Keene Star (Keene, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 16, 2012 Page: 4 of 10
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4 ★ Keene Star
www.keenestar.net
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Viewpoints
Locoweed had to be eliminated before the cows ate it
School was in session and I made good
grades in the sixth grade and made several
good friends with students my age. But there
were a few kids who were raised to steal any-
thing loose. I did my best to stay clear of them,
and usually did.
Dad closed his business during the Christ-
mas holidays and traded his 1933 Chevrolet
truck for a 160-acre farm 13 miles west of
O’Donnell, Texas. Land was cheap then and
many farms had been adandoned.
At this time, south of the Lubbock County
line, there were paved roads until you were in
Big Springs. Our nation was entering the De-
pression and this was the darkest time in the
history of our wonderful country.
To get to school, we walked diagonally
across a section of land to catch a school bus
and rode eight miles to school. The school’s
name was O. K. and housed all grades through
high school. I enrolled in the sixth grade. The
teacher’s name was Mrs. Taylor. She was
probably in her late 30s and very strict. The
kids here seemed eager to meet new people
and I became acquainted with several of the
farm boys and found them to be much differ-
ent from the boys in Borger. They were always
eager to help with any problem I might have.
Let me introduce you to the farm we trad-
ed for. The house had three rooms that set
above ground about six inches. To seal the
area, we shoveled dirt to fill the gap between
the house and the ground and that stopped
the wind from blowing underneath the house
and coming up through the floor. To get to
our bedroom, my brother Bob and I had to go
outside to enter it. The interior of the house
looked like someone tried to correct a mistake
and failed. Mother covered the inside of the
house with a heavy building paper and that
improved it some, but not much. The nic-
est thing about the whole place was a storm
cellar where we could store items safely. We
left Borger with 100 pounds of pinto beans,
several cans of vegetables andseveral sacks of
potatoes that we stored in the cellar.
We also had four gentle horses and a jersey
milk cow and it was my duty to care for the
cow. She gave all the milk we could use and it
was rich with cream. We also had a windmill
for water, but the water was full of alkali and
gypsum and was not for humans consump-
tion. We had to haul water from a place about
two miles from home using a wagon loaded
with two wooden barrels drawn by a team of
horses. We also had about 30 chickens, plenty
of eggs and two yearling caves
Of the 160 acres 60 were in pasture and
provided good grazing for the animals. Over
on the backside of the pasture was a small
patch of locoweed. These
were the first things to turn
green in the spring, and
the cows would eat them,
go crazy and soon die. It
became my duty to elimi-
nate them, and I did.
The rest of the place was
mostly sand hills so we
leased 300 acres joining
us. It was a nice flat acre-
age we planted in cotton.
As soon as we had every-
thing located in its proper
place, a storm came out
of the north and brought cold weather. How
cold? We did not know, but the water bucket
we used in the house for drinking or cooking
froze solid and stayed frozen for over a week.
This was the worst weather I have ever been
through. We found out later the temperature
reached a low of 24 degrees below zero. At
that time, it was the coldest temperature ever
recorded in Texas. This was in January 1932.
It is possible that colder weather has occrued
somewhere in the state since that time.
In West Texas from October through April,
you can expect a sand storm at any time.
Early in the morning, in the northwest, it ap-
pears as a cloud in the distance, but soon you
can see the sand rolling in front of the storm.
The storm usually blows it self out by sun-
down. Sometimes it will blow all night and
all next day, but this is unusual. After walk-
ing home from school and against the wind
for more than one mile, I was worn out. Some
of these storms were almost impossible to
walk against. The wind blew so hard we had
to walk sideways in order to get home, and
this required all the effort we could put forth.
When farming, the first obligation is the
animals. They must be cared for regardless
of the weather or other conditions that may
exist. Dad did the plowing and cared for the
horses. It was my job to care for the cows. I
had to milk morning and night and be sure
the animals had something to eat.
World War II veteran Doug Carver is a
longtime Keene resident who likes to hang
out weekday mornings at Keene restaurants.
Mr. Carver celebrated his 92nd birthday Oct.
8. On Oct. 28, 2010, he received the Keene
Cham ber of Com m erce Pioneer Award,
presented to an organization or individual
whose long-ago contributions and influence
helped make Keene what it is today.
Doug
Carver
Commentary
Harmon s response is proper
Issue: The Keene Star called upon John-
son County Judge Roger Harmon last week
to act concerning what we alleged was the
appearance of impropriety in open sessions
of commissioner’s court. Some court mem-
bers were whispering when they should
have been talking or saying nothing.
