Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 217, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 30, 2009 Page: 4 of 10
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Viewpoints
Page 4 ■ Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sweetwater Reporter
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Reporter
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EDITORIAL POLICY
The editorial section of the newspaper is a forum for
expression of a variety of viewpoints. All articles except
those labeled "Editorials” reflect the opinions of the writ-
ers and not those of the Sweetwater Reporter.
IDAS HUES
Texas fanners and ranchers: An enduring legacy
Farmers and ranch-
ers across the state are
experiencing significant
losses due to record tem-
peratures and the
worst drought
some parts of
Texas have ever
seen. Of course,
this is not the first
time farmers and
ranchers have
faced seemingly
insurmountable
odds. The hard
work and ingenu-
ity of Texas farm-
ers and ranchers
has always carried
them through, and
I am confident the same
will occur this time.
Texas AgriLife Extension
economists reported last
week that this year's crop
losses in Texas are already
John
comm
deep. The Texas livestock
industry first got its start
in Spanish Texas, with a
focus on cattle, goat, sheep
and hog produc-
tion. Similarly,
some of the first
farms in Texas
were established
in small plots
of land next to
Spanish missions
and settlements
in San Antonio,
Ysleta (modern-
day El Paso), and
Nacogdoches. It
was not until after
Mexico gained
independence from
Spain in 1821, however
that Texas’ farming and
ranching industries would
undergo significant devel-
opment.
In 1825, Stephen F.
estimated at $2.6 billion, Austin brought 300 fami-
and livestock losses are lies, today known as the
GUEST COLUMN
lily Burk, 17
You just have to see the picture of her: a girl on the
on Skic
You just nave to see uie picture or ner: a gin on rne
verge, finding her stvle, raising her voice, about to embark
on a life she could barely yet imagine. This summer she
was supposed to volunteer helping homeless drug addicts
d Row. Instead, according to police, she was killed
by one.
Her mother is a lawyer and law profes-
sor, her father a journalist. She was (hiv -
ing a Volvo.
Forgive me for identifying: When my
daughter was her age, barely two years !
ago, she got an advance for her first j
novel, “Hancock Park,” about a girl like
Lily. Many of the girls at her school drove
expensive, not to mention dangerous (in
my hook), cars. I smiled because the
* been locked up, demanding to know why
e, pretending to get drug rehab, when police
a lowlife. (According to the police, he was
NS
Susan other used Volvo belonged to a girl whose
mother is also a sensible lawyer, which
EStfiCh *s w'iat I bke to think I am. Like Lily’s
mother.
A man abducted Lily across the street j
from her mother's office in what was once the Bullocks
Wilshire, which Southwestern Law School converted into
classrooms, offices and an impressive library.
Lily called both of her parents to ask how she could
withdraw money from an ATM with her credit card so she j
could buy shoes.
Her parents said she sounded rushed, not scared.
She was dead in her car before her parents got home
from work.
The guy they picked up, with her car key and cell phone,
was arrested because he was clearly a junkie who a done
something wrong. While being held on unrelated charges,
50-year-old parolee Charlie Samuel was tied to Lily's mur-
der two days latei' by fingerprints at the scene.
Some people (many of them formerly liberal) are
screaming that he’s a repeat offender and parole violator
who should’ve'
he was out free,
knew he was a lowlife. (According to the
leaving a clinic when he abducted Lily, and was drinking
from a paper bag with a ding pipe in his pocket when he
was arrested not even two hours later.)
Others (trying still to be liberal) respond that his record
didn’t include anything remotely as violent, and that if
every lowlife were locked up forever, there'd be no room
for anyone else. It's a hard one because a lot of these
people knew Lib’ Burk and her parents.
Tlie truth, for what it’s worth, is probably somewhere in
between: What shows up on a person’s criminal record is
generally the "bargained down for a guilty plea” version ol
what he's actually done. The issue facing the system now
is not who to hold longer, but who to let go. This guy, if
the police are right, win be lucky to rot in hell. What we
do with tens of thousands of others, one or more of whom
could turn into him, depends on whether we’re willing to
swallow hard and let out the white-collar scumbags vvho
don’t threaten our kids in order to keep in the lowlifes
who do.
