The Odem-Edroy Times (Odem, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 11, 2007 Page: 2 of 10
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Page 2 Issue 41
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Thursday, October 11, 2007
A Texan Who Helped
Change the World
Later this month,
President Bush will pres-
ent a Congressional Gold
Medal, the legislative
branch’s highest civilian
award, to Dr. Michael Ellis
DeBakey of Houston. I
was proud to join Sen. Kay
Bailey Hutchison and the
U.S. Sen. Texas delegation in spon-
John Cornyn soring this latest honor for
our state’s most famous medical doctor.
Dr. DeBakey, now 99 years old, is the son of
Lebanese immigrants. He was born and educated
in Louisiana, but he has been a Texan for nearly
60 years. His accomplishments as a researcher,
surgeon, and teacher have impacted the entire
world, and may never be duplicated.
As Dr. DeBakey once said: “I take pride in the
outstanding surgeons I’ve trained who have
returned to their homes throughout the world to
provide the best available health care for their
patients.”
He is especially recognized for his revolutionary
contributions to cardiovascular medicine. Two
important inventions were the roller pump—an
essential component of the heart-lung machine—
and the DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device, an
apparatus implanted into the heart to increase
blood flow. He also designed countless medical
devices now considered basic tools, such as spe-
cialty clamps, and he wrote the book on numerous
surgical procedures that have become standard
practice in the operating room.
Dr. DeBakey was an innovator from the start of
his medical career. During World War II, he helped
develop the concept of the Mobile Army Surgical
Hospital units, which saved thousands of lives
during the Korean and Vietnam wars. He later
helped create a medical and surgical center sys-
tem for the Veterans Administration to improve
care for returning service personnel.
But he will always be best known as a pioneer
in cardiovascular surgery. He became head of sur-
gery at the Baylor University College of Medicine
in Houston in 1948, and helped lead the Texas
Medical Center to the position of international
prominence it enjoys today.
He was one of the first surgeons to undertake
coronary artery bypass surgery. He was the first to
successfully perform a carotid endarterectomy.
His medical students, inspired by his example,
have made countless additional breakthroughs.
Dr. DeBakey has been honored by a multitude
of organizations, governments and medical insti-
tutions. He has received the Library of Congress
Living Legends Award, the American Heart
Association Gold Heart Award, the National Medal
of Science and the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, to name a few.
In 1996, Russian President Boris Yeltsin had a
heart attack during his re-election campaign. His
doctors told him he could not survive surgery. But
Yeltsin called in Dr. DeBakey for a consultation—
and later asked him to oversee his coronary
bypass, which proved successful. It was a tacit
acknowledgment of U.S. medical leadership and
Dr. DeBakey’s international reputation.
Dr. DeBakey’s worldwide fame has even trans-
lated into a few humorous medical anecdotes. It
seems that an auto mechanic, working on a car,
good-naturedly compared his job to DeBakey’s: “I
also take valves out, grind them and put in new
parts. So how come you get the big bucks?”
According to the tale, Dr. DeBakey quietly
replied, “Yes, but I do it with the engine running.”
On the last day of 2005, a sharp pain in his
upper torso told Dr. DeBakey he was suffering an
aortic aneurysm—the very condition that his
research had addressed years before. Initially, Dr.
DeBakey chose to wait out the situation in hopes
that it would heal itself.
It didn’t. Houston’s Methodist Hospital later
approved an operation. After a seven-hour sur-
gery and nine months of touch-and-go recupera-
tion, Dr. DeBakey went back to work.
Over the years, as he helped establish Houston
as an internationally known center of medical
excellence, Dr. DeBakey always remembered the
broader humanitarian aspects of his work. He
dedicated countless hours to advising developing
nations, and training their doctors and medical
authorities to establish stronger and more efficient
health care systems.
Dr. Michael DeBakey has helped millions of
people to live longer and more productive lives.
He is a Texan who has helped change the world.
Youth Commission moves inmates from troubled facility
AUSTIN — The Texas Youth
Commission removed 197 male
inmates confined at the Coke County
Juvenile Justice Center in Bronte and
transferred them to other facilities on
Oct. 2.
Recent audits of the facility, near
San Angelo, operated by the private
firm GEO Group Inc. raised concerns
about the safety and welfare of
inmates.
On Oct. 1, TYC acting executive
director Dimitria Pope determined the
facility was in an advanced state of
disrepair, that programming and reha-
bilitation efforts were not being pur-
sued, and the overall health and safe-
ty of the youth housed there were in
jeopardy. She ordered the transfer of
the youths.
The state canceled its $8 million
annual contract with GEO Group and
an investigation has begun.
Disaster declaration is approved
President George W. Bush on Oct.
