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By
JIM STREET Ed
& Pub Have you seen
the latest? A car company brags that it now offers on its cars a “pedestrian
detection system” to keep you from running over a pedestrian. I have one on
my car. It’s called a windshield. A beer company
has a can that changes color so you’ll know when it’s cold. And a razor
company has a blade that changes color so you’ll know when it’s getting dull.
You can’t
possibly feel the can to see if the beer is cold or tell when the blade is pulling
rather than cutting your beard. OPINION Is personal
responsibility gone forever? Now that the
New Year is here, how about a resolution that from this day forward we will
resolve to take care of ourselves and take personal responsibility for our
lives. The entire US
debate over “reform” of health care, our refusal to get involved in a serious
effort toward liberty in Iran and our backing of the wrong side in Honduras
are all symptoms of our apparent love of socialism and letting government
control our lives, as are the “stimulus” bill, sub-prime lending, Cap and
Tax, deficit financing and so many other insane Liberal programs. They are
driven by the idiotic notion by those on the left that only government is
smart enough to know what is good for us and only government can provide it.
And our government is moving inexorably in that direction. It is that
philosophy that drives the health care reform platform. People want
government to pay for their health care so they don’t have to. It is that
philosophy that drives the mullah’s of Iran to oppose any movement toward
freedom. They think they know better than their subjects what is best for
them. And it is the same
belief that drives the Marxists of Latin America to think Manuel Zelaya was
right to break the Honduran Constitution and install himself as “president
for life.” But do we have
to agree with them? For the good
people of Honduras to want to control their own government is unthinkable to
those on the left. So concerned
were they with the history of the region that they wrote into their
constitution a clause making it illegal of even suggest changes to the term
limits for the president. Zelaya did and he was legally deposed. I said
“legally,” Mr. Obama. And Mr. Chavez. For decades,
many Latin American countries had suffered through a succession of coups,
each one replacing a tyrannical ruler into another even more tyrannical. They wanted
freedom and they wanted democracy, thus their constitution. I listened to
another ad one day that said its car can wake you up if you doze off at the
wheel, correct you if you “drift” out of your lane and even put on the brakes
if you become “distracted.” The next day,
I was driving along State Highway 349 when a buzzard flew right toward my windshield.
Nothing was coming so I swerved into the next lane and missed the bird. But if I had
been driving that car, it would have sensed I was “drifting” out of my lane
and made me stay where I was. I would have been digging a dead buzzard out of
a smashed windshield. Worse, what
happens if you are driving on a busy freeway and your cell phone rings? Will
your wonderful car decide you are “distracted” and slam on the brakes? Defensive
driving advocates suggest the safest following distance is at least two
seconds. When the car ahead of you passes over a crack or something, count
one thousand one, one thousand two and you should say “two” before you cross
the crack. But on most
urban freeways today, there will be four or five cars within that two-second
interval behind you. If you had that
car, you would suddenly have four or five cars – or worse – in your back
seat. They would not be able to stop in time. Pilots have
long complained that, while some are effective, all the new “bells and
whistles” in the cockpit aimed at preventing accidents also serve to dull
their seat-of-the-pants flying skills. Is the same
thing happening to the family car? Along those
same lines, my car key will only unlock the car from the left front door and,
when I drive about a block, all doors automatically lock. What’s even
more perplexing is a button that prevents me from taking the key out of the
ignition switch unless I press that button. What’s that
for? A car-thief protection system? How can a car thief take your car if you
don’t leave the key in the switch? In the “old
days,” you would get to decide if you wanted to keep your keys or lock the
car doors. Or if you wanted to swerve into the next lane. We have gotten
ourselves into a regime in which “Big Brother” has to make all our decisions
for us. We’re not smart enough to make our own decisions, too many people believe. This is
certainly what drives the health care debate, among others. We aren’t
smart enough to figure out how to pay a doctor to make us feel better. We have to
have “insurance” or government to take care of us. What’s next? That’s too
scary to contemplate. Nieves Alberto “Albert” Peña Peña,
who operated the “Arroyo Grande Cantina,” which is now known as “Cantina El
Gavilan,” also worked as a truck driver and, at the time of his death, worked
in maintenance and drove a school bus for Terrell County Independent School
District. The
1976 Sanderson High School graduate enjoyed traveling with school sports
teams, the band and for other events. Peña
was born in Sanderson on June 26, 1957, to Rodolfo Rivas Peña and Consuelo D.
