The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 69, Ed. 1 Friday, August 28, 2009 Page: 4 of 42
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Boerne Star and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Patrick Heath Public Library.
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Friday, August 28, 2009
PAGE 4A
The BOERNE Star
VIEWPOINTS
The Boerne Star
Online Poll
Should the city provide more services to Dickens
on the Main?
■ Yes - It’s a major event that helps
downtown merchants.
• No - The city already provides
enough.
■ No Opinion
Results of 111 votes cast as of Monday noon.
Visit www.boernestar.com and cast your vote today
Worth Quoting ...
“You can clutch the past so tightly
to your chest, that it leaves your
arms too full to embrace
the present.”
- Jan Glidewell
Bible Verse ...
“This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent
His Son as an atoning sacrifice
for our sins.”
- 1 John 4:10 (NIV)
45%
53%
2%
It isn’t pretty when parents become history projects
Images and retrospectives on the 40 th anni- OUT OF STEP “We need to talkabout your MTV” I said
versary of Woodstock brought back some — - Y
family memories as school started.
Not memories of Woodstock itself - we
weren’t there - but memories of the 30th
anniversary.
The summer of 1999 was a tumultuous time
for the small rural town where we lived when
our daughter was in high school.
Parents were up in arms over the opening
of a tattoo/body piercing parlor just down the
street from the high school, and the local cable
television company was succumbing to pres-
sure to add MTV to the basic line-up. “I want
my MTV” was the slogan of the day.
After attending a city council meeting and
learning that beauty parlors had more state
health department oversight than tattoo parlors
and that the front door of the tattoo place was
more than 500 feet away from the school as
required in our little town’s zoning ordinance,
we organized mom patrols, taking turns sitting
in our parked cars in front of the tattoo place.
We figured with us there, no teenagers would
go near the place.
The proprietor told us no one under the age
of 18 could get a tattoo anyway so we were
wasting our time, but he was nice about it and
we were careful not block any customer park-
ing. One mom even decided to have her ears
triple-pierced.
We were told the newly opened state prison
just outside of town attracted the tattoo parlor
to come some 90 miles from the nearest major
metro area. We weren’t buying that, since it
wasn’t near the prison, it was near the high
school.
“We wouldn’t go to someplace here anyway,”
the teenager who worked part time at the
newspaper said as she showed us her new belly
ring one Monday morning. She had graduated
the local high school the previous year and was
attending community college nearby.
“Does your mother know about that?” I
asked calmly while choking back the tempta-
tion to go into full nag mode.
“No,” she said, “but she will tonight and I
Candace Velvin
MANAGING EDITOR
can’t wait to see her face!”
Then, she pulled out the “ring” and showed
me it was a fake made from an earring.
“I hope you get grounded,” I said as she
laughed at me.
As I recall, she did get grounded.
Our school officials were pretty tolerant
of fashion trends, even the extreme. A boy
in junior high - an honor student - came to
school with bright purple hair for an entire
semester. The principal nicknamed him “Bar-
ney.” However, high school students who had
nose rings and other unusual piercings had to
remove them while at school, since they could
present health and safety hazards, especially
in gym class.
After about a month, the excitement died
down and we stopped hanging out at the tattoo
parlor, although we kept a wary eye on it until
it closed six months later.
One afternoon, I dropped by the house to
have a late lunch and check on the dog. I
decided to watch some music videos on MTV.
I was very enlightened, especially by some-
thing called Marilyn Manson. The images
were strange and I tried adjusting the televi-
sion but it didn’t help. Mostly just loud noise,
there was one tune that actually had a beat and
I could understand the words.
You know how you can get a song in your
head? A few days later, I was humming “We’re
all stars, now... in the dope show” while
cleaning the kitchen after dinner. My daughter
and her friend were in the living room “doing
homework.”
I looked up to see Laura and Amanda peek-
ing around the doorframe at me.
“Where did you hear that?” Laura asked.
NO
There had been lots of publicity about the
30th anniversary of Woodstock and the moon
walk that summer, so the sophomore history
teacher decided it would be a great time to
assign special study projects on topics of the
1960s and 1970s. The students also studied the
Vietnam War.