We say: We are pleased to report those
concerns may be closed. Harmon listened
and responded. He has called upon all court
members to end any appearance of impro-
priety, to end the whispering and sidebars.
It wasn’t easy to accept the criticism. Hav-
ing shortcomings cited publicly is never easy
to swallow.
The Keene Star last week made the case
that impropriety was taking place in open
meetings by Johnson County Commission-
er’s Court members. Some were whispering
in open court sessions and the court record
wasn’t reflecting their conversations.
The Open Meetings Act does not specifical-
ly address whispering, but we noted that the
spirit of the law requires a higher standard.
We called upon Harmon to address it.
We want the public to know that Harmon
listened and reacted. He has called upon all
court members to end whispering and any-
thing that would appear as if a member is
intentionally skirting the spirit of the Open
Meetings Act. Furthermore, he has called for
restoration of court decorum.
We said in last week’s editorial that Har-
mon is “a good man who has run a good court.
He deeply cares about this county.” He does
and has. He spent about three minutes Mon-
day in an address to the court about doing the
right thing, as he has tended to do throughout
his years on the court. It wasn’t the easy thing
to do, but it was the right thing.
Our editorial opinion also wasn’t the easy
thing, but the right thing. It is the place of a
community newspaper, we believe, to stand
when others can’t or don’t.
It is the role of a newspaper to identify
when meetings are being closed from com-
plete public openness and act to do some-
thing about it. This is one of the founding
principles of our nation.
We believe Harmon’s actions Monday as-
sure the public their business is being con-
ducted above board and in the public light.
The intent of the court is correct, it may have
just got off track along the way. Harmon is
saying it is being addressed and will be fixed.
“I want this court known as a court where
business is conducted fairly,” Harmon said
Monday. “I never want a court of impropri-
ties.”
Neither do we. Neither do the people. Har-
mon has expressed his desires to have the
highest levels of openness in the court. We
now call upon all court members to get in line
with that mandate.
In all things,
our values define us.
By choosing to always do what’s right, we have created an atmosphere
of trust for our employees and business partners. We like to think that’s
why Devon has been the only energy company on Fortune’s “World’s
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Earn (and keep) more money
Bryan A. Trevino
Special to the Keene Star
You probably already know
that there was an increase in
Social Security and Supple-
mental Security Income (SSI)
monthly payments at the be-
ginning of the year. If you
receive monthly Social Secu-
rity or SSI payments, you re-
ceived a 3.6 percent cost-of-
living adjustment beginning
with your payment for the
month of January 2012.
For people who receive
Social Security retirement
benefits, there is more good
news. In addition to receiving
a little more each month, you
may now
earn more
income
without
offsetting
your ben-
efits be-
cause the
“earnings
test” num-
bers also
have gone
up.
If you
have
reached
your full retirement age (age
66 for anyone born between
1943 and 1954), the earnings
Bryan
Trevino
Commentary
Keene^kStar
Volume 19, Number 29
10 Pages in 1 Section
(USPS-010-545)
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test does not apply and you
may earn as much money
as you can without affecting
your monthly benefit. How-
ever, if you are younger than
full retirement age, collecting
benefits and still working, we
do offset some of your ben-
efit amount after you have
met the earnings limit for
that year. For people under
full retirement age in 2012,
the annual exempt amount is
$ 14,640, and if you do reach
that limit, we withhold $ 1
for every $2 above that limit
from your monthly benefit
amount. For people who re-
tired early, continue working
and will obtain full retire-
ment age in 2012, the annual
exempt amount is $38,880
and we will withhold $ 1 for
every $3 you earn over the
limit from your monthly ben-
efits.
You can learn more about
the earnings test and how
benefits can be subject to re-
duction by visiting our web-
site, www.socialsecurity.gov
and searching on the topic
“earnings test.”
Find out what your full
retirement age is at our Re-
tirement Age page, www.so-
cialsecurity.gov/pubs/agein-
crease.htm
You also may want to read
our publication, “How Work
Affects Your Benefits.” It is
available at www.socialsecu-
rity.gov/pubs/ 10069.html.
Bryan Trevino is a 1996
graduate of Keene High
School and a 2000 graduate
of Texas State University.
He is a public affairs spe-
cialist for the Social Security
Administration. He can be
reached at 866-681-1405 ext.
19388.
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Gnadt, Paul. Keene Star (Keene, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 16, 2012, newspaper, February 16, 2012; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth804111/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.