Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 075, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 11, 2010 Page: 3 of 10
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Sweetwater Reporter
Thursday, February 11, 2010 ■ Page 3
Obituaries
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JOHN MILLS HOUSTON
JOHN MILLS HOUSTON
Funeral sendees for John Mills Houston, 56, of
Sweetwater, will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13,
2010, at McCoy Chapel of Memories with Pastor Dale
Stowe officiating. Burial will follow
at Sweetwater Cemetery under the
direction of McCoy Funeral Home.
A visitation will be held from 7-8
p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010, at
V- McCoy Funeral Home.
Houston died Monday, Feb. 8,
2010, at Rolling Plains Memorial
Hospital.
He was born Sept. 22, 1953, in
Sweetwater. John was a truck driv-
er, a member of the Word of God
Church and a 1972 graduate of
Sweetwater High School. He played
football and was an outstanding
running back for the Sweetwater
Mustangs. He also went to Mt.
San Antonio College in Walnut,
Calif, on a football and track scholarship. John lived in
Sweetwater until 1972, and then lived in California for
25 years before moving back to Sweetwater about five
years ago.
Survivors include two daughters, Maracie Staton of
Sweetwater and Katrina Houston of Longview; four
sons, Jonathan Houston of Sweetwater, Jordan Houston
of Sweetwater, Tarrell Houston of Sweetwater and
James Franklin and wife April of Fort Worth; three
sisters, Mildred Foreman of Dallas, Nancy Thomas and
husband LeRoy of Seagoville and Maxine Lenford and
husband Vernon of Houston; and eight grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his father, John Robert
Houston on Nov. 8,1966, and his mother, Mae Houston
on Sept. 18, 2007.
Pallbearers will be Jonathan Houston, Jordan
Houston, Tarrell Houston, Kinshara Houston, James
Franklin, Eric Jackson, Ronnie Williams and Damien
Houston.
Honorarypallbearers will be Dennis Thompson, James
Thompson, Christopher Williams, Ronnie Jackson,
LeRoy Thomas and Vernon Lenford.
DWIGHT L. MCBRIDE
Funeral services for Dwight L. McBride, 94, of San
Angelo and formerly of Sweetwater, are pending at
McCoy Funeral Home.
McBride died Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010, in San Angelo,
ensus
Continued from pagel
badges and confidentiality notices. If individuals are
uncertain of workers' credentials they should ask the
individual for a supervisors' phone number to verify
their status as a Census employee.
• If individuals don't return their census question-
naires, they will be visited by a Census worker who
will ask all ten of the questions found on the 2010
Census questionnaire. Those questions include occu-
pants' race, gender, date of birth and other details.
The 2010 Census asks no questions related to personal
finances.
• The U.S. Census Bureau has about 150,000 com-
munity partner organizations that aid it in spreading
the word about the importance of completing the
Census. In Sept. 2009, the Census Bureau decided
to end its relationship with Acorn because it deter-
mined the organization became a distraction to the
Census mission. No partner organizations, however,
are allowed to collect, handle or process Census data.
Such work is done only by Census Bureau employees,
who face stiff penalties if they fail to protect Census
data.
SPD
Continued from pagel
Sweetwater Chief of Police Jim Kelley presented the
2009 Racial Profiling Statistics for the City of Sweetwater
Police Department to the city commissioners.
Racial profiling is prohibited and the Texas Code of
Criminal Procedure requires that this data is compiled
and submitted yearly, to ensure that racial profiling is
not taking place. Each time an officer makes a stop, they
are required to complete and submit a racial profiling
form. The information gathered on this form allows the
police department to track racial profiling. The racial
profiling policy was adopted by the City of Sweetwater
on Nov. 13, 2001.
Racial profiling is defined as an action taken by law
enforcement based on the individual's race, ethnicity or
national origin instead of their behavior or information
connecting them to criminal activity, according to Chief
Kelley's report.
