The Sealy News (Sealy, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 2, 1995 Page: 4 of 44
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4 THE SEALY NEWS Thursday, February 2,1995
Opinion ■ Editorial |
1 friends are invited to join them meeting will be held there on the Western Auto and Julie is
EDTTORVAI
Put your pen to the paper
Letter writing is a sort of a lost art for many people. It is so
much quicker and so much easier to pick up the telephone to make
a call to a relative or friend out of town. Or to get into one’s auto-
mobile and drive the matter of miles in minutes or a few short
hours. It just seems so much more personal and on a one-on-one
basis. People feel it offers so much more excitement.
But writing letters can be a beautiful experience. Putting one’s
thoughts on paper has always been worth the time it takes.
Eloquent dialogue by mail can provide a chance for a more sophis-
ticated manner of speech. On paper one does not stammer or hem
and haw...the words come out smooth and soft. Verbal exchange
can sometimes be harsh and can certainly turn a person off, no
matter how nice the person may really be.
During the years of World War II, and during the succeeding
conflicts, letters were the main means of communication' between
the men and women involved in protecting our freedom, and the
folks back home. The people in those far away places yearned for a
letter from home, and vice versa. The written word was a link with
home.
Why not sit down and write a letter to someone you know is
awaiting to hear from you. Make it long, or make it brief, but say
something nice. You can call that friend or kin some other day...but
today, do it by mail.
Letters are a joy to receive, and they provide as much pleasure
to write. You have time to think before you speak.
Window
on
Main Street/
By |
WILMA PETRUSEK
as
a counselor intern. She and her
husband, Doug, entertained a num-
ber of friends at dinner at their
been happening to people in the Hotel, with valet parking, cham-
area. pagne, and breakfast in bed, and
Sharon Tyler has graduated from dinner at the Great Caruso. She left
“The New Directions Counselor out no details, and her parents had
Training School” and is designated a wonderful time. Their anniver-
sary was on January 23.
Letter to the Editor
Stigall says he stands by
his letter on SISD taxes
Dear Editor, optional Homestead Exemption on
I just read Superintendent Gol- all school taxes returned to local
son’s explanation of why the Sealy school boards."
Independent School District did not The question remains; why were
extend a 20 percent Homestead some other Texas school districts
Exemption in 1993 and his chas- able to enact the 20 percent
tisement of those of us who he says Homestead Exemption for 1993
do not have the facts straight. and the Sealy Independent School
I stand by my letter in the Nov. District was not able to do like-
11, 1993 Sealy News, which clearly wise?
states that since the SISD did not Furthermore, Mr. Golson made a
enact the 20 percent Homestead comparison of taxes paid by the
Exemption in 1993, as some other owner of a $100,000 house in
school districts in Texas managed Spring Branch and a $100,000
to do, we certainly did experience a house in Sealy in 1993 and in 1994.
24 percent increase in school taxes. One major factor Mr. Golson left
Mr. Golson’s letter says that the out in his comparison is that the
Texas Supreme Court decision on value of the Sealy house increased
the unconstitutionality of the approximately 15 percent in 1994
County Education Districts elimi- versus 1993.
naled the 20 percent Homestead That makes the Sealy house
Exemption. “worth” $115,000 and not
This is just not true. An article in $100,000 for tax purposes. I don’t
the Austin American-Statesman by know if the Spring Branch house
state Senator Gonzalo Barrientos valuation increased or decreased;
says that after Proposition 1, or the but, whatever it did, let’s use the
“Robin Hood” plan failed on May real figures.
1, 1993, the “full taxing powers
and the authority to grant the
Sincerely,
Charles Stigall -
Sealy Police Weekly Report
Jan. 23 — At 1:05 p.m., a subject theft, this case still under investigation,
was arrested at IH-10 at 720 mile post At 3:45 p.m., an accident occurred at the
west for driving while license suspend- mile marker 722 north IH-10 access
ed. At 9:20 p.m., a subject was arrested road. One driver fled scene. No injuries
at mile marker 721 east IH-10 for dri- reported. At 10 a.m., a subject was
ving while license suspended. , - arrested from the 800 block of Hwy. 90
Jan. 25 — At 8:05 a.m., a business west for public intoxication.
from the 2100 block of South Meyer re- Jan. 28 — At 5:57 a.m., a citizen re-
ported a theft. This case still under ported a theft. This case still under
investigation. At 9 a.m., a subject was investigation. At 9:40 a.m., a citizen
arrested from the 300 block of North from the 1400 block of Meyer St.
