The Panola Watchman (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 20, 1985 Page: 4 of 26
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T-Wheeler
This one you will not believe
lot. But then, we were bet
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hove mode us appreciote
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John Woyne
through os coptoin of
it
THE PANOLA WATCHMAN
PAGE FOUR
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Letter to the Editor
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Office Hours: 8 o.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
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6
TO VOICE TOUR OPINION CALL 214-693-8255
Consumer Watchdog
Mattox warns of end of tax rebate
Wevkme
Ingtowe
MB 18.
TALK-LINE
EDITORIALS
went of oil
instead of
from asset mani
state agency lai
tax increases.
went
a com
loon
the
The 161
Delegates
State Tom
be hold 5a
the
vests
Loyd C. Grissom
Publisher
I -Z//ZzW<- ///70
109 W. Panola St.
P.O. Box S18
Carthage. Tx. 75633
(214) 693-7888
ing us how tough it was to get
through journalism school dur
ing his college days. We think
we know how he paid his tui-
tion and boor money.
Yours respectfully.
s/Phll Gramm
U.S. Senator
analys
been adc
another I
history, be
hide peot
velvet or
robos, Ro
moccasins,
hoofs. Ch
believed,
character ,
Though
about hov
book by its
ly what we
takes to type the story.
And here he had been tell.
There is no Talk Line this issue because the
answering machine has been broken for the last
few days.
That "mechanical problem beyond our control"
has been repaired and Talk Line will be back in
this Sunday's Panola County Post.
REMEMBER,SON
— IF YOU WANTGOOD
VENISON, YOUVE GOTTA
GET YOUR DEER WITH
> QME SHOT ANO,
PREFERABLY, WHILE
HE'S COO6 ANO
• _ CALM...
wPREFERZLy
,, WHILE HE'S <
7 CLOSeTO ,
, THE TRUCK!
The Panola Watchman is published each Wednesday by Panola
County Newspapers and second class postage is paid at Car-
thago, Texas. Postmaster, send 3579 to P.O. Box 518, Carthago,
Texes 75633.
Dear Mr. Grissom:
After three weeks of debate
in a House Senate conference
committee, the House has now
passed a deficit reduction bill
crafted by Speaker Tip O'Neill.
In the coming few days, you
will be hearing a lot about
both the O'Neill alternative
and the bill that I introduced
along with U.S. Sens. Warren
Rudman, R-N.H., and Ernest
Hollings, D-S.C., so I thought
this would be a good oppor-
tunity to review what has oc-
curred.
The O'Neill alternative was
approved on a party-line vote
in the House, while the
Gramm-Rudman-Hol lings
legislation has twice won ap-
proval of a majority of both
Democrats and Republicans In
the Senate.
Here's how the O'Neill alter-
native works: First, it spares
27 government programs from
any kind of reduction. In total,
about 70 percent of the federal
budget would be protected
from any across-the-board cut.
058
PUBLIC OPINION FORUM
TALK-LINE
die of the seat with no belt at
toched.
How do you exploin that?
Try this. M's the best we
could come up with When we
the coot over our arm, the belt
must have slid through the
loops until one end was out-
side the cob when we slomm-
ed the rear door.
At some point in the next
seven or eight miles, thot end
of the belt was caught under
the rear wheels of the cab.
and with that, stripped out of
the belt loops at better than 60
miles an hour.
The loops were in totters of
course, but the fabric of the
coot wasn't damaged
By the time we got to the
hotel, we wore still walking a
little stooped, and trying to
figure out how such an
unusual accident would be our
9
Thus, any cuts triggered by a
failure of Congress to meet
deficit targets would decimate
the few programs which are
subject to reduction, such as
operation, maintenance and
personnel accounts of the arm-
ed forces and the entire
Veteran's Health Care System.
Secondly, the O'Neill alter-
native contains an extraor-
dinary provision requiring that
if any port of the bill is found
to be unconstitutional, the
whole bill is struck. You may
remember that the House
Democratic leadership at first
criticised Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings os unconstitutional
because the director of the
Congressional Budget Office
was a co-oqual with the direc-
tor of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget In estimating
the deficit on which presiden-
tial sequester orders are bas-
ed. CBO Is not an executive
branch agency. The U.S.
