Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 10, 1985 Page: 4 of 30
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Page 4, October 10, 1985, Hondo Anvil Herald
Anvil Herald
Viewpoint
A page of comment and opinion
Editorial
We suspect that Mayor Andy Patterson hit the nail squarely
on the head Tuesday night when he said the members of the
Hondo City Council should recall the oath of office they took
before moving to eliminate the office of city treasurer.
As is often the case with elected officials, the suggestion went
unheeded, though Doro Hernandez did pay lip service to it.
Simply put, the oath of office settles on the council members
the responsibility to take actions in the best interests of the
public which elected them, ignoring any personal or private
sentiments.
Those in attendance Tuesday night got a lesson in irrespon
sibilitv on the part of Joey Decker, Mary Lopez and Hernandez.
Batting away Patterson's words of caution as if they were
insignificant pests buzzing around their heads, Lopez and
Decker charged ahead on a path which will surely result in
disruption and further rancor in city hall.
The only justification for eliminating the position is poor job
performance, and no one has ever accused Vickie Smith of that.
As a matter of fact, Decker said a month ago-in a public
meeting -that no one doubted her abilities. His exact quote was:
"What if we just don’t like you or your personality?"
Everyone is entitled to such an opinion, of course, but it
should have nothing whatsoever to do with decisions taken on
behalf of the public. You see, when the people elect a person to
such a position, that official has no fight to make a vote based
on a personal opinion. That official is no longer a private
person, and if one cannot operate under those guidelines, one
should get out.
It is no secret that there is no love lost between Mrs. Smith
and City Secretary Vangie Pimentel. Once again, we suspect
the cause is personality differences. Once again, that should
not play a part in any decision. What did play a part in the vote
Tuesday night, we believe, is the fact that Mary Lopez is the
first cousin of Vangie Pimentel.
The Lopez woman never availed herself of an opinion or
comment during the discussion. When Decker made the
motion, however, she wasted no time offering the second, an
unusual occurrence in view of her usual passive presence dur
ing council meetings.
As for Decker, neither is it a secret that he dislikes Police
Chief Jerry Smith. The city treasurer is Smith's wife. I )ecker
makes no secret of his dislike for Smith, and that is certainly
his prerogative. Once again, however, that should have
nothing at all do with the decisions and votes Decker makes
while sitting on behalf of the people
Hernandez rambled on at length about Mrs. Smith's sup
posed lack of enough to do. We. along with most of those at t he
meeting, didn’t really understand what Hernandez was talk
ing about- which may have made it unanimous but it certainly
wasn't sufficient cause to do away with the job itself .
Hernandez said he agreed with the notion that a viable (he
didn’t use that word) and dependable line of communication
between the cltftYewntrer and1 the council is important Then,
apparently having forgotten what he said, he voted w ith Lopez
and Decker to erase the job.
Of far moreimportanceth.an personality conflicts and opin
ions based on supposition and comments taken out of context
are those lines of communications.
The office was established in the first place as a check on the
financial operations of the city, enacted at a time when there
were some suspicious activities going on. Charged with the
responsibility of tending to the public’s money, the council
established the job to better Serve that public.
Three years later, personal dislike, familial considerations
and a short-sided, confused approach took away the protection
of the public’s best interest.
Elected officials should, indeed, honor the oath they took.
When they abrogate that oath, they should be considered
unworthy of the trust the public placed in them.--V7r Parker
Letters to the Editor
Complete the road
Editor's Note: The following
is a ropy of a letter sent to the
Medina County Commission
ers Court
Gentlemen,
We certainly appreciate your
finally doing some work on
part of our road. The work was
done quickly and it was more
than we expected done. It
turned out very nice.
The only thing we can’t
understand is, while the men
and equipment were there,
why the rest of the road was
not done at the same time.
The six-month period was
up in August. The road was to
be opened by that time. All we
ask is that the gaps be
removed and the road clean'd
for driving. This is a simple
request and to which you
agreed hack in March.
Since the completion of the
road was not done, now it will
take another trip for the men
and equipment, taking up
more expense in travel and
work.
This could have been avoided
if the entire road was done at
the same time. This road
should not be blocked.
We expect our elected offi-
cials to do as they agree to. We
expect the road to he com-
pleted within JO days.
Sincerely,
Richard W. Gordon
Hondo
Library board not at fault
Dear Editor,
The Hondo Library Board
is being accused unjustly. The
delay in the library building is
due to litigation with the
contractor.
Some inferior work was
done by the contractor with
architect Jesse Fernandez
bringing these defects to our
attention, and after several
talks with the contractor, to
no avail, the city attorney was
brought in to pursue the issue.
We are doing all we can to
get work started and com-
pleted. I apologize for the
delay. No one feels worse
about this than I do.
Even self-righteous, self-
appointed, self-annointed Mr.
Sarge Ney could do no better
legally.
Sincerely,
A D. Patterson
Mayor, Hondo
STATE CAPITAL
M.I6HTS
By Lyndel! William*
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
• i
Amendments
on the ballot
\ustin As Election Day
nears. Texas Land *b>m
inissioner Garry Mauro is
stumping the stale asking
voters to pass not one but
three proposed constitutional
amendments.
