The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 154, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 16, 2015 Page: 4 of 14
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4A The Baytown Sun
Viewpoints
Sunday
August 16, 2015
OUR VIEW
United Way
to go
Editorial written by David Bloom, managing editor of
The Baytown Sun, on behalf of the editorial board.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Be mindful of school zones
The back-to-school countdown has begun. This is an
exciting time of year, when students return to their class-
rooms to embark on another year of education, oppor-
tunity and character building. Unfortunately, it’s also a
time when students are at an increased risk of transpor-
tation-related injuries and drivers patterns need to adjust
to the new school year schedules each morning and af-
ternoon. Soon, shorter daylight hours will make it more
difficult to see young pedestrians and bicyclists.
I’d like to encourage our community to be extra vigi-
lant in the coming weeks. It’s easy to forget about school
zones that aren’t active in the summer, but the school
zone beacon lights will soon be flashing again, and with
good reason. Drivers need to slow down and allow for ad-
ditional reaction time to recognize pedestrians and yield
the right of way. Children are the least predictable pedes-
trians. It’s imperative that motorists in our area abide by
and be mindflil of the traffic laws and cell phone use law
while traveling in a school zone.
Law enforcement officers from the various local, coun-
ty and ISD police agencies will be patrolling and monitor-
ing the school zones to deter distracted driving, texting,
school bus loading/unloading as well as radar enforce-
ment. Studies have proven that distracted driving can re-
sult in catastrophic results.
Please obey all traffic laws, including following posted
speed limits and never passing a bus that is loading or
unloading children. You also should never pass another
vehicle or change lanes in a school zone, as your visibility
can be limited. Be mindful and observant of all crossing
guards and follow their signals.
Nothing is more precious than the life of a child. The
safety and well-being of all children in Goose Creek
CISD depends on the sensible and prudent driving habits
of everyone in our school zones.
Lupe Garza, Goose Creek CISD Police Chief
ay’s Highlight in History:
On August 16,1977, Elvis Presley died at his Graceland
estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42.
On this date:
In 1777, American forces won the Revolutionary War
Battle of Bennington.
In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died at age 53.
In 1962, The Beatles fired their original drummer, Pete
' g him with Ringo Starr.
People worldwide began a two-day cele-
f the “harmonic convergence,” which heralded
evers called the start of a new, purer age of hu-
1.
ftr Today: “Genius is the ability to act right-
: precedent — the power to do the right thing
e.’V Elbert Hubbard, (JS writer (1856-1915)
Bobby Sutphin remembered
The United Way of the Baytown Area and Chambers |
County has launched its annual campaign to raise funds j
for local charitable organizations. The United Way needs
everyone’s support to reach this year’s goal of $3 million. |
Helping the United Way hit its mark is essential to the
area’s well-being. The nonprofit organizations that re-
ceive United Way funding fulfill a variety of needs in our
community. They include homeless shelters, vocational
training centers, food pantries, counseling services and
dropout prevention programs.
Doesn’t sound like anything you’ll ever need? Well, !
United Way also gives money to the Baytown Senior !
Center, which provides fellowship opportunities to elder-
ly residents, and the American Red Cross, which assists
victims of natural disasters and much more.
Thousands in our area benefit from these services and j
many of the agencies depend on the funding they get from
United Way to survive.
This year’s $3 million goal is 10 percent under what j
was raised last year.
“We’re going to make and exceed the $3 million,” said
banker Mike Wilson, campaign cabinet member.
No doubt in our mind, either
The 2014-2015 campaign raised $3,301,182, which is
$101,000 over the goal and marked the fourth consecu- j
tive year the community effort has topped $3 million.
When you donate to the United Way, you know your
money is being well-spent. About 92 cents of every dollar
donated goes to programs and services provided by Unit-
ed Way agencies. The agencies are carefully screened and
reviewed each year during an allocation process, headed
by a committee of citizen volunteers. The United Way
board of directors then decides final allocations.
All money donated to the local United Way stays right
here in the greater Baytown area. Organizations that re-
ceive funds are found in Baytown, West Chambers Coun-
ty, Highlands and McNair.
The campaign continues through late November. We,
the individuals and businesses, must get involved in this |
campaign to make it a success.
For information about how to donate, services provided
- including a list of organizations supported by the local
United Way - and more, visit www.UnitedWayGBACC.
org.
