Today Newspapers (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 2009 Page: 4 of 18
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Page 4 • Today Newspapers • Thursday, April 16, 2009
www.todaynewspapers.net • manager@todaynewspapers.net
We have resources for Child Abuse Prevention Month
Help available for abusers, TTSD on the home front'
STEVE
SNYDER
News Editor
It's another April, it's another
National Child Abuse
Prevention Month.
That, in turn, means it's time
for another column about the
subject from me.
Unfortunately, as the recent
death of Christian Wilson in Ce-
dar Hill and an earlier arrest in
DeSoto for a child's murder un-
derscore, this is a problem that
continues to rear its tragic head.
First, with Wilson's death in
mind, I'll note what may be considered obvious -
alcohol and drugs play a big role in a fair amount of
child abuse and neglect.
That said, help is available - from various sour-
ces, and for various needs.
Local mental health hospitals like Hickory Trail
Hospital, formerly The Cedars, in DeSoto, offer both
inpatient and outpatient substance abuse rehab, for
parents who recognize that drugs or alcohol are ef-
fecting how they treat their children, or for friends of
such people trying to intervene.
Beyond that, a variety of self-help groups are
available to help people help themselves. Many peo-
ple have heard of Alcoholics Anonymous (www.aa
dallas.org for local help) or parallel organization
Narcotics Anonymous (www.dallasarena.org). But,
the 21st century has moved beyond the 12-step
model as being the only, or even the predominant,
sobriety recovery model.
There's Lifering Secular Recovery (www.lifering.
org) and Secular Organizations for Sobriety (locally
at www.sosdallas.org), both of which offer a more
individualized approach to recovery issues.
Second, if you are an adult survivor of child abuse
— specifically, of child sexual abuse - you also have
help available. The Family Place, in the Oak Lawn
section of Dallas (www.familyplace.org) offers group
therapy counseling for both male and female adult
survivors, as well as anger management counseling.
Beyond that, some local individual counselors
may offer a focus in this type of counseling.
Third, as in some previous years' columns, I want
to take a few minutes to shoot down some stereo-
types about sexual abuse.
First of all, most sexual abuse is not committed
by the stereotypical dirty old man sitting on a park
bench. Rather, it's perpetrated by people children
know. And, within that, probably about half of what
are some very hard to determine numbers (for what
should be obvious reasons) is sexual abuse by some-
one within a child's own family.
See CHILD ABUSE, Page 6
SUE
HEIGELE
Special to Today
uh.... a little
help here!
More on helping senior parents manage money
DEBI
CHOATE
OK, so you have decided
to have "the conversation"
about finances. Great, here
are some guidelines to help
cover the basics.
1. Assess the current situa-
tion.
Does the parent need help
with bill paying or balancing
a checkbook? Who will man-
age funds if your parents
cannot? Approach the subject
Special to Today by saying you heard that a
friend had a similar money
discussion with her parents and everyone agreed it
resulted in significant peace of mind.
2. Ask about legal documents.
Request that your parents prepare a power of
attorney, health-care power of attorney, living will
and will. Make sure you understand your parents'
wishes.
3. Understand basic information.
Review monthly income sources and expenses.
If expenses exceed income from Social Security
and pensions, where will supplemental funds come
from? Prepare a balance sheet listing assets and
debts, and get a list of your parents' financial
advisers.
4. Reduce parental debt.
Make a plan to pay off accounts with high
interest rates, transfer balances to accounts with
lower interest rates, and stop using credit to pay
for monthly needs. Look and see if a reverse mort-
gage is an appropriate source of additional income.
5. Review insurance coverage.
Review all contracts. Benefit limits may be out-
dated. Consider increasing deductibles or limiting
coverage if funds are available to cover small loss-
es.
6. Hire assistance.
Parents may need help preparing taxes, manag-
ing investments and choosing housing options.
Consider someone who specializes in geriatric
finance. Be sure a financial adviser holds appro-
priate credentials such as certified public accoun-
tant, or licenses for insurance and brokerage ser-
vices.
