The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 310, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 4, 2003 Page: 4 of 16
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Congress j
establishmeniof religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thefcof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of fie press; or the right of the peo-
ple peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Govemme^ for a redress of grievances.
Opinions
®3>e SJaptoton g>un
Founded 1922
X Gamer Cash, Editor and Publisher
David Bloom, Managing Editor
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
What others say
Poverty in the U.S.:
The sharp jump in poverty
announced by the government last
Friday should come as no surprise
to anyone who has tracked the ail-
ing economy these last few
months....
What should be surprising, even
alarming, is the reaction of the
Bush administration, which seems
to range from indifference to petu-
lance. Just three weeks ago, Health
and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson announced
proudly that the number of people
receiving welfare benefits contin-
ued to fall last year. Does the
administration really believe that
when the number of people who
need public assistance goes up, the
number who actually receive it
should go down? ...
Cash welfare is only one example
of this administrations tin ear with
respect to economic hardship....
Americans have turned a skepti-
cal eye on anti-poverty policy ever
since President Ronald Reagan
famously announced, ’‘We declared
a war on poverty, and poverty
won.”
Well, poverty"did not win. The
number of poor Americans, espe-
cially the elderly and the young,
plummeted between 1960 and
1970, the years when Congress
created food stamps, Medicaid and
other food and housing programs.
When the U,S. economy is
strong, as it was during the 1990s,
it reinforces a fine set of American
virtues, including hard work and
self-reliance. When the economy is
weak, as it is today, it should
remind us why Americans created
programs to assist each other in the
first place,
— Star Tribune, Minneapolis
economy took a nose dive during
his term, whichit has. That’s
what’s happening here....
True, Gov. Davis has not been an
inspirational leader; he misread the
2001 energy crunch and is
obsessed with fund-raising. Of
course, the same could be said of
many other pols....
If the recall effort succeeds, the
chaos in Sacramento would nega-
tively impact California’s prospects
for economy recovery. Discontent
with the new governor would
prompt demands for another recall.
The Monterey (Calif.)
County Herald
Voting against the recall:
California s recall election ... is
happening because one wealthy
Southern Californian decided to
use some of his money to hire pro-
fessional signature gatherers, and,
aided by volunteers, they collected
sufficient signatures. And because
millions of Californians are unhap-
py about the economy but don’t
want more spending cuts or a tax
increase.....
Gray'Davis is only the fourth
Democrat to govern California in
the past 100 years. His election
broke 16 years of GOP rule.... "
Imagine the outcry if Hillary
Clinton set out to remove President
Bush from office because the
The leak of a CIA agent’s
name:
Revealing the name of a CIA
operative is a serious federal crime.
Whether one or more officials
within the White House committed
such an offense by leaking a CIA
agent’s name to the press is there-
fore a serious concern, So serious
that, despite the CIA’s recent letter
requesting a Justice Department
inquiry, this is a matter for a spe-
cial counsel to investigate.
What is known so far is this: At
least six journalists received calls
during July from administration
officials who identified the opera-
tive. She just happened to be the
wife of a former ambassador who
had publicly declared after a mis-
sion to Niger that there was no evi-
dence to support the claim that the
regime of Saddam Hussein had
tried to buy "yellowcake” uranium
ore for possible use-in a nuclear
weapon. His conclusion forced the
White House to retract the claim,
which President Bush had included
in his State of the Union address
last January. ...
According to The Washington
Post, the CIA asked the Justice
Department about a possible inves-
tigation soon after one column
appeared. Yet even as recently as
Sept. 16, when reporters ques-
tioned the White House about the
Column, there was no call by the
Bush administration for an inquiry,
only a summary denial that anyone
within the White House was autho-
rized to reveal an agent’s name.
This lax approach to what is on
its face a serious breach of the law
is the strongest reason for assign-
ing an independent counsel to
investigate — and to do it now
— Times Union, Albany. N. Y. •
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 David Bloom. 281422-8302.
Members of the editorial board include:
Wanda Garner Cash, editor and publisher:
David Bloom, managing editor: Joseph
Lohan. city editor: Dee Anne Navarre, busi-
ness manager Jim Finley, retired Surf man-
aging editor; and Jane Howard Lee, retired
Sun reporter.
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.
Guest columns should include a photograph
of the writer. We publish only original materi-
al addressedto The Baytown Sun bearing
the writer's signature. An address ,nd.
phone number not for publication should be
included. We ask that submissions be limit-
ed to one per month. All letters and guest
columns are subject to editing.
The Sun reserves the right to refuse to
publish any submission.
Letters endorsing or opposing political
candidates or issues will not be published
within two days of an election, except in
direct rebuttal to a letter previously pub-
lished in The Baytown Sun. Please send
signed letters to: Wanda Gamer Cash or
David Bloom, The Baytown Sun, P.O. Box
90. Baytown, TX,77522.
Or, fax them to: 281427-1880. Or, .
email us at: sunnews@baytownsun.com.
Guest column
■ 7T'
The optimism and blues of the black church
He had been the janitor of the
church. Then the pastor died. The
janitor offered to take over. He
was ordained aniWnstalled as the
new minister. 0.
In 30 years of attending church-
es of all faiths and denominations,
I have heard good sermons and
bad and everything in between.
But the ex-janitor of this black
church moved me as few preach-
ers have.
His prayers were humble but
very eloquent. “Father, let all who
are ill here go home feeling bet-
ter." There were prayers of thanks
to God “who rocked you into'
slumber last night and kept watch
over you till morning and woke
you up and gave you the strength
to come here."