According to the 2009 Sweetwater Police Department
Racial Profiling Total Statistics, Caucasians were the
biggest number of traffic stops. They made up 54.77 per-
cent, totaling 1,193. Native Americans comprised zero
percent of the statistics. Asian and Middle Eastern made
up .19 percent each. Hispanics were 33.42 percent, with
a total of 728 stops, and African-American totaled 11.43
percent, with 249 stops. There were a total of 2,178 stops
made. There were 1,357 men and 821 women.
When the numbers were divided into male and female
population, Caucasian males made up the biggest per-
centage at 52.54 percent. Out of the 1,193 Caucasians
stopped 713 were men and 480 were women. There
were 439 Hispanic males (32.35 percent) and 289
females (35.20 percent), 199 African-American males
(14.66 percent) and 50 females (6.09 percent). No
Middle Eastern women were stopped, but there were
four men which made up .294 percent. Two Asian men
(.147 percent) and women (.25 percent) were stopped.
Over the past five years, the statistics have stayed
within a close range, concerning all of the ethnicities.
One change from the previous way that statistics were
tracked and the 2009 year, is that Native American,
Asian and Middle Eastern were tracked under the same
classification statistics and this year they were divided.
Jaycees
Continued from pagel
were losing their livestock to these natural predators.
While at the Capitol, Governor Rick Perry will be on
hand to witness a snake handling demonstration. The
Jaycees' presentation includes a discussion on snake
safety and what to do if bitten by one, a snake "pet-
ting" where observers are given the chance to touch
the snakes, a lesson on the life and behavior of snakes,
and messages on how to act if one should encounter a
snake.
Representative Susan L. King represents District 71,
Taylor and Nolan Counties.
Fomier Texas Rep. Charge Wilson d esat76
JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press Writer
DALLAS (AP) — The late Rep. Charlie Wilson worked
tenaciously to funnel millions of dollars in weapons to
Afghan rebels who fought off the Soviet Union, only to
watch Afghanistan plunge into chaos and eventually
harbor al-Qaida terrorists.
The course of events greatly saddened the rakish
Texan, who died at a Texas hospital Wednesday at age
76, and believed it could have been avoided had the U.S.
committed to rebuilding Afghanistan years ago.
"He tried to get a lot of dollars appropriated to rebuild
the infrastructure," longtime friend Buddy Temple said
Wednesday. "What he told me was the members of
Congress, they were tired of hearing about it by then."
Atta Mohammed Nur, a major commander in the
war against the Soviets, expressed his condolences
Thursday. He said Stinger missiles he received during
the conflict shot down several Soviet jets.
"When we got the Stingers, it changed the situation
on the front line totally," lie said. "Mr. Wilson is in the
heart of the Afghan people. Never will the Afghan nation
forget him."
Wilson represented Texas' 2nd Congressional District
from 1973 to 1996, and was know n in Washington as
"Good Time Charlie" for his reputation as a hard-drink-
ing womanizer. He once called former Rep. Patricia
Schroeder "Babycakes," and tried to take a beauty queen
with him on a government trip to Afghanistan.
"He was larger than life. He was everything he was
portrayed to be," said Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar
in residence at Middle East Institute in Washington
and a former State Department intelligence analyst on
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Weinbaum said Wilson's legacy should not be over-
shadowed by Afghanistan's post-Soviet turmoil.
"In those days, it was the Cold War and we had a sin-
gular determination," he said. "You have to see it in the
context."
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wilson's
"efforts and exploits helped repel an invader, liberate a
people, and bring the Cold War to a close."
"After the Soviets left, Charlie kept fighting for the
Afghan people and warned against abandoning that
traumatized country to its fate — a warning we should
have heeded then, and should remember today," Gates
said in a statement.
Wilson died at Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin after
having difficulty breathing following a meeting in the
eastern Texas town where he lived, hospital spokes-
woman Yana Ogletree said. Wilson was pronounced
dead on arrival, and the preliminary cause of death was
cardiopulmonary arrest, she said.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee,
Gov. Perry credits Texas Film
Incentive Program with creating
hundreds of jobs for Texans
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry touted the Texas Film
Incentive Program with helping attract nearly 900 jobs
and more than $5 million in capital investment to the
state from the production of the HBO biopic Temple
Grandin. The $352,800 investment through the Texas
Film Incentive Program in the production helped the
state beat out film sites in Arizona and New Mexico.
