Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 161, No. 25, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Page: 3 of 16
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Clferokeeaif Herald ■ thecherokeean.com
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
3A
EDITORIAL BOARD
Whitehead Enterprises Inc.
publisher
MARIE WHITEHEAD
editor
TERRIE W. GONZALEZ
managing editor
FAST I <orward
A new world order in just 10 days
Alas, our house is
quiet. The pitter-
patter of little feet is
gone.
For 10 days we babysat
our granddog, an 18-month
old s|>;iniol named Darwin
— named after the 18th
century naturahst Charles
Darwin, who wrote Origin
of the Species and studied
on the Gallapagos Islands.
This 30-pound pooch
moved into our house and
wrote his own book. The
New Pecking Order - Dar-
win's Laws.
Basically, the new world
order of his other favorite,
Darwin's Animal Farm,
could be boiled down to this
cannon: "Two legs good,
four legs better.''
He needed a man servant
and a woman servant to do
his bidding, and he never
wanted us to forget who
could run faster or leap
higher in any competition.
Once we accepted that
tenet, we stopped flinching
as our civil rights slowly
eroded. Oh, yes, Darwin
had a plan. He instituted
it slowly — day by day. We
were the property owners
— but what rights did we
really have?
-I '
TERRIE GONZALEZ
herald@mediactr.com
Our daughter, Lauren,
mapped out Darwin's needs
after she fractured her
ankle and sent him to hve
with us for a few days.
"You need to walk him
three times a day, and
expect him to poop twice a
day."
Darwin 's Laws including
six long walks each day,
meal service 24-7 and lots
of treats for perceived good
deeds. What goes in must
come out — and he was up
to four big jobs a day.
Darwin's time with us af-
forded him an opportunity
to study animal behavior.
He had never been around
cats before, and he took up
with a big yellow one with
six toes named Big Bad
Burt. Darwin estabhshed
himself as the Alpha Dog,
which I rumps Alpha Cat
every time.
Any crumb dropped to the
floor became fair game for
this duo, which competed to
see who could lap it up and
make it disappear.
A walk to the refrigera-
tor for a glass of water was
never simple. "You want
something to drink? Forget
it. You just reminded me
that I want a bowl of ice
cubes first. We know who
gets to go first around here.
Remember, two legs good,
four legs better.''
Darwin spent a lot of time
with my mom, his Great
GrandMo. "You want to
take a nap. I want to take
a nap — no problem. We'll
nap together.'' Suddenly
the floor was no longer good
enough for Darwin. He
changed the pecking order
at her house, too.
The Darwinator, as we
began calling him, has gone
home to Austin — and the
old pecking order is return-
ing.
An exasperated Lauren
called this morning: "How
did you spoil Darwin so
much in just 10 days? '
factor
THEQI/"
Slow progress is still progress
Over the last few
weeks, I've been try-
ing to lose weight.
The going has been
slow, but there has been
some progress. I've started
to feel a little better, I've
gotten some stamina back
and I'm starting to get into
a routine. That's the hard-
est thing about working out
to me. When I'm on a regi-
ment that revolves around
only me, that gets boring,
but I'm finding ways around
that.
I'm looking forward to a payoff. I'm
controlling meal portions better than I
was (sometimes) and while I don't have
a target weight in mind, it feels good to
simply do a little more than I was before.
The first sign came after a photo as-
signment I did for the newspaper. As I
was walking back to my car, I noticed my
shadow. I noticed my shoulders Were a
little straight.er and starting to get some
definition.
I stopped and looked at my shadow
and couldn't help but smile. My posture's
getting better and my shadow is more
streamlined. It's a start.
The second sign came this weekend,
when an old shirt in my wardrobe that I
hked fit a little better than it had be-
fore. It isn't the greatest shirt: in fact, I
only wear it when I know I'm not going
anywhere. It wasn't so tight around my
stomach. This was something that made
me feel good because I was Seeing prog-
QUINTEN BOYD
chreporter@mediactr.com
ress.
The interesting thing
about the world is that a
lot of times, we want to see
progress after only a short
time. It's normal because
we're human. We want
things to go right when we
do them and, if something
goes wrong, it feels hke the
end of the world.
