The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 176, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 23, 1996 Page: 4 of 16
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A PAT ON THE BACK...
... to students who participate in Judge Tony Polumbo’s teen court pro-
gram. The group gave a successful demonstration of how the pro-
gram works to Nacogdoches County officials.
FEEDBACK: To comment on this page, call the Newsroom, 422-8302.
tETje Paptoton &un
The Baytown Sun is published Monday through Friday and Sunday at
1301 Memorial Drive in Baytown.
Gaiy Dobbs David Eldridge
Editor and Publisher Managing Editor
Marit Kramer
Asst Managing Editor
Fakeabims
endanger city
onight, the Baytown City Council will consider a measure that could cut
I down on the number of false alarms that our police officers and fire
I fighters have to respond to around the city.
If the measure is approved by the council, the city would require permits — at
no charge — for all alarm systems throughout the city. However, should the
police or fire department respond to five false alarms over a 12-month period, a
fee of $50 would be charged for each call after the fifth false alarm.
Officials also said the service charge would not be docked to false alarms
caused by certain weather conditions or if the police response is canceled before
officers arrive.
We think it’s a good idea.
Police Chief Charles Shaffer says responding to false alarms ties up a lot of
manpower and takes officers away from patrols and other necessary police
work.
In a memo to the council members, Shaffer points out that a review of police
records over the last four years shows that more than 98 percent of all alarm
calls placed to the department are false alarms.
Ninety-eight percent?
That number indicates that some residents and businesses need to take some
immediate steps to improve their alarm systems.
False alarms create a serious hazard for those persons Who might be in des-
perate need of assistance from the police or fire department. If personnel are
tied up on a false alarm, it can take longer to respond to a real emergency.
The City Council should back the police department’s effort to hold home-
owners and alarm companies accountable for these calls — fewer false alarms
could help improve the safety and security of Baytown residents.
And that’s something that will help us all sleep better at night
Today in histoiy
Today is Thursday, May 23, the 144th day of 1996. There are 222 days left in the
year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 23,1934, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to
death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in
Bienville Parish, La.
On this date:
In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the Eng-
lish.
In 1533, the marriage of England’s King Henry VII to Catherine of Aragon was
declared null and void.
In 1701, Captain William Kidd was hanged in London after he was convicted of
piracy and murder.
In 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the United States Con-
stitution.
In 1873, Canada’s North West Mounted Police force was established.
In 1895, the New York Public Library had its origins with an agreement combin-
ing the city’s existing Astor and Lenox libraries.
In 1960, Israel announced it had captured former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann
in Argentina.
In 1994, funeral services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for former
first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Five years ago: By a 5-to-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld regulations bar-
ring federally subsidized family planning clinics from discussing abortion with
pregnant women, or from telling women where they could get abortions.
One year ago: The nine-story hulk of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City was demolished. That same day, James Nichols, whose brother and
a, friend were charged in the Oklahoma bombing, was released from federal cus-
tody. Leland William Modjeski, a 37-year-old graduate student, was shot and
wounded on the White House lawn after scaling a fence with an unloaded gun.
Today’s Birthdays: Bandleader Artie Shaw is 86. Actress Betty Garrett is 77.
Pianist Alicia de Larrocha is 73.
— The Associated Press
Bible verse:
IN ORDER To \
COMPETE WITH
BOB DOLE IN
THE m
PRESIDENTIAL
campaign,i
RESISTS THE
PRESIDENT OFTHE
UNITED STATES.
_._;
Colby proved reverence for truth
For a guy who looked like Mr. Peepers,
William Colby was one of the most compli-
cated public servants I ever encountered.
The former CIA director, who drowned
while paddling his canoe in a tributary of the
Potomac River late last month, was small of
stature and quiet-spoken. He wore subdued
suits and muted ties and round eyeglasses that
were tinted pink.
If you didn’t know who he was, you never
would’ve guessed he was a decorated World
War II hero who twice parachuted behind
German lines to carry out secret missions. Or
that he once ran one of the deadliest assassina-
tion programs the CIA ever devised. Or that
he had the guts to stare down the intelligence
community’s most fearsome cloak-and-dagger
operatives in the interest of constitutional prin-
ciple and public accountability.
That last thing was the main reason I
respected him. But it was not a pure admira-
tion. I remember thinking two things when I
finally met him face-to face a few years ago at
the American University, where I teach and
where he came to deliver a guest lecture. First
was just how prosaic he looked.