The teacher called and asked if Laura could
bring her dad to school to talk to the class
about his experiences serving in Vietnam. He
asked if someone else could do it but Laura
said none of her friends’ parents were as old as
we were so he was the only Vietnam veteran
they knew. After that humbling revelation, he
agreed to go although he wasn’t ready to think
of himself as ancient history.
Laura’s dad and I were book collectors
and our basement was full of stuff from
the period, including Life magazines, folio
books, histories and a set of 1970-79 World
Book Encyclopedia “Year in Review” editions
picked up at a library used book sale. We had
the 25th anniversary Woodstock video set and
the PBS series on the Vietnam War along with
other tapes and all our old albums. We even
had a turntable and stereo that worked.
It was the early days of the Internet and while
the school library was equipped, the technol-
ogy was slow and cumbersome. Laura and her
friends spent a lot of time digging through the
stuff in the basement for reference material.
They found the Abba and Carpenters albums
and played them over and over and over until
it was “yesterday once more.”
One evening while we were trying to watch
television over the din of the stereo downstairs,
Laura came into the room and confronted us.
Clearing her throat solemnly, she held up
one of our prized possessions - the original
Woodstock album.
“We need to talk about your ‘Fish song’,”
she said.
(Candace Velvin can be reached at can-
dace® boemestar.com.)
4lis
WRITE -EM!
NIGHT
KENDALL COUNTY
JUDGE GAYLAN
SCHROEDER
204 E. San Antonio
Boerne, Texas 78006
830-249-9343
Commissioners
ANN REISSIG
GENE MIERTSCHIN
DARRELL LUX
KENNETH RUSCH
204 E. San Antonio
830-249-9343
78624 830-997-9759
STATE SENATOR, DIST
25
JEFF WENTWORTH
1250 NE Loop 410 St.
925
San Antonio, Tx 78209
210-826-7800
CITY OF BOERNE
MAYOR DAN HECKLER
402 E. Blanco
830-249-9511
STATE REP., DIST 73
DOUG MILLER
Room E1.216, Capitol
Ext.
Austin, TX 78701
512-463-0325
RER LAMAR SMITH
Congressman Lamar
Smith 2409 Rayburn
House Office Bldg.
IWashington, D.C. 20510
. 202-225-4236
San Antonio Office
Guaranty Bank Building
1100 NE Loop 410, Ste.
640
San Antonio, TX 78209
210-821-5024
lamarsmith.house.gov
SE..
HALFWIT
BOERNEISD
Superintendent
JOHN KELLY
123 W. Johns Rd.
Boerne, Texas 78006
830-357-2000
FEDERAL LEVEL
PRESIDENT BARACK
OBAMA
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
MEETING TIMES
BOERNE CITY COUNCIL
7:30 p.m. second and
fourth Tuesdays, City Hall,
402 E. Blanco, Boerne.
KENDALL COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS
Washington, DC 20000 9 a.m. second and fourth
9 TH AvATA ZaRAMA
'I THINK THERE HERE TO DISCUSS YOUR ‘END-OF-LIFE’ OPTIONS,.,
Letters to the Editor
COMFORT ISD
Superintendent
JOHN CHAPMAN
232 High St., Comfort
830-995-3664
KAY BAILEY
HUTCHISON
703 Hart Senate Office
Building
Monday, Kendall County
Courthouse, 204 E. San
Antonio, Boerne
BOERNE ISD TRUSTEES
Washington, D.C. 20510 6:30 p.m. third Monday,
STATE LEVEL
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY
State Capital, Room 200
Austin, Texas 78701
512-463-2000
(202) 224-5922
145 Duncan Dr.,,Suite
120
San Antonio, TX 78226
210-340-2885
BISD boardroom
STATE BOARD
OF EDUCATION
District 5 - 205 W. Travis
Fredericksburg, TX,
U.S. SENATOR
JOHN CORNYN
Russell Bldg. Rm. 179
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2934
COMFORT ISD
TRUSTEES
7 p.m. second Monday in
the board offices
COW CREEK
GROUNDWATER
CONSERVATION
DISTRICT
second Monday at the
District Office. 216 Market
Ave., Ste. 105 Boerne
A complaint - with 55 words to spare
Yesterday I was finally fed up, and for the first time called and com-
plained to the staff of the Boerne Star. What prompted me? It was the
959-word rant from that perennial right-wing windbag, Eldon Kramer. I’ll
have to give him credit for being prolific; his long rants appear regularly,
always in response to one of the Progressive Views columns.
