The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 7, 2008 Page: 4 of 12
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OPINION
4
Thursday, February 7,2008
THE BAYTOWN SUN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Guest editorial
Tax rebates
1
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ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR WORE YEARS
An eventful day
Shattered lives
Eat some pancakes
11
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Malcolm Murray is a mechanical engi-
neer, retired from Exxon Chemical. He has
lived in Baytown for 33 years.
St
Pi
David Bloom
Managing Editor
Luke Hales
City Editor
M.A. Bengtson
Community member
WRITE TO US
The Sun welcomes letters
of up to 300 words and
guest columns of up to 500
words. Guest columns
should include a photo of the
This article will have a different format
from the usual. The main contents will be a
letter I wrote to our niece Emilynn back in
1994. It describes the events, which
occurred during a single day. Explanation
for a few items is as follows:
editing, and the Sun
reserves the right to refuse
Love,
Uncle Mac
MISS YOUR PAPER?
You should receive your
Baytown Sun by 6 a.m.
Monday through Saturday and
by 8 a.m. Sunday. If you do
Jay Odom
Baytown
B
F
Ha
rie
rie
Ro
or
bat
time, call (281) 425-8066 by
9 a.m. to ensure redelivery.
to publish any submission.
Send signed letters to:
David Bloom, The Baytown
Sun, P.O. Box 90, Baytown,
77522; fax them to (281) 427-
1880 or send an e-mail to
sunnews@baytownsun.com.
Items featured on this page
are the views of the persons
identified with each submis-
sion and do not necessarily
reflect the views of The
Baytown Sun or its advertis-
ers.
TI
Pi
FRED HARTMAN
Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
202-224-2934
713-572-3337
Fax: 202-228-2856
Fax: 713-572-3777
cornyn.senate.gov/
contact/index.html
Ted Poe,
Dist. 2 Rep.
866-425-6565
866-447-0242
www.house.gov/
poe
Ron Paul,
Dist. 14 Rep.
202-225-2831
979-230-0000
www.house.gov/
paul
Gene Green,
Dist. 29 Rep.
202-225-1688
713-330-0761
www.house.gov/
green
BUSH
CHENEY
W IBaptoton &un
1301 Memorial Drive, P.0. Box 90
Baytown, Texas 77522
Main: (281)422-8302
Newsroom: (281) 425-8016
Retail: (281) 425-8036
Classified: (281)425-8008
Circulation: (281) 425-8066
Fax:(281)427-1880
E-mail: sunnews@baytownsun.com
Web site: www.baytownsun.com
©2008 by NEA, Inc.
b
J 4!
by somebody trying to send me a FAX on
my non-FAX phone.
16. The same person persisted for the
next hour, calling every five minutes. I
asked the phone company to set up a tracer
to see who it was. Then I got a call from
Yvonne Jason, to confirm a change in dates
for roach extermination. Then Rhea called
to get the phone number to Malee’s Beauty
Shop. Then Dick Dawson, the lawyer,
called to tell me he would be out of town
for a week and would correct some contra-
dictory incorporation paperwork for me
when he gets back. Then a woman from
Fenner-Mannheim called, asking if I had
received their catalog. I told her I had, but it
had fallen into a puddle. She said she
would send another. No more FAX calls
came in.
Thus ended my eventful day.
Dear Emee,
Yesterday was one of those days in which
things seem to happen in groups. It was not
as bad as black Friday-June 23,1989, when
I had two car accidents in one day, with two computer was down.
11.1 went to lunch, then to the post
office, and retrieved the package and got a
refund, then went home and washed, and
_ . ....., SOI
put the cats’ food back into the refrigerator.
12.1 went to Dr. Holder, who sprayed liq-
uid nitrogen on two skin keratoses.
13.1 returned to the shop and phoned
Snap-On again. Their computer was work-
ing, and I ordered the socket attachment.
14. Ted stopped by (rained out at work)
EDITORIAL BOARD
Clifton E. “Cliff” Clements
Edftor/Publisher
Jim Finley
retired Managing Editor
Jay Eshbach
Community member
Next Tuesday, Feb. 12 is the day thousands of
hungry flapjack lovers have been waiting for.
IHOP will celebrate National Pancake Day on that
day by handing out free short stacks (three pan-
cakes) of buttermilk goodies to its guests. All the
folks at IHOP ask in return is that guests make a
donation to the Children’s Miracle Network, which
gives money to local charities, including the
Shriners Hospitals for Children, a network of 22
pediatric hospitals throughout North America that
provides all services free of charge.