"This production is a great example of the Texas Film
Incentive Program at work, creating jobs for hundreds
of Texans, attracting millions of dollars in capital invest-
ment to our state economy, and generating a significant
return on our initial investment," Gov. Perry said. "This
film tells a great story, and I'm proud to say it was filmed
in the Lone Star State."
The film tells the story of Temple Grandin, an autis-
tic woman who excelled academically and went on to
revolutionize the livestock industry through designs in
equipment and practices used to make the handling
of cattle more humane. The production was filmed
in Austin, Driftwood, Georgetown, Schwertner, New
Braunfels, Luling, Gonzalez and Corpus Christi, with 94
percent of the cast and crew hired locally.
Last session, Gov. Perry signed House Bill 873, which
promotes the entertainment industry in Texas by pro-
viding incentives for the film, television, video and
digital interactive media production industries. At the
governor's request, the Legislature appropriated $60
million dollars for the incentive program lor the bien-
nium.
Temple Grandin premiered on HBO on Saturday, Feb. 6.
National Pancake
Day celebration to
benefit Shriners
Hospitals For Children
In celebration of National Pancake Day, IHOP restau-
rants nationwide will offer each guest a free short stack
of buttermilk pancakes in an effort to raise awareness
and funds for Shriners Hospitals for Children and other
local charities.
This year, IHOP is hoping to stack up more donations
than ever before, with a goal to raise $1.75 million, for a
total of $5 million in five years with its National Pancake
Dav fundraising effort. To find a local IHOP or to donate
Online, visit www.ihoppancakeday.com
For every delicious short stack of buttermilk pan-
cakes served on National Pancake Day, IHOP guests
are invited to make a donation to Shriners Hospitals for
Children, a network of 22 pediatric hospitals throughout
North America that provides all services free of charge.
The event will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010. Participating IHOP restaurants
in the Abilene area will benefit Shriners Hospitals for
Children.
Fun Facts From National Pancake Day 2009:
• Pancake lovers donated nearly $1.5 million to chil-
dren's charities, far exceeding the fundraising goal.
• IHOP served more than 2.5 million free pancakes on
National Pancake Day 2009.
• All of the free pancakes served on National Pancake
Day would create a stack more than 20 miles high.
• Since the inception of National Pancake Day in
2006, IHOP has raised more than $3.25 million and
given away more than 6.1 million pancakes to support
charities in the communities in which it operates.
• National Pancake Day 2009 was IHOP's largest one-
day event in the company's 51-year history.
ABOUTIHOP
For 51 years, the IHOP family restaurant chain has
served its world famous pancakes and a wide variety
of breakfast, lunch and dinner items that are loved by
people of all ages. IHOP offers its guests an affordable,
everyday dining experience with warm and fiiendly
service. The first IHOP opened in Toluca Lake, Calif
in 1958, and as of September 30, 2009, there were
1,433 IHOPs in 50 states, Canada and Mexico. IHOP
restaurants arefranchised and operated by Glendale,
Calif-based International House of Pancakes, LLC and
its affiliates. International House of Pancakes, LLC is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of DineEquity, Inc. (NYSE:
DIN).
Wilson helped secure money for weapons and worked
with then-CIA agents Gust L. Avrakotos and Mike
Vickers to get them to the mujahedeen.
"Charlie Wilson gave power to it, gave emotion to
it. He could push," said Abraham D. Sofaer, a senior
fellow in foreign policy and national security affairs at
the Hoover Institution, and former legal adviser to two
secretaries of state. "I don't think he was influential in
terms of ideas, he was influential in terms of power."
The Soviets spent a decade battling the rebels before
pulling the Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989. Two
years later, its economy in ruins, the Soviet Union fell
apart.
