The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 225, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Page: 4 of 12
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Wbt jfeptoton Ann
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
HTtje fiiptotoii Sun
Founded 1922
Wanda Gamer Cash. j David Bloom.
Editor and Publisher | Managing Editor
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
Opinion
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.
National
Night Out
Aug. 2 event promotes neighborhood
Spirit,policecommunity partnership
Te urge residents in Baytown and
Harris County to step out into the
• ■ ▼ T street and meet your neighbors on
.-’Tuesday, Aug. 2, for National Night Out, a
. coast-to-coast program in the United States
■ in which neighborhoods organize block par-
ties, visit with police and city officials, and
"hold parades, contest and games.
"* National Night Out is designed to heighten
„ crime and drug prevention awareness.
, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-
, community partnership and send a message
i to criminals letting them know that neighbor-
. .'hoods are organized and fighting back.
We all lament the fact that children cannot
play in the streets like they could in the good
‘ ole days. We don’t dare let them-go trick-or-
- treating without us. But we often don’t both-
- er to wonder why this is: Perhaps if we knew
each other a little bit better, we would all feel
' ajittle safer.
; But whether you’ve been renting your
.. apartment for just a few months, or have
owned your home for 20 years, if you don’t
fake time to get to know your neighbors, we
' think you’re missing out. And our city suf-
‘ fefs for it.
National Night Out is an important eVent
' for both the police department and the
community.
*: Plans are currently under way for the 2005
- National Night Out on Aug. 2. The Baytown
* Police Community Service Bureau is cur-
ifrently accepting applications for those indi-
“viduals or groups wishing to host block
’'■'parties.
Neighborhoods often host a variety of spe-
cial events such as block parties, cookouts
“ and visits from police and fire officials.
,Y It isn’t too late to sign your neighborhood
, up, but please do so by Friday.
For more information or to request an
• application, contact the Baytown Police
Community Service Bureau at 281 -422-5152
' or 281420-6660.
In Harris County, call Deputy Lennon
“Evans at 713-759-9454.
Todays editorial was written by David
Bloom, managing editor of The Baytown Sun.
on behalf of the newspapers editorial board.
.THE BANNER SAYS IT ALL: Holding-it up, from left,
are Baytown Police Chief Byron Jones, Baytown Fire
Battalion Chief Tim Rogers and Baytown Mayor Calvin
Mundinger.
ABOUT US
' Our editorial board
Tbe 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 David Bloom by calling
281422-8302.
Members of the editorial board include: Wanda Garner
Gash, editor and publisher; David Bloom, managing editor;
Jim Finley, retired Sun managing editor; and Jane Howard
Lge, retired Sun reporter.
List us hear from you
•pie Baytown Sun welcomes letters of up to 300 words
* afid guest columns of up to 500 words on any item of public
1 interest. Guest columns should include a photograph of the
X writer. We publish only original material addressed to The
‘ Baytown Sun bearing the writer's signature. An address and
phone number not for publication should be included. We
l ask that submissions be limited to one per month, All letters
r and guest columns are subject to editing. The Sun reserves
the right to refuse to publish any submission. »
; Please send signed letters to: Wanda Garner Cash Or
* David Bloom. The Baytown Sun, P.0. Box 90, Baytown,
‘ 77522. Or, fax them to: 281427-1880. Or send us an
c e-mail at sunnews@baytownsun.com.
Journalists are citizens, too
In an age of celebrity jour-
nalists, it’s hardly unusual to
see'our esteemed national press
corps display upside-down pri-
orities. Like the Hollywood
luminaries they resemble, some
turn into big crybabies whenev-
er their prerogatives are ques-
tioned. Even so, the recent cat-
erwauling on behalf of jailed
reporter Judith Miller has risen
to new heights of absurdity. To
hear the high panjandrums of
The New York/Washington
media tell it, we are not a
nation of laws but of editors.
Supposedly the sky will fall
should Miller, who wrote or co-
wrote virtually every one of the
Times’ stories on Iraq’s imagi-
nary weapons of mass destruc-
tion, testify about the White
House “outing” of covert CIA
operative Valerie Plame in an
effort to discredit her husband,
Ambassador Joe Wilson.
