Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 95, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Page: 4 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Seminole Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Gaines County Library.
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PAGE 4, Seminole (Texas) Sentinel, Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Wednesday’s
iEditorials.
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Plugged In...Your computer
by Eric Spellmann
eric(S)ericspellmann.com
I never realized how long I have
been involved with the Internet un-
til the other day. A friend asked me
when I first saw the “dancing baby.”
Wow. My mind raced back to a
simpler, more geeky time; when the
Internet was dominated by nerds
like myself. At that time, phrases
such as “Internet Pop Culture” were
contradictions in terms. However,
looking back, a few “trendy” events
occurred.
The Dancing Baby
AutoDesk is a company that spe-
A Self-confessed Computer
Nerd’s Net Obsessions
cializes in 3D modeling software. In
1996, they released a demo of their
newest product which included the
Dancing Baby. Their intent, of
course, was to show off the capabili-
ties of their software. However, by
1997, this little file was being e-
mailed all around the globe. It took
on a life of its own.
New versions of the dance started
to appear including disco, hip-hop,
and country routines. The baby even
made guest-star appearances on the
Guest Column
By Don Ingram
in the Andrews County News
Kudos are in order for the Seminole Independent School District.
Our neighboring school district to the north of us helped pull our fanny
out of the fire last week.
By now everyone is probably aware of the brouhaha with the synthetic
turf or lack thereof at Mustang Stadium in time for the start of football
season.
The company, SRI, of Leander, back in May lobbied hard to get the
$550,000 project that local school officials and trustees had debated over
greatly ... the need for replacing grass with an artificial surface.
The project wasn't in the original bond package, but after hearing about
how the surface has been greatly improved over the last 20 years and proven
and officials looked tor ways to pay
for it.
It wasn’t easy, but after weighing the pros and cons, they opted to go
ahead, if the money could be located.
And thanks to AISD Business Manager Joe Merrell, the funds were lo-
cated due to savings form the middle school construction bid, which came
in lower, and due to some interest on the bond monies, albeit not as much
thanks to the current market.
Still, the trustees debated the issue some more, wondering if it was needed.
More evaluations were presented and, after learning that it cpsts between
$55,000 to $60,000 a year in water, fertilizer and mowing at both AHS and
Andrews Middle School, the project was approved and SRI chosen to get
on with it.
Mustang Stadium would get the turf, and a new field at the middle school
would be eliminated because the turf could handle all amounts of use by
both high school teams and band and the same with the middle school.
What exactly happened after the bid award to SRI is anyone’s guess;
only SRI officials knowing the real story then again, maybe not. Anyway,
when assistant superintendent Tom Carroll saw that Andrews’ turf was lost
somewhere between here and Georgia, he began to get a little worried.
Ultimately, there came a day when Carroll realized the turf wasn’t going
to be in for the first game with Hobbs, N.M., and embarrassment for him
and the Andrews ISD.
Fortunately, our good neighbors to the north came to the rescue.
AISD Superintendent Dr. Ervin Huddleston said Seminole ISD was more
than gracious in agreeing to host the game between Andrews and Hobbs
and never flinching in taking up the responsibility.
Dr. Huddleston said Seminole treated the project like it was one of their
own, manning the ticket booths, sideline crews, refreshment stands and the
whole nine yards.
“You can’t beat a deal like that, ”Dr. Huddleston said, adding that Andrews
folks should be appreciative of neighbors like that who are willing to step
in and help out a friend in need.
As it turned out, it was quite an offensive and defensive show for the
Mustangs, who blew away the Eagles 57-0.
Hopefully, Andrews ISD won’t be needing another handout from any-
one this Friday, but isn’t it nice to know in this day and time that there are
still people willing to offer their assistance when asked for it.
Seminole ISD and residents deserve a big THANK YOU from Andrews
and the Andrews Independent School District.
TV show Ally McBeal. Interestingly,
Autodesk u (http://
www.autodesk.com) does not ac-
knowledge their creation on their
website...except in an obscure trade-
mark reference deep on a back page.
Catch all of this baby’s moves at
MegaBaby (http://
www.megababy.com).
Hampster Dance
No, it’s not a spelling mistake.
“Hampster” is actually the formal last
name of “Hampton Hampster,” a
real, furry rodent, owned by Cana-
dian Deidre LaCarte. In 1998, she
and her sister had a competition to
see who could receive the most visi-
tors to a website. Deidre won with
her “Hampster Dance” site.
In case you never saw it, the page
displayed hundreds of miniature
dancing hamsters while Roger
Miller’s “Whistle-Stop” from the
1973 soundtrack of “Robin Hood,”
played in the background.
