Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 349, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Page: 4 of 10
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Viewpoints
Page 4 ■ Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Sweetwater Reporter
DEDICATED TO PROUDLY DELIVERING LOCAL NEWS SINCE 1881
1—x Sweetwater 1
Reporter
■ tWIENIBER
| m A 2010
P.O. Box 750/112 W. Third
I
TEXAS PRESS
Sweetwater, Texas 79556
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GUEST COLUMN
Let s Laugh at 2011
HOLLYWOOD—God bless America, and how's everybody?
Let's start 2012 on the right foot by laughing at 2011. Here's our
annual look back at the year in jokes. Come back tomorrow for the
second half.
JANUARY - President Obama's job approval rating hit an all-lime
low in the Gallup Poll Tuesday as unemployment hit a new high. It's
nothing he's ever experienced. President Obama is so unpopular
that people ill Kenya have begun claiming he
was born in die United States.
U.S. Navy captain Owen Honors lost com-
mand of his ship for taping comedy skits with
his sailors on his ship. The skits had gay jokes,
simulated sex, and co-ed showering. Tlie cap-
tain lias been hired by the state of California and
put in charge of Workout Wednesdays.
■ FEBRUARY - Martin Sheen broke liis silence
I HG Tuesday about the behavior of his son Charlie
Sheen that caused him to lose his TV show.
■—™Until now he's been tight-lipped. He wants to
H show eveiybody that at least one member of the
|L [ ( Sheen family can still breathe through his nose.
Facebook announced it now lias five hundred
Hamiltnn m''i'on users. This breaks the previous record
HfllllllMVII held by heroin. Being on Facebook is like sitting
in jail—you spend a lot of time alone, you write
on walls and you get poked by people you don't know eveiy night.
MARCH - President Obama held a golf summit Tuesday with
John Boehner, Joe Biden and GOP Ohio Governor John Kasich to
negotiate budget cuts. They got right to work on it. The foursome
teed off at twelve noon and they were fourteen trillion over par after
three holes.
President Obama gave a televised speech to the nation Monday
about die operations in Libya. The president laced an impossible
task in his speech. He had to persuade the Democrats we should be
in Libya without convincing the Republicans he was bom in Libya.
APRIL - The Sons of Confederate Veterans held ceremonies
Friday marking the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the Civil
War. It had to be fought. It settled once and for all die great moral
issue in America whether farm work should be done by slaves or
illegal aliens.
The Boston Marathon was run in front of a big crowd Sunday. A
college kid watching the race from his dorm window fell five stories
into a snowbank but wasn't hurt. Later a Kenyan fell out of the win-
dow and beat his time to the ground by four-tenths of a second.
MAY - U.S. Navy SEALs landed on Osama bin Laden's compound
in Pakistan where they killed him. seized his body and dumped
it into the Indian Ocean. The reaction was swift. The next day all
three of Osama bin Laden's wives updated dieir Facebook status to
single.
The White House took full credit for the raid killing Osama bin
Laden Sunday. Both parties deserve credit. Sending in helicopters
may have been President Obama's idea, but shooting bin Laden in
the face was clearly a continuation of the Dick Cheney Doctrine.
JUNE - Anthony Weiner refused to resign from Congress
Wednesday despite calls from his fellow Democrats to step down.
Lysol.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian died after a career dedicated to assisted sui-
cide. His own life was extended by real caregivers. Last year when he
collapsed in Iris living room, paramedics saved Iris life by offering to
purchase Iris house for thirty percent more than he'd paid for it.
JULY - Harvard released a study finding that Fourth of July cel-
ebrations turn children into conservatives. The republic may survive
after all. It just takes a stirring speech and a fireworks show once a
year to undo two hundred seventy days of public school education.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's maid sold details of their affair to the
tabloids Monday and included a photo of their thirtee n-year-old son.
He looks just like Arnold. The boy is half German and half-Mexican,
meaning there's not a border in the world dian can stop this kid.
