The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 251, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 19, 1992 Page: 4 of 20
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4-A
THE BAYTOWN SUN
Wednesday, August 19, 1992
OPINION
Sun editorial
Gang activity
is intolerable
rTlhe upswing in gang related-related incidents
over the past few days is a trend that must not
JL be tolerated.
When it reaches the point where gang members
are disrupting church services, it is most disturbing
indeed.
We applaud the work of Baytown police, the
city’s gang task force, the school district and other
organizations for their efforts to curtail gang
activities.
We hope these groups will not get discouraged
and will continue in their efforts to reverse the
situation.
The battle still may be a long way from being
won, but together, we can make a difference.
In 1992, the major crime rate in Baytown has de-
clined 11 percent in comparison with figures from a
year ago.
Law enforcement authorities have attributed the
decrease in part to the activities of neighborhood
watch groups.
This shows that citizens’ groups, working with au-
thorities, can have a significant impact.
If major crime can be reduced, so can gang activ-
ity — if we continue to strive to achieve this goal.
HAffM PAcfS Berry's world
ARB HERE
AGAIN!
HAPPY PAYS
ARE HERE
AGAIN!
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From Sun files
Fields against trix
increase in 1982
From the Baytown Sun files, this is the way it was:
In 1942
Lee Junior College Coach Doyle Coe resigns to accept a
position at an ordnance plant in Amarillo.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Juneau of Cotton Port, La., an-
nounce the marriage of their daughter, Mazie, to Lt. E.B. Tra-
vis, son of Dr. and Mrs. W.T. Travis of Goose Creek. They
were married Aug. 11 in Alexandria, La.
In 1952
Preliminary surveys are being made for the third lane on
Decker Drive which County Commissioner H.A. May assures
voters will be built in 1953 if he wins his runoff election.
Nearly 10,000 students are expected to enroll in Baytown
area schools this fall.
In 1962
The Rev. and Mrs. W.F. McCorkle and daughter Amonna
Sue, missionaries to Ghana, West Africa, are honored at a
farewell coffee in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Asa Moss and son
Donnie.
A petition with 179 names is presented to The Baytown Sun
to call attention to the large number of Crosby school taxpay-
ers who are upset about the increases in valuations on hum
and ranch land.
In 1982
After meeting with President Ronald Reagan, U.S. Rep.
Jack Fields says he still opposes the president’s $98.3 billion
tax increase bill.
Scott Smith, senior at Robert E. Lee High School, wins third
place in comprehension at the National Junior Classical
League convention in Norman, Okla. The Junior Classical
League promotes the study of Latin. Kyle Keefer, also a stu-
dent at REL, finished eighth in the grammar division in the
nationwide competition.
New teachers are taken on an industrial tour. Pictured on the
front page are Larry Lucchesi, general manager of the Gulf Oil
Chemical Cedar Bayou Plant; Laura Murphy and Rick Barrett,
new teachers; and Tracey Wheeler of the Baytown Chamber of
Commerce.
Bible verse
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen thine heart.
—Psalm 27:14
€f)t Paptoton &un
Gary Dobbs........................................................Editor and publisher
Wanda Orton.............................................................Managing editor
Bruce Guynn...........................................Associate managing editor
LETTER POLICY
Th» Baytown Sun mkxmet Man oonoamlng of ganaral M«M. M Man mutt to ilgnad and
induct* an address and tataphont number lor wwItlcaUon purpoaaa. Only the name and community of
raaldanca wil accompany tha latter In print. No anonymout Man ail be accepted. Length thould be no
mote than 300 wot* and Mien should be typed or hand-wtttlen legUy. The newspaper reeetvee the
tight to refute « edl any letter. The Men become the property of The Sun. Send to: Laden to tha
Edlor, Baytown Sun, P.O. Bor 90. Baytown Taxai 77822 or bring tha Man to our offica at 1301
Bush shouldn’t drop Quayle
There’s been a lot of talk lately that
President George Bush will or should drop
Vice President Dan Quayle from the GOP
ticket. Quayle has said repeatedly that if the
president wanted him off the team, he would
be happy to leave, but that has not been the
case yet. The president, himself, continues
to stand by Quayle, keeping him close by
and in check.
And rightfully so. This is the first time in
a long while I am in agreement with the
president. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a
Quayle sympathizer.
On a personal level, I am sure the man is
entertaining to be around — sort of like
Jerry Ford, or Jerry Lewis, for that matter.
On a professional level, I wouldn’t trust him
to ran a major appliance, let alone the
country. But on a political level, Quayle has
found a home in the Bush administration.
And Bush should not give him the boot.
I think Bush understands this. If he
canned Quayle, Bush would be the target of
rampant criticism. The arch-conservatives
would go into convulsions at the mention of
Quayle’s removal. These people already
think Bush should be dropped from the
ticket because he is too much of a moderate.
Without Quayle the conservative, Bush
would be nothing to these people, and they
would probably abstain from voting in
November.
