The Aransas Pass Progress (Aransas Pass, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 16, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 28, 1995 Page: 2 of 42
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THE
ARANSAS PASS PROGRESS
PAGE 2
Texas laws are redefining abuse
Physical abuse can include
beating, choking, sexual
assault, unreasonable con*
Violence la becoming an
overworked word in our
vocabulary. Constantly, we
talk of bombing, drtve-by
ahootlng. child abuse, and we
are told, increasing adult
abuse.
Texas law now defines
abuse of vulnerable adults as
physical, material or finan-
cial. neglect and self-neglect
manage funds and take
money against a person’s will
and transfer property under
'Wl
_
flnement. verbal abuse of
deprivation of goods and ser-
vices necessary to avoid
physical harm. mental
anguish, mental illness or
starvation.
It Is also a form of abuse to
deceive, divert Income, mis-
^Rttjjarb’s fourth ©able
By Erin Richards
If this week's Round Table seems to have a bit of a twist
It's because It Is coming from a different Richards. As
many of you may know. Monday and Tuesday are the two
most critical days at the Aransas Pass Progress and rarely
will one of these two days go by with Mr. Richards out of the
office. However, we are finally letting him have a Monday
and a Tuesday off and for no other reason than he deserves
It. He has Just completed his term as President of the
Texas Press Association and Is now among the ranks of the
past TPA Presidents. On behalf of the staff at the newspa-
per I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS on a job well
done!
EBR
1 am going to let him tell you about this year's convention,
from the President's point of view, however. I will touch on
some of the highlights that struck me.
The underlying theme of the entire convention was upbeat
apd positive. The speakers enticed TPA members to use.
humor and a positive attitude as their main tools In the
work place. Does It sound a little crazy? I thought so too.
at first, but when you think about It what better way to
conduct our lives from a business as well as a personal
point of view than with an upbeat attitude and a smile.
EBR i
The world la an ever changing place and no where is that
more apparent than In the streets of our country where
crime continues to aoas. We finally live In a world where
people are truly frightened by the actions of others, so
much so that we have restricted ourselves to only perform-
ing the tasks we must during the "safe" hours of the day.
The good news Is that crime Is down In Texas. One of the
speakers at this years TPA meeting was James A. “Andy"
Collins. Executive Director of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice. He shared the news with members of the
press that crime in Texas is down. We actually have empty
prison beds In the state of Texas. I know that It Is a slow
start but at least we are on the right track.
I had never really given much thought to the Job of a
criminal justice official other than he was supposed to keep
crime off of the streets and keep the bad guys locked up!
Let me tell you a little bit about the challenge of our crimi-
nal Justice system as a whole In the state of Texas, as I
understand It after hearing Mr. Collins speak.
Take a kid. for example. In Aransas Pass. Texas.
Suppose that he is dealing drugs In our schools and mak-
ing $500.00 a week. This $500.00 a week allows him to
wear the “cool" clothes and drive a “bad" car.
What would It take to convince this kid that what he is
doing Is not right, that It Is dangerous to himself and to all
of the people affected by his actions? What would It take to
convince this kid to give up his drug dealing business and
to gw up his clothes and car. because If he were to be any-
thing but a drug dealer, he would really have to work in
order to earn that $600.00 a week?
What Incentive does this kid have to give up something
so easy with what he sees as such a great payoff for some-
thing that he has to work hard for and possibly not even get
dose to the $500.60 a week? Certainly no one Is going to
pay him to go to school and to get an education or learn a
vocation. So why should he do that? The other kids prob-
ably won’t think he’s as "cool" without the clothes and the
car. So truly what choice does this kid have but to contin-
ue to prosper In his business of selling drugs no matter
what the consequences may be to him. to his family, to the
othgr people who he touches every day with this crime.
