The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 16, 2000 Page: 2 of 24
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THURSDAY 16 MARCH 2000
7(fe tfoHOdcOH RECORD
opinion
page
Southwest stands tall
iuntNnitiiiinM
WOU HAVE TO ADMIRE someone who stands
I tall in the midst of tragedy. Southwest Airlines
chief executive Herb Kelleher is one of those men.
Sunday, one of the company’s 737 airliners skid-
ded off the runway in Burbank, California with 142
people aboard. Though 15 people reported injuries,
there was no loss of life.
What is so impressive about Kelleher is that he
stood in front of the media and explained what hap-
pened and took the heat from reporters. Most airline
executives hide behind a phalanx of public relations
people after an airline crash.
Since the airline started with three planes in
1971, Southwest has compiled the best safety record
in the industry. After IS million flight hours, there
has never been a single person killed on a Southwest
Airlines flight.
That is a remarkable record considering that
Southwest is a short hop airline. The only airline that
makes more takeoffs and landings a year than
Southwest is Delta.
What was also impressive about Kelleher is that
he did not try to fix blame for the accident. “Nobody
who considers himself an expert will attempt to offer
a cause of the crash right after it happened,” he said.
Kelleher also said that he has “no reason to criti-
cize any action or behavior on the part of the pilot.”
Many other airline executives could learn volumes
about standing behind their employees from
Kelleher.
Southwest Airlines is one of those Cinderella sto-
ries. In the early 70s, Kelleher had the idea to start
an airline to service three Texas cities—Dallas,
Houston and San Antonio. He and his partners
bought three planes and Southwest was born in
1971.
Over the years, the airline has fought off fare
wars from other airlines, expanded its service area
and maintained the best service in the terms of
on-time performance. Southwest routinely wins
awards for customer service and baggage handling.
Southwest has now grown to over a 300 airplane
fleet and has operations across the United States.
By keeping costs low and performance high,
Kelleher has provided a needed service to millions of
airline passengers. Thousands of people are em-
ployed by Southwest to provide that service.
By standing up and taking the heat from the me-
dia after the Southwest Airlines accident, Kelleher
has shown that he is also a leader in his industry. He
knows what the phrase, “The Buck Stops Here” re-
ally means.
RECORD
INCORPORATED fEBRUARY1998
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P.0. Box 898, Canadian (Hemphill) Texas 79014
Fax «: (806)323-5738
E-mail address: lrbrown@we8.com
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BEN EZZELL Editor & Publisher 1948-1993
os
NANCY EZZELL Editor & PubKsher
LAURIE EZZELL BROWN
Editor
E mail address: lrbrown9w4l.com
LESLIE FRY Advertising Manager
STAFF:
Kim McKinney, Cathy Ricketts,
Mary Smithee, Gabriel Brown, Greta Bass
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Laurie EzzeM Brown, Cathy Ricketts
Periodicals postage peidetthe Post Office In
Cenadian, Tests. Published eech Thursday after-
noon in Cenadian by Nancy M. Erred.
POSTMASTER: Staid address changes to
The Canadian Record, Bos 898. Canadian. TX 79014
State Capital
KighliiMs
ftMMl
nuiwniummai
AUSTIN—Texas Attorney Gen-
eral John Comyn filed suit March
9 against Stephenville Independ-
ent School District for violating
the Texas Public Information
Act.
Comyn is seeking a court or-
der to compel the school district
to release certain public informa-
tion “without any editing.”
Comyn’s office earlier had
ruled that the information was
public. The lawsuit alleges that
the school district intentionally
violated the ruling.
The case began when a citizen
requested a copy of some of the
school district’s legal bills. The
school district wanted to withhold
the information under exceptions
to the Texas Public Information
Act, including the attorney-client
privilege.
Under the Act, the school dis-
trict had the right to appeal the
ruling within 30 days but it chose
not to do so.
The lawsuit alleges that in-
stead of appealing the ruling, the
school district chose to black out
some of the names and other key
terms in the bills before releasing
the documents.
“The newspapers of Texas
strongly support the attorney
general's effort to hold govern-
mental bodies accountable to the
people of Texas,” said Donnis
Baggett, chairman of the Texas
Daily Newspaper Associa-
tion/Texas Press Association
Legislative Advisory Committee.
“Too many of our governmen-
tal bodies have taken the position
that they are the owners of the in-
formation they possess.
“It’s refreshing to see the at-
torney general take the position
that the citizen, not the govern-
ment, is the rightful owner of this
information,” Baggett said.
hear the school-prayer case, Doe
v. Santa Fe Independent School
District on March 29.
“I believe allowing the state of
Texas to present arguments will
strengthen and add to those pre-
sented by the Santa Fe ISD, said
Attorney General Comyn, who
will represent the school district.
“Asking the government to
supervise religious speech is
clearly unconstitutional, and I
will protect Texas’ position in this
case," he added.
The school district’s policy al-
lows the student body to choose
by secret ballot whether to have a
student message during pregame
ceremonies at home varsity foot-
ball games. That message may or
may not include a prayer in the
discretion of the student
In February 1999, the U.S.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in
New Orleans held that the school
districtCs policy violated the es-
tablishment clause of the First
Amendment.
Although the Filth Circuit
held that the schools could allow
students to deliver prayers at
graduation as long as they are
nonsectarian and nonprosely-
tizing, the court ruled that stu-
dent-initiated prayers are never
permissible at school-sponsored
football games.
Comyn filed a “friend of the
court" brief with the UJ3. Su-
preme Court supporting the
rights of students to gather in
prayer, and now the US. Su-
preme Court will hear the case.
The U.S. Supreme Court will* *
Heroes Aren’t Born. They’re Trained
Save The Day learn CPR
HFART ATTACK
__ Mb*'
Auk-ih .««lira11 M
• Byron M. Tunnell, 64th
Speaker of the Texas House, died
March 7 at his Lake Palestine
home after a long battle with can-
cer, He was 74. A Democrat,
Tunnell was elected in 1957 to
represent Smith and Gregg coun-
ties in the Texas House of Repre-
sentatives. In 1963 he waa elected
speaker during his fourth consec-
utive term. He was reelected in
1964, but before the Legislature
convened, then-Gov. John
Connally appointed him to a va-
cancy on the Texas Railroad
Commission.
• Gov. George W. Bush is study-
ing a request to remove an image
of the Confederate battle flag
from the Texas Supreme Court
building. The NAACP has called
for its removal, saying the plaque
bearing the flag is offensive to mi-
norities and does not belong in
the state its highest courts.
• The Texas Department of
Health will award almost
$500,000 in tobacco settlement
money to schools and community
groups throughout the state, to
pay for projects to prevent or re-
duce tobacco use or protect the
public from secondhand smoke.
The agency expects to award 100
grants through a competitive se-
lection process. The maximum
amount of each grant will be
$4,999.
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 110, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 16, 2000, newspaper, March 16, 2000; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth738867/m1/2/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hemphill County Library.