Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 94, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 25, 2001 Page: 4 of 58
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EDITORIAL
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THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
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To the editor:
This letter is in reference to a re-
cent full-page article placed in the
Polk County Enterprise by local
citizens in opposition to the eco-
nomic development endeavors of a
local community. I would like to
express the disgrace I feel to live in
an area where people take freedom
for granted! In addition, I, as a mili-
tary veteran of the United States of
America, am not only disgraced,
but offended that some of my
neighbors in Polk County do not
have respect for this mighty nation
we call the United States of Amer-
L
We live in the greatest country in
the world. Sadly, in the past, our
government has not always tressed
its people equally. This will con-
Letters to the editor
Good luck to Indians
Here's the whole story
To the editor:
I guess the “50" opponents of
gambling do not have anything to
do but sit on the steps of the court-
house.
Here’re a few suggestions for the
“50":
1. Go to the Wal-Mart parking
lot and stop the buses that go to the
casinos in Louisiana every week.
2. Call Governor Perry and At-
torney General John Comyn and
have them stop the lottery, scratch-
offs, Cash 5. Pick 3, Texas Two-
Step, dog racing and horse racing.
The “50" have the phone numbers!
3 And don’t forget the Bingo
games and the three business estab-
lishments in Livingston that have .
casino-style slot machines. If the
“50" are true opponents of gam-
bling, either do your job right or
mind your own business.
Good luck to the Indians and 1
hope their casino is a big success.
Hope to see y’all in the casino, or
is the temptation too great?
P.S. A note to the Enterprise: Is
Livingston so hard up for news that
a front page spread was necessary
for just “50" opponents of gam-
bling?
A Christian who gambles
Norma J. Marlow
Route 15 Box 4740
eston
. To the editor:
Livings!
Disgraced and offended
tinue if we allow those narrow-
minded people to discriminate
against one group of people so that
others can prosper. This is NOT
what America stands for!!! The
rights and freedom of our American
citizens must be protected!!!
I appeal to the consciences of the
good people of Southeast Texas.
Do not dishonor the sacrifices made
by our active military/veterans of
the United States of America. Many
died so that we would have rights.
The right to choose... the right to
express... and the freedom and op-
portunity to promote our self-
determination.
Cecilia G. Flores
U.S. Air Force veteran
Route 3 Box 621
Livingston
Trash costing us all
To the editor:
Why are we allowing them to
turn national treasures into trash?
:: INCONSIDERATE,
IGNORANT, UNEDUCATED,
IRRESPONSIBLE, SHORT-
SIGHTED, LAWLESS. I’m not
talking about you or me, of
Course. I’m talking about them,
the people who throw trash out of
their car windows onto our beauti-
ful highways, city streets, local and
national parks, etc.
Yes, they arc
INCONSIDERATE.
Even if they throw trash onto
highways and parks they never
plan on visiting again, we will be
farced to look at their trash and
tre or someone else like us will
have to pick it up. Worse yet, we
will all be forced to look at all the
trash they throw out! Get the
point?
f And they are IGNORANT.
Because it costs every tax-paying
citizen (them and us) millions
of tax dollars to hire county and
state workers to pick up the trash
that they should have taken home
or deposited in trash containers
which are located at every gas sta-
tion, store and places they stop to
do business at. That same tax dollar
js needed to educate children and.
gssist folks who can’t help them-
jielves. They gripe about govem-
^nent waste while throwing tax
iilollars out of their car windows!
:jWhy get upset about that you say?
They’re wasting our tax dollars,
loo.
They’re also UNEDUCATED.
:• If they (the children) had received
jhe correct guidance and instructions
>t home and in the family car, they
I the teenagers) would know that
Irash goes in a trash container. How
difficult can it be for them (the
parents) to teach their child? I
mention children and teenagers be-
cause no adult with half a brain
■would trash onto highway
right-of- iy and parks, knowing
they will be paying the bill far
someone else to pick up their
trash. As adults, they print all the
information signs for children to
follow along the roadway to adult-
hood. They should be careful what
they put on those signs.
They are certainly
IRRESPONSIBLE.
