The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Page: 4 of 16
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4
The Clifton Record
Wednesday, Aug.12, 2009
Texas Republic Turns ‘Pirates’Loose On Santa Fe Trail
At Bird's Fort north of modern-
day Arlington, the Snively Expedi-
tion officially disbanded on Aug. 6,
1843, and the demoralized mem-
bers went their separate ways.
Seven tense years after San
Jacinto, a state of war still existed
between the independent prov-
ince and its estranged mother
country. On the diplomatic front,
Mexico refused to recognize
Texas sovereignty and periodi-
Marc's
Remarks
By Marc Johnson
Still Summertime. Still hot. And,
in lots of places here in our great
state of Texas; |
mighty dry. We’ve I
had 23.17 inches of I
rain since fust of|
year. Seems it prob-
ably on track to end I
up about normal.!
Much better shape |_
than them folks down south of
Austin and San Antonio. They big
dry. Pictures of their country re-
mind many of us about the
drought of the 50's. And, that cain't
be good. Just hope and pray it
don't last no eight years.
Billion here: billion there; purty
soon ya talkin’ about some real
money. That is unless ya a part of
Fedzilla. Fedzilla don’t seem to
know no limits to spending on any-
thing. Our Guvimint gonna put a
Billion dollars in to this “Cash for
Clunkers" program and let it run
until the fust of November, or ‘til
the money runs out. Guess what?
The money ran out in about a
week. Do ya reckon the clown
what come up with the “doughnut
hole” in our prescription drug cov-
erage had anything to do with this
program? Shorely they run this
clown off by now. Well, Fedzilla
gonna add another 2 Billion to this
deal and I'd be willing to bet that
this money runs out ‘fore all the
folks do what want to do it. Bet?
Seems a shame to me fer 'em to
crush all these rigs when they got
many good parts on ‘em what
could be “re-cycled.” Know what I
mean? Anyhow, our Guvimint only
‘bout 2 Trillion bucks in the red
and no shore fire way to git us out
of it. Seems new car dealers only
folks gittin’ help on this deal. They
claiming it'll help the quality of our
air by gittin’ these older rigs off the
road. Reckon that remains to be
seen.
Lots of folks still gittin' phone
calls on their land-lines tryin’ to
sell might nigh anything ya can
imagine. Ya know, they gonna
lower yore credit card interest
rate, etc. Many folks signed up fer
the “no call” list and 1 reckon it
heps some. But, companies you
have done bidness with in the past
are exempt. They can still call.
Well, guess what? Cell phone
companies done got permission to
start selling yore name and num-
ber to folks wanting to call these
little gems of communication, no
matter where ya be at. Now, ain't
this a hoot. There is a number ya
can call to stop this kinda mess.
Mebbe. The number is 888-382-
1222 and ya must call this number
from the cell phone ya want
blocked. Hope this deal works.
Seems privacy ain't much concern
no more.
Speakin’ of “privacy notices;”
how much money have bidnesses
here in Texas; and I reckon all
over; wasted sending out them
dad burn privacy notices. Seems I
git one might nigh every week
from a bank, credit card, or some
kinda bidness. They got to cost
somebody a ton.
Next Chamber meetin' gonna
be on Thursday, the 13th, at 6:30
pm, up to the School. Gap Volun-
teer Fire Department gonna put
on the feed. Seven bucks fer all ya
can eat and donations will be ac-
cepted over and above this bar-
gain price. District Att’y B. J.
Shepherd gonna be the guest
speaker and tell us, probably, that
his bidness is way better than he’d
lak it to be. He is one busy feller
cause he serves as DA in 3 coun
ties. Amazing how he does it.
Come on up and enjoy a good
meal, fun, and fellowship, and hear
what our DA has to say. He’ll prob-
ably be glad to take questions from
the audience.
September Fest fer 2009 is
gittin’ closer and closer. The 32nd
annual celebration will be on the
12th of September with the parade
starting at 10 a.m., from St. Olaf
parking lot. All day events down to
the Park following the parade.
