The Colony Courier-Leader (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 2001 Page: 6 of 57
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6J
The Colony Courier-Leader
Thursday, February 22, 2001 — www.colonyleader.com
OPINIONS
Letter to
The Editor
02C01 THEGTATE
ASK THE AG 0
Dear Editor,
The Colony Times, either by
cunning wit or a layout error,
placed RF Mason’s letter of
praise of a teacher that was
given prison time for having sex
with a fifteen year old boy, adja-
cent to a column outlined in bold
faced type that was seeking
“Nominations sought for outra-
geous person of the year.” How
befitting.
They scored a touchdown
when they questioned the paren-
theses around the word colonel.
Our first exposure to the contro-
versial individual was shortly
after the school board outlawed
male students wearing earrings
with attending classes. It
appeared to strike a sensitive
nerve with a parent who identi-
fied himself as a colonel. It
seemed he was waging a one-
man war with the school system
over their dress code. Our first
thoughts were how much our
military leaders have changed
their viewpoints on decorum.
The more we read some of this
(colonel’s ?) off the wall diatribe,
we felt the urge to seek a ren-
dezvous and see if he was for
real. A short time later our
curiosity was absolved when a
chance meeting at a local busi-
ness establishment confirmed
our first telepathic impression.
We beheld what looked to be an
imagined younger version of
Wild Bill Hickcock, handlebar
mustache, stare and resplen-
dently adorned with US Military
Colonel’s Insignias (or an excel-
lent imitation) on the collar
lapels of his civilian white shirt.
Three things came to mind. Is
this what Webster defines as a
walking talking example of an
alter ego trip, a frustrated indi-
vidual who likes to play soldier,
or one who didn’t believe
Grandmother’s sage advice
when they cautioned what could
happen when pleasures are self
administered to excess?
Politics being what they are,
could this wayward extra cur-
riculum expounded by R.F.
Mason (colonel?) be a back door
approach to seek the position
being vacated by Dr. Downing,
our LISD Superintendent? Our
question of the day for our
esteemed castaway for the
Hippie Era: You recommended
the father of the boy send the
school teacher a bouquet of
flowers for furthering his son’s
education. Does the same logic
hold true if you had a daughter
and middle aged male educator
decided (on his own) to expand
the approved school syllabus?
We must presume you would
send this pleasure instructor a
box of “El Supremo Cigars.”
Your statement, ‘make love not
war’, dates you and your archaic
way of thinking.
Suggestion — leave our
teachers alone. They do an
excellent job without your med-
dling.
Submitted by The Colony
Veteran’s Club (Real Veterans)
The Colony
, SEE ?...
I TOLD YA
WE’D GET
YOU IN.
AS
RC
In My OPINION
The Colony cleared for election launch
By PATTI HICKS
The election has been called for
May 5, 2001. Many
steps follow this
first formal action.
Not all steps have
to be taken every
year. One of those,
which is not neces-
sary this year for
The Colony has
"pre-clearance" by
the U.S. Justice
pre-cleared by the Justice Department. Department be allowed 60 days to
The purpose of this action is to respond to a pre-clearance submission,
ensure that changes have not been This is not a step that should be taken
made in a city that make it more diffi- lightly. There have been cases where
cult for its citizens to cast their vote, elections were invalidated due to
Changes, which require pre-clearance, . 1
could include annexation, dis-annexa- improper pre-c earance.
tion, change in polling places, change I am proud to say, The Colony has
in method of voting or changes in bal- never had an objection made by the
lot style. Justice Department.
This year, The Colony has not made Filing for the May 5, 2001 election
any changes to its electoral process, opened on Feb. 20 at 8 a.m. and will
which would require pre-clearance by end on March 21, 2001 at 5 p.m.
Department, Voting hicks the Justice Department If a pre-clear- Interested persons should contact the
Rights Division. -------------ance had been required the submis- city secretary 079 6OF 1756
Any change made in a city which could sion would have been made during the 9 secretary s oince ar 02 020 1/00
affect the ability to vote of a particular first two weeks of February. Patti Hicks is City Secretary for The Colony and
segment of the population, must be It is recommended that the Justice is also serving as interim City Manager
Still fighting for those foreign language credits
Over my first six months I have had
the chance to meet so many people,
from the entire North Texas area.
It seems like just yesterday that
reporter Penny Rathbun was inter-
viewing me about my arrival to Frisco
and, I have that story to thank for
many of my conversations since: “Oh,
ble for my inability to correctly form a
word, much less a sentence. Even one
of the world’s most prolific and well-
known authors had his fits with the
English language.
Mark Twain once described the
English language in the following way
in his autobiography: “... ours is a
mongrel language which started with
a child’s vocabulary of three hundred
words, and now consists of two hun-
dred and twenty-five thousand; the
whole lot, with the exception of the
original and legitimate three hundred,
borrowed, stolen, smooched from
every unwatched language under the
sun, the spelling of each individual
word of the lot locating the source of
the theft and preserving the memory
of the revered crime.”
