Mount Pleasant Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 144, No. 102, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 28, 2018 Page: 4 of 12
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PERSPECTIVES
Page 4 • TribNow.com
November 28,2018
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%
Texas unemployment rate hits lowest level since 1976
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Lieedon acebook
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Mt. Pleasant
Tribune
Old cars and new friends;
the second time around
Miranda Oglesby, Reporter
miranda@tribnow.com
Mark Henry, Publisher
mark@tribnow.com
Tracy Farr, Reporter
tracy@tribnow.com
A Story
Worth Telling
Keilani Cheek, Bookkeeper,
Classifieds, Circulation
kcheek@tribnow.com
More Harvey funds to come
Texas Land Commission-
er George P. Bush on Nov.
19 announced an additional
allocation of $652 million
from the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban De-
velopment to help address
unmet housing recovery
her job. I’m certain that
she was probably worried
about tomorrow on many
occasions, but she didn’t
let her worries change the
impact she had on the stu-
dents she was serving. As
we work together toward a
common purpose of help-
by LEON ALDRIDGE
leonaldridge@gmail.com
Capital
Highlights
We are closing in on the
end of another school se-
mester and the 2018 cal-
endar year. It seems that
school just started and I
was having to mow every
other day. The older I get,
the faster time flies by.
I have a small plaque
by ED STERLING
Texas Press Association
eslie Brosnan, Advertising
leslie@tribnow.com
Mitigation plan is poste
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quali-
ty announced the publication of the final Volkswagen
Beneficiary Mitigation Plan on Nov. 16.
According to the TCEQ, the plan sets out the state’s
strategy for distributing more than $209 million re-
ceived in settlement of claims relating to emissions
control defeat devices on Volkswagen’s light-duty diesel
vehicles.
The plan will complement other grant programs that
target harmful ozone in Texas. These include the Electrify
America Program, the result of a separate settlement with
VW, which will fund additional electric charging stations.
The other program is the Texas Emissions Reduction Pro-
gram, one of the most aggressive and extensive programs
in the country providing voluntary incentives for replace-
ment, repowering and upgrading of polluting vehicles and
equipment.
More information on the program can be found at:
www.texasvwfund.org.
SBOE votes to hike funding
The State Board of Education, which oversees the
Texas Education Agency, voted Nov. 20 to increase
the funding in the 2020-2021 biennium for school
operations, instructional materials and technology.
The SBOE’s preliminary spending decision would
give schools $172 million more than currently allot-
ted. The figure includes $55 million that the School
Land Board agreed to provide.
But the funding is tied to budget decisions law-
makers must make in the coming year. The 86th
Texas Legislature is set to convene on Jan. 8, 2019.
An estimated $60 billion of the state’s current $217
billion budget is for public education. Only Medic-
aid, at $62.4 billion, takes a greater slice of the bud-
get.
Spending discussion will wait
The Legislative Budget Board met Nov. 16 to review the
items of information and methodology required to set the
Article VIII constitutional limit on certain appropriations
for the 2020-21 fiscal biennium.
House Speaker Joe Straus announced the board would
take up the spending cap at a later time.
After the meeting, Straus explained that the price of oil,
an uncertain price tag for Hurricane Harvey relief, and the
potential for a school finance solution make it unwise to set
a spending limit now.
Straus’s successor will be elected on Jan. 8, opening day of
the 86th Texas Legislature. Straus suggested the next House
speaker would need time to think through the options, and
that the discussion can wait until the state comptroller s
next revenue estimate in January.
Harts Bluff
Happenings
y Bobby Rice
Harts Bluff ISD
Superintendent
ublished Wednesdays and Saturdays, plus
daily online at tribnow.com
Periodical postage paid at Mount Pleasant,
Texas under Act of March 31,1916.
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$
-- P
X
AUSTIN — Texas has
its lowest unemploy-
ment rate in more than
42 years.
The Texas Workforce
Commission on Nov. 16
announced that Texas’
seasonally adjusted un-
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needs for Texans affected by Hurricane Harvey.
“We look forward to working with our partners in com-
munities across the region to leverage these resources ef-
ficiently and effectively to benefit Texans affected by Hur-
ricane Harvey,” said Bush, the chief executive of the Texas
General Land Office, the state agency that administers the
federal hurricane relief funding.
The $652 million will supplement some $5 billion in cur-
rent Hurricane Harvey programs being implemented by the
GLO, as well as additional programs in Harris County and
the City of Houston.
All endings are also
beginnings. We just don t
know it yet
—author Mitch Albom
.34,,
next to my sidewalk at home that says “stop and smell
the roses” that I see each morning and evening. Unfortu-
nately, I seldom do it. Instead of enjoying the moment of
“right now,” I often think of all the things to do tomorrow,
next week, next month and next year. Obviously, there is
some wisdom of thinking and planning ahead, but there
is also great wisdom in taking advantage of all the current
moments we have. I also have a plaque that says “Life is
not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by
the number of moments that take our breath away.” One
of the great challenges of any school district or parent is
to plan for the future while making an impact on children
in the “right now.
At a teacher in-service a few years ago, I was shown a
video about a boy that lost his mom but grew to love his
teacher and looked at her as a mother figure because of
the way she encouraged and mentored him. That teacher
was taking care of the “right now” when she was doing
Abbott comments on rate
Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed news of the re-
cord-low unemployment rate, attributing it to the
state’s “lowering taxes, removing regulatory barriers
and investing in our workforce and education sys-
tem.”
