The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 35, Ed. 1 Sunday, February 19, 2012 Page: 4 of 20
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Sundav
February 19, 2012
Saying 1 do’ on the Texas frontier
Across Texas this Valentine’s
Day, many young men presented
their sweethearts with the ulti-
mate Valentine’s gift - an
engagement ring. From the
moment she said “yes,” the
planning begins. Reception ven-
ues and churches are booked,
showers and parties are planned,
invitations are sent and the
many details involved in plan-
ning the modem wedding are
given careful consideration.
It is amusing to consider,
therefore, that not long ago, our
predecessors on the Texas fron-
tier were similarly busying
themselves with preparations for
their own weddings—but with a
little less fanfare and a lot less in
the way of access to supplies.
According to Texas historian
and author Betty J. Mills, wed-
dings on the Texas frontier “took
place wherever space permit-
ted—at home, in church, or even
on the back of a buggy with the
JOHN
CORNYN
guests standing
around to wit-
ness the nup-
tials.”
Until the late
19th century,
invitations
were circulated
by word of
mouth, and
most everyone
in a 30- to 40-
mile radius was invited. Guests
had to consider weather condi-
tions and schedule plenty of
time to make the trip to the wed-
ding. Many of them began arriv-
ing days before the big event.
For the lucky groom, obtaining a
marriage license sometimes
required traveling on horseback
up to 200 miles to secure the
document.
The wedding date was nor-
mally selected depending on
when the next circuit preacher
was expected to come through
the region. This might be a
Methodist minister or a Baptist
missionary. At times, their
arrival was unexpected and a
wedding had to be quickly
pulled together to accommodate
the officiant.
Many pioneer brides had to
weave their own fabric for their
wedding gowns, with assistance
from their mothers and sisters.
Some towns were visited by
traveling peddlers who sold fab-
rics like gingham and calico.
Those with the financial means
often ordered their wedding
dresses in mail order catalogs or
from French dressmakers in Fort
Worth. While some brides were
married in white, it was not
uncommon for a bride to wear a
dark dress that “was to be her
best dress for years to come,”
wrote Mills.
While the-wedding ceremony
was typically simple and brief,
held on the front porch of the
bride’s parents’ house, the cele-
bration feasts were more elabo-
rate with dancing that often car-
ried on until the morning hours.
Cake was served, fiddles and
other instruments provided the
music, and a washtub full of cof-
fee kept the guests awake and
dancing.
The following morning,
guests took some time to rest
and recover but were soon sum-
moned again for the “in-fair”—
yet another feast and dance host-
ed byvthe groom’s parents.
One observer, Noah
Smithwick, who arrived in
Texas in 1827, wrote down his
observations after attending
several weddings on the fron-
tier: “The houses of early
Texans were small but their
hearts were large enough to
cover all deficiencies. No can-
didate for hospitality was ever
turned away.”
Sources: Calico Chronicle:
Texas Women and Their
Fashions, 1830 - 1910, by
Betty J. Mills; Eats: a folk his-
tory of Texas foods, by
Ernestine Linck and Joyce
Roach; “What Were Weddings
Like in Days of Yore?” by
Barbara Mayer, The
Associated Press; “A Frontier
Wedding,” by Gay Schlittler
Storms, The Graham Leader;
The Book of Texas, by Harry
Yandell Benedict and John
Avery; and
Abilenetexashistory.com,
Sen. Cornyn serves on the
Finance, Judiciary, Armed
Services, and Budget
Committees. He serves as the
top Republican on the
Judiciary Committee's
Immigration, Refugees and
Border Security subcommittee.
He served previously as Texas
Attorney General, Texas
Supreme Court Justice, and
Bexar County District Judge.
OUR VIEW
Goodbye, Dr. York
This week. Goose Creek CISD Superintendent Dr.
Toby York announced his intention to retire this summer
after 36 years in public education, including 11 at
GCC1SD.
At this time The Sun wishes to thank York for his serv-
ice to the students of the district during his tenure.