The site gained national notoriety
when Earthlink, a major Internet Ser-
vice Provider, featured the wiggling
rodents in a TV commercial.
TheHampsters have released a
couple of CD’s, but asTheir fame
dwindled, so did their sales. You can
still see these little guys at their offi-
cial site, “HampsterDance”
(www.hampsterdance.com).
Mahir Cagri -1 KISS YOU!!!
Mahir Cagri’s home page (http://
www.istanbul.tc/mahir/mahir/) is
another simple site which gained
popularity through emailing. Cagri,
a Turkish gentleman whose site calls
for world peace as well as invites
beautiful women to stay with him in
Turkey, has since claimed it was all
a hoax. Claiming to be “the most
popular homepage ever,” Cagri said
The Seminole Sentinel
P. O. Drawer 1200 (USPS 489-400)
Seminole, TX 79360
Ph. 432-758-3667 - Toll Free 1-877-251-9930
FAX No. (432) 758-2136
e-mail address: sentinel@nwol.net
Website: http://www.sentinel@crosswind.net
Oldest Established Business in Gaines County
Published each Wednesday and Sunday at The Seminole Sentinel Building, 406 S.
Main, under the act of March 3, 1879.
Entered as Second Class Matter at the Seminole, Texas, Post Office, Seminole, Texas
79360. 1
Any erroneous reflection upon the character of any person or firm appearing in these
columns will be gladly and promptly corrected upon being brought to the attention of the
management.
Letters policy: Letters to the Editor are welcomed. All letters should be kept as brief as
possible. They must be signed with name, address and telephone number, in case need for
verification arises (address and phone number will not be printed). The Sentinel reserves
the right to edit letters to prevent libel, invasian of privacy or untasteful language without
changing the desired context.Letters do not necessarily reflect the editorial policies or
beliefs of this newspaper. No letters about candidates seeking election or “Thank You”
letters will be accepted. v._ . _
his site received more than 1 million
hits in a week during its high-point
in 1999. The site was closed Nov. 12,
1999, but fans rebuilt it and posted it
elsewhere. Cagri claims that many of
the comments about women ant£ seic
were placed there by a hacker. • -
His fame scored him a world tour
sponsored by eTour.com, denounced
by some fans as an attempt by eTours
to capitalize and exploit Cagri’s new
status. eTours, however, did claim to
have donated to Cagri’s charities.
Flash Mobs
You just received an e-mail from
an anonymous source: It instructs
you to “Synchronize your watch with
an Internet Atomic clock. Then, meet
at a specific public place at 6:51pm
on Thursday. Dress in blue and hold
a red flower over your head for three
minutes. Then, leave quickly.”
Folks, you’ve just been a part of
a flash mob.
Here’s how it works: Hundreds of
people in a city sign up on an anony-
mous e-mail list. The list owner, then
randomly sends out messages to the
subscribers with specific instruc-
tions, telling you to gather at a spe-
cific spot at a very specific time and
perform some silly act.
Then, you leave quickly, as if
nothing ever happened.
The sponsors of these activities
call it performance art. It’s quite
popular on both coasts and especially
in Denver, Colorado. To find a “mob”
in your area, check out FlockSmart
(www.flocksmart.com).
Net Trends
So, what do dancing babies, gy-
rating hamsters, a Turkish Romeo,
and strange-acting crowds have in
common. Nothing. Absolutely noth-
ing.
BUT, they all went on to be his-
torical mile-markers on the Informa-
tion Superhighway.
I’ll see you in Cyberspace!
~76an6& 0?<vt lending,
*7He Seminole
Pay Limit Commission Issues Final Report
By Shawn Wade
It has been a long time coming, but finally the report from the Com-
mission on the Application of Payment Limitations for Agriculture has been
released.
The full report, which spans a total of 170 pages, provides recommen-
dations and analysis regarding current payment limitation rules.
The good news for cotton in particular is that the report stops well
short of recommending wholesale changes in current rules.
In fact, the key recommendations put forth by the Commission were
that changes to payment limit rules would have a negative impact on U.S.
agriculture in general. The report also states that consideration of pay limit
changes is best left until the next Farm Bill and that any changes that are
adopted be phased in over a period of years. x
Other recommendations put forth by the Commission were:
The need for additional resources to be allocated to the Farm Service
Agency and Office of the Inspector General to improve oversigv,t and imple-
mentation of the rules and prevent abuse of the program;
• Payment limit rules and regulations should not encourage producers
to choose a form of business organization they would not otherwise con-
sider;
• Rules should not cause producers to take on production or marketing
risks they would not otherwise undertake;
• Efforts to change payment limit policies should strive to make those
policies meaningful, transparent and simple;
• Changes in payment limits should be sensitive to the differences in
commodities, regions and existing agribusiness infrastructure; and
• USDA should increase efforts to provide more complete data on
farm program benefits.