3 approved a federal disaster decla-
ration for Bexar, Harris, Jones,
Kendall, Medina and Taylor counties
to help address severe flooding and
2
Capitol
Highlights
Ed Sterling
wind damage caused by Tropical
Storm Erin.
The declaration covers damages
incurred Aug. 14-20, when a foot or
more of rainfall was recorded in por-
tions of the state, contributing to six
deaths, plus road closures, flooded
homes and more than 100 high-water
rescues.
Gov. Rick Perry on Oct. 3 said indi-
viduals and families who are not cov-
ered by insurance can apply for finan-
cial assistance, temporary housing,
tax relief, legal services, crisis coun-
seling and unemployment assistance.
President vetoes kids’ health bill
President Bush on Oct. 3 carried
through on his promise to veto legis-
lation he said would be too costly and
would have made health coverage
available to families that are not
needy enough.
The federal SCHIP bill was crafted
to increase funding for state chil-
dren’s health insurance programs and
expand it to cover more families that
make too much money to qualify for
Medicaid but still cannot afford health
insurance.
Funding for SCHIP under the
vetoed bill would have totaled $35 bil-
lion over five years. The president
has an alternative plan that would
increase current funding by $5 billion
over five years.
Members of the U.S. House are
counting votes to see if there are
enough to override Bush’s veto.
Texas ranks lowest among the 50
states in making health care available
to its poorer citizens.
Texas awards first wind leases
The Texas General Land Office on
Oct. 2 awarded the first four bid leas-
es for offshore wind power in U.S. his-
tory.
“The Texas Wind Rush is on, and
the pioneers are staking their claims,”
Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson
said.
The leases, awarded to Louisiana-
based Wind Energy Systems
Technology, allow work to begin on
the construction of meteorological
testing towers on the tracts.
Once the wind farms are opera-
tional, the lessee will pay the state’s
Permanent School Fund a minimum
of $132 million over the 30-year life of
the leases.
Nutrition programs move to TDA
USDA nutrition programs formerly
administered by the Texas Health and
Human Services Commission moved
to the Texas Department of
Agriculture effective Oct. 1.
Now the TDA administers the
School Breakfast Program and
National School Lunch Program for
private and faith-based schools,
Summer Food Service Program,
Special Milk Program, Child and Adult
Care Food Program, Food
Distribution Program, Commodity
Supplemental Food Program and the
Texas Commodity Assistance
Program.
Read the Paper from Back to Front:
Public Notices Are News!
By Steve Haynes
President, National Newspaper
Association
The front pages of our nation's
newspapers are more colorful and
compelling than ever. From the small-
est county-seat weekly to the largest
city tabloid, action shots reach out to
the reader, trying to draw you in.
We try our best to help you stay
informed, even as you blog, GPS and
phone-video your way through the
world.But while there is plenty of
interesting news in the front, I find the
back of the paper even more impor-
tant. I invite the reader to join me
there.
The public notices in most news-
papers appear in the classified sec-
tion. In some states, that is because
state law considers them classified
ads. In others, it is simply tradition.
They've been there for all of our lives.
Lewis and Clark used public notices.
Most state constitutions were drawn
up with the help of public notices.
Now they are so much part of our
tradition that we sometimes forget
them. These notices are part of the
three-legged stool of democracy:
open public meetings, public records
and public notices.
They let us know about tax
increases, zoning changes and prop-
erty foreclosures, when they are
allowed to work.
Washington Gov. Christine
Gregoire drew attention to these
notices this year when she signed a
bill requiring her government’s state
and local, to resume using public
notices to inform citizens. The law
she signed was a reaction to a state
Supreme Court decision involving the
owners of a small business whose
property in south Tacoma was con-
demned to make way for a train sta-
tion parking lot.
The public notice provided by the
transit authority was posted solely on
the agency's own website. The prop-
erty owners never saw the notice.
They sued, but the" Washington
Supreme Court said notice on an
obscure website was enough.
The legislature thought otherwise.
It now requires notices to be mailed
to property owners and a notice to be
put back into the newspaper, where
people will see it. As the state of
Washington has acknowledged, peo-
ple have a right to know. And notices
are meant to be noticed.
Newspaper notices also help get
people back together with something
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DOCTORS BURY THEIR MISTAKES, LAWYERS HIDE THEM IN
IMPENETRABLE PROSE, ARCHITECTS PLANT VINES. BUT NEWSPAPER
PEOPLE LAY THEIRS OUT FOR ALL TO SEE. BYRON POBELL
they have lost.
In most states, an unclaimed prop-
erty fund exists in the state treasury
for assets in long-forgotten bank
'accounts;^ uncollected insurance'1
claims and personal property, all
belonging to someone who has not
yet found it or laid claim to it.