Though IHOP, including the Baytown location on
Garth Road, is open 24 hours a day, the free pancake
event will begin at 7 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. There
is a limit of one free short stack per guest. The offer
is valid for dine-in only while supplies last.
IHOP has set this year’s fundraising goal at
$750,000. Last year the company raised$625,000,
which was distributed to various local charities in
the southwest. Shiners will be on hand at all IHOPs
in the Houston area to answer questions about the
charity and encourage guests to make donations.
Enjoy some pancakes and thanks.
— The Baytown Sun
Government officials
Federal
George W. Bush,
President
202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2326
president®
whitehouse.gov
Dick Cheney,
Vice President
202-456-2324
Fax: 202-456-2461
vice-president®
whitehouse.gov
Kay Bailey
Hutchison,
Senator
202-224-5922
713-653-3456
Fax: 202-224-0776
Fax: 713-209-3459
hutchison.senate.
gov/te-mail.htm
John Cornyn,
Senator
15.1 received a phone call from Mr. J.J.
Johnson, Jr, at Valero Refining Company in
Corpus Christi. I agreed to send him my
laser alignment system comparison plus my
pany. The police arrived first and took copi- own tool literature. The call was interrupted
ous notes. The glass company man came
next and took copious measurements. Mrs.
Haley arrived last and found nothing miss-
ing from her store.
3. Mr. Haley came and put up temporary
plywood, since glass requires one day lead-
time to order. He also brought an industrial
vacuum cleaner and cleaned up the glass
residue.
4. A taxi arrived and let out a woman,
who asked me about the used furniture I
had for sale. I told her I did not have any.
She used my phone and got the taxi to
return to take her to the same number on
West Texas Avenue.
5. Mrs. Haley showed me water dripping
from a fluorescent light in the store. I called
Davis Brothers Roofing Company and
reported the leak, to be repaired under the
roof warranty.
6. UPS arrived and delivered a pre-set
torque wrench and a case of raisins. I gave
Mrs. Haley a can of raisins and a copy of a
1961 Arizona Highways article on how to
make good coffee.
7. Milton Hanks phoned but had little to
say.
The Jaminolas are my brother-in-law and
nephew. Ted is our son. In 1994 he was
working as an industrial electrician. Rhea is
our niece. In 1994 my main business was-
industrial machinery shaft/coupling align-
ment tool -making, training and consulting.
Now it is making aimable air/sea rescue
signal mirrors.
writer.
We publish only original
material addressed to The
Baytown Sun bearing the
writer’s signature. An
address and phone number
not for publication should be
included. All letters and
guest columns are subject to not receive your paper on
Sincere gratitude
The family of Julia Wright Gervais
would like to express their sincere
gratitude for all of the kindness and
sympathy shown during this difficult
time in our lives with the passing of
our mother. The caring souls who
have been so forthcoming are not for-
gotten in our prayers, or our hearts.
Gordon Kenneth Wright
Winnie
No new houses
Baytown is largp enough. Put a halt
to all new subdivisions. This city can-
not control Garth Road traffic now.
What in the world the city govern-
ment do with thousands more people
moving here? Think about it. It will
soon take an hour to drive from 146
to I-10. Was this planned? No. Has
anyone tried to resolve it? Yes, but
with bigger problems. No new houses
means far less traffic.
The residents of Lakeview Terrace
were not forced to move out due to
“the decaying state of the complex
and delinquent utility bills owed by
the previous owners of the property,”
as The Sun stated. They were forced
to move out due to the city of
Baytown threatening to charge them
with criminal trespassing for merely
choosing to stay in their homes.
For years the Lakeview Terrace
apartments were riddled with dilapi-
dated buildings and numerous hous-
ing violations. The city of Baytown
failed to respond to numerous pleas
from tenants seeking relief of the
apartment’s inadequacies.
One of the primary reasons behind
the sudden push to bring the apart-
ments up to code is the cities popula-
tion boom which equates to more
money for the city. In light of that, the
city officials decided to generalize
those living in Lakeview Terrace as
drug dealers and menaces to the city.
Like this, they could cloak the hor-
rible injustice they were committing
with the semblance that they were
cleaning up the city. What they real-
ized, yet blatantly disregarded, is that
the majority of those who inhabited
Lakeview Terrace were families who
had made the apartment complex
their home. In the end, the city’s
attempt to beautify Baytown left mul-
tiple families displaced, some home-
less, and lives shattered.