Second was that I was shaking hands with a
person whom some people regarded as a mass
murderer.
After joining the CIA in 1951 and serving
in Sweden, Italy and South Vietnam, he
returned to Saigon ih 1968 to supervise the
Phoenix program. This was an effort to identi-
fy and kill members of the Viet Cong. The
problem was, once the CIA had fingered a
suspect, the South Vietnamese military often
didn’t bother with such nuisances as trials.
In 1973, Colby was appointed chief of the
CIA It was a tumultuous time in the agency’s
history, and Colly ended up testifying 56
times before congressional investigators.
Much to the chagrin of old-school spies, he
opted to come clean and even surrendered the
“family jewels,” a 693-page history that had
been commissioned by his predecessor, James
Schlesinger, and which detailed the agency’s
most sensitive machinations.
His strategy got him fired in November
1975.
Almost exactly a year before Jerry Ford dis-
missed William Colby, I got a personal lesson
on just how serious he was about telling the
truth. As a muckraker for syndicated colum-
nist Jack Anderson, I had tracked down a
story about two CIA spies who had been
caught, arrested, and mercilessly beaten and
tortured in the white supremacist nation of
Rhodesia in 1969.
Washington had negotiated the release of
one spy, but the Rhodesians had refused to
give up the other. So the CIA staged a daring
jailbreak and whisked their man out of the
country.
It was an entertaining story that would ren-
der no percept m harm to the CIA But the
agency’s prosecutors gave me the usual “no
comment,” and I was about to tank the tale
when I got an idea. William Colby professed
belief in full disclosure and I, by gum, would
put him to the test. I picked up die phone and
called him directly. Much to my surprise, he
took my call, listened to my story, said he
would get back.
About two hours later, speaking on deep
background, he confirmed my story in all of
its details. And he had a return favor to ask:
Would I be kind enough to withhold the
agents’ names? They were back in the United
States and had become established in their
communities, he said, and I would disrupt
theft lives if I identified them. It seemed like a
fair swap to me, and I agreed
From that day forth, I regarded William
Colby with great respect. But for Phoenix, I
might have liked him more, as well.
Joseph Spear is a syndicated columnist for
the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
--I—;--i—
Thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations I have made thee.
— Genesis 17:5
PRESIDENT
Bill Clinton (D-1996)
Washington, DC.
(202)456-1111
DISTRICT 9 REPRESENTATIVE
Steve Stockman (R-1996)
417 Cannon House Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
(202)225-6565
DISTRICT2S REPRESENTATIVE
Ken Bentsen (D-1996)
128 Cannon House Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
, (202)225-7508
(713)229-2244
DISTRICT 29 REPRESENTATIVE
Gene Green (D-1994)
1024 Longworth House
Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
(202)225-1688
(713)923-9961
SENATORS
Kay B. Hutchison (R-2000)
Washington, DC.
(202)224-5922
(713)653-3456
Phil Gramm (R-1996)
Washington, DC.
(202)224-2934
(713)229-2766
From The Baytown Sun
files, here are the headlines
from...
RSSahmmito
hold fund-raiser
The Ranger mascot, which
became a symbol of school
spirit for Ross S. Sterling High
School over the years, is pic-
tured posing with 1970-71
cheerleaders, in a photo from
that school year. RSS alumni
have initiated a drive to replace
the beloved fiberglass statue
which was destroyed in 1978.
Lee to graduate
750students
The largest class in the his-
tory of Robert E. Lee High
School this year has 750 mem-
bers. Thirty of those graduated
at mid-term in January,
according to Principal Henry
Armstrong.
•••
This year will marie the last
year for junior high students to
hold graduation exercises here.
Highlands, Horace Mann,
Cedar Bayou and Baytown
Junior high schools will con-
tain grades 6-8 next year.
Next year’s ninth graders
will be freshmen in high
school. The new Ross Sterling
High School will also open
next fall.
Sea turtle found
in waterway
John Erwin bags a 150-
pound sea turtle at Five-Mile
Cut Capt L.A. DuBus says the
turtle is “as big as a spittoon
and the body is as big as the
concrete set up in the front of
the Del Monte Hotel.”
Send letters to:
The Baytown Sun
P.O. Box 90
Baytown, Tx. 77522
(Fax:427-6283)
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 176, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 23, 1996, newspaper, May 23, 1996; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1020143/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.