Jacksboro Gazette-News (Jacksboro, Tex.), Vol. 134, No. 16, Ed. 1 Tuesday, September 24, 2013 Page: 4 of 10
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Opinion
Page 4 • Jacksboro Gazette-News_WWW.JACKSBORONEWSPAPERS.COM_Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Another reluctant
goodbye
It seems those of us at Jacksboro Newspa-
pers just keep saying “goodbye”.
Elaine Osteen, the half-time advertising
manager, left a few weeks ago to try once
again to retire. It was a God thing, because
her husband Dale has needed her recently.
And so has her daughter and new grandson
and 2-year-old granddaughter.
Melissa Rowland, the other half-time adver-
tising manager, left Friday so she could spend
more time with her family. She will be here a
few more days here and there to train Donna
Jones.
And now, it’s time for me to say goodbye as
the editor of Jacksboro Newspapers. I have
probably thought a year about what I would
say in this goodbye column. Nothing sounds
right.
I will remain a while at the News Desk to
train, but I’m anxious to begin my Coun-
seling career full-time. Jack County needs
mental healthcare, and I want to see if I can
help in some way. I have been preparing for
a while and I’m anxious to try my skills at
Play Therapy for children and Family Sys-
tems Therapy for families. My internship will
continue through May and I need to devote
time to the final sprint of my training.
I know a week’s notice to my readers
doesn’t seem adequate, but I am confident in
my replacement, Cherry Rushin, and I will be
telling you a little more about her next week,
when she takes over Sept. 30.1 will probably
be introducing her to many of you in person.
I know you will make her as welcome as you
made me.
It is easy for me to imagine that some will be
Pam's
Perspective
By Pam Hudson
Managing Editor
quite overjoyed at my evacuation of the edi-
tor’s desk. I can actually envision you.
However, I’m thankful that there are not
that many visions dancing through my head,
and they are quickly replaced by the faces of
friends I have made while serving you as edi-
tor.
I will miss the familiar faces at all the meet-
ings I’ve attended, and I might just drop in
occasionally to see how things are going. It
will seem strange not to know everything go-
ing on. Or almost everything. I never knew
“everything”...
Some things I will not miss, such as all the
hours it took to put out two papers a week,
and I’m confident I can help Cherry on that
for a while. Hopefully, she will hire a reporter
who can help her when I finally say goodbye.
Dependable and efficient staff are worth their
weight in gold, that is for sure. Thank you,
Kristi Jones, Melissa, and Elaine.
The readers and community leaders have
been very helpful the last few months when
our office has been without a staff writer. I’m
full of gratitude when thinking of your sup-
port. And understanding.
I’m also grateful for our “stringers”: Sports
Writer Mark Stretcher, Sharon Burby, Hillary
Hampton, Elaine and others.
So, thank you, Jack County, for the many
laughs, good long talks, and getting to know
many of you whom I otherwise might not
have known. See ya around.
God bless ya!
Tutus, tights and
tap shoes...
It’s been thirty years since I took my daugh-
ter to dance lessons, and I’m pretty sure Wan-
da June, my neighbor, hasn’t dressed a bal-
lerina since Kennedy was President. Even so,
when she called me this afternoon, I under-
stood. After all, some things are just burned
into your memory.
It seems that Leonard, her husband, had
volunteered to pick up their three-year-old
great-granddaughter from the sitter and get
her to dance class since her mother was work-
ing late. “No problem,” he said. Wanda June
knew it wouldn’t hurt him to miss Judge Judy
one afternoon.
According to Leonard, he was supposed to
pick up Pearl at three-fifteen. Dance was at
three-thirty. The sitter would have her dressed
and ready to go. Wanda June decided to go
along. After all, she thought, she and Leon-
ard could go have a cup of coffee and pick up
Pearl after the lesson. They might even stay
and watch the class.
Pearl was sound asleep. The sitter apolo-
gized for not having her up and ready. Wanda
June woke her. The three-year-old was ex-
cited to see her great-grandmother. Her little
back-pack was hanging on the door ready, but
by the time they got her awake, Wanda June
was afraid they’d be late.
