The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 82, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Page: 4 of 18
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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Page 4
THE BOERNE Star
Tuesday, OCTOBER 13, 2009
Star Editorial
Enjoy rain while it lasts
Recently, Kendall County’s weather could almost have one
singing.
Temperatures have finally dropped below sweltering, there is
green grass in the front yard and for the past two weeks there has
been some sort of precipitation nearly every day.
It’s almost enough to make you forget about the months when
there was less than an inch of fain or the burn ban that was in effect
almost continuously for more than a year - but don’t.
Thanks to recent rainfall including 5.29 inches in September,
the most recorded in the past year, most area residents aren’t
using nearly as much water as they did in the previous months.
That’s good since drought restrictions haven’t been lifted or even
reduced.
According to the most recent data, monitoring wells around
the county are still several feet below where they were just a few
months ago, and the city reported Friday that the level in Boerne
City Lake is only 1 foot above the previous lowest recorded level
of 30 feet in 1989.
A look at the historic rainfall for the area also indicates that we
can’t assume the current drought is over.
In 1946, Kendall County recorded 45.62 inches, well above the
annual average of 33.75 inches, but the next year recorded only
14.59 inches of rain. The county wasn’t all dry that year having
receiving 4.09 inches in Janurary and 5.92 in May, but the last five
months of 1947 saw not a drop.
The most recent dry spell was also interrupted last July with 2.21
inches of rain and again in August when there was 5.04 inches
recorded, but a little more than 2 inches total was all that was
recorded in the last four months of 2008.
Officials will be keeping an eye on what happens for the rest of
this month and into the fall.
There’s more rain in the short-term forecast. Enjoy it while it
lasts, but don’t get complacent. Living as we do on the edge of a
desert, a drought in the future is a sure thing.
THE BOERNE Star
Online Poll
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31%
67%
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Results of 36 votes cast as of Monday noon.
Visit www.boemestar.com and cast your vote today
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
Worth Voting ...
“Parents learn a lot from their
children about coping with life.”
- Muriel Spark
Bible Verse...
May the Lord direct your hearts
into God’s love and Christ’s
perseverance.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NIV)
The BOERNE Star
www.boernestar.com
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
Brian Cartwright
EDITORIAL
BOOKKEEPING
VIEWPOINTS
TxDOT terminates 135 ‘corridor’ plans
AUSTIN - Back in January, the
governor’s office announced its
decision to jettison plans to cre-
ate the Trans-Texas Corridor, a
4,000-mile network of motorways,
including rail, power, water, gas,
oil and telecommunications lines.
That happened after heavily pro-
moted “TTC” plans drew mostly
negative input from citizens at
public hearings the Texas Depart-
ment of Transportation conducted
in a number of cities that would
have been in the path of proposed
projects.
Last week, on Oct. 8, the Texas
Department of Transportation pub-
licly declared it had chosen the
“no-action alternative” in response
to citizen input received in the
environmental review of TTC-35,
a project to transform only Inter-
state Highway 35.
Ted Houghton, one of five TxDOT
commissioners, said the project
was not well planned, not well
marketed and poorly managed.
The Spanish firm Cintra and San
Antonio-based Zachry Construc-
tion partnered to plan the TTC-35
project, under a $3.5 million state •
contract. That project would have
stretched along the same route as
today’s Interstate 35, from Laredo
to the Oklahoma border.
GUZMAN APPOINTED TO
HIGH COURT
Gov. Rick Perry on Oct. 8
CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS
Ed Sterling
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
appointed Eva M. Guzman of
Cypress to the Supreme Court of
Texas for a term to expire at the
next general election in November
2010.
Guzman, the first Hispanic
woman to serve on the state
Supreme Court, is an associate jus-
tice on the 14th Court of Appeals
in Houston and has served in the
Texas judiciary for more than
10 years. She takes over the seat
vacated by Justice Scott Brister,
who resigned effective Sept. 7 to
resume a private law practice.
PHONE JAMMING BILL
ADVANCES
The U.S. Senate on Oct. 5
approved S. 251, the Safe Pris-
ons Communications Act of 2009,
legislation sponsored by Sen. Kay
Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
Hutchison’s bill would allow the
governor to petition the Federal
Communications Commission to
permit the installation of devices
to jam wireless communica-
tions in a prison under his or her
jurisdiction.