Because if they had any sense of
pride in themselves, they couldn’t ,
and certainly wouldn’t let their
children throw trash out the win-
dows knowing that the cost to pick ’
up that same trash wiH come out of
their pockets. They’re smart
enough Ml to trash their own
front yards ~ aren’t they? Remem-
ber, the highway rigbt»-of-way, city
streets and parks are. their front
yards as well as ours when they
and we travel away from home!
They must also be SHORT-
SIGHTED.
Trashing the environment by
throwing dirty diapers, used hypo-
dermic needles, old tires that fill
with water and breed mosquitoes,
furniture, pieces of sharp metal, and
just plain ‘ole junk onto public
property makes it dirty, diseased,
damaged, poisoned and very danger-
ous for the folks that use these
roods and facilities, which we all
do. Are they so short-sighted they
can’t see that?
Plus they arc LAWLESS.
It’s against the law to throw trash
onto public property, or anyone’s
private property for that matter.
Why teach their kids to break the
law? Why don’t we set a good ex-
ample for their kids by the proper
disposal of our trash? If they and
we teach our kids to break the
trash laws, aren’t they and we in
fact teaching them to break all the
laws? Remember, living in today's
world is much more difficult and
stressful than it was in the past, so
why not give our children the
proper tools to cope with in their
new world?
We should not be forcing our
grandparents to “adopt a highway”
and pick up your trash, just to
have you throw trash on it die very
same day. They bend dowd.lnd
pick up your trash because they
want you to grow up in.. a clean,,
healthy and beautiful World, Why
don’t you help them by putting
your trash in trash containers and
not on the roads! Believe me when I
ray, these older folks (and I’m one
of them) will appreciate your help.
Now, if we could just figure out
who they are, we could help
them get educated on environ-
mental cleanliness and economics.
You’re not one of them - are
you?
Edward C. Huey
337 County Road
Goodrich
Dear Mr. Conway, in your edito-
rial on Nov. 22 you stated that you
wanted to tell the “whole story.”
Please permit me to include the
following in order to complete your
story.
First of all, I wholeheartedly
support your right to choose to
gamble and to speak out for those
who choose likewise. 1 also agree
that it is up to each individual to
make that choice, and you are also
correct in stating that those who
live in glass houses should not
throw stones. However, I do not
believe that you speak for the ma-
jority of Polk County. Where are
the numbers to substantiate your
claim? You most certainly do not
speak for me or the majority of my
friends or acquaintances, some rtf
whom are Christians and some who
are not!
Mr. Conway, here’s the bottom
line. It’s a personal issue. Whether
gambling is right or wrong is be-
tween your God and you and ydur
personal relationship with your
God. The preachers, ministers, dea-
cons, associate pastors, choir direc-
tors and members of various con-
gregations that you accuse of hy-
pocrisy are only human and strug-
gling, just like you and me.
Personally, I would love to sit-
down at a blackjack table and take
my chances. However, since the
Lord saw fit to reach into the pits
of hell in order to pull my slimy
soul up, clean me off, and bless me
through His grace and by the blood
of His redemption, I can no longer
submit to my own wants and de-
sires. I must do as I personally feel
what the Lord tells me to do accord-
ing to His will and( npt my own.
This is the struggle that I spoke of
in the before mentioned paragraph.
In my struggle, I have searched
the scriptures and nowhere found
anything that forbids gambling.
However, the Lord has given me
life, spilled His blood so that I may
be reborn and provides for all my
needs and some of my wants.
Therefore, I feel that all that I earn
belongs to Him, and to squander it
away at a blackjack table would be
against my Lord’s wishes. He
wants me to have, and to have
abundantly, but He wants me to
earn it. I know that someday I will
have to answer to Him for every-
thing I have done in my life that
wax against itis will, and this,
along with His word and through
the conviction of His holy spirit,
forbids me from gambling and en-
ables me to speak out against it,
just as you have spoken for it
Mr. Conway, you are correct in
staring that crime has already in-
vaded Polk County and, yes, the
proof is in the Enterprise. I can't
help but to believe that more crime,
an increase, is in our future. The
key word being “mote."