Debi Choate is community relations officer at
Texas Trust Credit Union, Cedar Hill branch.
Go read a book this week - no, really
the county bookmobile came once a week to the
post office parking lot and found many of us wait-
ing to view and choose from that week's selection.
And then school libraries began to emerge,
though on very limited budgets. (I'm familiar with
one that operated on a yearly budget of $2 per stu-
dent, which didn't allow the librarian much buying
power.) Many rural schools missed out on these,
though, and schools fortunate enough to have one
were intensely proud of the fact. And now we have
community/school libraries with something for
everyone, such as the wonderful one that serves
Venus High School and the community of Venus,
just south of here. (Wish you could see this well-
run facility - it's a jewel!)
And now - oh, my! Our libraries feature not
only books of fiction and nonfiction, but videos to
check out, magazines, tax help, marvelous chil-
dren's collections and activities and friendly, com-
petent staff members. Those YMCA librarians
would think they had died and gone to heaven.
Which brings us home to our Duncanville
Public Library, with its marvelous collection of
109,007 items, including books, media and Span-
ish materials. The library also subscribes to 181
magazines and newspapers on a wide variety of
subjects. One of its most often used services is the
17 public computers, one of which I'm using right
now to type this. In addition, the ongoing book
sale and the huge yearly used book sale are
immensely popular, as is the video collection. And
there are always scads of new books and best-
sellers to tempt the reader. We're also fortunate to
have a knowledgeable and friendly staff under the
direction of Carla Wolf Bryan, head librarian.
So if you're looking for something to celebrate
this month, come check out the library - and have
a wonderful National Library Week.
And - as promised - no test!
One of America's often-
overlooked celebrations is
National Library Week, April
12-18 this year. I don't know
about you, but I've always
loved this annual opportunity
to recognize one of my
favorite components of life -
today's library.
But how are we so fortu-
nate as to have these public
libraries? Maybe that's some-
thing most of us never stop to
consider; we take our librar-
ies, like other community ser-
vices, for granted. Well, lend an ear for a few mo-
ments and settle back for a little journey through
the past - and relax! I promise there won't be a
test at the end of this little zip-trip!
The modern era of American libraries began
with Union and Confederate soldiers exchanging
books during the Civil War. Many couldn't read
well - if at all - so those who could would often
read aloud to others around nightly campfires. One
of the most eagerly devoured books was Victor
Hugo's "Les Miserables." (Small teacherly note
here: It's still a marvelous story - hope you haven't
missed it!)
Following the war, the YMCA set up small
reading rooms where young men new to city life
could go to read and avoid "the temptations of the
street." Librarians here were paid about $4 a week,
slept in a back room and served as janitors, book
repairers and counselors to the patrons. These li-
braries were active until the early 20th century,
when their collections were donated to newly
emerging "public" libraries and private lending
libraries, where people paid 5 or 10 cents to check
out a book for a given time.
Shortly after that, small rural communities be-
gan to be served by bookmobiles, little vans that
carried books to towns without libraries of their
own. When I first lived in eastern North Carolina,
Sue Heigele is a retired English teacher She
lives in Duncanville and may be reached at
heigelemail@yahoo.com.
AROUND TOWN
Parlor chats - flatirons and laundry lists
If you were a flat iron,
what kind would you be?
Would you be a Cannon
charcoal heated flat iron,
popular in 1850? Or would
you be a No. 16 Salter
Sharp Point Victorian flat
iron, which seems to be
taking housewives by storm
these days? A Kenrick Slug
iron seems to be easier to
handle, but being smaller
than the other two, it takes
Special to Today much longer to complete
the task. Although, I must
say it is a great model for young girls to be trained
for the domesticated chore; I remember when I
was a young girl of about 8 or 9 years old teasing
MARIKAY
DEWBERRY
my mother for a chance to try pressing for the first
time. I felt so grown up as I lifted the heavy flat
iron and felt the hot steam rise, as I heard the siz-
zle hissing from the fabric. I would stand on the
wooden kitchen chair and slide the flat iron back
and forth in the same spot until it looked smooth
and shiny, then return it ever so carefully to the
top of the wood burning stove and wait for it to
reheat.