A Texas death row inmate used enough feed around for livestock,
a smuggled cell phone to threaten Texas Agriculture Commissioner
state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Hous- Todd Staples said his agency is
ton, and his family. Officers found helping to line up ranchers who
the phone and 11 more phones in need cattle feed with hay produc-
possession of death row inmates at ers in Texas and out of state,
the same facility. The Texas Department of Agri-
SUNSET APPOINTEES ARE culture’s Hay Hotline Web site,
NAMED www.TexasAgriculture.gov, cur-
The state Sunset Advisory Com- rently fists more than 450 available
mission reviews the operation and hay suppliers.
efficiency of more than 150 state FEWER DOSES ARE TO BE
agencies. Most agencies undergo SHIPPED
Sunset review every 12 years. A total of 142,400 doses of the
Twenty-nine agencies are sched- H1N1 “swine flu” vaccine will be
uled for Sunset reviews during the shipped to Texas, the U.S. Centers
2010-2011 biennium. for Disease Control and Preven-
Lt.Gov. David Dewhurst on Oct. 6 tion in Atlanta announced in early
appointed to the commission Sena- October. Texas had expected to get
tors Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, chairman; 237,000 in the first allocation.
John Whitmire, D-Houston; Rob- The doses are the FluMist brand
ert Nichols, R-Jacksonville; Joan nasal spray form of the vaccine,
Huffman, R-Houston; and public approved for use in vaccinating
appointee Charles McMahen of people 2 years old through 49
Schulenburg. Sen. Juan “Chuy” years of age who are not pregnant
and do not have certain chronic
health conditions.
LAWMAKERS ASK FOR
NASA MONEY
Twenty-eight of Texas’ 34 mem-
bers of Congress signed a letter
urging President Obama to give
$3 billion of the $787 billion eco-
nomic stimulus funding program to
NASA to support its manned space
program - a program that employs
tens of thousands of Texans.
Hinojosa, D-McAllen, appointed
by Dewhurst in 2008, continues as
a member of the commission.
House members include Reps.
Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, and Linda
Harper-Brown, R-Irving. There
presently are four House seats
vacant on the commission.
AG DEPARTMENT HELPS
FIND FEED
Even though overdue rains have
soothed much of Texas in the last
few weeks, there doesn’t seem to be
MARCHES
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IRAQ
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The definition ...doing the same
Of Insanity is... thing over and
over...
Letters to the Editor
Fast food wars
We don’t need any damn Eggs McMuffin in this town. We have more
than our share of cholesterol and vitriol. What we need if we are to be
truly homogenized Americana is a Jack in the Box. Someone needs
to step up and franchise this establishment so that we can all enjoy a
couple of Super Tacos when we need a fix.
-Richard Long,
Boerne
An issue that needs to be tackled
Regarding - Viewpoints, “How media tackles the real issues,” by
Elena Tucker:
Yes, we are fired up over abortion. Yes, fat can be deadly. However, if
you are fat, it is your choice. Unborn babies are murdered by the thou-
sands every day - they do not have a choice.
Murder is against God’s law and man’s law. Yet, it happens thousands
of times a day. That is a very real issue that needs to be tackled.
-Dorothy P. Barber,
Boerne
Comparing facts
Mr. Kramer disagrees that his facts about Comparative Effective-
ness Research (CER) and Daschle are taken from Betsy McGaughey’s
article in Bloomberg News. He wrote a lengthy tirade on crediting those
whom he quotes. Google (Bloomberg News Betsy McGaughey), see her
article. Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan. Her comments
are repeated verbatim—minus quotes—by Kramer in his Fact #1.
Kramer’s unsubstantiated fact: “74 percent of voters surveyed say our
care is good or excellent.” How many voters surveyed, by whom and
when? His subsequent distortion: “good or excellent” becomes “...the
AFGHANISTAN
and expecting a
different result.
best healthcare in the world.”
In fact #2, Kramer disparages my number of 46-54 million without
healthcare and quotes 36 million from an undated US Census. From US
Census Bureau News, 8/28/07: “The number of people without health
insurance coverage rose from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47 million in
2006.” From 06-09, the number increased by millions. I quote a range
of uninsured from a combination of US Census and the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality data. I made no comparison between
our system and socialized healthcare.