With this mindset (which
we all tend to fall into), we
start to worry too much
about things that usually
end up working out. There are things that
we need to worry about, but we're so busy
"sweating the small stuff' that we fail to
look at the things going nicely for us.
I started to lament the fact that the
shirt Still wasn't loose on me until I
stopped to think about just how far I'd
come in a short time. I recognize the fact
that I'm probably not going to be the
svelte, skinny guy that we see hawking
items in commercials or serving as the
leading man in movies.
You know what? I'm fine with that. I'm
trying to get in better shape for me. I al-
ready feel like I'm a handsome individual.
Even when I was bigger, I still felt like
I wasn't a bad looking guy. I just knew I
wanted to do a little more for myself.
I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm
not going to worry about it, either. I know
things like this take time and effort, and
I don't mind putting in either. It's a good
lesson that we can all learn — nothing
worthwhile ever Comes easy.
TAXING I thoughts
Tax breaks come with self-employment
Whether you're
contemplating
the leap into
self-employment
or have already jumped, be
aware of the available tax
breaks.
• Accelerated
expensing. Planning
to purchase new or used
equipment or software
for your business? You
may be able to deduct
up to $250,000 of the
cost on your 2010 federal
income tax return. The
immediate expensing
trims both taxable income
and the amount subject
to self-employment tax.
The write-off also reduces
your adjusted gross
income, which would
increase deductions that
are calculated using this
figure.
• Home office. If you
conduct business from
your home, you may be
entitled to a deduction
for home office expenses.
You may quahfy to write
off the business portion
of your home utility bills,
insurance, maintenance.
ANITA L. WOODLEE
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
and other expenses.
The requirements for
deductibility are very
strict: get details if you
think you might quahfy.
• Medical costs. You
can write off up to 100
percent of premiums for
health, dental, qualified
long-term care, and
supplemental insurance.
Some limits apply, but
the insurance can cover
you, your spouse, and your
dependents.
• Family employees.
Hiring Family members
to perform useful services
for a reasonable wage
can generate a business
expense and reduce your
self-employment tax.
• Retirement savings.
Retirement plan options
for self-employed
individuals include a
SIMPLE, a SEP, a Keogh,
or a 401(k). Contributions
can bring down today's
tax burden and provide
tax-deferred savings for
tomorrow. Another plus;
You may quahfy for a
credit of up to 50 percent
of the plan's set-up costs
(with a $500 annual limit).
• Other breaks.
Other available tax
breaks include a possible
deduction for business
travel costs and 50 percent
of the self-employment
taxes you pay. To learn
more about taxes and self-
employment, give us a call.
pd. advertising
ANITA L. WOODLEE,
CPA, PC
CERTIFIED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTANT
111 Henderson • Rusk • 75785
Phone:903-683-1002
www.anitawoodleecpa.com
Visit our web site for new tax
tips and financial calculators
WSKQ&
"I SWEAR, IF ONE MORE PERSON ASK*'HOT EN0VJGU FOR VivP'..."
Published weekly each
Wednesday by
WHITEHEAD
ENTERPRISES,
INC.
Texas' oldest continuously published
weekly newspaper, established as the
Cherokee Sentinel, Feb. 27,1850. Con-
solidation of The Cherokeean, The Alto
Herald and the Wells News & Views
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Marie Whitehead
editor, advertising sales
(903) 683-2257 ext. 105
mwhitehead@mediactr.com
Terrie Gonzalez
managing editor
(903) 683-2257 ext. 107
herald@mediactr.com
Robert Gonzalez
advertising sales
(903) 683-2257 ext. 102
rgonzalez@mediactr.com
Gloria Jennings
general news
(903) 683-2257 ext. 106
news@mediactr. com
Quinten Boyd
general news, sports
(903) 683-2257ext. 109
chreporter@mediactr.com
Brenda Davis
advertising, receivables
advertising@mediactr.com
classifiedads@mediactr. com
Tara Crosby
advertising sales
(903) 683-2257 ext. 103
sales@mediactr.com
HIGH POINTS \*~ El Camino Real
Folks with kids along
El Camino Real have
started thinking about
school supplies and
school clothes and wonder-
ing what the price tag is
going to be this year. I'm
thinking shorts are going
to be the rage in fashion at
school until at least Octo-
ber. I just hope everyone
saves enough money back
to buy their four bits' worth
of news. I'd say its recom-
mended reading for all ages
before and after school starts.
