Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 1, 1995 Page: 4 of 26
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Polk County Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Livingston Municipal Library.
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PAGE 4A - THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE. SUNDAY. JANUARY 1,1995
EDITORIAL
THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
Weekly Special
Orphanges inspire fear
By JACK ANDERSON
and MICHAEL BINSTEIN
WASHINGTON-Recent com-
ments by House Speaker-elect
Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., about re-
opening orphanages for children of about ending onerous unfunded
broken homes arc apparently hit-
ting home this Christmas season.
Based on phone calls to the of-
fice of Rep. Jim McDermott, D-
Wash., there is evidence that
Gingrich’s facile rhetoric struck
fear among an often voiceless con-
mandates to the states, but there’s
deafening silence about moral man-
dates for poor children.
While Gingrich is prom'oting
"Boys Town" as a cure for the wel-
fare state, his GOP brethren are
beating a hasty retreat on plans to
stituency—Children. Consider abolish approximately $14 billion
these notes from phone messages in farm price supports, though the
taken recently by McDermott staf- price supports cost about the same return to the battlefield.
fers from mothers on public assis-
tance:
as the largest welfare program.
Republicans want to cap spending
on nutrition assistance, though half
of all food stamp recipients are
children in poverty.
There is a difference between a
deadbeat and a destitute parent, but
it appears lost on the new
He remembered the mostl
desperate day as Dec. 22. Ammuni-
tion was in such short supply that I
his men were down to as little as 101
rounds each. The sky was heavily
overcast, making an air drop im-
possible. He had to hoard every |
round, even letting good targets go.
The next day, the skies suddenly |
cleared and down came the am-
—"Daughter did not want to go
to school. Afraid that teacher would
put her in an orphanage."
—"My kindergarten son was
watching Hillary Clinton on TV
(responding to Gingnch). He did Republican majority,
not want to go to school because he
was afraid that when he came home BATTLE OF THE BULGE- munition on colored narafhlItec
his mother would ^or« "*d he Christmas day 50 years ago was not was a real christml preSit. Said
would^sCTt to an orphanage. herald by the chime of bells but McAuliffe to us: "The air drop was
Daughter w X . by the angry rumble of artillery. It the most tremendously exciting, ex-
smates that her mother would be that the spirit of Christmas hilarating experience I have
thrown in jail. and good will to all men had had.”
Gingnch s grenade about or- vanished forever,
phanages stands out from his other A wcck ^1^ ^ Germans had
recent allegations about drug use at iaunched a sudden, surprise offen-
the White House and the fust fami- ^ve Hitler was staking everything
ly s counter culture values be- ^ # desperate drive to cut the wu.u—ion uungc
cause it preys on the fe*” Allied forces in half and retake the when they express the resolution of
of the most vulnerable members of Belgian port of Antwerp, the death before surrender.
**** ■ linchpin of the Anted supply line.
McDermott and others believe Bastogne was the hub of a road net-
that orphanages are merely a sym- work that the Germans needed to
bol of how children are getting control.
ever
McAuliffe told us he thought |
history had given too much em-
phasis to his classic, no-surrender I
reply. But words—even a four-1
letter word—can change history!
Letter to the editor
L./ : Time to makU it right
If. •* 0:c/(
To the editor:
It’s time for those New Year
resolutions. A time to take ac-
tion and change what we didn't
like about last year. If last year
brought you trouble, and more
trouble, well, figure out where
you went , wrong. Make a change
so you won’t have a repeat all
over again.
You~ see;TTfD yen. Ytm
have to make this year better.
No one can do it for you; after
all, it’s your life.
To be happy we must help
ourselves from within. If you do
need some help I know where
you can get excellent advice on
how to straighten out eotry
problem, plus there is no charge,
but there is a condition - you
have to ask for the help per-
sonally; no one can do it for
you. The condition is you talk
with Him yourself, one on one.
You’ll find no better oounsel
in all these United States or die
world. He is the one who made
your very soul, who breathed
your being into existence. He
has the answer to your every
problem, he can help you break
all bad habits, but you have to
do the asking.
Deuteronomy Chapter 20,
Verse4 will leO you who it is. It
states, "For the Lord your God is
He that goeth with you. to fight
for you against your enemies, to
save you." Think on this. Any-
thing you can’t coaeoi could be-
came a sin. Anyttiing you over
indulge in is a sin.
God made an things. He
wattt us to be happy arteI enjoy
our lives. If you have habits or
Don’t i
lUont jSuS dmtwraef
have another chance to do. Do
what will make you happy. Life
is measured by our thoughts and
actions, not by time. Don’t put
off what needs to be done today.
