The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 77, Ed. 1 Monday, February 11, 2002 Page: 4 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
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4A The Baytown Sun
Monday, February 11,2002
Opinion
TOje JBaptoton ^un
Founded 1922
Wanda Gamer Cash, Editor and Publisher
David Bloom, Managing Editor
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
Cheers and jeers
Cheers and Jeers is a collection
of quick hits of praise and com-
ments on local, state and nation-
al issues compiled by The Sun
editorial board.
Cheers
Henry Griffith is credited with
naming Mont Belvieu after settling
there in 1828. His original homesite
' is located at Joe Matthews Park, but
there isn’t any kind of indication
there, except a sign near his grave.
Thankfully, there are people like
David Griffith who spearheaded an
effort to honor his ancestor by gath-
■■ ering historical documentation and
collecting funds for a state historical
marker. Years went by and He still
hadn’t collected enough money. But,
he didn’t give up and he worked with
other relatives and individuals who
believed in his cause.
On March 16, there will be a dedi-
cation of the marker. It took a long
time to fruition, but residents and
visitors need to know about the his-
tory of Mont Belvieu ahd Henry
Griffith.
•••
The Anahuac City Council made
some reasonable and thoughtful
decisions regarding the mobile
home ordinance guidelines they
agreed upon at the last council
meeting. They have yet to vote on
the changes. If approved, the
changes would only affect new
homes brought into the city and not
existing homes.
Jeers
Usually when work is being done
on roads, it’s a good thing. New
speed limit signs were being
installed last Monday by the Texas
Department of Transportation, but
that was not one of those favorable
projects.
The drop in the speed limit from
70 mph to 50 mph in the Houston
area as ordered by the Texas
Transportation Commission after
requests from the Texas Natural
Resources Commission is not the
way to go to reduce smog in the
area. Some environmentalists also
disagree vvith TNRCC’s request.
There are better projects to spend
money and time on that will benefit
the area.
Border checkpoint security
ne part of an overall plan
■ I to prevent terrorists from
entering the country is to
check paperwork thoroughly at
entry points to the United States.
Incredibly, a recent federal
study indicates the U.S. immigra-
tion officials consistently — not
occasionally, but consistently *—
failed to check passport informa-
tion of foreign visitors with ter-
rorist watch lists.
Ignoring one of the simplest
and most basic security measures
could have tragic consequences.
There’s really no excuse for not
doing the cross-checking. It may
well be a bit more time-consum-
ing and labor-intensive than just
using random checks, but then so
is cleaning up the aftermath of a
terrorist attack.
Not diligently cross-checking
the passport information could
also mean the deaths of some or
hundreds or thousands of
Americans at the hands of terror-
ists who slipped past ho-hum
security at ports of entry.
Just because nothing more has
happened during the 4 1/2
months since Sept. 11 s terrorist-
wrought devastation doesn’t
mean that security should be
eased. The terrorist threat is still
real and only as far away as a slip
in security that will once more
allow America’s deadliest ene-
mies unfettered entry into the
country.
Protecting the country from ter-
rorists is a huge and daunting job.
A country founded on the
premise of freedom — and a
country where people enjoy so
many different types of freedom
— is naturally very difficult to
protect.
As we have seen, any cohesive
homeland-defense plan must
comprise many different facets,
as disparate as combat air patrols
and checking airline passengers’
shoes for explosive residue, and c
everything in between.
Terrorist watch lists contain
some of the most up-to-date
information available on terror-
ists. That information should not
be wasted. — El Paso Times
About Us
Our editorial board
The Baytown Sun's editorial board meets
weekly at 2 pm Wednesday. Individuals are
encouraged to visit the editorial board to dis-
cus^s issues affecting the community. To
make an appointment, contact Managing
Editor David Bloom, (281) 422-8302.
Members of the editorial board include:
Vtonda Garner Cash, editor and publisher;
David Bloom, managing editor; Meredith
Darnell, news editor; Eric Bauer, marketing
director; and Dee Anne Navarre, business
manager.
Let us hear from you
The Baytown Sun welcomes letters of up to
300 wads and guest columns of up to 500
wads on any item of public interest. Guest
columns should include a photograph of the
writer. Wfe publish only aiginal material
addressed to The Baytown Sun bearing the
writer’s signature. An address and phone num-
ber not fa publication should be included. We
ask that submissions be limited to one per
month. All letters and guest columns subject
to editing.
The Sun reserves the right to refuse to pub-
lish any submission.
Letters endasing a opposing political can-
didates a issues will not be published within
two days of an election, except in direct rebut-
tal to a letter previously published in The
Baytown Sun. Please send signed letters to:
Winda Garner Cash a David Bloom, The
Baytown Sun, P.0. Box 90> -Baytown, TX
77522.
Or, fax them to. (281) 427-1880. Or, email
us at: sunnews@baytownsun.com.
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Commentary
Ted Kennedy versus a free thinker
One of the presidents most
important and controversial nomi-
nees has yet to have a hearing
before the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions. He is Gerald Reynolds,
and the position is assistant secre-
tary of Education for Civil Rights.
There were heavy storm warnings
as soon as the nomination was
announced last June.
The committee chairman, Ted ,.
Kennedy, has “serious concerns”
about the nominee s qualifications,
and the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights — a coalition of sup-
porters of affirmative action as it is
presently practiced — vehemently
opposes Reynolds. Julian Bond
chairman of the NAACP, charges
Reynolds with being a “staunch
opponent of fairness programs.”
