A Garland, Texas, woman apologized yesterday for a “bad decision” in helping her 6-year-old daughter win tickets to a Hannah Montana concert with an essay that falsely claimed the girl's father died in Iraq.
Priscilla Ceballos said she hadn't intended to mislead the contest sponsor but got caught up in helping her daughter “realize her dream of seeing Hannah Montana.”
“Instead I brought so much negative attention to my family,” Ceballos said, reading a statement on NBC's “Today” show. “Please accept my heartfelt apology and please do not punish my child for my mistake.”
Ceballos apologized specifically to the military and military families for falsely claiming the girl's father died in a roadside bombing in Iraq.
“I just wanted to help my daughter write a compelling story,” she said. “There is no more compelling story than the struggle and sacrifices of our military and their families.”
HUCKABEE ON 'LATE SHOW'
Most presidential candidates make last-minute appeals to voters in states on the eve of voting. Republican Mike Huckabee appears on late-night television.
The former Arkansas governor is scheduled to appear on CBS's “Late Show” with David Letterman on Monday, a day before the New Hampshire primary.
Huckabee took the same route Wednesday, trading jokes with Jay Leno on NBC's “Tonight Show” before winning the Iowa caucuses the next day.
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, also a presidential candidate, made a cameo appearance on Letterman's show Wednesday.
PRINCE LEARNING TO FLY
Prince William will begin taking flying lessons next week at the start of a four-month assignment with the Royal Air Force, the military announced yesterday.
The prince will begin his course on Monday with around 10 other students at the RAF Cranwell base in eastern England, the air force said. He will be known as Flying Officer William Wales, and will train on helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft.
“During his time with us, Flying Officer Wales will be realizing a personal ambition to learn how to fly and this will be the beginning of a lifelong relationship with the Royal Air Force,” said Group Capt. Nick Seward, commander of the air force flying school.
HAWN FEELS HOUNDED
Goldie Hawn says she can't go into Aspen, Colo., from her nearby ranch because of aggressive paparazzi who pursue her car and stake out her home.
“They've come into our little town and they really have done their job: They've shooed us out,” the 62-year-old actress told The Aspen Times in Thursday's editions.
Hawn and longtime companion Kurt Russell have been part-time Aspen-area residents for 25 years. In the past, she said, she could wander Aspen freely because the town attracted few celebrity photographers, and they were discreet.
“But it ain't like the old days anymore,” said Hawn, who won a supporting actress Oscar for the 1969 film “Cactus Flower.” “You find yourself running and dodging and jumping in your car,” she said. “I can't go into my own town. I hurt for my children. It's not fair.”
– COMPILED FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
