Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 26, 2011 Page: 3 of 20
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■
Co-Publishers
Mary Henkel Judson
& Murray Judson
Editor
Mary Henkel JnngnM
Port Aransas South Jetty
Member
Texas Press Association
South Texas Press Association
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
_National Newspaper Association
Thursday, May 26, 2011 PAGE 3 A
Trust in short
supply in Austin
The Texas
House and
Senate on
Saturday, May
21, duti-
fully endorsed
each others
new districts
for the next decade.
The legislative tradition in Texas has been
that the House and Senate each draw the
new maps for its own districts, and then
each body rubber-stamps the others plan.
The operation this year was choreo-
graphed so each body could closely monitor
the other to guard against any last-minute
funny business. They each gaveled through
the other’s plan at almost exactly the same
time.
It’s not that they don’t trust each other. It’s
just that - late in the session — they don’t
trust each other all that much.
They took the simultaneous approach
because that’s what the House and Senate
had done in 1991. That was the first, last,
and only time Texas legislators successfully
completed their own redistricting plans that
survived, at least for a while, since the pas-
sage of the Voting Rights Act and one-per-
son, one-vote U.S. Supreme Court decisions
of the 1960s.
In 1971,1981 and 2001, legislative dis-
tricts were drawn by a five-member commit-
tee of elected officials called the Legislative
Redistricting Board - in capitol shorthand
called the LRB.
In the last legislative redistricting, in
2001, the Democratic majority in the House
narrowly passed a bill to send to the Senate.
But the Senate couldn’t muster a two-thirds
vote to bring up its own map. So the Senate,
with a narrow Republican majority, ignored
the House map.
That meant that the map-drawing for
both bodies went to the LRB, an entity
set up by a constitutional amendment six
decades ago. It comes into being to redistrict
the House and/or Senate if the legislature
fails to do so, or the redistricting is vetoed
by the governor or thrown out by the courts
— all of which have happened in the past.
The LRB performance became so puni-
tively partisan in 2001 that this year, even
though several of the 12 Democratic sena-
tors objected to parts of the map drawn to
suit the 19 Republican senators, all but two
Democrats voted for it. They didn’t want to
take their chances letting five Republicans
draw the map.
(The LRB members this year would have
been Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House
Speaker Joe Straus, Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott,
Comptroller Susan Combs, and Land Com-
missioner Jerry Patterson.)
As the legislative session winds down to
its final day May 30 or blows up and requires
a special session, the presumption is legisla-
tors won’t pass a congressional map, even
though it’s their duty. While it could happen,
it’s so late in the process that its prospects
dim with each passing day.
While the legislative redistricting maps go
to the LRB if the legislature fails to get them
done during the first regular session after
the census data becomes available - which
is this one - congressional redistricting
doesn’t. If the Legislature doesn’t get it done,
the governor could call a special session
- which he probably won’t.
In 2001, when neither house passed a
congressional redistricting map, Perry said
he’d let it go to a federal court, partly to save
Texans the cost of a special session.
Perry is also presumed to be eager to get
back on his un-campaign to be on a national
ticket, a prospect that he has repeatedly
pooh-poohed.
By the way, after the LRB-drawn districts
for the 2002 elections for the Texas House
had produced a Republican House majority,
Perry in 2003 did call several special ses-
sions for congressional redistricting.
The congressional plan the three-judge
federal court drew in 2001 hadn’t suited
Perry and the Republicans, because it al-
lowed all 17 incumbent Democrats to win
re-election in 2002.
The new Republican majority in 2003,
and new Republican House Speaker Tom
Craddick, decided to re-draw congressional
districts. Late in the regular legislative ses-
sion, House Democrats fled to Oklahoma to
break a quorum to block it.
Perry called them back into session
repeatedly, so the new Republican majority
could draw maps to defeat several senior
Democrats in 2004 - which they did.
Tom DeLay, Republican Majority Leader
of the U.S. House, had shuttled back and
forth between the Texas House and Senate
to personally negotiate the redistricting.