Mauro wants votersjto D'
continue the Texas Veterans
Housing Assistance Pro-
gram, 2) establish the I'exas
Farm and Ranch Finance
Program, and J) facilitate the
management of public lands.
The Legislature pr<fposed
all three programs last
spring, but Texas voters must
give final approval on a total
of 14 proposed amendments.
Since the Legislature gave
the nod to Mauro for three of
the 14, he has been criss-
crossing the state speaking at
public hearings.
He and other supporters
have also rounded up impres-
sive endorsements from the
community and business
sectors.
Veterans Housing
Program
Proposition Eight extends
the Veterans Housing Assist
ante Program bv providing
$b(lO million in bonding
authority, enough to make
several thousand partial
home loans to veterans.
The program, first enacted
in 19K.( to accommodate mod-
ern veterans, many who live
in urban areas, was modeled
after the highly successful
Veterans Land Program.
The Legislature and voters
provided $500 million in bond-
ing authority then, and the
popular program has used
most of it to make 22,000
loans.
Mauro’s point is it doesn't
cost taxpayers, and besides
providing a benefit to vete-
rans, the program pumps mil-
lions into local economies and
industries.
Because of the economic
impact, not only veterans but
realtors and several other
homebuilding industry and
civic groups are backing this
amendment.
Farm, Ranch Program
Last spring the Legislature
passed this new program,
now Proposition lOon the bal-
lot, which would provide sim-
ilar loans to farmers and
ranchers.
The goal is to pump new
vitality into the agriculture
industry, just as the veteran
loan programs boosted the
homebuilding economy.
And like the vet programs,
this would use $500 million
bonding authority. Not tax
money, to provide the original
loan money. Several farm and
ranch groups endorse this
amendment.
Asset Management
One of the more innovative
measures to quietly emerge
from the last legislative ses-
sion was a program to stream-
line the way the state man-
ages its various public lands
and assets.
One example is the Legisla-
ture’s discovery that, in many
instances, urban growth has
raised the commercial value
of once-rural state land higher
than is necessary to serve the
needs of state agencies.
The program was entrusted
to Mauro, ub land commis
sioner, to boost revenues from
asset management of all state
agency lands instead of tax
increases.
Governor to Japan
Governor Mark White was
set last week to go to Japan to
persuade Toyota Motor Co. to
pick Texas as the site for its
new major production plant.
The American plant would
create some 2,000 new jobs,
and the five top sites in Texas
are El Paso, Houston, San
Antonio, Fort Worth and the
Marshall-Longview area.
Meanwhile, a top White
aide predicted that Peggy
Rosson, the "housewife" that
White picked to serve on the
Public Utilities commission,
would be elected as panel
chairman.
Sesquicentennial Funds
To help celebrate Texas’
150th birthday next year, the
state asked 40 large Texas
corporations to contribute
$400,000, or $16 million total,
but the donations received are
much smaller, only $1.5
million.
As a result, the scope of the
year-long celebration will
have to be trimmed.
Planners hope to attract
out-of-state tourists here to
spend $1.5 billion over normal
tourism revenues. ,
Old
Philosopher
Foreign
banking
Dear Editor,
I don’t know anything
about South Africa except
that there appears to be a
good market there for whips,
but I did learn something
about its government’s head
banker the other day.
The South African govern
ment has a debt crisis, which
in itself is not unheard-of
among governments of the
world. Isn’t that right,
Washington? London? Paris?
Rome? Etc.?
But the head of the South
African government’s central
bank has come up with a new
idea for placing the blame for
the debt crisis and what to do
about it.
He says the crisis can be
blamed on a bunch of banks
in the United States because
they refused to renew some
loans now due. Therefore he
has ordered his government
to stop paying on any and all
of its loans, which come to
over 12 billion dollars. Can't
be using money to pay your
debts when you need it to buy
whips.
This is a new principle in
international banking, but it
may come too late for many
big city U S. banks. They've
already loaned big money to
nearly every country in the
world willing to promise to
pay a higher interest rate
than the banks could get at
home.
So many foreign countries
are in hock to big-city U.S.
banks you get the impression
the bigger the bank the more
incompetent the banker.
I’ll bet you won’t find ahy
banks around here making
loans to foreign countries.
By the way, would you say
that South African banker is
trying to whip American
banks into line? If it works on
kids, why not on bankers?
Yours faithfullv.
J.A.
Hondo Anvil
Herald
Published <11601 Av«nu« K, Hondo
Medina County. Tan 76861
Entarad at (he Hondo Poal Ofllca
as Second data Mall
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Published every Thursday In Hondo, Tes
by Associated Tesas Newspapers. Inc.
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Vic Parker. Publisher
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DEADLINES
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The Cesfrovlffe Anvil, Est. 1886
The Hondo NaraM Est. 1891
Consolldated-Oct. 17.1903
The LaCoala Ledger Eel. 1918
Consolidated" June 1,1961
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Proctor, Frances Reitzer. Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 99, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 10, 1985, newspaper, October 10, 1985; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth818067/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hondo Public Library.