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By
JIM STREET Ed
& Pub The guy who
“broke” the filibuster against the Healthcare bill has already broken ranks
with his new Republican partners in the US Senate and voted to advance a jobs
bill. Scott Brown of
Massachusetts and four other Republicans voted against “cloture” this week
because they said jobs were important. At “only” $35
billion, the bill is tiny compared with last year’s Stimulus bill but many
are calling it the same thing. It does provide some tax relief for employers
but a lot of it goes for more government spending to “create” jobs. Clearly, the
best way to “create” jobs is to reduce taxes so the private sector can
produce meaningful jobs but, for the most part, that’s not the way they are
going about it. OPINION A private
sector job creates wealth by providing a product or service and paying people
to provide it. But nobody in the private sector can create much of anything
these days with the uncertainty that exists over the issue of “healthcare
reform,” runaway deficits and more government control and regulation. A government
job simply takes money from one tax payer and gives it to another to perform
“make-work” jobs that don’t create anything. Except more
debt. But if the
government is serious about creating jobs by using tax funds, there could be
no better way to go about it than a good defense program. Or space. But they
are cutting back on those, the very things that could provide good jobs for
people to create something useful. While never
spending more than about four percent of our national budget, we have gone to
the Moon six times, helped build the International Space Station and
conducted worthwhile exploration of our newest frontier. Those programs
also provided a plethora of spinoff benefits by testing new concepts. Now the Obama
administration wants to cancel the Constellation program that would return humans
to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. And we are
clearly entering into a new phase of defense reductions. Will we never
learn? The see-saw
game of defense spending has been going on forever, it seems. We create new
weapons systems to counter a perceived threat but, as soon as the other side
smiles at us, we cancel the defense program. The New York
Times reported recently that the latest multi-service fighter plane was in
trouble. Initially
known as the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35 was designed as a fighter plane
for the Air Force, a carrier-based fighter for the Navy and a V/STOL (for
vertical/short takeoff and landing) fighter for the Marines. “The Joint
Strike Fighter was supposed to be the program that broke the mold, proof that
the Pentagon could build something affordable, dependable and without much
drama,” the Times wrote. “But rather
than being the Chevrolet of the skies, as it was once billed, the fighter
plane, also called the F-35, has turned into the Pentagon’s biggest
budget-buster,” the story said. “And with worries growing that the rise in
costs could overwhelm other programs, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates fired
the general in charge this week and said he would withhold $614 million in
fees from the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin.” Gates
cancelled the more-sophisticated F-22 earlier because the F-35 was in the
wings, no pun intended, to take over that mission. We have played
this game for years. We would come up with plans for a new weapons system,
manufacturers would turn in bids and they would be awarded to the “lowest and
best” bid. Then the
customer – in this case, the Pentagon – would start hanging all sorts of
extra capabilities on it and then complain of cost overruns. We also would spend literally billions on a
prototype and then cancel it because it “cost too much.” We ought to
have a program that keeps us safe from outside threats at all times. Not just
when someone rattles his sabers – or missiles – at us. Being strong
militarily does not, repeat not, mean we will start a war. It’s exactly the
opposite. The Convair
B-36 Peacemaker intercontinental bomber kept the enemy from our shores when
it never fired a shot in anger. No one would dare send weapons our way
knowing we had the capability to drop a bomb on his head no matter where in
the world he lived. President
Reagan ended the Cold War by beefing up the military and suggesting a
Strategic Defense Initiative, pejoratively referred to as “Star Wars.” The Soviet
Union knew it would bankrupt them trying to counter SDI, even though we
hadn‘t figured out how to build the thing. A strong
national defense is a primary function of government. And without it,
anything else we propose is meaningless. How can we
have prosperity – or anything else – if we can’t defend ourselves? Making the
Olympics It is a great
honor to be able to compete in the Olympics. I have been able to watch some
of the Winter Olympic and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Not every one,
or very few, make it to the final competition. Every country has a little
different way of selecting who will represent them. Usually, the
people have proven themselves in the particular field or event. It takes many
hours of training and sacrifice and discipline to be among those chosen. In my opinion,
those who have worked hard enough or good enough to make it to the Olympics
should be proud and consider themselves a winner. Watching those
events reminds me of something in the Bible. Anyone who has
accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior is on God’s team (John
1:12.) We are not born on God’s team. We have to want to be on it and ask God
for it. The