Circle Drive for class C assault. reported a forgery. This case still under
Jan. 26 — At 7:50 a.m., a subject investigation. At 5 p.m., a subject was
was arrested from the 100 block of
Brookside for class A assault, family
violence. At 2:15 p.m., a citizen from
the 500 block of Walker reported a
Established 1887
THE SEALY NEWS
(USPS 487-260)
111 Main Street P.O. Box 480
Sickness and disease are in weak minds the not to.
sources of melancholy; but that which is painful Military or not —
to the body, may be profitable to the soul. They, at one time, had
Sickness puts us in mind of our mortality, and, their youth,
while we drive on heedlessly in the full career of An innocent era.
worldly pomp and jollity, kindly pulls us by the Selling soda pop bottles
ear, and brings us to a proper sense of our duty, to pay admission to
— Richard E. Burton Saturday matinees.
□ □□
Several weeks ago I found myself sealed in a
session at a VFW Hall.
Up the road. In Hearne, a hamlet that served
as a habitat for me over a 19-month period at
the turn of this decade.
Now many folks hold forth to the misconcep-
tion that VFW halls only cater to old warriors
that relive war stories. Reminiscing of past
heroics, real-life or imagined, and battles fought
on foreign soils. Scarred souls and bodies seek-
ing attention from their comrades in arms.
Boasting about a rapid rise in rank from Pfc.
to Sergeant in 18 months. Serving time in the
brig for breaking a Jack Daniels bottle over
some lifer’s head. Courting a French lass with
Hershey bars in *43 on her own turf—Gay
Paree.
But you can bet a Purple Heart or Bronze Star
none would ever willingly offer to ‘fess up to
the loneliness of stretching out on a narrow cot
and searching the barracks’s ceiling during boot
camp nights for a meaning to the hell that would
await them miles from home.
Or slip into a catatonic state when reminded
of a memory from a yesteryear when a shoul-
dered weapon’s report signalled the death of a
supposedly silent enemy.
For those that served during wartime, the
future was unknown. It was riding a whirlwind
to rendezvous with destiny.
□ Veterans of foreign wars share something
in common with all men and women. Those that
served, those that didn’t, and those that chose
arrested from the 1400 block of Eagle
Lake Rd. for public intoxication. At
11:20 p.m., a subject was arrested from
the 800 block of Frydek Rd. for out-
standing warrants. At 6:55 a.m., a citi-
zen from the 800 block of Silliman re-
ported a criminal mischief to her vehi-
cle. This case still under investigation.
409/885-3562
1-800-236-2916
SEALY, TEXAS 77474-0480
Entered as second class mail matter in the
post office at Sealy. Texas under the Act of
Congress of March 3, 1897. Second-class
postage paid at Sealy, Texas._______________
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY MORNING
SEALY PUBLICATIONS, Inc.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: In Amun County,
$20 per year; outside Austin Camry, in Texas,
$25.00 per year, outside Texas, $5000 per
year._________________________________________
NOTICES OF CHANGB OF ADDKESS
should be mailed to The Sealy News, Inc.,
P. O. Drawer 480, Sealy, Texas 77474-0480.
Publisher Emeritus
Publisher
AssistantPublisher
Editor
News and Advertising
Sports Editor/Darkroom
Technician.....
Receptionist
Ad Composition
Composition
Correspondent
ulyS&SinSBiiS
Would you like to guess what kind of
answers you might get if you asked a bunch
of little boys, say 8-10 years old, what they
wanted to be when they grew up?
Would they want to be rock stars, video
game champions or pro football players? Or
would there still be some doctors, lawyers,
school teachers or maybe astronauts?
But to go back not too many years ago
when little boys really knew what they want-
4 P
Earl Luedecke ed to be, the odds-on favorites had to be cow-
Jim Grimes boy, or engineer on the Santa Fe. Those two
oupronen led the pack, probably because they were here
Carolyn Grimet and now. Something he could walk right up
Joanie Griffin to every day of his life and take a good look
at it
HerbertKollatschny There were still some honest-to-goodness
Opel Kovar working cowboys around here, but for the
real thing all he had to do was go down to the
Frank : Kramnitz Novelty or Texas Theatre — depending upon
when he started his cowboying — plank
run through Sealy. Of course the passenger starched cap, the latter Henry Jurecek style. and squat (to go with his engine). And his
trains stopped and there was some freight He would swing down from the cab, long- overalls, well, they looked like they belonged
business but except for the time when the line neck oil can in hand and briefly survey the to a working man. .
had a freight office and agent, no Katy people situation. Maybe take a little hitch in his over- The firemen, especially on the freight
all strap or straighten his cap; and maybe a engines, always reminded me of the lines
quick look to see if anybody was watching. from an old-time railroad ballad that went
Then he went about his oiling routine, pok- something like this:
ing the long neck of the can deep in the “He turned around to his black, greasy fire-
engine’s innards, front and back and around man, saying, ‘Shovel on a little more coal.’”