Joyce McGaughey Hopkins lost her
husband, James E. Hopkins, on Aug. 4 in
Houston. Services were Saturday at the
Cold Springs United Methodist Church.
Please keep Joyce and the rest of the fam-
ily in your prayers while they mourn his
passing.
Bobbye Brethouwer is sick in the hospi-
tal, so we need to keep her and Kenneth
in our prayers. She has been under the
weather for a good while, but with lots of
prayers maybe she'll get home before long.
The Calvary Tabernacle United Pen-
tecostal Church in Alto is having an all
you can eat barbecue dinner from 4-7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 14.
The menu will be ribs, brisket, chopped
beef, sausage, chicken and all the trim-
mings including tea and dessert. It will
only cost you $10 a plate for folks 10 and
over, ages 1-9 eat for $6 and 3 and under
for free.
I may shave my moustache off and try
and pass for a large baby. I've attended
several of these barbecues, and I have
never left disappointed or hungry.
I'm not even going to tell you about the
desserts. Writing about the barbecue has
already made me so hungry I can't think
straight. Good folks, good food — what else
could you ask for? Come out and support
Calvary Tabernacle UPC on Saturday.
Alto teachers will be starting back to
school next week, and that means it is
only a short time until all the httle dar-
lings will follow. Summer is winding to a
close and fall will officially arrive in about
six weeks.
The beginning of the school year comes
with mixed emotions. The teachers often
feel like they have been given a nine-
month prison sentence, but the husbands
they leave behind can smell freedom in
the air. Pray for all our teachers and staff
as they begin a new school year.
We were visiting with the mother-in-law
the other night, talking about how tough
the present economic times are getting.
She started telhng us about the old days
here and how poor folks wete. Most
people lived off of what they were able
to raise on their land or sharecropped off
other folks' land. When a family couldn't
take care of all the children they had, they
sometimes had to send them to live with
other family members and distant cousins.
In some cases the things we take totally
CHRIS DAVIS
elcaminoreal@consolidated.net
for granted, hke shoes, were
a luxury.
You didn't look at the
Dow Jones to figure out
whether you were going to
survive, you looked to the
Lord above and hoped he
provided enough rain and
a long growing season so
you could make a crop. If
you needed help you had to
rely on family, friends or
your church, and you had
to be willing to offer the
same. There didn't seem to
be much room for idleness in the time she
described. I thought she was talking about
the years during the Depression, but she
was talking about before that. I figured if
it was that bad before the Great Depres-
sion that it must have been unbearable
during it. She said that the Depression
didn't really hit here until around 1934
.and she said you didn't notice much dif-
ference.
We didn't have the bread lines and folks
jumping off sky scrapers hke they had
up north. We didn't have a sky scraper,
but I'm sure someone could have made do
with a tall pine tree. As bad as I hate to
admit it, I always find some wisdom in her
words. We need to take notice and listen
to the old ones every chance we get.
People made do with what they had and
were happy with simple pleasures that we
take for granted. They hved in times that
we can only imagine, and they survived
through hard work, family and a strong
faith. I guess we all have so much now
that the thought of losing anything is
frightening.
I think those same virtues and faith that
got folks through the hard times of the 20s
and 30s are still ahve in small communi-
ties all over our area today. We just need
to slow down a httle bit and remember
where we came from and where our bless-
ings come from.
I was talking to Margie Adams on Sun-
day at church, and she said that her moth-
er, Mrs. Inez Johnston of Oakland, kept
up with things down this way through my
column. I believe she said that she plays
the piano at the Oakland Missionary Bap-
tist Church.
What a blessing to have so much musi-
cal talent in one family. I can barely play
the radio, much less an instrument, so I
guess I'll just leave the ivories to y'all and
keep hammering away on this plastic com-
puter keyboard.
I look forward to meeting Mrs. Johnston
sometime in the near future.
Well, I guess I've rambled on enough
for this issue and if I go on much further
they will bump me to another page and
my words of wisdom could be lost in the
shuffle.
Don't forget to let me know if you have
something that needs telling. I'll see ya
next week! And remember. Faith ends
where worry begins, and worry ends
where faith begins.
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 161, No. 25, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 11, 2010, newspaper, August 11, 2010; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152951/m1/3/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.