Mount Pleasant Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 145, No. 44, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 8, 2019 Page: 4 of 12
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PERSPECTIVES
Page4 • TribNow.com
May 8, 2019
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Property tax reform bill goes to conference committee
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driver license or personal identification card.
Parties settle voting suit
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Miranda Oglesby, Reporter
miranda@tribnow.com
Tony Cooper, Publisher
tony@tribnow.com
Tracy Farr, Reporter
tracy@tribnow.com
A Story
Worth Telling
Keilani Cheek, Bookkeeper,
Classifieds, Circulation
kcheek@tribnow.com
by LEON ALDRIDGE
leonaldridge@gmail.com
Capital
Highlights
If finally passed in the
coming days, the legislation would lower the rollback rate
for most local taxing authorities from 8 percent to 3.5 per-
by ED STERLING
Texas Press Association
Contact Leon Aldridge at leonaldridge@gmail.com. Al-
dridge columns are archived at leonaldridge.com
Leslie Brosnan, Advertising
leslie@tribnow.com
AUSTIN — The Texas
House of Representatives
on May 1 passed Senate Bill
2, legislation proposing to
bring property tax relief to
homeowners, but the lower
house slowed the bills mo-
mentum by tacking on 25
floor amendments.
HB 63 was received in the Senate for consideration
on April 30, but Lt. Gov. Patrick, who presides over the
upper chamber, indicated in a social media post that he
Mt. Pleasant
Tribune
L J"
Harts Bluff
Happenings
By Bobby Rice
Harts Bluff ISD
Superintendent
Published Wednesdays and Saturdays, plus
daily online at tribnow.com
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zens from the state’s voter
rolls.
The Secretary of State’s office, in following the new
process, will send to county voter registrars only the
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my desk where I will sign them into law. I look forward and the District of Columbia have passed bills like this
to working with Lt. Gov. Patrick, Speaker Bonnen and the and the sky hasn’t fallen there. Whatever you think about
entire Legislature to deliver lasting property tax relief to Colorado-style legalization, this isn’t it.”
One word can float} our
boat or sink your ship
its only words, and
words are all I have, to take
your heart away
every Texan.”
fe-
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•
IMLOUERINSMY
BLO0D PRESSURE-)
Plaintiffs agreed to dis-
miss their claims and the
Secretary of State’s office
agreed to issue a new ad-
visory notifying Texas
counties on a revised pro-
cess for identifying and
removing non-U.S. citi-
Having been a lover of words as a writer of one per-
suasion or another all my life, I get fired up about the
power they possess and about ways to assemble them
to create precise and effective communication. Yep, I’m
a word nerd and that’s why my eagerly awaited Mer-
riam-Webster (M-W) vocabulary word builder email a
couple of days ago fueled that fire into a frenzy.
The topic was correctly choosing the word “boat” or
“ship” to describe a specific variety of watercraft and
the defining characteristics of each to make the right
choice. After polling a fleet of knowledgeable sources
for answers that have been floated on the topic, the final
M-W analysis was that most of them lack the exacting
language a dictionary is expected to contain.
A couple of the more thought-provoking examples
included, “You can put a boat onto a ship, but you can’t
put a ship onto a boat,” and “a boat is what you get into
when the ship sinks.” My personal favorite, however,
was, “a boat is the dish you put the gravy in.”
Discussion docked at the conclusion that terminolo-
gy more specific than “ships are bigger than boats,” was
yet to be put into words. I’m thinking we can probably
solve this with a quick note to my seafaring friend, Jim
Chionsini, who could easily chart a direct course to the
answer.
Sailing on to smoother water, M-W succinctly stat-
ed in another article that, “The English language nev-
er sleeps, and neither does the dictionary.” Noting new
words added to the 191-year-old company as of April of
2019, M-W stated and every wordsmith is aware that,
“a dictionary is a work in progress and reflects the shifts
in culture and communication.” And, if there’s anything
that will spark more vigorous conversation among writ-
ers than determining which word he or she should use,
it’s debating the use of new additions to the dictionary.
For instance, “snowflake” is no longer simply frozen
precipitation. It has been bantered so much that it has
now been branded in dictionaries as “someone regard-
ed or treated as unique or special” and “someone who is
overly sensitive.”
The same goes for poor “purple” which is no longer
seen as just one of the 64 happy Crayon colors in the
big box with the built-in sharpener I coveted as a kid.
It’s now officially defined as a reference to “geographi-
cal areas where voters are split between Democrats and
Republicans.”
Even Goldilocks’ picky porridge sampling in the clas-
sic story about her encounter with the three bears has
made her name a metaphor that astronomers use to de-
scribe “an area of planetary orbit in which temperatures
are neither too hot nor too cold to support life.”
Whether freshly-minted new words or new defini-
tions attached to familiar old words, it’s those shifts
in culture and communication over time that keep a
wordsmith busy by day searching for the right words
and awake at night evaluating the individual likes and
dislikes that vary within society. The choice of just one
word may be the difference in whether you float your
boat or sink your ship.