It was Wilson's July 6,2003;
New York Times op-ed article
which forced the White House
to admit that one of President
Bush’s key propaganda claims
about Saddam Hussein’s non-
existent nukes was known to be
false when he made it.
Although certain of Wilson’s
claims proved less than 100
percent accurate — the crudely
forged documents the White
House relied upon weren’t
exposed as such until after he’d
made his own report to the CIA
— it’s worth remembering that
President Bush’s statements
proved to be 100 percent false.
Back when the scandal
broke, the president vowed to .
get to the bottom of it. “If there
is a leak out of my administra-
tion,” Bush said. “I want to
know who it is. And if the per-
son has violated law. the person
will be taken care of.”
Asked pointedly if Karl
Rove, the White House aide
long famous for gutter tactics,
still had his confidence, Bush
reiterated that he expected any-
body in his administration with
knowledge of classified leaks
to come clean.
That didn’t happen. Instead,
Rove, now known to be a
source of journalists who have
given evidence in special coun-
sel Patrick Fitzgerald’s investi-
Gene
Lyons
gation, hid in plain sight for
two years while Time magazine
and The New York Times litigat-
ed the question of their
reporters’ obligation to testify
all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Meanwhile, White House
press secretary Scott McClellan
said rumors of Rove.’s involve-
ment were “totally ridiculous.”
Rove himself denied knowing
Valerie Plaines name, a cute
equivocation that’s completely
beside the point. It’s like trying
to beat a DWI charge by saying
you didn’t know gin contained
alcohol.
Courtesy of e-mails written
by Time’s Matt Cooper, it’s
known that Rove outed Plame
on “double super secret back-
ground.” Obtained by*
Newsweek, Cooper’s notes read
“KR said, Wilson’s wife, who
apparently works at the agency
on wmd (weapons of mass
destruction) issues” authorized
Wilson’s mission to Africa.
Rove also “implied strongly
there’s still plenty to implicate
iraqi interest in acquiring urani-
um fro(m) Niger.”
Only the claim about Plame’s
job turned out to be accurate.
Rove's lawyer says his client
didn’t know it was classified
information. If so, Rove’s
defense against a potential
treason charge would be
incompetence.
Back at the beginning, The
New York Times was breathing
smoke and fire, calling the
White House leak “an egre-
gious abuse of power” and
demanding an investigation.
Now that several courts have
deemed Judith Miller to be an
essential witness, the newspa-
per compares her civil disobe-
dience to everybody from the
Boston Tea Party patriots to
Martin Luther King Jr.
In a haughty tone familiar to
anybody who’s ever caught the
newspaper with its metaphori-
cal pants down, the editors
reminded the prosecutor that
they’re The New York Times,
and he’s not. “Mr. Fitzgerald’s
attempts to interfere with the
rights of a free press while
refusing to disclose his reasons
for doing so, when he can’t
even say whether a crime has
been committed, have exhibited
neither reverence nor cautious
circumspection.”
What rubbish. Reverence,
indeed; (To be fair, it’s an allu-
sion to James Madison, not a
demand to be worshiped.) In
making its argument, the Times
states it wouldn’t print informa-
tion that “would endanger lives
and national security.”
So here’s my question: In a
post-9/11 world, what informa-
tion could possibly be more
sensitive than the identity of a
covert agent charged with pre-
venting nuclear proliferation?
Answer: None.
Let’s put aside the fact that
Judith Miller has long been a
passionately outspoken ally of
Bush administration neo-con-
servatives who pushed for war
with Iraq. She gave paid public
speeches urging Saddam’s over-
throw. Many journalists have
asked why such a partisan was
given the Iraqi WMD assign-
ment to begin with. The
answer? Access, access and
access.
What everybody’s ignoring
here is that Fitzgerald already
knows Miller’s sources. That’s
not what he wants to ask her.
His prosecution brief urging
her incarceration stipulates that
“her putative source has been
identified and has waived con-
fidentiality”
Even editor Bill Keller has
conceded that there’s no imag-
inable journalist’s shield law
that would protect her. It’s
Miller’s patriotic duty to talk.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
columnist Gene Lyons is a
national magazine award win-
ner and co-author of "The
Hunting of the President "You
can e-mail Lyons at gene-
lyons@sbcglobal. net.