Those on the other side of the political
spectrum would also attack Bush if he
dropped Quayle. They would point out that
Bush acted out of political fear. The Demo-
crats would holler about Bush’s tendency to
flip-flop on issues — first the “no new
taxes” issue, and now his vice president.
And they would viciously mock Bush for his
ardent support of the hapless Quayle since
the 1988 campaign.
Bush knows this, and will do anything to
avoid providing more arrows for his detrac-
tors to sling at him. Besides, Quayle is not
nearly as bad a vice president as some of his
predecessors.
Take Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s vice presi-
dent, for example. Rumor has it Burr was so
offensive, the French diplomats loathed his
presence. In 1804, with a flair for showman-
ship all his own, Burr shot and killed
Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton ended up on
the $10 bill, while Burr escaped prosecution
by hiding behind jurisdiction laws.
And how about Andrew Johnson, Lin-
coln’s vice president, who would regularly,
brandish a pistol and threaten his political
enemies with it. His critics also accused him
of being overly fond of alcoholic beverages.
One midwestem newspaper in the 1860s
accused him of presiding over congress
with, “A mind besotten by a fortnight of
debauchery.” In layman’s terms, Johnson
went to work in the Congress while in the
throes of a drinking binge.
The 20th century has also provided its
share of loser vice presidents, like Nixon
and Agnew. And George Bush himself was
the target of a number of allegations during
his term as vice president. This man was last
seen in the White House.
So Quayle might be a loser, and he may
be a geek. But he has not broken any laws.
And in these strange times, that may be
enough.
Amit Z. Baruch is a Sun columnist.
Health insurers’ objectives
Jack
Anderson
WASHINGTON — Until an aneurysm
burst in her brain two years ago, Jaime
Keller was a ninth grade honors student and
a member of her high school’s soccer and
crew teams. Since collapsing during a
school dance, Jaime has started on the road
to recovery, though she will never again
lead a normal life. Jaime’s doctors say that
an inpatient behavior management program
is the best way for her to get the full-time
attention she needs.
Jaime’s insurer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield
of Western Pennsylvania, does not agree.
Though Blue Cross has never examined
Jaime, its representatives claim she can be
treated just as well in an outpatient program.
Her parents and doctors believe differently.
While the matter waits to be resolved, her
parents explain that Jaime is refusing outpa-
tient treatment, as her condition deteriorates.
“We are not the be all and end all,” a Blue
Cross spokesman said. “We’re looking at
appropriateness and for the proper setting.”
The spokesman added that inpatient care
would not be “cost effective.”
Jaime and others like her are the orphans
in the battle to reform health insurance, a
battle that so far seems hopelessly bot-
tlenecked in Congress. The health insurance
industry makes a heavy investment in
maintaining the status quo.
In all, there are more than 200 political
action committees representing the medical,
pharmaceutical and insurance industries,
according to a recent survey by Common
Cause. In the past decade, these groups have
contributed more than $60 million to con-
gressional candidates, with $43.2 million of
that going to 519 of the 534 current
members of the House and Senate.
A disproportionate amount of that larges-
se is lavished on members whose commit-
tees have jurisdiction on health-related
matters. Members like Pete Stark, D-Calif.,
chairman of the Ways and Means health
subcommittee, Sen. David Durenberger, R-
Minn., the ranking Republican on the
Senate’s Medicare subcommittee, and Rep.
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the
Energy and Commerce Committee’s health
subcommittee, are big favorites of the
health-care lobby.
The health insurance industry has come
under unwelcome scrutiny recently as a
result of the high-profile insolvency of West
Virginia’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield associa-
tion. Congress is asking what went wrong
and why. But while the health insurance
industry prefers to complain about the
skyrocketing costs of care, a recent congres-
sional investigation reaches some different
conclusions.
The results of the investigation by the
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation,
chaired by Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., paints
the picture of a system in which insurance
companies have been weakened by shoddy
management and poor investments. And, if
there is a cash crunch in the insurance
industry, one could never tell from the
lifestyles of its chief executives.
In one case, a member plan that was
nearly insolvent was paying its chief execu-
tive $350,000, plus country club member-
ships, a chauffeured limousine, and a $1.2
million pension buy out. In another case,
two member plans that had requested exten-
sive rate increases had found the money to
buy “sky boxes” at local stadiums.
Nor are the member plans the only ones
living high on the hog. In 1991, Blue Cross’
national association paid its 15-person man-
agement team a total of $3.1 million.
While insurance industry executives are
enjoying the perks of management, Jaime
Keller’s parents are wondering how their
daughter will receive the care she needs to
recover. “I have accepted the fact that she’ll
never be the same person again,” her mother
told our reporter Andrew Conte. “But I
know she can come a little further yet.”
United Feature Syndicate
Will this be election from hell?
It is widely predicted that this will be the
presidential election from hell. Gresham’s
Law will come into play with a vengeance,
with bad politics driving out the good. The
ticket that hits the low road first and often
will be the one that wins, or so we are told.
