The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 189, Ed. 1 Friday, June 2, 2000 Page: 4 of 16
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4A The Baytown Sun
Friday, June 2,2000
Opinion
tElju llmtoton &un
Founded 1922
Wanda Gamer Cash, Editor and Publisher I Nyree Doucette, Asst. Managing Editor-News
Taylor B. Camp, Managing Editor | Richard Nelson, Asst. Managing Editor-Sports
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
, 1950-1974
Boaters, swimmers must
make safety a priority
T™1 our recent drownings in the
H area have made all too clear
X the need for safe summer fun
on our beaches and in our water-
ways and pools.
Two Crosby boys died last week
and a 24-year-old Baytown man and
a 55-year-old Moss Bluff man
drowned this week in separate acci-
dents. Tragedies such as these serve
as painful reminders that a playful
summer swim or relaxing day on the
water can turn dangerous or devas-
tating in short order.
Safety precautions, including
swimming lessons, go a long way to
minimizing risk and avoiding dan-
gerous situations.
Common sense should also play
a part — if it seems risky, it proba-
bly is.
For children and adults, the Amer-
ican Red Cross and the Baytown
Family YMCA offer swimming
lessons. The Red Cross provides l
four sessions, with the first one
beginning Monday.
Registration takes place daily
from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Red
Cross, 5309 Decker Drive.
One session consists of eight
lessons to be held'at the Gray Sports
Complex Pool. Call the Red Cross
at (281) 424-1300.
At the YMCA, classes start every
two weeks, with times available
mornings, evenings and Saturdays
for children and adults. It is located
at 201 Wye Drive in Baytown. Call
(281)427-1797.
Above all, be safe when you or
your friends and family take to the
water. Exercise common sense.
For example, never swim alone,
check conditions before you enter
the water, stay within designated
swimming areas and don’t dive into
shallow water.
Make summer and the outdoors
safe and enjoyable — be smart
when you are in or on the water.
Your life may depend on it.
This editorial was written by Tay-
lor B. Camp, managing editor of
The Baytown Sun, on behalf of the
newspapers editorial board.
More people in high-earning
sector voting as moderates
• | ritain’s scholarly Economist wealthiest congressional districts in
i-C magazine is excellent at ana- -1996.
X-Xlyzing America’s social, - Why the shift? Partly because
political and financial trends. The Clinton moved the Democratic
current issue says: Party toward the center, making it
utioi
the United States now boasts 300 * infiltration of the GOP by intolerant
billionaires and 5 million million- fundamentalists,
aires, with Silicon Valley adding 64 A Pew Research Center survey
new millionaires every day. ..... found, surprisingly, that 61 percent
“Nine million Americans have of moderate Republicans agreed
household incomes above $ 100,000 with the statement that “government
a year, up from just 2 million in often does a better job than people
1982. If Great Britain was the first, give it credit for”—and an amazing
country to produce a mass middle 91 percent agreed that “this country
class, ftie United States is the first should do whatever it takes to pro-
country to produce a mass upper tect the environment.” They’re on
class ” the same wavelength as Etemocrats.
However, the London journal says The party that holds the center
this new wealthy American herd usually wins. If the party ofJeffer-
may not be as uniformly Republican son, Jackson, Roosevelt and
as the U.S. rich were in the past. Kennedy draws a bigger share of the
In America’s 100 richest towns, high-earning class, it will solidify its
the Democratic share of the vote role at the center,
rose from 25 percent in 1980 to 41 This editorial originally ran in the
percent in 1996, it notes. Democrat Charleston Gazette of Charleston,
Bill Clinton carried 13 of the 17 W Va„ on May 30.
£TtA ®zoo° F0Rrw<6?itt $TAR-m£<S!av/-
HUL^
‘$MtPNY ALU OF YOURS WILL BE THIS"
Commentary
Women legislators’ numbers slowly growing
Shooting in Florida by teen-ager
should get Congress’ attention
TK Tathaniel Brazill killed a
l^kl teacher in Florida on May
JL 126, and that is an unspeak-
able tragedy. In the same act, the 13-
year-old wounded some popular,
post-Columbine assumptions. Of
these we must speak:
School “insiders,” popular, partici-
pative kids, pose no threat of vio-
lence. Nathaniel played the flute,
was to be a student mediator next
.year, had perfect attendance, was
well-liked.
