Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 28, 1995 Page: 2 of 14
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I.
Page 2 Thursday, December 28.1995
Murray md Mary Judson
Publishers
Mary Judson
Bd*or
Opinion
Smoke in the eyes:
love at first lawsuit
I love the tobacco industry, I really do. I think, for the
most part, tobacco firms are progressive, far-seeing and
socially responsible. Oh, there are a few bad eggs, as there
are in any industry — companies that actually encourage
people to smoke — but most simply provide a useful, en-
joyable product that, used in moderation, does no harm.
Not much harm, anyway.
Hey! What doesn’t cause
some harm. Bacon and eggs?
Rare steak? Fried chicken?
Robert Waller novels? A per-
son has a right to pick his or
her poison, that’s what I say.
And I don’t say it simply be-
cause I’m afraid tobacco com-
panies will sue me if I criticize
them. You’ve got me mixed up
with CBS.
Last month that network
withdrew a tell-all interview
with an unfrocked tobacco
company executive on its “60
Minutes” show because it was afraid of getting sued. As
it buned out, there was more to it than that, but it was not
an unreasonable fear, considering that ABC had recently
been forced to issue a public apology to Philip Morris to
settle a $10 billion lawsuit brought against the network as
the result of a story. Ten billion dollars here, 10 billion
dollars there; it begins to add up.
That threat isn’t what’s holding me back, however. I
Donald Kaul
©Tribune Media Services
SSSOST^^ tFip arTmial 'u/ilH nimiW
Why.somc i my best friends are smokers; I used to be 1 11C dllllUdl Wild lUllllJLlo
a amiaLa# n, I f Tknt time I ha /4a«i0 uikan ^
Tidemarks
C.M. Henkel Jr.
a smoker n> ^clf. That was back in the days when
Humphrey Kogart was my favorite movie star and role
model. Man, could that guy smoke.
Bogan with a cigarette was tougher-looking that Clint
Eastwc hxI with a gun. When I was a kid, we used to prac-
tice ''noking like Bogart in front of mirrors. He looked so
grc.. i Right up until he died of lung cancer.
I lien there was Edward R. Morrow, the great television
newsman. Did anyone ever look better smoking than
Morrow? The cigarette didn’t make him look tough, it
made him look sophisticated. He’d sit there in the middle
of your television screen, handsome head wreathed in
smoke, talking to Nehru or Churchill or some other giant
of the day; you wanted to be like him.
Nor did cigarettes shorten his career, as some would
have you believe. He had already quit network news when
he died. Of lung cancer.
What I’m saying is that cigarette companies helped these
men, and others, achieve the image that made them fa-
mous. And got precious little credit for it.
In the 1920s, cigarette companies threw their weight on
the side of women’s lib, promoting the image of an inde-
Spinoff
Most families are able to gather in
one place at one time only at Thanks-
giving or Christmas. Distance, jobs
and immediate family obligations
make more frequent gatherings all
but impossible. And, I suppose some
families value their lives more than
to chance gathering any more fre-
quently. My family's big gathering
is Christmas. And it is a big gather-
ing.
Mary Henkel
Judson
South Jetty Editior
Good Catholic that my mother
was, I am one of five children. After
having my one and only child, I
nominated her for sainthood, espe-
cially since I knew that my father did
not know what a diaper was, much
less how to change one.
But I digress. •
As one of five children, all holidays, especially Christ-
C2SJSS2’
that in the Virginia Slims “You’ve come a long wav. baby” scven m**dc for a packed room. The aftermath must have
that in the Virginia Slims “You’ve come a long way, baby
campaign of the ’70s and ’80s. Cigarette companies were
feminists long before it became fashionable.
So you’re not going to catch me saying anything bad
about them, nosiree. If there are any tobacco companies
lawyers out there reading this, relax. I’m on your side.
While I’m at it. I’d like to put in a good word for lum-
ber companies, which perform the thankless task of re-
moving unsightly trees from the hillsides of the great Pa-
cific Northwest. Do they get any credit for that? Precious
little. All they get are gripes from people who care more
about spotted owls than endangered lumberjacks.
And oil companies. If it weren’t for oil companies, who
would reach out into the barren wastelands of Alaska to
bring jobs and civilization to places where there were only
clear streams and godless caribou? I think journalists who
denigmte those great companies for following the capital-
istic dream should be ashamed of themselves.
As for chemical companies, the liberal, politically cor-
rect press whines about chemical pollution of the envi-
ronment, but you never hear the other side of the story:
the way some kinds of toxic waste prevent tooth decay,
for example.
