Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 68, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 21, 1989 Page: 2 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hopkins County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hopkins County Genealogical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
4
& s
—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Spring*, Taxa*, TUaaday, March 21,1989.
editorials
■ ■ •
Assault on assault
rifles is overdue
Legislatures in Texas and California — and possibly
elsewhere — are asking a question that should have been
iddressed some time ago: wh^are semi-automatic assault
rifles necessary?
Frankly, they arc not necessary for anything but com-
bat, and we do not mean combat against a deer or a
squirrel.
Some weapot
this country na
They arc people guns.
Any firearm has the capability to kill people. Semi-
automatic and fully automatic weapons are designed to
kill lots of people in a few seconds or minutes.
When national drug director William J. Bennett moved
to halt the sale of semi-automatic assault rifles the gun
lobby came unglued. The National Rifle Association has
been' accused of threatening Bennett’s political future if
Some weapons imported, produced and marketed in
rave one purpose and one purpose only
he flushes for the ban,
Fo
The only result to come from
-or the record, the NRA is denying the accusation.
T>m tne proposed ban on
semi-automatic assault rifles was the doubling of prices
for Colt’s AR-15 and the semi-automatic versions of the
cver-popular AK47 and Uzi.
We welcome comment from anyone who can give us
one good reason why they need a semi-automatic assault
rifle.
Hunting? They’re not very good hunters if they need
30 rounds to knock down a fleeing deer.
Self-defense? You’re joking. A shotgun is a much bet-
ter self-defense weapon and you can get a semi-automatic
if you so desire.
Po
'ower? Try a 12-gauge with a rifle slug. At close range
it is devastating.
Collectors? There are a million things to collect be-
sides assault rifles. Try German Lugers or the 1911A1
45s. They arc semi-automatic. Forget about the “My gun
is bigger than your gun” syndrome.
We are not against guns. We’re against mass murder in
school vards and clowns amassing arsenals in their homes
to ward off the invasion they know is coming any day
now.
A ban on semi-automatic assault rifles would not
threaten anyone’s right to keep and bear arms.
The opinion page
—-
Wright may be silenced
By Joseph Spear
It's been 78 years since a speaker of
the house was dethroned by the rank
and file, but Capitol Hill cloakrooms
and cubbyholes are abuzz with specu-
lation that a similar fate might be
awaiting Jim Wright. D-Texas.
He is superbly deserving of the
honor.
The House Ethics Committee has
completed a nine-month investigation
that centered on half a dozen allega-
tions of misconduct against the speak-
er. Among them were charges that
Wright and his staff promoted bulk
sales of his book, ‘Reflections of a
Private Man,’ in order to circumvent
limits on outside income; that he re-
ceived free use of a Fort Worth condo-
minium owned by the family of a
business associate; that he twisted the
arms of federal banking regulators on
behalf of savings and loan owners in
Texas.
It is Wright's singular misfortune to
have the ethics committee complete
its probe directly on the heels of the
John Tower affair Republicans were
humiliated by the Democrats' rejec-
tion of President Bush's first choice
for defense secretary, and many
vowed revenge. ^
This was the defense Wright of-
fered in a mailing to his constituents
last month His critics, Wright wrote,
were political foes who were engaged
in ‘a game of Saek-the-Quarterback.
... If they can't injure you and knock
you out of the game, which is their
first choice — then they'll try at least
to batter you around enough to spoil
your concentration ."
The speaker’s supporters back in
Tarrant County might buy that homey
approach. But more than a few Capi-
tol Hill Democrats — fed up with
Wright's high-handed leadership
style, offended by his hotheaded ap-
proach to politics, and embarrassed
by his casual regard for ethical stan-
dards — are hoping the Republicans
will boil him quickly and be done with
it.
That isn't likely to happen It will
be much more satisfying for the Re-
publicans and. they hope, more politi-
cally rewarding, to cook him up slow-
Joe
Spear
r*"**
X t
ly Edward J. Rollins, executive
director of the House Republican
campaign committee, has already
vowed to make Wright his “No. 1 tar-
get" in 1990. and the longer he can
keep the heat on the speaker the bet-
ter. ‘Wright projects an image that
benefits Republicans," concurs Sen.
Trent Lott, R-Miss.. a former House
Minority Whip.