Ashley Nicole Sorenson is Miss
Septemberfest fer 2009. She is the
daughter of Todd and Leslie
Sorenson and is a Senior at Gap
High.
Mary and Abraham Martinez
have been chosen at Grand
Marshalls fer this years event.
By the way, this will be the sixth
annual Wildgame Cook off. Con
test will be limited to 20 teams of
up to 4 folks per team. This
oughtta be a good un.
Mayor Ron Hubbard is the
chairman of this years event and
his phone number is 597-1285.
Kathie Witte in charge of wild
game cook off and can be reached
at 597-2215 or 597-2740.
Hey, thanks to the Gap Baptist
Youth Connection fer helping
clean up the Gap. They worked all
week trimmin’ trees, weed-eatin’,
and mowin’ yards. All fer free.
They even washed a car. Thanks
to this group for all the work they
done. We ‘predate ya. “Ain’t God
Good”
See ya next week,
Jjfarc at the Gap
cally threatened full-scale retali
ation. And it was not empty talk,
as hardly a calendar went by with
out rifles replacing rhetoric in
brief but bloody conflicts.
In June 1841, President
Mirabeau Lamar tried to put teeth
in the Lone Star claim to New
Mexico, but the Santa Fe excur
sion was fatally flawed by poor
preparation. The 300 Pioneers
were taken prisoner without a
shot being fired, and they lan-
guished in Mexican dungeons un-
til their release the following
spring.
Mexico responded in 1842 with
back-to-back occupations of San
Antonio, swift strikes that raised
the ominous specter of an all-out
invasion. A counterpunch stalled
at the Rio Grande, where muti-
nous volunteers crossed the bor-
der and fought a Christmas Day
battle against tremendous odds at
the Mexican town of Mier. Their
surrender increased by 200 the
number of Texans in enemy hands.
Next it was the Republic’s turn,
and the war department approved
a secret scheme to raid Mexican
caravans along the Santa Fe TYail.
Given a license to loot, prairie pi-
rate Jacob Snively planned to
bleed the trade route dry.
The colonel’s clandestine in-
structions were quite explicit. The
government authorized a maxi-
ThisWeek
In Texas
History
mum force of 300 for the covert op
eration and claimed “one half of all
the spoils taken in honorable war-
fare" even though the members of
the “strictly partisan” expedition
had to pay their own expenses.
The key condition of the mission
impossible let the Republic off the
hook. In case of trouble, Snively
was completely on his own. Texas
officials would deny any knowl-
Editorial/Opinions
The Clifton Record
Green
Ideas
Suddenly there’s all this talk of
going green. And supposedly
money being spent on it. It occurs
to me fairly often that there’s only
one reason our government hasn't
made it easier for all of us to go
green as far as energy, and they’re
not going to do it now either. This
reason is that there’s no money in
it for THEM and for the energy
companies who wield so much
clout. This makes me angry fairly
often, about as often as I think about
it.
It would be way too sensible for
the government to encourage
(through rebates and incentives of
various types) each household to in
stall and use a solar hot water sys-
tem, if nothing else. This is
commonplace in several other
countries less privileged than ours.
We have plenty of sunny days each
year to make solar power success-
ful. It would be better if solar power
could be used for much, much more
than hot water in the average
American home. But hot water
would be a good start.
The production of solar panels
could be subsidized or assisted in
some way to make them more af-
fordable for the average person, the
same average person who needs to
save money on his or, her energy
bill. Extra solar power^ould be sold
back to the energy companies dur
ing the day when it is plentiful. Of
course, energy companies aren’t
too happy about this possibility. I
suspect this is why prices are still
so high for solar equipment. Be-
cause the batteries to store energy
are still prohibitively expensive and
large, each solar energy producing
household could buy energy from
the power companies at night or
when necessary, such as during
cloudy times. We have at least one
local person doing this, and if I
told you how low his electric bill
is, you’d want to write your con-
gressman now, rush right out and
buy solar panels. Sadly, they are
still not cost effective. About the
time they pay for themselves, they
probably will need to be replaced.
