Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 14, 1995 Page: 4 of 38
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Page 4, The Hondo Anvil Herald, Thursday, December 14,1995
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One of the good things about going to newspaper conventions is that
you get to meet others who have the same problems and who
sometimes give you a good idea about how they solved them in their
town. And, then there are those who are simply good conversational-
ists, fun to be with, and well respected by all who know them.
Gene Dow, who publishes the newspaper in Seminole, Texas, is one
of my friends, and he has written a column which expresses the
feelings of most publishers very well. It has been picked up, borrowed,
or otherwise appropriated by weeklies all across the United States, and
recently appeared in the National Newspaper Association's publica-
tion. I called his office and got permission to use it in Hondo, and here
it is. I recommend it, and believe he says it well.
'Don't take your home newspaper for granted'
By Gene Dow
Distinctly different from the larger daily newspapers, the small daily
and weekly newspapers remain the single source of information which
is available nowhere else.
If you're lucky, you might find a single story in an area daily
newspaper about our hometown, and chances are that it will be about
a tragedy or other bad news, controversy or very unusual event.
But every issue of your community newspaper is chocked full of
local news, photos and special features. Community newspapers run
the whole gauntlet of events and happenings in the community. They
stress the strengths of the past, school activities, scouting, 4-H, church,
features about neighbors, governmental meetings, engagements,
marriages. Even obituaries are not taken lightly.
Special events, parades, < miversaries, sporting events and the like
are the fabric of community life.
Newspapers are the opportunity of the moment, the local merchant's
best and most economical way to reach people closest to his market.
Community newspapers are the unofficial scrapbook fillers of
families, the carrier of glad tidings to parents, grandparents and
friends.
If that's not enough, these community newspapers help create a
sense of community, where good things happen and people know their
efforts will be recognized and regarded.
Don’t take your hometown newspaper for granted. It is the only
publication that cares about your community.
Its personal relationship with the community extends into every
facet of leadership, involvement, encouragement and monetary sup-
port of those things that are best for the hometown.
The business community and the readership in general is on a first-
name basis with your local newspaper. We hope it may always be that
way.
The local newspaper cares about your hometown. We reiterate - it
is the only publication that give a hoot about Seminole (Hondo) and
Gaines (Medina) County.
Likely you have some reasons why you prefer to live in a small town.
Here are a few other reasons:
- The only place where people past middle age are called by their
first names.
- Where you don't have to guess who your enemies are. Your friends
wifi tell you.
- Nvhere everybody knows everybody else's car by sight, and also
where and when it goes.
- Where there's nothing to do, but there aren't enough nights in the
week to make all the functions. ,»
- Where everyone becomes a: neighbor when there is a need.
- Where young people say there is nothing to do and then are surprised
when they learn kids in the big city are saying the same thing.
- Where businessmen dig deep many times to help with countless
fund-raising projects.
- Where the traffic jam ends when the light turns green.
- Where, when all is said and! done, it's a pretty good place to live.
WEEKLY REPORT
Congressman
Henry Bonilla
23rd District. Texas
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Conducting team offers appreciation
Dear Editor:
On behalf of the Hondo FFA Senior
Chapter Conducting Team, we would
like to thank all the great people who
came out to congratulate us on our
fantastic win Saturday night.
We would like express a sincere
appreciation to our parents for being
so supportive over the past four
months. The police department de-
serves a big thanks for making our
arrival back to town so well-knowre
and memorable for the team.
An extra special thanks goes out tec
the best ag teacher in the State o£
Texas, Mr. Rodger Welch. We could:
never have done it with him. We loveC
them all. :
Abby, Christie, Jen '
Shannon, Kevin, Craig,:.
Cody, Kristy & Becky
State .4 Capital
HIGHLIGHTS
By Lyndell Williams & Ed Sterling
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
Is it extreme, to want a balanced budget?
This week, Congress is continuing gress wants to take away the safety net
to work to balance the budget in seven
years. Seventeen days after he agreed
to a seven-year balanced budget, the
President finally submitted his own
budget plan so we could see where his
priorities lie. Unfortunately, the Pres-
ident continues to make unrealistic
assumptions that will leave the budget
$400 billion in the red in seven years.
No matter how much he tries to dress
it up, $400 billion in deficit spending
will QQt produce a balanced budget.