A surprising number of Democrats
apparently agree. There is a feeling
among many that Wright projects the
smarmy demeanor of a ward heeler
promising pothole repairs in return
for votes. “He is a snake oil sales-
man," said one respected Democratic
legislator. “Wright is yesterday," said
a lobbyist with extensive Democratic
connections "People are just not all
that thrilled with him," added a Dem-
ocratic committee staffer
Wright is aware of these negative
sentiments and has already munched
a slice of humble pie in anticipation of
the turmoil to come. “I don’t have to
be speaker," he told a Washington
Post reporter last week. "If I was con-
vinced in my mind that most of my
colleagues didn’t want me to be
speaker, I wouldn't run again. I’d
serve out my term as effectively as I
can."
One Democratic insider offered
this “theoretical" scenario.
The Republicans will push hard on
the House floor for the passage of a
censure resolution, and the more pow-
erful Democratic insiders will work
out an understanding with the speak-
er. Wright will be exonerated on a
straight party-line vote. Two months
later, he will announce he is not run-
ning again for the speaker’s job. De-
pending on the clamor, he might even
announce his retirement from
Congress
Some Democrats believe the GOP
could do them no bigger favor than
that. Wright would most likely be re-
placed by Majority Leader Tbrn Fo-
ley, D-Wash., a fair-minded man who
is respected on both sides of the aisle.
Blessed with a judicious tempera-
ment, patience and a passion for com-
promise, he would be just the medi-
cine, insiders believe, for a party sick
of Slick Jim.
© l»»* NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
Pledge was really a bribe
No justice in post office
kv Sarah Overstreet
- When my mom wasa litri* girl, she
and her friends in the Epworth
League ol the Methodist Episcopal
Sunday sc hool took the Temperance
Tledge I believe it was prose written
the Women's Christian Temper
knee- Union, and went something
hi.mg the “lips that touch liquor ."
Jine She didn't remember how it went
V'.’ctly. and broke it as soon as she
was old enough to know what it
meant
: i he Temperance Pledge was a
It h* of the past by the time I was
O tn.itg along, but has sort of enjoyed
a renaissance with Nancy Reagan's
"Just Say No* campaign And I guess
if modern kids don't feel like a “Just
Say No* button says it all for them,
they now have the option of the “Tow-
er Pledge * a today kind of abstinence
vow with one important difference
the element of bribery When you take
the Thwer Pledge, you get something
in return lake, an appointment as
Secretary of Defense, if you re John
Tbwer Perhaps a lengthened curfew
or a better car. if you're a teen-ager
“I promise if you'll just let me be
defense secretary lips that touch li-
quor shall never touch mine, even sit-
ting around The-Monocle swapping
stories and checking out babes
"I promise if you'll just a 1 let me
stay out an hour Later, and b) buy me a
S* Charger with a 426 Hemi instead
of this It Pinto, so I can look cool go
mg around McDonald s. then I'll just
say no to booze. at least until the se-
nt* trip when we re on the bus and
none of us has to drive '
Personally. 1 find the bribery ideas
extremely appealing If good works,
good looks and a great resume won't
get me a job — and on several occa-
sions they haven't — perhaps I can
bribe mv way fo a better position
“So, you ve heard I m not the great
Sarah
Ouerstreet
est speller’ Well as luck would have
it. I've just enrolled in 'Spell Your
Way to Success' at the local communi-
ty college and bought a SpellStar pro-
gram for my computer If you hire
me. I promise to read only the dictio-
nary and Roget s Thesaurus in my
free time, and work all the It Pays to
Increase Your Word Power' puzzles
in Reader s Digest And since you're
right on my way. why don’t I drive
you to work every morning, too?"
My 55-year-old friend Carol tells
me the older you get. the scarcer the
men get ("Let a man get a divorce,
all the single women over 40 head for
him like a school of piranhas." she
says | An adaption of the Tower
Pledge sounds like it just ought to
work on the singles scene, too
“Marry me and anything from Ju-
lia Child's Mastering the Art of
French Cooking' set is yours on de-
mand. along with every trick I
learned in 20 years of reading Cosmo
polnan and your name on my CD s
You want me to shed a few pounds’
Hey. lips that touch chocolate layer
cake and Kentucky Fried Chicken
shall never touch yours..."
There s only one thing I (font un-
derstand about this whole bribery
thing, and the guy who started it all.
