The Llano News (Llano, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 11, 2000 Page: 4 of 26
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4 The Llano News. Thursday. Mav 11.2000
‘The vital measure of a newspaper is not its size, but its spirit. ” — Arthur Hays Sulzberger
Automatic promotions to disappear
COW POKES'
By Ace Reid
State - Capital
HIGHLIGHTS
Compiled by Ed Sterling
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
AUSTIN—Automatic promo-
tion of elementary school students
soon will disappear.
This year’s kindergarten class,
when it reaches third grade in the
2002-2003 school year, will have
to pass a state reading test to be
promoted.
School superintendents, at the
direction of Texas Education
Commissioner Jim Nelson, are
sending parents a brochure outlin-
ing new promotion standards.
The brochure also lists steps
parents can take to help their chil-
dren:
• Reduce the child’s television
time and plan family learning ac-
tivities that support learning;
• Spend as much time as pos-
sible with the child reading a wide
variety of books and other kinds
of text;
• Ask questions about what they
have read, discussing the mean-
ings of new words and comparing
one story with another; and
• Keep in regular touch with
teachers and school officials.
Arson Hotline Announced
Insurance Commissioner Jose
Montemayor and State Fire Mar-
shal G. Mike Davis last week an-
nounced the creation of an arson
hotline number that residents any-
where in Texas can call to report a
suspicious fire.
The new toll-free hotline num-
ber is 1-877-4-F1RE-45 or 1-877-
434-7345. Fire departments also
may call this number for assis-
tance.
“Arsonists are responsible for
more than 10,000 fires every year
in Texas,” said Montemayor
“These fires take lives and de-
stroy millions of dollars in prop-
erty. We want to stop these people
before they do any more harm.”
UT Turns Away Applicants
The University of Texas last
week announced a moratorium on
admissions, due to overcrowding,
and stopped its online application
service.
It’s too late for first-time and
transfer students and perhaps
1,000 third- and fourth-year stu-
dents who had planned to enroll
next spring.
“I don’t think anyone was ex-
pecting us to shut off spring ad-
missions,” Bruce Walker, director
of admissions, told the Austin
American-Statesman. “We realize
this is a stopgap measure.”
UT anticipates a record enter-
ing freshman class of 7,500 this
fall. Last fall, the entering fresh-
man class was 7,040.
Austin Gives Gun Locks
Austin is the first Texas city to
take advantage of a private pro-
gram to distribute the free gun
locks.
Project HomeSafe, a fireartn-
awareness program funded by the
National Shooting Sports Founda-
tion, is providing the locks, which
retails for about $ 10 each, and pay-
ing administrative costs of the pro-
gram.
The city announced plans to
give away 2,500 locks on May 7.
Study: Inmates More Violent
Texas prison inmates arc more
violent and less likely to be
Congress should move on patient protections
By Horace B Deets
AARP Executive Director
In March, a House-Senate confer-
ence committee began working to
reconcile the differences between the
two bills on patient protections in
managed care passed by the House
of Representatives and the Senate in
1999 Though they started slowly,
they hope to complete their work
by the spring recess.
AARP remains deeply committed
to assuring patient protections in
managed care, and we continue to
believe there is potential for an
agreement around a core set of pa-
tient protections that AARP has
been calling for, including the fol-
lowing:
* A strong independent external
appeals system that allows patients
to challenge treatment decisions
made by their health plans - this
would assure an objective appeal if
care were denied
* Coverage for emergency servic-
es in all situations in which a
"prudent I person" would judge
that the situation required emergen-
cy care
* Appropriate access to special
ist, including opportunities for
standing referrals.
* No barriers or “gag rules" to
treatment information for patients --
plans should allow patients to re-
ceive thorough information on all
treatment options.
* Better health-plan information
for consumers -- plans should dis-
close information about plan bene-
fits and providers
These core patient protections,
already required in Medicare, would
provide a solid base of protection
for all consumers in managed-care
programs. But they are a long way
from becoming law. At issue are
two other hotly debated issues -
one pertaining to scope, the other
to health plans’ liability for their
care and treatment decisions
The scope question concerns who
will be covered by the patient pro-
tections. Will they apply to every-
one enrolled in managed-care plans,
or will they apply only to those en-
rolled in employer-provided mana-
ged-care plans? AARP believe that
these patient protections should ap-
ply to all participants in managed-
care plans whether those plans are
provided by an employer of pur-
chased individually.