Ironing with a red hot and heavy flat iron
requires strength and agility, as well as patience.
Just when you begin to win the battle against the
wrinkles, it is time to heat the iron over the coals
again. You learn with trial and error just when to
lift it off the fire and begin to press the clothes
again. After spending all day yesterday down by
See PARLOR, Page 8
JACK
ARMSTRONG
Special to Today
ELECTION POLICIES
Today Newspapers offers the following guide-
lines during political campaign season in regard to
letters to the editor and candidate submissions.
Today Newspapers does not run submitted
material concerning upcoming elections in the last
issue before the election date. This "clear week"
policy includes not only election campaigns be-
tween candidates for political office, but issue-
based measures such as bond and initiative elec-
tions, whether on that particular ballot, or tied to a
particular candidate's campaign.
Candidates are allowed one submitted article
and photo per campaign - up to 250 words - that
may be submitted for publication up until clear
week. Letters to the editor should also be limited
to 250 words and will be considered for publica-
tion until clear week.
Today Newspapers reserves the right to print
staff-generated, election-related material at any
time.
This year's elections are May 9, and Today
Newspapers will accept election-related letters to
the editor and candidate submissions for the April
30 issue but not for the May 7 (clear week) issue.
Non-political letters to the editor may still be sub-
mitted for that date.
Candidates who have received questionnaires
are reminded to submit them ASAP.
Folks it's so good to be
back with you each week
again, and as long as it lasts
I'm going to enjoy it! At my
ripe old age it makes it a little
harder to keep my train of
thought when I only write a
column every other week. We
have really been enjoying
some of the new guest col-
umns that have been showing
up in Today. Last weeks col-
umn by Grady Smithey was
great.
I see Paul Ford made the
front page of The Dallas Morning News on his
campaign to get rid of the red light cameras here
in Little D. I can't say I agree with him, but it's his
right to say what he thinks. We just hope there
aren't 1,300 people that feel the same way, to sign
his petition. No hard feelings Paul, that's just my
way of looking at it and quite a few others I might
add. The way I see it if those cameras kept one
person from being killed by a red light runner then
the whole thing would be worth while, not to men-
tion the revenue coming in to help our city. In
these hard times we need all the help we can
muster, right, Mr. Mayor?
I guess I'd best not get into politics and get
back to my nonsense before I really get into trou-
ble, because what do I know, I'm just an ol' bus
monitor and that's not very far up on the pole.
Well folks, after my fall on a patch of grapes
over at our favorite grocery store a couple of
weeks ago I've been moving around a little slow
because I flew up in the air and landed on my poor
ol' back side and my left wrist. No broken bones,
but it's still awful sore and I keep my Oleta rub-
bing me down with Bio Freeze, which by the way
is the best stuff for hurting muscles and sore spots
I've ever seen. Thanks to our friend Lynn over at
Dan's drug store for letting us know about it. Rat-
her than go to the doctors office some times we go
by and see ol' Dan for some good tips on what's
best for what! It also gives us a good excuse to
wander on back and get a piece of Debbie's pie or
a sample of that delicious fudge up front, where
that pretty little redhead Pat is, to give you a hug
and a sample of fudge, and really make you feel
welcome. What a great bunch they all are, its one
place in a million!
We understand from Harry Fields that he and
his sweet wife Jean are no longer in the green bean
planting and canning business. Harry says it's get-
ting too hard to get up and down. They canned
more than 100 quarts of green beans a year and
the Duncanville Church of Christ were their main
beneficiaries of lots of the beans at their get-
togethers.
Ol' Harry has been one of our faithful school
crossing guards for more than 12 years. He's told
me lots of stories about his kids, but one in partic-
ular was real sweet. He told one of his little darlins
one day how sweet she looked, and she gave him a
big smile and said, "you are the first one that ever
told me that I look pretty!" Tell me that a kind
word to a gal doesn't go a long way!
It's been great visiting with you. See ya next
time the good Lord willin.