To be honest. I can hardly believe I am able to dream up
such a scenario, however, this Is the challenge facing crim-
inal Justice officials, parents, educators, and legislators and
It la a tough one. ^
Mr. Collins put It Into perspective for me. There is no easy
fix for crime. I think we all have to work together as fami-
lies. communities, states, and a country to do our best to
make the Idea of Maying away from criminal activity the
1 have probably left out some of the things that my dad
would have written about but as I said, there may be a bit
of a twist In this week’s column. But. next week Is back to
normal for the Aransas Pass Progress and you can look for-
ward to the original Round Table once again. Maybe If we
ever let him out again for a few days I will get the opportu-
nity to cover the Round Table. I can see why he enjoys
writing this column because It truly feels as If 1 am getting
to talk with you one on one. Perhape it Is a family trait or
Just s newspaper Idiosyncrasy, hut st any rate I guess we
love to hear ourselves talk, even If It la In print.
false pretenses. Neglect falls
into the same category If a
caretaker falls to provide ade-
quate food, shelter, clothing
or medical and dental care.
A person unable to ade-
quately provide for food, shel-
ter. clothing and medlcfcl and
dental care and unable to
make rational decisions relat-
ing to dally needs Is called a
victim of self-neglect by state
law.
The law requires that any
person with reason to believe
that mistreatment has
occurred “must" report this to
the Adult Protective Service
Division of the Department ol
Human Services. A hotline
number if 1 -800-252-5400.
No one who makes such a
report In good faith may be
held civilly or criminally
liable, and the Identity of the
person reporting is confiden-
tial.
Social workers from the
department will Investigate.
Cases of abuse or neglect
may be quite obvious.
Financial and verbal abuse
may be much more difficult
to document. As with any
report of abuse, considera-
tion must be given to the pos-
sibility the report was not
accurate nor honest.
The law attempts to let the
older person have the dignity
of making a decision. A victim
of abuse may refuse services
offered If the victim Is compe-
tent to make such a decision.
In an assessment of a situa-
tion, the social worker must
report what the client wants
and how the situation could
be changed.
There are resources, sup-
port groups, case manage-
ment. assistance with hous-
ing needs and legal Issues,
guardianship and if neces-
sary. placement In a conva-
lescent hojne. In such cases,
there are often many compli-
cating issues and no one
ideal solution. As with all
abuse and all violence, pro-
tection Is the first considera-
tion. from then on. a search
continues for better answers.
holp on rves
SEATS, FOLK®
—OURPARADe
GOES kOUNP
•twee/
In God we trust
JOHN LOWliAN
It’s on every dollar printed in the United Slates.
It's also spoken, in form, in our pledge of allegiance.
For over 200 years, American man and woman have fought and
died to preserve it’s relevance, it’s what we are, what we should
be and what we will be if we are to remain a nation.
In God we trust.
Not in congress Not in guns, and not in our abilities alone. Life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness was
based by the founders of our nation, in
part, on faith in God. Presidents still end
speeches with the phrase ‘God bless
America." Civic meetings still begin with an
invocation. The nation observes
December 25 as the birth of the Son of the
God in which our founders trusted.
We pause for Easter and St. Patrick's
Day, for Hanukkah and for a simple
evening prayer before supper. Our chil-
dren deserve the same consideration at
school; -'and the Texas legislature has
taken a bold step in once again affirming that belief.
The recently approved moment of silence in class — a thinly
veiled moment of prayer — is good for our schools, our communi-
ty and our society as a whole. It’s voluntary, non-denominationa!
and is positive. Those who would detract from the moral upbring-
ing of our children need only look to our roots.
“In God we trust” isn’t only what we came from, it's why we are.
We ought to pass that lesson on. Our children deserve better than
we have — certainly nothing less.
Over two decades ago, one person led a fight to ban prayer from
schools, and a vote-minded congress agreed. That decision was
wrong then, and it's wrong now. We can be strong enough to
admit a mistake spanning 30 years in favor of something that’s
worked for almost 200.
We must, however, remember that the same country founded on
trust in God provides freedom of religion — therefore freedom
from religion. Those who don’t wish to worship should never be
forced to. The ideals of a student or teacher choosing not to par-
ticipate in any form of prayer should be honored, but so should the
ideals of the majority who want that right.
Recent legislation is, for now, the best compromise.
School prayer is a complicated issue. Government cannot legis-
late morality, but it can help provide a choice. State lawmakers
have done just that, and those who voted to allow a moment of
silence are to be commended.