Another controversial patient
protection involves liability -- the
right of patients to sue their health
plan for damages if care is denied
and the patient is harmed. We be
lieve patients should have the abili-
ty to recover meaningful damages if
their health plan is found by a court
to be negligent Ideally, the right of
a patient to sue a plan for damages
should be included in the legisla-
tion.
The conference committee should
strive to reach agreement on a fair
solution assuring patients the right
to sue a plan for damages But they
should not allow partisanship or
political expediency on this issue to
stand as a barrier that would deny
millions of managed-care patients
the other core protections they need
and deserve this year
ELECTED OFFICIALS
PRESIDENT
Bill Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
VICE-PRESIDENT
Albert Gore
Executive Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
US. SENATORS:
Kay Bailey Hutchison
283 Russell Senate Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-5922
PHIL GRAMM
370 Rusaenenate Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-2*34
L.S. REPRESENTATIVE 21st DIS.
Lamar Smith
2443 Rayburn House
Washington. D C. 20515
202-225-4236
TEXAS GOVERNOR
George W. Bush
PO. Box 12428
Austin, TX., 78711
512-463-2000
TEXAS LT. GOVERNOR
Rick Perry
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, TX., 78711
512-463-0001
STATE SENATOR
TVoy Fraser
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, TX., 78711
512-463-0124
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Dist. 73
Robert Ttirner
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX., 78768-2910
512-463-06*4 • 512-463-7637
LLANO COUNTY JUDGE
J.P. Dodgen
Courthouse, Rm., 101
l lano, TX . 78643
915-247-5054
LLANO CITY MAYOR
Terry llutto
301 W Main
Llano, TX., 78643
915-247-4158
LLANO DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Sam Oatman
P.O. Box 725
Llano, TX , 78643
915-247-5755
granted parole.
According to a study released
May 4 by the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice, violent of-
fenders now make up 45 percent
of the prison popul ifion, an in-
crease from 38 percent from 1994.
“There’s a very definite corre-
lation to show the system has hard-
ened,” said agency spokesman
Glen Castlebury.
“We’ve got to assume the sys-
tem will continue to harden, and
that makes these jobs more dan-
gerous and stressful ”
Castlebury attributed fewer pa-
roles to increased violence against
guards, who have been calling for
higher salaries and more help. He
said assaults on guards rose from
700 in 1994 to 2,000 last year
The study also showed that the
racial makeup of Texas prisons has
changed little since 1994. The in-
mate population currently is 44.2
percent black, 30.1 percent white
and 25.2 percent Hispanic. Five
years ago it was 47.1 percent
black, 27.4 percent white and 25.1
percent Hispanic. The average in-
mate still has only a seventh-grade
educational achievement score,
the study stated.
And, study showed inmates re-
leased last year had served an av-
erage of 3.8 years, a year longer
than the average 2.8 years figured
in 1994. Lower parole rates and
more prison space have helped
bump the average age of Texas
inmates from 33 years old in 1994
to 35.4 years old in 1999.
Other Highlights
• Honda Motor Co. last week
was honored with a Texas Envi-
ronmental Excellence Award for
its low-emission vehicles. The
award was given by the Texas
Natural Resource Conservation
Commission. The city of Dalla^
recently ordered 182 of Hondj/s
natural-gas powered Civic GX^>
http://www.cowpokes.com
*339 J %
"Jake, if you decide to skip the country when
that note comes due, jist give me a coupla'
days' notice an' I'll go with you!"
Let’s Think
About This.
by Mikel Virdell
Letters to the Editor
The Llano News • P.O. Box 187 • Llano, Texas 78643
The election of Sarah Franklin to
the Llano City Council is the result
of hard work, and brilliant strategy
Sarah worked harder than anyone,
going door to door, and having an
organization that has not been seen
in Llano since last years election of
Roger Pinckney to the council.
The planner of this organization
is no secret. In my opinion. Bob
and Linda Gammage have made it
their quest to shape Llano as they
see it should be and with the elec-
tion of Franklin and Pinckney they
have been more than successful.
Along with the campaigning and
phone calling, the smart idea for
many of the Franklin supporters
this year and last year for Roger
was to ask voters to only vote for
one candidate.
While the one vote may not be
for everyone, it worked. There are
about 2135 votes in the City of
Llano, 476 voted last Saturday. If
each had voted for three candidates
that would result in 1428 votes As
Saturdays results show, only about
1200 votgs were spent. Had another
200 plus votes been cast by the
mere 22 percent voter turnout the
changes may have been significant.
