Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 93, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 20, 1997 Page: 4 of 28
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EDITORIAL
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2% 1997
Letters to the editor Putting Children First gets boost
Tiagedy waiting to happen
Te the editor:
i ' \ ‘fj - *•* • .
Picture if po« will.... Too aw
driving down Hwy. 190 one week-
day afternoon. Yon are thinking
about the dentin appointment that
you are going to be lata far. Yon
think, ’Oh, I’d bettor hvry!" So
you ignore that sign Off ha* two
flashing yellow ligbta and aaya "23
mph." Or maybe yon do not tee it
Who knows? Still thinking about
that appointment you tip right on.
Until, out of the comer of your eye,
you catch a movement BOOM -
it’s too late. There on the pavement
in front of your car lay a child,
mangled and dead! So, tell me, was
it worth k?
I know this isn’t a pretty picture,
but if something doesn’t give, this
is the picture we will all see on the
front page of our Folk County
Enterprise. I am very surprised we
haven’t already.
For three years bow 1 have sat in
front of the junior high School
watching the traffic fly by with lit-
tle regard for the children walking
all around. It scares me to the point
of sickness.
Yesterday (Nov. 13), while wait-
1
and observed the traffic. As usual,
the cars, trucks and tractor-trailers
flew by. b the midst of this, I
watched two U.S. postal vehicles,
three city vehicles and one county
vehicle speed by, right aim* with
the other speeders. And then today
(Nov. 14), as I drove through the
school tone at 23 mph, to my
amazement, I was passed by a city
police officer and two school buees
going much faster than t. This
made me furious. I was" even
honked at and given the finger by
people behind me mid passing me
angrily. Did they not like k that I
was driving the speed limit and they
were in such an all-fired hurry? Are
these people so selfish that they do
not have a care for our children? It
is a very upsetting thing. Don’t you
think?
People, please slow down. I
know that I sure don't want to be
reading Shout my daughter’s death
on the from page, or anyone else's
child either. Do you?
»y LYNDELL WILLIAMS
,!* ED STEELING
Texas Press Association
AUSTIN - Lt. Gov. Boh
Bullock last week was named
honorary chairman of Patting
Children First, a group seeking
private school vouchers for students
in low-performing lb** school.
Bullock's acceptance of the
honorary chairmanship signals his
willingness to investipte state
funding for such a project But his
wiUwgnete is not new. The Senme,
over which Bullock presides, passed
a pilot voucher program for lower-
income students in 1993, but the
measure was killed in the House.
"If I was that child and wmued to
improve myself, I would like the
best education that I could possible
get Ibis would be a means of for
them to do it," Bullock said. The
focus, he said, should be on what's
best for Texas school children,
especially at a lime when tee sale to the Texas Department of
a massive school budding program.
Jimmy Mmsour, chairman of
Patting Children First, said the
group will advocate school choice
in the 1999 Legislature. The goal,
he said, will be to make U possible
"for parents of the 900,000 children
trapped in failing schools to use
their education tax dollars for the
schools of their choice - public or
private."
Opponents of a voucher system
say a voucher program would take
funding away from public schools
and hurt the majority of Texas
school children who will remain
enrolled in teem.
Bomer questions SUV risk
News reports about insurers
seeking higher automobile liability
rates for sport vehicles (SUVs) and
pickup trucks have promoted calls
when their ones are goiiy up.
Insurance Commissioners Elton
Banter’s answer is it's not going to
happen anytime soon for most
drivers.
Some insurers say that because
heavier SUVs and pickups inflict
more damage and injuries in
acciaeats, ranking in much higher
claims, the heavier vehicles' driven
should pay higher liability
premiums.
But the Department of Insurance
says reports show teat occupants of
heavier vehicles suffer fewer
injuries in motor vehicle accidents,
and this suggests that there could be
offsetting credits in coverage's
"Safety is a big reason.why
Texans spend as much money as
the do on SUVs and pickup trucks,'
Bomer said. "There won’t be an
goLQ*®9***'
I ME SHOULD
MAKE SURE
OUR AU PAIR
ISNTNMLSCT1NG
■ fiiiiiff
Jvv livil w •
JIMMY.