I hope you enjoy these columns
about my life. It has been a pleasure to
converse with you over the past six
months and I hope we are able to do
T. u . this for years to come.
Driving home from school my par- proper sentence structure, and I1 .1
ents would have witty discussions expressed to them I had had enough. . you ave any comments about
about literature, the art of writing and To this day, my mom still calls up this column, the stories in todays
dangling modifiers (always got a and reminds me I write for a living, paper or anything about The Colony
guilty laugh out of that one). I actually Also to this day, my mom still marks Courier-Leader, please feel free to give
had my parents as teachers in high up a paper with a red pen and sends me a call.
school. them back to me. Aren’t parents great.
I had my father for sophomore But I should not be held responsi- Tim Reeves can be reached at 972-335-2141.
LEAVE A
MESSAGE
Tim Reeves
so you are the editor of the paper,” a English, while I had my mom for
gracious reader would say. “Yes American history. Although I did not
ma’am (sir), I am. Nice to meet you,” have her for English in high school, I
I would reply in a Southern gentle- had to meet up with my mother again
manly manner. “You’re the one who a few years later for English
says he cannot spell,” again they Literature 252 in college.
would say. “Yes ma’am (sir),” I would In high school, I began in the
reply, chuckling, while all the time advanced diploma program but decid-
wishing I could crawl back into my car ed to leave, choosing not to take a for-
and quickly drive home, eign language course. Although, to
To my credit, I have become a this day, I contend that I took four
much better speller since I burst on to years of foreign language, since taking
the journalism scene eight years ago, English classes in south Alabama
thanks primarily to the fact that some- should actually be counted as a for-
one finally pointed out the spell check eign language credit.
option in Microsoft Word. As the son After graduating high school I.
of two English teachers (I was promised my parents I would have
doomed from the start), I quickly nothing to do with English. I had
gained a dislike for the English lan- lived the past 18 years of hearing dis-
guage. cussion after discussion about the
Opinion
Policy
The Colony Courier-
Leader encourages you to
voice your opinion on mat-
ters of interest to you and
other readers through the
Letters to the Editor and In
My Opinions columns. All
viewpoints are welcome.
Submissions must be
signed and include your
address and daytime tele-
phone number for verifica-
tion. However, only the
author’s name and home-
town will be published.
The Colony Courier-
Leader will not print items
suspected of containing
defamation, and it will not
publish items personally
attacking other individu-
als. Name-calling will not
be tolerated.
Letters intended for
individuals rather than the
public at large are unac-
ceptable.
Letters to the editor may
not exceed 250 words and
In My Opinion essays may
not exceed 600 words.
Other items may be longer
if in the editor’s judgment,
the extra length is merit-
ed. No more than one In
My Opinion and two let-
ters to the editor will be
published per person per
month.
Letters and opinion
essays should be sent to
Opinions Editor, The
Colony Courier-Leader,
P.O. Box 308, Lewisville,
Texas, 75067.
arking the milestones of manhood
“When I grow up to be a man...”
- The Beach Boys
My son, Robert, is visiting me this
weekend to assist as I permanently
move from Lancaster to Plano. I have
always joked that bearing male chil-
dren is wonderful for several things,
including having them mow the yard,
take care of you in your old age and to
help move the folks when they get
old.
The latter will happen as his mus-
cles and my supervisory skills (I’ll tell
him which boxes to carry) swing into
action.
But having not seen him since
Christmas, I will relish the chance to
exchange the news of both our lives.
I also want to see how well he is
doing on his life’s journey. He is fully
a man these days - complete with
fiancE, full-time job and looking for
better wheels .. always. He is working
to save enough money to return to
college and fulfill a dream of both of
ours - getting a degree.
I could not help reminiscing about
his initial “steps” into manhood and all
those symbols associated with the
plateau. When Robert turned 16, he
officially had the tools that officially
harkened his entrance to manhood.
His driver’s license (drivers were
warned!).
His first electric razor (barbers
were warned!).
Since voting wasn’t as important to
a high school sophomore as it should
have been, and because he had been
paying adult prices at the movies for
four years, those other items were the
telltale symbols of becoming what
society laughingly termed an “adult.”
Robert had the privilege of getting
FROM THE
Bottom
Looking UP
Chuck Bloom
a job that included the code words,
“Do you want fries with that?” That
will be easily compared to later adult-
hood when he will little mouths to
feed that demand those fries.
Then he will really be an adult.
Robert got to exchange shaving
tips with his father, even if those tips
included how to trim those single lit-
tle strands remaining on top of his
poor father’s dome. (Give a kid a
razor and he thought he was the rein-
though his luck with girls was as bar-
ren as his old man’s. He would sheep-
ishly brag about how thick his little
black book was, but Dad knew one
day (all too quick for my taste), his
son would settle on one woman ... for
the rest Of his life. Funny, it happened
for both of us within the same calen-
dar year, and we both have made the
perfect choice.
When you move through adult-
hood, females quickly stop being
“girls” and graduate to being
“women.” He knew the proper time to
going from “boy” to “man.”
As if any man can really figure it
out.