How.do the big spenders address
the need to balance the budget? By
avoiding the debate and calling fiscal
conservatives "extremists." So I
guess you and I are "extremists." If I
had a nickel for every time I've heard
that word in recent months, I could
make a dent in the deficit.
Along with calling us "extremists"
and "mean-spirited," the campaign
uses several falsehoods.
You may hear that Congress is
"cutting" Medicare. The truth is that
Congress increases Medicare spend-
ing 6.4% every year over the next
seven years while ensuring its sol-
vency. The White House claims that
Congress wants to raise Medicare
premiums. The truth is that the
monthly Medicare premium pro-
posed by Congress is only $4 more
per month than what President Clin-
ton proposed last year.
On welfare, the liberals say Con-
fer the poor. Our budget plan transfers
federal funding of welfare to the states
for implementations and places limits
on the amount of time an individual
can be on welfare.
My personal favorite is that Con-
gress is cutting (welfare, school
lunches, student loans-insert any
government program here) to fund
"tax cuts for the rich." The truth is that
our budget calls for a $500-per-child
tax credit that benefits middle-class
families. In fact, about three-fourths
of the child tax credit helps families
making less than $75,000 per year.
The newest charge in the big lie
campaign is that the Republican
Congress is going to cut Social Secu-
rity. That could not be further from the
truth. Our budget plan makes no
changes in Social Security.
The question is, why do these big-
govemment lovers attack us as "ex-
tremists?" Because bringing common
sense to government threatens them.
Because allowing citizens to control
their lives takes away Washington's
power. Because streamlining and
cutting government waste gets rid of
the huge bureaucracies they have
worked for decades to build.
If it's "extreme" to want to balance
the budget so our children and grand-
children have a shot at the American
dream, then I'll wear that lab^l as a
badge of honor. *
AUSTIN — Texas motorists
should continue to heed the posted
speed limit, although President
Clinton has signed into law a bill
that repeals the national maximum
speed limit.
The Texas Department of Trans-
portation and the Department of
Public Safety jointly announced
that new speed-limit signs are not
expected to start going up on Texas
highways until mid-December.
“The best advice for motorists is
to abide by the posted speed limit,”
said Maj. E.C. Sherman of the DPS
Traffic Law Enforcement Division.
“Some areas will stay 55 mph, so
motorists should not assume the
speed limit is any higher than the
posted limit.”
Bill Burnett, executive director
of the Department of Transporta-
tion, said the agency has antici-
pated the maximum national speed
limit would be lifted.
But the law allows the Texas
Transportation Commission to set
speed limits lower than 70 mph
“if the lower speed is justified by
engineering and traffic studies for
particular sections of highway,” he
added.
Engineers with the Department
of Transportation have been review-
ing the 77,000-mile state highway
system since September to deter-
mine appropriate speeds.
The study is divided into four
phases: interstate and divided high-
ways, undivided highways of four
lanes or more, all other highways
on the state and U.S. systems, and
all other farm-to-market and ranch-
to-market roads. Results of the first
phase indicate the Transportation
Department cannot justify a speed
limit lower than 70 mph on the ma-
jority of rural interstate and divided
highways — which make up about
10 percent of the total highway sys-
tem in Texas but carry more than
60 percent of the traffic.
Academic Ratings Upgraded
Texas public schools will be held
to higher performance standards
under the newly revised Public
School Accountability System for
1996 to the year 2000, the Tfcxas
Education Agency announced early
this month.
Mandated by the Texas Legisla-
ture in 1993 as a method of rat-
ing school districts and campuses,
the new four-tiered rating system
is based on students’ scores in
the Texas Assessment of Academic
Skills (TAAS) exam given to pupils
in grades 3 through 8 and 10, and
dropout rates and attendance rates.
In 1996, districts and campuses
will also be acknowledged for high
performance on college admission
tests.
School districts are rated exem-
plary, recognized, academically ac-
ceptable and academically unac-
ceptable. Campuses are rated ex-
emplary, recognized, acceptable or
low-performing.
“Although in many ways, the
system remains unchanged for
the past years, some performance
standards will be substantially
increased by the turn of the
century. The system expects high
performance from all groups of
students,” said Texas Education
Commissioner Mike Moses.
In 1995, for example, a dis-
trict or campus was rated academi-
cally unacceptable/low performing
if less than 25 percent of its total
students or student groups (African
American, Hispanic, white or eco-
nomically disadvantaged) passed
the reading, writing and math sec-
tions of the TAAS exam.