Congratulations to incumbents
Joe David Yates, Randolph Frank-
lin and to Sarah. I hope you serve
our city well and your decisions are
based on what is in your heart and
not in the heart of someone else.
And to Esther Laird, and Terry
Mikulenka, my advice is to try
again Llano must have good peo-
ple with new fresh ideas, in order
for Llano to grow and to change
Without growth and without
change. Llano will become a stagn
ant little town that offers little to
so few We can be better than that.
Fine people like Esther and Terry
are needed in Llano. Stepping up is
hard, but I for one thank you all,
very much.
Dear Editor:
Call me crazy but I thought that
the Earth Day organizer’s choice of
Leonardo DiCaprio as their spokes-
person for the Earth Day 2000 ev-
ent was ridiculous. Isn’t this the
same guy who drives a Chevy Ta-
hoe, one of those evil greenhouse
gas producing SUV’s he was pro-
testing against? I guess being a ce-
lebrity gives you a license to com-
ment on the environment without
having to participate in improving
it.
Speaking of glass houses, at the
conclusion of the ABC Earth Day
Special Mr. DiCaprio referred to
the “butterfly effect,” stating that
much like the flapping of a butter-
fly s wings, “the slightest action
could have a negative effect on the
planet or in turn, it might result in
something positive." I guess that
means he is keeping his fingers
crossed that the removal of native
plants and the destruction of natural
elements on one of Thailand’s na-
tional park beaches by this film,
The Beach, will result in a positive
effect for the earth
Do you hear that glass breaking
Leo? How about cleaning up your
own environmental record before
casting stones at the rest of the
world.
Sincerely,
Erica Huggins
Richardson, TX
Dear Editor:
I was visiting in one of the
homes in the Housing Authority a
few days ago and the yardman had
just finished doing the yard. That
yard work was the biggest joke you
have ever seen. He scalped it in
places and left it in places where
the mowers never even touched. He
didn’t get up between.the apart-
ments at all
These Senior Citizens don’t de-
serve this kind of service. They
have to spend their Social Security
for a place to live which is sup-
posed to kept according to special
specification which is supposed to
include their yards. I don’t believe
HUD would go for this if they were
informed about it.
Furthermore the yardman is rude,
arrogant and has a really bad temp-
er. He needs to get a whole new at-
titude
Thanks,
R. C. Locke
The Llano News
PO Box 187, Llano, Tx 78643 • 915-247-4433 • FAX: 915-247-3338
thenews@Lstar.net
(USPS 316-700)
Serving Llano, Llano County and the Highland Lakes Area since 1889
Published weekly at 813 Berry Street, Llano, Texas 78643
Entered in the Llano Post Office as periodical postage paid at Llano, Texas under the
Act of Congress of 1878
KEN WF.SNER • PUBLISHER JIMMY STEPHENSON * EDITOR
RAECHEL COOKE • CLASSIFIED/RECEPTIONIST
GAYLA BARTLETT • ADVERTISING
SANDY WESNER • OFFICE MANAGER
A C. KINCHELOE. BARBARA COX • MAIL ROOM
RUTH PENCE • TYPESETTER
LOAN I) COX • PROOFREADER/PRODUCTION
COLUMNISTS/CORRESPONDENTS: Marilyn Hale, Joe Dan Tarter, Shirley Muery,
Vera Honig, Verna Dick, Bernice Schuyler, Hope Causey, Philip Cook, Jack Patton
SUBSCRIPTION RATES Llano and Burnet Counties - 1 yeai $19, 2 years $35. 3 years $50
Elsewhere in Tews -1 year $26. 2 years $48, 3 years $65 Out ol State -1 year $40,2 years $70,
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The Llano Sews solicits letters to the editor concerning issues of local Interest
Letters must be signed and no longer than two standard pages, double spaced and
typed, if possible A day time phone number must also be included We will not
accept political letters endorsing or opposing a particular candidate The staff
reserves (he right to edit all letters according to accepted standards For further
information call The Llano News at 915-247-4433- FAX 247-3338
POSTMASTER: Send Address Changes to The Llano News, PO Box 187, Llano,
Texas 78643
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Stephenson, Jimmy. The Llano News (Llano, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 11, 2000, newspaper, May 11, 2000; Llano, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1038123/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Llano County Public Library.