Bobby Sutphin, who died Saturday
morning, Aug. 15, after a brief but
valiant battle with pancreatic cancer
at the age of 81, was one of the best
friends I ever had in this whole wide
world. What else can 1 say.
A lot.
And I hope the recollection of our
friendship before, during and after
working together at The Baytown
Sun will give a glimpse of her ver-
satility, spirit of adventure and sense
of humor.
While Bobby gained recognition
as an artist during the last half of her
life, she was first known in her home-
town as “Sis Hopkins,” tire character
she assumed as a young speech stu-
dent entertaining audiences through-
out the community. Dressed like a
country girl, she painted freckles
on her face, chewed on a straw and
made us laugh out loud. That was my
first image of Bobby - Baytown’s
youngest stand-up comedian.
At Robert E. Lee High School her
writing talent blossomed as editor
of the campus newspaper, the Gan-
der Gazette. The next year, after she
graduated and I became the Gazette
editor, she gave me guidance. Bobby
was my role model in journalism.
About two years later we became
co-workers at The Sun, and that’s
when the fun really began. We didn’t
realize it then but Bobby and I were
known as the “Lucy and Ethel” of
The Baytown Sun for all the shenan-
igans we got into.
Most memorable was the time we
crashed the broadcast room of Walter
Cronkite in the press building across
the road from the Space Center. I kept
wringing my hands, worried about
getting arrested, but Bobby insisted
that we meet Cronkite. When angry
cameramen ordered us out, the most
trusted man in television intervened
and welcomed us. After quick intro-
ductions, Cronkite intoned in that
WANDA
ORTON
famous, trustworthy
voice: “Well, hel-
lo Bobby ... hello
Wanda ... of The
Baytown Sun.”
“See, we didn’t
get arrested,” Bob-
by chirped as we left
just seconds before
Cronkite uttered
the first word of his
newscast.
Another time, Bobby talked me
into taking a Red Cross swimming
class at the REL pool, assuring me
I could lose weight and learn how
to rescue drowning people. 1 agreed
and then wished I hadn’t. Members
of the REL boys swim team were in
the class, and they wondered what
we “old ladies” (in our late 20s) were
doing there.
Once, in a practice rescue, I near-
ly choked Bobby. She finally broke
loose and swam away, free at last.
Red Cross instructor Mary Ste-
phens advised Bobby and me to bring
ajar of honey to snack on to give us
energy. As it turned out, we spent
more time sitting by the pool than
in it, lapping up honey. Although we
never graduated with members of the
REL swim team, we did gain some-
thing from the experience - a few ex-
tra, honey-packed pounds.
Bobby and I both worked the po-
lice beat and had this special arrange-
ment. I covered crime news for a few
weeks until I made someone mad
and then Bobby would replace me
and continue until she made some-
one else mad. Then I would replace
her...
Fact was, we both liked covering
the “cop shop” and the rotation rou-
tine was our sneaky way of sharing a
favorite beat.
We made a number of good friends
in the police department, including
Peggy Power, secretary to at least
five chiefs over the years.
We lost Peggy to pancreatic cancer
in 1999.
Ironically, it was a column I wrote
about Bobby’s mother Maiy Jack
Van
Deventer - a terminal cancer pa-
tient when Bobby was a teen-ager
— that reconnected us. We started
emailing after the column came out
and shortly before Bobby’s sudden
diagnosis as a terminal cancer pa-
tient.
Since 1 moved to Fredericksburg
21 years ago, we rarely got to visit,
and 1 hate that.
After she entered into hospice care,
1 called her nearly every day and we
laughed a lot, recapping the good old
days. She always knew it was me on
the phone because I called her Bobby
Jack. Only her oldest friends remem-
bered her middle name.
I usually began our phone conver-
sation by asking, “Are you busy?”
Inside joke: A lady used to call us at
The Sun on deadline, the most hectic,
stressed-out time of the day, and ask,
“Are you busy?”
Bobby eventually left The Sun to
head public relations for what was
then the Exxon Credit Union. One of
her projects was to publish a Cred-
it Union cookbook, and I served as
her co-editor. While she did most of
the writing, I did kitchen duty, trying
out the recipes and gaining yet a few
more pounds.
Frankly, I don’t know how to end
this remembrance of one of the best
friends I ever had. My memories of
Bobby Jack Van Deventer Sutphin,
whether written or spoken or quietly
humming in my mind and heart, will
go on, never ending.