Kramer, a “Comparative Research Effectiveness Organization” doesn’t
exist. CER is a method being proposed to improve healthcare by keeping
a database on real-world results of treatments and to bring down costs
by eliminating the treatments that are ineffectual or even harmful.
Fact #3, Kramer’s almost direct quote is in a respected medical jour-
nal, The Lancet, in an article co-written by Dr. Emanuel and two others,
entitled: Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions.
They evaluate the ethics of allocating scarce resources such as organs
for transplant. The “worse-off” and “better-off” does not refer to social
or financial status as implied by Kramer, but to the sickest or the less
sick. An ethical justification for transplanting a scarce organ in a better-
off patient may be he/she has a greater chance of surviving the operation
than the worse-off. Obviously, the meaning wasn’t clear to Kramer.
Fact #4 The history lesson showed Republicans overwhelmingly pro-
moted the requirement for doctor-provided counseling on end-of-life
healthcare options—until it became politically unpopular for them to
do so.
Wikipedia currently has 65 millions visitors a month. Not all of us
are “experienced researchers” like Mr. Kramer; however, the articles
have bibliography links to the source material wherein information and
quotes can be researched directly.
- Carol Carpenter,
Boerne
SEE MORE LETTERS ON PAGE 5
3 more proposed constitutional amendments
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
Office Manager
Sandra Pfeiffer
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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)
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THE BOERNE STAR is published twice weekly for $49 per year in Kendall County, $57
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U.S.P.S.059-740
Texans’ opinions are as diverse
as its population, so it is a rarity
when there is no opposition to an
issue related to state government.
One of the proposed amend-
ments to the Texas Constitution is
that rarity. Amendment 3 would
provide for uniform standards
and procedures when apprais-
ing property for ad valorem tax
purposes.
Currently, property tax appraisal
practices and procedures vary
widely across the state. The pro-
posed amendment would allow
future Legislatures to strengthen
state oversight of appraisal prac-
tices and procedures and give
them full discretion to prescribe
the manner of the enforcement of
uniform appraisal standards.
Amendment 3 is one of 11
amendments to be decided by
Texans on Nov. 3. Last week,
I provided readers with a brief
overview of the first two amend-
ments. This week, I am focusing
on three more amendments.
IN THE TEXAS SENATE
Jeff
Wentworth
TEXAS STATE
SENATOR
Proposed Amendment 4 would
create a national research uni-
versity fund to help emerging
state research universities achieve
national recognition as major
research universities by transfer-
ring the balance of the Higher
Education Fund (HEF) to the
national research university fund.
A state university receiving
money from the fund would be
allowed to use it only to support
increased research capacity.
Currently, the Texas Constitution
requires that investment returns
from HEF be credited back to the
fund until the balance reaches $2
billion. The estimated HEF bal-
ance is between $450 and $475
million. universities.
Amendment 4 supporters believe Neither The University of Texas
that Texas lags behind other states at Austin nor Texas A&M Uni-
in the number of nationally recog- versity is eligible to receive HEF
nized research universities. Only money. Each of these schools is
The University of Texas at Aus- supported by money from the Per-
tin and Texas A&M University manent University Fund.
have gained national prominence Amendment 5 would allow the
as public research universities, Legislature to authorize a single
and these universities have more board of equalization for two or
qualified applicants than they can more adjoining appraisal enti-
admit. ties that provide consolidated
As a result, Texas is losing thou- equalizations. Supporters of this
sands of students to out-of-state amendment say that consolidat-
doctorate-granting universities, ing appraisal review boards would
Reallocating permanent Higher benefit rural counties that have
Education Funds (HEF) to emerg- a relatively small pool of quali-
ing universities would keep fied persons to serve on appraisal
talented students in the state while review boards.
generating important research. Opponents of the amendment
Opponents believe that, given claim it does not go far enough
the urgency of developing to encourage consolidation, since
nationally competitive research it does not address the issue of
universities, the state should focus both appraisal district consolida-
on universities closer to attaining tion along with appraisal review
tier-one status, rather than spread board consolidation.
limited state resources to a yet- Next week I will summarize
to-be determined number of state other proposed amendments.
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Cartwright, Brian & Velvin, Candace E. The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 82, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 13, 2009, newspaper, October 13, 2009; Boerne, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1667447/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.