The Odem-Edroy Times (Odem, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 30, 1996 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2 - The Odem-Edroy Times
Recent Drive-by Shooting
Reveals Moral Drought
There are several reasons why Sinton and its sur-
rounding areas could be considered a typical small
town community. It embodies many of the stereotypi-
cal characteristics of a small town. There are the quiet
afternoons and clear evening skies, the close family
ties, and the laid back feel that it is neither a commu-
nity on the grow or on the go.
It is these sweet smelling, positive characteristics,
however, that cover the stench that is coming from our
larger surrounding cities. The worst of which manifest-
ed itself last Thursday in Sinton's first reported drive-by
shooting.
On the surface, the rare shooting appears to be little
more than a bad beginning to summer by a handful of
bad apples. But upon further examination one can see
that this mindless wanna-be gang incident is merely
another example of the degradation of our country's
moral code. Small towns represent the final stop for
such dirty deeds. They don't move on or fade away.
They've trickled down from larger cities, festering and
corrupting the community from within.
The shooting could be an isolated incident, but that's
not likely. Corpus Christi residents have hardly been
given the opportunity to adjust to its growing drive-by
problem, as the crime is being committed with more
and more frequency. What this incident most likely is,
which we must believe to be safe rather than sorry, is
that Thursday's drive-by was but a prelude to what will
be a summer of increased criminal activity.
Can't it be more than coincidental that the evapo-
ration of our country's sound moral tradition has
arrived to San Patricio with a severe drought; one that
is definitely causing our county's residents an unbe-
lievable amount of grief? It is not unlike the grief and
frustration that can come from increased criminal
activity.
The Sinton community averages only about one
homicide a year, and it has for approximately the last
16 years. Steps need to be taken to ensure that that
number does not rise over the course of this summer.
We need to see to it that every one of our youngsters
who left school last week is around at the end of the
summer to begin the new academic year.
It is also a stereotype that small towns take care of
their own. Let's not make that a superficial cliche.
Parents need to be mindful of the whereabouts of
their children. Get them involved in things that will
fill up their days with positive activities, and make the
effort to include them more in community activities,
such as, the Sinton for Youth program, church events
and camps.
The San Patricio community should treat the recent
drive-by as a serious problem, before it becomes a
reoccurring one. And like many small communities,
Sinton and the surrounding towns have been slow to
change with the times. That may be its greatest asset
in deterring the unwanted behavior of big-city gang
violence.
State of the Region
by Juliet K. Wenger
We're Still An Agri-Business Economy
Local governments in all 12
counties of the Coastal Bend have
individual circumstances to deal
with in this semi-arid part of the
country. They have a great deal
in common with differences of
much lesser degree.
We are no longer a rural society,
we are told. This is now an urban
society. In ways that is true, but
when rains don't fall, we are
inclined to doubt it. If the
drought is as severe as we fear it
is going to be, the economy of
population centers will feel harsh
effects of the disaster that
farmers face. . We are still to
some extent an agri-business
economy.
In churches across the region,
prayers for rain are being heard
regularly. Hopes arise when dark
clouds appear and riotous
thunder and lightening make loud
promises. Whatever rain falls is
appreciated, but often it slights
crop lands and water sheds and
falls on asphalt or over gulf
waters.
Corpus Christi, the urban center
of the region, is already under
strict rationing. Every
community which buyS1 water
from Corpus Christi wil
eventually realize rationing if
there is no relief from the skies.
Contracts that cities sign with
Corpus Christi agree that they
will conform to Corpus Christi's
guidelines. Corpus Christi owns
nearly all of the water rights.
Alice draws raw water out of Lake
Corpus Christi and transports it
through two lines to it's own lake
and still has 21 water wells. City
officials are considering drilling
two more wells along the
pipeline. Wells further east”
produce double the amount of
water that are produced from
those near Alice. The Nueces
River Autnorny is working on a
study of the possibility of Duval
County, which is now on water
wells, buying lake water from
Alice. Alice now sells to Ben Bolt.
Kingsville is served both by wells
and lake water purchased from
Corpus Christi by the South
Texas Water Authority. There
has been no public discussion of
rationing there. Indications are
that many people are voluntarily
conserving water not only
because of the drought but to save
money.
Other communities of jim Wells
County, including Orange Grove
and Premont, are on wells. The
two cities of Live Oak County
have differing arrangements.
Three Rivers uses river water and
George West uses wells.
McMullen County uses wells only.
Campbellton has a situation
unique in the region, artesian
wells where water comes out of
the ground under pressure and
hot enough to require cooling
towers. Well water in the region
comes from deep sands and
today's drought in no way
influences that supply.