“Do they have a dressing room at dance
class?” Wanda June asked.
“Pwabably,” Pearl smiled. She had no idea
what a dressing room was. Wanda June was
sure a business whose clients were potty-
trainees would at least have a bathroom.
By the time they got her into her car-seat and
Beth
Beggs
drove over to the other side of town, Wanda
June had dug the little black leotard out of the
bag. Luckily, they were the first one there.
The building was locked, so Wanda June got
her out of the back seat and stood her beside
the car to dress her. The little black Leotard
had belonged to Pearl’s sister ... when she
was two. Pearl is three. It was a chore to get it
up and over her boney little shoulders.
Leonard held the backpack. “Are you sup-
posed to wear these?” He held up the pink
tights ... which ideally should be put on first.
Pearl smiled, “Pwabably.” Wanda June
wrestled her out of the black leotard and start-
ed to pull on the tights. According to Wanda
June it would have been easier to get a mess
of puppies in a peck sack. Pearl tried to help,
but both legs wound up on the same side. The
heels wound up behind her knees, and the
waist came up to her arms. Obviously, these
were not Pearl’s tights.
Leonard shook his head. “You should have
just put those on over the black thing. No one
would have noticed. Pearl smile, “Pwabably.”
Wanda June glared.
Just as she pulled the leotard back on ...
over the tights, she realized that the label was
showing. The leotard was wrong-side-out.
She slipped the black leotard off, turned it and
helped her into it one last time. Leonard said,
“You could have ...” but Wanda June cut him
See BEGGS, Page 6
Jacksboro Gazette-News
212 N. Church St. • (940) 567-2616 • editor@jacksboronewspapers.com
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irrect ads after the first
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Jacksboro Gazette-News, P.O. Drawer 70,
Jacksboro, TX 76458-0070.
Pam Hudson
Managing Editor
Robert L. Krecklow
Publisher/Vice President
William Dean Singleton
President
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
IETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST
,, Award
it
_ Winner lV
2008- •r'A
Gazette-News, P.O. Drawer 70
Elaine Osteen and
Melissa Rowland
Advertising Manager
(Now Hiring)
Staff Writer
Kristi Jones
Office Clerk
Member Texas Press Association, West Texas Press Association, North and East Texas Press Association and Newspaper Association of America.
far
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Britt Johnson
rescues his family
As it pertained to Comanches and Kiowas,
some believe that black people were treated
better than white people. It was a common
sentiment that the two groups enjoyed a mys-
tical bond.
Kenneth Porter, an African American writer
and re-enactor, disagrees.
“If you look at the record of attacks on Tex-
ans,” Porter said, “African Americans were in
just as much danger as whites. One small con-
cession was that the Comanches did not usu-
ally scalp blacks as much as they did whites.”
Britt Johnson was a good example of how
merciless the Plains Indians could be, regard-
less of race. Johnson was a Young County
slave who gained his freedom when he came
to Texas.
Tragedy hit his family when he went to
Weatherford to pick up lumber. When he re-
turned, more than 500 Kiowas and Coman-
ches had decimated the ranch settlement
around Elm Creek. They killed his son, Jim,
and took his wife, children and several white
captives to the Llano Estacado.
Some historians believe Johnson managed
to establish contact with the Indian raiders
and risked his life by venturing into the Texas
Panhandle. Scholars believed he used gifts of
blankets and horses to make friends and bar-
gain with the Kiowas and Comanches.
Pretending he wanted to join their tribe,
Johnson stayed in the Texas Panhandle long
enough to gain the Indians’ trust. Because
their populations had been jeopardized by
“white man’s diseases,” loss of warriors
from battles and low birth rate due to their
harsh lifestyle, both Comanches and Kiowas
welcomed new tribal members. In fact, they
abducted children for those very reasons.
Although they killed and tortured all white
men, Plains Indians captured white women,
North
Texas Tales
By Gay Sehlittler
ii
Storms
_
runaway slaves, outcast Mexicans or whom-
ever might make for suitable warriors or
slaves.
This is why the Indians welcomed the tall,
muscular Johnson, who had quite a reputation
as a marksman.
