The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 217, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 11, 1991 Page: 4 of 20
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THE BAYTOWN SUN
Thursday, July 11, 1991
Opinion
Sun editorial
Cleanup tools
All in just one day’s time
to be close by
rflhe U.S. Coast Guard has announced plans to locate
equipment to combat oil spills in 19 cities and, for-
JL tunately, one of those sites is close to Baytown.
Galveston will be one of the cities where this equip-
ment will be located.
Over the last two years, Baytown has been affected by
several major and minor oil spills.
The specialized equipment will be put in place at all 19
locations over the next two years.
It will include devices which skim oil from the surface
of the water and can be used by a wide variety of ships;
2,500 feet of oil containment bqom; and devices which
can be quickly transported to oil spill sites and be used to
contain recovered oil.
A good deal of the credit for the decision to locate oil
spill cleanup equipment in Galveston should go to U.S.
Rep. Jack Fields.
Fields inserted language in the Oil Pollution Act of
1990, establishing criteria designed to have this equip-
ment placed where it is needed the most.
During the spring semester at Lee Col-
lege, biology professor John McMillon gave
his students a handout of environmental sta-
tistics for leisure reading.
This handout, which had been stashed in
my folder the entire semester, listed several
interesting figures calculated by Tom Parker
of Ithaca, N.Y. Parker put his findings about
Americans into a book, “In One Day.”
According to Parker, in one day, Ameri-
cans throw out 200,000 tons of edible food..
Each day, Americans consume 75 acres of
pizza. Imagine 13 pizzas the size of the Ro-
man Colosseum.
Americans produce 110,000 tons of salt.
That much salt would fill a shaker 214 feet
tall and 138 feet in diameter.
In one day, Americans give birth to
10,000 new Americans.
Americans driving on unpaved roads stir
up 81,000 tons of dust. That’s enough to
cover a football field — the “Dust Bowl” —
to a depth of 48 feet.
Dorothy
Syzdek
Americans produce 33 million pounds of
aluminum, enough to make 132 square miles
of aluminum foil. Also, Americans recycle
78 million aluminum cans every day which
is enough to make 18 Boeing 747 jetliners.
Americans use 6.8 billion gallons of water
to flush their toilets. It would take one gigan-
tic toilet, a half mile high (twice the height of
fie World Trade Center) to produce that
much water with one flush. The Rose Bowl
could fit inside of it.
Public sewers in this country drain off
enough organic waste to make 3,000 tons of
nitrogen plant food. That’s equal to 54 mil-
lion pounds of fertilizer.
Americans manufacture enough artificial
Christmas trees in one day to reforest eight
acres of land.
Americans throw out 150,000 tons of
boxes, bags and wrappers. It would take
10,000 tractor-trailer trucks to haul that
much junk to the dump.
Still, some people avoid dumps altogether.
Every day, they sprinkle a million bushels of
litter out the windows of their cars and
tmcks.
From personal experience, I throw out a
bag of trash, every two days (most of that
being old newspapers), collect one empty
soft drink can every two weeks (because I
prefer water) and could live on a large pizza
for a week.
Dorothy Syzdek is a reporter for The Bay-
town Sun.
Is Laos holding U.S. POWs?
Berry's world
"WOW! This guy assumed responsibility for
HIS OWN ACTIONS."
From Sun files
1951: Anna Vann
REL drum major
WASHINGTON — Dennis Daily of
Hubert, N.C., took, his ministerial credentials
to Laos recently and made an interesting of-
fer —: $1 million in development aid to the
Lao government in trade for a small favor.
As soon as the government found out what
the favor was, “The next day, members of
the Lao secret police were at my doorstep
interrogating me,” Daily told us.
What Daily wanted for his $1 million was
the-.return of a single live prisoner of war
from the Vietnam War. He wasn’t promising
money only to the government. He also of-
fered. $100,000 to anyone who turned a live
POW over to a Lao Buddhist monastery, and
another $100,000 to the monastery that took
care of the prisoner.
So far, no one has taken him up on the
offer, bdt his trip to Laos was an eye-opener
anyway. He said he got no help from the Lao
government and was stonewalled by the U.S.
Embassy.
Daily is a minister in paperwork only. A
longtime advocate for POWs and MIAs, he
started a church and obtained some creden-
tials so he would have an entree into Laos,
The reward money was raised among other
TOW advocacy groups. “We felt the reli-
gious route was the only way to go,” Daily
said. "Government efforts have produced
nothing.” * -
The U.S. military has known since the end
of the war that Laos did not return the pris-
oners it claimed it had then. More than 500
American servicemen are listed as missing
in Laos. The Lao and U.S. governments
have made some token attempts to excavate"
old airplane crash sites. But that cooperation
has not come without a price.
The Lao government charges the Ameri-
can taxpayers a fortune to sift through those
crash sites. One government investigator
gon has found merit in none of them. In fact,
the Senate investigators concluded that the
Pentagon has made it a practice of debunk-
ing all sighting reports and manipulating
information.