The assessment is only partially correct.
Negative campaigning is going to reach a
nadir. Both sides have skilled technicians
who love nothing better than a fast-paced
game of pin-the-dirt on your opponent.
Labels will be attached as fast as they can be
manufactured.
But saying that is almost irrelevant to the
likely outcome of the presidential election.
For the vast majority of voters who are
certain that the system needs something
more than a light tune-up, labels will be
irrelevant. What they will be seeking is
evidence that at least one of the two
professional politicians the Republicans and
Democrats have offered them has sensible
proposals for reinvigorating the economy
and, more importantly, revitalizing the
Today in history
nation’s spirit.
The open secret of 1992 is that most
Americans are Perotistas, even if Ross Perot
himself turned out to be a flawed icon. Their
overwhelming desire is for a system that
works. The malaise that afflicts so many of
us is grounded in the uneasy suspicion that
something is badly amiss, that America is
off course and drifting.
Ross Perot did not invent the national
mood that his brief campaign so dramatical-
ly tapped. It was there, waiting and growing,
and, if anything, his abrupt withdrawal from
the race intensified it. He was much akin to
the proverbial blind man trying to describe
an elephant, but he proved one thing. What
he encountered was much bigger than he
knew or expected.
It is also bigger than the old tags of right
and left, liberal and conservative. The
people are impatient when not disgusted
with what currently passes for political
dialogue. They understand that it is a curtain
behind which organized interests advance
their individual agendas with minimum
regard for the collective good. They do not
believe anyone has the answer. If many are
certain there is something wrong with “big
government,” others have become no less
disenchanted with a political theology that
deifies the market and, like Marxism of old,
promises pie in the sky in an ever-retreating
by-and-by. What most are seeking is a
political leader whose policies reflect what
they see as both possible and necessary.
Because so many adult Americans are
uncertain, unhappy and pessimistic about the
future, this presidential election is already
the most volatile in American history. The
polls have repeatedly drawn a picture of the
electorate as genie, changing shape with
startling speed and ease. Just two weeks
before the Democratic Convention, the
combined negatives of Bush, Clinton and
Perot were higher than their combined
positive ratings. Three weeks before that,
Perot’s standing in the polls was higher than
any third party candidate in American
history and his negatives were half as high
as President Bush’s. The president’s poll
numbers have swung from mediocre to
record high to near record low, all in little
more than a year.
Bill Clinton and his running mate, A1
Gore, are currently the beneficiaries of the
people s restless search for someone to trust,
but they know it can’t last. Temporarily,
they have managed to be all things to many
people, offering in their youth and vigor the
impression that, as Jack Kennedy promised
in his campaign 32 years ago, they will get
“the nation moving again.” Because the
Democrats in 1992 have relearned an old
lesson, which is that you have to win before
you can do anything else, they have papered
over the old fault lines that split them so
badly in the past.
Newspaper Enterprise Association
1991: Yeltsin defies Soviet hard-liners
One year ago, on Aug. 19, 1991, Soviet hard-liners announced to
a shocked world that Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev had
been removed from power. Russian federation President Boris N.
Yeltsin, defying the coup plotters, called for a general strike.
In 1812, the USS Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides,”
defeated the British frigate Guerriere in a naval battle east of Nova
Scotia during the War of 1812.
In 1848, the New York Herald reported the discovery of gold in
California.
In 1929, the comedy program “Amos and Andy,” starring Free-
man Gosden and Charles Correll, made its network radio debut on
NBC.
In 1942, 50 years ago, about 6,000 Canadian and British soldiere
launched a disastrous raid against the Geimans at the port city of
Dieppe, France, suffering about 50 percent casualties.
In 1981, two U.S. Navy F-14 jet fighters shot down a pair of
Soviet-built Libyan SU-22’s in a dogfight over the Gulf of Sidra
toward the end of a two-day American naval exercise.
Ten years ago: Israel’s Cabinet approved a U.S. plan calling for
the withdrawal of Palestinian and Syrian forces from west Beirat In
Washington, Congress approved a $98.3 billion package of tax and
revenue increases. In the Soviet Union, cosmonaut Svetlana Savits-
kaya became the second woman to be launched into space
Five years ago: A third convoy of U.S. warships and reflagged
Kuwaiti tankers slipped into the Persian Gulf before dawn and
headed up the waterway behind a screen of mine-seeking
helicopters. 5
Today’s Birthdays: Author Ring Lardner Jr. is 77. Jockey Willie
Shoemaker is 61. Actress Debra Paget is 59. Tennis coach Renee
Richards is 58. Sen. David Durenberger, R-Minn., is 58. Singer
Johnny Nash is 52. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton is 46. Actor Gerald
McRaney is 44. Actor Adam Arkin is 36.
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 251, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 19, 1992, newspaper, August 19, 1992; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1020727/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed May 31, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.