Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 213, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 9, 1990 Page: 2 of 52
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.
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A-i—THE NEWS-TELEOfU* 4 Sulphur Springs, Ttm. Sunday. SoptemOer 9,1990
editorials
Tie your ribbon
'round anv tree
Some callers
to the Hopkms
Countv Chamber of
.op tun
Commerce have complained because this communitv ap-
pears to be mighty shy in "‘yellow ribbons" installed as a
gesture of support for the nation's men and women sent
to the Middle East. The implication is made that the
chamber should "do something about it.”
It shouldnH take the sponsorship of the chamber, or
any other organization, for Americans to show their sup-
port and thoughtfulness in this inexpensive manner.
We agree that this community hasn't displayed much in
the way of visual recognition for the quarter of a million
of our men and women suddenly Ordered overseas You
can spot a ribbon or a flag heje and there, but not in any
density. Local bank employees are now sporting varieties
of red, white and blue ribbons as reminders to their cus-
tomers.
Some towns have gone in for this patriotic display of
yellow ribbons (a sign of hope and a marker to guide the
way home) in a big” way. It began in communities near
militarv bases w hen the impact of the overseas movement
was felt in great measure. But it has spread to other towns
lacking that specific reason.
If you listen to conversations in this community, you
set the feeling that Sulphur Springs certainly supports the
U.S. militarv" buildup in Saudi Arabia and on the seas
nearby. It doesn't seem to be a case of our local citizens
not caring.
But there is always'the risk that as days turn into weeks
and weeks into months with this tension, we all may
begin to forget those who are earning the brunt of our na-
tional action and focus instead on self pity as we face
possible energy conservation or higher prices.
So. yes. it’s a good idea to take a visible action to keep
the health and fortune of our military personnel ever on
our minds. We encourage residents and businesses to take
this step. But don’t wait for an organized campaign. If
you feel Like doing it, do it.
The opinion page
Why oil is worth the fight
By William V Rasher
In its issue dated Aug 2d. The New
Yorker magazine, which has always
been, a sort of journalistic peacenik,
goes to work on President Bush s de-
ployment of U S. forces m the Middle
East CVploring the near-universal
support for Mr Bush* action, the
magazines editorial concludes as
follows.
‘The American-Iraqi War. if there
ts to be such a thing, is not about free-
dom. or, really, about deterring ag-
gression This war is a War for oil.
American soldiers are in Saudi Ara-
bia because we are a society depen-
dent on Arab oil The still, small voice
suggests that we stop and think *
By all means, let us stop and think
The New Yorker s editorial writer
dearly regards oil as a grubby and
highly unsatisfactory reason for going
to war He would be happier, at least
relatively, tf this country were to go
to war for ‘freedom.’ or to ‘deter ag-
gression’ — nice, high-sounding ob-
jectives. argnably worth somebody
else) dying for But oil *
In response, let us begin by noting
that, at this writing. America is not. tn
fact, at war On the contrary, the huge
American deployment m Saudi Ara
bia seems to have induced some salu-
tary second thoughts in Saddam
Hussein
But tn any case, exactly what is it
that usually prompts nations to go to
war ’ A lot of Americans still believe
the old propaganda myth that Japan
plunged into World War II for the
sheer sake of aggrandizement But
the real reason, oddly enough, was
that old devil oil
In 1941. the Japanese economy was
heavily dependent ias it still is) on im-
ported oil — much of it. in those days,
from the Dutch-controlled oilfields of
Indonesia In July 1941. the United
States. Britain and the Netherlands,
as a punishment for Japan s aggres-
Political tough times roll
By Robert Walters
NEW ORLEANS (NEA). - Tm a
lucky guy.’ says Charles E 'Buddy'
Roemer 111 ‘Ihave a great job 1 just
can't wait to see what’s coming
around the corner every day ‘
Not everyone would agree with that
assessment because Democrat
Roemer ts governor of Louisiana, and
“what's coming around the corner ev-
ery day* to confront him is virtually
every current public policy
controversy
Abortion rights, capital punish-
ment. flag burning, obscene song lyr-
ics. economic depression and radical
tax reform are among the issues
Roemer has dealt with during the past
2H years. Although most other gover-
nors have not faced such a disputa-
tious agenda. Roemer s work illus-
trates the complexity of the
challenges faced by public officials.