Children shouldn't be forced into any one religion, and neither
should they be compelled to leave their faith at school steps.
We have, for a generation, allowed faith in God to be banned
from the "school lives" of our teachers and children. Thankfully. ,
that mistake is being corrected.
When my family sits down for supper tonight, I will thank God for
all I have and all I can be. It's not conservative or liberal, nor is it
Republican or Democrat.
"In God we trust" is simply right.
?; .O-..
All class reunion
was outstanding
Editor.
The weekend of June 17th
held probably some of the
moat outstanding events to
come to Aransas Pass In
many years. Alumni from all
over the United States and a
few foreign countries came
together to celebrate as far
back as 55 years. All these
"get-to-gathers" started at 1
p.m. on Friday and lasted
until Sunday morning.
George Hagy gathered a
bunch of 49’rs for Friday
afternoon till? And then the
classes of the 50's “took over"
downtown on Friday evening.
Aransas Pass looked as if it
had stepped back In time to
the days of two picture-
shows. With a mid-night
showing on Saturday night -
there were people “wall to
sidewalk" and spilling Into
the street for one solid block.
It would have been great to
'.\avc a picture of that, as we
may never see that many
folks In town again! Lohn
Yoder hosted the "Golden
Group" at the Library from 1
till 6 p.m. on Friday, about $0
attended. Starting at 4 p.m.
FMday About 25 of us gath-
ered at the middle school to
decorate and prepare for
Saturday’s big gathering. On
Saturday morning LeRoy
Bodeman boated V a large
group of44 -45' andW grads
at tneYfethodlst Churjjb from
11 a.m. till 1 p.m. Also we
atarted gathering at 10 a.m.
at the middle school, thru the
course of the day we had
about 300 people. Over half
of those stayed for dinner of
shrimp or chicken creole.
Then we headed for Port A
where Marie Owsley Stetwtg
and her crew had arranged a
great evening of dancing for
everyone. It took a lot of effort
from a lot of people to pull all
this together and make such
a huge success of it. I won't
attempt to name them all, but
to all of you who gave so
much of your time and did
everything that was asked of
you, I want you to know you
are very special and I am ever
grateful to you. I would give a
special thank you to Ray at
Welders equipment for fur-
nishing the helium for our
balloons, to all those who
brought snacks, even as far
away as Louisiana (which
were homemade and deli-
cious.) To Polly Mircovlch for
the beautiful Gold and Purple
Panthers for our tables. To
"Buzzy" Morris for his golden
Panther painting which we
will enjoy for years to come.
To Nettle Demory Mayfield for
putting together an auction
to contribute to our scholar-
ship fund. Last and by all
means not least - Thanks to
all those people who took
their vacations from every-
where- to make our efforts
worthwhile. Let’s make a date
right now for 1997 - same
time, same place - see you
then.
For one he is
thankful; for second,
he has solution
Dear Editor.
1. My two boys and I do a
lot of wade fishing between
Red Fish Bay Terminal and
Aransas Pass airport.
Sometimes we take my
grandson wtth us.
We wish to thank the few
shrimpers who slow down
and watch their wake when
they see my grandson with
The rest of them don’t care.
All boat captains are respon-
sible for their wakes.
Again, thanks to the few
who care.
2. For fire ants. Pour one
cup of vinegar' on the nest
early In the morning before
10 a.m. I tried it and It kills
them. It’s cheap and safe.
THE ARANSAS PASS PROGRESS
U.S.P.S. 028-900
SubacrtpUon Ratos: San Prtlcto Court*. Ctoes ol Port Aransas and Rochpwi - War 122.40. Six morths $14.00. Ortsrta the i
$26 00 Six months $18.SO 9 month Sudan Me $19.50.
PuMatan J G Richards and R.P. Richards
UM* EdtW^RkiSrtl; sSJnS^^ Otana Murry, Und* McCo*.
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1512-7584901 (MX) 7505303.
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Cole, Mary. The Aransas Pass Progress (Aransas Pass, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 16, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 28, 1995, newspaper, June 28, 1995; Aransas Pass, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1146253/m1/2/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Ed & Hazel Richmond Public Library.