AUGUST - The Rise of the Planet of the Apes topped the movie
box office Sunday with fifty-four million dollars in ticket sales. The
plot is quite believable. In the movie, the apes take over everything
and within a year the United States is debt-free and the budget is
balanced.
Scotland Yard hired former LA police chief Bill Biatton to consult
with them on how to prevent further rioting in London. It's prevent-
able. England lias decided to adopt die American way of dealing with
angry street mobs, which is to make them too lat to riot.
SEPTEMBER - Wall Street calmed down Tuesday after a wild
one-week up and down ride. Investors are wary. The best yielding
dividends in dris recession are Apple stock, Google stock, and Miller
Lite if you drank ten thousand of them in die last three years and
saved the cans.
Heidi Klum sunbatiied topless in an Arizona ho tel pool causing
locals to call the cops Friday. What could they do? Heidi is from
Germany, but if she got those her breasts in Beverly Hills, then she's
here legally because California law considers them anchor breasts.
OCTOBER - Occupy Wall Street protesters stood in a Manhattan
park and chanted for free health care in America. If you want free
health care in America, go to the airport. They give you free x-rays,
free breast exams, and if you just mention al-Qaeda you get a free
colonoscopy.
Hank Williams Jr. apologized for comparing President Obama to
Adolf Hitler Sunday in a Fox News interview. It only got worse from
there. Widiin two days the surviving members of the Hitler family
appeared on German television and accepted Hank's apology.
NOVEMBER - Herman Cain was hit by a third sexual harassment
charge Tuesday from a one-time staffer who said he invited her to
his hotel room. There's a standard explanation. like a lot of CEOs
he likes to travel with a secretary near Iris bed in case he gets any
ideas at night.
The GOP candidates held a debate in Iowa Wednesday that aired
on CNBC. They took turns accusing President Obama of making
America unfit, unsafe and broken down. If Chinese leaders watched
this debate, they must wonder about the country they just bought.
DECEMBER - Pearl Llarbor marked the seventieth anniversary of
the Japanese raid on the U.S. Navy base in Hawaii. Every few years,
the surviving Japanese pilots attend the solemn ceremony. Their
visit is always a big surprise, they never announce they are coming.
Iran vowed to blow the U.S. Navy out of the water if Iran decides
to close die Straits of Homiuz. It's a song we know so well. While it's
been nine years since we overthrew an oil country and installed a
U.S.-backed regime, some tilings are like riding a bicycle.
Argus Hamilton is the host comedian at The Comedy Store in
Hollywood and entertains groups and organizations around the
country. E-mail him atArgiis@ArgusHamilton.com.
UNKNOWN SOLDIERS
rane Kept a Rollin
Lt. Col. Trane McCloud's
first name is actually
Joseph. Yet throughout his
life, the loyal son, devoted
husband, caring father and
valiant Marine went by his
middle name. He dicl so
to honor his mother, who
always thought "Trane" was
the best fit.
"Trane was very special
— even his name," Roma
Anderson told the Unknown
Soldiers. "It just speaks vol-
umes."
As a child, Trane, who
dreamt of someday serving
on a battleship, was fasci-
nated with bunding things.
One of little Trane's proud-
est moments was finishing
a complicated model of the
USS Missouri.
Years later, big Trane's
dreams came true when
he served aboard the USS
Missouri during Operation
Desert Storm.
"How many little boys
build a model ship and then
wind up serving on that
ship?" his mother said.
On Dec. 7,1991 — the 50th
anniversary of the attack
on Pearl Harbor — Trane
helped guard President
George II.W. Bush when he
boarded the USS Missouri
during commemoration
events.
"When the (ceremonies)
finished, the president
turned to Trane," his father,
Ron McCloud, explained.
"He said, 'I know you'll
make a great Marine offi-
cer.'"
The first President Bush
— a war hero himself — was
right. Trane would go on
to serve in Bosnia, Somalia
and Iraq. But first, after
Desert Storm, he became a
great husband.
"Meeting and marrying
Trane was the best thing
that ever happened to me,"
Maggie McCloud said.
It quickly became obvi-
ous that Maggie and Trane
were meant to be together.