Nobody could resolve all of the
matters that have come across
Roemer $ desk in a manner that
would be universally acceptable But
in an era when denigrating politicians
is fashionable, the work of dedicated
elected leaders is too seldom appreci-
ated
Roemer is hardly perfect ‘He s got
some pretty high ideals and he’s a re-
former in the sense that he tries to do
the right thing regardless of the poli-
tics involved.' says'one veteran Dem-
ocratic activist here. ‘But he’s one of
the least effective politicians I've
seen. Many legislators don't trust
him, for example, because he goes
back on his word when dealing with
them.*
Robert
Walters
I
Cymes here argue that Roemer
didii t expect to be elected governor
when be ran in 1997 but mounted the
campaign to gam statewide name
recognition so he could make a bid for
the post he really wanted — a seat m
the U S. Senate
Some skeptics also believe that
Roemer s highly publicized recent de-
cisions on issues such as abortion
rights and song lyrics are designed to
position him as a candidate for na-
tional office He dismisses both sug-
gestions as products of unfounded
speculation
The leading capital punishment
case Roemer has resolved illustrates
the complexity of the issues many
governors face Scheduled to die in
the electric chair earlier this year
was Dalton Prejean. whose defenders
argued compellingly that the gover-
nor should commute the sentence to
imprisonment for life.
When Prejean committed the mur-
der for which he was to be electrocut-
ed. they argued, he was only 17 years
old. bad a subnormal IQ of 71 and was
brain-damaged. Moreover, he was a
black defendant convicted by an all-
white jury
But the crime was particularly hei-
nous: Prejean shot in the face and
killed a state trooper who stopped
William R
Rusher
I
sions oe the .Asian mainland, imposed
a total embargo on shipments of oil to
Japan. As Winston Churchill later ob-
served. ‘It was evident that this was a
stranglehold, and that the choice be-
fore them was either for Japan to
reach an agreement with the United
States or go to war' Remember
Pearl Harbor ’
Saddam Hussein ts not m a position
to strangle anybody so completely
Even with Kuwait under his belt, he
controls only about 29 percent of Mid-
dle Eastern oil But if he were to over-
run Saudi Arabia — and his huge ar-
mies were poisec on us border in
attack formation — he would acquire
de facto control of virtually the entire
output of the region, and with it an im-
mensely powerful role tn, world
affairs
A
Even then, the peril to the United
States would be only indirect The
New Yorker is simply wrong We are
not m fact 'a society dependent on
Arab oil * But Western Europe and
Japan most certainly are. and without
it their economies would grind to a
halt in a matter of weeks It was this
clear danger that prompted President
Bush to act so decisively
For the collapse of Western Europe
and Japan would be an absolute disas-
ter for the United States, politically.
economically and culturally We
could not possibly escape a major and
probably permanent economic
downturn
W hen Mr Bush spoke of oil as vital
to ‘our way of life.' therefore, he
meant exactly what he said It is fa/
more than a matter of ‘a few cents at
the pump.’ Not only is the modern
world heavily dependent on oil for en-
ergy. petrochemicals are the very ba-
sis of a huge variety of industries,
from pharmaceuticals to plastics.
No doubt a day will come when sub-
stitutes will relieve modern civiliza-
tion of its dependence on oil. and the
Arabs can get back on their camels .
and plod slowly off into the desert
Until then, however, oil'is as vital to
mankind as oxygen, and as much
worth fighting for.
® aso newspaper enterprise vssn
him for driving a car with a broken
tail light. Moreover, that was his sec-
ond slaying When Prejean was only
14. he fatally shot a taxi driver
After assessing the conflicting ar-
guments. Roemer allowed the execu-
tion to proceed
Equally difficult to resolve were
the conflicts presented by a pair of
bills approved by the state legislature
that would have established the na-
tion’s most restrictive state laws gov-
erning abortions. The first would have
allowed abortions only to save the life
of the mother, while the second would
have added exceptions only for rape
and incest Roemer vetoed both
That contentious issue pales in
comparison with the one Louisianans
are especially fanatic about — a
homestead tax exemption that pro-
tects the first $75,000 of the assessed
value of owner-occupied houses from
real estate levies As a result, about
85 percent of the state's homeowners
pay no property tax to local govern-
ments. In addition, one of the coun-
try’s lowest income taxes restricts
state revenues.
