The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 99, Ed. 1 Monday, March 5, 2001 Page: 4 of 12
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4A The Baytown Sun
Opinion
Monday, March 5,2001
Monday, March
Call 281-425-8
Founded 1922
Wanda Gamer Cash, Editor and Publisher i s
Whitney Jones, Managing Editor Rlchard Neteon' Assl- Managing Editor-Sports
Fred Hartman, Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
6T1A ©2001 FORT WORM ---
HULME
f •* weuu ■---- Houi po n<e tkb.
Houx L/mAV theme park so ■FAva? "
Cheers to students
for rodeo artwork
Harris County
District Clerk
Charles Bacarisse (R)
713-755-5711
District Attorney .
Chuck Rosenthal (R)
713-755-5800
County Judge
Robert Eckels (R)
713-755-4000
County Treasurer
Jack Cato (R)
713-7555120
County Attorney
Michael Fleming (R)
713-755-5101
County Clerk
B.F. Kaufman (R)
713-755-6405
Tax Assessor-Collector
Paul Bettencourt (R)
713-224-1919
County Commissioner,
Precinct 2 ——-L_
Jim Fonteno (D)
713-755-6220
281-427-7311 (Baytown Office)
Sheriff
Tommy Thomas (R)
713-7556044
Constable, Precinct 3
Ken Jones (D)
281-427-4791
281-422-7311 (Baytown Office)
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE,
PRECINCT 3
PLACE 1
Mike Parrott (D)
713-450-2409
PLACE 2
Tony Polumbo (D)
281-427-7449
Chambers County
District Attorney
Mike Little (D)
409-267-8271
County judge
Jimmy Sylvia (D)
409-267-8295
County Treasurer
Carren Sparks (D)
409-267-8286
County Attorney
Cheryl Swope Lieck (D)
409-267-8292 •
County Clerk
Norma Rowland (D)
409-267-8309
TAX ASSESSOR-COLLECTOR
Margie Henry (D)
409-267-8299 i i
County Commissioner,
Precinct 3
W.E. Buddy Irby (R)
281-576-2243
County Commissioner,
Precinct 4
William Wallace, Jr. (D)
281-383-2011
Sheriff
Monroe Kreuzer (Rj
409-267-8318
Constable, Precinct 4
Carl Evans (R)
281-383-3197
Constable, Precinct 6
Robert Barrow (R)
281-383-2011
Justice of the Peace
Precinct 6
Larry Cryer (D)
281-383-2011
Officials
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 dis-
cuss issues affecting the community. To
make an appointment, contact Managing
Editor Whitney Jones, (281) 422-8302.
Members of the editorial board include:
Wanda Gamer Cash, editor and publisher;
Whitney Jones, managing editor; Eric Bauer,
marketing director; Dee Anne Navarre,
business manager; and Richard Nelson,
assistant managing editor-sports.
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 material
addressed to The Baytown Sup bearing the
writer’s signature. An address and phone num-
ber not for publication should be included. We
ask that submissions be limited to one per
month. All letters and guest Columns subject
to editing.
The Sun reserves the right to refuse to pub
lish any submission.
Letters endorsing or opposing political can-
didates or issues .will not be published within
two days of an election, except in direct rebut-
tal to a letter previously published in The
Baytown Sun. Please send signed letters to:
Wanda GamerCashor Whitney Jones,Tire .
Baytown Sun, P.O. Box 90, Baytown, TX
77522.
Or. fax them to: (281) 427-1880. Or. email ’
us at: sunnews@baytownsun.com.
Club, Kiwanis Club and the YMCA
aerobics instructors. The event
Saturday’s event and most of them
braved the elements to take part in
the fund-raiser for the YMCA
Partners of Youth campaign. The
organizers of the event were espe-
cially complimentary of the volun-
teer groups that manned the check
points: Boy Scout Troop 93, Lee
High School Key Club, Sterling
High School Key Club, Optimist
Cheers to Lee High School
senior Rudy Gonzales and
Sterling High School senior
Garrett Boisture. The two artists are
making a habit of high honors at
RodeoHouston. This year they are
joined by Sterling junior Kelly Ellis.
Gonzales’ pencil drawing earned
reserve grand champion. Goisture’s
sculpture earned best of class, and
Ellis’ mixed medium presentation
earned reserve class champion. The
three will receive scholarship funds
from the funds raised from the auc-
tion of their work yesterday.
Cheers to all who helped make the
Gator Bike Ride 2001 a success.
$115,000 for the 2001 campaign. To
donate, or for more information
about the YMCA, call (281) 427-
1797.