“As governor,” Abbott added, “I remain commit-
ted to ensuring that Texas stays the most prosperous
state in the nation.”
employment rate fell to ________________________
3.7 percent in October,
down from 3.8 percent the prior month.
It is the lowest level of unemployment the state has
seen since January 1976.
The Texas economy added 32,300 seasonally ad-
justed non-farm jobs in October. Annual employ-
ment growth was 3.1 percent, marking 102 consecu-
tive months of annual growth.
Still, job opportunities abound.
“The jobs are out there, and I encourage all job
seekers to contact their local Workforce Solutions
office for assistance with job training and place-
ment,” said Julian Alvarez, the TWC commissioner
representing labor.
The Midland Metropolitan Statistical Area record-
ed the month’s lowest unemployment rate among
Texas MSAs in October with a non-seasonally ad-
justed rate of 2.1 percent. That was followed by the
Amarillo MSA and the Odessa MSA, which tied for
second lowest with a rate of 2.5 percent. The Aus-
tin-Round Rock, College Station-Bryan and Lub-
bock MSAs tied for third lowest with a rate of 2.7
percent.
MEMBER
T5 20"
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
ing students be successful, responsible, trustworthy, car-
ing, fair, respectful citizens, we can’t wait until tomorrow
to make a difference. I see this passion in so many of
our staff members and in the hearts of many people in
our community. Whether you are teaching, driving a
bus, serving in the cafeteria, maintaining the buildings,
or working in any other position in Harts Bluff Indepen-
dent School District, never forget our common purpose
is to help students succeed in the “right now” so that they
can be successful in whatever endeavor they choose in
the future. If you are not an educator or part of our dis-
trict, you can still make a difference in the “right now” of
a child by volunteering through the opportunities avail-
able in our community, or simply by being present—not
just in proximity, but involved.
Thank you for making a difference in the city of Mount
Pleasant, in Titus County, and in each of our kids for
their future and their “right now.”
In a column published just shy of five years ago, I
mulled as to how coming full circle can be many things.
True enough, it can be an ending or a beginning.
One continuous thread throughout my three-score
and ten has been cars. Old cars, unique cars, cool cars,
fast cars. My father never grasped this concept, said
an automobile was “just a way to get from point A to
point B.” He was still shaking his head when by the time
I graduated from college, I had owned seven vehicles:
two new from Sandlin Chevrolet and Olds in Mount
Pleasant where I worked my way through college (and
cars); and four of them high-performance muscle cars
of the era. I agreed with dad, cars were about getting
from A to B.. .as fast as possible.
Attending the Muscle Car and Corvette Nation-
als (MCACN) show in Chicago the weekend before
Thanksgiving was a “coming full circle” experience and
a look back at my history of getting from A to B in fast
fashion. Organizers promote it as “...the ultimate gath-
ering place for young and old who have a passion for
horsepower.. .a showcase for the cars that have become
a part of our lives.. .a place to revive past memories and
friendships while opening the door to new ones.”
It did not disappoint.
The show had been on my radar for a couple of years,
but two things determined this was my year to go. One
was a low-production, high-performance Oldsmobile
muscle car manufactured from 1968 to 1970, one of
which I bought new. Dubbed an “Olds W-31 Ram Rod,”
it was built to make power with high-flow forced air in-
duction plus a collection of other unique speed compo-
nents, and marketed with “Dr. Olds W-Machine” ads
reminiscent of a Dr. Frankenstein laboratory.
The other was Stephen Minore in New Haven, Con-
necticut, a life-long W-31 fan who is recognized as the
“guru” for authenticating surviving examples. I con-
tacted him in 2015 about the one I owned and raced
48 years ago. He tipped me off earlier this year about a
W-31 Invitational at the MCACN where his 1970 W-31,
fresh out of a complete restoration would be unveiled,
and I was all-in.
Oldsmobile built a scant 212 copies of the car like I
raced. Try and find one today and you’ll likely score
a genuine set of hen’s teeth first. Seeing a dozen or so
examples in one place at the show and remembering
my racing days resulted in making another new friend,
someone else who lived those days. Tweed Vorhees
of Dover, Illinois, drag raced a ’67 Olds W-30 and
Ron Garey raced a ‘68 Olds W-31, both sponsored by
the Chesrown Olds dealership in Newark, Ohio.
Garey competed and won his class at the 1970 NHRA
Springnationals at the old Dallas International Motor
Speedway. Other competing Oldsmobile W-Machines
that June weekend were from California, Nebraska,
Iowa, New York, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts,
Washington, and a kid from Mount Pleasant racing a
’69 Sandlin sponsored Olds W-31.
A few years ago, Tweed located the 1968 Ron Garey
car that had been lost since 1970 and restored it to its
racing glory days. He had it on display at Chicago where
we shared memories about the history-making cars and
some of the drivers we both knew back then.
When I sold my W-31 in 1971 and ended my racing
career, I never suspected there would one day be the be-
ginning of a new association with the old cars and new
friends. But it’s a full circle. And I’m loving the second
time around.
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Mount Pleasant Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 144, No. 102, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 28, 2018, newspaper, November 28, 2018; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1429206/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.