East Bernard Express (East Bernard, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 15, 2013 Page: 4 of 10
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age 4 Thursday, August 15, 2013
East Bernard Express
Bill Wallace, Editor & Publisher
bwallace@journal-spectator.com
Keith Magee, Managing Editor
kmagee@journal-spectator.com
Burlon Parsons, Associate Editor
bparsons@journal-spectator.com
P.0. Box 111 • Wharton, Texas 77488 • 979-532-0095 • 979-532-8845 fax
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Then and now, the Dinky and Hyperloop
One of my friends on Facebook
is a futuri stic kind of guy — he
always knows about the latest
breakthroughs in technology and
the latest inventions, so I wasn’t
surprised yesterday when he posted
an item about transportation for the
near (some say) future by means of
the “Hyperloop.” There was cover-
age about the Hyperloop in the
media, too.
Since it won’t travel on rails, nor
will it fly through the air, it’s difficult
to decide whether this future mode
of transportation is a train or a long
bus. Well, it doesn’t have wheels,
and it is the brain child of Elon
Musk, the inventor who sent rockets
to the International Space Station
and developed the Tesla electric car.
The “thing” travels by electromag-
netic pulses in a tube at a top speed
of 760 miles per hour. Since Musk
considers it the answer to Califor-
nia’s high speed rail network (which
has been on the drawing board for
years), we will have to consider it
a train. Musk announced that it
would cost 6 billion dollars, which is
about a tenth of what the high-speed
rail system would cost.
My initial reaction was, This is
rubbish, it can’t be done,’ but that’s
exactly what I thought when my
third grade teacher back in the
1940’s told the class we would in the
near future be watching the “radio”
as well as listening to it. Seeing the
development of television in less
than a decade after my teacher’s
prediction taught me to never rule
out the possibility of the impossible.
This is what people thought when
the Wright brothers announced that
they had invented a machine that
flies.
Rails were laid and the first train
appeared in Baltimore in the 1830s,
and it was drawn by one horse, pull-
ing three carriages containing eighty
people. People were astonished that
such a vehicle could travel at an
amazing eight miles an hour. The
next trains were drawn by steam en-
gines in spite of the fact some people
said steam would never work. Well,
it did work, but the highest speed it
could attain was also eight miles an
hour. By the 1930s and the 1940s,
steam locomotives were traveling 60
miles per hour, and all of us in those
days marveled at such an incred-
ible rate of speed. I mention these
rates of speed, because Musk tells
us he will have us traveling at 760
mph. Musk plans to have us riding
inside small capsules inside a tube
on cushions of air.
So, if I understand his plan
correctly, if I take the Hyperloop,
I will be traveling 700 more miles-
per-hour than I used to travel on
the train from Giddings to Houston
which did 60, and we thought we
were flying high then. Does that
mean that we will arrive in Hous-
ton before we even leave Giddings,
haha?
Most of the time, however, in
the 1940s, we would travel on the
“Dinky” rather than the streamliner
locomotives; and I would guess that
the Dinky clackety-clacked at about
30 or 40 miles per hour. We took the
train a lot in those days, not because
we were rich, but because, as a Rail-
road Section Foreman, my father,
as well as all members of his family,
could ride free. (Free travel at a
time when gasoline was rationed!)
The big trains took you to Houston,
Austin, Dallas, and other important
places like that; the Dinky took you
on short, local trips, to Moulton, to
Shiner, to Flatonia, to Brenham, etc.
A shopping trip to Moulton would
not be as exciting as going to Hous-
ton, for example, but, hey, people,
Moulton had more stores than Dime
Box!
Doesn’t it strike you as incredibly
funny that, as we travel through
time and space in this old universe,
we human beings keep wanting to
go faster and faster and faster. OK,
so in 1830, we can travel by train
8 miles per hour, either by horse-
pulled or steam; one hundred years
later, we can travel 60 miles per
hour by steam; and 73 years later,
we are preparing to travel 760 miles
per hour on air (not in the air, mind
you, but on air)! Why are we in such
a hurry? We don’t stop to smell the
roses as it is!