P.K. Richey
P.O. Box 2992
Livingston
Don't take it lightly
To the editor:
Mr. Hicks' letter re: the non-
show-up parents of the children
charged with possession of mari-
juana. was not surprising - it sadly
seems to be indicative of the gen-
eral lack of responsibility many
young parents are giving to their
children today and those most
guilty are thou who themselves are
or were drug abusers themselves
Their reasons for no-teow are var-
ied, some are just simply not want-
ing to get caught in the line of fire
themselves and some don't have the
sense to be concerned, from what I
have heard, many have the attitude
that "it's just a little pot, everybody
does it."
Not many have bellied up enough
gumption to tell their kids what
they know - which ia, there ain't
never been a person who used mari-
juana on a "regular" basis that did
not go on to lest other drugs.
Don't write or call to teU me dif
ferent; I won't believe you. And
doh't tell me how k cures cancer;
I've been hearing that myth for 13
yean and I didn't believe it then and
I still don't!
Tell me it can ease a cancer pa-
tient or glaucoma patient's discom-
fort and I'll be die first to say good,
go ahead and give it to them, but if
you ain't got a cough you don't
need the cough syrup!
Many have kept the same attitude
that got them started on drugs -
which is (to quote one mother
speaking of her teenage daughter),
"No big deal, so she took acid a
couple of times, she ain't the first
one." This is the same mother who
told her daughter at the age of 13
she'd rather see her smoke pot than
drink alcohol. What she did not tell
the little girl was that her ex-hus-
band (a substance abuser) was a lit-
tle more easy to live with when on
pot rather than booze - hence her
brain-storm that relegated pot to be
preferred over the booze! A really
great deduction to decide what path
toset your child on!
) watched one of those inane talk
shows and saw one mother sit
calmly while her daughter regaled . , , in "ambulance chasing" by scruti-
the audience with a list of the van- U fl IOTS SOy ttlOIIKS nizing public accident reports and
watching when he told me that lit-
tle ditty died! No, don't worry, I
never for a minute believed him,
but some liule kid might have!
I am 34 yean of age and when I
was in the seventh grade I was
taught that cocaine from the first
use to the last will do damage - it
just might not be visible until later
on. I was also taught that alcohol
drank straight down without stop-
ping can stop your heart. My son,
when in high school, on a dare
nearly kilted himself trying it He
later told me, "Mama, I did not
know!"
I’ve heard people say the govern-
ment has no right to issue curfews,
stating, "We can decide for our
kids," yet some idiot lets his 13
year old walk to t store at 3 in the
morning. Some parents won't let
schools administer regulated corpo-
ral punishment to their kid, but
when they finally do get mad they
beat the holy hell out of them.
The late Countdown Roberts
said, "Give diem a lunch and a dime
for milk and they won't have any
money for drugs." By damn, he had
the right idea.
Fashion, mainly "name brand"
fashion, has got to the point that it
is ridiculous, so put them in uni-
forms - at the rate most of them
are going, they might as well get
used to 'em!
I've never been much on censor-
ship, but now that television net-
works have become short on brains
and movie makers make films for
young andiences such as "Booty
Call’ (my young granddaughter
rented that one) I'm last changing
my mind.
My suggestion is that the moral
majority jump off the abortion and
sin wagon and hop on the stamp
our drug pusher one! And every
time some kid gets arrested for
drugs, start visiting his home regu-
larly and send both mommy and
daddy to parenting class and then
give them a test on k!
Public must retain control
1858
Alice Goff
Wiggins Village
Livingston
By DAN MORALES
Texas Attorney General
When does a government em-
ployee or a public official have a
right to keep secrets from the peo-
ple who pay his or her salary? My
answer is: "Almost never."
Most citizens understand there are
times when government secrecy is
required, such as in cases involving
national security or investigations
to determine criminal wrong doing.
In fact, there are other reasonable
"exceptions" to the requirement of
open government, such as the pro-
tection of personal records of chil-
dren who attend public schools.
Nonetheless, most Texans also
understand that the principle of
open government is more than a
good idea. It is a bedrock principle
of our democracy. Those of us who
serve as public officials and gov-
ernment employees should never
forget that we work for the public,
to benefit the public, rod we should
expect our work to be subject to
public scrutiny.
