Gainesville Daily Register (Gainesville, Tex.), Vol. [127], Ed. 1 Saturday, October 15, 2016 Page: 4 of 14
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4
Opinion
dtrigg@ntin.net
OPINION | GUEST VIEWPOINT
ABOUT THOSE
CLOWNS
4
B
£
1
SMALL CITIES WILL POWER
TEXAS ECONOMY
TEXAS LEADERS
AREN'T
LEADING ON
GOVERNMENT ETHICS ABOUT
TRACKING MONEY
These are the real issues that will
regulations that increase financial
Whether a council member or
The city of Denton’s annual bud-
4
— Denton Record Chronicle
Letters Policy
Have an opinion to
share? Email letters
(maximum 500 words) to
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Citizens are accusing them of
behaving badly on
Apparently, the city of Denton’s eth-
Though the event was well
attended, drawing officials and oth-
ers from Fort Worth, Sulphur
Springs, Cedar Hill, Garland,
Austin, Bastrop, San Antonio and
other cities, nearly all of the par-
ticipants were African American.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
But I couldn’t help think that
Cisneros’ message was one that
would resonate with a broader,
more diverse audience, including
elected officials and business lead-
ers from Austin and Travis and
Williamson counties. That is espe-
cially true when Cisneros talked
about the special role African
American and Latino leaders must
play as bridges that bring diverse
sectors together to get things done
for their cities.
For his part, Cisneros said he
landed in a great spot last year by
securing an ownership stake in the
New York-based firm Siebert
Cisneros Shank & Co. LLC, a full-
service investment banking and
financial services company (for-
merly Siebert Brandford Shank)
that was founded in 1996.
The firm, he said, is in an elite
circle as a Wall Street firm owned
by an African American, Hispanic
and woman. Cisneros also served
in President Clinton’s administra-
tion as Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development from 1993 to
1997.
— Austin American Statesman
CHILD WELFARE
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House
Speaker Joe Straus would have you believe they took
bold and aggressive action on Wednesday, directing the
Department of Family and Protective Services “to pro-
tect Texas children in Child Protective Services care
who are in harm’s way.”
Don’t fall for it. Those are just words on a news
release.
The state’s top three leaders sent a letter to DFPS
Commissioner Hank Whitman addressing the agency’s
alarming failure to meet legal standards for checking
on the welfare of thousands of children known to be in
danger of abuse or neglect.
The letter says, “We must act now to protect our chil-
dren who are in harm’s way.”
But it was a milquetoast approach to the current
Texas child welfare crisis.
State law requires that at-risk kids be visited within
24 hours in the most serious cases and 72 hours in oth-
ers. Some haven’t been seen in more than a year.
A real “act now” message would have told Whitman
to use all available DFPS resources to clear the backlog
of child welfare visits within days.
Instead, the three elected officials ordered prelimi-
nary action on long-term fixes:
“Develop a plan to hire and train more special inves-
tigators ...”
“Develop a plan, including a strategic hiring and
training schedule, which will ensure DFPS is staffing
an increased number of the necessary caseworkers ...”
“Reinforce the culture of accountability at all levels
of management by inspiring your workforce to rise to
the challenge...”
“Build upon your ongoing efforts to enhance more
partnerships with local faith-based communities ...”
The Big Three want Whitman to report by the end of
next week on his plan for developing these plans. This
is not leadership. How many of these kids could face
real harm before the end of next week?
Abbott, Patrick and Straus correctly point out that
DFPS is short of staff and money to do its job, which
comes from years of legislative shortsightedness.
They promise “judicious budgetary decisions” in the
legislative session that begins Jan. 10. That’s an empty
promise without real leadership on their part.
— Fort Worth Star Telegram
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Former San Antonio Mayor
Henry Cisneros, speaking in Austin
on Wednesday to the Texas
Association of Black City Council
Members, emphasized the impor-
tance of cities, and particularly
municipalities in Texas, in leading
“an urban renaissance” as the
nation continues its demographic
shift — culturally and economical-
ly-
“There are new roles for cities
that are yet to come,” said Cisneros
to the group meeting at Huston-
Tillotson University. “We’re wit-
nessing an urban renaissance in
America.”
Manufacturing no longer is the
economic engine of U.S. cities,
Cisneros said, adding that econo-
mies are powered by new media,
international trade, and big univer-
sities, such as the University of
Texas at Austin.
The former mayor of San Antonio
said that Austin with its booming
high tech, knowledge and research
infrastructure, along with San
Antonio with its bio medical and
science sectors are positioned to
become big players on a national
stage, as are Houston, the energy
capital of the country, and the
Dallas-Fort Worth area, a major
financial hub. Because the popula-
tions of those cities are largely
minority, African American and
Latino leaders are at the forefront
of those shifts.
“These are the next world capi-
tals,” Cisneros said, referring to
Texas major cities.
Two of those cities, Houston and
San Antonio, are led by mayors
who are African American.
Cisneros also reminded the
group that smaller cities - think
San Marcos, Manor, Elgin,
Smithville and Bastrop - situated
on the outskirts of larger cities
have greater roles to play in driv-
ing regional and state economies.
“Because we live in a system of
cities, even small cities are impor-
tant,” Cisneros said. “Cities will be
the engines that pull Texas.”
On the cultural front, Cisneros
noted that a majority of all children
who entered kindergarten this year
are minority: “It’s not just children
in California, but all kids,” across
the country, he said, adding “that
will change the American story
going forward. We’ve got to pre-
pare those kids.”