In the spring of 1989. Roemer
staked his personal prestige on a far-
reaching fiscal reform package that
included a drastic revision of the
homestead exemption Voters reject-
ed the ballot proposition by a decisive
55-45 margin. In the autumn of 1989.
however, the governor secured over-
whelming voter support of a scaled-
down version — and he remains com-
mitted to a major overhaul of the
state's tax structure
© 19SU NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE VSS.N
Anonymous sources risky
By Sarah Overstreet
You may have seen the story earli-
er this summer of San Antonio. Texas,
television reporter Brian Karem. who
went to jail rather than reveal a
source who spoke to him on the condi-
tion of anonymity (Karem was later
released when the source stepped for-
ward and revealed herself to
authorities.)
You may have thought Karems
stance foolish - a father with a fam-
ily to support going to jail rather than
complying with the demands of law
enforcement officials. You may have
thought Karem obstructed justice
since officials said it was crucial to
their case and the process of justice
that he reveal his source
If you took another approach, how-
ever. ami put yourself in the place of
the informant who said she feared for
her life if her identity were revealed,
you might have a different
assessment
If you had information about a
crime, but knew you could be harmed
for revealing it. probably the only
way you would tell it would be on the
condition that the person hearing it
would keep your identity a secret
You may believe that you could turn
to a member of the press and be guar-
anteed anonymity if the reporter
agreed before the telling.
Sarah
Ouerstreet
What's really at stake in Mideast?
— Reporters and their editors have
sometimes abused the use of anony-
mous sources, especially by relying
on them for too much of their infor-
mation without sufficient corrobora-
tion. But that’s another issue
The issue Karem s plight brings up
is the right of a citizen to be able to
confide information to a reporter,
who will then use it to serve the pub-
lic’s right to learn about misdeeds,
danger and a host of other subjects
criminals would just as soon we didn't
know about
If you work for a company whose
practices are endangering a commu-
nity. or if you see a crime committed,
do you have an obligation to report it?
Do you still have that obligation if by
telling it you put yourself in jeopardy
or U»e your job?
That's a question only you can an-
swer. 1 worked as an investigative re-
porter for several years, and there
were plenty of times I wished people
who came to me with secret informa-
tion were braver, yet that was an easy
judgment for me to make. I wasn't in
danger of losing anything. My only
danger was Karan's — that by honor-
ing the pact my editors and 1 made
with people who came to us asking an-
onymity. I might someday wind up in
the slammer for keeping the ethics of
ray profession
1 can only imagine the hell reporter
BUI Salisbury must have gone through
when tus editors at the St. Paul
(Minn.i Pioneer Press reneged on the
ethical promise we journalists have
lived by for generations, and revealed
a source to whom he had promised an-
onymity. The source later lost his job
because of the newspaper s revela-
tion. He sued the Pioneer Press and
another paper, which also printed his
name after guaranteeing anonymity
He was originally awarded $799,000
in damages.
Recently, however, the Minnesota
Supreme Court rerased that deci-
sion, holding that enforcing a promise
of confidentiality under a doctrine
that implies a legal contract where
none exists would violate the newspa-
pers' First Amendment rights.
So where does that leave you as a
citizen if you ever believe you have
important information to divulge and
fear harm if you do? Or me. the re-
porter who feels honor-bound to abide
by the same code of ethics that Salis-
bury and legions of reporters who
went before us have followed?
You can expect that if an editor
breaks a reporter’s promise of ano-
nymity and publishes your name, a
court somewhere may tell you ‘tough
luck ’ ?And 1 can expect that if I follow
the professional ethics that demand
that I protect a source's identity. 1
may end up in jail.
® 8M NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
Bv Jack And* nun
and Dale Van At u
WASHINGTON - George Bush.
