People in the News

OSHKOSH, Wis. - Harrison Ford will stay on as chairman of an Experimental Aircraft Association program that introduces children to flying.

Ford, an avid pilot, has given more than 200 young people rides as a volunteer pilot for the program. He will serve as the EAA Young Eagles program chairman for another two years.

The actor made the announcement during the EAA's 53rd annual AirVenture fly-in and convention in Oshkosh, which ended Sunday.

"Our mission is to use aviation as a way to inspire and educate young people," EAA Young Eagles Executive Director Steve Buss said in a statement. "Harrison Ford is a great ambassador of the program because he shows that he believes in it and, as a pilot volunteer, he lives it."

The program has given children more than 1 million free demonstration flights since it started in 1992.

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On the Net:

EAA Young Eagles: http://www.youngeagles.org

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Chris LeDoux, one of Wyoming's favorite sons, was honored at one of his most beloved venues, Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Silence fell over one of the noisiest, busiest and wildest arenas in pro rodeo as officials halted Saturday's matinee performance to pay tribute to the former world bareback champion and country music star.

LeDoux, who sold more than 6 million albums, died of complications from liver cancer on March 9 at age 56. During the grand entry at the start of the rodeo, a riderless horse was led in front of the grandstand to commemorate LeDoux.

LeDoux's wife, Peggy, and several of his children stood on the photographer's pit in the middle of the Frontier Park arena while a video of LeDoux onstage singing "This Cowboy's Hat" was shown on the scoreboard.

Frontier Days General Chairman Ken McCann recalled how LeDoux - back when he was still an competitive bareback rider - sold 8-track tapes of his music under the grandstands between rodeo performances. After he became a country music star, LeDoux was a regular performer at Frontier Days concerts.

"If you knew Chris, you knew he loved his family as much as he loved his music," McCann said. "I like to think he loved Cheyenne just as well."

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Film director David Lynch, a longtime practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, has formed a foundation that will encourage schools to use the technique in the classroom.

"It's knowledge in terms of the self and it works wonders in the kids," he said.

The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace will raise money for TM peace groups and provide scholarships for students taking part in meditation programs.

He met some of those students during a visit to Maharishi Vedic City in rural southeast Iowa, considered the spiritual center of the TM movement in the United States.

"I'm convinced there are hundreds or thousands of kids who will see the truth of this and want to take part in one way or another," he said.

The meditation technique involves sitting comfortably with the eyes closed for 20 minutes, twice a day, according to the Web site of the Transcendental Meditation Program. It helps students overcome stress and perform better in the classroom by using their entire brain, rather than just a portion of it, Lynch said.

Barry Markovsky, a sociologist at the University of South Carolina, has spent years studying the Maharishi movement and Transcendental Meditation. Although he said meditating can be good for students, he's skeptical of the group's insistence that only their method is beneficial.

Lynch, who directed such films as "Mulholland Drive," "Elephant Man," "Blue Velvet," and "Wild At Heart," is currently working on a film in Los Angeles called "INLAND EMPIRE."

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On the Net:

David Lynch: http://www.davidlynch.com/

University of South Carolina: http://www.sc.edu/

Maharishi Vedic City: http://maharishivediccity.net/

Transcendental Medication Program: http://www.tm.org

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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Mark Diffenderfer has written hundreds of poems since he was in grade school, but he never thought they'd win him any recognition.

But the 18-year-old entered the USA Weekend Songwriting Contest for Teens on a whim - and ended up beating out more than 12,000 other entries with "Make a Difference, Make Your Meaning."

Judges were past "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino and "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell.

"I was honestly blown away. I didn't know I wrote something that would do so well," said Diffenderfer. He said he wrote the song in one day and sent it in two hours before the deadline.

"It was more of a daydream to actually win. I always wondered what it would feel like, but I didn't think it would actually happen."

As part of his prize, the teen was flown to Los Angeles for the "American Idol" season finale, where he met Cowell.

"With all the things you hear about him, you'd think he would be vicious," Diffenderfer said. "But he was really a nice guy... very positive and very supportive."

Diffenderfer will attend University of Michigan this fall. The contest win has him thinking about writing scripts for film, television or commercials.