"They became quite the
couple, I'll tell you that,"
Trane's dad said.
They also became quite
the parents.
"He would work crazy
hours when he was
THE GREEN TEAM
Col. Joseph Trane McCloud served in Operation Desert Storm, Bosnia, and Somalia
before making the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq on Dec. 4, 2006.
image courtesy Maggie McCltud
deployed and when he
wasn't," Maggie said. "But
no matter what time he got
home, if the kids were up,
he would run upstairs, and
you would hear giggles and
the sounds of joy."
Trane was a "big, tough
Marine," Maggie said, but
also extremely modest.
"He let his actions speak
for themselves," she said.
Before eating a meal,
Trane would always bow his
head in prayer. Before stat
ing his opinion, he would
always take the time to lis-
ten to other points of view.
Before deploying to Iraq
in August 2006, he spent a
special day with each of his
three children in Hawaii.
Maggie said Trane and the
kids called it "Daddy day."
After Trane left the
Hawaiian paradise for a
combat deployment on the
hellish streets of Fallujah,
Maggie spoke to her hus-
band only once.
"He had faith in me and
the family that we would
take care of the home front,"
she said. "He had a very
important job — a tough job
— and he wouldn't be on the
phone calling home when
the other guys couldn't do
that too."
On Dec. 4,2006, less than
two weeks before his 40th
birthday, Trane died in an
A1 Anbar Province helicop-
ter crash. A fellow Marine
and two U.S. Army soldiers
were also killed.
For the McCloud chil-
dren, even five years after
the crash, every day is still
Daddy day.
"Daddy made the last
birthday cake for me,"
Meghan, who was just 2
years old when her father
died, recently told her
mom.
"Daddy bought me chew-
ing gum on my Daddy day,"
Grace, who was 5, told her
grandma.
Hayden, who was 7, whis-
tles almost exactly like his
dad and displays many sim-
ilar traits. With each visit,
Roma sees more of Trane in
her grandchildren.
"It's a loss, but in their
little hearts, he's there as
big as life," Trane's mom
said.
Trane's spirit lives on in
his brother, Army Staff Sgt.
Richmond McCloud, 41,
who is currently deployed
to Afghanistan.
"He figures that by now,
his brother would have
been in Afghanistan," Ron
said. "He has a heartfelt
desire to be of service to his
country."
Maggie tries her hardest
to live every day like the
man she'll always love.
"I'm a better person for
having him in my life," she
said.
Staying true to the name
his mom called a perfect
tit, Lt. Col. Trane McCloud
loved his country, believed
in God, and took care of his
wife and children. That's
just how this Marine rolled.
"Trane was Trane," his
mother said. "And he knew
who he was."
To find out more about
Tom Sileo or to read fea-
tures by other Creators
Syndicate writers and car-
toonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate website at www.
creators.com.
Spring is list around the corner
As much as it seems like we
are locked in the dead of winter,
believe it or not, spring is just
around the corner. And yes, I
know that the first official day
of spring falls in the last half of
March. If you think that spring
isn't going to get here before
you know it, think back and
remember how fast Christmas
came. I don't know about you,
but Christmas was here
and gone before I knew
it.
Anyway, when I'm
referring to spring get-
ting here so quickly,
I'm not even talking
about the last half of
March. What I'm get-
ting at is that about the
first week of February,
which you will notice
is a long way from the
official start date of
spring, some plants are
going to start dieir own
personal "newyear". As
minor and umiotice-
able of a start as dris is, as far as
I'm concerned, this is the real
beginning of the new growing
season.
Most of the trees, such as elm
and ash, that "break bud" so
early will start out with flowers
instead of leaves. Since these
early risers have small green
flowers with no petals, it's easy
to miss diem and not realize
that the trees are getting an
early start. Because these trees
start so soon every year, they
naturally get "frost bit" every
time (nearly every year) we
have a hard freeze after the first
half of February. Since our last
hard freeze is quite commonly
in March, February bloomers
get hit more years than not.