Cane Belt still tied up in Sealy and there were the other side. Looking, listening, feeling etc.
always a bunch of Santa Fe people living bearings, checking for overheating. All this took place after the engines were
steam locomotives, or just dream about doing here. The passenger engines were long, lean and converted to oil to fire the boilers, but to me.
There is absolutely no way to describe what racy looking. You could generally see day- one of the kids watching this passing parade, •
a genuine steam locomotive looks, sounds light through the drivers (wheels), compared always visualized the fireman with a shovel
and smells like. And unfortunately if you’ve to the freight engines that seemed to have inhishand.
The News welcomes expressions of all view- down a nickel or nine cents and watch his
point from readers. Letters should be kept favorite hero ride and shoot for at least half a
Leern Mmineenes, day every Saturday.
valid mailing address. Pseudonyms and ini- But if he wanted to drive one of those big
tials will not be used. Because of the volume
svenneetemeekempad semmito Lk#. it, he simply moved a block or so east along
TERS TO THE NEWS, inl Main Street, Main St. to the railroad crossing where he
P.O. Drawer 480, Sealy, Texas77474. could sit and watch those monsters come and
between 2:00 and 4:30 p.m. Her fourth Wednesday in February employed at Hi-Lo Auto Supply,
birthday is on February 6. Happy when a cholesterol video will be They look so much alike that folks
birthday, Lillie!
shown at a salad supper. Come join have difficulty deciding which is
It’s also happy birthday to Tillie the fun and fellowship. which. It’s probably a lot of fun for
Grigar, who is celebrating her 80th Don’t forget the turkey and the girls, when people see them
come Saturday, at Tony’s. Friends dressing dinner given by the Sealy some place where they’ve not
and kin wre invited to join her and Catholic Daughters at the KC Hall been.
the family between 1:00 and 3:30 on Sunday. Their food is always Over the years, there have been
p.m.. just like “home cookin’”. several sets of twins who seemed
And a great big greeting to Julia Wishes for a fast recovery to to be duplicate copies, and even
Keller on the occasion of her 108th Marvin Crawford who underwent their friends found it difficult to
birthday celebration at Azalea heart bypass surgery in Houston
Tuesday of last week. He returned
home on Saturday.
Manor this week.
Cathy Reinbeck treated her par-
ents, Betty and John Reinbeck, in a
call them by their right names.
Anyone who has watched the
look-alikes in “Sister, Sister" on
Birthday greetings to Dan Frank television, one of the better shows
special way on their 30th wedding and Robert Konieczny, February 6; for one’s viewing pleasure, cap
anniversary the week-end of Jan. Bea Strokos, February 7; Russell understand how that works.
21 and 22. She made reservations Koym, February 8; Jay Luedecke, In passing along Highway 36
Some interesting things have for the two of them at the Omni February 10; and to all others not (Meyer Street) I could not help but
listed here. Many happy returns of notice the lovely pink blossoms on
the day to each of you.
the tree on the south side of the
And speaking of birthdays...the Louis Koym residence. Whether
Hein family have had them one by that’s a tulip tree or a pink magno-
one. Bill Hein and his son Fred had lia, it seemingly is a sure sign that
birthdays last week, and wife and spring is not far away. Oh, the joy
Shari Cleveland was sharing a mother, Dorothy, reached a happy of springtime flowers!
beautifully decorated birthday cake brthday on Monday.
Margaret Cooper, who has been
home to celebrate the occasion at Papa Charlie’s Friday. There The Rev. David Hambrick’s secretary at First United Methodist
Saturday night. Sharon is associat- were no candles on the cake, so I mother, Juanita Hambrick, arrived Church for some 14 years, is leav-
ed with ACCADA at the Bellville could not tell what birthday it was. Tuesday from Atlanta, Georgia, to ing her local position for another
office. Congratulations to you. We agreed it was safe to say...29 spend a couple of weeks here with one in the Houston area. She’s sure
Sharon! and holding. him. to be missed by the people in that
Lillie (Abel) Bosse will be hon- The heart support group met at Joy and Julie Moore keep people congregation.
ored by her family at an open the Presbyterian Church education guessing as to their identity. The Braeburn Construction began
house in celebration of her 80th and fellowship building young ladies are the 20 year old pouring concrete at the Sealy
birthday at St. John Lutheran Wednesday night, and after a soup twin daughters of Gerald and Outlet Center, and the project is
Fellowship hall in Bellville and sandwich supper, did some Sharon Moore of Sealy, and both moving along. A late summer or
Sunday, February 5. Relatives and blood pressure testing. The next are employed here. Joy works at early fall opening is projected.