My complaint to the Star was that it is not following its stated policy of
favoring letters of no more than 300 words, and of favoring writers who
haven’t been published recently.
It allows Kramer and others to use the letters to the editor as a constant
soapbox for their views, which obviously are intended to “shout down” any
progressive voices, much like their comrades at town hall meetings have set
out to “shout down” voices in favor of meaningful health care reform.
For the record, Kramer’s last previous letter was published on Aug. 15
and was 598 words.
Isn’t it enough that right-wingers, who enjoy a clear majority in this
community, already have their Own column (not to mention the Ken
Nietenhoefer column that clearly leans that way)? Are they afraid to allow
opposing viewpoints because people might just recognize the common
sense in them?
And as for the healthcare argument itself, I was struck recently by the
advertised fundraisers for debt-ridden families of cancer-stricken children.
This would never have to happen in Canada, would it?
My letter, by the way, is 245 words.
The BOERNE Star
www.boernestar.com
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
Brian Cartwright
EDITORIAL
Managing Editor
News Editor
Sports Editor
Copy Editor
Staff Writers
Graphic Design
PRODUCTION
Candace E. Velvin
Mark J. Armstrong
Kerry Barboza
Kit Brenner
Dave Pasley
Elena Tucker
BOOKKEEPING
Office Manager
Sandra Pfeiffer
CIRCULATION
Subscriptions Dana Smith
ADVERTISING
22% The Auavym CIRANCL E *
Rebecca Kirsch
Kristyn Bergman
Marketing Director
Sales
Sales
Sales
Frank Shubert
Kolleen Roe
Karen Raye Brown
JT Maroney
DISTRIBUTION
Circulation Manager Stephen Bartell
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Chris Woerner, Chris Tilton, Anya Maltsberger
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS
Mary Alice Yelverton, Dr. John Kelly, Natalie Morgan, Jan Wrede, Ed Davis, Anita
Porterfield, Vera D’Spain, Sharon Benedict, Paula White, Mary Alice Dell
Ken Nietenhoefer, Dr. James Dobson, Ellen Damstra,
Tom Harris, Tom Lanier, Lynn Pendley, Kathy Senkbeil, Ron Warden,
Krysta McDaniel, Bill Ward, Peary Perry and Oscar Garcia.
MEMBER OF Texas Press Association, National Newspaper Association,
South Texas Press Association, Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
941 N. School Street • Boerne, TX (UPS 059-740)
830-249-2441 FAX 830-249-4607
THE BOERNE STAR is published twice weekly for $49 per year in Kendall County, $57
elsewhere in Texas and $65 per year outside of Texas by The Boerne Star, 941 N. School St.,
Boerne, Kendall County, TX. 78006. Periodical postage paid at Boerne, TX. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to THE BOERNE STAR, 941 N. School St., Boerne, TX 78006-0820.
U.S.P.S.059-740
- Janice Shoemaker,
Boerne
Letters to the Editor Policy
The Boerne Star welcomes letters on any public issue.
Letters may be mailed, faxed, e-mailed or hand-delivered but must
contain the writer’s name, address and phone number. Addresses and
telephone numbers are for verification purposes only and will not be
published. Names and city of residence will be published. Letters
should be short and concise, long enough only to make your point.
We reserve the right to edit all letters for style and content and refuse
letters that would be objectionable to readers. We also will not publish
anonymous letters. Priority will be given to letters 300 words or less
that concern local topics and written by people who’ve not published
a letter in the last 30 days.
The Boerne Star does not accept letters to the editor urging vot-
ers to vote for or against candidates in local elections. Endorsements
should be displayed in political advertising. In light of this policy,
we reserve the right to reject or edit letters for references to can-
didates and whether or not they should be elected.
Call 249-2441 with questions regarding the submission of letters to
the editor for publication.
Letter to the Editor
PO Box 820 Boerne, TX 78006
news@boernestar.com
NC
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Cartwright, Brian & Velvin, Candace E. The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 69, Ed. 1 Friday, August 28, 2009, newspaper, August 28, 2009; Boerne, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1667434/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Patrick Heath Public Library.