The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 130, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 22, 2005 Page: 4 of 12
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Opinion Pa
Pace 4
The Albany News
Thursday, September 22, 2005
The Albany News
Since 1875
Oldest journalistic venture west of the Brazos
Publisher Donnie A. Lucas
Editor
Melinda L. Lucas
Advertising Manager
Donna Hargrave
Moran Correspondent
Audrey Brooks
Office Manager
Sheryl Spore
Typesetter
Betty Viertel
Office Assistant
Jordan Lucas
editorial
♦SEPTEMBER *
i
In the United States and the rest of the
northern hemisphere, the first day of the
autumn season is the day of the year
when the Sun crosses the celestial
equator moving southward
(on September 22nd or 23rd). This day
is known as the Autumnal Equinox.
A common misconception is that the
earth is further from the sun in winter
than in summer. Actually, the Earth is
closest to the sun in December, which
is winter in the Northern hemisphere.
As the Earth travels around the Sun
In its orbit, the north-south position
of the Sun changes over the course
of the year due to the changing orienta-
tion of the Earth's tilted rotation axes.
The dates of maximum tilt of the Earth's
equator correspond to the Summer
Solstice and Winter Solstice, and the
dates of zero tilt to the Vernal Equinox
and Autumnal Equinox.
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The reason for these changes has to do
with the Earth's yearly trip around the
sun. For part of the year the Earth's
North Pole points away from the sun and
part of the time toward it. This is what
causes our seasons. When the North
Pole points toward the sun, the sun's
rays hit the northern half of the world
more directly. That means it is warmer
and we have summer.
The declination of the Sun on the autum-
nal equinox is 06 00'. On the day of the
autumnal equinox, day and night are
nearly the same amounts of time. In the
United States, there are about
12 hours of daylight on this day.
policy
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AFFILIATIONS
2005 MEMBER: Texas Press Association,
West Texas Press Association.
ponderings by pat
7 ;
By Pat Lidia Jones
J
I was planning a perfect day, ex-
cept that no matter what you do, it
never winds up being exactly what
you wanted it to be. Because I had
found that to be true, my only tool
against it was to be flexible and "put
on a happy face."
Coming up was a special wed-
ding anniversary, A.V.'s and my
55th on September 12. On our 50th,
we went to Niagara Falls and then
on to Saranac Lake to stay at The
Point. It was a different world for
both of us and we had a great time.
This one would be different too.
Our original wedding was very, very
simple - just the two of us and our
immediate families, our minister,
our best man, A. V.'s best friend from
the time they met in the first grade,
and A.V.'s sister Jean would be my
only attendant.
Don Tabb, A.V.'s original best
man, had grown up to be a minister,
so what better reunion could we
have than to have Don Tabb be our
minister and preside over our vows?
He and his wife Mary enthusiasti-
cally fell in with everything; and so it
was that we met their plane on Sep-
tember 12, 2005, and the four of us
drove to our lake house at DeLafosse,
where the service would be.
The four of us stood on the ter-
race where each of us could see the
lake. It was a beautiful day and I
was determined not to cry. I held off
until Tabb said, "Dearly Beloved."
It was a beautiful service and sim-
ply perfect.
We went inside where roses and
wedding cake awaited us, courtesy
of our daughter-in-law Pati. Then
we were on our way to Dallas to the
Mansion on Turtle Creek for our
wedding supper.
We arrived at the Mansion with
no mishaps and were led to our
rooms. There were red roses in our
room and a plate of chocolate-dipped
strawberries with Happy Anniver-
sary written in chocolate.
The Mansion's rooms are lovely
and beautifully appointed. I've been
there before, but not so many times
that the thrill has been lost.
A knock at our door brought a
huge, gorgeous arrangement of
white roses and white lilies in a
silver bowl. It was drop-dead sump-
to your health
tuous. Um! The card told us it was
from our great friends, John and
Reva Miller.
Tabb and Mary and A.V. and I
walked down to the dining room.
The food is always excellent there
and I had crab and dried green to-
matoes for my appetizer and Lob-
ster Two Ways for my Entree. Di-
vine.
Then we had champagne with as-
sorted desserts. Good, and the ser-
vice was unobtrusive and excellent.
There were roses from Doris and
Don Fitzgibbons. I loved it all.
And that perfect day I planned
(and said at the same time, that they
never turn out as you hope they
will). Well, surprise! This one was
just right!! Perfect...
By Ryan Ford, M.D.
Too often fungus is to blame for
serious medical illnesses and often
it is overlooked and misdiagnosed.
Fungal illnesses come in more vari-
eties than McDonald's has menu
selections. We live with it daily, and
like it or not we find it on our skin,
and virtually every orifice of the
human body.