Now the bar is being raised. In
1996, districts or campuses will
be rated academically unaccept-
ablc/low performing if the TAAS
passing rate for all students or any
of the four student groups is be-
low 30 percent. And, by the year
2000, any district or campus that
has less than a 50 percent TAAS
passing rate will receive the lowest
rating.
National Forum Set in Austin
Organizers of the National Issues
Convention, Jan. 18-21 in Austin,
arc calling the event “an unprece-
dented experiment in the American
Democratic process. ”
It is hoped the convention will
draw many of the 1996 presidential
candidates. Only U.S. Sen. Robert
Dole, R-Kan., has said he would
not attend.
Creator of the convention is
James Fishkin, chairman of the
government department at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin. Fishkin
said he is confident most of the
candidates would come, and if they
do not, they would be replaced by
other political figures.
About 75 percent of the 600
people asked to be delegates have
accepted invitations, Fishkin said.
Bell to Refund Customers
Southwestern Bell Tblephone Co.
is to share $19.4 million with cus-
tomers as a final payment under a
four-year regulatory plan that gov-
erned its rates and earnings before
the state’s new telecommunications
law took effect Sept. 1.
In a report filed with the Public
Utility Commission, Southwestern
Bell agreed to a one-time credit that
customers may see on their billing
statement as early as March. Cred-
its will be $1.36 per residential line
and $2.99 for a business line.
If approved, the refund will
bring the five-year total of refunds
to $172 million.
CAPITOL
COMMENT
7
U.S. SENATOR
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON
THE BUREAUCRAT
A long with many Americans, I have serious reserva
/\ tions about the Clinton administration’s commit
Jl \.ment of United States troops to a peacekeeping
force in the former Yugoslavia.
I am not yet convinced that direct, on-the-ground inter-
vention in the Balkans is in the best interests of the United
Slates, in the best interests of NATO, or even in the long-
term best interests of the parties to the Balkan conflict.
The President is our commander-in-chief. But, given
its constitutional role, it is Congress that must make the
final decision on the long-term commitment of U.S. forces,
and it is Congress that is ultimately responsible for the lives
put at risk. We must decide if this situation is truly a threat
to U.S. national security that warrants the shedding of
American blood. In my opinion, it does not.
The United States does have a positive role to play in
ending this long and painful conflict. But there are many
options open to us — many ways to be of help — short of
deploying 20,000 U.S. troops (one-third of the entire
NATO peacekeeping force) into Bosnia. We should have
some other options on the table as well, such as continuing
to provide air support to NATO European forces, provid-
ing intelligence and supplying strategic planning. A paral-
lel option would be to take on the task ot arming and
training the Bosnian Muslims to defend themselves in
order to create a level playing field — a balance of powers
— in the region. Nor do I think that, if this is a real peace,
it matters what the nationality of the peacekeepers is.
One justification we’ve heard for our intervention in
the Balkans is to “preserve American leadership in NATO."
This is an inside-the-Beltway assertion. Outside of Wash-
ington, the American people are anything but eager to see
American troops placed in harm’s way in order to sustain
American leadership of NATO. I don’t buy that argument,
either.
One of my primary objections to this plan is that
Balkan intervention is well outside N ATO’s charter. NATO
is a mutual defense pact, not a mechanism to control civil
wars on its periphery. This is not part of our NATO
commitment. I fear that a mission so far removed from
NATO’s original charter would, in fact, endanger Ameri-
can support for the alliance rather than strengthen it.
This is not to say we should not stay closely involved
in the search for peace in the former Yugoslavia, and in
Europe as a whole. But it will serve no useful purpose to
deal with the situation in the former Yugoslavia as an
isolated incident, apart from what is going on in the rest of
Europe. We must realize we are setting a precedent for
involvement, and ask ourselves if we are willing to send
Americans to act as guarantors of peace in regions where it
has not been demonstrated that the parties are committed to
settling disputes by peaceful means.
We have spent billions intervening in civil conflicts in
Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia — dissipating U.S. defense
resources — and the success of these missions has been
dubious. President Clinton is weakening our defense readi-
ness by involving the United States in missions that do not
threaten U.S. security, and weakening our ability to re-
spond when there is such a threat.
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Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 109, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 14, 1995, newspaper, December 14, 1995; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth818624/m1/4/: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hondo Public Library.