Every father has to learn to live
with this growth process. I almost
used the word “maturation,” but that
carnation of Vidal Sassoon for men). concept is often a little tough to swal-
I, in return, got the satisfaction of low. Especially since I’m not sure I’m
not noticing the peach fuzz on his chin all THAT mature at 48.
which he claimed to be a goatee... and 1 tried to convey to my son that
watching him react in disgust. being an adult depended on the indi-
He got to dream about driving a vidual and the ability to accept the
new red Camaro of F-250 pickup, challenges that came with age. Yet it
while saving his meager wages for isn't the best mindset to stay at any
something that would simply run on age.
four wheels and guzzle a little more Adults should retain some figment
than eight miles to the gallon of gas. of child in them; it’ll make them better
Robert continued to battle his way adults t0 realize from whence they
through Spanish 1, but was just a few came.1 .
years away from leaving the nest and When I told Robert that, he just
heading to another level of adulthood rolled his eyes, gave me one of those
— college. Unfortun-ately, it wasn’t "duhs, and went back to telling me
that long ago when his father took him how to shave.. . .
to his first kindergarten class and left Ill remind him again of all of it this
work early to pick up his son as school weekend.
ended. And well still act like guys. Im not
Pretty soon, that responsibility will sure maturity can be used in the same
fall on Robert’s shoulders. But... let’s sentence, though.
hope it’s later rather than sooner. 6.
*. 1 ,.Chuck Bloom can be reached by e-mail at
He tried to exchange tips on attract- bloomc@dfwcn.com or by calling 972-727-
ing women with his single father, even 3352.
Debt collection firms
must follow the rules
Q: A debt
collection
agency is call-
ing me at
work several
times a day. Is
this legal?
A: Credit-
ors have the
right to collect
debts.
However,
state and fed-
JOHN
Cornyn
eral law limits the methods that
may be used.
Federal law prohibits profes-
sional bill collectors from con-
tacting you at work if you have
advised them in writing not to do
so. Federal law also prohibits
bill collectors from calling you at
home before 8 a.m. or after 9
p.m., unless the collector knows
such times are convenient for
you.
In addition, the Texas Debt
Collection Act provides addition-
al safeguards for consumers.
These rules apply to anyone try-
ing to collect a consumer debt in
Texas. Under this law, debt col-
lectors may not:
• Harass debtors by making
anonymous telephone calls or
by making repeated or continu-
ous calls;
• Use profane or obscene lan-
guage;
• Threaten you with violence
or other criminal acts;-
• Falsely accuse you of fraud
or other crimes;
• Ask you to accept collect
charges on a telephone call with-
out first disclosing the true
name of the caller; or
• Send you documents that
falsely appear to be from a court
or other official agency.
Q: What should I do if I’m
being repeatedly contacted by a
bill collector?
A: You may want to contact
the Consumer Credit
Counseling Service (CCCS).
This non-profit organization pro-
vides debt counseling to families
and individuals. You can contact
CCCS at 800-388-2227 to locate
an office in your area.
If you are being subjected to
wrongful debt collection tactics,
you can file a consumer com-
plaint with my office. Call us at
800-337-3928 to request a com-
plaint form, or download it from
the Office of the Attorney
General
website
(www.oag.state.tx.us).
To stop a professional debt
collection agency from contact-
ing you, notify the collector in
writing. Keep a copy of your let-
ter and send the original by cer-
tified mail. You should also send
a copy to the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC), which
investigates illegal practices by
professional bill collectors. You
can contact the FTC’s Dallas ’
office at 214-979-0213 or at its
website (www.ftc.gov).
Q: What does your office do
when someone violates the Debt
Collection Act?
A: My office will take action
to stop violations of the Debt
Collection Act and other con-
sumer protection laws.
Depending on the facts of the
case, we may resolve the matter
by negotiating an assurance of
voluntary compliance with the
debt collector, ask a court for an
injunction or restraining order
to stop the violation, or assist
local prosecutors in conducting
a criminal investigation. Civil or
criminal penalties may be
assessed against the debt collec-
tor.
Any action that this office
takes, however, will be on behalf
of the State of Texas, not an indi-
vidual consumer. We are some-
times able to obtain restitution
for consumers, although this is
not always possible.
In January 2001, my
Consumer Protection Division
won a temporary restraining
order that shut down three
fraudulent Houston-area debt
collectors. The collectors
allegedly committed numerous
violations of the Debt Collection
Act and Deceptive Trade
Practices Act and violated a fed-
eral law that bans sending unso-
licited faxes.
The individuals named in the
suit often passed themselves off
as attorneys. They sent unso-
licited faxes to businesses
nationwide offering to collect
debts. After obtaining a compa-
ny’s credit files, the defendants
used threats of criminal prosecu-
tion, including the use of profan-
ity, to harass people into paying
debts. Frequently, money col-
lected .from debtors was never
passed on to creditors.
(John Cornyn is the attorney general
for the state of Texas. Questions and
comments can be directed to webmas-
ter@aog.state.tx.us.)
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Reeves, Tim. The Colony Courier-Leader (The Colony, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 2001, newspaper, February 22, 2001; The Colony, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1621659/m1/6/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Colony Public Library.