The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 170, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 14, 2000 Page: 1 of 32
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WEATHER
Mostly cloudy with a
20 percent chance of
rain. Highs in the 80s.
PAGE2A
LIVING
NATION
Serious fun
Behind the scenes
Students leam about being
An in-depth look at presidential
resourceful at life Safety Camp
hopefuls Bush, Gore
PAGE 1C
PAGES 4B, 5B
SPORTS
Rebels’ ran ends
Lee College tennis team
second in national tourney •’
PAGE IB
Me Paptoton Hmti
^ SINCE 1922
SUNDAY
May 14, 2000
Volume 78 No. 170
Baytown, Texas
www.haytownsun.com
‘It’s definitely a rewarding experience’
Special day
celebrates
mothers
h.
By JEFF RIGGS
Staff writer
Some people believe that being a
mother is the toughest job there is.
Even with the gifts and praises
given to mothers on Mother’s Day
today, some believe there never
can be enough gratitude given
mothers. >
Becky and Gene Muldrow of
Highlands are raising seven chil-
dren, and Becky Muldrow home-
schools all of them: Adam, 13;
Katie, 11; Stephen, 9; Melanie, 8;
Diana, S; Nathan, 3; and Julie, 1.
“Needless to say, mothering is a
priority with me,” Muldrow said.
“Sometimes the day goes by with-
out much fanfare, but it is definitely
a rewarding experience.”
Muldrow said itls the little things
the children do that make the long,
bumpy road worth the trip. Some-
times, some of the children will of-
fer to set die table, or do other duties
around the house. Then there are
the tender moments.
■ -“The kids do things for me all the
time,” she said. “My 13-year-old
will bring me a rose from die yard,
or something else will happen. They
make me feel like everyday is
Mother’s Day.”
She said the children are not
quite old enough to reward mom
on Mother’s Day to its fullest.
That is done on their behalf by
their father.
“Mothering is a privilege, and not
everybody gets to have that privi-
lege,” she said. “It’s an awesome,
awesome responsibility. By the time
you get good at it, it’s over with. I
feel a huge burden, a big responsi-
bility to make them become good
adults. But, it’s in God’s hands.”
Court County
can't regulate
site of landfill
Industrial dump would r
be near Spur 55, FM1405
Photo by Jeff Riggs
Norma Williams looks through photos of her two children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Muldrow said home-schooling all was bom. Then she gave up her one more,” she said. “I began to see
seven children brings her closer to business, and became a full-time that was His plan for us. I sure
her children, and them to each oth- mother. couldn’t do it on my own strength,
er. She ran a secretarial service out “We (the Muldrows) were through
of her home until her fourth child Mien we had two, and God gave us See MOMS on Page 7A
Vatican finally reveals ‘third secret’ of Fatima
By VICTOR LSMFSON
The Associated Press
FATIMA, Portugal — Ending an
enduring mystery, the Vatican dis-
closed the so-called third secret of
Fatima on Saturday, saying the secret
die Virgin May 4s said to have told,
two children more than 80 years ago
was a foretelling of the shooting of
Pope John Paul n.
Since 1917 — when two shepherd
children said the mother of Christ ap-
peared above an olive tree in Fatima
and told them three secrets — many
have speculated about the third.
The first two are said to have fore-
told the end of World War I and the
start of World War II, and the rise
Since 1917 —when two
shepherd children said the
mother of Christ appeared
above an olive tree in Fatima
and told them three secrets
— manybavespecuiated
about the third secret.
and fall of Soviet communism. Some
believed the third, unrevealed secret
was a doomsday prophecy foretelling
the end of die world.
But a top Vatican cardinal said oth-
erwise Saturday as the pope visited
Fatima to beatify the two shepherd
children from the story. Cardinal An-
gelo Sodano said the “interpreta-
tions” of the children spoke of a
“bishop clothed in white” who, while
making his way amid die corpses of
martyrs, “Ms to die ground, appar-
ently dead, under a burst of gunfire.”
The description recalled the 1981
assassination attempt against John
Paul, who was wounded when a
Tbrkish gunman opened fire in St.
Peter’s Square. The shooting came
on May 13 — the same day as the
first of the reported Fatima visions in
1917.
Sodano recalled that John Paul
has credited the Virgin of Fatima
with intervening and saving his life,
fie quoted the pope as saying a
“motherly hand” guided the bullet’s
path, enabling the “dying pope” to
halt “at the threshold of death.”
Many in the crowd of more than
600,000 people gathered for the be-
atification burst into applause after
Sodano, the Vatican’s secretary of
state, spoke. Lucia Dias, a 31-year-
otd lawyer, called it a “wonderful”
moment.
“He knew of die prophecy and he
survived it. Now he can die,” she
said.
Some in the crowd, however, ex-
pressed skepticism.
“What they said all happened in
die past,” said Julio Estela, 33, a Por-
tuguese car salesman. “This isn’t a
prediction. Itb disappointing, I think
therebmore.”
ByMABENGTSON
Staffwriter
West Chambers County may be
getting a landfill, after all.
Efforts of Chambers County offi-
cials to prevent an industrial landfill
from being located in West Chambers
County have been dealt a severe blow
by a ruling of the Texas 3rd Court of
Appeals.
The landfill would be located on
USX Realty property south of Spur
55 and east of FM 1405.
The appeals court effectively negat-
ed die validity of an ordinance passed
by the Chambers County commis-
sioners that would allow die comity to
designate the location of landfills.