I used to worry about being at the airport when my
ship finally comes in. I’ve decided there’s no need to fret
about it. As the song goes, “It’s only words ...” and the
meaning of the words will likely have changed by the
time my ship comes in anyway. Or, is it my boat?
cent and 2 percent for school districts. The bill also allows matching records of individuals who registered to vote
local option elections on proposals to exceed rollback rates, before identifying themselves as non-U.S. citizens to the
SB 2, like House Bill 1, the state budget bill, is now in the Texas Department of Public Safety when applying for a
chicken biscuits for break-
fast. This allowed them to fill
UP their bellies. Thanks to
Whataburger for their gen-
eration donation. They also
had trail mix as an afternoon
snack so they could Mix it
UP. Wednesday is Sauce it
UP day where the Harts Bluff
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
hands of a conference committee of five House members
and five Senate members tasked with producing a final,
agreed-to version. Meanwhile, all eyes are on the calen-
dar and the clock as constitutional deadlines set in and the
May 27 end of the session grows near.
Gov. Greg Abbott lauded the progress made on the prop-
erty tax reform bill. “For too long, Texans have watched
their property taxes skyrocket while being reduced to ten-
ants of their own property. That is not the Texas way,” Ab-
bott said.
“In the final days of the legislative session, I am confi-
dent this historic legislation, combined with additional
reforms working their way through the system, will reach
(ILi)
CANW“GJERYOURBLcOD,
W BY UP-J
House OKs marijuana bill
HB 63, legislation lessening penalties for possession of
an ounce or less of marijuana, won House approval on
April 30, on a vote of 103-42.
If passed, the penalty for minor possession of marijua-
na would be a misdemeanor citation, like a traffic ticket.
Authored by House Speaker Pro-tempore Joe Moody,
D-El Paso, the bill drew support from both political par-
ties.
Before a final vote was called in the House, Moody said
in the course of a longer statement, “Members, 22 states
Parties in the lawsuit LULAC v. Texas Secretary of State would not allow the bill to progress any further.
David Whitley and consolidated cases agreed to a settle-
ment over Whitley’s Jan. 25 letter to county voter regis- Revenue total increases
trars. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on May 2 announced
In an announcement released April 26, Whitley wrote, state sales tax revenue totaled $2.8 billion in April, an
“Today’s agreement accomplishes our office’s goal of main- amount 3 percent more than the amount reported in
taining an accurate list of qualified registered voters while April 2018.
eliminating the impact of any list maintenance activity “State sales tax revenue continued to grow, but at a
on naturalized U.S. citizens. I will continue to work with modest pace compared to recent months,” Hegar said in
all stakeholders in the election community to ensure this an agency news release. “Increased sales tax collections
process is conducted in a manner that holds my office ac- were mostly from the construction and services sectors,
countable and protects the voting rights of eligible Texans.” while collections from retail trade saw a moderate de-
In his role as the state’s chief elections officer, Whitley cline,” he added.
wrote the letter directing registrars to identify and remove Furthermore, Hegar said, total sales tax revenue for the
from voter rolls non-U.S. citizens registered to vote in Tex- three months ending in April 2019 was up 6.2 percent
as. That letter sparked the lawsuit. compared to the same period a year ago.
For me it was Mr. Withrow at Lufkin High School, who taught PTO is providing good ole Texas bar-be-que and sweet tea for
my senior government class. I would say he had a lot to do lunch. Thank you PTO for all you do for our staff and stu-
with me going into education. Hats off to Mr. Withrow and all dents. Thursday is Carb it UP which includes loaded baked
the other teachers that are often underpaid, overworked, and potatoes and peach cobbler provided by Chef Dameon and
unrecognized for all the efforts they put forth. the Harts Bluff cafeteria staff. Thanks Cafe Crew for all you
This week at Harts Bluff, we are trying to recognize our do! Friday concludes the week with Wake UP and Rest UP
staff for all the work they do by providing little goodies each where staff will receive donuts and coffee for breakfast and
day. I would like to share with you some of the things we have then in the afternoon receive a 5-minute massage from a pro-
going on this week: First you should know that our climate fessional masseuse.
committee came up with the idea of using the movie “Up” as Thanks to our Climate Committee, Kelly Walker, Erika
the theme for the week so the workroom and surrounding Ponce de Leon, Kristin Williams, Kayla Hall, and Melissa Rice
areas are decorated with balloons and other paraphernalia as- for setting all this UP and I hope our teachers feel appreciated
sociated with the movie. Monday, our staff was treated with throughout the week. I hope each of you will take the time to
walking tacos and cookies where they were able to build their thank a teacher for what they did for you, or maybe for your
own tacos and pile UP their plates. Tuesday, the Mount Pleas- child or grandchild. To use an old phrase as a close, if you can
ant Whataburger provided them taquitos and honey butter read this article.. .thank a teacher!
Teacher Appreciation
Week is happening as I
write for the week of May
6 through May 10. If you
think about it, you can prob-
ably think back on a teach-
er that you remember from
your school days that had a
positive impact on your life.
• o
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Mount Pleasant Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 145, No. 44, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 8, 2019, newspaper, May 8, 2019; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1429252/m1/4/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.