Kenya Wells
Austin
Back to original mission
Our current and former county com-
missioners have done a wonderful job
of building community centers, play-
grounds, water parks, ballparks, soccer
fields, archery ranges, libraries, and
beautifying Monument Road, and hav-
ing a fleet of over 30-busses to trans-
port senior citizens. How about doing
a wonderful job on Thompson Road—
especially both sides of Interstate 10?
Why can’t the county get back to its
original mission of “Roads and
Bridges?” Some examples: mowing
ditches more than twice a year, dig-
ging out ditches and cleaning culverts,
stripping all roads to make safer dri-
ving at night, a turning lane in Barrett.
Ed Cunnie
Highlands
When 1 was growing up in Victoria County, the
great majority of households consisted of only one
working spouse. By the time the ‘70s and ‘80s came
along, it became necessary for both husband and
wife to work in order to maintain the same standard
of living. Now, workers in America have increased
overtime to the point where they work over 300 hours
per year, more than workers in the European Union.
Even that didn’t keep the American middle class up
with their previous standard of living. In order to
keep up, they turned to their largest asset... their
home, and Wall Street and the Federal government
were only too happy to help. By promoting home
refinancing with historically low interest rates, home-
owners used home equity financing to pay the bills.
Now that home values, in many places, have fallen
below loan amounts, that source of middle class
money is dwindling. Now those families have both
spouses working, many working overtime, have used
up home equity financing, and all of a sudden
Democrats and Republicans have realized they may
have killed the “cash cow” of the economy, the great
American middle class. So, with no other way to
keep Americans spending, no more family members
to put to work, and no more assets to borrow against,
the politicians in Washington have decided they have
no other alternative than to simply give the consumer
$150 billion in tax rebates and hope they spend it.
Unfortunately, American homeowners lose $1.5
Trillion on every 10% decline in housing prices, and
in many parts of the country housing prices have
declined 20%. Too little, too late!
From the Great Depression through President
Kennedy, Washington was keenly protective of the
middle class. From the G.I. Bill to tax incentives
aimed at the middle class, to low tuition rates, and
low property taxes, both Washington and the states
catered to American consumers.
Unfortunately, in the 1970s, one set of politicians
turned their attention to the rich, believing that if all
was well at the top, everyone would be fine. The
other set of politicians turned their attention to the
poor. Both ideals may have worked, except for one
thing. They all forgot about the middle class. They
forgot how huge deficits impact the economy by tak-
ing huge sums of money out of the system just to pay
interest on the federal debt. They forgot that when
you raise college tuition, and even though you grant
low income scholarships, the middle class can’t
afford it.
Our federal government has borrowed and spent
beyond its means for so long that it has forced its cit-
izens to do the same just to pay for it.
Unfortunately, when it comes to spending money
they don’t have, the only difference between
Democrats and Republicans is that both will spend
every dime Washington can borrow, but Republicans
say they feel bad about it. Too bad for America.
— John Sharp
Former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
different cars, in two different cities, and
neither was my fault.
1.1 started from home toward my shop
and got about 2/3 there. Then I remembered changed my shirt. It was still raining,
I had not brought the food scraps for the
Jaminola cats, so returned home and got the
food. By the time I got back to the
Jaminola residence, it was raining so hard
that I did not stop but continued to the
shop.
2. When I reached the shop on East Texas ...
. Avenue, I found that vandals had knocked a and borrowed $20 until Thursday (payday),
hole in one of my windows and had broken
out a large pane of the glass in the store
next door in the same building. I called
Mrs. Haley, the police, and the glass com-
8. Another taxi arrived
with a different driver. He
tried to deliver hot lunch
to Evelyn at my address. I
told him there was no
Evelyn on the premises
and suggested he try the
same number on West
Texas Avenue.
9. Beverly, from the post
office, called. She asked
me to come and retrieve a
package I had sent to the Philippines sever-
al weeks ago. They had accepted it when
they should not have, since it exceeded the
size limit. It had reached California before
being returned.
10.1 discovered I needed a different
socket attachment for the torque wrench. I
phone Snap-On Tools, and they said their
HOW TO REACH US
Clifton E. i“Cliff” Clements,
Publisher \____
cliftcJejTtonts@baytfytfnsun.com
Sandy Denson, Business Mgr.
sandy.denson@baytownsun.com
Joshua Hart, Circulation Manager
joshua.hart@baytownsun.com
Gordon Gallatin,
Advertising Director
gordon.gallatin@baytownsun.com
NEWSROOM
David Bloom, Managing Editor
david.bloom@baytownsun.com
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Clements, Clifford E. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 7, 2008, newspaper, February 7, 2008; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1192131/m1/4/?rotate=0: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.