You’ll hear it from me, though. Unlike a television net-
work, I am unafraid of telling the truth, and I don’t care
how many radical environmentalists I upset.
If I do happen to offend a corporation, though, I wish
its public re i ions department would let me know bet ore
alerting its I- ^al department. I’m willing to run a correc-
tion. It’s i ilied the New Journalism.
fora packed room. The aftermath must have
been mind-boggling. I wouldn't know. I was too busy
being thrilled over what Santa had brought.
The years went on, and first one brother, then another,
then another got married. We were 10 strong. Then two
brothers became fathers, and we were 12. Then another
brother became a father again ... and again, and we were
14. My sister got married and we were 15.1 got married and
we were 16. To make a long story short, we are now 21
strong. When the parents retired to a small island house in
Rockport, the gathering moved to our house for eating,
talking politics, drinking, talking politics, playing ping-
pong, talking politics, basketball, exchanging gifts and,
always, talking politics. (We are a house so divided that
one sister-in-law fled to a back bedroom in tears her first
Christmas with us, thinking we were fighting. One niece
said that when the kids fuss wccall it "fighting", but when
the adults do it we call it "talking politics".)
Next year, we'll have a six-month-old baby to bounce
between 21 laps as the great debate continues. (Got to get
them off to a good start, you know.)
The Henkel Christmas is mayhem and it is wonderful!
When it's over, I'm exhausted and I've never felt so good.
There's just nothing as fulfilling as being surrounded by
my family. I look forward to it every year and wish we
could do it more often> i • v • - - ... «
As it is written in one 6f n\y fdvdrife children's'Book's,'
Where the Wild Things Are, when the Henkel clan
begins to gather, 1 say "Let the wild rumpus begin." .
And it does, thank God.
And it's over, thank God.
"”Whai are you doing during the holidays?”
Tm going to the Nutcradker Suite.”
"(>h, spending the night at the White House, eh?”
The Communist Party has defeated the government’s
party in Russia’s parliamentary elections. They’re
baaaack!
Mill
“Frankly, Senator Dole, you are hurting your own presi-
dential plans with a seeming shift of
position on abortion and the turn-
down of a vice presidential overture
by Colin Powell."
“What do you recommend?”
“Chronic laryngitis.”
•MM
“Mr. Limbaugh. how do you
view the resurgence of communism
in Russia?”
“As job security.”
sms
cami
RELAX... HE
NAS PLAYING
GOLF.
Cactus Pryor
‘As my dear personal friend
I me... “
Newt never leu historical correctness be an ob-
George Washington once told nr
“OT Newt never leu historic
“Here you are little dartin’. When you said you wanted
an exotic bird for yore Christmas present ah said there
just ain’t nothin' too fine for my precious little wife."
“But, darling ... a whooping crane!?”
“Pa, it says here in the paper that Danish biologists have
discovered a whole new type of life form. It is male, fe-
male and asexual as well.”
“Well, Ma, reckin we'll be seeing it right away on the
afternoon TV talk shows.”
“I think we did last week.” ,.
Cactus Pryor can be heard twice daily on radio sta-
tions KIJiJ-AM in Austin and KRYS-AM in Corpus Christi
mu . '
Don t miss a single issue of the
South Jetty
in 1996
Call (512) 749-5131 today to
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Send troops to
our own borders
A Curmudgeon: “The world is crazier and more of it
than we think.” - Louis MacNeice
What does one properly say, I heard it on CSPAN or
CNN? By the same token, why do Bryan Lamb and Jim
Lehrer refer to
their presentations
as “this show?”
Each question
fairly demands
grammatical or lin-
guistic interpreta-
tion.
JUST IN ON the
news. That nasty
brat (Ralph?)
Reed, scurrilous
stooge of the roto-
rious Pat
Robertson of the _
so-called Christian
Coalition, castigating Bob Dole on his sanely reasoned
stance regarding abortion. Need I say again, the subject is
not one for any rational human male animal to articulate
opinion, regardless of his status in life, and or not secular
and whatever status. No male among us has a just right of
any sort to articulate an opinion on the subject. Just as in
the instance of rooms labeled “Ladies” at city hall or at a
favorite cocktail lounge.
UNFORTUNATELY I am unable to find a newspaper
piece concerning overweight trucks that cross our border
to Mexico. As I recall, any truck of that weight does as
much damage in a year as 9,000 passenger vehicles. All
overweight ducks, and there are plenty U.S. operated ones,
should be strictly prohibited in all instances. How about
enforcing the law of the land? Strange idea.