Academic excellence is a shield.
The boy was an honor roll student.
Church-going is the secret.
, Nathaniel and his family were plan-
ning to be in church the night he
ended up in jail.
The key is to identify troubled kids
early and intervene. Nobody—not
friends nor neighbors nor teachers
— suspected there was anything
wrong with this child.
We also need to talk about the gun
Nathaniel apparently took from a
drawer in his grandfather’s house
and fired at Barry Grunow.
We need to talk about the gun,
because guns are the common ele-
ment in the schoolhouse blasts of the
last four years and too many of them
belonged to adults who did too little
to keep them away from children.
This latest shooting should get Con-
gress’attention.
Trigger locks should be mandatory.
Congress should fund President
Clinton’s request for research dol-
lars to, produce reliable weapons
only ftre owner can fire. Had either
of these been operative here, a lot of
people might have been spared a lot
of grief.
This, editorial originally ran in
the Journal Star of Peoria, III, on
May 31.
New state legislator Lois W. Kolkhorst
won’t mind the occasional invitation to a
round of golf when she arrives in January.
But male lobbyists, watch out. Kolkhorst,
35, attended Texas Christian University on
a golf scholarship.
“It kind of helps when you can go out
and play golf with the men and tee up from
their; tees “ Kolkhorst said' “And beat 'em.”
That’s sort’ of what she did this spring, "
when she played off her middle initial, like
another politician known as Dubbya,and
upset freshman incumbent Republican
Charles Jones of College Station. She out-
worked him, and it showecfrShe got 55.3
percent in the March 14 Republican pri-
mary. *
And since she has no Democratic oppo-
nent in November, Kolkhorst already is
working on contacts in Austin leading up to
the legislative session.
She was among the attendees at a retreat
for Republican legislators in early May on
the outskirts of the capital city.
Kolkhorst likely will join 32 other
women who will be sworn into the Texas
Legislature next January.
Unless something unforeseen happens,
there will be 29 women’ in the House and
four in the Senate when the session opens
Jan. 9. That total is up one from the 29
House members and three senators in 1999.
But it won’t be the hipest total in history.
In 1997 and 1995, there also were 33
women on opening day.
Also joining Kolkhorst for her first leg-
islative session as a member will be Myra
Crownover, R-Denton. Crownover was
sworn in May 10, after being unopposed in
a May 6 special election to succeed her late
husband, Ronny. He died March 26 of
leukemia.
Members of the Republican executive
- -^Daiv :-2«v
McNeely *
also won the Democratic primary this year
and has no opposition in November.
Republican Sue Palmer of Fort Worth did
not seek re-election. Her replacement most
likely will be Republican Charlie Geren,
though Democrat Nathan Schattman also is
running. ’ ’.
Democrat Sherri Greenberg of Austin is
retiring, but her replacement will be a
woman: either Republican Jill Warren or
Democrat Ann Kitchen. —
And so on. Even though the number of
women in the Legislature is up consider-
committee in the district on May 23 also
chose Myra Crownover to succeed her hus-
band on the November ballot. Since he had
drawn no-Democratic opponent, she will be ably from 1967, when there were no
unopposed:
A third woman almost certain to join
their ranks is Elizabeth Ames Jones Of San
Antonio. She easily unseated incumbent
women in the House and just oije in the
Senate, women haven’t exactly taken over
the place.
The 33 will represent just 18.2 percent of
seating lobby clients before the San Anto- the 31 senators.
mio city council.
• While Jones is considered a shoo-in in
the heavily Republican district, she must
get past Democrat Michael G. Zapper and
Libertarian J. (Jay) Moore.
Two women who were present for the
1999 swearing-in won’t return next year—
and they’ll be replaced by men.
One of those women Irak moved to the
Texas is slightly below the national aver-
age for women in legislatures.