Correa your wrongs and get on
with life. If you feel it’s too big
for you to handle, ask God for
help, but remember "spilt milk”
doesn’t clean up itself, someone
has to take action. Life is too
short to spend it unhappy.
I wish you all a Happy New
Year.
Karel K. Babbs
Route 1 Box 343
Livingston
INJUDICIOUS SPENDING-It
is the most expensiye courthouse in I
U.S. history, and it may someday I
be judged as the "Helmsley Palace" |
of the federal judiciary.
That’s the verdict on the $1 bil-1
lion courthouse and office complex I
at Foley Square in New York City I
that’s getting singled out for "un-l
controlled and excessive spending.”!
Foley Square will cost a palatial I
$400 per square foot, according tol
f mv>gafei by. the. Senate En-1
virotjPgSS Public Works Ctfcfcl
mittiK djj
t ccfflrthouse currctmyl
under Construction comes close tol
Foley Square,” the committee |
report stales.
Although Foley Square con-1
stitutes the biggest fleecing of tax-|
payers uncovered during the com-
mittee’s six-month probe, it’s hard-
ly the only example of first degreel
opulence. The General Services!
Administration—the federall
government’s landlord, which isl
supposed to hold the line on ex-|
penses—has repeatedly bowed to|
the demands of judges
gold-plated courtrooms. As we firstl
reported, some $511 million in un-|
necessary costs have been incurred I
for courthouse construction nation-1
wide since 1980.
CiffHtlu UW. ViFtttun SymOraf, Im.
POLK COUNTY
ENTERPRISE
ALVIN HOLLEY. PUBLISHER
Telephone Number 337-4387
(USPS 437-340)
Entered « Second-Clare Matter at the Poet Office at
Ibam 77381 under the Act of Congrere of March 3. 1967.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Barbara White, Editor
Van lhomaa, Sports Editor
Greg Peak. Area News Editor
Don Hendrix, Special Sections Editor
Debbie Brown. Living Section Editor
Sherri Burris Reporter
Oordon LeBarron, Photographer
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
Don Hofeman, Paul Holley
Adrian Dunn. Beamon Ooodwtn. Willis Woods
Maflraeaa / Circulation
Lee Torres, Phyilto Watson, Rosie Celedon
- Kingsbury. Kathy Langford. Janet Gillespie
APVMtTPMWQ DEPARTMENT
i Jackson.^ KayLoy Cuevas, Jennifer Birdwefl
Patty Smith
Angela Stutts
.Laurel
$15.00
i Shandley
•00 per year tax Included, to county. I
, out of county. $17.00 per year outof state. Published
upon being brought to the
>77381.
'Unsolved mystery' remains
from page 1
"picked on" by the new GOP The orders for Maj. Generali
majority. In the name of welfare McAuliffe, acting commander of I
refop. Republicans seem ready to (he 101st Airborne Division, and!
punish poor children for the sins of his elite paratroopers were simple: I
their parents. The GOP speaks to hold Bastogne no matter what I
the cost. So when the Germans
demanded they surrender, his irre-1
verent, one-word response made|
the history books: "Nuts."
Now is an appropriate time tol
remember those men and that mis-1
sion, and be grateful. It is par-
ticularly poignant for us because in I
1964 we accompanied the general!
as the sole journalists on his first!
ment of Health and Trinity River
Authority announced the launch of
a series of tests to determine if
there was a link between the illness
and the river or lake.
Another delay in construction of
a bridge linking Polk and Sam
Jacinto counties below Lake
Livingston Dam was announced, as
biologists tried to determine if the
bridge would hinder feeding habits
of bald eagles nesting in the area.
An "unsolved mystery" from
February remained unsolved at the
year’s end. An armed robber en-
tered Just-A-Buck in Pineborough
Shopping Center, threatening to
shoot everyone in the store and
then fleeing with cash. The suspect
- described as a Hispanic male
with a mustache, in his mid-20s,
medium build and about 5 feet, 6
inches tall - was not caught.
March
The initial Democratic Primary
election results showed incumbent
County Judge John Thompson edg-
ing out former Tax Assessor-
Collector Robert C. "Bob" Willis to
become the nominee for county
judge.
A few days later the district at-
torney asked the attorney general’s
office to look into allegations of
voter fraud. In the interim, a
manual recount of ballots in the
county judge’s race narrowed the
gap between Thompson and Willis
by 27 votes, but still showed the in-
cumbent winning the race by a vote
of 3,400 to 3,310.
A Texas Ranger was sent in to
investigate alleged wrongdoing in
the early balloting for the election.
Later in the month, the early vot-
ing ballots were impounded by a
district judge and, just prior to the
end of the month, a suit was filed in
district court by Willis, alleging
that marks had been illegally made
on some ballots and asking that a
new county judge election be held.
