Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 126, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 10, 2011 Page: 3 of 16
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Sweetwater Reporter
Sunday, April 10, 2011 ■ Page A3
Obituaries
TERRI ELAINE
STEWART
VERAAUCUTT
Vera Aucutt, age 84, of Sweetwater, Texas, formerly of
Roscoe, Texas, passed away on Friday, April 8, 2011, at
Nolan Nursing and Rehab.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday,
April 12, 2011, at First United Methodist Church with
Rev. David Weyant officiating. Burial will follow at Roscoe
Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Cate-
Spencer & Trent Funeral Home.
TERRI ELAINE STEWART
A memorial service for Terri Elaine Stewart, 42, of
Roscoe, will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9, 2011,
at McCoy Chapel of Memories, with Rev. James Taylor
officiating.
Stewart died Monday, March 28, 2011, in Sweetwater.
She was born March 1, 1969, in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
She married Richard Stewart on Sept. 24,1997, in Roscoe.
Terri attended school in Post, Texas. She was a custodian
for Highland School District and
worked closely with the sophomore
class. She was also a bus driver for
the school. Terri had lived in Roscoe
since 1999.
Survivors include her husband,
Richard Stewart of Roscoe; three
daughters, Crystal Dubay of Post,
Samantha Stewart of Roscoe and
Ashlee Stewart of Abilene; two
sons, Garrett Stewart of Roscoe and
Greg Stewart of Roscoe; mother
and step father, Evelyn McDougle
and Garland of Post; ather, Robert
Brumley of Paris, Texas; sis-
ter, Jessica McDougle of Goshen,
Indiana; step sister, Dondi Dillick
of Post; brothers, Robert Brumley, Jr. of Abilene, Bobby
Brumley and wife Misty of Paris, Texas and Jake McDougle
and wife Lacosta of Lovington, N.M.; step brothers, Ricky
McDougle of Lubbock, Tony McDougle and wife Teresa of
Post, Chris McDougle and wife Agie of Lubbock; paternal
grandmother, Ophelia Hunt of Paris, Texas; and beloved
aunt, Linda Wiggins of Lovington, N.M.
She was preceded in death by a brother, Wade
McDougle; and her maternal grandparents, Emmett and
Loren Buntin.
Tenaska
Continued from pageAl
2008.
Morgan, Skeith and Stringer are charged together with
two counts of conspiracy, one count of extortion and 59
counts of mail fraud.
Morgan faces an additional count of bribery.
Indictment says funds were given monthly
Grand jurors said Morgan was paid $4,166 a month by
a company that wanted to build a solid waste landfill in
northern Oklahoma. He was paid a total of $141,664 over
three years, according to the indictment. Skeith was the
company's lobbyist, and Stringer was the company's lead
Oklahoma attorney.
Grand jurors said Morgan was paid $5,000 a month by a
company that wanted to build a power plant in Oklahoma.
"Between Dec. 31, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2008, these checks
totaled $250,000," according to the indictment. Skeith was
a lobbyist for that company, too.
Grand jurors said Morgan was paid $1,000 a month by
a company that wanted to limit the Health Department's
regulation of assisted-living centers. Grand jurors said
Morgan collected a total of $12,000 in bribes from that
company from July 2006 through July 2007.
Grand jurors said Morgan told the company owner
in a May 2006 meeting at the Capitol that if the com-
pany "wanted his assistance in dealing with the Oklahoma
Department of Health, it would have to hire him as a lawyer
and pay him a retainer of $1,000 per month."
The indictment does not identify the companies.
The indictment said Morgan, Stringer and Skeith shall
together forfeit almost $392,000 to the United States if
convicted of wrongdoing involving the first two companies.
The indictment said Morgan shall forfeit another $12,000
if convicted of taking bribes from the third company.
Morgan was elected to the state Senate in 1996. He
served as Senate president pro tempore from March 2005
until November 2006, according to the indictment. He then
served as co-president pro tempore until November 2008.
He could not run again in 2008 because of term limits.
Attorney says Morgan is dismayed
His attorney, Ogle, said Morgan has cooperated in the
investigation. He said Morgan is dismayed that federal
prosecutors chose to believe convicted felons associated
with two of the companies.
Ogle identified the landfill company as Dilworth
Development Co. He identified the power company as
Tenaska Inc.