City water
tower
unsightly
Driving from West or South
over the Fred Hartman Bridge
on the loop, the first sign of
Baytown is the world’s dingiest
water tower.
For a city concerned with its
image, this is certainly not an
appealing first sight.
In keeping with current city
hall policies and procedures, I
suggest that the mayor and
council put their heads together
and seek out a planning group
in New Jersey or New York
somewhere and give them
$50,000 or $60,000 to study the
problem and develop a color
scheme that would highlight the
city’s public relations progress.
Considering the last PR
blowout, the “Longneck
Festival,” perhaps a nice shade
of fading green would do.
Bill Jones
Baytown
Shelter thanks
Sun for coverage
This letter is actually for
Maria Narciso, reporter for The
Baytown Sun. I want to thank
her for the wonderful article she
wrote about our new shelter
facility and the grant we have
received. She did a great job of
relaying the information I gave
her to the public! I also want to
thank you for all the great arti-
cles you have put in the paper
regarding our agericy. It takes
the input and help of the com-
munity to 1) let the community
know that we are here and what
services we have to offer, and 2)
let the community know about
new and exciting things that are
happening in our town! Thank
you, David Bloom and the The
Baytown Sun for all your sup-
port of our agency! Keep up the
great work you are doing.
Joyce Young, Executive Director
New Horizon Family Center
VFW Bingo Hall
thanks Baytown
VFW Post 912, their mem-
bers and their Bingo staff would
like to take this opportunity to
thank the readers of The
Baytown Sun, once again, for
voting VFW Bingo the favorite
Bingo Hall in the Baytown area.
Bill Martin, Post Commander
Baytown ’
ONLINE OPINIONS
The Sun's online forum,
Baytown Talk, has tons of
opinions from Sun readers.
See what they say, or put in
your two cents:
www.baytownsun.com
TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, July 20, the 201st
day of2005. There are 164 days left in the
year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 20,1969, Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
became the first men to walk on the moon
as they stepped out of their lunar module.
On tins date:
In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate
States began holding sessions in Richmond,
Va.
In 1871, British Columbia entered
Confederation as a Canadian province.
In 1881, Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull,
a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big
Horn, surrendered to federal troops.
In 1942, the first detachment of the
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later
known as WACs — began basic training at
Fort Des Moines, Iowa.
In 1944, an attempt by a group of
German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler
with a bomb failed as the explosion at
Hitler’s Rastenburg headquarters only
wounded the Nazi leader.
In 1944, President Roosevelt was nomi-
nated for an unprecedented fourth term of
office at the Democratic convention in
Chicago.
In 1976, America’s Viking One robot
spacecraft made a successful, first-ever
landing on Mars.
In 1977, a flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa,
killing 80 people and causing $350,million
worth of damage.
In 1999, after 38 years at the bottom of
the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom’s
Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was lifted
to the surface.
Ten years ago: Leaders of the University
of California voted to drop affirmative
action policies on admissions and hiring.
Baseball Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider and
Willie McCovey pleaded guilty in New
Yoik to tax evasion.
TODAY IN SUN HISTORY
In 1975, Gulf’s Cedar Bayou Olefins plant offi-
cials announced ethylene production would be
increased by 1.2 billion pounds a year.
In 1950, Baytown Women were reported to be
making a run on nylon stockings. Sales associates
said women were buying sometimes six pair at a
time.
In 1990, Goose Creek trustees offered the super-
intendent’s job to Harry Griffith, a 39-year-old
superintendent of the Pampa School District.
In 2000. the Goose Creek and Barbers Hill
. school districts received a share of a $ 120 million
state surplus. Goose Creek received about
$490,000.
In 2003, school administrators and the Goose
Creek Education Federation were at odds over dis-
cipline at Gentry Junior School. A survey conduct-
ed at Gentry by the federation showed that nearly
25 percent of teachers at Gentry claim administra-
tors aren t disciplining students, which they say
cuts into teaching time. But school administrators
said they had heard of .no discipline problems at
Gentry.
i
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 225, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 20, 2005, newspaper, July 20, 2005; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052037/m1/4/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.