Carroll Duarte. He
was preceded in death by his father and grandparents, Josepha and Nieves
Duarte. Survivors
include his mother; one brother, Emilio “Blue” Martinez, Jr., of Sanderson;
four sisters, Rosalinda Garcia of Wichita Falls, Susan Duarte of Sanderson,
Marilyn Chambers of Houston and Diane and Russell Woods of Richmond, and numerous
nieces and nephews. Road ‘not a
problem’ To the Editor, I am writing
in response to an article in the Dec. 18 Terrell County News Leader in which
County Attorney Marsha Monroe was quoted as saying “great progress” had been
made on the settlement of the Independence Creek crossing. “This will not
be a major problem for the county in the future if we are successful,” she
said. This comment
deserves a reply. The creek crossing has never in its long history been a
major problem, actually not even a minor one, for Terrell County. It is an
issue fabricated by our county officials under the ruse of saving
taxpayer’s money. Before going
any farther, let me clarify that it is not the burden of keeping the road and
crossing in good repair that we oppose but the loss of the status of a county
road that will most adversely affect the concerned landowners. If the county
abandons the road or any part of it, we face a nightmare of easements and
restrictions, loss of control and devaluation of property. This whole
“problem” is a slap in the face to my family, who settled in Terrell County
in 1900. That adds up
to 110 years of contributing to the county in exchange for no services other
than road maintenance. When we or our
neighbors have experienced brush fires, Pecos County services have been
called upon. When there is a medical
emergency, Pecos County is called. The point is
that we are 70 miles from Sanderson, the county seat, and cannot depend on
any help in case of emergency from the county in which we live due to
distance. Neither do we
receive other amenities such as water or sewer from the county, which is
understandable. Therefore, the
road upkeep and occasional crossing repair are our only services from the
county. (Obviously, we don’t have much heavy rainfall in our area.) In regard to
the cost of repair of the crossing, the inflated figures provided by Road
Superintendent Mike Sanchez to Judge Leo Smith are a very long way from
reality. Mr. Sanchez
said that he had been instructed to figure the cost as if the county were
paying for commercial equipment – which it is not – and as if county
employees were not paid by the hour regardless of the location, whether they
are working on the crossing or on the remaining 70 miles of country road, an
incredibly small number in one of the largest counties in Texas When I asked
Judge Smith during a hearing last year – one of many – if there had been any
complaints from taxpayers concerning the crossing, he told me I would have to
ask “our newspaperman.” Why should I have to ask Mr. Street? I wonder why the Judge could not have
replied, “No, there have been no complaints.
We stirred up this trouble right here in this courthouse.” In the
meantime, a stream of money is flowing out of Terrell County. It seems the
Commissioner’s Court rarely meets unless it votes to hire attorneys,
engineers, consultants, architects or surveyors for one study or
another. We should not
criticize the federal government for unnecessary spending as we have a fair
sample of it right here in our own backyard. On the subject
of money, my family, the Rode and
Corgill families and representatives of the Texas Nature Conservancy, which
has an easement on the crossing, have gone to expense, time, effort and
travel in an attempt to work this out in a civil and fair manner, but to no
avail. Our
commissioner Kenn Norris has said, “We need to move forward. There will come a time when we need to do
something.” I must admit I
don’t understand this comment. We have only moved backward on this issue,
where there was never a problem to begin with. Charlena Chandler Dryden The Little
Chair Last week, a
church brought me some little chairs and tables that they did not need anymore.
I put one by
my front door for my grandchildren to sit on while they are visiting. As I looked at
that little empty chair, it saddened my heart because I realized there are so
many little vacant chairs in our churches today. One reason is
that mommy and daddy do not take their children to Sunday school or church. That could
lead to many of those little children never coming to know God personally
and, when they die, they will not enter Heaven (Luke 13:3, Romans 10:14.) What does the
Bible say about children and God? First, Chil-dren are a special gift from
God (Psalm 127:3.) Children will not learn about God on their own and parents
are given the responsibility and privilege of teaching their children about
God (Deuteronomy 4:10, Ephesians 6:4.) This starts
first in the home and then continues at a local church (Deuteronomy 6:7.) The knowledge
of God, The Bible, is to be handed down from one generation to the next
(Psalm 78:4 and 5.) There is a
promise in the Bible that if we will live the Christian life that it will go
well for us and our children (Deuteronomy 4:40.) If we do our
part, maybe there will not be so many little empty chairs at the church. See you in
Church next Sunday. Brother J Twenty Years
of Stargazer With this
column, Stargazer, first published in January 1990, is 20 years old. And
there's more than one irony associated with its existence. Back in 1958,
had anyone predicted to my University of Texas freshman English instructor
that her immature 18-year-old student would become a published writer, she
would have laughed while marking another "D" on yet one more of my
weekly 500-word themes. And not only
did I have poor writing skills, but I had to struggle to come up with 500
words on the topics we were assigned. Now, I
struggle to keep my every-other-week column down to the 500-word range. For reasons I
still can't fathom, amateur astronomy is a hobby dominated by males, yet
three women are largely responsible for helping me launch Stargazer. In 1954, as a
14-year-old growing up on the banks of Galveston Bay, it was 81-year-old
Margaret Willits who lit the stargazing flame in me. I was amazed
as she pointed out stars and told me their names, outlined constellations and
knew which "stars" were really planets. She described
seeing Haley's Comet in 1910 and told me some day I could see it for myself –
a day that came in 1986. Years later,
in late 1989, I came up with the idea of a column, drafted four pilots and
submitted them to the Waco Tribune-Herald, my hometown newspaper. In her
rejection letter, then-Managing Editor Barbara Elmore offered some helpful
critique and invited me to resubmit if I cared to. Disappointed
but also encouraged, I asked journalist friend Becky Gregory, now the Trib's
managing editor, to give my pilots a no-holds-barred assessment – and, boy,
did she ever. Her multi-page
response, akin to a Journalism 101 crash course, was incredibly helpful. I
rewrote and resubmitted the pilots and the Stargazer column was born. In 1998 I
retired from my career as social worker and college professor and began devoting
more time to my amateur astronomy passion. In 2002, I
began offering Stargazer to other newspapers and it now appears in some 65
papers in five states. The free email
version of the column goes out to 200 people in 21 states and seven countries
and is archived on my Web site. As I approach
my 70th birthday still loving the stars, I anticipate many more Stargazers
and I welcome your letters and e-mails with comments and questions. I answer every
one.