requirements are to ask God for forgiveness for our sins and put our faith in
Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross (John 3:16.) Then comes
what we will do now that we are on God’s team. To be a
successful athlete it takes commitment, sacrifice, time, discipline and
training just as it in Christianity (2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:27.) There can be
many gold medals (Crowns) given out in heaven (Philippians 3:14, 1
Thessalonians 2:19, 2 Timothy 4:8.) See you in
Church next Sunday. Brother J Where months
got names Since the earliest times, the natural
cycles of the Sun and Moon have been used to measure intervals of time. Solar cycles define days, years and
seasons while the Moon marks off months. There are two major lunar cycles, the
best known being the 29 1/2-day synodic month during which the Moon goes from
new Moon to new Moon. "Synodic" refers to the meeting of the Sun
and Moon. Less apparent is the 27 1/3-day
sidereal month which is based on the Moon's position as seen against the background
stars. If Earth weren't orbiting the Sun,
synodic and sidereal months would be equal but, since we are moving, the
synodic month takes longer. In a sidereal month, the Moon travels
360 degrees, or one complete circle, around Earth, before re-passing the same
background stars. During this time, however, Earth has
traveled nearly 1/12 of the way around the Sun, meaning the Moon must travel
nearly 390 degrees and two more days before reaching the next new Moon. A year being 365 1/4 days, there is
not an even number of synodic or sidereal months in a year. This was not a problem for cultures
that referred to these intervals by the names they gave full Moons, like
Harvest, Hunter's and Long Night Moon. But when our ancestors devised formal
calendars, adjustments were required, like adding or subtracting days and
even ignoring periods of time. These months approximate but no longer
exactly correspond with the lunar cycles. The names we use for our months derive
from the Romans and their Latin language. Originally, the Roman year had 10
months that began with March, named for Mars, the god of war. The second month, April, was named for
Aphrodite, or Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. May is the month of Maia, goddess of
spring. June honors Juno, goddess of women, childbirth and marriage. July was originally called Quintilis –
quintus is Latin for fifth – as the fifth month. It was renamed by Julius
Caesar in 46 BC to honor himself. Similarly, August, first known as
Sextilis as the sixth month, was changed by Augustus Caesar. The next four retained their Latin
numeric names. September was from septem for seven, as the seventh month,
October, for octo, as the eighth month, November, for novem, as the ninth
month and December, or decem, as the tenth month. The winter months apparently went
unnamed until about 700 BC when the eleventh and twelfth months were added. January was named for Janus, the
double-faced god of beginnings and endings who could see the past and the
future. February came from Februa, the
festival of purification. So like the names we use for many
constellations, as well as the days of the week, the names of our months were
invented by our ancient ancestors.
Sunday, Feb. 21, the Moon is at first
quarter. Thursday evening and all night, Feb.
25, Mars is to the left of the bright gibbous Moon. Sunday, Feb. 28, the Monday evening, March 1, the Moon is
to the right of Saturn as they rise around 8 p.m., following each other
across the sky all night. By morning the Moon is to the lower left of the
planet. Sunday, March 7, the Moon is at third
quarter.
The Sun, Moon and planets rise in the
east and set in the west due to Earth's west-to-east rotation on its axis. Evenings, Mars is prominent high in
the east as Saturn rises some two hours after sunset. Mornings, Saturn is in the west
southwest. 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. Digging up old
bones By
TUMBLEWEED SMITH Texas
Tales Tina and
Robert Roland have some unusual animals on their ranch east of Snyder. It’s
like a drive-through zoo. They don’t
allow any hunting so the watusis, zebus, water buffaloes, bisons, pot-bellied
pigs, horses and miniature donkeys walk around freely. The Rolands
love to look for arrowheads and other artifacts. Once they found a big white
bone sticking out of the ground in a canyon near a small body of water. Robert has
found buffalo jaws before and they assumed it was one of those. But there was
something about this one that made them curious. After poking
around it with a screwdriver and pocketknife they decided to call in an
expert paleontologist from Texas Tech to come down and investigate. “The
paleontologist looked and told me this is a geotolony, a large land turtle,
“that stood about three feet tall,” Tina said. “He was a big dude. Remains of
other turtles were found at the site. “We named this
first one after a friend of ours named Freddy,” she said. “So this turtle is
named Freddy Leone Geotolony.” They found a
huge turtle shell almost intact. The paleontologist told the Rolands when her
calendar cleared up she and a team would come down for two weeks and take a
good look at what might be there. Texas Tech got
interested in the project and for the past five years, a team of scientists
from the university has spent a month every summer digging up the remains of
ancient wildlife. “We have some
60 different animals at this time,” Tina said. “These include mastodons,
zebras, bats, alligators, horned toads, extinct hawks and eagles. “We had a
turkey last year that had a claw on its leg,” she said. “We found remains of
a three-toed horse that, fully grown, stands only three and a half feet tall.