The prices need to come down.
Our government could make this
happen. But gee, I don’t think they
will.
The same goes for wind power. If
our government really wanted to
stop being so dependent on foreign
oil, they could make wind machines
affordable for each and every coun
try dweller with enough land and
wind to employ them — and for cit-
ies and towns who could then pro-
vide clean energy to their citizens.
Any extra harnessed energy could
be sold back to the power compa-
nies. (Again, this wouldn’t meet
with wild elation). During times
with little wind, other forms of en-
ergy could be used.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? So why
isn’t it done? Why in particular is
our Texas landscape not dotted
generously with row upon row of
wind machines? Why does each
household not have solar panels for
hot water (and of course a backup
system for days when there is not
sunshine)? They are conspicuous
by their absence. Where is the
Rustic
Ramblings
By Dr. Gene Ellis
resentatives in Austin and in Wash-
ington have something to do with
that?
With all this talk about going
green, why doesn’t the government
put its money where its mouth is?
(Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a Bosque
County resident who returned to
the family farm after years of liv-
ing in New Orleans, New York, and
Florida. She is an artist who holds
a doctoral degree from New York
University and is writing a book
about the minor catastrophes of
life.)
By Our Staff And Our Readers
Letters To
The Editor
Dear Editor:
A Midnight Madness
Thank-You.
The Clifton Athletic Booster
Club would like to thank the com-
munity for their support at the
first annual Midnight Madness.
We would like to also thank the
following sponsors for their dona-
tions: M & M Mars for the dona-
tion of the candy, First Security
State Bank, Bar None Country
Store, and several individuals for
the donation of snow cones, and
First Choice Power for the water.
Thanks to All,
Kelli Dreyer,
Athletic Booster Club
edge of his activities and not lift a
finger to help.
At a North Texas rendezvous
east of present-day Gainesville,
the colonel counted 150 heads.
Prior to their April 1843 departure,
the recruits decided to call them
selves “The Battalion of
Invincibles,” a vainglorious title
the merry band soon found mighty
hard to live up to.
Within a month, the Texans
reached the intersection of the Ar-
kansas River and the famed wil
derness corridor that connected
St. Louis and Santa Fe. Though in
western Kansas on current maps,
back in those days the expedition
was well within the vast confines
of their huge homeland.
While the Invincibles waited for
promising prey to pass by, a kin-
dred soul stumbled into camp. Not
so fresh from a raid into New
Mexico, Charles A. Warfield was
relieved to find friendly faces. In
the tenth month of a similar as-
signment, the Missourian had no
plunder to show for all his trouble.
As Sibley and Warfield com-
pared notes, a Mexican patrol sud
denly crashed the party. A furious
fight ensued with the Texans
quickly gaining the upper hand.
Snively reported 17 enemy sol
diers dead and the balance of the
hundred man column taken pris
oner without the loss of a single
life.
However, not a caravan one was
sighted in the monotonous weeks
that followed resulting in the ero
sion of the morale and discipline
of the bored Texans. In late June,
the battalion split in two with “the
mountaineers” sticking with
Snively and “the home boys" plot
ting a separate course under an
ambitious adjutant.
The Snively faction was sur-
prised two days later by a superior
foe not from the land of Santa
Anna but from Missouri - a de-
tachment of U.S. Army dragoons
escorting Mexican traders down
the Santa Fe TYail. The arrogant
officer in charge settled the argu-
ment over whether the United
States or Texas had jurisdiction by
ordering the alleged trespassers
to drop their weapons.
Clearly unconcerned his con-
duct was certain to cause an inter-
national incident, the American
captain confiscated all but ten
rifles leaving Snively to the not so
tender mercy of any Mexicans,
Indians or outlaws that happened
along. As an afterthought, he of
fered the anxious Texans a lift to
Missouri, and 50 bid their colonel
farewell.
For the sake of their mutual sur
vival, the “mountaineers” and
“home boys” closed ranks. But
mouths remained wide-open, and
constant bickering created a re
volving door in the chain of com
mand. When Snively finally
regained control, the only issue up
for discussion was which route
was the most direct back to Texas.