In San Patricio County, Sinton has
stayed on water wells, but other
communities buy water from the
San Patricio Municipal Water
District which in turns buys from
Corpus Christi. Aransas County
also depend on the San Patricio
system.
Bee County buys water from
Corpus Christi but has retained
the wells which previously served
customers and authority to revert
to wells during an emergency.
Beeville has a rationing ordinance
on the books which could go into
effect if needed.
At opposite ends of the region,
Refugio and Brooks and Kenedy
See REGION, Page 10
CAPITOL
COMMENT
U.S. SENATOR
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON
Keeping U.S. Armed Forces Prepared
Hands down, the United States
is the world's premier military
power. This is due in large part to
the men and women who serve in
our armed forces, but it is also
because we have chosen to
maintain them in a constant state
of readiness to defend our country
against all comers, anywhere on
the globe.
The question before Congress
now is how to keep our armed
forces at this peak of preparation
and how much we are willing to
spend to do so.
Our defense budget is in its
twelfth consecutive year of
decline. Funds for weapons have
been cut by 70 percent since 1985
and are at their lowest level since
1950. The administration's 1997
budget request is almost $3 billion
less that its 1996 request.
According to the Congressional
Budget Office, the
administration’s defense budget
request will result in a shortfall
of as much as $20 billion over five
years. This would be intolerable.
While a careful reduction in
defense expenditures after our
victory in the Cold War was
appropriate, it has gone far
enough. Our nation now spends a
lower percentage of its wealth on
national security than it has since
immediately prior to World War
II.
But the threats we face now -
nuclear and chemical weapons
proliferation, international
terrorism and China's assertion
of power in Asia -- are not
diminishing in the least. The
training and modernization
military are even more crucial if
we are to ensure the readiness of
our forces.
It is essential that we continue
to modernize and acquire the
equipment and technology needed
to make up for the smaller
number of people we now have in
See COMMENT, Page 10
Looking Backward
From The Files Of The Odem-Edroy Times
Ten Years Ago - 1986
Fifty-eight students graduated
at Owl Stadium with Texas A & I
President Dr. Steven Altman as
speaker for the evening.
Jerry Villarreal and Nacho Vela
were last two Odem High School
seniors to march into the gym
Friday for commencement
exercises which ended their high
school careers.
Seventy five perfect
attendance awards were
presented at Odem Elementary
School.
Dale Lane returned from
Mexico City after spending a week
on vacation there.
Tiffany and Karen Vickers
participated in the Bodine School
of Dance recital held in the Del
Mar Auditorium in Corpus Christi
May 31. Attending were Shirley
Cherry, Becky Rackley, Lacey
Rackley and Mr. and Mrs. Jack
Boyd.
Top Thespians recognized for
their outstanding drama
achievements at Odem High
School are Pam Keeton, Candi
Edwards and Jeanna Spurlock.
A row crop seminar will be
held in the West Sinton area next
week beginning at the Adams
Brother Cotton Variety
Demonstration near West Sinton,
then to the Grain Sorghum Variety
Demonstration and ending at the
Alvin Bremer farm.
Alan Livingston and Susan M.
Crabb Ramon were named to the
Texas A&I University Dean's List
for the Spring semester.
Twenty Years Ago - 1976
The annual Cotton and Grain
Tour wil be held June 14 begining
at 2 p.m. on the Adams Brothers
Farm.
The Odem Blue Belles and the
City of Odem officials were on
hand Saturday afternoon in City
Park to meet the Brothers and
Bells caravan which was wending
its way from Sinton through Taft
to Portland to Odem and back to
Sinton.
The City Equalization Board
composed of Joe Dominguez,
Martin Gomez and Juan Figueroa
met in city hall Saturday with only
three taxpayers meeting with
them in regard to person and real
estate tax values.
Miss Thea Denee Fowler and
Gary Blackwell will be married in
Houston in June.
Mrs. Darrell Whitley was in
Sinton Sunday to be with her
sister, Mrs. James Webb whose
husband is ill.
Mrs. SammieTeague, five of
her children, and Mrs. f. Scruggs
drove down from Seguin Monday
to visit her parents, Mr. and MrsT
John T. Whitley. Two
granddaughter, Erika and Shonda
stayed for a longer visit with their
grandparents.
A group of Odem residents
and out-of-town relatives have
returned after spending several
days at Pecan Grove in Garner
State Park. Making the trip were ^
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Morris,
Ray Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Larry
Dix, Richard and Larry, Mrs. Edith *
Llrman Dean, Joyce and Nathan, all
of Odem, Mr. and Mrs. John $
Childress of Portland and Dwyer
Cummings of Corpus Christi.