The result was that new Texas Republican
members padded the Republican U.S. House
majority in 2005.
However, Delay also found himself indict-
ed for helping launder corporate funds to
funnel to some of the Republican candidates
for the Texas House in 2002, which under
Texas law is a no-no.
That indictment resulted in DeLay having
to step aside as majority leader. Then he
quit Congress. And, he was finally tried,
convicted by a jury, and sentenced in Janu-
ary to three years in prison. Hes appealing
that verdict.
This redistricting stuff is hardball at
its hardest. Stay tuned for the aftermath,
because the courts may well be busy dealing
with the redistricting aftermath for years.
Contact McNeely at
Anvrmrneelvl limmailcorn or (512) 458-
2963.
GYM
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Bright future depends on us
As a journalist, my BS-ometer is always
on. Who’s blowing smoke and who’s telling
it like it is?
So, when I set out to do a story such as
the one on the front page about the eco-
nomic outlook for Port Aransas, I’m look-
ing for people who will tell it like it is and
not candy-coat the truth to make things
look good when, in fact, they’re not. And,
I’m not looking for the Eeyores of the world
whose glass is always half-empty no matter
how good it gets.
I’m looking for “just the facts, ma’am.”
As I talked to a variety of business people
in town, I didn’t detect a Pollyanna or an
Eeyore in the bunch. (Which does not mean
everyone I did not talk to is a Pollyanna or
an Eeyore!)
What I did detect was a feeling of calm
confidence from every sector of the com-
munity I surveyed.
No, we’re not in a boom. But we’re not
busted, by any means - far from it.
Texas, of course, has not been as hard-hit
by the recession as the rest of the country
- a reverse of the 1980s when it felt more
like a depression than a recession here,
and the rest of the country was only mildly
impacted by comparison.
Talking to retailers, Realtors, develop-
ers and those in the hospitality industry, I
picked up on a sense of well-being among
all of them. Improved bottom lines cer-
tainly play a part in that, and the fact that,
historically, a strong spring is followed by
a strong summer. Also, while we all pay
the price at the pump, high gas prices often
have brought people to Port Aransas who
might otherwise have chosen a more distant
destination.
We may
still be feeling
the effects of
having been
discovered by
vacationers
who visited
South Padre Island before Hurricane Dolly
in 2008, and before that coastal communi-
ty’s proximity to the Mexican border be-
came a drawback rather than an asset. Also,
vacationers who once spent their summers
in Galveston may have found us after Hur-
ricane Ike. It’s sad to be the beneficiary of
another community’s misfortune, and we
should not take satisfaction from that. It
could be our turn to send vacationers to
those destinations one day as a result of an
unfortunate storm.
Port Aransas’ economy is dependent on
tourism that can swing high and low with
the pendulums of weather and the econo-
my, neither of which we can control.
What we can control - at least to a
certain degree -- is how we respond to the
fluctuations.
If the stars are lining up to put Port
Aransas in a good position to reap a profit-
able summer, we have to do the best job
possible to take care of our summer guests.
The last thing we want to happen is for
our guests to leave here with a bad taste in
their mouths so that if the weather and the
economy turn against us, they don’t.
Mary Henkel Judson is editor and co-
publisher of the South Jetty. Contact her at
southjetty¢uryteLnet (361) 749-5131
or P.O. Box 1117, Port Aransas, TX 78373.
Letters to the Editor
to move here, causing more debt and higher
taxes.
We have, in Williamson County, a very
greedy school district and county commis-
sioners that spend like they are Democratic
congressmen. It seems their intent is to
force the property owners into selling to
cause more growth and higher taxes. Our
Georgetown ISD, like many others, is bloat-
ed with high-paid management, duplication
of effort, multiple school buses on routes to
separate age groups and too many taxpayer-
funded school activities. In addition, we are
burdened with federal and state mandates
for non-English speaking and handicapped
children.