Cheers to the Goose Creek stu-
dents who performed in “History for
All People,” a music and dance pro-
duction sponsored by the Goose
Creek 21st Century Community
Learning Center in celebration of
Black History Month. On
Wednesday, students from Horace
Mann and Cedar Bayou junior
About 1,000 riders registered for n schools, Sterling High School, and
c---——.* j —* -nr— *•, jjarfeuj Elementary’s Getting
Attitudes Positive encouraged the
audience gathered in Rundell Hall at
Lee College to fight all forms of
discrimination.
Today’s editorial was written by
Richard Nelson, assistant managing
editor-sports for The Baytown Sun,
on behalf of the newspaper’s editori-
al board. - ;
Commentary
Bush needs to promote ideas in black America
However. Bush also needs to of Capitol Hill.
Morton
I Kondracke
What can President Bush possi-
bly do to improve his standing
among African-Americans?
Despite high-level appointments,
efforts at outreach and programs
aimed at helping the disadvan-
taged, his approval ratings contin-
ue to lag.
The latest Pew Research Poll
reveals that only 22 percent of
African-Americans approve of
Bush’s job performance, and 40
percent disapprove. In 1989. the
He also said he doubts that '
Bush will eversucceed in even
reaching 20 percent of the black . /'
vote. “Victimology is too
ingrained,” he explained. ..
Moreover, he be I ieves that Bush.....
has a permanent “bad smell” « ■
about him among blacks.
Whether or not that’s true,
fighting back is worth the effort ■■ ■
— so is fostering an ethic of
achievement in black America. -
African-American social problems
are overwhelmingly the result of
persistent white racism that can be
corrected only by guilt-tripping
whites into.enacting preferences
that favor blacks ,
Bush needs black-advocates
because the demonization drive
continues. Democrats are making
-it wartiele of-farth m blackcam-. McWhorter, in his new book
munities that African-Americans
were massively “disenfranchised”
in Florida and elsewhere and that
“Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage-T
in Black America” (Free Press, •
2000), argues that while racism1
- certainly exists, it is being -
overemphasized in a way that ' j
diverts blacks from strategies —
academic achievement and entre-. T
preneurship — that will help them .
take advantage Of the opportuni- ,
ties that the civil rights movement , j
has won for them.
The standard strategy of
Democrats and civil rights leaders
such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, '
McWhorter said in an interview,
“is to keep fear alive, not keep
hopealive.” 7
McWhorter said he didn’t vote
for'Bush, but likes what he’s • A _
doing, especially appointing '
excellence-oriented Dr. Roderick -.
cd,” president.
House Democratic leaders have
decided to intensify the anti-Bush
campaign by assigning perhaps
the most incendiary single mem-
ber of the Congressional Black
Caucus, Rep. Maxine Waters. D'-
Calif. , to head a task force study-
ing \oter irregularities.
Although multiple breakdowns
occurred in the balloting system
in Florida and other states; even
the liberal-dominated U.S, Civil j
Rights Commission hasn’t yet '
produced evidence to support
charges that blacks were denied
the right to vote.'
Indeed. Florida’s African- _ .is Senetm v of Education
American turnout increased by 50 and linking up with black church-
percent in 2000, over the 1996 es through his faith-based initia-
Most effective was the low-blow showing. ' live. ■ ■
And contrary to widely repeated
charges, a national study by acad-
emics Stephen Knack and Martha
Knopf shows that predominantly
African-American counties are no
.' more likely to use old, error-prone
encourage the emergence of
African-American voices to chal-
lenge the dogmas of traditional
liberal civil rights activists.
There is a clear difference
between the Democratic Party’s
dominant attitude on race and the
Bush-Republican one.
Democrats tend to indulge what’ ‘
— African-American Professor John"'
previously signed an expanded McWhorter of the University of ‘
state “hate crimes” statute, but CaliforniaatBerkeleycalls“victi-
there was no aggressive effort to mology” —-the notion that
numbers for his father were 53 make those points in the African-
percent positive and 12 percent American media, White House
negative. .. aides admit. ■
In the election, of course, Bush
received less than 9 percent of the
black vote.
Both the RepubficiiriXatiotial
Committee and the White House
are trying to figure out what to
do. RNC Chairman Jim Gilmore ____________________________________
is hosting a discussion Wednesday - Bush was “selected,’’ not “elect-
on how to make GOP ideology
appealing to African-Americans,
and the White House has a secret: ■
confab scheduled for early March:
Such meetings should produce a
group of modcrate-to-conservative
African-American executives, :
: ministers, academics and activists,
akin to the Independent Women’s
Forum, who will challenge the
conventional wisdom of civil J
rights groups and defend “bom-
passionate conservatism.”