Vickers, now assistant secretary of defense for special
operations, called Wilson a "great American patriot who
played a pivotal role in a world-changing event — the
defeat of the Red Army in Afghanistan, which led to the
collapse of communism and the Soviet empire."
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad
Zahir Azimi said: "The people of Afghanistan will never
forget this. All the time, they have this memory of
Wilson."
Wilson, a Democrat, was considered both a progres-
sive and a defense hawk. While his efforts to arm the
mujahedeen in the 1980s were a success — spurring a
victory that helped speed the Soviet Union's downfall
— he was unable to keep the money flowing after the
Soviets left. The ensuing tumult created an opening
eventually filled by the Taliban, which provided a safe
haven for al-Qaida.
After the Sept. 11 attacks — carried out by al-Qaida
terrorists trained in Afghanistan the U.S. ended up
invading the country it had once helped liberate.
"People like me didn't fulfill our responsibilities once
the war was over," Wilson said in a September 2001
interview with The Associated Press. "We allowed this
vacuum to occur in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which
enraged a lot of people. That was as much my fault as it
was a lot of others."
His efforts to help the Afghan rebels — as well as his
partying ways — were portrayed in the movie and book
"Charlie Wilson's War." In an interview with the AP
after the book was published in 2003, he said he wasn't
worried about the depiction of a wild side.
"I would remind you that I was not married at the
time. I'm in a different place than I was in at the time
and I don't apologize about that," Wilson said.
Charles Nesbitt Wilson was born June 1, 1933, in
Trinity. He attended Sam Houston State University in
Huntsville before earning his bachelor's degree from the
U.S. Naval Academy in 1956.
Wilson served as a Naval lieutenant between 1956-
60, then entered politics by volunteering for John F.
Kennedy's presidential campaign. He served in the
Texas House and then in the Texas Senate before being
elected to the U.S. House in 1972.
"Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a
state representative, perfect as a state senator. He was
a perfect reflection of the people he represented," said
Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as
Wilson's chief of staff in Washington and worked with
Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate.
Temple, who was with Wilson when he collapsed
Wednesday, said that despite Wilson's reputation as
a playboy, he was serious about representing eastern
Texas, including helping to create the Big Thicket
National Preserve — almost 100,000 acres of swamps,
bogs and forests.
Wilson left politics in 1996, after he no longer found it
fun. He lobbied for a number of years before returning
to Texas. In 2007, he had a heart transplant after being
diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes
an enlarged and weakened heart.
Schnabel said he had just been with Wilson a few
weeks ago for the dedication of the Charlie Wilson chair
for Pakistan studies at the University of Texas, Austin, a
$1 million endowment. He said Wilson had been doing
"very good" and said his former boss described himself
as "a poster boy" for heart transplants.
Wilson is survived by his second wife, Barbara, whom
he married in 1999, and a sister.
Associated Pi'ess writers Amir Shah in Kabul, Terry
Wallace in Dallas, and Lolita C. Baldor and Suzanne
Gamboa in Washington conti'ibuted to this report.
MIDDAY ON WALL STREET
Today's Trading
Change
DOW
9,985.63
-73.01
NASDAQ
2,134.87
-16.00
S&P
1,061.71
-8.81
General Motors
0.60
+0.00
Ford Motor Co.
11.00
-0.15
AT&T
25.08
-0.18
Pepsico, Inc.
60.04
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USG Corp.
12.2
+0.03
Archer-Daniels
30.09
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GE
15.76
+0.16
Deere & Co.
50.22
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McDonalds Corp.
63.53
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Chevron Texaco
70.82
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Exxon Mobil
64.92
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Fst. Fin. Bnkshs.
50.96
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Coca-Cola
53.62
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Dell
13.84
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SW Airlines
11.70
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Microsoft
28.18
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Sears Holdings Co.
90.03
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Cisco
23.82
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Wal-Mart
53.24
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Johnson & Johnson
62.68
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 075, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 11, 2010, newspaper, February 11, 2010; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229089/m1/3/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.