Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 160, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 24, 2009 Page: 3 of 16
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Sweetwater Reporter
Sunday, May 24, 2009 ■ Page A3
Soldiers starting young
I he two younj; men shown above had a blast playing soldiers
it a Sweetwater park during the Christmas holidays. They
.aid that they wanted to join the Army after they finished
.chool. The two boys were playing; alone at the park with
me's father, when VFW honor guard president Lionel
Mendez, who happened to have spotted the boys from afar,
lad a talk with the boys and showed them how to salute.
Trinity Baptist to host Eternal
Threads gathering sale
Trinity Baptist Church, located at the corner of Hailey and
santa Fe, is proud to host An Eternal Threads Gathering
sale on Sunday, May 24, at 2 p.m. in their fellowship hall.
Eternal Threads is a non-profit organization (locally based
n Abilene) that invests in local artisans in the countries of
ndia, Nepal, Thailand, Madagascar and Afghanistan. The
irganization also teaches women and children a marketable
rade, paying them a fair and living wage for the work.
Their products are then sold here in the United States.
Tofits are returned to the countries for education and bor-
ler surveillance for trafficking.
Will you be their voice? Plead for the widow and defend
he orphan. Earnings from a silk scarf doubles a woman’s
ncome for nearly a week. Earnings from a pair of earrings
;aves a girl from being trafficked. The earnings from a
mall sized tote educates a girl for two months.
Join us for a fun time to learn about others and invest in
heir lives. Refreshments will be provided.
Additional information can be obtained from their website
it www.eternalthreads.org.
County
Continued from page Ai
ion of a grant application for the Edward Byrne Memorial
(ustice Act of 2009.
10. Discuss and consider approval to revise policy on
eimbursement on meal expenses for one-day, out of town
neetings.
11. Consider approval to place a burn ban in effect for
solan County.
12. Executive session - pending legal litigation.
13. Receive reports from department heads.
14. Pay claims and line adjustments, requested by coun-
y auditor.
Chamber
,’ontinued from page Ai
Technical College-West Texas campus.
King is currently serving as state representative for District
u, which includes Nolan and Taylor counties. She will give an
mdate on the Session, as it ends a few days before the lun-
heon.
There is no charge to the luncheon for Chamber members,
vhile the cost for non-members and Chamber guests will be
>10. The Chamber stresses that reservations be made before
he event to get a number of people attending. Chamber mem-
iers also need to RSVP. Reservations can he made by calling
he Chamber office at 235-5488.
"This luncheon is our way of saying thank you to all the
'hamber members who have supported us throughout the
ear," said Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce Executive
director Jacque McCoy.
Also, Rep. King will host the monthly Chamber of
Commerce coffee at 10 a.m. earlier that day at Java Jax coffee
.hop, located at 325 Oak Street.
SEED
Continued from page Ai
hat SEED has gave them a much-needed boost when they were
ust a fledgling company. "SEED was instrumental in helping us
et started," Meneses said. "We thank the community and
;EED for all the support we have gotten. We grew slowly and
licked up good employees, and that has enabled us to be sue-
essfiil."
Becker touts WETS as one SEED'S greatest success stories,
'he company, which maintains and repairs wind turbines, have
10 grown to' a company that employs nearly 50 people - the
ast majority of which are local hires. By doing so, the incentives
lEED provided have been a fruitful investment. "WETS has
ieeii as good as anyone 1 have seen when it comes to creating
ibs," Becker said. ''And not just jobs," he added, "But well-pay-
ng jobs. Jobs that people can raise families on."
Kvle Lawrence, SEED board member and vice-president,
•elieves that the success WETS has enjoyed can he attributed to
he way the company has been managed. "They (WETS) have a
reat reputation in the industry," he said. "They grew, hut grew
inartly, and hired knowledgeable people in their industry. They
dll continue to be successful."
SEED can offer more than just monetary incentives and
oans.The organization also helps companies find real estate,
lies 'provide information to prospective businesses and are con
tantlv networking and creating contacts. Recently, some of
iEED's officials traveled to Chicago to the American Wind
• xpo in just a few years, the attendance at the event has surged
mm a few hundred to tens of thousands. Stirring up interest in
he area is just one of many things SEED works tirelessly to
chieve. Becker sums up the mission of the organization saying.
Our joi) is to create wealth. That's what it's all about."
GOP: Alternative
energy alone won't
meet US needs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats will increase energy costs and
make the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil if they focus solely on
alternative energy, the Republicans say.
I11 the party's weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Sen.
John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans support a more compre-
hensive energy plan that would increase funding for energy research,
develop U.S. oil and gas resources and promote clean coal and nuclear
power.