Jack
Anderson
told our associate Melinda Maas that the
costs run as high as $1 million per site. One
bill we saw showed that the Lao government
charged the United States $190,547 just to
rent a helicopter for a mission to one site.
Of the 253 crash sites known to exist in
Laos, only T 3 have been excavated and 37
bodies of missing Americans have been ac-
counted for in the process. That isn’t much
to show for two decides of work and untold
millions of dollars.
It is small wonder then that there are peo-
ple who don’t trust the American govern-
ment to do the job right, and who attempt to
do it themselves,.Daily found that it is next
to impossible for an American to visit the
Lao countryside uninvited.'To^travel just one
hour outside Vientiane requires the permis-
sion of the government and the company of
a guide? There are some 60 crash sites in
northern Laos, but the northern provinces
along the Chinese border are closed to
outsiders.
Since 1973, the Pentagon has insisted that
there is no evidence that any POWs are alive
in all of Indochina, but a recent investigation
by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
shows that the Pentagon’s conclusion is built
on sand. There have been 1,400 reports of
sightings of live American servicemen in
Southeast Asia since the war, but the Penta-
The man who, until last month, ran the
Pentagon’s Special Office for POWS and
MIAs, did nothing to boost the government’s
case. Army Col. Millard A. PgSk resigned
that post saying the office engaged in “dam-
age limitation,” and “busy work.” He said,
“Rarely has there been any. effective, active
follow-through on any of the sightings. . . .
I feel strongly that this issue is being mani-
pulated and controlled at a higher level, not
with the goal of resolving it, but more to
obfuscate the question of live prisoners,, and
give the illusion of progress through
hyperactivity.”
MINI-EDITORIAL — A recent study by the
Kettering Foundation found that Americans
think their own democratic policy process
has been taken out of their hand.s. The most
disturbing finding was that people feel like .
the media is part of the problem because it
has become a member of the inner circle —
out of touch with middle America, dishing
out only trivial coverage of political jssues.
The people don’t own the media as they own
their government, but that does not mean
Americans are helpless to shape the nature
of political coverage in their communities.
Newspapers and broadcast stations are bu-
sinesses, and when they hear from enough of
their customers, they make changes. It is not
too late to shape the coverage of the 1992
presidential election by betting your local
media know what you expect.
United Feature Syndicate.
From The Baytown Sun files, this is the way it was:
In 1941
Stella Amanda Smith and her son, Clarence Smith, both of Cedar
Bayou, are killed in a car wreck near Victoria.
Lt. Harry Bolster, who is leaving today for Cochrane Field, Ga., is
.honored at a dinner in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bryant.
In response to a housing shortage, Goose Creek Chamber of Com-
merce seeks a list, of rooms to he rented._____—--
In 1951
The 195T-52 twirlers in the Robert E. Lee Band will be intro-
duced in a band concert tomorrow night on the REL campus. Anna
Vann is drum major. Twirlers are Mary Frances Bass, Pat Nichol-
son, Darlene Hillin and Sherrill Carnes.
Dr. and Mis. Jesse Kiricpatrick honor their son, William Charles,
on his seventh birthday with a party at their home on Crystal Bay.
In 1971
Jo A. Graves, process superintendent at Humble’s Baytown Re-
finery, is appointed to be fuel products planning and technical mana-
ger at Humble’s corporate offices in Houston, effective Aug. 1. Re-
finery manager E.T. DiCorcia says Graves will be succeeded by
John W. Alliston.
Kenneth Smith of 4208 Cedar Bayou-Crosby Road, fights a run-
ning battle to get Harris County to maintain drainage in a deep gully.
Boy Scouts Matthew Martin, Bill Commer, Tommy Turpin and
Don Lovering will attend the World Jamboree in Japan.
Thirty-nine adults and young people from Second Baptist Church
will leave next week for a 12-day mission trip to Mesa, Ariz., said
Sam Cotter, music and youth director.
The REL class of 1961 will have a reunion July 17. Reservations
are being taken by Jimmy Nelson and Bryan Stratton.
READERS’ VIEWS
Today in history
Deputy, sheriffs department lauded
On Monday, July 1. 1991, between the hours of 4 and 8p,m„ our
home was burglarized. My wife and I were gone at the time and
upon returning and discovering the burglary, we called the Cham-
bers County Sheriffs Department. The dispatcher said an investiga-
tor would be sent immediately and it vseems that in less than five
minutes he arrived at our home.
Deputy Roy Brooks conducted what I consider a very thorough,,
courteous and professional investigation. Luckily, I had serial num-
bers of some-items,, that were stolen. He put these numbers on the
computers at approximately 9 p.m. and completed his investigation.
At 11 p.m. he called back and said the thieves had been apprehended
in Giddings and were arrested with all of our missing items in their
possession. ea ■
Our thanks to Deputy Brooks and the Chambers County Sheriff’s
Department for a job well done.
Leo and Alma Land
Mont Belvieu
Alexander Hamilton
fatally shot in 1804
PRESS COMMENTARY
Cfje jSaptoton S>uit
Leon Brown....