But none of that will bring back a girl with a sparkle in
her eye, who was on her way home on a Friday afternoon
after picking up her mom’s exam papers.
I ler parents, in a very graceful statement, asked people
to enjoy every day. That must, of course, be the lesson.
But the other one, the one that no parent can miss, is that
we can’t protect our children. She drove away in her black
Volvo, and she never came home. She called her parents,
but she didn't want to scare them.
May she rest in peace. May God grant comfort to her
family.
To find out more about Susan Estiich and readfeatures
hu other t 'rectors Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit
the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.eom.
Letter to the Editor Policy
close to $1 billion since
November 2008. The U.S.
Drought Monitor indicated
Texas has the most land in
the worst stage of drought
in nearly a decade.
In some parts of central
Texas, half of the cotton,
corn and sorghum crops—
Texas’s primary exports—
have already been wiped
out by the drought. Grazing
pastures are too dry for
livestock, and many Texas
ranchers are being forced
to sell their cattle because
they cannot feed them.
As a member of the
Senate Agriculture
Committee, 1 will continue
to do all I can to bring the
concerns of Texas fann-
ers and ranchers to the
table in Washington. First
and foremost, in light of
the severe drought, is the
issue of timely disaster
relief. I recently wrote to
U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack, demanding
to know why the $3 bil-
lion in emergency drought
relief funding, which was
approved and signed into
law more than one year
ago as part of the 2008
Farm Bill, has yet to be
released. I've heard from
hundreds of farmers and
ranchers who have com-
pleted the paperwork and
nave been assured they
qualify, but have yet to
receive any relief or news
of when to expect it. This
is unacceptable and 1 will
continue to press for an
answer.
The roots of Texas’
farming and ranching run
GUEST COLUMN
Old Three Hundred, into a
region that stretched from
Central Texas down to the
Gulf Coast. These settlers
were given a square league
of land, called a sitio,
which amounted to more
than 4,000 acres, along
with a labor for farm-
ing, which was 177 acres
ly expanded. From 1850
to i860, cotton produc-
tion in Texas rose from
58,000 bales to 431,000
bales. Cowboys had begun
annual cattle drives from
south Texas to points in
Louisiana, Arkansas and
Mississippi. By the 1850s,
herds of Texas cattle were
being driven to Illinois,
California and Iowa.
Germans settled farming
communities such as New
Braunfels, Boerne and
Brenham, while Czechs
established small farms in
Brazos and Fayette coun-
ties. These mainly subsis-
tence farms were typically
livided into plots for cattle
a.id hog raising, hunting,
gathering firewood, and
growing corn. An acre or
two was sometimes set
aside for growing fruit,
lierbs and tobacco.
Bv 1900, Texas was
home to nearly 350,000
farms. The railroad played
a central role in the expan-
sion of Texas’ farming
and ranching industries,
while subsistence farming
began to decline. Cattle
and cotton continued to
dominate Texas exports,
but the 1900s also saw
Soon, Austin’s group of the rise in importance of
settlers had introduced wheat, sorghum, rice, hay
cotton plantations, devel-
oped a commercial live-
stock industry, and started
many small family farms.
These industries quick-
and dairies in Texas.
Today, Texas leads the
nation in cotton, cattle,
and sheep and goat pro-
duction. Texas is the sec-
ond most productive agri-
cultural state in the coun-
try. Our agriculture indus-
try is a source of pride for
all Texans and central to
our state’s economy.
Over the course of its
history, the Texas agricul-
ture industry has survived
setbacks, droughts, hur-
ricanes and other serious
challenges. The stead-
fastness and innovation
of the Texas farmer and
rancher has always pre-
vailed. I know that today,
despite the discourage-
ment and devastation of
the current drought, the
hard work of thousands of
Texans dedicated to farm-
ing and ranching will carry
them through. I pledge to
do all I can to help these
enduring industries make
it through this trying time
and emerge even stronger
and more successful.
Source: Texas State
Historical Association’s
Handbook of Texas
Online.
Sen. Cornyn serves on
the Finance, Judiciary,
Agriculture, and Budget
Committees. He serves
as the top Republican on
the Judiciary Committee's
Immigration, Refugees
and Border Security sub-
committee. He served pre-
viously as Texas Attorney
General, Texas Supreme
Court Justice, and Bexar
County District Judge.