Mill looking for the vision thing.’" has
yet to clearly enunciate the chief rea-
son why he has committed troops to
the Middle East. Bush has said he is
there to reinstate the Kuwaiti royal
family to power. But the message the
American public has heard is that our
men and women are raking their
lives to keep the supply of oil flowing
U soldiers start coming home in
body bags, either reason will sound
hollow
There is a vision behind the deploy-
ment, even if Bush doesn't see it. Sad-
dam Hussein has handed Bush the
makings of greatness
Peace was breaking out all over
the globe just a few months ago It
still is. and Bush has the opportunity
to use that spirit of global coopera-
tion in Kuwait He has a aece-in-a-
presadency chance to create a new
world order in which crises are
solved through consensus and inter-
national law which, for the first time,
a majority of aatioas are interpreting
the same way
'May's crisis like the period fol-
lowing World War II. sets in motion
forces that by their very nature, de-
put from past patterns of behavior
nr ia the Middle East It can be used
to bring the East Bloc.
. into a common cause
....... 1,,
Jack
Anderson
l
with Arabs and the West
Since the creation of Israel, there
have been five wars between. Israel
and its Arab neighbors. In each case.
Israel acquired Arab land and the
United States didn't rush in troops to
force the return of that land, as it has
with Kuwait
During the past 40 years, the plight
of the Palestinians and the Israeli oc-
cupation dominated the Middle East
The debate focused on security for Is-
rael and a homeland for the Palestin-
ians. But the Iraqi crisis changes that
It requires a new look at the keg-held
Israeli contention, once seen as self-
serving. that the real threat to stabil-
ity in the region will come from inter-
Arab fighting and not from an Arab-
Israeli conflict
America's national interests in the
region have been defined by four pri-
mary objectives The first has been to
ensure the security and survival of Is-
rael The second, has been to ensure
access to a reliable and steady supply
of relatively cheap oil. The-t^urd has
been to maintain good relations with
Arab nations and seek I peace be-
tween them and Israel The fourth
was to keep the Soviets out of the
region
The fourth is nearly obsolete, and
in fact the United States is now trying
to get the Soviets into the area with
military force since they are already
diplomatically on the ITS. side.
The second priority, cheap oil is
not anywhere ckse to becoming an
obsolete priority, but how high a price
will the United States pay in lives to
preserve access to oil?
There are many, particularly in the
White House, who are privately and
publicly saying that our highest prior-
ity is oil because it (hives the world
economy. While oil is important it
pales, in our view, before something
else that hangs in the balance of this
crisis
What is at stake in the Persian Gulf
is how the United States solves prob-
lems in the new world. The role must
be defined in a way that fosters con-
sensus. cooperation and diplomatic
solutions to arises - and resists the
temptation to become a heavy-hand-
ed world police force.
America is in uncharted territory
The absence of superpower competi-
tion throughout the Third World has
dangers as well as opportunities
When the superpowers withdraw
from many world trouble spots, the
resulting power vacuum may be
. I *
. ! :
filled by regional bullies ami dicta-
tors. Just last spring. Saddam told
Arab leaders that they should seek
their own solutions to regional prob-
lems since the Sov iets could no longer
be counted on to match the U S. pres-
ence in the Middle East Then Sad-
dam invaded Kuwait as an example
of bow* he took care of his own
problems i
In the past. U S diplomacy meant
dealing with the devil we knew —
countries headed by pro-Soviet lead-
ers who were being challenged by
pro-Western guerrillas, or the oppo-
site. U.S. allies challenged by leftist
guerrillas Today's crisis in the Per-
sian Gulf has resulted in an unpre-
dicted unity among nations of all
stripes in the United Nations Securitv
Council
It is a spirit of cooperation that
should not be sacrificed for the urge
to play Rambo The temptation to use
U.S. troops once they are fullv de-
ployed in Saudi Arabia should be
avoided
A multi-lateral approach through
the once-ridiculed United Nations has
much promise for world stability and
security, if President Bush and his al-
lies can make it work in this crisis.
That is why it is so critical to zero
in on a vision that is greater than
cheap oti or the needs of the Kuwaiti
royal familv
CtfyrtgK MR ImR Fwkvt SyateMT. tix
Berry's World
*«•
• WMfeMCA**.
When they seid we should 'sit tight* during
the Gud crisis, they didn't meen it Mteralty. ”
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 213, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 9, 1990, newspaper, September 9, 1990; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824762/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.