In one particularly memorable
sermon I attended, the minister
spoke of David who slew the
giant Goliath with a small stone.
“No matter how small you are,
God is able," he said. How could
you say it better than that?
“Take Jesus along with you and
you will be all right." he said in
the course of the sermon. “If you
take him home with: you, he will
evert lie down with you.”
To those in trouble he said in
his vibrant, resonant voice, “If we
hold out till tomorrow — hold out
a little while longer — God will
deliver us all.
And all the people said, “Amen!
Amen'"
Some black pastors have college
degrees. Many don't. Some are ,
seminary graduates. Many have' .
nev er set foot in a seminary . But
what distinguishes them as a lot is
tlteir great gift for expression. This
George
Plagenz
and the fact that they face reality
with hope and zest. Or as one
black church leader told me,
“They mix optimism and the
blues" because “the blues affirm a
human reality."
If there are differences between
worship in white churches and
blagk churches, the main-differ-
ence may be this mixture of
enthusiasm and hope in the face
of sadness and despair.
Some black leaders attribute the
greater emotion in black worship
to the frustration blacks have
experienced throughout their- his-
tory. When we are frustrated —
blacks and whites alike — we get
emotional. It is when our private
world is sailing along on an even
keel that we grow passive and
even smug.
Unfortunately, there have been
fevv occasions in American history
lor blacks to become smug. This is
probably why the black churches
have retained their vitality.
The best-known religious con-
tribution of the blacks, in my
opinion, has been the spiritual.
This distinctive art form, however,
has been rejected by many of
today’s blacks. They speak dis-
paragingly of its other-worldly
emphasis as serving as a kind of
soporific, making for docility and
Submission.
But not all black leaders have
agreed. Dr. Howard Thurman, the
former chaplain at Boston
University, said the spiritual
served to “deepen the capacity of
endurance. What greater tribute
could be paid to religious faith
than this: It taught a people how
to ride high to life, to look square-
ly in the face those facts which
‘ argue most dramatically against
all hope and to use those facts as
raw material out of which they
fashioned a hope which the envi-
ronment, with all its cruelty, could
not crush."
Thurman found in the words of
the spirituals authentic intima-
■ tidns of spiritual reality. In heav-
en, according to the slave-
singers, there would be a room of
one’s own — “the fulfillment of
life in terms of the healing balm
of privacy."
There would be mansions— 1
"the fulfillment of life in terms
of living with a high degree of
dignity.”
There would be a robe and slip-
pers— “the fulfillment of life in .
terms of the restoration of self-
respect." ;
While the white churches gen- !.
erally have lost their i thusiasm
for the City of God beyond
Jordan, the black churches have
kept it alive. Bv “mixing opti-
mism with the blues," they have
given us a message of hope for
our; day:
“If we hold out till tomorrow —
hold out a little while longer —. ■
God Will deliver us all."
And all the people shall say,
“Amen! Amen!”
Government officials
Texas
Governor
Rick Perry (R) 2006
State Capitol
P.O. Box 1242
Austin. Texas 78711
1-800843-5789;
Lieutenant Governor
David Dewhurst (R) 2Q0£
State Capitol
Austin, Texas 78711
1800441-0373
Attorney General
Greg Abbott (R) 2006
1800337-3928
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Carole Keeton Strayborn (R) 2006
1800531-5441
Land Commissioner
Jerry Patterson JR) 2006
512463-5256
Commissioner of Agriculture
Susan Combs (Rj 2006
512463-7435
Senator, District 4
Tommy Williams (R) 2006
281-2900023
Senator, District 6
Mario Gallegos (D) 2006
7138788600 5124630106
Senator, District 15
John Whitmire (Dx 2006
7138648701 5124630115
Representative. District 128
Wayne Smith <R) 2004
18664235987
U.S. Representative District 25
Nick Lampson (D) 2004
417 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 205104309
1-888838-0061
202-2258565
nick.lampson@mail.house.gov
U.S. Representative District 25
Chris Bell (D) 2004
326 Cannon House Office
Building '
Washington. D.C. 205154325
202-2257508 fax: 202-225
2947
Houston Office: 713474334
Railroad Commissioners
Charles Matthews (R) 2006
Michael Williams <R) 2008 0
Victor G. Carrillo (R) 2004
B.F. Kaufman (R)
7137556405
Tax Assessor-Collector
Paul Bettencourt (R)
713224-1919
County Commissioner
Sylvia Garcia (D)
City of Baytown
Harris County
District Clerk
Charles Bacarisse (R)
7137555711
District Attorney
Chuck Rosenthal (R)
7137555800
County Judge
Robert Eckels (R)
7137554000
County Treasurer
Jack Cato (R)
7137555120
County Attorney
Michael Stafford (R)
7137555101
County Clerk
City Hall
2401 Market St.
Baytown. Texas 77520
2814228281
City Manager
Gary Jackson
2814206501
Mayor
Pete Alfaro
2814208500
City Council
District 1 - Mercedes Renteria III
281420-9796
District 2 - Scott Sheley
2814228008
District 3 - Calvin Mundinger
281424-9289
District 4 - Don Murray
281424-2300
District 5 - Ronnie Anderson
281427-9084
District 6 - Coleman Godwin '
2814224733
Members serve a twoyear term.
Council meets on second and
fourth Thursdays of each month
at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 310, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 4, 2003, newspaper, October 4, 2003; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052907/m1/4/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.