The Commission’s recommendations were also prefaced by the.
need for additional study to better understand how payment limit rules
affect producers today so that potential changes to those rules can be more
accurately anticipated.
The report also emphasizes the many different reasons that payments
are made to producers and the complex interactions that each payment type
has with another.
Critics and supporters alike will no doubt find information to support
their arguments in the details of the report. On its face, however, the recom-
mendation that no changes be made at this time is a positive statement that
program supporters can use to fend off future attempts to change current
rules.
U.S. Cotton Bracing for Media Onslaught
With next week’s resumption of the Doha Round of WTO Trade Nego-
tiations in Cancun, Mexico, U.S. cotton industry officials have been busy
fielding media inquiries from around the world.
The efforts of the international media to coverth? pending negotia-
tions, fueled t>y the claims and often one-sided information provided by
special interests groups world-wide, have been a cresting wave that is ex-
pected to break in the next few days.
Given the recent track record of media stories and editorials it is hard
to imagine that a positive picture of U.S. farm or trade policy will be put
forth.
Guest Column
What’s Good for Texas.
By Thomas D. Rowley
Creating a federal Department of Rural Affairs to oversee rural policy
and programs—as a growing number of rural advocates are calling for—
isn’t such a bad idea. It would relieve the U.S. Department of Agriculture
of its largely unmet (some would say “unwanted”) mandate to coordinate
federal rural development efforts. It would raise the profile of rural America
just as creating cabinet agencies for veterans’ affairs and homeland security
have done for those issues. It would-almost by definition—do a better job
of coordinating the chaotic, oftentimes conflicting, portfolio of efforts that
purport to help rural people and places a portfolio currently administered
by every department and comprising 800-some programs. And who knows,
it might even come up with a new idea or two.
At any rate, it’s hard to see how it could hurt.
The big question is “Can it be done?”
The answer-if Texas state government is an indicator-is “yes”.
In 2001, the Texas Legislature pulled existing rural-focused programs in
agencies and put them together in a newly created Office of Rural and Com-
munity Affairs, ORCA for short. ORCA’s charge: bring both attention and
better, coordinated, assistance to rural people and places. Just what a fed-
eral incarnation should do.
While that all sounds simple on paper, the realities of tight budgets and
turf battles make it otherwise. Sam Tessen, who was given the unenviable
task of heading up the new agency, admitted that starting it was a lot of hard
work and not a lot of fun. With a couple of years under ORCA’s belt, how-
ever, the effort seems worth it. A conversation with Tessen revealed several
successes.
a.. ORCA has become a voice for rural Texas, advocating to the state
legislature and federal agencies on its behalf.
a.. It’s also become a door to state government for rural constituents
who previously were passed from office to office, bureaucrat to bureaucrat.
Said Tessen, “ORCA is like having a friend on the inside. We’ll figure out
who and where to hook you up.” *
a.. The office is facilitating communication among other state agencies
with no history of talking to each other about their rural portfolios. “You
can see the ah-ha’s when they meet,” said Tessen.
a.. Finally, on the money front, new funds-community development block
grants, micro-enterprise loans, and small business loans—are making their
way out into the small towns and countryside of Texas.
Tessen cited several keys to ORCA’s success.
First, he, his staff, and his board of advisors spend a lot of time out
getting a firsthand look at rural conditions and needs. “We don’t want to
have that Austin mentality,” he said. “We have to understand what rural life
is like. We go to the rural folks; we don’t make them come to us.” ;•
Second, ORCA does its best to help other agencies do their best in serv-
ing rural Texas. “If we can help other agencies do a better job, then that
agency wins, the rural folks win, and ORCA wins,” Tessen said.
Finally, the folks at ORCA know that rural Texas can’t afford to go it
alone. Accordingly, rural constituents must build alliances with other groups-
urban, suburban, and inner city-on issues they share in common.
Granted, moving a handful of programs into a rural agency at the state
level and hundreds into one at the federal level are vastly different under-
takings, if only in scale. Still, the rationale and the keys to success should
travel well from Austin to Washington.
Again, it’s hard to see how it could hurt.
And as Tessen put it, “If one doesn’t try it, we risk losing what we can’t
live without, and that’s rural.”
t
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Fisher, David. Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 95, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 10, 2003, newspaper, September 10, 2003; Seminole, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth804421/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Gaines County Library.