NO ONE HOLDS Gov. George W. Bush in higher re-
gard than I. By the same token I support the NAFTA, the
while it at times seems the governor leans a bit loo much
toward sympathy for Mexico and its citizens.
THAT BRINGS me to Bosnia and our armed forces. If
real need arose, danger to this nation, it could be easy to
reinstate the draft, and send five times the 20,000 troops
scheduled for duty there. No such threat exists there, nor
is one likely. Why then should not other already well
trained men and women (reference here is to already in
uniform) sent to our borders to halt illegal immigration
and the flow of narcotics and whatever other else that may
not be in the best interest of our nation. Let the picky
point out that those people have not been trained for duty
of that sort Nonsense. They are Americans, and when
have Americans not been able to adapt?
In the past few weeks there have been occasional in-
quiries as to my silence on China. My love and respect
for the people and the country remain unchanged. In any
week it would be easy to devote more space to the subject
than any editor would permit.
Last week a letter from Yang Li, my charming Beijing
interpreter. Earlier the commencement of a correspon-
dence with a U.S. naturalized Chinese gentleman, a vet-
eran of the Chinese Nationalist march to the northern part
of his country to fight the invading Japanese in the late
1930’s. He is as well a former journalism student of the
late Edgar Snow, probably the American in the 1930’s most
knowledgeable of my new friends’ country at that time.
Meanwhile I am anxious to meet Mr. S.T. hopefully early
next year in Houston where if I correctly understand he
does public relations work for the Tiawanese government,
making him controversial to some sentiments often ex-
pressed here of late. So much the better. The kind of
fellow I most enjoy.
ON CSPAN THIS morning a Rockport Republican
called in. Otherwise much commentary and discussion of
the movie “Nixon”, opening today in New York. Critical
of the film was a political analyst of the same name as its
producer. In short, call it a flick I have no desire to see,
especially since I am an admirer of the late President Nixon
who I remember as being high on the list of the great. To
those with opinions to tire contrary, be fair enough to read
any of the books he wrote after leaving office, especially
his last.
THIS IS THE season to be jolly, or as the religious may
say, time to be thankful and count one’s blessings. Of all
the above I have and have for more than four score years,
more than a fair share. In the words of a friend of long
ago, “Neither of us would amount to a tinker’s damn with-
out the wives who tolerated us for so many years,”
Blessings, a tough word to define. In my view it is too
often favored by hypocrites, and so I deliberately avoid it.
. Lucky is more to my fancy. Let it be put this way. I’m
lucky to make my home in the climatically most desirable
corner of continental United States with all but one of my
family no more than an hour distant. As well 1 have the
good fortune to be surrounded by good friends and neigh-
bors, none of whom can be categorized as what some may
call “run of the mill” citizens. I think it safe to opine that
most have succeeded in achieving some measure of suc-
cess. Frandolig island may fairly be described as differ-
ent, even unique. The majority among us, me being a bit
of an exception, know much of our own country rather
well. Hence it must be confessed that I know little of
inland of the eastern and western seaboards Indeed I am
past the age to explore. Except China.
I am reminded of a small dinner gathering of a recent
evening. Most were well enough traveled to have some
knowledge of other continents and islands, at least one
had lived abroad for no inconsiderable time. Conversa-
tion turned to recollections of other countries we’d seen
or known when one guest interrupted with, “I’ve seen the
temples and castles of England and the continent; to hell
with them.” Continuing, she added, “You can see it all
just as well with a subscription to National Geographic or
watching tire travel features on the tube.” Another guest
opined, “You will learn more about England and tire En-
glish in a village pub than by visiting Westminster.”
Reflecting on my recent visit to China I offered “It would
be hard to give you more than a dozen words about the
Forbidden City in Beijing. Of bettc; interest, interesting
and more important I thtnk, the people and the changes m
their lives during the half century since I last saw their
country,”
1 shall always have fond memories of the people, places,
historic sites and beautiful scenery of the Virginia where I
spent my youth. Now all pleasant memories, now of an
untouchable past Today for me tire most beautiful and
impressive effort by humankind shall always be China’s
Great Wall which I saw for the first, likely only time, in
this October past.
Now a bit late for this: Holiday jollies to all.
CM. Henkel Jr is a retired newspaper publishes living
in Rockport
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 28, 1995, newspaper, December 28, 1995; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623472/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.