"Senator Morgan has a long history of impeccable ethics
and dedication to the improvement of Oklahoma, both as
a senator and an attorney," Ogle said. "We are confident
that Senator Morgan will receive a full exoneration of these
outrageous allegations."
Ogle said prosecutors have reacted to political pressure
in bringing the indictment. He would not elaborate.
Stringer's attorney, Drew Neville, also criticized the
indictment. "I've been in this case over a year and a half and
this prosecution is misguided. Martin Stringer will defend
this case vigorously. I find it regrettable this has occurred
from many different standpoints," Neville said.
Stringer is 70. Neville also said, "The facts of the case as
I know them do not evidence any wrongdoing by Martin
Stringer."
Skeith, 52, did not do anything wrong, his attorney,
Merle Gile, said. Asked if the indictment was political, Gile
said, "Yeah, they're all Democrats."
Food
Continued from pageAl
how to use your grocery dollars wisely helps ensure that
nutrition isn't neglected."
Nolan County Farm Bureau has donated $500 to
Gaylord's Pantry . The pantry's funds come from many
places. The donations come from First Methodist Church
members, the community, the Ministerial Alliance and
a FEMA grant from the City of Sweetwater, plus other
donations.
Planned Parenthood,
abortion and the budget fight
DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —« Republicans portray Planned
Parenthood as primarily focused on performing abortions
and — intentionally or not — using American taxpayer dol-
lars to do it.
Not so, say Democrats who counter that the group's 800-
plus health centers nationwide provide an array of services,
from screenings for cancer to testing for sexually transmit-
ted diseases. Abortion is just one of many procedures, and
the law bars Planned Parenthood from using tax money
for it.
In the budget maelstrom Friday stood Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, a 90-year-old organi-
zation now part of a decades-long congressional battle over
abortion. Republicans wanted any legislation keeping the
government operating to bar federal dollars for Planned
Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortions.
They wanted to distribute the money to the states.
"The country is broke and the vast majority of Americans
don't want tax dollars to take the life of unborn children,"
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., chairman of Republican Study
Committee, told reporters in a conference call.
Democrats said they saw a radical agenda against wom-
en's health, especially poor and low-income women, and
wouldn't allow it, even if it meant shutting down the gov-
ernment.
"It is appalling that Republicans would hold our eco-
nomic recovery hostage for a ransom of denying millions
of women Pap tests, breast exams, and birth control," said
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. "It shows their top priority is not
keeping our economic recovery on track — it is reviving
divisive social issues."
Late Friday, the White House and congressional nego-
tiators reached a deal on the budget and a compromise
on Planned Parenthood funds. Under the agreement, the
Senate will hold a vote on the money, and it's likely it would
reject the House effort to cut off the cash.
Abortion nearly scuttled President Barack Obama's
health care overhaul in the final hours of debate last March.
A year later, the stakes were higher, the political rhetoric
fierce and the claims in need of clarification.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., wrote last month that the legis-
lative fight is "Big Abortion vs. American taxpayers."
Giving its version, Planned Parenthood said it performed
about 330,000 abortions last year, 3 percent of its total
health care services. The organization also said its doctors
and nurses annually conduct 1 million screenings for cervi-
cal cancer, 830,000 breast exams and some 4 million tests
and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases.
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said
in a statement: "Attacking Planned Parenthood's preven-
tive health care hurts women, does not cut the deficit or fix
the economy, and must be stopped."
Nine of the Senate's Democratic women stood together at
a midday Capitol Hill news conference vowing to stop the
House GOP effort.
"This is an opportunity for the right wing in the House
to really sock it to women," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif.
Said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.: "These women
are a mighty line of defense against cutting Planned
Parenthood."
The organization said it receives $363 million in federal
funds, getting its money from both the Title X program and
Medicaid. Title X provides grants for family planning and
related health services under a law signed by Republican
President Richard M. Nixon in December 1970.
Of the Title X money, Planned Parenthood gets about
$70 million, some 25 percent of the $317 million in Title X
spending. The organization's annual budget is $1.1 billion
and includes individual donations.
Federal law bars Planned Parenthood from using tax dol-
lars for abortion. In 1976, three years after the landmark
Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, Congress
passed the Hyde Amendment which bars the use of tax-
payer funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or
to save the life of the mother.
It annually is attached to the congressional spending
bills.
But Republicans argue that often all the money ends up
in the same account for the organizations.
