The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 133, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 30, 2008 Page: 4 of 18
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IMION PAGE
4A Page
The Albany News
www.thealbanynews.net
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Albany News
Since 1875
Oldest journalistic venture west of the Brazos
Publisher DonnieA. Lucas
Editor
Melinda L. Lucas
Office Manager
Sheryl Spore
Advertising Sales
Candy Riley
Reporter
Kathryn Stapp
Typesetter
Betty Viertel
Office Assistant
Jordan Lucas
Moran Correspondent
Duston Brooks
EDITORIAL
Seeing Red
Red Ribbon Week is this week and
once again, parents and other adults
have an opportunity to demonstrate
their desire for a drug-free communi-
ty. Here are a few facts about teenage
drinking and substance abuse that may
open your eyes.
• About 10.8 million persons ages 12-
20 (28.2%) reported drinking alcohol in
the past month. - SAMHSA National
Survey on Drug Use and Health
• Three out of every four students
(75%) have consumed alcohol (more
than just a few sips) by the end of high
school. - Monitoring the Future
• About two fifths of students (41%)
have consumed alcohol (more than just
a few sips) by 8th grade. - Monitoring
the Future
• Motor vehicle crashes remain
the number one cause of death among
youth ages 15-20. There were 7,460
youth motor vehicle deaths in 2005.
(This includes both drivers and pas-
sengers.) - National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration
• Twenty-eight percent (28%) of 15-
to 20-year-old drivers who were killed
in motor vehicle crashes in 2005 had
been drinking. - National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration
• Drivers are less likely to use seat
belts when they have been drinking. In
2005, 64% of the young drivers of pas-
senger vehicles involved in fatal crash-
es who had been drinking were unre-
strained. Of the young drivers who had
been drinking and were killed in crash-
es, 74% were unrestrained. - National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• During the last 30 days, 28.5% of
high school students nationwide had
ridden one or more times in a car or
other vehicle driven by someone who
had been drinking alcohol. - CDC Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance
• Half of teens (50%) have tried an
illicit drug by the time they finish high
school. - 2005 Monitoring the Future
Red Ribbon Week gives us as adults
a chance to be visible and vocal in our
desire for a drug-free community, and
research shows that children are less
likely to use alcohol and other drugs
when parents and other role models
are clear and consistent in their oppo-
sition to substance use and abuse.
Let's be clear and consistent.
POLICY
THE ALBANY NEWS
(USPS 012-400) is published weekly, except for one week
in July2008 and one week in December 2008, for $35 per
year for subscriptions within Shackelford County, $40
per year for subscriptions within Texas, and $45 per year
tor out-of-state subscriptions by Lucas Publications Inc.,
ny, Iexas/
i. POSTM,
ASTER; Send address changes
49S. Main, Albany, Texas 76430. Periodicals postage
at Albany, Texas.
to The Albany News, PO Box 278, Albany, Texas 7i
0278 or to circulation®thealbanynews.net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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reserves the right to edit or to refuse any
letters. Send letters to The Albany News,
PO Box 278, Albany TX 76430-0278 or to
news@thealbanynews.net.
CORRECTIONS
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reputation orstanding of any individual, firm
or corporation will be corrected when noti-
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CONTACT INFORMATION
MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 278, Albany TX 76430
TELEPHONE NUMBER: 325/762-2201
FAX NUMBER: 325/762-3201
EMAIL ADDRESS: news@thealbanynews.net
WEBSITE: www.thealbanynews.net
AFFILIATIONS
2008 MEMBER: Texas Press Association,
West Texas Press Association.
Commuting: Life in the car pool lane
Bobble Cauble
I find it sometimes amusing when I
mention that I live in Albany but work in
Abilene, so many people are surprised.
I have a Betty Hill painting of Albany
in my office and everyone who comes in
recognizes the landmarks in the picture
immediately.
The conversation
of commuting usu-
ally comes up next. I'm
always asked," Don't
you hate that drive? Oh,
I don't think I could do
that everyday" and so
on and so on.
I always have the
same reply. "I don't mind it at all. I have
my quiet time in the morning and my
wind-down time in the evening. What
else could I ask for? Besides, I spent 25
years commuting from the metroplex to
downtown Dallas. Need I say more?"
Let me tell you...If you have never
commuted to and from work in a big city
during high traffic rush hour, five days a
week, through all kinds of weather, with
some of the craziest people in the world,
you have no idea just how peaceful that
35 minute drive to Abilene and back
home really is. Trust me on this. No idea.