Hopefully, we won't have
repeats of the harsh snow/ice
storms we have had the last
two years. While die bad storm
that we had in 2009 was a true
winter storm and arrived on
Christmas Eve, it was certainly
memorable for the number of
people it caught travelling. I'm
sure that eveiybody who was
stranded on 1-20 and had to
spend the night in their car on
Christmas Eve will remember it
Bruce
Kreitler
for a long time. Can you imag-
ine the black thoughts of some
poor stranded traveler that had
taken a more Southerly route
through Texas to try and avoid
being caught in bad weather on
roads further North?
Last year's storm arrived in
early February, and not only
did it pretty much shut the Big
Coun try down for a couple of
weeks, it also did
a lot of damage to
plants. I think the
low temperature
during that period
was something like
nine degrees. That
is indeed cold, but
most of the plants
we normally grow
here could have
handled the nine
degrees okay, the
problem wasn't how
cold it got, the prob-
lem was the lengtii
of time it stayed so
cold.
The storm last year was not
only notable for the damage it
did to plants, but in all my time
in the Big Country (over forty
years), as far as travel goes,
I've never seen anything like it.
While we occasionally do have
roads shut down for a day or
two here and there (such as
Christmas Eve 2009), the 2011
storm made nearly every road
in the Big Country impassable
for days on end. While it was
indeed interesting to see, it was
one of those experiences that
would be a lot better to hear
about than to go through per-
sonally.
As a side note, I saw a lot of
letters to the editor, and heard
a lot of people blame our local
and state governments for not
"getting the roads cleared". I
thought that was very unfair.
The storm diat we had last
year started with a quick rain
storm, which gave us plenty of
ice as a base, then turned into
heavy snow, and to top it off,
the thermometer went through
the floor and stayed there. The
area the storm covered, and
the amount of snow and ice
that stayed on the already cold
ground, turned the storm into
something along the scale of a
natural disaster and not a small
transitory, localized problem.
Expecting any government
entity to maintain enough
people and material to handle
a problem of that magnitude,
which only happens once every
fifty or sixty years is just not
realistic.
Hopefully, none of us liv-
ing here in the Big Country
will ever have to experience a
winter storm such as we had
last year, or for that matter, a
summer as harsh as the one we
just went dirough.
Capricious as day to day and
month to month weather may
be, the seasons come and go
on a regular schedule, and as I
said, even though it seems like
the middle of winter (because
in fact, it is), as far as nature
is concerned, spring starts in
about one more month. If you
have some tilings that you
wan ted to get done in your yard
or landscape such as new tree
plantings, patio construction, a
new pergola, sprinkler system
repairs, or eta, and wanted to
get them done before spring,
time is getting away from you.
For those of you that do all of
your own mowing, trimming,
and edging, now is a good time
to take any power equipment
you need repaired or serviced
to your local mechanic and
have that seen to. Pulling your
lawnmower out in March and
finding out it won't start is
going to be frustrating, but tak-
ing it to be repaired only to find
out your mechanic is already a
month or more behind is only
going to compound that frus-
tration.
Nature is using the next
month or so in preparing your
landscape for spring growth.
We can use the same time to
prepare for diat spring growth
and the maintenance that goes
with it, or we can be caught
totally by surprise. Just as
Christmas conies every year at
the same time, but still man-
ages to sneak up on us, moth-
er nature is going to kick off
spring growth and flowering
whether we are ready or not.
If you have any landscap-
ing, landscape maintenance,
or tree questions you would
like answered in this column,
submit them care of edilor(o>
sweetwaterreporter.com or
info@BrokenWillow.coni.
The KWKC Green Team
is made up of Bruce Rreider
(Broken Willow Tree Service
325 675 6794 or info@
BrokenWillow.com) Adam
Andrews (Willow Creek
Gardens 325 676 3616) and
Stephen Myers (Steele Myers
Landscaping 325 673 7478).
Catch diem on KWKC 1340
Saturdays at noon.
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ers and not those of the Sweetwater Reporter.
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 349, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 3, 2012, newspaper, January 3, 2012; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229652/m1/4/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.