Parton

LOS ANGELES -- They may not be much. But they are all we have for now. So we're sticking with them.That was basically the explanation from a top programmer at Fox Broadcasting for why the company is sticking with such shows as "Babes," "Beverly Hills 90210" and "True Colors," which are among the lowest-rated shows in television."

The world of roses is naturally glamorous, but by no means snobbish. If you just have a sunny garden, you can invite Queen Elizabeth, Cary Grant, Christian Dior, Michelangelo and dozens of other famous and historic blooms to put on a show. In the rose business, it's something of a tradition to name flowers after celebrities, artists, statesmen and legendary men and women from around the world. Like their namesakes, these roses tend to have rather flashy blooms, distinguishing the garden company they keep, but capable of stealing the spotlight from the hollyhocks, the lilies and the bright-eyed daisies.

Laurie DeYoung's big television break is actually a little break -- a 30-second introduction to a station break, in fact, on Sunday night's NBC music series, "Hot Country Nights" (at 8 p.m. on Channel 2)."But it is national TV," says Ms. DeYoung.The morning disc jockey on Baltimore radio station WPOC-FM 93.1 and the host of Maryland Public Television's Saturday night show "New Country Video" is the network show's guest DJ this week.She'll be seen sitting with the studio audience, sending the show to a commercial while identifying her home station and highlighting upcoming guests, including Hal Ketchum and Mickey Gilley.

Dolly, Minnie, Hank Sr. and Conway wowed Carroll seniors yesterday during a lively country and bluegrass performance at the annual Carroll County 4-H/FFA Fair's Senior Citizen Day. Ed Bulson and Nancy Taylor - aka Just Us - portrayed the country music legends as they entertained about 100 senior citizens, as well as Bureau of Aging personnel, who watched the hour-and-a-half concert while eating cake and ice cream. As Conway Twitty, Bulson drew cheers and applause when he flirted with 85-year-old Olive Fisher and her sister, Sarah Zentgraf, 87, both of Westminster.

The new Maryland North American Scholastic Ambassador has an answer for those who call beauty pageants superficial."I ask if they have ever been in one," said Joey Lynn Norwood of Westminster. "It takes a lot of work. You have to be focused on set goals. You can't be an airhead."The 15-year-old sophomore at Highland View Academy in Hagerstown is too busy to worry about critics.She carries an A average and is vice president and pastor of her class at the private school run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

People love to talk about how incredible Alison Krauss is.At 19, she's already one of the most acclaimed performers in bluegrass, a fiddler and singer whose work seems to inspire nothing but compliments. Like this line from the Boston Globe: "Alison Krauss is a brilliant bluegrass fiddler . . . a revelation." Or this, from Newsweek: "Krauss is . . . one of the most unaffectedly adept country singers on the circuit."Even Rolling Stone got into the act, calling her: "A world-class fiddle player whose haunting vocals recall the young Dolly Parton . . ."

ROSLIN, Scotland -- If sheep could read the newspapers, Dolly, the queen of clones, might be jealous about now.Dolly is the ewe, you know, who was the first successful adult-mammal clone, born July 5, 1996. Since then, she's led the life of a star.But now comes the news this week that an anonymous millionaire is donating $2.3 million to researchers at Texas A&M University to find a way to clone his much-beloved pound dog, a 12-year-old border collie/husky mix named Missy.Will the Dolly spotlight fade?

On January 14, 2006, GEORGE WAYNE PARTON, SR., beloved father of Stephanie Michell Parton, Jennifer Michelle Parton, George Wayne Parton, Jr. and Tyler James Parton; loving grandfather of Nathan Paul Parton and Johnathan James Parton; dear brother of William D. Parton and his wife Jackie, James D. Parton and his wife Terry and Thomas W. Parton and his wife Doris; devoted son of the late William D. Parton and Vera D. Best. Also survived by loving aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and friends.

Pop fans, who are you going to see on Sunday, Britney Spears or Dolly Parton? The dueling concerts on Sunday - Dolly's at the Wolf Trap ; Britney's at the Verizon Center - are like a rare lunar event, a diva showtown that pits fans of both to pick one over the other. On one corner, you have Dolly, who's been wearing tacky, sequined gowns for four decades now. And on the other corner is Britney, an upstart in comparison who's only been wearing the (often medicated)

It's a good week for music in the region. Pretty much every day has a a major headliner perform in Baltimore or nearby. There's three country music acts (Emmylou Harris, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton), a corporate punk rock show (Vans Warped) and one that's on the indier side of things (Alphabet Bombers) and then there also shows by Black the Eyed Peas, Motley Crue and Lands & Peoples. On Tuesday , Emmylou Harris performs at Pier Six Pavilion, 731 Eastern Ave. Look for our review tomorrow.