The solution, I believe, is a tax revolt. One
should not be taxed on an arbitrary evalua-
tion as if the property might sell. A fair way
is to tax on what it was bought for. That is
what we all can afford, or we would have
bought something different!
Good luck with your classes on how to
fight, but I doubt it will help. I protest each
year and our taxes have gone up 700 percent
in 28 years. If I had not protested, they
would be much more. If they don’t raise the
land value, they raise the house value. The
appraisal districts will see that the schools
and county gets their money one way or an-
other. Even if it means driving you off your
island or me off my small ranchette!
Bill Hoglan
Georgetown
Good, but late
Without the information in the South
Jetty’s May 12 and 19 editions, most of us
attending the Saturday, May 21, meeting on
property appraisals would not have been
privy to a clearly explained process complete
with deadlines.
I only wish the meeting with deadlines
would have occurred before two of the
deadlines had passed with another approxi-
mately two weeks away. Perhaps the meet-
ing should be held the first part of January
each year.
Regardless, I appreciate the professional
effort of the presentors and the South Jetty to
inform the public.
Zena Trcka
Weesatche and Port Aransas
Over-taxed
Re: Article on property appraisal work-
shops, South Jetty, May 12 and 19.
Sounds like a good idea and I wish they
would do it in Williamson County, though I
doubt it would help considering the need
for money to feed the monster created by
schools and counties.
We have similar problems here in
Georgetown/Williamson County as Port
Aransas, and probably most of the state.
That is, bloated school districts and county
commissioners with their ideas on what
needs to be done to encourage more people
Hurricane season
Continued from Page 1A
tropics throughout hurricane season.
“I feel like you can never be as prepared as
you’d like to be for a calamity,” McMullin said.
“But I think we are better-equipped to handle it
than we have been previously. It’s a major focus
for me and for everybody at city hall.”
One reason Port Aransas is perhaps better
prepared than in previous years lies in the fact
that that Hurricane Alex gave our town a scare
in late June last year.
Alex eventually moved into Mexico, but the
storm for a time looked as if it could make
it to Port Aransas, prompting McMullin,
Police Chief Scott Burroughs and then-new
City Manager Robert Bradshaw to prepare
together for a possible local landfall. That
sharpened everyone’s skills and their working
relationships where hurricane preparedness is
concerned, the mayor said.
McMullin has increased his own prepared-
ness by spending a week at the National Hur-
ricane Center in January. He was one of only
five Texans who were accepted for instruction
in a hurricane preparedness course at the
Florida facility.
“I feel like I made some connections there
and learned quite a bit that will help us inter-
pret the news they disseminate when and if a
storm is out there,” McMullin said.
The Port Aransas City Council in March
hired a consultant, Randy Sijansky, to conduct
a study to assess how ready the town is to
handle a hurricane.
Sijansky, whose study is underway, retired
last year from his job as emergency man-
agement coordinator for the city of Corpus
Christi. He previously was a regional liaison
officer with the Texas Division of Emergency
Management.
Comments? Questions? Contact Dan Parker
at (361) 749-5131 or dan@portasouthjetty.
com
Holiday closings
Continued from Page 1A
The South Jetty will be open with a skeleton
staff, and the deadline for news and advertising
of noon on Monday will remain in effect.
“Of course, ‘deadline’ means the latf pos-
sible moment. Any news items or ads that
can be turned in on Friday, May 27, will be
appreciated,” said editor and co-publisher
Mary Henkel Judson.
Tho
(c) 2011 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES.
Obama ideas
delusional?
With friends
like President
Obama, who
needs enemies?
If you’re Israel,
you already
have quite
enough of
those.
, On May 14,
2011, the State of Israel observed the 63rd
anniversary of its independence. But if the
proposals made by President Obama in his
State Department speech are implemented,
that observance could be its last.
It is difficult to say if the president is
self-deluded, if he drinks State Department
Arabist Kool-Aid or if he’s just a fool. It
doesn’t matter. The results are the same.