HEN-TW cm REftTO
PUT IDOUBT IT.
Public health plan: Your only ‘option?’
The Sweetwater Reporter
welcomes Letters to the
Editor for possible publi-
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However, the deadline for
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subjects of interest with the
newspaper's readers.
Edwin
Feulner
Last month, House law-
makers set a new land-
speed record by voting for
the Waxman-Markey cap-
and-trade (or cap-and-
tax) bill before they d even
seen the final
copy. Now it
seems President
Barack Obama
is trying to top
that dubious
feat.
He’s urging
lawmakers to
hurry and pass
a giant health
care “reform”
bill, but appar-
ently' he hasn’t
read it. During
a conference
call with activist
bloggers, one referred to
Section 102 of the House
health legislation and
asked, “Will people be
able to keep tneir insur-
ance and will insurers be
able to write new policies
even though II.R. 3200 is
passed?"
Obama replied, “You
know, I have to say that 1
am not familiar with the
provision you are talking
about.”
No, the provision
wouldn’t actually ban
private health insurance
plans. But the bill would
require all new policies
and all existing employer-
sponsored plans to meet
new detailed federal mini-
mum benefit requirements
and regulations. With the
passage of the bill, mil-
lions of employees could
also lose their current
insurance and be shifted
to a new "public option,"
a government-run insur-
ance plan.
Luckily, some people
have actually read the
House bill. The Lewin
Group, as independent
consulting firm, has. In a
recent report, it explained
what would happen if H.R.
3200 does become
law.
If fully imple-
mented in 2011,
Lewin estimates
that of the 158.1
million Americans
with employer-
based coverage,
88.1 million people
would be shifted
out of their current
insurance and end
up in the public
plan.
So much for the
president's often-
repeated sound bite (he
said it even during the
conference call with the
liberal bloggers) that, "If
you have health insur-
ance, and you like it, and
you have a doctor that you
like, then you can keep
it. Period." Tell that to
the millions of Americans
with employer-sponsored
insurance who would lose
their private coverage.
Patients wouldn't be the
only people shortchanged
by the government option,
though. Lewin also
explains that, under the
House hill, the govern-
ment would pay doctors
and hospitals based on
what Medicare pays, plus
5 percent.
“Medicare payments to
hospitals are equal to only
about 68 percent [of] what
priviite insurers pay for the
same services. In fact, hos-
pital payments as a per-
centage of private payer
rates nave declined steadi-
ly since 2000. Physician
payments are equal to only
about 81 percent of what
is paid by private insures
for comparable services,"
Lewin reports.
This highlights the fact
that, for years now, pri-
vate insurance has been
subsidizing the care pro-
vided to seniors under
Medicare. Private insur-
ers have shelled out more
than the going rate for
hospitalization and medi-
cal services, to make up
for the fact that Medicare
has been under-paying for
them. But once there’s a
public “option,” of course,
many private insurers
will be out of business.
Hospitals and doctors will
then have no choice but to
accept Washington’s lower
payments, or cut back on
offering care at the lower
reimbursement. Some will
doubtless pursue a new-
line of work.
Finally, it’s worth ask-
ing if all these changes
would actually accomplish
what they’re supposed to.
The goal is to cover all
Americans.
But Lewin writes that,
“We estimate that there
will be about 49.1 mil-
lion uninsured people in
2011. Once the program
is implemented, we esti-
mate that the number of
uninsured people would
be reduced by 32.6 million
people.” That, of course,
would leave some 16.5
million — roughly a third
of the current uncovered
population - uninsured.
Before Congress votes to
blow up our existing insur-
ance system, lawmak-
ers and President Obama
should actually read the
bill they’re considering -
and the Lewin report on
its likely outcomes. If they
do, they’ll realize this so-
called “reform" is change
the country can’t afford.
Ed Feulner is presi-
dent of The Heritage
Foundation (heritage,
org).
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Rodriguez, Tatiana. Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 217, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 30, 2009, newspaper, July 30, 2009; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth560411/m1/4/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: 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.