1
21
Vets are victors, not victims
Squabbling with a sib-
ling who would get the
window seat during the
Sunday drive to
Grandma’s house. ,
Laughing at the antics of Kingfisher conning
Amos ‘n‘ Andy on the radio.
Sitting in front of a snowy black and white
Philco television and watching the Friday night
fights. Enjoying fellowship at an ice cream
social at church. Skipping flat stones on the
water and shooting B-B guns at tin cans serving
as bad guys in the mind.
Along with their youth, they embraced their
health while skipping along in short pants until
they reached the long pants stage of their lives.
□ Two to the vets circled in chairs around the
round table at the Hearne VFW Hall are
Raymond Martine and Robert Richardson.
Both can be categorized as being lovers of
life. Though both have battled the BigC — can-
cer, which is not a friendly disease.
Martine is celebrating his birthday on this
particular day. It’s his 70th. His wife, Dolly, is
by his side drinking a Big Red, but Martine has
opted for a Lone Star Light.
Topic at the table somehow got settled into
for a spell with combat stories, though not the
ones fought in uniform. But civilian battles of
the uncivil and malignant kind.
Some months back doctors discovered a
malignancy inside Martine’s neck. So he went
through the treatments. Chemotherapy and such.
I asked him how things were going. “Pretty
good. Had my last treatment this week,” smiled
and replied Martine.
Richardson is no stranger to cancer treatment.
He went the whole nine yards and then some.
From chemical to surgical to radiation. Cancer
of the throat.
Today, Martine and Richardson, both blessed
with being compulsively talkative, are capable
of finding humor in the horror of their adversi-
ty. Having reconciled themselves to major mis-
fortunes, yet able to hurdle the setback in their
minds to continue being lovers of life.
“Damn doctors,” opined Martine, when
recalling a visit for therapy. “First thing they tell
you is not to swallow. Well, hell, the minute
they say that you get to salivating and anticipat-
ing whatever horror they have in store for you.
“So all you want to do is swallow all that spit.
“Then they come back and tell you to swal-
low and all that crap just dries up and there’s no
way you can make yourself swallow.”
Richardson related about the first time he
showed up for a radiation treatment Where the
room was about 60 degrees and they laid him
out on a stainless steel table — naturally in a
hospital gown that was backless — that regis-
tered about 34 degrees. A morbid setting for an
uncomfortable situation.
“They had this piped in music,” explained
Richardson, “that is suppose to make you feel
comfortable. What’s playing? One of those
Kristofferson songs with the lines ‘Don’t look
so sad, I know it’s over.’”
I salute Raymond Martine and Robert
Richardson. Men who encountered personal
battles they didn’t care to confront, but had no
choice nor control over.
And yes, they’re surviving veterans of a for-
eign war. But they didn’t fight their biggest bat-
tle on the front lines, but by living life in gener-
al. Taking the ups as well as the downs. As to
tackling the tumors, Robert Richardson said,
“At least we haven’t gotten gift certificates for
one visit from Dr. Jack Kevorkian.”
Their party sense of life is not in remission.
Nor their faith diluted. In war and peace,
they’ve proven to be victors, not victims...
down the road.
Choosing your life’s
occupation ... then and now
go all day and all night; freight trains, passen-
ger trains, mix trains, work trains.
Back in those days there were railroad
towns and there
were railroad
towns. Just
because a town had
a railroad running
through it didn’t
qualify it as a rail-
road town.
The Katy (MKT)
was a good exam-
ple. All it did was
never had an opportunity to see one in action, every bit of space taken up with something to
you probably never will, unless you happen to give it more strength to pull heavy loads.
catch one in a park as a tourist attraction. The passenger engines’ paint always
I never knew for sure but I always figured a seemed a little brighter, too. I always thought
passenger job was better than a freight job. it would be nice to paint the engines different
I’m talking about the engineers, now. At least colon. Like the Southern Ry. Green Giant at
they always looked a little cleaner and not too the Smithsonian we talked about here a few
overworked, yearsago. But the Santa Fealways stayed
It was really a sight to see, the ritual some with basic black with a little white trim,
of the old boys went through while the train The freight engine always reminded me of
was stopped to load and unload passengers a big bulldog, compact, low to the rails, just
and mail. put together more solid-like. And the engi-
Fust off, he was always in frill neer, when he got down for his oiling ritual,
uniform...overalls, shut, red bandanna and climbed down slower, always seemed short
line here.
But now the Santa Fe was different. It goes
back to when the roundhouse was here
instead of in Bellville, and even after it was
moved around the turn of the century, the
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Petrusek, Wilma. The Sealy News (Sealy, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 2, 1995, newspaper, February 2, 1995; Sealy, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1702757/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Virgil and Josephine Gordon Memorial Library.