Why does anyone continue to believe that
the unsuccessful “Land for Peace” formula
can magically persuade Arab states and
terrorist groups to lay down their arms and
change their minds about a goal they have
taught in their schools, preached in their
mosques and reinforced in their media
since 1948?
The president’s peace formulation is
as likely to succeed as Harold Camping’s
doomsday prophecy.
This is the reality, expressed by Hamas’
former minister of “culture,” Atallah Abu
Al-Subh, and broadcast on Al-Aqsa TV:
“The Jews are the most despicable and
contemptible nation to crawl upon the face
of the earth.” Would 1967 borders change
his mind?
Here’s another excerpt from Al-Subh’s
April 8 sermon: “Whoever is killed by a Jew
receives the reward of two martyrs, because
the very thing that the Jews did to the
prophets was done to him.” That would be
144 virgins and double the fig ration.
He continued: “Allah will kill the Jews in
the hell of the world to come, just like they
killed the believers in the hell of this world.”
And “The Jews kill anyone who believes in
Allah. They do not want to see any peace
whatsoever on Earth.”
This kind of “peace” means no Jews with
all Israel occupied and dominated by legions
of Muslims who will impose Sharia law to
the detriment of women and anyone who
believes in a different God and different
laws and rules.
The apologists for such rhetoric, which is
legion, turn blind eyes and deaf ears to the
intent and objectives of Hamas, which is
increasingly considered mainstream in the
Arab world. Arab and Palestinian diplomats
say one thing for Western consumption and
the opposite when communicating with
their own.
In his bold rebuke of President Obama
in the Oval Office, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a history
lesson. Ignorance of history threatens not
only Israel, but also American interests and
ultimately America itself. That’s because
Arab intentions to dominate do not end in
the Middle East. “Peace based on illusions,”
said Netanyahu, “will crash eventually on
the rocks of Middle East reality.”
Once again the prime minister noted that
Israel’s 1967 borders would be indefensible.
All of the talk by this and previous admin-
istrations of “unshakable” support for Israel
is meaningless if enemy tanks, missiles and
especially nuclear weapons are used against
this tiny nation. What would America do?
Bomb Iran? Invade Egypt? Strafe Syria? The
State Department would likely wring its
hands and blame Israel for its own destruc-
tion, saying it should have compromised
sooner.
The ludicrously named “Arab Spring” is
more like an Arab winter that will never end
as long as radical Islam is the established
religion. Very little good is likely to come
out of the uprisings from Egypt to Syria and
beyond because there is no foundation in
the region for political pluralism, religious
tolerance and equality for women. Such
things are not part of their political and
religious DNA. So why is the U.S. sending
billions more in borrowed money to Egypt
when the Muslim Brotherhood candidate
might win the upcoming election?
It is only when the State Department and
the White House begin to understand real-
ity that Israel’s — and America’s — interests
will be served.
The public seems to understand that bet-
ter than politicians and diplomats. A recent
Rasmussen poll found that 78 percent of
U.S. voters believe peace between Israel and
the Arab world is unlikely. Thousands of
years of history and common sense confirm
this.
Contact Cal Thomas at Tribune Me-
dia Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite
114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207, ore-mail him at
tmseditors@tribune.com.
Letters to the
Editor
Deadline: Noon Monday
Signature, phone number, mailing
ADDRESS REQUIRED. LlMIT 300 WORDS.
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telephone numbers where the writer may be
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be withheld from publication • unsigned letters will
not be published *only one letter per person per
30 days period • tetters endorsing or opposing
political candidates are political advertising and
should be taken to the advertising department • all
letters are subject to editing • letters of complaint
about private businesses will be forwarded to the
business and will not be published • ‘thank you”
letters are classified advertising and should go to
the classified ad department
southjetty@centurytel.net
P.O. Box 1117
Port Aransas, TX 78373 'J
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 26, 2011, newspaper, May 26, 2011; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth505966/m1/3/: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.