Mr. Reynolds, who is black, grew
up in the South Bronx and Queens,
the son of a retired New York City
police officer. He attended public
schools, graduated from New York’s
City University at York College, and
received his law degree at Boston
University. His 7-year-old daughter
attends public school, where his
wife is the president of the parent’s
association.
So far, there is nothing at all
incendiary in this resume, including
his work as a private litigator, and
in regulatory law for Kansas City
Power & Light Co. However, during
his term as president of the Center
for New Black Leadership in
Washington, D.C., Mr. Reynolds
committed the heresy of opposing
racial preferences in education.
Instead, he has redefined affirma-
tive action as “community-based
programs whose primary aims are
to replace self-defeating values with
improved test scores for students,
enhanced employment skills, and
economic development of urban
communities.”
The Office of Civil Rights in the
Nat
Hentoff
Department of Education deals with
affirmative action policies and pro-
grams as well as complaints of
racial and gender discrimination.
Reynolds is clearly against discrimi-
nation practices and, despite accusa-
tions to the contrary, intends to vig-
orously enforce Title IX of the
Education Amendment of 1972 pro-
hibiting sex discrimination in edu-
cation programs, including sports
that are funded by the federal gov-
ernment. “That,” he says, “is a
straight-out anti-discrimination
statute.”
So what is so troubling to his
accusers? In a long, bristling letter
to Sen. Kennedy on Reynolds, the
Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights states unequivocally that
Reynolds is vehemently opposed
“to all forms of affirmative action.”
As I’ve indicated, that depends on
your definition. In 1997, Reynolds
wrote that abolishing “racial prefer-
ences and set-asides will return us
to affirmative action as it was first
proposed in the late 1960s - aggres-
sive and affirmative outreach to
increase the participation of minori-
ties in education settings and the
workspaces.”
The Leadership Conference on n
Civil Rights accuses Reynolds of
denying that “racism is a barrier
preventing African Americans from
making progress.” But in his writ-
ings and public appearances, ,
Reynolds has — as Secretary of
Education Rod Paige assured Ted
Kennedy — “never denied —and
does not deny - that racism and dis-
criminatory practices do exist.” But
he also believes that collective
racial classifications can only be
used under “very restrictive circum-
stances,” where the remedy is nar-
rowly tailored.
In its letter to Sen. Kennedy, the
Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights ends its indictment of the
nominee by citing his “criticism of
Jesse Jftckson in particular.”
I ask the senators who will be
judging Gerald Reynolds if this
requirement of fealty to Jackson
reveals the extremes to which oppo-
nents of Reynolds will go to defend
racial preferences. Justice Lewis
Powell’s swing vote in Regents of
the University of California v. Blake
(1978) is continually used by advo-
cates of racial preferences because
Powell said that race can be a factor
- but not the primary factor - in col-
lege admissions. But in that very
decision, Powell also said that
nonetheless, there has to be strict
scrutiny when using race collective-
ly:
"The individual,” Justice Powell
wrote, “is entitled to judicial protec-
tion against classifications based on
his racial or ethnic background,
because such distinctions impinge
upon personal rights,” rather than
general extra protection for mem-
bership in particular groups. That
* means all individuals of all races.
When and if there is hearing, in
view of the likely party-line vote in
the committee Sen. Kennedy chairs,
Gerald Reynolds’ fate — as well as
a fair definition of affirmative
action — will depend on Sen. Jim
Jeffords of Vermont, who has stat-
ed that “a president is entitled to a
nominee of his or her own choos-
ing unless that person is unethical
or unqualified.” Gerald Reynolds
is neither, even if he does not gen-
uflect to Jesse Jackson.
Nat Hentoff is a nationally
renowned authority on the First
Amendment and the Bill of Rights.
Letters
Councilman takes offense to claims city is dishonest
I feel compelled to address the
recent letter written by my friend
and former council colleague, Victor
Almendarez.
It was my pleasure and privilege
to serve on city council with Mr.
Almendarez for the first year of my
two-year term. I found him to be an
excellent councilman who repre-
sented his district well. However, I
must take exception with some of
his unfair characterizations concern-
ing the ethics of city administration.
I serve as city council representa-
tive for District 5, and I would like to
let the people I serve know that dur-
ing the two years they have allowed
me to represent them, I have not
seen any evidence of misrepresenta-
tion or dishonesty from either the
city manager, the mayor or anyone
else in city administration. Quite the
contrary, I have found both our city
manager and our mayor to be highly
ethical, hard working and always
keeping the good of all of the citi-
zens at the forefront of everything
they do.
Ethics and honesty have always
been extremely important to m$, and
I take exception with any attempt to
broad brush this type of negative
dispersion on any of the city admin-
istration. In his (Almendarez) com-
ments concerning the recently
defeated CCPD, Mr. Almendarez
also accuses the city of having a rep-
utation of misusing funds, while in
the same letter concerning the
CCPD he stated "we accomplished
what we set out to accomplish” —
very contradictory.
All of this is leading up to one of
the most highly contested mayoral
races that we have had in several
years. We are fortunate to have con-
cerned and qualified individuals
who are stepping forth with a will-
ingness to offer their leadership abil-
ities to run our city.
I would hope that the candidates,
voters and special interest groups
would not stoop to the same level
that others did in the last elections.
Let’s do away with all of the negative
rhetoric, take an objective look at the
candidates ahd their experience,
look at their track records and pre-
sent the facts accurately. Let them
run a clean race and give the candi-
dates an opportunity to stand on
their own merits.
Ronnie Anderson
City Council Representative
Districts
Baytown
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 77, Ed. 1 Monday, February 11, 2002, newspaper, February 11, 2002; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1028706/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.