"Democrats have focused solely on what they call green jobs. Those
are jobs from alternative energy. I support green jobs, but why dis-
criminate?" Barrasso said. "American energy means American jobs,
which is why I support red-white-and-bluejobs."
He said renewable energy such as wind and solar power is impor-
tant, noting that Wyoming has world-class wind resources. But
Barrasso said wind and solar only account for about 1 percent of U.S.
electricity, far below what is needed to meet the nation's energy' needs.
Barrasso also said Democrats were misguided by niling out the use
of U.S. oil in places such as the Outer Continental Shelf and Alaska.
"There’s enough oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West alone to
power America for the next hundred years," he said. "As a nation, we
need to lx- more energy independent. It is a matter of energy security,
as well as national security."
"As we approach this Memorial Day, it is my hope that the
Democrats can work with us to develop solutions to make our energy
supply clean, affordable and reliable," he said.
'CSI writer sued by couple
over show's characters
EOS ANGELES (AP) — A couple sued a writer for the CBS
show "CSI,” claiming two shady characters on the show were
named after them in revenge for a real estate deal gone bad.
Real estate agents Melinda and Scott Tamkin on Friday
sued writer and producer Sarah Goldfinger for defamation
and invasion-of-privacy. They are seeking $6 million in dam-
ages, alleging the show hurt their real estate business.
Calls to Goldfinger and CBS were not immediately returned.
The Tamkins represented the owners of a Los Angeles home
that Goldfinger wanted to buy in 2005, according to the law-
suit. Goldfinger pulled out when the sale was in escrow, but
there was no indication of any animosity at the time.
The "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" show set in Las Vegas
featured a real estate agent named Melinda, who dies under
mysterious circumstances, and her husband Scott, a mortgage
broker who watches pornography, drinks and is suspected of
killing his wife, according to the suit.
The characters had the last name Tamkin in an original
screenplay and Goldfinger helped cast actors who looked like
the Tamkins, according to the lawsuit. The Tamkins claim the
characters' last name was changed to Tucker at the last
minute, which they said was evidence Goldfinger borrowed
details from their lives.
Anthony Classman, the Tamkins' attorney, said potential
clients looking for their real estate company could have been
deterred from contacting them because episode descriptions
were online for months before the program aired.
NASA scraps landing for
shuttle second day in a row
MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Thunderstorms prevented
space shuttle Atlantis from returning to its home base
Saturday for the second day in a row, and kept the astronauts
circling Earth after a successful repair job at the I lubble Space
Telescope.
The offshore storms prompted NASA to skip both morning
landing attempts at Kennedy Space Center. Despite an equal-
ly dismal forecast for Sunday, Mission Control opted to wait
out the bad weather rather than take a detour to California.
A cooling-system problem cropped up aboard Atlantis
shortly after Mission Control informed the astronauts of the
latest landing plans. Commander Scott Altman and his crew
were instructed to hold off on opening the payload bay doors
just in case an emergency return was required. Within min-
utes, however, the astronauts were assured that everything
appeared to be working normally.
"We’re confident that the radiators are working fine for us.
T hey might have been just a little bit cold," Mission Control
said.
"That sounds good," Altman replied.
Atlantis' seven astronauts made it further into their landing
preparations than they did Friday, when storms directly over
the Florida landing site resulted in much earlier cancellations.
Altman and his crew are trying to wind up their Hubble
repair mission, which began May 11. It was NASA's last visit to
the 19-year-old observatory. The $1 billion overhaul should
keep the telescope working for another five to 10 years.
The weather at the backup landing site, Edwards Air Force
Base, is expected to be good all weekend, but it takes time and
money — close to $2 million - to ferry a shuttle cross-coun-
try.
As for Florida, forecasters expected more bad weather from
the same low-pressure system that has been drenching
Florida for days. But there was a slight chance that conditions
would improve, and that was enough for NASA to ride it out
another day.
Atlantis has enough supplies to remain in orbit until
Monday.
As the astronauts settled in for another unwanted day in
space, President Barack Obama announced his choice for
NASA's next administrator, Charles Bolden, a former shuttle
commander. Obama told the Atlantis crew earlier in the week,
in a phone call, that an announcement was imminent. If con-
firmed by the Senate, Bolden would become only the second
astronaut ever to lead the space agency.
Atlantis' mission culminated earlier this week with the
release of Hubble, freshly restored and considered at its sci-
entific peak thanks to the astronauts' effort. In five back-to-
back spacewalks, thev gave the observatory new science
instruments and fixed two others, and replaced batteries,
gyroscopes and other aging parts.
This was the fifth and final visit to Hubble by astronauts.
With NASA's three remaining space shuttles slated for retire-
ment next year, there will he no way to stage another repair
mission at the space telescope. It will be steered into the
Pacific sometime in the early 2020s; a docking ring was
installed by Atlantis' astronauts just for that purpose.