At the time locomotives were
clipping along at 60 miles per hour,
and we drove our automobiles about
35 mph (though some could do 60), I
was riding to town with my grandpa
on a flat bed wagon pulled by two
work horses, clip-clopping at around
5 mph. My grandpa would hitch up
two work horses, because he loved
driving fast! It was on a Saturday,
and we had the whole day ahead of
us, there was no reason to hurry —
not on a Saturday. Grandma hated
the hustle and bustle of downtown
Dime Box, so she usually stayed
home. If we stayed in town until
dark, you could lie down on the bed
of the wagon and look up at the
stars. For a whole hour, you could
lie on your back and look up at the
stars. Even Grandpa could look
up at the stars, because the horses
knew the way home. Star-gazing
on the way back to the farm, - an
experience far superior to Nintendo,
Xbox, and all the other artificial
means of discovering something!
You could think up a poem or a story,
make up a song, let your mind soar
to the stars. So why do we keep
wanting to go faster and faster and
faster?
Ray Spitzenberger serves as pas-
tor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in
Wallis, after retiring from Wharton
County Junior College, where he
taught English and speech and
served as chairman of Communica-
tions and Fine Arts for many years.
Cornyn, Cruz learned what
LBJ knew: Runoffs matter
Dave
McNeely
Texas Politics
The latest United
States senators from
Texas, Republicans John
Cornyn and Ted Cruz,
know what a predeces-
sor, Democrat Lyndon
Johnson, knew well:
Runoff elections matter.
LBJ was Senate Ma-
jority Leader when fel-
low Sen. John F. Kennedy beat him for
the Democratic presidential nomination
in 1960. But because he was a powerful
senator, from a critical state, Kennedy
picked him as his running mate.
LBJ might never have been a senator
had Texas copied the 39 states without
runoffs in primary elections.
In 1948, Johnson, after 11 years in
the U.S. House of Representatives, ran
an open Senate seat. The most formida-
ble of the 11 Democratic candidates was
former Gov. Coke Stevenson.
Stevenson had been speaker of the
Texas House and lieutenant governor.
He became governor in 1941, when Gov.
W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel won a special
U.S. Senate election.
Stevenson then won two-year terms
on his own. In 1948, he led Johnson in
the primary, 477,077 to LBJ’s 405,617,
or 71,460 votes. In most states, Steven-
son would have been the Democratic
nominee.
But nine others got 319,370, or 26.6
percent, to Stevenson’s 39.7 percent, and
LBJ’s 33.7 percent.
Since 1918, Texas law says it takes a
majority to win a primary. Otherwise,
the top two have a runoff.
LBJ’s infamous 87-vote victory came
when a late ballot box appeared from
a South Texas county, that added more
than 200 votes to his total.
The State Democratic Executive Com-
mittee declared Johnson the winner,
494,191 to Stevenson’s 494,104. LBJ’s
percentage was 50.0044.
And then he was elected vice presi-
dent; became president Nov. 22, 1963,
when Kennedy was assassinated in
Dallas; and won a landslide election in
1964.
LBJ also had two special elections,
where runoffs weren’t held. Until 1959,
special elections to fill vacancies had no
primaries, or runoffs. All candidates,
regardless of party, ran on the same bal-
lot. Whoever got the most votes — even
without a majority — won.
That’s how Johnson got to Congress
in the first place.
After 24-year U.S. Rep. James P.
“Buck” Buchanan died on Feb. 22, 1937.
LBJ, then 28, quit his job as Texas direc-
tor of the National Youth Administra-
tion and campaigned as 100 percent for
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s
controversial agenda.
LBJ, from the county in the 10th Dis-
trict with the fewest people, faced sev-
eral candidates, including a state sena-
tor, a county judge, and an Austinite
endorsed by the city’s popular mayor.
LBJ ran feverishly, to
the forks of the creeks,
seeking out rural folks
who seldom saw a live
candidate.
LBJ got just 8,280
votes, or 27.6 percent.
But he beat the runner-
up by 3,169 votes. He
was the new congress-
man.
Had there been a runoff, backers of
the other candidates might have voted
for the runner-up.
In the 1941 U.S. Senate special elec-
tion, the lack of a runoff cut the other
way. LBJ won in unofficial returns.
But in the controversial official count,
O’Daniel led by 1,311 votes — 30.49
percent to LBJ’s 30.36 percent. Several
others got 39.15 percent.
Had there been a runoff, LBJ might
have gotten more of the also-ran vote
than O’Daniel — and become a senator
seven years sooner.
Cornyn and Cruz likewise wouldn’t
have gotten to the Senate without run-
offs.
Cornyn was elected to the Texas
Supreme Court in 1990, and attorney
general in 1998. In 2002, running for
a vacant U.S. Senate seat, he got more
than 77 percent in the Republican Pri-
mary over four minor candidates.
In November, he trounced Democrat
Ron Kirk, a popular African-American
who’d been Dallas mayor and Texas
Secretary of State.