While less controversial, the
primary election also failed to settle
another county race. When no can-
didate received over 50 percent of
the vote, a runoff election was
called for April 12 between Bar-
bara Middleton and Judy Walker to
determree - who rwould he the
DemihwifewPftinee faueounty
clcrk.,-^--^. y •. •-
The prim&ies did determine that
John Holleman, who edged out As-
sistant Distria Attorney Wayne
Coughran, would be the nominee
for district attorney and that Bid
Smith, who defeated Mark Alexan-
der, would be the nominee for tax
assessor-collector. Smith would
face Republican Bob Dockens in
the November general election.
Yet another election lay ahead.
In March, the Onalaska ISD Board
of Trustees called a bond election
for May 7.
The commissioners’ court, fac-
ing an April 9 deadline, was still
frying to figure out how to comply
with new solid waste regulations.
More of the county’s collection
sites closed as part of a |rian to con-
solidate die sites into five manned
collection stations. The court was
frying to decide whether or not to
keep the county landfill open.
Unwilling to wait any longer for
a decision by the county, the
Livingston City Council, one of the
landfill’s major customers, voted at
its March meeting to get out of the
trash collection business, deciding
to contract with Waste Manage-
ment for collection and disposal of
the city’s trash.
The Goodrich school board
authorized issuance of up to
$120,000 in time warrants to con-
struct a new kitchen and renovate
the cafeteria.
The Corrigan-Camden Independ-
ent School Distria gat a visit from
Gov. Ann Richards, recognizing its
status as a Gold Star School.
Vicki Jones, who previously
taught in the C-CISD, was
promoted from interim principal to
principal of Leggett School.
Negotiations concerning the
proposed lease of Polk County
Memorial Hospital continued, with
the Hospital Lease Negotiating
Committee voting 3-2 to recom-
mend to the hosmtal board and
commissioners' cost that they en-
ter into a five-year lease with
Memorial Health System of East
Texas.
Auction sates at the 49th raual
Trinity Neches Livestock Show
were up from the previous year,
with the auction netting S136JB8.
Hie grand champion steer was
Blown by Carrie DeLafoese of Cor-
After yean
rik Cc
ska'
The county met its solid waste
deadline, with commissioners
deciding to keep the landfill open
and instituting a 75-cent-per-bag
disposal fee and punch card system.
Livingston’s new private gar-
bage service began April II, with
the city council catching some flak
from a few merchants who! saw
their rates rise from $45 per month
far non-containerized garbage serv-
ice to $100 a month or more under
the new system.
A Texas Department of Health
study, as a result of tests run after
several Riverside residents
developed neuro-muscular
problems, said fish in the lake and
Trinity River showed no abnormal
levels of impurity and were safe to
eat
Members of the Alabama-
Coushatta tribe broke ground Tor a
22,000-square-foot cultural center
and multi-purpose center, which
had been in the planning stages
since 1989.
An historical marker recognizing
the Alabama-Coushatta tribe mem-
bers who served during the Civil
War was unveiled during a Con-
federate Memorial Day ceremony
on the reservation.
A hearing into alleged voter
fraud in the county judge primary
election concluded after six hours
before a visiting, retired district
judge, who announce a ruling
would be made within a few weeks.
Another race was resolved, with
Barbara Middleton winning a
runoff election to become the
nominee for county clerk.
Big Sandy ISD trustees modified
the district’s hair length policy, al-
lowing male students with long hair
to sign an affidavit stating that the
hair length is for religious reasons.
The superintendent said the change
was to comply with the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
of 1993 and was not related to the
lawsuit filed by Indian students.
That suit had been remanded back
to Federal Judge William Wayne
Justice by the Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals after the RFRA was signed
into law.
Goodrich ISD got news in April
that an earlier decision which
would have allowed Forest Springs
subdivision to be deamexed from
(tie GISD and annexed by, the
Livingston ISD was reversed by a
district judge in Austin.
April was a good month for law
enforcement and a bad month for
drug transporters. Chambers Coun-
ty Narcotics Task Force surveil-
lance paved the way for a drug raid
in the Corrigan/Camden area that
resulted in the arrest Of two people
whom police believed to be "major
drug suppliers" and the seizure of
drugs, weapons and a vehicle.
Later in the month, a Livingston
Police officer stopped a van an the
bypass which contained 22 pounds
of cocaine and $33X100 in cash.
Three Wisconsin men were ar-
rested.
May
The outcome of the March coun-
ty judge primary election remained
unresolved, with State Distria
lodge W.T. McDonald Jr. ordering
jl new election for Junel.7- Thai.,
decision, however, was appealed to
the 9th Court of Appeals. Argu-
ments would not begin until June
30, so there would be no June 7
election.