When I was first married, we only
had one car. Well, that's not really true.
We originally had two cars. We had my
dream car that I bought prior to getting
married. It was a 1965 MGB Roadster
convertible, yellow with a black top,
wood grain interior and I loved it. But
my new. hubby had a Pontiac GTO which
was paid for as he was finishing his last
year of college.
So, you can guess which car had to
go. Mine, yes mine, because I was still
making payments. Can you tell that I
still have a problem with that some 40
years later? I loved that car. My hubby
was still in college and needed his car for
class, so I was the one to began the ad-
venture of commuting to work in down-
town Dallas. That was my first introduc-
tion to "The Crazy Carpool People."
First Carpool: I rode with three other
girls in a VW bug with no air-condition-
ing. I was glad I was the first one picked
up each day so I got to ride in the front
seat. At least my hair was still on my
head when I got to work every morning.
One girl worked in the federal build-
ing with me and the other two were sis-
ters. I was never quite sure where they
worked or what they did. I didn't think
we had a lot in common anyway as I was
the only married
one - not good.
You have to
remember those
were the days of hippies, free love, pot
smoking and Janis Joplin. And I really
think the sisters fit very well in that
group. I was definitely odd man out, but
I rode with them for almost a year. They
were never on time and never came to
the car ready or fully dressed. One day
one of the sisters actually put her clothes
on while we were driving down the Dal-
las - FW turnpike. And I do mean ALL
OF HER CLOTHES. I was a small town
girl and not quite ready for all of that.
Second Carpool: lasted only a couple of
months. I can't remember exactly where
I met this group, but they were a strange
mix. After a few weeks of riding togeth-
er, my carpool buddies got in the habit
of making a beer stop on the way home.
They also had some conversations that I
never quite understood, which was prob-
ably a good thing. It was during this time
that Charles Manson made his debut
- later to be known as "Helter Skelter." I
remember thinking, who are these people
and why am I riding with them? Time to
exit Bobbie.
Third and Final Carpool: lasted 12
years. I rode in the same van with basi-
cally the same 11 people for 12 years
- that's way too long. My carpool people
got married, got divorced, had babies,
got sick and had family problems and I
heard it all.
I still remember one man named
Phil who was a retired Air Force officer.
He was always such a gentleman. But,
one day I mentioned going to see a new
movie, "Barefoot in the Park" with Jane
Fonda. Phil almost came out of his seat.
He went ballistic - "I wouldn't walk
across the street to see that communist.
I can't believe people would pay money
to see anything that she's in. I saw her
face enough in Viet Nam to last me a
lifetime."
You, me & everyday life
I remember just sitting there and I
think my only reply was, "Well, ok then."
There was also a lady who had just
moved to Texas from Michigan. For about
the first three or four months we listened
very politely to all of the things that we
were doing wrong
in Texas. She
usually sat near
the front, so she
never saw the eye rolling or the faces
that were being made by us from the seat
behind her. Finally one day, Jay, an older
man, simply said "If things were so great
in Michigan, then what are you doing
here?" We all wanted to applaud. She
didn't say much after that.
The owner and driver of the van was
such a nice man. A few months before I
left the carpool, we began to notice some
changes in his driving manner. One min-
ute he would be carrying on a conversa-
tion and the next minute he would be
dozing off. It was really scarey. Someone
would have to keep him engaged in a
conversation all the way home. This
was not good. The person driving you in
rush hour traffic was falling asleep at
the wheel. He was diagnosed with sleep
apnea. The carpool was no more and
neither was I.
Sometimes I think about those people.
People I spent three hours a day with,
five days a week, riding in a car to and
from work. There were so many times
I would catch myself staring out the
window and thinking, "What am I doing?
I am wasting three hours of my life every
day riding in this van. Life is too short
for this."
So instead, now I ride alone in my car >
everyday and I have a completely differ-
ent view of the world. No skyscrapers, no
eight lanes of traffic, no detours. Instead,
I see a beautiful sunrise in the morning
and lots of wildlife. In the spring, I see
gorgeous wildflowers. In the fall and win-
ter I see some beautiful sunsets. And my
most favorite of all - that view of Albany
from the one mile hill.
No matter where you've been, you
know you are home when you come off
that hill. To me, there is nothing more '
beautiful than that view. You've just
gotta' love it.
WPNE-Y DID WE
fbKSfrio TURN
•JHEOPCK^K
eight YEARS.
VOU CALL?