Most of the time there is balance
achieved between our own immune
system and the fungal cells which
call the human body home. When
the system breaks down, the over-
growth of fungus in our bodies can
be deadly.
Most ofyou are familiar with the
common fungal infections such as
thrush, vaginal yeast infections and
candidal diaper rash. All of these
are caused by the Candida genus of
fungi. We all live with Candida in
and on our bodies. Our healthy im-
mune system and symbiotic micro-
organisms keep Candida over-
growth at bay. Virtually every
woman who has taken antibiotics
has suffered from overgrowth of
Candida in the form of a vaginal
yeast infection.
We also live in close proximity to
much more serious fungal agents
that can cause dire health conse-
quences. These infections some-
times go months or even years with-
out proper diagnosis. Sometimes
these infections can progress very
rapidly and cause multi-organ sys-
tem failure. Coccidioidomycosis
[kak • side • o • mi • ko • ses] (as if that
helped) is one example of a poten-
tially life threatening fungal infec-
tion. Anything in medicine that doc-
tors have difficulty spelling or pro-
nouncing must be serious.
Fungus, like bacteria and viruses
are classified in various ways. King-
dom, Phylum, Class, etc. some of
you may remember these terms from
the biology texts. Scientists, as a
rule, are anal-retentive and must
classify things; it is a compulsion
shared by biologists and physicians
alike. The study of human fungal
infections is called Medical Mycol-
ogy and there are more textbooks on
the subject than Marilyn Monroe
had pills.
We're going to keep this simple,
but I'd like to spend the next couple
of weeks discussing topics in Medi-
cal Mycology. We categorize these
infections medically into two major
categories: Skin Mycology and In-
fectious Disease Mycology. Skin in-
fections range from superficial to
more invasive. Infectious Disease
Mycology involves the study of these
human fungal pathogens which are
capable of causing infections in
major organ systems such as the
brain, lungs, and bone. Infection of
amblin* through albany
every human every organ system
has been described.
If you are unfortunate enough to
fall victim to a systemic fungal in-
fection, you'll probably wind up with
having a consultation with an infec-
tious disease specialist. These folks
are usually very "book-wormy" in
nature and appearance, but their
knowledge just might save your life.
I have a tremendous amount of re-
spect for those who specialize in
infectious disease; they are up
against thousands of formidable
adversaries.
Next week we'll talk about the
skin infections; until then, always
remember to change your under-
wear daily. Simple advice, I know,
but that alone will probably save
you from a nasty round of jock itch.
Thanks for reading, send ques-
tions and comments to docrdford@
yahoo.com.
By Larry Bell
Change comes slowly to Albany
but is moving like a stampede in
Texas overall. In my last two col-
umns I've noted the tremendous
changes that have been taking place
in our Texas society and culture. As
examples I've used the greatly
changed status of Texas A&M Uni-
versity and of the Democratic Party
of Texas. Neither one is anything
like it was just 40 years ago.
Texas Baptists have undergone a
similarly dramatic change in their
relative position in Texas. When I
was a kid, the Baptists were far and
away the biggest protestant denomi-
nation in Texas and the fastest grow-
ing. They were so numerous and so
vocal and visible that we Presbyte-
rians and Methodists and other
mainstream Protestants were per-
haps a bit overawed. They tended to
dominate the Texas religious scene.
My own immediate family was
Presbyterian, but all my close high
school buddies were Baptist and I
often attended their church. Two of
my uncles and my aunts attended
the huge First Baptist Church of
Beaumont. That included my be-
loved Uncle John of whom I wrote a
while back (the guy who advised me
to razz the Aggies, Baptists and
Democrats) and Judge Benny Bell
who was the most senior deacon
there. (The longtime pastor was Dr.
T.A. Patterson - "Dr. Pat" to us kids
- who was the father of Dr. Paige
Patterson, now the president of
Southwestern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Fort Worth.) None of
us had ever even seen a Muslim,
Hindu, Buddhist nor any practitio-
ners of any other "foreign" religion.
The Jewish faith was the only non-
Christian one we ever saw first hand.
Well again, things have changed.
The Baptists of the several different
varieties and splinter groups are still
a very large group, are still a vigorous
and effective witness of Christ and
are generally wonderful folks. They
are, however, no longer the fastest
growing denomination and no longer
dominate the Texas religious scene
the way they once did. Other even
more fundamentalist evangelicals
now compete for that title.