Monday
morning, January 11, a thin crescent Moon nearly grazes the star Antares low
in the southeast before dawn. Wednesday
morning, January 13, a thinner crescent Moon is to the lower right of Mercury
near the east southeast horizon as dawn breaks. Binoculars will help. Friday,
January 15, the new Moon produces an annular eclipse of Sun which,
unfortunately, won't be visible over the US. Sunday
evening, January 17, the crescent Moon is to the lower right of Jupiter low
in the west at dusk and the following night is above the planet. Saturday,
January 13, the Moon is at first quarter. Wednesday,
January 27, Mars passes closest to Earth in its orbit, at 62 million miles,
although this is not one of its closer approaches. Friday,
January 29, Mars reaches opposition – on the opposite side of Earth from the
Sun – when it rises at sunset, is up all night and sets at sunrise. Although
it is much brighter than usual, a bright Moon steals the Red Planet's thunder
as it closely follows it across the sky all night.
Evenings,
Jupiter is setting in the western sky as Mars is rises in the eastern sky. Mornings,
Mercury, very low in the east, is at its best Jan. 27. Saturn is high in the
south. Mars is in the west. Venus is now in the Sun. Stargazer appears every other week, space
permitting. Paul Derrick is an amateur astronomer who lives in Waco. Contact
him at 918 N. 30th, Waco, 76707, (254) 753-6920 or paulderrickwaco@aol.com.
See the Stargazer Web site at stargazerpaul.com. A crow makes
an unusual pet By
TUMBLEWEED SMITH Butch Ragsdale
has lived in Seminole all his life. He retired from selling oil field parts,
got restless and started the Seminole Trade Days, which attracts more than
100 vendors and tons of shoppers from a large area the third weekend of every
month. Butch had a
great time growing up in Seminole. He said he wasn’t much of an athlete but
sure had a good time chasing the girls.
“We just got
in our cars and had a special drag we made, going from one drive in to another,”
he said. “You don’t really go anywhere, just in a circle. “Everybody
hollers at each other,” Butch said. “That was just the way it was in most
small towns.” For
diversions, Butch hunted jackrabbits. “We’d get out
in the pasture and start walking, shooting jackrabbits,” he said. “There was
a bounty on the ears back then. I think it was five cents an ear. That was
back when a nickel would almost get you in a picture show.” When Butch was
12 years old, he acquired a pet crow. “My brother,
sister and I were out in the back yard one time and we saw these kids coming
down the alley with a pet crow,” Butch said. “We went over there and one of
those kids had that crow on his shoulder.
“We asked them
where they got that crow and they said ‘out in the country,’” he said. Butch and his
siblings ran in the house and asked their dad to take them out in the
country, that they were going to catch a crow. Butch said in
later years, if his kids asked him to take them out to the country to catch a
crow, he would just laugh at them. But
his dad said nothing and just loaded the kids in the car to go hunt for a
crow. “We went about
five miles out on the “We jumped out
of the car and ran up the hill and all the crows flew except one,” he said.
“There was one young crow in the bunch and he could barely fly from tree to
tree. We caught that crow, took it to
the car and told Dad, ‘let’s go.’” They kept the
crow a couple of years. “He lived
outside of the house,” Butch said. “Every once in a while he’d fly in the
house and my mother would chase it out with a broom. “The crow was
never caged up,” he said. “He just kinda hung around a barn behind the
house. “We’d walk out
the back door and he’d see you coming and here he’d come and land on your arm
or shoulder,” he said. “He loved light
bread. “I think that
was his favorite food,” Butch said. “He loved shiny things. We’d be working on a car and he’d pick up
parts and hide them. “We’d have to
bait him with another part so we could go find out where he hid them,” he
said. “He was a lot of company for us.” |
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