The disillusioned adventurers
not only went home empty-handed
but also wound up getting the
blame in many history books for a
vicious murder committed by ren-
egade defectors from the Warfield
Party. It was enough to make a
prairie pirate wish he had gone
down with the ship!
(Bartee Haile welcomes your
comments, questions and sugges-
tions at hailew pdq.net orP.O. Box
152, Friendswood, TX 77549. And
come on by www.twith.com for a
visit!)
State Housing Agency Supports
Homeless In Waco Area
AUSTIN — Texas Depart-
ment of Housing and Community
Affairs (TDHCA) awarded
$999,980 to the Salvation Army of
Waco to provide services to rap-
idly re house homeless residents
or prevent individuals from fall-
ing into homelessness. The non-
profit organization serves clients
living in McLennan, Falls,
Bosque, Hill, Limestone, and
Freestone counties.
The award was made through
the Department’s Homelessness
Prevention and Rapid Re-Hous-
ing Program (HPRP), an innova-
tive program created by the
American Recovery & Reinvest-
ment Act of 2009.
“This award represents an un-
precedented opportunity for the
state to help transition its most
vulnerable residents out of emer-
gency shelters or temporary
housing and on toward self-suf-
ficiency,” said Michael Gerber,
TDHCA Executive Director. “By
stabilizing at-risk individuals,
we're strengthening families and
stabilizing entire neighbor-
hoods.”
HPRP is designed to provide
homelessness prevention assis-
tance to households who would
otherwise become homeless and
to rapidly re house persons who
Johnson County
Genealogical
Society To Meet
CLEBURNE — Johnson
County Genealogical Society
will meet Thursday, Aug. 13,
from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m., at the
Cleburne Library, 302 W.
Henderson, with host Mollie
Gallop Bradbury Mims, local
author and historian, who will
talk about her book, Images of
America - Cleburne, soon to be
available.
This society meets the sec-
ond Thursday of each month,
January through November.
Volunteers are available on
Tuesday mornings at the
Cleburne Library to help and
advise on searching for family
history and the staff at the li
brary helps and advises at
stimulus for that? Where is the in other times,
centive? Could it be that our rep- CONTACT: (817) 645-4717
The Clifton Record
Serving Bosque County Since 1895
The Clifton Record (USPS-118-100 • ISSN-1086-9352) is published weekly, on Wednesdays,
by Progressive Media Communications, Inc., 310 West Fifth Street, Clifton, Texas 76634*1611.
Periodicals postage is paid at Clifton, TX 76634.
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when requesting change of address. Per copy price: 50 cents.
POSTMASTER: Please send address change to: The Clifton Record, P.0. Box 353, Clifton, TX 76634.
OFFICE HOURS: Monday-Friday, 9-5; Closed Weekends. • DEADLINES: Fridays, 10 a.m.
W. Leon Smith, Publisher
STAFF: EDITORIAL — W Leon Smith, Editor-In-Chief; Carol Spicer. ADVERTISING — Melanie Harvey (Marketing
Director), Tammy Shelton, Timmy Kieine. BUSINESS — Kay Ortiz (Office Manager); Caitlin Smith (Bookkeeping),
CIRCULATION: Charlie Gandy, Georgia Bell, James Jimenez, John Paulson.
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AUKi/monl
I ■!«•>•«»»»• cwnwi I
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are homeless.
This includes individuals and
families perhaps only in need of
temporary rent or utility assis-
tance, as well as Texans cur-
rently residing in emergency
shelters or on the street and in
need of temporary assistance to
obtain housing.
Gerber noted that the pro-
gram is not intended to provide
long-term support for program
participants. Financial support is
limited to short-term (up to three
months) and medium-term (up
to 18 months) rental assistance,
which may also be used for se-
curity and utility deposits, as well
as moving cost assistance.
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402 S. Ave. G, Clifton, TX
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 12, 2009, newspaper, August 12, 2009; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790520/m1/4/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.