GCCISD school board President Jenice Coffey, speak-
ing on behalf of the school board, said trustees appreci-
ated York’s dedication, determination and accomplish-
ments.
“His commitment to the students we serve is unques-
tionable,” she said. “Above all else. Dr. York has always
been focused on students first.”
The Sun feels that focus - on students first - should be
an important requirement for York’s replacement.
We feel that when change happens, it is important to sit
back, reflect, and devise a plan for moving forward that
includes goals for continued improvement in areas where
there was success, but also points out areas of weakness
that can be improved upon.
Coffey stressed that the district’s goals remain the
same: to continue “to succeed through the collective
efforts of the board, administrators and staff, and the par-
ents and students of our community,”
We hope that as the school board begins the task of
finding the next leader for Goose Creek CISD, the
process is transparent and the selection ultimately has the
best interests of our students at heart.
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Question of the
To Vote go to www.baytownsun.com
and click your answer!
Answers in next Sunday’s edition!
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Should Baytown precede
with the planned
annexation?
Yes 41%
No 48%
Unsure 11%
Did Saudi prince buy Fox’s silence?
Have you heard about the 23-
year-old Saudi journalist who
tweeted an imaginary conver-
sation with Muhammad? It
went something like this: He
loved Muhammad, he hated
Muhammad, he couldn't under-
stand Muhammad, he wasn't
going to pray for Muhammad.
If this isn't exactly a disquisi-
tion on faith and doubt a la
"The Brothers Karamazov,".
remember, we’re just talking
Twitter.
The journalist received so
many mostly white-hot angry
tweets from co-religionists
condemning his Islamic law-
breaking "blasphemy" (30,000
in 24 hours!) that he apolo-
gized and fled the country. He
hoped to seek asylum in New
Zealand but was captured in
Malaysia by Saudi agents who
returned him to "the King-
dom." There, according to
Shariah (Islamic law), he now
faces the death penalty for
"blasphemy.""
If you haven't heard of this
young man, whose name is
Hamza Kashgari, it could be
because you're watching too
much Fox News. As of this
writing, almost a week after the
Kashgari story broke, 1 haven't
found a single
story about it
at the Fox
News website.
(You try: www.
foxnews.com.)
Meanwhile,
CBS, NBC,
DIANA WEST abc, msnbc
—— and CNN have
all reported the
"Kashgari story, clueing in their
viewers on how far totalitarian
Islam, Saudi style, will go to
exert. its control over the
human spirit. But not Fox.
Say - you don't suppose the
fact that Prince Alwaleed bin
Talal owns the second-largest
block of stock (7 percent) in
News Corp., Fox News' parent
company, not to mention a new
$300 million stake in Twitter
(almost 4 percent), has any-
thing to do with Fox's silence
on this Saudi black eye of a
story? After all, it was Saudi
dictator King Abdullah -
Alwaleed's uncle - whom press
accounts credit with ordering
the tweeting journalist's hot
pursuit and imprisonment. And
it is Saudi Arabia's adherence
to Islamic limits on free speech
that is driving Kashgari's
ordeal.
Maybe it has become institu-
tional Fox thinking to let such
news slide for fear of offending
the Saudi prince - or for fear of
risking the kind of exposure
that might remind viewers of
Fox’s connections to Saudi
regime interests via Alwaleed.
As I've argued in the past, it
is these connections that make
it incumbent upon News Corp.
to register as a foreign agent.
(So, too, should universities
that accept Saudi and other
Islamid millions to open
departments of Islamic stud-
ies.) Fox's silence on this bell-
ringer of a story reinforces the
sneaking suspicion that, con-
scious or not, there may be an
Alwaleed effect on Fox cover-
age which, in a conflict of
interest, actually serves the
House of Saud before Fox
viewers.
Prediction: I don't believe
Hamza Kashgari will be exe-
cuted or even face hard time
for his Twitter "blasphemy."