Johnson stayed until the summer of 1865
looking for his wife and two daughters. He
secretly searched reservations in Oklahoma
and forts throughout the Texas frontier, all the
while feigning tribal loyalty.
Johnson rescued his family along with all
but one of the white captives, and escaped
back to Texas.
Johnson’s departure from his adopted tribe
was a betrayal punishable by death.
For a while, Johnson escaped revenge and
moved to Parker County, where he provided a
good life for his family. He became a freight-
er and teamster and hauled goods between
Weatherford and Fort Griffin.
Johnson faced retribution Jan. 24, 1851,
when he and two fellow freighters were at-
tacked and killed by 25 Kiowas four miles
east of Salt Creek.
Teamsters who came along later said that it
was obvious that Johnson was the last to die;
that he had fought behind the body of his dead
horse. They counted 173 rifle and pistol shells
in and around the bloody scene. The Kiowas
horribly mutilated Johnson’s body, believing
that by doing so he would never pass into the
afterlife.
One thing that Johnson’s story clearly illus-
trates within that time period is this: anyone
trying to survive on the Texas frontier knew
that whoever they were, the possibility of
death was never far away.
Best of times,
Worst of times ...
Given that timing is everything, the Lone
Star State’s flagship universities—The Uni-
versity of Texas and Texas A&M Univer-
sity—are once again at extremes. Could UT
have picked a worse time to get its own TV
sports network up and running? Or could the
Aggies have selected a better time to get their
own law school?
At UT, they’d love to be “caught on the
horns of a dilemma,” but this isn’t possible,
since mascot Bevo is now “hornless,” hav-
ing given up one to Brigham Young and the
other to Ole’ Miss. So much for the 2013 UT
football team lighting up the Longhorn TV
network.
Remember when angry fans bombarded
NBC with phone calls protesting interruption
of a professional football game’s final min-
ute with the movie “Heidi?” Well, word has
it that hardcore UT fans are signing petitions
for the Longhorn Network to show “Heidi”
instead of UT football games____
Meanwhile, my 101-year-old Uncle Mort
thinks Aggie brain trusts were brilliant in buy-
ing Texas Wesleyan University’s law school.
With NCAA rumblings, adaptation to new
membership in the Southeast Conference, and
Texas A&M attempts to keep its star football
player on the “straight and narrow,” he be-
lieves they can keep the law school busy run-
ning two shifts—maybe three.
My uncle may be defying the aging process.
At age 101, when dying brain cells typically
accelerate, his seem to be multiplying....
Mort opines the law school might do well
if its scope is limited to athletic issues. He
figures it could clock many hours defending
Oklahoma State concerning football infrac-
Idle
American
By Don Newbury
tions alleged by Sports Illustrated.
Texas Coach Mack Brown might well be a
client as well, what with his fortunes sagging.
Worst case, Mort says, is that if and when
the law school no longer is needed, they can
“flip it,” like high rollers in real estate....
Danny Snyder, owner of the Washington
Redskins, may need Aggie Law School help
with his latest hot potato. Many Native Amer-
icans insist that the team take on a name other
than “Redskins.”
Snyder has dug in his heels, and the arrows
of many quivers may fly before this issue is
settled. (Watching from the sidelines are the
Kansas City Chiefs, holding their breath that
their mascots continue to blaze trails under
the radar.)...
The NCAA has pressed the issue with nu-
merous smaller schools that had “Indians”
as mascots. McMurry University in Abilene
and Midwestern University in Wichita Falls
no longer are “Indians.” Bigger universities
with stronger alumni bases—like Florida State
University— seem untouchable____
Such reminds me of the Indian tribe that
built an airport in record time. National po-
liticos were astounded that it was finished
months early and millions of dollars under
budget.
“How did you manage it?” a senator ques-
tioned the chief.
“We didn’t get bogged down in white tape,”
he responded....
See IDLE, Page 6
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Hudson, Pam. Jacksboro Gazette-News (Jacksboro, Tex.), Vol. 134, No. 16, Ed. 1 Tuesday, September 24, 2013, newspaper, September 24, 2013; Jacksboro, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth707807/m1/4/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Gladys Johnson Ritchie Library.