Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 59, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 2, 2005 Page: 4 of 22
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Page 4A • Cedar Hill Today • Thursday, June 2, 2005
OPINION
It’s all about remembering our heroes
KAY BAILEY
HUTCHISON
Special To Today
As our nation
fights in Iraq,
Afghanistan and
elsewhere.
Memorial Day pro-
vides us a fitting
time to stop and
pay respect to
those who have
made the ultimate
sacrifice on our
behalf.
Originally
begun to honor the
fallen in the War
Between the
States, it has grown to include all those
who have died defending our nation,
through the two world wars, Korea,
Vietnam, the two Gulf wars and today’s
continuing war on terror.
The loss of life is always painful. John
Adams once said that America will be a
friend to all and an enemy to none, and we
have generally followed that advice
through our history. Yet when we have
been attacked - by the Japanese on Dec. 7,
1941, and by Islamist terrorists on Sept.
11, 2001 - we had no choice but to
respond.
In both cases, we were at peace, and an
enemy bent on destruction of liberty
attacked us because we were the greatest
obstacle to their dark designs.
If America doesn’t stand for freedom,
no other country in the world will. No
other country in the world has the capacity
and the commitment to defend liberty, and
if freedom died in America, it would sure-
ly die throughout the world. We are both a
beacon of hope to the world and a target
of resentment for those who seek to
enslave others.
This past Memorial Day I was comfort-
ed that the same bravery and sacrifice that
flowed in the veins of those fallen heroes
still courses in today’s generation.
Let me cite just one story that illus-
trates this point. It is the story of the res-
cue of Jessica Lyngh. We all know that
the Army Rangers had a mission to go in
to that hospital where they heard she was
being treated, rescue her in the dark of
night and carry her to the helicopters so
they could be out before daybreak.
That was the mission. It was simple,
clear, and expected to be fast, but some-
thing happened. An Iraqi doctor came up
to the commander and said, “You know
there are Americans buried on the hospital
grounds.”
The commander did not know that. It
was not part of the intelligence briefing.
The troops did not have so much as a
shovel with them, but he gave the order:
“We are going to take every American
home.”
He described it this way: “They dug
with their hands and rlRbLthe sun. They
dug every American out or those hospital
rows and they took every fallen American
to the helicopter with Jessica Lynch
because their motto is “We never leave
one of our own behind."
This bravery and loyalty to fallen com-
rades shows why we are going to achieve
victory. We are going to win because we
value life and we never leave one of our
own behind. Our enemy celebrates a cul-
ture of death that targets unarmed civil-
ians, while we celebrate heroism in
defense of life.
A medical corpsman writing on the
website Marine Corps Moms wrote that
while he was serving in Kosovo, “I was
giving out medications to over 200 people
and very busy when one old woman
grabbed my arm demanding my attention
and stopping me from working. She held
See HEROES, Page 5A
Be cautious about funding your 401(k)
If you like the com-
pany you work for,
show your loyalty by
doing the best job you
can and by taking part
in work-related volun-
teer activities.
However, when it
comes to meeting your
retirement goals, you’ll
want to invest with
your head, not your
heart - so think long
and hard about fund-
ing your 401 (k) with
your company stock.
Why? Because company stock, like all
stocks, will rise and fall in value. So, if
you’ve jammed your 401 (k) full of compa-
ny stock, you could be taking on a level of
DARRYL
FENTON
Financial Focus
risk with which you are not comfortable.
And in the past few years, we have
seen some high-profile “401 (k) melt-
downs” which, in an astonishingly short
period of time, dissolved a great deal of
wealth belonging to employees who put
their faith in company stock.
For example, about 58 percent of
employees’ 401 (k) assets were invested in
Enron stock when it lost almost all its
value during 2001.
Unfortunately, many 401 (k) partici-
pants still believe that “it can’t happen to
me.”
Some 17 percent of all 401 (k) partici-
pants Have 50 percent or more of their
account in company stock - pretty much
the same figure as in the pre-Enron days,
according to the Profit Sharing/401 (k)
Council. And about 16 percent of all
401 (k) plan assets were held in company
stock at the end of 2003, according to the
Investment Company Institute.