John Tower In order to bribe some-
one. vou have to give up something I
trade you all of my free tune and a
ride to xpirk every morning, and you
give me a job A bribe is not a pleas-
ant barter, but one you enter because
you don't have any other options
If Tower doesn't have a drinking
problem, why did he promise not to
drink if the Senate would just confirm
his nomination to be Secretary of De-
fense’ I d think a couple brewskis at
the local pub now and then might
make running the Pentagon almost
bearable
If he doesn t have a drinking prob-
lem. tossing down a few once in a
while won't impair his ability to lead
If he does have a drinking problem, a
stack of pledges won't make any
difference
© l*t» NEWSMPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
THE WORLD ALMANAC
DATE BOOK
March 21
Today is the 80th
day of 1989 and the
2nd day of spring
1989
$1
M
f
W
T
f
sj
*v
v«
• •
yt
1
#
'• •
. ■
2
iiLi
TOOAY'S HISTORY: On this day in
1935, Persia was renamed Iran
TOOAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Johann Se-
bastian Bach (1685). Florez Ziegtetd
(1869), Peter Brook (1925). Cesar Cha-
vez (1927), James Coco (1930)
TOOAY'S QUOTE: "In some cases
non-violence requires more militancy
than violence 1 — Cesar Chavez
TOOAY'S MOON: Day be-
fore futt moon (March 22).
TOOAY'S BARBS
BY PHIL PASTORET
Who w»H fix the typewriters with elec-
tronic dictionaries when humans have
lost the ability to speH correctly?
In dipiomatese. a frank and open dis-
cussion is one held by two fellows
named Frank and. oddly enough.
Open”
© M. NEWSPAPER enterprise assn
o
By Jack Anderson
and Dale Van Atta
WASHINGTON - If you want to
assault someone, do it in a post office.,
Chances are. you can walk away
through a bureaucratic loophole.
At least, that's the way Nora Gib-
son sees it. The 58-year-old woman
says she was knocked to the floor in a
scuffle for a place in line at the post
office and now the federal govern-
ment refuses to go after the man she
says bullied her out of line and into
the hospital
Last Dec. 20, Gibson walked into a
post office in Bethesda, Md , to mail a
certified letter When the clerk said,
“next." Gibson started toward the
counter A tall, retired Navy officer
cut in front of her When she protest-
ed. Gibson claims the man shoved her
to the floor She banged her head
against a counter and landed on the
floor, unconscious
Police arrived and sent her to the
hospital in an ambulance A doctor di-
agnosed her injury as a severe con-
cussion When Gibson came to, she
expected that her alleged assailant
would be strung up by his thumbs But
she hadn't coupted~on the federal bu-
reaucracy. Although the scuffle had
taken plape in a crowded post office
and the^olice had responded. Gibson
discovered the incident was not being
investigated
A police officer had scrawled the
name of her alleged assailant on a pa-
per and handed it to Gibson in the hos-
pital The rest, apparently, was up to
her County police would not investi-
gate because the post office is federal
property. U.S Postal Service investi-
gators claimed it was the county's
responsibility
As a last resort, Gibson complained
to the FBI Almost two months after
the incident, a postal investigator
showed up on her doorstep to get her
side of the story He later told her the
U S attorney in Baltimore had decid-
ed not to (ness charges against the
Jack
Hnderson
man because of "a lack of criminal
intent"
Gibson wanted to hear that excuse
in person, so she went to the U.S. at-
torney's office. An assistant state at-
torney there told her that the most he
could do was write a nasty letter to
the man, and he suggested that Gib-
son get a lawyer and sue her nemesis
in civil court.
Our associate Jim Lynch called the
U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore
and asked why a woman who says she
was bounced on the floor and knocked
unconscious in front of witnesses
can’t get any justice. An assistant at-
torney on the staff listened and said
the office is now "reopening the
case"
The retired Navy officer is vaca-
tioning, and we couldn't reach him for
his explanation of the scuffle, but
sources close to the case say that he
claims Gibson grabbed his elbow and
that he accidentally bumped her
when he tried to shake free of her
grip Gibson’s daughter and other wit-
nesses back up her version of the
imbroglio.
Gibson's head was jangled, but her
sense of outrage is intact She says
she will sue the man if criminal
charges aren’t filed.
TRAVELING TERRORISTS - A
profile of potential terrorists devel-
oped by West German, British, Italian
and French officials is now being
widely used to interrogate and body
search passengers and rifle through
baggage in major international
airports.