Moreover, true religious diver-
sity has now come to Texas. Many
non-Christian religions are now well
established in Texas and are grow-
ing rapidly. They include those al-
ready mentioned plus Shinto, Tao,
E'Hai and others. A convenient sym-
bol of this development is the beau-
tiful Buddhist temple located in
north Tarrant County just off Keller-
Hicks road near the intersection of
the old Denton Highway (377) and
Alliance Parkway. The Buddhist
monks there are friendly and wel-
coming - and thriving. Whatever
your own religion, it is definitely
worth a visit some time when you
are in that part of Tarrant County.
In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
of Sunday, May 8 of this year, there
was an excellent article by Dr. Mark
'tr. Toulouse of the Brite Divinity
School at Texas Christian Univ^T
sity. Among other points in it, he
cites data from a 2001 book by Diana
L. Eck, A New Religious America, to
the effect that "the United States of
today is the most religiously diverse
nation on earth." According to Eck's
book, there are almost six million
Muslims in this country, which is
roughly equal to the total number of
American Jews and is actually more
that the membership of the Presby-
terian Church USA or of the Episco-
pal church.
Dr. Toulouse, who is an ordained
minister in the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ), goes on to re-
mind us that such diversity is very
much within our American tradi-
tion and constitutional guarantees.
That guarantee is of total freedom
of conscience, i.e. the right to be-
lieve or not to believe and to wor-
ship as you please if you please.
In a statement that I suspect may
have gotten him some angry mail,
Toulouse wrote, "Look around you.
There are good Americans who rep-
resent every kind of religion and no
religion. You do not have to be a
Christian to be a good American.
(Believe it or not, you don't even
have to be a Christian to be a good
Republican.)"
While growing religious diversity
has definitely reached Texas at
large, it has not yet reached Albany.
We have neither a mosque nor a
synagogue nor a shrine. (There's
that time-warp again.) But you need I
only go over to the Metromess or to
any Texas metropolitan area to ex-
perience it firsthand.
The point of all this is certainty
not to demean in any way my be-
loved Baptist brethren. It is merely
to point out that in the overall reli»
gious context of Texas - and even of
Albany - the Baptists do not domi-.
nate the scene the way they once
did. Therefore, just as with the
Aggies and the Texas Democratic
Party, I no longer razz the Baptists
much anymore. It just doesn't seem
cricket. And in any case, they still
know the Lord loves 'em -just as He
does the Catholics, Mormons, Meth-
odists, Muslims, Lutherans and the
rest of us.
Peace be with you.
hometown health TheTexaiASrjS£r
It may surprise some to know
that a common birth defect that
affects speech can be cured in one
short dental visit. Children whose
frenulum, a thin band of tissue be-
neath the tongue, is attached too
high usually have a difficult time
pronouncing words. It is a common
problem, often called "tongue-tied"
and it is usually noticed in infancy.
Dentists can easily cure the
tongue-tied problem once it has been
identified. Many dentists use a la-
ser to release the frenulum. The
procedure takes a few minutes and
the patient is comfortable within a
few hours.
Dentist at Baylor College of Den-
tistry say parents should take no-
tice if the child has trouble with
consonants that require the tongue
to touch the roof of the mouth or if
they cannot stick out their tongue
or touch their upper lip. If you no-
tice any of these signs, ask your
dentist about an oral examination
and recommendations for treat-
ment.
This information is provided as a
service. For specific questions, con-
tact your physician or other health
provider.
: s»„ » * •• ■
L. BA N V
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
SEPT. 22 Lions Club - Icehouse, 12 noon
SEPT. 23 Chamber luncheon - Ft. Griffin Gen. Mdse.,
12 noon
SEPT. 24 First Baptist Church Fish Fry - Bank Park, 5 pm
SEPT. 26 Commissioners court - Courthouse, 9 am
Relay for Life Unit of American Cancer Society
meeting - Friendship Baptist Church, 6 pm
Hospital board - Stasney's office, 6:30 pm
SEPT. 27 ESL classes - Resource Center, 6-8 pm
SEPT. 28 Golf scramble - Albany Golf Course, 5:30 pm
SEPT. 30 Awards assembly - NSES cafeteria, 1:30 pm
Albany Chest deadline for 2006 requests
OCT. 1 Pumpkin Patch - Matthews Memorial Presbyterian
Church, 9 am-2 pm
OCT. 1-2 Golf Club Championship & Annual Meeting -
Albany Golf Course, 12 noon
OCT. 4 Albany Chest meeting-High school, 5:15 pm
OCT. 5 4-H meeting - Courthouse, 5:30 pm
OCT. 8 Punt, Pass & Kick competition - Nail Stadium,
8:30 am
OCT. 14-15 Frontier Times reenactment - Fort Griffin
NATIONAL
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Albany/Breckenridge
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Lucas, Melinda L. The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 130, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 22, 2005, newspaper, September 22, 2005; Albany, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth413637/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Old Jail Art Center.