Not surprisingly, some state gov-
ernments happily sit on these assets.
In the days of more vigorous news-
paper notices, readers could pore
over interesting catalogues of
unfound heirs and uncashed checks.
Today, in many states, notice of these
funds has shrunk to a website page
buried in a state computer.
The Internet is going to be an
important channel for delivery of
newspaper information. It also will
help newspapers provide broader
public notice. But the Internet must
not become a tool of secrecy for gov-
ernments.
Washington's governor and legis-
lature understand this principle.
Newspapers provide public notices
week after week where people can
see them, not locked away on some
obscure website.
That is why so many readers are
like me. We read the paper from back
to front.
____back
from the Odem Edroy Times archives
This Week in 1957
Mrs. H. L. Baylor is in charge of obtaining address of ex-students for the
Homecoming celebrations set for November.
Mayor and Mrs. Roy Underwood and Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Lane Jr. were
in Dallas for the State Fair to where they saw the replica of the Odem
Elementary School on display in the Fine Arts building. They visited with Dr.
and Mrs. P E. Whittlesey and Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Wilson, former Odem resi-
dents while in Dallas.
Four ministers from Ingleside brought a petition to the commissioners
Monday asking for a local option election in that town. In 1956 an election
was held there and the drys were defeated by four votes.
Odem VFW Post and ladies auxiliary held a supper with District
Commander Franklin Henze as guest speaker.
Three from Odem, Charles R. DeWitt, Evelyn Stein and James B.
Austin, are enrolled this fall at the University of Houston.
Mrs. A. N. Smith and Mrs. L. A. Janin were business visitors in Sinton
Thursday.
Miss Jamye Whatley and three of her friends were hosts to a buffet sup-
per for her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Whatley and her brother Richard
when they visited her in Austin for a football game. Jamye is a music teacher
in the Austin school system.
Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Green observed their 33rd wedding anniversary
Thursday
Mrs. W. Hale and daughter Carol and Mrs. N. R. Roach and children
Larry Rex and Bobby Dean attended the Rice Festival in Bay City last
week.
Mrs. W. R. Drum entertained with a coffee Thursday honoring Mrs. Bill
Longquist of Corpus Christi.
Mrs. Paul Bishop hosted the Dorcas Class of First Baptist Church last
week. Mrs. T. F. Whiteley brought the devotional and Mrs. T. T. Nixon gave
the annual class report.
Mrs. Billy Scull honored her husband with a dinner for his birthday.
Attending the party were Mr. and Mrs. Bagley, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Sens and
children, Mr. and Mrs. William Swetlick and children of Robstown, Mr. and
Mrs. William Scull and the honoree and family.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Shackelford and daughters were recent guests in
the home of her parents Mr. and Mrs. J. L. King of Robstown, for a family din-
ner.
Miss Phyllis Lane and Miss Mary Lou Millhollon of Refugio lunched at
the Ship Ahoy in Corpus Christi Thursday before going on a shopping spree.
flfje ®fi
THE ODEM-EDROY TIMES (USPS 402-940) is published weekly every Thursday by San
Patricio Publishing Co., Inc., 113 S. Rachal Ave., Sinton, Texas 78387. Periodical postage
paid at Odem, Texas 78370.
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THE ODEM-EDROY TIMES
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Phone: 361-364-1270
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Copyright © 2007 The entire contents
of this publication are copyrighted by
The Odem-Edroy Times
JAMES F. TRACY, JR. & JOHN HENRY TRACY
Co-Publishers
JAMES TRACY
Editor
JOHNNIE SUE LITTLETON
Community Editor
RON JACKSON
Graphic Designer
CATHY JO SUAREZ
Advertising Sales
ASHLEY TREVINO
Receptionist/Classified Sales
STEFANIE M. ACKERMAN
Assistant Editor
MELINDA RAPPE
Reporter
SANDRA MARTINEZ
Bookkeeper
FRANCINE GARCIA
Asst. Bookkeeper/Billing
JIMMY PEREZ
Distribution Manager
NOTICE:
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time to retain the news value are not rated as
obituaries. Obituaries are free when the edi-
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
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est. The deadline is noon Wednesday for the
next available edition. The letter must be
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may appear and to reject unsuitable letters.
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The Odem-Edroy Times
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or email to: editor@sanpatpublishing.com
CORRECTIONS, ERRORS AND OMISSIONS:
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fair and accurate information regarding events
and issues in the public interest Should we
make an error, we ask you to call someone in
the news department at 361-364-1270. It is
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possible.
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Tracy, James. The Odem-Edroy Times (Odem, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 11, 2007, newspaper, October 11, 2007; Sinton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1055840/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Odem Public Library.