The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 10, 1997 Page: 4 of 28
twenty eight pages : ill. ; page 19 x 13 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
field
ilOteS (continued)
missing a night’s sleep, economic development councils will invite hog
factories or oil filter incinerators into their communities without even
asking if the people who live there really want them, and newspaper
editors will wonder whether anybody out there really gives a flip when
they write about it all.
opinion
page
***
WE HAVE LABORED here at The Record under some duress for the
last couple of weeks. Having had several recent reminders of human
frailty and mortality, we were offered yet another—this one so much
more compellingly personal than the others that it could not be ignored.
My mother and co-editor fell ill last Tuesday night, and upon arriving
at work the next day, realized that her vision had somehow' been
affected. Mom is a trooper of the first order, and continued for some
time to w’ork—with little success and without complaint.
When finally she could not go on, a trip to an Amarillo ophthalmolo-
gist resulted in hospital admission and the predictable onslaught of
tests. I left the office that afternoon—my w’ork either poorly done or
not even begun—to be with her. Our “dream team” of a staff put another
pot of coffee on, and produced the newspaper for us.
We later learned that Mom had had a mild stroke and that, other
than some temporary mental fuzziness, only the part of her brain which
receives the signals from her eyes had been affected. With much of her
peripheral \ision gone, Mom now finds she cannot read. A more serious
affliction for a newspaper editor and lifelong lover of the written word
is hard to imagine.
The doctor assures us that she can regain the ability to read by
learning to compensate for the vision she has lost. Knowing my mother’s
determination, there is no doubt in my mind that she will do just that.
My vision, on the other hand, has been brought into painfully sharp
focus by these events. I am suddenly aware of aging, which probably
cannot be helped. I think a lot about family, and about the w'ay we
scatter, and about what is required to bring us together again.
I think about writing this column, and about how much more impor-
tant it suddenly is that my mother finds it worth reading.
At the office, we feel our missing pieces acutely. It’s not so much that
the w'ork is not done. Our co-workers are more than staff—they are
friends and family. They are, I think, proud of the newspaper that we
produce each w’eek. The w'ork wrill be done.
But we are an ensemble, each bringing something unique and irre-
placeable to the mix. This w'eek, as we w'ork to put the paper to bed, the
unspoken knowledge is always between us: We are missing one of our
own.
We remain as always...your irreverent (but appreciative) staff, Mom.
Includes dates for civic organizations,
churches, school holidays, sporting
events, family birthdays,
anniversaries and more!
Family Package - $5
• Up to five listings in the
calendar (birthday &
anniversary)
• 50 cents for each
additional listing
• One Community Calendar -
delivered in July
Civic Organization Package
• $5 for monthly meetings
• $10 for bi-monthly meetings
• $i 5 for weekly meetings
« One Community Calendar -
telivered in Juiy
Forms ava^abie at the
Canadian Record Canadian
Banking Center and YMCA
Deadline April 9, 1997
For more information can
Tina Warner (323-5743) or
Cindi Caudle (323-5353.)
board were sitting in sctamn
conciave^enMr. Eontoe rushed
into the room in excitement,
and addressing the dcndeman
in the Vrtih chair, &&
"Mr. lambkins, \ be^your
pardon, sir/ Oliver Twi^t has
asked for MORE/"
There was a ^neral start, horror
N«as depicted on ever/ countenance,
"for MORS Mr. Limbkins.
”• Oliver Twist
•tom
A raid on retirement funding
By john Cole, President, Texas Federation of Teachers
“Our state has a retirement contract with public
school teachers, a contract I intend to honor. I unit
oppose any effort to reduce contributions to the
Teacher Retirement System or decrease the state's
attribution rate. I support allocating gains within
the retirement system to improve benefits for retired
teachers.”—George W. Bush, writing as a candidate
for governor in 199L
My. HOW A PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE can
BIBchange in a short time! During the race for
governor in 1994, George W. Bush hammered Ann
Richards hard for supporting a reduction in the
state’s contribution rate to the Teacher Retirement
System from 7.65 percent of your paycheck down to
7.31 percent. In a piece of campaign literature circu-
lated in October 1994, Bush lambasted Governor
Richards for planning to reduce the contributions to
the TRS even further.
“Ann Richards cut the state’s contribution to the
Teacher Retirement System,” said the flyer. “Ann
Richards says one thing, but does another.”
Less than eight months after candidate Bush be-
came Governor Bush, he signed into law the biggest
reduction in TRS funding ever, cutting TRS funding
dowm to 6 percent of payroll. Nowr, he proposes to do
it again.
Governor Bush’s budget proposal includes a con-
tinuation of the raid on TRS funding and an addi-
tional $47 million diversion from the pension fund to
pay for the administrative costs.
Texas teachers already have among the worst
compensation packages in the country. We rank 36th
in the nation in salaries, the state provides no contri-
bution for health insurance as it does for state em-
ployees, and we’re one of only 13 states that deny
social security coverage to our teachers. And among
the states that are too stingy to pay for social security
for their school employees, Texas ranks at or near
the bottom w'hen it comes to retirement benefits.
No one chooses the teaching profession to get
rich. Teachers do what they do for the joy of teaching
and learning. However, that doesn’t justify denying
those who have dedicated their lives to service in our
schools a decent retirement in their last years.
The legislature took $400 million out of TRS fund-
ing last legislative session, which killed any hopes for
long overdue improvements in teacher retirement
benefits. The legislature and the governor should
give back the pension funds they collectively took
away from school employees last legislative session.
It is the right thing to do.
Singletree HomeCare, Inc.
207 Commercial
Miami, Texas 79059
1-806-868-2641
1 -800-704-0600
Providing skilled nursing and home health aides to the
tollow ing counties: Hemphill, Roberts, Gray, Wheeler
and Lipscomb
»(X Am w\l i) AM) on It VI I P
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 10, 1997, newspaper, April 10, 1997; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth738284/m1/4/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hemphill County Library.