"Don't Alter '95 School Reform"-Bush
Capital Highlights
By Lyndell Williams & Ed
Sterling
Governor George W. Bush said
he will oppose any effort to alter
the 1995 school reform law when
the state Legislature convenes in
January.
Though he said he was
addressing no group in particular,
Bush made the statement after a
group of 21 House members asked
the State Board of Education to
continue screening textbooks
despite provisions in the new law
that put textbook selection under
the authority of local school
districts.
Members of the group told
reporters they may seek to change
the law in the 1997 legislative
session.
Bush urged lawmakers to give
the new law a chance to work
before putting the state's public
schools through more sweeping
changes.
"Last year we passed one of
the most far-reaching reform
packages in the United States...We
need to give people a chance to
adjust to the new environment. I
will frown on anything that tries
to structurally change Senate Bill
1."
"The worst message we could
send to educators in Texas is we
will pass a law and two years later
we will fundamentally change it
again," Bush said.
Despite his caution against
tinkering with S.B. 1, Bush told
reporters certain provisions in
the law need fine-tuning. In
particular, he said, the student
disciplinary policy ought to be
clarified in the legislative session.
Also, Bush said he would
support a measure in the
upcoming session to increase the
number of state-granted charter
schools. The 1995 reform package
limited the number of charter
schools to 20.
Lone Star Card Is Success
Welfare fraud is on the decline
and the Lone Star Card is getting
the credit.
Texas Comptroller John Sharp
said that since the card was
initiated two years ago, more food
stamp dollars are being spent on
approved foodstuffs, such as milk
and cheese, and less is being spent
on cigarettes and beer.
Texas' food stamp rolls have
been cut by nearly 32 percent in
two years, apparently without
hurting the needy, the San Antonio
Express-News reported.
Tom Smith of the government
watchdog group Public Citizen said
the program is "basically
working," the Express-News
reported. "Every once in a while a
government program actually
works. Everybody's shocked."
Much like the bank cards used
in automatic teller machines, the
Lone Star Card is used by
recipients of food stamps and Aid
to Families With Dependent
Children. Their benefits are
credited to an account that is
accessed with the card at
checkout counters.
Meanwhile, last week, Sharp's
office unveiled a test program in
which welfare recipients will be
fingerprinted as a fraud
prevention measure.
The $270,000 test program is
to begin September 1 in Guadalupe
and Bexar counties. A
computerized system will check
digitized finger prints to detect
fraud when welfare applicants file
their applications.
Court Rules Against Firms
The Texas Supreme Court
rejected an effort by Allstate and
Farmers insurance companies to
stop a TV commercial by policy-
holders suing the companies for
$109 million.
The commercials now running
in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin,
announces a May 30 court hearing
involving as many as 4 million
current and former policyholders,
the Dallas Morning News reported.
The ads are being broadcast far
from where the lawsuit is filed -
in sparsely populated and
plaintiff-friendly Zavala County on
the Mexican Border.
Policyholders are seeking
reimbursement and damages
against the insurance companies
for allegedly improperly
computing premiums for Texas
drivers by using a practice called
nothing more than a delay tactic
by the defense, and he argued that
the case could proceed more
quickly in Texarkana because the
federal court docket is less
crowded.
Attorney General Dan Morales
filed suit against the tobacco
companies in late March, seeking
reimbursement of billions of
dollars in Medicaid money the
state spent in treating Texans'
tobacco-related illnesses.
Companies Seek Venue
Change
Tobacco company lawyers
expressed their wish last week to
move Texas' $4 billion lawsuit
against cigarette makers from
Texarkana.
Jack Maroney, an attorney for
Philip Morris, one of the
defendants, told the Dallas
Morning News, "It makes no sense
to try the case in Texarkana," and
added that it would be a matter of
convenience both to the attorney
general's office and the
defendants to move the trial to
Austin.
But Special Assistant Attorney
General Harry Potter dismissed
the idea of moving the case as
"double rounding."
But the insurance companies
contend that since the early
1970's they have been required by
the Texas Department of
Insurance to calculate premiums
by double-rounding.
Plaintiff's lawyers have said
that double-rounding might lead to
overcharging a driver $35 over a
10 year period.
Though Insurance
Commissioner Elton Bomer came
to office in 1995, he confirmed his*
department had informed
insurance companies--as recently
as 1991--that double-rounding was
the law.
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McElhaney, Jim. The Odem-Edroy Times (Odem, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 30, 1996, newspaper, May 30, 1996; Sinton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1055671/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Odem Public Library.