GILBERT CARREON D.D.S.
GENERAL DENTISTRY
Veneers • Cleaning • Fillings • Crowns ■ Root Canals
hentures • Blenching • Nitrous Oxide Available
Call for an Appointment (325)236-6968
500 Lamar St. Sweetwater
Senate vote not last
word on Guantanamo
DAVID KSPO
AP Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) - With President Barack
Obama showing the way, some Senate Democrats are
signaling a willingness to permit transferring terror-
ism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to prisons in the
United States despite a high-profile vote to the con-
trary.
Most notably among them is Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, who spent the week sending out
confusing signals on just where he stood.
"We are wanting and willing to work with” the
president to come up with a solution to the detainee
controversy, the Nevada Democrat said Thursday — a
statement that conspicuously left open the possibili-
ty that some detainees would eventually be incarcer-
ated in U.S. prisons.
Only two days earlier, Reid had adamantly told
reporters he opposed the release of any of the
detainees into the United States. On Wednesday, he
joined 89 other lawmakers in both parties who voted
to prohibit their transfer.
The 90-6 vote also denied Obama the funds he
requested to close the Navy-run detention center in
Cuba, which was set up by the Bush administration
and has become a highly controversial symbol of the
former president's terrorism policies.
Obama and many Democrats favor closing the
facility, saying it has become a recruiting tool for al-
Qaida. But doing so leaves open the fate of most of
the 240 men held there.
Some Democrats grumbled that Obama's team had
left them exposed politically in the run-up to
Wednesday's vote. Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii
Democrat who is chairman of the Appropriations
Committee, spoke at one point of the administration
lacking a "coherent plan."
Initially, Senate Democrats, who hold a majority,
had hoped to finesse the issue. They drafted legisla-
tion that allowed Obama's use of the funds to close
Guantanamo after he presented a plan that outlined
steps for dealing with the detainees held there.
But under significant pressure from the Republican
leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and other
GOP senators, Democrats backpedaled. They
stripped out the funds altogether and voted with
Republicans to bar the "transfer, release" or incarcer-
ation of any Guantanamo detainee in the United
States.
"I think it is a perfect place, given the unique
nature of the war on terror," McConnell said
Thursday. "Having said that, the president, I assume,
has the authority to close it if he'd like to. And if he's
going to close it, then he needs a plan."
Within 24 hours of the Senate vote, Obama sought
to reframe the issue, accusing unnamed critics of
fear-mongering and resorting to "words that, frankly,
are calculated to scare people rather than educate
them."
At the same time, he made it clear he intends for
some of the detainees to be incarcerated in the U.S.
"Where demanded by justice and national security,
we will seek to transfer some detainees to the same
type of facilities in which we hold all manner of dan-
gerous and violent criminals within our borders —
namely highly secure prisons that ensure the public
safety."
Some terrorists, he pointed out, have already been
tried in federal courts, found guilty and sent to
prison. "No one has ever escaped from one of our fed-
eral, supermax prisons, which hold hundreds of con-
victed terrorists," Obama said.
In addition to Reid, other Democrats who voted to
ban the transfer of detainees to the United States said
after Obama's speech, they are willing to consider the
plan the president eventually presents.
"We need for the administration to come to the leg-
islative branch with a well-thought out plan, and
then for us to have a conversation," said Sen. Tom
Carper, D-Del. Asked whether that meant he was
unalterably opposed to permitting detainees to enter
U.S. prisons, he repeated it was up to the White
House to outline its plan first.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said detainees can be
incarcerated safely inside the United States, but
added quickly, "Should they be? That's a far more dif-
ficult question to answer."
"It should be a last resort," she said, less preferable
than sending them to other countries.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.. who also voted for the leg-
islation on Wednesday and favors closing
Guantanamo, issued a statement saying he looked
forward to working with the administration on a
"lawful and efficient system of trials using an appro-
priate combination of our civilian courts and military
commissions."
What to do with the Guantanamo detainees mush-
roomed into the biggest sticking point in a bill that
Obama had wanted by Memorial Day to pay for wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan through the summer. So law-
makers will be under pressure to quickly complete it
when they return in June. But the Guantanamo issue
can be taken up again elsewhere, giv ing Obama some
time to come up with a plan that could generate a
compromise.
m
wit
53
,We extend our thanks and appreciation
'tickeveryone who helped tight the fire
on May 12, 2009; east of Maryneal on
the S.J Alexander place at 13017 FM
608.
Sincerely,
Jenny and Nelson McGee
Nancy and Earl I leard
Lynda and Lanny Hall
Brad, Sheldon and Jeremey Hall
/■ jiil'
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Rodriguez, Tatiana. Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 160, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 24, 2009, newspaper, May 24, 2009; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth560391/m1/3/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.