I also do not disagree with the
following statement in your edito-
rial pertaining to economic growth
and development I think a casino at
the reservation would be an eco-
nomic shot in the arm for Polk
County. But surely there must be
other forms of revenue that we
could explore other than one that
will most assuredly take more than
it will give. I am referring to fam-
ily life and the economic house-
hold. How many children will go
hungry because their father or
mother blew their paycheck at the
reservation? Once again, it is a
choice. If you cannot afford to lose,
then you can’t afford to gamble.
Gambling can become as addictive
as heroin, cocaine or even tobacco.
You must use common sense if
you choose to indulge in gambling.
Mr. Conway, I wish you good
fortune in whatever you do. God
bless and have a merry Christmas!
P.S. Mr. Lee, just in case you're
wondering. I do not believe that I
am the Lord God almighty. Nor do
I think that I am always right and
everybody else is wrong. I am not
righteous in the eyes of my Lord.
On the contrary, I am just a sinner
struggling to be more like God. I
am just a sinner saved by grace
Furthermore, I am sorry for what
our ancestors did to the Indian na-
tions, however, I don't believe any
of my family had anything to do
with murdering women and children
or burning them out of their
homes! The family of which I
speak is the family of God, the true
believers! The "good book” as you
refer to it, also states to not let
unclean or harsh words come forth
from your mouth! So in closing I
wish you a merry Christmas and a
happy new year.
R-J. Sparling
P.O. Box 1857
Livingston
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Letters may be submitted in person; mailed to “Letters to the editor,”
Polk County Enterprise, P.O. Box 1276, Livingston, TX 77351; sent
to the Enterprise by fax to (936) 327-7156 or sent via e-mail to
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noon Friday for Sunday’s newspaper.
Don’t bag it.
Leave it a lawn.
GRASS CLIPPINGS ARE NATURAL FERTILIZERS
Stick to essentials
Congress must not uae tha war as
an excuse for yomfing. Bat that's
exactly what many on Capitol Hill
are trying to do.
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, during
an editorial board meeting with The
Star recently, said the wad
"security” is cropping up on routine
appropriations.
These are items that should be de-
ferred or dropped altogether in time
of crisis.
"The budget surplus has evapo-
rated," Bayh said, and it's not at all
clear that Congress is "willing to
separate essentials from things that
we want."
Economist Allen W. Smith, pro-
fessor emeritus at Eastern Illinois
University, goes a step further,
warning that the United States is
beaded for an economic meltdown
unless spending is controlled.
Missed by the public in all the
news about terrorism, Smith points
out, was the Oct. 29 White House
announcement that the government
hoi to borrow $33.5 billion from
the Social Security fund to cover
the fiscal 2001 deficit in the non-
Social Security operating budget.
Yet incredibly, despite such indi-
cators, Congress seems hell-bent on
both cutting taxes and increasing
spending.
President Bush has endorsed some
of both as long as the total is less
than $75 billion. That's on top of
$40 billion already approved to
respond to the terrorist attack and
$15 billion to assist the airline
industry.
The Senate Democrats' plan to-
tals $90 billion, including $12 bil-
lion in health coverage for displaced
workers and $14 billion in new
unemployment benefits. It also
appropriates $20 billion far
"domestic security," but many of
the items that fall under that head-
ing have nothing to do with secu-
rity at all.
The war on terrorism is costing
America millions of dollars per day
• as much as $1 billion a month
according to one estimate • which is
itstlf reason to restrain any qxnd-
ing that is not absolutely essential.
We don't know how long this
war will last. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld has warned it
could take yean. -
It's essential that Congress
eliminate pork and turn away spe-
cial interests seeking to capitalize
f 1 . *
j'- sj • 0!
on the war on terrorism. This » not
a time to give bigger handouts to i
farmers, Apitrak or anyooe else, j
Reprinted from The Indian*
a polls Star.
Copley New Service
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POLK COUNTY
ENTERPRISE
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Telephone Number 936-327-4357
(USPS 437-340)
WEBSITE: www.EastTexasNews.com 1
E-MAIL: polknews@lirtngston.net •
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Matter at the Post Office at Livingston, TX.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 94, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 25, 2001, newspaper, November 25, 2001; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790493/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.