Supreme Court has found, In a
unanimous decision, that ex-
ecutive action cannot be based
answer? By creating
O'Noill alternative that
merciol airliner in "The High
ond the Mighty."
Our latest escapade came
because of e tote departure
from Diboll to Houston Inter
continental Raining cats and
dogs, and if the DPS had been
giving breothalyzer tests to
every driver that rainy after
noon, only yours truly and the
Pope would have mode it to
The Panola
WATCHMAN
PERSPECTIVES
_______________________ 9
' 5-Awa
de
Nev,, and would have believ-
ed anything Willord Scott said
at that point
Needless to soy we were not
wearing the topcoat when we
got off the plane in Dallas, and
that's where the story begins.
We only had the minimum
amount of time to get into
downtown once we charged
off the airplane A Dallas
newspaper editor had said we
could buy his dinner, and it
was an important meeting
So we charged out to the cab
stand, and flagged the first
likely means of transportation.
It wasn't really a cab in that
sense of the word. It was a sta-
tion wagon.
Not one of those spiffy new
models either. This looked a
little like the American cars
you see in a destruction derby
at the Astrodome.
The driver hod just gotten
the terminal. It was one of
those crozy days when
everybody was in a hurry, end
nobody should have been on
the highway in the first place
Sheets of rain, lightning and
thunder
But to get to the moat of the
story, we got to the departure
gate just as the flight olten-
dents were shutting the door
to the airplane Suitcase under
one arm, garment bog and
topcoat under the other,
You’re toying What the
heck were you doing with a
topcoat?"
We'll explain We were on
our way to Dallas and from 4
there to Kansas City, and .the
fat guy on NBC’s "Today Show"
hod told us that morning it was
going to be freezing in Kansas
City. That's why And besides
wo had seen the pictures of
four feet of snow in Reno.
Legislature's discovery that, In
many instances, urban growth
has raised the commercial
value of onco-rural state land
higher than is necessary to ser-
ve the needs of state agencies.
The program was entrusted
to Mauro, as land com-
missioner, to boost revenues
20:
\ — /,
programs boosted
homebuilding economy.
And like the vet programs,
this would use 8500 million
4 Wz/
gag
For More Help
If you need more help or In-
formation on this or other con-
sumer problems, contact your
nearest Attorney General Con-
sumer Protection Office (in
Austin, Dallas, Il Paso,
Don't ask us to verify this
with on eyewitness, because
he didn't believe it either,
Regular readers of this col
umn know that when the
T -Wheeler gets anywhere near
airplones at airports,
something out of the ordinary
is bound to occur.
And two aborted tokeolfs in
the last several months of fly
bonding authority, not tax
money, to provide the original
loan money. Several farm and
ranch groups endorse this
amendment.
Asset Management
One of the more innovative
measures to quietly emerge
from the last legislative
session was a program to
streamline the way the state
manages Its various public lan-
ds and assets.
One example is the
pushing their wares harder
than ever, knowing thot their
products are too expensive to
sell without the rebate.
In some cases, people have
been enticed Into buying much
more expensive systems than
they needed. Also, some
companies sell the solar water
heater only in a package
with other Items, such as a set-
back thermostat. There is
nothing wrong with the
package. However, each item
must be priced separately
because the tax rebate applies
only to the solar water heater.
Knowing that, the un-
scrupulous salesmen have
sometimes overpriced the
water heater and sold the
thermostat at a discount. The
consumer is told he can take a
tax write-off on the Inflated
price of his solar heater. Con-
The story isn't quite over.
Laser in our trip, we were
meeting with the editoriol
stoff of the "Konsos City Star.*'
end the lumber executive
traveling with us tocked his
keys in the car
The guy must hove been a
car thief in an earlier Me if
you believe in reincornotion.
He snapped a hook into a
coat hanger and had that door
tock poppod olmost in the time
off the boot os well and his
English was something bet-
ween Lebanese and Egyptian
and we are fluent in neither
We headed for Daitos, and
he took the Fort Worth exit,
and there was a whole bunch
of sign language going getting
him back on the proper
freeway.
