Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 18, 2003 Page: 2 of 30
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Murray and Mary Judson
Co-Publishers
Mary Judson
Editor
Phone (361) 749-5131 e-mail: southjetty@centurytel.net
Opinion
Port Aransas South Jetty
--------UL».l' "-■■■■■H'l .....
Member:
South Texas Press Association
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
Texas Press Association
National Newspaper Association
Perry appoints
while legislators
are away
Gov. Rick Perry left almost three weeks
between the second and third special ses-
sions for two reasons — even though the
election clock for 2004 is ticking.
First, Perry didn’t want to rob attention
from the effort by foes of plaintiffs lawyers
to pass Proposition 12 on Saturday’s ballot.
That’s the constitutional amendment to cut
back on the non-economic damages injured
parties can collect in civil lawsuits.
By not calling for the
third session to begin
until Monday, Perry and
wife Anita were free to
campaign for the amend-
ment around the state.
Second, Perry wanted
to make some appoint-
ments to various posi-
tions, including promot-
ing Geoff Connor to Sec-
retary of State, without
having his appointees
immediately facing Sen-
ate confirmation in a MIcNEELY
special session. By mak- -
ing the appointments while the Legislature
was gone, the appointees could take office
and serve at least until the next regular ses-
sion in 2005. They’ll face a vote in the Sen-
ate at that time.
Had Perry named them while the Legis-
lature was in session, failure of any of them
to get Senate confirmation by that session’s
end would have killed those appointments.
Interim appointees used to be able to serve
until the next regularly scheduled session
unless the Senate actively chose to take them
up and “bust” them during a special ses-
sion.
But a 1990 opinion from then-Attorney
General Jim Mattox said the Texas Consti-
tution might require all appointees be
cleared at the next session — regular or spe-
cial — and failure to do so would bust them.
Key senators pointed out there were of-
ten hundreds of appointments needing con-
firmation — far too many for careful con-
sideration in a special session, particularly
if it lasted less than 30 days.
A clarifying amendment was put on the
ballot in 1990 and Texas voters strongly
endorsed it. It formalized the ability for
agency officials appointed between sessions
to serve until the next regular session, un-
less the Senate chooses to consider them in
a special session.
Any interim appointees not confirmed by
the end of the next regular session are con-
sidered busted, and ineligible for reappoint-
ment to that position.
Some thought part of Perry’s motive for
making the appointees while the Legislature
was out was because Sen. Gonzalo
Barrientos, D-Austin, was dragging his feet.
A tradition called “senatorial courtesy”
allows any senator to object to an appointee
from his or her district. Other senators al-
most always honor the senator’s request,
even if they disagree with it, and reject that
appointee. Thus the governor usually pre-
clears appointees with the senator that rep-
resents the appointee’s home.
As the senator from the capital city, where
many potential appointees live, Barrientos
has more appointees to clear than other
senators. He has angered previous gover-
nors with his sometimes painfully slow “ad-
vice and ci>ii>ent” process.
But Barrientos denied he had unduly
slowed down Perry’s recent appointments.
At any rate, Perry’s appointees now will
serve until at the least the 2005 regular ses-
sion without having to worry about Senate
clearance.
Contact McNecly at (512) 445-3644 or
dmcneely@statesman.com.
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Dave
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Mm
Fitness for life starts at home, school
It’s a wonder ul
li_e,..
I was typing away when, suddenly, a
“search" window popped up on my com-
puter screen. It didn't take long to ascertain
that it appeared every time I typed the key
representing the sixth letter in the alpha-
bet, let’s call it the “eph” key.
That’s OK. It shouldn’t be too much
trouble to work my way around the eph key.
I can use a word like “as-
certain” rather than ...
well... the word l started
to type.
I’ve heard about some-
one who wrote an entire
book without using the
letter “e.” With that be-
ing possible, then 1
should be able to work
around the letter eph.
How important can that
be?
Somewhat surpris- x.
ingly, I learned that the MARTAINDALE
Eph section in my unabridged dictionary
contains 92 pages. That is 4.15 percent when
compared to the entire book, some 2,214
pages. So that’s more than average. One-
twenty-sixth is only 3.85 percent.
Then consider a!! the words that have jin
eph in the middle. Maybe it’s not suckj a
trivial letter.
But the place I seem to be missing it most
is in a shortest use, the two-letter word fo-
eph.”
A Texas
Voice
Steve
Tons of paper and ink have been devoted
to obesity in children during the past few
years. Causes of childhood obesity are nu-
merous, and the typical athletic/physical
education curriculum offered at most pub-
lic schools does little to stem the tide.
In most schools, students who do not par-
ticipate in football, baseball or basketball turn
to student government, band or academic
competition. Those are not necessarily less
honorable choices, but they reinforce the ste-
reotype of academically oriented students as
unathletic students. In the long term, that
notion can have a negative impact on the
students’ life as an adult. According to a re
low risk for cardiovascu-
lar disease.
In a perfect world, stu-
dents who do not make
the cut for the football,
basketball or baseball
team would have the op-
tion of participating in
intramural sports where
the focus is on fun and
fitness, rather than the
district championship.