The runoff that helped Cornyn came
four years earlier, in the 1998 Repub-
lican primary for attorney general.
Cornyn faced six-year Railroad Com-
missioner Barry Williamson, and former
Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom
Pauken.
Cornyn got 32.2 percent in the pri-
mary. Pauken got 29.7 percent. But
Williamson got 38.1 percent. Without a
runoff, Williamson would probably have
been attorney general, and Cornyn prob-
ably would be practicing law.
But there was a runoff, attended by
less than half as many voters as the first
primary. Cornyn won with 57.9 percent.
After four years in the limelight as
attorney general, he breezed on to the
Senate.
As for Cruz, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst
out-polled him by just over 147,000
votes in last year’s May 29 Republican
primary — 44.6 percent to Cruz’s 34.2
percent.
But seven other candidates got 21.2
percent, denying Dewhurst — or Cruz
— a majority.
In the runoff July 31, Cruz led De-
whurst by 151,151 votes, getting 56.8
percent.
And Mr. Cruz went to Washington,
where he now seems to be running for
president.
Contact Dave McNeely at davemc-
neelylll@gmail.com or 512-458-2963.
Hearing the call
Preachers pass on
rather suddenly, during
the night sometimes;
POOF, they are just gone,
often under mysterious
circumstances. If the pas-
tor is questioned about it,
he/she invariably says, “I
was just called to minister
to this congregation.”
So the right reverend hears many calls,
but if one of the churches is flush with
cash, his/her hearing improves dramatical-
ly. Mind you, I have no criticism of anyone
heeding the call. It’s rewards reaped for
work well done.
There was an old minister who preached
the same sermon every week for years. It
was called “Rewards and Punishment.”
The gist of it was that that if you led a
righteous life you’d be rewarded in Heav-
en. If you were a back sliding, hypocritical
weasel you’d be punished. A member of
the church asked the pastor when he was
going to change the sermon. He wisely
replied, ‘When /all do something about
this one.”
It turns out that the Padre died and
went to Heaven. A devout Deacon of his
church died shortly thereafter, went to
Heaven and found the old man of the cloth
handcuffed to a drop dead, gorgeous, young
maiden that was dropping grapes into his
open mouth. The Deacon said, “Pastor, is
this the heavenly reward you were preach-
ing about?” He said, “No, I’m her punish-
ment.” Seems like no matter how hard we
study the Bible we never quite understand
it fully.
Then there was the unusual case of
the preacher who looked exactly like Mel
Tillis. He was constantly heard to say “No,
although I am flattered to be mistakenly
identified as Mel, I don’t sing, don’t stut-
ter and don’t play the guitar.” One night
nearing the end of his contract with a
small, rural church he heard the call, loud
‘Doc’
Blakely
Pokin’ Fun
and clear, from a larger,
richer, church.
He took the mem-
bership list and went
door to door working
his spellbinding magic.
Every door he knocked on
seemed to produce a wid-
ow who screamed, “Mel
Tillis, what you doing in
my neighborhood.” With great patience he
explained, “No, M’am, although I bear a
strong resemblance to the aforementioned
musician, I don’t sing, don’t stutter and
don’t play the guitar. I’m the new Pastor of
the First United Associated, Assimilated,
Southern Conference of the Holy Zion,
Amalgamated Church. Will you come back
this Sunday?” She said she would.
He went through this routine all day
long. The last place he stopped, a gorgeous
young lady answered the door and before
he could speak she cooed, “Why, Mel Tillis,
don’t speak a word until you hear me out.
I see you’re single from the looks of your
left hand. I want you to know that I’ve just
been waiting my 221/2 years for you to drop
by so I could sing you some of my songs.
Please, don’t speak, hear me out. I’ve also
had this fantasy of giving you long, linger-
ing kisses...”
The preacher said, “D,d,d,d,d,did you
say s,s,s,s,songs? C,c,c,c,c,can you drive a
choir bus?”
■
Hey folks: The next Java Jam will be
Friday, Aug. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Mi-
lam St. Coffee Shop in downtown Wharton.
Special guest will be Marc “Tex” Krenek of
East Bernard. See www.milamstcoffee.com
for details.
Doc Blakely is a humorist and motiva-
tional speaker who resides in Wharton. For
more information, visit www.docblakely.
com.
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Wallace, Bill. East Bernard Express (East Bernard, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 15, 2013, newspaper, August 15, 2013; East Bernard, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth787422/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Wharton County Library.