Last spring, the Texas
Legislature passed a bill making
public information about traffic ac-
cidents harder to get. The problem
they were trying to fix was a legit-
imate one. Many people felt that
certain professionals were engaged
ous drugs she'd used - but went
bonkers when she found out the kid
was having sex. Television featured
Mqrphy Brown toking a joint to
ease her nausea from chemotherapy,
but why the hell did the anchorman
who bought it have to smoke?
They then proceed to giggle and
make light over "short-term mem-
ory loss” that can indeed become
long-term loss with continued use.
Drug use has touched us all - try
making a quilt of the lives that
dregs have taken or rained as they
do: with the AIDS victims and see
juft how devastating this problem
has been and is.
dur kids can't read much past
Dick and Jane but they concoct
chemical elements and come up
with acid, ecstasy rod God knows
what else. One "Einstein" that ran a
business here in Polk County
years past told me, "You can’t die
from cocaine." The next day a cou-
ple of those football players he was
To the editor:
The LHS Junior Class sponsored
a drawing on Nov. 13 for a 23-inch
Zenith TV donated by Holly Owen,
a member of the class. The class
would like to thank everyone who
purchased a raffle ticket The pro-
ceeds from the drawing go to the
class for the 1998 Junior-Senior
Prom, "Enchantment Under the
Sea," to be held at the Wyndham
Greenspoint Hotel on April 18,
1998. The surprised and proud win-
ner of the TV is Peggy Haley. The
class would like to show their ap-
preciation by thanking the local
business for the donation of the
television that was raffled.
Thank you for all your support!
Bath Harrison,
Junior class president
Route 7 Box 382
.Livingston
then calling people who had suf-
fered severe injuries in these acci-
dents in order to solicit their busi-
ness. These victims were being ha-
rassed.
The effort to protect privacy was
well intended, but it created a real
obstacle to the public's right to
know. In one case, the mayor of a
Texas city and his wife were in-
volved in a car crash that involved a
fatality. The Texas Department of
Public Safety, in its effort to fol-
low the new law, refused to release
information regarding that accident.
Several Texas news organizations
challenged the law, and for good
reason. They understood that it in-
terfered with their right to know,
and consequently, the public’s right
to know.
As Thomas Jefferson once wrote,
"Our liberty depends on the freedom
of the press, and that cannot be lim-
ited without being tost"
- The Texas Daily Newspaper
Association and the Texas Press
Association want the Texas
Legislature to revisit this issue and
find a way to deal with the 'ambu-
lance chasers” without infringing an
the public's right to know. We
support that effort
In another recent instance, our of-
fice was asked by s non-profit orga-
nization whether the phone records
of the Texas Supreme Court were
open to the public according to the
Texas Public Information Act.
We drew on a number of court
cases which made a distinction be-
tween the court records of the judi-
ciary, which are excluded, and the
administrative records of the judi-
ciary, which are not, in our view,
excluded from the Act. We ruled
that white the judiciary was clearly
granted an exemption under the Act,
the telephone records that were sub-
ject to the request were administra-
tive in nature, not judicial.
The state Supreme Court, in
what we believe was a good faith
disagreement, rejected our ruling,
and reading the law very literally,
said that all of their records were
exempt and they had no intention of
releasing any of them.
It will surprise no one that
lawyers disagree. We interpret the
law differently thro the Supreme
Court But that disagreement can
serve as an opportunity for all of us
to look beyond differing interpreta-
tions of the law. We must never
lose sight of the spirit of our open
government laws which articulate a
moral obligation for Texas gov-
ernment to operate openly in the
light of day. We must never lose
sight of the plain truth that dark-
ness breeds secrets.
Honest, open government is the
essential obligation of every person
whose salary is paid by tax dollars.
No one is excluded from that obli-
gation, not presidents or governors
or attorney's general or judges.
The preamble of the Open
Records Act (since renamed the
Public Information Act) says it
best: "It is the policy of this state
that each person is entitled, unless
otherwise expressly provided by
law, at all times to complete in-
formation about the affairs of gov-
increase in liability rales until I see
hard proof teat the increased risk
crobetfemonshMed."