"Come on," Jordan said. "It's just common sense. We
think that taxpayers understand this, particularly at a point
in history when the country is broke."
No matter what the outcome, the fight over feder-
al money for Planned Parenthood will continue. Once
Congress resolves the budget for the current fiscal year, it
must decide on spending for the next budget.
"We have a long history of pro-life protection being part
of an appropriation debate," Jordan said.
Texas House puts
conservative stamp on state
JAY ROOT
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Republicans are using their
biggest majority ever in the Texas House to promote
their conservative vision. That includes government
slashed to the bone, more curbs on abortion, far less
money for birth control and new ID requirements for
voters.
The new supermajority has pushed those long pent-
up priorities with ightning speed through the often
raucous body that gave Gov. Rick Perry his start as a
Democrat in the 1980s. With so man cards left to be
played , t's far too early to say whal make it through
the less partisan Senate. But it's clear that Republicans
in the House have begun to show their hands — even at
the risk of voter backlash.
House Speaker Joe Straus acknowledges many of the
cuts are "not politically popular" but says it's what voters
asked for.
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Budget
Continued from pageAl
Washington Monument over his right shoulder.
The agreement was negotiated by Obama, House
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The administration was
poised to shutter federal services, from national parks
to tax-season help centers, and to send furlough notic-
es to hundreds of thousands of federal workers.
All sides insisted they wanted to avoid that outcome,
which at times seeme inevitable.
Shortly after midnight, White House budget direc-
tor Jacob Lew issued a memo instructing departments
and agencies to continue normal operations.
Boe! ier said the deal came after "a lot of discussion
and a long fight." He won an ovation from his rank
and file, including the new tea party adherents whose
victories last November shifted control of the House
to the GOP.
Reid declared the deal "historic."
The deal marked the end of a three-way clash of
wills. It also set the tone for coming confrontations
over raising the government's borrowing limit, the
spending p n for the budget year that begins Oct. 1
and long-term deficit reduction,
In the end, all sides claimed victory.
For Republicans, it Was the sheer size of the spend-
ing cuts For Obama and Reid it was casting aside
GOP policy initiatives that would have blockei envi-
ronmental rules and changed a program that provides
family planning services.
Not al policy provisions w ere struck.
One in the final deal would ban the use of federal
or local government funds to pay for abortions in the
District of Columbia. A program dear to Boehner that
lets District of Columbia students use federally funded
vouchers to attend private schools also survived.
Republicans had included language to deny federal
money to put in place Obama's year-old health care
law. The deal only requires such a proposal to be voted
on by the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it is
certain to fall short of the necessary 60 votes.
The deal came together after six grueling weeks as
negotiators virtually dared each other to shut down
the government.
Boehner faced pressure from his GOP colleagues to
stick as closely possible to the $61 billion in cuts and
the conservative policy positions that the House had
passed.
At one point, Democrats announced negotiators
had locked into a spending cut figure — $33 billion.
Boehner pushed back and said there was no deal.
During a meeting at the White House this past week,
Boehner said he wanted $40 billion. The final number
fell just short of that.
In one dramatic moment, Obama called Boehner on
Friday morning after learning that the outline of a deal
they had reached with Reid in the Oval Office the night
before was not reflected in the pre-dawn staff negotia-
tions. The whole package was in peril.
According to a senior administration official, Obama
told Boehner that they were the two most consequen-
tial leaders and if they had any hope of keeping the
government open, their bargain had to be honored and
could not be altered by stal The official described the
scene on condition of anonymity to reveal behind-the-
scenes negotiations.
The accomplishment set the stage for even tougher
confrontations.
House Republicans intend to pass a 2012 budget in
the coming week that calls for sweeping changes in
the Medicare and Medicaid health programs at; even
deeper cuts in domestic programs to gain control over
soaring deficits.
In e Republican radio address, House Budget
Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., warned of a
coming crisis.
"U less we act soon, government spending on health
and retirement programs will crowd out spending on
everything else, including national security. It will lit-
era y take every cent of every federal ta> liar just to
pay for these programs," Ryan said Saturday.
That debate could come soon.
The Treasury has told Congress it must vote to raise
the debt limit by summer. Republicans hope to use
this issue to force Obama to accept long-term deficit-
reduction measures.
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 126, Ed. 1 Sunday, April 10, 2011, newspaper, April 10, 2011; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229442/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.