In the meantime, the Secretary of
Stale’s Office sent a letter to the •
company which supplied die coun-
ty with its vote tabulating equip-
ment, saying that training users to
mark over halloa to make them
mare readable was a violation of
Text; law.
A Folk County grand jury "no-
billed’ the Early Balloting Bowl
Committee member who had been
accused of altering early ballots.
June brought a glimmer of hope
for resolution of the decade-long
problem of what to do with the old
Campbell-Foreman building, also
known as the courthouse annex.
The county was notified k would
receive $160,000 through die Texas
,1
Department of Transportation En-
hancement Program to help restore
the historic structure and fund ex-
terior work on the courthouse.
In yet another election, voters in
the Onalaska ISD rejected all three
bond proposals on their halloa, in- ,u
eluding proposals which would-xi
have allowed the sale of bonds foriu'H
a new mkkfle school, renovation of iV/
the elementary school and purchase tji
of land to increase playground,!/
apace, would have permitted the
distria to operate a high school, *01
and would have allowed the school
board to increase the OISD’s taxiW
rate above $1.50. na
Despite the non-renewal ofiM
County Auditor Dianne Bass’ ap- uj
pointment nearly six months ->J
before, she remained on the job >d>
since no replacement had been nr,
named. In May, the district judges
announced the choice of Lee Eric
McWain as the new county auditor.
A few days later, however, J
McWain declined the job. The dis-
tract judges then announced that .W
Dwayne Ray Tiner of Cleveland 71']
had been chosen for the county ^
auditor job, but he bowed out after
bang offered another job. In theiJ,!lf
meantime, Bass left and the assis-lu2
tant county auditor was authorized^1-1
to sign checks and carry on the'1
business of the office until a new
auditor could be found. *
There were also some musical , vV
Chairs on the OISD board in the<’*a
wake of the trustee and bond elec- 7 &
lions. Newly-elected trustee Ernest
Graham was swora-in and the 3,1
boon! voted 4-1 to appoint Barbara !‘;a
Campbell to fill the unexpired term
previously held by Darrol Vincent. ’*:fi
A few minutes later, however, the * ‘3
board voted to rescind Campbell’s Vj?-
controversial appointment. The
vacancy would remain through the
month.
With no clear majority vote
being garnered in the May 7 elec
lions, a June 4 runoff race was
called between Goodrich City ™
Council candidates Jeffrey n~
Parkman and Lpia Linn and a May
2$ runoff was called between
Corrigan-Camden ISD candidates
Grimes Fortune and Raymond1
Baldwin. Linn anJ Fortune even-;,‘ J
tually emerged as the winners. ,
Precinct 3 residents rallied sue-'
cessfully to have the new health !
center in Corrigan named afterjc-)
long-time Commissioner James J.y
"Buddy" Purvis. ijH
!r .1
June ,e,J
After two weeks of hearings, tim—
bar companies emerged as victors
in a lawsuit against the Polk Coun-
ty Appraisal Distria. Timber
values were reduced by about $35
million, meaning a loss of about
$187,000 in county tax revenues.
School distria officials were told
that the total tax loss due to the1
lawsuit could be near $600,000.
Karen Remmert of Woodville ol
was appointed as the new county ul
auditor, beginning work on June *
13. ^
Members of the Alabama- V
Conshaua tribes, which had been w
discussing whether or not to allow ub
casino gwablmg on the reservation, ,nj
filed a tribal vote on the matter for
June IS. The gambling issue was <ih
defeated newly 2-1. js
OISD trastees were advised by ho
dieir attorney that the previous
month’s reversal of the appoint- ^
mew of Barbara Campbell to the , J
board was a violation of state law.''°
Campbell look the oath of office. ™
bat another board vacancy opened )b3
ap as die board accepted the resig- 1)u
nation of Trustee Linda Vincent at,x>
die same meeting. om
OISD Superintendent John*™
Leonard resigned effective June 30. >iu
There was also a vacancy on the
Livingston ISD Board of Trustees.^
Bob Dockens resigned after 10
yaareon ihi board m order to run
aa the Republican candidate for
county tax assessor-collector in
November.
Jane marked the end of months
of negotiations concerning the fate
of Pott County Memorial Hospital.
A five-year tease of the facility byi
Memorial Health System of East
Texas was approved, to be effective
July 1.
(Tkursduy: A rnter of the lost
tbt wumtlu of 1994.)
Dogs, roads spawn comments
at commissioners' court
teeroPth. IIand P^The|
of two
law for dogs. The women said she
has bees aaarkrri in her yard by
dbam eight does.
The second citizen was con-
SSS+1
..
set for Jmt 9bm*res res-
to a meeting some;
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 1, 1995, newspaper, January 1, 1995; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790569/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.