Another five miles went by,
and the next instant we
remember with any clarity was
being slammed into the back
of the seat, with the backrest
tilting at a crazy angle, ond
recognizing that our back and
shoulders had instantly gone
numb
The driver had on his
Workman oars ond is oblivious
to what had happened in the
back seat.
It was then that we noticed
the belt buckle to our tren-
chcoat was toying in the mid-
on the findings of non-
executive agencies.
The Senate responded to
this concern by changing the
process to have the two agen-
cies report to the comptroller
of the U.S., who would certify
the figures ond report to the
President,
How did the House
Democratic leadership
'Ai
Ap
the power to determine the
size of the deficit solely in the
Congressional Budget Office.
The result is an unconstitu-
tional provision which
guarantees that the O'Neill
alternative can never be en-
forced.
Finally, after having exemp-
ted 27 taxpayer-financed pro-
grams from the process and
after having provided a dearly
unconstitutional provision to
assure that such a program
would never go into effect, the
Democratic leaderchip pro-
posal colled for a 8161.9 billion
deficit level for fiscal year
1986.
Most outside economic
forecasters project the deficit
for fiscal year 1986 to top 8200
billion. As a result, the
Democratic leadership Is call-
ing for a 840 billion reduction
in spending over the next nine
months. If those reductions
were mode on the basis of the
O'Neill plan, 70 percent of the
cuts would bo applied against
defense.
The ultimate political intent
of the House Democrats who
supported the O'Neill alter-
native is to have their cake
and oat it, too.
Congressmen who backed
O'Neill will be able to say
to you and your reporters, an
the day he announces for re-
election, "Sure, I voted for
deficit reduction," knowing
full well that the deficit will
never be reduced by even a
dime because their bill it
unlikely to win final passage,
because the President would
bo forced to veto it, and
because the courts would
declare it unconstitutional.
In sharp contrast, the Sonata
bill is backed strongly by both
Democrats and Republicans. It
provides a measured, constitu-
tional pathway to reach a
batoncod budget. It removes
Social Security from the
budget process, sotting it
apart as a self-supporting trust
fund. It singles out no on-
budget program for either a
heavy handed cut or a special
political favor.
The only particular political
appeal of Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings Ites in the fact that Its
Democratic and Republican
supporters alike will bo able to
tall voters the truth when they
say they voted to reduce the
deficit.
By Jim Mattox
Attorney General
In almost any business you
will find both honest and
dishonest people. Un-
fortunately, the solar hot
water business is no ex-
ception. Attorneys In my Con-
sumer Protection Division toll
mo that anyone who is looking
for such a device should be
careful about who they do
business with.
Tax Rebate Ending
Congress passed a low
several years ago to en-
courage the use of solar
energy. The law gives
homeowners a 40 percent tax
. write-off for solar hot water
hooters. However, this Is the
tost year for that writeoff,
unless Congress agrees to ex-
tend the law. That means thot
some solar salesmen are
Burners who do this are subject
to an audit and possible
penalties from the IRS. And,
the salesman who talked them
Into the purchase will not be
around to explain to the IRS
that it wa* their idea, not the
consumer's.
How Much Savings?
Our Consumer Protection
Division also has hoard that
some solar companies
misrepresent the amount of
energy that can be saved
through use of the solar water
heater. Such companies may
toll you that you can save 30 to
40 percent on your electric
and/or gas bills before
analyzing your energy usage.
Such claims are a sign of
overzealousness or even
outright deception.
If you have an electric water
heater and you pay a low
enough price for your solar
system, you can save both
energy and money. Hovever,
if you have a gas water heater,
the price you pay for the
system must be extremely low
in order to save you money. Of
course, you may choose a solar
system for environmental
reasons alone. But you should
study a number of different
systems before deciding which
is best foi you.
Farm, Ranch Program
Last spring the Legislature
passed this now program. now
Proposition 10 on the ballot,
which would provide similar
loans to farmers and ranchers.
The goal Is to pump now
vitality into the aqricul* o in-
period, and you all by this time
know about the T-wheeler and
Upcoming Pages
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Chessher, Earl. The Panola Watchman (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 20, 1985, newspaper, November 20, 1985; Carthage, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1541415/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sammy Brown Library.