The first task of such a group
would be to defend Bush against *
what the White House rightly
regards;as: the “demonization” that,
led to the worst election perfor- *
niahce among blacks for a
Republican since 1964,
ad put out by the NAACP attack-
ing Bush for opposing a new
Texas “hate, crimes” law after the
brutal murder of African-
American James Byrd.
In the ad. Byrd’s sister com- ,
pared Bush’s action to the murder punch-card voting machines than
itself. In states where the ad ran, white-dominated counties.
Bush consistently received less ' In the long run, Bush's ability to
than 10 percent of the black vote. appeal to African-Americans will
In some states where the ad didn't depend on whether his economic!’
run, he topped 15 percent. . and education policies help —
Bush answered the ad by saying minorities and whether civil rights Morton Kondracke is executive- ; :
that Byrd’s murderers were facing laws are vigorously enforced. editor of Roll Call, the newspaper
the death penalty and that he’d However, Bush also needs to of Capitol Hill.
Texas legislators take steps to
find needs of rural communities
Rural Texas communities
should find it easier to get
help from the state govern-
ment if a proposal to create a new
Office of Rural and Community
Affairs is OK’d by the Legislature.
State Rep. Bob Turner, D-Vdss, is
■' one of the champions of the agency,
which would act as a sort of clear-
inghouse and coordinating office
for rural communities and their
leaders. ,
He calls it “the finest single thing
we’ve done for rural Texas” during
his 11 years in the House.
A major piece of the proposal is
to move the Center for Rural Health'
Initiatives into the office. That
would make the important work of
that agency more readily available .
to towns that have difficulty attract-
ing health professionals.
Community Development Block
Grants, now administered by the
Texas Department of Housing and
Community Affairs, also would
come under the new agency’s
purview. It makes available some
$80 million a year in CDBG funds
for economic development.
Rural Texas political clout has
diminished greatly over the past few
decades, and that trend will contin-
ue. Anything the Legislature can do
to ensure that rural communities
needs aren’t forgotten will be wel-.
come.
This editorial was first published
in the San Angelo Standard-rimes
on Feb. 26. -
a
KlENTIttW HUMANS
AN? WORMS AREN'T
muchpifferentin
Radio
in the
1
In a kinder and
show at Radio Sta
featured more mui
requests rather tha
There didn’t see
about, anyway, in
It was a very go
And easy on the
Doris Day singii
Rosemary Cloone
Four Aces, “Three
...Kitty Kallen, “1
Lot.”
You couldn’t bet
slow dancing at the
House and Quack
over the radio.
To request curre
radio, teen-agers di
of Station KREL v
Lucy Stallworth co
I Today, Betty Pry
I Weatherford.and L
Kubiszyn ofTuscal
I ories of their high i
Betty was a junior
1954 and Lucy, a si
“I remember goii
Saturday afternoon
I tion was out on Dei
\ reason, I remembet
rather dark and ma;
there besides us.
“The show itself
v know wc used to di
people’ and you coi
who was going witl
broken up the night
dedications.
“We played rock
were a lot. of roman
Lucy thought abo
i later when she start
of mass cotrjmunic:
Community College
“I realized the efl
i radio after World W
must have been the
asked us to do that s
“Radio was left w
after television cami
radio stations startee
Fin to play music and
That’s probably who
in.” . '
Betty recalled the
requests than chattel
’ roll w;ts beginning'll
1954, Betty said she
much, always prefer
music.’rt
. She added, “Still i
“The Fifties seem
Betty continued. “W
more freedom than j
remember that when
Mann Junior High w
and walk through do
Avenue), stop at the
and then walk home
from there to pick u:
Parents were not s
for a few hours, they
their kids were...
“We were trusted,”
don’t think that the c
coming to us was vet
Betty treasures her
Community House, t
social events were he
up in the beautiful fo
mother made me and
Confederate Ball, the
other great parties. 1
lia trees in bloom, the
the air ... Not many t<
an elegant place for d
. Betty also has fond
Quack Shack and Be'
Rockhold, who chape
ation center. C
. “Even then, as a.se:
; I realized that they wt
something important."
■ were, great and I will I
them for the time the\
Those were the day
Thank you, Betty ai
RELandKREL, fort
Wanda Orton is a ri
t The Baytown Sun. He
wan@ctesc.net:
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 99, Ed. 1 Monday, March 5, 2001, newspaper, March 5, 2001; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1176274/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.