“These are
going back 2.2 million years and, in this moist sand, they are perfectly
preserved,” Tina said. “Usually, you find things similar to this in tar pits
in California and when they recover something there, they’re all covered in
black tar.” The Rolands
provide food and shelter for the people on the dig. They housed them in
campers and tents at first, then bought a mobile home. “Whatever we
need to do, we will do,” Tina said. “We know this is important and we’re
excited about it. “Just to know
that these things existed around here is fascinating,” she said. “I think the
count is now something like 20,000 pieces we’ve donated to the Texas Tech
Museum. “It’s all
going toward research,” Tina said. “The scientists never believed there would
be that much in one area. They cast every piece in plaster and treat each one
to preserve them.” The site where
the dig is taking place is only five by eight feet. Scientists keep finding
so many things in this small area they are hesitant to leave it and look
elsewhere on the ranch. Tina says
there’s nothing like this anywhere else in the United States. She and Robert
are aware that these old remains need to be shared. Lewis Thomason
James SANDERSON – A memorial service for Lewis
Thomason James, 73, of Dryden was Wednesday, at First Calvary Baptist Church
here with Brother Paul Ray and Jarret Corder officiating. James died Sunday, Feb. 21, at the
Hospice Inpatient Unit of Midland Memorial Hospital. James worked
as a rancher, a gunsmith and a welder for 50 years in Dryden. He was a member of the First Calvary
Baptist Church in Sanderson. He was
preceded in death by his parents, Noel and Josephine James. Besides his
wife of 52 years, James is survived by two daughters, Joanna and Keith
Thomason of Midland and Lori and Doug Cravey of San Angelo; a grandson, Jim
Wyche of Midland; two granddaughters, Shonda Blodgett of Richland Springs and
Shayna Grant of San Saba, three great grandsons, Reid Blodgett of Richland
Springs and T.J. and Tyler Grant of San Saba and many friends and loved ones. In lieu of
flowers, the family asks that memorials be made in Lewis’ name to Hospice of
Midland, P.O. Box 2621, Midland, TX 79702 or First Calvary Baptist Church of
Sanderson, P.O. Box 440 Sanderson, TX 79848. Funeral
arrangements were under the care of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home
& Crematory of Midland. Online
condolences can be made at www.npwelch.com. Gayle Evans
Ammons NACOGDOCHES –
Funeral services will be tomorrow, Feb. 27, here for Gayle Evans Ammons, 86,
of Tomball, step-father of Terry “Tex” Toler of Sanderson, who died Monday,
Feb. 22. He was born
July 9, 1923, in Nacogdoches, one of two sib-lings born to Jim and Velma
Sitton Ammons of Nacogdoches. After
attending Stephen F. Austin University, he joined the US Army in 1943 and
obtained the rank of master sergeant as a tank commander during World War II
and the Korean conflict. He was awarded
numerous decorations including a Purple Heart in General George Patton’s
Third Army during WW II and served in the mechanized division of the Second
Infantry Group in the Korean conflict.
He was
employed by various oil companies for more than 40 years and retired from
Transcontinental Pipeline Corporation in 1982. He was
preceded in death by his parents, wife Margaret Elzner Ammons and sons Jim
Ammons and Jon Ammons. He is survived
by his wife, Ezell Lindow Toler Ammons; one brother, Jarvis T. Ammons of
Nacogdoches; one son Jay Ammons of Sheveport, LA; one daughter, Ann Ammons
Jackson of Martindale; three step sons, Terry Toler of Sanderson, Joe and
Linda Hoffart Toler of Navasota and Roger tnad Janice Mooney Toler of
Cypress; grandchildren Joshua Jackson of New Braunfels, Jeffery Ammons of
Houston, Matthew and Christine Jackson Cedar Park, Melanie Ammons and Clay
Cogburn of Houston, Texas, Billy Toler of Navasota, Ann and Joe Toler, Jr.,
of College Station, Laura Toler and Andrew Anderson of College Station, Cody
Toler of Houston and Bryce Toler, Travis Toler and Sam Toler of Cypress;
great grandchildren Ryan Jackson of New Braunfels, Cooper Cogburn of Houston,
Caylor Jackson of New Braunfels, and Riley Jackson of Cedar Park, and nieces
and nephews Rose Ammons Stanaland, Alvin Stanaland and Mark Ammons of Nacogdoches and Michael
Ammons of Houston. Visitation
will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today, Feb. 26, at Cason-Monk Funeral Home in
Nacogdoches. Funeral services will be tomorrow, Feb. 27, at the funeral home.