Some of those who are stopped are
picked from lists of travelers made
available by the airlines to security
personnel in advance of flights. Secu-
rity people are likely to take note of
those who appear on the computer as
frequent travelers or who have crimi-
nal arrest or conviction records.
Ticket counter personnel alert se-
curity officers to passengers with un-
usually heavy luggage, or those who
simply look uneasy. One searcher
smiled sheepishly after he discovered
that his “suspect” merely had heavy
ski boots in the suitcase.
Other targets for a search are men
with darker skin and those with North
African and Middle Eastern pass-
ports. The searches mean delays
while suitcases are unpacked and in-
spected, right down to the toothbrush
cases.
The inspectors report most passen-
gers accept the searches as the price
they pay for air safety, but about one
in 10 raises a fuss, even to the point of
making written complaints.
One German security official told
us, ‘We don’t like to pick one person
out of a group, but we can't search ev-
eryone. And consider what might hap-
pen if we do nothing.'
LEADERLESS PENTAGON -
While John Tower cooled his heels
waiting for the Senate to dump him,
over at the Pentagon it was not busi-
ness as usual. One Pentagon source
close to the budget office told us that
decisions were being made behind
closed doors that will make Congress
irate.
Davy Crockett: With feats of clay
B> Lewis GriuarU
Davy I'rorfceti. km* of the Wild
Frontier was rtghi up there with mv
boyhood heroes., who also included
Raw Rogers King of the Cowboys,
Duke Snyder the baseball ptayer and
mv father, who occasaondty wrote
had checks — hut only at emergen
ties.
Wah Disney introduced me to Davy
Oocfced. Those of age will recall the
three Disney Crocked trfrvtsmn epe
aodes — Davy fights the river pastes.
Davy goes to t idagtan. and Davy
gets it wwh the other brave lads who
hekd off Santa Anna and has Mexican
arwty far those many days m IKK at
the Alamo the cratfle of Texas liberty
Davy Crockett fa hack oa teieei
Mon. now and then thanks agant to
Ihwvrv and NBC I'm at no hurry to
we the new Crockett because onh
(real Davy
Leu? is
Grizzard
TV Guide ran a piece recently by
New Mexico historian Paul Andrew
Hutton, who shoots holes through the
legend of Davy Crockett
You will remember the Davy
Crockett song; “Bom on a mountain
Not so. says Paul Andrew Hutton
Davy wan bora in a vaBey
“tub him a bar when .he was only
three _*
No way . says Paul Andrew Hutton
Bui later in Mr, Davy did claim to
have kdkd 106 bears m one season
far their far, which he sold
There was Davy Crockett, the brave
ett was wwh Andrew Jackson when
Jackson's troops massacred the
Creek Indians
No bravery there. Crockett himself
is reported to have said. "We shot
them down like dogs.'
Crockett later was elected to
Confgeas from Tennessee He la moat
noted for attempting to dose down
West Poe*
As far as the Alamo is concerned.
Mr Hutton's story was a shock.
According to the historian. Crock-
ett left Tennessee to fight tot the Texas
army against Mexico only because he
had faded as a farmer and was broke
and thought he aught be able to
rekmdfc his pohdcal career some-
where else
Hutton says Crockett was one of
six survivors of the Anal Alamo attack
by 1,500 Mexican troop*
He and the five others were taken
before Santa Anna but Dsvy Crockett
dented he (hd any fighting He said he
was a tourist who just happened to
get cau#
Santa Anna ordered Crockett and
the other five gored with bayonet*
(Obviously. Davy's sidekick. Buddy
Ebsen, did live through the Alamo,
however, as he showed up years later,
first as Jed Clamped and then as
Bamaby Jane*)
Oh. well I still have the memory of
my father buying me a Davy Crockett
outfit, complete with coonstdn cap.
He gave the guy in the state a bad
check for it and even talked him into
cashing it for 830 over the purchase
price.
Daddy was on the road, broke,
himself. and he had me tagging along.
He took the extra 30, got us a nice
motel room, bought me a hamburger
and a milkshake and got himself a
bottle
My father said It was OK for me to
sun have Roy a
of four, these C
C lsm<wOa
of him and I
Duke, and three out
i. skit ail that'bad
,flj *»■■■
Berry's World
® ’*•* *» •** « C- *•» ^
This appfe wasn t sprayed with afar, was it?"
5
a
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 68, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 21, 1989, newspaper, March 21, 1989; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth816102/m1/2/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.