Under Texas law, rate-regulated
auto insurance companies must
follow the Department of
Insurance's liability rating system,
which rilows only the driver's age,
sex and automobile usage - not
type of vehicle - to apply.
To change the rating system,
insurance companies would have to
petition Bomer to allow the make
and model of a vehicle in a driver's
liability rate. Then, a public
hearing would have to be held in
which Bonier determined that higher
premiums would be fair and
adequate nd not excessive or
discriminatory. To date, no
company has petitioned for such a
change.
Other Capital Highlights
»The State Board of Education
approved tee SI77 million purchase
of textbooks to be placed in Texas
school classrooms in the fall of
1998. The books were approved on
a 9-3 vote, with some members
criticizing a $36 book, "Focus on
Algebra," because, they said, it was
focused more on environmental and
political topics than on algebra.
• Former President George Bush
and his wife, Barbara, presided over
the Nov. 7 opening of the George
Bash Presidential Library Center at
Iexas A&M University in College
Station. The Bushes toured the $83
million complex which includes the
library and museum, the Bush
School of Government and Public
Service and the Presidential
Conference Center.
• Land Commissioner Garry
Mauro, a Democrat, is said to have
picked Nov. 17 as the date he will
announce for governor. Incumbent
Republican George W. Bush is to
announce for re-election Dec. 3.
Secretary of State Tony Garza, a
Republican, last week announced
his candidacy for land
commissioner.
• Hundreds of sex offenders,
previously exempted from
registration, are signing up with
police and sheriffs departmehts
under a new law making
registration requirements retroactive
to 1970. State officials estimate the
volume of registrants may have
tripled since the law went into
effect Sept. 1.
• Gov. Bush appointed Grace
Shore, 56, of Longview, to the
State Board of EdQcation, to replace
Donna Ballard of The Woodlands,
who resigned. Shore is a former
public school teacher, a small
business owner, has three children
and is a grandmother.
eminent and the official acts of pub-
lic officials rod employees. The
people, in delegating authority, do
not give their public servants the
right todecide what is good for the
people to known and what is not
good for them to know. The people
insist on remaining informed so
that they may retain control over
the instruments they have created."
POLK COUNTY
ENTERPRISE
ALVIN HOLLEY, PUBLISHER
Telephone Number 327-4387
(USPS 437-340)
WEBSITE: www.detnet.com/pcent/ E-MAIL: Hv/entOdetnet.com
Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office at Livingston.
Texas 77351 under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1987.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Barbara White, Editor
Van Thomas. Sports Editor
Greg Peak, Area News Editor
Alicia Shandley. Living Section Editor
Emily Banks. Reporter
Gordon LeBarron. Photographer
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
Cameras / Platemaking
Don Holeman, Paul Holley
Pressroom Personnel
Adrian Dunn, Beamon Goodwin, Willis Woods
Mailroom / Circulation
Lee Torres, Rosa Martinez
Dorothy Wilson, Composition Supervisor
Jennifer Kingsbury. liam Singleton. Sarah Richardson
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
Linda Holley, Ad Manager
Sandra Jackson. Kay Loy Cuevas. Kelly Wheeland
Linda Jacobs, Classified Manager
Patty Hankerd
PRINTING DEPARTMENT
Jennifer BtrdweB, Supervisor
Deborah Bartlett
BOOKKEEPING DEPARTMENT
Georgia Bailey, Manager
Barbara Wilson, Laura Bright, Vickie Templeton
SUBSCRIPTION RATES - $20.00 per year tax included, in county.
$22.00 per year, out of county. $24.00 peryear out of state. Published
seml-weeldy. Sunday and Thursday at 100 Calhoun in Livingston.
Texas by the Polk County Publishing Co.
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputa-
tion of any person, firm or corporation which may appear in this
newspaper will be gladly corrected upon being brought to the
attention of the'publlsher.
Opinions expressed In columns are those of "the writer and not
necessarily those of this newspaper.
Opinions expressed in editorial are those of the Enterprise.
POSTMASTER: Postage Paid At Livingston, TX. Please Send Address
Changes To P.O. Box 1276. Livingston, Texas 77351.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 93, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 20, 1997, newspaper, November 20, 1997; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth798464/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.