Burial will be at Rock Springs Cemetery near Nacogdoches. Pablo Ochoa,
Jr. PFLUGERVILLE –
Funeral services where yesterday, Feb. 25, here for Pablo Ochoa, Jr. of Del
Rio, who died Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010 in Austin. He was a former resident of Terrell
County. Ochoa was born
May 24, 1927 and was honorably discharged from the US Navy in 1946. He attended
Sul Ross College in Alpine where he met Mary, his wife of 62 years. He was
preceded in death by his parents, Pablo Ochoa, Sr. and Josefa Maes Baca
Ochoa; his brother, Manuel and sisters, Ofelia and Aurora. He is survived
by his wife, Mary Audelia Urquidez Ochoa; sister, Alicia Garza of San
Antonio; two sons, Pablo Ochoa III of Odessa and Edward Ochoa of Austin; two
daughters, Christine and Ruby Ochoa of Austin, TX; five grandchildren, Sandy
Ochoa, Amy and Jimmy Field, Brandon and Tessa Tilford, Mark Edward Ochoa, and
Nikki Smith, and three great grandchildren, Ray, Lily and Tyler. For on-line
memorials, see www.MeM.com. Paula
Escamilla SANDERSON –
Funeral services were at St. James Catholic Church here Thursday for Paula
Escamilla, 89 of Sanderson with Father Thomas Manimala officiating. Burial
was at Santa Rita Cemetery. Escamilla, who
died Sunday, Feb. 21, was born on November 9, 1920, in Sanderson to the late
Jose and Rita Villarreal. She was raised in Sanderson. Paula married
the late Albert Escamilla, Sr., in 1942. She was a homemaker all of her life
and enjoyed cooking, sewing and making quilts for her children and grandchildren.
She moved to
Midland in 2004 to be with her family. She was a member of St. James Catholic
Church in Sanderson. Besides her
husband, she was preceded in death by 11 brothers and sisters. Paula is
survived by her two sons, Albert Escamilla, Jr., of El Paso and Rene
Escamilla of Odessa; four daughters, Yolanda De La Rosa of Midland, Amelia
Moreno of Albuquerque, NM, and Lorina Mendez and Imelda Berzoza, both of
Odessa; numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nephews and nieces. Robert Lopez KERMIT –
Funeral services were Tuesday here for Robert Lopez, 68, of Kermit, a native
of Sanderson who died Friday, Feb. 19, at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa.
Burial was at the Kermit Cemetery. Lopez was born
October 15, 1941, in Sanderson. He was a cook for 45 years with 27 of those
working at the Plantation House. Survivors
include two sons, Julian Angel Lopez of Hobbs and Phillip Bowerman of
Midland; two brothers, Julian Lopez of Monahans and Jose Lopez of Jal; a
sister, Antonia Briones of Kermit, and two grandchildren. Stennard ~
Nichols SANDERSON –
Martin and Lesli Nichols of Knott have announced the engagement of their
daughter, Sanderson Schools teacher-Coach Trisha Nichols, to US Border Patrol
Agent Justin Stennard of Sanderson. The couple
plans a wedding at Second Baptist Church in Midland on July 24. Nichols is a
2000 graduate of Sands High School in Ackerly and a 2005 graduate of Texas
Tech University at Lubbock with a Bachelor of Arts in history. She is the
granddaughter of JoAnne and Reg Hyer of Big Spring, Repps Guitar of Clyde and
June Nichols of Knott. Stennard is a
2001 graduate of East Longmeadow, MA, High School and a 2005 graduate of
Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, with a BS degree in criminal justice. Candidate
supports candidate To the Editor, I am a
candidate for Mayor of Tomball, TX, the hometown of Terry “Tex” Toler.
The same Tex Toler who is now a candidate for County Judge of Terrell County. Tex has inspired
me to run for political office through his writings from as far back as 1978
when he wrote about citizens taking personal responsibility and getting
involved in solving community issues rather than leaving problems for someone
else to fix. The article
written by Tex was titled "Tomball Heal Thyself" and over 30 years
later, Tex is continuing to lead through example and inspire people such as
myself to get involved in our cities and counties. Terry
“Tex” Toler is an honest, hard working individual who has dedicated himself
to the service of his community for years. I encourage
you to vote for Tex for County Judge on March 2, 2010. Judy Wilson Tomball Thanks to Band To the editor, We would like
to offer a belated thank you to Eric Cooksey and the band members who played
at the Band Booster Chili Supper fund raiser.
From the first
notes played by the youngest musicians, it was apparent that we were in for a
real treat. These are some
talented young folks who obviously were enjoying themselves and were playing
quite well for their age group. The
improvements made by the older members were absolutely fantastic. Last year’s
sound was thin and uncertain. This
year the band is playing with confidence, volume and skill. We would like
to thank you all for an enjoyable concert and encourage you to compete at
band events because you are good. As for Eric,
all we can say is you have worked a miracle here in Sanderson and the
community and the school board need to get behind you completely. Thank you for
a great job. Bill and Lea Hawn Sanderson |
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