How much is “too much”?
Many financial experts recommend
investing no more than 10 percent of
401 (k) plan assets into company stock -
but this figure is just a guideline. When
considering how much company stock to
put in your 401 (k), look at two key fac-
tors:
• Size, strength, history of company - If
you work for a big, established company,
with a long track record of profitability,
you might feel justified in adding a higher
percentage of company stock into your
plan than you would if you worked for a
small, start-up firm.
See FUNDING, Page 5A
Avoid your
own Schiavo
V • ’ , .
situation
JOHN
POLEWSKI
Special To Today
Some
of us
will
become
unable to
care for
our-
selves,
and
many of
us have
friends
or family
members
who
already need our help to man-
age their alfairs. These are
unpleasant facts of life, and
like most unpleasant facts, we
try not to think about them.
But we should. Planning
for death and disability is
something we need to do not
only for our own peace of
mind, but also for our friends
and family members who will
be affected by our death or
disability.
The recent Terri Schiavo
case, highly publicized and
politicized, was unusual in the
sense of the attention it drew
and how long the poor woman
was in her severely compro-
mised condition.
Sadly, cases in which a
loved one cannot make deci-
sions for themselves are not
unusual. Any lawyer who deals
with family law matters, elder
law issues or the severely
injured has dealt with a case
similar to Terri Schiavo’s. In
these cases the family of the
mentally incompetent person
can be torn apart by guilt and
accusations, moral issues and,
above all, the question of what
the incompetent person would
want if they could decide for
themselves.
Planning for the risk of dis-
ability
Most of us know someone
affected by a debilitating dis-
ease like cancer or
AJzheimer’s, which makes it
difficult or impossible for
them to handle their own
affairs.
We have all heard of cases
where an accident or disease
has resulted in a terminal con-
dition, which results in suffer-
ing unrelieved by any hope of
recovery or regaining mental
capacity.
In these cases, a little
advance planning can make a
huge difference.
If you have a medical
power of attorney, decisions
about your care can be made
by those that care about you
and know your desires, rather
than by a physician who may
be legally required to use
means of keeping you alive
that are devastating to your
family’s future.
An advance directive
makes your wishes known to
your doctors and family so that
they know what you wish to
have done even when you are
too badly hurt to tell them.
I have one appointing my
wife to make these decisions
for me, and setting forth my
clear desire that she let me go
when it is clear that prolonging
the functioning of my body
will not in any way prolong
what I believe to be my “life.”
Many of my clients have asked
for me to prepare similar doc-
uments for them, and my firm
routinely offers the option
when we prepare wills and
related documents.
These are important docu-
ments. 1 recently handled a
case in which a young
See SCHIAVO, Page 5A
Letter to the Editor
Revisiting the Crusades
Dear Editor,
With Scarborough Faire in full bloom, 1 wonder if anyone has
paused to consider the similarities between then and now.
It was during the time of knights and kings that the Crusades
were formed to retake the Holy Land from the radical Muslims
and the Turks.
There were crusades from Britain, Germany and France.
Today we have armies from the United States and Britain in Iraq.
In the dark ages of Europe, people knew nothing of the East, its
people or its customs.
In our dark ages prior to 9-11, most Americans knew little and
cared less about Muslims or terrorists. The Crusades had knights
in armor; today we have knights in armored vehicles.
Just as the Crusades forever changed the way Europe lived
and thought, so, too, what we are doing today will forever change
our lives.
With Scarborough Faire and the war in Iraq, what a great time
to teach the children about the Crusades. I wonder, does history
really repeat itself?
Ralph E. Shartle
Cedar Hill
Just Ask
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doesn’t vote or why the mayor does?
Just ask.
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ever happened to (fill in the blank)?
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Whether your question is specific
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m * ■ Wsm • u - r
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* - -
After all, the old adage still holds
true: The only stupid question is the
one not asked. And if you don’t ask,
who will?
Go ahead. Just ask.
YOUR LETTERS
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Gooch, Robin. Today Cedar Hill (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 59, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 2, 2005, newspaper, June 2, 2005; Duncanville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623621/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.