patsy, did not judge herself.

Those with real memories of her have been somewhat revisionist in their collective retelling. She was so damned great (also in the pre-marketing sense of the word) that perhaps they felt a need to polish and repair her wild and willful personality in order to complement the magnitude of her talent, particularly since she was a woman in an era that did not suffer female unaccountability gladly.

To check that out, I called my mom - not someone who would have a professional take (for that I would have called my dad) - but a woman who was deeply affected by her.

Charlie phoned me yesterday and asked me to meet him and Greg Hall tonight in Chattanooga. They were coming here to meet Todd Jeffries from Atlanta. Todd is an artist that recently did (2) pencil portraits of Patsy. Charlie has given him the legal rights to sell 300 of each of these. Charlie and Greg were coming here to meet him, and Todd had one of each portrait, beautifully framed and matted for Charlie. And they are beautiful, some of the best I've seen. You can look up his website or email him. I know many of you Patsy collectors will jump right on this!

I wish I could show folks the wonderful quality of the paper these (Patsy sketches) have been printed on. I originally thought it would be your basic poster quality prints to be shipped in tubes, but this stuff is definitely going to require flat shipping boxes, as you simply can't roll them up without ruining them. I am proud to be offering a very high-quality print for fans to enjoy.

Several sources said that in the early '80s, they witnessed MCA employees, under a directive to make vault tape copies, actually tape over master tapes by artists such as Patsy Cline and Roy Orbison.

Ownership of the stash has passed through several hands. Amid the detritus on the tapes, according to the current owners, are unreleased studio and live masters, alternate takes and safety masters by icons such as Louis Armstrong, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, Sr., Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan and several dozen other well-known artists.

Divestitures Next Step In Gaylord's Strategy

By: RICHARD LAWSON
Staff Writer

The Nashville Predators had been waiting for Gaylord Entertainment Co. to announce publicly that it would sell its minority interest in the team.

Nashville-based Gaylord did just that yesterday, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in a presentation to stock analysts at the company's new hotel in Kissimmee, FL. The company disclosed that its 19.9% stake in the hockey team isn't part of its future.

"Until they made the filing with the SEC, we couldn't say anything," Jack Diller, the team president and chief operating officer, said of seeking a partner to replace Gaylord.

Diller said the writing on the wall became clear about two months ago when he saw a presentation on Gaylord's strategic direction — hospitality.

The SEC filing merely provided more details to a strategy the company's new leadership has stated regularly since it took the reins in April last year to return Gaylord to profitability.

Also identified as non-core assets were Acuff-Rose Music Publishing, which owns songs by such writers as Hank Williams, Roy Orbison and Patsy Cline....

Patsy Cline Project Began With Dream

By: Stephanie K. Moran
The Winchester Star

“Do you want to know when the dream began?”

For Tracey Jewell, producer of an upcoming public television special on Winchester native Patsy Cline, it began with a visit to Cline’s mother, Hilda Hensley.

The two spoke about Jewell’s idea to create a show about Cline, and she said Hensley wanted to share some memories of her internationally admired daughter.

Unfortunately, not long after their meeting, Hensley passed away in December 1998, and Jewell put the idea on hold for a little while.

But for the past year, Jewell’s been back on the project. “Patsy Cline: The Lady Behind the Legend” will air on March 3 as part of WVPT’s “Living in Virginia” series.

Triangle Diner Gets Reshaped
Classic Winchester Eatery Reopens With New Owners, No Smoking

By: Drew Houff
The Winchester Star

Lynette Haines used to work at the Triangle Diner in Winchester, starting her career there as a waitress before becoming a food and beverage director at a Centreville country club.

Now her career has come full circle. On Dec. 1, 2001, Haines and partner Jim Edmunds reopened the landmark eatery, renaming it Lynette’s Triangle Diner.

Haines was back in the area driving around when she saw a for sale sign at the 1940s-era diner, which was no longer in business.

“The first time I walked in the excitement took over,” Haines said in a recent interview. “Then I started pulling 17-hour days for three weeks (to reopen the diner), and I wondered what I was doing.”

Giles Rose Nursery is no longer in business, however, I have purchased the remaining stock and will be offering the Patsy Cline rose in late 2002/early 2003 as I am attempting to build up stock. I will offer it as an ownroot and on Fortuniana rootstock... ~ Bryan Epstein!

The music industry suffered its worst year ever in 2001 as CD sales slowed and piracy increased....