As the keynote speaker at the
Texas Association of Black City
Council Members, Cisneros talked
about his earlier years as a council
member and mayor of San Antonio
and how switching to a single-
member district system made a
huge difference in the way San
Antonio did business and addressed
its challenges. The council went
from one dominated by older, white
men with a chamber of commerce
focus to one in which six of 11 mem-
bers were minority who brought a
more inclusive governing style by
focusing on areas of town that had
been marginalized, he said.
Let’s face it; clowns are creepy. In a way, this current
craziness has finally brought that fact out into the
open, the way the word “frenemy” finally gave us a way
to talk about something we all recognized but hadn’t
acknowledged. (As did “bad hair day” before that.)
Clowns exist in something called the “uncanny val-
ley,” where dolls and puppets and ventriloquists’ dum-
mies live (or actually don’t live), too — a place between
too real to be make-believe and too make-believe to be
real.
But what to make of the clown hysteria sweeping the
country, leading to everything from strange sightings
to warning letters sent home from school to actual inci-
dents? That’s not to mention the weird case of a man in
Kentucky who shot his gun into the air when he mis-
took a woman walking her dog for a creepy clown. I’m
sure the woman appreciated that all around.
It all brings to mind the “satanic panic” of the 1980s
and ‘90s, when Americans were convinced that not
clowns but Satanists were raping and torturing chil-
dren in day care centers. Across the country, day care
workers were investigated for crimes such as sacrific-
ing animals in front of the kids and flushing kids down
the toilet to secret chambers where they’d be abused.
Under the sway of what we now understand to be
manipulative “therapists,” the tots told stories of being
flown in hot air balloons or taken on boat trips where
babies were tossed overboard. No evidence of this was
ever found — no drowned babies, no giraffes sliced and
diced at the zoo (which you’d think would be hard to
miss). Yet cops, juries and judges ate this stuff up like
bunny entrails.
It all sounds so obviously nutty now. But look what
happened to Fran and Dan Keller in Texas. At their 1992
trial, the jury heard that the Kellers had killed a dog
and made the kids cut it up and eat it. They also heard
that the couple had taken the kids to a cemetery,
whereupon they shot a passer-by, dismembered the
body and buried it in a grave they dug.
Testimony also had it that the Kellers had decapitat-
ed a baby and thrown its remains in a swimming pool
that they made the kids jump into. And in case that all
sounded just too plausible, they were also accused of
stealing a baby gorilla and chopping off one of its fin-
gers.
There were many more allegations added to this list.
And the Kellers served 21 years in prison.
In Debbie Nathan’s book about that period, “Satan’s
Silence,” she nailed a mind-blowing truth: While we
think we are so sophisticated and scientific today and
may even scoff at the idea of “Satan,” we have no trou-
ble believing in Satanists. We simply swapped one
basic human fear for another that sounds far more
plausible to our modern selves.
Which could explain why we believe that clowns are
out to kill our kids.
Looking back someday, we’ll be amazed that schools
were sending warning letters home about clown crime.
But in the meantime, we’ll keep worrying.
That’s what humans seem to do best.
— Lenore Skenazy is author of the book and blog
“Free-Range Kids. ”
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| HOBBl ACCEPTANCE |
I. SPOT
GAINESVILLE DAILY REGISTER SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2016
It often appears that Denton tax- spend those funds. discovered through good ethics
payers are financing a kindergarten Federal and state law require lob- laws.
class fighting over their toys at City byists to register and report their
Hall. contacts with lawmakers. The lob- confront City Council members and
The latest outbreak of nonsense byists must also report the specific their appointees to a special charter
revolves around threatened “ethics legislation or agency regulations review commission. Reforms possi-
complaints” against council mem- they are supporting or opposing bly could result in new and stronger
bers Sara Bagheri and Kevin Roden, during contacts with lawmakers.
Should that type of disclosure be transparency or financial prohibi-
Facebook. applied to City Hall? tions imposed on elected officials
Through annual financial disclo- and city employees.
ics policy requires council members sure statements, we can find infor-
to be service-oriented, communica- mation about what elected officials city staffer acts ugly to a citizen is
five and cooperative. own and where they get their important, but don’t confuse that
Those qualities certainly are income. behavior with the real issues sur-
desirable in elected officials, but For example, where does a coun- rounding ethics in government,
they have nothing to do with gov- cil member, school trustee or coun-
ernment ethics issues as we’ve ty commissioner own land? This get has reached one billion dollars,
come to understand them in 4 information enables the public to That is a big financial pie with
the modern era. assess whether government offi- many companies and individuals
For better or for worse, ethics cials are using their public office to seeking a share through a myriad
legislation and regulations mostly increase their property value or the government contracts issued each
involve legally required transpar- value of property owned by close year.
ency and prohibitions that involve family members. Yes, government ethics is all
money changing hands. We need to know if an elected about following the money. Don’t let
The public needs to know who official or appointed city staffer, or sideshows or shell games involving
contributes to the campaign trea- one of their close family members, personality conflicts or petty politi-
suries of elected officials and candi- owns an interest in a company with cal vendettas distract you from the
dates for office. And we need to which city government does busi- real issues.
know how, and with whom, they ness. Such conflicts of interest are
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Trigg, Delania. Gainesville Daily Register (Gainesville, Tex.), Vol. [127], Ed. 1 Saturday, October 15, 2016, newspaper, October 15, 2016; Gainesville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1323834/m1/4/?q=j+w+gardner: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Cooke County Library.