Essentially, Chambers County
would not be allowed to regulate the
designation of the TSP Development
Ltd, landfill site because the ordi-
nance governing landfills was passed
by the county after TSP already had
applied for a permit, said Jim Allison,
the Austin attorney who represents
Chambers County.
Allison said die appeals court rul-
ing, which Judge Carroll Wilbom,
judge of the 253rd State District
Court in Anahuac, has stated he will
follow in entering judgment, was
made on two points of law. The first
is that the landfill site is within the
extra-territorial jurisdiction of Bay-
town; the second is that die plaintiff
is entided to proceed with the appli-
cation for a permit with the Texas
Natural Resource Conservation
Commission.
TSP Development Ltd., a company
whose principals include former
Texas Sen. Carl Parker of Port Arthur,
and Jack Rains, former Texas Secre-
tary of State and more recently direc-
tor of the Harris County Sports Au-
thority, sued Chambers County after
the ordinance was passed
Parker said, in response to
Wilbom Is letter of intent on the rul- 4
ing, that TSP is in the process of
preparing the order for Wilbom to
sign.
Convinced that TSP will be al-
lowed to construct the landfill with-
out approval of Chambers County,
Parker said, “If you start a permit ap-
plication, you can’t change die rules.
Itb not fair. You can’t hire investors to
a million-dollar project and then
change the rules.”
The case originally was heard by
Wilbom in Anahuac with Wilbom
ruling in favor of the county. The
Beach City will
continue its fight
BEACH CITY — The'
Beach City community, locat-
ed on the edge of Trinity Bay,'1
lies south of the proposed Id-"
cation for the landfill, a pro-
ject residents believe carries a
high environmental risk factor.'
Strong opposition to the
permitting of the industrial *
landfill for non-hazardous
waste has come from city offi- *
cials and from a citizens’-
group, Informed Citizens
United. Both plan to continue
opposing permit approval.
Chambers County Commis-
sioners passed an ordinance
prohibiting the landfill, a
move which stopped the Texas
Natural Resource Conserva-
tion Commission from review-
ing the permit application.
A recent ruling by the Texas
3rd Court of Appeals would
force the regulatory commis-
sion to resume reviewing the
application by TSP Develop-
ment Ltd: for the 800-acre
landfill project.
“We do plan to continue to
oppose this thing. We are go-
ing to need an enormous
amount of help,” said Mayor
Rusty Senac. “It appears we
have exhausted legal remedies.
See FIGHT on Page 7A
county based its case on a section of
the Texas Health and Safety Code,
said County Judge Jimmy Sylvia.
“We will be working on die appeal
option,” said Sylvia. “And, Chambers
County will continue to oppose the
permit” Opposition to the permit is
based on health concerns relating to
the potential for the pollution of
ground water and ar pollution emis-
sions, Sylvia said
The regulatory commission permit
application, if approved, would allow
TSP to deposit industrial waste to a
deplh of 30 feet to the height of a 15-
story building, and to emit 24.5 tdhs
of air pollutants per year. -7-
The environmental concerns
arise because Beach City residents
See RULING on Pagtf7A
INSIDE
Community —
Classifieds......
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.IE
Comics .........
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Opinion ........
.4A
Obituaries ......
.5A
Police Beat......
,6A
Sports ..........
.18
Television .......
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Business........
.38
Living...........
.1C
LOTTERY
Saturday drawings
Lotto: 12-34-33-25-29-24
Pick 3:3-2-9
After 102 years, momentum gaming for phone tax repeal
^ By CURT ANDERSON
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — On Mother’s
Day, traditionally one of the busiest
telephone calling days in America,
millions of dutiful sons and daugh-
ters will use the phone to wish mom
well. Each time, they will pay a tax
established in 1898 to finance the
Spanish-American War.
A century after that war’s end, mo-
mentum is gaining to repeal the 3
percent excise tax on telephone ser-
vice in an election-year Congress
The tax has been
repealed twice before, then
brought back when the
United States entered World
War I and during the
Depression.
searching for popular accomplish-
ments. The nearly $5 billion raised
annually now goes into the govern-
ment's general fund for any federal
expense.
Easy approval of the repeal is ex-
pected by both Republicans and De-
mocrats when the bill is taken up
this week by the House Ways and
Means Committee.
Several factors have combined to
set the stage for repeal, including
huge projected budget surpluses and
a Republican congressional leader-
ship bent on cutting taxes whenever
possible. Perhaps the most important
element is that the tax now is consid-
ered part of the “digital divide,” a
cost that hinders lower-income peo-
ple from gaining Intranet access.
“This is clearly a great target for
repeal,” said the main Republican
sponsor, Rep. Rob Portman of Ohio.
“If is really a tax on the Internet as
well.”
Originally imposed as a luxury tax
when there were only 1,376 tele-
phones in the United States, the tax
now is collected on the total bill of
an estimated 252 million business
and residential telephone lines, in-
cluding cellular phones and those
hooked up to fax machines and
computer modems. People and busi-
nesses with multiple phones often
pay the tax several times a month. ; .j
The tax has been repealed twice
before, then brought back when die
United States entered World War I
and during the Depression. It has
been raised, lowered, put on track for
a phaseout that was delayed numer-
ous times and, finally, made perma-
nent a decade ago.
“One thing about Washington is
that once a tax is on the books, it’s
hard to get rid of if” said Rep. Bill
Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the
See TAX on Page 8A
f
mm
I
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 170, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 14, 2000, newspaper, May 14, 2000; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1019240/m1/1/: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.