Despite widespread enthusiasm
for his demise among his fel-
low Saudis at last count, a
Facebook page titled "The
Saudi People Demand Hamza
Kashgari's Execution" had a
whopping 23,000 members —
I'm guessing Kashgari's al-
ready publicized repentance
will be accepted by Saudi
poobahs. The crisis will likely
end in a gesture of royal mag-
nanimousness. The new "mod-
eration" of the Kingdom - see*
they don't kill you for tweet-
ing! - will become the story of
the day, maybe even "fair and
balanced" enough for Fox
News to cover it.
That vvould make it a win-
win situation, at least when it
comes to Islamic law enforce-
ment:‘Saudi Arabia gets inter-
national "modernization"
brownie points, and no one
dares break Shariah inside the
country anyway, particularly
given the bloodthirsty scorn of
the Saudi public. (Remember
that Facebook community of
execution-for-"blasphemy"
enthusiasts.) No "blasphemy,"
no "defamation," no problem.
This same issue is part of a
much larger story, a terrifying
point of parley between the
Islamic world, as represented
by the Saudi-based Organiza-
tion of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC), and the Free World, as
led, still, by the USA. Why ter-
rifying? Any accommodation
of Islamic so-called blasphemy
law is an unconstitutional ero-
sion of American free speech.
I'm mortified to report that
the USA, as represented by
Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ton, is working itself into sync
with the Saudi, OIC and, ap-
parently, Fox position that
silence on Islam is golden. Last
summer, Clinton, while meet-
ing with the OIC in Turkey
(where the);, throw journalists
who cross >fhe stateC.iti jail) to
discuss "defamation" of Islam,
promoted a de facto censorship
of Islam's critics by calling for
"some old-fashioned tech-
niques of peer pressure and
shaming, so that people don't
feel that they have the support
to do what we abhor."
Funny, but I don't think Fox
covered the secretary of state's
menacing comments about free
speech. Not even a tweet's
worth.
Diana West is the author o)
"The Death of the Grown-up:
How America's Arrested Devel-
opment Is Bringing Down
Western Civilization." and
blogs at dianawest.net. She can
be contacted via dianawest@
verizon.net.
Barack Obama
President
202-466-1111
Fax:202-456-2461
president®
wt*Ehou6e#x/
JoeBlden,
Vice President
202-456-2324
Fax 202-456-2461
vice.president@
whitehousegev
Kay Baley Hutchison,
Senater
Fflckftrry Governor
800-843-5789
800-252-9600
Fax:512-463-1849
TedPoe,Dist2Rep.
866-42&6565
866-447-0342
wwwhouse.gwt)oe
202-224-5922
713653-3456
Fax 202-2240776
Fax 713209-3459
hutetisonsenate.
govfe-maihtm
JohnCorryn,
Senator
202-2242934
713572-3337
Fax 202-2292856
Fax 713572-3777
coryisenate.
gwtontact/
hdexhtml
RonPaitDistWRep.
202-225-2831
9792890231
wwwhouse, gewpaj
Gene Green, Dist 29
Ftep.
202-2291688
70-3390761
281-420-0502
wwwhouse. gewgreen
HOW TO REACH US
Janie Gray, Publisher
janie.gray@baytownsun.com
Angie Pagel, Advertising Director
angie.pagel@baytownsun.com
Adam Yanelli
Managing Editor
adam.yanelli@baytownsun.com
Sandy Denson, Business Mgr.
sandy.denson@baytownsun.com
Joshua Hart, Circulation Manager
joshua.hart@baytownsun.com
NEWSROOM
sunnews@baytownsun.com
WRITE TO US
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The Baytown Sun, 46180 is published five days
a week by The Baytown Sun, 1301 Memorial
Drive, PO Box 90, Baytown Texas 77522.
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I RED HARTMAN
Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
EDITORIAL
BOARD
JANIE GRAY
Editor/Publisher
Angie Pagel
Advertising Director
Adam Yanelli
Managing Editor
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M.A. Bengtson
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Yanelli, Adam. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 35, Ed. 1 Sunday, February 19, 2012, newspaper, February 19, 2012; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1063607/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.