Wanda Orton is a retired manag-
ing editor of The Sun. She can be
reached at viewpoints@baytownsun.
com, Attention: Wanda Orton.
■tov THt *IMI
Remember saying rain, rain go away?
By this delicate means, I want to
remind you of something every last
one of you were saying just a few
months back. It went something like
this:
“I am so darned tired of this rain.
Enough already!”
I heard you say it. Fess up.
It was raining a lot then. Some-
times days in a row. Sometimes com-
ing down in buckets, as they say at
Harvard.
If it didn’t rain all day, it rained
enough to mess up your plans.
There were those Little League
games the Water from Heaven
washed out. That weekend camping
trip. The outdoor birthday party you
had planned for your daughter. Your
son’s bar mitzvah.
“I don’t remember it raining this
much before,” many of you were
lamenting. “Will it ever stop?”
Well, it did.
As former NBC “News” anchor-
person Brian Williams once said, “Be
careful what you ask for.” (I’m pretty
sure it was Williams who said that
as he bravely led American Special
Forces into Abbottabad, Pakistan,
and did away with Osama bin Lad-
en.)
My how times change. Now we’re
in an awful drought. And it’s scorch-
ing hot. And miserable.
Now you’re all saying, “Man, do
we ever need rain. I hope we get
some soon, because if we don’t I’m
going to have to declare my garden a
Disaster Area.”
Be not alarmed. This is what we
psychiatrists (me and Charles Krau-
JIM
FINLEY
thammer) call Hu-
man Nature.
Lest you think
I’m lecturing you,
be advised that I,
too, said the same
thing you did back
in the spring and
am saying the same
thing you are now.
_______________ We’re all in this
together.
Wife Margie and I are not exactly
world travelers. We’re kind of dull,
really, particularly me.
Too, we’re creatures of habit. It
doesn’t take much to make us happy.
Yet that doggone rain blew away
our modest plans day after day.
For example, we like to sit in our
stylish backyard in late afternoon.
Wife Margie grabs a chair and reads
and does puzzles, while I sit on the
swing and think of truly vital world
matters, such as how good the Ra-
zorbacks will be this year. (I have my
priorities in order.)
But because of those awful rainy
days, we often missed that special
time.
We were forced to stay inside in
our fashionable den-living room
combo.
Heckfire, we’d been in our fash-
ionable den-livingroom combo ALL
DAY. Boring.
We also went through the post-
ponement of Little League games ■
featuring great-grandsons Connor
and Collin Erikson. Bummer!
Like you, we were wondering
aloud, “Will it ever stop?”
There was one thing we both no-
ticed during the Rainy Season, and
this was a big deal for us. It let up
enough for us to do yard work on
Thursdays and Fridays.
Truly, it would rain off and on all
week, but on our chosen “lawn” days
- Thursday and Friday - it would be
nice enough, for a while at least, to
do our mowing and edging.
This was much appreciated.
Now it’s so bad that we’ve skipped
yard stuff altogether a few weekends.
Now our attention is on watering our
yard more than we have in several
years.
This bad heatwave also got me to
thinking about years past, like in my
youth.
While I don’t remember it ever be-
ing this consistently hot (A1 “Albert”
Gore and I tried to warn you this was
coming), those were the days when
kids played outdoors. Really. What’s
Nintendo?
But because of the heat, and be-
cause the nation and our area had
been hit hard by a dreaded and some-
times deadly polio invasion, our par-
ents insisted that we take afternoon
naps and avoid the hot sun.
My friends and I hated this ritual,
but for some reason, in our parents'
eyes, avoiding the sun also helped us
avoid polio. I guess it worked.
Which brings us to today.
Boy, do we need lots of rain.
Jim Finley is a retired managing
editor of The Sun. He can be reachea
at viewpoints@baytownsun.com, At-
tention: Jim Finley.
MANAGEMENT
Publish* ..'...,,................Janie Gray
Managing Editor...........David Bloom
Advertising Director......Brenda Btirr
Circulation Manager.
Business Manager ..
EDITORIAL BOARD
Janie Gray
Jim Finley, Jay Eshbach
M. A. Bengtson
David Bloom
Tony Polumbo
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Bloom, David. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 154, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 16, 2015, newspaper, August 16, 2015; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1065707/m1/4/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.