Even at the intramu-
ral level, some students
are not cut out for team sports. I here are
Spinoff
Mary Henkel
Judson,
Editor
cent article in the Wall Street Journal, re- alternatives, such as golf, jogging, tennis
searchers have determined that whether a or swimming. For those who want no part
person remains physically active into adult-
hood is determined by whether or not the
person has an “athletic identity”. That ath-
letic identity is the difference between a sed-
entary adult and a physically active adult.
That translates to the difference in high and
of competition, classes in fitness, aerobics,
yoga, diet and nutrition could provide stu-
dents with an “athletic identity”.
According to the Journal, long-term fit-
ness depends upon choices made at the
middle and high school level. A Johns
Hopkins study found that people who at
22 were proficient at life sports such as
golf or tennis were more likely to remain
active through midlife than those who
played football, baseball or basketball in
high school.
In fact, men who played tennis were more
likely to continue their sport through
middle age, and tennis players in the study
had lower heart disease rates at age 60 than
those who played other sports.
The message here is not to promote ten-
nis, hut to promote lifetime fitness. That
starts with parents setting an example at
home and schools providing the curricu-
lum that encourages students to become
physically active as a lifetime habit, state
championships aside.
It’s the game of life these kids need to
win. As parents and educators we have the
responsibility to teach our children fitness
habits that will he with them for a lifetime,
not just a season.
Anatomy of an audience
There are audiences and there are au-
diences. Those you love and those you
would like to forget forever. One of the
negatives or benefits of radio - take your
choice - is that you don’t get immediate
audience reaction unless you’re doing a
talk show. But that’s a given - for ex-
ample, when was the last time you heard
a bleeding liberal get through to Rush
Limbaugh? So 1 - insecure person that I
am - need live audiences. 1 need that
instant gratification. Therefore, besides
radio, 1 do a lot of after-dinner entertain-
ment.
Some even before dinner entertainment
- but they’re better with a full stomach.
Audiences are like football teams. You
never know what to expect. Liz Carpen-
ter, who is one of the
truly funny people of
this nation, told about
the time she made a
speech somewhere on
the East Coast. It was
an audience of mostly
women - and women
who had been so far a
large number of years.
She said her jokes were
received with all the joy
of new wrinkles. She
thought, I have failed
miserably. However, after she had forced
her way through the speech she was sur-
prised when woman after woman came
to her and told her how much they en-
Pryor
joyed her speech. And one woman said,
“You know Ms. Carpenter, you were so
funny that several times I almost laughed
out loud."
Audiences can be regional in response.
For example, western state audiences are
ideal, outgoing, like the country. East
Coast audiences: prove it to me; prove it
that you are entertaining. Southern au-
diences: Be careful what you say - noth-
ing suggestive. West Coast audiences -
too hip - “I’ve heard that one before.”
Murder audiences: all female or all male.
Mix’em for better reception. Best audiences
- sales people. Also, surgeons. If you’re
that rich it’s easy to laugh. Don’t do psy-
chiatrists. Long pauses before responding,
“Now what did he mean by that?”
MtLANWUlLEL.gACK WAKUANISTAN...
THU *
Cutting the eph
I guess that’s how we become dependent
on something. It sneaks up on you without
you realizing it. I have told you in the p^st
about my addiction to ... uh ... that substante
in ... uh ... that hot beverage that is com-
monly sipped during the ... uh ... morniijig
meal and around the ... uh ... workplace. ’It
wasn’t that usual morning drink that gf>t
me but was Dr Pepper, and 1 would usually
add on the chemical with lunch and evening
doses in tea glasses.
That was some 25 years ago and;l
struggled with the addiction over the years
I must have kicked the habit three or ... one
more than three times. My best; $treak is
currently active, almost three years. I wfll
occasionally have tea or a cola or eyep thit
black morning drink. I even had a latte thle
other day (somebody’s instant, so I’m sure
purists will say it doesn’t count), but th|e
trick is to make sure I don’t do so on a regu-
lar basis. Indeed, I try to make sure I don't
do so on consecutive days.
Actually, it’s becoming easier to work
around the eph key, too. Maybe it won’t )bp
all that great an inconvenience. , |
However, one cannot easily bid adieu to k
letter that has been around since the Greekp
adopted it subsequent to its development
in the North Semitic language, which must
have been a long, long time ago.
Do you mean?
I have already once tried to use the woftj
that represents one’s appearance on th<j
head’s obverse side. Visage has an uppity
ring, mug might be considered lowbrow, bu(
I suppose I would have to choose hetweerj
them should eph remain unavailable. i 1
The entire idea is ludicrous, however. If
is as silly as trying to run a planet or a coiinjj
try without every group’s representation}
Why? Why would anyone want to cut oul
everybody who is a certain sex, a certairf
color, who was horn in a certain country oil!
who was not born in a certain country? ;|
Sure,! can operate without the letter that;
comes between “e” and “g,” but doing sojj
will slow me down and make me somewhat!
less clear and less precise.
It is to my advantage, instead, to restar J
my computer and see if I can benefit from
all the fine, fair, magnificent, fantastic, won!
derful, first-rate, terrific and fabulous let*!
ters of the alphabet.
Steve Martaindale is a self syndicated*
columnist. Write him uCj
steve@ATexasVoice.com.
www.portasouthjeny.com
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 18, 2003, newspaper, September 18, 2003; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth662811/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.