The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 7, 1993 Page: 2 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 14 x 10 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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opinion
page
by ben ezzell
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To theCanadfcmReconiReaders
CA
‘Hope’ byword
+++
for New Year
From The Tulia Herald
Continued on Page 4
PARPOM ME,
MR.PRE5IPEWE
I
A case in point was the challenge a few days before Christmas
of the postal cancellation stamp being offered by the tiny West
Texas post office at Nazareth...a postmark with a Nativity scene
encircled by ribbons and bearing the phrase "Christmas Station.
Its use drew fire from the Dallas ACLU on the grounds that its
religious significance violated the Constitution’s separation of
church and state.
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USPS 087-960
P.O. Box 898
Canadian (Hemphill) Texas 79014
BEN EZZELL Editor
NANCY EZZELL Editor
JACKIE KERRIGAN Advertising Manager
Entered as second class matter December 20,
1945 at the Post Office at Canadian, Texas
under the act of March 3, 1879. Published
each Thursday afternoon at Canadian, Texas,
by Ben R. and Nancy M. Ezzell.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
THE CANADIAN RECORD, Box 898,
Canadian, TX 79014
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$20/Year in Hemphill & adjoining counties
$2' Year olsewhere
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I have been a long-time supporter of the Civil Liberties
Union, and a contributor to it, but I am not a "card-carrying
member" of the ACLU and the reason is that I am not always
in agreement with the activities of Ira Glasser and the
ruling forces in that organization and, as a publisher of a
determinedly-independent newspaper I avoid being bound
too tightly to any political organization or movement. The
ACLU sometimes goes off on a tangent in the name of civil
liberties which is hard for even its admirers to support.
In any event I think the ACLU must have more important
things to do than that. The Nazareth stamp doesn’t offend
my sensibilities, except that I think its rather amateurish
art...but the Elvis Presley stamp, slickly executed by
government printers for the Postal Service and certainly
artistic is somewhat offensive to me because of what it
represents. Maybe I should ask the ACLU to protest its use
because the Elvis cult borders on religion for its addicts.
Everything must be offensive to somebody but the constitu-
tional protection of "civil liberty" cuts both ways. Christians
have the right to freedom of religion without forcing their
beliefs on others, and so do Mohammadans, Jew’s, and Un-
believers...and so do Ku Klux Klan members and the Dis-
ciples of Elvis Presley.
Nobody was forced to use the special cancellation...apparently
it was available only by request and strictly voluntary...and anyone
offended by it would have to go well out of their way to encounter
it. And since we are splitting hairs, the Postal Service itself is now
only a quasi-governmental agency having been separated by Con-
gress from its official status as an arm of government, so maybe
the separation of church and state edict doesn’t really apply to the
postal service anyway.
Now probably having offended a broad spectrum of the popula-
tion ranging from fans of Elvis Presley to the Ku Klux Klan and a
variety of religions as well as Agnostics, I’m going to repeat a story
passed along to me a few days ago by an anonymous informant who
insists on remaining that way. I’m going to pass along a story which
may be offensive to Republicans as well (I can hear the chorus now
saying "so what’s new?").
Continued on Page 4
The special cancellation was in demand from postal
patrons around the country who collect such things, and
the postmaster at the small Nazareth, Texas, office was
doing a brisk business in cancellations until Lubbock
Postmaster and Sectional Center Manager John Frisby
warned on the Monday before Christmas that the ACLU
was protesting the use of a religious symbol on Constitu-
tional grounds.
XMTe TAKE PRIDE, we editors of the
w w Canadian Record, in producing one of
the best weekly newspapers in Texas for this
community, because we believe Canadian is one
of the best small towns in Texas, and deserves
the best. The "editorial we" is not a figure of
speech — there are two of us, Nan and Ben
Ezzell, and we have worked as a team, an equi-
lateral one, for many years and hope to continue
for a few more, but being realists as well as
idealists, we have to recognize that after 44 years
we have passed the mid-way point long since.
We’re not ready yet to call it quits, but for the
next few weeks we may not be at our best. As
many of you know by now. Ben has been hospi-
talized after a mild heart attack, and Nan is
having to pick up a lot of the duties, some unac-
customed to her, just as some of hers would be
unaccustomed to me if the circumstances were
MW7"HAT WOULD BE THE best single word
w w to describe entry into 19^3?
"Hope” would be my choice.
The year which ends Thursday has been filled
with more downs than ups. Disappointments,
strife, controversy...all found their way into
prominent places in our community and county
during ’92. These undesirables continued to arise
throughout the year.
Many of our citizens — it seems more than
usual — suffered through the loss of loved ones
and others lost treasured friends. Illnesses
TflJEVER EAT MORE than you can lift. —
A fl Miss Piggy
X
RECORD
CANADIAN, HEMPHILL CO., TEXAS______
■ THURSDAY 7 JANUARY 1993
reversed.
Be patient with us — we are a small staff,
specialists all — and we can’t easily lose anyone,
but we’ll try’ to do the best we can. Jackie Ker-
rigan, our advertising manager, was ill last week
but we hope will be back, and Gale Wright, our
good right hand, does a little bit of everything
when called on. Laurie Brown will back us up,
and Greta Bass, who has a business of her own
to manage, gives us a lot of her time and is
available.
So we'll make it through — stay tuned.
The greatest blow, I suppose, is to my own ego
— finding that I can’t do aL the things that I
think I must do. For example, I was unable to
cover the basketball tournament last weekend
for the first time in 44 years. There’ll be other
events, I’m sure, that may get scant attention in
the next few weeks, but we’ll do the best we can.
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 7, 1993, newspaper, January 7, 1993; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1262825/m1/2/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hemphill County Library.