In 1999, according^) the Center for the
American Woman and Politics, the average
number of women in all 50 states ’ legisla-
tures was 22 percent. Alabama was lowest
with 8 percent. Washington state was high-
est with 41 percent.
And one Democrat noted it’s not exactly
Senate — Democrat Leticia Van de Putte of a feminist takeover, either, on matters like
San Antonio. abortion, since most Republican legislators
She won a special election late in 1999 to ®e against it.
replace the late Sen. Greg Luna, who
resigned last year and died Nov. 6 of com-
plications from diabetes.
Van de Putte was sworn in Nov. 10. She
also won the primary election this year and
will have no opposition in November in the
heavily Democratic district.
Van de Putte’s replacement is Mike Vil-
lareal, who was sworn in Feb. 18 after win-
ning a special election Feb. 15, Villareal
In 1999, there were 12 Republican
women in the House compared to 17
Democrats. In 2001, there will be 14
Republicans and 15 Democrats.
In the Senate, there were two Republi-
cans and one Democrat in 1999.
In 2001, there will be two of each party.
Dave McNeely writes for The Austin
American-Statesman: He can be contacted
atdmcneely@statesman.com.
Letters
Rumor about Brigadiers could have been defused
I purchase The Baytown Sun in order to'
keep informed on what is happening in our
area. I was surprised by the letter the Sun
printed May 26 on the end of the Lee
Brigadiers.
Where, other than her niece did this fact
(?) come from?
Should it not be the responsibility of
The Sun to check on this and see if there is
any basis to the letter and print a story on
what may or may not be going on with the
Brig? This letter did nothing but stir gos-
sip over a holiday weekend, most saying
how David Hall and the Lee Band wanted
the Brig disbanded.
When I called Lee High School Tuesday
morning I was told they did not know why
the rumor was going around, but that the *
Brig director said there was still a Brig.
I hope by now there is a stor/being
done on this. The Brig does need some-
thing done to get back some pride. I was
very shocked at wha{ I savfaon the field1
this past fall. My opinion is they should not
have marched in the game I saw.
What can we do, as a community andfor-
mer Brigadiers, to get this program in a bet-
ter standing, so that the girls want to be the
best? I believe that if this was placed in an
open forum for discussion, the Brig and
Lee High School would find lots of sup-
port to make a better program,
UsaDunn
Century 21 did a fine job
Highlands
Patriotism appreciated; I would like to per-
sonally thank Century 21 Graystone Realty for
their time spent recognizing Memorial Day.
The American flags placed in our yards
was a great way to remember our veterans It
was a very invigorating sight to see all the
flags in our neighborhoods.
I personally stopped by their office to thank
them for the efforts to recognize our veterans
of war. I hope that others will also do the
same by calling their office. As family of a
veteran of war, I really think we all should
remember America is still the greatest place
in the world to live. Thank you, Century 21.
Brett Hilsmeier
Baytown
About Us
Our editorial board
The Baytown Sun’s editorial board meets
weekly at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Individuals are
encouraged to visit the editorial board to discuss
issues affecting the community. To make an
appointment, contact Managing Editor Taytor B.
Camp, (281) 422-8302. Members of the editorial
board include: Wanda Gamer Cash, editor and
publisher; Taylor B. Camp, managing editor; Eric
Bauer, marketing director; Dee Anne Robbins, -
business manager; Nyree Doucette, assistant
managing editor-news; and Richard Nelson,
assistant managing editor-sports. • '
Let us hear from you
The Baytown Sun welcomes letters of up to
300 words and guest columns of up to 500
words on any item of public interest. We publish
only original material addressed to The Baytown
Sun bearing the writer’s signature.
An address and phone number not for publica-
tion should be included.
The Sun reserves the right to refuse to publish
any submission. Please send signed letters to:
Wanda Gamer Cash or Taylor B. Camp, The Bay-
town Sun, P.O.Box 90, Baytown, TX 77522. Or,
fax them to: (281) 427-1880.
Or, email us at: sunnews@baytownsun.com.
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 189, Ed. 1 Friday, June 2, 2000, newspaper, June 2, 2000; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1019357/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.