Fred Hartman.
Wanda Orton.
Bruce Guynn..
Russell Maroney..
Debbie Kimmey...
........................................................Editor and publisher
............................ .....Editor and publisher, 1950-1974
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
................................................................Managing editor
....................Associate managing Editor
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT -------------
Gary Dobbs.
CIRCULATION
..Advertising manager
.. .Classified manager
Gary Guinn.
Lynne Morris.
PRODUCTION
......General manager
Circulation manager
...........Production manager
. Composing room foreman
I Baytown Sun (USPS 046-180) a entered at second daae matter a ttie Baytown. Texas Poet
77522 under thrAcf dl Congress ol March 3,1879. Published afternoons, Monday through Friday
Sundays at 1301 Memorial Drive In Baytown. Texas 77520. Suggested Subscription Rates: By
and Sundays at 1301 Memorial Drive In Baytown. Texas 77520. Suggested Subscription Rates: By
carrier. $6.00 per month. $72.00 per year; single copy price, 25 exaru Daily. 75 cents Sunday. Mall rales
on request. Represented nationally by Coastal Publicaliont. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
THE BAYTOWN SUN. P.O. Box 90, 8aytown. Tx. 77522.
MEMBER Of THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
the Associated Press is entitled exclusively » die use lor replication to any news dispatches credited to
It or not otherwise In me paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Rights pi
republication of all olher manor herein are abo reserved. The Baytown Sun retains nationally known
syndicates whose writers' bylined stories are uted throughput the newspaper. There ate tlmee when theee
artldee do not reded The Sun's viewpoint.
LETTER POLICY
Only signed letters, will be considered tor publication. The Sun reserves tie right to condense tetters.
Waco Herald-Tribune on strong governor:
Gov. Ann Richards listened to the voters during her campaign and
is prepared to pass the message along to lawmakers during the spe-
cial session — first, eliminate government waste and duplication.
Gov. Richards heard right. Texas voters want to make sure their
government is trimmed to its optimum level of efficiency. ,
“They (Texas voters) believe that there is too much fat in govern-
ment, that government needs to be cut,” Richards said when she
officially set a special legislative session on the budget for July 15.
She said lawmakers will first consider spending cuts and agency
consolidations.
The Legislature will be guided by Comptroller John Sharp’s audit
of Texas government that showed how $5.2 billion could be saved
or raised over the next two years primarily by cutting out fat and
duplication and consolidating services. ...
Along those lines, Richards also should be supported in her at-
tempt to seek the power to hire and fire heads of major agencies. She
wants more direct and immediate control of agencies to make them
more responsive to the will of the public.
The idea of a weak governor has far outlived its original purpose
— „to foil carpetbagging governors from wielding too much influ-
ence. Richards’ plan would not affect rate-making bodies such as the
Public Utility Commission or the State Board of Insurance. The
governor needs the authority-to hire agency heads with the advice
and consent of the Senate in line with a typical corporate structure.
BIBLE VERSE
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled,”
Matthew 5:6
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On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded
foimer Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel near
Wechawken, N.J.
In 1533, Pope Gement VII excommunicated England’s King I
Henry VIII.
In 1767, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United
States, was bom in Braintree, Mass.
In 1798, the U,S. Marine Corps was created by an act of
Congress.
In 1864, Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an
abortive invasion of Washington D.C., turning back the next day.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief
executive to travel through the Panama Canal, aboard the cruiser
“Houston.”
In 1955, the new U.S. Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lo-
wry Air Base in Colorado.
In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee released volumes of evi-
dence it had gathered in its Wauergate inquiry.
In 1977, the Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony.
In 1978, 216 people were killed when a tanker truck overfilled
with propylene gas exploded on a coastal highway south "of Tarra-
gona, Spain, setting off a fireball.
In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a specta-
cular return to Earth, burning up in the Atmosphere and showering
debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
In 1980, American hostage Richard I. Queen, freed by Iran after
eight months of captivity because of poor health, left Tehran for
Switzerland. ‘
In 1985, Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first
pitcher in major league baseball to strike out 4,000 batters as he
fanned Danny Heep of the New York Mets.
In 1989, Laurence Olivier, considered by many the finest English-
speaking actor of his generation, died at age 82.
Ten years ago: Urban violence involving youths that had plagued
Britain for a week flared anew as riots broke out again in London
and eight provincial cities.
Five years ago: An Air Force plane crashed in Sequoia National
Forest in California. Officials revealed little, but experts speculated
the plane was a radar-evading stealth fighter, a plane whose exis-
tence had yet to be officially confirmed.
One year ago: Leaders of the so-called “Group of Seven” nations
concluded their summit in Houston by encouraging Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev to enact icfonns in return for Western aid
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Tab Hunter is 60. Singer Bonnie Pointer f
is 40. Boxer Leon Spinks is 38.
Thought for Today: “Education is the ability to listen to almost
anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” —
Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963).
Mon.
Sundi
7
4
i
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Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 217, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 11, 1991, newspaper, July 11, 1991; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052378/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.