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
284 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510-4304
Phone: 202-224-5922
Website: hutchison.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
51 7 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2934
Website: cornyn.senate.gov
U.S. Rep Randy Neugebauer
1026 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone:888-763-1611
Website: randy.house.gov
State Sen. Craig Estes
P.O. Box 1 2068
Austin, Texas 78711
Phone: 512-463-01 30
Website: craigestes.com
State Rep. Jim Keffer
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Phone: 800-586-4515
Website: house.state.tx.us/members
Dancing Naked: Memorable Encounters
It is not often that I use this column or
a part of one to recommend a book. Today
is an exception. It's a book I think many in
Albany would enjoy.
The book, published this year by the
TCU Press, is "Dancing Naked - Memo-
rable Encounters with Unforgettable
Texans" by Mary Rogers. A resident of
Fort Worth, Mary Rogers is a former
longtime columnist for the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram. The book is
a collection of some of her
best pieces over the past
18 years.
Given the conservative
nature of Albany, I prob-
ably need first to explain
the title. This book has
L*ITy absolutely nothing to do
with dancing nor with naikedness. "Danc-
ing naked" is an expression Rogers uses to
describe when someone truly opens up and
bares their soul. Referring to the interest-
ing characters she has interviewed, she
says in her introduction, "Many of them
bravely showed me their hearts. I call that
dancing naked. It is the most generous of
gestures."
A number of people in Albany know per-
sonally some of the "unforgettable Texans"
with whom Rogers had these "memorable
encounters." Many others of us at least
know of them. Among them are: David and
Stacie McDavid, Mike and Rosie Moncrief,
Martha Hyder, Cullen Davis, Pricella Da-
vis, DaBhelle and Steve Murrin, Howard
and Mary Walsh, Nancy Lee and Perry
Bass, Van Cliburn and many others.
The pieces are short, fiv^ to ten pages
Amblin' through Albany
each, and very well written. In time
frame, they range from 1991 to 2007.
Rogers calls them "no more than small
snapshots at a given moment in time."
To me one of the most interesting of
these snapshots is the one of Cullen Da-
vis, which was made in October of 1991.
Fifteen years earlier he had been acquit-
ted of murder in
spite of compel-
ling evidence
including an
eye-witness. Until the later acquittal of
O.J. Simpson, many thought the Davis
acquittal to be the most egregious miscar-
riage of justice in the history of modern
American jurisprudence.
By 1991, Davis had gotten religion big
time. He had become something of an
amateur Bible scholar and claimed to be a
born-again Christian and a totally differ-
ent person from hiB earlier self. That may
well be, but many still think he got away
with murder.
A very poignant companion piece is the
interview with Pricella Davis, Cullen's
former wife and the mother of one of the
murder victims. Now deceased, she lived
out the rest of her life in a rather sad pro-
cession of luncheons, clubs, dinners, etc.
However, she stated in her interview, "We
make our own happy endings. Ill maike
mine." I truly hope she did.
Through Mary Rogers' pieces, you get
to visit with Van Cliburn at his home
in the wee hours of the morning, with
society and arts patron Martha Hyder in
her mansion, and with Mike and Rosie
Moncrief back when he was a Ibxas
senator. (He's now, of course, mayor of Ft. ,
Worth.) You get intimate glimpses into the .
lives of Dashelle and Steve Murrin, Shan-
non Wynne, and Ann Windfohr Marion of
the Four Sixes Ranch. It's a good read. ' i
************ •,
Several weeks ago I wrote that this
presidential election would be extremely
—— difficult to predict
because of three
mtyor variables or
"wild cards". First,
the Independents; which way will they
vote?
Secondly, the newly registered first-
time voters; will they actually show up
and vote? And if so, which way?
Finally, an unknown number of deeply
disgruntled party members in each party;
Will they really cross over and vote for the
other party or just stay home? It is very
difficult for polls to accurately predict the
behavior of any of these three groups. But
it gets worse.
Little did i then know that, in addition,
we would suffer a stock market crash as
part of an economic meltdown, or that a
candidate would choose as his running
mate an unknown female governor with
great looks and vivacity but debatable
experience. And how much sexism and
racism is still out there ?
It is now an election with numerous
X-factors. I personally think the polls
this time are totally meaningless. We will
know the outcome next Tuesday evening
and not before. \
Meanwhile, Happy Halloween! And
Happy Election Day!
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Lucas, Melinda L. The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 133, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 30, 2008, newspaper, October 30, 2008; Albany, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth393380/m1/4/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Old Jail Art Center.