Also remember the ESA Cancer Awareness
Day April 18 at Lakeside Park in Duncanville,
sponsored by Theta Pi chapter and Quality Cab-
inets. The 1-mile fun walk and the 5K run starts at
8 a.m. and is in memory of our dear departed
Sandra Meadows, one of our long time coaches
with a 906-227 record, which placed her sixth on
the list of all-time leaders for girl's basketball in
the national high school sports record book.
See Cathy Bright at the Duncanville Indepen-
dent School District Transportation office, just
behind all the old yellow buses, to sign up. They
are having a contest and great awards given to the
worker who signs up the most, so go by and see
Cathy and tell her Jack sent you! See ya there!
Semper Fidelis (always faithful),
Jack Armstrong
Jack Armstrong is a retired Marine and has lived
in and loved Duncanville and served as a crossing
guard and bus monitor for more than 10 years.
TODAY INFORMATION
Today Staff
Kim Petty
Owner
Steve Snyder
Cedar Hill News Editor
Kirk Dickey
Grand Prairie Today News Editor
Bill Conrad
Lancaster News Editor
Ted Allen
Duncanville Sports Editor
Betty Bell
Lifestyles Editor
Jill Quarles, Bethany Berry
DeSoto/Duncamille Staff Writers
Chris Hudson
Photographer
Bradley Kent and Martha Macias
Graphic artists
Trish Nemec
Southwest Address
David Goodspeed
Autoworld Editor
Carrie Petty-Harris
Classified ad sales
Wendy Lee
Cedar Hill, DeSoto retail ad sales
Lisa Bradley
Duncanville retail ad sales
Heather Hawkins
Grand Prairie, Lancaster retail ad sales
Sherry Griffin
Circulation Manager
Deadlines
Classifieds:
Display classified ads - 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Line ads - 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Retail Advertising - 5 p.m. Monday;
Advertising rates may be secured upon
request.
Editorial:
School news - 5 p.m. Thursday
General news - noon Monday
Letters to the editor - noon, Monday
Lifestyles - 5 p.m. Thursday
Obituaries - 5 p.m. Monday
Deadlines are subject to change due to
holidays and will be published in ad-
Subscriptions
Subscription rates - $33 per year in
city, $40 per year elsewhere in Texas. All
subscriptions are payable in advance and
non-refundable. The publisher reserves
the right to change advertising and sub-
scription rates at any time.
General Information
Each Today newspaper is an indepen-
dent newspaper published weekly in the
interest of its city. Any erroneous reflec-
tion upon the integrity or reputation of
any individual will be corrected if
brought to the attention of the news edi-
tor. Digests run on a space-available
basis.
Letter Policy
The Opinion Page of Today News-
papers is an open forum for all view-
points. letters to the editor and guest
columns are encouraged.
Deadline is noon Monday at 1314 S.
Main St. Duncanville, by mail to P.O.
Box 381029, Duncanville, Texas 75138,
or e-mail addresses at right. Letters may
also be submitted via Internet, by visit-
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Letters must have a name, a home
address and daytime telephone number
for verification purposes only.
The content of all letters will be pre-
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taste, etc. Letters should be of interest to
local readers and should be limited to
300 words.
A complete list of editorial policies,
including the submission of guest col-
umns, is available at the above location.
Call 972-298-4211 for further informa-
tion. Publication in one newspaper does
not guarantee a letter will be published
in any other town.
How to Contact Us
Location: Duncanville Office - 1314 S.
Main St., Duncanville, Texas 75137
Phone: 972-298-4211
Fax: 972-298-6369
E-mail:
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ISSN 0704-0428); (DeSoto USPS
411770 ISSN 0704-0428); (Duncanville
USPS 507620, ISSN 088-1960);
(Lancaster USPS 507620 ISSN 088
1960) (Grand Prairie USPS025117); is
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postage paid at DeSoto, Texas 75115.
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Today Newspapers (Duncanville, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 2009, newspaper, April 16, 2009; Duncanville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth403288/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Zula B. Wylie Memorial Library.